Roche Percee- Zieglgansberger Pictures

Roche Percee, Saskatchewan

Pictures below contributed by Kyle Zieglgansberger

All Photos ca: Sept 1958

From Kyle:

“This is the man who took the pictures, my Grandfather, Frank F. Zieglgansberger. He was a mechanic for the mine for 40 years. “They are from the area directly south of Roche Percee. The spill piles that overlook the town that is now pasture.”

Frank F. Zieglgansberger
  • b- Oct 15, 1934
  • d- Nov 14, 1999, age 65
  • buried in Bienfait Cemetery
  • Frank Zieglgansberger was elected Overseer of the Village of Roche Percee in Nov. 1958.
    • Frank was married to Betty Lees
      • b- Feb 12, 1937
      • d- Jan 3, 2004, age 66
      • buried in Bienfait Cemetery
      • daughter of Ellis and Gertrude Lees

Frank was the son of Frank Xavier Zieglgansberger and Pauline Zieglgansberger, maiden name Wanner. Frank Xavier Zieglgansberger operated the Zieglgansberger mine, with his brother Ludwig or “Louie”. This would have been the “Old Mac” Coal Mine.


Page Dragline, Model 625?


My guess a Page 625, with 7 yd bucket, and 125 ft boom, pictures on the net with 140 ft boom. Only thing that bothers me is the side arms are not visible, which were part of the walking mechanism. Possibly just the camera angle, as back of machine isn't visible in these photos.

Have also seen articles, where the bucket size was 10 yds. and Boom 150 ft. All seem to be diesel powered, by 2 diesel engines, designed and built by Page, just for dragline use. Upstairs one powered the swing, and downstairs one powered the dragline works.

These are 2 interesting photos above. First you don't see photos of a twisted dragline boom very often, (I did find another Page picture online though), and Second, this is the only Page Dragline, I have seen pictures of, or heard of, in the SE Saskatchewan Coal Field.

Reason this 2nd item is interesting, is the Page Engineering Company, Incorporated in 1912. Company was started by Engineer, John W. Page, (see Bio below) located in Suburban McCook, Chicago IL who was a partner of Page & Schnable Contracting at the time, Invented the Dragline method of Excavation in 1904.

Feb 1958 Page Engineering invented the largest automatic bucket in the world.

The Page Engineering Company operated until 1988 when it was sold to Harnischfeger Corporation, which became P&H.

So if Page didn't exist, would the Dragline and Strip Mining exist? Probably not for many years later.

Marion 360 Stripping Shovel



Made by Marion Steam Shovel Company, in Marion Ohio, founded in 1884, name changed in 1946 to Marion Power Shovel Company. Company later sold to Bucyrus, which was in turn sold to Caterpillar.

It had 10 Cu Yard Dipper Bucket, per one article. (9 in article linked below) Obviously being scrapped here, in 1958. The last one known to operate, was built in 1927, and is on display at the Diplomat Museum at Forestburg Alberta.

Not sure about exact date of build on this one. Marion sold 47 of them between 1923 and 1929. The machine stood on 4 sets of crawler tracks, which were added after 1925. Initially they were rail mounted. So this one would have been built between 1925-1929. This machine broke the world record for size at that time. It weighed approx 560 tons. 90 ft boom, Could be ordered with steam or electric power. Pretty sure this was an Electric model.

Have to love the old truck in the right hand photo as well. Found an article from 1950, which had a poor picture of this machine working, which identified it as a shovel, not a dragline as I thought originally.

Let me know if you know anything about these 2 machines.

Pictures above contributed by Kyle Zieglgansberger

Bio and Genealogy Section

John William Page
  • b- Oct 5, 1868, in Waukegan, Illinois
  • d- July 21, 1967, Western Springs, La Grange, Cook, IL, age 98,
  • Funeral July 24, 1967
  • At age 96 he was still President and Treasurer, and active in his Company.
  • He graduated from the First Class of the Illinois School of Engineering in 1892.
  • His father William Z. Page, (1840-1870) and mother, Marguerite Fallon, (1842-1877) were both born in Illinois
    • Death cert says father was Levi H. Page. ?
  • married Emma Belle Page, nee Dunning, June 6, 1894 in IL, USA
    • b- Mar 17, 1868 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Mass, USA
    • d- 1962 in Illinois, USA
    • daughter of Cyrus Woodman Dunning and Lois E. Dunning, nee ?
      • Lois E. Dunning
        • b- 1848
        • d- July 4, 1933 at home of John Page in Chicago
        • Lois lived at 517 3rd St South, in St Petersburg FL in 1928
        • She was an Internationally known Portrait Painter, one of 5 “Grey Painters” in the world at that time.
  • daughter- Fannie Belle Page, married John Russell Fox
    • b- Oct 11, 1895 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois
    • d- Oct 28, 1989 in Ojai, Ventura, Ca., USA

View my Old Mac Coal Mine page, Where both of these machines operated.

Ext Links not my sites, links may or may not work in the future

Diplomat Museum at Forestburg Alberta, has a whole Marion 360 shovel
http://www.forestburg.ca/content/museum

Best pictures and info on the Diplomat mine shovel here
http://www.drainsofmycity.com/missions/pdf/Marion360.pdf


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