Other Bell Farm Visitors - 1882 - 2006
The Bell Farm Visitors' Register was not printed until 1884, two years after work started at the Farm. From various historical records, including newspapers, journals, books, government reports and correspondence we know that many other people visited the Farm between 1882 and 1884.
This album records those people who have been positively reported as having been at the Farm between 1882 and 1896, when the farm closed. In addition, people continued to visit and report on the Bell Farm well after it ceased to exist, and those reports are also included.
One large group came in late August 1883, when a special CPR train was assembled in Montreal to go to the Rocky Mountains. A Group of 66 dignitaries were on board, including the President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, George Steven, and many members of Canada's financial and political elite. The train left Montreal on Aug. 20, and travelled to Toronto, Ontario; then on to Chicago, Illinois, followed by St. Paul, Minnesota, where they arrived on Aug. 25. After the group reached Winnipeg Manitoba, it headed due west on the newly-completed rail line to Calgary, Alberta, which was reached on Aug. 28. During the return trip, the entourage stopped off at the Bell Farm for a tour of this grandiose agricultural wonder. They arrived in time to witness the first harvest at the Bell Farm.
Two Winnipeg photographers also visited the Bell Farm in August 1883. Hall and Lowe took about 20 photographs of the Bell Farm, less than a third have been found to date. It is not known if Hall and Lowe also documented the Group of 66 tour to the Bell Farm.
As well, many others who visited the Bell Farm after 1884 did not, for some unknown reason, sign the official Bell Farm Visitors' Register. This included some of the members of the Tenant-Farmer delegation from England in October 1890; and again in the fall of 1893
RESEARCH:
As with the Visitors' Register album, most of the information and photos for the entries in this album have been located and provided by Michelle Cabana, of Saskatoon, with assistance from Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask.