Pete Collins’ brickyard was situated about 300 yards directly south of where the old Cochrane Ranche house sat. The house and property at that time was owned by Beynon and Davis, who operated a dairy and pig farm from 1919 until about 1948. However, the year I am writing about was the summer of 1928, which was the last summer the brickyard was in operation.
Today’s post is from pg 29 of More Big Hill Country. This section of the book contains histories of early businesses. The Big Hill Country had many sandstone quarries in the early years and many of the buildings in downtown Calgary are built with this sandstone. The Shelley Quarry Company opened in 1908 and from … Read more
When the well reached a depth to use dynamite, Tom and Frank let Orr down the hole in a bucket on the windlass. Orr set the dynamite in a hole in the rock and lit the fuse. They pulled him up and sat at a safe distance from the hole then waited and waited. Finally, Orr, against the advice of the other two, persuaded them to let him down the hole again, as he was sure the fuse had gone out. When he got near the bottom of the hole he yelled, “Let me up! Let me up! It’s lit!”
The main town lies at an altitude of 3,760 feet, at a Latitude of 51 11 ‘and Longitude of 114/28 W. The annual precipitation averages between 17-19 inches and droughts are rare. (This includes an average annual snowfall of 72.5 inches and a rainfall of 11.42 inches). Chinook winds which sweep over the mountains help to modify the winters with their warmth.
Anne heard that the brick house on First Street, known to locals as the ‘Chapman house’, was in jeopardy of being tom down for a small high rise. She approached several people including Lydia and a group of about twelve people met at the CPED (Cochrane Partnership for Economic Development) Boardroom in January of 1999.
My first impression of Cochrane was from the cab of a Canadian Pacific Railway engine. My uncle was an engineer was on the run from Calgary to Banff and had a stopover at Cochrane for the brickyard
Our 25th is coming up. Won’t you join us August 25th. Looks like fun for everyone. Our History Lydia Graham, then Mayor of Cochrane and Anne Richardson, an interested resident of the town, instigated the idea of establishing an historical association in Cochrane. In July of 1999 a meeting was held at which time … Read more
The closest post office was Bottrel, six miles north. Mr. Harbidge had to walk there and back for their mail. He worked in Calgary, returning to the farm on weekends and going back to Calgary, leaving at 12:00 AM on Monday so as not to travel on Sundays. He did this until he was able to stock the farm with animals and work the land on a permanent basis.
Our brother Tom was a big lad and very handy at building things. He built a wagon from old brake wheels, thrown away off the boxcars. He bought an old horse and drove around gathering up buffalo bones for the sugar refineries. They used these bones for bleaching the sugar. Tom piled the bones along the railway track and they were loaded into boxcars when there were enough to ship. We kids had lots of fun playing on the big piles of bones.
Tractors were becoming popular as well as grain binders and threshing machines so in 1916, a local blacksmith George Hope, acquired a John Deere franchise.
