Reno Hill School District 5158; Memories of When the Water Came

~or~

The price paid for electricity

• 
  
  

  Reminiscing

  “They closed the school and flooded then,Folks had to change their living,
  
  Sing praises to the Squaw Rapids dam
  
  And power that its giving.
  
  But all who lived at Mossy Vale,
  
  Their lives have changed forever.
  
  For things they knew and loved so much
  
  Again they'll see them never.
  
  No more the kids will see their homes,
  
  Though heart and soul be crying;
  
  Gone are the haunts they loved so well,
  
  'Neath Tobin Lake they're lying.
  ”
  ^{By Edith (Young) Vereshagin
  Written after and inspired by the 1978 reunion at Reno Hill (excerpt)}

• “Change is the parent of progress.” ^{Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free}

The E.B. Campbell Dam was first proposed as the "Squaw Rapids Dam" by the Saskatchewan Power Corporation and the Government of Saskatchewan. This hydroelectric dam was the province's inaugural venture into providing electrical power. By the mid 1900s it was recognised that the province's growing electrical energy demand was to soon surpass the existing facilities. In 1961, the province required 1,500,000,000 kilowatt-hours, by late 1964, the Squaw Rapids plant was constructed to produce 1,000,000,000 kilowatt-hours of energy from six 33,500-kilowatt hydraulic turbine generators. The building of the 110 foot (33.5 m) high dam commenced in the beginning of 1960 at an estimated cost of $46 million dollars. The dam is 2,370 feet (722 m) across between the banks of the river, and 620 feet (189 m) wide at the base of the dam, and allows for a two-lane highway across the deck of the dam. The Saskatchewan River was diverted in 1961, and by the fall of 1962, with the $57 million dollar dam completed, the river was closed, filling the dam reservoir. By June of 1963, Premier W.S. Lloyd opened the Squaw Rapids Dam in front of a crowd of approximately 3,000.

• "The creation of huge reservoirs allows some control over the flow of the river itself. . . . But the [river] is not just a machine. It is an organic machine. . . . For no matter how much we have created many of its spaces and altered its behavior, it is still tied to larger organic cycles beyond our control." ^{White p. 111-12}

The Squaw Rapids hydroelectric station, renamed in 1988, honours E.B. (Bruce) Campbell who was the assistant chief engineer during the construction project. Bruce Campbell was also SaskPower president and CEO between 1983 to 1987 The name "Petaigan" for the reservoir was brought forward to honour the former river now under the reservoir waters. Others suggested that Major E.E. Andrews, a nurse of the Second World War from Carrot River should be honoured with the reservoir naming. William Thorburn employee and trader of the Northwest Trading Company constructed a home and trading post in the area in 1791. Common usage of the name Tobin rather than Thorburn, easier to pronounce, became the name of the trading post and the nearby "Tobin Rapids". (However, the 1924 Rand McNally Map refers to this location as the Tobin Rof??ls Rapids (However, the 1924 Rand McNally Map refers to this location as the Tobin Rof??ls Rapids (see attached enlargement image) Carrot River suggested the reservoir be named ""Tobin Lake" after much controversy. 174 years after the Tobin NW trading post was established on the rocky bend in the Saskatchewan River, Saskatchewan's first hydro electric power station was erected, and just as Tobin Rapids was named after William Thorburn, so to Tobin Lake bore his name.

• 
  "Dams for hydroelectric power generation are located at a site
  where the difference in elevations between the surface of the new reservoir and the outlet to the
  downstream river is adequate to power electrical-generating turbines."^{Cech [2003, p150-15}

"Squaw Rapids, in northern bush lands, was selected because of two sets of rapids on the site. Water plunges 105 feet (32 m) in huge penstocks which channel the water into giant turbines."^{CP June 15, 1963.}7,000,000 cubic yards (6,000,000 m³) of earth were excavated from the reservoir site and re-used creating embankments for the earth-filled dam and a 3,000 foot (900 m) long airstrip. The reservoir covers 75,000 acres (303.5 km³) of land, and when full, the water level rises to 1,013 feet (309 m). By the end of 1962, the water level had already reached 1008 feet (307 m) rising at about one foot (0.3 m) of water a day. Tobin Lake stores 1,780,000 acre-feet (21,965,000,000 cubic meters) of water or 271,322 gallons (about 1,000,000 liters). Plans for the reservoir included creating the reservoir at Squaw Rapids, encompassing Tobin Rapids and extending upstream to the town of Nipawin located 45 miles (72 km) from the dam site at Squaw Rapids. The Torch River Valley provides a natural floodway should the river exceed its highest known peak at spring thaw.

• 
  "Mr Schell always predicted that with the water power potential for cheap electricity and the abundance of natural resources, Nipawin would eventually grow into a city, and was very concerned when the townsite was laid out that the streets be kept wide, rather than the then popular narrow ones, and that as many pines as possible be left in and around the townsite." [Mr Winn Schell printed the first newspaper in Nipawin - The Monitor in 1907 later called The Recorder]^{Schaible p. 842}

The reservoir base 46 miles (74 km) by 11-12 miles (18-19 km) wide was prepared for the new lake, wells, dugouts, and basements were all filled in, sawdust piles removed, telephone and power poles, fences and buildings torn down or moved away. The Department of Natural Resources had the $817,000 assignment to clear the reservoir site, removing all useable lumber from crown lands, clearing the 40 by 10 mile (64 x 16 km) area. It was proposed to open the area to farmers who could take some two to three million feet (600,000 to 900,000 m) of spruce lumber from the area. Approximately 40 million feet (12,000,000 m) of white spruce timber, and four million feet (1,000,000 m) of jack pine timber, 17,000 cords (62,000 m³.) of jack pine or fence posts, and 50 million feet (15,000,000 m) of poplar timber needed to be cleared. Following the clearing, a forest fire was set deliberately, to reduce the site to ash, however this failed due to rains, but not before covering the dam construction site with thick smoke. Additionally the SPC put out another $50,000 on clearing and after the dam opened, another contract was needed to prevent logs jamming the dam. 50,000,000 board feet of pine and spruce were removed from the area.

• 
  "It was known from experience where stands of pine and spruce had been flooded during water control projects that trees were still standing after 20 to 30 years...this would have destroyed the recreational potential of Tobin Lake for many years, and would have reduced its usable surface area by two-thirds," said Resources Minister Eiling Kramer.^{Leader-Post Oct 2, 1963.}

The steam-generating plants at Moose Jaw and Prince Albert were to be closed down in favour of the more economical hydroelectric station here. Water flow at the Squaw Rapids dam is regulated by remote control at the Queen Elizabeth Power Plant in Saskatoon and later from Regina. The hydro-electric project is located 150 miles from Prince Albert, 42 miles (68 km) from Nipawin, 30 miles (48 km) from Carrot River and 45 miles (72 km) upstream of Tobin Rapids.

• “We should strive to welcome change and challenges, because they are what help us grow. With out them we grow weak like the Eloi in comfort and security. We need to constantly be challenging ourselves in order to strengthen our character and increase our intelligence. ”

120 farmers from the Petaigan, Mossey Vale, and Ravendale districts were estimated to be affected by the filling of the dam reservoir. The farmers who had lands expropriated for the project moved out before December 31, 1961. "SPC has purchased 134 quarter sections of their farm land...most of these farmers have relocated on similar farms in the same general area."^{Longman 1961} Archdeacon Payton related that the Anglican Church was removed before the region was flooded. About 205 sections or 131,200 acres (531 km²) of land were needed for the Squaw Rapids Hydro Electric project, of which 55 sections (143 km² were owned by the Crown leaving 600 quarter sections (390 km²) of land in private hands. By October 24, 1962, SPC had only six quarter sections ( 4 km² left to negotiate. SPC also allowed homesteaders to have a lease on their the portion of the land which was above the water line, the Government not only bought the land that would be flooded, but they also paid for improvements done upon the land.After purchase, SPC put buildings up for tender on the condition of sale that the buildings be completely moved or dismantled before December 1961.

• "In all, 100 families were affected, most of them already located in the same general area. They received an average of $55 an acre (4000 m² or .004 km² $35,200 a section or $8,800 a quarter section.^{CP Oct 26, 1962}

Compensation packages first proposed considered 2-1/2 the value of the assessment with an additional percentage paid out based on individual needs. In 1924, the Canadian Pacific Railway was offering agricultural land for $11.66 per acre on average with irrigated land fetching $43.74 per acre reported The Financial Post. Whereas, in 1954 the Saskatoon Star Phoenix published that land selling in the Nipawin area was listed for approximately $100 per acre and prices across the provinces were down about 15 per cent from 1953 sales. Land elsewhere in the province was listed at $60 to $70 an acre, and lighter lands may only receive a listed sale price of $25 to 50 per acre. Farm lands for sale in the Rural Municipalities of Torch River, Nipawin and Moose Range, were listed at $50 to $100 per acre in 1966.

• "When the water backs up after the 1962 spring breakup in the river ice, the Petaigan River will burst its banks and disappear, and a church, a school, a curling rink and a farmer's union lodge, as well as scores of farm homes, will vanish in the Petaigan district."^{Hooper March 1960}

As Daniel Baird relates, "maps present a picture of the complex relationship between water and land as they intersect with human life...driven by the politics of settlement and energy. [Tegan Smith's] exhibit gestures toward the depths of the lake, which we then have to imagine. The image of long abandoned, rotted out barns in the silty green murk of lake water, fish drifting through their open doors and windows, long spikes of light descending from the surface, everything in suspended animation, in slow motion, is haunting and even funereal. The sparsely settled Mossy Vale, with its isolated farms, traditional hunters and trappers, has become a place of memory."

• 
  Having no electricity, we were fortunate to have an ice well; our milk and cream we hung down the well in cans. We canned everything we could; meat, game, chicken, turkey, and all kinds of fruit wild and cultivated - so we were rarely at a loss for a quick meal if somebody unexpected dropped in.^{Horn p. 260}

The Nipawin School Unit No. 61 school board advertised for teachers for the 1961 school term. 16 pupils between grades one and eight were enrolled at Reno Hill School District 21 miles out of Carrot River. The Labalm School District was another one room school district nestled in the hamlet of Moose Range serving 15 pupils in the primary grades as well. Squaw Rapids school was a newly established one room school operating out of a trailer for the approximately 20 children of the Saskatchewan Power Corporation Squaw Rapids Dam site area. By the fall of 1961, the Squaw Rapids hydroelectric development project saw a community population of 1,955 necessitating the construction of a two room school building for 61 children. Over the summer of 1961, 275 pioneers came together at the Mossy Vale school near Nipawin for a re-union. The Nipawin Public School saw a huge enrollment, jumping to 834 students in September of 1961. The school enrollment was expected yet to rise to 864 pupils. Five rural schools closed. Mossy Vale, Glen Horne SD 5048, Grassy Lake, Kirkwell (Kirkwall SD 4647) and Welland SD 4473 schools closed their doors. At Nipawin public school, grade seven students attended classes at the high school and at a separate building. The staff room, library, and electrical rooms have been converted to classrooms. The Nipawin ten room school expected to open in 1962 will alleviate some of the over-crowding. In grade one alone, there were 124 students at the beginning of the 1962 school year.

• 
  Miss Dengate began teaching at Inkster School, with an enrollment of some 37 children spanning ten grades. She hadn't any experience with one-room schools, and so had to learn a lot in a short time. The school was far from luxurious, with its outdoor plumbing and water pail and dipper, quite a change for someone from England, used to having electricity and indoor plumbing. There was a big stove on which the children would leave their lunch pails to thaw, as it would freeze on the way to school and stay frozen if left on the floor.^{Haywood p. 681}

Cumberland House (“Waskahiganihk” ) settled in 1774 upon an island in the middle of the Saskatchewan River delta region surrounded by swamps, marshes and lakes. It is here that Father Ovide Charlebois erected The first log building schoolhouse in the 1890s inaugurating a system of instruction with both Catholics and Protestants teaching the curriculum. Cumberland House residents depended on a ferry crossing during the summer months, and an ice road in the winter. The dam is approximately 30 miles(48 km) upstream from the delta area.

• 
  In 1945, a new home was built, but still no plumbing or electricity.^{Pihowich p. 777}

The Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-41-G) which was launched on 5 October 1984 was able to photograph the Squaw Rapids Dam on October 9, 1984.

“Reshaping life! People who can say that have never understood a thing about life—they have never felt its breath, its heartbeat—however much they have seen or done. They look on it as a lump of raw material that needs to be processed by them, to be ennobled by their touch. But life is never a material, a substance to be molded. If you want to know, life is the principle of self-renewal, it is constantly renewing and remaking and changing and transfiguring itself, it is infinitely beyond your or my obtuse theories about it.”
^{Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago}

"With other companies pushing forward in potash production, in 10 years time provincial potash production should reach $100,000,000 a year," said Premier Woodrow Stanley Lloyd, "The estimated power production for 1963 is 2,000,000,000 kilowatts, five times the production of 10 years ago....This kind of development and announced intention will help keep our place as the fourth largest producer of minerals among Canadian provinces." ^{Leader-Post Jan 1963.} Lloyd was also quoted as saying, "there are good reasons for satisfaction in a review of developments in Saskatchewan during 1962. One of the highlights of the economic year has been the surge of activity in connection with our mineral resources. With the opening of the world's largest potash production plant at Esterhazy, and with 15 other firms actively engaged in potash exploration or development Saskatchewan now has a claim to the title of "World Potash Capital." Our farm electrification program has nearly reached completion this year and the total of farm homes electrified has been brought to nearly 63,000."^{Saskatoon Star-Phoenix Dec 1962.}

• “People who want a cure, provided they can have it without pain, are like those who favour progress, provided they can have it without change.”
  ^{Anthony de Mello, Awareness: A de Mello Spirituality Conference in His Own Words}

When Bill and Clara Weighill reminisced on the Mossy Vale area, a quote popped to mind, "We're all in favor of progress, providing we can have it without change." For the settlers in the area, there were a lot of ups and downs, and lots of hard work. Homesteading in the area was challenging, there were swarms of bull flies, hordes of mosquitoes, horse flies by the dozens, deep snow, muskeg, swamps, mud holes, and as Kristan and Ellen Sogen relate, the pioneers took it all in stride. The farmers who moved left their homes with sentimental reluctance, regret and melancholy, and yet there was an overall feeling of congratulations towards the Saskatchewan Power Plant, which serves the electrical needs of northern Saskatchewan residents.

The area was filled with settlers who did not give up. The Ravendale Frienship club grew together as ladies of the community gathered for an afternoon outing. Well, as the Squaw Rapids Development commenced, the club dwindled as folks gave up their land, and moved away. But, there was no despair, there was no wailing, with steady faith, the club soon built up again, flourishing and able once again to help the community wherever they were able. They were open to love, light and laughter.

The rail finally came through over hill and dale, through swamp and over river, however it arrived four miles outside of the town of Nipawin. This did not mean the end of Nipawin, resilient, forward thinking and stalwart, the townspeople picked up their houses and their buildings and moved them north beside the rail. These were a people looking at the glass half full, not half empty.

• “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change... The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back...[It is] time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” ^{Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym}

Settlers made a living the hard way, yet it was felt that it was a healthy life. Making success from the challenges in life, coming together with family and friends to meet the next opportunity allowed these pioneers to be truly grateful and able to celebrate the next step forward for the community when the hydro-electric construction began. Electricity, a much needed, and most desired service and life has changed forever.

Article written by Julia Adamson, Sask Gen Webmaster.

Squaw Rapids Reel

By Don Messer

Squaw Rapids dam a symbol of might,Brings steady power both day and night, Through summer, winter, spring and fall Steady power - now reverse all. The SPC's pledged to bring Reliable power for everything. To serve you well that is their aim Now all get set, four ladies chain Reno Hill School District 5158 South east section 18 township 53 range 11 west of the 2nd meridian near Mossy Vale, SK, CA Located at north west section 28 township 53 range 11 west of the 2 meridian E.B. Campbell Hydroelectric Station, Squaw Rapids Dam, Tobin Lake Located at Section 12 Township 54 range 10 west of the 2nd meridian Other neighbouring school districts and placenames Moose Range Rural Municipality 486 Glen Horne School District 5048 SE quarter of section 2 township 51 range 10 west of the 2 meridian. Grassy Lake School District Unknown School District number and location. Please E-mail if you know Kirkwell (Kirkwall) School District 4647 SE section ? township 52 range 16 west of the 2nd meridian Wellands school district 4473 south west section 27 township 50 range 15 west of the 2 meridian (1922-1961) Labalm School District 4573 unknown location. Please E-mail if you know Squaw Rapids School District Unknown School District number Located near dam Section 12 Township 54 range 10 west of the 2nd meridian (temporary school)

Mossy Vale, SaskatchewanMossy Vale Saskatchewan: Mossy Vale/Reno Hill Get-Together: 50 years later!
Prepared site for the Mossy Vale cairn.

• Mossy Vale School, Circa 1940
• Mosse Vale School Class: War Dramatization (1944)
• Teachers of Mossy Vale School 1943-1961
• Mossy Vale School Students, Circa 1948
• Mossy Vale School Students 1957-58
• Mossy Vale School Teacher 1958

Neighbouring places

Petaigan post office had three locations:

• north west quarter of section 33 township 51 range 11 west of the 2nd meridian 1953
• NW quarter section 22, township 51, range 11, west of the 2 meridian
• SE Section 4, Township 52, Range 11, west of the 2 meridian

Ravendale post office SW Section 3, Township 53, R.10, West of the 2nd Meridian

Moose Range post office North west quarter of section 16 township 49 range 12 west of the 2nd meridian

Petaigan River geographical feature (waterway)

Garrick hamlet Northwest section 17 township 52 range 16 west of the 2nd meridian

Beaver House post office north east quarter section 34 township 50 range 15 west of the 2 meridian

Ravine Bank (two locations) Section 14, Township 51, Range 14, west of the 2nd meridian

and Section 16, Township 50, Range 14, west of the 2nd meridian

Prince Albert township 38 range 26 west of the 2nd meridian

Carrot River section 17 township 49 range 11 west of the 2 meridian

Nipawin section 16 township 50 range 14 west of the 2 meridian


Pioneer Ways to Modern Days : history of the town of Carrot River and the Rural Municipality of Moose Range.
Carrot River & District History (Association). Carrot River, Saskatchewan: Carrot River & District History, 1985

Jess. Reno Hill School District 5158, south east section 18 township 53 range 11 west of the 2 meridian near Mossy Vale- Saskatchewan Gen Web - One room School Project March 8, 2013.

Bibliography

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For more information:

• Saskatchewan School Inspection of One Room Schoolhouses
• Distance Learning ~The History of the Saskatchewan Correspondence School
• 
  The Drastic Shortage of Teachers in Saskatchewan's History and A small sampling of Teacher wanted ads.
• The Era of Saskatchewan One Room Schoolhouses
• One Room Schoolhouse Naming
• Saskatchewan Normal Schools

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Delicate Beauty Phalaenopsis Orchid by Julia Adamson

School, Reno Hill School District 5158, Mossy Vale School District 5159, Carrot River, Nipawin, Petaigan River, Garrick, Beaver House, RAvine Bank, Prince Albert, Ravendale, squaw Rapids Dam, Tobin Lake, E.B. Campbell Hydroelectric Power Plant, Sask Power, reminiscing, memories, wistful nostalgia, melancholy, regret, sentimenal reluctance, underwater, flooded, reservoir, man made lake

Saskatchewan in 1921 and the 1921 Census. The Forgotten Depression

Saskatchewan in 1921 and the 1921 Census.

1921, an era of transition and change begins. Evolution of a community happens over the course of considerable years. It does not happen, no, that an entire province of people rush out on June 1, 1921 to all buy tractors all at once, and leave Daisy nibbling in the field. The transition from horse and plough to tractor began in a farm here and there, and slowly more and more farmers owned tractor, farm truck and automobile. The 1921 census tells a story of people, and their land, the successes and failures of immigration schemes and homesteading ventures and how life was changing.


History "conjures up feelings of what it was like in a day and age not our own," speaks John C. Charyk. The first two decades of the 1900s brought with them a huge wave of people to the plains of Saskatchewan. By 1921, these pioneer settlers were proud to call Saskatchewan their home. The early pioneer had divested their time, energy and blood into the land because they had "faith in the possibilities of the country, stood by that faith, and made a success of their undertaking.^[1]"




"The unorganized territories of British North America had been ceded to the Dominion soon after Confederation, and the West had been tapped and traversed by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the eighties and nineties," documented the Yearbook of Canada 1922/1923. The 1926 Financial Post reported that there were 6,268.72 miles of railway stretching across the province by 1922 serving "2,139 elevators, 896 loading platforms, 554 stockyards, in addition to depots, warehouses, etc." The yearbook continues, "but though western population doubled with each of these decades, it was only with the launching of a large scale immigration movement after 1900 that western settlement and production became a first-rate economic factor." In the two decades 1901-1911 and 1911-1921, the census returns showed over 1,800,000 immigrant arrivals to Canada in each of the decades, over 3,600,000 persons in twenty years.



As W.G. Cates, points out, "the 1921 census, as it shows a much lower rate of increase in population during the 1911-1921 period than that of 1901-1911, is naturally disappointing; but the returns must be considered in the light of the Great War...tens of thousands went overseas to their native land to fight; while other tens of thousands went to the United States in order to escape military service." Some 60,000 militia gave the supreme sacrifice in the theatre of war, and 20,000 Canadians who served remained in the United Kingdom following their term of service. Of these 60,000 Canadians 6,428 were Saskatchewan boys according to the Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial. The mass exodus of citizens, the loss of life, accompanied by the tens of thousands of Saskatchewan personnel serving in the armed forces overseas, might lead one to predict a drop in population, however the 1921 census still showed a population increase.

• ^{In the early days of the war we were much comforted by the fact that men and women were ready to make sacrifices for this, the greatest cause of all. In Canada, and I am sure elsewhere throughout the Empire, there has been manifest a spirit of co-operation, of mutual helpfulness, of a desire to assist, of self-sacrifice which is most comforting to those who have at heart the welfare of our Empire in years to come. So I am sure it will be in the future. The influence of a spirit of helpfulness and self-sacrifice, which we see everywhere throughout the world, and within our Empire, is one for which I give thanks and am most grateful." ~ August 14, 1915. Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden, G.C.M.G., M.P. eighth Prime Minister of Canada}

The population of Canada was recorded at 7,206,643 in 1911, and according to the Canada Year book 1922-1923, it rose to 8,788,483 in 1921. (Saskatchewan was 757,510.)
If the trend of the first decade had continued, it was estimated that the population should have reached 10,100,000. There were at least a couple of factors at work towards the increase of population. "It should also be taken into account that the returns for the western provinces include about 25,000 returned men, who have been placed on farms through the Soldier Settlement Scheme" noted Cote in his census analysis. The 1921 census showed that not only is there immigration from Europe and the United States, but there is a definite migration from East to West.



70 per cent of the arable farm land was in farms by 1921, and the settlement pattern was established. Professor W.B. Baker chairman of the Royal Commission on Agriculture and Rural Life looks at it this way, "in 1901, 96 per cent of our farmers were owners and 61 per cent of the 13,445 farms were under 200 acres in size. The average size of farm was 285 acres. In 1921, 76.7 per cent of 119,451 farms were owner-operated and 32.5 per cent were under 200 acres while the average size of farm had increased to 369 acres." In Saskatchewan, 71 per cent of the population was rural, and the remainder urban. The Morning Leader relates that, "more people means more schools and better schools; more roads and better roads; better medical services; more enjoyable community life with all the advantages which must follow."


However, James Thomas Milton Anderson speaks of the immigration "problem" in the book "The education of the new-Canadian: A treatise on Canada's greatest educational problem." He writes in 1918 following the war years "throughout the prairie provinces great stretches of land have been settled by immigrants from European countries. The language of the home is German, Ruthenian, Hungarian, Bohemian, or Polish, as the case may be. In the villages where they trade they have their own merchants, speaking their own language. In these settlements there is but one force at work to Canadianize their children—the public school." Dr. Harold W. Foght Specialist in Rural School Practice, summed up the post war hysteria, "Are we to be a homogeneous people on these plains or are we to repeat the tragic sufferings of polyglot Austria" He goes on to discuss "the process of making one Canadian-speaking and thinking people" in A Survey of Education. In 1919, a new school act was passed permitting English as the only language of instruction.


The war had a devastating effect on the peace of mind of the community. Settlers looked at neighbours knowing now who had served for Canada during the Great War, who had deserted, those who chose not to serve, those who left to serve their ancestral lands and those who had lost sons and daughters overseas. Saskatchewan, the great melting pot of immigrants began to give rise to division looking at those who had served with the allies and which communities may have a different allegiance. Saskatchewan peoples along with the rest of Canada sought for a Canadian identity, what it meant to be truly Canadian.

• <sup>In Western Canada there is to be seen to-day that most fascinating of all human phenomena, the making of a nation. Out of breeds diverse in traditions, in ideals, in speech, and in manner of life, Saxon and Slav, Teuton, Celt and Gaul, one people is being made. The blood strains of great races will mingle in the blood of a race greater than the greatest of them all.
  
  It would be our wisdom to grip these peoples to us with living hooks of justice and charity till all lines of national cleavage disappear, and in the Entity of our Canadian national life, and in the Unity of our world-wide Empire, we fuse into a people whose strength will endure the slow shock of time for the honour of our name, for the good of mankind, and for the glory of Almighty God." ~ Rev. Dr. Charles William Gordon</sup>

Anderson, beginning as inspector of schools around Yorkton between 1911-1918, was appointed director of Education 1918-1922. The Morning Leader reported that "the School Attendance Act was rigidly enforced...a larger percentage of pupils passed their examinations and a great percentage of children made better progress because of regular attendance." It was to this end that school room classes were awarded $3 a day if an average of 15 pupils attended during the school year, and if the schools offered classes beyond grade 7. During the settlement era, 1901-1921, the Department of Education boasted that a new school district was organised every day of the year, however in 1921 only 100 school districts were formed. The department and community both recognised the benefits of consolidated school districts, however the cost of conveying rural children to a consolidated school placed such a transition on hold in 1921.




So what was life like in Saskatchewan in 1921? Saskatchewan men who had served with the military in the Great War (1914-1918) were beginning to return home. This marked great happiness for families with returned love ones, and a time of grief and sadness mourning those who would never come home. However, not only did the communities have the economic transition of the discharged soldiers entering the work place, but the Spanish influenza set in. About 5,000 lives were lost in Saskatchewan alone from this epidemic.




The war time population in 1916 of 647,835 had grown in five years to 757,510. The Model T automobile began to replace the horse and buggy across the prairies, by 1921 there were 34,085 cars. Dotting farms as well, tractors were commencing to replace horse and plough. In 1921, 19,243 tractors were counted in the census returns on 17,523 farms across the province.

With the increase in mechanized travel, the Department of Highways commenced a project in 1920 of laying better roads and bridges. These early roads followed the surveyed township roads, and travel could be done "on the square", it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that highways were "straightened".



Families would have no televisions, nor computers nor video games. "The school children are actively engaged in eliminating Mr. Gopher, and in some cases some ingenious methods of capturing and killing have been invented by the school boys of the province."^Source" Children would receive two cents bounty or thrift stamps on delivery of gopher tails to their school teacher. By May 1 of 1917, 514,000 gophers had been taken care of by the "Junior Agricultural Service League of Saskatchewan" that spring alone.


1921 was the year before the first Saskatchewan radio station was established, there was no widespread electricity available. Rather than having a television agricultural forum or radio call in "talk show" to catch up on the latest news, farm families could just pick up the telephone and listen in to the "party line" which was often connected to about eight other neighbourly homes. Central exchanges connected various party lines, and in the coldest of winters, without roads, and snow blowers neighbours could catch up on the latest gossip, sales, funerals and chat back and forth.


The high influx of settlers, meant pasture land was being taken up by homesteaders, and the era of the great ranches drew to a close around 1921. The last round up for the Matador ranch was 1921 when 3,400 head of cattle would be taken from the ranch near Saskatchewan Landing (Moose Jaw area) to Waldeck and on to Chicago for sale. No longer would the spring cattle trek see yearlings and two year olds arrive from Texas to the Matador ranch. The ranchers would work long hours, before sun up and after sun down even during the months of long summer days, the treks gave the ranch hands and the settlers an event, and the cowboys had their "semi annual trip to town."^Source Gone now were the days when "One arriving in town, the first thought was for a drink. In the old days the men would ride right into the building and up to the bar."

• <sup>Come alive you fellers," hear the foreman shout.
  
      "Drop your books and banjos, fetch your saddles out...
  
  Shake that squeaky fiddle, Red, go and get your hoss,
  
      "Dutch, ain't you got duties, as the chuck-wagon boss?
  
  "Range is gettin' grassy, winter draws its claws,
  
      "Calved are fat an' sassy, teasin' of their maws,
  
  "Loafin' days are over, dreamin' time is gone,
  
      No more life in clover, for the round-up's on."
  ~ Folksong.</sup>

1921 was a year of a severe economic depression, Saskatchewan farmers were still reeling from the drought of 1920. Prairie farmers were also hit by the international wheat market collapse of 1921. The growing season of 1921 looked promising showing 14 bushels to the acre as compared to 11 bushels of 1920. Farmers, and communities were very optimistic. The rains came during harvest season and No. 1 Northern Wheat was reduced to No. 4. Despite their threshing efforts, it cost more to take off the crop quickly, and the market price was low. The price for a bushel of wheat brought $1.50, compared to $0.76 in 1921, wheat fell a whopping 50 per cent. During the Great War, the Dominion government "controlled the sale and pricing of wheat" through the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) in 1917, "wheat prices rose to $2.21 a bushel and then $2.62 by 1919." This same year (1919) that the CWB was dismantled.


The Soldier's Settlement Act provided for land and loans set at 5% as assistance to erect buildings, purchase livestock, implements and equipment. Though the prices were excellent in 1918 when the soldiers returned home, the growing season was affected by drought, hail and grasshopper infestations. The year of 1919 proved challenging, grasshoppers remained prevalent, wheat was affected by a fungal disease called rust and some areas were hard hit by drought. Returning servicemen on their new Soldier's Grants were tasked with clearing the land on their newly allocated quarter sections. However, these quarters were not the "best of the best" sections of land, those had already been taken for homestead settlement. The only land which was left were areas which had been already abandoned by homesteader or Indian reserve, forest reserves, and unused school lands.


The drought of 1920 affected the livestock industry of 1921, as there was a shortage of feed, and the market had taken a downward trend. During the "depression in 1921...thousands of farmers and ranchers were ruined....the average dept-ridden farmer of today cannot possibly pay taxes, interest and carry on farm operation on the proceeds of the present prices on farm products," reported the Calgary Herald. The Minister of Agriculture, Honourable C.M. Hamilton testified "that the average Saskatchewan farm of a half-section worth $12,000, had a mortgage on it of $5,000." Without tax payments, the school districts had no ability to pay their teachers, Austin F. Cross recalls months of despair and agony which culminated in a turning point in his life when the bank relented to loaning the school trustees money.

• 
  <sup>Saskatchewan, the land of snow,
  
  Where winds are always on the blow,
  
  Where people sit with frozen toes--
  
  And why we stay here, no one knows.
  
  
  
  Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan,
  
  There's no place like Saskatchewan.
  
  We sit and gaze across the plains,
  
  And wonder why it never rains,
  
  Till Gabriel doth his trumpet sound,
  
  And says the rain has gone around.
  
  ~ William W. Smith</sup>

The government under William Melville Martin, second premier of Saskatchewan The provincial government supported railway freight rate reductions, and rail branch line construction. Although the government coffers were drained from the wartime effort, Martin established $5 million available to farmers through a mortgage lending organization through the sale of government bonds.



As of June 1, 2013 92 years will have elapsed since 1921 when the census enumerators went out door to door on June 1, 1921. So, according to Library and Archives Canada, the census should be released from Statistics Canada and transferred over to Library and Archives Canada LAC for public usage. According to the LAC, "The 1921 Census was taken on June 1st, which means that it will be in the custody of Library and Archives Canada on June 1, 2013. Our intention is to make it available to researchers online, in the same format as previous censuses, as soon as possible after that date.^Source"



The Canadian Century Research Infrastructure CCRI is currently creating a 4% sampling of the 1921 Census of Canada in conjunction with Statistics Canada. Currently the instructions to enumerators is available as a pdf file. The CCRI will also look towards establishing databases for the 1911, 1921, 1931, 1941 and 1951 census as well.

• 
  <sup>The lure of love and the west.
  
  If you've heard the wild goose honking, if you've seen the sunlit plain,
  
  If you've breathed the smell of ripe grain, dewy, wet,
  
  You may go away and leave it, say you will not come again,
  
  But it's in your blood, you never can forget.
  ~Nellie McClung.</sup>

~ Article written by J. Adamson

• TABLE 1 Population of Canada by Provinces and Territories in the Census Years 1871 to 1921 and 2011.
• 
  TABLE 2 Population by Provinces and Electoral Districts, 1921, 1911 and 1901
• 
  TABLE 3 Population for Saskatchewan federal electoral districts 2011 census
• 
  TABLE 4 Population of Saskatchewan Towns 1911, 1921 and 2011 with their rail location in 1921
• Bibliography
  

Further Information:

Census Information Saskatchewan History and Ethnic Roots 1919 Alberta, Saskatchewan Manitoba Waghorn's Guide 1925 Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba Waghorn's Guide Gazetteer of U.S. and Canadian Railroads 1922 Saskatchewan Highway Map 1925 Rand McNally 1924 Indexed Pocket Map Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Maps 1924 ______________________________________________________________________________

Related posts:

Saskatchewan Census News Release Why were Canadian "Last Best West" homesteads created? The Era of Saskatchewan One Room Schoolhouses How did pioneers travel to their prairie homesteads? Where were Saskatchewan Homesteads Located? How do I locate my ancstor's home town in Saskatchewan? Have you ever visited your ancestral home? ______________________________________________________________________________ Follow me on Flickr, Word Press, Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, Tumblr, Live Journal, 500 px and Flickriver ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for stopping by, your comments are much appreciated. All rights reserved. Images copyright © Aum Kleem; Article copyright © J Adamson. All my images and text are protected under international authors copyright laws and Canadian photography laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission. They may be licensed through Getty images. Peace and love be with you. Namaste.


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