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Valentine Neis (pronounced Nice) was another one of the earliest settlers to our area.Born in Hessendarmstead, Germany in 1846, his parents brought him to the Chicago area in the USA when he was five.
Valentine trained at an early age as a wheel-wright, working at that before adventuring west along a similar trail to James Gadsby, another one of our earliest settlers.
He was in Chicago at the time of the big fire, and it is said that shortly after this fire, Valentine actually 'walked' from Chicago all the way to the Los Angeles area.
He travelled through Arizona's great desert and the Big Horn Mountains, following the Colorado Gold Rush. He met Buffalo Bill, knew the James Gang, and said he saw Wild Bill Hickock shot to death in a card game in Colorado.
Valentine played a big part in the historical beginnings of Mirror. He filed on his homestead in 1890, came to stay in 1891, and put a lot of hard work into his homestead over the years.
Around 1910, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway chose the Lamerton area as a perfect, potential divisional point between Edmonton and Calgary.
Valentine's homestead, being close to both Lamerton and Buffalo Lake, was also on level land alongside a creek, so the GTP wanted to buy Valentine's land for their station, yards and roundhouse.
When they and Valentine could not come to a satisfactory agreement for the sale of his land, the GTP decided instead to create their own town, 2 miles south. Thus Mirror was born, and Lamerton died.
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Valentine Neis's Business Card1907
Near Lamerton, Alberta
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Valentine was a good man, the kind of man who helped his neighbors. He was also good friends with the Indians in the area. They even took care of him while he was ill, feeding his animals, bringing him food, and keeping his fire going.He owned the first threshing machine (a horse powered outfit) in the district, and travelled hundreds of miles doing custom threshing. It was run by sweep power and feeder, no blower, no grain register, you sacked the grain on the ground.
He also witched wells for drinking water, and was high in demand for his services, as he always got water when he divined for a well.
Along with water, he claimed to be able to locate oil, and believed (way before it was actually discovered) that the areas between Calgary and Edmonton held way more oil than the wells they were tapping southwest of Calgary at the time.
Mr. Neis was also a very good blacksmith, and the original one in this area. He also brought in the first sawmill.
Even at the age of 94, Valentine, still the adventurer, wanted to go prospecting yet one more time, but that dream got held up by financing.
He died a year later, in Edmonton, on December 26, 1941, and his land was eventually sold out of the family.
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Valentine Neis's Family1912
Near Lamerton, Alberta
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Here is Valentine with his family, wife, Julia, and children, Annie and Frances.Coming to Canada in 1886 to prospect and ranch, he discovered the promising ranching country around Buffalo Lake.
He was working at the Goddard Ranch, south of Calgary when the Westhead's came to visit the ranch from England and told them about the fertile ranch land in our area. Two years later, in 1892, they came back to Canada and built a large cattle and horse ranch SW of Mirror.
Valentine had staked his own claim SE 4-41-22, close to Lamerton in 1890, moving there permanently in 1891.
In 1895, he helped build St. Monica's church, and he met his wife, Julia Kristian a few years later. They were married on June 29, 1898.
Jim Cairns, in his story of Valentine, says that Mr. Neis also owned land in Calgary in 1890, and that the old log building he put on this land ended up being a second hand store, and the only log building on 8th Avenue. He lost this land later in a lawsuit to do with a steam engine he had used in threshing.
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Mr. Henry Neis Sr.1912
Near Lamerton, Alberta
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Henry C. Neis Sr., Valentine's brother.Henry Neis brought his family here in 1898, after hearing glowing reports about our area from his brother, Valentine.
He left Wyoming with his family in a cavalcade of five wagons and a democrat, full of farm equipment and household belongings. They brought with them two huge Newfoundland dogs, and Purebred Percheron horses pulled the wagons .
The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Neis, their sons, George and Pete and their daughters, Theresa, Dora and Gusta. Each member drove a wagon, except the youngest, Pete, who rode horseback. Mrs. Neis drove the democrat.
It took them six weeks to make the trip, arriving in September, just in time to put hay up for the winter.
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Mrs. Henry Neis Sr.1912
Near Lamerton, Alberta
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Mrs. Henry Neis Sr.Mrs. Neis drove the family's democrat from Wyoming to Lamerton in 1898.
Mrs. Neis is buried in Burnsland Cemetery in Calgary.
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Henry Neis at Age 811912
Near Mirror, Alberta
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In this photo is Henry Neis Sr., 81yrs old.With him is his grandson, Henry Neis Jr., 13yrs, and their horse, Cambron, 7 yrs.
Henry Jr. grew up to marry Barbara Harden in 1911. They had three sons, Bill, Doug and Jack.
Their oldest son, Bill Neis still lives and farms on land in the Mirror area today, as does Bill's son, Hal Neis.
Cambron, the horse in this photo was one of the stud horses, Henry Sr. travelled around the countryside with for breeding purposes.
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The Henry Neis Family at the Homestead1922
Near Mirror, Alberta
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This is the homestead house of Henry C. Neis. in 1922.Back row, left to right are:
Henry C. Neis, Sr., Mrs. Phillip (Hattie) Neis, Mrs. Carl (Mary) Neis holding baby Phil, then Miss Nellie Bolch (teacher at George school) and Philip Neis.
In front are:
Nellie, Phyllis and Josephine,
the children of Hattie and Philip Neis.
Once Henry and his family arrived at their homestead near Lamerton, they spent their first winter in a log house on the southeast corner of Valentine's homestead, and the next year Henry built his own house, shown here in this photo.
They ate well that winter, having brought lots of potatoes, butchering a large steer, and having plenty of wild game. And the girls hitched their two huge Newfoundland dogs to a wagon to haul water from Lamerton Creek.
Henry Neis's ambition was to invent a perpetual motion machine, and Henry and Valentine spent many hours building working models and formulating ideas.
Henry did not have any formal education, but he could read and write, learned music, was a Bandmaster and a vetrinarian. He was known to have a home remedy for any known human or animal ailment. Also well versed in the law, people came to him for legal advice.
The Neis family grew large and some of their descendants still live and farm here in the Mirror area.
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George Neis1912
Near Mirror, Alberta
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