Stories
from... Boissevain
-
Morton Minicipality
Volume
1

Turtle Mountain
Web
Vol.
I, Page 1
The
creation, habitiation and settlement of a unique area.
Whitewater Lake Web
Vol.
I, Page 2
The
creation, habitiation and settlement of a unique area.
Boundary Commission Trail Web
Vol.
I, Page 4
The main
highway -
west.
Mandan
Trail Web
Vol.
I, Page 5
The
explorer LaVérendrye used the Mandan Trail on his expedition in
1738 to visit the Mandan villages along the Missouri, thus the trail
quite possibly existed prior to the fur trade era.
Skull
Swamp Web
Vol.
I, Page 7
Skull
Swamp is an example of the ingenuity possessed by post glacial
societies in their bison hunting techniques and how they used the
existing landscape to their advantage.
Lena
House Web
Vol.
I, Page 10
Lena
House is one of
two fur trading posts which were located on Turtle
Mountain, though its exact location has never been determined.
The Boiler Trail
Vol.
I, Page 19
This trail
branched off from the Boundary Commission Trail about a 2.4 kms west of
Wakopa and met up with the Trail again at the Old Deloraine Land Titles
Office
George
Morton's Ventures Web
Vol.
I , Page 20
He
persuaded businessmen in Kingston to invest in the Morton Dairy Farm
Company and received (via his business connections with John A.
MacDonald the right to purchase 72 square miles (184 kms²) of land west
of Whitewater Lake.
Turtle
Mountain
City and Waubeesh Web Vol.
I, Page 21
John
Brondgeest envisioned Waubeesh becoming a thriving settlement, and by
1884, it was indeed a chief commercial centre for the region along with
Old Deloraine.
Strathallen School
Web
Vol.
I, Page 28
The
school was built in 1892 about seven miles (11 kms) southwest of
Boissevain along the old No. 3 Highway.
Great
Northern
Railway
Web
Vol.
I, Page 30
Construction of the Great
Northern Railway (GNR) began during the
winter of 1905 and finished in 1906, covering the 69.5 miles (110 kms)
from St. John's (Devil's Lake), North Dakota to Brandon, Manitoba.
Mennonite
Settlement in Southwest Manitoba
/ Web
Vol.
I , Page 34
Mennonites settle on
the Canadian Prairies - Post 1923
Dunseith
Trail Web
Vol.
I, Page 35
The prohibition of
beverage alcohol in the early 1900s paved the way
for one of the area's most colourful chapters of thrill and intrigue.
Walter Zeiler –
Rum-runner Web
Vol.
I, Page 36
He
travelled in
the dead of night, never under a full moon, and never after it had
freshly snowed because of the tracks that would be left by his horse's
hooves
Lorna
Smith
Nature Centre Web
Vol. I, Page 41
The
Lorna Smith Nature
Centre just southeast of Boissevain was established in 1983 by the
Turtle Mountain Conservation District as part of the reservoir project.

Volume 2

Oil
Exploration Web
Vol.
II, Page 46
The
present-day oil boom builds upon a history of success in the oil
industry

Volume 3

Mammoth
Tusk
Web
Vol.
III, Page 8
This
find is one of
only eight proboscidean discoveries in Manitoba and one of three tusks,
the other finds being teeth.
Eva
McKay:
The Dakota Experience Web
Vol.
III Page 22
Retelling
History:
Elder, healer and activist Eva McKay tells of the
gross misinterpretation of history as it describes her people
Old Wakopa
Web
Vol.
III, Page 24
The
first “stopping place” for settlers heading west
Lake
Max Sawmill Web
Vol.III
, Page 26
In 1880 Mr Bolton
established a sawmill on the shore of Lake Max. The next year,
entrepreneur George Morton bought the sawmill and used it to produce
lumber for nearly every building in the then thriving village of
Whitewater.
Lake
Max Recreation
Web Vol.III
, Page 27
As
the largest lake in what is now Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, Max
Lake was the natural location of choice for summer holidaying.
All
Saint's Church
Web
Vol.
III, Page 32
The All Saint’s Church
and Cemetery served as a landmark and community centre for over 30
years before the numbers in the parish could no longer support it.
Turtle Mountain Forestry Reserve Web
Vol.
III, Page 41
In
1895
the
Minister of the Interior set aside 75,000 acres as the “Turtle Mountain
Timber Reserve.”
George
King General Store Web
Vol.
III, Page 49
Built in 1904, it was
once also the home
of the Boissevain and Morton Library and Archives.
The
Blue Flea Web Vol.
III, Page 51
The
Lauder Subdivision
of the CPR (which came to be known as the Blue Flea) was constructed
due to a request which came from one Thomas Dand.
Ben
Arde:
Mountainside Store Operator Web
Vol.
III, Page 53
1949
- 1962
Ben Arde was
born in
Saskatchewan in October of 1926. His parents
farmed there until the 1930s. When Ben was eight his father, originally
from Wakopa, moved his family back to Manitoba, this time settling
south of Mountainside.

Volume 4
Railway
Schemes and
Dreams Web
Vol. IV,
Page 10
While
many of the
railway proposals may have been based more on hopes than on available
investors, most were practical, indeed modest, attempts to address a
local Manitoba need.
A Disturbance in the
Classroom -
By Edith King Web
Vol.
IV , Page 12
At the
blackboard the young
teacher determinedly was writing an exercise for the class. From behind
her came a sudden but definite flip, flip, flip of an inkwell.
The
Anchorage
Web
Vol. IV , Page 14
The
Anchorage
was not, as one might expect when first hearing of it, a public hall.
It was a private home.
Sam
Heaslip - The
"Stage Coach"
Mailman Web
Vol.
IV, Page 17
In
the early 1880’s the main road from Old Deloraine to Brandon was the
Heaslip Trail named for Sam Heaslip who established the trail and used
it to deliver the mail.
A
Tale
of Two Mill Fires
Web
Vol.
IV, Page 18
The story of milling
in Boissevain begins shortly after the town was established as an
important commercial centre on the new CPR line. In those days a
progressive town needed a mill.
From Trails to
Rails Web
Vol. IV
, Page 19
Whole
villages like
Deloraine, Waubeesh and Wassawa were moved to new locations when the
rail line passed them by.
The
First Phone in Boissevain
Web
Vol.
IV, Page 28
In
1904 a local
exchange was located in Hilton's Drug Store, but only a few residences
were hooked up. Then in 1906 the Bell Telephone Company began
installing its own phones in Boissevain homes.
Cricket Anyone? : The Waubeesh
English Settlement
Web
Vol.
IV, Page 38
There
were many attempts in Western Canada for groups from Britain to
duplicate the sort of life they were used to in their home country.
Mr.
Bryan's
Whistle Stop
Web
Vol.
IV, Page 58
“One
time, Mr. William
Jennings Bryan, a noted politician in U.S.A. was trying for the
presidency. He came to Canada on the Great Northern Railway..."

Volume 5

The
Three
Bridges at Riverside Web
Vol.
V, Page 10
This well-used
crossing of
the Souris River has seen a few changes.
The
Two Desfords Web
Vol.
V, Page 14
The
Desford community
began in the late 1870's along the Old Commission Trail about twelve
kilometres south- southeast of Boissevain.
Snow Plane to the Rescue!
Web
Vol.
V, Page 26
Simply
put, a
snowplane was a sleigh with a body on it and a propeller on the back
end of a motor. Like the horse and sleigh before it, it didn’t need
roads.
Nurse
Halladay
and
Boissevain’s
First Hospital
Web Vol.
V, Page 31
When the
time came to
open the doors on this new and much appreciated service, Nurse Halladay
was appointed Matron.
scibing
him.
Murder
for a
Homestead
Web
Vol.
V, Page 37
Two
murders, a
national manhunt and a near escape. It all started on a farm near
Boissevain.
Boissevain’s
Dr. Bird Web
Vol.
V, Page 42
Dr Bird
had to deal
with many emergency procedures by the dim light in a homesteader’s
bedroom.
Home
Delivery - The
Drayman
Web
Vol.
V, Page 44
In addition to doing
the daily deliveries from the station, the draymen did deliveries from
merchants to customers and from the train station to merchants.

Volume 6

From Sheppard’s Ferry to Sheppardville Vol. 6,
Page 17
On early maps of southwestern Manitoba, and in the earliest
reminiscences
by pioneers, the name Sheppard keeps popping up.
Safeway Stores – Changing Small Town Shopping
Vol. 6, Page
28
Safeway stores were the first widespread attempt at placing “Chain
Stores” in rural communities.
Mr. Udall & The International Peace Garden Vol.
6, Page 29
Boissevain's Billy Udall and the creation of the International Peace
Garden.
Police Point Vo.l 6Page 36
The NWMP patrols the Border from a Depot at William Lake.
A Trip to Orthez Vol. 6, Page 38
Local history books relate many accounts of the benefits of reliable,
inexpensive train service in those days before everyone had cars.
Dring Laminated Structures Vol. 6, Page
51
Innovation and Business in Boissevain. Vol. 6. Page 51
Bill Moncur – Boissevain’s Historian Vol. 6, Page 55
Building Excellence in Women’s Sports Vol.
6, Page 56
Women's hockey has deep roots in Westman.

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