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.
Jonathon Naylor Editor A suspicious blaze has reduced a towering northern Manitoba landmark to rubble. The historic Hotel Cambrian in Sherridon was consumed by flames early last Saturday. 'It's very sad because it's a historical landmark for our community,' said fire chief and lifelong Sherridon resident Debi Hatch. 'You see it every day when you drive by.' Firefighters were called to the long-abandoned building at about 6:30 a.m. on June 2. Also responding were Mounties from Flin Flon and Manitoba Conservation officers. Fully engulfed The building was already fully engulfed, virtually dashing hopes of saving the once-proud four-storey structure. Police said no one was in the building at the time, and while no damage estimate was available, it is considered a total loss. As of Monday the blaze remained under investigation, though RCMP confirmed it was suspicious. Mayor Nick Benyk said residents had worried the building might meet this fate, but that does not make it any less regrettable. 'It's unfortunate to see it happen,' he said. 'There's a lot of history there.' See 'Ever...' on pg. 7 Continued from pg. 1 Asked to describe the mood in his tiny community of about 85 people, Mayor Benyk said 'everybody's a little bit in shock.' The hotel was reportedly completed in 1934 by George Shaw of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. In 1954, it was purchased by Walter and Emily Schmon and remained in their family until fairly recent times. At the time of the hotel's construction, Sherridon was something of a boom town thanks to the Sherritt Gordon copper-zinc mine. The mine closed for five years in the 1930s due to low metal prices, reopening in 1937 before shutting down for good in 1951. While Sherridon then became a community in decline, the Hotel Cambrian remained open for business. Bolstering business was the Puffy Lake gold mine that briefly operated near Sherridon in the late 1980s. Open summers Even after Puffy Lake closed, the Hotel Cambrian would still operate in the summers, though did not appear to do much business. Mayor Benyk said the hotel, abandoned since the mid-1990s, went into tax arrears. Prior to the fire, it was boarded up but still had items such as beds inside. At one point there was talk of turning the building into a historical site, but Mayor Benyk says funding for upkeep was not available. Following the blaze, he said, 'everything's flattened,' though the hotel's chimney still towers from the rubble. Hatch, the fire chief, said this was the biggest structural blaze in the long history of Sherridon. Indeed when it was constructed, the Hotel Cambrian was said to be the largest building in all of northern Manitoba. While residents are grateful the fire did not spread or cause injuries, there is no denying that Sherridon has forever lost a valuable part of its identity. 'You couldn't see it from everywhere in town, but you could pick it out for 30 miles, at least, by air,' said Mayor Benyk. He added that the company that built the hotel had an identical hotel in The Pas that succumbed to flames around the 1970s.
