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New museum a safe haven for Michel-Natal history

The Michel-Natal Sparwood museum held its grand opening on Thursday, May 18.
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The Michel-Natal Sparwood museum moved to a new location beside the tourist information centre, and held its grand opening on Thursday, May 18.

The town of Michel-Natal existed from 1903 to the mid-1980s when the last house was taken down. Located just east of where Sparwood is now, Michel-Natal was once a thriving mining community. When oil and natural gas became the preferred resource fuel for consumers, the demand for coal dropped and so did Michel-Natal’s population. Its residents relocated to Sparwood.

“We’ve preserved as much of it as we can inside the walls of the museum,” said president of the Michel-Natal-Sparwood Heritage Society, David Wilks.

A local contest was held to change the logo for the new museum, as well as the Michel-Natal heritage society. Many participated in the contest, but Sparwood Secondary student, Stephanie Olson’s drawing took first place and will now represent the new museum.

“This will now remain the designated piece of art that we’ll use for the Sparwood museum until we decide to do it again which we probably won’t,” said Wilks. “So Steph you can come back in 50 years or 60 years and go, ‘that’s me.’”

After Stephanie cut the ribbon, over 50 people were welcomed into the new museum which transported locals back in time.

District of Sparwood councillor, Lois Halko, was thrilled to see the museum open on Thursday. The request was made around eight months ago to move locations, and Halko said council is excited to finally complete this project.

Of all the museums in B.C., Halko believes this is special, because the physical history of the area is gone.

“What we have now, are intangible memories, that are really important,” she said. “Those stories, the human stories, the family stories, the community stories, and records and letters and photos, are all very important to us.”

In addition to this, telling the stories of coal miners is something Halko believes is very important. The recent erection of the bronze Balmer statue as well as the memorial wall will now complement the museum and the history it contains.

“Those men are family men, they’re hard workers,” she said. “They did that work because they wanted better for their children and for their families.”

The museum was previously located in Centennial Square, but started moving into their new building in December of 2016.

Aside from upgrading the size of the building, the Michel Natal Heritage Society hopes the new location beside the tourist information and Titan Truck will attract more people.

The museum now features a number of rooms with several different themes. First, a large room has been designated to tell the story of Michel-Natal, which existed until the mid-1980s until it was forcibly removed by the government.

In the new museum, there is a room designated to mining near the rear of the building, as well as a kitchen depicting life from the Michel-Natal era. There are many displays of old buildings and churches from the area. A large Balmer North display can be found near the entrance.

All paraphernalia was donated to the museum by locals. Even with the recent space upgrade, the society still has a basement full of objects from the past. However, the museum will be updated from time to time to make sure some important features are brought to light.

As Michel-Natal is just one part of Sparwood’s history, the museum will continue to build on its history of Sparwood as a whole, with stories of the people who used to live here, and some businesses that have come and gone.

Another feature on the way is a gift shop that will feature local merchandise and coal products.

The museum is also looking to partner with Teck Coal Resources to bring in a live-stream video from the Elkview Mine. This will allow visitors to watch trucks transporting resources, or even a mine blast. This is projected to come into place sometime in 2017.

Wilks believes preserving the history of this mountain town is important for several reasons.

“For Sparwood, Michel-Natal, it’s really important because those two towns are gone. When you drive through that corridor on your way to Calgary, you don’t realize that at one time, 2000 people lived there.

Because towns change, Wilks and his team of volunteers will be doing their best to collect the history of these old towns to help newcomers have a look into the past.

“Because [communities] change, make sure that you collect that history so that people like yourself or me can come into this place, and go, ‘oh’, that’s what it looked like,” said Wilks. “You can’t describe these photos, because pictures are worth a thousand words.”

The new museum is open 7 days a week. The cost of entry is $2 at the door.



Phil McLachlan

About the Author: Phil McLachlan

Phil McLachlan is the editor at the Penticton Western News. He served as the reporter, and eventually editor of The Free Press newspaper in Fernie.
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