COLONEL HUBERT McLAUGHLIN, representing the Imperial Remount Commission, went to Canada in 1907 to buy horses for the British Army. After visiting Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary, on September 21 he went to see his cousin Fred (1877-1964), son of Judge Frederick McLaughlin.

Fred had done well since 1895 when he first came to the North West Territories District of Assiniboia, now southern Saskatchewan, and slept outdoors to avoid paying for a room.

Two years later he had his own ranch in Maple Creek, but spent most of his time running another man's farm 35 miles west in Josephsburg, shown on this 1906 map, but now vanished.

Fred's neighbour in Josephsburg was a Cree Indian named Yellow Face whose family included his wife Long Quill, a son Thunder That Talks, a daughter Blow With The Wind, and nephews Rolling Snow and The Fool.

By 1904 Fred and a partner bought the hotel in Irvine, on the route from Medicine Hat to Maple Creek. The next year Fred traded his share of the hotel for cattle and horses which he shipped to Britain, where he spent the winter with his parents.

He returned accompanied by his sister Eva McLaughlin. She was supposed to be cooking for him, but Eva spent most of her time with Fred's fiancée Katherine Somerville Armstrong (1878-1963), pictured left with him about 1906. Katherine, the daughter of Ontario veterinarian Robert Armstrong and Euphemia, née Miller, kept house for her brothers Peter, George, and William, who were employed by several Cypress Hills horse ranchers.

It was to Katherine's home that Fred brought Bertie, as family members called the Colonel, and Major Harris, his assistant. They stayed the night in one of the four back bedrooms. It was customary for Katherine's numerous visitors to sleep over because of the great distances between habitations.

Katherine kept a diary (sample below right). It is of more interest to meteorologists than students of human nature, but sufficient to show that hers was a hard life even though she employed a cook, had a telephone, and found time to read popular novels and the Ladies' Home Journal.

Despite bouts of illness, Katherine helped to drive cattle and pull out cows that got stuck in the marsh. She whitewashed, wallpapered, scrubbed floors, churned butter, baked (ten loaves at a time), canned gooseberries (nine quarts), cut the men's hair, sewed corset covers, darned socks (23 at a sitting), and washed (175 pieces was the record). Dirty clothes were allowed to accumulate for a big wash because the water had to be carried from the creek. Rain water was for drinking.

	Courtesy Esplanade Archives, Medicine Hat

Tedium was relieved by friends dropping in for a meal and police coming to use the telephone. At night there were card games and occasional dances. In 1905 the local News reported on "the event of the season" at Irvine. "On Friday evening last, the schoolhouse was cleared, the floor thoroughly cleaned and waxed, and sharp at eight o'clock the music struck up Dreamland waltzes and the merry fantastic trippers danced to the splendid music furnished by Irwin and Smith's string orchestra from the Hat... The dance was continued up to 12 o'clock, when a halt was called and the couples left the hall and arriving at the dining rooms of the Golden West Hotel they found a well provided luncheon awaiting them. The tables were decorated with flowers and ferns, and the refreshments included all the nice things that one could wish for... Dancing was again continued until the arrival of the Eastbound train, which took away the Walsh attendants, and the dance broke up at 7:30 on Saturday morning. Over 80 couples were present... A great deal of thanks is due to ... Fred G. McLaughlin ... for arranging for the dance."

Fred records in his diary (even more laconic than Katherine's) that on February 6, 1908, Bertie phoned from Medicine Hat to say he was leaving for the Argentine. Fred spent the next four weeks, even in chinook blizzards, hauling logs onto his land and setting them up to make a house. He lathed it in five days. On April 2 he put the roof on, and a week later finished plastering. Ploughing took precedence for most of the next six weeks, but on June 4 he put in the furniture which he had just brought from Irvine in a rainstorm.

Katherine continues the story:
    June 15 Monday - We get up early and leave for Med. Hat at 7:20. Arrive at 11:20. A very hot day. Eva, and Geo, Fred and I. Have a busy afternoon: see the dentist, have ice cream, buy some drugs and combs... We stay at Royal.
    June 16 Tuesday - My Wedding Day. Eva and Geo, Will, Fred and myself and Mr. Morrow at 8:30 in Presbyterian church, Med Hat. We leave at 10 for the ranch. Arrive at 3. Have dandy big cake, which I could not cut...
    June 17 Wednesday  - Eva gets breakfast and I get up at 7. Pack away my clothes and fix up my room in morning. Make curtains for sitting room in afternoon. Eva is to do cooking for a week. Talk to Peter over phone. Fred entertains us in evening on the banjo.

A month after Bertie returned in July 1908 and based himself in Medicine Hat, Katherine became very ill. The doctor arrived from Irvine at 6:30pm after a ride of more than two hours. He stayed until 10, returned the next evening and remained for 24 hours. Three days after this house call Katherine was well enough to provide lunch for Bertie and two of his friends. Bertie left Medicine Hat for Ontario at the end of September. He sold a buggy harness to Fred for $120 but made Katherine a gift of his chiffonier cabinet.

The next year was chiefly notable for Katherine's purchase of a washing machine and wringer. It cost ten dollars and probably looked like this one in the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Garments were pulled up and down as well as to and fro by turning the flywheel geared to a dolly with wooden fingers inside the tub.  "Like it very much," the diary records. "I wash 117 pieces."

Fred's marriage to Katherine produced three sons: Hubert Armstrong McLaughlin (a grain buyer for the Alberta Wheat Pool), Robert George(a Forest Ranger) and Lynn Crofton (Secretary Treasurer for Irvine). Hubert married a schoolteacher, Annie, née Mack, now in her nineties and living independently in Medicine Hat.

After 28 years with the RCMP, Robert's son Harold, who toured internationally with the Musical Ride, became Chief of the Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police in British Columbia.