HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1980-09-04, Page 137, 7
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I returned frorn the Greeat Canadian
West, a'huntbler wentall after s'oeing how
The Other half lives r, and learned A §ad truth
of life, in the process, Alberta oilmen, I
found, are, as hard to catch as Dallas' Ewing
brothers.
Nel.t :certainly, that 1- try, For
example, I spent hours under the broiling
sun M the Badlands loitering around an oil
well in the vain hope its owner would appear
and take p ity on my plight.
In Peace River, I read boring brochures
about an experimental methodof coaxing
the "gold9h"s liquid from crude bitumen so
t 'I'd have something intelligent to say when I
met the elusive oilman. No luck!
FloallY, on, a sleepy Sunday morning., I
pulled into a coffeeshop In Edson, Alberta
and thought my quest had come to an end.
'There, at a table only a few feet away, sat a
tall, dark, burly Man wearing a cowboy hat
with a pheasant feather 'band- that's one
sign to use in separating the working the West's bonanza.
---cowboys-fromr-the-oilmen7Butimt-only-was---Wit11-both---Alberta-and-:-Saskatehewan
the hat right- the stranger was wearing a
,
T-shirt which proudly prodlaimed, "I'm one
of Sheik Peter Lougheed's boys." With a
silent prayer to the "Ade! .an a•feW pips
of coffee to Nei My atrIbltien, toe MO,
headed for the man's tatile. Vnt alasis
bodyguardspushed me back, and OM group
aped away in their Lincoht, leaving behind
only a elpudstf dust!
From that point on, I 'decided to content
myaelf with the scenery, forget about oil and
bitumen and put my dreams , of instant
wealth behind me.
On a more serious note, potash and crude
oil have turned two of anadais younger
provinces- Alberta and SaSkatchewan- into
"boom" provinces. The residents don't have
to look East any longer with awe and envy- in
fact; that trend -has reversed.
FORTUNE SMILES
Westerners don't have to leave homes
and families behind and head east to make
their fortune. Now they can sit contentedly
ort -their doorsteps and watch the. onslaught ,
of Easterners heading their way to share in
hew "new" the Weat is. While onr Cana#0:
'Corarmy nttlera bad thcir land Cleared nd
conmunitfes viell'eStAhliabed, :the
were Still' 411iSilIe great herds of :1?1,t,ffa1O
across the ,Western plains. The feW wIdte
'men in the territory were either explorer!
marnakers or for -trade* 'eager tO vex,
change cheat) trinkets for the valuable
animal 1b1es popular with Europeans• , '
Now the West has as tiny faseinatin$
tales as it does oil 'Wells, and two of those
talea stumbled onto quite_by accident inthe
Prairie pioneer Village, a private colleetien
of buildings :rescued from the wrecker's
hammer, and stuck on a patch of and south of
Moose .law, Saalcatehewan.
The village,, partially restored before
government funding ran out, is a inicroCosm•
of any prairie town- the old one-roent
\schoelhouse, with readers carefully 'laid Out
on every desk;a, faded j!ttri, decrepit train
Station from a town Where the branch line
was closed; a small frame church and a
—conglomeration -of -antique -machinery ;inch/.
laying outrthe red carpet to celebrate their ding the huge tractors once so common on
75th birthdays as Canadian provinces this . the prairies- the Hart Parr from Iowa and the
year, visitors were constantlyreminded just Minneapolis, with tires taller than a man.
11.
1
THE DALYRMPLE HOME—Archie and Catherine Dalyrmple started
their married life in this homesteader's small cabin, now preserved In the
Prairie Pioneer Village, south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Alice Gibb
pauses In the doorway of the home of the pioneer settlers.
On the day we visited the village, the sun
was beating down fiercely, the land was sp
dry it was little more than dust and conjured
up tales -of the Depression and even the
ever-present gophers seemed to have a
slightly parched look about them. We were
wandering aimlessly through the village
when vie happened on a small, one -room
wooden shack and discovered the story of
two homesteaders from Huron qeunty.
HURON HOMESTEADERS
The story is likely typical of the many
homesteaders who left the known for the
unknown - lured by the promises of free land It
and the chance of anew start. The house,
which measured exactly 12 by 16 feet, was
the first home of Archie Dalyrmple, a
Hensall man who headed west to seek his
fortune, and his bride, Catherine Getty,
formerly of Seaforth.
The Dalyrrnple's story was posted'on the -
cabin wall beside some old pieces of harness
and standing in that dark shanty, yott
couldn't help admiring their optimism in
coming to a land so different frotn what
they'd left behind.
In 1882, Archie Dalyrmple left Hensall,
when he was 22 years old, and headed west
to claim a homestead. In Brandon, Mani
toba, he met -three brothers- Archie, George
and Sam Getty, who'd left Seaforth that
spring, with the same purpose in mid. The
four men and some other acquaintances_set
'out on a land hunting expedition north of the
town, armed with an axe, one, muzzle
loading shotgun and some unappetising
hard tack.
-^
But the expedition didn't prove fruitful,
and so the men toek jobs_with, the Canadian,
Pacific Railroad, for the salary of $2 a day.
When that ended, they worked on a harvest
excursion for the same rate of pay, plus
board,
After the harvest was finished, the Gettys
and Archie Dalyrmple investecrsome of their
earnings in a tent, iron stove and dishes, and
went to the end of the railway in Regina.
From here, they hitched a ride on a work
train to Moose Jaw and'spent the winter in
the settlement.'
Unfortunately, when the men explored the
land north of Moose Jaw. which was both
arable and mere fertile than that south of
town, they assinned the stakes they saw
meant the homesteads were already
claimed. In fact, the stakes had,been left by
surveyors marking the sites for future
settlement,
Disappointed, the men squatted on some
unstaked land south of town. and Archie
Dalyrrnple and -Sam Gefty- staked their
claims on two adjoining quarters of land.
They spent more of tineir savings on oxen
and lived in a tent while lumber for their
shanty was hauled by train from Regina. To
meet the government's residence require-
ments for the homesteads, they cannily built
their cabin right on the line between the two
quarter sections. Their address was Caron.
the North West Territories.
To buy equiprnent to break the land, the
men took turns year by year working for the
railroad, while the others farmed. This way
the men were able to break about 15 acres on
each quarter annually- a long, slow process.
By 1897,*when he was 37 years old, Archie
Dalyrmple felt he was established enough to
marry and he chose Catherine Getty the
sister of his friends. The couple lived in their
small shack for six years, until the birth of a
second child made the living quarters. just
too cramped for comfort.
Archie Dalyrmple lived until 1933, and in
_latex years was celebrated in the area for his
prize-winning Clydesdales. The couple had
four children, and today a grandchild of the
couple still farms the original homestead.
ARCHYDAL
Also, the townsite of Archydal, located
a half mile from the farm, was named to
honour the pioneer.
The story isn't .unlike that of many other
pioneers, but standing there on the wind-
blown prairie, in the hot sun, under that
endless sky, you couldn't help but marvel at
the stamina it must have taken the
homesteaders to carve out a life for
themselves. Next week: Tom Sukanen's
fabulous boat • one of the prairies' strangest
tales.
t- 'Opening?
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DATE
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Tues. Sept. 9 -
EVENT
Roller Skating
Girls Soccer, Final day
Open Mens Soccer
• Roller Skating
Turf Club vs Mainsheet
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Roller skating
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1.1!) RP" •EXPQSITtli
SEPTEMBER :4,1
TRAFFIC CONTROL—With the traffic lights out of commission onAthe
main corner after an accident a week ago, repairmen had to install a new .
pole and new lights. While the work was being completed on Thursday,
Police Chief Cairns took to the streets to direct traffic. (Photo by Ellis)
Benefit
DANCE
for
Dennis & Bonnie "
BEUERMAN
on
September 5th
at
Family Paradise
Ladies please
bring lunch
Stag
for
Ron
Blanchard
Sept. 6
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