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ALGOMA EASTERN RAILWAY
HERITAGE GROUP
N E W S L E T T E R
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VOLUME 1, NUMBER 3
MAY, 1999
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| Some Changes & Membership
You will notice this is a much
bigger newsletter, something we plan to produce regularly. It will likely
begin to appear more frequently and that means contributions in one form
or another will be very welcome from people and organizations. We
look forward to hearing from tourist operators and motel owners with their
"take" on the whole AERHG concept.
However, concerning the newsletter,
there's a "catch". It has to do with the AERHG membership we're asking
people and businesses to take up, putting down their hard-earned money
in, exchange for the chance to participate in what right now is just a
dream - no matter how practical it may be!
While we aren't going to cut
anyone off the mailing list, only those signing up as members will receive
the large newsletter in the future while others (just a few, we hope) who
are then on the mailing list but not members will receive only a "bulletin"
of perhaps a half page listing items taking place or ongoing but not including
explanations or other detail.
We would like to express our gratitude
to the Espanola Council for their high level of support for our organization
- see the item below in the material submitted to the newsletter by Mike
Lehoux.
Good news! The AERHG now
has a draft constitution and bylaws! That's right, we're very much
an ongoing organization! There's too much print to consider reproducing
it in a
newsletter, so those who |
would like a copy for their
own use, please send a 9x12" envelope with your name and full postal address,
plus 92C postage to Dale Wilson in Sudburv. See "How to Get in Touch"
later in the newsletter for the address.
News from Espanola
Mark Gagnon and Mike Lehoux
are in the process of setting up a bank account for the AERHG in Espanola
where all membership money, grants, and any other funds received will be
deposited.
Mike has not yet been able to
meet with the First Nations at Birch Island and we all hope this will happen
soon.
The Town of Espanola Council
recently accepted a motion to reimburse the Algoma Eastern Heritage Group's
postal and stationery expenses. The big news, however, was that Council
also passed a motion to reserve $10,000 towards the cost of a feasibility
study for the AERHG concept, on the condition the town is able to partner
with Little Current and the First Nations in Birch Island. This does
not assume, equal financial participation, but the support of every individual
organization and government that can possibly be involved is necessary
for this project to work.
Ray Hemmerling of FedNor tells
us that money is available from Ottawa for the feasibility study. Obviously
the AERHG must satisfy certain requirements for such funding, as will be |
the case for money coming from
the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, but it is comforting to
know that the two senior levels of government are interested and capable
of helping. Add this to municipal participation and things are in
reasonable financial shape at this stage.
The Town of Espanola may hire
a university graduate for a one year term. This person's job description
would be to help market the area and help work on tourist projects. This
is funded through the Youth Internship programme by FedNor which pays $25,000.00
while the Town's share is $5000. This person would be invaluable
to the AERHG, writing letters, following up calls, digging up information,
scheduling meetings and a multitude of other things that will need doing.
The Mayor of Little Current
has promised to work towards that town coming onside with support.
His intentions are very much appreciated.
We have received a motion of
support from LAMBAC. That's the LaCloche and Manitoulin Business
Corporation, one more organization that has excellent reasons for supporting
the AERHG iniative.
Before a feasibility study will
take place there is a great deal to be done, and this is going to require
much hard work by a number of people and organizations. The following
things should be achieveed:
1) Support from the Northeastern Manitoulin Council. |
...Page 2
2) Support from the White
Fish River First Nations.
2) Another meeting with Mr. Belke of Genesee Rail-One.
3) A meeting with Science North about possible
partnerships.
Once these things are achieved,
we will then meet with the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development &
Mines in order to draft up the terms of reference for a feasibility study
plus a
commitment for financing help.
We are still facing an uphill
battle and expect to be very busy accomplishing everything we've laid out.
The Algoma Eastern Railway
Historical Corner
Last month we asked if anyone
could tell us about the McMillan Gold Mine near West River. Allan
Stacey of Chelmsford sent us quite a bit of information concerning the
original mining activities in that area, and a search on the Internet revealed
some current goings-on.
The McMillan Mine was one of
two mines located on House Lake, also known as Moyle Lake. The Majestic
Mine, incorporated in 1921, was located less than a mile from the AER on
the north shore of the lake. By 1929 a shaft had been sunk to about
200 feet, but by the mid thirties all operations had ceased. Of note,
the siding at Mile 61.1, identified by the AER, in 1929 as the McMillan
Siding is shown in the 1929 Annual Report of the Ontario Department of
Mines as the Majestic Siding.
The McMillan Mine was incorporated
on December 31, 1926 with its Head Office in Sudbury. Among the board
of directors were Sudbury residents, J.G. Henry, G.A. Foote and Ewan J.
McMillan. Presumably the mine was named after this latter individual
who
was also the mine superintendent. In 1928, Joseph
Errington was listed as a director. Mr. |
Errington was later involved both
Ventures Limited, the parent, of Falconbridge Limited and the iron ore
discoveries in the Steep Rock area.
The mine site was located, on
the north shore of House Lake about 1.7 miles west of the AER's "Majestic
Siding." A wagon road connected the mine to the railroad. In 1927,
a 550 foot sunk. Development continued in 1928 on the 325 and 525
levels. By 1028, surface facilities included a 150 hp boiler, hoist
house and headframe, offices bunkhouses and a manager's residence. Underground
workings consisted of over 2400 feet of. drifts and crosscuts. Independent
examinations of ore samples unfortunately, indicated an assay of only about
$7.50 per ton, far less than required for profitable mining and operations
were suspended in 1929.
By 1933, new capital found and
operations resumed. By the end of 1935 over fifty, thousand tons
of ore had been processed by the 150 ton per day concentrator built on
site in 1934. Eighty two men worked at the site which now boasted two additional
levels at 750 and 875 feet.,As in 1929, however, low assay results doomed
the operation and in 1937, the mine was shut down and the mill, hoist and
the compressors were sold. The site would, remain dormant until the
mid-eighties.
In 1985 and 1986 new mine owners
de-watered the workings and ore samples were taken. Apparently nothing
came of this operation however.
Both the McMillan and Majestic
sites were acquired in 1995 by Rainbow Petroleum Corp. of Calgary, Alberta.
Drilling was carried out in 1997 and 1998 with initial results released
on
March 24, 1998 but nothing else has been published as
of the writing of this column in late April. For those |
interested in junior mines, the
Rainbow website is http://www.rainbowbp.com.
Obviouslv the Majestic
and McMilla mines were never high traffic customers for the railway.
There certainly would have been a fair amount of passenger and mail business.
The siding was probably used to bring in mine equipment and supplies which
would then be moved to the mine via the wagon road,or perhaps shipped by
tug boat across House Lake. I am not if any concentrated ore left McMillan
Siding. If anyone knows if this ever took place please write and
tell us.
And for this newsletter's
question. Hawkin's Lumber, the owner of the tug boat mentioned in
the last paragraph, was located at the east end of House Lake just shy
of Mile 62. The 1929 AER plan book shows a spur with three sidings
serving the loading area, mill yard and planing mill and totalling about
1800 feet of track. Does anyone have any information on this major
AER customer?
With our new expanded four page
format we anticipate that this will become a regular column. Do you
have any stories or material concerning life along the AER? Will
you share them with the other readers of this newsletter and the website?
Do you know someone who lived, or worked along the right-of-way?
Why not ask them what they remember about the railway, or let us know who
they are so that we can ask them? We are working to preserve what
we can of the history of this fascinating line, but we need your contributions.
Please drop us an e-mail at
<mocomp@intranet,ca>, or write to John Morgan, RR2 (331 Old Wooler Road),
Codrington ON K0K 1R0
John Morgan |
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How to Get in Touch
Mike Lehoux
386 Barber Street
Espanola ON P5E 1B8;
Phone (705) 869-5319; email
<mike.clare@sympatico.ca>
John Morgon
RR #2
Codrington. ON K0K 1R0; Phone (613) 475-0455; email
<morcomp@intranet.co>
Dale Wilson
158 Adie Street
Sudbury ON P3C 2C8; Phone (705) 674-8217;
email <dale.wilson@sympatico.co>
John Morgan's Column
There are times when those who
would preserve railway branch lines are accused of living in the past.
We are told that in their day these smaller lines were useful, but that
time moves on and they are all now obsolete, worthy only to be torn up
and recycled like so many old tin cans. Only mainline railways, with
their hundred car unit trains and eonomies of scale are worth
keeping. It is unfortunate that this view is so
widespread, because it is also extremely shortsighted.
There are at least three excellent
reasons to preserve many of these smaller lines. The first argues
that much of the current road traffic will need to shift back to railways
in the future as we cannot sustain present vehicular
traffic growth rates without bankrupting ourselves trying to pay for our
vehicle habit. For further details concerning this idea, you may
wish to
request information from a group like Transport 2000
Ontario. An operation such as the one proposed can also provide a
boost to the local economy by providing employment as well as generating
an inflow of tourist dollars |
However,
the third reason is the one that I wish to discuss in this column.
It is purely a social, reason, one which cannot measured in dollars and
cents. We are told that we can't live in the
past; yet, if you think about it, the past is one of
the greatest influences on who and what we a today. As individuals,
we grow and progress in large part based on past experiences. What
is true for individuals is also true for families and our society. We therefore,
need to preserve our past, wherever we can, since it played such a large
part in defining our present. Only by knowing our history can we
understand why we are who are and where we are going
People ask me why I am involved
with the AERHG. I am not from the north, and I now live 400 miles
away. Why do I care? I care because the north is part of my
past. I was not born in northern Ontario, but a short residency during
the mid-seventies instilled in me a love of the north which has affected
my subsequent life. The distance doesn't matter because I am
working to bring something that has been a big influence
on my life to others. There are many excellent economic reasons for
developing the tourist train. Jobs will be created, money will
flow into the local economy, tourism will increase and
so on, but to me, the real reward will be the discovery of the beauty of
Frood Lake and the LaCloche mountains by a child from an inner
city riding the train, the impressions left on an adult
by the picture postcard qualitites of Willisville, the student learning
more about native heritage Birch island and the local resident
learning about a forgotten railway that helped shape
his part of Ontario.
The time has come for each of
you to contribute. We need to raise money for the feasibility study.
The Town of Espanola is |
leading the way with their generous
grant, but others must follow. If vou live in Little Current, on the Whitefish
Reserve, or along the right-of-way, get in touch with your political leaders
and tell them you want the train. If you own a tourist oriented business
in the area, you will benefit from this project. Tell your local
leaders that you want the train. If you live in northeastern Ontario
or elsewhere you will have a fine summer excursion to look forward to.
Tell your local politicians to "get on board." Then take the membership
application form included with this newsletter, fill it out, and send it
in along with your membership dues. You will be supporting a very
worthy project and you will be preserving a bit of the past for your children
to help them understand who they are.
John Morgan
Next Page: PHOTOS
We're glad to be able to present
two actual, true-to-life Algoma Eastern photos in this issue of the newsletters.
The reproduction here, while not of magazine or book quality, will provide
you with a quick glimpse of things as they were on the rail way in the
past.
It would be nice to be able
to continue this feature in future editions of the newsletter, but how
long that can go on depends on how many snap shots dealing in some way
with the AER are "out there".
If you have any photos you would
like to share please lend them to us. Send them to Dale Wilson in
Sudbury, properly protected for the hazards of mailing. They will
be scanned electronically and returned to you as soon as possible.
Enjoy! |
Page 4
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Photo Credit:
From the National Archives
of Canada, the Andrew
Merrilees Collection,
PA 203495 |
| ABOVE: #52 is one of two combination
baggage and passenger cars built for the Algoma Eastern by Canadian Car
and Foundry at Montreal in September of 1912. The picture is an official
'builder's photo" taken by CC&F as the brand new car emerged from its
shops. Officially the car was known as a "Baggage-Smoker" and retained
that classification when it become Canadian Pacific #3100. The car remained
in CPR service until the end of its life which came in 1950 when the car
burned at Havelock, Ontario, near Peterborough.
BELOW: Also at CC&F and in 1912 but in August,
"1st Class & Smoking" #72 is shown in all its glory. Incidentally,
no one is sure what colour the Algoma Eastern used on its passenger cars,
so anyone having information should get in touch. In April 1932 the
car become Canadian Pacific "First Class" #601; in July, 1934 this was
changed to CPR "1st Class & Smoking" #1101. The car was scrapped at
CPR's Angus Shops at Montreal in August, 1958 |
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| Photo Credit:
From the National Archives
of Canada, the Andrew
Merrilees Collection,
PA 203497 |
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