Killarney resident Charlie Baldock, who grew up in the Wakopa area, has a keen interest in the history of that region. Through his efforts we are fortunate to have saved many artefacts and stories from the area. His efforts are on display at the Wakopa Store Museum in Lena.
Digging into the past can involve some hard work, but sometimes a bit of history is presented to us by sheer chance - if we are tuned in, so to speak.
One of Charlie’s many interests is in farm implements, and he has been active in the Turtle Mountain Flywheel Club for many years. About six years ago he attended the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, Minnesota, southwest of Fargo.
Strolling through the campground he noticed a camper with a Manitoba plate and a gentleman in a lawn chair enjoying the evening. Sensing a possible connection he asked where he was from and learned he was Otto Fielman and that he was from Morden. Charlie responded by telling him he was from Killarney.
“That’s near Wakopa”, Otto said.
“You know about Wakopa?” was Cha lie’s response.
He did indeed, and he had a story to tell. Otto was a young man In the early days of World War II, too young to enlist. He and two friends, also from the Morden area, decided to go west in search of work.
They got on the train in Morden and got as far as La Riviere, where they discovered that they hadn’t realized what train travel would cost. They didn’t have the funds to continue.
These young men, like many in the Morden area, were of German descent and it showed in their accents. Canada was, of course, at war with Germany, and the engineer on the locomotive, upon hearing those accents, was apprehensive and not inclined to offer any help. The fireman,however, liked them and offered them a chance to continue their journey as far as Killarney if they agreed to shovel coal at the firebox. Feeding coal to a steam locomotive was hard work but the young men accepted the job gratefully.
When they arrived in Killarney they were met by the police! One can assume the engineer had telegraphed the Killarney station to issue a warning.
With no registration papers with them the police constable informed them that he would have to take them into custody. The boys asked if they could go downtown, get cleaned up, and have supper, if they promised to return to the police station.
The constable agreed, and when the fellows returned, the policeman, seeing that as an indication that they were not dangerous in any way, told them they were free to go.
The men stayed in the region and found harvest work with Sam Tripp, a person Otto remembers fondly. When harvest was finished they went to work for a Mrs. Gall, doing chores and general farm work. Mrs. Gall would do her shopping at the Wakopa Store & Post Office and she would sometimes send and receive letters there for the boys. Otto himself never went to the store, but remembered it just the same.
This was the same General Store that Charlie Baldock’s parents owned half a century later.
After one more stint with another Lena area farmer - Fred Foster - the three boys moved on. Otto settled in Morden where he lives today.
Who would have guessed that these two men from Manitoba, both lovers of history and artifacts, would meet at an event in Minnesota and share stories of bygone days in the little towns of LaRiviere, Killarney and Wakopa.
Sources:
A Railway Rendezvous. A Vantage Points Flashback radio (CJRB) story
by Betty Sawatsky
Charlie Baldock, caretaker, curator and owner of the
Wakopa General Store Museum, Lena , MB.
A display in the Wakopa Store Museum in Lena.
Wakopa Store and Post Office
