PIVOTAL EVENTS Birtle’s Significant Historical Themes and Events This booklet was researched, written, and prepared by Nathan Hasselstrom, and completed in January 2018. He was helped in no small measure by the research, encouragement, and facilitation of the Birtle History Project Committee, namely Margaret Ashcroft, Judie Bewer, Lois Davison, Brenda Evans, and Pat Robertson. Similar encouragement, and access to resources, came from the board of the Birdtail Country Museum, particularly Brenda and Ron Samchuk. Members of these two groups also reviewed different drafts of this project, in various levels of completion; nevertheless, any errors within it, whether in fact, tact, transcription, interpretation, syntax, grammar, style, or spelling, are entirely the author’s. This initiative was supported with a grant through the provincial Heritage Grants Program, mediated by Prairie View Municipality. The author acknowledges the support of Manitoba Tourism, Culture and Heritage and the Historic Resources Branch. The author would like to thank David Butterfield in particular for his help and guidance, particularly with the administrative side of the project. The images used throughout this document have all been credited, but especially to be thanked are the Birdtail Country Museum for allowing access to its many photographs, and the Birtle History Project Committee. I was also able to access resources from Library and Archives Canada, in person but also through online databases; in this connection, I also acknowledge the University of Alberta Libraries for digitizing and allowing non-commercial reproduction of the Peel’s Prairie Provinces Postcard and Magee Collections; the Winnipeg Public Library for putting public domain images from the Rob McInnes Postcard Collection online; and prairie-towns.com. On the cover: The Valley Drive. Taken from downriver of Birtle, which is just visible in the far background. Probably taken by A. J. Lawrence, and, based on what appear to be some of more recognizable buildings in the Town, I would tentatively date it to between 1931 and 1943—the Jubilee Methodist building, demolished in 1931, appears to still be standing, as does the Blue School, which was destroyed in a fire in 1943. Source: Birdtail Country Museum, 4214-07-H. !i Pivotal Events of Birtle Table of Contents Table of Contents Page 1 4. Municipal Government Page 19 List of Illustrations Page 3 County of Shoal Lake (Rg 23-29 W, Tp 13-18) Rural Municipality of Birtle (Rg 25-27 W, Tp 16-18) Introduction Page 5 Town of Birtle Birtle Town Rural Municipality of Prairie View (Rg 25-27 W, Tp 13-18) The Nature of the Project A Note on Sources 5. Municipal Services and Utilities Page 21 A Narrative Arc? Electricity and Lighting Firefighting 1. Background Page 9 Landfill and Recycling Birdtail Creek Policing Early Indigenous Inhabitants Roads Fur Trade, Fort Birdstail, and Carlton Trail Telecommunications Fort Ellice Waterworks Northwest Mounted Police Birdtail Sioux 6. Provincial Government Page 24 Birtle and Manitoba 2. Pioneers Page 12 Patronage and County Town Independent Homesteaders Provincial Electoral Districts and Birtle’s Stature in the Hamilton & Northwest Colonization Society Province Regional Hub 7. Federal Government Page 27 3. Town Growth Page 16 Post Office (1879) Immigration Boom Land Office (1880-1893) World War 1 Indian Agency (1882-1949) Rural Urbanization Birtle's Federal Ridings and Electoral Trends World War II Mechanization of Agriculture 8. Media Page 30 Baby Boom Birtle Observer (1884-1889) Mid-‘90s Population Campaign Birtle Eye-Witness (1891-2001) Wave of Administrative Amalgamations Cable Access Channel 13 (1983) Town of Birtle Website (1995-2014) !1 Pivotal Events of Birtle Table of Contents 8. Media (continued) 13. Education Page 48 Crossroads This Week (2001) School Districts, Geographic Identities, and Consolidation The Birtle Outlook (2011) Schools of Birtle 9. Transportation Page 32 Fiat Lux: Birtle Residential School Cart Trails 14. Health Care Page 54 Steamboats Dentists Railways Private Physicians Highways Hospitals 10. Industry Page 37 Pharmacists Birtle Sawmill 15. Recreation Page 56 Lime Kilns Holidays Birtle Cement Block Company Theatre and Cinema Grist Mills Fine Arts Dairying Music 11. Commercial Development Page 40 Baseball Tennis Boarding Houses and Hotels Golf Transportation Swimming Banking Winter Sports Co-operative Movement 16. Clubs and Organizations Page 60 12. Spiritual Life Page 44 Temperance Organizations and Progressive Politics Jubilee Methodist Church (1887-1917) Women’s Institute (1910-2007) Vine Street Presbyterian Church (1887-1917) Lions Club (1954) Local Union Church (1917-1925) and Birtle United Church (1925) 17. Birtle’s Military Tradition Page 63 St. George’s Anglican Church (1884) Northwest Rebellion (1885) Birtle Baptist Church (1895-1988) World War One (1914-1918) St. Mary’s Catholic Church (1936) World War Two (1939-1945) St. Peter’s Ukrainian Catholic Church (1953) 18. Timeline Page 66 !2 Pivotal Events of Birtle List of Illustrations List of Appendices Page 81 -Manwaring Block and Hall Bros Store Page 23 -Power Plant, c.1928-1938 Page 23 Appendices Page 82 -Installing Water Works, 1960 Page 23 List of Abbreviations Page 121 -Birtle’s Provincial Ridings Page 25 Bibliography Page 121 -Charles Julius Mickle (1848-1919) Page 26 -John William Pratt (1894-1973) Page 26 Endnotes Page 129 -Land Office, c. 1884-1893 Page 27 -Indian Agency, c. 1890s Page 28 -Sir Wilfrid Laurier in Birtle, July 19th, 1910 Page 29 -Birtle Post Office, c. 1938-1945 Page 29 -Birtle Observer Header Page 30 List of Illustrations -T. A. and Sadie Wilson Page 30 -The Valley Drive Cover -Birtle Eye-Witness Building Burning Page 31 -A. J. Lawrence Photo Studio Page 4 -The Marquette, c. 1883 Page 32 - Birtle, c. 1965-1968 Page 5 -Proposed Manitoba & Northwestern Routes Page 33 - Winter in Birtle, 1904 Page 8 -Manitoba Highway Map, 1956 Page 34 -Red River Cart with Chief Longclaws -Birtle Railway Station Page 35 and James Johnston, c. 1902 Page 10 -End of the Track, 1885 Page 36 -Birtle Spring, c. 1900-1907 Page 10 -First Automobile in Birtle, 1909 Page 36 -George Seale’s Mounted Police Grant, 1880 Page 11 -First Airplane in Birtle, June 1920 Page 36 -“Big House” at Fort Ellice Page 11 -Birtle Sawmill, c. 1897 Page 37 -Birtle Land Office, 1880 Page 13 -John Haines Page 37 -Old-Timers Reunion Photo, 1921: -Creamery Page 39 Birtle Pioneers from 1878-1880 Page 14 -Arrow Mill, 1904 Page 39 -Postscript to Hamilton & North-West Colonization -J. B. Taylor’s House Page 39 Society Recruitment Circular, 1878 Page 15 -North Side of Main Street Page 41 -Lumber and Sod Home, 1883 Page 15 -Centre and Main, c. 1887-1897 Page 42 -Birtle Into the Future, 1995 Page 18 -Livery Stable Page 42 -James Crerar Page 19 -South of Main Street Page 42 -John Sanderson Crawford Page 20 -Southwest Side of Main Street, July 1st 1903 Page 43 -Southeast Side of Main Street, c. 1910 Page 43 !3 Pivotal Events of Birtle List of Illustrations -St. Peter’s (1961) Page 45 -Pasture Pickers Page 59 -St. George’s (1884-1955) Page 46 -Women’s Institute Federal Presidents Page 61 -Birtle Baptist Church (1895-1988) Page 46 -Eastern Star Funeral, c. 1940s Page 62 -C. A. Gigot and St. Mary’s (1936) Page 46 -W.M.S. Group, August 1960 Page 62 -Jubilee Methodist Church (1887-1928) Page 47 -Champion Cribbage Players, Birtle, 1934 Page 62 -Pipe Organ Page 47 -‘Hospital Day’ 1978 Page 62 -United Church Choir, c. 1940s Page 47 -2nd Birtle Troop Page 64 -Rough Illustration of Consolidations in -Men Training in Birtle (WW1) Page 64 RM of Birtle Page 48 -Birtle Contingent of the 100th Grenadiers Page 64 -Ruins of Stone School Page 49 -Birtle Detachment N.W.M. Grizzley Bears 226th -Residential School Logo Page 50 O.B. C.E.F., May 1916 Page 65 -Stone School Page 51 -Cenotaph, October 2nd, 1927 Page 65 -Blue School Page 51 -‘Home Guard’ 1940 Page 65 -Blue School Burning, 1943 Page 51 -Military Parade, 1942 Page 65 -Brick School, 1928 Page 52 -Vine Street Page 80 -Teachers of Birtle, 1923 Page 52 -Listening to King George VII, Coronation Day -Birtle Collegiate Page 52 May 12th, 1937 Page 120 -First Residential School Building Page 53 -First Residential School, Renovated Page 53 -Example of Residential School Gardens Page 53 -Second Residential School Building, 1931 Page 53 A. J. Lawrence -Birtle Municipal Hospital Page 55 Photo Studio -Birtle Hospital Logo Page 55 -Rheims Cathedral Page 56 Many of the photographs used in this -Canada Day Band, 1903 Page 57 booklet were taken by -Tennis Court, 1900 Page 57 A. J. Lawrence, who -Riverside Golf Course, c. 1931-1943 Page 58 arrived in Birtle in 1903 -Passing It On Circle Page 58 and practiced his trade up to his death in 1947. -Bathing Pool Page 59 -Jubilee Parade, 1927 Page 59 [Source: Birtle History -Savoy Theatre, 1930s Page 59 Project Committee] !4 Pivotal Events of Birtle Introduction sublocalities within the RM of Birtle, these could all easily have Introduction Pivotal Events projects of their own. To include these BIRTLE TOWN communities within ‘Birtle’ would seem to diminish their own The first thing to decide when studying ‘Pivotal Events of Birtle’ distinct histories, and to avoid replicating the minor colonialism is how one intends to define Birtle. Three Birtles existed, an inherent in the name of the former RM, I have chosen to more or incorporated Town, a Rural Municipality, and their namesake, less confine my study to the Town of Birtle. the settlement of Birtle, which had been preemptively founded This has had certain repercussions, particularly in regards as a commercial, industrial, and administrative centre for the to discussions of resource development. I have not discussed the surrounding agricultural region. However, the surrounding gold found in the Birdtail in 1862, nor the more recent oil wells region had other centres as well.