Swanson, Saskatchewan

The hamlet of Swanson, Saskatchewan, Canada, is located on the Canadian National Railway about70 km southwest of Saskatoon along Highway 45.

Photos of Swanson, Saskatchewan, from the family collection

Information from other sources

Canada-Rail

Prairie Towns

The photo was likely taken from the railway water tower located NE of the Railway Station. The stores pictured across the intersection from the RR Station are as follows starting from the far left of the photo.

• Hotel operated by Mr. Belton & Sydney Pipe
• Chinese Laundry operated by Joe Lee
• General Store & Post Office operated by T.E. Warner
• Swanson Mercantile operated by Mr. Stone & Mr. Cosgrove
• Colley Hardware operated by Thomas Colley (It also housed Skjeie Meat Market)
  rounding the corner … the long building was * Dalton Wall Lumber Yard.

On a March night in 1921 a fire fanned by high winds destroyed all the buildings marked with an * above. Most were never rebuilt. Other businesses (not pictured, across the street, from those above escaped the fire). Fortunately, none of the Swanson residences were burned in that fire. However, several families were left homeless due to the fact that they lived in quarters at the back of their family’s business.

Post office opened on June 1, 1907. Closed on February 26, 1976.

Historical information courtesy of Pat Girwing

Saskatchewan History Album

Walter Sutherland

Walter and Ruth Sunderland came to Winnipeg, Manitoba, from England in 1904. A year later, brother Abram arrived, and in April, 1906, they moved to homestead north of Swanson, Saskatchewan on Section 12-32-9-W3.

We have many happy memories of our childhood days in Swanson: like Ethel’s first day of school. The teacher closed the classroom door, and it locked. So, Ruth drove the horse and buggy near the school window where Ethel and Mack Gilmour crawled in through the window. There were many times when the boys of the school hung Vera out the school window, and then waited until they saw the teacher coming back from lunch before they would haul her in again.

In the winter of 1912, Ruth took Ethel and Vera in to Swanson to see a traveling picture show, held in Anderson’s Hall above the hardware store. During the evening, the film caught fire. The audience all escaped, but the camera operator was badly burned trying to put out the fire.

Our first recollection of radio was listening, with ear phones on, at Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Wooltorton’s. Each of us had a turn for five minutes. Mrs. Wooltorton always had icing sugar sandwiches for lunch.

Sunderland and Beaton family plots are located in St. Ambrose Cemetery, southwest of Swanson.

William Beaton

William Beaton, the youngest member of a family of eleven, was born in Milan, Quebec, in 1877. His parents and grandparents had come with other Scottish settlers in 1840 from Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.

In 1902, he went to North Dakota, where he farmed. In 1905 he took a homestead south of Wiseton, Saskatchewan. He left when a rerouting of the proposed CNR left his land far from the proposed town site. He bored many wells in the Wiseton, Hanley and Dundurn areas, and also broke many broncos. In 1907 he bought land in the Ardath-Swanson district, and in 1909 married Florence Sunderland, whose family lived north of Swanson. William and Florence resided on S. E. 21-31-9-W3 until 1935 when they moved to S. E. 28-31-0.

Florence had come to Swanson in 1906 with her parents Edward and Elizabeth, to visit her brothers Abram and Walter (Ruth).

Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan

Homestead Records

Tp. 031 Rg. 08 W3
Swanson, Abraham D. : NW 30-31-08-W3
Swanson, Abraham D. : NE 30-31-08-W3

Swanson, Selmer : NE 19-22-12-W3
Swanson, Selmer : NW 5-34-02-W2
Swanson, Clarence : NE 5-34-02-W2

The land system in western Canada that was based on a grid survey developed for the Prairies by the Canadian government. The basic unit of the survey was the 36-square mile township that was divided into 36 sections. Each section was about one square mile (640 acres) and were divided into four quarters or into sixteen legal sub-divisions. Townships were numbered from south to north starting at the United States border, and numbered from 1 to 129. Ranges in Saskatchewan and Alberta (and parts of British Columbia) are numbered from east to west starting from each meridian, and ranges are numbered 1 to 34. Surveyors established seven meridians, which acted as baselines for surveying and numbering the townships.

W3 = UF West of 3rd Meridian