Dear Sweet Grandchildren,
This is something about the "Olden Days"which we were thinking about when we drove to Winnipeg and back just a short time ago...
When Grandpa Al was a little boy he grew up in Saskatchewan, one of the provinces of Canada. That's where his parents were settled in 1926 by people who organized the immigration of those, the Mennonite people in this case, who arrived from Russia during that time. They were settled south of the TransCanada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway. These roads and rails were very important, especially in the last century when so much of the land was explored and developed. I found an interesting website about some of this early history. Ask your parents to help you find this site by clicking on the the title below for helpful information about our country:
The Story of the Canadian Pacific RailwayWhen Grandpa Al was a little boy he grew up in Saskatchewan, one of the provinces of Canada. That's where his parents were settled in 1926 by people who organized the immigration of those, the Mennonite people in this case, who arrived from Russia during that time. They were settled south of the TransCanada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway. These roads and rails were very important, especially in the last century when so much of the land was explored and developed. I found an interesting website about some of this early history. Ask your parents to help you find this site by clicking on the the title below for helpful information about our country:
But today we are focusing on just a small part of Saskatchewan along the TransCanada Highway: Ernfold, Morse and Herbert.
These pictures tell a story about a little town or village that seems like a "ghost town" today, with it sitting right in between the two freeways - one heading east and the other west - compared to the busy little center it was when Grampa Al was a little boy your age.
He remembers very clearly that when his family was ready to move to BC his Daddy, your great-grandpa Willms, needed to get all the horses into Ernfold which was about 11 miles north from their farm, to be sold. So GG got his 12-year old son, Albert -your Grampa Al, to help ride those horses into Ernfold to be sold. Grandpa was used to riding horses. After all, he was able to take the wagon full of grain to the elevators in Kelstern, west of their farm, during harvest times where it was unloaded and sent away to be made into flour perhaps, so surely he could help with the horses...and he did. He also loved to ride his pony, Kit. Grandpa was so sad to leave him behind.
He remembers very clearly that when his family was ready to move to BC his Daddy, your great-grandpa Willms, needed to get all the horses into Ernfold which was about 11 miles north from their farm, to be sold. So GG got his 12-year old son, Albert -your Grampa Al, to help ride those horses into Ernfold to be sold. Grandpa was used to riding horses. After all, he was able to take the wagon full of grain to the elevators in Kelstern, west of their farm, during harvest times where it was unloaded and sent away to be made into flour perhaps, so surely he could help with the horses...and he did. He also loved to ride his pony, Kit. Grandpa was so sad to leave him behind.
It was right here along this little main street where they sold the horses...
Which one of these buildings-no one seems to be using them anymore-do you think might have been the "horse" building? Grandpa doesn't remember...but he does remember that it happened in October, 1947.
There must have been a street beside this old red brick building. Can you tell why? It looks like there's an old stop sign still there in the ground, doesn't it.
Can you imagine what kind of things Eagle's Nest General Contracting might have built or made? There are quite a few interesting old things still lying around the yard.
Just west of Ernfold lies Morse. The Welcome to Morse sign and the two elevators seem to say that there's a big community of people living and working here. But Morse is another one of those almost "ghost towns" of the prairies. There still are a few people living here and farmers still bring their grain into these storage elevators but not by horse and wagon like Grandpa did.
It seems a little sad to us...I always loved to see the towering elevators in every little town.* Now we don't see very many of them any more. It was so important for the farmers to be able to bring their grain to these storage places. What's especially interesting about these particular elevators is that Grandpa Al's Daddy helped build one of these "skyscrapers"! Can you imagine? That would be very high. Would you be scared to put the roof on this building? He must have been a bit scared too I think but he knew he had to get extra work to provide for his family and so he did, trusting God to protect him...and He always did!
The little Town of Herbert is still further west along the highway. It is getting smaller all the time too and it used to be a very busy center especially for the Mennonite community. Here was a large church where people in the area would gather on Sundays and during the week for worship services. A Bible School was also built where Grandpa Al's sister, Helen, attended for several years. Later she became a teacher and a vice-principal in the Calgary School system.
Grandpa called one of his friends from many years ago, who still lives in this little town and we paid him a visit. It was fun.
Grandpa called one of his friends from many years ago, who still lives in this little town and we paid him a visit. It was fun.
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On our last day of travelling home to BC from Winnipeg I asked Grandpa to pull over so I could take a picture of this quaint old building in Squilax, BC. I look for it every time we drive by and one of these years it may not be there anymore. We peeked into the window and it seemed the store might still be in use although it wasn't open now.
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*On one of my early birthdays, I probably was 7 that day, a big beautiful red elevator caught fire and burned to the ground in our little prairie town of Winkler, Manitoba. We lived only a few blocks away from the terrible blaze and I can remember volunteers running through the streets checking to make sure that no big chunks of burning debris from the building were spreading fires as the wind came up and made it difficult for the small volunteer fire brigade to keep the town safe. Again, God protected us all.
