In August, 1902, a small band of men, composed of the Rev. Bruno
Doerfier, 0.5. B., of St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, H. J.
Haskamp, Maurice and Henry Hoeschen, of Stearns County, Minn., set
out for the Canadian Northwest, to see if there on the vast prairies might
not be found a place suitable for a large German Catholic colony, a place
where it would be possible for the new settlers to transmit to their children
the rich inheritance contained in the literature and history of the Ger-
man people, joined with the safeguarding of that Faith for which their
forefathers had given their lives-that Faith, which had also molded their
lives in such manner as to enable them to become good, useful citizens
of the United States, the land of their adoption. This higher motive
actuating them in the search for new homes would naturally be seconded
to a considerable extent by the wish that they might live on land of their
own, instead of being only renters, and rest from the labors of the day in
homes of their building, homes that they were free to transmit to their
children.
The leader of this group of men was Father Bruno, a man of undaunted
courage, whose determination and tenacity of purpose, difficulties and pri-
vations would only tend to strengthen. They first inspected Manitoba,
then southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. Not finding anything suitable
for so large a colony, they turned back, starting from Wetaskiwin, Alta.,
making a 400 mile trip by wagon along the present C. N. R. until they
reached Saskatoon. They then went to Rosthern and from there journeyed
in an easterly direction till they came to a very fertile stretch of country
partially wooded, designated on the maps as the Hoodoo Mail Station, now
known as St. Benedict, Leofeld and Cudworth. This seemed to meet all re-
quirements. After Father Bruno had made a test of the soil in various
places, they decided that the Hoodoo country, the land to the south and
east, should constitute the new colony. Here were thousands of avail-
able homesteads, excellent soil, plenty of fuel and water, open prairie and
park-like groves. Just the land for either wheat or mixed farming.
Here was land-160 acres to a homestead-that the Liberal Government
of Canada under Laurier, the most far-sighted Statesman of the Dominion,
was offering for nothing. Only a filing fee of ten dollars was required,
residence on the land for six months of the year and a specified number
of acres to be put under cultivation in the course of three years, when
the land would be theirs-theirs and their children's.
Happy with his find, Father Bruno returned to St. John's Abbey Sept.
2, 1902, and reported to his abbot. On Sept. 17 Father Bruno, accom-
panied by Prior Herman Bergmann and Rev. Conrad Glatzmaier, of the
Abbey, and Messrs. Chs. Hondl, Math. Butala, F. J. Lange, H. J. Haskamp,
John Hoeschen and Mr. Sturm, all of Minnesota, made his second and even
more thorough inspection trip to the colony. All reported favorably.
Father Bruno stayed until the middle of October, whilst the majority of
the party returned to Minnesota on the second of the month. A fine
description of Father Bruno's trips may be found in Vol.16 of St. John's
University Record, Collegeville, Minn., for the year 1903. St. John's now
definitely decided to found a monastery in the colony and to look after
the spiritual needs of the settlers in about 36 townships (later increased
to 50). Messrs. Haskamp and Hoeschen then organized the German
American Land Co., which bought 100,000 acres of railroad land, whilst
another company, The Catholic Settlement Society, with F. J. Lange at
the head, undertook to bring German Catholic homesteaders to the colony.
The colony was named in honor of the patron saint of the good Abbot
of St. John's whose name was Peter, a man of learning and magnanimity.
Roth companies adopted a policy of intensive advertising in all the Ger-
man Catholic newspapers.
So ready a response met the appeal for new settlers, that by December
of the same year 1,000 had applied for homesteads in the colony. It
seemed, therefore, necessary that a Benedictine monastery be founded at
once so as to be ready in spring to look after the spiritual and temporal
well-being of the settlers. There was then near Wetaug, Illinois, a small
monastery called "Cluny" that was struggling against heavy odds, the
worst being the unhealthy climatic situation, malaria levying its toll every
year. They had decided to move elsewhere. California had been sug-
gested and inspected, but when the Abbot of St. John's proposed that they
take over the new foundation, they cheerfully changed their plans. Instead
of sunnv California, they decided for the cold Northland. In January,
1903, the superior of this little community, Prior Alfred Mayer (by birth
a Canadian) accompanied by Father Bruno, came to Saskatchewan and
partially inspected the new colony, selected a site for the new monastery,
interviewed the Rt. Rev. Albert Pascal, 0. M. I., bishop of Prince Albert,
and obtained from him the necessary permission for his new foundation.
Under date of Jan.16 an agreement was drawn up by which the Bene-
dictines were given charge for all time of the district outlined and desig-
nated as St. Peter's Colony.. The Benedictine pioneers reached Rosthern
towards the middle of May and came to what is now Muenster, in the
electoral district of Humboldt, on May 21, the feast of Our Lord's Ascen-
sion.
The success of the colony was assured as soon as the Sons of St. Bene-
dict had guaranteed to supply the spiritual and educational needs of the
colonists. None that had witnessed the success with which the Order of
St. Benedict had carried on similar work in various States of the Union,
could doubt but that the Benedictines could and would meet their pledges
in this instance also. So why hesitate"
In crowds they came to St. Peter's Colony; from every state of America,
even from the Fatherland across the Sea. Little log houses and houses
of sod were erected, small log churches in which school was also held,
followed.
"Yet more; around those churches gathered Towns
Safe from the feudal Castle's haughty frowns;
Peaceful abodes, where Justice might uphold
Her scales with even hand, and culture mould
The heart to pity, train the mind in care
For rules of life, sound as the Times could bear.
(Wordsworth). |
Spring was late that year and rainy weather rendered the trails nigh
impassable. Only a pioneer of those days can imagine the hardships of
a trip forty to one hundred and twenty miles in length. One of these early
pioneers, Const. Honisch, who located in the western part of the colony,
came with his family by wagon all the way from one of the south-western
States (Oklahoma I believe). It would fill a whole volume to recount his
experiences on the way, the hardships and trials encountered, but happily
surmounted. A few years ago he retired from the farm and is now post-
master of Bruno, one of the cleanest, most enterprising and captivating
among the smaller towns of Saskatchewan. This town is located on the
writer's homestead and was named after Father Bruno, to whose fore-
sight and wise judgment the ultimate success of the colony is in a great
measure owning. Here it might not be out of place to relate how a lost
horse led to the establishing of a mission station at this place in July,
1904. The colony's weekly paper published at Muenster, called St. Peters
Bote, has in one of its issues for the year 1919, under the heading "Fifteen
Years Ago", an account of it as follows:
"When services were over at Assumption church, June 26, Father
Chrysostom drove back to Lindberg's. Whilst some of the parishioners
attended to his horse, he took his breakfast, or dinner, or whatever you
wish to call it. Sometime after the meal, perhaps between three and four
o'clock in the afternoon, he went to the stable to see if his horse had been
well looked after, but ~here was no horse there. Nothing but a short
piece of rope dangled from a pole to show that a horse had been tied there.
It seems the horse had been badly annoyed by the mosquitos, tore loose
and took 'French leave'. No one had seen it. The Rev. Father having
intended to stay over-night at Dead Moose Lake anyway, it caused him
no inconvenience for the present. Next day there was to be a wedding,
and for Tuesday morning he had promised to be at Mrs. Pfefferle's whose
failing eyesight did not permit her to go to church. How to get there
was now the question. The Wissers were so kind as to lend him one of
their horses. He was told that the horse had one bad trait-it was in-
clined to lie down in crossing a slough, if the water happened to be very
deep. The trail did lead through such a slough, and when he was in the
middle of the slough the water ran into the buggy and the horse began
to show signs that he intended to live up to his reputation. By means
of verbal and muscular persuasion Father Chrysostom induced the horse
to change its mind and pull him through to the other side. On arriving
at Pferfferle he fixed up an altar and read Holy Mass, gave Mrs. Pferfferle
holy Communion and then started to drive back. Having 'lots' of time
now, he preferred to drive around a few miles, rather than risk a ducking
in the slough. In the afternoon Leo Wisser brought up an old 'plug'
from the Monastery called 'Buckskin', a nice little 'pony (that's what the
children called him), as slow as molasses in January, but it was better
than no horse, and took him home an hour before supper time.
"It was nearly a week before anything was heard of the lost horse.
After leaving the stable it somehow got headed for the railway construc-
tion camps, then seemed to remember the fine feeds it used to get at
Joe Meyer's where the Monastery freighters usually put up for the night,
going or coming from Rosthern, and headed for his place. One morning
Joe found the white mare outside his pasture fence. Having put it in
the pasture he sent word to the monastery that he thought one of their
horses was at his place. So on the third of July, after services and dinner
at Schaeffer's, Father Chrysostom drove out to Joe Meyer's place, taking
Mr. Gottfried Schaeffer along, who wanted to see that part of the colony.
The new road-bed of the C. N. R. proved a good driveway and the trip
was made in record time. When they arrived there Joe was not at home,
but as the horse was undoubtedly the one they were looking for they took
him along, or rather made the horse take them along. For after having
given him a good feed of oats and having tacked a notice in a conspicuous
place telling Joe what had become of the horse, they hitched the white
mare to the buggy and let the other horse trot behind. On the way back
they stopped at Schmidt's, the only building in what is now Bruno. The
writer does not remember if any of Billy Schmidt's store goods had al-
ready arrived. Here Father Chrysostom was told that there were quite a
large number of settlers in that part of the colony and that they were
anxious to have Holy Mass read in their midst. On his return to the
Monastery the Rev. Father laid the matter before Prior Alfred, the spirit-
ual head of the colony, who decided that a regular mission station should
be started, and appointed Father Chrysostom to hold services there every
second Monday following the Sunday when he would have aervices at St
Bernard's (not far from where Dixon siding is now). That's how a lost
horse led to the establishing of a mission station."
Among those whose homesteads were located farthest from Rosthern
(the railway station) was John Konrad with wife and children, two boys
and two girls. He was located on Section 14, township 59, Range 18,
West of 2nd Mer., over 120 miles east on the map and probably 20 miles
farther by the trail that had to be followed. (Since the building of the
C. P. R. branch line through the district, the thriving village of Spalding
has sprung up near-by). The last half of the trail led across the softest
soil in the colony that spring. To crown all, four miles from home were
the alkali bottoms of Iron Spring Creek, full of holes and bumps which
had to be crossed. One wheel would be in the air and the other in a hole
below water, with the horses up to their necks in water also. All honor
to these pioneers!
"Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought."
(Longfellow). |
Although the writer is himself one of the pioneers, he will not endeavor
to describe the pioneer life, but quote in extenso from Otto G. Lutz's book-
let "For Her Children's Sake; or A Mother Braving A Wilderness", pre-
pared for the press by the writer of these lines and printed by the St.
Peters Bote, Muenster, Sask. After describing their journey from Ros-
them to Fish Creek, and from Fish Creek to Leofeld, Mr. Lutz continues:
"At Leofeld we left the last human habitation behind and commenced
to cope with ever increasing obstacles in our way. The lay of the land
became low and swampy. We had to go around a great many mud flats,
sloughs, lakes and lagoons. At times they were all connected together.
When there was no other way but splash through, Henry would shout
and yell at the horses and whip them over the morass at a trot or gallop.
At such times, of course, we all got off and walked across to lessen the
weight of the wagon. Our wagon had very narrow tires like most wagons
from the States, and its wheels would cut through the swampy mud like a
knife through butter. How many times did not the load get stuck in
the mud clear up to the hubs, and the team would not pull it out! At
such times the load had to be thrown off, willows were chopped and laid
under the horses' hoofs and in front of the wheels, and then the team
started, we doing all the pushing we could. And when the wagon was
across we had to carry after it the heavy load, piece by piece, and repack
it on the wagon once more.
"One day when we were nearing the telegraph line we came upon
a very wide slough stretching many miles in length. It was out of the
question to walk across, or go around it. The water which was shallow
seemed about two feet deep, as shown by the clumps of grass growing
here and there in it. Henry tried to ford it with all of us in the wagon.
He started the horses from the bank in a run and they splashed through
to the middle. There the wagon stuck fast and the horses, jumping and
straining in the harness and trying to get a foothold in the soft mud under
the water, finally rolled over on their sides. Henry and John got into the
water, unhooked the team and led them across. Mother, Anna and I also
went into the water and splashed over. Then Henry, John and Anna
carried out the camping outfit and all the heavy things. I still can pic-
ture henry swinging the heavy breaking plow upon his shoulder and
making with it for the shore. The tent was pitched on the edge of a fine
wood near by, and a fire was started. The horses were wiped dry and
fed, and then came the empty wagon which was raised with poles andpulled out.
"The men with the ox wagon crossed the slough a little to the side
from us and got across in good shape, owing to their smaller load and
wide-tired wagon wheels; also, to the slow and steady pull of the oxen
which do not churn up the mud in a hard pull, as horses do. We had left
the oxen behind on that day, because we could not wait each day for the
men till they hunted their oxen. The men would let their oxen graze on
the prairie in the night, and in the morning these had disappeared. The
first day it took them till noon to find and return with their animals. The
second time it was nearly sunset, and the next time we waited no more.
The oxen had contracted the bad (") habit of always returning to Leo-
feld. A year after, mother happened to meet these same men, and they
told her that they had reached their land, in spite of the slow and leisurely
way in which they had been travelling. If we had stayed with them we
too would have arrived eventually. 'Eile mit Weile' (make haste slowly)
says Eulenspiegel, not without reason.
"On the following morning a fine drizzling rain was falling. We knew
from experience that breaking camp was out of the question now for two
or three days, as the rain had a way of keeping it up that long. Mother
had taken a bad cold from which she became quite ill during the night,
so that she could not rise in the morning. And to make matters worse,
'Anna could not even provide a good bed for mother, for the best we had
was only a mattress and a few blankets. But ingenious, plucky Anna con-
trived at least to provide for mother a dish that she thought poor motber
might enjoy. And taking advantage of our delayed journey she further-
more got a batch of dough ready to replenish our breadbox. While the
bread was raising the two of us went out in the drizzling rain and hunted
for eggs,, that is we looked for nests of wild ducks in the grass along the
sloughs. After a while we found one with about a dozen eggs in it.
Anna broke one against a stone for a test and, found them still fresh and
sound. Hastening back to camp it took Anna only a short time to pre
pare for us all a big, steaming dish of noodles for dinner. The men, too,
who had been out hunting, returned with ducks and prairie chickens.
The ducks were quickly plucked/and cooked. They made a fine broth
for soup. As mother felt somewhat better on the next morning, she would
not consent to a longer delay and, although she was not fully recovered,
we moved on again on the third day.
"The weather had cleared and the sun shone bright and warm. In driv-
ing away I took a last look at the pretty camping spot beside a big poplar
grove, and, if the place has not changed since, I could easily find it again
among a hundred others. There the good Lord heard our anguished
prayers and speeded mother's recovery from serious illness, so that we
could continue on our way. The supply of food was getting low with no
way of getting more, unless it be with the gun. We soon reached the
long looked for telegraph trail which was travelled a good bit and by
which we were led over high land and the ridges. The spectre of marshes
and sloughs appeared now only in our dreams. Following this trail we
made good time, and the only trouble came when we wanted to camp,
for there was not a bit of fire wood within many miles, so that we had
to keep on until we came in sight of the first willow bush. To guard
against this absence of wood in future, Henry made it a rule always to
carry a few armfuls of chopped sticks along in the wagon.
"At last we came to a spot that was marked Humboldt on the map.
It is not the present town of Humboldt, but lay some distance to the
southwest of the newer town. It was very deceiving to mark places with
names on the map in those days, because here at this place named Hum-
boldt, there was absolutely nothing deserving of a name, unless it be a
pile of tin cans and a few stakes that had been left behind by the one-time
campers. At this point we had to leave the telegraph line again, because
we were getting too far south instead of heading in a northeasterly direc-
tion. Turning north, we left the open prairie and struck a section of
country that was thickly wooded and full of swamps and sloughs again.
"On that afternoon we crossed the Wolverine Creek, where a few
miles farther north the future Monastery had been located by Father
Alfred, the Prior, and the other members. We were now about 100 miles
distant from Rosthern, the way the crow flies, and a good 25 to 50 miles
more by way of the trail we came on. And after all we still were many
miles from our claims and the end of our journey. We descended the high
banks of the creek, crossed over and pitched our tent on top of the other
bank behind a poplar grove. The creek was the first flowing water we
had encountered since we had left the Saskatchewan. If I remember
right Rev. Father Alfred and a lay brother came to our camp and mother,
Anna and the guide spoke to them regarding our homesteads in Tp. 37,
Range 19. I believe that, then already the Rev. Father Prior advised
mother to locate in this neighborhood, as he thought we would have great
'difficulty in finding our claims, as we would have to travel over one of
'the worst kind of trails in the Colony."
Mr. Lutz goes on to tell how they, nevertheless, made an attempt to
get to their claims, but had to give up when a prairie fire cut off the way.
He continues:
"The plan to reach our erstwhile homesteads had to be cast aside in
the face of an overwhelming and new foe, a foe that has subsequently
and almost every year robbed many of the pioneers of their worldly pos-
sessions and their hard earned homes. We broke camp in double quick
time, harnessed and hitched up the horses and turned back.
"Today, as I look back on these many years and let all these events
pass in review before my mind, while sitting in a warm and comfortable
home, it seems that the wild virgin prairie had conspired with the ele-
ments of fire, water and weather and sworn never to be conquered by
the white man, by placing each and every obstacle in his way. And,
furthermore, to think how easy and without any great effort the great
bulk of settlers came here, only a year and a half later, over the newly
constructed railroad, thereby reaping the harvest that was sown by the
pioneers! For, as we all know, a railroad is never built, though it be
long projected, before the prospects are so good that construction has be-
come a paying proposition for the reason that the pioneers are there
already and have given proof of the fertility of the soil. Today, if one
of these first pioneers happens to speak of those hard times to a late comer,
to one of these 'take-it-easy settlers,' he will most likely find an unsympa-
thetic and doubting listener."
"Mother and Henry had decided that they would take homesteads south-
west of the monastery. We moved on the land in the afternoon of the
same day, on which it had been picked out. The land was sloping prairie
with here and there a small grove of poplars, or willows. In the low
flats was stagnant water. The tent was raised on a small hill beside a
clump of willows. It was now the lovely month of June. We were all
glad and gave thanks to God for having brought us safely to our desti-
nation and haven of rest."
Mr. Lutz then tells how one of their horses died on the trip to Rosthern
and of its depressing effects on their minds. "When mother heard the
bad news it had almost the effect of a calamity on her, for she realized in
her far-seeing mind what it would mean to us living one hundred and more
miles from the nearest source of supplies and now deprived of the only
means of reaching the outer world, or of using the animals for gaining
a living from the soil. But we were not the only ones who suffered
these losses. There were scores and scores of the very best horses lost by
these killing trips to and from Rosthern, as many old settlers remember
to their sorrow.
"On one of the Sundays we witnessed a very sad sight and heard the
saddest story ever. A young man was walking about the tent in which
Mass was said and held in his arms a tiny, new born baby that was
wailing so bitterly as to turn a heart of stone, as the saying is, while the
poor father tried his best to quiet it with a bottle of milk. Its young
mother lay still and lifeless in a rough coffin in a nearby house, awaiting
burial. The young couple had come from far away Oklahoma and from
Rosthern only a short while ago in a prairie schooner drawn by oxen.
The woman had died only a few days after reaching the Colony in her
first childbirth. The infant was baptized and adopted by a kind family
on that Sunday.
"Unlike in later years, when the summers and falls have been exces-
sively dry, it rained often and long during the first year, when we were
housed in our sod shack. Many a time we had to rise from our beds
during the night and leave for the tent because rain and mud was dripping
from the sod roof on our beds and spoiling everything besides. The mos-
quito pest was also very severe on the new settlers. These pernicious
blood suckers were of a size of which only Canada can boast." (Mr. Lutz
evidently never met the Jersey breed of which William Cullen Bryant
sings:
"I call thee stranger, for the town I ween,
Has not the honor of so proud a birth,
Thou com'st from Jersey meadows, fresh and green"). |
"They multiplied by the billions towards the latter part of the summer.
We could only defend ourselves against the poisonous little devils, espe-
cially when rain was threatening, by building smudge fires inside the
tent and sod shack, as well as on the outside, evening after evening. Even
for the cow one was made every night. It was very unpleasant to ven-
ture outside the smoke area, as each bite would cause a most painful
swelling out of all proportion to the little wound on the skin.
"One cold Sunday morning, having just come from attending Mass
at the Monastery, I stopped at the little store to inquire if there was any
mail for us. Albert Nenzel, the postmaster, was calling the people's atten-
tion to a stack of little newspapers which were being distributed as sam-
ples. He explained that they had come from Rosthern and were published
by the Benedictine Fathers of the local monastery. Everybody helped
themselves to a copy, thrusting it into their pocket to read at home. I
took one also, and, on reaching home, gave it to mother. The little paper's
heading or title was 'St. Peters Bote', and it contained such an abundance
of interesting reading of Colony and world affairs-mostly of the former-
stories, letters and other news, that we all fell in love with the little paper
instantly. Mother gave me a dollar-the subscription price-the next
time I was sent to the store, to order the paper. Henceforth it was read
aloud every week by Mary or myself, while mother and us children were
sitting around a brightly glowing fire, with the lamp's soft rays falling
around us. Those were indeed blessed hours! For the time being we
forgot the lonesomeness and gloominess of our situation. Since then years
have passed, and times have changed, but St. Peters Bote-now grown
a sturdy youth-has held its place amongst the members of our family,
and from a stack of papers, is always chosen and read first by myself,
as I look upon ourselves as pals, having grown up together from the
stormy and trying pioneer days!" (St. Peters Bote was edited by the
Benedictines of the Colony but printed in Winnipeg, nearly 600 miles
away. The first copy appeared under date of February 11, 1904. The
first editor was Rev. Alfred Mayer, followed by Rev. Benedict Steigenberg-
er. Finally Father Bruno was made editor and took up his residence in
Winnipeg. Towards the end of August in 1905 arrangements for the
printing of the paper at Muenster were completed and the paper has
since been published at that place.)
"The spring passed with its lovely flowers and its song birds and
summer came with more beautiful flowers. During the early summer and
shortly after the birth of their baby boy, Anna took violently sick with
nerve fever. Father John Balfre (an Irishman), of the Monastery, was
called a few times to administer to Anna as physician of the soul and of
the body. There was no doctor in the colony as yet, so good Father John
(he died some years ago, R. I. P.) helped many people by his great knowl-
edge of medicine. After God, Anna owes it to him that she gained her
health again.
"During the haying season I helped a neighbor again with putting up
some loads for our own needs. Father John started teaching school in
the log church in September. As he was also a skilled carpenter, he had
partitioned off the sanctuary and the altar from the auditorium of the
church, which he filled with benches and desks made by himself, too.
Father John had been a teacher in his earlier years, then he joined the
Benedictine Order and was raised to the priesthood only during the past
year. Father Prior Alfred preached the sermon at Father John's first
Mass, which was celebrated in the open under the canopy of the blue
skies during the previous summer, and in this sermon he said so touch-
ingly that the Lord had sent his call to Father John in the eleventh hour
to come and labor in his vineyard. Mother permitted me to go to his school
only two short weeks. I would have given a world if I could have attended
that school longer. I loved Father John better than any teacher I had
had in Nebraska up to my eleventh year. And who, having had the
fortune to know him, did not love him" After two weeks of bliss I was
set back in the cold world, because work was so pressing that fall, and
as there was neither a father or bigger brother to do the work, I realized
the necessity of staying at home and helping mother and Mary.
"It was while I was plastering over the chinks of the log cabin that I
heard the first whistle of a train in the neighborhood of the Monastery.
And this just one and one-half years since we came from Rosthern. I
chucked the job and went on strike and ran across the prairies to see the
first iron horse again after so long a time, before mother even knew what
was up. There were big doings along the roadbed of the railway. A long
trestle bridge on piles had been constructed across Wolverine creek and
the steel rails had been already laid and a work train had passed over.
The big locomotive pushed, before itself and ahead, a string of flat cars,
laden with ties and rails with which the track was laid slowly before it.
They had then no track laying machine, but the work was done by hand
with a large force of men who averaged a couple of miles in a day. At
last we were linked up and connected again with the outside world. This
event for which hundreds and hundreds of people in the colony had been
wishing and waiting occurred in the month of Oct., 1904, fully two years
after the grandiose plan was conceived to settle a wide tract of wild and
remote land, 35 x 50 miles, and thereby establish the great St. Peter's
Colony of Saskatchewan. Since then another railroad was built through
the western part of the colony, and a third one (Humboldt-St. Brieux)
which taps the northern part." Since Mr. Lutz wrote this, also the east-
ern part of the colony is served by a railway, a branch of the C. P. R.
from Lanigan northerly, heading for Melfort, and nearing completion.
Each and every settler in the colony could tell a similar story of his
pioneer days. The writer of this history knows some that came to home-
stead who did not even have the ten dollars necessary for filing on a home-
stead, but had first to earn it in the neighborhood of Rosthern. These
same people today own comfortable homes in the colony have no debts
and have money in the bank. It was through their trust in God-work
and prayer combined-as the rule of St. Benedict so wisely enjoins on the
monks, and which the pioneers did not forget, that they won success.
"There is a day of sunny rest
For every dark and troubled night;
And grief may abide, an evening guest,
But joy shall come with early light."
-Bryant. |
Over twenty years have gone by since the founding of the Colony.
Twenty years ago there was no Muenster or Humboldt; no Bruno, Lake
Lenore, LacVert, Naicam, Spalding, Watson, Annaheim, Engelfeld, St.
Gregor, Carmel. Dana, Peterson, Bremen, or Cudworth. There was no
railway, no road, no path, no house, no church, no school. Now the inhabi-
tants of the colony number nearly twelve thousand. All are happy, pros-
perous and contented. There is no finer type of Canadian citizen, or a
more progressive people in the whole Dominion. We have now our four
lines of railway passing through the colony; towns and villages have
sprung up like mushrooms. We have the finest churches and schools in
the Province, giving proof of the industry of our people, proof of their
genuine loyalty to God and Country. St. Peter's College, an imposing
three-story brick structure valued close to $200,000.00, ranks among the
best institutions of learning in Western Canada. At Bruno is St. Ursula's
Academy, facing Main Street, where the girls are offered the same advan-
tages for a higher education as the boys of the colony at Muenster. Be-
sides the beautiful public school in Humboldt, there are numerous Paro-
chial schools constructed of brick in the colony. Most of the churches
are handsome brick structures, whilst others though not of brick, as the
one at Muenster, contain artistic paintings. Those in the cathedral at
Muenster represent a value of $15,000.00. In the town of Humboldt is
the large St. Elizabeth's Hospital of brick, besides all the public build-
ings. There would not be more than a dozen bank~branches of the
largest chartered banks in Canada, unless there was also business
each one of them. Close to the town of Bruno is the plant of the Bruno
Clay Works, Ltd., and near Dana is the Salt and Chemicals, Ltd., repre-
senting an investment of half a million dollars. Everywhere you find
commodious farm houses, many of them built of brick, and lighted by elec-
tricity. Some of the villages and towns have as many as six elevators~
five is quite common.
God has been very good to St. Peter's Colony-most of the years giv-
ing the colonists a bountiful harvest, and every year, even at the poorest,
giving them sufficient for all their needs. No complete failure ever dis-
couraged their labor. God's blessing visibly rested on the Colony. May
the young never forget that if they wish to enjoy in peace the rich inherit-
ance of their pioneer fathers and mothers they must, like them, pray and
work. May they, likewise, never forget that if they in their turn wish
to transmit to their children a like rich inheritance they must conscien-
tously observe that commandment among the Ten given by God on Mt.
Sinai, to which God has appended a reward even for this life: "Honor
thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be long-lived upon the land
which the Lord thy God will give thee."
This being but a brief sketch of the pioneer days with their happy
sequel, the writer could only skim over the surface, and, like a bird in its
flight, pick up here a bit, there a bit. He trusts, however, enough has
been said to prove that conscientious endeavor with a pure intention is
blessed by the Almighty. The writer in his own name and that of his co-
pioneers offers thanks to God for the great favor He has shown them in
the past twenty years-for the many instances of His Fatherly care.
May He have a similar care of all the colonists in the years to come. We
on our part will be His faithful children, loving Him more than our lives,
and loving our neighbor as ourselves. When the riches and pleasures
of this world tend to draw us away from our allegiance to the Creator,
let us recall to our minds this illuminating episode in the life of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, as related by the Holy Scriptures: "Again the
devil took Him up into a very high mountain, and showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: All these
will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus saith to
him: Begone, Satan: for it is written: 'The Lord thy God shalt thou
adore, and Him only shalt thou serve.'"
"Be this," says Hawthorne in concluding one of his chapters in 'Twice-
Told Tales,' "the moral, then. In chaste and warm affections, humble
wishes, and honest toil for some useful end, there is health for the mind,
and quiet for the hearth, the prospects of a happy life, and the fairest
hope of heaven."
Bibliography follows:
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