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.
Alfred Lewis Parres's place in history was sealed Sunday when the renowned prospector was posthumously added to the Flin Flon Station Museum Wall of Honour. Parres helped discover and develop several of Manitoba's significant mineral finds, including the site that would become Snow Lake's New Britannia mine, during his decades in geology. "Dad would be very pleased and proud to be recognized by the community of Flin Flon and Museum Board through the Wall of Honour," his daughter, Bev Borgstrom, said at the induction ceremony. Born in February 1915, the native of Richard, Sask., started prospecting at the age of 14 with his geologist father Chris and uncle Jim. The Parres men's first successful mining development was Snow Lake's Nor-Acme gold mine (now known as New Britannia), which was staked and prospected in the 1920s. The younger Parres would go on to earn a B.A. in Geology from the University of Saskatchewan. He spent three years as a miner, shift boss and geologist in Ontario before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. After the war, he moved to Flin Flon, spending a year at HBMS prior to launching his own exploration company, A.L. Parres Ltd. The ensuing years proved to be as productive as they were crucial to the region's lifeblood industry of mining. Parres staked the North Mystery Nickel Deposit and discovered the Sherlynn Deposit in the Lynn Lake area. In Saskatchewan, he found the Choiceland and Kelsey Lake magnetite deposits as well as the Western Nuclear Mine. See 'Uncovered' P. Con't from P. While working as a consulting geologist for New York's Guggenheim family, he uncovered the Pinebay ore body at Sourdough Bay near Flin Flon. There were other discoveries, and although the work consumed much of his time, there was nothing else Parres would have rather done. In a 1979 interview with the Winnipeg Free Press, he spoke about his passion for geology. "The greatest thrill in any prospector's life is observing mineralized drill cores coming out of the ground," he told the newspaper. "You're looking at something that no man has ever seen before. You're reading a chapter in the world's geological history, and you may just hold in your hand the key to a new mining community." That drive for the next big find lasted into Parres' eighties. "He never really retired," says Borgstrom, noting, however, that Alzheimer's robbed her father of the ability to continue exploring. While Parres's name is synonymous with mining, not all of his contributions were related to that field. His lobbying was largely responsible for Creighton's connection to the Hanson Lake Road, as the provincial government originally intended to build the highway from Flin Flon to the Nipawin area via Beaver Lake. Parres also spent years on the Rotary Club of Flin Flon executive. His efforts would ultimately earn him the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow award, the club's highest honour. He still found time to volunteer with the Royal Canadian Legion, Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce and St. Luke's United Church, among others. It's the diversity of his achievement portfolio that made him an ideal inductee to the Wall of Honour, in the view of museum treasurer Lois (Bunny) Burke. "Of course Lew's a longtime northerner and well-known prospector, and has provided a lot of opportunity for people," says Burke. "He was a community volunteer as well, very community-minded." Parres passed away in December 2004 at the age of 89. His photo and a biographical plaque will now hang on the rear wall of the museum. The induction ceremony took place on the grounds outside the museum during the Flinty's Birthday community celebration, attended by some 225 people. Parres joins past inductees Del Baird; Joseph Brain; Mary Scott Edwards (Ma) Crerar; Thomas Dodds; Frank Herbert Gunston; Francis Lawrence (Bud) Jobin; Dr. Percival (Percy) Johnson; Alexander and Eva Krassilowsky; Red MacIntosh; Gordon Mitchell; Eileen Munro; and Lorna Rogan. Burke believes the Wall of Honour is a crucial component of the museum. "We see it as a permanent record where visitors, family and friends can go and see some of the builders of the community," says Burke.
