The year 1915: The Arrival of the Railroad
When Joseph Fillion and my father, Edouard Cimon, chose their homestead, it was April 8, 1913 and as so many others, they wondered how close they’d be to the railroad. In those days, being close to the railroad was nearly a guarantee for their survival. Joseph Fillion, his brother, my father and two other young men from Baie St. Paul and Charlevoix, Quebec, had chosen and registered a request for their land. My father chose the first and Mr. Fillion had taken land right across from him. The fellows from Baie St. Paul had spent the winter in Grouard under Jean-Louis Légaré’s recommendation; he was from Willow Bunch, SK. The settlers at the Peavine had barely arrived at Grouard when Jean-Louis advised them to go to the Peavine area, and this turned out to be good advice. The citizens of Grouard also hoped to have the railroad pass close by…However the surveyors and engineers decided that the land on the north shore of Lesser Slave Lake was too swampy…therefore useless for the railroad. The railroad later missed Grouard. When the citizens of Grouard learned this, they went to see the railroad company and those who advised about railroads; they even offered them $50,000…Nothing changed. Grouard became a phantom village.
Towards the end of 1914, the railroad which went from east to west finally arrived: It passed through McLennan, Donnelly, Dréau, Culp and even went through a little parct of my father’s land as well as that of Mr. Fillion’s. Also the Number 2 Highway (north and south) passed between the two farms; my father’s was on the east of the road; Joseph Fillion’s, on the west..not too bad for having chosen haphazardly!!
People knew by 1915 that the railroad was coming. One day the whistle was heard notifying everyone that the train was not far away. Some Donnelly people went out of curiosity and when the train arrived the first passenger to get out to where the group of people had assembled and he said authoritatively “This is Falher”. The people replied in a more respectful and calm vein, “This is Donnelly; if you want a village called Falher, you’ll have to go elsewhere.” My father was present and really regretted that words were said because things did not stop there…. But history continued….
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