1931

That year Grandpa bought a new Buick. My father Emile was seventeen and the first child to learn how to drive. It was decided to go on a trip to Saskatoon and visit my great grandfather (Jérémie) who had moved there to be close to his two daughters that had purchased large farms there.
The Trans-Canada highway was not complete at the time so that they detoured from Kenora to Duluth. They encountered excessive heat and sand storms that seriously impeded travel. Some minor mechanical problems with the new Buick. Grandpa would speak to everybody he met and one stranger advised him to turn around and go home. According to him, cattle were dying in the fields, the dust storms were worst than snow blizzards.
The travelers eventually got lost in a sand storm and with all the windows closed, the dust still sneaked in and everyone looked like very black colored people. Some dead cattle carcasses were sighted here and there. Most wells were contaminated with signs DO NOT DRINK.

Finally, they manage to find Donovan and uncle Sachs farm. The wheat crop was 6 inches high so no harvest. They somehow managed to keep their 900 acres, their car but could not afford to buy the license plates. They considered themselves luckier than most having managed to keep their 17 horses to take them wherever they wanted to go. For the occasion, a big turkey was killed and all feasted.