Grain Drain

When naming new communities along its tracks, the Grand Trunk Railway kept things simple. As it moved west from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, the settlements would follow in alphabetical order: Arona, Bloom, Caye, Deer, Exira, Firdale, and so forth, all the way to Victor. In Saskatchewan, the Grand Trunk named its next three stations Welby, Yarbo, and Zeneta, before starting over again with Atwater, Bangor, and Cana. Track continued beyond Xena, Young, and Zelma, hence Allan, Bradwell, and Clavet.

These communities were laid out roughly ten to twelve kilometres apart, though at the turn of the twentieth century such things were still measured in miles. The spacing meant that most farmers could take a horse and wagon to their local grain elevator and back in a single day, sending their harvest to markets further afield and making it home in time for supper. In 1900, there were 421...