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

to agree to build an additional twenty-five foot frontage, the same depth back, which was done and ready for occupation by Xmas. The second floor of this addition was used as a hall for some time. On the twenty-fifth of September 1 started with my family from Battleford for Saskatoon. We had a wagon with seats along the side like a brake with four horses. It had been used as a band wagon. We made the trip in two days sleeping one night at the centre station. I had ar- ranged to board my family at a hotel. At this time Saskatoon had two hotels and if you stopped at either one you would be sure the other was the better. Accordingly we moved to the premises over the store. These comprised four small bedrooms, a small sitting room and a smaller dining room lighted by a sky light, and a kitchen. The bedroom occupied by my wife and self,-and it was the largest,-was large enough to accommodate a bedstead; a wash stand and a bureau leaving enough space to enable one person at a time to undress or dress. You made your ablutions at the wash stand, turned round on your heels and finished dressing before the bureau! When "doing up" the bedroom the furniture had to be moved out first into the sitting room then replaced again. But my wife would endure anything rather than stay at the "hotel" The following spring, I rented the second floor of the addition making entrance through the wall and di- vided it up into three rooms, which improved the accommodation. The Doukhobors who had settled on the North Saskatchewan near Hen- rietta and at Redberry Lake traded with us considerably. They were hard customers to do business with. They evidently had been accustomed to bartering when buying, and they never failed to say "Too much" at the price asked and to offer about half of what was the price. The consequence was that a great deal of time was wasted before the deal was finished. As they spoke very little English, it was hard to know what they wanted. Ac- cordingly the "sign language" was made use of profusely. One fellow amused me; he made signs, first placing his two forefingers on his forehead, then making motions as of milking a cow, then turning his arm around as if violently mixing something; he looked up appealingly and I suspected, and rightly, that he wanted some butter! The oats grown around Saskatoon were of w very poor quality and there was urgent need of good seed. I imported from Battleford 600 bushels of White Banner Oats and distributed them amongst the farmers with very good results. This lot of oats was the produce of seed that I had imported into Battleford two years previously and was a splendid sample, weighing 48 pounds- to the bushel and free from any noxious weeds. This action helped to raise the standard of oats grown in this district. Some Americans, including E. J. Meilicke, were beginning to come in looking over the lands. A few of us subscribed a fund to look after these people and take them into the country to show them around. Our efforts had a fair amount of success. However, the numbers increased so rapidly we could not undertake to entertain them all. The Canadian Pacific lands in the vicinity were being sold freely at two dollars and fifty cents per acre. The agents selling these lands attended to a' lot of these prospective settlers. Lots in the town site began to move, a number being sold on building conditions. The price of lots of 25 feet at this date was thirty dollars each and at half that price on condition of buildings being erected to the value of two hundred dollars. I purchased three lots on First Avenue on what is now the site of the Royal Hotel. As these were supposed to be a choice location I paid one hundred and twenty dollars for the three. I purchased also three on Second Avenue for forty-five dollars for the seventy-five feet, and erected a grain warehouse and photographic studio as the necessary improvements, afterwards erecting a large warehouse for storing goods. Freight began to come in freely. The accommodation in the railway freight shed being limited I had to take immediate delivery of my Battleford ship- ments. These I stored in the warehouse which I had built to await freight- ers from Battleford. I sold this property in 1906 for seven thousand two hundred dollars, having no further use for that warehouse after the C.N.R. reached North Battleford and shipments to that point went direct by rail. Page 57

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