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Milestone anniversary

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.

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.

Seventy-five years ago today a gold spike was driven by Manitoba Premier John Bracken to officially recognize the completion of the Northern Manitoba Railway from The Pas to Flin Flon. It was a historic moment. Completing the railway was integral to the development of Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting plant in Flin Flon. Without a railway it would have been a much more difficult task to get the huge tonnages of equipment and construction materials into Flin Flon. The population shot up from a couple of hundred to 2,000 by 1930 Ð one year after completion of the track. Incredibly it was built in just nine months when all the experts said it would take a full two years. Credit for this accomplishment goes to Harry Mclean of Dominion Construction, probably the greatest construction men of all time. What we Flin Flonners of today don't appreciate is that Flin Flon was just about the most exciting development in Canada in its early history. It attracted the giants of mining and industry and Harry Mclean was certainly one of those. He had been a key figure in the relief effort following the 1917 Halifax explosion. He had been in charge of railway re-construction in Europe where the Germans sabotaged tracks as they withdrew during World War I. He would go on to build over $400 million dollars worth of projects in Canada. Construction of the track into Flin Flon in record time established his reputation. The track construction was begun January 1, 1928 from the Pas in minus 45 Fahrenheit degree weather. In a radical departure from all previous practice, Mclean laid the track without a roadbed. In two months he had freight and mail going and coming from Cranberry Portage. When the thaw came, he had his crews go back, lift the track and lay gravel under, and then between, the ties as the track was laid back down. See 'Ceremony' P.# Con't from P.# Sinkholes proved to be the biggest problem. Sinkholes are basically very deep muskegs. One at mile 60 required 330 trainloads of gravel to fill. One swallowed a gravel train parked on it. Another problem was rock slides along lake shores, one of which derailed a passenger train. Despite all the hardships, the cold, the rock, the sinkholes and the mosquitoes Mclean was able to bring in the dignitaries for the official opening of the railroad September 22nd, 1928. The ceremony took place at Mile 83 (Channing.) A special train had left The Pas at nine in the morning and reached Cranberry Portage before noon. After lunch the party was taken by trucks, specially outfitted with flanged wheels, the rest of the way. At four in the afternoon Premier Bracken drove the gold spike. In his speech he paid tribute to the various Flin Flon interests who had cooperated so well to make the event possible. It was called a 'red letter day in the history of northern Manitoba'. Ironically the man most responsible for making it possible, Harry Mclean, was not present. He found some other duties needed to be performed back on the track. What happened to the gold spike? Premier Bracken claimed it for a souvenir. Presumably it's wherever his descendants keep his memorabilia. Maybe someone in Flin Flon can track it down for display in our museum. The inscription on it reads: "The last spike in the Construction of the Northern Manitoba Railway, opening the Manitoba District of Northern Manitoba." On the reverse side are the names of the various engineers who supervised the project.

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