SIXTY YEARS AGO IN IGNACE - November 18, 2017

On September 11, 1957, nineteen year old Carl Schlyter boarded one of the last of the steam-powered trains in Port Arthur ON, to begin his first real job as draughtsman for the Trans Canada Pipeline. Stepping off the train in Ignace ON, he found no one there to meet him, but the Canadian Pacific Railway radio operator told him where the pipeline boys were bunking in with the railroaders.

He remembers walking up past the railway bunkhouses and across the highway to the rather grand building that housed the YMCA. The stairs to the main entrance were worn by the passing of many feet and on entering the office, he found the building deserted. For three hours he sat, hat in hand, waiting for someone to greet him and tell him what to do and where to go. An unseen record player in another room was playing, the record scratched and the needle skipping endlessly. As the time lengthened, he began to wish that he could just go home. Finally, at quitting time, the party chief, Revis Magard, strode in and rescued him. As employee number 669, he began his ten year pipeline career bringing natural gas to northwestern Ontario.

Though a bit dowdy, the YMCA was still a sturdy two-story frame building with a raised basement that housed a single lane bowling alley. Rooms were double occupancy and everyone shared a toilet and bath down the hall. Breakfast and supper were served family-style in the main floor restaurant, and the food was good-tasting and plentiful. The staff were really friendly, a comfort to a lonely teen away from home for the first time.

Now, sixty years later, we park for the night on the site of the former YWCA, now a regional travel centre, still welcoming visitors to the Ignace area. Only this time, we have brought our accommodations with us.