HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA

S^^^^

WHOOP-UP COUNTRY CHAPTER

Number 1 Newsletter ISSN ,0382-9812 January, 1982

Membership in the Whoop-up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, including a siibscription to the quarterly ALBERTA HISTORY, newsletters, and notices of meetings, can be obtained for $6.00 per year. Send membership dues to: Mr. J.H. Carpenter, Treasurer, Whoop-up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, P.O. Box 974, Lethbridge, Alberta TIJ 4B1

SOCIETY OFFICERS FOR 1981-82

President Alex Johnston, Marquis Hotel TIJ 3Z4 Past President Frank A. Russell, Box 326 TIJ 3Y8 Vice-President Carlton R. Stewart, 1005 - 23 Street South TIH 3T2 Secretary D. J. (Doug) Card, 1051 - 13 Street South TIK 1S6 Treasurer J. H. Carpenter, 2117 - 14 Avenue South TIK 0V3 Council Member (1984) Andrew J. Staysko, Green Acres Lodge TIJ 0S9 Council Member (1984) Henry R. Anderson, 2226 - 18 Avenue South TIK 1C8 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Lucille Dalke, 638 - 9 Street South TIJ 2L4 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Donna Coulter, Box 1001, Fort Macleod TOL 2G0 Council Member (1982) Ralph L. Erdman, 1115 - 17 Street A South TIK 0S9 Council Member (1982) Clarence Geiger, 1265 - 5 Avenue A South TIJ 0Y3

MONTHLY MEETINGS capable of wiping out every white settler in the region. The Gaits were trying to build a narrow The regular monthly meeting of the Whoop-up gauge railway to Dunmore that year and it had to be Country Chapter of the Historical Society of done under armed guard. Two segments of the Field Alberta will be held in the Assembly Room of Force (the 9th Battalion Quebec City and the Rocky the Sir Alexander Gait Museum on Tuesday, Jan­ Mountain Rangers) helped to secure this region while, uary 26, 1982, at 8:00 p.m. The speaker will in turn, Mounties from Fort Macleod participated be Mr. Jack Dunn, 6404 Norfolk Drive N.W., directly in the northward advance. (These Mounties, Calgary, Alberta. Mr. Dunn has been working on incidentally, eventually covered a distance about a thesis on "The Alberta Field Force of 1885". equal to that from Paris to Moscow.) . . .Mr. He has slides of the scenes of action and has Dunn's subject is not well known in this region and already presented his talk to the Calgary His­ we hope a large number of members will come to the torical Society. He will present the talk on meeting to hear and to learn. the Alberta Field Force of 1885 to the Leth­ bridge group on January 26 . . . Mr. Dunn On Tuesday, February 23, 1982, the regular monthly points out that the focus of the military cam­ meeting of the Society will have as guest speaker paign, undertaken because of the outbreak of Mr. Elza B. Tudor of Lethbridge. Mr. Tudor has long the Second Riel Rebellion in the Batoche-Frog been interested in the art of poetry and tends to Lake region of north-central Saskatchewan in select as his subject matter events of historical 1885, was on Calgary and the march north. But significance. He will read some of his poems and events in the Fort Macleod-Lethbridge region will explain what motivates him in the selection of remained critical. The Blackfoot were in a poetry as a means of self-expression. state of great excitement and were perfectly Editor, Newsletter: into disuse with the invention of the printing press and the story-tellers, with their rhym­ In your November issue, you carried an item ing verse, were no longer needed. Or so we regarding the Marquis of Lome writing "Unto thought! We said this once before in this news­ the hills . . ." as a result of his 1881 trip letter. That mention turned out to be one of West and his view of the Rocky Mountains. the few items ever to generate reactive letters. Several correspondents said that they wrote First, yes, it is possible to see the Rocky poetry for their own pleasure and that of their Mountains from Blackfoot Crossing. In fact, friends and family. One lady sent us a book of the Rev. James MacGregor, a member of Lord her poems. All were adamant that just as many Lome's party, commented upon this after noting people wrote poetry as ever before although less the beauties of the Crossing. "But the charm of it was published in local and regional news­ of the picture," he added, "was that long and papers and in other outlets. magnificent line of gigantic peaks and mighty masses 120 miles away, on which the sun was While he was not a native of Alberta, even a going down in glory, throwing long bars of gold brief discussion of regional poets should include across the western sky. It was to many of us, Charles Mair, 1838-1927. Mair had two connections and among the rest to Lord Lome, our first with Lethbridge. First, his niece, Margaret Mair, view of the Rocky Mountains." (Alberta His- married Charles Alexander Magrath in 1888. The torioal Review, Spring 1964, p. 7.) Magraths had a son, Bolton, in about 1890 and a daughter a couple of years later. Margaret (Mair) The story of Lord Lome having written the words Magrath died of complications resulting from the to the hymn while on his 1881 trip is an oft- birth of her daughter in, we believe, 1893. The repeated tale. Usually, the site is credited baby girl was sent east temporarily to be raised to the Big Hill near Cochrane which the Marquis by Charles Magrath's parents but the youngster was of Lome visited when he went to look at the never well and lived only for about four months. Cochrane cattle. One supposes that Charles Mair was aware of all of this. Alas, however, as much as Alberta would like to take credit for the inspiration for the hymn, Mair's second connection with Lethbridge started this does not seem to be possible. You consulted about 1907. Like many Canadian artists — with the a United Church hyman book for your source, and oft-repeated exception of Pierre Berton in recent here you erred. After all. Lord Lome represen­ times — Mair was unable to make a living from his ted the British aristocracy, so you should have art. He became a Customs and Immigration officer gone to an Anglican hymn book. In consulting and was stationed in Lethbridge and Coutts from this source — or at least the edition which I about 1907-11. The Lethbridge Daily Herald was saw — you would find "Unto the hills ..." singularly unimpressed with the presence in the included as a general hymn. At the bottom of the community of a poet-writer of national stature and page, the author and date of writing are listed the few news items we have seen are along the lines as "The Marquis of Lome, 1877". If this is of: "Charles Mair, Customs Officer, has returned correct, then the piece was written fully four from a trip to Prince Albert. He reports crops in years before the Queen's son-in-law ever cast Southern Alberta are much better than those in his eyes upon the magnificent Rockies. north-central Saskatchewan." The biography of Charles Mair (by Norman Shrive) contains little Hugh A. Dempsey information on the Lethbridge years. Presumably, one of the reasons was that Mair was in his late (Dr. Dempsey, well-knoiM author and editor of 60s/early 70s while in this region and his produc­ "Alberta History", is Chief Curator of the tive years were far behind him. Glenbow Museum, Calgary.—Editor) Dr. Helen Hoy, Department of English, University ******* of Lethbridge, kindly provided us with information on Charles Mair. According to Dr. Hoy, there is a There are four billion people on the face of the good biography of Mair available, Norman Shrive's earth and not one of their stories will have a "Charles Mair: A Literary Naturalist". It is in happy ending. the University library. Mair's early poetry, "Dreamland and Other Poems", and his play "Tecumseh", ******* based on aspects of Canadian history, are also in the University library. Among his other writings SOME SOUTHERN ALBERTA POETS are "The Last Bison (1890)", "Collected Poems (1901)", and a prose account of his journey through the Atha­ The art of poetry has a long tradition in Southern basca and Peace River areas, called "Through the Alberta. Many people have found pleasure in Mackenzie Basin (1908)". Earlier, Mair was a found­ expressing their thoughts in poetic form. A few ing member of the "Canada First" movement and was have had their works published, usually privately. significantly involved in the Red River Rebellion and the subsequent hanging of Louis Riel. Poetry originated in the days when news items and other stories were carried from place to place Mair was imprisoned with Thomas Scott, who was by story-tellers. Recounting these news items or executed by Riel. It was the execution of the loud­ stories in rhyming form, and repeating certain mouthed Ontario Protestant bigot that enraged Orange parts, enabled the story-tellers better to re­ Ontario and ensured Riel's subsequent execution by member the tales they had to tell. Poetry fell hanging in Regina. This execution, which John Diefenbaker thought a miscarriage of justice by C, Frank Steele was a long-time reporter with the Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservatives and the Lethbridge Herald. His best-known work is probably imposition of conscription in the First World his biography of William A. Buchanan, publisher of War by Robert Borden's Union Party, ensured the Herald, called "Prairie Editor". We have never that the Conservatives would spend much of the seen a volume of poems by Mr. Steele but he used last 114 years in Opposition. The "Canada First" verse frequently in his regular column in the movement, mentioned earlier, was formed by a Herald. small group of Canadian Intellectuals who saw the Canada of post-1867 as a new nation. In Norman F. Priestly was the minis ter of a rural 1867, most Canadians viewed the British North church near Coaldale in 1922-29 and was so impressed America Act not as a declaration of independence by the prairie-farm scene that "he burst into verse". but as a declaration of dependence, of mainten­ His work was published in "The U.F.A.", the official ance of the British link. paper of the United Farmers of Alberta, in the "Western Farm Leader", and in other journals. These poems were A more recent arrival on the Canadian writing gathered by Mr. Priestly about 1930 and published in scene is Naomi Nakane, now Joy Kogawa. Kogawa a volume entitled "Summer Fever and Other Verses". was five years old in 1941 when her mother left Vancouver to visit Japan; war broke out and the S. Evangeline Matheson Warren wrote the book, "Seventy mother subsequently died at Nagasaki. Although South Alberta Years". (This book is an autobiography very young at the time, Kogawa is still haunted of Ernest Herbert Falkland (Bert) Warren, her husband, by the nightmare that enveloped the West Coast and was published by Arthur Stockwell Limited, Japanese-Canadians after Pearl Harbor. She and Ilfraoombe, Devon, England, in 1960. It is 255 pages her family were unceremoniously moved from their in length.) The 22-page book of verse by her in our comfortable Vancouver home to a shack in the possession is not dated, nor is the publisher shown. Coaldale district and put to work on a beet farm. It is called "Prairie Panels" and is dedicated to Humiliated, persecuted, classed as enemy aliens, the pioneers of the Canadian prairies. and their property stolen from them, they suffered intolerance and discrimination at every turn. The Amanda Nilsson was a housewife from Raymond where the experience has been piiblished by Kogawa in the book, name, Nilsson, is still a familiar one. The example "Obasan", now receiving acclaim by critics through­ of her writing in our possession is actually a Souvenir out Canada. of the 7th Dry Farming Congress, which was held in Lethbridge on October 21-16, 1912. Mrs. Nilsson wrote Ms. Kogawa, raised in Coaldale and educated in three poems for the sourvenir issue — and John Coaldale schools, is a poet and a member of the Diefenbaker would have loved the first one! They League of Canadian Poets. She has three published were: "Honour the Union Jack", "A Big Time in Leth­ collections to her credit. She has been a teacher, bridge Today", and "The Farmer Feeds Us All". Mrs. a writer in the Prime Minister's office, a writer Nilsson was well-known in Raymond for her poems and in residence at the University of Ottawa, and other writings. A pioneer of the region, she delivered now lives in Toronto. the first baby to be born there. As a young mother, she lost three babies in eleven months; she wrote a Mair was, and Kogawa is, a professional writer very moving poem entitled "Prairie Flowers" about this of considerable stature. The others we will tragedy. Quite a lot of her material has survived discuss are amateurs in the sense that they wrote and, recently, examples of it were given to us by or write not primarily for publication but rather Ms. Iris Mossey, a grand-daughter. It has been placed for personal satisfaction. Among them are: in the archives of the Sir Alexander Gait Museum, A. L. Freebairn, Pincher Creek; David H. Elton, Lethbridge. ;Lethbridge; C. Frank Steele, Lethbridge; Norman F. Priestly, Coaldale; C. F. P. Conybeare, Leth­ Charles Frederick Pringle Conybeare was the first bridge; and John D. Higinbotham, Lethbridge. lawyer in Lethbridge, coming here in December 1885. Mr. Conybeare was deeply involved in the early life We cannot tell you much about Mr. Freebairn al­ of this community and played a leading role in the though anyone from the Pincher Creek district organization of many of its institutions. He was could tell you a great deal. We remember that active in the Law Society, both in North-West Terri­ Mr. Freebairn was a great friend of the late Ken tory days and after the formation of Alberta. In Liddell, one of the best columnists ever to work 1907, he had published by William Briggs, Toronto, for the Calgary Herald. We have on hand a small a 77-page, hardcover book of poems called "Lyrics volume of poems by Mr. Freebairn entitled "My Son From the West". and Other Poems". It is undated and the publisher is not noted. The 30-page volume is dedicated to John D. Higinbotham, the last name on the list, also his two sons, Johnny and Lees, then in the RCAF. was a well-known early citizen of Lethbridge, coming here in October 1885 to open a combined drug store/ David H. Elton came to Cardston in 1901 and ran a Post Office at 5th Street and 2nd Avenue South. The string of weekly newspapers in the next few years. building still stands and served as the model for the In 1908, he began to study law under W. C. Ives, drug store in Heritage Park, Calgary. Mr. Higin­ and was admitted to the Alberta bar in 1913. He botham was very active in most community affairs, served on City Council from 1928-34, and was Mayor particularly the affairs of Knox Church. He is well of Lethbridge from 1935-43. In 1966, a book of known regionally as the author of the book, "When poems was published entitled "The Writings of the West Was Young", published originally in 1933 David Horton Elton, Q.C.". It is 74 pages in and reprinted in 1978 by the Heritage Trails Society, length but the publisher is not shown. Lethbridge. Some time early in the century (the booklet is not dated), Higinbotham had the and Ukrainian were presented. If you are a budding Lethbridge Herald publish a 32-page volume of poet, you might consider writing to Society presi­ his poems called "Foothill and Prairie Memories". dent Dr. Lock, Room 214, Arts Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta. To this list must be added the name of Elza B. Tudor, a farmer in the Lethbridge district. We first came into contact with Mr. Tudor many years ago in connection with discussions of Russian In the homesteading days, the possession of a piano wildrye, then a new crop that Mr. Tudor wanted was an indication of respectability and culture. to grow for seed. Mr. Tudor has long written poems based on personal experiences and on the ******* historical lore of the region. About two years ago he published 136 of these poems in a 150- Alberta voted to repeal prohibition (went "wet") page book by Dove Printing, and called it "Poems on November 2, 1923. The province had voted for of an Alberta Farmer". Mr. Tudor is working on prohibition (went "dry") in July 1916. a second volume and tells us that he is well along with the task. We had hoped Mr. Tudor would be ******* able to give a reading of a selection of his poems to the Lethbridge Historical Society in November THE TABER CHILD 1981 but medical problems intervened. These pro­ blems are now behind him and Mr. Tudor will read In 1961, a Geological Survey of Canada field crew a selection of his poetry on February 23, 1982. under Dr. Andy Mac. Stalker of Ottawa discovered a few small bones in a soil layer underlying a glacial Still another local writer who expressed himself till deposit. The discovery was made in an area of poetically was the late Joe Balla. Mr. Balla was slump on the banks of the Oldman River valley north a colvimnist with the Lethbridge Herald, a City of of Taber, Alberta. Dr. Stalker realized that the Lethbridge alderman, and an active sportsman. As bones were probably very old and tentatively identi­ far as we know, Mr. Balla never published any of fied them as from a rabbit. As a result, no photo­ his poems. We have in our possession two examples graphs were taken of the bones in^ situ, nor were in­ of his work: "Land of Big Blue Sky", and an un­ dependent archaeologists notified and asked to view titled piece dealing with boys and Hallowe'en. them. The bones were sent to the National Museum of Man in Ottawa for future study and, unfortunately, they As early as 1906, T. E. Hulme, an English poet of were treated with a chemical preservative there. Then some renown, roamed around western Canada doing — the bombshell — paleontologists identified the odd jobs on farms and in liomber camps. He returned bones as human, specifically, as those of a four-month- to England where he gave lectures on modern trends old infant . . . Conventional archaeological wisdom in poetry. In the course of one of these lectures, holds that man has been in the New World for about he said, "The first time I ever felt the necessity 12,000 years. But, according to Dr. Stalker, the or inevitableness of verse was in the desire to strata in which the Taber remains were found was from reproduce the peculiar quality of feeling which 30,000 to 60,000 years old. If true, this made the is induced by the flat spaces and wide horizons "Taber Child" far and away the oldest hiaman remains of the virgin prairie of Western Canada." Poets in North America. (The only contender was the Del Mar since have tried to catch in their poems the be­ skull from the Los Angeles area, once thought to be wildering immensity of the Prairies, the space 25,000 years old but recently proved to date to only that will always be with us, and also the strange about 11,000 years before the present.) Human arti­ nature of the human history of the West — its facts , but no human remains, have been found in the unique telescoping, by which we have gone from Old Crow region of the Yukon Territory and apparently the late Stone Age to the Space Age in little date to 27,000-32,000 HP . . . Drs. R. G. Forbis and more than a century, and settlements founded in Michael Wilson of the University of Calgary's Archaeo­ the early 1900s were dying in the 1960s. In logical Department have since 1979 moved over 700 tonnes much of Western Canada, a poet has pointed out, of sediment with hand trowels, carving a huge slice there is indeed a sense — almost a stench — into the bluff where the remains of the Taber Child were of accelerated decay; not all is new and prosper­ found. They don't really expect to find more human ing. In Europe, it takes several centuries to go remains but are on the lookout for anything that might from foundation to downfall but in Western Canada shed light on the mystery. They are collecting, and it often takes less than a couple of generations. carefully analyzing, samples of all the clay, sand and A comment that could be made about many prairie silt layers. They hope that x-ray and other analyses communities is: may serve to identify each of these many layers and that these data can then be used to identify the matrix found on the Taber Child bones . . . Radioactive carbon "Now only the old men from north of town dating techniques cannot be used as the process takes Want to stay and die in Lansdowne" considerable organic matter arid would necessitate the destruction of all of the bones . . . Thus, the Taber It may interest aspiring poets of the region to Child presents one of the most intriguing mysteries in know that the Thistledown Press, 668 East Place, modern Canadian archaeology. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7J 2Z5, specializes in the printing of poetry and produced seven books in 1981. Also, the Alberta Poetry Festi­ ******* val Society was formed in April 1981 to encourage fledgling poets. It held its first festival on Alcohol in Canada is involved in half of all crime, a November 6 at Edmonton's Centennial Library where third of all homicides, is a ma^or factor in a skyrocket­ 18 Alberta poets read their latest. Most poems ing incidence of liver disease, and is responsible for were in English but poems in Icelandic, French, filling an estimated one-quarter of all hospital beds. Mart Kenney and His Western Gentlemen by Martin in plans for the Lethbridge Civic Centre, which were Kenney. Western Producer Prairie Books, Saska- unveiled in 1944. The plans for a museum came to toon, Saskatchewan. $15.95. Illus. pp. 172. naught although the Court House and City Hall, which were included on the plans, were built ... On This is the first, and likely the only, book by June 19, 1957, Charles E. Parry and C. E. Little Mart Kenney, who lives on the Lower Fraser River moved and seconded at a Chamber of Commerce meet­ at Mission, British Columbia — doubtless in a ing that the Fort Whoop-up Committee of the Chamber cosy little cottage beside the western river . . be re-activated and, further, that the replica of We who are of his approximate generation have Fort Whoop-up incorporate a museum . . . Sven lived through the same heavy burdens — the First Ericksen, well-known Lethbridge restaurateur, while World War, the tough times of the early 1920s, chairman of the Tourist and Convention Committee of the stock market crash, the Great Depression, the the Chamber of Commerce in 1958, held discussions Second World War, the baby boom when the men came with provincial authorities in regard to the possi­ home, the golden 1950s, and the social revolution bility of getting a Provincial Museum for Lethbridge. of the 1960s and 1970s. We relate to Mart Kenney ... In 1958, also, the Lethbridge Historical because his music was our listening pleasure in Society was rescued from the oblivion into which it the early days of radio ... In 1934, during a had fallen, largely through the efforts of John rehearsal for a playing date at Henderson Lake, Dutton, local librarian. (Those present at an or­ Lethbridge, the band tried Bert Lister's arrange­ ganizational meeting on October 10 were Cliff Black, ment of "The West, A Nest, and You, Dear". It W. O. Mills, J. N. Murdock, A. G. Baalim, Percy and is still Mart Kenney's theme song and has been Mrs. Murdock, W. L. Jacobson, Mrs. L. J. McKenzie, played for every stage and radio show. A day Mrs. McNabb, John Dutton and representatives of the or two later, the band opened at the Prince of Lethbridge Herald and radio station CJOC.) One Wales Hotel, Waterton Lakes National Park, and purpose of the reorganization was to provide a place tagged themselves "Mart Kenney and His Western for the safekeeping of artifacts and records. On Gentlemen". That, too, has stuck . . . Mart April 24, 1959, for example. Cliff Black asked what Kenney is still playing but turns down most had become of "Gramps" Botsford's collection. He engagements except conventions, charity shows, suggested that the Historical Society executive look and occasional radio and TV appearances. The into this with a view to its preservation if still band has played in 123 villages, towns, and available. Unfortunately, the minutes of succeed­ cities and in every province except Newfoundland ing meetings do not say what the Executive Committee . . . Kenney credits his long success to his found ... In 1963, Fraser Perry, then an editorial early experience of playing live over radio, writer with the Lethbridge Herald, spoke in a casual including CJOC Radio. He says that, live over conversation with Alex Johnston of the need for a radio, you had to get it right. In a ballroom museum in Lethbridge. Bowman School had recently you could conceal mistakes, but radio was un­ become vacant and George McKillop, a former Physical forgiving. The results were painstaking re­ Education instructor in the school system, was an hearsals and error-free band music. active member of the historical society. These facts came together in Perry's mind and, at an early ******* meeting of the Executive of the Society, the whole topic was thoroughly discussed. The membership ap­ proved going ahead with the project and everyone Archaeologists say that stones speak. was enthusiastic. Frank Sherring, then mayor of Lethbridge, was instrumental in the Society gaining ******* access to three rooms in the former Bowman School. George McKillop and Andrew J. Staysko took over On Creative Writing.—Poet Patrick Lane, comment­ active management of the Museum project. They ing on rituals associated with his writing, said: appealed for artifacts and oldtimers of the city "I have to have my cup of coffee and my cigarette and region soon donated enough articles to fill burning and the typewriter just right. I could the three rooms. In February 1964, delegates to spend three hours in the morning, which is when the annual meeting of the Historical Society of I write, going through all the rituals and never Alberta, meeting in the Marquis Hotel, viewed the getting anything done. These games every writer exhibits, thus officially opening what became the goes through. One of the hardest things is to Sir Alexander Gait Museum. ... It is impossible sit down and actually start writing." to list all of those who contributed to the museum project in those early days but the names of George ******* Watson (who suggested the name), Chris Gibson, Clarence Geiger, Lucille Dalke, and Frank Watkins The Law of Diminishing Returns: The sixth choco­ come readily to mind . . . Because of pressure from late doesn't taste as good as the first. various arts groups (Playgoers, Sketch Club, ballet, weavers, and potters), the museum was forced to vacate the by-now Bowman Arts Center in 1966. Space was available in the former Gait Hospital Building A MUSEUM FOR LETHBRIDGE and City Council approved of the museum moving into the basement and second floor. This was done in There was mention of the need for a museum in late 1966/early 1967. By 1971, the museum project Lethbridge, starting in the early 1920s. On had become almost too big for a volunteer organiza­ June 2, 1938, the need for the establishment of tion to handle. Also, George McKillop was in fail­ a museiom was mentioned to Board of Trade Presi­ ing health. A letter was written to Mr. McKittrick, dent C. N. MacMillan by Mr. Fred Botsford, who City Manager, suggesting that it was time for the said he had a large number of exhibits . . . A museum-library-theatre complex was included city to assume responsibility for the project, rallies. His baritone voice caught the atten­ the worthiness of which the historical society tion of a young lady who invited him to come to believed had been demonstrated. In due time, the Methodist Church to sing in the choir; this the City of Lethbridge agreed to undertake this chance encounter with Sarah Diamond determined responsibility and a Museum Supervisor was not only his future career but also his marital appointed in 1972. Ms. Rosemary Allan was the life. successful candidate but only stayed for about a year. In 1973, Mr. W. J. Elliott was appointed Some time after this meeting, Endicott became Museum Supervisor, a job he still held in 1982 . a probationary minister and volunteered for . . In 1980, as a result of a grant to the missionary work in the Canadian Northwest. As city from the province, the archives section we have seen, in July 1889 he was sent to Leth­ of the museum was strengthened. Ms. M. Jean bridge. He received a salary of $495 per year Potts was appointed City Archivist and began while in Lethbridge and there was no parsonage. reorganizing the archives into a working tool The minister in charge of the Presbyterian Church for students and other interested persons. In in Lethbridge, the Rev. Charles McKillop, was very 1981, Ms. Potts was promoted to Assistant City impressed with young James Endicott's gifts in Clerk and Gregg Ellis took over as City Archi­ the pulpit. As a result, he sponsored Endicott's vist ... In 1981, Phase 1 of a renovation application to Wesley College at the University program began. The intent was to modernize the of Manitoba. 1910 portion of the Old Gait Hospital Building, declared a provincial historic resource in When Endicott graduated with the gold medal in 1978, and to demolish the 1930 portion of the philosophy in 1893, he was not tempted by the pro­ building. It was expected that the museum spect of an academic career, for he had already would move into the first floor of the 1910 been deeply moved by the experience of hearing the Gait Building and that the entrance to the famous American evangelist, John R. Mott, speak at museum, located since 1967 at the north end a student conference in Minneapolis. As early as of the building, would revert to the original 1892, he had decided to offer himself to the church hospital entrance . . . All these plans came for foreign service for "there is awful significance to a crashing halt in October 1981 when the in the figures presented concerning the great millions City Hall Advisory Committee unveiled their dying in darkness, and there seems to be great explicit- "concept" of a Town Center in which the museum, ness in the command. Go ye into all the world". His art gallery, and the need for space for various classmates at Wesley College chose him as their rep­ ethnic clubs were used to sell the idea of a resentative to the newly opened mission field in new city hall. Szechuan, China, and undertook to raise the necessary funds to keep him there until the end of the century. ******* When he graduated as an ordained minister, Endicott returned to Lucan and there, on July 12, 1893, he A teacher affects eternity; he or she cannot and Sarah Diamond were married. Two weeks later the tell where his or her influence stops. young couple were on their way to China.

******* For the rest of the story, read "Rebel out of China" by Stephen Endicott. The book is a biography of REVEREND JAMES ENDICOTT James G. Endicott, James Endicott's son and Stephen Endicott 's father. The first resident minister to serve in Wesley Methodist Church in Lethbridge was James Endicott. ******* At that time, Wesley Church was a small wooden frame building on the southeast corner of the The wealth of insurance companies and the success block where the Downtown Safeway Store is now of organized gambling are two indications of the located. (Southminster United Church at 4th profits to be derived from the efficient use of chance. Avenue and llth Street South is its lineal descendant.) It had opened for services in ******* December 1888. James Endicott was sent to serve in Lethbridge. He arrived here on July 17, Recently we received a circular letter from John 1889 and remained until mid-summer in 1890. Kendle, President of the Canadian Historical Asso­ ciation. Purpose of the letter was to bring to the James Endicott was originally from Devon in attention of CHA members recent developments at the England, the fourth in a family of eleven levels of Cabinet and the Social Science and Humani­ children. His father, a farm worker, had moved ties Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) which have about the valley of the Teign River, cutting grave implications for the humanities and social hay and tending sheep for the gentry. He was sciences in Canada ... In essence, SSHRCC has seldom able to earn enough money for the basic been advised by the Minister of Communications, needs of his family. In 1882, at age seventeen, Francis Fox, to re-design its five-year plan to James Endicott left for Canada, determined not reflect a much stronger emphasis on Canadian Studies. to spend the rest of his life tipping his hat Thus, the five-year budget was increased from to the squire, as his father had had to do. $53,885,000 to $72,751,000. The $19 million in­ While working for his older brother as a house crease goes to Canadian studies and, hence (accord­ painter in Lucan, a village in southwestern ing to Dr. Kendle), to directed research. By Ontario, he was attracted to the Salvation Army 1985-86, at least 51 percent of SSHRCC monies will and was soon singing in their street corner go to Canadian Studies and research in non-Canadian areas will fall to 13.9 percent . . . Accord­ 1889: Elliott T. Gait incorporated the Montana ing to the letter, the CHA Council is shocked and Canadian Railway Company (T. S. Hauser, and alarmed at this drastic reallocation of fund­ president) to build the U.S. portion of a ing and the dramatic shift in policy from one narrow gauge railway line from Lethbridge to emphasizing independent research to one emphasiz­ Great Falls. ing directed research ... We cannot get very excited about the changes and, in fact, are com­ 1889: Elliott T. Gait incorporated the Great pletely in sympathy with more emphasis on Falls and Canada Railway Company to build the Canadian studies. Canadian portion of a narrow gauge railway line from Lethbridge to Great Falls. ******* ******* In a changing world, to do nothing may be the biggest risk of all. With his father, Elliott Gait was instrumental in the construction of 355 miles of railway and ******* fully 150 miles of irrigation canals, and developed coal mines with a daily capacity of Oil was first pumped from a well in North America 2,000 tons. In all, the Gaits formed nine at Oil Springs, Ontario, which is near Sarnia, in companies in connection with their Southern 1858. Significant discoveries in Canada since Alberta enterprises. It would have been easy 1858 have been at Turney Valley, Alberta, in the to secure legislation to extend the life of any early 1900s and at Leduc, Alberta, in the late one of them but shareholders would not take on 1940s. Oil has been sought in Canada from coast additional responsibilities. The companies were: to coast with current interest being focused on North Western Coal and Navigation Company Limited, the Hibernia Field, off Newfoundland, and the formed 1882, absorbed by AR S C Co. in 1889; Beaufort Sea . . . The Turner Valley discovery Alberta Railway and Coal Company, formed 1884, set off a rash of oil exploration in the Leth­ absorbed by AR S I Co. in 1904; Lethbridge Land bridge region in the 1920s, resulting in the Company, formed about 1890, absorbed by AR S I spudding-in of a low-yield, heavy-oil well near Co. in 1904 (there is some doubt about the Skiff and some modest natural gas finds. In existence of this company); Alberta Irrigation the early 1930s, a heavy-oil refinery (the Company, formed 1893, became the Canadian North Huff Refinery) was built in Lethbridge. West Irrigation Company in 1899, absorbed by AR s I Co. in 1904; Montana and Canadian Rail­ way Company, formed 1889 to build the U.S. portion of a narrow gauge railway to Great Falls, sold to The present is a razor edge of time poised be­ J. J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway in 1901; tween the remembered or assumed past and the Great Falls and Canada Railway Company, formed 1889 expected future. to build the Canadian portion of a narrow gauge rail­ way to Great Falls, apparently absorbed by the AR S C Co. in early 1890s; St. Mary River Railway Company, formed 1898, absorbed by AR S I Co. in 1904; and Alberta Railway S Irrigation Company, formed 1904, April 25, 1882: The North Western Coal and purchased outright by the CPR on April 1, 1912. Navigation Company Limited was incorporated in London with a share capital of 50,900 pounds sterling. *******

April 19, 1884: The Canadian government A BEAR STORY empowered the North Western Coal and Naviga­ tion Company Limited to construct and operate In July 1905, a man and a trained bear showed up in a railway from Medicine Hat to Coalbanks and Lethbridge. They had walked from Macleod. Such com­ incorporated the Alberta Railway and Coal binations were a fairly common sight at the time, Company with a capital of $1,500,000 to build the bear performing tricks at occasional stops, thus the railway. Capitalization was later reduced enabling its master to make a modest living. to $500,000 when a narrow gauge railway was decided upon. Also, on April 19, 1884, the At Lethbridge, one of the first places the man and North Western Coal and Navigation Company bear saw after the long ascent from the riverbottom Limited was incorporated in Canada and capi­ was the Staysko home. Both were thirsty and the man talization was increased to 100,900 pounds asked 15-year-old Andrew J. Staysko for a drink of sterling. water. Andy referred him to the nearby brewery and said that William Bilson, Stationary Engineer, would see that they got the water.

January 1, 1890: The Alberta Railway and Man and bear disappeared into the brewery, to emerge Coal Company took over the assets and lia­ 15-20 minutes later. The man walked out onto the bilities of the North Western Coal and nearby street, sat down for a moment, then lay back Navigation Company. and went to sleep. The bear remained with him, walk­ ing around in circles and, according to Andy, making ******* a kind of low mooing/humming sound. "Man asleep on the street" was reported to Tom diplomatic mission. A year or two later. Sir Lewis, Town Policeman, then headquartered in the Alexander informed Sir John A. Macdonald that he nearby No. 1 Firehall. Lewis came to investigate could no longer do the job on $4,000 per year. and approached the sleeping man. At this time, Sir John told him to cut out the hospitality . . . the bear reared up on its hind legs in a threaten­ Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona) was High Commissioner ing manner and Lewis beat a hasty retreat. This in London from 1896-1914. He had the odd habit of happened twice more in the next 30-40 minutes, starting work at 4:00 PM and kept staff up so late the bear emerging victorious at each encounter. that Canada House became known in London as Canada's Lighthouse . . . Peter Larkin was the first un­ Then the man awoke, apparently refreshed, and he titled High Commissioner. He had made his fortune and the bear wandered on down Ford Street (now in tea and was unofficially known as Lord Salada. Second Avenue South), probably looking for a An avid golfer, he once lofted a shot out of his place to perform. office window into Trafalgar Square. It was said to be a Canadian miracle that no one was hit . . . By this time Andy was curious enough to go into Vincent Massey was High Commissioner from 1935-46 the brewery to ask Mr. Bilson what had happened. . . . Norman Robertson was the first career High According to Bilson, the man and bear had come Commissioner and served from 1946-49 and 1952-57. into the brewery asking for water. Bilson's He was destroyed by unproven accusations of Communist reply was that he had something a lot better sympathies . . . George Drew served from 1957-63 and than water and gave the man a couple of jugs was noted for his outspokenness, once calling a of beer. The bear received its gallon or two British representative at a Law of the Sea Conference of beer in a pail. The walk from Macleod, the a "pompous ass". . . . Canada House, now being re­ long climb and two jugs of beer on an empty novated at a cost of $900,000, has a staff of 50 and stomach were too much for the stranger and he is located at 1 Grosvenor Square in a building now simply lay down for an hour or so and slept it known as Macdonald House . . . Canada is represented off. The bear appeared equally happy, according in 174 countries, a total that includes territories to Andy, until Constable Lewis seemed to present with which Ottawa has diplomatic, consular, or trade a threat. relations . . . But it all started with Sir Alexander T. Gait, the entrepreneur who developed southern Alberta. The thing that impressed itself most on 15-year- old Andy Staysko was that the bear walked up­ right, "just like a man". Seventy-six years ******* later, he still recalled the man and bear on Ford Street, the bear walking upright and as tall as Remember the scrubboards of long ago. It may be sur­ the man. prising to learn that about 20,000 of these utensils, in two models, are still manufactured each year in ******* Canada. The main buyers are immigrant groups but there is a steady demand by hardware stores, which We can never know in our own time what will endure service summer cottages. Also, there is a demand and what will be forgotten. throughout the northern regions, where the boards are distributed and sold by the Hudson's Bay Company. ******* ******* In 1881, Britain marked its 715th anniversary of Parliament; in Canada it was our 114th year . . . According to Alf Davis (as recounted by Andrew J. Canada's first High Commissioner to Britain Staysko in 1981), foreman of the City Mine (No. 10 was Sir Alexander Tilloch Gait, one of the 18 Drift Mine) in the early days of this century, the Fathers of Confederation. His post was an historic coal bed directly under the Gait Hospital was left first designation since the Queen had never before in place so that no problems with subsidence would appointed a diplomat responsible to herself from ever arise. one of the Dominions. Gait set up shop in London in 1880; thus Canada's foreign service was born and Canada House in London is our most senior HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA

- WHOOP-UP COUNTRY CHAPTER

Number 2 Newsletter ISSN 0382-9812 March, 1982

Membership in the Whoop-up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, including a subscription to the quarterly ALBERTA HISTORY, newsletters, and notices of meetings, can be obtained for $6.00 per year. Send membership dues to:

Mr. J.H. Carpenter, Treasurer, Whoop-up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, P.O. Box 974, Lethbridge, Alberta TIJ 4A2

SOCIETY OFFICERS FOR 1981-82

President Alex Johnston, Marquis Hotel TIJ 3Z4 Past President Frank A. Russell, Box 326 TIJ 3Y8 Vice-President Carlton R. Stewart, 1005 - 23 Street South TIH 3T2 Secretary D. J. (Doug) Card, 1051 - 13 Street South TIK 1S6 Treasurer J. H. Carpenter, 2117 - 14 Avenue South TIK 0V3 Council Member (1984) Andrew J. Staysko, Green Acres Lodge TIJ 0S9 Council Member (1984) Henry R. Anderson, 2226 - 18 Avenue South TIK 1C8 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Lucille Dalke, 638 - 9 Street South TIJ 2L4 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Donna Coulter, Box 1001, Fort Macleod TOL 2G0 Council Member (1982) Ralph L. Erdman, 1115 - 17 Street A South TIK 0S9 Council Member (1982) Clarence Geiger, 1265 - 5 Avenue A South TIJ 0Y3

MARCH MEETING ANNUAL MEETING OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA The March meeting of the historical society will be held in a meeting room in the Marquis Hotel at 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, 1982. The annual meeting of the provincial Historical The reason for the change in place of meeting Society will be held in Edmonton at the Westin is because the Museum has booked a Planetarium, Hotel (formerly the Edmonton Plaza) on Saturday, which will occupy the entire Assembly Room in April 3, 1982. The program consists of a business March-April. meeting in the morning (from 10:30-12:00 noon), then a tour of Government House and a visit to the Prov­ incial Museum/Archives (from 2:00-4:30 p.m.), then a Guest speaker will be Gregg Ellis, City Archi­ no-host bar and banquet (from 6:00 and 7:00 p.m., vist, who will discuss the function and services respectively). The banquet speaker will be Tony of the Archives but, more particularly, the McLeay Cashman, a well-known writer of Alberta history Block in downtown Lethbridge. The block was built . . . Incidentally, this will be the 75th anniversary in the early years of the century by three in­ of the Historical Society of Alberta as it was esta­ teresting and enterprising sisters, who ran a blished by act of the provincial legislature in 1907 millinery shop in the ground floor and rented . . . The deadline for banquet tickets is March 22. the two upper stories. We believe Mr. Ellis We are asked "To contact Helen LaRose". Unfortunately, has obtained quite a lot of his information from the notice of meeting didn't contain a hint of the Marie Loescher, who worked with the McLeay sisters, addresses or phone numbers of Helen LaRose or the then operated her own millinery shop for many Westin Hotel and, if you are like me, you don't have years. ready access to an Edmonton directory. Ms. preserve pottery workers from lead poisoning, LaRose would like to know if you are going revived the Harris tweed industry, ran a hos­ on the Government House tour, also . . . pital in France during WWl, wrote a novel and a The only Edmonton HSA contact that comes to play, and is remembered as a brave and beautiful mind is: enchantress.

Alan Ridge, Provincial Archivist ****** Provincial Archives of Alberta 12845 - 102 Avenue Smoking was originally indulged iri only on rare Edmonton, Alberta T5N 0M6 and strictly formal occasions. When the first explorers of the New World discovered tobacco, they Alan is a good-natured person and likely will also discovered the legislative pow-wow: the circle ask one of his staff to contact Helen LaRose in which men sat to talk and negotiate, and around and the Westin Hotel on your behalf. which the tobacco pipe was passed, as much to con­ solidate the sense of union as to enhance delibera­ ****** tion. These functions were gradually lost in Europe and when tailor-made cigarettes were manufactured in the nineteenth century, the smoking of tobacco became the compulsive, frequently solitary, and dangerous SOURCES FOR NATIVE STUDIES (CARTOBIBLIOGRAPHY) habit it is today. Maps of Indian Reserves and Settlements in ****** the National Map Collection. Volume II: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon THE LETHBRIDGE CLIMATE Territory, Northwest Territories. Wettest year, 1902, 709 mm; wettest month. May 1902, Now available, free of charge, from Com­ 286 mm; wettest summer, 1902, 621 mm munication Services, Public Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, OTTAWA, Hottest day, 23 July 1904, 39.1 C; coldest day, 7 Canada KIA ON3. January 1909, -43.0 C Driest year, 1918, 194 mm; driest summer, 1918, 117 Books of interest to Lethbridge historians: mm Warmest January, 1931, 1.8 C mean; sunniest month, —The Gaits: A Canadian Odyssey by Hamilton B. July 1933, 405.5 hrs Timothy. Vol. 2 in a series on the Gaits. It deals with Sir A.T. and Elliott T. Gait Hottest month, July 1936, 21.3 C mean; windiest month, and zeros in on the Western Canadian enter­ January 1947, 37.2 km/hr prises. Manuscript now with the publishers, Longest drought, 1948, August 20-October 4 McClelland and Stewart, Toronto. Coldest month, January 1950, -25.9 C mean —Civilizing the West: The Gaits and the Development of Western Canada by Andy den Wettest June, 1953, 208 mm Otter.- Now supposed to become available Maximum wind gust, 19 November 1962, 171 km/hr (106 in March. Being published by the Univer­ sity of Alberta Press. Essentially a mph) history of Lethbridge 1882-1905. Greatest daily rain, 22 June 1962, 93 mm —Plants and the Blackfoot by Alex Johnston. Greatest annual snow, 1967, 310 cm Manuscript being re-typed preparatory to pub­ Greatest monthly snow, April 1967, 137 cm lication by the Provincial Archives, Edmonton. Should be available in April, according to Greatest daily snow, 21 September 1969, 55 cm a letter from Julia 0. Hrapko, Curator of Botany. Cloudiest month, January 1971, 42.9 hr Shortest crop season, 1921, 110 days ****** Longest crop season, 1940, 178 days A book that is receiving good reviews in the Average precipitation at Lethbridge is 407.2 mm. British press is: "Dear Duchess: Millicent There were six consecutive years of below-normal Duchess of Sutherland, 1867-1955" by Denis precipitation in 1917-22, inclusive, and seven Stuart (Gollancz, 215 pp. 10.95 pounds consecutive years of below-normal precipitation sterling in England). The Canadian distri­ in 1968-74, inclusive. butor, if any, is not known to me . . . The Duchess of Sutherland is commemorated in the These data are for the years 1902-80. place names, Millicent and Duchess, both in ****** the Brooks area where the Duke of Sutherland early in this century established a large farm and colonization scheme . . . Millicent West Lethbridge history.—Old-time residents of (Millie) St. Clair-Erskine was a daughter of West Lethbridge have undertaken the writing of the fourth Earl of Rosslyn. At age 17, she a history of their district. It will cover the married Cromartie, Marquess of Stafford, soon period from the first settlement until the area to succeed as Duke of Sutherland. After his was taken over by the City of Lethbridge for sub­ death, she remarried twice, neither of which division purposes in the early seventies. were particularly happy unions. She fought to ****** My Normal Friends psychological theories, and last but not least, de­ termination, a determination to mold minds that would by one day bring everlasting peace and harmony to a world Marie Sorgard distraught with war. During the year, Mr. Swift endeared himself to everyone, but his position as Merle Sorgard is a well-known writer from Picture principal was to prove to be a stepping stone, as he Butte. Her writing has appeared in the newsletter soon went on to become Deputy Minister of Education, previously. This piece on Normal School graduates a position he held for twenty years. During that brought back memories of country schools in south­ period he transferred teacher training to the Univer­ western Saskatchewan in the 1930s. The "teacher" sity of Alberta and Normal Schools became part of our in those places was often a young girl, recently past history. graduated from Normal School, who was expected for $40 or so a month (when she could collect it) to In 1961, twenty years after graduation, it was decided impart knowledge to, and maintain discipline among, that we should have a reunion. A committee was set up, young louts nearly her own age. Dropping out in letters written, and arrangements made. The reunion, Grade 3 was common and few went beyond Grade 8 in a two-day affair, was held in Lethbridge in late those days. We were a little more fortunate than August. We compared notes on our lives over the years. most. We were taught by a middle-aged Irishman Some of the women were being kept busy with their with a handle-bar mustache and a hair-trigger families; others were combining a career with family temper. A mistake usually resulted in, "You life, spending five days per week in a classroom, still dunderhead!" and "Wham!!" — a textbook on the devoted to the teaching profession. Some of the men side of the head. He wouldn't last five minutes were still teaching, too, while others had gone on to in today's school system. Yet his students re­ become druggists, doctors, dentists, and university member him with affection and believe he turned professors. However, the old enthusiasm was still out something better than today's functional there, and before we went our separate ways a motion illiterates,? was made to hold a second reunion in five years.

Once, during a conversation, when I made refer­ The second reunion was held in Calgary in 1966. There ence to my Normal friends, my daughter Elaine was a good attendance, with a few coming who had been raised an eyebrow and said, "Why Mother, I thought unable to attend the first reunion. The third reunion all your friends were normal". At that point, I was held in the George Lane Memorial Park in High hastened to explain that my Normal friends were River on an August afternoon in 1971. A little Indian friends that I had made when I took my teacher boy spent the afternoon with us. He did not seem to training at the Calgary Normal School in 1940 be particularly interested in the people gathered there, and 1941. but he was really enthusiastic about the fried chicken, olives, and cookies. World War II was being fought and the students who enrolled at the Calgary Normal School in 1940 Another five years sped, by quickly, and once.again, it were to feel the impact of that war much more than was time for my Normal ,friends to get together. Our those who had gone ahead of them. fourth reunion was also held at the George Lane Memorial Park. As the buffet dinner was being taste­ During the summer months the facilities on the fully arranged on a long table we had a visitor, a North Hill which housed the Calgary Normal School lady who inspected the array of salads, desserts, and the Tech, as the Industrial Arts School was etc., and then asked if we were holding a food sale. known, had been taken over by the Department of Afternoon gifadually dissolved into evening and as National Defence. Consequently, Normal School shadows began to fall it was time to say farewell, classes were transferred to King Edward School on but not before Dr. Swift made a motion that we hold the southwest outskirts of Calgary. There were another reunion in five years. other changes, too. Mr. W.H. (Bill) Swift had been named to succeed Dr. Coffin as principal. We held our fifth reunion which marked our fortieth Thus, as well as being confronted with 186 stu­ graduation anniversary with a pot-luck dinner in the dents whom he must convert into teachers during High River United Church Hall on September 19th, 1981. the next eight months, he was also confronted with Fifty-two class members and their husbands/wives came a staff of seasoned teachers, some of whom had been from scattered points throughout Alberta and British his instructors when he attended Normal. Columbia for the occasion. Among those who had em­ barked on a teaching career in 1941 were engineers, There were six classes, and almost instantly they druggists, university professors, real estate sales­ took on the semblance of a large family, granted, men , teachers, retired teachers, and the artist of a very large family, but a very close family. In national repute who was commissioned by Suncor Inc. Europe, the totalitarian forces of Fascism and to paint portraits of fifteen famous Albertans for Nazism were wiping out the lives of thousands of the book "The Albertans", which was published in people as well as wreaking untold material damage. 1981. Calgary was teeming with airmen and soldiers, and their presence made the war much more realistic to The dinner table was centered with two anniversary us. The urgency to do something about the dark cakes, made by Velva (Noble) Haney and Carla (Russell) cloud that was hanging over the world and threaten­ Grover. Following a delicious repast a spontaneous ing civilization was very compelling. Out of our program was enjoyed by all. Dr. Gordon Campbell concern, as Normal School students, emerged a unity (a professor at the University of Lethbridge) was of purpose, a unity that was to create a bond of the Master of Ceremonies. Greetings were read from friendship among us. Many of the friendships that two Normal School instructors. Dr. Rae Chittick of were formed that year were to endure a lifetime. Vancouver and Dr. Theo Finn of Calgary. A bouquet of flowers, sent by Roma (Lynch) Garth of Oak Ridge, The term progressed and in June we went forth, armed Tennessee, was presented to Dr. Swift and Mrs. Swift. with teachers' certificates, manuals, maps, a few Piano selections by Janet (Hutchinson) Ireland and Gertrude (McLean) Neilson were enjoyed, as were Life is a shovt voyage in the light between two vocal solos by Alice (Nelson) Smith. Ron Knight interminable darknesses. called the role of men in Class F as Dr. Hutton had done in 1940 and 1941. A hearty vote of ****** thanks was extended to Mary (Longson) Kemp. Margaret (Sheeran) Kinzell, Lillia (Bailey) In 1982, the 90-year-old Central School Kromm, Velva (Noble) Haney, Kathleen (Brownell) building on Sheridan Street, Brantford, Gerard, and their committee members for their Ontario, will be torn down and replaced. efforts in organizing a long-to-be-remembered From 1908-13, William (Bible Bill) reunion. The program concluded with a beautiful Aberhart, later Premier of Alberta, was vocal rendition of The Lord's Prayer by Dr. principal of the school. It was in Gordon Campbell. Brantford that Mr. Aberhart began to man­ Once again came the time for parting ways and at ifest the strong religious convictions this point Dr. Swift made a motion that, as that culminated in the organization of the Normal School graduates are becoming an extinct Prophetic Bible Institute after his move species, we not wait five years for the next to Calgary, and to the use of radio for reunion, but have one in three years, in 1984. religious broadcasts. This motion was given unanimous approval. ****** ****** Money is of no importance, as'long as it's there. No one really listens to anyone else, and if ****** you try it for awhile you'll see why. ****** The jargon of the new electronic techno- copia: microprocessors, word processors, videotex, floppy discs, Telidon, video To master the idiom and vocabulary that go games, accessing this, recessing that, with modernity, you must know where it's dumps, data banks, binary code, kilobytes, coming from and how it's going down. All memory, BASIC, hardware, software—and you have to do Is go the route, follow the wetwarel Wetware is the human brain. chronoline, listen to the feedback, read ... A redeeming feature of computers is: the bottom line, posit the interfaces, Garbage in, garbage out. We doubt if they seek out the parameters, conceptualize new will ever learn to think. lifestyles, access the data, go with the flow. And by engaging in meaningful dia­ ****** logue with close-caring others, hopefully, if not arguably, you'll find viable solut­ Pulitzer prize-winning author Barbara W. Tuchman ions to your problems per se. Basically, believes in history for its own sake. The joy of that's about how it is. finding out what happened is sufficient for her at ****** the outset. The "why" will emerge from the events. Thus, her philosophy is opposed to that of the pro­ fessional historians (social scientists in her view) 1981 was the year when the people of the world, who try to make history fit a pattern and make events or a great many of them, stopped being merely conform to a mould. The human factor and the vari­ depressed and became afraid. ability of human behavior mean that exact repetition ****** is unlikely. She disagrees strongly with those who want history to be utilitarian and to teach us lessons "That means they also want to be sure it meets scien­ In the 1880s, 10,000 Chinese laborers were brought tific standards. This it cannot do. To practice to Canada to help build the western end of the history as a science is sociology, an altogether trans-continental Canadian Pacific Railway. Most different discipline. Human beings are always and came from the southern provinces of China. In finally the subject of history. History is the Canada, many died from scurvy and most of those record of hiiman behavior, so illogical and so crammed that survived and remained in Canada died un­ with an unlimited number of variables that it is not married. Relatives did come to Canada and it is susceptible to the scientific method nor of system­ the descendents of these relatives that make up atizing." "Selection is the essence of writing the Chinese community in Canada today. In 1980-81, history," she states in her book "Practicing Canadian officials visited the southern provinces History" (Knopf, 306 pp., $21.50). of China and issued visas to 11,500 would-be immigrants.

****** ****** HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA

WHOOP-UP COUNTRY CHAPTER

Number 3 Newsletter ISSN 0382-9812 May, 1982

Membership in the Whoop-up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, including a subscription to the quarterly ALBERTA HISTORY, newsletters, and notices of meetings, can be obtained for $6.00 per year. (Dues will increase to $10.00 per year on July 1, 1982.) Send membership dues to:

Mr. J.H. Carpenter, Treasurer Whoop-up Country Chapter Historical Society of Alberta P. O. Box 974 Lethbridge, Alberta TIJ 4A2

SOCIETY OFFICERS FOR 1981-82

President Alex Johnston, Marquis Hotel TIJ 3Z4 Past President Frank A. Russell, Box 326 TIJ 3Y8 Vice-President Carlton R. Stewart, 1005 - 23 Street North TIH 3T2 Secretary D. J. (Doug) Card, 1051 - 13 Street South TIK 1S6 Treasurer J. H. Carpenter, 2117 - 14 Avenue South TIK 0V3 Council Member (1984) Andrew J. Staysko, Green Acres Lodge TIJ 0S9 Council Member (1984) Henry R. Anderson, 2226 - 18 Avenue South TIK 1C8 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Lucille Dalke, 638 - 9 Street South TIJ 2L4 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Donna Coulter, Box 1001, Port Macleod TOL 2G0 Council Member (1982) Ralph L. Erdman, 1115 - 17 Street A South TIK 0S9 Council Member (1982) Clarence Geiger, 1265 - 5 Avenue A South TIJ 0Y3

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE HISTORICAL Historical Society of Alberta will hold its 1985 SOCIETY OF ALBERTA meeting in Lethbridge, to coincide with our Centennial celebration.

Donna Coulter, Fort Macleod, was elected Vice- ****** president of the Historical Society of Alberta at the Annual Meeting in Edmonton on April 3, The book, "Civilizing the West: The Gaits and the 1982. Carlton R. Stewart, Lethbridge, is the Development of Western Canada" by Dr. Andrew A. den immediate Past President. Dr. A. Mitchner, Otter (University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, 395 pp., Sherwood Park, was elected President, Peter illus., $24.95) is now available in bookstores. It is Hawker, Edmonton, was elected Treasurer, and a well-written, highly-readable account of the events Georgeen Klassen, Calgary, was elected Secretary. leading up to the industrial and agricultural development Other members of the executive are: Lucille of Southern Alberta and Lethbridge in 1882-1912. Sir Dalke, Lethbridge, member-at-large, Don Wetherall, Alexander Tilloch Gait, Elliott Torrance Gait, and Edmonton, editor of the HSA newsletter. Dr. Hugh Charles Alexander Magrath are discussed at some length. A. Dempsey, Calgary, editor of Alberta History, and Grant Weber, Calgary, chairman of the Al­ ****** berta Records Publication Board. Presidents of the three provincial chapters—Alex Johnston, Remember the 7th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Lethbridge; Helen Larose, Edmonton; and Stephen Society of Alberta, which is being organized by Lethbridge Bateman, Calgary—complete the membership of members for April 24-25. It will be held in the Maverick the HSA Executive Committee . . . The member­ Room of the El Rancho Motor Hotel. Program will Involve ship dues were increased from $6.00 per year talks by John Dormaar, John Brumley, and Rod Vickers. There to $10.00, effective July 1, 1982 . . . The will be an evening banquet. On April 25, a field trip to the Porcupine Hills is conditional on roads, true to life I told him I thought I could sell plenty interest, etc. If interested, check with of them over the Bar at 50* each and we made a deal. James H. Carpenter or Henry R. Anderson (see His name was Olaf Seltzer. One evening I asked him masthead for addresses). if he had tried oil painting and he replied "No". Then I told him he should try and he said he would. I then ****** asked one of the conductors running to Great Falls to purchase from the Como Company a canvas stretched on a ARTISTS OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA frame about 3 ft by 4 ft, paints, brushes, palette, etc., and to have the canvas put in a wide gilt frame, Interest in art is growing in Western Canada. which he did. Upon arrival of the artist's supplies , Delegates to the 1981 annual meeting of the Olaf asked what I wanted him to paint. I told him I Universities Art Association of Canada in thought a war party of Indians on a fairly high bluff Calgary said that the climate for Canadian looking down on a valley with an immigrant train of artists had never been better to display and wagons crossing the Sun River would make an appropriate sell their art. Even more surprising, " . . picture. He started on a Sunday morning to do the job. .'artists are making it right here. We can Propping.the canvas on the bureau he made a rough sketch reasonably expect to make a living and to func­ with pencil, and then asked me to check it over, and it tion in Western Canada." Various reasons were was perfectly done. Then the work with the oil paints given. There was a renewed worldwide interest started. After its completion, I remarked to him, "You in art and culture; people were buying art more have forgotten to put a Medicine Man in the war party," than they had for decades; artists were becoming and it was added. He presented the picture to me and heroic figures once again. Increased Prairie today [1941] it hangs in Westminster House [the Downer affluence allowed residents to indulge in art. home at 13th Street and 3rd Avenue South, now the Chinook The skyscrapers of Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Club], and anyone viewing it would think it was done by and smaller centers housed companies that de­ Charlie Russell but, on closer scrutiny, the name of corated their walls with the works of local and the artist and the date 1898 are shown. He left Leth­ regional artists. Other companies—Canada bridge shortly after for Montana." Seltzer had worked Packers, Rothmans, C-I-L Inc.—began collections, in the Roundhouse and shops of the Alberta Railway and sponsored exhibitions, and used art to enhance Coal Company while in Lethbridge. their corporate images. New galleries opened, allowing artists to exhibit more widely. The Seltzer painting hung in Westminster House until Fred W. Downer's death in 1943. It was inherited by Many of these comments applied to established Mr. Downer's son, Fred W. R. Downer of Vancouver. This artists. But every artist started as a beginner— Mr. Downer did not value the painting and it stood against as an amateur—and we have had many of both kinds a wall in his basement for years. In 1964, in connection in Southern Alberta. (It should be explained with a centennial celebration, the Montana Historical at the outset that, although individuals may Society, 225 North Roberts Street, Helena, MT 59620, be described as accomplished with pen-and-ink, tracked down the painting arid acquired it from Mr. Downer pastels, watercolors, or oils, most artists for $500. Dated 1898, it is an oil, measuring 37>t inches experiment with all of these things and more. by 47 inches, and is entitled "Indians Watching Wagon Some move from the two-dimensional world of Train". painting to the three-dimensional world of sculpture.) Seltzer returned to Lethbridge in 1927 on a visit and was shown his first painting. By this time he had at­ Our story begins with Olaf Carl Seltzer, born tained fame as a western painter in the Charles M. in Denmark in 1877, who emigrated with his Russell-Frederick Remington tradition. But fate con­ widowed mother to Montana in 1892. From a very spired to deny him the full recognition he deserved. young age. Seltzer had exhibited considerable He was a quiet, modest man who was reluctant to pro­ talent. In Great Falls, he met Charles M. mote his work. From 1926 to 1941, one patron (Dr. Russell, the famed cowboy artist. The two men Philip G. Cole of New York) purchased all his work— became life-long friends and Seltzer learned some 340 pieces—as fast as they could be completed. much from his mentor. But Seltzer had to Thus Seltzer was seldom exhibited. Also, he always support a sickly mother and this could not be stood in the shadow of his friend, Charlie Russell. done with his art. He became an itinerant machin­ Eventually, the Cole collection was purchased by the ist, working in Butte, Anaconda, Great Falls, Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art and Lethbridge. and is on exhibit in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Fred W. Downer, a prominent early Lethbridge On April 9, 1905, Charles Alexander Magrath, Lands Com­ hotelier and businessman, took up the Seltzer missioner with the Gait companies, contracted Charles story in 1897-98 in his book, "My Life": "One Russell in Great Falls and arranged to commission an Saturday night, upon the arrival of the train oil painting of the Last Great Indian Battle, which was from Great Falls, a fine-appearing boy of about fought at Lethbridge in October 1870. Russell visited 20 came to the Lethbridge Hotel and wanted a room. Lethbridge in May to look over the scene of the battle. His pleasing manner appealed to me and I fixed him He selected as the subject of his painting a point in up with a small room on the top floor. The fol­ the battle where the Blackfoot drove the Crees out of a lowing afternoon he came to the office and had in coulee and towards the river. Russell showed the Black­ his hand six pen-and-ink sketches on foolscap- foot to be armed with repeating Henry rifles and re­ sized paper. I asked him who the artist was and volvers, the Crees to be armed with bows-and-arrows and he said it was his work. They were all western Hudson's Bay Company fukes. The painting conveyed a cowboy scenes similar to those done by Charlie strong impression of action and confusion. Charles Russell, and he informed me he had taken a few Russell received $500 for his work. (Our criticism is lessons from him. Anyway, his sketches were so that it is painted in a kind of uniform muddy reddish- brown and, in a color photograph at least, the Purposes of the Club were to encourage members to work component parts are hard to distinguish.) Magrath together, to criticize each other's work, and to help received the painting in August 1905 and obviously each other as much as possible. was pleased with it. He immediately commissioned another oil, this one to show an Indian brave on The first formal meeting of the Lethbridge Sketch Club horseback, followed by his wives and children with was held on October 7, 1936, at the home of Anna McKenzie. travels. It was completed in 1906. The two oils Present were P. J. Collins, Mrs. A. M. Moe, Mrs. D. A. were in the possession of Charles A. Magrath until Wilson, Mrs. Mitchell, and Jean Buss. Miss McKenzie was 1944, when he gave them to his son, C. Bolton installed as president, Mr. Collins as secretary, and Magrath, who now lives in Washington, D.C. Both Mrs. Wilson was named a member of the executive. Indi­ paintings, as mentioned, are oils. They measure cations are that, at the annual meeting in 1937, Anna 24 x 36 inches. Neither has ever been reproduced McKenzie was again elected president, Mr. Collins was except to be photographed in black-and-white in elected secretary-treasurer, and Mrs. O. W. (Jessie) 1905 and 1906 for copyright purposes and more Ursenbach was elected to a new post of vice-president. recently in color for inventory and identifi­ cation purposes. (We have seen 8 x 10-inch color In 1937, Mrs. Ursenbach had a one-man show in Commercial photographs of both paintings.) We are not sure Printers (now Southern Stationers), where she exhibited of the present location of the paintings. Bolton 75 paintings, losing two to theft. Also, in 1937, the Magrath, now in his nineties, has two daughters new Banff School of,Fine Arts offered scholarships, which and may have passed along the paintings in his turn. greatly encouraged the small artistic community of the time. Mrs. Ursenbach won one of these scholarships and The next artist of note in the region was A. Y. studied under A. C. Leighton, founder of the school. Jackson. He made his first trip into the Leth­ Earlier, with the Sketch Club, she was able to organize bridge area in 1914. At that time, he combined a two-week school in Lethbridge for interested artists, business with pleasure—painting in the Yellowhead a school that was held annually for 11. years. In 1943, Pass for the CPR and visiting his brother Ernest at the Lethbridge Sketch Club's tenth annual two-week in Lethbridge. Jackson, a prominent member of school of painting, Walter J. Phillips RCA, an instruc­ "The Group of Seven", visited the region periodi­ tor with the Banff School of Fine Arts, taught landscape cally for the next 30 or so years. He stayed in painting and the use of watercolors. The instructor dur­ the area with family during 1936-37 and worked ing most of the previous courses was Professor H. G. on a major project of Southern Alberta paintings, Clyde, head of the fine arts department at the University including scenes from Chief Mountain, Pincher of Alberta. Creek, Waterton, Cowley, and elsewhere. Jackson continued to paint in the region until at least The Lethbridge Sketch Club had 18 members in 1943. It 1947. held one study class in art per week in the city. Members had exhibited their work in Calgary, Edmonton, and Van­ One wonders if Jackson met Edith Fanny Kirk during couver, and held two exhibitions in Lethbridge, one at his early visits to Lethbridge. Miss Kirk was the Horticulture Society Flower Show and the other, their born in Knutsford, England, in 1856, and came to own show, in the Red Cross rooms. They had displayed Lethbridge about 1916. She lived for many years work at district points, i.e., Macleod, Cardston, and in Victoria Mansions, 1002 - 3rd Avenue South, Medicine Hat. Policy was to present only work done in and listed herself as an artist. As Jessie R. the previous 12 months. All paintings on exhibit were Ursenbach tells below. Miss Kirk was Lethbridge's originals, as copies were not permitted. Mrs. S. E. first art teacher. By 1940, she was living in the Anderson was president of the Club. Other officers were Traveller's Aid Home, 204 - 9th Street, South, Mrs. A. M. Moe, vice-president, Mrs. Ellice Lebaron, which was operated by the Traveller's Aid Society secretary, and Mrs. J. R. Ursenbach, press convenor. from 1927-1945, then from about 1945 to its closing by the YWCA. Miss Kirk died in the Home on December Here is a report of the 1944 Lethbridge Sketch Club exhi­ 30, 1953, aged 97, and was buried in Mountain View bition, which was held in Baalim Motors showroom. "Among Cemetery on January 4, 1954. outstanding pictures in the watercolors are floral studies by Jessie Ursenbach, whose dahlias, crocuses and lilies During his frequent visits to Lethbridge, Jackson are extremely decorative. Ted Faiers, new to watercolors, became friendly with Mrs. Jessie R. Ursenbach and has presented scenes in the modern manner with poster her family. Jessie Ursenbach had a natural talent. effects in sharp light and shade. Sara Moe shows several She studied under Edith Kirk, the English artist. good examples of still life and landscape, among them the Miss Kirk taught her students by making them copy study which won her a place in the summer school of fine existing illustrations in the first art classes to art in Banff. Another scholarship pupil was Sarah E. be held in the city. Later, Mrs. Ursenbach was to Anderson (president in 1946-51), who is exhibiting several say, "We copied and copied and did more copying. fine watercolor landscapes. Two artists whose work im­ I must say it taught us composition and techniques proves from year to year are Dora Trew and P. J. Collins. and was a start. As one of her earliest pupils, I The former shows two especially fine views of the coulees. shall be eternally grateful for her instruction, Mr. Collins' perspective and coloring is seen to advantage the first I ever received, and the added enjoyment in an interior view of St. Augustine's church. The only that has been mine." portraiture in watercolor is that of Anna McKenzie who is very successful in catching a likeness. Mrs. Ellice In 1936, a small group of Lethbridge artists got to­ B. Lebaron has contributed some pretty flower groups gether to organize a Sketch Club. They were: Anna and landscapes in watercolors. Painting in oils is M. McKenzie, Mrs. Dora Trew, Phillip J. Collins, and chiefly the work of Thyzra Young Burkitt and Michael Pisko, Mrs. Jessie R. Ursenbach. They met in the Library the latter of whom has chosen home subjects which he in Gait Gardens, now the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. handles well. Mrs. Burkitt's Indian encampment shows a study she has done on her specialty. The ver­ kept on the CPR Home Farm, which was purchased by the satility of Villa Lambert is shown in a scene Lethbridge Research Station in 1944. In 1932, his painted in oils on cotton and a group of clay watercolor, "Horses on Sand Creek", was purchased figures, also painted in oils. Specializing in by the Royal Scottish Society of Painters after being pastels, the work of Ruby V. Rannard is full of shown at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. color in her outdoor views. One pen-and-ink (This was a considerable honor.) In 1938, another drawing is the work of Pte. F. Burr of the Vet­ watercolor, "The Horse Barn", also was purchased by erans' Guard, a new member." the RSSP. When "The Horse Barn" was exhibited at the Irideperident Artists Association art show in Montreal, In following years, these names and the names of it won for Mr. Cross the honorary degree of Artist other artists appear and reappear. Others were: Laureate for the lAA. The watercolor was done between Marjorie Ditto, Robert Barrowman, Alice Geitz, 4 AM and 7 AM, as this was the only time the artist had Mrs. Falconer, R. H. Henson, E. E. Reithman, to put the horses on canvas. (They were used on farm Carmen Ursenbach, Catherine Tracy, P. Baron, implements during the working day.) Jessie Baron, Mrs. Eleanor Woitte (president in 1949), Mrs. Helaine Fairlie, Mrs. Mae D. Clay, Thyrza Young Burkitt was born in Hull, England, and came W. D. Martingale (president in 1953) , Mrs. to Cardston with her parents as a child. She became Barbara Taylor, Doreen Saville, and Donald A. interested in the Indians—their manners, customs, and Frache. District artists, some of whom became traditions. About 1926, she took up painting in a well known, included Annora Brown of Macleod, serious way, studying at Los Angeles and Banff. She Hazel Taylor of Raymond, and Mrs. R. Jensen tended to specialize in the arts and handicrafts of Barker, Nellie Ririe, M. Hindly, Lisadore B. the Bloods, Peigans, and Northern Montana Blackfoot, Crookson, and Mary Dudley of Magrath. building up a personal collection of several hundred artifacts in the process. At one time she compiled a The first exhibit of the Lethbridge Sketch Club dictionary of Blackfoot words. was held in Eaton's store, later ones in Baalim Motors, the Red Cross rooms, over Woodward's, and, Ernest E. Reithman was born in Switzerland and came to starting with the 1950-51 season, the Civic Center. Canada in 1924, settling in Lethbridge, Magrath, Ray­ Nowadays, exhibits of local and visiting artists mond, then Lethbridge again. He was an interior decora­ are held in the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in tor. He worked with watercolors and oils and did land­ Gait Gardens, in the Bowman Art Center, or in local scapes and figures equally well. He travelled widely malls. The Club appeared to be very active and to and visited many of the famous galleries and museums maintain a high profile locally in the late 1940s, of the world. He exhibited in one-man shows on many 1950s, and into the 1960s. It sponsored the show­ occasions, where his work was highly acclaimed by critics. ing of national art exhibits, American art shows, IBM Art Exhibit, British Children's Art, Ladies Irene E. (Wheeler) McCaugherty, who lives in Fort Home Journal cover paintings, and exhibited the work Macleod, was born in Hardieville, where her father was of local members in Coleman, Vancouver, and many a teamster for No. 6 mine. In 1926, the family bought other centers. It was a member of the Western a small holding in the area east of the present Woolco Canada Art Circuit, which sponsored the circulation Shopping Mall and moved there. Irene and her brothers, of many outstanding art shows. Vincent and George, walked two miles across country to Fleetwood School. Later, she attended Central School Several artists deserve special mention. and Garbutt Business College. Her hobbies were writing and painting although, in recent years, her painting Jessie R. Ursenbach AASA, came from a family of has gone beyond the hobby stage. Her work has been artists. In 1917, she studied at the University exhibited in the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, the Sir of Alberta and was good enough that she had to decide Alexander Gait Museum, in city schools, and, in 1981, between a career as a professional artist or as a in Alberta Culture's "From the Heart" exhibition in wife-mother-churchwoman. She chose the latter. She Beaver House, Edmonton. Her work is in the collections studied under Faux, Goodrich, Manning, and Piedmont of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, the Sir Alexander of the University of Alberta, as well as under H. G. Gait Museum, the Glenbow Museum (Calgary), and the Clyde, Bernard Middleton, A. C. Leighton, Walter Provincial Museum (Edmonton). She tends to specialize Phillips, and A. Y. Jackson. During a period in in the Indian and pioneer periods of our history. Toronto, she worked at the Ontario College of Art and studied under Rody Courtice. She was accepted E. F. (Ted) Hagell was a well-known regional artist. as an Associate of the Alberta Society of Artists in He was born in Lethbridge in 1895. He lived here most 1943 and was nominated by A. Y. Jackson to the Cana­ of his life, engaging in a variety of occupations. dian Federation of Artists in 1944. She was a main­ He was a very good draftsman in his early days and stay of the Lethbridge Sketch Club for many years. turned out a number of pen-and-ink sketches. Later he Her first sale, incidentally, was to A. B. Hogg,, a turned to watercolors, still later to oils. Mr. Hagell local lawyer who worked for years to secure exhibition was strongly influenced by Charles M. Russell. He space for Lethbridge artists. tended to portray the Canadian prairie as it was before European settlement as well as the homesteading period Frederick G. Cross was superintendent of Operations he knew as a boy and young man. His work is in a and Maintenance, CPR Department of Natural Resources, number of local collections, including the Sir Alexander apparently from the 1930s until the old AR S I Company Gait Museum. His wife was a Pelletier, a well-known irrigation project was turned over by the CPR to the family in the Pincher Creek region, and many Hagell Province of Alberta in 1946. Mr. Cross was an watercolors and oils are in collections at that place. accomplished watercolor artist with an international reputation. He tended to select as a subject for his Annora Brown graduated from art school in the 1920s watercolors some of the fine work horses that were but circumstances dictated that she return to Fort Macleod to care for an ailing mother. She con­ Cornelius Martens, a native of Coaldale, Alberta, tinued to paint, specializing in the landscapes was Promotions Director for CJLH-TV until 1971. and flora of her beloved Southern Alberta. Her He had long showed a talent for sculpture and used book, "The Old Man's Garden", illustrated with this skill in the creation of the many props used her woodcuts, is a Southern Alberta classic. Her by the TV station. In 1971, he was commissioned by most recent illustrated work is "Sketches from the Calgary Stampede organization to create two Life" (Hurtig, 1981. 224pp. $14.95). She was trophies, to be awarded in 1972 and succeeding years. awarded an LL.D. from the University of Leth­ These were for the chuckwagon and calf roping events. bridge in 1971. Earlier, Mr. Martens had created a Plains Indian bronze, which was presented to the Governor General, Roland Donald Alwin Frache was born in Grand Forks, B.C., Michener, in 1970. These two commissions convinced and came to Lethbridge with his parents, Mr. and Mr. Martens that he could make a living as a sculptor Mrs. A. O. Frache, as a four-year-old. While and time has shown him to be right. Among his recent attending Lethbridge Collegiate Institute in the commissions was a statue of Red Crow, which was un­ late 1930s, Mr. Frache drew many sports cartoons veiled by Prince Charles in 1977. It stands in front for the Lethbridge Herald. He studied under Pruett of the Shot-Both-Sides Administration Building at Stand­ Carter, a leading magazine illustrator, at the off. In 1981, a statue of Crowfoot was commissioned by Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles for four years. the Alberta government. It was unveiled in March 1982 On graduation, he worked as a commercial artist in and stands in a prominent niche on the main floor of the .Toronto and drew many illustrations for the Cana­ Legislature Building, Edmonton. dian Home Journal. In 1946, he moved to New York where he continued to illustrate western magazines A Southern Alberta artist with a world-wide reputation and to draw magazine covers. He returned to Leth­ is Wilfred Roloff Beny. Roloff Beny was born in Medicine bridge in 1951. Now living in the Coaldale area, Hat in 1924, the second son of Charles John Francis and Mr. Frache is still active and commands high prices Rosalie M. (Roloff) Beny. He now resides in Rome. He for his work. was educated at Trinity College, University of Toronto (B.A. and B.A.F., 1941-45), the University of Iowa (M.A. There is much talent among the Indian people of and M.A.F., 1946-47), and New York University, where the region, one artist that comes to mind being he studied towards a Ph.D. in art history. He travelled Two Gun (Percy Plainswoman). Far and away the best, extensively in 1948-49 (Greece, Italy, France) and arid one of the best artists that the region has ever 1951-52 (Spain, Italy, Germany, England). He was awarded produced, was Gerald Tailfeathers, a Blood Indian, a John Simon Guggenheim scholarship in 1953. He has had who was born at Standoff in 1925. As a member of many public showings of his work, the first when he was the Blackfoot-speaking nation that resisted Euro­ 15. His work is in many permanent collections. He has pean domination until the 1860s, Tailfeathers been awarded many honors, including the Order of Canada grew up hearing tales of Indian greatness and of and an LL.D. from the University of Lethbridge. Roloff the exploits of warrior relatives. Beginning in Beny began to be internationally known about 1950 when 1935, he studied under Winold Reiss and Carl Linck he combined the eye of an accomplished artist with con­ at summer camps in Glacier National Park. He held siderable expertise as a photographer. This led to a his first show in 1938 at age 13. He studied at series of lavishly-illustrated, coffee table-sized books, the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1941, then at the one commissioned by the Government of Canada, a couple Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in of others by the Shah of Iran. The most recent such Calgary. In 1943, he began a 16-year career as book appeared in 1981 and received favorable reviews in a commercial artist in Calgary and Edmonton. In the British papers. 1956, he entered a very productive period with commissions from the Glenbow Foundation and the The Southern Alberta art world got a boost in 1981 with Calgary Stampede. He returned to live on the Blood the opening of the Performing Arts wing of the University Reserve in 1959 and there began painting in earnest. of Lethbridge. Although designed for the performing In the early 1960s, Tailfeathers began to gain an arts, the development served to focus attention on the international reputation with exhibitions in Cali­ arts generally. Spring Festival of the Arts has become fornia, Montreal, and Charlottetown, P.E.I. In an annual event. In 1982 , John Lyons was the student 1969, he began to experiment with sculpture and, chairman of the spring festival; Garth Toone was the in 1971, designed and made two bronze trophies winner of a poster contest to promote the festival. for the Calgary Stampede. In 1972, his "Episutpi, University of Lethbridge artists involved in recent ex­ Fancy Dancer", was used on a Canadian postage stamp. hibitions were Professor Carl Granzow, whose sculptures (The watercolor is in the Glenbow Museum collection, and drawings were exhibited in Calgary, and Professor Calgary, and was borrowed by the Ottawa Post Office Jeffrey Spalding, whose paintings were exhibited in to design the stamp. The watercolor was returned Lethbridge. Other exhibits by University of Lethbridge to Glenbow in a flimsy, poorly-wrapped, uninsured Art Department staff included sculptures by Robert Hicks parcel. And, as one might expect, some Post and Adrian Cooke, paintings by Bill McCarroll, and Office employee managed to poke a hole through the pastels by Pauline McGeorge. parcel and the watercolor while it was in transit.) Many honors were accorded him in 1973, including In summary, there are and have always been talented an LL.D. from the University of Lethbridge. Tail- artists in Southern Alberta. At the moment, paintings feathers died suddenly of a heart attack in April by several of them are on display at the Alberta Histori­ 1975. The Edmonton Journal said of him: "He cal Resources Foundation's art gallery on the Stephen leaves a legacy of visual art that reveals his Avenue Mall in Calgary. The exhibition was sponsored extensive knowledge of the life and times of his by members of the Alberta Community Art Clubs' Associa­ ancestors, a gift that may well become more valua­ tion, a province-wide organization with representation ble with the years." from many groups, including the Lethbridge Sketch Club. The Lethbridge Sketch Club was still active in Korite (after Kormos) and attempted to market it. 1982. It was one of several art groups to move In 1982, the project was still in its preliminary into the Bowman School, now the Bowman Art Center, stages. Vandervelde had acquired the mineral rights when the school was vacated by the fledgling Sir to the Kormos property and had expanded his claims Alexander Gait Museum in 1966. Activities of these to about 19,000 acres in the Bearpaw shale formation. groups were coordinated by the Allied Arts Council. His firm was moving cautiously because the marketing Thus, since 1966, meetings of the Lethbridge Sketch of a new gemstone, particularly its international Club have been held in the Bowman Arts Center and acceptance, was not easy. The new gemstone had been exhibitions were held there, in the Southern exhibited at shows in New York City and elsewhere. Alberta Art Gallery, or in places such as Wood­ ward's Mall, where huge crowds could be guaranteed. The Commission on Colored Gemstones recently decided Active members in 1982 included Michael Pisko, that the name should be ammollte, rather than Korite. Marion Biggs, Marge Dalke, Edward W. Thurston, The material is soft by gem standards with a surface Rose Michaelis, Phyllis Smith, Rita Rider, Connie hardness of 4—equal to pearl. In early 1982, Vander­ Ingoldsby, Louise O'Shea, Grace Marshalsay, Kaye velde planned to visit dealers in San Francisco, Tokyo, btsuka, Marie Sauter, and Marie Barnett. Although Hong Kong, Bankok, West Germany, The Netherlands, and not currently a member of the Sketch Club, Cathy Britain to acquaint them with Southern Alberta's Evins was much involved in art in Lethbridge as fiery new gemstone. a teacher and participant. Jessie Ursenbach was still a resident of the city, still intensely in­ The 2 March 1982 issue of Kainae News carried a full- terested in the affairs of the Sketch Club she page advertisement headed "AAPAOK Presents 70 Million helped 46 years ago to create. Year Old Stones". The advertisement went on to describe how Blood Tribe Band silversmiths and lapi- ****** darists designed jewelry, cut and pollished ammollte, and mounted the gemstone to create a variety of NEW GEMSTONE FROM OLD SHELLFISH attractive pieces. The group worked also with agate, coral, and turqoise. According to the advertisement, Between 275 million and 65 million years ago, the ammollte had been recognized by the American Gem Cretaceous Sea covered the interior of North America. Institute and World Council on Colored Stones. Gradually the land arose, the sea receded, and the marine life perished. Included among the marine ****** life were many ammonites, a kind of shellfish that lived in a coiled, chambered shell sometimes a Fay Wray was born in 1907 at Wrayville, as her foot across. In the Lethbridge area, the dead father's ranch was called, near Mountain View, Alberta. ammonites came to rest in thick beds in areas that She went to the United States as a young girl, gravi­ gradually turned to a shale rich in iron. Over tated to Hollywood, and became a movie star in Eric millions of years, shifting geologic formations, von Stronheim's "The Weddirig March". She is best pressures from successive ice sheets, and the pre­ remembered as the young woman who broke the heart of sence of iron formed a protective, multi-colored the giant gorilla in the first movie version of surface over the originally chalk-white shell of "King Kong". "King Kong" was released in 1933 and the ammonites. The covering varies from paper-thin was four-star rated. The leading actor was Bruce to a quarter of an inch thick; it is called ammollte Cabot, the leading actress. Fay Wray. The giant and is being promoted as a new gemstone. gorilla, suffused with desire for Miss Wray, was both the villain and the victim of the movie. Miss In the 1880s, settlers along the St. Mary River Wray retired in 1942, then staged a brief comeback (where ammonites and other shellfish occur in in the 1950s. 20-foot-thick beds) gathered these fossilized creatures and made cement from them. The proced­ * ***** ure they followed was to dig a pit, place coal in the bottom, then place shellfish fossils on top. Joy Kogawa continues to win acclaim for her book, The coal was ignited and burned for a day or two. "Obasan", a novel of the Japanese-Canadians during This caused the fossils, by a chemistry we have and since the Second World War. She won $1,000 in never understood, to change to cement. The this year's Books in Canada First Novel Award. The cement was then mixed in conventional proportions 3,000-copy initial run has been sold out; 5,000 trade with water, sand and gravel to form the foundations . paperbacks have been shipped to bookstores; it has been of some of the earliest buildings in the area. A bought as a selection by the Book of the Month Club and cement barn built in this way still stands on the Literary Guild; and in April 1982, it was released Frank A. Russell's Pot Hole Coulee farm, south in hard cover in the United States. A Japanese edition of the Airport. Still another use of these is in the works and other foreign and mass-market rights fossils was as "oyster shell" for modern poultry are being negotiated . . . The book has propelled Kogawa flocks. from a respected poet to a prime novelist; from a room in a co-op to her own home in Toronto; from a disengaged Ten years ago Santo Carbone, a geological techni­ artist to a passionate advocate for her people . . . cian, noted ammonites on land near Lethbridge owned In 1942, due to wartime hysteria, Kogawa was uprooted by the Kormos family. Carbone discovered how to from her British Columbia home and moved with her take the shell from an ammonite, polish it, and parents to the beet fields of Southern Alberta. cap it with rock-quartz to protect its soft surface yet still allow the desirable play of colors. ******

Rene Vandervelde, a Banff entrepreneur, was ap­ Clarity, simplicity, euphony—how easy sound the old proached by Carbone and Kormos and expressed in­ rules'of writing well'.! terest in the project. He called the new gemstone ****** A caboose is the yellow or red observation Charles Stuart Pringle, who served as the Speaker car that railwaymen put at the end of freight for the Alberta Legislature in 1920-21, was the trains. The word is derived from the Dutch, Liberal MLA for Medicine Hat for 14 years. "kabuis" , meaning a ship's galley. Cabooses were first hitched to freight trains about 1855. ****** Observation cupolas were added early in this century. A Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) has been organized ****** to apply common sense to the outlandish, the im­ plausible, arid the unlikely. Its journal is called The 17 degrees of affinity (relationship by The Skeptical Inquirer; 17 issues have appeared so marriage) and consanguinity (relationship by far. Purpose of this journal is to combat nonsense blood) that prohibit the lawful solemnization and, as indicated above, it does so by the applica­ of marriage in Canada are listed below. Accord­ tion of common sense, which, unfortunately, is not ing to law, a man cannot marry his grandmother, all that common. Many topics are discussed but some grandfather's wife, wife's grandmother, aunt, come up regularly and often. Most common are ESP, wife's aunt, mother, stepmother, wife's mother, telekinesis (using mental power to influence events daughter, wife's daughter, son's wife, sister, at a distance) , astrology, biorhythm, Bigfoot, the Loch granddaughter, grandson's wife, wife's grand­ Ness monster, UFO's, creationism, telepathy, remote daughter, niece, or nephew's wife. A woman , viewing, clairvoyant detectives who allegedly solve cannot marry the male counterparts—grandfather, crimes, the Bermuda and other triangles, thoughto- grandmother's husband, and so on. The federal graphy (using mental power to create images on film), act permits a man to marry his wife's sister or the supposed extraterrestrial origin of life in earth, his brother's wife, provided the man's wife is pyramid power, psychic surgery and faith healing, deceased. The corresponding unions for a woman Scientology, predictions by famous psychics, spooks also are legal. Originally set down as the Laws and spirits and haunted houses, levitation, palmistry of God in Leviticus, Chapter 18, the degrees of and mind reading, unorthodox anthropological theorieis affinity and consanguinity were made law in Eng­ plant perception, perpetual motion machines, water land in 1536 by Henry VIII. ... In 1848, witching and other kinds of dowsing, and bizarre Alexander Tilloch Gait married Elliott Torrance, cattle mutilations. a daughter of a wealthy merchant family in Mon­ treal. She died in May 1850, shortly after the ****** birth of a son, Elliott. A year later. Gait married her sister. Amy Gordon Torrance, with To be popular with your fellow man, tell him what he whom he was to share a lifetime of companion­ wants to hear. He wants to hear about himself. So ship. When Gait was appointed Canadian High tell him about himself. But do not tell him what Commissioner in London in March 1880, he found you know to be true about him. Rather, tell him what that English law did not recognize the validity he would like to be true about himself. of a marriage with a deceased wife's sister. Protocol dictated that Mrs. Gait could not be ****** presented with her husband to Queen Victoria. At this indication of an embarrassment to him­ Chautauqua, 50 years ago, meant entertainment, informa­ self and to Canada, Gait threatened to resign. tion and merriment to thousands of people living in The difficulty was resolved when palace authori­ towns across Canada. It originated in the Lake ties found out that the Gait marriage had taken Chautauqua region of New York State where, in the late place in the United States, where marriage with 1800s, wealthy and sophisticated individuals attended a deceased wife's sister was legal. urban adult study groups, called lyceums. In 1904, a partner in one of the lyceums, Keith Vawter, con­ ****** ceived the idea of putting together a package of entertainment and lectures and taking it to the people, The comic strip, "Dick Tracy", first appeared using tents because the smaller communities of the day on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the Detroit lacked large buildings. Chautauqua was introduced to Mirror. Created by Chester Gould, who retired Canada by John M. Ericksen, who had worked on the in 1977, the strip is now done by writer Max American Chatauqua circuits. In the fall of 1916, Collins and artist Rick Fletcher, who worked for he brought a Chautauqua to Lethbridge, Taber, Cayley, Gould for 17 years. Now 51 years old, "Dick Tracy" Nanton, and Fort Macleod. In 1917, 42 towns were introduced scientific marvels long before their booked, and by the late 1920s, several circuits had time, notably the wrist radio. been established to play in about 600 towns. Radio and the Depression killed Chautauqua. Money became ****** scarce for any kind of entertainment, cars gradually became more popular, and household radios became a Law of the Hammer.—A sociological law states source of news and contact with the outside world. that, if a 2-year-old is given a hammer, a lot There were few shows in Ontario in 1935, then Canadian of things suddenly need hammering . . . The law Chautauqua disappeared forever. applies particularly well to school teachers and computers, which threaten to be the educational ****** hula-hoops of the 1980s. Educational researchers have rephrased the law to read: "If an educator Style should be to prose what clear varnish is to^ is given a computer, suddenly a lot of things painting; essential to the workmanship yet invisible need computing." to the casual onlooker.

***** The negatives, prints, and equipment of the Thomas What are the essentials for older people to live Gushul photographic studio, Blairmore, have been with usefulness, dignity and pride? Seniors were purchased by the Glenbow Museum/Archives, Calgary, invited to contribute their views and responded: from the Gushul estate. Mr. Gushul died in 1962. "Independence, as long as possible!" To have An anonymous donor contributed toward the purchase, independence, which includes freedom from anxiety, as did the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. seniors want to be assured of adequate income, Involved are about 18,000 prints and negatives, adequate accommodation, proper health care, and including rare glass negatives, as well as equip­ the right to make personal decisions. And, they ment and memorabilia ... Mr. Gushul came to concluded: "Out with compulsory retirement!" Canada from the Ukraine in 1906 at age 17. His first work was laying of track and mining of coal in Revelstoke and Field. By 1914, he had moved to the Crowsnest Pass, had married Lena, a girl Victor Charles North Peigan, aged 90, passed away from his home village, and was looking for work in Pincher Creek on January 9, 1982. At age seven, above-ground. He had developed an interest in, he started school at the Queen Victoria Jubilee and an aptitude for, photography and had taken House, which was located in the valley of Pincher portraits, wedding pictures, and pictures of the Creek about two miles west of Brocket. Now, only Hillcrest Mine disaster. In 1917, he took the a monument marks the location of the school. It plunge and established a photographic studio in was named in 1898 by the Duke of Connaught when the Crowsnest Pass. For a time he had two studios, he visited the school. in Coleman and Blairmore, but eventually devoted his energies to the Blairmore one. On Mr. ****** Gushul's death in 1962, the studio was operated briefly by his son, Evan T. Gushul, now of Leth­ bridge. But the proliferation of home photo­ Fashion, as we know it, began in Europe in the early graphy—35-mm cameras, color slides, home 1300s. Mode in dress ceased to be a matter of regional movies—killed the small local studio. Mrs. Lena custom and became an index of social flux, sexual stress Gushul continued to live in the Blairmore home/ and individual expression. About 1500, bones came into studio and, hence, negative files, print files, use for fashioning stays, which were used to stiffen equipment, and other materials remained intact. garments and to assist in the creation of various forms The Glenbow Museum/Archives had long known of of body-sculpture. These things characterized Western the collection and has tried on many occasions fashion, particularly female costumes, for the next to acquire it. Unfortunately,- this was not 400 years. By the 1880s, western female fashion accomplished until the summer of 1981. It will featured an hour-glass figure above a very narrow, take two years to catalogue the collection. Then tight, long skirt that flowered into a bustle and exhibits will be arranged and the Thomas Gushul train at the back . . . Western nations of the time Collection will take its place with the Ernest really were in no position to ridicule ubangi lip- Brown Collection and the other well-known collec­ stretching, Sumatran teeth-filing, and Chinese foot- tions of Western Canada. binding, also done in the name of fashion. ****** ****** Advertising shares the same birthright as its fraternal The top ten candy bars in Canada's $350-million twin, propaganda. N-ursed by technology, the siblings candy bar industry are Coffee Crisp, Mars Bar, grew to maturity in the modern age of mass media and Aero (regular), Crispy Crunch, Oh Henry, Kitkat, mass audiences. Both are inherently ironic, never quite Caramilk, Jersey Milk, Glosettes, and Mr. Big. saying what they mean. Each uses similar methods—a The industry is tradition-bound and four of the judicious mixture of flattery and threats—to arrive top ten (Crispy Crunch, Oh Henry, Caramilk, and at similar ends, which are the manipulation of heart, Jersey Milk) have been on the market for about mind, and, ultimately, behavior. 50 years.

****** ****** HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA

aev*^^^^^

WHOOP-UP COUNTRY CHAPTER

Number 4 Newsletter ISSN 0382-9812 July, 1982

Membership in the Whoop-up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, including a subscription to the quarterly ALBERTA HISTORY, newsletters, and notices of meetings, can be obtained for $6.00 per year. (Dues will increase to $10.00 per year on July 1, 1982.) Send membership dues to: Mr. J.H. Carpenter, Treasurer Whoop-up Country Chapter Historical Society of Alberta P. O. Box 974 Lethbridge, Alberta TIJ 4A2

SOCIETY OFFICERS FOR 1981-82 President Alex Johnston, Marquis Hotel TlJ 3Z4 Past President Frank A. Russell, Box 326 TIJ 3Y8 Vice-President Carlton R. Stewart, 1005 - 23 Street North TIH 3T2 Secretary D. J. (Doug) Card, 1051 - 13 Street South TIK 1S6 Treasurer J. H. Carpenter, 2117 - 14 Avenue South TIK 0V3 Council Member (1984) Andrew J. Staysko, Green Acres Lodge TIJ 0S9 Council Member (1984) Henry R. Anderson, 2226 - 18 Avenue South TIK 1C8 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Lucille Dalke, 638 - 9 Street South TIJ 2L4 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Donna Coulter, Box 1001, Fort Macleod TOL 2G0 Council Member (1982) Ralph L. Erdman, 1115 17 Street A South TIK 0S9 Council Member (1982) Clarence Geiger, 1265 5 Avenue A South TIJ 0Y3

RADIO AND TEIEVISION broadcasting in sound, both vocal and musical. The STATIONS IN SCXITHERN AI.REREA. latter had to await the invention of the vacuum tube in 1906 to become practical.) All of these things The theory of transmitting sound by wireless combined to create the explosion in radio broadcast­ was understood by about 1820. Guglielmo Mar­ ing that followed the First World War. (An explo­ coni demonstrated its practical application sion in television broadcasting followed the Second late in the century. By 1899, British war­ World War.) ships were using his equipment to exchange mes­ sages at up to 75 miles. The first trans- In the late 1970s, according to T. J. Allard, a vet­ Atlantic transmission (the letter "s" trans­ eran broadcaster now deceased, Canada was served by mitted in Morse code from Plymouth, England, 815 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio to St. John's, Newfoundland) was completed on and television transmitters and by 1,009 private sec­ 12 December 1901. Earlier, in October 1901, tor radio and television transmitters. There were 475 a severe storm knocked out the underwater cable cable television systems in operation. Nearly every­ between Chateau, Labrador, and Belle Isle, New­ one had available some services; most Canadians had foundland, but the two communities maintained access to 15 or more radio signals and up to 24 tele­ contact by wireless throughout 1902. From 1901- vision channels. 02 until the outbreak of the First World War, wireless was used mostly in ship-to-ship and In 1982, Lethbridge and district listeners had access ship-to-shore communications. During the war of to AM radio stations CJOC, CHEC, CJPR, CJEV, CHAT, and 1914-18, many young men learned about wireless CKBR, as well as to FM radio stations CILA, CKUA, and and radio in the British Navy, the Royal Air CBRX. CKUL, an AM Station with very limited range, Force, and the signal units of the various armies. was located on the campus of the University of Leth­ bridge. (A 1978 news item stated that radio licenses (The difference between wireless and radio in had been renewed for CJOC, CJPR, CHFA-FM-1 Lethbridge, those days was the difference between trans­ CBXL Blairmore, CBXL Coleman, CBRX-FM Lethbridge, and missions involving a key and Morse code and CBRP Pincher Creek.) Also, in 1982, Lethbridge and district viewers In Alberta, J. J. Dobry organized the Edmonton Radio were served by four television stations: CFAC, Club early in 1922. The Calgary Herald established CFCN, CBRT (a repeater station of CBC Calgary), CFAC on 2 May 1922. Later in 1922, G. R. A. (Dick) and CBXFT (a repeater station of CBC Edmonton). Rice, a Marconi wireless operator with the British The first two had local studios, the last two did Navy in the First World War and expert advisor to the not. • In addition, television programs were dis­ Edmonton Radio Club, became manager of the Edmonton tributed locally by a community cable company, Journal's radio station CJCA. (Dr. Rice eventually Lethbridge CableNet Limited. An Alberta Govern­ became a multi-millionaire and a leading Edmonton ment Telephones (AGT) microwave system brought philanthropist.) in signals from Spokane television stations, picking up feeds from KREM (CBS), KXLY (ABC), While the Calgary Herald and the Edmonton Journal es­ KHQ (NBC), and KSPS (PBS). These stations were tablished radio stations at an early date, the Leth­ brought into Alberta primarily to serve the bridge Herald did not. The publisher of the Lethbridge Calgary and Edmonton markets; Lethbridge and Herald, William A. Buchanan, was in addition a promin­ other Southern Alberta centers got the service ent politician. The unspoken, unofficial policy of the as a kind of spin-off. (Again, a' 1978 news Canadian government in those days seemed to be anti- report stated that television licenses were re­ privately owned radio stations and disapproval of owner­ newed for CFCN Lethbridge, CFCN Burmis, CFCN ship by a company or individual of both newspapers and Medicine Hat, CJWP-TV-1 Waterton Park, and radio stations. Buchanan seemed to agree with this CJWP-TV-2 Waterton Park.) policy, or possibly he weighed a federal senatorship against radio station ownership and opted for the former. The purposes of this article were to outline the Whatever the reason, the Lethbridge Herald did not get development of some of these radio and tele­ involved with the electronic media until Buchanan's vision stations and to indicate the meaning of son, Hugh P. Buchanan, helped to establish CJLH-TV in some of the call letters. We found the proli­ Lethbridge in 1955. feration of stations, satellite stations and repeater stations, as well as changes in owner­ CJOC Radio, Lethbridge, was started by John Ender (Jock) ship, in company names and in station designations Palmer DCM AFC, in 1926. Palmer, a First World War Air very confusing. We hope that the general pattern Force fighter pilot, was in partnership with W. W. of development is made clear. (Bill) Grant, who built the 50-watt transmitter. (Parts and material needed to equip a radio station in 1926 Radio cost $250.) Palmer received the broadcasting license for CJOC on 1 April 1926. He operated out of a shed In late 1918, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph behind 1235 - 5 Avenue South where his mother, Josephine Company of Canada opened XWA in Montreal. It (Mrs. John W. Waddell), lived with her second husband was formally licensed in 1919 as CFCF, to become and two additional children (Bruce and Mona). After a the first regularly operated broadcasting station short time in the shed. Palmer moved the broadcasting in the world. (In 1982, it still operated under station to the basement of the Hull Block (now the down­ the same call letters.) By 1922, Canada had 39 town Safeway Store location). There, G. F. Tull and broadcasting stations, including CFAC and CFCN Arden Limited, the Calgary stockbrokers who owned the in Calgary. building, became involved in the company. Canadian broadcasting developed more quickly on Palmer and Grant broadcast at 1060 KHZ for about two the prairies than in any other region. The instant hours daily from the Hull Block location. Harold R. communication that radio made possible was a bene­ Carson, a Lethbridge businessman who owned an auto­ fit beyond value in that land of vast distances, motive wholesale on 7 Street South, began to advertise poor roads, harsh winters, and a scattered popu­ radios and batteries over the new station. And, the lation living mostly on farms or in small, rural story goes, he found the results so satisfactory that, settlements. Radio made possible quick dissemina­ on 13 August 1928, he bought the company. (There are tion of grain and livestock prices, which was of indications that Carson advanced equipment to Palmer great importance to both producer and trader in and Grant on credit and, in 1928, called his notes and a community almost wholly dependent on agriculture. gave Palmer a few hundred additional dollars for the Radio ended the loneliness of farm women, a lone­ station. Our impression is that the transaction re­ liness that can only be imagined today. And radio sulted in a long-lasting feeling of injustice on the accelerated the breakdown of ethnic and cultural part of Jock Palmer. Grant had left Lethbridge by this barriers and hastened modernization and American­ time, apparently to return to Calgary to assemble kits ization of the region. ' and to market them under his own name. Later, he seemed Radio won fans quickly, in spite of its many short­ to go back to work at radio station CFCN Calgary. Grant comings. Amusing cartoons of the early 1920s had built the CFCN transmitter in High River in 1921 showed the anguish of a young bride unexpectedly and moved the station to Calgary in 1922. Grant was an married to a radio enthusiast and faced with a innovator and was sometimes described as a genius, but life of him glued to the set. Other cartoons tended to be irresponsible and to lack business sense. featured the dialogue that poured from the speak­ He soon lost CFCN, which was taken over by R. Gordon ers: "Whaw-awk-aw-wrack . . . Ladies and gentle- Love, a former salesman with Northern Electric who also awk-awk . . . This is station wah-eek-awk . . . had advanced credit to Grant. We suspect that trans­ Our program this evening is whee-eek-eek-awk." action also left its residue of bitterness.) Any bright teenager could build a simple crystal set but, otherwise, radio was fairly expensive. The broadcasting station and transmitter were moved to A good receiver in the 1920s, it was said, was as a penthouse atop the new Marquis Hotel about this time big a purchase as was a good color television set and remained there until April 1949 when CJOC radio in the 1980s. Initially, everyone tried for dis­ moved to its present 3rd-Avenue South location. tance and twirling the dial in search of far-away John Ender (Jock) Palmer, who won the DCM for service stations was a favorite preoccupation. as a machine gunner in the First World War and the AFC for service in the training of aircrew in the CJER - The station was assigned the prefix CJ and PR Second World War, died in Calgary on 19 November was added. These letters stood for Pass Radio, 1964 at age 67. He was buried at High River, as the station was a satellite of CJOC in the where he had operated an electric shop since Crowsnest Pass. The station opened on 21 Oct­ 1945. Although his connection with the station ober 1972. ended in 1928, he will long be commemorated in CJOC Lethbridge. CJEV - In May 1982, this station was not yet in opera­ tion but was expected to begin broadcasting in In 1982, CJOC, CJPR, CJEV, CILA-FM, and CFAC-TV June-July 1982. It was designed to serve Elk were owned by Selkirk Communications Limited, Valley, north of Sparwood, B.C. It, too, was a the presiderit of which was Stuart MacKay, who satellite station of CJOC Lethbridge. The assigned spent his boyhood in Lethbridge. (Norman A. prefix was CJ; EV stood for Elk Valley. Botterill, formerly manager of the Lethbridge CHEC - The station was assigned the prefix CH and EC was radio and television stations, was writing a added to make CHEC (check), a mark (/") used to history of Selkirk Communications.) CJOC had check off or to indicate the correctness of some­ many firsts over the years, one example being thing. CHEC was formed by a group of Lethbridge the initiation of remote broadcasts from Waterton businessmen including Harold Brown and A. L. (Art) Lakes National Park in 1934, featuring the music Batty. It began broadcasting on 29 August 1959. of Mart Kenney and His Western Gentlemen. Another Brown bought out his co-owners within a couple of was a radio schoolhouse of the air, featuring years and, in 1982, the station was owned by South­ Lethbridge teacher Agnes Davidson, also in the ern Alberta Broadcasting Limited, which consisted 1930s. The station sponsored Western Canada's of members of the Harold Brown family. first remote hockey broadcast from Vancouver; Henry Viney did the commentary and Bob Buss the CS^Th - This station was owned by CHEC Lethbridge. It technical operation. received its license on 25 May 1974 and was forma­ lly opened on 5 February 1975. It served the town Letters were used from the beginning to identify of Taber and district. The assigned prefix was radio stations and later television stations be­ CK; TA stood for Taber, Alberta. cause they were easier to hear, identify, and re­ member than were words or numbers. What do these CJJAT - This station served the City of Medicine Hat and call letters mean? district. The assigned prefix was CH; AT was added to get HAT, as in Medicine Hat. The XW in WXA stood for an experimental 'radio sta­ tion and the A meant it was the first in a series. CUCY - This station was expected to begin broadcasting There was no XWB or XWC, although the Marconi com­ on 1 July 1982 and to serve the City of Medicine pany opened experimental radio stations in Toronto Hat and district. It was owned by Medicine Hat (CHCB, closed in 1925) and Vancouver (CFCB, closed Broadcasting Limited; Gordon Collidge, formerly in 1923) a short time later. The designation, CFCF, of Lethbridge, was appointed manager. The signi­ did not mean anything nor, so far as we know, did ficance of the call letters, CY, was not known CHCB or CFCB. Call letters were assigned alpha­ to me. betically unless otherwise requested and no known CKBR - This station served the Town of Brooks and vicinity. significance can be attached to many of the earlier The CK was assigned; BR stood for Brooks. The ones such as CFAC, CFCN, or CJCA. These various station was owned by Dinosaur Broadcasting (1975) designations were assigned by a body that is now Limited but CHUM Limited, Toronto, bought a 70 known as the International Telecommunications Union percent interest in 1980. CHUM Limited acquired, (ITU). as well, an interest in CJDV Drumheller (DV The ITU assigned the call letters CF, CH, CI, CJ, stood for Drumheller Valley) and CHOA Stettler and CK to Canadian stations. Only the Canadian (the meaning of OA is not known to me.) Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was permitted to use CIIA - This was an FM station operated by Lethbridge CB. Only stations in a network could use three call Broadcasting Limited, the direct owners of CJOC letters, i.e., CBC affiliates such as CBR and CBX. radio. The station began as CHEC-FM in August An earlier network, which grew into the CBC, was 1959 and was taken over by CJOC in 1979. It operated by the Canadian National Railway Company; was hoped to obtain the prefix CJ for this sta­ it used four call letters. Three call letters were tion but the proposed call letters CJLA were in used by a network operated by the Government of Mani­ use elsewhere in Canada. Thus, the assigned toba; CKY Winnipeg and CKX Brandon are relics of prefix was CI; LA stood for Lethbridge Alberta. this system. Pre-confederation radio stations in The station broadcast at 107.7 MHz and was known Newfoundland were assigned a VO prefix. (In the on the air as LAFM. United States, eastern stations were assigned pre­ fixes starting with W, western stations were assigned CKUA - This FM station was heard in Lethbridge at 99.3 prefixes starting with K. In 1982, there were 8,933 MHz. It was a government-owned ACCESS (Alberta ^ radio stations in the United States, ranging from Educational Communications Corporation) radio WABI Bangor, Maine, to KGU Honolulu.) The last two station. The CK was assigned; UA stood for call letters of Canadian stations were optional and University of Alberta. Hugh E. Pearson and at many radio stations, actually mean something. James Taylor opened CFCK in Edmonton in 1922. In 1926, the station was purchased by the Uni- The following call letters were familiar to listeners verity of Alberta and became CKUA. It was used in Southern Alberta: in the training of students for many years but CAKX: - The station was assigned the prefix CJ and became an expensive luxury and was sold to OC was added to commemorate John Ender (Jock) Alberta Government Telephones. AGT set up re­ Palmer. The station made a lot of use of the peater stations in Calgary and Lethbridge, designation "C-JOCK." possibly elsewhere, and the CKUA signal began to be broadcast from Lethbridge on 27 February 1976. CBRX - This CBC-FM station was heard in Leth­ for local advertising. These hopes were dashed with bridge at 100.1 MHz. CFCN's first newscast, which was sponsored by Hoyt Hardware Limited, Lethbridge. Competition intensi­ CKUL - This was the student radio station at the fied when CFCN established its own studio at 640 - University of Lethbridge, hence UL. In­ 13 Street North on 5 November 1973. By this time, itially, it did not broadcast in the con­ then-CJOC-TV was beginning to hurt. CFCN, because ventional sense but was tied in to radios of its Calgary viewing audience, could attract nation­ in the main university building. It al advertisers where CJOC, with its smaller, regional received a license for limited broadcast­ audience, could not. This was apparently the reason ing on 18 August 1978 and began broadcast­ that CJOC became CFAC in 1979, thus putting the station ing at 560 KHz on 13 October 1978. It can on an equal footing with CFCN in terms of audience be picked up on receivers in nearby build­ numbers. (There was a bit of corporate maneuvering ings. During the 1982 school year, CKUL by both stations involving the Canadian Radio-Tele­ staff members prepared shows that were then vision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) about broadcast over CILA-FM from 9:30-10:00 a.m. this time; the CRTC adopted an attitude of "hands- on Sundays. off" and let them fight it out in the marketplace.) Television A detail about CJOC-TV that has long troubled local labor involved a strike by NABET, a technicians' union, Television was to the 1950s what radio was to the which was called against the television station in 1920s, an explosion of a technology that had been April 1976; the strike was never settled although the decades in the making. The first images were strikers have long since gone elsewhere. transmitted electronically in 1924. By 1932, up- to-date radio shops in major cities (New York, CFAC - Channels 2 and 7. Radio station CFAC was esta­ London) sold televisors that showed a picture about blished by the Calgary Herald on 2 May 1922 and was the size of a postage stamp but which could be the first privately-owned radio station between magnified to about four inches square. In those Winnipeg and Vancouver. The meaning of AC, if anything, days, televisors were erratic in operation, re­ is not known to me and was probably issued as part of quired constant attention from an operator, and an alphabetical listing by what is now the ITU. brought in only mediocre pictures. The Derby, a (Station employees suggested facetiously that AC classic horse race run annually at Epsom Downs, stood for Alberta Canada.) England, has been telecast every year since 1932. In 1932, telecast was transmitted about 20 miles CFCN - Channels 4 and 13. W. W. (Bill) Grant built a to sets in the Metropole Cinema, Victoria, where transmitter in High River in 1921 and 1922, moved it the specially invited audience expressed dis­ and the broadcasting station to Calgary where the sta­ appointment at the quality of the picture. In tion was assigned the call letters CFCN. Again, these 1982, society was still trying to assess the letters likely were part of an alphabetical sequence impact of TV on human behavior and attitudes. and, hence, meaningless. Grant was an electronic Marshall McLuhan, Canada's greatest philosopher, wizard and at one time or another built transmitters spent his life trying to understand and explain at Halifax, Calgary, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Red Deer, radio and TV, coining such expressions as "The and several U.S. locations. As mentioned earlier, medium is the message" and "The global village" R. Gordon Love acquired majority control of CFCN by in the process. about 1928. Grant ended up as an engineer with the newly-formed CBC but his later life is not known to Several of the television stations serving South­ me. Radio station CFCN, known as the Voice of the ern Alberta were started by companies already op­ Prairies, was the first to be paid for commercial erating radio stations and, in some cases, the broadcasts, the first to carry regular newcasts, and same call letters were used. Television stations the first to hire announcers specifically to read the familiar to local and regional viewers in 1982 and news. Its newscasts were preceded and followed by the earlier were: sound of a siren, which became familiar to listeners all over Southern Alberta. In 1982, the radio and TV CJLH - Channel 7. This was the first TV station stations were owned by the Maclean-Hunter Limited in Lethbridge and began broadcasting on 21 Nov­ publishing group, through CFCN Communications Limited, ember 1955. The CJ prefix came from CJOC and and were part of the CTV network. Also, in 1982, both LH from Lethbridge Herald, as these were the CFAC and CFCN were in some difficulty with renewal of co-owners in 1955. The company they set up was licenses. The companies involved in ownership of the called Lethbridge Television Limited. Leth­ stations owned local newspapers as well (Calgary Herald bridge Broadcasting Limited bought the Leth­ and Calgary Sun, respectively), which was contrary to bridge Herald share of the station from Hugh a recently-announced government policy. The policy P. Buchanan on 1 July 1971, changed the call forbade control of more than one media company in the letters to CJOC-TV. Later, Selkirk Communi­ same market; the CRTC postponed its decision until fall cations bought the station and changed the call 1982. letters to CFAC-TV on 12 February 1979. Why all the changes? It seemed to be largely a CEPm - Channels 9 and 10. This was a repeater station of matter of meeting the competition although CBRT Calgary. Its call letters were CBR, the CB being corporate reorganization was involved. CJLH- assigned to CBC stations and the R an arbitrary de­ TV/CJOC-TV was affiliated with the CBC, which signation. We believe that T stood for television. provided about 40% of station programming until On the Six O'clock News, which, with the delightfully 1 September 1976, when it became an independent. zany Muppets, was about all we ever watched, the sta­ Earlier, on 3 September 1968, CFCN-TV Calgary tion billed itself as CBC-9. The CBC repeater stations entered the Lethbridge market. Local TV of­ began local broadcasting on 1 September 1976. ficials were under the impression that the new station would carry its Calgary programming and CEXFT - Channels 8 and 23. This was a repeater station would not compete with what was then-CJLH-TV of CBXFT Edmonton. Call letters were CBX, the CB assigned to CBC stations and the X an arbitrary designation. We believe the FT stood for French Surnier Canada, in cooperation vdth the City of Leth­ Television as the station was a French language bridge, has sponsored a History Project, concerned station and carried programs of the CBC National itainly with the Indian Battle Park portion of the French Network. riverbottom area. Three sttidents are involved with Hijgh Spencer as the Project Leader. (5oals are to col­ Several additional TV stations were received in lect a detailed, catiprehensive history of the river- Lethbridge and district homes via cable. The botton at Lethbridge and to perform a series of special company involved locally was Lethbridge CableNet cdtimmity events dealing with the riverbottan's past Limited, formerly Lethbridge Cablevision Limited. . . . The riverfaottcm at Lethbridge is a kind of It is not completely clear to me if Lethbridge special place, the place of our beginnings. Cablevision Limited was the company formed to bring in signals from KRTV and KFBB Great Falls in 1964. ****** In any event, that early experiment was not com­ pletely satisfactory. The Great Palls signal was picked up off the air by a receiver on the East LET US DRINK A TOAST Butte of the Sweetgrass Hills and was transmitted The world would be a better place if grains and grapes to a receiver in Lethbridge. In both cases, the did not ferment. But they do, as European and other receivers were close to the limit of their re­ civilizations discovered millennia ago. The trouble ceiving ability, hence, the signal was often poor, is that drinking has huge symbolic values. Most of us snowy, and interruptions were common. In 1981, learn the rituals of drinking early in life. Getting Lethbridge CableNet had about 17,000 subscribers drunk is one of Canada's young male initiation rites. in Lethbridge/Coaldale and offered four channels Getting young girls drunk is another. from Spokane, four locally-transmitted channels, a news channel, and a community channel. Channels Many traditions and much mystique have developed in included: relation to the drinking of alcoholic beverages, parti­ cularly of wines. One of these was the raising of KREM - Channel 3. This was a CBS affiliate from one's glass and the drinking of a toast to any of a Spokane. (Our impression is that the American variety of persons or things. The toast was usually networks prefer CBS, NBC, or ABC, to Columbia followed by a reply, the reply by another toast, and Broadcasting System, National Broadcasting this then called for the drinking of another glass of Company, or American Broadcasting Company. PBS wine. still refers to iself as the Public Broadcast­ ing System.) The tradition of calling for a toast had one desirable result. It meant that someone had to stand, call for KXLY - Channel 5. This was an ABC affiliate from order, and give an impromptu address, ending with the Spokane. toast to the King or Queen, the bride or groom, the honored guest, or whatever. It was useful training tJQ - Channel 6. This was an NBC affiliate frcsn in extemporaneous public speaking, given under the Spokane. most relaxed conditions. KSPS - Channel 11. This was a PBS affiliate from Today, the art of such speaking at dinner parties or on Spokane; the PS stood for Public Service. formal occasions seems largely to have ended. It CATV - Channel 12. This was the community TV reached a peak in the period 1880-1910. Nowadays, it cable station in Lethbridge. Presumably, the seems to consist of a perfunctory toast to the Queen, call letters stood for Cable TV. given as early as possible in the evening so that smokers may smoke. Prohibition from 1916-23, the era KRTV - Channel 3. An NBC/CBS affiliate from Great of bathtub gin in the United States, a world-wide De­ Falls. We do not know if the station is still pression, the frantic boozing of wartime, and, in being received in the area or not. Alberta, the dismal, dreary, barn-like beer parlors, KFBB - Channel 5. An ABC/NBC affiliate from Great where the sexes were segregated, entertainment was Falls. Again, we do not know if the station is prohibited, and glum-faced men or women sat at sopping being received in the area or not. tables and got drunk as quickly as possible, all gave moderate, social drinking a bad name and, among other A considerable amount of thought went into the things, seemed to end the practice of offering toasts. selection of call letters for radio and television stations. This concern was not frivolous. A sta­ The way it used to be is illustrated in the Toast tion had to be remembered by name or slogan if it List of a 1 March 1891 banquet, held in honor of a was to show' up well on the listener or viewer sur­ visit to Lethbridge by Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley veys that advertisers relied upon. of Preston (of Stanley Cup fame), Governor General of Canada. The banquet was sponsored by the fledgling In Canada, in 1982, the radio-television industry Board of Trade and Civic Committee and was held in the was run by the Canadian Radio-Television and Tele­ Company Boarding House in the riverbottom. Here is communications Commission (CRTC). The Supreme the Toast List, presumbly made up by Charles Alexander Court of Canada has recognized this and suggested Magrath: in a judgment that complaints about the CRTC should go to the federal cabinet and not to the courts. Toast List - In April 1982, after years of procrastination, the CRTC approved pay-TV for Canada and has designated THE QUEEN 11 companies (three in Alberta) to implement it. "No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope." At time of writing, the impact of this decision was not yet known. THE GOVERNOR GENERAL "I have bought golden c^inions from all sorts of people.' What is known is that traditional television broad­ casting is probably living through its last days. THE GUEST OF THE EVENING Cable and satellite technology, allied wi-th com­ "He was a scholar and a ripe good one. puter technology, is about to change the face of television forever. Exceeding wise, fair spoken and persuading." ****** "I have done the state seme servive, and they The only white casualty in the Cypress Hills Massacre know it. of June 1873 was a wolfer named Ed Grace. Sometime after 1873, a rumor started that Ed Grace was the son bkD more of -that." of a mayor of New York City . . . There was a mayor of THE ISDRTH-WEST MDONTED POLICE New York City in 1881-82 and 1885-86 named William Russell Grace. He had eleven children, two of them "You are not like C^erberus, I hcpe, three gentle­ boys. Unfortunately for our massacre story, the two men at once, are you?" sons were named Joseph (born 1872, reached maturity, "The bearings of this observation lays in the married and had children), and William Russell (born application of it." 1878, reached maturity, married and had no issue) . . Ed Grace, apparently, was known also as Le Grace, THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS Gracie, and Gracey. He is as much a mystery today as "I am Sir Oracle, and when I cpe my lips let no he ever was. dog bark." ****** THE ALBERTA RAILmY AND COAL CCMPANY "There's a gude time caning." The founder of radio station CJOC Lethbridge was John E. (Jock) Palmer DCM AFC, born Cambridge, England, in "And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, son 1897, died Calgary, Alberta, in 1964. He was buried of Nimshi, for he driveth furiously." " in High River, Alberta. Glenbow Museum listed his LETHBRIDGE full name as John Elder Palmer while a family friend, Doris King, listed it as John Endor Palmer. He was "The lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places." buried under the name, John Ender Palmer, which we THE lADIES believe to be the correct one.

"She is a wcfnan and therefore may be wooed. ****** She is a wcman and therefore may be won." The younger generation hasn't changed all that much. THE PRESS They still grow up, leave home, get married and have "A chiels araang ye takin' notes, And, faith, he'll children. The only difference is that today they prent it." don't always do it in that order.

ABSENT FRIENDS ****** "Absent in body, but present in spirit." The historic old horse "Buck", which came into the "Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund dry country with the first expedition in 1874, and was Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops," then aged, is still to the fore. He has thus com­ You may want to look up the references from which pleted upwards of 28 winters, and nobody knows how these quotations were taken. As we recall, there many more.—Prom the 1894 report of Superintendent were a few mistakes in the list, which is reproduced R. Burton Deane, Commanding K Division, NWMP, Leth­ verbatim. The toasts were given in sequence by: bridge, Alberta. Magrath, Magrath, Magrath, C.F.P. Conybeare, J.D. Higinbotham, Harry Bentley, Lieutenant Governor ****** Joseph Royal of the North-West Territories, Gagnon (we are not familiar with this person), Back around 1940, no lunch hour began in homes across "Paddy" Nolan (famed Calgary lawyer), and Magrath. Canada until the Happy Gang came on the radio. Its Replies were given by: no reply; no reply; Lt. host was Bert Pearl. Trumpet player Robert Farnon Gov. Royal; Supt. R. Burton Deane and Gagnon; went on to a distinguished career in Europe as a Dr. F.H. Mewburn, Rev. Charles McKillop, Pri- world-class arranger and composer of light music. chard, and C.C. McCaul; Greenwood (accountant In May 1982, he appeared in Vancouver as guest con­ with ARSC Co.) and William Stafford; Bentley, ductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He makes Conybeare, Cavanah (store owner), and Thomas his home on the Channel Islands. Curry; Rev. James Endicott and Wilson; "Si" Saunders and Conybeare; and no reply.

****** ***** HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA

- WHOOP-UP COUNTRY CHAPTER

Number 5 Newsletter ISSN 0382-9812 September 1982

Membership in the Whoop-Up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, including a subscription to the quarterly ALBERTA HISTORY, newsletters, and notices of meetings, can be obtained for $10.00 per year. Send membership dues to:

Hr. J.H. Carpenter, Treasurer Whoop-Up Country Chapter Historical Society of Alberta P.O. Box 974

Lethbridge, Alberta TIJ 4A2

SOCIETY OFFICERS FOR 1981-82

President Alex Johnstone, Marquis Hotel TIJ 3Z4 Past President Frank A. Russell, Box 326 TIJ 3Y8 Vice-President Carlton R. Stewart, 1005 - 23 Street North TIH 3T2 Secretary D.J. Cardi 1051 - 13 Street South TIK 1S6 Treasurer J.H. Carpenter, 2117 - 14 Avenue South TIK 0V3 Council Member (1984) Andrew J. Staysko, Green Acres Lodge TIJ 0S9 Council Member (1984) Henry R. Anderson, 2226 18 Avenue South TIK 1G8 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Lucille Dalke, 638 - 9 Street South TIJ 2L4 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Donna Coulter, Box 1001, Fort Macleod TOL 2G0 Council Member 1982) Ralph L. Erdman, 1115 -17 Street A South TIK 0S9 Council Member (1982) Clarence Geiger, 1265 -5 Avenue A South TIJ 0Y3

OCTOBER MEETING WHOOP-UP COUNTRY POSTAL MARKINGS AND STAMPS The first meeting of the 1982-83 season will be by Joan W. Carpenter held in the Assembly Room, Sir Alexander Gait Museum, at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 26, 1982. The first Canadian postage stamps were issued in April 1851. Many events in this region, once part of the The guest speaker is not yet confirmed. The Northwest Territories and now the sunny south of the subject will be the social history, natural province of Alberta, are portrayed on postage stamps history, and archaeology of the river valley at and in postal markings. The philatelic items used as Lethbridge. This area is under intense study at illustrations for this article are from the collection present and some tentative conclusions will have of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Carpenter, Lethbridge. been reached by the time of the meeting. Elliott Gait had the vision to realize the potential of Consideration must be given to the fencing and mining and agriculture in this area, but little did he marking of Lethbridge's first cemetery, in the dream, when, in 1904, he organized the Alberta Rail and area of the Stafford grave in Indian Battle Irrigation Company, that he was providing a relatively Park. There are probably five burials, three rare and historic item for the collections of some can be positively identified: Henry Stafford, philatelists. In 1895 the Official Postal Guide gave 1866-1883; Britton Stephens, 1858? - 1883; and notice "Persons or firms using very large quantities the infant son of Cpl. and Mrs. Eli J. Hodder, of stamps may also arrange with the Department to August 6, 1886 - August 18, 1886. have the stamps they purchase perforated with their initials at their own cost." Some firms in the west began to thus identify their stamps. The practice of using 'perfins' was supposed to prevent employees from using office stamps for personal use. The A.R.& I. was sold to the CP. Railway in 1912, so perfins with the initials ARI (facsimile shown) were made for a short time only, and are scarce. C.P.R. perfins on the 'Admirals' (King George V stamps iss­ ued 1911-1931) are more readily obtainable.

The town shown on the Alberta stamp is Cowley, loc­ ated at the southern end of the Porcupine Hills, where cultivation gives way to rangeland and the great plains give way to the mountains. The photo­ graph shows the community with highway running dia­ gonally by, the strip farming of the cultivated areas, the grasslands of the ranches, the dish- shaped geological structure of the Porcupine Hills, and the massive uplift of the Livingstone Range. In 1923, the Government of Canada started perforat­ ing office stamps, and civil servants at the Leth­ bridge Experimental Farm and in other Government services, and members of the R.C.M.P. detachment here, were kept on the straight and narrow path by office stamps pierced with the letters OHMS (On His Majesty's Service). In 1949 the postal authorities discontinued perforating and began overprinting OHMS on the face of the stamp, and in 1950 changed JOU'R \ / the overprint to a big 'G' (for Government). REMISSION nr''

On 15 April 1970 a 6$ commemorative was issued to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Henry Kelsey, the first explorer on the plains. The artist who designed the stamp was Dennis Burton The father of Elliott Gait, Sir Alexander Tilloch of Toronto, originally from Lethbridge. In a Gait, then Canadian High Commissioner in London, letter to J.H. Carpenter, Mr. Burton wrote "Yes, was instrumental in persuading William Lethbridge I certainly do recall Alberta sunsets, so I put to be president of the North-Western Coal and one on the stamp so every person who buys the Navigation Company in 1882. Sir Alexander Gait stamp will 'dig' sunsets a la the plains also". is pictured, with the rest of the Fathers of Dennis Burton's father Ed was president of the Confederation, on stamps issued in 1917 and 1927. Lethbridge 'Y' Philatelic Society in early 1950s.

****** In September 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Canada 8 Saskatchewan were proclaimed. Dr. C.F.P. Conybeare, Lethbridge's pioneer lawyer, wrote a flowery, but sincere, tribute to the occasion. Opening lines are: "Pride of the new Hesperides, fair but from Britain's ancient rose. We mark thee in thy majesty, ^% two petals more unclose." if-~ 4 X 4 o l.7^ 6 On 27 August 1980, to commemorate the 75th anniver­ t.K;.1/un,C i sary of the formation of the two provinces, Canada Post issued a set of two 17-cent stamps. The designs feature a small town of each province. The aerial The autograph on this first-day cancel is that of photography was by George Hunter and the typo­ Gerald Tailfeathers, a noted artist of the Blood graphic design by Chris Taneff Limited, Toronto. Reserve. He designed the attractive stamp depicting a Blood Indian dancer in prairie chicken costume. The stamp was issued on 4 October 1972. Commemorating

International Women's Year * y As proclaimed by the United Nations nwA^f '* - •=' ^T ^^^fHAiniEJiKSVt' ^•* Issued 14 July 1975 •'^^^'IW^i''%••y-**^J^r:.7:i- '

. 1. • - Designer Susan McPhee used subtle colours r'tfflffffHw'»»^'*ifc^< •' of ochre, gray and white for the graphic ii&titC Cucii^^^ variation of the ••;?s-jiea5aHll II'WW hurl II • mii. female symbol. I • il I f"**'iT'."!-a( Susan McPhee is the granddaughter of a well-known "rm pioneer family of Medicine Hat. Daniel S. Reid wgja ....^ :i..jjv.... JH^I^XI^ _'b-'-';#;^*- ••'•' operated 'Boyd & Reid, Wholesale Tobacco & Confec­ Ml tionery' from the early 1900s until 1940 in that city. Autographed by Susan C. McPhee.

******

The storm came from the west on a hot summer day in 1966. Hail devastated the fields around Granum. As the dark clouds raced to the east, Roland Hahn of Granum took this striking photograph seen here reproduced on the 25-cent Air Mail Aerogramme letter sheet issued in 1977 by Canada Post. ****** On 18 June 1982, a Waterton Lakes National Park stamp was issued. An acrylic painting by Brent Artist A.Y. Jackson often visited his brother, Laycock, a native of Lethbridge, was used for the Ernest Jackson, who was employed with Campbell, design of the $1.50 definitive. (Definitive stamps Wilson & Home of Lethbridge, and later part-owner are a regular issue intended to be in use for a of Jackson & Bates Grocery on 5th Street. The artist long time, until postage rates change. Commemor­ painted the foothills country when guesting at the ative stamps are issued for one specific purpose Bar X Ranch in Pincher Creek. His painting of the or event and are sold at philatelic counters for a Alaska Highway was used on this 8

'^\'x^^ 'ifirsi S>ay of

J967 Series /<

+ Honouring I Jl Carpenl0 "The Famous Group 2U7 - I'W Avenue Sou* ALBERTft of Seven' iETHBRWGE I/yOMsdmi/^^..^ According to a 7 January 1950 report in the Lethbridge Herald, the field itself was originally owned by John Silver, pioneer homesteader and founder of the Lethbridge Iron Works. Silver broke it in 1905 and in 1906 seeded the then 1,000-acre field to spring wheat, the first large seeding of spring wheat in the Lethbridge district. The field yielded 40 bushels to the acre and the resulting publicity led J H CARPENTER to the great land rushes of 2117-3* SVEHUE SOUTH LETH8RID6E SLBERTA 1908-1912. TIK 0V3 riRST OAY OF issue Like all good stories, there were elements of truth in the Herald account. In 1906, Silver seeded winter wheat, which yielded 22 bushels to the acre. There were 14,000 acres of spring wheat seeded around The Second World War ended in August 1945. To mark Lethbridge in 1906; this crop yielded 32 bushels to the occasion, a set of stamps in denominations from the acre. Previously, the wheat grown in the dis­ 8(t to $1.00 was issued on 16 September 1946. The trict had been winter wheat so the large acreage of 20(t value is of particular interest. spring wheat was significant. More important, by 1906-07, agriculturists were beginning to learn how In 1942, Nicholas Morant, a Montreal photographer, to farm the semi-arid dryland of the region. Also, visited Southern Alberta on assignment from the the American West had filled up and land-seekers Department of Agriculture. Among many other agri­ were coming into Southern Alberta in large numbers. cultural photographs, Morant took one of a harvest It was for these reasons, and not because of a heavy scene on Thomas Stratton Lanier's 'Kentucky Farm', crop of spring wheat on Section 8, that the land about six miles southeast of Lethbridge. The rushes of 1908-1912 occurred. photograph showed a combine being pulled by a Caterpillar tractor while harvesting a 40-bushel The 20-cent stamp in the 1946 Peace Issue series crop of wheat. The combine operator was John Tuttle; featured the photograph of the harvest scene on the the tractor operator was not identified. The field Tom Lanier farm taken by Nicholas Morant in 1942. in question was Section 8-8-22-W4.

CENTENARY Of ARRIVAL of the The North-West Mounted Police arrived at Fort Whoop-Up on N.W.M. POLICE H I 9 October 1874. To commemorate the centenary of this historic event, the Lethbridge Philatelic FORT WHOOP-UP Society designed this colourful OCTOBER 9,1874 cover, using the trade flag of Fort Whoop-Up. (Now the official flag of the city of Lethbridge). The stamps are a set issued in 1973 to mark the centennial of the formation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Pol­ ice. The slogan cancel was paid for by the Club and used with 2117 - 14th Avenue South the permission of the postal Trade Flag of Fort Whoop-Up LETHBRIDGE ALBERTA authorities. in Blackfoot Territory ****** Early post offices were often established in ranch homes. In 1883 the Circle L Ranch in the foothills west of Claresholm was officially designated as the post office of Lyndon, and the ranch owner, Charles A. Lyndon, was appointed postmaster. Lyndon post office was off­ icially closed in March 1944. On 1 January 1899 the letter rate was reduced from Sit to 2$. The postal authorities in Ottawa over­ 1897 1951 1968 printed the remaining stock of 3t Queen Victoria L stamps with '2 CENTS'. Some postmasters in remote The first post office in Fort Macleod was opened in areas, lacking a supply of stamps reflecting the 1883. When the town was incorporated in 1892, the new postal rate, provided their own provisionals. word 'Fort' was dropped, and the post office was This cancelled stamp, with an unofficial over­ officially 'Macleod'. On 1 July 1952 the name of print, was found among material left at the Lyndon the town was changed back to Fort Macleod. The post office when it was closed. post marks show some of the changes. ****** ******

ICrown Copjri|i]it KoMrxadJI

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Upper left - During World War 2 field post offices were, for security reasons, iden­ [— A R«qu«8t '"— tified by number only. This letter to I "* Mntt oi tli«w post card* POST Macleod was censored at base 4 May 1945, I lii« f( Us fet tiOiite viao arr and posted at F.P.O. 683 on 5 May 1945. I *«iti*:i|; thft totitecu aid I Af>l if die in£BUige oc Upper right - During the First World War I t.:.^pottc>ri!»orrtion:tbiii troops writing home were required to sign a security declaration printed on the I •'-' A**'l V rrk iiv 4e.i.i)^ outside wrapper. This letter was sent

t iJ*!^' . K- to Pincher Creek from a F.P.O. on 4 February 1915.

\ A \i.A nrrf; i'-L:icy is rs The post card with a 'Passed censor 824' ' '|J' ni to tiTi'I jp stvtiii:* seal, was posted at a F.P.O. on 6 May 1916 and received in Pincher Creek on 24 May. r**"Ove r S^dit CUib (Backstamp). It acknowledged receipt of

••«*• 'i. I lld^t "•* ' cigarettes sent to the forces overseas. The cartoon reads: "More baccy - better 157 fighting - quicker peace - Yers Sapl" The signature is probably short for Sapper. On 1 March 1939, the east-west inaugural flight of Trans-Canada VIA Am, I'AI4, Airlines coast-to-coast airmail service was given a ceremonial Lftthl^* -| lfontrm~l- send-off by Col. J.A.D. McCurdy. Thirty years earlier, in 1909, Col. McCurdy had made the first airplane flight in the British Empire, at Baddeck, N.S. .v^—^-Si:

Lethbridge was one of 10 cities on the main route, and the trans- ferral point for feeder lines to Calgary and Edmonton. Planes used were 12 Lockheed 14 Comm­ F'RST O-f'CAU FUSMT ercial Transports, 6 Lockheed i iu t \. Lodestar Airliners, 2 Lockheed LETHBfilOeE-MONTREAL Electras. Flight time from Vancouver to Montreal was 13 hours, 5 minutes.

Pilots: Lethbridge east - W.D. Brady and M. McGregor; K. Ed- mison and J.D. Storie. ¥lA._AI1l «AI_a^ Lethbridge west: J. Barclay and E. Allen. Feeder line: Capt. A. Rankin

The cachets (designs) on the covers show a plane over Kenyon Field; and the seal of the Leth­ bridge Board of Trade superim­ posed on a prairie farm scene.

The Vancouver - Lethbridge flight A.H.Atteott, carried 2 passengers, one of whom was J. Peach, radio announcer for B9& VBT L the CBC. His broadcast of the flight over the mountains was the L£THBfi1DGE'VAHC0UVE^ first with a nation-wide hook-up to originate from an aircraft.

,,^,^^^,^.^^,^.,,^^^^,^^^,^ ^ Kenyon Field, the Lethbridge Air­ port, was officially opened on 7 June 1939. At the ceremony was Commodore H. Hollick-Kenyon, who in 1931 piloted the first airmail plane into Lethbridge. He auto­ graphed this cover, as did the first manager of the airport, A.N. Westergaard.

Work on the airfield had begun two years earlier in June 1937. By October 1938, four 4000'run­ ways, two of them hard-surfaced; 104 border lights for night land­ ings; the T.C.A. hangar with over 15,000 square feet of floor space, had been constructed.

Population of Lethbridge atxthis time was about 14,000. FIRST OFFICIAL AIRMAIL FLIGHTS ^"^ VBMI CANADIAN AIRWAYS LIMITED 15 January 1931

These covers record inauguration prairie airmail service Calgary- Winnipeg, via Lethbridge - Med­ icine Hat - Regina. I VIA AIR MAIL Eastbound - Fokker S14 Monoplane Pilot - Herbert Hollick-Kenyon Westbound - Boeing Biplane Pilot - Harold Farrington

Postage is Canada's first airmail I stamp, issued 21 September 1928. 1931 Lethbridge airport located I south of 5 Ave. & 23 St. North.

Further information Whoop-Up Chapter Newsletter January 1977.

AFTER FIVE DAYS RETURN TO VIA MB/^AIL •-^-"•^^^ J.K.. Carpenter ' AFTER FIVE DAYS ifeuRN TO —-/^"tr—• 126a 6 A.ye, A. S..

L-^TK?^-RTTr.^

Iv, J,H. Carpenter

' 1262 6 Ave. A. S.

Lethbridge, Alberta

******

Slogan cancels are an excellent advertising and publicity medium. A special slug is prepared and used along with the town or city cancel. The effectiveness of the special postmark was recog­ nized in 1912 when the Lethbridge Board of Trade sponsored a major agricultural convention -- the Seventh International Dry Farming Congress. On 1 January 1912, the permanent secretary of the Congress, John T. Burns, announced from his Hull is: Block (now the site of the downtown Safeway Store) offices that he intended to start sending out ^h' publicity for the 21-26 October conference. He "Yi estimated printing costs at about $10,000 and postage at about $6,000. Postal authorities, as an aid to the publicity campaign, agreed to the use of a special cancellation in the Lethbridge Post Office. The slogan cancel continued to be used on out-going mail until January 1913. C_ARO

•• . FrftWATr.'i"'"!' CANADA'S *WAKO WINNING Lethbridge^ 'A_ M:i,.t« r;!TY-t962 Wf aLk!i"wledge and thasik you I for >i!ar oi'lor which will receive f imT.efll.itf :vtfBtioo. |

******

!e. If not klnrtly' •'Its, In 1885 John D. Higinbotham was acting post­ •« I ,--: master, and in his book 'WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG' the following letter appears: Very trtily yours, Post Office Inspector's Office Commercial Printers ''T-^ Winnipeg, October 14th, 1885. and Office Outfitters Ltd. >tr,'^ Postmaster, Coalhurst, N.W.T. Dear Sir: I have received this morning the Postmaster- '•• a' f -. General's instructions to change the name of your ;• sf office to Lethbridge as quickly as possible, and have given instructions that after the 15th inst. the name shall be Lethbridge instead of Coalhurst. Kindly govern yourself accordingly. We will supply you with labels, etc., to suit the new name. You will, of course, date your letter-bills, correspondence, etc., Lethbridge instead of Coal­ hurst after the dates mentioned.

Yours truly, W.W. McLeod, P.O. Inspector LETHBRIDGE IS 100 YEARS OLD IN 19851 A Centennial Committee has been organized to plan Postal slogans promoting Lethbridge events: celebrations. On the steering committee is James H. Carpenter, who with Blaine Thacker M.P. and "International Rodeo - Lethbridge - July 6,7,"(1945) fellow collectors M.R. Hanna and Terry Morris, has set up a sub-committee to lobby Canada Post to "June 1 Census Day - Count Yourself In" (1971) agree to issue a special commemorative stamp. Designs suggested have included sketches of the "1905 - 1955 - Alberta Jubilee - 50 Golden Years" famed CP. Rail high level bridge. An appropriate slogan cancel is also being considered. "Canada's Award Winning City - 1962" The title of Canada's Model City of 1962 was awarded to Leth­ bridge by TOWNS AND CITIES magazine. HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ALBERTA

WHOOP-UP COUNTRY CHAPTER

Number 6 Newsletter ISSN 0382-9812 November 1982

Membership in the Whoop-Up Country Chapter, Historical Society of Alberta, including a subscription to the quarterly ALBERTA HISTORY, newsletters, and notices of meetings, can be obtained for $10.00 per year. Send membership dues to:

Mr. J.H. Carpenter, Treasurer Whoop-Up Country Chapter Historical Society of Alberta P.O. Box 974 Lethbridge, Alberta TIJ 4A2

SOCIETY OFFICERS FOR 1981-82

President Alex Johnston, Marquis Hotel TIJ 3Z4 Past President Frank A. Russell, Box 326 TIJ 3Y8 Vice-President Carlton R. Stewart, 1005 - 23 Street North TIH 3T2 Secretary D.J. Card, 1051 - 13 Street South TIK 1S6 Treasurer J.H. Carpenter, 2117 - 14 Avenue South TIK 0V3 Council Member (1984) Andrew J. Staysko, Green Acres Lodge TIJ 0S9 Council Member (1984) Henry R. Anderson, 2226 - 18 Avenue South TIK 1C8 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Lucille Dalke, 638 - 9 Street South TIJ 2L4 Council Member (1983) Mrs. Donna Coulter, Box 1001, Fort Macleod TOL 2G0 Council Member (1982) Ralph L. Erdman, 1115 - 17 Street A South TIK 0S9 Council Member (1982) Clarence Geiger, 1265 - 5 Avenue A South TIJ 0Y3

NOVEMBER MEETING Where is the money going to come from?

The regular monthly meeting of the Lethbridge Hist­ All of these things will be tied in with the well- orical Society will be held in the Assembly Room of known Fort Macleod Museum and probably with hist­ the Sir Alexander Gait Museum/Archives on Tuesday, orical preservation projects underway in the Crows­ 23 November at 8:00 p.m. nest Pass.

Guest speaker will be Jim Mountain, formerly with ****** the Historic Sites Service of Alberta Culture in Lethbridge, but now employed by Heritage Canada in Harry Watson - Fifty Years in Business Fort Macleod. Exciting things are underway in Fort by Marie Sorgard Macleod and the nearby region. The Head-Smashed-In buffalo jump has been declared a World Heritage At the annual meeting of the Alberta Chamber of Comm­ Site and. Alberta Culture will put a couple of mill­ erce held in Red Deer 25 October, Harry Watson of Pic­ ion dollars into development. Downtown Fort Mac­ ture Butte was recognized as one of Alberta's 12 out­ leod will be developed to take every advantage of standing small business persons, and was presented with those buildings that date to the early days of the a plaque by Premier Peter Lougheed in recognition of century. A movie theatre will be restored to its this achievement. The name Harry Watson has been synon- former glory. omous with business in Picture Butte since that day 50 years ago when he took over the operation of the British There is much more to the story. Developments of American oil agency. Not only has he been a successful the nature mentioned above cost a lot of money. and accommodating businessman but he has also been a staunch community supporter and promoter. also among those who were active in organizing Picture Butte's Volunteer Fire Department. He is a man whose roots in Canada are very deep. You may find him reading a letter addressed to his An avid sportsman, he played baseball and managed that great grandfather in Frontenac County, Portland, Upper well-known ball team, the Picture Butte Indians, as Canada, in 1864. Or, in a lighter vein, he may be well as the Lethbridge Warriors and the Shaughnessy reminiscing about the day he took over the milk route. Cadillacs. One of the highlights of his athletic car­ Then again he may be busy arranging a tour to some eer was attending a baseball school conducted at Moose distant corner of the world. Jaw by the Chicago Cubs. There he met and caught a few pitches from St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Mort Harry came here with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Cooper of World Series fame. Watson, from Foremost in 1928. In 1931, having attained the average amount of education for a youth Several fraternal organizations have had the good for­ of 16 years of age, he quit school. tune to have his name on their membership roles. He is a Life Member of the Picture Butte Elks Lodge, a What of the future? Picture Butte was a fledgling Past Worshipful Master of the Masonic Order, a Past hamlet whose growth had been stunted by two catas- President of the Picture Butte Lions Club, and was the trophies: the hailstorm of 1928 and the depression original leader of the Shriners' Oriental Band. of 1929. However, Harry had two advantages. He was a brilliant lad and he was living in the midst He has led an exciting life. He worked on the build­ of a good agricultural area. Harry Kane, a Picture ing of the Alaska Highway during World War II. When Butte businessman, was contemplating giving up the his brother Barton joined the Royal Canadian Navy, British American oil agency as he had a number of Harry came back to Picture Butte, but left his equip­ other interests. Assessing the situation, Harry ment and crew to finish his portion of the project. Watson decided that this business might offer a One of his vivid recollections is that of the day 60 good potential. After conferring with Mr. Kane cases of dynamite exploded in Dawson Creek. He and he approached the British American Oil Company; Jim Reid of Iron Springs were caught in the debris however, being only 17 years of age, he was not old but escaped uninjured. Another vivid recollection is enough to be bonded. His father, Joe Watson, backed that of the day a load of heifers, fed for the Cross his bond and Harry became the new British American Brothers by Watson Farms, topped the Canadian market oil agent in Picture Butte. at $16.35 per cwt. One of his prized possessions is the first tractor he and his father sold to Charles In 1934 he acquired the International Harvester Cook and Sons in the mid 1930s. It now reposes on dealership. The next year, using lumber from his his machinery lot. father's lumberyard, he built a small service station and installed two pumps on the site where the South­ He still maintains a close relationship with his rel­ ern Alberta Co-op now stands. By that time Picture atives in eastern Canada. He and his wife recently Butte was beginning to boom. A sugar factory was attended a family reunion in Ontario and while there being built and a dam was being constructed on the visited the stone house built by Harry's great grand­ northern extremity of the townsite. Thus this father in the early 1800s. industrious young man chose as his slogan "The Best Business By A Dam Site". There is a lighter side to Harry's life, too. He starred as Diamond Lil in a theatrical production of In due time his brother Barton joined him and, in Ain't We Got Fun in Picture Butte a few years ago. 1936, their father joined them in the oil and mach­ inery business at the present location. Expansion He is not only a successful businessman - he is a continued to include a farm and feedlot. veritable institution. He has been good for Picture Butte, but, says Harry "Picture Butte has been good They eventually departmentalized the business and, to me". To show his appreciation for the support he while Harry's son Joe is now handling the reins of has received from the community he made the final the machinery dealership, Harry, who is too busy to payment of $31,419 on Picture Butte's Sportsplex retire, has turned his hand to the travel business. earlier this year. Amidst thundering applause, he He is well qualified in this field, also being a was given a standing ovation. This was the second world traveller. contribution. When funds were being collected to get the project under way, he and his brother Barton He has given countless hours to community service. made a $5,000 contribution. He devoted 26 years to council, dating back to the days when Picture Butte was a village. He served What could be more fitting for this man who has ser­ 13 years as mayor and also filled the position of ved his community for 50 years than to be placed on president of the Picture Butte and District Chamber Alberta's honor roll as one of 12 of its outstanding of Commerce. He has many 'firsts' to his credit. business persons'. As mayor he officiated at the butchering of the first hog at Juris' Abattoir, turned the valve for ****** the first flow of water and for the first flow of natural gas for Picture Butte. As president of the Mrs. Margaret Knapp, editor of the Coaldale history curling club he threw the first rock on the natural book, tells us that it is coming along well. It will ice at the Picture Butte Curling Club, and later be published by Friesen Printers, Altona, Manitoba. threw the first rock down the length of artificial Some histories have been written and many photographs ice. He was instrumental in getting a hospital have been collected. A committee has been at work built in Picture Butte. He served as a member of for two years. Regional histories are a lot of work the Provisional Board and later as chairman of the but succeeding generations will bless the names of Picture Butte Municipal Hospital Board. He was those people who were involved in their preparation. PLACE NAMES AND OLD MAPS English naturalist Charles Waterton, was called the by Alex Johnston Kootenai River on the old maps. (The Kootenai Ind­ ians of southeastern British Columbia crossed the Old maps of Southern Alberta reveal some unfamiliar mountains in the Waterton Lakes area in order to hunt place names. The Milk River Ridge, an ancient buffalo and to gather Camassia quamash (Blue camas) prairie level (it somehow escaped the erosion that roots on the Alberta side). The Belly River was lowered the rest of the region by 1,200 - 1,500 listed on the old maps as Mokowanis. There are sev­ feet), was called Amuh-pow-ekwi by the Blackfoot, eral explanations for this term, the most believable the meaning of which is Big Ridge. (Dr. Donald i. being that it meant the paunch of a buffalo. Mok- Frantz and Blackfoot collaborators at the Univ­ awanis, an ancient Blackfoot name, was given to the ersity of Lethbridge indicated that the term Belly Buttes (Mokowan'Etomo, literally Paunch/Hill) appeared to be Omahkohpawahkoyi, Big Ridge),. The because they were thought to resemble a buffalo's high ground east of Standoff is known as the Belly paunch in outline. The first Europeans translated Buttes but is shown on the old maps as Mokowan'- Mokowanis as Belly and this is the name that has per­ Etomo, the original Blackfoot name. Similarly, sisted. Pomi-piskan-kawagh-kway or Buffalo Fat Pound the hilly area on the north end of the Blood Res­ Coulee was located on the Belly River about five erve is known as Wild Turnip Hill but is shown on miles above Standoff. The Oldman River was known as the old maps as Maas'Etomo, literally Root Hill. Napi-aotzi-kagh-tzipi or The River The Old Man Played (Maas'j in Blackfoot, is a generic term for root Upon, from a sacred playing field outlined by eleven and refers to the edible plant, Psoralea escul- piles of stones in the Livingstone Gap. The whites enta (Indian Breadroot), which grows well on translated the Blackfoot term as The Old Man's River, the sandy, well-drained soils of the area. The then Old Man River, and finally Oldman River. On a Cowley area was known to the Blackfoot as Akai- modern highway marker the name is indicated as Napi- sowkaas. Many Prairie Turnips, because of the tahta, literally Old Man/River. Napi, or The Old Man, Indian Breadroot found at that place). was the well-known Blackfoot deity.

If you visit the highway marker near Kipp and The Milk River was called Kinok-kxis-ughty or The look to the south, you will see a place where a Little River (also transliterated as E-nuk Se-sokta), meander of the Oldman River long ago cut through in contrast to the Missouri, called by G.M. Dawson a hill and made a new course for the river, leav­ Amiskapo'omakaty, Big South River. (According to ing a hugh oxbow lake. This was known as Eskee- Dr. Frantz, the modern Blackfoot name for the Milk Tigh-Keemiska or The Cut-off, (on the highway River is Poyiissisiitahtayi, literally Oily/Small/ marker it is called Ishik-Takmiska, Where It Flow­ River). The St. Mary River, named by Father DeSmet ed Across). Other old place names along the in the 1840s, was Opoghto-maxi-idmi 'tughty dr Big Oldman River between The Cut-off and its junction South Lake River, because it originated in the St. with the St. Mary River south of the university Mary Lakes. The Little Bow River was Namagh-ty were Ate-sin-oh-ka-ka, Where They Hunt The Elk or the Naked River. It flowed in a shallow trench, or Elk-Hunting Bottom, Many Coulees (the Black­ the bottom of which had the same microclimate as the foot term for coulee was Is-tsi-kum', anglicized prairie level, hence, trees did not grow and the to Etzikom), and Muk-kwy-otchekan or The Wolf's river had a naked appearance. The Highwood River Peak. Just south of the original site of Fort was Spitzii, a term that meant The Trees Along the Whoop-up, according to an 1883 map, there was a River Can Be Seen From Afar, so-named because the place called Sow-kee-ak-kai-nis-kway or St. Mary's river flowed across the level plain instead of at Coulee. Early visitors to Fort Whoop-up reported the bottom of a deeply-cut valley. Pincher Creek that the name of the flat where the fort was loc­ was In-oks-spitzii or Little Spitzii. (The Augusta, ated was Ak-kai-nis-kway, which they translated Montana, area was known by a term that meant South as Many Died or Many Blood Indians Died. Sow- Spitzii). Spitzii was variously translated by the Kee, in Blackfoot, meant Prairie. So Sow-kee-ak- whites as Tall Timber, Tall Trees, High, High Scen­ kai-nis-kway meant The Prairie Where Many Blood ery, High Wood or Highwood. Indians Died. The name referred to a very sev­ ere smallpox epidemic of 1837 when many people Lee's Creek or Lariat Cross, which flows through mod­ died in camps at the confluence of the St. Mary ern Cardston, is shown on the old maps as Seek-kee-na- and Oldman Rivers. The epidemic originated with appin, also Sakemahpeneu, meaning 'rope across'; the infected blankets brought up the Missouri River Indians used to stretch a rope across in times of high on the steamboat St. Peter. It decimated the water.William Sam Lee after whom Lee's Creek was named, Indian tribes of the Upper Missouri and South was a prospector and whiskey trader, a contemporary of Saskatchewan River basins. Joe Kipp, Johnny Healy, John Evans, 'Liver-eatin' John­ son, Tom 'The Green River Renegade' Hardwick, and other The Blackfoot term, Agh-kan-neh-kinney-taxin, or characters of the day. Lee was one of a party of four The Pot Hole River, was given to a small stream prospectors who lost a pair of pincers used to trim entering the St. Mary River from the east a mile horses' hooves (and very useful when saddle stock were or two above Fort Whoop-up. It is now known as used mostly on grassy range which did not wear down Pothole Creek. The Indians undoubtedly noted the hooves), on the banks of a creek in southwestern the tendency of Pothole Creek to dry up in hot Alberta in the 1860s. Joe Kipp, another of the party, weather, leaving water only in a series of pot returned again and again from the Porcupine Hills, holes along its length. (According to Dr. Frantz Ky-es-kaghp-oqhsuyiss, (The Porcupine's Trail) to the Indian term was probably Ahkaniikinitakssin, look for the pincers, but in vain. Today we know the. literally Boring/Drilling. This is a noun based creek as Pincher Creek. William Sam Lee is buried at on the verb 'to bore' (a hole?). One supposes Pincher Creek. it may have meant that swirling flood waters caused pot holes to be worn in the creek bottom). Nine-Mile Butte, near modern Warner, is shown along the Waterton River, named with the lakes after the Whoop-up Trail, or The Trail to Fort Benton as it was then better known, as a landmark about nine miles A Blackfoot name that has been much in the news rec­ north of the crossing of the Milk River, at the ently is Pyami (or Long) Coulee. Fording Coal opened east end of the Milk River Ridge. Lumpy Butte, an adit in Pyami Coulee, which is located near Shaugh­ still a well-known landmark, was located at the nessy. west end of the Ridge. Fifteen-Mile Butte was another landmark along the Whoop-up Trail, about Closer to home. Coyote Bluff is shown on an 1896 map 15 miles from Fort Whoop-up. Today it is known prepared by Donald Stafford. It was located just north as Temple Hill and is located on the outskirts of of the west end of the CP Rail High Level Bridge on the Raymond. The name was changed early in the century bank of the river valley. In the early 1880s, a small when the Town of Raymond expected that a Mormon sandstone quarry was started there. One of the first Temple, then being proposed for Canada, would be pieces of sandstone taken from the quarry was carved by built at Raymond. It was built at Cardston instead. his grieving uncle, David Gibb, into a headstone for the A small hill north of Lethbridge called The Picture grave of Henry Stafford. The headstone, dated August 4, Butte or Ists-sa-natskimikway, The Beautiful Hill 1883, can still be seen in Indian Battle Park. That Can Be Seen From Afar, is shown on the 1885 maps. It was used for look-out purposes by Indians Slaughter House Bottom in 1896 was located on the west in the vicinity. Some years ago a feedlot was loc­ side (actually on the north side because at the time the ated there and The Picture Butte was bulldozed into river ran from west to east just north of the present oblivion to level the area for cattle. High Level Bridge) of the Oldman River, northeasterly from the present Miners' Cairn. Now in the Nature Res­ The original location of Fort Whoop-up, formerly erve, Slaughter House Bottom was destroyed by erosion as Fort Hamilton, is well known. The Outline of the the river gradually worked its way westward. Slaughter former square, remains of fireplaces, and a well, House Slough of a little later date (ca. 1900) is now can still be seen. (It is on private property and known as Henderson Lake, named for William Henderson, permission should be obtained to visit the site). hotelier/businessman and mayor of Lethbridge from 1908- The location of Fort Kipp is not as well known. 1909. Early in this century, the coulee that leads down According to the old maps. Fort Kipp was located in to the Country Club past the north side of Mountain View the triangle formed by the meeting of the Belly and Cemetery was known as Slaughterhouse Coulee. The rea­ Oldman Rivers. The fort was west of the Belly and son was that Miron & Pirie, local butchers, had a slaugh­ south of the Oldman and is marked "Fort Kipp (ruins)" terhouse at the bottom of the coulee near the river. In on an 1883 map of the region. Three miles above Fort the other instances, obviously, a local butcher had erec­ Kipp, near the present Monarch highway bridge, there ted a slaughterhouse at the locations mentioned and was a place called by the Blackfoot Eh-issa-kaghko butchered a beef or two as demand warranted. or Left-hand Cutback. Slideout, Eh-pit-seht-zoaskoi or Point of Timber Running Out, was another whiskey Duff Lake was located in that part of Lethbridge now trading post of the 1869-74 period. It is shown on bounded by about 6th and llth Streets and 7th and lOth one map on the west side of the Belly River north of Avenues South. It commemorated the Duff family, who Standoff. On another map it is shown in the same came here in 1885. It was part of a drainage system general area but on the east side of the river. that included McLean Lake (after 1911 it was known as Jail Lake or Gaol Lake), Henderson Lake, and Duff Lake, The 1885 narrow gauge railway, which was built by the then an outlet to the river. As a boy, Andrew J. (Andy) newly-organized Alberta Railway & Coal Company of Sir Staysko swam in Duff Lake and particularly remembers the Alexander and Elliott Gait, joined the main line of aquatic weeds and leeches that infested the place. Also, the CPR at Gait Junction, just west of Dunmore. A he often watched local sportsmen shoot ducks and geese siding along the new line was Woodpecker Station there. Later, the outlet from Duff Lake was deepened, (now Barnwell), named for a bend or elbow in the the lake was drained and became Duff Addition, and was Oldman River called by the Blackfoot Akka-kima-tos- built on in about 1910-1920. kway or Many Woodpeckers. Gait Island was an island in the South Saskatchewan River about five miles Local names, long since forgotten, include Brickyard above Medicine Hat. Coulee. It was the coulee immediately south of the pres­ ent Fifth Avenue North truck by-pass. In the early days The 1901 CPR Timetable, Lethbridge Section, listed of the century, the Macleod Road ran down this coulee to stations on the Medicine Hat-Lethbridge run as foll­ the bridge that spanned the Oldman River a couple of ows: Medicine Hat, Dunmore Junction, Bull's Head, hundred yards north of the present No. 3 Highway traffic Water Tank, Seven Persons, Whitla, Winnifred, Hender­ bridge. Later it was a city landfill site. The Leth­ son, Bow Island, Burdett, Grassy Lake, Purple Springs, bridge Brick and Terra Cotta Company had a steam-powered Wetmore (now Fincastle), Seventy-seven (Water Tank 77, brick plant at the top of the coulee, while Bruce's now Taber), Woodpecker (now Barnwell), Chin, Coaldale, Brickyard, a horse-powered plant, was located about half- Montana Junction (now in the City of Lethbridge) and , viay- down the coulee. The Coutts' Street Bridge, later Lethbridge. Stations on the Lethbridge-Macleod line, Sage's Bridge (after Robert Sage, a town official) were which was built in 1897-98, were: Lethbridge, Leth- ' early names of the present Ninth Street Overpass. When bridge Junction (now in the City of Lethbridge), Henderson Lake and Park were being developed in about Dranoel (now the location of the Campbell Clinic), 1910-11, an early proposal was to call the complex Alta­ Whoopup (now location of George Luco's farmstead, bridge Lake and Park. west of the airport), St. Mary's, Kipp, Belly River, Pearce, Macleod. According to Andrew J. Staysko, Nowadays, real estate developers use names such as Tudor who fired for the AR&I Co. on the 1897-98 line in the Estates, Stafford Village, or University Heights, to period 1907-10, there was a siding called 'Cumtox' designate the areas they wish to subdivide. Early in the or 'Kumtox' at the top of the grade on the Blood Res­ century, the word they used was 'Addition'. Thus we had erve side of the St. Mary River. It would have been the Pierce Addition (1891), the Hammerburg Addition (1901) located between St. Mary's and Kipp. the Perry Addition (1907), the Vair Addition (1911), and the Wallwork Addition (ca. 1913). All were in North taken to the junction to the mine, turned around, then Lethbridge, better known at the time as the Village unloaded at Coalhurst. It is said that Mrs. Hovan, of Stafford, Staffordville, or the North Ward. In the Stationmaster's wife, sick in bed at the time, South Lethbridge, there were several additions in­ simply stayed where she was and had the dubious honour cluding the Duff Addition (ca. 1910), the Alexander of being a passenger in a CPR Station from Kipp to Addition (ca. 1913), and the Barnsley and Gibbons Coalhurst. Addition (ca. 1913). By 1915, the word 'subdivision' had become popular and there were Dominion Square Four-Mile Crossing was a crossing over the Coutts rail­ and Fairmont Subdivisions in North Lethbridge, and way line about four miles from the Lethbridge yards. Arico Park, Sunnyside, and Parkview Subdivisions This would be about where the modern No. 4 Highway in South Lethbridge. crosses the CP Rail line south of Lethbridge. Black­ smith's Crossing was about three miles south of Four- North Lethbridge was often referred to in the early Mile Crossing. It got its name in the early days be­ days, as the North Ward. The cluster of miners' cause a blacksmith who specialized in shoeing horses homes that sprang up in the area northward from set up shop there. Eighteen-Mile Lake was the modern 9th Avenue, and eastward from Westminster Road (13th Stirling Lake. The name 'Sheldon's Brewery' is mention­ Street North) was known as the Village of Stafford, ed in the 1900-01 Town Council minutes, the only time or Staffordville. A grouping of 19 or 20 homes it has been encountered. There is no indication to extending along 13th Street northward from 9th Ave­ what it referred, the only familiar breweries' names nue was referred to as Little Wigan, because the being Noel's Brewery, set up to manufacture hop (four residents had emigrated from Wigan, Lancashire, percent) beer in the riverbottom about 1886. (It England. Staffordville was annexed by the city of burned to the ground in 1893). The other familiar Lethbridge in 1913. When Gait mine No. 6 opened brewery was the one erected by Emil Sick in 1901 and in 1906, the village that sprang up nearby was call­ called the Lethbridge Brewing and Malting Company Lim­ ed Hardieville, after W.D.L. Hardie, a mine official ited. It became a large concern, with breweries in and long-time mayor of the City of Lethbridge. All Edmonton, Spokane and elsewhere and was eventually these communities are now part of Lethbridge. sold to Molson Breweries Limited, the present owners.

The first Lethbridge Post Office was opened 1 Oct­ The area now occupied by West Lethbridge was known in ober 1885. Although reference to changing the name the early days as The Bend, from the big bend in the from Coalhurst to Lethbridge is found in John D. Oldman River that nearly encircles the place. During Higinbotham's WHEN THE WEST WAS YOUNG, after a the hard winter of 1906-07, starving cattle drifted most extensive search, no proof has yet come to with the unceasing northern blizzards and were trapped light that the post office was ever called anything and died in The Bend. (Dying cattle were common on other than Lethbridge from the day it opened. In the streets of Lethbridge that winter as well). August 1910, a shaft was sunk about six miles west of Lethbridge. The resulting coal mine, called the Most of the fertile river flats were named in the Imperial Mine, began producing coal in August 1911. early days, usually after the person who owned the A post office was opened there on 1 September 1912, land. Thus, we had Captain Jack's Bottom (southeast­ with J.J. Beaton as postmaster, and was named Coal­ erly from the Animal Diseases Research Station), hurst by the Board of Trade. The name was chosen, Stafford's Bottom (where Valley Feeders is now loc­ according to the 1926 recollections of J.I. McDer- ated), and northwards, Alexander's Bottom, Dupen's mott, because of the coal mine around which the Bottom, and Barnes' Bottom. There were others but town was built. The 'hurst' was added to 'Coal' little is known of the people concerned. It seems simply to round out the name and was not made part likely that many of these small prairie patches, of the name in commemoration of any thing, act, or some of which supported cottonwood trees and Sask­ person. The community was originally named 'Bridgend' atoon and chokecherry bushes, bore Indian names according to Mr. McDermott, because it was not far long ago. from the west end of the relatively new CP. Rail High Level Bridge. This name the Postal Service We tend to forget that-our region has been the home of refused to authorize, hence Coalhurst was chosen. varying numbers of people for at least 10,000 years. In about 1911, the CPR built a railway spur to the In that time, 500 generations or more have roamed these Imperial Mine and called it 'The Colliery Spur'. prairies. They named all the physical features, not This was shortened to 'Colliery' and this name once but several times as group displaced group through­ appeared on the early maps. In those days, the out history. They named all the plants and animals. nearest railway station was at Kipp and for years They knew the geography of the region for 1,000 miles the people of Coalhurst walked the two miles to Kipp in every direction. They guided the early explorers, to catch the train. In 1925-26, the Tar^im S^b-> housed and fed them, and put them on the correct trail division Spur was moved from Kipp to a.point'far- » to.wherever they wanted to go. European settlers, in ther east (to Coalhurst) and the junction was the last 100 years, have ignored and lost many of the briefly called 'Partridge'. In Octobef- 1927,. the •_ Blaikfoot names of places and things. They are the name Partridge disappeared and Coalhurst took- its , poorer for it. But it is ironic that the Blackfoot did place on CPR timetables. The reason was that the' exactly the same thing to the Shoshoni (Snake Indian) Station from Kipp was moved to Coalhurst between culture, which they displaced some 250 years ago. October 1927 and May 1928. At that time, Kipp lost all its rail facilities including a passing siding, a telephone and telegraph office, and the station. ****** The station had to be turned around as it was on the south side of the track at Kipp but was to be placed on the north side of the track at Coalhurst. The West Lethbridge History book is in the hands of A temporary spur was built at Kipp and a flatcar the printer (Friesen Printers, Altona, Manitoba) and backed under the jacked-up station. Then it was should be available for fall 1982 sales. Huntsville School Reunion Held During the early years some senior pupils received by Marie Sorgard minimal education as they were only able to attend classes during the winter months. The improvement of Nostalgia reigned supreme when approximately 675 agricultural techniques decreased the necessity of people came to Iron Springs from points across Can­ keeping children at home to help with the work, thus ada, the United States, the Yukon and the West Ind­ affording them a better education. Consequently, ies to attend the 75th anniversary reunion at the many students were able to graduate from the Hunts­ Huntsville School on Heritage Day weekend. ville School with a grade 12 education. Today grad­ uates of this school can be found in many walks of Registration got under way on Friday evening and life. then the reminiscing began. "There's Margaret Hallworth; she taught me in 1924". "How many Three of the original pupils attended the reunion. pupils were in that first class, Gladys?" "Thirty- Ruth (Hunt) Foster, 90 years of age, and a resident three. I can still name them all. And do you know, of the Piyami Lodge in Picture Butte, Gladys (Nolan) there are still nine of us around. I wish Kathreen Noble, 87 years of age, who lives in Lethbridgej and Gibson had been able to come. She lives at Palmer, Ruth (Noble) Christiansen, who is 83 years of age and Alaska". "Do you remember teaching me, Mrs. Cox?" came from Brooks for the occasion, reminisced enthus­ "I wonder where Ken and Elsie Bride are. I haven't iastically about their school days as they visited seen them yet". "The Dickouts are all here - Elmer, and renewed acquaintances. Audrey, Clarence, and Stuart. Elmer still lives in Edmonton, Audrey is at Terrace. Clarence has re­ Several teachers were in attendance, among them Mar­ tired. His wife Janet is the assistant town admin­ garet (Hallworth) Zummult of Salinas, California; istrator in Picture Butte. Stuart and his wife Clara (Hunt) Thompson of Lethbridge; Jean (Benedict) Anne still operate the store at Enchant". "Both Payne of Calgary; Edna Cox of Creston, B.C.; Mary Nieboer families are here". "There are the Arthur (Oliver) Somers of Lethbridge; and Jack Lowery of sisters - Jean, Marlene, Shirley, Margaret Fay and Picture Butte. Also attending were a number of teach­ Gail. Their uncle. Bob Arthur, is here, too. He ers who had been members of the Huntsville teaching must be about 87 by now". "Did you realize that staff in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. there are four generations of Nolans here - Gladys, her daughter Velva, her son Harry, and his little Photographers were kept busy with student pictures, girl Shannon. She is in grade two this year". family groups and a few others. Jack Lowery had his And so it went as acquaintances were renewed. picture taken with his teacher, Leo Smith. Ken Bride had his picture taken with his teacher, Velva (Noble) Huntsville School District No. 1574 was established Haney. on 10 November 1906, and the school opened in Sept­ ember 1907. It served as the focal point of the There were a f^w merrymakers, too. Ice seemed to be community for many years. Political meetings were in constant demand in some trailers, presumably as a held in the school. The Epworth League met there. cooling agent. Meanwhile in the school, the three On Sundays it became a house of worship with min­ volumes of school history received constant attention isters and visiting evangelists conducting ser­ as did the photos which adorned the walls. vices. In 1926, the school was moved to a site ad­ jacent to the townsite of Iron Springs. The name A delicious Kentucky fried chicken supper was enjoyed Huntsville, in honor of the family after whom the on Saturday evening. On Sunday over 350 people were school had originally been named, was retained. on hand for a pot luck dinner that was fit for a king. As the afternoon wore on fond farewells were said and Many changes have evolved over the years. The in­ people went on their way, but not before pausing to flux of immigrants and the centralization of schools admire the new Huntsville School nameplate that had necessitated a number of building programs, the last been placed on the school by the Huntsville School Her­ being in 1959, at which time a new section and a itage Society to commemorate the occasion. spacious auditorium were added.

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