Mr. Desjarlais, a local rancher in the Sixty Mile Bush country near Biggar, purchased lots in Biggar in May of 1908 and built a store where he brought in a line of groceries and dry goods. Mr. Desjarlais had previously carried on a general store carrying a line of necessities at what was known as the Half-Way House stopping place on the Battleford- Swift Current Trail. He hired Mr. H. Peeling to manage the store. Mr. Peeling had experience in the retail business from where he worked in England prior to his arrival in Canada.






Sources: Biggar World, Biggar, Saskatchewan, August 19, 1909, pages 2 & 7.
Hawkins, Verle, Half Way House (Biggar Museum and Gallery), n.d.