Discussions

Picnics ca. 1905  
Once the Automobile came into common use, people’s concept of “long distance” changed. Today we think nothing of travelling a thousand kilometres to attend a picnic at a family reunion or anniversary. In the late 1800’s to 1900’s to travel only a few kilometers was considered a medium trip and to go sixty kilometers or more was a long distance. Of course one’s perception of long distance was affected by your occupation. Railway personnel travelled hundreds of miles every day. Circuit Preachers and Judges routinely travelled six hundred or more kilometres to complete their circuits, which may have took many days and weeks to complete.  
Most ordinary people who had to rely on walking or horse back riding needed their recreational spots had to be relatively close. Lake Clementi is about ten miles south of Brandon: before the road to Clear Lake was constructed it was the holiday resort of Brandon. In those times, (1900’s) eighteen boats were available for hire at this lake in the Brandon hills. A two story-dining hall stood on its shores, as well as a grocery store, a confectionary shop, a dance hall, and numerous cottages. Hacks, (horse drawn carriages) could be hired in Brandon to drive one out to the lake.  
Lake Clementi was the scene of many School Class picnics, with such food as veal, ham pies, roasts, hot scalloped potatoes, cakes and fruit. The boy’s, who could afford too, would rent a boat for one hour for twenty-five cents, and take his Sweetheart boating. For those who were old enough there was the Dance in the evening at the Pavilion. Moonlit boat rides on the Lake must have given ample opportunity for romance. The Eastern boys would call the lake a large Slough, which did not earn them any favours. The Lake was named in honour of Mr. Clementi Smith, Dominion land agent in Brandon.  
Before the days of cars, the mode of transportation was the wagon or the ‘Democratic’, or ‘Democratic wagon’, which was the name of a large family sized buggy, usually having two seats. Picnics in those days were really glorified Socials with all kinds of food. There was every type of Pie imaginable. There were always a lot of good cooks in the community. Different women had different specialties, and every one took their own dishes, (no paper plates). Participants wore nothing special to Picnics, but in 1910 this meant something different than what we think in 2007. Photographs of the period show that people would wear “dress cloths” the women wore only skirts, they were not allowed to wear slacks. The men would even wear a tie while canoeing at a public event. There was Baseball: people would form teams, like the married men would challenge the single men. Sometimes the men would play against the women. On rare occasions they would play cricket.  
Sunday Schools had picnics, usually in late June or July. There were races for everyone, for children and for adults. There were three legged races, and family picnics scattered all around. This was before the school system really got going. Each congregation would have a picnic with races and prizes of 5 cents to twenty-five cents.  
The special treat at a picnic was ice cream. It was difficult to get, a struggle to make, but well worth the effort. Prior to refrigeration, ice cream recipes concentrated on creating the stock and on the technical difficulties of freezing this into the familiar treat. After World War II, a refrigerator was more common and the recipes reflected this fact.  
At a picnic there was always a canvas ice cream Booth where a man sold homemade ice cream and gum. Freezing it and turning a crank on the ice cream maker made ice cream. You cranked and cranked until you eventually got ice cream. A good base was like a pudding, like custard. Ice was bought from the icehouse for $1 a ton truckload. The ice was stored there after it was cut from the Assiniboine River. Its main use was for fresh soft water for washing your hands, face, hair, and clothes. The secondary use was for ice cream. Salt was added to the ice to make it colder. It was the same blue or red salt used to feed the cows. Large chunks of ice were broken from the blocks in the storage room, and then later crushed with a hammer. This mixture was placed in the metal ice cream container, and the wooden beaters were added, the top was screwed on tight. Attached to the top was the churning mechanism. Handfuls of crushed ice were placed around the container, which was filled about 1/3 full of ice and a handful of salt was added to increase the freezing capacity. More ice, more salt, more ice and it was ready to start. The handle was turned and turned until it would turn no more and then the ice cream was finished. There were some flavour choices, but mostly vanilla and strawberry, and some times chocolate were added. There were also cones. Although ice cream was sold through the Booth’s you could also get an ice cream cone as a prize for winning a race.