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

were urged to proceed with the undertaking. The project, however, hung fire, the money stringency being one of the main reasons for this. At the next Session of the Dominion Parliament a syndicate of the citizens pro- cured a charter for the scheme. In framing the charter the Council suc- ceeded in having the city's interest safeguarded in the event of it being considered advisable for the city to undertake the proposition. In December the Civic Elections resulted in the election of Jas. R. Wilson as Mayor, he being opposed by John Ashworth. The Aldermen for 1907 being: Ward One--G. H. Clare and Dr. Willoughby: Ward Two--E. Jordan and W. Hopkins; Ward Three-J. C. Drinkle and Robert Mcintosh; Ward Four-W. J. Bell and Dr. Munroe. At this election a vote was taken and defeated regarding granting exemptions to Hill and Sons and Hoge and Thomson. If it was a time of expansion for the city, it was no less so for the great corporations and for individual citizens. As we have said, the C.N.R. purchased the Long Lake and Regina Railroad. On the 11th December they gave the C.P.R. notice to vacate the road by the 15th. There was a great hustle getting all their material and rolling stock gathered together and shipped out. At midnight of the 15th the whistles of the C.P.R. locomotives sounded goodbye to Saskatoon for a time. It was just one year to a day till the first C.P.R. train came in on its own line. The Canadian Northern, in July, 1907, made known their intention of building a line through the Goose Lake country to Calgary, to enlarge the round house and shops, and to build a new passenger depot opposite Twenty-first Street. This last move suited me well, as it enhanced the value of my store property, as we shall see. This was very fine, but meanwhile the service given by the Canadian Northern was a heart-sore to us. They had not adequate rolling stock to properly operate the road they had purchased. The Canadian Northern Railroad was at that time our only road to get in freight or passengers, and for months the service was most deplor- able. The winter was very severe. The scarcity of fuel was most acute, and caused great suffering. To try and operate the road, old super annuated locomotives had been bought and pressed into service. These old played-out engines, fifty per cent. capacity at their best, could pull but a very small load, and the severe weather making it difficult to keep up pressure of steam. They had the habit of dying when only a few miles out. I have known of a train being stalled thirty miles out, and three different engines being sent out to bring it in. When it did arrive the greater part of the train was dead engines. The engine drivers carried sacks of flour in the cab to use when the tubes would start leaking. Great suffering was experienced in the country on the farms distant from wood. In the city the stores were hard pushed to keep their business places heated. Stocks of provisions fluctuated, sometimes running perilously low. My first visit in the mornings was to the freight yards to find out if any coal had ar- rived, and I would get but a few hundred pounds at a time. At one time at the Store we were compelled to burn lumber to get up steam to keep the building warm enough to prevent perishable goods from freezing. To add to the troubles of the railroad men, there were heavy snowstorms followed by strong winds that filled up the cuts on the line. Taken alto- gether the winter of 1906-7 was a very trying winter. During this year the Post Office and Court House were begun, both on Twenty-first Street. The Post Office foundations were completed be- fore winter set in, and in the fall of 1908 the building itself was finished. On the 7th April, 1906, appeared the first issue of the Daily Phoenix as a morning paper, and on the 12th of May the first issue of the Saskatoon Daily Capital, a Conservative paper, was published as an evening paper. All these enterprises enhanced the value of land, and lots began to sell freely. The remaining three-quarters of the School Section was sold about this date, being put up to auction in forty acre lots. These lots were all sold at from two hundred and fifty to six hundred dollars an acre. There was an Page 74

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