Tony Fraser, Grant Campbell, Anicet Lafreniere work to resolve Chapleau water crisis when diesel system fails in 1973

G.Campbell, (right) K. Stone, A. Lafreniere

When a major water crisis faced Chapleau in February 1973, Tony Fraser, Grant Campbell and Anicet Lafreniere, who were not employees of the municipality, worked tirelessly to restore full service.

It all started on Wednesday February 14, Valentine's Day when pump house attendants noted that the pumping pressure had dropped at the old pump house, which was diagnosed as caused by a break in a water main somewhere in the community. It was not known where as water had not surfaced above ground.

The electric pumping station was turned off as it could only supply 550,000 gallons pressure daily, which was sufficient to keep Chapleau well supplied but with the break, it could not cope with the situation.

Immediately, the auxiliary diesel system that could supply quite adequately the needs of the town plus the water main break was put into action, and this worked quite well for two days when the 27-year old diesel system sputtered and died.

Tony, Grant and Anicet, described as "diesel experts" in the Chapleau Sentinel were brought in to determine the problem.

They worked non-stop for about 24 hours until they found what they thought was the problem.

Parts for the obsolete diesel were found in Toronto and at this point the Ontario Provincial Police were contacted to assist. Sgt. Ron Young contacted Insp. C.G. Wilkinson in Sudbury and  relay of OPP cruisers was set up to bring the parts to Chapleau. Sgt. Young sent a    Chapleau cruiser to Sudbury for the final leg of the journey.

F Card, T Way-White, Dr Young, MJM, E Gilbert

Despite working non-stop, by Monday morning it still would not work so Reeve Terry Way-White called an emergency meeting of township council for 6:30 a.m. at the pump house. The full council of Councillors Dr. G.E. Young, F.A. 'Nick' Card, Ernie Gilbert and me were present.

Council declared a state of emergency and schools were closed while large users of water and residential ater users were asked to ration their use.

Bob Smith of Dominion Road Machinery in North Bay was contacted and he immediately travelled to Chapleau to help resolve the problem. Twenty-fours later it was determined that the injection system would have to be replaced, and Mr. Smith was able to find one in Toronto.

This time, George Elliott, Chief Forester of the Ministry of Natural Resources at Chapleau provided assistance by placing a Twin Otter aircraft at the municipality's disposal to rush the new injector from Toronto, and it arrived early Tuesday afternoon.

"At exactly one minute before midnight Tuesday (February 20), the diesel system was returned to duty and is now supplying the town with its normal pressure," the Sentinel reported.

And the break that started it all? After it was found, it was repaired and water thawing at homes affected was underway, although some with plastic pipes had to wait as they could not be thawed electrically.

Although all's well that ends well, there was considerable discussion at township council when meeting when Councillor Gilbert complained that as chairman of the public works committee he felt he should have been informed about the crisis when it first started rather than hearing about it on the street.

Councillor Card, who was a CPR engineer at the time, said he was told about it in Cartier, while Councillor Young and I agreed there should have been better communication with council.

Chapleau's new water plant opened in 1976. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Terry Way-White honoured at tribute and testimonial party for his service as reeve of Chapleau

Terry Way-White was honoured at a party of tribute and testimonial at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall after he had resigned as reeve of Chapleau effective December 31, 1973.

Organized by Wilf Simpson, the township's deputy clerk-treasurer, invitations had been sent out to many of Terry's friends and colleagues in municipal government across the province. Although most were unable to attend in persons, a special guest was Don Meston, the mayor of Waterloo and president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO)

According to his brother John, writing in Chapleau Trails, the Way-White family arrived in Chapleau in 1923 from India and first lived in a house on Pine Street, next to St. John's Anglican Church rectory which had been the community's first school.

Margaret Costello in an article about the party noted that the first part of the program consisted of music, sociability and dancing for all of which was very much in the mood. The came the real purpose of the evening - the tribute to Terry, who had resigned for health reasons from the office of reeve, a position he had held since 1967.

Mrs. Olive M. Card, a former deputy reeve, read excerpts from letters and telegrams from those who were unable to attend. 

A sampler: "... congratulate you on the outstanding work you have done for your municipality and northern Ontario"; "your leadership in matters to do with the welfare of the province was always exemplary and had far reaching influence on legislation now enacted."

Terry was very active in the work of AMO and this was reflected in one of the messages which read in part: "your interest was not confined to Chapleau but generally to the problems of all municipalities in the province. In serving on AMO you participated in discussions to formulate policies  beneficial to all. Devotion to duty, your loyalty and understanding has made you many friends."

There were also messages hoping that he would return to municipal politics when his health improved. "Let us hope that with improvement in health you may see fit  to return to active participation in municipal politics." Terry never did return to municipal politics.

All the messages had been placed in a binder and were presented to him by Mrs. Card,

Rita Swanson, Mrs Way-White, Terry, Vanessa Santerre

During his time as reeve, two of the major projects undertaken were the replacement of the old pump house with the "new" water treatment plant and the construction of the pedestrian overpass and bridge to replace the horseshoe bridge. Both were completed after he left office.

Mr. Meston, the AMO president, said that Terry would be missed. He noted that he had always done his homework and was extremely well prepared.

C.V 'Con' Schmidt, a former councillor who had served with Terry commented that "he had probably put more effort into making Chapleau good for the people than anyone." 

Terry was presented with "a gift of a flock of crisp new bills and a pair of work gloves as a contribution toward a project he has underway at his home" by Vanessa (Rail) Santerre of the township staff. Rita (Payette) Swanson presented a bouquet of red roses to Mrs. Way-White.

In his remarks Terry thanked the citizens for the honour they had bestowed on him by electing him adding that the ratepayers are the backbone of any community. He had served one year of his fourth term when he resigned.

He also expressed his thanks to Mr. Meston for taking the time to travel to Chapleau and to Mrs. Way-White his gratitude for her staunch support and understanding.

Terry concluded his remarks by reminding all that they must work together "in the north and for the north. What benefits the entire north country also benefits Chapleau."

My email is mj.morris@live.ca 

David McAdam earns shutout, Paul Scheer notches two hat tricks, Alan Morin scores his first NIHL goal as Huskies defeat Calvert GMs and Kirkland Lake Blue Devils at Moore Arena

David McAdam 1970s

The Kirkland Lake Blue Devils, one of the strongest teams in the Northland Intermediate Hocky League (NIHL)came to the Moore Arena for a Sunday afternoon matchup with the Chapleau Huskies in November 1978, and it was fitting that David McAdam, the team's first goaltender was between the pipes for the team's first shutout in its history. 

David earned his shutout in a 10-0 romp over the visitors as the Huskies made few mistakes as they went on a scoring spree, leading the Blue Devils 3-0 at the end of the first period, 6-0 when the second closed and adding four more for good measure in the third.

It was the Blue Devils first season in the NIHL and they were in first place. They eventually defeated the Huskies for the league championship.

David had been part of the team's history since it was established in the 1974-75 season and then entered the NIHL in 1975-76. He was part of the successful David Mizuguchi- David Furthey Bantams teams, then played for the Junior 'B' Huskies of the International Junior 'B' Hockey League when Earle Freeborn was the coach.

Interestingly, after his career as a goaltender, he ended his hockey playing days as  a forward, playing in the town league in the 1980s.

It was a very successful weekend  for the locals as they defeated the Calvert GMs 12-6  in a Saturday night encounter at the Moore Arena.

More team history was made on the weekend as Paul Scheer, who was the league's Rookie of the Year in 1977-78 and set a league record for most assists, notched hat tricks in both games, while rookie Alan Morin scored his first Intermediate 'A' goal assisted by Dave Baker and Dave McMillan against the Calvert GMs.

Against the GMs, other goal scorers were Paul with two more and Alan, were Moe Poirier, John Simon with two, John Tavella with two, Bill Scheer, Dave McMillan and Tom McCrea.

Against the Blue Devils, the Huskies made few mistakes in their netbuster of a weekend with Dave Baker opening the scoring assisted by McMillan and Bill Scheer, with Paul Scheer notching his first of the game from Ron Larcher and Ted Zajac and Pat Swanson from Zajac and Ted Swanson making it 3-0 at the end of the first.

In the second Simon scored from Bill Scheer and Keith McAdam, then it was Bill again from assisted by George Card and Keith McAdam, followed by McMillan from Pat Swanson and Baker.

The scoring spree continued in the third as McMillan started it off with one from Card and Baker while Pat Swanson followed with assists going to brother Ted and Larcher. 

Paul Scheer capped off his highly successful goal scoring weekend of hat tricks in both games with the final two goals with Larcher and McCrea assisting.

A Chapleau Sentinel report on the two games said it wasn't just a matter of winning two hockey games or scoring 22 goals, each player was a star in his own way and was a real morale booster for the team. 

The only dark side was the loss of Jamie Doyle, one of the keenest players who was injured in the game against the Calvert GMs and had to be hospitalized. However, his injury was not serious.

Hockey team names:

Chapleau Hockey team early 1950s. Back from left Orville Robinson, unknown, Doug Swanson, Lorne Riley, unknown, unknown, Tee Chambers, Fred Goheen, Fuzzy Strapp, Toddy Collinson, Ernest Bignucolo, unknown, D.O. Payette, Pat Serre, Ross Hamlin, George Payette. Front from left Yen Hong, Bobby Evans, Reg Sonego, Ross Thornton, Tom Jardine, Angelo Mione, John Morin, Mike Mione, Clarence Fiaschetti. from Joy (Evans) Heft collection

Joy (Evans) Heft kindly sent me the photo of a Chapleau hockey team from early 1950s, and I am sharing it with you this week. In it you will see some great Chapleau stars from that era, with Ross Thornton as coach and D.O. (Ovide) Payette as manager. Mr. Payette played on Chapleau teams in the early 1900s. If you are able to identify any in the photo marked "unknown" please feel free to send along their names. Thanks Joy. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Early look at classic railway town that Chapleau became by Ian Macdonald

East wall of CPR depot

Here is Part Two of Ian Macdonald's fascinating look into the early years of Chapleau buildings built by the Canadian Pacific Railway when it arrived at the community and it was established as a divisional point. Ian, who worked for the CPR, and attended Chapleau Public and Chapleau High schools, is retired professor of architecture and professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba. Thanks so much Ian.  MJM
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

By Ian Macdonald

The first generation of CPR buildings shared similar characteristics regardless of whether the building was a depot, boarding house, two storey houses or a bungalow. The east façade of the original Chapleau CPR depot illustrates these distinctive architectural features. The station was painted many different colours during 24 years of service. The diagram indicates the final paint scheme before the building was relocated to Monk Street.

Cottage Row 1st Chapleau buildings 1886 CP Corp Archives

The first buildings in Chapleau consisted of a boarding house eventually called “The Pig’s Ear” and six housing units which together became known as ” Cottage Row”. These buildings ranging from a three storey boarding house to single storey bungalows all incorporated the same wood frame construction method, exterior wood siding and distinctive features of the T-1 depots including double hung windows, gable end trusses and window canopies. They were, like the CPR depot, also built on similar types of concrete surface foundations to avoid the cost and time involved in building full basements.

South side of Birch Pig's Ear behind V Crichton collection

Most people would probably expect new buildings to face a street. The buildings on Cottage Row for some odd reason were built facing south towards an open field and the new CPR round house while turning their backs and backyard fences on to Birch Street, which was to become Chapleau’s main street. The result of this was that the south side of Birch Street was lined wth fences extending from Young Street all the way to where the Fox theatre was eventually built. 

This unfortunate condition would last for the next fifty years and may account for the fact that most of the early photographs and post cards of Chapleau’s main street were always of the north side. The Algoma Dairy began to make things right when it was built facing Birch Street on the site of the Pig’s Ear in 1939. Smith and Chapple continued to correct the original planning sin when they expanded their department store to the south side of Birch Street in the 1950’s, and also faced the street.

Standard CPR duplex. Rob Collings collection

Following construction of Cottage Row, the CPR erected a number of standard duplex houses on Monk Street and Pine Street. A second group of duplex houses were built on Monk Street in 1913 that were similar to the originals with the exception of the addition of a front porch. 

These homes were built in the same resourceful manner as other CPR buildings of the era and, although providing adequate living space, were found to be drafty and uncomfortable by most of the occupants. Similar houses of this type were built and still exist in Schreiber and White River.

Chapleau YMCA. G. Collins collection

The last of the first generation of CPR buildings and their distinctive features was the Chapleau Railiroad Y built on Lorne Street in 1908 a few hundred feet from the last bungalow on Cottage Row. The “Y” was a three-storey timber framed building with the distinctive CPR gable end over the main entrance verandah.

The architectural expression of a building is often associated with its social role in the community. This is certainly the case with the Chapleau Y. The social role is described best in the CPR Bulletin of April 1924 as follows: 

“ The value of the organization cannot be fully appreciated by other than those who know its workings.  The engineers and trainmen, after driving through the snow and cold, find an open fire, a good meal and cheerful companionship awaiting them at the end of a journey. They can enjoy practically all the comforts of a home and the satisfaction which this gives them, and the general effect it has on the morale and well-being of the employees generally amply compensates the Company for its rather heavy expenditures.”  

It is therefore not an accident that the Railroad “Y” has many of the characteristics associated with the traditional idea of home. This begins with a carefully manicured front lawn and fence, rambling front porch, a traditional pitched roof, dramatic chalet style roof overhangs and the ever-present distinctive CPR gable ends. These features had mostly disappeared in the latter years of the Chapleau Y but can be seen in many of the early photographs and post cards.

The enduring lesson taken away from the first generation of CPR buildings is that the CPR in those early days had no alternative but to seek solutions that were innovative, cost-effective and functional to get a near-impossible job done. There was no alternative but to yield to the demands of uncompromising climatic and geographical conditions and make maximum use of local materials and common labour skills. This produced a different kind of architecture that was the polar opposite of the fussy and self-indulgent Victorian architecture of the day. This honesty and lack of pretentiousness, however, made it distinctive, important, uniquely Canadian and in some respects ahead of its time. This was then the early look of the classic railway town that Chapleau was to become.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca