$6,000.00 and was paid $100.00 per month. Coun-
cillors received $2.00 per day and mileage of 5 cents
per mile.

The oldest tax roll available is that of 1891. At that
time there were approximately 1,098 tax payers. The
roll was divided into school districts, approximately
four districts in each ward. The roll had several
columns on which details such as the number of
acres, wooded or under cultivation, assessment of
land and buildings, age of householder, number of
persons in family (male, female, single, married)
Religion, Vital statistics (Births and Deaths), number
of animals (horses, mules, oxen, cows, pigs, sheep
and bulls) and the statute labour was recorded. The
assessment was approximately 6 mills and the assess-
ment based on so much per animal and so much per
acre of cleared or uncleared land. The number of
days of statute labor (at $1.50 per day) to pay off the
taxes were recorded. The first tax sale recorded was
in 1891.

Rockwood School district (1872) is recorded as
being the 19th public school authorized in Manitoba,
and it was the first authorized north of Winnipeg.
School was open six months out of the year.

It was interesting that between the year of 1880
and 1930, according to the list of By-Laws of the
Rural Municipality of Rockwood, there were fifteen
school districts established and they were altered
forty~five times. Council met in Rockwood School
from 1880 to 1882.

The first Municipal Building, known as the
Rockwood Registry office was built in 1882 on the
north west corner of what is now the junctions of
RTH. 67 and 236. the limestone building, later used
as the Electric Railway Station is still standing and is
used as a residence at time of this printing.

The present Municipal office was built in 1912

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First municipal building.

    

jointly by the Rural Municipality of Rockwood and
the Town of Stonewall, and is still owned and oper-
ated by these two corporations.

 

Municipal Office Building.

Public Works in Rockwood

The first major Public Works projects in the Mn—
nicipality was drainage.

When settlement in Rockwood began certain
areas had natural drainage. The eastern end of Town—
ship 13 and 14 were drained by Wavy Creek. Bal—
moral area had Janet Creek and Jack Fish Creek and
Gunter: area had Ross Creek, north and east of Teu~
lon had Notley Creek. The Rockwood Grassmere
area was a flat basin and no natural drainage existed.

In 1879 after the formation of l3—2E as a munic-
ipality, council approached the Provincial Govern-
ment for $200.00 to drain the east side of the
township.

The largest drainage project was draining of the
bog.

“The physical features of St. Andrew’s Bog lim-
ited drainage success. The numerous natural springs
contributed a constant water supply. Poplar Springs,
the largest, poured water twelve months of the year.
Poplar Springs froze over once in the winter of 1882,
the only known occurence. The natural spring near
the bog provided Winnipeg residents with drinking
water. The bug’s water source was used as Win-
nipeg’s water source untii the completion of the Shoal
Lake line. Mr. Dave Swinton hauled water by water
tank from Crystal Springs to Balmoral. The spring
water was shipped by rail to Winnipeg where it was
bottled, labelled as Crystal Springs water and sold to
thirsty Winnipegers.

Henry Yule Hind, geologist and naturalist, while
on his 1857 Red River expedition, realized the agri-
cultural potential of the marsh, . . . the prairie often
passed into what are locally termed swamps or mar-
shes, but which are so susceptible to drainage, and
conversion into the richest pasture lands, that they do
not deserve the title which has been assigned to them.