Colony Memories - The colony and people

Abitibi Canyon web site index:

An introduction to Canyon memories

1943 colony panorama and WWII Civil Guard
The staff house and recreation centre - sports and other activites
School
Family and Friends
Abitibi Canyon Train
1969 - After the road - a picnic at the "landing"
Visits in 1989 and 2002

Return to the [ Frampton's Home Page ]

   Can you figure out when this picture was taken? I have narrowed it down, but would like to hear from someone who may have better knowledge than I.

   The two aerial views below were shot by a summer student or junior engineer who lived in the staff house. He managed to get a flight in one of the rare floatplanes that landed at the colony. My father turned several of his pictures into postcards.

What was the Civil Guard?

   During WWII, there was a great deal of concern about sabotage. The electricity generated at the canyon was very important to the war effort, in particular, nickel production in the Sudbury area.

   The powerhouse was guarded 24/7 by a Provincial Police force. In this grainy photo taken from the front of our first house you can see the guard shack. There was a guard shack on each end of the dam and one on top of the powerhouse. 

The Guards lived in the large temporary building on the hill behind the staff house.

    The regular guards were backed up by the Civil Guard. Most of the men in the colony were members and received training, a Lee Enfield 303 rifle with ammunition, an armband and beret. The Civil Guard did drills and occassionally there would be an alert to see how they responded.

    There was more than saboteurs to worry about. Monteith, a short distance from Porquis Junction, was one of the largest prisoner of war camps in Canada during the Second World war. There were soldiers, sailors, and German merchant marines interned there. Often, prisoners were allowed to work outside the camp.

    In the picture below, the men of the Civil Guard receive their armbands and berets. For years I had my fathers, but eventually they got lost. Do you recognize anyone? My father, Dick Frampton, is in the first row, third from the left, wearing the dark clothes and fedora.