Winning the Prairie Gamble - Timeline

Behind-The-Scenes

Building the Timelines for “Winning the Prairie Gamble”
by Joan Champ

One of the most popular features of the Winning the Prairie Gamble exhibits in Yorkton, Moose Jaw and North Battleford are the 200-foot-long Timelines that run around the perimeter walls of each of the exhibits. Major Saskatchewan events are represented on the Timelines, using WDM artifacts, photos, videos, rotating spools, and text. The building of the Timelines was a monumental task for the Western Development Museum’s staff and exhibit contractors. See how much work went into the planning and construction of the Timelines.

Photo by Randy Barwick

Timeline Statistics

Number of Timelines = Three
Number of curators = Two: Ruth Bitner and Leslee Newman

WDM Photo
Number of designers = One: Blair Fraser (also Project Manager)

Number of coordinators = Two: Randy Barwick, Construction Coordinator, and Joan Champ, Production Coordinator

WDM Photo
Number of Timeline panels = MJ = 59; YK = 51; NB = 63. Grand total = 173 panels
Linear footage = Approx. 200 ft. each; total = approx. 600 ft.

Photo by Randy Barwick

Number of people who worked on the Timelines = At least 20, including carpentry crew headed by Randy Barwick, fabricators, collections and conservation staff, and installers
Number of photos on the Timelines = 470 each for grand total of 1,410 photos, each with tailor-cut acrylic covers

WDM Photo

Number of artifacts on the Timelines = Moose Jaw = 262; North Battleford = 273 artifacts; Yorkton = 254. Grand total = 789 artifacts, each with tailor-made acrylic cases or covers

Number of acrylic artifact showcase on the Timelines = Moose Jaw = 105; North Battleford = 101; Yorkton = 94. Grand total = 300 cases made by Don Jouan, Cam Hood and Jim Berg

WDM Photo by Ruth Bitner

Number of artifact mounts = Approximately 520; most made by Jean-Marie Michaud
Number of #4 security screws used on the Timelines = 6,720. Used 5,640 to install the 1,410 photos, and 1,080 to install the 2D artifacts (90 on each Timeline)

WDM Photo by Ruth Bitner

Number of #6 security screws used to install the artifact cases = 2 each for small cases; 4 each for medium cases; 6 each for large cases. Guesstimate = 1,200
Number of years to build and install the Timelines: Three (not counting years of planning and designing)

Photo by Randy Barwick

Number of man hours to design and build Timelines = An astounding number, too difficult to calculate!

Finished product!
Photo by Randy Barwick

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