We have no neighbours as I can remember until the following year
when a family by the name of Tutcher homesteaded just a mile
northwest of us. They had the two girls, Dorothy, called Dolly, and
Hilda, several years older than myself, and we became good friends.
I was very nervous because of the isolation of the place, having lived
in the city (Portage) and their coming meant so much not only to me
but my parents also.

The weird call of the coyote at dusk was usual and we often saw
their shining eyes peering through the bush piles. I can remember
when l was older and cutting hay with the team a coyote or two
would follow me around the meadow for the longest while.

The first year on the homestead we only had the two animals, a
cow and our great pet, a St. Bernard dog, which we had brought
with us and which disappeared shortly afterwards. We never did find
out what happened to him and we youngsters grieved for a long time.
Our cow had a thick leather strap around her neck to which a bell
was attached, and put there so that we would hear the bell should she
wander in the bush. The use of the bell was a common practice when
new settlers came and had a number of cattle. The lead cow was
always belied as there were few fences, perhaps just around the

Mrs. Rawlings with left to right: Edith, Martha, Art,
Reg. '

426

 

Mr. and Mrs. Rawlr‘ngs with
Willie.

gardens and later on grain fields, so the cattle wandered at will and
sometimes for miles. The owners learned to distinguish which were
their cattle by the sound of the bell. I remember that first summer
when our cow wandered. My Mother heard the bell at a distance in
the bush and went after her. We children who were playing in the
yard heard our Mother call and when we answered she wanted to
know what we were doing away from the yard. We had quite a time
convincing her that we were in our yard as she was mixed up in her
directions. She had been trying to drive the cow away from home
and the cow had refused to go. People often lost their directions in
those days. I remember when an English family by the name of Lees
settled a mile south of us and took over the Post Office. When they
first came Mr. Lees got turned around in his directions a number of
times and ended up at our place, usually after dark. My father had
to take him practically all the way back to his place.

Getting groceries in those first few years meant travelling many
miles as we had no store closer than Langruth, until just before
World War I. Roads were impassable in wet weather. When our first
neighbors came my father and Jack Tutcher took turns every third
month getting the groceries for both families. I remember it was the
month of May and Jack Tutcher had gone for the grocery supplies.
It started raining that same day and continued raining several days
more. It was almost two weeks before Jack Tutcher was able to get
back because of the road conditions. We were all living on very slim
rations by that time

The first all-weather roads were built during World War I. A
drainage ditch was dug and the dirt from it was piled along the side
and then levelled which made an excellent all-weather road as any
water ran off into the ditches. In the spring the fish would come up
in the ditches to spawn from Lake Manitoba, which gave us many
fish meals, some Whitefish and suckers, but mostly jackfish.

We youngsters were very interested in watching the road building
crew, especially the cook who often handed out goodies. He had
huge pails of the pure maple syrup and when we gave him a three
pound lard pail he would fill it for us with the syrup to take home.

Prior to these roads being built the only dependable road to travel
were the two ridge roads - natural roads no doubt built by large
waves when Lake Manitoba was much larger. They stretched from
Amaranth to Kinosota with a break of a few miles between. The one
problem at that time was getting on these ridge roads when going in
their direction in wet weather. We often walked in bare feet along
them to pick the many kinds of wild fruit which was abundant along
the edges and in the bush. It was a real delight to feel the soft sand
between our toes.