The face of news anchor Lorne Saxberg is familiar
to millions of North American television viewers who watch him every week
in Canada on CBC’s Newsworld and The Weekend National or
in the United States on DirecTV’s Newsworld International.
 But
few know Lorne as a businessman, born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario,
who together with his family has turned a dormant 130-year-old mining store
on the north shore of Lake Superior into a successful seasonal establishment:
the Silver Islet General Store and Tea Room.
Thunder Bay, Ontario, native son Lorne Saxberg relaxes
a moment in the CBC newsroom in Toronto. (photo by DIANNA
ANNA LAST) Scamp, the dog, helped supervise some restoration work
in 1988 at the Silver Islet General Store.
[CLICK ON INDIVIDUAL IMAGES FOR LARGER REPRESENTATIONS.]
 Silver
Islet, an hour’s drive east from Thunder Bay, is situated at the far end
of Sibley Peninsula past the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. In 1868, silver
was first discovered there and by 1871, more than 175 men were employed
at the mine located on a 90-square-foot rock island, three-quarters of
a mile offshore in Lake Superior (see LSM August/September 1999).
For 14 years, it was the world’s richest silver mine (1870-1884). At its
height of operation, the town had more than 600 residents with about 80
houses stretched over a mile along the rocky lakeshore.
 Today,
Silver Islet is a Canadian summer colony with more than 150 residences.
Hundreds tie up at the dock near the Saxberg store each year.
Lorne Saxberg Jr. and his father, Lorne Sr., show off
the restored billiard table at their place in Silver Islet near Lake Superior.
NANCY
SAXBERG
The mine site itself is now a deserted, barren rock island barely rising
above the water. The mine’s buildings, including a library and three boarding
houses, were swept away long ago by the waves of Lake Superior - no trace
of the mine remains except beneath the lake’s waters. It’s amazing to think
that 130 years ago, without the benefit of electricity or modern technology,
silver was successfully mined in shafts extending one-quarter mile deep
under the waters of Lake Superior.
Silver Islet was built and developed largely by Americans. Major Alexander
H. Sibley, president of the Silver Islet Mining Company from 1870 until
his death in 1878, was the son of the first mayor of Detroit, Judge Solomon
Sibley, and the brother of the first governor of Minnesota, Brigadier General
Henry H. Sibley. He lived in Detroit and came to Silver Islet for the summer
with his family and their servants, living in a three-storey frame structure
that became known as the White House.
The fascinating history of Silver Islet, particularly of the General Store,
always intrigued Lorne Saxberg. In 1987, while he was lunching in Toronto
with CBC colleagues, one turned to him and said, “You talk so much about
the store. Why don’t you do something about it?” Within an hour, Lorne
called the store’s owner, Syd Halter, to make an offer (they had been talking
about the store for over a year). Halter later called back and accepted.
 On
January 1, 1988, the Saxberg family took possession of the store with all
its original fixtures and furnishings.
A pamphlet advertising Silver Islet as a tourist attraction
around 1912 shows this outside shot with the caption: “But things have
changed. The Captain (Sibley) now finds his former grounds of mining and
commercial activity invaded by the gay life of the two cities and thousands
of outside visitors.”
“We were so excited that we drove down there New Year’s Day to inspect
it. It was minus 30 degrees and we were freezing inside the building in
no time.”
Working on the building for the first few years was not easy.
“One night in February I stayed overnight by myself,” Lorne recalls. “The
water bucket froze just four feet from the stove. There is no electricity
at Silver Islet, even now, so everything was run off the generator. It
was a Herculean effort to start dragging the 19th century store into the
20th century.”
 During
renovations, the family discovered interesting historical treasures like
an 1876 diary by the first storekeeper hidden in the floorboards, a pull-out
Murphy bed and antique condoms in a tin box with the product name “Three
Merry Widows.”
The Tea Room once again is a gathering place for Silver
Islet summer residents. NANCY SAXBERG
The renovated Silver Islet General Store was opened in July 1989 and the
store’s Tea Room opened four years later. In 1999, the family added President
Sibley’s Billiard Room featuring a refurbished 120-year-old Brunswick billiard
table originally housed in the President’s Mansion.
Last summer, they built a patio deck facing the lake and will soon launched
a website: www.silverisletstore.com.
The store has been the ultimate family project, involving Lorne’s parents,
Lorne Sr. and Joan (during her nursing career, it had been her dream to
someday own a pie store); brother Bob and his friend Jeanette Prenger;
sister Nancy, her husband, Jim Differ, and daughters, Lauren and Madi;
and sister Sandy, her husband, Jeff Korkola, and daughters, Olivia and
Jesse.
“Anybody remotely related to family is corralled into working at the store,”
laughs Lorne.
So saying, Lorne quickly acknowledges the dedicated support of others.
In particular, their long-time Thunder Bay neighbours Dorothy and Al Johnston
(who have helped since the beginning) and Silver Islet campers Roger and
Nancy Morin, Lenore Ferguson and Arlene Robertson.
Enjoying their renovated Tea Room and each other’s company,
most of the Saxberg family gathers for a portrait.
The strong family relationship and long-term commitment to the business
have been keys to their success … but Lorne notes with a smile, “The biggest
reason is my mother’s home cooking in the Tea Room. People drive from Minneapolis
just to have her delicious cinnamon buns!” Everything is made from scratch
- from the tea biscuits, four-fruit pies, blueberry cheesecake to light
lunches of gourmet pizza, the Finnish soup mojakka and chili.
Last summer a new item, Cornish pasties (pie dough wrapped around a meat,
vegetables and potatoes mixture) was added in recognition of Cornish miners
(many from northern Michigan and Wisconsin) who worked at the silver mines.
The miners would take their pasties down into the mines and heat them on
a shovel using a candle.
 “In
the 12 years as owners, the store has become as much a homestead for us
as it has a meeting place for the community,” says Lorne. “We see ourselves
as guardians of an important piece of Canadiana.”
Lorne Saxberg Jr.’s mother Joan Saxberg (front) and family
friend Lenore Ferguson tend the counter in the store that offers a little
bit of everything. NANCY SAXBERG
A graduate of Thunder Bay’s Confederation College Broadcasting program,
Lorne also attended Lakehead University and later studied television and
cinema at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“My goal always was to work on national television.”
In 1976, he joined Thunder Bay’s CBC-CBQ Radio as an announcer, and in
1985, accepted a position with CBC Radio in Toronto. In 1989, he joined
CBC National TV News and was one of the first news anchors to launch CBC
Newsworld. “It was exciting to be part of Canadian television history.”
An accomplished classical pianist, Lorne enjoys weight-training, carpentry,
travelling, restoring old cars and reading more about Silver Islet’s history.
He commutes between his homes in Toronto and Thunder Bay, using his vacation
time to spend most of July and August each year working at the store.
“Coming back to Silver Islet takes me completely away from my television
job. It forces me to slow down. In broadcasting, I work with some of the
most sophisticated high tech equipment available, but here we don’t even
have electricity,” muses Lorne.
“The work here is so different, so intense, yet it does not seem like work.
It is more a passion. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. And it strengthens
my ties to Thunder Bay.”
He adds thoughtfully, “I like the big city and the fast pace of television
broadcasting. But Thunder Bay has always been home to me. Someday I’ll
be back here to live full time.”
The Silver Islet General Store and Tea Room is open every weekend from
mid-May to mid-October, and every day, except Wednesday, during July and
August. The season ends with a grand Sunday Turkey Dinner (by reservation
only) during the Canadian October Thanksgiving weekend (October 7-9).
Elle Andra-Warner is a freelance writer/photographer and newspaper columnist
from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her articles on people, places and history have
been featured in publications worldwide.
|
