(Orig­i­nal­ly from Souris Plaindealer)

    The sum­mer of 1911 has been one of mar­vel­lous devel­op­ment for Souris. Great civic improve­ments are under­way, and as some jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for this large expen­di­ture, the C.P.R. has def­i­nite­ly estab­lished divi­sion­al head­quar­ters here as a very impor­tant rail­way cen­tre. In accor­dance with the expect­ed growth of Souris, the Com­pa­ny is build­ing a hand­some depot, and it was the cor­ner­stone of this mag­nif­i­cent edi­fice that was laid on Mon­day after­noon (Oct. 16, 1911) by May­or Hughes.

The cer­e­monies began by the pre­sen­ta­tion to the May­or of a sil­ver trow­el by T.L. Arnett, Pres­i­dent of the Board of Trade, on behalf of the cit­i­zens. In mak­ing the pre­sen­ta­tion Mr. Arnett referred to the long­time Souris had been expec­tant­ly been wait­ing for a new depot. Plans had been got out a few years ago for a sta­tion sim­i­lar to that at Vir­d­en. Now we are get­ting one like Saska­toon’s. It is evi­dent that the rail­way offi­cials had changed their minds as to the prob­a­bi­ly devel­op­ment of Souris, it was vis­i­bly evi­dent today that their views had been con­sid­er­ably enlarged. Mr Bury, who would now, in his new posi­tion, have a share in form­ing the pol­i­cy of the C.P.R., had recent­ly expressed the opin­ion that Souris will be one of the best towns in West­ern Cana­da. Souris had a fine agri­cul­tur­al dis­trict sur­round­ing it, but no bet­ter than that in which many oth­er towns were sit­u­at­ed. It was the indus­tri­al growth that we must look to for future devel­op­ment. It is won­der­ful what the cit­i­zens of a town can do if they have the faith that will trans­late itself into ener­getic town-build­ing.       May­or Hugh­es thanked the cit­i­zens for their gift of the trow­el. The he read a list of the arti­cles that were placed in the jar which was to be buried under the cor­ner­stone:                          Copy of Souris Plain­deal­er                                                                                                 Copy of Free Press                                                                                                         Copy of Win­nipeg Telegram                                                                                            Var­i­ous pho­to­graph­ic scenes of Souris, all of the dam, the old rail­way sta­tion, and of Souris Base­ball Team                                                                                                    Coins bear­ing date 1911                                                                                                     A doc­u­ment was also includ­ed con­tain­ing the fol­low­ing infor­ma­tion regard­ing the devel­op­ment of Souris dur­ing 1911, the civic and rail­way offi­cials:                                     “This Cor­ner Stone laid Octo­ber 16, 1911”                                                                      Town Coun­cil­lors: J.H. Bartlett, T.A. Lock­hart, W.J. Mer­rell, F. Kochen, J. Her­riott, Dr. Croll. Town Clerk J.W. Breakey                                                                                                    Town Solic­i­tors Bosweel and For­rest                                                                                  Mag­is­trate P.R. O’Neail                                                                                                     Chief of Police Wm. Cur­rie                                                                                                Pres­i­dent of Board of Trade T.L. Arnett                                                                              M.P.P. James Argue                                                                                                           Dom. M.P. J.A.M. Aikens                                                                                                   Domin­ion Elec­tion, Sept. 21, 1911                                                                                   Con­ser­v­a­tive Gov­ern­ment elect­ed by major­i­ty of 48                                                          J.A.M. Aikens elect­ed to Domin­ion Par­lia­ment for Bran­don Divi­sion by major­i­ty of 866       Souris major­i­ty 154                                                                                                           Impor­tant events in Souris dur­ing 1911: Sys­tem of Sewage and Water­works installed at cost of $200,000; Damming of Riv­er; Pub­lic Pavil­ion built in Park; New Post Office, cost $33,000; Addi­tion­al Pub­lic School, cost $35,000; New Union Bank; C.P. Rail­way com­plete new Freight Yards; C.P.R. new store­house and oth­er build­ings; C.P.R. new pump­ing sta­tion at Riv­er, and last but not least, C.P.R. new Sta­tion cost­ing $35,000.