However, it was and he went up to Austin and picked it up. After he brought it home, conversations with Susan’s mother Norma and close family friends who knew previous owners, Cutler found out the camper had been owned by Alfred Sprott of Minto, Susan’s grandfather.
“The guy paid me $20 to take it off the museum grounds and it ended up belonging to Alfred Sprott. It blew my mind.”
He said it would have been a 1960’s camper, although he is not sure of the make, as he stripped it down before taking note. The family would have taken a few trips in it, although Cutler said it was before Susan’s time. However, her uncle Tom Sprott in Minto came by and looked at it, and he certainly recalled it.
“He remembered it,” Cutler said. “He came out to look before I renovated it, and he said he had memories of it, and could even remember the smell of it.”
The camper had made its way through different hands in Manitoba and returned to the family two or three years ago. Cutler renovated and insulated it, with help from the sale of the old shack, and they have used it on the Boissevain reservoir. Although he was not able to get it out last winter, it is out now, and could be used for a few more weeks before the ice gets thinner. It has a stove inside, sleeps eight and has solar power and a charger. Most recently, the family used it for the successful Lions Fish Derby, held on March 5. As their boys get older and more adventurous, it might move around to other lakes and fishing spots in the winters to come.
These types of coincidences make life interesting. Some people might spend a fair bit of time and effort trying to retrieve family heirlooms or connections to their history. In this case, it is blind luck or a sort of fate that created a new connection to an old family member. Cutler said some of Susan’s cousins have also used the camper/shack. It is really a great and always useful connection to their past, a kind of living artifact.
“It really fell into our lap,” Cutler stated. “It went through Manitoba and back to the family. By fluke, it got back to us. Of course, that makes it that much more special.”

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff