After leaving Iowa in 1909 and trying their luck in several places the Colburn’s & Chapman’s arrived in Smith in 1931 where they lived for several months until property could be arranged. They decided on land in the Smokey Creek area.
As with most every other family in the area times were hard. The women picked berries this first summer and canned them plain as there was no money to sugar.
That winter the two families lived in an abandoned tie camp in the northeast part of Smokey where railroad ties had been made. The men worked getting feed for the stock and bringing in logs for their cabins. Heat was made by burning wood in heaters they had made from barrels. They hauled straw and other supplies from Athabasca with a four horse team and large rack over unplowed trails that were called roads.
The next spring they were joined by the Tom Wall family. During the first summer each family had a cabin built on their homestead. A lot of land was cleared by hand and four horse teams on a walking plough were used to break the soil. The Hart Parr tractor was only used at threshing time as there was no money for gas.
Besides the large gardens and berries there was always moose and deer to put meat on the table. The homes were rough and took lots of hard work to make and keep together but everyone was happy to have a home.
Jay Chapman, the first to be buried in the Smokey Creek Cemetery, passed away in 1938. His wife Margaret kept up with the work. She was either cooking, baking, gardening, berry picking, or making quilts. She was churning butter the day before she passed on 7 years after her husband.