Purpose

This is the purpose of this blog is to pull together the history behind the creation of Saskatoon and draw some conclusions as based on this history.  What we can easily find out from a wikipedia search and from online resources found in Saskatoon (the city, university, and library archives) is that the city originally began as a Temperance Colony that came out of the Temperance Movement.  The first question that came to my mind became "Well then why is there so much Alcohol (today) in Saskatoon?  What happened?"

I've separated this blog into four sections where I've taken liberties in regards to characterization.  In each of the first three blogs I have attempted to communicate as I would imagine each character might communicate to someone in the modern era who is trying to learn about them in regards to the Saskatoon experiment.  This approach is taken to emphasize the 'human-ness' of the creation of Saskatoon.

In the first blog I touch on the Temperance movement itself.  While I've provided links for people to do more research into the movement, I chose to characterize the movement by pointing to the founder of Methodism; John Wesley.  Saskatoon was founded by John N. Lake (among others) and Lake was a former Methodist minister.  It seemed logical to explore the theological under-pinnings of Methodism in general and Temperance in particular.

The second blog was the result of my research into the Temperance Colonization Society of Toronto of which John N. Lake became commissioner.  The blog entry is characterized by Lake 'the land speculator'.  It was in his own financial interest to 'sell' his somewhat utopian vision to others.  As a result the blog post theorizes how Lake might have presented his vision to others.  If nothing else, primary source material is presented as evidence that there was a real drive by the Canadian government (and Land Colonization Companies) to bring colonization to the North-West.

The third blog tries to convey what life was like in the Saskatoon area from 1882-1892.  During this time period settlers face various challenges and also quickly came to realize the 'exageration' or 'lie' that they had been sold by the Temperance Colonization Society.  Regardless of this the small colony survived a nearby Metis' insurrection, drought, and devastating winters all while holding on to the ideals of Temperance in an informal way.  Some stories from the letters of Archie Brown (1902) are included in this blog to give people a picture of what Saskatoon was like for the 'everyday person' in the colony.

The fourth blog is an evaluation of the success (or lackof) of the colony.  Massive social change takes place once the railroad arrives.  Ideals are compromised and wealth changes hands in a dramatic way.  Without these changes it is doubtful that the modern day city of Saskatoon would even exist as a community, but at the same time the Temperance colony came to a crashing end as well.

On the sidebar of the blog are various Notes and Conclusions.  One note discusses the difference between Prohibition and Temperance.  This was necessary because of the context of the origins of Saskatoon's ideology.  This also came to a head in the various provincial prohibition votes of the late 1910's and 1920's.  A second note draws together the conclusion that ultimately Saskatoon was birthed out of an 'awkward marriage' between greed and ideology of which an argument is made that greed ultimately won (but as is pointed out in the fourth blog post, it ultimately lost as well).  Finally a note is made discussing the conclusions of the Saskatoon experiment and whether there is (or should be) any modern expression of a Temperance movement - perhaps even in Saskatoon.

The research behind this blog has vastly increased my knowledge and curiosity in regards to the above stated areas.  While many of the questions I initially had were answered quite quickly, it took awhile for me to see and draw the conclusions that I have stated within the blog itself.  The purpose of this blog is to share some of these findings with you and to encourage you to consider the Saskatoon origin story in a new light.  My own personal motivations can be found in a link to both "my story" and also in relation to my personal blog at the top of the page.  Thanks!