Famous People of Manitoba » Shoal Lake

City and Shoal Lake No.40 Economic Partnership

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:20:05 +0000

Max Labovitch from Winnipeg played under the New York Ranger's Team

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz and Shoal Lake No.40 Chief Kelvin Redsky signed

New York Rovers

a letter of intent to explore economic opportunities under the new proposed management model for Winnipeg’s water and waste utility.

This is a far cry from what occurred when the Shoal Lake aqueduct was originally proposed and built. At the time, no consultation was conducted with nearby aboriginal people. In fact, any concern they may have expressed were completely ignored the construction proceeded without an assessment of the impact of neither the aqueduct on their lives nor how they could benefit from its construction.

The letter of intent would allow the construction of the reserve’s own water treatment plant, training for band members to become certified to maintain and operate the facility, and the development of a business model that provides First Nations communities with the opportunity to construct and operate their own sewage and water treatment facilities.

The people of Shoal Lake Band No. 40 First Nation in partnership with the city of Winnipeg, will be having the opportunity to create and make a change. A change worthy of our children and their children’s future.

Their goal is to create a long term and meaningful employment as well as establish sound investment opportunities..”

Protecting their water is their top priority, and by working together with their partners at Shoal Lake No.40 we will continue to encourage clean economic development.

The intake station at Waugh for the Shoal Lake aqueduct is located at Indian Bay, three kilometers from where most of the Shoal Lake No.40’s 300 on-reserve residents live.

Shoal Lake water is relatively clean, but micro-organism such as giardia are present, which means the water has to be treated before it can be used for human consumption. While Winnipeggers benefit from almost a decade. A treatment plant will provide clean water and employment opportunities for the First Nation.

Winnipeg Mayor and Shoal Lake No.40 Chief Kelvin Redsky signed a letter of intent to explore economic opportunities under the new proposed management model for Winnipeg’s water and waste utility.

The people of Shoal Lake Band No. 40 First Nation in partnership with the city of Winnipeg, will have the opportunity to create and make a worthy change for their children’s future. Their goal is to create a long term and meaningful employment as well as establish sound investment opportunities.

Previous agreements with Shoal Lake No.40 included a memorandum of agreement declared in 1989, which curtailed cottage development in the region in exchange for the sustainable development expertise and a $6 million trust fund an a memorandum of understanding in 2008 in which city council agreed to explore economic opportunities beneficial to both parties. The protection of the water is their top priority, and by working together with their partners at Shoal Lake No.40 we will continue to encourage clean economic development.

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Shoal Lake: Winnipeg’s best water option

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:50:12 +0000

This Alberta Steamer ship travels the river across Alberta and even Canada

The services of four engineers — G.C. Whipple and James H. Fuertes from New York, R.S. Lea from Montreal and J.E. Schwitzer, the assistant chief engineer of the CPR were engaged to investigate a new water supply for Winnipeg. Their August 29, 1907, report prepared by the engineers singled out Shoal Lake as a viable option.

According to the report, the water is very soft in comparison with the water at present supplied to Winnipeg. The water may therefore be termed as an excellent one for domestic, boiler and general manufacturing purposes. In addition, based from the engineers, when it comes to quality the Shoal Lake is unquestionably the best source of supply.

In the meantime, Ashdown and city councillors, in the face of public concern over soaring electricity costs imposed by the private sector, began to emphasize the developing of a hydroelectric plant on the Winnipeg River, which for years tabled any mention of a new source of water for Winnipeg.

Another blow to the water project was the world-wide recession that hit in 1907. The recession and a city debt nearing $14 million combined to hinder Winnipeg’s ability to raise funds for municipal operations and major projects. In fact, the financial situation was so dire that banks were reluctant to provide loans in order for the city to continue its day-to-day operations.

It was only with great difficulty that Ashdown was able to resolve the city’s financial situation by convincing the London, England market to accept Winnipeg-issued bonds. Eventually, $7.5 million in bonds were sold at 99.5-cents on the dollar. With the city’s financial dilemma resolved, the hydroelectric plant at Pointe du Bois, 80 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, finally got underway in January 1909 and was completed by 1911.

CBC News: Consumer Life-Concerns raised about furnace company

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Construction of the Railway just before the Aqueduct

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:56:19 +0000

An experimental station was established at Reynolds by the Manitoba department of agriculture “with a view in helping the settlers already located and to demonstrate the possibilities of the district.”

The provincial government also established a prison farm, known as the- Provincial Gaol Farm, four kilometres west of East Braintree.

Building the railway was not an easy task as the route passed over pre-Cambrian rock, gravel, stone ridges, rivers as well as muskegs and swamps (The Building of the Winnipeg Aqueduct, by C.S. Prodan Manitoba Pageant, Winter 1979). In the vicinity of Mile 84-90, the railway crossed about 10 kilometres of muskeg, which. necessitated construction of a system of corduroy logs that acted like floats, which were then filled with gravel, muck and sand in order to sink them until a road bed was firm enough to withstand engines and freight cars to carry gravel to the site, wrote Prodan.

“The line is standard gauge and is well ballasted and laid with 90-pound steel rails,” reported the Free Press on July 3, 1915. “The equipment, in addition to modern freight cars, both box and gondolas, also boasts of four loco motives, a dinky (small locomotive) and a crane. The district own(s) a combination passenger and baggage coach, but this has already proved inadequate to meet the demands of pass traffic and another passenger car has been purchased.”

During the construction of the aqueduct, round-trip excursions to Shoal Lake originating at the Union Depot were advertised in Winnipeg newspapers for $1 each. “G to Shoal Lake frequent stops will be made along the line to excursionists to inspect the work of aqueduct construction at several points,” according to one advertisement. “Train will stop at St. Boniface CNR Depot both going and returning”.

The board the GWWD, the city board of control, prominent Winnipeg businessmen and Mayor Deacon took an excursion as guests of the Northern Construction Company to inspect the work on the railway in November 1914.

“The greatest s was ex pressed by the entire party at the excellent condition of the well-balanced track, which, although it was only laid this summer, allowed a heavy loco motive pulling a baggage car and two standard sleepers to travel over the road at a good rate of speed,” reported the November 9, 1914, Free Press.

The newspaper said the work had progressed to the Birch River, which was over 100 kilometres from Winnipeg and a short distance from Shoal Lake.

The construction had proceeded so rapidly due to the use of new machinery such as a “huge track-laying” machine. “This machine has an attachment on one side by which ties are carried on an endless belt and de posited on the right of way while on the other side of the machine another endless chain conveys lengths of steel rails. Spikes and bolts are dropped as well and the machine moves continuously forward, all the accompanying gang having to do being to feed it with ties and rails and spike the rails to the ties.”

At Gravel Pit No. 2, a huge steam shovel “was tearing great scopes of gravel and filling gravel trains for ballasting the track.”

The shovel was capable of scooping up four loads of gravel every 65 seconds, “or nearly eight cubic yards a minute.”

At the time of the excursion, a rail bridge was being built over the Birch River, one of four rivers and streams that were eventually crossed by the railway tracks.

The article said the railway cost over $1.2 million to complete.

Even before the railway was ful1y completed, construction of the aqueduct was slated to begin.

“The aqueduct will be constructed in the north of the railway parallelling it 110 feet from the centre of the tracks and the clearing of the entire distance is already an accomplished fact.. The trees which were cut down have been cut into cordwood lengths and are stacked along the right of way. Much of this wood will be sold at cost to Winnipeg and used by the Associated Charities.”

The provincial government also established a prison farm, known as the- Provincial Gaol Farm, four kilometres west of East Braintree.

The newspaper said the work had progressed to the Birch River, which was over 100 kilometres from Winnipeg and a short distance from Shoal Lake.

At Gravel Pit No. 2, a huge steam shovel “was tearing great scopes of gravel and filling gravel trains for ballasting the track.”

The shovel was capable of scooping up four loads of gravel every 65 seconds, “or nearly eight cubic yards a minute.”

At the time of the excursion, a rail bridge was being built over the Birch River, one of four rivers and streams that were eventually crossed by the railway tracks.

The article said the railway cost over $1.2 million to complete.

Even before the railway was ful1y completed, construction of the aqueduct was slated to begin.

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The 90th anniversary of Shoal Lake aqueduct–ruote went over swamp, muskeg, sand and rock

admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:39:31 +0000

Actual construction on the aqueduct began after the opening of tenders on September 19, 1914. Three major Winnipeg-based companies — Tremblay McDiarmid Company, Thos. Kelly & Sons Ltd., and the Winnipeg Aqueduct Construction Company — were awarded the contracts for the aqueduct. The first phase involved the diversion of the Falcon River, which had previously flowed into Shoal Lake at Indian Bay. The diversion was a key to the project as it allowed the development of the Indian Bay source without the need for treatment based on aesthetics (colour), ac cording to Ron Sorokowski and Duane Griffin, from the city’s water and waste department, and Chris Macey and Ken Skaftfeld, of UMA Enìgineering Ltd., the authors of the 2008 article Winnipeg’s Aqueduct.

On July 5, 1915, the Free Press re ported that prior to the diversion, the Falcon River discharged dirty-looking water into a corner of the bay, as a result of swamp water draining into the river.

Before construction on a gate house and pumping station at Indian Bay commenced large boulders at the intake site were removed by blasting and a dike was built near the entrance of the bay to divert the Falcon River.

Fuertes and Chace were on-hand when the first earth for the Falcon diversion into Snowshoe Bay was lifted by a steam shovel on June 17, 1914.

The Winnipeg Free Press on March 13,1918, reported building the 7,000 foot long (2,133.6 metre) dike required “about 230,000” yards of material, all of which was obtained from a borrow pit and quarry located at the north end of the dyke (sic).

“A large number of drainage and offtake ditches were necessary in order to drain the country properly before actual construction of the aqueduct was commenced” on May 15, 1915.

Although the route for the aqueduct was over swamp, muskeg, sand and rock, overall construction was alleviated by the fact that it was downhill for most of its length with the exception of 14 kilometres from Indian Bay. A deep cut several metres down in the rough land was made during this initial phase of the aqueduct construction.

The aqueduct was built under the Whitemouth and Falcon rivers using inverted siphons. In total, four rivers were burrowed under at six locations by using inverted siphons, a process used in Roman aqueduct construction.

The trench running the aqueduct’s length was rough-cut using steam shovels, dredges and dragline scrapers with workers trimming away the remaining 150 millimetres by hand. By the end of the project, 1.65 million cubicmetres of earth had been excavated.

Less than a year into the project, the First World War intervened. The March 13, 1918, Free Press, when reporting on the history of the aqueduct, said the war had the “effect of making it much more difficult to secure money and also causing a scarcity of labor.”

Despite the pressures of the war effort depleting the available labour pool, over 2,500 workers would be involved at the peak of the project’s construction phase.

The Free Press said over the course of the first year, 21.4 kilometres (13.3 miles) of the aqueduct were built, or 14.6 percent. During the 1916 season, 37 kilometres (23 miles) were built, so that the project was by then 41.6 per cent complete.

The method used to build the aqueduct was cut-and-cover. A one-metre trench was dug and a horseshoe-shaped conduit, averaging about 2.7 metres in height, was poured between steel forms. When the concrete cured, the forms were stripped and the pipe was covered by earth, which was necessary to prevent the water from freezing during Manitoba’s cold winters.

Every 1,524 metres, manholes were installed to allow for maintenance inspections. Surprisingly, early inspections of the aqueduct’s interior involved lowering the water level and men then boating through the sections.

“The invert slabs were poured in alternating 4.5-metre-hng sections and screeded to a smooth surface,” said the authors of Winnipeg’s Aqueduct. “Once these sections were cured, closure sections were poured. Following immediately after the completion of the invert slabs, the arch was built in 13.7-metre- long sections, also in an alternating pat tern, using an inner and outer slip form. The forms were advanced along sets of rails on the middle and outside edge of the completed invert. Several reinforced crossings were provided within the up per reaches in anticipation of future road crossings

“The specifications also required that between the walls of the trench and the aqueduct select earth backfill would be tamped carefully in 150 millimetre lifts to a depth of 1.2 metres. As the designers explained, this precaution was taken in conjunction with a. moderately light design of arch.”

However, the arch was “quite safe against the pressures of earth backfill even without packed earth at the haunches.”

A steam shovel was then used to place the remainder of the backfill over “the aqueduct to a depth of 1.2 metres in the case of solid material or 1.5 metres in the case of peaty material.”

The GWWD supplied all the cement required for the aqueduct, but contractors were charged for any wasted cement.

“All aggregate (mixed with the cement to make concrete) is supplied by the district (GWWD) and delivered to the camp sites of the contractors,” reported the Free Press. “This is obtained from gravel pits along the route of the (Greater Winnipeg) Water District rail way. Machinery is maintained at the pits to crush and mix the pit run gravel, so that the aggregate is graded in such a manner to make the densest and most watertight concrete.”

By controlling the cement and aggregate, the GWWD was ensuring the concrete used in the aqueduct was of the highest quality.

As was the case in aqueducts serving ancient Rome, water from the Shoal Lake aqueduct was channeled to a massive reservoir. At Deacon, 13 kilometres east of Winnipeg, water from the cistern was distributed via pipelines to the city and the several municipalities making up the GWWD. Over the years, the main Winnipeg reservoir has been expanded to the point that it now can hold 8.8-billion litres of water, the equivalent of a 20-day supply, according to the city of Winnipeg.

The February 1,1919, FreePressre ported figures on the performance of the aqueduct: “Eighty-five million gallons (386.4 million litres) would fill Portage Avenue between the building lines from Main Street to Sherbrook Avenue to a depth of 20 feet (six metres); the con tents of the (Deacon) reservoir … combined with the contents of the reservoir now owned by the city of Winnipeg (McPhillips), would fill this same area to a depth of 63 feet (19.2 metres), or to the height of the fourth story (sic) windows.”

Chief engineer Chace explained at a meeting of the Winnipeg Rotary Club on October 2, 1918, how the water was to be piped under the Red River. “As you know, we broke through the last portion of rock bore under the Red last Saturday night. The bore, which was made through the uneven starts of lime stone rock, will be lined with cast-iron pipe 60 inches (1.524 metres) in diameter, the joints of which will be caulked from the inside. On the St. Boniface (then a separate municipality) side this will be connected with the 66 inch (1.678.4 metres) reinforced concrete pipe forming that portion of the aqueduct; and on the Winnipeg side it will be joined up with the 48 inch (1.219.2 metres) reinforced concrete pipe running along Pacific Avenue to McPhillips Street (then the site of the only reservoir within the city’s boundaries).

“After the pipe is laid along the (24- metre-deep) tunnel, we propose filling in the overbreak, which has been fairly regular, by pouring in concrete, in its thin state, from the surface of the ground down a shaft, guiding it by pipes which can be shortened as the overbreak is gradually filled.”

The scope of the project was such that a motion picture was advertised to run at the Dominion Theatre in February, “showing the construction, engineering, works, aqueduct and district from Indian Lake (sic) right through to Winnipeg.”

The advertisement said every resident of the city should view the film to obtain “a proper understanding of the importance and magnitude of Winnipeg’s great water scheme. It ranks among the major undertakings of the world.”

By the end of March 1919, the aqueduct was essentially completed.Wesley College and Students Quarters Winnipeg MB

Wesley College in Winnipeg Manitoba