Abraham Loewen and Frank Wiens had purchased land, a Section (640 acres) in Simons Valley, Alberta, from a party by the name of Fisher and Newton. Of the land purchased, ¼ was for Wiens and ¾ for Loewen.

     Abraham and son, Martin, Frank Wiens, and Jacob Loewen, a carpenter from Acme, traveled to the property in March. They found baled hay to make a shelter to live in while they built the first building, a granary (16 X 20 feet). They built just the shell with a roof, and then a barn (20 X 60 feet), returning then to get the rest of the family. All their belongings were loaded onto two wagons, which J. Fisher Williams and Alex Newton had bought for them. When everything had been loaded, the wagons held two families, all their furniture and a stove, and were accompanied by one cow and two horses.

     The one night they were enroute, they requested permission from an unknown farmer to sleep in their barn loft. The distance of 60 miles took the family two days to travel. There was great relief that their travelling days were finished.

     When they arrived at the farm, they found the granary had two double bunk beds. The Loewen parents had one lower bunk and the Wiens parents had one lower bunk, with very crude curtains between them. The children had the top bunks and at first, the older boys had to sleep in shelters made of baled hay. The remaining space in the room was for a long table, stove, and a bench and some apple boxes to sit on. When it was cold or rainy and the children had to come in, they took off their shoes and climbed up into their bunks. Any time they came inside, they were to be either in their bunks, or helping with work—otherwise they knew to stay outside.

     In early summer, Frank Wiens built another granary (of the same dimensions) and moved his family into there, giving the Loewen family much more room. There may also be some reason to believe the two families had a “falling out” with one another. Living together in such close quarters would likely have been a recipe for tensions to arise.