Welcome Aboard the Missinaibi
Hull, Quebec, July 18, 1996 - Visitors to the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC), and young visitors to the Children's Museum in particular, will be able to admire and climb aboard the tugboat made famous on the old Canadian dollar bill. On behalf of the City of Hull, Mayor Yves Ducharme officially presented the Missinaibi to the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation during a ceremony held this morning in the Children's Museum's new Adventure World.
The Missinaibi, a small log-pulling tugboat used by Canadian International Paper, became a Canadian icon when it was depicted on the back of the one-dollar bill from 1973 to 1987. When the Missinaibi was put into dry-dock by the paper company, the City of Hull purchased it in 1984 for the symbolic sum of one dollar. A visit to Canada's most famous tugboat will be part of a tour of Adventure World, the Children's Museum's new outdoor site.
The Missinaibi, whose name means "traces left by the water", was brought into service in the 1950s. It measures 14 metres long and weighs about 14 tons. The Missinaibi hauled convoys of logs until the early 1970s, and the photograph that made it famous was taken in 1963 from the Hull side of the Ottawa River, on the CMC's present site, by celebrated photographer Malak. In the illustration based on the photograph, we see the Missinaibi navigating the Ottawa River among log-floats, against the background of the Parliament Buildings.
The Missinaibi is a treasure of our Canadian heritage, and visitors of all ages will enjoy climbing aboard this special part of Canada's history.
Information (media):
Media Relations Officer: (819) 776-7169
Senior Media Relations Officer: (819) 776-7167
Fax: (819) 776-7187
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