INDIAN HEAD, Sask. – The reconstructed Bell Barn hasn’t opened yet but already people have stopped in to see it and sign the guest book.
Jerry Willerth, vice-chair of the Bell Barn Society, said the round stone barn and its history captivate locals and tourists, something he expects will continue after the July 24 grand opening.
The project came together in less than four years after Heritage Canada listed the original barn at Indian Head, Sask., among the top 10 endangered structures in the country.
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Willerth said saving the structure was impossible. The original built in 1882 was not sitting on solid footings and had sunk 60 centimetres into the ground.
The society decided to rebuild an exact replica using as much of the original stone as possible. Fundraisers got to work, governments and corporations chipped in and the result is the $1.5-million Bell Barn Interpretive Centre.
The centre was built with 800 tonnes of mostly original stone, and contains artifacts from the original Bell Farm and large panels that tell the farm’s story.
The second storey, which would have held feed when major William Bell established the corporate farm and built the horse barn, will be rented as an event space.
The operation’s official name was Qu’Appelle Valley Farming Company and Bell was one of the shareholders. He headed west from Ontario to run the farm and it soon bore his name.
Original construction began in August 1882 and within a year more than 100 buildings were erected.
Squatters on the 53,000 acres Bell acquired were convinced to stay on the land, and Bell divided it into 213-acre parcels. A cottage for the family was built on each parcel.
“From this cupola, he probably could see all his cottages and all his men working,” Willerth said.
The farm also boasted a state-of-the-art telephone system. At 8 p.m. each night, Bell held a conference call with the men to get progress reports and issue instructions for the next day.
“He was a man before his time,” Willerth said.
Bell was a marksman, had a military background and ran for Parliament. He met the train along the newly opened Canadian Pacific Railway line and brought tourists out to the barn.
Willerth said the death knell for the farm was the Northwest Rebellion in 1885, when general Frederick Middleton appropriated all of Bell’s horses, wagons and men for the battle of Batoche.
It was spring, and by the time the men came back, it was too late to plant a crop. The farm had also suffered drought, rust and fire. And when Bell’s first wife died, he left.
The society’s next project is a park between the centre and the old site. It will bear the JRI name in recognition of a large donation from the Winnipeg grain company.
The centre will be open daily from the May long weekend to Labour Day long weekend each year. Volunteers will staff it as the society works to raise the final $150,000 for the project.
