Curated by Gordon Davies
May 25, 1911
Cochrane Polo Club
The Secretary desires us to state that the Polo Game advertised in the Calgary News-Telegram as forming one of the attractions of the Coronation Day Sports at Cochrane on 22nd June next, will not be played by — or Under the rules of — the Cochrane Polo Club
There was a full turn out of players on Saturday last for a practice game on the new ground, and all seemed thoroughly satisfied with the choice that has been made. The members present included the Captain, O. A. Critchley, A. McPherson, E. H. Abell, O. Johnson, G. Hinds, J. G. Tweed, D. V. Saunders, C. R. De la Vergne and P. Kerfoot. The ground rode well and most of the ponies out took kindly to the game.
Motor Cabs in London
The enormous and rapid growth of the motor cab industry in London is shown in the figures given by Mr. H. Smith, President of the London Cabdrivers Trade Union, before the committee appointed by the Home Secretary to inquire into the conditions of the trade in view of the demand made by the men for higher fares. According to Mr. Smith, there were two motor cabs on the streets in 1904, and 19 in 1905. At the end of 1909 there were 3,956 and at the end of March this year the number was well over 7,000.
May 11, 1911
The value to the country of the rain and snow which fell on Saturday morning last is simply inestimable. The put it as some papers do “thousands” is ridiculous. It was worth millions, and many of them.
The Cochrane Hotel has been undergoing a thorough house cleaning and is now in spick and span condition. The windows opening on the two fire escapes have been made to turn inwards on hinges and in case of need egress would be much easier than through the sash as was the case previously. The platform outside hotel has also been renovated and made more convenient.
Polo
There will be a practice game on Saturday afternoon at the new ground, the Race Course. Visitors will be heartily welcome.
Motor Garage for Cochrane
Chapman Bros. Are about to build a Motor Car Garage for Messrs. T. Quigley and T.S. Fisher on the lot between S.J. Peyto’s house and Pope Avenue. The building will accommodate four cars, beside giving storage rom for supplies of gasoline and all necessairies likely to be called for by motorists either in the ordinairy course or in an emergency. The building will probable be completed within a month. It should be a great convenience to visitons from Calgary and other outside points as well as to our own car-owners.
The Coronation
In deference to a generally expressed opinion, and many promises of attendance, we have to announce that a public meeting will be held at the Orange Hall (kindly lent for the occasion), at 8 o’clock on Saturday, 18th instant, for the purpose of discussing the subject of our local celebration of the Coronation of King George V., and the presence of all good Canadians is earnestly requested.
May 4,1911
Be it known to all men, that the Hotel hitherto well and favorable known as the Murphy House, Cochrane, will henceforth be called the Alberta Hotel. Wm. Dean will continue to be the proprietor.
Mr. J. Pfeifer drove his car up to Banff and back on Tuesday, with John Park and J. Baldock as passagers. They report that theirs was the first car into Banff this season, and that the road was in fine shape.
The new machinery, &c. At the French brickyard was tested on Monday, and a trial run of 1,000 bricks was made, the result being entirely satisfactory to Mr. Gabriel Bruel. It is estimated that the season’s output of this yard will exceed 2,000,000 brick.
The Polo Club
The committee appointed to select a suitable ground for the club to play upon this season, met on Saturday last and inspected the old ground south of the track on the road to the race ground. The latter was eventually chosen, being Superior in all ways to the old field, which is sufficiently condemned by its proximity to the nuisance ground, the condition of which is a disgrace to any civilized community. Arrangements have been made Under which the ground will be marked out, the grass cut and holed filled up in time for the first practice game of the season, to be played on Saturday 6th. Inst.
The Gopher Plague
What with the dry weather of last year, and the early spring of this, the Gopher nuisance is going to make itself felt as never before unless some concerted effort is made for the extinction once and for all of these little pests. So long as this was in the main a ranching country the Gopher was negligible quantity except for its incursions on the ranche house garden or the green feed patch, but now that the transition from ranching to mixed farming is well Advanced the extinction of the Gopher is becoming one of the burning questions of the West, and must be tackled at once, both by land holder and the Government, or worse will befall.
Many men, with a fair sense of their duty to their Neighbors as well as of the peril to their own crops, are doing their best in various ways to
clear their own lands of gophers, and with considerable success but so long as their Neighbors selfishly abstain from co-operation, and there are thousands of acres of unoccupied land closely adjoining, their efforts, however costly, are as futile as the attempt to bale out the ocean with a dipper. What is to be done? We would suggest that, in as much as the Gopher is as great a menace to mixed farming and grain growing as are noxious weeds, inspection should be organised as thoroughly by the Government as in the case of weeds. Let the onus be on every occupier or holder of land to prove that he has taken all reasonable steps to exterminate the gophers on such lands, and where the owner is an absentee, whether a great corporation, ranching company or speculator, let the inspector have authority to appoint some person or persons to destroy, by poison or otherwise, the gophers on each unoccupied lands within a reasonable limit of expediteur according to area, the cost to be registered against the land in the same way as in the case of unpaid taxes or expense of weed destruction.
The influx of setters is making the propogation of the Gopher more easy, not only to gratuitous provision of food but also by the destruction or driving away of such natural enemies as hawks and coyotes.
If this Western country is to escape a curse similar to that brought upon Australia by the incautious importation of rabbits from England, a curse which has lasted through two generations and is not yet wiped out, every man, woman and child must join in a crusade against the gopher, and the Government must provide machinery to ensure that the trouble and expense fall in fair proportion on every holder of land, rich or poor.
The Creamery
A notice has been sent out to all the shareholders in the Creamery to the effect that the building and equipment will be ready for a public demonstration on Monday, 8., inst. in the afternoon, and that Directors and officers of the enterprise should now be elected. The President of the Board of Trade, Mr. J. G. Tweed, J.P., and the writer visited the building yesterday and were shown round by Mr. Charles Marlatt, who explained the purpose and working of the milk testing machine, the rotary churn and other machinery.
We hope that as many people as possible, whether shareholders or intending patrons, will make a point of being present on Monday, and that a strong Board of Directors and thoroughly competent officers may be chosen so that the Creamery may at least start with a fair prospect of success.
