Homestead Month for the Museum

written by Nancy Carswell

Typically, a homesteader's priorities were to build a one-room starter home, dig a well or locate a water source, and cultivate enough land for a garden and a hay crop for animals. Essential hand tools shown here from the Shellbrook Heritage Museum collection are a grub hoe, ace, spade-like shovel, and scythe. (It is unlikely that the spade-like shovel was used by homesteaders but was included to represent a spade.)

One way the Shellbrook & District Heritage Museum is celebrating its 40th anniversary is with monthly articles focusing on a part of its collection. This month's homesteading focus is evident in every room, nook, and cranny in the museum. Homesteading in the Parklands followed the same governmental trail, from entry to patent, as homesteading in the Prairies but the big challenge of these two homesteading groups differed. The Prairie homesteaders had to break the land while the Parkland homesteaders had to clear the land.

The homesteading system was initiated primarily to populate the Prairies with consumers and producers to pay for Sir John A. McDonald's dream of a trans-Canada railroad. A prospective homesteader for a nominal registration fee could file for 160 acres. The homesteader then had three years to "prove" his or her homestead. (To be a homesteader one needed to be at least 18 and male or a widow.) In that three years as well as cultivating 30 acres, the homesteader had to build a house and reside on the land a proportion of the time. At the three year mark, a sworn statement witnessed by two neighbours gave the homesteader the patent; a document of ownership.

It is odd how often "clearing the land" is mentioned in sources without details. When asked exactly how clearing the land of popular and spruce trees was done, one senior cryptically chuckled, "With the help of E.B. Eddy". E.B. Eddy is not a person but a match company. So from clues from various sources, the process of clearing the land began with felling the trees with axes and saws. If a tree was suitable, it might be processed into lumber for building or cord wood for winter fuel. The remaining logs and debris would be piled and burned with the help of E.B. Eddy. While this step was demanding, the next was worse. The roots and stumps had to be removed. As decomposition helped the removal process, roots and stumps were left in ground as long as possible. After axe and spade work, the tool of choice for roots was the sturdy grub hoe. For stumps, there were person-powered and animal-powered stump pullers—some pullers were simply chains and others complex machines. Both horses and oxen supplied welcome muscle but horses may have been preferred as oxen tend to stop when they meet great resistance while horses continue to pull. The spirit of cooperation flourished in the Parkland and "clearing bees" were common where neighbours work together proving again and again that "many hands make light work".

Cultivating the land was a critical step towards securing a homestead. A Shellbrook Chronicle article of May 1912 reported a petition that the number of required acres broken to prove up a homestead be changed from 30 to 15. It is not surprising the article ends: "Every person in this district will heartily endorse this movement for reduction in homestead duties" as it would mean clearing only 15 football fields (a rough approximation of an acre) instead of 30. Shellbrook rural homesteading peaked in the early decades of the 1900's. The Chronicle mentions 351 in 1912 topping the previous year's 260 entries. The first two homestead entries were 1892 but both were abandoned. In 1893, entries by Miles A. Riggs and Samuel Halliwell were successful but there are ten other homesteaders in the same year who cancelled suggesting the odds of success were 1 to 5. Post WWI, the 1919 Soldier Settlement Act provided soldiers with loans for land, stock, and equipment but many farms failed. The 1942 Veteran's Land Act wisely offered the veteran choices and more flexibility so more farms succeeded.

The homesteaders possessed an incredible number of virtues. The first was the courage to immigrate and take on the challenges of homesteading. Government advertising was exaggerated and presented Canada as a land flowing with the proverbial milk and honey so upon arrival at the homestead they needed optimism and hope to sustain years of work; work that required persistence and strength. Their living situations also demanded creativity (necessity being the mother of invention), thrift, and resourcefulness. These and many other virtues are the foundation of Shellbrook and district.

The Museum Committee and Friends of the Museum continue to invest energy in inventorying the collection. The inventorying process is the first step as the museum moves from storing artifacts to telling their stories. If you would like to help, please drop in to see Alanna Carswell at the library or call Marlene Fellows at 306-747-2475.

The Museum welcomes monetary donations for inventory show cases and other donations to help better display items to tell their stories. Please make donations to the Town of Shellbrook to receive a receipt.