By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

At Brandon University one of my Geography professors always started off his first class of a new term by giving a lecture on the history of the evolution of the outhouse.

Some freshmen took detailed notes thinking that this was part of the course and that this was very important information. At the end of the class the professor indicated that it was just a joke.

The importance of the outhouse was no joke as it was once an important building on every farmyard.

Sleet, rain, snow nor hail kept the family from occupying it daily.

While occupying the biffy, the Simpson Sears and Eaton’s catalogues provided staple reading material. In case of a shortage of toilet paper the catalogue also doubled its duties in that area. Shortly before Christmas, locals always bought a box or two of "Christmas" oranges at the general store in town. Each orange came wrapped in coarse paper. Invariably, in a pinch, the paper was also put to good use.

The outhouse was a target for mischievous nocturnal activities. At Halloween, groups of thrill-seekers would go to a farmyard and tip the outhouse. To combat the problem, farmers sometimes moved their outhouses several feet ahead prior to Halloween. In total darkness, when the lads wanted to tip the outhouse, they often slipped into the hole and found themselves “knee-deep” in an unpleasant situation.
Before an urban community had sewage and waterworks, some of the residences employed the use of an indoor five-gallon container.

The “honey dipper man” came at regular intervals with a team of horses and a wagon and collected the solid and liquid waste. In one case the honey dipper man finished his rounds and parked the wagon. The release valve froze so he could not dump the load. Overnight the valve released and by morning sewage was freely flowing down the street.

In October 1966, the 558 residents in Bowsman unveiled a $350,000 sewage treatment plant. It paved the way for indoor toilets and made the outdoor "biffy" obsolete. A town councillor came up with the idea of burning the outhouses for a Centennial celebration.

On Dec. 31, the evening began with trucks driving around town collecting 26 biffies and stacking them at a spot near the new sewage treatment plant. United Church Minister J. Liles read an “Ode to Burning Bowsman Biffies”, part of which included, “The time has come to destroy friends who have held up their ends through the years. They have fulfilled their duties under fair and foul conditions, they have always stood ready to meet anyone and give them support, they have provided shelter from stormy blasts and a good place to read the most recent catalogue, although they have at times been upset by one generation or another, they have been upset for the final time and the end is in sight for them.”

To herald in Canada’s centennial year, the spectators cheered and joined in the singing of “For Auld Lang Syne” as the biffies were lit on fire.

The unique celebration of burning 26 outhouses as a centennial project was covered in newspapers in Sweden, Mexico, the United States and in Canada. Yorkton’s television station sent a crew to film the event.

Apparently, to honour the event, Bowsman's postal code was also changed to R0L 0H0. (Roll Our Loyal Out Houses Over.)

Later that year, Bowsman’s mayor, A.R. Sutherland, appeared on CBC’s television show, Front Page Challenge. In 1997 the story of burning the outhouses was used in Pierre Burton’s book, 1967, The Last Good Year.

When professor Tyman outlined information in his lectures to the freshmen Geography classes back in the early 1970s, the biffy was already becoming a vestige of the past as the equivalent, the porta potty, was being developed using the overall principle of the traditional outhouse. Instead of various scraps of wood, this feat of modern architecture included molded plastics and was easily transportable.

Somehow the porta potty lacks the character of the old wooden biffy that graced our farmyard. However, it’s very impressive when today’s version of the “honey dipper” man arrives with modern equipment at an outdoor social function to clean up any mess.