About The Book: "DICK MADOLE, KING OF THE NORTH" is an oral history, set to paper, that chronicles the life of "Dick Madole, self-styled, "King of the North." Madole was an adventurer, prospector, trapper, gambler, womanizer. Completely fearless, he plunged ahead like a bull moose and dealt with the consequences later.
He convinced an acquaintance, Carl Sherritt to join him in his foray into the Northern Manitoba wilderness in the early 1920's where mines were developing promising ore bodies and there was a wealth of untapped riches in the many animals they could trap for fur to finance their escapades on their way to reaching their ultimate goal of striking it rich.
Together, they restaked the ore bearing claims of a native, Phillip Charlette, when they lapsed. Old Phillip swore that he put a curse on them which later events seemed to prove. There was a negative force that moved through their universe over which Madole and Sherritt had no control.
This block of re-staked claims was called the Sherritt- Madole group. Once development began, they became the Sherritt-Gordon Mines that is now known as Sherritt International.
The town of Sherridon, Manitoba, established at the mine site, introduced a number of interesting characters who drifted in to either work for Sherritt Gordon or to separate the miners from their hard earned pay. They all had a history of living by the skin of their teeth and many played a hand in the development of the area, the discovery of new mines, or providing humorous true life tales proving once again that "truth is stranger than fiction."
If you like reading books with history, action, mystery and the raw drama of life, then this is the book for you.
He convinced an acquaintance, Carl Sherritt to join him in his foray into the Northern Manitoba wilderness in the early 1920's where mines were developing promising ore bodies and there was a wealth of untapped riches in the many animals they could trap for fur to finance their escapades on their way to reaching their ultimate goal of striking it rich.
Together, they restaked the ore bearing claims of a native, Phillip Charlette, when they lapsed. Old Phillip swore that he put a curse on them which later events seemed to prove. There was a negative force that moved through their universe over which Madole and Sherritt had no control.
This block of re-staked claims was called the Sherritt- Madole group. Once development began, they became the Sherritt-Gordon Mines that is now known as Sherritt International.
The town of Sherridon, Manitoba, established at the mine site, introduced a number of interesting characters who drifted in to either work for Sherritt Gordon or to separate the miners from their hard earned pay. They all had a history of living by the skin of their teeth and many played a hand in the development of the area, the discovery of new mines, or providing humorous true life tales proving once again that "truth is stranger than fiction."
If you like reading books with history, action, mystery and the raw drama of life, then this is the book for you.
About The Author: Walter Shmon is a gifted story teller in the old tradition of passing on oral history through his seemingly endless supply of entertaining stories that have held adults silent and spell bound as he wove his intriguing tales. Once hooked, the audience was back the next night to hear another hair raising story of life in the wilderness. Walter gleaned these memoirs, over a 70 year period, from listening to the life stories of the old timers that he meet through the years.
Walter Shmon was born and raised in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba, the youngest son of pioneer parents,Semen and Nellie Shmon. At the age of 18, he started heading north to trap during the winter. Back south, he worked on the roads in summer, followed the harvest, west, in autumn, then returned to his trap line at Hemming Lake in November. In 1942,while at Hemming Lake, he established a silver fox farm, then branched out into mink ranching. By 1945, he had too many mink for the lake to support so he moved his mink ranch to Big Island in Kississing Lake, right in the heart of Madole and Sherritt's trapping grounds, albeit many years later.
Walter was always moving ahead with new projects. In 1950 he moved his mink ranch into the village of Cold Lake and formed a partnership in a fish packing plant. In 1954, he bought the Hotel Cambrian in Sherridon and moved his wife Emily, and daughters, Arlene and Judy, into the Hotel. He still had the mink ranch and divided his time between there and supervising the patrons in the hotel's beer parlour where the stories flowed, continuously, on a daily basis.
In 1970 he was elected mayor of Sherridon. A position which he held for 14 years. While Mayor, he became Chairman for the Northern Region of the Northern Association of Community Councils.
He resigned from his positions in 1985 when Puffy Lake Mines began operations outside of Sherridon and Walter had to give the hotel his full attention.
In 2002, Walter was finally convinced to retire and moved South to join his immediate family.
At the age of 91 he published the highly popular, "Dick Madole, King of the North." His care and concern for the people of the North has never left him. He devotes his time to committing to paper the life stories of the northern pioneers, who linger now as a fading memory. Walter has dedicated himself to the task of ensuring that their names and lives are not forgotten.
