Biography of Albert Edward Cameron (1859-1932)

Winnipeg at that time was quite small.  They boys had only a few cents in their pockets, so it was necessary to get work as soon as possible.  It was customary at that time to tar the roofs of houses and this was the work they obtained.  They were enthusiastic, but inexperienced, and on their first roof they caused a fire from overheating the tar.  In their fright and excitement they ran away.  They headed west, out of the city. After running for miles they sat down to figure out what to do.

The boys were a long way from home, broke, dejected and homesick.  Roderick and Will decided to head south to the U.S., as they felt they were too far away from civilization.  Albert decided to keep walking west, as he had heard of a wondrous valley in Southern Manitoba where you could obtain a homestead with rich soil, a place - unlike Bruce County - with no bush or rocks.  After resting a while Roderick and Will started walking south while Albert waved to them as he headed west.  He never saw them again, although he heard in later years that Will was running a dancing school in New York and Roderick was in Michigan working for the railroad.

Albert followed a wagon trail that the stage coach used. It was rough and wet and his legs became tired and swollen.  He was sitting by the side of the trail when the stage coach came along.  The driver took pity on him and allowed him to ride for fifty cents, all that Albert had.  They arrived at a village, the name of which has since been changed, but it was somewhere in the Gladstone area.  Albert walked out quite a few miles, to look at the homestead area.  He was so young, so far away from home and the valley looked lush, but lonely.  He decided to put homesteading off to a later date.

He then walked out to Neepawa, obtaining a job with a Scottish family of retired sailors, who had a farm and sawmill on the east side of the Riding Mountains.  They taught him the Gaelic language, which they considered the "language of the land."

In the spring of 1874 he got a contract that took him down the Missouri Trail to Montana, to buy broncos which he tied tail to mane and walked back to Neepawa.  Albert made enough to buy a horse and buckboard, and he said "I thought I was a king."  It was on this trip to Montana that he saw his first and only herd of buffalo, which were being followed by a tribe of Indians.  The prairie blizzards were what he considered to be the greatest peril to his life - when you were lost and had to walk for hours behind your horse to keep from freezing to death.  The prairie settlers were very friendly, as they would water and feed your horse and welcome you to the family dining table.  One exception to this rule was a family by the name of Manning, who lived in caves where the Antler River straddles the international boundary.  They were considered fugitives from justice and met visitors with a shotgun or rifle, which Albert said sure got his attention in a hurry.

He also obtained a job driving the stage coach and did this until they heard they were wanting men to work for the railroad.  Albert joined the railroad and his first location was on the north shore of Lake Superior.  His job was to feed the hundreds of men employed there.  Later, while working on the railroad in Alberta, he told of a strange sight.  The antelope were moving south and when they came to the new railroad tracks they backed up in the thousands.  Finally, one jumped the tracks and then, like sheep, they all followed it across.

It was while in Alberta that Albert did a great deal of running.  He was, for a time, considered the champion runner of Alberta.

His next job was building snow sheds over the tracks in the Rockies.  While working on that project Albert met a man who carried a gold nugget and claimed that there were many more waiting for the taking in the Rockies.  Albert, along with another friend, saved for grub stake and then headed out to join the gold rush.  They panned for several weeks and never found so much as a trace of gold.

In 1889 he arrived back in Manitoba and started selling machinery for Frost & Wood Company.  In 1891 he was appointed general agent of the firm.  During this time he met Mr. James Duncan, who was the local agent for Frost & Wood at Melita, Manitoba.  In 1892 these two put up enough money between them and purchase a wagon and box.  This was the start of the Cameron-Duncan partnership and before long they had 26 agencies and warehouses, stretching between DeLoraine and Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan.

Mr. Duncan was the bookkeeper at their head office in Melita and Albert was the salesman.  He used to cover a great deal of southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan by team and buggy.  One of his regular stopping places was Andy Murray's at Lyleton.  This was where he met Ada Brokenshire, who had emigrated from Cornwall, England.  They were married on January 1, 1903 in Winnipeg.  Soon the newly-weds were on a honeymoon tour of Scotland and England.

During the next five years Albert, Dallas and Donald were born to Albert and Ada.  Besides the challenges of three young children on the prairie, Albert kept quite busy.  Along with the machine business he had also acquired considerable farm land.  This land was situated in the area of Cameron Siding, which was named after him.  He had a total of 3400 acres of land, farms of 320 to 640 acres.  There are many letters from the provincial government requesting information and planning the rail line which was finally put through as far as Lyleton, Manitoba.

Sometime during 1907 doctors advised Albert and Ada that they considered Donald to have a heart condition, and advised the family to move to a warmer climate.  The partnership of Cameron and Duncan was dissolved in 1908.  Albert bought a fruit farm at Gordon Head, about five miles outside of Victoria, British Columbia.  Their youngest two children, Murray and Douglas, were born in Victoria.

Albert enjoyed the growing of fruit and became manager of Gordon Head Fruit Growers Association, which shipped the first fruit to the prairies by refrigerated car.  He also promoted and established the Saanich Fruit Co-op, a first for Canada.  He had the position of general manager.  Albert sold the fruit farm in 1918 and moved the family into Victoria, so the children could get a high school education.

During the 1920s Albert returned to the prairies, to look after his farm interests, which weren't doing well financially.  He spent most of his time back in Manitoba, trying to put the farms on a paying basis.  During this time he only spent a portion of the winters in Victoria.  By 1929 the entire family was back at Cameron Siding.

Albert had a herd of cattle at Cameron Siding, one of which was a large Hereford Bull.  This animal became enraged and knocked Albert down, severely crushing his chest.  The following two years he enjoyed reading and visits from his many friends.  During this time he was never really well-off, and succumbed, primarily from the injured chest, on April 16, 1932.  He was buried with a full Masonic service at Coultervale Cemetery in Melita.  Albert is remembered as being a kind man, with a generous disposition, always ready to help those in need.