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

son was on account of the opportunities it presented as a stock country from reading about the great herds of buffalo that roamed the prairies of Saskatchewan. My father and brother, James and myself left Ontario about the middle of April, 1883, with a party of about twenty people, who were bound for Winnipeg, Regina and Moose Jaw. We came by way of Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Paul, taking about twelve days on the journey, and we were held up in parts of Minnesota and Manitoba by floods. On landing in Winnipeg we found there were no paved streets, or any- thing of that kind-nothing but mud. One of our party had an idea of stopping in Winnipeg, but after spending two days in tramping around through the mud he decided he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. We came to Regina and thought of settling near that city because it was the capital. We stopped there two or three days, but were very much dissatisfied, as it was very bad weather. About the first of May we met some friends, Foley Brothers, who were the greatest railroad builders of that time. We then proceeded by train to Moose Jaw, which was at that time the end of the C.P.R. track. Through the kindness of one of the Foley brothers, we were allowed to use one of their camps in Moose Jaw for a time. I worked for Foley for a while. At that time my father met Mr. G. W. Grant and Frank Clark, who with others blazed the trail from Moose Jaw to the Elbow. My father and brother, shortly after we arrived, made a trip through the country, which lasted about a month. Owing to the terms of agreement of the Temperance Colonization Society, we did not wish to locate within their territory. Their system of paying for the land by instalments when carried out meant that the settler would ultimately pay full price for the land, when homesteads could be had free. We made a selection of a home- stead some forty miles south of Saskatoon, what was then known as Page 52

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