Highlights of the day

  • 1880 Alexander Graham Bell’s brother Melville incorporates The Bell Telephone Company of Canada.
  • 1903 Frank Slide Kills 70, During 90 Seconds of Terror.
  • 1944 German torpedo boat sinks RCN destroyer HMCS Athabaskan in the English Channel; 128 killed, 86 captured.

List of Facts for April 29

  • 1627 At the urging of Samuel de Champlain, Cardinal Richelieu, the first minister of France, signs the charter of the Company of New France, or One Hundred Associates (Compagnie des Cent-Associés), to be proprietors of Canada; to govern in peace and war… and do their utmost to populate New France, also called Canada. The company will obtain working capital of 100,000 crowns from 100 investors to develop and exploit New France’s resources and to encourage Roman Catholic missionary activity. The company, a group of merchants and aristocrats, is given full seigneurial ownership of the land of New France from Florida to the Arctic, and the monopoly of the fur trade. In return they have to settle up to 300 men of all trades no later than next year, 1628, and over the next fifteen years until their numbers swell to four thousand of both sexes, for those fifteen years that will end in December of 1643. They also have to, “with God’s help, to instill in the the natives knowledge of the true God, police them, and bring them into the Roman apostolic fold by teaching them the catholic faith… and ready the native mind for knowledge of the true God, and to populate the above-mentioned country with natural French catholics”. Paris, France. The Charter is ratified on May 6, 1628.
  • 1628 Agriculture - Guillaume Couillard-Lespinay the First person in Canada to use an ox-drawn plow; Louis Hebert’s son-in-law. Québec
  • 1644 François-Joseph Bressani captured by Iroquois near Fort Richelieu; later ransomed by Dutch. Québec
  • 1671 Marguerite Bourgeoys receives Royal Patent for her Sisters of the Congregation of Montréal. Paris, France
  • 1742 François de La Vérendrye leaves Fort La Reine with his brother Louis-Joseph de La Vérendrye, to follow the Souris River to the Missouri River watershed. North Dakota
  • 1745 William Pepperell departs Canso to attack Louisbourg with British naval squadron from West Indies under Commander Peter Warren; joined at Canso by smaller groups from New Hampshire and Connecticut. Canso, Nova Scotia
  • 1776 American Revolutionary War - Benjamin Franklin arrives in Montréal with Charles Carroll and Samuel Chase; sent by the Continental Congress to convert Canadians to freedom. Montréal, Québec
  • 1817 Rush-Bagot Agreement - Richard Rush for the US and Charles Bagot for Britain sign the Rush-Bagot Agreement limiting the number of warships the two countries can maintain on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain - 2 ships each under 100 tons on upper Great Lakes, 1 each on Lake Champlain. On this day in 1818, US President James Monroe proclaims US naval disarmament on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. Washington, DC
  • 1864 Aboriginal - Chilcotin War aka the Chilcotin Uprising breaks out at Homathco ferry, where Alfred Waddington’s workers were cutting a shorter wagon trail to Fort Alexandria and the Cariboo gold fields. When a ferryman, Timothy Smith, refused food to Klattasine, Tallot and other members of the Tsilhqot’in people working as packers for the road crew, they shot Smith and dumped his body in the river, then made off with food and a half ton of provisions. The following day they returned and attacked more workers and settlers, killing 19 in total. See October 26. Bute Inlet, BC
  • 1872 Red River Valley soil sample is sent to Kiel University in Germany to determine its agricultural potential. Manitoba
  • 1880 Communications - Melville Bell, Alexander Graham Bell’s brother, incorporates The Bell Telephone Company of Canada on this day as Royal Assent is given to the act chartering the firm; the Bell stock is soon listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, whose members quickly take to the new fangled device. The invention was developed over the past decade at the Bell homestead in Brantford, and the First business phones installed in Hamilton. On November 9, 1877, Bell installed the first phones for Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1890 Crow’s Nest and Kootenay Lake Railway Act amended allowing a change in directorship. Completion dates reset. Victoria, BC
  • 1891 CP steamship Empress of India arrives in Vancouver from Yokohama to open regular service to the Far East; breaks record Pacific crossing by two days. Vancouver, BC
  • 1891 First session of 7th Parliament meets until September 30; deals with government scandals. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1899 Dominion Copper Company, Limited (DCC), incorporated in Toronto by senator G.A. Cox et al including Mackenzie, Mann and Company Toronto, Ontario
  • 1899 Strathcona is incorporated as a town. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1903 Disaster - Frank Slide - Huge 74 million tonne slab of limestone slides off the east slope of Turtle Mountain at 4:10 am and sweeps 1.6 km through the Crowsnest Pass valley and the coal mining village of Frank, burying the mine entrance and killing at least 70 people in 100 seconds; only 23 survive, and 17 trapped miners dig themselves to safety 13 hours later. The slab is 400 metres high, 1200 metres wide and 150 metres thick. Frank, Alberta
  • 1904 Fire destroys six blocks of downtown Fernie, BC; First Great Fire.
  • 1906 UMWA strikes CNP Coal over wages.
  • 1914 Supreme Court of Ontario bans employment of unqualified teachers. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1936 E.W. Hamber commissioned as the lieutenant-governor of British Columbia. Victoria, BC
  • 1939 Fire rips through the Beaver Creek’s valley near Fruitvale, BC.
  • 1941 Second World War - Finance Minister J. L. Ilsley calls special taxes ‘a temporary wartime expedient’ in budget speech to Commons; warns of probable $500 million deficit. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1944 Second World War - German torpedo boat T-24 sinks Royal Canadian Navy Tribal Class destroyer HMCS Athabaskan in the English Channel off the coast of France; 128 lose their lives and 86 are captured. France
  • 1944 Second World War - HMCS Haida drives a flaming German warship aground. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1944 Princeton Tulameen Coal Company quits mining at Princeton, BC.
  • 1945 Second World War - Royal Canadian Air Force starts air dropping food supplies to the starving Dutch. Netherlands
  • 1948 Military - Louis St. Laurent proposes founding a ‘collective security league;’ helps lead to formation of NATO. United Nations, New York
  • 1962 British PM Harold Macmillan arrives in Ottawa for talks with John Diefenbaker and Cabinet on European Common Market. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1964 Ontario government brings in $1 an hour provincial minimum wage; starting June 29. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1967 Opening of Expo 67’s World Festival of Entertainment in the Place des Arts in Montréal; opening gala features premiere of André Prévost’s choral-orchestral work, Terre des Hommes, with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra and the World Festival Chorus. Montréal, Québec
  • 1970 Québec Election - Robert Bourassa leads Liberals to 72 seats and victory in the provincial election, defeating the Union Nationale under Jean-Jacques Bertrand (17 seats); 12 Social Credit and 7 members of the Parti Québecois also elected to National Assembly. Québec
  • 1971 Québec Premier Robert Bourassa outlines his James Bay project; Hydro Québec to build $6 billion hydroelectric power project in James Bay region; largest such development ever undertaken in western hemisphere. Québec, Québec
  • 1973 Saint John River flooding causes up to $25 million damage in New Brunswick. New Brunswick
  • 1978 Frank Slide recognized as a National Historic Site. Frank, Alberta.
  • 1981 Phillies’ Steve Carlton strikes out Montréal Expos Tim Wallach, in the First inning of the 6-2 victory; becomes the sixth major-league pitcher, and the First left-hander, to strike out 3,000 batters. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 1986 Queen’s University offensive tackle Mike Schad chosen by Los Angeles Rams, to become the First Canadian football player ever selected in the First round of the NFL draft. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1991 Denison Mines to close uranium plant in Elliot Lake, putting 1000 out of work; blames high costs, cancellation of Ontario Hydro supply contract. Elliot Lake, Ontario
  • 1991 Environment Minister Jean Charest announces $100 million program to clean up toxic sites and contaminated waste dumps in the Arctic. Iqualuit, Nunavut
  • 1995 Butchers finish making the world’s longest sausage, with a length of 28.77 miles. Kitchener, Ontario
  • 2003 Jean Charest sworn in as Premier of Quebec, replacing Bernard Landry.
  • 2004 A North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel rules in favour of Canada in the US - Canada softwood lumber dispute against the United States.
  • 2004 Prime Minister Paul Martin speaks at a US conference; reffirms his government’s not to join coalition in Iraq, but says Canada wants to aid in rebuilding Iraq.