For our next fee weekly dips into the archives of the Cochrane Public Library, we’re going to focus on 1970. Specifically, we’ll mention names and their connection to various events, good and bad.
Archivist Ardis Proulx-Chedore tells us about the April 9th, 1970 edition of the Cochrane Northland Post. It featured Ted Stone, who caught what was believed to be the biggest lake trout ever pulled out of Lake Commando.
“Mr. Stone, manager of the local branch of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce caught this 5 lb. ½ oz. beauty during this past weekend,” Proulx-Chedore reads.
That same year, it appears that the popularity of snowmobiling was starting to sag.
So Proulx-Chedore reads again from the Northland Post, that the Polar Bear Snowmobilers Club boosted interest with a Sunday ride to Greenwater Provincial Park.
“With cases of oil donated by John Gossling of Imperial Oil and Truman McBean of Shell,” she recites, “the snowmobilers whose membership ranks grew to about 60 from 30 as a result of the outing, showed great imagination in their afternoon activities, and proved there is more to snowmobiling than racing up and down a frozen lake.”
Mrs. Gerry Clement won a game that involved stuffing the most balloons into her husband’s snowsuit in ten seconds. And Andy Bradette had the best time for running from his machine to his wife about 35 feet away… finding his keys and running back to start his machine.
Thousands of items of local history are available in the library’s archives. All you need is a library card.