There was more history in the former Tisdale Township public works garage than anyone imagined.
It’s being demolished by the production crew behind the TV show Salvage Kings. Crew members found a wide range of township records, and offered them to Timmins Museum director-curator Karen Bachmann.
“Lo and behold, we struck gold,” she remarks in a phrase that’s very appropriate in a gold mining camp.
Bachmann says the records go back to 1912, right after the 1911 Porcupine fire.
“One of the ones that I’ve come across so far is the original bank book from the public school in South Porcupine from 1912,” she says, “with a great closing balance in the year of 1912, December 31st, of $280.33 in the bank.”
The records were moved to the public works garage when the former township office in South Porcupine was sold.
Bachmann says the biggest cache is Tisdale Township Police records.
“So we have arrest records, what the constables wrote down as they were investigating a case, going all the way back to 1912.”
Next week, we’ll tell you what some of them say. As serious as they were when written, they’re worth a chuckle in 2020.