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 [...]
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.
“Well that is that, and God bless them anyway”
The story of Francis Miller of Medicine Hat has captured the imagination of the many who are anxiously awaiting the upcoming Royal Visit by Prince William and his new bride, Kate. If you haven’t caught it, Ms. Miller has been afforded the opportunity to meet William and Kate (no word on whether they will henceforth [...]
Another one bites the dust
Oyen mourns the loss of its Pioneer elevator. Click here to view the carnage. More pictures of Oyen’s elevators, still standing, here and here.
The Inaugural Forgotten Alberta Road Trip
Happy belated New Year to everyone! Owing to a career change and relocation over the Christmas break, I have been unable to post until today. My sincerest apologies. With 3-5 feet of snow piling up in my yard at the moment, now is a nice time to reflect on the first Forgotten Alberta road trip [...]
An artist’s mis-conception of Bow City, c. 1910
From the University of Oregon Digital Collections comes an artist’s, shall we say mis-conception of the townsite at Bow City, prepared by architects Edouard Frere Champney (architect, 1874-1929) and Augustus Warren Gould (architect, 1872-1922) in about 1910.
Some perspective on “Potatogate”
Potato-lovers and tree huggers alike have no doubt been paying attention to the saga playing out north of Bow Island that has been dubbed “Potatogate”. A proposal from a potato grower to purchase 13,600 acres of Crown grazing lease (or 6,500 hectares, potato, potatoe) has come under fire from wilderness groups, politicians and the media. [...]
keep looking »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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