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Artifact Articles
The following is a selection of
newspaper articles written by Noelle Grosse in celebration of the Western
Development Museum's 50th anniversary in 1999. The articles appeared as
regular
 features over the course of late 1998 and 1999 in the Saskatoon Sun
and Yorkton This Week and Enterprise, and as intermittent features
in the Regina Sun. In 2001, all 65 articles were gathered
into a publication - Museum Gold: Treasures from the Collection.
To
purchase Museum Gold, visit any of the four WDM Gift Shops in Moose Jaw,
North Battleford, Saskatoon or Yorkton, or shop online at our
Online Store.
 Rare
Computer a Pioneer in Canadian Industry
In 1961, Canadians designed a computer that was years ahead of
its competitors, but the success of the Ferranti-Packard 6000
was cut short when the British government pulled the plug. SaskPower
donated the Ferranti-Packard 6000 to the Western Development
Museum in 1983.
 WDM
Calliope One of Last of its Kind
For the past 20 years, the whistles of the Western Development Museum
calliope have been a familiar sound to Saskatchewan parade-goers. But the steam
organ in the candy-apple red wagon is one of the last of its kind.
 Farmer
Invention Led to Combine
August and Ole Hovland's threshing machines may have revolutionized farming, but when
it came to getting credit for their inventions, they missed the harvest. Today's
descendant of the Hovland brothers' "central delivery reaper" is the swather.
 Plane
Pioneered Air Ambulance Service
The Norseman CF-SAM plane helped save Saskatchewan lives in the 1940s, but 30 years
later, it was the one needing rescue.
 Comfortractor
An Idea Before Its Time
The name said it all: The 1938 Minneapolis-Moline Comfortractor pioneered the
convenience and safety features that are now standard in farm tractors. Its only drawback?
The Comfortractor arrived 30 years too soon.
 Bronze sculpture tribute to early pioneers
By capturing a simple farm scene in a bronze sculpture, John
Neufeld hoped to build a lasting tribute to the Mennonite
pioneers of Saskatchewan.
 Pioneer recalls Pheasant
90-year-old Phillip Willer returned to his roots in
Saskatchewan, and had a surprise meeting with an old friend - the
Pheasant airplane he flew almost 70 years ago.
 Steps taken to preserve McClung wedding dress
If the fibres of Nellie McClung's wedding dress were as
enduring as her popularity, the Western Development Museum would
not have to worry about the future of the 102-year-old garment.
The dress worn by the famous Canadian on her wedding day in 1896
must be carefully preserved to keep it from breaking down with
time.
 Rumours surround legendary Bedaux trek
Everyone said it couldn't be done, but Charles Bedaux tried
anyway, and the result was the legendary Bedaux Subarctic
Expedition of 1934.
 Spy Hill
snowplane start of Prairie legend
Seventy years ago, Karl Lorch took his first
"snowplane" for a spin around Spy Hill, Sask. and
created a Canadian legend.
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