Constructions workers find special pickle jar from 1946

Arbour Day, May 21, 1946: a time capsule is buried near a freshly planted tree in front of Queen Elizabeth School.

Three days ago, a construction worker leaving the site of the former school caught a glimpse of two small pickle jars imbedded in the roots of an over turned tree stump.

The school is being converted into an apartment building and while doing landscape work, a crew member spotted the jars as he was leaving for the day.

Michael McNabb of Schufa Investments Ltd. said an older gentleman had stopped by the site and told them he had been one of several students to bury the jars.

“At first we thought he was mistaken, that perhaps it was somewhere else or another tree there were jars buried in,” said McNabb Friday afternoon.

Inside the jars were pencils, erasers, a marble, a golf tee and a Canadian meat ration amongst other things. There were also five pennies – three from 1946 and two from 1941.
A piece of paper stated the jars were buried by members of Mr. Gordon Richardson’s Grade 6 class on Arbour Day, May 21, 1946 at Queen Elizabeth School in Port Arthur.

There are names of some students also written on pieces of paper from the jars.

“It’s unreal,” said McNabb of the discovery. “It’s amazing.”

McNabb doesn’t know how to reach the man who first approached them about the time capsule, but would like to find him and any other people who may have been part of the capsule.