The Railway’s Last Act

June 28, 2023

This article was done in partnership with the Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society. It appeared in the June 15, 2023 edition of the Lac du Bonnet Clipper.

By the 1960s, Manitoba’s pioneer era was over. Hydroelectric generating stations powered most of the province. A labyrinth of all-weather roads connected farms to villages, towns to cities and transported tourists across the country in search of summer escapes. Railway companies saw a decline in their passenger service and communities faced decades of change.

After the Hydro tramway to Pointe was pulled up in 1963, the only users of Lac du Bonnet’s CPR branch line were the grain elevators and mining companies. The first grain elevator was established in 1934 by the Canadian Consolidated Grain Company (CCG). The Inter Ocean Grain Company (IOG) opened a second one by 1950. That same year, a wild rice plant was built between the two elevators. By 1965, the United Grain Growers (UGG) had bought out the CCG and IOG companies, becoming the owner of both Lac du Bonnet grain elevators. The grain was shipped by train to the Lakehead (Thunder Bay) or Vancouver ports.

Loading docks south of the grain elevators facilitated the unloading of mined ore from trucks into train cars. The Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada, Ltd. (Tanco) reopened the Bernic Lake mine in 1967. It was fully operational by 1969 and shipping the rare minerals around the world.

Between 1969 and 1976, Dumbarton Mines operated an open pit nickel mine three kilometres north of Bernic Lake. Local and provincial trucking firms hauled the ore to the company’s concentrator at Werner Lake, Ontario (only accessible from Manitoba). The nickel concentrate was then hauled from Werner Lake to Lac du Bonnet, where it was loaded onto boxcars and shipped to Sudbury for further processing.

In July 1972, the Canadian Pacific announced the closure of twenty-two stations throughout east-central Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, including Lac du Bonnet, Whitemouth, Molson and Beausejour, as part of the implementation of their service centre network across Canada.

In Lac du Bonnet, the rural municipality acquired the CPR station and asked that a group of citizens restore the building for a museum. Nothing came of the proposal, so by late 1975, the CPR station building was removed and the site leveled. The Casey’s Hotel, who had been leasing part of the space since 1963, got a bigger parking lot.

In February 1982, UGG announced the closure of Lac du Bonnet’s grain elevators. They were in need of costly repairs and, with only 150,000 to 300,000 bushels moving through the facility, the UGG wouldn’t consider building a new one. A compromise was reached. By August 1982, the south elevator, with a pit that was unable to stay dry and deemed too small to handle the modern farm truck, was demolished, hauled to the dump and burned.

By 1986, the limited service of the branch line was inconvenient and expensive. Tanco transferred all shipping to the main CPR line at Molson. By August 1987, all concentrated ore was trucked to Molson for storage at their new loading depot where, any day of the week, it could be loaded onto train cars bound for Thunder Bay and transferred to ships for the American and European markets.

The remaining grain elevator capabilities were limited. They only accepted cereal grains, so anyone growing small seeds or oil seed, such as sunflower or canola, had to take their crops elsewhere.

In October 1987, the invasive rice weevil was found in the grain boot and the UGG’s operating licence was suspended. The UGG permanently closed the elevator, citing, once again, costly renovations. 750,000 bushels were shipped out of Lac du Bonnet, and the UGG required 1.5 to 2 million bushels to justify the cost of a new elevator. Farmers were concerned about the impact the closure would have on Lac du Bonnet.

On March 9, 1988, the last train operated on the Lac du Bonnet branch line, hauling grain from the elevator. Only wild rice plant operator, Harry Arseniuk, and the UGG photographer witnessed the historic event. For the first time in over fifty years, farmers had to travel to River Hills, Beausejour or Libau to order seed, pick up fertilizer and sprays and learn about new products and crops. Political “red tape” was all that kept the CPR line in place.

By early December 1988, Lac du Bonnet’s last grain elevator was demolished and hauled away to be burned.

The CPR filed an “application for the abandonment of the operations” of the railway in December 1989. By June 1990, contractors from Brandon were tearing out the tracks, beginning in Great Falls, to Lac du Bonnet, through Milner Ridge to Molson. The RM purchased a “switching section of track” for a future museum artifact. In three months, the thirty-five kilometres of rail line were gone. All that was left were years of negotiations with the CPR over land ownership. In March 1998, the CPR donated the railway corridor of the Lac du Bonnet branch line to the Trans Canada Trail Foundation for use as an all season, multipurpose trail.

References:

“UGG announces the purchase…” Springfield Leader, April 21, 1959.

“United Grain Growers Purchase 131 Elevators.” Springfield Leader, April 28, 1959.

“There was a recent change…” Springfield Leader, March 30, 1965.

“Faraday arranges Maskwa Financing plan rights offer.” Springfield Leader, February 11, 1969.

“Dumbarton Mines Ltd….” Winnipeg Free Press, September 17, 1969.

“Village secretary retires.” Springfield Leader, June 30, 1970.

“CPR Cuts 60 Prairie Agencies.” Winnipeg Free Press, January 12, 1971.

“Experienced truckers…” Winnipeg Free Press, April 10, 1971.

“Canadian Pacific to open customer centre here.” Winnipeg Free Press, July 25, 1972.

“New service for our customers…” Springfield Leader, July 25, 1972.

“Rail station closing to be aired at meet.” Winnipeg Free Press, July 28, 1972.

Ethel Howard. “Gimli told CPR conversion plans.” Winnipeg Free Press, August 5, 1972.

“CP pulls out agents.” Springfield Leader, November 21, 1972.

“Museum is not a dream.” Springfield Leader, July 10, 1973.

“Ore Haulage Contract…” Winnipeg Free Press, July 31, 1974.

“RM of LdB Notice of Tender.” Springfield Leader, October 14, 1975.

“For sale…” Winnipeg Free Press, November 18, 1976.

Noreen Ostash. “UGG Elevators to close.” The Leader, February 23, 1982.

“United Grain Growers Ltd for sale.” The Leader, April 13, 1982.

Noreen Ostash. “UGG elevator demolished.” The Leader, August 17, 1982.

——. “Tanco shipping depot ready for action at Molson.” The Leader, August 18, 1987.

——. “Elevator will close.” The Leader, October 20, 1987.

Russ Preston. “Area farmers meet UGG head on.” The Leader, November 3, 1987.

Clarence Baker. “Report from the Legislature.” The Leader, December 1, 1987.

Noreen Ostash. “UGG closing will cost farmers $$$.” The Leader, December 15, 1987.

——. “Last train marks end of era.” The Leader, June 14, 1988.

——. “1988 in review.” The Leader, January 3, 1989.

“Canadian Pacific Limited Notice of Intent.” The Leader, September 5, 1989.

“Canadian Pacific Limited Notice of Application.” The Leader, December 12, 1989.

“The end of the line.” The Leader, June 19, 1990.

Karl Nyyssonen. “Village, RM meet…” The Leader, July 17, 1990.

Kristi J. Balon. “CPR donated LdB to Molson right-of-way.” The Leader, March 8, 1999.

Noreen Ostash. “RM of LdB 75^th anniversary, Through the Years.” The Leader, November 10, 1992.  

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Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society Archives.

Eleanor Stardom, “A History of Economic Development in the Lac du Bonnet Area” (1978). Thesis Paper, Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society. Pages 167,250.

W.L Morton, Manitoba: A History (Toronto, Ont., University of Toronto Press, 1979), 474, 485-86.