Musee Vankleek Hill Museum | Research

In southern Saskatchewan, on the Soo Railway line halfway between Moose Jaw and the United States border, the prairie stretches out so flat that if you lie down on the ground you can still see for ten miles. There's not a tree, not a shrub in sight. Over 100 years ago, hundreds of families from Ontario, including many from the Vankleek Hill area, travelled west by train and stepped out on to this vast stretch of prairie known as the Regina Plains to make a new life for themselves.

In the 1880s, the Canadian government published posters and pamphlets saying that Saskatchewan was the Last Best West and there was free land to be had. You just had to lay down a ten dollar bill and claim a quarter; and live on it for 6 months over the next three years, break a bit of land, build a house and then it would be your's - but it was free.

The CPR completed the extension of the Soo Line from North Portal to Pasqua Junction near Moose Jaw in the summer of 1893. Station houses were built all along the line...one of which was Milestone, named in honour of Mr. C.W. Milestone, the superintendent of the new Soo Line Extension.

It took a while for people to catch on that the country was open for settlement. There were rumours going around that this was part of Palliser's Dry Belt, the Great American Desert, good for nothing but jackrabbits and antelope. But the fellows who worked on the section gangs on the railroad noted the luxuriant growth of grasses and wild flowers. They were convinced that the soil must be good for farming.

In 1899, the land rush began. Over the next three years, 96 homestead entries were made in the Milestone district. Of these, nine were families from the Vankleek Hill area. Albert Ross and Benjamin Hubbs came first. They scouted the area before advising the people back east that the west was ripe for settlement. The word was that there was a great future on the prairie. Plowing could be done without having to clear trees as early farmers in the Ottawa Valley had done.

Soon, brothers and sisters, cousins and neighbours began arriving in the Milestone area. At one time, nearly a third of the population of Milestone district was from the Vankleek Hill area of Ontario. The names included Barton, Bradley, Galbraith, Renwick, Ross, and more. Wives and children came out when a modest dwelling had been erected to receive them. Railroad boxcars were loaded with their belongings, including everything a man and his family would need to run a farm. Train after train of boxcars full of livestock, household effects, sets of dishes, pieced quilts and hooked rugs, buggies, cutters, breaking plows, tools and seed grain left Ontario and pulled into the Milestone station.

Many of the women greeted their new home with mixed feelings. Tottie Bradley "never forgot the feelings on the drive to her new home along the bare prairie trail - no road, not a tree, not a shrub in sight. Back home in the east they had bountiful orchards and gardens… had they traded it all for this? But misgivings faded as she listened to (her husband) Billie's great plans. He was confident, so pleased with this country and sure of its future"¹

Breaking the land was easy. Dealing with drought, long cold prairie winters, hauling water in barrels from creeks miles away, and the Milestone mud were new experiences that would take a generation to conquer.

Today, many of the farms established by the Vankleek Hill homesteaders are century farms, handed down from generation to generation. Milestone, pop. 542, is a successful farming community despite weather woes, the uncertainty of world grain markets, and the loss of young people who seek more fashionable jobs in cities.

Saskatchewan celebrated its centennial in 2005 and every prairie town celebrated, including Milestone. We invite all of those long lost relatives in Vankleek Hill to visit.

¹ From Prairie Plow Till Now - Milestone and Districts (Milestone History Book Committee, 1984), 121.

References
- From Prairie Plow Till Now - Milestone and Districts. Milestone History Book Committee, 1984.
- Garratt, W. A. History of Milestone - 1893-1910.


Vankleek Hill to Milestone SK - All Aboard!
	In southern Saskatchewan, on the Soo Railway line halfway between Moose Jaw and the United States border, the prairie stretches out so flat that if you lie down on the ground you can still see for ten miles. There's not a tree, not a shrub in sight. Over 100 years ago, hundreds of families from Ontario, including many from the Vankleek Hill area, travelled west by train and stepped out on to this vast stretch of prairie known as the Regina Plains to make a new life for themselves. In the 1880s, the Canadian government published posters and pamphlets saying that Saskatchewan was the Last Best West and there was free land to be had. You just had to lay down a ten dollar bill and claim a quarter; and live on it for 6 months over the next three years, break a bit of land, build a house and then it would be your's - but it was free. The CPR completed the extension of the Soo Line from North Portal to Pasqua Junction near Moose Jaw in the summer of 1893. Station houses were built all along the line...one of which was Milestone, named in honour of Mr. C.W. Milestone, the superintendent of the new Soo Line Extension. It took a while for people to catch on that the country was open for settlement. There were rumours going around that this was part of Palliser's Dry Belt, the Great American Desert, good for nothing but jackrabbits and antelope. But the fellows who worked on the section gangs on the railroad noted the luxuriant growth of grasses and wild flowers. They were convinced that the soil must be good for farming. In 1899, the land rush began. Over the next three years, 96 homestead entries were made in the Milestone district. Of these, nine were families from the Vankleek Hill area. Albert Ross and Benjamin Hubbs came first. They scouted the area before advising the people back east that the west was ripe for settlement. The word was that there was a great future on the prairie. Plowing could be done without having to clear trees as early farmers in the Ottawa Valley had done. Soon, brothers and sisters, cousins and neighbours began arriving in the Milestone area. At one time, nearly a third of the population of Milestone district was from the Vankleek Hill area of Ontario. The names included Barton, Bradley, Galbraith, Renwick, Ross, and more. Wives and children came out when a modest dwelling had been erected to receive them. Railroad boxcars were loaded with their belongings, including everything a man and his family would need to run a farm. Train after train of boxcars full of livestock, household effects, sets of dishes, pieced quilts and hooked rugs, buggies, cutters, breaking plows, tools and seed grain left Ontario and pulled into the Milestone station. Many of the women greeted their new home with mixed feelings. Tottie Bradley "never forgot the feelings on the drive to her new home along the bare prairie trail - no road, not a tree, not a shrub in sight. Back home in the east they had bountiful orchards and gardens… had they traded it all for this? But misgivings faded as she listened to (her husband) Billie's great plans. He was confident, so pleased with this country and sure of its future"¹ Breaking the land was easy. Dealing with drought, long cold prairie winters, hauling water in barrels from creeks miles away, and the Milestone mud were new experiences that would take a generation to conquer. Today, many of the farms established by the Vankleek Hill homesteaders are century farms, handed down from generation to generation. Milestone, pop. 542, is a successful farming community despite weather woes, the uncertainty of world grain markets, and the loss of young people who seek more fashionable jobs in cities. Saskatchewan celebrated its centennial in 2005 and every prairie town celebrated, including Milestone. We invite all of those long lost relatives in Vankleek Hill to visit. ¹ From Prairie Plow Till Now - Milestone and Districts (Milestone History Book Committee, 1984), 121. References - From Prairie Plow Till Now - Milestone and Districts. Milestone History Book Committee, 1984. - Garratt, W. A. History of Milestone - 1893-1910.