Merle Massie - Forest prairie edge : place history in Saskatchewan

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FOREST PRAIRIE EDGE

PLACE HISTORY IN SASKATCHEWAN

Merle Massie

University of Manitoba Press

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Canada R3T 2M5

uofmpress.ca

Merle Massie 2014

Printed in Canada

Text printed on chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper

18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database and retrieval system in Canada, without the prior written permission of the University of Manitoba Press, or, in the case of photocopying or any other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca, or call 1-800-893-5777.

Cover design: Marvin Harder

Interior design: Jessica Koroscil

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Massie, Merle, 1971, author

Forest prairie edge : place history in Saskatchewan / Merle Massie.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-88755-763-7 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-88755-452-0 (PDF e-book)

ISBN 978-0-88755-454-4 (epub e-book)

1. Human ecologySaskatchewanPrince Albert Region. 2. EcotonesSaskatchewanPrince Albert Region. 3. Prince Albert Region (Sask.)History. 4. Prince Albert Region (Sask.)Economic

conditions. I.Title.

GF512.S3M38 2014 304.230971242 C2013-908508-4 C2013-908509-2

The University of Manitoba Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publication program provided by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage, Tourism, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Manitoba Book Publishing Tax Credit.

For Sargent Ernest McGowan and David Sargent McGowan, always in my thoughts.

And for Dave De Brou, because I promised.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Special thanks, first and foremost, to my grandparents, who made the move to the forest fringe many years ago and set the stage for the story that follows. Thanks and appreciation also to the men and women from the north Prince Albert region who spoke with me about my project, both formally (through interviews) and informally (at the coffee shop, Remembrance Day ceremonies, funerals, and auction sales). Their perspective and wisdom helped to shape my work.

Financial support came from the University of Saskatchewan, Deans Scholarship Fund, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship, and the Department of History through both a doctoral scholarship and travel funds to pursue archival and oral research. I thank Jean Wilson at University of Manitoba Press for her initial enthusiasm and David Carr and the editorial and marketing teams for their astute suggestions and sympathetic e-mails. Two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript gave excellent feedback and tremendous encouragement.

Erika Dyck, Maureen Reed, Geoff Cunfer, Jim Miller, and George Colpitts: academic reviewers, colleagues, critics (in the best sense), and mentors (depending on the day). My thanks to you all. Andrew Dunlop scanned several maps and photographs using the facilities provided by the Historical GIS lab at the University of Saskatchewan. I am grateful.

Bill Waiser, role model extraordinaire: he not only kept me organized but also continually pushed me to speak clearly, say what I mean, and mean what I say. His productivity, commitment to others, and public presence as a professional historian continue to set the bar high.

Aspects of this book were published as When Youre Not from the Prairie: Place History in the Forest Fringe of Saskatchewan, Journal of Canadian Studies 44, 2 (2010): 17193. My thanks to the editors and peer review readers for their feedback and support. Public response to parts of this book, through radio, newspaper, and Canadas History magazine, has been tremendous.

Family sustained the project from beginning to end. My in-lawsRon and Joyce, Glenn and Lesley, Ryan and Jenn, and their familiescheered from the sidelines. My brothers and their familiesJamie and Jodie, Kerry and Melanieoffered a warm bed, hot meals, and babysitting services on innumerable research trips. My mother, Mary McGowan, accompanied me on research and conference trips, participated in oral history research, borrowed books for me, and kept me on track with stories from her childhood. My children, Bronwyn and Alric, have followed the family trend toward reading books, books, and more books. They are, as always, exceptional kids. My husband, Garth, is a star.

Figures

Maps

FOREST PRAIRIE EDGE

Introduction

Edge, Place, and History

I am from Saskatchewan, but I am not from the prairie.

How can that be? Saskatchewan is the prairie province. The description travels hand in hand with the provincial name. A Saskatchewan girl carries the prairie in her blood. She is weighted down by the sky, blown by its winds. Books declare it so.

It is not so.

I grew up on the edge, where the open plains surrender to the dark uprightness of the forest. When I look out from between the trunks of aspen and pine, I see where the dappled forest floor, the damp moss, and the willow-rimmed muskeg pools open out to a dry and tilled sunny field, soil nurturing wheat, barley, canola. I twist direction, now north and now south, viewing across the divide that separates and connects. I hardly move at all; I shatter sightlines and shadows.

The place where I stand is the transitional landscape between the Canadian south and the Canadian north. It is the divide between the two solitudes of Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan flag bears colourful witness: the green stripe over the yellow is the heraldry symbolism of the two main Saskatchewan ecosystems. The lower half is burnished yellow, where classic fields of wheat wave across the prairie; the upper half is forest green, a boreal expanse reaching across the nation, draped like a green scarf across the shoulders of North America. The boreal scarf settles and shifts, cloaking the prairie from above.

I began to know Canada from the viewpoint of our stumpranch farm, as my parents called it, which sits at this ecological divide. The farm was cut tree by tree by tree and pulled painstakingly root by root, created through the sweat and muscle of postGreat War soldier Arthur Bridge and his brother, Cyril. They left lots of trees behind, and through the years the stumpranch that will always be my home defined my perspective of Saskatchewan. But my dad put it best: I love Canada so much, especially the transfer area, where we leave field and farm and enter the forest area. I was born on the fringe and just loved itto be able to make hay one day and go blueberry picking the next is right up my alley. Drop the manure fork and in minutes have a fishing rod in your hand, is my idea of heaven.

Figure 1. Saskatchewan flag.

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