Beaupre Tales by Paul Gibson

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Paul Gibson was interviewed by the Oral History Project of the M.D. of Bighorn.  He talks about the Beaupre Scout Troop and shaking the hand of the Queen in the first video featured.

In the second he talks about the one in a million chance of meeting someone familiar with Jamieson Road while walking in Hyde Park, West London.

Watch the entire Playlist

Paul Gibson talks about living and working in the Jamieson Road Area. Once there, please remember to subscribe to the M.D. Bighorn channel.
Click Here

Photos and Videos courtesy of the Oral History Project, M.D. of Bighorn.

Zuccolo Family

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Catherine Parrine Zuccolo By Wendy Vaughan

Catherine Zuccolo, affectionately known as “Aunt Katy” to all her nieces and nephews, and “Katy” by everyone else, had a wide variety of interests. She graduated from Normal School in Calgary during the 1930s, a time when jobs were not easy to come by. Katy taught in several schools over the years but also cooked for various bridge and oil well crews for a period of time. When Grandma and Grandpa Zuccolo retired to Cochrane, Aunt Katy was always there to look after them during periods of illness. She spent some time out on Saturna Island where Grandpa had property in the late 1940s. Katy was very well-read; she could discuss nearly any topic intelligently. She taught many things to many of her nieces and nephews over the years.

She was very interested in health issues, and many of us received her lectures on vitamins and proper eating habits – long before such topics were acceptable! She was also a very spiritual person who led by example 

She was kind, thoughtful and generous with her time when it came to helping her sisters and their families during busy times. 

Katy was also an avid gardener. She had a good-sized garden at the house in Cochrane and raised most of her own vegetables which she could store in her basement from one season to another. She always had beautiful peonies and roses growing at the front of her house. Like Uncle Johnny, she was always building, fixing and tinkering with things. She was never afraid to try new things. She started skiing when she was 65.

She was an excellent cook. In my mind, no one made apple pie as good as Aunt Katy, not even Mum, and her apple pies were very good. However, I have often seen a resemblance to Aunt Katy in our daughter, Alberta. In my opinion, besides certain personality traits, Alberta has Aunt Katy‘s knack for baking good pies. Aunt Katy would be proud of this if she were here today. Aunt Katy has left us many fond memories. 

Matilda (Richards) Zuccolo Family By Wendy (Richards) Vaughan 

The story of the Richards and Zuccolo families from the early 1900s when they both arrived in the Morley and Cochrane areas, respectively, is recorded in the original Big Hill Country book published in 1977. There is some overlap of the stories due to the dates involved, but I have chosen to pick up on the stories of the members of the Zuccolo family which stayed in the Cochrane area after the first book was written, and on the whole, to add to rather than repeating the original histories. 

My parents, Matilda (Tillie) Zuccolo and Jim Richards were married on October 27, 1937. They met in 1931 when Tillie was teaching the Tom Lauder children. Tillie was a graduate of “Normal School” in Calgary, a two year program which at that time was the graduating school for teachers. Tom Lauder and his family were working for Laycocks (located west of Cochrane, Alberta now known as Jamieson Road), and Tillie lived with them and taught the Lauder children from September of 1931 through to January of 1933. The romance did not truly blossom how ever, until Tillie was teaching Laurie and Jean Johnson’s girls in 1936.

After Jim and Tillie married they lived on Jim’s homestead North of Morley. They moved a log cabin which Tillie owned up to the homestead. The cabin had been located on Guy Gibson’s Soldier grant down by the Ghost River. For the next five years, they worked in the mountains for Fred Brewster during the summers and lived on their homestead in the winters. While they worked in the mountains, mainly out of Jasper, Jim acted as a big game guide and Tillie cooked. They had many interesting experiences while in the mountains, and it is unfortunate Mum did not write these up, as most of them are now lost forever. They took out many hunters from the U.S. and had both great and not-so-great trips. Big game hunters now only dream of getting game that was commonplace to shoot then. 

Tillie recalls that times were not always easy to back in the late 1930s and early 1940’s when she and Jim were first married. Guy Gibson had given her a mare and colt for a wedding present, and in 1944 she sold the old mare with the four colts that she had by then. She had to add $2.00 to the money received for the mare and colts to buy their cream separator which cost $39.40. 

Jim and Tillie settled down permanently to ranching in 1943 when their daughter, Wendy, was born. A son, Doug, was born in 1946. 

Over the years, they increased their range cattle herd and also milked 5 or 6 cows every summer and shipped the cream. They would take it to Morley where it would be picked up by the train and taken to a creamery in Calgary. Jim also hayed for the Lindners at the Two Rivers Ranch west of Cochrane every summer from the late 1940s to mid-1950s. Dad also became the councillor for the Improvement District in his area in the 1960s and also sat on the Rockyview Hospital Board. When he passed away in March of 1976, they asked Mum to take his place, which she did. She remained active as a Councillor and on the Hospital Board until her illness prevented her from attending to her duties at which time she resigned in early 1985. 

A few items about our family as I (Wendy) remember growing up. I recall well the early days at home when Uncle Bill and Uncle Audley were living on their homestead next to Dad’s. The recollection I most remember is that they always rode in on horseback, and Uncle Audley, particularly, often corralled horses at our place. (See the poem, Uncle Audley, A vanishing Breed). I recall Dad and Uncle Audley bringing in numbers of horses, especially in the spring, and pulling their manes and tails. The horsehair was then stuffed into gunny sacks and weighed and sold by the pound. I also remember that it was not taken too kindly if someone pulled the tails of another party’s horses. 

My brother, Doug, never went to school, and I only went to school in grade 12. We took all the rest of our school by correspondence. Some of the local kids wondered how we could stand doing school at home, but we thought it was O.K. as we were able to work hard some days and take days off if we wanted to go somewhere or do other things. Also, we usually had our work done at least a month ahead of kids in school and enjoyed long summer holidays to do as we wished. Our close neighbours were the Dawsons and the next closest were the Wasson’s (about 8 miles by horseback). We would often ride to each other’s places to visit and play and as we were all in the same age group, we had a lot of good times together. One of our favourite sports was to go out on the “Point”, a flat area on the south side of the Ghost River where the land was quite flat and reasonably smooth for a couple of miles. Here we would line up our ponies and have horse races, which I’m sure would not have been totally approved of by our respective parents had they known of them at the time. I remember that my old white mare, Josephine, would often win some of these races. 

It was a difficult time for our family when Dad (Jim) passed away in 1976 from a heart attack. Mum (Tillie) remained in the home place and finished the new house which she and Dad had started. Mum passed away in November of 1985 following an eight-month struggle with bone cancer. Five years before she had gone through surgery for breast cancer, and had been given a clean bill of health only a couple of months prior to being diagnosed with bone cancer. 

Wendy married Walter Vaughan of the Dog Pound area (see The Vaughan’s story). They now live on the Vaughan place east of Bottrel. They have two daughters, Alberta (Corey) Telfer and Amanda (Roggero Ciofani). Alberta and Corey blessed us with our first grandchild, Una Vaughan Telfer on May 5th, 2007. They are currently residing in Edmonton, while Amanda and Roggero are living in Saskatoon. 

Doug married Jill Harries of Calgary (also a school teacher), and they reside on Tillie and Jim’s home place. They have two sons, Jimmy and Billy. 

I have included three poems with this write-up, one about Mum, one about Dad and one about Uncle Audley. They tell a lot about their lifestyle. I hope you enjoy them.

John Peter Zuccolo By Wendy Vaughan

“Uncle Johnny” the only son of Tom and Angelina Zuccolo, born April 18, 1907, was loved by all his nieces and nephews, and many of them experienced at least one fishing trip with him in either Spray Lakes or Kananaskis. Fishing was his passion, but I only got to go with him twice, we never got a single bite either time and we were out for several days, so I was bad luck!! He read a lot and always had new ideas for doing or building things. 

He was also very mechanical and was always fixing or tinkering with mechanical items from small engines to vehicles and farm equipment. After the Zuccolo farm was sold in the late 1940’s he moved onto a small piece of land on the Horsecreek northwest of Cochrane. He worked for several farmers off and on over the years including George Perrenoud and Tom Hardy. In the late 1960’s he built a small cabin by the lake at Richards’ where he resided until his passing in 1990. 

Uncle Johnny was like a beaver, he was always building something. At the same time, he would profess that he didn’t like carpentry work! He and his Dad were responsible for building a number of large barns, some of which are still standing northwest of Cochrane. They also worked with other members of the community in building the Dartique Hall. 

He was also very creative building various items with light and dark cedar. His outhouse was a masterpiece! Many of us have items Uncle Johnny built with light and dark cedar.

He also lost his right leg just below the knee in a motorcycle accident in California in the late 1940s, but this did not hamper him from doing many things. Most people would not know he had a wooden leg if they had not been told. He spent his entire life in the Cochrane area. He was quite shy but liked kids, and once you got to know him he could be quite a tease with a good sense of humour. 

John passed away on August 16, 1990. 

Thomas and Angelina Zuccolo Family by Wendy Vaughan

Please see the complete history of the Zuccolo family in the first Big Hill Country book. They immigrated to Slocan, British Columbia in 1905 from Italy two weeks after they were married. However, Grandpa had come to Canada in 1903. As Grandpa could not see a future in the Slocan Valley, he purchased the W Sec 5 Twp 28 Range 4 W5M in the Horse Creek area. In 1919 he moved from British Columbia with his wife, Angelina, and their children: Mary, John, Catherine (Katy), Elsie, Matilda (Tillie), and Adelma (Pete). Alma (Slim) was born on January 28, 1920, after their arrival in Alberta. 

 

They farmed this land until they sold it in 1948, currently owned by Buck Miller. They bought a small house in Cochrane, two houses to the right and against the hill as you go up the road to the Cochrane High School. They resided in Cochrane where Grandpa was an avid gardener. He also did odd carpenter, yard and miscellaneous jobs for Cochrane residents for many years. Granny (Angelina) passed away on April 14, 1956, at the age of 73. Grandpa (Thomas) passed away on January 4, 1965, at the age of 89. Their daughter, Katy, lived with them and took care of them during their senior years and took over the house after they passed on. 

Mary married Mel Hodgkins in November of 1932. At the time Mel was a trooper in the Lord Strathcona’s Horse. They lived in Calgary and later moved to Ontario where Mel was a member of the Ontario Provincial Police until he retired. They had three children: Olive, Owen and Allen. Mary died in 2004 at the age of 97. 

In 1944 Elsie married Dr. Eric Putt, an agronomist, when they were both working in Hamilton, Ontario. Elsie, who worked at Westinghouse, helped to turn out guns and other war material for the Canadian Forces. They moved to Altona, Manitoba and later to Morden, Manitoba where Eric worked at the Agriculture Research Station. Elsie and Eric had four children: 

David, Laurel, Keith and Neal, prior to Elsie‘s untimely passing in 1956 with cancer. 

In 2003 the 100th Anniversary of the Zuccolo Family’s arrival in Canada was celebrated at Doug and Jill Richards. It was an awesome event with fifteen of Thomas and Angelina’s grandchildren present, plus spouses, and great grandchildren. Only one grandchild was unable to attend. Alma (Slim) was the only one of their children able to attend. Mary was still alive but not well enough to come. It was a great time. We made quite an extensive family history book for each leg of the family with each of the grandchildren receiving a copy. This is already proving to be a family treasure. 

Uncle Audley - A Vanishing Breed By Wendy Vaughan

He was tall and slim 

With a twinkle in his eye 

His Stetson hat was gray 

The kind with the crown real high. 

 

He always rode a horse 

That a cowboy would call good. 

Meaning he could do some work 

And take you down the road. 

 

Uncle Audley was a horseman 

A little hard, some would say 

But you knew horse he rode 

Could pack you night and day. 

 

His left arm had been injured 

And had healed up at an angle, 

But this was no deterrent 

When it came time for him to wrangle. 

 

One day I saw him bring in 

A wild bunch all alone, 

Corralled them at our place 

Then cut out the stud – a big bald faced blue roan.

 

He took the rope down off his saddle 

And with the coils on his left arm 

He front-footed that big stud 

And brought him to the ground. 

 

His moves were smooth and quiet 

And as he tied that big horse up 

He saw me watching through the logs, 

And asked me to get some table salt from Moth 

metal cup. 

 

He was waiting when I returned, 

I passed it to his bloodstained hand 

And watched him fill the empty pockets, 

The horse – no longer king of his wild band. 

 

I think if this day whenever 

I see horsemen without skills, 

Who call out vets in white coats 

With tranquilizer guns and pills. 

 

Yes, Uncle Audley, 

It leaves me sad to think 

That you were one of a special breed, 

That’s now almost extinct.

The Day Mother Shot A Bear By Wendy Vaughan

She was blessed with many talents 

A few with you I’ll share

Before I relate to you the tale

Of the day she shot a bear. 

 

Mum could paint a landscape

With the stroke of her oil brush

Or photograph a mountain flower 

Or a bird in the underbrush. 

 

When we were young she made 

All the clothes we had

From shirts, jeans and moccasins,

To those buckskin coats for Dad.

 

I remember when just knee high

An embroidered satin shirt she made 

For Chuck Simeon to wear

To the Calgary Stampede Parade. 

 

Her homemade brown bread 

Was far and wide renowned

But for me, it was wild blueberry pie

For which she should be crowned. 

 

Mother was a crack shot 

With a Twenty-Two

For backshot squirrels were worthless 

When Simpson & Lee paid you. 

 

She could milk a cow or stretch a wire 

And packed water from the well

To wash our clothes, and sawed the wood 

To heat it with as well. 

 

She loved to pick wild berries 

When summer came along

And would ride six miles to the berry patch, 

With syrup tins hanging from the thongs. 

 

And whether the beauty of a butterfly

Or pulling quills from our old dog,

She taught us kids to respect 

The handiwork of God. 

 

And at Thanksgiving time each year 

She’d take the Twenty-Two

And with us kids she’d walk the woods 

‘Till we got a ruffled grouse or two. 

 

She’d shoot them through the head 

And we’d skin them on the spot

So why wouldn’t we be proud of her 

When a bear she finally shot? 

 

It was back there in the 60’s 

When Banff had problem bears

They’d paint their butts and tag their ears 

And truck them out of there. 

 

Then dump them in the foothills 

And let the ranchers rant

At these pesky Park dump bears 

Who’d never learned to hunt. 

 

Well Mum was home alone this day 

When she heard a noise outside

And there was a scruffy blackbear 

Pawing the anthill in our yard. 

 

The anthill beneath a poplar tree

Was 20 yards from our front door

And Mother anxious at a bear so close

Thought she’d give him a little scare. 

 

So taking Dad’s 30/30 down 

She levered in a shell

Aimed it at the bear’s thick neck

And pulled the trigger, well – 

 

That bear dropped right where he stood 

And never moved again

Then as Mum’s luck would have it

Our neighbour, Fred*, drove in. 

 

When Mum answered the door 

Fred looked around to see

Who might have shot that bear

That lay tagged beneath the tree? 

 

The gun was resting on the door jam 

So she told her tale to Fred 

And he who loved to talk and tea

Did not linger, for he had news to spread. 

 

We had no phones in those days

But with Fred the news would pass 

On down the valley quickly

Like a fire in prairie grass. 



Place Names – Complete Listing

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by Sonia Turner

Note: Wherever possible, land locations have been listed in brackets. The land location of a creek is that of the mouth of the creek. References for this information include Dominion Topographical maps and the Gazetteer of Canada. 

Atkinson Creek (30-28-6-5) – flows into the Little Red Deer River, and called Beaver Creek by local Indians. 

Aylmer, Mount (27-11-5) – elevation 10,375 feet. Situated north of Lake Minnewanka. It is a prominent mountain easily perceived from the Cochrane area. Named in 1890 by J. J. McArthur, Dominion Land Surveyor, after his hometown of Aylmer, Quebec. 

Bateman Creek (8-24-6-5) – named after the Tom Bateman family, pioneers of Jumping Pound district. 

Bateman Ridge (24-25-4-5) – located in the Jumping Pound area, and named after the Bateman family. 

Baynes House Valley – named for the large house in the valley built by Baynes, one-time partner of A. P. Patrick at the Mount Royal Ranch. 

Benchlands – terraces on the Ghost River, named by Guy Gibson. 

Buffalo Crossing – a crossing on the Ghost River below Benchlands, named by Guy Gibson because of the evidence of buffalo crossing. Nearby, ancient Indian artifacts have been found, including a 12,000-year-old projectile point. 

Burnt Ground – an area northeast of Cochrane, where a fire burned in 1895. As the willow roots burned, depressions were formed, leaving the ground very rough. 

Beaupré – a locality north of 1A Highway about ten miles west of Cochrane. Named after Louis Beaupré, an early settler who bought squatter’s rights there. 

Beaupré Creek (15-26-5-5) – flows through the Beaupré district. 

Beaupré Hill (27-5-5) – a prominent landmark in the district. 

Beaupré Creek School District No. 4182 – was established in 1925. Beaver Dam Creek (10-30-3-5) – rises in the west side of the Weedon district, flows through Mortimer Coulee, and winds on the northeast. So named because of the numerous beavers in it. 

Beaver Dam School District No. 1056 – established in 1904. Still in operation as a small consolidated school. Located one and one-half miles south of Madden. 

Behanhouse Creek – named after Behanhouse. Behan was a cook on a survey party in 1912. 

Big Hill (25-26-3-5) – the hill below which Cochrane is situated. Early maps show it as Manachaban Hill, which is its Blackfoot name. The apex of the Big Hill is about two miles east of the town. 

Big Hill Creek (34-25-4-5) — flows into the Bow River just west of Cochrane, below Big Hill. Big Hill Springs Provincial Park – located six miles northeast of Cochrane in the Big Hill Creek coulee. 

Blackrock Mountain (27-9-5) – elevation 9,580 feet. Readily visible from the Cochrane area. It is a sharp black peak. 

Bottrel (21-28-44-5) – named after A. E. Botterell, and misspelled when officially recorded. At one time several businesses were located there; presently there is a store and a small municipal park. 

Bottrel Road – often called the Dog Pound Road, now designated as Highway 22. Bow River – so named because the Indians obtained wood for bow making along its banks. 

Bow River Fort, or Old Bow Fort (25-7-5) – was the Hudson’s Bay Company fort built on the Bow River in 1833 to promote the fur trade with Indians of the area. Situated at the junction of the Bow River and Bow Fort Creek. It was also known as Piegan Post. 

Brooks Ridge (10-27-6-5) – named after Frank Brooks, the original owner of Brooks Sawmills.

Bryant Creek (9-24-6-5) – located southwest of Jumping Pound, and named after the Bryant family. Alfred Bryant was a forest ranger in that area. 

Caldbeck Post Office (NW 14 4-27-5-5) – named after Caldbeck, Wigton, Cumberland, England, the home of John Peel. 

Chapelton School District No. 1812 – established in 1909. Since the school was in Horse Creek district, the name of the school district was changed to Horse Creek School District in 

Clemens Hill School District No. 4859 – established in 1939, and named after Joe Clemens, pioneer homesteader of the Jumping Pound district. 

Coal Creek – named after the coal deposits at its mouth. Flows through Grand Valley. 

Cochrane (2,3-26-4-5) – situated on the southwest slope and at the base of the Big Hill. Named after Senator M. H. Cochrane (1823 1903), who established the Cochrane Ranche in 1881.

Cochrane Lakes (27,34-26-4-5) – named after W. F. Cochrane, son of Senator M. H. Cochrane of the Cochrane Ranche Company. The lakes are about four miles north of 1A Highway, and west of Highway 22.

Cochrane Lakes School District No. 1947 – established in 1909. 

Cochrane Ridge – located on top of the Big Hill; the ridge is the backbone of the hill. This land is presently being subdivided into 20-acre plots. 

Cope Creek (14-25-5-5) – named after the Cope family, early homesteaders in the area. Cope Ridge (25-5-5) – also named after the Cope family. 

Copithorne Ridge (25-4-5) – located in the Jumping Pound district and named after the Copithorne family, early homesteaders. 

Crawford Plateau (25-5-5) – located in the Jumping Pound district, and named after Arthur Crawford 

Dartigue School District No. 3814 – established in 1919 and named after John Dartigue. A school was never built in the district, due to the small population of school-age children at any one time. Those that did live within the boundaries of the district attended either Chapelton, West Brook or Mount Hope schools. 

Deadman Hill — situated between the Ghost and Bow Rivers; it is believed to be the hill west of the Ghost in the angle it makes with the Bow. In Cree, it was called “chipei watchi.” Hector states that slain Indians were buried in a grave in the woods on top of the hill. 

Deer Springs (2-29-5-5) – located in Winchell Coulee, and so-called because it is frequented by deer.

Desert, The – the high plateau in Township 27, Range 4 that had a very arid, treeless appearance in the dry years of the 1930s. 

Devil’s Head Mountain (27-9-5) – elevation 9, 174feet. Its name is a translation of the Cree name “we-ti-kwas-ti-kan;” in Stoney, “si ham-pa” Tyrell). It was stated by Sir George Simpson that the mountain “bears a resemblance to an upturned face.” 

Dog Pound (29-3-5) – a locality that derives its name from a Cree name, but its origin is not clear. Presently it is a hamlet on the Crossfield – Cremona railway. 

Dog Pound Creek – rises in the Rabbit Lake Indian Reserve and flows in a northeasterly direction. 

DP Valley – runs through the Mount Royal Ranch. 

Dream Hill – believed to be one of the most southerly of the Wildcat Hills. Dr. Hector passed through here in 1858 on one of his explorations. 

Dry Lake (SW14 10-28-4-5) – located in the West Brook area. The land was homesteaded by Marston Brothers; now owned by Mike Harbidge. 

Fallen Timber Creek (32-7-5) – name self explanatory. 

Fricke Creek (28-5-5) – named after Hank Fricke who homesteaded in the area. 



Fuller Pass – between Aura Ranger Station and the Little Red Deer River. Named after Jerry Fuller. 

Garlin Corner – located at the intersection of the Grand Valley road and the road running east between Townships 27 and 28; named after Louis Garlin, whose land corners the intersection.

Ghost Lake (9-26-6-5) – the flooded area formed by the Ghost Dam. There is now a village on the north shore of the lake. The Ghost River flows into the Bow just above the dam. Ghost River (26-6-5) – appeared on the Palliser map of 1860 as Dead Man River. There were said to be many Indian graves along the river. A ghost is supposed to have been going up and down the river picking up the skulls of those who had been slain by the Crees. There are several other legends also. 

Gillies Hill – on the south part of the Gillies family’s homestead. 

Glendale Road – runs north from Highway 1A, then angles northeast to join the Lochend road. In the early years the Glendale road was the route from Cochrane to the area around the Lochend Post Office. 

Grand Valley – named by Donald McEachen, who exclaimed “Aye! It’s a grand valley!” 

Grand Valley School District No. 559 – established in 1900. The old log school is still standing in a field on the old McEachen farm. 

Grease Creek (35-28-6-5) – a tributary of the Little Red Deer River. It receives its name from the greasewood or black birch brush growing along the creek, so named by Sir James Hector, who called them Pre de Graisse. The Stoney Indians called them Sna Tinda Wapta (sna-grease; tinda-meadows; wapta-plains). 

Horse Creek (8-26-4-5) – supposed to have been so named because of a lost horse that was found drowned in the creek. 

Highway 1A – the highway connecting Calgary and Cochrane, and continues west, which follows the old Morley Trail along much of its route. Rev. John McDougall is the first white man on record to travel the Morley Trail; in 1875 he rode east to investigate reports that a company of white men were building at the mouth of the Elbow River. Thus he met the N.W.M.P. detachment who were building Fort Calgary. 

Inglis Post Office – located at the home of A. McCrady in the Inglis district; named after the Inglis family. Inglis School District – established in 1916 and named after the Inglis family. Ireland Hill (27-6-5) – named after John Ireland, who homesteaded there; located in the Grand Valley hills. 

Irwin Hill (26-6-5) – located in the Beaupré district. Believed to have been named after James Irwin, who lived nearby in Jackass Canyon. 

Jackass Canyon (26-6-5) – located northwest of Beaupré. When the C.P.R. came through in the 1880s, mules were used for building the roadbed. These mules were wintered in this canyon, hence the name. 

Jacob Creek (6-26-6-5) – named after a Stoney Indian chief who signed Treaty No. 7 in 1877. It flows into the Ghost Dam reservoir. 

Jamieson Creek (26-6-5) – a tributary of the Ghost River, named after the Jamieson family.

Jean’s Creek – flows into Rabbit Creek from the east, at a point two miles south of the Little Red Deer River. Named about 1934 after Jean L. Johnson, who camped there when she homesteaded. 

Jumping Pound – locality south and west of Cochrane. 

Jumping Pound Creek (4-26-4-5) – flows into the Bow River southwest of Cochrane. In Blackfoot, its name is Ninapiskan, or “men’s pound”. There is a buffalo jump on a high, steep bank near its mouth, hence the name given to the creek. There is also a Jumping Pound Mountain (23-7-5), elevation 7,300 feet. 

Kangienos Lake (26-7-5) – a narrow lake almost two miles long. 

Kerfoot Creek (10-27-5-5) – named after W. D Kerfoot. 

Keystone Hills (27,28-6-5) – named about 1928 by an oil company. 

Klondike Valley – an area west of Bottrel, so named because it was rumoured to be a source of gold in the early days. 

Le Sueur Creek (31-26-7-5) – named after the Payn Le Sueur family, who homesteaded in the area, and were the first owners of the Bar C Ranch. Little Jumping Pound Creek (30-24-4-5) – flows into the Jumping Pound Creek. 

Lochend – a locality 14 miles northeast of Cochrane, named by J. K. Laidlaw, 

Lochend Lake – named by J. K. Laidlaw, and derived from the Gaelic name meaning “at the end of the lake”. 

Lochend Post Office (27-3-5) – was located in the Laidlaw home, and established in 1905. Lochend Road – runs north from the 1A Highway to Madden. 

Lochend School District No. 2732 – established in 1912. 

Madden (31-28-2-5) — a hamlet named after Bernard Madden, an early settler of the Beaver Dam district. 

Manachaban Hill – the Blackfoot name for what is more commonly known as Big Hill. 

McDonald Coulee – runs west into the Big Hill Creek coulee. At one time the land was owned by D. P. McDonald, who had a calf camp in the Big Hill Creek coulee. 

McDougall Coulee (31,32-4,5-5) – named after the McDougall family. 

McDougall, Mount – elevation 8,500 feet. Named after Rev. George McDougall and his sons,  Rev. John, and David. 

McKenna Creek (5-26-4-5) – flows into the Bow River south of Mitford. 

Milligan Hill (7-27-6-5) – named by Guy Gibson, because John Milligan had one of the first cabins in that area, 

Mill Valley – located west of Stimson Valley; named after Quigley’s sawmill. 

Mitford (26-5-5) – a town between Cochrane and Morley on the banks of the Bow River. Mitford was named by Lady Adela Cochrane after her friend Mrs. Percy Mitford. The town was abandoned when the C.P.R. established their station at Cochrane, and later a fire burned the buildings that remained; some, such as All Saints Anglican Church, were moved to Cochrane. 

Montreal Valley – named after the Mount Royal Ranch. 

Morley – an Indian Reservation. Established as a mission at Morleyville, by the Rev. George McDougall. Named after Rev. Morley Punshon. 

Mortimer Coulee – the deep, wide valley near the head of Beaver Dam Creek, named after the Mortimer Brothers, who homesteaded in the coulee. 

Nesbitt Coulee – north of Bottrel; named after David Nesbitt, pioneer carpenter who built many of the log houses in the Bottrel area. 

Norman Lake (22-24-5-5) – located southwest of Jumping Pound; named after the Norman family who lived nearby. 

Nicoll Ridge (25-4,5-5) – located in the Jumping Pound area; named after the Nicoll family. 

Owl Creek (23-28-7-5) – runs north into Beaver (Atkinson) Creek. 

Parks Creek (10-25-5-5) – located in the Jumping Pound area west of Cope Creek. Named after the Park family, who homesteaded nearby. 

Parks Ridge – also in the west Jumping Pound area. 

Pirmez Creek (24-3-5) (1910); named after Count Raoul Pirmez, owner of the Belgian Horse Ranch.

Phipps Corner – located on the Horse Creek road at the corner of John Phipps’ homestead quarter. 

Pile of Bones Creek (24-25-5-5) – presumably so named because of the severe cattle losses suffered by the Cochrane Ranche, whose cattle watered nearby on a quarter set aside as a water reserve (SW14 14-25-5-5). 

Potts Lake (31-25-5-5) – named after the Potts family, early homesteaders in the Jumping Pound district. 

Pocaterra Creek and Pocaterra Range – named after George Pocaterra. 

Potato Patch Hill – so named because of the potato patch on the sheltered slope of the hill on the Glenfinnan Ranch. A. W. McDonald was the gardener. Also called Red Slipper Hill, because Guy Gibson put Mrs. Wynne’s red slipper on the hill. 

Radnor (26-5-5) – a flag-stop station on the C.P.R. just east of the Ghost Dam. Named in 1884 after Wilma, daughter of the 5th Earl of Radnor. 

Ranch Creek (26-6-5) – near Behanhouse Creek. Ranch Creek flows into Behanhouse Creek which is a tributary to Spencer Creek. 

Robber’s Roost – origin unknown. 

Robinson Creek (27-6-5) – named after Tom Robinson, an early settler who lived on the banks of the creek. 

Salter Creek (30-28-6-5) – Named in 1884 by G.M. Dawson, after his packer, a Scottish half breed, residing on the Stoney reserve at Morley, Alberta. 

Salter Lake (27-6-5) — called Rabbit Lake by the local Indians. 

Sheep Ranch Hill – the hill just west of Cochrane, between the town and the Cochrane Ranche, so named because the sheep corrals were at its base. It is presently known as Cochrane Crescent. 

Scott Lake (25-6-5) – named after Leeson’s partner, Scott. 

Sibbald Creek (8-24-6-5) – named after the Sibbald family who homesteaded in the area.

Sibbald Flats (13-24-7-5) – a level grassy meadow in the foothills, in the area west of the Sibbald homestead. 

Sibbald Lake (5,8-25-6-5) – also named after the Sibbald family; it is now a recreational park.

Spencer Creek (17-26-6-5) – named after Mr. Spencer, one of the first settlers east of Morleyville. 

Spencer Hills (26-6-5) – also named after Mr. Spencer and located in the same area. 

Sta Wapta – cool running water; also two rivers. 

Stimson Valley – located north of the Beaupré district; named after Fred Stimson. 

Swanson Creek (18-28-5-5) – named after Paul Swanson. It is located in the north range of the Grand Valley hills. 

Swanson Hills (28-5-5) – also named after Paul Swanson. They are between the Dog Pound Creek and Coal Creek. 

Summit Hill – a high hill east of Bottrel, for which the Summit Hill School District and schools were named. 

Waiparous Creek (6-27-6-5) – is part of the Ghost River system. It is derived from a Stoney Indian name meaning “Crow Indian scalp.” 

Weedon School District – located in Township 27, Range 4; named by J. K. Hammond, an early homesteader, after his hometown in England. 

Wildcat Hills (26-5-5) – elevation 5,135 feet; a range of timbered hills northwest of Cochrane. 

Winchell Coulee – located south of Water Valley; named after the Winchell family who settled there.

Winchell Lake – located near the Winchell home; a well-known fishing spot. 

Windy Flats located on the east side of Big Hill Creek coulee, approximately east of the Big Hill Springs Provincial Park. The name speaks for itself. 

Wright’s Lake (11-28-4-5) – named after Scotty Wright, who homesteaded the NW 4 of the section.

Fire Fighting has Changed

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By Gordon and Belle Hall

Few records have been kept in regards to the activities of various groups in Cochrane – one being the Cochrane volunteer fire department in 1956. While recovering from an operation, I had the time and opportunity to search through the old Village of Cochrane council minute books from 1903. Through these minutes I was able to trace the start of the fire department. 

In Heritage Park, in Calgary, in front of what was supposed to be the old Cochrane fire hall, there is a plaque with a story on it about how the horses stood ready in the stalls, waiting to pull the Cochrane fire rig. This makes a good story, but it is not true as at no time did horses pull the rig. The village was not big enough and the rig was pulled by manpower, being just a small chemical outfit. The supposed fire hall was a barn that sat next to the fire hall and the one end knocked out housed the ladder rig. However, as regards the history, at a council meeting of February 13, 1909, a discussion took place on fire protection. There was a motion by Andrew Chapman and seconded by Gerald Mortimer that the secretary write R. Bickle of Winnipeg to purchase two 60 gallon chemical engines of the Obenchain Boyer type, then another motion by Chapman and Mortimer to the effect that J. H. Campbell and G. Mortimer be a committee to procure a suitable site for a fire hall, providing some can be got at a reasonable price. The apparatus consisted of water in the tanks, with a small amount of acid to make foam. The council promptly drew on the treasurer for $50 as a down payment.

At the same meeting, it was decided to accept Robert Chapman’s tender for the erection of council chambers and fire hall for a sum of $419. The building was to be completed by April 15, 1909, also the secretary wrote Bickle to ship the fire engines at once. Council appointed R. Hewitt as the first fire chief and he was to pick 12 associates for his brigade and to pick a suitable building and packing cases for a fire test on June 7, weather favourable. Most of their concern was with hay and sheaves which were stacked around barns, also faulty chimneys and on August 7, 1910, the chief was empowered to put up signs dealing with fire regulations. Hewitt was paid the sum of $5 per month to be constable, fire chief and sanitary inspector. Hewitt resigned in 1910. 

We find at the March 2, 1909 meeting the committee has found Lot 7 Block 6 and could be bought for $150. The council finds encumbrances against the lot so this site is scrapped. Then at the March 13, 1909 meeting, they found the west halves of Lots 7 and 8, Block 7 could be purchased from C. W. Fisher for $150.00 Chapman was reappointed chief in 1913 with an additional $25 per year and the regular fire fees were to be :$2 retaining fees: 25 cents for each practice (24 per year): $1 per hour for first-hour fighting fire and 50 cents per hour for additional hours, which sounds lucrative, to say the least. 

On January 25, 1913, Tom Quigley was asked to thaw out the apparatus. 

On February 19 they bought a 10-foot ladder from R. Bickle and two 16-foot roof ladders from R. Chapman. 

Sam Christianson was chief for 1914/15/16 and 1917 when he was paid $10. Christianson was the local blacksmith.

 In May 1919, Robert Butler was asked to secure assistance and overhaul the fire engines. Butler must have been chief for 1919 as he sent the council a bill for $25. However, we find in a meeting of Feb. 9, 1920, motion by Rollinger that R. Chapman does the job and M. J. Tesky was appointed chief. Equipment was purchased namely a 25-foot hose, two attachments and one union, one minute book, and one coil pump. Robert Chapman was appointed chief in 1912. 

One of the main problems concerning the brigade was how to keep the apparatus from freezing, having just wood and coal stoves at that time, someone had to keep a fire in the fire hall during the winter months. At this point in time, by order in council, the fire apparatus was to be taken out of the Firehall and housed in Chapman Garage with R. Chapman as chief. The Chapman Garage was later purchased by Marshall Baptie and the old rig was stored there from 1920 to 1945 when Baptie Motors burned and the old rig went with it. 

After reading the village minutes from 1903 I find the first big fire was the Murphy house and the house next to it. The fire is mentioned in the minutes of December 12, 1927. The following year the Fisher Block burned – mentioned in the minutes of October 1, 1928. 

Murphy Hotel (Alberta Hotel)
Murphy Hotel

The Cochrane rig never acted on these fires as it would have been useless. The Calgary department sent out a rig but took too long to get there and had no water when they did. 

Nick Cosis had a shoemaker shop in the Fisher Block. After the fire, he rented the fire hall from 1928 until the 1940s when he retired. Nick was a Greek and quite a gambler, and inside the fire hall the walls were covered with Irish Sweepstake tickets.

Fisher Block
Elevator Fire 1981

From a Peep into the Past A collection of Historic Poems and Short Stories by Gordon and Belle Hall Vol. 1

The First Fire Brigade

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Random Notes from Gordon and Belle Hall

The following article is from a Peep into the Past by Gordon and Belle Hall.  They ran a series of articles that outlined the history of the local fire department.

A new brick Presbyterian church was built in 1909 which in 1925 or thereabouts became the United Church of Canada. The first fire brigade was organized in 1909, also with a fire hall and council chambers being built for a sum of $429. The Andison Brothers made an appearance in the early 1900s,  Ernest had a meat market and William the grocery end of it. Beynons, the Davis families and the Quigleys who had a sawmill and brickyard in the east part of town, all put in an appearance. 

The Chapman Brothers, Andy and Bob, were carpenters and built many houses here before starting Chapman Brothers Garage. Andrew Chapman was postmaster here for 37 years, from 1912 to 1949. R.A. Webster ran a feed and livery stable, and also ran the UFA store. S.D. Chester had a lumber yard.

Chapmans Garage 1920s courtesy Glenbow Archives

Before the first war there were five brickyards in operation, also quarries where sandstone was removed, sawed into blocks and shipped to various points in the province. Some of the Cochrane sandstone helped build the parliament buildings in Edmonton. C.W. Fisher was quite prominent, owning the Merina Ranch south of the Bow River and building a large block in the downtown area known as the Fisher Block. It was destroyed by fire in 1928. Fisher also built the large stone house for his new bride, it is now known as the Franciscan Retreat.

The start of the first world war drained the manpower around Cochrane, as it did all across Canada. The brickyards and quarries closed up, most for good. Only one brickyard survived and that was Pete Collins yard which ran off and on till 1928 when it closed for good. 

The old slaughterhouse stood by the Big Hill Creek, where the road crosses the creek in Glenbow subdivision just west of the stampede grounds. It was a building about 20 feet wide and 40 feet long and was quite high, with a rail to put carcasses on, running the length of the building. I never could find out much history on it except it was used prior to 1920.

Hosecart Exhibit

From A Peep into the Past Vol. 1 by Gordon and Bell Hall.

Photos from CHAPS & Glenbow Archives.

Doug Richards and the Early Years

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I love these oral histories. It’s great to hear the stories rather than simply imagine them while reading. This history by the Historical Resource Committee of the M.D. Bighorn Oral History project is Doug Richard’s recollection of growing up in the country west of Cochrane before good roads, telephones, or utilities.

There are more stories where he recalls his family’s rodeo history, operating the sawmill, family life and the 4H club.

Doug Richards Playlist

Cochrane

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by Marjorie Spicer

Cochrane came into being with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Its name was given by the C.P.R. in honour of Senator M. H. Cochrane, who established the first large leasehold cattle ranch in southern Alberta, then the Northwest Territories. The C.P.R. came west to Cochrane in the early 1880s. A townsite was granted to the C.P.R. on portions of the west half of section 2 and the east half of section 3 in Township 26-4-5. The NorthWest Land Company, a subsidiary of the C.P.R., parcelled the site into lots. 

The townsite has a mixture of advantages and disadvantages that have become manifest at different times in the history of the town.

The one advantage that the town has, and which will always remain, is the beauty of the location. The town lies at the foot of Big Hill, which rises some 600 feet behind it. The Bow Valley stretching out to the south is some three miles wide at this point and the river bed lies along the southern edge of the valley. To the east, the Big Hill, which normally runs east and west parallel to the river, has a sharp projection to the south that marks the eastern boundary of this wide valley. Cochrane lies in the angle made by these two hills. To the west, the valley tends to narrow until it is little wider than the river bed at the junction of the Ghost and Bow Rivers, eleven miles away. The view of the foothills and the Rockies from the town is superb. 

The second and more practical advantage is Cochrane’s situation in the heart of a prosperous mixed farming area. In the early years of its history, this advantage was not apparent. The town was located within the boundaries of the Cochrane Ranche, later the British American Ranche and rural settlement took place some distance away. When the Ranche gave up the leasehold in the late 1880s, settlers were able to take up land nearer the townsite. Mitford had 

sprung up in 1886 and the settlers did their shopping and business there, but when the town was abandoned in the 1890s, Cochrane became the centre of the rural area and the town began to grow. 

The history of the Cochrane area, although in many respects similar to that of most other sections of Alberta,

displays some characteristics that are unusual. Insofar as the Morleyville settlement was a part of this district for a time, the region around Cochrane has been distinguished from others in southern Alberta by the fact that the first nucleus of the settlement was a mission among the Indians. Then, too, Cochrane was the site of the first of the great company cattle ranches that were to have such an important influence on the development of the southern half of the province. 

The history of the Cochrane area also presents an interesting example of the influence of geographical position on the development of local society. To begin with, there were the hardy pioneers, travelling with teams of horses and oxen into an isolated section of the land and laying the foundation of a tightly knit community. The railway followed and established a much closer link with the rest of Canada both east and west. It brought new settlers, with the result that the social structure of the area was modified. The early community feeling was partially broken down by the influx of great numbers of homesteaders, who were regarded as somewhat inferior socially because they were unpropertied newcomers and a threat to the open grazing that some of the ranchers had free use of. The earlier concept of ranchers being more aristocratic than farmers began to wane, partly because farmers proved their enterprise could be just as profitable as ranching.

Around 1898 the people living in the hamlet showed signs of progression. Industries started to spring up and by 1900 signs of self-sufficient industrial communities were showing up; brickyards and stone quarries started to operate as well as lumberyards and sawmills. The residents applied for Village status in 1903. It appeared that the Village did not have to depend on the rural population for survival. This all ended when World War I broke out. The scarcity of manpower caused the brickyards to shut down and the stone quarry was unable to sell its product; methods in the building were changing. The village did not show any signs of progression until after World War II. The oil boom came to Cochrane and the town started to grow once again.

George Creighton and the Bar C

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by Laurie Johnson

One of the more colourful characters to settle in the Cochrane district was George Creighton, who came West from Ontario, where, in his youth, he had worked on the Ottawa River log drives. He was a generous man and highly patriotic, but, though there is no record of his having injured anyone, he could be fierce when he felt his rights or his territory were being invaded, and he would go to great lengths to scare away those he wanted to get rid of. I did not work for George Creighton but I knew him well, had some dealings with him and found him to be a real gentleman. 

He homesteaded the W1, 28-26-5-5 and moved into the cabin built by Beaupré. In 1876 Beaupré had come with his wife and squatted on the land beside the creek which bears his name. He built a little log cabin and a long, low stable. The logs were skillfully dovetailed and the sod roofs were covered with troughed logs. He gathered together a little herd of cattle, but in 1883 he sold out and moved away. Shortly after he left, George Creighton settled on the place. 

In the late 1890s, Creighton took horses to the Peace River country and packed for a survey party. It is believed that he went to the Klondike in the gold rush of 1898. After his return he hired Downey, in 1903, to build the large square house that used to stand on the Beaupré Creek Ranch. His second wife died in childbirth, and both she and the babe were buried beside the house. Later they were moved to the Cochrane Cemetery. 

Creighton’s great ambition was to own a thousand head of horses. With this in view, he bought the Le Sueur ranch, which, from that time on, has carried the name of Creighton’s brand, the Bar C. The Bar C Ranch was ideally situated and blessedly remote before the building of the Forest Reserve road. In George Creighton’s day, the Eau Claire road had been built south to Morley. The Bar C was almost encircled by creeks and rivers, both the Waiparous Creek and the Ghost River have their source behind Black Rock Mountain which stands guard over Bar C territory. On the Bar C range, Meadow Creek with its many small branches flows into the Waiparous and Le Sueur Creek into the Ghost. The Waiparous joins the Ghost just four miles east of the ranch buildings, and that triangle is known as the Forks field. Besides the deeded land Creighton held some Crown land under lease.

When the Forestry Department sent a man named Flack into Creighton’s territory to build a log ranger station at Aura spring, Creighton burned the cabin and scared the man out of there. He felt justified in doing this because under the terms of his lease he was not to cut timber nor allow anyone to do so. The Forestry Department then hired Archie Howard to move up to Aura spring and build a cabin. At this time I became slightly involved as both sides borrowed weapons from me. Archie Howard knew of Flack’s experience and asked me for my 32 revolver. He said he would need it for protection. Not long after, Creighton came and asked me if I had a 45 with black ammunition. I had just what he wanted – a gun which would make a loud noise and a lot of smoke. When he brought it back to me he said, “It worked!” No further attempt was made to build a ranger station there till after his death!

If Creighton wanted to get rid of anyone he could scare the hell out of them. He never swore, but he would get up in the night and roar around and roll the cylinder of his six-shooter. John, a Russian, who worked for him, was one of his victims. John slept in a little room off the kitchen. When he heard those terrifying sounds in the night he dived through a small window, taking the sash with him. He took off east, running as if the devil were after him. D. P. McDonald used to say that the window sash was still around his neck when he reached the Mount Royal Ranch. D.P. put him to sleep in the bunkhouse, but John insisted that trunks be piled around him where he lay in the corner. He was still afraid that Creighton would come for him. 

Mr. Austin, at one-time editor of the Cochrane Advocate, once spent a few days at the Bar C and was forced out of there by Creighton in much the same way. Fearing that he would die before he reached safety, he wrote a note and left it on a tree by Waiparous Creek. The note stated that Creighton was responsible for his death, but he reached the Glenfinnan Ranch safely. 

Creighton’s horses never numbered many over 650 head. He kept about ten stallions, Rock, a Thoroughbred, and one, Saxon, was a Coachhorse. He occasionally left a few good colts uncastrated, to roam the range. Each horse had his own territory, more or less. Two might run with their mares in the Forks field. One old stallion, Donald, a Shire by Old Willow, was never brought in from the Devil’s Head camp, summer or winter, till the ranch changed hands. Another bunch ran on Meadow Creek and a couple of bunches up the Waiparous. Drift fences were almost unknown but Creighton did some fencing around the Devil’s Head Camp. (This camp was east of Black Rock and several miles from the Devil’s Head.) Dave McDougall used to push his horses up to this open range so Creighton wanted to build a drift fence there. He hauled some rolls of wire up to the top of the hill, by the old road no longer in use, and left the wire there – about two miles west of Le Sueur Creek. Dave McDougall came along and rolled it all down the hill and into the Ghost River.

Corrals were spotted here and there over the range: one in the Forks field; one on the bank of the Waiparous, just below the Sand Ridges; one above Squaw Flats; one at Le Sueur Creek and one at the Devil’s Head camp. Ed Thompson was a foreman and at times he had quite a few riders helping him. When they ran into a bunch of horses they corralled them and branded the foals. Some of the horses ran as far east as Robinson Creek and the head of the Dog Pound Creek. When these were gathered they were always taken to the Beaupré place. Generally, there were a couple of men at each place, in the summer, breaking horses.

 In 1914 after the outbreak of the First World War the Government was buying remounts George Creighton hired Clem Edge and George Gordon to break horses along with Thompson When he had a carload of good horses ready to go, Creighton called up Colonel Fry to come out and inspect them and pick out those he wanted. Creighton refused to put a price on them but said he would deliver them to Cochrane on a certain day. This he did, and he donated them to the Government as his war effort. He donated to every local cause during the war. Every year he gave an equal amount of money to each of the Cochrane churches, the Anglican, the Catholic and the Presbyterian. 

The year 1914 brought more tragedy into George Creighton’s life. The trouble all started over a little bay mare. George Ward, who was working for Creighton, claimed this slick and planned to put his brand on her. One day when Ward was away, Creighton branded her with the Bar C. In revenge, Ward reported Creighton for horse stealing. Creighton wanted Paddy Nolan to defend him but they were on the outs, and he was too proud to ask him. So he asked Charlie Grayson to get him a lawyer, knowing that he would get Nolan. In the long-drawn-out trial, Nolan defended him so well that Ward, the only witness, left that part of the country and Creighton was acquitted. The stress and worry were too much for George Creighton and he died in March 1915.

 When George Creighton died, his brother, Tom, came from Eastern Canada to take over the ranch. He had been a timber cruiser and admitted that he knew nothing about horses. Ed Thompson hired me to help him break horses and do the other ranch work. We worked together all summer and then Thompson left to visit his brother in the States and I became foreman, Tom’s son, Ernest, came from the East and did his best to help with all the work. 

Just one year after George Creighton died, the ranch was sold to P. D. Bowlen. I hired Marshall Baptie and Jack Fuller to help me gather the horses. Later Eddie Rowe came from Saskatchewan to the ranch. Altogether we gathered 650 horses and as fast as they were gathered P. D. Bowlen sold all that was saleable. After the horses were gathered, Eddie Bowlen and I broke horses down at the Beaupré Ranch. 

I tried to get Ed Thompson to come back to the Bar C but he was building up the Little Red Deer place. He did ride over once in a while to visit. One day when I was away, P.D. and Rowe decided to butcher a pig. P.D., with a little pocket knife in his hand, was chasing the pig around and Rowe was killing himself laughing when Ed Thompson rode in. “What are you trying to do?” asked Thompson. “Kill this pig!” said Bowlen. “Why don’t you poison him?” said Thompson 

Mrs. Bowlen stayed at the ranch most of the time and P.D. was often away. One day she asked me to drive her to Morley in their Studebaker. I had never driven a car so I backed it from the shed into a large paddock where the gates were shut, and I drove it around and around trying to get used to the gears. I didn’t notice that Thompson had ridden in and was watching me, till I heard him yell, “If you’re afraid to take it out why don’t you tie up a leg?” 

While I was at the Bar C, Ed Bowlen, P.D.’s brother, came for a visit. He was an engineer on the building of the Panama Canal and was a remarkably versatile man. Ed Thompson showed him how to dovetail the corners of a log building, and, although he was not an axeman, he built the stable which still stands and did an excellent job of the corners. 

In the spring and early summer of 1915, it rained for forty days and nights. Boney Thompson and I rode day after day in the rain and for three weeks we were stranded there unable to cross the flooded rivers. I tried to get out over the Le Sueur crossing but my horse rolled over in the swift water. Fortunately, we came out on the same side of the river. This was just after Bowlen bought the ranch.

On three occasions, at least, the Bar C was threatened by fire and much of the range was burned over. Luckily the buildings always escaped. In 1910 a fire came from the south, jumped the Ghost River, Waiparous Creek and the Little Red Deer River and burned the Greasy Plains and beyond. In 1914 a fire was started by lightning up Waiparous Creek. George Creighton, Boney Thompson, Jerry Fuller and his son, Jack, fought this fire and almost had it under control when the wind changed and took it west to Black Rock and south to the Bar Chay meadows. In 1919 a fire started in the Broken Leg Lake country, jumped the Ghost River, where the gravel flats are a quarter of a mile wide, and came so close to the Bar C buildings that P. D. Bowlen took everything out of the house and stacked it in a pile in the big paddock. 

In 1912, Brady, a prospector, who had discovered gold in California, caused more excitement when he claimed to have discovered gold on the north bank of the Ghost, just south of the Bar C. Cochrane went wild. Many parties were outfitted there and guided up to the strike. It is estimated that five hundred claims were staked but they only produced fool’s gold. 

In 1924 P. D. Bowlen sold the Bar C to Mr. Duncan and his sons, Cecil and Jack. They kept sheep as well as cattle and horses. They branded their horses quarter-circle D, and horses with that brand could still be seen running wild on the Forest Reserve in the 1950s, years after Duncan’s left. 

In 1935 they sold the Bar C to Mrs. Merriman and her daughter. By this time more deeded land had been added to the ranch: the Hudson’s Bay Section at the north and some C.P.R. land in the Forks Field. Mrs. Merriman’s grandchildren, Gina and Jack Souther took correspondence courses for a while before continuing their schooling in Calgary. Jack is a geologist and Gina is a talented artist and bronze sculptor. She married Robert McDougall and they have three children, Sally, Robert and Jean. 

The ranch has changed hands several times since Mrs. Merriman bought it and it is now owned by Lester Beck.

Jack Pine Savages

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by Jean Johnson 

The Jack Pine Savages was a little local club organized by Mrs. Ethel Wynne and named by Guy Gibson. Mrs. Wynne – never called by her first name – was an interesting person. She was artistic, well-read and she had an active mind. She was a staunch Conservative and, at one time, she had taken a great interest in politics. She worked for R. B. Bennett in his successful campaigns of 1925 and 1926, but for some mysterious reason, when he became a leader of the Conservative party of Canada in 1927, she went into what she always called the “Seven Year’s Silence.” 

In 1934, having broken the Seven Year’s Silence and having renewed her correspondence with the “Right Honourable”, she cast about for a cause. In 1934 all the talk was about Social Credit. 

Mrs. Wynne decided to form a club for the purpose of suppressing this upstart idea. So, mounted on her roan pony, Willie, she rode around the neighbourhood and interviewed those she wanted in her club. The idea of a club, an excuse to get together for a social evening, appealed to all of us and we agreed to join. Mrs. Wynne was the president of the Jack Pine Savages, Jean Johnson, the secretary, and Audley Richards, the treasurer. The other members were: Walter Candy, “the common denominator of all Albertans’, Mrs. Jamieson and Sandy, Jack McDonald, Guy Gibson and Maud Lewis King. A rather unlikely group to overthrow anything. 

Throughout all our meetings Social Credit was never mentioned; we decided that the proper procedure was to raise some money. Each member was instructed to arrange an affair at which a silver collection could be taken. Several of us put on dances in our homes, but there was a natural reluctance to pass the hat. The music was free and the ladies brought food – so why charge? 

In the winter of 1935-36, Mrs. Wynne attempted to get up a play with only Jack Pine Savages in the cast. But most of us were rather poor actors so she abandoned that project. 

In 1936 Jean and Laurie Johnson put on the first gymkhana held on the Mount Royal picnic grounds. A picnic for local people, with foot races, jumping and a few horse races, had been a yearly event, but there had never been a full-blown gymkhana such as the one now planned by the Jack Pine Savages. It was decided that the members should ask merchants and others to donate prizes. Walter Candy went to Calgary and returned in triumph with the following loot: twenty subscriptions to the Farm and Ranch Review, a flashlight, a lady’s compact and a dozen tulip bulbs. Jimmie Rodger of Morley Trading donated a pair of stirrups, Laurie browbeat Riley and McCormick into donating a bridle and Tilda Hammond donated a Navajo blanket. Word of the last two prizes generated great excitement and people started training their saddle horses. 

Most of the events were of the traditional type, but Guy Gibson devised a cowboy race in which the rider lay on the ground wrapped in his saddle blanket and his head on his saddle; his horse hobbled nearby. On a signal, he was to arise, unhobble his horse, saddle up and ride to a given point. This race led to a horrible amount of skullduggery. All were supposed to be wrapped in a full-sized blanket which had to be folded up. Some sinners disregarded this rule. Each was required to hobble his horse with a strip torn from gunny sack and tied with a square knot. One malicious character snuck in and wrapped certain knots with stout twine tied in hard knots which couldn’t be untied in half an hour. But, we made some money. The gymkhana was a great success and under other auspices, was carried on for many years. 

In November of 1936, a disastrous fire swept the country south of the Bow River. The Savages unanimously agreed to donate all their funds to help those who were burned out. After that, no more meetings were held. 

Ironically, Social Credit in Alberta outlived all the Jack Pine Savages except three, Audley, Sandy and Jean. 

The Richards Family

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by Audley and Jim Richards, as told to Wendy Vaughan

 The Richards Brothers, Bill, James, Albert (Ab), and Dave resided at McLaren’s Depot, Frontenac County, Ontario, where they farmed and ran a general store. 

In 1902 Bill Richards came West to Calgary and went into the sawmill business with a man named George Hatt. The mill was located on the south side of the Stoney Indian Reserve at Morley. That same year Bill Richards wrote his brother, James, asking him to come west and look things over, which he did in 1903. James Richards purchased George Hatt’s interest in the mill at that time, and in 1904 brought his wife, Agnes, and their four children, Audley, Edgar, Hazel and Gladys, West. After their arrival three more children were born to their family; Jim at Morley in 1909, and Agnes and Bill in Calgary in 1911 and 1913, respectively. The two other Richards brothers, Ab and Dave, also came West a little later. 

After buying out George Hatt in 1904, Richards Brothers moved the mill to the north side of the Stoney Indian Reserve near the east end. As their contract with the Indians to supply logs was not panning out, they purchased 12 of Section 23-26-7-5 (north of the Reserve) from the CPR. 

They were about to move the mill to the new timber berth when the Indians decided they wanted them to stay, and so instead in 1905 they moved the mill one mile west of the old site onto a small lake. This new site was the original location of Reverend George McDougall’s first Fort when he moved to Morley. The mounds of the old Fort can still be seen, and the house which the Richards built also still stands there. 

In 1906 the Richards Brothers, James, Dave and Bill, homesteaded some land in the Queenstown area, and in May, 1907, were caught in a severe blizzard at Gleichen while moving two carloads of equipment and horses to the homesteads. The horses were unloaded at Gleichen during the storm which lasted for three days and took a large toll of livestock in the area. At this time the Richards Brothers’ families were living in Calgary as there was no schooling in the Morley area then. 

In 1910 James and Bill Richards formed a company with George Wayman, owner of the City Planing Mills, Calgary, and carried on lumbering, a sash and door business, and contracting. In 1913 they expanded their operation. This was a disastrous move for the company as it came just before the slump of 1914 when

everything came to a standstill. With their lumber business at a low ebb, in 1914 Richards Brothers took on a haying contract at Hussar and put up 500 tons of hay for P. Burns at $2.00 a ton. Machinery for haying was purchased from the Cockshutt Plow Co. and International Harvester Co. Before they could collect their money for the contract they had to buy a baler, bale the hay, and ship it out 12 miles in the spring of 1915. In 1914 when Richards undertook the haying contract, general economic conditions were terrible. For example, while they were taking their wagons and equipment through Calgary on the way to Hussar, hundreds of men out of work tried to jump on the wagons with the hope of getting a job with the outfit. In fact, so many men climbed aboard that they had to be pushed off so the horses could still pull the wagons. Eventually they were all pushed off, except for one man who was so persistent that finally Richards allowed him to stay. This man helped them hay the rest of the summer for only his board and room. 

During 1913 and 1914 Richards Brothers plowed fireguards for the CPR from Radnor (east of Morley) to Seebe. On May 16, 1914, James Richards staked a mining claim in the Clearwater area of the Forest Reserve. John Hunter of Morley and Tom Noble went with him on this venture. The claim, however, was never developed. 

The Company liquidated due to the Depression, and in 1915 James Richards took a contract breaking and farming a quarter section of land west of Langdon owned by his brother Ab. The fall of 1915 he supplied Foulton Brothers of Indus with six teams and bundle racks for their threshing outfit. James’ sons, Audley and Edgar, worked as helpers on this crew, as well as on a crew for Foultons in 1916. During the summers they worked the mill at Morley. 

In 1917 the Richards Brothers contracted to build a barn for Robert (Scotty) White of Indus (later of the Cochrane District). Audley and Ed also worked on this project, and in the summer the brothers again moved back to Morley to work the mill. 

After the Richards Brothers Company liquidated, only James Richards and his family remained in the Morley district, where James continued to run the mill. His wife, Agnes, had passed away in 1914 leaving a family of very young children. During their school years, the children went to various schools in Calgary. Some also attended school on the Reserve and at other times they had a governess right at the mill. Audley recalls a time when he went to school at Victoria School in Calgary, located near the present Calgary Stampede grounds, and that they used to go down to the race track to watch the famous pacing horse, Dan Patch, work out. In 1908, Audley also recalled seeing a type of stampede in Calgary. It was more or less a big roundup of horses and cattle, with a lot of cowboys there riding and roping. 

Many stories could be told of life at the mill. One is recalled when James Richards employed a Chinese cook. This cook would set his fresh baked pies on the window sill of the kitchen to cool. Young Jim and Bill Richards and their friend, Joe Fox, would watch for the cook to go to the spring for water, then would sneak up and steal the cook’s pies off the ledge and run off into the maze of lumber piles to eat their spoil. The cook would return to find some of his fresh pies missing, and would then stand on the kitchen step and look and look, but never caught them. 

In 1918 Audley, the eldest of James Richards’ sons, went to work for Mr. Desjardine of Gleichen when Desjardine moved 500 head of cattle up to Morley. Desjardine had leased the north side of the Stoney Reserve and built a full set of corrals on the north side of the Bow River west of Morley, a location which is still known locally as the “Desjardine Corrals.” The location has also become well known in the film industry as scenes from several movies have been filmed there, including those from “Little Big Man.” Desjardine moved his horses and cattle back to Gleichen in 1919 and Audley, after helping put in the crop in the spring of 1920, quit and came back to Morley just before the mill burned down. 

The mill completely burned down in 1920 shortly after it was started up in the spring. The mill was built to run from steam, had three steam boilers, and was valued at about $20,000. As there was no insurance on it and little was saved, the mill was never rebuilt. 

The summer after the mill burned, Audley and Ed went to work haying for their uncle, Bill Richards, at Irricana. They also did a mile of road grading for him to enable him to work off his land taxes, and in the fall the two brothers 

also helped other farmers in the district threshing. In 1921 Audley and Ed went in on a haying contract which T. J. Noble and Donald Cameron of the McCorkell Place obtained for putting up hay on the Ricks Ranch, southeast of Morley. 

For several winters after the mill burned down, James Richards and sons supplied pilings to Alberta Wood Preservers in Calgary. They took the pilings out of their timber berth during the winter, stockpiled them at the mill site, and in the summer hauled them to Morley where they were put on cars for shipping to Calgary. All of the timber was hauled by horses. In 1924 James and his sons, Audley, Ed and Jim, hauled poles for Calgary Power for the No. 3 Line from Ozada to Chinequay. Audley also had a job stretching wire with a team from Morley to Calgary. Richards had a teepee of their own at this time and used it for camping in while working on their contracts. 

The years following the mill’s burning saw James’ girls, Agnes, Gladys and Hazel all eventually take up permanent residence in Calgary. Hazel married Oscar Beaudry and they had three children, Joan, Victor and Louise. She resided in Calgary until her death in 1957. Gladys worked in Calgary as a legal secretary until her death in 1948. Agnes still resides in Calgary where she has her own dressmaking business. James Richards lived mainly in the Morley and Calgary areas until his death in 1956 at the age of 83. 

In 1930 Ed Richards purchased some land originally belonging to Andrew Sibbald (now a part of the Stah Wapta Ranches) and the four young bachelor brothers resided there much of the time until the late 1930s. James also stayed with the boys until he purchased a section of land directly south of Ed’s and moved there in the early 1930s. He later sold this section to his son, Bill, after Bill returned from the Second World War. Also during the early 1930s Audley, Jim and Bill homesteaded quarters northwest of the Morley Indian Reserve. Jim and his family still live on his homestead where they carry on ranching. 

While the brothers were batching at Ed’s, they raised a number of horses, and broke and sold horses. They also worked out for various local ranchers including Dave McDougall, Jim Boyce (an outfitter in Banff), Tom Noble, Laurie Johnson, and others. Audley, Jim and Bill also made improvements on their homesteads during this period. 

During these years of bachelorhood, the young Richards brothers were dubbed “The Playboys of Poverty Bend” by their local neighbours. The first break-up of the group occurred in 1937 when Jim married Tillie Zuccolo. They met in 1931 when Tillie was teaching the Tom Lauder children. Tom Lauder and his family were working for Laycocks then, and Tillie lived with them and taught the Lauder children from September of 1931 through to January of 1933. The romance did not truly blossom however, until Tillie was teaching Laurie and Jean Johnson’s girls in 1936. 

After Jim and Tillie married they lived on Jim’s homestead. They moved a log cabin which Tillie owned up to the homestead. The cabin had been located on Guy Gibson’s Soldier grant down by the Ghost River. For the next five years they worked in the mountains for Fred Brewster during the summers, and lived on their homestead in the winters. While they worked in the mountains (mainly out of Jasper), Jim acted as a big game guide and Tillie cooked. 

During the 1930s Jim Richards competed in Saddle Bronc Riding at various local rodeos such as Morley, Dog Pound, Sundre and Calgary, He was in the North American Saddle Bronc Riding finals five out of the six years he rode in Calgary, although he was never lucky enough to win the event. Jim recalls that in those days travelling to rodeos did not have all the luxurious conveniences of swift trucks and fancy campers. In 1937 he and Tillie, along with Laurie and Jean Johnson, packed a couple of horses and all rode to Sundre for the rodeo. They camped at Sundre during the rodeo and then packed up and rode home when the show was over. Jim recalls that he won the Saddle Bronc event at Sundre that year and that the total trip took several days. 

Jim and Tillie settled down permanently to ranching in 1943 when their daughter, Wendy, was born. A son, Doug, was born in 1946. Wendy married Walter Vaughan of the Dog Pound area. They now own the Vaughan place east of Bottrel, but having pioneer blood in their veins, they rented the farm out in 1974 and moved to the Bonanza area of the Peace River country to prove up on their homestead land in that area. Doug married Jill Harries of Calgary and they reside in Jim’s place, where they are building a new log house. The lumber being used for their house was planed at Brooks’ sawmill and the planer which Brooks have is the one the Richards brothers had in their mill. Like Jim, Doug has become a bronc rider. He won the Saddle Bronc Riding title in the F.C.A. Rodeo circuit in 1971, and also has a small string of good bucking horses. Also, like his Dad, Doug married a school teacher. 

In 1938 Ed Richards married Marjorie Eckel. They had one son, Kenneth. Ed and Marjorie ranched on Ed’s place until the mid-fifties when they sold out to what is now Stah Wapta Ranches. They then moved to Calgary where Ed worked for Firestone Tire Co. until his retirement. They now reside in Creston, British Columbia, 

Audley married Esther Ernst in 1945. They have a daughter, Jackie, now married and living in Calgary, and a son, David. When they were first married they resided in Audley’s homestead. They then worked for Brewster’s for a number of years and resided part of the time at 

Black Rock where Brewster’s winter their horses. During the 1950s Audley went to work for Calgary Power at Seebe and remained with them until his retirement. He still resides at the Horseshoe Dam below Seebe and works for the Parks Department in the summertime. Esther cooked for Brewster’s on their Trail Rides out of Banff for many years as well. David Richards is presently building a log house on his Dad’s old homestead. 

In 1946 Bill Richards returned from the Second World War and brought with him his war bride, Mariette, from Belgium. Mariette, a war widow, had a small daughter, Suzy, who joined them here several years later. For a time Bill and Mariette resided on their homestead next to Audley’s and Jim’s. This was at first a harrowing experience for a new bride from Belgium who, at the time, could speak very little English. One of Mariette’s biggest fears was bears, and Wendy recalls a time when she stayed with Mariette for a few days to keep her company while Bill was away: 

“At the time, I was about 3 or 4 years old and bears were the least of my worries. I remember going outside (unseen by Mariette) to the little house” up the trail. I was sitting there minding my own business when I heard Mariette calling my name (at the time I didn’t understand much else she said). Finally, I answered and she came and gave me a good scolding. To get her point across I can remember her pointing into the woods behind the little house and stressing the word “Bears”, to which I remember replying that I hadn’t seen any bears, and generally acted most unconcerned.”

Bill and Mariette sold their homestead quarter to Jim in 1952 after they moved to Bill’s Dad’s place. In 1959 they sold this place to Two Rivers Ranches and moved to Calgary for several years. When they were still at the ranch, Bill worked at different times for Poole Construction on various projects. In the mid-1960s Bill and Mariette built a new home in Cochrane and moved back to the district. After he left the ranch Bill worked for the Department of Highways until his death in 1972. Suzy married John Poynter in 1958 and lives in the Beaupré district with their three children, Rosemarie, Gary and Jerry. Mariette sold her home in Cochrane and moved back to Calgary in 1974. 

The Richards could tell enough stories of happenings and events of their everyday lives through the years to fill a book. The following are only a few of those stories which bear facts of historical interest to the community or have a dash of entertainment value, as told by various members of the Richards family. 

Audley recalls some of the early neighbours they had at the mill and a couple of events in his own life: 

“During the early days at the mill, the nearest white neighbour was three miles away. David McDougall’s family ran a store two miles east of Morley and George McDougall ranched one-half mile further east yet. John McCorkell ranched east of George McDougall, and the Graham place was the Bow View Ranch. John Niddrie was the school teacher at the Indian Orphanage, but later moved to an old schoolhouse one mile from the mill. He had a few students there for about a year. Niddrie also had a quarter of land near the Graham Ranch, and his brand was bar F5. 

Other neighbours in the area were Frank Fletcher, L. Q. Coleman, and Mr. Potts (Sandy Jamieson’s Grandad). T. J. Noble rented the Andrew Sibbald place and later homesteaded a quarter just east of it. 

The Kidd Brothers, Fred and Stewart, ran the store at Morley and ranched on the SL (Leeson and Scott Place) located southeast of Morley, The brothers later moved to Nordegg with the Indian Affairs Dept. Mr. Fleetham was the Indian Agent and Stocking was the Clerk. Christianson was the Blacksmith. He later set up a shop in Cochrane. John McKenzie was the Indian Stockman at that time and later moved to Exshaw. 

Mr. Ings was the minister at the Indian Church. Mr. L. Q. Coleman supplied a piece of land on the main road on his place for the Methodists to build a church for the white settlers. At the time when the Richards family was living at the mill, a minister came from Canmore every two weeks to preach a sermon and would stop overnight at different places. 

Mr. L. Q. Coleman had a second place on the Red Deer River and when Archie Howard came to work for Coleman, Archie homesteaded that place and ran a bunch of horses there for a number of years.” 

Audley also recalls: 

“In 1929 I helped Gunsolly round up a bunch of horses from behind the Devil’s Head Mountain. These were the last of the large number of horses which the Bar C had run. They were taken down to Gunsolly’s place on Horse Creek for breaking and were then trailed to Edmonton where they were loaded on rail cars and shipped to Spirit River. After being unloaded at Spirit River they were sold to local farmers and homesteaders in that area. Raymond Shortclothes also helped with breaking and shipping these horses. 

“One time, when I was still quite young, one of our neighbours went to town (Calgary) and asked me to pick him up off the train at Morley. This neighbour had a habit of “taking on a little too much” when on his town excursions, but the conductors got to know him and would let him off at Morley. Anyway, the day I went to pick him up, the train had already passed through when I got there and the neighbour was nowhere to be found. However, some Indians were there and they told me he had gone to Jake Swampy’s place not far from the station, so I went over, and sure enough, the neighbour was there, but in no condition to ride home. Another old Indian, Peter

Wesley was there. He was probably about 70-80 years at the time and had been a scout for McDougall’s when they came to the Morley district. He couldn’t speak English, but using Jake Swampy for an interpreter, started telling me stories of the days when they used to fight other tribes and to demonstrate, took off his shirt to show the torture wounds and arrow scars he bore. After a few of these stories, I began to get worried, as the neighbour was unaware of the situation going on around him, and it was growing dark outside. Needless to say, I was most happy to leave when I finally aroused the neighbour and we got underway. The old Indian, Peter Wesley, was reputed to be one of the best “Bow and Arrow” Indians of his day. 

Another bit of interesting general information on the Richards boys is that during the 1930s and 1940s they accumulated a large number of horses. They estimate that at one time they had in the neighbourhood of 400 head. These horses roamed the free-range north of the Morley Reservation and west to the mountains on what was then Forest Reserve. When the Forest Reserve was first leased out for cattle grazing, the Richards had to reduce the size of their herd. As horses were then virtually worth nothing, Jim, Audley and Bill went into the mink business and began shooting these wild horses to feed the mink. They stayed in this business several years during the late 1940s and used up a large number of their horses for mink feed. None of them enjoyed this, and when the horses were thinned out and mink prices went down, they went out of the mink business. 

Tillie Richards recalls that times were not always easy back in the late 1930s and early 1940s when she and Jim were first married. Guy Gibson had given her a mare and colt for a wedding present, and in 1944 she sold the old mare with the four colts that she had by then. She had to add $2.00 to the money received for the mare and colts to buy the separator which cost $39.40. 

It might be noted that over the past few years while Jim’s son, Doug, has been building up his herd of bucking horses, Jim has been heard to complain about “all those damn horses eating off the grass for my cows.” However, it was noticed, while Jim was thumbing through his old files, that in the late 1930s when he was reporting to the Alberta Government on the numbers of livestock which his homestead was supporting, the figures over a five year period read something like this: 1st year — 2 cows and 6 horses; 2nd year – 4 cows and 8 horses; 3rd year – 4 cows and 10 horses; 4th year – 4 cows and 12 horses; 5th year – 4 cows and 20 horses. And so, it seems that perhaps the ratio of cows to horses is actually somewhat higher now than it was back then! 

I (Wendy) would like to add a few items about our family as seen from my own point of view, and during my time. I recall well the early days at home when Uncle Bill and Uncle Audley were living on their homesteads next to Dad’s. The recollection I most remember is that they always rode in on horseback, and Uncle Audley, particularly, often corralled horses at our place. I recall Dad and Uncle Audley bringing in numbers of horses, especially in the spring, and pulling their manes and tails. The horsehair was then stuffed into gunny sacks and weighed and sold by the pound. I also remember that it was not taken too kindly if someone pulled the tails of another party’s horses. 

My brother Doug never went to school, and I only went to school in grade 12. We took all the rest of our school by correspondence. Some of the local kids wondered how we could stand doing school that way, but we thought it was O.K. as we were able to work hard some days and take days off if we wanted to go somewhere or do other things. Also, we usually had our work done at least a month ahead of kids in school and enjoyed long summer holidays to do as we wished. Our close neighbours were the Dawson’s and the next closest were the Wasson’s (about 8 miles by horseback). We would often ride to each other’s places to visit and play and as we were all in the same age group, we had a lot of good times together. One of our favourite sports was to go out on the “Point”, a flat area on the south side of the Ghost River where the land was quite flat and reasonably smooth for a couple of miles. Here we would line up our ponies and have horse races, which I’m sure would not have been totally approved of by our respective parents had they known of them at the time. I remember that my old white mare, Josephine, would often win some of these races. As a point of interest, she is now owned by Hugh Wearmouth and is over 30 years old. 

When we were quite young, Doug and I joined the local 4-H Beef Club which we enjoyed very much. We were in the club for seven years and during that time showed some of the calves from Dad’s herd to club championships. As the 4-H Club was the centre of our social life with other people, we gained a lot of good knowledge and entertainment from it, which has benefited both of us to this day. 

In summarizing, our family life was always happy and usually had a lot of funny moments. The thing that clearly sticks out to me now is that we nearly always did things together. Mum and Dad, particularly since the roads and communications have improved to their place, are quite active in community affairs. Dad has been the Councilor in the I.D. area for a number of years and is also on the Board of Directors for the Rockyview Hospital in Calgary, and Mum is on the Planning Board for the area. 

One other thing the Richards boys will always be remembered for in the community is when they participated at local house parties and dances. Dad and Uncle Audley both called square dances, but the highlight of every evening was when someone would bring in the old washtub which Dad would use for a Tom-tom. He would sing the Indian chicken dance chant and beat the tub, and Uncle Audley and Uncle Bill would do the chicken dance. Depending on the time of night and the “spirit” of the occasion, these chicken dances could sometimes transport the audience back in time, to where they would almost believe they were at a real Indian pow wow.

A Doctors Grave at Kicking Horse Pass

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A DOCTOR'S GRAVE AT KICKING HORSE PASS

It is a steady climb from Cochrane to Banff and Lake Louise and on up to the Kicking Horse Pass which seems to be tucked away in the heart of the Rockies right on top of the world. It is probably the best-known pass through the Rocky Mountains because the first trans-Canada railway was built through it. But long before it was built surveyors and engineers trudged through the mountains in search of the easiest route to lay steel to the Pacific 

That is how Captain Palliser of the Royal Civil Engineers of England and his friends Captain Blackstone, who was also an engineer; Mr. Sullivan the camp cook; a Frenchman who was botanist for the party; and the hero of the story, Dr. Hector, their medical advisor, came to be camped beside a wild unknown river deep in the heart of the mountains. Swift and turbulent, this river channelled its way through a gorge of stone over a cataract, resounding so loudly that even at the engineer’s camp, a quarter-mile away the waterfall echoed like distant thunder. There was a sharp frost that June night about 1860, so Mr. Sullivan crawled out of his bed of spruce boughs in the early dawn and stirred up the fire and had a pot of tea boiling, some pemmican porridge cooking and a special treat of rainbow trout sizzling in the frying pan when the warmth of the fire and the good smell of food cooking brought the others from their tents. 

Throughout breakfast, they discussed the work for that day and it was decided to ford the river above the falls where the current appeared to be less strong. However, it proved strong enough when the pack horses balked and had to be chased into it. Just as it appeared as if all would ford the river safely, another packhorse balked and Dr. Hector leaned over and gave him a sharp cut with his whip. Instantly the horse kicked out with both feet and a sharp iron shoe caught Dr. Hector on the forehead. He slumped in the saddle and the horse bolted with his unconscious body. When the animal was finally captured and Dr. Hector released, he appeared to be quite dead. A grave was dug in that lonely spot, where the turbulent waterfall would be his monument. According to reports, the grave was completed and Captain Palliser had gone to one side to meditate over the simple words for the funeral service of his friend. Suddenly one of the other men noticed a slight movement as of breathing, and a tinge of colour returning to the doctor’s cheeks. He lost no time in calling the others and you can imagine their thankfulness at finding their friend alive. That is why that particular campsite is recorded in Captain Palliser’s notebook as Kicking Horse Camp and that is why the name Kicking Horse was later adopted for the falls, the river and the mountain pass.

Thanks again to Belle and Gordon Hall for this story from A Peep into the Past Volume II.

CHAPS sends condolences

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CHAPS would like to recognize the passing of the subjects of two of our recent stories. Horst Wirsig, who told the stories of his family’s immigration and adventures after World War II passed away in January. Bob Smith who told stories of Seebe, Lake Minnewanka, photography and nature also passed away in January.

Both had their stories captured on video in the Oral History Project (History Resource Committee, M.D. Bighorn).

CHAPS sends our condolences to family and friends.

Wirsig Obituary
Smith Obituary

Stories of Seebe and Minnewanka Landing

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We have another interesting story from the Heritage Resource Committee of the M.D. Bighorn.

Bob and Mary Smith describe a gravesite at Seebe and about growing up in Minnewanka Landing.

Lone Grave at Seebe

Minnewanka Landing Stories

Minnewanka Landing Wiki
Complete Playlist

Horst Wirsig talks about the Bar C Ranch

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Horst Wirsig owned the Bar C Ranch from 1966-1972. The Heritage Resource Committee of the M.D. Bighorn captured this interview as part of the Oral History Project.

There is a whole playlist of videos outlining his immigration from Poland, across Canada and eventually settling in the area.  I enjoyed his stories of community building and entrepreneurial challenges.

View the whole Playlist

Antics of Remittance Men

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From a Peep into the Past Vol. II Gordon and Belle Hall

Oldtimers in Alberta are fond of telling stories about remittance men. To the westerner, these were sons of good English families who received money or remittance from home. They came to different points in Alberta to engage in ranching and their strange ways, their misfortunes and their sins of omission and commission were discussed around many a kitchen table. Most of these men did not fit into the social life of their British homes and were sent to Canada so their relations would not be embarrassed by their conduct.

They came with their leggings, monocles, caps, accents and habits and proved at times to be a good source of enjoyment and at times, profit to the cowboys and settlers. These boys had money and instead of working, they seemed to crave leisure and excitement. They tried to paint the town red as it were. They would drink with anybody and tear up the interior of hotels and waste their money in sinful pursuit. The hotelkeepers would give them sleeping rooms, food and credit at the bar because they could count on the quarterly dividend from England. Many were scions of good families and they made pitiful exhibitions. 

 The settlers who laughed at them and ridiculed them were often not above taking advantage of them by selling them supplies and farms at ridiculously high prices. A remittance man in High River went through $100,000 in a few years and came down to driving a scavenger wagon. As the years went by, the money from home ceased to come and some became beggars, hotel hangers-on or worse.

 There is one story, told to me by an oldtimer at Fish Creek south of Calgary. It seems the remittance man had heard that in pig butchering you had to have a big tub of scalding water to scald the hair off after of course the pig was killed This fellow got the pig into his house where there was a bathtub full of hot water. Shooting at the pig, he missed it and blew a big hole in the bathtub. A local farmer coming by heard the ruckus and rushed in and saved the pig. Needless to say the place was a shambles. One thing the remittance men all did, when World War I started and danger threatened the Isle of Britain, they dropped everything and regardless of costs, rushed to the defence of the beloved land of their birth. Many of them never returned.

Reprinted with permission of the Hall Family

This article has been edited for language. Photo courtesy of SemanticScholar.org

The Warner Story

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As told by Mrs. Warner - Big Hill Country
Photos courtesy Marsha Warner

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Warner and their six children moved from Conway, Missouri, to Cochrane in the spring of 1938. The family moved to the farm, east of Weedon School, which had been left to Roy by his uncle, Mark O’Neil. They travelled in a car and a truck, loaded with the family’s possessions. The journey took ten days, however, for three days the Warners were forced to shelter in a vacant house near Lincoln, Nebraska, during a terrible blizzard. Fortunately, they had bedding and groceries with them and managed to heat the house with a brooder stove and some coal which they found there. 

 

Norma Martha Ron Mark who were in the truck.

Mr. and Mrs. Warner were married in 1914 and lived on their farm near the Ozark Mountains until they moved to Cochrane. They raised chickens, kept a few cows, grew bedding plants for sale and sold vegetables to a nearby cannery. Once, Mrs. Warner recalls, her husband planted part of the garden area to turnips. They did so poorly that they were left in the ground come winter. The next year those turnips all went to seed. Roy had a good tight wagon box, so he and the children carefully cut off the ripe seed heads and flailed them in the wagon box. The seed was sold for about one hundred dollars; those turnips turned to gold! 

Times were very hard, but as Mrs. Warner says, “I was never used to a lot, so I knew how to make do.” Her cousin once sent her a box of old clothes to makeover for the children. Included was an old suit, worn shiny but otherwise still good. Mrs. Warner turned the suit so that her son Burrell could have something to wear to a wedding. The result was a nice-looking suit, except that the buttons were on the wrong side! 

 

Grandma Warner Burrell

When the Warners moved to Cochrane their eldest son, George, was 22. Nova, Martha May, Burrell and William were also through school; Norma attended school at Weedon and Cochrane. Mark and Ronald were born after the family’s move to Cochrane. After World War Two started, George returned to the United States and joined the U.S. Army. Burrell and William also returned to the land of their birth and both joined the Merchant Marines. All were in Active Service and returned safely. 

George, Burrell and William live in Missouri, Norma lives in California, while Nova and Martha May both live in Alaska. Mark married Helen Begg; they have four children and farm in the Weedon area. Ronald is a partner in a trail riding business in Banff. 

Roy Warner passed away in 1969. Mrs. Warner lives in her lovely new home on the farm. She has 23 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her busy life through the years is summed up by her statement, “I have a lot to be thankful for.

George , Norma, Martha and Grandma Warner
Warner Truck 1938
Marsha, Mark and Ron on ranch corrals

Jappy Rodgers Family

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Big Hill Country (1977) page 533

William Jasper (Jappy) Rodgers was born in March 1896, at the General Hospital in Calgary. He grew up on a ranch six miles west of Okotoks. His father, James, came from Ireland and was a great horseman. After coming to Canada, he returned to Ireland to be married. He and his bride, the former Maud Pinkerton, then came to make their home in the Okotoks area.

Jappy joined the Lord Strathcona’s Horse Regiment in Calgary in 1918. In a short time he was in the remount department, handling horses the Russians had bought and wanted trained. 

Shortly after joining the Army, he met an old girlfriend, Lulu Hamilton, from Okotoks. They were married in August 1918. That fall Jappy was stationed in Vancouver, looking after horses that were en-route to Russia. While he was there Armistice was signed. He stayed in Vancouver that winter, looking after the horses. In the spring they were sold by public auction, some of them coming back to Calgary. Jappy was out of the Army and returned to his wife, who had spent the winter in Calgary living with her sister.

In 1919 Jappy was hired by a Government agency that wanted an expert horseman to handle horses at the Calgary Stockyards. His duty was to match and train teams for the Soldier Settlement Board. About 30 horses would be brought in every few weeks; most of them had been former artillery horses. While working there he met Captain T. B. Jenkinson, an Englishman, who was shipping polo ponies to Spokane. Jappy sold him his pony, which he had been riding at the Stockyards. Later in the year, when his job was over, he was hired by Layzell and Durno. A month later Capt. Jenkinson approached him, saying that he needed help at his ranch on the Dog Pound Creek. Jenkinson had bought the ranch from Barton French, who had installed running water and electricity in the house, and many other extras which were rarities in those days. In the fall of 1919, Jappy went to work for Jenkinson. His wife joined him after Christmas.

He worked for T. B. Jenkinson at the Virginia Ranch for nine years. While there he received a good education in handling horses, and training polo ponies. A highlight was when he was sent to California with horses, caring for them on the way down. He spent the winter playing polo at Coronado Beach in San Diego. In the spring the polo ponies were sold, with the exception of two, which Jenkinson traded for a sports car. He drove as far as Portland, Oregon, then sold the car to a friend, and he and Jappy returned to Calgary on the train. There were other trips with polo ponies, to Sheridan, Wyoming, Vancouver and Toronto.

The Rodgers’ children were born at the Virginia Ranch. Kathleen was born August 24, 1922, Patricia on July 25, 1925, and Douglas on January 29, 1928. Douglas was six weeks old when the family moved to the NW 114 4-29-4-5, which Jappy had purchased. It had been the homestead of George Shand Sr., and in later years it had been sold to Fairman’s by the Soldier Settlement Board. Jappy bought cattle and machinery, and he trained horses that were readily sold due to excellent contacts in the horse business. They also milked cows, and Mrs. Rodgers was a good gardener. ‘

The children attended Mount Hope School. Kathleen married Ramsay Parsons, a water well driller. They reside in Calgary and have two sons, Rodger and Ronald. Patricia (Patsy) finished her schooling at Olds, took a commercial course, and worked in Calgary. In 1946 Patsy was chosen as Miss Rodeo Calgary. She is married to Robert Henderson, and they live in Vancouver. Her two sons, James and Douglas Mitchell, live in Calgary. Douglas married Margaret (Peggy) Croft. They have two children, Donna and Ronald. Doug and Peggy live on the home place, where they farm. Both are affiliated with the Foothills Cowboy Association, Doug as a director and Peggy as an assistant secretary and timekeeper. 

Both Jappy and his wife were affiliated with the Dog Pound Stampede for many years. Jappy still rode his horse and helped in the arena at the 1975 Stampede. Mrs. Rodgers was a very active member of the Bottrell Busy Beavers Club. She passed away on March 25, 1956, and is buried in Queen’s Park Cemetery, Calgary. Jappy has retired and lives in a trailer beside Doug and Peggy’s home.

Miss Rodeo Calgary

Daughter of Mr. W. J. Rodgers and the late Mrs. Rodgers – Patsy, who was christened Patricia, is a descendant of two noted pioneer families, the Rodgers and the Hamiltons, who, as early settlers, came into Southern Alberta in the late 1800s. Her father, better known as “Jappy”, is a noted horseman and now a retired rancher. Patsy was born on Jenkinson’s Virginia Polo Ranch north of Cochrane and later moved with her parents to a ranch near Bottrell. She rode her pony to a country school and was her father’s shadow on horseback during a time out from classes. Being brought up in a ranching atmosphere gave her a natural love for horses and rodeo. 

Honoured in 1946 by the late Jack Dillon of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Board, Patsy was chosen as Miss Rodeo Calgary and was Calgary’s representative to ride in the Madison Square Gardens Rodeo in New York City, and at the Manger Gardens Rodeo in Boston, Massachusetts. There, under the sponsorship of the late Everett Colburn and the Gene Autry Rodeo production, Patsy was accompanied by five Rodeo Queens from the various Southern States, whose duties were, to ride in with their country’s flag at each grand entry and carry it in the downtown parades. They also made guest appearances on television and radio programs, toured Military and Children’s Hospitals and attended many sports and social events. 

Now residing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Patsy and her husband, Robert Henderson, frequently visit Patsy’s two sons, James and Douglas, in Calgary, and her father who is still living in the Bottrel area. 

Mcdonald Family

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by Jack Fuller – pg 330 Big Hill Country

DP was a quiet man. Almost shy. Perhaps a little awed by the women in his life for he was, first and last, a horse and cowman of the old school. Soft-spoken with a subtle sense of humour and, a soft, almost silent laugh. In a country where cussing was a fine art his sole contribution to blasphemy was, “Great Scott, is zat so.” Once when told that the Mounted Police had found fifty of his beef hides cached in the Red Deer River his only comment was, “Great Scott, I wonder who did it.” (The rustlers were later caught and drew seven years for luck.) Though a canny Scot by birth, he was, in many ways, generous to a fault. He may not have always paid top wages but his monthly grub bill must have been the highest, for his hospitality was the warmest in the country. Kids, cowpunchers, cattle buyers, horse thieves and Indians rode miles out of their way to rest their elbows on Momma DP’s red flowered tablecloths and she served more between-meal dinners than any short order cook in the country. Looking back across the years, the untiring effort, energy and achievements of such Old Timers is almost unbelievable; few could wear their moccasins today. 

DP must have had more than a little administrative ability to accomplish what he did. He ran two brands: 75 and DP. His cattle ranged over the muskeg and timbered valleys of the foothills as far as the Greasy Plains twenty odd miles to the north. His horses ranged over the same country but as far west as the Sand Hills on the North Fork of the Ghost River. He had calf camps up Big Hill Creek and on the Burnt Ground northeast of Cochrane and camps and range on the Rosebud, a hundred miles to the east. There were no trucks or cattle liners in those days; he trailed his cattle back and forth, bossed the job from a horse’s back and covered more miles a year than a Canada goose. As well as running these several outfits he found time to raise a fair-sized bunch of pedigreed Thoroughbreds, Hunters, French Coach, Clyde and Shire horses, train and race a small string of racehorses, train and show jumpers, hunters, saddle stock and prize studs, ship carloads of polo ponies, hunters and saddle stock to New York and the southern States, butcher his own beef, drive his family to church in Cochrane on Sunday and stage an annual picnic at the Big Springs on Spencer Creek every twenty-fourth of May, which left just enough time to get Brodie to cut his hair and say, “Here’s where I get paid for going through the motions.”

DP raised some good horses and, but for Government red tape, might have had some fame. Shortly after World War I, two government men made a special trip from Ottawa to purchase a chestnut stud DP had raised, which, according to statistics, was the biggest boned Thoroughbred on record. They were authorized to pay DP one thousand dollars for the horse and ship him east where his skeleton was to be mounted in the Ottawa museum. DP had sold the horse a short time before to a neighbouring rancher but offered to buy it back; however, because he did not own it at the time, they refused to take it. A shining example of governmental hair-splitting. Perhaps, of all the horses D Praised or owned he will be best remembered for the Alberta Cow Country’s Aristocrat, “Smokey”, the little high jump champion. 

DP didn’t quite deserve all the credit for Smokey. Smokey’s hide should be in a museum but it likely fed a hungry coyote. If it’s still hanging on someone’s fence, you might find a crown brand on the right thigh. Duncan and Pat Kerfoot raised Smokey, broke him and trained him for a polo pony. They did a good job for he turned out to be the best cutting horse in the country and DP bought him for just that. The Kerfoot boys knew he could jump and likely told DP, but, from then on DP deserves all the credit, for he trained the little horse and made him a champion. 

I happened to stop at the Mount Royal Ranch the night they got home from the show where Smokey’s record was broken. At supper, that night, Irish, DP’s trainer, and the rest of the boys, were all mad enough to chew nails and spit nickels. In spite of D P insisting it had been a fair contest, he couldn’t shut the boys up. Irish claimed that when Smokey had made his record jump, the top bar had been tied on with two strands of binder twine but when the horse that broke Smokey’s record made his jump, the top bar was buckled on with a double wrap of a flat saddle stirrup leather. Just how great a contribution DP made to Alberta’s Light Horse and horse show industry is hard to say but I doubt if he got more than a small part of the

credit due for the time, effort and expense involved. 

The Mount Royal Ranch is fifteen miles or So from Cochrane. Cochrane was twenty-two miles from Calgary by rail. The stock had to be trailed to Cochrane, loaded on cars and shipped to Calgary, Edmonton or elsewhere. You couldn’t turn a bunch of bang tails, show ring stock and prize studs loose and haze them down the trail; maybe you could have, but they would never have looked the same again. They all had to be led separately. Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow might have been bigger but no more spectacular than the Mount Royal Ranch en route to the big show. 

First, the Thoroughbreds, led by exercise boys, blanketed if the weather was bad, eager to run, or walking with the long, gliding stride only the Thoroughbred knows. Next, the show ring stock, hunters, jumpers, saddle and harness stock and last, the big prize stallions, fat and slick as seals, their foretops, manes and tails a hairdresser’s masterpiece of French braids and coloured wool, brass and silver studded halters, saddle soaped and shining, as the big studs, full of fight, reared and squealed or, grunted, as the men leading them jerked on the brightly burnished lead chains running through the stud bits to keep each in its place. Strung out half a mile or more along the dusty trail or, through the snow or through the rain and mud for, then as now, the show must go on. Surely a worthwhile effort, as historical as the prairie trail they trod. 

Behind every great man is a great woman and Momma D P was all that and more. She loved her horses. To watch the McDonald silks lead the field under the wire, and her two daughters winning ribbons in the show ring, were the great thrills of her life. DP might not have been so enthusiastic had she not loved it so. It was her only luxury, her only extravagance, she loved it every minute and no one deserved it more, for she was a hard-working woman with plain and simple tastes and a heart as big as the whole outdoors. 

She’d walk a mile to watch a horse jump, buck or race. Boney Thompson was her favourite bronc rider and she never tired telling of watching him ride a big, brown Thoroughbred mare of D P’s that, she claimed, turned a complete somersault with Thompson scratching sparks out of her ears, laughing and talking all the while. 

There was a little paddock around the house to keep the stock away but in the spring at foaling time, Momma DP kept her

Thoroughbred mares there where she could keep an eye on them in case they needed help. They often did and many a Thoroughbred colt would never have lived to carry the McDonald colours but for her gentle hands. 

We’d come to the Cochrane district in 1905. In 1910 my folks located on the forks of the Grease Creek and Little Red Deer River and started a small horse ranch. It takes horses a while to range break and for the next few years, it seemed I spent most of my days and a lot of my nights, tracking down horses and trailing them home. I was only ten or eleven years old at that time and a regular customer at Momma D P’s dinner table, usually an hour or two late, but she’d get my dinner and sit and talk to me while I ate. She would ask me all about our place and how many horses we had and when I’d tell her she’d say, “Great God, you’ll soon be as rich as old George Creighton.” I think she enjoyed kidding me but our horses finally range broke and maybe she was as glad as we were. Even at that, we had better luck than old Hughie McDonald. 

Hughie and his brother George had a place near Calgary and too many horses. They took out a lease up the Ghost River west of D P’s, trailed their horses up and turned them loose but they were a homesick bunch. Hughie said he could trail them up from Calgary, turn them loose on the lease, ride into Morley, sack his saddle, catch the train to Calgary, take a taxi home and his horses would be waiting for him to let them in the gate. 

Besides taking care of a big house, cooking three meals a day for a gang of men and feeding half the riders in the country, Momma DP raised a few hundred geese, turkeys, and chickens. Hunting up the nests they stole away, gathering the eggs, hatching her broods and fighting off the magpies and coyotes was a man-sized job. She kept a few coyote hounds and when they jumped a coyote out on the flat I think she enjoyed the chase as much as the hounds did. Magpies and coyotes were about the only unwelcome visitors at the Mount Royal and some hundred-odd coyote tails nailed on the back wall of the machine shed proved a lot of coyotes learned it the hard way. 

My dad and I stopped for supper one night on our way home with a bunch of horses. When she learned my mother had some geese but no gander, she went down to the barn with us after supper, corralled a bunch of her geese, caught a big gander and gave it to my dad. He put the gander in an oat sack, stuck its head out through a hole and handed it to me. I tied the sack to my saddle horn with the old gander half sitting on my off knee. It was early spring and near dark, by the time we got strung out and by the time we got in the timber up the Montreal Valley it was black as pitch. Those horses wanted to go anyplace but where we were headed and broke up every draw and through every patch of timber on the trail home. The old gander never let out a 

squawk and ducked the limbs and brush like an old horse thief. I’ll bet he’s still telling his grandchildren of chasing range horses through the Alberta foothills in the dark of the moon. 

The fact that Momma DP had a couple of good-looking daughters almost as nice as she was didn’t help DP’s grub bill any. The spring of 1917, while the girls were home for Easter, Marshall Baptie, Laurie Johnson and I were breaking remounts at the lower Bar C. We galloped our broncs out on Beaupré Flats, which was open country at that time. Once our broncs got strung out we’d ride over to DP’s, kid a while with the girls and ride back and get a new string. We could ride out fifteen or twenty broncs a day with a few little visits on the side. 

None of us fancied our own or each other’s cooking, so we usually just happened to be talking to the girls about the time Momma DP would come out and say, “Come and set the table, girls, and you boys might as well tie up your horses and stay for dinner.” We took an unfair advantage of her for a week or more, for I doubt if she enjoyed our company as much as we did her cooking. 

Not long after the First World War, the bottom dropped out of the cow business. Fall calves sold for three dollars a head, cows for fifteen and horses for a dime a dozen. Folks pensioned their old horses off and turned them loose to enjoy what life they had left, and fur farms and horsemeat packing plants were a curse to come. The slump left a lot of the boys, just back from the war, at loose ends and more than a few of those loose ends drifted into Jack Ass Canyon and holed up at the Mill. Exshaw McDonald paid some of the grub bills but for the most part, they lived off the fat of the land and the best place to get fat in that part of the land was Momma D P’s dining room table. Scarce a day passed but one or more of those loose ends dropped in to help keep D P’s grub from spoiling. 

One day, when a couple of those loose ends dropped in for dinner, Momma DP apologized for not having any meat. She said, Donald, has had a beef in for a week but just hasn’t had the time to butcher.” One of them said, “Gee Mrs. McDonald I’m sure sorry I didn’t know, I’d have brought you over some. We had a calf break its leg and we had to butcher it, I’ll bring you over a hindquarter this afternoon.” He was as good as his word but it was one of D P’s calves they’d sidehill butchered a few nights before. Even so, with calves at three dollars a head it was a friendly gesture, typical of the man who made it for he’d have given you the shirt off his back and, taken yours while you slept, yet, the world would be a dreary place but for his kind. 

Grub-line riders, or saddle tramps, as they are called today, were, in reality, non-existent in this part of the country. Cowpunchers were a restless lot. The men that graced Momma DP’s dining room table represented most of the Western States. Some had been to the Argentine and back. Even the local boys had worked on ranches scattered over most of Alberta. They’d drop in for a meal, a day or maybe a week, sometimes they’d stay all winter, but they were always welcome and more than earned their keep. They were congenial, capable, and often did more work than a high-priced hired man. Of the “loose ends” that hung around the Mill, those still living are respected citizens today in many walks of life. Most have crossed the Big Divide but they have lots of friends at both ends of the trail. Nor were Momma and Poppa DP the only big-hearted couple in the country, they were one of many. Hospitality was a common courtesy of the open range, but fortunately for the women, now a historical has-been, for it was the women who bore the brunt of the worry and the work. 

A lot of water has run down Spencer Creek since those days. The DP picnic at the Big Springs is but a memory. Trucks, tractors and farm machinery clutter the little paddock where Momma DP once kept her Thoroughbred mares at foaling time. No horse wears the DP high on its withers, and Charlie Russell would have starved to death painting the breed of cows that pack the old 75 brand. The old machine shed with the hundreds of coyote tails tacked on the north wall is long gone. There are no flocks of geese and turkeys squawking around the barnyard and the creek is mostly dry. The big barn still stands but no prize studs or Thoroughbreds breast the box stall doors taking playful nips at you as you walk by. The big harness room is empty. The hundreds of ribbons that once adorned the walls are packed away in trunks. Only the wind sighs through the empty loft and sagging doors, mourning an era forever gone.

Momma and Poppa DP have long since taken the trail where the tracks lead only one way but if there is a Short Grass Country in that Great Beyond, five will get you ten, that they are still dishing up grub to a bunch of broken-down cowpunchers, horse thieves and Indians. They’d all be there. Boney Thompson, George Creighton, Charlie Miokle, Ed Johnson, Frank Ricks, Me Track’em, Irish, Paul Beaver and Jonas Benjamin and maybe more, with DP sitting at the head of the table carving half-inch thick slices off a hundred-dollar roast laughing soft at the tall stories being swapped across that red-flowered tablecloth. If there’s an extra place set I hope it’s for me. Progress may be a great thing for the country’s economy but it’s left a hell of a big hole they’ll never, never fill.

Old Cowboy's Dream - by E. Ward Rivard

To all the happy memories of the Mount Royal and Bar C Ranches

Last night I dreamed that I rode once again 

With the friends of my youth on that far distant plain. 

The friends of my youth, the old friends so dear, 

Like music the laughter that fell on my ear. The Rockies arose, majestic and grand, 

Like sentinels stationed to guard that fair land. The Bow swiftly flowing beneath the blue sky; 

‘Twas a scene ne’er forgot till the day that I die. From the hilltop we gazed o’er the valley below 

Where the herds slowly grazed by the sides of the Bow. On far distant ridge there vanished from sight 

A bunch of wild horses in fear-maddened flight. The horse that I rode, oh! Strange did it seem 

To be riding old Smokey again, in my dream; There wasn’t a doubt, it was plain as could be, 

The crown on his hip, on his shoulder “DP.” The creaking of leather, the jingle of spurs 

Was sweeter to me than the song of the birds; Down the trail I could hear a voice gaily sing 

As we rode the old range on the roundup in spring. Dawn came, and my heart seemed to break with its pain, 

When I tried to recall the sweet dream again, To turn back the pages of time 

To the days of my youth and the joy that was mine. 

Mount Royal Ranch

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Big Hill Country Page 328

In 1881 A. P. Patrick, a Dominion Government surveyor took out a lease of five thousand acres along the Ghost River about four miles north of the Bow River. He called it the Mount Royal Ranch and it was the first privately owned ranch in the area. At that time the Government allowed large leases to be taken out for a cent an acre. A homestead could be established on the leases if there was ample water supply; naturally, most early settlers built their houses and stables near good springs and creeks. After obtaining his lease and erecting the necessary buildings required, A. P. Patrick went to Eastern Canada and purchased two hundred head of stock to put on the lease. The cattle were shipped as far as Winnipeg and then trailed overland to the ranch. The drive from Winnipeg took six months. In 1883 A. P. Patrick took Mr. Bayne into partnership with him on the Mount Royal. In September of that year, Frank Ricks arrived from Oregon with two hundred and fifty head of horses for the ranch. They had been purchased from D. E. Gilman and Company in Oregon. Frank Ricks started north with the herd in May and came through the Crows Nest Pass and then along the foothills. The drive ended in September. Frank remained working for the Mount Royal and became well known as an outstanding rider of the area. 

A.P. Patrick married Maggie McPherson, daughter of Murdoch McPherson who came into the area in 1884. In 1886 they sold the ranch to W. C. Wells and Nelson Brown. Mr. Wells owned a sawmill at Palliser, British Columbia, and he did not spend much time on the ranch. A. P. Patrick had been concentrating on raising horses but Wells and Brown decided to change over to cattle. They brought five hundred head from British Columbia and added to the herd they had purchased with the ranch. The following winter was extremely cold and many of the cattle that were brought from British Columbia perished. 

Around 1887 Donald Peter McDonald went to work on the Mount Royal and at that time Frank Sibbald, son of Andrew Sibbald of Morleyville, was the ranch foreman. In 1890 D. P. McDonald became ranch foreman and in 1901 he made an agreement with Wells and Brown to take over the ranch and he eventually became the owner of it. After Mr. Wells sold out his interest in the ranch, he entered politics in British Columbia and became a member of the Legislature there. A grandson of D. P. McDonald, Jaye Bowlen, is now operating the Mount Royal Ranch. 

SMOKEY — by K. Bowlen 

In the early 1900s, my father, D. P. McDonald, bought some horses from W. D. Kerfoot of Grand Valley, and Smokey was one of the horses. He was by the Thoroughbred horse, Porton, out of a hackney mare. In his younger days, he was generally esteemed as one of the smartest and handiest cow ponies on the range. 

I really don’t know how Smokey’s jumping ability was discovered, but he would jump out of the corral whenever he felt like it. I think the credit will have to go to Tom McCaul, a young Irish boy, who came to work at the ranch. Anyway, Tom and Smokey made their jumping debut at the Calgary Exhibition in 1908, clearing the bar at 5’6″. After very little training, the next year he raised his mark by four inches. In 1910 he jumped 6’2”. 

In 1911 at the spring show in the old Sherman Rink on 17th Avenue and Centre Street, Miss Bernice Walsh rode him over a 6’2” bar; incidentally, that was a world’s record for Miss Walsh as an amateur lady high jump rider. In 1912 Smokey jumped 6’2″‘; he was ridden by Angus McPherson of the Merino Ranch, who weighed 165 pounds. That was the first time Angus McPherson had ever ridden him. In 1913, ridden by a stranger, he quit at 5’10” and was beaten by Sioux who made six feet. At the following exhibition, ridden by Jack Hennessey, he cleared 6’3”. Between these two shows, he got the only real training he ever had. At the Edmonton show, he was ridden out by Percy Sawtelle at five feet. After the Edmonton show, he was turned out and not touched until February, then he was taken up and jumped on the line. At the Edmonton show the first week in April 1914, Smokey cleared 6’10” ridden by Percy Sawtelle (a jockey). After that a lot of people wanted my father to retire him, but the old horse went on to jump 7 feet, which was a record for an Alberta bred horse. Smokey’s record of 7 feet held until 1930 when Rolla G. Kripp, ridden by Ernie Bell, jumped 7 feet.

Smokey was retired in 1915 and died on the ranch at age 26. Percy Sawtelle went to war in the summer of 1914 and was killed in action in 1915.

 

MOUNT ROYAL PICNIC — by K. Bowlen

Weather permitting, there was a picnic held every year on May 24, at the Mount Royal Ranch owned by Mr. and Mrs. D. P. McDonald. The site was about a mile southeast of the ranch buildings. The night prior to the picnic our barn was always bulging with horses that would be contesting the next day. At first, my mother did all the cooking for the event, but it wasn’t long until everyone brought food. Tablecloths were spread on the ground, the food set out, and tea and coffee were served. After lunch, there were foot races for the children and grown-ups, pole vaulting, high jumping, a few horse races, and a tug of war. It gradually got bigger and from 1936 on, it was all horse races, with many novelty events added. People came from near and far to take part. In 1946 the gymkhana was moved to Cochrane, thus, ending one of the yearly events that was looked forward to each year and had been enjoyed by so many.

Early Mayor had Pandemic to Handle

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CHAPS recently received a donation of “A Peep into the Past”, A Collection of Historic Poems and Short Stories by Gordon and Belle Hall Vol. II.

CHAPS is happy to continue the Hall’s role of collecting and educating people about Cochrane and Area’s rich history.

Our first story of the Halls is their recollection of the early Mayors of Cochrane.

EARLY MAYOR HAD EPIDEMIC TO HANDLE 

Cochrane has had a lot of overseers, chairmen and mayors since 1903. In 1903 an application was made to the Commissioner of Public Works at Regina, N.W.T. for the hamlet of Cochrane to become a village. At this time there were approximately 13 or 14 houses taxable with the CPR station house and the CPR section house and one hotel. 

On Aug. 31, 1903, Dan White was appointed overseer. For the next four years, the following men were overseers: 1904, Alex McEwen; 1905, Donald J. Bruce; 1906, Donald J. Bruce; 1907, James Quigley. In 1907 the village act came into being and in 1908 Andrew Chapman became overseer, and this was a year that a smallpox epidemic hit the district. 

Tents were ordered from Calgary and an isolation area was set up near the Bow River. The village was supposed to have been guarded by men with rifles, and food and medical supplies were dropped off halfway to the camp to be picked up by people from the camp. In 1909 A. Chapman was overseer again with J.A. Campbell and Gerald Mortimer on the council. This is the year the volunteer fire brigade was formed, so the department is 80 years old this year, 1989. Council chambers and fire hall were built at the cost of $429 with $ 150 for the lot to put it on. R. Hewitt was the first fire chief. 

In 1909 also, the village sent a petition to the Minister of Public Works of the province of Alberta asking that their present system of taxation be changed to that known as single tax or assessment based on the actual value thereon. In 1914 the population was 500 people. The first post office was opened in July of 1887 and the first postmaster was James Johnstone and we unveiled a plaque in the current post office, honouring the first 100 years on July 1, 1987. 

Several things happened in 1925 when F.L. Gainer was mayor. The elevator was built in Cochrane, a steel bridge was put over the Bow River, the Presbyterian Church amalgamated with the United Church, and the Union Bank was taken over by the Royal Bank. Andrew Chapman was associated with the town council from 1909 up until 1945. Graeme Broatch was mayor 13 times, Hank Engert six times and Caroline Godfrey, the first woman mayor, eight times. Graeme Broatch was mayor when the present Queen and Prince Phillip made a stop in Cochrane in November 1951 – the then Princess and Prince were presented with a Gissing painting. 

In 1954-57 Barney Klassen was mayor and was instrumental in getting natural gas in the village, also sewer and water and seven fire hydrants. He also was one of the top officials in getting the first mechanized fire brigade organized. There are many incidents down through the years, too many to mention in our small column, but they all have their place in history. 

As time went on, the Halls realized if someone didn't start recording Cochrane's tales from the past, they would eventually be lost forever.

Belle and Gordon Hall Tweet

Foreword - A Peep into the Past Volume II

Gordon came to Cochrane with his parents, Syd and Mary Hall in April 1923. He took most of his schooling in Cochrane. During the hungry thirties, he worked at farming, logging and other jobs. 

Gordon went to work at Cochrane Auto Service in the early 40s and in 1942 he married Belle Tindal from Cochrane Lakes. Gordon and Belle made the home in Cochrane after working for Harry McConachie of the Justhome Ranch for three years. They purchased a lot in the east end of Cochrane in 1946 and built their own home. Gordon worked for Graeme Broatch at the auto service for 16 years and in 1960 he was made Postmaster. Gordon kept this job for 18 years, retiring in 1978. He was a volunteer fireman for 34 years and formed the first mechanized brigade in 1954.

Gordon and Belle raised four boys, two of whom are still living. They were active in the Boy Scout movement for 30 years. 

Belle’s parents, Frank and Marion Tindal farmed most of their lives and raised a large family. Belle took her schooling at Cochrane Lakes and loves dancing, sports and travelling, Belle was the first Noble Grand of Bow View Rebekah Lodge #125. 

Gordon and Belle were awarded the Cochrane and District Chamber of Commerce Community Builders award in 1986. “A sincere thanks to each and everyone that encouraged us to put this book together.”

Originally printed March 1994. Reprinted here by Permission of the Hall Family.

Nipper and Eleanor Guest Family

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– photo courtesy the Memory Project

– Article pg 478 More Big Hill Country

Eleanor hails from the Lake Simcoe area of Ontario. She came West in 1950 at the time of the second oil boom. I’m originally from the Barrhead district where my father, who came West from Ontario as a boy in 1910, acquired a farm as a ‘returned man’ under the Soldier Settlement Grant program after World War 1. However, we moved to Edmonton before I started school and I grew up there. I served overseas in the infantry in World War II and studied engineering at the U of A under the Veterans Affairs program. 

We had three small boys when we moved from Calgary to Bearspaw in 1961. Fred, the oldest, attended the old Bearspaw School for two years before it closed and then attended Cochrane schools, as did the other boys. I was one of three school trustees for the Bearspaw School District but there wasn’t much to do as the school closed in 1964. 

Our place is located in NW Sec 19 Twp 25 Range 2 W54 or South of Hwy 1A and East of Bearspaw Road. The small acreage was purchased from Lauritz Pederson, a dairy farmer who emigrated from Denmark. The small subdivision was identified with the lofty name Bearspaw Heights but none of the residents use the team although it enjoys a splendid view of the river valley, the mountains and Calgary. We were eight miles from the city limits then and are less than a mile away now. 

Our children enjoyed many happy days camping in the coulee below us that stretches from Hawkwood’s farm to the Bearspaw Reservoir. For many years it was my tradition to take a cold beer to share with Tom Hawkwood when he was haying in the field below our house. 

My career was in the field of process control and automation. I was a founding partner of Sparta Controls and worked there until retiring in 1985. I operated Bearspaw Bicycle Company, a small business from home for several years. Bicycle touring was a major pastime that took me to many parts of the world and included a solo ride across Canada at age 70 For many years I cycled every day winter and summer no matter the weather and became a fixture in the neighbourhood. 

The boys all attended the University of Calgary Fred is a consulting reservoir engineer and lives at Ghost Village. Gordon, a geologist, lives in the woods near Bragg Creek and works in the environmental field Bruce after 18 years as an engineer moved near Saskatoon and is enrolled in the veterinary college. 

We feel blessed to have lived with such a fine view and pleasant neighbours. 

References

  1. Nipper Guest wins Order of Canada
  2. The Memory Project
  3. Spartan Controls History

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Almost every day I learn something about the area.
Our Store

Hollowood Ranch Store

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THE HOLLOWOOD RANCH STORE and ANGUS AND GUDRUN MacDONALD

 – by Tootie Poynter 

In the spring of 1938 Jack and I, with the help of my dad and Dave Pow, built a store on our Hollowood Ranch, the W1/2 of 17-26-5-5. The store was named after the ranch, named by me after all the hollow wood in the coulee. 

In October of the same year, the acreage and the store were sold to my dad and mom, Jack and Gudrun Nissen. My dad suffered considerably from cancer caused by an old injury and passed away in June 1941, at the age of 54 years. Mom managed the store alone until November when she married Corporal Angus MacDonald. 

Angus was formerly from Nova Scotia. After serving in the First World War he came West and farmed in the Shepard district till he returned to the service during World War II. He was stationed at the Ozada Internment Camp on the Morley Flats near Seebe, where German and Italian prisoners of war were imprisoned during World War II. Later he was transferred to the internment camp at Lethbridge. In 1953 he was transferred back to Calgary and became a Commissionaire at Lincoln Airport. 

When Mom was at the store the coffee pot was always on and many good visits were held in the store. Later a streetcar was moved to the store property to be used as a restaurant. Many still remember Nini Andersen of Beaupre, who ran the restaurant 1950-51-52. Many will remember the delicious chicken dinners and homemade Danish pastry she served. All the cooking was done on a wood stove. Highway One A was the only highway between Calgary and Banff and tourists and skiers alike stopped on their way home for another delicious bite. 

In 1953 the store and part of the acreage were sold to Harry and Babs Woods. A young Saskatchewan boy, Bobby Gibson, came to work for them. The streetcar was joined onto the store and renovated into a very attractive dining car. The store is now owned by John McGillis. Bobby continued to work for John McGillis for several years before going to work at Bowridge Motors in Cochrane. A new store and restaurant have now been built a little closer to the coulee. 

Angus and Mom moved back to their acreage in 1962. Angus was not well and spent a lot of time in and out of the Belcher Hospital. Mom and Angus both passed away in their sleep, Mom, July 7, 1963, and Angus, August 25, 1963.

Johnson Family

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– Laurie Johnson Big Hill Country

My father, Everett C. Johnson, was born in Virginia in 1860 and moved to Minnesota with his parents after the American Civil War. At the age of fifteen, he drove stagecoach in the Black Hills, and a year later he went to Wyoming where he rode with Bill Cody and Portugee Phillips. He went to work for the Powder River Cattle Company and was one of the three foremen under Fred Hess. He was captain of the roundup in Johnson County at the age of nineteen. He

became a friend and hunting companion of Owen Wister who used my father’s character and some of his adventures in the book “The Virginian.” In 1886 Hess sent him to Canada to locate a ranch for the 76. He returned to Wyoming but soon came back to Canada. In 1890 he was foreman of the North West Cattle Company under the manager, Fred Stimson, at the Bar U. 

My mother, Mary Eleanor Bigland, was born in Windermere, England, and came to Western Canada with her uncle, William Laycock. She was a Registered Nurse, and while nursing Mrs. Stimson at the Bar U, she met my father. They were married on November 18, 1891, by the Presbyterian minister, J. C. Herdman. My father’s best man was his old friend from Wyo ming, Harry Longabough, known as the Sundance Kid. The bridesmaid was her mother’s cousin, Maggie Laycock, who married Blue Osborne. 

For several years, Dad, as everyone called him, was a cattle buyer for Gordon, Ironsides and Fares, and he located and built up the Two Bar Ranch for them. I spent my early life at the d’Eyncourt Ranch where Dad was a partner. About 1904 we built a house on 18th Ave. in Calgary and Bert and I went to school at the Convent. Our elder sister went to school in the United States. 

In 1910 my parents moved to Cochrane where Dad opened a butcher shop. When the Spanish Influenza epidemic broke out my mother turned our home into a hospital and nursed a great many in 1918 and 1919. She also delivered many babies during her years in Cochrane. 

There were four children in the family: Jessie Lucretia who married John Annear, a locomotive engineer, and lived in Edmonton, where they raised nine children; Robert Everett Poindexter who went Overseas in the First World War, married Ona Patterson and lived in Banff where he had a service station and took an active part in the affairs of the town; myself, Laurence Branch; and Frances Olive, the youngest, known as Dot. 

Dot married H. K. (Chappie) Clarkson, the son of oldtimers in the Pincher Creek district. He

owned the NW14 15 and SE14 22-26-5-5, on the highway west of Cochrane. Their two eldest children, Patricia and Robert were born there. Chappie moved his family to Turner Valley where he became a driller and worked in the oilfields for years. Three more children were born to them: Donald, Laurine and William. 

Patricia and Robert both enlisted in the Army in World War Two. Patricia joined the C.W.A.C. and played the trombone in their brass band and did the comedy numbers. They played in cities all across Canada and gave concerts in England, France, Germany and in Apeldoorn, Holland, where they were stationed for several weeks. 

Robert enlisted when he was sixteen and was a corporal before he left Calgary. In England, he held the middleweight boxing title for the Canadian forces and was a Commando instructor. By the end of the war, he was a Lieutenant. He went to work in the Leduc oilfields and was elected the first Mayor of Drayton Valley. He established the Clarkson Oilfield Construction Ltd., a very successful company, but he died at the age of thirty-nine, leaving his wife, Mona, three daughters and a little son. 

I have spent most of my life in the Cochrane District. In 1917 after I left the Bar C, I went to work for D. P. McDonald, breaking workhorses and saddle horses. We brought some horses into the Calgary Horse Show where young Peter Welsh rode Smokey and I rode Osborne Johnson’s horse, Beaver, in performance jumping and in jumping pairs. 

In 1918 the Parks Department took over the Ya-Ha Tinda, away up in the Red Deer River, and Jim Brewster had to get his horses out of there. He sold them to P. D. Bowlen, Norman Luxton and Bill Logan. Boney Thompson, Eddy Rowe and I gathered them and took them down to the Beaupré Ranch. 

In 1919 Frank Wellman bought Tom Wilson’s Powderhorn horses which ran on the Kootenay Plains, up the North Saskatchewan River. Jack Fuller, Wat Potts, Bill Potts, Johnny Wilson and I went up with Wellman to gather them, taking Paul Beaver along as a guide. We stayed at the Wilson place where we were able to hold the horses as we gathered them. Paul, a Stoney Indian, was a great help to us. Once when the horses were about to get away down the river, he raced his horse along a high bank and jumped him far out into the river to head them off. Horse and rider went out of sight in the water for a moment or two, but he turned the horses. It was in May but the snow was very deep for much of the way as we trailed the horses south. Paul broke trail all the way, leading an old mare whose family of young stuff kept right with her. There were many broke horses in the bunch so every so often we would catch one and take it up to Paul so that he could have a fresh horse. 

After we got back from the Kootenay Plains we took a large party up the Kananaskis. Frank Wellman, the outfitter, did not go but hired Bill  

Potts as a guide and he and I did the cooking. The packers were Wat Potts, Jack Fuller, Marshall Baptie and Bobby Quigley. We started out from Morley with the party of publicity people: Murray Gibbon of the C.P.R.; Jack Lait, editor of the Chicago Tribune; Grantland Rice and his wife; Mr. Wheeler and his wife, and Charlie Towne, a poet. Byron Harmon was the movie cameraman and Dawson, the C.P.R. photographer, took the stills. On this trip, the idea of the C.P.R. Trail Ride was born. Later that year I took out two more parties, Henry Colgate and his wife on their honeymoon, and Bob and Sue Johnson (of Johnson & Johnson) on a hunting trip to the Clearwater country. 

In 1923 John Hazza asked me to manage a Polo Pony Ranch for him, west of Calgary. There I schooled many good polo ponies, most of which were shipped to New York and Aiken, South Carolina. Some of these ponies played international polo. 

In 1927, while foreman of the Rhodes Ranch in Grand Valley, I married Jean Lamont of Calgary who came west with her parents from Woodstock, Ontario, in 1912. While at the Rhodes Ranch we lived at the old Oddie place which Rhodes then owned. He sold it to Sherriffs. In 1930 I bought land along the Bow River, west of Cochrane. This was the S12 14 and the SE 14 15-26 5-5, which had been vacated by Lloyd Noland who had it under the Soldier Settlement Board. I leased two sections of Crown land in Big and Little Coulees. 

Our buildings were on the river flat with a spring creek running between the house and the stables. By means of a furrow plowed along the sidehill from the spring, we were able to irrigate a large garden and the trees which we obtained from Indian Head, Saskatchewan: 100 ash, 100 elm and 375 caraganas. The hot, dry years of the Depression were upon us but we had plenty of vegetables which we could keep in good condition, a couple of milk cows and a large flock of hens. 

Here are some figures and facts from Jean’s account book:

  • 1931: Total for a year’s groceries, $127.60. 
  • Cream went down in price till special was only 17 ¢ per lb. butterfat. 
  • Eggs sold for 20 ¢ per dozen. 
  • Wheat sold: 549 bushels for $164.50. 
  • On Oct. 20th gave the Calgary Herald 10 bushels of wheat to pay for a subscription to the paper. The paper was thrown off a mile away up at the highway, by the Brewster Transport bus, every evening. 
  • We took wheat to a flour mill and paid for the milling with wheat. We got flour, middlings, shorts and bran. 
  • On Oct. 29th sold to R. B. Rogers: 100 lbs. of carrots $1.50; 90 lbs. of turnips 90¢; 75 lbs. of potatoes 75¢; 60 lbs. of cabbage 90¢`; Total $4.05. 
  • Income for the year: $882.77, mostly from the sale of horses. 
  • Total expenses for the year: $741.45. 
  • 1932: Things were tougher. 
  • Total for a year’s groceries: $91.60 (100 lbs. flour $2.25, 100 lbs. sugar $5.50, 5 lbs. tea $1.95, 5 lbs. coffee $1.85.) 
  • Total for clothes $13.09. 
  • Cream, graded special, was as low as 14¢. 
  • Sold Johnny Morrison 250 lbs. carrots and turnips for $2.50. 
  • Total income: $441.71; total expenditures $428.55. 

We still played polo, went on hunting trips and had parties and dances. R. B. Rogers, Duncan and Archie Kerfoot and the Rhodes Ranch had tennis courts and gave very enjoyable tennis parties. We often had dinner parties in those days, and I remember one at R. B. Rogers’ when Pierre Eyma, a new neighbour in the district, arrived in formal dinner clothes. It did not take him long to get used to our strange ways. 

In 1933 I leased the old Coleman Ranch from my cousin, Ruth Laycock. It was seventeen hundred acres in extent and took in Lot 5 of Morleyville Settlement. In 1885 Lucius Coleman was living in the Adams house, later owned by Jack McDonald. Two years later he built a large log house on the E 12 20-26-6-5. We moved into this house and lived there for three years. In 1933 Duncan Kerfoot was instrumental in getting my team on for the building of the Banff-Jasper Highway. They went up again in 1934, and I took them up myself and worked there in 1935 when the pay was much better. In 1936 there was a change of government, and we were told that our horses were Conservatives and could not work there. They were the best Conservatives that ever looked through a bridle. 

In 1934 my wife bought the NW14 8-28-6-5 and homesteaded the NE 14 of 7 adjacent to it. She camped there for four summers on a creek that flowed into Rabbit Creek and it became known as Jean’s Creek. I homesteaded the SW14 17-27-6 5, and we took a twenty-year lease on three sections of Crown land. Guy Gibson put up the logs and built the fieldstone fireplace for the house on my homestead, the Lazy JL. We moved there in 1936 and finished building the house. Our daughters, Donna Carroll and Margaret Jean got their education by Correspondence School from Edmonton till the younger of the two went 

to High School in Calgary and then to Olds Agricultural College. 

For several years I was the head guide on the C.P.R. Trail Ride. When Donna was thirteen, she came as a guide, taking complete charge of ten horses and riders. She guided in the mountains for three years and always trailed our horses up and back, alone. From 1939 till the girls left home we took in dudes, mostly children, every summer. In this way, the girls were able to associate with young people from all over Canada and some from the United States and England. Every Saturday during the winter, they rode the ten miles down to Pocaterra’s where Norma Piper Pocaterra gave them piano lessons and Mr. Pocaterra taught them Spanish. 

In 1950 Donna married Richard Butters whose grandfather came to Alberta in 1883. Richard had a ranch, the OC, which joined our land on the south. Late in 1964 Donna and Richard bought our land and cattle to add to their own and moved up to the Lazy JL. They have three sons: Erik, Lamont and Ian. 

Our younger daughter, Peggy, also lives in the Cochrane District. She spent two years in the Navy at Halifax where she married Lieutenant Commander S. R. Wallace. He is now with the University of Calgary and they live just east of 

Cochrane on the Lochend Road. They have three children: Robert, Laurence and Carolyn. 

On June 7, 1975, Erik Butters and Wendy Fenton were married and went to live at the OC Ranch. Wendy is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Fenton.

Read "Stories of the Wild West"

The abandoned Hamlet of Seebe

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Did you think Seebe is just the dam?

I did. It was not until one of my first jobs out of high school, that I learned about the Hamlet of Seebe that existed downstream of the dam. In 2004, the Hamlet was abandoned, locked up and moved.

Seebe was once a Calgary Power (now TransAlta) company town. Employees at the Kananaskis and Horseshoe Dams lived in the hamlet.

The Horseshoe Dam was built first starting in 1911. Kananaskis followed in 1913.

Calgary in 1911 used the supplied electricity to mostly power streetcars. It wasn’t long before homes began to use electricity.

The Control Room (1975) controlled the power generation and transmission from Kananaskis, Horseshoe, Ghost and Bearspaw Dams. (confirmation required). Thanks to Denise Shellian for supplying the control room photo (Ron Shellian at the desk, Pat Cooper standing)

The hamlet was abandoned in 2004. Many of the former buildings were sold and moved to other locations in Alberta.

Seebe was once home to the smallest artificial curling rink in the world. (1 sheet). It was built in 1948 and the plant improved in subsequent years.

The hamlet had a school and store with a gas pump. We’re looking for photos of the hamlet and will update this article as we uncover them. I’ve heard of Toad Hall that had a dirt floor and was used for community events. Children learned to swim in the lake at Nakoda Lodge. If you put your feet down it was quite likely you’d find leeches on your legs. Families in town “had” to have gardens. It was just a thing at the time.

A lot of first-hand details of the hamlet are captured in a series of videos done by the Heritage Resource Committee of the M.D. of BigHorn. Click the button to see.

Pat Ritchie, featured in the playlist, is the daughter of Dolly and Alistair Moore of Cochrane. We have a video of Alistair on our Youtube channel. Sweet Cebola

Seebe Playlist

We want to thank Marjory Smith Gibney for the wonderful photos of the buildings of Seebe.

Seebe School Duplex Cottages 1940
Cottage Duplexes 1986 Before
Cottage Duplexes 1986 After
Superintendents House Seebe
Superintendents House - Seebe
Seebe Staffhouse
Seebe Staffhouse

Seebe Staffhouse (Single staff quarters) There were 17 guys living there when my husband was there before we got married. There was a married couple who took care of cooking, cleaning and maintenance.

Marjory Smith Gibney Tweet
Ghost Dam
Bearspaw Dam

References:

  1. TransAlta TransAlta History
  2. Wikipedia Seebe
  3. Prisoner of War Camp Ozada

Rhodes Family and Minnehaha Ranch

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Besides having an amazing family history, Dusty and Bumpy were active in the Cochrane Race Track.

– Mark Boothby

Read "A Day at the Track"

The three Rhodes brothers, Alan (Dobby), Bernard (Bumpy) and Gilbert (Dusty), were wealthy Englishmen, all of whom held commissions in the British Army in World War I. During the War, Dobby and Dusty bought a share in the Critchley Ranch in Grand Valley. Dusty was not too interested in the ranch and spent most of his time at Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, but retained his interest in the Cochrane race track. After the War, Bumpy came to Canada and bought out Oswald A. Critchley’s interest in the ranch. He added to his holdings by buying Andy Garson’s land. Andy also sold him a herd of horses. Bumpy was interested in playing polo and raised many good horses. Laurie Johnson was hired to school the ponies and play polo with them. 

In 1926 Bumpy married Cullette Gopel, an American divorcee who had land west of Midnapore. They had one adopted son, David. Around 1930 Bumpy and his wife and son moved to Victoria and bought a mansion. Bumpy died in Victoria, and following his death, Dusty and his family moved back to Scotland. 

Mrs. Rhodes and David returned to the ranch in Grand Valley. David attended Brentwood College on Vancouver Island but spent his vacations at the ranch. 

One summer Mrs. Rhodes went to Tahiti on vacation. While there she bought a coconut plantation at Papeete. Two of her friends, Eric Hanner and Count Von Luckner, were German citizens, so the French Government revoked Mrs. Rhodes’ visa and she had to leave Tahiti. She bought a fifty-foot two-masted schooner, the Valkyrie, and she and David, with Eric Hanner as captain and two Tahitian sailors as crew, sailed for Honolulu. Mrs. Rhodes and Eric Hanner were later married in Victoria, and David went to the United States. Mrs. Rhodes met Margo de Carrie, who had been Amelia Earhart’s secretary. Mrs. Rhodes, Eric and Margo cruised the Pacific, stopping at many small islands, hoping Amelia Earhart could be found. When they reached Honolulu Mrs. Rhodes had her marriage dissolved, and she and David returned to the ranch at Cochrane. David managed the ranch for a while then joined the Lord Strathcona Horse. When the United States sent recruiting teams into Canada he transferred to the United States Army. While in the Army he married, and they were sent to Vienna, Austria, for five years. Here they adopted a boy, Barry. 

After David went to war, Mrs. Rhodes assumed her old name and ran the ranch herself for a while, then rented it to Art Hall. Clarence Ginrich was the manager. The ranch was sold to Jack Bolton in 1947 and Mrs. Rhodes went to live in Santa Monica, California. 

During the Korean War, David was stationed at Breckinridge, Kentucky. He and his first wife divorced, and David married a girl who was in the Diplomatic Foreign Service. He and his wife Helen had two sons, David and Brooke Anthony. Cullette spent her first years with David and Helen when they lived in Evansville, Indiana. She passed away in 1951 and is buried in Evansville. David left the Army in 1953 and has worked for the Western Electric Company for 21 years and now lives in Columbus, Ohio. 

The Minnehaha Ranch has changed hands several times during recent years. Jack Bolton sold to the Marston Ranching Company, who named it the Grand Valley Ranch, and Art Galarneau was the foreman. It was then sold to Peter Bawden, who hired Dale Flett as foreman. The ranch was sold back to Jack Simpson, who sold it to Bob Burns. The ranch is now called the Anchor X.

– Big Hill Country Pg 407

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