History

Oswald A. Critchley

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Page 363 Big Hill Country 1977

0. A. Critchley bought the Stapleton Ranch on the Bow River some six miles west of Calgary in the 1880s, paying $3.00 per acre for it. Here he raised two sons, Cecil (born 1890) and Walter (1892), by his first wife, Maria Newbolt, who died in childbirth in 1892. He then married Winnifred Holt of the Holt Shipping Line, in Liverpool, who bore him a son, Jack, in November 1893, and twin sons, Dick and Gerald, in 1906. In 1899 he sold the ranch on the Bow for $10.00 per acre and returned to England until 1909. He and his family came again to Canada and bought the original Bell-Irving ranch in Grand Valley from Robert Meiklejon. It was to this ranch that Margaret Melly came from Liverpool, in the summer of 1911, to stay with her aunt, Winnie Critchley, and met Duncan Kerfoot, eldest son on the neighboring Virginia Ranch. They were married in Liverpool in 1912.

A. Critchley took in Gilbert Rhodes as a partner and ranched in Grand Valley until the outbreak of World War One. He took his brand from his initials, 0 bar A. He was a founding member of the Ranchmen’s Club in Calgary.

With the coming of war, he joined two of his sons, Cecil and Jack, in Lord Strathcona’s Horse and served with them in France. He died in 1935, in London. still actively assisting Cecil to run his greyhound racing establishment.

Cecil joined the Straths in 1910 and had a meteoric military career, being promoted to Brigadier General at the age of 27 and playing a part in the formation of the Royal Air Force in 1918. Between the wars he purchased the White City Stadium in London (site of the 1908 Olympics) and there established greyhound racing. He also played championship golf and was elected to the British Parliament as a Conservative in 1934. During World War Two he was in charge of all initial training for the R.A.F. and was made an Air Commodore. Later he reorganized and directed British Overseas Airways Corporation most successfully until he went blind in 1953. During his distinguished career he was awarded the C.M.G., C.B.E. and D.S.O. He died in the 1960s.

Walter joined the 10th Infantry Battalion at the outbreak of World War One and became commander of this Battalion in France, where he was awarded the D.S.O. for gallantry in action. During World War Two he trained troops in Canada.

Jack, serving with Lord Strathcona’s Horse, and temporarily in command of the regiment, died of wounds received in a cavalry charge on entrenched positions, in 1917. He was 24 years old.

The twins, Dick and Gerald, served with Indian Cavalry regiments and became a Brigadier and a Colonel in World War Two. Like all the family they were great athletes and fine horsemen and played high handicap polo in the 1930s.

O A Critchley Credit Matthew Fillion Facebook
O A Critchley Attestation Papers CEF Oct 1914

Deep Dive

The Smeeton’s Story

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Page 723 More Big Hill Country 2009

How Big Hill Country came to be the home of an environmental programme that is unique in Canada.

Miles and Beryl Smeeton came to Cochrane in 1964. At that time, their daughter, Clio, had just brought the Zoo’s first pair of white rhinoceros to the Calgary Zoo from South Africa. Miles and Beryl had spent the previous years sailing back to Canada, in their boat TZU HANG, and their original intention was to buy land in British Columbia. But when they got home to British Columbia it was only to discover that the money they had got for 450 B .C. acres in 1955, would only buy 5 acres in 1965. Leaving TZU HANG on the coast, Miles and Beryl came to Alberta to see Clio and to have a look about at the country.

Cochrane was quite small then, tucked in snugly against Cochrane Hill and fit neatly between the railway tracks and Highway IA. Miles and Beryl fell in love with the space, the country, and the view, and so, pooling their money, Miles, Beryl, and Clio, bought a quarter section from the Viney family off what is now Township Road 280. When the Vineys had the land, they had farmed the east quarter next to Horse Creek road and cleared some land on the middle quarter, but left the western quarter as untouched as it had been when first deeded to the Canadian Pacific Railway.

After buying the land the Smeetons left Alberta, Miles and Beryl to go back to the coast and continue sailing, Clio to get married and live in Africa and then Spain. Miles wrote books about their sailing adventures (Because the Home is There, Once is Enough, The Misty Islands, The Sea Was Our Village and Sunrise to Windward).

But the sea was not their first love, for Miles that was horses, but for Miles and Beryl, together, it was mountaineering. In India they had made many climbs of significant peaks in the Himalayas, and for an extremely long time, Beryl held the female record for having climbed the highest peak without additional bottled oxygen. Their friendship with Tenzing Norgay resulted in his employment with the British Everest Expedition, when Tenzing and Sir Edmund Hillary were the first to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest. So the great ramparts of the Rockies that filled the western horizon as the Smeetons looked over their newly acquired land north west of Cochrane gave them enormous pleasure. In 1970, Miles and Beryl gave up the sea, sold TZU HANG, and returned to their land, and in 1972, Clio and her family, Alex, Catriona and Sonamara also returned to Canada.

Miles continued writing. He wrote about his life in India as a Cavalry Officer (A Taste of the Hills) and then as a settler on Saltspring island, Britishc Columbia (A Change of Jungles). Beryl wrote as well, her first book about walking for pleasure from Shanghai to India in 1939 (Winter shoes in Springtime) and her second about riding down the eastern cordillera of South America (The Stars My Blanket) and, as well as writing, they became familiar figures in Cochrane and Calgary. They even joined the Ballooning Club. Local people said Miles drove with such panache that if they saw his little yellow Datsun truck hurtling down Cochrane Hill, they would stay off the highway!

Miles became the District Commissioner of the Cochrane Pony Club and there are many who still remember him teaching them. Being a cavalryman, he didn’t just teach equitation, he thought fun and competition should be involved as well so he made “lances” taught the kids how to ‘tent peg”, having them pop balloons with their “lances’ instead of spear real tent pegs with real lances! Beryl, a woman who loved carpentry, obtained a pioneer cabin from Boothby ‘s of Grand Valley road. With the help of many local people she disassembled it, moved it and reassembled it on the Smeeton ‘s middle quarter, where Miles already had his horses and his quonset barn.

The entire Smeeton family strongly felt that it woul1 be a good thing to act to protect the environment am so they decided to make the northwest quarter of their land a Game Reserve, under permit from the Municipal District of Rocky View. They also decided to establish an environmentally focused Charity, initially named the Wildlife Reserve of Western Canada, but later on the name was changed to the pre ent, le unwieldy, Cochrane Ecological Institute (CEI).

Beryl and Miles had also decided that they would build their own house on the northwest quarter in the middle of their Game Reserve. House building wa something they had never done before and clearly worth a try. After kicking around several ideas and discarding most of them (as an example Beryl wanted a Yurt but Miles felt a Yurt would be particularly uncomfortable in winter) they went to visit a very well-known architect in Calgary. This gentleman was an architect who had designed and built many of the spectacular skyscrapers in the heart of downtown, but Beryl and Miles asked him if he could design the cheapest possible house for them, which he did. The home-made house Beryl and Miles built, following the architect’s design, was so rough and ready and happy-go-lucky that he seldom acknowledged that he had designed it.

The first thing that the Smeetons had to do, in order to comply with their Game Reserve permit from the M.D. of Rocky View, was to build an eight-foot-high game fence around the entire 160 acres of the north west quarter. This was a huge job. But, spurring them on were two long brown faces belonging to a pair of orphaned moose calves, Peterkin and Petrushka (Moose Magic by Miles Smeeton). Once the fence was built Peterkin and Petrushka moved onto their new home on the Game Reserve, the first of many, many moose orphans that have come to live there.

Raising orphaned animals, building houses, restoring old buildings and founding an environmentally focussed Charity wasn’t enough, so in 1971 the Smeeton ‘s decided they needed a bigger project. Within the Mandate of the Charity they had founded was the concept of restoring the damaged prairie ecosystem. A practical way of doing this, they reasoned, was to return vanished (extirpated) indigenous species back to their native prairie habitat. The Smeetons believed that if land alone is preserved, without the wildlife that once inhabited it, that protection is a sterile exercise. To restore and preserve Alberta’s biological diversity, indigenous species that have been extirpated (made extinct in Canada) must be returned (the concept is ecosystem restoration through reintroduction). But to do that, you have to have the animals to do it with.

After discussing this idea at length with Dr. Steve Herrero, then Chair of the Department of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary, they decided that the animals they would breed in captivity for eventual return to their native prairie habitat would be the Swift fox, Vulpes velox. The Smeetons’ founding of the first small carnivore captive breeding programme in Canada, a programme which was designed specifically to provide animals for reintroduction, was a First for Canada.

The huge question, in order to start their project, was where could the Smeetons get their swift foxes from?

Once upon a time, the whole eastern foothills area of the Rockies, including Cochrane, had a large resident population of these tiny foxes. In fact, the type specimen of the species, Vulpes velox, held by the Smithsonian Institution in the USA, came from the Calgary area. During the time of the North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade, in some years, more swift fox pelts were traded out of Edmonton House, Chesterfield House, and Carleton House than muskrat or beaver (Arima,1995, Blackfeet and Palefaces, Golden Dog Press). At that time, Swift foxes were more commonly called kit foxes; in the late 1970’s, their name was changed from Kit to Swift. For the tribes of the Blackfeet Confederacy, who shared their land with them, the little foxes will always be known as Siinopaa.

By 1972, there were no swift foxes left in Canada.

The loss of the swift fox on the prairies had been a sharp and sudden one. Once they ranged from the banks of the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta and Saskatchewan, south to the Texas panhandle and from the foothills of the Rockies east to the Red River Valley of Manitoba, but by 1930 they had completely disappeared.

1800: Alexander Henry, fur trader.” They (swift fox) are one of the most common fur animals of the Red River Valley”.

1853: Charles Cavileer: At one trading post (Walhalla) the annual harvest of “400 to 600 skins of kit (swift) foxes were obtained in a season, but none have seen since the buffalo disappeared.”

1856: Mead reported:” there were foxes living on the plains with the wolves, called ‘swifts’ from their remarkable speed. They lived in pairs … No other foxes were found on the Plains.”

1857: Palliser “November 2, Kill a male kit fox (vulpus velox), an animal very common in the prairies, living in holes, several of which are grouped together on slight knolls. For a distance it is the swiftest animal on the prairies, its length was 31 and 1/2 inches, of which the tail formed 12, its height 14 and 1/2 inches; its fur is a beautiful speckled grey.” (near Fort Carleton)

Allen 1874 :”These graceful little animals (swift fox) are still more or less abundant.”

1889 Baker: “The swift fox was … very numerous until withjn the past five years, now rarely seen. It lives in shallow burrows on the open prairie”

1900 Seton: ” … they (swift fox) are rapidly disappearing over a large part of their range and, if doomed to extinction, it is important that a closer study be made of their home life before it is too late.”

Fortunately, for the Smeeton’s plans to develop the first captive breeding colony of swift fox in Canada, Beryl heard that a wildlife rehabber in Colorado, Mrs. Vona Bates, had some rehabilitated but non-release-able swift fox from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Beryl wrote to Vona, obtained the necessary permits from the governments of Alberta, Montana, and Colorado and drove down to collect their first pairs of swift fox.

Nelson and Emma, Napoleon and Josephine. After Beryl received the four foxes from Vona Bate, Vona wrote to her friend AI Oeming in Edmonton and asked him to send the swift foxes she had previously sent to him down to the Smeetons. AI Oeming did this, and so Emma, Nelson, Napoleon and Josephine were joined by Mr. and Mrs. Newcome. Nelson, Emma, Napoleon and Josephine and the many swift foxes that joined them over the years from South Dakota and Wyoming were the foundation of a truly amazing and unique programme. A programme so special to Big Hill Country that for the longest time (until it was sold) Cochrane’s newspaper, The Cochrane Times, had the swift fox on its masthead, making it the only newspaper in North America with an endangered species as its logo.

Swift fox breeding for reintroduction was an exciting concept, but, as Miles wrote in his book “Completely Foxed”, “Whether it is feasible to reintroduce an animal (swift fox) that has become extinct through the spread of civilization is questionable, but that is what we hoped to discover. Very little is known about swift foxes, and they have a poor record of breeding in captivity; nevertheless, we intended to breed them and one day release them in their natural environment. Had we understood all the problems and work involved … we might have thought twice about the project.”

At this time, in 1972, Miles started the first swift fox studbook in North America. In the studbook, all the foxes had individual numbers, markings, and names. The scientific community prefers numbers for identifying individual animals, believing that numbers are somehow more “scientific”, but the Smeetons found it much easier to identify their foxes by name, from a foxes point of view, both names and numbers are just a jumble of inexplicable sounds.

Unfortunately, it was hard for the Smeetons to bring the Universities and government agencies to join them, and take them seriously: “the idea of people turning a personal concern for wildlife into a working conservation project with no aim of financial gain was itself so rare as to stretch credibility slightly … the Smeeton ‘s didn’t exactly fit peoples expectations of … conservationist5 … ” ( Miles Clark, High Endeavours, published by Greystone books)

By initiating the swift fox studbook, as well as keeping track of genetic background in the breeding pairs and thus enhancing the maintenance of genetic heterozygosity, Miles satisfied the scientists demand for numbers to identify individuals and his own preference for names. Eventually, as well as numbers and numbered tattoos, every fox born in a certain year had a name that started with the letter assigned to that year, so in an “A” year all foxes born at the Cochrane Ecological Institute, CEI, had names beginning with “A”, such as Annie, Agatha, Alfred, Albert, etc. This made it really easy to work out the age of the animal without having to refer back to the studbook.

This policy of naming all the foxes born each year with the same assigned letter also provided a huge amount of entertainment for local schools. School groups would visit the Smeeton Game Reserve to see the swift foxes and always asked if they could get to “name a fox’ , when the naming policy was explained to them one very funny names resulted. On one CBC programme, in 1993, the reporter asked Clio Smeeton why one of the foxe wa called ‘ Coyote ‘ and Clit replied: “We don’t just have Coyote here, we have Cornflakes, Cauliflower Candle Cracker, Cherrie and Cabbage” sounding more like someone selling food than someone releasing swift foxes!

Now, in 2007, Miles’ studbook has been transferred to the new International Swift Fox Studbook keeper at Pueblo Zoo, Colorado, and forms the basis for that international initiative. Nowaday, and since 1993, all the Cochrane Ecological Institute swift fox have also been genotyped so their DNA is registered, but they all still have tattoos, and they all still have names … having gone right through the Alphabet, we are back at the beginning again.

In 1972, when the first swift foxes arrived at Cochrane and Miles started his studbook. the status of the swift fox in Canada had not yet been officially as assessed. By 1978 it had, and the species had been officially declared Extirpated (extinct) in Canada by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife In Canada, COSEWIC.

But, of course, swift foxes were not extinct in Canada because they were living and breeding in Big Hill Country just outside Cochrane, Alberta, on the Smeeton ranch. In 1977, the Smeetons had signed a co-operative agreement with the University of Calgary, so work was already underway to research suitable release sites. The bare bones of a reintroduction programme were in place, and in 1978 the Federal Government joined the University of Calgary and the Smeeton’s Cochrane Ecological Institute, CEI, in working to develop a swift fox reintroduction program.

The orphaned moose calves, Peterkin and Petrushka had grown up, and inevitably bred. Petrushka was so attached to Beryl that she happily left her with her calves as a moose baby-sitter. But, at three years old, Peterkin was shot through the fence and killed, outside of the hunting season, a sadly deliberate murder.

Orphaned moose and Swift foxes were not the only animals on the Smeeton Game Reserve, nor their only project.

One new project on the Game Reserve was holding injured endangered Trumpeter swans, Cygnus buccinator, at the Cochrane Ecological Institute, CEI, on behalf of the Canadian Wildlife Service. The swans lived on the pond on the Smeeton ‘s property, a pond that had been built by the Canadian Pacific Railway around the turn of the 20th century on the headwaters of Horse Creek. The plan was to see if it was possible for the injured swans to breed and the hope was that the cygnets from that breeding would fly south when the migrant Trumpeter swans returned from the North and settled back on Smeeton’s pond, before carrying on with their migration. But, even though they had a beautiful geodesic dome to live in and to keep the water open over winter, the Canadian Wildlife Service’s Trumpeter swans never did breed. Miles was not amused when the federal government asked him to pay for a permit to keep their swans, which they, themselves, had placed on his land!

The second project was also one undertaken on behalf of the Canadian Wildlife Service. Although for this one the Smeetons did not have to pay for a permit, they did have to pay to put a second lower, game fence along the inside perimeter of their land. At the time, buffalo were classified as wild animals (this is no longer the case; they are now domestic animals). Because the buffalo were considered to be wild animals, the government regulations demanded that it must be impossible for the buffalo to come in contact with domestic cattle through the game fence, so a second fence had to be built. These Canadian Wildlife Service buffalo were wood buffalo (B.b. athabascae), the rarest subspecies of North American buffalo. The goal of the Canadian Wildlife Service programme was to establish a small herd away from Wood Buffalo Park, the only place in North America where wood buffalo occur, to reduce the impact of possible disease outbreaks.

The first swift fox reintroduction in North America was planned to take place in Southern Alberta in 1981, but ended up taking place in 1983. A jurisdictional problem, which the Smeetons had not anticipated, was that the only people legally permitted to release wildlife under the Alberta Wildlife Act could do so only if they had a special permit from the Minister.

Even the University of Calgary and the Federal Canadian Wildlife Service appeared to have forgotten this fact, because when they first tried to release swift foxes, in 1981, they were prevented from doing so by the Province ( 1983, Reynolds, J. University of Calgary M.Sc. Thesis). Over the next couple of years the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba joined the national Swift Fox Reintroduction programme, and in 1983, the province of Alberta joined in too, and the swift foxes were reintroduced in the Manyberries, Alberta area.

Beryl had lost her battle with cancer and died in 1979, so she didn’t see the first release. She was buried on her property beneath a huge bison rubbed block of sandstone. Every evening, if he was at home, Miles would walk out to the rock and sit on it. Once or twice in the dark twilight he mistook a bison for the rock and sat on it by accident. He was very old by that time, so always put his hand below him as he started to sit down, and if he was sitting on a buffalo, he would feel its harsh curly hair, but by that time, it was too late for him to reverse his descent. The buffalo never seemed to mind.

After Beryl’s death, Miles wrote: “Life is rather like riding across some vast plain. One day perhaps you meet someone who rides the same way. For days and miles you ride along together and the days and miles pass so quickly that you neither notice their passage nor dream of their end. Then one day your road divides and your companion leaves. Ahead the plain – empty now, stretches on forever, the stones more numerous and your horse more tired, but all you can do is ride on. I suppose that is what I am doing now, with no great objective.” In the Fall of 1988 his ride stopped, Miles died and joined Beryl beneath the sandstone rock on Smeeton land. The buffalo still rub on the rock and still sleep beside it on ground consecrated by the Bishop of Calgary.

Clio attempted to set up a management procedure which would see the federal and provincial governments take responsibility for their swift foxes. She attempted this because, in 1986, the federal government had come to Miles and said that because legislation changed it was imperative that he transfer ownership of the swift foxes to the federal government. Under this arrangement, the federal government would “own” the swift fox colony, but the animals would stay on the Smeetons’ land. Miles agreed, because he was a logical man, and he thought that if the federal government owned the swift fox captive breeding colony on his land that would mean that they would look after them and pay for them. He was wrong. The Smeetons ended up paying for the maintenance of a swift fox captive breeding colony that was owned by the federal government, an absurd state of affairs. Clio’s two-year attempt to change this state of affairs was unsuccessful, and so, in January 1991, she and her daughter Catriona returned to the Smeeton land in Big Hill Country to look after the swift fox colony.

The government agencies had formed a Swift Fox Recovery Team in 1986, and the Team had drawn up a plan to cover the years 1986-1997. The Smeetons found themselves in the unenviable position of breeding an extirpated species for a reintroduction programme undertaken by the government in Canada, without having committed funding from the Government to provide this essential service. This lack of funding, coupled with having the sole responsibility for maintaining 25 breeding pairs of swift fox and their cubs, resulted in the sad necessity of selling land and the Smeeton ‘s original holding was reduced from 3/4 of a section to one quarter, the Game Reserve.

Following the direction of the Swift Fox Recovery Team the Smeetons provided a total of 849 swift fox for release in Canada, and in addition, they provided two breeding pairs of swift fox to the Calgary Zoo, one pair to Edmonton Valley Zoo and a pair to the provincially owned zoo in Saskatchewan. The exhibit of these animals was designed to highlight the swift fox recovery effort, and the cubs born to the foxes exhibited in Calgary and Edmonton came back to the CEI either for release or to be incorporated into the breeding programme. Also, under the Swift Fox Recovery Plan, the Canadian Federal Government arranged that 91 swift fox would be trapped in Wyoming, quarantined at the CEI for 6 months, and released in Canada to supplement the 849 Canadian captive-bred swift fox reintroduced over the length of the reintroduction programme ( 1983-1997).

While Miles and Beryl were alive their contribution to conservation was not really acknowledged. Although Miles received Alberta’s Order of the Big Horn, they were not invited to join the Canadian National Swift Fox Recovery team. Years after their death, in 1994, ownership of the swift foxes reverted from the federal Government to the Smeeton family and Clio was invited to join the Swift Fox Recovery Team. In 1997, three years later, Canadian National Swift Fox Reintroduction Programme ceased. The programme stopped, not for scientific reasons but because the end-date was designed to harmonize with the end of other federal reintroduction programmes, peregrine falcon and whooping crane. At that time approximately 289 swift foxes were estimated to live in the wild in Canada as a result of the Swift fox reintroduction programme.

As a result of the Swift Fox Reintroduction Programme, the classification of the swift fox in Canada was changed from Extirpated (extinct) in Canada (COSEWTC 1978) to Endangered in Canada (COSEWTC I 998)

From 1997 to 2004, no further swift foxes were released in Canada. Some of the swift foxes that were released during the Canadian programme ( 1983-1997), travelled across the Canada/USA border and settled in Montana, USA. This was fortunate for the biodiversity of Montana because swift fox had been extirpated (made extinct) over the northern US States. The Blackfoot Tribe of Montana asked the Cochrane Ecological Institute if they would partner them in the First swift fox reintroduction in the USA. It was a very successful programme lasting from Fall I 997, when the programme was first proposed, to the fall of 2002. From the moment of reintroduction on Blackfoot Tribal land the swift fox thrived and bred (2005, Ausband. D. University of Missoula Montana, M.Sc. Thesis)

In 2001 , the Blood (Kainai) Tribe of southern Alberta also requested that the CEI partner them in a swift fox reintroduction which the CEI wa very happy to do. This was the first reintroduction by Aboriginal people of an Endangered Species on Aboriginal land in Canada. The first swift fox of that programme were released in 2005. The CEl still holds Canada’s only captive breeding colony of this endangered species, is the only organization involved in the reintroduction of swift fox in Canada, and is wholly respon ible for raising the funds to pay for it.

The farsighted action of the Smeetons in founding the Cochrane Ecological Institute and the swift fox reintroduction programme means that swift fox now run again on their native habitat in Canada and the northern prairie states of the USA. Without Beryl Smeeton ‘s dream this would never have happened.

” …. from a Native American stand point, Blackfeet perspective if you will, the need for vindication and legitimacy through qualification, quantification and recognition are not often required in matters of the spirit and heart. Which is what this action (swift fox reintroduction) was, and is … (in) the view of many peoples, indigenous in particular, that is, cumulative factors (including spiritual, heartfelt and cultural values) must be taken into account then priorities may be set from there. I will point out that the most enduring and valuable messages are those visual and storied accounts.” Ira Newbreast, Blackfeet Tribal Fish & Wildlife Department.

All the time the swift fox programme has been running, the CEI has been providing another service to the public by taking in injured and orphaned wildlife. This programme treats and releases into suitable habitat, where they won’t come into conflict with people again, all wild animals from robins to bears, eagles to otters. This is a difficult programme to fund, so in 2006 the Cochrane Ecological Institute, CEI, founded a project designed to pay for the CEI’s costs. It is called the Happy Tails Pet Retreat, “Where Boarding Your Pet Supports Wildlife” and is a dog and cat kennel built in the wooded heart of the CEI. All proceeds from Happy Tails Pet Retreat go straight to the CEI for the wildlife rescue and swift fox programmes.

Since 1972, the CEI has been sending Educators around to the schools to teach about the importance of preserving and restoring ecosystems. Students from around the world have come to the CEI to learn about its programmes, to volunteer and experience the 1menities of Big Hill Country! Other graduate and post ~raduates have come to the CEI to undertake their research. The CEI has also undertaken technological exchange and capacity building programmes for First Nations people so they can use these skills in data management and enhance the conservation of their lands.

As long ago as 1986, with the encouragement of Miles Smeeton, Clio Smeeton on behalf of the CEI, initiated an international survey of whales, dolphins and porpoises called WHALEFORCE. Finally, in 2006 the CEI obtained a seagoing boat, PESCADOU, which it is anticipated will encourage a large participation in WHALEFORCE amongst sailors.

So what started with a boat, the TZU HANG, ends with a boat, PESCADOU, and the Cochrane Ecological Institute that the Smeetons founded in Big Hill Country in J 997 still carries on with its Mandate in 2007:

‘The Cochrane Ecological Institute, Cochrane Wildlife Reserve Society is devoted to the preservation of North America’s biodiversity through the conservation and breeding of endangered indigenous species, environmental impact evaluation, ecosystem restoration through the reintroduction of extirpated flora and fauna, rescue and rehabilitation and release of injured and orphaned wildlife, public education and field research, conservation of cultural diversity and the monitoring of habitat and species through the development of non intrusive survey methods.

Deep Dive

Gordon Callaway Family

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By Rochelle Callaway pg 350 More Big Hill Country 2009

Gordon was delivered on October 26, 1922, by his grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Hughes, a midwife. Harold Callaway drove Amy Callaway over 14 miles by buggy from their farm north of Cochrane to the Hughes farm, south of Cochrane, for the delivery.

Gordon grew up and lived most of his life on the farm approximately 5 miles north of Cochrane, and one mile east of the Cochrane lakes. His nickname was “Sunny”, very appropriately as, over the years, whenever he was asked how he was and despite the circumstances, he usually answered, “Twice as good as I ever was”.

When Gordon was a young child, he remembers hauling water from a spring east of the farm. This was before a water well was dug by the farm buildings. Gordon and his sister Mary (Tot) rode a horse and herded the cattle daily to neighbors (O’Neill) to the west of the farm for watering for about a week while a second well was drilled to supplement the first water well as its water supply was not sufficient for the cattle.

Gordon’s constant companion, from a young child and for about 12 years was Curly, a border collie dog. Gordon started school in the brick schoolhouse on front street (First Street) in Cochrane and stayed with his grandmother, Mary Hughes, in Cochrane, paying $7 .00 per month for board and room for the first three grades. Mary had several children that took room and board with her for starting school. Gordon remembers that if they behaved well, their grandmother would give them one candy before they went to bed at night.

From Grade 3 to Grade 8 (he skipped 2 grades), Gordon rode his horse to/from school daily. One day, during a terrible winter blizzard but heeding his father’s advice, Gordon covered his face and hands and tied the horse’s reins to the saddle horn and let the horse take him home. The horse galloped the 5 miles from Cochrane to the farm safely.

Tot and Gordon had many farm chores, including helping their mother clean the barn with a team of horses and a stone boat. On one occasion, while Tot was cleaning the barn, the horses got loose, pulled the stone boat out into the field in a large circle, and returned to stand back at the barn. Gordon remembers that his father got up very early to do the morning chores, worked for neighbours for $1.00 /day for a period of time when they were starting out farming, returning home to do his own farm chores in the late evening. Amy worked hard, looking after the farm and children during the day, planting and looking after a very large garden, picking wild berries including wild raspberries, saskatoons, strawberries and gooseberries, canning meat and vegetables, making jams and jellies, butter and bread, cakes and pastries.

Gordon loved the farm, and left school after the mandatory Grade 8 (at age 13), despite excellent grades and encouragement to remain in school, to stay home and work on the farm. In 1934, his sister Dorothy Jean was born, and in 1937 a brother, Clarence Joseph joined the family. Holidays were scarce, usually a one-day trip a year to Banff for a picnic. Gordon remembers one holiday when he was about 7 years of age when his parents, he and hjs sister, Tot and farm neighbors traveled in a 1928 Nash car, on gravel roads, to Wenatchee, Washington for one week.

Gordon loved cars, adventure, mechanics and radio technology. His first car was a 1928 Dodge, which his father bought for him at age 16 for $100.00. However, he became more interested in radios, and communications, and at about 18, Gordon took a 2-year correspondence course as a radio and communications technician (including telegraph, short wave radio, and building a radio from a kit). Due to the Second World War, Gordon joined the army at age 21 (1943) to fulfill his desire to serve and protect his country.

Gordon served in the army’s signal corps, but due to health problems, he was discharged before going overseas. After his discharge, Gordon worked as a radio technician in Calgary, at Clayton, Stewart and Howell’s, and later for the Electric Shop for about 6 years. Radios were a scarce item, and radio repair and communication equipment repair work was an important and fast-growing career during and after the war. During this time, Gordon stayed in a rooming house with a friend, Jim Fenton. Violet (Dolly) June Kent had moved to Calgary (from Daysland and later Camrose) and was working as a waitress at the Esquire Cafe in Calgary. Dolly stayed in the same rooming house as Gordon. The rooming house was fun, as the residents shared many chores, such as washing clothes in a washtub with a hand scrub board. Everyone helped each other.

Gordon still says today he met the lady of his dreams and after celebrating 59 years of maniage in 2006, says he still wouldn’t trade her for anything. While courting, Gordon and Dolly often took the streetcar to visit Dolly’s sister (Kate Warren and family), in the Bonnybrook area – south Calgary. That was a considerable trip at that time. Dolly and Gordon were married on February 28, 1947 by Reverend Doug Ing. They honeymooned in Edmonton in -40F degree temperatures, and spent most of the weekend trying to start their car to be able to return to work on Monday. Interestingly, Reverend Ing had known Dolly’s parents (Eliza and Fred Kent) in Daysland, Alberta, and as a young man had helped them at harvest time. Reverend Ing had also married Harold and Amy Callaway, Gordon’s parents. He passed away shortly after marrying Gordon and Dolly.

After they were married, Gordon and Dolly bought a home in the Killamey area of Calgary in 1948 for $2600.00. They lived there until Harold and Amy had to retire from the farm north of Cochrane due to poor health 1947-48. Gordon and Dolly lived on the Callaway farm for a year, but lost their crops due to a terrible hailstorm, and freezing temperature, so they had to return to Calgary. Gordon went back to work as a radio technician for a short time and then returned to the farm. Their first child, Rochelle, was born June 9, 1949. While Dolly was in the hospital with Rochelle, Gordon broke his ankle and both ended up in hospital for several days. As there was no one to help look after the farm, Dolly’s brother Douglas Kent left his job in Grande Prairie (building a bridge), to help out on the farm for several months. Gordon and Dolly had to return to Calgary for work, and moved to the Hillhurst area for about a year. They then returned to the farm and remained there until they moved to Cochrane due to health issues in 1997.

The Callaway farming development included many trials and errors, starting with pigs and chickens, selling cream and milk, farming and working 800 acres of grain and hay land, and eventually going into the dairy business. From the time Gordon was a child, the winters were severe, with many days throughout the years when the roads were impassable due to heavy snowfalls and deep snow drifts. The only means of transportation during those times was by sleigh pulled by a team of horses across the fields to neighbours. The Holstein dairy became their successful family business for about 31 years. It was long hours and hard work, cleaning the barn by hand daily, planting and harvesting hay and grain, raising calves, shipping milk by train to Golden, B .C., for the first few months until they became milk shippers to Alpha Dairies in Calgary/Red Deer.

Three more children were born over the next 7 years: David Gordon on November 23, 1952, Elizabeth Jane on July 10, 1956 and William Harold on March 3, 1960. Farming life was hard and often neighbors were called on, in emergencies. Harvesting and threshing were often done with many neighbours working together, or with hired help, including natives from the Stoney Indian (sic) Band, who arrived with their families and lived in teepees during the harvesting. As years progressed, with hired help, the family working together and the purchase of tractors and other farming equipment (which Gordon maintained and serviced himself), the farm grew and prospered despite the challenges of weather and changing economic times. After retiring from dairying, Gordon and Dolly semi-retired and moved to a new home on the north half-section of their farmland. Gordon was interested in cars and mechanics, and was known as an excellent driver, having taught all four of his children to drive, and he drove a school bus from 1980-85. About the same time, Dolly worked part-time as a cook at the Big Hill Lodge in Cochrane.

Gordon and Dolly retired to Cochrane due to health problems, after 22 years living in the new home on the north half-section of the farm. Gordon and Dolly have been active in St. Andrews United Church in Cochrane since the mid-1950’s. Gordon was a leader and was active with the Bearspaw Dairy 4-H Club (with all 4 children) for many years. After the first 19 years of farming, without a holiday, the family began many enjoyable holidays, camping (frequently to Osoyoos, BC), and traveling Canada, the US, and the British Isles.

Gordon has also been a member of the Royal Canadian Legion for over 30 years (2004). Many enjoyable times were had on the farm including the almost daily enjoyment of the beautiful view of the majestic Rocky Mountains to the west, listening to the majestic Rocky Mountains to the west, listening to the life-giving rains, lots of music, singing, dancing and laughter, and the raising and togetherness of family, relatives, friends and neighbors.

Rochelle married (Tony Van Essen) on October 1968 and they had two children, Janine and Mark. Janine married Gerald Giroux in 2003 (Penticton), and Dolly and Gordon’s first great-grandchild, Alexander, was born September 21, 2006. Rochelle pursued a career in business management, and moved to Regina, Red Deer, Vancouver and Toronto, returning to Calgary in 2005. David achieved his degree in Agriculture, married (Jane Wells) and returned to the farm to take over the dairy in about 1978. They have 3 children, Jeffrey, Jennifer and Daniel, and dairy farmed for about 18 years. Elizabeth graduated, and after taking a business course at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, moved to Calgary, married, and has worked in Calgary to the current date. William (Bill) completed his heavy-duty and auto mechanics training at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and moved to Red Deer where he met and married Loma Christie in 1982. He worked in mechanics for several years, and then returned to Red Deer College to achieve his Certified General Accountant designation. Bill and Loma have four children Meaghan, Ryan, Kirsten and Jordan.

Rochelle Callaway retired, and with partner Al McLellan now lives in Calgary. David remarried in 1998 to Giselle, and currently farms near Vermillion. Elizabeth Callaway (retired) and partner Mark Thomsen continue to live in Calgary. William (Bill), Loma and family later returned to live on part of the home farm. Bill currently works as a Certified General Accountant, Lorna continues part-time nursing, and they continue farming part-time.

Deep Dive

 

Steel Family

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Page 736 More Big Hill Country 2009

Mr. and Mrs. Steel, with their two older children ‘ came to Canada in 1906. They stayed with family friends from Scotland in the Westminster district until Mr. Steel took out a homestead north of Cochrane. Their nearest neighbors were Mr. & Mrs. Raby and their five sons. Mrs. Raby was a great help to Mrs. Steel, showing her many of the ways of a farm wife.

After the first year, Mr. Steel worked for the White Ranch near Mitford during the winters and improved his homestead in the summer, moving his family back and forth over the next couple of years.

The two oldest children, Anne and Jack were born in Scotland, while Jim was born in Mrs. Baldock’s home in Cochrane and Peggie was born on the farm. All four of the children attended school at Cochrane Lakes School.

In 1919, the Steel family sold the farm to Ernie Craig and moved to Eckville, Alberta to farm. After Mr. Steel passed away, Jim took over the farm. Anne married and had one son. After her husband passed away she lived in Calgary.

In 1920, Jack returned to Cochrane to work for area farmers. He also, worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway during the summer months for five years. Jack started driving truck for Rapid Transit in Banff before he took up a milk route between Cochrane and Calgary. By 1929, Jack started his own trucking business. He joined the Navy in 1942 and spent the war stationed on the East Coast. Returning to Cochrane and his trucking business in 1946. He expanded his business in 1949 to include a backhoe and caterpillar. Jack worked for many residents in and around Cochrane. He continued in this venture until his retirement in 1973. He never married. Jack enjoyed travelling and was a very good amateur photographer. He was very community minded and took many pictures especially of the local parades. When the Volkswagen Bug came on the market, it surprised everyone in Cochrane to see Jack unfold his large frame out of his pride and joy. He enjoyed teasing the youngsters and kept teenagers in line, letting them know he would be calling their parents about any indiscretions.

CHAPS has many photos we suspect were taken by Jack Steel. The photo of the old curling rink is from this collection.

Mark Boothby

In 1932, Mrs. Steel returned to Cochrane and purchased a house from Mr. & Mrs. Webster. Peggie returned with her mother and together they ran a boarding house. One of their long time residents was Charlie Pedeprat who lodged with them for over thirty years.  Mrs. Steel was involved in the St. Andrew’s United Church and was made an Honorary member. She passed away in 1959.

Peggy worked at the No. 11 Equipment Depot as a cook during the war. She never married. She continued to run the boarding house after her mother’s death. Peggie stayed in her home until the 1980’s, when she went to live in the Big Hill Lodge until her passing.

Deep Dive

Edgar and Ruth Davies Family

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Page 388 More Big Hill Country 2009

Another in our continuing series on Willing, Working, Women, the women behind the Cochrane Library coming into being.

Mark Boothby

My father, Edgar Beynon Davies, was born in 1892 to Thomas and Margaret Davies, in Rhossili, South Wales. In 1905, he emigrated with his family to the Cochrane area and remained here until his death in 1979.

In 1916, he enlisted in the 211th. “O” Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the rank of Sapper. Most of his time in Europe was spent on the French/Belgian border. His leaves were spent in Wales which were the only time he returned to his birthplace. He was discharged from the army in 1919, returning to Cochrane.

Upon his return, Dad, his brother William, and brother-in-law John Beynon Sr. pooled their resources and bought 750 acres from Pete Collins (part of the original Cochrane Ranche). They established the Beynon Davies Dairy Farm, which they operated until its sale in  1949 to O.N. Gilbert. During their time, the farm was affectionately known as the “Brickyard” and was a popular stop-off point for many people. As well, there were always a number of local people employed to help on the farm.

My mother, Ruth Brown, was born in 1902 to Frank and Martha Brown, near Pembrooke, Ontario. She came to Cochrane with her parents in 1904 and they homesteaded north of Cochrane. Ruth lived the rest of her life in Cochrane until her death in 1982.

Ruth and Ed were married in February of 1927. They lived in the Steel home for a couple of years before buying the Davies family home (Cochrane’s first hospital). Dad spent the next 20 years or so walking back and forth from town to the “Brickyard” every day, regardless of the weather. Mum, like almost all women at the time, remained at home looking after the house and children. They remained in the family home until 1977. Mum and Dad were big supporters of the community and their Church, St. Andrews United. Dad was on the board of the Church for more than 25 years and Mum was a member of the United Church Women for as long. I remember that we often had a prospective new minister and his wife stay at our home when the minister would be invited to give a sermon before the congregation to see if he was acceptable. They were tireless fundraisers for the Church and would be most happy to see the improvement made to the Church in 2000.

Mum was involved with the formation of a Home and School Association in the 1950’s. She was also a lifetime member of the Cochrane Art Club, taking up a pursuit she loved rather late in life. She, along with Nancy Boothby and others, worked to get a public library in town. She spent countless hours, like many other women, checking books in and out in the first library in the basement of the community hall. I remember her and Mrs. Boothby taking the Greyhound Bus to Calgary on book-buying excursions.

Besides Dad’s involvement in the Church, he was also president of the Cochrane Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion from 1939-1942. Both Mum and Dad were avid curlers, Mum more so in the early part of her life. I remember helping Dad and Uncle Bill clean and prepare the ice in the old, old curling rink which sat where the Senior Citizen’s Centre is today. Later, when he could no longer curl, his favourite winter past-time was to walk to the ‘ new” rink (beside St. Andrews) and watch the games being played. Aileen and I often felt his presence behind the glass when we were on the ice. In the early days, he talked of going to Banff to play for the Simpson Cup. The curlers would go by train, taking their rocks with them. Dad was a sports enthusiast; he loved to watch professional hockey and was keenly interested in the soccer scores from the “Old Country”. His favourite outing was a day at the races in Calgary.

After the “Brickyard” was sold Dad worked on various construction jobs in Cochrane and Calgary, working as a carpenter for Engineered Homes for 3 1/2 years. The last 11 years of his working life were spent as the night man at the Cochrane Hotel. During the 40 years or so living in the family home he planted a huge garden in the backyard and loved to be the first in the neighbourhood to have new potatoes.

Friends were extremely important and their social life revolved around activities with their many friends. Bridge and whist parties were common in the winter, usually being held at someone’s home. Afternoon tea parties were another form of ocializing for the women, of course. Boxing Day was alway a time to be spent with friends and there were many years that we spent time with the Whittle family a well the Rowe , Thompsons and other neighbours.

By the l 970’s, both were finding it difficult to look after the house and the huge yard and garden. The decision was made to sell the house, which they did in 1977, to Mrs. Millie Zang. Mum and Dad were among the first to move into Big Hill Lodge and they thoroughly enjoyed having someone look after their welfare. They also very much enjoyed the contact with the other residents most of whom they had known for many years.

Curling Rink W Laidlaw (caretaker), Unknown, Edgar Davies

Deep Dive

Floyd and Dorothy Steeves family

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by Linda Steeves pg 737 More Big Hill Country 2009

Another in our continuing series on Willing, Working, Women, the women behind the Cochrane Library coming into being.

Mark Boothby

Dorothy May Retzler was born at Castor, Alberta on July 23, 1920. She lived there until the break up of her famjly. She and her brother Bob, and sisters Ruby and Marie, stayed at the Lacombe Home south of Calgary until their father, Frank Retzler, was able to pay for their keep and provide for the children. Before 1930 the family travelled by covered wagon to the Peace River Country where other relatives lived. Dorothy left school in grade five to help maintain the home for her siblings. She had a hard life as a young girl, but often told stories of the dances, Northern Lights and the dangers of being caught with moonshine.

Floyd Chester Steeves was born December 14, 1910 in Sidney, British Columbia. His father, Alfred Hezekiah Steeves, was born in 1877 near Hillsborough, New Brunswick. He was a descendent of Heinrich and Rachel Steeves, who settled in Moncton with seven sons in 1766 before the United Empire Loyalists came to Canada. All the Steeves family is very proud of their heritage. Alfred left New Brunswick, met and married Reva Leona Bush in Michigan, and moved to Sidney, British Columbia, where he worked in the lumber industry. Four children were born in British Columbia: Lydia May, Floyd, Frederick and Paul. The family moved to Water Valley. Alberta to homestead. Alfred passed away December 18, 1917 at Water Valley. Reva moved with a Mr. Gostnell to the Peace River country, remarried and had four more children: Thelma, Everett. Howard and Elmer.

Floyd and Dorothy met and were married on September 22, 1937 in Fairview, Alberta by Rev. Bill Thompson. They moved to Calgary in 1938 and to Cochrane in 1942, when Floyd found employment working in lumber mills northwest of Cochrane. He worked for J .T. Kendrew & Son of Cochrane at the time of this company declaring bankruptcy in February 1945. In lieu of unpaid wages, Floyd was awarded title to nineteen lots on the south side of the railroad in Cochrane (see included documents and map of property referred to). As security for his family, the property was registered to Dorothy Steeves. Three lots were kept for the family home, which began as a shack. It was added on to as the family increased. Aluminum siding, sewer and running water modernized the home in the late 1950’s. The lots were sold one by one for $45 with no loam and $50 with loam. Imagine the value of 19 lots in Cochrane’s industrial area today!

During the war years Floyd began working for Shell Oil at the Jumping Pound Gas Plant. This brought a degree of financial security to the ever growing family. There were seven children born to Floyd and Dorothy. All of them were baptized at home in Cochrane by Rev. Bill Thomspon who had married Floyd and Dorothy in 1937. All the children attended Sunday school at the St. Andrews United Church and have records and prizes of attendance.

Floyd and Dorothy worked hard to raise their seven children. Dorothy kept a large garden, canning and freezing as much produce as possible. She baked bread, washed and ironed for the children without modern conveniences until the children were grown. She was well known for her crochet work. She sold many doilies, tablecloths, etc. to supplement the family income.

Floyd spent many hours renovating the home. Floyd Jr. remembers helping to dig out the basement and putting a foundation and cement walls under the house. A lot of hard work by a father and two sons went into the labour-intensive home renovation. Floyd was also well known as a backyard mechanic and fixed many vehicles to supplement the family income as well.

In July of 1967 Floyd passed away suddenly. Dorothy remained in the family home until 1978 when she sold the property and bought a trailer in the Cochrane Trailer Court. She worked in Calgary at the Wales Hotel and Holiday Inn for about ten years. When she retired from this employment she went to work at the Nan Boothby Memorial Library. She had been on the committee of founding board members for the Cochrane Library in the 1950’s and enjoyed her time as a librarian. She enjoyed her retirement years spending time with her children and grandchildren. She passed away at the George Boyack Nursing Home in Calgary in February of 2003.

Cochrane Trailer Park CHAPS Archives

The children were as follows: Leona May was born in Calgary on May 31, 1938. She attended school in Cochrane, met and married John Mescaniak in Calgary in 1957. They moved to British Columbia, where John worked for the British Columbia Forest Services. They had three children: Richard Allan born October 4, 1957; Randall Dean born October 18, 1959; and Sheri Gaye born August 13, 1962. Leona and John moved to Fernie, British Columbia in 1970 where John worked for Kaiser Resources at Sparwood. The children were educated there. Rick now resides in Creston, British Columbia, Randy in Surrey, British Columbia and Sheri passed away in 1973. Leona moved to Creston around 1990 and worked as a home care specialist until her death in July 2001.

Marion Joyce was born on November 25, 1939. She graduated from Cochrane High School in 1956. She married Edwin Trithart and moved to Swan Hills. She and Ed owned and operated Triple T Trucking in Swan Hills until Ed’s death in 1975. Marion lived on their farm at Fort Assiniboine until she sold it and moved to Barrhead in 1998, where she still resides.

Floyd Ervin was born October 1, 1941 and married Linda Hansen of Cochrane in 1961. Their story has been told separately.

Harold Melvin was born June 23, 1943 and died as a result of a brain injury on June 26, 1956.

Shirley Ruth was born on March 3, 1945. Shirley completed grade 9 in Cochrane and married AJ Anderson on April 27, 1963. They lived in Calgary until their separation in 1967. Shirley moved to Princeton, British Columbia and had three children with partner Edward Alexandre. Ronald was born January 28, 1972 in Princeton. He is now married to Pattie and has two children, Kolbi and Dakota. Ron is a truck driver and lives in Rimbey, Alberta. Brian was born November 10, 1973 in Princeton. He was educated in Cochrane and currently lives and works there. Stacy was born March l , 1978, in Princeton, British Columbia and educated in Cochrane. Stacy married Luke Bressler in 2001 and now lives in Cochrane. Shirley came to Cochrane in 1981 with her family. She has worked as a babysitter and foster parent for 15 years. She now resides with Denis Fenton in Cochrane, within sight of her old family home. 

In 1980 there was a bylaw in place in Cochrane which disallowed dancing on the south side of the tracks. This affected the business of a nightclub situated on the old Steeves homesite. During a Steeves family gathering at the 75th celebration in Cochrane, Shirley noted that the Steeves children had done a lot worse things than dance on the south side of the tracks.

Judith Ann was born January 1, 1949. Graeme Broatch, then mayor of Cochrane, drove Dorothy to the General Hospital in Calgary for this event. Judy was the second child born in Calgary in 1949. Judy completed her education in Cochrane and married Ken Murphy on September 9, 1967. They had two daughters, Coreen born July 27, 1969 and Crystal born June 7, 1971 . Coreen married John Pearce and has two sons, Justin and Jordan. They all live in Cochrane. Crystal married Gerald Holt and has one daughter, Kaylee, who resides in Calgary. Judy and Ken Murphy divorced and Judy married Robert Wutzke in 1988. Bob passed away November 7, 1992. Judy now resides in Calgary with chosen partner Terry Bednarek.

Eileen Louise was born October 7, 1950 in Calgary. She was educated in Cochrane and married Lyle Wright of Sundre on November 23, 1968. Eileen and Lyle farm and live near Mayerthorpe, Alberta. They have two children. Edwin was born June 6, 1969 and married Coleen on February 14, 1995. Ed and Coleen have two sons, Cody and Lyndon and live in Edmonton, Alberta. Elisha married Keith Cahoon on March 27, l 993. They have two children, Cade and Kayla. Elisha and Keith built a new home on the family farm at Mayerthorpe.

Deep Dive

Stone Policeman

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by John Grimstead  pg 477 More Big Hill Country 2007

I did many jobs for the Town of Cochrane and enjoyed working with the town crews. One of the first jobs I did in the summer of 1968 was to remove the stone policeman from the middle of the town’s main intersection, the Royal Bank being on the NW corner and Webb and Milligan’s Esso station on the NE corner. The stone policeman was a sandstone structure about six or seven feet high. This ensured the separation of traffic crossing east to the telephone exchange or the Canadian Pacific Railway station and traffic continuing west on lA Hwy. This monument consisted of a large sandstone base with a tapered top. Chiseled into each side was the direction and mileage east to Calgary and west to Banff. It was showing a number of scars from vehicles cutting the corner too close.

As the 1 A Hwy had been changed to no longer cut through the downtown sector, through traffic no longer had to travel this intersection, thus no need for the policeman. I loaded up the whole works on my lowboy trailer and hauled it to the east end of town. There it was dumped south of Bill Barley’s house into a big hole which was the result of clay being excavated for use at the brickyard. What a shame no one cared to save this as a historical monument!

Also dumped into the big hole were old kilns left over from the brickworks. These came from two curious mounds that had grassed over, across the street from Pete and Olga Flundra’s house, which the Town asked me to clean up.

Chuckwagon Racing

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pg 193 More Big Hill Country 2009

Chuckwagon racing most definitely has its roots in the history of the Old West, but how did it come to be one of the most popular events at the world-renowned Calgary Stampede, not to mention other famous rodeos and racing events across the West?

Racing had a lot to do with settlers travelling west and the most common form of transportation was the ‘ wagon’. After a long day on the trail, whether it be heading west or cowboys driving cattle, the wagon was ‘home’ and provided a well-deserved meal. Cowboys were motivated to be their quickest in getting their teams and wagons packed and ‘racing’ to their next stop, thus was born chuckwagon racing. A fast team and efficient packing were the name of the game.

The 1923 Calgary Stampede was the birthplace of Alberta’s first chuckwagon racing competition where racers were urged to imitate the cowboy’s breaking of camp, with all the speed and skill that is required. These races caught the fancy of Albertans who wanted to see more racing, plus all the horsemanship, techniques, excitement and action the new sport brought to rodeos. Since that time, chuckwagon races have been a crowd-pleasing event every summer.

Gladstone (Slim) Fenton, 1930’s started entering the Calgary Stampede in the Chuckwagon Races, now known as the Rangeland Derby. Partnership with Lane Berry aka “Lone Breeze”. Breezie was the skinner, Slim the outrider. Then Slim started his own outfit. His canvas trademark was longhorns until the 1950’s. In the early 1980 ‘s, there was an attempt to start Chuckwagon racing here. The races didn’t last long but the track continued to be used in various capacities until very recently. Griffin’s of course, were involved in Chuckwagon racing long before the track appeared in their area. More recently the Grant Profit outfit have been strong competitor.

As can be seen, horses have been an integral part of a variety of sporting events since the turn of the 20th century. Today there is an even wider range including penning, reining, cutting, working cow horse, roping, dressage, jumping. and polocrosse to name a few. The popularity of horseback riding, whether it be trail riding, competition ranch related or just for fun, has increased over the past decades.

Deep Dive

  • Slim Fenton

MR. AND MRS. GLADSTONE (SLIM) FENTON

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by Frances Dionne pg 633 Big Hill Country 1977

Dad came West as a child, with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fenton, and his brothers and sisters, from the Lakehead in Ontario. The first move was to Needles, British Columbia, in 1911, then in 1912 the family moved north of Cochrane to what was called the Sprinthall place, near where Mrs. Maier lives. From there, Dad attended school at Weedon for a few years. Then the family moved to where Mr. and Mrs. Bill Boothby live now.

Robert Fenton passed away in July 1916. Dad (Slim), being sixteen years of age, and the youngest of a family of thirteen children, left home to work at different jobs. He always worked with horses. In 1919, he and a number of other cowboys moved a large herd of horses from the United States to winter pasture in the Grande Prairie district of Alberta. He later went to work for Mr. and Mrs. Pines southeast of Carstairs. While there, he broke many broncs for them and for neighbouring farmers. During threshing time he drove a four-horse team on the water tank for the steam engine. The threshing outfit was owned by Earl Brown of Crossfield, in 1920.

It was at this time that Slim met his bride-tobe. Mabel Lillian Ferguson had come West from Battersea, Ontario, in 1903, with her mother, brothers and sisters, to join her father who had homesteaded nine miles southeast of Carstairs in 1901. She and Slim were married in 1922.

Mom and Dad lived for a few years in the Cochrane area, returning to Carstairs where they lived until 1930. Then they moved to Cochrane Lakes to a half section on the Correction Line. We lived in a bunk house for two years, not settling on a location to build a house until a water supply was found. Dad, Elmer Ferguson (Mom’s brother) and Ray Lovell dug a well just over the knoll from Cochrane Lakes School. They dug for eighty feet and never hit water so abandoned it and dug another, further north, where they were successful, obtaining good water at about the same depth.

At this location, Dad and Uncle Elmer built a two-storey house from logs that Dad hauled from Brooks’ mill, where he had had them squared on three sides. Lynn recalls going with Dad as a very young boy to get a load of logs and having a runaway with some of the broncs Dad was breaking at the time. They were going down the hill past Perrenouds on to the Horse Creek road when the running gear ran up on the horses’ heels and scared them. Dad called to Lynn to hang on like a puppy to a root. The horses finally slowed down going up the steep hill on the other side of the creek.

Ray Lovell also helped in the building of the house and other buildings. Ray will always hold a cherished spot in our memories as a kind and thoughtful man. I recall our parents telling of the time that he walked from where he was working east of Cochrane, to our place one very cold Christmas Eve, with candy and nuts for us all.

Dad broke horses for many people and worked the farm land as well. Particularly remembered are the team of beautiful greys that he broke for Mel Brown. Like so many other farmers at that time, he paid his taxes by working on the roads. He usually worked with the fresno putting in culverts and bridges. Roy, the eldest son, put in many long days helping Dad on the road.

Dad purchased a shingle mill and made shingles from poplar and pine lumber. Many buildings in the district were shingled for the first time, or re-shingled, and there are numerous ones in the area that still have good roofs made with the shingles from this mill. Mom and Dad had four children, Roy, Lynn, Frances and Joy. They all attended Cochrane Lakes School. Roy, and Mr. and Mrs. Ken Elliott (Joy) and family, Ray, Rocky and Hector, reside at Westward Ho, Alberta. Lynn and his wife, Dorothy, and their children Dan and Wendy, and Mr. and Mrs. Alf Dionne and their family, Mabelyn, Gayle, Gladstone and Joy, all live at Cochrane.

Our home was open to many as they rode through. Don and Dave Malloch used to trail cattle and horses from their parents’ farm west of Airdrie to their homestead back in the bush at the head of Grand Valley. They always welcomed a warm place to stop in winter and to enjoy a cup of coffee and Mother’s good homemade bread. One very cold and blizzardy night a knock came at the door. It was Don and Dave. They had put their saddle horses in the barn and fed them, and Don had to help his brother to the house. Dave was chilled through and he sat a long time near the well-stoked heater sipping hot coffee before he recovered from the near-freezing that he had experienced. Meanwhile, Dad and Don were enjoying games of cribbage, long into the night.

Herman Kober, as a young cowboy, made his home with us for a while. He was very efficient at fixing harness. He kept our undivided attention once, as he tore Dad’s saddle apart and rebuilt it into a real swell saddle with a large roping horn. Dad still used this same saddle and rode right up until two weeks before he passed away).

Among the many cowboys and friends, too numerous to mention, are the Walt Thomes. Sunday afternoon visits with regular treats of peanuts and candy are so often thought of when our family is together, and thoughts turn to the fascinating hunting stories that used to be told.

Our parents moved from the Cochrane Lakes district in 1943. They purchased the Bob Hogarth farm in Horse Creek, where Lynn and his family still live.

In the 1930s, Dad started entering the Calgary Stampede in the Chuckwagon races, now known as the Rangeland Derby. In the first years he was in partnership with Lane Berr , better known as “Lone Breeze.” Breezie was the skinner and Dad rode as an outrider, then Dad started with his own outfit. Phil Cook painted longhorns on the wagon can as, which as to be the trademark for the Slim Fenton outfit until the 1950s.

Dad drove his first outfit to Calgary and with him went three local boys as outriders, son Roy, Phil Cook and Jim Burtson. During the years of wagon races there were many others who rode, such as Alf Dionne, Chet Baldwin, Chick Coelen, Mac Leask and Bill Boothby, who always chased the wagon on a grey horse named Blue. During those years of chuckwagon racing, the drivers could use the whips, which got to be more of a hinderance than use, so Dad, along with other drivers, met with the officials and had the whip abolished. Dad drove for many years, going to Saskatchewan in 1949, where he won the big trophy at Meadow Lake. He entered many rodeos in the United States and British Columbia. He spent his last years at his home in Princeton, British Columbia, where he worked as cow boss on a nearby ranch owned by Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Sellars.

Mom passed away April 23, 1960, and Dad on November 13, 1968.

Deep Dive

George and Gail Lauder

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page 567 More Big Hill Country

I, Gail Edge, married George Lauder in 1966. 

My Dad was Ollie Edge, son of William and Sarah Edge of Brushy Ridge and my Mom was Ida Brodie, daughter of Isabella and Irvine Brodie of Cochrane. (Please see Chaps and Chinooks and Big Hill Country books for their histories.) Mom and Dad ranched all their lives here in Brushy Ridge. 

I went to school in Brushy Ridge, a one-room school- house from grade 1 to 6 then was bused to Cochrane for grades 7 to 12. I loved sports and played basketball, track and field and rode on the ranch. George excelled at track and field, and all sports, rode horses and later really enjoyed his time playing flag football with the Jumping Pound team. I also belonged to the Springbank 4-H Beef Club and my Dad and Mom hauled me to many High School rodeos to compete in barrel racing and some smaller horse shows. I won that event in Strathmore at the first High School Rodeo. 

I met George Lauder in grade 7 and later we became high school sweethearts and were married September 10, 1966. My Dad had passed away a year earlier and Mom was then moving to Cochrane. George and I moved into the home ranch house where we still live today. George is the son of Kay and Jack Lauder and great-grandson of Doc Lauder, a veterinarian with the Northwest Mounted Police in 1874 (histories in the Innisfail history book). 

George and I have been very fortunate to be able to follow our passion and love the horse industry, passed on to us from our parents and grandparents. We have followed the AQHA circuit (American Quarter Horse Circuit) all the years we were first married and through the years until the children were finished school. When the kids were small Mom (Ida) would travel to the shows with us. We hauled all through Canada and parts of the USA meeting many wonderful people. Gregg and Paige (our children) also went off to follow the horse business in Europe for a time. 

George and I both commuted to work in Calgary. I retired in 2005 from Exxon Mobil and George retired early from TriWestern Insulation in Airdrie in 2000 to assist Gregg with his horse training business. George is the Lauder Ranch’s manager and, along with myself, takes care of all the clients and horses at the ranch. When George is not working hard at the Ranch he actively supports the horse community participating as Ring Steward, National Reining Horse Representative and Scribe at the major AQHA and NRHA shows in western Canada. 

We have two children. Gregg is a professional horse trainer and carded judge. He married Anette Gassner from Germany and operates Gregg Lauder Reining Horses from our home place. Gregg apprenticed in horse training in the USA and Europe. Paige married Jeremy Olsen from South Dakota and lives in Whitesboro, Texas on their ranch. They operate Equine Promotions. Paige completed a course at Colorado State University and has been a breeding manager for some of the prominent Quarter Horse ranches in California and Texas.

We plan to retire soon and do more traveling to horse shows! And find more time to enjoy our good friends.

Deep Dive

Bill and Emily Lathwell

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page 564 Big Hill Country 1977

Another in our continuing series on Willing, Working, Women, the women behind the Cochrane Library coming into being.

Mark Boothby

Bill (William George) Lathwell was born in Calgary on November 21 1907, the eldest son of W.T.D. Lathwell, an aspiring lawyer and city Alderman, and Florence (Tweed) Lathwell, a graduate nurse, both from Winnipeg.

Emily (Moore) Lathwell was born on January 29,1909 in Port Clarence, Durham, England, the youngest daughter of a railroad engineer.

Bill and Emily met in 1930 in Sexsmith, Alberta, where Emily was helping her sister and working in town. Bill and his family had moved from the Calgary area to homestead near Debolt, Alberta, at the start of the Depression. They were married in her sister’s home in Teepee Creek – June 19, 1933, and settled into a log cabin on their homestead at Debolt.

Their first child, a son named James, was stillborn and is buried in the Debolt Cemetery next to Bill’s father who had suffered a major heart attack and died in 1932.

Their second son, Robert, was born in 1937, apparently a real handful who kept his mother busy.

Times were tough during the Depression years with swapping, trading and bartering the primary means of obtaining the goods etc. for survival as very little cash was available. Bill joined the Forestry Branch of the Alberta Government to fight forest fires. The net pay was 15 cents an hour after board was deducted. At least there was some cash coming in.

In January 1939 word came of a job opening with a lumber company near Morley. Bill left his family on

the homestead and traveled to Calgary where he was picked up and transported to the camp by car. The first person he met at the camp was his brother Charlie.

Emily and Bobby left Debolt in April to visit her sister and family who had moved to Victoria from Teepee Creek. When she left Debolt the Smokey River was still partly frozen. As she was afraid to take the cable car over the river she walked on the ice to open water then took a rowboat over the water to the ice on the other side then walked to the other bank and from there to the train in Grand Prairie and on to Victoria. Quite an undertaking for a new mother with a two-year-old terror.

As Bill’s new job seemed permanent, she returned to Morley instead of Debolt and took up residence in a new log house. In the early 1940’s the camp was moved to the Moose Mountain area of the Jumping Pound district.

In late 1942 Emily and Bobby were taken out to Bill’s mother’s home in the Sunnyside district of Calgary where their third son, David Thomas, was born in November.

Bill, Emily and family moved to Cochrane in 1943 to allow Bob to attend school.

During the winter of 1944-1945 the lumber company went into bankruptcy so Bill was out of work until April of 1945 when he started working on the drilling rigs for Shell Oil in the Jumping Pound area. This lasted until 1948 when the drilling in the area ceased and the rigs moved east. Bill was out of work again but managed through getting odd jobs around town such as unloading coal cars, hauling and delivering firewood, and haying to keep the family alive. Emily said that if it had not been for Joe and Ernie Andison giving credit they wouldn’t have survived.

In 1950 Shell Oil had analyzed the natural gas situation in the Jumping Pound field and was starting to build a processing plant to supply gas to Calgary. Bill was hired on, the start of a 25 year work experience with a major oil company. Emily took Bill’s first pay cheque and paid off their debts! Bill worked from 1950 to retirement having taken no sick days off, quite an accomplishment!

In 1965 they bought a house to be moved from 16 Avenue. NW in Calgary, to replace the old “Shingle Shack” the family had lived in since 1943.

Both Emily and Bill were avid gardeners and transformed their yard from a barren bald lot to a park-like area. They also planted a huge garden to supply the needs of the family during the winter months. They never seemed to get over the “Depression Syndrome” and were forever cautious of spending money unnecessarily.

Emily helped Mrs. Maguire taking tickets at the town hall during movies and dances. She also was involved with Nancy Boothby in establishing and working in the town library. She was a lifelong member and loved reading. Bill was involved with the group committee during the formation of the Boy Scouts in Cochrane.

Both boys grew up and were educated in Cochrane, Calgary and Olds. They both delivered the Calgary Herald, were involved with the Scouts, camping and horseback riding at Griffins. Bob courted and married Myrna Edge, daughter of Ollie and Ida Edge in 1959. They have two sons Murray and Russell (Tami) and one daughter Andrea (Boyd) Hall. Bob was employed in the oil industry and worked in Calgary, Swift Current, Whitecourt, Carstairs, Lloydminster and Conklin. He retired from Home Oil after 30 years service and now resides south of Cochrane on Ollie’s home quarter.

Dave courted and married Lynn Sibbald, daughter of Clarence and Edith Sibbald, ranchers in the Jumping Pound area. He was involved with rodeo as a Bareback Bronc rider, as a saddle maker in partnership with Chuck Stormes and finally with ranching at Aldersyde, Sundre and Barrhead areas. They have two daughters, Sandra Lind, Lisa (Jay) Maygard and one son Dean.

Emily and Bill have six Grandchildren and nine Great Grandchildren.

After his retirement Emily and Bill frequently traveled to Victoria, the Western States and around Alberta. They also continued to garden and beautify their lot in town. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in June 1998 and received congratulations from all levels of government, friends and family.


Emily suffered a heart attack and collapsed lung in the spring of 1993 and was hospitalized for several weeks after which time she returned home. She passed away at home on April 26, 2001 with her family in attendance. Bill continued to live at home alone, gardening, reading and writing his family history. At the age of 98 he suffered a cracked hip due to a fall while cleaning snow from his back step and spent several months in the Foothills and Rockyview Hospitals. He is currently residing in the Golden Eagle View Care Center in Canmore.

Deep Dive

Roy and Beverly Genung

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pg 459 Big Hill Country 2009

We would like to acknowledge the Book Committee of CHAPS for their hard work and dedication. Co-Chairs, Marilyn Whittle, Bernice Klotz, Business Manager Gayle Want; Copy Editor, Margaret Buckley; Typist, Lynda Alderman; Proof Readers and Writers, Ellen Buckler, Arlene Hepburn, Shannon Want, Dorothy Anderson, Bev Genung, Dave Whittle, Ken Thompson, Gordon Davies, Betty and Ernie Trosch. Our thanks also to Janette Whittle for the cover drawing and to David Callaway, who with his talent in the publishing business, volunteered to get the book "print ready" for us. Our thanks also to the many phoners and helpers we needed to complete this task.

Roy Genung of Elbow, Saskatchewan and I, Bev Bullerwell of Cut Knife, Saskatchewan were married July 2, 1966. We both grew up in rural farm settings in our respective communities. Roy operated a service station in Elbow and I was a teacher at Elbow and Lashburn, Saskatchewan prior to our marriage, at which time we moved to Calgary.

We resided in Calgary from July 1966 until February 1976. Roy worked as service manager for a company specializing in Melroe Bobcat skid teer loaders. We lived in the new Calgary suburb of Braeside v. here our son Jeffrey was born in 1968 and daughter Jody in 1970.

In December 1975 we purchased one of the most westerly lots in Cochrane at 624 Second Street West where we built a Cedar-Log bungalow.

At that time Roy and Russ Watts each purchased a Melroe Bobcat, forming Deluxe Bobcat Service. Russ and family later moved from the Cochrane area.

Jeff and Jody took all their schooling in Cochrane graduating in 1986 and 1988. Jeff was a part of the Scouting movement and Cadets, swimming, ball, student council and Youth Group. He worked at the local IGA and summers at Calaway Park. He attended U of C and Mount Royal College. After some time in Australia, Jeff joined Roy in the excavating business and formed Deluxe Bobcat & Excavating Ltd. With an array of equipment including excavators, backhoe, loaders, trucks and various bobcats they worked at many sites in Cochrane, Calgary and areas of southern Alberta.

Jody was a GGIT and Youth Group member, took swimming, piano and dance lessons. She worked summers for the Town summer camp programs. Jody attended Mount Royal College.

Jeff, Danielle, Avery and Grayson live in Cochrane. They own and operate Cochrane Coffee Traders and Roasterie at two locations in Cochrane. Jeff completed two terms on the local town council. Jody, Dave, Abby, Thomas and Marley DiCastri now reside in Alberta after a few years at various postings in British Columbia with the RCMP. Jody works for the local Recreation Department and Dave is with the serious crime unit of the Calgary RCMP.

After more than 18 years of acreage living at Pleasant View Heights and on Weedon Trail we moved back to Cochrane September of 2006.

We have been a part of Cochrane as it grew from a town of 1,200 to a population of nearly 14,000. We are as proud to be a part of this vibrant community today as we were more than 30 years ago when we chose Cochrane as a place to live and work.

Cochrane 1904 Courtesy Dorothy Andersen
Cochrane 1978 Photo Valleyview West Insurance

Deep Dive

RAD Poster filmed in part in Cochrane
RAD Poster

Walter Crowe Family

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Page 221 Big Hill Country 1977

Walter and Mary Crowe arrived in Cochrane from Newcastle, England, in April 1904. Walter had been a coachman for the Lord Mayor of London prior to leaving England. They had three children born in England: Ernest, in December 1899; Ethel, in January 1901, and Robert, in August 1902.

They went immediately to R. W. Meicklejon’s Minnehaha Horse Ranch in Grand Valley, later called the Critchley Ranch and then the Rhodes Ranch. Walter worked there for two years, breaking horses. When the Meicklejons retired to Florida, the Crowe family moved to Banff, where Walter worked briefly for Colonel Phil Moore, who married Pearl Brewster.

Returning to Cochrane, Walter homesteaded the NE¼ 24-27-5-5 on Horse Creek. In November 1906, a daughter Mabel was born, and in April 1913, a daughter Violet was born.

Walter Crowe was instrumental in organizing the Chapelton School District, now known as Horse Creek, and donated two acres of his homestead for the school site.

In 1916 Ernest joined the 137th Battalion C.E.F. in Calgary and served with the 10th Battalion in France, at Vimy Ridge, and Hill 70, where he was seriously wounded in 1917. Walter enlisted in the 211th Battalion and served in Canada before being honourably discharged.

Prior to Ernie’s discharge in 1919, and his return to Canada, his dad had sold the farm to the Soldier’s Settlement Board. The family had moved to Cochrane, where his dad and Robert bought the Alberta livery stables. Ernie joined them in the business, selling coal and hauling freight to the stores, and carrying the mail for three rural mail routes, Dog Pound, Bottrel and Lochend, three days per week. About 1920 the Crowes bought the first Ford ton truck in the area. Even after its advent, the rural mail delivery, and trips with the doctor, had to be done in the winter and spring seasons with horses and sleighs or democrats; sometimes the mail was carried on pack horses.

In 1920 Ethel Crowe worked for Belle Truman as an operator in the telephone office. She met and married Pete Drever. Pete was well known in the Calgary Horse Show. After a year in Calgary, where their first daughter, Eileen, was born, they migrated to Mt. Kisco, New York State, and worked with horses on some large estates. Three more daughters were born: Joy, Virginia and Doris. Virginia died in Calgary in 1930, while on a visit to Cochrane with her mother and sisters. In the 1930s Pete and Ethel acquired their own riding school and stables and made several trips back to Alberta to buy potential polo and hunter horses. Pete died suddenly in June 1940. Ethel, left with three young girls, had to sell out and go to other work. She has been in retirement for the last twelve years in Bedford Hills, New York State. Her three daughters now are: Mrs. Gene Powell, Bedford Village, New York; Mrs. Jas. Barron, Arlington, Texas; and Mrs. Jack Armstrong, Bedford Hills, New York.

Robert Crowe joined the R.C.M.P. in 1927. He served at Fort Churchill on Hudson’s Bay, The Pas, Flin Flan, Island Falls and at several other stations. While on detachment at Tisdale, Saskatchewan, he married Hilda Lamb of that town. When stationed at Melfort, Saskatchewan, a son Barry and a daughter Bonnie were born. In July 1945, while Staff Sergeant at Sub Division Headquarters, Prince Albert, he drowned in Lake Waskesiu.

 Barry, his wife and two daughters, live in Vancouver. Bonnie, her husband, Ken Walberg, three daughters and her mother, live in Prince George, British Columbia.

Mabel Crowe married William Bateman of Jumping Pound in April 1926. They ranched there where a son Norman and a daughter Joan were born. In 1944 they moved to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Three years later they went to Vancouver, where Bill worked at the Alberta Wheat Pool Terminal Elevators, until his retirement in 1968. They then moved to Langley. Norman and Joan and their families live in North Vancouver and North Burnaby, respectively.

Upon leaving school, Violet Crowe was employed as a telephone operator at Cochrane for a few years. She met and married Arnold Rushfeldt in 1930. They went to farm at Vulcan, Alberta, where two sons Douglas and Mervin, and a daughter Loreen were born. Three weeks after Loreen’s birth, Violet died in the Vulcan hospital. 

Ernie Crowe was secretary treasurer for the Village of Cochrane and manager of the old Alberta Hotel for a number of years. In 1929 he became the agent for the Albert Government Telephones, a position he held until 1948. He was a charter member of the Cochrane branch of the old G.W.V.A., later called the Canadian Legion, and was also a past president of the branch. He was a member of the Cochrane school board for nine years and a Justice of the Peace for the Village.

Ernie married May Brown in 1928. A daughter Jean was born December 1929, a son Stanley in June 1937, and a daughter Connie in January 1940. Jean married James Darroch in 1947 and they had three sons and one daughter. Jean presently lives in Calgary. In 1958 Connie married Alex Lohrer in Calgary, where they reside with their daughter and son. Stanley married Gwen Scott in Vancouver in 1970. They have a daughter and a son. They are now residents of Ottawa, where Stanley is employed with the Department of Public Works.

Upon resigning from A.G.T. in 1948, Ernie Crowe went to Vancouver, where he was employed at the University of British Columbia as a security officer for 17 years, until he retired employed as a telephone operator at Cochrane in 1965. His first wife, May, died in Calgary in 1962. Later that year he married Wilhelmina Grant, a Registered Nurse, in Victoria. He and his wife are now retired in Calgary.

After going out of the livery business in Cochrane, Walter Crowe worked for some years for the Provincial Government, Department of Highways branch. After the death of his wife in 1943 at the age of 72 years, Walter went to work at the Colonel Belcher hospital and the Empress Hotel in Calgary. He died in Calgary in 1947 at the age of 74 years; both he and his wife are buried in the Cochrane cemetery

Deep Dive

Jumping Pound 4-H Club

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Page 171 More Big Hill Country 2009

In the M.D. of Rocky View #44, the area west of Calgary changed drastically after the opening of the Trans Canada Highway.

The communities west of the City of Calgary, including Jumping Pound, Springbank and Brushy Ridge and their surrounding areas, that had been primarily ranching and dairying operations, experienced phenomenal growth and development and became primarily country residential.

Dairy and Beef operations dwindled in numbers and this took its toll on the Springbank Beef and Dairy Clubs. The area south of the Bow River ceased to have a 4-H club in the spring of 1972. The Rudiger, Moore, Copithorne and Buckley children had to travel a considerable distance to join the newly formed Bearspaw 4-H Beef Club.

In the fall of 1975, ranchers Harvey Buckley, Ken Copithorne, Richard Copithorne and Bill Copithorne met with Dennis Sereda of the Calgary Region 4-H Office and Dale Riddell, with the hopes of forming a new Beef Club in Jumping Pound.

The Inaugural meeting was held on October 6, 1975 in the Jumping Pound Community Hall with Leader, Dale Riddell and Assistant Leader Sam Copithome. Twenty-one members registered for the 4-H market steer project, one member also registered for the Carcass Class and his 2nd Year of the Heifer Project.

Due to the fact that only five of the members had been in 4-H before, their first guest speaker spoke on “How to Choose a 4-H Calf’. Meetings followed with speakers covering the usual topics of Feeding, Showing and Grooming Your 4-H Calf. Weigh Day took place in December.

In January 1976, the Jumping Pound Beef Club chose the Buffalo as their symbol with brown, green and gold as their club colours. Encouraged by their leader, Dale Riddell, the emphasis was put on all round achievements in all aspects of the 4-H purpose, “Learn to Do By Doing.” Although cattle played a part of this experience, sharing with others including different communities and 4-H Clubs, public speaking seminars, fund raising and an awareness of others and the environment became very important to this club.

With Dale’s help, strong parent support and the assistance of Sam, this young club grew and became very adept at helping any new members without a rural background.

As the years pass, many fond memories and experiences come back: the nervous feeling by all at the first meeting of the year when you had to stand up in front of all those people and state your name, where you came from and your project, the public speaking seminars, judging clinics, field days at Matthew’s and the Awards Banquets. Who could forget the fund raising events; bake sales, bingos, raffles, turkey shoots and delivering telephone books in the City of Calgary? What an eye opener that was for a group of kids from the country! In summary it was a worthwhile experience which developed skills, good citizenship and personal growth.

Highway Clean-Up was first introduced when this Club was in its infancy. If you could keep the kids from saving all the junk they picked up along the ditches, you also had to keep them from straying into the neighbouring fields and cleaning them too!

Come spring everyone was busy getting ready for the Regional Show, 4-H on Parade, in Calgary. Connie Longeway painted the Banner to hang in the show barn at Stampede Park. The mothers and girls cut out brands and attached them to burlap for hanging above the stalls, Name plates for each member were carved out of wood, while fathers and sons gathered, painted and fixed all the boxes, barrels and storage units to make sure all was in order for the “Big Show”. In the beginning years of the club, the whole community donated white shirts and blouses which were kept in a borrowing library for anyone who needed them. The traditional 4-H uniform was blue jeans, white long sleeved shirts or blouse, 4-H Bolo tie and the 4-H crest on the left arm. For many years the Jumping Pound Beef Club carried on this tradition at 4-H on Parade.

In 1980 Dale Riddell retired as leader of the Jumping Pound 4-H Beef Club and Dr. Scott Rairdan, DVM led the club for two years. Following Scott, Bill Bateman had two very successful years as leader. He encouraged the members as in previous years and assisted many of them in attaining their goals. In 1984, Al Kumlin led this enthusiastic club of twenty-five members. In the following years some of the earlier members that had benefited from the 4–H movement such as Laurie Edge led the Jumping Pound Club. It continues to be successful, at one point became a multi club and some members actively raised chickens and other small animals to show. Although the membership changes as the years go by and the population changes to mainly urban type residences, the 4-H movement continues to be a wonderful experience and achievement for the young people today.

Deep Dive

Ebeneezer Healy and the Healy Cheese Factory

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Page 52 More Big Hill Country 2009

Ebeneezer Healy was born in Nova Scotia, and he married Sarah Pepper, who was born in Ontario in 1849. They had six children: Glen, Gordon, George, Robert, Sidney and Blanche.

In 1889, the Healys arrived in the Brushy Ridge area south of Cochrane where they homesteaded the NE Sec 12 Twp 25 Rge 4 W5M. They also purchased the S Sec 13 Twp 25 Rge 4 W5M and pre-empted the SW Sec 12 Twp 25 Rge 4 W5M. Then Gordon Healy homesteaded the S Sec 1 Twp 25 Rge 4 W5M.

Ebeneezer was an experienced dairyman, and he brought twenty milk cows, travelling by covered wagon from Regina, where he had established a dairy farm. His family, his wife, five sons and one daughter travelled by the CPR to Cochrane.

The experience he had in Eastern Canada likely prompted the idea that the surplus milk produced in this area could be made into cheese and shipped to outside markets. In doing so, he solved not only his own problems of excess milk but his neighbours’ too.

This project was closely watched by the community, and records show that in 1890, he made ten tons of cheese during the season, valued at an average of twelve and a half cents a pound. The daily milk supply was valued at $12.40 per hundred pounds of milk and he received 3000 pounds per day.

The factory operated until 1896 after which it was converted into a cream separating station operated for a season by Mr. Healy for the Dominion Department of Agriculture. The cream from this station was taken to Calgary and made into butter at the newly formed government creamery.

Ebeneezer Healy then turned to cattle ranching, and the factory became a barn.

The significance of the establishment of Mr. Healy’s cheese factory lies in the fact that it marked the beginning of the industrial phase of dairying in Alberta. Sometime during the 1890’s he shipped some cheese to the Chicago Fair and he won a prize.

Mr. Healy retired from active business in 1907 and died July 14, 1937 at age 92. A cairn was built and on October 27, 1938 it was unveiled on the site of Mr. Healy’s cheese factory commemorating “50 years before, a cheese factory had been built on this site”. The Alberta Dairymen’s Association and the Provincial Government of Alberta erected this cairn.

Currently the plaque from the cairn has been placed in safe keeping at Heritage Park in Calgary.

Deep Dive

Brodie Clan

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Page 310 More Big Hill Country 2009

By Sandra M. Pickup (nee Brodie)

Born to a family where money was scarce, a young lad found himself traveling the country as his beloved uncle searched for work. The boy was James (Jim) Bertram Brodie born in January 17, 1926 to Clive and Mabel McDiarmid of Carievale, Saskatchewan. The family later moved to Manning, Alberta where Jim attended several years of school before leaving home for Ontario with his uncle, Bert. Here Jim attended several more years of school while his Uncle Bert worked at various occupations, mostly farm related. Jim and his uncle found work at a grain farm six miles west of Three Hills, Alberta where Bert went to work for Amos Brodie and Jim attended Curlew, a small one roomed school in the district. Jim later took his high school at the Prairie Bible Institute. While at the Brodies, Mrs. May Brodie took a shine to the young lad, Jim, adopted him and became his mother when he was about ten years old. Bert worked for the Brodies every summer until Amos sold the farm because he was going blind.

In Calgary, Alberta the Brodie family made their new home. Here Jim went to work delivering gas bills for Canadian Western Natural Gas, and was later employed by Anderson’s Plumbing as a tin smith. While he enjoyed his work, Jim longed to fulfill his dream of operating his own farm. As best man at his friend’s wedding, Jim met Miss Beryl Halladay.

On a cold day December 3, 1929 Beryl Georgina Halladay was born within minutes of her twin sister Bernice. Lac Vert, Saskatchewan was now home to twin baby girls, delivered by their father as there were no doctors for miles around. Little Bernice weighed four pounds while her baby sister Beryl weighed only three pounds. The twins were the eighth and ninth children of James Wilson and Jessie Amelia Halladay . The children grew up going to school, playing games in the seasons and doing the necessary chores that were needed to sustain a farm family and keep kids out of trouble. The house was a modest dwelling; the home was a sanctuary of love and warmth. Then disaster stuck! In September 1940 the family’s father and husband, James Halladay, was killed when a team of horses he was working with bolted, pulling a grain bin over him, crushing him to death. Devastated, the family soldiered on, but life had suddenly changed. Without Mr. Halladay to earn a living the older children had to help support their mother.

The new-found faith in Christ of Mrs. Halliday and her late husband would now sustain the family as they faced this crisis and others that would follow. Beryl and her sisters were needed to help their mother a home. When the girls were about fourteen it became necessary to terminate their formal school education to work on neighboring farms in neighboring homes performing housekeeping tasks and household chores where labor was arduous and payment was often modest. In 1946 Beryl, her twin sister Bernice and their mother moved to Three Hills, Alberta where work was more plentiful and the two girls, now sixteen years old could find employment in neighboring farm homes. By coincidence, in 1948, while attending a wedding as Bridesmaid for her twin sister Bernice, Beryl Halliday met Jim Brodie who was at the same wedding standing up as Best Man for his good friend Gerry Hazel. After a courtship of about a year Beryl Halliday became Mrs. Jim Brodie in a marriage ceremony in October 21, 1950 at the home of some friends near Three Hills.

Jim and Beryl moved in with his parents in Calgary until some suitable land and a house could be purchased, a period of about a year. Within that year I, Sandra May, was born on October 8, 1951. Around this time Brodies bought land in Cochrane on the north side of the Bow River, west of River Avenue. We bought the quarter section along the river which is now residential housing and a golf course. At the same time Amos Brodie bought the 60 acres north of ours that was later sold to Henderson’s who later sold it to Spray Lake Sawmills. Both our quarter and Grandpa’s land was purchased for $20 an acre.

April of 1952 saw Brodies move to their new home in Cochrane. For the present time the cookhouse formally used by the crew that had built the Cochrane Bridge would have to serve as the dwelling for the new residents to Cochrane. This cookhouse built around 1925 had been hauled up from the river front so it would not flood. Dad dug the twenty-six foot deep well by hand. Dad and Mom built the rest of the buildings, fences, and corrals needed for a farming operation. Mom looked after the household and tended the Iivestock while Dad worked for off- farm income. He worked for Lambert Brothers as a carpenter in construction but was mostly employed at the Shell Jumping Pound Gas Plant at various labour tasks (often using the skills he had acquired as a tin smith). A baby boy, Paul James was welcomed into the Brodie household on June 23, 1953.

 

During the first nine years, we had no hydroelectric power, natural gas or running water (unless you count running to the well with a bucket) in our home. I can still recall the flickering coal-oil lamps that illuminated the gloomy rooms when the sun had gone down. We had several cows, chickens, turkeys, and at one time two pigs! Dad’s Uncle Bert, who had previously lived with my grandpa and grandma (Amos and May Brodie), moved from Calgary to live with us in the spring. Uncle Bert planted and tended a big garden for our family. It was also my Uncle Bert who took care of my little brother and me while my folks were tending to all those tasks that are so much a part of farming, planting, haying, harvesting etc. As other folks who grew up on farms will attest, farm life can at times be hard, other times quite rewarding. Some winters Dad had to chop a channel through the thick bank of ice to the frozen river, to allow the cows to drink. Paul and I had our chores to do but also we had plenty of time to play. One friend Paul often played with was our neighbor’s son, Georgie Bunny. I used to ride my bike out to where the First Nations People had in times past left rocks placed in circles for their encampments. With my vivid imagination I would pretend there were relatives in these circles (pretend houses) and talk with them. (Should’ve got a life huh ?) I also remember the deep ruts cut in the ground by stagecoaches left long ago. Good neighbors we had were Norman and Bessie Elliot and George and Donna Bunny who lived across the river, George and Molly Clarke to the north and Clarence and Rose McGonigle who lived across the field.

In 1958, Uncle Bert left our home to marry his childhood sweet-heart in Ontario. Mom then took over management of the big garden. As Paul and I grew older, after school and on weekends we helped with more of the farm work. Working with hay, green feed, farm dusts and pollens was difficult for Paul as he suffered horribly from the severe affects of asthma.

A highlight of our family was the completion of the new house my Grandpa and Grandma Brodie built for us in 1960. Such luxury! We now had a beautiful home with running water, hydro- electric power, and natural gas. We each had our own room too! This well-built house was eventually purchased and moved to the property of Laurie Spicer who lived north of Cochrane. Christmas was always very special for Paul and I as it meant Uncle Jerry and Aunty Bernice would be visiting with their family and we always looked forward to playing with our cousins from Three Hills. So many memories I have of my younger years on the farm. An incident I remember took place when Paul and I were still kids. A man asked my Dad for permission to fly his glider on our land. After a few days of flying he asked Dad to accompany him. My Father, who was deathly afraid of flying never the less, agreed to go with him. A few minutes later the pilot, Dad, and the plane crashed in the barnyard. Luckily no one was injured; but poor Dad was as white as if he had seen a ghost!

As children we played in a playhouse Dad converted for us out of the abandoned icehouse. Another fond childhood memory is hiking back to the cabin Dad built along the river at the back of our property, to feast on the wonderful suppers Mom packed. Paul and I started school in what then was the Cochrane Elementary School. This later became Andrew Sibbald and most recently Holy Spirit School. Junior high school we took at the old two-story brick school that was later tom down to add on to the Andrew Sibbald School. Paul and I were among the first students to attend the new Cochrane High School on the hill.

On August 15, 1970, I, Sandra Brodie (Sandy) became Mrs. Lynn Pickup in a marriage ceremony in St. Andrew’s United Church in Cochrane. Lynn and I spent the first year working and living in Banff, as there was no work in Cochrane. However we had never changed our address since our goal was to return to Cochrane to live. Our prayers were answered in August 1971 when, at the Jumping Pound Gas Plant where he worked, Dad secured a Janitor position for Lynn and we moved back to Cochrane.

In 1971, Paul, my brother, graduated from Cochrane High School then went on to S.A.I.T. (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) where the first year he took Architectural Technology. He then served his apprenticeship in carpentry and received his journeyman’s certification. Paul placed 2nd in a 1st -year competition between S.A.I.T. and N.A.I.T. and went on to a career building houses and other construction. A house southwest of Cochrane that Paul was assisting to build was struck by lightning. Paul was briefly hospitalized, but apart from some memory loss, he suffered no lasting effects from the lightning strike. Paul is now a Certified Government Building Inspector.

Dad loved to fish and kept the Bow River stirred up with his fly rod. He used to go out after supper in the summer and was frequently able to catch his limit of trout and grayling within the short walk along the river between the garden and the house. Dad retired from the Jumping Pound Gas Plant in 1973. Dad and Mom began to make plans to sell the farm and purchase land in the Sundre area.

In 1973, Lynn and I moved to the original quarter section where Lynn’s parents had first begun their farming operation. There we situated the mobile home we had purchased. We took two children into foster care in our home. These were brothers Grant Phillips, age eight and Mark Phillips age six. The children were in our care for approximately seven years. In the years we lived on the farm I helped Lynn’s folks with farm work while Lynn commuted daily to his work at the Jumping Pound Gas Plant.

In 1975 Dad and Mom sold the farm in Cochrane and moved to another farm they purchased that was north of Westward Ho, northeast of Sundre. Paul married Linda Young from Ontario in 1977. They had two daughters, Alaina born February 18, 1979 and Tara born February 4, 1982. Paul lived in Cochrane where over a period of time he built for his family two houses. He also renovated several more and sold them. Before moving to a farm west of Bowden, Paul did the face-lift on McKay’s ice cream store on Cochrane’s main street.

In 2006 Paul married Jan Thompson, a widow from High River. They are presently building a new house on the farm. Alaina is a missionary with New Tribe Mission based in the Philippines. After University where she studied Business Administration Tara trained for property management at a firrn where she was employed. Recently she has become interested in interior decorating.

In 1989 Lynn and I bought a house in the Glenbow area and moved back to Cochrane where we now reside. At the time of this writing I have my own business where I clean people’s homes. Lynn is beginning his 37th year of service at the Jumping Pound Gas Plant. Our dear mother developed Alzheimer’s disease in the latter years of her life and is presently a resident in full care at the Bethany Care facility in Cochrane. My days are kept busy with my job and attending Mom. I also enjoy volunteering my services to help the nurses and residents in a non-medical way. Many of these residents and nurses have become dear friends as the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease forces us to share a common bond. My father moved in with us when we had to put Mom in the Bethany Care facility. Things have changed a Jot since we first came to Cochrane in the early fifties. The town, once around five hundred people, is now home to about fourteen thousand people. The town is robust and growing. It’s getting a little more crowded around here but we still love it and are pleased and proud to call Cochrane our home.

Quan Family – Cochrane Cafe

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The Cochrane Cafe

This story of the Quan family appeared in the Cochrane Times March 28, 1979. The article written by Paula Barnhart.

It’s a long way from Hong Kong to St. Walburg, Sask., and a long way, too, from there to Lloydminster and Cochrane, Alberta, and it took Charlie Quan from 1956 to 1972 to start the Cochrane Cafe on Main Street here. 

Charlie went to high school at first, and picked up the trade from grandfather Tim, who had a restaurant in St. Walburg. (Near where Don Wigton is from). Later, Charlie started a little place much like the Cochrane Cafe in Lloydminster and married Nancy Ang from Vancouver. They moved to Calgary five years later and operated a grocery store in NW Calgary. 

Charlie didn’t like the big city life and so came out to have an ice cream cone (honest) and spotted his present location. He looked over the old 7-Star and Range Grill, and decided this was the best place, even though nobody wanted it and the local pundits gave him six months to go belly up. 

He opened January 2, 1972, however, and is still going strong, recently purchasing the building next door and enlarging the cafe seating capacity greatly. 

Cochrane Cafe - CHAPS Archives

For the past seven years Charlie and his family have worked exceedingly long hours in the cafe, and the only break was when he decided to work just ‘eight hours instead of 24’ a day and be the chef for old friend Eddie Myer, who had purchased the Crowchild Inn. This was just after his third son, William, was born, and during these two years, Charlie leased the Cafe to his brother-in-law. 

The Quans, another ‘downtown’ family, live above the Cafe. In addition to William, 3, they have sons Harvey, 13, and Paul, 9. 

Helping in the Cafe are Charlie’s grandfather, Tim, who even at 97 is still busy nearly every day, Charlie’s mother, Mrs. Wai Quan, his sister, Janet Quan, wife Nancy, Aileen Payette, Sharon Coleman, Dorothy Foley, and Rick Wong. 

The Cafe is almost always busy, with breakfast crowd, coffee drinkers, huge lunch bunch and regular dinner customers. 

Available are both Canadian and Chinese cooking, and moderately priced specials on business days. Charlie also caters to parties, weddings and meetings, and has a take-out service as well. Most dishes are on demand, but some, like his delicious garlic ribs, need advance notice of at least two days. Charlie calls these ‘old country style cooking – Chinese ribs’. 

He has MacKay ice cream cones, too, and a brisk Sunday trade of visitors and local people in after Church. The Cafe is open from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day except Wednesday, when it is closed at 2 p.m.

Charlie Quan owes his success not only to hard work, but to a friendly countenance that encourages people to relax while eating or drinking coffee. 

Coffee drinkers often get up and switch booths, yelling to Charlie they have moved so their cup doesn’t get missed. When it gets extremely busy at the till or counter, it is not unusual for a customer to pop over to the coffee pot and pour a round for his boothful, with Charlie yelling they had better put an apron on.

All the friendliness and hard work in the world wouldn’t help, however, if the food wasn’t, as one lunch customer put it, ‘darned good, and you don’t have to pay an arm or leg for it’. 

Charlie is an avid supporter of the Cochrane & District Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a Charter member, and is considered a good neighbour by everyone who knows him. We hope the Cochrane Cafe will continue as a home-style restaurant for many years to come

Deep Dive

Ink, Ice Cream and the Evening Paper

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Bill Boothby Personal Recollection 1992

What was Cochrane like in the 1920s and ’30s? In this article, my father reflects on his experiences growing up in the community, including his time as a paper carrier, offering a firsthand look at everyday life in those early years. Dad's bike hung in the old machine shed for years. It's still a family heirloom. Dad grew up in a house at 4th Ave West and Highway 1A.

Mark Boothby

While trying to put all the photos that had accumulated over the years and were just lying around, into albums, I came upon an article in the Calgary Herald of country carriers. They were winners in a subscription drive hosted by the Herald. Being in the picture, I started to reminisce about those days.

I followed Lloyd Sibbald, but I do not know if he had all of the village in his route. The route given to me was west of the highway, now 1st. Ave. W. and Allan McKay, the route to the east.

Brewster Bus Lines out of Banff delivered the papers, two bundles, one to each carrier. Mr. Hart’s drug store was the depot, the bus usually arrived about 5 pm, and the edition was a three-star paper. As the bus left Banff in the A.M. on to Calgary, to return in the evening, many local residents used this service for a day’s shopping in the city.

The front part of the drug store, now McKay’s chocolate shop, and the rear was his living quarters, but now the offices of The Cochrane Times. Shortly after coming to Cochrane, he began to make ice-cream. 5c a cone, 15c a milk shake. No ice milk in those days, for his shakes were always thick and the container full. While waiting for the papers, there were many shakes consumed.

For whatever reason Hogarth’s Transport was contracted to deliver the papers from Calgary to Cochrane. Harvey Hogarth Sr. picked up milk and cream in 8 and 5-gallon cans from the farm site and delivered the same to the distribution dairies in the city, on the return hauling local merchant freight. Weather, road and farmers yard, trucks mechanical condition, amount of freight to pick up resulted in a time frame of 4-11 PM. Harvey was a good guy and Mr. Hart to If the truck looked like it would be late ,we would go home and he would phone By the way. the paper was always delivered as soon as it hit the depot. Mr. Hart was a friendly chap and really enjoyed a good cigar. He was often seen hunched close to the coal and wood heater blowing the smoke through the little door at the top. Grey Hound Bus Lines later took over delivery and times were more exact again.

Allan stopped delivering and I then delivered to all of the village. Before Allan left he had on his route, a gent by the name of John Park, retired. He was anxious, observant, and desirous for the paper to be on time. Mr. Park was close to the start of mine and Mac was a little tardy at times so was always catching heal. We switched Kwong’s Cafe for Mr. Park, every thing was fine for he had no one to compare to. If you did not tow the line for some of those crusty, elderly otherwise great people you were told in no uncertain terms.

At first we walked, no car rides and when able to buy my own bike, did so. My double bar, long handle is in the basement now waiting to be reassembled with new tires and cleaned. It is approx. 50-52 yrs old. My route had about 27 customers and forced to take two extra’s for street sale, double that for all of the village.

Customer’s price 25c for 6 papers, carrier got 10c

Forced extra’s 5c / paper, Carrier got 2c

The route bought a bike, a heck of a lot of milk shakes and whatever.

I do not know who followed.

Bill Boothby

Feb. 15/92

Cochrane date unknown

Deep Dive

Cochrane Light Horse Association Plaque

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We recently found this document and attached photos in family scrap books. It was labeled final revision for plaque May 24, 1997.

Mark Boothby

October 2 , 1996

The Cochrane Light Horse Association
by J.L. Jackson
708 Woodside Drive
Airdrie, AB T4B 2G9

The Cochrane Light Horse Association

Family fun on horseback
The Cochrane Light Horse Association

(C.L.H.A.) was formed in the early 1940’s for the purpose of promoting light horse activities. Its origins can be traced back to as early as 1918; picnics were often held at the Mount Royal Ranch. People would come to the picnics by horse and democrat. Activities involving horses were often slated into the informal program of contests, which in turn, evolved into a full-blown Gymkhana with events for the whole family.

Gymkhanas are still performed by Western riding clubs today and the Gymkhana sport still remains a competition of dexterity, quickness, and team work between horse and rider. Finesse and technique are important, but what truly counts is the time when you cross the finish line.

Original Gymkhana races included flat races using a half-mile track, and games such as the Bending Race, now referred t o as Pole Bending, the Barrel or Stake Race (either name used interchangeably), the V.C. Race, and the Gretna Green.

Community involvement and an old-fashioned good time for the family were two contributing ingredients t o the C.L.H.A.’s overall success. The Gymkhanas and other activities were often the only entertainment available in the area. The Cochrane Light Horse Association reached its pinnacle of success in the early 1950’s membership reaching upwards o f 72 members i n 1953.

Three main events formed the group’s nucleus of activity: the annual Calgary Stampede Parade float, the Gymkhana, and the Cowboy Ball and banquet held at the conclusion of the season.

The Gymkhanas continued to be held at the Mount Royal Ranch until a move closer to town was proposed in 1947. Over the years, four other locations were used. The first move was to the land in the proximity of today’s Glenbow subdivision. The Gymkhana’s next location was 50 acres immediately south of the CPR tracks. Gymkhana’s were also held in the vicinity of Crocus Crescent, west of the present day High School and the Griffin Place, located east of town near the Bow River.

A lot of time and effort went into the annual Calgary Stampede Parade float entry and the float was often constructed around a local historical theme. Three of the most memorable floats included: the 1948 float depicting “The Murphy House”; the 1952 float portraying “The Jumping Pound Stampede of 1922”; and the 1955 float using a representative “Mr. & Mrs. Alberta” of 1905 for Alberta’s fiftieth anniversary.

“Skirting”, is a decoration device used to make floats more attractive by covering up wheels and gears. The “skirting” used i n the Stampede Parade from 1953 onwards, was particularly appealing as i t was painted by local Cochrane artist, Roland Gissing.

The skirting is painted on plywood sections, for easy hauling. Both sides feature surrounding Cochrane scenery. The back portion is a branding scene with many local brands.

Gissing who has been described as, “an itinerant cowboy who became known as Alberta’s best-known artist,” was asked if he would be interested in the project. He agreed, very generously volunteering his time and artistic talents.

Foothills scenery was Gissing’s main field of study. The paintings are consistent with Gissing’s style, concerning a subject he loved t o share. It has been said, “If you see an oil painting so truly beautiful that it makes you proud, and perhaps a little homesick for the Alberta foothills, then it is probably a Gissing landscape.”

The Cochrane Light Horse Association disbanded in the mid 1960’s. It had filled a need in the community. Times had changed and other interests took its place.

The legacy left behind is a lot more then memories. The Alberta Light Horse Association, still an active body today, was founded by members of many Light Horse Associations throughout Alberta. Horse related activities still remain an important part of Cochrane’s social calendar. Rodeo, horse showing, pony club and 4-H are all “kin” to the Cochrane Light Horse Association, and the family events it promoted

The C.L.H.A. re-gathered i n the 1970’s to look for a fitting place to house the Gissing paintings. In 1975, temporary housing was found at the Big Hill Lodge. These paintings are and will remain the property of the people of Cochrane and surrounding area. After careful consideration the Western Heritage Center has been chosen as the future custodian for these paintings, so all people may see and enjoy them.

Gissing Painting of local Branding
Gissing painting of local view to mountains
Gissing Painting of Area Landscape

Deep Dive

John and Agnes Phipps Family

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pg 646 More Big Hill Country 2009

John Phipps was born in Seagrave, Leicestershire, England, in 1852. His wife, Agnes Mary Wilson, had been raised by her aunt and uncle, who lived next door to the Phipps family in England. John and Agnes Mary had six children: Herbert, who died in infancy, George, Evelyn, Laura, and Burnard.

Emma their youngest daughter, was born in J 882 after her father had left for Canada and he was not to see her until she was six years old. Their youngest son Burnard died of complications following measles in 1884 and was buried at Selby without his father being present.

John by profession was a licensed victualler, supplying provisions for taverns and inns. As times were hard in England he decided to immigrate to Canada as advertisements were describing it as the land of opportunity. He arrived in western Canada in 1882 and worked for Sir John Lister-Kaye around the Fort Macleod area. He rode the range with John Ware, who in later years spent a winter with the Phipps family at their ranch north of Cochrane.

After a few years in the dry country around Fort Macleod John decided to ride north until he found a place for sale with good water. He came to the Horse Creek district north of Cochrane and bought the SE Sec 18 Twp 27 Rge 4 W5M. from Mr. Thompson. According to Land Titles John Phipps was the first owner to receive title to this land which he was granted in 1893. He then homesteaded the adjoining NE quarter of land for which he received his grant in 1911. He built a log shack with a sod roof.

John worked out for a few years for the Canadian Pacific Railway on the “tote road” ahead of the gang laying the tracks around Golden, British Columbia. This earned him money to pay for the passage of his wife and family from England. As the Canadian Pacific Railway would not sell food to anyone who was quitting, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Towers hid them in their woodshed, fed them and provided them some food to take along on their way.

Agnes Mary Phipps and her children joined her husband after a long tedious journey by boat and then by train across this vast country. George was nearly 12, Evelyn was 10, Laura was 9 and Emma was 6. Having seen many whiskered men during her long journey on the train, wearing rough pants, woolen plaid shirts and heavy boots, Agnes Mary remarked to her children how roughly dressed these Canadians were. She was surprised when she was greeted at the Cochrane railway station in 1889, by an eager husband with out stretched arms, dressed in this traditional pioneer garb. As he hugged each child in turn, he immediately nicknamed Emma, the daughter he had never seen ‘Vicky” in honour of Queen Victoria.

The Phipps family stayed with Jim and Gertrude Raydon for a short time until improvements could be made to their home. The house was enlarged to seven rooms and from John’s experience living on the prairies he had made it warm and cozy.

In 1890, Dora Phipps was born and 15 months later Vincent arrived to complete their family. The older girls finished their school at Mitford and Agnes Mary fretted that her two youngest children were not getting the good education that the older children got in England so land was purchased in Cochrane and a two-room log house was built. There she, Dora and Vincent lived during the school terms until their education was completed. The little house stood on the block where the old locker plant was.

The Phipps family worked hard, parents and children and built up a successful farm.

There were not many neighbours around in the early days. After the Raydens left, the Barnes family lived on their place, followed by the Tattersfields and then the Whittles came and were good neighbours for many years.

Life was often lonely but people made their own amusement. George Phipps had a guitar, Vicky and Dora took piano lessons from Miss Meridith in Cochrane and later Vicky bought an organ. Dora had a mandolin and there was always a mouth organ waiting to be played.

John Phipps passed away in the mid 1930’s and Agnes Mary spent the summers with the Hindes and the winters with another daughter Laura Perrenoud until 1940. Later, as she was becoming more frail, her daughter Laura cared for her until her death at the age of 93. Both John and Agnes Mary are buried in the Cochrane Cemetery.

Deep Dive

Going for Broke

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A Peep into the Past by Gordon and Belle Hall Volume 1 1990

 The saddles of the early west have all but disappeared, but some are in museums. One old saddle that I own was given to me by my father in the 1960s. It was once owned by the late Boney Thompson. Boney was a bronc rider of note, arriving in the Cochrane area in the early 1900s and fatally injured by a horse in 1921. The good book, Red Saddle Blankets, written by G.J. Fuller and researched by Dorothy Edge.

The old saddle has quite a history, being used throughout the years. It was used as a dude saddle by my son Ron when he ran Timberline Tours at Lake Louise in the ’60s and ’70s. Having a large seat, the saddle was often selected to accommodate some dude with a large posterior. The front of the saddle and stirrup leathers plus stirrups have been redone. At the rear of the cantel is a cluster of small brass stars and when this saddle was recently stolen, the brass stars were a means of identification and the saddle was recovered.

Another old saddle I had was once owned by Norman F. Edge, the rodeo veteran of years ago. It was a roughout saddle based on the Calgary red tree, it was a good bronc saddle and I have used it for many years. Back a t the start of the depression, about 1932, money was scarce as hen’s teeth. I was offered the job to ride a horse from Cochrane to Exshaw. Bob Hogarth Sr. had a hay and feed business i n Cochrane and he wanted a horse delivered to Stoney Mapsons’ dairy at Exshaw. The horse was to draw a milk wagon.

Hogarth said the horse was gentle broke, and I was to get $5. Now $5 was half a month’s wages in those days, so sure I’ll do it. Dad, who was working for Hogarth at the time, came home one evening and said my horse had arrived and I was to leave the next morning. He was sure the horse was not broken to ride but just halter broken. Oh, oh, m y $5 was slipping away fast. However, I was going to try. Next morning, we blindfolded the horse with a coat over his head, got him headed west and away I went. The horse bucked and squealed as far as Horse Creek, then ran away with me to the Ghost Dam. I got him over the new dam bridge okay, then the horse played out, but I kept him going. Mother had made me some jam sandwiches which I put in the back of my shirt, so I ate on the fly. I kept to the river beyond Morley, missing the bad bridge at Bowfort. I had left Cochrane at 8 a.m. and arrived at Exshaw about 5 p.m.. I was in the saddle the whole time because if I had gotten off him. I wouldn’t have gotten back on alone.

Deep Dive

Pickup Family

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By Lynn J. Pickup pg 647 More Big Hill Country 2009

My father’s folks, Clarence Watson Pickup and June Holms were married in July of 1915. Mr. Pickup with his family had earlier come west to Alberta from Ontario, while Miss Holms was raised in the Cardston area of Alberta. Mr. Clarence Pickup during the depression moved his family to Calgary where he worked as an insurance salesman and as a lay preacher in Presbyterian churches. To Clarence and June Pickup were born the brothers Howard Watson Pickup in October 8, 1917, Wilbert John Pickup in May 31, 1924, and my father, William Judson Pickup (known to his friends and family as Jud) in October 2, 1920. Clarence Pickup lost his wife to cancer in 1946, and later married a lovely widow lady from his church, Mrs. Elspet (Elsie) Allison. Elsie had a young son, John, by her first marriage to her late husband Mr. John Allison. Clarence Pickup pa ed away in 1962 at the age of 72. Elsie pa ed away in Toronto. John Allison, Dad’s stepbrother, became a Pre byterian minister. In 1943 my father’s youngest brother, Wilbert Pickup (known to friends and family as Bert) suddenly passed away. Dad’s older brother Howard after serving in World War II went on to become a pharmacist and eventually Mayor of Drayton Valley where he served until his death in 1970.

Jud Pickup my Dad was born in Lethbridge, Alberta but grew up in Barons, Alberta where his Dad, Clarence had a pharmacy. Dad received his formal education in Barons and in Calgary at Elbow Park, Rideau, and Western Canada High School. After high school, Dad worked at various occupations, as service station attendant in Calgary, Royalties, Turner Valley and Three Hills. Dad also worked as a Mechanic’s assistant and truck driver, delivering wholesale fuel to agents and farmers in the regions of Delbume, Haynes, Ghost Pine and Red Deer. Dad enrolled at the Institute of Technology and Art (now Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) taking a motor mechanics course. While attending TECH. (Institute of Technology and Art) Dad met Miss Margaret Elizabeth Caswell, daughter of Mr. Walter and Mrs. Margaret Caswell of Bow Island, Alberta. Margaret, or Peggy as she is called by family and friends, was taking an art course at TECH. Peggy or Mom as she is called by me was raised on a farm with four brothers Ernie, Ted, Jack and Bob.

My folks, Jud and Peggy Pickup, were married in Three HiIIs,Alberta on October 2, 1941. My father had the dubious distinction of being one of few grooms who spent much of their wedding day soaking a blood poisoned arm. Dad had contracted the infection from a dry wood sliver on a truck box on which he was working. The marriage was interrupted when Dad joined the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) as an aircraft electrician. Dad trained in St. Thomas, Ontario and Vulcan, Alberta, before being shipped overseas in 1943 where he served in Britain on several airfields from Ayer, Scotland to Bournemouth and Hum, England. During the invasion, Dad went to France in 1944 with 2nd Tactical Air Force, 439 Squadron. He serviced Hawker Hurricanes and Typhoon fighter bombers in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Dad returned to England after V.E. Day June 6, 1945. In the spring of 1946 after doing his part for the war effort Dad returned to his wife and his life. Mom, while Dad was stationed overseas had been employed at Woolworth’s Department Store.

The folks moved to the Crow’s Nest Pass area of Alberta where Dad operated a tire vulcanizing and sales business and a garage in Blairmore. They bought their first house in Coleman for $750.00. While in “the pass” I, Lynn Judson was born December 16, 1946. Dad with his hired driver also operated a truck, hauling mine props to Beaver Mines. Dad sold his business interests in “the pass” and moved his family west of Pincher Creek to Castle Mountain where he had joined the Alberta Forest Service as a look out man. Dad recalls a fierce snowstorm he encountered while driving his truck out of the forestry. It was snowing and blowing so badly that he could only move the truck ahead about ten feet at a time. By the time he shoveled out the tracks and repaired the chains the tracks were blown in again. He says because he had a new truck, two tanks of gasoline, was young, able bodied and could shovel, the risk being stranded was not any real threat.

Dad later became an assistant forest ranger in Kananaskis. Here my folks lived in a cabin on the lower lakes and wintered in Canmore where my brother, Walter Brian, was born on January 6, 1950. It was while Dad was patrolling in the Kananaskis area, so Mother tells the story, that she inadvertently encountered a bear outside the cabin .She says she banged on a tin pot until the bruin, deciding he had enough noise, left. She said she had been so badly frightened she had lost her voice. When I became school age it was time to leave the forestry, for unless I was going to take correspondence it was necessary be closer to schools. It seemed to be the time for Dad to pursue a dream, for although Dad had thoroughly enjoyed life as forest ranger he dearly wanted to farm. My Mom too, looked forward to them getting their “own place”.

A farmer enjoying some fishing in the Kananaskis had earlier met Dad when he was patrolling the Lower lake area. This farmer, Frank Hutchinson, had offered Dad a job and now seemed be a good time to take him up on it. For the next while Dad worked for Frank Hutchinson and Frank’s Dad, Walter Hutchinson Sr. He helped with haying, thrashing, fencing and tending livestock. He fed cows, pulled calves and helped with branding and the other delightful duties that are part of a stock farming operation. Dad recalls how at branding time Frank pretended to catch a calf, stirring it up until it was really antsy, then sent in the “green man” , Dad, to catch it and take a pounding in the process. Dad was not deterred; he continued to serve Frank Hutchin on, carrying out the farm chores and dutie , caring for his stock. Dad knew what it was, on a cold winter’ day, to trudge behind a team of horses and hayrack u ing the rack to shelter his frozen face from the biting wind. Frank Hutchinson gave Dad his born blind calve and Mom and he pail-bunted them until these calves could be turned out to grass and eventually marketed. To buy land, my Dad required a loan. Since he was a veteran of World War II he qualified under the Veteran’s Land Act (V.A.L.), except to qualify for a farm loan the applicant was required to have farming experience which Dad, a city boy, did not have. The V.L.A. people did however accept Dad’s wife’s experience as Mom had grown up a “farm girl”. After chasing farm sales in the Sundre area, enduring frustrations and disappointments, the Lord answered Mom’s prayers and land on which to start a farming operation became available. Mr. Walter Hutchinson Jr. in 1956 was persuaded (probably by his good wife Margaret) to sell the Pickups the NE Sec 30 Twp 27 Rge 3 W5M. Now the real work of building a farm began. For off farm income Dad drove a panel school bus from the Lochend and Inglis Districts to the Westbrook School. Between trips and on weekends Dad worked at constructing the needed farm building fences, corrals and tending the livestock. Mom for her part, as she always had when Dad was away earning badly needed off farm income, “kept the home fires burning”, keeping house, growing a big garden, planting flowers, doing farm chores and helping Dad as need arose. The house three miles north, that the folks purchased and moved to their property, had at one time been owned by the same people who sold a 1941 one ton Ford truck to a used car lot. Coincidently, this was the same truck Dad purchased from the car lot as his first farm truck. The truck that Dad had earlier bought and the house that he later bought had been owned by the same people who Dad never met.

Eventually, with much hard labour, the farm came together and started to be a dream realized. Dad secured a janitor job at the Westbrook School where my brother Brian and I attended. The family then helped to carry out cleaning obligations to the school board. Since a little more money was coming into the household we were able to afford a better car, a 1955 Ford two door, and Wow! A TV set. The farm continued to grow. We bought the half section one mile north of the home quarter S Sec 6 Twp 28 Rge 3 W5M from Emmanuel Schattle. After I had left home, the house on the home quarter was moved north and situated on the more recently purchased half section. The house was renovated and “added to”. More corrals, fences and farm buildings were built including a big hay shed and a large maintenance shop. Dad also added to the fleet of school buses. The bus routes he covered were areas toward and including highway IA to Cochrane. Dad managed five school buses and their routes. He was honored by his colleagues for his thirty year driving achievement.

At one time when the folks were renting land the cattie herd was close to one hundred head of cows with calves. When land was not rented the herd was maintained at about eighty five cows. These were Hay’s Converter animals, a breed developed by Senator Harry Hays of Longview, Alberta. These cattle were a good, sturdy, quiet, milk producing breed. They proved to be a good choice for the Pickups cow-calf operation. We were blessed, the ranch was successful, and the dream was realized.

Dad’s heart attack in 1986 would force my folks to sell the ranch, the school bus operation, and retire to Cochrane. The folks are keeping busy and enjoying Cochrane. They enjoy their friends, their family, their community and their church. Dad is even still doing some volunteer work in palliative care in Calgary.

As for the rest the of family, we’re enjoying Cochrane too since we all live here. Brian, after completing high school, spent some time in university. He then took jobs working with a fiber glass company and managing a Co-op on the Queen Charlotte Islands. Brian later drove for the city of Calgary Transit System. Eye problems forced him to re-train at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). He became a qualified electrical technician, heading up crews working on sub-stations for the City of Calgary. Brian recently officially retired from Enmax. He is kept busy now caring for the small portion of land that the family retained from the original home quarter. Brian married Patricia Marie Pearsall, a talented artist. Patricia or Pat, as she is known by some of her friends and family, had a child, Stephanie Marie, by a former marriage. When he married Pat, Brian was able to adopt Stephanie. Stephanie has a son, Alex.

I, Lynn, received my first three years of formal education at a one roomed school, Lochend. I traveled the three and one half miles to school by horseback, unless I was able to bum a ride with a neighbour girl and her father in their fancy new Ford sedan. I recall an incident at school when we were playing frozen tag. A big bruiser of a lad accidentally crunched down on my poor big toe. I quietly waited until home time when the damage could be assessed. Once home I wouldn’t let Dad take the shoe off as I was convinced the smashed toe would come off with it. The shoe was finally removed and the toe didn’t come off. It looked like a big plum and the nail eventually did come off.

From Lochend I attended Westbrook School as did my brother. He graduated from grade 12. This school turned out many grade 12 graduates; I was one student it just turned out! Intimidation from an unchecked bully, gang type element in junior and high school made the studying difficult and I was forced to leave school short of the credits required for graduation. Although it seemed insignificant at the time, recent tragic events in Coaldale and Columbine have demonstrated all too clearly, the senseless violence that can erupt when aggressive predatory behavior is not addressed. Westbrook and I parted company in 1967 when I went into the work force. Since leaving high school, through night school, school attended on Saturdays, and home study I have acquired more than enough credits to qualify for a G .E.D. (General Equivalency Diploma), and have in fact achieved it. I recently took a complete high school course from the folks at I.C.S. (International Correspondence School) where I graduated with “honours”. Unfortunately accreditation for high school mathematics as recognized provincially, is still not one of my accomplishments. I have no particular interest in theoretical mathematics but have come to appreciate the purely logical aspects of this science. At 60 years of age I still view my incomplete math studies as an unanswered challenge. In my spare time I continue to pursue the understanding of the principles and concepts of mathematics that I consider practical and applicable. I do this because I like to keep my mind active, that and I evidently have a streak of masochism!

After leaving school I worked at various jobs; assistant shipper, glass worker, and janitor. In August 15, 1970 I was privileged to marry a very special girl, Miss Sandra May Brodie. Sandra, or Sandy, is the lovely daughter of Jim and Beryl Brodie of Cochrane. Although we did not have our own children we have been a home to several children including two nieces. Shortly after we were married we became foster parents to the two Phillips boys, Grant, 8 years old and his brother Mark, 6 years old. We had the boys a combined period of approximately seven years. Young Grant, a troubled little boy, passed away suddenly at the Alberta Hospital in Ponoka in 1981. Mark works on the oil drilling rigs. My parents by the way, at the time we had the boys, took in their siblings, a brother Richard and a sister Janice. My wife Sandy, after we were married helped my parents on the ranch, a did I in my pare time while we resided there. Since moving to Cochrane, Sandy operates her own home cleaning business. In July of 2007, I began my 37th year of service with the Jumping Pound Gas Plant where for about 35 of those years I have enjoyed unofficially being the unofficial head custodian of an unofficial housekeeping department. Here I have spent most of my working days since being shown the door at high school.

Sandy and I just celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary. We enjoy our time together, our family and friends, our church family and our friends at the Bethany Care Centre. In the Bethany we have had the privilege of volunteering our services in the Alzheimer wing, playing games, leading singing, fixing snacks and just visiting with the residents.

As earlier mentioned, Cochrane is now home to all of us. On September 28, 2007 Mom celebrated her 90th birthday and Dad turned 87 on October 2. What can I say? We’re all growing older and as such, have our various health issues to deal with, but as a friend of mine so aptly put it, every day above ground is a good day!

When health starts to sneak away it’s time to live closer to where medical help is a little nearer to hand. Cochrane, the Grand Old Lady is our choice. Recognized still by the beauty of her rolling lush hills, rushing river waters and distant beckoning mountains, Cochrane’s laidback charm is just a memory. Only the hint of a bygone era can be found in the preserved buildings and recently constructed replicas. Most of the buildings and landmarks three decades past have been pushed aside by trendy boutiques, tourist shops and upscale cafes. Our quaint little cow town has become a small bustling city of urban sophistication. Here we reside surrounded by the comfort of friends and joy of family. The ranch and the quiet life of the countryside are but fond memories. Grateful are we for the experiences and the memories. My Mom would tell you thanks to the Lord we had a good ride. Amen Mom.

John Anderton

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pg 265 More Big Hill Country 2009

John Anderton was the brother of Mary (Brooks/Aarsby). He joined the Air force in 1942 was a flight sergeant during the Second World War. John was the mid gunner of the aircraft that was shot down over France on June 11, 1944. His name is engraved on the Cochrane Cenotaph.

ANDERTON John Alfred Courtesy Veterans Affairs
RCAF Memorial
Father JP Lardie Poem

ROBERT AND EMMA ANDERTON

pg 351 Big Hill Country 1977

Bob Anderton and Emma Thompson were both born in England. They were married in England and their first two children were born there. The Andertons came to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1907 and lived there for one year before coming to Cochrane, where they brought up their five children.

At Cochrane, Bob worked at the Glenbow Stone Quarry. In 1914 he joined the Armed
Forces and was Overseas for four years.

After the War the Andertons lived on the John Phipps homestead for several years. From there they moved to the Bob Hogarth homestead before moving to the Elder place in Grand Valley. After Don Matthews bought the land the Andertons continued to look after the place for Don Matthews until 1951 when the land was sold to Percy Copithorne, then they moved to adjoining land owned by Joe Boston. While living there, Bob passed away in January 1953. He was buried in The Field of Honor in Burnsland Park, Calgary.

After Bob passed away Emma went to live in a little log cabin at the Hollowood Store on Highway 1A. Here she spent her time knitting and crocheting, at which she was one of the best. She passed away in Calgary on Christmas Day 1954, and was buried in Queen’s Park Cemetery, Calgary.

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Memories

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by Helen Anderson Brien pg 265 More Big Hill Country 2009

I will always remember Mr. and Mrs. Andy Chapman in the cold winter days with their hand pushed mail cart, meeting the trains, getting the full mailbags and trundling the cart back to the Post Office.

 

Dave Murray’s blacksmith shop and Clem Colgan’s garage were great places for the local men to collect and have a visit. During the curling season, the rink was another good place to meet friends and cheer for your favorite team. The library, which was in Hart’s Drugstore, was one of my favorite places. While browsing around for a book you could buy a delicious ice cream cone for five cents. The theatre was in the Elks’ Hall and the movie was usually a surprise; it seldom showed the picture that was advertised, there were always breakdowns, but when you heard a cheer from the audience, especially the younger folk, the show would flash on and it was well worth waiting for.

Outside Dave Murrays

The creamery, the old brickyard, flour mill and Bunney’s dairy were all interesting places to visit.

 The country castle (Retreat) was a beautiful place, and the saskatoons that grew on the hills, I can just taste them now! I would dearly love to climb those hills and pick berries again.

 

The Elks’ Hall was, of course the centre of all the good times we had at dances. Flora Garson and Janet McGuire were the chief hand stampers.

Dewey Blaney was another grand person; he was the first colored (sic) person I had ever seen. He was a friend to everyone and I’m sure he heard many confessions and settled more disputes than the local authorities.

Another dear old gentleman was Nick Cosis. What an interesting man he was. He had lived a very exciting life in Greece. Among all these interesting characters was Stanley Cope. He used to tie his horses up at the hitching post behind Andison’s store. He once told me “Horses are here to stay and the day of the motor car is nearly over, besides horses are more sensible.”

My memories of Father Fitzpatrick and Father Lessard are also cherished.

Bottrel Store

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Page 50 More Big Hill Country

A. E. Botterell and his brother, E. H. Botterell, homesteaded and bought CPR land; SE Sec 28 Twp 28 Rge 4 W5M and E Sec 21 Twp 28 Rge 4 W5M. They were wealthy furriers from Montreal who came west in the 1880’s.

A. P. Patrick started a cattle ranch northeast of the valley which became Bottrel, with Jimmy Kennedy as his manager. About 1875, David Nesbitt built a log house featuring dovetail corners on the knoll. After one hundred years and many owners living there, it was moved to Parson, British Columbia and restored.

In 1892, Walter Jones became manager of the Dog Pound Horse Ranch, which was renamed Botterell Ranch, after its owners. In 1902, the ranch was sold to D’Arcy McDaniels and Angus Sparrow – a cattle buyer. Later Harry Cook bought the Bottrel Ranch (changed spelling) and sold it in 1905 to Mr. J. T. Boucher.

J. T., his wife and four sons came from Lind, Washington. About 1908, J. T. built a cheese factory. Jim Loughery, newly from Ontario, was hired as cheese maker. A few staple articles were brought in as local customers requested, such as flour, sugar, salt, yeast, baking powder, tea and coffee. These supplies were stored in a passageway to the cheese storage rooms. Around 1909, they needed more storage and the brick part of the store was built. About this time a petition for a Post Office was presented with the name Bottrel submitted and accepted. A Post Office was set up in the back corner of the store. Mail was delivered weekly by team and democrat the 19 miles north from Cochrane.

Around 1910, Bottrel Telephone Exchange brought telephone service to the Bottrel district with a rural party line serving 14 farms. The Exchange was in the Bottrel Store owned by J. T. Boucher and Miss Irene Atkinson was the telephone operator. Miss Atkinson was also bookkeeper, store clerk and post office attendant.

In 1919, the telephone line was extended to Atkins, (Cremona) and that Exchange was operated by Mrs. A. Mork in her home. The subscribers north of Bottrel became part of the new Exchange. Bottrel Store had a telephone on each line until Telus took over from AGT. There were long distance charges to phone neighbors on the other line, a practice which continues at the present time (2008).

There was a blacksmith shop built east of the store, run by Mr. Pitter from Cochrane Lakes area, then George Bunney, followed by Charlie Brown, who stayed for several years.

There was a corrugated iron implement shed built across the road from the store when an International Harvester farm equipment dealership was secured to handle a full line of farm implements, wagons, and buggies. For a number of years Turnbull Sawmill kept a stock of lumber there for sale.

In 1918, Bob Barnett took over Bottrel Store, followed by Mr. Chalmers, Wm. Bercov, Ephram Buschart (1923-27), Charlie Pearson (1927-28) and then the Tidballs (19291948). In 1926, Charlie Pearson bought the store. He was an agent for Essex cars, AGT, Bottrel Post Office and ran the general store. For a while, there was a beauty salon in part of the store run by Toots Larsen.

The cheese factory was changed over to a creamery and Jim Loughery moved to Cochrane to run the creamery there. Later on, the cheese factory and creamery were renovated and movies were shown there with Bill Houghton running the projectors.

William and Nellie Tidball with their five sons, Ed, Bert, Tom, Ollie and Bill, Jr. came from Minot, North Dakota to a homestead at Linden before moving to a b farm west of Carstairs. Then they came to Bottrel and bought the store when Charlie Pearson died in November 1928. When William and Nellie left Bottrel their son, Tom and his wife ran the store and post office followed by Tom’s brothers, Bill, Jr. and then Ollie in 1934-48. The parents had built a store in Madden replacing the store that burnt down in Sampsonton. The sons, Ed, Bert, Tom and Bill, Jr. had all taken turns running the Madden store.

Ollie Tidball and his wife, Nellie, had two daughters, Helen and Margaret, who attended the old Westbrook School. Ollie is remembered for coaching baseball in the Bush League and they won the trophy. He was umpire for many games and also active on the hockey scene.

Ollie Tidball and his brother, Bill, served in WWI. Bill was wounded three times. Ollie was decorated with a Military Medal and Bar in 1918.

Ollie remembered the hardships of hauling groceries after snow falls, plowing through snow that was higher than a cattle truck and also getting home with a load of groceries after a rain. There was very little gravel on the roads and they were not built up.

Ollie Tidball sold the Bottrel Store to William Milroy in 1948. Mr. Milroy’s daughter and son-in-law,Jean and Ted Hennig, joined him and helped out. Ted did trucking and hauling supplies. Mr. Milroy passed away in early 1955. His wife and son, Jim, ran the family business until 1958. They sold to Frank and Terry Gathercole, who operated the store until 1971. The Gathercoles were attracted to Bottrel because of the beautiful country setting, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. While they were operating the store, the Municipality of Rocky View straightened the road and changed the course of the Dog Pound Creek. A park was created and many campers came and enjoyed nature.

Electricity came into the area around this time. Having electricity made such a difference for people in the district. Now it was much easier to have running water. Terry talked about running out to the creek with a couple of pails and carrying it in to heat on the stove. She aid they were the first ones to get natural gas in the store and their home, along with Bishops and Patons.

The main events in the area were the Dog Pound Stampede, Dog Pound and Dartique turkey suppers, regular Saturday night dances, special events, fund raisers and plays and concerts at Westbrook School.

In 1971 William Roloff and his wife operated the store for about six months, before selling to Heine and Susie Lutchre. Lutchres stayed until August 1975 when they sold to Ray and Darlene Ford. Ray renovated the store exchanging bricks for wood giving the exterior of the building a completely different appearance. The Fords operated the store with the help of their two sons, Kurt and Warren. The boys attended Westbrook School and were active on the local hockey team. The Fords rented the store to Helen Warner who ran it for a couple of years.

Rosa Prcic bought the business from Ray Ford in 1984 and operated it until 1999 with the hired help of local people. Rosa started the Stampede Breakfasts at Bottrel that were held the morning of the Dog Pound Stampede. She organized a homecoming celebration for the 125th year of the Confederation of Canada in 1992. Also, she held a teen dance, fundraisers and farewell parties at Dartique.

In 1999, Rosa Prcic sold the Bottrel Store to Mark and Betty Flamen, who in tum sold it in 2003 to Tim and Duane Needham.

From Hitching Rail to Gas Pump

Running a general store changed over the years. As the horse and buggy was replaced by cars, trucks, tractors and stationary engines, fuels changed. (Instead of growing their own grain and hay, fanners needed gasoline, diesel, oil and propane.)

Before the power was brought into the area, they needed kerosene and high-test gas for light. The creek or wells were used to keep milk and cream cool or they stored perishables in the basement. Blocks of ice were cut from lakes or streams and stored in an icehouse using sawdust for insulation. Most farmers kept a cow or two for their supply of milk, cream, butter, etc. and chickens supplied eggs and meat. Excess products were exchanged at the general store for staples that were needed. Most farmers went hunting in the fall to get a winter supply of wild game. In the summer there was a meat ring to supply a weekly source of fresh meat. The store would have canned meat, fish and milk, but only a limited supply of fresh produce before they had refrigeration. The store had big rounds of cheese which supplied wedges, fresh off the block, then wrapped in wax paper. Credit was extended to all regulars. Plastic cards were unheard of. News, gossip, weather reports, and just friendly chats were had with the store owner and any neighbours that may be in at the same time. Life was slower and a minute here and there was of no consequence if a cup of coffee was offered.

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