Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 15, 1975, Winnipeg, Manitoba New Leisure Winnipeg free press. Saturday. November 15, 1975 features 15 8 ass journeys into Gillam located at mile 326 of Hie Hudson Bay railway is one of the most northerly towns in Manitoba. Winters Are Long and cold with Snow arriving Early in november. Since 1973, when a How interest developed in the origin of the town name Winters at Gillam school have been a time for planning the Spring historical Field trip. The Grade 11 social studies class led by teacher r. F. Bishop has researched Gillam s Early history tracing it Back to Itoh when Ben and Zachariah Gillam brought the nonesuch into James Bay. Through subsequent expeditions in the Nelson Hayes River systems the Gillams established a fort on the Northeast Corner of an Island which now bears Ben Gillam s name. In 1912, a government Survey or found what he judged to be the Corner of Ben Gillam s old fort on the Island. The 1973 class decided to visit the Island in an attempt to locate the ruins. Or. Bishop took four boys Down River in a Canoe entering the River at Byrd the Bottom of Limestone rapids. Through ice on the Banks forced the students to carry their Canoe at Many Points the difficult trip was accomplished by late evening. Four girls were flown in by a Manitoba Hydro plane to join the expedition. The group spent three Days searching the area pinpointed by Tyrell the government Surveyor As the fort site. Metal detectors brought a Good signal at first and digging began in Earnest. However the Detector developed a malfunction and further digging was pointless. The group concluded that erosion of the River Banks in the 62 years since Tyrell s visit had probably washed away the Romains of the fort. Investigation of a Selkirk wintering site Suppo sedly dating Back to 1812, had to be abandoned due to poor weather and Low water. Al though nothing in Terete was Dis covered on their first trip the students had stood where the pioneers of Western Canada had stood. Living in natural surroundings they had come to know each other Well dependent As they were on each other for survival. This knowledge and understanding formed the basis for subsequent trips in 1974. A local area study was at tempted this Spring to show that Manitoba s history began Over 100 years before the recorded arrival of la Verendrye at the Forks in the 1730s. Modern port Nelson was chosen As the begin Ning of their search. Several Sites on the North Bank of the Nelson River were also investigated. A plane was scheduled to pick them up seven Days later at the Selkirk settlers wintering site opposite Gillam Island. The party of four boys and or. Bishop took off by float plane from Stevens Lake the for Ebay of the Kettle rapids Hydro dam on the morning of june 23. An hour s Hight brought them to York factory where a fascinating tour was made of the your old fort. Its remarkable by Kilkin Pruden preservation and extensive col Lection of artefacts made a vivid impression on the group. From York factory they crossed Marsh Point by air noting one tug and two barges on the South Side of the Nelson River the old ship Alette abandoned on Nel son Shoal before the first world War and a school of Beluga whales. The Survey of the port Nelson area covered the River front wharf area to Root Creek. The group took photographs and map maps and drawings of buildings roads railways and an old dry Dock. An abandoned ramp Post was also discovered and yielded some papers relat ing to local incidents. Heart s Creek produced some Small round objects which might have Bien cannonballs. As the water Marks on the North Banks were High it was Rea soned that sir Thomas Button could not have set up his Winter Camp there in the South Side under shelter of the Cliff would have afforded bettor Protection this coincided with Tyrell s As sumption with respect to tie location of Button s Camp. The group moved on to Flam Borough head setting up Camp in sight of Seal Island. Later that Day cold winds from the North forced them to move Camp four Miles to the old Selkirk settlers1 Winter site. Wet Windy Walher made the trip difficult. Walking in water struggling up Muddy Cliffs getting soaked with rain the group experienced lie rough Side of living with nature s whims. By the time a plane picked up the group on july 2, they had amassed a great Deal of knowl Edge about the area. The in formation recorded on slides and photographs was passed on to the new Grade u class in sep tember. Another trip was arranged for sept. 10. Nine people look part in this excursion with further exploration of heart s Creek and recovery of artefacts from Pori Nelson on the schedule. Results of the three trips have been rewarding for both class and the teacher. Some of the artefacts collected will be turned Over 10 the new Gillam museum. A slide presentation was created on the Canoe trip from Byrd to Gillum and plans were Laid to investigate further old Camp Sites before port Nelson and the old Hudson s Bay company sup ply Post on Flamborough head. Most of these trips will be undertaken with a View to game ering historical data for a series from the native viewpoint. This will be done in conjunction with a Creo teacher who will Deal with local history about Europe an Ninive interaction. Field trips will include campsites and communities where students using to Weir native language can Gal her old stories in an Effort to write a native history of the North. Funds have been received for past trips from the outdoor Edu cation Branch of the provincial department of education fron tier school division Manitoba Hydro and interested local ser vice groups. H is hoped to carry Hie project on through 1975 through the department among the bonuses of Europe an travel must be placed the fleeting incidental encounters with people of the countries one visits. Interesting Odd amusing these persons Are usually linked with episodes that make Good conversation pieces. Here Are a few for your pleasure. On our first visit to Venice when the world and we were Young my wife and i stayed in a pleasant Little hotel just off the Piazza san Marco at ludicrously modest rates thanks to signer Mussolini s determination to at tract tourists. We did our duty by the obvious attractions and still recall that Brief stay with considerable nostalgia. One Little element of our so Journ did however become a bit wearing by its repetition. Out Side our pension there lurked a Little Man whose Job was to entice tourists to visit a Glass fac tory probably a Little Venice certainly not the great Murano establishment. As to emerged from the hotel he would sidle up to us and in French because of my Beret or German because of my wife s n hair or English As the would mumble his monotonous invitation. A few repeal performances we passed off As a quaint feature of foreign travel. Finally however my patience ran out and when one morning he treated us to his English ver Sion come and see de Glass factory i firmly re plied Here Niy Good Man i own the Glass for some reason he subsequently left us strictly alone. Did he i have sometimes wondered suspect me of prevarication while awaiting the Street car one morning in Milan we were briskly accosted by a huckster Selling color slides who urged me in English to invest in a set. On my inquiring in italian what his Price was he quoted in italian about twice what it should have been i retorted in French that ii was asking far too much to which lie replied in French that for his quotation i would actually get two sets adding in i though you were an sensing a heaven sent Opportunity i led him on in a Royal ripping up of the americans then when we had reduced the poor Yankees to looters. I said in very Clear in gosh and now i must Tell you that i am an Amer the poor chop stood utterly aghast Usu in i removed him from the Hook Fay informing him that 1 was a Canadian. . I bought both sets. As we made our Way to the station in Rome one afternoon a veritable cloudburst sent us scurrying under an awning shelter. Once under cover we joined earlier arrivals in laugh ing at the bedraggled Junior clerks portly Bourgeois and half drowned old ladies As they splashed across the pavement. Even they gallantly laughed As they waded toward Shore. By Victor leathers the persistent downpour finally convinced us that we would have to reach the station in hot foot dashes with shelter Breaks for restorative puffing. From our final doorway we saw several workmen across the Street carrying out a similar manoeuvre. As they hesitated before making their final Rush one imaginative hero did it. Turning to the hoarding behind him he actually managed to insert his fingers under several layers of the immense posters which cover Rcd it. Before our incredulous eyes with one monumental rip he wrenched of f a Section about Throe feet by six draped it Over his stooping Frame and roaring with laugh Ter trundled across the Street looking like a speeding Tortoise. Utterly intrigued by that glorious Ripoff we followed even without Benefit of a poster carapace. We were running toward Tours after a chateau excursion. When in a narrow Village Street our Large bus met a similar giant. It looked like a completely impossible situation. After a Long double torrent of gallic sex population both Drivers realized their Only recourse was to attempt passing. Grilling his Teeth and crowding up on the sidewalk until he virtually scrubbed the Walls our Driver inched or More accurately con a metered Forward As did his opposite number the crunch came literally As the rear View mirrors clipped sharply but a crackling slither went past each other. Apparently out of the Woods our perspiring Driver accelerated up a slight slope and half turned a Corner Only to find in Vlf to Faro with a highly Rul Terai implement of flip Hay Rake Var Iris. With z a twist of the wheel he hoisted the bus Over enough to miss the machine by a hair s breadth to find himself alas bearing directly Down on an approaching cyclist a Man of about 50, who bounded off his wheel with a h deleted expletive and scrambled to the opposite sidewalk drag Ging his Bic Yelo after him. To everyone s Relief there were apparently no mad dogs Loose in the town. By rhe time we reached Tours our Driver was quite coherent again. We All admired him. Bont up on Yamei hint in inti in of ;