Chapleau 'boom years' underway as Canadian Pacific Railway shops undergo change to accommodate diesel power in 1950

Reeve B W. Zufelt

Work was being "pushed forward rapidly" on the changeover at the Canadian Pacific Railway shops at Chapleau to accommodate diesel power which would soon be operating out of Chapleau, according to a Chapleau Post article in April 1950.

But what has been referred to as "Chapleau's Boom Years" were well underway as  the community celebrated  its 50th anniversary as a municipality in 1951.

For example, on the municipal scene a sewage plant and system had  been completed and the Chapleau Memorial Community Arena was officially opened in February 1951. Some streets had been paved.

Highway 129 between Chapleau and Thessalon was officially opened in 1949, and following the forest fire of 1948 lumber companies arrived on the scene.

At one point, it was expected that Chapleau would be on the main route of the Trans Canada Highway, and Reeve B.W. 'Bubs' Zufelt appeared in The Globe and Mail pointing out the route. It didn't happen.

Arthur Grout of Smith and Chapple Ltd. expanded with a new building on the "other side" of Main Street, while Charles W. Collins built on the corner of Birch and Lorne Streets right across from the "new" post office. Other new businesses were established.

Back to the CPR. In 1949 the first diesel powered passenger train arrived in Chapleau to be greeted with much excitement. Like almost every school kid in town, I was there!

Meanwhile, the changes at the shops at a cost of an expected $250,000 was scheduled for completion by the summer of 1950.

"The shops are a beehive of industry as construction crews tear down walls and build new ones," the Chapleau Post reported in April 1950.

The article added that three power shovels were on the job moving rubble made by the smashing down of walls, unloading gravel for new cement and excavating. 

It also  predicted that upon completion the Chapleau shops would be the diesel base between North Bay and the Lakehead. It was for a time.

Also, it noted that citizens who had complained for years of the smoke nuisance from the shops practically in the middle of town would no longer have anything to complain about once diesel replaced steam power. As an aside, those were the days when most washing was hung outside on a line to dry with the constant threat that soot would arrive dirtying it before it dried.

The CPR provided steam heat for the lobby and dressing rooms for the new Chapleau Memorial Arena which resulted in great savings to the municipality. 

See names below

In the 1950s there was a great deal of optimism in Chapleau about its future on many fronts. Improvements were made in many areas of community life for sure, but in due course, changes came in CPR operations, and  the Trans Canada highway never did go through the community for example.

After living through the Great Depression and World War II, perhaps J.M. 'Jack' Shoup, a veteran of World War I and II, longtime principal of Chapleau Public School, first chair of the Chapleau Recreation Committee summed up the community's attitude. Everyone had a "duty to serve and participate" to make the community a better place to live, work and play. 

And they did. I have just touched the surface of those "boom years" but growing up during them, it was awesome!  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Photo 

Sod turning for sewage system:From left to right: Dr. David Lougheed, A.J. Grout, Cecil Smith, Foreman for Construction Company, Walter Steed,.R. Thrush, B. Zufelt (reeve), Ernest Lepine, Max Brunette, J.M. Shoup, Richard Brownlee, Dr. G.E. Young, Geo. Fife, Ovide Payette, Charles Collins. The two girls in the back are Carol Ann (babe) Chambers, Joan Kemp. 

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