Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

SICKLE

Date Range From

1920

Date Range To

1930

Materials

STEEL, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

2.5

Length

43.5

Width

21

Description

CURVED STEEL BLADE MOUNTED AT RIGHT ANGLE ON CYLINDRICAL WOOD HANDLE. WOOD HANDLE HAS THREE HORIZONTAL BANDS ABOUT ONE THIRD UP FROM BUTT. SEVERAL JAPANESE CHARACTERS ARE BURNED INTO HANDLE ABOVE HORIZONTAL BANDS. BLADE IS HEAVILY CORRODED AND TARNISHED.

Subjects

AGRICULTURAL T&E

Historical Association

TRADES

AGRICULTURE

History

SICKLE WAS BROUGHT TO CANADA FROM JAPAN, POSSIBLY BY A RELATIVE OF DONOR'S FATHER. ITEM WAS USED BY DONOR'S FATHER TO WORK IN BEET FIELD AND LATER TO DO YARD WORK WHILE THE FAMILY LIVED AT COALDALE. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THE DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON G.G. NAKAYAMA, WAS AN ANGLICAN MINISTER IN VANCOUVER, AND THEN ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION IN COALDALE IN 1945 WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1970. SICKLE IS MENTIONED IN DONOR'S NOVEL "OBASAN". SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY. THE FOLLOWING MEMORIES WERE PROVIDED BY REVEREND TIM NAKAYAMA IN A LETTER TO THE GALT ON 16 AUGUST, 2007. HE WROTE: "HE LIKED TO DO GARDENING. HE SHOWED ME HOW TO HANDLE A PICK, SHOVE, AND HOE, TURNING THE SOD, AND BREAKING UP AND SEPARATING CLODS OF EARTH FROM CRAB GRASS AND WEEDS LIKE DANDELIONS, PREPARING VIRGIN LAND SO THAT POTATOES, FOR EXAMPLE, COULD BE PLANTED AS THE CROP TO PREPARE THE SOIL FOR OTHER USES. THE PLACES WE MOVED TO: SLOCAN CITY, AND COALDALE, HAD RICH SOILS THAT HAD BEEN EITHER LEFT FALLOW FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME, OR WERE VIRGIN AREAS. IN THE MOUNTAINOUS AREA OF SLOCAN, POTENTIAL AREAS FOR GARDENING WERE VERY ROCKY. COALDALE HAD SMOOTH GUMBO SOIL (WHICH TURNED INTO A STICKY CLAY-LIKE CONDITION WHEN IT RAINED, OR IRRIGATION WATER WAS ALLOWED TO POUR OVER THE LAND. I REMEMBER SEEING MY FATHER USING A SICKLE ON THE PROPERTY HE HAD IN THE MOUNTAINOUS WILDERNESS ON CAPILANO CREEK IN WEST VANCOUVER, BUT I AM SOMEWHAT MYSTIFIED AS TO HOW SUCH TOOLS CAME TO BE IN COALDALE, UNLESS HE BOUGHT MORE SUCH TOOLS, SAY, IN LETHBRIDGE. HE USED SUCH TOOLS TO CLEAR THE WILD GRASS ON THE ACREAGE IN PRE-WAR YEARS.”

Catalogue Number

P19970041549

Acquisition Date

1997-01

Collection

Museum

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