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Curlingpioneers
The Scottish game of curling
was introduced to Canada in 1807 in
Montreal, QC, but didn’t make its way
west for another 80 years, where the first
game was played in Edmonton in 1888.
From there, the game’s popularity spread
to even the newest pioneer settlements—
including the hamlet of Grimshaw in the
Peace River Region.
The eight women and men of the Grim-
shaw curling group were—in true pioneer
fashion—resourceful: they used conven-
tional brooms, played on an outdoor rink
and even improvised the “stones,” which
were hand-carved out of green wood by
team member Mike Miller. While wooden
stones probably weren’t ideal, they were no
doubt easier to manage than the first iron
stones used in Canada—shaped like a tea
kettle, men’s iron stones weighed up to 80
pounds and the women’s up to 48 pounds.
Grimshaw, located southwest of the
town of Peace River and named after its
first doctor, wasn’t settled until 1921, so it
was a very new community when the above
photo was taken. Residents of the new
hamlet along the Central Canada Railway
were interested in a range of sports, includ-
ing hockey, baseball and basketball.
Miller started out as a farmer near Grim-
shaw. He owned three quarter sections at
one time, farmed them for a few years, but
sold out after three successive crop failures.
He later operated a service station.
Yvan Adam operated a general store in
Grimshaw and served on the first village
council. He was also captain of the volun-
teer fire department.
Miller and Adam’s fellow curler, Bert
Geyer, started a general store in 1927, and
also worked hard to organize and finance
the first school district. John Schur, mean-
while, ran a butcher shop.
Although cropping success was hit-and-
miss, the Security Company finally took a
chance and built the Security Elevator in
1926, with the competition soon follow-
ing. By 1928, the village had five grain
elevators, two oil companies, wholesale
supply depots and all types of tractor and
farm machinery dealers.
The Grimshaw curling group, ca. 1928: (back row) Mrs. Lysing, Mrs. Adam, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Schur, Bert Geyer, (front row) MikeMiller, Yvan Adam and Si Gullion.
AGAINST
THE GRAIN
Winter
2015
Grains
West
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