Steinbach 12° C , Partly cloudy

Since the restored Reeves steamer was fired up and put into action at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum sawmill earlier this summer, more than 2,000 visitors from all over Canada and in many other parts of the world had the opportunity to see the gleaming 1904 giant in action.

None was more pleased and excited about the job Canadian Railways staff had done in getting the machine back in shape than the man who had discovered it abandoned on the shores of an Ontario lake, nearly two decades ago.

“It’s beautiful. It looks even better than I had imagined it would, after reading that it would be professionally restored at the CN shops,” said W. Edward Dearing, a one-time owner of the steamer, which now graces the grounds at the MHV.

Dearing and his wife Geraldine, both in their 80’s, drove out to Steinbach from their home in Surrey, BC to see the restored engine in action.

“This is one of the happiest moments in my life,” Dearing exclaimed.

He sold the steamer to the museum back in 1966, Dearing recalls. During the next four years, he was also its chief engineer, looking after it and operating it on special occasions, such as Pioneer Days.

Dearing’s interest in steam engines goes back to his boyhood days, helping his father with threshing and log sawing.

After graduating from high school in 1916, Dearing took night classes in telegraphy, and got his first job with the Canadian Government Railway in 1918. He remained with the railroad until 1963, when he and his wife retired to BC.

When steam power was more or less abandoned in the 1930’s, Dearing said he began taking a great interest in preserving some of these machines instead of having them scrapped. A great many were still operational when they were sold for scrap metal, he said.

“However, I have been able to find homes for 10 of these engines, the finest of which is the big Reeves 32 Cross Compound 1904 engine, American type, which now is at the Steinbach museum grounds.”

“To see it here, so beautifully restored by competent hands in the CN shops, makes me most happy.”

In his search for old steamers, Dearing said he had looked out particularly for a Reeves, which, in his opinion, was one of the nicest, sleekest looking steamers ever built.

He heard rumours of an abandoned Reeves steamer at Lac Seul, about 65 miles from Sioux Lookout. In 1963, he hired men and a boat and set out to see if he could locate the old steamer.

“There she was – an answer to my prayers.”

The steamer had been used on Lac Seul around 1935 to drive a sawmill to make lumber for a dam being built at the west end of the lake. It had been left sitting on a rocky point about 20 feet above lake level and had been badly vandalized.

“But checking closely, I felt it was still possible to restore.”

The next summer, Dearing went back by fishing boat with replacement parts and had the Reeves running in two days. In late fall, it was loaded on a barge moved to Hudson, Ontario. where it remained on CN tracks until the following summer. It was then freighted to Dugald, where it was further restored.

It was being shown in operation at the Dugald Fair when some directors from the Steinbach Museum saw it and MHV director J.J. Reimer decided they must have it.

Mrs Dearing recalled that she had painted the Reeves for the Dugald parade.

Dearing said there is no trace of who owned the steamer prior to 1935. A search of steam engine operators’ licenses had revealed nothing. Such information would be invaluable, particularly now that it is a museum showpiece.

After visiting friends in and around Winnipeg, the Dearings will drive back to BC, where they have lived in retirement since 1963.

Both Mr and Mrs Dearing are 82 years old. Mrs Dearing celebrated her birthday on March 26, while Mr Dearing celebrated his on May 26. Both are in apparent excellent health.

“Someone here asked me whether it was too far for me to walk to the engine,” Dearing laughed. “I told him that if you’re ready to go deer hunting, I’ll keep up with you all day.”

The latest makeover of the Reeves steamer, undertaken by Canadian National Railways as a corporate donation to the Mennonite community, was competed early in June.

The high point of activities at the MHV, the first week of June, included a log sawing demonstration when the local steam club fired up the restored steamer. On hand for the “maiden voyage” of the gleaming machine were steam club members Harold Unger, Bill Giesbrecht, Frank Klassen and Frank Dueck, along with CNR machinest Stan Bachinsky, who oversaw the restoration project.

– with files from Eugene Derksen