Shellbrook and the First World War

On Tuesday, 4 August 1914 Britain declared war on Germany which automatically brought Canada, as a British dominion, into the conflict. However, Canada had the freedom to determine the country's level of involvement in the war and elected to raise the Canadian Overseas Expedition Force.

"Germans Now at War with Belgium,"
8 August 1914, Shellbrook Chronicle, Shellbrook, SK.

During the 4 years, 3 months, and 7 days that Canada participated in the war, from Shellbrook and the surrounding districts of Briarlea, Brightholm, Cookson, Crutwell, Deer Ridge, Foxdale, Hazel Ridge, Holbein, Lone Spruce, Mayview, Mount Teviot, Nisbet, Parkview, Pine Grove, Pleasantville, Rayside, Rich Valley, Rozilee, Silver Cliff, Silver Grove, Sturgeon River, Sturgeon Valley, Three Creeks, Wild Rose, and Yankee Valley over 400 men are believed to have serve with the CEF.

Of the known local men who enlisted, 64 would die in service to their country and those that lived would return home carrying the visible and invisible wounds of “the Great War.”

Following is an incomplete list (with possible duplications) of the local men who served:

A
Agnew, Thomas David
Allen, Claire Woodworth
Allen, Floyd Julius
Allison, Hugh McLeod “Scotty Jim”
Allison, James
Anderson, Bernard Barton†
Anderson, Robert George Stewart†
Anderson, Arthur
Anderson, Barney
Anderson, Billy
Anderson, Duncan
Anderson, Halver Martinus
Anderson, Howard
Anderson, Robert
Armstrong, Joseph Elliott
Armstrong, Kenneth
Armstrong, Leslie
Augusta, John Burton†

B
Babineau, Edward
Bain, John
Ballantyne, Willie D
Banks, Martin
Barkway, Alfred Jack
Bates, Charlie
Bathrow, Forrest Elmer†
Beagle, Frank
Beaven, William Arthur John “Bill”
Beck, Percy Goudin†
Belcher, Benjamin†
Belcher, Alfred “Alf”
Belcher, William Henry
Bergman, John Malcolm
Bergman, Malcom
Biner, Reginald Amsden†
Birkett, George H
Birnell, John
Bishop, F
Black, Daniel†
Botn, Reinhardt
Boyd, Edward
Brazenall, Francis
Briggs, Sidney
Brown, Joseph “Joe”†
Brown, George
Brown, Reg
Bruce, Dan
Brundson, Frank
Bryden, Thomas Hunter†
Bryden, Charles Gerald

C
Cackburn, Gordon
Callaghan, John Charles Thomas
Cameron, James†
Campbell, Charles Levi†
Campbell, Alex
Campbell, Howard
Canfield, Bill
Cardinal, Charles Cambell
Carr, George
Chandler, Thomas
Chapman, Harold†
Chapman, Henry
Church, Harold
Clancy, George
Clancy, James Havelock “Jim”
Clarke, Cornelius “Nobby”
Clarke, Sam
Clarke, Samuel Boyd
Cockbourne
Coleman, Stanley
Coles, Richard
Coles, Donald Lewis
Collins, Wilson Harold
Comeault, Alfred “Fred”
Comeault, W H
Comeault, Willie Giaumme
Cook, Jack
Cornwell, G†
Cowles, Douglas
Crothers, F
Crowthers, Fred

D
Daly, Francis, Leo
Danczak, Anton
Davidson, Hugh
Davies, George
Davis, F
Davison, Horace
de Satge, Rene Cosme Joseph
Deferia, John
Denford, William Henry “Bill”†
Denford, Albian
Denford, Alfred
Dennis, Frank
Derochers, Emile
Deymes, Ernest
Ditmar, Walter
Dixon, Clarence
Dixon, Samuel Clarence
Dobson, George Wilbur†
Downing, Albert
Doyle, Charles

E
Eldred, Balfour
Eliott, Edward
Ellard, Charles Elfred
Elliot, Edward Jardine “Ned”
Elliott, William Sorimigeor
Elphinstone, William
Emele, Benhart
Ernst, Charles William

F
Fabbinnor, Frank
Fairfax, Carl
Fairfax, Edwin/Edward
Falk, Joseph
Fawcett, Martin
Felmore, Harry
Fleming, P F
Foden, Alfred
Forsberg, Oscar
Franks, Alex
Fraser, John George
Fraser, Thomas
Freyman, Carl
Fuller, Arthur
Fuller, Fred
Furbank, William George Charles†

G
Garneau, Alphonse
Gates, Ralph Byard
Gerlock, Geo
Gibson, Edward
Gilmore, Thomas McCracken†
Goodwin, W†
Gordon, Albert
Goudal, Pierre Joseph “Peter”†
Gouldhawke, Robert Thomas
Grayston, Robert Beverley “Bev”
Green, William John†
Green, Earl Levern†
Green, A, R
Green, Hilliard Cunningham
Green, Reg
Greening, Jeff
Gregson, Harry
Griffin, Charles Fredrick “Fred”†
Griffin, John William
Griffin, Wm
Griffiths, William
Gunville, Patrick

H
Haldorson, Hans
Halliwell, John Henry
Halvorson, Pete
Hamilton, James
Handcock, Charles Herbert
Hanger, Henry “Harry”†
Hanson, Edward
Hanson, Jack
Hanson, William
Harrington, James
Harris, Bryand
Harris, Edward Charles
Harris, Irvine
Harris, J, B
Harvold, Olaf
Haslep, A†
Hatch, William†
Hatchell, Leslie David “Les”
Haydock, Herbert “Bert”†
Heap, Thomas Reginald†
Heap, Edward F
Henderson, John
Henderson, W
Hendrickson, Jack
Henry, Richard
Hensleigh, Harry Nicholas†
Hickinson, William
Hicks, Fred
Hislop, Andrew†
Hodgson, John Davis
Hodgson, Leonard
Hodgson, Ralph
Hoffman, Karl
Holden, Les
Holt, Ernest
Hoopfer, Leon Edwin†
Horley, Lewis
Hughes, Thomas
Humber, Albert “Dick”
Hunt, Henry
Hunter, Robert
Hutton, George
Hyndman, John “Jock”

I
Ibister, George Robert
Ibister, Thomas Edward

J
Jacobs, Frank
Jacobson, Anthony
Jebson, Horace Richard
Jennings, George
Jervis, Frank
Joels, Charles Henry
Johanson, Hans
Johnson, Freeman
Johnston, Hector
Jorgensen, Paul Skotte†
Joyee, Frank

K
Keane, Augustine Joseph†
Keating, Wilbert Lloyd “Wib”†
Kelly, W
Kennedy, Herbert Bruce†
Kennedy, Arthur
Kennedy, Fred
Kennedy, Thomas
Krugel, John†

L
LaBounty, Edward
Lafond, Nap
Lake, Arthur James “Art”
Lanes, Carl John
Langerak, George
Langerak, Gunder S
Langerak, Oscar
Larson, Elvin†
Larson, Alvin
Lathen, Gerald
Lawless, Richard
Leigh, John Sebright
Lewis, Ernie
Lidstone, Frank
Lofthouse, Thomas†
Longrak, Gunder
Lovenins, Axel
Luck, Walter John
Lukes, Jack
Lycan, Jack
Lycan, Ray William
Lycan, Wilett Roy

M
MacAskill, George A
MacDonald, Douglas
MacDonald, Norman
MacKay, John†
Mansfield, John “Jack”†
Marchant, John Albert
Marshall, Alfred Leonard “Alf”
Marshall, Joseph “Joe”
Martin, Walter Thomas†
Martin, William Albert
Mason, Lewis
Mason, Louis
Matthews, Frank Richard
Mayer, Ludwig
McCallum, James
McIlroy, Clarence Robin
McKay, Murdock†
McKeel, Harry
McLean, Charlie
McQuarrie, Burton
McTaggart, William Adamson
Middlemiss, Alan Mungo†
Millard, Emmet Lawson
Milne, James Wood†
Mocha, Stanley
Moffat, John B “Jack”
Moore, Percy Harold†
Moore, James Henry “Captain”
Moore, William Edward
Moore, Reginald James
Morrison, Harry
Morton, Neil Alexander†
Morton, James William
Morton, John
Morton, Louis
Morton, T†
Mulgrew, John
Murray, James
Murry, Jim

N
Nascow, Carl Adolph
Nelson, Edward John†
Nelson, Martin Ludwig
Nelson, Nels
Newton, Wellington

O
Olesen, John
Olsen, Herbert Archibald
Orman, Henry
Otte, Eddie Henry
Otte, Clemens
Otte, Ed
Overmann, Francis Christian “Frank”
Owen, Ernest

P
Painter, Perl Hervey†
Painter, William Corley
Parish, Harry†
Paulin, Dominique
Payne, Herbert
Pearce, Harold Wilfred†
Pearce / Pierce / Pierse, Jack†
Pearson, Frank
Peasley, Charles Glenville
Peasley, Charles
Pederson, Lowens
Pepper, Frank Sr.
Pepper, Vivian
Perks, H
Peterson, Nels
Pickering, Henry
Pickering, William Fillmore
Pocock, Cliff
Polcolk, Cliff
Poppy, Edward Reasbeck
Potter, William
Potts, James
Potts, James
Prosser, Herbert

R
Read, Emrey
Read, Harry
Read, Scott
Read, Landon
Riggall, David “Dave”
Riggall, Ernest
Risedorf, Robert La Verne
Ritchie, Wm
Roberts, Charles Edward
Roberts, Frederick James
Roderick, Edward T
Rose, Jack
Rosser, T H
Rowden, William
Rowe, Edward

S
Salsberry, Samuel
Sandal, Ingvald Danislson
Sanderson, George Archibald Peter
Sanderson, George
Sanderson, Robert
Sanderson, Thomas Scott
Sanderson, Scott
Saunders, Bernard Leslie
Saunders, Leslie Bernard
Scott, Reginald Bernard†
Scott, J R
Scott, Joseph Henry
Scott, Robert James
Scyrup, Edward Charles
Seggie, Peter McNab
Seggie, Hamish Sr.
Selko, Michael
Small, Charlie
Small, James
Smart, Andrew
Smith, Arthur†
Smith, Arthur, Albert
Smith, Hubert
Smith, Sidney
Smith, Wm
Soberg, Oscar Gustav†
Soles, James Henry
Sparks, Amos John†
Sparks, Edgar
Sparks, George
Steacy, George William
Stenberg, Sigurd
Sterling, Charles Henry†
Sterling, Albert Victor
Stone, Fred
Stuart, James Alexander “Sandy”†
Swain, Louis
Swift, G†
Szells, Alex

T
Taylor, E†
Taylor, Thomas Trevor†
Taylor, William
Temple, George
Thompson, Harry
Tolton, Charles
Toogood, Frank
Towns, George
Travnicek, Albert
Trepanier, Jacques Denis
Treverton, George
Twiss, Robert Dudley†

U
Utley, James A Sr.

V
Vanstrom, Earl

W
Wabe, E†
Warren, William Clifford
Waterhouse, James Rhodes
Watson, G
Watts, Norman
White, Robert
Whittingham, Ernie
Whittingham, John
Wiles, William
Williams, Charles William†
Wintermute, Ed
Wood, Alvin
Wood, Elared Lawrence
Wootton, Horace

Y
Young, Frank George

Parkside's Intimate Connection to the 'Empress of Ireland'

In 1914 on Thursday, May 28th the ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) departed Quebec City for Liverpool, England at 4:30 pm on her ninety-sixth voyage with 1,477 passengers and crew on board.

RMS Empress of Ireland, ca. 1906-1914. Photograph courtesy of the
Library and Archives Canada/PA-116389.

Nine and a half hours later in the early morning hours of Friday, May 29th at 2:00 am near Sainte-Luce-Sur-Mer she collided with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad and sank into history as the worst peacetime maritime accident to occur in Canada.

"Empress of Ireland Is Reported Sunk,"

30 May 1914, Shellbrook Chronicle, Shellbrook, SK.

Empress of Ireland
Is Reported Sunk
--------
Was in Collision During Fog with
Coal Barge - Had 1200 Aboard
850 Land at Rimouski.
--------
The Steamer “Empress of Ireland,” which left Quebec
on Thursday, May 28th, at 4.30 pm, encountered a dense
fog shortly after leaving. While anchored 39 miles from
Quebec was struck by Collier “Storstadt.” The “Empress
of Ireland” is reported as sinking fifteen minutes after-
wards. The collision occurred at 3 am Friday morning,
when most of the passengers were asleep in their berths.
The ship had 1200 passengers on board.

Only meagre reports are now at hand, but from all
accounts death list will run between 870 and 1050 drowned.

It is reported that 350 were saved at Rimouski, leav-
ing 870 still to account for. The vessel was in charge of
Lient. Kendall when it left Quebec.

Mr. J. P. Lenquist and his sister, Moroto, of Parkside,
had booked Berths No. 612 and left here Saturday last to
catch the boat at Quebec on their way home to Gothenburg.

The Empress of Ireland sank within fourteen minutes and of the 1,477 persons on board the ship, 1,012 died and 465 lived. Of the 1,012 lost, 840 were passengers and 172 were crew. Of the 465 saved, 217 were passengers and 248 were crew.

The Parkside residents were listed on the “Passenger & Crew List of the Empress of Ireland” published by CPR in 1914 as Jonas and Martha Lindquist.

They were were among the 465 saved.

Thirteen days later on Thursday, June 11th the Linquists boarded their ill fated ship's sister ship, the Empress of Britain, and sailed onto their destination of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Shellbrook Museum's Largest Artifact

written by Nancy Carswell

The Shellbrook and District Heritage Museum is fortunate to have as its largest artifact a railway station to house the bulk of its collection. In this photo, a passenger patiently waits at the Shellbrook station with steamer trunk and hat box. Sadly, the train will not arrive. The CNR passenger service ended in 1978.  The CNR continued with regular freight service until 1993. The last train to run out of Shellbrook would have been a Carlton Trail Railway freight train on or about April 1, 2009.

To commemorate its 40th anniversary, the Shellbrook Heritage Museum is highlighting parts of its collection. The Museum's largest artifact, the Railway Station, holds the majority of the museum's collection. The station is designated a Heritage Building.

Like the voyageur canoes that transported furs east and trading goods west, trains were the arteries of the Prairies and railway stations were the pulsing heart of Prairie towns. Trains brought the settlers and manufactured goods west and then transported agricultural produce east.

Shellbrook developed into a service center for the surrounding agricultural communities because of the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR). Shellbrook is a typical railway town with Railway Avenue running parallel to the tracks and Main Street perpendicular. It is possible that a portable flag stop station existed in late 1909 with rail service being introduced January 10, 1910.  The existing Shellbrook Railway Station at the end of Main Street is listed as open in 1910. The $3000 station was built to standard CNoR Third Class station plans with living accommodations for the Station Agent. The three rooms along the track would have been from east to west: the waiting room, the office, and the freight room.  On the non-rail side of the office and waiting room was the living room, kitchen, and a stairway to the four bedrooms on the second floor. As the baggage/freight room ran the full width of the station, it had two large doors; one door rail side and one door non-rail side.

Visitors familiar with the Museum will recognize that this plan description differs from their experience. In 1918, the station was expanded. The new larger freight room on the west side meant the old freight room could be converted to a waiting room and the waiting room to extra living space. The station was insulated and the exterior was stuccoed in 1939. Twenty years later, in 1959, it was upgraded with indoor plumbing.

The rail side office bay window allowed the Station Agent sightlines up and down the track as well as onto the platform. Station Agents wore various hats. They sold tickets to passengers and consigned freight. Express freight would travel in a passenger car and was the most expensive. Less than a carload, abbreviated to LCL, was more expensive than carload freight. Another hat worn by a Station Agent was sending and receiving telegraphs. If the work load warranted it, another employee, a Station Operator, was hired to receive "train orders" from a central Dispatcher by telegraph, then type them up and deliver them to the train crews. Interestingly, the railways did not trust radio communication until well into the second half of the twentieth century.

The Museum recently had a visit from Eileen McLaren Tymm, granddaughter of the long-term Station Agent Wilber McLaren. Remarkably, McLaren was employed at the Shellbrook station for over 40 years. McLaren Tymm remembers visiting her grandfather. She recognized much of the living area and noted that the wall where the ticket opening would have been, between the office and the waiting room, had disappeared.

As well as the Station Agent, the railway would have employed and provided housing for a Section Foreman. The distance between stations averaged 6 to 10 miles because 10 miles was the maximum return trip a farmer hauling grain or other produce by horse and wagon could manage in a single day. A Section Foreman then would be responsible for the condition of the tracks 3 to 5 miles on either side of his assigned station. Section Foremen would have originally used handcars and in later years used motor cars (also known as jiggers or speeders) to survey their sections and assign maintenance work to section gangs.

Fred Tatler, a board member of the Saskatchewan Railway Museum (SRM), is passionate about railways and the benefits of rail travel, "On a train, you are not cramped in a constrained seat. You can stroll from car to car, enjoy a meal in the dining car, or sit in the observatory car." He also explained that passenger trains were a service industry dependent on well trained staff. On a guided tour of a sleeper car at the SRM outside Saskatoon, Tatler described how the porter would have had to physically transform the cleverly designed seats into sleeping berths in the evening and reverse the transformation in the morning without inconveniencing passengers. The psychological demands of the job were very high as porters were expected to be available around the clock and provide service with a perpetual smile.

Pre-private automobiles and public roads, railways were the ribbons of steel that bound Canada together. Voters and, therefore, politicians paid great attention to railways. In 1918, the CNoR experienced financial difficulties and the federal government responded to public fears around the loss of this vital transportation system by becoming a major shareholder in the company. Soon the government formed the Canadian National Railways (CNR) to manage the CNoR and other troubled railways it had shares in. Domestic and wartime pressure quickly lead to the nationalization of the CNR. The Shellbrook Station was sold to the Town in 1978 and then became the Museum's largest artifact.

Do you have a story about the Shellbrook railway station? Did you travel to or from Shellbrook by rail? If you are willing to share your stories or memories, please contact committee member Alanna Carswell at 747-3769.

 The Museum welcomes monetary donations for inventory show cases and other donations to help better display items to tell their stories. Please make donations to the Town of Shellbrook to receive a receipt.