Regina's Northwestern Iron Works 1904 - 1958

In 1903, John Charles Cook made the journey, probably by train, from Grafton, North Dakota to the growing city of Regina, Assiniboia Territory. In partnership with his brother-in-law, Melvin Van Alstine, John registered Northwestern Iron Works in 1904, the documents listing as proprietors John Cook and Lewis Julius Block, a twenty-six-year old clerk in the Land Titles office.

John’s relationship with Block is unknown but Block must have seen the new company as a good investment. Exactly when John bought out Block is unclear but by 1909 Block was living in Summerland, BC. Over the next fifty years three generations of Cooks owned, managed and worked for the company.

Northwestern Iron Works as it looked in the 1920s. Photo courtesy of author.

John Cook was forty-two years old when he founded Northwestern Iron Works. In Grafton he had been in the same business under the name of Grafton Iron Works, but the promise of a booming Regina in the soon-to-be province of Saskatchewan convinced him that prosperity lay ahead. His iron works shop was the first of its kind in Saskatchewan. [1]

Cook was born on May 21, 1862 in West Hartlepool, England, south of Newcastle. His father, Robert, had experience working with boilers on the steam-driven coal ships. In the spring of 1868, John, his siblings and his parents, Robert and Dorothy Cook, emigrated to Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. In Canada Robert continued working on ships and trains and in 1877 was hired to be part of a crew that dismantled a locomotive purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway from the Northern Pacific Railway in Minnesota. It was shipped from Fisher’s Landing, Minnesota (now Fisher, MN) by barges propelled by the SS Selkirk and arrived in St. Boniface on Oct. 9, 1877. Almost the entire population of Winnipeg streamed to the dock to celebrate. Robert was hired along with others to reassemble parts of the locomotive which was renamed the Countess of Dufferin, now on display at the Winnipeg Railway Museum. [2]

John Cook (center), founder of Northwestern Iron Works. c. 1915. The other men may be his brothers, Robert (left) and Thomas and the occasion may have been the wedding of John's son William to Anna Fournier. Photo courtesy of author.

A brief biography published in 1924 claimed that John “was thrown upon his own resources financially at the age of nine”, that is, about 1871 which was the year his mother died. John quit school and took jobs at “machine shops and boiler works.” [3]

In 1879 he moved with the family to Crookston, Minnesota and eventually went to Detroit to learn the boilermaker’s trade. It was during his time in the Detroit-Windsor area that he met Bertha Van Alstine whom he would marry in December, 1891. At that time John identified himself as a “Boiler Maker”.

John and Bertha moved to Grafton, North Dakota where John’s father was living. Bertha’s parents, Lambert and Sarah Van Alstine, followed Bertha to Grafton. They and her brother Melvin went to Regina ahead of John Cook and were influential in convincing John of Regina's economic possibilities.

The business started small as a boiler-making and machinists shop located at 1419 Scarth Street in Regina. However, Saskatchewan’s new status as a province in 1905 began a building boom that quickly increased the demand for boilers and other equipment. As the first shop of its kind in Regina, Northwestern Iron Works began drawing business, not only locally, but from across the province.

By 1910 John planned a major addition to the shop and requested the City of Regina to sell him two lots adjoining his property. In his letter to the City Council he said:

 "[W]e now find our premises much too small for the proper handling of that business. Our building and plant at the present time is worth at least $15,000.00, and if your Honorable Body will sell us Lots 3 & 4 in the same Block on the usual City terms and conditions we will agree to increase our plant to the value of $25,000.00 ...and we think you will agree with us that it would be to the interest of Regina that Manufacturing concerns now doing business here should expand in order to handle the rapidly increasing demands made upon them. An Inspection of our premises will show you that we have some of the most up-to-date machinery in the West.[4]

In today’s money, Northwestern Iron Works had a value of approximately a half million dollars. When the City Council agreed to sell John the lots, he commissioned a building that would meet his needs. The new building, completed in 1911, was designed by Regina architect W. W. Hilton. It was built of concrete with brick facing and measured 100 x 51 feet (30.75 x 15.7 metres). Instead of the usual wood beams, steel roof trusses were used in order to hold the immense weight of boilers and tanks. These trusses were fitted with sliding block and tackle systems that could hoist boilers and move them along the building’s length to the huge sliding doors on the south side to be loaded for transport.[5]

By 1912 he had built a new home at 2220 Rae Street, a house he owned until his death. Though the home was quite distant from Northwestern Iron Works, John, through his company, now possessed several vehicles and could drive to work.

Northwestern Iron Works as it looked after the expansion, May 1914. Photo courtesy of author.

On Sunday June 30, 1912, Regina was hit by a major tornado. Though many structures suffered worse damage than Northwestern Iron Works, the roof on the south side of John’s new building was blown off and the south brick wall collapsed.

As John’s sons matured, they joined him in the family business. William, the eldest son, was working at the shop by 1911. George and Ralph began work when their schooling was done. Because every job was important, John wanted only good workers. At one point John, despite his English birth, posted a sign in the office window that said, “Help Wanted - No Englishmen Need Apply.” His reason: “They didn’t know how to work.” [6]

The business prospered. An undated article/advertisement entitled “NORTHWESTERN IRON WORKS” appeared in a Regina newspaper:

“Messrs. John Cook and C. M. Van Alstine, with their well equipped shops on Scarth Street north, are naturally taking a proper share in the general expansion of business in the province following last year’s bountiful crop; and are at the present time busily employed in filling orders not only in Regina and the Province, but right to the foot of the Rockies.

The staple products of the Northwestern Iron Works are steam and hot water boilers, heavy sheet iron work, including flues, tube sheets, fire boxes, smoke stacks and breechings, tanks and fire escapes.

Specially noticeable among the machines of every variety of shape and size is the large 10 foot punching and shearing machine...and also the full-size bending rolls, the great length of which makes it possible for work to be undertaken on the most extensive scale....To meet the daily extending demand for oil and gasoline machinery a special feature is made at the North-West works of storage tanks for oil and gasoline ranging in capacity from 2500 to 10,000 gallons, as well as wagon tanks of 500 gallons capacity. Another specialty particularly suited to the requirements of this country is the repairing and rebuilding work on threshing outfits, engines, boilers, pumps and many other classes of machinery....Northwestern Iron Works [is] as modern and well appointed as any factory of its kind in the West.”

To meet the demands of a booming business, John hired many workers from outside the family. The workplace became the base for their social life. Workers organized bowling teams and became part of a league for which Northwestern Iron Works donated a large silver-plated trophy. Each fall John and his sons organized duck and goose hunting parties, a tradition that continued for decades. The company trucks were used to transport everything needed for a weekend of hunting—tents, cots, portable stove, dogs and other necessities. A photograph shows a large commercial Northwestern Iron Works truck with over five dozen ducks and geese strung on the side. Seven men and a dog pose for the camera. Four cases of Pilsner beer are neatly stacked beside them.

Northwestern Iron Works' annual Duck Hunting expedition, c. 1935. Photo courtesy of author.

By the 1920s, John was successful enough to be included in the 1924 three volume The Story of Saskatchewan and Its People written by John Hawkes, the Legislative Librarian. In part the entry says the “family attends the Westminster Presbyterian church…Mr. Cook votes the Liberal ticket but takes little active interest in political affairs. He is a Mason, his affiliations in that order being with Banner Lodge, No.154, A. F. & A. M.”  

John died of a heart attack on January 1, 1928, while at William’s home for a New Year’s Day family dinner. He was buried in Regina Cemetery. His wife Bertha died two years later and was buried beside him on October 21, 1931.

After John's death, his three sons took over ownership of the business. They, too, would become respected businessmen in Regina. George was a member of the Elks and, as his father had before him, Ralph joined the Masons. [7]

The company was newly incorporated with an authorized capital of $40,000 divided into 400 shares of $100 each. William became the company’s accountant; Ralph was business and sales manager; George became president. The sons had learned their business practices from their father who believed in trust and hard work. At times they bartered labour for labour, or took deer meat as payment. Deals were made on a handshake and, in difficult times, credit was extended so that a deal could be made. Beginning in 1934 Northwestern Iron Works, like many other Regina businesses, weathered the Depression by benefitting from the construction of the new Co-op oil refinery in Regina. During World War II the company did some munitions work. [8]

Northwestern Iron Works crew working on a major project, c. 1954. Photo courtesy of author.

The employees were not unionized and probably were fairly satisfied that the company did not take advantage of them. Employers and employees socialized, gathering at weddings and holiday festivities. The baseball teams and bowling teams included wives and children as participants or spectators. The 1987 obituary for Anna, née Fournier, the wife of John's son, William, says that "she was one of the early women bowlers in Regina to break into the all-male...bowling fraternity."

In 1946 William Cook died, leaving his two brothers to run the business. When Ralph died in 1955 and George retired later that year, the business was again reorganized with their sons and William’s son taking over the business. These sons had grown up with the same values as their fathers who had learned from their father, John Cook. In the same trusting manner they made a handshake deal that the client reneged on. With the company on the brink of bankruptcy it was sold. The new owner employed the Cook boys to manage the business but within two years it had to be sold to a group of businessmen who turned it into a smaller company, the North West Machine Shop which employed William’s son Ted until it closed six years later.

The original shop is now owned by the Acme Welding Company.

Garry Radison.

GARRY RADISON is the author of six books of poetry including his latest publication, A Kind of Beauty (2020, Smoke Ridge Books.) His poetic works have been described as “achingly honest...his unique voice, spare and muscular...resonates with the hard-earned truths of negotiating an unquiet peace with his prairie world.” (Hagios Press) The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix said his poems are “like guideposts in a vast desert.”

He is also the author of five books of non-fiction including Defending Frog Lake: An Analysis of the Frog Lake Massacre, Wandering Spirit: Plains Cree War Chief, his companion volume to Fine Day: Plains Cree Warrior, Shaman & Elder. These books bring to life the history of the west from the point of view of the people who lived there.

Born and raised in Kamsack, Saskatchewan, he now lives in Calgary, AB.

“people stories” shares articles from Folklore Magazine, a publication of the Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society. Four issues per year for only $25.00! Click below to learn more about the Magazine and to find out how to get your story into the blog!

Endnotes

1. John Hawkes. Saskatchewan and Its People (Chicago-Regina, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1924) 1645.

2. Susie Givens Jackson. "Robert Cook Family." Walsh Heritage, Volume 1 (Walsh County Historical Society, Grafton, 1976) 74.

3. John Hawkes. Saskatchewan and Its People, 1645.

4. Letter, John Cook to Regina City Council, November 18, 1910. Author's collection.

5. Regina Heritage Walking Tours, 4th Edition (Regina, City of Regina, 2007) 140-41.

6. Lois Cook Steen. Northwestern Iron Works (Unpublished).

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.