Nipawin, SK to Manitoba

The lot where Keith's home once stood

Nipawin is where Keith was born and raised. We took a picture of where his home once was.  Now it is an empty corner lot. When Dad originally purchased the 2 room house from Virks he had to skid it 2 blocks to the present lot. He and Uncle George built on a kitchen and bedroom. When Dad left Nipawin he sold the house for $1500. The new owners decided to lift the house and put a foundation under it. They managed to lift it but then it broke in half where the new addition had been added. The house was too badly damaged to repair so they bulldozed it and trucked it to the dump, hence the empty lot. Not a happy ending to a home that held many happy childhood memories.   

We visited and enjoyed our time with Keith’s cousins Wayne & Bev, Faye & Garth and Aunt Gladys, Uncle George & Aunt Lillian and friends Oren & Heather.   The Nipawin homecoming is in 2015 and we plan to be there.

Wayne & Bev

Aunt Gladys (88 yrs old)

 

Faye & Garth

Uncle George ( age 96) Aunt Lillian

Heather & Oren

Oren prints a monthly historical magazine called the Nipawin Bridge and has been involved with the Homecoming preparations for several years.

Paula, Emmet, Logan, Chris

We also went to  nearby Carrot River and stayed with my 2^nd cousins Paula & Chris, Emmet, Logan, and new granddaughter Violet  who is  just 3 wks old. She is adorable.  We returned Violet to her Mom, Autumn, later that day.

Violet (3 wks)

Our car has passed a test of endurance. I tell you, the roads in Saskatchewan leave a lot to be desired!! The back roads to Faye & Garth’s and to Paula & Chris’ were really bad. It had been and was raining as we are ploughing through deep muddy ruts made deeper with every truck or SUV that had driven over them. Our clearance is about 4 inches. We slipped and slid all around, yet had to keep going or we would be stuck. Our car was really, really, really dirty when we left Nipawin!!

On to Saltcoats, this is one of the towns that Keith's mom’s family passed through on their trek north from Moosemin to Nipawin. They traveled by covered wagon and stopped at Saltcoats to rest the horses and visit mom’s Grandfather John Pratt Campbell. John & wife Margret Fitzgerald are both buried here. We tried to find the grave yard but after several hours of bottoming out the car and driving over the rough gravel roads we gave up. Margret Fitzgerald is the sister of Fredrick Fitzgerald, the 1^st president of Imperial Oil. He is also the inventor of the Fitzgerald Oil Derrick, one of the largest oil derricks ever used and it is still in use in Petrolia, Ont. But that’s a later story.

From Saltcoats we drove on to Roblin, MB and camped here in the local town campsite. It was an OK site for having just been flooded! The bathrooms floors were still on the muddy side and the grass we camped on was very dusty from all the mud deposited on it by the flooding.
Still it did have its upside…. it was FREE.

campsite at Riding Mountain National Park

Riding Mountain National Park was kind of like a miniature Banff in the bush beside a very nice lake. We camped here at a campsite 2 sites away from a bear trap. It seems one of the local Yogi’s was wandering about at night. It didn’t bother us ‘cause if he did come around, we could of went and hid in the bear trap…. Sharen thinks NOT!!
We enjoyed having some wine around a campfire after a delicious dinner of marinated chicken breasts with a mixture of potatoes, onions and mushrooms all cooked on the BBQ ….YUM!!!

Keith, Sharen, Adel, Tish

    
                                                                           


July 10^th we left for Winnipeg where we visited with Adel McCallan, daughter Trish, granddaughter Maggie and 2 great grand children.   Adel & Tish were previously from Englehart.  It was really nice to connect with them.

 

meeting place for 6000 yrs.

 
Then we headed to the Forks. Operated by Parks Canada, this 9.0 acre (3.63 hectare) picturesque riverside park looks across the Red River to historic St. Boniface. The Forks National Historic Site is dedicated to preserving and presenting the 6,000-year history of human presence and activity at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. The Site includes interpretive exhibits, award-winning sculptures, year-round walking trails, a dock, a canoe beach, a native prairie garden and a riverside amphitheatre for performances and events. 

 

Keith in Fort Garry Hotel

sharen & keith at Fort Garry Hotel

The Fort Garry Hotel used to be a CP Hotel and is still very elegant so we enjoyed a visit before heading off to Thunder Bay, Ontario.