by Marjorie Spicer pg 252 Big Hill Country 1977
Dave Murray, along with his brother Joe, They had been born and raised around Dundee, Scotland. Both were blacksmiths by trade.
With the Murrays, the blacksmith trade was as old as the hills of Scotland; their forefathers were blacksmiths as far back as they could recall.
In Dundee, Dave served his five years apprenticeship in blacksmithing, and then made the decision to come to Canada to seek adventure and fortune.
Upon arrival in Calgary, Dave went to work for Wetmore and Fullerton on 8th Avenue East, remaining there until 1912, when he went to Banff to work for Brewsters. At that time Brewsters had one thousand horses and a day’s work for Dave was shoeing twenty-five head of horses. They were used on tally-hos, trail rides, packing, as saddle horses and driving teams, so keeping their feet in good condition was an everyday job.
While in Banff Dave married Miss Elsie Hartman of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and their son David Jr. was born while they were in Banff.
In 1922 Dave and his family moved to Seattle, where he was engaged in making tools. They remained there for five years, coming back to Banff.
Dave decided to go into business for himself, and in 1928 he purchased the blacksmith shop in Cochrane from George Hope. As well as being an excellent farrier, Dave was equally efficient of all phases of blacksmithing.
No job was too big or too hard for him. Dave kept pace with the times and the changes that came along. Shoeing horses and making horseshoes began to phase out, but he was kept busy making hay hooks by the dozens to handle baled hay, sharpening plow shares and making branding irons, at which he excelled. One wall of his shop was covered with brands stamped when testing an iron, testimony of the number of brands he had made for cattlemen in the area, as well as such places as High River, Black Diamond and other areas. He sharpened the steel for the drillers on the Lake Minnewanka Dam. He made bars for Calgary Power to take readings through the ice in winter.
For many years Dave was the only blacksmith west of Calgary to beyond the British Columbia border. A lot of customers came from British Columbia to get work done in his shop.
Dave once made the remark that horses and cars had one thing in common, both had to have change-overs from summer to winter driving; horses had to have ice caulks in their shoes and cars used knobby tires.
Of course Dave had other talents; he was fond of music and played a mean violin. He and Frank Laing used to play for local dances, never taking any pay, just doing it for the enjoyment they derived from it. He was a keen curler and 1t was not unusual to see him down at the curling rink dressed in his Scotch kilt.
He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Elks, and Oddfellows and served on the village council.
Dave was fond of young children, and young lads about town delighted in being able to stand in the doorway of his shop and watch him plying his trade. To go near the shop and hear Dave whistling the Tarantella while hammering something on the anvil was a glorious sound to start anyone’s day.
In 1955 Dave became ill and the familiar sounds that came from his shop ceased. The doors were closed, thus ending a nostalgic era that was so much a part of the history of Cochrane. In 1956 Dave passed away. The old shop was torn down by Bob and Jim Baptie and parts of it were used to build a barn on the Baptie farm. I am fortunate in having some of the timbers in my home, so the old shop is still serving.
David Jr. enlisted in the Army in World War II and went Overseas. While Overseas he married Irene Blyth of Scotland. They have four sons David Donald, Duncan, and Dale, and one daughter, Anita. Elsie Murray now resides in Calgary.
