My father passed away at the young age of ninety-one on July 20, 2008. As we were recycling his belongings, we came across a metal strongbox and a double entry ledger. When we opened the box we found it full of letters and receipts that had belonged to Mr. Joe Spessie, my father’s stepfather. The ledger contained Joe’s diary depicting his life and travels between 1908 and 1919, when he left New Mexico to go to Moose Jaw and establish his homestead in Crane Valley. It appears to have been written over the course of a weekend sometime during the 1920s. Joe refers to it more...
