July – August 2012 - Cottage North Magazine

Phantom Lake • Paint Lake Firefighters • Pinsanity 

COTTAGE 

north 

Northern Manitoba and 

Saskatchewan’s Storyteller 

free 

take one 

July – August 2012 

Volume 10 Issue 4 - 2012

The All New 

2013 

Available Features: 

Lane-Keeping System, Innovative Active Park Assist, Sync with MyFordTouch, New Eco-Boost 

Engines, Two Advanced Hybrid Powertrains. 

www.northlandford.mb.ca 

Page 2 Cottage North July - August PleAse Recycle Me

July - August/12 

Volume 10 

Issue 4 

7 A Flin Flon Childhood 

Patricia Vickery 

13 Footprints in the North: 

Tom Creighton 

Morley G. Naylor 

19 The History of the Paint Lake 

Volunteer Fire Department 

Jim Nicholls 

24 The Royal Weekend in Photos 

27 Excitement Builds for The Pas 

Centennial 

Julian Kolt 

31 The Glee Club: Recollections 

of Music and Theatre 

Julian Kolt 

35 Pinsanity 

Jim Parres 

40 The Phantom Lake Revival 

Julian Kolt 

43 Man vs. the Machine 

Carla Klapecki 

publisher: Randy Daneliuk 

editor: Julian Kolt 

production manager: Carl Hill 

production team: 

Jasen Bellamy 

Carla Klapecki 

Morley G. Naylor 

Jim Nicholls 

Jim Parres 

Lyle Riley 

Bea V. Rose 

Shannon Thompson 


Tanisha Weseen 

front page photo credit: Julian Kolt 

table of contents photo credit: 

Julian Kolt 

advertising sales: 

Karen MacKinnon 

(204) 687-4303 

how to reach us: 204-687-4303 

general fax: 204-687-4473 

email address: 

cottagenorth@thereminder.ca 

postal address: 

Cottage North 

14 North Avenue 

Flin Flon, Manitoba 

R8A 0T2 

Printed in Canada 2012 

Cottage North magazine. 

All rights reserved. Reproduction of photos, 

illustrations or text in any form without 

written permission from the publisher 

is prohibited. 

in every issue… 

5 Calendar of Events 

26 Northern Herbal 

46 Pat's Poetry 

PleAse Recycle Me Co t ta g e No r t h Ju ly - August Page 3

Editor’s 

– Julian Kolt – 

It is summer! Let the joyous jubilations 

justly jimmied from the 

jaws of January be heaped upon 

these last moments of June and the 

promise of July and August. This 

edition of Cottage North holds tales 

of childhood – such as Patricia 

Vickery’s stories of youthful Flin 

Flon activity. Of history – such as 

Morley Naylor’s dissertation on Tom 

Creighton, and Jim Nicholl’s penning 

of the Paint Lake firefighters 

beginnings. Of collection – such as 

Jim Parres’ exploration into the curious 

phenomenon of Pinsanity, and 

of cabin life – such as Carla Klapecki’s 

CONVENIENCE STORE • SELF-SERVE GAS • RESTAURANT 

amusing anecdote of the trials and 

tribulations of pump house maintenance. 

We’ve got a lovely set of photos 

from the Royal Weekend for you 

to peruse, and reflections upon the 

Flin Flon Glee Club, the Phantom 

Lake Revival and The Pas 

Centennial. 

In addition to these stories, we 

have three poetry submissions for 

you! One is from first time contributor 

Lyle Riley (pg 38), another from 

returning poet Bea Rose (pg 29), and 

finally another welcome contribution 

from Pat Vickery. Don’t forget 

to check out Tanisha Weseen’s 

Northern Herbal, and as always, 

should you happen to think of a 

Ice | CanAqua water | Coffee bar | Ice Cappuccino 

Frozen Lemonade | Fishing Licenses | Fishing 

Supplies | Fisher Girl | Self–serve gas | Confections 

and so much more 

Page 4 Cottage North July - August PleAse Recycle Me 

Note 

story that we here at Cottage North 

might be interested in, be sure to 

contact us! Now, find yourself a nice 

shady patio chair and a cold beverage 

and enjoy this July/August edition of 

Cottage North Magazine! 

Make us your last stop before heading to the lake 

We have your fishing supplies and more 

Restaurant: 687-4338 • Store: 687-4318 • #10 Hwy. Flin Flon, MB

COTTAGE 

north north 

June 28 – July 1 – Flin Flon – Trout Festival 

– Thursday: Battle of the Bands, Festival Opening 

Ceremonies. Friday: Main Street Days, Stage 

Entertainment, Sidewalk Sales, Carnival Rides, 

Family Dance, Trout Festival Cabar-eh! (R.H. 

Channing Auditorium). Saturday: Main Street 

Days, Canoe Races, Beat the Chief, Fish Fry, Open 

Mic Night (NorVA). Sunday: Pancake Breakfast at 

Creekside Park, Canada Day Parade, Canada Day 

activities in Denare Beach in evening. www.flinf 

lontroutfestival.com 

July 1 – Creighton – Canada Day – Live entertainment, 

merchandise and food booths, Kids Fun 

House play area and more! Creighton Baseball 

Diamond. (306) 688-3538 

July 1 – Thompson – Canada Day – Community 

brunch, concerts, kids games, food booths, fireworks 

with help from Folklorama. Thompson 

Regional Community Centre, (204) 677-7952. 

July 10-15 – Flin Flon – Million Dollar Hole 

in One - $1 for a ball or a bucket of 30 for $20. 

July 10-14: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. July 15: 11 a.m. to 4 

p.m., with semi-finals and finals at 6. Proceeds to 

Kinsmen, Lions, Rotary. 

July 2-31 – Thompson – Carole Hyndman 

Show and Sale – Stain glass art exhibit, 9 a.m. – 5 

p.m. Heritage North Museum. (204) 677-2216 

July 22 – The Pas – Clearwater Lake Marathon 

Calendar 

of Events 

– Register at Camper’s Cove or online at www. 

clearwatercottagers.ca. Camper’s Cove Office. 

(204) 623-3628 

July-August – Thompson – Concerts in the 

Park 2012 – Fridays at the Anaypowin Circle, 12 

- 1 p.m. (204) 677-7952 

August 1-30 – Thompson – Jasyn Lucas Show 

and Sale – “Life Arts & Nature” collection on 

exhibit. Heritage North Museum. (204) 677- 

2216 

August 3-5 – The Pas – The Pas Centennial 

Celebrations – Dances, Beer Gardens, Barbecue, 

Opening Ceremonies, Lookout unveiling. For 

more information check out thepascentennial. 

bravehost.com. 

August 12-18 – Flin Flon – NorVa Artists 

Retreat – Bakers Narrows Lodge. (204) 687-4237 

August 15 – Creighton – Rhubarb Stepping 

Stone Class – 7 p.m., class cost $25. Pre-register at 

(306) 688-3538 

August 22 – Flin Flon – Barrie Dempster 

Writer’s Mentorship Open House – Held at the 

Royal Bank. (204) 687-5974 

August 24 – Creighton – Lion’s Spray Pool 

Wind-up – Summer festivities. Creighton Lion’s 

Spray Pool. (306) 688-3538 

PleAse Recycle Me Cottage North July - August Page 5

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A Flin Flon 

Childhood 

Photos by Julian Kolt and 

from the Pictorial History 

of Flin Flon. 


Ross Lake Area 

Our parents moved into our house in 1935, a year after my brother was 

born. They had lived in a two-room house on Bellevue Street at the 

top of the rocks above Ross Lake. 

Our home, which is now over eighty years old, is in a valley close to a lake 

in the midst of great grey rocks. Our yard once had several stands of slender 

white birch. The trees made a mix of light and shadow in which we played 

through the childhood of our lives. 

By the time we three girls came along, there were flowers in the front yard 

and a vegetable garden at the back. I remember squatting at the front, gazing 

into the pert little faces of the pansies. I recall, too, the heady, spicy fragrance 

of carnations that my mother picked for me to take to my teacher. I also 

dearly loved the velvety snapdragons so vividly blooming there and the morning 

glories, horns bluer than the summer sky. 


The backyard garden, though, was my favourite place 

in all my small world to be. All of us loved to pull fresh 

carrots out of the soil and wash them off in the rain barrel 

before crunching into them. I loved the green spears of 

chives with their purple seed clusters and the elephant ears 

that flopped over the wine red rhubarb stems. Dozens of 

tiny white cabbage butterflies winked their way through 

the sunny garden and flat green caterpillars sat upon the 

cabbages. Dragonflies, too, darted through the air, rattling 

their cellophane wings. I sifted dark cool earth through 

my fingers and watched as daddy-long-legs made their 

way along the ridges between the potato rows. 

There was a lilac bush at the side of the house near the 

front. There’s a picture of us three sisters beside that lilac 

bush. I remember our housekeeper taking that picture. 

You can tell it was her because of the frozen smile on my 

face. But Miss Payne is another story – a story that 

explains the difference between an artistic 

(above) view from Bellevue (below) view of Ross Lake, 1950s. temperament and a practical one. 

We used to take our table and chairs set 

outside and have elegant meals out there at 

the back. The chamomile grew in abundance 

around the yard and we crushed it with sticks 

and served it as our food. Aromatic chamomile 

evokes the memory of those festive 

moments even now. 

Once and only once we carted that table 

and those chairs up the rocks to our secret 

hiding place. We returned soon after to discover 

that someone else shared our secret 

cave and our missing furniture. 

We played house by sectioning parts of 

the ground off into “rooms”. We used sticks 

to mark our territories and assigned roles to 

each other in whatever game was ongoing. 

I loved to play school and my sisters say 

their friends tell them now that they used to 

avoid coming over to play when I was out 

because I always wanted to be the teacher. I 

bribed them into being pupils by making 

paper cutout dolls for them. 

View of Ross Lake, 2012. 

Another love of my life was water in the 

springtime. We used sticks to make runs to 

keep the water trickling down the street. We 

watched the runnels glitter and roll along 

those miniscule ditches to where our small 

dams were built. We watched the glut and 

the overflow of water seeping over those piles 

of mud. In the boot-top high puddles we 

roiled the grey water making eddies coil and 

roll. It was adventurous, sensual play, risky 

and messy. We loved the mud as much as we 

loved the water. 

In the cool fall dusk, we played Oysters 

for Sale with the other neighbourhood kids. 

It was a game that involved teams and hiding, 

captains making maps on the ground 

with a stick and a noisy hullaboo of searching 

and running for home base. The neighbourhood 

echoed with calls of “Oysters for Sale!” 

and “Home Free!” as the game went on for 

hours or at least ’til the mothers’ voices 

Page 8 Co t ta g e Nor t h Ju ly - August PleAse Recycle Me

joined the mix calling us in for bed. 

Another game we played on our front porch had a song 

to go with it: 

“I’m going downtown to smoke my pipe. 

And I won’t be back ’til Saturday night 

So don’t let the witch in.” 

I don’t recall the exact rules to that game, but I think it 

involved guessing a password. 

And anybody’s lawn 

was a good place to play 

“Statues”. 

In the evening, when 

the darkness was gentling 

down, any number 

of children would sit on 

the cool grass, ankles 

crossed, chins in hands. 

“Let’s play ‘Statues’,” 

the eldest would say, and 

put out her hand to the 

youngest. Each child 

jumped up in turn to be 

twirled around and then 

let go to assume a stonestill 

shape. 

Image, imagine, 

imagination was the 

magic that propelled 

Children at Phantom Lake, 1950s. 

each child into a world 

where their shape was recognizable. 

One became a dancer, on point, dressed in a leotard with 

a chiffon skirt, legs wrapped in wool socks, slippers on her 

feet. Her body was straight and slim, her face smooth, her 

eyes large and lustrous, a tight little chignon rolled at the 

back of her head. She was released from her stillness by the 

words: 

“You’re a Dancer!” 

One boy would be a troll, all hunched up, his head awry 

on his shoulders, his fingers splayed and stiff like claws. 

Another was a hunter drawing bow to hold an arrow. 

“You’re a Troll! You’re a Hunter!” 

Release led to laughter and children went sprawling one 

by one on the lawn. But if the guesser could not tell the 

statue its right name, the statue became the guesser. 

Phantom Lake 

When we were older, walking to the lake was an adven- 

NIKI ASHTON 

MP Churchill 

Flin Flon office 

24 Main Street 

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e Pas office 

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Website: nikiashton.ndp.ca 

ture in the wilds. It had to be in July and August during 

school holidays. We took the “short cut” down Boam Street, 

past Foster Park through the graveyard and up Tobacco 

Road. We had to pass through South Hudson, and soon we 

got onto the Phantom Lake footpath – over a mile of slate 

with rock borders. We walked on the stones, walked backwards, 

chased each other or sang the strange ritual primitive 

songs of childhood. About halfway there, we rested on a 

giant boulder and looked 

around us. Poplar trees sang 

in the sun with their green 

glittering leaves. Birch and 

spruce were light and dark 

presences. Reeds and long 

grasses, patches of bare 

rock, stretches of muskeg 

with Labrador tea plants, 

mossberries and bunchberry 

– wilderness was our 

vista and we were wise 

enough to know that it was 

real and not to be made 

part of our games. Dad’s 

story of the man who 

walked a few steps into the 

bush away from his companions 

and was never seen 

again had settled any question 

of going carelessly into 

that mystery, and there was also the matter of bears just in 

case we got too curious. 

There was a small creek hidden by willow bush where we 

could stop and cool our feet. I used to call it Frog Bog 

because I like rhymes and because I always hoped to see at 

least one frog hop in and out of that creek. But I never did. 

It was very cold water running there in the deep shade just 

to the side of the footpath. 

We collected glisters of iron pyrite as all children do with 

a view to becoming millionaires. Dad who did assays at the 

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Phone 677-0111 

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Canoeing competition held 

at Phantom Lake, 1977. 

Page 10 Co t ta g e No r t h Ju ly - August PleAse Recycle Me 

HBM&S would give our finds serious attention 

and then give us his analysis. The concept 

of fool’s gold became a guideline for me 

in later life. I developed a great caution 

about the real value of things and people in 

my own world. 

One of the moments I enjoyed when getting 

close to the lake was hearing through 

the trees muted invisible laughter and the 

sounds of water splashing becoming louder 

as we got closer to the beach. 

Passing through the shaded path by the 

tennis court, we would see Wood’s Booth, 

where we bought our hot dogs, ice cream, 

chips, and pop. Beyond that, yards and yards 

of white sand gleamed in the sun. It was very 

hot underfoot but easy to dash across into 

the water. The sand was very fine grained 

with few rocks or pebbles in it. 

The lake itself was surrounded and filled 

with hollering kids. There were three docks 

– first dock and second dock and then a 

third smaller dock over to the side where 

canoes and boats came and went. There was 

a slide about halfway along first dock. Along 

the sides of all the docks were ladders for 

climbing in and out of the water. Second 

dock had diving boards and all the real 

swimmers, not the dog-paddlers, jumpers 

and bellyfloppers, dove off first dock and 

swam out to second dock where the real 

challenges were. My sister, when she was in 

her teens, being an athlete of great potential,

swam out past second dock out to a point once, and 

returned. But that is a story for her to relate. I can only say 

I thought it was just like her to do that. I took my high risks 

in another category but that too is another strange saga, 

mine to tell! 

We put our towels out on the lawns which were decked 

out on one side by borders of petunias and on another by 

the road where the cars and buses stopped to let more 

excited kids off for a day’s revel at the lake. We traveled to 

picnic spots with their wooden tables, stone fireplaces with 

iron grates, their piles of wood and the barrels for paper and 

cans. This resort-style of recreation area was very unusual in 

those days. It was set up by the HBM&S and serviced by 

employees hired for the job, all for the families of men who 

worked for the company – and others besides – all for the 

community. 

Down by the beach there was a set of stone steps that led 

up to another level of picnic sites, another tennis court, a 

bandstand and swings. There was a large open cook shack 

with a roof, stoves and long tables. On the other side of the 

beach across from the stone steps on the opposite side of the 

lake were more picnic sites and swings, teeter-totters and a 

very large merry-go-round. The changehouses were supervised 

like the docks and there was never a safer place for 

kids to go, as we did, all on our own, all summer long. 

When we were teenagers, we spent a lot of our time lolling 

and gabbing on blankets on the grass but when we were 

younger, we scampered up and down the rocks, through the 

trees and along the beaches for hours, building sand castles, 

splashing around in the water and experimenting with the 

swings, teeter-totters and the merry-go-round. We used to 

shinny up the poles on the swings and hang upside-down 

from the bars or walk the teeter-totters like pirates’ planks 

or hop off the merry-go-round at top speed, skidding into 

the hot sand and slamming down on our heels, elbows and 

A water bomber flies over Phantom, 1980s. 

butts. 

One early spring day, I climbed up to the top of the 

swings and saw in a tree a nest of blue speckled robin’s eggs. 

Children have a natural sense of what is sacred. I quietly 

went back down the pole and did my gymnastics elsewhere. 

Another exciting moment of truth came one day at the 

beach when a sudden shower sent a curtain of raindrops 

from one side of the lake to the other in a sweep. That was 

the first time I realized that it didn’t rain everywhere at the 

same time. 

I never forgot our summer playground supervisors. They 

set up our games at the different parks in town and in the 

afternoons we went out to the lake in large groups. 

One summer, our playground supervisor, probably a 

young university student, took us out into the bush to a 

small bay. He taught us how to build spruce bough leanto’s. 

That’s when I discovered that I was not a giggly girl. 

The boys teased us with crayfish but I was curious not nervous. 

I loved those hikes through the bush. I felt free and 

secret and awed by it all! It seemed, though we learned little 

factual wood lore, geology or geography, we absorbed a 

spirit there – a new kind of stillness and movement and a 

mystery that daily life with all its excitement and demands, 

its little joys and fears, did not hold for us. It loosened the 

hold of the world of people for me and I gradually became 

a secret part of that wildwood. I felt at ease in both sun and 

rain and in sunny and shady places alike. I learned for the 

first time that I was most truly happy alone the way I 

wanted to be – singular in the natural surround of rock, 

moss, bush, water, sky, rain and wind. I felt that there was 

less anger in this real world of nature and less intrusion on 

a mind that was reflective not manipulative. Thus was a 

haven granted me at a young age and I have thanked God 

for it all my life. 


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MLA 

Flin Flon Constituency 

Constituency Office Hours: 

Mon - Fri, 9am - 12pm, 1pm - 4pm 

Phone: 687-3367 | Fax: 687-3398 

clarence.pettersen@yourmanitoba.ca 

Box 331, 24 Main St. 

Flin Flon, MB 

R8A 1N1 

Serving the North for over 25 years 

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Footprints in the North: 

Tom 

Creighton’s 

Centennial 

Tribute 

Photos submitted by 

Morley G. Naylor and 

the Manitoba Historical 

Society. 


– Morley G. Naylor – 

It’s hard to believe, but the year 2012 represents 100 years 

since Thomas Creighton left The Pas to team up with 

prospectors Leon Dion and John Mosher and come 

north in search of gold, or any other promising mineral 

deposit. This article is not intended to heap praise or criticism 

on the man, but to relate as best we can his significant 

role in the “rollout” 

of history in our 

area. Mr. Creighton 

was/is the subject 

of many “tall tales” 

by those who knew 

him, including 

extravagant parties 

and intemperance. 

Obviously, he was 

another in the line 

of characters in our 

N o r t h e r n 

Manitoban history 

of which there were 

many – such as the 

flamboyant and 

u n p r e d i c t a b l e 

Harry Falconer 

McLean who forged 

the railroad from 

The Pas to Flin 

Creighton decided to locate to The Pas originally remains 

unknown, but the community certainly served as a springboard 

into the north. 

The Draw of the North – Life of Adventure, Searching 

for Gold 

As mentioned, when Creighton came north he teamed 

up with prospectors Leon Dion and John Mosher. This 

group explored the area from Lac LaRonge to Amisk 

(Beaver) Lake. By 

about 1913-14, the 

attraction of gold on 

the northwest side of 

Amisk Lake became 

the focal point of their 

work. By this time the 

exploration group 

included Dan and Jack 

Mosher, Leon and 

Isadore Dion, and Dan 

Milligan. One of the 

many entrepreneurs 

who arrived on the 

scene via The Pas and 

who traversed the 

water route north 

(from The Pas-west on 

the Saskatchewan 

River to Cumberland 

House – north across 

Cumberland and 

L-R Tom Creighton, Leon J Dion, Dan Mosher, Jack Mosher, Jack Hammell. 

Flon, or former boxer and mining promoter Jack Hammell, Namew Lakes to Sturgeon Landing – then up the Sturgeon 

who came so very close to getting his hands on the Flin Flon Weir River to the south shore of Amisk Lake) was mining 

ore body. Creighton was, by all accounts, a “man’s man” and promoter and former boxer Jack Hammell, who would have 

spent an enormous portion of his life “in the bush” in the a tremendous influence on Tom Creighton. Prior to 

pursuits he enjoyed. 

Hammell’s arrival, Tom 

The Early Years 

Creighton and his 

T h o m a s 

group had discovered 

Creighton was born 

gold on the west side 

in Dunedin, 

of Amisk Lake in 1913, 

Ontario near Barrie 

and their financial 

on 17 March, 1874. 

backing came from 

Although details 

Prince Albert, 

are sketchy, we 

Saskatchewan. The 

know that at one 

Prince Albert group 

point he considered 

made huge profits on 

entering the minis- 

the claims and quickly 

try. It appears that 

established the “Beaver 

the call of adven- 

Lake Gold Mining 

ture won out, how- 

Company”. These 

ever, and he gained 

events triggered 

some invaluable 

Saskatchewan’s first 

experience as a sail- 

gold rush and soon 

or on the Great 

after over 1000 pros- 

Lakes and had a 

pectors had arrived in 

hand in commer- 

the area in the hopes 

cial fishing at 

of hitting pay dirt. 

The original site of the Flin Flon ore body. 

Candle Lake, 

Ever the opportunist, 

Saskatchewan prior to succumbing to the tug of mineral Jack Hammell had big plans for developing a community 

exploration. He came from a large family and was, by called Beaver City adjacent to the old Fort Henry Hudson 

nature, a shy and unassuming man who did enjoy the chal- Bay Post. In its heyday, Beaver City included a federal govlenge 

of sports and competition. While residing in The Pas, ernment ranger station and fire tower, Revlon’s Free Trading 

Creighton was involved in hockey for several years. Why Post, Hayes Boarding House, a Royal Northwest Mounted 


Police Post, and Colette’s Boat Ferrying Service. 

Jack Hammell considered Tom Creighton a top notch 

prospector and their loyalty to each other would carry them 

not only to the goldfields of Beaver 

Lake, but on to the eventual discovery 

of the huge ore body at 

Flin Flon Lake in 1915. The 

Beaver Lake Mining Company 

began working the property at 

Amisk Lake looking to maximize 

profits. At this point the 

“Creighton Group” severed their 

ties with the Prince Albert financiers 

because the company was 

more interested in developing a 

profitable gold mine than seeking 

out new claims. The “financing 

ball” was now in Hammell’s court, 

and he intended to use Beaver 

City to generate the wealth. The 

mining company brought in 

equipment to an inclined shaft at 

the Beaver City site including a 

steam plant, shaft sinking equipment, 

and a defunct mill from 

Ontario. By the time the equipment 

arrived, the company went 

broke and was unable to secure 

refinancing. This event left 

Hammell and Creighton searching 

frantically for producing prop- 

erties to sustain Beaver City. They chose an unexplored area 

of Beaver Lake to search for new gold showings. The results 

were disappointing and spelled the death knell for Beaver 

City. Jack Hammell’s Beaver City dream was all but over. 

Later on, most of Beaver City’s businesses 

departed for Sturgeon Landing or Flin 

Flon when the high-grade copper Mandy 

Mine was discovered. Indeed, Jack 

Hammell and the Creighton group, in 

boxing terms, were down but not out. 

The Flin Flon Ore Body 

In the fall of 1914, Creighton and 

Hammell expanded their exploration priority 

to include copper because the industrial 

demands of World War I had resulted 

in huge price increases. Tom Creighton 

established a camp at Phantom Lake, and 

eventually the entire group joined in with 

the Creighton party. In the Fall of 1915 a 

trapper-prospector named David Collins 

showed rock samples to Creighton and 

guided the Creighton Group to a mineralized 

outcrop on his trap line on the shore 

of Flin Flon Lake. Jack Hammell, who 

had been checking out the gold claims on 

Wolverine Lake, returned to Flin Flon and 

immediately recognized the importance of 

the find and sent samples to the assay lab 

at Amisk Lake for analysis. With Dan 

Mosher, he set off to The Pas to register 

the claims. To prevent a possible staking 

Tom Creighton. 

rush similar to Beaver City, the claims were codenamed to 

make no mention of Flin Flon. Creighton and Jack Mosher 

returned to the site where Creighton staked the claim 

“unique” (23144) and Mosher 

staked claim “apex” (23143) over 

the huge deposit. Jack Hammell 

was given an unrecorded interest 

in the property in return for financial 

backing of the project. They 

chipped samples, and gold worth 

$56/ton was panned from the 

lakeshore as Creighton and Mosher 

trenched both sides of an unmineralized 

“horse” (a block of rock 

interrupting a vein and containing 

no minerals). The deposit was 

named Flin Flon after the famous 

character, Josiah Flintabbatey 

Flonatin, the fictional prospector 

featured in a dime store novel 

called “The Sunless City”. 

Between the time of locating 

the huge Flin Flon deposit in late 

1915 and the freeze-up, the 

Hammell/Creighton Group completed 

enough work to make it 

obvious that there was, indeed, a 

huge ore body, although low in 

grade. Creighton and Hammell 

had visions of mining the property 

themselves, but were also aware of 

the enormity of outside capital required, not to mention the 

challenge of railroad construction from The Pas, as well as a 

hydroelectric station and a metallurgical plant. In the end, 

Hammell and Creighton were never able to unveil the com- 

Beaver city monument, near the Sturgeon Weir River at Amisk Lake 

South. 

PleAse Recycle Me Co t ta g e Nor t h Ju ly - August Page 15

plexities of the ore body (six minerals in combination) even 

after bringing in the abandoned gold mill from Beaver City. 

(Eventually the Whitney interests took several months to 

resolve the problem.) More importantly, 

Hammell was unable to secure 

the massive financial backing 

required. Although Hammell had 

the telegraph lines to New York 

humming, including a three million 

dollar deal that fell through, he simply 

could not get his hands on the 

millions of dollars required. Dion 

and Dan Milligan sold out in 1918. 

After a few years, reluctantly, in 

1922, Hammell and Creighton sold 

out to the “Complex Ore Recoveries 

Company”, owned by Harry Payne 

Whitney interests and run by Roscoe 

H. Channing. However Jack 

Hammell and his partners did not go 

away “broke”. 

According to Time Magazine – 

Monday Edition July 29, 1935 – 

Hammell and his hungry crew of 

prospectors, including Thomas 

Creighton, had already been paid off 

substantially on their own terms. 

Though this is unconfirmed, Jack 

Hammell and Thomas Creighton supposedly received 

$100,000 each. 

Tom Creighton – Life After the Flin Flon Discovery 

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Cairn to Tom Creighton found near 

Creighton Community School. 


After the Flin Flon discovery, Jack Hammell remained a 

key figure in “cracking open” the North by use of aircraft to 

move men and materials to ore bearing areas previously 

accessible only by dog team or canoe. 

By the late 1920s, Creighton joined 

with Hammell in a huge investment 

to search for riches in the vast Arctic 

regions of the northern mineral belt 

stretching across Canada. The organization 

known as NAME (Northern 

Area Minerals Exploration) operated 

a fleet of 10 aircraft from a string of 

34 bases and 200 prospectors brought 

new properties online, such as Red 

Lake, Ontario. Creighton’s late 1920’s 

activities also included several contracts 

for R.H. Channing – an agent 

for the Whitney interests. Records 

indicate that Creighton exchanged 

endless amounts of information on 

properties that extended to the Cold 

Lake/Sherridon region and there 

were attempts to buy out several 

claims held by “Cranberry Jack” 

Callinan. Obviously, Tom Creighton 

remained a valuable source of information. 

By the 1930s, Creighton settled 

back at The Pas, actively participating in his favourite sports. 

He remained at The Pas until hired by HBED (Hudson Bay 

Exploration and Development Company Limited) on 1 

Tom’s Grave, Ross Lake Cemetery.

July, 1937, and 

remained with the 

company for 12 years. 

He acted as supervisor 

for exploration work in 

Central/West Canada, 

where he established a 

large circle of friends 

and co-workers. It is 

notable that a media 

report in 1940 reported 

that Creighton was taking 

flying lessons at 

Redondo Beach, 

California while he was 

on extended vacation. He was 

getting on in years at the time, but still vigorous 

and adventuresome. 

Creighton passed away in the HBM&S hospital in Flin Flon 

following a lengthy illness on April 6, 1949 at the age of 75 with 

the funeral service following at St. James Anglican Chruch. 

Creighton was known and respected by numerous mining men 

all over the country and was a great friend of prospectors. 

Today, a street near the old open pit mine bears the name of 

Creighton, and of course the sister community to Flin Flon in 

Saskatchewan to the west of the Flin Flon mine is named after 

him as well. The town naming of “Creighton” took place on 

June 18, 1955 during Saskatchewan’s Golden Jubilee Year. 

Near the community school in Creighton, on Main Street, 

a simple cairn was erected representing a man of simple 

demeanour yet extremely important accomplishments in the 

development of Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan – especially 

the economy of both Flin Flon and Creighton. 

The Plaque on the Cairn Reads: 

His wants were few 

His habits simple 

The bush was his wide domain. 

The Gravestone at Ross Park Cemetery Reads: 

Here Lies a Man 

Thomas Creighton 

07 March, 1874 – 06 April, 1949 

In a fitting tribute, the town council of Creighton is 

planning major renovations this summer (2012) in 

the area where the “Creighton Cairn” is located 

at the corner of Main Street and First 

Avenue. The work will involve pushing 

back the chain link fence separating 

the cairn from the Creighton 

Community School playground 

to open the area up. 

In addition, the area will 

be given a higher profile 

by the inclusion of paving 

bricks, benches, and 

planters, which will be 

added to the surrounding 

area of the monument. 

Information for this 

story was provided by 

the Manitoba Historical 

Society. 

The original claim 

post that staked the 

Flin Flon Lake ore 

body. 


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The History of the 

Paint Lake Volunteer 

Fire Department 

Photos submitted by 

Jim Nicholls. 

– Jim Nicholls – 

The Paint Lake Volunteer Fire Department Inc. was 

formed in 1995 by a group of cottagers after the 

development of five new blocks of cottage lots along 

Paint and Liz Lakes by the Lakefront Co-op Inc. A road was 

then built to connect these and the existing cottages to 

Highway 375 directly. The old road around Liz Lake was 

abandoned due to beavers plugging culverts and washouts. 

Previous structural fires had made cottager owners aware 

that at best, it would take a truck and crew from Thompson 

a minimum of a half hour to action a cottage fire at Paint 

Lake, if they were not otherwise deployed. It was soon determined 

that in light of the not insignificant combined real 

estate values of the area’s cottages, in addition to the presence 

of Manitoba Natural Resources buildings (which 

included bunk houses, a garage, a warehouse, campground 

facilities, the largest boat marina in Manitoba and a business 

with restaurant/bar/store/rental cabins), the area needed a 

faster response time than one half hour for adequate fire 

protection. In addition, the parking lots and campgrounds 

were often full to capacity on a typical summer weekend, 

compounding the risks. Even Helitack, a helicopter-based 

firefighting program, were untrained in structural firefighting, 

and often could be engaged in wildfire suppression 

elsewhere, not to mention that the crews were seasonal only. 

With this in mind, a concerned group of cottagers began 

planning to form a volunteer fire department. 

Setting Lake cottagers had formed a similar group, so the 

first step was to study their operation. The group soon 

learned that Falcon Lake also had a volunteer fire department, 

and Chief Mason was helpful with suggestions which 

could allow the group to move forward. The issue of funding, 

however, was an enormous hurdle, since no grants or 

financial assistance were available from any level of government, 

because we lived in a provincial park. The fact that the 

Trans Canada Highway ran past Falcon Lake had provided 

that community with funding for their program, because of 

the need for a full-time ambulance crew to cover the long 

distances between communities along Highway 1. After 

many letters and phone calls and visits to numerous government 

branches, it was apparent that any funding for a Paint 

Lake volunteer fire department would have to be done 

purely through local efforts. 


The Paint Lake Search and Rescue (PLSAR) organization, 

which shared members in common with the PLVFD, 

combined with the PLVFD to jointly fundraise. The first 

attempt was a raffle, which wasn’t a high profit activity. A 

better venue was discussed by the two groups and the idea 

of a “Wild Boar Night” – featuring a full banquet of roast 

wild boar, smoked Arctic char, turkey, appetizers, salads, 

desserts and all the trimmings, followed by dancing and 

silent auctions – was attempted, and it turned out to be 

more successful. Two of these were held at what was then 

called the Paint Lake Marina, and were successfully sold out. 

But, due to seating limitations, ticket numbers were low, so 

five more of these events were then held at the larger St. 

Joseph’s Hall in Thompson. All of these events were in turn 

sold out! The various businesses and crafters that donated 

prizes for the silent auctions deserve a lot of thanks, but 

especially the wives of both the PLVFD and the PLSAR, 

who made the appetizers, desserts, and salads that made 

tickets to this event so popular. They all really deserve a lot 

of the gratitude for their skills. 

The initial purchases for the project were some portable 

4 stroke Honda pumps, followed each year by more pumps, 

which were, over time, located in barrels with fuel, hose and 

ice augers at strategic locations along the park roads. Soon, 

the PLVFD purchased a used diesel ambulance from the 

City of Thompson, which was subsequently converted from 

ambulance to command vehicle, with a 250 gallon water 

capacity and an enclosed Honda pump, which gave the firefighters 

more mobility. The command vehicle carries a ladder, 

generator, lighting, hoses, portable pumps and other 

firefighting tools and equipment. 


In addition, a more powerful 2- stroke pump has been 

added since the truck was converted. Some northern fire 

departments donated used turnout gear, which some of the 

crew members continue to use. All pumps are fitted to use 

the standard 1 ½ inch Natural Resources fire hose and fittings. 

A possible fire hall location had been discussed with local 

conservation officers as well as the Minister of Natural 

Resources and deputies by mail and telephone. Various 

options were studied, but none were approved. Then on a 

low water level year, Natural Resources had problems getting 

water at their intake point in Cottage Bay and decided to 

put a pipeline from Liz Lake to their treatment plant. In the 

process, Natural Resources proposed a 200 x 200 foot site 

where the fire hall could be, and is now, located. The 

PLVFD agreed to this site, thinking that a nearby source of 

water would be essential for a fire hall. The clearing of trees 

and site preparation soon began. Fill was hauled into the site 

and a culvert was installed. Unfortunately, Resources later 

located a deeper spot for a water intake on Cottage Bay and 

abandoned the pipeline idea, which is why the fire hall currently 

lacks plumbing. 

Despite this progress, the PLVFD still didn’t have enough 

funds to build a fire hall, until a letter from the then Natural 

Resources Minister, Steve Ashton, was sent to the PLVFD 

stating that the Parks District Program could assist with the 

administration of funds by adding an appropriate annual 

amount to the Parks District Service Fee for all cottages and 

businesses if the majority of the Paint Lake Cottage Owners 

Association (PLCOA) members and executive were in support 

of the project. The then PLCOA executive were con- 

Forest fires are tremendously 

dangerous. Fire 

prevention programs 

are an important part 

of a Firefighter’s duties.

cerned about maintenance and operating costs of the operation, 

and initially resisted the idea of building a fire hall. 

Finally, after presentations by the PLVFD, a motion was 

made from the floor at a PLCOA annual meeting to proceed 

with the construction. The motion passed with only one 

recorded dissenting vote. PLOCA executives have since been 

pleased with the reduced insurance premiums and fully support 

the PLVFD in their improvement endeavours. 

Finally, with financing in place, efforts could be more 

focused on construction of a fire hall and training, rather 

than on fundraising. Seven continuous years of fundraising 

had been burning the PLVFD members out. Plans were thus 

drawn up and tenders sent out to local contractors. M. B. 

Construction was the lowest bid received, and after more 

site preparation, construction began. The PLVFD kicked in 

an additional $7,000 for the construction from their savings. 

Wives and firefighters mudded, taped and painted the 

interior to save on the finishing costs. With the completion 

of the new building, the firefighting gear and the truck 

could finally be housed in a warm building. Firefighter 

Brian Clace later located and procured a written off 3-ton 

low mileage fire truck, which added another 650 gallons to 

the total mobile capability of the PLVFD (800 gallons was 

the minimum required amount for official recognition). 

The grand opening of the Paint Lake Fire Hall was held 

in the hall on October 30, 2004. The ceremony was a very 

special event, marking a project 10 years in the making. 

Unfortunately, the event was missed by Steve Ashton due to 

previous commitments, but nevertheless attended by his 

assistant. The Mayor of Thompson and the Thompson 

RCMP congratulated the PLVFD and presented plaques, 

which hang on the interior wall today. Natural Resources 

personnel and other local dignitaries spoke about the hard 

work the PLVFD had gone through to achieve this result. It 

was truly a grassroots effort by a determined and dedicated 

group of men and women, who look at the achievement of 

The aftermath of a fire. 

the fire hall with great pride. The current annual budget for 

the PLVFD covers maintenance, operating costs, Workman’s 

Compensation, MPI, yearly inspections and the purchase of 

new equipment and safety gear for the firefighters. This 

budget has been partially covered by the Parks District 

Service Fee every year but one, due to an office error, during 

which the PLVFD used their savings to continue to operate, 

although it was close, and no gear could be purchased on 

that particular year. 

Chief Ian Thompson of the Thompson Fire and 

Emergency Services Department encouraged the PLVFD to 

join the Hudson Bay Training District, which meant the 

PLVFD could train with other northern firefighters at the 

Fire College in Thompson. It was with great pride that the 

PLVFD took part in the official ceremonies with other 

northern fire departments at the Tribute to Firefighters 

Ceremony in Thompson. Another proud moment was 

when, after many telephone calls, filling out forms, and 

sending letters with photos, the PLVFD was officially recognized 

by the Fire Commissioner’s Office on September 16, 

2003, followed shortly afterwards by the insurance industry 

finally allowing the community to achieve a Partially 

Protected Community Status. This has resulted in substantial 

insurance premium savings for cottage owners. It took 

many years of hard work to reach this achievement. 

The PLVFD continues to place barrel pumps at strategic 

locations for remote cottage clusters, and trains cottagers in 

their use during the summer months. Though Helitack has 

the advantage of faster mobility times for remote fires, the 

PLVFD receives wildfire training by Natural Resources 

instructors, and has fought fires with Helitack. The PLVFD 

has a close rapport with both Natural Resources and the 

City of Thompson Fire & Emergency Services Department. 

There is little chance of Paint Lake becoming another Slave 

Lake due to wild fires. The PLVFD also hands out pamphlets 

on fire safety each year during Fire Safety Week. They 


make these available to the general public by placing them the members of the PLVFD. These events combine to make 

in the Paint Lake Resort Restaurant entryway. Fire can be a future equipment purchases possible. 

terribly sad event for anyone, and the financial losses can be If you have attended one of these events, you may have 

staggering for families, so fire prevention education is para- noticed the rather cramped conditions inside the fire hall. 

mount. 

Cottagers may be asked to 

It takes a special 

support an expansion of 

person to be a volun- 

the present fire hall at 

teer firefighter, spend- 

some future date. The 

ing Friday evening, all 

PLVFD has little space for 

day Saturday and 

meetings and training 

Sunday in courses at 

with the trucks inside the 

the Fire College. 

hall, especially in winter 

Volunteers might be 

months when the freezing 

placed in harm’s way 

of pumps and valves is a 

during a fire, which 

huge issue. This expan- 

produces not only 

sion would greatly aid in 

heat, but also toxic 

improving response times 

gases, electrical haz- 

as well as providing some 

ards and the possibili- 

space for meetings and 

ties of explosions. The 

training. The primary 

PLVFD is a talented 

mission of the PLVFD is 

group of individuals 

to provide fire protection 

with a wide variety of 

for the over 266 cottages, 

skills, who remain 

campground RV’s, park- 

unpaid volunteers. 

ing lots and the marina, as 

The chief and depu- 

well as two businesses and 

ties plan for training 

the Resources buildings in 

sessions and carry out 

Paint Lake Provincial 

the business of the 

Park. 

PLVFD. There are 25 

Thompson Fire & 

firefighters, including 

Emergency Services con- 

a chaplain, and bookkeeping 

and account- 

The PLVFD accepts a donation of defibrillators. 

tinues to provide mutual 

aid to the PLVFD to the 

ing personnel behind 

greatest extent of their 

the scenes. Since the 

capabilities at the time of 

PLVFD incorporation 

a request, as is dictated by 

in 1995, many have 

their equipment and man- 

served on this worthpower 

availability. They 

while group of com- 

also initiate the call out to 

mitted people, in one 

the PLVFD after a fire is 

capacity or another. 

reported to them by tele- 

The PLVFD conphone. 

The PLVFD 

tinues to fundraise 

scrambles their trucks and 

each year by selling 

crew from that point on. 

the Paint Lake nature 

If you have a fire in Paint 

calendars with won- 

Lake Provincial Park, the 

derful photos of the 

number to call is 677lake 

and wildlife. 

7911. 

Cottagers and others 

Also noteworthy are 

submit their photos to 

the efforts made to equip 

assist in putting 

the PLVFD with stretch- 

together this popular 

ers and emergency defi- 

calendar. Also each 

brillator packs by the 

fall, in connection 

Valentino family. The 

with the annual 

PLVFD is very grateful 

Members pose in front of the Tribute statue in Thompson. 

Mainlanders vs. 

for their gift. 

Islanders softball tournament, a pancake breakfast is held at This was prepared by Jim Nicholls after a request was 

the fire hall, with silent auctions and draws for both donated made to me as the longest serving member of the PLVFD by 

and handcrafted articles. Natural Resources assists in this the current PLCOA president. I apologize for any errors or 

fundraiser by setting up tents and picnic tables, in case of omissions, as names, details and dates may have been missed 

inclement weather. The Paint Lake Resort donates the food out in the difficult process of reviewing old files, letters and 

items for the PLVFD breakfast menu, which is prepared by meeting minutes. 




The Royal Weekend 

Taking place on the weekend of the 26/27 th of May, the Royal Weekend 

weekend celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee with various 

the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, a proper English afternoon tea, and a sunn 

sentations and speeches by dignitaries at Pioneer Square. The ceremonies i 

Medals to Mr. Robert Putko and Mrs. Crystal Kolt by Churchill MP Niki Asht 

artwork by local artist Theresa Wride to Premier Greg Selinger, which will e 

Other activities included a smudging ceremony with the Cranberry Whisperi 

salute by the Flin Flon Motorcycles Association, and performances by variou 

groups. 

Photos by Julian Kolt.

in Photos 

was held in Flin Flon, Manitoba. The 

activities, including a performance by 

y Saturday afternoon filled with prencluded 

the presentations of Jubilee 

on, as well as a gift of caribou tufting 

ventually be presented to the Queen. 

ng Loon drumming group, a ride-by 

s other local musicians and dancing 


Northern Herbal 

Rhubarb 

Rheum rhaponticum 

Tanisha Weseen, Chartered Herbalist 

General Information 

Rhubarb is an herbaceous perennial plant growing from short, thick rhizomes. They have large leaves that 

are somewhat triangular, with long fleshy petioles. Rhubarb is a cool season plant that is very winter hardy and 

resistant to drought. Its crop is produced from crowns consisting of fleshy rhizomes and buds. Following a season 

of growth the rhubarb crown becomes dormant and temperatures below 40° F/5° C are required to stimulate 

bud break and subsequent growth. 

Rhubarb leaves grow from the ground in early spring. They can grow up to a foot or more in width and 

length, and the plant may grow to a height of several feet. The blade or green leaves of the plant are poisonous. 

They contain high concentrations of oxalic acid crystals, which can cause the tongue and throat to swell, preventing 

breathing. The edible petioles (stalks) are up to 18 inches long, 1-2 inches in diameter, and are generally 

somewhat hemispherical in cross section. Rhubarb rhizomes and the crown persist for many years. 

The rhubarb originated in Asia over 2,000 years ago. It was initially cultivated for its medicinal qualities, and 

it was not until the 18th century that it was grown for culinary purposes in Britain and America. Rhubarb is 

low in calories, low in fat, cholesterol free, and is high in fibre, providing approximately 5 grams of fibre per cup 

of cooked rhubarb. Rhubarb also contains vitamin A, potassium, and calcium. One cup of cooked rhubarb 

contains as much calcium as a glass of milk, though the body does not as easily absorb calcium from plant 

sources as it does from dairy products. 

Different varieties of rhubarb produce different shades of red to pink to greenish rhubarb stalks; however, all 

are equally suitable for eating. Most commonly rhubarb is cooked, stewed, or baked into desserts. In many 

recipes, rhubarb is often combined with another fruit, which helps to reduce its tartness. Rhubarb is also commonly 

made into jams and drinks, and can be preserved by freezing or by canning. 

Ways to use this plant 

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble 

- 1 prepared 9” pie shell, unbaked - 2 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb, fresh or frozen (if rhubarb is frozen, defrost 

it in a sieve, discarding liquid) - 2 cups sliced strawberries, fresh or frozen - 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar - 1/3 

cup plus 1/2 cup all-purpose flour - 1 cup sour cream - 1/2 cup brown sugar - 1/4 cup butter or margarine - 

Place rhubarb and strawberries in the bottom of the shell. In a bowl, mix sugar, 1/3 cup of flour, and sour 

cream. Pour the mixture over rhubarb and strawberries in the pie shell. Combine 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, 

and butter. Mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb mixture over pie filling. Bake at 450° F for 15 

minutes, and decrease temperature to 350° F. Bake another 35 - 45 minutes, or until fruit is tender. Serve warm 

or cold with ice cream, whipped cream, or plain. 

Rhubarb Lemonade 

- 8 cups chopped rhubarb (1/2” - 1” pieces) - 3 cups granulated sugar - 3 tbsp. grated lemon rind - 1 1/2 

cups lemon juice - 

In a large pan, combine water, rhubarb, and lemon rind, and bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and allow 

rhubarb mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes, until rhubarb is tender. Put the pan lid on halfway. Stir occasionally, 

remove from heat, and stir in the sugar until the sugar is well dissolved. Stir in lemon juice. Strain 

rhubarb mixture and discard pulp, or use it for another recipe! Allow rhubarb syrup to cool. To serve, add 3 parts 

water to 1 part of the rhubarb syrup. Add ice cubes, and fresh lemon slices for garnish. 

This info is for identification and information purposes only. It is not meant to be used for diagnosis of 

medical conditions or for prescription and/or treatments. Please see a doctor if you are in doubt. Sources: Jude’s 

Herbal Remedies, Williams; Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland, Parkland Johnson, Kershaw, MacKinnon, 

Pojar; The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants, Chevallier; The Wild Gourmet, Gourmet Brackett and Lash. 

Take time to enjoy and use your surroundings! 


Excitement Builds for 

The Pas Centennial 

Photos submitted by The Pas 

Centennial Committee. 


As the weeks and months have passed leading up to the 

summer of 2012, a bustle and energy has steadily been 

growing in The Pas. The town, about to celebrate 100 

years since its incorporation, has been planning for the 

momentous event for a few years now. The Centennial 

Committee has managed to put together a variety of public 

activities for the Centennial weekend to be held on August 3, 

4, and 5, 2012, including 

dances, beer gardens, an 

unveiling of the new lookout, 

and many other activities that 

will be provided by local 

groups. 

The centrepiece of The 

Pas Centennial will be the 

presentation of the lookout 

to the community. The construction 

will be overlooking 

the Saskatchewan River and 

connected to the footpath in 

Devon Park, It will feature 

several informational plaques, 

done up by the Sam Waller 

Museum, which will succinctly 

highlight the rich history 

of the intertwined communities 

of the area and the 

significance of the 

Saskatchewan River in the development of the Town of The 

Pas. The plaques are titled “Opasquia and the Saskatchewan 

River”, “A Stopping Point on the Fur Trade Highway”, “New 

Settlers and Community Developments”, and “20 

PleAse Recycle Me Co t ta g e Nor t h Ju ly - August Page 27 

th the project, it is the Town of The Pas that has since found the 

funding (including $100,000 from Greg Selinger’s provincial 

government) and arranged for the design and construction of 

the lookout. Nevertheless, the Committee did get a say on the 

look of the project, getting a chance to discuss the design with 

the architect. It will be unveiled after the parade on the 

Saturday during the opening ceremonies in Devon Park. 

Work is already underway on the project, and its construction 

is supposed to be completed in time for the celebration. 

The Centennial 

Committee also put together 

a few publications in preparation 

for the historic celebration. 

They have two calendars, 

one for 2011 and one 

for 2012, which are filled 

with old archived pictures of 

the town and are being given 

away or sold at a discount 

(due to the year being half 

over). They have also put 

together a book of photographs 

from the community, 

which has been completed 

and printed, and should be 

available for advanced sales by 

the time Cottage North hits 

the shelves. The creation of 

The Cambrian Hotel burns down. 

the book involved a lot of fact 

checking, and making sure that 

the names on the pictures were correct, which took longer 

than the organizers thought it would. However, they’ve been 

completed and will be available for $30 at the weekend’s fes- 

Century tivities’ headquarters. 

River Traffic”. The location of the lookout is a beautiful spot. Besides the opening ceremonies, the Centennial will be 

Members of the community already go down to the park for host to two dances, each on Friday and Saturday night at 9 

lunch, and the addition of the lookout will likely only increase p.m. as well as a beer gardens during the day all weekend. 

the foot traffic in the area. 

Already, advance tickets have been swiftly purchased and sold 

Though the Centennial Committee got the ball rolling on out for the Saturday dance, though there may still be some

available for the Friday function. Never fear, however, if 

you’re interested in participating in either. Both Friday and 

Saturday’s dances will have tickets on sale during the weekend, 

though there will be a limit of two per person. 

Admission is free to the beer gardens for both of the dance 

days, but there will be a $5 cover charge for the Sunday 

gardens. The dances and beer gardens will be featuring live 

entertainment. They are also hoping to do a fish fry and 

fireworks then. 

Other events include the parade – which the Committee 

is really pushing to be the largest in known memory – a 

barbecue and family games and activities in Devon Park. 

There will also be meet and greets held in the arena, as well 

as an Artists Walk and a gallery of hundreds of pictures, 

past and present, including yearbooks for people to look 

through. The Artists Walk will feature local art that attendees 

can bid on over the course of the weekend, the winners Grain elevator, 1950s. 

to be announced on Sunday. 

The energy level has been growing ever higher as the 

day approaches. Since the homecoming in 2006, it has 

been a long haul to get people excited for this next milestone, 

but as time has progressed and the date has grown 

closer, it’s become easier. The Centennial Committee now 

meets weekly, rather than once a month, in response to the 

greater speed with which things are happening. More community 

groups have been stepping forward to add their 

contribution to the celebration. The Legion will be working 

the bars for both dances and the beer gardens, and the 

Kinsmen will be doing the barbecue after the parade. The 

Committee has received both monetary support from the 

Rotary as well as volunteers, and many other groups in 

Swimming pool at Devon Park, 1960. 

town are holding their own events in conjunction with the 

activities. The Ladies of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic 

church group, are having their school reunion, and the 

Clearwater Cottage Association is putting on a meet and 

greet, alongside Carrot Valley. The Nor-Man Regional 

Health Authority will be opening up the hospital for tours 

and all the schools, including the University College of the 

North, will be doing the same. The Sam Waller Museum 

will also be offering unique programming for the weekend. 

As the Centennial draws closer, people are realizing that it’s 

not going to happen again, and so be prepared to see more 

pancake breakfasts, canteens and kids activities popping 

up. 

To organize the many activities taking place for partici- Bandstand in Devon Park, 1920s. 

pants, the Centennial Committee is creating a booklet, 

which will include an itinerary of events, a town map, and 

messages from dignitaries such as the Mayor, the Committee 

chair, the Opasquia Indian Days Princess, the Trappers’ Fur 

Queen, and others. It will be on sale during the Centennial 

weekend as well. 

With all of this going on, the Committee is now looking 

into finding accommodations for the many visitors 

who will be looking for a place to stay during the weekend. 

Residents of The Pas who are willing to rent out space in 

their homes or in their yards for the Centennial should 

direct their gaze to the accommodation forms available at 

the library, the Town Office, Kelsey School Division, 

Opasquia Times and the Grub Box. They can also be 

found online at www.thepascentennial.bravehost.com. 

Those from abroad who wish to attend using this service 

can find those forms online as well. 

Opasquia Hotel, 1919. Still stands as Centre Hotel. 


Don’t Look Back 

– Bea V. Rose – 

Don’t Look Back 

There’s nothing to see 

I’m not there 

And should you care? 

The past is passed 

The deeds are done 

You cannot change a single one. 

See things now 

For what they are. 

Don’t judge me as I was then. 

My life has changed 

And so have you. 

Or if you say that 

I’m who you knew 

Is that also true of you? 

Can you say that you’ve learned nothing? 

Or do the same things leave you blushing? 

Leave it behind 

And start anew. 

There’s someone out there 

Who cares for you. 


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R. M. of Kelsey 

A True Northern Experience 

6310NDSTraditionsAdMats_NDSTraditionsMats 12-05-07 9:35 PM Page 1 

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The Glee Club: 

Recollections of 

Music and Theatre 


Flin Flon is a city that, in its over 75 years of existence, 

has seen a lot of changes. From its beginnings as a 

shanty town ringing the mine site to its current state as 

an entity unto itself there have been a lot of technological, 

structural and societal changes to the community. However, 

there is one facet of Flin Flon’s culture that has held strong 

since the mid-forties and likely before – the theatre. Music 

and acting have long been an integral part of Flin Flon’s history, 

past and present. 

Though it has 

certainly gone 

through its times of 

heightened activity 

as well as its lesser 

years, the theatrical 

community has been 

present, initially as 

the Flin Flon Glee 

Club, and more 

recently rekindled as 

the Flin Flon 

Community Choir. 

M u r r a y 

MacDonald, a 

returning former resident 

of Flin Flon 

who lived in the 

Sometime between his first visits to Flin Flon and the 

moment he settled there, Murray caught one of the Glee 

Club’s performances: 

“The first show I ever saw that the Glee Club did was on 

the previous year that I moved here. I was going out with a 

lady at the time, and I came in from the bush and said, 

‘Well, what are we doing tonight?’ she said, ‘Well, we’re 

gonna go and see Brigadoon.’ ‘Oh, the movie’s in town?’ ‘No, 

no, we’re going to see the Glee Club do it.’ ‘You gotta be 

kidding me.’ Brigadoon is one of my favourites, and I had 

just seen it in Toronto 

about a year before at 

the O’Keefe Centre. 

So I said, ‘Well… 

okay.’ I guessed I was 

about to go see some 

small town amateurs 

screw up a perfectly 

good show. 

“From the opening 

chorus I was just 

enthralled. Jimmy 

Goodman was so 

good at what he did, 

that for the opening 

number ‘Once in the 

Highlands,’ he split 

the chorus. He put 

eight of the really 

northern community 

good ones at the back 

between the years Ladies of the musical, South Pacific, 1967. 

of the hall and con- 

1962 and 1983, was one of the then Glee Club’s members ducted them a quarter beat off. I don’t know how the hell he 

in those earlier days. I had the good fortune to speak with did it…I’ve directed choirs and I don’t know how he did it. 

him of his time with the club. 

He just had this shimmering sound…and sitting here right 

His first introduction to the community was in the now I just get goosebumps thinking about it. It was just that 

employ of an exploration company based out of Toronto good. From there on I was just blown away. My date turned 

who had him spending a couple of seasons prospecting in to me at intermission and said, ‘Well, what do you think?’ I 

the surrounding region. He soon decided to move to Flin said to her, ‘How do I get into this group?’” 

Flon, getting hired at the Hudson’s Bay Mining and Eventually, Murray would get his answer. Soon after he 

Smelting Company in 1964. 

moved up to Flin Flon to work at the mine, the General 


Manager of Exploration, Ron Price, one of the founders of 

the Glee Club in 1946, approached him. 

“Ron came in, slapped a script on my desk and said, 

‘Read that.’ So I did. The next day, Ron came back in and 

asked, ‘What part do you like the 

most in there?’ and I said, ‘Well…I 

like Billis…’ – the script was for 

South Pacific – He said, ‘Good, 

because that’s the part you’re 

doing.’ And that was my first 

musical. 

“It was an interesting exercise 

because we did the whole thing, 

and we did it in six weeks and put 

it on stage! At the time, I thought 

that was just the way you did it! 

We had general rehearsals on 

Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday 

afternoons and principle rehearsals 

were whenever you got called 

out. What they did was split the 

cast, so we had rehearsals at the 

old Jubilee Hall and at the community 

hall at the same time. It 

was very intense! I have since 

done South Pacific in Kenora when 

I was living there, but even then I 

only had eight weeks to do it in! 

“The Glee Club was a big deal 

back then. The whole time I was 

in Kenora, after I had moved 

there, I would brag about the Glee 

the executive were called away for the year for one reason or 

another. 

“I was either vice president or cast rep for the club at that 

time, but we had an executive meeting, and all of us came 

up and found out about the difficulties. 

So I turned to Sharon and 

said to her, ‘Well, Sharon, you’ll 

do the musical direction, and I’ll 

produce it,’ and she said, ‘Okay!’ 

It was like the old Mickey Rooney 

thing, ‘Let’s do a show!’ 

“I then turned to Jimmy 

Goodman and asked, ‘What 

would be a good show?’ and he 

replied, ‘Well, you know, there’s a 

show I’ve always wanted to do, 

and it really only requires a good 

female lead. If you’ve got a good 

female lead, the rest just falls into 

place.’ 

‘Okay, what is it?’ 

‘Annie Get Your Gun.’ 

“So we rounded up our female 

lead, plus another 90 people on 

stage. I think there were 130 people 

involved, both backstage and 

onstage. It was the biggest show 

we ever did, and the audiences 

were the biggest audiences we ever 

had. We usually set the auditorium 

for 950, but over the five 

nights, we kept adding chairs and 

Club and how good it was, and 

how pervasive it was. You could 

Jean Frechette as Ensign Nellie Forbush. 

narrowing aisles. By the final night 

I had 1243 seats in the auditorium 

be a sweeper on the mill floor or the general manager of the and very narrow aisles.” 

company, and if you were in the Glee Club, you were the One of Murray’s biggest personal performances with the 

same guy. There was no politics. It was not uncommon to Flin Flon Glee Club was as Tevye in the classic Fiddler on the 

see Jimmy Goodman putting together a male voiced choir Roof. It was also one of the few performances that toured 

of 25! 

outside of Flin Flon. 

“When I came back up 

“We took the show on 

to see Bombertown there 

the road to Thompson. It 

were six other guys from 

was absolutely amazing to 

Kenora with me, up for 

them. They hadn’t seen any- 

the Rotary conference. 

thing like it. We put it on in 

When the cast came out 

the R.D. Parker School’s 

and they had a chorus on 

theatre. It was an interest- 

both sides of the stage, 

ing show to work on. I 

they said to me, ‘Wow, 

designed the sets so that 

MacDonald, you weren’t 

they could be transported. 

kidding!’ It was a proud 

We had to go up there with 

moment. The quality of 

everything, and we only had 

the work has always been 

one day to set up. We did a 

amazing.” 

matinee and an evening 

The first set of Glee 

Club directors that Murray 

worked with included Hula dancing. 

Jimmy Goodman, who was the musical director, Jeannie 

Price, who played lead piano, Lois Calder, who played the 

organ, Sharon Keesman, who played second piano, Dorothy 

Liss, who was the drama director, and Ron Price, producer, 

lighting and soundman. That group directed the Glee Club 

until the year they did Annie Get Your Gun, when most of 

performance, and subsequently 

they asked Dorothy 

Liss and I to show them 

how to set up a group of their own, so we had a couple of 

workshops. They ended up setting up a theatre group, and I 

think it’s been going ever since. 

“We had a few hurdles to jump up there. R.D. Parker 

only seats 350 people, and they wouldn’t let us take their 

grand piano off the stage, so we just pushed it behind the 


cyclorama. Jean ended up playing 

the whole show on a keyboard, 

though we did have our second 

piano and our organ. 

“The performance itself really 

was interesting, because it was the 

first time I’d played on an apron 

out beyond the proscenium arch. 

It was really cool because the 

audience surrounded you. In the 

end, we got a 10 minute standing 

ovation and did two showstoppers! 

“Playing Tevye was one of the 

best things I’ve ever done in my 

life. It was the best thing for me, 

personally – I’m not just talking 

about my presentation. It’s an 

absolutely amazing part. The role The infamous motorcycle. 

– the show itself, is so well written. Most musical 

comedies at some point, either to get a set 

change in or a costume change or something, 

throw in a song to cover up the time. None of 

that in that show. It just went bang, bang, 

bang! 

“I’ve only ever done two other shows that 

got me that way, one was One Golden Pond and 

the other was Over the River and Through the 

Woods. Those two parts and Fiddler are the 

ones that will always stick with me. I still have 

Tevye inside me in many ways. 

“Our show was so good that, at the time, 

the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre sent reps up to 

see the performance, since they’d heard about 

it. They were so impressed, they wanted to 

bring it in to Winnipeg! But the Rainbow Stage 

Theatre got wind of it and did Fiddler themselves 

to shoot us down. 

“Still, they were good years. Most of us – Cast pose in Annie Get Your Gun, 1969. 

practically every one of us in the Glee Club 

held to that old line ‘there are no small parts 

only small people’. It was true; there were no 

small parts. I did stage hand, I did stage-managing, 

and everyone was the same. One year 

you were the lead; next year you were a stagehand. 

And sometimes we did shows that I 

hated – Sound of Music, for instance! Don’t like 

it to this day, but we did some remarkable sets! 

We had an amazing stage crew for that play, 

including 16 young men up in the flies to 

change the sets, which rotated. They just sat up 

there for the whole performance.” 

Beyond his own stories, of which I can 

assure you, there are many more, Murray has 

also, through a series of fortunate happenstances, 

stumbled upon something utterly 

invaluable. A history of the Glee Club, including 

photographs, handbills and written notes 

going all the way back to its founding in 1946. 

So watch these pages, Cottage North readers, 

because over the next few issues you may well 

be in for a treat! 

Murray as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, 1973. 


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Pinsanity 

Ron Boily with fellow 

pin collector, 

Joan Kolbauer. 

Photos submitted 

by Ron Boily. 

– Jim Parres – 

Long before there was “Linsanity” (Jeremy Lin’s win streak 

with the New York Knicks basketball team) there was 

Pinsanity. In fact “Pinsanity 8” is an event that will be held 

in Las Vegas in September 2012 at the Hard Rock Cafe on the 

Strip. 

What exactly is Pinsanity? 

In a similar way that people band together in tribes, congregate 

and share their religious beliefs, organize clubs with other 

people of similar interests or views, participate in popular sports 

such as soccer, football, basketball and hockey, the human psyche 

seems to need to belong, to share, to have a “raison d’etre” beyond 

the self. 

Once we have conquered Pavlov’s “Hierarchy of Needs”, 

human beings are of such diverse complexity and creativeness that 

they need to channel their extra energies into such areas as clubs, 

hobbies and sports. In addition, modern society seems to have 

more time now that we’re not constantly chopping wood, hauling 

water, and baking bread. 

Some people collect dolls, others accumulate figurines. There 

are those that restore old automobiles which are added to their 

collection of vintage cars. Musicians tend to collect guitars or any 

number of other instruments. People inclined to travel the world 

bring home objects from other countries that personify the culture 

there. At this point, I’m sure you get my train of thought. 


Roger Degagne with 

his curling pins. 

Quite simply, Pinsanity is the 

hobby, and in some cases, the business of people who like to collect pins. Pins are 

generally made of a metallic substance that is fabricated into an ornamental design 

intended to commemorate some special event, place, or object. They have a stick pin 

on the back with a clasp used to attach it to your clothing. Similar to the old tie tack 

of yesteryear. 

Let me give you a “for instance”. Many Manitobans share a love of the sport of 

curling – hey, we’ve produced some world champions! We’ve all been down at the 

rink a time or two and seen curlers who flaunt vests or tams covered with colourful 

glittering pins commemorating a certain bonspiel held in a certain town in a certain 

year, etc. That is a good example of “pin collecting”. People who participate in curling, 

collecting pins about curling. 

Pinsanity, however, is much bigger than that. Pinsanity is about people who collect 

any kind of pin that was ever made. In other words, the more pins, the better. 

The rarer a pin the more it will fetch in trade or cash. Pinsanity is about power and 

about being the best. Of course, much of the relevance of any object is in the eye of 

the beholder. Even if we had the money, not everyone would pay millions for a 

Picasso. When I interviewed the intrepid adventurer Don Starkell for my story in the 

January/February 2012 issue of Cottage North, Don unfortunately was very ill 

and could not speak for long periods of time. Our conversations were generally 

only a few minutes long with the exception of one matter which bothered 

Don, and we spoke for almost 45 minutes on this subject. For additional information, 

Don referred me to his good friend, Ron Boily, of Winnipeg. 

Ron and I shared a common 

goal to see Starkell honoured by 

being awarded the Order of 

Manitoba. To the best of my 

knowledge, they do not award this 

medal posthumously, and sadly 

Don Starkell passed away January 

28 of this year. However, Don 

certainly deserved some recognition 

for his many and varied 

exploits in the world of adventure. 

This included publishing two 

books on his amazing canoe/kayak 

trips. “Paddle to the Amazon” and 


“Paddle to the Arctic” were both best sellers and featured many interesting 

tales of his encounters during these trips. They’re both fantastic reading. 

While we were together trying to sort out that business we got to 

talking and it turns out that Ron Boily, besides being a professional photographer, 

is also the current president of the Winnipeg Pin Collectors 

Club. The club is based in Winnipeg but has members living throughout 

Canada, the U.S.A., Denmark and Germany. 

Just the word “pin” conjures up many memories. 

“Pin-Ups” – All of us guys have had a few, featuring shapely ladies in 

scanty apparel. Diamond drillers seem to me to be the most obsessed. 

One foreman we had on the Knife Lake campaign who worked for 

Midwest had a pin-up of Shania above his bed and lulled himself to sleep 

every night to one of her recordings. 

“Pin the Tail on the Donkey” – I played this game as a kid in Flin 

Flon at someone’s birthday party back in the 1940’s. One blindfolded 

kid stabbed another kid’s mother in the rear (she will remain anonymous). 

It caused quite a commotion at the time. 

“Pin Your Best Girl” – (Apparently there were guys who had more 

than one?) This was a very old tradition whereby you gave your school 

pin to a girlfriend which meant you were going “steady”. Another generational 

thing. 

“Pin Cherry” – a fruit berry that grows on trees. Grandmas made 

them into tasty jelly. 

“Pin Head” – in modern terms, 

it is a person who collects various 

pins from all over the world 

and displays them in a format 

for others to see. (It used to be a 

slang term used to refer to someone 

considered by the user to be 

a bit of an idiot!) 

Ron told me about his club. It 

turns out that pin collecting has 

gone viral, and there is a market 

out there in the electronic world 

where you can not only trade 

pins, but buy and sell pins as 

well. Who knew? There are 

many police pins, an F.B.I. pin and even a K.G.B. pin! Our Members of 

Parliament get a special spousal pin to give to their partner, along with 

their own MP pin when they are sworn in. It is made of white and yellow 

gold and says “House of Commons/Chambre des communes”, along the 

green enamelled border. There is a gold mace superimposed upon a silver 

maple leaf. John Diefenbaker got the first pin and it is numbered #1. 

The Winnipeg Pin Collectors Club was originally formed in 1987 by 

six pin collectors, all from Winnichuk: Bob Walpole, Denis Gregoire, 

Ron Kolbauer, Ron Boily, Len Peltier, and Ken Burdett. If you join you 

get a free pin each year depicting a Winnipeg or Manitoba landmark. 

In the first year, membership totalled 22 and peaked in 1990 at 157. 

The club displays at various malls around the province and has hosted 

CBC televised events. I’m sure there are collectors throughout Manitoba 

and it turns out there are many clubs across Canada as well. 

To join the Pinsanity, contact: 

Winnipeg Pin Collectors Club, c/o Ron Kolbauer 

649 Simpson Avenue 

Winnipeg, Manitoba R2K 1R8 

Phone – 204-667-4147 

email: rwkolbauer@shaw.ca 

Website: http://www.winnipegpincollectorsclub.com 

I think I’ll check in that old box of memorabilia in the garage. I should 

have some “rare ones”! 


The Phoenix’s 

Last Flight 

– Lyle Riley – 

The crash left them amidst an ocean of sand – the Gobi Desert 

Their sweat, once captured, offered some relief 

To the coming societal suffering 

Some, falsely, would try this demeaning gesture 

An intact engine and a solid, small body offered some hope 

If acting as one, it could be molded and taught to fly 

The plan was thin but thin bested none, so each gave to the cause 

With nerves and water wasted, the craft was done 

A gusty wind blew, making it buck like a newborn colt 

Hinting to the rest that a test was a non-request 

The firing gun jolted it to life 

As if, born of no sin and without a care 

Solemnly, each climbed aboard the wings 

Finding and testing their pre-planned positions 

As if guided by a gift for common good and decency 

Throttle full, she pell-melled across the rough terrain and into the air 

Dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes 

Now, each took time to reflect on the case and question 

How did it happen, with all eyes on it but seeing nothing? 

When did the problem become a life-ending tragedy? 

Who or what was at the root of the neglect? 

Why? Why? Why! 

A unified awakening engulfed the surviving few 

As to how to pay homage to the fledgling Phoenix 

The only answer was to shed a tear 

So the tears rained down from the Phoenix 

Like a pristine white veil telling of a coming spring shower 

All praying that was experienced in this act 

Would guarantee this to be Phoenix’s last flight 


mine mine 

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The 

Phantom Lake 

Revival 

Photos by Sherrie Worden. 

–Julian Kolt – 

There are a few places in everyone’s memory of the 

early days of childhood that stick out as paradise on 

earth. Those locations where you feel safe, where you 

can run and play with others of your age, where you can 

explore and experience a world entirely new to you and 

entirely magical in its boundless bounty of beauty. In northern 

Canada, we are fortunate 

in our proximity 

to the great outdoors; to 

cabins, to lakes, to snowmobile 

trails and campgrounds. 

Indeed, for 

many, those wondrous 

places of adventure and 

discovery in childhood 

are set to the backdrop 

of thick woods. For others, 

however, maintained 

public family areas such 

as parks and beaches 

become that essential, 

distinct place of memory 

and entertainment. One 

Sherrie’s family and friends enjoy the structures. 

such location is Phantom Lake, a formerly hopping public 

beach smack dab between the communities of Creighton 

and Flin Flon. 

You don’t have to search long or hard to find members of 

those communities who can warmly recall summer days at 

the Phantom Lake beach. In this very issue of Cottage 


North, in fact, you can treat your eyes to Patricia Vickery’s 

childhood recollections of the spot. Indeed, Sherrie Worden, 

who is currently the driving force behind the recently 

formed Phantom Lake Revival group, has a story of her own 

to tell. 

When, in her childhood, her parents separated, her 

mother took it upon herself to bring Sherrie to Phantom 

Lake as a means of escaping the stresses of a home divided. 

It was a familiar place in 

earlier life, and only 

became more so then. 

“She had taken me out 

there when I was little, so 

whenever I went out 

there, I would play in the 

sand or on the structures, 

would go adventuring 

around, but never wander 

too far away. For me, 

it was always a magical 

place. It was stress free, 

my friends were there, 

and we went out there 

for school sometimes. I 

used to watch the big 

kids run across the beach and plunge off the docks and think 

to myself, ‘No, no can’t do that!’ 

“When we moved away, it was always the one place I 

could remember. To me, that was Flin Flon.” 

She spent her years away from the community constantly 

comparing her experiences to her recollections of Phantom

Lake, but when she returned, her heart was broken, 

seeing the state it has since fallen into. “The concession, 

the bathrooms and change house are run down, 

the dock needs major repairs, and the wild grasses 

have taken over.” 

No one seemed to care about the beach any longer, 

and time had touched it. People had forgotten 

about it. 

“For me, that’s when it really started. The fact 

that in my memories, Phantom Lake was always a 

magical place…and I wanted my kids to have that 

place.” 

The feeling spurred her to action, and she soon 

started asking the right questions to local people and 

governmental agencies to get the ball rolling on a 

revival effort. 

She started on the Manitoba side, getting in touch with 

Churchill MP Niki Ashton and her staff and corresponding 

with them on the steps she should take. She also turned to 

the Saskatchewan side and inquired with their people about 

what would be required to revive the beach, especially in 

terms of nature preservation, since there is a growth of wild 

grasses reclaiming the beach and the property is within 

Saskatchewan’s borders, making their regulations therefore 

apply on such matters. Correspondence has been strong 

with Saskatchewan, whose government agencies have provided 

a list of what the revival group would need to do to 

bring back the beach. Some of the land that has been 

reclaimed by nature will, sadly, need to remain as such, but 

the upshot is they now have a better idea of how much will 

be available for renewal. 

Soon Sherrie realized, however, that there are a few issues 

closer to home that need to be ironed out. The Phantom 

Lake Golf Course has been quite good about giving its blessing 

to proceed with 

getting work done to 

the property in their 

role as caretakers, as 

long as Hudbay, who 

remain the owners of 

the buildings and property 

there, gives its own 

permission as well. 

Sadly, this, in itself, has 

become a snag. The 

company has been slow 

to respond to inquiries 

on the matter, leaving 

the Revival group in a 

lurch. Sherrie has 

learned that if any 

Snacks and crafts on Phantom. 

funding is to be received through grants from the government 

on the project, it will require some manner of effort on 

Hudbay’s part as well, either through a donation of manpower 

or funding, simply due to their ownership. What’s 

more, although she has written up a proposal for the project, 

it has been difficult to get an estimate on the costs of the 

work from contractors, who are unwilling to get involved 

without getting some indication of the company’s preparedness 

to move forward with approval of the project. The lack 

of communication has been frustrating. 

Despite these setbacks, there are nevertheless many indi- 

A full load after a 

Phantom Lake cleanup. 

cations of healthy interest being generated in the community 

and abroad. 

“When I started doing this and word started getting out, 

I got all these people calling me with their stories.” 

One local remembered his heady days as a 13 year old in 

the 1960’s, when he and his friends would soak the women 

who were caught on the beach sunbathing without their 

tops! 

Some people have already begun offering donations to 

the cause, sometimes as substantial as upwards of $50,000, 

but, like many other aspects of the project, much depends 

on the speed with which the ownership issues are squared 

away. Other funding opportunities have been considered, 

including the Kraft Canada Celebration Tour, a competition 

that could well bring $25,000 to the project if it successfully 

places in the top ten. The Phantom Lake Revival group 

is also looking to reach not for profit status as an organization, 

but it is currently too small to apply. 

Beyond the administrative 

hurdles, there’s also 

been a growing interest in 

actively cleaning out the 

property and using it as 

well. Sherrie hosted a 

Phantom Lake Clean Up 

Day and managed to dig 

up and remove two garbage 

bags full of glass and 

waste from the site. Other 

locals have also come on 

their own, either with rakes 

and bags to aid the clean 

up efforts, or to simply 

enjoy the, until recently, 

forgotten beauty of the 

spot, and perhaps envision 

what it could one day become. 

It is Sherrie’s vision to return Phantom Lake not only to 

its original splendour as a public recreation spot and a campgrounds, 

but even to improve upon it by providing a means 

to accommodate people with disabilities, especially children. 

If anyone would like further information on the Phantom 

Lake Revival, or would just like to help out, phone (204) 

271-2582, add them on facebook at www.facebook.com/ 

TwoCommunitiesOneGreatLake or check out www.phantomlake.blogspot.ca/. 


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Man 

versus 

the 

Machine 

– Carla Klapecki – 

Priming the Pump at the Lake 

Since the beginning of time, man has been challenged 

by adversity. Neanderthals standing around in the cold 

saw lightning create fire and probably grunted strategic 

ways to get some of that fabulously hot stuff for themselves. 

Cro-Magnons? Well, adversity must have forced that slightly 

less hairy hand to smooth out boulders into wheels – and 

voila! Now things can help carry instead of being carried. 

From that point onward, technology has answered adversity’s 

call to arms and tried to lighten the load. My goodness, 

haven’t we already put men on the moon and are contemplating 

other planets as well? 

So then, tell me, why is it so painfully torturous to put 

the pump out at the cottage every spring? Why is it a maze 

of pipefittings, tubes, hoses, pumps and pump houses? I 

mean, honestly, every fall the pump is drained and unscrewed, 

the hoses placed to the side of the pump house. There is no 

third party interaction. What the pump man (i.e. he who is 

designated as the one who installs and uninstalls the pump 

every season – a lofty and admired position, as you can 

imagine! But I digress…) what he does, is all that will ever 

be done to the pump. And yet, every spring, usually on the 

May long weekend, we all cluster around Dad (the designated 

pump man) and wait. I stand there with my soup pot 

Carla's son Erick with the 

pump. Photos submitted by 

Carla Klapecki. 

primed, the kids with their hose…and we wait. Chatter is in 

the air; everyone is joyfully anticipating the quick fix, a 

steady stream, filled pots, and – dare we dare to dream – at 

the day’s end, a hot shower. We joke about all the problems 

that happened last year and how this year it will be different. 

The atmosphere around the pump, down by the bank of the 

beach, is light and whimsical. The boys are challenging to 

take each other down (once those water balloons are loaded). 

Then, gradually, almost imperceptibly, things begin to 

change. Someone (read this as the wife of the pump man) 

begins to notice that he is no longer joining in on the conversations. 

Not only that, but his posture is beginning to 

change. His is no longer straight and quick-moved, echoing 

the roof top dance of a chimney sweep, but slowly becoming 

more bent and tight. At first it is faintly amusing. You know, 

that gentle blend of deprecating humour that curls through 

the air when you watch someone do something that should 

be easy but that gets progressively harder and harder. Like 

when someone tries to put a sleeping bag back into its custom 

nylon bag. Or when you try to untangle the Christmas 

lights from the ornament/tinsel/light box. You want to make 

little quips to lighten the mood, to deflect things away from 

the direction they are beginning to go…but gradually it all 

gets a little much. It’s like holding back the tide, or rather, 

like a dance. Yes, it becomes a dance – and not like the free- 


flowing just-go-with-it jive, but rather a complicated mansure (literally and figuratively) would be less intense. Alas, 

versus-bull pasodoble. But worse – because it becomes a the former isn’t and the latter is, so Pump Man begins his 

dance of man versus machine and there is no dramatic music solitary journey…well, as solitary as you can get with five or 

(save for the pounding of your own heart in your ears), and six people asking you ‘how’s it going?’ and ‘when will you be 

seldom does the man win first round. 

done?’. 

Of course, part, nay, most of the problem is the property My pump man is a genius. I will just say that straight 

incline. We have a seriously steep run down to the water, out. He has convinced rodents to relocate (without loss of 

and on low water years, that pump has to work very hard to life or limb to either man or beast), uncurled 50 foot hoses 

suck water all the way up to the cabin. But most isn’t all, and that spent six months curled into themselves, and created a 

it is the rest of 

fully functional pump out of three 

the problems that 

leftover pumps that we found at 

prompt the 

the dump (and which we proudly 

colourful lan- 

dubbed Frankenpump all season). 

guage and air- 

So far, this year alone, he has 

borne tools. 

installed a new pump (Frank only 

Weird or nasty or 

gave us a season and then popped 

bizarre things 

all his seals and refused to prime), 

happen over the 

fixed a burst pipe in the kitchen 

wintering season 

and replaced the leaking hot water 

for cottage 

tank. As if that were not enough, 

p u m p s . 

he will be building a pump house 

Sometimes a little 

out of an old table 

field mouse will 

in the next few 

wait patiently for 

weeks. A giant 

our car’s taillights 

poplar crushed 

to disappear down 

the last one dur- 

the driveway and then books itself 

ing those huge 

(and its soon to be family) into 

windstorms in 

the abandoned hoses. In defense 

the fall. So clearly 

of the mouse, it probably seemed 

this guy is a keep- 

like a set of pretty cool digs – nice 

er. But on those 

and dark, subject to expansion, 

first pump days, 

with scenic views. Location, loca- 

when things 

tion, location! However, come 

begin to get… 

spring, when you are trying to 

well…vocal, we 

prime the pump with 

all assume our 

water, a mouse in the 

alternate posi- 

wrong house is a probtions 

and generlem. 

We have had popously 

give Pump Man a wide 

lars falling on the pump 

berth. The kids go play on the 

house. Seals have 

beach, and by that I mean the 

unsealed themselves 

neighbour’s beach, I look for ways 

because the elements 

to get water up the hill by foot, 

have just been too big a 

and Pump Man goes it alone. In 

challenge for them. 

those few solitary hours, miracles 

Hoses crack from the 

happen. Hoses are untangled, 

constant freeze and 

pumps are primed and pressures 

thaw, and then comes 

are met, and at that one magnifi- 

the May long weekend. 

cent moment when the faucet in 

For cottagers, the 

the kitchen jerks awake and shoots 

May long weekend 

water so forcefully that I have to 

awakens our ardor. True, 

towel off the counters, we cheer! 

we have been thinking 

In our lake version of a parade, 

about the cabin since 

the snow left, but there 

A felled tree led to a crumpled pumphouse. 

Pump Man is celebrated and honoured. 

On a cooler day, he receives 

is something about the “May Long” that gives a jumpstart 

to the cottage season, and that instinctively reaches into our 

hearts and reminds us that “this is the time”. Like bears 

awakening from hibernation famished and irritable, so, too, 

are cottagers who aren’t set up after the May Long. So, 

clearly, this is go time. 

I think that if this instinct were dormant, the pump pres- 

a glass of red wine, on a hot day, a gin and tonic on the 

rocks, but on all further days he then lounges in a zero gravity 

chair with a Car and Driver Magazine, lavishing in the 

love and affection of a family and job well done. A man 

enjoying the spoils of his battle won. It doesn’t get much 

better than that. Oh, wait, it does! Because at the end of that 

long, hot, hard day, he gets first shower! 


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I take my young self 

To the lake with me today: 

Stern, resolute, exultant, 

She dances at the water’s edge 

Bare feet moiling in muck of wet sand, 

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Following the sand dance of a piper 

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The TFSA: 

A Flexible Savings Choice 

– Lenna Gowenlock, Edward Jones – 

eficiary tax-free and also avoid probate. As always, please 

The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is frequently 

called “a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) 

for everything else beyond retirement.” Unlike with 

an RRSP, you can access the money in your TFSA with no 

tax consequences for any need, and the amounts withdrawn 

are added back to your contribution limit amount in the 

following year. 

Any Canadian resident who has reached the age of 

majority can contribute up to $5,000 annually to a TFSA. 

But when should you consider this type of savings plan? A 

TFSA may be useful if: 

- You are a younger investor. If you are currently in a low 

tax bracket and expect to be in a higher bracket in the 

future, contributing to a TFSA may be best for you. RRSPs 

offer tax savings if your income is in a higher tax bracket 

when you contribute to the plan and in a lower bracket 

when you withdraw. By contributing to a TFSA while in a 

low tax bracket, your investments grow tax-free. When your 

tax rate is higher, you can withdraw funds from your TFSA 

to contribute to an RRSP and reduce more of your future 

taxes. Also, you are able to reclaim the amount you withdraw 

toward your TFSA annual contribution limit in the 

following year. 

- You are an established saver. If you have limited contribution 

room or have maximized your annual RRSP contributions 

and are looking for ways to save more for retirement, 

a TFSA can help complement your retirement plan. 

In addition, you can give your spouse money that he or she 

can then use to contribute to a TFSA without affecting your 

TFSA contribution room or attracting income attribution. 

- You are transitioning to retirement. The TFSA can offer 

you tax-free income during retirement, which may help 

diversify your income stream. You can hold accounts with 

consult your tax advisor or estate-planning lawyer and your 

financial advisor. 

If you’re looking for a flexible savings vehicle, take another 

look at the TFSA. You might like what you see. 

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your 

local Edward Jones Advisor. 

Edward Jones, its employees and Edward Jones advisors 

cannot offer tax or legal advice. You should consult a qualified 

tax specialist or lawyer for professional advice regarding 

your situation. 

©Edward Jones, Member CIPF 

Make Saving Less 

Make Taxing Saving with a Less Tax-Free 

Taxing Savings with Account a Tax-Free 

Savings Account 

It’s likely you opened and contribute to your Tax-Free 

Savings Account (TFSA) for the tax-advantaged savings. 

It’s But, likely remember, you opened your TFSA and contribute is more than to your just another Tax-Free 

Savings savings account. Account (TFSA) for the tax-advantaged savings. 

But, remember, your TFSA is more than just another 

By having a TFSA at Edward Jones, you can benet from 

savings account. 

working with a nancial advisor who will meet with you 

By to better having understand a TFSA at Edward your needs. Jones, Working you can together, benet we’ll from 

working personalize with your a nancial TFSA with advisor the best who investments will meet with that you will 

to be better tailored understand to meet these your needs. 

Working together, we’ll 

personalize your TFSA with the best investments that will 

be Keep tailored more to of meet what these you needs. save. Call me today. 

Keep more 

Lenna 

of what 

Gowenlock, 

you save. 

CFP® 

Call me today. 

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. 

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differing tax treatments in order to help smooth out your tax 

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liabilities. 

. 

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- You are retired. Unlike with an RRSP, there is no 

Flin Flon, MB R8A 1J7 

requirement to close your TFSA at age 71. In addition, you 

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can continue to contribute to a TFSA even though you may 

Member – Canadian Investor Protection Fund 

no longer be eligible to make RRSP contributions. 

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- You are interested in preserving your financial legacy. 

The TFSA allows you to directly name a beneficiary. Upon 

Member – Canadian Investor Protection Fund 

your death, your TFSA assets can pass directly to your ben- 

PleAse Recycle Me Co t ta g e Nor t h Ju ly - August Page 47 

Investment 

Investment


More than just 

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More than just… 

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your local store 

Two Locations to Help Serve You 

Pharmasave 

687-4429 • 37 Main Street 

Monday – Friday 

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Saturday 

9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. 

Pharmasave Health Centre 

687-7677 • 31 Church Street 

Monday – Friday 

9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

July – August 2012 - Cottage North Magazine

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