Page 93 - With Jessie Morrison of Cape North - A Cape Breton to Alberta Pioneer

ISSUE : Issue 66

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/6/1

ond Sunday to deliver a sermon. I remember Mother and Father being rather critical and said that he not only read his sermon, but he kept looking out the windows. Sometimes he would stay overnight, but for the most part he would just be a summer service. Reverend Mr. Bell, who was an itinerate evangelist, came to our district in about 1916, and he brought with him a big. brown tent which he used as his tabernacle. And he conducted services every evening in the week. I think he was with us for about a month. And through his efforts the Naza- rene Church was organized in our district and the church buildings went up. A half- mile from our school. Now, Mr. Bell's daughter, in later years, married a young man by the name of Elmer Roper--who had been born in Ingonish, son of George Roper who was a deep sea captain and who married an ex-MacDonald from Big Bras d'Or. Elmer Roper's family moved to Alberta in 1907. Years later Mr. Roper be? came a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for several terms, and then Mayor of Edmonton in the 1960s. (Those Cape Bretoners....) They stay together! They hang together. In the early years the rainfall was abun? dant and crops grew and prices for grain were relatively high during the war years --that is 1914-1916--and it seemed a stroke of Providence that we had abundant rainfall during this period when wheat was in such great demand. But in the '20s the rain didn't fall and eventually crops didn't grow, nor did the pastures for the cattle, or the garden. Pests came; grasshoppers, caterpillars, potato bugs; and the wind seemed to grow without ceasing. Dust blew in clouds. We became infested with the Russian Thistle. Now a characteristic of the Russian This- 'oom ''j' '''' Service '''' Located next to Sydney Govemment Wtiarf - Mechanical cutting, forming and rolling - Hole punching, drilling and machining - Profile cutting, oxygen/acetylene, plasma arc - Dye penetrant examinations - Hydrostatic testing -Sandblasting - Spray painting - Steel, stainless steel, and aluminum welding services - Miscellaneous steel, stainless steel and aluminum material and supplies TEL.: (902) 564-4488 FAX: (902) 567-1548

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