As Chapleau becomes "mining town" prospectors active in the area since the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway ---maybe even before

As Chapleau becomes a "mining town" I decided to start researching the subject of mining in the area -- a subject about which I know very little, so as Philip Graham, the late publisher of the Washington Post once said about reporters, we write the "first rough drafts of history".That is me!!!

In my case, I am sharing information provided mainly by Vince Crichton in his book 'Pioneering in Northern Northern' and research undertaken by my good friend the late Harry Pellow who wrote about his family and Chapleau and area.  Vince noted that actual mining and the recovery of precious metals had been confined to the Sultan, Ramsay, and Missanable-Localsh areas. His book was published in 1975.

Vince told us that "Prospecting in the district had been carried on since the completion of the railroad, (Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885). The earliest know evidence of this activity was found in the vicinity of Stralak eleven miles west of Cartier where shafts had been blasted into the rock for a distance of twelve feet.Other evidence of such work may be found in the Greenhill River area in the township of Amik, north of Missanabie.

However Vince noted that the first recorded claims to be patented in the area were those staked in the township of McNaught north of Nemegos by the McVittie Syndicatre of Sudbury for iron ore in 1913.

Apparently the the first attempts to operate a gold producing mine were made in the area south of Localsh  in township 48. Claims were staked here in 1920.A few years later an effort was made by the O'Brien Gold Mines to extract gold from the ore which proved a failure. This property was later acquired by another group known as the Cline Lake Gold Mine which did operate and produce gold from 1937 to 1942. I believe C.A. "Bill" Pellow, the father of Ross, Bill and Harry may have established a business there as well as Hong Fong of the Boston Cafe, the father of Yen, Jean, Jimmy and Harry.

Other mines in the Localsh vicinity were Edwards Consolidatedand and the Algoma Summit.

In 1931 there was a "gold rush" into Brett and Lee Lakes  and the adjacent townships of Swazyze, Greenlaw and Halecrow. The flurry of Excitement brought three air transport companies to Chapleau -- General, Eclipse and Canadian Airways.

"So sure were some of the merchants in Chapleau that gold bricks would soon be marching to their stores like a company of soldieres that Edgar Pellow received a sum of money from the provincial government to build a narrow bush road to the gold area..."

No one was injured

At this time,  Arthur Grout and D.O. Payette of Smith and Chapple also had workers travelling by canoe. taking orders from prospectors with delivery on many occasions by plane.

Canoe travel was actually quite common, and other Chapleau merchants , including Edgar Pellow, used it in their business

The Kinty Gold Mine opened near Bret Lake about 30 air miles from Chapleau. Mr. Payette and Mr. Grout believed it would be a "prosperous town"  and built a few log cabins on the shore of Bret Lake -- one a store with living quarters for the shopkeeper, one for cooking and dining, and one as sleeping quarters for travellers and prospectors.

Then bad breaks --- the mine decided to establish a townsite some distance from their location. By 1933 the mine closed.

As I have shared in other columns about the arrival of the airlines, my father who was a student at Chapleau High School from 1928 to 1933 (I think) learned to fly planes at the Chapleau waterfront. He was really just supposed to be a dock boy but the pilots taught him to fly the planes. He thought my grandmother Lil (Mulligan) Morris didn't know but she did. Mothers always know. I am pretty sure my grandfather Harry Morris knew right away.

My Dad Bush pilot days

Renabie Mines Ltd. was founded in 1949 north of Missanabie. It did become a producing mine. There were other attempts but none really took off.

Growing up in Chapleau I was aware that some of the citizens were prospectors. and the one I recall best was Earle Sootheran, who was also the optometrist and jewelry department manager at Smith and Chapple. I would say hello to him almost every day on my way past his house on Birch Street. One day he invited me into his house to see the "angels in the rocks" There were gold flecks in the rocks in his collection!!!!

I will continue my research into mining in Chapleau and area. I welcome information. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

"An Ice Skating Fishing Trip" by George Theriault in 'Trespassing in God's Country' See book order info at end!!

George Theriault flew in northern Canada since the summer of 1934 when he began work as a dock boy at the seaplane base in South Porcupine, Ontario, according to an outline of his career in his awesome book 'Trespassing in God's Country''>

Before establishing his own air service in Chapleau in 1954, Mr. Theriault had served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and after World War II ended in 1945, he established himself as a skillful bush pilot and sportsman. I enjoy returning to "Trespassing in God's Country"perhaps because my father Flying Officer Jim Morris who was killed on active service if the RCAF on July 16, 1943, learned to fly planes from the early bush pilots who landed on the Chapleau waterfront. Had my father returned home, my mother told me he would have been a bush pilot or commercial pilot. Such was not to be but George Theriault has given me a glimpse into their lives.

Thumbing through his book again I came across a chapter entitled 'An Ice Skating Fishing Trip' -- the title intrigued me so I decided to share some of this adventure with you.

In 1950, still in the RCAF he was posted to the base at Goose Bay, Labrador, He met a couple of men who worked at the base but lived in a community named La Vallee Heureuse or Happy Valley in English. These men told  him about a river that was full of sea-run speckled trout. "When the river froze , the trout would run up it to spawn in the open rapids." The only way to reach it was to cross the lake then walk.

"Once the river was about three inches thick, the native men attached their tie-on skates, and skated down the the river looking for the migrating trout. The timing was critical because the trout were only visible through the ice when the river had just frozen. Once it snowed, the fish were hidden."

The good ice skaters at the air force base were excited about a skating-fishing party, Mr. Theriault wrote. They arrived at the spot and "hurriedly put on their cold ice skates and began skating on three inches of glossy ice. "As soon as our bodies got into the rhythm of skating we started to thaw out and enjoy the bright sunny day"

They had a hearty meal at the home of the Beauvais family and then off they went to fish each with two short poles about 24 inches long with a line about the same length.

The shadow of a school of trout appeared under the ice 

Here is how the fishing worked. As a fish went for their lure they quickly jerked the lure out of the water with a fish on it and they dropped their other line in the water. Amazingly they could pull about 150 trout that came flying out of these holes in just a few minutes.

More amazing!!!!

"Eventually one school of migrating trout would be joined by four or five hundred more trout in another school, and in no time, there were about fifteen hundred trout moving up the river'. They were easy to spot."

Later Mr, Theriault caught a nine and a half pound speckled trout and put it a freezer but forgot to take it with him. "As luck would have it, someone ate it".

'Trespassing in God's Country: Sixty Years of Flying in Northern Canada' is a must read for anyone interested in our north country..

George Theriault died on May 26, 2015 at age 95. I leave you with the final paragraph from his book: "That's the most amazing thing: life just goes on  -- with us and without us. None of us are permanent fixtures on this landscape; we are all trespassers in God's country."  May he rest in peace.

Thanks  to John Theriault, one of Mr. Theriault's sons who provided me with a copy of his father's book. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

TO ORDER BOOK!!!!!!!!!  John Theriault kindly sent me information on ordering the book....retail@bushplane.com...the contact person is donna barill...the book is 20$ and postage about 10...

"Mustard seed sown in fertile soil" guided missionaries and pioneers in Chapleau's Roman Catholic community according to Father Romeo Gascon

RC church circa 1914

Before the first Roman Catholic church was built in Chapleau, mass was sung in the home of Mrs. Noel de Tilley, according to an article in the Richard Brownlee papers.

Mr and Mrs de Tilley lived in a cottage next to Tom Carr's boarding house circa 1885. It was across the street from where the Algoma Hotel was later built.  Noel de Tilley had "the honour of driving the first engine into the station" in the summer of 1885.

Mrs. de Tilley is also credited by many sources as being responsible for suggesting the name Chapleau to civil engineer C. Dufresne who "found it quite a problem to select names for all the places along the line and he turned to her for inspiration."

The visiting Roman Catholic priests also stayed in their cottage.

Before the first Roman Catholic was built it was housed in a tent where Collins store is now at Lorne and Birch Streets. The second church was built where the present church stands today.

Rev Father Romeo Gascon who served as parish priest from 1906 to 1958 picks up the story of the Roman Catholic church in Chapleau in a signed article again in the Richard Brownlee papers.

Father Gascon wrote that "The early beginning of the Catholic church in Chapleau as in any other place was modest. Great and numerous were the hardships of those first missionaries who had to minister to to the few faithful scattered over such a large territory. Those who have shared the trials of these bygone days, those who have witnessed these events are the only ones who can do justice to the perseverance and self sacrifice of those first missionaries."

In 1883 Father Cote had taken charge of the vast district between North Bay and Port Arthur. He was also responsible for the first "chapel" on the Collins store site.

Father Cote said mass and administered the Sacraments in construction camps or private homes along the way.

By 1891 Father Grenier SJ took charge of the mission at Chapleau and under his guidance a larger church was built. This church served the Roman Catholic community until 1918 when it was destroyed by fire. 

Other priests came and left but it was Father Proulx who also looked after the "spiritual needs of the numerous missions on the Railway." Then Father Lefebvre came who beautified the church with by having three new altars installed. 

Father Proulx returned and 'It was under his ministry through his energy and zeal that two modern and substantial buildings were erected, the Catholic separate school and the priest's house."

Faher Gascon arrived in 2006 but in 1918 shortly before Christmas the church was destroyed by fire.

He commented: "The church and its contents, rich statuary and costly mass vestments, tribute to the zealous work of the early missionaries and the generosity of the faithful pioneers was the prey of fire on the night of December 18, 1918. In a few hours nothing was left of the work and generosity of thirty years,"

Father Gascon noted that the fire cast a gloom over the joyous feast of Christmas but this gloom was of short duration. 

Immediately the Catholic people with their Pastor, (Father Gascon) "pledged themselves to rebuild on a larger scale, to put up a church which would be a credit and proof of their unfeigned faith and generosity."

And this was accomplished.  The first mass  in the new church was celebrated on Christmas Eve 1919. On Christmas Eve this year Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church will celebrate 100 years in the new church. 

I leave you with part of a final comment from Father Gascon.  "The beginning as you may see was modest. It was the mustard seed sown in fertile soil. Through the zeal, sacrifices and energy of these first missionaries and pioneer settlers this tiny seed has germinated and grown up to be a large tree. Its branches and leaves now throw a refreshing shade...."  My email is mj.morris@live.ca