Naming the West : Stories Melrose Family

Melrose Family Senior Story 1:
Family

At that time there were very few families, and they spread out. Everybody had fairly big farms. Your next door neighbor would be a mile or two away. Now, of course, your next door neighbor is probably a stone s throw away.

Yeah. Grants, Kennys, Maxwells, Hogges, H-o-g-g-e.

They grew a lot of their own food though. Everybody would have a big garden, and of course they had grain and livestock to provide milk and meat, and chickens for eggs. So much of their food would be produced themselves, on the farms. And they would make the occasional trip into Calgary or into Okotoks to buy supplies like flour or sugar.

By about once a year, maybe.

Maybe once a year, they d make that trip. And it would be a big trip, like it would be a huge events in their lives to make the trip into Calgary. It would be something they would plan for for months, and look forward to, and in they d go.  Maybe they d stay overnight, one night, eh, in Calgary.

Yep.

Because you would have to go in and have horses pull your wagon into town, so you couldn t just zip in in a few minutes. You went and buy your supplies, stay overnight, come back the next day, it would be a truly big event.