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It has frequently been said that fact is stranger than fiction. This might
easily apply to the lives of many of the early pioneers of Alberta, whose
lives are more colorful in romance and adventure than those of characters
which live on the printed page. |
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Many of the old-timers have taken the last long trail home but many are
left to tell the tale of their trek into the country when the Western world
was young, and lured them from the hearthstone of the older civilization.
One of those is Mrs. Agnes Hutchings, who is now living in California. Mrs.
Hutchings came to Alberta, a bride, in 1880 and lived there until 1923 when
she travelled farther west to California. During the forty-three years of
her [life] in Alberta, she saw much history made, and had a part in the
making. This is commemorated in the archives which the Edmonton Pioneers
and Old-Timers' Association are compiling. |
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It was on July 7, 1880 that Agnes Cram became the bride of Alfred Hutchings
at her father's home, two miles west of Carleton Place, Ontario. Previous
to this time, Mr. Hutchings had been in the west, trading with the Indians,
and after visiting with his people on a farm near Newboro, on Rideau Lake,
the young couple turned their faces westward to make their home in the then
far away country vaguely known as the North West Territories. |
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The first part of the journey was comparatively luxurious. Travelling by
boat to Kingston, they took the train there for Detroit, crossing the St.
Clair river on a ferry. From Detroit they went to Chicago. That city did
not cover so much ground as it does today, for the honeymooners travelled
from one end of it to the other by hack and thoroughly enjoyed the sights.
After leaving Chicago, they travelled by train, with neither diner nor
sleeper, from Monday evening until Saturday night, when they reached St.
Boniface, Manitoba, the end of steel. They crossed the river to Winnipeg
where Mr. Hutchings brother, E. F. Hutchings, was in the
harness business in partnership with Mr. Stocker. |
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In Winnipeg, Mr. and Mrs. Hutchings saw a historical sight -- the first
train, consisting of an engine and a few flat cars, crossing the Red River.
But it did not travel far enough to help them on the last leg of their
journey. They rested in Winnipeg for a fortnight while getting ready for
the trip to the North West Territories. It was necessary that they provide
themselves with equipment, so they secured four carts and one ox for each
cart, and a pony and rig for Mrs. Hutchings. Then they started on the long
journey across the prairies. |
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At Pleasant Plains they overtook Frank Oliver and his party, James Ross of
the Ross Bros. Hardware Company, and James Brewster, with whom they had
travelled the last six hundred miles of the journey. |
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"This is what distance does for us; the harsh and bitter features of this
or that experience are slowly obliterated when memory begins to look on the
past." Perhaps this accounts for the fact that old-timers review their
early experiences with apparent enjoyment, and we never hear one of them
speak regretfully of the hardships which came their way. But there were
experiences in their westward trip which Mrs. Hutchings says she shall
never forget. One of them occured on their arrival at the Battle River.
October had reached there before them, and brought with it the early autumn
frosts, but the ice on the river was not of sufficient thickness to carry
the party over. They waited a few days and the weather moderated. The ice
broke up and floated down stream, but the men decided it was dangerous to
force the animals to ford the river as the water was very cold. |
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The travellers had been journeying with, or in company with, a band of
Indians for a few days previous to reaching the Battle River. The Indians
had been on the plains hunting buffalo and were on their way back to Lac La
Biche for the winter. The man-power of the party totalled seven. After
long consultation, they decided to unload all the provisions from the
wagons and carts and take all the machinery apart. From the woods they cut
out logs, and lashing the wheels to the logs, formed a large raft. On this
everything, including Frank Oliver's first printing press, provisions,
wearing apparel and other equipment, was floated across the river by means
of long poles guided by the men. |
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As there were two heavy lumber wagons, six or eight carts, provisions and
clothing, to say nothing of the luggage of the Indians or Mr. and Mrs.
Hutchings' personal outfit, it took a week to assemble the outfit and get
everything loaded and in shape after crossing the river. The great
difficulty, however, was to hold the animals as they had become badly
chilled while fording the river, and it was necessary to arrange the
wagons, carts, rigs, etc., in the shape of a corral. The Indians showed no
resentment of the coming of the white man, but were very ready and willing
to help them before they left them at this point. |
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Autumn rains had come by this time and the trails and roads were in bad
condition. Consequently, the party did not reach Bittern Lake until October
26. There the Hutchings stopped while the Oliver party
continued on to
Edmonton. Mr. and Mrs. T. G. Hutchings, who were settled at Bittern Lake,
gave the newcomers a glad welcome. They had been living eight miles away
from any white settler during that summer. Previous to Mr. Hutchings'
departure for the East, he and his brother had both built shacks at Bittern
Lake. They all lived in the larger shack for the first winter. The other
was used for a store room as the men conducted a trading post with the
Indians and it was necessary to keep the provisions cold. Mr. Roswell
(Rowswell) visited them there and later, when the Hutchings
moved to what
is known as the Polar Lake District, became their neighbor there. |
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Only one winter was spent at Bittern Lake. On the first of April, 1881, the
Hutchings abandoned their shanties at Bittern Lake and "hit the trail" for
civilization, meaning Fort Edmonton. It took them about a week to reach the
banks of the Saskatchewan. On arriving at Walters' Crossing, opposite the
Hudson's Bay fort, they found the ice had commenced to move. This caused
another delay of a week or so. The weather turned colder again and the men
hauled the carts, wagons and rigs across the river with their own efforts,
leaving the animals to be forced over. |
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One would think the wayfarers had by that time travelled as far as they
wanted to go. But not so. They left Edmonton and camped at Dan Hayes'
(Noyes?) farm overnight, then drove on to the Cut Bank farm, owned by Mr.
William Cust. There they stayed for two or three weeks, and on the twelfth
day of May, 1881, they pitched their tents on their own farm which later
Mr. John Fielders and Mrs. Hutchings christened "Poplar Lake." Through the
efforts of Mr. Hutchings a one-roomed shack was built by July and on August
7th their eldest child, Herbert, was born, with neither a nurse nor doctor
in attendance. |
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During November of 1881, Dr. Baird and Dr. Robinson, manager
of missions
for the North West Territories, arrived in Edmonton and organized the First
Presbyterian Congregation. The charter members included Mrs. Hutchings,
Mrs. Tom Henderson, James Pertie, Mrs. Heimiak, and Mrs. James Goodrich.
Dr. Baird, a fresh college graduate, baptized young Herbert Hutchings, then
six months old, at the Belmont School House. |
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In 1885 the Riel Rebellion broke out in Batoche, and when news reached the
settlement there was naturally great excitement. Mrs. George Sanderson, the
Misses Kelly, Miss Lizzie Long and her nephew Bert, Miss Simpson, Mrs.
Hutchings and two children camped in Bose Bros. carpenter shop in
connection with the Catholic Mission at St. Albert, for two weeks, During
that time Bishop Grandin kept the party informed as to the rebellion at
Batoche and Duck Lake. During the thick of it, James Mowat volunteered to
ride to Calgary for news, all wires having been cut. In the excitement of
the hour, the Hutchings brothers, S.R. Brenton, Robert Bailey and Herb.
Roswell (Rowswell) gathered their respective livestock together and herded
them north of the Sturgeon River for protection. But they soon brought them
back again. |
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It was after the rebellion that the first boom struck Edmonton and the
Hutchings benefited thereby. Through the sale of one fat ox to the RNWMP
barracks at Fort Saskatchewan, they realized $180, a large sum in those
days! |
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After the rebellion the years passed in comparative quiet. The land was
cleared and broken, the home was gradually improved, and six [seven] more
children were added to the family. The next event of outstanding importance
in Mrs. Hutchings' life was a visit to Winnipeg in the summer of 1897. On
this occasion she was accompanied by her two youngest children. This was
the first time Mrs. Hutchings had seen a train since leaving St. Boniface
in 1880, 17 years before. In 1902, her husband went east to visit his
people and, returning brought barrels of apples and other choice Ontario
fruit. One can hardly imagine the relish with which the family would
consume those apples, possibly the first the children had seen. |
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On May 17, 1905, the family circle was broken by death. After a short
illness in the Edmonton Hospital, Mr. Hutchings passed away. Two years
later, in the fall of 1907, Mrs. Hutchings and her five daughters moved to
Edmonton. The three sons remained on the farm. |
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Writing from California where she now resides, Mrs. Hutchings says:
"Although I find the climate especially beneficial to my health, I often
think of Edmonton and particularly the old farm where so many happy years
were spent and where my sons Percy, Herbert and Frank are now carrying on
the good work and making the historical old spot (to our family) more
beautiful every year. Where we once carried candles and lamps, they now
have electricity; the milk pail has been replaced by the milking machine in
a modern dairy, as also the wagon by the automobile." |
