OUR FIRST CANADIAN
WINTER
This is the story of
the Dean family who came to Canada in the spring of 1907 and spent the
following winter in the Yorkton district of Saskatchewan. The general location
was some 65 miles north west of the City of Yorkton ?Then just a town" and
the exact location was the N. E. quarter of section 32 Township 31, Range 7,
which was my father's homestead. The nearest point of contact with the outside
world was the town of Rama on the C. N. Railway between Winnipeg and Saskatoon.
It was at that time nothing more than box like station with the usual platform,
and at which the daily train did not stop at, unless it was flagged.? There was
a disused box car close by which housed the section foreman and opposite on the
far side of the tracks a settler's house. This was John Borg and family who was
later to become the village post-master. My father?s homestead was 3? miles
south and 1? miles east.? But this story should really start in Hamiota,
Manitoba, as this was where we first located when we arrived in Canada from
London England.
It was only natural
that we should come to that point as my eldest brother George had come to the
country the previous year and had worked for Bill Angus, a scotch farmer in the
district roughly four miles north of the town. This farm was to be our
headquarters for the following summer. At this time I should say that our
family consisted of mother and dad, George the eldest, John, Arthur, Nellie,
?myself, Vernon", and Muriel the youngest, all in that order.? George must
have been nineteen or twenty and Muriel two and a half years. I was eight, so
knew little of what was going, or what the reason was for us to immigrate to
this country. As far as I was concerned it was just an exciting adventure.
Firstly that I should get out of going to school which I disliked from the very
start, and in the second place I should be going places and seeing things.
The general idea
seemed to be that the elder members would obtain homesteads and go into
farming. Why, I shall never know, as dad and the three boys had always worked
in the city and had not the slightest idea of how farming was carried out, or
what it might cost to get involved in it. Perhaps it was just the draw of being
able to obtain 160 acres of land for only ten dollars. Hundreds of people were
attracted by this offer at that time. Manitoba and Sask. had been surveyed into
quarter sections at that time, and one had only to pick out a suitable piece of
land in what was thought a suitable location, pay the fee of ten dollars and
they were all set to go, and providing they carried out the necessary duties
stipulated by the government they could prove up and own the property at the
end of three years.? The duties consisted of plowing up five acres the first
year.? Ten acres the second year and fifteen on the third. Also, one had to
reside on the place for six months of each year.? Really quite a good scheme to
settle up the country and many did very well, while others did very poorly or
gave up in disgust.? The whole thing depended on one's experience in farming,
their ability to work, and their courage to put up with the hardships they
experienced in a new and rough country where there was not the slightest
facility or help, and one's success or failure, and sometimes life or death
depended completely on themselves.
It seemed we should
have to stay where we were for some time at least until some plan had been
worked out as to where we should settle, and to accumulate all the necessary
equipment and supplies.
As George was the
only one of who had any experience, having been in Canada for a year, we were
obliged to depend on him for a general outline of what should be done, and
whatever information could be obtained from the residents of the district who I
expect had homesteaded in that district many years before, and had now well
equipped farms and had enlarged them by buying adjacent quarter sections from
others who had decided farming was not for them, and had moved.? George had
hired on for the seeding season with the farmer on the opposite side of the
road from the Anguses where Mum and Dad & we three young ones were staying
for the time being, so there was not much could be done but talk until George
had worked out his time where he was.? When he was free it was expected that he
and dad would strike out to explore the out-lying districts to find suitable
land where dad and each of the three elder boys could take up homesteads.?
Arthur was then only seventeen and could not file on a homestead until he was
eighteen, but it was possible to have one reserved for him until he became
eighteen.
In the meantime John
and Arthur obtained work on the neighboring farms and dad set to work to
renovate a small shack which was in the yard of the Angus farm, and we were to
move into it for the summer months as soon as our car load of settlers effects
arrived from Montreal.? I was having a glorious time with the freedom of being
able to go everywhere at will, in contrast to the confinement of the city, and
to come in contact with all the farm animals and also to inspect the farm
machinery and watch some of it work, as anything with wheels on it had always
intrigued me from as long as I could remember.? George, who from the time he
left England had kept to his mad-brained idea of having him- self a home out of
the wilds of Canada "although he was completely unfitted for it" had
already got started in a small way by spending some of his previous years wages
on 2 two year old steers that he was going to use for oxen, and he had also
purchased a set of harness for them and I believe he said he had hitched them
up to a sleigh a couple of times the previous winter and had got them trained
to a point where he could lead them around while pulling the sleigh.? These two
steers were at that time running with the Angus cows and I had lots of time to
get acquainted with them when they were in the corral at nights, as they were very
quiet and docile.? The harness was hanging up in the shack we were in and I was
anxiously waiting for the time when I should see them hitched up as a team.
Their names were Buck and Bright and they were of the short horn breed.? One
all red, one roan.? My ardour was some what dampened when I found out I was
going to have to attend the local school for a few months.? However once
started I didn't mind it so much, as I found discipline was less strict than in
England, and altho' I had only been in grade two for four months in London I
was promptly put into grade three.
In due course when
George had completed his spring work, he and dad started out to locate our new
home.? Of this I don't know or remember much, only that they walked miles and
miles all over everywhere, possibly getting the occasional ride with a settler
and getting various opinions from who-ever they might see or stay with over
night, as in those days it was unwritten law that anyone arriving at anyones
home must be fed before going further, and accommodated over night if
necessary, even if there was only floor or stable space available.? How they
hit on the Rama district I don't really know, hut I believe they were
influenced by a farmer they met who had considered that part of the country
himself as a good area. Perhaps they just got tired of walking and looking, as
the Rama district at that time was not very attractive being about solid bush
and slough with the occasional clearing, so that it was impossible to see very
far or even tell what section one might be standing on.
The outcome of it all
was that they obtained the whole section of 32 for my dad, George, John and my
uncle Botell, who had also come to the country with us. An adjoining quarter of
section 31 was reserved for Arthur.? I think then that George came back and
worked at the same farm again for the rest of the season and dad stayed and set
about building some sort of shack for us to spend the winter in.
I think it was Joe
Howes he employed to haul the lumber and aid him with the construction.? Dad
was not a carpenter by trade but as a boy had been apprenticed to a cabinet
maker and had some carpenters tools and was quite handy with them, but was not
accustomed to rough carpentry as it was then done in this country.? Joe was a
carpenter by trade and also a general "Jack of all trades" and was
quite a valuable man in many ways.? He also had a team of horses with which he
could haul the lumber which had to be brought from Buchanan which was the next
town east of Rama.? It was exactly nine miles straight east of dad's homestead,
but had to be approached by the Fort Pelly trail which was the only main trail
in the area at that time, and wound endlessly around sloughs and through bush
in such a circuitous way that it must have been at least fifteen miles of a
trip.? Joe lived two and a half miles west of dad's place on the N. W. quarter
of section 36 - R8.? He was a bachelor and didn't seem to be very anxious to do
much of anything, unless lack of funds compelled him to do so, and I don't
think he did any farming other than he was obliged to do to obtain the title to
his homestead.? He was quite a character tho' and spent a lot of time in
visiting the various families that settled in the district, mainly to get a
square meal and to cadge a few pipefulls of tobacco and discuss all that went
on in the district.? Any time he could be persuaded to become involved in some
sort of work it was found he was very exacting and particular. This shack
building took up a good bit of dad's time for the summer and when he returned
harvest was under way and finally the threshing, so that when the boys all
returned from their threshing runs we were all set to take off for Saskatchewan
where we resided for many years after.
I have wondered many
times since just what my parents thoughts were at this point as to whether they
were doing the right thing or whether they were having grave doubts as to
whether they had made the right move in coming to Canada. I can remember my
mother and the three boys were quite enthusiastic the whole time and very
anxious to get going, partly no doubt because they didn't realize what they
were up against.? My dad I think felt differently, as from the start he was not
taken with the country.? It all seemed to him so rough and strange and desolate
and was vastly different to the life he had experienced previously, that I
think had it not been for the rest of the family he would have gladly picked up
and gone back to England, but it was a great credit to him that he dug in and went
along with it all.? I can remember him saying that a dollar was just like a
shilling.? Why l remember this I don't know unless it was because I couldn't
understand what he meant, as at that age I was not concerned with money matters
and I could not see the slightest resemblance between a silver shilling and a
paper dollar, but in later years realized that he was thinking that his hard
earned savings that he had accumulated up till that time were now only capable
of purchasing one quarter of this world's goods than at the time he earned it.
Not a very pleasant thought, and it is one which I now have some sixty-five
years later with regard to my own meager savings.? Of our actual "taking
off" I seem to be a little hazy, but I may have been at school much of the
time, or more likely I was shoved off to the Stevens farm to keep me from
getting under foot while the proceedings were going on, as I remember we left
from there, and as they had 'a good democrat and driving team and their hired
man, "who I remember was Jack Bush", was to take mother and us three
younger ones to Shoal Lake on the C. P. R. line north of Hamiota - from there
we were to go to Sheho by rail and across country to Rama.? All our stuff was
loaded into a Box Car, several big packing cases full of everything imaginable,
three or four chests of drawers boxes of framed pictures and dozens of books,
and at least half a dozen clocks, numerous trunks and a small piano and no end
of things I have forgotten about and which we had brought all the way from
England.? By shipping them as settlers effects it was possible to transport a
huge amount of stuff for very little, so we had brought everything but the
kitchen sink as we really didn't know just what was going to be of most value
to us.? No doubt much of it was useless while other things were worth their
weight in gold.
On top of all this
stuff we had a kitchen stove we had bought in Hamiota, a used farm wagon and
box, a big water barrel, several axes and shovels, crow bar, log chain and all
such like junk.? The two steers which from now on would have to be called oxen,
several chickens, a dog and cat and some bags of potatoes which I remember got
frozen before we had finished them all.
I expect it was a
mixed freight train we were on, as this line was still in construction and I
believe was not then built far past Sheho.? As Yorkton was then the divisional
point the train stayed over there and we were obliged to put up at the Balmoral
hotel for the night.
I remember the
following morning I was detailed to take out the dog and cat for a walk.? We
had kept the cat for safety in one of these string shopping bags which were
used in England at that time and as soon as I let it out it dashed madly away,
and as I followed it "probably too closely so that it thought it was being
chased", it squeezed through a sort of grating and disappeared
completely.? So that was the end of the cat.
I certainly got the
laugh from the rest of the family as being the one who let the "cat out of
the bag" and they didn't let me forget it.? Later when Muriel grew up
more, and someone told her at times that she had "let the cat out of the
bag" about something, she would become quite indignant as she didn't
understand the saying and would explosively answer that it wasn't her that let
the cat out of the bag but Vernon was the one.
Another little
incident which took place before we left Yorkton was that George must have
thought that we perhaps didn't have a big enough stock of flour and so
proceeded to buy one more bag and load it in the car.? He was spotted in the
act by some officious individual connected to the railroad and was told that he
couldn't load extra freight between points.? There is no doubt that this would
be the rule when applied to large shipments of freight as the company would
then be transporting much more weight but at the original charge.? However I
don't think one sack of flour on a settlers carload would be any cause for
complaint. There always seems to be the odd guy who picks on trivial cases of
that nature but I think its principally to let people know that they know all
the answers, and it boosts their ego a bit.? There was quite a bit of arguing
back and forth between this man and dad, and the boys, and for a few minutes
things became quite hot which of course attracted a little crowd of "hang
arounders" curious to see if it would develop into a fight.? Finally
George walked off to see the station agent who at once gave him permission to
load the flour and this other character immediately cooled off and disappeared.?
I had been standing around as kids usually do and taking in all the goings on
and became particularly intrigued with an old gent with what seemed to me a
queer dialect as I was mostly used to our cockney dialect and he seemed to be
having more to say than anyone else about the hole mix up and finished up by
saying, Yeah!? And as for the chap at Sheho, he's a regular sod.? I came out
with this little bit some days later, much to the amusement of the rest of the
family and always after when referring to anyone who was a bit of a trouble
maker he was described as being like "the man at Sheho."
We arrived at Sheho
around the middle of the day and our car was duly spotted and the business of
unloading started.? I have forgotten to say that the talkative person with the
queer dialect turned out to be John Upex who we were going to see and hear a
lot of in the following years, and he had filed on to the S. E. quarter of
section 31 which was directly beside John's, and had perhaps been to Yorkton
for that very purpose and so by chance contacted us as he was about to board
the train for his return to Rama.? He was somehow related to Jack Meakin, a
Manitoba farmer who had taken up a quarter on the east side of the Rama road
and was already established there.? As before Jack Upex was "Johnie on the
Spot" as the unloading took place and did a lot of talking mixed with much
free advice as to what was the best way to tackle the job.
I suppose
arrangements must have been made which I was not aware of as to our arrival,for
there were several neighbors there with their wagons and teams to transport our
stuff to the homestead, but strangely I don't remember who they were only that
one was Ben Grieves, and Jack Meakin had come with his horses and democrat to
take mother and us three younger ones out as far as Murrays for the night where
we were to be picked up the following day after some order had been restored at
our shack.? However, I begged to be allowed to go with the men and wagons as I
was vitally interested in all the goings on, and after a little discussing back
and forth between dad and the boys it was decided that I wouldn't be too much
trouble.
It was decided to
hitch the two oxen to our wagon and let them pull it home. This was rather an
unstable way of doing things, but it was one way of transporting both oxen and
wagon to their destination.? The wagon was loaded with some of the bulky things
which took up a lot of room but didn't have much weight, and the oxen were
harnessed and pushed and shoved into position and hitched to the wagon and
finally lead out into the main street, and more or less herded out of town and
on to the trail leading north from Sheho with George being in charge of the
team by means of ownership.
As several of us
stood watching the wagon and team receding from sight it suddenly occurred to
Arthur that he was still holding on to the oxen whip instead of leaving it with
George, and I volunteered to dash madly off in pursuit with it and would then
be able to watch the procedure of the oxen, but this was squashed by Jack Upex
who had been handing out free advice during all the unloading and claimed that,
"They'll go they, don't need no whip" and of course most likely they
would not until they became exhausted and found themselves being forced out
into the unknown. Something which most cattle don't like.? All the odds and
ends were gathered up and put to rights and we left on the last wagon but I
don't remember with whom.
Just outside Sheho
there was a sharp hill and a creek or river at the bottom with a steam
threshing engine upset into it, where it had been for some time. It was
reported that the engineer had lost control of it while either going up or
coming down the hill and it was considered impossible to up right it and remove
it with any means available at that time.
We travelled on for
some miles, I have no idea how many but it was approaching dusk in the evening
when we caught up with some of the other wagons including George, and as was to
be expected his oxen had become tired and played out.? One of them had decided
to lay down and rest but with the strangeness of being attached to the wagon
had got down on to his knees and was evidently wondering how to manipulate the
rest of the way down.
Ben Grieves looking
across from his wagon, spat out his chewing tobacco and remarked ?Goddam
methodist aye"?? There was a farm close by and it was decided that if
possible George should put up there and follow on the next day when the team
would be rested. It was also suggested that I should stay too, as I suspect
they thought I would only become a nuisance by becoming tired as there was
still a long way to go. In those days people automatically accommodated
travellers over night regardless of the inconvenience to themselves and gave
what they had to offer whether much or little and it was received always with
thanks - never with any sort of payment. So we stayed there over night.? I
don't remember the name of the people. There was a young family of at least
four children - the eldest may have been fourteen and I think all or nearly all
were girls.? I thought they were of Norwegian or Swedish nationality but again
I am not sure.? They gave us a good supper and I think George slept in the
stable and I remember while I was watching George feed and tend to the oxen,
the eldest girl came out to milk the cow which she called Solie or some such
thing, and I remember thinking what a funny name it was for a cow. I was
accommodated in the house which was a single oblong room with living space at
one end and sleeping at the other.? I was given a small comfortable bed and I
remember the mother calling the youngsters to the far end of the room in case I
should feel embarrassed in undressing in front of strangers.
I was of course
immediately dead to the world as I must have been quite tired with all the
running around and general excitement.? The next thing I knew I was wakening to
the smell of coffee percolating, altho' it was still dark and I sure enjoyed
the breakfast of bacon and eggs we were served with, and was then all set for?
the adventure of going the rest of the way to our new home.? We got the oxen
hooked up again and George bunked me up onto the wagon and told me to hang on
to the lines but the oxen sensing something out of the ordinary suddenly dashed
off in the direction of a pasture gate and George had to run to beat sixty to
head them off and stop them while I was hanging on for dear life and wondering
what would happen next.? George then led them back on to the trail and stayed
walking ahead of them for awhile with me sitting up on the wagon and thinking I
was driving them which gave me quite a thrill, and took off some of the
monotony of the journey.
It seemed we wandered
on endlessly following trails from farm to farm in a north easterly direction
and must have connected with the Pelly trail which was noticeable by" all
the foxtail growing along its sides.? I don't remember that we had anything to
eat with us which was expected perhaps by green horns from the city. About noon
or perhaps later we had got as far as Joe Howes place and George thought he
would stop there and feed and rest the team, of course we were hungry too,
having walked and rode in spells for what seemed to me a lot of miles. A little
difficulty arose at this point as the oxen objected to turning off the trail
and it took a lot of persuasion along with much shouting and bad language from
George who like all the Deans could fly into a tearing rage at the least
provocation.? However this was all for nothing for at that moment John appeared
in the distance running towards us and endeavoring to stop us from going any
further in the direction we were now heading.
Arriving breathlessly
he started to say that we should keep on towards home, as dad had suggested
that it might be as well if we didn't become too involved with Joe, as he
suspected he had his eye on us as an easy mark in getting a little money out of
us for help and advice that we didn't require.? After a little talking back and
forth it was decided we go on as John said it wasn't too far now. It was
actually two miles east as the crow flies but by the winding trail it was at
least three miles and probably the longest I had ever travelled as I was by now
becoming tired and hungry as were the oxen, so that they naturally were slowing
down.? In the next half mile or so we crossed the point where the Rama road now
is, and perhaps a hundred yards or so to the south of where the Buchanan road
intersects.? I remember this so well because the Rama road had been cut through
the trees the previous summer, and it seemed quite striking to see this
distinct grove cut through the trees and reaching to the horizon like an oblong
slice cut from a cake, while in every other direction there was not the least
sign of life or civilization other than the trail we were on.? Finally after
what seemed the longest time ever to me we emerged out of the trees into the
very small clearing where the shack was and we were home.
As with all
youngsters, tiredness was momentarily forgotten in the curiosity and excitement
of the shack and the surroundings, but shortly hunger took first place and we
sat down on any convenient box with something to eat.
The oxen had been
unhitched and turned loose to forage for themselves as we as yet had no hay,
and it was only a few minutes until someone glanced through the window and they
had disappeared from sight completely.
There was some
frantic rushing around by everyone, as it was expected they would be so tired
that they would not wonder.? Actually they had merely gone through the trees to
a nearby slough to get a drink, but as we were completely surrounded by thick
bush it was quite sometime before they were discovered grazing at the waters
edge, or I should say the sloughs edge as it was already "freeze up"
and there was some two inches of ice already, and this was our only means of
drinking water.? We realized at once that we should have included a cow bell in
our supplies, but this was only one of many things we didn't have, partly from
the expense, but mostly from not knowing what we needed.? Some time later we
discovered among our belongings that we called a muffin bell, because a similar
kind was used by men who went around the streets and sold muffins and crumpets
in London, and used the bell as a means of attracting attention.? It was a
normal shaped bell, but quite small, ?only about four inches high? and we used
that as a cow bell but it was hot much use as it only gave a tinkle and could
not be heard for any distance, but it was better than nothing as cattle could hide
within a few yards of one with all the bush there was around.
We were very
fortunate with the weather for our moving in having nice Indian summer weather
which I remember stayed with us for some time and altho' it had frozen up it
was still not too cold at nights.
Now to describe our
shack, it was in size 14 x 28 feet built with half inch sheeting.? Something
which has not been available for many years now but then quite common.? One ply
of white building paper and one ply of tar paper and covered outside with drop
siding ?pretty flimsy walls".? The roof was a car roof, ?also not seen
anymore".? It was constructed in a bow shape by bending half inch boards
over and covering them with two ply of tar paper, covered again by more half
inch boards positioned over the joints of the under ones.? It was usually quite
surprising if it didn?t leak. There was a door and two windows in the front or
south side and one quite small square one in the east side. Inside there was a
spruce floor which in time became worn down to splinters, leaving the knots
all? sticking up, but of course it had to take a lot of wear and abuse, and Mum
and sister Nell spent many hours hard work in scrubbing it. In the centre or
thereabouts of this oblong shaped shack there was a partition across with
door-ways at either side but no doors, and as far as I can remember there never
was more than curtains over these openings. This partition was quite thin and
flimsy as it appeared dad had run short on lumber and had been obliged to use
poplar poles for 2 x 4 studding and these in turn only covered with half inch
boards. Later another partition was made at right angles to this one, making
two narrow rooms for sleeping purposes. Pretty close quarters to accommodate a
family of eight and for a time my Uncle Botell who was obliged to stay with us
until such times as we got around to helping him build his own shack.
When George and I
arrived the kitchen stove was already in place and dad had been complaining at
the stove pipes and galvanized iron roof jack, and considered it a tin-pot way
of doing things compared to the solid brick chimneys and flues that he was
accustomed to in England.
The living room area
was piled full of all our belongings and packing cases of this and that, which
for the time being were shoved against the walls and used as places to sit and
sleep and one of the bigger ones as a temporary table until such times as dad
got around to building a proper one, which would have to be a big one to
accommodate all of us.? The piano was uncrated and the case was used to house
our dozen chickens for the time being.
Where we all slept
those first few nights I can't just remember, but mostly I expect on the floor,
and it didn't concern me in the least as I was too interested in everything that
was going on to worry about a little discomfort and inconvenience. By noon the
following day some sort of order had been restored and George prepared to leave
to pick up Mother and Nell and Muriel who had spent the night with the Murrays.
I immediately sprang to life at the prospect of going with him but soon cooled
down when I was told that I would have to stay home altho' I still hovered
around while the hitching up was going on and tried to sidle off with the wagon
and team as it left and was promptly told to "Go back" of which I
took no notice.
As the oxen found
themselves being driven off from what they had already come to consider their
home or resting place, they started to object to some extent by endeavoring to
turn around and as they had not yet had time enough to become trained to the
point where they cold be steered by the lines, George was having a little
trouble to persuade them to keep on down the trail, I took advantage of this to
creep a little closer in hope that I might be called upon for some assistance,
and so wiggled myself into going with him for the rest of the way. This form of
stratagem did not work, for as soon as he had got them back on the trail again
after much loss of temper, he turned to me and shouted viciously ?I thought I
told you to go back?, but as I continue to follow at a discrete fifty yards he
showed no signs of relenting and did not as much as look back, no doubt
thinking this method might have the best effect as it seemed words did not.
However, I was not able to be put off so easily at that point, but some doubt
crept in a little later when I seemed to reach the point of ?no return? when I
became afraid to go back alone and afraid to catch up on the wagon, so taking
the line of least resistance I just lept following. The Murrays had come before
us but I expect not very long before, as they had not yet got onto their
quarter section but were housed in Donald McLellan?s log shack on the quarter
section directly across the road from them. Mac. as he became known to everyone
was not there but was most likely out finishing up his threshing as he was a
steam engineer and a blacksmith, and later became the district blacksmith. To
reach this point at that time it was necessary to travell back west on the
Pelly trail as far as Joe Howes place as a means of getting around a big slough
which later became known as Murrays slough, altho? it was on the quarter north
of them. It was then a half mile back to the McLellan place. Truly a lot of
travell to go two miles.
As George and team
arrived at the shack I was still reluctant to approach any closer, thinking I
should surely be allowed to ride home on the return. So with this in mind I sat
down in what appeared to be a potatoe patch and garden, altho? at that time I
doubt if I knew a potatoe plant if I saw one. I was of course tired and no
doubt hungry, and after waiting what seemed like an endless time I became
worried as to what was taking place and as to why no wagon was returning, for I
was just out of sight of the house. Had I known Mrs. Murray then as I came to
know her later, I would have known that it would have been impossible for her
to allow anyone to leave her home without first having some tea or something to
eat, so of course this is what was causing the delay. Finally becoming afraid I
was being forgotten and left stranded, and too scared to approach the house, I
started to cry and shortly after George arrived on the scene to drag me angry
and struggling and crying into the shack. Jean, Connie and Artie were sitting at
the table eating bread and jam and looking very surprised at me and wondering
what all the fuss was about, not realizing that I was expecting to get a ?going
over? for having disobeyed. Surprisingly for me nothing like this happened and
soon calmed down and was stuffing myself with bread and jam like the rest. No
doubt I was very tired and hungry having trudged some three miles or over. Mr.
Murray ?who later became dad Murray to everybody? was not at home, nor were the
two older boys. Jack and George, so I didn't see them at this time, but this
visit was to be the first of many in the future, and the Murrays have remained
friends always. The trip hone was definitely more enjoyable for me now peace
had been resored, and I was feeling quite proud of myself supposedly driving
the team, but of course they would have automatically gone home if no one had
been driving.
That evening must
have been quite a home coming dispite the fact that both us and our belongings
were as yet just heaped into the shack and now Nell had arrived we soon had
some piano music which was a very vital part of the early days and everybody
sang whether their ability to do so was very good or not. So different from
present days when we all sit around the television like bumps on a log and watch
and listen to the writhing squirming objects floating around, endeavouring to
create some sort of melody, but only succeeding in making a hideous noice,
while banging and crashing and shreiking instruments do their very best to
drown out the supposedly singing artists. It was later this night when we were
all settled down to sleep. Most of us I remember, with the mattresses directly
on the floor ?as we had brought no bedsteads with us.?
We were suddenly
awakened by loud squawking and fluttering of chickens.? As before our dozen or
so chickens had been temporarily housed the case the piano was shipped in,
until some better accommodation could be built for them. It was thought that
the lid or cover had been held precariously in position by a crow-bar or a
piece of iron pipe we had brought with us for some reason, and that some slight
movement of the hens had caused this to roll off, releasing the cover and
scaring the life out of the chickens. The first thought was of wolves as they
seemed to be the only animals in the country who we thought might be dangerous.
Actually they weren?t, and it was seldom if ever we saw one, but the howling
that went on at nights was quite frightening ?At least to me as a kid? until we
had become accustomed to it and took no notice. Usually it sounded like a huge
pack of dozens, when probably it was merely a couple having a talk together.
But to get back to the story, dad and the three boys dashed madly outside, one
of them with our only weapon of defense which was a little 22 rifle. Of course
there was no sign of ?Mr. Wolf?, but much time was spent by catching and
gathering the chickens who has spread in all directions. My uncle who was
naturely nervous had not gone out with the others exclaimed ?Shut the door the
brute will be in? here in a minute?. This of course caused quite a laugh for
some time afterwards, for as far as anyone knows no wolf has ever been known to
enter a home with the exception of the one in the tale of Little Red Riding
Hood and most certainly not a prairie coyote who would usually slink off at the
first sight of man.
When all the hens had
been captured and peace again restored, George remained outside with the rifle
in case the marauder should return for his lost supper, but when later a shot
rang out through the trees it was just that George had got cold and tired and
gave up the vigil.
The following days
were spent in getting the shack into some sort of order. Dad doing most of it
while the boys got busy on erecting some sort of shelter for oxen and chickens,
and in the evenings building themselves some ?aboard ship? bunks in one of the
bedrooms as a means of conserving as much space as possible. I remember they
even put names on them, using the metal stencils dad had used to put the names
and destinations on all out stuff. For some reason they didn?t use their own
names, but names of places in the old country.
After making the
essential things like table and benches and a bedstead, dad built corner
shelves for the books, we had bought all kinds of them and they sur were worth
a lot to us in the first two or three years. There were three big books of
David Copperfield, Nicolas Nickelby and the Old Curiosity Shop, and they were
crammed with illustrations of people in bygone days who wore long hair as it is
seen today, only that it was better groomed and even the farmers and fishermen
didn?t appear such a disheveled mess as is seen with our young people now. The
men wore tight skinny pants such as the school boys wore a few years ago. I
waded through all these books after I had exhausted the supply of boys books,
but you may be sure I was unable to read or pronounce many of the long words
and considerable skipping was done. It was interesting to me a couple of years
ago to again read David Copperfield as I had not done so since reading it as a
boy. I saw it once on film, but the story is far too long for a show and they
only got in half of it.
Later we unpacked our
pictures, ?we had brought scads of them and miraculously none of them were
broken. These were hung up between the 2 x 4 scantlings and the place began to
look like a picture gallery.
There was also some
clocks. I think dad must have had a mania for collecting old clocks in his
travels over the continent where his work took him, for he had many clocks
mostly of French or European make, some of the pendulum type and some balance
wheel type, but most of them not in working condition and only usefull for
their looks or whatever way one might refer to a clock, and it was only for
this reason they were hauled out and set up in some place. The only one that
would run and was therefore usefull was the one we always had on our kitchen
mantle piece in England, and mother said it was a coachman?s clock. Coachmen
who drove for the rich families in her day would have the clock on the driver?s
seat with them so that there was no excuse for not being ?on time?. Mother knew
this as she had worked for such a family in the capacity of the nurse and
governess for the children, and from time to time travelled with them on trips
and holidays. This clock always intrigued me as it was in a glass case and one
could see the works of it. It was again enclosed in a square padded case of
possibly wood or metal for protection and had a sliding door over the face to
be removed while it was in use on the coach. I remember I periodically worried
mother to lift it out of the case so as I could see the wheels moving.
But I am wandering
off a bit here so I must get back to the job of distributing our belongings
around the shack which if nothing else served to make things look a little like
home, and from that time on our shack took on the status of "the house''.
It might be best at this point to somewhat describe the land and surroundings
on our section, and for that matter it was much the same in the whole district.
It was almost solid
bush excepting where there was sloughs, and there seemed to be far too much of
that to make a good grain growing country which seemed to be everyone?s
ambition, altho' it was better suited to stock raising and previously had been
used in that way by the few ranchers that were in the country before it was
thrown open for homesteading. We could still see in places, signs of where they
had plowed fire guards around their hay stacks, and which were then almost completely
obliterated. There were a few open spaces of high land which appeared to be of
fair size but as they were completely surrounded by trees it became deceiving,
and later when we plowed and measured these spaces they turned out to be about
half the size as originally thought.
The trees, although
they grew thickly together only had a diameter of between four and six inches
and it was quite a job to find anything heavy enough for building purposes.
There had at one time been very heavy bush there, as one would run across old
dead and decaying logs up to a foot and over through, and we used the sound
parts of this stuff for fuel purposes otherwise we should have had lots of fun
keeping the place warm as naturally we had no seasoned wood. However it had
been necessary to cut trees down to build the shack and also later to build a
stable so one might say we had only to reach out the door to get some fuel.?
The first building was just a small place just big enough to keep the ox team
and the few chickens in for the time being and later was used for the hens
only.
Uncles's shack was
the next job but it was first necessary to establish where his quarter section
was.? One might think this would be comparatively easy to do, but when there is
miles of similar looking bush and absolutely nothing else but the sun or stars
for one to orient themselves with it is difficult to tell where one is within
some distance and many people easily became lost. The sections were marked at
each corner by an iron rod or stake but the divisions of the quarters were only
by wooden stakes and the majority of these had rotted and fallen over.? The
system of the surveyors was to dig four holes in the form of a six foot square
but in such a manner that each hole was located on a quarter section.? The
earth from these holes was thrown to the centre making a mound in which the
stake was driven.? These markings became referred to as ''Iron Mounds'' or
"Wooden Mounds".? When our shack was built the mound on the north
west corner of dad's homestead had by necessity been located and a short line
some two or three hundred yards had been cut due south from it to make certain
the shack was built on the right quarter section.? There were incidents in
those days where people had put their buildings on other peoples property or
perhaps half way across the line.
This then was our
point to start from and to eventually locate all the boundaries on the four
quarter sections and used up many weeks of time during the winter. The method
was to use a compass and set up stakes in line and as near as we could see in
the exact direction.? This required much bush cutting to be able to sight along
the stakes and when this had been done for what was calculated to be half a
mile, it was then measured as accurately as was possible by tape or long piece
of wire or rope of a given length.? It was almost impossible for this system to
have any degree of accuracy but having somewhat determined the area where the
mound should be, it was just a case of milling around in a circle until someone
discovered it, and then recutting and adjusting.? Once this was done we were at
the N. W. corner of uncles homestead and it was just necessary to carry the
line on for a few yards or until a suitable spot to build was located to the east
side of it.
As a bunch of big
city people we were not too dumb about catching on to getting and keeping our
directions by the points of the compass or by sun and stars compared to
"Turn left and Turn right" of the city, but many people were not so
good at it and some became lost.? None of us became completely lost that winter
altho' at times we found ourselves not coming out at the exact spot we expected
to, but very soon got our bearings.? Some years later Nell became lost while
hunting the cows, but that was because darkness came on and the stars were
clouded over.
You will notice that
during this narrative I keep saying "we or us" in regard to our
movements or to various operations of work that were done.? You may be sure
that I didn't do any of it, or have the least say about it, as I was far too
young, but it seemed at that time that as we were more or less isolated that
everything done or considered was entered into by all as a group, and although
I was too young to do any work to speak of I was always present when ever
possible, running around like a dog at a farm auction sale and generally
getting in the way of things. I may have been of some help at times as I was
very curious and vitally interested, as all that went on was completely new and
exciting to me and I liked to get my hand in where ever possible to do
something or help with the chores, and seemed to take some sort of pride in
being the last one into the house at night.? I should not have been so
enthusiastic had I realized that within a year or two I should be up to my ears
in chores, and become completely fed up and continued to detest them.? As we
all got older the three elder boys got to the point where simple chores such as
carrying wood and water, hunting cows and milking, were beneath them and light
chores were kids stuff.? They were the big shots who did only the important
farm work, and were the prime producers and to care for their teams was the
limit of chores for them.? And so it was that Nell and I became the chief force
where chores were concerned, and this condition remained for many years till
after we were grown up as there were no younger ones other than Muriel to take
over.? Our family to some extent seemed to be chopped in half, with the coming
of Nell the train of boys was for the time being stopped, and when I arrived,
on the scene J was an odd one and was not classed with the elder three as there
were some seven years or so between Arthur and me. Consequently when mother and
dad spoke of "the Boys" or when outsiders referred to the "Dean
Boys" it did not in any way include me.
I have recently had
feelings of amusement when in the late sixties there suddenly sprung to life a
lot of silly talk about the; "Generation Gap" and that attempts
should be made to close it, as tho' this was some brand new epidemic of sorts
that had just cropped up that no one had seen or experienced before.? Young
folks especially could not seem to realize that this was something that had
gone on since the beginning of time and that no where is the feeling more
noticable than in our Universities where the ignorant and arrogant smart aleck
pipsqueaks of second year students try to ridicule and abuse the first year
students by their "Frosh Weeks" and general attitude.
I was nine years old
by this time but nine year olds don?t think or worry much about what is going
to happen to the future, but are only concerned with what happens from day to
day, and go blissfully along with the assurance that Mum and Dad will produce
three meals and a bed each day and supply all the necessary clothes and other
necessitates of life.? I was living the Life of Riley. No school to attend and
everything was interesting ? trees to walk through, new places to see and the
freedom of being able to go anywhere at will.? Building huge bon fires and
seeing trees felled by the others, and come crashing down with branches and
twigs flying in every direction.? Watching logs being snaked out by logging
chain and the process of making them into a building.? All this was wonderful
when one doesn?t realize that in time it will be commonplace and most of it
hard work.
We got our hay for
Buck and Bright from Tingleys.? They, and the Lockharts, had come some time
before us and were well established,? ?1904 Charlie tells me?. I can only remember
being at Tingleys once and this must have been one of these trips for hay,
mother and Nell and I were along.? It seemed to me they had a big log house,
and also a big team of oxen called Lion and Charlie. Lion seemed much larger
than Charlie and was a huge animal as far as I thought, when compared to our
team who were on the small side, and as yet barely full grown.? I remember
being in the house to get warm while the hay was being loaded and looking out
through the window to see Mr. Tingley striding briskly towards the house,
stopping on the way at the wood pile to pull a pole up to the chopping block
and cutting off an armful of stove wood in record time, and I thought, he must
be a real expert with the axe.? This like many other things was only in comparison
with dad and the boys, and it was certainly that in the short time that they
had been engaged in bush work they could not have become very adept in handling
axes.
One amusing little
incident that took place not long after we arrived might be worth recording.?
It was while dad and the boys were out cutting the line to ascertain where
Uncles quarter was, and I don?t remember who got the bright idea, but somehow,
Mother, Nell or I got the notion that it would be fun for us to? show the
others what we could do on our own by hitching the oxen to the wagon and? going
down the trail to a point where they were working and giving them a ride home?
to supper.? We got the harness on the oxen all right as ox harness was not very
complicated but to get the bits in the oxens mouths was something else.? They
objected strongly for as yet they were by no means accustomed to being oxen in
the true sense, but we finally made it after much frustrating and loss of
temper caused by our lack of experience? and ?know how?, for like all
greenhorns we stood in front of them and tried to push the bits in from that
position which resulted in them merely turning their heads to the side and
backing away.? The correct method is to stand at the side and just back of the
animals head and? place one arm over the top of the neck.? This gives one
better control, even if? in stubborn cases one becomes dragged around a bit. It
was simple from then on to hitch the wagon, lend then out onto the trail and
headed in the right direction, we then climbed aboard the wagon and were on our
way.? It was not to be so simple.? For some reason which we were unable to
figure out, one ox persisted in walking out on the side of the trail instead of
on it, and this condition could? not go on for long without the wagon wheel
connecting with a tree, as much of? the trail was narrowly cut through the
trees.? No amount of pulling on the lines seemed to persuade the team back onto
the trail again, so it was only moments until they had again taken up their odd
position on the trail, and after correcting this for about three times with no
success it became apparent that there was some- thing queer going on, and it
finally dawned on me what the trouble was.
In case anyone
reading this should not be familiar with animals, it should be pointed out that
where-ever there are two or a group, it is characteristic of them that they
immediately establish who is boss and woe betide any who dare to trespass on
the territory of one with higher rank, they will be promptly hooked out of the
way, this is the law of all nature which is the survival of the fittest.? This
then, was the root of our trouble for I then noticed that we had in error
hitched them on opposite sides to which they were accustomed,? and the boss of
the team was bent and bound that he would travel on his own side of the trail,
and while it appeared to us that the one ox wanted to walk on the side of the
trail, it was actually that he was being forced to do so.
The mystery having
been cleared up the problem was soon solved by us unhitching and leading the
oxen to their respective sides.? The harness also had to? be changed from one
to the other in order to get the cross lines of the driving lines in their
proper positions.? From then on there was no trouble at all and we arrived to
find the men folk already quit for the day and staring on the way home, for we
had wasted considerable time by all the difficulty we had run into.? No doubt
the others appreciated the ride home after their afternoon?s work, but they were
not so pleased that there was no supper ready for them when we all arrived
home.
In stories of pioneer
days one may read many stories concerning ox teams and? their failings as
beasts of burden, most of them ?stretched a bit? and most of them putting them
blame on the animals when it really should be on them- selves for their lack of
understanding common sense and kindness towards animals.
Oxen
laying down and refusing to move, obviously driven beyond their endurance.
Teams running into sloughs taking wagon and driver with them and miring the
wagon so as it had to be unloaded before it could be extracted from the mud.
Here again a case of insuffient water and feed being given.
For city
greenhorns we must have had some sort of horse sense, as not once did I see any
of our teams act in anyway out of normal although it was quite common that at
the end of a long trip that on being stopped they would immediately lay down
even if they were still hitched, but after a short rest there was no trouble in
getting them going again. Oxen were by no means a good form of power or
transportation. They were naturally slow and inclined to be stubborn and did
not answer very readily to being steered and also got winded much quicker than
horses. However like horses, steam tractors, Model T Fords, candles and
kerosene lamps they were good in their day and served the purpose under the
prevailing conditions of that time.
A few
homesteaders brought horses with them thinking they would have the lead on
those who were less well fixed financially, but in only a few cases did this
work out. Horses need oats to be kept in good condition and that is what no one
had, or in many cases could afford even if they were available from some source
or other. Also they did not act well in the soft muddy sloughs we were obliged
to cross at times, Oxen have cloven feet which spread out when pressed into mud
to become smaller as they are with-drawn and so cause no problem.
Horses on
the other hand have solid hoofs which may act as suckers and are difficult to
with-draw which in turn creates panic that may end up by them being mired and
coming to a bad end. One other thing which becomes a draw back in a new country
and especially a bushy one where there are no fences or obstructions for miles,
is that horses turned out to graze may run for miles and then be very hard to
locate when needed. Ike Preston, a farmer from Manitoba had a nice four horse
team, but seemed to spend much of the first summer in walking around with
halter shanks and a can of oats looking for his horses, and contacting
neighbors to inquire if they had seen his horses and at the same time spending
an hour or so in talking to each one. This was all very entertaining but did
not go well towards getting the plowing done for the following year's crop.
Oxen, on
the other hand, altho' slower and harder to work with, could fare quite well
during the summer months on the available and natural feed if not driven beyond
their limit of endurance, and in general cope with all the conditions of the
rough environment.? This then was power at no expense which is most vital under
circumstances where there is no other sourse of income.? We were not to meet
very many people in this first winter. Firstly because there were as yet few
settlers in the district and also because we were well to the eastern edge of
the Rama district.? Secondly distances were long between neighbors and towns
and transportation was mostly by walking as this appeared to be easiest unless
it was necessary to haul a load.
Dad and
the elder boys got to know a few people where they were obliged to go for
various purposes, but for the rest of the family there was little connection
with the outside world.? This was especially so for me, as being a kid and not
a very husky one at that I didn't get very far, for as the snow got deep and
the weather got cold, and even the shortest trips were long, it seemed I would
either freeze to death while riding or wear myself out by walking through the
snow and become a darned nuisance, so I was in most cases left at home. The
same thing applied to mother and Nell altho' I believe we did make a couple of
trips to the Murrays as they were our nearest neighbors being only two miles
away, altho' by the way the trail wound about it must have been considerably
more.? As it became colder we were able to cross on the ice in the sloughs, but
there were still the trees and bushes to wind around and we had not as yet get
to figuring out a few short cuts as we did later.? My only contact with people
was by remote control,? which was by listening to the boys and dad when they
returned from the various trips they made for the mail in most cases, for as
there was nothing at Rama ours was coming to Invermay and it was customary for
anyone who happened ,to be at Invermay to bring everyones mail to the nearest
point so that it could be picked up by those at more distant points.? We
usually got ours at Jack Meakins as he had horses and could make the trip
easier than everyone else, so he generally brought mail for Murrays and
McLennans, Ike Preston; Richardsons, Wrights and ourselves.
I seem to
think that before spring came that John Berg had obtained the office of
Postmaster and the mail was contained in his house.
Actually I
din't get to know anyone in the district with the exception of Murrays and
McLennans until the following summer when a Sunday school was started at the
home of the Prestons who lived on the Rama road and about half a mile up from
the intersection of the Buchanan road.? These cross roads, or perhaps I should
say "this point" was the N. E. corner of Doug. Whitmans homestead,
and the Pelly trail passed quite closeby there, and this point in the trail
became known as "Doug's mound?, but later when fences started to appear,
as "Doug's corner".? I remember once that dad and one, or perhaps all
three of the boys went to Invermay.? It was probably a combination of
circumstances which involved the opportunity of a ride with Jack Meakin, the
need of some supplies and to pick up the mail.? There was also a council
meeting in someone's house which they were going to attend, for the town of
Invermay was well established at this time and they were forming, "or I
think it had already been formed", a local improvement district which
covered an area reaching beyond our homesteads and was later to become the
rural municipality of Invermay.
I remember
many of these incidents of long ago because of certain happenings or Something
spoken which appealed to my childish fancy and perhaps like many other children
stand at the edge of some operation or within hearing of some conversation? and
take in all the details of some project or the highlights in some conversation,
and later come out with it all, and as I was also something of a mimic it
usually caused some slight amusement amongst the family.? In this particular
case I was listening to dad?s description of their trip and all that took place
as he told it to the ones at home ? How while at the council meeting he had
been astonished at the way some lippy seventeen year old had been talking back
to the council members, for dad had brought us up to understand that young
people should always respect their elders in every case.? But he was not amiss
in seeing the comical? side of anything and gave a bit of a laugh when relating
that this young ?Up- start? as he called him on rounding on some member of the
council had finished up by saying ?So put that in your pipe and smoke it?.?
This I thought was very funny and smart and afterwards it came out quite often
in my ructions with other members of the family.
This
impetuous youngster who had been carrying on like the modern present day
university student, turned out to be Gladstone Ferrie whom we were to get to
know a lot of for a very long time.? He became chummy with Arthur and some
person ?I don?t remember who? suggested to mother that he might lead Arthur
astray, and that she discourage the friendship, however, as we all got to know
?Glad? as he was always called, neither mother or dad could see anything?
seriously bad in him only that he was not quite grown up yet and they excepted?
him into our home and found him good natured, respectful and very generous. He
was a frequent visitor in our home while we were still all there together and
perhaps his friendship with Arthur helped to modify some of his somewhat
racical ideas.? The two of them were quite venturesome, and anything could
happen when they got together, altho? nothing ever occurred of a very serious
nature.? They remained life long friends and were at the first world war together.?
Later Glad. Became a prominent figure in the Invermay district being councilor
and reeve for some time and did much community work in the district. He finally
achieved his boyish ambition to become a member in the Federal? Parliament.? I
was never able to find out whether he told the Prime Minister to ?Put that in
his pipe and smoke it?.
Being in
the class of children who were supposed to be seen and not heard, I was of
course not made aware of what was to take place until it happened, but it was
thought that there would have to be a fair sized stable built.? One with four
stalls in it to accommodate Buck and Bright and future stock we might get and
there was the chance of someone wishing to stay over night.? It would of course
have to be logs and this set off a hunt for some.? One would have thought this
would be quite simple, but anything suitable for logs were only isolated little
pockets that had somehow missed the fire many years before, and these were so
closely surrounded by the present new growth as to be quite difficult to see,
and it was mostly by chance that they were stumbled upon, and often not many in
a cluster.? Some were eventually located down on John?s quarter and were duly
cut and hauled home on the wagon.? We had a few inches of snow then and I
remember how disagreeable to me was the sound of the wagon wheels squeaking
and? crunching through the snow.? I thought it was the most desolate
disagreeable sound ever, especially when one felt numb with the cold.
It was
this project of building the stable which again brought us in contact with Jack
Upex again, but this time not socially and with kindly words of advice. He was
bubbling over with rage.? It had turned out that in error we had cut our? logs
on his quarter.? Both quarters were side by side, and as yet no lines had been
cut, so that it was very near impossible to gauge ones position with any degree
of accuracy.? These errors were made quite frequently in the early days, and
people were known to build their shacks on someone elses quarter or perhaps
only part way across the line.? I remember in the case of our shack it was
found when we finally got the property line into its exact position that it was
some twenty five yards further in on dad?s place than we had thought.? It was found
later when the lines had been properly cut that this stand of logs was a mere
fifty yards in on the Upex place.? Jack may have located them previously and
earmarked? them for the construction of his own shack, and it was the last
straw to find them missing when he went to collect them.? It was therefore
quite simple to? locate the thieves by the process of following the wagon
tracks which ended up? in our yard.
The long
walk had only served to increase his anger, for he was certain the logs had
been deliberately stolen.? His accusation when he confronted dad and the boys,
and ?of course myself for I was sure to be hanging around on the side lines?
created some mixed feelings, Arthur thought it was a big joke and started to
laugh about it and was later told off by John who said he was acting like an
idiot, George and dad were more concerned that he might air his opinion around
the district And get us thought of as a rough lot.? I of course was first a
little scared, but? as the tumult subsided to some extent I became more
interested in Jack Upex queer Lancaster dialect and his funny way of saying
?Ah? in the place of yes.? He stormed up and down as a means of putting the
fear into us and kept interspersing his? conversation with ?Well I shall go to
Sheho? which came out more like ?I shall go to Sheow?.? Sheho being the closest
point where one might contact the arm of? the law, but when the whole rumpus
had subsided it was very simply settled by dad and the three boys finding and
cutting him some more logs and later attending the raising bee to build his
shack, and Jack afterwards remarked to someone ?AH, Mr. Dean is pretty good at
puttin? in them doors and windows?.
Jack
seemed quite a queer character to me, and perhaps he was to others too. He was
well blessed with rumpled hair and whiskers at a time when these things were
going out, and the clean shaven period was coming in, and he seemed continually
dirty and was suspected of being lousy so that none cared to sit too close to
him. He had a son a few years older than the Murray boys and I, and he seemed
equally as disheveled and dirty.? He was also ?John? but mostly got ?Johnnie?
although his? dad always referred to him as ?the old boy?.? It was said that
when a baby he had fallen and hurt his neck, and this caused him to slightly
hang his head when he raised it to speak to anyone it gave him a somewhat
furtive look.? This caused many people to think that he was a bit simple, while
actually he was very smart and had a great sense of humor for a youngster, but
like all us kids he had no schooling to speak of.? It was funny to see them
travelling some place. Old John would be walking along and some five or six
paces behind him would be young Johnnie following him.? Indeed a queer pair.?
Then there
was ?Old Granny? who lived with them, I think she must have been old John?s
wife?s mother who may have come to live with them to care for the boy when his
mother died.? She always addressed old John quite abruptly as just plain
?Upex?, which appeared a bit odd to me, but later I have thought that perhaps
she had resented old John marrying her daughter and really had a poor opinion?
of him, but had lived with them strictly on account of the boy.? She evidently
couldn?t take the rough life on the homestead and passed away about the second?
year.? I could tell several amusing incidents concerning them, but I have
already wandered too far afield from our first winter in Canada.
The stable
when ahead fairly well with four men working at it, and as neither had any
experience in constructing log buildings you may be sure it was somewhat
crudely built and didn?t last many years.? In the first place the logs were
completely green and unpeeled and there was no foundation, the logs being set
directly on the frozen ground.? It was a conventional type of that time
accommodating eight animals, two stalls at each end with the passage at the
centre and two doors, one facing the yard and the opposite one leading to the
hay stack yard. A gabled roof made of poles and the following summer covered
with sods, which? was warm and shed ?or should I say absorbed? light showers,
but eventually leaked in long and heavy rains.? I remember there were only
enough boards left to make? one door and the other was constructed by
laboriously splitting some poles and? somehow assembling them crudely together
with the only nails available which were of the wrong size, and ending up with
a very cumbersome and sagging affair so that it was a major operation to either
open or close it.? This was replaced by a? proper door as soon as we were able
to get some lumber.? We had brought with us an auger? one inch in size, ?but an
inch and a half would have been better?, for the purpose of pinning the logs
together here and there, and that thing sure worked overtime, as did dad?s
brace and bits for we seemed to be continually running short of nails and
spikes, so pins and pegs were used as a means of ?getting by? in many cases.
The spaces
between the logs were filled with cow manure which was in short supply with only
two oxen.? The roof for the time being was covered with hay, but sooner than
use our feed supply we cut with a scrub sythe the stiff long hay and reeds from
the slough edges which so far had not been pressed down by the snow.? It seemed
to take a lot of time and work, but that didn't matter too much as time was
what we had lots of, and the money which would normally be spent on
construction was what we didn't have.
All
homesteading had to be carried out under this system of avoiding the out lay of
money by utilizing the material resources and using all the ingenuity that one
could muster.? There were very few who came with huge amounts of money, and if
they did they didn't file on homesteads for the purpose of farming, but set
themselves up in business of some kind, and in this way obtained their living
from the less fortunate, while holding their homestead as an investment for
later use.? Most people were like ourselves and were immigrants hoping to
improve their lot in a new country which was reported to have wonderful
opportunities. Other people of Canadian origin were those who had lost out, or
had in some manner been pushed out of their former occupations and were obliged
to seek different work and different territory, so that the well advertised homesteading
scheme seemed like the land of milk and honey or the promised land, and
especially so to those who like ourselves did not have the slightest conception
of what they were up against.? This of course accounted for the fact that there
appeared to be so many missfits,? oddballs, and queer characters amount the
population of the various districts.? Some of them appeared to be those who had
taken off into the wilds to rid themselves of some drinking habit or something
of similar nature, and expected they might do so in this manner.
Then there
was the odd remittance man who was or appeared to be no use to himself or
anyone else.? The Doukhobors were a class of Russians who supposedly came to
obtain religious freedoms and did very well for themselves, as they were more
adapted to the conditions that prevailed in this country at that time.? They
were good honest and industrous people most of them, but a certain section of
them later caused trouble which had broken out periodically up to the present
time. I have since come to the conclusion that they were not driven from their
native land on account of their religious beliefs, but because of their
unlawful, extreme and radical ways.
Perhaps
the best off of our early settlers were the young men in their late teens or
early twenties who came partly for the adventure, and partly to get started in
a brand new country.? They were completely free, and had no encumbrances such
as wives or families and could go and come as they pleased and had absolutely
no responsibility to others and could come or go, give up or stay with it. The
worst off were men with young families who on reaching the point where they had
established a home of sorts, which was barely more than a roof over their
heads, found they had reached the end of their financial resources and so the
point of no return.? They were then stuck with the task of making every effort
to utilize the natural resources, and use their ingenuity to cope with every
problem that presented itself in order to obtain some sort of existence.
We were
partly in this last mentioned category, but had the advantage that the elder
member of the family "or part of them" could leave to obtain work and
so keep the pot boiling.
The Murray
family fared worse as their family was quite young,? Jack the eldest, being
only one and a half years older than myself.
The time
arrived when we were going to be forced into taking a trip to Buchanan which
was then our nearest point to get our supplies.? We had now got a little more
snow so that our wagon which we could still use for short trips into the
woods,? became unsuitable for a trip of any length.? I have wondered many times
since then why we did not bring a set of sleighs with us, as it seemed to be
something we should need for all time. Perhaps it was ignorance, as in the past
we had never experienced snow more than an inch or two, or perhaps at the time
we moved there was no thought of snow, but George should have known, as he had
already experienced one winter.? Anyhow the fact remained that we didn't have a
set, so the alternative was to borrow a set.? Borrowing was carried on to a
great extent in those early days, as no one had everything, but some did have
things that others didn't, and in turn others had things that they didn't, so
it was only natural that each would accommodate the other, and though no one
likes to lend their possessions it became a necessity that everyone was
involved in.
When the
Buchanan trip was arranged two of the boys went over to McLennans to borrow his
sleighs.? He had a good set, for as he was a blacksmith he had constructed them
himself.? They arrived home with Mc's sleighs? and team also, and our team was
left at Mac's.? Whether this arrangement was preplanned I don't know, Mac may
have offered the team, as ours were young and a little on the light side as
they were not yet three years old.? Perhaps he thought he might save our lives,
as it was our first trip and being all greenhorns someone could well have come
to grief if the weather became bad, or some unforeseen trouble popped up.?
Mac's were a good team of red and white steers and their names were "Nip
and Tuck."
I don't
remember too much about this trip for with the coming of the deeper snow and
the increasing cold, everything was out for me excepting comparatively short
trips, much to my disgust of course.? I don't remember who went, but probably
dad and two of the boys, and they were long gone when I woke in the morning
having started out when it was yet dark, and arriving home long after dark.?
However there was no serious trouble, but it was a long tiresome and cold trip,
for altho' it was only nine miles straight east it must have been several miles
more by the wandering Pelly trail.? The Pelly trail was a freighting trail
between Fort Pelly and Fort Qu'Appelle before the time of the railroads and
wandered aimlessly along the ridges, through the trees and skirted the edges of
sloughs.? At times it was obliged to cross ravines and necks between sloughs
and these were good spots to become mired in the mud in the wet Season.? At
this time there was no worry in this respect, as it was frozen everywhere and
one could in some cases take short cuts across the sloughs on the ice.? The
first five miles were through solid bush with no settlers within that distance,
and it was very unlikely that there would be any sign of someone elses sleigh
track. The bush played out suddently at this point as the trail ran into
Doukhobor territory which had been settled for some years, so there were no
trees, and Buchanan could be seen several miles before one arrived there.? The
Pelly trail became obliterated through that area so it was a case of following
trails from farm to farm.
I am
pretty sure on this trip that lumber for Uncle?s shack was hauled out, and it
was certainly that besides our own supplies there would be some to get for some
of the neighbors, so trips to town generally required much more time there than
was necessary to feed and rest the team.
During the
winter we must have made at least two more trips with our own team and I am
pretty sure that Mum went on one of them for she was game for anything and I
expect she was fed up with being away from everything and everybody for no
doubt the longest period in her life.? We three young ones were in the same
boat, except for a couple of trips to Murrays who were not too far away.? It
was the following spring before I got to see Buchanan, and the following fall
before I saw Rama.
Perhaps I
could run ahead of this story to describe my first trip to Buchanan which was
in late spring as George had to go in to bring out a new disc which was to
level and work up our kitchen garden and our little oat field which in turn we
hoped would supply enough seed for the following year.? It was decided I could
go this time as the weather was now fine and I expect I had been worrying for
the chance to go.? It was a big event to me, as up till then I only know of
these trips by description from the others, so there was no trouble in getting
me up bright and early to get started, in fact I doubt whether I had slept
very? well with the excitement of the trip.
The trail
was fairly good now excepting that the water was still fairly high in the
sloughs and low spots that we obliged to cross, but the oxen would wade through
all of it with no trouble at all as long as the wagon did not sink into the mud
too much, but it was necessary to judge how much of a load it might be possible
to haul on the return trip, and to try and remember where the worst spots were,
which was a bit hard to do as there were plenty of them.? Under conditions at
that time a full load would only be about half of what one could haul on a good
road.
We had one
advantage that the traffic was little or none, so that any soft spots had not
become churned up previously as became the trouble in later days, and many of
the sloughs which normally grew hay were fairly solid on the bottom, but the
odd one was of the muskeg type and therefore a bit treacherous.? Such a one?
was where Charlie Lockhart had lost a team of horses the previous year and the
remains were still slightly visible.? This spot became known as Lockharts
slough,? and there was another bad spot which later mother nick? named the
?slough of despond? which I believe is mentioned in the book of ?Pilgrims
Progress?.
I remember
my surprise at coming out to the open country around Buchanan.? It seemed like
a vast plain to me after being surrounded with bush all winter, and to see the?
grain elevators of Buchanan so far in the distance it seemed we should never
get there.? It was certainly not as far as it seemed to me, but it was still a
long? way for we had to bear to the north for quite a distance in order to get
a crossing over the Whitesand river or creek, or what ever it was, and then
pass through a Doukhobor village and so approach Buchanan from the north.? I
was getting pretty travell weary and hungry by the time we rolled down the main
street and I expect Buck and Bright were too, so after watering and feeding
them and taking a drink at the well ourselves, we went round to the hotel for
dinner as that was the only place to go anyhow.? It cost twenty-five cents for
a meal and it was a good one? too.? I found the reverse of things a little
later when I bought myself five cents worth of common candy and found I got
only slightly more than I would have for a? cent in England.
I
immediately became conscious of my old clothes and felt very shy in speaking to
other people or being spoken to.? I don?t know whether this feeling was from
seeing no one but the family all winter, but suspect I was always that way, for
I have? been that way ever since.? The store we dealt at was called the
?Yorkton Supply?. The manager was Mr. Hopkins, commonly called Teddy, and there
were two clerks, Pinkerton and Richardson, but quite young fellows then, but I
remembered and saw Pinkerton many years later when he was Mayor of Yorkton.
The stock
of the store consisted of the main essentials of that time and seemed ?and was?
totally different to what I remembered of the English shops.? The basic groceries
at that time were chiefly flour, oatmeal, beans, dried fruit, cheese, crackers
and sardines being among the delicacies.? Even the candies were horrible common
things and consisted of a mixture of coarse jellies and sugars, and were
shipped in by wooden pailfulls.? The candies were varied by some coarse
chocolate creams and unshelled peanuts.
We finally
got all our groceries gathered together which consisted of the above mentioned
things along with a can of coaloil for the lamps.? The oil at that time had not
received the fancy name of ?kerosene? and was a very poor grade.
I wanted
very much to see a train pull into the station, but was unable to do so as
passenger trains passed in the morning or night, and freights were few and far
between.? The new disc was duely loaded, knocked down of course, but painted
with? green, red, and yellow colors which made it? very impressive and exciting
to me, altho? it was a complete monkey puzzle to me as I had not seen one
before.
George in
his conversation with Richardson at the store and who lived on his homestead
just west of Buchanan, had learned that there was a bridge being built? over
the Whitesand river and there was a possible chance it might be completed by
this time, so he decided to take the risk of going that way and so cutting? off
several miles of travel.? It was indeed a risk, as if we were unable to cross
the bridge we should have to return some miles and again proceed the long way
around which would put a greater strain on the team and waste many hours of
time for we were well on to late afternoon.
The road
on the township line west from Buchanan was somewhat built at that time to the
point where it crossed the railroad, but from there on there were just a few
wagon tracks quite likely made by the road gang who were constructing the
bridge.? and we followed these until we arrived at the bridge which was not a
great distance.? Stopping just short of it we got down and walked up to?
inspect it and see what our chances were of crossing.? The bridge was made of?
poplar logs flattened to some extent on the top and was completed excepting
that the approaches had not been put in.? Willow bushes and small trees had
been piled in on either side of the bridge and covered with a thick layer of
straw in preparation for a fill of earth.? I expected the oxen would tread
through the straw and scrub and become hopelessly entangled, or failing that
become frightened to go onto the bridge deck.? George figured that teams would
be obliged to cross over in order to put on the earth fill, so why shouldn?t we
be able to,? and if I was to remain on the bridge the oxen would be less liable
to take fright at the planking.? So while I stood trembling on the bridge
George started the? team and drove them across with out the least bit of
trouble, altho? I expect he was also relieved to be on the other side.
Our
concern was not all over by any means, as we now had some three miles or so of
completely strange territory to get over before we again contacted the Pelly
trail and altho? it was comparatively open country it was dotted with small
clumps of willows everywhere, and we had to make it while we had daylight. I
drove the team and George went as far ahead as he could without losing sight of
me to scout out our way in the general direction and waved me on, or motioned
me to stop if the way appeared impossible for us to get through.? Fortunately
we made it quite well, and didn?t have too much back tracking or turning off to
do but struck into the Pelly trail well before dark.? Quite likely we were the?
first ones to travel that section of the township road that was to become the
original number five highway until it was rerouted as it is today parallel to?
the railroad.
We had
still halfway to go, altho? we had saved a few miles, and we made the rest of
the trip without incident.? I of course had been thrilled with the trip and was
dashing madly back and forth to unload the groceries and such things as we had
bought, but in my haste tried to enter the house without first opening the screen
door and was brought to a sudden and painful stop.? However there was no
serious damage to either me or the screen door.? So that was my first of many
trips to Buchanan, for it remained our chief town for several years altho? Rama
became our point of mailing.? But that was just a glance into the future and
does not really belong in this story, so we must now get back to our first
winter.
Christmas
was approaching which is always an exciting time for the young ones. But this
one was to be so totally different from previous Xmases that there was
absolutely no resemblance to the times when we hung up our stockings on Xmas
eve and found them bulging with presents and bags of candy and fruit, and Xmas
day? and Boxing day would be the one time of year when we would have the
relatives of either Mum?s or Dad?s family with us and have a real get
together.? In this year the day would be much the same as any other day, only
that we had the traditional Xmas pudding.
I had hung
up my big German socks as usual altho? I had sense enough to know there might
be nothing in them, but I remember there was a few nick-nacks probably smuggled
in on the trip to Buchanan.? The following year I didn?t fare so well altho? I
had hopefully hung up my socks, but when I reached out in the dark of the
morning they were still hanging flat and empty, altho? on closer inspection I
found a solitary twenty-five cent piece away down in one toe.? I have since
wondered what were the thoughts of the grown up members of the family at this
time, especially mum and Dad, for we were now down to pretty hard lines.? There
was neither milk for our tea or butter for our bread.? Our potatoes we had
bought with us had frozen in the cellar and were being replaced by beans.? We
had lots of beef as it could be purchased fairly reasonable from the earlier
settlers. Four and a half cents per pound for hind quarters, three for fronts,
but the sweet stuff consisted principally of dried apples or prunes or corn
syrup.
Mother was
a fairly good plain cook and had been aided by Mrs. Angus at Hamiota who taught
her to bake bread and scotch scones and oat cakes.? Also to churn butter and
many other things which she had not experienced in the old country.? She had a
few near failures with bread baking but this was on account of the extreme cold
nights.? In the course of time and when more ingredients became available both
she and Nell became experts in cooking and handling milk, cream and butter.?
And speaking of butter, Mother had made and printed into pounds a huge box of
butter to bring with us from the Anguses, and it seemed to me that we should
have butter forever, as I had been used to seeing it brought into the home in
just small amounts. However, with nine people and six of them adults, our
butter supply shrunk with amazing swiftness, and on reaching the last tier of
pound prints, mother put restrictions on, ?Butter on Sundays only?, but even at
this it didn?t last long. We had a slight reprieve for on starting the last
tier of pounds, it was found there was still one more beneath.? I have thought
since that we must have been blessed with a mild winter that year, otherwise we
might have come near to freezing? to death, for we had nothing more than a cook
stove to keep that whole fourteen by twenty-eight shack warm. I?ll admit it was
a good stove with a husky size? fire box and like all early type stoves was not
insulated as modern stoves are, so that the heat flooded out in all
directions.? The stove pipes too ran a good? distance along the building before
going out through the metal chimney, also there were plenty of men to cut wood,
and plenty of wood to be cut, which much have helped a lot, for we must have
had to fire full tilt through the cold snaps. As far as storms were concerned
we never felt them as we were so closely surrounded by bush and the snow just
fell lazily down, but there was no dodging the cold, and perhaps it was to our
advantage that we had no such thing as a thermometer to tell us how cold it
was, but were only conscious that it was a bit nippy. ?It was said that people
coming from the warmer climates didn?t notice the cold so much on their first
winter as their blood was not yet climatized.? This may be so as it was quite
common for others to remark on the ?stupid Englishmen? going around with their
mitts off.
It has
since almost frightened me to think what risks we were taking in many ways,?
and of course this applied to all the homesteaders, but perhaps more to us, and
some others like us who were experiencing our first winter under circumstances
totally unfamiliar to us so that we had no idea of what was about to happen
next. Perhaps our ignorance was in a sense a help to us, for as the saying
goes, ?Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise?.
I guess we
were quite fortunate in many ways for none of us were seriously sick and we had
no accidents of any serious nature, but there could quite easily have been
chopped toes, frozen hands and feet or many other types of sickness that at
that time was many hours away.? Such things of course did not worry me in the
least, as I figured Mum and Dad would as always be able to cope with any
emergency, but I have wondered how the elder members of the family thought
about it all and especially for Mum and Dad.
But
generally speaking it didn?t seem that anyone was particularly concerned with
the rough conditions or became down hearted or fed up.? With a large family
there is always a lot of good natured joking going around, and also a certain
amount of scrapping going on over the division of work and who goes where and
does what, so it all adds to the spice of life.? There was always lots to do
when the? weather was fit, because many things required so much more time to do
when done in a more or less primitive manner.? Ice had to be cut from the deep
sloughs and hauled up to the house where it still had to be cut smaller and
melted on the stove for our water supply, and this in turn slowed up the house
work and made a long and laborious job of washing floors and clothes ? no
washing machine of course, just the old scrub board and tub system.? Wood had
to cut with a buck-saw or? chopped with an axe, but the axe system was frowned
upon to some extent because it left sharp ends and there was a tendency for it
to get too long for the fire box of the stove
We had
three coaloil Iamps, one a little tiny thing often referred to as a cat?s eye,
and our main table lamp which was not of the best type being just a straight
wick.? Round wicks were considered better and threw much more light, but also
used about three times as much oil, so we were not to have one of those till
some years later, for we were obliged to practice strict economy lest the oil
supply should run out before the next trip to town.? The stable lantern was
much the? same as one might see today, altho? they did make some slight
improvements on later models.? On ours the spring loaded globe had to be pushed
up by one?s two thumbs to light it.? I always had trouble, for while I was
quite able to push up the glass with my two thumbs, I had difficulty in holding
it there while I struck a match, with the result that just as I was about to
apply the match to the wick, the spring would get the best of me and the globe
would snap down and put out the match.? By the time I had grown big and strong
enough to handle this job they had come out with the little lever on the side
to raise and hold the globe.? There was? also a little hole in the framework of
the lantern where one could blow in to extinguish it, previously one had to
raise the glass.? The oil lamps didn?t bother us too much though, for we had
been used to lamps and candles in England and it was only a couple of years
before we left there that dad had gas installed. in due course Uncle?s shack
was built and he moved down his own which relived? the pressure a bit in our
home.
There was
much time spent in cutting the lines and finding the mounds, for by now the
snow was becoming deeper and where there were wooden mounds many of them had
rotted and fallen down, and others had been burned by fire so in many cases
there was only a slight bump in the snow where the mounds were and the four
holes that one might stumble into.? But it was very necessary to do this work
to get all the? boundaries located as when summer came the breaking of land
would start, and one? had to be sure they were not plowing up some other
person?s land.
There was
one other job that had to be done that winter, and that was to find a shorter
way out to the Pelly trail.? The trail we were presently using was really an
outlet to Buchanan so it went out to the south-east, but most of our neighbors
lived to the west, and Rama where we would have to get the mail was north-west.
The general idea then was to go in a south-westerly direction across George?s
homestead and strike the Pelly trail at a point at about at his west line.?
This required much cutting of bush with only three little open spaces in the
whole distance.? This trail became known always as the ?short cut? and it sure
did cut off a lot of mileage and seemed to bring Murrays much closer.? Altho?
the trees were cut as low as possible it was found when the snow went off that
they weren't very? low, and it was a pretty bumpy trail for awhile, until the
stumps had all been grubbed out.
It was
while this trail was being made that George came to the conclusion that he had
picked the worst homestead out of the four, and that most of it consisted of a
long chain of sloughs and the rest bush.? He was terribly disappointed about
this and considered abandoning it and filing on to another, but as it would
take much scouting around through the bush it was almost impossible to tell
whether any quarter within a reasonable distance would be any better than the
one he had, and in which case he might only be jumping out of the frying pan
into the fire should he give up what he had.
Some years
later tho' he did abandon it and obtained the N. W. quarter of thirty-three
which was on the east side of dad's place and would have adjoined it excepting
that there was a road allowance between.
With the
opening of the short cut and the fact that one could now cross Murray's slough
on the ice we seemed to be much closer, and one mild day the whole family came
over to see us.? They had a red team of oxen. Prince and Duke by name and? Dad
Murray could be heard hollering at them long before they hove into sight.? I
think everyone at that time, "and especially those who had formerly lived
in the city" enjoyed the freedom of being able to shout and sing to their
hearts? content without having to consider whether they were disturbing
someone. Also they enjoyed being their own boss and not having to toe the line
as to starting and quitting, or worry about the security of their occupation.?
All this freedom, and the general change in their environment was a great help
in keeping people? happy so that they didn't become down hearted and
discouraged.? Also the future could not be foreseen, but everyone hoped and
thought it must improve and get progressively better, as time went on.?
Actually it got worse before it got better, and the free feeling gradually
disappeared to a great extent as people gathered more stuff around them and had
the worry of crops and the responsibility of stock, and the everlasting
chores which must be done daily and all year around.
This was
the Murray's first trip to our place and there were to be many more over the
years, for they have remained our friends always.? I guess we had a good visit
that day with us kids running around inside and out to see everything there was
to be seen, and probably doing a few things we had no business to. The parents
too had a lot to discuss about the general goings on and no doubt the
conversation would gradually work back to the old country, and for sure dad
Murray would have to relate his last trip to Sheho, for he went there mostly
for supplies in the first winter.? It was a long way, and so was a two day
affair in which he would stay overnight with a settler somewhere along the
way.? He loved to spin out these yarns of people he had met and talked with and
interspursed them with a lot of, He sez and I sez, and all the time smoking his
pipe which periodically went out during the spectacular part of the story.? He
would then proceed to light it by striking a match, but would proceed with the
story before putting it to his pipe so that eventually it burned down to his
gingers and had to be hastily dropped.? The procedure would then start all over
again and it some times took three matches before he finally got fired up.?
They didn't stay late that day as naturally the trail was not good and they
wanted to get over most of it before dark.? There were many hands to bring the
oxen from where they were feeding and get them hitched up and everything ship
shape.? I remember as they drove off dad Murray turning to say, "Well we ain't
got much money, but we do see life" and we heard that expression many
times later too.
Someone I
remember made me a sleigh from some left over pieces of board and I really got
a kick out of that, as I had never experienced anything like it before and was
surprised how easily it slipped over the snow and spent the next few days
grasping every opportunity to load it with something or haul Muriel around on
it. It was then I decided that winter was really the best time of year, and
John came back with "Yes, its alright for you, you can stay indoors when
it gets cold and stormy".? I thought of that many times in later years
when I became obliged to go out in all kinds of weather to get things done that
must be accomplished regardless of the worst kind of weather.
The hand
sleight business was quite something with us youngsters in the next few years,
which included hitching dogs to them or catching rides by hitching them to
peoples sleighs.? This became more interesting if neighbors arrived who had
horses, as this meant more speed and it was quite common for callers and
visitors on leaving for home to find one or more kids hopefully hanging around
with hand sleights to hitch a ride.? Sleighs and cutters were judged by us as
to whether they were good or bad, merely by what facilities they had for
hitching hand sleighs to.? The Bain wagon boxes were best, as they had a
hardwood piece protruding from the corner where the brace was attached, and
this was just right, for the general procedure was to have a long hand sleigh
rope and pass it under and over this projection, sit on the sleigh and hold the
free end.? In this way one had only to let go of the rope to break away.? Other
vehicles with less convenient hitching points might snarl the rope and cause
one to be carried far beyond the desired point before the driver decided to
stop and allow one to uncouple, and of course this meant a long walk back.
But my
prize hand sleight was one Charlie Lockhart made for me about the second year
we were there.? It was a good size and he had made it completely with just an
axe and a brace and bit.? There was not a nail in it.? He must have spent no
end of time in locating a couple of trees with the roots leading off in such a
way that they formed a perfect curve for the runners that were hewn square, as
was the deck, and the whole thing was fixed together with willow pegs, a real
super deluxe job and I was quite proud of it, and kept it for many years by
religiously storing it in the granary in the summer to protect it from the rain
and sun.
We had two
strangers visit us that first winter.? They walked out of the bush into the
clearing carrying rifles, so obviously they were out to hunt deer. One was
named Blake and the other Jennings.? They came in for a meal and a rest and told
us they had come from Buchanan.? The grown ups had a good talk with them you
may be sure, as any news from outside was relished by us all.? They of course
could not stay long as they were far from home and daylight hours are short at
that time of year.? Mother said after they were gone "I noticed when they
looked in and saw you two kids, they left their rifles outside".? This of
course was not the reason, They may have thought we might not like them
bringing fire- arms into our home, but principally it was to avoid their rifles
sweating by being brought into the warmth.? We never saw Blake again, but we
were to know Jennings for always.? He spent his whole life in Buchanan and we
became friends and were involved within the family in many ways.? He had a
machine agency for most of his years and was Justice of the Peace and became
instrumental in the administration of all that went on in connection with the
town.? He told us later that they didn't get any deer on that trip, which was
not surprising, as it seemed there was very little wild life in the district at
that time.? To see a grouse or rabbit was cause for comment at mealtimes, and
only the odd muskrat house was noticed.? All three of these became extremely
thick in the course of the next few years and later disappeared more or less
suddenly.? Wolves we heard but never saw. Wild ducks were very plentiful in the
following summer.
I think it
was only twice that I visited the Murray farm that winter, and I remember their
first little shack.? A little square lumber building, and so small that I
wondered how they could possibly all get in along with all their goods and
chattles, but this must have been only very temporary, for they were already in
the process of building a log house with an upper story.? They were already
established in it on my next visit, and in the following years when we were all
still quite young spent many stayovers there with the Murray boys.? Jack was
the eldest and so was the big chief, George was exactly my age so that
established a bond between us. Arthur and Jean were twins and Connie was the
youngest and was Muriel's age. Later we all attended school together.
But in
that first winter most of our time was spent at home, for we had no proper conveyance
so that as the snow got deep and difficult to walk through, the distances
seemed longer than ever and the cold more penetrating.? The boys made a stone
boat for hauling up wood and such like around the place and later made some
sort of cutter for going places, but this proved to be much of a failure as
they had neither the experience or the materials to make a dependable rig, and
a trip was more likely to end in disaster than in reaching ones destination.?
So walking became the chief means of transportation which was slow, cold, tiresome
and was taken on by only dad and the three boys.? Mostly it was trips for the
mail and in this case the trails would go from farm to farm, ?or should I say
homesteads? because only a few of the places had any crop on them at this
time.? In this way we gradually got to know the other settlers for no one would
think of passing through a neighbor?s yard without calling in to see if all was
well, and to inquire if they were going to any of the towns or to inform them
if we were.
We went to
Buchanan always for supplies, but those to the west of us went to Invermay or
Sheho.
George and
John once went to a dance out west somewhere at one time, and got to meet a few
of the people south of Invermay.? Joe Howes and Joe McGormick were the
musicians but I don't think they were up to much.
Prestons
and Richardsons were on the way to Meakins where we usually got our mail, and
we got to know Tingleys and Lockharts because we bought feed and meat from
them. Mother and we three young ones met only a few of these people until the
following spring.
Mid winter
with deep snow and cold and short hours of daylight slowed up all activities to
a great extent, but dad and the boys managed to get out some logs for the
purpose of building an addition to the house in the next summer.
And so the
winter wore on with us spending the evenings and extremely cold days in reading
the books we had brought with us, while Nell played the piano and we all sat. I
don't think we had any newspaper that winter, and George's Punch Magazine was
all that came in the mail.? Later we subscribed to the Family Herald &
Weekly Star, and Nell and I continued to do so up until a few years ago when it
finally ceased publication.
I don't
think I have mentioned our little black dog, - we called him Rover.? He was not
much of a dog, but he was good company and in the following years was
continually in company with Muriel which was a good thing for she might easily
have become lost in the bush. It was quite common to see her turn up somewhere
struggling along and hanging on to Rover's hear.? He didn't seem to mind.
At last it
seemed that the cold snaps were over and we hoped the spring would be getting
nearer with each week.? It had been decided that we must have another team of
oxen in order to do the breaking in the following summer.? Also a couple of
cows which would be the start of our herd.? This had been held off until nearer
to the spring as it would only mean extra feed would have to be bought and
"a penny saved was a penny earned".? This theory was continually kept
in mind, and put into force at every opportunity, for at that period there was
just no source of income.
We got a
team of oxen from Tingleys, harness and all. They were a slightly bigger team
than Buck & Bright. One was all red and one red and white, and we named
them Bruce and Brian. They were not a well matched team, as Bruce was willing
and stepped out well, but Brian was slow and stubborn and required considerable
urging.
The cows
were brought in from Buchanan or some place near there.? One was pure white and
a fair size and turned out to be a good milker.? We christened her Blanche but
she always got "White Boz".? The other one, a little smaller as she
was just a heifer, was red and white and also a good cow, and we kept them both
for many years. We called her Blossom.? These two were to be the start of our
herd, and this was the way most settlers started, with sometimes only one.
But this
is surely a slow process for a few years and one always hoped that the first
calves would be heifers so that reproduction could start as soon as possible,
but even at that it seems to take many years before one sees much for their
time and labor.? We lost out first go, for the first caIves were steers and
delayed the build up for another year.
There were
no good strains of cattle at that time.? Just range cattle, and a cow was just
anything, with four legs and horns.? Mostly they were of the "short
horn" breed and were considered best at that time because they were dual
purpose and one could get fair milkers and fair beef stock which was what one
needed at that time for their own particular use.? It was some years later when
farmers got to establishing either dairy or beef herds.
There was
at that time a government scheme whereby a homesteader could get seed grain or
seed potatoes, and I assumed this could be paid for in the fall when the crop
came off, altho' I was too young then to know much about such things, or how
anything was ever paid for.? "That was the least of my worries at that
time".
We got
enough oat seed for five acres and it was real good seed from England or
originally from there,? but there was one thing about it that we did not
realize until later.? It had couch grass seed among it which we didn't
recognize for a couple of years, but eventually it became a curse as it thrived
so well in the good soil of those days, and we had neither the power or the
machinery to cope with it at that time.
Dad and
the three boys each got ten pounds of registered potato seed, and each of a
different variety.? I can't remember what the varieties were, but they really
grew in the new soil.
We got a
plow from Jack Meakins.? He was from Manitoba where he had farmed previously
and had one more than he needed.? It was a Cockshutt steel beamed combination fourteen
inch stubble and breaking plow with the old style long handles.? This turned
out to be just what we "didn't" need, but being inexperienced as with
everything else we knew no-better.? It was a good enough plow of its kind, but
like every other "combination" thing it serves to do more than one
thing, but does neither of them as well as something built for one particular
job.? Also the long handles made it less manageable, and put the operator too
far back from his team and thus required a much longer whip which was standard
equipment with an ox team.? There were some good wooden beam short handled
breaking plows put out at that time and in later years we used them, but that
didn't help us,? I remember in our first summer in doing the first breaking.
It was
quite a game with some of the settlers who were experienced farmers, to get rid
of unwanted and impractical equipment of all kinds to unsuspecting green-horns
like ourselves and often at prices out of all reason too.? I remember our wagon
which we brought from Manitoba was a narrow tired job and cut in too easily on
the soft trails and sunk badly where we were obliged to cross sloughs and low
spots. Once anyone was stuck with these impractical things it was difficult to
make a change for the better without considerable loss of money, and that was
something nobody had unless it was the man you had bought the monstrosity from.
It was
arranged that George would stay home in the following summer and do all the
breaking on all the homesteads "Uncle?s included", which was required
to fullfill the duties on all the places as he was most experienced having now
put in two summers on farms in Manitoba.? However his previous experience was
not as much help as one might think, for the conditions on well established
farms with horses for power, are totally different to working on raw land with
trees and stumps and oxen for power, so George spent a pretty rough summer of
it and was really pleased to leave the district in the fall, and harvesting
and
threshing.? I remember he went to Abernethy.?
This
arrangement left John and Arthur to go out to work for the summer and earn a
little money to keep things moving. They had worked the previous summer for ten
dollars a month which was the going wage for English Green hands.
Threshing
might be more according to how good the run was.? Arthur got a job as bagger
boy on a big outfit and was paid a dollar a day.? He was then just seventeen,
Much of the grain at that time was handled in cotton sacks.? They would now
both be able to get twenty-five a month for the summer.? It seemed at that time
that the districts to the south had an earlier spring than in our district on
account of there being less bush, so although we still had lots of snow it was
thought that the two boys should now think about going, so as to be able to
locate work by the time seeding started.? This at once presented a problem.?
They would have to go to Sheho, take the train there to Shoal Lake and go
across country to Hamiota.? They could have walked to Sheho without much
trouble, but they were obliged to take a certain amount of clothes and personal
belongings which would be of considerable weight.? George could take them with
the oxen but it would mean borrowing a sleigh and then a two day trip for him
under the poor road conditions and the distance.? John thought they might walk
it and carry their belongings easier and loaded a suitcase with his clothes,
strapped it on his back and proceeded to walk forth and back across the room
all one evening to see how tired he might get within a certain time and of
course under-foot conditions would make the going much worse.? He discarded
that idea in about half an hour of testing, and the next day started to make a
sleigh just big enough to hold their packs with the idea that they might pull
it all the way to Sheho and just ditch it there. This idea was also given up
after the first runner was constructed as Arthur had been for the mail and
learned that one of the settlers would be making a trip to Sheho in the near future
and would take them both along.? I cannot remember just who it was who was
making the trip but it may have been Ike Preston.? I don't remember how they
got from Shoal Lake to Hamiota, but as it was a direct road I expect they had
no trouble in getting a lift, for in those days if anyone was going the same
way it was the recognized thing to offer them a ride.
In due
time we heard from them by mail and Arthur was working for Bill Angus again and
John worked for Fred Johnson, someone we didn't know, as he was a new comer to
that district and rented the farm across from the Anguses where the Lairds had
lived when we were there.? It seemed to leave quite a gap in the home when they
left, for we were so packed in before, but that was the way it was going to be
for the next six months.
Since that
time it has seemed to me that at this period both Dad and George must have
pretty well come to the end of their resources as far as money was concerned,
and that from now on there would be a lot of scrimping and scraping to get
along.? I didn't know this of course at that time, because money matters were
the least of my worries, and Mum and Dad or the older boys either, would not
think of discussing money or business matters in front of us young ones.? Such
things were just not done in our family.? I was made aware though that we must
practice strict economy, but whether I realized it was from lack of funds or
just that, we would not be going to Buchanan for some time, I don't remember.
I have
many times since wondered what Mum and Dad's thoughts were at this point. It
must have seemed a considerable come down for them after living in pleasant
surroundings with all the facilities available at that time, and a reasonably
decent income to find themselves in such a hopeless position with as far as
they could see, very little hope of getting out of it.? It was no wonder that
Dad thought so little of this country after his previous occupation which took
him into all kinds of places in England and Europe.? I was never able to get a
satisfactory answer from dad or any of the elder members of the family as to
why the move was made to Canada, but I suppose there must have been one, for
there is a logical reason for everything.? Mother never seemed to regret the
move or if she did would never admit it.? George who was the first one to come
to this country has quite recently and several times made the statement that he
did do two things right in his life, and that was first to come to? Canada and
secondly to marry Jessie Ratery.? So perhaps the whole thing can best be put
down to one of the mysteries of life where many people do comical, queer, or
incomprehensible things of which no one else can understand why.
It was now
becoming much warmer and the snow was almost gone in places so that we really
felt we had survived the winter, and were becoming free of that "locked
in" and almost desperate and alarming feeling which comes with deep snow
and the extra cold spells, when it seemed that we were at the point where it
was impossible to maintain enough heat in spite of the continual firing and
staying up late and get up early to do so.? The loud cracking of the boards in
the house and the similar cracking of trees in the bush get almost to the
frightening stage after a certain length of time, and the relief is so great
when the change comes for milder weather.
As
mentioned before I have reason to believe our first winter was a mild one, for
I am sure we could never have kept from freezing to death, with our single cook
stove in some of the following winters.? The snow fall must have been less too,
as we had made trips to Buchanan up until the late part of the winter when it
became impossible for a time as there was not even a single sleigh mark on the
Pelly trail for at least five miles, where one might then strike a trail where
someone from the Buchanan area had been up to haul out firewood.? But this was
all over now and we felt we could soon be getting about a little, and with the
sudden coming of spring as it is on the prairies the oxen and cows were able to
get out and graze to some extent, which helped out our dwindling supply of
feed, and in no time it seemed the sloughs were full of water and the shallow
ones were already shooting up blades of grass, and the cattle were dipping their
noses under water to get them.
Ducks and
crows arrived and many other little birds which were all strange to us.
We were
now beginning to think of the summer work and where our garden would be, and
the clearing where we should sow our oats for seed in the following year with
visions of having much more land broken up than we eventually did during the
following summer, for it was a much greater task then we could possibly have
thought.
Our
enthusiasm was promptly dashed to the ground by a fall of snow about a foot
deep and somewhat colder temperature, so that many of the little birds were
found huddled and numbed in the various nooks and corners where they had tried
to take cover.? Many of these did not survive.? It was equally as drastic for
us as we had not as much as a forkful of hay left for the stock.
George, I
remember hooked a team to the wagon and plowed off through the snow which was
still falling on his way to Tingleys for some feed.? He was gone all day and I
remember him returning at dusk in the evening and it was still snowing.? He had
found that Tingleys were in much the same boat as us, for they had barely
enough feed for their own stock and they had directed him further on to Billy
Davis. However, he also was not too well supplied with feed, but under the
circumstances they allowed him a wagon box full of hay and some oat sheaves.? I
don't imagine that could have gone very far with our six head of stock but
evidently it saved the day for like all late spring snows it was light and
fluffy and disappeared much quicker than we thought possible.?
With this
catastrophe behind us we turned our thoughts to spring again and wondered how
long we might have to wait till one of the cows calved and we should once again
be able to have milk in our tea and some butter on our bread, for we had been
without since early winter.? So at last this was the end of our first winter in
Canada? and therefore the end of this story.? It had been quite an experience
to us all, and perhaps to me an interesting one, as I was too young to worry
about any trouble or danger that might have occurred in such isolated
circumstances.
The future
was still unknown to us but we were soon to experience the hords of mosquitos,
the sloughs filled with water, going through mud holes with team and wagon, and
being soaked to the knees in water while hunting oxen and cows through the high
growth.? But that is another for another story so we must stop here now.
The most
interesting part in the history of the early days in the Rama district would be
from this point on up until-the First World War, when the district became more
settled up, and there was much activity in many ways.? It was a long hard
"row to hoe" in the next few years from our first winter, but among
all the hardships there were many enjoyable spots.
