Hamden Family Journey

The Hamden Family owned a farm in Saskatchewan during the early 1930s, but the Great Depression forced them on a journey that would take them to Northern Ontario. Sid Hamden recalls the trip with his family and how they eventually came to live in Kirkland Lake.

Sid Hamden and his wife Myrta Hamden are sitting on a couch facing each other and take turns talking.

[Myrta] Sid, why was it that you folks left and came here?

[Sid] We left the west about 1932-33 mainly because of the job situation. And in regard to the farming area. The crops were not very good for at least 2 to 3 years. The land became very arid.

[Myrta] Okay, and how did you arrive?

[Sid] We came by train and we went down through the States, ah, we went and we stopped in Minneapolis St. Paul twin cities, and I remember seeing all sorts of people on the platform, and they had a neon sign of a train that was running from one end of the station to the other, and it was kind of cute.

[Myrta] Mm-hmm. It took several days, you must have had to eat.

[Sid] Yes, food in those days was a bit scarce you might say as compared to what we have these days.

And but I do remember on the train that the old fashioned coaches were, the seats would flip face each other, and my parents sat on one side, my older brother and myself at that time, we sat on the other side, and in-between they had a suitcase and on the suitcase was a can of pork and beans and we each had a spoon.

And we were eating beans that were cold and we did have some bread if I can remember.

[Myrta] [laughing] Okay, that wasn’t much of a lunch, was it. Not by today’s standards.

[Myrta] Did you come straight to Kirkland Lake, or where did you go?

[Sid] No, we first went to Cobalt, North Cobalt to be exact.

[Myrta] Okay.

[Sid] My mum’s family had a farm on the Silver Centre Road. And we were there for a very short time, like maybe about two years, I believe, and my dad worked that area, and then he moved up to where there was more action which was right here in our town of Kirkland Lake. And he managed to get a job at Macassa Mine. And he was there for 38 years.