Warden stories & history

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Warden Stories

My name is Don Sipes. I was born at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1944. My first home was Boundary Cabin in the Boundary District of Prince Albert National Park (PANP).

My dad, Ed Sipes was appointed to the Canadian National Park Warden Service in 1943. He, my mother Mabel, and my older brother Dick moved to Boundary that same year. Boundary was the most northerly and remote district on the west side of the park. We moved south to Sturgeon Crossing in 1945 where we resided for nine years. We then moved to Silver Grove on the South Side of the park, followed by a move to Waskesiu Townsite in 1959. My parents suffered hard times during the Great Depression and my dad felt privileged to be part of the Warden Service.

The communities bordering the south and west sides of the park are: Cookson (south of Silvergrove) Stump Lakes(south of Rabbit Cabin) Park Valley and Lake Four (west of Sturgeon Crossing) and Ladder Valley (west of Boundary Cabin). Big River is about twenty miles west of Sturgeon Crossing and Boundary.

My Dad loved a good story and loved to tell stories. Most of the stories I relate here are about our lives in the districts of PANP. Some I only remember because I heard them so I can't vouch for their accuracy. Many of the events from which they came were before I was old enough to remember or I was away at school when they took place. I am sure the stories were embellished as they were told and retold. In some cases, I remember the stories but don't remember the principal individuals involved. A few are from personal experience.

In the course of putting these stories together, I was able to reconnect with others I knew from when I lived in the park: Elsie (Jervis) Jefford, Don Dickenson, Cathy Corrigal, and Ron Davies. I’d like to offer a special thanks to Ron for a number of phone calls in which he provided a few of his own stories and his recollections of the very early days of the Park. Special thanks also to Cathy for graciously sharing her father’s notes on early wardens. I hope to do more in the future with the information they provided.

I will do my best to relate these stories as I heard them.

The stories

District life in the Warden service

Ed and the Radios

The Winter of 1955-56

Return Visit

Warden History

Warden History is about the National Park Warden Service and especially the wardens in Prince Albert National Park. It was done by Ione Langlois, Curator, Waskesiu Heritage Museum for the 100th anniversary of the National Park Warden Service. She requested information from wardens and/or their families, researched the Warden Service, and compiled the information and photographs.

The original document she created is in the Museum. Some pages of the project, Warden Service 1909 – 2009 A Hundred Years, are reproduced and available here with her permission.

The District System in Prince Albert National Park

At one time there were 10 districts. They were:

Waskesiu
Crean
Kingsmere
Boundary
Sturgeon Crossing
Rabbit
Silver Grove
Meridian
Pine Grove
Bittern Lake (until 1947)

The district system was changed in 1970. Since 1973 all Park wardens have been stationed in the Waskesiu townsite. Many of the district buildings have been sold, but a few are used on a patrol basis, as are a number of patrol cabins in the Park.

The patrol has always been one of the most important of warden activities. In the early years, summer patrol was carried out on foot and horseback and by canoe. Dog teams were used during the winter, but were soon replaced by horses and toboggans. It is reported that a warden travelled 600 miles monthly.

Fire and poaching have been the wardens major concerns throughout the years, along with building and maintaining may of their facilities with the Park such as patrol cabins, fire roads, etc. The other major concern was dealing with Park users. Their role in resource study and management has been stressed more in recent years.

Wardens' biographies

An incomplete list of wardens at Prince Albert National Park, 1927-1991

Silent partners

Life of a Warden's wife and family

“It was a lonesome isolated life. A work day consisted of 10 hours but wardens were on call 24 hours a day and were expected to work whatever hours during fire and hunting seasons. The warden’s life was physically challenging and sometime dangerous. Injuries suffered while alone could be life threatening. Sometime poachers or wildlife attacked the wardens. This situation was alleviated by hiring married men. Women played key roles in the day to day activities of the Warden Service. The wives of wardens became unpaid silent partners sharing their husband’s workloads and the primitive living conditions. In 1916 when Tom Staples of Rocky Mountain Park died his wife Annie took over as gatekeeper wearing a navy blue uniform complete with official Canada buttons. She served into the 1930s. In Nemiskam Antelope Park, Florence McHugh, wife of Ed McHugh, served as the first and only park warden to be assisted by his wife in all phases of park work. Florence became the only warden’s wife to be responsible for a national park when she took charge of the duties for two years when her husband died in 1936.

“Throughout the 1950s and 1960s wardens’ wives continued to be unpaid assistants of the Warden Service. Their responsibilities encompassed such jobs as telephone dispatchers, gate controllers, information centres, weather recorders and public safety officers.”

Quote from an unpublished History of the Warden Service by Ione Langlois, former Curator of the Waskesiu Heritage Museum.

“We had been provided with a generator about 1960 so we had an early electric washing machine in the warehouse at Crean Lake. The water was provided by a fire pump from the lake.

“Two children were in diapers. No Pampers back then and not for quite awhile.

“Reta looked after hundreds of boat travelers while I was away. She gave first aid, directions, advice etc. No pay of course. This was a common practice among all of the wives of wardens while they were out on patrol. Wives and children were left on their own for long periods of time. It was a long period of isolation.”