pg 367 More Big Hill Country 2009
Arriving in Jumping Pound in 1905, from Oxbow, Saskatchewan, Stanley, with four of his brothers, settled on a ranch purchased by their father Thomas Cope. The boys later took out homesteads of their own. Stanley’s homestead was the SW Sec 22 Twp 25 Rge 5 W5M.
Two of the brother did not stay in the district long after they acquired their homesteads and their land was purchased and added to the main ranch holdings. One brother, Arthur, remained on the ranch with Stanley until May 1927 when he left to go prospecting in British Columbia.
After Stanley’s parents one brother and four sisters, who were living in Calgary, moved to the coast, Stanley managed his father’s ranch as well as his own. He raised Shorthorn cattle and heavy horses and during hard times, as with many farmers and ranchers, he milked cows and shipped the cream to Cochrane. He built and maintained roads, plowed fireguards and did almost everything ranchers did to keep alive. However, there were a few unique things about Stanley.
He was probably the only one in the area at age 75 years that was still doing all his own work by himself and without the aid of modem equipment. He used a walking plow to break up his fields and hayed and fenced with teams of horses.
It was not until later years that Stanley gave up driving his team and wagon across country to Cochrane to get his mail, do his banking and visiting on the street comers so he could catch up on the latest news in town and area. He was very fond of children and when the population in Cochrane increased he became very worried that he might have a runaway with his team as he was driving up the road from the old bridge that crossed the Bow River. There were many children along this road and a team of horses pulling a wagon was a real fascination for them. Stanley was always afraid they might get hurt as they ran out to greet him. In the late 1960’s Stanley, upon consultation with a close neighbour, purchased a second hand jeep so that in case of bad roads and he was getting older, his neighbour could get him to Calgary, whatever the weather, as it was 4 wheel drive. Although he never drove his jeep it gave him great peace to know that it was there if needed.
One luxury that he did afford himself was natural gas in his house. When the main gas line from the Shell Jumping Pound Plant went through to Banff, just a short mile from his house he had his wood cook stove converted to natural gas. This stove was the only source of heat in his house but he made sure that everything about the gas was safe and posted a sign on his door that read “Beware of natural gas used in this house. Enter at your own risk.”
The telephone was always Stanley’s link to the outside world as well as the radio. Whenever the phone rang in anybody’s house Stanley always picked up and listened in. If he thought the story you were telling the other party on the line was not like he had heard it, he never hesitated to butt in and correct you (even if you were right!) If you happened to be talking to the vet, just before you hung up he would butt in and talk to the vet about some horse that he had a problem with or a cow that looked not to bright. This all on your nickel!
Stanley was a very brusque man, but very shy in nature. This showed in acts of belligerence toward other people. Underneath this ornery surface was a person people seldom saw. He never married but often courted the local school teachers and he was extremely fond of children. He could never pass up a child selling tickets for raffles or fundraisers but he never put his own name on the ticket stub. Many times we have wondered how many people, through the years, won prizes on tickets that Stanley had purchased and put their name on.
Friday was always Stanley’s day to go to Cochrane. He would go by way of the Tower/Wearmouth ranch, stopping in for a cup of tea and a chat. Once in Cochrane he tied his team up at the hitching post behind Andison’s store, fed them and went about his business.
When Moore’s built the new grocery store they moved the hitching post across the street to the vacant lot beside the Post office (presently Oliver Twist Bistro). He then went to the Bank and lastly the grocery and dry goods stores. All his purchases went into a large canvas bag which he carried over his shoulder while getting all his needs fulfilled. One often wondered what his bread and fruit looked like when he got home as they were slung back and forth, off and on his shoulder.
In the early 1960’s there were no roads to speak of past the Shell Plant and none into Stanley’s or his next door neighbour’s, the Buckleys and the only way in was across the fields where the Pile ‘o Bones Creek runs through. As Charlie Rhodes owned one of the quarters and he and Stanley and later the Buckleys used this trail as their access, Charlie and Stanley had built a bridge across the creek. The bridge was anchored with cables so that it floated during the spring floods and when this happened they just had to move it a bit to put it back in place. Through the years the bridge needed to be replaced and by this time Charlie had a robust son and Stanley had a new young guy as a neighbour so Charlie and Stanley arranged a day to build a new bridge across the creek (with their robust help of course). The big day arrived and Charlie and Herb arrived and Stanley came along in his wagon and team with Harvey Buckley at his side. It took a lot of planning on the part of Charlie and Stanley as to how they would approach this project and a lot of talking, looking and talking again, with the odd comment from the two younger fellows, who according to the older gentlemen didn’t know a thing about building a bridge. Soon the talking between Stanley and Charlie turned to arguing over who was right and the young guys standing there went ahead and started moving planks etc. around. As the arguing continued, so did the bridge building and by the time that Charlie and Stanley finally agreed on how the job should be done, the young guys had the job finished and were ready to go home. Somehow that was the last job that Charlie and Stanley ever organized together to put those young guys to work.
Another must for Stanley was to get to whatever auction sale was being held that he could get to with his team and wagon and he got to many. In fact, it got so that the auctioneer did not start until Stanley was in his spot at the front, under the eye of the auctioneer. He bought many things, some he needed and some just in case. You never know when someone might come along and need just that something and you could be sure that Stanley had one or maybe even two or three!
He catalogued everything he bought along with the price he paid. To the person who needed the object, the price was usually doubled or even tripled if it was in the many buckets and boxes of leftover miscellaneous stuff that he purchased for two dollars. Every article in that box he bought for two dollars would be sold for two dollars each! Many of his purchases caused much speculation among other buyers at the sale, a couple being a wicker baby buggy and at another sale a wooden high chair. No one ever knew what he did with them. When he got older and he had his neighbour Harvey Buckley to take him to the sale in his big truck Stanley’s bidding got more interesting. One of the funniest loads that Harvey hauled home for him was a horse, a 7-foot by 9-foot framed oil painting, an enamel bathtub (he had no plumbing) an old bedstead and numerous buckets of junk which sold for two bits.
Indeed one of Cochrane area’s special people that kept the wheels of tales turning about their next move and character that added to the humour and stability of that small town.
Stanley worked hard until a few days before he passed away in 1970. He had a mild stroke one night at home and a more severe one later as he reached the hospital. He recovered from the stroke but was not too happy in his own home alone so spent the last year or so of hjs life in the Mayfair Nursing Home in Calgary. He was never idle there either and all winter kept the walks, driveway and parking lot for the staff, clear of snow. He wore out his snow shovel and the staff chose to take it away as they felt it was too much for rum. He complained how bored he was and when the staff was told he was getting a shovel from the barn on the farm, so he could shovel the snow, suddenly a brand new snow shovel appeared on the front step and Stanley was happy shovelling again. (For more about the life of Stanley Cope see Big Hill Country page 743)
Thomas Stanley Cope is buried in the Cochrane Cemetery.
My dad shared many stories about Stanley Cope. Glad tgat his memory is preserved here.