Heber was born November 20, 1900, in West Jordan
Utah. His parents immigrated to Utah from England. He
came to Canada with his parents as a small boy, and
settled at Raymond, Alberta. In 1915 he came to the
White School District and worked on his brother Henry's
farm.
He married Florence Arnold in 1922. He worked for farmers;
Tom Lanier, Billy Robinson, and Patchings. He purchased
four acres of land one mile straight east of White School,
where they lived for many years.
Heber worked for the C.P.R. irrigation Co. and then for the
S.M.R.I.D. as a dragline operator. Just in case you don't
know who Heber was, how about a little guy called "Shrimp
Salmon". Our Dad was full of ambition and determined to
succeed in whatever he decided to do. We were the first
to have electric lights; we had a Delco plant. That was
one of the chores for us to do, which was start up the
motor to charge the batteries.
He made a windcharger to charge car batteries, as you
know there was never a shortage of wind. In fact we
had to tie the propeller down or it would of taken off.
He also made rope out of binder twine and sold it to the
farmers.
The Depression, yes we went through the depression,
like everyone else did, but as children it didn't bother us.
Our parents were always good providers. We never
went hungry and the coal bin was always full to keep
us warm, cook the meals, and heat the water for washing
and bathing.
Florence (Arnold) our Mom, better known as Flossie by
her friends, was the oldest of seven children of Irish stock.
She was born February 26, 1905, at Strongfield, Manitoba.
Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Arnold moved to Alberta
in 1918. She married Heber Salmon in 1922. She raised
four children. She was a very loving Mom and lived for
her family, and she baked the best bread. She canned
jars and jars of fruit, vegetables, and pickles every summer
from the garden. She always bought her raspberries from
Mr. Brindley.
We had a lot of music in our house. Thelma would plunk
on the piano, Dad on the violin, some times the bow would
get the mange, and lose all of its hair. The boys on the
trumpet, accordion, the guitar, and Mom with cotton
batten in her ears. We didn't sound like Mark Kenny
but it was fun.
We had wonderful neighbours, Petries, Webbs, Dykstras,
Mercers, Walters,and Marshals just to name a few.
The school was where they had all the socials. The
dances were always well attended, the men would pay
one dollar and the ladies who brought a cake or sandwiches
for the lunch got in free. The room was lit with gas lamps.
The dance started at 9 P.M. and lasted to 2 P.M. and if
the people wanted to dance some more they took up a
silver collection so the orchestra could play for another
hour. Oh the good old days. I could have danced all night,
and we just about did.
Bobby Burns was a big night at the school, with a hot
haggis supper, a program of Scotch songs, dance, and jokes.
When our Dad retired they moved into town and enjoyed it
very much. Dad passed away November 18, 1971, and Mom,
Florence Elizabeth, died July 13, 1985.
My mother's name was Florence Elizabeth (Arnold) Salmon,
(better known as Flossie), and my father's name was Heber
Johnathon Salmon (better known as "Shrimp"). He was
English, and was born in West Jordan, Utah, U.S.A. His
parents originally came from Hi-Hoo (near Kent), England,
settling in Raymond, Alberta, Canada.
"Shrimp" worked for many neighborhood farmers such as
Tom Lanier, before operating the old "bucket" machine with
the C.P.R. and later operating the dragline for the S.M.R.I.D.