ALASKA HIGHWAY NEWS
A12 | NEWS | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2020
Soldiers turned farmers, and their dreams of a great future David Dyck Alaska Highway News If you drive north from Fort St. John, up Rose Prairie Road, down across the Montney Creek and back up again, seven miles out of town, there’s a tract of land called the Fort St. John Reserve #172. It is a rectangle, running from nearly the Beatton River on the east, seven miles to the Beatton Park Road to the west, and four miles north and south. Sixty-five years ago, that tract of land became home to 42 veterans who had served in the Second World War, purchased by the Veterans Affairs Department from the Indian Affairs Department, surveyed, carved up into lots, and sold in pieces to the former soldiers. Not just any soldiers were allowed to purchase it, however; preference was given to those who had served overseas, and care was taken to ensure that they were the kind of men who would cultivate and develop the land properly. Forty-two of them came, put down their roots, and started farming. Those soldiers turned farmers are the topic of a book by lifelong Peace Country resident Lana-Gay Elliott. Her husband, Cecil Elliott, was the youngest soldier to purchase a piece of the land, and the last one to leave, in 2008. “My main aim in [the book] was to recognize that these men had gone to war for their country, they’d come home and with not very much chance or choice – many of them didn’t have much education, some had a lot of education, but many didn’t – they took on a lifetime of work to produce a community to live in and to prosper in – and they did,” said Elliott. Sadly, her husband died
DAVID DYCK PHOTO
Lana-Gay Elliott has compiled the stories of the veterans who cultivated both land and community north of Fort St. John in her book, ‘Veterans Land Stories’.
in 2012. Cecil was originally from Ontario, and had trained for the jungle combat of the Pacific Theatre, but the war ended before he was shipped out. Like many others in his situation, he moved west looking for work. He was 21 when he pulled into the Dawson Creek train station. “They had to have a certain amount of wherewithal. Whether it was other land, machinery, money or whatever, they had to have a certain amount before they could even apply, and then they had loans through Veterans Affairs,” explained Elliott. “One of the criteria was that they had to be from a farm family, or have had farming experience.” The first few years were hard on the farmers. They were trying to make the land arable, build shelters and start a community. The first year there, some of them lived in tents before they were able to build houses of their own. “There’s one story about a lady that was preparing supper for her husband and blew the
To the Veterans of Reserve 172 The veterans came from all around To stake their names to a piece of ground. The soil was good, their hopes were high For crops of barley, wheat and rye. These men had served their country well They risk their lives, had stories to tell. The Navy, the Army and the Air Force too Saw things no man should have to do. They went into service a bunch of boys They came back men of greater poise. They’d faced a world of terrible pain To make sure we were free again. They found what they needed in the Peace, They bought their land, not just a lease. Each started out with just their name In the end they shared a quiet fame. They and their families work real hard Carving out fields and making a yard. Picking rocks and roots all day They were determined the land would pay. Many years of hardship and strife They toiled at their chosen way of life. In the end it paid off well A community made, it turned out swell. All of these men and their families too Made sacrifices and earned their due. Can be proud of the job they’ve done Very worthwhile in the long run. Most of these men are forever gone. But their will and values carry on. Now the rest of us will always know Their quiet strengths weren’t just for show. — Lana-Gay Elliott Republished with permission from Veterans Land Stories
windows out of her tent because she used too much bug spray. When she lit up the stove it exploded!” said Elliott. When they did relax, it was to dance or play baseball, activities that centered around the hall. “It was the major thing for a community. That’s what kept everybody socially connected and gave some relief in your life of hard work – and it was hard work.” Lana-Gay didn’t meet Cecil until over a decade after he had started his farm, and was already established. They got to know each other square dancing. “We square danced out at the Pineview Hall. We square danced in town with a club in town too, there were two different clubs; I was in one club, my husband was in the other. We met at social events and then decided that we could be socially involved in marriage,” she said, adding that she still dances twice a week when she’s able to. They had two children together, a boy and a girl. She described the community as tight-knit,
dependent on each other for survival. “At that time the community was very much a community thing, because of the hall we had all kinds of activities and whatnot that everybody was involved in, but mostly everybody was just involved in surviving,” she said. “Nobody could afford to buy anything, so you shared with everybody else and did the best you could. Most of us were raising young kids and it just kept you busy doing life.” Today, most of the people living in that area don’t farm, she said. The road there is paved now, and it’s easy to get into town. She said she suspects most of the residents who live there commute to jobs in Fort St. John. It’s a different life. “The few families that are left there say that it’s not the community that it used to be,” she said. “People that are farmers, yes, we think that farming is important. To people that don’t understand growing your own food and being proud of a way of life that you have spent your whole life doing, it is not
understandable. You have to have been that committed,” she said. Her husband was a fixture in the community, as president of the fair board, on the board of the Co-op, and serving on the Peace River Regional District board as Area B representative for 15 years. The book itself took decades of slow, methodical work. She started the project almost 30 years ago, and slowly accumulated the material for it, careful to only get sources who were related to the soldiers in some way. Some of the farmers were bachelors, with no immediate family to tell their story. For those cases, she had to track down extended family. One month, she had a telephone bill five pages long. There was only one family, three brothers, for whom she couldn’t find any information. The purpose for the book was written by Elliott herself, at the start: “My aim in putting this on paper is to honour the men who were willing to sacrifice all at a time when many of them were no more than kids themselves. They and their women then came home and took on a difficult job with not much more than their good names and dreams of a great future. They took on a lifetime challenge with little to work with in the way of mechanical assistance to carve out a great community for the rest of us to enjoy. I tried to record the personalities of these people and the dogged determination they had to succeed in this endeavour. They, like many other pioneers, bought raw land and developed it into viable, profitable farms.” This article was first published in February 2015
Veteran profile: Alan Herbert Burton Royal Canadian Air Force Lance Corporal ACR198737 Service: Canada, England As told by Muriel Burton Miles (wife) and Noreen Stubley (sister) Alan was born October 28, 1923 in Glen Allan District, Riding Mountain, Manitoba, to Garnet and Florence Burton. Garnet freighted into the Peace River District by train in 1927 to Spirit River, Alberta, and then on to Rolla, B.C., by horse team. Alan, his mother, and younger brother Russel followed in 1928. They started farming the homestead on the banks of the Beaton River in 1931. The family came from Manitoba with a full load of farm machinery and horses to farm with and other livestock. Their sister Noreen was born in Taylor, B.C. Alan was raised in the North Pine area along with his brother Russel and sister Noreen. He was one of the local boys who came home after the war and took up land in the area he was most familiar with. Alan was very athletic and he played on many sports teams. He played first base on the school and community ball teams and was on the football team (we called it soccer then) and was also on the hockey team. He took his Grade 11 at the North Pine School. He finished his Grade 12
Alan Burton
while in the Air Force. He had enlisted in May 1943 in Edmonton, Alberta, along with two of his school chums. He first trained in the 7SS TS in McLeod, Alberta. He also trained in Mount View, Ontario, then had a short leave to visit home before he was sent overseas. He was a bombardier in England during the war, loading the bombs onto the planes. While stationed near York, England, he met Muriel Campey and they married on September 29, 1945. She was one of the war brides from overseas that came to a whole different life in Canada. They had three children: Eric, Helen, and Shirley, who was
born in 1951. He bought the South half of Lot 15 on the Reserve 172. While they cleared and farmed the land in the summers, he also worked in a logging camp in the winters. The camp was at Mile 110 on the Alaska Highway. There was a camp house large enough for the family to all come to camp with him while he worked. The land on the Reserve was eventually sold to John Bjornson in the early 70’s. Alan Burton passed away in December of 1950. He is interred in the North Pine Hillside Cemetery. Republished with permission from Veterans Land Stories