Of all the villages that were created in that first rush of pre-railway settlement, Souris, first called Plum Creek, is still on the map – right where it always was. That makes it unique in Southwestern Manitoba. The settlements that were established along the Souris River through the southwest corner, while often still being “false starts”, were not always riverside settlements, like Millford or Souris City were.  As of 1883 when this map was created, Mentieth, Melgund and Napinka were rural post offices.  Soon a post office named Hartney would be located between Menteith and Melgund. In 1889 The CPR would chose that location to build a town, also called Hartney.  Napinka became a town when the CPR established a station nearby. Melgund lived on as a district with a school and a church, and even a curling rink, without ever becoming a commercial centre.

Mentieth


Menteith Post Office was established in 1884 on NE 7-7-22, the farm home of James Winter. An elevator and station were build when the CPR established a station nearby, but it remained a community rather than a village, in that the school remained on its rural site, and the Bethel Church that served the district was also some distance away. The Post Office closed in 1950.

Melgund
 

Sam Long and John Fee were the first European settlers in the area. Early in 1881, they made their way from Portage La Prairie to settle in what would be the Melgund district. They built a sod shack and set about breaking sod and putting up hay. While they went to Winnipeg and Brandon to work for the winter their shack became crowded as more settlers arrived in the area and moved into the only existing shelter. Before spring 1882 the small building was the temporary home of seventeen people.

It would be eight years before the railway entered the district and the town of Hartney would be created. 

The name Melgund first appears as a Post Office opened in 1882 in the home of W.J. Higgins. Rose School opened in, 1884, one of the first in the area. It was also used as a church before the Melgund Methodist Church was built across the road.

When the first settlers arrived there were priorities. They had to build some shelter, break some sod, and plant some grain and vegetables. Before long they would get together and build a school.  They might build a church, and then, perhaps, a general store or a blacksmith shop might open for business. But most such settlements never did become towns as we know them, with rows of houses and a main street for stores and shops.
 

This small building served as the Melgund Post Office – and likely as a residence for a time as well.

Seven students were required for permission to open a school and in 1884 only four school age children could be found. Fortunately William Callendar’s sister-in-law Mrs. M.E. Callendar was planning to come to the region and locals petitioned her to come as soon as possible. It all worked out and Rose School opened on July 11, 1884, one of the first in the area. It was located just over a kilometre southeast of the Post Office, and doubled as a church for about ten years before the Melgund Methodist Church was built across the road.

The Melgund pioneers may lay claim to being among the first settlers in the area and Sam Long and John Fee are generally considered the founding fathers of the Hartney District.

The arrival of the railway to the area in 1890 prompted the creation of commercial centres at Hartney and Lauder. The line passed just over a kilometer north of Melgund, but proximity to Lauder and Hartney meant that Melgund never did evolve into a village with stores and services.
It did however continue to thrive as a community.

The school was re-built in 1903 and was given the Melgund name as well. It operated until 1962.  A beef ring was active beginning in about 1914. A “flag station” called Emblem was established on the nearby CPR line.

The church continued to serve the community until 1967. A one-sheet curling rink was established in 1947, a sure sign that the people still preferred to support the local alternatives for recreation and entertainment. But time marched on.

Hartney also had its beginnings in a rural post office – near, but not alongside the Souris River.

James Hartney

In 1881 James Hartney, from Ontario, bought two sections of land and hired labourers to work it before he moved to the area in 1882 with his family. He imported a carload of Red Fife wheat from Minnesota and after reserving enough for his own crops sold the rest to his neighbours. By 1882 he had a good wheat crop, thus beginning the district's reputation as a first-class wheat producing area. His success attracted more settlers and Hartney's farm became the centre of a new community. He was soon granted the right to open a post office, which he named after himself. He also set up a store, first operated out of his home and later in a separate building. He brought men into the community to operate this business as well as a blacksmith shop that he later established.

When the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) survey was made in 1889, a station named “Airdrie” (after a town in Scotland) was established on the section to the north of his homestead. The community centre that had grown around the Hartney farm shifted a half-mile to this new town site where the road running parallel to the railway became the main street.

Children attended nearby Webb School until 1892, when a classroom was opened above the newly built implement and lumber store.  So for a few years children living in town would meet the teacher, Mr. Forrester, in town and walk to school with him.


Napinka

The village of Napinka was created in 1891 when the CPR extended the Souris Branch through Hartney, Lauder and on to Melita.  By that time the area had been settled for a decade and its identity as a community was well established.


The first house in the district was built by J. M. Grover, a Toronto broker, in the year 1881, and was situated on the brow of a hill on the south bank of the Souris River. 

L J. Phinney was a stone mason and built a lime kiln on the north bank of a creek, burning limestone found on the prairie and making lime for mortar which he used to build all the chimneys in the neighborhood and outlying districts as well. He also plastered all the pioneer houses, built the stone foundations for houses and barns and later in the village, buiIt foundations for the first houses and plastered them. 
In1884, Snyder and Warren, storekeepers who operated the Menota Post Office, carried mail on their stage drawn by a pair of mules, from Brandon to the most westerly settlements. All points in between where enough settlers for a warranted it, were given a post office in a central place on the main trail and mail was supplied once a week. J. S. Yeoman's homestead, was Napinka’s post office and mail was sent in bundles to outlying districts, one man coming on mail day and taking the whole assortment or letters and papers or parcels to his neighbours.

Mrs. lda Crowell was the first teacher in Napinka district and this school was the first west of Hartney and was built in 1884 a bit east of where the town would later be located. A sod stable stood across the road for the horses bringing the children to school or the people to church.
This small settlement became a busy village in the 1890’s by virtue of its location. It was on the busy CPR Souris Branch connecting Melita to Brandon and the branch line from Deloraine west also connected to that line at Napinka.

Like all railway towns, as the importance of the railway link declined, so did the importance of the town as a commercial centre. And although its residents may miss the grocery store, gas station and Post Office, it is a short drive to Melita for those things. It retains its grid of streets and houses, its community hall and its community spirit. The school has been concerted into a Library and Drop-In Centre where locals can gather for coffee. For quite few people, its still home
 

Sources

A Century of Living - Hartney & District 1882 - 1982, Hartney and District Historical Committee
The Mere Living, Hazel McDonald Parkinson, 1957

75th Anniversary, Melgund United Church, Manitoba 1892 - 1967