NARRATIVES OF SASKATOON

1882-1912

Genealogy, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Pioneer,Saskatchewan history, Temperance Colony, Temperance Colonization Society, Pioneers,John N. Lake, John Lake, Saskatoon history, Saskatoon Gen Web, Genealogy, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Pioneer,Saskatchewan history, Temperance Colony, Temperance Colonization Society, Saskatoon history, Saskatoon Gen Web

spent on the homestead and another crop put in in the spring: again a failure by drought. Early in the fall Mrs. Marr was taken sick; ice running in the river so that the ferry could not run. A message had been sent to Duck Lake for the doctor there (1) to start at once to see her. Living on on the west side of the river 1 was asked to go and meet the doctor with a fresh horse so that he might be able to push through. I reached the tele- graph office at dusk and a cold night. Word had arrived that Mrs. Marr had passed away and I was asked to interecept [sic] the doctor so that he might return to Duck Lake or at least go to the telegraph and rest before returning. I had then to go out to the trail from the north to Saskatoon which ran about a mile west of the house and wait for the doctor. There was an old shack close to the trail so I took a lamp with me, set it in the window and prepared for a long night sitting in the cold watching for the doctor. In the early morn he came along, saw the light, and stopped to enquire where he was and so received my message. He then made for the telgraph [sic] station while I returned to Saskatoon, getting there at daylight. The winter of ~90 was spent in Moose Jaw, the early part on a threshing crew the latter part at odd jobs as carpenter in the town. This was a boom year for Moose Jaw, the first for a series of years and wheat up to a dollar a bushel, business of all kinds was deserted to go farming. At some of the farms around Buffalo Lake very little wheat was left in the sheaves. The geese in thousands had cleaned it up and lots of places where it took days to put through the straw a very small return of wheat would be the farmer's share. Moose Jaw was left in the spring (1890) to go to work on the riding school being built for the police in Regina. Then the railway to Saskatoon started and work was secured there as carpenter and once more a return was towards Saskatoon. Farming seemed hopeless as dry years seemed to follow. Part of my homestead was gradually drifting before the wind t~ ward the river. My brother and myself were accumulating a few head of stock and were turning our thoughts to ranching. The grading on the rail- way had reached the east side of the river by the fall of '89. My winter was spent on the farm, a small crop' being put in in the spring. The suc- cession of dry years had dried up all sloughs so that on the prairie it was almost impossiible [sic] to get hay. That summer (91) Frank Clark, Andrew Blackley, my brother and self decided to move with our stock to the Pike Lake District where hay was plentiful. Plenty of hay was put up and our stock moved before freeze up came altogether. I made a trip to Batoche In November and December, each time bringing back a few cows purchased among the half-breeds. Frank Clark and Andrew Blackley stayed in this district, which we called Caanan for two years. Then as all our stock had increased rapidly and there was not enough hay for all, they moved twenty- four miles further up the river and to the opposite side. The Pike Lake District made a splendid ranching district. We had the river on one side of the range; the other sides were bounded by Saskatoon, Battleford and Sas- katchewan landings, between these points we' had the whole country for range. On the approach of freeze up the cattle would wander in in bunches from the hills and take to the shelter of the bush in the stretch of country above and below Pike Lake. Water was plentiful from springs; feed was abundant until the snow became crusted and the stock thrived. When the stock came in from the hills and open country we rounded them up and weaned all the calves, putting them in a corral and feeding them hay. The rest of the stock were let drift again and were not brought home for feeding until the hair showed 'signs of being worn off their legs and bridge of nose by the crusted snow. They were then brought home and fed in sheltered cuttings in the bush. No stables or other shelter was provided but plenty of hay to eat and enough for a bed at night. This part would be cleaned up by noon next day when the teams arrived with the loads for that day. All through the summer we would go out on the Prairie, lasso calves and burn the budding horn with caustic. The bulk of the calf crop came early in the spring. Before the snow went these calves' were all dehorned when (1) The late Dr. A. B. Stewart, afterwards of Rosthern. Page 37

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