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May 2005

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Cottage North MAY, 2005 PAGE 2

The snow is gone! Alight jacket replacesthe snow suits and

winter parkas. Thoughtsturn from ice fishing, snow-mobiling and cross-countryskiing to getting the boatready, catching the illusiveone out on the big waters,gardening and hiking.

This is often the time ofyear that many plan tomake good on their resolu-tions to be more active andget into better shape physi-cally. Others look forwardto a holiday at the localcampgrounds or furtheraway. Either way, weencourage everyone to getout and enjoy the warmer

weather as much as possi-ble.

This month CottageNorth brings a little historyto you with Morley G.Naylor’s story recalling theWinnipeg flood of 1950 andFlin Flon’s connection. PatVickery shares some child-hood memories atClearwater Lake. RoyMcGinnis shares some ofhis experiences living in thenorth with his story “FromThicket Portage toThompson by Trapline”.Marc Jackson and RickHubbs share the last of win-ter/early spring fun withtheir stories of cordwoodbonspiels and the BillBannock Derby. BrentOsika, from Wolf BayLodge, tells us about a

“Mystery Trout” found onPhelps Lake in northeasternSaskatchewan while JillianBetke retells of a recordbreaking catch on LakeAthapap in 1930.

Along with these inter-esting stories and others,Cottage North is offeringthree contests that our read-ers are sure to be interestedin.

Our draw for tickets tothe Dauphin Countryfestwas so well received lastyear that we have decidedto bring it to our readersagain. This year, however,there will be two chances towin the prize of three pass-es and a camp spot. Checkpage 32 for further details.

Those readers who pur-chase Cottage North from

the newsstands, you areinvited to enter our contestto win a beautiful dinnerring. Those who choose topurchase a subscriptionhave a chance to win a tripfor two to Puerto Vallarta.Some restrictions will applyto these draws. Be sure tocheck out our ads for fur-ther details.

We want to thank thegroups and businesses whohave helped us make thesedraws possible.

…The snow is gone!…Thoughts turn to spendingmore time outdoors.…While relaxing on yourdeck, taking a break fromworking in the yard, or atthe campsite take CottageNorth with you and enjoy agood read!

Heather FrenchCOTTAGE NORTH

NoteNoteEditor’s

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May/05Volume 3Issue 5

publisher: Randy Daneliuk

editor: Heather French

assistant editor: Jillian Betke

production team:Tim BabcockGail BakerRich BillyDarren DaneliukCarl HillMarc JacksonDawne LabineMorley G. NaylorShannon Thompson

advertising sales:Sandra HooverJillian BetkeDawne Labine(204) 687-4303

how to reach us: 204-687-4303general fax: 204-687-4473web address: www.r-online.caemail address:[email protected]

postal address:Cottage North™10 North AvenueFlin Flon, ManitobaR8A 0T2

Printed in Canada 2005Cottage North magazine.All rights reserved. Reproduction ofphotos, illustrations or text in anyform without written permissionfrom the publisher is prohibited.

7 A City SubmergedMorley G. Naylor

16 Bill Bannock DerbyRick Hubbs

18 From Thicket Portage to ThompsonBy TraplineRoy McGinnis/Jillian Betke

23 Mystery TroutBrent Osika

28 Lake Athapap’s LegendJillian Betke

30 Snow Lake’s Adult Cordwood BonspielMarc Jackson

34 Musical to Premiere inFlin FlonGail Baker

Front photo by– Don Peake

a LadiesDiamond

Dinner Ring!Purchase your copy ofCottage North™ at anyretail outlet. Send in thebarcode with your name,address & phone to:

Cottage North10 North Ave.Flin Flon, MB R8A 0T2 Draw date: December 1, 2005

No Cash Value.

(From Nasselquist Jewellers)

Win

May 10, 1908 saw the first “modern day” Mother’s Day observedwhen Anna Jarvis set this day aside to honour her deceasedmother with a special church service. From that day on Miss

Jarvis and others worked hard to establish a special day to honour allmothers and in May 1914 a presidential proclamation declared the sec-ond Sunday in May to be observed as Mother’s Day in the United States.Many other countries soon followed suit.

The religious service of remembrance soon expanded into the moresecular observances of today. Gifts, cards, flowers and visits became theorder of the day for many. This year Mother’s Day falls on Sunday, May8. Take time to remember your mother.


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My Motherkept a garden

My mother kept a garden,a garden of the heart,She planted all the good

thingsthat gave my life its start.

She turned me to the sun-shine

and encouraged me todream,

Fostering and nurturingthe seeds of self-esteem...

And when the winds and raincame,

she protected me enough-But not too much because

she knewI’d need to stand up strong

and tough.

Her constant good examplealways taught me right from

wrong-Markers for my pathwaythat will last a lifetime long.

I am my mother’s garden.I am her legacy-And I hope today she feels

the lovereflected back from me

~Author unknown~

FFlloowweerrss

Carnations express love, fascinationand distinction. They are the tradi-tional flower for Mother’s Day. Pink

or red carnations symbolize a living moth-er, while white carnations honour adeceased mother.

“Mother’s Day is in honour of thebest Mother who ever lived - the Motherof your Heart.”

Anna Jarvis


Canada/ManitobaBusiness ServiceCentre

At one point oranother, everyonehas had the urge to

just quit their day job andstart their own business.Sounds perfect - self-madeidea, schedule, decisions....But starting a businesstakes a lot more thoughtand commitment than that.It takes planning, financingand so much more - that iswhere theCanada/Manitoba BusinessService Centre, in conjunc-tion with local CommunityFutures DevelopmentCorporations (CFDC), canbe an invaluable tool.

Located in Flin Flon at

the Greenstone CFDCoffice, theCanada/Manitoba BusinessService Centre provides alink to all governmentinformation for business.Previously located in theFlin Flon Public Library,the Centre was relocatedadjacent to Greenstone inorder to offer the best pos-sible service to the publicby uniting its vast collec-tion of tools and resourceswith the individualizedprograms, knowledge andservice of the local CFDC.

With an extensive busi-ness lending library, a col-lection of audio, video andCD resources (facilities forthe use of which are in-office) and numerous busi-

ness financial and trainingmanuals, the BusinessService Centre provides awealth of material forinformation and reference.A computer with Internet,directly linked to theBusiness Service Centrehead office in Winnipeg, isavailable for onlineresearch. Educational train-ing classes are also offeredthroughout the year onvarious business topics.

With such a vastamount of informationavailable through theBusiness Service Centre,the perfect complement isthe personalized, commu-nity-minded service of theGreenstone CFDC. Led bya local volunteer board,Greenstone promotescommunity and economicdevelopment by providingassistance with businessdevelopment and coun-selling, access to capital

through specific lendingprograms, community eco-nomic development, andconnections to other serv-ices such as info on mar-keting, regulations, trade,etc. Business and employ-ment specialists are able tosteer potential entrepre-neurs towards financing,resources, and informa-tion, and provide supportin every facet of the busi-ness process.

Together, theC a n a d a / M a n i t o b aBusiness Service Centreand GreenstoneCommunity FuturesDevelopment Corporationoffer an informative andwell-rounded source forthe community, its peopleand their businesses. Theoffice is located at Suite228 - 35 Main Street and isopen Monday throughFriday, 8:30 - 12:00 and1:00 - 5:00.

Greenstone staff ready to assist those in theCanada/Manitoba Business Service Centre (l-r): ConnieBaird-Holubec, Lois (Bunny) Burke, Robyn Garrett, andJoe Buie.

PHOTO BY JILLIAN BETKE

Canada/ManitobaBusiness Service CentreThe Canada/Manitoba Business Service

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Access to information on business start-up,expansion and improvement

Online business planner

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Resource Library, Online ComputerWorkstation

Suite 228-35 Main StreetFlin Flon, MB204-687-6967

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Greenstone CFDC

Jillian BetkeCOTTAGE NORTH


May of this year(2005) marks the55th anniversary of

the 51-day ordeal in whichSouthern Manitoba foughtto hold back the risingwaters of the Red River.Norwood, East Kildonan—one by one the dikes fail as25% of Winnipeg findsitself under water. Onehundred thousand peopleflee, the largest (until thattime) mass evacuation inCanadian history. Almost40,000 people fleeWinnipeg on May 11 aloneas the Red River creststhree days later at 12.2 feetabove channel capacity.Thousands of civilian vol-unteers and residents, plus

5,000 armed forces person-nel are engaged in thebiggest (at the time) peace-time operation in Canadianhistory. They man pumps,build and repair dikes, andevacuate residents. Overone million pounds ofequipment and 1.2 millionsandbags are airlifted intoWinnipeg from as far awayas San Francisco. The RedRiver, normally about 150metres wide, becomes agiant lake 65 km wide and100 km long. Flood dam-age is enormous - 10,500homes are damaged inWinnipeg alone. Waterdamage totals $50 million,equaling about 600 million1997 dollars.

By a weird twist of fate,Mr. and Mrs. Edward Martelof Flin Flon became

involved in the crisis,somewhat unknowingly. ACBC news report at thetime reports the story ofthe couple returning from atrip to the USA to find thatthe Winnipeg suburb of St.Norbert - where they hadleft their children with arelative - was submerged.

With the help of a CBCproducer and Winnipegradio station, an emer-gency locator message wasbroadcast, and within 15minutes the Martels wererelieved to find out that thechildren had been safelyevacuated.

Dees CourierDispatch 687-7388

Manager:Alison Dallas 687-0838

“Any Door Anywhere”

The Flin Flon Connection 55 Years AgoMorley G. NaylorCOTTAGE NORTH


“The people of Flin Flonshould be congratulatedfor the splendid work thatthey are doing to help thepeople of Winnipeg,” FlinFlon Mayor CyrilSteventon, Flin Flon DailyReminder, May 11, 1950.

This is a story of gen-erosity and giving, of car-ing for others. No doubt -in context - one of FlinFlon’s finest hours.

By early May of 1950, itwas obvious to theWinnipeg Flood ControlHeadquarters in Winnipegthat the flood situation wasso serious that massiveassistance would berequired - military, civilianand other. The May 8 edi-tion of The Reminder had abold headline: “VolunteerBrigade Rushed to Aid

Flood Area”. Major BenGrimmelt, OC, 21 FieldSquadron Royal CanadianEngineers, had announcedthat he had met the PrairieCommand Headquartersrequest (within two hours)to send 40 Reserve Armysoldiers of his unit to thestricken area. CanadianPacific Airlines airlifted thelocal soldiers with DC3 air-craft out of ChanningAirport. As the meninvolved were all locallyemployed, time off fromcivilian jobs was quicklygranted by their employers,prompting (then) PrairieArmy Command torespond with a messagestating, “The PrairieCommander’s complimentsgo out to Hudson BayMining and Smelting

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Equipment and operators from Flin Flon(HBM&S/Town/Wells Construction) at work in theNorwood Bowl in Winnipeg which was a majorexcavation project resulting in the seven mileNorwood dyke. May, 1950.

SUBMITTED PHOTO


Company Limited andother Flin Flon employersfor their fine spirit of coop-eration.” Personnel fromthe 21st Field SquadronRoyal Canadian Engineersof Flin Flon included MajorBen Grimmelt, Captain A.Harder, Lieutenant ArtFenwick, WO2 A.O.Wright, Staff Sergeant BobMaguire, Sergeant EddiePaull, Sergeant AndyCarson, and SergeantChester Bongfeldt. The FlinFlon troops did an out-standing job includingwork on the dikes in FortGarry, a bridge in St.Boniface and a large scalebridge construction onMarion Street. Long-timeFlin Flonner Mrs. JoyceBongfeldt remembers theevent clearly. Her husbandChester was a sergeant inthe army group, and shesays “...the men were awayfor three weeks andworked like devils on thebridges and dikes, andwere proud of their contri-bution on their returnhome.” She also had firsthand experience with theevacuees who arrived intown by train. “The wivesfell into the breach andcared for the displacedfamilies from Winnipeg,”she added.

The headline in the May10 edition of The Reminderread as follows: “Flin FlonMoves to Assist Capital(Winnipeg)”. Following arequest from the WinnipegFlood ControlHeadquarters for heavyequipment the town coun-cil, at a special meeting,arrived at a plan to assist.The movement includedthree dump trucks and sixdrivers from the Town ofFlin Flon. In addition, WellsConstruction committed toa dump truck, two driversand three dragline opera-tors. Six dump trucks,twelve drivers, and twodragline operators fromHudson Bay Mining andSmelting Company round-ed out the Flin Flon total.

The cavalcade of vehiclesto Winnipeg was under thecommand of Leo Cooper,Superintendent ofTransportation for HBM&Sat the time. Workers wereinformed on the afternoonof May 10 that they mustleave for Winnipeg, withmany climbing aboardtheir trucks with the cloth-ing they had worn to workthat morning. Operatorsand equipment from FlinFlon played a major role inthe construction of the 7-mile Norwood dike and avariety of other tasks. Wespoke with Mr. Albert W.(Ab) Judd, now retired inKelowna, B.C., who wasone of the HBM&S driverswho took part in the con-voy of vehicles toWinnipeg. Mr. Judd said, “Itwas a long time ago but Iremember our crew work-ing mainly on roads anddikes.” He recalls otherHBM&S employees includ-ing Hanley Dahle, DaveMcDonald, Sandy Davie,Gordon Smith, and FrankBlackmon all participatedin the flood assistance.

Back in Flin Flon (thethird largest centre in

Manitoba at the time), sup-port work and serviceswent into high gear. Anappeal over the radio sta-tion CFAR resulted in thecollection of hundreds ofsandbags, which were col-lected by Reliance Servicesfor shipment to Winnipeg.On May 10, 1950 the localbranch of the Red Crossmoved into the picture fol-lowing a request fromWinnipeg for accommoda-tion for refugees from theflooded areas. An appealwas sent out to local arearesidents who owned sum-mer homes to supply theircamps and cottages to fam-ilies to be sent to Flin Flon

until the flood abated.Plans were put in place toaccommodate up to 400evacuees. Church groupsbecame involved, with theSt. James Church raising$80 in a single Sundayservice. Ham radio opera-tor Bob Forester offered hisservices after establishingcontact with another ama-teur operator in The Paswho was in contact withWinnipeg flood control.

On the 10th of May, theFlin Flon Boy Scouts wereorganized to conduct atown wide canvass to col-lect rubber boots, woollensweaters, and other cloth-ing for the flood victims

Message fromBev Desjarlais, MPChurchill Riding

Constituency OfficesThompsonPh: 677-1333Fax: 677-1339

Toll Free: 1-888-260-2231

The PasPh: 627-1440Fax: 627-1449

Camping, boating, enjoyinga day at the beach...it’s allpossible in our northerncottage country.

Have Funand Play Safe!

(late) Major Ben Grimmelt (far right) poses with the first flight of local reservearmy soldiers airlifted out to Winnipeg by Canadian Pacific Airlines from theChanning Airport. May 9, 1950.

SUBMITTED PHOTO


of Winnipeg. By noon onthe 11th of May piles ofboots and clothing werebuilding up in the JubileeHall. After an appeal tolocal business firms forshipping boxes, the sup-plies left on the eveningtrain. Mrs. John Ambroseand Mrs. W. Barker and avolunteer committeemanned the collectiondepot; 2700 pounds of sup-plies were shipped to oursouthern neighbours.

On May 13, the DailyReminder headline read:“It’s Pretty Hard to Believe- Say Evacuees”. As the firstlarge group of about 65people arrived on the noontrain of the 13th of May,one victim remarked, “It’spretty hard to believe thatthis could happen toWinnipeg - you just have tosee it to know how awful itis.” The majority of the newarrivals to Flin Flon werewomen and children, witha sprinkling of elderly men.As one woman explained,

“The young men will justnot leave Winnipeg - theyare working so desperatelyto try to save our homes.”The president of the localRed Cross, Ron Dodge,

said, “Most evacuees werecoming to stay with friendsor relatives.” The train wasmet by the well organizedcommittee with numerouscar owners on hand to pro-vide transportation. HaroldPalmer was in charge ofthe local committee. In aneffort to determine justhow people felt about see-ing their beautiful cityflooded, and in many casesruined by raging waterfrom the wild Red River, aDaily Reminder reporterboarded the train atChanning and talked toseveral people on the wayto Flin Flon. One womanstated, “Why! This is some-thing you think that youwill only read about in thenewspaper.” Flood victimson the train originated fromMorris, Fort Rouge,Norwood and St.Vital.

One touching storyabout an elderly ladysums up the spirit andgenerosity of the peopleof this proud miningcommunity. Arriving bytrain was a dear old ladywho was forced to fleefrom a Winnipeg nursinghome to seek refuge withfriends in Flin Flon. By

accident, no one was onhand to meet the lady,who was going to 80Hapnot Street. The fewpossessions she had man-aged to save were packedin two shopping bags andon her coat was her nameand Flin Flon destination.A Daily Reminderreporter, with the help ofMr. Bernie Delaine, whowas on hand with his car,bustled the worried vic-tim off to her new lodg-ing. As she climbed intothe car she said, on theverge of tears, “But I haveno money for the fare.”There was no need toworry - she was in goodhands - she was in FlinFlon.

And so ends thisintriguing journey intoFlin Flon’s past. Noamount of research intoevents of 55 years agocan possibly mention allthe organizations, volun-teers, and indeed person-alities who shaped thecontribution of this city tothe Winnipeg flood of1950. Suffice it to say -congratulations to allinvolved - 55 years agothis month.

Convoy of vehicles departs HBM&S property for flood duty in Winnipeg. LeoCooper of HBM&S was in charge of the operation. May 10, 1950.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

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Asquirrel built hisfool nest in thechimney every

spring. When Grannylit the first fire to dispel

the remnants of winterfrost, the smoke wouldfill the cabin, belchingout of the cracksaround the stove lids.The furious chitter andclatter of tiny pin pricksacross the roof told her

that the squirrels hadvacated and the cabinwas ours for the holi-days.

We spent our sum-mer there from earlyJuly to late August. Weattempted to make

truce with the usurpedfluff tails by offeringthem cracker crumbsand fresh peanuts outof the shell. By mid-August, the bribesbegan to work and theywould come right up to

Patricia VickeryCOTTAGE NORTH


the cabin door to acceptthem, not from ourhands, but almost fromthe tips of our fingers.

Granny told us thatthe cabin was neverlocked during the winter.In the north, she told us,a trapper or Indian mightneed to stop over a fewdays. She always leftflour, firewood, sugarand tea and a goodheavy fry pan with thewarm bedding and oldmagazines in the cabinwhen she went away inthe fall. And when shereturned in the spring,the flour and sugar andthe tea would be gone:everything else would beas neat as she herself hadleft it. Sometimes therewould be a muskrat peltor rabbit skin hanging onone of the walls.

We used to wrap our-selves in blankets andhuddle in the centre ofthe bed, convulsivelumps of grey. We staredat the cabin’s narrowwindows and terrifiedeach other with tales ofwolverines, those viciousnorthern wraiths, jump-ing in through those win-dows in the dead ofnight.

Granny never laughed

at our imaginings. Shewas small and tannedwith high cheek bonesand bright brown eyes:one of those fascinatingwomen whose strengthof features spoke honest-ly for the other strengthshe possessed - a greatlove of the outdoors. Sheaccepted it on its ownterms and made no pre-tense at seeing it asmerely beautiful. For

Granny, life was thechild’s world of accept-ance where all the ruleswere external and all thefreedoms were inside themind.

The bush belonged toGranny, as far as wewere concerned, andtherefore it was oursalso. Each summer fortwo months, we weregranted her peculiarlyclassical form of liberty.We could enjoy the wildramble if we remem-bered that certain leaveswere nettles and gaveyou an itch, that bears

liked berries as much aswe did and that the lakewas a liar and might dou-ble cross us by puttingsandbars before suddendeeps.

So we learned likeCrusoe and Rousseau.When we encroachedupon nature’s liberty tospread her nettlesamongst tall grass, sheretaliated by robbing usof a night’s sleep by giv-

ing us a stinging itch. Weenjoyed picking berries,hunching into the grasswith our legs bent at anangle which would giveus a good running start.Granny told us to keepour noses ready for thesmell of pig in the bush.That meant bear, theawkward, affectionateforager of garbage cansand berry bushes.

We picked strawber-ries, raspberries, occa-sionally blueberries andsaskatoons. But I couldnever bring myself topick what Granny called

dewberries. I would gazefor long moments atthese clear gemlike clus-ters of red with their tinystems and leaflets. Theywere shy, did not flauntthemselves and did notlast very long, so I leftthem. Small green gartersnakes and hair snakeswere, like the wolverinesand bears, daily threatsto our peace of mind. Weadopted them as ourmilder excitements. Totie a hair snake in threeknots and watch its balletin the water straighteningitself out took only a fewseconds of absorption.To see a garter snakeslipping across our pathwas only worth onesqueal. But the watermoccasin, that enemy ofpaddlers at lake’s edge,was our secret contem-plative delight. Thoughno one had ever seenone in northern waters, itserved, like the mythicalsea serpent, to put thattiny cramp of horror inthe spine.

We built rafts and onoceanic days of stormran pajama tops up as aflag and let the wavesbuffet and bash us backtowards the shore, fallingand flailing against each

PHOTO BY DAWNE LABINE

“Granny told us to keep our nosesready for the smell of pig in the

bush.That meant bear...”


other and screaming“Ahoy!” till our throatsached. Anyone who felloff the raft was left tofind himself a sandbar ora great rock upon whichto wait for the next longheave-ho of the raft out

from shore.Or we used a senile

rowboat with batteredoars to convey a gullibleone out to one of the bigrocks. “Get out. We’llthrow you the rope,” wecried. But we never did.

That gullible one learnedto be a strong and deter-mined swimmer thatway. The rest of us stilldog paddle cautiouslyclose to the dock!

We had a Paul Bunyanuncle. In the mornings,

we awoke to the soundof bacon snapping in thefry pan. One of his greatlumberjack shouts got usout on the cold floor. Hewould then open creamcans with the axe or cuthuge slices of bread

PHOTO BY DAWNE LABINE

The British ARTiques Roadshow

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with the saw. He dideverything with a flour-ish, shouting wild ideasto us about his plans forthe day. We wouldexplore the caves in theother inlet far across theleft side of the lake! Thenin the evening we wouldbuild a monster beachfire! They had made anew clearing in the bushand we could use all thatheap of branches forfuel! We would roastwhole beavers on theends of sticks and collectbulrushes and dunk themin kerosene to light themfor running along thesand, whirling them inthe air to reflect in thewater. We never did anyof these fantastic thingsall in one day thoughmost of them as promiseseventually held good. Itwas our fashion tobelieve everything hesaid. He knew that welived for the day whenwe would do all these

things at once just for thesheer joy of staggering,sun burnt and utterlyexhausted into bed at theend of that glorious free-for-all.

We rambled or ranalong the edge of thewater as our mood suitedus. The gifts from othershores and the lake bot-tom were innumerable -shells and strange stonesand branches whosebark was watered grey. Itpeeled off like maskingtape. Peeling them pro-duced slim blonde wood,no longer sticky withnew sap but seamed bythin cracks, having driedand been dampenedmany times over. Wesaved them, bark and all,for kindling.

But the lake itself wasthe greatest mystery.Somehow we never gotlost on land. The bushgave us generous hints tokeep our memories busyon the home trail. A

small scrub pine, a rustycan, a group of gossipybirches, the sight ofsmoke further on helpedour direction. But thelake in itself was a mov-ing force and the waterhad its own strangewarning in the beguilingrhythm of its waves. Thelake had a series of bays,our beach was the largestand because of the longhorizon and the blue-green gradations in thewater, it looked like anocean. On bitter stormydays when it had thepower of the windbehind it, the lake wasan enemy. On thosedays, we ran into thecabin, shivering with theexhilaration of defeat,and stared out the win-dow at the water soaringup over the dock andslamming itself againstthe beach.

But the warm sum-mer evenings found usout along the beaches

again listening to thesand snipes and thefrogs, watching the flickand dance of fire flies inthe tall grass and count-ing stars until the callfor bed came.

We always spent anhour in the cabin beforebed. We learned earlynot to touch either cob-webs or the silk ashenmantles in the lamp, forthey fell apart at thefirst fingering and thenthe delight was gone.

The shadowsamongst the rafters, thenight sounds outsideand the hum of thelamps inside made usdrowsy. Outside thepines murmured apleasant good night.The floating dock bang-ing against the sandgave us a rhythm tolend to our breathing.And so we surrenderedslowly to sleep.

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With the expansion of the HomeImprovement and DecoratingCentre, we are committed tobuilding a dedicated customersupport team in the following areas:

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If you feel committed to being a part of this new team,whether it is full-time or part-time, we invite you toappply for any of the above positions.A valid driver’s license is required for the Yard position.Experience in working with computers, and any flooring,building material or renovations knowledge is a definiteasset.Please bring in your resume, addressed to Shirley or Ann,to The Pas Home Building Centre - 143 Edwards Ave.We thank you in advance for your application, but onlythose considered for an interview will be contacted.The Pas Home Building CentreBox 180The Pas, MB R9A 1K2Phone: (204) 623-5471Fax: (204) 623-2641Locally Owned and Operated

It started at 4:00 a.m. -two hardy fishermen fromFlin Flon were the first toarrive - did it do them anygood? They kept oursecurity guard companyuntil two more from FlinFlon arrived at 5:00 andmore came at 6:30. Intotal we had about 750people there by 10:00.The attendance wasdown about 150 fromaverage. Why? Whoknows?

Just before 9:30 wedrew some prizes for theearly birds. We gave away

four tickets to BillBannock 2006. Then wedrew for the specialholes. Five people eachtook one partner to twoholes in the open areasbetween the spokes. Oneof the fish was caught inthe special holes.

At about 10:30 a.m.somebody caught the firstfish (around 28 inches);too bad the derby didn’tstart until 11:00 a.m.!! Wehad it on the radio adsand in the rules - guesswe should have stapled itsomewhere!

The weather was nicefor a while although theslush conditions were ter-

rible. Warren Heidmancaught the first fish at11:31 - 19 inches (eighthplace), Brent Danylcocaught the second at11:40 - 23 inches (secondplace), Liz Rodinskicaught the third at 12:20 -22 inches (fourth place),Wayne Johnson caughtthe fourth fish at 12:26 —27 inches which turnedout to be the winner, EdAntonio caught the fifthat 12:35 - 20 1/8 inches(fifth place), EdAndrachuk caught thesixth fish at 12:46 - 22 5/8inches (third place), BrentDanylco (ya-same guy)caught the seventh fish at

1:08 - 22 inches (fifthplace) and Ray Danylcocaught the eighth fish at1:25 - 21 inches (sixthplace). We heard thatthere were a few moreclose calls but nothingelse measured.

The weather didn’tstay good for long - wehad rain, sleet, snowand wind! The Cadetshad to start transportingpeople back to shore assome had had enough!A couple of Rotarianswere delivering prizesto the people fishingand they had a heck of atime in the slush and

Bill Bannock asuccess for some!

Win

See Page 3 for details

Rick HubbsCOTTAGE NORTH


poor weather. ButTHANKS to our manysponsors we were ableto give out 80 mixedbags with some goodstuff in them.

Don Lamont waswalking around visiting;he found lots of peoplehe knew. The com-ments were prettyfavourable for Rotaryand the Bill BannockClassic. About 1:30 theweather started turningnice again and by clos-

ing time at 2:00 it wasgreat.

We gave 27 prizeseven though there wasonly eight fish caught.

First prize was $5,000cash plus a 16 ft. Lundand 50 hp Johnson, sec-ond prize was a Honda350 quad, while thirdprize was a 53” TV withsurround sound. Otherprizes included Calm Airtickets, rod and reel,Jiffy 10” augers, Lundjackets, clocks, binocu-

lars, gift certificates, andmuch more.

We drew for the50/50 and TrevorBentley took home$1,650. Then the bigdraw for the Polarisquad had DennisZaharia as the luckywinner. We are sorry toreport that no onecaught Lonesome Marywhich would have wonthem a nice 4x4 truck.YES - she was tagged!We did witness that!

The sun came out,we cleaned up and wereon our way home by5:30.

Next year we arethinking of having BillBannock on the week-end after Spring Breakis over. Basically thesame prizes and sameformat. We invite any-one who would like tocomment; please fellfree to contact thewriter at: Box 2578, ThePas, MB R9A 1M3.

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Story by RoyMcGinnis, with intro byJillian Betke

For those of us who livein the North, livingclose to, and being a

part of nature is a vital andfundamental part of whowe are. We may live at thelake (or feel like we do dur-ing the summer), we defi-nitely enjoy time in thegreat outdoors hiking,quadding or sledding, andwe certainly consider our-selves more in tune withMother Nature than oursouthern, citified counter-parts. But pride aside, whencompared to some of ourneighbours right here in theNorth, we must admit welive our day-to-day lives inthe modern world, timed,televisioned and tele-phoned. The actual practiceof ‘getting back to nature’might be one very few ofus, tough Northerners thatwe may be, could manage,let alone excel at. When wedo come across someonewho has not only experi-enced it but lived the life,

we can’t help but feel atwinge of admiration and apang of longing....Roy andElsie McGinnis of PaintLake, Manitoba are suchpeople. Trappers and out-doors people all their lives,the McGinnis’ have livedand worked hand in handwith nature, and trulyembody that endearingspirit of the North which weall like to claim a little pieceof. Here is (Roy’s versionof) their story....

I came to ThicketPortage February 17, 1950to work for a fellow forthree months loading pulp-wood into boxcars at 75cents per cord (the goingmoney in those days),working 12-14 hour days.We loaded the wood in thebush, hauled it ten milesand loaded it in the boxcarsbehind a D4 cat and foursleighs; I drove the cat backand forth. My brother and Idid the work and split thepay. Then as spring rolledaround, the fellow had a lit-tle sawmill so I stayed inThicket and helped on the

mill, which was just a smallone. After that, I nailed fishboxes, until fall rolledaround. This fellow alsocommercial fished, so Istayed on for the winter tolearn how to commercialfish.

Then in the followingspring an old crippled trap-per needed help, so I wentand trapped for him, butthe only thing I reallylearned how to do wascatch beaver, as that waswhat it was all about. Onebeaver per house, as therewas a quota on them at thattime, so I was allowed 56beaver and a few muskrat.With him being crippled, hecouldn’t come and showme the right way to catchmuskrats so with all myhard work, I got 200muskrats.

So we went to Thicket tosell our fur. There werethree buyers there, so afterthe lady tagged our beaverwe got $800 plus for the fur.We (the old trapper and I)split it 50/50, not bad forhard work in those days.

Then throughout the sum-mer following the next win-ter I commercial fished onmy own.

In 1952, I met my wifeElsie, she clerked at a storein Thicket Portage. Wedated through the winterand got married in June1953. We’ve trapped everywinter since 1963. She hadbeen raised on a trap line inthe early days of her life.She was capable of show-ing me how to continue ourlives as trappers. We raisedone daughter, Sylvia, whowent to school in the earlydays in Thicket Portage andthen later on in Thompson.She finished her Grade XIIat Laurier, Manitoba withhonours. She then cameback to Thompson andworked at the Fire Ranger’stower and later on with thetwo-way radios for NaturalResources for planes outwater-bombing fires. That iswhere she met her hus-band, as he was an observ-er on the bombers at thetime. They married andmoved back to Nova Scotia

From Thicket Portage to Thompsonby Trapline


(where her husband hailedfrom) where they still live tothis day. They run a U-pickfarm, where the main cropis high bush blueberries.They had three children,two girls and a boy.

We also sort of adopteda nephew of my wife’s whowe have raised since 1960,Kelly McKenzie. He lovesthe trap line but hasn’tmade a life’s career out of it.The boy works for MBHydro in Thompson butcomes to camp lots andhelps me keep my trappingtrails open. There are lots ofbush trails and lakes withlots of water coming up,and this year’s heavy snow-fall makes for heavy slush.

In 1962, I took a job asPark Foreman at Paint Lakeuntil 1973. Then I switchedover to the Head FireRanger in Thompson until Iretired in 1996. The wifeElsie was the cook at thePark Camp at Paint Lake for11 years (started in a tentcooking for my seven or

eight men). But of course,being Natural Resources,there were survey crewsand firefighters, so manytimes it was 20 people tofeed out of the tent. Welived in tents at that samelocation for two summersuntil they made abunkhouse for the men anda cookhouse for the wife.

When I went toThompson to be the fireranger (eight miles on thelake each morning andnight, plus a 25 mile driveto town), she stayed at ourcamp which is on PaintLake and grew a king-sizegarden including strawber-ries, which are still goodand growing to this day.Also, we always had lots ofvegetables and the wifecanned moose meat in jarsfor us. The tomatoesripened on the vine, alwayshad lots to give away comefall; potatoes, carrots, andtomatoes. Of course, Ialways hoed the potatoes.We also ate lots of beaver,

muskrats and rabbits, whichwe both like yet. She start-ed doing beadwork andmaking things, slippers,mukluks and jackets.

Our camp is on the mainland, as it turns out, not anisland. Over the last 12years we have made a trailthrough the bush that youcan drive a four-wheelertrike on to get there in thesummer by back roads; partof it is old Manfor (Tolko)roads for about eight miles,the balance of the threemiles by bush, swamps andcreeks. Our nephew I men-tioned built a bridge acrossone creek, which heworked at for two days toget there.

Our camp on Paint Lakeis a frame building, whichwe built ourselves with thehelp of a few good neigh-bours. Also on the locationare three other log build-ings (one from 1945) builtby my previous line holder;we use all three yet. I useone of the old log cabins

built by my predecessor fora fur shack, so it’s com-pletely separate from thehouse. In it we have batter-ies for 12 volt power to runlights and a small black andwhite TV. We charge ourbatteries from a solar panelwhich is in the garden awayfrom the lake. We movedout to this trap line in 1971.

However, before that welived on a trap line onOspwagon Lake at themouth of the Taylor River.We built that log cabin our-selves along with a smallgarage for a snow machine.We looked after our fur inour cabin in those days.Also had an out-camp outof logs up the Taylor Riverabout 11-12 miles.

As for some of the dan-gers we’ve had on the trapline....at our out-camp upthe Taylor River, there was alog cabin. All we had on itfor a window was plastic sowe could tip it or take it outin the spring when theplace was too hot. So one

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spring in early May in ablinding snowstorm, wewere asleep and a blackbear walked right by theplastic window about twofeet from Elsie’s head, as wewere asleep and neverheard him in the storm.

Also over the years onthe trap line, at the samecamp location, I was stay-ing at another camp as Ihad a fur shack there tolook after my fur in. Eachmorning I’d run over andsee that everything was finewith Elsie, have breakfastand take a day’s lunch withme. This one particularspring, a 4 or 500 lb. bearshowed up. She took therifle and shot it at 80 yards;it was starting to get dusk,but if she hadn’t done it itwould have given her noth-ing but trouble all night, aswe had beaver hides hang-ing in the porch of thecabin. Over the years on thetrap line she shot 10-12bears, sometimes for whatwe could get out of the furand other times because the

summer time bears are nui-sances.

Also one fall, at ourcamp on Paint Lake, I wasaway with a friend of mine

hunting moose and we gothome about 8:30 in thedark, and she had shot athree-year-old bull mooseright in our yard. She said

we wouldn’t have to keephunting, as she had themeat at home. We sure gota bit of ribbing about that,and still do.

The fur shack.SUBMITTED PHOTO

Cabin built on the Taylor River in 1966 (burned down in 1984).SUBMITTED PHOTO


As for fur prices, back inabout 1968, I averagedabout $20 a piece for mylynx if I was lucky andabout $15-$18 for beaver.Now a half decent lookedafter lynx is worth about$200, and beaver are lots ofhard work and still onlyaverage $28-$30 a piece.Back in those days, therewere no marten in thiscountry at all. Now thereare quite a few with anaverage of $60 to $75 apiece. Some time ago, I got$85 but not many like that.Back in 1972, I had twomink on a sale and I got$106 a piece for them, butthere weren’t many minkthen; now they only aver-age $20 a piece. There arestill a few bears around, butI only take them if they area nuisance, leaving them forthe sport hunter. There areover populated beaver, butit’s a bad price for theamount of work that has togo into getting them.

Weather has alwaysaffected what we do, butwe play it by the day, bothwinter and summer. When Iused to work in the sum-mer time, I only missed oneday over 22 years. I wasback and forth to work onthe lake, but in winter time,if it was 40 below and

winds of 50 or better, Iworked the bush as muchas possible to keep out ofthe wind, because therewere a few mean days.

Elsie with her beadworkwas mostly in camp, andwe have a trappers’ radioon which she talked tomany people each day andwas able to help lots ofthem out from time to time.We have a governmentradio, and in life and deathsituations, she would helpthem out by callingResources and getting them

Some of Elsie’s beadwork.SUBMITTED PHOTO

Roy and Elsie McGinnis at their cabin on Paint Lake.SUBMITTED PHOTO

Some of Elsie’s beadwork on mukluks.SUBMITTED PHOTO


to make a phone call totheir hometown to getsomeone from the commu-nity to get on the trappers’radio and then thingswould work out for them.

As for awards, we’vegotten plaques from theTrappers’ Association andNatural Resources, somelawn chairs from theTrappers’ Association andalso a yard sign to putdown by the lake that wasmade by a fellow withNatural Resources. A veryfine sign, which has ournames “Elsie & RoyMcGinnis”, with a pictureof a marten on it. Alsoover the years, I’ve gottenmany awards for my furfrom the North AmericanTrappers’ Association. It isbased on how well youlook after your fur; not thevalue of the pelt, but howthe fur has been handled.

Over the years, I havetaken people on the trapline with me to show howa trapper makes a living.In 1972, I took a fellow

from England with me andhe took lots of picturesand was supposed to sendme some but never did.He only sent a small clip-ping out of his paper fromEngland. I also took a fel-low out fromCopenhagen, Denmark in2003 for a trip with me. Itwas a very interesting trip;he took pictures and sentme a book with the pic-tures and article in it.Through a close friend ofours, he keeps track of uson the Internet.

I first started trappingwith dogs in 1963, butlater sold them and got asnow machine. Now I usea machine to do my trap-ping and have ever since1964. But the costs can bevery high, almost makesme wish I was back with adog team. Over the yearswith machines, it’d breakdown on the road and I’dhave to walk home - 18miles! With a dog team,that would never happenas they never break down.

But I guess I wouldn’thave been able to handlesuch a big line with a dogteam.

As an old friend ofmine once said, “If I hadlife to live over again, Iwould do the same thingover again.” We haveenjoyed it very muchbeing on our own. You areyour own boss, do whatyou want, the way youwant, with nobody to tellyou how or which way. Asfor sickness, we have beenvery lucky, up until thislast year and a half. Nowwe live in an apartment intown, as Elsie is not reallywell, but we are hopingshe gets better so we cango back to the bush, as westill hold our trap line. Aclose friend of ours trapson it to keep my furrecords up, so I won’t losethe line. As for sickness onthe trap line, we havebeen very lucky there too.A friend would call us onthe government radioonce in a while to see how

we were. One morning,the wife had a very soretooth, so he flew out byhelicopter and picked herup and brought her totown by helicopter to thehospital. She didn’t get thetooth out, but got peni-cillin to slow down theswelling. She stayed withour granddaughter for afew days. Then she camehome later on the snowmachine with me, throughlots of terrible slush, butwe made it with the sup-port of this same friend. (Iforgot to mention: the daybefore, he’d taken his ownwife to the hospital with aswollen face. Elsie’s wason one side, and his wife’swas on the other. A prettymean guy I’d say, twowomen in two days!) We’llbe happy to get back tocamp and carry on.

There are many storiesabout life on the trap line,so I’ll guess I call it a day,or the next thing youknow, I will be writing abook.

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Located on the edge of theCanadian Shield in northeast-ern Saskatchewan is Phelps

Lake, a glacier-formed 32 mile longbody of water known for its fantas-tic structure. Rock outcroppingsand sand eskers adorn the lake’sawe-inspiring scenery; it is dappledby countless islands and supportedby numerous tributaries. PhelpsLake provides superb habitat forthe fish residents, however on thesurface appears to be just anothernorthern lake. But what liesbeneath the surface is where themystery begins.

Phelps Lake’s remote locationhas allowed it to escape the mod-ern day invasion of the prospectorsand the square hook fisherman.Having never been commercially orrecreationally fished, Phelps Lakejust recently opened up to anglingand the outfitting industry in the1990’s. When anglers first cast theirlures upon its surface and broke thewater, they found a healthy andvigorous fishery teaming withworld class trophy fish. Schools ofLunker Lake Trout were foundinhabiting the depths, the predato-ry Northern Pike defending theshallows, and Grayling, Whitefishand Suckers patrolling the incomingwaters. All appeared normal for alake of its size, until one fish was

raised from the depths that did notlook normal.

This fish, which has adopted thename ‘The Mystery Trout’, firstappeared in 1995 and has sinceappeared three more times in thefollowing years. In practice withcurrent conservation, all four fishwere released back into the watersfrom which they came. While itstrue identity has eluded everyoneso far, all four fish caught to datewere about the same size and havelooked similar in their shape andskin patterns. As they have beencaught at different parts of the lakeand years apart, it begs to differ thatthese are not the same fish, butmultiple fish of a different nature.

Once photos of this oddity circu-lated the wider fishing community,

many theories were posed by lead-ing experts around the continent asto the species and origin of this rar-ity:

Dr. Robert Behnke fromColorado State University, one ofthe top men in the U.S. forSalmonid identification, was puz-zled at first, but finally hauleddown an old book printed in GreatBritain and found some paintingsthat looked very much like thisMystery Trout. The one that lookedthe most like it, in terms of mark-ings, was a hybrid between a Charand Brown Trout.

Dr. E. J. Crossman, CuratorEmeritus from The Centre forBiodiversity and ConservationBiology at the Royal OntarioMuseum, theorized the pattern is

Submitted by Brent Osika /Wolf Bay Lodge

Historical Arctic Char range in Canada (shaded area)

(Fig. 1)


slightly reminiscent of aTiger Trout, a BrookTrout/Brown Trouthybrid.

Steven J. Herringtonfrom Dept. of Fisheries atAuburn University inAlabama believes the evi-dence points to theMystery Trout as being agenetic mutant, or colourvariant, of the Lake Trout.

Others experts havesuggested that it may bean Arctic Char/Lake Trouthybrid or again a BrownTrout/Brook Trout hybrid(commonly called a TigerTrout). However, theTiger Trout is strictly ahatchery fish that doesnot occur naturally, therehas never been stockingprograms of Tiger Troutanywhere near the PhelpsLake, and Brown orBrook Trout do not inhab-it the area either. What isknown, though, by thefishes’ shape and featuresis that they originate fromwithin the Salmonid fami-ly of fish.

Lake Trout and ArcticGrayling are the onlySalmonids (besides white-fishes) collected in PhelpsLake. It is doubtful thatit’s a mix between the lat-ter two due to their differ-ent spawning times andhabits; Lake Trout in thefall at night and Grayling

in the spring during day-light. Plus the generalappearance and lack ofany reports describinghybridization of the twodo not support the theoryeither.

Salmonids (trout,salmon and whitefish) aregenetically a ‘plastic’ fish,meaning that they canexhibit a wide variation ofdifferent colour patterns,shapes, feeding and habi-tat preferences within a

species. The Lake Troutexhibit this genetic “plas-ticity”, with widely differ-ing colours and shapes, asseen in Phelps Lake. Theyare noted for beingamong the most plastic ofthe chars, with severalstrains having distinctmarkings identified fromthe Great Lakes and else-where. Examples of thisare the Siscowet fromLake Superior, or theAurora Trout from south-

ern Ontario. Although these are

considered to be sub-species of trout, there aremany other differentgenetic mutants (colourvariants) that are not sub-species, but merely justthe byproduct of repro-duction. This speciesexhibits these colour vari-ants with some frequencyalthough, on a whole,these variants are general-ly rare. These mutants

Natural Char/Lake Trout Hybrid.SUBMITTED PHOTO

Author holding Mystery Trout specimen.SUBMITTED PHOTO

(Fig. 2)

(Fig. 3)


occur naturally and arenot the byproduct of pol-lution or the like.

The posed theory ofLake Trout/Arctic Charhybrids is doubtful in thiscase because Arctic Charare not native toSaskatchewan and no onehas collected or angledArctic Char fromSaskatchewan waters, letalone Phelps Lake. This isalso a very rare phenome-non between these twospecies due to their gen-eral and reproductivebiology. The range ofArctic Char as seen in Fig.1 is still quite far north ofPhelps Lake.

However… aresearcher with theFisheries Board ofCanada has recently beendoing research into thesenaturally occurring LakeTrout/Arctic Char hybridswithin the NorthwestTerritories and Nunavut.He has captured some ofthese oddities from the

northern waters ofCanada and says:

“Your mystery fishlooks very much likeLake Trout that I sawacross the Arctic, whichalmost exclusivelyoccurred in lakes whereArctic Char or Lake Trout/Arctic Char hybrids werefound. My workinghypothesis is that thehybridization event dis-rupts a developmentalgene that controls the for-mation and expression ofmelanophores (like pig-ments) in the skin, there-by altering the finalcolour phenotype (skincharacteristic). The possi-bilities are interesting,and your fish are proba-bly the southernmostlimit of these morphs, ifthis is the case.”

As can be seen fromFigs. 2 and 3, the naturalhybrid caught in the farnorth (Fig. 3 - #112) hassimilar markings to theMystery Trout of Phelps

(Fig. 2), although certainfeatures, like the under-lying skin colour and finvermiculations, remaindifferent.

In the summer of2004, at the request ofthe researcher, staff andguests from Wolf BayLodge collected adiphosefin samples from 50 LakeTrout from Phelps Lake.Most of the samplingswere from ‘normal’ look-ing Lakers, but some‘oddities’ were sampledalso. The samples havebeen forwarded to theOntario Forensics Centrefor further DNA analysisto determine if ArcticChar genes do exist inSaskatchewan waters. Ifthere are Arctic Chargenes in Phelps Lake,this would push theirrange far more souththan previously thought.

If there are not Char inthe Phelps Lake waters,and these ‘morphs’ occurnaturally and are repro-

ducing and passing thegenetics onto the nextgeneration, is it evolvinginto a subspecies of LakeTrout? At what point in afish’s evolution is it con-sidered to be a sub-species like the Siscowetor Aurora Trout, as com-pared to just a raregenetic morph?

While these questionsstill remain and whateverthe final findings may be,these trout are extraordi-narily interesting, and arereally a prize to have inPhelps Lake! Whether theanonymity of the MysteryTrout will be solved byDNA analysis, or the fish’strue identity will stayanonymous remains to beseen.

Wolf Bay Lodge,Phelps Lake,Saskatchewan

Toll Free: 1-866-220-1346

www.wolfbaylodge.ca

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Now displayed in theFlin Flon Station Museum,the Lake Trout caught onLake Athapapuskow onOctober 22, 1930 byLeone Hayes Graysonstood as the World RecordLake Trout angling recordfor over 30 years. It alsostood as the largest Lakerever caught by hook and

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line in Manitoba for over60 years. Her story, toldyears later, of the eventsthat day.

“I was spending sometime with my cousins,George and BillWinterton, at their fishcamp on LittleAthapapuskow. The campwas in the Narrows lead-ing into what is nowPickerel Bay - at that timeit was the 8 ChainPortage. I went fishingwith the two boys to tryto bring home some foodfor the dogs and our-selves. It was late in thatOctober afternoon thatmy cousins and I paddledour way from camp in abig freight canoe. Wewere fishing by what wereferred to as ‘bald rock’ -now called Gull Island.This was on LittleAthapap, not far from thepresent Camp Whitney.The boys were fishingwith a few hundred feetof that old-fashioned

green trolling line and Ihad a line out also. Wewere fishing real deepwhen I hooked onto afish, and when it came tothe surface we saw it wasa big one.We got itn e a renough tothe canoeto use along-han-dled gaffand hauledit in. Afterwe hadlanded suf-ficient fishwe startedhome anddecided togo down to the railroad atthe south end of PickerelBay. The conductor onthe train from The Pas toFlin Flon, GeorgeAnderson, had been verygood to us, stopping by topick us up and bring themail many times, so whenthe train came along we

gave him the big trout.”She continues, “From

here on I can only tell youwhat I have heard andread, and I understandthat Mr. Anderson’s super-

i n t e n -d e n twas onthe traint h a tnight, sothe con-d u c t o rp a s s e dthe bigtrout onto him.H ea p p a r -e n t l yarranged

to have the fish mountedand presented to theHonourable JohnBracken, Premier ofManitoba at that time. Iwas told by Tom Lamb ofThe Pas a few years laterthat the mounted fish washanging in the LegislativeBuildings in Winnipeg and

a small tag on the mount-ing carried my name. I didhear later that the fish hadweighed 63 1/2 pounds. Ialso understand it held theworld’s title for some 30years.”

After many years in theLegislative Building, thefish was transported to beon display at the SamWaller Museum in ThePas. On a request byLeone Hayes Graysonprior to her death, it waspresented to the Flin FlonMuseum in 1992 by herfamily, where it hasremained since. There isalso recognition of therecord-breaking catch atLake Athapap, with acairn erected at BakersNarrows in 1991.

The official measure-ments of this record fishwere 47.5 inches (1.2 m)long with a weight of 63pounds (28.6 kg). Withnumbers like that, defi-nitely a fishing storyturned legend.


Generally, curling is amajor winter sportin many of

Manitoba’s communities;this is particularly so in themunicipalities of the North.Some might say that it isbred into youngsters, andno doubt there are familieswho outfit children with abroom and slider aroundthe same time they getthem into skates. Mostyoung people learn thefiner intricacies of this“roaring game” throughphysical education classesat school and those whotake it on as their chosensport, gain further knowl-edge through curling rinkmentorship and yearly clin-ics available through CurlCanada.

However, every kidsince 1954, who has gonethrough school in SnowLake, has gone through thesame initiation to the game.

It has not only providedthem with a basis in curl-ing, but also with solidmemories of the fun andchallenge of rifling a rockdown the ice and having itstick right where you wantit. Well, almost right whereyou wanted it!

The Snow LakeCordwood Bonspiel takesplace each year during thethird weekend in March, inthe Wilfred T. LiptonArena. Every child fromGrade One to Grade Six isplaced on a team andthroughout the weekendthey curl until winnersemerge in each of the bon-spiel’s three events.

Up until five years ago,all the fun and challenge ofthe Cordwood was nothingbut a memory for anyoneolder than twelve. But in2000, that policy took anovel change. That’s whenLynore Spruyt, the VicePrincipal at J.H. KerrSchool, and Gordon Cann,a town recreation employ-

ee, got to talkingabout some furtheruses for the (alreadypainted for curling)ice surface in thelocal arena. “I canremember Gordymentioning that thearena ice would begoing out shortlyafter theCordwood,” saidSpruyt. “He felt thatit was really too badthat there wasn’tsomething beingdone with it atnight, after the kidshad finished theirCordwood draws.”

The discussionevolved, and theidea of having anAdult Cordwoodafter each after-noon’s’ kids’ drawwas spawned. “I

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Snow Lake’s Adult Cordwood BonspielMarc JacksonCOTTAGE NORTH


took it to our school’sClimate Committee and weall thought it would boostthe number of people get-ting involved, as well asschool morale,” Spruytexplained. “Everyonecouldn’t help but have agreat time,” she added.

Spruyt says that thecommittee also felt thatthere were some studentsin grades seven to twelve,who somewhat missedcurling in the Cordwood.“We were originally goingto do it just for these olderkids, but then we thought,why not involve the par-ents and older people aswell,” she said. “Some of uson the committee alsonoticed that a few parentsin the crowd, who werefairly competitive, wereconveying that spirit totheir children on the ice.We thought that these par-ents should try it. I meanit’s been a real eye openerfor a lot of folks. Anyonewho has been after their

kids to throw harder or aimstraighter need only comedown on the ice and seehow tough it really is. Youcertainly get a whole newperspective. And, ofcourse, everyone on thecommittee thought itlooked like fun and weneeded an excuse to play,so it was born out of that.It pretty much just snow-balled from there. It’s a funtime and a lot harder thanit looks.”

In order to accommo-date the Cordwood, thearena in Snow Lake goes

through a major transfor-mation. Gordon Cann andseveral of his co-workerspaint the rings and lines forfive sheets of ice betweenthe arena bluelines. Theyfreeze pieces of rubberbelting into the end of eachsheet. These work perfectin emulating curling hacks.A number of years back,Cann made up properscoreboards for the spiel.These are attached to theboards in front of thearena’s player boxes. Healso experimented exten-sively with various types ofwood, before finally com-ing up with the perfectcordwood rocks. With aweight and hardnessunlike most tree speciesnative to the area, Birch isdeemed the wood ofchoice. Cann soaks eachrock in linseed oil. This notonly extends their life, butalso eliminates a tendencyfor the wood to split.“When we were makingthem out of Spruce, I’d

have to turn a new setevery year,” said Cann.“The first set of Birch rocksI made lasted six years andI think we’ll get even morethan that out of the setwe’re using right now.”

As noted, the bonspiel’sorganizing committee is theJ.H. Kerr School ClimateCommittee. This is a groupof school employeeswhose mission is toimprove the climate in theschool and thereby themorale of the employees.With this project, they aretaking that mandate out-side the walls of J.H. Kerrand have done a wonder-ful job of bringing the com-munity together for thisannual weekend of Springfun and foolery.

Spruyt states that thegroup decides at a ClimateCommittee meeting who isgoing to do what. “CathyStabback (AdministrativeSecretary) is our chairper-son, Jodi Kowalchuk(Grade 1) is the Secretary,

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I looked after the draw,Esther Ward (Grade 3) andLyn MacDougall(Education Assistant)bought the prizes thisyear,” said Spruyt. “NicoleLampkin (GuidanceCounsellor) and our stu-dent representative, JordonFisher, are also on the com-mittee. The rest of thework is divvied upamongst us and away wego.”

The Adult Cordwoodhad 22 teams last year andthey have had as many as27 teams in prior years.The committee tries to buyas many prizes in town asthey can. And althoughthere is a minimal registra-tion fee and they normallyhold a 50/50 draw, theevent tends to go in thehole, because as Spruytsays, “The prizes are sogood.”

“It’s a ‘Pick a Prize’ bon-spiel,” said Spruyt. “Andthere is a pretty goodchance of getting a prize.I mean we only had 14rinks entered this year.”However, while making upthe draw, Spruyt thought ifshe could get two moreteams entered, it wouldmake a perfect draw. “So Iphoned Bob and LynnMacKnight and asked ifthey could get a teamtogether and they endedup winning it,” she said.“On the other hand, I alsophoned and brought inMary-Ann Otto’s team, andshe ended up losing agame 17-2,” Spruyt chuck-led.

Unlike the real game ofcurling, skill and strategyare two attributes best leftat home. “There’s no skillinvolved… none at all,”said Spruyt. “In fact, I thinkthe more skill you have,the worse you do. It’spointless to practice, as norock will ever go whereyou want it. You just throwthe high hard one and praylike hell. Really, you couldthrow two rocks exactlythe same; one will whip

right through and the otherwill stop in the house.”

The Vice Principal com-mented on how funny itwas to watch some of thesame antics that kids prac-tice at the children’sCordwood, repeated at theadult spiel. “During thekids’ Cordwood, you see alot of children bangingtheir brooms on the ice infront of a rock, in order todeposit crud on the sheetand try to get their rock toslow down. You see par-ents doing the same thingin the adult spiel,” she saidwith a laugh.

Spruyt says that in theinitial draws, she tries tomatch student teamsagainst teams with olderpeople on them. Thisworked out well this yearas the MacKnight teamwon the first event and FlinFlon’s Celine Leclair teamwon the second event. TheMacKnight team, whichwas skipped by DonPlayford, and included hiswife Sherre as well as Boband Lynn MacKnight, beatout the six-man rink ofDarrel Spencer, DayneArmsworthy, CaseyCrowdis, Marshall Burgtorf,Scott Muese, and RyanHiggin in the final for thefirst event.

Crowdis and Burgtorfare a couple of Oklahomafilmmakers who were inSnow Lake filming a docu-mentary on the communityduring the time that thebonspiel took place. Dueto other commitments, theyonly curled one evening.“The two filmmakers fromOklahoma were supposedto leave on Friday, but Itold them they couldn’tleave without filming theCordwood,” said Spruyt. “Imean it’s a tradition. If youare trying to capture theessence of Snow Lake,well, that is Snow Lake. Itbrings out everyone intown. Anyway, they decid-ed to stay. Once that wasdetermined, I told themthat I could probably get

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them on a team and theteam I hooked them upwith ended up playing inthe final for the first event.These two guys had a greattime.”

Spruyt says that thebonspiel has a lot of fans,but there are some whoreally get into the spirit.“For the first couple ofyears, Glen McAuley andRobin Turnbull were thefirst persons on the signuplist,” she noted. “Well, lastyear a couple of peopleactually made name tags,so this year we had anematic contest (similar toa contest which is part ofthe kids’ Cordwood). Andwouldn’t you know it;Robin Turnbull’s team wonthat.” The Cordwood alsodraws students who comehome from university, anda lot of the people whotake part are graduates ofJ.H. Kerr. Actually, thebonspiel even had a teammade up of two returningalumni, all the way from

Vancouver. KellyMcDougall and ShannonJohnston curled withmom/sister, LynMcDougall.

“The adult Cordwoodhas become a tradition initself,” said Spruyt. “With

our student numbers goingdown (as a result of theclosure of New BritanniaMine), I don’t know whatwe’ll do with the kids’Cordwood next year. Thisyear there were 16 teamsin the adult bonspiel and

24 in the children’s. Wemight have to add parentsto the teams in the kids’spiel. Because sometimesit seems that we have justas many or more parentswho want to curl thanthere are kids.”

(L-R) Lyn McDougall and (all the way from Vancouver for the bonspiel) her sisterShannon Johnston and daughter Kelly McDougall.

PHOTO BY MARC JACKSON


Yes, you read thetitle right! There isgoing to be a musi-

cal premiere held righthere in this small miningtown of Flin Flon,Manitoba and this is howit came about:

Around 1982 there wasa young man namedMark Kolt, who was bornand raised in Winnipegand who was going tothe University ofManitoba studying music.

At the same time therewas a pretty womannamed Crystal Klapecki,who was also born andraised in Winnipeg andwho, too, was going tothe University ofManitoba taking music.

Well, they met oneday, and after graduatingCrystal taught privatepiano and theory lessons,while Mark worked withthe Royal Winnipeg

Ballet in the ProfessionalProgram and theContemporary Dancers ofCanada, accompanyingthe contemporary profes-sional group and the gen-eral dancers.

They both studied inNew York through 1983-84, commuting fromWinnipeg.

They were married in1984 and lived inWinnipeg for awhile. In1995, Mark, also being alawyer, got a job as theCity Solicitor in Flin Flon,Manitoba. Mark andCrystal, as well as Julian

and Katryn, all packed upand moved to Flin Flon.What a happy day forFlin Flon that was, as wewere soon to find out!

Years ago Flin Flonhad a glee club, but ithas since become inac-tive. Once here, Markand Crystal soon got theball rolling and musicwas once again revivedin this small community.Some seasons there wereas many as three produc-tions, as well as smallerscale cabarets that wereheld at RJ’s or RockyView. Mark got involvedin local bands such as OnThe Borderline, TheHanson Sisters, Krazz andthe Kritters, The LocalGuys and Borealis, inwhich both Mark andCrystal participated.

They were bothinvolved in churchchoirs, with Mark playingfor many years at theNorthminster UnitedChurch and then on to St.Ann’s Roman Catholic,where not only are theyboth involved but so, too,

are their children, Julianand Katryn.

Some of the produc-tions that they havedirected and conductedare Joseph and theAmazing TechnicolorDreamcoat, Flin FlonRemembers ‘Memories’,Titanic and Follies. Markalso wrote the story andcomposed the music forBombertown, whichbecame a local favourite,and in which severalencore performanceswere requested through-out its run. (During thistime Brandon was born,and Crystal would con-duct the choir with himstrapped in a BabyTrekker, perfectly contentto listen to the musichour after hour.) Markand Crystal also pro-duced many Christmasconcerts and have ledcarolers around Flin Flonto the delight of seniorsin their homes.

Then there were theclassical masterworkssuch as Handel’sMessiah, Verdi’s Requiem,

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Mark Kolt, Crystal Kolt and Elias Kulukundis.PHOTO BY GAIL BAKER

Musical to Premiere in Flin Flon

Gail BakerCOTTAGE NORTH


Mozart’s Requiem andDurufle’s Requiem, alongwith two performanceswith the SaskatoonSymphony Orchestra andone with the WinnipegSymphony Orchestra.The choir also had apresentation with the“Men of The Deeps”.

Besides this, they alsoboth taught music in theirown home; Mark teach-ing piano, violin andmore if required, whileCrystal taught piano andcello.

In 2002, members ofthe Flin Flon CommunityChoir were invited to goto Carnegie Hall in NewYork and sing with anall-Canadian choir theCeltic Mass For The Sea(an original work com-posed by Nova ScotianScott Macmillan). About25 members, along withMark and Crystal, madethe trip.

During the eveningcruise on a sail aroundthe New York Harbourafter the performance, aGreek man named EliasKulukundis, who lives inManhattan and is a ship-ping broker, was min-gling with the cast mem-bers and happened tomention that he hadwritten a libretto andwas looking for a com-poser to do the musicfor it.

Elias had startedsinging about ten yearsprevious, having heardmusic all his life. Hestated, “I wrote theFeasts of Memory, whichis a book of storiesabout Greek familiesand in it is “Three Bridesfor Kasos” and I reallywanted to find someonewho could write themusic for it.” Someoneon the boat mentionedthat Mark wrote music.One thing led to anoth-er, then one day Markreceived the libretto.That was in June of2002.

The story itself isabout an eligible doctorwho is being courted bytwo families. (Bear inmind that in those daysthe parents picked thegroom for their daugh-ters.) In the first act thedoctor somehowbecomes engaged toboth daughters.

In the second act, thedoctor is trying to getout of the engagementsand escape with his life.Traditions versus per-sonal liberties arepulling at him.

When asked about thethird bride, Elias smilesand says, “If you want toknow about her, youwill have to see theplay!”

Elias has also writtenThe AmorgosConspiracy, and if youwant more informationon his books you can goto www.thefeastsofmem-ory.com

Elias has come to FlinFlon from New York andhas met the 22-membercast, and he is verypleased with the choicesthat Mark and Crystalhave made. Mark was

able to find an actualperiod instrument on E-bay called a lyra becauseno formal music storescarried such an instru-ment. The lyra is actual-ly a national instrumentto Crete much the sameas the harp is to Ireland.

This appears to be awonderful show. Themusic is beautiful, sucha melodic and beautiful

score. The musical canbest be described as acomedy, with pathosand tragedy. It is a veryemotional and romanticstory, and one you don’twant to miss. The pre-miere in Flin Flon willbe followed by severalperformances inWinnipeg at theWinnipeg FringeFestival.

A chorus line from the production of Follies in which Mark was themusical director and Crystal was the choir director.

PHOTO BY GAIL BAKER

Lyra purchased on E-bay.PHOTO BY GAIL BAKER


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Air/cruise/tilt/PL,PW, heated seats(front), overload console, securilockantitheft, Canadian winter package,

remote keyless entry, traction control,ABS, Car & Driver 10 Best 5 year ina row, Consumers Digest Best Buy

heated seats/mirrors

$64 weekly**

2005 FordEscape XLT 4x4

3.0 L Duratec V6, 4 wheel disc brakesw/ABS w/quick brake assist, fog

lamps, remote keyless entry, personalsafety system, AM/FM radio w/6 discCD changer, securilock antitheft, 6way power driver seat, best selling

SUV in Canada, 4x4

$362 monthly****

2005 FordRanger 4x2 S/C

Edge

Air/cruise/tilt, CD, bucket seats, 4 sp.auto, full gauges (gas, tack, fuel,temp), fold down rear seats, box

liner, alloy wheels, V6 plus $1,000 ingenuine Ford Accessories FREE!

$299 monthly*

2005 Ford ExplorerSport Trac 4x4

Air/cruise/tilt/PW/PL/PM, 4x4,keyless entry/keypad on door,front buckets, CD tinted glass,

removable cooler/bag, roofrack, polished aluminum

wheels$379 monthly ****

2005 Ford TaurusSE 4 Dr. Sedan

Air, cruise, tilt, PW/PL/PM,rear window defogger, tack,4 spd auto, remote keyless

entry

$72 weekly**

2005 Ford F-150Supercrew 4x4

4x4, electronic shift on fly 4x4, 4wheel disc brakes, ABS, electronic

brake distribution, full size spare withlock, remote keyless entry, removable

tail gate, personal safety system,securilock antitheft, privacy glass,

alloy wheels, box liner, + $1,000 freegenuine Ford accessories free

$399 monthly***

Hwy. 10 The Pas623-4350 or

1-888-623-4350

Flin Flon687-3940 or

1-866-687-3673*36 month lease, OAC plus tax. All rebates to Dealer. 1st and security due at signing **84 month term, OAC plus tax. Allrebates to Dealer. ***24 month lease, OAC plus tax. All rebates to Dealer. 1st and security due at signing.****48 month lease,OAC plus tax. All rebates to Dealer. 1st and security due at signing

Your ALL-STAR Ford Sales Team!

Gary Ducharme Dare Millar Brett Fikkert Trent Swanson

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Co

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Lot 5 Block 1Paint Lake Provincial Park

Lakefront property south ofThompson, MB. 1600 sq.ft. open

concept kitchen/living room,wrap-around deck with sunkenhottub. Double garage w/infloorheating & guest suite above.

www.lockersrealestate.ca

204-677-1863Thompson, MB

1 Easy StreetSchist Lake

4,000 sq. ft., 3 levels, 3 bedrooms,3 baths, 2 fireplaces, hot tub, c/air,

double garage, dock, deck,11/2 acre lakefront yard

$273,000

Nordmark Realty (1985) Ltd.116 Main St., Flin Flon, MB

204-687-6324Broker: Cheryl Hordal

#2 Paradise Lodge RoadLake Athapap

Lakefront summer residence.900 sq. ft. with 2 bedrooms and2 tiered deck. New 40’ treated

dock. Turnkey.

$143,500



www.flinflonrealestate.com

Lot 7, Inlet ArmSchist lake

Lakefront, year round, 1,024 sq.ft., 2/1 BR, oak cab., ceramicflooring, c/air, frplce, side to front

wrap deck, double garage.

$154,000




Tyrell Lake, SKYear round living, 720 sq. ft.,2/2 BR, screened summer

kitchen, open concept layout,quiet woodland location,

appliances included.

$57,000




205 Copper Rd.Snow Lake, MB

Located in a beautiful touristcommunity, across the road from

beach and recreation area.Call Pine View Realty toll free

1-888-760-2300. Can be seen atwww.pineviewrealty.com

$20,900

P ne V ew Realty Ltd.216 2nd. Ave. West, The Pas, MB

Phone 204-623-6100Toll free 1-888-760-2300

Lot 6 Cormorant Lake2 storey, 880 sq. ft. cottage.

2 bedrooms, 3 pce. bath,kitchen, dining area, living roomwith enclosed deck, upstairs

deck off master bedroom.

The Pas162 Fischer Ave., The Pas, MB

204-623-5454

$49,900

The Pas162 Fischer Ave., The Pas, MB

204-623-5454

$109,500

Lot 4 Rocky LakeEast Shore

3 bedroom year-roundhome/cottage on a titled lot.

Electric heat, good watersystem, garden doors off diningroom to screened in deck. Very

well maintained.

Churchill River LodgeLocated 7 miles north of

Leaf Rapids on 20 acres of beautifullylandscaped property overlooking the

Churchill River. Large two storey,3 bedrooms down, master suite

upstairs 600 sq. ft.. 3 modern log cabins and campground.Equipment included. Bookings already

received for spring fishing.Serious enquiries only please.

Contact John L’Abbe204-473-2362 eveningsLeaf Rapids, Manitoba

www.churchillriverlodge.com

Subscribe & WinA Trip for 2 to

PUERTO VALLARTA

Subscribe todayCOTTAGE north™

1 Year $47.522 Years $85.541 Year U.S. $62.88 CDN funds

Mail the form belowCottage North10 North AveFlin Flon, MB R8A 0T2

Phone (204) 687-4303Fax (204) 687-4473

E-mail: [email protected]

Name:

Address:

City: Prov:Postal Code:

Visa#: Mastercard#:

Exp. date: Signature:No cash value. Some restrictions may apply. Must be age of 18 years of age to enter.Draw date: December 1, 2005. Retail value $3000.00

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