History of the Farm
Tri M Farms History (The Twentieth Century)
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In 1857 James Mulligan and his young wife Eliza made the difficult decision to immigrate to Canada from Ireland. The family settled in Sombra, Ontario. Several years later sons Thomas and George decided to try their luck out West where homesteading opportunities were plentiful for those with a big dream and a strong back. Thomas left Sombre in 1892, while George and his wife Emma left two years later in 1894. In 1900 George Mulligan scraped together enough sweat equity to purchase a Canadian Pacific Railway quarter just south of Bon Accord. Purchase price was $3.00 per acre.
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Water trough in old grain wagon. Likely taking the trough to the field to water cattle. Circa 1925.
Clearing land was not easy work. Picking roots was something the whole family was involved in. Little by little acres were cleared and crop was planted. As time went by it became evident that Raymond Mulligan, who was the fifth child of George and Emma, wanted to farm himself. In 1919 Ray purchased S.E. 3-56-24 W-4 from his father. It wasn’t long before Phyllis Criss caught his eye and Raymond took a wife!
​​​This happy union would produce four sons: Allan, Glen, Earl and Bruce. Life was tough for all settlers but Phyllis was a resourceful woman. She kept an immaculate home and kept her growing boys well fed. Ray ran a mixed farm and there was always lots of work to be done. He relied on four young boys to help with the load. Even in the dirty thirties there was food on the table and always a little extra to feed a mouth or two that often showed up on their doorstep. Many times these were men riding the rail looking for work. Often they would split wood or do other farm chores in exchange for a hot meal.
Pictured here is Earl around 1949 standing beside a John Deere Tractor which was considered a large tractor for the day.
Phyllis and Raymond Mulligan (standing in the back with oldest son Allan). Second row from the left: Earl, then Glenn. Front row: Bruce.
While all four of Raymond and Phyllis’s sons would farm to one degree or another, it was Earl who bought the homestead. Earl had always known that he wanted to farm. He liked planting crops but especially enjoyed working with the livestock. This operation would evolve over time from dairy farming, to a cow-calf herd and eventually backgrounders.
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In 1954 Earl married Ruth McGregor. Earl was known for his social personality and never turned down a shot of rye and the pleasure of good company. He was a great story teller and could hold an audience captive with his stories of farming or mining. In later years the family would learn that he always had wanted to be a vet. The sixties was a good decade and the farm grew.
It was Ruth who first peaked Murray’s interest in farming. She planted pumpkin seeds and let him plant a few of his own. Six year old Murray was instantly smitten as he watched them grow. In 1974 when he was
Barbara (left) Connie (right) and Murray (center).
14 years old Murray rented 40 acres from a neighbour and planted his first crop. With Murray coming on board the farm grew. That same year Ruth and Earl bought a ½ section of pastureland by Alcomdale to graze their cow calf herd. The predominant crop of the day in the Bon Accord area was feed barley. Murray and Earl also decided to try their hand at grain hauling and bought a 1979 GMC Brigadier. Murray got his class one license and Mulligan Trucking was born.
The 80’s brought a decade of slow, sustainable growth. Murray got married to a local Gibbons girl (Rhonda Smith) and the next generation of farmers (Adrian - Murray’s nephew) and Bryce (Murray and Rhonda’s son) were born. In hindsight some decisions were good decisions and some decisions were learning experiences. Equipment continued to improve and we purchased our first Rotary New Holland Combine. A devastating hailstorm hit the area July 22, 1989 and experience (Earl and Ruth) reassured inexperience (Rhonda and Murray) that we would live to plant another crop.
The farm branched off into trucking. This is a 1977 brigadier-no bunk or air conditioning. Long hard days for Murray.
Swathing a field of oats.
By the mid-nineties it became clear that Adrian Mulligan (Earl and Ruth’s oldest grandson) had been bitten by the farm bug. This didn’t come as much of a surprise as Adrian had been playing on the floor with every imaginable piece of farm equipment from the time he was a toddler. He especially enjoyed bringing a cold drink out to any operator willing to take him for a ride! He took welding classes in school and got his Class One license at 18. Grandpa Earl always wanted you to bring at least one skill onto the farm. In 1998 Adrian officially became a Mulligan Trucking driver who helped with the field work in spring and fall. The farm continued to add acres. Murray and Rhonda moved over to the main farm following ten years in a trailer while Ruth and Earl built themselves a new house. Everyone was happy and healthy. The decade had been kind.
Combining on Petryk land.