1911 Courtship: June 5, Dear Ethel

www.ourroots.ca Pense Community, 1882 to 1982 pg 185

In this week's letter Noah mentions the  Blink Bonnie school as being 2 miles west of his land, so I've included an image from the local Pense Community, 1882 to 1982 history book. Noah also says the railroad is putting down track which will go through his land, so I'm adding a map and some family information in this week's Genealogical Notes.

Author of Letter: Noah Clement Draper (24 yrs old)
Dated: June 5th, 1911
Addressed to: Miss E.  Nelson, Dearest Ethel (21 yrs old)
Mailed from:  Grand  Coulee (Saskatchewan)
Relationship: Courting
Profession: Farmer 
Writing instrument: Fine point pen, Black ink, but looks blue-grey in places until he refills his pen
Writing Paper: Thick, textured, linen-like paper, 9 inches x 6.5 inches. Paper is folded in half, with a front and back page, but inside, the letter is written straight across the full 9 inch width. Although this might have looked good to Noah, it makes for hard reading in pdf form as well as here as a jpeg image.


People/Places mentioned in this letter:
- *Percy - Noah's older brother who lives nearby with his family
- *Ethel - Ethel Maud Rigler, Noah's sister
- Mother - *Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper 
- *Sadie Nelson - Ethel's 16 yrs old sister
- G.C. - Grand Coulee, Sask.

Look under the Categories/Labels in the right column for more on posts on the above people.
 

Grand Coulee, Sask.
June. 5th./.11.

Miss. E. Nelson,
         Belhaven, Ont.
Dearest Ethel;-
       Received your letter
Saturaday night and was
glad you were pleased with
your watch. So you think
I have received nothing eh.
       What about the love of the
Best Little Girl in the world.
       I think it is me that needs
to be thankful and I am.
also I try to be patient.
untill the time comes to go
down after said little girl.
       Well Ethel we have had

quite a wet spring here. had a big
rain yesteraday so I was not working
on the land to-day xxxx so have been
fixing up a place to live in. am still
at Ethel's but wont be much longer.
I hope for it makes her so much
extra work.
       Better come up to the base-ball
match Wed night. expect a big time
but dont think we will git beaten.
hope not any way.
       Louie & Fred were up yesteraday
also Percy so we had quite a day ofit.
       Suppose you are in bed now it
would be just 10 past 11 by your
time & I just came in from the barn.
       Have you started to build yet and
who is doing it. I have not got started
yet but have let the contract & they
will start some time this month.
       Well I guess when you come up
we wont have to come very far from
the station as they are gradeing
next farm to mine now & will be
on mine by the end of the week & the
station is to be on my place. isnt
that handy.

Percy has the well diggers at
his place now has to pay them
a dollar a foot. I hope he gets
water for a person gets tired
drawing it so far.
      Dont know wheather mother
will go down East this summer
or not for she doesnt like to
go alone. guess she is nervous.
       Tell Sadie to cheer up the
worst is yet to come. & if she
does not pass this summer I
wont let her teach in the 
Blink Bonnie school. which 
is just 2 miles west of here but
I will give my consent to her teaching
in G.C. Well Ethel I guess this is all
for this time so Bye Bye. Yours as B.4.
xxxxx xxx                                           N.C.D.

 

Genealogical Notes

Grand Coulee and area showing Noah Draper and family. (Click to enlarge)

As you can tell, I owe the above map (click to enlarge) to the nice people at GoogleEarth who have opened the world to our eyes like no other cartographer has done before.

When you look at the map, if all you see is a bunch of squares, then you're looking at it correctly. To simplify, the land is broken in townships (36 square miles each) and then sections. Each section is 1 square mile, so by counting the squares, we can figure out how far it is between points by the road, or the way the crow flies, which is a lot shorter.

Close up of Grand Coulee area showing distances and routes of travel.

In this closer view, I've tried to show the path Noah takes to get from his land to Ethel's house, where he's staying until his house is built. I didn't want to gum it up with too many squares and colours, so I've done the bare minimum...

- top left is the Blink Bonnie school (yellow pin) which is 2 big squares from Noah (orange pin). Each square equals one mile, hence the school is 2 miles away. (As he confirms in the letter.)

- if you look closely at those 2 white squares, you'll see from the different shades of green that they are divided in half. It probably looks that way because different crops are growing, or they could belong to different owners. Some sections are divided into 4 quarters, into eighths, etc. Regardless the divisions, each square mile section is 640 acres, a half section is 320 acres, and a quarter section is 160 acres. 

Noah has 2 routes to get to Ethel's house:
- red line - 3 miles cross country (hope he asks permission!)
- blue line - 4 1/2 miles if he walks/rides by road

From the census records, I believe Louie & Fred, and Percy & Parthina live in neighboring townships. With each township being 6 sections/miles across, they shouldn't be too away. I'll keep checking and let you know as soon as I find out.  

Clear as mud? Let me know if you need clarification. :)