Company homes at Shand, looking southwest
The Shand Power Station looms on the horizon, a landmark on the flat prairie landscape. Using the area's abundant coal deposits to produce electricity, its namesake sits idle just a few miles away.
About 90 years ago, it was there that the first Shand was born. It was the dream of an immigrant who came to Canada. With vision and hard labour, an enterprise was begun that encompassed many lives, over many years.
Mr. J.G. Peterson operated the Ureka Brickyard, near Estevan. When he was able to obtain the rights for land along the Soo Line railway, he moved about six miles east of Estevan to begin his own brickyard, along with the operation of a small underground coal mine.
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Company homes at Shand, looking southwest |
I was born at Shand, described as Sec. 4, Tp. 2, Rge. 7, W2nd, Saskatchewan, in the early 20s, in one of the small, red brick houses in the hamlet, and grew up in the area. My father worked in the coal mine, which was in full swing at that time.
Mining was a seasonal business. If it was a cold winter the mine worked vigorously. The rail cars would be lined up along the spur track to be filled and would be sent on to their destination. If it was a mild winter, the mine worked sporadically and wages for miners would be meagre.
For those who remained in the community over the summer - when the mine was not in operation - it was customary for the company store to charge groceries and necessities. Those, who did this, would "work off the bill" as soon as the mine began operating again in the fall.
In the spring, when the mine would shut down for the summer due to lack of sales, there would be and exodus as families moved away looking for work elsewhere. Each fall would bring in a new supply of families and of school-children.
As the coal mine expanded, the brickyard provided the supplies necessary to make many small houses in the hamlet. Brick was also used in the construction of the small, one-room school.
And Shand brick can also be seen in the large red brick house still standing about a mile north of the present Shand Power Station site. Mr. Peterson built this fine residence in 1925 - right across the road from the school, at the northern edge of the community. It was square, and the largest in the small community. As the brickyard was in operation at the time, the house was a building of prestige.
The school was situated on the north side of the hamlet and was the focal point of social life in the community. Sunday school was also held, along with church services, concerts, whist drives, and dances. As in all small centres, everyone in the village joined in and participated.
Just south of the railway track was the mine, with coal chutes to load the waiting rail cars. The men who worked underground were lowered to the working level by means of a cage, operated by a steam boiler and raised by the same method as the coal, at the signal of a whistle. At specific times the whistle would also sound to signify the beginning of work, noon, quitting time, or in an emergency.
 Shand, looking south to the tipple. |
The small coal cars were brought to the loading area by ponies. These horses were taken underground in the fall and kept there for the winter. Always well-fed and watered, they were usually brought back out in the spring, sleek and glossy.
Not far from the mine, also on the south side of the track, was the grocery store. It sold most articles needed by the residents - groceries; basic clothing; and later on a gas pump was added when cars became more numerous. It even sold powder, which was used in blasting or opening new areas of coal, as shot to the men who worked in the mine.
I remember vividly the walk to the local company store. They even had ice cream cones for sale! This, along with all the other necessities: meat, eggs, canned goods, big boots, warm socks, and thick heavy woolen underwear.
The local post office was in the store, just inside the entrance where one could open a box with a code. You could buy a money order or a stamp, too. When I was old enough to read, there was even a travelling library(a big wooden box filled with new books to read). This was exchanged regularly for new books.
South of the store was the bunkhouse - a long, low, dormitory type building where most of the single men were housed. Men who did not bring their families to live at Shand also lived there. It was painted a dark barn red colour, and situated across the road from the boarding house, where the men ate their meals. This boarding house was a square stone building, reputedly the "coldest house in the world."
My grandfather and grandmother had come to live at Shand in 1914. Grandmother ran the boarding house and cooked for the men who lived in the bunkhouse. It meant three huge meals each day; and she also fed any visitors at the mine, and occasionally a North West Mounted Police officer who patrolled along the Canada-U.S. border. There were often transients who were looking for work and out of money - but they were fed, too.
In many ways, the school, the store, and the boarding house were the centre of activity in the community.
The main road or "street" ran north/south, and was cut in half by the railway which ran generally east/west. The houses, which were mainly small and built of red brick, lined the main roadway and spilled over into adjacent areas. These homes were occupied by families whose husbands and fathers worked at the mine.
Also remembered by Margaret Czoba were other early residents - Mr. Moffat (a mine manager); Sam Lee (pit boss); Mr. Olson(blacksmith). Other early residents were the families - Newsome, Mather, Klassie, Thomas, Evans, Ward, Silk, Hugh McLean, Tom McLean, Vass, Cummings, Byers, Blondeau, Arthur Phillips, Gillis, Henry Kushenerek, Eric Johnson, Meyers.
These names were followed by others - Olischefski, Preikshot, Walczullis, Koch, Wheeler, Jack Murray, George Murray, Fik, Duch, Charnholm, Louvisendahl, Fagerheim, Fury, Cowan.
An early section foreman for the C.P.R. who lived at Shand was Mr. Burns, probably followed by Mr. Katrusiak until he was moved to Estevan in the late 1930s.
Mrs. Lynch has pointed out that farmers settled in the district in the early days too. Her father homesteaded in 1903. Joe Martin homesteaded before 1880 and used to drive a four horse triple decked grain wagon to Kipling to ship his early grain crop and buy his year's supplies.
Before that, the Reverend Terry took a quarter section a mile east of the eventual Shand site. The section south of that was first settled by the Burners, who later moved to the Woodend District. The Wingerts were early farm families, as well as Frank Doll.
Before the days of paved roads and a car in every yard, the train was the main means of contact with other areas. A passenger train came into Shand from Estevan about 2:00 p.m. daily on the way to Portal.
This train brought the mail. The outgoing bag of mail was scooped off the standard, which could be reached from the train. The full bag of incoming mail was thrown out to be retrieved by the postmaster. This train came back from Portal about 6 p.m. On Saturday night, almost the entire population would assemble and the group would join the commuters from Roche Percee, Pinto, and North Portal, going to Estevan. For many it was a weekly proceeding; for others a payday treat.
The trip of six miles cost 25 cents per person. On the trip to Estevan you paid the conductor on the train. On the way to Shand you bought a ticket at the Estevan station, also 25 cents. Arrangements had been made for the "long train" (probably the train going on into the U.S.A.), to transport the commuters homeward, and this train left Estevan around midnite. This interval gave people time to have supper, visit friends, and have a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe, before catching the train homeward.
To see the area now, one would never think it was once a lively, thriving community. There are a few ruins of houses, a burnt-out coal slag heap, a few stones at the site of the former boarding house, and an abandoned school yard. But the memories are still alive.
