Zama

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Aerial View of Zama City, looking south. Photograph courtesy of Curtis Johnston.

Much of Alberta’s natural resource wealth is found in the northern parts of the province, but despite the importance of our northern reaches, many of us do not often think about the north until we are somehow forcibly reminded to do so. One of these moments occurred on Thursday, July 12, 2012 when much of north-western Alberta was blanketed with smoke. People in Edmonton awoke to hazy skies and the unmistakable smell of smoke in the air. So, where did this smoke come from? Most were surprised to hear that it came from a massive forest fire near Zama City, about 700 km north.

News reports about the fire and its location had people asking “Zama City? Where is Zama City? And what kind of name is that anyways?”

Zama refers to a place and a few geographical features. These names are presented in order of their official adoption.

Zama River

The Zama River rises in the wetlands around Bootis Hill about 30 km northwest of Zama City and flows generally south for approximately 85 km before entering Hay Lake. The river was named by Ernest Wilson Hubbell of the Dominion Land Survey. Hubbell was born in Brockville, Canada East (later Ontario) in 1862. He joined the military and served as a Lieutenant during the Riel Rebellion, following which he attended the Royal Military College in Kingston, graduating in 1881. A few years later, he was employed by the Dominion Land Survey.

As chief of a survey party, Hubbell traveled extensively throughout western Canada. He recorded the name “Zammah River” in his 1921 field notes. That same year, Hubbell drew a map of Hay Lake. On this map he notes the “Zamah River” being on average two chains wide, four feet deep, having a current of two mph and flowing through muskeg and swamp. He also notes an “Indian trail” on the river’s west side. In a letter dated  21 March 1922 to the Geographic Board of Canada (GBC), Hubbell noted that “[d]uring the season of 1921, I traversed Hay Lake, Northern Alberta, and named rivers … being unable to identify those streams with any others previously recorded.” He further explained that the name “Zammah [is] the transliteration of the name of the Slavey Chief whose trail follows up this river.” The GBC accepted the name during its 4 July 1922 meeting, but altered the spelling to Zama River; no explanation being given for the alteration.

Other surveyors have also commented on the river, notably B. M. Rustad in 1965, who noted in Section 34 of Township 116-7-W6, that the Zama River was 13 feet wide and flowed through “gently undulating country well stocked with Poplar and Spruce to 12 inches diameter, Willow and Alder.” The Dene Tha’ people (formerly known as the Slave or Slavey Indians) identify the river by the traditional name Kólaa Zahéh, which translates as “Old Man River.” There is some thought that this may be a reference to Dene chief Zamba or Zammah referred to by Hubbell, but it is more likely to be a reference to First Nations spirituality and creation stories.

Location

National Topographic System Map Sheet: 84 L/15 – Habay

Latitude/Longitude:

59° 15’ 11” N & 119° 10’ 58” W (approximate location of head waters) to

58° 31′ 38″ N & 118° 50′ 13″ W (at point of entry to Hay Lake)

Alberta Township System:

Sec 18 Twp 118 Rge 7 W6 (approximate location of head waters) to

Sec 31 Twp 113 Rge 5 W6 (at point of entry to Hay Lake)

Description: Generally south for approximately 85 km (47 km strait line) until it enters Hay lake about 50 km NE of the Town of Rainbow Lake and 105 km WNW of the Town of High Level. 

Zama Lake

Zama Lake is located about 50 km southwest of Zama City. The lake also appears to have been named by E. W. Hubbell, DLS. Oddly, the Zama River does not directly enter Zama Lake; Zama Lake and Hay Lake are connected by a substantial wetland. Although the name for both the river and lake were recorded in 1921, the name Zama Lake was not officially adopted until November 6, 1944. The Dene Tha’ do not use the name Zama Lake, but use traditional names to identify the lake. Some of the Dene Tha’ use the name K’ah Woti Túé, which translates as “Main Blind Lake” (referring to a hunting or duck blind). The Dene around Assumption on the Hay Lake Reserve identify the lake with the name Tulonh Mieh, which translates as “Where the Water Ends.” This is thought to be a reference to the lake being the western-most of the Hay-Zama Lakes group.

Location (approximate centre of lake)

National Topographic System Map Sheet: 84 L/11

Latitude/Longitude: 58° 45’ 00” N & 119° 05’ 00” W

Alberta Township System: Twp 112 Rge 7 W6

Description: Approximately 25 km NE of the Town of Rainbow Lake and 115 km WNW of the Town of High Level.

Zama Lake Indian Reserve No. 210

The Zama Lake Indian Reserve No. 210 is an irregularly-shaped, 2,307 hectare (5,700 acre) reserve located just west of Zama Lake. The reserve is one of seven administered by the Dene Tha’ people. The Zama Lake reserve was created by provincial Order-in-Council No. 547/50, which was signed on May 15, 1950. To “enable Canada to fulfil its obligations under the treaties with the Indians of the Province” the order set aside the land, and transferred title to the Dominion of Canada, to be known as the Zama Lake Indian Reserve No. 210. This transfer was confirmed by Order-in-Council 594/50, which was signed on May 22, 1950. There are no official or permanent settlements on the reserve and it is administered from the band office at Chateh on the Assumption reserve about 30 km to the east.

Location (approximate centre of reserve)

National Topographic System Map Sheet: 84 L/11

Latitude/Longitude: 58° 44’ 12” N & 119° 14’ 27” W

Alberta Township System: Twp 112 Rge 8 W6

Description: Approximately 23 km NE of the Town of Rainbow Lake and 115 km WNW of the Town of High Level. 

Zama City

Imperial Oil Seismic Crew in the Zama Lake/Rainbow Lake Region, Summer 1950
Glenbow Archives (S-236-46) .

Zama City is a hamlet administered by Mackenzie County. It is located approximately 115 km in a straight line (150 km by road) northwest of High Level. It is a service centre for the Zama oil field, which is possibly the largest oil and gas field in the province. According to the 2011 Census of Canada, there are 93 permanent residents in Zama City, but the hamlet often supports a transient workforce population approaching 4,000 people.

The oil fields of the Zama region were discovered between 1965 and 1969. It is unclear exactly when the community was founded. The 1:250,000 NTS Map for the region (Bistcho Lake) produced in 1963 shows the nearby airfields, but no town site. A local history of the High Level area, Notes of the North,published in 1977, suggests that a small community had been established by 1968. It may have been originally known as “Cameron Corner” after an early oil company, but soon became known as Zama City, after the nearby lake and river and the oil field it depended on (It is assumed the “city” was intended as irony). The name of the community was officially recognized as Zama City on September 10, 1980. Although still a relatively isolated northern outpost, Zama City boasts most of the services and facilities one would expect to find anywhere in the province.

In mid-July, 2012, a massive forest fire near Zama City threatened the community, coming within 10 km of the hamlet. Residents of Zama City were evacuated on Wednesday, July 11. The fire was held off and the evacuation order was lifted on July 20, allowing residents to return to their homes.

Location

National Topographic System Map Sheet: 84 M/02 – Moody Creek

Latitude/Longitude: 59° 09’ 09” N & 118° 40’ 50” W

Alberta Township System: Sec 7 Twp 112 Rge 4 W6

Description: Approximately 115 km NE strait-line of the Town of High Level (150 km by road).

 Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Provincial Park

The Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Provincial Park is a large park that encompasses the wetlands surrounding Hay Lake and Zama Lake. The park is 486 square kilometres (188 square miles) in size and is made up of a complex network of rivers, creeks, lakes, floodplains, and muskeg. The wetlands are on three of the four major duck migration roots and are a significant habitat for numerous other types of waterfowl and furbearing mammals. The park is also serving as a re-introduction site for wood bison. In 1982, the Hay-Zama Lakes wetland was recognized as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which has been promoting wetlands conservation since 1971. The Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Provincial Park was created by Order-in-Council 202/99, which was signed on May 5, 1999.

Location (approximate centre of park)

National Topographic System Map Sheet: 84 L/15

Latitude/Longitude: 58° 45’ 56” N & 118° 58’ 53” W

Alberta Township System: Twp 112 Rge 6 W6

Description: Approximately 37 km NE of the Town of Rainbow Lake and 105 km WNW of the Town of High Level.

Written by: Ron Kelland, Historic Places Research Officer and Geographical Names Program Officer

Additional Resources: 

More information about these Ernest Hubbell and the Zama group of geographical features and places can be found at:

Alberta. Tourism, Recreation, Parks & Culture, “Alberta Parks: Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Park,” [document] available from http://www.albertaparks.ca/media/2661/HayZama_web.pdf.

Alberta Land Surveyors Association, “Ernest Wilson Hubbell,” Alberta’s Land Surveying History,available from http://www.landsurveyinghistory.ab.ca/Characters/Hubbell_EW.htm.

Mackenzie County, “Communities: Zama City,” available from http://www.mackenziecounty.com/index.php/about-us/communities.

Capturing the Spirit

Alberta's Historic Places

Throughout the last few years the Municipal District of Spirit River No. 133 has supported the work of area volunteers that were looking at, listening to and learning about the history of the area. Older buildings, significant sites and places that have passed beyond recognition were identified and researched by these individuals. In essence, through history and heritage, the “spirit” of the M.D. of Spirit River was being uncovered.

Interested in building upon the great work already completed, the M.D. of Spirit River decided to explore opportunities provided through the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program.  Eager to begin evaluating sites for significance, but mindful of wanting to establish a successful heritage conservation program, the M.D. of Spirit River Council first established a Heritage Resource Committee (an advisory group of area residents that will support the M.D. with its heritage program).  After receiving orientation from Municipal Heritage Services staff (me!), and with having submitted a successful funding proposal to the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program (funded through the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation) the M.D. and the committee is ready, eager and committed to further identify the “spirit” of the M.D.

Over the course of the next year, a combined Municipal Heritage Survey and Inventory project will be completed. This project will see various sites within the municipality documented in a formal survey so that the information may be included in the Provincial Heritage Survey database. As well, approximately 10 sites will be evaluated for eligibility, significance and integrity, making them potential candidates for Municipal Historic Resource designation.

As the project progresses I hope to post updates on this blog. Stay tuned!

If you have questions about how your municipality can participate in the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program, please contact Municipal Heritage Services staff.

Written by: Brenda Manweiler, Municipal Heritage Services Officer

Taking Initiative!

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The Clear Hills Watershed Initiative’s Lake and Creek Names Research Project 

The Clear Hills Watershed Initiative is working on a research project to uncover the local, historical and traditional names used by area residents to identify the creeks and lakes in their region. The Initiative is concerned with water use and quality, and educating the residents of the region about the local water supply. The Initiative believes that researching the names of their creeks and lakes and disseminating that information will raise the profile of these creeks and lakes and will increase the pride and value that people place on these resources.

Volunteers of the Clear Hills Watershed Initiative naming project  making research notes on maps of the region. Eureka River Hall, March 31, 2012.

The Alberta Geographical Names Program was first approached by the Clear Hills Watershed Initiative in 2010 when they were seeking information on having new geographical names officially adopted. The group has been actively interviewing many of the older residents of the region, with particular attention to the trappers, First Nations people and the men and women who have lived and worked in the backwoods of that section of northern Alberta. What the researchers are discovering is that although many of the creeks and lakes in Clear Hills County are not officially named on maps, there are numerous local and historical names used to identify them. The researchers are also discovering the origin stories behind some of the existing official names. These names are often descriptive of the feature’s physical characteristics or commemorate original settlers or trappers that have worked in the area. In all these, local and historical names shed some light on the history of the Clear Hills region.

Sherri Larsen, organizer of the group and a driving force behind the naming project, invited me to attend a meeting of the Initiative’s naming group and to speak at a community supper held at the Eureka River Community Hall on March 31, 2012. What I saw when I arrived was a group of people who are proud of their heritage and who are dedicated to uncovering as much of that heritage as they can while the sources, many of whom are senior citizens, are still able to relate their knowledge. People with knowledge of the region’s back country and waterways are identified and interviewed. Notes are taken about the names they use to identify water features and these names are then annotated on the appropriate 1:50,000 NTS Map Sheets for the region.

At the community dinner these maps were laid on large tables for viewing. As people came into the hall, a number of them drifted over to the map table and made comments on what was named and what wasn’t. Spirited discussion often followed about what such-and-such a creek or lake was named and who had had their trapping cabin on it or which forestry road went by.

Following dinner I gave a short speech to the assembled residents focused on the importance of geographical names as navigational aids and reminders of our heritage. However, with all of my degrees and experience the importance of the Clear Hills Naming Project was succinctly summed up by a junior high school student, who presented a school project about his favourite place in the county. For him this was “Stoney Lake” (officially named Montagneuse Lake). He remembered important gatherings of family and friends and other members of the community at the recreation area on this lake and that lake and those events made him feel connected to his community. He also said that he was able to get most of his information about the lake from his grandfather.

That in essence sums up the role of place names – they are more than navigational aids and points on a map. They represent our community values and history. The knowledge of many of these names and the origin stories behind them lie with many of the older members of our community.

Following the speeches, even more people found their way to the maps and more comments were made, more creeks were identified and more stories were exchanged. As with most community-based heritage, people often believe that they do not have any knowledge of any value or interest; that nobody wants to know what it was like so many years ago. However, it is usually the people who believe that they have nothing interesting to tell that possess the most valuable information of all. It is important for this knowledge of the past to be passed on to the next generation. The volunteers working on the Clear Hills Naming Project are seeking to record this naming and community heritage while the opportunity is still there.

As the Clear Hills Watershed Initiative uncover more historical and local names for their creeks and lakes, they hope to submit them to the Alberta Geographical Names program to be officially adopted. Keep checking this blog, there should be many more interesting names and stories coming out of Clear Hills County in the near future.

Since the March meeting, the Naming Project has acquired the services of a researcher, Dallas Bjornson. Dallas will be spending most of the summer talking to people and recording their stories about the water features in the area. If you can assist the volunteers of the Clear Hills Watershed Initiative in their geographical names research, they would be pleased to hear from you. Contact information can be found at the Initiative’s website under the “Naming Our Creeks and Lakes” link on the website’s main page.

To learn more, visit the Clear Hills Watershed Initiative website.

Written by: Ron Kelland, Historic Places Research Officer and Geographical Names Program Coordinator

Barns & Cities: One Unexpectedly Goes with the Other

Alberta's Historic Places

Reading about barns you may first recall memories of those typical red buildings proudly standing in an agricultural landscape, but do you also remember those barns that were located on the main streets of hamlets, villages and towns?

Coming from Québec City as part of the Québec/Alberta Student Employment Exchange Program, I have worked on a research project meant to increase our understanding of the history of livery barns, and to promote awareness for their historic importance. To do this, I had to go back in time at various archives to learn that most livery barns in Alberta were actually important places, especially from the late 19th century to the 1940s.

Livery barns were located on strategic corners. They were the main logistic centres for cities during the time when horse power was mainly used for transportation. Gable roof, gambrel roof, cubic style, with or without a front wall – all a liveryman needed was a place with stalls to welcome and take care of  horses. Mostly located near railways, hotels and lumberyards, livery barns contributed to a great deal of economic activities. Merchants, settlers, travelers and cowboys would park their shire horses, ponies or mustangs with their carriages in a livery barn for a night or a couple of days. Liverymen could rent animals and agriculture implements, host auctions, organize “bus” tours, deliver milk and wood, and even move a catalogue house all according to the needs of the community. If you were marrying in the 1920s, you also could have called for a team of horses to gently carry you to your wedding ceremony.

G. Rowland Livery Barn Inside View, Edmonton, c. 1920, Provincial Archives of Alberta.

Some livery barns were more high-class than others but they were all meeting places; a place where men could play card games and talk about the weather. Livery barns might also have held suspicious activities. Empty bottles of alcohol dating from the prohibition period were surprisingly found in the walls of the National Hotel Livery Barn, in Calgary. This helps to explain the commonly bad perception that citizens had of the places. The job of the liverymen was dirty and the environment was crowded, as you can see by the photograph.

Livery barns sometime created urban sanitary issues. Hygienic laws and relocating the business mostly dealt with the concerns, but, after the 1930s, if a livery barn was accidentally destroyed by fire, it usually was not rebuilt. From the 24 livery barns registered in the Henderson’s Greater Edmonton Directory of 1913, the G. Rowland Livery Barn, which was located at 12705 on 65th St., shows typical historical trends. Built in 1912, exactly at the highest peak of number of livery barns, it changed proprietor 4 times before it disappeared as a company in 1939. The needs of the communities were changing and horses were gradually replaced for automobiles. World War II accelerated the shift and livery barns were abandoned, used for storage or converted to garages.  Because horses started better than cars in the morning, some livery barns still existed in the winter until the late 1950s.

If you think about it, there was once a time when searching for a place to park your horse was like today searching for a spot to park your car. It seems that livery barns are a forgotten part of Alberta’s history, but it might not be too late to recall the legacy.

Written by: Samuel C. Fleury, Historic Places Stewardship Research Assistant

Planning a future for St. Albert’s Historic Places

Michael

The City of St. Albert is hard at work on a heritage management plan, with assistance from the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program. A heritage management plan will help St. Albert conserve its historic resources. Would you like to help? Please take a few moments and share your thoughts with St. Albert on the conservation of historic resources by completing their survey.

St. Albert, like many of Alberta’s communities, is growing rapidly. Growth is certainly not bad in itself, but it can threaten a community’s historic resources if there are no plans to identify and mange them. This is particularly true in a community like St. Albert: many of their historic places were built during the 1960s in modern architectural styles. We often overlook modern buildings when thinking about historic places, although they can tell us a great deal about a community’s past.

Understanding why a historic place is valuable, even protecting it through Municipal Historic Resource designation, are first steps. A community needs to encourage proper conservation and maintenance and ensure each historic resource has a contemporary use that requires minimal change.

The St. Albert heritage management planning project had its first open house with a few dozen residents at St. Albert’s Musée Héritage Museum on June 20th. You can view the presentation given that night (available on the City of St. Albert’s website as a PDF). You can take a look at the Heritage Management Plan page on the City of St. Albert’s website for more information.

Stay tuned for future updates.

Written by: Michael Thome, Municipal Heritage Services Officer

Meet Dinosaurs, Coal Miners and Pioneers: Adventures in Southern Alberta

Alberta's Historic Places

Where else but southern Alberta can you dig for dinosaurs, ride in a horse-drawn carriage and explore a world-famous rockslide all in one summer? With the Experience Alberta’s History Pass, the whole family can visit all of Alberta’s Provincial Historic Sites, Museums and Interpretive Centres for just $75.

As you stand under the huge Brooks Aqueduct, you can see why it was the largest structure of its kind when it was built 100 years ago. Take a tour to learn how this enormous aqueduct channelled water to parched prairie farmland as part of south eastern Alberta’s vital irrigation network. Stop for a picnic at this National and Provincial Historic site.

In the early morning of Apr 29, 1903, a massive rockslide hurled down from Turtle Mountain and buried a portion of the sleeping mining town of Frank. The thunderous roar of Canada’s deadliest rock slide was heard 200 km away. Visit the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre to explore what Frank and the Crowsnest Pass were like before, during and after the slide. Take a rocky hike and breathe in the crisp mountain air.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Fort Macleod is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world’s oldest, largest and best preserved buffalo jumps. Learn why it was used as a hunting ground for 5,500 years and the important role of the bison for the Aboriginal people who hunted here. Hike 2 km of interpretive trails, watch drumming and dancing demonstrations every Wednesday in July and August.

In 1909, Fort Macleod’s Leitch Collieries was one of the most successful enterprises in the Crowsnest Pass with 101 coke ovens, a soaring wooden washery and a massive tipple. Explore the ruins of this huge mine on a self-guided walking tour or register for an interpretive program to find out what drove the Leitch Collieries  out of business just 10 years later.

Since it was built in 1891, Calgary’s Lougheed House has been a state home, housekeeping and nursing school, Canadian Women’s Army Corps barracks and a Second World War blood donor clinic. Now the sandstone mansion houses historical displays, an elegant restaurant and historic themed flower and vegetable gardens. Make a special stop at the colourful butterfly-themed flower beds.

The Okotoks Erratic – the world’s largest known naturally transported rock – weighs 16,500 tonnes and took over 8,000 years to travel from Jasper area on the back of a glacier. This is a perfect place to walk your dog and learn about glacial movement and the importance of the “Big Rock” to Aboriginal people.

Treat the horse admirers in your family to a carriage ride around Cardston’s Remington Carriage Museum and introduce them to the museum’s herd of Clydesdales and Quarter horses. Little ones can also try a new mini-chuckwagon exhibit – while watching actual footage from the championships held here, they’ll feel the ride move as if they’re really driving it around the track.

Dino-obsessed kids can prospect for fossils and work in a simulated quarry in “Jr. Dig Experience”, a program just for pre-teens at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, in Drumheller. The Museum’s new exhibit Alberta’s Last Sea Dragon, solving an ancient puzzle, gets you up close to a 12-metre sea dragon.

On your next daytrip, tour Stephansson House north of Markerville, the famous Icelandic pioneer poet’s early 20th century homestead. Costumed interpreters at the house provide a tour with hands-on demonstrations which may include poetry and baking. Stop at the Historic Markerville Creamery 7km south in Markerville to learn the intricacies of butter making.

Don’t forget about all the exciting Provincial Historic Sites, Museums and Interpretive Centres located in northern Alberta!

Search the Alberta Register of Historic Places to learn more about the above Provincial Historic Sites, which are also formally protected as Provincial Historic Resources.

Bugs, Machines and Fur-Traders: Experience Northern Alberta’s History

Alberta's Historic Places

You have a busy summer ahead? Northern Alberta’s historic sites and museums are ready for you to come and play! While you’re at it, you’ll learn about bugs, machines, fur-traders and even a tragic battle. Take your pick – or even better, pick up the Experience Alberta’s History Pass. It is just $75 for the whole family to enjoy a year of Alberta’s past.

St. Albert’s Father Lacombe Chapel, once a bustling gathering place for Aboriginal people and French-speaking Oblate priests, Grey Nuns and Métis, is Alberta’s oldest building. Join your costumed guide for a tour of the building, grounds and neighbouring cemetery.

One of Alberta’s and Canada’s most significant heritage places, Frog Lake Historic Site commemorates the events of April 2, 1885, when First Nations’ dissatisfaction with federal government policies erupted in violence.  Visitors can walk along an interpretive trail with tri-lingual signage that places April 2, 1885 within its historic context.

Tour the archaeological site and interpretive centre at Elk Point’s Fort George and Buckingham House, where two competing fur trading posts once stood. A fur-clad voyageur will teach you traditional ways to make a fire, where you’ll gather to hear his adventures. By the end of your day, you’ll know all about how settlers and Aboriginal people lived and worked together.

Historic Dunvegan just south of Fairview, was a 19th century fur-trade post and mission. Join your costumed guide to explore the rectory, exquisitely painted church and Factor’s family home, and trace the footsteps of the trappers, traders, missionaries and Aboriginal people who lived there.

Jump as high as you can and you still won’t reach the top of the 150-tonne heavy hauler at the Oil Sands Discovery Centre in Fort McMurray. Big as it is, it pales beside Cyrus, the 850-tonne bucketwheel excavator in the industrial artifact garden outside! While you spend the day playing, you’ll learn a tonne about one of Alberta’s most significant industries.

Know someone who loves machines? Step on the gas and visit the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin. Vintage cars, motorcycles, planes, tractors – if you’ve ridden it or dreamed of riding it, they have one here. Tour a 1911 factory and 1920s grain elevator, watch a movie in the 1950s drive-in and check out gigantic early tractors, called Dinosaurs of the Field.

You’ll want a whole day to explore Edmonton’s Royal Alberta Museum. Meet beetles and centipedes in the Bug Room, huddle inside a full-sized tipi and visit the Wild Alberta Gallery to discover what lives in a wetland, a mountain cave and even a tiny drop of water or learn about man’s best friend in the “Wolf to Woof” exhibit.

Bring your mom to Rutherford House in Edmonton. Tour the historical gardens and elegant home of Alberta’s first premier then visit the Arbour Restaurant for an oh-so-refined high tea with scones and raspberry butter.

Kids who love to run will love the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, east of Edmonton. This award-winning open-air museum has over 30 restored buildings, including a sod house, one-room school, blacksmith shop and three amazing churches. If the kids still have energy to burn, play some horseshoes, make crafts or take in a historical demonstration.

The past echoes gently at Victoria Settlement, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Discover this enchanting site near Smoky Lake, on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River.  Learn the simple joys of old-fashioned games, and join a costumed guide for a tour of the church and 1864 clerk’s quarters.

Don’t forget about all the exciting Provincial Historic Sites, Museums and Interpretive Centres located in southern Alberta!

Search the Alberta Register of Historic Places to learn more about the above Provincial Historic Sites, which are also formally protected as Provincial Historic Resources.

Alberta’s Past – Experience It!

Alberta's Historic Places

This year visit a place you haven’t seen in a while — Alberta’s Past. Check out any of Alberta’s 18 provincial historic sites, interpretive centres and museums and experience Alberta’s history.

This easy-to-use pass provides unlimited access for one year from the date of purchase and opens doors to the fascinating world of Alberta’s rich history and culture. Besides offering a variety of educational and learning activities for visitors of all ages, many heritage facilities have a wide range of special events and interactive programs throughout the year. They are exciting places to stop on a vacation where visitors come to learn and have fun.

Purchase an Experience Alberta’s History Pass and receive unlimited admission to 18 provincial historic sites and museums in Alberta for one full year. Experience Alberta Passes are available at all major facilities, at all AMA offices and the two Edmonton Visitor Information Centres.

Family

 $75

Adult

 $30

Senior

 $25

Youth

 $15

Under 7

 FREE

Save the Date! 2012 Municipal Heritage Forum

Michael

Our sixth annual Municipal Heritage Forum will be held on November 8 and 9 in Calgary. Save the date!

If you’re a municipal staff member, heritage advisory board member or council member and heritage conservation is part of your work you should plan to attend.

A formal invitation for you to join fellow professionals who work for or volunteer with Alberta’s municipalities on conserving locally significant historic places will be issued later this summer.

The Municipal Heritage Forum is an annual opportunity for municipal leaders interested in the identification, evaluation, protection, management and promotion of locally significant historic resources to meet with peers and learn about heritage conservation. We will have presentations from municipalities on aspects of their historic resource conservation program and various presentations from heritage professionals.

The 2012 Forum will be in Calgary, at the Glenbow Museum and the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre. Stay tuned for additional information.

Want to get a sense of what happens at the forum? Contact us, or check out the blog posts about last year’s forum.

Written by: Michael Thome, Municipal Heritage Services Officer

Stephen Avenue National Historic Site of Canada, Calgary

Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator, Castor

Alberta's Historic Places

When the Canadian Pacific Railway began to survey a grade west from Lacombe to Kerrobert, Saskatchewan in 1904, a number of prospective farmers began to apply for homesteads on land just off of the rail grade.  By 1906, interest began to subside, for the line had not gotten east of Stettler. In the spring of 1909 however, the government of Alberta announced lucrative bond guarantees for the extension of branch lines, and, during the following summer, construction activity was intense throughout the province.  This included the CPR line east from Stettler to the Beaver Dam Creek. Here, at the end of steel, a station was erected and a townsite subdivided called Castor, the French word for Beaver.  As the agricultural hinterland instantly filled up with settlers, the community of Castor became an agricultural boom town. In November 1909, it was incorporated as a village, and, in June of the following year, it became a town with over 500 people, holding all the commercial and social facilities required of a farming center.

Among the necessities for such a town were grain elevators.  As early as June 1910, it was announced that the Alberta Pacific Grain Company was building at Castor, Halkirk and Tees.  The 35,000 bushel structure at Castor would be completed later that fall.  During the winter of 1910-11, local farmers were able to market their grain.  In an unusual move, the elevator was located on the same side of the railway track as Main Street.  In 1913, the rail line was extended eastward past Coronation, eventually reaching Kerr Robert.  This gave Castor a direct line to the grain terminals at the Lakehead.  As a result, three other elevators were soon built, and Castor soon began to benefit from the high grain prices of World War I.  Indeed, by 1917, the original Alberta Pacific elevator was proving too small, and so the Company constructed a larger one, designed to store upward to 45,000 bushels.

Although Castor soon began to decline as a community, its population dropping to 625 by 1941, the elevators continued to survive, being in the center of such a rich agricultural district.  In 1967, The 1917 Alberta Pacific structure was taken over by the Federal Grain Company, and, in 1972, by the Alberta Wheat Pool.  Its most recent owner/operator was the United Grain Growers, which closed it down in the mid 1990’s in favor of a larger and more efficiently run concrete structure in the district.  The structure survived however and was eventually acquired by the Castor & District Museum Society, which is attempting to undertake its restoration.

The historical significance of the Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator in Castor lies in its provision of structural evidence of the method of storing and marketing grain in rural Alberta during most of the 20th century.  This structure is particularly important in that it dates from 1917, a period in time when crops were bountiful and the demand for wheat was high because of the war in Europe.  It is important also for the role it played in the development of Castor, a community which sprang to life in 1910 with the arrival of the railway, and continued to serve a large agricultural hinterland, the existence of which depended upon the marketing of grain.

Written by: David Leonard, Historian

Visit the Alberta Register of Historic Places to learn more about the heritage value of the Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator. In order for a site to be designated a Provincial Historic Resource, it must possess province-wide significance. To properly assess the historic importance of a resource, a historian crafts a context document that situates a resource within its time and place and compares it to similar resources in other parts of the province. This allows staff to determine the importance of a resource to a particular theme, time, and place. Above, is some of the historical information used in the evaluation of the Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator.