Thunderbolts with temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun illuminate the bottom portion of a thunderhead and also light up part of Gillespie Lake north and east of Provost late at night recently. Heavy rain and some hail followed as the storm swept past Hayter into Saskatchewan, dumping tons of water. Lightning strikes have already this season killed one Alberta man and injured six others when it struck a tree they were standing near. If you are caught outside in a storm, look for appropriate shelter like a building or a car and if you do not have anywhere to go, then you should avoid taking shelter under trees (which attract lightning). Put your feet as close together as possible and crouch down with your head as low as possible without touching the ground. Never lay on the ground. After lightning strikes the ground there is an electric potential that radiates outward from the place of contact so if your body is near, current can flow through you. By making your body as low to the ground as possible and minimizing the amount of your body in contact with the ground, you can lower the possibility of a lightning-related injury. If you are indoors, stay off the phone. If lightning strikes the phone line, the strike will travel to every phone on the line (and potentially to you if you are holding the phone). If you must call someone, use a cordless phone or cell phone. ©Provost News Photo.

Century Marked at Homestead of Hanson-Fossen Farm
by Benita Fossen-Rustad
The celebration of the 100 years of the Hanson-Fossen Farm, was held July 1 at Bennie Fossen’s farm with people around the area and far away started to come to the party around 2 p.m.

The farm is located two and one half miles west and one half mile north of Cadogan (range road 43).

Until the guests of honour showed up people visited and looked around the farm reminiscing the way things were when Ole Hanson had the farm, right up to the way the farm is now. Lot of history and stories could be told about this farm.

Ole Hanson bought this land, NE quarter of 4-39-4 W4, in 1907, he and Anton Fossen were two of the first settlers that came to this Cairns/Cadogan area. They had to drive to North Battleford, to claim their land. For groceries, medicine, and mail they had to go to Hardisty. In 1909, Ole built a small frame house to replace his sod house. Ole would have dances at his house. His house was small but the neighbors would come over and have fun. Ole built an Aladdin home, which Florence Fossen is living in now, as Bennie Fossen is now in the nursing home in Provost. Ole converted his small frame house into a blacksmith shop, which is still standing. The Aladdin house had one of the first steam furnaces in the area and had nine rooms. The house is still in good condition. The Aladdin house was built in 1927, two years after Ole married Lizzie Botting. Ole and Lizzie had four daughters, Verna (Davis) who lives in Edmonton, Olive (Peigl) who lives in Abbotsford, B.C., Doris (Hanson) who lives in Edmonton, and Doreen (Rosich) who lives in Boyle, and they lived here until 1959 and then moved to Metiskow.

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