Background of our Canadian
branche
Article from : de Stockbroekx's krant, 2de jaargang
nr. 3 1986
Golddigger returns to the city he was born,
after 37 years
In 1927, Leo Stokbroekx had finished his military services at the "huzaren". He
returned to his parents in Oud-Vroenhoven, a small village near Maastricht. Spread out a
huge map of the world and told them: "see, this is Canada and I'm going there".
His parents laughed a bit. Leo was the third of their eight children. The most cheerful
one, but also the one with the biggest sense of adventure. "This is of course one of
his whims again" they told eachother. But this was definitely not a whim. Three
months later he sailed by boat from Antwerp to Halifax in Canada. For 3 days he travelled
on a train to finally find himself in the station of Winnipeg. As poor as a church mouse
"This I shall never forget", says Leo Stokbroekx, who, after 37 years, finally
decided to visit his brothers and sisters in Maastricht. " In that train, all my
suitcases were stolen. My clothes, my papers, my money, everything was in those cases.
Except for the suit I wore, I possessed nothing. That was a bad start".
Still, this bad start definitely didn't prove to be a bad omen for failing as an emigrant.
Presently, Leo Stokbroekx is an inspector with the Canadian National Railway Company and
owns a house in Winnipeg, along with several acres of land and a goldmine in British
Columbia. A little vacationtrip to his family in Maastricht was definitely affordable.
"All I had to pay was the planeticket from Montreal to Amsterdam" he tells us.
"The trainride, first class, from Winnipeg to Montreal and from Amsterdam to
Maastricht, were free. I can travel the world over by train, for free".
It would be appropriate to say that Leo Stokbroekx is a succesful emigrant. Although this
succes did not come for free. In 1927, few people emigrated and for most of those who did,
this became a huge desillusion. Especially since in that year, Canada faced the "big
crisis". After working with a farmer for a couple of month, Leo Stokbroekx too, found
himself out on the street, unemployed. And no work to be found anywhere. The only valuable
matter one could sell, was gold. "Then I shall start looking for gold" he
decided. Together with a friend he travelled to British Columbia, paid the
registrationfees for a concession, and marked his territory. Leo had become a golddigger.
For three years, Leo lead the life of a golddiger in British Columbia. "These years
were some of the most pleasant ones in my life", he tells us. " Together with
this friend, a guy from Scandinavia, I built a logcabin in the Rocky Mountains, ways away
from the civilized world. We spent our days hunting, fishing, preparing food and looking
for gold. It was a wonderful life. We hunted deer and caught mountain trout, the best fish
in the world. We ate for free and healthy. And soon enough we had our first succes in
finding gold. One day you would find nothing, the other all the more. The
"catch" would range from five to onehundred and seventy five dollars a day,
mostly golddust, but I have found myself a goldnugget once. At one time I found 80 dollars
worth of gold in several minutes. I still own a goldmine in British Columbia. There's gold
in that mine, I'm sure about that. But you need to put a lot of money into mining, to get
it out."
(note: decendants of Leo tell me, during my recent trip over, that the golddust has
been in the family for quite some time. Until their mom, who didn't know about the value
of the "dust", threw it in the trash!! Of course to the great sorrow of the
children)
Leo Stokbroekx spent many years as a golddiger, like the ones we know from wetern movies.
However, he never made the mistakes that meant the end to so many itger golddigers.
Whenever he reached the civilized world he didn't squander his money. So after three years
of searching for gold, he had accumulated enough money to buy a car and 5 acres of forest.
On his land he built a logcabin and started cutting down trees. Canada at that time was a
country in full development. Railways were build and phonewires spread nationwide. "I
took care of the telephone poles and sleepers under the rails" he laughs. "Over
a period of 7 years, I chopped the entire forest. Some of the trees had a diamter of at
least 15 feet. Those really brought in the money. Yes, it was good business".
(note: not just a goldmine did Leo possess. His kids confided that he found a
freshwater spring and staked a claim. They bet that "dutch creek" is where Pol's
water well is)
All good things must end. And so Pol's adventurous life, which he loved to no end, came to
an end after 10 years. For the obvious reason. That reason being blonde and having the
most beautiful blue eyes. No wonder Leo could not resist such a fatal combination. He
married, settled in Winnipeg and was blessed with six children. "One nearly a doctor,
the other studying engineering and 2 girls working as secretary", says Pol, with
justifiable pride. "And since the children are selfsupporting, I've decided to
finally go to Maastricht. To see if anything has changed after 37 years. And good grief
has it changed. Maastricht has really spread out. And what prosperity! My advice to anyone
who has a decent job, stay in Nederland. Even though Canada is a land of unlimited
opportunities for those who don't mind a bit of hard work, it just isn't as cosy as here.
People there don't live with eachother, but next to each other."
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