Tidbits of Alberta

[Red Bullets]

Here's an odd tidbit from my personal past. I have mentioned it in a long ago post once before.

When I was about 5 my Dad and me went to my uncles. He had something to show us. Little did I know that what he showed me would be etched in my mind forever. Just thinking of the story this item told... it must have been a dreadful day when it happened.

My uncle showed us a number 6 newhouse bear trap. It had an old workboot in it and a legbone/shinbone sticking up through the traps huge toothed jaws. The workboot had moss growing on it and looked quite old. Because I have a photographic memory the image of it still give me the heebeegeebees. I can't imagine what the victim must have gone through.

My uncle and another fellow were moose hunting and had found the trap some where west of Edmonton along the Pembina river back in the late 50's or very early 60's. RCMP were told about it and at the time they thought the fellow in the trap was a man missing from a logging camp back in the 20's.

My uncle passed away 40 years ago and I think his partner kept the trap but I'm sure he is gone now too. I wonder what ever happened to the leg in the trap.

We should be very glad people had the insight to stop using newhouse traps or we would be tip-toeing around anytime we went for a hike in our backcountry.

[bb356]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Here's an odd tidbit from my personal past. I have mentioned it in a long ago post once before.

When I was about 5 my Dad and me went to my uncles. He had something to show us. Little did I know that what he showed me would be etched in my mind forever. Just thinking of the story this item told... it must have been a dreadful day when it happened.

My uncle showed us a number 6 newhouse bear trap. It had an old workboot in it and a legbone/shinbone sticking up through the traps huge toothed jaws. The workboot had moss growing on it and looked quite old. Because I have a photographic memory the image of it still give me the heebeegeebees. I can't imagine what the victim must have gone through.

My uncle and another fellow were moose hunting and had found the trap some where west of Edmonton along the Pembina river back in the late 50's or very early 60's. RCMP were told about it and at the time they thought the fellow in the trap was a man missing from a logging camp back in the 20's.

My uncle passed away 40 years ago and I think his partner kept the trap but I'm sure he is gone now too. I wonder what ever happened to the leg in the trap.

We should be very glad people had the insight to stop using newhouse traps or we would be tip-toeing around anytime we went for a hike in our backcountry.

Thank's !!!

[Red Bullets]

There used to be several ski hills and jumps around flat land Alberta. Downhill skiing and ski jumping was a big thing in prairie life during the beginning of the last century.

-Camrose had a big ski jump that is in the picture I have put with this post. The picture was taken in 1912 during a tournament.

The Camrose Ski Hill was one of the first ski jumps in Canada. The jump that was in the Stony Creek valley since 1911 drew huge crowds of spectators and has produced several olympic champions over the years.
*Unfortunately, the more modern ski jump at Camrose is slated to be demolished. City council very recently decided the jump is not necessary to preserving the valley heritage. The article is from this summer if you want to read it.
http://www.camrosecanadian.com/2016/...-ski-jump-down

I know there were a few ski hills and jumps in central Alberta that are no longer. Just to name a few...

-Edmonton,had a ski jump on Connors Hill. It was taken out in 1978.
- Leduc ski hill east of Leduc in the coulee by Rollyview. Closed in the 50's or 60's.
-Thorsby had a ski hill on the North Saskatchewan river north of Thorsby. It closed in the 1960's.
-Devon had a big ski jump in the river valley. It was where the Lions park is. I think it closed in the 60's too.
-Lake Eden by Stony Plain had a ski hill. It was closed in the 1990's and vandals burnt the old chalet in 2012.
-Athabasca had a ski jump at one time too. Can only find mention of it so far.
- By Dead mans Flats at Canmore , Pigeon mountain used to have ski runs. It closed in 1968. You can still see the runs in the trees along Highway 1.


If anyone can remember or knows more about any of the old ski hills and jumps that are now closed around the province feel free to mention them. I'm sure there were many more.

[Jack Hardin]

When the White Man first arrived in western Canada (HBC and the NWC), the Blackfoot Confederacy boundary included that area north to the North Saskatchewan River, south to the Yellowstone River, east to approx the AB/SK border and west to the eastern slopes of the Rockies.

The Blackfoot had no interest in trading with the white man but, the northern Cree did. Anthony Henday's task was to persuade the Blackfoot into trading with fur companies but they still had no interest. As a result, the Cree trading with the fur companies ended up acquiring trade guns and the modern tools of the era. The Blackfoot remained in the stone age.

As a result, the Cree, better armed that the Blackfoot forced the northern boundary of the Blackfoot from the North Saskatchewan River south to the Red Deer River and that was were the boundary was when the NWMP arrived into what is now Alberta.

When settlement started in the Innisfail area around 1890, there were Sarcee residing in that area on the south side of the Red Deer River. My wife has a stone hammer that she found as a kid at a known FN camping area on the Red Deer River.

[bb356]

Spruce Grove 1965

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Very interesting. And it is part of our history.

I grew up in a class one zone and now live in a class three zone.

Bon Accord celebrates becoming Canada's first 'Dark Sky' community

Bon Accord has become the first town in Canada to be designated a Dark Sky community by the International Dark Sky Association.

■ ENCORE: Why 80 per cent of North Americans can't see the Milky Way

There are few places better than Alberta to look up into the night sky and see the majesty that is the universe.

Bon Accord, a town in Central Alberta of about 1,500, has taken this to heart with their successful bid to become Canada's first official Dark Sky community.

Bon Accord, 40 kilometres north of Edmonton, is just the eleventh town in the world to receive this distinction.

The International Dark Sky Association, located in Tucson, Arizona, established the Dark Sky Places conservation program in 2001 to combat light pollution. To achieve this starry designation a community must have stringent outdoor lighting standards and innovative programs.

In total, there are 47 areas designated a Dark Sky Place. This includes the aforementioned 11 communities, 26 parks, nine reserves and one sanctuary.

Randolph Boyd, Bon Accord's mayor, said his community joining this celestial-focused group marks a "new beginning" for the town.

'A full circle loop'

On Saturday, the town came together to launch Canada's first international Dark Sky zone. To celebrate, they brought in a man who knows the starry sky intimately well — Chris Hadfield.

"They work with all of their lighting so they truly get to appreciate the beauty of the sky and the northern lights," said Hadfield.

"So, they asked me, as someone who has been in the dark sky, to come and help celebrate."

Hadfield was the keynote speaker at the launch and gave a speech focusing on what it's like to traverse the milky way, the importance of space flights to Canada and conquering the fears. He decided to end with a little music.

'They asked me, as someone who has been in the dark sky, to come and help celebrate.'

The order of Canada recipient used to live in Alberta – in Cold Lake when he was a fighter pilot – and one of his children was born in his province. He said returning to his former home for a reason such as this was "lovely."

"I was inspired when I was living here by some things that other people were doing. Now to have a chance to maybe be a part of that role is a lovely thing. To me, it's just a full circle loop."

'A quite intensive process'

In order to receive the distinction and a visit from Canada's most well-known spaceman, Bon Accord put in a lot of work.

"It was a quite intensive process actually," said Vicki Zinyk, Bon Accord's chief administrative officer.

"The town underwent a structuring to reconnect with its identity and in doing so we connected with our residents and engaged them in an analysis that helped us determine what we wanted to be."

'With less light, it keeps you asleep longer with a deeper sleep. It's better for nocturnal animals who need the dark as well.'

The town took part in implementing a progressive and comprehensive outdoor lighting program which included developing a bylaw. The bylaw calls for shielded light fixtures and put limits on the amount of light. This includes giving residents eight years to change all their lights to down shielded lights and all commercial signs changing from white light to red light.

telescopes
Three telescopes are set up in Bon Accord as the town celebrates becoming Canada's first Dark Sky community. (CBC)

Zinyk said the bylaws also brings about health benefits for all of Bon Accords residents.

"With less light, it keeps you asleep longer with a deeper sleep. It's better for nocturnal animals who need the dark as well."

IDA Executive Director J. Scott Feierabend said that he hopes Bon Accord will aspire other Canadian municipalities to maybe dim the lights and gaze upwards to appreciate the beauty of the night sky.

"We are pleased to honour the efforts of Bon Accord in setting a laudable example for other cities in the Canadian West," he said.

"We hope other municipalities throughout Canada will follow the town's lead."

[bb356]

Ft Vermilion

[bb356]

http://southpeacearchives.org/2016/0...-shot-rycroft/

[bb356]

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[calgarychef]

Wow, how did I miss this thread? Just started reading it and I'll have to spend some quality time tonight reading the stories as there are some "gooders" here.

Along the same line but with a different twist, I took out my metal detector and found a 1883 American (Morgan) silver dollar here in Calgary. By the looks of it it wasn't dropped recently but probably within 20 years of being minted. In 1800 losing a dollar was equal to losing two or three days wages! I had different amount listed but I re-researched and realised I was overestimating.

Still a lot to lose, and a beautiful coin to find.

[Red Bullets]

I thought I would revive this thread add a few more tidbits. I hope I am not repeating any tidbits. Alberta's colorful past is so worth remembering.


This is an interesting tidbit from the past....

To the east of Lake Minnewanka and Devil's Gap at Deadman hills (chipi wachi, Ghost or Dead Hill) on the Ghost river a battle took place about 1840. It was a battle between two FN tribes. Not a lot of details were passed on but what is known is that there were many dead, and they were buried on top of the hills.

According to the legend, if you wander by the hilltops on a moonlit night you may see the ghost of a warrior gathering up the skulls of his slain comrades.

[Red Bullets]

1896

Northwest Territories, now Alberta, The hunting regulations.

Opened to hunting November 1 to January 31 for elk, moose, deer, antelope, mountain sheep or goat. Limit 6 head in any one season.

Opened to hunting September 15 to December 15 for grouse, partridge, pheasant or prairie chicken. Limit 20 birds is any one day.

Open to hunting:
August 24 to May 15 Any kind of wild duck.
August 2 to Dec 31 Plover, snipe, and sandpiper.
Nov 2 to March 31 Mink, fisher and martin.
Nov 2 to May 4 Muskrat.

Non-residents unless a guest of a resident of the Territories require a hunting licence: fee 5 dollars.

[Red Bullets]

The gold fields of Alberta always interested me. Here's a neat modern day tidbit. I was studying an online interactive map put out by the government and discovered something I thought was a mistake. I called the dept. that issued the map and enquired as to the accuracy of the map. They assured me the map and particular results of a drillhole test were 100% accurate. There are thousands of drill hole tests for minerals and area subsurface geology.

It intrigues me to this day... One particular test hole within 1.5 hours of Edmonton had an amazing amount of gold assayed. Tests reveal 87 grams of fine gold per ton. That is 2.8 ounces per ton of gravel/sand. About 150 shovelfuls in a sq. yard of gravel. A sq. yard of gravel is about a ton and a half.
Considering that a person can manually shovel 5 to 6 tons a day that is quite a paystreak. There is only one catch...the paystreak has 85 feet of overburden on it.

Anybody feel strong and adventurous? Probably only take a few weeks to dig and crib a shaft 85 feet deep. Then a guy could make a possible 10K to 15K a day.

Alberta has strict rules on equipment a guy can use. If a person paid thousands on permits for big equipment it would probably take a couple years before even starting if the gov't approved everything. So manual labour is about the only way to get there.

[Red Bullets]

In 1808 David Thompson's wife Charlotte Small and four or five kids spent the winter at a small post/fort on the North Saskatchewan river just a few miles upstream of Drayton valley. David himself went downstream to the east with canoes and was gone for a good part the winter.
The fort was called Boggy Hall and was about 6 miles downstream from where the Brazeau river enters the North Saskatchewan river. It is a beautiful benchland on the river.
In 1810 David thompson was at Boggy Hall again. In that year he cut a trail from Boggy Hall overland to the NW that went to Brule Lake. The interesting tidbit about this story is in 1810 David Thompson and his men built 2 buildings at Brule lake. A storage house and a meat shack. The location of those 2 buildings are not known. Would be an interesting to find. Possibility of some artifacts in the area.

[owlhoot]

A buddy was telling me that Bow Island and Grassy Lake have their names switched. He said the railroad was dropping off signs at townsites in the early 1900's and got these two mixed up, it makes sense as Grassy Lake has the Island in the Forks just to the north

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I thought I would revive this thread add a few more tidbits. I hope I am not repeating any tidbits. Alberta's colorful past is so worth remembering.

Red Bullets, I love this thread, and even if you do repeat yourself, it's still well worth the time to read the stories again and again!

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with all of us!

BW

[Don_Parsons]

Yes Red Bullets, good idea on the thread.

I'll do some digging to see what I can find on some past history in our area.

Don

[dicknormal]

The belly river in Southern Alberta used to be called the Mokowan River. The translation from Blackfoot to Stomach. There are several accounts as to why it was changed to Belly River the settlers didn't cotton to it being called Stomach river in their tongue. Another has to due with the geographic region.

[Salavee]

Originally Posted by mac1983

Here is some old Alberta history. Around 1990 diamond explorers found a kimberlite pipe, which is an extinct volcano at Mountain Lake, approx. 50 miles northeast of Grande Prairie. This extinct volcano is roughly 75 million years old.
There are also kimberlite pipes found in the Birch mountains and the Buffalo Head Hills.

That volcano could possibly explain the 7 ft deep band of volcanic ash that was discovered deep under the surface of one of one of my friends quarter sections ..just a few miles south of Grande Prairie. How it got there has always remained a mystery.

Neat thread RB !

[Salavee]

Originally Posted by 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.

I don't recall the train but I do remember riding a trolly across the top of the High Level Bridge. Quite a view !

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

There used to be several ski hills and jumps around flat land Alberta. Downhill skiing and ski jumping was a big thing in prairie life during the beginning of the last century.

-Camrose had a big ski jump that is in the picture I have put with this post. The picture was taken in 1912 during a tournament.

The Camrose Ski Hill was one of the first ski jumps in Canada. The jump that was in the Stony Creek valley since 1911 drew huge crowds of spectators and has produced several olympic champions over the years.
*Unfortunately, the more modern ski jump at Camrose is slated to be demolished. City council very recently decided the jump is not necessary to preserving the valley heritage. The article is from this summer if you want to read it.
http://www.camrosecanadian.com/2016/...-ski-jump-down

I know there were a few ski hills and jumps in central Alberta that are no longer. Just to name a few...

-Edmonton,had a ski jump on Connors Hill. It was taken out in 1978.
- Leduc ski hill east of Leduc in the coulee by Rollyview. Closed in the 50's or 60's.
-Thorsby had a ski hill on the North Saskatchewan river north of Thorsby. It closed in the 1960's.
-Devon had a big ski jump in the river valley. It was where the Lions park is. I think it closed in the 60's too.
-Lake Eden by Stony Plain had a ski hill. It was closed in the 1990's and vandals burnt the old chalet in 2012.
-Athabasca had a ski jump at one time too. Can only find mention of it so far.
- By Dead mans Flats at Canmore , Pigeon mountain used to have ski runs. It closed in 1968. You can still see the runs in the trees along Highway 1.


If anyone can remember or knows more about any of the old ski hills and jumps that are now closed around the province feel free to mention them. I'm sure there were many more.

Mount joy Lloydminster has a ski jump! Was big in mid 80's before Calgary

[Salavee]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

The older members will remember the times before the farmers were using combines to harvest their crops. Up until the mid 1950's quite of farmers were still using a piece of horse or tractor drawn equipment called a binder to cut their crops. Then they would stand up the bundles of grain in the fields, like shown in the picture. Then they would haul in the grain and run the bundles through the thrashing machine. The fields used to look so beautiful in fall time.

My best memory and the point of this post was to say that when the fields used to be in stooks the sharptail grouse would come in huge flocks to roost on the stooks and eat the grain. I remember seeing flocks of a couple hundred sharptail sitting on stooks. They were very wary grouse. You couldn't get too close or they would fly. I remember my Dad and I going out and shooting 20 (daily limit 10 each then) with his 22 from 100 yards away. In about 10 minutes.

I don't think a person can see those big flocks anymore. Maybe there are in some rural areas. Anyone remember the big flocks or maybe still seeing them?

I recall those times... Sharptails by the hundreds. The Ducks used to swarm the stooks as well, often landing right on them.

[Fish along]

Originally Posted by 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.

Holy! What a great thread, first time reading.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Salavee

I don't recall the train but I do remember riding a trolly across the top of the High Level Bridge. Quite a view !

You can still take that trolley across the top of the high level. Excellent view. The trolley usually stops half way across for a minute or two. I think the trolley is originally from 1936. You can get onboard between 103 street and 104 street and north of 83 avenue. Or on the north side of the river it parallels the west side of 109 street and stops along there.

[Imagehunter]

I'm only about a third through this but thanks for stating this thread and all the contributions. I missed it before and for someone that didn't grow up here it's really interesting and fascinating to read all these stories from all over the province. Lots of great ideas for some road trips this year.

[RandyBoBandy]

What happened to the story a few years back from a member I believe "dave" that heard/saw an airplane crash?? Radio involved?? I'd like to know what happened to that story??

[Red Bullets]

Relationships were so much easier back in the day.... The women that were in the west since the late 1700's were a commodity. The fur forts first passed a law that the company men could not marry in the 1770's but could not enforce such laws. Almost all the company men had at least one woman and many practiced polygamy. Some early HBC men had as many as 6 wives.

Alexander Henry the Younger sounds like he had fun in the early west... On December 31, 1800, Liard's daughter moved into Alexander Henry the Younger's quarters 'and the devil could not get her out.' She left after a month, and Henry then married the daughter of 'the Buffaloe'. In 1803, Alexander Henry the Younger noted that 'it is common in the North West to give a horse for a woman.' Once the bride price had been agreed upon, the pipe was smoked to seal the agreement. Some brides were bought for whiskey.

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by RandyBoBandy

What happened to the story a few years back from a member I believe "dave" that heard/saw an airplane crash?? Radio involved?? I'd like to know what happened to that story??

Yes from Caroline or sundre... somewhere down there.

[Red Bullets]

6 miles north of Wetaskiwin has an interesting footnote... In 1885 when the North West Rebellion was causing uncertainty Fort Ethier was built to protect the calgary/edmonton trail and the settlers. It was a small fortification with 3 gun ports in each wall. The blockhouse is still there and has been restored.

Members of the 65th Battalion Mount Royal Rifles under Captain Leander Joseph Ethier, were sent to Calgary to join the Alberta Field Force. Major General Thomas Bland Strange established three small forts, or blockhouses, along his route north to Edmonton: Fort Normandeau at Red Deer, Fort Ostell at Ponoka and Fort Ethier north of Wetaskiwin. Each of these forts has a museum related to it now.

[Red Bullets]

There used to be a time when a person could hunt in the national parks. In 1950 this caribou was shot in Jasper Park by a woman tourist. Impressive wall hanger. Over 50 points. Thought it was worth sharing the pic.