Skip to main content

Friends of the Saskatchewan Archives - Member Stories

 From time-to-time this Blog will share stories shared from members of Friends of the Saskatchewan Archives via their "Interim Gopher" Bill Armstrong.

Cheers, Cameron

Hello FOPASKers. The gopher's invitation to share stories about the homesteading experience brought the following story from Friend Frank Korvemaker. While not strictly about homesteading, it's a great yarn. The gopher experienced Hurricane Hazel on land, and that was more than enough, thank you very much. I can't imagine what it was like with a waterline view. 

Here is a photo of me – age 7, on board the Holland America Line’s “Groote Beer” (Big Bear) on Oct. 14, 1954, in Rotterdam, about to set out for Canada.  Seven days later we were bobbing up, down and sideways on the mighty Atlantic, while Hurricane Hazel was throwing the last of her ferocity at anyone who got in her way.  We made it safely to Montreal on Oct 24th. to begin our sojourn in Canada.
Below is a photo of the “Groote Beer” - a World War II troop carrier converted in the late 1940s into a passenger vessel.  Our below deck portal was just above the water line, so when we sailed into Hurricane Hazel, and the ship lurched from side to side, we saw bright blue sky, then dark blue water.  The portals were soon covered with massive metal hatches – securely bolted down.  Aside from a safety issue, not seeing the sea-sky-sea-sky business over and over made the passengers feel much safer and perhaps only a wee small bit less seasick.  Never been that seasick in my life – and I still have no desire to ever cross the Atlantic again in a boat.  But, the sunny view as we sailed up the St. Lawrence from Quebec City to Montreal was absolutely amazing – I had never seen such fall colours before, and I would dearly like to sail that bit of waterway again some October.

Stay safe..
 
 



-- 

Bill Armstrong

interim gopher

Friends of the Saskatchewan Archives


Regina, Saskatchewan,   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Talking About If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewan by Crista Bradley

  Talking About If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewan Crista Bradley When I was granted a one-year research sabbatical leave from the University of Regina Archives in July 2019, I was able to move forward with a project that’s been on my mind for several years.   The objective of the sabbatical was to research and write a children's book and companion educator’s guide that would help kids connect with Saskatchewan archives and further develop their understanding of our province’s diverse history. The year was rich and the pace was vigorous as I worked to review the professional literature on youth outreach and archival/historical products designed for children, identify a theme and format for the book, and investigate publishing options.   With support from a SCAA Professional Development Grant, I attended Canada History’s Historical Thinking Summer Institute, to help me frame my approach to packaging historical informati
Post a Comment
Read more

Gopher Gazette: the sourdough starter edition

From time-to-time we welcome the input from our friend the Interim Gopher, Bill Armstrong, of the Friends of Saskatchewan Archives (FoSA) in contributing stories and additional insights to "Outside the Box." Salutations to all those flour-coated FOPASKers out there. The gopher has stumbled upon a commentary that explains why you are sitting by your stove at 3 am, waiting for the bread to be baked, or punching a mound of dough at any hour of the day. Bet you didn't realize what you were doing was so culturally significant.. https://heritagesask.ca/news/blog/the-stuff-of-life-the-living-heritage-of-bread-in-a-time-of-change Turning to another matter, the photo of the fowl supper, which produced some wicked punning from members Ralph and Frank, also brought a query about what happened to the Matador Co-op Farm. A link to story that appeared in Prairies North magazine proved a dead end. The gopher did discover that the farm continued into the second generat
Post a Comment
Read more

Friends of the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (FOPASK)

  Greetings, fellow FOPASKers. A few days ago Friend Ron sent along a couple of photos he had discovered in his family archive, which he sent along with this request: We have this photograph of Sprucedale Farm  It appears to be in southern Saskatchewan from  the lack of trees and rolling hills. With all your connections, would you have any way of finding out where this was located? I believe the owners were Don and Kate McLaren but I have been unable to find their names anywhere. With your sleuthing abilities perhaps you might come up with something.   With great appreciation,         Ron D About the gopher's sleuthing abilities, pshaw, although I did check a couple of books of Saskatchewan place names, finding Spruce Bay and Spruce Lake, both in the parkland zone on the NorthWest side. As Ron notes, Sprucedale doesn't look like a good fit. There is also the date on the barn, 1910, when there was still land to be settled on in southern areas of the province.  As for sleuthing,
Post a Comment
Read more