Timmins High and Vocational School - Porcupine Quill Yearbook (Timmins, Ontario Canada)

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12 L The. PORCUPINE QUILL l- Porquis Junction is a railway junction for trains from Iroquois Falls and Porcupine. The name Porquis is made by adding the first syllable of 'iPorcupine, to the last pa1't of Iroquois, Swastika, the home of the Lucky Cross Mine, was named after the lucky swastika. cross. The name Cobalt suggests the mineral. When the T. and N. O. was being 'built through Cobalt. a. blacksmith, Mr. LaRose, threw his hammer at the rocks. A piece was chipped o1T, exposing the cobalt. Cobalt is used to give blue colour to glass, glazes and enamels, and to correct objectionable yellow and orange tints. These names have been oflicially given to the places named by the Ontario government. I am indebted to Mr. G. A. Macdonald of The Porcupine Advance for much of my information. VALEIRIE MORLEY 1 l LL-Md, A Street in Timmins Courtesy of A. Tomkinson Scene II: SAFETY FIRST The History of the Timmins Fire Department The greater majority of the houses in Tim- mins are wooden frame houses. Should fire get a firm hold on one of these, only a very efficient fire department c-ould save the build- ing from complete destruction. Most of you have walked past the Tim- mins Fire Station and have seen the two fine trucks: 'but how many of you have' given one minutels thought to what kind of fire depart- ment we had in Timminsrin its nrst days and to how it has progressed to-me eflicient fire fighting organization it snow- ls? In 1912 a group of volunteers 'met in a box car on a railway siding, with Jack Nolan as their chief. They had tenlengths' of hose and one nozzle. A hand reel was part of their equipment. Covered by a tarpaulin, it and the ten lengths of hose were kept on the vacant lot that is now occupied by the Im- perial Bank. A steam fire engine pumped the water from Miller Lake, now called the Cyanide, through a six-inch surface main. Later on, a shack was secured on Third Avenue on the lot now occupied by the Dominion Stores. By this time the fire de- partment had two reels. One night the house where they kept their pumping engine was burned down. The man who usually slept there was forced to make a. hurried dive through a window to save himself. The worst part of it all was that the engine did not 'belong to Timmins, fbut to the Watrous Com- pany of Brantford. In 1913 the fire hall was moved to its pre-

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1 1 The PORCUPINE QUILL -il Pioneers Iroquois Falls was also named by the In- dians. The first part of Iroquois means I have spokenug the latter means short joy or long sorrow. This place must often have been frequented by enemy tribes. It has a, falls on the Abitibi River. Another interesting name is Ka-puskaSir1S- Kapuskasing, which was a German intern- ment camp during the Great War, takes its name from the river upon which it is Situ- ated. Kapuskasing means shooting waters. Most of the towns of the North are named after men who were important at the time of the springing up of the settlements. In the year 1905, Mr. George Bannerman of Golden City and Mr. J. P. Geddes of Timmins were two of the first men in the camp. They reported gold in these localitiesg then the rush started. In 1909, Mr. A. Gillies and Mr. Ben Hollinger staked the Hollinger claims. Messrs L. H. and Noah Timmins, brothers, financed the Hollinger and the settlement which sprang up was called after them. About the same time Mr. Schumacher was working on the McIntyre property. Schu- macher had been called Aura Lake ffrom the Latin word for goldi, but when the McIn- tyre was discovered, the town was called Schumacher. Mr. Schumacher takes great interestfin Schumacher schools. Last year he presented an oil-painting of himself to the Schumacher Public School. - Pottsville was named after a one old lady by the name of Mrs. Potts, who was called Ma Potts, by the men. She kept one of the first hotels in Porcupine. Hoyle was named after an undertaker, Mr. W. W. Hoyle, at that time a speaker of the Legislature. Drinkwater Pit was named after lVLr. Drink- water, a. former roadmaster of the T. and N. O. Its oiiicial name is Dugwall. Dugwall owes its name to the two Nicholson brothers, Douglas and Wallace, who were early settlers there. The first syllables of their Christian names are united to form Dugwall. Connaught was named after the Duke of Connaught who was Governor-General at that time. Ansonville perpetuates the memory of Mr. Anson, president of the Abitibi Paper Com- Mr. Anson died about four years ago pany. and a. monument to his memory has been erected in Ansonville. Cochrane owes its name to Hon. F. Coch- rane, member for this riding in the Provin- cial and Dominion Houses. Kirkland Lake was named after Miss Kirk- land, an employee in the mining recorders oiiice. For Mr. Englehart. chairman of the T. 55 N. O... at the time when the railway was being fbuilt through, Englehart was named. Northern Ontario has not many towns which 'bear names given to them for senti- mental reasons. However it has a few which are very interesting. ' Canusa was named by joining the short form for Canada to the short form for United States of America QU. S. AJ to make Canusa. Mr. C. C. Farr, editor of the Haileyburian gave Haileybury its name, after his old college in England and New Liskeard was named after an old country town in England called Liskeard. Other towns in Northern Ontario have been named by circumstance. Aibout 1909 the Dome mine was discovered. It was called Dome because of the peculiar shape of the gold-bearing deposit. Mr. Hunter, about 1909, discovered what is now called the Hunter mine. The people living around this mine named the settle- ment, City of Gold, and then shortened it to, Golden City.

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13 1 The PORCUPINE QUILL sent site. The personnel still consisted of volunteers. A horse-drawn fire engine was obtained to replace the hand reels. The fire- men did not have their own horses, but had to depend on delivery horses when there was a fire alarm. It was no uncommon sight to see two or three teams racing neck-and- neck along the street to be hitched up. The team that was ready first was paid five dollars. In 1916 a standing fire department was organized with Mr. Borland as the chief. After a short time he turned down the posi- tion, and Robert Day replaced him. He stayed here about three weeks. Mr. Borland returned on March lst, 1917, and has acted as chief of the Timmins Fire Department from that time to this day except for a brief period last year. In the days when the firemen had only a horse-drawn wagon and reels, there were only eighteen hydrants. To-day the department is motorized. There is one light combination hose, and chemical truck, and one LaFrance city service truck carrying hose, chemicals, and ladders. We have now 160 water hy- drants. The fire alarm system is of the most modern kind, with forty-two boxes distri- buted about the town. There have been as many as sixteen men in the department, but to-day there are, be- sides the chief ten men Working on the tw-o platoon systemf In case of a major fire there are twenty volunteers at call. The all-volunteer fire department of 1914, when Timmins was a youngster of five, con- sisted of twenty men: Jack Nolan, the chief. who at present is somewhere in Tennesseeg Frank Stockwell, the deputy chiefg Gillespie Dickson, secretary-treasurer fthe last-men- tioned went overseas during th-e War, and their present homes are unknownl. Charlie Harrington, who is now in Detroitg E. P. Gauthier, still a resident of Timmins, Charles Dalton, now deceasedg Sam McCloud. now in Cochraneg M. Daher, still a member -of the T. F. D.g Leo Mascioli, to-day one of Tim- mins, contractorsg Henry Fitzpatrick, now in Kansas: S. I. Bucovetsky, still in Tirnminsg Torn Wilson, who is living in Eastern On- tario, J. K. Moore, 'who died in Englandg S. Robinson, who is now the chief of the Kapus- kasing Fire Departmentg Jack King, de- ceased, W. G. Smith, now in Aurorag A. Belanger, who is said to be a farmer in this vicinity: Andy Seeds, in Detrcitg P. M. Bar- dessono, still in Timmins and his bull-pup, I-Iinkiej' who died long since. On March 7th of this year the worst fire in three y-ears broke out at noon in the St. Onge block at the end of Third Avenue. This was a difiicult fire to handle, as the sawdust in between the walls was burning. This made it very difficult to check the progress of the ire. After struggling with it for the whole afternoon, the fire 'was checked. There were no accidents and the department worked sms-othly, like one man. As a final word, I think that our fire department would be a credit to any town. WILHO SIVUNELN Scene III: BUSINESS BEFORE PLEASURE We reckon hours and minutes to be dollars and cents. Business in Timmins Then and Now In the year 1909 prospectors fbegan to flock into what is now known as The Porcupine. Aftlr the discovery of gold at the Dome, Gol- den City and South Porcupine, towns of about 3,000 became the chief commercial centres. They were very progressive and had several stores, hotels and a hospital. In 1910 there was a rich find at the Hollinger. The Hol- linger mine then formed a townsite and lots were sold by auction to the highest bidders. In 1911 a, great disaster occurred-Golden City and South Porcupine were destroyed by fire and many lives were lost. Then, as the Hollinger began to lb-com, all eyes turned to- ward Timmins. The first store in Timmins was begun in a tent. It was a 'general store situated on the Hollinger property, near the present golf course. This store was owned by Mr. Charles Pierce. Mr. Pierce soon moved to a wooden