RIVERS, Man. – A visit to Tim Clack’s place can quickly become a peaceful stroll into the past.
Near his house is an assortment of metal-clad buildings, each of them housing a treasure trove of artifacts.
Clack spends hours guiding a visitor through each of the buildings, pausing here and there to share some history.
There are no other visitors to the museum at this time of year. The Clack Family Heritage Museum is usually open to the public from June to September. Located northwest of Rivers, about 40 kilometres northwest of Brandon, it attracts about 500 visitors each summer.
Read Also
Russian wheat exports start to pick up the pace
Russia has had a slow start for its 2025-26 wheat export program, but the pace is starting to pick up and that is a bearish factor for prices.
A farmer by profession, Clack proves himself a capable historian and museum curator. He seems to know something about each of the items at the museum.
Many artifacts reflect the rural roots of Western Canada, but there are antiques and collectibles from around the world.
Whether the item is forged from iron or stitched with thread, there’s a tale about its past.
In one building, Clack pointed out a silver tea set from Ireland that dates back to 1881. The tea set belonged to an Irish immigrant who longed for his homeland, Clack said.
“He was so sick of this country, he went to his neighbors and pawned it to them.”
The silverware sits atop a wicker tea wagon that once graced a home in Quebec.
Inside a building dubbed the Child’s Museum, antique dolls and wind-up toys offer a glimpse of how the children of yesteryear kept themselves entertained.
An antique toy replica of a sewing machine, exact in every detail, is on display.
“And that’s the box it came in,” said Clack, casting an appreciative eye to a box adorned with artwork. “That little girl took tremendous care of that sewing machine.”
The wind-up toys include a monkey toiling at an ironing board, a cat casually knitting a sweater and a bear happily licking a plate. With some regret, Clack noted the cost of those toys makes them almost untouchable at auctions nowadays.
“You can’t touch them at sales anymore. They just go right out of sight.”
In another building are artifacts from the era of the infamous outlaw Jesse James. Next to a compass and handcuffs sits an authentic wanted poster serving notice that the St. Louis Midland Railroad was offering a $25,000 reward for James, dead or alive.
The history of the museum is almost as interesting as the antiques and collectibles it holds.
In the early 1960s, Tim and his late brother, Douglas Charles Clack, began collecting relics of the past.
They started with tobacco cans, licence plates and antique glassware. They kept the collection in their home, but it soon became evident that a more practical approach was needed. Mealtimes were often interrupted by visitors wanting to view the collection.
In the early 1980s, the Clack brothers built a pole-frame building and opened a museum. Today, that building holds many of the earliest items of their collection, along with everything from native artifacts to ancient farm tools.
Along the north wall, Tim winds up a phonograph that soon emits cheerful music from a bygone era. A few steps later, he stops to marvel at the strength it must have taken to wield a hand-held scythe for cutting hay.
In another area, there’s a post maul from the Dirty Thirties. The handle is carved from a twisted tree branch and a broken piston serves as the head. Nearby, a mannequin child pedals a bike built from scraps of farm machinery.
“Nobody knows what people went through in the Thirties,” Clack said. “I don’t think they have a clue.”
With more than a million artifacts safely stored, it’s impossible to see everything in a day. Many people make repeat visits to get a better sense of the history to be found there, Clack said.
Included in the displays are miniatures of pioneer buildings and implements that the Clack brothers made themselves. Now 80, Tim is well acquainted with the workings of the antique farm machinery.
He and his late brother farmed northwest of Rivers for more than 50 years, and won numerous awards for farming excellence. Display cases feature the many provincial and national awards for their purebred Hereford cattle.
Each time he touches or points out an artifact, Tim seems to be beckoned to the intriguing sights and sounds of yesteryear.
His eyes have witnessed much of the history that unfolded in Western Canada during this century. His mind, as sharp as the tines of a pitchfork, serves as a rich archive for that history.
With summer around the corner, Clack can expect a steady flow of tourists to begin arriving at his farm.
