A History of the Rangelands knowledge of good livestock hus- bandry was limited to only a few of of Western Canada1 the colonists. Cattle were most nu- muerous and most important espe- ALEX JOHNSTON2 cially after 320 head were driven in

Range Ecologist, Research Station, Canada from the Mississippi River valley Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta. in 1822 and 1823. But even in 1812 the settlers had Highlight frozen sea.” The French, in con- cattle on their minds. On the first trast, moved inland, taking the trip southward from York Factory In western Canada, the grass-buffalo on Hudson Bay to the Red River,> economy of the Indian was replaced trade to the natives and, by the the settlers saw a yearling bull and a by the wheat-cattle economy of the 1780’s, were cutting seriously into white man, and the Red River cart and the fur trade of the Hudson’s Bay heifer at Oxford House, a trading boat brigades of the fur trade by the Company. A result was that the post on the Hayes River, and pur- railways and highways of modern Company realized its mistake of re- chased them for the colony. (Sel- times. Ranching was part of the de- kirk earlier had provided eight velopment but its heyday lasted only maining on the Arctic shore, moved from about 1885 to 1905. inland also, and began to compete head of cattle at Stornoway, in the aggressively. By the 1790’s the Hud- Hebrides but they had been left son’s Bay Company and the newly behind when the ship sailed.) The The first cattle came into western organized North West Company of yearlings from Oxford House were Canada in 1702, 267 years ago. Montreal were building posts side- brought along in the boats and took They were brought in, with sheep by-side throughout the Saskatche- readily, to their new mode of travel. and horses, pigs and poultry, wan and Athabasca countries. Ed- “We find the cattle easy to handle,” through the fur trading posts then monton, the capital of Alberta, was wrote a settler, “They jump out and recently established on Hudson founded during this period-about into the boats of their own accord.” Bay. And so, before we can discuss 1794. By 1810 the competition The two animals were named Adam the rangelands and domestic live- throughout the northern prairies and Eve, the settlers obviously stock, we should consider the fur was bitter. hoping that they would multiply trade and the buffalo. The struggle for control of the and thus provide the colony with The British began fur trade op- fur trade led to the development of ample milk and meat. erations on the shores of Hudson agriculture along the Red River The next year-1813-a bull, a Bay in the 1670’s. In addition to of present day Manitoba and North cow, and a heifer were purchased trade goods, the supply ships Dakota. In 1811 the Hudson’s Bay from the North West Company brought out from the Orkney Is- Company granted a large tract of post near Brandon House and, lands, and occasionally from the land to Thomas Douglas, Fifth with Adam and Eve and their calf, Scandinavian countries, livestock Earl of Selkirk, who was a major made a total of six cattle in the and poultry, vegetable seeds and shareholder in the company at the settlement. Buffalo calves were se- grain, which were kept at, or grown time. Selkirk wanted the land, cured with a view to domesticating near, the posts. French explorers, which he called Assiniboia, for two them and crossing them with the notably La Verendrye and his sons, reasons: First, he was anxious to re- European bulls, but the calves discovered the water route from settle small farmers who had been died during the winter. Later in Montreal to the prairies in 1732 forced off their lands in northern the year the North West Company and, by 1738, had established a Scotland by the ‘Clearances’ and, bull became vicious and was number of fur trading posts in second, he thought that the settlers slaughtered for meat. This was un- what is now southern Manitoba would provide agricultural supplies fortunate because during the win- (Fig. 1). and hence improve the position of ter, Adam went through a hole in For the next one hundred years the Hudson’s Bay Company in its the ice in the river and was the Hudson’s Bay Company was struggle with the North West Com- drowned. One bull calf was left to content to sit on the shores of the pany. Also, the colony promised a perpetuate the herd. Bay, a period that was called by a steady and cheap supply of labor in Early in the nineteenth century, British Member of Parliament of the more distant future. A few then, there were cattle on most of the time, “the long sleep by the colonists reached the Red River in the fur trading posts of the Ca- 1812 and established the first per- lPaper presented at the 22nd Annual nadian west, usually brought in as Meeting, American Society of Range manent farms in western Canada. calves by boat. There were cattle Management, Calgary, Canada. Re- Livestock were obtained as soon at Dunvegan, in the Peace River ceived April 22, 1969; accepted for as possible. Generally, the quality country, by 1823, for example, and publication May 5, 1969. 2Drawings by Charles M. Russell was low, it was difficult to house at Edmonton by about 1840. A courtesy of Frederick G. Renner. and feed them properly, and a precarious agriculture was estab-

3 4 JOHNSTON

until about 1919-1920 when the prairies were again fully stocked, this time with domestic livestock. There is one other aspect of the Indian trade that should be men- tioned in a discussion of the history of domestic livestock and the rangelands. The Hudson’s Bay Company dominated the fur trade in western Canada for ZOO years but never made any real effort to penetrate the southern plains. The penetra- tion of that area was accomplished in the late sixties and early seventies by prospectors and traders from Fort Benton, Montana. Eventually FIG. 1. The La Vcrentlryes discover the Rocky Mountains. these traders-among them J. J. “Johnny” Healy, Alfred B. Hamil- lished in the Red River valley, the Indians faced starvation. And, tbn, J. B. “Waxey” Weatherwax, destined to be the forerunner of since their traditional food supply Dick Berry, and others-established waves of farming settlement, which was gone, they turned to other ani- about 26 trading posts in southern started in 1871. mals. The pronghorned antelope Alberta and southwestern Saskatch- The plains were still primitive was reduced to’ a fraction of its ewan. Alcohol was their most prof- although the Indian and the fur former numbers; the elk was killed itable stock-in-trade and so the forts trader had put them to use. The or driven from the plains. Smaller came to be known as “whiskey Plains tribes had created an econ- game, and even gophers and other trading posts.” The most notorious omy and a civilization based upon rodents, suffered in turn. By 1880 of these was Fort Whoop-up, lo- the buffalo. They had done this by the Canadian prairie was virtually cated at the junction of the St. means of the horse, which was at devoid of grazing animals and, be- Mary’s and Belly Rivers, near mod- home on the plains, and the buffalo cause the late seventies and early ern Lethbridge. skin tipi, which was a product of eighties were much wetter than Fort Whoop-up and depravity the herds. The way of life that the normal, the grass grew profusely. are still synonymous in the minds Plains Indians created was such Even though prairie fires continued of many southern Albertans. Di- that few men anywhere in the to remove the topgrowth in the fall, luted alcohol was traded at Whoop- world had ever known more inde- winter and early spring months, the up, murders did take place during pendence or a greater security. prairies benefited from non-use drunken brawls, Indians were poi- To the fur traders, the plains and produced a cover of grass the soned by laudanum in the alcohol were a source of provisions. And like of which had never been seen mixture or were frozen to death provision posts, which were also fur before and which will never be seen while intoxicated. At the same trading posts, lined the northern again. Light use continued, in fact, time the fort became a political edge of the open plains from mod- ern Winnipeg to Edmonton. To these posts were sent the dried meat and pemmican of the summer hunt, the fresh and frozen meat of the fall hunt (Fig. 2). Thus the winter col- lection of furs from throughout the northern forests depended pri- marily on the provisions afforded by the buffalo of the southern grass- lands. Gradually the buffalo were reduced in numbers and in range until, in 1879, the last of the Ca- nadian herd was driven by prairie fires into Montana and was hunted to near-extinction there. With the passing of the buffalo, FIG. 2. Early day white buffalo hunters. HISTORY OF RANGELANDS . issue since it was operated by Amer- icans on newly-acquired Cana- dian territory. Also, the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had traded in rum with the Indians intermittently for one hundred years, was par- ticularly incensed at the loss in trade represented by Fort Whoop- up. Missionaries added their voices to the growing clamor for action by the Canadian government. It might be noted in passing that there was much to consider on the positive side. Fort Whoop-up repre- sented the beginnings of commerce in southern Alberta. From the late FIG. 4. Mounted police patrol captures American whisky runners. sixties until about 1885, the busi- ness life of the area moved in a north-south direction. Early Al- mary objective the subjugation of Kingdom, a fact that was to have its berta ranch enterprises were fi- Fort Whoop-up and the suppression impact on the range industry. nanced by banks in Helena, goods of the whiskey trade (Fig. 4). Col. The situation, as it was in the came into the country by bull train James F. Macleod, who led the late seventies, might be summed from Fort Benton, even letters police into southern Alberta, up in this way: The Mounted Po- posted in the area bore a U.S. pos- entered the fort on October 9, 1874, lice had arrived in 1874, bringing tage stamp (Fig. 3). and unsuccessfully searched it for law and order; the Indians had More important, the mere pres- contraband whiskey. The whiskey signed Treaty No. 7 in 1877, which ence of Fort Whoop-up on Cana- trade, for all practical purposes, shoved them off onto reservations, dian territory had much to do ended with that act. thus making their humiliation com- with the formation of the North- The coming of the Mounted plete and creating problems of al- West Mounted Police, now the Police in 1874 meant that law and coholism and unemployment that Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A order preceded settlement in the plague us today; the buffalo had massacre of Indians by wolfers in Canadian West and thus that the vanished in 1879, indirectly leading the Cypress Hills in 1873 culmi- region was to be spared the usual to a market for beef and making nated a decade of lawlessness and tragedies of the frontier. It meant, grass available for domestic live- forced the Canadian government also, that many of the first ranchers stock; and, it was known that cattle to create a mounted police force to were to be ex-members of the could winter on the northern bring law and order to the West. North-West Mounted Police, ad- plains. Further, the take-over of This newly created force marched venturous young men mostly from the American West was complete, westward in 1874 and had as its pri- eastern Canada and the United cattle were available, men of knowl- edge and experience were present south of the Line. During 1876 and 1877 traders such as George Emerson and Tom Lynch trailed in horses and cattle from the south. These were sold at North-West Mounted Police posts and to a number of the ‘74 men who were preparing to leave the force and to take up ranching. Thus it was that the early Alberta ranch enterprises started around Pincher Creek, Fort Macleod, High River, and Calgary-all centers of police activity in those early days. There were many difficulties dur- ing the first few years. The Indians were starving and, according to the FIG. 3. Idaho ox teams were bringing in some 6,000,OOO pounds of freight annually. ranchers, were running off and 6 JOHNSTON . killing stock. Neither the Indian country to settlement and to home- Eastern Canada or Europe, com- Commissioner, who refused to make steading with resultant loss of pas- pletely ignorant of western condi- good the ranchers’ losses, nor Col. turage and decline of the ranching tions. One of the most famous of Macleod, who declared the pro- industry. those early ranches was the Coch- tection of the ranchers’ cattle to be Some form of land organization rane Ranch Company, owned by impossible, was very sympathetic. early occupied the attention of Senator M. H. Cochrane of Hill- The police felt that the country was administrators. Title to the range- hurst Farms, Compton, Quebec. not ready for settlement and hence lands-the country from about Red This ranch, with its history of fail- the ranchers were encouraged to Deer south to the International ure and tragedy, and of eventual take their herds back to Montana Boundary, from the Continental success, was typical of many others for a year at least. Divide east into southwestern Sas- of the period. The attitude of the police was katchewan-was vested in the Gov- Senator Cochrane came west in understandable. As well as believ- ernment of the Dominion of Ca- 1881, bought a team and buckboard ing that the country was not ready nada after 1870. (Prior to 1870 at Fort Benton, and headed north for settlement, they thought that title was vested in the Hudson’s to the Alberta foothills. He chose those who wanted to bring cattle Bay Company.) The first system an area at the Big Hill, about 20 into the country should be willing was one of completely open range miles west of Calgary, where the to take their losses. The police although it only lasted for about modern town of Cochrane now could not risk offending the In- two years in practice. In 188 1 a stands. In short order he leased dians; prestige alone enabled the new system was established by 100,000 acres on the Bow River, tiny force of about 150 men to order-in-council. It provided for purchased about 7,000 head of control them, and if they were ever the grant to individuals or to corp- Montana cattle, and secured the aroused the whole white com- orations of leases not to exceed one release from the North-West munity might perish. The police hundred thousand acres for a Mounted Police of Major James policy was based on reality and period of twenty-one years at an Walker, whom he appointed man- further, as they pointed out, In- annual rental of one cent per acre. ager. dians were not always responsible Within three years the lessee was to The Cochrane cattle arrived in for the ranchers’ losses. have placed on the lease one head the fall in a drive that has become Markets for beef began to de- of livestock for each ten acres. (As famous for its speed and cruelty. velop in the late seventies. Mounted more became known about carry- Howell Harris brought the cattle Police detachments provided the ing capacity this regulation was to the border where the herd was first markets; their contractor, the changed to one head per twenty taken over by Frank Strong and 30 1. G. Baker Company of Fort Ben- acres, still later to one head per men from the I. G. Baker Com- ton, was willing to buy all the beef thirty acres of lease.) The signifi- pany. The herd was pushed un- locally available. After the disap- cant point was that the total num- mercifully, averaging fifteen to pearance of the buffalo, the Cana- ber of livestock on each range was eighteen miles per day, and was dian government was forced to feed strictly limited. When the lease herded so closely that animals had the Indians, another beef contract was stocked there were provisions little opportunity to graze. One that was won by the I. G. Baker whereby the lessee could purchase hundred and eighty miles along Company. All were local markets. up to five percent of the area at the trail, the cattle were herded The construction of the main line two dollars per acre. (Again there across the Elbow River and were of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was a change in regulations during counted where Calgary’s Palliser and its completion, opened up the depression of the nineties and Hotel now stands. The tally, dated world markets and ushered in the some ranch companies were able November 30, 188 1, gives names of heydey of Alberta ranching. But to buy out their holding at $1.25 the Montana suppliers-J. Hick- inherent in the construction of the per acre.) The whole system de- son, I. G. Baker, Harrison and Com- railway were the forces that ulti- pended upon land surveys, which pany, Mullholland and Baker, mately would cause a decline of the were started immediately. Poindexter and Orr-and the num- ranching industry. The railway With the introduction of the new ber purchased. The total was 6,799 needed settlements and the com- lease regulations, the ranch com- head at a cost of $124,780.05, for pany did all it could to encourage pany appeared on the scene. Men an average of $18.35 each. Ac- immigration. And settlement meant were attracted by the tales of profits cording to the notebook in which the end of ranching as it was un- to be made in the cattle business the tally was recorded, the losses derstood in about 1885. The in- and by the opportunity to secure during the winter of 1881-82 were dustry might have survived the enormous amounts of land at slight about 1,000 head. There seemed main line alone, which merely cost. Local managers were gen- to have been about a 42 percent calf skirted the ranching country. But erally practical stockmen from the crop in the spring of 1882. branch lines opened more and more United States but owners were from A second drive in 1882 ended in HISTORY OF RANGELANDS . 7 disaster also. Major Walker pur- being sold to the Mormon Church the take-over of the North Ameri- chased 2,600 head of cattle, mostly for $3,128,000. The luckless com- can range was not. A large block from Poindexter and Orr of Dillon, pany had made one of the most of land, located south of Bassano Montana. A severe snowstorm hit profitable speculations in Alberta’s and called the CPR Block, had been just before the drive reached Fish history to that time. reserved by the railway company. Creek, now within Calgary’s south- Other ranches were formed dur- It had been treated as open range, ern city limits. Poindexter, an ex- ing the early eighties, mainly by apparently, and supported a large perienced cowman who was in British interests although Belgian, number of cattle and horses. In charge of the drive, wanted to leave Swiss, Scotch, Irish, Italian, and 1929, because of changes in the tax the herd in the sheltered river- French moneyed classes were repre- status of the land, it was decided to bottom until conditions improved. sented. The Oxley Ranch was a open the CPR Block to home- But Major Walker insisted that classic example of conflict between steading. And so the last roundup they be delivered to the Big Hill as an absentee owner and a resident of the open range was organized. per agreement . It was a winter of ranch manager. The Bar U, now The McKinnon wagon took part deep snow at Cochrane but orders owned by Allen Baker, was formed and Charlie and Don McKinnon, from eastern Canada were to keep in 1882; the backers were Sir Hugh well-known Calgarians, rode in that the cattle on their home range. and Andrew Allen, of the Montreal- roundup. When it ended, an era Thus, although open range was based Allen Steamship Lines. The ended-an era that had begun in available only a few miles down Bar U cattle herd grew to 30,000 Texas at the end of the Civil War. the Bow River, riders spent the head; at one time 2,000 registered Domestic livestock had rolled in a winter hazing starving cattle back Percheron mares were run on Bar flood from the ranges of Texas to to the west. It was estimated that U range. the Bow River of Alberta and be- 5,000 head of Cochrane cattle died Other big ranches of the period yond. Along its length, the ranch- before spring. included the Quorn, the 76, the ing front had encountered the Even this didn’t discourage the Circle, IMaunsell Bros., the Cypress farming front which in the mean- Senator. He secured another lOO,- Cattle Company, and the Walrond. time had advanced from the east. 000 acre lease on the Waterton The Walrond was taken over by a The two groups held their relative River in southern Alberta, moved syndicate of ranchers a few years positions for a short time only the cattle to the new lease, and ago and is now operated as a graz- when increased pressure from began to run sheep on the lease ing cooperative. In 1886 A. E. Cross, homesteaders, breaking up of leases, west of Calgary. A Virginian, W. a veterinarian from Montreal, and optimistic railway construction D. Kerfoot, managed the sheep homesteaded a quarter section on forced the rancher back to the posi- ranch, by this time reorganized and Mosquito Creek and began to run tion that he now occupies. called the British American Ranch horses, losing to wolves about 10 Today there are about 3 million Company. The Waterton River percent of his colts each year. The head of beef cattle in Alberta, property, which cost the Senator Cross homestead has grown into the about 6 million in the three prairie .$I.25 per acre when purchased out- a7 Ranche of today. provinces. About 50 percent are right in the nineties, sold for $85 The Matador Land and Cattle produced on farms of less than a per acre in 1968. Company should be mentioned al- section in size, only about 15 per- The Cochrane Ranch on the though they didn’t acquire their cent are produced on places of more Waterton River ran into trouble range on the South Saskatchewan than 1,600 acres in size. The re- in the winter of 1885-86. Again River until around the turn of the source that supports these animals heavy snow trapped cattle in the century. The Matador was the only includes 43.8 million acres of native hills. Frank Strong, for $1,000, ranch company, organized in the range, 5.0 million acres of culti- rounded up several hundred Indian seven ties, that lasted until the vated pastureland, and 5.2 million ponies, drove them to the snow- 1950’s and operated at a profit dur- acres of hayland. About 12 per- blocked valleys where the cattle ing much of its life. The home cent of their grazing is obtained were crowded, and then let them range was in Motley County, from crop residue and stubble go. The ponies headed for their Texas; the Saskatchewan Division fields. The range area is extending home range on the snow-free Piegan was used to summer steers before northward. The North Saskatche- Flats with the cattle following along their sale on the Chicago market. wan River was thought to be the behind. By 1896 the heydey of the big northern limit of range cattle 30 In spite of these and other mis- ranches was over; by 1905 a trickle years ago. Today there are herds fortunes, the Cochrane Ranches op- of homesteaders had become a far beyond it. Community and co- erated with success and profit until flood; the last decisive blow to the operative pastures have increased Senator Cochrane’s death in 1903. cattle barons was struck by the bad throughout the region and now The company then went out of winter of 1906-07. But although comprise about 9 percent of the business, the property at Waterton the era of the big ranches was over, rangeland and support abou t 6 per- 8 KLEIN cent of the cattle population. Since duction on the ranches that were population of the Canadian prairies. 1931 there has been a considerable left. But much of the old spirit Agr. Inst. Rev. 21: 10-12. increase in the acreage of cultivated remains, I think, and the freewheel- KELLY, L. V. 1913. The range men. grasses and legumes, which has re- ing way of life that the ranching Argonaut Press, Ltd., New York. KERFOOT,W. D. ca. 1883. Notebook. duced dependence upon native era engendered still survives. Glenbow Found. Hist. Arch. and grass. The present rate of con- Libr., Calgary. References version of native range to pasture MORTON,W. L. 1957. Manitoba, A amounts to about 150,000 acres per CAMPBELL, J. B., R. W. LODGE, A. history. Univ. of Toronto Press, To- year; this rate of conversion will JOHNSTON,AND S. SMOLIAK. 1962. ronto. continue and may accelerate. Range management of grasslands MORTON,W. L. 1969. A century of Ranching no longer dominates and adjacent parklands in the prai- plain and parkland. Alta. Hist. Rev. rie provinces. Publ. 1133, Can. Dep. 17: l-10. the economy of southern Alberta Agr., Ottawa. MURRAY, S. N. 1967. The Valley and southwestern Saskatchewan, as CRAIG, JOHN R. 1903. Ranching comes of age. North Dakota Inst. it did in the eighties and nineties. with Lords and Commons. William for Regional Studies, Fargo, N.D. Land increased in value, leases Briggs, Toronto. RICH, E. E. 1958. The history of the were fenced, the open range dis- JAMESON,SHEILACH C. 1968. The era Hudson’s Bay Company, 1670-l 870. appeared, and the ranchers who of the big ranches: The romantic Vol. 1: 1670-1763. The Hudson’s period of southern Alberta’s his- Bay Record Society, XXI, London. survived owned more and more of tory. Can. Hist. Sot., Univ. of Cal- THOMAS, L. G. 1935. The ranching their land. Holdings were smaller gary, Calgary, Alberta. period in southern Alberta. M.A. although livestock rather than grain JOHNSTON,A., S. SMOLIAK,AND S. B. thesis, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton. remained the focal point of pro- SLEN. 1966. Trends in livestock 17: l-10.

Tundra Ranges North of the the last century. The impact of this activity on the people and the economy of the Arctic has been Boreal Forest1 much discussed in the news media and in the halls of government. Very little attention, however, has DAVID R. KLEIN been given to the land and its vegetation, either from the standpoint of the possible harmful effects Unit leader, Alaska Cooperative Wildlife of uncontrolled mineral exploration and develop- Research Unit, University of Alaska, College. ment, or the potential contribution that the tundra may make to the economy and welfare of the in- Highlight creasing human populations in the Arctic. Tundra rangelands of Alaska and northern Canada The arctic tundra is often referred to as the occupy about 200,000 and 900,000 square miles respectively. “barren-grounds” or the “arctic desert,” and in The tundra supports far lower numbers of large grazers winter the bleak, windswept tundra landscape than other natural areas, averaging less than 100 lb per square mile. Forage quality of tundra plants is high be- may take on the superficial appearance of a desert, cause of rapid growth and wide variation in seasonal barren of life. But the tundra is by no means progression of growth. The native grazers, caribou and lifeless. The artist-naturalist, Ernest Thompson muskoxen, have evolved rapid growth rates and selectively Seton (191 l), shortly after the turn of the century, feed on the highest quality forage available. Wild popu- coined the more descriptive term “arctic prairies” lations of caribou and muskoxen appear to offer the best potential for conversion of tundra vegetation into com- in his enthusiastic narrative of a canoe voyage modities utilizable by man. into the barren-grounds northeast of Great Slave Lake. In summer, the tundra literally becomes alive with insect and bird life. The insects burst The recent discovery of apparently large re- forth from eggs or other dormant stages that lie serves of petroleum on the northern coast of Alaska quiescent during the long arctic winter, but has crystallized an already building interest in the virtually all of the bird life arrives after extended North American arctic. A full-fledged rush of men migrations from milder southern climes. While and materials into the North is now underway some mammals, such as the arctic ground squirrel and may far surpass in magnitude the rush of gold (Citellus undulatus), like the insects, are dormant seekers to the Yukon and Alaska at the turn of during the winter, most mammals of the tundra remain active throughout the winter and con- lPaper presented in Keynote Session of the 22nd Annual tinue to eke out their existence under the harsh Meeting, American Society of Range Management, Calgary, Alberta, February 11, 1969. Received April 24, 1969; ac- conditions that prevail. Lemmings (Lemmus sp. cepted for publication June 30, 1969. and Dicrostonyx sp.) and many other rodents avoid