The Alice Beach Story

Contributed by Arnie and Alice Leis 

We were introduced to the area through the Bast Family and became frequent visitors to many friends.  Eventually, we acquired a small cottage on Lipp’s Beach.   As our family increased, we wanted a larger cottage and a waterfront lot on which to build.   We wanted to stay in the area and at that time, 1967, there seemed to be none available.   We looked south of the existing beaches, at where Leo Selinger’s cattle pastured and Leo informed us the land was owned by Credit Foncier.  We discovered they had drawn up plans for a future subdivision and they sold us a small portion to test the market.   We surveyed and sold the waterfront portion that fall.

Through this initial development,  both Credit Foncier and ourselves, found that development becomes and involved and ongoing process with road building and tree planting, acquiring Sasktel and Sask Power services, meeting requirements of Dept. of Health, Environment, Municipal Affairs, etc.    Credit Foncier decided not to go into this type of business and sold us the remaining land.

At the beginning of the development, the area was tagged Boulder Bay and appropriately so!   The first pilgrims were friends – Steinsons and W. Balls.  The first access was constructed by a firm of road builders by the name of Arnie Leis and Wally Ball equipped with a crow bar and shovel.  When the Steinson cottage was moved in, it became the first landmark.   Much improvement appeared in a short time, with the help of Frank Meier, Bruce Veer, Harold Wenaus and Langleys.   A lot of  hard manual labour was supplied by the first people in.

In 1973, government agencies attempted to stop any further development because of new regulations.  This was eventually overcome by proving that this development did fulfill a need and at that time we acquired the help of Ron Ziegler in administration.    Growth became rapid, new buildings and trees changing the horizon every year.

The Beach is now incorporated into an organised hamlet, with its own council.   We could not have foreseen the waterfront lot we were looking  for to become a town.   Over the years almost all of our spare time has been spent on the Beach, and although it has been difficult at times, there are many fond memories.