Author Archive: Jennifer Strassel

Hydro Electric Generating Stations

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Pinawa Generating Station

Report on a Collection of Primary Documents, 1903-1928
          By Jennifer Strassel

To read the full report, please click: Pinawa Generating Station Primary Documents

This collection of documents contained primary source materials such as letters, invoices and ledger books from the construction period of the Pinawa Generating Station. The dates found on these papers were between 1903 and 1928.

While sorting through these papers and books, not a lot of new information was uncovered regarding the history of Pinawa. The majority of the materials pertained to the day to day needs of the site and solutions to any issues that arose.

Among the things discovered in these documents was that the Lac du Bonnet Mining, Development & Manufacturing, Co. only appears in 1904 invoices, billing the Winnipeg General Power Co. primarily for meals and board for workers, along with a few miscellaneous goods like a pair of rubber boots or a couple of hammers.

These records also show that the J.D. McArthur Co. was a constant supplier of assorted lumber throughout the period indicated within these papers. He also charged for meals and board and a few other miscellaneous goods, in addition to supplying beef for a time.
Otherwise, the majority of grocery purchases were made through large Winnipeg wholesalers, and construction materials primarily came from throughout Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States.

Overall, these primary documents outline the struggles and roadblocks faced, all while providing insight into both sides of the Company, the workers and overseers; however, the focus was always on the day to day operations and the need to get things done, in addition to the men working on the site and the few women helping with laundry and some cooking, who made all of it possible. Without that, construction on the generating station would not have been completed and Winnipeg’s power supply would have been much less.

Hangar Collapse at Lac du Bonnet

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By Gerald Sarapu

In 1926, the main operational base for aerial photography by the RCAF was transferred from Victoria Beach to Lac du Bonnet. An aerial photograph apparently shows that the hangar was being constructed during the summer of 1928. Yet, another aerial photograph supposedly taken in 1929 shows no evidence of any building. I suppose in the long run the exact date is not important for the purposes of this article.

Circa 1950's

At the time, the primary aircraft were flying boats like the Vickers Viking and Vedettes, so the adjacent runway had not yet been constructed. The clearing for the runway by the base only commenced during 1933, as it was a summer of little activity.

In 1937, operations of the RCAF ceased and the Department of Transport assumed responsibility for the site and presumably the hangar itself. Following WWII, the site was disposed of by Crown Assets.

I do not know, at this time, if and when the old hangar became a separate entity from the adjacent land and runway, but over the years the building had seen numerous occupants such as Central Northern Airways, Transair, AV Air Service and finally Airpark Aviation, which all operated out of the old military structure.

In a letter written to me, senior Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, Rollie Hammerstedt stated: “I first started working there (the Hangar) in 1953. Prior to May 1953, George Fournier, who was the water base engineer in tow, supervised the hangar at changeover period for a few years. Then afterwards Slim Graham was hired by Central Northern Airways (CNA) to take charge of the hangar operation. They designated the operation as Central Maintenance. The duties not only included change overs, but also had a policy of all aircraft serving the bush to be cycled through the Lac du Bonnet hangar every 200 hours of flight time.” He also went on to say that “CNA/Transair, at one time, operated 18 Norseman, plus a couple they took over from Arctic Wings. We usually had 4 Norseman in the hangar at one time. Most years, the back of the hangar was tarped off and heated by a barrel wood stove. We would have three aircraft around the old wooden hoist outside, beside the rail dolly on the ramp. There was a warehouse between the hoist and the water that we used for a few years as a stores department. There was a night watchman on duty seven days a week.”  Hammerstedt left Transair in 1961.

On February 7, 1980, the old hangar collapsed. The exact cause is speculative and may or may not be as a direct result of one or more contributing factors. As time passes memories fade, facts are altered and assumptions are created as to the cause of the incident. In any regard, four of the prime factors put forward, as observed by myself as an employee of the company at the time, are as follows:

Factor 1 - Snow loading

Although there was snow on the roof, it was not an abnormal amount of snow in comparison with other years. Snow would have contributed to the overall weight of the structure, but was probably not the singular cause of the failure.

Factor 2 – Bracing cables removed

Originally, the hangar had cables installed along the sides of the building acting as guy-wires. These can be seen in some earlier photographs of the hangar. However, during the previous summer of the collapse, a worker hired for various jobs complained about the difficulties cutting grass with a larger machine around these cables. It was suggested that since all of the cables had no tension on them, and were slack, that they served no useful function and could be removed. The decision was made to cut the cables. A further justification possibly was to better accommodate parking along the side of the building. The worker then proceeded to cut the cables with a cutting torch, but complained that as each strand was cut they unraveled rapidly splattering molten metal everywhere, including on himself. Nothing unusual happened after the cables were cut and that appeared to be the end of that discussion.

Factor 3 – Structural decay

During the previous summer, a new hangar door was being installed. The framework and bracing for this new door was attached to the existing wooden structure of the building. The installation crew observed that there was a significant amount of decay on the vertical rafter supports that ran along the sides of the building. The door was finally installed, but I do not know if the structure of the building was further compromised by the installation.

Factor 4 – The weight of the roof itself

The original roof had been constructed of lumber similar to what is called boxcar siding. To describe the construction: it would be like attaching 2x4 lumber on its flat, tightly spaced, directly onto the rafters over the entire span of the roof. Over the years, it had been patched and resealed several times with additional material layered over top. During demolition after the collapse, it was discovered that on top of the roof lumber was an additional three layers of rolled asphalt roofing and a topped off with a layer of galvanized roofing tin. The weight all added together was significant.

On the day of the collapse the hangar contained three aircraft. A Cessna 337 Skymaster, a Paper PA23-250 Aztec and a Dehavilland DHC3 Otter. During the previous day, the Otter was being readied for an engine removal by myself, the companies Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, and Larry Sarapu, the apprentice. Since I had to make a quick trip into the city the next day, the disconnections for removal were to continue the following day, Friday, by the apprentice himself with the plan to drop it from the aircraft entirely the first thing Monday.

As the apprentice worked by himself, he later said that he kept hearing various noises and frequently looked around to see if anyone else had come into the building. Not seeing anyone and since it was an old building, unheated and not sealed very well, birds often got inside and fluttered around in the rafters, he passed the noises off as that. Having gone as far as he could, he quit early and left for Winnipeg. He did not tell anybody of his plans because nobody else was in that day except for a grader operator hired to clear some snow around the area.

As the grader operator cleaned the taxiway to the main runway, he would make his turnaround in front of the hangar and then continue on back down the taxiway for another pass. Upon returning again, it would be safe to say, he was shocked to see the hangar flattened. In conversation with him later, he was very concerned that he might have accidentally done something to initiate the incident, which of course was in no way the case.

Photo courtesy of Gerald Sarapu

I am not sure of the sequence of events that occurred as the alarm was raised, but I had coincidentally arrived back in Lac du Bonnet and was contacted not long after the collapse. Upon arriving at the scene, it had to be determined if anyone was inside, or should I say, under the rubble. It was known that the apprentice worked that day, but nobody knew he had left early. For that matter, it was unknown if anybody else might have been in the building.

The roof had collapsed so completely in some areas that one could not see under it with a flashlight. To make matters worse, gasoline had leaked out from somewhere and the potential for a fire was a concern. Hydro disconnected the power somewhat easing that concern just a little. One by one everybody that we could think of that might remotely be the inside was accounted for including the apprentice. Other then the authorities securing the area, not much else could be done until daylight the next day.

Commencing the following days, various authorities like the Department of Transport and insurance companies were contacted advising them of the incident and plans were made to extract the aircraft from under the former building.

Photo courtesy of Gerald Sarapu

It was decided that the best way to remove the aircraft was to somehow cut the roof into sections and lift it off piece by piece with a hired dragline. First, the outer layer of galvanized sheeting had to be removed and then chainsaws were used to section it up, rolled roofing and all. Cutting through the three layers of the wooden roof with the rolled asphalt roofing still on it, not to mention the nails, quickly dulled the saw blades, but a large quantity of used saw chains were allocated from a local scrap dealer, and with someone continually sharpening as they were replaced, the job was done. The roof sections were extremely heavy and awkward to lift, but finally the first aircraft, the Aztec, was able to be pulled out. It had rafters crushing the cockpit/cabin area and the right wing was crushed, folding the landing gear backwards along with other major damage.

Photo courtesy of Gerald Sarapu

The next aircraft was the Otter, and it had sustained the most damage of the three aircraft. The back of the airplane, at the cabin doors, was crushed so the belly sat on the ground. One wing was crushed to the floor. The engine, that myself and the apprentice were working on, sat on the floor having been sheared off the airframe by a rafter slicing through the cockpit at the pilot’s seat. It is also to be noted, that prior to lifting off the roof, one could see that the rim of one of the main landing gear wheels was sitting on the concrete, thus assuming the tire had popped. Not so. The weight was so great on the airplane that after it was lifted off, the tire resumed its normal shape. I also have one picture of the Otter’s vertical stabilizer penetrating the hangar roof prior to its removal.

The final aircraft to come out was the Cessna 337. It also suffered substantial damage. Probably the most interesting of the damage this aircraft suffered was that the arch of the spring on one of the main landing gear had significantly straightened out. Thus, an indication of the weight that sat on it.

One by one, the aircraft were disposed of by the insurance companies and the rubble from the former hangar cleaned up so that by the end of that summer all that was left was a concrete pad. Today, the property is a private residence, and has been landscaped and treed so there is no evidence that the former military base once existed.

2016 Annual Wine and Cheese

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This year the Lac du Bonnet and District Historical Society celebrated a tribute to our German settlers on Friday, December 2 at the Lac du Bonnet Community Center. It was a wonderful evening with the German dancers getting everyone off their chairs, dancing and singing. A silent auction, rainbow auction and 50/50 draw were held to raise funds for the Lac du Bonnet and District Historical Society. We would like to thank local businesses, members, and everyone who generously donated prizes and their time to make this event a success.

The history of Germans in Manitoba began as early as 1670 when Ruprecht Von Wittelsbach (Prince Rupert of the Rhine) became the first Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company. One hundred and fifty years later, German mercenaries were among the settlers brought in by Lord Selkirk. They tilled land along the Seine River until 1826 when most of these settlers moved to Eastern Canada or the United States because they found the farming conditions on the area poor.

By the late 1870s, 7,000 German-speaking Mennonites arrived in Manitoba, followed by many more settlers of German descent in the early 1900s brought to Canada by news of the rich farm land in the West. There was great diversity among these German Manitobans: they practiced a variety of religions, including Lutheran, Baptist, Hutterite and Mennonite, and many spoke either High or Low German, which were so different of dialects that they could not always understand one another.

In this area, the first Lutheran German settler was Friedrich Karl Wenzel, who registered for a homestead in August 1884, which was located twelve miles north of Beausejour and two miles west of the Brokenhead River. By 1896, a large group of Russian-Germans arrived in the Brokenhead area. These farmers were very successful over the coming years. In December 1906, the Beausejour German Society held their first ball, which some 200 people attended. The areas of Thalberg, Glenmoor and Golden Bay were also settled by German families. By April 1900, some forty German families were living in Whitemouth, primarily in the area that would become River Hills.

On March 12, 1908, Hermann L. Otto of Thalberg reported to the German Newspaper Der Nordwestern that he had been “working for J.D. McArthur in a bush camp at Milner, where [he received] $30 per month.” He also stated that once they were finished at Milner, eleven men were moved to Lac du Bonnet to work there.

Arnold Weiss, 1905
Courtesy of Karen Weiss

Two of the local German settlers were Arnold Weiss and Roy Freund. Arnold Weiss moved to Lac du Bonnet in 1903 and, for sixteen years, worked as a sawyer for J.D. McArthur. In 1905, he married Emeila Bruneau. They lived on Second St. for five years until they purchased and worked two farms one mile west of Lac du Bonnet. Weiss Road, off Hwy. 214, serves as a reminder of where they lived with their twelve children. In 1921, Arnold took on the contract to build a road from Lac du Bonnet to Milner Ridge, which would provide additional access to Beausejour, Whitemouth and Winnipeg.

Roy Freund, outside Allard Building Store May 1932
Courtesy of Charlotte Kitzmann

Roy Freund emigrated from Germany in 1928, settling in Green Bay with his sister and family. He took work where he could: painting, harvesting, working in bush camps and mines, until he found a steady job at the butcher shop in the Allard Building. During WWII, Roy served with the Canadian Army. Upon return to Lac du Bonnet, he married Verna Slaboda and worked for Harry Springman for two years before becoming manager of the Allard Building store. In the early 1950s, having saved enough money, Roy built a new grocery store, the IGA Food Market, located on Park Ave. where the dental clinic now stands. In 1962, he expanded and built a new store on Second St. (where Dancyt’s Fine Foods is today) called Roy’s Solo Food Market. This development sparked the change from residential to commercial buildings on Second St. Roy also served on the Town Council, was Chairman of the School Board and was involved with many community pursuits including the Anglican Church, Legion and curling. Roy retired in 1972, selling his business to the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Today, 9% if the areas’ residents are German.

Historical Society Reactivated

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Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society is Reactivated

In 2004 the Society was given a mandate to develop a community museum. They have since been restoring an old log cottage built circa 1935, situated nearby the Old Pinawa Dam for use as a museum. It is a fine and rare example of log construction, built by a Norwegian immigrant named Hans Erickson

Erickson was one among many men hired to build the Pinawa Hydroelectric Generating Station between 1903-06. (The generating station closed down in 1951, and then for years the property was used as a training site by the Canadian Army. In the mid 1980’s the Manitoba Government declared it the Pinawa Dam Heritage Park, commonly referred to now as the Old Pinawa Dam.)

The cottage is currently being referred to as the Erickson Cabin, or the Hans Erickson Log Cabin; but it will eventually be called the Lac du Bonnet District Museum. It was designated a historic site and is listed on the Canada’s Historic Places website. It originally received Municipal Heritage Building status through the Provincial Government in 2005; that status was re-assigned once the building was placed on its new foundation in Halliday Park in 2009.

Renovations began at the original site, and continued after the building was moved unto a new foundation at Halliday Park, located nearby the town of Lac du Bonnet. During the summer of 2010 a frame extension was added to the back of the building and sided with log siding, and the log front porch was re-assembled and cedar shingles adjoined all the roof sections. Then a fresh coat of paint, and new windows and doors have given the outside of the old log building the dignity it deserves. Work on the interior of building will be ongoing during the summer months.

The had hoped to celebrate completion of the renovations by hosting a party for the community on the Civic Holiday, September 4th., 2010. Plans are to have a fully functioning community museum during the summer months of 2011.

Annual Report 1992

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ANNUAL REPORT LAC DU BONNET AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY Inc.
PRESIDENTS REPORT G. C. Emberley; March 4th 1992

The society has always struggled to achieve its goals with a small nucleus of dedicated members. What we seem to lack is more active support from our local community. To this end a Press Release appeared in the January 7th issue of the Lac du Bonnet Leader requesting the public to take a more active role in the Society and its projects. This netted one enquiry but no increase in interest at our following February meeting. Consequently the Annual Members Meeting of March 4th reflected on our situation and agreed to revert to an inactive status and the following Press Release was issued.

In the spring we successfully installed our new display cabinet in the local library reading room. The unit provides adequate space to house our files and small collectables. However, the larger storage facility to have been located in the RM of Lac du Bonnet enclosure was not constructed. The building is still required. For the storage of our large artifacts as the current location is temporary at best.

The only other activity was the addition of a number of photographs to the collection.

It is hoped that the action taken by the Board and its members in placing the Society in an inactive state will ensure that when the community responds to the need to preserve its history that the Society can be reactivated and that what we have done will not be lost.

G.C.Emberley President.