Corner Brook Mill Whistle (as I remember it) Ah! The old mill whistle, blowing several times a day from Bowater's Pulp and Paper Mill in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, sending men to work, children to school and much more. The old familiar sound that was as annoying as was beautiful music to the ears. If you were a kid in the 1950's living in Corner Brook, you would know how the town had prospered back then. It was a town where families came first. They worshipped on Sunday at their respective churches. The Catholics attended Catholic schools that were run by the Presentation order of nuns, or the Sisters of Mercy, depending on where you lived. The Christian Brothers taught the boys in high school. The Protestant children went to what was known as "public" schools. All schools had the same school hours and that was due to the fact that the mill whistle played an important role in the lives of the townsfolk. The whistle was like an alarm clock that could be heard from miles away. It told them when to wake up, when to leave for work, when it was dinnertime, suppertime, and when it was time to call it a day at work. Everyone in the town was accustomed to the mill whistle. To the best of my recollection the whistle blew eight times a day back in the 50's. Back then the town had a volunteer Fire Brigade. The whistle sound alerted them when there was a fire. It was the number of times the whistle blew that alerted them to a fire in the mill itself, or in the town. The whistle even told them which part of the mill was on fire. The whistle would also blow at intervals during the day when someone became lost in the woods with the hope that someone would hear it and be directed to the sound and help whoever was lost. Every Remembrance Day, November 11th, at Exactly 11:00 a.m. the whistle blew for 15 seconds, was silent for 1 1/2 minutes, then blew for another 15 seconds to mark two minutes of silence in honor of the war dead. Every year at midnight on December 31st, the whistle blew to mark the beginning of a new year. I remember 3 short whistle blows at 7:45 a.m. to alert the men they had 15 minutes to get to work by 8 o'clock. At 8 o'clock it blew one long blast which meant the men started the work day and the children got ready for school by 9 o'clock. It blew again at 12 noon, that was when the men and the children headed home for their home-cooked dinner (now called lunch), which their mothers spent hours in the kitchen preparing for the family. Then another blast at 12:45 to alert everyone back at work or school before the 1 o'clock blast. The 5 o'clock whistle was the signal that the work day was over. I remember watching all the men leave the mill carrying their empty lunch baskets; heading home in all different directions. It was at the intersection where the first traffic light signal was installed, quite a spectacle in the day. I often wondered who blew the mill whistle. As a child I imagined there was a man pulling on a rope, like a bell ringer. Was it a special job for a special person? How did he know how many blasts to blow? How did he find out if someone was lost in the woods? Who was responsible to get the message to the whistle blower? When there was a fire, how did he know so quickly how many blasts to blow? But I did find out that it was steam that made the whistle sound, but someone had to put a voice to the whistle. So you see, the whistle did have a voice. It spoke to the people; it alerted them about catastrophes and events. It told them when to get up, what time to be at work or at school, and when to have their family meals. And so it stands to reason that when the townsfolk head back home for their regular visits to Corner Brook, one of the most endearing sounds was the mill whistle. It was a familiar voice they heard many times through the years when they were young, it was the voice of the whistle speaking to them; it was saying "Hi, remember me? Welcome home friend." I listened for that voice the last time I went "home" but I didn't hear the familiar voice welcoming me. Unfortunately it has been silenced. Times have changed. But I heard it by reminiscing about the days gone by, and I was welcomed back "home." As I said, times have changed. Yes, you can hear the sound of the whistle again, as it has been posted for posterity on You Tube.   Submitted By: Bernice McCall