Homesteads of Saint-Léon

Translated from Odile Martel's book Pionniers de la Montagne Pembina

p. H-55 

The Huts of the First Settlers

First, a temporary log hut (tree trunks) left as is or squared by hand had to be built. The cracks between the logs were clogged or stained with clay. Quite 5, the colon installed the floor only a year or two later. Fortunately, the roofs covered with curves or earth and hay were relatively watertight. But sometimes it was enough for heavy rain to sink them or even collapse. It was not until 1881 that the Messner mill shingles became available. The only furnishings of these huts were some very rough furniture, such as a table and chairs cut with an axe, a stove, and a straw mattress.

(Family unidentified)

Land clearing and Agricultural Work

Land clearing was a very laborious undertaking. The village was originally surrounded by woodland. The settler had to cut down the trees with an axe, burn the branches and tear the roots and stumps one by one with a spike. He would clear one acre at a time, then plow his field with oxen or later with horses. In order to keep the title in his homestead, he had to clear 15 acres in three years. He also had a right of pre-emption, which meant that he was entitled to the second quarter of the section for a modest sum of money.

All work on the farm at the beginning of the colony was done by hand or with oxen. When the settlers came to take their concession before settling their families, they did not always have time to remove the stumps. They were digging and sowing by hand around the stumps. Later, they cut this grain with sickles, made sheaves of it, tying them with a handful of straw wrapped around the sheaf. These wreaths were then picked up and placed in "quintals" or stacks so that the grain would dry and harden before being beaten.

The hype was plagued, a kind of rod made of two sticks bound end to end by belts. One of the sticks served as a handle and the other to beat the grain. The wreaths were placed on the floor and struck with the scourge to get the grain out of the ears. The grain was picked up on the floor and pocketed and started again with another wreath. The hype lasted until the winter.

p. H-19 

Through the government, the head of the family or a son over the age of 18 was offered the privilege of acquiring a 160-acre farm with three years to clear it and start working the land. The first step was to register a request at a cost of $10.00. Subsequently, after meeting the requirements, and compiling a list of improvements such as the construction of a house, a barn, an enclosure and the excavation of a well, the owner was finally granted title to his crown property. This also allowed the owner to purchase adjacent land, if vacant, at a low price of $3.00 per acre or any other land that had been lost due to lack of compliance with regulatory requirements.

The clearing of land was done by cutting the trees, one at a time, with an axe, and then having the tree trunks pulled with a pair of oxen. These pruned trees, cut down in length, and then dovetail were used to build the huts.

In addition, in the 1870s, woodlands in the area were able to provide the wood required for heating and the construction of houses and barns. There were also large tracts of hay or clear grassland, as well as some burnt grass that was pushed back into branches. 

Homestead under construction for Alphonse Labossiere

H-119

Living through 1910 to 1930  

By 1910 and even before, the people of Saint-Léon had witnessed many improvements and developments in their region, especially agricultural ones. For example, it is enough to point out the arrival of the railways and the erection of grain elevators in several neighbouring villages, the construction of roads, the installation of telephones, the purchase of beaten machines and steam engines and the arrival of the automobile, to realize that the way of life of the settlers had changed very quickly.

Already in 1908, according to the chronicles of the Sisters of the Savior, there had been "the installation of a small telephone between the convent and the rectory to facilitate commissions" and in 1909, the installation of a large telephone at the convent with the central at Somerset, which was a big blow."

The Construction of Modern Homes 

Since there was then an era of prosperity, especially after the war, many farmers and villagers were able to build fairly large houses themselves, including one floor, a two-, four- or six-sided roof, plaster walls, stained-glass windows, hardwood floors, a cellar and foundations of cut and mortar stones. So they could abandon their huts made of logs. Some of these modern houses built were built for 

p. H-120 

at that time were for Cleophas Major, Jérémie Rondeau, Joseph Dion, Azarie Labossière, Télesphore Rondeau, Delipha Routhier, Hector Labossière, Joseph Landreville, Joseph Messner and others.

This home was made using the wood from the Somerset Hotel

The Grenier family home

The Lussier family home

p. H-121

The home of Jeremie Rondeau, whose son Ovila would marry Victoire Lafreniere (daughter of Frederic Lafreniere)

p. H-123

Heating

These houses were heated mainly by a wood-burning kitchen stove, and sometimes also by a "boxstove" that was installed in the living room or in another room. To prevent fires, long pipes usually joined the stoves at the chimney. There was always a good supply of firewood in the "wood box" that was often near the door that led outside.

Lighting

In the early days of the colony, oil lamps had lit up the houses. During the vigils, the family gathered around the table on which the lamp was placed. The Aladdin lamp and the Coleman gas lamp that later came could be hung from the ceiling and produced a much stronger light than the oil lamp.

The kitchen

The kitchen was the most important room in the house. There was then a stove, a table, chairs, a rocking chair, a kitchen cabinet that was a high piece of furniture and closed by flaps, used to store dishes and food. In most houses, it was in this room that we received the visit. It was also there that the mother spending most of her time preparing meals, doing laundry, baking bread, ironing, knitting, sewing, sorting, and chatting or chatting with other family members.

p. H-124

Water and Plumbing

Everyone had to have a well to provide water to the whole family, but without running water. Some had a cistern built in the cellar and were able to pump water out of the kitchen, making it easier for the housewife to carry bucket water to do laundry or wash. However, the water to drink and to prepare the meals had yet to come from the well.

The Farm Feeds its world

As in the early days of the colony, farmers fed on farm products such as milk, butter, cream, eggs, meat, and bread. In the summer, the garden provided them with fresh vegetables and the forests gave them wild fruits such as pembina, pears or saskatoons, wild strawberries, red and black raspberries, atocas, currants, cherries, and plums.

Food preservation

It was not until about 1930 that housewives learned to can fruit and vegetables. However, long before that time, they stored potatoes, carrots, turnips, even if they had to be on the lookout during the winter to prevent them from freezing. These same vegetables, like beets, could also be placed in the cellar in sand or sawdust. Another method was to store them in a vault (a hole dug in the earth of 6 square feet and 4 to 5 feet of hollows) and cover them with hay or earth.

Cucumbers and beets were placed in sandstone containers in a brine of vinegar, salt and a little water. A weighting was placed on top of the vegetables to keep them in the brine. The peas had to be dried to preserve them, but they had to be soaked before eating to soften them. Some farmers prepared what they called "leached Indian wheat" but many were hesitant to use this method because it had to be soaked in water with soda laundry, a caustic solution of NaOH (lye), and then dry it. Before eating it, it had to be soaked in hot water to remove the laundry solution.

Some farmers had a cooler that was just a wooden or stone hut and was placed over a large hole and filled it with several rows of sawdust and ice blocks that had been cut on the lake with an ice saw. In such coolers milk, cream, and butter could be deposited in such coolers during the summer.

p. H-125

Those who did not have coolers could keep their dairy products in their wells. They had to lower the containers tied by ropes to the water of the well and twice a day, after milking the cows, take out the large 5-gallon cans to put the cream and milk of each milking.

Keeping meat

In terms of meat, beef was butchered in the winter. The meat was frozen and kept cold in shacks or in bags that were put in the grain.

The pigs were killed at different times of the year, but rather in the cool of the evening. The next day, the meat was prepared, that is, salted bacon was made by salting it in large sandstone containers with pure salt brine. 

p. H-126

It was the best method even if before grilling this salted bacon, it had to be boiled in water in order to remove the salt. In addition, among some farmers, pig's buttocks were smoked in special shacks to preserve them.

The day after a butcher's shop became a day of heavy work: pudding, foie gras pâté, sausages, and cheese heads were made. Fat was melted for pastries or soap.

New stables

At that time, larger stables were built by farmers to house their cash cows and horses they had bought for field work or to pull their buggy or cutter. In most cases, these large barns had a half-moon-shaped floor used to store hay. Since skimmings were already on the market, they could sell cream at the creamery in one of the nearby villages