iness by bartering furs, wood, butter, eggs and hides for groceries. Crackers, vinegar, molasses, coal oil, apples, etc. were kept in barrels. It wasn’t long be- fore Nels Peterson built a large two—level store in 1906, located south of Jacob Winkler’s yard. Peter- son also operated the post office. In 1911, he sold his business to Gustaf Nelson, who operated the general store for 34 years, along with having the post office from 1920 to 1945. These two large general stores stocked feed for animals, hardware with everything from wash tubs and milk pails to pitch forks, bolts of material, men’s work clothes, shoes, patent medicines, and, of course, flour and groceries. Many smaller general stores sprang up along Pier- son Drive in the decade following the war: Nick Pry- chun’s, Ted and Mae Wawryshyn’s, Fred and Earl Morden’s, while Jake Winkler, Albert Blue and Ted Blair each operated butcher shops. In 1912, a main market road was proposed to link Tyndall to Winnipeg. The Good Roads Association approved the application and the provincial govern- ment agreed to share half the cost of the project. Four “road drags” were ordered from G.M. Hunt- Tractor steamer used for harvesting, 1924. ley by the R.M. of Brokenhead and construction on the highway to Winnipeg started. A man with four horses was paid 70 cents an hour for dragging roads. The bigger road construction and ditching jobs were tendered. The original highway was a gravel road until 1932, when it was hard-topped and became part of the Trans Canada Highway, also called Highway No. 1. With the highway to Winnipeg completed, more motor vehicles appeared. Tyndall’s first garage, at the corner of First Avenue and Oakes Street, was opened by Albert Blair and Sander Pearson in 1926. In 1928, Fred Morden built a garage at the corner of Pierson Drive and Highway 44 which later was sold to Nick Bodnarchuk. When World War I was declared, the Canadian government made a request to farmers to grow as much grain and other foodstuffs as possible to help feed the allied troops in Europe. As a result, bona fide farmers requiring assistance in purchasing seed grain were guaranteed a Royal Bank loan of up to $500 by the municipality, upon approval from the reeve and secretary-treasurer. This caused a surge of increased grain production. Prices rose to near- ly $3.00 a bushel for wheat and over $4.00 a bushel for flax in the early 1920s. This gave the farmers great buying power, as a new car sold for approxi- mately $750. In 1917, the Department of Agriculture sent Mr. F.H. Newcomb from Selkirk to assist Tyndall-area farmers to improve seed quality and production. As rosy as this may sound, the weather has al- ways played an important part in what is actually harvested. By 1910, many acres of good farm land were put into production, but nature’s elements were not so kind. As Thomas Weselake recalls, in 1910 it was so wet, “Father would cut the grain with a scythe and the women would gather it and tie it with the grass that they twisted into a rope.” In 1911, many of the crops were destroyed by grasshoppers; in 1912, heavy rains caused an almost complete loss; in 1916, a terrible hail storm wiped out many crops; in 1917 , there was an early frost that caused a great deal of damage; in 1922, crops were depleted by heavy rust and early frost; and in 1927, nearly everything was lost to flooding. Only in 1915 was a record bumper crop recorded with Mother Nature cooperating. During the war, there was a great demand for grain and as a result, many acres of land were put into production. To fill the need of the increased grain production, the Tyndall elevator was built by Lake of the Woods in 1920. The price of grain in- creased steadily during the war as much of it was being exported to Europe to feed the allied troops and the war-ravaged allied countries. In the 1921-1922 crop year, 78,000 bushels of 21