Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE ROMANCE OF BANKINGS77hill to watch the result of this very successful practical joke.All three of the banks were unable to open their safes thatMonday, as each of the bank clerks in the party held acombination."For married officers of the bank who had brought theirwives with them, the housing problem at the pioneer westernbranches was necessarily more difficult than for bachelors, andtheir efforts to solve it were replete with mischance. Thewife of the manager at Swan River (Manitoba) joined himduring the February after the opening of the branch. Theyconsidered themselves fortunate in being able to secure fourrooms in a wooden office building, with fissures in the outerwalls sufficiently large not merely to let in breezes of hyperboreantemperature, but to account for the disappearance ofanything from a collar button to a spool of thread. Resolvingthat they would not put in another winter under such conditions,they made arrangements in the spring to start building ahouse, which was to be ready for occupation by the followingAugust. The site had first to be cleared of willow scrub, andas the months went by and the mire created by the comingout of the frost was augmented by torrential rains, theirhopes of getting a cellar dug and the foundation startedbecame smaller and smaller. The most they dared to hopefor now was any kind of a structure that would keep out thecold, and a roof that would keep out the ram. August foundthe house just beginning, and by October, when signs of winterappeared, it was a thing of roof and outer walls only, perchedon tamarac posts. Christmas found them still in the oldquarters, where water sometimes froze in the kettle on top ofthe stove while the fire was still burning. On New Year'sDay they decided to move into the still unfinished house andoccupy the three rooms which were readyfor use.It was aluxury to have a fire which did not smoke, and food preparedon a real kitchen range, even though they went through thewinter without cellar, furnace or cistern. During most ofthat year water for all purposes had to be either carried from a