“There are some wonders of Nature we see only once in a lifetime, if we are lucky and at the right place at the right time.”

“I cannot remember the year we saw this one, but believe it must have been around the early nineteen thirties. One evening there was a heavy electric storm and a heavy down pour of rain for about a half hour. After the storm, we, the Rice kids, always went to see how deep the puddles were, and how much rain water we caught for wash day, and how far the moisture went down in the garden, etc. Little did we expect to see a large migration of salamanders.

Up until this evening, I had always thought salamanders were slow-moving creatures. Now there were hundreds of them with tails erect and all going in a northwest direction. We counted over a hundred between the gate and the house, moving quickly. They were all around the house.

My sister, Het, and I slept in a room that was on ground level. Some salamanders in their march had got in there. With the help of a broom and dust pan we carried all we could find outside. We were reluctant about going to bed as they were far from welcome guests. Every sheet, blanket, and pillow case was carefully examined before we climbed into bed.

In the morning there wasn’t a salamander in sight. Where had they come from and where did they go?”

This article is from the book, Gleanings, (1981), the follow up to Pioneers and Progress, a history of the Alix-Clive area printed in 1974 by DW Friesen and Sons Ltd., Calgary. Copies of both are available for sale at the Alix Public Library, Alix Wagon Wheel Museum, and Alix Home Hardware