Remembering the city's agricultural history
Antique tractor was used at Kam Lake dairy farm in the 1950s
Meagan Leonard
Northern News Services
Thursday, September 10, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Scattered throughout the city are a number of rusting relics from the former heyday of prospecting. Among the mine cars, one item in particular stands out as an apparent oddity - an antique Fordson tractor parked indefinitely on 49th Street.
Former Yellowknifer Ben Matijon stands beside the tractor his father used while working on the C.C. Bevan farm at Kam Lake in the 1950s. When the farm was shuttered, Ted Matijon was gifted the relic and refurbished it for splitting wood. - Meagan Leonard/NNSL photo
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Last week the machine and one of its former owners were reunited as Ben Matijon, now 65, returned to the city to fulfill his father Ted's last wish. Matijon, who now lives in Nisku Alberta said his dad asked to be returned to the NWT when he passed away.
"I'm on a pilgrimage," Matijon explained to Yellowknifer. "I have my father's ashes with me, it was one of his last wishes that he be returned to the North."
Matijon's father Ted arrived in Yellowknife in the 1930s, like so many others, searching for gold. When he was unsuccessful, Matijon said his father kept busy working a number of odd jobs which included janitorial duties at the public school and helping out at the Bevan dairy farm in Kam Lake.
Located at the current Multiplex site, the farm had a number of cows and produced milk and vegetables between 1947 and 1956. During his four years working for the Bevans, Ted delivered milk, tended to the fields and maintained equipment on the site. The tractor was used to plow fields, clear stumps and cut wood for the winter.
Examining the machine today, Matijon has a somewhat different memory of its operating abilities.
"I remember just clear as a bell, it was difficult to start, it was cranky and awkward and the radiator always leaked," he said with a laugh.
Despite Ted's dedication to the farm, its production was short-lived as the advent of refrigerated trucks and construction of the airport meant more items could be imported into the city. After that, local food production became less popular, says Matijon.
"Many of the locals weren't fussy about drinking the milk," he said. "They felt if it didn't come in a container from Edmonton, it wasn't the real stuff."
After the farm business was shuttered, Ted was gifted the tractor and decided to refurbish it for a different purpose. Today a drive shaft and pulley wheel can still be seen on the right hand side between the front and rear wheels which was used to operate a buzz saw.
Matijon said his father and a number of friends would chop down trees south of the airport, then bring them back to their property in Old Town where Ted would use the tractor to chop firewood for the neighbourhood.
"Two men would hold up one end of the log and my father would push the log into the big bush saw and cut the blocks long enough to fit into the wood stove," he explained. "That was Ted's infamous wood-splitter - it basically was a big engine with two big fly wheels."
By today's standards, the process was incredibly dangerous, said Matijon, which is likely why it became a popular attraction for passersby.
"Of course the only safety they had was to keep the kids well away and make sure anybody working in the environment had . their wits about them so they could finish the job and still have all of their limbs," he said. "It was quite the operation and always attracted the locals."
When Matijon and his family left the territory in the late 1960s, the tractor changed hands a number of times, falling under the ownership of other Yellowknife notables Dave Lorenzen, Bernie Kapulka and Gordon Piro. Today it sits outside the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre.
Matijon said if he could have returned, his father would have been impressed by how much the city has grown and developed. As a farmer, he said he would have been thrilled to see the resurgence of local food production in the city.
"I can't express how he would feel if he could see this now, he would just be overwhelmed at the massive change for the better," he said. "This is the most enjoyable pilgrimage I could have ever imagined, especially seeing the tractor here right on the main road coming in."
