The frame school was destroyed by a cyclone in July 1907. Following this disaster they used William Dowkes' log house on SW 21-1-34 W1 for one year until the new cement school was ready in 1908. The new 'Souris Flat' school was opened in 1920, which met the needs of the children in the valley for a number of years until 1961 when they were bussed to Glen Ewen.
Some of the Kimberly teachers who boarded at the Thomas Dowkes' home were Mr. William Gillies, Mr. Wright, Mr. Blakeley and Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Gillies married one of the attractive Dowkes daughters, Eva, after which they lived in a house in the school yard. Mr. Gillies taught there for eight or nine years. After the frame school was demolished in a wind storm, he walked over the area, gathering up all books, registers, etc., he could find. Alex Wilson bought the lumber to build his first barn.
About 1917 Mr. and Mrs. Dowkes retired from the farm to Medicine Hat. Then Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Dowkes and family took up residence on '20', living there until 1923. After this Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Jones bought the farm, living there until 1936. Later, Gordon Macfarlane purchased the farm and lived there from 1940 until 1965, when they moved to a new house in the valley on the same farm. He continues to farm his great-grandfather's homestead at time of writing, 1979.
Now on a more sombre note we shall mention the 'Meridian Cemetery', located at the top of the hill overlooking the valley, very near the meridian on NE 24-1-1 W2.
In early spring of 1887, a young man of eighteen years, drowned in an attempt to swim across the icy waters of the Souris River. He was Thomas Jones, youngest son of Sam Jones. This was the first person buried on the spot where the cemetery now exists. The cemetery is well kept by the people of the community, and trees have grown around it, making it a pretty location.
Thomas Dowkes who was born in Toronto, in 1850, died in Medicine Hat in 1920. Mrs. Dowkes (nee Jane Ann Sanderson) born in 1854, passed away in 1937, at Medicine Hat. They are both interred in Meridian Cemetery.