About Destination: Yellow Grass

Destination: Yellow Grass relates the family stories of four brothers born in Poland between 1841 and 1851. Three had moved with their families from Poland to the Russian controlled Province of Volhynia during the 1870's and early 1880's. The Fred Altwasser Sr. family came to Canada in 1894 followed in 1905 by the family of his brother Gottlieb. Brother August Altwasser and his family remained in Volhynia. However, some of August's descendants eventually made it to Canada in the mid 1920's and late 1940's. Most of those remaining behind survived the terrible times of the First World War, the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920 and the intervening years until the start of World War II. Most of the stories fade out at this point to protect the privacy of living descendents.

The fourth brother, Karl Julius Altwasser did not migrate to Volhynia like his brothers, but had stayed behind in central Poland.  In 1940 Kantor J. Bojanowski extracted lineage data from the Dombie parish church register because a direct descendant of Karl Julius had requested certified documents to prove family ethnicity.

Their stories are enhanced with images, where available, and each is written to be a stand alone short story.  Yellow Grass was the residence and perhaps the first destination in Canada for many of "der Auswanderer" Altwassers.  As you read, it will soon become evident why  Destination: Yellow Grass  was selected as the title.

  Global warming at Yellow Grass. 

The highest temperature ever recorded in Canada was 45 C (113 F) at Midale and Yellow Grass, Sask., on July 5, 1937.

Source:  Weather Extremes Canada