Thursday, October 1, 2009

Shabaqua Corners


There is a restaurant, a liquor store, a motel, a gift shop, and a convenience store at the spot where Highway 11 and Highway 17 diverge, when you are travelling westward from Thunder Bay. Here is where you take Highway 11 to head out towards Atikokan (which means 'caribou bones' I once read) and Fort Frances (a colonial town which was re-named after Frances, the young 19 year old female cousin of George Simpson, the big cheese of the Hudson's Bay Co. and governor of Rupert's Land, ie. part of what became Canada, who brought her to Canada to marry after dumping his 'country wife). Now, in the dominant narrative Sir George Simpson is a respectable proto-capitalist who was responsible for helping establish a market economly in Canada. However. There are multiple histories inside every story, and I will tell you some more about Mr. Simpson later.

At Shabaqua Corners there is an old wooden house, too. Is this Shabaqua's house? An old store? What is the history of this place? All I know is that it is infamous as a place of many terrible accidents, especially with transports. Many deaths occur by the highway intersection here.
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The day that I was driving down to Fort Frances, when I was leaving the convenience store area where this photo was snapped, when I pulled out onto the highway a transport/trailer carrying a large yacht (pronounced 'yawt'...what sort of word is that, anyway?) barreled so fast behind me that I hurriedly pulled over to the shoulder of the road. Where did he come from? I didn't even see the transport/trailer carrying this boat on the highway when I pulled out, that's how fast he was driving.

4 comments:

Merche Pallarés said...

That shack among the trees looks very idyllic... Hugs, M.

northshorewoman said...

I'll betcha there are lots of spiders and earwigs inside......

Anonymous said...

The old wooden house at Shabaqua Corners was originally the Shabaqua School and closed in 1947. In 1963 the building was downsized and converted to a family residence. Using materials recovered from the renovation a Sauna and Garage were constructed behind the house.

northshorewoman said...

thank you, Wendysquilting for passing along this history! Next time I drive back this old wooden building I will be more aware of its history as a school. I'm glad that it has not been torn down...so far.