By Russell Sparrow – Brandon, Man.
Circumstances arose in the fall of 1937 and we had to move from Harding Man., to a farm at Roseneath approximately 40 miles away. Our family consisted of my father and mother, brother Edward, and three sisters, Josephine, Olive, and Betty. I was almost 10 years old. Money was scarce, so dad sold a horse for $105. The money was to help with the moving costs.
The most practical way to move the livestock was to walk them, so on the morning of the move, the cows were milked early. I was to start off on a pony with the small herd of cattle and dad and my sister Josephine would follow.
Dad drove a team of horses hitched to a hayrack. It was loaded with household belongings and hay for the horses. Josephine, 15, drove a team and wagon-box loaded with small pigs and chickens.
I started off with the cattle and they moved along quite briskly, so we made good time. I became concerned when dad and Josephine were nowhere in sight. They were later starting out than planned, as they were gathering up the remaining odds and ends. When they couldn’t see me, they, too, became concerned.
Daylight hours were short
They started stopping at farmhouses along the way, asking if they’d seen a young boy on a pony driving a small herd of cattle. Eventually, they caught up. We went through the town of Rivers where we had lunch that mother had prepared. We watered the cattle at the river on the east side of town.
After resting the livestock for a bit, we set off again. It was autumn and the daylight hours were short. It soon became dark. Dad had arranged for us to overnight with a farmer friend, but we still hadn’t made it to his farm. We stopped at another farm and they put us up for the night. We milked the cows and were given something to eat.
Early the next morning, we realized one of the horses had colic. Dad treated it with Dr. Bell’s Wonder Medicine. We then started out and arrived at the “new” farm by late afternoon.
Mother and my siblings, Olive and Betty, had already arrived. A neighbour had driven them in our Model-T Ford. My brother Ed rode in the truck hired to move the household furniture. After unpacking the necessities and setting up the beds, we had some supper. We were all very tired, but thankful the move was accomplished. Some 75 years later, I can still vividly recall the trip.
