Fred Payton
Prince Albert Historical Society
When I was a youngster, my family bought our meat from the butcher at Eaton’s grocery counter. We later followed that butcher to his own meat shop and, even later when I was approaching university age, we followed him to the Hillcrest Grocery (owned at that time by the Kavanaugh family). The butcher was Albert Russell, one of six sons and three daughters of George and Rosalie Russell.
George Russell was born at Glengarry, Ontario, in 1858, to Peter and Margaret (Shatall) Russell. He attended school in Cornwall, after which he was apprenticed to the butcher’s trade. In the beginning of May, 1878, at the age of twenty years, he arrived in Winnipeg. On the morning of May 5th, Russell sought employment, but found none available in the trade in which he was apprenticed. He did, however, obtain employment as a baker, earning no salary but being provided with room and board. After two months, he took a job as a driver for E.F. Patwell’s store, working for $15.00 a month. He remained at this job for a year before taking up a job in 1879 in Saint Boniface with Bennick and McCormick, a firm of butchers.
In 1880, Russell obtained employment with a contractor as a “cookee” on a Canadian Pacific Railway site. His employer received that same year a contract for supplying meat to another C.P.R. construction gang. Russell did all the butchering, and packed and delivered the meat to the camp. He killed a head a day, carrying a quarter of beef on his back a quarter at a time four miles to the camp. In addition, Russell had to act as the waiter during meal times.
When autumn freeze-up resulted in the work being discontinued, Russell was assigned by his employer to haul railway ties for the connecting link of the railway to Rat Portage. The camp was six miles from the rail line, and on one occasion their food supplies were delayed nearly two weeks due to the trains being delayed. All that the camp crew had to eat over this time was beans and syrup.
Russell and his employer followed the railroad west to Qu’Appelle. There, Russell met a number of individuals whom he would later encounter when he moved to Prince Albert. These included S.J. Donaldson, Harry Ross, and J.G. Rosser.
In the spring of 1882, Russell (along with his employer and another man) each took up three-quarters of a section. They had expected to be able to sell the property for a profit, but the course of the rail line was changed three times over the summer. As a result, Russell was able to sell only one quarter section, receiving a mere $12.00 for it. Later that year, Russell left the job with his employer and went out on his own. He put up a small log building at Qu’Appelle and started business as a butcher, receiving his supplies from Brandon, making $500.00 that winter. He then, built a larger building which included a shop and an apartment, going into business with W.Y. Davis. Although they were offered a contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company to supply the government troops with meat, they did not feel that the return would be sufficient to be worthwhile. In the winter of that year (1885), the troops which were left in the Qu’Appelle valley were supplied with meat by Russell and Davis.
The summer of 1886 was so dry that the crops were a failure. There was difficulty finding feed and water for the cattle and, as they had a sizeable herd of cattle and flock of sheep, Russell decided to move further north to Prince Albert. He moved 17 head of cattle and 35 sheep, as well as a load of freight via a pony and light cart to his new home. It took thirty days, and Russell reached Prince Albert in October. With no butcher aside from a man who peddled meat from door to door, Russell took a chance and established a business on River Street in a building which later housed the Army and Navy, and later still Diehlers’ Choice. His first customer was Stephen Brewster, at one time the Land Titles Registrar.
The business in Qu’Appelle remained open under the management of W.Y. Davis until the spring of 1888 when Davis moved to Prince Albert. At that time, they built a larger butcher shop. Russell sold out his share of the business to Davis in the spring of 1891, taking a vacation to his birth place for the first time in thirteen years.
In the year 1892, Russell entered into a short partnership with James MacArthur who, along with a man named Knowles, had opened the first bank in Prince Albert. After leaving the banking business, MacArthur ventured into raising sheep at a ranch in Colleston. After seven months, MacArthur discontinued the partnership, but Russell maintained the business, purchasing the wool from the area sheep ranches and shipping it to Winnipeg. In 1904 alone, he shipped a car and a half of wool and seneca root. He also shipped a carload of dried hides, and was the first area businessman to ship cattle east, driving 315 head to Qu’Appelle over two different drives for shipment to not only Central Canada but also to Britain. The British shipment was not, however, a success as the cattle became too thin.
In 1904, Russell purchased the general store of W.R. Fish. This he managed along with his butcher business. After a year and a half, he sold out to W.C. Ramsey. At the time, Russell was also actively involved in real estate, and in the early 1900s he traded a building on the east side of Central Avenue near River Street for a building known as the Old Brewery (likely the Courtney Brewery). A newspaper story from the time reported that this deal would likely have a “far-reaching effect on the importance of Prince Albert as a market centre”. Russell was said to be planning to use the site as a pork packing house. A letter to the Mayor and Council of the City, written in May, 1910, indicated Russell’s intent to build and abattoir near the intersection of Broadway and the Hudson’s Bay Company Reserve (now 15th Street East and 6th Avenue). He was hopeful that the council would authorize the connection of the water lines to his property as he anticipated using considerable water each day in that business.
From the pork packing plant, Russell shipped meat to Saskatoon, Regina, and Moose Jaw, as well as supplying quantities of it to the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1909, he took another trip east.
Upon his return to Prince Albert, Russell bought out the F.C. Baker store, carrying on business as G.R. Russell and Brother from a business on the corner of 2nd Avenue and River Street. In 1911, he sold that store and opened on 11th Street, forming a company in 1912 called Russell/Baker Packing Company. Baker eventually sold out to George Russell and his brother Norman. Norman carried on, eventually selling the business to Patrick Burns from Calgary.
In the meantime, the general store on 11th Street was doing very well. But Russell again felt the need to try something different and, in 1918, he sold out to G.W. Baker and, in 1919, he opened a store in Hoey on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. When he received a reasonable offer for that store, Russell sold out and proceeded to open a general store in Henribourg, providing a focus for that farming community. He built up a large trade but again sold out, wanting to ensure the provision of appropriate educational facilities for his growing family.
As can be seen from the foregoing information, Russell did not confine himself to the butcher trade, or even the grocery business. While in Prince Albert, he was the fur agent for Joseph Hullman of St. Paul, one of America’s largest fur buyers. This was apparently a viable business as in one year Russell was able to sell him $74,000 worth of furs. He was involved in road construction in the Buckland district and also dabbled in real estate, building sixteen houses in and around Prince Albert, and owned twenty-four other buildings.
Perhaps one of the most interesting business propositions in which he was involved was his establishment of the Prince Albert ferry. After the Resistance of 1885, the cable from the Batoche ferry was handed over to the community of Saskatoon. It had been the property of the Honourable Charles Nolin, Manitoba’s Minister of Agriculture. He resorted to civil action and the Court found in his favour, allowing him to retrieve the cable. Russell bought the cable from him and placed it across the river in Prince Albert. The landing site was at the base of 1st Avenue West, with the cable attached on the north side of the river, running it through the forks of a large poplar tree. This allowed the people living on the north side of the river to bring their wagons right into the business district. Eventually Russell ceded control of the ferry to Prince Albert’s council. This ferry continued to allow for the river crossing until the construction of the railway bridge by the Canadian Northern Railroad.
George Russell died in Prince Albert in 1948, leaving behind a legacy which few remember today.
