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

Railway put an army of men to work erecting a temporary bridge. Seven days from the time they started the trains were running over it. This was the 3rd of June. Forty nine days we were without train service. In the meantime an accumulation of settlers' cars had piled up at Regina and adjoining sidings. There were sixty-one cars of settlers' effects, three hun- dred head of stock and nine hundred settlers. The stock had to be fed and the people lodged and fed at the expense of the Railway Company. A large number of settlers headed for our district were induced to go else- where along the main line to the loss of our young town. Before the building of concrete piers for the permanent bridge I ap- proached Osler Hammond and Nanton, financial agents for the bondholders of the road, with a suggestion to build a traffic attachment to the new bridge. They had no funds to enable them to do this. Then I went to Haultain's Government, trying to get them to pay for the extra cost of this addition to the bridge. After getting estimates and negotiating for some time, a sum of sixty thousand dollars was arrived at between the parties interested. However, as the Territorial Government was about to be re placed by a Provincial one the scheme fell to the ground. In September, 1904, the Third Session of the Fifth Legislature was held. I pass over the previous two Sessions as nothing exciting occurred to ruffle the tranquility of Legislation. The demand for full provincial status was being urged strongly by the Territorial Assembly and Executive Council. Voluminous correspondence was carried on with Dominion Gov- ernment, also a Draft Bill was submitted by Mr. Haultain at request of tbe Government. The final letter from the Premier of the Dominion, Sir Wilfred Laurier, dated 30th September, intimated that should his Govern- ment be sustained at the approaching general election, negotiations would be entered upon and a Bill granting provincial autonomy would be sub- mitted at the next Session of Parliament. The local House was prorogued on the 8th day of October, and the Territorial Assembly was a thing of the past. This Session terminated my connection with active participation in political affairs. Looking back over the fourteen years I had served as representative in the Assembly, I am pleased to think that I had taken a part, however humble, in laying the foundation of and in helping to develop the great heritage, in this Western Canada. In the beginning, the sparse settlement of the country, the lack of railway facilities, the great distances between settlements, and the lack of revenues, made the task full of serious diffi- culties. The continued struggle with the Dominion Government for better terms, for fuller powers and greater responsibilities kept the mind in con- stant strain. It was with great satisfaction that I dropped out when, after our endeavors, full provincial autonomy was in sight. I rather liked the work of the Assembly, but in connection with the position were other features that were distasteful to me. The having to plead for support at election time, the abuse you had to take from opponents (I fancy in my time I, have been accused of every crime in the calendar, except bigamy), the misconstruction of the motives of your actions, the attention you have to give to trivial matters, the impossible requests that are pressed on you by some of your constituents, I disliked and found burdensome. In spite of the set-back due to the flood of April, 1904, a buoyant feeling was amongst the citizens of our town. All were embued with an optimism that Saskatoon was destined to become an important centre. Newcomers in business were welcomed and encouraged; everyone pulled together to develop and boom the town; there were no petty jealousies of one another. In fact there had already come to life what has been rightly named "the Saskatoon spirit." It was a great event when Saskatoon's first fire engine was tested. It was a gasoline engine and did good work. It is still on hand and is used occasionally to pump out basements, etc. For fire protection, several reservoirs were sunk in the ground down to the water which underlay a great part of the town. One was placed at the Nineteenth Street foot of Second Avenue, one at the corner of Twentieth Street and First Avenue. and one at the corner of Twenty-first Street and Second Avenue. This Page 67

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