Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada

[Music] when my tears [Music] now and forever [Music] we [Music] before the 16 1700s that was attractive wilderness known only to the native people [Music] well then came the fur traders they brought the european economy and then began a whole series of events that changed the course of history set against the backdrop of riding mountain here in the south duck mountains over to the northwest and off in an easterly direction lake dauphin was the area known simply as the valley or dock country with that view and contemplating that history it's a little like sitting in an amphitheater watching a three-act play unfold on the stage below so come join me in this theater i'll tell you about some characters who fulfilled missions and ambitions and hopes to make a home here in what is now known as the parkland region of manitoba [Music] low yet it swells to the heavens blue dome child grips have called the wild meadowland home emily mcmanus the keystone province of the west manitoba a name suggested by louis riel meaning in ojibwe the straits of the spirit [Music] it was the lavrandre brothers from prairie view quebec who in 1739 christened a nearby lake after the dauphin france based at an outpost at the junction of the red and the assiniboine rivers today the city of winnipeg they built a series of trading depots in the interior the one nearby was called fort dauphin the surrounding lands encompass what is called a black soil zone recognized for its stable agricultural economy still much a pioneer region of the prairies numerous smaller half-section farms in the parklands produce wheat canola flax and barley with a population based close to nine thousand the community is a prosperous supply distribution and transportation center serving a region stretching from the saskatchewan border east to lakes manitoba and winnipeg and north to swann river it is also a government administration center but the town of duffin is very much down home it's not difficult for a newcomer to town to find a spot where one can quickly be brought up to date with the crops the weather who's who or simply whatever folks from here will tell you that if there is one sound synonymous with the place it is the call of the mile-long freight as it works its way across the valley more than anything it is the distant voice of the white man's settling of the wild meadowland [Music] the fur trade and ultimately the railway with its influx of people would see the bison herds vanish guiding the traitors along the water highways which threatened the prairie landscape were the cree ojibwe and assiniboine controlled by the hudson bay company little was known of rupert's land in 1857 two expeditions were assigned a survey captain john palliser headed a british group while the moving spirit of the canadians was this man henry ewell hind a professor of chemistry and geology at trinity college in present-day toronto hind left fort gary eventually making his way to lake duffin leaving instructions for three of his men to cure all of the fish they could take because there was a possibility of the lake freezing at sunrise on the morning of the 9th of october he set out for the ascent of riding mountain along the base they followed a well-worn path described by his metis guide as a pitching tract a communication road used by natives for generations [Music] for the first mile and a half the country is quite level and dry the soil excellent and hay abundant we now followed a moose path until we arrived at a high conical hill which promised a fine view of the surrounding country at a distance this magnificent range appears to be clothed with forest and to rise from a level plane to the height of about 800 feet above the level of dauphin lake the timber on the hill consists of aspen with a few small oak the soil on the plateau is of excellent quality and the underbrush very luxuriant heinz report made its first appearance in the parliamentary papers of 1857. his optimistic notes outweighed the less enthusiastic findings of palisar and ultimately influenced the imperial government to refuse the renewal of the hudson bay company charter two years later the door to the west was now open heinz narrative is a documentary of extraordinary vision and foresight at 8 pm the sky was quite free from clouds a comet shone with brilliant luster a flashing aurora gradually spread over the northern sky the stars glistened like diamonds in the south and the whole heavens assumed that aspect of silent beauty which renders night in the wilderness so impressive and sublime [Music] well about 20 years after hind had finished his job a young man actually was just a kid at 18 found his way to winnipeg he was born and raised in what is now the nation's capital it was called by town then and he came from what we like to call old family his mother was a sparks his father was a burroughs anyway this young adventurer articled in law and then by sure chance found himself in this neck of the woods with a survey crew in 1875 and what he saw here was a gold mine in land and timber right out there ready for the taking well young theodore burroughs or ta as he came to be known sure didn't waste any time and for the next half a century he was at the center of every major event that took place in this valley burroughs soon turned law into industry and within a few years his operations blanketed western manitoba saskatchewan and alberta among others he would build mills at swan river grandview and dauphin eventually controlling a total of 30 lumber yards stocked with the material to shelter new arrivals stuart mclean the first uh settler to arrive in the dauphin area came in 1882 they came basically along the ridges which had been short of the old lake agassi and from that time for particularly from 1883 until 1889 was the largest influx of early settlers public works tended for the construction of a road over the riding mountain in that year further encouraging the flow of people the beginnings of urban growth began to spring out of the endless horizon in the beginning in the dauphin area there were two uh communities one was a post called the gartmore a mile south of the present town of dauphin the other was called lake dauphin although it wasn't on the lake but it was a mile north of the present town of dauphin this is rapidly becoming one of the best and surest mixed farming districts in western canada wrote jb tyrell at the time this kind of optimism coupled to the opening of the immigration route from the south created endless expectations ta would become the superintendent overseeing the building of the road that for years was known as the burroughs road and by this time he was well connected with the right people enough so that he was involved in a furious round of wheeling and dealing that decided the future of the two villages [Music] before long he was land commissioner and enticed two businessmen to look to the dolphin country donald mann was a contractor on the transcontinental railway while william mckenzie was part owner of the toronto street railway the two would set out to compete with the cpr for colonist transport and grain shipping laying a new line north speculation abounded where would the steel rail land helen marsh i would imagine you describe it as equivalent to some of the political fossils of today you know two tug of tug of war teams because each one thought they were going to get the railway and each settlement seemed to have a fair number of buildings and people to come in because their services were needed and you're getting the railway i i would fight for it too [Music] jobs economic stability permanence what was to be called the canadian northern railway could mean boom or bust by october the deal was done the right-of-way would run across land that separated the villages cheers rang out on december 23 1896 as w.a walker engineer and dad risting conductor ushered in the first train dauphin had come into being as the newest village in manitoba overnight 70 buildings had been moved to center around the rail the dauphin press described the mood on its front page the plain unvarnished tale of progress made in converting a level stubble field into a town with several blocks of buildings closely built would rival the arabian nights and would hardly be more credible to a stranger [Music] so [Music] the railway which became the center of gravity for dauphin nearly 100 years ago still affects day-to-day life by coincidence the first leg only went a short distance beyond to the town of grandview at the foot of duck mountains where burroughs controlled the largest lumber mill in manitoba he went on to become lieutenant governor of the province mackenzie and man to knighthood [Music] today the town reflects the mixed urban farming population [Music] the street layout diverges from the established north-south surrounding grid and is pivoted to accommodate the rail corridor at its center the canadian northern through numerous amalgamations became a transcontinental system by 1915 in the end financial difficulties led to nationalization and ultimately it became a component of the cnr of the vestiges of the early community one institution remains an important part of a town's social life once the local hangout for end-of-shift railway workers or passengers killing time veals is much unchanged since the days of the splatoon here the beginning of the steel rail is still a part of everyday conversation what a party that must have been burroughs mckenzie man sitting proud aboard that first train and they knew they knew this was just the beginning as for the town well it was now on the right track it wasn't long after that that the laurier government scheme to settle the great west began to pay off at least it did for the government the next passenger cars to pull in carried the first of a proud people journeying to a new land [Music] likened to a modern day moses the man who led a mass exodus of slavic people from eastern europe to the plains of western canada is today remembered dr stella hanyuk is a professor of ukrainian studies [Music] dr joseph velasquez i said one of the unsung heroes of the immigration story he was a professor of agronomy in la viv in the capital of galicia it was on his own initiative as a kind of philanthropic move that he studied canada oleski knew the hardships experienced by the farmers in the eastern part of the then powerful austro-hungarian empire the subdividing of farms made it nearly impossible to support growing families debt and high taxes left little future especially in bukavina and galicia provinces in the western ukraine that were hardest hit the landlords had the monopoly on the forest so to get forest or to get anything that a forest could bring they had to either pay for it in cash and they were cash poor or they had to work for it so they wanted land and more of it and they came to settle on land [Music] dolphin country resembled their homeland and nurtured the roots of settlement one year after the railway arrived father nestor demitri dedicated a cross of liberty when sang the first ukrainian mass in manitoba a tribute to a new but tough beginning they took the long train ride across the country many despaired of ever seeing civilization they came from a place that had villages every two kilometers and going across northern ontario was was a horrifying experience for some of them so when they saw the lights of winnipeg they were thrilled that there that there were people in this country the first year was the toughest people found that they didn't live in a village for example they despaired often that they would never have communities again like they'd come from they first had to build shelter if you can imagine in may building something for a family of five or six to spend the night they had to get logs uh put up lean twos or dig a whole a variety of methods were used to just cover them for the for the first while once they had a viable shelter if they'd come in the spring the men would usually help to get the the yard or the farm stead established and leave the women and children for the rest of the summer and go and find work [Music] their culture was misunderstood their needs weren't always understood they they banded together they turned inward to some extent there was discrimination there was misunderstanding misrepresentation of course but by about five years we know that in most of these settlement nuclei there were schools operating there were churches there were community halls and there were feast days and weddings and baptisms and and celebrations like there had been back home and again there were misunderstandings of those they liked to have a good time when they had a christening or a wedding sometimes they were seen as drunken and and boisterous and loud and they sang a lot and they danced long into the night but that was part of their culture the ukrainians left in this territory a legacy of good sound farming they left lands that were cleared farmed well successfully they emptied places that nobody would have touched before and they stayed longer than perhaps others would have they gave us the idea of perseverance and hard work and determination to succeed [Applause] i think they also left the legacy of their their culture they've given this to canada they have they have no desire no great desire to look back it's all for for us who will live to see it and their children and grandchildren the landscape the buildings the the churches these are these are what they've left [Music] [Applause] [Music] and so it sings this harvest song through years the bridge of time a mix of peoples like you and i glory days along the rail line and yet to stop and look at the lives of men strength of women their stories plentiful and proud of history that is theirs alone words carried on the prairie winds from the child lips that have called the wild meadowland home [Music] i know it'll always be home home to me [Music] to that place [Music] whenever i [Music] i know it'll always be [Music] you