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2
 In
1917, an official came to the community to see about
obligatory military service but, because the men were busy on
the land, they were exempted. They were assisted in
their work by the provision of a wood saw through funding from
the Italian Society.
Tony Bonifacio, in his unpublished
history Venice Alberta 1914: The Pioneers and Others
That Lived There, notes that, in the early years, many
farmers qualified for a $500 loan from the government to
purchase cattle.
 After World War I, many changes took place in the
settlement. Most of the men were single and slowly began to
abandon their homesteads. Some went to the coal mines, others
to the railroads
 and still others ventured to other parts of
Canada never to be seen or heard from again. As many left the
colony, there were others who came and filed on homesteads
that members of the original colony had abandoned. Angelo Guerra, Angelo Deangeli, Frank Rycroft, Luigi Catalani
and a few others came to Venice while
Paul Michetti and others
arrived in Hylo. The
Joe Michetti
family arrived in Hylo in
1917, while
Luigi Fabbro came from the mines in British
Columbia and took over the homestead abandoned earlier by
Angelo Deangeli.
 Conditions were tough and these pioneers had to struggle to
make a living. They had to live in primitive log houses
without modern conveniences for many years and the women did a
lot of work, raising children without the assistance of
doctors.
Lucia Bonifacio and
Annie Biollo served as midwives
for many years. Faith, hope and determination was their
spirit.
 In 1919, a devastating fire swept through the Hylo area fueled
by the debris from the local logging operations and fanned by
gale winds. Fortunately, residents of Hylo and Venice escaped
the fire as the fire did not engulf their homes. One good
thing the fire did was help to clear the land in the region,
but it also spelled the end of logging in the region. [continue>>]
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