SETTLEMENT
A. RECOLLECTIONS
As we all know, many of us have been remiss in not keeping better records of pioneer days and not obtaining information from the older residents sooner. We are indeed indebted to an early pioneer of the Crandall area, namely Mrs. T. Borland, for preserving some of its early beginnings in the following recollections, written by her on request, for the Women's Institute in 1949.
The small town of Crandall is situated on a branch of the C.P.R. coming from Brandon passing through Rapid City, Oak River, Hamiota, then Crandall and on through Arrow River to Miniota which is the end of the line.
For the information of old timers who may have lived here before the days of the railroad, Crandall has replaced the old time Carlingville Post Office and School District.
We have Palmerston district to the south and west, with its good farms and its Church and school, and still further south, Lenore, another small town on another branch of the C.P.R. coming west from Brandon. Further north we used to have the Arrowton district, and a few miles west, Blaris. With the coming of the C.N.R. railroad three miles north of where the Arrowton School stood (since burned down) the town of Decker came into being.
The old Post Office of Lucas, where Mr. Frank Campbell was postmaster for many years, has disappeared, and Blaris is the name of the church and school.
Four miles west of Decker is Isabella, the home of the Iverach's and Heise's and so many of the young people from the Crandall district are settled there, namely the Eddie Dorans, Russell Warrens, T. Kennedys and the J.T. and J.H. Finkbeiners.
Beulah, a few miles west of Isabella is at the end of the C.N.R. line. It is the home of the Paynters, Doyles, Sparlings and Lynchs who homesteaded there in 1878. The town of Isabella was named after Mrs. Isabella Taylor, one of the first residents in the district, and Decker is named after the family of Decker who homesteaded there in 1881.
To the east we have Chumah, and what used to be known as the Post Office of Hamilton, named after the first Postmaster, but with the coming of the railroad it was changed to Hamiota and the Post Office moved to the town site in 1891.
In the winter of 1882, a number of young men in different towns in Ontario began to think of going west. The promise of a homestead looked inviting and from the town of Campbell Cross came Mr. J.L. Johnston with his family, also Mr. Jas. Crawford from the same place. Mr. E. Mark and Mr. Wm. Cox and their families from Clifford. Mr. Thos. Hamilton from St. Mary's, the Dinsmore Brothers from London, John Finley from Woodham, Joseph Kirk, Benjamin Doupe, Thomas Borland, Herman Schmidt and Thomas Irvine from Kirkton.
Many were the tears shed, and many were the presents given as these young men departed for the west to begin the present district of Crandall. They travelled with the homesteaders of the famous Scotia district, Smith's, Andersen's, Strachan's and Leith's.
The town of Birtle was where the land office was situated. A town which can now be reached in a short time by car, but at that time, seemed to be almost at the North Pole. There were many interesting stories told of the things that happened during the trips to the land office, and they always improved with the telling.
The spring of 1882 was the year of the flood, when so many homesteaders declared they earned their homesteads by swimming to Birtle and back, but no one was drowned and they all lived to tell the tale over and over again.
The railroad being built to Brandon, they came by Rapid City and Oak River to Hamilton Post Office (now Hamiota) some with horses, some with oxen and many on foot. The Mark, Johnston, Crawford and Cox families came to Fort Ellice by boat. They all started in different directions searching for homesteads. How little they realized that they were making history and the homesteads that they selected would be the homes of their children and grandchildren and on down through the generations, and on them, would depend the kind of community it would be.
The market for the first few years was a sad problem. The first year grain was hauled to Brandon. The railroad was built to Virden and on further west, but there were no bridges across the Assiniboine. Then for a few years we had the Mitchell Ferry which had been built across the Assiniboine just south of the Mitchell farm. Mr. Mitchell operated it in the summer time and we crossed on the ice to go to Virden in the winter time.