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10 The Western Canadian, Manitou, Manitoba --Tuesday, July 14, 2009Altamont 125th(Continued from Page 6) University of Winnipeg have been studying bats in the Altamont area. Four different species of bats have been found. The area is a suitable habitat for hibernating little brown bats and migratory tree roosting bats. Female little brown bats have been raising their pups in the Altamont Community Centre and Curling Rink.In the evening, much visiting continued, with the Altamont Orchestra entertaining in the hall, and Longitude Latitude playing at the rink, and a spectacular fireworks display at dark.Sunday morning began with an interfaith church service at the hall. During the service, Belva Wilson spoke about the history of Altamont and gave a few interesting facts.“Township 5 Range 8 is thecrest of the Pembina hills, and known to the earliest settlers as Pembina Mountain. It is rolling hilly land cut by deep ravines and was originally heavy wooded. These conditions turned away many settlers, who found more easily cleared land, north and south of the mountain.There is a story about a family who thought they were the only ones for miles around. And then one morning they heard a rooster crow. That was when they realized they had neighbours.In 1878 the first wave ofsettlers arrived, mainly from Ontario. Some names from that first wave were Swain, Hughes, Jordan, Messner,Graham, Snowdon, Mussell. Donald and Wilfred Graham still farm the original Graham homestead.In 1882 the railway arrived. Now settlers were able to bring carloads of effects, including farm animals and machinery. Some names from the second wave include Hol-liston, Wilson, Bourrier, and Andrews.Between 1890 and 1900 another wave arrived. Notable among them were Maltman, Morreau, Stockford, and Lyle. In the earliest years Emerson was the nearest point of supply for food and mail. The men walked the round trip of 140 - 150 miles and carried their purchases home on their backs.The main source of ready cash in the early years before grain and stock began to pay was cord wood. Thousands of cords were drawn by oxen and piled south of the track to await shipment. Alex Fraser and Ed Holliston were two of the earliest wood shippers. And there were at least 5 sawmills in the district.The first building in town was a log house built by Henry Mussel for his mother Charlotte and her grandchildren Henry and Jane Maloney. Jane Maloney later became Mrs. R. W. Madi.ll, grandmother of Catherine, Doreen, Ruth and. June.In the first half of the 20th century, Altamont was a bustling settlement of 250 people. Businesses included, at various times, three grain elevators, two general stores, bake shop, hardware, barber shop, blacksmith, bank, restaurant,post office, garages, livery stables, machine dealer, resident station agent, boarding houses, and of course the famous Altamont Hotel.What about some of the characters who were known and loved:- Birdy Fraser, whose curling career began with the Altamont club in 1925, and. ended in 1959 when a broken hip caused her retirement at age 83.- Olive Stockford, who shared her love and knowledge of music with anyone who cared to learn. How many romances and marriages began by dancing to the music of the Altamont Orchestra?- George Holliston, famousBetty FriesenOur sincere sympathy goes out to Mary Simpson and her family on the recent death of Winston, her husband, their father and grandfather. He will be sadly missed by so many people!Margaret Thompson spent several days over the June 26 weekend in Winnipeg and attended the wedding of her grandson Kevin and Crystal Nelson.George and Betty Friesen also attended the wedding in Winnipeg.Belated birthday greetings go out to Brittney Fortier who celebrated her 11th birthday on Monday.Spending several days with Jim and Ruby Simpson at the end of June were his nephew Jim Simpson and niece Thelma Shineton of Calgary. Arlene and Onalee Orchard also spent last week with Donald and Janie and Jim and Ruby.Now, some news from our celebrations on the weekend. Wasn’t that great! We haven’t had this many people here since 1984, and so many folks had great visits with old friends. We heard a lot of.... Do you remember when?We served around 500 people at each meal on Saturday, so that gives you an idea of how many people were around.These are winners of the wonderful silent auctionitems: Holly DeGreave, Shelley Thompson, Donna Fortier, Tony Mikolasek, Monique De-mare-Grenier, Guy Toupin, Shayne and Lorrie Keith, Laurette Labossiere, Bob Turner, Donna Tackaberry, Bill McDonald, Sheila Vogt, Christine Grenier, Linda Car-els, Audrey Simpson, Darlene Pritchard, George Friesen, Roy Toupin, Sheila Caillier, Yvonne Evans, Jeanette Brunei, Bill Acheson, Jim Tyeck, Diane Lippens, Diane Pederson, Irene Morris, Liz Plaiton, Michelle and Rachelle Rondeau, Alicia Snider, Lorne Bradley, Bob McMillan. 50/50 draws: Lisa Henderson$220.00, Gerald Bourrierfor preferring to play his fiddle at house parties, rather than staying at home working.- Dune Hamilton, caretaker of the school who won the love and. respect of many children by fixing their accidents before the principal found, them.There were three church congregations in town until 1925. Now we have two sharing a single building, serving a. small congregation. In the years after World War II, remembrance services were held in the Orange Hall to accommodate everyone.I must mention the photographs on the wall in the community hall of our citizens who have reached the century$310.00, Diane Demare $85.00. “Bat Poop” Contest: Dale Friesen $125.00.Camping at the campground were Ron and Donna Lowry, Russ and Barb Hamilton, J. J. and Barb Dufault, Norman Andrews and his friend, the Harry Lyles, Keith and Norma Scott, Larry and Doreen Lyle.Camping at Alex and Irene Grenier’s were Diane and Murray Wilson, Trevor and friend Lisa, Kristin, Andrea and friend Matt of Vancouver, Yvette, Richard, Dylan, Shelby and Katrina Guenette, Denise and Derek Acres and kids, Kayla, Cody and Justin, all of Winnipeg.The Gilbert Labossiere family of St. Claude camped beside the Hotel, and also visiting at Monique and Emile’s was Monique’s aunt Terri Hoskins of Winnipeg.Spending the weekend with Joanne Sullivan were her parents Art and Dot Dev-rieze.Camping at Fern and Donna Fortier’s were Vic and Diane Labossiere of Brandon, and visitor was Erin Ingram.Spending the weekend with Cecile Geirnaert were daughter Cheryl Evoy and granddaughter Kendra of Winnipeg.Staying with Jim and Belva Wilson last weekend were Norma and Don Peckover and Ryan, Kelly and her friend from Carman, Anne and Steve and family from Calgary, Tracey and Larry Clark and girls from O’Haten, AB.Tracey, who is a wonderful singer, also entertained at the rink over the weekend.Spending the weekend with Margaret Thompson were daughters, Sandra Nelson of Winnipeg, Debbie Kes-tirke of Foxwarren, Mary Anne Sauter, her daughter Aiita and friend Tom of Este-van.Spending some time with Murray and June Stockford over the celebrations were Jennifer Lamb and children Elyot. and Caledon, and the kids have been having a won-in earth years. With special mention of Mary Scoles, who at 110 was the oldest person in Manitoba when she died.. This year we were finally able to add a gentleman, Stan Gillis, who still resides in his house in Carman.Nothing stays the same, and we go on toward the future, but hopefully we'll never forget the pioneers who made all this possible”.The remainder of the day was spent visiting over brunch at the hall, beer gardens in the rink and some pick-up baseball. Volunteers can be proud of the hospitality they showed the many visitors who attended Altamont’s 125th over the weekend.derful holiday with their cousin Tavish.Spending some time with Don McEwan last week were nephew Vic and Linda Warner from Abbotsford, B.C., niece Nancy and Earl Lowe from Carman, and Diane McEwan from Priddis, AB. There was a family reunion supper on Sunday night at Don’s, and present were Melissa and Harley Doerkson and son Hunter from Darling-ford, Kyle and Jose and son Joey, Diane, Les and Barb and Grant.It was great to see a 4-gen-eration McEwan family serving the pork on a bun supper on Saturday night.Spending the weekend with Kyle and Jose McEwan was her sister Debbie Zomer of Winnipeg.Please note: Anyone that took pictures over the weekend and has some really interesting photos please call Monique Grenier. She would like to see them and share negatives or whatever as she will want to make 2 albums -one for the archives and one to be kept at the library.Also note: Boulet Bros, very graciously donated the concrete for the bat monument.Glenn and Joan McDowell spent almost a week away in Alberta where they did some travelling around and then on June 20th they attended the 50th wedding anniversary for Lionel and Elsie Fry, hosted by their 4 sons and their families at Bashaw, AB.If I missed some extra news, please call me next week.A-\BOULET BROS CONCRETE LTD.Freres Boulet Ciment LteeRedi-Mix Concrete Pre-Cast Concrete ProductsSOMERSET, MBTel (204) 744-2469 Fax 744-2836v_ yCard of ThanksThe Altamont 125 Celebrations are now over and all we can say is “Wow”! It was beyond our wildest imaginations.There are so many people we would like to thank, but first and foremost we say hats off to all the volunteers young and old who worked so diligently for months to make this dream happen.Thank you to all the visitors from far and wide who made our weekend such a success.The Parade Marshalls - Darryl Penny, Valerie McNaugh-ton, Alain Payette, Jeff Wiebe and Ken Theule would like to thank the Legion Color Guard, the R.C.M.P., the Honorable Blaine Pedersen and everyone who participated in the parade. It was greatly appreciated for all the time, effort and pride you put into all the entries. They were awesome!Special thank you to Emile Grenier and Gary Spencer who spent months raising funds for the fireworks and to Larry Mansell, Fire Marshall of the Miami Fire Dept, who carried out that spectacular display.Thanks to Don McEwan for his speech at the plaque unveiling and Margaret Thompson for cutting the ribbon (tie), the Honorable Blaine Pedersen and Aurele Pantel, R.M. of Lorne for their greetings.A special thank you to Odiel Sanders and his family for making the plaque and to Joanne Sullivan who designed the picture, and those who donated prizes for the silent auction.Thanks also to the Altamont Orchestra who played for a packed house at the Community Centre, Longitude and Latitude for entertaining at the rink, Sandi Paul for the bat display, Lise McNair and Marlene LeMoullec for the Kids Korner, Margaret Thompson, Jeanne Verniest and Catherine Orchard for their archival displays at the hall.To those “special” people who worked so hard on the weekend, moving items, selling tickets, working the bar, preparing and serving food, cleanup, those who donated food, also Henry Talbot and Dan Demare for the Trans Canada Trail Cairn upgrading.All of you were wonderful!Altamont 125 CommitteesALTAMONTzzzzbbcl r
Newspaper Details
Manitou Western Canadian
Manitou, Manitoba, CA
Tue, Jul 14, 2009
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Stan M.
CA 13 Jan 2019
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Manitou Advance
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