Tidbits of Alberta

[Red Bullets]

The buffalo in North America were saved by a few rescued buffalo calves in Montana. The man had saved the calves from a pack of wolves. He built up the herd and...

In 1909 fifteen railway cars of buffalo were brought to Camp Wainwright. 190 buffalo. 75 buffalo from the Banff were sent to Camp Wainwright before the Montana buffalo arrived.
In 1923 Wainwright Holywood movie makers filmed a buffalo stampede and hunt there. The buffalo had rebounded enough by 1923 that 26 buffalo were shot during the making of the movie.

The silent movie was called, "The Last Frontier" released in 1926.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last free range buffalo to be killed in Western Canada met his death in 1886.
He had been wounded twice during that year but escaped, to meet his fate on the range of a couple of ranchers near the south branch of the Saskatchewan.

[Red Bullets]

Speaking of buffalo...
In the early 1800's there were estimates of millions of buffalo in North America.
By the 1870's they were almost gone. Our prairies looked like bone yards until settlers painstakingly picked up and hauled all the bones to the railway sidings for shipment by train east to be made into fertilizer. If those bone pickers hadn't have de-boned our prairie it might have looked a bit different. The pics only show one of many bone piles by the railway tracks. The 1885 bone pile pic was taken near or in Saskatchewan. I noticed it had elk antlers sticking up too.


The prairies during the great buffalo extermination smelled of death was full of all the carrion eaters by the thousands...because the hide hunters only took the hides from the buffalo. Would have been quite the dreadful scene rather than the beautiful countryside we enjoy today. Carcasses and wolves and coyotes and ravens by the thousands.

[KegRiver]

Hard to imagine isn't it!

Millions. The trails and bones must have been everywhere!

I've seen glimpses of what it may have been like.
I remember glassing the hills around home and counting 22 Moose at one time seen from one location. I've seen ten Moose feeding within sight of our house at one time, watched Dad shoot more then one Moose while standing on our front step.

These days one is lucky to see one Moose per year within a six mile radius of that homestead.

As a kid I spent many a day fishing in the Peace River. I could catch all I could carry (back then) any day of the summer.
Now I can go days without catching one, fishing the same places in the same way.
It all went downhill when the pulp mill opened.

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Speaking of buffalo...
In the early 1800's there were estimates of millions of buffalo in North America.
By the 1870's they were almost gone. Our prairies looked like bone yards until settlers painstakingly picked up and hauled all the bones to the railway sidings for shipment by train east to be made into fertilizer. If those bone pickers hadn't have de-boned our prairie it might have looked a bit different. The pics only show one of many bone piles by the railway tracks. The 1885 bone pile pic was taken near or in Saskatchewan. I noticed it had elk antlers sticking up too.


The prairies during the great buffalo extermination smelled of death was full of all the carrion eaters by the thousands...because the hide hunters only took the hides from the buffalo. Would have been quite the dreadful scene rather than the beautiful countryside we enjoy today. Carcasses and wolves and coyotes and ravens by the thousands.

[Newview01]

It makes me wonder what effect a herd 1000s strong would have on the landscape, especially at a watering hole.

What I would give to see Alberta 500 years ago....

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[Red Bullets]

One piece of Old Alberta Yarn....
Alberta's first gardens produced amazing vegetables. One oldtimer said he sent his boy to the neighbors place to borrow a buck saw so he could cut down his cabbage.The neighbor couldn't borrow the man the bucksaw because it was stuck in a potato.

[srp71]

Thanx RB, Ive never thought of that!!!Good excuse for me to get a metal detector now!!

[wildbill]

Thanks for the history lesson, very interesting and, I appreciate it!

[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.

[Taco]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

Fantastic thread!

After reading one of the Blackfoot creation stories of Na'api
(Apologies if I misspelled) I set out to explore the base of Thunder Mountain.

The story tells that the creator 'the Old Man' transformed himself into a lodge pole pine and rooted himself along the steep banks of the river so he could use the river as his eyes to survey the entire domaine he created. The Gap area supposedly has significant importance to some native groups.
When you pass through The Gap, you can't help but feel that there's something about that area.....

After I scaled the scree slopes to get to the mountain base proper, I found several small cave like structures carved into the Rock.
Aparently these may still be old spirit quest places that the natives used.

Very neat to see.

I know of a hudson bay trade musket that was found leaning against the trunk of big doug fir in the same area. I've always wondered about that old musket's story.

[Newview01]

I'd love some info on the road construction in Alberta. I've never been able to find good pictures / stories. I mean construction from a single horse track to what is the crowsnest trail today.

[hockeynut]

Originally Posted by 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.

I wonder if that is what is now known as Radar Hill. Referring to the military Radar Base that was in operation until the early eighties as a part of NORAD.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by hockeynut

I wonder if that is what is now known as Radar Hill. Referring to the military Radar Base that was in operation until the early eighties as a part of NORAD.

Without having gone there if the hill is quite prominent it very well could be that hill. Makes sense.

[Red Bullets]

Alberta did have it's first high speed rail from 1936 to 1955 between Calgary and Edmonton. It could travel at 90 to 100 miles per hour but had 22 stops.
A one way trip still took 4 to 5 hours.

There were only 5 such trains made and none were preserved.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Newview01

I'd love some info on the road construction in Alberta. I've never been able to find good pictures / stories. I mean construction from a single horse track to what is the crowsnest trail today.

The Crowsnest trail and other Northwest Territory/Alberta trails & roads were surveyed between 1882 and 1885. The trail would have been shoveled, graded and ditched over the next decade or so because it wasn't until 1906 that Crowsnest saw it's first car.

If you go to the Glenbow website and do a search on road building there are several pictures of the horses & equipment and people that built the roads. The pics might not be Crowsnest exactly but would give you an idea of the task. The Glenbow has an excellent collection of old photos special to our province.

http://www.glenbow.org/index.cfm

You can also read all the old newspapers from around the area on this website. Just use the search features to explore. Might have write ups on the road building.

http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/newspapers/

[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.

[Red Bullets]

In 1969 CP dayliner passenger train service carried almost 80,000 passengers around Alberta that year. Service was stopped in 1985.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Newview01

I'd love some info on the road construction in Alberta. I've never been able to find good pictures / stories. I mean construction from a single horse track to what is the crowsnest trail today.

Can't help you there. I've heard and read a lot about the history of Highway 35, but none of the other roads in Alberta.

[Red Bullets]

A lot of roads were made by the settlers/farmers and their teams. Some roads in parts of Alberta were built by chain gangs too. I have read a few stories in the local history books. Local history books are probably the best resource because the people that contribute actual account stories often reveal who made what and when.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Newview01

I'd love some info on the road construction in Alberta. I've never been able to find good pictures / stories. I mean construction from a single horse track to what is the crowsnest trail today.

Just quickly looked and this will probably interest you. 'Crowsnest and it's People.' It is an online book and does have a transportation section. It mentions road building in the area. Some is early, some is later. Maybe it is something of interest.

http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=3559451

[Red Bullets]

I think most major Alberta highways weren't high graded and 'blacktopped' until the 1920's to 40's. I remember a few Highways that weren't paved until the 70's, close to Edmonton too.

This is an excerpt from the Alberta Culture website.

" By 1920, seven years after Henry Ford’s assembly line had made automobiles widely available, cars were no longer a novel sight on Alberta’s roads. Between 1921 and 1930, the number of cars in Alberta increased from 40,000 to 100,000, and the proportion of rural car owners doubled. As the number of drivers increased, so, too, did the accidents, collisions and deaths, causing the demands for improved and increased roads and highways to escalate."

http://history.alberta.ca/energyheri...nt/paving.aspx

This suggests that most highways didn't get paved until during the dirty thirties.

[Red Bullets]

A little more modern but still interesting...

Most rural Albertans couldn't imagine running a house or kids or their farm without electricity today. And most people wouldn't realize that as late as 1948 only 4% of rural Alberta had electricity. Some farmers had windmill or gasoline powered generators for power but most didn't have what they considered to be a 'frivolous luxury".

Alberta Rural Electrification was decided by gov't in 1948 and by 1961 87% of rural Alberta had electricity.