1900

Lake of the Woods Museum Newsletter
Vol. 10 No. 1 – Winter 2000

by Rat Portage Miner

 

  • Municipal elections were held on January 1st. Mayor McCarthy was re-elected.
  • Griffith’s Shoal Lake Stage Line had a regular run to all the mines on the Mikado Peninsula. “Comfortable heated rigs” pulled by “fast teams” left Rat Portage every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and returned from Shoal Lake every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Freight, baggage, and mail were also carried.
  • The Spirit of the North and other poems by Evelyn Gunne of Rat Portage was on sale at G.W. Smith’s bookstore for 25¢. Also selling at Smith’s for 25¢ were hockey sticks.
  • The police were granted 15¢ per meal for meals supplied to prisoners while they were confined or in lock-up.
  • A local Art Club was formed with Mrs. Langford as President; Miss Hockley as Secretary; and Mrs. Scovil as Treasurer.
  • Kinetograph entertainment (an early form of motion pictures) at the Hilliard Opera House was a hit.
  • Lord Minto, Governor-General of Canada, arrived in Rat Portage, en route to Winnipeg and the west coast. He was entertained with a drive around town and a boat trip on the lake. Lord Minto had been in Rat Portage 30 years earlier as part of the Wolseley Expedition.

The building now housing our present City Hall was erected as the town Post Office.

  • The manager of the Mikado Mine arrived in town with a “satchel full of gold bricks”. The bricks were displayed in the window of the Imperial Bank and attracted large crowds. The bricks, all told, were worth over $18,000.
  • A four-room house near the corner of Mining Street (now Fourth Avenue North) and Fifth Street was renting for $8 a month.
  • There was talk of a need for a new sports field in town. It was suggested that there was property north of the tracks, owned by the town (near the present Lakewood School), that could be put to use. The newspaper noted, “It is muskeg at present but could be drained and fitted up for a trifling expense compared to the benefit to be derived.”
  • Some of the businesses operating in town were: A.S. Cuthbert (tailor); W.A. McLeod (shoes); Lakeside Bakery; Gibson’s Meat Market; Gardner, Rice, and McLeod (department store); A.T. Fife and Co.(hardware); Queen’s Hotel; J.W. Stone Boatbuilding Company; H. Rideout and Co. (furniture).

The ferry boat Argyle was put into service in 1900.

  • The McKenzie Detective Agency’s Rat Portage agent was K.D. Campbell. Their newspaper ad read: “Detective work in all its branches, including locating of missing persons, tracing and recovering stolen property, and the bringing of criminals to justice.”
  • The largest real estate transfer of the year was a purchase made by John K. Brydon for the northwest corner lot of Main and First Streets. The price was $120/foot.
  • The “Werner Mineral Collection” was on sale at Werner’s Drugstore. The collection contained 50 different kinds of minerals, including free gold, silver, copper, and opals. The store would send it to any part of Canada for $1.50 and customers were encouraged to buy and send it to their friends in the East as a souvenir of the mineral wealth here.
  • The Citizen’s Electric Company was purchased by the Town of Rat Portage.
  • The Argyle was the newest ferry on the lake. The boat was engaged in passenger traffic between Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage/Kenora until 1936, when it was replaced by the Argyle II. The first Argyle was unique in that it could be fuelled with either wood or coal. It was originally owned by Captain Lewis and then later by the Fraser family.

Did you know?

The original telegraph lines from Winnipeg to Rat Portage were hung along the tops of living spruce trees.