The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jack Hillier was born in New york in 1905 and was raised in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia when at 17 he decided to head West. He made three trips West before he took a job at Ignace, Ontario where he was working in the bush. In 1926, he met a lady that was about to change his life forever. Her name was Dorothy Lukenbill. During that year, on August 26, Dorothy was stricken with appendicitis and had to have her appendix out. She still has the actual bill of $37.45 that her mother took a year to pay by working as a housekeeper for the doctor who removed Dorothy's appendix! During this time, while he was working at Port Albert in the bush, Jack saw an advertisement in the Unemployment Office for rock men at Hudson Bay Mining in Flin Flon. So he headed North only to find that there were no roads or railway into Flin Flon from The Pas. The only way to get there was by hiring on with Dominion Construction, supposedly to begin work at Cranberry Portage. Thus Jack got to ride the rails to Cranberry Portage and then he hopped a barge and came up to Flin Flon. He hired on at the Company in 1928. At that time there was a mill and about 60 men working underground. See 'Married' P.# Con't from P.# There was no Main Street, just brush. Jack first lived in a bunkhouse. There were five or six of them housing the men and a cookhouse. There was an island in the middle of Flin Flon Lake that had a cabin on it that Jack and three other fellows rented. They had two canoes so that they could get back and forth to work, etc. Bill Deroy was one of the fellows along with the cook who was from Kapaskasing and a Native fellow from Hudson Bay. Jack's first job was in the grocery warehouse, which was a great big tent. Then he became the assistant barn boss looking after the horses. At that time there were no trucks or tractors till the spring of 1929. Jack recalls working with Ted Schell on the freight haul. By then the train was coming up to the Powerhouse. There were also hockey teams that would come in to play on an outdoor rink. Teams from The Pas, Island Falls and the Flin Flon Bombers played against each other. After Dorothy recovered from her surgery, she moved to Kenville, Manitoba where she became a housekeeper for a man and his two children. She cooked in an old cook stove, washed clothes on a scrub board after hauling and heating the water, and hung clothes on the clothesline even in the freezing winter. In 1929, Jack asked Dorothy's parents for her hand in marriage. Shortly thereafter, Dorothy arrived in Flin Flon by train and was patiently waiting for her groom as they were to be married that same day, that she had arrived. Well, Jack was getting ready in his room and he must have been a bit nervous or excited because he knocked the coal oil lamp over and started his bed on fire! When the smoke had cleared, he had burnt his only suit and since there were no phones in those days, he dejectedly started over to Dorothy's hotel room to tell her the wedding would have to be postponed. However, Flin Flon being what it is even back then, a salesman from Nutty Club heard of Jack's problem and offered him a suit of clothes with the only stipulation that the clothes be returned immediately after the ceremony, which they were. The couple were married in the North Minister United Church which then was on Main Street. They were the third couple to be married in Flin Flon. The next morning, the good samaritan had already left town and to this day Jack and Dorothy never knew his name. Their first home was on Hill Street, that Jack built. It was there that their first son was born, Ross, in 1930. Then later Dorothy and Jack. Then the family moved to Flin Flon Point, where the family lived for five years. They rented a big house that was Maloney and Hennings Cook House. The family had a pony and Dorothy would drive the kids to school on a sleigh in the winter. Later Cameron and Shirley were born. Dorothy said that the women would put the baby clothes on the line to freeze overnight because that was how they kept them so white. However, often they would get stolen through the night! Then in 1939, the Company decided to drain Flin Flon Lake so they could use it for the tailings from the mining process. Jack built a home at 74 Channing Drive and Reginald and Robert were born there. Water, in those days, was delivered by a water truck. There was also bread and milk delivery available. Harold Palmer had an ice house at Spirit Lake and he would deliver ice for people to use in their ice boxes. There was no refrigeration then, either. People had outdoor toilets and eventually indoor toilets, in which "the honeyman" would usually show up right at breakfast time to empty the holding cans. There would often be contents slopped onto the floor on his way out. Once the waterworks came in, things definitely improved. In the early '50s the telephone made a big difference to people's lives as well. The last move for the couple was to First Avenue in 1970 when Jack retired. The Hilliers have seen many changes in Flin Flon. From the tent town it was, where one guy went around all night keeping the fires burning so that no one froze to death, to the population growing to at one time about 15,000. They recall the two strikes that Flin Flon had. One in 1934 when the family was living at Flin Flon Point lasted one month. During that time they took the train to Cranberry Portage and did some fishing. They also made a trip up to Marie Lake were they got 21 partridge and prairie chickens in one trip. Jack said he didn't hunt much. He recalls shooting a moose while in a canoe, once. The second strike occurred after Jack was retired. During the last 20 years of Jack's employment at the Company, he was the yard master. He recalls that Graham Crawford was in the Pit. They had two engines running all day and one at night. They looked after all the incoming commodities such as coal and lumber. Jack recalls working with Sam McGowan and Fred Stubbs and then he looks at me with those bright eyes and smiles, "I've been retired for over 30 years, all the guys I worked with have passed on!" During the years Dorothy worked out of the home as well. She worked at Central Meat and Grocery in 1944 and at Cash 'n Save, Eddies Grocery to name a few. She recalls working at Milt's Bottling plant as well. She worked with Elsie Robinson and a young man named Dennis Ballard. As things progress, Jack and Dorothy had to move into the Personal Care Home almost a year ago. Jack will be 99 in January and Dorothy is 93. Since having their seven children, they now have 57 grandchildren, 59 great grandchildren and 11 great-great grandchildren. What an interesting couple these two are! If you want to know anything about Flin Flon, come and visit them. Their memories are incredible! It was a great pleasure to have spent the afternoon with this fantastic, loving couple and I sure look forward to seeing them again! Thanks for sharing a part of your lives with us, Jack and Dorothy. May you have a very Merry Christmas and good health and happiness in the New Year! Please note: This is my last story for this year. The next one will be on Wednesday, January 7 and will feature Marg Wallaker.
