Childhood of the Steiner Brothers, Henry and Paul

In Whitemouth, Paul and Henry remember that the hotel was there, built by a man named Lorne, the post office was in the section house, and that Mrs. Monilaws was the post mistress. Mr. John Monilaws was the CPR section foreman. The store was situated where the firehall now is, owned by William Wilson. ln 1896, there weren’t many houses in town. Before 1905, Howard Corregan builds Fort Howard, which had lightening rods on the roof. Corregan farmed the land that Art Henderson owns just south of town, and had a small store at the fort and had a small saw mill. The foundation of Fort Howard sagged badly, and the building had to be torn down. The Stone House owned by Ken Barnard, which stands just across the tracks on Polka Street was rebuilt from the stones from the old fort in the 1920’s. The fort was built from Tyndall limestone, brought in on the CPR. There was a rivalry between Dave Ross and Howard Corregan, with each man trying to out-do the other. Dave built the Presbyterian (United) church around 1890, and then Corregan built the Church of England (Anglican). Both churches still stand today. (Note: The United Church was torn down by Alex Okalita in the spring of 1979.)

Paul and Henry remember the vast hordes of mosquitoes that plagued the area. The cattle survived only because of smudges. By morning, there were as many mosquitoes inside the house as outside. It was too hot to hide under the blankets, so a smudge pot there weren’t enough men to have stook teams, the sheaves were stacked in the fields. The threshing crew would maybe have to move several times on one field. Each stack would yield up to 500 bushels of grain.

One of the first things made when land was cleared was a garden. The family’s supply of vegetables was grown and canned for the winter. Clara remembers that beans grew well, and were a favorite of the family. Cranberries, raspberries, mossberries, etc. were picked and canned or made into jam. Gottlieb Altstadt’s father lived south of Oldenburg where Irvin Klepatz now lives. He kept bees there, and it was there that local people went to buy honey at less than l0 per pound.

The present house was built in 1904. Logs for the wall, and planks for the floor and roof were all cut with a brett-eisen.

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