Pre-Railway Communities  /  Wakopa

Wakopa The development of the grain business began in Wakopa long before the railway was built through Boissevain and Killarney. In 1878 Matthew Harrison built a flour mill in the settlement that would soon become Wakopa. It was powered by a water wheel and used grinding stones brought from France. George Bennett, freighted those stones from Emerson to Wakopa with a team of oxen. These stones are very heavy and are in various places. One is in the Cairn at Wakopa and one is in the museum in Boissevain. This historic industry was the first in Turtle Mountain municipality. To accommodate the settlers who brought their wheat from afar by oxen to be ground into flour, the family built a boarding house and large livery barn. In 1881 Bill Harrison joined his brother, and in 1882 another brother George came west and joined the company.  These businesses, along with B.B. Lariviere’s Store and Stopping Place established Wakopa as an important place. People came to Wakopa, bringing grain to be ground into flour, or buying lumber at the sawmill. Meals were served at the Harrison home, at La Riviere’s, and at Mrs. J. Melville’s boarding house. Fire destroyed that mill in 1883.   The Northwest Farmer reported that “Williams and Harrison Bros., who ran an extensive grist and saw mill business…., at Wakopa, have had the misfortune to lose their mills by fire.  A quantity of grain was burned.” “It is estimated that the loss by the burning of the mills at Wakopa will amount to at least $8,000.”   Winnipeg Daily Sun, April 28, 1884 The mill was re-built but functioned for only a short time. In May 1887, The Northwest Farmer reported that. “Wm. Harrison, proprietor of the grist mills at Wakopa, Man., will put in roller process machinery.” The coming of the railway to Killarney and Boissevain doomed this busy centre. The mill ceased operation; buildings were taken down or moved away, until other than a few basements, the site once more became part of the original landscape.  Later the Harrisons built a gristmill at Holmfield that would serve the area for over a century. On the second floor of that historic building one can still see the rough cut 2 by 6’s that were sawn at the old Wakopa for the Harrison’s next enterprise. A visitor to the Turtle Mountain Flywheel Club Museum in Killarney can see the machinery from the original Wakopa gristmill on display. Harrison Sawmill There are, or were, two Wakopas. Many people refer to the first one as Old Wakopa. The first entrepreneur in the Turtle Mountain district was a fur trader, Bernard B La Rivière. The story of “Old Wakopa” begins with Mr. La Rivière who, in 1878, established a store and stopping place on the Boundary Commission Trail near the east shelf of Turtle Mountain.  Surveyors and travellers already venturing westward and soon there would be  to a steady stream of homesteaders. There would be many of them and they would need supplies. It became the first village in the region. It was home to the first sawmill. The Harrison Brothers and Mr. Williams built a sawmill in Wakopa in 1878 or 79. It was on the banks of Long River, where a dam was constructed to make use water power. Soon the first sod and log homes gave way to buildings of milled lumber. The first frame house in the Turtle Mountain area was built in 1880. It operated for only a short time, but it was an important service and helped make Wakopa an important village. The Fox Sawmill In 1880 the Fox family acme to the Wakopa area. Thomas and his oldest son Alfred set up a sawmill two miles northeast of Lake Max. People came from many miles around to use the lumber that was produced from this mill. In 1881 Tom decided to take a homestead nearby and settled (on 10-2-19) several miles west of Wakopa in the Adelpha area. In 1884 Tom moved his sawmill west where it was used to cut lumber for the growing CPR. The mill was dismantled and hauled to Brandon where it was shipped to Calgary. Tom went along with his mill while his family stayed behind and his son Frank took over the homestead.  A more modest attempt to process milk into a value-added form was also short-lived. The Hettle Cheese Factory John Hettle came from Ontario. After starting a successful farming operation he formed a company in 1885 with T. A. Sharpe and the Young brothers to operate a steam-powered butter and cheese factory on Sharpe's Creek near Wakopa. HettIe brought the dairy herd from Ontario. Later the herd had to be destroyed because of disease and the factory was dismantled.