Salvaging the old boat has caused a great
deal of excitement in
Brandon, and for that matter, all over Manitoba. It has motivated
enthusiastic people into making application to the Centennial
Cor¬poration to start a much-needed museum, and sparked the formation
of the Assiniboine Historical Society in this city.
Captain H.J.R. Large's dream of over sixty-two years ago in the small
village of Coulter, may have seemed a crazy dream to a lot of people
who knew him well, but he should be remembered for having had the
courage to satisfy his ambitions and for having left us something that
children of the future can read about and wonder how a man could build
such a big boat in a small prairie village.
Only one man is living who worked on the ill fated "Assiniboine Queen".
Art Mansoff, the engineer, lives in Dauphin, where he is still active
as a welder and operator of his own business there.
He has had a radio show relating to sports for over eighteen years. He
made the tape recording that directed me to the grave of the old boat,
and was also very helpful in supplying information.
He was at the scene in the spring of 1913, when the boat capsized
during a torrential rain storm.
After losing the "Assiniboine Queen", Captain Large and Art Mansoff
opened a garage and repair shop in the village of Waskada, where they
remained until the winter of 1914. When war broke out that fall, Large
went back east, where he worked in a munitions factory. Mansoff joined
the army on February 11, 1915 in Toronto, at the age of twenty-two.
The pictures of the old Steam Boat were loaned to me by Mr. William
Large, one of the Captain's sons, who lives in Saulte Ste. Marie,
Ontario.
A formal invitation to the Large family to visit Brandon in 1970,
has been extended by the Centennial Committee.
Thanks for help in salvaging the old boat must be given to the Brandon
Chamber of Commerce, the Jaycees, the works department of the City of
Brandon, and the Arena Service Centre.
The public relations department of both the Canadian Pacific Rail¬way
and the Canadian National Railway, were also very helpful in supplying
documented information.
The paddle wheels and engines are in the C.P.R. Roundhouse, where they
will be refurbished this winter by Albert Bobyk, 611-26th Street, and
Atom-Jet Industries Ltd., of Brandon, and will be put on display for
Centennial Celebrations.
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