In the spring of 1881, William Bell and his son-in-law Walter leave their families in Pickering, Ontario, and head west in hopes of securing land in what was then the North-West Territories. At fifty-six William is determined to keep a promise made to his dead wife, Annie, that they find land and settle where they can make a life for themselves on their own terms, a place where their family can forge a future beholden to none. And so it is that the two make their way first to Winnipeg, then on to Portage la Prairie-where the railroad ends-passing north of Brandon on foot and out into the vast unbroken heartland of the continent.

Robert Kennedy Bell grew up on Newfield Farm: the subject of this book. He began his education at Blaris School, a one-room schoolhouse a mile from their home. With the closing of that school, he continued his education at Isabella and Miniota. He received a BSc and a Certificate in Education from Brandon College and an MSc in limnology from the University of Manitoba.
After enjoying 10 years as a principal of junior and senior high schools in Glenella, Manitoba and Aklavik and Hay River, Northwest Territories, he spent another 15 years in wildlife administration for the Government of the Northwest Territories. This latter period coincided with the negotiation of aboriginal land claims across the Northwest Territories, all of which had the shared primary objective of carving out a meaningful role for beneficiaries in the administration of wildlife and fisheries. He is the author of several technical papers and chapters in books dealing with the shared management of wildlife in Canada.
In 1986, Robert joined his oldest brother, Jack, to form a consulting firm, Norplan Consulting, in La Ronge, Saskatchewan. The firm specialized in renewable resource administration and environmental impact assessments. Now semiretired, he lives in Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan, about 25 miles west of Fort Carlton (near where the first major battle of the 1885 insurrection took place). This is the second volume of his Newfield House series.