The settlers began by clearing enough bush away for an original log house or shanty, to get through the first winter. The clearing was a big priority for two reasons. First, the need for open land to grow food and also a certain amount must be cleared each year to meet the conditions of the land grant. Neighbours worked together and had clearing "bees" and building "bees". Neighbours were very important in such a rough environment and so they cut down the forests together and built their log houses.

It was a very simple life without luxuries. Everyone had to work very hard to get a home and enough to eat. The necessities of matches, running water and indoor plumbing, which we take for granted, were completely unknown to them. There was no radio, TV or motor cars. Mitchell, the nearest town was about nine miles distant. In the early days they walked to town and often carried home a hundred pound bag of flour.

House furnishings were plain and homemade, Clothes were homespun on the spinning-wheel. Socks and mitts were knitted.

It was mostly hard work with little time for recreation. There was no music except for the odd "fiddler". Men and boys rose early to feed the cattle, clear and till the land and thresh the grain. Spring meant ploughing, sowing grain, planting gardens and fencing. Summer was harvesting and threshing. Fall meant preparation for the long winter ahead. Pits were dug for vegetables (there was no refrigeration) and in the first log houses no cellars. Wood had to be cut for the winter and early snow piled against the buildings to keep out the cold.

At least there was plenty of firewood to keep them warm against the terrible winters. The lack of matches made it essential to keep the fire going. If you were unlucky enough to let it die out you had to run to a neighbour for fresh coals.

The women also worked very hard to prepare the food and clothing needed for the family and help their husbands with the difficult task of making a living in a new land.

Ham and beef salted in brine over winter, were washed in the spring and hung in the smoke house. The fire smoked on the earthern floor acted as a preservative as well as giving the meat a smoked flavour. Berries, wild from the bushes, had to be picked and preserved for the winter. There was the milking of cows and the making of butter and cheese. Washing was done by hand and the soap was homemade.

If a hired girl was available to help a busy mother she was treated as one of the family and it was considered a "favour" for her to help out.

Children too, had many chores. Taking the cattle to and from the pasture. Helping with the churning of the butter. Boys began driving the team of horses very young, while the fathers brought in hay and sheaves of grain. Girls helped with this work too. Sheep washing and shearing was a big job in spring. The wool had to be sorted and carded by hand and then went to the spinning-wheel. This required care and skill so that the yarn would be even for the weavers to make cloth.

As soon as he could manage it, the settler built a more comfortable log house with several rooms, a fireplace and usually a loft with sleeping rooms upstairs. As soon as a sawmill opened up in the area and he could afford it, he might build a house with sawn lumber or a "frame" house as they were called. Then the original log house and even a second one, could be used for tools and what machinery they had or for housing the animals. Nothing was wasted.

It was a restricted, difficult life with little chance of development for a long time. But these were the people who laid the foundations for Canada.

(Excerpts taken from Life of Canadian Settlers)

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