Oscar Raymond Knight was born April 8, 1872 at Payson, Utah. He
grew up on the ranch home west of Payson. Here he learned the
skills of farming and caring for livestock which became a part of
him. His education in Payson and the Brigham Young Academy
gave him the foundation to continue school but he longed for the
outdoor life of the ranch and to be with his fine horses and cattle.
He always owned the best stock money could buy.

He filled a mission for his church in England and toured western
Europe before he returned to work with his father.

In 1901 he was sent to Southern Alberta by his father to look over
the new country. So much did it appeal to him with its spacious
plains and abundant grass that he decided to make it his home.
Here his father bought large areas and Raymond followed suit.
The town of Raymond was named after him and his father brought
in a sugar factory to help open up this virgin land for settlers.

Raymond Knight was a big man, both in stature, ideas, and ambition,
and his generous heart was in keeping with his size. He bought large
ranches and stocked them with the best cattle and horses on the
range. It took a lot of men to run these places but these he found
among the many settlers whom he had encouraged to come in. He
made a trip to England and brought back over three hundred of the
finest work horses that he could find. These became the nucleus of
the heavy work breeds so necessary to pull the plows and other
machinery of the farmers in those days. As his herd grew he sold or
loaned them out to farmers who broke them to work and after the
harvest was over returned them to the Knight ranch or bought them
outright. He also bought milk cows and loaned those to needy people
with the instruction to keep them as long as they needed them but to
take good care of them. He donated to the town the Victoria Park
and the land for the Agriculture School and farm and the cemetery.

Besides his own property which was all over Southern Alberta and as
far north as Brooks, he managed the Knight Sugar Company holdings.
When one considers a ranch of nearly 400,000 acres of land, fenced
and divided into many pastures, stocked with 15,000 head of cattle
and 40,000 sheep, one can realize the enormous responsibility of the
job. Yet he had time for sports, and community activities to enrich the
lives of everyone.

He organized and fathered the first stampede in Canada at Raymond
and was an active participant in it. He introduced calf roping along with
chariot races, and the Roman race with two horses but one driver
standing with one foot on each horse. What thrillers these were!

His fame as a great stampeder soon spread across the continent. He
was asked to stage a stampede for the Prince of Wales in Saskatoon,
to be judge at the stampede in Madison Square Garden, New York, and
to put on stampedes in many places. He won many honors and trophies
at these shows for he was an outstanding cowboy himself. At Calgary
in 1924 he was awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy which consisted
of a silver calf mounted on a polished block with a silver rope dragging
from its neck. This is one of his most coveted prizes.

In 1917 his father's interests in Utah became to extensive that he
asked Ray to sell out and return to help him. This Mr. Knight was
prepared to do.

When the people of Southern Alberta heard of this they arranged
a farewell banquet in his honor at which the following resolutions
were adopted.

TO RAYMOND KNIGHT

It is with profoundest regret that the people of Southern Alberta
meet tonight to bid farewell. No better evidence of sincere
appreciation and esteem could be had than the presence of
so many friends. You have been with us so many years that
we are indeed reluctant to say "Good-bye". It is a great source
of joy to know that your distinguished father desires your services
in the management of his extensive enterprises and is a further
witness that you are a worthy son of a noble sire.

"When you came to Alberta seventeen years ago there was little
or no development in this vast prairie land. Through you importation
of purebred horses and extensive breeding of cattle and sheep
and the cultivation of thousands of acres of land, the prairie had
been transformed so that today we have numerous farms, thriving
towns, and villages, happy homes and a contented prosperous
people. In the material and practical things of our Provincial life
you have rendered great assistance. We recognize in you a man
of faith, of ambition, of judgment and of vision. You are not only
big and stong in body; and wise and honest in judgment; and great
and broad in intelligence; but you are likewise upright and sound in
character, so that you have gained the proud distinction and are
entitled to the appelation "The noblest work of God".

"Your example will refresh us in the coming days and your vigor
and courage, and ambition, and integrity, will stimulate us to greater
activities. When big questions arise and big issues are at stake
we shall remember your counsel and your example; and your big
manly form coming up on our mental vision will inspire us to endeavor
to meet them in the same big successful way which has characterized
your life and labors in the great Canadian west. We appreciate your
labors, acknowledge with thanks your public service and are grateful
for your association and companionship and in bidding you farewell,
we sincerely wish for you and yours, bon voyage, God's blessing,
health, happiness and success.

"Signed on behalf of the people of Southern Alberta by Duncan
Marshall, Minister of Agriculter:
T.J. O'Brien, Mayor of Raymond
Ernest Bennion, Mayor of Magrath
A. J. McLean, Minister of Public Works
W. D. L. Hardie, Mayor of Lethbridge
W. E. Pitcher, Mayor of Cardston
THIS 12th DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1917."

When Raymond Knight arrived in Utah he went over the affairs of
the Knight Investment Company with his father, and after considerable
deliberation he reached the conclusion that he would not fit into the
picture as outlined and concluded to return to Canada where be
began accumulating large tracts of land. Through the subsequent
years financial successes and failures came but his indomitable
spirit never quit striving.

In early 1942 he had a stroke from which he never recovered and
although he received the best medical care science could give, he
suffered until Feb. 7, 1947 when he died at the age of seventy-four.

Mr. Knight's wife, Isabelle Smith, was a school teacher before she
married. They had five children prior to coming to Alberta. She
lived in Raymond a number of years but her health was impaired and
she returned to Provo where she died. Two of her children preceded
her in death. Her eldest daughter, Uarda was a student of the
University of Utah and a graduate nurse. Raymond, her oldest
son was a mechanic and interested in mining. He enlisted in the World
War of 1914. Kenneth liked farming and worked with his father.
He attended Brigham Young College and the Utah Agricultural College.
He filled two missions for his Church and is the only one of the family still
living in Raymond.

Mr. Knight's second wife was Charlotte Maud Heninger, also a teacher
who was the mother of three sons and two daughters. Her eldest son
Owen died in his youth. Wayne H. filled a mission for the Church in
France and Switzerland. He is a lawyer and lives in California. Jess H.
filled a mission in Germany and is also a lawyer in training. He lives with
his wife and family in Calgary, Alberta. Charlotte H. is a graduate of
the University of Utah and Columbia University and served with distinction
as a reporter with the American Air Force in the Far East. Mary Maxine
graduated from the Brigham Young University, the University of Utah and
specialized in psychiatry in Hartford, Connecticut. She married and lives
in California.

Oscar Raymond Knight was a robust gentleman, "born of the frontier's
need, disdainful of the spoken word, exultant in the deed," No man
did more for his town and district that this great man. Truly, his father
was the founder of the town but Raymond Knight was the builder.

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