About the
project...
The project has documented over 100 sites in Rivers and area that
possess heritage characteristics.
For each site we have taken photos and attempted to determine the
origins and significance of the site, as well as noting,
for the
record, architectural, material and design details.
Each site has been placed on a map and any old photos or other
documentation unearthed is included in the file.
In some cases other
resources have been identified.
Overview
We have attempted to relate these site to the history of the region
through a series of short articles on:
1. Historic Claims of the area
2. Analysis Critera - Where sites fit
in terms of the Community
Heritage
3. Community Layout
The project is intended as a "Beginning" rather than a Finished
Product.
Local groups and individuals are invited to amend and add to it. New
information is always welcome and we will make every effort to add
anthing that is sent to us.
One goal is to collect as much information as we can.
Community Historical
Claims
The R.M. of Daly was settled beginning in 1879
and communities such as Tarbolton,
Roseville, and Ancrum evolved around the local church and regional
school.
Post Office were established, but no towns were surveyed or built.
Nearby
centres, first Rapid City, then Brandon served as both markets for
produce
and outlets for supplies. For over twenty years, surely a record in
southwestern
Manitoba, no railway crossed the municipality. Across the province in
the
early 1880’s speculative or “paper” town were
promoted based on supposed
assurances that railways would soon appear. In Daly, perhaps such
effort
would have been overshadowed by the surprising growth of Brandon, right
on
its southern border. Perhaps having that excellent source of both
supplies
and markets, available by the second real harvest, allowed for a
certain
level of contentment. Progressive municipal government as well as
active
local communities and school district boards, provided the
infrastructure
and service that settlers needed.
By the end of the settlement era two sets of tracks crossed the
Municipality.
In 1902 a C.P.R. branch line connected the municipality with Brandon
and
spawned the towns of Wheatland and Bradwardine as well as the hamlets
of
Carnegie and Pendennis and it was no doubt much appreciated. The
accompanying
establishment of both retail services and elevators made life easier
for
everyone. It was progress, but perhaps not a big readjustment in social
cultural
or economic life.
The decision of the Grand Trunk Pacific to build a line across the
prairies,
a decision made far away and likely with no thought or concern about
local
impact, would bring about substantive and lasting change to the R.M. of
Daly.
The line proceeded parallel to the C.P.R. main line in an almost
straight
line from Portage La Prairie westward, so close to the competition that
no
new town were required until it passed McGregor where the CP line
angles
slightly southwards. It then sprouted town and villages in regular
steps
beginning with Firdale and following the alphabet through to Levine.
Because
it was decades after the first settlement rush, there was no real need
for
any these villages to progress commercially beyond an elevator or two
with
a few other retail outlets. But at the crossing of the Little
Saskatchewan
there was a need for a significant service centre with roundhouse,
yards,
and other services. A town was required and almost overnight Rivers,
named
after a director of the Grand Trunk Railway, went from being farmland
to
a carefully planed and substantial town.
The implications for the entire municipality were far-reaching. With
the
establishment of rail service and retail establishments, trips to
Rivers
replaced trips to Brandon. The nearby settlement of Wheatland on the
rival
C.P.R. branch line was eclipsed. The railway jobs attracted people from
a
wide variety of places, broadening the social and cultural makeup of
the
region.
The next important change occurred with the establishment of the Air
Force
Base. The impact of the base can not be overstated. The role of
the
railway as the economic stimulus and the very identity of Rivers was
replaced
by the role of the base, as people from all over Canada were
transplanted
into the municipality.
Analysis Criteria
Aboriginal
Peoples
When the first settlers arrived in Daly it was obvious to them that
they
were not the first inhabitants of this land. Native people often passed
through
and evidence of past inhabitants was more visible in those days, be it
in
the form of camp sites prairie trails. Settlers often encountered and
interacted
with the Sioux people form the reserve just south of Daly.
Settlers and
Defining Culture
Anticipating the great settlement boom of the 1880’s a trickle of
adventurous
souls lead the way into this land in the late 1870’s. The
deep wooded
valley of the The Little Saskatchewan River was attractive in that it
provided
ample water as well logs for building and fuel. Until 1879 settlement
focused
on the new town of Rapids City and the settlement of Odannah
(Minnedosa.
By 1880 a trickle of settlers approached the district taking the
Assiniboine
river steamers up the Assiniboine to Grand Valley or Hall’s
Landing, near
where Hall’s Bridge stands today – north of Oak Lake. Local
Histories indicate
that most of these early settlers came from British Isles, with
Scotland
particularly well represented. The arrival of the railway to Brandon in
late
1881 brought increased settlement, including many from Ontario.
Other
Settlement/Ethnic Groups
The establishment of the Town of Rivers, by the Grand Trunk Pacific in
1908
transformed the predominantly Anglo-Saxon settlement into a much more
multi-cultural
region.
Seminal Events
The Municpality of Daly, in its early years developed in much the same
way
as other rural regions of Manitoba. After nearly 30 years that
development
was given a substantially new direction when the Grand Trunk Pacific
selected
the site of Rivers as a stop on their new trans-continental line. The
new
town quickly became the commercial centre of the region.
A second important change happened with the establishment of an Air
Forces
Training Base in 1940, once again completely transforming the
commercial
and social character of the town Rivers and to a lesser extent, the
Municipality.
Economic Engines
Farming formed the economic basis of virtually all prairie settlements
but
many communities have succeed in establishing relatively small-scale
but
significant economic engines, generally related to agriculture and
local
resource development. The economy of Rivers received two somewhat
unexpected
and important stimuli through the importance of the Railway and the
Forces
Base.
Commercial Growth
The establishment in 1908 of the town Rivers in the midst of
well-populated
and productive farmland led to an initial burst of commercial
enterprises.
The usual banks, general stores, drug and jewelry stores appeared. Some
of
these would naturally be housed in quickly erected-frame buildings, but
because
the economic importance of the town seemed quite secure many
substantial
commercial and residential building appeared in those first years. Some
of
those, like the original Grand Trunk Station and the Alexandra Hotel
have
been lost, but other such as the Imperial Bank of Commerce, Knox
Presbyterian
Church, and the fine house beside remain in use today.
Social &
Cultural Development
In the summer of 1800 the settlement of the region began in earnest
with
the arrival of settlers in all parts of the municipality.
For the first twenty years after farming operations commenced the
scattered
rural nature of settlement in the area was characterized by various
small
rural centres. Schools and post offices were the first
“community” buildings
to appear, while a few churches and followed. Roseville and Tarbolton
became
well known communities without becoming villages. Other communities
were
known only by their schools, with Harrow and Hunter being early
examples.
The centres of Wheatland and Bradwardine were simply Post offices in
their
early days.
In most Manitoba communities, the
“Establishment” era is
defined by the replacement
of “Pioneer” log, sod and rough lumber buildings by more
ambitious constructions
of milled lumber. With that definition in mind the towns in the
municipality
of Daly can be said to have had a relatively short Pioneer stage. Some
settlers
came with reasonable financial resources, this the proximity to markets
at
Brandon and Rapid City mean all manner of building materials were
available.
In addition to that the land was relatively good and brought return to
farmers
fairly soon. Although the first homes were generally of log frame
houses
became common quickly. By the late1890’s these modest homes began
to be replaced,
often with larger two story buildings.
The Consolidation period can be said to have started in 1902 with the
first
rail line through the Municipality which sparked the communities of
Carnegie,
Pendennis, Wheatland and Bradwardine, with Bradwardine and Wheatland
being
the larger commercial centres. In 1908 the creation of a second line
almost
paralleling the first brought further important and lasting changes.
Whereas
the first line was C.P.R branch connecting to Brandon, the second
line
was a new transcontinental railway built by the Grand Trunk Pacific and
it
established Rivers as the important centre of the region and leading to
the
demise of nearby Wheatland. The creation of an Air Force Base near that
liile
hamlet came much to late to save it and further boosted the importance
or
Rivers.
Community Form and Layout
The layout of the
town of Rivers, as with the
other villages in Daly, was
a direct response to the railway line to which it owes its existence.
Like
many prairie communities, it grew primarily on one (north) side of the
tracks,
with a large rail yard on the south side along with (typically) the
railway
and elevator buildings.
The railway runs west-east and the town was surveyed to conform. First
Avenue
runs parallel to the tracks and Main Street away from the
station.
Those streets along with Second Avenue soon housed a wide variety
of
retail and service outlets. Four more avenues spread northwards to
accommodate
a rising need for residences.
That Rivers grew quickly and confidently is not surprising in that the
community
with its agricultural base well developed by the time the rail line
arrived.
There was very little speculation or uncertainty about its potential
importance
as a service centre but at the same time, very little fanfare and
boosting.
It was as if it knew exactly what it was going to be. The building that
followed
the arrival of the rail line established both the limits and a pattern
of
the layout which has remained relatively unchanged.
Other Villages
Bradwardine and Wheatland pre-date Rivers, being on the earlier (1902)
CPR
branch. Both reached their apex early and have been in decline since
the
1920’s. Bradwardine retained its form, a few services and a
strong community
identity until recent decades.
Wheatland continued to exist in the shadow of the Air Force Base, but
its
proximity to Rivers caused most businesses to move to that community
around
1910
Carnegie and Pendennis were rail stops with basic services such a post
office
and store, perhaps a rink and a blacksmith shop. Buildings were quickly
removed
with the closure of the branch line on the early 1960’s.
|
