110th Anniversary Edition

Page 1

The Estevan Mercury Special 110th Edition • 1903-2013

Standing the Test of Time Celebrating 110 years

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May 29, 2013 C15

Spectra Place opening a highlight of 2011 ⇠C14 While already dealing with doctor shortages throughout southeast Saskatchewan, Sun Country also faced controversy when it was revealed that Hal Schmidt, the vicepresident of finance and administration had misrepresented his credentials and also granted himself a $75,000 loan while working at a hospital in B.C. Schmidt eventually resigned while the man who hired him — CEO Cal Tant — was relieved of his duties about a month later after losing the confidence of the board of directors. He was replaced by Marga Cugnet on an interim basis. Sun Country took another hit later in the year when other financial and management concerns were raised by the provincial auditor’s office. • The doctor shortage that was plaguing much of Saskatchewan hit the Estevan area hard in 2010. In the spring, Estevan hit a low for doctors when it was announced that just seven were in rotation in the city. That forced local facilities to ask the public to ensure if they visited the emergency room, it was because of an emergency and that all other matters should go to the local clinics. • The brave fight of Estevan’s Jeff Lukye against the ravages of cancer was a story that touched the hearts of many in the community in 2010. Luyke was in his second battle against cancer and discovered that a radical surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota was his best chance at survival. His story came to the public due in part to the family’s fight to have the provincial government pay for the surgery which could not be carried out in Saskatchewan. The province eventually came to the table while local residents and businesses also stepped up to help one of their own, raising well over $100,000 to help with the family’s non-medical related expenses. 2011 To b o r r o w f r o m Charles Dickens, 2011 was the best of times and the worst of times. From the opening of Spectra Place to the floods of 2011, the region went through an incredible range of emotions during what was one of the most memorable years in the area’s history. Unquestionably the biggest story of the year was the devastating floods that hit the entire area. The primary focus was along the Souris River basin which experienced what officials described as a one in 500 years flood. Roche Percee was hit the hardest. After a brave fight by their residents, the village succumbed to the floodwaters in mid-June and when all was said and done over 75 per cent of home in the community were lost. Sadly, their’sz was just one of many tragic stories over the spring. Other people lost their the homes along the river while much of the Woodlawn Regional Park and Woodlawn Golf Club were destroyed. Lampman and Benson also had some tense moments as a stream of

water that began in the Griffin area threatened both communities. Fortunately the level of damage to the towns was minor thanks to an incredible army of volunteers. Some farmers in the area were less fortunate as their land, and in some cases homes, were flooded out. • Somewhat overshadowed by the floods, the clean coal project at Boundary Dam finally got off the ground in 2011. The process of retrofitting BDPS’s Unit three kicked off with final work to be completed in 2014. • In what proved to be a nice respite from the flood concerns, Estevan’s new arena, which of course was finally christened Spectra Place, officially opened to the public in March with the fifth and final fundraising dinner which was headlined by Brian Burke whose speech that night has become the stuff of legends. In April the grand opening concert was held when Canadian rockers Tom Cochrane and Kim Mitchell performed before over 2,000 people. The rest of the year was marked by a number of firsts including the Estevan Bruins home opener and a grand opening ceremony, which included dignitaries from the federal and provincial government. Early reviews of Spectra Place were positive and the building has become a major source of pride for many in the community. • Sports were greatly

The flood of 2011 caused widespread destruction in Roche Percee affected due to the flood and wet weather that hit the area in 2011. One major highlight was the community winning a stop on the TSN Kraft Celebration Tour in August. Sportscentre hosts Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole did a live broadcast of the show before thousands of people in Estevan and the national audience. The tour stop also included $25,000 to help repair the damaged facilities in the area. 2012 Although many in the region were still working to recover from the previous year’s floods, life slowly began to get back to normal in 2012. One of the signs of that return to routine was the municipal election and a changing of the guard in local politics. Ludwig ⇢C16

Tom Cochrane headlined the Spectra Place grand opening event in 2011

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Estevan Mercury

Ludwig cruises to election win ⇠C15 After a lengthy run as mayor, Gary St. Onge announced early in the year that he would not be seeking another term. Although many expected there would be a number of candidates step up, the story early on was the lack of interest in running for mayor or council. Eventually veteran Councillor Roy Ludwig threw his name in the ring. He was followed by fellow Councillor Lynn Chipley. Local businessman Jim Halladay was a late entrant into

the race. Although a tight race between the two councillors was expected to materialize, ultimately it was Ludwig who walked away with a decisive victory. On the council front, incumbents Chris Istace, Brian Johnson and Dennis Moore were all elected to another term. Joining them were Greg Hoffort, Kevin Smith and Lori Carr who made her return to council. • Voters also were also asked to decide whether or not they would like to see the speed limit in residential

areas reduced from 50 km/h to 40km/h an hour. The yes side carried the day by a mere 26 votes. • A rare good story occurred in May when Cst. Steve Enns of the Estevan Police Service happened to spot a fire at the rear of home in the early morning hours. Enns was able to awake the sleeping family and get the four occupants to safety. Fire officials later reported that had Enns not arrived when he did the situation could have had a very tragic ending.

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The Mercury once owned by the Kings and the Brits

When the King family assumed ownership of The Mercury, the local newspaper took on a new dimension as the group expanded their already burgeoning commercial printing operations and melded it with the continued publication of the local weekly newspaper. The Kings held control of this newspaper for 14 years and King Show Print became as well known as a local business entity as The Mercury. The Kings were publishing the newspaper at the time when Estevan underwent possibly its most serious growth spurt with the discovery of large fields of light, sweet crude oil in the early 1950s. The population quickly soared to over 5,000 with Estevan gaining official city status in 1957. Andrew King had forged out a significant reputation as the printer of large entertainment posters that could be mounted on exterior walls of large buildings like barns and arenas. He did so by carving wood printing blocks, forming letters as well as circus figures, daredevil stunt drivers, or carnivals and rodeos. He had started producing these large posters from the family’s rather modest printing plant in

Rouleau, but with the purchase of The Mercury, King Show Print was able to expand horizons, bringing the newspaper along with it, especially during the oil boom days. The Mercury office on 12th Avenue was expanded twice to accommodate growth since more than 30 people were employed in the production of a quickly growing newspaper as well as a huge commercial printing enterprise that was gaining international attention. The Mercury/King Show Print office became a bit of a show case itself as it often was a gathering place for carnival, circus, rodeo, wild west show, daredevil car drivers and promoters who would be placing orders for or collecting posters or tickets to shows all over North America. These heady times for the King family rolled to a conclusion by 1958 as the sons and families accepted new editing, publishing and show biz challenges. It was once again a time to sell and a most unlikely buyer appeared on the doorstep. Due to their international exposure, the Kings were well known in all publishing circles so perhaps it shouldn’t seem so strange that the next own-

ers of The Mercury turned out to be the Liverpool (England) Daily Echo. The Liverpool group purchased a former CP Rail station that had been relocated along Sixth Street and used as barracks for awhile for the South Saskatchewan Regiment and then later as the Elks Lodge. The two-storey building was renovated for the fourth time. The building stood on the site currently occupied by Fas Gas on Sixth Street and 13th Avenue. It became apparent rather rapidly that absentee ownership and publishers were probably not the best situation for a newspaper that dedicates itself to a local mandate. The owners were not tuned in to how community newspapers worked in Canada, let alone Saskatchewan, so the company struggled with the placement of different managers. They quickly realized that publishing a relatively small newspaper, at least by their standards from across an ocean, probably wasn’t the best move, so they sought a buyer, and found one, a little closer to home. Within a matter of a few years, the Daily Echo team found a buyer for The Mercury and King Show Print in Ernie Neufeld,

Andrew King the owner and publisher of The Weyburn Review. At that point the company assumed the corporate entity of Boundary Publishers and the two newspapers were wrapped into a single company and for awhile, there was even an attempt to combine staff efforts on a regional scale. But again, it became apparent the local city wasn’t too enamoured with

outside ownership and Neufeld soon conceded that fact, which then led to the sale of The Mercury to his brother-in-law George Derksen, who had been engaged in the printing and publishing trade in Deloraine, Man. George and Sandy Derksen arrived in 1966 and were instrumental in moving The Mercury into a new technical world of photo

typesetting and printing, ridding the industry of its old hot and cold metal typesetting and lead casting routines. During this period of ownership upheavals, another competitor arrived on the scene in the form of the Estevan Sun Advertiser around 1960. But like the Progress, it lasted for about a dozen years before succumbing.

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C8 May 29, 2013

Estevan Mercury

Bringing the paper to current status was Ng’s exciting mandate With the untimely death of George Derksen in 1976, The Mercury continued operations under the guidance of his widow Sandy and their son and daughter, Doug and Frances, but they soon lost the will to carry on without their husband and father so the paper was soon sold to Ron and Joyce Walter of Moose Jaw. In perhaps one of the shortest spans of newspaper ownership in Saskatchewan’s history, the Walters soon discovered that publishing was not in their best interests and within a couple of months they too, sought a buyer and found a local one in Peter Ng who proceeded to add to the newspaper’s penchant for growth. The Estevan Shoppers Mall had appeared on the scene a few years earlier, marking another new era of growth and The Mercury stayed in lockstep, moving out of their Sixth Street location to move into a former medical clinic that had been refurbished to house the Estevan Credit Union for years before being made available to The Mercury (downstairs) and the Souris Basin Development Authority (upstairs). The SBDA was the group charged with the duties of steering the Rafferty and Alameda Dams through a planning, design, environmental study review, mitigation, construction and commissioning. After the SBDA’s job was done, The Mercury spread its wings and took over their offices. The King Show Print side of the business was rolled into a Quick Print outlet for a few years before Ng decided to refocus attention on growing the newspaper side of the operation. The refocus led Ng to the purchase of a web printing press and plant. The four-unit press located in Estevan meant The Mercury no longer had to seek an outside printer to produce the ever-increasing page count. The printing plant was first located on Kensington Avenue and later moved on to Perkins Street and the current Estevan Web Printing plant, now located along Highway 39 west, in the RM of Estevan’s industrial park, now houses a huge 10 unit digital press using latest technology to print not only The Mercury, but about 40 other publications including a western edition of Toronto’s daily Globe and Mail. While the printing side was growing, so was The Mercury office with the purchase of a former oil industry headquarters at 68 Souris Avenue in 1998. This is the current location of the newspaper’s editorial, advertising, office administration and graphic design operations. During Ng’s years at the helm, The Mercury expanded to include a weekend news publication, The Southeast Trader Express which began publishing in 1983. About that time The Mercury also gobbled up other community newspapers such as the Assiniboia Times, then the Carlyle Observer and finally the Yorkton Enterprise/This Week in 2001. Ng managed to speed the Mercury’s growth but he felt, after nearly 35 years as owner and publisher, it was time for him to sell which he did to a spirited, fast-growing publishing group out of Vancouver, Glacier Media who took control with the purchase of the majority shares while keeping Ng involved as a local and regional manager of their Prairie Newspaper Group operations. Brant Kersey soon entered the picture as the publisher for the new business entity. That process began in 2004 and is folded into the

Peter Ng most recent chapter of The Estevan Mercury’s terrific tale of covering the Energy City with comprehension and completeness that has been unrivalled by any other local or regional news gathering agencies or pretenders. Why? Perhaps it’s because after 110 years, The Mercury understands this community like no one else and takes pride in sticking to the task of delivering local news to local readers and consumers.

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Keeping track of and recording growth

This photo depicts a former press that was used to print The Estevan Mercury. Settling the wild west wasn’t just a job for American cowboys and soldiers as depicted in too many movies and television series. Getting Western Canada into a settlement and growth mode had its exciting moments too. Starting as early as the late 1890s, the local region had more than a few North West Mounted Police officers patrolling the local and recently identified boundary that separated the United States from Canada and the Northwest Territories. By 1896 though, Estevan and area was suffering the first downturn in its still very early history. Activity in the underground Dominion Mine had dropped off, the hamlet of Estevan lost a few citizens that it could ill afford to lose and the Mounties dropped off their personnel to the point that a lone rider covered the region on horseback. That would continue until 1903. By that time The Mercury was on the scene to record a new uptick in business and population with the arrival of more British and European immigrants. The coal companies began anew and managed to eke out some small profits from what had become losing propositions just seven or eight years earlier. A local library was opened in Estevan, but the books were so precious that youngsters under the age of 14 were not allowed to check them out and take them home. By 1919, it was made known through The Mercury, that canned oysters could be purchased at McLeod City Grocery for 10 cents a can and Dr. Davies was planning to open a pharmacy to complement his medical practice. The Mercury also reported on a fast-breaking rumour that a commercial bank was also thinking about setting up a branch operation in Estevan. The excitement that accompanied the settling of the west included the wild days of the 1920s as businesses thrived and with Prohibition taking hold in the U.S., the nearby Canadian community of Estevan just couldn’t be

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ignored by the whisky and rum runners of the day. That led to a couple of murders, wild chases with hot cars loaded with illicit liquor making dashes down local dirt and gravel roads and highways. The well-known Bronfman family was to be found full force in the region with one infamous 1930 trial in Estevan seeing Harry Bronfman in an Estevan courtroom facing a charge of tampering with witnesses and later for bribing custom agents with regards to the alleged improper importation of automobiles.

Golf has long been a popular sport in Estevan. The case became a spectacle of legal wrangling and verbal clashes among lawyers on both sides in front of a jury comprised mostly of local farmers. Bronfman settled the car importation question with the payment of a $3,035 fine and the loss of the liquor that was found within them and he was eventually acquitted of the bribery charges after three hours of deliberation by the jury. Bronfman immediately returned home to Montreal. There was the infamous Estevan riot, involving hard-pressed coal miners and RCMP on the main streets

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of the Energy City that claimed the lives of a trio of demonstrating miners. That was the strong start for the birth of union representation in the local mining industry as fairer wages began to replace ill-will. On the brighter economic side, a new water treatment plant was designed and built in the early 1920s, a new orderly way to deliver coal to local consumers was designed and implemented. A new hospital was planned and built, thanks in large part to the Sisters of St. Joseph’s.

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The Estevan Rotary Club pledged $4,000 for that project. A power plant was also planned and built and later sold to Dominion Electric Power who then announced they were going to build a $350,000 generator to feed 2,000 kilowatts of power to the region. With the underground mines making way for the newer strip mining operations, the new power company knew they would have eager customers since the new operations were bringing up over 500 tons of coal per hour. Great ⇢ C10

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C10 May 29, 2013

Estevan Mercury

Great Depression hit Estevan hard ⇠C9 It was interesting to note in the pages of The Mercury at the time that a delegation from Minot arrived in Estevan to talk about the possibility of building a dam and reservoir to lessen the impact of flooding downstream and to promote a local irrigation system for local farms. The year was 1932. Fifty-two years later, it happened. Some things just don’t move that quickly and irrigation in southeast Saskatchewan is still not on anybody’s radar. By the time 1935 had rolled around, the peak of the Depression years for many, Dominion announced they needed to expand their electrical power generating capacity with a $55,000 addition to the plant. Agriculture crops had been good in the local region in 1930, but by 1933, the drought had taken hold. Grasshoppers were laying eggs at a rate of 50 per square foot. A relief program was started in the city, a community that still carries the title of being one of the most generous in the province. Teacher salaries were cut in the rural municipalities, the new farmer and labour party leader M.J. Coldwell spoke to a crowd of over 1,500 at an Estevan rally, pointing out why his party was the only one to lead the province out of the Depression mess. By 1935, Estevan’s population had grown to 2,936 and they were using 68 gallons of water per capita, calling on the need to improve local infrastructure once again. At the same time there was a new wave of transients arriving in the city weekly, all touched by the drought and Depression. They were informed that the handouts would be frugal, but the local administration and population would do what they could to ease their pain. The Town noted they already had 487 welfare recipients on the local roll which was costing the taxpayers $1,200 a month. Local farmers were holding meetings to see where they might find oats to feed their hungry herds and the Town of Estevan defaulted on its bond issue, unable to pay the $472 in interest at the end of 1934. The welfare rolls climbed to 551 the next year and the monthly cost to the Town was now $2,722 per month. There was the cyclone of 1935 to add to the woes, but by 1937, Estevan and the rest of the Prairies were beginning to pull themselves out of the Depression. But it had taken its toll. Along the Souris River near Estevan, the lowest level ever recorded was noted in the summer of 1938. There had been no spring runoff and the river level was a miserable 10 inches, which wouldn’t even qualify the once mighty river as creek. Dust storms and grasshoppers didn’t go away easily but eventually, moisture returned, community pastures were built and managed to help ranchers and with a war raging in Europe, the attention soon turned to the Second World War and another new era in the Energy City with the

building of an Allied air training school on the outskirts of the city and the mobilization of the South Saskatchewan Regiment. The construction of the air training school definitely revived the local construction industry. There was the immediate post-war boom in housing and business followed shortly after by the discovery of oil around Estevan. There was the increase in mining and then an announcement by the government that a huge electrical power generating plant would be built by the early 1960s. That would require the construction of a dam and reservoir. It was just about that time it was announced that the Humboldt Indians of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League were coming to Estevan and would serve as a feeder franchise for the Boston Bruins and they would be playing out of a newly built arena. That all happened in 1957, the same year that Estevan was declared a city. The momentum has never ceased since then. More schools had to be built. The Estevan Comprehensive School, built for up to 1,000 students was opened in 1969. The Estevan Shoppers Mall was built to provide

shopping alternatives. New hotels were built, housing subdivisions were expanded and new ones have been developed. A new curling rink was built in 1976 about the same time the city got a new fire hall. A new City Hall was opened in the mid-1970s. A mobile home construction industry started up, oilpatch growth took a tremendous spurt with the uncovering of the secrets of the Bakken formation in the late 1990s. Then there was another new hospital and a huge new leisure centre followed by an impressive addition of a brand new arena and event complex just a couple of years ago. A $1.24 billion clean coal project at Boundary Dam, announced in 2009 is coming to reality in late 2013 and early 2014. The pace just quickens and so far, the community has been able to accept it and to accommodate what is demanded of it and throughout it all, The Estevan Mercury has been there to record the details, provide its own opinions, project the opinions of its readers and advance the growth of the business, cultural and recreational communities. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s always been interesting.

Throughout Estevan’s history coal mining has been a staple of Estevan’s economy.

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May 29, 2013 C11

www.estevanmercury.ca

A decade of growth, changes and troubles The first 100 years of Estevan were marked by times of prosperity and growth but also periods of struggles and tragedy. So it makes perfect sense that the past decade featured much of the same. In looking back at the Estevan area’s past 10 years, as seen through the eyes of The Mercury, you could probably pull out a number of adjectives to describe that time frame. However, one you likely wouldn’t use is dull as the area experienced the highs of record oil prices and the construction of Spectra Place to the lows of the flood of 2011 and growing pains such as an alarming doctor shortage. To recap the past 10 years we have taken a look back at the pages of The Mercury and the highlights of what has been an interesting chapter in the area’s history. 2003 In the year in review, former Mercury editor Jonas Weinrauch described 2003 as a year of shakeups and breakups. That was fitting as the year included some major upheaval on a handful of fronts, most notably education. Both the Torquay and Minton Schools were closed despite vociferous opposition from those communities. In Estevan, Hillside, Scotsburn and the Estevan Junior High were all closed and the students were all moved on to different schools in the city. As well, the Roman Catholic School Division amalgamated with the Weyburn Separate School Division to create the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division. Other highlights of 2003: • The discovery of Mad Cow disease in Canada created some huge problems for the local beef and cattle industry. • John Empey was elected Estevan’s mayor after winning a landslide decision over incumbent Tim Perry and Shirley Thera. • Doreen Eagles was elected to a second term as MLA for Estevan after running away with an easy victory over her three competitors. • A number of communities including Midale and Macoun celebrated their 100th birthdays. The Mercury also had cause to celebrate in September

The arrest of former Mayor John Empey on sexual assault chargers in 2005 is one of the most notable stories of the past ten years. with a barbecue and other functions to mark its 100th birthday. • On the sports front, the highlights include the departure of Estevan Bruins head coach Kelly Lovering who resigned mid-season and the eventual hiring of Kelvin MacKay as his replacement. Estevan umpire Bob Burns was inducted to the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame; the Estevan Midget AA Bruins captured their third straight provincial title and the peewee AA Haulers captured the provincial championship. 2004 A number of stories made headlines in 2004 but The Mercury’s top story of the year was the train derailment that forced the evacuation of a number of residents and led to some very tense moments for local officials. During an otherwise quiet August afternoon, a train making its way through the city derailed just west of the 13th Avenue intersection. Six tankers jumped the tracks during the incident and with five of those units carrying anhydrous ammonia, emergency teams moved quick to evacuate the immediate area. Roughly 150 people and a handful of businesses were forced to clear out due to the derailment. Fortunately, the tanks did not rupture and the residents and businesses were allowed to resume their lives a short time later. Other highlights of 2004 include: • Along with garnering

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national attention for the derailment, Estevan was also in the news for a political controversy. With former MP Roy Bailey announcing he was retiring from politics, a number of people began lining up to replace the former school teacher as candidate for the Conservative Party. Among them were former Saskatchewan premier Grant Devine and Estevan lawyer Ed Komarnicki. The trouble arose when the federal Conservative office refused to allow Devine to enter the nomination process. Devine sought relief in the courts but it was eventually determined that the Conservatives were within their rights to bar him from running. The veteran politician then elected to run as an independent but was soundly defeated by Komarnicki. • Estevan teenager Courtney Struble went missing in July of 2004 and sadly has still not been found to this day. • There was a change of command at the Estevan Police Service as Bing Forbes was hired to replace Peter MacKinnon as chief. • A number of residents were up in arms after city council voted to allow heavy trucks to drive down Fourth Street instead of the usual truck route. They did agree to revisit the decision in 2005 though. 2005 In many respects, 2005 was a year when Estevan moved from a relatively

quiet community, to a much busier and prosperous centre. The pace of life in the city seemed to pick up and more and more new faces could be found in all corners. That increase in activity could be seen in the pages of the Mercury as there were a number of major stories that garnered headlines throughout the year.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper paid a visit in early 2008 to the Estevan area. Leading the way was the stunning fall from grace of then Mayor John Empey. A local businessman and veteran of the municipal politics scene, Empey was forced to resign from his position on Tuesday, March 29 when he learned The Mercury would be publishing a story about him being charged with sexual assault

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of a minor the following day. After a handful of court appointments in which he was represented by a lawyer, Empey appeared on Aug. 22 and pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault. He was sentenced on Dec. 5 of that year to an 18-month jail term and was escorted from court and taken to jail to begin his sentence.

As a result of Empey’s resignation, Gary St. Onge became interim mayor. He later won a byelection while Shirley Thera was elected to replace St. Onge on council. • The other top story of the year was one of tragedy. On Jan. 5 of 2005, Estevan resident Gary Turnbull was found dead of a gunshot wound in his truck on Devonian Street. Two days later fellow Estevan resident Dallas Mitchell was arrested and charged with murder. The 32-year-old was eventually sentenced to life in prison with a chance for parole after 10 years. Mitchell confessed in court that the incident which led to the shooting was essentially a drug deal gone wrong and expressed remorse for the killing. • Saskatchewan’s birthday was a big point of interest throughout the year as a number of events were held to mark the centennial. The events culminated on Sept. 4 with a spectacular fireworks show in a number of centres including Estevan. • In sports, the year was highlighted by the Estevan Bantam Haulers capturing the provincial AAA championship. They advanced to nationals in Windsor where they placed ninth. Bettman ⇢ C12

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C12 May 29, 2013

Estevan Mercury

Bettman attends Fundraising dinner ⇠C11

year went on and in late 2006 it was announced that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman would be the headline speaker at the first new arena fundraising dinner in early 2007. • The other big news of the year was the announcement of a $1.5 billion clean coal plant to be constructed at the Shand Power Station. In an effort to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, SaskPower announced it would undertake the first large scale carbon sequestration project in the world and selected Shand over their Poplar River plant near Coronach. As it would turn out, this first run at clean coal was a false step as the project fell apart in 2007. However it did lay the seeds for a new project, which would eventually get the green light at Boundary Dam.

2006 At the time it didn’t seem like it, but 2006 was a big year for Estevan. In the course of just 12 months, two massive projects were announced for the Estevan area. The first came in February of 2006, when Estevan city council announced they would be moving ahead with plans to build a new arena for Estevan. Shortly after the announcement, a committee of community members and user groups was struck with Councillor Roy Ludwig serving as its chairman. Although the committee took small steps in the early going, there was tremendous excitement as many began to look forward to a new arena and events centre to replace the Civic Auditorium. The group began to build momentum as the

NHL commisioner Gary Bettman and former Toronto Maple Leafs gerneral manager Brian Burke spoke at the first new arena fund raising dinner in 2007. • Estevan resident Roger Harding was sentenced for defrauding the local United Mine Workers Association of American chapter of over $300,000 which he spent on a gambling addiction. He received a conditional sentence that included six months of home arrest.

ELEVEN

Whitney Whitecap was arrested and eventually sentenced for manslaughter in the death of Estevan resident Wade Tannas.

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2007 A year marked by controversy and disappointment, 2007 was also Estevan’s 50th anniversary. The disappointment came in the form of news that the province would not be moving forward with the clean coal project at the Shand Power Station. With costs escalating and questions about the science behind the technology, the NDP government of the day made the decision to quash the project. The news was described as a bitter pill for Estevan and those who worked hard to see the project land in the Energy City and not Coronach. However, with a determined coalition that included civic officials and business people, the community vowed to continue battling on until they succeeded in their goal. On the controversy

front, the battle between the City and the Estevan Police Association over a new contract escalated to the point where council began exploring the idea of switching to the RCMP. After a 10 month investigation by the police board, it was determined the costs of making the switch were too onerous and the City was left with no choice but to begin negotiating with the EPA on a new contract. • The drive to build a new arena gained steam in 2007 as council announced that the committee behind the project would need to raise $6 million before any construction would begin. Buoyed by the first fundraising dinner that featured Gary Bettman and Brian Burke, the committee went to work and over $4 million had been raised by the end of the year. • There was a changing of the guard in Saskatchewan politics as the Sask. Party unseated the NDP party in the fall election. • In sports, the appearance of Bettman and Burke at the fundraising dinner was the highlight. The speech was only the second time that Bettman had spoken at a public event in Canada. Growing ⇢ C13

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www.estevanmercury.ca

Growing pains the dominant 2008 story ⇠C12 2008 Boom. As much as we tried, that was pretty much the only word we could find to sum up 2008 for Estevan. After a slow build in the previous couple years, Estevan and much of Saskatchewan took off like a rocket in 2008. Although that brought many positive benefits to Estevan, there were also some major growing pains as the city attempted to keep up with the growth. Fuelled by the incredible interest in the Bakken oil play, Estevan became the province’s fastest growing city. Housing was among the biggest problems as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation announced the city had a vacancy rate of 0.0 per cent. That led to stories of people living in trailers or whatever makeshift accommodations they could put together. Others saw their rent double overnight. A number of groups attempted to get a handle on the situation, but as the year ended, Estevan’s housing shortage raged on. • In a year that featured all manner of big stories, garbage topped almost all of them.

The City of Estevan’s decision to switch to an automated garbage system prompted a number of residents to start a petition that was presented to city council by Natalie Kleinser. The City stepped into a raging hornet’s nest when it decided to change the way garbage was collected — switching to an automated pickup system operated by local company Regens Disposal. Outraged with the lack of public consultation over the change and the potential of having front street garbage pickup, residents were quick to voice their displeasure and a controversy raged on for much of the year.

Despite the continued objections and failed petitions, the City moved forward with the change in July but did agree to keep the garbage cans in back alleys. • Surprisingly, the rebirth of clean coal was not the biggest story of the year, a testament to how much ink the first two stories received. In the spring, it was announced that the clean coal and carbon sequestration project was back

on, this time at Boundary Dam. In March Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Estevan to reconfirm the federal government’s commitment of $240 million towards the project. • Tragedy struck early in the year when Estevan resident Wade Tannas was killed January 6 after a dispute outside of his home. Two people — Lonnie Dittmer and Whitney Whitecap were arrested and charged with murder

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in his death. The murder charges against Dittmer were eventually dropped while Whitecap would eventually be convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison. 2009 Although Estevan’s boom times continued in 2009, the biggest highlight of the year was the start of construction on the city’s new arena. The fundraising com-

mittee was able to reach its monetary target in 2008, but due to government red tape and a high water table, the project was stalled as the year came to an end. That changed in May when it was announced the two upper levels of government were going to contribute $10.2 million towards the arena. Just days later, an official sod turning ceremony was held on May 15 on what had now become a $22 million facility. As the year came to an end much of the exterior steel structure had been completed and the anticipation was building among residents. • 2009 saw the announcement of another major project when the Southeast Regional College unveiled it would be building the new Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute in Estevan. The federal and provincial governments were both kicking in just over $7 million for the $14 million facility, which would be constructed in the Glen Peterson Industrial Subdivision. • Along with the housing issues that came with the boom, Estevan’s prosperous times were also drawing the attention of those in the drug trade. Boom ⇢ C14

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C14 May 29, 2013

Estevan Mercury

Boom times lead to growing pains

Housing became a major focus in 2008 and the following years as Estevan enjoyed times of unprecedented prosperity. ⇠ C13 The Estevan Police Service made a number of busts in 2009, many of them as part of a months long investigation dubbed Operation Overdrive. A second bust that netted 24 arrests in December also drew province-wide attention. • In sports, the biggest story of the year was the return of a football team to the Estevan Comprehensive School. They began play under the guidance of

Marco Ricci and although they didn’t post a win, enjoyed a respectable first season. 2010 Estevan continued to deal with the positives and negatives of the ongoing boom times in 2010. Drugs remained a major issue and Estevan police were kept on their toes with another series of busts throughout the year.

The largest bust was in August when seven people were arrested and a large cache of drugs was seized. Chief Del Block issued a warning to the community, noting that with Estevan continuing to prosper, more arrests were likely. He also expressed a need for more officers in the city. • The Sun Country Health Region was in the news for all of the wrong reasons during much of 2010. Spectra ⇢ C15

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C6 May 29, 2013

Estevan Mercury

Village to town, the community grows along with the local newspaper

The Estevan Mercury has a proud history of growth that has happened in near lockstep with the growth of the community it serves. The village of Estevan was just five-years-old when the newspaper appeared on the streets for the first time. By the time 1905 had rolled around, both the village and newspaper had solidified their presence in the minds of the nearly 600 residents. There were over 50 buildings in the community and the Brandon-Souris-Estevan line of the CPR was firmly established as was the CPR’s southern Soo-Line branch that conducted business between Canada and the United States. The roughly-hewn sod homes and tarpaper shacks were slowly being replaced by more substantial housing materials, including brick made in a local brick production plant that began operations on the southern reaches of the village in 1906. There had been some protest among local citizens, starting in 1898, regarding the registration of Estevan as an official village. Their objections halted the process for a year, delaying the application and official designation by Lt.-Gov. Forget, but it was finally carried out in 1899. Because there was no newspaper to serve the community at the time, there is no clear report as to why some locals objected to having the site declared a village, just that the village office noted the protest and the subsequent delay. By 1903, however, The Mercury was on the scene to note the re-election of Overseer Henry Yardley who was seen by the local news rag to be “suitably fit for office.� Yardley had been the village’s first officially elected overseer or mayor in 1900. Within a year though, Yardley was gone and the first officer’s post was claimed by H.W. Lea by acclamation. The local newspaper also noted at the time that the village had started a property tax regime that would enable the local public works people to implement some badly needed services. The Mercury was there to provide the details as well as local comments and opinions on local taxation. The first property tax haul amounted to $101.14 with $13 of that coming in the form of dog licences. Property taxes alone came to $81.99. The mayor’s salary at the

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time, was listed as being $30, which meant that Yardley’s compensation amounted to just about 30 per cent of the village’s total tax income. By the time Lea took office, property and other tax revenue had climbed to $264.82, according to information contained in the Estevan and area history book A Tale That is Told. As in the past, a lot of that income was used to build sidewalks that helped lift people up off the muddy or snow-laden streets. Tax receipts quickly climbed to $1,100 by 1906, about $2 per capita. With well over 600 people now on the registry, Estevan was eligible to apply for official town status. This time there was no protest or delay. That year also marked another first for this community since it was between 1905 and 1906 when the town’s governing bodies decided to go into debt for the first time in order to purchase some firefighting equipment. The town councillors voted in favour of buying $1,000 of firefighting materials and as a result, the community of Estevan was in debt for the first time. The Mercury’s offices, located just north of Fourth Street, kept recording all these pertinent facts, as well as not-so-pertinent facts. Most of the bustling new community’s businesses clustered around the rail tracks or as near as they could get to them. How times have changed! Real estate advertisements in The Mercury pages of 1910 to 1912 were another testament to growth. The ads boasted of still available properties on Fifth and Sixth Streets that would be ideal for businesses as well as lots along Victory Heights and Escana which was on the east side of the town, again, close to the rail line. Motorized vehicles were still an oddity and a definite luxury at this time and not the main means of transportation, but they were gaining in popularity. The importance of a fledgling airline industry was still being debated. It was becoming very clear that Estevan was going to play an important role in the development of the southern sector of the new province and The Mercury was going to be there to record it.

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May 29, 2013 C5

www.estevanmercury.ca

The Bronfman trial in Estevan gained nation wide attention.

Early years presented challenges ⇠C4 Dunbar included a gentleman with the last name of Cameron as a partner, but only for a brief period of time and not much information has been provided about this early publisher. Civic records indicate that The Mercury was located first of all on the north side of Fourth Street and then moved to 12th Avenue and then to the south of Fourth Street, but still

on 12th Avenue right behind the CIBC bank. Fires destroyed Mercury offices at least twice during these early years, but Dunbar was undaunted in his pursuit of growing the news industry in this community. It was also during Dunbar’s reign as Mercury publisher that another newspaper arrived on the scene to provide competition. The Progress arrived in 1910 and then ceased

publication in 1925 with Dunbar purchasing what was left of its assets and moving The Mercury into what had been the Progress digs. By 1935, Donald Dunbar was ready to retire and he sold the newspaper to his son Donald Jr. with the details finally completed by 1938. The young Dunbar published the paper until 1944. That was the year he

moved to Copper Cliff, Ontario to assume the editorship of the Inco Triangle magazine for International Nickel. Dunbar Jr’s departure to Ontario meant there was a need to sell the paper to a new responsible ownership group and that turned out to be Andrew King and his sons. Stirling and William, thus the beginning of a new era of ownership and growth.

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C4 May 29, 2013

Estevan Mercury

Early publisher blazed more than a trail After just two years of ownership, E.A. Bailey sold The Mercury to Donald Dunbar in 1905 and thus began a 33-year publishing love affair with this newspaper and the community. Granted, it wasn’t always love being shown since no credible news gathering

disaster, Dunbar came up with a great solution. The Mercury office had just been reduced to rubble in a summer fire, a situation that wasn’t that unusual in the local business community at the time. While loading his huge iron, gas-fired printing press

fresh and ready for local consumption by the news junkies of the day. The event attracted a great deal of attention. Dunbar was, of course, accused of blatant self-promotion, which he admitted, but nobody seemed to mind this temporary diversion. That fire and subsequent blazes ensured that a couple of decades of The Mercury’s hard copies of the paper would not survive, but thanks to archival efforts by the province, the information and pages have been stored at the provincial archives. Early ⇢ C5 An early photo of the Estevan court house.

Donald Dunbar agency can expect to be on the right side or the good side of the local citizenry all the time, especially when the negative news needs to be delivered. But there was no denying the fact that Donald Dunbar cut a significant swath through Estevan in those early years. Dunbar, as well as being a publisher, was seen as a local fashion plate with his frock coats, white shirt, bow-ties and spatted wellpolished shoes. During his term as publisher, the newspaper continued to grow in news scope as well as in clout from an advertisings sense of being. The second publisher of The Mercury was a well known promoter and the summer of 1925 brought that spirit to the forefront when Dunbar found himself in a bit of a tight spot. Seeing opportunity where others might have sensed

that had survived the fire on to a big flatbed wagon, ready to be re-installed at a newly acquired location on 12th Avenue, Dunbar realized this was a great newspaper promotional opportunity and since the deadline was fast approaching ... why not seize the moment? It just so happened that the type had been set for that week’s publication. It had been locked into the chase ‌ the casing that contained the leaded printed letters that would be transformed on the printed page. At the halfway point of the move, the freight carriers were ordered to unload the big press right at the intersection of Fourth Street and 12th Avenue. They did so, and Dunbar’s printers fired up the press engine, inked the rollers and Dunbar hand fed the blank sheets of paper into the press where it was printed and rolled off the press,

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C2 May 29, 2013

Estevan Mercury

From humble beginnings a community and a newspaper are born Estevan’s oldest single purpose business, The Mercury, certainly had humble beginnings as did the community itself. Estevan was definitely no Energy City in 1903. The small settlement claimed roots with a few Metis encampments along the nearby river, a few early entrepreneurs and a handful of brave farmers who would occasionally find their way into the village to deliver grain to the still new, modest grain delivery point where it would be unloaded onto the weekly train that would roll into the community. A 1903 photograph of the community’s main thoroughfare, Fourth Street, indicated there were about eight businesses located on the street with a few more to be found on Fifth and Sixth Streets, including a railway promoted hotel. Homes built from sod or tarpaper covering flimsy wooden stick structures dotted the local landscape. Historians took note that as the railroad lines crept west in the late 1880s and early 1890s, these early commercial carriers pretty well dictated where our towns and villages would be built and how they would be built. Researcher and author Ron Brown noted in his book Rails Across the Prairies that these early Prairie settlements would have streets “measuring 20 metres in width with no space specifically allocated

for businesses worth less than $1,000. In fact, the railways always ensured that prime locations went to banks and hotels.� The railways often ended up naming the streets and they dictated the land use patterns and the street grid systems. The early steam locomotives could only travel about 150 kilometres before needing to refuel and take on more water and get new crews. That led to the construction of the railway divisional points. Communities in between these points sprung up every 12 to 15 kilometres because the railways knew that the typical farmer could only haul grain that specific distance in one day, using horse or ox drawn grain wagons. So it is with this backdrop, the Estevan Mercury newspaper began publishing in June of 1903, two years before the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta came into being. The fi rst publisher, E.A. Bailey, a small man in stature, but huge in terms of spirit and adventure, had arrived from “the east.� He had wandered west first to Winnipeg and then into the recently settled area then still known as The Territories. That first newspaper was a one-page effort that went a long way toward linking the local citizens to their business, cultural and spiritual community, at least what there was of it back then.

With only a few hundred residents, the chances were pretty good that our local citizens already knew one another, at least on some level, but The Mercury provided them the opportunity to know one another even better. The newspaper allowed these people to fi nd out what was available in local mercantile outlets, whether a long-promised load of lumber had arrived or what kind of coffee was available at the general store and who was residing in the local hotel and who was maybe passing through. One early pioneer related the story of how fortunate he felt to discover that a doctor just happened to be on a train that was passing through on the day he was delivering grain with his son, who had suffered a broken arm a day earlier. The connection was made, the arm was reset by the doctor who then reboarded the train and continued on his way west. Perhaps it was the first official medical treatment rendered in the little village known as Estevan. Profits at local establishments were calculated in pennies in the early 20th century ‌ the penny that was just recently rendered useless by the Canadian monetary system that prevails in 2013. Proof of that fact was found in documents kept at the fledgling village office where it was noted that the council members of 1904 embarked on a leap of

faith and budgeted $4 for the year for infrastructure, which would consist of the building of a few wooden sidewalks. A year after man’s first powered flight, Estevan was celebrating its sixth anniversary as an official village and The Mercury was celebrating its second birthday as a local business. By 1905 the village of Estevan boasted a population of 596 residents and its status as a stalwart community in the newly fashioned province of Saskatchewan was assured. E.A. Bailey sold The Mercury that year to Donald Dunbar and the business of gathering and relating the news continued without missing a beat or a publication date. It’s been a long and rewarding journey with local readers ever since as the mandate and mission for The Mercury remains stable. Sometimes there is something good in not having to change what you do. The methods and equipment used to bring the news and advertisements to the local citizens have certainly changed and improved dramatically over 110 years, but The Mercury mandate remains firm. It’s here to inform, educate and entertain. It’s your local newspaper that continues its steadfast role in bringing the news and opinions to the citizens ‌ both the good and the bad.

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The view from Estevan’s town hall shows Estevan’s early cityscape.

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