Page 82 - With Jessie Morrison of Cape North - A Cape Breton to Alberta Pioneer

ISSUE : Issue 66

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/6/1

erage. And of course my father wanted Cly? desdales- -not pedigreed. I need to backtrack a little bit and say that my father's .brother Murdock, who was just a dear, dear man--he'd been in the Klondike and he made something of a strike, in the Klondike. And it was from Uncle Murdock that my father borrowed the money to buy the second (team of) horses. Anyway, about a week or two after Mother and I had arrived on the prairies, my fa? ther had to make a trip to Alsask to get supplies. And that meant two-and-a-half days' trip--fifty miles away and fifty miles back. And Mother and I were alone in the shack. We didn't have the cow then. But we did have Topsy, the dog. And my father made her stay home which broke her heart. And she wouldn't come near the house. And she slept out the back of the house--prob? ably two or three hundred yards from the house--where she could watch. But she wouldn't come near us. And she wouldn't ac? cept food from my mother. Mother would car- All breeds of Dog & Cat Grooming Certified Professional Groomer Member of PDGA,NDGAA, CKC, RCC Flexible Hours to Suit Your Needs 567-1615 Cape Breton Shopping Plaza Sydney River 'W Joan Gardine Owner Piano & Guitar Instruction Boutiliers' Music Shops OPEN MONDAY through Music Keyboards Guitars Reeds Strings Horns Violins Bagpipes Chanters Amplifiers PA Systems All Supplies Cape Breton Shopping Centre 39 Keltic Drive Sydney River, N. S. B1S1P4 ' Cape Breton's Finest Locally-Owned Musical Outlet - ry the basin 'f whatever she fed her -it has to be bread, we had nothing else--and she would leave it near the spot where Top? sy was sleeping and come away. And after Mother was safely away, Topsy would eat. However, here we were on the prairies and we heard a noise that sounded like motor. And this sounded like an automobile. But on the prairies?! Good heavens, couldn't be! But it certainly sounded like it. And they came to our house to ask directions to the relatives that they proposed to visit. Now, I should explain that running east and west, just at the border between our pre-emption and homestead was a portion of what they called the Coal Trail. Now, the Coal Trail went west of us about thirty miles to the mines. And that trail extend? ed through into Saskatchewan because, you see, coal was the only fuel that was available. The homesteaders would travel back and forth to the mine--it was so widely travelled and carried such wagon traffic that the ruts were, oh, six or eight inches deep. And when I was last on the prairies several years ago I wandered over our old farm, and I could still see the marks of the ruts. We would see, oh, probably 5 or 6 or 7 teams going by in a day all loaded with coal. Or going to the coal mines. And it was on this coal trail that the automobile was running.... (So your dad would've been gone for two- and-a-half days. Was he alone?) He would've Sydney Local Office 320 Esplanade St., Sydney, N.S. BIP 1A7 (902) 564-7842' FAX (902) 564-7712 Bureau de Sydney 320 rue Esplanade, Sydney, N.-E. BIP 1A7 (902) 564-7842 • (902) 564-7712 fax SALES ?? SERVICE - INSTALLATION m JoT WELLS & PUMPS-'' • Water Wells: DrUled & Dug' • Pumps • Test Holes • Water Conditioners Serving Cape Breton S T M O U N (Ucence No. 264)

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