Emerald Lake 2019
This story was published in Saskatchewan History and Folklore Magazine
One Sunday I was waiting in the truck at Emerald Lake Regional Park while The Hubs tended to our park entry. I could feel the inklings of memories emerging around me. The lake is located twenty miles north-west of Leask, Saskatchewan. It is small, deep, surrounded by trees and emerald green in colour.
People began using Emerald Lake as a recreational site in the 1920s. There was once a dance hall and restaurant, a tearoom and a pavilion. The first cabins were much different than the ones we see today. Coal oil lamps provided light, blocks of ice from an icehouse kept food cold and drinking water was hauled by hand from the nearby spring.
Pavilion 1936 - 1942
Dance Hall 1930s
I grew up twenty-three miles from the lake and have been there many times. The Hubs grew up a mere eight miles away and rode the family horse, Bob, there often when he was in his early teens. He would tie Bob up in the shade and spend the day at the beach chasing girls. Unfortunately, Bob got loose one day and chewed a tent up. The lake board held a meeting and assessed a charge for the damages and band horses from the park. His dad paid the bill, but neither The Hubs nor Bob was very popular at home for a while.
Upon further discussion with my brother-in-law about Bob’s history of shenanigans, I learned that this incident was not Bob's first offence at Emerald Lake. Bob was the only horse they had so the brothers took turns riding him. One day when it was The Hubs brother’s turn to ride Bob to the lake, he let a local girl who was there tenting with friends take Bob for a ride. When she was done, unaware of Bob’s love of tents, she tied him to one of the poles on her friend's tent and went to the beach. Inevitably Bob chewed that tent as well. Bob loved to jump fences and always wanted to take the lead; he was a spirited creature.
When I pressed The Hubs for further details about Bob, he tersely said, “it doesn’t matter, "Bob ate tents”! I guess he is still recovering from that experience and I hit a nerve. How was I to know he was so sensitive about Bob eating tents.
Bob
Growing up most kids from rural areas had their go-to lake. It was usually where they had gone with their families, taken swimming lessons and spent magical teenage summers with their friends. We feel a sense of attachment to places like this that last a lifetime no matter how far away life's journey takes us. It was at a party at a friend’s mobile home at Emerald Lake that The Hubs and I first noticed each other in the summer of ’76.
My brother and I were among the throngs of kids that took swimming lessons at Emerald every summer. At the time a school bus left early every morning from Leask and delivered us to the lake. By the end of our two weeks of swimming lessons, we had a dark tan, dried up skin and a good case of the itch. It was gruelling and we were exhausted and happy to stay home for a while.
Back then the old grid road to the lake ran right along a deep, murky slough. If it rained the bus would fishtail down the road. Of course, the older kids on the bus told us younger kids that the slough was a bottomless lake and we were scared. When we arrived at the lake the driver parked the bus up the hill from the beach and we piled off scattering for the day. At three o'clock the bus driver sounded the horn as the signal it was time to leave and off we went back to the village.
For two years in the late seventies I was part of a government-sponsored summer works program and we spent some of the time at Emerald Lake painting posts and mowing the grass in the bushes on the golf course. As a teenage girl pushing a small lawnmower through the bush wasn't my idea of a good time, but I survived.
The lake was the gathering spot for teenagers either at the old gazebo by the beach (once called the 4H booth) or up the hill at the ball diamond. On those warm summer nights, a bonfire was built near the ball diamond and as the flames lit up the sky, we stood around visiting for hours.
I camped there in tents and trailers as a teen and once we had a family of our own, we took our kids to Emerald Lake for swimming lesson week every summer. That week was something I looked forward to as a mom. The kids would take their lessons and we would spend the rest of the day on the beach visiting with the other families.
The park has changed a lot since I saw it for the first time over fifty years ago. It looks very different with all the modern conveniences. Two stores, a shower house, bathrooms, playgrounds, tables and change rooms. The upper beach area where I once picnicked with my family has been nicely landscaped with grass, plants, sidewalks and paths. The ball diamond is now used for additional seasonal campsites.
The Hubs and I still make our summer pilgrimage to Emerald Lake to visit friends at their cabins, to fish or enjoy floating in the sunshine on the boat. Summer doesn't feel complete if we don't go there at least once.
Bob's story could be a metaphor for life - enjoy summer to the fullest - eat the tent, jump the fence, take the lead.
Bob's story could be a metaphor for life - enjoy summer to the fullest - eat the tent, jump the fence, take the lead.
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