Little House in Little Prarrie

In the late 1870's many young men left Ontario and headed to Manitoba in search of free land. Frank Bell and Dan Stoddart were just two of these men. When Frank and Dan stood looking over their newly acquired land in 1878, did they ever think that their decision to come to Manitoba would shape my family's history?

Frank Bell and Dan Stoddart were cousins, from Oro Station, Ontario. Their families had settled in Oro Station after coming from Ireland. Frank was one of eight children raised on the family farm. As he grew older he realized the farm wasn't going to be big enough to split between the children so he convinced his cousin Dan that they should head out in search of their own land. The population of Ontario was already over 1.6 million in 1871 because Ontario was a popular place for many immigrant families from Europe to settle. There wasn't any more good agricultural land in Ontario so Frank and Dan headed west into the newly formed province of Manitoba where they heard that great farmland was still available.

For Frank and Dan the journey was long and slow. They traveled by oxen and a red river cart, a popular means of transportation at the time. The cart's wooden frame allowed it to float across rivers, and the tall wooden wheels to easily travel through mud and marshes. The strong cart allowed for loads as heavy as 450 kg so Frank and Dan had with them everything they thought they needed. In June 1878 they arrived in Glencross, near what is today Morden, Manitoba. Here there was a land registry office that helped English speaking settlers from Ontario locate land to settle on. Unfortunately, most of the land in this area was already taken so Frank and Dan had no choice but to continue moving west to seek out good agricultural land. They followed the Boundary Commission Trail as they headed northwest. The Boundary Commission Trail had just recently been established in 1873 when William Hallett and the Queen's surveyors marked the boundary between Canada and the United States. This trail was a good one to follow because it was often used by Aboriginals and fur traders and was well used. The swollen Pembina River blocked their way so the men and oxen were forced to swim across. Finally they were able to continue their journey and after a few days they came to an area know as "Little Prairie" and here land was available and seemed suitable for farming. Frank and Dan began the process required to claim a piece of land.

The Dominion Lands Act, passed in 1872 clearly explained how someone could acquire land in Manitoba. Under the Dominion Lands Act certain sections of land were set aside for schools, some for railways, and the remaining sections were appropriated for homesteading. In order to begin the process Frank and Dan filed an affidavit certifying that they were over 21, had never acquired land through the act, and that they would be using the land for farming. Frank was assigned 160 acres on the north-east half of section 5-3-12 after paying his ten dollar administrative fee for the homestead and Dan was assigned 160 acres next to Frank on the north-west half of section 4-3-12. At the time it was also possible to claim a homestead for someone else, so Frank acquired the north-east half of section 4-3-12, beside Dan for his brother Thomas. Now that Frank, Dan, and Thomas had been given a free homestead, they had three years to build a permanent house and cultivate 40 acres. If they were successful, they would each be given the title to their homestead. Frank and Dan took advantage of the pre-emption privilege that came into effect at the same time as the Dominion Lands Act which allowed someone to purchase land adjacent to their homestead for one dollar per acre. Frank applied for the 160 acres south of his homestead for himself, and for Thomas, he did the same. Dan also was able to take advantage of the pre-emption privilege and applied for the additional 160 acres directly south of his homestead. The pre-emption was free for the first three years and after that they were to pay a dollar per acre. With their new land secure, the journey was over and now Frank and Dan could focus on building their first home.

It was now the late summer of 1878 and it wouldn't be long until winter. Frank and Dan decided that building a house together would be the best idea and they chose to build the house on Dan's homestead. This was a perfect location because it had a lot of large oak trees suitable for building a house. The trees they chose were approximately one foot square after they had been trimmed. As the logs were put into place to form the foundation, each was notched on the corners to provide a snug fit. On each corner, as they added another row of logs, they also drilled holes and drove two inch pegs through each hole to further secure the corners. Dan and Frank chose to have a door and a window on either side of the door facing south. They also added a window on the west and north side. Above the door and windows they continued to add a row of full length logs to each side of the house to increase the strength. Deciding this was a good height they notched logs across the house to put in the floor joists to make a second story. An additional four more rows of logs were added after this before they started to build the rafters. The rafters were about four inches square and the wood used was from poplar trees. The gable ends were one inch lumber that was installed vertically so the rain would run off. When Frank and Dan stood back and admired their new log house it measured approximately 23 feet by 17 feet. Summer had now passed and the house, although finished on the outside, was not ready for winter and Frank and Dan were forced to return to Glencross for the winter.

Frank and Dan were anxious for spring so they could get back and start clearing their land as required by the Dominion Lands Act. They were also excited because they would soon be joined by Thomas, Frank's brother. Without the need to bring a lot of supplies, Thomas took a train through the United States and arrived in Crookston, Minnesota. From there he took a steamboat along the Red River to Emerson, Manitoba. Just one year earlier in 1878, Emerson had become known as "The Gateway City" because it was linked to the south by rail and to the west by the Boundary Commission Trail. Thomas continued his journey by foot along the Boundary Commission Trail until he reached "Little Prairie" and finally reunited with his brother, Frank and his cousin, Dan.

Thomas was very disappointed when he first saw his land. It was all bush, whereas the land claimed by Frank and Dan was less heavily treed and had lots of open sod that could be planted to crops immediately. He wondered if he could ever make this land