WINNER - Manitoba Day Awards, 2025
In Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravity and More Lesser Known Histories Darren Bernhardt recounts historical anecdotes from middle-Canada's past that were never given top billing, the ones that faded away in time but left their marks behind. Laden with archival images, Bernhardt's stories restore focus on the gunslinging fugitive who became a folk hero, the curious and chaotic battle for Kenora, the flower-bearing American spy, the ghost trail of the Bergen Cutoff, the lost bells of St. Boniface, how the bison were saved from extinction, Hudson Bay's missing gravity, and the many firsts accomplished in the northwest.
The stories of what was - and what could have been - arouse imagination and kindle interest in a complicated and colourful past.
Table of Contents:
Contents
Introduction 4
Bells of St. Boniface 4
The first bell 5
Mother church 7
On strike 9
Cross-crossing the Atlantic 14
Most imposing church in Western Canada 17
Disaster from a cigarette 19
Lost bell found 21
Sidebar 1 1807-1859 25
Crocus Day and the American Spy 31
Sidebar 2 1861-1868 42
Republic of Manitobah 44
Sidebar 3 1871-1876 52
The man who saved the bison 61
Mountains of bleaching bones 65
Alloway sells herd 65
Sidebar 4 1877-1888 69
When Kenora was in Manitoba … and Ontario 75
Sidebar 5 1889-1898 81
Bergen Cutoff 84
The path of unfulfilled promise 84
Big plans 88
Sinking feeling 90
Bergen bridge 91
Track prints 95
Bootlegging and bombs 96
Sidebar 6 1902-1913 102
Fugitive to folk hero: Shootouts, hideouts and manhunts for Percy Moggey 104
Criminal life 108
Bank shootout 109
Public spanking 112
Hidden cabin 116
Ends with a cup of tea 121
One last time 125
Rebuilt cabin 126
Sidebar 7 1916-1925 130
Secrets of the Civic Auditorium 139
Relief project 142
Art Gallery opening 145
Museum opening 146
Packed to the roof 147
Sold to the province 148
Sidebar 8 1927-1938 150
Punkinhead: Manitoba-made rival to Rudolph 156
Sidebar 9 1940-1956 165
How Manitobans amplified rock 'n' roll 170
Rock-Ola 184
Slot machine syndicate 186
Magic of the Multi-Selector 187
Sidebar 10 1960-1972 193
Churchill’ s missing gravity 195
10,000-year-old indent 198
Convection and subduction 201
Sidebar 11 1993-2023 203
SOURCES 204
? SOURCES for The Bells of St. Boniface 204
? SOURCES for Bergen Cutoff: The path of unfulfilled promises 205
? SOURCES for Churchill’ s missing gravity 207
? SOURCES for Crocus Day and the Beloved American Spy 208
? SOURCES for Fugitive to folk hero: Shootouts, hideouts and manhunts for Percy
Moggey 208
? SOURCES for How Manitobans Amplified Rock ‘ N’ Roll 210
? SOURCES for Leading the way: Firsts in the Northwest 211
? SOURCES for Punkinhead: The Manitoba-made rival to Rudolph 219
? SOURCES for Republic of Manitobah 219
? SOURCES for The man who saved the bison 221
? SOURCES for When Kenora was in Manitoba … and Ontario 222
About the Author :
Born-and-raised in Winnipeg, Darren Bernhardt was seven when he began scribbling stories in Hilroy notebooks, recounting family outings and adventures with friends.
As a journalist, he still scribbles stories, now specializing in local history and the offbeat. He spent the first dozen years of his career in newspapers in Saskatchewan before moving back to Winnipeg where he now lives with his wife, two kids and a dog in a 112-year-old house.
He is the co-author of the JackPine Press chapbook To Kerouac and Back and co-author of the play Alison's Leather Couch and author of the best-selling The Lesser Known: A History of Oddities from the Heart of the Continent.
Review :
"In an age when it can be difficult to distinguish facts from fiction, Darren Bernhardt brings his background as a journalist fully to bear in Prairie Oddities. I so admire his exceptional ability to tell thoroughly-researched, little-known and fascinating stories from Manitoba's past." — Gordon Goldsborough, author of the Abandoned Manitoba series.
FINALIST - Margaret McWilliams Award, 2024
"In an age when it can be difficult to distinguish facts from fiction, Darren Bernhardt brings his background as a journalist fully to bear in Prairie Oddities. I so admire his exceptional ability to tell thoroughly-researched, little-known and fascinating stories from Manitoba's past." — Gordon Goldsborough, author of the Abandoned Manitoba series.
