“A couple of miles of the worst stumps and ruts yet, and then a little improvement. Had to cut trees and move wires from across the road. Probably near the start lost the bag with my two black hats, and Herbert’s hard hat in it. The ‘bull-dogs’ something terrible, and the horses bleeding from the little black flies – myriads upon myriads.”
Those are a few of the words written in a diary by Dr. Lucy A. Bagnall (née Lowe) on June 15, 1912 while she travelled with her husband Reverend Herbert Bagnall from Calgary to Grande Prairie to establish a Baptist church for a small number of Baptist settlers.
Lucy’s diary details their experiences on the journey and the first months they spent in the region.
South Peace Regional Archives in Alberta has now put Lucy’s diary on its website.
This diary is available to read on the South Peace Regional Archives website.
