The Red Deer Cash Casino has approved the cash

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1 Preserving Railway Heritage for Community and Economic Benefits Canadian Northern Society P.O. Box 1174, Camrose, Alberta T4V 1X2 Dominion of Canada Phone: (780) Volume 18, Number 4, December 2005 Cash Casino The Red Deer Cash Casino has approved the cash casino for the Canadian Northern Society for March 26 and 27, Both days require a day shift of four volunteers from 1 pm to 7 pm and a night shift of four volunteers from 6:30 pm to 1 am. In addition they require six volunteers for the count room from 9:45 am to 1 am. Volunteers from the day shift can work the count room after the day shift. Please consider helping the society with this fundraising project. If you require more details or would like to assist with your time at the casino please contact Harry Stuber at (403) or Shawn Smith at sismith@cable-lynx.net. Canadian Northern Membership With the new year fast approaching, please remember to renew your Canadian Northern membership. Help us preserve vanishing prairie heritage Remember to send your membership renewal for 2006 to: Canadian Northern Society PO Box 142 Big Valley, Alberta T0J 0G0 Full memberships remain at $20 per year; associate memberships are $10 per year. In light of rising insurance and utility costs, your memberships and contributions are of significant importance. As a registered charity, all cash donations towards our continued heritage and economic development programs are tax-creditable. Your membership will also continue your subscription to the Canora Chronicle. Acknowledgements The society would like to welcome Doug Smith from Ottawa, Ontario, as a new member. We also welcome A.N. (Ab) Krauter from Edmonton, Alberta. Ab is a new member who kindly donated a telegraph sounder and Morse program to the Big Valley station that allows for automatic playing of Morse code for visitors. In addition, we appreciate the generous cash donation Ab made recently. Thank you to the County of Stettler for the annual recreational board funding provided to the Big Valley station and roundhouse. This operational assistance is greatly appreciated. Sincere thanks to Peter Cox of Edmonton, Alberta, for the donation of station stamps from CN s Vancouver depot (circa 1960s). The Society sincerely appreciates the generous cash donation of Waste Management Inc. for their $5000 contribution to the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame Pavilion Project in Big Valley. Thank you to this gold spike corporate supporter. Look for details on the Canadian Northern Society website and in the next edition of the Chronicle about our spring 2006 opening ceremony, which is now in the planning stages. You can still make your donation to the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame Pavilion, and your name will be enshrined on the pavilion for donations of $100 or greater. The Canadian Northern Society wishes all of its members a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and happy 2006! December

2 Big Valley News Camrose Happenings To assist the Society with defraying maintenance and utility expenses at the Big Valley station this winter, the Society has entered into two usage agreements for the second-floor living quarters of the depot. The first is with the Canadian Heartland Training Railway, which has used the station for accommodation of railway employees in training from time to time. Secondly, we have an arrangement with a local oilfield consultant who is using the station as a field office and for away-from-home accommodations. These usage agreements will help us with expected significant utility bills expected this winter. Expenses for natural gas alone for the station in January are expected to be about $700 for the month, so the revenue generated from these usage agreements is very welcome. How come you never hear anything about the 10th reindeer Olive? Olive? Yeah, you know, Olive the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names. Meeting Creek Update Graham Chillingworth has completed the restoration of all the wooden windows in our 1917 Alberta Pacific Grain elevator. The work is excellent, and original material was restored wherever possible adding to the value of the project. Thank you again to the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation for funding this project over the past two years. We now have the walkway between the elevator driveway and the office to restore. We are looking for some heritage tin elevator siding to complete the project. Anyone with ideas please contact Shawn Smith. Don Gillespie and his work crew from Alberta Prairie took on an interior paint project for us at the station this fall. We repainted the waiting room and office in a 1930s vintage colour scheme. In addition Don refinished the floors again for us. This work has really made a positive difference in the appearance of the station interior. Thanks again to Don for all of his labour and talents and for taking on this project for the society. It is greatly appreciated. We received a vintage agent-operator s desk and an original ticket case as a donation from Ms. Joy Claypool of Calgary. Ms. Claypool s father, Lloyd Sharko, was the agent-operator at Macrorie, Saskatchewan, when these items were originally purchased from the CNR. Mr. Sharko was also the agent at Glidden and Conquest, finishing his career on the railway at Saskatoon. We are placing these items on display at Meeting Creek which will mean that we have a larger ticket case that is now surplus to our needs at this location, which our President Les Kozma has committed to our friends at Canora, Saskatchewan, as a legacy gift from the Canadian Northern Society. The fall activities included preparation of the gardens for winter, cleaning the tearoom and bathrooms from top to bottom, painting the waiting room and reorganizing displays. A very willing volunteer, Joel, has been coming regularly and working on paper archives. We are very thankful for his help. Joel has a degree in political science and is looking for a job in his field. We also want to thank Eddy and his worker from Catholic Family Services for their help cleaning pictures, tables and items. After Christmas we will paint the operator s office. Thank you to Sylvia Markowsky from the Pampered Chef for hosting a fund-raising evening in October. The station looks very festive. We had to decorate early as our first booking was November 18. We served a turkey dinner for a local lawyer s office party. There are several bookings coming up. On December 16 we are going to host a community Christmas carol evening and will come back to the station for cookies, cider and hot chocolate. If any members would like to come along with their friends, we will encourage them to bring a small batch of cookies. Bruce and I will supply the cider. We will meet at the station at 7 pm. I would like to thank Carol Roy for the beautiful job of decorating the tearoom for Christmas. The Camrose Centennial Museum initiated a meeting with the Camrose City Council on November 14. They were requesting the city fund 30 hours of time for an administrator. Ten hours per week would go to our station. We were well recieved, and both museums were congratulated on their achievements this year. Shelly is spending four hours per week on office matters. The Wild Rose Antique Collectors have approved funding to restore the roof and cedar shingles for the tool house. Robert Stiles will be doing the work in the coming year. We are very greatful for this funding and we sincerely thank the Wild Rose Antique Collectors for their continuing support. Along with several Centennial Museum members we attended a meeting in Vegerville where the Alberta Museums Affirmation application was explained. We will be required to complete the questionnaire. We will need to discuss the best approach at the January 14 meeting here at the station. I would like to wish all members of the Canadian Northern Society and all other volunteers a wonderful holiday. I hope you will join us in the new year s activities. We are planning something for Valentine s and will hold our St. Patrick s supper again. We invite you to send in membership dues in the new year. These dues assist the society in making this place a community centre. If you know of anyone who would like to be a board member, please let us know. We are putting forth some exciting ideas for sustainability in the new year and welcome your input. One of our volunteers, Fred Murray, has spent considerable time in hospital this last year. We are looking forward to his return to the station when he is able. 2 December 2005

3 Centennial Honours Strategy Meeting Canadian Northern Society directors and dedicated volunteers, Mr. Harry Stuber of Big Valley and Mrs. Glenys Smith of Camrose, were recently honoured with awards recognizing their significant contributions to their communities. Together with prominent Albertans such as Ed Chynoweth, Peter Lougheed, Mark Tewksbury, and Marg and Margaret Southern, Harry Stuber was the winner of an Alberta Centennial Salute Award for his tireless efforts in sport and recreation over his lifetime as a community volunteer. Harry was an instrumental founder of the Big Valley Ringette Program and has been involved as a volunteer in sports and recreation for over 40 years. We are very proud of him and his well-deserved award. In late October, Mrs. Smith was honoured in Camrose with 54 other area individuals by His Honour the Honourable Norman Kwong, Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta, with a special Alberta Centennial Medal honouring outstanding Albertans. Specially she was recognized for her volunteer efforts in community service as it relates to heritage preservation and her work with the Canadian Northern Society at the Camrose Railway Station Park and Morgan Railway Gardens. Congratulations to Glenys as well for what the lieutenantgovernor summed up as making an outstanding contribution to our quality of life in this province. The Society would also like to sincerely congratulate long-time member and community volunteer Allan R. Johnston of Big Valley who also was a recipient of an Alberta Centennial Medal. Allan remains the driving force behind the Big Valley Historical Society and it was his efforts that led to the initial preservation of the Big Valley railway station and St. Edmunds Church. No doubt, Allan along with Harry Stuber and Glenys Smith are very deserving of the recent honours bestowed upon them as community volunteers. Along These Lines Book and DVD A REMINDER Limited numbers of copies of our special Along These Lines books and our special Centennial edition Along These Lines DVD featuring the Canadian Northern Society s efforts are still available. Please contact Brent Cheek for more information or to order these great centennial items. Brent Cheek - Phone: (780) brent.cheek@railamerica.com With the DVD now available to complement the book this makes a perfect gift for any railway enthusiast! OPEN TO ALL INTERESTED Canadian Northern Society is hosting a planning and strategy meeting open to all of its members and supporters. We welcome and encourage as much participation as possible. Saturday January 14, 2005 Camrose Railway Station Camrose, Alberta Begins at 1:00 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to: Discuss ways of finding new volunteers and members of the society. Discuss future direction of the society. Discuss short term projects. Discuss fundraising initiatives. Discuss future projects and needs the society will face. YOUR INPUT IS NEEDED. WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR ATTENDANCE. Question: Grey Cup Trivia What was the name of the Winnipeg Football team that missed an opportunity to go to the Grey Cup because of a dispute between management and players over which railway to travel on? Answer: What did Adam say on the day before Christmas? It s Christmas, Eve! The Winnipeg Victorias. In 1924, they beat the Calgary 50th Battalion football club 11 to 9 to win the Western Championship. The Victorias players wanted to take the Canadian National Railways to Toronto for the Grey Cup Championship while the club management insisted that the team take the Canadian Pacific Railway. The players finally decided that they would travel on the railway of their choice, with or without management s approval! The club executive responded by denying the players the right to use the Victorias name if they pursued this course of action. By the time the dispute was settled, the Canadian Rugby Union ruled that too much time had elapsed and that the Queen s University Tricolour, which had beaten Toronto Balmy Beach of the Ontario Rugby Football Union 11 3 at Varsity Stadium on November 29 were the Grey Cup Champions. Queen s packed their gear, quit practising and went home without playing the championship game! December

4 Hinton VIA Station Moved Argo Depot The Hinton station on its new site, south of the original site. 4 December 2005 VIA Rail s new shelter. The historic railway station at Hinton, Alberta, has a new location, across the highway from its original site. The Grand Trunk Pacific Design A station has a unique history. There was nothing notable about it in the beginning: it was built in 1912, shortly after track was laid, and was one of hundreds of identical stations along the line from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Five years later, it appeared that the Hinton station would be one of the first to be demolished. The mainlines of the Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk Pacific parallelled each other, less than a kilometre apart, from Entwistle, Alberta, to Red Pass Junction, British Columbia. Both lines of the new transcontinentals were being used well below capacity, and Canada s wartime allies in Europe were experiencing a shortage of steel rails. The Dominion government seized on this opportunity, forcing the two companies to make connections between their two lines, share one line, and take up the rails on the other line for shipment to France. However, ten years later, 1927, the rails were relaid, and the station was reopened. With the decline of passenger and express traffic and the installation of centralized traffic control in the 1970s, most small stations were closed. The railway companies were more zealous in removing unused stations from the mainline than from branchlines, and Hinton became one of only a handful of Design A stations remaining on their original sites, out of the 330 built. Hinton survived because VIA Rail continued to use the waiting room for its passengers. But in 2005, VIA built a new shelter, and the Town of Hinton moved the station across the highway as a historical display. Long-time Canadian Northern Society member Keith Ewart of Saskatoon has been spending a great deal of time over the last several years preserving the ex Grand Trunk Pacific standard Design A depot from Argo, Saskatchewan. There were hundreds of this example of depot built on the Grand Trunk Pacific (now CN) mainline between Winnipeg and Prince Rupert in the first part of the last century. Few examples have survived. Argo was located just west of Biggar on the former branch line that ran south west to Loverna and eventually on to Hemaruka. The 1913 depot was moved to the Saskatchewan Railway Museum at Saskatoon a number of years ago, and Keith now reports that it should be presentable to visitors next season. The Argo station is featured next to the Unity, Saskatchewan Grand Trunk Pacific freight shed, which features a similar roof line and now too has been preserved. Much of the Argo depot contains original features and we look forward to seeing the result of the work led by Keith and the dedicated group of volunteers who have contributed to this restoration effort. The Canadian Northern Society was also pleased to assist in the preservation of the Argo depot by providing some Grand Trunk Pacific screen windows for a Design A depot that were in our possession, and two wooden interior doors. In addition to the Argo depot, the Saskatchewan Railway Museum also features an excellent example of a preserved Canadian Northern Railway freight and passenger shelter from Brisbin, Saskatchewan. Keith also led the restoration efforts on this heritage structure. Best of luck to Keith and the Saskatchewan Railway Museum in their on-going efforts in preserving prairie heritage! Look for a newly designed Canadian Northern Society web site in the new year. Same address, new great look! About The Chronicle The Canora Chronicle is the quarterly newsletter of the Canadian Northern Society a registered charity dedicated to providing community service through heritage tourism initiatives. The editor may be contacted through the Canadian Northern headquarters (see page 1) or directly at his home: Dean A. Tiegs A Street NW, Edmonton, AB T5T 6A6 Phone: (780) secretary@canadiannorthern.ca Web Site: canadiannorthern.ca

5 Glenbow-Alberta Institute Photo November 1905, the Canadian Northern Railway completed its line from the east into Fort Saskatchewan and Edmonton, Alberta. Shown here is the track-laying train entering Fort Saskatchewan on November 8, 1905.

6 hile there have been numerous celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of Alberta s entry into Confederation this year, November 24, 2005, passed by quietly in Edmonton. This date however marked an important anniversary in the transportation and industrial history of the city, for it was 100 years ago on that date that the Canadian Northern Railway s tracklaying gang working from east to west arrived in the city. Edmonton was now part of a transcontinental railway route and was connected directly with Winnipeg and Port Arthur to the east by the fledgling Canadian Northern Railway. A ceremony was held and the arrival of the railway was celebrated with considerable fanfare. The Canadian Northern Railway, established in 1899 and having its start a few years earlier when William Mackenzie and Donald Mann took control of the bankrupt Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Company, would grow to become a transcontinental rival of the Canadian Pacific. Having arrived in Edmonton in 1905, the Canadian Northern set out to develop facilities in the city. A ornate passenger station was constructed just to the west of the present CN Tower on what is now 104th Avenue. A marshalling yard was established on the site now occupied generally by Grant MacEwan College, and a roundhouse built to service steam locomotives. Edmonton became an important terminal for the railway and a few years later construction began west of the city that eventually would connect Edmonton with Vancouver through the Yellowhead Pass. The Last Spike of the Canadian Northern was driven on January 23, 1915, at Basque, British Columbia. Today, the legacy of the old Canadian Northern Railway lives on in Edmonton. Its downtown yards and depot are no more, but the railway lands have been developed and this property has played an important part in the revitalization of downtown Edmonton. The city of Edmonton has recognized the historical significance of the railway by creating the Mackenzie and Mann Park near the site of the former roundhouse and erecting a historical plaque there. The old Canadian Northern mainline east to Fort Saskatchewan and onto Vermilion and North Battleford is an important part of Canadian National s network. The old Oliver branch north of the city is a key part of the Lakeland & Waterways Railway/Athabasca Northern Railway railway route to the Alberta Oil Sands. While the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Northern s arrival passed with little fanfare in Alberta s capital, the Canadian Northern Society will salute this anniversary in a more formal fashion during the Grand Opening of the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame Pavilion, scheduled for May 2006 at Big Valley.