Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

278 HISTORY OF THE BANKdistance, or melted from ice. Scarcely had the cellar beendug the following summer, when the rainy season began again.One night the rain fell in torrents, an unfinished eave-troughdischarging a steady stream into the excavation. Thecellar was filling rapidly, and the little house was in seriousdanger of collapse from the flood swirling around its temporarysupports. Sturdy Doukhobors came to the rescue, however,with a pail and bucket brigade, and the erection of additionalsupports warded off the danger for the time being. As soon aspossible, a drain extending three hundred feet to the riverbank was completed and put an end to this difficulty.The wife of the manager who opened the branch atSaskatoon had experiences which were no doubt those of manyothers. Her husband was fortunate enough to secure a houseon the open prairie, about a mile from the office, the nearestneighbour being a quarter of a mile away. Their householdgoods arrived ahead of them and were dumped on the openground near their unfinished house. Her expostulationsevoked the answer that it never rained at that season of theyear, and that the Royal North-West Mounted Police were sovigilant that thieves were unknown. As a matter of fact,their chest of table silver was left unguardedin the halffinishedabode with no illconsequences.The water problem was serious here also. A well wassunk at great expense, but the water when obtained was unfitfor use. The new-comers were therefore compelled to dependon the irregular visits of a water-man, who dumped his wares, ofa deep chocolate hue, into a barrel in the kitchen and invariablyleft a trail of mud behind. In winter-time the water hespilled on the door step would freeze and sometimes jam thedoor before it could be closed, bringing the temperature of thehouse down near the zero mark before the ice could be choppedaway. Sometimes the water-man would fail to appear, andthen the head of the household would be obliged to carrysupplies from the river. There was a coal famine during thefirst winter, and on one occasion when no train reached the