Sure that life looks difficult as we look back from our lives of luxury we have today but back then it was just the way life was. Nobody else was any better off. The promise of "free" land was enough to entice my grandparents to cross the ocean from England in the early 1900s. Working class folks back in England had no hope of ever owning land. Just a mud hut and endless labour for the lords of the manor. 160 acres in the N.W.T. looked very attractive but the first winter was a real shock. My grandfather, his brother and a cousin spent that first winter in an 8x10 log shack. Cousin Jack was heard to comment that he would be back in Dorset for next Christmas. But of course they couldn't afford the return trip so no choice but to make a go of it. And they did. And nobody moved to town for winter. Probably a two hour trip with horses cross country and who would look after the livestock back on the farm? I think about them when I look at the old log shack that still stands after all these years. 

(39 Ford by shack (full).JPG)

39 Ford by shack (full).JPG (107KB - 1 downloads)