Around fifty people attended the Archives Day at Air Ronge-based Pahkisimon Nuye?áh Library yesterday, February 4, 2020 — stepping into La Ronge and Saskatchewan’s vibrant past.
The event is organized by local historian Graham Guest, and featured a presentation by Saskatoon-based amateur historian James Winkel.
The main historical topics that were curated and on display were:
West side [Carrot River, Buffalo Narrows, and La Ronge] vegetable gardens, as far back as 70 years ago (1950’s)
Don Neilson’s 4H catalogues were instrumental here, and document much settlement agrarianism–including the transport of Pinehouse’s first cow by snowbug in 1952.
Resource Officer Jim Clouthier’s Life in the 1950s-60s
Display photo missing; in photo two elders watch 1980s film of cultural activities in Sask’s northern Athabasca region while comparing walking canes.
Island Falls hydro-electric power plant in the 1950s, and
“Robert Tanner worked as a mining accountant at Island Falls during 1953-58…He donated his slides and other memorabilia to our Archives in 2004.” “The Island Falls Power Plant near Sandy Bay was built between 1928 and 1930 to provide electricity for the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting copper and zinc mining operation in Flin Flon.”
Joe Lucio: a young HBC employee in Patunanak
“Joe was a 17-year-old from Ridgetown, Ontario, when he signed on to be a clerk-in-training in Patuanak in 1956.”
Photo collections in ring binders were also spread out amongst the main tables, with material on:
Father Megret,
Royal Canadian Air Cadets,
Wollaston Lake Caribou Hunt,
Northern Historic Photos
As well as many family-kept and donated collections:
Harry Hives, Enid Broome, Alan Nuun, Florence McKay, Harold Kemp, John Finch, McKay Family, Norman Macauley, Smoke Junipers, Lois Dalby, Robert Keighly.
The Pahkisimon Nuye?áh Library is open 10 – 5:30pm in Air Ronge every day but Sunday — and until 8pm Tues, Wed, Thurs. Their collection can be viewed online, including current release movies and other digital content.
Gallery:
*all photos by Brandon White
