This Album includes people of all ages who lived, and sometimes worked, on the Bell Farm during the era that Major Bell was here (1882-1896) and afterwards.
The Bell Farm was a corporate venture, officially known as the Qu'Appelle Valley Farming Company, and included a number of investors, and employed many people, both for farm purposes and for construction and maintenance. Major Bell also employed a large number of Indigenous people to help operate his farm. The images in this Album focus on the people who worked and lived on the Farm. Images of and information on the Investors can be found in Album 300. The following Images are presented in alphabetical order, after the general farming photos and sketches.
RESEARCH PRIMARILY BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Sask. and Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask.
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0001 - Bell Farm Cottage
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1882 - Boyd, John - Bell Farm Squatter's surveyed land
John Boyd married Eliza Jane Thompson in Brandon, Manitoba in 1881. The couple moved to Indian Head in 1882, where John was first a squatter, and later an employee at the Bell Farm Bell. After the Bell Farm purchased their farm in 1885, they moved to the Abernethy area, where they farmed for many years. Later they returned to Indian Head, and lived on the Sunbeam Farm established by Lord Brassey in the 1890s. Their only daughter, Annie, was drowned in an accident in 1908.
SOURCES:
"Regina Leader" May 8, 1930, pg. 13/E.John Boyd/obituary "First White Woman to Reach Indian Head Dies" - "Regina Leader" May 8, 1930, pg 13 "Regina Leader" May 5, 1908, pg 1 Margaret Ann "Annie"/obituary born May 13, 1884 http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1891&op=img&id=30953_148228-00261 - 1891 Census/John, Eliza Jane and Margaret Ann
RESEARCH BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Sask. -
1883 - Bell Farm employees and binders at harvest time
Stereoscope photo of harvesting, with men from a nearby First Nation helping make the stooks.
SOURCES:
Photo by: Bingham and Thom, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1883.
RESEARCH BY:
Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask. -
1883 - Plowing the Bell Farm - c1883
Sketch based on an as-yet unlocated photograph. Starting in 1882 men, horses and machinery began to plow the Bell Farm. Over 20 sulky plows at a time, arranged in staggering rows, travelled in one direction all morning, then turned around after lunch and returned to the starting point.
SOURCES:
http://ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=485908 – The New West – 1888, image 167 and 168 between p. 104 and 105
RESEARCH BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon and Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask. -
1883 - Sketch of Harvesting on the Bell Farm - 1883
Sketch based on photo by Hall and Lowe - Sketch of Harvesting on the Bell Farm - 1883. The original photo on which this scene was based was taken by the Winnipeg photographic firm of Hall and Lowe (1883-1885). The sketch includes extra people not seen in the photograph, including the man on horseback, but the men on the binders are in the same position as those in the photo.
SOURCES:
http://ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=485908 – The New West – 1888, image 167 and 168 between p. 104 and 105
RESEARCH BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon and Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask. -
1883 - Workers at two of the Bell Farm Cottages
This Album includes people of all ages who lived, and sometimes worked, on the Bell Farm during the era that Major Bell here (1882-1896) and afterwards.The Bell Farm was a corporate venture, officially known as the Qu'Appelle Valley Farming Company, and included a number of investors and employed many people, both for farm purposes and for construction and maintenance. Major Bell also employed a large number of First Nation people to help operate his farm. The images in this Album focus on the people who worked and lived on the Farm. Images of and information on the Investors can be found in Album 300. The following Images are presented in alphabetical order, after the general farming photos and sketches.
SOURCES: A - B Thom, Wpg, photographer croppedRESEARCH PRIMARILY BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Sask. and Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask.
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1883 - Bell Farm employees breaking (plowing) virgin prairie soil.
Photo by: Bingham and Thom, Winnipeg, Manitoba, ca. 1883 - Stereoscopic view of plowing at the Bell Farm in the 1880s. Photo by Bingham and Thom, Winnipeg, Manitoba, official photographers of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Stereoscopic cards were popular at the turn of the 20th century to provide a three dimensional view when the card was inserted into a stereoscope. Source: Bell Family Collection - Shelagh Whitaker -
1883 - Reaping on the Bell Farm - 1883Photo by Hall and Lowe, Winnipeg, Manitoba - As with plowing, harvesting the grain was done with multiple reapers, in excess of 20 at a time, working simultaneously in staggered rows. Everything was done on a large scale at the massive Bell Farm. Sources: Research by: Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon and Frank Korvemaker, Regina
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1883 - Unidentified Bell Farm employees and Major Bell (right), with one of the horses.Close-up view of one of the horses at the Bell Farm, in front of the stone house, with Major Bell on the right, wearing a dark jacket. Photo taken by Hall and Lowe of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Source: Bell Family Collection - Shelagh Whitaker
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1883 - Unidentified Bell Farm employees Harvesting.Photo ca. 1883
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1883 - Unidentified First Nation employees stooking on the Bell FarmMultiple units of men, horses and machinery harvesting wheat on the Bell Farm. Original Caption: Harvest Scenes on the Bell Farm, Indian Head, in the 1880s (Source: Saskatchewan and its People, Volume 2, by John Hawkes, 1924)
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1883 - Unidentified Indian woman on the Bell Farm c1883This First Nation woman is photographed near one of the large wooden barns on the Bell Farm, probably in 1883. Source: Bell Family Collection - Shelagh Whitaker
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1884 - Bell Farm employees plowing a field
Nine teams of three horses each pull a single sulky plow through the virgin prairie soil. This form of mass plowing was one of the features of the corporate farm established by Major Bell and his investors at Indian head in 1882.
SOURCES:
Photo by William M. Notman, Montreal, for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Source: McCord Museum, View-1384
RESEARCH BY:
Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask. -
1884 - Unidentified Bell Farm employees with horses by the south door of the Bell BarnPhoto: McCord Museum, Notman Collection: V1388 - taken 1884 - Source: McCord Museum Image V1388
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Bingham, George - Bell Farm employee
George Bingham worked in the Bell Farm during the 1880s. In 1884 his sister Jane Lovina came from England and helped look after him while he lived in one of the Bell Farm Cottages. An 1886 Qu'Appelle Progress" report provides the following information about George: “Aug 12, 1886: About 15 o’clock on Friday last fire was discovered in a double barn near the Northern Bell Farm Cottage occupied by Geo Bingham. The barn contained two horses which were burned to death, and the barn with contents will be a complete loss.”
SOURCES:
"Qu'Appelle Progress", 12 Aug., 1886 - Bell Farm fire at George Bingham's cottage Obituary for Jane Ewart: "Saskatoon Daily Star" Nov. 24, 1922
RESEARCH BY:
Mihelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Sask., and Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask.