Helped the ladies with their tournament. Granddaughter E, played as a sub in one game and was the star in that game. Training novices in pm then home for the evening. Watched the old movie The Young Lincoln. It was quite good.

Sometimes a traveler on reaching a regular stopping place would find it full, so he would then have to go on to the next house several miles further.  This in winter on a cold stormy night meant a great hardship.  The settlers as a rule were very hospitable.  It naturally caused them considerable inconvenience to accommodate travelers for their houses were usually small and sometimes tables and chairs were put out doors in order to make room for beds on the floor.

A settler usually took along on a trip blankets and provisions.

The stopping places were a great help for the settlers to become acquainted with each other, and among the first questions asked was where they came from.  The climate was quite a topic for conversation, and some maintained the opinion that the government should not have opened the country for settlement as it was fit for only Indians to live in.

From our place a round trip to Portage took about five days.

I might cite here an accident that befell the Sanderson family who lived on the trail.  They had moved in during the fall, and it had rained while on the way, so they put a package of gunpowder in the stove oven.  When the stove was set up in the house and a fire kindled, the powder exploded and wrecked the stove.

Again to show how we become mixed up in this world, I cite the following:  While returning from a trip to Florida in 1917, I conversed with a young man who sat opposite me in the diner.  It developed that he was a son of Mr. Stedman who lived on the trail.  My cold weather experiences in Manitoba, related in these articles might give the impression to those unacquainted with the climate of Manitoba the idea that it was too severe to live in, but it should be understood that most of the discomforts occurred during the first year of settlement, for afterwards the country became more thickly settled, there were better homes and roads.  Stores were started, grain and other produce could be obtained close at hand and it was unnecessary to make long trips.

Those who spent the winter of 1879 and 1880 in tp 7, rge 12 were the McLeod family, consisting of Mr. And Mrs. McLeod, their sons, John, Angus and William, their daughter Mrs. Lawn and Mr. Lawn and Jim McDonald, J. Chewing, wife and 2 children, Bob Owens, JamesGowanlock, Mr. And Mrs. James Young and their two children, Mr. and Mrs. John Young, Mr. And Mrs., W. Young, Mr. and Mrs. Carnagie and two children, W. Leadbeater, Nathan Little and myself, making a total of thirty-one.

George Holmes had built a house on his place during the fall, and returned to Ontario for the winter and came back in March with his bride.

The few settlers lived so far a part that it prevented them from visiting each other very often, as there were no beaten paths, and there was the possibility of becoming lost if out at night.

James Young was our nearest neighbour and Mrs. Young would make us a batch of bread occasionally and it was a great treat for bannock became tiresome as a steadfast diet.

During severely cold weather we did not drive our stock to the river for water, but melted snow for them.  The care of the stock and household duties took up considerable time, and it was just as well for it served to make the time pass more quickly.

The broad extensive view in every direction from our place, with only a few houses to be seen, was extremely bleak and desolate.

The constant movement of the sand-like snow drifting along the surface appeared to be endless and always on the go.

The sundogs or mock suns and circles around the sun, and the wonderful display of the aurora at time, were interesting sights for the new comer.

Lumber was one of our greatest necessities, and I began to consider if sufficient timber could be obtained in the surrounding country to make a saw mill a paying venture.  No person had explored the country sufficiently to know the extent of the timber, so I decided to make a trip north to the Assiniboine River and make an investigation.