A very busy and poorly laid out image (for which, apologies) showing detail of a recent map of the area around Excel, Alberta, overlaid with township and section numbers, and with the names of recipients of land grants (from the records of the National Archives of Canada). The black line snaking from Oyen (lower right) past Excel (center) and Lanfine (left) and on to the west is the former Canadian Northern Railway's Goose Lake Line. The red line running horizontally across the map is a modern highway (Provincial Highway 9).
The Wrights' homestead is highlighted in yellow. Just west of it is the quarter section belonging to Robert Moore, whose well the Wrights used during their entire residence on the homestead. South and west of that is the quarter section granted to the James Watsons, the Wrights' nearest neighbors with children. East of the Wright's homestead is the half section on which the Wetherals lived. North of the Wrights' homestead is the half section that belonged to Jim McLeod, who (by Lloyd's account) had so much trouble with his horses (see “Tricks and Tragedies”).
If Lloyd's recollection about the original location of Broadlands School (later Excel School) is accurate, it would have been north of Excel in section 24, between the Walter Fisk property and the Alvin Audibert property. (Lloyd says it was later moved into Excel.)
Other neighbors of whom Lloyd expressed some specific memory:
A William Watrous lived just east of Excel in section 18. His wife served as midwife and cared for Minnie during the births of several of the children. The Gulleckson families that lived immediately next to Excel did the threshing in the area (that is, they owned the threshing equipment and organized the threshing crews). Edith Church, one of the school teachers Lloyd mentions, was apparently the wife of the James Andrew Church who lived on section 3, south of the Wrights. North of Excel, on sections 25 and 35, were two families named Edstrom. It was the children of one of these families who quarreled with the Wright children at school, though when asked, Lloyd was not sure which family it was. Either way, it substantiates Lloyd's comment that the Edstrom boys and the Wrights lived in “different directions” from the school (see “School”). Even the Alberta prairie was not untouched by the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1917 and 1918. The Wrights managed to avoid it in 1917, but were struck in 1918 (though apparently not seriously). However Robert Bishop, who was a year or two older than Lloyd, died from influenza in 1918. The Bishop family lived northwest of the Wrights, on section 21. Alphie Audibert, who lived north of the Wrights on section 22, was driving his automobile one day after having had a bit too much to drink. Early cars did not have the accelerator pedal we are familiar with, but instead typically had a throttle lever on the steering column. Because of this, a driver, once underway, normally set the throttle lever in the desired position and left it alone. Consequently the car's speed (which was never that great to begin with) tended to vary much more than we are used to, as road conditions changed. Such was the case with Alphie Audibert's car. It would slow while climbing a hill, then speed up while going down the other side. When the car would speed up, Alphie, in his intoxicated state, would fall back on reflexes developed before he got the car: he would put his feet on the dash, pull on the steering wheel, and yell "whoa, horse, whoa!"
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