Profile of Leith Knight

Biography

Leith Knight is a local historian and writes a weekly history column for the Moose Jaw Times-Herald.

All articles of Leith Knight

• Train station diner was among finest in Canada
  Around Moose Jaw, the word "station" usually meant that wonderful old building at the foot of Main Street, with its clock tower and waiting room ...
• City once had dreams of waterpower
  In the early 1890s, the residents of Moose Jaw looked at their river in spring flood and were convinced that if the water was collected and ...
• Early train robberies were often scary events
  A train robbery near Moose Jaw in October 1921 was called "the slickest heist since Old Bill Miner and his gang pulled off Canada's first train ...
• Area farmers built some huge barns back in the day
  Once upon a time almost everyone needed a barn. Since horsepower was so essential in the pre-automobile ...
• Moose Jaw rail station had elegant past
  Around Moose Jaw, the word "station" usually meant that wonderful old building at the foot of Main Street, with its clock tower and a ...
• It was a dark day for Moose Jaw police
  Moose Jaw's police scandal of 1923-24 not only shocked the city at the time, but since then has amused all who are fascinated ...
• Hoburg's restaurant served much more than good food
  Following hard on the heels of railroad construction across the prairies - and sometimes even preceding it - were the women of ...
• Gophers had it rough in Saskatchewan's early days
  One of the greatest battles on the Prairies was fought by the settlers and the gophers. Each spring, as soon as crops and gardens had sprouted, ...
• Felix Plante's Buffalo Store was popular in its day
  It has been 130 years since Felix Plante first set foot in Moose Jaw to become one of the town's most popular merchants.Felix was a short, stout, ...
• River Street was once the height of elegance
  In the early 20th century, Moose Jaw, like every other centre in western Canada, was afflicted with the booze-brothel syndrome created by ...
• Moose Javian played a key role in responsible...
  This coming January marks the 128th anniversary of the beginning of settlement at Moose Jaw. Not only was James Hamilton Ross the first settler, ...
• Macdonald's wife liked to ride the rails across Canada
  When the national dream of a transcontinental rail line became a reality in November 1885 with the driving of the last spike, Lady Agnes ...
• Lauier made a favourable impression on visit to...
  The face on the Canadian $5 bill belongs to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada's fifth prime minister from 1896 to 1911, and the first French Canadian ...
• Sea's loss was the prairie's gain
  The sea's loss was the prairie's gain Seager Wheeler was born on the Isle of Wight off England's south coast, and the sea was in his blood. He ...
• Some of the city's early weddings were major affairs
  Wedding write-ups in early newspapers are now great sources of local history. They tell us who's who, what's what, who had money, who didn't, who ...
• Moose Jaw's CPR dining hall went up in flames
  Moose Jaw's CPR dining hall went up in flames In the summer of 1921, workmen digging under the CPR station platform in preparation for ...
• Gravemarkers and carvings give inside into people's...
  Gravestones may mark the burial places of the dead, but they have a lot to say about a community's past. That's why Heritage Moose Jaw, like so ...
• Councillors get in shouting match over outhouse
  In the spring of 1883, Moose Jaw was a noisy little town filled with hammering and sawing from daybreak to sunset as the first settlers built ...
• Old graveyards tell interesting stories about...
  Canadian author Nancy Millar has travelled from coast to coast gathering stories about Canadian graveyards.“Graveyards do contain history,” she ...
• Who are the First Nations men decorating the Fourth...
  No one knows for sure the identity of the two aboriginal men whose images decorate the light standards on Moose Jaw’s Fourth Avenue bridge.Bear ...
• Early carnival day was a huge success in downtown
  Moose Jaw’s street carnival on Easter Monday in 1912, was the biggest local hoopla ever staged prior to the First World War. Its slogan was “Meet ...
• Moose Jaw's first MP had a flair for political debate
  A western Canadian author described Nicholas Flood Davin as a scholar, poet, bon vivant, editor and journalistic agitator, past master of insults ...
• WCTU fountain was fit for main ... and beast
  One of the fanciest ornaments in early Moose Jaw was the 10 foot high white and gold drinking fountain crowned with a statue of a classical ...
• Settling on the prairies was no easy task
  If any homesteader had reason to be discouraged with life on the Prairies, it was James McClelland.Windstorms, rains, droughts, blizzards and ...
• Moose Jaw loved its automobiles from early years
  In 1906, people living west of Moose Jaw couldn't believe their eyes when they saw a horseless carriage tearing along the old Caribou trail ...
• Early settlers came out to watch as Napier travelled...
  In 1904 the sight of an automobile was wonder enough, but onlookers must have gasped in astonishment when they saw Charles Glidden’s four-ton ...
• Edith cruised Moose Jaw River for 12 years
  A motorboat was plying the Moose Jaw River before the first motorcar appeared on city streets. The boat was the “Edith,” a 24-passenger ...
• ‘Jenny’ airplane caused a lot of excitement in...
  At noon on May 25, 1919, Moose Jaw residents could hardly believe their eyes. A flying machine was circling overhead and ...
• Group’s look at Moose Jaw site helped confirm...
  Fat was in the fire as soon as Edgar Dewdney, lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Territories, made Regina his territorial ...
• Placing of Soo terminus led to public fights between...
  Seven years after the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, B.C., completing the Canadian Pacific Railway’s transcontinental rail line, the ...