Prelate Hotel Fire

Photo by Suzanne M. Howg. Image source

On the morning of August 10, 2009, the 97-year-old Prelate Hotel burned to the ground. The owner, Sherri Farrer, and her son were out of town at the time of the fire, and no one else was in the hotel. The Prelate volunteer fire department we unable to save the hotel, even with the help of fire crews from surrounding towns. “The wood was so dry and old it was like a can of gas,” said Prelate volunteer fire chief, Brad Goldade.

Prelate Hotel, June 2007.  Joan Champ photo

The three-storey Prelate Hotel was built in 1912. Its first owners were Guy and Mary Linderman. At least two of their children was born in the hotel. The 1916 Canada Census shows that the Lindermans were still running the hotel at Prelate. They had three children listed as living in the hotel, ages 9 to 16. Their fourth child, Marion, was born in the Prelate Hotel in 1915, but died a year later in 1916. A fifth daughter, Lillian was born in the hotel on September 1, 1916, a few weeks before Marion died. Four people lodging at the hotel in 1916, but no hotel staff is listed. Perhaps the business was slowing down due to Prohibition.

By 1918, the hotel was owned and operated by Charles Cohen. The Cohen family observed the traditional Jewish Sabbath, so Saturday was their day of rest. This must have been a bit of a challenge for Charles' son, Edward (Eddie) Cohen, who by 1935 was managing the hotel - complete with licensed bar.

Prelate, SK, c. 1955.  Prelate Hotel in foreground.  H. D. McPhail, photographer. Source

Detail of above photo. The third-floor windows were not yet blocked off.

In 1961, Ed Paul, the owner of the Prelate Hotel, requested a vote be taken by the town to allow mixed drinking. The vote carried, and for the first time women were permitted to drink in the beverage room of the Prelate Hotel. The hotel was then sold to Peter J. Kosolofski, who ran it for many years. Lloyd and Sandra Hassman owned the Prelate Hotel for about a year and a half in the mid-1970s. As can be seen in the comments below, the hotel - and the town of Prelate - did not hold happy memories for the Hassman children. Sheri was 7 and her brother 2 or 3 when they lived in the hotel. "I am not sorry to see this hotel burn down!" Sheri writes. "This hotel should have been torn down a long time ago. It was cold and dangerous. Especially with the cisterns in the basement. The third floor was closed off when we lived there." The Hassman's sold the business in 1975 or 1976 to Larry and Linda Steier who raised their sons in the hotel.  

Bar of the Prelate Hotel, c. 1995.

The bar at the Prelate Hotel was a popular spot. O’Neil Zuck recalls staying as a guest in the hotel one hot summer night in 1999. “It was an interesting experience," Zuck posted on Facebook. "My pregnant wife was not used to such accommodations and my 4-year-old daughter did not know what to think. The first thing we noticed was there was one common bathroom to share with everyone staying overnight in the hotel. The second thing was we had a room over the bar. We had to keep the window open as it was too hot in the room. It was a breezy Friday evening; the sign swung and squeaked until about 1:00 AM. When the bar closed about 1:00 AM the patrons moved their socializing outside underneath the once squeaky sign. So we listened to boisterous conversations. I think it was after sunrise that we finally fell into a nice restful sleep.” 

Prelate Hotel, June 2007.  Joan Champ photo

The Prelate Hotel was listed for sale in July 2005 by the owner, Sherri Farrer. The 1,800 square-foot living quarters and seven guest rooms were on the second floor. The 87-seat bar – which was the primary business source for the hotel – was on the main floor alongside a restaurant that was no longer in use. The third floor had been blocked off – its windows covered over by the stucco exterior.

By the time the members of the Prelate volunteer fire department got to the hotel on that August morning in 2009, all they could do was watch. There was so much smoke, they had a hard time even locating the blaze. The owner and her son lost all of their possessions.

Photo by Suzanne M. Howg. Image source

Photo by Suzanne M. Howg.  Image source

Photo by Suzanne M. Howg.  Image source

© Joan Champ 2011

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Harris Hotels: Ruby Rush and More

The Commercial Hotel at Harris, c. 1910.  From Harris: Heritage to Homage (1982)

In 1910, three of the seven Gordon brothers bought Commercial Hotel in Harris. Little did Henry (Hank), Wallace and Merritt Gordon know that  a few years later, their hotel would be the headquarters for one of the most infamous events ever to take place in Saskatchewan.

The Gordon brothers, born to Daniel and Maryann Gordon from Quebec, were raised in Minnesota where their father farmed. At least three of the brothers worked for a time in the mines at Butte, Montana, around the turn of the 20^th century.  At that time, Butte had a reputation as a wild town, where any vice was obtainable.

In 1904-05, the entire Gordon family - sons and parents - filed for homesteads in what became the Harris district. There were no towns and the railroad had not yet come through. All building supplies had to be hauled 60 miles from Saskatoon by wagon, so they built their homes from sod. By 1909, the village of Harris was under construction. Alex Shatilla built a three-story hotel on the corner of Railway and Main. That fall he sold the hotel to the Gordon brothers.

Maybe the brothers got bored. Maybe, after the excitement of the mining camps of Butte, Montana, they were looking for a reason to stir things up a bit. Whatever the case, when Alex McCarthy walked into the bar of the Commercial Hotel one hot, dry day in the summer of 1914 with a cigar box full of stones, Hank Gordon saw an opportunity. McCarthy was a bewhiskered American miner recently arrived in the area. He knew the Gordon brothers, so who knows? Maybe the whole “Ruby Rush” was a set-up right from the start.

Raw rubies from a mine. Image source

The story of the “Great Ruby Rush” goes like this:  While working on a road gang in the Bear Hill about 20 miles northwest of Harris, McCarthy spotted some red pellets in a big black rock that looked an awful lot like rubies. Knowing that the Gordon brothers had extensive mining experience, he put the stones in a cigar box and headed for the Commercial Hotel. Over a glass of beer, McCarthy showed his find to Hank, who then called in his brothers. “We’ll look after it,” McCarthy was told. Word spread that the Gordons had stolen off to Saskatoon to stake their claim. Someone alerted the Saskatoon Star, for soon the newspaper was running headlines of a ruby and gold discovery near Harris. Within days, thousands of “prospectors” arrived in the village of Harris by train, wagon, buggy and on foot, some no doubt dreaming of instant riches similar to those of the Klondike Gold Rush sixteen years earlier. The mad Ruby Rush was underway.

Garnets

The Gordon brothers and the Commercial Hotel profited greatly from the Ruby Rush. “Rubies” from the site of the discovery – a large black stone in the Bear Hills – were put on display at the hotel. The Gordons hauled loads of lumber, food and booze to the site where they operated a saloon, a restaurant and other entertainment in three large tents.  Prostitutes, card sharpies and con men followed in the wake of the Ruby Rush. Drunkenness was rampant, to the point that one man was found dead from alcohol poisoning. Eventually, word came from Saskatoon that the rubies were really garnets of little value.

For years afterwards, the people of Harris did not talk about the Ruby Rush.  It was a forbidden subject, especially as the main players and their families still lived in the community. It became easier to forget after the Commercial Hotel burned down in 1923.

From Harris: Heritage to Homage (1982)

Charles, the eldest Gordon brother, farmed at Harris until 1929 when he moved to BC. He died there in 1951. Hank maintained his interest in mining, and had mining ventures in Hope, BC. Fred’s family still farms near Harris. Lawrence (Larry) moved to Debden where he ran a cattle ranch. Francis (Frank) was a member of the Harris Elks Lodge for years. After the hotel fire of 1923, the Merritt Gordon family moved to Vancouver where for the next 20 years he owned and managed various hotels. The seventh son, Merritt, moved his family to Perdue and then Vancouver where he operated other hotels until the day he died.

The big black stone, source of the "rubies," in the yard of the Harris Museum

The Harris Hotel

Harris Hotel, 1980.  From Harris: Heritage to Homage (1980)

It was not until 1950 that Harris got another hotel. Fraser Laing moved a building from the “24 Wilson Farm” onto two lots on Railway Avenue and started the Harris Hotel, complete with beer parlour and family restaurant. A 2011 real estate listing stated that the hotel was not operating. The seven guest rooms were in need of renovations and the second floor required a fire escape. The hotel was for sale for the "drastically reduced" price of $99,000.

Harris Hotel, 2005. Photo courtesy of Ruth Bitner

© Joan Champ 2011

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Rouleau Hotel: AKA Dog River Hotel

Rouleau hotel in 2007. Image source

Built in 1905 as the Arlington Hotel, the 42-room hotel in Rouleau served as a recruiting office during the First World War, and as an emergency hospital during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. Due to Prohibition, implemented in July 1915, it was closed for a couple of years. When A.D. Hierlihy bought the hotel in 1920, it was quite run down. After a great deal of cleaning, painting and redecorating, the Hierlihy family moved into the hotel and it was opened for business once again.  

Arlington Hotel, Rouleau, c. 1915. Image source

Tony and Esther Van Oostdam purchased the hotel in 1932, advertising the “Dining Room known for Best of Food and Elegant Service.”  Rooms were rented by the day, week or month. The hotel boasted a licensed beverage room after 1935, which served as a meeting place for the men of Rouleau. A chimney fire on the second floor the hotel in July of 1948, when it was owned by Stanley Jarosinski, forced the evacuation of 40 residents. This fire also necessitated more renovations.

In 1994, the Rouleau Hotel was operated by Reid Junek and Joanne Desfosses. From The Buckle of the Grain Belt; Rouleau and District History, 1894-1994

Rouleau, c. 1950.  From The Buckle of the Grain Belt; Rouleau and District History, 1894-1994

In the summer of 2003, filming began in Rouleau for the CTV sitcom, Corner Gas. The town of 450 was renamed Dog River, and the Rouleau Hotel became the Dog River Hotel. The exterior was refurbished for filming, and dressing rooms were installed on the upper floors. Corner Gas wrapped up filming the sixth and final episode in September of 2008. The series finale aired on CTV on April 13, 2009.

The bar at the Dog River Hotel was open for business in April 2007. Image source

© Joan Champ 2011

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The Unlucky Landis Hotel

The Landis Hotel, c. 1915. Sign beside the door reads "Chautauqua."  Image source

Reading about all the people who once owned the now-demolished Landis Hotel really makes me want to learn more about them. There are stories in every hotel, but something tells me the stories in this one are truly compelling – and sometimes sad.

Gertrude and Noble Woodworth, n.d. Courtesy of their grandson, Michael Vasil.

The Woodworths

Noble and Gertrude Woodworth, originally from Nova Scotia, came to Saskatchewan (via Vancouver) in 1917 to try their luck a farming in the Landis area. As suitable land was not immediately available, they decided to run the Landis Hotel for a year. Built in 1909 by contractors Lee, Hope and Meldrome, the hotel had been in a slump since the start of Prohibition in 1915. To make matters worse, the Spanish Flu hit the village of Landis in the fall of 1918. An emergency influenza hospital was set up in the Landis Hotel. 

Hotel at the end of Main Street, n.d. Image source

Landis Hotel, 1913. From The Landis Record (1980)

The flu epidemic started in the trenches at the end of the First World War in May 1918.  It spread across the Atlantic as troops returned to Canadian ports in the late spring and early summer, and reached Saskatchewan on October 1, 1918. Infected soldiers bound for home disembarked from troop trains in Regina and from there, the flu spread rapidly throughout the province.  

Almost 4,000 Saskatchewan people died during the first three months of the epidemic, and the largest number of deaths occurred in villages (12.6 people out of 1,000). Landis was not spared. It was thought that the flu was brought to the community by troupe of Chautauqua performers. (A Chautauqua was a travelling summer fair featuring music, drama and educational lectures, popular across North America during the Teens and Twenties.) So severe was the epidemic that literally every household in the village and surrounding district was stricken. The Landis Record reports that schools and businesses were closed, “and it was difficult to find enough able-bodied people to tend the sick.” Several people from Landis and area died. The wife of the United Church minister, Mrs. Trevor Williams, died at age 30, leaving behind a daughter who was only a few months old. Four members of the Geary family succumbed to the flu, including Ted Geary, his wife and son.

The next year, the Woodworths moved to a quarter section of land on the outskirts of Landis. Their two room shack, with no conveniences and with straw and manure banked up around the foundation to keep the place warm in winter, was likely a welcome change to the sadness the couple witnessed in the Landis Hotel in the fall of 1918.

A page from the Landis Hotel guest register, c. 1917. "Guests without baggage will please pay in advance." Courtesy Michael Vasil.

Anna Haas (right) with her sister Clara.
From The Landis Record (1980)

Anna Haas

Anna Haas ran the Landis Hotel from 1919 to 1921. Anna, the eldest daughter of Adam and Mariana Haas, had immigrated to Canada from Galicia in 1900 when she was only a few months old. The family originally homesteaded in the area of Gimli, Manitoba, on Lake Winnipeg.  In 1918, when Anna was 18 years old and working in the garment industry in Winnipeg, her parents and siblings moved to Landis. Perhaps the family thought the operation of the village hotel would be a good opportunity for Anna, for she arrived by passenger train shortly afterwards.  Anna’s younger siblings lived at the hotel while they attended school in town. They helped her with some of the lighter chores like carrying wood and washing dishes. In 1921, Anna decided to return to Winnipeg, and then to Edmonton, where she worked for the G.W.G. Garment Company. Anna was “stricken with a mental disorder” in 1928. She was committed to the Weyburn Mental Hospital where she lived for 50 years, dying at the hospital in 1978 at 78 years old. She is buried in the Landis cemetery.

John and Mary Ann "Grannie" MacLeod in front of the hotel, c. 1940.
From The Landis Record (1980)

 

The MacLeods

John MacLeod his wife, Mary Ann, and their six children farmed near Lockwood, Saskatchewan for five years before taking over ownership of the Landis Hotel in 1923. The MacLeod family ran the hotel until 1961. John passed away in 1942, at which time his son Hector, who had been working in the hotel since 1930, bought the business. Mary Ann passed away in 1951. 

Woo Sing

The following year, Hector converted the dining room of the hotel into a café, and hired Woo Sing Kee from Rosetown to run it. Mr. Sing, as he was known, had a wife in China, but Canada’s restrictive immigration laws prevented him from bringing her to join him in Saskatchewan. Instead, he brought young Raymond Kwan from China to help him out. Raymond attended school in Landis when he wasn’t working at the hotel cafe. After Raymond left, Mr. Sing had Wing Woo and Wah Woo working with him in the café. The Chinese Immigration Act was finally repealed in 1947, but it wasn’t until 1958 that Mr. Sing’s wife joined him in Landis. Mr. Sing died two years later, in 1960. His wife continued to live in the Landis Hotel, with Wing Woo and Wah Woo looking after her until her death in 1968.

The empty Landis Hotel, March 2006.  Joan Champ photo

By 2006, the hotel was abandoned and empty – open to vandals and the elements – a real safety hazard. Its wooden exterior had been covered over with stucco at some point, painted in bright colours. At the back there were several small additions to the original structure – sheds, lean-tos and even a dog house, with doors everywhere. Looking around the place, one could not help but say, “If only these walls could talk....” The Landis Hotel was torn down a couple of years later.

Rear of the Landis Hotel, 2007. Image source

Rear of the Landis Hotel, 2007. Image source

© Joan Champ, 2011

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Hotel Fire Escapes

Many hotels once had covered balconies on upper floors and front verandas. As they were made of wood, however, they eventually became fire hazards and had to be removed. In their places, fire escapes were constructed. Some, like the Hafford Hotel, just had a hefty, knotted rope anchored by a metal ring near a window, long enough to reach the ground. Others had variations on stairways and ladders such as these, shown in my photos.

Commercial Hotel, Blaine Lake

Invermay Hotel

Royal Hotel, Weyburn

Royal Hotel, Strasbourg

Pennant Hotel

King George Hotel, Melville, 2006

King George Hotel, Melville, Feb. 17, 2010. Photo: Melville Advance

 “On the road, hotel fire exit locations were always implanted in my mind in the 50s after check-in.  I sometimes even checked to see if those doors really opened. ... There were guests, after lifting a couple too many in the beer parlour, who verified these escape routes." - Dave Anderson, To Get the Lights; A Memoir about Rural Electrification in Saskatchewan (2006)

© Joan Champ 2011