BOOMTOWN

Ah, what a beautiful afternoon.  My meetings were finished today at 11:45 AM, so I had the afternoon free (I love it when a plan comes together, this is how it has been at the last three Region 2 meetings).  So, I brought my meeting materials up to the room, donned my sunglasses (yes, they were definitely necessary here, it was sunny and in the low 70’s), and hit the pavement. 

 

My navigation tool was a Convention and Event Planning Guide map from a welcome package, and the distance from my hotel, along the river walk, through the park, to the final destination “Western Development Museum” was only about two inches.  Who knew that it would be a one hour walk.  About fifteen minutes into my walk, I stopped to ask a gentleman which way to the WDM, and he said “that is a long way away”.  I laughed, and said that’s okay, which way?  He gave me the directions, and it was “Eeexxxittt, Stage Left” [this is a test to see who gets the reference] :o)

 

After the first fifteen minutes along the riverwalk, it was another 45 minutes through residential neighborhoods.  As I walked along, I could not help but notice the dust clouds as the cars went past.  Because of the cold temperatures here, and the damage to the vehicles, they no longer use salt on the roads during the winter – only sand.  So there were sand dust clouds as cars went past.  They had snow here last weekend, so this is the first weekend that the street cleaners could be out (I think I saw at least four of them).

 

As I strolled down the sidewalk, I could only marvel at the fact that the grass was just starting to turn (70% brown still), and close examination of the bushes and trees showed little green buds bursting at the seams, ready to break out into luscious green leaves at any moment.  There were many majestic conifer trees, and magnificent Dutch Elms lining the streets of this older section of Saskatoon (per one of the residents, planted a while back by the city, cause der arnt any trees in da praireee).  The houses were not that large, and many had a shotgun design.  Most of the houses had chimneys, and even the shotgun style houses had basements. 

 

I reached the Western Development Museum, 1910 BOOMTOWN Saskatoon, and the building was very non-de script.  I paid my $8.50 and entered the museum proper.  The museum was broken into three areas: first was the Transportation Gallery, with many 1910 – 1930 era  buggies, carriages, and vehicles; second was a replica of a 1910 town, all indoors, with a main street, complete with carriages and cars parked on the edges of the road; and last was a Prairie Work in progress.

 

There are a total of four Western Development Museums in the province, and they have 250 antique vehicles between them.  They have all been beautifully restored.  As part of the Transportation Gallery, they also had a St. Louis streetcar, and a model railroad with era appropriate models.  As a model railroader wannabe, it was really cool.

 

The Prairie Work was interesting because they had a Railroad Steam Engine, tenders, and flatcars.  In addition, they had recreated the aboriginal dwellings and a sod hut that most settlers used for their first few years on the farm.  The 1910 time frame is important because this was when the area really started to boom based on the 1872 Dominion Lands Act of that offered homesteads of 160 acres for $10 dollars if the settler lived on the homestead for at least six months each year for three years, build a suitable home, broke at least 30 acres of land and seeded at least 20 acres.  Many families came from England, Scotland, France, and Germany during this time; typically with the man coming for the first year, followed by his wife and children.

 

The following recreations were included in the indoor representation of a typical Saskatchewan town:

 

• Telephone Operator’s House
• Harness Shop
• Livery Stable
• Blacksmith Shop
• General Store
• Real Estate Office and Law Office
• Dentist’s Office (Yikes, usually the doctor did all dental work until a town was large enough to justify a dentist.  The tools of the trade back then were very crude – I will never complain again :o)
• Doctor’s Office (Exam $1-$5, Amputation $15 for fingers and $50 for limbs, Surgery $100-$300)
• Drugstore (1000’s of bottles on the walls)
• Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP) – complete with a little one person jail.  From 10/01/1909 through 09/30/1910, the biggest crime was Drunk & Disorderly.
• Church
• School
• Laundry
• Hardware Store
• Arctic Ice Company (blocks cut from river and stored, then delivered)
• Railway Station
• Implement Dealer
• Bank of Nova Scotia
• Craft Parlor
• Dry Goods
• City Garage
• Photo Studio
• Fire Hall
• Town Office
• Clock Shop (again a sign of prosperity for a town, and also included jewelry, china, and silver)
• Butcher Shop
• Print Shop
• Barber Shop and Pool Hall (the man’s place)
• Café

 

All in all, it was a very enjoyable way to spend my afternoon, learning about life on the prairie at the turn of the last century. 

 

After all that walking, I headed back to the City Center, and went to an English Pub I discovered on Thursday, and had a few brews and some fish and chips.

 

Hope you enjoyed your day as much as I enjoyed mine.  Pictures hopefully to follow when I get back to Indiana.

 

Update: there is one previous entry on Saskatoon details, and two subsequent entries that have some pictures :o)

Tags: Blogplugs, Saskatoon, Western Development Museum, Prairie