Moosomin, Saskatchewan. Constructed in 1924
and sacred to the memory of those in the Moosomin
and District who died in the Great War 1914-1918,
WWII 1939-1945 and the Korean War.
1919
The first newspaper mention of
a fund for a war memorial came in the late Fall
of 1919. Those present were in favour of an early
start on a vigorous drive for four thousand
dollars. However, more conservative citizens felt
that the coming vote on a Union Hospital District
was so important that the fund drive should be
held until after the vote. However, delays in the
hospital affair made it drag on and on. There
were those who felt that holding off the monument
drive would make the objective harder to reach.
Already, people were beginning to forget the war.
Early in 1923, an advertisement
was inserted in the Free Press asking sculptors
and marble firms to present sketches and layouts
in various designs. At that time, many towns in
the West were either planning Cenotaphs or
already had them in place.
Moosomin heard from a dozen
interested parties, some offering quite intricate
and extensive creations. The committee decided on
a stone monument bearing the names, and a bronze
statue of a First World War soldier mounted
thereon. This cut the designs to just three or
four and, unfortunately, all but one of these
have been lost. One handwritten letter from a
sculptor in California is still in my file and
makes interesting reading. Several letters are on
file from the company who won the contract,
Messrs. Quinn & Simpson, marble and granite
dealers, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The
company had been involved in other memorials.
They offered design No.172 within the budget of
four thousand dollars.
The firm in Portage ran into
one unforeseen delay as soon as they saw the list
of names of the heroic dead of Moosomin - more
than sixty men. From their experience, the stone
workers expected a list about half that long.
This meant the main stone had to be larger and it
took some weeks to find the right stone that was
big enough.
The Portage firm had
established good commercial links with craftsmen
in Italy, who produced such fine bronze figures
for war memorials. The order for the Moosomin
statue was placed in June, 1923. Work on the
granite began about the same time.
On September 10th, that plaster
model of the Moosomin statue (made in Carrara in
Italy) had been forwarded to the foundry in the
famous city of Florence. Casting began but the
project was to run into another delay.
The sculptor, Prof. Sergio
Vatteroni, was advised of delays by H. Coe and
Clerici of Geneva. The delay made it impossible
for the S.S. Titan to bear the box to Canada, so
the statue was shipped to New York on the
steamship "Colombo", and further days
were lost getting the shipment to Montreal and
then to Moosomin.
Plans had been made to unveil
the new memorial on November 11th, 1923, but the
delays made it necessary to hold the ceremony
until the Summer of 1924.
1922
At a time when interest was
dropping and progress was slow, the original
chairman, and constant worker, Sheriff G.B.
Murphy, died suddenly on November 22, 1922. His
place was taken by H. Downing, who remained in
the presidents office until the unveiling.
Sheriff Murphy had made a major contribution to
Moosomin in more fields than the monument
project, and he was sorely missed.
Site Chosen
In June of 1923, while
sketches, designs, and models of war memorials
were being sought, the question of the site came
to the fore. Apparently, the committee, at one
point, asked permission to erect the monument on
C.P.R. land. The Company hurried to say that,
while others had asked the same permission, the
railway felt that all such memorials should rise
on town-owned land.
On June 27th, 1923, the
World-Spectator reported: "At a
well-attended meeting of the Memorial Committee,
the corner of Broadway and Carleton was selected
as a site for a monument to be erected in the
memory of Moosomins heroic dead. Messrs.
McCurdy, McDonald, Downing, Page and Truscott
were nominated to erect the memorial and to
select the names to appear on the stone. The
monument, with a bronze figure, is likely to cost
four thousand dollars. The gentlemen in charge
will have a dozen designs to choose from."
While the site, at that time,
was one of the deepest water holes in town, the
site met general approval, especially when the
corner already was improved by the telephone
office, land titles building and courthouse. The
first task was to fill in the pothole and pour a
concrete base down below the frost line.
The Government of Saskatchewan
kindly loaned an engineer to give the levels and
grades, and to oversee the filling and cribbing.
Another government department gave blueprints of
plantings for the entire area. Cost of such
landscaping, at that time, was less than two
hundred dollars.
1924
The general apathy shown in the
early days of the War Memorial project was shaken
off by the highly-acclaimed "bee" that
saw the site filled and levelled. The community
had a good feeling after such a success.
However, the possibility of
having the monument for November 11th, 1923, was
faint, indeed. In fact, it was impossible because
letters on file reveal that the committee was
still writing in March of 1924 asking the
shipping date. On May 1st, 1924, they were still
asking that same question.
In the meantime, an order for
$229.00 was received from Prairie Nurseries in
Estevan, and those small items were planted
according to a plan laid out by the Saskatchewan
Government engineer. The plan was to provide a
high, thick background, and to blot out the
buildings behind the Cenotaph.
It was about this time that the
problem arose in regard to the number of names on
the stone. There was just not enough room for
over sixty names. So, on May 6th, 1924 (five
years since the start of the project), the local
committee wrote to Quinn and Simpson:
"Replying to your letter
of the 29th, the committee, having considered
this matter, has decided that they do not wish to
change the stone selected, and would rather delay
the matter a while longer to await a suitable
stone."
Then, on June 23rd, 1924, came
this letter from Quinn and Simpson, marble and
granite dealers:
"We received a letter a
few days ago from the quarry in regard to the
Memorial die, but have been expecting further
word everyday advising us that the piece is
alright. Their letter of June 3rd says that the
big die just got to the station, and they will be
right at it."
On August 20th, 1924, the
World-Spectator reported that the site of the
Memorial Park had been tidied and fitted up by
volunteer labour. "The monument is expected
this week." This reveals that the committee
must have had continuous heartburn waiting for
that crate to arrive. Weeks and months of waiting
stretched back into early 1923.
Club Busy
Three weeks after the
unveiling, the girls club was back at the
money-raising - not for the Cenotaph but for the
formal fence for the front of the memorial
grounds. They had a bonfire party and raised a
hundred dollars. The Band joined in the program,
and many car owners provided the transportation.
On the 27th of October, the
club ladies held a wiener roast at Moosomin Lake
(in the old sports grounds), when a dime got both
wiener and bun.
On December 3rd, the girls held
a "Cinderella Dance" from 8:30 to
midnight.
1925
The Girls Monument Fund
Club joined with the local St. Patricks
Society to stage a St. Patricks concert and
dance: Men - $1.00; ladies - 50; under 14 - 25.
The happy affair was held in the Opera Hall on
March 17th.
In October of 1925, the girls
of the Monument Club said farewell to Miss Mary
Scott, who was transferred to Regina. Mary had
been a member from day one and was one of the
faithful workers in all events.
In 1925, the girls held a
Halloween Ball in the Opera House, with
music by the Kids Orchestra.
Fund Wound Up
In February of 1926, materials
for the decorative fence at the War Memorial came
to hand and the fence was erected. A metal plaque
on the centre post bears these words:
"This fence
erected by the Girls Monument Fund Club
1926."
That Club had played a major
role in the long-drawn-out, but finally
successful, monument project. The Club had come
into being in October, 1921, two years after the
formation of the Moosomin War Memorial Committee.
(Many of the members had come from an earlier
organization, the Girls Patriotic Club,
which had a fine record for helping on the Home
Front from 1915 to 1918.)
The final meeting, held in
February 1926, wound up the monument affairs and
disbanded. They had contributed over two thousand
dollars to the cause.
Moments later, the girls
re-organized as the "Ruby Rink Club",
so named after their president of the Monument
Fund Club, Ruby Donald, who was leaving Moosomin.
The girls of the group all agreed that the
executive ability and untiring efforts of Miss
Donald contributed largely to the success of the
Club. That "Ruby Rink Club" would go on
to give great support to the new rink which was
being built in 1926.
Unveiling
Sir Frederick W.G. Haultain,
acting Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan, was
assisted by two Victoria Cross winners at the
unveiling of the Moosomin War Memorial in 1924.
Sir Frederick, one of the key
figures in the formation and political life of
Saskatchewan, was so much in demand for public
services that the unveiling in Moosomin was
delayed from August 4th to the 31st, 1924.
The story of the Cenotaph was
indeed a story of delays. One of the longer
delays was caused by the very fact of the
horrendous price paid by the Moosomin community
in the loss of so many fine young men in the four
years of war from 1914 to 1918. It took weeks to
obtain a piece of granite tall enough to contain
the list of sixty of the heroic dead.
The first moves were made in
1921 and 1922 toward the erection of a First
World War monument but, in the year of 1922, it
was postponed owing to the drive toward Union
Hospital.
The Girls Monument Club
worked ceaselessly for over three years and
raised more than fifteen hundred dollars toward
the cost of the memorial. The community also had
a War Memorial Committee working on the project.
The first chairman was Sheriff Murphy, who did
not live to see the culmination of the efforts he
so ably directed. H. Downing succeeded the late
Sheriff in the post as chairman of the committee.
When funds had been raised, and
the design and construction approved, the company
began work on the handsome memorial. When the
question of location came up, Mayor V.C. McCurdy
and the town council offered the present
location. However, there was a problem. The site,
at that time, was a deep water-filled depression
but, Mayor McCurdy, always a bundle of energy,
sparked a plan of volunteer effort to fill and
level the site. Actually, 800 loads of earth were
carted in (with horses, of course) and placed on the
site. When the monument arrived, the site was
ready ... but without a twig or leaf growing on
it.
The official unveiling took
place on a sunny day in September, and three
thousand people, the largest crowd ever to attend
an official function in Moosomin, surrounded the
covered monument, and the platform which was
erected for the ceremony. The Moosomin Band
provided the music, and the bugler was Wm.
Woodhead of Wapella.
The newspaper report of the
event said that "the ceremony of unveiling
was carried through with a dignified solemnity
which will not soon be forgotten by the immense
throng present. The ceremony of unveiling was
performed by the Hon. Sir Frederick Haultain,
Acting Lieutenant-Governor, who was accompanied
by his aide-de-camp, Major Allard; V.C. Mayor
McCurdy was chairman. The Guard of Honour,
comprising 100 ex-servicemen from the area, was
under the command of another Victoria Cross
winner, Harry Mullin, native son of Moosomin.
In his address to the assembly,
Sir Frederick pointed out that, while in Great
Britain, they had erected a Cenotaph and paid
homage to the Unknown Soldier. Here, in Moosomin,
is unveiled a memorial to the known dead,
personally dear to all of us.
"This splendid
monument," he said, "shows the
sentiment of the people of the town and district.
It is a fitting memorial to those who lost their
lives in the Great War, whose bodies now lie in
the fields of France and Flanders. They had gone
to battle because they loved their country, and
right well they played their part."
He reviewed the heroic work of
the Canadians in the trenches and paid tribute to
the sacrifice of our glorious dead.
"These men, whose names
are being commemorated today, were among the
gallant soldiers of this Dominion who had made
the name of Canada a revered one in France and
Belgium."
In his address, Mayor McCurdy
spoke of the history of the War Memorial
Committee and spoke of the wonderful work of the
Girls Monument Fund Club, whose
contribution of $1,500 entailed so much work and
sacrifice. He also spoke of their continuing and
inspiring efforts to provide an ornamental fence
for the monument site.
"The monument is now
complete," said Mayor McCurdy, "and it
is planned to make this spot beautiful with
trees, flowers and green grass, not as a pleasure
ground but as a spot where one may pause in quiet
contemplation on this enduring monument to remind
all of service and sacrifice. I would like to say
to the young people that, in the years to come
when, in the natural course, you take over the
duties and responsibilities of your parents, you
will see that this plot of ground is kept ever
green and garnished, and that this emblem of
sacrifice is lovingly treated."
The dedication prayer for the
ceremony on Sunday, August 31st, 1924, was given
by Rev. Wm. Cole, Rector of St. Albans
Anglican Church.
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