The Shurniak Art Gallery in Assiniboia will host a presentation of a new book about southern prairie ranchers who lived in the Grasslands National Park on September 17 at 2 p.m. The book is a Parks Canada project published by Couteau Books called “The Grasslanders” and it is written by well-known southern Saskatchewan author Thelma Poirier. She will do a reading from the new volume and speak on the history of the ranchers who played a major role in making the park a reality.
“The book captures the story of the southern prairie ranchers before the establishment of the Grasslands National Park,” Poirier described the book. It was first unveiled at a book launch in Val Marie and Rock Creek in July and she made another book presentation in August in the East Bloc of the park. The book and the launch were part of Grasslands Park’s Canada 150 celebrations.
The project was born after the park first approached Poirier to interview ranchers who had ranched on the Grasslands Park about how they viewed the natural resources. Later, it turned into a book that took her about two-and-a-half years to complete. It was a huge research project with interviews and homesteading research.
“The Grasslanders” contains the story of the beginnings of the Grasslands National Park as well as the ranching that existed there before the park was established. The idea of the park was first aired in the 1930s and was much discussed in the following decades but it never came to fruition until the 1980s. Parks Canada purchased natural grasslands land from ranchers under a willing seller arrangement. There were approximately 40 ranches involved in the park. Within the first 25 years since its establishment, the park acquired most of the land inside its proposed boundaries. The park is about 85 per cent complete having acquired much of the land originally agreed with the province.
Poirier conducted interviews with these ranchers and created ranch profiles which were the stories of the ranches. “We looked into all of the people who ever lived on the lands,” she added. Poirier was the perfect author for this project. As a research historian and published author, she had the writing and research experience required for such an immense project. Also, growing up in the area, she knew many of the ranchers involved. “I had sort of an open door into the homes of these people,” she noted. Although ranchers are known to be reticent, Poirier found that people were willing to talk. “People want to tell their story.”
“The Grasslanders” is intended as a tribute to the ranchers who lived on the park lands and to commemorate Canada’s 150th anniversary. “I wanted the people to be more important than the themes,” stated Poirier. She described the book as “almost a coffee table book,” due to the large number of photographs included. All of the stories include quotes from her interviews with the ranchers.
The book is divided into three major sections. The first part paints a picture of the open range and tells the story of the ranches before there were fences from the days before Saskatchewan became a province. “That was the very early days of ranching in this part of Saskatchewan,” she explained. The next section is divided into two parts examining the stories of the ranchers who once ranched the land now owned by the park. “We were just as interested in the contemporary stories as in the past,” Poirier said. A third section talked to ranchers who still ranch independently in the park today.
Although this book was intended as a Grasslands Park project to honour the ranchers, it is valuable as one of the few books documenting the history of southern Saskatchewan.
