Barbara Raue

It is now 1937 and Charlie Davis is enjoying a good farming year on his Montana ranch. Charlie and his wife Jeannie have three children, Chuck is four, and twins, Jennifer and James will be two later this year.Joe Goodman is his partner on the ranch. Joe and his wife, Kate, have four children, Andrew is nine, Julie is four, and their twins, Mark and Susannah, were born two days before Charlie's twins. Kate is expecting her fifth child as the story opens.Jim and Sarah Robertson live in the original ranch house and fit in well with the Goodmans and Davis's. They lost their ranch to the dust bowl of the prairies and stopped at Charlie's place looking for work. Joe and Charlie invited them to stay, and they have stayed on to help make the ranch very successful. They have four children ranging in ages from thirteen to seven, David, Timothy, Sandra, and Susie.Jeannie and Kate work on two books on Jeannie's family. There are mysteries to solve and challenges of boxes of information to sort through and organize chronologically. Journals provide lots of information on daily life at the time and are valuable for setting scenes and bringing the story alive. Joe and Charlie spend the winter months looking after their children. Sarah gives a helping hand by typing the story after Kate completes writing each chapter.Kate was ready to start writing her first novel. She was excited to reach out in a different direction with her writing.In the foothills at the edge of the grasslands, there stands an abandoned house, a place that was a home for a family who had so many wonderful hopes and dreams. Where are they now? What has become of them? First the baby died, the future of Jonathan and Kathleen, their son who would share and carry on their dreams. He was two years old, got sick and died in a very short time...The first day, Kate wrote feverishly as the thoughts tumbled out of her mind through her pencil and onto the paper. Joe loved to watch her when she was totally engrossed in her writing. Nothing disturbed her when she was so deep into a story.War in Europe continues to escalate and Joe and Kate follow the news as it becomes available. Charlie, Joe and Jim make plans for when the United States will enter the war. They decide to teach the women how to drive the tractors, plough, disk, and plant the crops, and how to care for the animals. Jim teaches them how to prepare seedlings for the vegetable crops.On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attack the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. Twenty American naval vessels, including eight large battleships and more than three hundred airplanes are destroyed. Our Montana Sons are now going to war. How will Kate, Jeannie and Sarah make out on the ranch? Will they be able to do all the chores on their own? Will they get any unexpected help?Visit Barbara's website to view all of her books http: //barbararaue.ca

Before written history, the Neutral Indians lived here. It was a perfect home with forests teeming with game, the lake providing fresh fish and transportation, and the fertile plain ideal for agriculture. The Neutrals were wiped out by their enemies by 1650. In 1787, a group of United Empire Loyalists arrived from New Jersey. They named their little settlement The Forty after the creek which was believed to be forty miles from the mouth of the Niagara River. John Graves Simcoe, an officer of the British army who served in the American War of Independence, became the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (Ontario) from 1792-1796. The naming of the newly surveyed townships was part of his duty, and on a number of them he gave places names from Lincolnshire, England. One of these was Grimsby. In the early days the many creeks on top of the Niagara Escarpment which flowed into Lake Ontario - each with a waterfall - were named according to their approximate distance from the Niagara River. There is the Twelve Mile creek, the Sixteen, the Twenty, the Forty, etc. It was along these creeks and stretching back from then on either side that the first settlers took up their land and built their log cabins, their saw mills and grist mills. This is how the Settlement at The Forty - later called Grimsby (from the name of the township) - began. Less than twenty years after the arrival of the first settlers, the United States declared war on Britain and began by attacking Canada from three points - one of them was Niagara. In 1813, the Engagement at the Forty occurred on June 8, 1813. American forces, retreating after the Battle of Stoney creek, were bombarded by a British flotilla under Sir James Lucas Yeo. Indians and groups of the 4th and 5th Regiments Lincoln Militia joined in the attack and created such confusion in the enemy ranks that they abandoned this position and retreated to Fort George.

Each photo I take that precedes a demolition, or a natural disaster such as a tornado or a fire, is meeting this aim of mine of Saving Our History One Photo at a Time. There are more than 100 towns already photographed which you can visit without moving from your comfortable chair in your living room. Think about what it was like in those by-gone days. Imagine what it was like to live in a mansion like one of these.Sampler Book 3 includes pictures from the following places: Elora, Elmira, St. Jacobs, Linwood, Wellesley, Listowel, Palmerston, Dorchester, Aylmer, Drayton, Tillsonburg, Arthur, Rockwood, Acton, and Orillia.

The City of Thunder Bay has three histories. The twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur were amalgamated in 1970. Thunder Bay's past is linked with the parallel but separate pasts of the two cities.Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970.Thunder Bay is located on Lake Superior. European settlement in the region began in the late seventeenth century with a French fur trading outpost on the banks of the Kaministiquia River. It grew into an important transportation hub with its port forming an important link in the shipping of grain and other products from western Canada, through the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the east coast. Forestry and manufacturing played important roles in the city's economy.The city takes its name from the immense Thunder Bay at the head of Lake Superior, known on eighteenth-century French maps as Baie du Tonnerre (Bay of Thunder). The city is often referred to as the "Lakehead" because of its location at the end of Great Lakes navigation on the Canadian side of the border.European settlement at Thunder Bay began with two French fur trading posts (1683, 1717) which were subsequently abandoned. In 1803, the Montreal-based North West Company established Fort William as its mid-continent post. The fort thrived until 1821 when the North West Company merged with the Hudson's Bay Company and Fort William was no longer needed.By the 1850s, the Province of Canada began to take an interest in its western extremity. Discovery of copper in Michigan prompted a Canadian national demand for mining locations on the Canadian shores of Lake Superior. Another settlement developed a few miles to the north of Fort William with it eventually being called Port Arthur.With Confederation in 1867, Simon James Dawson was employed to construct a road and route from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to the Red River Colony. The depot on the lake, where supplies were landed and stored acquired its first name in May 1870. It was named Prince Arthur's Landing in honour of Prince Arthur, son of Queen Victoria who was serving with his regiment in Montreal.The arrival of the CPR in 1875 sparked a long rivalry between the towns, which did not end until the amalgamation of 1970. Until the 1880s, Port Arthur was a much larger and dynamic community. The CPR, in collaboration with the Hudson's Bay Company, preferred east Fort William, located on the lower Kaministiquia River where the fur trade posts were.Prospering from the CPR railway construction boom of 1882-1885, Port Arthur was incorporated as a town in March 1884, one year after acquiring its new name. The CPR erected Thunder Bay's and western Canada's first terminal grain elevator on the bay in 1883. The end of CPR construction along the north shore of Lake Superior and the CPR's decision to centralize its operations along the lower Kaministiquia River brought an end to Port Arthur's prosperity. Silver mining had been the mainstay of the economy for most of the 1870s. The silver mining boom of the 1880s came to an end with the passage by the U.S. Congress of the McKinley Tariff in October 1890. The town was in dire economic straits until 1897-1899 when the entrepreneurs William Mackenzie and Donald Mann acquired the Ontario and Rainy River Railway and the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway, and chose Port Arthur as the Lake Superior headquarters for the Canadian Northern Railway. Port Arthur thrived as a trans-shipment and grain handling port for the CNR after the railway line was opened to Winnipeg in December 1901.

Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario located on the Kaministiquia River at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. The city's Latin motto was A posse ad esse (From a Possibility to an Actuality) featured on its coat of arms designed in 1900 by town officials. "On one side of the shield stands an Indian dressed in the paint and feathers of the early days; on the other side is a French voyageur; the center contains an elevator, a steamship and a locomotive, while the beaver surmounts the whole."In about 1684, Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, established a trading post near the mouth of the Kaministiquia River. French authorities closed this post in 1696 because of a glut on the fur market. In 1717, a new post, Fort Kaministiquia, was established at the river mouth. The post was abandoned in 1758 or 1760 during the British conquest of New France.In 1803, the Nor'Westers established a new fur trading post on the Kaministiquia River and the post was named Fort William in 1807 after William McGillivray, chief director of the North West Company from 1804-1821. After the union of the North West Company with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1821 most trade shifted to York Factory on Hudson Bay. Two townships (Neebing and Paipoonge) and the Fort William Town Plot were surveyed in 1859-60 and opened to settlement.By 1883-84, the Montreal-based CPR syndicate, in collaboration with the Hudson's Bay Company, clearly preferred the low-lying lands along the lower Kaministiquia River to the exposed shores of Port Arthur, which required an expensive breakwater if shipping and port facilities were to be protected from the waves. The CPR subsequently consolidated all its operations there, erecting rail yards, coal-handling facilities, grain elevators and a machine shop.

The City of Thunder Bay has three histories. The twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur were amalgamated in 1970. Thunder Bay's past is linked with the parallel but separate pasts of the two cities.Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970.European settlement at Thunder Bay began with two French fur trading posts (1683, 1717) which were subsequently abandoned. In 1803, the Montreal-based North West Company established Fort William as its mid-continent post. The fort thrived until 1821 when the North West Company merged with the Hudson's Bay Company and Fort William was no longer needed.By the 1850s, the Province of Canada began to take an interest in its western extremity. Discovery of copper in Michigan prompted a Canadian national demand for mining locations on the Canadian shores of Lake Superior. Another settlement developed a few miles to the north of Fort William with it eventually being called Port Arthur.With Confederation in 1867, Simon James Dawson was employed to construct a road and route from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to the Red River Colony. The depot on the lake, where supplies were landed and stored acquired its first name in May 1870. It was named Prince Arthur's Landing in honour of Prince Arthur, son of Queen Victoria who was serving with his regiment in Montreal.The arrival of the CPR in 1875 sparked a long rivalry between the towns, which did not end until the amalgamation of 1970. Until the 1880s, Port Arthur was a much larger and dynamic community. The CPR, in collaboration with the Hudson's Bay Company, preferred east Fort William, located on the lower Kaministiquia River where the fur trade posts were.Prospering from the CPR railway construction boom of 1882-1885, Port Arthur was incorporated as a town in March 1884, one year after acquiring its new name. The CPR erected Thunder Bay's and western Canada's first terminal grain elevator on the bay in 1883. The end of CPR construction along the north shore of Lake Superior and the CPR's decision to centralize its operations along the lower Kaministiquia River brought an end to Port Arthur's prosperity. Silver mining had been the mainstay of the economy for most of the 1870s. The silver mining boom of the 1880s came to an end with the passage by the U.S. Congress of the McKinley Tariff in October 1890. The town was in dire economic straits until 1897-1899 when the entrepreneurs William Mackenzie and Donald Mann acquired the Ontario and Rainy River Railway and the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway, and chose Port Arthur as the Lake Superior headquarters for the Canadian Northern Railway. Port Arthur thrived as a trans-shipment and grain handling port for the CNR after the railway line was opened to Winnipeg in December 1901.

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, and the third largest in volume. If the coast of Lake Superior was unravelled into a highway, it would extend 2,939 kilometers (1826 miles). The deepest spot is 406 meters (1,322 feet). Lake Superior presented many challenges to shipping. As interest in the resources of the north grew, investors wanted a more reliable form of transportation and the Algoma Central Railway was built. It was intended to bring iron ore and pulp logs from Wawa and Hearst to the mills of Sault Ste. Marie. With the completion of the railroad in 1914, loggers, tourists and artists travelled to places that had been difficult to reach.Before Lake Superior Provincial Park was created, a group of artists came to paint pictures of Canada. J.E.H. Macdonald found a multi-channeled falls which he painted showing the foam, the reflections, the colors and the magic. These artists were experimenting with new techniques that showed the ruggedness and beauty of the land. Each fall between 1918 and 1922, members of the Group of Seven painted the newly accessible landscape of the Algoma region as the railway was built.When the first Europeans travelled to the Wawa region in the late 1600s, they were introduced to a rugged landscape occupied by the Ojibway people. Wawa means clear water. Somewhere along the way wawa may have been mistranslated to wild goose instead of wewe which means snow goose. The wild goose story stuck and thus was born Wawa's legendary Wawa Goose.Kenora is a small city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Northwestern Ontario, close to the Manitoba border. It is about two hundred kilometers (124 miles) east of Winnipeg. Kenora's future site was in the territory of the Ojibway when the first European, Jacques de Novon, sighted Lake of the Woods in 1688. Pierre La Verendrye established a French trading post, Fort St. Charles, to the south of present-day Kenora near the current Canada/United States border in 1732, and France maintained the post until 1763 when it lost the territory to the British in the Seven Years' War. In 1836 the Hudson's Bay Company established a post on Old Fort Island, and in 1861, the Company opened a post on the mainland at Kenora's current location.In 1878, the company surveyed lots for the permanent settlement of Rat Portage ("portage to the country of the muskrat") - the community kept that name until 1905, when it was renamed Kenora. Gold and the railroad were both important in the community's early history.Dryden is the second-largest city in the Kenora District of Northwestern Ontario. It is located on Wabigoon Lake.The Dryden area is part of the Ojibway nation, which covers a large area from Lake Huron in the east to Lake of the Woods and beyond. The Ojibway are nomadic with groups from family to village size moving over the land with the seasons and the availability of game or the necessities of life.The settlement was founded as an agricultural community by John Dryden, Ontario's Minister of Agriculture in 1895. While his train was stopped at what was then known as Barclay Tank to re-water, he noticed clover growing and decided to found an experimental farm the following year. The farm's success brought settlers from other areas and the community came to be known as New Prospect. Pulp and paper came to the town in 1910. Today, its main industries are agriculture, tourism and mining.

Fort William was a city in Northern Ontario located on the Kaministiquia River at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. The city's Latin motto was A posse ad esse (From a Possibility to an Actuality) featured on its coat of arms designed in 1900 by town officials. "On one side of the shield stands an Indian dressed in the paint and feathers of the early days; on the other side is a French voyageur; the center contains an elevator, a steamship and a locomotive, while the beaver surmounts the whole."In about 1684, Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, established a trading post near the mouth of the Kaministiquia River. French authorities closed this post in 1696 because of a glut on the fur market. In 1717, a new post, Fort Kaministiquia, was established at the river mouth. The post was abandoned in 1758 or 1760 during the British conquest of New France.In 1803, the Nor'Westers established a new fur trading post on the Kaministiquia River and the post was named Fort William in 1807 after William McGillivray, chief director of the North West Company from 1804-1821. After the union of the North West Company with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1821 most trade shifted to York Factory on Hudson Bay. Two townships (Neebing and Paipoonge) and the Fort William Town Plot were surveyed in 1859-60 and opened to settlement.By 1883-84, the Montreal-based CPR syndicate, in collaboration with the Hudson's Bay Company, clearly preferred the low-lying lands along the lower Kaministiquia River to the exposed shores of Port Arthur, which required an expensive breakwater if shipping and port facilities were to be protected from the waves. The CPR subsequently consolidated all its operations there, erecting rail yards, coal-handling facilities, grain elevators and a machine shop.

Port Colborne is a city on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay after the shallow, bedrock-floored bay upon which it sits, dates from 1832 and was renamed after Sir John Colborne, a British war hero and the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada at the time of the opening of the southern terminus of the First Welland Canal in 1833 when it was extended to reach Lake Erie.During the 1880s, American tourists from the southern states began building vacation homes on the lakeshore of the western edge of the town. Before long, an entire gated community of vacationers from the south called Port Colborne their home during the summer months. Today, the picturesque street of Tennessee Avenue is still home to many of these original vacation homes and buildings, as well as the original stone and wrought iron resort gates. The street boasts some immaculately maintained examples of late 19th and early 20th century Southern architecture.The Welland Canal was originally established as a solution to summer water shortages that plagued a grist mill operation near St. Catharines. William Hamilton Merritt, the mill owner, diverted water from the Welland River into Twelve Mile Creek. He wanted to make the channel deep enough to allow boats to pass through a series of locks down the escarpment into Twelve Mile Creek and on to Lake Ontario.The International Nickel Company (now Vale) has been one of the city's main employers since the opening of a refinery in 1918. Taking advantage of inexpensive hydroelectricity from generating stations at nearby Niagara Falls, the refinery produced electro-refined nickel for the war effort, and continues in operation today.Port Colborne was one of the hardest hit communities during the blizzard of 1977. Thousands of people were stranded when the city was paralyzed during the storm.Maritime commerce, including supplying goods to the camps for the laborers who worked on the first canal, ship repair and the provisioning trade, was, and still is, an important part of Port Colborne's economy. Port Colborne was a heavily industrial city throughout most of the early twentieth century. A grain elevator, two modern flour mills, a Vale nickel refinery, a cement plant and a blast furnace were major employers. Several of these operations have closed over the past thirty years, while others employ a lot less residents due to modernization and cutbacks.Port Colborne has been successful in attracting agro-business operations which process corn into products such as sweeteners and citric acid. The economy has gradually shifted towards tourism and recreation, taking advantage of the scenic beauty of the lakeshore.The Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum, located near the centre of town, is a resource for local history and archival research. In addition to a collection of historic buildings and artifacts, it opened up the "Marie Semley Research Wing" to foster research into local history; it was named to commemorate the long-standing efforts of a local resident who devoted hours to the museum.

Each photo I take that precedes a demolition, or a natural disaster such as a tornado or a fire, is meeting this aim of mine of Saving Our History One Photo at a Time. There are more than 100 towns already photographed which you can visit without moving from your comfortable chair in your living room. Dream about what it was like in those by-gone days. Dream about what it was like to live in a mansion like one of these. Sampler Book 2 has pictures from the following places in Ontario: Hagersville, Caledonia, Simcoe, Galt, Hespeler, Preston, Kitchener, St. Thomas, Stratford, Hanover, New Hamburg, Waterdown, Stoney Creek, Seaforth, Aberfoyle, Morriston, Eden Mills, Eramosa, Everton, and Fergus.Where would you like to travel to next?

Port Colborne is a city on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay after the shallow, bedrock-floored bay upon which it sits, dates from 1832 and was renamed after Sir John Colborne, a British war hero and the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada at the time of the opening of the southern terminus of the First Welland Canal in 1833 when it was extended to reach Lake Erie.During the 1880s, American tourists from the southern states began building vacation homes on the lakeshore of the western edge of the town. Before long, an entire gated community of vacationers from the south called Port Colborne their home during the summer months. Today, the picturesque street of Tennessee Avenue is still home to many of these original vacation homes and buildings, as well as the original stone and wrought iron resort gates. The street boasts some immaculately maintained examples of late 19th and early 20th century Southern architecture.The Welland Canal was originally established as a solution to summer water shortages that plagued a grist mill operation near St. Catharines. William Hamilton Merritt, the mill owner, diverted water from the Welland River into Twelve Mile Creek. He wanted to make the channel deep enough to allow boats to pass through a series of locks down the escarpment into Twelve Mile Creek and on to Lake Ontario.The International Nickel Company (now Vale) has been one of the city's main employers since the opening of a refinery in 1918. Taking advantage of inexpensive hydroelectricity from generating stations at nearby Niagara Falls, the refinery produced electro-refined nickel for the war effort, and continues in operation today.Port Colborne was one of the hardest hit communities during the blizzard of 1977. Thousands of people were stranded when the city was paralyzed during the storm.Maritime commerce, including supplying goods to the camps for the laborers who worked on the first canal, ship repair and the provisioning trade, was, and still is, an important part of Port Colborne's economy. Port Colborne was a heavily industrial city throughout most of the early twentieth century. A grain elevator, two modern flour mills, a Vale nickel refinery, a cement plant and a blast furnace were major employers. Several of these operations have closed over the past thirty years, while others employ a lot less residents due to modernization and cutbacks.Port Colborne has been successful in attracting agro-business operations which process corn into products such as sweeteners and citric acid. The economy has gradually shifted towards tourism and recreation, taking advantage of the scenic beauty of the lakeshore.The Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum, located near the centre of town, is a resource for local history and archival research. In addition to a collection of historic buildings and artifacts, it opened up the "Marie Semley Research Wing" to foster research into local history; it was named to commemorate the long-standing efforts of a local resident who devoted hours to the museum.

Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River close to the US-Canada border. To the south, across the river, is the United States and the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. These two communities were one city until a treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. Today the two cities are joined by the International Bridge. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.Before there was a Soo Locks, or even houses and stores, the place we call "the Sault" was a land covered by trees. The people living in this place called themselves "Anishinabeg," which means "The People." They were Woodland Indians whose homes, clothing, food and tools were all made from the plants and animals they found in the woods and water around them. Where the Soo Locks are today, the river that we now call the St. Marys had huge rocks scattered across it.French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than twenty feet from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes.Each spring several large canoes paddled by men from the Montreal area called voyageurs came to the Sault from Montreal. With the voyageurs, came traders from the large fur companies of Montreal and tons of goods to be traded for the furs that the Chippewas had trapped during the winter. Among the trade goods were guns, metal knives and traps, pots and pans, blankets, beads and cotton material. Beaver furs were used to make fashionable men's hats in Europe.

The Exchange District is in downtown Winnipeg just north of Portage and Main. It derives its name from the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the center of the grain exchange in Canada. The Exchange District is the historic center of commerce in Western Canada. The District developed from the banks of the Red River at the foot of Bannatyne and Dermot Avenues. Most commercial traffic came along the Red River from St. Paul, Minnesota where the nearest rail line passed. Goods were shipped to Winnipeg by steamer during high water in spring. The Canadian Pacific Railway built its transcontinental line through Winnipeg which arrived in 1881. Thousands of settlers came west from Europe and Eastern Canada to farm the land. Winnipeg business developed quickly to meet the needs of the growing western population. The Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange was founded in 1887 and within a few years Winnipeg was one of the world's fastest-growing grain centers. Winnipeg was also one of the largest rail centers in North America with twelve lines passing through the city by 1890 and there were over eighty wholesale businesses located in the District. Wholesale goods were shipped in from Lake Superior ports in the spring and grain was shipped out from Winnipeg to the Lakehead in the fall. The Exchange represented Canada throughout the world and it largely financed Winnipeg's growth. Together with a strong world economy supported by an increase in gold reserves, the Exchange attracted many British and Eastern Canadian banks, trust, insurance and mortgage companies to the District to do business.

The Exchange District is in downtown Winnipeg just north of Portage and Main. It derives its name from the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the center of the grain exchange in Canada. The Exchange District is the historic center of commerce in Western Canada. The District developed from the banks of the Red River at the foot of Bannatyne and Dermot Avenues. Most commercial traffic came along the Red River from St. Paul, Minnesota where the nearest rail line passed. Goods were shipped to Winnipeg by steamer during high water in spring.Through the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the city was linked to other major financial centers of London, Liverpool, New York and Chicago. Most Canadian financial institutions established their Western Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg and by 1910 there were almost twenty banking halls and offices on Main Street between City Hall and Portage Avenue. Many Winnipeg-based financial companies were also established.At the turn of the century, Chicago was the center of North American architecture. Louis Sullivan developed the first steel frame and reinforced concrete buildings. Sullivan used stone and terra cotta on the exterior, suspended by metal shelves bolted to the frame. He favored terra cotta with simple details which complimented rather than completely covered the surface as in earlier heavily-detailed styles. John D. Atchison was the foremost Chicago School architect in the city.St. Boniface is a Winnipeg neighborhood on the east side of the Red River. It is the heart of Franco-Manitoban culture, a place indelibly tied to the foundation of the province, a Western Canadian hub of francophone culture and an important site in the history of the M tis people. For much of its history the area was an independent municipality with its own culture and roots. St. Boniface has played a key role in the development and growth of Winnipeg. The architecture of St. Boniface embodies a wide span of cultural, religious and economic history.The area around the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers was a site for camping, trading and other activities by indigenous peoples. In the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries land to the west of the Red River had several European settlements, including Forts Rouge, Gibraltar and Douglas and the Red River Colony. The roots of the present St. Boniface can be found in these years. In the early-nineteenth century the area was settled by groups of M tis fur traders and mercenaries hired to protect the Red River Colony; the latter included the German-Swiss De Meurons regiment.In 1817 Jean-Baptiste Lagimodiere and his wife Marie-Anne Gaboury settled on Seine River lots granted to them by Lord Selkirk. They were the first white couple to settle in the northwest. They became the grandparents of Louis Riel. Near them settled the Des Meurons troops that Selkirk brought with him from Montreal to oppose the North West Company forces. In 1818-19 Father Provencher and Demoulin established here the first permanent school and mission in the west.

Winnipeg is located at the confluence of two rivers, the Assiniboine River and the Red River. The city sits amidst a vast flatland surrounded by hundreds of parks and lakes.The capital city of the Canadian province of Manitoba, Winnipeg has survived battles, uprisings and floods. It has come a long way since its days as a community of trading posts to become one of the most diversified economies in Canada. The city has a number of heritage sites which have earned it the title of Cultural Capital of Canada.One of the most loved fictional characters, Winnie-the-Pooh originated in Winnipeg. In 1914 an orphaned bear cub stole the heart of Canadian Lieutenant Coleburn, who bought it for $20 from a hunter who had shot the cub's mother. The cub was named Winnipeg and became the regimental mascot. When Coleburn travelled to Europe during World War I he smuggled "Winnie" into London, England. He left the bear at the London Zoo to avoid the stress of taking the cub back to Canada. A short time later English author A.A. Milne saw Winnipeg during a visit to the zoo and was struck by the cub's personality. Winnipeg the cub was Milne's inspiration for the creation of the character called WINNIE-THE-POOH. The statue of Winnipeg, the bear cub and Lieutenant Coleburn, can be found in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg.Academy Road runs from Maryland Bridge to Wellington Crescent, and intersects with Wellington. This is Winnipeg's business improvement zone and also one of the most exclusive districts in Winnipeg. This is where you can find exclusive designer boutiques, specialty food shops, luxury bath and beauty products, European fashions and footwear, among other things.

Lockport is a small community in Manitoba located twenty-eight kilometers north of the city of Winnipeg. The community is a part of both the Rural Municipalities of St. Andrews (west of the river), and St. Clements (east of the river). Lockport is an ancient settlement, predating European history by thousands of years. It is one of the oldest known settlements in Canada. Flocks of the North American White Pelican are often seen.The Red River Floodway joins the Red River just north of the dam. Architect H. E. Vantelet of Montr al designed the St. Andrews Lock and Dam. He chose the "Camere" style found in France and modified it for the unique circumstances of the Red River. Construction began in 1908. The bridge and locks at Lockport submerged the St. Andrews Rapids (a natural obstruction to the south) in order to make the Red River navigable through to Lake Winnipeg. The first ship to pass through the locks was the government steamer Victoria on May 2, 1910.We enjoyed lunch at the Half Moon Restaurant.South along River Road is St Andrews Church and Rectory. The Church is the oldest operating church in Western Canada.Kennedy House, also located on River Road in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, was built in 1866 for Captain William Kennedy using stones quarried from the Red River banks at nearby St. Andrews Rapids. The Gothic Revival style of the Kennedy House is architecturally distinctive, compared to the other old stone houses built in the Red River Settlement, which reflect Georgian influences. By contemporary Eastern Canadian or British standards Kennedy House was simple and unadorned. By Red River Settlement standards, however, it was very fashionable. William Kennedy (1814-1890) was an Arctic explorer, missionary, and a Hudson's Bay Company employee.

After European contact, the Assiniboine, Western Cree, Ojibwa and Sioux Indians all considered The Forks as their own territory. The Indian disputes and the fur trade rivalries made fortification necessary for occupation.1730-1760 - The fur trade brought the French into the region. Their only attempt at a permanent settlement near The Forks was Fort Rouge built in 1738. The Forks continued to serve as a rendezvous and distribution point for the fur trade but the site was only moderately important compared to other fur trade places in the West.1810 - The North West Company of Traders out of Montreal built Fort Gibraltar.1813 - The Hudson's Bay Company formalized their competition by building Fort Douglas. It also served as protection for the Selkirk Colony which arrived in 1812. The fort was destroyed by the Nor'westers and their Metis allies in 1815 and rebuilt in 1816.1816 - Fort Gibraltar was dismantled and burned by Governor Semple just prior to his death in the Seven Oaks Massacre. It was rebuilt in 1817.1813-1819 - The Hudson's Bay Company built at least three trading posts at The Forks including Fidler's Fort.1821 - The amalgamation between the Nor'westers and the Hudson's Bay Company ended the time of conflict. The focus of trade returned to Fort Gibraltar which was renamed Fort Garry.1824 - Fort Douglas remained the residence of the Governor until 1824 when it was moved alongside Fort Garry.1826 - Both forts were seriously damaged by the flood and were abandoned.1831 - Lower Fort Garry was built twenty miles north of The Forks.1834 - Work started at Upper Fort Garry which was the last fort to be constructed at The Forks.By the early 1850s Upper Fort Garry was at its peak of activity. York boat brigades arrived and departed, trade goods were produced and sold, and around it the settlement grew. To meet the increased demands on the facilities, in 1853 the walls of the fort were extended north to enclose the site of two large stone warehouses. Unlike the original walls which were made entirely of stone, the northern extension was of large oak timbers.Despite the Upper Fort's expanding role as a major transhipment center, the Hudson's Bay Company's jurisdiction in Rupert's Land increasingly came under attack. By the 1860s within the settlement itself, the small 'Canadian Party' became a vocal supporter of annexation to Canada. Meanwhile the Metis feared an influx of Protestant, English speaking Canadians if they were legally and politically absorbed by Canada. In October 1869 the Metis organized a "National Committee" led by Louis Riel and John Bruce. A month later the Metis seized Upper Fort Garry without a shot being fired. From the transformed mess house, Louis Riel led his provisional government and negotiated with the Canadian government. Riel and his followers remained in occupation of Fort Garry for the duration of the winter and well into the summer of 1870. Although forced to flee upon the arrival of the Wolseley expedition in August 1870, Louis Riel and his supporters had laid the groundwork for the admission of the new province of Manitoba into the Canadian Confederation.A large bend in the Assiniboine River creates the relatively isolated residential district of Armstrong's Point which was developed as a suburban haven for well-to-do families in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The land was granted by the Hudson's Bay Company to Joseph Hill, who came to Red River in 1849 at the head of a group of pensioners. The first home was built on what is now East Gate in about 1882. Between that year and 1920 most of the large, stately homes that give the district its distinctive atmosphere were built.

Winnipeg sits in the south of the province of Manitoba at the confluence of the Assiniboine River and the Red River. The city sits amidst a vast flatland surrounded by hundreds of parks and lakes. Lake Winnipeg is one of the largest lakes in the world. The province is bordered by Ontario on the East and by Saskatchewan on the West.Winnipeg is the capital city of the Canadian province of Manitoba; it has survived battles, uprisings and floods. Winnipeg's downtown areas are centered on Portage Avenue and Main Street, bounded by Balmoral and Colony Streets, on the west and Logan Avenue, and Princess Street on the north. The Assiniboine River runs along the south and the Red River on the east.The area known as "muddy waters" or Winipek to the Algonquin was populated by North American Native tribes long before Europeans set foot on the land. The natives used the land for basic survival by fishing and hunting, agriculture, tool making and trading.When Europeans arrived, French and British settlers set up trading posts and fought to defend their interests. The union of Europeans and the local natives resulted in mixed race offspring known as the M tis. The role of the M tis as interpreters and mediators was fundamental for the development of the colony. The M tis and the British were in competition over the trade. When all uprisings were eventually subdued and disputes were settled, Manitoba became a province in the three-year old Canadian Confederation.Winnipeg grew rapidly when the Canadian Pacific Railway was built and by 1911 it was the third-largest in the country. Over the years Winnipeg's economy has had to face several challenges, the 1980s recession and the impending threat of flooding from the Red River and yet it has managed to maintain a strong economy.

'The Gateway to the West' and 'The Chicago of the North' were two of the phrases used to describe Winnipeg's future in the heady days of the late nineteenth century. Especially important in Winnipeg's phenomenal growth was its role as middleman between eastern Canadian manufacturers and their new markets in what would become Alberta and Saskatchewan. As waves of homesteaders from central Canada and many European countries poured into Canada's prairies, dry goods, hardware and groceries all became increasingly important for the consumers, the manufacturers and Winnipeg's warehousemen and wholesalers, and it became increasingly important for Winnipeg's wholesalers to have railway connections both to receive raw materials and stock and to ship goods to western markets.The Exchange District is a well-established and vibrant neighborhood in Winnipeg. It features a large and well-preserved collection of heritage buildings which include huge stone and brick warehouses, elegant terracotta-clad buildings, narrow angled streets and cobblestone paths. The Exchange District is an arts and cultural hub which features a thriving film, arts and music scene with many studios, art spaces, festivals and events.The Exchange District is in downtown Winnipeg just north of Portage and Main. It derives its name from the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the center of the grain exchange in Canada. The Exchange District is the historic center of commerce in Western Canada. The District developed from the banks of the Red River at the foot of Bannatyne and Dermot Avenues. Most commercial traffic came along the Red River from St. Paul, Minnesota where the nearest rail line passed. Goods were shipped to Winnipeg by steamer during high water in spring.The Canadian Pacific Railway built its transcontinental line through Winnipeg which arrived in 1881. Thousands of settlers came west from Europe and Eastern Canada to farm the land. Winnipeg business developed quickly to meet the needs of the growing western population. The Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange was founded in 1887 and within a few years Winnipeg was one of the world's fastest-growing grain centers. Winnipeg was also one of the largest rail centers in North America with twelve lines passing through the city by 1890 and there were over eighty wholesale businesses located in the District. Wholesale goods were shipped in from Lake Superior ports in the spring and grain was shipped out from Winnipeg to the Lakehead in the fall. The Exchange represented Canada throughout the world and it largely financed Winnipeg's growth. Together with a strong world economy supported by an increase in gold reserves, the Exchange attracted many British and Eastern Canadian banks, trust, insurance and mortgage companies to the District to do business.

Winnipeg is located at the confluence of two rivers, the Assiniboine River and the Red River. The city sits amidst a vast flatland surrounded by hundreds of parks and lakes.The capital city of the Canadian province of Manitoba, Winnipeg has survived battles, uprisings and floods. It has come a long way since its days as a community of trading posts to become one of the most diversified economies in Canada. The city has a number of heritage sites which have earned it the title of Cultural Capital of Canada.One of the most loved fictional characters, Winnie-the-Pooh originated in Winnipeg. In 1914 an orphaned bear cub stole the heart of Canadian Lieutenant Coleburn, who bought it for $20 from a hunter who had shot the cub's mother. The cub was named Winnipeg and became the regimental mascot. When Coleburn travelled to Europe during World War I he smuggled "Winnie" into London, England. He left the bear at the London Zoo to avoid the stress of taking the cub back to Canada. A short time later English author A.A. Milne saw Winnipeg during a visit to the zoo and was struck by the cub's personality. Winnipeg the cub was Milne's inspiration for the creation of the character called WINNIE-THE-POOH. The statue of Winnipeg, the bear cub and Lieutenant Coleburn, can be found in Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg.Academy Road runs from Maryland Bridge to Wellington Crescent, and intersects with Wellington. This is Winnipeg's business improvement zone and also one of the most exclusive districts in Winnipeg. This is where you can find exclusive designer boutiques, specialty food shops, luxury bath and beauty products, European fashions and footwear, among other things.The Manitoba Legislative Building, erected in 1913-20, is a monumental reinforced concrete, steel and stone structure on a formal landscaped site between Broadway and the Assiniboine River in downtown Winnipeg. The pinnacle of Beaux-Arts Classical architecture in the province is an imposing seat of government symbolic of local strength and vitality and of the import of the official functions that occur within its walls. The solid, massive edifice, which dominates its expansive site and is visible from various vantages, is a disciplined expression of classical Greek Revival styling crowned by a symbol of youth and enterprise, the Golden Boy, graced by allegorical and historical ornament, and proudly wrapped in local Tyndall limestone.