Wondering what it would be like to travel back to the days of the prairie settlers?
Two couples from Ontario know what it was like and they could tell you plenty – if they had a telephone.
Frank and Alana Logie and Tim and Deanna Treadway gave up all modern amenities to live the life of settlers in the 1870s.
In June, they climbed aboard a Red River cart and traveled to a 40-acre isolated plot somewhere in southern Manitoba.
They are still living there despite torrents of rain, a summer plague of mosquitoes, a crop failure and a few misadventures with runaway horses.
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Their experiences are being packaged into a television series titled Pioneer Quest. The first two-hour segment of the series airs on the History Channel, Nov. 19.
A sample of what the Logies and Treadways have endured is posted on a website created by Winnipeg’s Credo Entertainment, the producer of Pioneer Quest.
“We’ve noticed as a settler that our bottoms get a little bit sore because we’re always sitting on hard things,” said Tim in a message posted on the site.
“We don’t have that soft leather easy chair … even when you go to bed it’s hard.”
A passage from Alana describes a day spent doing laundry in the morning and cooking in the afternoon. But she also points to the positives of living unplugged from the modern world.
“It’s not alarm clocks, TV and the microwave, but having to be simple and eating healthy, getting a good night’s sleep and sleeping so well at night … this is more like how life should be.”
The Logies and Treadways arrived at the homestead with a modest assortment of tools and livestock. They also had $500 to buy items at 1870s prices from an improvised store set up by Credo.
The need to be frugal was evident in the words of Deanna.
“One morning, Alana and I went out picking saskatoons. Then in the afternoon I made some jam for the winter.
“We’re going to ration – those boys would eat it every day if you let them! We’re telling them every Sunday we’ll open up a jar for pancakes.”
The morale of the modern-day pioneers has bobbed up and down during the past few months.
They now are headed into a long, cold winter where monotony could become one of their worst enemies.
Michael Scott, a producer for Credo Entertainment, believes the two couples will endure the winter where they are. If they stay until spring, the couples each will receive $100,000 from Credo.
“Now it’s just the challenge of surviving and coping,” Scott said in an interview. “It’s very tough. On the other hand, they’re very proud of what they achieved.”
The Logies and Treadways managed to break a few acres this spring to plant a garden and oat cro-10-P. They used horses and a one-furrow plow to split the virgin soil.
The crop was flooded, and the garden had to be replanted. It yielded only a scant selection of vegetables.
Two small cabins also were built along with a barn for livestock. Wells were dug, food was canned, firewood was chopped and hay was harvested for the winter.
Using blackpowder guns, the couples recently shot a deer for meat. They will hunt more deer to build their winter food supply, said Scott.
“And they’ll be spending a lot of time just keeping warm now.”
