It was a very important year in Canada’s history, so let’s dive into 1907.
On Jan. 23, the Kenora Thistles won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Wanderers in a two-game total goal series 12-8. This makes Kenora the smallest community to ever win the Stanley Cup. Kenora won a challenge from Brandon Wheat City on March 16 to 18, winning two games to none over the challenger. On March 25, the Montreal Wanderers won the Stanley Cup back, and the Kenora Thistles became the team with the shortest time with the Stanley Cup.
The year of 1907 started off on a sad note for Canada when Timothy Eaton died on Jan. 31. The founder of Eaton’s he built it from a small shop in Toronto to a nationwide empire. His success came from offering everything individuals needed, and a money back guarantee if they were not satisfied.
Born in 1834 in Ireland, he had come to Canada as a young man and worked in various jobs before finding his calling with his business.
Along with creating the Eaton’s Catalogue, he helped start the Toronto Santa Claus Parade. One of the most important business leaders in Canadian history, his company would last another 90 years before a changing economic landscape spelled the end to it with bankruptcy.
Oronhyatekha, or Peter Martin, died on March 3. Born at the Six Nations Reserve on Aug. 10, 1841, he became the first known Indigenous Person to attend Oxford University. He is also believed to be the first Indigenous Person to earn a medical degree in Canada. Through his life, he continued to break barriers. His largest achievement may have been his work with the Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal and financial institution. Within three years of joining, he was the Supreme Chief Ranger of Foresters, which was essentially its CEO. He held that position for 26 years. Under his leadership, the Foresters became one of the wealthiest fraternal financial institutions in the British Empire.
On March 20, Hugh MacLennan was born in Nova Scotia. One of Canada’s most gifted writers, he broke through with the success of Barometer Rising, which was set during the Halifax Explosion of 1917. From there, he found continued success as a writer in Canada. Over the course of his life, he wrote eight novels and 10 non-fiction books. He also won five Governor General’s Awards and a Royal Bank Award.
On April 16, Joseph Bombardier was born in Valcourt, Quebec. Gifted with a mechanical mind, he built his first snow vehicle when he was 15. He continued to work in his garage and was repairing cars by the age of 19. He developed the first marketable snowmobile with the B7. The idea for the snowmobile came to him when he was out in a blizzard with his son who was ill and died before he could get to a hospital. In 1940, his plant built 200 vehicles a year. In 1959, he launched the Ski-Doo. Originally called the Ski-Dog, a printing accident spelt it as Ski-Doo and he left it as it was. Bombardier died in 1964.
On April 19, Tom Longboat won the Boston Marathon. Longboat was just one of 124 athletes on the starting line. which was a lot in 1907 but is a drop in the bucket in 2024.30,000 people take part in the Marathon now.
Jack Caffey held the record of running the 26.2-mile (42.2 km) race in 2:29:23. He set it during his second win in 1901 and it held until the day Longboat hoped to not only win the Marathon, but maybe also give that record a run for its money.
Longboat wasn’t feeling his best though.
He had been battling a cold and the prospect of running through a rainy day was not terribly appealing.
Regardless, destiny called, and Longboat answered.
As the race began, the leading group, which included Longboat, crossed the tracks just before a freight train passed which left 114 runners behind. While waiting for the train to pass, the runners ran in circles.
In those days things were much less organized, and marathon runners competed alongside trains, automobiles, horse-drawn carriages and bicycles on the route.
For much of the early part of the race, Longboat was in ninth place as he struggled through the rain and wind.
But then Longboat suddenly lengthened his stride and began to overtake those in front of him.
At one hour 20 minutes, Longboat entered first place.
As he entered the most difficult portion of the race, he was said to have sailed up the hills so fast it was as if he was running on level ground.
With each stride, he widened the gap between himself and the competition.
As he reached the top of the last incline his closest competitor had not even reached the bottom of it.
Tom Longboat crossed the finish line of the race at 2 hours 24 minutes and 24 seconds.
Five minutes faster than the record from 1901. It would be another four years before anyone else ran a faster time.
On June 23, Hod Stuart died. A gifted hockey player, his career lasted from 1899 to 1907. Some of the teams he played were included the Montreal Wanderers, Quebec Bulldogs and Ottawa Hockey Club. Considered one of the best players of his time, he helped the Montreal Wanderers win a Stanley Cup in 1907. Two months later, he dove into the water near Ottawa and hit his head. He died instantly. A memorial game, the first All-Star game in North American sports history, was played on Jan. 2, 1908. At the game, 3,800 spectators raised $2,100 for his family. In 1945, Stuart was one of the first inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
On July 5, Ethel Smith was born. Due to her family’s poverty, she left school after grade eight to work in a garment factory in Toronto. In 1927, she won the 220 Yard Dash at the National Championship, and the 60-Yard Dash at the Ontario Championships in 1929. During the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928, she won a bronze in the 100 metre and a gold in the 4×100 metre relay. She died in 1979.
On Aug. 29, the Quebec Bridge at Quebec City collapsed while under construction. The bridge had spent four years under construction at that point when the centre span collapsed. Of the 86 workers on the bridge that day, 75 were killed and the rest were injured. It was the world’s worst bridge disaster at the time. Of the victims, 35 were Mohawk Steel Workers from the Kahnawake Reserve.
Construction resumed on the bridge after the collapse but on Sept. 11, 1916, the central span collapsed again, killing 13 workers. The bridge was finally completed in September 1917 at a cost of $23 million and the lives of 88 bridge workers. The bridge continues to stand to this day.
On Sept. 7, the Anti-Asiatic Riot occurred in Vancouver. Fueled by anti-Asian anger over employment, a mob of 10,000 descended on Chinatown and Japantown in the city and began smashing windows. Over 50 stores and businesses in Japantown were damaged, while even more were damaged in Chinatown. Damages were put at over $35,000. The government used the riot as a way to limit immigration from Japan and China.
On Sept. 14, Jasper National Park was established. At the time, it was called Jasper Forest Park. The name changed to Jasper Park in 1911. In 1930, with the passing of the National Parks Act, Jasper Forest Park became Jasper National Park. Today, it receives 2.1 million visitors a year. The park is 10,878 square kilometres and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On Sept. 15, Fay Wray was born in Cardston. Her parents had come from Salt Lake City to Cardston several years before she was born. The family lived on a ranch near the community for the first years of Wray’s life. Dreaming of a career in Hollywood, Wray appeared in her first film in 1923. By 1926 was named one of the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers Baby Stars.
In 1927, she signed a contract with Paramount and was cast in her first lead role in The Wedding March. Wray easily transitioned into the sound era of films. After roles in Doctor X, Mystery of the Wax Museum and The most Dangerous Game. In 1933, she starred in her most famous film, King Kong. For her role as Ann Darrow, she was paid $10,000 ($200,000 today). The film was a critical and commercial blockbuster.
After King Kong, Wray continued to act in films but her appearances slowed down. After a brief retirement in the 1940s, she began to appear in television roles. Her television roles included three episodes of Perry Mason with fellow Canadian Raymond Burr. She had other roles on shows such as 77 Sunset Strip and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She continued to act until her retirement in 1980. In 1988, Wray published her autobiography On the Other Hand. She continued to make public appearances in retirement.
In the 1990s, James Cameron asked her to play the part of elderly Rose Dawson in Titanic but Wray decided to stay in retirement. The role went to Gloria Stuart who earned an Oscar nomination for it. Wray was presented with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Wray died in her sleep of natural causes on Aug. 8, 2004 at the age of 96. She is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Two days after her death, the lights of the Empire State Building were lowered for 15 minutes in her memory.
In 2005, she posthumously received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame. In her birthplace of Cardston, Fay Wray Park is named for her. In 2006, Canada Post honoured her life and career with a stamp.
Also this year, 700 bison were shipped from Montana to Elk Island Park near Edmonton while Buffalo Park near Wainwright was under construction. In 1909, the bison were shipped to that park but 40 to 70 evaded capture. Those bison formed the basis of the bison in the park today. Currently, there are about 700 bison in the park.
