Behind the house on the homestead and beside what we take to be a pumphouse is this manually operated water pump, quite likely the original water pump on the farm. The pump house beside is what supplies the homestead's water. On the bottom casting of the pump are embossed the words
SMART - Brockville ONT, while on the upper casting are the words
Quick Ship No 3. This tells us that the pump was manufactured by the
James Smart Manufacturing Co. Smart was, at the time, one of the largest manufacturing companies in Canada, producing a wide range of cast iron products. Though difficult to date accurately, the pump was likely made shortly after the turn of the twentieth century.
An 1895 source gives a partial list of products made by this large and successful firm, "one of the most prominent concerns of the kind in the Dominion [of Canada]." Stoves, ranges, and furnaces; lawn mowers; steel butts; builders', carriage and cabinet makers' hardware; iron castings; pumps; hollow ware; house furnishings; "and hundreds of other classes of goods". In that year they employed 250 to 300 hands, and operated 7 days a week. The directors were John M. Gill, president and general manager; John H. A. Briggs, vice president and secretary treasurer; Allan S. Ault, Edward Davis, and W. H. Comstock.
From Vintage Machinery
In 1900, Andreas and Kirsten Michelsen and family, originally from Denmark, immigrated from Monroe, Utah to what was then known as
Pothole Coulee in southwestern Alberta, taking work on the railroad and the canal project which was underway. The family soon moved to the newly incorporated village of Stirling, he and his elder sons filing for homesteads there. In 1902 he began construction of the house on the Michelsen Farmstead, enlarging it in 1912 as the family grew. The large barn on the property, as well as other outbuildings, soon followed, the farmstead eventually becoming what we see today. In all, eight buildings survive, together comprising one of the most complete turn of the century farmsteads to be found in Alberta. In fact, the village of Stirling has been designated a
National Historic Site, being the best surviving example of a Mormon agricultural village in Canada.
In the early twentieth century travel was both slow and difficult, resulting in small town residents having to create their own entertainment. This consisted largely of gatherings in resident's houses to play games, play cards, sing or dance. Given that both the Michelsen home and the family were larger than the norm, the Michelsen home became a popular gathering place. In the summer, when gatherings became too large for the house, the hayloft of the large Michelsen barn became a favourite site for barn dances. In fact, it hosted barn dances for 75 years or more.
Now an Alberta Provincial Historic Resource, the farmstead is managed and maintained as a museum by the Stirling Historical Society. The house and outbuildings are furnished with artefacts depicting typical living conditions in Southern Alberta from the 1900s through the 1930s. As well, several appliances and pieces of farm machinery complete the image of a homestead. Buildings on the site include the 1912 house, which incorporates the original 1902 house in the rear, the large barn, blacksmith shop, coal shed/summer kitchen and a two story granary which doubled as a summer bedroom for the boys, as well as some smaller storage buildings. The museum is open Tuesday — Saturday from 10 am-12 noon and 1 pm-5 pm from late June to early September and by appointment during other times of the year. The homestead is a fine place for an afternoon picnic, too, with several picnic tables arrayed under the mature trees beside the Michelsen house.