RETROactive

In 1918, the Dominion government set up a Soldiers Settlement Board in order to secure employment for some of the vast number of soldiers expected to enter the workforce following their service in World War I.  Through the Board, many veterans were encouraged to settle on the Battle River Prairie, about 75km north of Peace River.  By 1921, the district had an estimated population of 500, while a tiny community called Battle River Prairie emerged off the Notikewin (formerly Battle) River.  In 1924, the store and post office was re-named Notikewin and moved to the site of present day Notikewin, some 8km to the north.

For supplies, most of the first settlers on the Prairie used the facilities at Peace River.  Commercial transportation on the River was common, while winter roads were opened for horse-drawn sleighs.  One major concern, however, was medical.  By the Public Health Nurses Act of 1919, visits were made by registered nurses with mobile clinics, but these could not accommodate emergency situations.  Throughout the 1920s, therefore, a demand began to grow for a regular physician to be assigned to some point on the Prairie.

In 1928, the provincial government decided to sponsor a permanent nurse for the district, with Mary Little moving to Notikewin.  In 1929, she was replaced by Dr. Mary Percy who was recruited from England.  In 1931, Mary Percy married Frank Jackson and moved to Keg River.  Several other nurses then followed until 1936, when Dr. Arthur Doidge became the first resident physician for the area.

The early 1930s had seen a continuing influx of settlers to the Prairie, many coming from the drought areas of southeastern Alberta.  As a result, there was growing pressure for a hospital.  Much of this came from the Women’s Missionary Society of the United Church of Canada, which began to collect promissory funds for a hospital in the area.  The government agreed to contribute the same amount as the WMS and appoint a physician if the WMS would build the hospital.  With support coming throughout the Prairie, sufficient funds were finally in place by the spring of 1936 to begin work on a facility large enough to serve the entire Prairie.

The site chosen for the hospital was on the bank of the Notikewin River, on the road midway between North Star and Notikewin.  The land was donated by John Robertson.  Work began that summer, with most of the labour and building supplies volunteered.  The Chair of the Building Committee was H.A. Inglis, while construction of the balloon frame structure was supervised by W.D.C. Buchanan.   Work continued throughout the winter, when possible, and into the following spring and summer.  Finally, on 4 September 1937, the new eight bed Battle River Hospital was officially opened.  It was an all inclusive facility, with space for an operating room, a waiting room, and a kitchen.  Electricity was provided by an external Delco gas engine.  The second floor was largely given over to living quarters for the three nurses, while Dr. Doidge lived in a separate cabin. Read more →

When the Montana cattle industry began to thrive in the aftermath of the American civil war, and the extension of railways to the western states, many cattle barons began to extend their activity north of the 49^th Parallel.  Sensitive to the encroachment of American influence in western Canada, the Dominion government took several measures to ensure the “Canadianization” of this region.  A Department of the Interior was formed to oversee developments on the central prairies, a North-west Mounted Police force was formed to establish law and order, and a Dominion Lands Act was passed to see to the orderly disposition of Crown lands to British subjects, or those who would agree to become British subjects.  Plans were also put in place to extend a transcontinental railway through the region.

Another measure taken by the government to ensure the loyalty of the region to Canada was to encourage a ranching industry in the western foothills, with capital to be provided by eastern Canadian and British entrepreneurs.  For such Canadian or British cattle companies, vast tracts of land would be set aside as grazing leases.  By the early 1880’s, much of the southern foothills of what was to become Alberta was therefore given over to a few major cattle companies, including the Cochrane, Winder, Walrond, Northwest, Quorn, Stewart and Stinson Ranches.  Their success depended to a great extent on the arrival of the CPR, which reached the site of Fort Calgary in 1883.

Another major ranching operation was founded in 1882 by Alexander Staveley Hill, a Conservative Member of the British House of Commons, backed by Lord Lathan.  This was the Oxley Ranch, which came to base its operation on two vast tracts in the districts of present day Champion and Staveley, north of Fort Macleod.  This ranch flourished throughout most of the 1880’s and 1890’s, and, during much of this time, its success appears to have been due to the efficient management of John Roderick Craig.  An added benefit was the extension of the Calgary & Edmonton Railway from Calgary to Fort Macleod in 1892, which eliminated the necessity of making long cattle drives to Calgary.

By the end of the decade however, changes were in the air.  In order to provide a greater population base in western Canada, the new Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier began to curtail the predominance of many of the large ranches by not renewing the grazing leases on much of the range land.  The idea was to encourage smaller independent farms and ranches, which would specialize in mixed farming.  During the early 20^th century, many of the large ranches went out of business, while others saw their scope of operation severely curtailed, including the Oxley Ranch.

During its heyday, the western portion of the Oxley Ranch had based its operation from headquarters on NE14 TP13 R28 W4.  On this site today there is a log house which was, no doubt, part of the Oxley Ranch operation at some point, and possibly the home of its manager, John Craig.  It is located next to a trail that extended from Fort Macleod to Calgary, but which went out of use after the C & E Railway to the east saw the center of activity also shift, when railway communities like Claresholm and Staveley emerged.  Near the house is a wood frame barn on a large concrete foundation built into a hillside which could also have been part of the Oxley Ranch.  The buildings are also spoken of as having been part of a North-west Mounted Police detachment, which existed in the district in the late 1880’s, but was moved to Claresholm shortly after the railway came through.

The Oxley Ranch buildings provide structural evidence of one of the biggest ranching operations in the southern Alberta foothills, prior to 1900.  They tell of both social and commercial activities of the ranch, and of the southern Alberta cattle industry in general during this time.   The buildings are also important in being close to the original cattle trail between Fort Macleod and Calgary, which was the major thoroughfare between these two centers prior to the coming of the railway in 1892.  In November 2006, they were designated a Provincial Historic Resource.

Written by: David Leonard, Historian

Visit the Alberta Register of Historic Places to learn more about the heritage value of the Leavings at Willow Creek (Oxley Ranch), near Claresholm. 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 Leavings at Willow Creek.

When the Canadian Pacific Railway was planning for its continental line to the pacific coast during the 1870s, a favoured route saw the track proceeding northwest from Brandon, Manitoba through the Yellowhead Pass, crossing the North Saskatchewan River near the small Northwest Mounted Police community of Fort Saskatchewan.  In the end, the CPR chose the Kicking Horse Pass, and the line was extended past Fort Calgary in 1883.  Eight years later, a subsidiary of the CPR, the Calgary & Edmonton Railway, brought rail service directly to South Edmonton, and Edmonton soon emerged as a district metropolis.

In 1904, Edmonton became a city, and the following year it was named the capital of Alberta.  As this was taking place, the city was making preparations for the arrival of the Canadian Northern Railway, which would give it a direct rail connection with eastern Canada.

Somewhat ironically, the route chosen for the Canadian Northern was roughly that selected for the CPR in 1877, except that, after passing by Fort Saskatchewan, it was made to swing southwest to include Edmonton. Fort Saskatchewan thus received a railway as early as the fall of 1905.

In anticipation of the arrival of the railway, Fort Saskatchewan began to grow rapidly.  In July 1904, it became a town with over 500 people.  It was, therefore, appropriate that the Canadian Northern construct a station befitting the largest community on its line between Edmonton and North Battleford.  While rail construction proceeded, work WAS begun on a wood frame station according to a newly devised 100-19 plan, which called for a long, vertical building, with an upper floor to accommodate the station agents and their families.  It was located just west of the town center and was completed in October, 1905.  In its immediate vicinity, a large water tower and a Brackman-Kerr elevator were erected at the same time.

Being in the center of a rich farming district, Fort Saskatchewan continued to grow after the arrival of the CNoR.  The railway bridge across the North Saskatchewan also served as a traffic bridge, giving the town direct automobile access to Edmonton some 20km away.  Several other elevators soon dotted the skyline near the station, and a stockyard was located nearby. Read more →