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The mosaic village

A celebration of Winnipeg’s storied North End

WINNIPEG writer Russ Gourluck, whose spe­cialty is local social history, launches his latest book tomorrow.

It’s called The Mosaic Village, and it documents Winnipeg’s colourful North End. What is the North End? Its boundaries, to the extent it has any, are a source of continuing debate in Winnipeg. For the purposes of his book, Gourluck defines them as the CPR tracks on the south, the Red River to the east, McAdam Avenue — the old boundary with West Kildonan — to the north and McPhillips Street to the west, rejecting the argument that the North End ends at Arlington Street. In fact, Gourluck goes a little beyond McPhillips to include Sisler High School and its feeder area.

At one time or another, virtually every ethnic community in Winnipeg, a city rich in its diversity, has sunk its roots in the North End. But two groups stand out in giving the area its gritty reputation and its Runyonesque cast of characters. Ashkenazi Jews and Ukrainians both arrived around the turn of the 20th century. Both endured hardship and poverty in their new home, but made a life that was infinitely better than their lot in the cruel Russian empire they left.

From The Mosaic Village, we’ve excerpted stories from each of those founding communities.

The last house on the edge of the prairie

For Jewish immigrants, home ownership was the strongest desire

I was born on Saturday, February 18th, 1911 in Winnipeg. The house was in a working-class new area where all the European immigrants were congregated. This area has since aged and had become a slum. The house that I was born in was in the second block west of Main on Jarvis Avenue in the north end.

I was the youngest of four children. There were originally two more but they died in infancy. The oldest was Aaron who was twelve years older than me. Then there was Jack, then Ella who is four years older than I am.

I was given two names. Moishe after some long dead relative, and Sholem, which translated from the Hebrew means peace. This name apparently was given to me as was generally the custom and still is among some people to signify some hope for peace. There was considerable persecution against the Jews in Romania and other eastern European countries, and wherever possible the Jews were streaming out to America and Canada or anywhere else they could to escape the murderous persecution.

The Jews were considered second rate citizens and were not allowed to own land, nor ply a regular trade. All that was left for them to do to make a living was to do business, as it was considered beneath the dignity of others to handle money. My father’s father was allowed to sell wine in a wine store, something like a local bar, and my father was listed in the records as a clerk in that store.

My mother was the oldest of five children, three girls and two boys, and was a very distant relative of my father. Even though there was an attraction to each other, the only way for them to become a pair was when it was properly arranged through a marriage broker as was the custom.

Even though the Jews were not real citizens so to speak, nevertheless they were subject to the military draft the same as all other young men. Every family was compelled to deliver to the army the oldest son. At military age my father was already married so his second oldest brother took his place on the draft list, and my father prepared to escape from Romania.

At this time (the turn of the century) there was a great movement to try and reach any country that needed immigrants. There actually were groups of three or four or more setting out on foot, walking through fields, valleys and mountains gathering others, and the groups grew larger and larger till they reached the coast. These groups were called ‘foosgayers’ or footwalkers and together with my uncle Ben, my mother’s younger single brother, my father joined them and travelling through Bulgaria and other Balkan countries finally reached the sea. Travelling and working their way as they went they were able to arrive at Rotterdam. There was an agent of the Canada immigration department who arranged for them to set sail for Canada. (Canada needed farmers to develop the land). This was an inspiration of the then Liberal party. They assumed that the immigrants out of gratitude would vote for them when they became citizens of the country. When they arrived in St. John, they learned that Canada also needed to build the Canadian Pacific Railroad. They joined the work force on the railroad. My uncle Ben learned the trade of tinsmith and my father became a carpenter. (Learning a trade was forbidden for a Jew in Romania).

After working on the railroad back and forth for a few months my uncle continued onward at his trade and remained with the company. But my dad being a married man decided to settle down and bring the family to Canada. Picked Winnipeg, which was exploding in size at the time. He rented a small house and sent for my mother and her two sisters and her mother (my grandmother Zelda) as well as three children, one of which died soon after arriving in Canada. One child had died as a very small infant in Romania before my father had left. My father having left the C.P. then went to work as a carpenter, for himself. This was the year 1903.

My mother tells us the story of her arrival. She of course could not speak the language, but to save her embarrassment, she was taught to pronounce the words ‘I don’t know’ when spoken to in English. When she answered ‘I don’t know’ to every conversation, she was admired by her fellow travellers. saying that she has already learned to speak the language.

It was the strongest desire of the new immigrants to own their own home and as soon as possible. Our family after living on Burrows Ave. when my sister Ella was born, he (sic) had rented temporarily the house on Jarvis Ave. where I was born.

My parents, as all immigrants, had a boarder, a young man named Winestock. He was single at the time and became almost a member of the family. He later married a Russian Jewish girl named Brida and they had three children, two boys and a girl. Their daughter Dora Kohm, herself a grandmother now and living in Toronto are still our very good friends.

Now my father went all out and put a down payment on a cheap cottage without a basement out of the city so to speak. This was at the corner of Bannerman and Arlington. There were only eight houses in the six blocks on Arlington from Mountain and eleven houses in the three very long blocks on Bannerman from McGregor to our house. Ours was the very last house on the edge of the prairie. I can still recall the low and deep music of the wind through the tall grass singing me to sleep. Standing at the front door you could see the horizon to the north and also to the west. My father had anticipated that the street cars running down Arlington Street and turning on Mountain Avenue would continue on Arlington to Bannerman and then go on Bannerman to McGregor and join up with the McGregor and Bannerman street car. He had hoped that this way the street car would pass our house in the future. Our nearest Jewish neighbours were many streets away.

The cottage had five rooms containing two bedrooms, a living room, which we used as a bedroom, a front room which we almost never used, a bathroom which did not have a bathtub for many years. We had a large tin tub which we filled with heated water from the top of the coal and wood stove. We did not have any hot water heater and therefore no hot water. We also had a kitchen, which actually became our living room. It had a kitchen table and the coal and wood stove which kept us warm. And we had a 60 watt light hanging from the ceiling under which we all read and which we kids did our homework.

I made friends with some kids two or three streets away but they weren’t Jewish. The kids that I played with were the descendants of Scotch (sic) or Irish with one or two Scandinavian and a couple of French Canadians. I was the only Jew. We would call on each other and go for hikes. We learned to slide on slippery ice as if we had skates.

We played hockey with broomsticks and road apples (frozen horse droppings) and would kick the can for a block or so. Then we started school and we then began to play soccer and baseball.

Everything was fine for a number of years, until they would start talking on Mondays about the previous day’s Sunday School sessions in their church. I of course could not enter this type of conversation. I was challenged many times to come to their Sunday school too.

But of course this was not to be. Gradually the togetherness grew apart as our interest began to differ. I will say this. I was never called a dirty Jew. And even though my mother had a very heavy accent she was also never looked down upon. She used to hand out special Jewish tidbits like strudel, homantashen, and even pieces of matzos to my Gentile friends and they loved her for it.

THE HARAPIAK TOUCH

The bride was glamorous; the groom was comic relief

VOGUE Studios, one of several North End photo studios that served the ethnic community, was founded in 1921. Owned and operated by Dmytro Harapiak from 1958 until 1971, the business was originally located at 691 Selkirk Ave. and later moved to 567 Selkirk.

Harapiak was born in Ukraine in 1927, and many of his clients were Ukrainian families in the North End and surrounding rural communities. Much of the studio’s work involved wedding photography, with Harapiak and his assistants sometimes shooting as many as five weddings on a Saturday. He also did portrait photography and some commercial photography.

Harapiak followed a familiar pattern when he photographed weddings, and, because of the limitations of the camera equipment of the 1950s and 1960s, most shots were carefully posed. The bride was generally photographed at her parents’ home before the wedding in several standard situations: a formal portrait with her gown carefully arranged; pinning a corsage on her mother; having her engagement ring admired by the bridesmaids; and coyly revealing her garter.

A more comical approach was generally used in photographing the groom, portraying him as harried, disorganized, and even somewhat reluctant. Standard shots included being helped to put on his formal attire; looking at his wristwatch to determine if he could make it to the church on time; or pretending to be dragged out of the car and into the church.

Photos after the ceremony generally showed the bride and groom emerging from the church in a shower of confetti. At the reception, basic shots often included the wedding dinner; presentation; the couple’s first dance; cutting the cake; and turning the groom upside down to empty the money from his pockets.

***

IN the decades before Manitoba’s gambling laws were liberalized, the only legal form of gambling centred on horse racing at Polo Park Race Track. This meant that most of the gambling in the province took place illegally.

In the North End, Selkirk Avenue was the site of numerous card games in various businesses over the decades. Manly Rusen recalls that several “clubs” on Selkirk near Salter had ongoing card games.

Probably the best known of all North End gamblers was Stanley Zedd. Born in Ukraine in 1899, Zedd (whose surname was anglicized from Zarawiecki) organized floating craps games throughout Winnipeg and surrounding rural areas during the 1940s and 1950s. Zedd generally rented private homes or empty garages as one-time-only locations for gambling activities. Gambling tables were set up during the day and quietly taken down and carried away when games ended in the wee hours of the morning. Prospective players (who were often prominent city businessmen and lawyers) were directed to specific locations (the White House Restaurant on Selkirk Avenue was one of the most popular) and told to wait for cars to pick them up. They were kept unaware of their destinations until they arrived.

Stanley Zedd became somewhat of a folk hero, a Runyonesque character who wore dapper custom-tailored suits and stylish fedoras. He smoked and handed out the finest of cigars and was often chauffeured around in a black Cadillac. Zedd was respected for the honesty of his games, and the police left him alone unless they felt pressured by complaints from the public. Winners were paid immediately and were free to leave when they wished. Losers were given a few dollars and transportation home. His Osborne Street business, the Margaret Rose Tea Room (named for Princess Margaret), served as a front for his operations.

A boxer in his younger days, Stanley Zedd supported local sports and was instrumental in setting up the ManDak Baseball League, using some of the profits of his gambling operation. His own team, the Winnipeg Buffaloes, was made up entirely of players from the disbanded Negro League in the United States.

Similarly, until Manitoba’s liquor laws were liberalized in the 1960s, bootlegging took many forms throughout the province. Restaurants provided “setups” of ice and mix to complement brown-paper-bagged bottles stashed under tables. Many houses, particularly in the North End, were open for drinks on the premises or provided bottles to go after the dingy, men-only beer parlours closed. And millions of gallons of homebrew were distilled for home consumption or sale.

Excerpted from The Mosaic Village, by Russ Gourluck

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com

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“Fort Garry in Ruins,” announced a headline in the Manitoban, dated May 27, 1871. “Not exactly the entire Fort, reader, but a considerable portion of the stone wall fronting on the Red River. It has been threatening a tumble down for a long time, and lest it might fall into the Fort, some men were employed by the Company to throw it down so that it would fall outside. The bastions and a portion of the wall immediately adjoining them still stand, but in decidedly bad condition. The side gate entrance to the Fort, fell among the ruins.”

Thirty-two years later, an English writer for the London Daily Bulletin toured the city and stumbled upon what remained of the historic landmarks. He wrote; “Then you stroll out to this very everyday twentieth century place and follow the street a little further, till you observe something standing alone on your right— a tiny building of rough stone. It is not twelve feet high, and you have seen bigger and better building put up to stable two or three horses.”

The English writer was able to encapsulate the significance of what he saw and place fort into an historical context, more so than local residents, who allowed the “tiny building” to diminish in importance through indifference.

Yet the photos of it have met you at every corner of the own, and you stand and gaze at this old relic— this one bit of history in this world of newness— Fort Garry, the nucleus from which Manitoba’s,metropolis roaring around you has sprung: Fort Garry, the old headquarters of the great Hudson’s Bay Company you have just left; Fort Garry, the destination and crown of Lord Wolseley, he put down the Red River rebellion under Louis Riel in 1870.

It was this English traveler who wistfully gazed upon what had been and commented: “Modern commercialism and the Philistine allurements of land-gambling, have, alas! Caused the pulling down of the greater part of the old fort, so that all one sees is little beyond the gateway. Sentiment woke when it was too late, and now Winnipeg mourns forever the act of vandalism she permitted in her midst.”

In 1883, the east wall was demolished to straighten out Main Street. By the fall of 1886, four of the largest structure still standing on the old fort site were sold at auction by HBC for just $292. The former Governors House, home to Manitoba’s first lieutenant-governor, netted a paltry $100 as firewood.

What remained- the gate and the land it stood on were given as gift to the city by the HBC in 1897 “as a public park forever”. But more years of neglect followed, and the gate became an isolated and forlorn reminder that the fort had once been the focal point of the Red River Settlement founded by Lord Selkirk; the sire of Louis Riel’s provisional government during 1869-70; as well as where the founding of a new province within Canada was first envisioned.

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It was because of the people’s desire to improve the navigation on the Red River that started it all. St. Andrew’s Locks was considered as one of the major engineering development of its time. It was on May 4, 1910, when it was officially opened and served the public. The ceremony was headed by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier who spoke to thousand of Winnipegers about the pride brought by the new structural development to the citizens of Canada as a whole. Today, St. Andrews Lock and Dam is known to be a national historic site in Lockport.

St Andrew's Locks in Winnipeg, Manitoba

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Schultz from running through the village crying, ‘Death to the Pope! Death to Catholics! Death to the Half Breeds! Death to the priests! and from burning Donald Smith in effigy.”

Using the nom de plume Veritas, a Manitoba man wrote the St. Paul Press in Minnesota on November 6, 1870, that the English soldiers had come to the settlement on a mission of peace, but engaged in a war.

Immediately upon arriving in the Red River settlement in early September 1870, a group of militiamen were in the Red Saloon in Winnipeg when Elzéar Goulet, a member of the six-man court marshal jury organized in the manner of the annual buffalo hunt that found Scott guilty, was pointed out by Farquharson, who incited militiamen to chase him. Sanders and Madigan of the Ontario Battalion, Robert Mulligan and. a man named Campbell, a Red River Expedition voyageur, set out in pursuit of Goulet. Captain MacDonald called the men back, an order that they only temporarily obeyed. They resumed their chase of Scott to the banks of the Red River, forcing him into the water and then pelted the fleeing man swimming to the other side of the river with stones. Goulet was struck by the stones and drowned.

Archibald later said the persons against whom changes be laid included Farquharson, who is according to one witness called out “to kill him,” and Sauders, Madigan and Campbell, who pursued the man to the river.

But no one was saulted. Those participating in the rapes were identified to Colonel Jarvis, whose reply was that it was none of his business. The Manitoba police took statements from the victims, but no charges were laid.

On September 16, 1870, Edmund Turner, one of Scott’s guards was chased and threatened and sought protection in Archibald’s residence.

The Telegraph reported on October 4 that vigilante squads were formed to a political meeting at Popular Point, after being thrown from his wagon by unknown assailants. Following the same meeting, James Ross and other Métis had to run a gauntlet of clubs, stones and snowballs in order to escape their attackers.

François Guilemette, another Métis member of the court marshall jury as well as a member of the firing squad charged with executing Scott, was allegedly shot and killed by militiamen while on a trail near Pembina. It was Guillemette who with a pistol delivered the coup de grace to Scott. The Orangeman was reputed to be still alive after the firing squad finished firing.

Andre Nault, on whose land the Red River Resistance began when Riel stepped on a surveyor’s chain and said “you go no further,” was beaten nearly to death.

One Winnipeg resident said the community “during the fall and early winter of 1870 … could always rely upon several exciting fights between the soldiers and the half-breeds any after noon after three o’clock by which time the soldiers not on duty were at liberty to come down town.”

Le Canadien, a Quebec-based newspaper, reported on April 13, 1871, that English-Canadians were still “making a fuss about Scott…” but, “they didn’t get so excited when the Ontario volunteers (militiamen) massacred French Métis under the eyes of their officers.”

The reality was that the murders and many beatings went unpunished, and as a result the St. Paul Pioneer announced on October 6, 1870, a “Reign of Terror” existed in Manitoba.

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The Grey Nun’s Convent , Winnipeg’s oldest building houses the St. Boniface Museum .  Built for the “Grey Nuns” who arrived in the Red River Colony in 1884, the structure is an outstanding example of Red River frame construction and historic construction methods and procedures.

The museum presents an impressive collection of artifacts  that reveal both the lives and the cultures of the Francophone as well as Metis population and populations of Manitoba Canada , including a most special exhibit  featuring Mr. Louis Riel – the founder of modern Manitoba.

Teh St. Boniface Museum:

494 tache Ave

Winnipeg Manitoba

R2H 2B2

phone – 204-237-4500

email:  info@msbm.mb.ca

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           Red River Colony – “Rupert’s Land” -  At this point in time – December 1869 – Louis Riel announced that he had become the new leader of the provisional government at the Red River Colony in what was then referred to as “Rupert’s Land” – later to be called the “Province of Manitoba”.   This appointment was automatic following the resignation of John Bruce ,  Louis Schmidt , a lifelong friend of Riel’s suceeded him as secretary .

            It could be said at the time  that these most dramatic events followed months and months of the most tense of negotiations.   On December 10 , 1869 Riel with the help of close associates , Ambroise-Dydime , Lepine and W.B. ODonoghue , hoisted the flag of the “Provisional Government”  of the pole in center square of Fort Garry.    In design the standard of the new assembly is a fleur-de-lis on a full white backgrounnd.

              Riel now held the then colony’s only effective government.  While at the time , some experienced and noted political and historical observerers , doubted that he had a strong foundation for an administration there was no question what so ever that Louis Riel had met his first and primary objective – that of keeping “Canada”  from establishing William McDougall as the government of the territory which would of been simply “annexed “  by Eastern Canada.

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December 1869: Rupert’s Land Colony :  Louis Riel and his supporters have closed the offices of the “Nor’Wester, the colony’s only newspaper.  The move is one of a series of events in which the provisional government is seeking to impose its authority on the troubled colony.  In this same week all Winnipeg shops were cleared of guns and ammunition.

In silencing the Nor’Wester , Riel had effectively served to shut down all principal means of public communication.  It had been noted that in those recent editions , of the time (November – December 1869) that the newspaper itself could be said to have met with some success in creating what some said was a historical breach between the English and French-Canadian groups and camps in the Manitoba regions.  The final edition of the Nor’Wester newpaper appeared November 24 , 1869.

Full List of newspaper editions of the Manitoba Nor’Wester local newspaper:

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Early on in the settlement of Manitoba nearly half of the settlers  became so very discouraged by the difficulties that they encountered at the Red River settlement and settlements  that they accepted the North West Company’s offer to fund their passage back to “eastern Canada”  ( Lower Canada)

Until the arrival of cattle, the settlers lacked the wherewithal to feed themselves during the coming cruel Manitoba winter months.

Once currency began to circulate in greater quantity and quantities ,  the foundations were laid for further accumulations of wealth.

A noted Peruvian economist has explained that “capitalism”  has not functioned in the “3′rd world”   because we missed some of the more crucial elements that Westerners had in the 18′th and 19′th centuries , like property rights.  It seems that in this evaluation that the capitalism of the time had the ability and abilities  to pick up the value of “people’s work”.   That is to accumulate and represent value and values and to utilize this to accomplish further productive ability and abilities.

In the particular case and cases of the Manitoba Red River Settlers  , they both possessed title to their land and their livestock herds as well.  This could then be used as actual collateral for loans in other money earning enterprises.

Thus those “Selkirk  Settlers”  who stayed on and persevered could do well.

This was the bedrock of the Manitoba experience and the future wealth and economic power and vibrancy of the Canadian Province of Manitoba and its people , society and communities.

Chief Peguis – Over the years Peguis formed strong relationships of trust with the Selkirk settlers welcoming them on their arrival. On one occasion offered he transported the settlers’ children to Pembina were they wintered for the first few years. …

Manitoba Living History Society » St. Andrew’s Society Selkirk … – First – I was flabbergasted with not only the greatly increased size of this year’s parade (including nine pipe bands), but more particularly with the dignitaries who will be at the Selkirk Settler monument and at the Cairn of Tears. …

A point of view: Eighty-one-year-old artist Elinor Gillis … – A stroll through Elinor Gillis’ in-home studio in Point Prim is a walk through a pictorial of her life and that of her ancestors and the community in which they all lived.

Selkirk Settlers Dedication in Winnipeg – SEPTEMBER 7 – 10.30pm – Church Service @ Kildonan Community Church, immediately adjacent to the original first church built by the Selkirk Settlers; the historic cemetery is in the same vicinity. ~ All PEOPLE INTERESTED IN JOINING US …

selkirk settlers monument, canada – scottish government posted a photo: selkirk settlers monument, canada. monument to the selkirk settlers in winnipeg unveiled by environment minister michael russell, september 2008

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THE MARCH 4 1966 BLIZZARD

The Day Winnipeg was Paralysed

by George Siamandas

I remember that storm–(Dave Sawatzky)
If you are over 40 and have lived in Winnipeg your whole life you likely remember the Blizzard of 1966. It occurred on Mar 4, a Friday and it shut down Winnipeg like it had never been shut down before. The buses stopped running. Snowmobiles took nurses and doctors to work and thousands of people were stuck downtown and slept overnight at Eatons and the Bay.

The winter of early 1966 was the third coldest year of the century, with 1950 and 1917 even colder. January 1966 tied January 1875 for the coldest month since records were kept at Red River. In February 1966 Winnipeg reached -49 the lowest February temperature ever recorded and the second coldest day ever. Winnipeg did not see the temperature go above zero for 90 days. But the year till then was without much snow.

Snow started to fall after midnight on Thursday and despite the heavy snow, on Friday morning March 4, people still went to work. But by mid morning the streets were impassable. The buses were called in by 11:00 am. and would not return to the streets till the next Saturday morning. Schools closed for the Friday and the following Monday as did stores, restaurants and theatres. The big storm piled up 14.6 inches and was driven by winds gusting up to 70 miles an hour. This was the worst winter storm since March 1902. Eight foot high drifts were reported in the new suburb of Westwood. After the cleanup the plows created 12 foot high walls of snow along Ness Ave. Hundreds of cars were reported stranded on the Transcanada Highway. The Grain Exchange did not open for the first time in its 61 year history.

WINNIPEG COPES
Mayor Juba was awakened by a CJOB reporter and told of the blizzard. He was able to make his way to City Hall in his big Cadillac where he set up an emergency headquarters. By afternoon city hall itself had become a shelter for people that could not make their way home. Chief George Blow urged people to stay off the streets
Snowmobiles were given to the police. Volunteers operated snowmobiles to take people to hospital and to deliver drugs to patients. CB radios were used for the first time to create an emergency communications network. Ken Dunston was CBC radio’s man that morning and the station became part of the emergency civil defense network. Unable to get home, CBC staff stayed at the Mall hotel for the night.

STRANDED
The buses were pulled off the streets. Soon those that could not walk home were stuck wherever they were. Thousands of people were stranded at City Hall and at Stores like Eatons and the Bay. And 1600 people were reported stranded at Eatons and the Bay. Eatons looked after 700 of its own staff and 400 customers. The women slept on the 9th floor and the men on the 7th. Fifty hockey players from Winnipeg neighbourhoods were stuck in Lorrette.

Standard Manitoba Hydro Power Line Showing Depth of Snow

POLICE DELIVER NORTH END BABY
Two policemen delivered a baby in the North End. How did they get there? With their own front end loader leading the path. Constables Mills and Const Martin both described as “family men” took instruction from a doctor over the phone and helped mother Mrs Herbstreit with the delivery of her baby boy. An emergency call found a doctor located four streets away who went over finding mother and child to be just fine.
THE AFTERMATH
Only two deaths were attributed to the blizzard. But 14 had died in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Police Chief George Blow said that he was happy that the crooks had stayed home. And of course there was the $1 million cleanup and finding help to pay for it.

WAS THERE A FLOOD?
Fortunately flooding was minor but the trees were two weeks later to leaf out and Winnipeg experienced a later spring. The snow was gone by early April, but there was another big snow, (8.7 “), in April and the snow did not melt till May 5th. For many that spring, it seemed summer would never come.

THE WORST IN WINNIPEG HISTORY?
Actually the 1997 blizzard saw more snow fall 43.2 cm Vs 38.1 cm. Other big snowfalls occurred in 1874 with 16.1 inches and 1893 with 14.8.

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