one time a prosperous and bustling community it was the location of more then one saw mill and was the place at the cross- roads both for the railway and for the trails that became highways today.

Now this village has a single garage that brings in business from surrounding communities, a carpentry shop, post office and the Bjorkdale Municipal office. During the past winter the elevator was removed but the nail in the community coffin was the closing of the school in 1989.

The bitterness and bad feelings left from the school closing will last for the present generation, simply because, to them, it was a senseless action. Seen from the eyes of the community, Tisdale School Division acted as a bully, "though there were meetings, their

minds were made up, they just went through the motions" said one lady about the closure. In 1989 the community had fifty children attending the school and when it was closed the Division had the additional cost of busing the students into Tisdale and then heated and kept the school building operational for two more years and since the teaching staff was absorbed into the Division there was no savings to had from the closure. Looking at the decision from now, is not really fair to Director Don Sangster and the Tisdale Board, as they were in a tight economic spot and Crooked River didn't mean much in terms of political clout. It is interesting to note that the customer, the student, might not have been considered at the time. Studies time after time, including those by Murray Scharf (University of Saskatchewan) have shown that large single grade classrooms do not offer any advantage whatever to elementary students, but just the opposite is the case, multi-grade classes seem to produce better work habits and more co-operation among students.

Whatever the case, or motivations were at the time it is definitely water under the bridge. Crooked River though beat up, as businesses have closed, still has a number of stall ward residents who make this place their home. As