Josiah Flintabbatey Flonitan

JOSIAH FLINTABBATEY FLONITAN

In the late 50's and early 60's many communities throughout western Canada were searching for symbols to help represent their communities. As we drive through many of these communities, we see such things as large turtles, sunflowers, a perogy on a fork, Ukranian Easter Eggs and many other interesting characters which helps identify the community with its origin. When this first became fashionable, some people were very much in favour of it, some had a luke warm attitude towards it and some were downright opposed. I witnessed this in our own community when the Trout Festival association and Chamber of Commerce presented the idea of designing an individual of a prospector of days gone by to place on a pad at the entrance to our fair city. Many of their thoughts came from a novel published by J.E. Preston Muddock in 1905. After long discussions, their decision was to approach long time cartoonist Al Capp of 'Lil Abner' fame, donating his time and talent to creating an image of the gentleman “conspicuous for two things, the smallness of his stature and the largeness of his perception. After some time he presented them with an image which with a few small changes and modifications, they decided to proceed with the building and structuring of Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin who was constructed in Winnipeg, MB. He was placed on a low bed and transported to Flin Flon in June 1962. I can recall the first base being built across the road from Flin Flon's famous Gateway Drive-in Restaurant and service station. It was constructed out of cinder block as quickly as possible so that Flinty would be available for the annual Trout Festival. I can recall torches being placed beside Flinty by Steel Gas which was owned and operated by Dome Petroleum. This company today is owned by Stittco Energy.

Later on the block surface of Flinty's pedestal was resurfaced with field stone which made it look quite presentable and blended in with our terrain but during all the planning and organizing which went well, Flinty was finally placed on his place of honour to guard our community. As time went by the decision to widen the highway meant the removal of the Arch and finding a new home for Flinty. After some discussion it was the decision to move him over to the Station Museum and our local Tourist Bureau which I feel was a good decision. He is still very much part of our community so after 50 years he is still on guard and very much part of our community and still prospecting for new ore bodies.

In this photograph you can see how little children found Flinty fascinating as he reminded them of a disney character from a fairy tale, so making Flinty very much part of our community and helping people realize how the name Flin Flon came about and the novel “The Sunless City.” which featured this fictional character.

This photograph here illustrates the location of the Welcome Arch over No. 10 Highway and the location that Flinty began his days in good old Flin Flon.

This photograph shows the present home at the Flin Flon Station Museum and Tourist Bureau where Flinty rests today. At the base of the platform of field stone there is a bronze plaque honouring people in businesses who contributed to the cost of the relocation of the dear old fellow. The photograph below will show you a close-up of the above plaque.

This is the plaque which was located at the base listing all the contributors who assisted in the financing of the move of dear old Flinty to his present location at the Flin Flon Station Museum.

On the shores of Ross Lake, there is another small statue erected upon a base which represents the submarine which was in the novel called The Sunless City wrote by J. E. Preston Muddock in 1905. This was very much a part of the story involving Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, better know to us today as Flinty which is one of Flin Flon's landmarks.

This image of the dear old chap shows the uptown area and the large smoke stack which is 825 feet high but has now ceased operation in June 2009.

This is another image which I have chose to add to the collection as it represents the Fall Season and does represent a different view of the old gentleman.

This image shows Flinty in the heart of Winter and he seems to be weathering the storm and looking forward to Spring.

Yes Spring has finally arrived and the grounds keepers for the Station Museum has trimmed the grass and planted the flowers and prepared Flinty for another tourist season North of 54.

THE SUNLESS CITY

After a great deal of research, a number of local individuals were able to find a copy of The Sunless City by J. E. Preston Muddock which was published in 1905. A number of these book were published and put in our local library and a good number of people have purchased this book for their own personal needs which outlines the story of the fictional character Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin. Many people find it humorous, as to how this mining town in northern Manitoba got it's name.