Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society, 1924

Papers of the Thunder Bay Historical Society, 1924 is the fifteenth annual report of the Thunder Bay Historical Society, covering the society's year 1923–24 (the officers printed are those of 1923–24). It prints the secretary-treasurer's report and receipts, extracts from the 1870s and 1880s files of the Prince Arthur's Landing Sentinel, a municipal and shipping memoir by J. McKay Hunt, A. J. McComber's survey of the district's early history, Hunt's account of Paipoonge settlers and a memoir of the surveyor A. L. Russell.

Contents

Pages	Item	Author
2	Officers, 1923–24	—
4	Secretary-Treasurer's Report and Receipts	M. J. L. Black
5–8, 11–12	Fort William in Early Days (extracts from the Sentinel)	—
9–10	Memories of Fort William	J. McKay Hunt
13–22	Some Early History of Thunder Bay and District	A. J. McComber
23–24	Pioneers of Paipoonge	J. M. Hunt
25–28	Alexander Lord Russell	H. K. Wicksteed

Officers

The annual repeats the 1923–24 slate:

• Honorary presidents: Hon. Sir George E. Foster and Peter McKellar, F.R.G.S.
• Honorary patron and patroness: N. M. W. J. McKenzie and Mrs. N. M. W. J. McKenzie
• President: John King
• Vice-president: Mrs. Peter McKellar
• Secretary-treasurer: Miss M. J. L. Black
• Committee: Captain McCannell, Mrs. G. A. Graham, Mrs. J. M. Sherk, C. W. Jarvis, Major W. J. Hamilton, F. C. Perry and Alex McNaughton
• Auditors: Mrs. C. W. Jarvis and Miss Pamphylon

Secretary-Treasurer's Report

Miss Black reported twenty paid-up members and four meetings in 1923–24: on 15 November at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John King, where a paper by A. J. McComber was read; on 15 February in the library, with papers by J. Mackay Hunt; on 15 April at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Jarvis, where a sketch of A. L. Russell and excerpts from early newspaper files were read; and on 11 July as guests of Mr. and Mrs. Peter McKellar, when the society met L. J. Burpee. Through the president's efforts the plot holding the Hudson's Bay memorial had been put in order and handed to the Parks Board, and the society was negotiating with the Canadian National Parks Commission for a memorial in Heath Street Park marking the turning of the first sod of the Grand Trunk Pacific and the first grain movement. It recorded the deaths of Mrs. Bernard Ross, Major Hamilton, who had been on the executive since the society began, and Mr. Fred Fregeau, and thanked Captain McCannell for a set of early steamboat photographs.

Receipts

Receipts for the year from 1 October 1923 came to $188.25: a $58.75 balance, the $100 grant and fees. Spending was $109.95 (a $4 Canadian Historical Association fee, $97.20 printing, $3.75 for a minute book and a $5 wreath), leaving $78.30 in the bank on 1 October 1924. Fee payers named were Mr. and Mrs. McKellar (two years), Mr. and Mrs. King, Captain McCannell, Mrs. Sherk, Miss Robin, Miss Black, F. C. Perry (two years), Major and Mrs. Hamilton (two years), J. J. O'Connor (two years), Miss Pamphylon (two years), A. J. McComber ($5), Miss C. Merrick, Miss Erma von Bockstaele, Mrs., Miss and Mr. Copp, and Mrs. F. A. Sibbald (two years).

Papers

• Fort William in Early Days: Sentinel pieces of 1876–89 on the Town Plot, early docks, post-office names, churches and Port Arthur's name and growth.
• Memories of Fort William, by J. McKay Hunt: the roads, municipalities and early CPR steamers of the Lakehead.
• Some Early History of Thunder Bay and District, by A. J. McComber: from the Hudson's Bay charter and Du Lhut to the boundary dispute.
• Pioneers of Paipoonge, by J. M. Hunt: the first farm settlers of the Slate River district in the 1880s.
• Alexander Lord Russell, by H. K. Wicksteed: a memoir of the Port Arthur surveyor who died in 1922.