My great grandfather came west in 1878 with his family and possessions to homestead a tract of land south of the Little Saskatchewan River Bend settlement - near the present location of Strathclair. We still maintain a home on this homestead site. This song was written as a tribute to those early pioneers. Besides trying to express our love for this area where my ancestors
sank roots so long ago, I was also trying to show how much I feel we owe to our heritage.

JOHN CAMPBELL - PIONEER

Westward bound the year was '78
John Campbell - Pioneer
Steamin' by train and rolling by wagon
To Manitoba's wild frontier

His daddy built a house of sod just for the winter
Come summer built a house of stone
Cleared the virgin land and they did it by hand
Workin' aching fingers to the bone

He met my Nanny in a country school house
Where they danced the night away
Bought a gold band and asked for the hand
Of pretty little Katie McKay

Green Bluff girl then moved into Maple Grove
Just a little south of town
Helping in the fields and cooking all the meals
And watching little babies run around

CHORUS:
Now I walk the same fields and the forests
But it's not as it once used to be
And I realize with tears in my eyes
Time fades their memory

'20s brought good times, '30s took them back
'40s called the second son away
Winter '55 took and old man's life
And a woman's will to live another day

But the house still stands to the memory of a man
Who settled on this prairie land
Trees a-blowing in the wind are still growing
Planted by a woman's loving hand

From the CD Recording:
BILL & SUE-ON HILLMAN
24 ORIGINAL SONGS
Recorded On Tour in England, USA and Canada
 

CONTENTS
 
 
 

TAKE ME TO THE BCATP MUSEUM

Webmaster: William G. Hillman
BILL & SUE-ON HILLMAN ECLECTIC STUDIO
All Original Material Copyrighted 1999-2002/2004