Lakehead University - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

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LAKEHEAD TECHNICAL INSTITUTE YEAR BOOK THE LAKE SUPERIOR COUNTRY — (Continued) The first visitors to this country — Radisson, La Verendrye, and DuLhut — came in search of furs. The coureurs de bois went westward portaging around Kakabeka Falls from whence the mist maiden still arises, up the broad Kaministiquia and over difficult bush trails ever in search of the beaver. In the keen morning air when the grey mist seemed a mysterious being ready to devour the unwary intruder and the only sound was the insane laugh of the loon, even the intrepid spirit of the brandy trader was quelled and voyageurs huddled closer together. Beaver hats have long since lost their popularity and since milady prefers mink it is mink the trapper must hunt. Centuries after the original Indians had emigrated, white men built a new settlement on Thunder Bay in search of mineral wealth. Mining men from all countries flocked to a tiny island at the foot of the Sleeping Giant, where an incredibly rich silver mine had been found. The Indians, who had traditional beliefs about an ancient race which had hurriedly departed and left its wealth in the care of great Nanabijou and his Thunder Bird, thought it was wrong to rob the silver treasure and when the blue waters of Thunder Bay flooded the small mine forever, they said it was the T hunder god ' s way of showing his anger and ever since have endeavoured to placate the angry deity by throwing tribute to the Sleeping Giant when crossing the bay, lest they be punished for the white man ' s impiety. The casual visitor to Port Arthur about 1900 would have noticed even then the ceaseless bustle in the restless town. He would have seen an electric streetcar butting its way along muddy Cumberland Street and would have wondered at such a small community having a means of transportation so modern as a street railway when even Toronto did not have streetcars. He would have seen the white steamers stalling into Thunder Bay and per- haps have joined the motley throng on the quay at the foot of Arthur Street. He would have heard the children playing around the horse trough outside the city market, and perhaps visited the Indian encampment just outside the town. If the visitor goes to the point of highest elevation within two miles of the lake, he can see from the huge paper mills at the north to the airport at the south. He can see below Port Arthur with its business block and houses intersected by the streets and a crazy green pattern formed by lawns and parks. Below, built on muskeg and delta, lies Fort William. At this distance all that can be seen of it is a blur of houses and Mt. McKay which forms the city ' s backdrop. Beyond the two cities is the blue gleam of lake and river, over them the blue sky and sustaining it is the proud heart of the country, sure of its destiny. —DIANE BANKS. — 26 —

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LAKEHEAD TECHNICAL INSTITUTE YEAR BOOK 4 The essays submitted by Diane Banks and Ron McKitrick tied for first place in the Essay Contest. The judges found it extremely difficult to pick out the winner from the six essays entered. John Byrka ' s entry deserves honourable mention, and consequently appears following the prize-winning compositions. — EDITOR. The Lake Superior Country jL % VISITOR from the staid East does not appreciate the beauty of the Lake Superior country as he travels mile after mile through the thick bush, along the stony lake shore or past the unending muskeg swamps. Perhaps he cannot be blamed. He has never seen the sun rising over the Sleeping Giant, casting red streamers over the dreaming land and over the tidy tiers of houses stretching up the hill side. He has never seen the moon rising over the black water like a golden ladle, trailing behind its silvery handle of newly-washed stars, nor has he heard the restless waves hurrying shore- ward to inquire the meaning of the driftwood bonfires built on the warm sand. As the visitor travels along the north shore, he forgets that this is the same route that the first Indians travelled as they hunted along the ancient sea coast from Manitoulin Island, their centre of culture. He cannot imagine bronzed Indians worshipping their fire god, with their copper bracelets gleam- ing dully against the dark backdrop of the forest in the small glade where now a solitary moose munching waterlilies bawls defiantly in the autumn night. — 25 —

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LAKEHEAD TECHNICAL INSTITUTE YEAR BOOK Wcnders in the Wilderness PERHAPS the most striking aspect of the Steep Rock development is the way in which man has mastered nature. When we look at the tremen- dous pit and the men and machines in it, the fact that a lake once lay in the same place seems almost impossible. Looking down from the rim, we are impressed by the contrast in size of the gigantic pit and the tiny men who made it. How they struggled against the tremendous obstacles that nature placed in their path, and won, will never cease to amaze me. Originally the course of the Seine River system lay through Steep Rock Lake. One hundred and fifty years ago the Nor ' Westers were paddling their canoe-loads of furs back and forth along this route. What would one of these lusty, carefare voyageurs have thought if he were told that some day men would operate giant machines on dry land, directly below the place where his canoe was gliding over the water? Prospectors, trappers, and vacationists found chunks of rich iron ore along the shores, but nobody knew where they came from. In 1938 Mr. Julian Cross decided to find the source of this ore. In sixty degree below zero weather he ran drills through the ice, silt, and rock until he found a body of ore. Now the problem was to get the ore out. Mr. Cross and his partner, Joseph Errington approached Mr. Donald Hogarth, a Canadian financier, and the three went to Cyrus Eaton to get American capital. Eaton put in money of his own and persuaded the Ameri- can Government that, with the Mesabi range running out of ore, and war production increasing, Steep Rock would be a good investment. The first step was to drain Steep Rock Lake. The course of the Seine River had to be changed by excavating a deep earth cut and two canals in solid rock, and by lowering the level of Finlayson Lake fifty feet. Meanwhile a line was built to bring electric power from Port Arthur. The Canadian National Railways built a spur line from Atikokan, and the Dominion Govern-