Ma Sprague's

Dad once said quietly, "Everyone should experience living in a boarding house." I wish I knew precisely what he meant by that. It didn't sound like such a bad thing.

And he was certainly speaking from experience. When Dad moved from the farm to Winnipeg in 1946 to study at the Manitoba Technical Institute, he lived at Ma Sprague's, a boarding house at 225 Spence Street in downtown Winnipeg.

 Ma Sprague's boarding house

The location is interesting. It's a 15-minute street car ride to the Manitoba Technical Institute at 1181 Portage Avenue (at Wall Street), where Dad was studying Tool & Die and Machine Shop.

The Manitoba Training Institute, a former Ford assembly plant.

(Source: Manitoba Historical Society)

But Ma Sprague's was convenient in other ways. Dad's little black book from his RCAF years tells us why.

 A page from Dad's little black book, wartime edition.

                                                                         

That's right. Sweetheart Hazel Stevens lived in the Davidson Block, at Ste. 1 - 326 Young Street, Winnipeg, one street over and very close to 225 Spence Street.

Ma Sprague's was a four-minute walk from Hazel Stevens' home. 

... and even closer if you rode your bike.

I suspect Mom was as much a factor in Dad's decision to move to Winnipeg as the chance to access training and employment.

Hazel Stevens, ca. 1945

Mom was living with her mother and youngest brother Wesley in a large apartment on Young Street, just off Portage Avenue and across from the CBC studios.

Hazel Stevens with her mother Zelma and brother Wes, early 1940s.

After graduating from Pilot Mound High School at age 16, Mom attended Success Business College in Winnipeg and then found work at Dale & Company Insurance. She was able to support her mother and brother.

Mom (back row, right) at Dale & Company Insurance, 1940s

The office staff

A Christmas photo at Dale & Company. Mom in the shadow, to the right of the tree.

Dad lived in Ma Sprague's boarding house until 1948, while he was training at MTI. It was a sensible, practical choice for a bachelor. A boarding house, as Wikipedia explains, "is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide 'room and board,' that is, at least some meals as well as accommodation." A rooming house, on the other hand, provides space, but little else.

Hazel Stevens, in the suite at 326 Young Street

Dad didn't say much about his time at Ma Sprague's, but likely adapted well to life in a boarding house. After crowded barracks and the hard life on a farm, it must have seemed a very private and easy lifestyle for a young student. After several years apart, he and Mom were finally together and could resume their courtship.

Hazel Stevens, a frequent visitor to 225 Spence Street.

According to Dad, mail delivered to 225 Spence Street would be placed on the dining room table for the tenants. One day, aware that two small boys were secretly watching, Dad sulked, "I never get any mail!"

A few days later, the two boys were again eyeing the scene. Dad laid it on even thicker, pouting, fussing and stomping his foot. One of the boys turned to the other, exclaiming, "He did it again!"

Mom and Dad on the steps of Ma Sprague's boarding house.

By the fall of 1948, Dad had completed his training and landed a job at MacDonald Bros. Aircraft. By July of the following year, he and Mom married and settled in their own home in western Winnipeg.

MacDonald Bros. Aircraft, ca. 1948 (from Dad's album)

Zelma Stevens lived in the Young Street apartment from 1940 until her death in 1974. She sometimes rented out a room to students from the University of Winnipeg, just one street over. I wonder if her tenants called her Ma Stevens.

As for Ma Sprague's? It's still a boarding house today. The house may have lost its Victorian trim (and charm) with renovations over the years, but there's no mistaking it.

then...  

and now.

  

A recent ad still offers rooms for rent, and reads as follows:

Newly Renovated, Fully Furnished Suites Located Downtown with AC in Winnipeg Manitoba

 Bright, Spacious Third Floor Suite

Completely renovated character home containing six, self contained suites. All suites have private entrances, full kitchens and bathrooms. One bedroom, studios and full floor suites are available. Units range in size from 325 to 550 square feet. Suites are fully furnished with new furniture (leather couches / loveseats, pillow top mattresses), new appliances (full size fridges, microwaves, coffee makers), dishes, linens (towels, bedding), brand new 32"Samsung flat screen LCD HDTV, DVD player, etc. Everything required for you to live in the suite is provided - just bring your suitcase. All utilities (electric heat, air conditioning, separate hot water tank for each suite), cable TV, wireless internet, onsite laundry, etc. are included in the monthly rent. 

Location is 225 Spence Street near Broadway Avenue on the west edge of downtown Winnipeg. One half block from major bus routes on Portage Avenue and Broadway Avenue. Nearby amenities include Portage Place Shopping Centre, Osborne Village (shops and restaurants), Great West Life, Investors Group, The Bay, University of Winnipeg, Red River College, etc. Suites are available for short or extended stays. Parking spots with plugs are available on-site ($50 per month). 

No Smoking. No Pets. Rents start at $800 per month for the bachelor suites. One bedrooms, basement and full floor suites start at $1,000 per month. Refundable damage deposit of $750 is required. 

If you are looking for no-stress accommodations in Winnipeg, these are for you. Additional pictures are available via email. Contact Jeff at (204) or email: jeff.meyer@smartplanit.ca for further information. 

 Photos from 225 Spence Street in a recent "Room for Rent" ad

Parking spots behind 225 Spence Street are typically rented to students or staff at the University of Winnipeg.

Rear view. Ma Sprague's is larger than it appears from the front street.

Ah, no pets allowed. I guess I will stay in my condo.

As for the Young Street apartment, well, it is no more. It will be difficult for Zelma to haunt what is now a public parking lot.

 326 Young Street today

Horse traders

Although the appellation "horse trader" often carries a negative connotation, no Fraser would consider it a slight. At least four of the six Fraser brothers - Will, John, Gordon, and Pete - were horse traders. And trainers. And drivers. And showmen. And farmers. Dad wrote in his 2003 history that "horses were important to the Frasers" and this posting is his.

The talk with visitors was always about horses, often race horses. Will and John Fraser both raced in the east, and Pete and Gordon Fraser owned race horses out west.

Will Fraser with an unknown racehorse. Harness racing allowed the Frasers to drive for many more years than thoroughbred jockeys could.

John Fraser's horse, Black Patch, Ridgetown, Ontario

Will Fraser tears up the track with Billy Hugo, 1934

Will Fraser trained many fine racehorses, including Blue Again. "Blue" won the $50,000 Santa Anita Handicap in California. That was a princely sum in the mid-1940s!

Will Fraser with another fine specimen.

Unlike his brothers, Pete Fraser preferred large draft horses, and was known for his prized Percherons.

Pete Fraser had a purebred Percheron stallion named Julius. He took Julius to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto in 1928. Jack Wallace, then a boy, went with him. 

"Down Memory Lane" column in the Pilot Mound Sentinel Courier, Nov. 29, 1988, recounted Pete's award for his Percheron "Julius" at the Toronto Royal Fair in 1928.

Murray and Pete display ribbons won by their Percherons.

We also had a standard bred stallion named Graham Worthy (harness race horse stock), circa 1928. I made a garage for my Road King bicycle from the crate Graham Worthy came in.

Not every horse in the Fraser stable was a mighty Percheron or a speedy race horse, as young Murray Fraser shows.

Julius was travelled around the country by Jack Tole. When Jack broke a leg, circa 1928, he was cared for in our downstairs bedroom.

Jack was from Crystal City, the town south of Pilot Mound, and was proud of it. Hired hand Mr. Handford told Jack, "Crystal City is better laid out than Pilot Mound." Jack beamed until Handford added, "because it's been dead longer."

Pete Fraser (left) with Dougal Graham, the funeral director. Pete drove the classy glass hearse for Dougal for many years, with two black Percherons with net blankets for show. Schoolmate Honor Graham told Dad that Pete upset and smashed the glass hearse. Myra Fraser (Dad's cousin and Gordon Fraser's daughter) told Dad, "No, Dougal got his own horses, and he upset the glass hearse!"

Percherons in funeral finery tower over other horses.

Prairie Prince replaced Julius circa 1936. This Percheron would get bound up (constipated) standing in a box stall at the back of the cow barn (not Julius' quarters). The treatment was the bazooka, a funnel approximately 10" in diameter inserted into about three feet of heater hose. The hose was inserted into the appropriate orifice, and a half pail of water, dipped from the water trough, was poured down the funnel. The result was fast, fast relief.

One summer, 1939, Tom Gorrell ran out of gas opposite Frasers'. Tom was a very abrupt, nervous man. He asked, "Have you got any gas?"

I said, "The can is here, but it's empty."

Tom said, "There's gas in the car!" The bazooka was serendipitously hanging on the wall beside the car. Tom grabbed the hose, stuck one end in the '29 Plymouth' gas tank, and sucked on the other end to siphon gas into the can. It seemed too late to tell him what the hose was used for.

Lulu Bond

Pete was reported to have won a race horse, Lulu Bond, in a raffle. He had purchased a ticket, but hadn't won the draw. He actually bought the standard bred mare from the winner. The idiots who had tried to train her had tied a rope to her front leg and would trip her, afraid she might run away. Naturally, Lulu was a trembling, nervous wreck. Dad hitched her, tied back between two big Percherons, in a four-horse abreast team. She soon calmed down and pulled her weight. Pete may have hoped she might race, but that didn't happen.

Graham Worthy, in front of (Thomas) Gordon Fraser's livery barn (which he bought in 1929), Railway Avenue, Pilot Mound. Patrons paid maybe 25¢ to have a team of horses stabled for an afternoon's shopping trip into town.

One time Graham Worthy got untied from his stall and got in with Prairie Prince. There was a hell of a ruckus. I went over the manger alongside with a pitchfork and prodded Graham back to his own stall.

Graham got loose another time and chewed the back of a cow. Too much testosterone, I guess.

John Kelly drove Graham at stud around the country.

Jess

A colt from a Percheron mare became a utility horse that could do field work, and lively enough to drive to town with a buggy or cutter.

The view's not great, but it got you to town.

Pete Fraser had some 20 head of horses into the '30s and '40s. Mosquitoes plagued man and beast alike, so he often made a smudge, a smoky fire. The horses and cows would stand in the smoke, which the mosquitoes and flies didn't like.

Pete was proud of being able to plough a straight furrow, and had the awards to prove it!  This story made the front page of The Pilot Mound Sentinel, June 25, 1925.

 From the front page of the Pilot Mound Sentinel, June 25, 1925

Pete and his four-horse team of Percherons

Pete driving a furrow straight and true.

A score card from 1923. Pete noted his wins on the back of the card: "Special Best four-horse outfit $5.00. Best finish four-horse outfit $5.00."

On winter days horses would be let out of the barn and would go to eat a straw stack in the East 40 acres. One day one of a team stood away from the feeding side of the straw stack. The message was clear: We need help here! Her teammate had got down and couldn't get up. We went down with a team and a rack, tied a chain to the downed mare's leg and pulled her to better footing so she could get up.

Pete dwarfed by his Percheron team in their show harness. These horses are typically over 6 feet high at the shoulder, and weigh about 2000 pounds.

Pete with Belle

In the early 1900s there was a neighbour to the west of Frasers' farm whose last name was Mead. He was not a licensed veterinarian, but had apprenticed in England and was better qualified than some with degrees. Sometimes he was called for help. He said, "In Canada it's horses first and last, but in England it's man first and man last. I'll be over when I've finished my breakfast."

One diagnosis: "It's the liver. When the liver stops, everything stops."

Pete with Bill

Uncle Gordon had a horse medicine called Dr. Bell's Veterinary Medical Wonder. A teaspoon would cure a horse -- powerful stuff! Uncle Gordon had some other horse medicine that his son Doug called "stink balls." Rotten kid -- stomping one made a great stink!

Uncle Gordon (right) with son Gordie and Harvest Pilot, 1957

Pete's younger brother Gordon was a lifelong harness race trainer and driver who travelled all across North America with his horses. Dad once said that Gordon might have won more races if he hadn't been so reluctant to use the whip.

A horse named Billy Democracy was one of Gordon's best winners. Dad and his sister Jessie drove "Old Bill" to school in the '30s. He was a pacer and wore hobbles when racing. Pacers had a wobble gait, in which the left (or right) pair of legs moved in unison.

Billy Democracy was lazy. He would not waste energy. There was no starting gate in his era. The starter would ring a bell if the pole horse was not in the lead and all would have to go back and start again. Nervous horses would be up and around the first turn before the drivers could get them reversed. When they again turned toward the start line, Bill was revved up -- he once took the tires off the cart doing a fast U-turn.

The horse wouldn't go a bit faster than needed, but any other horse would have to go some to pass him. For all his laziness he was a keen competitor. He would not eat his oats the day of his race, but how could he know?

Dougal McColly with Minnie Duff

Murray rides a Percheron, ca. 1938, with Pete on the scuffler, cultivating or hilling potatoes. Bill and Net were the chore team of dappled grey Percherons.

Pete Fraser owned horses even after he had motorized vehicles on the farm. You might say they were an expensive hobby. The passion was not shared by son Murray. If Dad had been interested in horses, he would have built one out of aluminum.

A chip off the old block. Two-year-old Wally Fraser in 1953, looking right at home astride what is likely a Percheron. Mom's note on the back reads "Horses were plowing the garden that day."

The Percheron Breed

(See more at Wikipedia)

A recent Supreme Champion Percheron, standing tall and proud.

Clare Geddes would probably call the Percheron the Charolais of horses. Bigger than other breeds, you might call them high and mighty.

The draft horse originated in the former Perche province of western France, where they were present by the 17th century. Earlier origins are unknown. They are known for their strength, intelligence and willingness to work. Percherons are typically gray or black in colour, still preferred by breeders today.

The breed was originally developed as a war horse. Their strength and gentle nature made them ideal for all kinds of hauling and agricultural chores. Percherons were used to pull stage coaches. Gray horses were preferred because they were more visible at night. French knights favoured the breed. Sadly, their musculature also meant they were bred in France for their meat.

There was a market for this breed in the U.S., as war horses during the Civil War in the 1860s, and for general draft and agricultural work. Approximately 7500 Percherons were exported to the U.S. in the 1880s. In 1906 France shipped over 13,000 horses to the United States.

The Percheron became the preferred draft horse in America. "Drivers appreciated the breed's agility, stamina and quick-footed gait." This may explain why they were often owned by travelling circuses, and not just as draft horses. Their strong, wide backs made a steady platform for bareback riders.

In the late 1800s, Percherons were used to pull horse-drawn buses in English and American cities. Retired teams would be sold to farmers. Always a good war horse, the British Army shipped 325 Percherons to South Africa for their use in the Boer War.

The Percheron team at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, in their new McFeetor's Heavy Horse Centre

Other major draft horse breeds in the early 1900s included the Belgian, the Clydesdale, and the Shire. Breeding stock in Canada and U.S. was very expensive.

During World War I, the French placed an embargo on the export of Percherons. The shortage led to a breeding boom in North America, and Percherons were shipped to France as much-needed, and favoured, war horses.

It wasn't just their strength and willingness to work that made the breed a good war horse. "The lack of feathering on the Percherons' lower legs made them easier to care for in the mud that they often worked in during wartime. Their quick trot on paved roads made them more versatile than motorized vehicles, and they were useful for work with guns and in forward units due to their calm temperaments."

By the 1930s the Percheron was the preferred draft horse in the U.S., making up over 70% of the purebred draft horses in the country. There were over 33,000 Percherons in the U.S., well over three times as many as the second most popular breed - the Belgian. The Percheron was favoured because of its "strength, energy, activity, robustness and endurance."

Predictably, horse numbers declined following increased mechanization after World War II, but breeders revived the interest in the 1980s. In France, the focus between 1970 and 1990 turned from draft chores to the production of meat, selecting larger and heavier stallions for breeding.

The Percheron remains the most famous and populous of all French draft breeds. They are still versatile and well suited to pulling carriages, and are used for sleigh rides and hayrides, and in parades. At Disneyland Paris, Percherons make up one-third of the park's horses, often seen pulling trams.

Not just a draft horse, purebred Percherons are also ridden, and some have even competed as show jumpers. Crossbred Percherons have been used in dressage. 

Check out some amazing footage of famed showman Jason Goodman driving a six-horse team while standing on their backs!

Budweiser has its Clydesdales, but hauling pickles and ketchup required draft horses, too. Henry Heinz was a horseman in his day, and the company regarded Percherons as the Cadillac of horses.  Click here to watch a 22-minute feature about the famous eight-horse Heinz Hitch, a popular attraction in the Rose Bowl Parade, the Calgary Stampede, and elsewhere. Sadly, the company decided to shut down its expensive Heinz Hitch, and in 2007 their horses were donated to Arlington National Cemetery. The stately Percherons will do a magnificent job in funeral processions there. 

(By the way, did you know the Budweiser Clydes were originally from Winnipeg? A local blogger has traced them back to Shea's Brewery.)

Sources:

1) Murray Fraser, The Frasers (2003)

2) Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percheron
3) McFeetor's Heavy Horse Centre:  http://www.assiniboinepark.ca/zoo/home/explore/exhibits/mcfeetors-heavy-horse-centre 
4) Jason Goodman, Percheron Thunder:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Lo8rBLdSY 
5) Heinz Percherons, HorseFlicks:  http://www.tvg2.com/videos/horseflicks-the-heinz-percheron-hitch
6) Heinz Hitch Donated to Arlington Cemetery:  https://simplymarvelous.wordpress.com/tag/heinz-horses
7) Budweiser Clydes' Winnipeg Connection:  http://westenddumplings.blogspot.ca/2012/02/budweisers-clydesdales-their-winnipeg.html