South Peace Historical Society

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  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

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09-018: A Church Service? … In There?

© G.R. Clare, 1997
In 1929 Ernest Rands was a newly ordained United Church minister in Toronto who had applied to the Home Mission Board for a posting to “the north”. In his letter of appointment, he was told that “there is a growing settlement of people west of Dawson Creek. Your headquarters will be at Sunset Prairie.” It took a lot of searching in the libraries of Toronto to find Sunset Prairie or even Dawson Creek on a map!

Full of a sense of adventure, the Reverend Rands journeyed by train as far as Hythe, the end of the line, still many miles from his destination. He managed to arrange a ride with a friendly truck driver as far as Pouce Coupe where he bought a horse and set off for Sunset Prairie on Saturday morning. Stopping at every homestead along the trail, he announced that there would be a church service the next day in the Sunset Prairie Community Hall.

The Sunset Prairie hall was hardly designed to act as a church as the young minister soon discovered. It was a small log building covered with a sod roof on which grasses and weeds grew three feet high. Whenever a bird landed on the roof, bits of dirt were dislodged onto the heads of the congregation. There was no glass in the windows and the door hung precariously on one hinge. Across the middle of the room was a huge log, set just about forehead height above the floor and making walking rather hazardous.

Sixteen people showed up for the first service and while there were no pews or chairs, no pulpit or hymn books, no organ or piano, the day was a success. The Reverend Rands stayed in the Peace District for many years, one of the many early ministers who served the scattered homesteaders in the early days.

« 09-017: Christ Church Anglican, Pouce Coupe

09-019: List of Churches & Ministers, 1999 »

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