Visits to Elk Point, Alberta, Canada.

In the 1910s George and Neway Smith, the maternal grand parents of my wife Jackie homesteaded in Elk Point. Neway had been raised in an upper class family in Scotland and Toronto, Canada. George was an electrician in Chicago. His Father, a veteran of the Civil War was a shoe maker. Neway was a nurse.

This young couple with two little girls went some 1500 miles northwest to Elk Point on the edge of civilization. Neway told us about the family going to barn dances with Indians.

They lost their younger girl to the influenza pandemic of 1918. World wide the plague killed 22 million people. More tragedy. George fell and broke his neck. I think it was during the building of a barn. For some time they lived in Edmonton. Then they moved to Taft, California, Santa Maria, California, and their final home in San Luis Obispo, California. George kept chickens and delivered eggs to customers in downtown San Luis Obispo.  I can remember Jackie candling eggs,

In 1988 Jackie and I visited Elk Point. (Our trailer had hot and cold running water, washing machine and dryer, air conditioner, and other amenities) Our visit was much different from the Smith's visit of some seventy years earlier. We stayed at the Provincial Park in Vermillion. Not far from Elk Point. The authorities kindly told us how to locate the grave of the Smith's youngest daughter. We visited the grave. There was no headstone.

On we go to Edmonton, Jasper, Banff, Chilliwack, Victoria, and the USA.