Show the I 1 lie winter of 1906 1907 by mrs catherine nell neil burdett the winter ot of 1906 07 was the hardest I 1 have ever experienced since coming to canada and it has been vividly recalled to my memory by the winter we are having now the winter started early in 1906 and by Decer december riber we were feeding the sheep we had not prel prepared lared for a bad winter so had not a great lot of feed we bought a stack of hay north of burdett and we had two of the early settlers 1 in ln the grassy lake district haul it for us as they had a bob sleigh and good horses many a night we listened for the beigh bells and then let the sheep out to feed only to find as the horses and men arrived that the load had bad upset or the horses were played out the wind blew irom a different direction almost every day so that new trails had to be broken each morning and were often filled in by night the sheep began to suffer so much from hunger that tiey started eating the wool oft off each others backs as they stood in the corrall it was a terrible sight each morning to see dozens of sheep perfectly bare on the back and bleeding and it if any happened to die during the night there was no wool left on the we cut out the sheep bacr ds de that had lost their wool and put them in little pens where they could get shelter and feed and we c cut lit up sacking and made little coats to cover them so as to give them a chance to live towards the middle of january they were dying at the rate of 20 and 25 each day and we keep pace with skinning them we ordered feed tut but it come till april when we had already lost a eliou thousand and head the railways were too busy hauling coal that winter winters the first chinook came on feb F tb ru iry cadd and we e own owal home to get some coal coald having moved early in january to my brother in laws place the house was surrounded by cattle many of them dead and not a pane of glass was left to in the house the curtains were all eaten off the windows and even the tassels cassels from the window blinds and everything else the cattle could reach we up the windows while the water from the roof soaked us but by next morning it was hard frost again the prairie was s now in a worse condition than before the chinook even the cattle could not break through the lee ice to get feed and were dying all over the range it was a common sight to see a long line of cattle going south one day and back north the next as the wind changed some of the eattle eattie went mad with hunger and had to be shot one steer got in among our band of sheep and it did not matter how often we drove him oft off he be came back again he would run through the band and he be broke the legs of several sheep but by spring he was in good shape we came on eight head of cattle one day backed up against a buffalo wallow and snowe snowed d in we had quite a time dogging them out of the drift had we not they would have stayed t there here till they starved or froze to death we thought nothing of cooking frozen potatoes and vegetables and of thawing the bread it was the usual thing to take a small hatchet and chop off a steak were we not pioneering enna each morning after tucking my baby in bed I 1 went to help the men get the sheep out it was so cold they had to be driven so the snow plow went ahead and I 1 a bundle of hay and dropped little pieces all along the path while the sheep were forced to get along many times the horses would walk on top of the snow and never crack the lee ice from the february chinook and at other U tunes mes chev would fall through and come out with bleeding legs As we used the stables for the weak sheep our horses had t to 0 stand outside tied to the hayrack at night and the sheep had the hir hair eaten oft off their tills as far as they could reach the chinook came or n the morning of march 25 and by night the coulees coultes were running the water came down with such fores force that it carried dead cattle along when I 1 returned to my own home I 1 had to wait outside till some dead cattle were taken away from the back door and there were others ottem lying round all sides ot of the house the section house at grassy lake was covered with brands cut from arom stock killed on the track when lamb lambing lambiris irim time carne came the sheep were in poor condition condl toi and many of the sheep were shedding their wool it was a common sight to see the sheepherder catch a sheep and almost strip r er bare with his hands after the winter was over ove r there tricie vicie were ilal cust hundreds of dead sheep to get ral 13 of the indiana came along end sze sz ing a chance to make some money they offered to skin them As they thawed out they skinned or pulled the wool they pegged the skins neatly on the aroun ground d to dry and spread out the wool everyone helped and when they had them all cleared off chief Yellow lace face told us what each had done and hz h and she was paid accordingly they took away all the dead carcases of the sheep and piled them up in a coulee several miles enst ens when the early settlers came in they thought it was villere an indian massacre had taker taken place I 1 have written this from ray my paper on pioneer days given to the W 1 I 12 years ago MRS CATHERINE NEIL burdett |