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.
When Merv LaBrash and his family to moved to Wanless, they were desperate. Devastated by the Great Depression, the Labrashes came to the remote northern Manitoba village in search of something that was elusive in those days ? hope. "There was no money," recalls Merv, still youthful in his early 70s. "In Wanless, you could have a house and a garden and live off the land." Despite some tough times, the Labrashes and other early settlers fell in love with the simple life afforded by Wanless, carved out of the wilderness 95 kilometres south of Flin Flon. So it wasn't surprising to see so many past and present residents ? more than 300 of them ? gather over the long weekend to celebrate the village's 75th anniversary. "It's been really nice to see people we haven't seen for years," said Lena Perry, a lifelong resident who chaired the homecoming festivities. "There are so many great memories." See 'Friends' P.# Con't from P.# In what some called the largest celebration in the community's history, Wanless came alive throughout the weekend with a parade, music, dancing, karaoke, a talent show, children's games and other festivities. However, the highlight came not from an organized form of entertainment but from the revival of the more than seven decades of memories shared among friends. Those recollections are pretty exclusive given that Wanless is, and always has been, tiny. The latest census puts the population at just 183 people, though a number of others spend their summers at cabins on Rocky Lake, which runs along the village. Wanless was founded in 1929 with just a few scattered settlers, but the Depression would prompt the arrival of several more families over the next few years. Early residents caught fish on Rocky Lake and trapped animals like moose, deer and wild chickens, which were found in abundance in the backwoods. They picked berries and grew gardens. They sold what they could and ate what they couldn't. See 'We' P.# Con't from P.# A railway being built to the mining site in Flin Flon played a major role in the district's growth. Besides providing a handful of much-needed jobs at the Wanless rail station, it was the sole means of transportation for years and brought supplies and mail to town. Work also became available at a small lumber mill and by cutting pulp to be shipped out of town. As Wanless slowly grew, so did its amenities. By the end of the 1930s, a school, post office and grocery store had opened, meaning more independence and less reliance on nearby The Pas, 45 kilometres to the south. All the development created more work, which in turn boosted the population further. "We came here in 1939 so my dad could build 18 log cabins for the settlers," says Garfield Johnston, who now lives outside Calgary. "I remember it being a pretty close-knit place." Garfield also recalls John (Jack) Wanless, the man for whom the community was named. A resident of The Pas, Jack was a respected prospector and strong proponent of education in the north. "He used to give all the kids in Wanless a Christmas present each year because the place was named after him," says Garfield. Wanless served as a beacon of hope during the Depression and even afterwards. Bob Thorne, a retired teacher now living in Saskatoon, came to town in 1945 after his miner father, George, became too ill to work. His mother, Lena, used the vast surrounding wilderness to the family's advantage, setting up a successful tourist camp known as Rocky Lake cabins. Bob still smiles when he reminisces about Wanless, and that smile didn't have much time to disappear during the homecoming. "The mosquitoes were deadly," he laughs, "but we still had fun." By the mid-1960s, Wanless was becoming a village of senior citizens, with most residents seemingly either on a pension or soon to be. At the other end of the scale, the young people were leaving to find work elsewhere, a scenario all too familiar to small communities. Today, Wanless is primarily a bedroom community where students and most working residents commute to The Pas each morning. It's a place for people who enjoy a quieter lifestyle in a cozier atmosphere. Despite its perseverance for 75 years, Wanless is often overlooked by motorists zooming down Highway 10. Some residents in the region aren't even aware it exists. "A lot of people don't know what's in Wanless, and we're used to that," says one homecomer as she lines up at the visiting hot dog stand. But there's more to the community than outsiders realize. Wanless is home to a successful tourism industry and a sprinkling of businesses where everybody knows your name, such as Coutts Greenhouses, the Forest Grove Motel, and Dan's Restaurant. If it took the desperation of the Depression to bring many settlers to Wanless, it's obvious that something special keeps people there today. "We just love it here," says Lena, the homecoming chairperson. "We don't wish to live anywhere else. We're northerners."3/8/04
