User:Bryn Hadubiak/sandbox

1880-1910
After a devastating prairie fire destroyed much of the grass and timber in the area around Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, many First Nations and Métis people were driven by a buffalo shortage and an increasing population to seek out new settlements. Many settled along the Milk River, south of the 49th parallel, and the Frenchman River, one of its tributaries in Saskatchewan. A number of them settled in the area known by the Métis as Talle de Saules (clump of willows) and Hart Rouge, now known as Willow Bunch.

In 1881, Jean-Louis Légaré, a French-Canadian trader and one of the founding members of the Willow Bunch community, settled in what is part of the present-day Jean Louis Légaré Regional Park. Légaré, who married into the Métis community, opened a trading post/store there, and often traded various necessities to the local Métis for buffalo goods. In the spring of 1881, it was estimated he had around $3,000 worth of buffalo products in his store.

A boy named Edouard Beaupré, better known as the Willow Bunch Giant, was the first child born and baptized in the area in 1881.

The forerunner settlement of Willow Bunch was established in 1883, around two miles east of Légaré’s store and one and half miles east of the present town. . A small village grew around a spot where Reverend Pierre St. Germain, the head of the local parish at the time, chose to build a Catholic Church. The chapel and residence were completed in 1884, and the settlement became known as Bonneauville with the arrival of Pascal Bonneau Sr. and his family in 1886.

The North West Mounted Police (NWMP) soon built a barracks in Bonneauville in 1886 as part of “B” Division, with 12 men and 13 horses, following the Riel Rebellion in Batoche in 1885. By fall of that year, however, only two constables were left.

Ranching soon became one of the mainstays of the local economy. Légaré brought in 45 head of cattle from Manitoba in 1884, and petitioned the Dominion of Canada government to do a land survey in 1886. Eight townships were surveyed, including Bonneauville. By 1893, the NWMP reported there were 300 people in the Willow Bunch area.

Sheep were introduced to the area in 1894, of which the Métis tended small herds. Growth, however, was slow for ranchers. Limited markets and a lack of transportation infrastructure in southwestern Saskatchewan forced ranchers to start out small. Bonneau Sr. and his three sons began ranching in 1886 with only four horses and four cattle, but by 1900, Bonneau Sr. had a herd of 400 head of cattle and 400 head of horses. After opening a cheese factory in 1888, Jean-Louis Légaré maintained the largest ranching operation in the area for a time. The ranching operation of Bonneau Sr.'s son, Pascal Bonneau Jr., became even bigger. By 1900 Bonneau Jr. had a herd of 5-6,000 head.

Weather and prairie fires took their toll on ranchers in the area. A combination of drought and harsh winter weather between 1886 and 1887 devastated herds in southwestern Saskatchewan. Légaré himself lost 350 head of cattle in 1893-1894, forcing the closure of the cheese factory. Prairie fires in 1885 were also responsible for the destruction of the willows that the town and area was named for.

Ranchers gave little thought about where their cattle roamed, and often did not grow hay for the winter. Légaré was among those who rejected the use of hay. In 1903-1904, a severe winter, recounted by Reverand Claude J. Passaplan as the worst in recorded history at the time, followed prairie fires and an early frost, leaving cattle with nothing to eat. The Métis around Willow Bunch lost all of their cattle as a result. An even worse winter in 1906-1907 caused a loss of an estimated 60-70% of all cattle in southwestern Saskatchewan.

Slowly, farming began to overtake ranching, and thoughts of moving the settlement into a more suitable site for growing the community began in 1898. The Catholic Bishop of the area made a request for 160 acres of land, but received only 80 from Jean-Louis Légaré, which became the present site of Willow Bunch. Several delays from a number of changes to the headship of the local parish delayed action until 1905, the year of Saskatchewan’s confederation, when Reverend Alphonse Lemieux was assigned to the parish. He arrived in Bonneauville to find the church in a dilapidated state. That year, a new rectory was built at the present site of Willow Bunch, followed by a new church in 1906.

The town that would become Willow Bunch started to grow. A hospital was built in 1909, headed by Dr. Arsene Godin, called the Red Cross Hospital. The first official act of the Rural Municipality of Willow Bunch #42 was a meeting, chaired by Pascal Bonneau Jr., on January 4, 1910.