Life and Times of Caroline Godfrey

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pg 467 More Big Hill Country 2009

Caroline Irene Weitzel was born on August 7, 1920, and grew up in Calgary, Alberta in the community of Bridgeland. Caroline had three siblings (Norma, Don, and Helen) and when her mother became ill, she left school at the age of 12 to take care of her sisters and brother. She worked at the Holy Cross Hospital for a period of time while also enjoying some of her athletic pursuits, lacrosse and women’s hockey. Caroline was a member of Calgary’s first all-girls’ hockey team, the Bridgeland-Riverside Red Wings, one of three such teams in the City of Calgary. During this time period, she met her future husband, Cecil Godfrey. They were married on August 31, 1941. Cec was employed by the CPR. at the time and they had three children (Bill, Rick and Janis). Sometime later, Cec was hired by Shell Oil-Jumping Pound Plant. He carpooled back and forth to Calgary for a while and then in 1953 Cec, Caroline and family made the move to Cochrane when Shell Oil built some homes, which the employees could purchase. Cec and Caroline lived in Cochrane in this same house for the rest of their lives. This was the beginning of Caroline’s involvement in the community and in politics. 

Caroline began her community service almost as soon as she arrived in Cochrane. She saw the need for a new elementary school and became part of a group of parents/citizens that facilitated the construction of the Andrew Sibbald Elementary School (now known as Holy Spirit). She also was instrumental in getting Cochrane’s first outdoor swimming pool installed. Caroline served on the Home & School Association and was a member of St. Andrew’s United Church. Whenever she saw a need for volunteers, Caroline was always there. 

Cochrane pool 1960

Once her children were older, Caroline decided that she could now seriously consider getting involved in local politics. In 1963, she was elected as Cochrane’s first female Councillor, which would mark the beginning of her twenty+ years in politics. As one could imagine, politics was predominately a man’s world and she had many major hurdles to overcome because of this. In the early years, what Caroline knew about politics was learned through reading and taking whatever courses were available, but ultimately it was her life experiences and her great leadership qualities that carried her forward. It took a little time, but eventually, Caroline earned the citizen’s and other politicians’ trust and, more importantly, their respect. People may not have always liked everything Caroline said or did, but most people recognized that she was fair and that she really cared about the citizens of Cochrane. 

In March 1964, Caroline was appointed Deputy Mayor, a role she played off and on until the election in 1970 when she ran for the position of mayor. Even though she won by a small majority, she was very proud to become the first elected female mayor in Cochrane. She may even have been the first elected female mayor in all of Alberta. Caroline served two additional terms until 1977 when her husband, Cec, passed away unexpectedly on December 4, 1977. Caroline did not seek re-election until 1980 when she once again was elected Mayor, a position she held until 1983. After this, Caroline did not seek re-election again until 1992 when she served as Town Councillor until 1995, retiring from politics at the age of 75.

Caroline also served as Vice Chairman of the Calgary Regional Planning Commission for 10 years. As well, she was a lifetime member of the Canadian Legion Ladies Auxiliary, served two terms as President of the Big Hill Lodge Senior Citizens Activity Society, and served as a Justice of the Peace for a number of years. Some of Caroline’s many accolades include receiving a distinguished service award from the Alberta Urban 

Municipalities Association for having served more than 20 years on Cochrane’s Municipal Council, the Western Living at its Prime Award for her municipal work and second great passion, gardening, and a special Tribute Tea held July 20, 2002 commemorating Caroline’s 20 years of dedication to the Cochrane Community.

Another special and humbling moment came for Caroline when she was notified on April 22, 2003 that the Town of Cochrane would be naming a local environmental reserve in her honour, to be called the “Caroline Godfrey Park.” Unfortunately, Caroline unexpectedly passed away on July 27, 2003 at the age of 82. The “Park” dedication was held in July 2004. 

On a personal note, Caroline had other talents, one of them being her love of flowers and plants. At one time, she used to nurture over 1500 plants grown from seed in her greenhouse each year. She really had a green thumb, she could make anything grow and often said how good it made her feel to watch plants grow. Caroline’s yard was her pride and joy. Other hobbies included reading, sewing, quilting, homemade preserves, knitting, and crocheting. Caroline had five wonderful grandchildren that she loved unconditionally. 

Caroline’s dedication and love of community lives on in other female Mayor’s and Councillors who came after her and those who are yet to serve their community.

Deep Dive

Norman and Laura Kells

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pgs 31 & 39 More Big Hill Country 2009

This article differs from most as I could not find any family article in either Big Hill Country or More Big Hill Country. Laura, Norman, Mary-Del, and Joe  Kells certainly have a place in my memory of growing up in Cochrane so I’ve included references to the businesses they ran. 

A search of our archive records shows N. Kells was Fire Chief of the Cochrane department from 1964-65. Norman Kells was also a member of the Cochrane Lions.

Range Grill

This café was located behind the Cochrane Hotel and the building is still standing. It was built by Eustace Bowhay and he sold it to the Sailors in 1945. Later Laura Kells purchased the business and ran the Coffee Bar. Yvonne (Blow) Callaway worked for Laura and in 1952 Yvonne’s mother Mabel Blow ran the business while renting the building. Laura returned to operate the business in 1958 and renamed it the Range Grill. It was a popular place for teenagers and Laura was a wonderful mentor to them. Then the Fraser family ran the café for a short while. Laura sold the business to Gus Graff in 1966, who in turn sold it in 1967 to the Veselic Family and the restaurant was renamed the “Ponderosa”.

Excavating 

When machinery became available for excavating one of the first in Cochrane to have this type of business was Jack Steel. Later some of the others to take on this business were Dave Bryant operating as A&B Construction, Norman and Joe Kells operating as Kell’s Active Excavating, Grimstead Construction, and Roy Genung and Son Excavating. Today there are many companies in and around Cochrane offering this service such as Kelly Harbidge and L. Want and Sons.

Gravel Pits 

Andrew Clarke bought some land south of Griffin Road and east of River Avenue from which they operated a gravel pit. This was originally the Want homestead. His company A. Clarke and Sons started out with a contract to build the old bridge across the Bow River in 1927. Later on, Norman and Laura Kells purchased the gravel pit from Clarke’s and ran it for a number of years. This property is now the Burnco site.

Deep Dive

Mjolsness Family

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pg 606 More Big Hill Country 2009

Clara Jeanette and John Johann Mjolsness had raised eleven children in Minnesota when talk began of some of their boys coming to Alberta to take advantage of the homesteads being made available to encourage settlement. Early in the 20th Century, four brothers, Martin and John Alfred in 1906, Joseph in 1909 and Louis in 1910 all took up homesteads near Sundre, Alberta. Unfortunately, Joseph was killed overseas shortly before the end of WWI. 

The rest of the family followed when the parents of these four boys also decided to immigrate. John and Clara Mjolsness with their seven remaining children, four boys, and three girls left Minnesota to establish a new home in Alberta. They brought with them not only household goods but a thousand feet of oak lumber. blacksmith equipment, farm machinery, horses, and cattle. 

Arriving in Alberta, they lived in old ranch buildings seven miles west of Olds, Alberta. They then purchased a half section of land, N Sec 33 Twp 31 Rge 5 W5M, and built a home with lumber sawn at the mill of J.T. Johanneson. Two of their sons, Endred and Bill were working for Johanneson. A shingle mill owned by other brothers provided the shingles for their new home and for many other district families. 

Louis Mjolsness, one of the original four homesteaders, was born on June 22, 1882. He was a mature thirty years old when he returned to Minnesota on a very important trip. He went to call on a lady he knew with the intention to marry her; Minnie Granum, born June 9, 1882, who was teaching school in Minnesota. They were married on December 30, 1912. 

Louis brought his bride to the McDougal Flats area of south-central Alberta and there over the years four children were born; Gladys, Lloyd, Chester, and Marian The everyday life of the young family was guided by the principles of the parents. A helping hand to those in need and sharing faith was important to them both. 

The small farm southwest of Sundre was generally the mainstay of Louis Mjolsness’ livelihood but for three years he was involved in sawmilling with J.T. Johanneson. Louis also logged his own timber and had it milled by Tom Arnew, west of Sundre where Louis built himself a cabin to use while working there. Chester, as a young lad remembers going with his Dad and helping to chink the logs with green moss. The site was seven miles west of Sundre known as Sawdust Hill. 

Minnie Mjolsness was a kind, knowledgeable lady who taught the children well and loved them dearly. She was always a strong supporter of anything the children wanted to do. 

Louis made a rare visit to the doctor after feeling poorly in the fall of 1930. He passed away fourteen days later after being diagnosed with liver cancer. His death was a severe shock to his wife and young family and their lives out of necessity took on many changes 

Minnie hired Carl Christensen, who was born in Denmark and came to Canada from Greenland. He had worked for Louis previously. She combined a small government widow’s pension with the money she earned from the cream from her milk cows and was able to care for her four children without “relief”, as she called welfare. Carl worked the farm with the boys until 1937. By that time Lloyd and Chester were old enough to take over full responsibility for the farm work.

Later Minnie left the farm and moved into Sundre. She operated a boarding house for teachers and others in need of a home while there. 

In 1944, Minnie married her former foreman Carl Christenson who renovated the old Pool Hall (which he won in a raffle), added a barber shop, and kept quite busy after their marriage. 

Carl passed away at Olds in 1956. He was highly respected in the community and well-loved. He never had any natural children but loved the four Mjolsness children as if they were his own. In May 1958, Minnie suffered a stroke and quietly passed away. 

Minnie had played the role of both mother and father for so many of the growing-up years of the children. A large void occurred in their lives upon her passing. Minnie kept the family together providing strong Christian leadership in the home. She had given much strength and encouragement to her four children throughout the years of her life. 

 

Chester Jerome Mjolsness 

Chester was the second son and third child born to Louis and Minnie Mjolsness in Didsbury, Alberta on October 14, 1919. Like his brother Lloyd, he attended school at McDougal Flats. 

The children drove to school in a buggy pulled by a horse named “Dixie” and often they rode “Dixie” for fun. By tapping lightly on the fetlock, Dixie would lie down and let the kids mount. Faye Adams was his teacher but the school didn’t hold much attraction for him. The best subject at school for Chester was baseball and he was the pitcher many times when they played against nearby schools, Sunberry, Bearberry, Eagle Hill, and Rockwood. 

Tragedy struck when Chester’s father passed away suddenly when Chester was just eleven years old. His mother hired Carl Christensen, who had worked for Chester’s father as a foreman on the farm. 

At age fourteen, Chester quit school having managed to complete grade eight. “No Honours” he admits and although his mother disapproved he felt he was ready to step out into the world. 

Chester suffered from asthma and had always been allergic to grain dust, and currying and feeding the horses resulted in a marked reaction. So he turned to other activities that would enable him to earn a little money. 

Chester had honed his skills with a .22 rifle and made himself a lucrative hobby of shooting and skinning squirrels. He could sell the pelts for twelve cents each and he shot and skinned thirty in a single day. He bought a coyote snare and managed to snare a coyote.  Chester offered the pelt to a traveling buyer at six dollars. The man refused but came back a second time thinking he could get it for less. Chester again refused to sell. The third time back, Chester got his asking price. He spent the entire six dollars on more snares and managed to earn quite a bit of money as each pelt sold for ten to fifteen dollars. 

Chester saved this money and one day after selling pelts in Calgary, Chester and Lloyd planned to trade in the family-owned 1929 Chevrolet. Its doors and sills were rotted out so Chester replaced them and Lloyd tuned up the motor. Their Uncle Hale Gochee had taught them both a lot about carpentry and mechanics. After a harrowing trip to Calgary, in which the Chevy was wrecked in an accident, and with help from a friend Arie Vooys, who owned a garage in Sundre, they found a 1936 Plymouth four-door sedan for six hundred dollars. What was left of the old Chevy was sold to Arie. 

Over the years, the boys worked at a number of jobs including the building of roads which helped to pay the farm taxes. Chester also continued trapping. 

In 1938, Chester got his first job at a sawmill. The camp was located twelve miles west of Sundre and three miles south. For two and a half months until early spring, he learned the art of cutting logs. 

In 1939, with the outbreak of WWII, Chester and Lloyd both received their calling-up papers. However, after reporting and receiving their medicals, both failed to meet the required standards and returned to the farm. Looking for a change, Chester went knocking on doors in Calgary looking for work. He was hired by the Royal Lumber Yard for one hundred fifty dollars a month. His room and board were forty-five dollars. Chester did a lot of painting and unloaded lumber and shingles from box cars. However, the dust from the shingles irritated his asthma so he quit his job and went back to the farm. At this time, the government began building airports at training camps. Chester seized the opportunity and went to Penhold, building rafters for the airport hangers. 

Chester’s next venture took him to the oil patch, working the oil rigs at Turner Valley. He became a rough-neck, first on the floor then later working the derricks until he was promoted to cat-head. At times he filled in as a driller. During the next two years he worked at Turner Valley, Bruderheim and Taber. He thought he had found his lifetime career as he loved this work. However, circumstances led to Chester 1 being out of work, so he returned to the farm. Although he was disappointed not to have work in the oilfield. he found work at the Colonel Snyder Ranch, west of  Sundre. His uncle Hale Gochee was the foreman there at the time.

 During this time Chester heard of a stand of timber west of Doc Shymer’s place, fifteen miles south-west of Sundre. As a teenager, he had thought seriously about a career in either sawmilling or commercial fishing. Fishing presented a few problems for a land boy but memories of his father sawmilling had remained. The idea of starting a sawmill was intriguing. Chester discussed the idea with his uncle Hale, to join forces with him and start their own mill. So he and Hale viewed the timber on saddle horses and the partnership was made. Chester would obtain the timber and do the logging and Hale would do the sawing. 

The government Ranger called one day to say he’d be coming out to cruise the timber. As luck would have it, it was the day of Lloyd’s wedding, at which Chester was the Best Man. Concerned about his duties for the wedding and hoping he would make it back on time (which he did) Chester and the Ranger did the inspection. Hail had damaged some of the timber to the point it would be of no use for lumber but fortunately there were also eight or nine hundred thousand board feet of good quality pine and spruce in this block. The parcel was approved as a licensed timber berth but Chester still had to compete for the actual purchase. 

All timber was sold by oral bid at the Forestry Office in Rocky Mountain House. Chester went to the sale prepared to bid whatever was necessary. However, there was one other fellow who had designs on that lease and he kept bidding up the price. At the time, leases usually went for no higher than one dollar per thousand-foot board measure (F.B.M.) Finally, when the bid reached three dollars per thousand F.B.M. the other fellow dropped out. Chester had the dubious distinction of having bought the highest price timber in Alberta at that time. He had gone to the sale not even realizing there would be any competition but he was also determined to have that timber whatever the price. On the drive home, he began to wonder at the wisdom of the commitment. 

Now Chester had a timber lease but no mill. Hale was a genius at mechanics and carpentry work and began to build his own mill at the blacksmith shop on the Mjolsness farm. There was only one welder in Sundre owned by Chester’s friend Harold Hardy. Using discarded iron from old cars and other scrap iron, Harold and Hale designed and built a mill that would perform as accurately as any other, even the portable mills of today. 

While Hale was building the mill, Chester was busy cutting the hail-damaged timber for mine props. They were sold and hauled to Drumheller for the mines there. It took all winter but Hale finished the mill on March 1, 1944. Most mills were winding down for spring break up but Chester and Hale were determined to start their new venture. 

Side Arm Loader Sunchild Indian Reserve Courtesy Provincial Archives

Chester’s Mom, Minnie was very supportive of her son’s endeavor and loaned him five hundred dollars. This money paid for his first timber license and helped defray other expenses. Chester borrowed the farm’s 20-35 steel-wheeled Allis Chalmers tractor from Lloyd to provide power to operate the mill. He borrowed a fourteen-foot granary from Lloyds father-in-law which they moved into the bush for a temporary bunkhouse and cookhouse. The first winter, Chester did most of the cooking with his mother sending food out when possible. When that first season came to a close, one hundred and five thousand board feet of rough lumber had been cut. It sold for $17.50 a thousand delivered to Olds. 

When the mill shut down for the summer Chester returned to the farm to help Lloyd and visited with his mother. 

In sawmilling, Chester found a way of life so appealing to him he felt he could build a solid future. After a few successful years in 1944 and 1945 Hale Gochee and Chester dissolved their partnership and Hale sold his share to Chester. 

Fate took a hand in Chester’s life in 1945 when the Ranger at the Red Deer Ranger Station Carl Larson and his wife Marg invited Marg’s friend Beryl Chapman to visit them for the summer. Carl kept reminding Beryl every time they went to Sundre for supplies of a young man who owned and operated a sawmill along the road. Viewing the little shacks that served as housing Beryl let Carl know that she wasn’t interested. She said she couldn’t live in one of them. which was a dangerous statement, and she lived to eat her words. She met the “young man” that fall and on their very first date, he took her to a Timber Sale. 

After Beryl’s stay with the Larsons, she worked for Jack Macleod in his store and boarded at Minnie Mjolsness’ home. Chester’s visits to see his mother suddenly became more frequent and in the spring the couple became engaged. Minnie decided to hold an engagement party to celebrate the occasion. It was unfortunate that on the day of the party, Ed and Ken Philips decided that was the day they could haul lumber into Sundre from Chester’s camp. The lumber was for a house Hale Gochee planned to build. Because of the spring breakup, Chester had to remain on-site to pull the trucks through the mud with the Cat. Finally, he was able to leave for the engagement party but by the time he arrived the guests had long departed and the party was over. It was a poor start for what would be a long and happy relationship. Beryl and Chester were married on June 27, 1946. 

Sawmilling continued to flourish, new timber berths were applied for and received and more machinery and buildings were purchased. Chester’s brother Lloyd sold the farm and joined in the partnership with Chester. Together they purchased a UD 18 power unit 

be used for mill power and a brand new 3-ton truck. This truck was driven in two shifts hauling lumber to Beaver Lumber in Calgary and Red Deer that winter. 

When the seasonal work drew to a close in the spring of 1947 everything was moved out of camp, including a 16 foot x 24 foot house, built at the camp that winter for Beryl and Chester to live in. This house was placed on property on Main Street in Sundre and later used as a garage for the new house built for Chester and Beryl by Hale Gochee. 

During the late 1940s and early 1950s Chester and Lloyd logged in the Boggy Lake and Williams Creek areas and it was about this time they were told about the Eau Claire Lumber lease in the Spray Lakes area. 

For some time the brothers had been pondering the problem of year-round work for their men. They contacted the Eau Claire Lumber manager who arranged for them to be taken out to show them the timber at Spray Lakes. This trip was an eye-opener for Chester and Lloyd. Traveling by jeep they arrived within four miles of the timber stand at a cabin owned by Calgary Power. 

The area was a remote wilderness area reserved as a game preserve until the joining of Jasper and Banff Parks; closed to motorized vehicles with a locked gate to deter public travel. The two men spent two days on foot inspecting the timber. They found good quality timber in worthwhile quantity but it would require eighteen miles of road to be built to provide access. 

Negotiations were started with Eau Claire Lumber and the Mjolsness Brothers were amazed to learn that the timber license had been held on the seven-and-a-half sections since 1884. It had been issued at Selkirk, Manitoba, North West Territories. Although the area had been classed as inaccessible, prior to Calgary Power building a road from Canmore to Spray Lakes, the company continued to hold the lease. 

With all the details settled in 1953, a camp was set up five miles beyond the gate and work began on building a road. Three 12 foot x 20 foot buildings were moved in and two shifts of men working on building the road to Mud Lake where a permanent camp would be set up. Sawmilling began in 1954 and the routine of moving operations between Spray Lakes (summer/fall) and Williams Creek (winter) became established. Working at such a high altitude was a new experience for Chester and Lloyd. It could be raining at the camp and three miles down the road it was dry. 

The earliest sawing began at Spray Lake was June 20th, and in 1955 a custom began that continued into the late 1960s. When the school closed at the end of June many of the men moved their wives and families out to the mountain wonderland where the camp was located. Chester and Beryl brought their boys Brian and Barry and in later years daughters, Lori and Cindy out to the camp. One year the camp had 27 children spending the summer. Most lived in cabins but some preferred to stay in tents. Many fondly recall these were the best years of their lives. These “holidays” were missed when they ended. 

In the late 1960s, apart from quotas held by Sundre Lumber and Revelstoke Lumber, Chester and Lloyd were able to purchase every quota between the Bow River and Clearwater Rivers. 

In 1968 the Mjolness brothers purchased land from John and James Henderson at Cochrane, Alberta. This land would be the site where they planned to centralize all milling operations. Through the winter of 1968-1969, more than a million feet were logged from the Courtrielle lease on the Forestry Road, 7 miles south of Mountain Aire Lodge. These logs were hauled to the newly acquired land at Cochrane and throughout the summer, the sawmill moved to Cochrane from the Macleod site on the Highwood, was kept humming. 

By the summer of 1970, Camp No. 2 at Spray Lakes was still operating. However, all the other lumber was now being produced by the mill in Cochrane. With the Cochrane mill operating continuously, it seemed set for steady growth but on Boxing Day a fire occurred at the mill. A short developed in a drop cord and ignited the sawmill on fire. Despite all efforts of the fire department, the mill and all the new electrical motors just installed were lost. 

Because insurance premiums to cover this kind of business were astronomical, no insurance had been carried and the loss fell squarely on the shoulders of Lloyd and Chester. Sometime in the future, it was hoped that a new, modern sawmill could be built at Cochrane but for the time being the No. 2 mill from Spray Lakes was brought to Cochrane. This mill was used until 1974. 

With almost 30 years of experience behind them and a promise of a continuous supply of timber, Chester and Lloyd began giving serious consideration to fulfilling a long-held dream – that of a fully automated, central operation that would make full use of all the by-products of the milling industry. 

They investigated and appraised the design of different mills in British Columbia and Quebec. They found mills in the eastern province very efficient, particularly in the sawing of small timber. After a great deal of study and following consultation with engineers, a flow plan was drawn up. During this time, while the new mill was under consideration, Chester and Lloyd disposed of some of their other assets. 

Early in 1973, the ground was broken for the new mill building and Spray Lake Sawmills Ltd. embarked on the purchase of new equipment. The new mill building would be constructed completely of steel with a sprinkler system to guard against fire. 

On Friday, June 21, 1974, a Grand Opening Ceremony was held on a beautiful day with many dignitaries, business associates, and friends from near and far. Among those attending were the Mayor of Cochrane, Caroline Godfrey, Minister of Lands and Forests, Hon. Dr. Alan Warrack and Banff/Cochrane MLA and Minister of Highways Hon. Clarence Copithorne. Tours of the mill were conducted and a hot meal with music and entertainment followed. It truly was a gala affair. 

For several months, work proceeded slowly as each man had to learn new procedures. There was absolutely no comparison to the former bush mills. Each phase was electronically controlled with the operator controlling an electrically powered panel by pushing buttons to activate the various functions of the machines. Not only production slowed but the bottom dropped out of the lumber market. For some months the returns were below the cost of production. 

This was a critical time for Chester and Lloyd as they wondered when the axe would fall bringing an end to all their dreams. A large portion of the new mill had been financed and repayment (for the time being) was out of the question. 

Finally, in February 1975, markets picked up and prices improved. With four million board feet of lumber accumulated the pressure was off and Spray Lake Sawmills was operating again under more favorable conditions. 

The old bush mill had been put into storage at the west end of the Cochrane yard adjacent to the old sawdust pile. In January 1975, a strong chinook wind blew causing a fire in the sawdust pile to erupt. In no time fire spread to the old building that housed the old sawmill and fire crews from Cochrane and Calgary responded. The fire was contained and the new mill remained unharmed. 

Chester feels it was ironic that after operating mills in the bush for 25 years without a fire (despite the potential risk) they would have two fires within a relatively short time at Cochrane. By 1975 however, there was full insurance on the mill. 

Over the next few years, Lloyd and Chester devoted themselves to the business, concentrating on ensuring the smooth running of the improved facility and settling their commitments with the bank. With their major goal accomplished by 1979, the brothers decided to retire. 

Chester’s two sons Brian and Barry and his son-in-law Gill Ilk were willing to take over the responsibilities in the following year and Spray Lake Sawmills (1980) Ltd. was born. Lloyd and Chester continued to advise the young men over the next few years until they became familiar with all aspects of the business. 

By 1990 Barry had assumed full ownership and continued to operate Spray Lake Sawmills (1980) in a manner respected by the community. 

Although the Town of Cochrane now completely surrounds Spray Lake Sawmills (1980) the company remains Cochrane’s largest employer and as it has over the years, endeavors to work in complete harmony with the community, town, and all related government departments. 

Lloyd Maxwell Mjolsness 

Louis and Minnie’s oldest son, Lloyd Mjolsness, was born September, 1916 in Sundre and was fourteen years old when his father Louis passed away. He attended McDougall Flats School, three and a half miles from their home. His favorite subjects were arithmetic and spelling and the Annual School Fair. He participated by taking first prize for his “Sally Ann” muffins and also took a colt and a calf to the fair once. With the sudden passing of his father Louis, just nine days after Lloyd’s fourteenth birthday he quit school to help his mother with farming. With the hiring of  Carl Christensen, who had worked for Louis, a new routine fell into place.  

Lloyd helped Carl with the plowing, harrowing, and seeding. All the family, including eleven-year-old Chester, cooperated as they fixed fences and harnesses for the horses. Lloyd and Chester cut down trees for logs to build corrals and hauled them home about eight miles. Sharpening fence posts, fixing singletrees and doubletrees for the horses, and keeping the machinery fixed kept Lloyd and Chester busy. Their parents always kept the farm yard neat and tidy so on weekends everything was cleaned up and made attractive. 

Through the years there were many exciting events  including the Sundre Stampede. One year, with Rusty Stevenson and his cousin Harold Erickson, Lloyd entered the Wild Cow Race. They won the second prize, five dollars, which they split between them. 

Breaking horses was another job that Lloyd had to do and by the time Carl quit working for Minnie when Lloyd was twenty-one, he had matured physically and in character and was able to carry on managing the farm. 

Chester, a few years younger was able to help Lloyd by stooking and working on farm machinery repairs. Their uncle, Hal Gochee, was a mechanic and taught the boys a lot about fixing mechanical problems. 

When new neighbours, the Kuykendalls, moved in a short distance away, Lloyd took his mother over to meet them after having done some work for Mr. Kuykendall. There he met their daughter Mary and after dating for a year they became engaged. 

They were married on November 6, 1943 and a tense bridegroom was made even more nervous. His best man, brother Chester, had been called by a forestry official to go and inspect a timber lease Chester had applied for. However the inspection was carried out and Chester returned to Sundre in good time to perform his duties, much to Lloyd’s relief. 

When Chester decided to operate a sawmill in 1943, the mill was built on the Mjolsness farm making use of the farm’s forge and blacksmith shop. Power for the mill was provided by the farm’s tractor. The 1936 Plymouth used by Lloyd was traded for a two ton Ford with a short wheel base which was put to steady use to haul lumber to the Madsen lumberyard in Olds. This job was undertaken by Lloyd, who left the farm each day at 3 am in order to travel while the roads were still frozen. He loaded the truck by hand and enroute to Olds from the Coal Camp, he stopped at the farm for breakfast and to milk the cows. He delivered the load, returned to the home farm to do the chores then retired to bed early to be fresh to start over again the next day. After three years of marriage, Lloyd had an offer from someone who wanted to buy the farm. With no objection from his mother, they sold the farm and he and Mary moved into Sundre. They had three children Marilyn Diane, Gail Ann and Robert (Bob) Lloyd. 

In 1947, Lloyd and Chester became equal partners in the business they named “Mjolsness Brothers”. Now that the farm no longer took Lloyd’s attention he was free to share responsibility with Chester so a formal agreement was drawn up. 

In 1948, the opportunity to purchase a mill owned by Max Dix came up. This package included the timber lease, the mill, the steam engine and the camp. Lloyd was kept busy hauling lumber daily to Penhold, Red Deer or Calgary. 

One day in April 1949, Lloyd and Chester were in Calgary on business and met some friends that were on their way to Cardston to look at land available for lease on the Blood Indian Reserve. The Mjolsness brothers were invited to go along. After looking at the land, five and a half sections, Jack Morgan, one of the chaps with them, turned to Lloyd and Chester and asked them if they were willing to form a partnership and take on the lease. Some time passed and discussions took place. It was agreed this was a good opportunity. A partnership was formed comprised of Jack and Geoff Morgan and Lloyd and Chester Mjolsness. The operation was to be known as M and M Farming Co. Ltd. 

Because of his extensive experience in farming, Lloyd was chosen to be in charge of operations but as in all their mutual dealings, Lloyd and Chester had an equal interest in the new Company. Lloyd was required to be on the spot from early spring until harvesting was completed in the fall. He would then return to the sawmill in the winter. Likewise, Chester would go to the Reserve in the spring and help out with seeding and various employees would be given work when needed. The Morgan brothers each received one-third share of M & M while the Mjolsness third (owned jointly by Lloyd and Chester) did not pass into their individual bank accounts. If a profit was made, this would go into the joint Mjolsness account, once again to be used for the betterment of the sawmilling operation. 

For the next twenty years, the farm on the Blood Reserve became a way of life for Lloyd. From spring to fall he spent most of his time there. When spring breakup came to the Mjolsness Bros. Camp on Williams Creek, four or five of the men would join Lloyd at Cardston to help with the work being done there. Gradually the land holdings on the farm comprised 8700 acres. 

In 1956 Mary and Lloyd sold their home in Sundre and moved to Calgary. This made for a shorter drive to the Blood Reserve, now less than two and a half hour’s drive from Calgary. With this move, the help provided by Mary became an important factor in both the sawmill and farming. When the whistle sounded at the end of work at noon each Saturday, many of the single men would spend their free time partying at various “watering holes” in and around Calgary. Lloyd knew all their favorite spots and sent Mary to make the rounds, picking up the workers to be sure they were back in camp in time to start on Monday morning. Mary’s services were also appreciated where groceries were concerned. She was familiar with the roads and even in winter’s most treacherous conditions, she could be relied on to deliver the goods, whether it be to the camp on Williams Creek or the farm on the reserve. 

The company name of Mjolsness Brothers had been changed to Spray Lake Sawmills Ltd. in the mid-fifties. By the late 1950s sawmilling was beginning to expand. Lloyd and Chester had purchased a timber lease from Eau Claire Lumber at Spray Lakes in Kananaskis, which provided more work than ever for the brothers and their employees. Several businesses were purchased or opened creating further expansion, all related to the lumber business. 

By this time M&M Farming had also expanded. As well as leasing seven and a half sections on the Blood Indian Reserve, in 1965 the company had purchased a further five and a half sections at Hawarden, Saskatchewan. This was further increased when adja cent land beside it became available. More land was rented and farmed and the last year Lloyd was involved in the farming operation 8700 acres were being seeded on the Blood Indian Reserve. 

After twenty years of successfully managing the farm it became clear that Lloyd could no longer be spared to devoting so much time to farming on the Reserve. Buyers were found for the leases and all the equipment. This change allowed Lloyd to be at home more often and he began to devote more time to the lumber business which was expanding rapidly. 

Their portable sawmills continued to operate and flourish. By the mid-1960s the Sundre operations were shut down and the business, now known as Spray Lake Sawmills Ltd., set up a second mill at Spray Lake. But Lloyd and Chester recognized times were changing. It became increasingly difficult to keep workers in the bush and operate mills there. In the late 1960’s it was decided they should eventually centralize all operations. During this period, 60 acres of land at Cochrane was purchased and plans were being made to build a mill there. 

With that change, a Mjolsness tradition ended. Up at Spray Lakes, some of the workers would bring their families with them for the summer. Sometimes as many as seven families stayed there. Cabins were built for them to live in although some preferred to live under canvas. It was kind of like a holiday during the summer logging season and many good times were had by the families while they stayed at the logging camp. With larger quotas and those changing times Spray Lake Sawmills centralized its operations with a new mill in Cochrane, Alberta in June 1974. Shortly after, the new Kananaskis Provincial Park was established and the timber licenses held by Spray Lake Sawmills in the Spray Lakes area was not renewed. Later new timber licenses were issued to replace those lost to the park. 

In 1980, Lloyd, along with his brother Chester retired from active business and sold out to Chester’s sons Brian and Barry and Chester’s son-in-law Gilbert Ilk. The plant was expanded to include a pressure-treating plant and a dry kiln, along with the production of some 500,000 fence posts a year. 

Barry Mjolsness 

Today, Barry Mjolsness is sole owner of Spray Lake Sawmills (1980) Ltd. a company that has, for many years been the largest and steadiest employer of the Cochrane and area workforce. 

He points to his father Chester and Uncle Lloyd Mjolsness as the two forces behind the success of the company. Over the years, Barry learned the sawmilling business from the ground up. He has worked every job. from the bush to the finished product. Barry was able to work with his father, observing Chester’s way of doing business and trying to emulate his methods, learning every aspect of the business from labor to management. 

Before handing over the reins of Spray Lake Sawmills, Chester invited his son to join in on the business transactions, including him in the decision-making process. Barry admired his father’s integrity and felt that by continuing Chester’s tried and proven examples, he would maintain the reputation and success than had been established and now continues over 65 years as a sawmill company. 

Barry Mjolsness was born in Olds, Alberta in February 1950 and is the younger son of Beryl and Chester Mjolsness. School began for Barry when the family lived in Sundre, where he was a pupil until grade four. The family then moved to Canmore, where he continued school until 1967. 

Barry was attending Grade 12 when he decided he was capable of working to support himself with a typical teenage attitude. With the passing of years he has come to regret his haste to leave the classroom behind However at the age of seventeen he made his decision and plunged into earning a living. 

Ever since he was quite small he had carried out jobs at the sawmill camps. The highlight of each year had always been the two summer months spent at the Spray Lakes camp where the family lived in their small cabin. Between Canmore and the Spray Lakes operation, there were gates on the road which served to keep the public away from the milling operation. With the privacy of Crown land, a wonderful summer was spent by the children of the sawmill workers. They spent carefree days playing together, fishing in the lake, and creating adventures in the sawdust piles. Hogarth Lake, some two or three miles from camp was thirty feet deep and crystal clear, a joy for a small boy with a fishing line. There were also saddle horses or skid horses which could be ridden and included in yet more adventures. 

It was a privilege to be allowed to carry out odd jobs at the sawmill camps. Gradually as the years passed, Barry became able to accept more responsibilities. At the age of fourteen, he was allowed to work with a faller. He was paid ten cents per tree to remove the limbs with an axe. Each summer he worked where he could be of use. One of his full-time jobs was at the “jack ladder” where logs were pushed from the pond using a pike pole, up the chain ladder to the mill beyond. 

Another year Barry operated a Cat dozer pulling slabs and edgings away from the mill. In fact by the time he left school, he was adept at most of the jobs in and around camp. One time while skidding with a dozer, almost at the top of a mountain at Mud Lake, Barry was hurrying, and instead of parking the dozer facing into the bank, the usual safety measure, he just jumped off, leaving it facing out. The brake snapped off and down the mountain sped the big machine. It did not follow the spiral road but took a direct cut across trails and mountainsides. Finally, its downward rush was stopped by a tree stump. Barry was relieved to find the only damage done was a track had fallen off. The worst part was, having to ask his Dad to bring up a second Cat dozer for a tow. Chester had just spent all day moving the other Cat to a location five miles away. 

For a short period after leaving school, Barry apprenticed as a mechanic, then decided to return to the work he knew best. In the winter of 1968, Barry and his brother Brian both worked in Manning, Alberta experiencing temperatures of forty below zero day after day. Every day Barry froze his nose and it turned black. A bonus of five cents per tree was promised for all those who remained on the job until spring, an incentive Barry was determined not to forego. Brian was working as a sawyer while Barry operated a skidder in the bush. 

When spring forced the shutdown of bush work, Barry spent a month working on an oil rig. Meanwhile, Brian was driving a Cat at Golden, British Columbia so Barry joined him and skidded trees there until he got work as a skidder operator on the Stoney Indian Reserve. When this job ended Barry took on a new role operating a Cat dozer in road and oilfield construction for Don Beddoes. 

In August 1970 Barry married Lorna Jean Cavanaugh. Lorna, as well as Barry had been raised in Canmore. That fall, Lorna learned the hard way the meaning of being married to a young man committed to sawmilling. 

Strictly a town girl, she found herself working as a cook at one of the two camps established at Mud Lake. They lived in a 14’x16′ cabin without water or plumbing. Even Barry, accustomed as he was to logging camps, concedes that it must have been hard for his new wife; isolated by blizzards and making do without amenities to which Lorna was accustomed. He admits that the early days of their marriage brought with them tough times, financially and otherwise but he feels that getting through them laid a strong foundation on which their lives have been built. 

Barry was given his first supervisory job at the post-peeling operation west of Water Valley. Often battling mud up to his knees he gained valuable experience there. For the summer months, it was back to the Spray Lakes camp at Mud Lake. 

By 1973, Lorna and Barry were becoming established as a family. In 1971, they welcomed their first child, a daughter Tammy. Then two years later a second daughter Terry was born and while Lorna was in the hospital, their mobile home was moved from Water Valley to Cochrane. The family expanded in 1982 with the adoption of siblings Darlene and Cory, and then once again in 1989 with the adoption of James. 

Barry took a new position at the mill yard in Cochrane as foreman. At the age of twenty-three, he found himself in the awkward position of having to direct men who, in many cases, were considerably older with years of experience. It was a period of adjustment for many but gradually things worked out. Barry refers to this time as “the school of hard knocks.” 

In January of 1975, an event having long-lasting repercussions occurred. Due to internal combustion and a strong Chinook wind, a fire began in a sawdust pile. Those at the scene did their best to control it but by the time the fire departments arrived, the fire was well underway. The Cochrane and Calgary Fire Departments and many people with wet gunny sacks were all working hard to save the wood piles and the buildings. Everyone was thankful once the fire was out that things were no worse than they were. 

The fire marked the end of an era. Gone forever were the old days and old ways. When the new mill opened in 1974 it introduced state-of-the-art equipment with gradually less manpower needed. Efficient and highly automated machinery came into general use. 

As with everyone else Barry grew with the company. Electronics and compressed air took the place of men who had sweated over the heavier equipment. Barry pitched in with mechanical work and as millwright, he took on responsibilities it felt good to learn. To learn the new mechanics he did every job and with time the right man was allocated to a job that suited him. 

Chester, who worked so hard to make the mill the success it was, felt the need to slow down. He was happy his sons were ready and willing to take over as second-generation management. In 1980, the mill changed hands with Brian in charge of bush operations and Barry becoming responsible for the mill. In time, Barry assumed his brother’s share of the business. 

From humble beginnings to successful business, many changes have occurred over the years. Barry, like his father before him, continues to explore all markets. A sharp contrast with the early days of Mjolsness sawmilling is that everything from the trees is utilized. Barry feels confident that timber supplies can last forever provided the present 90-year rotation method is maintained. He is proud of his loyal and dedicated staff. 

Both Barry and Chester credit their success to the solid, Christian-based, foundation provided by Minnie Mjolsness so many years ago and influenced by their continuing faith and commitment to God. 

A lifetime of memories and a life of dedication sum up Barry Mjolsness and his love affair with sawmilling; a man doing a job well and enjoying every minute.

Deep Dive

Andy Anderson and Dorothy Anderson Family

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by Dorothy Anderson pg 260More Big Hill Country 2009

Andy’s paternal grandfather, Andrew Gustave Anderson, was born in Sweden in 1862. When he was still a baby he immigrated to the U.S.A. with his family. As a young man, he traveled west and finally settled in Forest City, Iowa. He farmed there and married Mary Jane Nallach. Eight children were born to them. The sixth child, Ralph, was Andy’s father. 

The Anderson family immigrated to Canada in 1907 and located in Carstairs, Alta. They later moved to Carburn, Alta. in 1909 and homesteaded there. Gus, as he was known, operated a large farm until his death in 1934. After his death, his sons Meryl and Clyde operated the farm. His youngest son, Ralph, went to Carstairs for a job when he was 20 years old, and there met Ruby Richardson. They were married in 1921. 

Andy’s maternal grandparents, Charles Wesley Richardson and Clarissa Wilford Herron married in Dacatur, Illinois, in 1880. While living in Illinois they had three sons and a daughter. They moved on to Nebraska and three boys and two girls were born there. The next move was to Forest City, Iowa and they had one more daughter, Ruby. In 1912 Charles and Clarissa and their six youngest children immigrated to Canada and homesteaded in the Carstairs District. Charles Richardson died in 1940 and Clarissa moved to Calgary with her daughter Ruby and died there in 1947. 

Ruby and Ralph’s first child was born in Carstairs and named Carrol Edwin, otherwise known as Andy. For the next few years, the young family lived either in Carstairs or Carbon. In 1928 they moved to Bergen where Andy did all his schooling. At the age of 14, he left home and went to Calgary to find work. These were the depression years so he worked on farms, in the city, or wherever he could find work. In Calgary one day he ran into his parents and found out they were working on a dairy in the Bearspaw District and he joined them there. In 1942 the Canadian Government said that in the next year, they would bring in compulsory enlistment in the forces to help with the war in Europe. Andy and a neighbour, Nick Chalack, went into Calgary and enlisted in the Calgary Highlanders. They did their basic training in Currie Barracks and left for England in May 1943. 

My paternal grandfather, George Dell, was born in 1872 in Hemel Hempstead, Herefordshire, England. As a young man, he moved to Watford, a large town on the outskirts of London. There he met and married Florence Joslyn, a young lady who had come to London from Aberysyth, Wales, to find work. George and Florence married and had six children, three boys, and three girls. My father Harry was the second of these children. The family moved to London and George went to work for the Great Western Railway as a carrier. In 1912 Florence died. The eldest child Fred left home and, because the youngest was a sickly child, a great deal of the family responsibility fell upon Harry. The First Great War began in 1914, but Harry couldn’t go as he was deaf in one ear. Harry also worked for the Great Western Railways and when the War ended in 1918 workers all over England were determined to get unions. Harry was an avid worker for the Unions and was his shop representative for the rest of his working days. At one time he was on the Executive for the National Union of Railwaymen.

My maternal grandmother was born in 1875 in Reading, Berkshire, and named Emily Elizabeth Aldridge. She married George Brown of the same district in 1898. They had two children, George born in 1899 and Georgine May born in 1900. A bad influenza hit England that year and George Brown and his young son George were both victims. My grandmother moved back to the farm with her young daughter and later moved to London to get work. There she met and married William Bates. They had four children: William born in 1906, Albert 1908, and boy and girl twins who died at birth in 1910. 

May Brown, my mother, was just 14 when war was declared in 1914, and she had just finished schooling. She worked at a munitions factory in London. After the war ended a friend of my mother introduced her to a friend of her husband. This friend was Harry Dell. Mother told us that her first date with Harry was to see the “big military parade” in London after the end of the war. Harry and May were married in 1920 and had two daughters, Eileen born in 1922, and Dorothy born in 1924. 

My mother’s brother, Bert was a rather sickly child and was told by the doctors to “go west young man”. This he did and at the age of 16 left for Canada. When the war was declared between England and Germany, Bert tried to enlist in both the Air Force and the Navy but was turned down. In December 1942 he went to Calgary and was accepted by the Calgary Highlanders, the same time that Andy enlisted. On the ship going from Canada to England Andy and Bert became good friends. They had a 48-hour leave as soon as they landed so Bert took Andy home to meet his mother. This was a big event for all the family and they were all at Grandmother’s to meet the Canadians. Bert and Andy didn’t get too many leaves as they were all over England and Scotland on training. When each of them did get a leave they always brought another Calgary Highlander member home to Gran’s with them. 

Andy was with the Calgary Highlanders when they went to France and was with them through France, Holland, and Germany, and by this time was a sergeant. In an engagement near Wyler, Germany, he was awarded the Military Medal. Soon after this, he was sent back to England to take a Guard’s School and upon completing this, had the rank of CSM. After he returned to Germany the war ended and the Calgary Highlanders were one of the first regiments to be sent home. Andy was given the choice of going with them or transferring to the Regina Rifles for a year. He chose to stay in Germany. With the war now over he had regular leaves every three months. He still had his leaves at Gran’s or Bert’s so I saw a lot more of him. On his last leave in England, he proposed to me. At this time all shipping around the world was employed in either taking war brides to their new homes or transporting military to or from the East. Immigrants were told to wait. I finally was on the first immigrant ship out of England to Canada in January 1949. 

Andy and I were married in Calgary in April 1949. On my first trip to the mountains, we stopped at the top of Cochrane Hill and I saw Cochrane in the valley for the first time. I said, “We’re going to live there someday”. It took a few years as the next ten were spent at Lethbridge where Andy was a guard at the Provincial Gaol. Returning from our honeymoon there was a letter for Andy from the Governor General’s Office saying that Viscount Alexander was going to be in Lethbridge on the May long weekend to present various honors and awards. Andy was requested to attend. We couldn’t miss that so along with Andy’s parents we went. The ceremony was held in Gault Garden and was most impressive. 

It was a few years before we were able to build our home in Cochrane. We lived in a house on the Gaol grounds and had a family: Carolyn was born October 31, 1950, Neil on December 6, 1952, Jean on October 9, 1956, and Brian on May 6, 1958. 

In 1957/58 the Province had seen the need to build another Goal and Spy Hill was built on the outskirts of Calgary. Staff at the Lethbridge Gaol was given the opportunity to transfer to Calgary, and we decided to do that in August 1959. We lived in a house in Bowness while we built our Cochrane house. We purchased a large lot from Mr. Andy Sharpe, on the last street in Cochrane at that time called Baird Avenue, and moved in on September 3, 1960. 

It didn’t take long for us to get settled in this village of 800 people. Carolyn and Jean joined the C.G.I.T. at St. Andrew’s Church, Neil and Brian were Cubs, and the new swimming pool was very popular. There was always something to get involved in. I was also fortunate having family members come to Canada for visits and have made several trips back to England. In 1977 we had a leisurely holiday in B.C. with my parents, but on returning home Andy suddenly collapsed and was rushed to hospital. He was diagnosed with brain cancer. My parents had to leave in November. Andy was doing quite well up till then but soon after Christmas became bedridden. I was thankful to Dr. McQuitty for all his care during the next few weeks. Andy died at home on April 10, 1978. 

By this time the children were growing up. Carolyn was off to Weyburn, Saskatchewan, to do Psychiatric Nursing. After completing her schooling she returned to Alberta and worked at several places but always with Mental Health. She met and married David Molstad. For several years she was Director of Mental Health for North East Alberta. In 1998 she was appointed to the Alberta Mental Health Board and resigned two years later as she and David went into semi-retirement at their home on Vancouver Island and worked with their own Consulting Agency. 

Neil took a longer time to decide what he wanted to do but finally chose carpentry which he did at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. In 1979 he met Aileen Morrow, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Bill Morrow of Bearspaw, and they were married in 1980. They have always made their home in Cochrane. They have two children, Scott born October 14, 1982, and Lisa born June 12, 1986. Scott graduated from U of C this year with a BSc in Geomatic Engineering. Lisa works in Calgary and lives at home. Aileen is well known at the Cochrane Credit Union. Neil has been contracting to the Alberta Forestry for the past few years and will be leaving Cochrane in September for another job in Forestry at Peace River. 

Jean worked in the housekeeping department at U of C for several years. She married Allan Erickson in 1980 and they made their home in Cochrane. They had two children, Sarah born March 14, 1987 and Megan born September 8, 1989. The family moved to Sundre, Alberta in 1989 so that Allan could be closer to his work. They divorced in 1993. Jean and the children stayed in Sundre as she said it was just like the small town that Cochrane was when we first moved there. Jean met Bernard Noel and they were married in May 1998. They live on an acreage east of Sundre and Jean is employed at an Insurance Agency in Sundre. Sarah has now finished a year at Mount Royal College and in September 2007 will be attending University in Edmonton. Megan has one more year of school in Sundre but is already making plans for the future.

Brian’s first job after leaving school was with a sur- vey crew, and he became very involved in where this could lead with land development. He married Lynda Thomas in 1984 and they have made their home in Cochrane. They have two children, Michael born May 1, 1987 who will be attending U of A in September, and Caron born December 30, 1990. Caron has been dancing just about all her life. She started with Highland dancing when she was 4 years old and now at 15 is a Premiere Dancer attending many Competitions. Lynda has been working for the Bethany Care Centre for many years in different capacities. Brian has recently been notified that he has been awarded the Governor General’s Medal for his work for many years with the Scouts of Cochrane.

During my years in Cochrane, I have had the opportunity to have two businesses: The Old Timer Newspaper from 1975 to 1981, and The Fabric House in partnership with Kass Beynon from 1979 to 1989. I was on Cochrane Council for one term in the 1980s. I was involved with the Big Hill Seniors’ Activities Society as secretary for 15 years and I have also been on the Management Board of Big Hill Lodge since it was built in 1980 and am Chairman of that Board. I finally had to sell my home on Baird Ave. about 12 years ago and am content in my downtown condo where I sit and see Cochrane get bigger all the time.

Gordon Ivan Davies Family

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pg 390 More Bill Hill Country 2009

The Gordon Ivan Davies family moved to Cochrane in 1962 from Mercury Camp, just two kilometers north of Longview, Alberta. At the time, Gordon and his wife, Mildred (nee Garbutt), had five children, with baby Teresa being just seven months old. 

Gordon was raised on a small ranch in the Porcupine Hills west of Claresholm, Alberta. His parents were Ivan Jennings Davies and Rachel Lillian Lepard. Ivan’s family moved to southern Alberta from Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1908, and Rachel’s from Frazee, Minnesota in 1910. 

Ivan and Rachel met in Claresholm and married in 1926. They had two boys, Gordon Ivan and Stewart William.

Mildred was raised on a farm a few miles east of Nanton, Alberta. Her parents, Harold Frederick Garbutt and Sarah Rebecca Lewis were both from Ontario. They married in 1924 and ventured out to the Wild West after their first son, Lewis, was born. They had four other children: Arletta, Donald, Phyllis, and Mildred Mae. Another son, Bruce, died in infancy. 

In 1946, the Davies family moved to a farm just south of Nanton and shortly thereafter, Gordon and Mildred met at a fateful community dance in Parkland. They were married in 1950. The next year, Gordon took a job at the Purity 99 refinery just north of Longview.

The bustling company community of Mercury Camp consisted of the employees of Purity 99 and their families 

During their years in Mercury Camp, Gordon and Mildred had five children: Theodore Gordon (1952), Leslie Dawn (1955), Ivan Blaine (1956), Arletta Lorraine (1959), and Teresa Darlene (1961). The refinery suffered a huge explosion and fire in 1953 and then closed down in 1961. As a result of the closure, Gordon took a job as an operator at the brand-new Wildcat Hills Petro-Fina gas and sulphur plant (now Petro Canada) ten miles west of Cochrane and moved his family to their new home in the summer of 1962 

The move, however, took place in stages. Gordon went up to Cochrane in December of 1961 to start his new job, and wee Ivan, at the tender age of five, made the trek north at the beginning of June to get a head start on his education, attending a couple of weeks of kindergarten Teddy and Leslie were attending school in Longview, SD Mildred waited out the school year and brought the rest of the clan up at the beginning of July. 

At the time, Cochrane had a population of about 800 people. The Davies moved into a small bungalow, just off Main Street, two houses north of what was then Graham’s Pharmacy. There were only two bedrooms for the family of seven – but they made do just fine with the three girls tucked into the second bedroom and the boys bunking out in the open basement. This small home later had several incarnations as different restaurants including a rib house, and Chinese and Mexican restaurants. It was an odd feeling for us to go sit at a table in our parents’ bedroom and order a meal! 

The days in Cochrane were punctuated by the town siren sounding daily at noon. On occasion, the emergency siren would also start wailing to announce a fine Dad, who was a volunteer firefighter for several years would drop everything and make a mad dash to the fine hall. Other regular sounds were the church bells pealing on Sundays, and frequent train whistles all day every day The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Station stood by itself on the long strip of land between Main Street (now 1st Street) and the railroad tracks. Theo and Ivan remember anxiously hanging around the station platform waiting for the trains to come through and unload their mystery cargoes. In the first few years, we received our Sears parcels by train and the boys have fond memories of one truly exciting package – the green Woods tent that became the focal point of our annual family vacation in Mara Lake, British Columbia The anticipation of going camping in it was almost overwhelming! 

The sleepy little village with its graveled streets and open fields was an idyllic playground to grow up in Everyone knew everyone else, doors were never locked, neighbours dropped in unannounced for coffee, and we children roamed free – as long as the dishes and our other chores were done! 

We had great fun playing scrub baseball next to the railroad tracks for hours on end. Summer nights and weekends, one of the neighbourhood kids would run up the street calling out, “Scrub, scrub!” and the rest of us would grab our mitts, if we were lucky enough to have one, and pour out of our houses to race over to the field, jump the page wire fence, tag home base and call out “Batter 1! Batter 2! Catcher! Pitcher!” according to Our preference and order of arrival. These scrub baseball games may have been instrumental in Ivan’s not-so-illustrious performance in Minor Baseball League games played on the Banff-Canmore-Exshaw circuit! 

On our street, other summer sports included pick-up tackle football in the Milligan yard (site of the present Ducks on the Roof business complex), and long evenings of Hide and Seek, Ante Over, and Kick the Can. On sunny summer days, we would set off to go fishing in Big Hill Creek. To us, the creek seemed like a l-o-o-n-g way out of town, and there were times when Ivan and his buddies were known to hop the train and take it down as far as they could, so they could save a few footsteps. The stretch of the creek between Cochrane Ranche and where it joins the Bow River yielded many a tasty trout! 

The other place we could always be found was the aid outdoor swimming pool, which is now long gone and buried under the playground next to the outdoor skating rink at the bottom of Big Hill. We would sometimes spend entire days splashing and roughhousing in the undersized pool. In the early 1960s, the Cochrane Piranha Swim Club was born, with Keith Raby as the coach. We Davies children all took to the water like fish and spent several years swimming with the Piranhas and competing in summer swim meets around Alberta. Leslie, Arletta, and Teresa all went on to become lifeguards and swimming instructors, and Leslie coached the Cochrane Piranhas for a couple of summers. 

In the winter, we simply switched venues from the swimming pool to the skating rink next door to it! The winters were very cold and the snow banks were often piled higher than the boards around the rink. We all learned to skate by playing games like Crack the Whip, Pom Pom Pull Away, and British Bull Dog. An old one-room schoolhouse that had been moved to the west end of the rink was used as a change house. It had an old pot-bellied wood stove in it, and it was always a real treat when the stove was fired up! Later we started using the swimming pool building as a changing room. 

 

Then, as now, hockey was the be-all and end-all. In the early years, the boys used gunny sacks to carry up to the rink their prized hockey equipment, metal rod shin pads, newspaper for extra padding, and quart jar sealer rings to hold it all together! Ted and Ivan both played hockey from Tiny Mite to Midget, and the girls froze their behinds faithfully cheering them on all winter long. 

In addition to recreational skating and hockey, the boys also spent countless hours practicing for the Cub and Scout Ice Chuckwagon races. The Cochrane teams often brought home the coveted championship trophies from the Banff-Canmore-Exshaw circuit, and Ivan still remembers the excitement of getting to compete in the Calgary Stampede Corral. 

Big Hill Creek provided many a winter adventure, too! With our skates slung over our shoulders, we made the long trek down to the old Creamery on the site of what is now Cochrane Ranche. There, we would lace up and spend long hours ripping and roaring up and down the creek! 

Gordon’s lifelong love of horses was a core part of our family life. Given that we lived in town, we boarded the horses in a field in the east end of town, where the present-day Hill Lodge is situated, as well as uphill on the Copithorne farm, where the GlenEagles development is today. Many glorious days were spent riding the hillsides. It was particularly interesting to notice how the underground springs in the area would shift, popping up in different locations from one week to the next! 

Gordon’s dream was always to own his own land and run cattle and horses. With five children to support, however, this was difficult to do. But he always owned cattle, buying some of the first purebred Charolais cattle brought in from France. In the beginning, he pastured them out at the Dalton Gibson ranch at the end of Jamieson Road west of Cochrane; later on, he moved them to the twenty acres he purchased just west of Cochrane Lake. Although the family never lived on that piece of land, it still brings up bitter-sweet memories of endless days picking rocks and planting and digging potatoes, all the while struggling to stay upright in the relentless westerly winds! 

The family participated in many local riding events, especially the annual Beaupre gymkhana. Ivan remembers riding his first steer at the age of 14 at the Lions Club rodeo grounds. At that time, the grounds were located out at the “edge of town”, but now they are pretty much smack in the middle of town! Ivan continued his rodeo career with wild cow milking, wild horse racing, and many a team roping event with his father, Gordon. 

A great memory of early Cochrane is the phone system. No such thing as dial phones then – just the old wooden box phone with a crank handle! We had to ring the operator and ask for the number we wanted. Our number was 23 – Leslie still has her old figure skates with her name and phone number written inside. It’s funny to think of how, in the mid 1960s, the entire town was called to a meeting in the community hall to learn how to use the new dial phones that were to be connected on New Year’s Eve! 

 

Other fond memories of growing up in Cochrane: Fresh bread at the bakery (where the Telus building is now located) – five loaves for a dollar! 

Garden raiding on warm summer evenings and delicious sour crab apples, especially from R. E. Moore’s trees. 

Long hours lost browsing through the bookshelves of the community library in the basement of the town hall – hooray for Nancy Drew! 

Wash day Monday, with Mom elbow deep in the wringer washer, the laundry flapping in the breeze in summer and frozen stiff in winter. 

The Calgary Herald paper route being passed down through all the siblings, from Teddy to Teresa, over the course of several years! 

The excitement of roaming the aisles of Kerfoot and Downs Hardware store with Dad, trying to find some little thing for Mom for Mother’s Day. 

A family charge account at Graham’s Drugstore and Moore’s Foodmaster. 

The thrill of buying a new pair of jeans at Andison’s Dry Goods store. 

Piranha swim club 24 hour swimathons. 

Teen club walkathons to the edge of Calgary and back. 

Saturday allowance of 10 cents each, which bought us a chocolate bar or a bag of chips. 

Fries and gravy for 30 cents at the Range Grill, a big splurge at 10 cents a week! 

Roaming the Cochrane hillsides for early spring crocuses The “swinging tree” with the rope hanging over the creek for us to dare each other on. 

The fascination of television when it first came out, and Sunday evenings with the whole family watching Bonanza together on the black and white screen. 

Leslie and Arletta scooping ice cream at MacKay’s where the lineups were as long as or longer than now! 

Dad’s short stint as the town dog catcher. 

Graduation from Cochrane High School for all five kids

Where are we in 2008? 

Gordon worked as an operator and then as an instrument technician at the Petro-Fina gas plant. He made a dream reality when he and Mildred moved out of town to twenty acres situated just south of the ANG gas plant. In 1981, Petro-Fina was acquired by Petro- Canada, and Gordon took an early retirement a year later at age 55. Thereafter, he continued to enjoy working with his horses and helping out neighbours and friends with any and everything. Sadly, he passed away in 1988, a the young age of 61. He died doing what he loved, however, as he was outside working with his spring calves. 

Mildred continues to live on the acreage just outside of town that she and Gordon bought. After spending many years raising their five children, she took on developing some of her own hobbies and loves. She traveled far and wide, including to Africa and South America to visit Leslie while she was doing volunteer work on those continents. She also took up golf and oil painting, two creative endeavours that she enjoys immensely and does very well at. 

Theo got a diploma in Architectural Technology from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. After graduating, he set off to fulfill his dream of circumnavigating the world and spent two years backpacking his way from West to East. Shortly after his return he started up his own carpentry business that was in operation from 1978 to 1986. He married Eileen Prevost and they have two wonderful boys, Brenden Wyatt (1984), who has a certificate in Computer Aided Drafting from Bow Valley College, and Tyson Cory (1989), who plans a career in EMT/firefighting. When the boys were young, Theo took a job with Methanex in Kitimat British Columbia, where the family lived for 15 years. When Methanex closed down in 2007, they moved Cold Lake, AB, where Theo works with Encana.

Leslie graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Education in English literature. She later went on to do two years of her Masters Degree in English. Leslie has taught high school for many years with the Calgary Catholic School District, which she enjoys immensely. Another love of hers, however, is volunteer service, and she has done over ten years of full-time volunteer work in Africa, India, and Latin America, as well as here at home in Canada. She is married to Robert John Paul Herrod and they live happily with their two cats in the quiet and neighbourly east end of Cochrane. 

After high school, Ivan spent some time testing gas wells and then traveling overseas. He also worked for numerous years in the guest ranch industry, as well as guiding hunting and fishing trips in the Northwest Territories and northern British Columbia. Later on, he settled into the ski business and owned his own ski shop in Calgary for fifteen years. Ivan has two lovely daughters, Mackenzie Dawn (1985) and Carla Mae (1988). Kenzi graduated from Olds College with a diploma in Land Management, and Carla is pursuing a career in nursing. Ivan continues to live in Cochrane and is presently serving as a Town Councillor. In addition to serving as chairperson of the Cochrane Labour Day Parade Committee for a number of years, he has been a volunteer with the Calgary Stampede Parade Committee for 20 years. 

Arletta married William (Bill) Cross of Nanton in 1981. Bill’s family owned the historic A7 Ranch, and Arletta enthusiastically joined Bill in working of the ranch. In 1986, the family ranch was divided, and Bill and Arletta continued ranching under the name of Cross Cattle Company Ltd. Along with ranching, Arletta has her own consulting business. They have three great boys: Malcolm Alexander (1985), who is a helicopter pilot; Devin Jennings (1987), who has a year of studies at the University of Calgary under his belt; and Austin James (1993), who is in grade 8. An infant girl, Amber E. Cross, was born in February 1991 and, sadly, passed away in May of that same year. 

Teresa married William (Bill) Ostlund of Calgary in 1995. They have three lovely children: Michaela Kathleen (1996), Liam Gordon (1998), and Paul William (2000). Teresa has a diploma in Business Administration from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and worked in the oil and gas industry for many years as an executive administrator in the corporate and land departments. A lifelong fitness fanatic, Teresa accomplished her dream of doing an Ironman triathlon race when she completed Ironman Canada in 2006. Teresa is devoted to her growing family. 

Deep Dive

Ray and Marilyn Whittle family

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pg 805 More Big Hill Country 2009

Raymond Lundy Whittle was born on January 10, 1932, at the Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary. He was the second son of Frank and Kay Whittle and attended school in Cochrane. As there was no Grade 12 in Cochrane Ray attended Mount Royal College in Calgary. 

Family was always important to the Whittles and Frank’s brother and sister Eva and their families celebrated many Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations in Cochrane.  Many family picnics were enjoyed by all. 

After Ray graduated, he and his best friend Bill Beynon went to work at the Royal Bank in Cochrane. Mildred Camden was working there at the time and Ray recalls that she got Ray and Bill to carry her window boxes in every night and out each morning. 

Being in the banking business meant moving and Ray was transferred to Blackie and High Prairie. When he was told his next move would be Stettler he decided he had had enough banking and would go to University and become a Chartered Accountant. 

In 1956, Ray’s father died of a heart attack, so Ray and his brother Dave decided to take over the family business, Whittle Implements. Ray had two more years to complete his Commerce degree and because school was in session during the “down season” at the business he decided to complete his education. He was awarded the Hudson Bay Company’s Gold Medal in Commerce and offered a job with Hudson Bay Oil and Gas but he decided to come home and work with Dave. Ray has always loved animals, especially dogs, and enjoys having them in his life. As a child their pet dog was Trixie. Other animals in his life have been Cindy, a toy Pomeranian that lived for sixteen years; Button, a cockapoo cross that looked like a Schnauzer and lived to be fourteen; Tarley a Manx cat that lived to be twenty; and presently a pampered three-year-old cockapoo, Sandy. Even when Ray and Dave were in business together, dogs were welcomed into the shop. 

Ray has always been interested in sports. He curled and was treasurer of the Cochrane Curling Club for 30 years. A special memory was the year Brian Peverell, Harvey Hogarth, Jr., Jay Bowlen, and Ray won the Banff/Cochrane District and curled in the South Alberta Playdowns. He enjoyed golfing and also fishing in the Bow River with his father and Bob Hogarth, but particularly with his cousin Lloyd Peppard. As kids Ray and Dave played hockey and as adults played baseball with the Cochrane All Stars. Teammates were the Hogarths, Bill Beynon, Bob Beynon, Bill and Bruce Boothby, Roy Downs, Dave Morris and Ken Raby. 

Marilyn Viola Woods was born in the Holy Cross Hospital, Calgary on January 30, 1943 to George and Viola Woods. Her early childhood was spent in Calgary, their home being in West Hillhurst. She attended school at Bow View and Queen Elizabeth. The family attended Knox United Church and Marilyn helped in the Beginner Department Sunday School. She loved children and was willing to help with any small children. 

In 1955, George announced they were moving to Cochrane. It was exciting and terrifying but Marilyn settled in. She became active in C.G.I.T., Sunday School and singing in the Choir. She spent many happy hours with her friends Linda Hansen (Steeves), Sharon Phipps (Morton) and Dianne Klassen (Weekes). She remains a steadfast friend with Linda to this day. 

During her school years, Marilyn was active in the Students Union as secretary, the School Library and a member of the Yearbook Staff. 

Whittle Implements 1960

Marilyn graduated in 1961 and was married to Ray Whittle on October 21, 1961. Bill Beynon was Ray’s best man. Newt Gilbert was the Master of Ceremonies and Jack Macdonell (Marilyn’s teacher) gave the toast to the Bride. The United Church Women (UCW) served the reception in the brand-new Christian Education Building of St. Andrews United Church. 

Marilyn continued her volunteer work at the church, leading C.G.I.T., teaching Sunday School, singing in the Choir, helping cater to banquets, organizing the Turkey Supper, and helping with church teas. 

1964 was an exciting year when Ray and Marilyn built a new house. On application for a mortgage from CMHC, they were told that they couldn’t have a full mortgage since the house would never have any resale value in Cochrane. 

They were also blessed with their first child, a daughter, Lisa Lorraine. Lisa attended school in Cochrane until Grade 11 and then went to Camrose Lutheran College for Grade 12 and her first year of University. She graduated from the University of Alberta in 1986 with an Honors Degree in Psychology. In 1990, she married Kevin O’Leary. She has spent time working as an Interior Decorator with her friend Sabine. She lives in Calgary. 

In May 1970, Ray and Marilyn adopted a second daughter, Melanie May. She also attended Andrew Sibbald School, Manachaban and Cochrane High School graduating in 1988. Melanie attended Mount Royal College in Calgary, seeking a degree in Social Work, then changed to education and graduated with her degree in 1993.

In January 1993, Melanie married Rob Wilke, a golf course superintendent. His profession took them to Osoyoos, British Columbia. They had a daughter, Anna Quinn Wilke in September 1996. In 2000, Rob transferred to Terrace, British Columbia and Melanie was offered a job at the Terrace Public Library as Children’s Librarian. She loves the job and doubts that she would ever return to teaching. In 2005, Rob and Melanie separated. She is taking her Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University in Edinburgh, Scotland. She will graduate in 2007. 

In 1973, Ray’s friend Neil Harvie built a tennis court at his place and asked Ray if he liked to play tennis. They spent many happy hours on that court. Ray continues to play every summer at Clear Lake, Manitoba, and every winter indoors in Calgary. 

Also in 1973, International Harvester decided to close all the small dealerships around the country and maintain only large dealerships in big cities. Ray and Dave continued to run Whittle Implements for 5 years. but Ray had always wanted to spend more time with the insurance business so, in 1978, he bought the insurance business from Whittle Implements and moved into the new Cochrane Valley Shopping Centre. Over the years his secretaries included, Bonnie Peppard (his cousin), Yvonne Bowlen, Bernice Buckler Klotz and Chris Stecyk. Ray sold the business in 1996. 

In 1979, Marilyn took on the job of Church Secretary at St. Andrews United Church, when Rev. Doug Powell was the Minister there. She really enjoyed working in this capacity but also continued working as a volunteer in the Sunday School, UCW, Choir, etc. At this time she took a course mentored by Helen Stover Scott called Education for Ministry, from the University of South Sewanee, Tennessee, U.S.A. 

Ray was asked to work as the Church Treasurer and did the job for eight years. In 1984, they left St. Andrews and attended Symons Valley for two years and the Anglican Church for 15 years. They now enjoy St. Thomas United in Calgary. Their summer congregation is Minnedosa United, Manitoba. 

In 1980 her former teacher, Betty Lou Gilbert, gave Marilyn the gift of PEO. It became a wonderful part of her life. She assumed Chapter offices and in 1986 was elected to the Provincial Board as Treasurer. The theme for her convention in 1993 was “Joy”; indicative of the feelings she has for this group. She still is active in this Philanthropic Educational Organization. 

 

In 1982, Ray and Marilyn bought a cottage in Manitoba’s Riding Mountain National Park. Marilyn had spent every summer there as a child because her grandparents lived in Brandon, Manitoba. It has become a favorite place for all of the family. Ray and Marilyn spend five months there in the summer. Such a special place! 

In 2002, they sold the family home and bought a condo to accommodate this lifestyle. They return to Cochrane every winter.

Deep Dive

How do you want Cochrane’s history remembered?

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The Town of Cochrane is updating their (our) Municipal Development Plan. They are asking for input in how we move forward with growth and development while remembering our past and values.

CHAPS exists to educate people about our rich history so we have a vested interest.

If you’d like to know more about the Towns’ MDP, follow this link.

https://www.cochrane.ca/civicalerts.aspx?AID=849

If you’d like to know more about CHAPS and how you can get involved:

– CHAPS website. https://chapscochrane.com/

– Membership. https://chapscochrane.com/become-a-member/

Rider Image Outline pg 5 A Peep into the Past Vol 1

David and Janette Whittle Family

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Uncredited pg 802 More Big Hill Country 2009

David Arnold Whittle was born December 5, 1930 in Calgary, Alberta, first son of Frank and Kay Whittle. A brother Ray in 1932 and a sister Joan followed him in 1944. Dave attended elementary school in the old brick school on Main Street where Holy Spirit School is today. The school was next door to the Whittle home with lots of playground to use as well as an outdoor skating rink. Sport was always a large part of Dave’s life whether it was hockey, fastball, curling, or golf. 

Curling began in 1946 with early coaches William Beynon, Bob Hogarth, and Sid Reed. He played fastball, from 1947-1956 in the Bow Valley League. He played hockey for the Cochrane Senior Team, Mount Royal College, and the University of Alberta/Calgary Education Team. 

Dave finished grade 12 at Mount Royal College in 1948. He attended the University of Alberta/Calgary from 1949 to 1952 to earn a degree in Industrial Arts Education. 

Dave worked for his father’s business on weekends and during the summer months. After Sunday baseball games the players often went to Mr. Hart’s Drugstore for refreshments. This is where he met his future wife who was scooping ice cream and making great milkshakes. 

Whittle Implements 1960

Janette Elma Fenton, daughter of Elmer and Isobel Fenton from the Bottrel district, was born in November 1934. She had four brother’s Buster, Jim, John, and Allan, and two sisters Donna and Marlene. Janette attended a one-room school, Mount Hope, riding horseback for two and a half miles. Some winters, during the 1940s, the snowdrifts were so high that riding through was impossible. Roads were never plowed then so you waited for a thaw. 

Coming from a large family meant lots of time playing outdoors. An appreciation for nature developed at this time that has remained. 

Janette worked at Mr. Hart’s Drug Store, from 1951-1952. The Drug Store was on Cochrane’s main street where the highway went through to Banff. One Sunday, 2200 ice cream cones were sold at ten cents a scoop. Fellow clerks while there were Loretta Lee, Dorothy Perkins and Trixie Cassidy, who later worked for Cliff Irwin Drugs in Calgary.

Andison Block Plaque

Janette and Dave were married in October 1954 at Scarboro United Church in Calgary. They lived the first year in the upstairs suite at Bob Armstead’s (Dolly and Allister Moore) home. In 1955 they bought a two bedroom (Shell Oil) home from Dick Wetherell, which was only two years old. Its value then was $8800.00 and a twenty-year mortgage. A monthly payment of $65.00 was often a struggle. 

Dave’s centennial project for 1967 was to build a new living room in this home in order to create another bedroom. Most of this he did himself in his spare time and evenings. He also built a garage, tent trailer, and household furniture. They lived at this location, 112 1st Street East for forty-three years before moving to Cochrane Heights in 1998. 

Dave worked from 1953-1956 for Shell Oil at Jumping Pound Gas Plant in maintenance and operations. 

In 1956 when their father Frank passed away, Dave and brother Ray bought the family business from their mother and continued selling International farm machinery, trucks, fertilizer, insurance, coal, and delivered fuel to the rural community for the next twenty-two years. Coal was ordered from Drumheller and it came by forty-ton boxcar. It had to be unloaded in two days otherwise demurrage was charged. 

Once a year in the 1960’s Whittle Implements held an Appreciation Day. Town and rural customers were invited to a free pancake meal served by the dealer and his staff, Bob Grievson, Bob Thomas, Allan Hall, Carl Westerson. B.A Oil had changed to Gulf Oil when the business moved to larger premises at 365 Railway Street. The property was bought from Lambert Brothers. Whittle’s old property formed part of Cochrane Valley Shopping Centre. The machinery business closed in 1978 and all the rest was sold then. 

In 1979 Dave bought an upholstery business from Ken McNaughton  and worked out of the Railway Street building until retirement in 1998. 

Dave and Janette have two children Debra Ann, born October 1955 and Kevin David born December 1958. They attended school in Cochrane and presently live here in Cochrane. 

Debbie worked eleven years as a receptionist at the Cochrane Health Clinic. She presently works at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. She married Mike Admussen in 1977 and they separated in 1988. They have two children Steven Lee and Angela May. Steven was born 1983 and graduated from University of Calgary in 2007 with his Bachelor of Commerce. Angela was born 1986 and graduated from Bow Valley High School in 2006. She is employed at Revolution Sport Supply in Calgary. 

Kevin graduated from Cochrane High School in 1977. He worked for Esso from 1981 to 2004. He is presently working for Wenstrom Equipment in Langdon, Alberta. He has been a member of Rocky Mountain Big Wheels and has altered many vehicles mechanically as a hobby. 

Dave and Janette celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary, on October 4, 2004. In their retirement, they like to spend time in the country, at a two-room cabin that they remodeled in the 1980s. They hike, bird watch, and do photography. 

Janette has always enjoyed arts and crafts and painting. She has been a Cochrane Art Club member since 1970 and recently joined the Foothills Art Club as well. She continues to enjoy working in watercolor and pastel and has been honored with the Heritage Award several times. 

Dave is a long-time member of the Cochrane Golf Club and plays several times a week through the season. He remains passionate about the game. Several times he has been Senior Golf Champion. 

In 2000, the Whittles and their descendants celebrated being in the area 100 years.

Deep Dive

Frank and Kathleen Whittle Family

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pg 803 More Big Hill Country 2009 Author uncredited

Frank Whittle was a native Albertan, born November 15, 1903, and was raised and spent his whole life here in the Cochrane area. Son of Earle and Letha Whittle of the Horse Creek District, he had a younger brother and sister, Fred and Eva. Two other children died at an early age. Frank was home schooled until he was eight years old when the Chapelton (Horse Creek) School was built in the district. He left school after grade eight to work on the family farm. 

About the time Frank was old enough to drive, the family bought a Model T car, but it didn’t replace a good saddle horse. Road building and repair was often done by local farmers, Frank being no exception. Some people paid their taxes by working on the roads. Frank enjoyed fishing and game bird hunting. Shearing sheep for themselves and the neighbours was one of his accomplishments. 

Road Crew

In winter months, Frank worked for John Boothby baling hay from stacks in the field and hauling it to customers. This involved long hours of heavy work. 

About 1926, Frank suffered a serious illness, a ruptured appendix that sent him to hospital. It was the cause of future bouts of sickness that plagued him in later years. While recovering from his illness Frank met his future wife, Kay Lundy, the new schoolteacher at Weedon School. 

Kay was born in Innisfail Alberta, on December 30, 1902. Her family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and later to Sicamous, British Columbia as her father worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a lineman. This job involved numerous moves, which interrupted the children’s education. They were five years in North Bend and Kay spent her high school years in Enderby, British Columbia while staying with her grandparents. Her mother got tired of moving so Penticton, British Columbia was their final destination and where Kay finished high school. A job in a telephone office for a year enabled her to attend Normal School in Victoria, British Columbia, to become a teacher. 

Kay’s first job posting was at Valdez Island. She next taught at a Girl’s School in Vancouver, British Columbia. Along with a girlfriend Kay,  took a bold step and accepted a school in Alberta at a place north of Cochrane, Alberta called Weedon School. Here she rode a horse to school each day teaching grades one to nine in one room. After two years at Weedon, Kay transferred to Water Valley. Many years later Weedon School was moved to Heritage Park in Calgary as a historic building. 

Kay met Frank while going to dances in the area of Cochrane, Alberta. He had bought a 1926 Chevrolet Touring Car, to replace the horse, as a courting vehicle. 

The couple was married in 1929 in Kay’s family hometown of Penticton, British Columbia. Upon returning to Cochrane they took residence in a rented house which still stands today, 2008, below the hill north of highway 1A. 

Their first child, a son David was born in December 1930 with a brother Ray following in 1932. During this time they bought a partially finished house west of Cochrane’s original brick school. Some ten years after the boys were born a baby girl entered their lives. Joan became the center of attention for the Whittle family. The family lived in this home for many years, in fact until the children had grown up. It was next door to the school and its playground, the outdoor skating rink, the tennis courts, and the Church and close to downtown.

During the 1930s Frank and John Boothby formed a business partnership baling hay and hauling the hay and mine props to Drumheller. They brought back domestic coal for sale, starting a business that lasted until natural gas and propane came to the Cochrane area. 

By 1949, Frank had acquired the International Harvester Machinery and Truck Dealership and the B.A. Oil Sales from Robert Young. An insurance agency was also added This business was originally located next to the feed mill. North of the Cochrane Hotel. The building was later moved to a site on First Avenue across from Murray’s Blacksmith Shop. It was enlarged and a service shop was built on the back in about 1950. 

Frank served on the School Board and St. Andrew’s United Church Board. He was a Mason and Kay belonged to the Eastern Star. 

Winter social events included a six-couple bridge club meeting at everyone’s home once each season. There were always picnics in the summer and Sunday trips to the Family Farm in Horse Creek.

Whittle Implements 1960

Tragedy struck the family in 1956 when Frank died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of fifty-two years. 

The two boys, Dave and Ray, took over his business. Kay later moved to Calgary with daughter Joan and lived there in her own home until she was well into her nineties. Kay passed away in 2001. 

Dave and Ray were schooled in Cochrane and each spent a year at Mount Royal College to finish High School. Joan did much the same, going on to study art at the College of Art in Calgary in 1959. Upon graduating in Commercial Art she worked for Eaton’s Store in Calgary before she married Steve Fedoroshyn in 1964. Joan switched to Fine Arts while raising two boys. She is a member of the Alberta Society of Artists and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Color and continues to teach painting. She is a grandmother to four boys. 

Deep Dive

James and Helen Begg Family

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by their grandaughter Helen Warner pg 355 Big Hill Country 1977

James Begg and Helen Neil were married in Ayr, Scotland, in 1904. In 1911, Jim and Helen (Nellie) and their young son Matt, decided to leave their grocery business in Ayr and move to Canada to join their friend, Jack Connell on a farm near Claresholm, Alberta. 

In 1912 their second son, Neil, was born in Claresholm. Their son Hamish was born in Carmangay, Alberta, in 1916. Two years later, Jack Connell and the Beggs moved to work on a cattle ranch in the Cyprus Hills. There they prospered, but tragedy struck during a bad flu epidemic after the First World War, when young Matt was stricken with the flu and died in the Dunmore hospital in 1919, at the age of twelve. 

Neil started school in Medicine Hat, while his parents were working on the 76 Ranch near the city. In 1921 Jim and Nellie and their sons moved to Cochrane. Jack Connell bought the Glenfinnan Ranch west of Cochrane from D. P. McDonald; he and Jim worked together there, raising sheep, cattle, and horses. In 1922, the Begg family moved to Cochrane and lived in the “Dad” Johnson house. Hamish started school in Cochrane. A year later, Jim and Nellie and the boys moved to Dunmore, where Jim worked for the C.P.R. In 1925 they moved back to Cochrane, to work at the Rhodes Ranch in Grand Valley. Neil and Hamish went to Chapelton School, and then, when it was opened, to the Grand Valley School. 

In 1927 the family moved to Calgary, and Jim worked for the C.P.R. and later for the city. He and Nellie spent the rest of their busy lives in Calgary. The boys finished their schooling in Calgary. 

Neil worked at odd jobs around Calgary after finishing school. He managed the Hudson Bay store in Banff when it was first opened. He married Adele Templeton of Calgary in 1940. During the Second World War, he served in the Navy. Following the War, he bought a tire shop on the Hope-Princeton Highway in British Columbia. He later sold it and worked for Nestles Products Ltd., until he retired in 1972. 

Hamish worked for Andy Garson in Cochrane after completing his schooling. He also worked for Frank Murray in Claresholm, at the Fuller Brush Warehouse in Calgary, at the Rex Kendrew sawmill and the Mud Lake sawmill, both west of Cochrane, and at Little Yoho National Park, where he helped to build the Alpine Chalet. He married Amy Nagy of Cochrane, and they bought the Glenfinnan Ranch from Jack Connell and Raymond Patterson, a well-known author of many good books. Hamish and Amy lived there until 1969, when they sold their ranch to the Department of Indian Affairs, Government of Canada; the land is now part of the Morley Indian Reserve. They are still living in the Cochrane district. They had four children, Jim, Helen, Donald, and Beverly. Jim works in the construction industry in Calgary. He and his wife have a son and a daughter. Helen married Mark Warner; they farm north of Cochrane and have two sons and two daughters. Donald owns and operates a bronze foundry in Cochrane. He married Shirley Stevens of Calgary, and they have a daughter. Beverly is married and lives in Kamloops, British Columbia. 

Deep Dive

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Nagy

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by their granddaughter, Helen Warner pg 253 Big Hill Country 1977

Andrew Nagy came to Canada from Hungary in the early 1900s. He filed on a homestead near St. Brieux, Saskatchewan. St. Brieux is about fifty miles north of Humboldt in an area dotted with small lakes. The early homesteaders there had their work cut out for them clearing land before breaking it up for cropping. 

He married Suzanna Miko in 1913. Suzanna had also come to Canada from Hungary, immigrating with her parents as a young girl around 1900. 

A few years after they were were married, tragedy struck the Nagy family during a diphtheria epidemic, when their oldest son and oldest daughter died from the dread disease. Mr. and Mrs. Nagy felt that they needed a fresh start, so the homestead was sold and the family moved to Alberta. They lived in Lethbridge and Ft. Macleod before coming to Cochrane in the late 1920s with their five children, Amy, Vera, Mike, Mary, and Andy. They lived on a farm north of Cochrane, and the three older children went to Cochrane Lakes School. Later, the Nagys moved to Cochrane. Three more children were born, Helen, Elizabeth, and David. 

 

Nagy Home North of Hwy 1A

Mr. Nagy worked for John Boothby, Calgary Power Company, and at the Exshaw Cement Plant. He died in 1948. 

Mrs. Nagy lives in Cochrane and is a very active member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the Canadian Legion, and the Booster Club. She thoroughly enjoys getting about and visiting her family, two of whom live in the Cochrane area. Amy married Hamish Begg, and Elizabeth married Robert Stone of Dog Pound. The other members of the Nagy family live in Calgary and various parts of British Columbia. 

In 1965, Mrs. Nagy returned to Hungary for a visit but unfortunately found it very difficult to contact many of her or her husband’s relations. Sixty years of absence from her homeland, which has been ravaged by war and revolution, meant that things did not seem quite the same as they had in the old days.

Deep Dive

Medical Problems of Early Settlers in Cochrane Area

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an article from the CHAPS Archives

The first settlers came into the Cochrane area in the late 1880s and continued to arrive over the next twenty or thirty years. Medical theory and practise has changed a lot of course, from that time to the present. It is interesting to look back and read the stories of those people, our very own parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, and try to imagine ourselves in the same medical situations and how we would react. 

In those days … 

* The germ theory of disease, that infections are caused by bacteria and viruses, had only recently been accepted and taught to medical students and nurses. It was also very difficult for a doctor in a place like Cochrane to keep up with any new discoveries.

* Anaesthetics such as nitrous oxide, chloroform, and ether had just been discovered and were not available in the hinterlands. 

* Abdominal surgery of any kind was uncommon except in larger cities. For instance, the first appendectomy was performed in Europe in 1900. 

*There was no effective treatment at all in those days for communicable diseases, pneumonia, ear infections, mastoiditis, vomiting, and diarrhea, “blood poisoning” 

* All common killers of both children and adults. 

* Babies were by necessity usually born at home often far from civilization. Mothers and babies are often fed in childbirth done in the “natural” way without the help of trained midwives or doctors; Hemorrhage would be the commonest cause of easy delivery. Untreated toxemia could cause the death of either mother or baby or both. Sometimes the labour would on over many days without success and the baby or mother or both would die at that time or possibly a week or so later from puerperal infection. 

 

Mitford Mining Camp

Mitford Days 

Tom and Lady Adela Cochrane built the town of Mitford in the early 1880s. In 1888, they convinced a young Dr. Hayden to come over from England to set up a practice and run a drugstore in the town. One of Tom Cochrane’s first projects was a sawmill. He built a railway over Horse Creek and over to Grand Valley to bring the logs down to the mill. Unfortunately, the steam engine was forever running off the track. On one occasion, the brakeman was found under the engine with severe head injuries. Dr. Hayden transported him back to town by wagon and he eventually recovered. Two weeks later, the engine was returning to the sawmill pulling four trucks of logs when it left the rails again pinning the engineer and breaking two bones in his leg. Treatment of accidental injury would be a big part of medical practice in those days. Dr. Hayden left in 1891 but the drugstore remained open. Many home remedies would be sold there so people could use treatments handed down from grandmothers of past generations. 

Davies home-hospital

A few stories survive illustrating other problems people faced before the turn of the century. 

Atkins Family 

In 1895, Harry Atkins brought a new bride to his homestead near where Cremona is now situated. His wife successfully gave birth to two daughters but in 1901, a son was born and the mother died either during the delivery or shortly after, leaving him with two young children and a newborn baby. The next year, tragedy struck again as the oldest girl died of pneumonia at age six. 

John McNeil Family

 His wife and three children arrived in Mitford in 1886. They had three more children there. She was in late pregnancy with her seventh when she got the news that while her oldest boy was away getting supplies, his team of horses ran away and dragged him to death. Mrs. McNeil went into labour a few hours later and died while giving birth. The next spring, the Bow flooded their Mitford home and the children had to climb to the roof before being rescued. The baby boy died soon after. The four girls were put in a convent in Calgary and the son Joseph went to live in Cochrane. The next winter, Joseph died of appendicitis. His father John helped dig his grave in Cochrane, developed pneumonia, and died three days later in the hotel in Cochrane. It is not often that so many tragedies as this would happen to one family but it does illustrate the dangers faced by pioneers. 

Dr. Harbottle

 In 1907, late in his life came from Ontario with a grown son and daughter. They all homesteaded in the district. He never opened a practice but he was often called by his neighbours in times of illness. He helped Mrs. Oldaker through a bout of erysipelas, a serious very painful skin infection that lasts a long time. In those days, the treatment was likely to rest, heat, elevation, and relief of pain and hope for the best. The old doctor was found by neighbours one day, he had died alone in his homestead home. One of the problems in those days was that many bachelor homesteaders lived alone far from neighbours. It was not uncommon for them to be found dead days or weeks after a serious accident or illness because they had no way of calling for help.

Midwives

 Doctors came and went but the ladies that helped deliver the annual crop of babies were the most valued and valuable medical service in the district in those days. Many of them had nursing training but some had learned what to do from their mothers or grandmothers. Most mothers of necessity had their babies in their own homes far from their neighbours. The brave nurse-midwives would be out all times of the day and night in all kinds of weather sometimes leaving their own families to fend for themselves as they sat through long labour or nursed someone through a serious illness. They charged no fee as they knew the time would come when they might need a neighbour’s help themselves. 

The names of some of these ladies keep cropping up in the stories told by old-timers; Mrs. Hugh Robinson, Mrs. Oliver Mickle, Mrs. Jimmy Patterson, Louise Tempany, Mary Hughes, Mrs. Boucher, Mrs. Lancons, Mrs. Urquhart, Granny Hogarth, Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Dawson, Lura Gano, Maud Lewis, Hilda Beard, Nancy (Harbidge) Boothby, Nurse Roberts. Others took in maternity and other patients in nursing homes or their own homes in Cochrane and they are mentioned elsewhere. 

Dr. Andrew Park

 First resident physician in the town of Cochrane. He graduated in 1904 and came immediately to Cochrane to set up practice. He was unmarried and lived in the hotel at first. His office was upstairs in the Fisher Block. There were no cars and no roads so he rode horseback on his rounds to patients in the large area he served. 

In those days, most patients were treated in their homes and the doctor made his rounds from home to home as often as necessary carrying his surgical instruments and medications with him, If they were so sick they couldn’t look after themselves, there was usually some neighbour who could help. In 1906, he married a teacher from his hometown in Ontario and they set up housekeeping in Cochrane. At this time he bought a horse and buggy to do his rounds. He later bought one of the first cars in Cochrane. In 1915 Dr. Park left Cochrane to serve in the armed forces during World War 1. 

A few stories told by his patients highlight problems faced in that era.

 Hank Bradley; in 1913 at the age of six years had one of his fingers chopped off by a man cutting a soup bone off a shank of frozen beef with an axe. The boy was holding the beef so it wouldn’t slip at the time. The man who wielded the axe soaked the wound in saltwater and wrapped it in a towel while he went and caught and harnessed a team of horses. Then he had to go to a neighbour to borrow a democrat before he could take the boy to the doctor. The doctor had to tie him down to work on his finger. 

John and Lucy Morgan homesteaded in the Bottrel area. Lucy went into labour on November 24, 1908, during an early winter blizzard and a temp of -20F. They sent their 13-year-old son by horse and sleigh to fetch Mrs. Dawson, the midwife, who lived seven miles away. She gathered up her equipment and back they went through the cold and driving snow. It was a complicated labour so Dr. Park was called from Cochrane. He hitched up his horse and cutter and arrived sometime later. Luckily the brave mother was finally presented with a healthy baby. Because Lucy was confined to bed for a day or two, Mrs. Pogue came and stayed with her until she was well enough to look after her family. The next year, Mrs. Pogue had a baby at home so she sent her two children over for Lucy to look after while she too recovered from her labour. A Neighbour helping neighbour allowed people to survive. 

Lou Shands was hauling firewood in the bush in 1905 when his team ran away. He was thrown off and broke his leg badly. He was hauled to his home on a stone boat and someone rode into town to get Dr. Park. By the time the doctor arrived many hours after the injury, the leg was so swollen that after it was set the cast would not hold it properly. He was eventually left with a marked limp. In 1945, Lou took seriously ill on his farm right after a blizzard had closed all the roads. This time a more modern ambulance, an airplane, took him to a hospital in Calgary. Such a change in one man’s lifetime. 

Edith McKinnell and her husband John homesteaded in the Bottrel area after arriving from Scotland. Edith had been brought up in a rich family with servants to do all the work. It was quite a culture shock to come to an area where only the very basics of life were to be had and where she spent months without seeing another woman. All five of her children were born in her home without medical help with only her husband to assist. Sadly, the first baby died at birth but luckily the rest survived and thrived. 

Elizabeth Winchell and her husband Frank homesteaded near Water Valley. Two of her babies died at birth at home but one son survived. 

Dr. Thomas Ritchie 

Dr. Ritchie arrived in the Cochrane district in 1904 with a wife and family of eight children. He had been practicing for a long time in Virginia USA and it appeared he had done well financially and moved here to invest and farm rather than continue doctoring. He bought a small ranch near Mitford that is now part of the Morley reserve. He also purchased land at the mouth of Jumping Pound Creek. There he ripened and sold the first wheat ever shipped from west of Calgary. Of course, he couldn’t refuse to treat people if they needed help when Dr. Park was away. In the fall of 1919, his car overturned in the ditch during a snowstorm and he died from his injuries three days later. 

Some stories survive that involve this doctor. 

Dave Bryant was six years old when he fell off a horse and broke his arm. He was taken to Cochrane but the doctor was away so they took him to Dr. Ritchie’s ranch. There the doctor with the help of his son was able to set the bones. No anesthetic was used. Alcohol, morphine and cocaine were about the only means of relieving pain that doctors had in those days. A child of six could be held down by a strong man while the bones were reduced. This seems cruel but it had to be done so there was no alternative in this case. 

William Tempany froze both feet hauling hay in the winter of 1906. Dr. Ritchie was sent for and came from his home on the ranch to do what he could for him. Part of one foot had to be amputated later. 

Anne Steel was knocked down by a horse and broke her leg. Dr. Ritchie came to their farm by horse and buggy to set it. For a cast, they wound strips of bedsheets soaked in hot starch solution around the leg. As it cooled and dried, it hardened enough to do the job. 

Communicable Diseases spread unchecked because of the lack of immunization and few medications that were effective. 

Smallpox still occurred although vaccination had been available for many years. In 1908, an epidemic occurred in Cochrane. Tents were erected down by the river and anyone with smallpox was sent there. Guards were stationed on the roads and at the railway station to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the town for any reason. These guards carried rifles and enforced the quarantine to the letter. Rev. Sale, the priest at All Saints Anglican Church at that time, rode into town on horseback to visit a parishioner without knowing about the quarantine. When he was challenged, he ignored the order to stop. He stopped in a hurry when a shot was fired over his head. When no more cases occurred, every resident had to take a bath in an approved disinfectant before the town was declared safe and the school could reopen. 

Scarlet Fever was a serious disease in those days before penicillin. Many adults and children died from its effects and many developed rheumatic fever, kidney problems, and chronic ear infections as complications from the disease if they survived. In 1910, it was prevalent in the district. Jack Dowson and his niece Lily Johnson died from it. 

Diphtheria took the lives of many children. They would suffocate because a membrane would sometimes form over the breathing passages, or the toxins from the disease would affect the heart, kidneys, or nerves. In 1898, the Scotty Craig family was infected and the oldest son died at age 10. Andrew and Suzanna Nagy lost two of their oldest children to the disease in 1915. In 1924, Elizabeth Phillips (nee Skinner) in the Lochend area, died from diphtheria leaving her husband with three young children to raise. It was not until the 1930’s that a vaccine was available although an antitoxin was available prior to that. Antibiotics, of course, were not discovered until the 1940s. 

Typhoid fever was also present in the district because wells could be contaminated by poor hygienic practices and there were always carriers of the disease in those days. In 1882, Elizabeth Sibbald died from typhoid, and in 1907 Thurman and Elizabeth Ault lost a son from the disease. In 1911 John Boothby was treated for typhoid fever in the relatively new Davies-Beynon hospital by Dr. Park. In 1917, two of Mrs. Davies’s granddaughters died of typhoid fever. The disease is now controlled by strict public health measures regarding water supply and sewer systems. 

Measles, mumps, chickenpox, whooping cough, and rubella went around every few years and in those days every child would catch most of them over their childhood years. It was not until the 1940s that the whooping cough vaccine was used and in the 1960s the measles, mumps rubella vaccine was available. The Chickenpox vaccine didn’t come along until about 1995. It was rare for one to die from these common diseases but serious complications sometimes occurred. 

Child Mortality 

One of the saddest parts of pioneer life was the large number of infants and children that never reached the teen years. Besides the babies that died at birth, there were many that succumbed to complications of communicable diseases, infections of all kinds, and vomiting and diarrhea possibly due to lack of a safe water supply. Lack of availability of medical and nursing care would be a factor as well. 

Mr. and Mrs. Andy Clarke opened a butcher shop in Cochrane in 1914. Out of their nine children, two died in infancy. No diagnosis is given. 

James Hewitt Family homesteaded near Cochrane and later ran a pool hall and barbershop in the town. Out of their family of thirteen, three died in infancy. 

James Quigley Family raised a family on land in the east part of present-day Cochrane. Out of nine children, two died in infancy. 

Since there was no cemetery at that time, the Hewitt and Quigley children were all buried on the Quigley farm. When the new cemetery opened, they were all disinterred and moved there. 

Rev. David Reid in 1932 came to the United Church in Cochrane. While living here in the manse, they lost their youngest daughter. As usual, no diagnosis was given. 

Bert and Lizzie Sibbald had five children. They lost a daughter at age twelve in 1930. 

Samuel and May Spicer lost their first child in 1911 to some unknown disease at the age of eighteen months.

Clem and Peggy Edge lost their daughter Margaret at 18 months of age from a “heart seizure”. 

Charles Harbidge, out of six children born in the Cochrane area after 1905, one daughter died at age eight and one son at age thirteen. 

Mel and Christine Weatherhead had a new son born about 1909. While Christine was upstairs looking after the baby, her two-year-old son downstairs had a convulsion of some sort and died. Christine, being postpartum, became severely depressed and blamed herself for the tragedy. 

Earl and Letha Whittle had a family of four children in 1912. Six-year-old Gladys suddenly died of pneumonia that year, and two months later ten-year-old Claude died of a “heart condition” 

Robert and Edith Beynon had three children. One died in infancy and another at the age of two. Only one son survived. This was around 1930 in the town of Cochrane 

Maternity, Nursing Homes, and Hospitals 

Mrs. Richard “Dickie” Smith (Amy) Her husband died in 1902 on the ranch which later became known as the Virginia Ranch in the Dogpound area. Amy went back to England with her three children to study to be a midwife as she could see the need in this area. In 1903 she set up a nursing home in Cochrane in a log building set back from the street about where the back of the Grahams Building sits now. Mrs. Smith’s nursing home closed after she remarried in 1905. The house later became the Yee Lee laundry. 

Mrs. Jack Boldack Used her house as a maternity home and nursing home for several years in the early 1900s. She was a midwife herself but the doctor would sometimes be called to help. 

The Davies Hospital 

By 1910 Dr. Park needed space for patients that required hospital care. The Thomas Davies family was building a townhouse in Cochrane and they were persuaded to build it a little larger so part of it could be used for hospital patients. It seemed a good fit since Margaret Davies lived there and could preside over it and her daughter, Annie Beynon, had nursing training and could handle that end of the business. This hospital served Cochrane from 1910 to 1915, when it was closed because Dr. Park had left for war service and Mrs. Davies was in poor health. 

“Quigley House” Hospital 

The house at 402 Carolina Drive became a nursing home after Dr. Park left. May Coatsworth was head nurse and Mrs. Campbell Roberts was the administrator. Both were well-trained midwives. The dates of the operation of the hospital are uncertain but in 1917, May married Angus McDonald and left. After her marriage, May continued to act as a midwife and do a lot of home nursing in the district as far north at Bottrel. 

Mrs. E.C. “Dad” Johnson 

The 1918 influenza pandemic hit Cochrane hard. There was no hospital or doctor at that time. Mrs. Johnson was an R.N. so she turned her home into a hospital for the worst cases. It was still in use as a maternity and nursing home as late as 1925. Mrs. “Jappy” Rodgers and Bernice Linfoot both had babies there within hours of each other in 1922 and John Claude Copithorne was born there in 1925 with Dr. Waite in attendance. 

Dr. William Saunders 

In 1905, he came out with his father, mother and even siblings to homestead in the area near the junction of Lochend Road and Highway 567. In 1913, he proved up a quarter section of his own in that area. He studied medicine and graduated in time to assist Dr. Waite in his practice for a short time. He lived on his homestead so he was too far away to be of much help and moved to Calgary shortly after to open a practice. 

Dr. Waite 

Since Dr. Park had decided to move to Calgary after the war, Dr. Waite and his new bride Mona arrived in Cochrane in the fall of 1919. Mona was a nurse so she turned part of their first home into a nursing home and took in patients and delivered babies there. In 1923, they bought the drug store from Mr. Smythe and renovated it to include living quarters. They lived there the remainder of their time in Cochrane. Mrs. Waite did mot take in patients any more but helped in the drug store and assisted the doctor on his rounds. Dr. Waite was a busy man in the fifteen years he lived here. He died in 1934. Cause of death is not known but he couldn’t have been much older than forty years. After his death, the drug store was sold to Mr. Hart. 

A few stories remain of medical problems that Dr. Waite faced in those days. 

Ted Cook just before Christmas 1919 was shooting partridges with a double-barrel shotgun. He killed three with the first shot but a wounded one tried to flutter away. Forgetting that he had cocked both barrels, he used the butt of the gun to knock the bird down causing the hammer to be released on the loaded barrel shooting him in the hip. 

It took several neighbours to get the doctor out through the deep snow and transport Mr. Cook into the nursing home in Cochrane where he spent the winter recuperating. 

Louis Garlin was a widower batching on his homestead and came down with pneumonia. Dr. Waite had been out to see him several times and a nurse helped him during the day. Paul Swanson and Arthur Wells were to sit with him one night as the doctor didn’t think he would live long. The men shaved him and cut his hair so he wouldn’t go to heaven unshaven and unshorn. Dr. Waite had given them a bottle of brandy and they were to give him an ounce every four hours to help him on his way. Instead of an ounce of brandy, they decided to give him two and a half ounces. At about 4 am. Louis began to sing. He eventually recovered and lived to be 90 years of age. He always believed that the brandy had saved his life. It was probably as good a treatment as any they had in those days. 

Jack Reid fell and broke his leg one day when he was a teenager. He saddled his horse and rode out to the field to tell his dad. This required him to get off and on the horse several times to open gates and close them. His father didn’t think there was much wrong so he rode home to tell his mother, opening and closing gates as before. By the time he got home, there was no doubt that it was fractured. Dr. Waite was in the district on another case so he came and treated it. 

Ed “Boney” Thompson, while riding a bucking horse in the summer of 1921 he fractured his pelvis with complications of a punctured bladder and other internal injuries. He was up along the Little Red Deer River eighteen miles from the nearest phone and much further from the closest medical help in Cochrane. Laurie Johnson rode to the Mount Royal ranch and phoned Cochrane to send the doctor out. Dr. Waite arrived in his Model T with his tools and instruments but the road went no further. For the next eighteen miles, the doctor had to ride a horse. He was able to give Boney enough narcotics that they could move him into a wagon and survive the rough ride down to the ranch. Another car took him directly into the hospital in Calgary as they knew he would require surgery. Sadly, he died soon after at the age of forty-eight. 

Mrs. Tom Zuccolo went into labour on their ranch southwest of Bottrel on a cold January 8 morning at 2 a.m. A 14 mile trip over snow-covered roads with a team and sleigh got her to Mrs. Johnson’s nursing home in time for Dr. Waite to deliver a healthy little girl. 

Gordon Moore son of Alex Moore was watching one of the earliest cars in town go by. He thought he would catch a free ride by grabbing a door handle. He got a ride alright but also dislocated his elbow. Dr. Waite was able to reduce it and he got a good result from a serious injury. 

Jimmy Patterson was sixteen years old when he got scarlet fever. He got complications, infected mastoids and pneumonia and was near death in Cochrane where he had been ill for many weeks. With no X-rays to guide him, Dr. Waite decided to drain the infected fluid from the lung. His diagnosis was correct, the surgery was successful, and the boy recovered. The ear and mastoid infection caused him to become deaf, however. 

 

Andison Block Plaque

Dr. Rivers was a friend of Mr. Hedley Hart who had purchased the drug store from Mrs. Waite after her husband died in 1934. The country was in the midst of the depression, Cochrane had no doctor and the druggist somehow convinced Dr. and Mrs. Rivers to come to live here and help out for a time. They lived in the big brick house at the corner of Pope and First street E. His office was in the house but he treated patients and delivered babies in their homes as there was no hospital. Dr. Rivers would be the last resident doctor in Cochrane until what we consider “modern” times. 

Bob and Alice Graham bought the Hart drugstore and ice cream business in the mid-1950s. This store, and the brand new big store which they built later, became by default the centre of medical care in the town a: there was nothing else. Bob as a pharmacist and Alice as an R.N. could not refuse to give first aid and advice to their friends and neighbours when asked. Alice was often called out to emergencies as well. The Calgary doctors also might ask her to check blood pressure, give injections, remove sutures, or change dressings for the local patients. The Grahams did this gratis for many years. During this time, Dr. Milne and Dr. Prowse would come out occasionally to help out when necessary but there was no resident doctor. 

Conclusion 

This takes us up to about 1960. By now, antibiotics were in general use, mothers had their babies in hospitals, hospitals had X-rays and laboratory tests to properly diagnose disease and injury, and children were protected from most communicable diseases by immunization. Better roads and cars were allowing people to access medical care from their distant farms and ranches. Cochrane and district now entered the modem medical age and the many different but still serious medical problems that we now face.

Grahams Pharmacy. Alice and Bob

Deep Dive

Cochrane Advocate August 1921 – 1927

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1921 

August 25 

Six cars of cattle have been shipped this week from Cochrane to Montreal for export to Great Britain. D.P. McDonald shipped one car, J. McLeroy three cars and W. H. Wilderman of Priddis, two cars. This was all good quality beef, averaging around 1400 lbs. 

Cochrane Stockyards 1914

1918 

August 1 

The Saskatoons are seemingly a good crop this year. Some of our citizens claim to have picked twenty pounds or more. 

August 8 

Our Campers during the hot wave of last week took to the water. Report has it, several mermaids were seen floating on the Jumping Pound. 

August 29 

Clever Exam Answers 

Pupils of Public and High Schools are unusually clever about examination time, and now that the results of the midsummer tests have been published, it will be quite safe to make known a few bright answers discovered by the eagle-eyed examiners. For safety’s sake, the name of the school or student is not mentioned. 

“A mountain range is a large cook stove” 

“Sixty gallons makes one hedgehog❞

“Typhoid is prevented by fascination”

“Epidermis is what keeps your skin on” 

“A volcano throws out hot saliva” 

“The days are shorter in winter because cold contracts” 

“A curve is a straight line that has been bent” 

“A triangle is a three-cornered circle” 

“A vacuum is an empty space with nothing in it” 

“A circle is a straight line with a hole in it” 

“A miracle is something a person does that can’t be done.” 

“The heat of the torrid zone is caused by the equator which runs around the earth in the middle.’ 

1920 

August 12 

Saskatoon berries are the cheapest and most plentiful of fruit this year, cultivated berries being reported scarce and therefore high in price so that the wild berries are eagerly sought for and gathered by all who have time to go after them. Two well-known ladies of Cochrane on Tuesday picked two and a half bushels of Saskatoons, which alone indicates a heavy yield. Wild strawberries are also plentiful. 

August 19 

Several parties motoring from the city Sunday wre berry picking up the Big Hill creek, some motoring up to the Big Hill creek falls, a natural beauty al spot. Where they held private picnics and took in the beautiful scenery. 

1923 

August 30 Train Wreck 

A serious train wreck occurred just east of Mitford early last Friday when a broken rail caused twelve cars of a freight train to leave the track. Fortunately, neither the engine or the caboose left the rails and none of the train crew were injured. The wreckage of the twelve cars was piled up in the greatest disorder, and the line was not clear for traffic until late in the afternoon. In the meanwhile, trains No. 13 and No. 1 were held at Cochrane and about noon, train No. 7 pulled in from the east and was also held until the line was clear. To pass away the time, a number of passengers from the trains staged a baseball game in front of the station. 

 

Business Accomodations by Gordon Davies
Murphy Hotel (Alberta Hotel)
Murphy Hotel

1924 

August 7 

Tourists Delayed by Storms 

The heavy storms which drenched the trails in the neighbourhood of Cochrane all last week, reached a climax during the weekend when a downpour of rain, which commenced shortly after one o’clock on Saturday afternoon, continued, almost without a break, until Monday. The bright sunshine of Saturday morning gave promise of a fine weekend and in spite of the bad condition of the roads, a large number of tourists started out from Calgary to Banff. By four o’clock the roads were practically impassable and Cochrane rapidly filled with travelers, both from the east and the west. Both garages were crammed to the doors with cars and each new arrival brought a fresh story of hours spent on the trail, mud holes, and trouble of one sort or another. The hotel rooms were quickly taken up and many late arrivals found accommodation in private houses, the curling rink, and in empty houses in the village. In the evening, the stranded tourists organized a dance in the Orange Hall and Mr. Cyril Godwin, of the Capitol orchestra, delighted all who were present with his beautiful violin selections. 

A large number left for Calgary and Banff that evening, by train and as the bad weather continued on Sunday and cars still kept coming in from the west, the Banff special train stopped here on its way back from the mountains and took a large number into the city. 

It is estimated that over sixty cars were held up in Cochrane, many of which did not get away until Wednesday. 

August 7 

During the storms last week, no less than twelve out of the fifteen lines connecting with the Cochrane Telephone Exchange were put out of commission by lightning. 

August 14 

Graveling has commenced on the Calgary – Banff highway at a point a few miles east of the top of the Cochrane hill. 

During the month of July, there passed through the east gate into Banff no les than 5,300 motor cars as compared with 2,225 in the corresponding month in 1923.

1925 

August 20 

A heavy downpour of rain, which lasted nearly three days, took place over this district. The moisture came too late to be of much benefit to the and interrupted haying operations for several days. 

A large crew of men is busy on the new elevator in Cochrane and construction work is going ahead fast. 

Preparations are being made to start drilling for oil again at the old Moose Mountain well. 

August 27 

Considerable snow fell in the district north of Cochrane last Saturday night. Fortunately the fall was not sufficiently heavy to seriously damage the crops and those which were beaten down are coming up again. Most of the barley and some wheat has been cut in this area. 

NATIONAL FLAG COMPETITION 

Rules and Suggestions 

We respectfully invite public attention to the following resolution passed by our executive on June 12th and trust that it will meet with a ready response. 

“RESOLVED that we offer a prize of FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR THE BEST DESIGN OF A DISTINCTIVELY Canadian National Flag, such prize to be doubled in the event of its being finally adopted by the Government, and a further prize of ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS for the best design submitted by a child attending a Canadian school.” 

We suggest that designs should be: 

(a) distinctively and originally “Canadian”, striking and dignified both to colour scheme and general appearance. 

(b) of simple rather than complicated construction, readily lending itself to manufacture even in the home. 

(c) No design to be less than two feet in length. 

Designs should be sent in a separate enclosure with the name and address of the contestant on the outside upper left-hand corner of the package, addressed to F. W. Crawford, Secretary-Treasurer, Native Sons of Canada, 570 Granville St., Vancouver, B.C.

Mike Taylor and Ensign flag in Cochrane Historical Museum

The doubling of the award of $500.00 is contingent on the adoption of our approved design by Parliament’s next session. 

The competition is extended to December 1st, 1925. Those desiring return of designs should enclose postage 

VANCOUVER ASSEMBLY NO. 2, NATIVE SONS OF CANADA, per Fenwick W. Crawford, Secretary-Treasurer

Deep Dive

The Le Sueurs

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by Jean L. Johnson Big Hill Country 1977 pg. 111

The Le Sueurs were from the Isle of Guernsey and had been in the coffee business in Brazil before coming to Canada. In 1902 Walter Payn Le Sueur bought the north half of Lot 6, in Morleyville Settlement, from Priscilla Grier. William Grier the first owner of this land, had bought it but died shortly thereafter and Priscilla was administrator of the estate. Arthur William Payn Le Sueur filed on the NW 4-27-7- 5, but built west of there beside a good spring. Later he moved the buildings to the land he had homesteaded and for which he received the patent on December 3, 1908. This quarter section became the home place of the Bar C Ranch. Two miles north of there the Le Sueurs took up another homestead on the SE4 of Section 20. This land was known to oldtimers as Miss Le Sueur’s quarter. It became part of the Bar C Ranch, and years later it was taken into the Bow River Forest Reserve in exchange for Crown land farther south. 

In August of 1907, Walter Payn Le Sueur transferred his part of Lot 6, Morleyville to Edward Payn Le Sueur. The latter also bought the south half of Lot 6 which ran down to the Bow River. He was the first owner of this land although it is possible that others had lived on it previously. In 1908 Edward sold all of Lot 6, Morleyville, to John Fleming McCorkell. 

These early settlers have given their name to the creek west of the Bar C Ranch. Le Sueur Creek flows down swiftly from a small lake and 

runs east and southeast until it enters the Ghost River about two miles west of the Eau Claire Trail. The trail which the Le Sueurs took between their ranch and their land at Morleyville, crossed the Ghost River about a quarter of a mile above the Forks, and this ford, although little used today, is still called the Le Sueur Crossing; the grade they built up the steep south side is known as the Le Sueur Grade. From there they crossed the Ripley and hit the trail used by the Sibbalds and other settlers on the Hill. 

Harold Payn Le Sueur homesteaded on Spencer Creek, and he and Edward lived on the Glenbow Ranch and played polo with the Glenbow team in 1909.

Deep Dive

Mystery mudhole dries up

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by Gordon and Belle Hall, A Peep into the Past, Vol 1, 1990 pg 28

In a previous story, I told of how when we were living on a Bow View ranch three miles west of Cochrane in the early 1920s, Irish Armstrong kept an active mudhole, well-watered, with a lamp in the window at night and a team harnessed, so that when people got stuck Irish would pull them out, for a fee of course. 

Toward the end of the summer of this year, Joe and Alice Boston were coming to Cochrane – in their rig pulled by a snappy team. Mrs. Boston was arrayed in what finery she had, I suppose, topped off by a hat given to her by Lady Adela Cochrane at Mitford. Mrs. Boston used to be Lady Adela’s maid before she married Joe. The hat, I understood, was quite a creation with feathers on one side and berries and things on the other. However, they hit a mudhole and Alice left the rig and landed in some more mud with the hat on the bottom. Poor soul. What a mess. 

Joe loaded her into the rig and brought her to our place. She was almost drowned. And mud – there was mud everywhere. My mother took control and got her into the bedroom and got her clothes off and told me to start hauling and heating water as she would have to bathe her and wash her hair. I had a hard time hauling water because I couldn’t stop laughing until mother cuffed my ears. Lady Adela’s hat was a complete ruin and her clothes were muddy and soaked. 

Irish had disappeared, and I didn’t think about the mudhole until Joe Boston, who had gone on to Cochrane to shop, came back, and when he stomped into the house said “Why in hell is there a big mudhole in front of your gate and none along the rest of the road:” Well no one spoke up, at least not till the Boston’s were gone, then Irish was tuned in by mother, no more watering mudholes, no more lights in windows, and no horses kept in harness. Amen. 

In the 1940s when I was working at the Texaco service station in Cochrane, a Grand Valley rancher drove in one morning for gas. He had a Chev sedan with the rear seat removed and a nanny goat standing in its place. The goat had its head out of one of the windows and was bleating its head off. I don’t think it stopped for breath. Asked by someone what the occasion was, the rancher answered, “I’m looking for a he goat,” and departed. About three hours later, he returned, the goat still giving tongue. Asked how he made out, the rancher replied, “Oh I finally found a he goat, but by that time she had changed her mind.” 

Deep Dive

The Bruce Family

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by Stuart Grayson pg 204 Big Hill Country 1977

Donald John Bruce was born in Dunvegan, Isle of Skye, Scotland, in 1836. He came with his family, which included three generations, to Selkirk Grants, Prince Edward Island, in 1841. In 1869, he married Margaret Jane Smith of Rawden, Nova Scotia. 

In 1883, he and his younger brother John, who had been born at Valleyview, Prince Edward Island in 1849, came west with the C.P.R. construction, to Lake Louise (then known as Laggan). Later they both came to Cochrane, Donald as a foreman on the C.P.R. Section west of Cochrane, and John as Section foreman at Radnor. John, who never married, was killed in an accident in October 1905. An unscheduled train ran into the back of the handcar he was operating. 

Building what was claimed to be the first private home in the town site of Cochrane (the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Station is now there), Donald brought his family West in 1887, the family being his wife Margaret, children Leslie John, Catherine, Adela Maud, Ewan Mark, and Blanche. One daughter, Amanda, had passed away in the East. 

Donald took out a homestead north of Cochrane on NE14 22-26-4-5. His original cabin is still part of the present house on the land. Donald Bruce passed away in 1909 and his wife Margaret in 1932. 

His son, Leslie, was a schoolteacher, spending most of his time in British Columbia, where he was a School Principal and later, School Inspector. He married Elma Baker, a graduate of Dalhousie University, in Nova Scotia. They had no family and both are now deceased.

Adela Maud, unmarried, was also a long-time schoolteacher, teaching in Alberta and British Columbia. After retirement, she returned to Cochrane, but in 1938 she accompanied her nephew Stuart Grayson to Fort Vermilion, where Stuart was then stationed. Going up there was a thrill for Adela Maud; it was her first plane ride. When Stuart was transferred out in 1939, she remained there, because there were older children needing assistance with their education, and schools were not available. However she had a bad heart, and the climate was too severe in the winter. She moved out to Edmonton, where she passed away in 1943.

Dave Bryant

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by Dave Bryant pg 359 Big Hill Country 1977

I was born in London, England, on May 1, 1903, and came to Toronto, Ontario, in 1907. My mother was born in Scotland and my father was born in Ireland. I have two brothers and two sisters. 

My sister Lillian and I came to Cochrane from Toronto in September 1914. I was eleven years old, she was eight. Our father had been electrocuted while wiring a hotel in Toronto. Our uncle at Cochrane, Jimmy Patterson, sent two tickets to my mother and asked her to let two of her children come and live with his family. My mother kept the tickets for almost a year before she would let us come. We traveled for three days and three nights by train. Lillian soon became homesick and cried nearly all the way. Someone had given me a pair of gauntlet gloves before I left Toronto. One day I opened the window of the train and held my hand out. The cinders from the engine blew back and burned small holes in my gloves. This almost ruined my trip out West. 

Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Darke met us at the station. We drove eleven miles with a team and democrat to the Patterson ranch in Grand Valley. Their home was also the Caldbeck Post Office. 

Young Jimmy (age ten) met us at the barn. He was wheeling a wheelbarrow load of hay to the cows. He set the wheelbarrow down, looked me over, and with a grin as broad as himself, asked me if I could swear. I told him I thought I could a little bit. We were good friends from then on. He took me to the house where I met Jeannie Smith, a Scottish lady, who had lived with the Pattersons for several years. She was very strict and her first glance made me feel like Oliver Twist. Jimmy did not mind her a bit. It was nothing to come to the house just in time to see Jimmy running out the door with Jeannie after him, shouting, “The deevil is in yar fangers, ye kinna lev nethin alane! I sweer I’ll tell Pettersin on ye.” 

There were two boys, Donald and Jimmy, in the Patterson family and we three boys slept in one bed. Jeannie woke everyone in the morning by rapping on the door with her cane. I could hear her shout, “Pettersin aer ye up?” Apparently Jeannie was to wake us and judging by the dint in the door she had not shirked her duty. 

As we dressed I could not help noticing the socks the boys were wearing. When we came out of the bedroom, Jeannie had breakfast ready and was standing at the stove stirring a huge pot of oatmeal porridge with a wooden stick. After breakfast, I soon learned the secret of good socks. Every time Mrs. Patterson or Jeannie had a moment to spare, they would sit and knit. The main knitting needle was inserted into a ball (about the size of a softball) of hard-packed 

prairie wool hay, tightly wrapped in cord and placed on their laps; then they would knit so fast you could almost see the socks grow. 

I remember my aunt best when I think of loaves and loaves of delicious homemade bread, and cows and more cows to milk. When Ruth Hinde was born, Mrs. Patterson went to help. Jimmy and I started to milk cows at seven in the morning and finished at two in the afternoon. Jimmy said, “What will we do now?” I decided we had better start over again. After much puffing and sighing, we did. 

 

Shortly after Lillian and I started to attend Chapelton School, we were riding double bareback and I wanted the horse to trot. Lillian lost her balance and we fell off and I broke my arm. Uncle Jimmy took me to Cochrane. The doctor was out so Bob Chapman took me to a ranch south of Cochrane, where Dr. Ritchie and his son set my arm without giving me any anesthetic. Later I went to the West Brook one-room school. 

When I was fourteen I raked hay for Gordon Hinde, manager of the Rhodes Ranch in Grand Valley, for one dollar a day. During the War, I took a flatrack of wool to Crossfield for Chris Larson. Ab Banta also raised sheep and his hired man took a load in for Ab. We each drove a four-horse team. It was a two-day trip and as we did not have any money we slept in a Chinese cafe all night. The next day we each tied one team behind

our rack and headed for home. On the way home I gave a girl a ride for two miles. She sat in the far corner of the rack and never spoke. I’m still wondering who she was. During the hard winter of 1919 I fed cattle for Bill Tempany. In the spring of 1920, I went to work at the Virginia Ranch for T. B. Jenkinson. Mrs. Oldaker was the housekeeper and she was an excellent cook. 

 

Late in the fall of 1920, sadness struck the Patterson home when Jimmy took sick with scarlet fever and developed infected mastoids and pneumonia. The roads were very bad and Mr. and Mrs. Patterson rented a house and moved Jimmy to Cochrane so that Dr. Waite and Dr. Park could do all they could to save him. Anne Beynon was his nurse and stayed with him night and day. When all hope for Jimmy’s recovery was given up, Mr. Patterson, Donald, and I rode horseback to Cochrane to see Jimmy. We stayed in Cochrane overnight and our neighbor Clem Edge did the chores. Jimmy was propped up in bed so we could see him through the window. As all hope had been given up for Jimmy, Dr. Waite decided to try one more thing. He lanced Jimmy’s lung to drain away the fluid. Suddenly, Jim- my started to get better. Although he lost his hearing, he soon regained his health and there was happiness in the Patterson home once more. 

In 1921 I worked for Paul Swanson on the irrigation ditch at Barnes in Southern Alberta. Don Patterson, Bill Hughes, Pat Kerfoot, and I spent several falls pitching bundles for large steam threshing outfits in the Langdon, Cheadle,

and the High River areas. In 1923 Don Patterson and I worked for Mr. and Mrs. Dave McDougall. Although they had a large family of their own, they always referred to us as their boys. 

It wasn’t all work and no play in those days either. I often rode to dances held in Cochrane or in schoolhouses. I could ride from Pattersons across country to the Summit Hill School without opening a gate. One night I thought I would leave early and have supper with Susan and Jim Reeve. After supper, I admitted to Susan that I was sweet on the teacher at Summit Hill. Susan was aghast and replied, “Dave, she can’t even milk cows!” 

Late in 1923 I went back to Toronto and worked six-and-one-half years for General Motors of Canada at Oshawa, Ontario. My mother passed away in 1929, and I returned to Cochrane and went to work on the Dog Pound and Lochend roads for George Woodson. All the road work was done with horses and a Fresno or a walking plow. 

I bought a team of my own and drove them to Lake Louise to work on the highway. When there was no roadwork, I worked for Andy Garson, Tom Baptie, Chappy Clarkson, and Archie Kerfoot. In the winter of 1934, after working on the road at Lake Louise, Bill Melleck and I drove our teams back to Seebe to work in the relief camp. Food, clothing, hay, and oats were paid for by the Government. We were paid 20 a day for our work and 80 a day for our team. It was twenty degrees below zero when we left Pattersons, and I drove my team and walked beside my wagon almost forty miles to Seebe. Bill had asthma so bad he could not walk and he nearly froze to death before we got there. 

In 1933 I bought a quarter section of Hudson’s Bay land, NW4 26-27-5-5, in Grand Valley for $8.00 per acre, where my wife and I still reside. 

In the 1930s taxes were low but hard to pay. You could pay part of your taxes by working on the road, which I did. One year the Social Credit Government paid us with scrip. Scrip and stinkweed were often referred to as “Aberhart’s Alfalfa.” William Aberhart was Premier of Alberta at the time. 

On September 10, 1936, Ellen Ullery and I were married by Reverend Dr. McKeen Reid, at my home in Grand Valley. We have three children: David Earl, married to Betty Grievson; Dorothy May, married to Donald Edge; and Lillian Ethel, who married Harvey Short from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Lillian is now married to Gary Gingles from Exshaw. We have three grandchildren, Gary and Bary Bryant and Dallas Anita Short. 

David has his own road construction business and builds roads in the Cochrane and Calgary areas. Dorothy has been a secretary for Mobil Oil of Canada, Ltd. for seventeen years. Lillian is also a secretary and works for Alberta Natural Gas Company at their plant just northwest of Cochrane.

My sister Lillian went back to Ontario when she was eighteen and married Robert Colquhoun. They have three children, Bob, Ron, and Joan, and eight grandchildren: Bob and Shirley’s children, Robert and Craig; Ron and Audrey’s children, Laura, Betty, Barbara, and Allan; Don and Joan Gruber’s children, Sheena and Tasha Dawn. Allan passed away at the age of eight due to a riding accident. Lillian, now a widow, loves to visit the West and drive up the Grand Valley road. She often recalls the times the Patterson boys would tease her until she cried, then hug her and say, “Now, now, wee womany, don’t cry.”

Deep Dive

W.H. Webb Family

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by George Webb pg 663 Big Hill Country 2007

Dad came to Canada, from England in 1905, along with Sam Timmins and Alf Elkins. My uncle Charlie was already over here. The four of them homesteaded Section 22-27-4-5. Dad’s was the NE4 22-27-4-5. They hauled logs from the bush north of the homestead to build their houses. The logs were hauled with a team and wagon. When each one of them finished their house, they sent for their family to come over. Mother and the children arrived in 1906, the children were Florence, Charlie, Ethel, George, and Harry. At that time Harry was the baby. Billy, Dorothy, and Alfred were born in Canada. 

There were no roads, fences, or telephones; money was mighty scarce, but we had really good neighbors. Each family took turns going to town for supplies, which was usually once a month. 

Alf Elkins thought it was too hard a life. He gave up his homestead, moved to Calgary and started a bakery. Louis Blow took over his land. When Sam Timmins got the title to his land he moved to Calgary. Shortly after, Dad sold our quarter to my uncle Charlie and we moved to Calgary. Dad worked in Calgary until 1917, came back to the Weedon area, bought the Sam Timmins quarter, and started farming all over again.

My sister, Florence, married Tom Quigley, Charlie went Overseas with the 113th Battalion and the twins, Alfred and Dorothy, passed away. In the early twenties, Lily, who had been residing in Vancouver, passed away. Our family was getting smaller all the time. Ethel married Joe Fleenor, they lived in Calgary for a few years and then moved to a farm in the Weedon area. Harry and Bill never married and they are still on the homestead. 

 

Our water supply came from the sloughs. We used this water until we could get a well dug. Digging of wells was all done by pick and shovel, going to a depth of 90 to 110 feet to get water. 

In those days people were closer to one another, helping each other and certainly not trying to outdo each other; everyone was struggling to build a good life and they found enjoyment in doing it. 

My first job I remember well, was working for Lars Heland. He had Section 27-27-4-5 rented from Frank Smith, who lived at Champion, Alberta. I drove eight head of horses on a brush breaker, walking behind the plough; there was no seat on it so I had very little choice. I broke 100 acres, starting at 4:30 a.m. and stopping at 8:00 p.m. For that I received forty dollars per month. The next year I went to work for Bill McGlashing, who had opened the old Bonnie Brae mine again. We were going to get rich for sure. The mine was on the south side of the Bow River, near the Crawford place. We put a year and a half in there. Tom Zuccolo hauled the timbers for it, we went down four hundred feet and it flooded. We all had to go and find other work, planning to go back in the fall, but we never did. 

I went to work for Walter Hutchinson. I stayed there for three years. He had the biggest hay rack I had ever seen; nine feet wide eighteen feet long with four-foot stakes. We loaded this rack, using the four-tined pitchfork. One day we would haul three loads and the next day four loads. I did this seven days a week all winter long. Art Coburn was working at Hutchinsons too; we never thought about coffee breaks or the eight-hour day, we were so glad to have a job. One incident I remember well, was about 1925 Harvey Adams, a cattle buyer, came out and bought all of the calves. We had to drive the cows and calves to the stockyards in Cochrane and separate them. There being no trucks then, driving was the easiest way to handle them. We got them separated and drove the cows back to the ranch. The next morning the cows were scattered from the ranch to Cochrane. We spent a week looking for cows and I don’t think we ever got them all back. 

In 1928 I went to work for Sibbald Motors in Cochrane. In 1930 I married Eleanor Rushfeldt. R. B. Bennett was Prime Minister then and I think he was the only Prime Minister to keep his promise. He said if he were elected he would have Canada on its feet in sixty days; within thirty days there were thousands walking across the country looking for work. 

Over the years we had four children, Arnold, Kathleen, Orvil and Sharon. Arnold married Mary Young, Kathleen married Roy Line, Orvil married Marian Bell and Sharon married Ray Lambert.

Deep Dive

photo courtesy Global News

Cochrane Advocate News July 1921 – 1927

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1924 

July 10 

On Monday evening the Eau Claire Lumber Company’s drive cleared the Ghost River and the logs are well on their way down the Bow. Fine weather and good water conditions have helped the work considerably and the drive is out of the Ghost nearly a month sooner than last year. 

CGIT Lawn Social 

A very successful Lawn Social was held on Tuesday, July 8th at the home of Mrs. Bruce, under the auspices of the Four Be’s Group. C.G.I.T. 

Tea and ice cream were served at small tables groped on the verandah, which was decorated in the C..G.I.T. colours, blue and white. The contents of the Grab-tubs created much amusement among the young people. The girls were well pleased with the financial end of the affair, as it promises to them a happy fortnight at camp. 

July 24 

Wendell Hall in Cochrane 

This afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Hall nd party passed through Cochrane on their way to Banff Mr. Hall is the author of that well known song “It Ain’t A’goin to Rain no more” and many other popular songs. At the Alberta Hotel, Mr. Hall very kindly consented to oblige the crowd and, accompanying himself on the ukelele, sang a number of his most popular selections which were very much enjoyed by all who were present. 

At the conclusion of this impromptu concert, a number of the boys decided to return the favour and a miniature stampede for the benefit of the visitors was put on at the stock yards. 

After spending several hours in the village, Mr. and Mrs. Hall continued their journey, expressing themselves as having thoroughly enjoyed their short stay in Cochrane. 

 

July 31 

Weather conditions over all this section of Alberta have been very unsettled this week and thunderstorms and heavy rain have been daily occurrences. Several sharp storms took place on Sunday afternoon and evening, and early on Monday morning a downpour of rain commenced which did not cease until 10 o’clock that night. It is doubtful if such a continuous and heavy storm has even been experienced in Cochrane and it is estimated that over three inches of rain fell during the day. In a consequence of the storms, haying operations have been discontinued this week, but the moisture has greatly improved the crop outlook. 

Graveling the surface of parts of the Banff-Calgary highway is to be started at once, according to a statement received in a letter By A. H. McKay, president of the Calgary Auto Club, from Engineer Davidson, head of the provincial highways department. It is extremely doubtful if the stretch between Calgary and Cochrane will be in shape for graveling this season. 

July 1 

1927 

Cheap passenger rates on the C.P.R. for the Calgary Stampede will be in force from Saturday, July 9th to 18th inclusive. The return fare from Cochrane will be $1.25. 

July 14 

Gains Awards at Industrial Exhibition 

Our well-known local artist, Mr. Roland Gissing, better known as “Gus” of Ghost River, is to be congratulated on his success at the Industrial Exhibition in Calgary this week, having gained first in the original pastel landscape, and second place in the original oil landscape class. 

Mr. Gissing, whose “studio” consists of a log shack on the banks of the Ghost River, has certainly made great advancement in his work during the past year or two, and this year is turning out work that certainly deserves recognition. 

Frank Hennessey, Gordon Davies & Hamish McNaughton Kerfoot with unknown Gissing painting

Calgary Stampede 

The greatest stampede parade ever staged was witnessed by thousands of spectators in Calgary on Monday, the opening day of the annual Exhibition and Stampede. 

The parade was more of a pageant of the old-time West, depicting the early days with Indians, Red River carts, pioneers, prospectors, cowboys, and chuck wagons, and slowly advancing to the latest modes of transport and industrial development, represented by decorated floats and automobiles. The Stampede and Exhibition, lasting the entire week, is of monster proportions this year, with many additional attractions such as steer decorating. 

Johnny J. James Shows are present, again, also with many new features of including dancing elephants. Arabian acrobats and human oddities such as the French and Belgian midgets whose combined weight is about 40 lbs.; “Laurello” a living man with his head on backward, and “Alpine”, Florida’s prime product, weighing 50 lbs. with a waist measurement of 5 feet. 

For those who find such gruesome sights attractive there is certainly plenty of variation. 

Women and Hotels 

“Women in hotels are the most trouble and most damaging to property,’ says a chambermaid who has been at this kind of work for 18 years. “Next in order of damage and trouble are young men. The least trouble are the older men who live alone. They are usually neat and orderly. Young men make much dirt and disorder from their cigars and cigarette ashes. Also, they sometimes burn holes in sheets or table covers, and they use towels to wipe off their shoes. But even at that, they do less harm than an average woman. More damage is done by rouge on towels than by using towels to wipe on shoes Then women have their facial powder or cold cream all over everything. They have many foolish little trinkets, and odds and ends of clothing, to be picked up, and they complain if one of these seems to be mislaid. Yes, and they are more likely to carry towels away with them than men are” 

Oil Sands Reached in Two Wells 

Further proof o the wealth of Alberta oil fields appears in the reports of two strikes, made during the past week in wells in the Turner Valley field. At the Dalhousie No. 5 well a heavy flow of crude oil, testing about 42 degrees Beauce, is reported at a depth of 4325 feet; while in the Regent well production of crude oil testing about 60 degrees Beauce was reached at 2365 feet. 

July 21 

The Dog Pound Stampede and Picnic that was to have been held yesterday, July 20th, has been postponed until Wednesday, August 3rd, owing to the very unsettled weather and the terrible state of the trails. 

Let us hope things improve a little by then. 

The Weather 

Unheard-of weather conditions have been experienced in the Cochrane district during the past few days. 

The terrific hail and electric storms of Sunday were followed on Monday by an equally severe one that swept across south of Cochrane, doing considerable damage in the Jumping Pound and Brushy Ridge districts. Hailstones of enormous size are reported to have fallen. 

On Tuesday the Ghost Valley was again hit by a storm of alarming ferocity, the hailstones being twice as large and falling for a much longer time than during the storm on Sunday. 

All crops in that area are now totally wiped out, and the roofing of light material was torn to pieces. 

Tourists arriving in Cochrane from the west at the time brought samples of hailstones the size of a tennis ball. 

Cochrane escaped with a deluge of rain and a little hail. 

July 28 

Another severe storm struck Cochrane and the surrounding district on Tuesday evening, low black clouds sweeping over from the north at about 5:30 p.m. bringing with them a perfect deluge of rain. Vivid flashes of lightning accompanied the storm, one of which blew the electric light fuses, no lights being available until about 9 o’clock. 

A haystack on Bill Edge’s place south of the river was struck by lightning and entirely destroyed. The stack had only been completed that afternoon. Hail fell in the Grand Valley, Beaverdam, and Lochend districts, doing considerable damage to crops, those on Mr. B. F. Rhodes’ ranch in Grand Valley being virtually ruined. 

1920 

Robt. Butler had a strenuous and busy day last Sunday up at Ghost River at his Refreshment tooth serving out ice cream and manufacturing ham sandwiches which to say the least were delicious! About 200 travellers visited the booth and were refreshed and the day being overbearingly hot they were certainly thankful that such a booth is there during the summer and pleased with the willing service of the genial owner. Misses McEachern, Andy Garson, Hughie McEwen, Jim McEwen and Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Maggs and Miss Enid Maggs were visitors at the booth who motored up in the cool of the evening. By the way it is reported Bob is looking for a wife to help him out. 

1921 

July 21 

The Conservative Party of Alberta has issued a threat to re-organize. Possible the Liberal Party may take similar action. How would it be for the people of Alberta to send them somewhere, some pleasant retreat where they weary may be at rest, where they might take counsel together and decide to either come back to us as intelligent citizens, or just fade away, undisturbed by the onward march of civilization?

Deep Dive

Charles Webb Family

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by Robbie Webb pg 660 Big Hill Country 1977

My father, Charles Webb, was born in Birmingham, England. He immigrated to Ontario in the 1890s, obtained some schooling there, and learned the blacksmith trade. He followed his trade, working at sawmills and railroad construction, including work on the first rail line in the Crows Nest Pass. 

At some time in Father’s career, he went on harvesting excursions to the Dakotas. This is where he met his future wife, Annie Clark, who with her parents had come originally from Devonshire, England. Her parents, the Henry Clarks, later moved from Crystal, North Dakota, to settle near Leduc, Alberta.

 After the death of his wife, my grandfather came to live with my parents. He passed away at Cochrane and is buried in the Cochrane Cemetery. 

After my parents were married they came to Calgary, about the year 1902, then went to Crossfield, where my father opened a blacksmith shop. I was born in Crossfield in 1906, and a year later my parents took up a homestead on the NW14 22-27-4-5, in what was later the Weedon district. Sometime later my father bought the adjoining quarter to the south, which had been homesteaded by Mr. Timmins. Logs and rough lumber were bought from the Quigley sawmill in the bush about twelve miles northwest, and a house, barn, chicken house, and blacksmith shop were soon built. Water supply was of course essential, and obtaining it proved to be a very arduous task. 

Although the land in the Weedon area is generally level, with rich productive soil, it has for many years been nicknamed “The Desert” because of the depth of underground streams and lack of springs. Mr. Hammond hand-dug my folks’ well and obtained a good supply of water at a depth of 110 feet. Well digging was slow hard work, both for the man down the hole and his partner who had to pull up the buckets of dirt. Quite often it was the homesteader’s wife who did that. Cave-ins of the hole had to be prevented with a cribbing of rough lumber or poles. 

 

The Mounties patrolled what was in those years, miles of unfenced land, and periodically rode into the different settlers’ places to get acquainted and to obtain food and lodging. They paid about thirty-five cents for a meal and a dollar for overnight accommodation for themselves and their horses, all by government cheque. 

The first few years that my parents were on the farm were very wet. There were lakes and muskegs where now there is solid ground. Grain and potatoes did not mature well, but there was ample prairie wool available to be cut for wintering the livestock. Gradually more ground was broken, the seasons became more frost-free, and good grain was grown. About 1918 my father bought a small threshing machine. It was made in Quebec and built mostly of hardwood and driven by a ten horsepower engine which weighed about a ton.

Each machine was mounted on a running gear and moved around by teams of horses. Many farmers’ crops were threshed by this outfit as it was one of the first in the district. My father used it to do custom work for several years. 

In 1918 my father bought his first automobile, a Model T. At this time many more made their appearance in the district. Tom Quigley was the Ford Agent in Cochrane. Another milestone was the purchase, in 1925, of our first tractor, a second-hand Titan, then a new John Deere and a modern threshing machine. For the first time, most of the farm work was being done with a tractor. 

 

Weedon School was the centre of the district’s social and other activities. Church services, Sun- day School classes, political meetings, dances, whist drives, school meetings, ball games, box socials, and the Christmas concert – all were held at the school. Of course, there was the annual Weedon picnic at the end of June, usually held at Mortimer Coulee. It was the midsummer counterpart of the Christmas concert, for it was a chance for neighbours and friends from far and wide to have a visit. The children had a great time competitions of all sorts, lots of ice cream cones, and if you were lucky, you might find lost nickels in the long grass by the concession booth! 

My parents had a family of four: myself, Mary, Harry, and Violet. I went into the trucking business for some years after I left the farm and then went into partnership with John Milligan, operating the Webb and Milligan Garage, formerly owned by Clem Colgan. I married Barbara Waddy of Calgary and we have one daughter, Shirley (Mrs. Lorne Helmig). Mary trained as a nurse during the early 1930s and married Alex Easton. They have a daughter and a son. Harry farmed the home place until he sold it in 1969 and retired to Creston, British Columbia. Violet married Norman Easton and they have a son and a daughter. 

Deep Dive

John Milligan and Christina Rasmussen Family

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pg 666, More Big Hill Country 2009

John was born in Cochrane on July 10, 1910. He was raised on the ranch and got his normal schooling at the Inglis School that was built in 1917. In the fall, the first pupils to enroll were: 3 Irish King children, 3 Bells, 2 Malcolm girls, John Milligan, Eric North, and Douglas McDonald. The first teacher was Ms. Ruby Wood. After that, John went on to the Olds School of Agriculture and graduated in 1929. John joined the business in 1933 in Fort McLeod with his father, William Milligan. Their business was to become WJ Milligan & Son Farm Implements. 

Christina Rasmussen was born on August 3, 1912, in Cayley, Alberta. Following her education, she took employment at the High River General Hospital and graduated from Nurses Training in 1932. John and Christina were married on December 15, 1937. They returned to Fort McLeod where they had Carol, on November 22, 1939. They then moved to Calgary where Beth and Betty were born on February 9, 1942, at the Grace Maternity Hospital in Calgary. Judy was born November 20, 1943, also in Calgary. John, Christina, and the family moved to Cochrane in March 1944, where John bought half interest in what was known as Colgan Motors Garage. The name was later changed to Webb & Milligan Garage Ltd. and it was also the Esso station and Ford sales and service. Around 1967, Webb & Milligan sold out and became semi-retired. After that, they sold the big brick house and moved to the Rasmussen house. John built a car wash and worked part-time for Lorne Helmig at the Imperial bulk station in Cochrane. Over the years, they were very active in the community. Chris was at home and in school and worked as a volunteer for the Cancer Society for many years. She was also called upon in medical emergencies, as Cochrane didn’t have a doctor living there. Another nurse, Aileen Copithorne, and Chris attended to many accidents at the bottom of Cochrane Hill. John was a member of the school board for many years and also served a term on town council. Later he was to become a Commissioner of Oaths. John died at the Sundre hospital on March 15, 1977, at the age of 67. After John died, Chris moved to Castor. In 1982, she was honored to be invited to the new High River Hospital for the 50th reunion of her graduating class. Chris died September 5, 1984, at the age of 72 in Castor, Alberta. 

Carol Milligan Dunwoody 

I was born November 22, 1939, in Fort McLeod Hospital. We moved to Calgary in 1941 and to Cochrane in 1944. I attended the Cochrane School until grade 10. My first job was at the Red and White grocery store in Cochrane, then at the Royal Bank. At this time, I went to Calgary two nights a week for bookkeeping and secretarial courses, along with business machines. I moved to Calgary and was a traveling steno for the Calgary School Board. I married Pat Dunwoody, on April 30, 1960, at the United Church in Cochrane. We lived west of Rocky Mountain House for eight years then moved back to our farm in Sundre, where we farmed and did grader work for the oil companies. We had four children: Larry, Cindy, Penny, and Robyn. Pat passed away on July 31, 1993, at the age of 57. I am still living on the farm enjoying my family and grandchildren. I keep busy with the Royal Purple Lodge and volunteer singing at hospitals and lodges all over the county. 

 

Beth Milligan Peverell 

My sister and I arrived on February 9, 1942, in Calgary. After I quit school I worked at the drug store in Cochrane and then moved to Calgary where I worked at Eaton’s. I married Brian Peverell in September 1959. Brian worked for his Dad at the creamery and got his boiler papers and learned how to make butter. We have two children, Darrin and Sandra. We moved to Castor in January of 1972, where we bought the Paintearth Creamery. Brian got many awards over the years for his butter making. We retired in 2001 and are enjoying our summers fishing and camping in Central Alberta. 

Judy Milligan Dunwoody 

Married Wally Dunwoody in 1961. We lived in Sundre off and on until 1972, when we moved to British Columbia with our three girls, Diana, Donna. and Rosalee. We moved back to Sundre in 2001. 

Betty Milligan Mackey’s Family 

My twin sister, Beth, and I were born to Chris and John Milligan, on February 9, 1942, at the Grace Maternity Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. We lived in Calgary for the first two years of our lives, and then moved to Cochrane with our parents, our older sister Carol, and our baby sister Judy. Grandpa and Grandma Milligan lived there, and later, Mom’s folks Herman and Julia Rasmussen, also moved to Cochrane from Cayley, Alberta. Our early years were surrounded by love from these significant people in our lives. Grandpa Milligan would come on Sunday morning to take us to Sunday School, and Grandpa Ras was always good for a few pennies when we met him on the street, that would buy an ice cream cone at Hart’s Drug Store. 

Mom took us swimming at the Jumping Pound during the summers, and berry-picking and picnicking at Big Hill Springs. Dad had every third Sunday off from work, and we would go for a drive Sunday afternoons to enjoy the countryside, I thought the whole world was surrounded by hills and mountains, and it was a delightful surprise to discover that there was a much bigger world out there. 

St. Andrew’s United Church and the C.G.I.T. were major influences in my life, and after earning a degree in Education from the University of Alberta, I went to study theology and Christian Education at Covenant College and Emmanuel Theological Seminary at the University of Toronto. I was the student chairman of the Student Christian Movement of Canada, (SCM); an interdenominational organization affiliated with the World Student Christian Federation, (WSCF) and attended a world conference of that organization in 1963 in Cordoba, Argentina. That experience opened a whole new world, and after graduating from theological college, I went to work with the SCM of Jamaica for two and a half years. After returning to Canada, I worked as Atlantic Regional Secretary for the SCM of Canada and travelled to all the Universities and Colleges in that region. During that time I was co-chair of an International Student Conference being organized by the WSCF in Turkey, Finland, and travelled to Geneva for the planning meetings. 

In 1971, I changed focus and went to work for the Labrador West Integrated School Board in Labrador City/Wabush as the Christian education co-ordinator/guidance counsellor. It was there I met my husband, Paul Mackey, a native of Carbonear, Newfoundland. We were married on August 25, 1973, in Cochrane and lived in Calgary, Claresholm, Morinville and St. Albert. Our two children were born in Calgary, Jonathan, on December 7, 1975, and Leslee, on June 10, 1977. During this time, I studied at the University of Calgary for my Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology. This enabled me to become a Registered Psychologist with the Province. We have lived in St. Albert since 1980 and both children enjoy coming home for visits with family and friends. 

Paul and I were employed by Sturgeon School Division just north of St. Albert as Guidance Counsellors in the school system. After retiring from the school system in 2002, I continue to work part-time as a Psychological Consultant for Alberta Education. Paul and I divorced in 1996, and remain, good friends, as we share in the delights of our two children. Leslee is currently studying at the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Victoria, and Jonathan is doing a Master’s program in Health Care Administration at UBC. He is a major in the Canadian military. He is married to Edith Wong, a dentist, originally from Lima, Peru. They are expecting their first child in December 2007.

Deep Dive

Cochrane Centennial June 17 2003

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by Bruce Boothby from the Harbidge Family History

In April of 2003, the descendants of William and Mary Davenport Harbidge acknowledged 100 years since the Allan Passenger Ship. Tunisian, brought 1527 passengers, including William and Mary, and their families to Canada. The family would immediately travel by train to Calgary North West Territories located in the Dominion of Canada. 

On June 17, 2003, Cochrane would celebrate the 100th year of corporate status. As part of their celebration, Centennial Square was created and a bronze statue saluting the pioneer women who established within the community. Bertha Harbidge, wife, of Charles Harbidge arrived with her husband in 1903 and was honoured in the celebration. Nan Boothby, a daughter of Charles and Bertha Harbidge would also be honoured. Nan was a passenger on the Tunisian in April 2003. Many descendants of the family were in attendance. The youngest descendant was a great, great, grandson named Dakoda and himself a grandson of Beryl Harbidge who was grandson of Bertha. 

Mary Harbidge Hupkes, a daughter of Bertha Harbidge, was able to attend in her 81st year and is pictured below with her son Charles.

Mary Harbidge Hupkes and son Charles

Many of the descendants of William and Mary Harbidge attended. At the close of the ceremonies, I was able to locate descendants Shirley Blatchford Rushfeldt and Charles Hupkes and photograph them at the statue with Mary Harbidge Hupkes.

Bruce Boothby is a son of Nan Boothby and grandson of Charles and Bertha Harbidge.

Tidbits by Gordon Davies

Deep Dive

George Bunney

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- by George Bunney Jr.  pg 205 Big Hill Country 1977

My father came to Cochrane from Cornwall, England, in 1912. He worked at the blacksmith shop owned at that time by Sam Christianson. In the fall of 1913, he left Cochrane and went to work in a blacksmith shop at Pincher Creek, Alberta. He came back to Cochrane and at that time a shop was available at Bottrel. This he rented from Mr. Boucher and went into the blacksmith business again. 

In August 1914, World War I broke out and Dad, being a British Reservist, had to go. He served Overseas until 1919, then came back to Cochrane and purchased the blacksmith shop from George Hope. He later sold the shop back to George. 

In January 1920, Dad and Miss Lily Edith Peyto were married, and in 1921 they moved to the C. W. Fisher place and started a dairy business. They remained there for eight years. Dad ran a door-to-door delivery of milk to the residents of Cochrane while living in the Fisher place. In 1929 he purchased the Tweed property south of the Bow River and moved the dairy business there. For twenty-five years, Dad delivered milk door-to-door, never missing a day. Because of ill health, he stopped the daily milk delivery and started shipping cream to the creamery. In 1954 I took over the dairy business from my father.

Mother and Dad had two children, Ellen, and myself. Ellen married Ed Beynon. She passed away on April 16, 1948. They had two children, Florence, and Edward Clive. Edward passed away on June 4, 1944, at the age of 5 months. I married Donna Washington and we have three sons: George, Alan, and William. 

We sold our property south of the river and moved to a dairy farm north of Bearspaw. About a year ago we sold this farm and moved to our present home, two miles east of Innisfail. I am still in the dairy business with a purebred herd of Holstein cattle. 

Dad passed away in 1961. Mother lives in her own home across the road from us and keeps well at the age of 82 years.

Deep Dive

Fred and Bernice Reid

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By Michael Simpson pg 668 More Big Hill Country 2009

Fergus Felic Frederick Irwin was born in the District of Islington in the County of London, England on January 26, 1904. The family moved to Maple Creek Saskatchewan in 1905. His father, Frank Irwin, died in 1910 and his mother, Mary Ann (nee Stronham) ran away with a salesman, leaving three young children destitute. They were adopted by three Reverends: Fred by Rev. Reid, thus his name change to Reid. 

Fred obtained his teaching certificate in Saskatchewan in 1923 and taught until 1944. On June 27, 1935, he married Bernice Stansbury Fletcher at the United Church in Cochrane, Alberta. The best man was Eddie Simpson and the bridesmaid was Eveline Fletcher. The newlyweds moved to Meota Saskatchewan, where they lived in a small teacherage in winter and a tipi in summer. 

In November 1944 they moved back to Cochrane and took up residence in one of the new cabins of Cochrane Auto Service. Fred established a radio and TV repair shop. Around 1946, Fred and Bernice took over ownership of The Old Timer (Cochrane’s only newspaper) from the original publisher, Father Lessard, a Catholic priest. Bernice was the editor until its demise around 1960. 

Fred died October 17, 1956 and Bernice passed away October 1, 1991. They had no children, but left a niece, Mary Simpson and a nephew, Michael Simpson. 

Eastend Cochrane 1959

This is an interesting photo of Cochrane as it shows:

  1. How 1A turned into Cochrane and ran down 1st Avenue
  2. The Reid TV repair shop was east of 1st Ave on 1St beside Webb & Milligan Service station (later Bow Ridge Motors)
Cochrane Parade 1927

Cochrane Advocate Articles June 1921 – 1927

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Gordon Davies has curated articles from the paper that served early Cochrane, the Cochrane Advocate. Images are from CHAPS’ archives and only give a representation of life at the time.

June 16,1921 

The proposal of the Council to keep cattle off the streets seems to have been met with general approval. Among the cow owners, the opinion is held that the cows are better in a pasture outside town and there is a great feeling of satisfaction because of the improvement of having the streets free from cows wandering about. It may be necessary to institute a pound law and to appoint a pound keeper, but so long as cow owners maintain their present attitude his duties will be light. 

June 30, 1921 

NOTICE 

To Owners of Cows in the Village of Cochrane 

It has been decided by the Village Council of Cochrane that unless cows out kept in the village are kept in an enclosed pasture, it will be necessary to institute a pound law, effective from the 1st of July. This restriction applies both during the day and night. 

W.R. ARIS 

Secretary-Treasurer 

June 30, 1921

The plague of locusts was an unpleasant visitation and the myriads of little black grasshoppers seemed to be almost as serious. It is reported they are invading Calgary, although no reason is given. No damage by them through this district has been reported. A really good rain would be welcome. 

June 5, 1924 

Grading work along the Banff highway is going ahead fast. The roads west of Cochrane are, unavoidably, in very poor condition for automobile traffic at the present time. A great improvement has been made at Coal Creek, where the road on the west side has been moved further south, thus reducing the grade and doing away with the sharp corner at the top.

Road Crew First Grading

June 19, 1924 

Rain has fallen almost continually over the Cochrane district during the last week and prospects for another bumper crop this year are very promising indeed. There is now an ample supply of moisture, but a spell of good, hot weather is what is chiefly needed at the present time. 

June 19, 1924 

The fishing season opened last Sunday, but so far there is no prospect of the rivers being in condition for a week or two yet. Licenses may be purchased from Mr. C. Grayson. 

June 19,1924 

Work started last Monday on the road west of Lake Louise, which is to be extended as far as Field. 

June 19, 1924 

Beer Licenses 

On Tuesday morning last, the Alberta Hotel resumed somewhat of its old appearance previous to the closing of the bars in 1916. Having secured a license, Harry opened up the beer sales room for business. This room is comfortably fitted out with small tables and chairs and included both the old bar room and the rotunda. Hours of sale are from 8 a.m. until 10 weekdays with the exception of Saturdays, when the beer sales room closes at 9 p.m. 

 

Murphy Hotel (Alberta Hotel)
Murphy Hotel (Alberta Hotel)

June 9, 1927 

The King’s Birthday 

To celebrate the 64th anniversary of King George’s birthday, an appropriate flag-raising ceremony was held in the school playgrounds on Friday, June 3rd by the school children. 

When the children had been lined up near the flagstaff, Mr. J. Andison then performed the hoisting ceremony, the pupils simultaneously coming to the salute, and with eyes raised to their country’s emblem they recited a few appropriate words vowing allegiance to their King and Country. 

Mr. Andison then gave them a short address on what the flag stood for, pointing out why they should always respect and defend it because it represented their King, their Country, and all that was dear to them, and that no country ever achieved anything worthwhile if this patriotic feeling and close allegiance to the flag was not prevalent. 

He went on to tell them that it was just this strong patriotism that brought about Confederation in 1867 four years after the birth of our present King George. Confederation, he told them, was really the foundation of Canada, as we know it today, was built. 

After Mr. Andison’s address the first verse of “O Canada” was sung followed by “God Save the King”. 

Cochrane Parade 1927
Cochrane Parade 1927

June 23, 1927 

The Diamond Jubilee of Confederation celebrations will really commence on Thursday, June 30th, when the children will put on a programme at the school, commencing at 2:30 p.m., which will include a pageant, relative to Confederation and the growth of Canada, and recitations etc. Everyone is welcome. 

June 23, 1927 

Diamond Jubilee of Confederation FUNDS 

Cochrane going over the top for the Jubilee Celebration! 

The Finance Committee this week are happy. 

The citizens of Cochrane and district are to be congratulated upon the handsome response to the appeal for funds 

It is now certain the Objectives will be passed and we can feel that our people do appreciate Canada, and what Canada has done for us. Now for a fine day on the 1st of July, and a real good time for everybody. 

If you have not already subscribed don’t wait to be asked – send it in. No matter what the amount of your subscription it will thankfully received by the Secretary, W. R. Daws, or A. Chapman, Treas. 

(NOTE; a list of subscribers followed showing the amount donated and the total funds to date were $625.51) 

June 30, 1927 

The Eau Claire Lumber Co’s log drive from their lumber camp on the north fork of the Ghost River, is making rapid progress this year, the logging crews reaching the Bow River at the beginning of the week.

June 30, 1927 

THE DIAMOND JUBILEE 

The Indians first hear sounds of the eager white man’s feet. 

And quickly passed the peace pipe and shared their land and meat. 

Then the white men took their land, and built their cities fair, 

And plowed, harrowed, and tilled the ground, with all their utmost care. 

May the Indians enjoy the advantage of the day; 

We should pour upon them blessings for their land we took away. 

‘Tis the Diamond Jubilee with people far and near celebrating the birthday of our land so young and fair. 

The Diamond Jubilee with folks on every hand drinking the toast to Canada throughout the whole young land. 

Leah Braucht 

(Leah Braucht, of Cochrane, who is only ten years old, shows unique talent for verse that should be encouraged. We hope to hear further from her. Editor)

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