CHAPTER 1 l

1879

REMINISCING BY MR. JOSEPH FULLER

In 1879 Mr. Isaac Fuller, father of Joseph Fuller, settled in the Barnsley District. Two years later, in the spring of 1881, Mrs. Fuller arrived from Ontario with the family. Joseph was four years old. They travelled by train through the States to Emerson, thence by oxen on to Barnsley. Their first dwelling was a sod shanty. This shanty was replaced by a log house. The mother used to put all the childrenin the house and close the door and windows whenever she saw Indium coming along the trail. Later a large frame house was built for a boarding-house.

The first railroad, the Manitoba Southwestern Colonization Rall- way, was surveyed to run from Winnipeg angling to half a mile east of Carman and on to Morden. It was built to within six miles of Carman when the funds ran out. This was known as the “end of Steel" The first agent here was a Mr. Smith. Another agent, W. 0. Taylor from Barnsley, England, named the station Barnsley. The C.P.R. pur- chased this line and continued it west from Elm Creek, and in 1889 completed it to Carman. The first train was a wood burner, and the engineer was Jimmy Watson. W. Gould, E. C. Pell, and Dick Kellett were agents at Carman. Before the C.P.R. came to Carman, the farmers had to haul their grain to Barnsley. Mr. Fuller says he has often seen 400 or 500 bags of wheat piled in his father’s yard, waiting until I box car arrived and it could be loaded into the ear.

After the line was completed to Carman, Mr. R. P. Roblin, who was a churn of Isaac Fuller’s, persuaded him to move his boarding- house to Carman. Mr. Roblin had it moved for him, on the train, free of charge, and gave him two lots to put it on.

In 1886 Barnsley Home Farm was started on section 21-7-4-w- This was financed by an Englishwoman, a Miss McPherson, in Eng' land, who had money and wanted to help needy boys to get started-011 a career. English boys were sent out from England to learn farming here- lOSeph Merrie came out from England and acted as foreman three or four years. He then moved into Carman where he started 9 machine business. After the boys had learned a little about farming. they were given a quarter section, a yoke of oxen, and some “19' chinery and set up for themselves.

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