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Manitoba History: Oral History: Clanwilliam, 1918by Mr. Pax Crawley Manitoba History, Number 9, Spring 1985
Here is a little bit [of] Manitoba’s history [that might be of interest] ... When the deadly flu of 1918 hit the Minnedosa area, the little village of Clanwilliam, which is almost in the centre of the little Municipality of Minto, ... decided to do something about it. A quarantine was placed on the village. I do not know who was responsibleprobably the local merchants and the Reeve and Councillors of Minto. No municipal records are available, for they were all lost when the Minnedosa dam broke in 1950 and flooded the vault where they were stored. [Because of the quarantine] no one ... could buy a train ticket to Clanwilliam. I knew of one lady who got on the train at a siding to come to Clanwilliam to look after a new granddaughter. She expected to get her ticket on the train. The conductor said, “I’m sorry I can’t sell you a ticket to Clanwilliam.” He stopped the train and let her off when they passed her farm home ... Mail bags were left on the [Clanwilliam] platform, where the [train] crew picked them up and left the incoming mail [making contact with no one from Clanwilliam]. Farmers bringing grain to the elevators ... had to wear a mask with disinfectant (mostly oil of Eucalyptus). I was 17 so I remember wearing such a mask. The result was that no one in the area got the deadly flu, even though Minnedosa, just 8 miles south, had 17 deaths in 1 week, while the Hilltop area 7 miles north had several deaths. I strongly suspect that R. A. (Bob) McQuarrie had much to do with [the action taken]. He ran his own store for 50 years ... and shook hands with 500 friends on his 100th birthday ... I only wish I had asked him about it before he passed on. I do know that we are deeply in debt to those far sighted men. |
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