Rabbit drives were a part of pioneer life
My second column for the Prairie Post, a modified version of a blog post from late last year, talks about when Mother Nature goes sideways, and features a pretty morbid photo from Idaho. The past few months have been a “hare-raising” experience for the people of Canmore. The Rocky Mountain town made worldwide headlines last November after town [...]
Bow City – The village born unlucky
Many thanks to the Historical Society of Alberta, and the legendary Mr. Hugh Dempsey, CM, for the opportunity to share a decade’s worth of research on the former village of Bow City. Below is a brief excerpt from my article, followed by the piece in its entirety, which appears in the Winter 2012 edition of Alberta [...]
Getting it right – Alberta’s American Fact must not be forgotten
“Settlers and farmers founded this province and their values run deep. Albertans are proud, resilient, generous and independent-minded. We believe in family and freedom, and are passionately devoted to the land on which we live.” – Premier Alison Redford, speech to AAMDC Fall Convention, 24 November 2011 I started this blog two years ago to [...]
Who are the forgotten dead of Vulcan County?
Update: No leads yet, but thanks to Michele Jarvie at the Calgary Herald for running an ever-so-slightly modified version of this article here. During the decade after 1916, settlers fled the drought-ridden plains of southeastern Alberta en masse. As David C. Jones outlines in his book, We’ll all be buried down here- The Prairie Drybelt [...]
Wedderburn’s War – The great rabbit drives of 1924-26
The people of Canmore are facing a “hare-raising” dilemma. Much has been written about the divergence of opinion arising from the decision of town council to cull the approximately 2000 feral rabbits currently hopping free in the mountain community. In all seriousness, the prospect of exterminating a few thousand rabbits is an unpleasant one to [...]
Handy historical and genealogical resources for Albertans
As Albertans we are truly fortunate to have a wealth of free digital resources with which to explore our community or family histories. A couple of exciting new initiatives have recently debuted which, had they existed in their current form five years ago, would have saved me a few trips up the QEII.
For Vauxhall, like Retlaw before, disillusion could lead to dissolution
As some in the town of Vauxhall consider dissolving their municipality, it’s interesting to note that the town’s survival was due in part to the dissolution of the neighbouring village to the west. The former village of Retlaw, now a ghost town located six miles west of Vauxhall, was for a time considered the principle [...]
The Westgates of Bow City
While speculators and investors receive the credit for creating “Bow City”, very few of the original boosters could actually be bothered to make anything more than a cash investment in the community. There are numerous stories of settlers who stuck it out, and gave what they could out of concern for the social, spiritual and [...]
Piercing allegations sunk Bow City’s chief booster
1916 was a bad year for Herbert Chandler Pierce. As the year drew to a close the village that Pierce had once promoted so vigorously now appeared on the verge of extinction. As the residents of Bow City dispersed like tumbling kochia weed, thoughts of the little outpost on the prairie were likely the furthest [...]
About
Drawing on over 100 years of family history in the southeast, this is my attempt to shine the spotlight on southeastern Alberta's forgotten history.
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