By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

There was a great deal of local hockey interest as Dauphin had lost 9-7 in the opening game of the best of seven series to the Canmore Legionnaires.

The game was played in front of 3,000 fans in the Wheat City arena in Brandon.

Mayor W. L. Bullmore issued a proclamation for “Dauphin Kings Day” requesting all businesses to close at noon to enable a motorcade to form on Fourth Avenue N.E. with a departure time at 2 p.m.

“Some 1,500 hockey fans are expected to invade Brandon this Thursday afternoon to cheer for their favourite Kings in their bid for western Canada intermediate hockey supremacy.” (April 10, 1952, Dauphin Herald)

A bus carrying the Dauphin boys’ and girls’ band and four majorettes from Fork River was scheduled to leave an hour prior to the motorcade in order to participate in a parade at Brandon.

Sponsored by the Dauphin Chamber of Commerce, booster ribbons and banners were provided to the fans with proceeds from the sales going towards defraying the cost of transporting the band and the majorettes.

Released in 1949, “Mule Train” became a fan favourite to sing along to at hockey games. In keeping with the theme, an added attraction, Franko, a 13-year old mule from Onanole, was slated to participate in the parade.

It was also noted in The Dauphin Herald that Franko, a 42nd hybrid cousin of Francis, Hollywood’s famous talking mule, had predicted that the Kings would even the series.

“Franko will be on hand in the Brandon arena to bray the Kings on to victory. Owned and ‘muleteered’ by Albert Minty, Franko will ride in regal state in Frank Lampard’s mule toting conveyance in order to be on hand for the mammoth parade through the streets of Brandon.”

It was anticipated that Franko would lead the parade followed by the band and the majorettes and a sound truck playing “Mule Train.”

After Franko predicted a Dauphin win, the Kings came up with an 8-4 victory. Franko didn’t make the trip for the next game, however, his inspirational influence was also present with Dauphin winning 4-1. It was highly improbable that Franko would make the trip to Calgary, however, Dauphin fans were hopeful that “Franko's magic spell” would continue for the rest of the series.

Plans were already being made for the team’s homecoming whether they won or lost in their attempt at winning the Western Canada Intermediate finals.

It was announced that a banquet accommodating 300 people would be held in the auditorium of the Town Hall on the day that the club returned from Calgary.

Ticket prices for the banquet were set at $1.75 per plate. Town Council passed a resolution to approve an expenditure of up to $300 for purchasing a gift for each of the players.

“In addition, a resolution was drafted whereby the Council also approved the arena committee spending up to $200 for a gift for the hockey players in conjunction with the funds already allocated. A committee was appointed to purchase the gifts and to arrange for the financing of the expenditures.” (April, 17, 1952, Dauphin Herald)

Dauphin's 29 game playoff run initially began with a 15-2 win over Neepawa in the Big Six semifinals, Feb. 4 and ended when the Kings won the Western Canada Intermediate Hockey Championship.

Playoff victories also included wins over Brandon, Carmen, Pine Falls and Poplar Point to win the Manitoba crown. For the finals, the CAHA permitted Dauphin to bolster their team with two players from Brandon.

At the Stampede Corral in Calgary, Canmore beat Dauphin 9-1 and 12-9.

Dauphin’s quest for the cup was not over as they picked up a 6-4 win at 2:54 in the overtime period to force a seventh game.

In game seven Jim Mosienko scored the winning goal midway through the second period and Dauphin became the first team from Manitoba to claim the coveted Edmonton Journal trophy, emblematic of intermediate hockey supremacy.

The Kings played a total of 53 games during the 1951-52 season.

It makes one wonder how much influence Franko’s magic spell had on the outcome of the final series.

“Mule train!”

Regional Connections hosted a baking and conversation evening, June 25, with local home baker and conversational specialist Nicole Yunker sharing a recipe for her homemade granola bars.

Another baking and conversation evening for newcomers to Canada will take place in August.

Contact Regional Connections at 204-647-0693 for more information.

 A total of $7,000 in proceeds were raised from the Swan Valley Credit Union Beef-on-a-Bun fundraiser, held on Friday (July 8). The proceeds were evenly split between the Swan Valley Health Centre for a CT Scanner and the CMHA Enhanced Community Mobilization Program/Meet off Main. Kate Church and Lance Jacobson accepted the $3,500 donation on behalf of the Swan Valley Health Facilities Foundation. Stacy Grindleand Barb Lewis accepted the $3,500 donation on behalf of the Canadian Mental Health Association and Enhanced Community Mobilization Program’s Meet Off Main project.

Wade Klippenstein, left, who spent many of his school years and minor hockey days in Dauphin, got his chance to celebrate the most difficult of trophies to win in professional sports, the Stanley Cup.

Klippenstein is the director of amateur scouting for the NHL champion Colorado Avalanche and was largely responsible for Colorado’s fourth overall selection of Cale Makar in the 2017 NHL draft.

He is pictured here with the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff MVP.

Thanks to the generosity of local supporters, 42 students were recognized with over 100 scholarships totaling over $90,000 at the DRCSS graduation last week.

Winners included Katherine Kowalchuk, she took home the Dauphin Herald's Scholarship!

Check out page seven and eight in this week's Dauphin Herald for all the winners. 

The Swan Valley Regional Secondary School Class of 2022 posed for a group photo prior to graduation exercises on Friday (June 24).

Recently, fire departments from the Riding Mountain Mutual Aid District attended a BeGrainSafe, Grain Rescue training session in Gilbert Plains.

These departments included members from Gilbert Plains, Dauphin, Roblin, Laurier, Ste. Rose, Ochre River, Ethelbert and Winnipegosis.

The course was provided by CASA (Canadian Agricultural Safety Association).

Grain entrapment is extremely dangerous for the victim and the rescuers. Training and necessary equipment make a successful rescue happen.

CASA, in partnership with Manitoba Canola, has provided our district with training and equipment. The BeGrainSafe training consists of online theory, a day of practical training and evaluation, with an emphasis placed on firefighters learning how to extract a person trapped in grain safely, using a cofferdam and auger.

A GSI RES-Q-TUBE and a Haul-All pencil auger are used, both of which are essential in rescuing a grain entrapment victim. When used in combination, the grain rescue tube creates a barrier between the victim and the grain while the auger helps rescuers quickly move the grain away from the victim.

“On behalf of canola farmers across Manitoba we would like to thank local firefighters like those from Riding Mountain Mutual Aid District for taking this potentially life-saving training.” said Corina Lepp, Grower Engagement and Extension manager with the Manitoba Canola Growers. “We are proud to sponsor the BeGrainSafe rescue training program that enables rural fire departments the ability to access this life-saving training.”

The BeGrainSafe program emphasizes prevention and raises awareness on the dangers of grain, alongside preparing fire departments for grain rescues, whether it is a grain entrapment incident on-farm or at a grain handling facility.

“Harm prevention through awareness has always been a top priority for CASA, and this is never more true than with grain entrapment. However, it’s also important that fire departments are well trained and prepared with the proper equipment in the case of an incident,” said Robert Gobeil, CASA’s Agricultural Health and Safety specialist.

On behalf of the mutual aid district, we would like to send a thank you to Manitoba Canola Growers and Corina Lepp for sponsoring the training, and Lori Derksen, director of Development with CASA, for helping with the sponsorship.

Thank you for Rob Gobeil, agriculture health and safety specialist for organizing the training, and to the instructor Tyrone Mogenson, from Melville Sask., who came out to provide the training to our departments.

Thank you to Murray Stoughton for providing the grain, and Vern Ellis and Lyle Gouldsborough for providing the training site and bin sheets.

Also, thank you to Jim Musey and Katelynn Musey for organizing the course, and bringing it to the mutual aid district.

More information about BeGrainSafe can be found at www.casa-acsa.ca/grain or by contacting CASA at 877-452-2272.

By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

A network of railway stations once dotted the landscape on the Prairies.

The railway station and its employees played a very significant role in the daily lives of the locals in many communities. Located at approximately 15-to-20-mile intervals, the stations were places where the railway could sell its services.

In the November 18, 1896 edition of The Gladstone Age, a newspaper reporter wrote a feature story based on his observations after boarding the 7 o’clock express and making the trip from Gladstone to Dauphin on the new railway line constructed by McKenzie and Mann.

“It is one of the finest grades in the west having a sixteen-foot top and although the road is not ballast, the train runs smooth over it as any other road.”

It was also interesting to note that on April 2, 1897, a train travelling to Dauphin had some difficulty as 200 feet of roadbed had washed away several miles north from Plumas. Trouble was also found at Grassy River. The track was blocked up to enable the train to pass.

Plumas was located 13 miles northwest from Gladstone and already had a “fine large building built to accommodate an agent and the men who are to be engaged on the section. The next station is about fifteen miles from Plumas and has been named Glencairn. There is a station here of the same size and structure as that of Plumas, but it has no agent here yet.”

The reporter noted that the train proceeded to the next stop located at Hamilton. From Hamilton they travelled another 15 miles to the banks of the Ochre and he mentioned that the station was in the process of being built.

“About fifteen miles from the Ochre the new town of Dauphin is reached.”

He noted that a large station was located there and preparations were being made to build a roundhouse, as well as machine shops.

“Sixteen miles from Dauphin and about six miles from the Valley River will be the end of the road for this season. When the road reaches the end of the grade there will be a station built at this point.”

At some locations box-cars initially served as a station as indicated in the McCreary Milestones and Memories.

“Upon alighting from a slat-seated coach, one walked along two planks which spanned a waterhole to reach the station, a temporary box-car situated there.”

At other locations a two-room shack served as a baggage room and a passenger waiting room. Constructed in the early 1900s a large number of the stations located in rural Manitoba were designated as class three.

The first official class three station used as a standard by Canadian Northern was designed in 1901 by Richard Benjamin Pratt. The buildings were neat, uncomplicated and distinguished by a high pyramidal roof, often visible on the flat prairie from a mile away.

The main floor encompassed a baggage room, living room, office and waiting room. Four bedrooms were located upstairs. There were approximately 75 railway stations in Manitoba that could be grouped according to Canadian Northern's class three designation. The station built at Dauphin in 1896 had all of the features of a class three station.

By 1912 a larger building for staff and offices at Dauphin was necessitated by the increase of business and traffic use.

The new building was designated as a class one station. The ground floor contained a ticket office with three wickets, a large waiting hall, and an ample gentlemen’s and ladies waiting room. There were also spacious rooms provided for the superintendent adjoined with offices for the chief clerk and staff. At the opposite end, offices were available for the train master, road master and bridge-building supervisors. The office of the dispatcher contained two sets of instruments. The top floor was used for records and stationary.

The only other station in Manitoba with a class one designation is Winnipeg's Main Street station.

The Gladstone Age reporter was correct in his assessment after his trip in 1896.

“The railroad is a great boom to the Dauphin country as well as the country through which it passes.”

Via RCMP

On June 18, 2022, at approximately 11:40 am, Dauphin RCMP responded to a report of a missing 89-year-old male from a residence on Triangle Road in Dauphin.

RCMP Police Dog Services, the RCMP Drone Unit, the Dauphin Fire Department, and several community members, attended the scene to assist with the search.

Community members located the male approximately 1 km from his residence in the bush line. Emergency Medical Services attended and the male was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The Dauphin RCMP would like to thank the community members as their assistance led to this successful outcome.

Kindergarten to Grade 2 students from Ochre River School visited Rocky Acres Dairy Farm, Friday.

The field trip was part of the school’s goal to have career exploration components and being able to access a local and relatively large dairy farm operation allowed students to learn about food production, sustainability, animal and livestock care and career opportunities.