This was written by my grandmother....I have the original but I thought I would share it with you. She came to Canada in 1911 from Scotland so we had to do some deciphering of her writing. The script was very old fashioned. Lethbridge 1911 Memories written by Margaret (Stewart) MacMillan 12 April 1876 – 31 July 1961 In the year 1911, I was living at 1416 2nd Ave. S. This property belonged to Mr. & Mrs. Jacob Sauchuk. It is still there in front of the Green Star Mill, Taylors and Elllisons. The C.P.R. Viaduct was going for two years before this time. The High level Bridge and the Western Grocers were in construction. The Hudsons Bay Co. were at the Trianon corner. E. J. Hill in 3rd Ave., and Simpson Co. in the the Dominion Block. I patronized Simpsons most as everything I wanted and liked was there, goods that were just right when you had a growing family to clothe. Whether you wanted ready- made or material to fashion them at home. Delaneys were at the Dominion Meat Market where they sold round steak at fifteen cents per pound, liver at 5c and other cuts at their own low price. At Tuffs, thirteenth St. South I got Blue Ribbon Tea at 40c per pound, 20lbs. Sugar $1.45, 20 lbs. Oatmeal $1.00, 90 lbs. Potatoes, $1.00. I remember that there was no side walk at Delaneys or the Dominion Block. The Galt Gardens were not as they are today. They may have been started but you could take a short cut through the space they now cover from any angle. The Post Office was upstairs round Higginbothams corner opposite the Lethbridge Hotel. Out in the country the age of agriculture was at its height. There was nobody idle, and we had migrants from Dakota and Montana and from Eastern Canada coming in for harvest. Wheat was the king of crops and our great source of money making. The boys came to stook and stayed around for threshing. They went into town when Jack Frost came with nice rolls of bills to spend and that is what they did. Spend it. It enriched somebody in the city. Many Bachelors who did not own anything to farm with rented land and got the place seeded to wheat. In a good year they got nice returns from an adventure like this. These places were all alike. Stubble and a stack of rusty tin cans in one corner. These were the days of threshing outfits, implement dealers, Mortgage Company and Insurance agents. Our sheep Ranches which were vast and plentiful in these days have shrunk greatly. They have been pushed out by farming. I knew an old cowboy called Shanks and he told me that in 1870 our prairies here had plenty of Lakes and Sloughs and the herds of Buffalo which roamed the plains fertilized the grass so much that it was ever green. I saw one yoke of oxen one day. Two nice Herford steers with harness. They looked nice and docile. They went out of sight at thirteenth Street, but were back shortly pulling a disc. They trotted fast with a very jaunty air. One day the Jail wagon went out the road. A prisoner sat in the wagon, and a Mountie rode behind and one on each side. Shortly after they went out of sight I saw something like eggs falling out of the sky. One here and there first, then more and more until the noise from the Mills was deafening, just like a shipbuilding yard. The children were all crying and praying. “Oh, will it ever stop” they would say. It lasted thirty minutes then finished off quietly with rain. I was told that the storm was four miles wide and eleven long. The sun shone out as usual and Willie and Joe Sauchuck broke our dustpans shoveling the giant hail which was as big as eggs and tea cups off the verandah. The windows to the north were all broken and curtains flying out and in some places and some of the hail was on our bed. No wonder the children got a fright. The green house at Henderson Lake was all broken up. Green tomatoes were going for 3c per pound. There was not enough glass in Lethbridge for repairs. Mrs. Sauchuck who had gone to rescue her chickens now arrived. Her face was sprinkled with blood, also dripped on her breast. She was struck on the head with a hailstone and she had a lump on the back of her wrist and on her shoulder. The chickens were all dead. The garden of which they were so proud was all flattened out. They had to gather up all the potato shows and cabbage and leave them out on the Praire as they started to rot and smell badly. The Beets, carrots and other roots flourished again and were not much the worse of the hail. There were two automobiles in our city then, Mr. Tailor the Miller owned one. We went to the fair and the usual program was on. One feature was “Ely the bird aviator”. He was taking passengers for $5 rides. This flyer lost his life after words at Spokane. The Mounted Police who went out to the jail had a bad time with the horses and a story went around that the Prisoner did all he could to help and was just wonderful. You would like to know if he was rewarded for his timely assistance but I cannot tell you.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 01:24:44 +0000
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