A little bit of history....

We woke yesterday and prepared for church. I had already written to Reverend Kenneth Schragg and his wife Eleanor to tell them we were coming to Eastend, and that I had information that my great-grandmother had donated the original pulpit to the old church in 1918 (same building, built in 1916, but it was a Presbyterian Church then) and my Uncle Peter had carved in wood a design of grapes for that pulpit. They searched in the basement where the old pulpit was stored, but they could not find any sign of grapes. I was a bit disappointed but nonetheless very happy to attending the same church the family had attended over 90 years ago. We sat in our pew waiting for the service to begin, and Rick gazed around. His eyes fell on two carvings hanging on the wall. One was the last supper, and the other was a freize carved in wood of three panels and the elements inside those panels were grapes!  After the service I brought it to the attention of the church members and they were astonished. There it was, hiding in plain sight!! I was so grateful I could give them the full background for this bit of their church's history. My uncle Peter was an architect who specialized in designing and building churches, and before coming to Eastend he had spent a year in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, designing ecclesiastical fixtures and fittings for the Church Outfitting Co. He was the perfect person to contribute the freize and pulpit to the new church.

After church we went out to visit where the two ranches were. My Uncle Peter's ranch overlooking the town still had some outbuildings standing.

My Uncle Drew's ranch was a few hundred yards down the road and was a pre-emption section and a homestead section.

This wheat field was the pre-emption section. A homesteader was allowed a homestead section which he had to develop for a house and barns, and he was also allowed to file for one more "pre-emption section" which cost $10.

The two sections together would have measured half a mile deep and a mile wide. The homestead section is now empty and looks like this.

The ranch house is still standing, but it resides in town. It was a common practice for ranchers to move them there when they retire. I think it was moved into Eastend in the 1940s. But it still looks pretty good.

Well this about does it for Eastend. We spent two wonderful days here and were treated like royalty by the congregation of the Eastend United Church and the Eastend Historical Society.  Add to that, all the folks who chatted with us on the street and in Jack's Cafe and we felt so much like we belonged to this community. We have been warmly invited to return next summer for Eastends' 100th anniversary and we have committed ourselves to being here. Good bye now to Eastend, but soon to return!!