Dugald MacKinnon and his moose team
Photograph of Dugald MacKinnon and his moose team in the early 1900s.
Courtesy of Mr Wallace Robertson
John Mackinnon of Vaul and his wife Mary Ann MacDonald emigrated to Shoal Lake, Manitoba in 1878 with their two children Dugald and Sarah. Dugald, it was said, was akin to a ‘horse whisperer’ as he could tame the most difficult of horses. He was an avid horseman and traded horses across Manitoba and Montana.
He trained two moose calves captured by a farmer, Walter Anderson, and broke them to harness. They were a common sight on the streets of Brandon when Dugald began courting Mary Flora MacLean, and caused a sensation during the summer fair of 1905.
The owner of a visiting carnival offered to buy them but Anderson kept upping the price and the deal fell through. Dugald refused to have any more to do with the animals. He eloped with Mary Flora to Grand Forks, North Dakota where they were married.
Copy of a photograph of Dugald MacKinnon of Vaul and Brandon, Manitoba.
Dugald MacKinnon of Vaul and Brandon, Manitoba with his moose team (see 2007.31.1 for story).