WILLIAM ANDREW GREER (ALAMEDA).
"I was born in the village of East Durham, Ont., Balieboro. What
brought me to the west was that I had lung trouble, which was supposed
to have developed into the first stages of consumption. My father was
a contractor and carpenter but when I was about eight years old he went
farming. My father was born in Canada, but his mother and father came
from the north of Ireland. I came in in March by the St. Paul, Minne-
apolis and Manitoba Railroad. I came through Winnipeg. I was alone
and on my own, I came up with the intention of staying if the climate
agreed with me. My people were well to do and did not want me to come.
I arrived in Winnipeg on a special emigrant train sometime toward the
latter part of March, 1882. I stopped in Winnipeg one day, and then
came through to Brandon. There were myself, Mr. Samuel McKnight,
who is living now south of Alameda, James Tate (now in the Klondike),
John Deyell and James McCaughey, both of whom are now farming south
of Alameda. Mr. Wm. Nelson Hayter (a man of 56 or 60), his son Charley
Hayter and John Clarke now in Chicago. The Hayters are still living
here except the old man who died at the age of 85. They were all Ontario
Canadians. James Wilson (now in Ontario) and J. H. Heaslip, now store-
keeper at Alameda, were also of the party. We left Brandon for Souris
(Plum Creek) early in April; the snow had just started to go, and we
were up to our necks in snow and water crossing ravines. At Souris, Tom
and Sam McMurtry, Solomon Miller and Charles and John, his sons,
joined us. The McMurtrys had a team of mules; all the rest of us had
oxen. There were four, perhaps five yokes of oxen. We had plows and
harrows and a camping outfit. We left Souris sometime about the 9th or
10th of Aprll. A large party had come through from Millbrook on a spe-
cial train of eighteen or twenty freight cars and two coaches. The train
was organized by Mr. Leach who represented the Sowden Syndicate.
Senator Kirchoffer had an interest in the outfit. I knew of this party
before I left Ontario. I thought I would come and see what they would
do and perhaps settle near them, but we could get no land in the Souris
district at that time, it was all held by companies or
speculators.
STALLED BY FLOODS: A MAY BLIZZARD.
"We all wanted to get settled together, and that was why we all
came in here. The land was not surveyed at the time; we crossed the
creek at Souris and came down the north bank of the river to township 5,
then we went due west to Moose Creek, where we found James Cheyne,
and camped there. This was 16 miles north of Oxbow and it is 99 miles
from Oxbow to Souris. We arrived at Moose Creek about the 18th of
May; we started from Souris on the 9th or 10th of April. We had Black
Creek to cross, but it was so full of water that we could not cross and
about 100 people were stalled. We sent men back to Souris to get lumber
and we made a boat and ferried our stuff across. We built the boat and
then used it to find a crossing; when we found the bar it was very crooked
so we staked it out, and this enabled us to drive across without unloading.
People who would not wait made a raft. We then took the boat along
with us to cross other streams. The boat was 4 feet wide and 14 feet
long; it was built by Mr. Solomon Miller, Sr., who had been a lumberman
in Nova Scotia and followed boat building to a certain extent. He had
also been a prospector and 'timber cruiser' and had taken out ties. Black
Creek at the time we crossed it would be from an eighth to a quarter of
a mile wide and it was through a flat country, which was all overflowed.
After the first day's travel we were confronted with the flood, and it was
then we sent back for lumber. Altogether we were delayed a week to
ten days after crossing Black Creek. We got to Moose Creek about the
9th or 10th of May. One party went north to look at the country and one
went south, and when we came back at night we decided to go north. We
picked out our land there on township 7, range 1, but after thinking the
matter over with regard to the southern railway, we decided we were too
far away from it, so we stopped there only about a week and then picked
up and went south. We camped out over night at what is now known as
Cheyne's Crossing when a big snow blizzard struck us and lasted for two
days, the 21st and 22nd of May. It was a bad one for it snowed 4 feet.
It was the same up north in Moose Mountain. I was sleeping in the wagon
box and it was covered clean over with snow in the morning.
"When the blizzard started it was dry snow but it got wetter. We
had tents and had our cattle tied to our wagon. We had hay and chop
for the cattle. It was baled hay which we had bought at Brandon and
Souris, the wild country hay. There were three parties in our company:
The Millers and McMurtrys made one party; Clark and McKnight and
another made a second party; Tait, Deyell, McCaughey and myself were
in the other. Each one did their share of the work and took their part;
McCaughey was the principal baker, he baked bannock mostly; we had
a camp stove. McCaughey had been in the Carrot River country, east of
Prince Albert in 1880, but he did not like it up there and came
back home.
RIVAL CLAIMANTS.
"When we got down to Oxbow and were driving over the hills to
Souris Valley, we saw coming from the east a rig with two men in it; they
came up and followed us down to the valley where we were pitching our
tents on the slope, a little up from the river flat. One of these men came
up and told us that they had squatted on this flat. We found out
wards that their names were Chris. Troyer and Joseph Guittard. The next
day we took our boat and crossed Moose Creek. We were camped on the
east side of Moose Creek at its junction with the Souris river. After we
had crossed over Moose Creek we went west on to township 3, range 3.
Our fellows talked first about having a fight with Troyer and Guittard, but
concluded not, and that we had better go on. Chris. Troyer had come
west from the Mennonite settlement with Guittard. We were able to
make our entry for homesteads in November, '82. By this time there.
was a land office at Moosomin. There were no other people in here at
all when we came in, with the exception of James Trumper and a
doctor,whose name I do not remember, who moved afterwards to Carberry. They
were in township 4. They came in a few days ahead of us. After we got
settled provisions were getting exhausted. About a week after that there
came in Barney, George and Pete Ward; Pete and George are dead now.
They both died on their farms south of Alameda.
NEAR DYING FROM MOSQUITOES.
"When our provisions were running out, all the others went back to
bring in provisions, with the exception of J. J. Heaslip and myself. This
was about the first of June. They went to Brandon and expected to be
back in about a week; instead of that, owing to bad roads, they were
about two weeks, by which time the provisions of J. J. and myself had
got down to nothing but porridge. Just then along came James Walsh,
the old fur trader, Walter Walsh and Robert Grandy, and they gave us a
little out of their supply, which was small. They were looking for land.
They had a buckboard and a team of horses and came in from Moosomin.
They did not have much to spare, but they gave us something, a little flour
and a little bacon. They were very short but it helped us out until our
men returned in four or five days. We had, however, to keep on short
rations. Our tobacco ran out, but we had a few cigars which we used to
smoke to keep the mosquitoes off when they got too bad. The mosquitoes
and black flies were terrible for about two weeks; so bad that one man
who was travelling through came near dying; he was all swelled up and
in a bad state. He was bodily ill and was laid up for a couple of days.
"Mr. Walsh picked out one homestead in township 2, range 3, and the
other homestead he picked out in township 3, range 2, which became old
Alameda where the first post office was established by Mr. Walsh in 1883
in the late summer or early fall. There was no Oxbow then, it was Ala-
meda. He ran the post office and a small store until the railway came in
when we moved to the present Oxbow. The old original post office was
about three miles straight west of Oxbow. The present town of Alameda
is about 9 miles northwest of Oxbow. Mr. Robert Grandy settled in what
is now called the Boscurvis district where he picked out several home-
steads for a few of his friends.
"Wm. Galloway, who became postmaster at Boscurvis, Joshua Grandy,
nephew of Robert, John Graham, Thomas Baird and another man who
was the school teacher and who died in a few years, were among the orig-
inal settlers of Boscurvis. Mr. Grandy was the founder of Boscurvis set-
tlement; he afterwards moved to St. Thomas, North Dakota, where he
was one of the members of the Souris Company who settled that part of
North Dakota.
"The original settlers of Alameda district in 1882 were: Wm. Greer
(24)when he came in; John Clark (21) now in Chicago; John Deyell
(18); James Tate (18) now in the Kiondike; James Wilson (21) now in
Ontario; Samuel McKnight (23); James McCaughey (early middle life)
J.
J. Heaslip (about 23); Wm. N. Hayter (59, died at 85); Chas. Hayter
(18 or 20, now in Vancouver) ; Solomon Miller (46, died when 73 or 74);
Chas. and John Miller (19 and 21).
"Three or four years afterwards new settlers began to come in. Among
them were Peter McDonald and Wm. Hanley who came In either in
August or September of 1882. They came from Stratford and North
East Hope, Ontario. Mr. McDonald afterwards lived at Estevan and
Mr. Hanley was a cattle buyer and a prominent man at Boissevain. A
little later William Langridge came in from Farnham Surrey, England.
He became one of our finest men and best citizens.
A TOUGH JOURNEY TO THE RAILROAD.
"McCaughey, Tate, Deyell and Greer (myself) put up a house for our
joint occupation; it was 16x20. It was all sod, with poles we got on the
river for the roof. The roof was made of sod which was put on the poles
and after that we mixed thatch grass with mud and plastered it over the
sod. We had some lumber with us, just a few boards and that made the
door. The window sashes we had with us. That was the first building
and it was erected on section 12, township 3, range 3 west of the second.
It stood for a great many years, and in 1910 it was standing yet and used
as a store house. Close to the same spot a $3000 farm house and a splen-
did frame barn were erected afterwards. I went back to Ontario in No-
vember of 1882. I went out to Moosomin, Mr. James Walsh sent Mr.
James Trumper with me as far as what was then called Baldwin's stop-
ping place at the southern part of Moose Mountain in township 1, and
there were also two other young men who had come out later from Peter-
boro, Ontario. Mr. Walsh knew their parents. They were going out to
go east again. We got to Baldwin's stopping place at 12 o'clock at night
and slept in a tent until morning. We had breakfast and bought a loaf
of bread each, put it under our arms and started out for Moosomin, which
was 45 or 50 miles by the trail. James Trumper had teamed us up as far
as Baldwin's with a buckboard. The four of us rode to Baldwin's Cross-
ing, then Trumper went back and the other young fellows who came from
Peterboro and I started out on foot for Moosomin. About ten o'clock in
the morning it started to snow heavily from the northeast, facing us. We
got as far as Whitlaw's place where there is a creek, which is a branch
of Little Pipestone river. We had our dinner there; Whitlaw was a mar-
ried man, he had a log house close to the Moose Mountain. It was still
snowing when we got there. We left Whitlaw's about two o'clock in the
afternoon. After we had gone about 2~ miles we had a big ravine to
cross which had from 2 feet to 4 feet of water in it. The ravine was
several miles long in high water, and no one knew where the end of the
ravine was, to get around. The water was not running as far as we knew.
It was a big low flat country, a kind of a basin, full of water, and hay
and everything grew around the edges. When we got in the ravine it
was frozen with a strong coat of ice. We expected when we reached there
that we might get a team that would help us across, but there was no
team there, nor any in sight. The traffic of the southern country con-
verged at this point. The other two boys would not attempt to cross; I
said I was not going to stay there and that I was going to attempt to
cross it. I got on the ice and travelled about 20 feet when through I went,
but instead of turning back I broke the ice and waded through it. It was
about 150 feet across and by the time I got through I was nearly per-
ished. The other two went away miles north and found a shallow place
to cross over. I was wet to my waist; I walked straight on the trail; I
was freezing with the snow and cold; I rubbed my clothes down to wring
the water out and ran and walked to keep warm. It kept me busy walking
and then running to get warm, squeezing the water out of my clothes.
I had nothing but a rubber coat and a loaf of bread. It was still snowing
heavily with a strong wind from the northeast. By four or five o'clock
I had still hung on to my loaf. But I was biting at it, and that loaf was
the one thing that saved me. I was afraid of taking cramps, but I think
that loaf kept the cramps off. However, they commenced to give me a
little trouble, but by rubbing and by keeping going on I fought them off.
"About five o'clock dark came on, and it was still snowing heavily.
By this time the other two had come around the head of the ravine and
joined me. We walked on but we could only go a few miles at a time for
we got so tired that we had to lie down in the snow to get rested. We
were going against the wind and butting into it all the time. It came about
10 o'clock and the boys wanted to give up. They said it was no use going
any further, and that it was impossible for us to reach the Big Pipestone
where there was a stopping place. They had not been over that trail
before but I had, so I encouraged them and said-'Come on boys, what
I tell you is correct, we shall reach it.' So we went on and on. I would
say-'It will not be long now, keep up your courage'. By this time the
bread was gone, so we had nothing more to eat. We readied the head of
the crossing of the Big Pipestone about 11 o'clock at night. It was still
blowing and snowing, and there was about 15 inches of snow on the ground
by this time, but it was not a blizzard. We got to the top of the hill
where there was quite a sheltered bluff, and there we all laid down out of
the storm. We were about done out, and we laid there about 15 or 20
minutes. The stopping place was still a mile and a half farther on. At
last we said we would get up and try to make it, so we got up, and when
we got down into the valley we found about 15 teams all loaded. They
were camped there coming from Moosomin. There was one tent as full
of men as it would hold so they could not take us in, and we did not ask
them to. This was in the valley of the Big Pipestone. We went on and
about 12 o'clock at night we struck the stopping place. When we got on
the top of the hill the boys said, 'There is not any sign of any house here,
we can't go on any further'. I said: 'It is half a mile further on', but they
did not pay any attention to me. They laid down in a bluff. I went on and
found the house. I did not go into the house, but went back for them as
soon as I saw the house and got them. We woke the people out of bed
-and they got us some tea and something to eat and then went to bed. Next
morning when I woke up, I was not able to rise. My feet and legs were
swollen from the wading and the wetting and the cold. We used some
liniment on them and rubbed them until I got some circulation in them.
I then got up and had some breakfast. The man at the stopping place
would not drive us on to Moosomin for less than $2.00 each and it was
less than 7 miles. We paid him the money because we had to. I could
get around the house but I was unable to make a journey on the trail. I
had to stay two days in Moosomin before I could go on. I had to have a
doctor, Dr. Routledge. I then proceeded home to Ontario, and came back
in the spring of '83. In '83 we had 5 acres of wheat; the wheat we grew
was very heavy; it went 64 pounds to the bushel. We sowed some oats on
breaking, and there was as fine a crop as you would want to see. The first
load of wheat that was hauled to market would be in the fall of '84 and it
went to Moosomin, and by the trail it would be about 100 miles. We used
to go by Carlyle. In '83 Mr. Miller Sr., McCaughey and myself brought
in a threshing machine from Moosomin, but we did not thresh very much.
We threshed from Carievale west to range 4, north of Cannington Manor.
In '83 I brought up a carload of farm horses from Ontario, and I think
it cost around about $1200.
"John Hay was the first preacher in the Alameda district. He preached
at Peter McDonald's. Mr. Hay was one of the ablest men in the church
and was a very fine man. He married a Miss Colquhoun, a cousin of mine.
"The first woman to come into the Alameda district was Mrs. Troyer,
the second was Mrs. Peter McDonald, and I think the first adult person
to die in the south country was a doctor who came in and died at Bishops.
"The first school was on section 18, township 3, range 2 a mile and a
half from old Alameda. The school was held first in the Presbyterian
Church which was about '85 or '86. It was built by local subscription and
a grant from the building fund of the Presbyterian Church. We all turned
in and helped to put it up. We had a public meeting to consider building
the church. We were told by Mr. Hay that we could get a grant, so it
was proposed that we apply for it and we did so. Some children had
come in that year and the year before, and they were getting no schooling;
we used the church as a school. We had considerable difficulty in estab-
lishing a school district. There was a difficulty in deciding on the site;
some wanted it at old Alameda. However, we gained the day and estab
lished the school about one and a half miles from old Alameda. It was on
iS, and by starting the school and church together and getting the grant
from the Presbyterian building fund it was probably the cheapest school
district that was ever established.
"The first settled minister in the Oxbow district was the Rev. Mr.
Scott who came in in 90 or '91. There was no Oxbow there until the
railway came in and it took its name from the form the river takes in the
valley, which resembles a pair of ox bows. Oxbow town is on the point
of the west bow."
FAIRBAIRN BROTHERS (CARNDUFF).
A THOUSAND MILES IN A PRAIRIE SCHOONER.
Alex. Fairbairn, J. P., gave me the following story: "I was born in
Wellington County, Ontario. There was a mining excitement in Butte
City, Montana, in 1880 and I went there from Ontario in '84. I was in
Judith Basin 60 miles south of Fort Benton. I was told that the Indians
were liable to rise any time, and as I did not wish to be mixed up with an
Indian war, I left Montana, and travelled with a team of ponies and a
wagon 240 miles north to Fort McLeod in Southern Alberta; I afterwards
travelled from McLeod east and got to Arrow River north of Virden in
Manitoba on the 9th of October. The wagon was rigged as a prairie
schooner. We would go for days and not see a white man. At Medicine
Hat there was no traffic bridge and we swam the team twice across the
Saskatchewan as the ferry was out of business. We took the wagon over
the railroad bridge by hand. On this 1000 mile trip with a prairie
schooner we lived pretty much upon prairie chickens and ducks which
were pretty plentiful. I made for north of Virden because I had an ac-
quaintance there. After getting to Virden I went threshing and ultimately
came here into the Carnduff country in 1886. I outfitted at Brandon to
come into the Souris country, got lumber there and supplies. My brother
George had joined me at Brandon; he had a horse team, but he went home
that winter. We homesteaded nine miles north of Carnduff, about three
miles east of where Oakley School house now is".
ANDREW HUGH FOULDS (CARNDUFF).
WARM SOD HOUSES.
"I was born in Glengarry, Ontario. In 1882 I came into the Carnduff
country. We trailed to Deloraine and from there here. Mr. J. M. Dill
was with me, and he is now on the original homestead that he took up.
The others with me consisted of Wm. Anderson of Montreal, Frank
Agnew of Orkney Islands, Mr. Chaplin an Englishman, J. McDougal of
Sterling, Ontario, and a Mr. J. C. Harding. We all homestead"d in town-
ship 4. John King of Oxfordshire and London, England, and J. C. Farr
were in the township at the time, also two others that went away and
came back in '83, coming in from Moosomin, as the railroad had extended
there by that time. Of the names mentioned, Mr. Dill and Mr. Farr are
the only two on their places now, (1910). John King returned to Eng-
land, although past 80 years of age. On the farm he left the graves of
two wives who were buried there. The others named simply abandoned
their farms in the hard times and went away. There was a Mr. Adams
from Brampton, Ontario; he died in 1887 and was buried on his farm,
but Mrs. Adams is still living; He had three boys and three girls who
came out with him. He had other children who were married and whom
he left behind in Ontario. He was an old man when he came in. Alex
Cochrane of Bruce was also in Township 4; he came in in 83. We had
to draw what grain we had to Moosomin. King had a team of horses;
all the rest of us had oxen; it used to take us five days to go to Moosomin.
In '83 Moosomin was quite a tent town. Mr. Dill had some crop in '83.
He had about five acres which he cut with a cradle. It was a good crop;
he threshed it with a flail and kept it for seed. We all had sod houses
and stables. Sod houses were real warm and comfortable, although the
dust is troublesome. You can make them very comfortable by plastering
them with clay. The first log house was built by Mr. Dill who drew the
logs from the Souris River. Mr. Dill today (1910) owns a section and a
quarter, which is valued at twenty dollars an acre. The women in the
settlement were Mrs. John King, Mrs. Farr and Mrs. Adams and her two
young daughters. It was forty miles to Moosomin, but we would also
go to Deloraine. North of us there was no house at all till we got within
twelve miles of Moosomin.
"In the early days we got 47c one year for wheat and another year
we got 72c. We had a good crop in 1887. One trouble we had in making
long trips with oxen was that their feet were apt to get sore; we would
camp out sleeping under the wagon. As settlement increased there were
'stopping places' on the trail. A settler would make a kind of business
of putting up travellers. For seventy-five cents a man could get supper,
bed and breakfast and hay for his oxen."
MR. AND MRS. JOHN P. CARNDUFF (CARNDUFF).
ROUGH LIFE ON THE TRAIL.
It is from Mr. and Mrs. Carnduff that the town of Carnduff is named.
The postoffice was in their farm house before there was any village at
all. The village or hamlet started to grow around it, but when the railroad
came in, in 1891, the townsite was fixed two miles east, but the name of
Carnduff was retained. The buildings at "Old" Carnduff are moved up
to the new site, on which the present town of Carnduff stands.
John P. Carnduff and his brother Richard were natives of County
Down, Ireland. They came to Canada in the year 1871 when John was
about 18 years old and Richard 14 years old. In order to ~mbark they
went from Derry to Moville in a small boat. John P. Carnduff came
alone from Ontario to Fort Garry in 1877. He went to Ontario for one
summer, Carleton Place in the County of Lanark. He came back in 1879
to Manitoba, coming through Emerson; they stopped with friends in
Pembina Mountain two years.
Continuing Mr. Carnduff said: "At that time Moose Mountain had
a great name as being a very fine country, and so at last we hooked. up
and made for Moose Mountain. On our way we passed through what
is now Carnduff country. I and my brother Richard came into this
country with oxen. When we got to Moose Mountain we did not like the
looks of the country so well as the Carnduff land, so we returned here
to Carnduff. Our party consisted of J. P. Carnduff, Richard Carnduff,
John and William Lee, John Pack, Sr., John Pack, Jr., and another fellow
who did not last. We were all Canadians, and we all went to Moose
Mountain and came back. We had three yoke of oxen in the party.
"Mrs. Carnduff came with me to Manitoba in 1879. In 1876 and 1877
there were grasshoppers in Manitoba which ate up everything. I subse-
quently went to work on the railroad (C. P. R.) between Whitemouth
and Winnipeg. It was terribly wet and because of the rain we could
hardly make our board. I stopped on the job three months. As I told
you, Mrs. Carnduff came out in 1879 and from 1879 to 1882 we farmed
at Pembina Mountain, where I bought land. It was in 1882 that we made
the trip from Pembina to Moose Mountain and here. I settled on the west
half of Township 2, range 33, west of the first meridian, but my wife
and children stayed on the farm at Pembina Mountain. In 1882 I did
a little breaking on my new place, and put up some hay. My brother
Richard was with me. He got sick but recovered. 1 broke eleven acres.
I tripped back and forth from my place in the Territories to Pembina
Mountain. In the winter of 1882 I traded cattle for horses and I made
two trips between the two places in March, 1883. The distance between
the two places was 110 miles.
"When we all (Carnduffs, Lees, etc.), decided to finally remain, we all
settled together and made a settlement. For the first two or three months
we lived in tents. My place in Pembina Mountain was on the Little Pem-
bina River down near Darleyford. Mrs. Carnduff came up from Pembina
Mountain in 1883, and we landed here in the second week in July. Mrs.
Carnduff made the trip in a wagon with four young kids. There were
myself, my brother Richard (who was married) Mrs. Carnduff and the
four children; Mrs. Carnduff sat in the wagon with the kids. She could
drive, but half the time owing to the trail I had to take the lines. We
had a handful, Richard and I, for we had three yoke of oxen, a span of
horses, a pony, three wagons, some cows, pigs and hens. The eldest boy
William was nine years old, and he had to do pretty nearly a man's work,
and he did.
"At Sourisford there was a ferry over the river. A man had a scow
there. We swam the cattle and horses across the river, but the ferry
cost us six or seven dollars getting the wagons and stuff across. The
great flood had come back and the Souris river was more than half a
mile wide. We sat in the boat and swam the horses and cattle behind.
When we got to our journey's end on the homestead, of course, there was
no home built, so we lived in a tent. Everything we possessed had to be
brought in. Things were not so bad, however, as beside the ordinary
supplies we had cows and hens, which gave us milk, butter and eggs. In
the fall I had a house up, built of logs, hauled from the Souris River. In
the fall the whole shoot of us went to Moosomin for lumber and shingles.
The Barkers, Preston, J. W. Connell, Forsythe, Gavin Middleton, and Sam
Jones, all came in and took up land about 1882.
"In 1883 we saw the first preacher, the Reverend John Hay who rode
up to my shack. He stayed I think on his first visit with Gavin Middle-
ton. The first service was at young John Pack's. The Missionary at this
time was only a student. He used to ride through the mission. He married
a Miss Colquhoun, whom he first met swimming the river at Sourisford
ferry. His district extended from Butterfield in Manitoba (southwest of
Pierson) to Alameda.
"Our nearest doctor was at Deloraine, Manitoba, seventy miles; but
fortunately our family did not need one, but Mrs. Albert Wilson had to
have a doctor once from Deloraine.
"There was a grist mill at Deloraine where I got my first grist. When
I got there I found the mill had broken down. That was on a Friday and
it was not until Tuesday that I got my grist. I had from 40 to 45 bushels
of wheat gristed. I had a horse team and meanwhile Mrs. Carnduff
at home was wondering what had happened to me, as I was so long onthe road.
"The first load of wheat was hauled to Virden. We would have some
great times on the trail, upsetting loads in ravine places, getting stuck in
bog holes, crossing creeks, etc. Once I upset a load of flour and oats and
a dead pig or two, and I had to leave a lot of oats on the trail. Another
time I was held up three days with a blizzard. One winter when I got
to where Killarney is now I saw I was not going to make the other stop-
ping place, so I pulled up at a shack and hollered. A man came out and
said I could not stay there as he was full up. I told him I was going
to stop; he had a stable with no door and a brush roof. I unhooked and
put up my team in this stable and walked into the shack. After I got in
the man used me alright. With an ox team and load I could make from
15 to 25 miles a day. It all depended on the trail, but sometimes, es-
pecially when the trail was miry, perhaps you could not make more than
two miles a day.
"I have seen us cross six streams in two miles. I have seen us with
three ox teams on to one wagon load, trying to get it out of a mud hole,
and then we would have to unload the wagon after all, and pry the
wagon up out of the mud. The wagon would cut right down to the reach
in the soft mud. Sometimes one would travel all day and ~ever see a
soul. We would be here for weeks in the settlement and no one would
come along from the outside, so that we knew no more of what was going
on in the world than dead people. There was no post office in the country
south of the C. P. R. in southern Assiniboia as it then was. The first
woman to come into our settlement was Mrs. Gavin Middleton.
"1886 was a dry year. People got discouraged and began to move out,
so that people were coming in and moving out all the time. When new
people came in they could buy no flour in the district, so those of us who
had grists would have to lend them flour, till they were able to get out to
the railroad and buy for themselves."
J. H. TAYLOR (CARNDUFF).
A SAILOR SETTLER.
At the time this story was taken down, Mr. Taylor was postmaster
and overseer at Carnduff, and also carried on business as a builder and
contractor and had a furniture store, and also a store for stationery and
fruit. Mr. Taylor said he was born in Paris, Ontario, and lived there
until he was eight years old when he ran away to the States. He after-
wards drifted into the English mercantile marine service. While he
was a sailor he visited Great Britain, the Mediterranean, West Indies and
South America. He made his voyages with two exceptions in sailing
vessels, but he made two trips to the Mediterranean in steamers. He
said that he liked the sailing vessels better than the steamers, and that
no real sailor liked a steamer. After leaving the sea he returned to
Paris, and worked for four years for a firm of builders. He came out
west in 1880 when he was 24 years old. He had read various stories of
the west and had got the western fever. He came in from Ontario from
Emerson over the old St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba road. The
party he was with consisted of John Renton and his two sons, Wm. Ure
and his two sons, Taylor (myself) and a man named Dawson. "These
men I met on the trail coming in. We arrived in Emerson in March,
1880. We had enough money to buy a yoke of oxen and a year's pro-
visions. They were all Canadians. We made a sleigh (a Jumper) our-
selves and started out from Emerson to Turtle Mountain. The surveyors
had completed the blocking of the townships and sections, in the mountain
and we were advised to go there. We started out for the Mountain about
the first of April. There was plenty of snow and the sleighing was pretty
good. We located in township 1, range 22, section 22. The Ures, Ren-
tons, myself and Dawson were practically the first settlers who took up
land in that part of the country. In the spring of '90 I left Deloraine
for Melita. I am a builder and in Melita I built a block which I sold to
a Mr. Holden. I came up to Carnduff in 1891. The railroad had been
extended from the town of Souris, Manitoba, into the Territories, and at
this time it had got as far as Oxbow. The townsite of Carnduff had been
laid out during the summer of 1891. The first businesses in the new town
were: J. B. Preston, merchant, Andy Cochrane, merchant, Smith & Ham-
ilton, merchant, J. H. Taylor, builder, furniture, fruit and stationery,
John Pierson, butcher, Tom Elliott and Parsons, delivery, Walter Stovin
and R. H. Gordon, blacksmiths, Andy Foulds, hardware, Wellington El-
liott, hotel, J. H. Elliott, station agent.
"Carnduff was first incorporated as a village, and afterwards incor-
porated as a town. The first mayor was J. B. Preston, second, R. H.
Gordon, third Alex. Fairbairn, fourth Dr. Lockhart. Thomas Gordon, the
late Judge Gordon was the first resident lawyer. He came in 1894. J.
H. Taylor was the first overseer and held office for three years, when he
was succeeded by Nelson Spencer."
JOHN LEE (CARNDUFF).
HAULED LUMBER 200 MILES.
"I was born in Montague township, Lanark County, Ontario. I came
west in '81 and arrived in Winnipeg the 2nd of May. I came to Winnipeg
by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad. We left
the train at St. Boniface and were ferried over the river to Winnipeg. I
stayed in Winnipeg about two weeks and then went east into Keewatin
where I worked for a sawmill. I came back to Winnipeg and then went
from Winnipeg to Emerson with John Morris, a surveyor, and worked
there on a survey. We surveyed where Deloraine now stands. From
Deloraine I went to Crystal City and then from Crystal City to Darley-
ford, and I put the balance of the fall up to November in at threshing.
I then went east to Whitemouth into a tie camp where I put in the win-
ter. On the 6th of April, '82, I came to Winnipeg and from there went
to EmersoR. This was the year of the great flood. When the flood sub-
sided I came west to Crystal City. At Crystal City a party was made up
consisting of myself, my brother William and J. C. Pack and John Pack,
Jr. Between Crystal City and Deloraine we fell in with John and Dick
Carnduff and Charley Cruikshanks. We had known the Carnduffs in the
east and we knew they were coming out. We travelled west to Souris,
and then out around where Butterfield now is, and from there around
the bend in the Antler to Elmore where we struck the correction line,
and followed it. On the 7th of June, 1882, I camped on the corner of my
first homestead. We came through with oxen; the country was very wet
and we had lots of trouble. We went on to Moose Mountain and camped
on the corner of the East Reserve and stayed there several days looking
~~round. We came back where Oxbow now stands, and walked to where
we had previously located. The Rev. John Hay was the first preacher
who came in. He was from 25 to 30 years of age, a bearded, big, stout,
strapping fine fellow. The first lumber that was brought into the settle-
ment was teamed from Emerson with oxen 200 miles as the crow flies and
250 by the trail one had to go. We would get stuck in bog holes, and
perhaps have to unload three or four times a day. I took up residence
on my place on the 14th of June, 1882."
NELSON SPENCER (CARNDUFF).
"I was born in Lennox, Ontario, and came into the Carnduff district
from Brandon in the fall of '84. In '82 when I was 18 years old I came
to Winnipeg from Lennox and worked for a while in a brick-yard. From
there I came to Portage la Prairie and at Portage I and my brother Wil-
liam bought a pony and built a jumper and trekked across country to
Turtle Mountain and there we camped for the winter on section 34, town-
ship 1, range 24. We put up a shanty. This was in the winter of '83-'84.
The next spring '84 I went from Turtle Mountain to Brandon and from
there to the north shore of Lake Superior, where that summer I worked
on construction on the C. P. R. We had all kinds of hardships there.
Mosquitoes were awful and we lived principally on beans; for four months
we never saw a potato. I entered for my land in old Deloraine, Manitoba.
A man named Hayes was the land agent. The land was recommended to
me by some friends and I entered for it without seeing it. In the fall I
came to Carnduff to my land, which is the east half of section 6, range
32, west of the first meridian. Jimmy McConnell and I batched together
on Jimmy's place, which was two miles east of mine. We put up a little
frame shanty with the lumber which we had brought in.
"We 'entered' for our land in Deloraine and then went east and worked
on the railroad. We came back from the railroad to Brandon where the
railroad already was; then we came out from Brandon across country
to Carnduff. At Brandon we got a team of oxen for $120, and a wagon,
and started with the oxen and wagon and got to Souris where we had to
change the wagon for sleighs, on which we came from Souris to Carievale.
We left the wagon behind and of course, we had to shift the load. At
Carievale the snow was gone, and so we had to get another wagon which
we did from a Mr. McCarthy, who is now in the district, and who lived
about a mile east of where Carievale now is. Coming through the sand-
hills after we left Brandon, we almost froze to death, and then it got
warmer. This was about the first of November. When we got to Jimmy
McConnell's place we proceeded to put up the shanty and to dig out a
stable. The provisions we had consisted of bacon, lard, sugar, tea and
flour, just what was absolutely necessary. For baking we used soda and
yeast cakes, so that our food consisted principally of dough-god, bannock
and sow-belly. Our nearest neighbors were four miles away. They were
John and Tom Wilson, J. P. Carnduff and Will Barker, who were four
miles west. J. W. Connell and old James Forsythe were about the same
distance to the north west, up the North Antler Creek. We all stayed
there that winter. There was no large timber in the North Antler, and
we drew wood twelve miles from the Souris River. There was splen(lid
timber down there.
"In the spring of '85 by chance I got a ride out to Virden, 80 miles,
with Will Barker, who had a horse team. We had to swim the river and
creeks. I left Mr. Barker at Virden, and went on to Brandon, and hired
to drive a team of mules on the transport in the Rebellion. The owner
of the team was a man named McTavish. The division to which I be-
longed consisted of horses and mules. Some of the transports were com-
posed of oxen only. We left Brandon on the 22nd of April and went by
train to Qu'Appelle station on the C. P. R. which was then known as
Troy. We got there about sunrise. It was pretty cold and the snow
on the ground. We unloaded the train, put the wagons together and
hitched up. We then loaded with supplies, principally oats and hard tack,
and teamed on to Touchwood and Bedson. I led out the division and I was
first in the lead all the time I was in the Rebellion. Finally we were
called into Qu'Appelle, and those who wished to remain on the transport
service did so. We then went up to Clark's Crossing from Qu'Appelle
which was 195 miles. We got back to Brandon on the 22nd of June,
two months to a day.
"I worked around Brandon in the fall of that summer and in the fall
of '85 I purchased a team of oxen and wagon from Dr. Torrance, of the
Veterinary College, Winnipeg. The money I got while working on the
transport enabled me to get a start on my farm. I returned to the home-
stead with the team in the fall of '85. Meanwhile I had hired to have
10 acres broken on my homestead while I was away. J. W. Connell, who
was afterwards the M. L. A. for the district had it broken for me at $3.00
an acre, so when I came back I had 10 acres already broken.
DUGOUT FOR SELF AND OXEN.
"I put in the winter of '85-86 with Jimmy McConnell again, and in
the spring of '86 I went on my own place. I made a dugout in a bank,
with a root cellar at the back of it to keep potatoes. I used the dugout
both for a stable for my oxen and a living place for myself, and the root
house I used as a bedroom. I used to cook in the stable. The stable was
my dining room and reception room, but I slept in the root-house; '86
was a fierce year of drought, and the crop was too short to cut with a
binder so my first ten acres of crop was cut with a mower. My neighbor
McKinnon only had five acres and as I had ten, I was the big farmer.
We stacked my scanty crop loose, but I could not get the machine to thresh
it, and so I put a fence around it in the fall and went to Boissevain, where
I helped to build the first Presbyterian Church of that place. I then
worked on the Deloraine road between Boissevain and Deloraine, and
next helped to build Cook's Store. I was then head cook and bottle washer
in a boarding house. In the spring of '87 I went back to my farm, when
I discovered that the fence around my wheat stack had been torn down
and between rabbits and cattle altogether the stack was torn to pieces.
When I got back the stack was still covered with snow but when the snow
melted, I discovered that it had been practically destroyed. However,
I spread some of the dry stuff on the ground, made a flail and flailed
away and got some grain. I borrowed a fanning mill from Steve Bishop,
and altogether I got about six bushels from my ten acres. In the mean-
time I had some more land broken, so I bought some more wheat of Sandy
Cochrane who lived back on Lightning Creek, and then I had seed enough
for my next crop.
"I had had an additional 26 acres broken in '86, so that in all I had 36
acres in crop for 1887. I sowed all this and had a good harvest; in fact,
I had a whale of a crop. I drew some of the grain to Virden, 80 miles,was
with my oxen and some I drew to Deloraine, which was 65 miles, and
sold it for 45c. In the fall of 1887 I went away again and worked for
Capt. Hagan who lived southwest of Deloraine on the old Commission
Trail. I worked for him for a while and then concluded that I had amassed
enough wealth to get married to a girl who lived eight miles south of
Boissevain-south of Ninga. I got acquainted with her in '86 when I
helped build an elevator there. In '89 they had a grist mill at Canning-
ton, and I got grist there. I got my coal from the old Gow Mine three
miles east of Roche Percee. The Hazard Mine was a little to the west of
the Gow Mine.
"My wife's name was Elizabeth Hicks, and after getting married I
left my oxen with a friend at Wascada. I then got a horse and jumpel
from a man living near Wascada and brought my wife to Deloraine. I
could not get a pony at Boissevain, as there had been quite a rush. The
big crop of '87 encouraged quite a few to get married. We came on from
Wascada to Deloraine, and then I hauled a load of wheat for the man I
got the pony from, from Wascada to Deloraine to pay for the pony and
jumper. I then went on my way east to where my wife had been living
and got her trunk and a cow which her brother had given her. On the
first of January I started west for the farm at Carnduff with 60 miles
before us to trek in the middle of winter with a cow tied behind. Snow
was up to the hubs. The first shanty I built was 12-foot square and was
made of a single ply of shiplap and tar paper within."
Note:
At the time the writer got the story Mr. Spencer was one of
the prominent farmers of the south country.
Bibliography follows: