May 4-6 in Manitoba History: Damn Floods, Nuns and ..Dams
5/4/2007 at 12:28 AM
Not a lot of Brandon this time - see the "Only Brandon Men Can and Will Save it"
May 4, 1836- HBC acquires the Red River Colony from Lord Selkirk. Price: £15,000 !
May 4, 1910 The St. Andrews Locks and Dam officially open at Lockport. PM Wilfred Laurier does the honour.
May 6, 1919 Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council holds a vote to see if other unions in Winnipeg would support the striking Metal Trades Council with a sympathetic strike. The results (rounded off): Yeas: 11,000 Nays: 500. The Winnipeg General Strike is set for 11 am, Thursday, May 15th
May 5, 1826 - Red River Flood of 1826 May 5, the ice broke and the flood swept away 47 houses, killing 5 colonists;
May 4, 1856 - William Ross, the first postmaster for Red River, dies. Shortly before his death Ross House (which still stands in point Douglas) was completed. After his death his family continued to live there until 1904.
May 6, 1930 The last streetcar to Headingley MB runs. It will be replaced by bus service.
May 5, 1950 - Red River Flood of 1950 water breaks through Winnipeg's dykes and floods about 25% of the city.
- 100,000 people evacuated (the largest mass evacuation in Canadian History)
- I dead: Lawson Ogg, 357 Kingston Cr, went to restart his basement pump at the same time the Fort Garry dike broke. He drowned when the rush of water flooded his house.
- a wonderful audio clip from CBC radio archives. It's a roundup of a half dozen "in the field" reports from correspondent covering the flood that day.
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-70-670-3783/disasters_tragedies/manitoba_floods/clip1
May 6, 1950 - In the early morning Winnipeg declares a state of emergency.
May 3, 1959 Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, founder of the Grey Nuns, becomes the first Canadian-born person to be beatified (the first step towards canonization / sainthood). The Grey Nuns first arrived in St. Boniface in 1944 from Montreal. They established a school for girls and St. Boniface Hospital.
May 6, 1974 LES LEAR is elected as a builder to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. After a career in the NFL he won three Grey Cup rings with Winnipeg in '39 and '41 and with Calgary in '48 as a player-coach.
May 4, 1977 - Official opening of Winnipeg Centennial Library.
May 5, 1977 - Stuart Garson, former Manitoba Premier ('43-'48).