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At one time, many people did care about St. Boswells and the
sidewalks once filled with the sounds and sights of prairie living.
As with most pioneer southwestern Saskatchewan settlements, St.
Boswells' humble beginnings were filled with great promise and
hope.
The area was first settled by homesteaders shortly after the
turn of the 20th century. St. Boswells' name came from the former
home of Alex Dow, St. Boswells in Roxburghshire, Scotland. It
was the name chosen for the community's first post office. Dow
set up a general store in the new community, on the north side
of Main Street to the east. His store became one of the largest
buildings in town. It was also a popular meeting place, where
many people loved to sit and talk about the latest gossip or about
a much anticipated local event, such as a community dance.
St. Boswells was born a railroad town in 1918, a Canadian National
Railway point along the line from Moose Jaw to Neidpath. It's
location was about 10 kilometres northwest of Bateman.
As with most Saskatchewan prairie towns, the centre of the community
was the junction of Main Street and Railway Avenue. St. Boswells
swelled to include First and Second Avenues, and First Street
East and First Street West. Main Street was only one block in
length and was the heart of the pioneer community's business section.
West of the railway tracks, were five grain elevators, St. Boswells'
early symbol of prosperity. On the east side of the tracks, facing
Railway Avenue and looking down Main Street, was the train station,
which also provided a telegraph system for locals and visitors.
On the east side of Railway Avenue, from south to north, was
the curling and skating rink, the lumberyard, town hall, a machinery
and car dealership, a blacksmith's shop, Tommy Bellamy's service
station, George Sherman's livery stable, a well drilling equipment
business and a bunkhouse.
Looking down Main Street from east to west, and starting on
the north side of the street, was Elmer Moulton's garage, which
served St. Boswells from 1919 to 1948. It started as a Model T
Ford dealership when it opened. It also held the town's lighting
plant, as well as a electrical business. Next to the garage was
the Union Cafe, Brown's Butcher Shop, a hardware store, the fire
station (using hand-pumped equipment and a water tank), Wing's
Laundry.
There were many other businesses during this time, a boom era
from 1919 to 1929 which saw the town's population mushroom to
between 300 and 350 residents. But in that latter year, the stock
market crashed and like scores of other pioneer prairie communities,
St. Boswells began its painful decline. The following year, the
droughts came, soon ending any hope of renewed prosperity. One
by one, businesses and residents packed up and left. When Perry
Lindsay's store and post office closed in 1960, it was the last
business to shut its doors. It was the official end of St. Boswells.
For many years after, the only reminders of St. Boswells' boom
days were the town's central water well, and the empty and silent
cement sidewalks.
A few times every year or so, former residents will head out
on the dusty rural road that approaches the now fenced-in former
townsite. They will scan the empty field, reflect as they recall
the lively chatter of pioneer folk walking proudly along those
same sidewalks.
In the early 1990s, Ruby Davies of Calgary, Alberta drove through
the dusty gravel Saskatchewan backroads to St. Boswells with her
mother Jean Coote and other relatives to rekindle memories of
the pioneer community. In 1920, Davies' mother was the first baby
born in St. Boswells. But as she and her family toured the townsite,
only prairie ghosts were there to greet the saddened entourage.
"As we drove through the streets one or another of them
would comment, 'There is Dow's store'; 'There is Pop's garage';
'There is the dance hall'; 'There is the post office', and on
it went," said Davies, who lived in Bateman from 1948 to
1966. "It seemed like they really could see those buildings."
"I didn't remember any of those buildings but I did remember
the United Church, and the school that were across the street
from my grandparents' house, " added Davies.
"My husband Jack began to laugh. There was not a single
building anywhere. There were sidewalks, a few trees and the old
well that was claimed to have 'the best water in the country'
but not a single building. The memories live on now with a few
people but in a few years they too will be gone."
Ghosttownpix.com is indebted to the former residents of St. Boswells for their stories in the 1988 community book, "Whispering Winds of Yesterday", published by the Glen Bain Historical Society. |
