Dazzle Camouflage

by Anita Mae Draper

HMT Olympic in dazzle camouflage at Pier 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, painted by Arthur Lismer. Public Domain wikipedia

Dazzle camouflage came to my attention during family research into letters written during WW1 and sent home to the family. One letter noted that Olympic was still in harbor. The thought of a luxurious liner serving as a troop ship sent me into research mode. I was amazed to find the above image by war artist Arthur Lismer that shows the HMT Olympic in Halifax Harbor at the end of the First World War while still painted in dazzle camouflage. Further research led to the discovery that the Olympic was sister ship to the Titanic and the Britannic. 

Titanic (right) had to be moved out of the drydock so her sister Olympic (left), which had lost a propeller, could have it replaced. March 6, 1912. Public Domain, wikimedia

The Royal Mail Ship Olympic was the first of three British ocean liners of the White Star fleet and the largest vessel of its kind until the Titanic was launched with slightly more interior furnishings thus adding to the overall weight. The RMS Titanic sailed her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 and sank five days later on April 15 after hitting an iceberg giving her five days in service.

HMHS Britannic was completed on December 23, 1915 and began service less than a month later. She served as a hospital ship for eleven months before sinking in the Aegean Sea after hitting a mine on November 21, 1916.  

His Majesty's Hospital Ship (HMHS) Britannic. Public Domain, wikimedia

After the Titanic went down, the Olympic was taken out of service for a refit. Her lifeboats were increased from 20 to 64 and major modifications were made before she returned to mail and passenger service. In May 1915, the Admiralty requisitioned the Olympic as a troopship and installed 12-pounders and 4.7-inch guns. On 24 Sep 1915, the newly designated HMT Olympic (Hired Military Transport) began its military service with 6,000 soldiers on board. ​From 1916 to 1917, HMT Olympic was chartered by the Canadian Government to transport troops from Halifax to Britain. In 1917, she gained 6-inch guns and was painted with the dazzle camouflage scheme. 

HMT Olympic in dazzle camouflage while in service as a troopship during the First World War. Public Domain, wikipedia

The dazzle paint scheme is credited to Norman Wilkinson, a British marine artist whose geometric patterns made ships visible, yet distorted the perception of them so that their size, number and heading couldn't be easily discerned. An example of this is the USS West Mahomet when she was photographed in port in November 1918. 

USS West Mahomet In port, circa November 1918. Public Domain, wikipedia

In 1922 the Encyclopaedia Britannica published this plate which illustrates the dazzle camouflage effect as seen through a U-boat, or submarine, periscope.

Plate illustrating the "dazzle painting" method of camouflaging ships to make their orientation less apparent, by Norman Wilkinson.  Originally published 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica, Public Domain wikimedia

The dazzle camouflage paint scheme was received with mixed reactions, depending on how one perceived what they were looking at, and the multitude of factors at the time. 

As November 11th draws near, we remember the men and women who served in military conflicts for the sake of freedom. 

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Christmas Miracle in the Trenches (Plus GIVEAWAY!)

Ypres, Belgium, 1914. Just a few miles inland from the point where the English Channel meets the North Sea. Temperatures are in the forties—not much difference between day and night. You and your mates have been rotating through the trenches for five months. By some estimates, losses in battle have approached one in four. 

It’s wet, and night is falling.

Alfred Anderson, a Scottish veteran, recalls:

All I’d heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices.

But on Christmas Eve a different sound, something like this, drifts across the frost-covered no-man’s land from the opposing trench, perhaps a hundred yards away:

Stille Nacht, heilige nacht, 

Alles schläft; einsam wacht 

Nur das traute hoch heilige Paar. 

Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar...

All is calm. Heavenly peace!

Private Cunningham of the Scottish Rifles remembered:

Through the night we sang carols to one another…. When dawn arrived we started putting our head above the parapet and waved to each other. On our left was a brewery occupied by the Germans and to our surprise we saw a German come out and hold his hand up; behind him were two rolling a barrel of beer. They came halfway across…

The beer was a gift, which British soldiers rolled to their trenches with glee.
Nineteen-year-old private Henry Williamson described the moment as he experienced it.

Dear Mother, I am writing from the trenches. It is 11 o'clock in the morning. Beside me is a coke fire, opposite me a 'dug-out' (wet) with straw in it. The ground is sloppy in the actual trench, but frozen elsewhere. In my mouth is a pipe presented by the Princess Mary. In the pipe is tobacco. Of course, you say. But wait. In the pipe is German tobacco. Haha, you say, from a prisoner or found in a captured trench. Oh dear, no! From a German soldier. Yes a live German soldier from his own trench. Yesterday the British & Germans met & shook hands in the Ground between the trenches, & exchanged souvenirs, & shook hands. Yes, all day Xmas day, & as I write. Marvelous, isn't it?

Williamson goes on to say how the interchange started on Christmas Eve. Both armies sang Christmas carols. Voices from the German trench called out to the British to come over and collect cigars, and vice versa. At last a lone British soldier took the risk of accepting the German invitation. A German soldier climbed out of his trench and shook his hand, then sixteen more Germans joined him in the middle of no-man’s land. And the miraculous “Christmas truce” began.

It’s estimated that 100,000 men took part in this grassroots truce. Combatants met in no-man’s land and exchanged cigarettes, schnapps, chocolate and mementos such as hats and buttons. They played impromptu soccer games.

According to Captain Robert Patrick Miles:

A sort of unarranged and quite unauthorized but perfectly understood and scrupulously observed truce exists between us and our friends in front. The funny thing is it only seems to exist in this part of the battle line–on our right and left we can all hear them firing away as cheerfully as ever. The thing started last night–a bitter cold night, with white frost–soon after dusk when the Germans started shouting 'Merry Christmas, Englishmen' to us…. Not a shot was fired all night…. They are distinctly bored with the war.... In fact, one of them wanted to know what on earth we were doing here fighting them.

Bruce Bairnsfather, a British cartoonist and humorist, reflected:

I wouldn’t have missed that unique and weird Christmas Day for anything…. The last I saw was one of my machine gunners, who was a bit of an amateur hairdresser in civil life, cutting the unnaturally long hair of a docile Boche, who was patiently kneeling on the ground whilst the automatic clippers crept up the back of his neck.

Commanders on both sides decried the grassroots truce and ordered the men back to their guns. They feared it would be hard to get them to resume shooting at fellows they’d exchanged gifts with the day before. And the brass made pointed efforts to forestall a re-occurrence in 1915, ordering raids and artillery barrages to ensure no-man’s land remained deadly. In one spot, a short pause to recover the dead between the lines resulted in a court-martial. 

Thus, the widespread truce of 1914 remained a singular event. It was back to war as usual immediately after. Still, it seems many of the men who experienced the moment remembered it all their lives. 

Praise God, it was just a tiny foretaste of the lasting peace our Prince of Peace will bring!

Giveaway

My debut novel inspired by the Doolittle Raid is finally here! And to celebrate, I'm conducting my Grand Launch Giveaway (details here). The drawing will take place on December 31, so it's not too late to join the action!

The Plum Blooms in Winter

“A taut, crisp debut achievement that colorfully evokes the Pacific theater of WWII. Start this one forewarned: it's a stay-up-all-night read."

-Jerry B. Jenkins--21-time New York Times bestselling author (Left Behind, et al)

A Prostitute Seeks Her Revenge--In 1942, Miyako Matsuura cradled her little brother as he died on the sidewalk, a victim of the first U.S. bombing raid on Japan. By 1948, the war has reduced her to a street-hardened prostitute consumed by her shame.

A Doolittle Raid Hero Finds His True Mission--Dave Delham makes aviation history piloting a B-25 in the audacious Doolittle Raid. Forced to bail out over occupied China, he and his crew are captured by the Japanese and survive a harrowing P.O.W. ordeal. In 1948, he returns to Japan as a Christian missionary, determined to showcase Christ's forgiveness.

Convinced that Delham was responsible for the bomb that snuffed out her brother's life, Miyako resolves to restore her honor by avenging him--even if it costs her own life. But the huntress soon becomes hunted in Osaka's treacherous underworld. Miyako must outmaneuver a ruthless brothel owner, outwit gangs with competing plans to profit by her, and overcome betrayal by family and friends--only to confront a decision that will change everything.

I stepped away from a marketing career that spanned continents to write what I love: stories of reckless faith that showcase God's hand in history. I'm so excited to work with the all-star team at Mountain Brook Ink to launch my debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, on December 1! Inspired by a remarkable true story from World War II's pivotal Doolittle Raid, The Plum Blooms in Winter is an American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest winner. The novel follows a captured American pilot and a bereaved Japanese prostitute who targets him for ritual revenge. Please also feel free to check out my blog, Five Stones and a Sling, which hovers in the region where history meets Bible prophecy meets current events. It's rich ground--we live in a day when prophecies are leaping from the Bible's pages into the headlines!

I live outside Phoenix with my husband, a third-generation airline pilot who doubles as my Chief Military Research Officer. We share our home with two mostly-grown-up kids and a small platoon of housecats. When I'm not writing, you'll find me rollerblading--yes, I know that makes me a throwback 😊--or catching a moonrise, or dreaming of my next trip. Next up: Wales, then Israel.

White House Weddings: Nellie Wilson

Eleanor "Nellie" Wilson, youngest daughter of President Woodrow and Ellen Wilson, first met businessman William Gibbs McAdoo when her father was governor of New Jersey. 

Eleanor Wilson, circa 1910. Public Domain

McAdoo was a widower and a leader in the Democratic party, and on this occasion of their first meeting, probably in 1912, he stayed overnight at the mansion. In the morning, he needed to catch an early morning train. Nellie, who was around 22, was tasked with seeing him off, and she was so nervous that she spilled the cream at breakfast...and almost spilled McAdoo's coffee.

He didn't seem to mind, because at some point while he worked on her father's presidential campaign, he began pursuing Nellie. And no one much noticed, least of all her family.

Perhaps they didn't expect the two to make a match, because Nellie had many young suitors, and McAdoo was a fifty-year-old grandfather with seven children. 

William McAdoo. Public Domain

Supposedly, one evening McAdoo called at the White House. As the butler announced him, President Wilson began to rise, until the butler finished his sentence: "for Miss Eleanor."

The cat was out of the bag. When Nellie's sister Jessie got married in the White House, Nellie pulled McAdoo into the empty Blue Room and taught him to Fox Trot. In January of 1914, he proposed, but she turned him down.

He didn't give up, and his next proposal was accepted. 

The First Lady's health was failing, Nellie's sister had wed at the White House just six months earlier, and the groom's children were not enthusiastic about their father's remarriage, so the wedding held on May 7, 1914 was a small affair in the Blue Room (where she'd taught him to Fox Trot).

The bride, Nellie Wilson. Public Domain, wikimedia commons

McAdoo offered to resign his cabinet post when he married Nellie, but President Wilson kept him on. Immediately, Nellie was a cabinet member's wife and was followed relentlessly by the press. Despite such pressures, the couple seemed happy and welcomed two daughters, Ellen and Mary.

He left the post in 1918 to open a law firm, moved the family to California, and continued to be active in politics, running for president in 1920 and again in 1924, when he became the Democratic party's nominee. He lost, but decided to run for US Senate, and won, serving from 1933-1938.

Nellie was happy in California, and she did not enjoy spending time in Washington. By this time in their marriage, the couple lived apart for much of the year.

In 1934, he and Nellie divorced in what the Chicago Tribune called "a surprise" with the decree based on mental cruelty. Two months after the separation was finalized, the 71-year old McAdoo married a 26-yr old nurse. He died six years later of a heart attack and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Nellie worked on a biography of her father, The Woodrow Wilsons, served as a consultant on the biopic "Wilson" in 1944, and lived quietly. In 1965, she suffered a brain hemorrhage. She died two years later at age 77 in her California home and is buried in Santa Barbara.

***


BIO: Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she's the award-winning author of over a dozen historical romances who's seen her work on the ECPA and Publisher's Weekly Bestseller Lists for Inspirational Fiction. Married to a pastor and the mom of two, Susanne lives in California and enjoys fancy-schmancy tea parties, genealogy, the beach, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama and a plate of nachos. You can learn more about her and her books on her website, susannedietze.com.

Her most recent book is My Heart Belongs in Ruby City, Idaho: Rebecca's Plight.

White House Weddings: Jessie Woodrow Wilson

When Woodrow Wilson and his wife Ellen entered the White House in 1913, two of their three daughters were secretly engaged--secret from the press, that is. The Wilson family was known to appreciate their privacy, and they waited several months to announce their daughters' engagements.

Jessie Woodrow Wilson, the middle daughter, was the first to wed, to Francis B. Sayre on November 25, 1913.

Public Domain

Jessie was already an accomplished young woman. She'd graduated from Groucher College in Maryland and spent three years working in a settlement home, where upper- and middle-class volunteers lived alongside low-income families, providing education and daycare as part of a social reformation movement.

Jessie's intended, 28-year old Frances Sayres, was a district attorney (his father helped build the Lehigh Valley Railroad and organized the Bethlehem Iron Works). 

Indeed, the wedding was anticipated to be quiet and intimate, in keeping with the Wilson family's personalities. In advance of the event, the New York Times determined few, if any, celebrities would be in attendance and judged that the cake would be small and "not elaborate." 

However, photographs do not necessarily reveal an informal affair--at least not to modern eyes, where "informal" can mean barefoot on a beach. The number of guests was considered small, as well, topping out at 400. Following the 1906 White House wedding of Alice Roosevelt, however, the first Wilson wedding was judged by a different measure.

The Blue Room was decorated with chrysanthemums and touches of mauve, the bride's favorite color. Scarlet-coated members of the Marine Band offered musical accompaniment to the 4:30 pm ceremony. Bridesmaids wore satin gowns in varying hues of pink over silver petticoats, as well as crowns. 

Sister Margaret served as maid of honor. Seven of Jessie's sorority sisters were invited to the Blue Room ceremony, which was replete with the scarlet-coated Marine Band and a white carpeted-aisle. One of Jessie's sorority sisters reported later that "it was the nicest, most informal and happiest wedding we had ever attended."*

The dress was of ivory satin, trimmed in antique lace. A Maryland newspaper reports the dress was made in New York, and then described the bride's lingerie for her honeymoon as "dainty."

Gifts were not displayed, but included a diamond lavalliere (pendant) from the House of Representatives.

It's unclear whether the party dined on more than cake, but the cake was reported in the news as a masterpiece. A contemporary account describes it as topped by orchids.


Apparently, the cake cost $500 and weighed 135 pounds. Pieces were distributed in white boxes so guests could bring nibbles home and place them under their pillows to dream of their future spouses.

After their honeymoon in Europe, the Sayres moved to Massachusetts where Francis served as the assistant to the president of Williams College. When it came time for their first child to be born in 1915, however, Jessie delivered her son at the White House. 


Two more children followed. Francis Jr. became a pastor and marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., from Selma to Montgomery.

A social activist, Jessie worked on behalf of the YWCA, The League of Women Voters, and the Democratic Party, among other causes. Later, they spent time in Siam (Thailand) where Francis was a legal adviser to the Royal Court.

Sadly, Jessie died in 1933 from complications after surgery. She was 45. Francis remarried Elizabeth Graves and passed away in 1972.

*

BIO: Susanne Dietze began writing love stories in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she writes in the hope that her historical romances will encourage and entertain others. A pastor’s wife and mom of two, she loves fancy-schmancy tea parties, travel, and curling up on the couch with a costume drama and a plate of nachos. Susanne is the author of nine new and upcoming historical romances; her latest, For a Song, is in the EPCA and PW Bestselling The Cowboy's Bride Collection from Barbour. You can visit her on her website, www.susannedietze.com.



*http://gammaphibetahistory.org/1913-a-white-house-wedding/
http://mdhistory.net/msa_sc2929/msa_sc2929_scm3540/pdf/msa_sc2929_scm3540-0298.pdf

Alberta Ranch: Summer Haying

Have you ever been on a hay ride? Nowadays they call it a hay ride but instead of using hay, you get to sit or lean against straw bales. Physically, the difference is that straw is the stalk that's left after a grain like wheat, oats or barley has been harvested. It's a yellow or golden color and because it's hollow, it's kind of fluffy until it's pressed down flat which makes it great for animal bedding.

Hay is alfalfa, clover and many grasses that are cut while still green during the summer months and baled or wrapped to seal in the nutrients for the cold winter season. The stalks make up a large portion of hay because they are filled with nutrition unlike the hollow stems of straw. Between the stalks and dried leaves, hay is scratchy, poky and prickly. Think of the bay leaves you add to soups and stews.

Anita Mae Draper nee Muir, Ryland, Ontario

I know because I learned to drive a tractor when I was 12 so that I could pull the hay rack (wagon) while my grandparents pitched hay onto it. My cousins got the job of running back and forth and tamping down the hay in the wagon while I drove to the next hay stack. By the end of the day, they had cuts and scratches from the hay, and if I have to admit it, they had a couple bumps and bruises, too. You see, being a new driver and all, I kept letting out the clutch too fast and having the tractor jump forward which made my cousins tumble into each other and over the side. Oh, the hazards of haying season.



That same summer, Pappa (my Finnish grandfather), taught me how to use the hay cutter and hay rake. Although Pappa could do it himself with a rope that was pulled behind the tractor, he had a bad back and it was better if he didn't have to turn around so much to see what was going on. The hay cutter was a long sickle like moving blade like the kind the maintenance crews use to cut grass and hay beside the roads. On the farm, I would sit on the hay cutter with the 4-5 foot blade heading off to the right. Pappa would start the tractor and off we'd go. My job was to watch for rocks or any other things that would stop the cutting action and either ricochet off or break the blade. Whenever I spotted something, I would push down on a foot pedal while pulling back on a lever which would raise the blade. The harder I pressed and pulled, the higher the blade raised.

As with the other ranch photos in this series, the images of haying in this post are from the Glenbow Museum Archives collection of photographs by rancher Hugh Beynon Biggs showing life on an Alberta ranch in the early 1900's.

In the following photograph you see two men standing on the hay racks where they're pitching the hay around and tamping/pressing it down to make room for more. The two men on the ground are preparing to pitch hay up to the men on the hay rack. My guess is that the man in the foreground is sitting on a cutter with the blade hiding in the grass on his right. The lever to raise the cutter is slightly in front of him within reach of his right hand. (Sticking up behind the other man.)

Haying, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

Once the hay was cut, it had to be raked into piles like the ones in this next image. The man's right foot is on/near a pedal that raises the rake when it's full. There's also a lever that he can pull. I seem to remember using both the lever and the pedal when I was twelve, but if you check out this video of a woman working the hay rake, pay attention to her right foot at the 6-8 second mark. (If the link doesn't work, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZW9YTZwGow)

Man with hay rake, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

This next image called, Load of Hay at Camp, implies that the farm hands camped out during hay season. This makes sense because as soon as hay is ready to be stacked/baled, it should be done as fast as possible. Rain will rob nutrients from the hay and cause mold which will spoil hay and make livestock sick. Spending time traveling back to the ranch to sleep isn't good management if you have food and shelter available to the men.

Load of hay at camp, Beynon area, Alberta. ca. 1895-1896. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

Perhaps they didn't have shade awnings like they do now, but these ranch hands knew how to use hay and here you see them using it to provide shade for their dining table. Can you see the bucket in the front? I believe that's a stump or can behind it where the men would sit while shaving. There's probably a mirror under the upturned basin. 

Springfield (Biggs) Ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

With the hay cut and raked, it would be stacked in the field so it was easy to reach in winter. Better to have the hay out in the pasture near the stock than try to haul through snow drifts. 

Haying, Springfield (Biggs) Ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

The hands would stack the hay in a high arc so that rain and snow could slide down the slopes.

Staking Hay, Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1895. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

Usually the top couple of feet on a hay stack will be spoiled from the effects of the elements, but then it will be good underneath, so when planning a hay stack, they will put hay that isn't as good on the top as the cover. Nowadays they use tarps.

Haying, Springfield (Biggs) Ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

How long do they make these stacks? I don't know as this is the longest one I've seen made from loose hay. 

Hay Stack, Springfield (Biggs) Ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

And of course, not all the hay is left in the pasture. This next image shows a ranch hand directing the pulley system which lifts a hay carrier up to the loft of a barn or stable. In one scene of Romantic Refinements, my novella in Austen in Austin Volume 1, my hero is the man forking hay in the wagon. There's a tense moment when the heroine wonders if the rising hay carrier will fall on him and that's all that I'm going to say about that. 

Haying, Springfield (Biggs) Ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

And of course, things happen no matter where you are. I have an idea of what may have happened to this broken hay wagon. 

Damaged Hay Wagon, Springfield (Biggs) Ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum Archives

What do you think happened to it? 

Thanks for allowing me to share a journey back to my childhood and farther back to the turn of the century.  For more photos of this Alberta Ranch, check out these other posts:

Feb 5, 2016 - Alberta Ranch Winter Photos

Mar 5, 2016 - Riding Side Saddle

Apr 5, 2016 - Ranch Photos Women and Chores

May 5, 2016 - Alberta Ranch Cowboy Chore Photos 

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Anita Mae Draper's stories are written under the western skies where she lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. When she's not writing, Anita enjoys photography, research, and travel, and is especially happy when she can combine the three in one trip. Anita's current release is Romantic Refinements, a novella in Austen in Austin Volume 1, WhiteFire Publishing, January 2016.  Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

Romantic Refinements by Anita Mae Draper

It's the Texas-style version of Marianne Dashwood in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility...

A  misguided academy graduate spends the summer falling in love . . . twice.

One of four novellas based on Jane Austen's heroines found in 

Austen in Austin Volume 1

Alberta Ranch Winter Photos

While searching for winter ranch images, I came across the wonderful collection of Hugh Beynon Biggs, an Alberta rancher who took hundreds of photographs of his family and their Drumheller area ranch. Born in India in 1875, Hugh immigrated to Canada in 1893 and shortly afterward bought the Springfield ranch.

I found Hugh B. Biggs on a 1901 Canada census record for The Territories in the district of Alberta. (Alberta wouldn't become an official province until 1905.) At the time, Hugh was single and living on a ranch along with 3 bachelors. It's interesting to note that their names, ages, occupations and annual income were recorded as:
Hugh, 26, Rancher, 1000
James, 20, Cow boy, 60
Harold, 20, Ranch hand, 60
Francis, 34, Farm Labourer, 300

Although many of the photographs in this post show ca1900, I suspect the ones with people in them were actually 1910 since Hugh didn't marry until 1906, and his first of 4 daughters wasn't born until 1909. However, I'm leaving the official photograph captions as I found them at the Glenbow Archives. 

This first photograph shows the Biggs ranch as it would look in the summer. Such a pastoral setting.

Springfield [Biggs] ranch near Beynon, Alberta ca. 1900, Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

And this is what it looked like in winter when everything was slapped by the snowy force of the prairie wind.

Springfield [Biggs] ranch in winter, near Beynon, Alberta ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

I suspect digging coal may have been a winter chore, much like logging, as there usually wasn't time for such things during the rest of the year.

Coal being dug from bank, Beynon area, Alberta ca. 1909. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Sometimes logging with the family was a great way to spend a winter day. That's probably Hugh's wife, Mabel Florence James, and their first two daughters enjoying the ride on the logging sleigh.

Woman and children on sleigh with load of logs, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta.  ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives

Ranching in winter is no fun, as can be seen here where one of the guys is loading up a hay sleigh from a huge hay stack. (I'll be showing summer pics of this in a few months.)

Haystack, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

From other photos of the Biggs ranch, I can tell you that the horses and hay sleigh are travelling on the frozen river, which is the easiest way to get back to the ranch.

Hay on sleigh, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Whoopsie! He's definitely tipped, however, I don't know if he was trying to pass, or if it's an easy way to unload some hay into the other sleigh. It doesn't look like fun either way.

Tipped hay sleigh, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Here they are pitching hay off the sleigh to feed the cattle that stay on the range through the winter.

Cattle in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

This next photo of the cattle grazing on the snow could have been taken in fall, after the first snowfall, or it could be in spring after an light snow year, but after the feed has run out.

Cattle, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives. 

The caption for this next one simply says, cattle, but from the geography, as well as the shiny surface on the bottom right, I'd guess the cattle are standing on ice and trying to get a good lick or two.

Cattle, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

And now for some fun. I don't know if these are the four Biggs daughters, because their ages don't match what is recorded at Alberta on Record, and I couldn't find any other census records for them, so they could be visiting children out for a day of sledding. Whoever they are, the seem to be enjoying themselves. 

I'm posting these in order of sequence as to tell the story of their day's adventure.

Children playing with sleds on hillside in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Children playing on hillside in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1910-1915 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

One thing I love about snow in the country is that when it covers everything, it dulls sound. Without leaves rustling in the trees, and other sounds of summer nature, you can hear cows bawling, dogs barking, and coyotes howling over a mile away. And looking at the happy faces in these pictures, I believe I can hear them. Listen...

"Look at me Dad! Look at meeeeeeee..."

Children playing on hillside in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1910-1915 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Children playing in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1910-1915 Photographer Biggs H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

I am grateful to Hugh Beynon Biggs, rancher and photographer, for his images of life, work, and play on an Alberta ranch. I'm especially thankful to the people who saved his life's work, and to the Glenbow Archives for posting it online and thereby making it available to everyone. 

Would you like to see another post or two on the work of H. B. Biggs including photographs of cowboys, summer chores, and women on the ranch? 

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Anita Mae Draper's stories are written under the western skies where she lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. When she's not writing, Anita enjoys photography, research, and travel, and is especially happy when she can combine the three in one trip. Anita's current release is Romantic Refinements, a novella in Austen in Austin Volume 1, WhiteFire Publishing, January 2016.  Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com