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Shorts in March?

19 Mar

Yes, you read that title right. So, you’re probably saying, “it’s March, in the northwestern Ontario…what is he thinking?” Well, I’ve never worn shorts in March, but there’s a first time for everything right? I guess it all started last week when we were in Minneapolis and the mercury climbed to +18C; things only got better from there! Yesterday the temperature rose to +21 and I couldn’t help myself…actually I got too hot in pants. So I broke out the shorts and made history! Needless to say I feel very proud of my accomplishment. I even Tweeted about it 🙂

Today unfortunately it was back to work and boy was I dragging! Teaching is a great profession with some good holiday time, but coming back from vacation is always tough. This is especially difficult when you have to jump right back into the swing of things such as the Battle of Passchendaele and the Enlightenment. I’m certainly going to sleep well tonight!

Now speaking of sleeping, there are only 15 more sleeps until Europe! Can you tell I’m excited? Tomorrow I am having the final meeting with the travellers and their parents, so the reality is really setting in. Last week I picked up a new suitcase and some travel adapters so I think I’m ready roll. I am a little concerned with the current Air Canada labour issues, but fingers crossed everything will be okay.

I’ve been looking at our hotels and where we are heading from those locations. After our two days in Paris, we move to Rouen from which we visit Dieppe and Juno Beach. Then we’re on to Amiens which is close to the Beaumont Hamel and Ypres, as well as the culmination of the trip, Vimy. On paper they seem so far away, but they are really only an hour to an hour and half apart. Anyway, enough about that; you’ll be reading about it soon.

So, what about the railway? Well, there’s a lot to report on that front. I worked more on the article last week and I’ve almost reached 2800 words. I’ll try to get more writing done tomorrow and hopefully I can wrap things up next week. Since I’m almost done, I need to start thinking about pictures and maps for the article. I think I’ve got the pictures covered, but I’ll need to try and find some decent maps. I might have to make a few phone calls and see what I can dig up.

Last week I also received some good news regarding my presentation at the Chik-Wauk Museum. After the exchanging a few emails with Ada from the museum, I’ve been confirmed for Sunday, August 5th at 2:00 pm CST. I will be talking about the railway and the Paulson Mine…obviously pretty pumped for this event! It’s been a while since I did a public lecture on the railway so I’m great to get back into the saddle so to speak.

I managed to get that Wikipedia article on Leeblain finished as well. Quite proud of myself; it was actually a bit of work to put that together, especially with all the research involved (well, more like digging through my files). Maybe this will lead to more Wikipedia stuff, though I don’t want to get too carried away…I have anough on my plate. Paulson Mine next?

Joseph Fisher Eby

For my closing comments I thought I’d mention the busy week this is going to be in the history of the railway. Here’s the list:

Thursday-Gunflint Lake Iron Company is organized in 1892 by John Paulson, Kristian Kortgaard and Orrin D. Kinney

Friday-Investor Joseph F. Eby is born in Berlin, ON in 1844 and Canadian Northern VP Donald Mann is born in Acton, ON in 1853

Saturday-the last train runs on the Canadian National Railway-North Lake Sub-Division in 1938

Of all the events, the last is probably the most important, but I`ll save my comments for next week.

Until then…

 
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Posted by on March 19, 2012 in Miscellaneous, Research, Writing

 

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March break already?

05 Mar

Wow, we’re a week away from the break and it feels like the semester just started. The last four weeks have flown by! I guess like the saying says “time flies when you’re having fun.” I wouldn’t say that it has been all fun, but I’ve certainly enjoyed the last month. My classes are settling in and hopefully this one absence per week craziness will abate.

I’m certainly looking forward to the break and I know my boys are very excited. Our usual March break routine involves a trip to the States, with stops in Minneapolis and Duluth. Last year we tried driving through to Minnie from home on Friday after work, which is a tiring 6 hour slog. However the trade-off is well worth it, leaving us more time in Minneapolis to shop and have fun. I know the boys are pumped to visit the Lego store in the Mall of America, since there are new sets to be had. I must admit that Dad is excited to check-out the new X-Wing and Y-Wing too! We have to throw in some stops for mom at the Albertville Outlet and every Kohl`s we can find, as well as celebrating Ethan`s 7th birthday at the Rainforest Café. Then it`s off to Duluth for a few days before heading home.

Now speaking of travel, the calendar tells me that we leave for Europe and Vimy Ridge in 29 days! It`s hard to believe that it`s coming up so fast…kinda makes me a bit nervous. I think that I`m taking care of things as they come up, but there`s always that bit of the fear of the unknown. Things will be fine, but I want to make sure it`s all done right.

I know that I`m very pumped to go and I`m sure the kids are equally excited. Our slick jackets arrived on Friday, black for me and red for the kids; I think that we will certainly look good if anything else. I`ve definitely made up my mind to take the Playbook with me to blog, which I will hopefully do on a daily basis. Camera, video camera, Blackberry, tablet…I`ll having everything covered in detail for sure!

Last week I did spend quite a bit of time working on the article. I’m now up to 1800 words, which is just short of the limit for my portion. I think that I’m going to have to do a bit of trimming when all is said and done to stay below 2500 words. I actually pretty excited up for this article since it will be my first published work and it will allow me to say that I’m a “historian.” The most important part however, is the valuable experience it will provide me with in the area of historical writing.

It’s also great that I’m re-visiting some of the research that I did many years ago. There is so much information associated with this project there are many things that I had forgotten; it almost like I am relearning the material all over again. It is certainly helping me understand the history of the railway in a completely new perspective. Maybe historical research, like life, is about maturity. The older and more experienced you get, the more things make sense. In a few years I’ll really be smart!

Obviously the writing left little time for research, and I doubt I’ll get much done this week. A break is good too, time to recharge and refocus. Makes me think of how many hats one has to wear when doing investigation of this nature. I really want to get to that High Court of Justice file at the Archives of Ontario because it contains a plethora of information. However I feel as if I need a lawyer to help me interpret some of the material! I guess you can’t be an expert at everything, but one can try. I’m not a civil engineer, nor have I ever built a railway, but comprehending the intricacies of it is critical. Therefore my current bedtime reading is a book on how to construct a railway…its scandalous!

Anyway, time to go. Next week’s blog will be on location in Minneapolis.

 
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Posted by on March 5, 2012 in Miscellaneous, Research, Writing

 

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The Alberta Clipper Strikes Back!

27 Feb

So I awoke this morning to a winter wonderland. We had the pleasure of being hit by an Alberta Clipper yesterday, which is a very fast-moving weather system that packs quite the punch (follow the link if you don’t trust me). The clipper apparently dumped 32cm snow according to the media, which unfortunately was not enough to close the schools. The trend lately is to cancel the busing, but leave the schools open. The side effect, in high schools at least, is that hardly anyone shows up.

So after clearing a path at the end of the driveway to get out, I drove to work with the truck in 4×4 (always fun). I had a meeting for part of the morning at

My front yard after the Clipper, Feb 2012.

the board office, but then I spent the rest of the day marking. I guess that was okay, but I would have rather been at home. There’s still hope though; forecasts are calling for another possible dump in a few days. Maybe they’ll call in the army like they did in Toronto in 1999!

Now in case you’re wondering (again) why the title, I was trying to think of something clever to do with the weather. This weekend my boys watched a couple of Star Wars movies while my wife and I worked on the basement and it just popped into my head. Now speaking of the basement, there was no trip up the mountain this weekend because we finally got around to installing the laminate floor. Jo-Anne and I started this basement reno (really a completion since we didn’t have it finished when we built the house) in 2009 and we’re now approaching the end. All that is left after this is the baseboard and trim around the windows (in the rec room only-office needs furniture and the bathroom is unfinished).

I’d never installed laminate floor before, so this was quite the learning experience. It took us almost 3 hours on Saturday just to get the pad down, but once that was done things moved fairly quickly. There were lots of cuts to make, especially angled cuts, which was a bit tedious. My wife really flexed her handy-lady skills, laying the boards while I did the cutting. We managed to get the rec room done by last night; now we just have to do the office and stairs and the floor is in. The only downside of this whole process is that I am extremely sore today-I guess I used a lot of muscles that I don’t normally do. The hour of snow blowing after school didn’t loosen them up either!

You would think that with all of these things going on that there was very little railway work, but I did manage to make time for that too. I spent a few hours working on the article in the middle of the week and I made good headway. I am now up to 1300 words, which is more than halfway through my portion of the article. It’s also a perfect spot, since it gives me a lot of room to write about the building of railway. There is still the struggle about what to include and what to leave out, but I am feeling a lot better regarding the directions things are headed in. In the end this process will give me some excellent experience writing for a historical audience and maybe it will lead to more opportunities in the future.

I’m hoping to have a rough draft ready for Lee to take a look at in a few weeks as I know that I will be busy as spring approaches. The calendar tells me that I depart with the students for Europe and Vimy Ridge in 36 days. It’s hard to believe that the date is so close; I think that I am on top of everything but I still feel apprehensive. My jitters probably stem from my lack of experience and that I want to make sure everything is done properly. I did decide that I would like to take my Playbook with me so I can blog along the way; almost like a travelling journal (Playbook OS 2.0 is pretty awesome btw). I’ll be sure to confirm if the tablet will make the trip for sure before I leave. I definitely will have my phone with me so I can post to my Twitter wherever we are ( @Padwrr ).

With my limited time I also accomplished my usual spat of research, probing whatever ideas jumped into my head. This week it was information about efforts to link the railway to Duluth during the Canadian Northern years prior to WWI. I also dug-up a few articles on the planned reconstruction of the abandoned rail line to the Paulson Mine in 1921. It seems as though there is always something new to discover. What will this week hold?

Anyway, guess I should wrap things up. Until next week…

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2012 in Miscellaneous, Research, Writing

 

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I don’t think tapping my head will work…

13 Feb

So believe it or not, I had no idea how to start this week’s blog. Wow, I must really be tired or my brain is seriously not working. It seems ironic since quite a bit has gone on in the past week, but I just can’t seem to organize my thoughts. Well, since I told myself that I would do this once a week when I starting blogging, I should try to come up with something. That’s why I feel like Winnie the Pooh…you know when he’s trying to remember something and he’s tapping his head and saying “think, think.”

Last week I wrote about the start of the new semester and a week later things are going well. I like my new classes; the kids seem pretty good and I hope they are enjoying history (even if they are not particularly history people). This is my 12th year teaching the Gr.10 Canadian history and you would think that it would get boring or dull after all those years, but I’m surprisingly not there yet (I teach at least three sections of this class each year).  Maybe that’s a good sign; I guess I still love what I do and I’m enthusiastic about teaching kids about history. Only 16 more years to go…

Speaking of work, this week is another in a series of short weeks that seem to be popping up lately. Last week it was preparing for our school’s annual open house for Gr.8 students; on Friday I will be in Minneapolis for our fourth visit to the Glazier football clinic. Other than the 6 hour road trip, for which I always get stuck in the driver’s seat, it is a pretty awesome weekend. College and pro speakers, coaches from all over the mid-west, Ontario and Manitoba…what’s not to like? Maybe I’ll try and do a quick mini-blog while I’m there. For certain I will have some comments to make for next week’s ramblings.

Me, photographed by my son Ethan.

Since I’m away this week, I tried to spend as much time as I could with my boys Ethan and Noah on the weekend. On Saturday we took in the 3D version of Star Wars Episode I; yes, I know, not the best of the series but my kids liked it (meesa liked it too!). It was pretty cool in 3D; makes me look forward to seeing all the other episodes! On Sunday we were up the mountain for the first time in a few weeks. It was bright and sunny and the weather was great. We pushed a little further and made it to the Loch Lomond overlook. I think the boys enjoyed it too, though they like to complain on the way up. The way down on the other hand was a completely a different story, with dad struggling to keep up!

Well, I guess I should say something about the railway since it is the theme of this blog. Last night I finally managed to get some work done on the article. I’m still finding it a tough go though; hammering out 200, 300 words was a bit of a chore. I only have 2500 words to work with, so it’s hard to figure out what to include and still try to make sense. I figure I’ll write it how I think it should read and then if I need to later, do some cutting. The only thing that worries me is that if I’m having this much trouble now, what am I going to do when I’m writing a whole book? Maybe it will get better with age…I hope.

The usual routine of research continued last week unabated. I’m still probing the nooks and crannys of Google Books, meeting with some success and disappointment. I’ve actually accumulated quite the list of books and articles that I need to find in hard copy. Again its weird how one wanders from topic to topic. On Friday I found myself researching the story of Æmilius Jarvis; I can’t even remember how I got on to that subject. Maybe it was because I was thinking about the sale of the railway. Jarvis was the successful sealed bidder for the railway when it was sold in 1899. A seemingly inauspicious purchaser, though his family connections make it quite the interesting story. Perhaps I will enjoy writing this book 🙂

Until next week, may the force be with you!

 
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Posted by on February 13, 2012 in Miscellaneous, Research, Writing

 

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Take Two

06 Feb

So today was the first day of semester two, hence the “take two” title. It is also my 14th second semester start-up…wow, I’m getting old! That being said, as a teacher I always like the start of second semester, since it means that we are now on the downward slide toward summer. Before you know it the snow will be gone and the days will be long and warm. And then I’ll be on vacation for two months! There is however a lot that needs to happen before that point; five months of teaching, assessment for learning, Vimy Ridge trip, spring football camp…yikes. I’m sure though, when all is said and done, it will be one huge blur!

Speaking of football, yesterday was the Superbowl. There are no numbers yet, but I would assume that millions of people around the world watched the game. I host an annual party for my friends; the food and the company certainly make for a great time. Unfortunately, I was not particularly pleased with the result. I’m no New England lover, but as a long-time Cowboys fan, I could never bring myself to cheer for anyone in the NFC East; well, except if they were playing the Steelers. I HATE the Steelers…hate! So the only downside of a Giants win has been the ribbing I’ve been taking from my wife. Now, let me clarify that my wife hates football with a passion, but somehow she decided she should cheer for someone other than Dallas. So she picked New York, not because they are a division rival, but because they are Jon Bon’s team. So she has been taunting me that her “team” won despite the fact that she has never watched a game in her life! She claims that I’m just sour because she was right…why can’t I just pick random stuff and have it work out for me?

Now that the new semester has started and things will be fairly quiet for the next few weeks, I am hoping to get more work done on the article. I promised my writing partner Lee last week that I would get more words done, but as usual it didn’t work out that way. I did however find a bit of information that I needed for my portion of the article on top of the regular dosage of new research I accumulate on a weekly basis. I was able to track down that critical document from the library in Kansas City, though it was quite the ordeal getting it (probably the most expensive article I’ve ever paid for). I’ve also managed to get most of those stacks from my last post filed in their appropriate folders; I think I need a larger filing cabinet! I’ve almost filled an entire drawer and most of the folders are stretched to the max. At what point does a project become an obsession?

I guess with the thoughts of summer has come some thoughts about the forthcoming season of field work. I’ve always been a firm believer that a project like this cannot be accomplished at a desk alone; you need to get your hands dirty…literally. There is so much to be learned about the character of the railway from these hikes. Besides, it’s great exercise and I love the outdoors. The fieldwork also serves another purpose, which is to document what remains of the railway before some of these landmarks disappear completely. I hope to be on Gunflint at some point this summer in addition to the little day explorations that usually go on. I’ve also given some thought about getting back to the Paulson Mine area to probe the course of the railway near the second switchback (next year?). However, my most ambitious plan is to examine the planned railway route between Gunflint and Ely, MN. When the railway was completed in 1893 there remained approximately 45 miles between the two locations; the link was never completed due to the geography. I really want to see it first-hand so I have that information for my book. The Kekekabic Trail does parallel the route, but it is not the exact thing, so I’m not sure how to tackle it. I’ll have to stew on it a bit…much to ponder.

Until next week.

 
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Posted by on February 6, 2012 in Miscellaneous, Research, Writing

 

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Technology: The good, the bad…

30 Jan

The ugly? Haha. I think this title appropriately sums up the week I’ve had and how technology has flavoured it, both positively and negatively.

I always say that technology is a double-edged sword; great when it works and a pain when it doesn’t (I guess so does everyone else). I experienced both, but it’s funny that technology usually picks the worse time to fail. For me it was on Thursday, which was the first day of semester 1 exams. For the last few years I have been using response technology on the multiple choice sections of my exams. While there is some inherent laziness, since I do not have to mark, the “clickers” allow me to analyze the data and use it to improve my teaching/questioning. Last year I switched to a new system, the CPS Pulse by eInstruction. Everything went fine, as did the trial run I did on the Monday before the exam. However, when my period 1 class arrived (Grade 10 Canadian History, Academic/AP split), the program would crash when I tried to activate it. After many restarts and failures, I told the students to go to plan “B” and use the answer sheet. Shortly thereafter, it started working. ????? There were a few choice words muttered to myself but I was glad it was working (worked fine for the most part for the next 2 exams).

On the upside, there were some great things that technology did for me on the research front. I have spoken before about how great the digitization of old books has been and the impact it has had on researchers like myself.  This past week has been a flurry of discoveries, which unfortunately had an impact on the article writing I was supposed to do (sorry Lee). However, I could not resist the temptation to continuing digging, which is clearly more my forte than writing. I began probing a site that I had visited before, but now I’ve realized that there is way more material available than I initially thought. Hathi Trust has been an absolute gold mine of information and I continue to find more and more material (I was just on it prior to writing this and looking up Poor’s and Moody’s Railroad Manuals). You must download each page individually, but that isn’t such a terrible problem since you never really need more than a few pages from each book or article. Everything has not been entirely perfect, as there are a few sources that are not available even in a digital format. Take for example the 1897, Volume 67 issue of Railway News which has some very important information. It cannot be downloaded and the closest library that has copies is in Kansas City (1250km from my house in case you’re wondering). I’ve tried to get a copy from that library, which hopefully works.

The one by-product of all this new research is that it has left me with stacks of paper that needed to be properly filed. They have been accumulating for a few months now and on the weekend I decided it was time to organize it all. I ended up with 21 piles of paper; I couldn’t resist taking a photo. It started me thinking about the time and money I’ve devoted to this project. There are hours on the internet, in the library and in particular tromping through the bush in the heat and bugs doing field work. Cost? I can’t even begin to calculate what I’ve spent on printing, gas and in the “old” days postage and film developing. Some people golf, some people drink…I research a “dead” railway (that’s what my wife calls it). We all have our vices right?

So speaking of this vice of mine, I finally decided to try to complete some of the critical research that needs to be done before I can contemplate any real writing. For years I have been making plans to visit the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa where some of the most important railway files are located. I also need to go back to the Archives of Ontario in Toronto and re-examine some of the material I looked at in 1999. I am very fortunate that my job allows me to take a deferred salary leave and pursue this goal. Therefore, if everything goes smoothly, I will be off from February to September 2016! I know it is a long way away, but I’m sort of excited already. Now the big decision is going to be how many days do I need in each city?

I guess the last thing I will leave off with this week is the fact that there are some really great people who share my interest in the railway. In the past few weeks I have received some awesome pictures of the railway and some of its associated history. First was a picture from Brett showing an aerial view of Trestle Bay on North Lake, where you can clearly see the pilings left from when the 1000 foot bridge burned c.1909. Today it was a series of pictures from Don of the old Bishop’s property also on North Lake. North Lake is a bit of special place for me as it was where I first encountered the railway way back in 1990. The photos showed the old Bishop’s cabin where I stayed on my first moose hunting trip. It also makes me think about how fragile history is and how quickly it moves and changes. Maybe this is what motivates and drives me; just as these gentlemen have shared history with me, I want to share history with others. Until next week…

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2012 in Miscellaneous, Research, Writing

 

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