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"The Western Canadian frontier was a harsh
and unforgiving place where ordinary people had to do extraordinary things - just
to survive. But once that well of personal resources was tapped into - their world
was forever changed by the realization of potential - by the possibilities of what
could be achieved through imagination and determination. That was how a nation was
built - by ordinary people - doing extraordinary things! "
'Last Best West: Stories of the Canadian West' celebrates a rich Western Heritage
with an equally rich serving of Roots Music, Music Video and Narrative.
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Videos from
The Last Best West Movie
Ghost Train Blues: "Until
recently, my life was regularly punctuated by the sounds of passing trains. One of
my earliest childhood memories is of lying awake in my bed - listening to the sounds
of the steamers working through the night in the nearby yard. To a prairie boy, trains
took on a magical quality - and the lonesome call of the grain train moving through
the winter night - brought comforting reassurance of connections between a lonely
prairie town and the rest of the world." Dale Budd
Play the Ghost
Train Blues Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6dRWIgSAiE
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MacKinnon Trail:
(Dougal MacKinnon was songwriter Dale Budd's Great Grandfather) The MacKinnons were cattle buyers from the Isle
of Tyree in the Hebrides of Scotland. In 1885, the Duke of Argyle landed marines
in the island - evicting tenant farmers so that the landowners could raise sheep
to supply their woolen mills. Dougall MacKinnon's father John emigrated with his
family to the Dauphin area of Manitoba. The MacKinnons became cattlemen in western
Canada. Every fall the MacKinnons ran a cattle drive on what became known as the
MacKinnon Trail - across what is now the Riding Mountain National Park down
to the railhead at Brandon.
Play the MacKinnon Trail Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlg2kKrc_gA |
The Blackfly Quickstep: When it
came to advertising the Canadian West - it is doubtful whether any poor sap anywhere
got sold a load of hooey on the level that the immigrants to Western Canada did.
Once they got here - it was really too late to turn around and go home - nobody was
going to refund their one way tickets - and class action suits were entirely unknown
in that era. Of the deadly bitter winters that the immigrants faced in Canada - they
had been told by the Canadian Government that: "Everywhere the appearance of
snow is hailed as seasonal and beneficial Sleighing parties of pleasure are arranged
for the period of the full moon and the sound of sleigh bells is a merry one."Of
the harsh Western Canadian climate in general they were told: "The climate is
not only invigorating to adults...but it seems to have a special influence in developing
strong and healthy children. No better climate for children is to be found in America".Of
farming conditions, the Saskatoon Board of Trade - in a 1908 promotion stated that:
"It is not surprising that our farmers succeed so well: The crop never fails!
If a farmer here suffers a crop failure - it is safe to say that the fault lies solely
with himself." And the one things that nobody every mentioned one single word
about - was of the hordes of carnivorous black flies and mosquitoes that blanketed
the entire West - waiting for the unsuspecting homesteader to settle into the neighborhood
Play The Blackfly Quickstep Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF70ai4BOPc |
Last Best West Heritage Projects Inc.
RR 1 Site 6 Comp 21,Spiritwood Saskatchewan,Canada,S0J 2M0
• HOME PAGE • CONTACT US •
The Temple Garden Two Step: Dance
Hall Music in the Canadian West evolved mainly from American Ragtime traditions -
popular at the turn of the 20th Century. Musicians often incorporated Old World dance
music with the ragtime, cowboy and swing traditions of the West. The piano - found
in every Dance Hall worth its salt - became the backbone and driving force behind
the lively tunes that kept dance floors packed until the wee hours of the morning
- when it was time to go home and milk the cows. By the 1960's, Country music and
Rock'n'Roll had pretty much taken over prairie dance halls and few traces of this
great music tradition remain today. However, late on a Saturday night, in the remnants
of any abandoned prairie town - you can still hear the lively strains of the piano
accompanied by banjos, drums, fiddles and the shuffle of ghost feet - dancing long
into the cold prairie night.
"Like young people everywhere, young Moose Javians loved to dance. From Main
Street's Masonic Temple to River Street's notorious Academy Room, where gangsters,
drugs and booze were frequently found... there were plenty of places to dance and
bands to dance to.
But in 1921, a very special place was born. Musicians loved the place for its near
perfect acoustics. Dancers loved it for the sprung dance floor, where you could dance
for hours without tiring. The eccentric pseudo Tudor decor provided some cozy dark
corners where couples could be alone despite the hoards of revelers Temple Gardens
soon attained almost legendary status and became the main place for teenagers to
go for more than fifty years." from 'Moose Jaw:People,
Places, History' by John Larsen and Maurice Richard Libbey
Play The Temple Garden Two Step: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3T2Cy0iG3I |
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