Today in history from Bill Nevard's journal April 18, 2026

 April 18, 1943:

Sunday. I went to visit Percy Radwell in the democrat with Gleam and Embers this afternoon. It was my first visit there in 7 years. The grades are still bad in spots but the highway is getting dry. I found them all home and saw baby John Radwell for the first time.

I asked Percy about hatching eggs but they could not supply me as they have no roosters. Percy will let us have some Victory seed oats at 35 cents a bushel. John Senft is getting seed oats and barley from Percy.

Percy cut 15 loads of crested wheat grass hay off 4 acres last year in 2 cuttings. I heard that Mrs. Thompson's oldest crippled son died last Thursday.

April 19: I went to Fishers this morning to try and get some hatching eggs but Mrs. Fisher had put all hers in the basement and thought they would be too chilled to set. She phoned up Mrs. Goff but their eggs were the same. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have not been any too well lately and Tom Goff is crippled up from being kicked by a horse. 

Mr. Fisher was hauling water and putting it down a well. Ernest Senft is now a father. Mrs. Fisher promised to save some eggs for me. 

In the afternoon I went on 25 and got 30 green poles for Dad to make a new hen house with.

Bill Nevard with his horse "Glory". 

March 29th In Nevard History

 From 1959 in Bill Nevard's journal. 

Easter Sunday and I was allowed the day off (from Fort San). Mel Pinay working on West 1. Dick and I drove down to the 9 a.m. Holy Communion at St. John's taking the Hutchings and Alf Johnson. We had a congregation of 75 with 60 communicants.

When we got home we set about preparing dinner. Les, Joy, Ralph, David and Uncle Arthur came to dinner to help us eat the turkey. After dinner I took young Ralph up the Woitas hill. Joy played Dick's accordion for a while and Bob Drever came along to see us. Just as they were going home in the car George Birns came over and talked with them. After that we drove down to the evening service taking Alf Johnson. 

2026 March 28 as I drove along that same road 67 years later past Woitas' hill and beyond I did not remember climbing the hill with Bill or anything else about the day. Further up the road as I drove up the Molony coulee out of the valley I took this picture. This little winding back road was the main corridor between Lipton and Fort Qu'appelle back in 1959. 

 

Mary Nevard with sons Bill and Dick about 1918.

More Old Nevard Photos

 I thought I'd seen them all but a few more old Nevard photos turned up this morning. Found in a box while searching for something else as often happens with me. Did not find the thing I was looking for but these are pretty interesting. First one is not too clear but pretty sure it is Grandpa (Horace) and Grandma (Alice) Nevard with son Roy. Date on the back is 1923. Location I am not hundred percent sure but think it is their house on the homestead. Newly constructed in 1920.

Next is a wedding photo from October 1952. Joy Nevard and Leslie Goff. Bridesmaid Gladys Goff and best man Dick Nevard. Taken at St. John Anglican Church in Fort Qu'appelle. I have several photos from that same event but this is a different angle that I have not seen before. 

Arthur's Letter From Indian Head Forestry

No date on this one but would have to be between 1903 and 1905. My Dear Brother: I was very pleased to hear from you and to hear you are doing (well). I am staying on here for another month and I would like to stay all the summer if it was not for losing my place as the money is up to $44 per month now. So it is $30 a month and board now and that is as good as most of the farmers pay. I have asked Mr. Godfrey to see John Hunter for me and find out about work for you and shall see him tomorrow night and then I shall post this so you will know early. In the meantime I had let Mr. Smith, the teamster at our place, know I wanted to see Hunter or had casually mentioned it and he met him on the sidewalk and he spoke to him about you and he promised you a job as soon as he starts up and he has got a good sized job at the power house. So I will let you know what Mr. Godfrey says. I have got an order for $2 for you but I will send you another $5 and when you get working you can let me have it back if I want it back as I expect I shall. I have written to Emily and told her that Horace will lose 10 or 12 weeks work by putting it off so late. I think it is a pity as he could be getting some money for the winter. There is a brick building going up in town soon. The bricks are already on the spot Joe tells me. And one man has about 20 houses to put up so there seems to be plenty of work to be done. I hope you will both have a good summer's work but it will not be so late as in the Peg as they start earlier up here and finish earlier but whats the odds. You may just as well be brick laying two months in the spring as walking about in Winnipeg paying your board where you may earn just as much money and get on the homestead as soon as it freezes up instead of working the two months that you lose in spring. Perhaps Mr. Lochhead will put up the team until I come up as I expect brick laying will start as soon as the weather breaks up enough but I shall know tomorrow night. You might tell them to keep my mail until I come up as I have changed my address. There will be a Family Herald and Nor West Farmer and Canadan Thresherman. I sent the change of address notice last week so they will likely be up there from this time. You had better look me up at the Forestry when you do come down. I will ask Mr. Godfrey to look you up a lodge if you like as I guess he knows plenty of people by this time. P.S. Dear Earn: I have seen Mr. Godfrey and he tells me J. Hunter will give you a job as soon as you get here and will give you 50 cents an hour and I have sent you $7 so you can come as soon as you are ready. Goodby A.W.N.

December 11, 1949

This was my day off so after breakfast I started off walking for Lipton. After getting out of the valley I found the road pretty heavy as far as Devon school. No cars had been through. A little further on young Bill Bradley overtook me with a sleigh and gave me a ride to Lipton. He told me that Fred Neil had died on Wednesday and the funeral was today. I went to Fishers. Then in town where I bought a box of chocolates at Segal's cafe. I went back to Fishers for dinner. At 2 pm we went to the funeral in the town hall and afterwards I got a ride back to the San with Mr. Stiff, the undertaker. Mr. Corkhill and Charlie Bull were also in the ambulance while young Bill Stiff and another fellow went ahead in a truck.

Day Off From The San December 1950

From the journal of Bill Nevard Dec 1: Payday. Eleven members of the North Regina Badminton club came to the San and played against 8 of our members. Dr. Reilly, Dr. Trasi, Frank Froh, Jack Bogart, Mrs. McKenzie, Mrs. McPherson, Miss Gore and Miss Healy. After which we all went up to the assembly room for lunch. Dec 2: I decided to go out to the farm on my day off. Caught the Regina bus at the lodge and rode to Lipton. Irene Zerr was the only other passenger. I had my new parka on which had only come the day before. I visited Jack Goff's and Fishers. Called in at Segal's Cafe and got a box of chocolates as a Christmas present for Silver Birches. Started out walking to the farm at 9:30 and was about 4 hours making the trip. Only a sleigh trail most of the way. Everybody at the farm reasonably well. I got some stuff together for the boys to take to Lipton in the sleigh but couldn't find Dad's parka. I went up to Silver Birches and had dinner there. Gave Uncle Arthur two months payment and started back about 3:30 pm. I called in at Charlie Huber's place and managed to get a car ride with his son Leonard. We got to Lipton about 6:45 and I had to wait about an hour for the bus.

1945 Solar Eclipse

July 9, 1945 Plowing. I got up just before 4 a.m. Had breakfast and was out in the pasture after the horses when the eclipse of the sun was at it's nearest to totality. I only saw one star shining.

Bill's Grim Reaper Comment

A February 1971 entry in Bill Nevard's journal. This time in his own printing.

87 Years Ago In Nevard Farm History

November 28, 1936 Uncle Horrie went to town with wheat and Dad went with him. Prince and Dixie got scared by a truck loaded with furniture on 35 highway near the cemetery and tipped the wagon and load over into the ditch causing much trouble and delay. It was Dad's new box. If it had been one of the old boxes it would probably have been demolished. I hauled water and got a jag of dry wood home. Karl Miller re-elected councillor. Bud got the mail home. November 29, Sunday. Church service at Headlands. Mr. Hillary. Dad, Dick, Uncle Arthur and I all walked. Others attending were Tom and Ed North, John Leslie, Mrs. Binnington, Agnes and Bert, Cliff Barton and Paul Morrison. Uncle Horrie, Roy and Joy here to supper. Dick and Uncle A. stayed at Murphy Newton's. Bud fixing up a radio he bought somewhere.

November 9 Today in Nevard History

November 9, 1936 Today I took Spark and Violet with the wagon to get a load of flour which Dad's ticket had won in the raffle. It was said to be at Adam Lutz's place so I went to the old Fred Millward house where I had never been before. I found William Millward in possession and heard from him that Lutz had moved to the West half of the section ten and was living where Tom Bordass used to live.t Proceeding thither I found Philip Lutz assisting his most immediate male progenitor to dig a well. They had dug 40 feet then with no water. They have a new log barn with a lumber roof for about 22 head. Plastered with clay and cement washed over it looked like concrete. A slick looking building. Philip gave me the flour and I began my journey along highway 35. Met the distinguished Mr. William Sawchuck going wither from whence. Reaching the corner I turned East for 3 miles. The first mile between Aitkens and Harry Millward's being terra nova to me. Passing Sam Wheale's I observed his new house in the throes of construction but not completed. I stopped in at Greenforest and loaded up oats for town tomorrow. Uncle Horrie has started making his new stable. A bit milder today. Bud, Roy and Joy were here to supper and playing cards afterwrds.

On This Date In Nevard History

October 1, 1949 This morning after breakfast I walked up to Silver Birches and found them all well. Threshing and combining have been completed and Dad's wheat went about 700 bushels, oats about 400 and barley 120. 9 horses have been sold. Spark, Violet, Frank, Jubilee, Betty, Blaze, King, Beauty and May. We now only have Gleam, Embers and Castle. Arthur Lutz has Cloud and wants to buy him. I stayed at Silver Birches to dinner and then went back home. There is water in the big slough and also in our dugout. Donald has done quite a bit of disking but he had to take the new tractor down to Lipton yesterday to get the gears fixed. I left home about 2:20 pm and started back for the San. Arriving in Lipton I had supper with Jack Goff and waited a while in case Dad should turn up but he didn't. It was dark when I left Lipton and I walked most of the way back to the San but picked up a ride for a little way with Dielson who got his arm scalded last week in pig's mash. It rained a bit on the way back but not enough to wet me.

Leaving The Colonist Train

My great uncles Arthur and Ernest Nevard joined the Barr colonists in England in April 03 to journey to what would become Saskatchewan and go farming. That was the plan but by the time the train reached Winnipeg, Manitoba, the uncles had decided to leave the colonist train and strike out on their own. Ernest went into his former trade of brick laying which was quite in demand in the growing prairie city. This letter, dated August of 1903 indicated they were seeking a refund of the $10 entry fee paid to the Rev. Barr for their homestead since they had by that time paid another entry fee on homestead land in what would become the Lipton, Balrobie district. What amazes me is how fast they worked. According to family history by the time winter began they had travelled to the new homestead in Sask. and built a good one room log house to live in. The letter is dated August of 03 so they must have worked fast to get all that done in just a few months. Makes me wonder how different life would have been if they had continued on with the colonists to the Lloydminster area.

Looking For Horses etc.

February 24, 1948 and Dick and I got the fanning mill and the wild oat separator home this morning. After dinner I went for a drive in the sleigh to try and find Eddie Miller's horses and see if the mare that little Henry Schmidt was willing to trade was with them. I went to where Ed Miller is now living on 13 and saw his wife. She told me that their horses are on 21 and that Eddie had gone to K.D's to borrow the tractor for sawing wood so I went in there and saw Alfred and Eddie. They told me I would have to go through Manuel's yard and through Hobetzeder's so I went out on the road past Bill Senft's and called in at Manuel's where his wife told me that he was in Saskatoon and showed me which trail to take to Hobetzeder's. When I got there Hobetzeder was outside getting feed in the stable He showed me 9 young lambs (Shropshires). 5 ewes had ten lambs but one died. He offered to go with me on 21 and look for the horses. Grace was outside with the pony and he asked her to do the chores while he went with me. We drove across 21 but coud not see any horses so we went through the North line onto 28, then East to 35 highway where we saw a bunch of horses on 27 but when we got up close enough we saw they were not the right ones so we started back for Hobetzeder's along the highway. On the way we saw the horses over on 21 so we went through a gate and took a look at them. There were 8. Two of Hobetzeder's, 5 of Ed Miller's and little Henry's gray mare. Then we went back to Hobetzeder's where I stayed to supper. Both of the girls are home. August Hepting came over from McCullough's on horseback while I was there and was still there when I left. I got home in time to milk.

Charlie and Kate Hobetzeder with daughter, Ivy.

Two Brimstone Matches

A story my dad used to tell regarding great uncle Arthur Nevard. July of 1949, Arthur had gone to Regina to stay with his brother in law, Eddie Edwards. Eddie's wife, May, had recently died and Arthur went to stay with Eddie for a while to keep him company and help out where he could. Apparently it did not go too well. Arthur was heard to comment at a later date that he and Eddie were like "two brimstone matches". Arthur had stopped in to visit Jack Goff in Lipton on his way home and must have related how the visit went. Jack later commented to my dad that "Harthur says he's been in hell".

A photo of Eddie Edwards left, May Edwards right, and Mary Nevard centre. 1930s.

Arthur Nevard, 1940s.

S S Victorian

May 10, 1906 was the date on this vintage postcard. My grandfather Horace Nevard wrote the note and mailed it off to Alice Hall before heading out on the longest journey of his life to that point. From England to Canada. He would not see her again for another ten years until he returned to England with the 195th infantry division to join in the battles of World War I. They were married after the war ended and headed back to Saskatchewan to the homestead, never to return to England. Recent discussions on the name of the ship he travelled on in 1906 led to me looking up this old postcard and it appears this was the one. The S.S. Victorian of the Allan Line. For some reason I had assumed he travelled on the same ship as his sister in law and nephew, Mary and Bill Nevard, but apparently they came out a month later on the Virginian. When grandfather Nevard arrived in Canada he stopped at Indian Head, Saskatchewan and worked for a while on Copithorne farm. Later moving on to the Headlands district North of Lipton to take up his homestead on the same section as his brothers, Arthur and Ernest who had arrived here in 1903.

Almost 80 Years Ago

A letter written home to his father by Dick Nevard while he was in training at Camp Brandon, Manitoba. Post marked March 9th, 1943. Notice the Knights of Columbus stationary and envelope. All written in pencil in great detail it is an interesting look into the daily life of army training. I've got quite a stack of these letters.

Price Of Wheat

 Most would have thrown it out years ago but I've kept this old notebook that belonged to great Uncle Arthur Nevard. It gives a good view of the financial situation of the farm in the early 1900s. Records of the grain sold, groceries and farm supplies bought. 

This page showing loads of wheat hauled to town in 1919 indicates a price of near $2 a bushel. I have not done the adjustment for inflation but I'm thinking $2 bought a lot of groceries and supplies in 1919. 

I'll throw in a picture of Arthur with a couple of his horses. They were the main source of power on the farm in those days. 

1937 Driest Year Of The 1930s

 April 14: Dad sharpening harrow teeth. Bud started plowing today.  (Early)

May 8: A frost froze the crop down. 

May 10: Uncle Horrie went to Lipton with barley. Got soaked coming home. 

May 14: Rained some in the afternoon. 

May 20: Digging a hole in the slough to get drinking water.

June 18: Last night it rained pretty hard. 

June 30: The big slough being practically empty Uncle Horrie, Bud and I started to scrape out a dugout on the edge of the slough using Topsy and Gleam. After dinner Bud brought Bill and Snap as it was too stony to scrape out otherwise. 

July 1: Both uncles, Roy and I working on the dugout using King and Duke for scraping. We were working in water at the finish. 

July 4: Weather very dry and crops burning up. 

July 5: The temperature rose to 104F by 2 PM this afternoon. A dust storm, wind and some rain came along in the afternoon and afterwards the temperature dropped to 57. 

July 11: Between 3 and 4 pm the rain came and it rained for about an hour. The biggest rain we've had for years and when we went out we found the pasture sloughs nearly full of water. It had washed deep furrows out in the summerfallow and must have flowed in a stream 30 yards across down in our valley. Most of our neighbours North and South didn't seem to get much rain. 

July 14: Roy and I cleaned out the drinking water well on the edge of the big slough but it was not a very satisfactory job as the dirt kept caving in under the crib. 

July 25:. Heard that Dick Barton, Philip Lutz and other young fellows have gone to Manitoba to get work harvesting. 

Aug 2: Dad started cutting wheat with the binder today. 

Aug 4-7. We cut and stooked what wheat we have at home. The others are cutting theirs with a mower and stacking it.

Aug 22: A storm came up this evening and made it nearly dark before sunset. 

Aug 23: It rained during the night and made it too wet to thresh. Dust clouds in the sky after dinner.

Aug 26: Our slough is just about dry so I took the tank down to the big slough but could only get 50 pails from the well. 

Aug 27: We finished threshing Dad's wheat today. 25 loads of sheaves is the total. 

Aug. 28: We threshed my wheat today. 6 loads of sheaves giving 60 bushels of wheat. 

Aug 30: Dad helped the others thresh their little bit of wheat. About 6 bushels each. 

Sept 2: Rain for the third night in succession. 

Sept 4: Dad and both uncles went to Lipton to a meeting to discuss the drought and relief. 

Sept 13: Uncle Horrie, Bud and I deepening the well in the big slough this morning. We could not do as much as we wanted as the water came in too fast. 

Sept 18: Dad was helping the uncles to thresh their barley. Uncle Horrie got 16 bushels. Uncle Arthur got 41. 

Sept 21: Uncle Horrie and Bud tried deepening the drinking water well at the big slough but the water to have given out there. We started digging a new well and trying to deepen the stock well simultaneously. Bud was down in the old well but was not able to get on very well. Dad took a tank of water home and the others went to dinner while I stayed on digging. By the time Bud and Dad got back I had dug through to sand and gravel which seemed to be full of water. 

Sept 25: Dad and uncle Horrie went to Lipton to get lumber for a well crib. 

Sept 27: Dad, uncle Horrie and Bud making a crib and putting it in the new well while deepening the well. 

Sept 28: Dad, uncle Horrie and Bud lowering the well a bit more but too much water coming in to do a lot. 

Oct 1: The Millers were boring for water in Bill Miller's big slough. 

Oct 7: Bud was helping Cliff Barton to dig a well.

Oct 26: Geoffrey Barton brought word that a relief car of vegetables is to be distributed in Lipton tomorrow. 

Oct 27: Dad and both uncles went to Lipton and got some potatoes and a mixture of other stuff. 30 pounds was supposed to be allotted each individual. 

Nov 3: Uncle Horrie and I went to Lipton with the wagon today. Another relief car being unloaded and divided up among the farmers. We went to the North Star elevator and got our bags of relief apples and vegetables..

Nov 23: Dad and uncle Arthur went to Lipton and Uncle A got 25 bushels of relief feed oats. 

The Big Slough as it appears in 2021

Winstanley Grove in 2021

 I shot this video a few days ago at Winstanley Grove. Some will recognize the name as the homestead of Arthur Nevard. Named after his wife's maiden name (Margaret Montagu Winstanley). There is not much left to see. Just the ruins of the old house collapsed into the cellar hole. The concrete foundation of the barn is visible from the air. A few shrubs and trees, maple, carraganna, lilac, honeysuckle, are reminders that somebody lived there once. Since the early 1950s it has been empty. I figured this bit of video and pictures would help preserve the memories in case anybody in the future has an interest. 

Giving The Bride Away

April 16, 1953 Bill Nevard's report on work at the San and other goings on. 

Mrs. Howe on today. Dad went to Lipton with Reverend Corkhill to attend Sandy Goff's wedding and give the bride away. 

April 17: A new patient arrived today from Kelvington. Clifford Colby. He drove here in his own truck. The union's annual concert and dance was held in the auditorium tonight with a large attendance. Dick stayed for the dance but I came home. 

 From left: John Sedo, Sandy Goff, Gladys Goff (sister), Gladys Goff(bride), Mary Goff, Joy Goff, Ernest Nevard, Tom Goff, Jack Goff. By the Anglican Church in Lipton, Sask.