By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

In May 1899 over 400 Eastern European settlers arrived at Halifax and boarded a train for the long trip to Strathclair, Man.

Some carried a virulent illness in which over 40 children eventually succumbed to death. Several weeks later, a reporter accompanied Dr. Cameron to visit several camps located north of Shoal Lake and wrote an article, “A Trip of Inspection Through Galicia - Observations by the Way” in the Shoal Lake Star.

“Our first call was at a house two miles north of Alex Menzies in the Rossburn municipality. Here were gathered about fifteen Galicians with a family who have been in Manitoba for about a year.” The correspondent noted that the younger members of the family could speak English.

After they left the house and were driving along the road, “two boys approached the doctor in a childish way and volunteered the information that a woman was sick on Section 10; that the road was good and that there was no big water to cross.”

At the home they encountered an elderly woman and a younger woman suffering from rheumatism. “The doctor prescribed for both and we proceeded to Reid’s store at the entrance of the colony. Here we put up for dinner and Smith and Harold looked after our wants.”

After dinner, the two men continued their journey to Brunditt’s Lake where the first camp had been set up one month previously and where scarlet fever had raged.

“Here was a small plot of ground fenced in and fifteen crudely constructed crosses told the sad death amongst the Galician children. Tired out from a long journey, exposed to the hardships of camp life and deprived of suitable nourishment, they were unable to combat against the ravages of what at any other time in favourable circumstances would not have been considered dangerous. At this camp we saw, like St. Paul, things which cannot be uttered.”

While at the camp a mother brought her baby to the doctor for treatment. The baby had burned his hand and foot and blisters had raised on them. The doctor readied his knife to let the water out of the blisters but the mother shrank back in horror exclaiming “No, No!”

Later, upon returning, they noticed that she had pricked open the blisters and wrapped the sore hand and foot. A sick boy was also having issues with his lungs, however, the parents would not let him go to the hospital to receive proper treatment.

The reporter noticed there was a pronounced tendency to hide any sickness. “None sick is a warning and intimation that under cover of a shawl or in some other hiding place there is a sick enfant.” He also noted the families were in daily expectation of being moved to their homesteads.

Dr. Cameron and the reporter then drove eight miles to a second camp located “in a most picturesque part of the mountain. Hills and lakes and meadows and avenues of trees form natural bounties second to none on the continent.” He saw that the settlers took great care of their cattle.

“Unlike the Canadian who allows the cattle to use their tails to brush off the mosquitoes while he protects himself, the Galician neglects his own comfort and walks by the side of his cattle, brushing off the mosquitoes from their backs with a twig while they feed in contentment.”

It was observed at this camp that it was free from disease of any kind. One man had complained of a headache. His wife had poured spirits of vinegar over his head. This eventually had the effect of closing one eye, swelling the ears to twice their size and scaling the skin off his face, however, the headache was cured. The group then proceeded to another camp four miles further. Everyone was in good health at that camp.

In the ensuing years many more settlers from Eastern Europe immigrated to the Parkland. In 1904 my maternal grandparents settled in the Horod district.

I am very grateful that they had the vision to come to Canada in search of a better life.