By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

A network of railway stations once dotted the landscape on the Prairies.

The railway station and its employees played a very significant role in the daily lives of the locals in many communities. Located at approximately 15-to-20-mile intervals, the stations were places where the railway could sell its services.

In the November 18, 1896 edition of The Gladstone Age, a newspaper reporter wrote a feature story based on his observations after boarding the 7 o’clock express and making the trip from Gladstone to Dauphin on the new railway line constructed by McKenzie and Mann.

“It is one of the finest grades in the west having a sixteen-foot top and although the road is not ballast, the train runs smooth over it as any other road.”

It was also interesting to note that on April 2, 1897, a train travelling to Dauphin had some difficulty as 200 feet of roadbed had washed away several miles north from Plumas. Trouble was also found at Grassy River. The track was blocked up to enable the train to pass.

Plumas was located 13 miles northwest from Gladstone and already had a “fine large building built to accommodate an agent and the men who are to be engaged on the section. The next station is about fifteen miles from Plumas and has been named Glencairn. There is a station here of the same size and structure as that of Plumas, but it has no agent here yet.”

The reporter noted that the train proceeded to the next stop located at Hamilton. From Hamilton they travelled another 15 miles to the banks of the Ochre and he mentioned that the station was in the process of being built.

“About fifteen miles from the Ochre the new town of Dauphin is reached.”

He noted that a large station was located there and preparations were being made to build a roundhouse, as well as machine shops.

“Sixteen miles from Dauphin and about six miles from the Valley River will be the end of the road for this season. When the road reaches the end of the grade there will be a station built at this point.”

At some locations box-cars initially served as a station as indicated in the McCreary Milestones and Memories.

“Upon alighting from a slat-seated coach, one walked along two planks which spanned a waterhole to reach the station, a temporary box-car situated there.”

At other locations a two-room shack served as a baggage room and a passenger waiting room. Constructed in the early 1900s a large number of the stations located in rural Manitoba were designated as class three.

The first official class three station used as a standard by Canadian Northern was designed in 1901 by Richard Benjamin Pratt. The buildings were neat, uncomplicated and distinguished by a high pyramidal roof, often visible on the flat prairie from a mile away.

The main floor encompassed a baggage room, living room, office and waiting room. Four bedrooms were located upstairs. There were approximately 75 railway stations in Manitoba that could be grouped according to Canadian Northern's class three designation. The station built at Dauphin in 1896 had all of the features of a class three station.

By 1912 a larger building for staff and offices at Dauphin was necessitated by the increase of business and traffic use.

The new building was designated as a class one station. The ground floor contained a ticket office with three wickets, a large waiting hall, and an ample gentlemen’s and ladies waiting room. There were also spacious rooms provided for the superintendent adjoined with offices for the chief clerk and staff. At the opposite end, offices were available for the train master, road master and bridge-building supervisors. The office of the dispatcher contained two sets of instruments. The top floor was used for records and stationary.

The only other station in Manitoba with a class one designation is Winnipeg's Main Street station.

The Gladstone Age reporter was correct in his assessment after his trip in 1896.

“The railroad is a great boom to the Dauphin country as well as the country through which it passes.”

Via RCMP

On June 18, 2022, at approximately 11:40 am, Dauphin RCMP responded to a report of a missing 89-year-old male from a residence on Triangle Road in Dauphin.

RCMP Police Dog Services, the RCMP Drone Unit, the Dauphin Fire Department, and several community members, attended the scene to assist with the search.

Community members located the male approximately 1 km from his residence in the bush line. Emergency Medical Services attended and the male was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The Dauphin RCMP would like to thank the community members as their assistance led to this successful outcome.

Kindergarten to Grade 2 students from Ochre River School visited Rocky Acres Dairy Farm, Friday.

The field trip was part of the school’s goal to have career exploration components and being able to access a local and relatively large dairy farm operation allowed students to learn about food production, sustainability, animal and livestock care and career opportunities.

Regional Connections Immigrant Services held a potluck picnic with immigrant families at Meadowlark Park, June 4.

The picnic brought together newly-arrived families and others who have been settled in Dauphin for many years.

Everyone had a good time together with games and conversation.

Parkway Lanes five-pin bowlers captured gold in the 65+ age category in the team competition at the Manitoba 55+ Games in Selkirk, June 7 to 9.

From left, the team consisted of Richard Cochrane and Marlene Cochrane, team captain Lynn Gray, Doris Derhak and Nestor Kalinowich. Derhak rolled a high game of 257, with four consecutive strikes in the team’s second game.

Marlene Cochrane also won a silver medal in the ladies 75+ singles and Derhak won a bronze medal in the ladies 65+ singles event.

By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

Set in the northeast part of my parent’s mixed farm, the bush was always an interesting place for a young boy to spend time in.

The bush was useful to the farm operations as the small herd of cows and the two work horses occupied the area during the non-winter months.

It was also the source of wood needed annually for fuel to heat our house.

A main trail ran through the centre of the wooded area, the reminder that pioneers used it before roads were built.

At the far end of the bush several dens were occasionally occupied by burrowing animals. My dog and I once caught a glimpse of a fleeing red fox. A large slough was also located in the bush and was home to a family of muskrats.

My sister recalled an interesting story when she was approximately nine years old and attended the one-room country school located near the family farm.

One spring day Alice and her older friend Nadia walked home from school. The girls asked my mother if they could go picking morels in the bush. After the two girls finished searching for morels they parted ways.
Nadia continued on her journey to her parent’s place located further east from the bush and Alice started on her half mile journey home. It started to rain and she lost her sense of direction. When she finally made it to a familiar gravel road she had ended up approximately two miles away from home.

By the time a tired and soaking wet sister finally made it to the yard, my father was in the process of harnessing the horses to go searching for her. To add insult to injury, she didn’t find any morels that day.
Morels are one of the most readily recognized of all the edible mushrooms and highly sought after.

If the conditions are right, morels “pop up” from the ground in late April and early May. They prefer to grow under and around the filtered light of deciduous trees and frequently appear before the trees have leafed out. Since the bush on my parent’s farm was predominately composed of white and black poplar it was an ideal spot for morels to grow.

My mushroom picking experiences started at an early age when I accompanied my mother and my older sisters.

Once the first morel was spotted it didn’t take long for us to pick a pail or two. When we got home we helped our mother clean the mushrooms and then she prepared them with cream and onions and we had a feast fit for royalty.

As I got older the forays into the bush made me appreciate the wonders of Mother Nature.

It was easy to enjoy a typical spring day when the frogs, wild ducks and blackbirds provided the background soundtrack that was often interrupted by crows warning us that we were in their domain. In mid-July we ventured into the bush to pick pin cherries and chokecherries. My mother used the fruit to make delicious jams and jellies. As we picked the fruit we made a great deal of noise to ward off any bears that happened to be interested in our activities.

During the fall we went to pick “peedpankas,” another favourite edible mushroom that grew along old stumps. Since my father harvested poplar trees from the bush, the “peedpankas” had ample spots to grow in.

Back in the day, picking mushrooms was a favourite activity enjoyed by folks from all walks of life.

A boyhood friend recently recalled that his mother had arranged for him to catch a ride with the local priest to attend catechism classes.

During the morel picking season the priest always stopped his car at a certain spot and they picked a pail or two of mushrooms prior to arriving at the church.

Never ask fellow mushroom pickers where they found their haul because no one is going to give up the location of their prized picking spots.

One day I plan to revisit the bush on the farm and check out the once-familiar mushroom picking spots.

SVRSS Golf Coach Marni Zamzow celebrated the second place finalist banner with girls’ team members McKenna Gray, Crystal Zamzow and Laina Leadbeater.

The Ste. Rose Expos are Zone 8 champions after an 8-4 win over the Swan Valley Tigers, May 24, in Roblin. Shayne Shura Froese got the win for the Expos and Kayden Caumartin came on in relief.

Ryan Benson hit a grand slam home run and a solo shot.

The team will now head to the provincial championships in Brandon, June 2 to 4.

Team members include Benson, Caumartin, Shura Froese, Chris Szewczyk, Kyle Gilmore, Jeff Gilmore, Jacob Martin, Mathew Vandepoele, Isaac Walker, Daenen Delaurier, Ashley Scott, Liam Musgrave (not pictured) and Brooke White (not pictured).

By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

The RCMP’s association with canines dates back to the 1890s when the North-West Mounted Police stationed in the Yukon used sled dogs to deliver mail during the winter months along a 600-mile route between Dawson City and across the border to Skagway, Alaska.

From 1938-55, Challenge of the Yukon was a long running radio adventure show set during the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s.

The show introduced listeners to the Mounties and their use of a police dog. Sergeant Preston and his trusty Alaskan Malamute dog, Yukon King, fought crime. In the initial episode Sergeant Preston searched to capture his father’s killer. In 1955 the radio show evolved into a television series, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. There were also Sergeant Preston of the Yukon comics. Each show and comic always ended with Preston saying, “This case is closed, King.” Preston’s other iconic sayings in every episode included “You’re under arrest in the name of the Crown” and “On, you huskies.”
Privately-owned dogs were used until 1935 when the RCMP saw their value and created the RCMP Dog Section.

The first three Police Service Dogs were Black Lux, Dale and Sultan.

These purebred German Shepherds were used for general duty and special detection teams. In 1940 evidence seized with the help of Black Lux secured a conviction for the very first time.

In the Commissioner’s Report of the RCMP in 1940 it was noted, “As this is the first of this nature, it has been necessary to touch upon the achievements of our trained dogs during previous years whilst we were undergoing the experimental stage.”

It had been established that a trained dog was a most valuable assistant to the force and that requests were made from almost every division to send a dog or increase the existing numbers.

Some of the dogs received their training at the Rockecliffe Kennels near Ottawa and then were sent where they were most needed. In 1940, 10 dogs were in active service including one in Alberta, four in Saskatchewan, one in Manitoba, two in Nova Scotia, one in Prince Edward Island and one in New Brunswick. Of the remaining dogs at Rockecliffe, three had almost completed their training, two were females that had given birth to pups and two were owned privately by members of the force and would be used on police investigations by their owners.

The Commissioner also noted that the dog training centre at Rockecliffe would be difficult to duplicate anywhere in Canada as the conditions and surrounding countryside were ideal for the purpose.

Most of the dogs had been purchased young and untrained at $35 to $50 and once trained, their market value was $500 to $1,000. All dogs were personally handled and taught by their trainer, Special Constable C.R. Aichinger. He was also responsible for the training and instructions of the dog masters who were each detailed to a dog. “Our trainer has exemplified a thorough understanding of canine psychology and in addition is able to impart this knowledge to others with good results.”

Aichinger was also skilled as a veterinarian helping three dogs recover from pneumonia. Several of the stories that I have previously written have had references to the work of police dogs. For example, Major, a dog hero of many searches, was used in trying to track down 19 German prisoners of war who “disappeared’ from the confines of the Whitewater Camp on Oct. 31, 1943.

In another case, after footprints were discovered by the shore of Harold’s Lake in early November 1957, Tiny was called upon to help locate a 75-year-old Dauphin area woman who had been missing for several days. In 1968, Scout’s services were enlisted when a squad of RCMP came to the Dauphin area to search for an escaped convict, Percy Moggey.

Today there are more than 150 police dog teams in the force. They are an important part of frontline policing in the search for missing people, tracking down criminals, removing illicit drugs from the street and sniffing out explosives and human remains.

Thanks to the police dogs, Sergeant Preston’s words were true when he noted, “This case is closed, King.”