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My Take on Snow Lake - Sept. 9, 2016

New roof caps off 30 years of service with volunteer fire department
Ivan Ward Cory Anaka Bernard Fourie Jonathan Young David Morrison Clint Parsons
From left to right, former fire chief Ivan Ward, current Chief Cory Anaka, firefighters Bernard Fourie and Jonathan Young and, on the roof left to right, David Morrison and Clint Parsons.

There are several items I’d like to touch on within this week’s column; firstly in mid-August a group of Snow Lake’s finest doffed their uniforms and picked up hammers in order to help out one of their own.   They stripped and reshingled the roof of former fire chief Ivan Ward’s home on Willow Crescent. Snow Lake’s current Fire Chief Cory Anaka stated that the firefighters were redoing Ward’s roof for him as a retirement gift from the Snow Lake Volunteer Fire Department. “He’s been on the fire department for 30 years, joining in 1986, and we just thought it would be a nice thing to give him after all he’s done for the department and the community,” said Anaka. 

As mentioned in my last column, Lars Stoltz explained that he designed and burned a cedar round that was to be given to Fort McMurray Fire Chief Darby Allen. Word was received on Sept. 1 that the round was presented to the chief on the morning of Aug. 29 in Fort McMurray.

Stoltz created the round and left it temporarily in the care of Fort Mac’s Country 93.3 radio station, who passed it on to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) and it was presented to Allen at a ceremony in the city’s Jubilee Centre Hub.

“This is such a wonderful gift, and a beautiful carving,” Chief Allen said in an overview of the ceremony provided by Myra Ross, publication advisor for the RMWB. “I am so humbled and truly appreciate Lars ‎taking the time. ‎Although the gift was presented to me, I do feel it embodies the appreciation to all first responders and I know they will appreciate that also.”

Ms. Ross stated that when Stoltz was told Chief Allen was extremely pleased with the gift and that he accepted it on behalf of all the firefighters, he replied:  “I wanted him to know that it’s from all the community, to show how we all feel.”  

Moving on, in the afternoon on Thursday, Aug. 25, the Snow Lake Mining Museum held their seventh-annual Rock and Mineral Day; however, a less than favourable turnout was on hand to take part and enjoy it. Nevertheless, it was a perfect opportunity for young folks to bring in their shiny showings and get an expert opinion on what they were!  

The Rock Docs in attendance were Bill Salahub Jr., Ernie Guiboche and Dennis Merber, and even if the lines weren’t as long in front of these gents as in past years, there was no stumping them!  While I was in attendance, young Braden Tower tried to baffle his grandpa (Merber) with his prized purple rock. Dennis wasn’t having any of it … noting that it appeared young Braden had painted the rock, he told the little gaffer exactly what it was!

In addition to checking out the backstory on their prized possessions, there were several draws and the invitation to snack on some homemade goodies.

Draw winners were: backpacks courtesy of Manitoba Rocks; 1st - Maddox McMechan, 2nd - Ryder McMechan, 3rd - Brayden Tower.  Runner-up prizes: Chloe Cairns and Kaynen McMechan.

The winner of “Guess the Mineral” was Chloe Cairns, who guessed that a mystery sample was gypsum and won a very nice hand lens courtesy of Dennis Merber of Milber Exploration.

 “By the turnout of kids, we are going to have to rethink our Rock Doc day to try to draw more of them in,” said museum board chairperson Paul Hawman of the event.  “We’ll try again next year!”  

Finally, much has been said, particularly of late, about Rice Island … the small spherical landmass on Wekusko Lake where Kate Rice made her home. The island is also the location of her most significant discovery and the site where she was rumoured to have buried her fortune. Recently, Koop Geotechnical’s Dave Koop added a new mystery to the equation.

 Although, for decades, Vale and Inco before it held the mineral claims on the island, they finally decided to give it a pass and the property came up for staking two or so years back. Peter Dunlop and Wolfden resources raced in to tie up the claims and in the process added more ambiguity this time in respect to who actually owns it. Nevertheless, over the past several winters there has been a significant amount of exploration work done on Rice Island, some of it by Koop Geotechnical.

During one of Koop and his crew’s many forays to the atoll, Trevor Sewap, an employee of Koop’s came across the foundation of an old cabin. He mentioned it to Koop, and being a student of area history, the explorationist was intrigued.

Koop queried a number of long-time residents in relation to Sewap’s find and although most were aware of inhabitation at the south end of the island, no one Koop talked to had information of a cabin on the northeast corner. That is where, in the midst of some older growth, Sewap made his discovery.

So the way it sits right now, and without anyone coming forward to claim the opposite, it appears Sewap may have found the remnants of Kate Rice’s original island homestead. 

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