Tidbits of Alberta

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by JimPS

Western wear purveyor Riley & McCormick, one of Alberta’s oldest businesses established in 1901, is riding off into the sunset at the end of the month.

They have survived many cycles of Alberta boom and bust in their long history, but this time it's the end of the trail because few people are wearing cowboy duds anymore.

Hey, that reminds me of another store that no longer exists.

How many remember the T. Eaton's catalogue?

We did all of our Christmas shopping via that catalogue. There really wasn't any other option back then.

They abandoned the catalogue sales in 1976 and closed their doors for good in 1999.

They were a big part of the homesteading era. They supplied isolated families like ours with clothing, furniture, musical instruments, various household items like kitchen and bath supplies and tools. And of course they sold a lot of toys.

We had a local store that sold dry goods and hardware only. The owner also bought fur. I sold a lot of squirrel pelts there between 1962 and 1968.
The money I earned was spent mostly at Eaton's, via catalogue order.

We could get some supplies from our local store and more from stores in town, but there weren't near as many stores then as there is now, and town was 98 miles away. On top of that, Eaton's offered things the local stores never did, and at a lower price.


A lot of folks today think nothing of driving a hundred miles but back then such a trip was a big deal.
Few homesteaders could afford a reliable vehicle, roads were primitive compared to today and most of all, money was hard to come by.
Even at 25 cents a gallon/5 cents a liter, fuel was too expensive to waste it making non essential trips to town. So we ordered what we needed from the Eaton's catalogue.

[pikergolf]

Thanks for the thread guys, very interesting read.

[Jack Hardin]

My sister and her husband live in an Eaton catalogue house north of Blackfalds. It is over 100 years old.

[Gammaboy]

Originally Posted by Jack Hardin

My sister and her husband live in an Eaton catalogue house north of Blackfalds. It is over 100 years old.

If its the one I'm thinking of it was built in 1914, the barn was also an Eatons kit, some assembly required.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Jack Hardin

My sister and her husband live in an Eaton catalogue house north of Blackfalds. It is over 100 years old.

They had houses!

I didn't know that. I know they had almost everything else, but I don't remember houses.

That's very interesting.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Hey, that reminds me of another store that no longer exists.

How many remember the T. Eaton's catalogue?

A lot of folks today think nothing of driving a hundred miles but back then such a trip was a big deal.
Few homesteaders could afford a reliable vehicle, roads were primitive compared to today and most of all, money was hard to come by.
Even at 25 cents a gallon/5 cents a liter, fuel was too expensive to waste it making non essential trips to town. So we ordered what we needed from the Eaton's catalogue.

I remember the folks ordering something from a catalog. It might have been the S.I.R. catalog too. (I liked the SIR catalog a lot more than Eatons or the Simpson Sears catalogs.)

Then a week or two later we were having to go to town to the train station to pick it up. And we were only 30 miles from Edmonton. You could take the passenger train from/to places like Breton, Thorsby, Sunnybrook, Buford, Calmar and Leduc to Edmonton... the fare was what we consider pocket change today. You could take the same train from Breton to Lacombe to the main line. A person could go in the mess car on the train and get a hamburger, fries and a pop for 35 cents. 15 cents for the burger and 10 cents each for the fries and pop.

[Crankbait]

here's a good webpage with the catalogue;
http://www.lonestarfarm.ca/EatonHomes.htm

[Red Bullets]

I like the price of the house package in your post Crankbait. 1700 bucks for a 7 bedroom two story. 149 bucks for a hot air heating system.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by raab

It is a disappearing way of life. To bad, the world would be better off if we had more cowboys/cowgirls who lived by Gene Autry's cowboy code.

Actually, I think the rural cowboys and cowgirls are still intact. I think it's the urban cowboys and girls that require adjustment.

Speaking of which... in 1980 there were 2.2 million people in alberta. Roughly 510,000 people were rural. In 2015 there was over 4 million and only 600 thousand rural people. So in 35 years the urban centers have grown by almost 2 million people and the rural population has only increased by a little over 100,000.


My Dad loved listening to the singing cowboy. Good rules to live by. And the yodeling cowboys like Jimmy Rodgers.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by JimPS

There are are no memorials or plaques at the site detailing the historical significance of Bow Fort.

There is no public access to the remains of Bow Fort.

The property is considered sacred spiritual land to the native people and digging or removing any remaining artifacts is strictly forbidden.

Archeologists believe there may have been up to 11 chimneys at the fort.

The most reliable research data places the construction of the five-sided stockaded post at 1833, and that it was occupied for less than a year, abandoned in favor of Rocky Mountain House.

Historians remain perplexed why a fort of such extensive size was left permanently in such a short time.

http://www.ghosttownpix.com/alberta/bow.html

There supposedly is a memorial plaque 4 miles north of Old Bow fort site.

From what I've read the HBC men abandoned the fort a year later because the blackfoot FN were making it difficult for them to trade. There is a very small write up on Old Bow fort here.

https://archive.org/stream/historics...ge/32/mode/2up

[Red Bullets]

Here's a footnote for guys that complain there is no deer left....

The Mcleod Game Protective Association was formed in 1889 soon after the train came through what later became southern Alberta. The Gazette reported well attended meetings. One of the founders of the MGPA, Dr. George DeVeber, published this in the Macleod Gazette...

"The buffalo and elk are extinct: the antelope, mountain sheep and goat, black and whitetail deer are fast approaching the same state and are only to be found semi-occasionally in some remote and favored locality."

From what I can interpret from what I found ....from 1906 to 1913 the hunting season for pronghorn antelope was opened for one day only. Oct. 1. Elk was a one day season too. Nov. 15. There was no open season on buffalo, or the females of elk, moose, deer, antelope, sheep or the young of all big game during those years to help rebuild populations.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Here's a footnote for guys that complain there is no deer left....

The Mcleod Game Protective Association was formed in 1889 soon after the train came through what later became southern Alberta. The Gazette reported well attended meetings. One of the founders of the MGPA, Dr. George DeVeber, published this in the Macleod Gazette...

"The buffalo and elk are extinct: the antelope, mountain sheep and goat, black and whitetail deer are fast approaching the same state and are only to be found semi-occasionally in some remote and favored locality."

From what I can interpret from what I found ....from 1906 to 1913 the hunting season for pronghorn antelope was opened for one day only. Oct. 1. Elk was a one day season too. Nov. 15. There was no open season on buffalo, or the females of elk, moose, deer, antelope, sheep or the young of all big game during those years to help rebuild populations.

I remember the first Deer I saw. It was around 1964, middle of the summer and it was a Doe.

I had seem Deer tracks, Dad told me that what they were. But even tracks were a rare treat. And there weren't a lot of Wolves around either.
But there were Moose. Way more then there is now.

It was not unusual to see several Moose at one time. And dad shot more then one from our front step over the years.
We got to skip school when that happened. All hands on deck for butchering! Good times!

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I remember the first Deer I saw. It was around 1964, middle of the summer and it was a Doe.

I had seem Deer tracks, Dad told me that what they were. But even tracks were a rare treat. And there weren't a lot of Wolves around either.
But there were Moose. Way more then there is now.

It was not unusual to see several Moose at one time. And dad shot more then one from our front step over the years.
We got to skip school when that happened. All hands on deck for butchering! Good times!

It is interesting how things change. On a property I hunt... for the first time since it was settled 120 years ago elk are showing up. There have never been elk in that area. The first wolf in 80-90 years too.

[Red Bullets]

We were mentioning cowboys.... now this is a cowboy. Literally. Not sure if he was Albertan but thought the picture illustrates what guys thought cowboys were back then. At least what this guy thought a cowboy was. Just thought it was fun. Looks like a nice set of handlebars.

[Newview01]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

It is interesting how things change. On a property I hunt... for the first time since it was settled 120 years ago elk are showing up. There have never been elk in that area. The first wolf in 80-90 years too.

Elk are seen on occasion wandering around about 10 miles northeast of Lethbridge. This would never have been seen 20 years ago. We have even seen a couple moose in the last couple years.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I like the price of the house package in your post Crankbait. 1700 bucks for a 7 bedroom two story. 149 bucks for a hot air heating system.

and when you look thru google images of various catalogues the houses were very-very-very nice. though $1700 bux was a ton of cash back then, not sure what it would be adjusted for inflation but our first house in Calgary in 73 cost just shy of $13,000. parents retired and sold it for $250,000 and then we heard that it sold just before the bust for $640,000. yes it sits on a great big lot but it's just a bungalow.

[Jack Hardin]

When the CPR reached Swift Current, the mail for Edmonton was taken off the train and sent to Edmonton via Battleford.

When the CPR reached Medicine Hat, the Calgary and Fort Macleod mail was taken off the train and was transported to Ft Macleod including the Calgary mail then it went on up to Calgary. The Edmonton mail was still being taken off at Swift Current.

When the CPR reached Calgary, the Edmonton mail was still being take off at Swift Current and the Calgary and Fort Macleod mail was still being taken off at Medicine Hat even though the CPR was now well past Calgary. It took city officials to write to the Postmaster General in Ottawa to get them to stop taking the Edmonton mail off at Swift Current and the Calgary mail off at Medicine Hat.

[Jack Hardin]

When the Mounted Police wore U.S. Army uniforms.

The NWMPolice made their famous march west from FT Dufferin in 1874 (located on the west side of the Red River on the Canadian side of the border, straight south of Winnipeg). They were issued one tunic, one pair of trousers, one pair of boots and gauntlets, Two hats (one pill box and one pith helmet) plus overcoat etc.

By the time that they reached southern Alberta their uniforms were mostly wore out. Some had rags tied around their boots to keep the sole and uppers together. It would be the following spring before replacement uniforms would arrive.

The U.S. Army from Ft Benton and Ft Shaw (Ft Shaw is located NW of Great Falls) either loaned or sold U.S. Army kit to the mounted police to tide them over until spring.

The following year (1875) when Major Macleod (he wasn't a LCol until he became Commissioner) sent James Walsh to the Cypress Hills to establish a fort to control the whiskey trade, they said that when the troop left Ft Macleod they looked more like a U.S. Army troop pulling out. Their NWMP uniforms were stored in trunks and being saved for official and light duties. They wore parts of the U.S. uniforms as a fatigue outfit.

While building the fort in the Cypress Hills there was a serious confrontation with a Sioux war party while the Mounties were wearing parts of the U.S. uniforms but then, that is a Saskatchewan story.

Source: Sitting Bull's Boss - Above the Medicine Line with James Morrow Walsh by Ian Anderson.

[anorthernhunter]

I know others have said it - but what a great thread ... I marvel at some of the comments.

And ... no in-fighting (yet) haha.

I still can't get my head around the comment: "you could walk from Slave Lake to Peace River without hardly any trees" ....

Just shows you how the landscape can change.

What we see now was nothing like it was or I guess will be.

When I was in Cypress Hills, I attended a Ranger presentation that mentioned how Cypress Hills was the only place in Alberta other than Banff that was above the ice in the last ice age ... interesting.

Northern

[bb356]

[bb356]

[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.

[bb356]

[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...

[Red Bullets]

Did you know the concept of the bombardier was invented in Edmonton in the 1930's. In the picture are some of the very first powered sleds in the early 1940's running on the river near the low level bridge.

Wish I could tell you more but I thought the picture was worth sharing.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

Did you know the concept of the bombardier was invented in Edmonton in the 1930's. In the picture are some of the very first powered sleds in the early 1940's running on the river near the low level bridge.

Wish I could tell you more but I thought the picture was worth sharing.

I think one of those guys might be a Canfield and it was invented closer to the Killam area

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Crankbait

I think one of those guys might be a Canfield and it was invented closer to the Killam area

Thanks. It would've been better to say the bombardier was an Alberta invention instead of Edmonton. I am going to see if I can find out more.

[Red Bullets]

The picture is of a woodland caribou that was shot in 1950 in Jasper National Park. If I remember right it was shot by a european woman on a guided hunt by horseback. The caribou had over 40 points.

In 2013, there were approximately 155 caribou left between four herds in the parks, down significantly from the past and not showing signs of recovery.