Lumber Workers on strike in 1910 Port Arthur
Toronto. Over a century ago Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) had a strike by the Finnish Lumber Workers in the town. The written word about the strike, the issues, who won, what was won, etc. may be well forgotten, but courtesy of the Lakehead University Library and its online digital site, we can once more see a PHOTOGRAPH of Finns grouped out side the Finnish Labour Temple.
The photographer included the power cable pole guy wires in the shot suggesting the photo was taken from up the power pole. Once again our good friend and fellow member, George Dunbar, sourced this photograph and shared it with us (the previous post has a link to the LU Library website).
It would take many words to describe this single photograph. My grand parents homesteaded on what was once lumber land worth a fortune. After the lumber was cut, only earth and rocks remained reducing the land value to a pittance. It would take years of hard labor by my ancestors and their neighbours to turn the land into farm land. Perhaps it was the same thing at Port Arthur.
