1

A Wintery Ride in the Cutter
Post Modern, 1910-1920
Lanigan, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Pearl Nielson
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

2

We are traveling in the cold, frozen district of Lanigan. We see beautiful, matched teams pulling an elegant cutter whose occupants are wrapped in horsehide blankets or maybe a Buffalo Coat. At their feet is a foot warmer with the smoldering charcoal giving heat.

As the pioneers settled in this country they became very inventive. Schools were built, churches were opened, supplies were available in local stores and everyone needed transportation. Roads were being constructed but it was quite an adventure to battle snowdrifts, so enter the years of the caboose for winter travel.

3

Elegant Cutter
1910-1930
R.M. of Usborne, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

4

Buffalo Coat
19th Century
Lanigan, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

5

Horse Hide Robe
Circa. 1900
Guernsey, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Ken Snider
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

6

Foot Warmer
1900-1930
Lanigan, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

7

A ride in a caboose with the smell of working horses, the crackling of the fire and the creaking of the runners on the cold snow, was an experience never to be forgotten.

They were mostly hand-made boxes on runners; equipped with benches to sit on, a window in the front for the reins, and a small stove that burned wood. These cabooses usually traveled across country the shortest route and were known to sometimes have accidents. Many ended up on their sides with supplies scattered and it was a scramble to get out. They were then tipped back on the runners and ready to go.

Wagon boxes were equipped with runners for the winter months, as another mode of transportation.

8

Inventive Sled
1940-1950
R.M. of Usborne, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

9

Home-made Winter Caboose
circa 1940
R.M. of Usborne, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Blondie Siegel
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

10

Closed-In Rig
Circa. 1930
Lanigan, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

11

Isabelle Nixon writes;
2007
Lanigan, Saskatchewan

Credits:
Isabelle Nixon
Irene Hodges

12

Isabelle Nixon writes: "In summer we rode in a homemade cart with wheels from an
old plow. My Dad was a great inventor! Sitting so close behind the horse kept us quite alert, especially when the horse was on green sheaves. We drove an old white horse named "Nellie". I think she was grey before she was white. Her speed was bull-low and no amount of whipping could coax her into running more than four steps at a time. In winter we drove a homemade cutter with a top, but no shafts. Sometimes on a small hill, the traces would loosen and unhook, and the sleigh would run up on the horse's heels. Nellie would leap forward, and the Irene would be dragged headlong out the open window at the front screaming and yelling "Whoa!"

13

Kids in Cart behind Nellie
1920-1930
Rural Drake

Credits:
Irene Hodges
Lanigan and District Heritage Assoc.

14

Spring would come to the prairie landscape and the winter travel vehicle was stored. The wagons, buckboards and democrats were then used.