Gilles Depot
A Temiskaming Journal
by Peter Fancy
From its earliest years of Matabanick fur trading and portage days, the Gilles Depot story moves through shanty camp cutting times when the Gilles Brothers Company harvested its Montreal River timber limits. In 1903, the same year when Temiskaming & Northern Ontario (TNO) railway workers were exposing silver at Cobalt, Gilles Depot was taking shape at the ancient Matabanick Trail departure point on the Montreal River. In 1904 provincial surveyors mapped the new Township of Coleman.
The railway company placed a section house at the Depot site, then a railway station. Gilles Company started a public school which would last for thrity years. Prospectors scoured the surrounding bushfor minerals. The Booth Lumber Company built a barking plant upriver. And once completed in 1928, the province's Ferguson Highway brought tourists and permanent settlers to what was becoming known as Gillies.
During the Great Depression the federal government built a full-scale airport next to the depot lands. After World War II, mine owners from Cobalt built a refinery smelter nearby. And a new section of provincial highway improved the opportunity for local commerce.
Covering roughly the area that was once the timber limit controlled by the Gillies brothers, the community of Gillies survives with a background rich in history. Playing a notable role, teacher Rose Cookson held sway in Gillies--small rural school, her association with this community and its families spanning more than one generation. Buildings and people came and went as lumbering operations and railway activities shaped the Gillies way of life from 1895 through the twentieth century, but throughout the years a core of pioneer names in Temiskaming can be traced to an early existence in Gillies. This book is hardcover, with one of Peter Fancy's paintings adorning its front cover.
The Gillies Depot journal story continues. Having made an indelible mark on its part of historic Temiskaming, the community of Gillies still beats to the hard-won pride of its Depot days.
Go Here for Table of Contents ||| Go Here for list of photographs.
Go here for a look at the Index
ISBN:0-88954-423-9 | WMPub#1189 | 8½" x 11"
256 pages with 177 photos and illustrations | $49.95
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Foreword
IOf first things 1
2.When warm winds come - 1903-1906
3.Glimpse the smooth hours - 1907-1909
4.How the grass was bent - 1910
5.The days are never darkened - 1911-1913
6.Whirled in the autumn winds - 1914-1915
7.And still they sing - 1916-1920
8.A long cloud swells - 1921-1926
9.The edge of shade and shine - 1927-1929
10.The pine cones opened and blew - 1930-1931
11.Blow the seeds on the air - 1932-1933
12.Trees fill the air - 1934-1935
13.Rooted to earth - 1936-1939
14.A white frost sunrise -1940-1943
15.The hills hold the day - 1944-1949
16.The branches spread - 1950-1959
17.Beneath the leaves ferns revive - 1960
18.Beyond the beginning
Bibliography
Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
1Turnor's map, 1787
2.Lac des Quinze Depot, 1895
3.Lac des Quinze Depot, 1895
4.Gillies brothers' families
5.Montreal River bridge at Lower Notch, 1900
6.Gillies Limit - Matabanick Trail, 1895
7.Gillies Depot, Montreal River, 1908 - view from west
8.Gillies Depot, Montreal River, 1908 - view from west
9.Gillies Depot map, 1905
10. Gillies shanty camp headquarters, Bay Lake, 1906
11. Gillies shanty camp headquarters, Bay Lake, 1906
12. Gillies' logs, Montreal River mouth, spring, 1906
13. John A. Gillies' new hilltop house, 1907
14. Depot sleep camp fire, 1908
15. Austin Gillies' Depot house being built
16. Gillies Depot field of oats
17. Gillies Depot cabbage patch
18. Gillies Limit shanty camp
19. Gillies shanty camp cook and "devil" helper
20. Gillies Limit timber dam
21. Squaring timber
22. Shanty camp meal
23. Hauling logs
24. Log dump
25. Log slide
26. Montreal River rapids
27. Juliette boat
28. Gillies Depot, Mud Lake boathouse
29. "Home Sweet Home"
30. Gillies Depot transport
31. Gillies Depot transport
32. Gillies Depot stables (background)
33. Dema and Janet Gillies stroll between Depot office and cookery
34 Pet deer Billy Bounce by Depot cookery
35. Austin Gillies' boat on Mud Lake
36. Elsie Ross Gillies, riverside houses In background
37. Lulu Yeoman. Depot office and cookery In background
38. Morning T.& N. 0. train steams by, Depot railway station to viewer's left of locomotive
39. Dema Gillies with son Norman at Depot hilltop house
40. John A. Gillies to viewer's right, Dema on toboggan by hilltop house
41. View west from Depot hilltop
42. Gillies Depot map, 1909
43. David and Martha Gillies (David to viewer's left, Martha second from the right)
44. Austin Gillies, Depot office behind
45. Jessie Gillies
46. Jessie Gillies with baby David at their Depot house
47. Peter and Mary McCulloch, seated in front row to viewer's left
48. Gillies Depot, winter scene
49. Jessie and Derna Gillies skating on Mud Lake (Jessie in white sweater)
50. John A. Gillies' house and steps
51. T.& N. 0. snowplow
52. Joseph, Margaret, Ethelbert Martin, 1920
53. Gillies Depot office
54. Rose Maurine Cookson
55. Rosanna and Edward Ladouceur
56. Harry Seguin and Alfred Amos on front porch of Austin Gillies' Depot house, 1924
57. Harry Seguin and Alfred Amos on front porch of Austin Gillies' Depot house, 1924
58. Alcohall-Gillies Depot, Basses Ate party, August 12, 1924
59. Enid Amos
60. Viewer's left to right: William, Ethelbert, Joseph and Margaret Martin, Pickerel Lake stove wood pile, 1926
61. At Amos' Gillies Depot house, 1926 (Gillies Brothers' former office to viewer's left, cookery to the right)
62. Gillies area map, 1926
63. Enid Amos, Wm. F. Fancy, Marie McLaughlin, Alfred Amos, Gillies Depot, 1927
64. Enid Amos' Essex roadster
65. Tom, Mary and Alson Underwood at West Cobalt
66. Amos tea party, Thyra Fancy, Gillies Depot, 1928
67. Amos' Gillies Depot house, 1929
68. Irish wolfhound Paddy and Jimmy Amos, Gillies Depot
69. Rose Cookson with Alfred Amos, Jim and Alan Amos, Gillies Depot, 1930
70. Rose Cookson with Jim and Alan Amos, Gillies Depot, 1930
71. Silas and Mary Cook, 1913
72. First car in Rouyn-Noranda, 1924
73. Charles Hill Burton
74. Cooks' Gillies house
75. Dan and Albertine Cote, 1925
76. Edward Ladouceur, 1930
77. Amos' Gillies Depot house
78. Gillies Aerodrome map, 1932
79. Gillies Depot Schoolhouse, Rose Cookson's house to viewer's left
80. Gillies children's party at Amos house, 1933 (Rose Cookson's house, Depot Schoolhouse, Gillies Brothers' office in background)
81. Gillies settlement map,1933
82. Gillies government airport cookery at viewer's right, from Arnos house
83. Alfred A. Amos, Wm. F. Fancy, Bill, Jim and Alan Amos, 1934
84. Dan Cote with dog Prince at his Gillies house (airport clearing in background)
85. Blanche and Adelard Leonard, 1925
86. Amos house, Gillies Depot, 1935
87. Adshead's Gillies Lake house, 1936
88. Grandview Inn and Cabins dining room, Fairy Lake
89. Lionel (Leo) Leonard
90. The Cook family, Gillies, 1938. Back row: Eleanor, Silas, Mary, Thelma Cook and Joseph Airhart. Front row: Stanley, Earl and Emmett Cook
91. Amos' house, Gillies Depot, 1935
92. Gillies Airport map, 1938
93. Gillies Depot, 1938, ground impressions of airport bunkhouse and cookery
94. Southbound train at Gillies Depot
95. Marie Ann and Raoul Perron
96. Alfred Amos, to viewer's left, in King Edward Mine offices, Cobalt, 1907
97. Gillies settlement map, 1939
98. Anita Cote and brother Dan at Gillies Road house; Bedard house in distant background, 1940
99. Burtonville Camp, viewer's left to right: Charlie Burton, Silas Cook, 1940
100.Cole family at Mud Lake, 1939 123
101.Adshead family, Gillies Lake, 1940
102.Deneige (Jean) and Lionel (Leo) Leonard at Mud Lake, 1941
103.Luke Ladouceur, Simone Ladouceur, Anita Cote, Gillies Road, 1941
104.Silas Cook's Gillies house and barns, 1940
105.Plebicite Day voters at Gillies Depot School, 1942. Viewer's left to right: Florence Adshead, Helena Cole, Nora Funnel, Edgar Adshead, Muriel Watts, Clara Coxen, Blanche Leonard
106.Charles Hill Burton letter
107.Albertine Cote with son Dan at Gillies, 1942
108.Tom Funnell
109.Noe and Adeline Lauzon
110.Bob and Clara Cameron
111.Viewer's left to right: back row - Doris and Phyllis Cameron, front row - Sally and Barbara Cameron at Gillies Depot, 1943
112.Olive and Jack Custance
113.Jack Underwood at Mud Lake, 1942
114.Gertrude Underwood at Mud Lake, 1942
115.Ivan, Ervin, Ernma, Beverley Berry at Kirkland Lake, 1940
116.Silas Cook, Howard (Bud), Ervin. Emma Berry, Mary Cook at Silas' Gillies house, 1941
117.Berry boat and tractor
118.Viewer's left to right: Ervin Berry, Tom Funnell at Clement property, 1944
119.Eleanor and Mel Eno
120.Paul Oblin Sr. and family. Viewer's left to right: Paul, Bernadette, Paul Jr., Rita, Jeanette and Maurice at Cobalt, 1944
121.Ladouceur children: Rita, Simone and Claude
122.At Frank Clement's house. Emma, Bud and Ervin Berry, dog Butch, 1944
123.Burtonville Camp. Viewer's left to right: Silas Cook, Charlie Burton
124.Threshing at east end of Custance land. Viewer's left to right: Louis Bigras, Silas Cook, Ervin Berry, Henry Bigras, Leo Bosselle, Art Bosselle and Bud Berry, 1944
125.Frank Clement's house, Bud Berry and Frank's dog Terry, 1945
126.Arthur Cole at Timmins
127.Walter Cole, to viewer's left
128.Frank Clement's barn, Bud Berry astride Nellie, Doc the white horse, looking southeast, 1945
129.Albertine Cote and children, Anita, Dan and Hector, at Gillies Road house, 1945
130.Arthur Villeneuve and horse Nellie at Clement's barn, 1945
131.Horses Jim and Doc hauling logs across Montreal River, Ervin and Bud Berry on sleigh, 1946
132.Berrys' new Francouer office building house
133.At Dave Kennedy's. Viewer's left to right: back row - Dave Kennedy, Grif Griffith, Tom Funnell, Barbara Cameron, Eleanor Funnell, unknown; front row - Ivan Funnell, unknown, Betty Smith holding girl with doll, Shirley Funnell
134. Nora Funnell with children, Eleanor, Ivan and Shirley at Dave Kennedy's, 1946
135.Henry and Rebekah Funnell at Dave Kennedy's, 1946
136.Conway's Cabins
137.Viewer's left to right: Fernande, Roger, Blanche, Andre, Frances, Adelard, Jean Leonard at Mud Lake, 1947
138.Gillies settlement map, 1948
139.Coleman Council meeting, 1949
140.Silanco smelter, Gillies
141.Front east side of Silas Cook's Gillies house, 195 1. Viewer's left to right: back row - Iva Cook, Earl Cook holding Vernon, Emmett Cook, Margaret Cook holding Bill; seated - Mary Cook; front row - Ronnie, Carol, Alana, Beverley Cook
142.Alma and Napoleon Lalonde
143. Amos wedding, Rose Cookson guest, Toronto, October 8, 1952. Viewer's left to right: Joan Mills, Bill Amos, Joyce Amos, Nelson McDougall, Rose Maurine Cookson, Enid Amos, unknown, Isobel McDougall, unknown
144. Jean Leonard with horse, Old Tom, at Mud Lake
145.Leonard house, Mud Lake
146.Rose Ladouccur, Gillies, 1956
147.Bay Lake, Latchford, August 1954. Viewer's left to right: back row - Peter, Jean, Gordon Bogart. Front row - Paul Bogart
148.McEwens' Gillies house, 1955
149.Victor Oblin, 1954
150.Rechin building, Cobalt
151.Alson Campsall, Gertrude Greenwood
152.Gordon Bogart, August 1951
153.Jack Underwood, Bill Campsall
154.Pollard Press, finger sign
155.New Highway Book Shop sign, 1960
156.Kenty's Shell Service Station, 1961
157.Kenty's restaurant
158.Newest Book Shop sign. Shoup house to right, 1962
159.William and Margaret Martin, 1950
160.Dr. H. A. Dunning and wife Margaret
161.Highway Book Shop, original McEwan house to the right, garage to the left, 1963
162.Paul Bogart and Byron Pollard on roof
163.Jean Pollard, Paul Bcgart, Peter Bogart, Douglas Pollard, July 18, 1964
164.Gillies Depot section house ready to move, 1965
165.Gillies Depot section house at 22 King Street, Latchford, 1966
166.Aerial view of Gillies Highways 11 and 11B intersection from the west, 1968
167.Blanche Leonard
168.The Cooks: Eleanor, Thelma, Earl and Stanley, 1970
169.Aerial view of Gillies Lake from south end, 1968
170.Jean and Douglas Pollard, Highway Book Shop, 1975
171.Highway Book Shop, 1975
172.Former Leonard farmhouse site at Mud Lake, 1996
173.Alex and Flossie Fraser's house, 1998
174.Berry's Gillies house, 1998
175.Creek inlet, Montreal River; Booth barking plant ruins in background, 1936
176.Highway Book Shop, 1999
177.Lois and Douglas Pollard, 1995