Tidbits of Alberta

[Red Bullets]

I am starting this thread with the intent of regularly adding little historical and interesting forgotten tidbits about Alberta. I hope the thread entertains and also hope it intrigues others to share and learn more about Alberta's interesting history.

If anyone would like to add a tidbit or two please share them with us. I am sure there are many interesting footnotes of our past waiting to be revealed.

Hope you enjoy.......

[Red Bullets]

I'll start with some tidbits on hunting in Alberta 102 years ago.


Alberta 1914 game laws-
1 deer, 1 moose, 1 caribou, 2 sheep, 2 goats per season per hunter.
10 grouse,partridge,ptarmigan, prairie chickens per day. 100 per season.
5 hungarian partridge per day, 25 per season.

A hunting licence was 2.50 and was only required for the southern half of the province. You didn't need a licence in northern Alberta.
(*North of the 54 latitude was northern Alberta. 54 is north of hwy 16 a few miles and sort of runs parallel to hwy.16.)

A resident could also buy a 10 dollar game dealers licence to be able to sell the meat of big game and birds.

A 5 dollar licence was required if you planned to sell your elk, moose, caribou or sheep heads and they had to be stamped by the minister of agriculture. Deer, goats and antelope were 2 dollars.

[Red Bullets]

From 1906 to 1913

There was no open season on buffalo, or the females of elk, moose, deer, antelope, sheep or the young of all big game.

[Red Bullets]

The first guiding licences in Alberta were issued in 1924.

[Red Bullets]

Pigeon lake.

1914 - the law was that anyone net fishing at pigeon lake had to live within 2 miles of the lake.

1939 a new strain of whitefish was stocked in the lake that grew to bigger sizes. To 4 lbs. Prior to that the whitefish were smaller to 2 lbs.

-As late as 1948 oldtimers still got their water from the lake to drink. They claimed it made the best coffee.

In the early 1890's one pigeon lake resident oldtimer recalled he could go out hunting from his front step and in three hours come home with a moose or bear.

[Red Bullets]

1913- game wardens were given the authority to search without warrants under certain circumstances.

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

The first guiding licences in Alberta were issued in 1924.

As was, I imagine, the first angry complaint of guides getting too large an allotment of licenses.

Interesting stuff. Keep it up.

[Albertadiver]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

The first guiding licences in Alberta were issued in 1924.

And it was issued to RedFrog

Great thread!

[Red Bullets]

Keg... it amazes me how many paddle wheelers there were around in the early years. There were 4 or 5 running the Saskatchewan river system. A few running the Athabasca/Clearwater/Slave system. They were on some lakes too. Would have been an interesting way to travel and get to the line.

[Bbkkcc]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I'll start with some tidbits on hunting in Alberta 102 years ago.


Alberta 1914 game laws-
1 deer, 1 moose, 1 caribou, 2 sheep, 2 goats per season per hunter.
10 grouse,partridge,ptarmigan, prairie chickens per day. 100 per season.
5 hungarian partridge per day, 25 per season.

A hunting licence was 2.50 and was only required for the southern half of the province. You didn't need a licence in northern Alberta.
(*North of the 54 latitude was northern Alberta. 54 is north of hwy 16 a few miles and sort of runs parallel to hwy.16.)

A resident could also buy a 10 dollar game dealers licence to be able to sell the meat of big game and birds.

A 5 dollar licence was required if you planned to sell your elk, moose, caribou or sheep heads and they had to be stamped by the minister of agriculture. Deer, goats and antelope were 2 dollars.

this is insane.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Bbkkcc

this is insane.

Some would say, nothing much has changed.

Seasons and bag limits were incredibly generous by todays standards but that has to be looked at in context of what the province was like in the past.

I was born in 1954. The population of the northern half of the province was only a few thousand people back then. In fact there are way more people living in Grande Prairie now then lived in the whole northern half of the province in 1933 when dad came to Alberta.

And there was a lot more game. I remember dad telling about seeing herds of Deer along the Peace River valley that reminded him of herds of cattle he had seen in southern Alberta on his way north. Dad grew up in Nova Scotia and his dad was a deep sea fisherman so herds of cattle were something new to dad.

When I started hunting a Moose tag allowed the hunter to take a bull or a cow and the season ran from September first to January first.
The homestead act allowed dad to take one Moose without a license and the wildlife act allowed him a second Moose with a hunting license.

When Dad arrived in the north, much of the forest was gone, burnt by forest fires. By the time I was born, 21 years later, most of the forests had regrown some but much of it was not much more then big saplings.

The only Elk in the province back then were in the foothills and mountains and the Deer were few and far between, the result of massive Wolf populations that had since been wiped out by the rabies plague of the 1950s.

It was boom then bust, both for people and for wildlife.

The world we live in now is far removed from the way it was before we humans began managing every aspect of the world around us.

And we have learned little from the mistakes of the past. Our bag limits in some cases are beyond what a population can sustain and others fall far short of controlling some populations.

Wolves are still increasing in populations at an alarming rate, as are Beaver and Snow Geese. Meanwhile Moose and Duck populations remain well below historic levels.

One can not imagine what that distant past looked like unless one live through at least part of it. Fields of stooked wheat with clouds of Ducks swirling over head. Seeing 27 Moose at one time from one location.
One road into the north, and it gravel, mud and dust, or snow so deep only dog sleds could make it through.

No snow plows, no fire fighters battling forest fires, major business centers the size of today's villages. Cities with no pavement and no electricity in some cases. Transport trucks hauling freight to the far north that today would be city delivery trucks.

The one thing I see that hasn't change a lot are rifles. Sure there are a way more cartridges to choose from, but to a large degree the form and function has not changed much.

[chad66]

In 1903 the first steam-powered vessel to serve Fort Vermilion was the St. Charles built to navigate the 526 miles (847 km) the upper reaches of the Peace River, from Hudson's Hope to Fort Vermilion.

[KegRiver]

I know of two historic building that are not being preserved.

About five miles east of Wetaskiwin, on the steep banks of a small river valley there is a large building that appears to have had a very special purpose.
What that was I can only guess as I could find no information on this building.

A friend and I found it while hunting. The building was large and old, perhaps 40 feet by 60 feet. It was terraced to match the valley slope with three floors one above the other. The floors were covered with overlapping tiles about half the size of sidewalk blocks and each had an oblong hole in the center.

My friend and I thought it might have been some sort of water treatment plant but no one we talked to had any idea it existed much less what it was used for.



At old Carcajou, there is a log building, two stories tall, on the edge of a field. The building has small square openings cut into the walls at intervals of a few feet apart. The openings are around a foot square.

I was told that they are gun ports and that the building was a trading fort.

I know nothing more about the building but I do know that another building next to the river, also build of logs, was used as a trading post for a lot of years. It is the first store I was ever in.

The building with the gun ports is much older then the store/trading post.
BTW that store is said to have been a Revillon Frères trading post back in the early 1900s.

It was closed for good about 1970 and today it is abandoned and beyond repair.

The fort with gun ports was in fair condition in 1994 when I saw it. It had been abandoned for more then forty years at that point according to my sources.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by chad66

In 1903 the first steam-powered vessel to serve Fort Vermilion was the St. Charles built to navigate the 526 miles (847 km) the upper reaches of the Peace River, from Hudson's Hope to Fort Vermilion.

List of steam-powered sternwheelers and other vessels
worked on the Peace River above Vermilion Chutes

ATHABASCA RIVER #130277 wood[en hulled]
sternwheel [propelled, built in] 1912 [in] Athabasca
Landing, Alta. by and for Hudson’s Bay Company.
[Length of hull in feet exclusive of sternwheel]
136.0 x [breadth of hull in feet] 28.0 x [depth of
hull in feet] 3.6. 341.21 Gr[oss tonnage]. 230.29. Reg[istered tonnage] Engines: [built in] 1901 [by] Albion Iron Works two hor. h.p. cyl. [horizontal
high pressure cylinders each] 12” [diameter by] x 48” [length] 9.6 NHP [Nominal Horsepower] from Skeena River sternwheeler Hazelton #107834.
Winched up Vermilion Rapids 19 14—15 and worked on Peace River run up to Hudson’s Hope until 1919. She was then beached at Peace River
Crossing and used as a warehouse.

BUFFALO LAKE #156567 (motor vessel) wood twin-screw 1930 Peace River Alta. by George Askew for Hudson’s Bay Company.
91.0 x 19.5 x 4.55.176.67 Gr. 157.55. Reg.Engines: l93O Vivian
Gas Engine Works,Vancouver. 4.5 N.H.P Converted from passenger & freight vessel to tug, 1938.
Register closed 1950.

D.A. THOMAS #138429 wood sternwheel 1916
Peace River,Alta. by George Askew for Peace River
Development Co. Ltd.
161.9 x 37.0 x 6.3 1.11445 Gr. 798.10
Reg. Engines: 1915 Polson two hor. h.p. cyl. 18”x 84” 21.6 NHP 1921 sold to Alberta & Arctic Transportation Co. Ltd. Acquired 1924
by HBC. Foundered 1927 but raised. 1930 hauled
successfully over Vermilion Rapids, but stranded
and abandoned at the approach to Fort Fitzgerald.

GRENFELL # ? wood sternwheel 1912 West Peace
River by George Magar for Peace River Trading
& Land Co. 139 Gr. 81 Reg. Engines: 2.7 NHP
Destroyed by fire September 1914 15 miles above
Fort St.John.

HUDSON’S HOPE #138024 (ex Northland Call)
wood sternwheel 1915 West Peace River,Alta.
Acquired 1919—20 by the Peace River Development
Co. from the Peace River Navigation Co.,
substantially rebuilt, reengined and renamed Hudsons
Hope. Original dimensions: 99.5 x 18.0 x 4.0. 192
Gr. 111 Reg. Engines: 3.5 NHP Not successful;
abandoned after 1920 season; broken up 1924.

LADYMACWORTH #138621 (motor vessel) wood
twin-screw 1916 Peace River Alta. by George F
Askew for Peace River Development Corp. 56.9
x 11.0 x 3.7.21.05. Gr. 14/31 Reg. Engines:Auto
Engine Works, St. Paul, Minn. 7.34 N.H.P Sold
Mar 21, 1921 to Alberta & Arctic Transportation
Co. Ltd. of Edmonton. Dismantled and broken up,
August, 1930.

NORTHLAND CALL #138024 wood sternwheel
1915 West Peace River for Peace River Navigation Co.99.5 x 18.0 x 4. 192.04 Gr. 111 Reg.Engines: 3 NHP Engines, boiler and fittings from retired Athabaska River steamer Northland Call
#134312, Sold 1919—1920 to Peace River Devel
opment Corporation, who substantially rebuilt and
reengined her and renamed her Hudson S Hope.

PEACE RIVER #121777 wood sternwheel 1905 Fort
Vermilion, Alta. by Alex Watson,Jr. for HBC
110.0 x 24.0 x 4.5. 282.02 Gr. 183.98 Reg. Engines: 1905 Marine Engine Works, Chicago two hor. h.p. cyl 10” x 48” 6.7 NHP Abandoned 1916
at Fort Vermilion.

PEACE RIVER BOY #134604 (motor vessel) wood screw 1915 Prudence Crossing, Alta. by and for Clifford Smith.
68.6 x 14.0 x 2.5. 16.49 Gr. 11.21
Reg. Engines: 1913 Brook Motor Works, Lowes toft, U.K. 6.6 N.H.P
Wrecked, 1917.

PINE PASS #134606 (motor vessel, ex Beaver) wood screw tug, 1915 Prudence Crossing by James Cooley for the Smoky & Peace River Boat Company Ltd.
74.0 x 15.1 x 2.5.42.20 Gr. 29.70 Reg.
Engines: one 4-cycle gas engine, 1914 Sterling Engines Works, Buffalo, N.Y. 6.05 N.H.P Certificate issued in 1918.
Destroyed by fire, Peace River,Alta., 1920.


ST CHARLES # ______wood sternwheel
1903 Dunvegan for Bishop Emile Grouard,Vicar Apostolic of Athabasca.
67 x 12 x —. 28.79 Gr. 19.5
Reg. Sold 1911 to Ford & Lawrence. Peace River
Record, Apr 29, 1915: “Grounded on a bar in the river during freeze-up, was thrown high and dry on the bank when the ice went out and is undam
aged.” Dismantled 1916-17.

WATSON LAKE #175563 (motor vessel) steel(?)
screw 1946 Edmonton 55 x 12 x 2.9 26. Gr. 21
Reg. Engines: 220 IHP

WEENUSK #138630 wood screw 1921 Vancouver
for Hudson’s Bay Company. 59.9 x 11.1 x 4.2.29
Gr. 18 Reg.

[Freddy]

History is un real. Back in the day. Up to 30 million buffalo roamed the prairies. Great plains went 200 miles in the the nwt. Ft mac 200 years ago was Prairie. Settlers going up to the peace country could not find fire wood in 1906 around Fox creek. Great plains grizzly. Thought to be extinct where around 3000 pds with some weighing up to 4500 pds.
Biggest buffalo cull in na happened west of water valley up grease creek water shed. All shot by americans. Over 10,000 shot in a week period.
Most of this taken from a book called the natural history of Alberta.

Imagine a great plains grizzly that huge ?

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Freddy

History is un real. Back in the day. Up to 30 million buffalo roamed the prairies. Great plains went 200 miles in the the nwt. Ft mac 200 years ago was Prairie. Settlers going up to the peace country could not find fire wood in 1906 around Fox creek. Great plains grizzly. Thought to be extinct where around 3000 pds with some weighing up to 4500 pds.
Biggest buffalo cull in na happened west of water valley up grease creek water shed. All shot by americans. Over 10,000 shot in a week period.
Most of this taken from a book called the natural history of Alberta.

Imagine a great plains grizzly that huge ?

Glad you mentioned this. was going to say that I read a fellows story recently and he walked from just north of lesser Slave lake to Peace River area 150 years ago. He mentioned there were no trees.

When the buffalo were here there were few trees south of the north saskatchewan. The buffalo and forest fires kept trees from growing.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Glad you mentioned this. was going to say that I read a fellows story recently and he walked from just north of lesser Slave lake to Peace River area 150 years ago. He mentioned there were no trees.

When the buffalo were here there were few trees south of the north saskatchewan. The buffalo and forest fires kept trees from growing.

Dad claimed that when he came to the Peace country, there were few places where he could not see for miles, over the trees, from the back of a horse.
He said most trees were less then ten feet tall and there were burnt stumps and logs everywhere.
I still find the odd burnt log or stump even now, but they are fewer each year and harder to see. Some are so overgrown one has to peel off moss to see that they were burnt, and not just deadfall.

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by Freddy

History is un real. Back in the day. Up to 30 million buffalo roamed the prairies. Great plains went 200 miles in the the nwt. Ft mac 200 years ago was Prairie. Settlers going up to the peace country could not find fire wood in 1906 around Fox creek. Great plains grizzly. Thought to be extinct where around 3000 pds with some weighing up to 4500 pds.
Biggest buffalo cull in na happened west of water valley up grease creek water shed. All shot by americans. Over 10,000 shot in a week period.
Most of this taken from a book called the natural history of Alberta.

Imagine a great plains grizzly that huge ?

We're these 5000 lb grizzly from before the ice age or something? Your not saying they were around 200 years ago are you?

[Freddy]

Its all in the book. Natural history of Alberta. Great plains grizzly up it 4500 pounds. Yes 200 years ago.
Some biologists believe a remnant of that sub species could still be around fix creek area.
You can read the journals of the lewis and clark expedition in early 1800,s and their expierances at great falls Montana

[srp71]

I grew up North of Onoway. My grandfather settled 2 quarters here in 1949.The Klondike Trail ran through both quarters. An original house ,that was a stopping point there, still stands, although not in the original spot. Sadly it to is just about done for. The wagon ruts were still visible and as a kid I remember the bones and horse skulls from horses that died along the way. There was 3 piles of rocks reported to be indian graves but I never had any confirmation. A few years ago they finally put signs up designating the Trail. Mother sold the North Quarter a few years ago and the new people now have a HUGE house going up right on the trail.My mom wrote an article in the Barrhead paper when they did a Klondike Trail Reride,about 1968,although I may be off on the year. The riders stopped over and spent the night there.
The original Sion School was also on this land and the school was moved off. The foundation is still there and a little log horse shed was still standing until recent years also.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by srp71

I grew up North of Onoway. My grandfather settled 2 quarters here in 1949.The Klondike Trail ran through both quarters. An original house ,that was a stopping point there, still stands, although not in the original spot. Sadly it to is just about done for. The wagon ruts were still visible and as a kid I remember the bones and horse skulls from horses that died along the way. There was 3 piles of rocks reported to be indian graves but I never had any confirmation. A few years ago they finally put signs up designating the Trail. Mother sold the North Quarter a few years ago and the new people now have a HUGE house going up right on the trail.My mom wrote an article in the Barrhead paper when they did a Klondike Trail Reride,about 1968,although I may be off on the year. The riders stopped over and spent the night there.
The original Sion School was also on this land and the school was moved off. The foundation is still there and a little log horse shed was still standing until recent years also.

Thanks for sharing.
You should take a metal detector and go around the school area. Kids were famous for losing coins and trinkets.

[Red Bullets]

Regarding the earlier mentions of large buffalo herds there was a sort of fun old tall tale from southern Alberta...

Back in the mid 1800's a man Jim Symonds was coming west with the NWMP and he told the story of how him and 50 other men were caught up in a stampeding buffalo herd for 5 days. The dust was choking and the ground rumbled like thunder 24/7. They had to fire their guns through out the day and at night to keep from getting trampled.Finally on the fifth day they were able to get out of the buffalo stampede by riding to the top a hill.
Jack in later years recalled..."It was a good thing we got to the top of that hill, because from there we could see the main herd was just coming!"

[Red Bullets]

The Rev.John MacDougall (in the 1860's) said that on a hill southeast of where Red Deer is now... FN would send smoke signals from there to the highest point in the Hand Hills. (The Hand Hills are east of Drumheller.)

And from there another signal smoke was made to relay messages to points beyond there. Places like the hills by Red Rock School, Bullhead Butte, the ridge south of Woolchester south of Medicine Hat and the hill at Bowell west of the Hat.
Most likely most of the prominent hills or buttes were sites for relaying smoke signal fires.

MacDougall said:
3 'puffs' of smoke meant danger was in the area.
2 'puffs' of smoke meant we are camped over here.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by srp71

I grew up North of Onoway. My grandfather settled 2 quarters here in 1949.The Klondike Trail ran through both quarters. An original house ,that was a stopping point there, still stands, although not in the original spot. Sadly it to is just about done for. The wagon ruts were still visible and as a kid I remember the bones and horse skulls from horses that died along the way. There was 3 piles of rocks reported to be indian graves but I never had any confirmation. A few years ago they finally put signs up designating the Trail. Mother sold the North Quarter a few years ago and the new people now have a HUGE house going up right on the trail.My mom wrote an article in the Barrhead paper when they did a Klondike Trail Reride,about 1968,although I may be off on the year. The riders stopped over and spent the night there.
The original Sion School was also on this land and the school was moved off. The foundation is still there and a little log horse shed was still standing until recent years also.

Very cool. You are lucky to have that piece of history.

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Its all in the book. Natural history of Alberta. Great plains grizzly up it 4500 pounds. Yes 200 years ago.
Some biologists believe a remnant of that sub species could still be around fix creek area.
You can read the journals of the lewis and clark expedition in early 1800,s and their expierances at great falls Montana

I beleive you read it. I don't beleive the people that wrote it. Exaggerated events are common from Lewis and Clarke.

[Bigwoodsman]

Thought this was an interesting Tidbit regarding Alberta's National Parks.

Two of Alberta's five national parks began as wildlife sanctuaries. Elk Island (east of Edmonton) and Wood Buffalo (44,802 km2 straddling the border with the Northwest Territories) were created to help the species whose names they bear, but in both cases the most spectacular success has been in preserving the bison of the Plains. A number of provincial parks and wilderness areas function as wildlife reserves, including Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park in the southeast, Sir Winston Churchill Park on Lac La Biche and Willmore Wilderness Park north of Jasper.

BW

[Dewey Cox]

This monument is just a bit south of coronation.
(If you've ever been on hwy 12 and wondered at the sign for the "historic cairn", this is it)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Red Bullets]

Thank you to everyone that is contributing. Everyone's tidbits are great. Thank you for keeping the thread on point and not corrupted. I look forward to future posts. Our history is so colorful and as society accelerates more history will become tidbits of the past.

[Red Bullets]

How many people know the train used to cross the river in Edmonton by way of the low level bridge? The train tracks came down the river valley through Mill creek. The train turned around on the flats on the north side of the river.

[Red Bullets]

Here's a real interesting tidbit....

Some of you will remember the movie Jeremiah Johnston. The movie depicted Johnston as a mountain man in the early 1800's that trapped and had to fight first nations and he became a legend in his own time. The tales tell of him being feared as a bad spirit and because he fought many hand to hand combats with FN and survived. Legend says he ate the livers of the losers of those fights and he got the name "Liver eating Johnston".

In reality he did not eat the livers of the losers. But he did engage in deadly combats with FN. Most people think of him as this mountain man in the early 1800's being around Montana trapping and hunting. They even made the movie about him but they didn't tell the whole story...

The reason I mention Liver Eating Johnston is he was in Alberta territory for a while too. He was here from 1868 to 1873.

Johnston and J.X. Beidler got together and peddled bootlegged whiskey to FNs around Fort Whoop Up until about 1873 just before the NWMP marched west in 1874. Whoop Up territory was part of the reason the law was coming west. Whoop up territory was a very dangerous place at the time.

Fort Whoop Up is near Lethbridge.

This image is the first known photograph of Johnston. Picture was taken when he was on scout during the 1876-1877 Sioux campaign in Montana Territory.
Johnston lived from to 1824-1900. Love his old buffalo gun...