A series of storyboards will be installed at Lake William to share the history of all the incredible things that took place at that site from the earliest settlements years of the 1880's in the Boissevain-Ninga area.

Janelle (Hicks) Villeneuve and her family have been delving into the Hick's family personal pictures and archives to gather as much information they can for each of the storyboards.

In the late 1800's Joseph Hicks homesteaded in Ninga and grazed their cattle in the Turtle Mountains near Lake William. Two of his sons would spend the entire summer camped at the lake to herd the cattle to and from the wooded area close by. 

Janelle says, things started to change in 1921 when pastureland that they were leasing was put into fence to the south and west of Lake William, encompassing the whole 'Turtle's Back' which many hikers would recognize at the mound to climb to the top.

The Hicks family continued grazing their cattle in this region, however the Hicks boys could spend their summers at home, instead of tenting up at Lake William to take care of the herd.

Things changed again in the early 30's when the drought took place.  "In the dirty 30's, 1930-1931, there was no pasture on the Prairies at all," explains Janelle Villeneuve.  "So, the families that held grazing permits back in the Turtle Mountains were being approached by a lot of their neighbors asking if they could graze their cattle back there as well, because that was the only place that had any grass at all."

Villeneuve says her grandfather had recorded over 400 hundred cattle were grazing the Turtle Mountains around the Lake William area during those years.

In September of 1931, Joseph Hicks, suggested formalizing the grazing between the area farmers.  "So, they canvassed all the producers in the area to see if they wanted to set up an association that would be more of a permanent pasture there."  With one son, Gerry, driving the car and Joseph himself sharing the idea with area farmers, the Ninga Livestock Association was formed with approximately 20 members.

"Almost immediately they went down to the bush and started fencing the land," she explains. "So, they fenced 9 sections of land (640 acres x 9 = 5760 acres) in that Fall."

During the depression of the early 30's there were no crops to harvest in the fall season, so the men could dedicate their time to fencing these 9 sections of land.

"At the same time," she adds, "apparently it was very easy because there were no sloughs, as the sloughs were all totally dried up, and so many of the trees were so dry that they could basically cut the branches off the trees and use them as fence posts."

Janelle's Grandpa Les was hired as the first manager of the Ninga Livestock Association. He and his wife, Frances, moved a cabin onto the beach area of Lake William and built a stable there as well.  They lived there at the cabin in the summers to manage the cattle, and then moved back to Ninga for the winters.  Their oldest son, Gord, was born at that cabin in 1934.

Please listen to this excerpt of Janelle Villeneuve's interview that shares more of this story, and do listen to Part 1 by following the link below.

Related Story: History with the Hicks Family - Part 1 - Cattle Grazing at Lake William 

All photos submitted by Janelle (Hicks) Villeneuve.  Photos below are of the cattle herd, Frances with a young deer, and little Gord on the horse and pulling in a boat.

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