Hoodoos, Dinosaur Valley, Drumheller, Alberta, 1939, by Vogue Photography Studio. Courtesy of the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta.
This week's letter is missing a huge chunk of writing, but there's enough there for me to see that Noah is comparing something to the Hoodoos. Hoodoos are weather-beaten land formations created by years of the wind carving into sandstone. Dinosaur Valley in Drumheller, Alberta is the closest batch of Hoodoos to Noah and are about a modern 5-6 hour drive west of Grand Coulee.
Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: July 9 (1911)
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, Dear Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed from: Grand Coulee, Sask
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink, but looks blue-grey in places
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, written on front and back like a book, but inside, paper is turned sideways and written across short length and down both pages.
This week's letter is missing a huge chunk which I couldn't find anywhere in Ethel's treasure box.
People/Places mentioned in this letter:
- *Veda 16 yr old daughter of Joe Perrault & Noah's sister, Eva Amelia
- *Fanny - Joe's niece
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- Bell Plaine (Belle Plaine)
- Moos Jaw (Moose Jaw)
Phrase: You could have bought us for a song
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right column for more on posts on the above people.
**More info under Genealogical Notes
Dated: July 9 (1911)
Addressed to: Miss E. Nelson, Dear Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed from: Grand Coulee, Sask
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink, but looks blue-grey in places
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, written on front and back like a book, but inside, paper is turned sideways and written across short length and down both pages.
This week's letter is missing a huge chunk which I couldn't find anywhere in Ethel's treasure box.
People/Places mentioned in this letter:
- *Veda 16 yr old daughter of Joe Perrault & Noah's sister, Eva Amelia
- *Fanny - Joe's niece
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yr old sister
- Bell Plaine (Belle Plaine)
- Moos Jaw (Moose Jaw)
Phrase: You could have bought us for a song
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right column for more on posts on the above people.
**More info under Genealogical Notes
| Grand Coulee, July 9 Miss. E. Nelson, Belhaven, Ont. Dear Ethel; - Received your letter Friday and was glad to hear you were well. Hope this finds you the same. We are all O.K. and buisy as setting hens. intend to do the cement work this week ing to put in the forms w and then go into Tuesday for half a and make short the carpenters will I guess they ed so much et weather it mmer I ever ained every Sat. onth. |
| Did not go up to Bell Plaine on the 1st on account of rain but we went up the 4th and got beat for the first time this summer score was 12 to 3. say you could have bot. us for a song. and we had about 30 or 40 people along to yell for us. Ha. Ha. I took Ved Fanny along & after the game I told were the Hoodoos. Ha Ha. ine comes down here tomorrow the last League game and at we (will try) do to them still after the game & re on the envelope nt beat us to bad. we the letter open de. Ha. Ha. de is in Moos Jaw ill not be able to get ld sure like to go as passing away and s fine & I hope it keeps . Eh. I tell you a fellow more like working when he can see a chance for returns & things look promising now. Oh say I bot a cow Tuesday gave $60. for her & I sure have all the milk I can drink. Ha. Ha. Well little girl I wish I were driving up the fifth just now. oh say I guess there would be no church to night for us. eh. say. it seems queer to be writing you all the time & not seeing you |
| but I guess that will not last much longer. hope not anyway. So Sadie is going to teach in the West eh? Well I dont blame her. just look at the difference in the salary out here they get from $6.60 to a thousand Dollars and do not have near as big a school to look after. fifteen to Twenty Five is a good sized country school of course they in the towns, but I g would be satisfied in for a start. Well Ethel I gues to ring off and so space for the big night. it has started So. good Bye for the Your lonely. Lover. PS Well we were beaten a |
Genealogy Notes
In last week's letter of 1911 Courtship: July 9 Dear Noah Ethel mentioned the heat they were enduring especially since they had to do extra baking and cooking to feed all the men who came to help build the barn. The heat wave took its toll in Canada and the United States as can be seen in the following snippets. Location is Newmarket, Ontario unless otherwise stated.
 The Newmarket Era. July 7, 1911, Pg 6 From Newmarket Era, but under: TORONTO NEWS  The Newmarket Era. July 7th, 1911 - Page: 7  The Newmarket Era. July 14th, 1911 - Page: 3  The Newmarket Era. July 14th, 1911 - Page: 6  The Newmarket Era. July 14, 1911, Pg 6  The Newmarket Era. July 14th, 1911 - Page: 6  The Newmarket Era. July 14th, 1911 - Page: 5  The Newmarket Era. July 14, 1911 Pg 6  The Newmarket Era. July 14th, 1911 - Page: 1 And on the same page, this reality:  The Newmarket Era. July 14, 1911, Pg 1 | The heat on Sunday was fierce-- 100 in the shade is reported. Sunday and Monday last were rec- ord breakers for heat. Fancy the thermometer bobbing around 103 deg. Monday was Toronto's hottest day in more than half a century. Three peo- ple became victims of the heat. -- Nearly all Sunday night people were lying about the lawns and door-steps. During Saturday, Sunday and Monday 43 children died in the city. The same days in Montreal there were 151 deaths among children. New York, July 11. - Yesterday a dozen victims were added to the toll and scores of prostrations were re-ported. The death list at 11 o'clock last night had 18 victims on it, the count including the entire metropol- itan district. Prostrations numbered above 200. Chicago, Ill., July 11. - Heat deaths and prostrations continued yesterday, although the maximum temperature was only 89 degrees. Twelve deaths, superintended by heat, and many prostrations were reported. ...Two hundred people died from sunstroke in New York last week. ...1200 horses died in five days of New York's hot spell last week. "Too Bloomin' Hot." Three hundred immigrants arrived from England Tuesday. WOne hun- dred and seventy-five remained in Toronto. Several farmers who were on hand looking for help, failed to induce any of them to accept a position on the farm- "It is too blooming hot in this country," was the answer one man made. The farmer was so disappointed that he replied with some vigor. "By gosh, it will be cold enough for you in a little while." The hot weather this week is liter- ally cooking the raspberries which promised a very large yield. The gooseberry crop is also burnt so as to be unsaleable. Young strawberry beds are in a bad way for rain. Cur- rants are not more than half a crop. Plums are a complete failure, and ap- ples are but a very small crop. Hay was a short crop, and unless rain will come soon barley will not be worth cutting. No service in the Presbyterian Church Sunday evening on account of the extreme heat. Mrs. Jane Crew, who died in this city last week was in her one hundred and third year. Her death was caus- ed by the intense heat wave. She has been a widow for fifty-seven years, never wore eyeglasses in her life, and whenever feeling unwell, always took pure cold water as a cureall. She was the mother of eight children, three of whom are still living. There are Twenty-nine grandchildren, and twenty-two great grandchildren. It seems incredible that a city with 100,000 population, should use 60,000 gallons of water in one day, but the official record indicates that Toron- to's citizen took that amount from the reservoir, on Tuesday of last week. Eighty-nine deaths were registered during the first four days of July -- very many having succumbed from the fearful heat which prevailed. Heat prostration the past 2 weeks beat all previous records in this city, and the death toll among children from heat has never been equalled. |
