Is frightful the correct metaphor? Maybe. Probably the more appropriate term would be weird, or possibly inconsistent. What about unpredictable or erratic? Eccentric? Illogical? Not sure how those terms mesh with the opening lines of the song; “Oh the weather outside is erratic?” However, I think those represent the situation much better. Why you ask? Well, you know that you’re gonna have to keep reading.

Hey, it’s Christmas break kids. Actually, it’s Christmas Day today, so Merry Christmas! It doesn’t quite feel like feel like it though, since our school year took us right up to the 23^rd before vacation started. More than anything, it’s nice to be off as it’s been a very tiring few weeks. With the late timing, it means that we’ll have a whole week after New Years. I guess that it is fortuitous, as I have a literal mountain of marking that needs to be done before we go back. Bah humbug!

So I as I sit here and write this, we are bracing for a potentially large dump of snow. They are calling for high winds and possibly freezing rain. Yay! As I mentioned in the intro, the weather has been a complete mess the last month. In my previous post, I wrote how it was +17C on Sunday, which was followed by a winter storm less than a week later. A few weeks after that, it was so mild that we received 80mm of rain that washed all the snow away and caused flooding. Then the temperatures dropped for a whole week with windchills in the -20s and -30s. The last few days we’ve been hovering around 0C; there’s no global warming right?

December 2016 Temperatures.

With the two-week break from work, I am hoping to get some work done on the railway front. I haven’t been able to do much recently with everything that has been going on. I have managed a little research, but nothing too strenuous. Those efforts have yielded some excellent results though, namely the discovery of a photo of what purports to be the Pigeon River Lumber Company (PRLC) mill in Fort William circa 1900-1901. If it is in fact the PRLC mill in Fort William, it had to be taken between late 1900 and early 1902 as the company left the old Graham and Horne Lumber site in the spring of 1902 for a new location in Port Arthur.

Pigeon River Lumber Company Mill, Fort William, ON c. 1900

In the coming months, my goal is to begin work on what I hope will be a book on the PRLC and the Gunflint & Lake Superior Railroad. My research on this topic is winding down and it is time to start putting information into words. I am very nervous though, as writing is not my forte compared with research. I did manage to do a decent job on my last foray into academia, so I have the utmost confidence in myself. However, that was just an essay and not a full-fledged book. This is literally a step into the unknown and maybe that is what is the source of my apprehension.

On January 24^th I’ll be giving my first lecture of 2017 at the Thunder Bay Museum. I have been looking forward to this presentation for quite some time, as it will the Thunder Bay premier for this intriguing chapter of local history. Hopefully it will also generate interest in the Gunflint & Lake Superior Railroad ahead of my writing sessions. You can read more about this topic here.

Anyway, I better go. I still have a turkey hangover and need a serious nap. I’ll be back soon enough with the latest news. Until then…