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School Days in Candle Lake.

My mother, Bernice Konias, taught at Invergordon School House near Crystal Springs SK. "I noticed on your site [here] that it says the school closed in 1949, but I have a T4 slip of my mother's dated 1950 and a gift to my mother dated from the class of 1950-1951."

"In Sept 1951 my mother was relocated to Candle Lake School. She only taught here for one year. " The following is a very short excerpt from Fur Fish and Forest, A Candle Lake Legacy 1912-1990. Publisher Candle Lake History Book Committee, 1991 ISBN 0889257647, 9780889257641. Also are two photos from

~ Kathy Stanczak

 

School Days in Candle Lake

By Joyce Middlebrook

 

?The school was constructed in 1945 by Nels Lindberg.? It consisted of one large classroom, 2 cloakrooms and was heated by a large, home made barrel stove.? Classes commenced in the fall of 1945.? The grades taught were 1 to 8.? Grade 9 to 12 were by Correspondence or you had to go elsewhere.? It was hard to get teachers because the community was isolated in those earlier years.

 

A front porch was added to the school in 1949, which was great.? We all took turns putting up the flag in the morning.? Each day was started by the Lords Prayer, singing of the Anthem, and a daily dose of Cod Liver Oil which was usually frozen in winter.

 

In 1951, we had our first lady teacher, a pretty girl from Henribourg by the name of Bernice Konias.? We didn?t have a teacherage built at that time, so she stayed in one of the cabins at the lake.? For her it was cold and lonely.? Eventually her young sister Lilly came to stay with her.

?

She was a very community spirited person.? Bernice had a dance to raise money for the Christmas Concert.? It was the first time we were able to afford costumes for the parts we played in the plays.? Many of the women sewed these costumes.? I remember my mom struggling to make angel wings.? It was during Bernice?s term that the DNR and students planted trees.? How we students enjoyed doing this!? The teacher and community worked well together to raise money for the ?Student Fund?, so that there would be presents under the Christmas tree for everyone.?

 

Bernice had 13 students during her term, and her brother, Joe was the one who picked her up and drove her back and forth to Henribourg for the weekends. The roads were very rough back then."

 

Candle Lake School Children, 1951???????? ?Bernice, Lil, John, Ann and Walter posing at the school 1955???????????????????

 



Photos submitted by Kathy Stanczak

As an additional note:

 

Candle Lake is a resort situated on the south west quarter of section 18 township 55 range 22 west of the second meridian. According to Wikipedia, "Candle Lake is a body of water in central Saskatchewan, approximately a fifty-minute drive northeast of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. It is also the name of a resort village along the Eastern shore of the lake, and of Candle Lake Provincial Park which encompasses much of the surrounding area. Candle Lake is a popular tourist destination in Western Canada and is located in the boreal forest biome."

 

The resort village thrived as tourism gave the area an aconomic boost to supplement the fishing and trapping. By 1977, the resort village of Candle Lake was incorporated with over 500 permanent residents states David McLennan in the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan.

 

Other historic one room schools near to CANDLE LAKE School District # 5261:
School District Name
Legal Land LocationClose placenames
BIRCHBARK School District # 5167 Sec Tsp 53 Rge 22 W of the 2 Meridian Weirdale
PINE VALLEY School District # 5060 Sec Tsp 53 Rge 23 W of the 2 Meridian Weirdale
CHESLEY School District # 4302 Sec Tsp 53 Rge 24 W of the 2 Meridian Paddockwood
HOWARD CREEK School District # 3143 Sec Tsp 53 Rge 24 W of the 2 Meridian Paddockwood
MOOSE LAKE School District # 4930 Sec Tsp 54 Rge 25 W of the 2 Meridian Forest Gate
DEERNESS School District # 5056 Sec Tsp 54 Rge 26 W of the 2 Meridian Forest Gate
WILLOW RANGE School District # 1770 SE Sec 36 Tsp 55 Rge 23 W of the 2 Meridian Meath Park */ Paddockwood

The majority of these school districts are numbered with very high school district numbers; an indication that they were of the later one room school districts to be formed, as the lower numbered school house districts were formed in the late 1800s and early 1900s and so on. As can be seen on this map revised to July 1911, there were very few historic one room school districts this far north at the turn of the century. Though the fur trade brought the early Hudson Bay explorers, and Northwest Company traders to the northern area of Saskatchewan - then known as Rupert's Land and the Northwest Territories, when the transcontinental railway came through the prairies on a southern route parallel to the United States - Canada border, the early immigrant settlement sprang up along the railways and the branch lines.

1948 historic Map segmeent north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan including Candle Lake
Click on map for larger size.
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1. From: Kathy Stanczak
To:Julia Adamson ORSH webmaster
Subject: Candle Lake school information

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