The Great
Divide Bison Ranch is a family owned and operated ranch whose
origins are almost a century old. Quality has been a tradition ever
since Wilfred Legault, grandfather of Leo Legault and great grandfather
of Kim Legault, broke land in 1912. In 1910 Wilfred Legault, along
with his eldest son and daughter, left the Ottawa valley to venture
west to Saskatchewan. They opened a butcher shop in Notre Dame (now
Ponteix). Two years later Wilfred's wife Hermine and the rest of
the family joined them.
In 1912 the family homesteaded land
where the majestic bison roamed freely less than 50 years earlier.
Their first house was made of sod and it lodged the family of
sixteen children in the summer months. In the winter they would move 50 kilometers north to Ponteix where the children would attend
school. Wilfred's sons also homesteaded next to their father. They
broke some land to grow grain and feed and raised cattle and horses.
They would break the wild horses and every year they would ship a
couple of railway cars east to Ontario and Quebec. 30 kilometers
west of the family homestead, Wilfred opened a butcher shop in Val
Marie. He would deliver fresh meat going from farm to farm a couple
of times a week in an era when refrigeration was unheard of.
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