Pioneers carved Chapleau out of wilderness as "ribbons of steel arrived in 1885

If you had been suspended high above Chapleau in 1885, all you 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 and were cutting through this vast uninhabited area of Canada.

Vince Crichton tells us in his book "Pioneering in Northern Ontario" that the ribbons of steel were rails of the Canadian Pacific Railway leading 381 miles west to Fort William and 170 miles southeast to Sudbury.

Recently after ten years of writing Chapleau Moments weekly I have been spending time with Vince's book, the Richard Brownlee Papers as well as material on the  Chapleau Library site, compiled primarily by Hugh Kuttner and the late Doug Greig.

Vince noted that there were very few signs of life except along the railroad, and at the trading posts. You may have seen Cree and Ojibway trappers in canoes going to and from their trapping grounds with their winter's catch of fur.

When it became clear that Chapleau would be a terminal of the railroad some homes were built on the hill in the vicinity of the Lady Minto Hospital, opened in 1914. This was called "Old Chapleau" and a long board walk connected it to the CPR station area. 

Meanwhile, T.A. Austin had opened his store in a tent in that area and Mr. Brownlee who arrived in February 1886 a barber shop. Later in 1886 both had moved to buildings on Birch street which remains the community's main business district to this day. Several stores had been opened by 1887.

public school

Fast forward to 1914 and Chapleau had  two schools, three churches, a hospital, two doctors, an Opera House, three confectionery and ice cream shops and a variety of commercial enterprises to fill the needs of families."  A water works system had been installed and electricity provided. The Town Hall also opened in 1914. The YMCA was completed by 1908.

Vince described heating and cooking in homes.

"All of the houses were kept warm with a pot bellied stove 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 pride and joy also burned wood"'

In 1945 when my mother Muriel E (Hunt) Morris and my grandparents Edythe and George Hunt and I moved into our house on Grey Street, a wood stove primarily heated the house and my grandmother did all the cooking on it for several years. The house was never warmer, and her meals were awesome too!! 

Mr. Fortin brought us the supply of wood each year.

first station circa 1886

Mr. Brownlee, in his own handwriting refers to an article about Chapleau written to mark the Royal Tour in 1939.. "Considering its wild surroundings the stranger is agreeably surprised to find a spot so remote from what he calls civilization so completely up-to-date as Chapleau -- no shack town!"

The winters were "long, cold and exhilarating.." according to Vince. Not much change there !!

In a real sense the pioneers of Chapleau carved a community out of the wilderness.

Bill Pellow delivery circa 1911

I was delighted to read the article in the Chapleau Express announcing the completion of the first phase of a Downtown Revitalization Project.  My email is mj.morris@live.ca