Search Results for: merino

The Countess Bubna was one of Cochranes’ great characters. Be sure to read the links in Deep Dive to see her Kelowna – Vernon interests.

CHAPS first history book has a history of the Merino Ranch that used to exist west of town. I’d only recently learned of the Countess Bubna so its interesting to hear more of her story. MERINO RANCH — by Margaret Buckley  It is believed that J. A. W. Fraser homesteaded part of the property later … Read more

The year 1912 saw the beginning of the now famous Calgary Stampede, and it was decided to import Texas Longhorns as a crowd chiller. Wintering these animals posed a problem and eventually they turned up at the XC, where they added a spectacular feature to the landscape.

In 1931 and 1932 I worked for Paul Swanson cutting mine timber, George Nelson and I worked from dawn till dusk on a contract and made $0.75 to $1.25 per day. While there, I helped cut some building logs for the Dartique Lodge. One night, while going to a dance at the Lodge, I had a f!at tire on my Model T Ford – this I repaired on the dance floor while everyone danced around me.

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!”

Ranching has certainly changed in the last 50 to 60 years. It is not a profession for the timid as globalization of the world has made the agricultural industry one of the most competitive and stressful professions. 

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. 

When the Special Train from Montreal to Vancouver, with Sir John A. Macdonald and party aboard, arrived in Calgary on July 21, 1886, negotiations took place with Frank White et al. The Government settled the dispute in favor of Rev. John McDougall.

Cattle were wild in the early days, as they had just come off the range, where there were very few people, only cowboys on horseback. I remember a Mr. McLennon, who bought the Merino Ranch from the Countess Bubna, brought in a herd to the stockyards; and his son, who was a cowboy and stockman, was crushed to death by a herd of steers in the stockyard pens. McLennon sold out soon after and moved away. 

My memory recalls “Happy Davis,” the local policeman for Cochrane and district. He was very much liked and talked about at the time that I arrived. He was shot walking down the village street with his dog. After his funeral, there were many discussions as to who was to look after his dog. Everyone wanted the job, he had been so popular and much liked.