Blaine Lake farmer Preserves Doukhobor Dugout House Heritage

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

If you are driving around the Blaine Lake area on any Saturday from May 20 to August 26, you might want to stop in at the Doukhobor Dugout House on the edge of the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

This is the site of one of the earliest Doukhobor settlements in the province, and perhaps the only one left with remnants of a dugout house, according to Brenda Cheveldayoff, a local landowner and grain producer who, with her husband, has taken an interest in protecting this part of the rich Doukhobor heritage.

“I ended up with this land because, with all the movement in Doukhobor history, a lot of the land went up for sale, and my great-great-grandfather purchased the land in 1925. When my dad passed away, I acquired the land. I had always been curious about its history, and I thought professionals should document it. Research revealed that there were as many as 300 people, and perhaps more, who lived at the site as early as 1899.”

To get to the bottom of this, Cheveldayoff contacted the Department of Archaeology at the University of Saskatchewan, which led to some subsequent research and excavation work.

“Every artefact found in the house has significance—an oven door, a button, some pottery, an old shoe. All are poignant memories of life in those five early years, 1899 to 1904.”

These five years were also used to plane and build a more conventional settlement up on top of the valley. Down below, the rudimentary dwellings provided temporary shelter, Cheveldayoff believes.

“The back wall of the dugout house was all dirt. They used some rock to shore it up. There was a freshwater spring just in front of the house, which is likely why they settled there in the first place," she says. “One dugout dwelling was home to nine families, who cooked and slept in an area of about 436 square feet. During one winter, five babies were born—one of them is buried at the top of the hill to the north. With no money and little resources, these vegetarian pacifists were bent on survival. As men went to work on the railroads in the summer months, the women hitched themselves to the ploughs to turn over land for gardens.”

Doukhobors were good farmers, and still are today. They did a lot of the ploughing by hand, with women pulling the plough to break the prairie soil. Cheveldayoff works with members of the Doukhobor community during the summer to re-enact some of the past activities.

“We do the pulling of the plough from May to August on Saturdays. Visitors might encounter Peter Verigin, who enticed his people to move to Saskatchewan; or Leo Tolstoy, to whom Doukhobors owe the financial resources for their trip through the gift of his book royalties—both of these historic figures will be encountered in period costumes.”

During the rest of the week, the Cheveldayoffs carry on their regular farm activities. Brenda is always on the lookout for new information about her very special heritage site.

“Our documents show there were 57 villages assembled in Saskatchewan, but there is no evidence of dugout houses, except with this one.”

The Doukhobor Dugout House is open, rain or shine, every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the summer months. Tour times are 11:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

For more information, contact:

Brenda Cheveldayoff
Doukhobor Dugout House
Blaine Lake
(306) 497-3140
http://www.doukhobordugouthouse.com