Bishop Tom Corston spent a 'little different Christmas' in 2010 as he travelled to Chapleau and Foleyet for services through freezing rain, fog and 'beautiful bush'

Rt Rev Thomas A. Corston, who most of us from Chapleau commonly refer to simply as "Tom", spent a "little different Christmas" shortly after he became the ninth Anglican Bishop of Moosonee, in 2010.

At Christmas time in 2010,  Tom left Timmins on an historic trip down Highway 101 to preside at services at St. John's In Foleyet, and at St. John's in Chapleau. 

Writing in his blog in January 2011, he shared the story. I stumbled across his blog while doing some research recently, contacted Tom, the son of the Frances (Jardine) and the late Henry Corston, who were our next door neighbours, and asked if I could quote from it. He gave me permission. 

His little different Christmas started out a bit badly when shortly after leaving Timmins, he realized he had forgotten his wallet so had to return to the Synod office for it. 

Having left early, he had time but on the drive to Foleyet, "I encountered some light freezing rain but made the trip in good time.

"The rain created some beautiful Christmas card scenes on the surrounding trees."

The church was filled for the four p.m service. St. John's in Foleyet had been his first parish 35 years ago, in 1975. so "it was great to see some old friends in the congregation, now with grandchildren. We even had an organist so we enjoyed singing the carols and ended the celebration with everyone holding a candle and singing 'Silent Night'"

Leaving Foleyet he wrote, "I was worried for the drive to Chapleau as it was now dark. The highway was good though and I encountered no more freezing rain. Just outside town I encountered fog and as I entered town with the shops now closed and literally no one present on the main street, it was a surreal experience driving in the heavy fog.  Certainly not what one would expect on Christmas Eve in a northern community."

He noted that Chapleau was his home community and the large St. John's Church had struggled in recent years to keep its doors open. As an aside, St. John's was sold in 2016 to Jason Rioux, and plans for its future are now underway. Also for those who may not know, Tom attended Chapleau Public and Chapleau High Schools and was active in St. John's.

"What a wonderful experience it was that the old church was filled by the time the celebration began," he wrote.

"The full church unnerved the Layreader somewhat as she confessed her nervousness. I assured her that I was far more nervous than she because I recognized so many friends of my youth who came out to meet me, with grandchildren in tow.

"Christmas at home was a wonderful celebration, even with the canned music!!"

"I had not been in my home church for Christmas since 1974 and it was good to see family and friends come out to renew old acquaintances."

Tom was ordained Deacon in 1974 at St. John's, and to the priesthood in 1975.

His son Andrew  met him in Chapleau and they spent Christmas Eve at his sister Margaret's home on Borden Lake.

On the drive to Sudbury the next morning Tom related that he enjoyed "travelling through some beautiful bush, coloured with God's frosty paint brush."

As I read Tom's blog, my mind wandered back to 1885, and the first Church of England (Anglican) service held at Christmas time in Chapleau. It was conducted by Rev Gowan Gillmor, best known as 'The Tramp' who travelled the CPR line in Northern Ontario, as the "railway missionary." The service was likely conducted in a boxcar which was the first station.

Ian Macdonald collection

Rev. Gillmor was known to walk the CPR line, and at times pushed a handcar from place to place. 

Rev. Gillmor was also in Chapleau to  assist with the planning of the building of a church, which was officially opened on the site of the old tennis court on July 1,  1886.

The first service in the present St. John's was held on March 29, 1908 when it was dedicated by Bishop George Holmes.

Rev John Sanders

I also recalled reading about the travels by canoe and dog team of Rev. John Sanders (Saunders), who conducted a service at Chapleau on the banks of the river in 1882. I don't know if Rev. Sanders ever visited Chapleau in the Winter, but like Bishop Tom, am sure he enjoyed travelling through the "beautiful bush..." of Northern Ontario. Rev. Sanders may have been the first Indigenous (Ojibway) priest in the Church of England (Anglican) in Canada. 

Tom made it home safely to Sudbury where he was greeted by wife Ruth, son Stephen, mother Frances, and other family members.

He retired as Bishop of Moosonee on December 31, 2013, and is now Assisting Bishop, as well as interim part time Rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Sudbury, where he previously served as Rector.

Thank you Bishop Tom for letting me share parts of your "little different Christmas." It also let me do what I really enjoy -- mixing metaphors with my references to Rev. Gillmor and Rev. Sanders!.. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

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Tiny population created lively community of Chapleau by beginning of twentieth century

Although isolated the self reliant early inhabitants of Chapleau came together quickly after 1885 to give themselves "a few of the signs of the outward signs of 19th century civilization", George Evans wrote in one of his articles in Snapshots of Chapleau's Past.

George, who so many will recall, was a long time teacher and assistant principal, wrote that "Chapleau became a community with a future because CPR needed places at regular intervals along its tracks where crews could change, locomotives could be refueled and watered and mechanics could do maintenance work."

I am fascinated as most of you know with Chapleau moments, and as I thought about this column, turned to George for help with getting the words right -- something Ernest Hemingway advised us to do!

C A Bill Pellow on delivery circa 1910

In his article 'In the Beginning', George notes that a "basic need for the community was a cemetery which had been provided for in 1885. The CPR deeded land for the "Chapleau Protestant Burying Grounds" to Thomas Nicholson. If my memory serves me right, there is a small plaque at the entrance to the cemetery.

Across the road on Birch Street and along Grey Street is the Roman Catholic Cemetery but I was unable to find out when it was established --- help someone please?

In no time at all Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, St. John's Anglican Church and Chapleau Methodist Church (later Trinity United Church) had been established.

Sometimes when writing about early Chapleau, it is difficult to get exact dates but it seems that curling and hockey were underway, on outdoor rinks located on Lorne Street near Cedar Street. In fact that is where hockey was played first in the "old old rink" and Chapleau Memorial Arena until 1978 when the A W Moore Arena opened in the Chapleau Recreation Centre.

Vince Crichton wrote that the Chapleau Curling Club was formed and the first sheet of ice was available that winter, but he was unable to confirm who was responsible for making it happen.

Nonetheless by 1929 with a now enclosed curling rink/arena in the same location the Northern Ontario Curling Association bonspiel was held in Chapleau, and again in 1932. A rink comprised of Leo Racicot, Harry Morris (my grandfather), Vince Crichton and A. Kinahan reached the finals in almost all events.

We also know that a Chapleau hockey team made a road trip to Sudbury in 1893, and lost. Have no idea who the players were as I found out about the trip on a Sudbury hockey history site.

The Chapleau Brass Band held its first meeting on December 6, 1888 and as George wrote "thus establishing the tradition of a Town Band that lasted for over a century. No parade or official event was complete without its presence."

By 1890, fraternal organizations made their appearance -- the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in 1886 and the Oddfellows, Missanabie Lodge 266 in 1888.

By the 1890s, the first "pleasure boat" arrived and "going down the lake" became a popular pastime with the Old Fort in Mulligan's Bay being a popular place for gatherings  before camps were built.

From the earliest years, Dominion Day was a major celebration in Chapleau, and by 1900 baseball teams had been formed.

By 1893 a volunteer fire department had been formed but George related that prior to 1901 when Chapleau was incorporated as a municipality, "policing seems to have been a hit and miss thing with a succession of local men being commissioned by the provincial government to keep the Queen's peace." (The Queen being Victoria!)

Fast forward just a bit. I have included a photo of C.A. "Bill" Pellow with his  wagon circa 1910 to show how deliveries were made in the community's early years. As well I have included a photo of the "Pig Pen" from the early 1930s to show the boathouses which dotted the shore of the front river, and a few on the back river as an increasing number of people got boats.

Pig Pen note boathouses

This is just a glimpse at part of what was happening in Chapleau between 1885 and 1901. George summed it up: "In the sixteen years that had passed since the railway had cut its way across the Canadian Shield, the tiny population had created a lively community complete with churches, schools, a Mechanics Institute, a volunteer fire department, and a town band. Finally endowed with its own municipal government, Chapleau was ready to take on the 20th Century".

And it sure did. I deeply appreciate the work of citizens like Vince Crichton, George Evans, Hugh Kuttner and most recently Doug Greig, who have devoted themselves to the history of Chapleau. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Virgin forest, lakes, rivers, thin ribbons of steel in cleared section marked Chapleau as CPR arrived in 1885

Chapleau from present golf course

If you were "suspended" high above Chapleau in early 1885 what would you have seen?

I had never really thought about it until I was rereading parts of 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario' by Vince Crichton recently. 

Vince answers the question: "... all that one would have seen at first glance would have been a virgin forest, many lakes and rivers, and two thin ribbons of steel that had been laid in a cleared section..." which would become Chapleau, a divisional point on the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

You may have seen canoes paddled by First Nation peoples -- Cree and Ojibway -- carrying furs from their trapping grounds to trading posts in the area, the only signs of human habitation. 

In my 1984 book 'Sons of Thunder ... Apostles of Love', I wrote that in 1885, the CPR issued instructions  to put in a spur for a boxcar to be set out at Mileage 615.1 which subsequently would be about the middle of Chapleau. The boxcar would become the first station, office building and train dispatcher's office. A station had been completed by 1886.

I added that Chapleau had become a community made up of surplus boxcars and tents with a population of about 400 people by the end of 1885, 95 percent of them men.

Vince noted that "... a few crude homes were erected on the hill in the vicinity" of where the Lady Minto Hospital was located on Elm Street. This is the area referred to as 'Old Chapleau' and by the Spring of 1886 for example, Richard Brownlee had established his first barber shop in a tent at this location, as was the first Austin store. They had both moved "downtown" by the end of 1886.

I didn't know there had been a huge swamp which extended almost the entire length of Monk Street. Vince wrote that a long board walk from the station was built along Elm Street.

Vince explained that a creek drained the area which flowed across the CPR tracks between the station and th east ice house, across that part of town south of the YMCA, over to Aberdeen Street emptying into the Nebskwashi River in the vicinity of what is now called the Cedar Street bridge.

The CPR diverted the creek and it flowed into the river across from what is now commonly called the Memegos Property.

Notwithstanding the obstacles, Chapleau was established. From all reports I have seen the winter of 1885 was very strenuous for the early citizens on the fledgling community. It must have been for they had left their old way of life to build a new one far from any comforts they might have known. Apparently it was a bitterly cold winter and disease was rampant, and fire was a constant threat. 

Vince noted that all the houses were kept warm with "a pot-bellied heater with a large gaping mouth through which the fire was banked for the night with a copious amount of good white birch." 

"The kitchen stove on which the lady of the house cooked and was her own pride and joy, also burned wood... There was always a large wood box to the side that was filled each day with split wood to provide heat for those wonderful victuals that were consumed each day".

Actually, as I reflect on growing up in Chapleau, when my mother Muriel (Hunt) Morris, my grandparents Edythe and George Hunt and I moved into the house on Grey Street in 1945, it was primarily heated by a large wood stove on which my grandmother prepared our meals, and my mother used to heat water for washing clothes and Saturday night baths.  The house was also not insulated until about 1950. It also heated the house.

Mr. Fortin would bring us a load of wood each Fall, and then bring his sawing machine to cut it  into stove lengths which we would store in the "back shed" -- that was a job for me and my grandfather. 

Many houses were still using wood stoves when I was a kid.  Our house was never cosier!

It seems to me that rapid changes started circa 1950 in many aspects of our lives. Vince called the chapter from which I have a taken excerpts "It was a good town". Indeed it was, and for that matter still is. 

Yes, you can take the person out of Chapleau, but you can't take Chapleau out of the person! More to come!   My email is mj.morris@live.ca