MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
It was the railway that brought the settler and his barbed wire,
and this came first in the form of the narrow gauge from
Dunmore to Lethbridge in 1885, followed closely by the line
connecting Lethbridge with Great Falls, Montana. Without
these lines the settlers could not have come, but something
more was needed to turn the tide of immigration in this direction.
Although the railways built for an outlet to their coal mines
incidentally opened the country to settlement, the necessity
of disposing of their large land holdings suggested another
undertaking of even more direct effect upon its history.
This was of course, the inauguration of the Galt Canal
system. The first water reached Lethbridge through the
Galt Canal in September of 1900 and the first farming was
done under the ditch the following year, southeast of the town.
A dozen or so years after the first immigration a second
movement was induced by the demand of the Galt Company
for help on the canal, for which they paid partly in the form
of land script. Successive settlements were made at Magrath
and Stirling (1899) and Raymond (1901).
The results of most of these early experiments in farming
were varied and uncertain, due mainly to improper forms of
cultivation. There was no doubt about the fertility of the
soil, but crops that were grown successfully elsewhere
did not always thrive under the same treatment, though
really phenomenal yields at times showed the possibilities
of the soil under proper conditions. Still, until a really
reliable crop could be discovered, farming was too much
of a gamble. Fortunately such a discovery was not long
delayed.
The fact that the eight elevators that have sprung up on the
Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company's lines within the last
three or four years are taxed to the utmost to handle the crop,
tells the same story; as do the flour mills at Magrath, Raymond
and Cardston and the two at Lethbridge.
Although the Mormons had tried, ever since their first coming,
to raise alfalfa (or Lucerne) which had been one of the
principal crops in the localtry from which they emigrated,
they were not successful. It was not till irrigation water
was obtainable and it was discovered that inoculation was
necessary on the ground on which it was sown that alfalfa
growing was made a success. Now, the district boasts come
fine fields of alfalfa including, within three miles of Lethbridge,
the largest single field of alfalfa in western Canada, this side
of the mountains - some 200 acres, on which for several seasons
two or three cuttings of hay have been made.
Thus two outstanding crops, illustrating two distinct methods
of farming - "dry" and "irrigated" - and both extremely profitable,
have been found adapted to the district. Each has its advantages:
winter wheat raising on non-irrigated land and alfalfa on irrigated
land. Dry land can be bought cheaper and with the use of winter
wheat quicker returns can be obtained. On the other hand, while
it takes two or three years to get alfalfa started, once established
it brings in a constant and large income with comparatively little
expenditure of time and labor, since no plowing is necessary.
In the writer's opinion, judging by older districts similarly located,
the irrigable land will be seeded down so rapidly that in a few years
65 to 70 percent of such land will be handled, which will make
this district one of the largest feeding grounds in western Canada.
Although grown with relatively more profit on irrigated land,
alfalfa on non-irrigated land will produce more hay than any
other cultivated forage crop yet tried, so it need not be
confined to the former no more than winter wheat growing
need be confined to the latter.
It must not be supposed that the products of southern Alberta
are confined to these two crops. In fact space forbids
anything like a detailed description of farming crops. There
are a few, however, that even the most cursory glance at
the resources of the country must include. Among the first
of these comes the raising of sugar beets.
There have been few lines of industry that have interested
capital to such an extent in the last ten years or so, as sugar
beet raising, and with many successes there have also been
numerous failures, owing in the main to unfortunate locations;
for in order to make sugar beet raising profitable, both soil
and climate must be congenial. We have been fortunate in
the combination that exists in this district. The juice of the beet
as grown here is very rich in sugar and has a high co-efficient
of purity.
The Knight Sugar Factory has been running successfully from
the start, using the product of about 8,000 acres last year.
This is, however, only a fraction of the maximum capacity of
the plant.
A rather limited amount was put on the market last summer, but
this was due to the very small acreage planted with the fiuit
and not the lack of yield.
On account of the long days of sunshine, the fruit grown here
is very highly colored and luscious, while coolness of the
weather contributes to its rich flavor. This is one of the many
openings waiting to be taken advantage of by enterprising
farmers and gardeners, as prices are high and the quality of
imported often dubious.
It is a matter of dispute who raised the first apple in the district,
but that they have been raised for a number of years is indisputable,
as witness the gardens of Father Van Tighem and Mrs. Duff in
Lethbridge and several gardens in Magrath. This season R.E.
Sherlock, W.A. Hamilton, W.H. Robson, P.F. Reeve, D.J. Whitney,
H.P. Catrall, and others, picked apples from their own trees.
Indeed, practically all the trees in the district that were old
enough to bear, had fruit.
In the 1880s great cattle outfits established along the foothills
of Southern Alberta, and somewhat later, some farther out
on the prairies. There were no large ranches in our district.
Ranching on a smaller scale was carried on by early pioneers
who ran cattle on land adjacent to the river. A list of early
ranchers would include the names of Hasson, Houk, Russell,
Whitney, and Gwatkin, among others.
Miscellaneous Histories