Practically Everybody Interested in Oil

Wow!  I'm not sure which font size was used for this headline in the Reston Recorder on February 21, 1952 but it couldn't have been overlooked! You can click here to browse the 1952 papers online and see various stories about drilling activity, rumours of strikes and reports of dry holes.  Seventy years ago, the Reston area was agricultural but that was about to change.  With the exploration for oil around Virden in the late 40's and a big discovery in 1951, Reston and area residents were excited to see if the deposits went further south.   The headline making well was located on the farm of George and Ellen (Wilson) Walker in the Prairie Rose District  on SE 21-7-28.  Although the well was soon capped and did not produce as anticipated, the Walkers took a trip back home to Scotland, 44 years after coming to Canada. Can you just imagine to tales they could tell their old school chums of their experiences in Canada? Their real treasure would have been their five children, many grandchildren and today the multitude of descendants who have made their own marks in the world. 

Caption: Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Walker Sr. reading the news of the spectacular oil strike on their farm.  The strike set up a blaze of publicity which made the couple known from coast to coast. The outcome of the well is in doubt, but in any case, the couple have benefitted.  Sale of half royalties amounted to $6500, enough to pay off the mortgage, and leave a few thousand in the bank. 

Photo Courtesy of the Winnipeg Free Press.  March 1952

Gwen Simms and Jim Milliken 1947

I do have a physical copy of this historic Reston newspaper thanks to my cousin Marilee.  Her Mom Gwen (Simms) Milliken had handwritten a note on the top of it to her Uncle Bill Sinclair from Oak River. 

Dear Bill, This country may be “stoney and scarce of bluffs”, but shows signs of much greater things underneath.

 I saved this paper especially for you as I knew you’d be interested in hearing it and had said the same thing.  Love your soon to be wealthy niece, Gwennie

There was no doubt of some ongoing joke between the two about Jim's family choosing  stoney and treeless homesteads in Pipestone rather than God's Country at her family's home at Oak River. 😊 

The title for today's blog post comes from an article that I stumbled across on the Peels Prairie Website here .  It was clipped from a 1952 newspaper in Irma, Alberta which is now a tiny community 90 minutes east of Edmonton. I'm not sure why they picked up the story written for the Brandon Sun by John McNaughton but everybody is interested to read our own history from another perspective.  Practically everybody at least. 

Bonniman the Drayman

Today's post introduces us to another long term resident of Reston whose contribution deserves to be remembered.   Chester Gordon Bonniman was born in 1881 in Woodstock, Ontario. At the age of two he came west with his family to build a new life. His father Alexander was born in Scotland, where their surname was spelled Bonnyman, and came to Canada at the age of 18. In 1883, Alexander, his wife Sarah Eastman and two little boys Franklin and Chester  purchased a farm in the Lambton district northeast of the present town of Reston at 14-8-27.  The school was built on the corner of their land in 1889.  Two girls and a boy were later born into the family.  In April of 1926, Chester Bonniman purchased the livery and coal business from McMurchy Brothers - Colin and Archie Jr -  who began the Ford vehicle business.  The livery barn had been built by Colin Campbell Sr in the early days of Reston when he was a horse buyer and seller and ran a livery barn. It is just out of sight at the far right of the picture below, by the piles of wood. 

Corner of Railway (First) Avenue and Fourth (Main) Street looking north from the top of the elevator

Completes 21 Years of Service -1947

Mr. Chester Bonniman who for twenty-one years and three months carried the mail from the Post Office to the station made his last trip on Monday, June 30. Mr. Bonniman in all that time has never failed to meet the trains.

Officially Mr. Bonniman has been the mail carrier for the past twenty-one years, the extra three months is accounted for by the fact he took over the contract from McMurchy Bros. 

 The new mail carrier is Norman McCartney

Amy Law was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire England to Samuel and Louisa Law. She came west from Ontario with her family but upon the earth death of her father Samuel in 1904, the family took up homestead in the Fry district near Antler, SK.  Amy met the young farmer Chester Bonniman and they were married in 1910. Chester's parents moved to Virden and the young couple took over the farm. In 1927, looking for a new challenge, they rented out their farm and took over the McMurchy draying business in Reston.  Draying has evolved into trucking and along with getting things from place to place, he sold coal and wood for heating.  Hauling pails of water and blocks of ice to houses in town for 5 and 10 cents was an important part of his business as well. Advertising was important to Chester and few weeks went by without his box ad in the Recorder. 

June 1947 New Team

No doubt you have noticed the well matched team of blacks that haul Mr. Bonniman's dray. The new team are Prince and Maud. They replace the well known bay team which gave such a good service for the past four years. Mr. Bonniman told the Recorder that it takes only a few weeks to break a team into the draying business. In time the horses get to know the route and they require little handling. Mr. Bonniman told us of one team he had which he left standing for a whole afternoon and when he got back they hadn’t moved an inch.

First (Railway) Street looking east from the top of the elevator - about 1960

The livery barn that Mr. Bonniman purchased from McMurchy's burned in a fire in the 1930's.  the buildings on the right of the photo above were built to service the Coal and Wood dealership as there was less need for a livery barn. The dray team would have used the eat doors in the bigger building and being just down the street from the train station was convenient when he carried the mail from there to the post office and back all those years. 

It was announced in the Reston Recorder on November 2, 1949 that Chester was retiring from the coal, wood and draying business after 24 and a half years. He sold to George Cheyne Jr, who had been working for him since returning from WW2 in 1944. 

Chester and Amy's only child  Irene Rose was born in 1914.  She married John Oberlin later in life and lived and farmed south of Reston for many years. Fletch Manning wrote in the Recorder about the history of the Bonniman House across from the Memorial Park back in 2004. Chester died in 1951 and Amy in 1960. 

Thanks to Ancestry user lindacarlson_1 for allowing me to use the portraits of Chester and Amy to help tell their story.

Bee Keeper Bert Stratford

This post is not about a building but a long time resident of Reston.  In pages of the online archived Reston Recorder, I ran across a few facts about his contributions and legacy.  If someone out there has a better picture of Bert and Minnie Stratford, I’d love to include it in this post. ssimms@escape.ca 

Robert George Stewart Kitchener Stratford, known as "Bert" was born in Surrey, England in 1900.  Bert once said his 4 given names were in honour of British Generals of the Boer War.   The family immigrated to Canada in 1908 to the Austin, MB area where his father George along with his mother Marian and 6 siblings got a new start.  George was originally a farm labourer but later worked on the coal dock in Austin.  

From the Reston Recorder November 1948

Bees aren’t so tough to handle? Not at least for Bert Stratford, who has over 100 hives of them and never thinks of wearing gloves when working with them.
Bert took the writer on a tour through his colonies and when it was all finished your reporter knew a little more about the way honey is gathered. For instance, a good swarm of bees contains from 70,000 to 90,000, and may harvest over 200 pounds of honey, provided the queen rules the roost the way she should.

It all depends on the queen, according to Bert. If she makes the workers step they gather a lot of honey, but if she is the indulgent type, well, they kind of get lazy on the job. Pointing to two hives of about the same strength, he explained that because one had a good queen they had gathered a lot more honey than the other.

Queens live from 2 to 3 years, while workers, when the queen is driving them, last only six weeks. However, In the winter the workers live a lot longer, for during that season the queen permits them to eat and they don’t have to work.

Bert had enlisted in WW1 in March of 1916 and subtracted a couple of years from his birth date to be able to do it.  His service file indicates his correct birthdate was discovered once he was overseas so he became part of the YSB (Young Soldier Battalion) who were trained for jobs like orderlies and construction but kept off the front line for the most part.  He was demobilized in 1919 and married Minnie Ball from Napinka in 1921.  The newlyweds arrived in Reston that same year1 where he worked on the coal dock for the next 27 years.  Buckets of coal needed to be winched overhead in from the dock to the train. Later, the coal was raised to the overhead bin by power but unloading to the dock was still done by hand.  Once diesel engines arrived in the 1940's, his job became obsolete.

 

The ever resourceful Bert had a Plan B so purchased a farm at SE 22-7-27 along the Pipestone Creek just east of where the Canupawakpa Walking Trail is now, farther east of  Harper's Grove as written about here. He owned the quarter from 1945 to 1965.  Bert learned the bee keeping trade and his beeswax and honey won many prizes including first at the Toronto Royal Winter Fair.  The 1948 Reston Recorder article continues below.  

One of Bert’s chief gripes in his business is people saying ‘ you must be making a lot of money’. Burt pointed out that the cost of supplies has advanced tremendously, while the price of honey has dropped. Packaged bees which must be bought in each spring to replace hives which have died over the winter, now cost over six dollars they used to be three dollars. Foundation for the combs now cost $.90 a pound, against less than half that amount a few years ago.

In addition to the cost of supplies, there is a lot of work connected with the beekeeping business. For instance, It is necessary to go through each hive every eight days during the honey season, no small chore. Other tasks involve the moving of the bees, and of course the job of extracting the honey, which is when you find whether there is to be a profit or not.

Bert and Minnie's first home was two boxcars, set about where the Elliot Brothers (former Pool) elevator stands today in Reston.  They later lived on the west side of First Street, just two houses north of the tracks. The coal docks were conveniently right out his back door.

 

Bert did carpentry as another hobby and the Reston District Museum was the beneficiary of this skill in 1970’s when he made frames for the many pictures that were in the museum.  He had collected and restored many First Nations artifacts from his farm and these can be found in the museum as well.  

Bert passed away in 1977 and Minnie in 1986. They had no children but left much of their estate to benefit the Reston community.  The Memorial Park remembers them with their names on a bronze plaque at the main west gate.  Other beneficiaries included the Hospital Aid,  the Museum, Lions Club and the two churches - United and Anglican. 

A quote attributed to the Victorian poet George Eliot seems appropriate to remember the Stratfords. 

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.

Millinery at GS Munro’s in 1910

 

                                                               

                                 

                                

Today's post gives a glimpse inside the G.S. Munroe store in Reston, Manitoba in October of 1910. The impressive two story stone clad store would have been 8 years old and sold a variety of merchandise to the growing town. On this particular day, a display of the new hats for the fall season was being held. Pictures and descriptions of ladies' hats found in the Hudson’s Bay Catalogue 1910-1911 at the top of the page give us an idea how fancy the headgear was in those days.


October 6, 1910 Reston Recorder Page 8

 The opening days at Munro‘s on the 3rd, 4th and 5th, both from a standpoint of attendance and the sale of ladies’ headwear, were most successful. Miss Whitely, the popular milliner, and her assistant Miss Grace Shippam, had on display, a choice collection of ladies hats that brought them much deserved praise. The large sale that resulted was most gratifying.

A description of the new styles, in a short space is impossible, but the following points may prove of interest to our lady readers who have been unable to attend the display.

In the larger hats, for young or middle-age ladies is the “La Cloche” made in paon silk velvet, trimmed with black taffeta silk ribbon.

A stunning creation in a small hat is made with a sloping stovepipe shape and made in paon silk velvet. The crown is draped and a large wing poses on the left side.

A beautiful feather band turban the crown draped with shirred satin ribbon, with a large bunch of ribbon caught up on the left side was one of the creations that had a host of admirers.

Another popular hat is one trimmed with marabout and roses. The rim is of silk velvet and is faced with moire silk ribbon.

The most popular colours are royal blue, brown, black and white and catawba.

Many of the ladies, after inspecting the millinery display and choosing their season’s apparel, attended the demonstration given by the Gold Standard demonstrator, and received many useful hints regarding the use of Gold Standard Products.

Reading these old articles has me doing some researching to help me put a picture to their words! "Paon silk velvet" seems to be a term that has faded into history but ladies of the time knew it must have been special silk.  "Moire silk ribbon" has a watered or woodgrain type pattern on it.  "Marabout" trim may have been misspelled from marabou which is soft downy feathers of a young turkey, dyed different colours as decoration. "Catawba" coloured hats? What would I do without Google??  It is described as a medium shade of dark pink-red.  Huge hats like this were kept in place with hatpins, which have become collector's items. 

Trails Along the Pipestone 1981  has a photo on page 491 of the millinery department of G. S. Munro Store in 1920 featuring Miss Cutting and Miss Mabel Abercrombie set up on the second floor.  Other Reston milliners over the years include Miss Levers, Gilles, and Mrs. T.W. Boulton (her husband was a distant relation, I think!). 

Lottie Smith, daughter of Thomas and Maggie Smith of Sinclair, was another who learned the millinery skills. Her niece Pat Taylor tells me that she worked in Salisbury's Millinery Shop in Reston in the 1920’s. Miss Smith made and sold millinery, ladies clothing and operated an ice cream parlour in the little old butcher shop until 1927 when she moved to Winnipeg. She remained a spinster her whole life as did her sister Minnie.

The wife of Dr. Clark, Winnifred, sold hats above the drugstore and later the bank in the 1930's. Fashion hats were worn less and less during the Second World War and by the 1970's were almost never seen.  The Catholic Church no longer required head coverings in services in 1967. One interesting website says this was due to shorter hairstyles but often hats were also worn to keep the sun off a woman's face.  The British royals and the Kentucky Derby have kept hats and fascinators in the news recently but they are a niche market.  

Were your curious what Gold Standard Products were? Google searches didn't find much but this ad from Munro's store the week before the millinery event makes it sound like the beginnings of a Watkins type company with many products to flavour and simplify home cooking. How many in the crowd that day in 1910 came for the hats and how many for the baking demonstration? 

The New Fangled Egg Grading Machine 1948

Here's a little knowledge today to go with your Sunday morning eggs!

 A previous post about the Reston Creamery here does not mention another part of this business that included the sale and raising of eggs and chickens.  An Egg Pool had been set up in the basement of Berry Hardware and later in the Cates block for farmers to bring their eggs to be sold to locals without their own birds. With the opening of the Reston Creamery in 1946, there was soon to be eggs bought and sold there as well.   The following article from April 1948 in the Reston Recorder explains how an automatic egg grader works.  So many things that had been done by people were being taken over by machines and the citizens of the times seem amazed. 

Recently installed in the Reston Creamery is an automatic egg grading machine. The machine, which speeds the grading of eggs by fifty percent, is practically fool proof, does everything but lay the eggs.

Operated by Jean Dooley and Marian Jezzard, the speed with which eggs are packed and graded is a sight to behold. Jean is in charge of the operations. She takes the eggs from the crates as they are delivered from the farms, candles them and separates them into A, B, craxs or rejects. "A" eggs are then placed on a inclined slot, where they roll down into the grading machine. There is another slot for B and a third for craxs.

Once placed on the machine amazing things happen. Rolling down the slot, the machine admits one egg at a time into the grading machine proper. In the A line up the first thing that happens is the machine prints each egg with a Canada stamp. The eggs are then moved forward by means of a moving trough. The first stop is the scale, the trough recedes and the egg sits on a miniature scale. If it is heavy enough, the scale trips and the egg rolls into a tray labelled A large. If it is not heavy enough for this classification, it moves forward again to a further set of scales, until it is finally deposited into the right classification tray. A eggs are classified into A jumbos, A large, A medium and A pullet. B eggs move down the other side of the machine. Here the same process as with the A grades is repeated. However there are only two scales on this side of the machine for B or C eggs. Also these eggs are not printed with the Canada Stamp.

The packing of eggs for shipment to the market is in charge of Marian Jezzard.

An interesting side note to this story is that Miss Jean Dooley from Hartney not only found work in Reston, she found love too!  Jean was married to Marion's big brother Frank Jezzard in April of 1949 and went on to raise a family and be a part of the community at Linklater and Reston.  

On the same topic but in another town, the above 2 Egg Statements were issued to my paternal Grandmother, Mary (Sinclair) Simms, at Oak River during the same time period.  Looks like B eggs were what her hens hens laid most of but if I'm reading the yellow one correctly, (and tell me if I'm not, Dad) Grandma received $5.76 for 24 dozen eggs! Crazy when I snapped up an 18 pack in the store last week because they were on sale for $5.99.   😲

Harper's Grove

http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards/PC000876.html

Last week's post about Guthrie's Grove picnic spot has led to one this week about Harper's Grove.  Also, a recent blog post about the Reston Citizen’s Band mentioned a performance  put on by them at a Royal Templars of Temperance picnic at Harper’s Grove in 1909. I had so many questions! Luckily, blog reader and former Restonite Tom Dempsey messaged me with some helpful information.  More about that later. 

According to the Trails Along the Pipestone history book on page 814, SE 21-7- 27  was first claimed by J. McKinnon in 1885.  A. Wilson owned it next in 1889 but G. A. Harper owned the quarter from 1916 - 1947.  George Alexander Harper was born in Bruce County, Ontario and married his Scottish bride Isabella Farnie in Winnipeg in 1912.  He and Bella lived 2 miles north of Reston on the banks of the Pipestone Creek and were credited with clearing the picnic grove that bore their name and had a swinging bridge over the creek to access their land on both sides. Census returns over the years show they often had at least 4 people living with them to help work their land and with the housework. They garnered a reputation for being very generous and hospitable people over the 4 decades of their residence. A nephew of Bella, Arthur Kingsley Farnie came from Scotland to live with the Harpers while in school.  He later joined the Royal Canadian Airforce and was killed at age 20 overseas in 1942.  The Harpers had one daughter Lily who married a local boy, Jimmy Forman and they moved west to run the general store in Wells, B.C.  George and Bella held a farm auction sale in October of 1948 and moved to British Columbia themselves.  The sale ad is a large ones and includes everything - horses, cattle, poultry, equipment, furniture, the piano, home canned fruit, a buffalo coat and so much more.  

Next on the scene were newlyweds and locals, Thomas Leslie "Les" Dempsey and Frances May Pierce.  They farmed here for the next 2 decades. Their only son Tom was able to fill in some Harper's Grove details for me. He grew up on the farm and recalled the picturesque spot. 

The picnic grove itself was in the small "peninsula" of land, approx. 60 yards wide and 125 yards long formed by the Pipestone Creek, past the house, north, around the bend then south towards the barn and on eastwards to the bridge. When I was just a little fart, the anchor posts for the swinging bridge existed on the east bank of the creek approx. 80 yards north of the barn.

In June of 1967, the Dempsey family were honoured at their own going away event.  A clipping from the Brandon Sun tells the program included singing, recitations and duets put on by friends and neighbours.  They had been active community members in the church and curling.  Retirement in Kelowna were enjoyed for many years and both returned home, to be buried in Reston Cemetery.

Next to own the quarter was Melvin Watt who purchased the farm in 1969.  In 1971, he married Rosealine Ann Cop from Antler, SK and over the next several decades they both contributed greatly to community life with their work on various boards. Mel and Rosealine raised a family of two girls and a boy and grew pedigree seed for sale.  Their yard site was a showplace and you may recall seeing when it was featured on the Prairie Farm Report on TV. In 2005, the Watts had a partial farm equipment auction and semi-retired to spend more time in Arizona and doing things they loved.  They are gone now. Their family rents out the land and occasionally enjoy an afternoon relaxing along the creek as was done over 100 years ago. 

Each quarter of land can tell a story of its past residents and I've been glad to tell this one.  Any further details and photos are always welcome! 

Picnic Groves of the Past

https://www.virtualmanitoba.com/Places/C/coulterpark.html

Longer warmer days make us think about times ahead with a picnic lunch enjoying the sun.  Early residents were no different than us and almost 137 years ago, July 1, 1886 was the first at Guthrie's Grove according to Ellen Guthrie Bulloch in her book Pioneers of the Pipestone.  The Grove was on the banks of the Pipestone Creek on the south half of 26-7-27 W1. The picture at the top of this page was taken years later and miles south at Sourisford, but I picture the Pipestone version as looking much the same. 

My curiosity about the site came about with an article by David Braddell in a June 1968 Reston Recorder column. He laments that during a recent visit to the "Scout Camp", south of the Guthrie homestead he saw it had been partly cleared and planted to crop. Although he admits that with the high price of land, farmers need to make use of every acre but it was a loss to those who admire its natural beauty.  A couple of weeks later, the Recorder carried the following memories of Kate Lothian, spinster daughter of early pioneers William and Annie (Milliken) living in British Columbia.  

The Guthrie picnic – how many of us are left who remembered that outstanding summer event of past days?
Reading in the recent Reston Recorder of the ploughing up and seeding of the old picnic grounds has brought back these memories.
The picnic started with very few settlers of that day, scattered here and there in the different districts. The coming of the Lanark people to that district where the Pipestone Creek meandered through started the enterprise, Mr. William Guthrie giving the area mentioned in the Reston Recorder. The Lothian and Milliken brothers cooperated, and like a prairie fire, the news spread far and near and folks came in wagons and buggies and on horseback, old and young, to the Guthrie picnic.
Mr. James Lothian, notably, gave his time to helping to clear the ground and get things into shape. He it was who climbed the highest tree to hoist a flag, what a gala look it gave in the eyes of we children. A clearing was made for a long table set up and a stove and boiler for the tea. The first two or three years, everyone was welcome whether they brought food or not, but every year the crowds grew, so it was organized into a Basket Picnic. A sports ground was cleared where sports were gone into, and a platform under the trees where speeches etc. were indulged in! And prizes given for various projects, one being for bouquets of wildflowers, this organized by Mrs. Howard McGregor. The McGregor brothers also had a refreshment stand, and our first ice cream was made and served by them! No ice cream freezers, but made in the long cream cans of that day, and it really was as hard as brick, but we didn’t know their secret.
I remember only one day in many years the weather failed us. All day until noon it was threatening, and by afternoon turned into a real wet day, so the picnickers had to wend their way homeward, but never mind - it was grand for the crops.
And so the old order changeth, yielding place to new but some are still here who were children then and remember the great day in summer of the Guthrie Picnic. What it meant to have a gentleman like Mr. William Guthrie from Lanark Ontario, who gave that lovely spot on the banks of the little old Pipestone Creek for a picnic each year. God bless our pioneers at the going down to the sun and in the morning we will remember them.

William Reid Guthrie and his second wife Eleanor Harding moved to Pipestone in 1884 after he had spent several summers here working railway and construction and breaking his homestead. They raised 7 children while being early pioneers. He was an influential community minded man and served as the Reeve of the Pipestone RM from 1896 to 1898. Their daughter Jean Stewart Guthrie never married but lived on the homestead until moving into the Alstone Lodge. 

Bonnie and Kay shared the following quote from "The Story of James Guthrie and His Family" by Bonnie Guthrie Kuehl.  

The original W. R. Guthrie house was a two story clapboard building. A large barn was erected later with its lower walls of field stone. One section of it was reserved for harness repairing. The farm was bordered on one side by the Pipestone Creek edged with its growth of poplar trees and low growing brush. The Indians related that part of the W. R. Guthrie farm where the river curves to form a large point of land had been a famous buffalo hunting ground in earlier days. Many Indian relics were found in this area as the ground was broken up for planting.
Wild animals such as the red fox, prairie wolves, rabbits, badgers, and gophers were plentiful, also an occasional deer. Wild turkeys, geese, ducks and prairie chickens abounded in good number. Wild fruit grew in abundance. They all started their own vegetable gardens, growing large crops of potatoes in particular.
The first of the famous picnics held in Guthrie's Grove took place also in 1887 and became the chief annual event of each summer. A flag waved from the top of a large elm tree and below gathered everyone for miles around. The ladies brought baskets of food to provide both a noontime and evening feast. An afternoon program included singing, speeches, games and races for the children and baseball for the young men. It was a great time for good old-fashioned visiting among the ladies , of course, but also among the men. 

Such great descriptive writing!  Can't you just see it?!  Stay tuned for a second part of this post about Harper's Grove, coming soon!

Mutual Improvement Societies

Today’s post is taken from the pages of the Reston Recorder’s November 11, 1909 edition.  A group of citizens are attempting to reinvigorate the Reston Mutual Improvement Society that had become inactive in the village.  The front page article penned by "A Well Wisher", relates the history of the society going back to 1886.  Trails Along the Pipestone (1981) had photos of 4 of these men as they were former Reeves.     

Looking north up Fourth (Main) Street Reston in 1908

Mr. Editor – With your kind permission I would like to draw attention to the notice of the annual meeting of the R.M.I.S to be held tomorrow evening.

The original society was organized by the early settlers in the Pipestone district away back in 1886 when there were comparatively few settlers except those living along the Pipestone Creek. Those early settlers got together to discuss the benefits to be derived from social gatherings and a library whereby they might pass many long winter evenings and keep in touch with the outside world and also keep their minds from rusting.

On 14 February, 1886 about 30 of the pioneers gathered at the old log shanty on Hawarden farm, the home of William Lothian, (NE 20-7-26) and organized the society then known as the Pipestone Mutual Improvement Society with Wm Lothian president, R. Forke vice president, J. McKinnon secretary treasurer. Committee, A. McKinnon, Percy Roberts, John Ready, Thomas Forke and James Rattray. Librarian James Lothian of Pipestone PO - Whitefield farm (NW 20-7-26).

The initiation fee was $.50 and $.50 per annual membership which some years later was raised to a dollar. As all the proceeds were expended on new books to replenish the library so no one thought to neglect to put in their dollar. Monthly meetings were arranged for the first debate being led by Mr. Willoughby “Resolved that the California Headers would be advantageous to Manitoba” which provided a very pleasant evening’s topic for the first entertainment. Their first order for books was sent direct to Newcastle-on-Tyne, England and the number was about 60 books- quite a credible showing for the small land of pilgrims. As the district got more thickly populated and a new post office opened at Mr. William Bulloch’s, known as the Reston post office, it was thought advisable to divide the books and the even numbered books were kept at Pipestone the odd numbered being sent to the Reston P.O. Once a year the books were recalled and those that had been kept in Pipestone or taken to Reston and vice versa. This kept the new books inside all the time and each district got their share of them. 

The monthly meeting often held often in the Reston School now known as Lanark but occasionally in the farm houses of McKinnon, Forke etc. and took the form of debates, impromptu speeches, papers on various subjects, mixed programs etc. and all looked forward to the meetings. In after years when the railway came in the village of Pipestone and Reston sprung into existence people lost interest in the old society and it was decided to split up and make two separate societies, one in each town. Then, as the towns grew, so many entertainments came, that the regular meetings of the society became a thing of the past and the library has only been very meagerly replenished through the undying efforts of those who recall the benefits derived from the society in years gone by. Many of our prominent men in this country were helped and led to a higher plane in life through just such societies as these. Where are our men of the future? What are we doing for the rising generations? These two questions appear to rise out of the experience of the past of this society. Are we doing our duty? Are we supplying the reading matter that will have a tendency to lead them to higher words, thoughts and actions, even if it seems impossible to hold the regular meetings? Is it anything less our duty to keep a good life library where those who have time may secure the reading that suits them? If the pioneers of this district, if you would wonder, could start with 60 books and replenish regularly by means of regular fees etc., surely we with better facilities could have one of the most up-to-date library in the country. If every one in this district would spend one dollar per year towards keeping up the silent educator it would mean not only 60 books but in a short time and untold number and we would hear no more answers to the question - Are you a member of the Reston MIS? No, I have read every book in the library why don’t you get more new books? The reason for sometime past is because there are no funds available.

   

Tomorrow evening is the annual meeting of the society, election of officers a plan to be worked out whereby new books may be bought. Would you attend and give this old and deserving society a boost? Signed, A Well Wisher

Nov 18, 1909
The annual meeting of the Reston Mutual Improvement Society was held on Friday evening but unfortunately the attendance was very poor. It is lamentable that more interest is not taken in this worthy institution, for, with proper support, its possibilities in developing the intellectual life of the community are great. The officers for the ensuing year are:

President EJ Wilkins

Vice president Dr E Bracken

Librarian EH Berry

Library Committee Rev JG Stevens, Rev AJ Tafts, AJ Manning, EH Berry

A previous post tells that the Pipestone and Albert Municipalities received a provincial grant in 1975 to start a public library and in 1992, our new building was constructed on the site of the first Reston School.  It continues to be a place of learning and sharing in the community for all ages and genders.  

Reston Citizen’s Band 1910

This amazing picture from the Reston Museum was the starting point for today’s blog post. The information I have on the band members is incomplete but hoping a relative may stumble on this and learn something new or give the more information.  I'm guessing the photo would have been taken by Saunders & Eaton of the Winnipeg Photo Co. which had a studio in Reston but was based in Napinka.  My copy has the writing very faint on the left side and I will need to pay a visit to the museum in the summer to find what I'm missing.  My knowledge of band instruments is limited so please Music and Band teacher friends, do correct me! 

 

Let me introduce you to the Reston Citizen's Band in 1910, back row first - left to right. 

• Charles A Stevenson - baritone horn (?) * Worked around Reston as a veterinarian 1895 - 1920 and served in WW1
• Thomas Mutter - baritone horn (?) * Was a grain buyer at Lake of the Woods Elevator about 1908-1934 who lived on Second Ave
• George Sumner - euphonium (?) * Tinsmith from England who worked in the Manitoba Hardware 1910- 1916
• Fred Douglas - euphonium * Railway worker 
• Isaac Grayson Mossop - tenor * Farmer, Fire and life insurance salesman and real estate agent with Guthie & Bulloch. Was also county records clerk in the little brick building on second avenue up until his death in 1933.
• E Groulx - first alto * Church of England (Anglican) Minister
• Thomas Moase - solo alto * Hardware clerk perhaps

Second Row left to Right

• W Enns ?  - Only one without a snappy uniform and hat
• Edward Hollowell  ? * son of shoemaker
• AJ Manning - percussion * school principal, former co-editor of Reston Recorder
• T Harold Donnelly-  leader - solo Bb cornet * Gentlemen's clothing store owner 
• Everett James Miller -  solo Bb cornet * postal worker perhaps
• Everett J Donnelly  - first Bb cornet * Gentlemen's clothing shop worker
• Howard M Jackson - first Bb cornet * fuel and implement agent

Front row kneeling/sitting left to right

• P Carpenter - first alto
• Frank Brady - second cornet * son of lumber merchant
• PG Stacombe - percussion

Glancing through the Recorder Archives, I ran across a few tidbits about the band. 

In July 1909 they were featured entertainment at the summer picnic for the  Royal Templars of Temperance at Harpers Grove.  They played also at Pipestone Sports Day.  Band leader Harold Donnelly married Ruby Jane Winter in Souris that summer. 

In February 1910, they provided skating music at a costume carnival at the rink. They may have sounded something like this clip from YouTube. 

In March 20, 1910 it was reported the band had weekly practices upstairs at Manitoba Lumber and Hardware and requested town fathers to construct a bandstand so they could perform in any weather conditions.  Their wishes fell on deaf ears apparently.

No further mention was found of the band after this news item below from July 1910. Harold Donnelly and his wife Ruby moved away from the community and without his leadership (and perhaps sponsorship) the era of the Citizen's Band was over.  I do wonder where the instruments and uniforms ended up and if their lips recovered quickly...

Radio Licenses

 Today being February 13, it is World Radio Day.  That reminded me of the Special Private Receiving Station Licenses from 1943-1947 that the Boultons dutifully kept as advised on the top of the form.  "Portable" was written on each and acknowledged that a two dollar license fee was paid each year to allow use of a radio at home. They were locally issued on behalf of the Canadian Minister of Munitions and Supply in both official languages 

Signatures indicate H. Bulloch and E. Pringle were authorized to issue the licenses. CS on the gray one in April of 1944 may be the signature of Cyril Standring but that's just an educated guess since he was postmaster during those years.  Places that sold radios as well as Post Offices were where licenses could be purchased.  I am presuming these were purchased at Reston Post Office. 

The first year they were required was 1928 and the last was in 1953.  There were Radio Inspectors who travelled the city and country looking for anyone operating one without a license. If these men saw a radio that was not licensed, they can and did prosecute. If the Inspector was spotted in town, word quickly spread and the radios were switched off and hid out of sight!  At one time, battery powered portable radios cost less to license than electric models.  Each radio in the house had its own license and if you had one in your vehicle, that required another.  

Are you curious where the money went? This site, which supplied much of the information for this post, seems to say the fees supported the inspectors but some money was also granted to the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission which would in 1936 become the CBC!  They requested the increase of licensing fees in 1949 and suggested a television license as well although I didn't find evidence in the Boulton Archives!

There's not many weekdays I don't ask Alexa to tune in the radio to Estevan station CJ1150  to see if our #2 son Scott is giving the news, weather and sports.  Long live radio!

Reston in 1972

This blog post is number 100 on Reston’s Historic Bricks and Boards! Thanks to so many people, near and far that encourage my continued writing. People have been so generous with sharing memories and objects that help tell the stories of the town and area around. Unless otherwise noted, the pictures in this post are thanks to the Pierce/Olenick collection. The RM of Pipestone’s digitization of the Reston Recorder archives has opened up a whole new extensive source of research material. Today’s post is one copied from an article by Mrs. J. D. Ready (the former Helen Manning) who worked at the paper for many years. The article is from the December 14, 1972 edition of Reston Recorder.  If someone wrote another version in 2023,  it is amazing how fifty years later the community is changed again. Her source for the facts (besides memory) was “Pioneers Along the Pipestone” written in 1928 by Ellen Guthrie Bulloch, available in print at the RM office or online here.

Postcard showing the west side of 4th Street about 1910.  Thanks to Ashlea from Toronto.

It is fitting that the 80th anniversary of the founding of Reston should be celebrated on December 7th for it was in December 1892 that the Railway reached Reston. The first station was a box car at the south end of Main Street, later a station was built at the same site which was destroyed when a snow plow left the track and ran into it. The history “Pioneers of the Pipestone” records “shortly afterwards the company (C.P.R.) decided they needed more room for yards and moved to where the present station stands”. The present station? It has disappeared as the trend for demolishing stations on rural lines continues. And where are the trains? We are fortunate to have regular freight service and also in the fact that this line is not a present in danger of being abandoned.

Perhaps 1940's  Bert Pierce second from the left

Two elevators, both with large annexes, serve a large area –The United Grain Growers and the Manitoba Pool Elevator. One of the first elevators was the Lake of the Woods which burned down and was never replaced.

 Picture taken around 1907

The first school is located on Main Street and is used as a restroom. The town and district is now served with two large schools, the Reston Collegiate and the Reston Elementary and pupils are bused in from long distances. Both schools are comparatively new and modern. A four room brick school constructed in 1905 was torn down in 1968 after the elementary school was built. The schools are in the Fort La Bosse School Division. The first teacher was a Miss Viva Giles. There are now eleven teachers in the collegiate and ten in the elementary.

Thanks to Delwyn and Shirley for sharing this picture.  High school on the left, elementary on the right.  Maybe in the 1950's?

First Reston Bank built 1909 burned 1906

The first bank was the Bank of British North America and the late Jackson Dodds, who became one of the top officials in the Bank of Montreal was one of the first managers. The Bank of British North America merged with the Bank of Montreal which still serves the district. An amusing story is told of the first Bank of North America building which was destroyed in the disastrous fire in those early years. It is said that during the excitement the pillars were carried out and the storm windows thrown downstairs! Only means of fire fighting was a bucket brigade and water was supplied by a well at the south end of the street, which has long since disappeared.

Reston now has a modern fire engine and a well trained fire brigade under chief Ross Benzie. Many of the firemen have also received St. John Ambulance training and also serve as drivers for the Reston Ambulance Service. The first doctor to settle in the district was the late Dr. A. B. Chapman who came in 1900. A Dr. Baird had settled at neighbouring Pipestone some years before that. The town now has a modern hospital, complete with laboratory and x-ray service. It has a full complement of nurses and a full-time lab technician and resident doctor. Rated as a 15 bed hospital, it can hold 20 beds and often does.

Dr. A. B. Chapman on his 90th birthday 1953

For years a local constable served as the police but now we have a three man detachment of the R.C.M.P. stationed here in a building constructed on First Street a few years ago. Cpl. Peck is the present head of the detachment.

 Water for the town was supplied from the town well on the west side and in 1962 town water and sewer service became available. The town water is now pumped from a well about two miles north to the pumping station in town.

 The first Church in town was the Methodist and it united with the Presbyterian Church built in 1902 long before Church union. The building was converted into a dwelling now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Paul. The Presbyterian Church is now the United Church and 1972 marks the 70th anniversary of its building. The St. John’s Anglican church was built later and still serves the district.

Anglican Church - postcard from about 1910

1972 also marks the 70th anniversary of the G. S. Munro Co. store. The store was built by the late Bill Pierce and is built of stone from the Kinloss district south of town. Some of the stone can still be found in that area on the farm formerly owned by Geo. Sutcliffe of Penticton B.C. now owned by Lorne Watt. Mr. Munro was operator of the first store in town before building the present structure.

Munro Store 1940's?

Recreation is an important part of the rural life so it was natural that rink would be constructed early – the first one being of wooden walls with canvas top. Now we have a fine modern structure with the curling section having four sheets of artificial ice. This is the 4th rink for the town. One of the early curlers was veteran Clyde Caldwell now 85 who still curls with the men’s senior club.

One of the first houses erected in Reston was the one owned by Mrs. Margaret Bulloch. The next year the house on Railway Avenue now owned by Mrs. Harcourt Barry was built by a Mr. Jackson. The Jackson family lived there for some years and conducted a fuel and implement business.

Postcard from about 1911

One of the first blacksmiths was Mr. H Geen, father of Art Geen, a former resident here. Other blacksmiths we recall are A. Majury, Hugh Dunbar, Mr. Jones, J. Cronk and then Mr. I. B. Buan who recently retired due to ill health, and for the first time since those early years the town has no blacksmith.

 The Reston hotel it was erected by Mr. Alex Robertson of Antler. Other owners that we can recall are George Chapman, Andy Sutton, R. V. Cusack, John Bondar, and Ed. Gulas. There may have been others as well.

Thanks again to Delwyn and Shirley for this picture of Reston House which stood on the NE corner of 2nd Avenue and 4th Street. 

Most of the facts concerning the town’s early history were obtained from Mrs. T.A. Bulloch’s book “Pioneers of the Pipestone”.