In honour of Canada’s 150th anniversary, Yorkton This Week is launching a weekly local retrospective of the, country’s, province’s and city’s history.
Our archives go back to 1900, specifically to the 15th issue of the fourth volume of The Yorkton Enterprise. It is unclear what happened to the first three volumes and the first 14 issues of Volume 4, but that is where we will start.
It is interesting to note in those early days the Enterprise covered all manner of news from the international right down to the various local communities.
With advancements in technology, particularly radio, television and, of course, the Internet, the local newspaper has became more and more local as the decades have passed.
In 1900, the front page featured news from the Boer War alongside livestock prices and Sunday school events. Queen Victoria’s travels were a subject of weekly interest.
That year, the paper reported the entire audited 1899 budget of the newly incorporated Town of Yorkton was $328.
The early Enterprise volumes were also completely devoid of photographs.
Although photography was well-established by the turn of the 20th century, it was not until after World War I that photos became routine addition to newspapers and Yorkton lagged well behind that.
Sensibilities were, of course, very different as well. Some things that were routinely printed, we cannot even imagine publishing today, such as the following bit of early 20th century humour: “When a man arrives home at an early hour in the morning he figures that he might as well tell a fib as the truth, for his wife will not believe him anyway.”
Over the course of 2017, we will dive into the archives to commemorate milestones in Canadian, Saskatchewan and local history.
Some of the things we will cover are rather obvious. For example, nothing, perhaps, could be more pertinent locally to the Canada 150 topic than Saskatchewan entering confederation.
Province of Saskatchewan
The Wednesday, September 6, 1905 edition of the Enterprise heralded the inaugural ceremonies in Regina as follows:
“On Monday September 4, under a cloudless sky, Saskatchewan officially entered the Dominion of Canada as a full-fledged province. The city [Regina] had been beautifully decorated by the citizens and council and eight bands supplied the music.
“The same distinguished guests [which included Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Earl Grey] were present as at Alberta’s celebration on Friday and the same prominent gentlemen delivered addresses. Lieut.-Governor Forget, of the N.W.T., was sworn in as Lieut.-Governor of Saskatchewan. The illuminations and fireworks in the evening were the most magnificent ever seen in the west. Premier Haultain was ignored by the government and was given no part in the inauguration which he did so much to bring about.
“The following message was received from King Edward:
“Accept my best thanks for your telegram. Am deeply gratified by the expression of loyalty on the part of the newly inaugurated Northwest provinces. Pray carry to them my earnest hope that great prosperity may be in store for them.”
Interestingly, the masthead of that edition of the newspaper still identified the location as Yorkton, Assiniboia, the district of the North-West Territories in which Yorkton resided before Saskatchewan joined confederation. In those days, newspapers were put together with physical plates leading us to speculate the new ‘Saskatchewan’ plate had not arrived in time for press on September 6. The masthead was rectified in time for the next issue on September 13.
Aside from Canada’s 150th, there are a number of other significant milestones and anniversaries that will be marked this year.
French connection
The Battle of Vimy Ridge is often touted as a coming-of-age event for Canada as a nation.
Between April 9 and 12, 1917 in Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France four divisions of the Canadian Corps defeated three divisions of the German Sixth Army. This year Canada will commemorate the 100th anniversary of that great achievement.
In the April 19, 1917 edition of the Enterprise first news of the battle reached Yorkton with a front page story headlined: “Yorkton men in casualty list.” Among the wounded was Major G.H. Bradbrooke whose name still resonates in Yorkton today.
A legacy in film
In 2017, the Yorkton Film Festival will mark 70 years since the founding of the Yorkton Film Council, which initially worked as a local presenter of National Film Board productions.
Technically, the first “festival” wasn’t held until 1950. Organizers of that event had lofty ideas about the power of film as evidenced by the review of the festival published on the front page of the October 5, 1950 edition of the Enterprise.
“Mr. Holliday [commissioner of the Saskatchewan Film Board] is firmly convinced that the use of educational films in the world today, acquainting countries with problems concerning one another, is a medium through which can be built a lasting peace,” the article stated.
“The provincial board and the National Film Board work in complete harmony with the fullest cooperation and are setting an example which might conceivably become a realization in the communities, in the provinces, in the Dominion, and throughout the world, if its citizens were sufficiently interested.”
Raider pride
Also celebrating a significant anniversary in 2017 is the Yorkton Regional High School, which turns 50 in the fall.
The official opening of the school November 10, 1967 marked a milestone for the province in what was being touted at the time as “progressive” and “comprehensive” education.
The Enterprise published a commemorative edition on November 15, 1967 with blanket coverage of the ceremonies, which were attended by 1,700 people and included a speech by then minister of education J.C. McIsaac.
The school’s mix of academic, technical, vocational, business, pre-employment and adult education was a first for Saskatchewan.
The school also boasted the biggest high school gymnasium at that time and state-of-the-art 750-seat theatre, which continues to serve not just the school, but the whole city to the present day and, with new seats on the way, will undoubtedly play a major role in the half-century celebrations that will take place this year.
We will also, perhaps somewhat self-indulgently celebrate this newspaper’s history over the coming 52 weeks. An anniversary such as Canada’s 150th really underscores the importance of having a “newspaper of record.”
The 117-year archive in our building on Third Avenue really is an unequaled resource in terms of local history featuring news in the historical context of the sensibilities of the day.
The Enterprise lasted until 1975, publishing its final issue December 31 of that year. Yorkton This Week overlapped its predecessor slightly with Vol. 1, No. 1 coming out September 10, 1975.
It is not just the news that offers historical relevance to newspaper archives, however.
Advertising is an incredibly rich source of information about the times in which we live. For that reason, we will also be reproducing ads each week. The ones on this page are from the April 5, 1900 edition of the Enterprise.
