William Reid Guthrie was
born in Middleville, Ontario in 1836. In 1882 he came west with
his son James. They worked during the summer on the construction of the
mail line of the C.P.R. They returned to their home in Ontario for the
winter and the following summer was once again spent in construction of
the railway. Before returning to Ontario again for the winter, he
bought the south of 26-9-27 in the valley of the Pipestone Creek from
the Hudson's Bay Company. During the summer and fall of 1883 some land
was broken and a house built. In the spring of 1884 he came west again
bringing his wife Eleanor, and their children. He later bought the half
of section 33 and two other quarters not far from his original holding.
Guthrie’s Grove along Pipestone Creek became a popular meeting place.
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Daily Nor’Wester July 13, 1887
William was chairman of the first meeting held on June 29, 1886 to
arrange for the construction of a school and later served on the school
board for a number of years. It was decided to name the school district
Reston, after the little town in Scotland where some of the pioneers
had originally lived. When the railway came through, the town site was
named Reston, so it necessitated changing the name of the school from
Reston to Lanark. He was Reeve of the Pipestone Rural Municipality from
1896- 189S.
Mr. Guthrie died on March 10, 1909.
Adapted from Trails Along the Pipestone, page 295,298, 368
Adapted from Pioneers of the Pipestone. page 35
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