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Abandoned Manitoba 2: Kanuchuan, the lost hydroelectric generating station in northern Manitoba
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
- The Abandoned Manitoba 2 video series by Graham Street, Shaun Cameron, and Gordon Goldsborough visits ghost towns, vacant buildings, and other historic sites from Manitoba's past. Join us as we explore back roads to places that tell great stories about how things used to be, and how we have ended up where we are today.
In this video, we travel to a river flowing into Gods Lake where a hydroelectric generating station was built in 1935, the first of kind in northern Manitoba. Along the way, we see abandoned transmission towers and gold mines. We are thwarted in our journey by flood waters but we are able to see the generating station from the air with the help of a small drone.
The “little tracked vehicle” is a WW2 era Universal Carrier. Commonly called a Bren Gun Carrier, the were sold in the hundreds surplus after the war. You may have noticed that it is up on log sleepers. I and some friends did that in anticipation of salvaging it (we had permission from Chief and Council) but our contract situation changed in Gods Lake Narrows so I couldn’t finish the recovery. There has recently been a clean up effort of scrap vehicles and equipment at the site and if you had been able to advance further west there are several large clearings where the going is much easier.
People tried to use those Carriers as tractors and transport but they weren’t particularly well suited to winter conditions and that is basically where it broke down. It was sunk well into the ground, it took twenty tonnes of jacking force to get it out of the roots that were grown through the undercarriage. The hydro line and other valuable materials were salvaged maybe 8 years ago if memory serves and there is no possibility that the generator could be made serviceable again.
Yeah it would of been purchased as a surplus machine after the war.
Neat! So what would the site have looked like 10-15 years ago? Cables still on the transmission line? More equipment? I'm surprised anything was salvaged at all, it seems so remote
My father and his work colleague, both electrical engineers working for Manitoba Hydro, bought a bren gun carrier in the mid 1960's. They welded a cab onto it and a tow truck winch. The cab came from the top of an old bread truck I think. They wanted to build a road into shoal lake Ontario to cabins that were water access only at the time. In the area of canoe creek outfall to the lake. They broke the differential on a rock and abandoned it there. It should be easier to recover than something up at Gods lake.
I’ve been there 3 times, but all by Helicopter. Great fishing for walleye in a little back channel. Never could land a brook trout. An amazing build given the era and remoteness.
I love the MHS!! Special thanks to Gordon and staff for bringing all this history to all the people.
I agree, Gordon is such a fascinating man!
Cheers from Beausejour Manitoba.
I love your videos and especially love this one as I'm fascinated with hydro electric dams. I've gotten to see inside Seven Sisters Dam and it blows my mind how it all works. Such a gianormus machine. Would love to see more videos on dams in manitoba. Thanks for your work.
That is a very remote area. I have flown to some of the native reserves in the early 80's. Who knows how much more gold is in that area. How they found the gold almost 100 years ago in such remote area and setup a mine is crazy.
I've been to Elk Island. History filled location. Another awesome video.
This is wonderful! Thank you.
Love your videos ❤
This is so amazing, I'm fascinated by your channel!! I had no idea any of this existed and as a contractor I spent a fair bit of time at Gods lake
So interesting. Love learning Manitoba history through your videos. Great video footage too. Cheers from Calgary. 👍
Gods Lake is a gorgeous lake - I can understand how it got its name. I seem to remember reading something about a Cat(erpillar) train carrying refined gold across the winter ice on Gods Lake, and breaking through and sinking in deep water. There may be treasure down there!
I really like the fact that you didn’t physically make it there, but this was a win nonetheless. Thanks for the great content. I wish I could go get that bren gun carrier.
Great story and kudos on getting as much info and video as you did! I always enjoy your stories about times, places, and buildings of a gone-by era.
Haven't even seen this yet and I'm excited thank you very much
13:00 That's likely a Universal Carrier produced during the 1940s for war time use. Then sold for surplus afterwards. There are a few Canadian variants, the engine data plate would be interesting to get a better look at. In total canada produced about 29000 total of all variants. It is very unlikely that that piece of equipment is pre 1940. And probably arrived in the area in the 1950s.
Great video keep them coming!
Very interesting.
I currently live in Flin Flon, Mb, which sits astride the Sk/Mb border. It's a mining town and one of the major reasons that HBMS was able to process the ores found here was the fact that a hydro station could be constructed nearby, on the Saskatchewan side, as Island Falls. I believe it was the first hydro development in Saskatchewan. It still operates to this day, expropriated by the Sask government about 1985.
Ironically, I spent my high school years in Minnedosa, where a hydro station was constructed circa 1905, or perhaps 1913 ... it has been a while. One of the first if not THE first hydro projects in Manitoba.
There is actually a recovery/clean up project happening right now. Gathering up all the old machinery and slated to be picked up in the future. ATV's use that trail every day now and is quite easy now to get to the old generating station.
The old generating station was still standing and the turbine was still going strong until a conservation office decided to burn the structure down. This was in the 80's when it was burned down, maybe around 1987. I used to walk up to the structure every summer and fish for brookies along the way. It was sad to learn of the burning of the structure.
I enjoy the videos. Why are you not wearing a pdf or life jacket?
Was there two years ago hiked from as far as you could drive a boat such a cool spot, unfortunate you couldn’t make it all the way, 2 years ago the trail made it right to the dam
Great video work on this channel well done
Awesome video
Very cool look at this, Gordon. First I'm learning of this, too. Knew about the other mining-related hydro stations, which are now owned by MB Hydro. Wonder if there was ever a possibility to consider connecting it to the provincial grid years or decades later. It's remote location seems to prelude this from becoming a reality.
So fascinating 👏
nice one guv'na
Fascinating! This is the first I've ever heard of this! I'm not at all familiar with the east side of Manitoba, north or south. Such vast wilderness, it's remarkable that people acconplished so much so long ago. We need more of thpse pioneers today, the north has been reclaimed by nature, entropy
Better to travel in August or September, fewer bugs and maybe the water level would be lower.
The tracked vehicle is a universal carrier made in Windsor Ont
That’s a cut down WW2 Bren gun carrier at the end.
That tower looked like it had modern nuts and bolts.
Those old towers can look surprisingly modern. I doubt that's a new tower. Just a lot of galvanization.
They panned gold in the rivers and streams and found the gold, then they followed upstream to the sources.
For a three hour tour . . .
Geologists still use a prospector's pan when scouting an area.
1800 D/C
#2 Hydro D/C power, station. Dosa Mb. Dam failure.
Rail & Veterans.
The hotel & Bar!. So much here bud. The church that burned.
What kind of drone do you use in your show?
Take a helicopter next time
🚁 Take a helicopter EVERY time! 😎✌️