STORY_PROPOSED_NEW

THE "CNR" HAD GREAT PLANS FOR
GRAND BEACH IN 1942

(Scroll down for FULL STORY)

By
Chuck Guarino
now a young 82,
living at Belair
Manitoba

     During my second year as a lifeguard at Grand Beach (1942), CNR engineers from the Bridge & Building Dept. visited the beach. They were deeply involved with preliminary planning of a new pier and breakwater structure.
     They spent considerable time discussing their new plans with me, while I “worked” as a life guard on the old “T” shaped pier that existed at that time.
    Their proposed plan involved a new structure that would protect both bathers and boaters at the western section of what is now “west beach”. It was the most populated area for swimming and boating. The engineers recognized that the wooden “T” shaped pier had a limited life span of only fifteen to twenty years.
     The breakwater and pier complex was to be built of concrete and steel, protected on the north side by large boulders.

The new pier and breakwater was to start at the north tip of the heavily treed peninsula that borders the west beach. The design called for it to run approximately 300 ft in an easterly direction. A second section at the eastern end was to be built at right angles to the first (in a southerly direction) for another 150 ft in length. The entire complex was to be approximately thirty feet in width.
     This design would have provided a much needed safe harbour for boats on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg, in addition to those that already existed at Gimli and Victoria Beach. It would also have provided a sheltered section of the west beach for bathers.
      The CNR in conjunction with both the federal and provincial governments also looked at developing the “South Harbour” at Grand Marais. However, with time, these "avant-garde" projects did not materialize.
     Lastly and very sadly. With the lack of vision and poor planning that the park beaurocrats now operating Grand Beach have shown, do not expect very much to “happen” that will restore Grand Beach to the magnificence that it once knew.