That's a fascinating story, Bill. I had a great aunt, whom I never met, who emigrated to Canada at about the same time as your father. She lived in Halifax, Novia Scotia, so they were practically neighbours.
People like your grandfather had true grit. Bob > > My understanding is that Grampa's brother came over some > years earlier, > prior to WWI and homesteaded in the area, and then our family > came over as > soon after WWI as they could manage and lived with the > brother's family > until the house was built. > It would have been built by my grandfather, his brother, and > other local > farmers. > This was an era of westward expansion by both the Canadian > and the American > governments, so land was practically being given away. all a > person had to > do was homestead it and be Canadian in order to give Canada > leverage if the > Americans decided to move the border north. > Consequently, a lot of imigrants were sold somewhat of a bill > of goods > regarding what they were getting, my grandfather being one of them. > About all the Robb's sucessfully farmed was rocks. There is a > salt lake > within a few miles of the farmsite that has enough dissolved > mineral that a > sodium sulphite extraction mill was built at the town of > Bishopric, perhaps > 5 miles distant. On a hot breezy day, one can see the salt > rising off the > lake and drifting over the nearby farms. > The 1930s in that area was also one of the dryest times on > record, with a > drought that lasted pretty much the entire decade. > It was, apparently, a pretty brutal existence, you were > either a tough SOB > or you moved to Moose Jaw and sold your daughters into > whoring to survive. > I suspect that if they had the money, they would have called > the entire > adventure a waste of time and moved back to Auchtermuchty. > My family farmed that area until well after WWII, although > two sons were > lost in the war, and two (my father and an uncle) came back from the > European conflict, went to university and took up teaching. > The son that got the war exemption (they wouldn't take every > male so as to > ensure that families weren't wiped out completely) went on to > become an > engineer and ended up building a few power plants and hydro electric > facilities for the fledgling Crown Corporation called > SaskPower and my > grandparents retired off the farm in the early 1950s and > moved to a town > nearby, where they resided until the early 1960s when they > had to be moved > into care facilities in Regina. > > Thanks for showing interest, though I don't know if you were > showing this > much. > > Paul, I intend to get back out there and do some more work > there before the > place collapses completely. The hous is sitting on a rock > foundation that is > becoming very unstable, and the spine of the roof, while not > broken yet, is > definitely on it's way out. > Southern Saskatchewan is dotted with these little abandoned > farms and ghost > towns from the steam rail era where a town sprung up every 10 > miles or so to > supply the trains. > A friend of mine has started documenting these abandoned or > nearly abandoned > town sites, and I am trying to go on a few expeditions with > him this year. > > Thanks again > > William Robb > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly > above and follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
