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On Sunday, January 14th, 2001, Jack Pierce (a former electrician with Caland for 20 years), and his wife Shirley took me (Shawn Allaire, Manager of the Atikokan Mining Attraction) to the abandoned Caland site to take pictures of the derelict buildings. The buildings are to be demolished under the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines "Abandoned Mine Hazard Abatement Program".
Jack and Shirley were concerned that no record of the buildings had been made, prior to their destruction. Here are some of the photos I took that day. Text of article in the Atikokan Progress |
 From a lookout above the site |
 The Old Headframe |
 Hoist Sign |
 Inside the headframe |
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 The Office building from the back |
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 Inside the Office building, the effects of vandalism |
 View looking out of Nat Scott's former office |
 The Maintenance Garage (will not be torn down) |
 The demolition of the pelletizing plant |
 Loader Bin |
 Twisted metal, pelletizing plant |
 The site of the pelletizing plant |
| The Caland demolition is scheduled to start. Shirley Pierce raised an interesting question as we passed each other in the aisle at Foodland. "Has anyone thought to take pictures of what it looks like now, before everything is torn down?" Thanks to Shirley and Jack Pierce who drove me out to the Caland site and to Dave Lindsay who allowed us to borrow the key, we, at the Mining Attraction have a record of the condition of the buildings that are to be demolished. It was hard not to feel sad at what I saw. Jack, who had been an electrician at the Pelletizing Plant, provided information about the buildings, even the names of some of the people who had worked in the offices and the hoist room. This made the experience even sadder. These places, destroyed over the years by vandalism of an almost unbelievable level, were once beautiful and useful. The rock wall in front of the entrance to the offices still stands, lending a dignity to the entranceway that heightens the impact of the horrible destruction of the interior. The visit to this site certainly provided me with much fodder for thought -- thoughts on how time passes and life changes, how there are good times and not so good times in everybody's lives and how we all continue to do the best we can, with what we have at the time. I saw more of the Caland site than I have in the past. The demolition has started on the Pelletizing Plant, so it was not quiet out there on a grey Sunday afternoon. But, just like at the Steep Rock site, there is a majesty in the landscape. Not in the old buildings, so sad and shabby, but in the snow covered rocks and the ice-covered lake. Much has been said to me about the differences between how the Steep Rock site had been left after the mines closed and how the Caland site was left. It doesn't much matter now. The demolition of the remaining structures at Caland is providing work now, and will, hopefully provide a revitalized site when the demolition is done - a site that can once again see some usefulness. I found that taking pictures of derelict buildings is hard work, emotionally. This surprised me. It was hard for me and I have only an indirect connection to the mines. How much harder it must have been for Jack, who worked there and knows what it used to look like. He can remember the vibrancy of so many people making their livings there. In the twenty years he worked there he, like so many others, drove that road night, day, snow, rain, summer and winter. At the end of that road is a lot of memories. In a few months it won't look like it did on that Sunday afternoon. But, we do have a record, thirty pictures taken with a digital camera. These pictures constitute the "Before" pictures. Later, there will be an "After" page. |