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First Pig to MarketA piglet (the runt of the litter) was given to a couple of young farmers of the Rainy Creek area, in 1941, by the farmer's father, who thought it would be too much work to try to raise the runt, and it might just die after a lot of work anyway. But the pig survived and grew very quickly, being fed left-over milk from the two cows that were being milked. The intention was to butcher the pig to provide them with meat, but when it reached market weight they just couldn't kill it to eat it. The pig was just too tame, so they decided to sell it instead.
The pig was loaded into the back seat of their 1937 Model "A" Ford car and transported to Bentley to the Blindman Valley Co-Operative Association usually known as the "Hog Pool" then managed by Glen A. Wright. The young wife drove the car while her husband sat in the back seat with the pig to keep it quiet.
They received about $4.00 for the 200 lb. pig.
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Old Timer Speaks OutBentley Museum Archives
The Lacombe Globe - "Our District Old Timers Speak"
August 11, 1953
When I hit Bentley in 1903, I don't think there were more than about twelve people in the village. I remember there was a general store, run by B. Cook and Son. They had an old log building for business trade, about where the Mercantile Store now stands. McPherson was the name of another merchant in Bentley at the time I arrived. There weren't many people populated either. Just the same, the Blindman Valley looked good to me, and I figured if crops wouldn't grow there they wouldn't grow anywhere. So, I took up a homestead in the valley, six miles west of Bentley, and my figuring proved right. I farmed successfully at the same site for forty-five years. Now I'm the mail carrier for the Bentley district, and the Blindman Valley still looks to me like the best agricultural land in the country.
JOHN SOLBERG
Note: Not only was John Solberg a successful farmer and mail carrier, John was a champion old-time fiddle player who made his first violin from a cigar box. Fiddle playing was not his only skill. Mr. Solberg had a lifetime hobby of woodworking. He made many rocking chairs, desks, tables, bobsleighs, and little tables and chairs for children.
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