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

even handling any actual cash. The teacher's salary, the only large item of expenditure in cash, only slightly in excess of the tax bill of the "Com- pany," made him one of the moneyed men of the place. Many services otherwise demanding money payment, such as the supply of fuel, could be. had and balanced by crediting against taxes due. The District had neither debts, bonds nor bank loans, the annual statement of the treasurer showed an annually increasing balance in hand, in spite of the non-payment of smaller taxes. On the matter of assets and liabilities of the district the record is for years silent; the condition was probably too healthy to re- quire record, even if the then treasurer had known how to set it out. Little concerning the Trustee Boards prior to 1900 can be learned at this time. That its first woman trustee held office early in that period is recalled by relatives of the late Grace Fletcher, and an old title deed shows that Robert W. Dulmage, Donald W. Garrison and John Walker Stewart were trustees at or following the Board's purchase of its first school site in 1887. W. H. Trounce, an Englishman of some means, the settlement's first storekeeper, held the secretaryship in 1886, followed at the close of that year by James D. Powe, from whom the office passed in 1890 to Thomas. Copland, remaining with him until 1903. Mr. A. B. Davidson remained in office as teacher until the end of 1886, a term of about six months, followed for a like period by J. N. Guthrie. Little is known of them. The record shows that in the terms of both the Board had to make call upon the educated youth of the settlement to supply temporarily responded to by James S. Hamilton and James Good- win. The first teacher of any permanence, James Leslie, succeeded at mid- summer 1887, teaching steadfastly until the end of 1890. In the time of Mr. Guthrie the school changed its quarters. Appar- ently the Company's building passed by purchase to Peter Latham, and rental was charged and paid. Whether due to some increase in attendance or to the objection to paying the new item of rent, the Board moved the school into a vacant store on Broadway, part of a large double store owned by Dr. Willoughby. Although Broadway, or any street named upon the townsite plan at that time, signified little except to the agent in properly locating buildings, and about this store, as about all other buildings, dotted in seeming promiscuous fashion about the townsite, there was ample room for play, the Board did not consider this a satisfactory arrangement, and almost at once set about securing a permanent location and providing its own building. Whether by purchase or gift from the townsite owners-the record does not show-five lots were acquired, fronting on Broadway in Block 84. No record is found of the cost of the site or building. To Alexander Marr, the resident stonemason and plasterer, was given the work of building the walls of the school, the Board setting an example, possibly one dictated by neces- sity, for future Boards by building for posterity and choosing imperishable stone as the material to be used. Description of the building is unneces- sary; it stands today, preserved practically stone for stone, on the campus of this University, as it was seen in its first completed glory late in 1888. Many a tax bill in arrears was probably "worked out" in hauling materials from deposit discovered on the prairie, limestone for the kilns, dry wood for burning the lime, granite boulders for the walls, and the lumber, win- dows and genuine factory-made seats from Moose Jaw. Before the desks were put in permanent position, the sparkling floor was requisitioned for an opening ball. The Board would not have been human had they refused the opportunity of dancing in so spacious a build- ing. Thus baptized, the building at once opened for school. It at once took its rightful place as the community centre, and filled it busily for per- haps seventeen years. Regular Church services and Sunday Schools found their home there until a church was built, travelling entertainers could be accommodated in no other place, every form of community entertainment or business sought and found its natural place there, and every Board of Trustees was generous in granting its use for all reasonable purposes. From that little building many scores have graduated; a considerable number have gone out from it to fill with ample success their positions in life Page 85

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