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August and Esther Knoepfli
By Jean Vick
My father, August Knoepfli's parents were Jacob and Eliza (Stark) Knoepfli. There were both born in Switzerland and came to Canada and lived at Ahmic Habour, near Sarnia, Ontario. After Eliza's husband and two sons had died, she moved to Sylvan Lake, Alberta with her four children, Lily, August, Mary and Henry in about 1914.
In 1926 my father August Knoepfli married Esther Lindman. Her parents were Axel and Charlotte Lindman. Axel was born in Soderola Geflaborgslan, Sweden. His wife Charlotte was also born in Sweden in 1882.
My parents lived on...
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August and Esther Knoepfli
By Jean Vick
My father, August Knoepfli's parents were Jacob and Eliza (Stark) Knoepfli. There were both born in Switzerland and came to Canada and lived at Ahmic Habour, near Sarnia, Ontario. After Eliza's husband and two sons had died, she moved to Sylvan Lake, Alberta with her four children, Lily, August, Mary and Henry in about 1914.
In 1926 my father August Knoepfli married Esther Lindman. Her parents were Axel and Charlotte Lindman. Axel was born in Soderola Geflaborgslan, Sweden. His wife Charlotte was also born in Sweden in 1882.
My parents lived on a rented farm near Sylvan Lake. Both Allan and I were born at Sylvan Lake, Allan in 1929 and I (Jean) in 1927. August worked at farm jobs in the summer and hauled logs with horses at a mill in the winter time.
In 1929, August, Nels Soderberg, Bill Uhlig and Bill Thompson made a trip to the Peace River country to look at land. They drove up in our Model T Ford. In about 1931, they and their families all moved up north in the area north of Whitelaw. My parents rented Rusty Wilkerson's place in the Last Lake district. (SW2-84-1-W6) My Dad came up first with five horses, cattle, chickens and "Spike" our dog and some farm machinery on the N.A.R. to Whitelaw. Mom, Allan and I (Jean) came a little later. Allan and I (about 2 and 4 years old) had a great time on the train drinking from the fountain from the little paper cups you pulled down and making trips to the wash room. I also remember we enjoyed ice cream from dixie cups. I doubt that Mom has such a good time.
We moved into a log house with a sod roof and whenever it rained a lot, the roof leaked for a day or two after it had stopped. One day when it had rained for a few days and everything inside was wet; Mom, Allan and I went and stayed at Lee and Babe Marches. They had a shingle roof on their house. Babe had the rooms divided with curtains, which I think was fairly common in those years. I had a great time chasing the little kittens in and out under them. At our place, Mom had put the food supply on the table to keep it dry – covered with a table oil cloth. There was no plastic then.
Rabbits were often very thick and ate a lot of the feed that was stacked for winter. My Dad dug a deep hole in the snow, close to the bundle stack and built the sides up high with snow blocks and put a bundle in the middle of the hole for bait for the rabbits. Later at night when the rabbits came in to eat, he'd go out with a stick and lantern and kill as many rabbits as he could. I think some managed to get away. He shot a lot with the 22 rifle too.
My Dad and Soderbergs homesteaded land in the Deer Hill district about 9 or 10 miles west and north of our place at Last Lake. They made trips up there to start clearing out a place to build and to do some building. During these times, Ella Hanson and Jean Marches came to look after Allan and I because Mom had the chores to do. Sadie Nystrom, Nels and Regina Soderberg's daughter and her son, Roy, who was Allan's age stayed with us for a while too.
People we visited with during our time at Last Lake were Uhligs, Thompsons, Vasses, George Hansens, John Hansons, Lee Marches and Paul Marches and Wylies. A few more who came to our place were Rusty Wilkenson, Herb Pearce and Dan Hrab.
Mrs. Vass spent quite a bit of time with me, teaching me to read from the Grade 1 Primer, also with arithmatic, as it was called then. In later years she gave me an old organ that was felt in the Meridian School.
One Christmas in particular that I remember is when my Dad made me a doll cradle and Mom made the mattress, pillow, sheets and blanket for it. My Dad made Allan a Sleigh. We were delighted with these gifts.
We went to church services held by the Salvation Army and also Presbyterian Services taken by Mr. Fraser. These services were in the Last Lake Hall.
On May 5th 1934 we moved all of our possessions by horse and wagon over a long rutted trail to our new home on NW-10-84-2-W6 in the Deer Hill district. We first lived in a small Shanty roof building, only for a short while and this later became the chicken house. Before winter we were able to move into our new two-story log house, with a shingle roof and a jack pine floor that had a very nice finish done by pouring and spreading hot linseed oil on it. The house had an upstairs and a dormer with windows. The house was comfortable and still stands in Allan and Beckies yard to this day.
As time went on, my Dad also built two barns, a big granary, smoke house, blacksmith shop and milk house, all out of logs.
My Dad farmed with horses and older machinery that often needed repair. He made his own forge which we turned the crank to fan the coals to make the fire burn hotter, while he held an iron in until it turned white hot. Then it could be pounded into the shape he wanted it to be for repairs. He also sharpened plough shares this way.
He also made his own rope making machine. It had 3 hooks on a board with a crank on at one end and a board at the other end that had 3 notches to slip the twins through. A hook held it stationary, as we turned the crank to turn the hooks that had been wrapped with twine, it made the three small ropes. When they were tightly enough twisted the board with the 3 notches was moved ahead which allowed the 3 small ropes to twist into one large rope. The notched end also had a swivel behind it. One end had to be mobile, built on skids, so it could move closer as the rope tightened to be able to make the rope the length you wanted it.
He laced and repaired the harnesses for the horses with laces he cut from raw hide, probably moose. He made us slippers from moose hide and deer skins that Rusty Wilkinson had tanned.
My Dad was quite handy with wood. He made us skis, sleighs and bunk beds and replaced the wood in the bib bob sleighs we used. He made handles for axes, shovels and forks.
Clearing the land was done quite differently than it is now. While my Dad lived, he did all his the hard way – digging big trees out with a pick axe and shovel. The smaller tree and willow bushes could be pulled out by using a team of horses, wrapping a chain around the tree (The top was probably cut off). One person would drive the team and when they pulled it would expose some of the roots on one side, the other person would cut the roots with an axe. After several roots were cut the horses could pull the tree out. This didn't leave so many roots in the ground.
Even Gerald and I pulled trees like this in the 50's except we used a Massey 30 instead of horses to pull with. In the winter my Dad always did some trapping – squirrel, weasels and muskrats (in the spring) and snared a few coyote and fox. The income from this helped a lot. He was successful at getting wild game for meat – moose, deer, grouse, prairie chicken, duck and geese.
There was wood to get for winter. Allan and I helped load the trees on the sleigh when we were big enough. The big logs were sawed up with a cross cut saw which had a handle on both ends and two people worked at one time. The swede saw was used by one person for logs not quite so big. In later years Ingue Soderberg got a tractor and buzz saw. Then crews got together and did big piles of logs in one day or afternoon. There was always fun around the table afterwards, with coffee, fresh buns and sweets.
Berry picking was a regular summer activity for our family. We made a trip to Peace River for saskatoons, where we stayed overnight and slept under binder canvass propped against the wagon. Once we came back as far as Whitelaw in heavy rain and spent the night in the hay loft of Felix the blacksmith's barn and returned the next day. We went to Hemstocks, Thordarsons or Stoffords mills to pick raspberries. These were one day trips leaving early in the morning and returning late at night with cows to milk after we got home. Mosquitoes were always present. Even so, these trips were exciting and fun. We always took lots to eat. This we had around the campfire with coffee boiled in a 10 pound syrup pail over the flames. There was lots of work for the woman after cleaning the berries and canning the fruit. We picked strawberries, blueberries, high bush cranberries and low bush cranberries close to home.
Grass fires were quite common and caused quite a bit of excitement getting them out, but I can't remember that we lost anything from them.
Our nearest neighbors were Mr. & Mrs. Nels Soderberg. Ingue and Hlege and Mr. & Mrs. Soderbergs grandson Roy, who was the same age as Allan. They were within walking distance from our place, only ½ mile, so we saw each other often. Ben Lucas, a bachelor was 1 mile west of us and Walley, Jessie and Ronald Lucas were 2 miles east and north. Ben Shulz was ½ mile north.
Ben Shulz was an excellent butcher and could prepare many tasty sausages made from pork. He said, the only thing you couldn't use was the squeal. He also made very good corned moose meat. The meat was brine cured, tied tightly with binder twine, then smoked until it had a dry crust on the outside. This made very good sandwiches. He did the work for his neighbors in exchange for sausage and meat for himself.
Victor Vick and his family moved up here in 1932 and lived 2 miles north of us. We became good friends from then on.
Harry and Alice Johnson lived west of us about 1 ½ miles, from 1936-43. They had 2 little boys, Billy and Larry.
One time when there was a fire, Alice walked all the way over to our place with the little boys. I think she carried Larry. I guess everything worked out O.K. After Johnsons moved away, Ruby and Elaine McShea moved onto the Johnson place and farmed a few years there, then moved south to Giscombe. Mrs. McShea married Mike Day and they came back up here and homesteaded on the land north of Lucas' place.
In 1936 Ted Nadeau brought his brother Him to our place to herd cattle. He made his home with un until he married Violet Cox in 1945. He helped through the years with cattle and farming and at times went out working for a while. It was good he was with us when Dad suddenly passed away from a stroke in 1942. Mom continued to farm and work hard and with our help was able to make a go of it.
We spent much time herding cattle or checking to see that they hadn't broken out of the pasture. Then there was the milking to do and fences to fix, the farming to do and feed to get for the stock for winter. Through the years, we all picked rocks – of which there were many.
Mom made cheese and butter and sold both or shipped cream. In the early years, the cream was kept in an empty well that was filled with now in the winter. This snow formed into ice and lasted for the summer. We also had an ice house which had ice blocks put in and covered with sawdust. This ice was used in the summer to keep the cream cans and other things cold. The ice was also used to freeze delicious ice cream.
Our schooling. In 1937 I stayed at Uhligs to go to school for a few months. In December of the same year I stayed with Hamels so I could take part in the Deer Hill Christmas concert. In January 1938, Jim drove Allan and I to school in a one horse cutter. He took some schooling for a couple of years himself. By then, Allan and I were big enough to manage ourselves and Roy Nystrom also came with us. We drove a one horse cutter in winter and rode horseback in summer. The horseback time was always more fun. When it was colder than -30 degrees, Mr. Soderberg drove us in a covered sleigh with a stove in it. We continued this way until the school closed the end of June 1943.
Jessie Maggs, Our last school teacher, through special effort taught Olive Morrison, Mamie Retzler, Violet Hamel and myself Grade IX. Most of the country schools only taught up to grade VIII.
We had good teachers who taught all the grades. Deer Hill had about 12 – 15 students attending.
Entertainment. Softball was our summer entertainment for all ages – from the 1st patch of bare ground in the spring until harvest started in the fall. At our place, if we were short of players, we used trees for base men. Ronald Lucas taught us how to play cricket with "make-do" equipment. As far as I know, we just played this at our place, but it was fun.
We did skiing and skating in the winter time. We skated on ice on the ponds and occasionally on the lake if it froze over before it snowed. The adults had card parties in the 1940's, I think.
The first show I remember seeing was a John Deere Show in Whitelaw. They showed a farm comedy. It was hilarious!
We didn't have opportunity to get to church services very often because of the distance and a long way to travel to a town with horses, but thank God for those dear Anglican ladies, who came by van in the summer months over the crooked and often muddy roads and put us on the mailing list for " Sunday School by Post". They sent Allan and I lessons suitable for our age. I still have copies of the "Childs own" and Institute leaflet with dates from March 1936 – July 1941.
Names of the ladies who came to see us or the ones who corrected our papers are E. M. Eastwood, C. W. Searsea, Edith Haycock, Miss Ruth Sales and Miss Hazel.
Mom enjoyed having company stop in and always had "goodies" baked ahead which she urged you to have "more" of.
She was able to take care of herself until shortly before her death on September 5, 1985.
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