FIRST SHOT IS FIRED 53 / 



wedge, imagined or otherwise, that might come along. 

 They would trust nobody with 1m official connection 

 and the appointment of John Millar, who was one of 

 themselves, was confirmed without loss of time. There 

 was no salary attached to any office, of course ; nobody 

 thought of salaries. The farmers who knew the feel of 

 spare cash in those days were seventh sons of seventh 

 sons. 



Winter and all as it was, the leaders of the young 

 organization did not let the snow pack under their feet. 

 No sooner were the preliminaries over than they set 

 about preparing for the first convention of the Associa- 

 tion by hitching up and travelling the country, organ- 

 izing local associations. W. K. Motherwell, John 

 Millar and Matt. Snow, of Wolseley, tucked the robes 

 around them and jingled away in different directions. 

 Wherever they went they were listened to eagerly and 

 the resulting action was instantaneous. The movement 

 took hold of the farmers like wildfire; so that by Feb- 

 ruary thirty-eight local grain growers' associations had 

 been formed, each sending enthusiastic delegates to the 

 first Annual Convention, which was held at Indian 

 Head in February, 1902. 



All that summer, pacing the rapidly growing wheat, 

 the Territorial Grain Growers* Association spread and 

 took root till by harvest time it was standing every- 

 where in the field, a tfirift^ and full-headed champion 

 of farmers Vrjffhta, lacktEg only the ripening of experi- 

 ence^ There had been as yet no particular opportunity 

 to demonstrate its usefulness in dollars and cents ; but 

 with the approach of the fall and market season the 

 whole organization grew tense with expectancy. There 

 seemed little reason to believe that the railway people 

 would do other than attempt to continue their old 



