Delta Marsh History Initiative, Steering Committee Meeting

9:00 am, 22 April 2003
Home of Shirley Christianson, Portage la Prairie

Present:     Barry Bills, Shirley Christianson, Heidi den Haan, Gordon Goldsborough (sec), Cynthia Jordan, Glen Suggett

1.  Minutes of the last meeting (24 March) were approved by consensus.

2.  Delta discoveries:

a)    Delta Beach postcard 1909 ­–Goldsborough showed a postcard with a photo of Delta Beach, postmarked in 1909, from someone with the initials E.B. He purchased it on eBay.

b)   Royal visits article – Shirley Christianson provided a copy of the Winnipeg Free Press from 3 October 1984 which summarized the visits to Manitoba that members of the British royal family had made over the years. Among them was the Duke of York’s visit to Delta in 1901.

c)    Shooting lodge permits – Suggett noted that the number of shooting lodge permits issued this year by the provincial government totals 53 for the entire province, 45 of which are located at Delta. Most of these are at Tin Town, with a few more at Flee Island and Portage Creek.

d)   Bigelow – Goldsborough provided a brief summary of his visit to Dr. Dan Bigelow in Winnipeg, whose father was a noted Brandon physician who hunted at Delta during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dr. Bigelow Senior’s autobiographical book “Forceps, Fin and Feather” is an excellent source of information on early hunting at Delta. Marsh photos mentioned in that book, however, seem not to be in possession of the Bigelow family anymore.

e)    Manitoba vital statistics – Goldsborough reported on a new web site established by the provincial government at which vital statistics information (births over 100 years ago, marriages over 80 years ago, deaths over 70 years ago) is available. The data may be searched by surname, given name, place of event, and year. A search on “Delta” yield only one record: the death (by drowning) in 1916 of a 9-year-old girl by the name of Mary Cruzelle.

f)     Weber photos – Bills provided the Weber photos on a CD and he has added an entry to the database.

3.  Finances: Goldsborough provided a financial statement for our accounts, as follows:

MB Conservation grant                           ($459.33)

DMFS (U of M) account                     ($1,814.91)

Private chequing                                    $4,763.06

Receivables                                                 $0.00

Cash on hand                                             $71.92

Balance                                                $2,560.74

He also provided a report on the last fish fry, in November 2002, a copy of which is attached.

4.  Publicity:

a)    Fish fry – Goldsborough has confirmed with the Delta Beach Association that the date of our next fish fry (1 July) does not conflict with any of year-end plans. Their Annual General Meeting will take place on the preceding weekend, as will their second annual Arts & Crafts Sale. Donalda Johnson has confirmed that the proceeds from table sales at the latter will, as last year, be donated to our project.

b)   Newsletter – It was agreed that the next newsletter will include the article on ducks by Bob Jones (the article on Totogan will be held over to the next newsletter because there is not enough space for both), as well as a note about the upcoming deadline for ordering copies of the Oakland history book.

5.  Next meeting: The next meeting will be held at the Delta Marsh Field Station (University of Manitoba) at noon on Monday, 26 May. We will have lunch followed by a meeting in the new residence building’s meeting room.

6.  Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 am.

Report on Fourth DMHI Fish Fry

Herman Prior Center, Portage la Prairie

Saturday, 23 November 2002

A total of 306 people attended the Fish Fry, based on ticket sales. Based on this attendance, an accounting for the event is as follows:

Income

Ticket sales                                                $3,064.00

Silent auction                                                $572.00

Total income                                            $3,636.00

Costs

Fish, other costs (Blanchard)                    -$1,838.00

Drink concentrate (Bills)                                -$19.40

Advertising (Bills)                                          -$28.70

Silent auction materials (Christianson)             -$21.76

Picture glass repair (Christianson)                  -$28.89

Building rental (Herman Prior)                      -$150.00

Total costs                                                 $2086.75

Net proceeds                                                $1,549.25

An analysis of the four fish fries held to date:

Date

Location

No. people

Gross fish fry income

Gross auction income

Net income

Net income per person

3 Nov 2001

Delta

320

$3,200

$0

$1,198.38

$3.74

3 Mar 2002

Portage

396

$3,958

$0

$1,248.50

$3.15

1 Jul 2002

Delta

363

$3,633

$0

$1,429.24

$3.94

23 Nov 2002

Portage

306

$3,064

$572

$1,548.82

$5.06
($3.19 fish only)

 

 

Gordon Goldsborough

21 April 2003