Chapter 32
A Trip To Churchill

It is necessary for me to go back now to the summer of 1983 when I returned to Midale in June. For many years I had wanted to visit Churchill, Manitoba and witness the arrival of the first boat to load grain. I contacted the Richert Travel Service in Regina and made arrangements for reservations, train ticket and motel room at Churchill.

It was a very warm day in southern Saskatchewan traveling from Regina to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The air-conditioner on the train was out of service so the only remedy was to open all the doors in the passenger coaches. It did cool the air some but it also let in the diesel exhaust, it was a rather smelly experience. I disembarked at Portage la Prairie rather than ride to Winnipeg in that. The train for Churchill would come back about 7.00 p.m. It was an all night ride to Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan where it became daylight, and then on to The Pas, Manitoba where the train stopped for servicing, refueling and breakfast. We were now far removed from the prairie and into more or less heavy bush country. It was interesting traveling but slow at times, although nothing like it was further on where the track bed was uneven. It was amusing to watch the coach ahead sway back and forth, I suppose the coach I rode on zigged one way when the one ahead zagged the opposite way. It was only a short distance north of The Pas where we traveled quite a distance along Cormorant Lake. The lake reached clear to the horizons to the west. About three or four o'clock that afternoon we reached the detour to Thompson, Manitoba. The train switched to the west and it took at least thirty minutes to reach the town of Thompson. Here the train was serviced and maybe also changed train crew. It was there almost an hour. Two other fellows and I decided we'd walk downtown, a good half mile from the train station. We had a look around Main Street, grabbed a bite to eat and had to hurry back to get on board. It was quite slow traveling in this area. I can't remember the names of the settlements but they were quite far apart. The train was met by an assortment of people, and always lots of dogs. Most of the people getting on or off were natives. The last stop that night that I remember was just after midnight. When we were moving again I fell asleep and slept until daylight. When I awoke there was a young man in the seat ahead of me and we struck up a conversation. I wanted some information on who to see in Churchill about getting around to see the sights. He recommended I look up John Hicks, this man owned a motel way down by the river, a half mile from downtown. My directions were reversed when I got off the train. east was west and it was rather startling to see the sun come up in the west. On my way downtown I saw an RCMP office and stopped in there for more information. On coming out, my directions had recovered and I had to reorient myself. At last I arrived at my motel, unpacked, put on some casual clothes and went to find breakfast and see the town. The every day population of Churchill at that time was scarcely 200 people. During the shipping season from August through November it is slightly higher because of the staff needed to load boats of grain from the terminal elevators. Living accommodation for travelers is provided by a hotel, at least two motels and a couple of extra cafes. The motel I stayed at, which was then owned by the same people that owned the hotel, was a relatively new building, while the hotel was quite old. The meals served were for the most part very good. I didn't care much for Arctic Char fish, but then that is just one person's opinion. Most of the first day I spent looking through what is called the Eskimo museum, not a very big place but really interesting. It is partly owned by the Federal government. The last place had many artifacts and a place to show films. I stayed to see at least two very interesting films. One was quite detailed about the living habits of polar bears. At the conclusion of this film the statement was made that if anyone had problems with the bears, it was usually the man who was out of place and responsible. At that time of year (early August) the bears were quite shy and it was difficult to get very close to them. A group of visitors including myself boarded a small bus and had a tour around the vicinity, sometimes three or four miles out of town. We saw many things that can't be seen except in the north. The first thing I noticed on waking up while still on the train several miles out of Churchill were the small trees, another name for it is "The Land of Little Sticks". Most of the trees were less than ten feet tall. The owner of one of the public buildings was planting some shrubs one afternoon and I watched the proceedings. These were planted very close to the building, the shrubs were probably three feet high. The hole for planting was barely 18 inches deep, whether this was because of hard "pan" or permafrost, I'm not sure which. One building I should have toured was the school, hospital and sports complex. It is a huge building and would have been very interesting I am sure. On Saturday, my second and last day I went out with John Hicks and a group from Iowa. They were a middle-aged married couple and three nephews, probably fourteen to eighteen John's boat was five or six feet wide and twenty-four feet long, there were seven of us. The people from Iowa wanted to photograph some Beluga whales. I had never carried a camera and surely missed not having one along. The big whales were white and easily seen but we didn't ever get very close to them. However, the young ones, grey in color were quite easy to get close to. They took many snap shots and when that was accomplished. John cut the motor and let the boat drift. The young whales would come right alongside the boat, three and four at a time. The boat was too big for one to reach the water by hand or we could have easily touched them. John Hicks said the mouth of the Churchill River was two miles wide. We went to the far side to see the Bay where Samuel Hearne is supposed to have tied up his boats a few hundred years ago. At one point we were far enough up river that the terminal elevator looked like a matchbox, I suppose we were four or five miles from town. That afternoon we were planning to all go to a fort, I'm not sure of the name, Prince of Wales, I believe, built and abandoned long ago. John phoned the RCMP for permission to go up there, but they said "no" there were too many bears at the time.

The first boat was to arrive about the fifth of August. Unfortunately there were ice problems in Davis Strait and it arrived one or two days late. My travel itinerary was for me to arrive there on Friday morning and depart on Saturday evening. The boat arrived on Sunday afternoon, so "I missed the boat" that time.

The return trip left Churchill just at dusk and we traveled through the same areas in the dark and daylight as we did going up, so there were long distances not seen. I rode all the way to Winnipeg, arriving there on the second morning of travel. We had breakfast at The Pas the first morning. The Union Depot in Winnipeg is quite and imposing structure, I enjoyed looking it over in detail. The train left there after 9:00 a.m. and arrived in Regina at 7:00 p.m. I had seen Churchill, a few Eskimos, polar bears and Beluga whales.