“Perilous Crossing” – The magnificent statue of a York Boat

It’s not uncommon to hear people from Selkirk say their favourite part of the city is the waterfront, especially the large York boat statue.

York boats originated in Manitoba in the 1700s. These boats were used for inland travel by the Hudson Bay Company for fur trade. The boats were named after the northern settlement, York Factory. Beginning in the 1820s, and lasting for a century, York boats were the main form of travel on lakes, and sometimes rivers, between the Hudson Bay post in York Factory and other inland trading posts.

In the early 2000s the Selkirk waterfront began to be redeveloped. Lombard North Group, an architecture firm, oversaw redesigning the waterfront into a public space. They wanted heritage to be reflected at the waterfront and decided to commission a statue to tell part of the area’s history. Construction at the waterfront began in May 2002. It was important that the construction be completed and the statue in place prior to the Western Canada Summer Games in August 2003.

Peter Sawatzky was selected to create the piece. His finished work, a 22 foot, bronze statue, entitled “Perilous Crossing”, portrays the harsh journey of seven men on a York boat.

Peter grew up on a family farm near Sommerfeld, Manitoba. Through a scholarship he was able to complete the commercial art program at the Red River College. Prior to being selected to create the statue for Selkirk Peter had made other public art pieces.

To create this statue, Peter first formed a small clay version which he presented to Selkirk council and developers in December 2001. Then he moved on to creating the full-size statue in plasticene. Once he was happy with how this looked, he cut the plasticene into 120 pieces and cast each of these pieces in bronze. Finally, he fitted all the bronze pieces together.

In September of 2002 the statue was on track to be set in place in May 2003. But in November there was a fire in Peter’s foundry (where he did the metal casting) which put the project behind two months. Luckily, the fire did not destroy the plasticene model since it was stored elsewhere.

The statue cost about 140,000$ and private sponsors covered the cost. The plaque on the statue thanks Gerdau MRM Steel Inc for their generous donation for the funding of the piece. The project took the 50-year-old Peter over 2200 hours to create.