A Little Family History

Hanging out in Swift Current has got me thinking about my family history. I remember my father referring to this town as the nearest "big city" to Herbert: his home town. My great grandparents and grandfather homesteaded in this region - building a dwelling out of sod until they were able to construct a wood one.

I have several photos from this time because my grandfather was an amateur photographer. He would lug the glass plates, chemicals, and camera that were part of the trade at that time. This one is of the Penner homestead near Handsome Lake in 1908. Margaretha Penner was my grandfather's first wife. She died in the flu epidemic of 1919.

I particularly like the ones of the threshing crew he worked with and the long "train" of tractor,  grader,  boxcar, and model A that he used to work and transport his family around northern Saskatchewan in the summer.

This was the region that produced his story of his trick to get to sleep in (see http://billreimer.ca/workshop/personal/documents/GrandpaOxenStory03.pdf). It was also highlighted for me by the photo of my parents out on a date - with my father pausing to clean the spark plugs along the way. I guess I shouldn't feel bad about our own pause to fix a failed ignition coil.

Looking out on the expansive fields and dried grasslands it is hard to imagine what life would have been like in those days, but most of the stories I grew up with were cheery ones.

Sojourn in Swift Current

Our imposed pause in Swift Current has its advantages. While we wait for the part to arrive from Calgary we have a chance to catch up a bit on our e-mail, visit with the motel staff, and I was even able to listen in to Tom's ongoing course on the Dynamics of Income and Wealth.

Since we don't have transportation, we are not able to explore Swift Current a great deal (an indication itself of prairie life) but we were still able to get some of the local news from the server at supper last night, the woman who served breakfast this morning, and the staff of the hotel. The server at supper was a recent addition to the community (8 months). He was invited to help rejuvenate the hotel and restaurant business. He was complaining about the lack of collaboration among the hotels along the strip - they didn't want to make deals about coupons or other arrangements for sharing breakfast facilities, for example.

There are many hotels along this strip of the road - and a casino across the highway. If our hotel is any indication, however, most of the clientele are railway or highway workers. We see many people coming and going in their orange safety jackets and working coveralls. It recalls for me the discussions I have had with my research colleagues about the importance of utility and transportation workers to the sustainability of rural areas. I expect that these hotels depend a great deal on such clients - with some travelers (like us) and perhaps some of the casino-goers.

Swift Current is located at the eastern edge of the Palliser Triangle - a huge area of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta that includes a variety of landscapes: from deserts to vast farms and grasslands. The buffalo no longer roam the grasslands of the region since farms have taken over much of the arable land, but even the farmers have experienced years of drought mixed in with the years of plenty. Much of the farming in this region is "dryland farming": farming without the benefit of irrigation, so the weather conditions (particularly the moisture) drive their fate. If we can get our van going, this will be the land we traverse on our way to Calgary.

Westfalia Woes

We got up this morning, did our picnic breakfast in the room routine, loaded the car, and fired it up - but only for a moment. As I was backing out, the engine died - and wouldn't start in spite of my various attempts. Eventually we called CAA and an attempt at a boost led to the same result. The tow truck driver got on the phone with the one guy in town who was up to dealing with VWs and hoisted the car for the trip to the garage.

We hung out at the garage waiting for the mechanic to turn up from his lunch and watched him go through the diagnosis routine. I was pleased to see his approach to the problem - methodical and appropriate for VWs. In his search he discovered that the pin in the ignition coil to which the distributor cable was attached had corroded so badly that there was no solid connection to the cable. It was no wonder that the engine couldn't start: no spark!

After checking with his supplier the mechanic announced that the nearest replacement was in Calgary and that it would likely arrive by courier tomorrow noon.

So we are now set up in a Comfort Inn with a selection of key items from the van and a new plan for our trip. If the replacement arrives as anticipated and the problem is fixed early enough we will aim to reach Calgary tomorrow night. This sets back our plans for Calgary, Kelowna, Penticton, and Vancouver. Instead of holding my webinar for Grad-Pro skills in Calgary, it will be in Swift Current tomorrow. Hopefully the car will be ready by the time my webinar is completed.

As we have discovered on our previous trips, traveling by Westfalia is always an adventure. It's also a lesson in small towns - the major delays are most often related to retrieving parts from across the country. It means that our travel plans must always include a buffer for recovery time in a motel somewhere along the route.

McLean to Swift Current

After our lunch at the McLean cafe we went out to a van that was heavy with wet snow. The roads were wet, but the snow melted quickly and was washed by the rain so we could manage the driving without more care than would be required for driving on a wet surface.

The rain made it difficult to get a good idea of the landscape, but just after Pilot Butte it was clear we had descended the eastern moraine of glacial Lake Regina - the largest of the prairie legacy lakes from the glacial age. This vast area of fertile land has been almost totally converted from natural grasslands to cultivated crops. The periodic grain storage facilities are a testament to the abundance of the crops from this region.

Belle Plaine marked the western edge of Lake Regina with the re-emergence of the elevation rise and rocky soil of the moraine. This part of the plains provides mineral resources as well. Potash mines are noticeable by the numerous igloo-shaped storage sheds visible from the road. Farther along, near Chaplin we also passed by the accumulations of sodium sulfate being gathered from settling ponds.

As we passed my father’s birthplace of Herbert (http://montreal-or-bust.blogspot.ca/2012/07/i-forgot-herbert.htmlHerbert with Samantha) we were surprised by the size of Reed Lake – another remnant of glacial formations – this time of Lake Herbert. We turned in to get gas at a small station in the area – and to check whether this was an unusual year for the size of the lake or whether it was at its normal levels. The East Indian staff assured me that this was the normal size for the lake – valuable for ducks and geese, but too shallow for fishing or swimming. Our exchange also reinforced my questions about the changing character of the ownership and operation of enterprises in many of these small towns.

We reached our destination of the day (Swift Current) and pulled in to the Rainbow Motel – tired from the drive. We made good use of the microwave to prepare our pea soup supper before settling in to update our blogs and check our e-mail. We were delighted to receive a Skype call from Samantha as she was working out her education plans for next year.

Brandon to McLean

We headed west of Brandon with grey skies and a chilly wind. The forecast was for rain showers mixed with wet snow.

The terrain was a continuation of the moraine with a mix of low-rolling hills, clumps of trees, and scrub brush until around Alexander – where the land dropped slightly then flattened out in another section of rich flat soil. It is the bottom of the ancient Lake Souris – another glacial lake we will cross on our way across the prairies.

Scattered along our route were more signs of the agricultural basis of the region. This time in the form of the modern grain storage and elevators with their truck and rail accompaniment.

Around Virden we saw the large bobbing bird-like pumps scattered across the prairie – an indication of the oil found beneath the plains. Apparently the oil in many of these wells is mixed with salt-water: a legacy of the fact that about 136 million years ago this was an ocean (according to the ecotours).

From Virden we began climbing again (by prairie standards) – marking the shoreline of the ancient lake Souris and the poor soils of the moraine. White aspen groves replaced the grasslands and the farms became smaller and, in some cases, showed the signs of stress – like abandoned buildings. This was the region in which my mother grew up – on a farm near Rocanville, just a short distance from the highway. We were in a rush, so didn’t take the side trip to visit her house this time – like we did when travelling from Victoria with our granddaughter (http://montreal-or-bust.blogspot.ca/2012/07/carberry.html).

The groves of aspen continued until around Grenfell – the bank of the third glacial lake bottom we will cross: Lake Indian Head.

Once again the land flattened out, the farms grew larger, and the soils became rich and dark – all the way to Indian Head where the western shore of the ancient lake formed another moraine. Aspen and scrub brush reappeared and many of the farms looked hard pressed to survive. The appearance of a large wind farm in the region hinted at one way in which new technology is being used to overcome the limitations of the soil. It was soon after we passed this farm that we pulled in to one of the small towns: McLean SK.

McLean is a very small settlement that has lost most of its services (including a gas station). There is still a café and bar in the town so we stopped in just as the snow began to accumulate on our windshield.

The café is a study of prairie town transformations. We walked in to the bar to the sounds of a TV tuned to an East Indian movie. A woman was watching the show while a man was busy with a customer at the bar. Once we placed our order, the TV channel was switched to a sports channel (presumably in deference to what they assumed were our interests).

During our lunch several men came in to the bar – some of them stopping in behind the plywood barricade to play a few rounds on the gambling machines and some of them sitting at the bar for a quick beer. They were welcomed like old friends.

Our arrival at Bill Ashton's in Brandon was perfectly timed. Dinner was prepared and after half an hour Hans and Heidi,  the other guests, arrived.  Hans Bakker is the Stanley Knowles Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brandon University so Bill had the foresight to invite him and his wife to our gathering. It was a delightful choice since we had much in common from rural studies to raising kids and interest in religious matters. 

Bill had prepared a tasty meal of bok choy, barbecued pork, and fried rice. Dessert was banana cranberry loaf with chocolate butter icing. We spent a wonderful evening visiting before climbing in to warm flannel sheets for the night. Thanks Bill, Hans, and Heidi. 

Winnipeg to Brandon

We set off on Highway 1 - crossing the flat land created by the ancient Glacial Lake Agassiz. This is the lake bed left over when the lake created by melting glaciers eventually emptied to what are now the waters of Lake Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay.

The flat and fertile sediments have been exploited by the farmers of the region since they are perfect for growing the grains that feed the world. The vast fields of the region are only broken by clusters of farm houses and barns and the infrastructure of commodity trade: grain elevators and train tracks.

Once we reached the the settlement of Sidney we climbed the rise that marks the ancient lakeshore, and entered the sand dunes of the old Assiniboine flood plain.

Finally, about Douglas Station we entered the Uplands region - consisting of mixed outwash from the ancient lakes and rivers, ground moraine from the edges of the glaciers, and water deposits. In the middle of this region stands Brandon - the regional service centre and our destination for the night.

Once again I am thankful for the ecotour series produced by the Canadian Forest Service many years ago. This is a series of small booklets that describe the geology, flora, fauna, and social history of sections along the transcanada highway. It is designed for car travel - describing what we see out the car window every kilometer along the road.

It was the ecotour series that transformed my travel across the prairies - teaching me what to look for along with its significance. This series taught me, for example, that there are many different regions on the prairie - each with their own special characteristics and importance.  They are essential reading for any cross - country traveler or Canadian enthusiast.  You can download them from
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/series/read/27