14
Carl and Laura Christiansen Wedding Photograph
1901
Blair, Nebraska
15
Carl and Laura Christiansen and their son Homo were part of that group.
16
An example of a breaking plow rig and team.
1915
Dickson, Alberta, Canada
17
When the group arrived in Dickson in 1903, they were thrust into a situation like no other they had ever experienced before.
18
Primitive tools used by pioneers to clear and break land
1930
19
The land had to be drained, cleared and broken and homes had to be built using primitive tools.
20
Soren Norre on brushcutter used for clearing land.
1933
Dickson, Alberta, Canada
21
Brushcutting to clear land was difficult work.
1925
Dickson, Alberta, Canada
22
Barnraising at Pedersen's. It was essential to survival that the pioneers worked together.
1910
Dickson, Alberta, Canada
23
Neighbors depended on assistance from each other to accomplish these massive undertakings.
24
Groups gathered to cut firewood
1920
Dickson, Alberta, Canada
25
Low, wet lands made travel challenging
1910
Dickson, Alberta, Canada
26
Families and individuals purchased homesteads near to one another, but, as a whole, the group was isolated. The closest general store was twenty miles away in Innisfail. This distance sounds meager today, yet in 1903 there were no good roads on which to travel. Transportation was by horse and buggy and the journey could take a good two days to negotiate. The nearest post office was in Markerville ten miles away.
27
There were no roads, only trails, for travel.
1920
Dickson, Alberta, Canada