Fonds F0680 - Dixon Brothers fonds

John Dixon, 1850-1922, and his brother, Isaac Chester Dixon, ?-1918, came from Oshawa, Ontario, where they had run a general store, to Maple Creek, Saskatchewan in 1883. They opened a store, originally in a tent, to supply merchandise to the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), native peoples and local ranchers. In 1884 John became the first postmaster of Maple Creek. In 1885 a new frame store was built, which also housed the post office. Dixon Brothers also provided the town with banking services until 1900. The business was taken over and run by Issac's sons until its liquidation in 1958. For further information see Donald Kerr's article, "Wholesale Trade on the Canadian Plains in the Late Nineteenth Century : Winnipeg and Its Competition." in The Settlement of the West / H. Palmer ed. - Calgary, 1977, p. 130-152; and Donny White's entry, John Dixon", in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XV, online at www.biographi.ca.