EDMONTON DISTRICT 1899 - 1904

NORTH WEST TERRITORIES

The Salzl and Gauthier Families move to the District of Alberta

THIS PERIOD  COVERS 1899 TO 1904

04/09/2008

ALBERTA HISTORY 1905-1907

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THE END OF THE (ALBERTA) NORTH WEST TERRITORIES

1899 

Marlin Callihoo (f) Metis born June 22, 1899 Alberta daughter Jean Francois Callihoo, Iroquois Metis born August 29, 1855 Alberta most likely Devil Lake (Lac Ste Anne) married about 1890 Elizabeth British Metis born August 25, 1871 Alberta, living Lac Sainte Anne 1901.

Trail Creek, (Alberta), marriage, Robert Hardwood, Metis, born 1876 Alberta, married Settann, Metis, b-1875 Alberta. One child is noted: Joseph P. b-1900. 

The South African War broke out and by October Canadian troops were involved, seven thousand in all, before it ended in 1902.

Saint Joachim Church in Edmonton listed 175 Metis in their parish.  The Gray Nuns (Sisters of Charity) (Sisters of Assumption?), opened a residential school in St. Paul des Metis.  Many successful Metis farmers are not allowed to settle in St. Paul as model farmers because the Oblates, other than Father Lacombe (1827-1916), did not believe it would ever be successful and secretly began to undermine the operation and encourage settlement by French Canadians who in their opinion were better Catholics, as they would do as they were told.  Those Metis who are allowed in St. Paul des Metis are only allowed eighty acres by the Board of Management that was controlled by the Church (Father Therein).  Father Therein is well aware that this is only half of what a European farmer needed to be successful.  Father Therein is classified as a demanding, rigid, inflexible, miserly man in his dealings with the Metis or his colleagues.  He is not open and frank and is not liked by the community.  Bishop Vital Justin Grandin (1829-1902) is playing a sick joke on the Native peoples he called his flock.  A.A. Ruttan a Government Inspector for the Department of Interior visited St. Paul des Metis and wrote an enthusiastic report.  The Metis had harvested 300 bushels of wheat, 400 bushels' barley, 500 bushel's oats and they would have done better if they had more farm machinery.  They only had eight or ten ploughs and one or two sets of disc harrows.  They are building a saw and grist mill with the machinery already on site.  There are 21 good sows and a boar.  The whole operation seems to be on a business like basis and well conducted. Lawrence Garneau, Metis had purchased a large steam engine, a case 85 horse power, and is in the process of building the first of three saw mills in the Saint Paul des Metis district.  One would be located at Saint Paul des Metis, one at Elk Point in the Moose Hills, and the third north of St. Edwouard.  This is in response to a commitment to Father Lacombe (1827-1916) as part of his commitment to the success of the enterprise.

Father Albert Lacombe (1827-1916) on his celebration of his golden jubilee said:  "They cannot kill me -- neither bishops nor Governments."

The glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, Banff, Alberta advanced in the late 1800's.  The years 1899-1900 were strong El Nino years.

The North Saskatchewan River, in Edmonton (Alberta), went on a rampage and took the old steamboat North West to break away and smash up on one of the Low Level Bridge pears.

The village of Bouleauville is incorporated, into the Mission District of Calgary.  Bouleauville was a French Metis community near the Elbow River.

Fort Saskatchewan became a village this year.

Innisfail became a village this year.

Wetaskiwin became a village this year.

Strathcona became a village this year.

Laurence Garneau moved a saw mill from Edmonton to Saint Paul des Metis and a steam engine.  Actually he bought 3 mills into the district, one at St Edouard and Moose Hills near Elk Point, Alberta. 

The Roman Catholic parish records of St. Albert, during the past twenty years, recorded the relative wealth of the faithful.

On February 23, 1899:  Imperial Oil Limited took over the Sarnia Refinery as well as all Standard Oils other Canadian resources.  

On April 29, 1899:  Strathcona, (Alberta), across the river from Fort Edmonton,  is incorporated as a town of eleven hundred and fifty six people.  Strathcona is named after a wealthy Lord Strathcona, alias (I)-Donald A. Smith born 1808 in Scotland, an employee of the Hudson Bay Company in Labrador for thirteen years.  He amassed a considerable fortune from the Nascopie People who suffered a considerable mortality rate during his reign.  They were reduced to starvation and cannibalism so that Lord Strathcona could live and prosper.

June 15: Strathcona (South Edmonton) is incorporated as a town with a population of 1,156.

1900  

Henry Fuller Davis (1820-1900) is better known as 'twelve foot Davis' for his 12 foot claim on a gap between two other claims that he made $12,000.00 worth of gold.  Few remember his Northern Freightways business running between Quesnel, Fort Vermilion and Fort Edmonton.  He employed over 100 men.  He had an unshakable reputation for treating Indians fairly.  He advanced credit to the Indians and considered them to be inherently honest.  He nearly always was paid up.  He used the Indians as canoe men and packers.  Those who really knew him say he was known for his kindness and hospitality to all.  Davis was not a religious man and wrote his own epitaph by saying he was not afraid to die because I never killed anyone. never stole from nobody, never willfully harmed nobody and always kept an open house, for all travelers all my life.  It is noteworthy that the Egyptian origin of the ten commandments took this form of 'I did not kill' rather than 'thou shall not kill'.   

Alexander & John Garneau


Alexander Garneau (1889-1918) and John Garneau (1885-1949) both of Strathcona (Edmonton, Alberta).  John is the grandfather of the author.

Louis Garneau b-1872 son Lawrence Garneau (1840-1921) and Eleanor Thomas (1851-1912) of Strathcona (Edmonton, Alberta) and the other person is unknown

Father Lacombe (1827-1916) visited Rome and Austria attempting to recruit Ukrainian Catholic Priests for the growing Ukrainian population of western Canada.

Ted Humphrey is believed to be the first settler in Writing on the Wall Provincial Park on the Milk River, Alberta. 

Malcolm Norris (Redskin Norris), a Metis (1900-1967), is born Edmonton, North West Territories, son John Norris and Euphrosine Plante Metis of St. Albert.

Malcolm Norris (Redskin Norris), born 1900 Edmonton, North West Territories, died 1967. Son John Norris and Euphrosine Plante Metis of St. Albert, daughter Xavier Plante and Elizabeth (Belcourt) Metis of Lac Ste Anne (Devil's Lake).

Trail Creek marriage. John Rushell, Metis, b-1863 Alberta, married Justine, Metis, b-1881 Alberta. One child is recorded: John, b-1901 Trail Creek.

LAWRENCE & ELEANOR GARNEAU

In the early 1900's Lawrence Garneau, Metis and (IV)-Eleanor Thomas, Metis visited Montreal for a Roman Catholic Eucharistic Congress meeting.  At this time they had photographs taken of themselves.  These photographs can be seen at the Historic Exhibits in Edmonton, Alberta.  Another photo in the family possession is also taken at Niagara falls but could have been from this visit or another visit in 1912.

Father Therein, the Oblate, went to Dakota Territory allegedly to persuade half-breeds (Metis) to come to St. Paul de Metis. However his mission is to encourage full blooded French Catholics to come to Alberta.  Francis Exazier (Xavier) Gauthier (b-1846) and brother Micheal Stanislaus Gauthier (1850-1934) moved to Morinville in 1900, where he owned a brick yard.

Vast armies of harvesters from Eastern Canada made an annual migration to the West to harvest the crops for two dollars per day.  It took ten men to harvest what one man could sow.  This is the land that the Hudson Bay Company proclaimed not fit for habitation.  The population of the Dominion of Canada had reached five million people.  The Calgary Eye Opener Newspaper is banned on the Canadian Pacific Railway, denied use of the mail service, and is sermonized against from the pulpits.

The 1st Canadian made commercial is ironically racist in nature.  It is a promotional movie sponsored by the C.P.R. to encourage English immigration. 

The Low Level bridge in Edmonton (Alberta) is opened for train traffic and the first train crossed this year.

Taylorville (Alberta) is recorded to be a Mormon village this year by the RCMP but does not appear in the 1901 census.  The RCMP again referred to the town in 1908.

Galician (Austro-Hungarian) farm
 This is a typical Galician Farm, (Austro-Hungarian peasants), skilled at growing wheat. They were so highly regarded by Canada that brokers were paid a bonus of $2.00 per person and $5.00 per family head of house to entice them to Canada. The French at Morinville, Alberta however were not pleased to have these people in their community, even if they were Roman Catholics. The Salzl were Austro-Hungarian and settled in Morinville, (Alberta).  This photo however is from Manitoba.

Western Land Grants 1870-1930 issued to Salzl family included:

Mathias Salzl NW 28-53-23-W3
Mathias Salzl NW 30-51-26-W4
Rudolph Salzl NW 26-53-24-W3
Rudolph Salzl     S 26-53-24-W3
Joseph Salzl     NE 28-53-24-W3
Joseph Salzl       S 36-53-24-W3

Abram Pearce formally of Nova Scotia went up river from Edmonton (Alberta) to Kelley's Landing with William McDougal Jr. to work for Lyons and McGennis who operated a gold dredge and sawmill.

February 1:   The Canadian Government increased the head tax on Chinese immigration to $100 per head to restrict this undesirable elements according to the English.  There were 80 Chinese men living in Calgary at this time.  This racist Head Tax would not be repealed until 1967.

November 3:   Seven of ten Garneau children, namely: Alexander, Charlotte, Lawrence Jr., Jean Marie,  Agatha and Lawrence Sr. for the deceased Victoria, made application for land script to the North West Half Breed Commission.   All received script except  Victoria, who is disallowed because she is born before 1870 and died before 1900.

1901

Sigurdson Benson, b-1827 Iceland married to Holinfind, b-1837 Iceland, living Burnt Lake 1901.

The Salzl family from South Dakota are listed in the 1901 census as Rose Ridge near Morinville, (Alberta).

1900"s Maria Leuer Salzl
Maria Leuer (Leier) Salzl born 1852 Wallern, Austria and died 1932 Edmonton, Alberta.

She homesteaded first at Zell, South Dakota then at Morinville, (Alberta).

This photo is likely taken at Morinville, (Alberta)
Maria Leuer is the mother of Mathias Salzl noted below.
 

Raymond de Malherbe of France owned a ranch near Millarville called the Sheep Creek Horse Ranch aka Frenchman's Place.  He was not alone as several dozen ranches surrounded him.

During a very cold winter, a horse threw (III)-Mathias Salzl, age sixteen, while he is going for the mail, south east of Morinville.  During the long walk home he froze both his feet.  This was a fairly common condition in the early days and the amputation of both feet drove many a pioneer to suicide.  A recent case reported from Calgary highlights that this is not an uncommon affliction.  He however learned to carve wooden feet and make high laced boots that he wore bound tight to his legs so that he could walk without the aid of a cane.  It must have been painful at times, yet all his life I never once heard him complain about his misfortune nor anything else for that matter.

Lawrence Garneau, Metis and his family moved to St. Paul de Metis East of Strathcona, one hundred and twenty miles down the Saskatchewan River.  This is his commitment to Father Lacombe's 'Metis Colony Vision' where he carried on farming, trading, and ranching.  The local Metis and Natives referred to the cluster of buildings, that marked the homestead at Saint Paul de Metis, as Garneau Village.  The Family still maintained the Garneau Estates as it is called in Strathcona.  The 1901 census listed Eleanor Garneau, Metis as storekeeper in Strathcona, living with Agatha Garneau, Metis, and all living with Peter Lacombe born October 14, 1858, listed as a son in law of Eleanor Garneau, Metis.  Father Albert Lacombe, Metis (1827-1916)  wrote in his letter titled Redemption of the Half Breed Race, Metis,  "Had we solicited settlers, the population would be 1500. There is 1,500 to 1,800 acres in cultivation, 1,500 cattle, and 900 horses. We are bound to remain in our post and persevere in our work, even if the whole world is leagued against us."  This is a reference to the Oblate Order including Bishop Vital Justin Grandin (1829-1902).  He also said to those who are against the St. Paul des Metis plan, "that is a matter which belongs to them and for which they must be left responsible before God and before man."

Louis Garneau, Metis and Edward Garneau, Metis filed for Metis land claims at Saint Paul de Metis some time before 1908.  The actual date they permanently moved to their new location is unknown.  Louis married Edmonton about 1907 and it is highly probable they stayed to farm the Strathcona homestead.  Louis Garneau, Metis also secured a homestead near Flat Lake, North West Territories.

April 1:  The population of the west is:  Manitoba 255,211, B.C. 178,657, Saskatchewan 91,279, Alberta 73,022, Yukon 27,219, NWT 20,129.

April 1:  Court action was commenced over who owned the Church at Star, Alberta.  The Greek Orthodox Church (Orthodox) had land title rights but the United Greek Catholic Church (Uniates) claim ownership starting a seven years lawsuit going as high as the King's Privy Council in London.

April:  The Greek Orthodox and Uniates came to blows over the Church at Star Alberta.   The Uniates shouted "we want no Orthodox, no Schismatic here"!  The Orthodox shouted "no popery, no tithes'.  Stones flew, clods of frozen earth flew, women and children screamed from the sidelines, men grappled in the middle.  Beards were torn, hair was pulled, blood began to mix with mud.  There was no Easter morning service at the church of Star.

October 3:  (I)-Armand Louis Leon Trochu, born April 15, 1857 Belle Isle, Brittany, France who married 1882 Marguerite Marie Lorois of Nantes sailed for Canada to build an empire in Alberta to be named St. Ann Ranch and Trading Company.

November:  The first oil well drilled by Alexander Calvert in Waterton, South West (Alberta) is producing 300 barrels per day.  Others suggest it was more like 30-40 barrels a day.  They hit oil at 1,020 (1024) feet.  The well stopped producing by 1904.  The Rocky Mountain Development Co owned by Allan P Patrick, John Lineham of Okotoks and John K Leeson of Calgary had brought in a modern rig for $680.00 from Ontario.   Oil seepage has been used for many years by the Indians and early pioneers.  This discovery resulted in the creation of Oil City, 20 blocks long, lots were sold and buildings erected. 

1902 

Edward Hollinshead, born February 2, 1891 lived in Coal Creek, Crows Nest Pass (Alberta) 1902 to 1905.  He recall's the blast nearly scared him to death, he thought the end of the world had come. 

Failing to heed the continuous warnings of the Indians about the unstable condition of Turtle Mountain, on April 29, ninety million tons of rock destroyed much of the town of Frank in the Crows Nest Pass, killing sixty six people.

Father Joseph Arcade Ethier replaced Father J.M. Jolicoeur at Morinville, (Alberta).

Saint Paul des Metis has 25 ploughs, 5 disc harrows, a thrashing machine, grist mill, and sawmill.  The Federal Government, however, still would not provide support for Metis education saying they are not Indians.  The more Saint Paul des Metis succeeds, the more Father Therien complains that his assignment is a disappointment and anguishes, as he had previously said, that he had serious doubts about the advisability and viability of the project.  All indications suggest he undermined the project from inception.  John Bang requested permission to file for land on the Metis Colony but is refused by the Government.

Mr Cashel alias Ellsworth, Neil and Carter is reported in Edmonton from Calgary with a warrant on his head for forgery, theft and later murder.  He was reported all over the northwest and was eventually arrested in 1903 and sent to jail for 3 years.  He escaped and was eventually convicted of the murder of Rufus Belt and hung February 2, 1904.

The Canadian Government buys the largest herd of buffalo (bison) in the world (400) for the proposed Wood Buffalo National Park (established 1922) in northern (Alberta).

(I)-Armond Trochu b-1857 in Calgary (Alberta) wrote the cowboys are a good lot, but you have to know how to take them.  They are proud as peacocks, very pictures with their enormous hats held back behind their heads by a cord, their red shirts, flowing red ties and big Mexican pants.  They are afraid of nothing.  The Canadian cowboy saddles are noting short of amazing.  The French horse could not handle the rigors of the Canadian horse.

September 21:  Alex Calvert, Jerry McDonnell, and Frank Urnberg struck oil at 1,020 feet at Cameron Creek near Lake Waterton, District of Alberta.  The production rate is thirty to forty barrels per day.  Others suggest it is 300 barrels per day and it played out in a few years.  The Indians had been using the oil seepage in the creek for centuries.  

1903 

Billy Cochrane of High River, North West Territories claimed to have introduced the first automobile into Alberta.  

Louis Garneau, Metis,  b-1872 filed Fort Edmonton for Metis Script

Edward Garneau, Metis, b-1874-1859) filed Fort Edmonton for Metis Script

COVE OREGON
 DEPARTING COVE, OREGON
 

Michael Stanislaus Gauthier, with his family, departed Cove, Oregon in 1903.  Cove, located in the North East of Oregon, is between the Blue Mountains and the Wallowa Mountains.    They departed for the North West Territories because a cousin at Morinville, North West Territories (Alberta) had written to say there was good land in the Territories and no problem with the Native peoples.  The Roman Catholic Oblate Fathers, especially Father Morin, are encouraging all French Canadians living in the United States to immigrate to the Territories around Fort Edmonton.  Their trip from Oregon to Edmonton is in Red River Carts while driving their flock of chicken and geese before them.  The journey from Oregon to Fort Edmonton took four months of hard travel.  Daughter Mary Alexazina Gauthier, who is fifteen at the time, recalled that those Red River Carts sounded like wailing banshee's and that the dust is unbearable.  The use of axle grease on the carts resulted in collected dust that would eventually seize the hubs to the axles.  As a result each ungreased hub rubbed with an ear-stabbing screech.

Mary Alexazina Gauthier recalled her first exposure to Fort Calgary, located near the Elbow and Bow Rivers in Calgary.  She recalled her father, Michael Stanislaus Gauthier, saying that this is no place to raise a family because of the drunkenness of the inhabitants of the Fort.  They pressed on northward to Morinville, just north of Saint Albert.

Lord Mount Stephen donated $2,000 and James J. Hill $5,000 to Father Lacombe's Saint Paul des Metis mission.  The disposition of the money is unknown.

(I)-Armand Louis Leon Trochu, b-1857 hired de Chauney to guide him to Trochu Valley where he staked his claim and built St. Ann's of Three Hills.  He built a house and barn and fences and corrals are under construction.

This is the year of the 'Great Prairie Blizzard', accompanied by  bright sun light.  Many horses went snow-blind and killed themselves by tumbling over precipices.  Saint Paul des Metis had a crop failure that resulted in small Government grants to purchase seed grain.  

Bankhead 7 km (4 miles) N.E. Banff is created this year to provide coal for the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway).  At its peak the town numbered 1,500 people.  The mine was closed in 1922 and by 1926-27 the last of the 72 houses was moved to Banff, Alberta.

A local Drumheller rancher recorded the first coal lease in the Drumheller (Alberta) area but never went into commercial production.

Abram Pearce helped build the S.S. Strathcona a steamboat for John Walters and it was used between Edmonton (Alberta) to Fort Pitt for the Bar Colony at Loidminister (Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan).

May:  Rev. I.M. Barr arrived with 2,000 British settlers, 2/3 were women and children at the Barr Colony (Lloydminister).  They had very few farming skills, William Rendell was one of the few who did. 

March 3:  The cry in Quebec was "sell everything and head west where, they could get nice farms".  Forty dollars for each one over 12 years and half fare for those younger, bought a ticket to Edmonton (Alberta).  The LaPierre, Desrosieres, St. Hilaires and Goulet were on their way to a new life this date.  Quarter sections of land went for $10.00 each at Duvernay (Alberta).

April 18:   Three Garneau claims for Metis script are disallowed by Ottawa.  Record #768987 disallowed Louis, Edward and Victoria Garneau Metis.  Louis and Edward are probably disallowed because they had no birth or baptism certificates.  Victoria is disallowed probably because she is born before 1870 and has recently died.

April 29:   At 4:10 A.M. a mountain of limestone destroyed Frank Lake and the town of Frank in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.  The slide killed 70 people and buried the edge of the town.  More than 500 other people in the town survived the slide.  Seventeen miners are trapped underground for 13 hours but managed to dig their way out.  The Blackfoot and Kuteni People knew Turtle Mountain as the mountain that moves.  They made it very clear that they wouldn't camp near the mountain.  The name Turtle Mountain was assigned by Louis Garnett because he said it looked like a turtle.

August 8:   Medicine Hat is cooking with natural gas that had been bubbling into the river for generations.  The Natives, for generations, referred to this section of the river as the Angry River.

November 19:   Morinville, North West Territories, birth (II)-Adrian Hope Metis (1903-1986), son of (I)-Harry Hope and Marie Cecil, Cree Indian. Adrian married ,October 21, 1929, Julia DePagie..

1904 

Typical Trochu, Alberta homestead

Count Paul de Beaudrap had returned to France but came back to Trochu, Alberta in 1904, determined to make a go of his holdings.  He and his Countess established a new home near Trochu, Alberta, in 1906 where he built up a successful ranch which produced good livestock.  Even Counts and Countess had to start with modest homes.

Frederick Haultrain, premier of the North West Territories wanted to call Alberta/Saskatchewan the province of Buffalo but Ottawa disagreed.

Michael Stanislaus Gauthier arrived with his family and wintered (1903-1904) with relatives near Morinville, (Alberta).  Daughter Mary Alexazina Gauthier recalled, with a sense of pride, her first Alberta wintering experience in a tent.  She explained it had wooden walls and the tent becomes the upper walls and roof.  They had to bank snow on the lower walls to provide some insulation.  It is with some trepidation that she entered into her first encounter with the Native peoples of this Alberta.  A party of Savage Natives arrived and sat themselves down without saying a word.  Fortunately her mother Lea Ouimette understood the expectations of frontier hospitality.  The code of conduct says they would always have tea and biscuits available for unexpected quests.  The Stately Natives ate without a single word being uttered.  Upon completion, they took all the remaining food served and departed without so much as a good-bye.  She thought this rather strange but surely not savage as is taught in school. 

A short time later Michael Gauthier took his daughter Mary Alexazina Gauthier into Fort Edmonton.  On the way Michael sighted a number of Natives on a far off hill top sitting on their horses.  He told Alexazina they must take the long way around as he is in a hurry to get to the Fort.  This sounded rather strange and Alexazina is sure her father didn't want to be caught out on the prairies in Indian territory.  In a few minutes the Natives came riding over the hill, hell bent for election.  They surrounded us and sternly escorted us to their village.  Alexazina, being an impressionable sixteen years old, thought the end was at hand.  Visions of being burned at the stake, or worse, are running through her mind.  She recalled, we were obliged to recline and they served tea and biscuits.  After we had our fill, we are obliged to take what ever is left when we departed.  Michael later told his daughter Alexazina that the Natives would have considered it a great dishonor if we hadn't stopped for tea.  He said he was in a hurry to get to town and was trying to avoid their village but not trying to show disrespect.  This encounter would have a profound positive impact on her opinion of the Native peoples that did not change throughout her life.

Fernand Morin and Charles Tremblay received assurance from Government guide, Ambrose Gray, that they could file on Saint Paul des Metis colony land.  The Government rejects their application.  Father Therien took an active part in the Liberal elections to swing the Metis vote to support Frank Oliver (1853-1933) a Liberal, son Allen Bowsfield,.  The price for his support is the appointment of Abbe Alderic Ouellette as immigration agent to direct the Bishops immigration to Alberta.  Father Therien had hatched his evil plot to commence the destruction of the Metis.  Father Therien tried to leave the impression that nothing had been decided concerning the opening of the colony.  The infamous Frank Oliver (1853-1933), son Allen Bowsfield held the position of Superintendent General of Indian Affairs (1905-1911).

An unknown Strathcona Clarion writer, who was obviously European, recorded his encounter with Lawrence Garneau, Metis as follows: "Few of us ever really understood the complex character of the Half-Breed.  The lights and shades of his variable nature were not clearly enough defined to admit of clear comprehension and certainly not of definition to anyone accustomed only to the clear-cut racial distinctions of world-old peoples, for the point of view of the Half-Breed is to be sometimes felt but never described.  Once only it was given to me and then by the master hand of one of the race through the magic music of his violin, for few men I have been told, could play the violin as could Lavoy (Larry) Garneau, the finest of the French Half-Breed, it has ever been my fortune to meet.

The long summer day of the Saskatchewan (River) and close had we sat in the coolness of the evening looking out over the river, where, high above the feeble flickering lights of the little settlement on the northern bank, shone the bright, glimmering stars of the universe, and the words of the intellectual man at my side were in harmony with the scene.  He talked ethically of the rights of man, the duties of government, personal freedom, etc., and the desultory conversation gradually drifted from wondering at the purpose of creation, the law of the powerful, the injuries of the weak, and the abstract theories as to man's relations with the Infinite, until as the shadows deepened the soft, deep voice of Larry (Lawrence) Garneau spoke directly of the rights and wrongs of his people.

Unconsciously I must have assumed the mental attitude that a legal training and teaching of my race would once beget.  With keen intuition my companion understood." " Lawrence Garneau responded "Sympathy and feeling, human qualities, as necessary in the judgment of worldly things as they are in religion, should be brought to bear on the question of Half-Breed rights and wrongs," " he said quietly, reaching for his violin."  "Let me tell you the story of the Half-breed."  "And with the stars glimmering down upon us, with no sound to break the quietness of the night but the soft swishing flow of the mighty Saskatchewan, the notes of the violin, now vibrating with the swirl of the buffalo hunt and the mad merriment of the dance, then softening to some old French love song brought over seas and prairies from Brittany now murmuring the quaint, sweet lullabies of childhood, then breaking into the fierce chants of war and revenge at last died away in the wailing sadness of a requiem that told of a dying race.  Only the other day I heard a great military band of world-wide repute tell the awful story of Bonaparte's most disastrous campaign, with blare of trumpet, the shriek of shells and the groans of the wounded, and some at least learned something of the horrors of war.  From the throbbing notes of the singing, sobbing violin pressed under the strong chin of -Larry Garneau, from his deep chested words of rapid explanations uttered now and then during the recital, from his softened or flashing eyes and the mobile features of his expressive face in the clear northern starlight, I learned the tragic Story of the Half-Breed."

The Toronto Saturday Night continued their malicious attack on Edmonton and her population of French, French Metis, Half-Breed  Gallican (Celtic, Scottish, Irish and Welsh), and others not of the Anglo-Saxon Race for electing a foreigner the likes of Frank Oliver (1853-1933), son Allen Bowsfield..  They went on to say that the Mountain is a great Canadian Constituency, it is not an Edmonton, it is not the home of the lately Romanian of the Doukhobors and of other foreigners. Its voice is the voice of the West.  This Roman Anglo-Saxon bigotry would become ingrained into the Canadian mosaic.  Church, Government, Courts, and Business would systematize this fanaticism of hate, violence and suppression of other races of people.

Content, Alberta alias Trail Creek des Metis is abandoned because the CPR passed to the north with a branch line from Lacombe to Stettler.  All that remained by 1908 is a Metis grave site with some 40 graves that were covered by spirit houses in the Indian fashion. 

Deadman's Flats east of Banff is so named because a French immigrant hearing voices in his head killed his brother.

(I)-Armand Louis Leon Trochu, b-1857 returned from France with new partners Joseph Devilder and Leon Eckenfelder.

Camrose, N.W.T. (Alberta) became a town.

Fort Saskatchewan (Alberta) became a town this year.

Some say the first automobile arrived in Edmonton and Lacombe this year.

The King Edward Hotel is built by Louis Charlebois in Calgary's east end.

King Edward VII gives the prefix 'Royal' to the N.W.M.P.  Many Canadians are not pleased.

February 2:  Coal Creek, Crows Nest Pass (Alberta) , Edward Hollinshead, b-1891 began working Coal Creek No. 2 mine in the Beaver Deeps until 1909. 

July 19:  The Pearce Bro's steamer, S.S. City of Edmonton, is launched and scows freight and passengers between Fort Edmonton, Fort Pitt and Battleford and was still operating in 1911.  

On November 7 (or October 8):   Edmonton , a center of 8,300 people, incorporated as a city and became the most northerly Metropolis in North America.  Calgary at this time has 12,000 people. 

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ALBERTA HISTORY 1905-1907