Category: Travel

WW1 Letters Home - Dec 29, 1916

12/29/2016

Sinking of the Linda Blanche out of Liverpool, 1915, Painting by Willy Stower (1864-1931). Courtesy of wikipedia

My previous post showed a map with Noah Draper's presumed route to Chatham, England, according to his letter of Dec 19, 1916 where he wrote that he was headed overseas. Since I read his letters beforehand, I knew he wasn't going straight there, but I didn't want to give out information before Noah himself told us. This letter, dated Dec 29, explains how he arrived in Chatham. Read the History Notes under his letter below for an explanation of how the above image relates to his journey.

Author of Letter: Noah C Draper, 29 yrs old
Dated: Dec. 29, 1916
Mailed from: Chatham, England
Attached to: HMS Pembroke (21 Dec 1916 to 31 Dec 1916)
Profession: Farmer, Temporary Sailor
Rank: Ordinary Seaman
Addressed to: Mrs. N.C. Draper, Keswick, Ont.
Relationship: Wife
Writing instrument: Fountain Pen with Black Ink
Writing Paper: 10" x 6.5" medium weight, semi-rough, folded into booklet form. Noah hasn't numbered the pages, but he's using the same technique he used for most of his previously posted courtship letters to Ethel, where his first page is the outside, then he's opened it and written on the right side, then moved over to the left side and written there, and finally, he's closed it and written on the back. For clarity, I'm posting the pages in the order they were meant to be read.

People mentioned in this letter:
Ethel* - Noah's wife of 5 yrs, Ethel Isabel Nelson Draper
Percy* - Noah's older brother, lives near Adams, Saskatchewan
mother - Noah's mother, Sarah Sophia Deverell* Draper, widow of David Draper

The babies:
- Mildred* aka Midge, 3 yrs old
- James David* aka Jay, 6 months old (later called JD)

Places/things mentioned in this letter:
- Keswick - where Noah's family lives (the ones who didn't move west)
- Liverpool** - a huge busy port on the River Mersey (**see map below)
- London** - on the River Thames, the capital of England, and the U.K.
- Royal Naval Barracks Chatham - aka HMS Pembroke
- the N.P. - Naval Police (see Naval Police and Shore Patrol)
- whiffletree and tandem hitches (**see Historical Note #2 below)
- hut - barrack building

Word or Phrase Use:
car - short for street car
navel barracks - Noah's spelling should read naval barracks

Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing, or use the search box in the header at the top of this page
** see History Notes below

Chatham, England
Dec.29. 1916

Mrs. N. C. Draper,
Keswick, Ont.
My Dear Wife & all; -
Well I have arrived here
all safe & sound and right
side up & am fealing fine
got here last night after
midnight .left Liverpool about
2 P.M. but could not see much
of the country as it gets dark
about 4 P.M. here now. had
a fine trip over no rough
weather at all they said
although I was sick 1 day

but enjoyed the trip very much.
Say I wrote a long letter
on board (3 pages) but the
N. P. told me it was held up
as I was giving information
which I had no right to
give, but I dont know what
it was so will have to be
careful I guess the letters are
censured from Canada to
so private news is not
private.
Al that came over here
with me are quartered in
one hut. about 50. and we are
quite comfortable. there is
two long tables & three is told
off for cooks for each day I

am cook to day.
Well I have not been out
in the city yet so can not
tell you much about the
place but you never see
a team hitched up as we
hitch them they are all
driven tandem or else
the tugs are hitched right
onto the frame of the tongue
no whiffletrees. but they
draw big loads, of course the
roads here are all good nearly
as good as our paved streets.
Had supper in London last
night was there about 45 min.
but just took the street car

from one station to the other
so did not see much (only Lady
guards) they take the railway
tickets before you get on the car
here & it saves a lot of trouble.
Well I want to write to
Percy & Mother so will have have
to close soon in order to
get my address on this page
it is N.C Draper.
Hut 16 East Camp
Royal Navel Barracks, Chatham,
England.
Will try & send some little presents
next week if the stores are open
when I am out on leave, get out
every other night I guess. Well.
this is all for now. Write soon, love to
you and the kiddies. N.C. Draper

History Notes

There are 2 History notes for this letter...

History Note 1 - Port of Liverpool
In this letter, Noah mentions that he disembarked at Liverpool and left there shortly after 2 pm, crossed the country, stopped in London for supper, and arrived in Chatham after midnight. Historical references mention Troop trains crossing England. I've also found reference to boat trains carrying troops. Boat trains are dedicated trains carrying passengers from a particular place to/from a port.

However, there was one major hurdle before arriving in Liverpool: In February 1914, Germany had announced that the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland, including the English Channel, and the western portion of the North Sea, was a war zone and any ships, be it British, neutral, or merchant, would be fired on and destroyed without warning.

Germany wasn't fooling. In the seven-month period between March and September of 1916, 480 vessels were sunk by German U-boats in that area alone. In case you're wondering, a U-boat stands for undersea boat aka submarine. And that's where the image at the top of this post comes in... you never knew where the U-boats were hiding or if the ship you were traveling on would get fired on by torpedoes. We must never forget the brave captains, sailors, troops, and even passengers who risked everything by running the U-boat gauntlet, and to the ones who lost their lives along the way.

Whatever ship Noah sailed on to get to Liverpool, he would have had to go through U-boat territory, yet he doesn't give Ethel any inkling of the danger.

Upon disembarkation in Liverpool, it seems most troop ships used the Riverside Railway Station to send the troops on their way, and although I couldn't confirm this is the dock where Noah disembarked, considering that I don't know what ship he sailed on, the following shows the station as it appeared around 1914.

ca 1914, Riverside Station and Princes Landing Stage, Liverpool, England

The Port of Liverpool's 7.5 mile/12.1 kilometre dock system is mostly on the eastern shore of the River Mersey, but also contains docks on the west side of the river. See wikipedia for detailed 1909 maps of the dock system.

History Note 2 - Whiffletrees

In this letter, Noah mentions that the British don't use wiffletrees, so here's the definition of a whiffletree and it's other name variants.

Wiffletree, whippletree, swingletree

Four-hitch with a set of whiffletrees. Courtesy of wikipedia

He goes on to say that instead of using a single or set of whiffletrees as pictured above, the British hitch their horses in tandem or right onto the frame of the tongue. Tugs and traces are also regional name variants as you can see by the following diagram.

Harness Diagram. Courtesy of wikipedia

To end this post, here's an image of two ponies being driven in tandem, much as you would see two riders on a tandem bicycle. I wonder if this is what Noah meant.

Ponies Driving in Tandem. Courtesy of Wikipedia

C.N.R. at Adams, Saskatchewan

5/5/2014

August 2013, Adams, Sask. The depot is gone, but the original Canadian Northern Railway tracks remain.

When posting about Noah and Ethel's homecoming, I said they might get off at the Grand Coulee station - 3.5 miles from their home in Adams. I knew that the Canadian Northern Railway (C.N.R.) was laying track near Adams, but I had forgotten that Noah said it would be ready in time for Ethel's arrival as when he mentioned it in the 1911 Courtship Letter dated June 5:

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.

The farmhouse and yard in the top photo isn't the Draper homestead as it's been gone for a long time, but it stands in the same yard as the house Noah built for Ethel 100 yrs ago.

This next image is a land map using Google Earth to show a bird's-eye-view of Noah's land to show exactly how close the house was to the Adams station.

Bird's-eye-view of Adams, Saskatchewan c2013. Map courtesy of Google Earth.

Below is one of the photos I took last summer while exploring the roads around Adams. The farmyard and house are to the left of the power pole. The railway siding is still intact and being used as a parking spot for reserve rail cars. The track itself looked good in both directions as I'm sure it's still being used although not like it was 100 yrs ago when elevators lined the route.

Adams, SasK, Aug 2013 - Yardsite with farmhouse on the left, reserve rail cars on the siding, CNR track intact

These next 2 photos were taken by Noah Draper and show the C.N.R. crew laying track near Adams. The 1st photo was found in Ethel's Treasure Box whereas the 2nd one came from Noah and Ethel Draper's 1912-1924 photo album courtesy of the Norma Draper Family Photo Collection.

1912 Laying the C.N.R. track near Adams, SK. Found in Ethel Draper's Treasure Box

c1912 C.N.R crew laying track near Adams, SK. Courtesy of the Norma Draper Family Photo Collection

The Canadian Pacific website page on Building the Railway explains the tracklaying machine this way... In fact the apparatus moved rails and ties forward to the end of the leading car where they were carried to the work site by the men on the construction gang. This machine lessened the distance over which the ties and rail had to be handled manually.

If you're interested in steam locomotives, google the archives of any railway company. Model train societies are also an excellent way to find information because members usually base their models on actual rolling stock.

Westward the Newlyweds!

4/22/2014

Ethel is finally going west instead of only writing about other people doing it. As I mentioned last week, we don't know exactly when Noah and Ethel leave Ontario for Saskatchewan, but we're sure they attended the wedding of his cousin, Edith Draper, to Frank Kavanagh at the end of January.

According to the newspaper, other things of interest were happening in North Gwillimbury Township while Noah was there with Ethel - such as how the cold temperatures of the Winter of 1911/12 affected the local ice harvest in a good news/bad news scenario...

The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912 - Page: 6

The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912 - Page: 7

The Newmarket Era. February 9, 1912 - Page: 8

The Newmarket Era. February 16, 1912 - Page: 6

Although these photographs aren't from 1912, they show how the lake ice was harvested.

1900, Jackson's Point, North Gwillimbury, Ontario. "Before the ice could be cut the snow was scraped off, exposing the clear ice below." Note the boxcars waiting to be loaded with blocks of ice. Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of the Georgina Pioneer Museum, Keswick, Ontario. (Click image for site.)

1930's by Mary Beley. Ice Harvesting off Beley (Ferncliffe) Point. " A black and white photograph of a horse pulling what looks to be some sort of sleigh that cuts ice, with a man on it. There are men behind the horse and sleigh that appear to be pulling the ice up out of the water." Courtesy of Courtesy of http://images.ourontario.ca/

1930's by Mary Beley. Ice Harvesting off Beley (Ferncliffe) Point. " Courtesy of Courtesy of http://images.ourontario.ca/

1930's by Mary Beley. Ice Harvesting off Beley (Ferncliffe) Point. "A black and white photograph of a group of men doing various tasks while harvesting ice. Some of the men are pulling blocks of ice out of the lake, some are loading the ice onto a sleigh, and some are cutting the ice." Courtesy of http://images.ourontario.ca/

"Ice workers and ladies pose on Lake Simcoe." 1895, Jackson's Point, North Gwillimbury. Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of the Georgina Pioneer Museum, Keswick, Ontario. (Click image for site.)

1900, Jackson's Point, North Gwillimbury. "Ice workers in front of elevator and warehouse on Lake Simcoe." Courtesy of the Virtual Museum of the Georgina Pioneer Museum, Keswick, Ontario. (Click image for site.)

Noah and Ethel will leave North Gwillimbury and the ice harvest behind and take the local Grand Trunk Railway Train from North Gwillimbury, down to Toronto where they'll switch to a westbound Canadian Pacific Railway train to Grand Coulee, Saskatchewan.

In the map below, the blue line shows the route both couples will travel until they reach Winnipeg. At that point, Edith Draper and Frank Kavanagh would have switched to a train heading up a branch line to get to Togo, Saskatchewan (blue line), while Noah and Ethel would have stayed on the main line until they reached Grand Coulee, a few miles west of Regina.

The red box in the map above shows the North Shore of Lake Superior, shown in detail in the map below.

The yellow pins in the map mark locations shown in the slideshow below. I found these souvenir photos in Ethel's Treasure Box and although I don't know when they were bought, I know Noah and Ethel would have experienced these scenes while on their westward journey, so enjoy the slideshow and check the map for the locations.

This next photograph shows where Noah and Ethel will get off the train at the Grand Coulee Station in Saskatchewan. From there, it's a 3.5 mile wagon or car ride up to Adams where they'll begin their married life together.

Grand Coulee Station, undated, from the album of Noah Draper and Ethel Nelson, 1912-1924. Courtesy of the Norma Draper Photograph Collection.

Join me as we continue the story of Noah Draper and Ethel Nelson with a letter from Ontario next week, followed by Ethel's first experience with a prairie cyclone.

Feb 1912: Noah's Cousin, Edith Draper

4/13/2014

1911 Togo, Saskatchewan, Canada. Courtesty of UofA Prairie Postcards Collection

Noah and Ethel are about to head West, but there was one event they would have attended before they left, and that was the wedding of Noah's cousin, Edith Draper, to Frank Kavanagh.

While blogging about Noah and Ethel's Courtship letters I couldn't help but notice how concerned Noah was about Edith and her siblings, his 1st cousins, the children of Stephen Draper and Martha Barnhart. If you recall, Stephen was the brother of Noah's father, David, and their 2 farms pretty much backed up to each other when Noah's family lived in North Gwillimbury.

In other posts I've detailed the lives of Stewart and George. Edith meanwhile was mentioned in these 1911 Courtship Letters:

Mar 5, Dear Noah - explains the spelling of Edith/Edythe
May 7 Dear Ethel - 1906 image of combined Draper family incl'g Frank
Aug 28 Dear Ethel - George Draper and his history
Sep 10 Dear Noah - Edith asks if she can go west with Ethel
Oct 15 Dear Noah - mentions that Edith will be married

As for the events leading up to Edith Draper marrying Frank Kavanagh, I found this humorous newspaper snippet:

The Newmarket Era. December 13, 1907

Miss Edyth Draper returned from
the West a few weeks ago. She says
it is too cold there for her.

I laughed when I saw that, knowing she would eventually marry and move to the West. I figured she must love Frank very much and heartened at the thought of her deep love. But then I read the next snippet and realized Frank didn't head west until 1908.

The Newmarket Era. May 15, 1908

The image at the top of this post shows what Togo, Sask looked liked in 1911.

So if Frank wasn't out West in 1907, who did 22 yr old Edith go to visit? Noah has mentioned Edith's brother, Stewart Draper, many times in the Courtship letters, and Stewart and Bertha's daughter, Norma, submitted a very detailed write-up on her family in the local history book, From Basket to Bridge - White Bear, Kyle, Matador in which she wrote that her father, Stewart Truman Draper, rented land from Eli Williamson, east of Indian Head, in 1907 prior to homesteading in the White Bear area.

Since Noah's family was already in Grand Coulee by that time, I'm guessing Edith visited her brother, Stewart, and Noah's family - her Uncle David and Aunt Sarah.

So we know that Edith was a spinster, a farmer's daughter, and that she doesn't like the West because it's too cold. And although we don't know for sure that Frank and Edith are courting, there must have been a good reason for him to be included in this 1906 family photo.

While Edith stayed in her Keswick, North Gwillimbury Township home, we can read a series of news snippets showing Frank's trips back to his family in Queensville, East Gwillimbury Township. It seems he still calls Queensville home and from the looks of these snippets, he made more trips than I could find in the Newmarket Era:

The Newmarket Era. December 24, 1909

The Newmarket Era. June 17, 1910

The Newmarket Era. September 30, 1910

Mr. W. H. Kavanagh mentioned in the middle snippet is Frank's father, William Harvey Kavanagh, b 1857, living in Queensville with an occupation as a butcher and auctioneer.

That got me wondering what Frank's occupation was way out there in Togo, Sask, so I started researching the records.

1887 Birth Record for James Franklin Kavanagh, East Gwillimbury Twp
1912 Marriage Record doesn't state an occupation
1921 Canada census states Frank is a butcher

But where was he in the 1911 census? Not only that, but Noah and Ethel refer to Frank as living in Winnipeg. Even his marriage record states he's from Winnipeg. But Winnipeg was a big city even back then and I didn't have time to browse dozens? hundreds? of pages of census records. And where did Togo fit in all this?

I spent hours searching for anything I could find about Togo and located it on a map north of the Transcontinental Railway line, just kissing the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border:

Google Map showing approximate route from Keswick, Ontario, to Winnipeg, Manitoba on the Transcontinental Railroad. From there, a person would have to take a secondary train to get to Togo, Saskatchewan.

As you can see from the map, Togo is a very long way from Keswick. I stopped researching and started cropping the snippets. But as I cropped the snippet for Frank's first trip west in 1908, I had an idea. It says Frank and Walter Kaiser went to Togo together. Could I find Walter Kaiser in the 1911 census, and if I did, would Frank still be with him? After all, 3 years had passed. I pulled up the search box and typed in Frank Kaiser. The only other info I had for him was the locations of Ontario and Togo.

Bingo! The first name that came up was a Walter Kaiser living in Togo, Sask. I pulled up the census and guess what... he was single, a lodger, and a butcher. And yep, right above him was the messy scribbled name of Frank Kavanagh. Why hadn't Frank come up in all the searches? Look for yourself:

Part of the 1911 Canada census for Togo, Saskatchewan (click to enlarge)

The top blue arrow is pointing to the messy scribbled name of Frank Kavanagh, Male, lodger, single, born Apr 1887, 26 yrs old, born in Ontario. The blue arrow in the bottom Index points to Frenk Kewenigh which is what the transcriber saw when he/she looked at Frank's name, scribbled by the census taker.

We know the wedding is coming soon because of this following snippet:

The Newmarket Era. January 5, 1912

Lila is Frank's 17-yr-old sister and my belief is that the week she spent with Edith was a planning session for Edith's wedding. Although the post-wedding news article doesn't come right out and say that Lila is Edith's bridesmaid, it does state:

"...Miss Lila Kavanaugh sister of the groom, looked charming in shell pink satin with lace and gold fringe, and carried pink roses. The groom was assisted by Mr. J. C Purdy of Keswick..."

Here's the article about the Edith Draper & Frank Kavanagh wedding. Note that the article starts by misspelling Kavanagh with an 'u' and ends without it, as it should be spelled.

The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912

Since the wedding took place at Edith's home in Keswick, the reception took place about 8.5 miles away at the home of Frank's family in Queensville, East Gwillimbury Township.

Listed under KESWICK in The Newmarket Era. February 2, 1912

So Edith has married Frank Kavanagh who was living in Togo until the census was taken a few months prior to their marriage. The snippet says they're heading back to Frank's home in Winnipeg, yet I couldn't find them in Henderson's Winnipeg City Directory for 1911, 1912, or 1915.

The Newmarket Era. November 27, 1914

However, I found this snippet which places them in Manitoba in 1914. Winnipeg is in Manitoba, but not Togo which is just a spit away inside the Saskatchewan border.
But where in Manitoba?

Again, we end a post with more questions. Feel free to jump in if you know the answers.

And now that Edith is married to Frank, there isn't anything to report on that would hold Noah and Ethel in Ontario. The next post then will be Noah guiding Ethel on her first trip to the West, and to her new home on the prairies at Adams, Saskatchewan.

1911 Courtship Special: Letter from Noah's Mother

3/10/2014

Grand Coulee, Saskatchewan, Octobert 1913; Courtesty of the Norma Draper Personal Photograph Collection

Noah is on his way to Ethel!
For more info, read the Genealogy Notes below.

Author of Letter: S S Draper
Dated: The 17 (presumed to be Dec 17, 1911)
Addressed to: Mr N C Draper, My Dear boy
Mailed from: Grand Coulee
Relationship: Noah's mother (Sarah Sophia Deverell)
Profession: Widow of Farmer
Writing instrument: Fine BlueInk
Written on: Very thin Ivory-colored lined notepaper 5" x 8"

People/places mentioned in this letter:

Eva - *Eva Amelia Perrault, Noah's sister who married *Joe Perraul
Veda - *Veda Perrault, 16 yr old daughter of *Eva and *Joe
Viola - *Viola Rigler, 14 yr old daughter of Noah's sister, *Ethel and *Will Rigler
Will - *Will Rigler, husband of Noah's sister *Ethel Maud
Fred & Louie - *Fred Coventry, who married Noah's sister, *Sarah Louisa aka *Louie
Percies - *Percy Draper - Noah's brother

Mrs H Winch - Margaret & Herb *Winch
Nettie - Nellie? Winch - records show Margaret & Herb having a Nellie born in 1910
Sam - Will's *hired man
Alf - Noah's *hired man

Places/things mentioned in this letter or in the Genealogy Notes:
dora - the sow (pig) will "come in" or farrow (give birth)
wheat 91 cts - he sold his wheat for 91 cents a bushel
sistern - a big tank called a cistern to hold water
Regina, Saskatchewan
Ravenshoe, Ontario
Keswick, Ontario
Toronto, Ontario
West - the Western Canadian provinces

Cliches mentioned in this letter:
"...will wonders never sease" (cease)

Legend:
* Look under the Categories/Labels in the right side column for more posts on this
person/place/thing. If you don't see a label, use the search box at the top of page.
** see Genealogy Notes below

Grand Coulee The
17

Mr N C Draper

My Dear boy
received your letter and
too cards on the 14 was glad to hear you
was well hope this may find you the same
we are all well and getting on nicely was
up home on sunday the children have all
got bad colds Viola was real sick but
is better the things all loock well but
I never seen the snow piled up around
there as it is now we have had very cold
weather and the worst stormes I ever seen
but it is a lovely day to day the snow
is settling fast I stayed up all night
then Fred and Louie come up Monday
and I come down with them they are well
Fred come and got Veda and I last wens
day and toock us to his place it is far
better than I thought They are very
comfortiable but the roads are a fright to
travel on but then I se you have had

Stormes down there to but before this
I sapose it has stopped so you haie got to
belhaven Well how did you find them at Mr
Nelsons all well I hope remember me to
Them and all inquireing friends I sapose
ere this you have been to our old home
how does it loock did you goe and se
Mrs H Winch I feel so sorrow for her
I hope Nettie is better ere this you did
not say what ailed her
Alfs was Just up to our place and said
one of Percies horses was sick Will and
Percy are goind to kill the pigs this
week they are not goeing to kill dora
they think she will come in in a fiew
weeks wonders will never sease
Sam got drunk and brought to
flasks home with him so Will
shipped him so he is doeing the chores
alone but when the roads get do he
can get straw and watter he will get
a man the sistern is dry and
they have to melt snow for all the watter
they have and feed the horses snow

Alf said Myres was drawing watter
with fore horses and the tank slewed of
the road and went down so far that the tank
up set and he said they lost their watter and
had a turble time to get it up again ' '
So you doe not think as mouk of down there
as you might. but I hope you will have a
good time I had a letter from Eva she
seemes to think they are haveing a big
time your letter reads as tho you had a good
time goeing down ' ' you wanted to
know how much Will got for the
wheat he got 91 cts but could have got
more if he could have held it longer
but when it was drawed on he had to
sell it well I will close my scribble
now be a good boy and remember
your Mother never for gets you in
her prair, that god may keep you
safe from harm from your ever
loveing Mother S S Draper
let me hear from you often

Genealogy Notes

Last week I posted the last of the 1911 Courtship letters between Noah Draper and Ethel Nelson. Ethel's Treasure Box didn't contain any from Noah for November, and there aren't any more from Noah or Ethel until Noah joins the Royal Canadian Naval Voluntary Reserve and starts writing to Ethel once more. (I do have much more to post of the family though.)

For whatever reason, the December 1911 issues of The Newmarket Era are not online. It seems that every issue before and after is accounted for, but not the one that announces Noah's homecoming.

Hence, I'm so thankful for this week's letter where Sarah Sophia Deverell Draper writes to Noah or we wouldn't know when he left. It also seems that Noah travelled with his sister, Eva Amelia, although we don't know who else went along since no mention of Joe is made and Veda is still back in Grand Coulee. When Sarah writes that "...Eva she seems to think they are haveing a big time..." could be Eva and Joe, or Eva and the family she left behind when she moved West with Joe.

Although Sarah isn't clear about which date she sent the letter, certain events in the letter show it to be December 1911. Namely, the mention of:
- how she hoped everyone was well at Mr. Nelson's place (Ethel's home)
- the Herbert Winch Family and Nettie's burns (see 1911 Courtship: Oct 22)
- cold weather and the worst storms she's ever seen (weather info below)

The Morning Leader (Regina) - Dec 19, 1911

Sarah says she received a letter and 2 cards on the 14th, so Noah was gone by then. I'm guessing he left soon after December began because Ethel's letters stop at the end of Nov. (I sure would have liked to have been there for that meeting between them!)

The ad on the right is from Regina's Morning Leader newspaper from December 19 of that year and shows the most likely way Noah would have traveled east. If he chose the Canadian Northern Railway, then his fee would have been $47.15 from Regina to Toronto.

At Toronto, Noah would have taken the Toronto and York Radial Railway north to either Ravenshoe or Keswick. We don't know which relative he's staying with, but there are many since Noah's great grandfather and his siblings were some of the original settlers of York County and the township of North Gwillimbury.

1910, Keswick, Ontario Radial Station; Courtesy of Wikipedia and the Georgina Pioneer Village exhibit at Virtual Museum

About that cold weather... Grand Coulee is within sight of Regina and the coldest Nov 11th on record was in the year 1911 where temperatures dropped to -37.2C /-35F. (Wikipedia's List of Extreme Temperatures in Canada). Although it didn't stay that cold, the temperatures over that winter averaged out to being one of the coldest winters on record.

Actually, weather men are still talking about it. Check out this recent blog post from the United States National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office which talks about The Great Blue Norther of November 11, 1911:

...As dramatic as these weather changes were, we must go back further in time to look at one such cold front (also known then as The Great Blue Norther) that established a set of weather records that arguably are unique in modern weather history. On November 11, 1911 (remembered easily for now as 11/11/11), the afternoon temperature in Oklahoma City reached a record high for the date of 83, before plunging 66 degrees to a record low of 17 at midnight that evening. Both daily temperature records remain unbroken and untied since 1911...

The Wikipedia entry for The Great Blue Norther of 11/11/1911 has this to say:

The Great Blue Norther of 11/11/1911 was a cold snap that affected the central United States on Saturday, November 11, 1911. Many cities broke record highs, going into the 70s and 80s early that afternoon. By nightfall, cities were dealing with temperatures in the teens and single-digits on the Fahrenheit scale. This is the only day in many midwest cities' weather bureau jurisdictions where the record highs and lows were broken for the same day. Some cities experienced tornadoes on Saturday and a blizzard on Sunday. A blizzard even occurred within one hour after an F4 tornado hit Rock County, Wisconsin. The main cause of such a dramatic cold snap was an extremely strong storm system separating warm, humid air from frigid, arctic air. Dramatic cold snaps tend to occur mostly in the month of November, though they can also come in February or March.

So finally, Noah and Ethel are together once again and can now plan the details of their wedding. Next week I'll post everything I can dig up on that happy event. Hope to see you here for the happy event.

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WW1 Letters Home - Dec 29, 1916

History Notes

C.N.R. at Adams, Saskatchewan

Westward the Newlyweds!

Feb 1912: Noah's Cousin, Edith Draper

1911 Courtship Special: Letter from Noah's Mother

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WW1 Letters Home - Dec 29, 1916

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C.N.R. at Adams, Saskatchewan

Westward the Newlyweds!

Feb 1912: Noah's Cousin, Edith Draper

1911 Courtship Special: Letter from Noah's Mother

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