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Page 14 Diary of a The Haileyburian Vagabond by Dorothy. Barker Three. weather-beaten prospec- fors made the acquaintance of Jo- siah Flintabbatey Flonatin between the pages of a dime novel. Sitting around an old potbellied stove' they ruminated over what they should' call the rich strike they had just staked in the wilder- ness of northern Manitoba. © Flon- atin's adventures, after he dug a hole in the earth and found a new world, appealed to them as depict- ing their own good fortune. So they shortened: his nominclature to Flin Flon, which has stuck to one of the "richest mineral fields in Canada. It is now. a community of 12,- 000 souls with two. daily news- papers, nine schools and spectacu- Jar red mine shafts, visual evid- ence of the great wealth that has een dug from a mile below the surface of the earth. The town's life expectanty has run in several cycles of ten years. Mines peter out and new. lodes are discovered, fortunes have been made and. as. many lost in the fluctuation known as "prospector's luck', Now the town has settled into a pattern of permanency as modern methods have improved mining facilities. Even the mounds of slag are being reprocessed, extending the produc- tion of zinc and copper mines. On the morning the CNR's Churchill Excursion diesels pulled their seventeen coaches . into a siding, little pools of water re- flected: the intense blue of a north- ern sky. It had been raining since dawn, but the last drop we were to see until the train returned to Winnipeg, fell as we walked. up the long main street on tour of in- spection. Flat-fronted, one-storey shops leaned sometimes at crazy angles seemingly supporting-one another, while the near-by Hudson's Bay Company was remodelling its premises with stone and brick. Every structure in Flin Flon is fuilt atop solid rock. Few houses, or stores, haye basements and " most buildings perch precariously on their rocky ledges, easy prey for the gales that blow during the long winter months. I was on the hunt for a genuine Sourdough and thought I had dis- covered him when I spied an old character smoking a huge stogey and with an oversized, weathered old Stetson handing on his ears. His almost sightless blue eyes, toothless grin, Old Bill mustache and leathery tanned skin had all the earmarks of my mental pic- ture of what a sourdough should look like. Smokey Joe was pleased with the nickname I gave him, but soon disillusioned me about his prospect- ing history. He was a horse trader in his youth. Horse flesh in the bush during the early part of the century was as valuable as gold nuggets. Old Joe prospered until the population became mobile on four wheels. His only similarity to that of a prospector was _ his ability to cook. When hard times hit his pocketbook, Smokey Joe set up a kitchen in a small store and started frying doughnuts. To- day his son, who took the business over after the war;. has built it into a small empire of soft drink | concessions © and ~sweet buns throughout 'the mining district; This was picnic day on the tour. Truckloads of food and dining car crew members passed the buses that transported us from Flin Flon to nearby Beaver Lake, the only point in Saskatchewan we touched. Pipers-in their Cameron tartans skirled a weleome and one of the most interesting persons I met dur- ing: my six days "down north" was Harry Moody... He was what I think I should describe as a gentle- man prospector. During his. life- time he had been -a millioniare several times over. Victim of cap- ricious circumstances peculiar to this north country. He is ending his days perpetuating the legends and history of the Cree tribe and Eskimos who peopled the area thousands of years ago. He has been the inspiration and instiga- tor of a small musettm at Denare Beach,.- which houses authentic artifacts found in the area. Curator of this lore is a petite young girl with snapping brown eyes and a skin like the fuzz on a peach. Virginia Hill is proud of her Cree blood and her Scottish great-grandfather. Born in a fish camp on an 'island in Beaver Lake, she has lived all her life in the woods. Her early education was obtained in a small one-room school and her one year of high school training was _ obtained through a correspondence course. Though married for five years, she intends to continue mining her education from a correspondence course and when she graduates, will use the money she has earned at the museum to put herself through normal school in Regina. Virginia wants to teach in the little school that first gave her a yen for higher education. These are only a few of the ro- mantie personalities we met en route, but they are typical of the frontier spirit that imbues them to build interesting lives, though almost completely isolated by cli- mate and distance from the south- ern, more populated section of the country. Geology Report For Lorrain A preliminary report on the geol- ogy of the north part of Lorrain Township (Concessions 7 to 12), in the District of Temiskaming, has been completed and is now ready for distribution by the Ontario De- partment of Mines. The report, which was written by Dr. Robert Thomson of the Department's Geo- logical staff, is priced at $1.00. A set of five uncoloured Pro- visional Map sheets, on the scale of one inch to 400 feet, together with a Legend, Symbol sheet, cov- ering the area dealt with in the report, is also available from the Department at $5.00 for each set. Orillia Haileybury, Ont. HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR FAMILY MONUMENT Ge For your free copy of Rock of Ages' new ; Mustrated booklet '*How To Choose Your Rf Family Monument" visit us today. 0 AUTHORIZED DEALER SANDERSON MONUMENT CO. LTD. - Ont. LOCAL. REPRESENTATIVE T. G. TULLOCH x \abby, Phons OSborne 2-5218 "Thursday; September 22; 1960 | Stil Can't See Temiskaming! Ask Yourself These Questions: HAS the Conseivative Government done a single thing to help alleviate unemploy- ment?' HAS the Conservative Government done a single thing to develop Temiskaming's natural resources? HAS the Conservative Government done anythi i | P } ything to help tourist ft their holdings through a loan policy? - s Opstatole aevelog HAS the Conservative Government done anythin A idi i apg ie Lae). ything to subsidize transportation rates HAS the Conservative Gyoernment done anything to help farmers? HAS the Conservative G t i i i ri ty nena overnment done anything to help bring secondary industries HAS pea alate Government built one Provincial Park along Lake Temis- WHAT has. the great Diefenbaker-Frost team done to help YOU? WILL the government build a hospital for retarded children in Temiskaming? HAS the Conservative Government done enough to build you the highways you need and deserve? AREN'T YOU fed up with empty promises? TORY TIMES ARE HARD TIMES This Time be Sure... Vote Liberal - Vote Plaun For information or transportation to the polls election day, September 29, falenhoace NEW LISKEARD MI._7-4555 ENGLEHART LI 4-2120 sae MI 7-6272 TEMAGAMI 2251 AILEYBURY OS 2-3341 EARLTON 222 _ LATCHFORD ahaa RE