“There’s no logical reason this should have survived – but here it is.”
There are also the digital copies of each photograph lost in the fire, and other objects Paul Stehelin, the founder’s great-grandson, has yet to bring over.
And then, of course, is the manuscript, which will be featured at the forefront of the interpretive centre that remains in the works.
The manuscript was written by Paul Stehelin, the grandson of the historic site’s founders, and is titled ‘Electric City: The Stehelins of New France.’ Theriault says it tells the story of the famed lumbermill, its eclectic and multicultural
— Hal Theriault
workforce and its bright electricity from which it got its name.
And now, its charred pages will tell a new story – of how the memory of Electric City has survived, despite it all.
“The story is so vivid, in people’s minds. [This manuscript] certainly is not worth any value, but it gives us a vivid exhibit of the fire, and what happened here,” says Theriault.