26 June 2009
Stash of Old Ale Left Behind After CPR Dining Hall Destruction Was Uncovered 25 Years Later
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William Whyte.
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Moose Jaw Saskatchewan - In the summer of 1921,
workers digging under the CPR station platform at Moose Jaw in preparation for laying steam pipes for a new station about to be
constructed could hardly believe their eyes.
There in the excavation was a long-buried cache of ale, and many of the bottles were still intact.
Word of the discovery spread like wildfire, and soon a great crowd, crazed by five years of Prohibition, was hanging over the wooden
railing surrounding the excavation, waiting for a chance to jump in.
A news reporter, attracted to the site by the general commotion, thought a worker had fallen into an old cesspool which pioneers
claimed was under the station platform.
But just then a worker emerged from the excavation smacking his lips and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, and the aroma of
well-brewed hops wafted over the crowd.
The ale was found among charred timbers, ashes, and cream-coloured bricks which old-timers recognized right
away as the remains of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) dining hall destroyed by fire on the site nearly 25 years before.
And another onlooker who was fortunate enough to get a taste of the long-buried brew, said the ale had guite a kick, in
fact "Josiah's mule, Maude, came nowhere near it!"
The CPR dining hall, erected soon after rail construction reached Moose Jaw Creek in September 1882, was one of the first buildings on
the townsite.
The dining hall catered primarily to railway passengers whose purses could not afford the higher-priced dining car meals.
For years the hall served as the town's social centre; banquets, balls, theatricals, political rallies, and meetings of every sort
took place under its roof.
Abiel "Dad" Smith, who managed the dining hall for the CPR, was well known throughout Western Canada for his hospitality.
Since arriving from England in 1855, Abiel had been innkeeper at several Ontario points including Toronto, before moving west to
Winnipeg where he established the well-known Potter House.
In 1889 William Whyte, general superintendent of the CPR's western division (later Sir William Whyte, vice-president of
the railway) who was well aware of Abiel's innkeeping abilities, persuaded him to come to Moose Jaw to manage the dining hall.
A connoisseur of fine wines and liquors, Abiel had been master of beverages at a banquet held in Toronto in honour of the Prince of
Wales (Queen Victoria's eldest son) on the prince's visit to Canada in 1860.
In early May 1898, a spark from a passing locomotive landed on the roof of the dining hall which was soon engulfed in flames.
Tasukenupawa of the Moose Jaw Sioux encampment, affectionately known to the town's residents as "Emma," was the first to
notice the blaze and report it.
Neither the town's chemical engine nor the CPR's firefighting apparatus was effective, and the dining hall was reduced to a gutted
ruin.
Abiel Smith and his family, who had living quarters on the second floor, lost all their possessions in the fire, except a grandfather
clock, a family heirloom.
In the frantic effort to get the clock out of the burning building, its lovely mahogany case was damaged beyond repair.
The fire-gutted dining hall was razed and the site levelled in preparation for the CPR's new station, opened in 1899,
which would incorporate hotel facilities and a large dining room under the management of Abiel Smith.
And buried in the rubble under the station's new platform was Abiel's ale, which wouldn't see the light of day until 1921 when the CPR
was getting ready to build its third and last station at Moose Jaw.
Leith Knight.
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