Bell, William Robert

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: . W. A. Waiser, “BELL, WILLIAM ROBERT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. See full biography at: https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bell_william_robert_14E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Militia officer, sportsman, farmer, and businessman; b. 28 May 1845 in Brockville, Upper Canada, son of Robert Bell, a lumber merchant, and Maria Sherwood; m. first 17 Dec. 1867 Catharine Ellwood; they had no children; m. secondly March 1896 Katharine Ormiston, and they had two sons and two daughters; d. 17 Feb. 1913 in Winnipeg.
    • Educated in Brockville, William Robert Bell spent a brief period in the western United States before returning to Canada to help repel the Fenian raids of 1866 and 1870. He was employed as a railway clerk in Brockville and a station agent in Pakenham. Bell distinguished himself in cricket, lacrosse, and especially shooting.
    • Bell was reportedly involved at some point in a large-scale agricultural operation, the Bell-Kelso Farm, in Minnesota. He decided to launch a similar venture in western Canada, and in the summer of 1881 he walked westward from Brandon, Man., along the proposed route of the Canadian Pacific Railway and selected a site in the vicinity of present-day Indian Head, Sask. The following February, Bell applied to the Canadian government for the purchase of all the even-numbered sections in an area of roughly 100 square miles. The government of Sir John A. Macdonald approved the sale of the land, about 23,658 acres, at $1.25 an acre in April 1882 on the understanding that the farm would serve as a vehicle to advertise the potential of the region and would place prospective settlers on the land at double the rate specified under dominion homestead provisions. The Canadian Pacific Railway agreed to sell Bell the reserved railway sections in the same area, so that the total farm size was an astounding 53,000 acres.
    • The venture quickly became known as the Bell model farm. And model farm it was. Breaking got under way by contract in June 1882 and by the end of the summer over 2,500 acres had been ploughed; the furrows were reputedly so long that the teams turned only once a day, at lunch, to return to their starting-point. The company embarked on an ambitious construction program as well, and by June 1883 some 70 buildings had been erected, including several impressive stone structures; the company also bought the Indian Head town-site to provide support services, in particular a hotel and elevator. 
    • In early 1885 the company constructed a massive grist mill, while Bell went to England to promote the potential of the Canadian west and secure students for a proposed agricultural college at Indian Head. The outbreak of the North-West rebellion, however, dealt the farm a blow from which it never recovered. Men and horses were recruited to transport military supplies, and as a consequence only 1,000 acres were cultivated that summer. Bell, for his part, spent several months in the field, serving from 1 April to 31 July 1885 as the quartermaster at Qu’Appelle. He also secured transport contracts for his own Bell, Lewis and Company, based in Lachine, Que. By 1886 the farm was in serious difficulty and was refinanced as the Bell Farm Company Limited. In order to reduce its debt load, the new company sold the Indian Head town-site, as well as 675 acres to the federal government for a new experimental farm to be headed by local farmer Angus Mackay. These measures appeased creditors only temporarily, and in April 1889 the Supreme Court of the North-West Territories ordered that the farm be broken up and sold. Bell acquired almost 13,000 acres for his own use and attempted to carry on the original concept but on a smaller scale. This operation also foundered and Bell evidently left the area shortly after the death of his wife in October 1895; the farm was seized by creditors the following year.
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7578
  • Find A Grave : https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122643380/william-robert-bell