5. Real Towns Have Mills
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The
period from 1881 and 1882, known as the “Manitoba Boom”, saw
intense speculation in land sale – especially in town lots. Everyone
knew that the population of rural western Manitoba was going to
explode. Towns would be built, businesses established, and money would
be made.
The problem was that nobody was sure where all these new towns would be
located. It all depended on where the railway lines would run, and
where the railway company would decide to put a station. Although some
railway surveys had been undertaken and some lines had been planned, no
one knew where the stations would be. So some enterprising landowners
decided that a piece of land they owned might just be a good spot for a
town
Speculating in town lots was a bit like participating in a gold rush.
You stake a claim and hope it pays.
The difference was that in the case of the gold rush, there was at
least a tiny chance that there would be actual gold. In the case of
town lots it should have been apparent to a discerning investor that
the railway decided where towns would be and they generally avoided
places where land prices were inflated. And even after a survey, the
railway routinely changed its mind as to the exact location of a line,
sometimes at the last minute.
So where thousands would willingly rush off in search of gold based on
rumours and wild tales, town lots had to be aggressively marketed.
Exaggerations and outright lies were the tools of that trade.
To sell the lots the promoter had to assure prospective buyers that the
rail line was a sure thing. An ad for Turtle Mountain City, just a
bit to the northwest of Wakopa, made that claim of not one, but two
railways. And although it was on the general path of the actual
Manitoba Southwestern Railway, when that railway did arrive, it missed
Turtle Mountain City by a few miles.
Winnipeg
Times, Dec. 20, 1881
Winnipeg
Times, March 9, 1882
Dobbyn City, near where Melita is today, promised to be an even bigger
deal. Railways would connect it to the whole continent! Beyond that,
aside from making a claim about the supply of coal and iron, it
promised water power and, like most speculative cities it promised a
“large mill”.
But the best “Boom Town”, story, without doubt, goes to Moberly,
literally, located on a swamp, on the southwestern tip of Whitewater
Lake, and promoted far and wide via newspaper ads and pamphlets, as a
sort of seaside resort town with a town square, a steamboat landing and
scenic hills in the distance.
It
is hard to recognize Whitewater Lake from this perspective.
The claims were beyond
extravagant. Indeed the whole episode was so
well-known and so outrageous, that the word Moberly became a sort of
catch word for the boom town experience. The following newspaper story
is one of several that allude to Moberly in this way.
Winnipeg
Daily Sun, April 5, 1882
Despite the rather obvious fraud (Mr. B.B. Johnson of Emerson, one of
the promoters, was the only instance I have discovered of someone
actually being charged and convicted of fraud is such a matter), even
newspaper reporters accepted some of the wild claims and in general,
were caught up in the whole thing.
The claims made in the following story could easily have been set to
rest by checking with any local resident.
Winnipeg
Daily Sun, Dec 23, 1881
There never was a building of any sort at Moberly, and the “nearest
Mill” was indeed much closer than Clearwater. The mill at Wakopa in
fact, had been up and running for some time.
Wakopa was a real town, rather than a paper town. And the fact that it
had a mill is quite important.
The primary purpose of pioneer agricultural settlements, like those
around Turtle Mountain, was to grow grain. The problem was that getting
a crop to market was a long haul. Having a gristmill nearby, where one
could at least exchange wheat for flour was a crucial advantage in
making a homestead sustainable until a railway would arrive.
A sawmill was also an early priority as there was no convenient way to
import lumber.
The development of the grain business began in Wakopa long before the
railway was built through Boissevain and Killarney. In 1878 Matthew
Harrison built saw and flour mills in the new village.
The rumbling mill was powered by a water wheel on the banks of Long
River. George Bennett, who freighted from Emerson to Wakopa with a team
of oxen, Buck and Bright, a fast team of oxen. He brought the first
gristmill stones to Wakopa imported from France. These stones are very
heavy and are in various places. One is in the Cairn at Wakopa and one
is in the museum in Boissevain.
This historic industry was the first in Turtle Mountain municipality.
A water wheel also powered the whining blades of the family sawmill. To
accommodate the settlers who brought their wheat from afar by oxen to
be ground into flour, the family built a boarding house and large
livery barn.
In 1881 Bill Harrison joined his brother, and in 1882 another brother
George came west and joined the company.
These businesses, along with B.B. Lariviere’s Store and Stopping Place
established Wakopa as an important place. People came to Wakopa,
bringing grain to be ground into flour, or buying lumber at the sawmill.
Meals were served at the Harrison home, at La Riviere’s, and at Mrs. J.
Melville’s boarding house.
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Winnipeg
Daily Sun, April 28, 1884
The coming of the railway to Killarney doomed this busy centre. The
brothers disassembled their mill and built Killarney's first grain
elevator. Later they built a gristmill at Holmfield that would serve
the area for many decades.
On the second floor of that historic building one can still see the
rough cut 2 by 6’s that were sawn at the old Wakopa for the Harrison’s
next enterprise.
And a visitor to the Turtle Mountain Flywheel Clun Museum in Killarney
can see the machinery from the original Wakopa gristmill on display.
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