Signing Much Ado About Squat: Squatters and Homesteaders Ravage Riding Mountain Forest (Heartland Associates).
Based on archival material, author Ron Stevens tells of the influx of immigrant settlers from Ontario and Great Britain to the southeastern spur of Riding Mountain during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He brings to life historic characters of the developing community in their acts of defiance, lawlessness, cruelty, greed and fraud. But even when the gentler side of human nature is portrayed – compassion, humour, neighborliness -- the end result of the poaching, squatting and homesteading is the destruction of rich resources of mountain forest.
This is Ron Stevens’ first published book. A retired teacher of high school English, he grew up in the hamlet of Birnie, prominently mentioned in the book and located just east of Riding Mountain. As a child in the 1930s and ‘40s he knew several of the settlers whose histories are recounted. His career in teaching, which began in rural Manitoba, was spent mostly in Winnipeg. He holds M.A. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Manitoba. He now lives with his wife Irene near Selkirk.
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Based on archival material, author Ron Stevens tells of the influx of immigrant settlers from Ontario and Great Britain to the southeastern spur of Riding Mountain during the late ninetee...
