The second phase of exploration work was carried out by a crew of diamond drilling experts from the United States, who contracted to sink a test hole by boring through solid granite with a diamond bit. The theory put forward by geologists was that the rock formation was an over-lay or shelf of granite and when this was penetrated deposits of crude and oil might be found. After drilling to a depth of approximately 2700 fee in solid granite the experts had to concede that theory and fact are often times widely divorced.

Certainly the incident caused a great deal of interest in the community at the time and much speculation about how wealthy the residents would become when ‘She Blew’.

—Excerpt from the from Rosser Ripples

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The local store carried drums of kerosene and gasoline. These were shipped out by train and settlers bought small amounts prior to 1920. In the early 1920’s tractors were becoming more common so A.J. Lobb built a shed near the elevator large enough to hold one and one-half carloads of drums. Gasoline, kerosene and distillate were then shipped by the carload, stored in the large shed and transferred to the store as needed. Bert Allen delivered drums of fuel to farmers with a horse and democrat.

On June 1, 1935 Herbert F. Tyler began the oil business known as Direct Oil Service at his home. Later he purchased a large truck and brought fuel from the wholesaler in Brandon. He built a warehouse at the corner of the fourth baseline and the railway in 1945 and moved the business to that location.

In 1946 Mr and Mrs. Joe McCelland purchased the business from Mr. Tyler. The business was known as The Spot and included a snack bar and filling station. Joe gave up the oil business in 1954 when he started to work for the Department of Highways. Gasoline is still sold from the pump at the general store for recreational vehicles and cars.

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When A.J. Lobb purchased the general store and post office from the Charles brothers, he expanded the business by adding a blacksmith shop and a small home adjacent to the store.

William McCrimmon, the first blacksmith, was kept busy shoeing horses and doing farm repairs.

A new store was built in 1917 across from the railway station and the blacksmith shop and home moved to the new location.

The McCrimmon family moved to Warren in 1922. Arthur Mernett carried on the business until 1933. In 1933 Charlie Fraser and family moved to Grosse Isle from Ekhart. He was the last blacksmith in Grosse Isle. He died in 1952.

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Lyle Lawrence in one of the sons of Reverend James Lawrence who have made huge notable contributions in Rosser. Like his father, Lyle had his own way to get into Rosser’s history.

Lyle and Emily Lawrence are known pioneers in Rosser, Manitoba. Although, Lyle was originally from Scotland, his family traveled across South Africa and settled in Cape Town for seven years. In 1873 his family emigrated in Ontario, Canada and resided there for good. Meanwhile, Lyle and Val Lawrence went on a different road. On 1878 they boarded the steamship Ontario. Their journey led them to Winnipeg 10 days after they boarded the ship. Their searched for land didn’t stop them in Winnipeg, the two brothers reached Woodlands, Portage and Gladstone. They were always welcomed for meals or shelter for the night by settlers as they made their way over good land, swamp, bush and rivers by wagon. They were also a frequent visitor of the Beveridge farm in Rosser. Eventually, the two brothers decided to buy their own land in Rosser, Manitoba.

Lyle Lawrence had his Indian script farm. He built his home in his own land and started to raise oxen. A huge fire tore down the house in 1903. Many travelers on the trail to Stonewall stayed the night at the first homestead to break his journey and it earned the name of “Halfway House”.

Lyle has been active on community activities. In fact, it was because of his substantial efforts that the Municipality of Rosser was formed in 1893. He also served as a councilor for 4 years in St. Paul district and another year when RM Rosser was formed. Mr. Lawrence was also the first assessor for Rosser. He was president of the Lilyfield Literary Society and shared with his neighbors in the building of the Lilyfield Hall. He also served as a trustee and secretary treasurer of Lilyfield School for many years and was the first president of the Manitoba Pool Elevator at Gordon. As well as farming he became the local agent for the Portage Mutual Insurance Company in 1893.

He was also assigned to go overseas for the Immigration Department. Most often his meetings are conducted in Wales and he had to hire a town crier to announce his presence and purpose. He was away for almost three months just to convince people to come to Canada.

Lyle Lawrence married Emily Oatway from Rosser. Like his husband, Mrs. Lawrence has been active in the community. She was active during the war of 1914-1918 in the Willing Workers of Lilyfield Church. She was a member and president of the Ladies Aid in the Church and helped in the community activities.

The couple was blessed with three beautiful children: Evered, Margaret and Gordon.

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The official acquirement of a super-modern elevator signaled Rosser’s entry to the world of modernized grain moving. The induction ceremony, on July 20, 1987, was attended by famous people from Manitoba Pool Elevators and CP Rail, with Charlie Mayer, the Minister of State at that time.

Two pool committees are affected with the merge of the Bergen and Gordon elevator at Rosser– obviously they are the Bergen and Gordon.

The creation of the 117-foot slip elevator took over a year to finish. It has a storage capacity of 245,000 bushels with 25 bins. Also it features: two 6000, bushels per hour steel legs with 50 h.p. motors with a 166-foot discharge height. The electronic receiving scale measures 10 x 80 foot with an automated overhead shipping scale and four split back pits. The elevator uses a Bisco 2488 screen machine for cleaning. The office and truck loadout are on the track side of the elevator; the siding has a capacity for 20 hopper cars; and the elevator is totally computerized.

Rene Monchalin was the manager of the elevator since its grand launch but he retired in 1991. Adrien Kolly replaced him and Richard Klassen is his assistant manager.

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Quebec City. Eight day of voyage, America can be seen through the telescope. The people were overjoyed in the hopes to set foot on solid ground again. At two in the afternoon a small blank line can be seen and it gradually came nearer. As they entered a gulf that was locked in the by high mountains on both side, the gulf got narrower and narrower and mountains came closer. There were fishing boats heading to start their business.

Soon countless lights shone and the old Mennonites knew that they reached the port of Quebec. Three times the ship sent a flare skyward. It sailed into harbor. The gates were opened for disembarking. A crowd of people were there, there to welcome those leaving the ship. Then the travelers were received as Canadian immigrants.

Duluth. This is where the travelers were recommended to buy tools, cook stoves and cooking utensils. So purchases were made and packed into the freight car. They spent one or two days there. From there, they continued to rail and came to a small town. It had only recently been founded and construction was in progress. It was called Fisher’s Landing.

Kansas.The travelers got here and were received by a large group of people. Among them were many Mennonite brethren who lived in Kansas. During the time when their forefathers moved from Germany to Russia they had moved to America. They came and tried to persuade them not to get to Manitoba. They said that two settlements had been made there before and these settlers had to turn back. They could not survive there because of the cold, raw, long winter.

Kansas Brethren insisted that other Mennonites should come to Kansas. The climate was milder there. Although many allowed themselves to be persuaded and went along to the south others remained firm. It had once negotiated their freedoms with the Queen but they hold true to it. The majority remained on their side.

Fort Dufferin. Nothing special in this town. There are only few plain houses. The main town can be found on the east side near the river. The travelers resided on the west side where the government told them so.

Life of the people at Fort Dufferin was quite a tough. Children weren’t able to recover fully from sea sickness and day after day, the little angels pass away. Food was one of the main concern, especially milk for small children. The Old Mennonites also offered to keep some of our poor people there to earn some money since they were in need of labourers for their large orchards.
When the cattle arrived and there was great joy, sick children will now have proper nutrition. To a degree this necessary supplement rejuvenated the children. But the sadness of the time was not completely taken away.

Reinland. The farmer had planted an orchard of wild cherry trees. Fehr, who so vividly recollected the fruit orchards in his native Russia, comments:”The fruit was in clusters and yet different than wine grapes.”

Since the fruit was now ripe one after another undertook to taste it and one after another drew his face into contortions and spit out the cherries. The general opinion was that this fruit could not be eaten. The immigrants had made their first encounter with chokecherries.

The group was warmly received at the farm. The cooking utensils were taken from the wagon and a meal was prepared. Fresh potatoes were purchased here at price of 80 cents per pail.

Fehr then described the arrival at Reinland. Because we could travel only with oxen, everything was slow. At last we came to the land. The land had been surveyed few days before and numbered. Our lot was the name of Reinland. After a three day journey we arrived at Reinland and pitched our tent. The government had ordered these terms for the immigrants at a very small cost to us.

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If you’re proud that your province makes the national news 96 nights each year because Winnipeg is the coldest spot in the nation,
You might live in Manitoba .

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March,
You might live in Manitoba .

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don’t work there,
You might live in Manitoba.

If your suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of your forehead,
You might live in Manitoba .

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You might live in Manitoba .

If you know how to say….Wasagaming, Neepawa, Lac du Bonnet
You might live in Manitoba .

If you know several people, who have hit deer more than once,
You might live in Manitoba .

If you often switch from “Heat” to “A/C” in the same day and back again,
You might live in Manitoba .

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching,
You might live in Manitoba .

If you carry jumper cables in your car, and your girlfriend knows how to use them,
You might live in Manitoba .

If there are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at any given time,
You might live in Manitoba .

If you design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit,
You might live in Manitoba .

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow,
You might live in Manitoba .

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and of course, road construction,
You might live in Manitoba .

If “Down South” to you means Grand Forks,
You might live in Manitoba .

by Claudine Gervaise

William Henry (Squire) Sowden was a risk taker. In 1880, he joined with a few like-minded entrepreneurs to take advantage of a government offer granting companies the right to purchase large sections of the prairie- if they agreed to attract settlers to live there. By 1904, Sowden owned a number of lots in the Souris district that he hoped would become the town’s first suburb. But just like today, location was everything. Because most of the community was on the west bank of the Souris River, Sowden decided to provide a direct route to the downtown business district by building a footbridge. His first effort wasn’t windproof and it flipped over; Sowden then attached guide wires to either side of the platform and anchored cabkes to cement blocks buried on each riverbank. Though a flood in 1976 destroyed the structure, the Souris Swinging Bridge was rebuilt the following year and is now Canada’s longest historic suspension bridge at 177.4 metres. And you don’t have to be a risk taker to cross it.

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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

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]]> http://famouspeopleofmanitoba.kirks-office.com/738/a-celebration-of-winnipegs-storied-north-end/feed/ 0 http://famouspeopleofmanitoba.kirks-office.com/705/explore-manitoba-arborg/ http://famouspeopleofmanitoba.kirks-office.com/705/explore-manitoba-arborg/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 14:49:54 +0000 admin http://www.famouspeopleofmanitoba.ca/?p=705 This is one of the earlier faces of Arborg, Manitoba back in September 1971. The name of the town was driven from the an Icelandic word that means “town by a river.” This is located in the Rural Municipality of Bifrost in Manitoba’s Interlake Region, 103 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The world’s largest curling rock is found here in Arborg, Manitoba, which measures 4.2 meters across and 2.1 meters tall.

Arborg, Manitoba in September 1971

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