In the middle of winter, even after some municipalities began clearing rural roads, a modest snowstorm could make them impassable. That’s how it was one night when Bill Holmes, who lived south of Mountainside, became seriously ill. He not only needed to see a doctor but he needed one soon.
So Art Conroy, from Boissevain, was the man to call. He started up his snowplane, and he and Dr. Bird headed out into the storm. They picked up Bill, made another call at Mountainside to check on Art’s dad who was also quite ill. That done they headed home. They followed sleigh trails that ran from farm to farm, rather than follow the grid roads. All the while, Art’s daughter Annie was keeping track of their progress by phoning people along the route to see if they had heard the noisy machine go through their yard.
Another of Art’s exciting trips occurred when Jerry Ransom, son of Nora and Bill Ransom, was born on January 22, 1948. Again, the roads were blocked, Conroy took Dr. Ethel McPhail out to Strathallan School. A team and sleigh met her there and took her back to Bill Ransom's farm where the baby was born. Before long old #3 highway was cleared so Bill brought her back by car.
The road filled in again on the same day and wasn't opened again until March. Art made several trips to the country and brought pregnant women to the hospital. One thing was sure! They weren't long having their babies after they got to the hospital, after riding over those rough trails!
When his daughter asked him what would happen if he didn’t manage to get his pregnant passenger to the hospital in time he replied, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” It never happened.
Art’s other regular passengers would include the telephone man and the police, anyone who needed to be somewhere regardless of the weather.
Art’s experiences, while exciting, were not uncommon. The snowplane enjoyed a brief period of popularity in rural Manitoba.
When Allan Gould of the Bernice district was in his early teens, he had to have an emergency appendix operation. The doctor came from Brandon as far as Reston by rail and Sherman Dayton of Reston then brought him to the farm in his snowplane where they did the operation on the dining room table. Mission accomplished.
Gordon Racher’s Snowplane in the Elgin Museum Simply put, a snowplane, was a sleigh with a body on it and a propeller on the back end of a motor. It allowed for winter travel in bad weather and over snow-covered roads. Or, like the horse and sleigh before it, it didn’t need roads. Although they were commercially produced by a Regina business for a time, most were home made from available parts. An old Model A motor could be used. They were noisy, and I suppose a bit dangerous with unguarded propellers. The ride was anything but smooth, and as one old-timer said, “You knew when you hit a hard snowdrift, but they did get over the snow.” As one owner, Fred Wiley in the Pierson area once observed,”… it was invented ten years too late.” By the 1950’s the roads were built higher, plows were more efficient, and municipalities began plowing regularly. All-weather vehicle traffic became much easier.
For a period of five to ten years however they were put to good use, in emergencies of course, Doctors used them, as did patients. They even took the students to school and a person could hire them for those occasions when they really had to get to town, on business or maybe even catch the bus or the train. Old timers remember taking one to a hockey game, transporting animals to the vet, picking up someone at the station, or taking guests to a wedding. I suspect that there may have been times when someone just went out for a joyride. Aside from bringing out the inner inventor in their owners they must have been fun to drive! Just to give you an idea, a survey of local histories provided this (no doubt) partial list of snowplane enthusiasts: Art Conroy, Hec Couture, Wilbert Armstrong, Earl Henderson, Fred Wiley, Sherman Drayton, the More Brothers, Elmer Hicks, Ed Draper, Albert King, Vital Bertholet, Armand Gofflot, Ab King. Sources: Albert & Edward Books Boissevain History Book Committee. Beckoning Hills Revisited. “Ours is a Goodly Heritage” Morton – Boissevain 1881 – 1981. Altona. Friesen Printing, 1981
