Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

CAN OF WIND

Date Range From

1975

Date Range To

1978

Materials

METAL, PAPER

No. Pieces

1

Height

11.2

Diameter

7.5

Description

THE TIN HAS THE TEXT (RED AND BLUE OVER WHITE BACKGROUND) "GENUINE SOUTHERN ALBERTA CHINOOK WIND". THERE IS AN IMAGE OF A CLOUD BLOWING (IN A CARTOONISH STYLE). ON THE BACK THERE ARE A SET OF "INSTRUCTIONS", AS WELL A "WARNING" (HUMOROUS), AND A SET OF "SUGGESTED USES". THERE IS ALSO A YELLOW / ORANGE STICKER ON IT ADVERTISING "J.B. SEEMAN & SONS JEWELLERS LTD." "WIND VELOCITY THIS CAN 60 - 80 KPH".

Subjects

MERCHANDISING T&E

Historical Association

COMMEMORATIVE

History

CAN WAS PURCHASED BY DONOR'S HUSBAND, ANDREW JOHNSTONE, IN 1978 UPON A VISIT TO LETHBRIDGE. ANDREW LIVED IN ENGLAND AT THE TIME AND WAS VISITING HIS BROTHER HERE. HE RETURNED TO ENGLAND WITH THIS SOUVENIR OF LETHBRIDGE, AND WHEN HE IMMIGRATED TO CANADA IN 1980 BROUGHT CAN BACK WITH HIM. ANDREW IS CURRENTLY CHAIRMAN OF THE GALT MUSEUM & ARCHIVES BOARD OF DIRECTORS. DONOR WAS BORN IN INDIAN HEAD SASKATCHEWAN; HER FAMILY MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1955, WHERE SHE HAS REMAINED EVER SINCE. HER FATHER WAS A REPRESENTATIVE FOR FROSST PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY IN LETHBRIDGE. DONOR IS PAST EMPLOYEE OF GALT MUSEUM. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF PERSONAL ARTIFACTS INCLUDING SOME DONATIONS MADE BY JEAN JOHNSTONE (NEE POTTS). AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ORIGINAL DONOR’S WIFE, JEAN JOHNSTONE WAS CONDUCTED. WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE ARTIFACT’S RECORDED HISTORY ABOVE SHE STATED; “IF IT SAYS ALL THAT THEN HE BROUGHT IT WITH HIM OR HE BOUGHT IT ON THAT HOLIDAY. THEY CAME ON A HOLIDAY AND THEY TOOK QUITE A FEW THINGS BACK TO ENGLAND WITH THEM AND, THEN IN 1980 WHAT HAPPENED WAS THAT HIS BROTHER STUART JOHNSTONE IS HERE, IN LETHBRIDGE, HE HAD MOVED HERE IN I THINK ’75 OR ’76. AND HE’D IMMIGRATED WITH HIS FAMILY. ANDREW AND HIS FIRST WIFE, KATE, AND THE THREE KIDS CAME OUT FOR A VISIT AND THEY LOVED IT HERE, SKIING AND DID ALL THESE SORTS OF THINGS AND THEN STUART… HE WAS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NORM FOOKS… AND THEY WERE BUILDING A BUILDING ON THE CORNER OF 8TH STREET AND 6TH AVENUE AND IT WAS CALLED THE ROY PLAZA. AND IT WAS A REVOLUTIONARY TYPE OF BUILDING THAT BUILT LIKE A HOUSE OF CARDS. THE SIDES OF IT WERE MADE FROM FIBERGLASS REINFORCED CONCRETE AND IT WAS HELD UP WITH GUY WIRES THAT WERE ATTACHED TO THESE WALLS.” “THEY ASKED ANDREW TO COME OVER AND MANAGE THE FIBERGLASS REINFORCED CONCRETE BUSINESS. [ROY PLAZA] WAS GOING TO BE THEIR PROTOTYPE BUILDING AND THIS BUSINESS WAS GOING TO TAKE OFF. ANDREW HAD INVESTED IN IT AND HE HAD GIVEN UP HIS NOTICE …THEY WERE IMMIGRATING, THIS IS 1980. IN JULY OF 1980 THAT BUILDING CAME DOWN BECAUSE A WORKMAN HAD DECIDED TO CUT SOME WIRES TO GET SOME EQUIPMENT IN. AND HE MOVED THAT EQUIPMENT IN AND THREE PEOPLE WERE KILLED. AND SO THAT DAY STUART PHONED ANDREW IN ENGLAND AND SAID HE BETTER NOT COME - THE BUILDING FELL DOWN. AND ANDREW SAID 'TOO LATE. I CAN’T MY STUFF IS IN CONTAINERS AND WE’RE COMING.' SO HE CAME THINKING HE HAD THIS WONDERFUL NEW OPPORTUNITY AND IT WAS A DISASTER.” “SO A LOT OF THIS STUFF CAME WITH THEM BACK. CAN YOU IMAGINE YOU TAKE THESE SOUVENIRS BACK TO ENGLAND IN 1978 TO TAKE THEM TO ENGLAND, AND HERE YOU ARE BRINGING THEM BACK IN 1980? I THINK I WOULD HAVE LEFT THEM IN ENGLAND.” THE INTERVIEW AND A FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW CAN BE FOUND IN THE PERMANENT FILE P20000011001. *UPDATE* IN 2022 FURTHER RESEARCH INTO THE ROY PLAZA COLLAPSE WAS CONDUCTED. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS DRAWN FROM SEVERAL LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES. ON JULY 3, 1980, THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD READ; “AT LEAST THREE WORKERS DIED TODAY WHEN A PARTIALLY CONSTRUCTED THREE-STOREY DOWNTOWN OFFICE BUILDING COLLAPSED, BURYING THEM AND AT LEAST EIGHT OTHERS IN THE RUBBLE. THE ROY PLAZA AT 6TH AVENUE AND 8TH STREET S. COLLAPSED WITHOUT WARNING AT 9:30 A.M., A POLICE SPOKESMAN SAID AT THE SCENE.” (JULY 3, 1980) “THE [SEARCH AND RESCUE] OPERATION BEGAN ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ACCIDENT. LYNN HURKENS, OFFICE MANAGER WITH THE YMCA, WAS LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW OF HER OFFICE ACROSS THE STREET FROM ROY PLAZA WHEN THE COLLAPSE OCCURRED, 'WE ALL STARTED TO RUN OUT OF THE BUILDING BUT THEN SOMEONE SAID TO CALL THE POLICE.' BY THE TIME HURKENS HAD MADE THE CALL AND RUSHED OUTSIDE POLICE WERE ON THE SCENE AND AMBULANCES WERE ARRIVING. THE YMCA BUILDING SERVED AS A REST AND TELEPHONE POST FOR RESCUE WORKERS DURING THE DAY. BY LATE MORNING DONATED COLD DRINKS AND FOOD WERE ARRIVING AND BY 6 P.M. SANDWICHES AND HAMBURGERS WERE BEING HANDED OUT TO THE POLICE OFFICERS, FIREFIGHTERS AND CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WHO HADN’T LEFT THE ACCIDENT ALL DAY. …GILMAR CRANE SERVICES LTD. OF LETHBRIDGE BROUGHT FOUR CRANES TO THE ROY PLAZA AFTER THE FIRE DEPARTMENT CALLED MINUTES AFTER THE COLLAPSE. … TWO CRANES, AT A JOB IN TABER WERE BROUGHT INTO THE CITY BY POLICE ESCORT…” (JULY 4, 1980) AT THE TIME STUART JOHNSTONE WAS PARTNERED WITH NORMAN FOOKS IN THE FIRM FOOKS AND JOHNSTONE ARCHITECTS LTD. AFTER THE ACCIDENT THEY WERE QUESTIONED IF THE FIBREGLASS CONCRETE SIDING WAS MEANT TO GIVE THE BUILDING SOME STRUCTURAL STABILITY; “A SHAKEN NORMAN FOOKS, ARCHITECT OF THE FALLEN BUILDING, SAID HIS SPECIAL FIBER-REINFORCED CONCRETE CAST SIDING WHICH WAS TO BE ADDED TO THE STRUCTURE NEXT WEEK WASN’T INTENDED TO STRENGTHEN THE BUILDING. 'IT WAS JUST A WIND SCREEN, A FACING TO KEEP THE ELEMENTS OUT.'” (JULY 4, 1980) IN RESPONSE TO ROY PLAZA, A GOVERNMENT TASK FORCE WAS ORDERED BY THE PROVINCE TO INVESTIGATE THE COLLAPSE, AS WELL AS A FATALITY INCIDENT INQUIRY; “A GOVERNMENT TASK FORCE REPORT HAS DETERMINED THE BUILDING COLLAPSED UPON REMOVAL OF THE GUY WIRES… [RAY GAUTHIER, FOREMAN FOR SOUTHERN STEEL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES] SAID THERE WERE [STEEL] BEAMS RUNNING EAST AND WEST LINKING THE VERTICAL COLUMNS, BUT NOT NORTH AND SOUTH, AS WOULD NORMALLY HAVE BEEN THE CASE. WITHOUT THE ADDITIONAL BEAMS, SOUTHERN STEEL WAS REQUIRED TO USE MORE GUY WIRES THAN OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE BEEN NECESSARY. … GAUTHIER, AN IRONWORKER FOR MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS, SAID THE 43-METRE (160-FOOT) HORIZONTAL SECTIONS OF STEEL LOOKED LIKE 'SPAGHETTI' IN HIGH WINDS. HE SAID THE STRUCTURE HAD TO BE RE-PLUMBED TWO OR THREE TIMES. HOWEVER, GAUTHIER SAID THE APPROXIMATELY 35 GUY WIRES ON THE STRUCTURE WERE NEVER INTENDED TO SUPPORT THE WEIGHT OF THE BUILDING. HE SAID SUCH SUPPORTS ARE USED ONLY TO PLUMB (SQUARE) THE STEEL SKELETON, AND SHOULD NOT HAVE AFFECTED THE STABILITY OF THE STRUCTURE WHEN REMOVED.” (MARCH 24, 1981) “ROD GREY, THE IRONWORKER WHO REMOVED THE FINAL CABLES BEFORE THE COLLAPSE, SAID HE WAS TOLD TO DO SO BY HIS EMPLOYER, SOUTHERN STEEL. HE SAID HE FOUND BETWEEN FIVE AND EIGHT OF THE WIRES ALREADY REMOVED WHEN HE ARRIVED AT WORK THE MORNING OF JULY 3. AFTER LOOSENING A NUMBER OF REMAINING WIRES, HE FOUND ONE UNDER MORE TENSION THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. 'AS I WAS LOOSENING THE SECOND NUT (TO REMOVE THE WIRE) IT APPEARED THE LINE WAS PULLED OUT OF MY HAND.' SAID GREY. 'I WAS KIND OF DAZZLED. I LOOKED UP AT THE COLUMN AND I COULD SEE IT MOVE. THERE WAS A SNAP AND A MUFFLED BOOM. THEN THE WHOLE BUILDING MOVED.' GREY MANAGED TO RUN FROM UNDER THE STRUCTURE.” (MARCH 24, 1981) AFTER THE FOUR-DAY FATALITY INQUIRY, THE COLLAPSE WAS TERMED “A HIDEOUS MISTAKE.” (APRIL 28, 1981) IN RESPONSE; “CITY COUNCIL VOTED MONDAY TO SUPPORT RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE PROVINCIAL TASK FORCE ON CONSTRUCTION SAFETY …AMONG TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS SUPPORTED IS ONE THAT A PROCEDURE, ADMINISTERED BY THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, BE DEVELOPED FOR VERIFYING AND CERTIFYING THE QUALIFICATIONS OF GENERAL CONTRACTORS. THE TASK FORCE ALSO RECOMMENDED CERTAIN BUILDINGS BE BUILT BY CERTIFIED GENERAL CONTRACTORS AND INSPECTIONS BE REQUIRED BY DESIGNERS OF BUILDING COMPONENTS.” (MAY 5, 1981) BY 1982 FOOKS AND JOHNSTONE ARCHITECTS LTD. WAS DISSOLVED, WITH STUART JOHNSTONE CONTINUING TO PRACTICE ARCHITECTURE UNDER HIS NAME. THE CONCRETE SIDING COMPANY CONTINUED; “THE COMPANY (GFC COMPONENTS LTD.) WAS INTRODUCING FIBERGLASS-STRENGTHENED CONCRETE EXTERIOR PANELING WHEN THE ROY PLAZA COLLAPSED. FOOKS SAID THE COMPANY’S PRODUCT IS GAINING ACCEPTANCE IN CALGARY AND EDMONTON, BUT BUSINESS IS POOR IN LETHBRIDGE.” (JULY 29, 1982) FURTHER INFORMATION AND REFERENCED LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND IN THE PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20020038004

Acquisition Date

2002-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail