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These images show the exit to the 1941 Prisoner of War escape tunnel located at Angler, Ont. Camp 101 located on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The discovery took place on Friday, April 18, 1941, when a Veterans Guard … Continue reading
It seems a bit odd to combine “archaeology” with the 20th century, but when you see how quickly physical evidence of history can disappear, I understand the need for studying and recording that evidence before it’s gone forever.
As far as I know, the PoW site with the most extensive archaeological work by far is the former Whitewater work camp in Riding Mountain National Park.
Today I came across three online resources that will interest anyone who wants to know more about Whitewater, also called the Riding Mountain camp.
The first is a blog post from Michael O’Hagan in 2013, when he was finishing his Master’s degree and about to start a PhD at the University of Western Ontario. I believe that’s what Michael is doing now (Michael, please feel free to let us know in the comments – it would be great to hear from you). This post is very readable and gives a good introduction to the PoW story in general, as well as some specifics about Whitewater and some nice pictures.
Link: Prisoners in the Park: German PoWs in Riding Mountain National Park
The Friends of Riding Mountain National Park have a website and it shows, among other things, that in 2018 they were offering guided tours of the former PoW site.
Link: Friends of Riding Mountain
Finally I want to mention that Dr. Adrian Myers, PhD, did a comprehensive survey of the Whitewater camp and wrote about it in-depth for his 2013 doctoral thesis at Stanford University. Adrian’s thesis can be found online at “The Archaeology of Reform at a German Prisoner of War Camp in a Canadian National Park during the Second World War (1939–1945)“.
If you search Dr. Myers’ name, you’ll find more from him, including this video about the PoW camp work, from National Geographic.
Having had a look at that video, I recognize the dugout canoe and I’m now going back to edit my earlier post about the dugout canoe in Bob Henderson’s collection. Bob will have to tell me for sure, but it looks like one of the Whitewater creations.
If you find this blog interesting, please leave us a comment.
And, remember, Bob Henderson is still actively collecting! If you want to get in touch with him please do. You can email him at homefront @ sasktel.net. Do not leave any spaces in the address – I just did that to stop robots from spamming Mr. Henderson
Imagine being a prisoner in the woods of northern Ontario or Manitoba* on a lake in the summer. Doesn’t sound all that bad, as prisons go – though I imagine the bugs were pretty nasty at times.
In the Henderson Homefront Collection, since transferred to the Royal Alberta Museum, there is a piece of a dugout canoe made by prisoners. Bob Henderson, please correct me if I’m wrong on this, but I assume this was made for fishing and recreation. It would never be an escape vehicle – too clunky, cumbersome, and slow.
Making the canoe was probably just as much fun as going out in it. It’s the sort of thing we learned about in Social Studies way back in grade 4. I believe the traditional way is to pick a good-sized log, strip off the bark, and then use hot coals to burn out the inside so you have a place to sit. After that, with hatchets, knives, adzes, whatever you have, you would taper the ends and clean out the cavity.
Paddling something like this would be the aquatic equivalent to pushing one of those supermarket grocery carts with a locked wheel – you know, the ones that should have had a little maintenance but got missed last time round. They take you from A to B but it’s way more fun to stand still and enjoy the view.
It’s just one more example of ingenuity and craftsmanship, and what people can do when they have time and basic tools.
I wonder if Bob has any paddles.
*In the original version of this post, I said “Ontario”. I’ve changed it to “Ontario or Manitoba” as I now know for sure they had such canoes in Manitoba, and I’m speculating they had them in Ontario, but I don’t know that for sure.
A remnant of a canoe made by German prisoners of war, and a photo of the boat in better times.
Remember, Bob Henderson is still actively collecting! If you want to get in touch with him please do. You can email him at homefront @ sasktel.net. Do not leave any spaces in the address – I just did that to stop robots from spamming Mr. Henderson.
The challenge of making a ship in a bottle is something that has fascinated me ever since I saw one when I was a child.
That early ship was in a fancier bottle than this humble medicine (?) bottle but the prisoners of war obviously used whatever they could scrounge. It’s amazing what they could create from humble materials.
This one has a more striking backdrop than many, and it’s enlivened by the little castle on the hill behind.
Prisoners of war practiced their skills making tricky objects like ships in bottles
Remember, Bob Henderson is still actively collecting! If you want to get in touch with him please do. You can email him at homefront @ sasktel.net. Do not leave any spaces in the address – I just did that to stop robots from spamming Mr. Henderson.
This is a map I made today with originally only three camps on it. I was using it as a demonstration of how to make a map.
Please note that the map descriptions are temporary – we actually do have more information about Brule, for example, and more to say about Camps 132 and 133 of course.
I will update the map from time to time when there is time. If you have comments to add, just put them in the comments below and I can use them when I am updating the map and writing posts for this blog.
Hope you enjoy it.
LINK Directly to the Google version, which may be larger.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uYHod3Qt4LMVWQbYqqXDxdQdnIm3d5eW&usp=sharing