Early Days
of Medicine Hat
By W. H. McKAY. Calgary, Alta. From Canadian Cattleman magazine, September
1949.
Digitized
by Doug Frizzle, August 2017 (Two articles...)
SEVERAL
people have asked me to write a story of Medicine Hat, its early days and early
residents. The following is my effort to comply with their request. I hope it
will do for them to read until someone comes along who is better qualified to
do so than I.
I remember very little prior to 1888, so I will
touch very lightly on a few things I remember before that year. I will also
relate some of the stories that have been told me by my parents, uncles and
other oldtimers.
Railroad in
1883.
The railroad was built into Medicine Hat fairly
early in the Spring of 1883, which was the most important event of the year. It
was a wonderful sight to the Indians and half-breeds when the first locomotive
pulled in dragging a short mixed train, as they had never seen a train before.
The B. and B. gang started to construct a bridge across the river at once. It
was a trestle or pile bridge. It met with disaster the following spring when a
sudden Chinook wind caused the river to break up and fill with enormous cakes
of ice, which when forced by the swift current, cut down the piles in much the
same way a mowing machine cuts down dry willows. So when the river became clear
of ice the old bridge was replaced by one of steel and limestone piers, the
ones still used. Some years ago the bridge was widened, when concrete piers
were joined to the ones of limestone. The joins are plainly visible to this
day. The limestone was shipped up from Antelope, Sask., where it abounds on
Antelope Creek, which is also known as Cabri or Miry Creek. The first span of
the great bridge, on the town side, was made so that it could be turned
half-way on small wheels, to allow the steamers of the Northwestern Coal and
Navigation Company to pass. Some such are called cantilever spans. After the
steamer passed the span was turned and bolted back in its proper place to accommodate
the trains.
Northwest
Coal and Navigation Company
When Sir A. T. Galt saw the quality and great
quantities of coal on the banks of the Belly River, about 1882, where the city
of Lethbridge is now located, and foreseeing the great commercial possibilities
of the coal, he and his son Elliott organized The Northwest Coal and Navigation
Company, with a capital of Fifty thousand pounds <£50,000>. William
Lethbridge, after whom the new town was named, was the president of the new
company and Elliott Galt its manager.
Their next problem was the transportation of
coal to Medicine Hat, which was the nearest railroad point, where the C.P.R.
agreed to take 20,000 tons a year for five years at $5.00 per ton. Floating the
coal down the river was their intention hence the name of the company. The next
problem was to obtain the material with which to build the necessary steamers
and barges. There being no sawmills in the neighborhood at the time, they decided
to build their own sawmill. So Elliott Galt got a timber limit of 50 square
miles in the Porcupine Hills, about 60 miles west of Lethbridge. A portable sawmill
was brought from eastern Canada by steam up the Missouri river to Fort Benton,
Montana territory, and then by bull train to the timber limit. To transport the
lumber, square timber and mine props to Lethbridge from the sawmill the company
purchased a bull train and a mule train of Missouri mules. A bull train
consisted of four string teams of 16 oxen and three heavy wagons with a
capacity of eleven tons, about 44 tons to each train. It was the same in the
case of the mules. A fair day’s journey for the oxen is said to have been about
12 miles, while the mules were able to make 18. They then engaged a man named Captain
Todd of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was experienced in building and
navigating stern wheel steamers. He had become adept in so doing on the Ohio
River. Early in the spring of 1883, as soon as the building material was cut
and hauled, construction of the steamers and barges was started. The first steamer
to be built was the “Baroness”, which was 225 ft. long. 24 ft. wide. She was
able to handle six barges by pushing them ahead, the total having a capacity of
1,000 tons to each trip. As the steamers were finished they were floated down
to Medicine Hat where the steam boilers and other equipment were installed,
having been shipped on the new railroad from eastern Canada. The next steamer
to be finished was named the “Alberta”, its capacity and dimensions being the
same as the first. The three other steamers built were probably somewhat smaller.
Their names were the “Northcotte”, the “Ully” and the “Minnow”. They were
probably built in the immediate vicinity of the high level bridge. In all 18
barges were built in addition to the steamers. On account of the short season
of high water, during which the steamers could be navigated, it was soon
clear to the company that they could not deliver the volume of coal that was
required to fulfil their contract with the C.P.R. There was also a good demand
for their coal all along the line for domestic purposes. It took only 8 hours
for a steamer to get to Medicine Hat during the six weeks of high water, but
five days to return to Lethbridge. Seeing that they couldn’t depend upon the
steamers to deliver the coal on account of shallowness of the rivers, except
the short two weeks of June and part of July, Mr. Galt decided to build a
railroad to connect with the C.P.R. main line at Dunmore, 7 miles east of
Medicine Hat. It was the only solution. So in the spring of 1885 they started
the construction of a narrow gauge railroad starting from Dunmore, about 110
miles east of Lethbridge.
Narrow Gauge Railroad
The railway was only three feet wide and the locomotives and cars
proportionately small. I am sorry that I don’t know the dimensions of the little box cars nor their capacity in
tons. The narrow gauge was also built to Coutts, Shelby Junction and some time
later to Great Falls in Montana, as the company found a good market for its
coal to the Great Northern, and also for domestic use in Great Falls. There was
also a branch line built from Stirling to Cardston, a distance of 47 miles. In
1893 the Gall road, from Dunmore to Lethbridge, was bought by the C.P.R. and
replaced by a standard gauge which was completed the same summer. I remember
the year well, as I was in my 11th year. It seems to me that there was a gang
of men camped at every second station removing the short ties and replacing
them with the standard 8 ft. ties. They also laid and spiked down the standard
sized rails on the outside of the small ones. It was a double railway for a
while. The work did not interfere with the running of the trains. When the
standard gauge was completed to Lethbridge, all the small locomotives, cars and
snow plows were taken to Lethbridge, and the small rails torn out which were
also shipped to Lethbridge. In 1886, the oldtimers say that it was a very
severe winter. I heard it related that some of the trains, because of the deep
snow, took a month to make the trip to Lethbridge and back. It took my father
six days to take the mail from Medicine Hat to Winnifred and return with the
mail that came from Fort Macleod and Lethbridge. Winnifred is only about 36
miles. I can almost hear some of the newcomers ask: “Why didn’t they send the
mail round by way of Calgary?” Kind readers, there was no railway at that remote
time between Calgary and Macleod. neither was there any airmail. The snow was
also even deeper up there on that 109-mile stretch. The standard gauge later
was continued on to B.C. through the Crow’s Nest Pass.
A
National Service.
A few more lines about the Galt steamers. In the
early spring of 1885. when the Riel rebellion broke out, the Northwestern Coal
and Navigation Company had an opportunity to render a substantial national
service. The greatest object of the Government was to secure speedy transportation
for troops and supplies to the point of battle. Batoche and Fish Creek, in
order to crush the outbreak before it spread to the Blood and Blackfoot tribes,
who were becoming somewhat restless. As they were the two most powerful tribes
they would have done a lot of damage, had they joined the Crees and
half-breeds. Great credit is due to two men for keeping the two tribes in hand.
One is Reverend George McKay who now resides in Hot Springs. South Dakota, at
the venerable age of 94. He was Chaplain to the Mounted Police at Fort Macleod
more than 60 years ago. In the years he was there he learned the dialect of the
Bloods. Through his kind and fair treatment and good counsel he won their
respect, friendship and affection. He converted a goodly number of them and
they thought the world of him. He also discouraged them from drunkenness and
horse-stealing. Whatever he said to them they heeded. They gave him the name “Nanastoko”,
which means Chief Mountain, to show their great esteem of the good young man of
God.
The other peace advocate was the great chief of
the Blackfoot. “Crowfoot”. He told his braves that since they had promised never to take up
arms against the people of the great white Queen, they must abide by their
bargain. Reverend George McKay later accompanied General Strange on a punitive
expedition to Frog Lake soon after the massacre. While looking over the
buildings which had been burned by the Crees under Big Bear and Wandering
Spirit, he found the charred remains of two priests and a lay brother in a
cellar, and buried them in their own churchyard.
Now I will relate the part played by the steamers. One was sent
down to the Saskatchewan Landing some 25 miles north of Swift Current where it
was loaded with troops and their war equipment which had been shipped to Swift
Current by rail. The “Northcotte” was loaded in Medicine Hat with a similar
cargo. The reason for that procedure was to
eliminate the 25-mile march and haul of the equipment and supplies which was
necessary at Swift Current. On her way down she encountered much trouble which
retarded her progress, shallow water, sand and gravel bars being the chief
obstacles. The boats were on their way to Batoche, the battleground.
The “Lilly” and two barges were next loaded, not
with troops, but provisions for them. The two barges were loaded with bacon and
hams, mostly dry salt bacon. But the “Lilly” fared even worse than its sister
steamer. She ran aground into a gravel bar while going downstream at full
steam. She was so hopelessly grounded that even when the cargo had been
unloaded there was no power to her out, her own power being too weak. There
being no other steamer available, the two barges were towed back to Medicine
Hat by gangs of men who were hired at that town. The cargo was freighted back
up to Medicine Hat by all the available carts and wagons in the neighborhood.
The scene of the wreck as near as I can remember was about three-quarters of a
mile above the spot on which the Drowning Ford Ranch was built about 13 years
later. The place was named the “Lilly Flat” for many years afterwards. The
paddle wheel was visible for a long time after. The superstructure and deck had
been token off and carted back to Medicine Hat. By the time all this happened,
word was received that the rebellion was all over and the troops had returned
to the east. Now another little problem arose—it was what to do with the
enormous quantity of dry salt bacon which was still in the two barges tied up
just below the C.P.R. bridge. Wires flashed back and forth to headquarters,
probably Ottawa. The trouble was solved after some 10 or 12 days. The bacon,
flour, salt and tea was turned over to the Indian Department and shipped to
various Indian reserves. Other goods were sold to local merchants.
Two of the steamers plied between Prince Albert
and Edmonton after the rebellion. The “Minnow” was anchored at Medicine Hat the
spring of 1888 and sent downstream as soon as the river was considered deep
enough in June. I saw one of the steamers at Fort Pitt in June, 1896, on her
way to Edmonton. She unloaded about 12 tons of flour and other goods for the
Hudson’s Bay store of Onion Lake. I was going to the Anglican Indian School
there, which was managed by Rev. J. R. Mathcson. The Coal and Navigation
Company also had the contract to build the barracks for the N.W.M.P., Fort Macleod,
Maple Creek and Medicine Hat. The spot on which the Fort was built at Medicine
Hat was the most beautiful I have ever seen. It is too bad that the buildings
were not preserved by some strong enclosure.
Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, was born in Chelsea,
London, September 6th. 1817. In March, 1835, he sailed for Canada. He died September
19th, 1893. He was survived by Lady Galt and by three sons and eight daughters.
I have only mentioned a few of his great works in Western Canada. His other
great achievements throughout Canada are too numerous to mention here.
Horse
Stealing
There was a lot of horse-stealing the first two
years of Medicine Hat, done mostly by the Blood Indians. The owners of the horses
would go up to Fort Macleod and lay their complaints. The Mounted Police would
try and usually did, recover their horses for them and put the culprits in
jail. On one occasion when my uncles, Frank La Fromboise and Norbert Poitra
went after some 30 head of my grandfather’s horses that had been stolen at
Medicine Hat, one of the Indians would not disclose where he had hidden 10 head
of the horses, which was his share. Jerry Potts, who was a scout and
interpreter for the Mounted Police, told him he would shoot him if he didn’t
produce the horses at once. The brave drew his scalping knife and dared him,
whereupon he shot him through the head killing him instantly.
Brandishing his smoking revolver he told them that he would shoot some more of
them if the horses were not found. That produced results immediately. Two of
the Bloods brought the stolen horses to the Fort in a couple of hours.
Reverend George McKay overheard the Indians saying that on account
of one of their fellow tribesmen being killed they would follow the two
half-breeds on their way home and re-steal the horses. So the Reverend
gentleman started out with my two uncles early next morning, thinking that by
so doing the revenge-bent Bloods would not follow, but when they had gone about
16 miles he saw that he had been too optimistic. On looking back from about
where the village of Monarch now stands they saw what appeared to be about 40
mounted savages following them, all fully armed with rifles. When the Bloods
were within 200 yards Reverend George bade goodbye to the half-breeds and told
them to go on and not give their horses up if he should fail to stop the
Indians. He was unarmed. Turning his horse, he raced back and forth in front of
the pursuers, waving his right hand. My uncles said that the Bloods all drew
rein and stopped to a man as soon as they recognised their preacher. They said
it was a great relief to see their pursuers wheel their steeds and start back
west with Mr. McKay.
Early Recollections and Discovery of Gas
My first recollection goes back to 1887, when I was about 4½ years of age. My mother had placed me in a hammock under a large
cottonwood tree near where she was working. I heard the sweet cooing of doves
overhead. A big rattlesnake was almost under my hammock. There were sage brush
and cactus all over. I also remember when the General Hospital was built in
1888. The sand stone was hauled from Robertson’s Coulee west of where Starks
and Burton had their horse ranch some years later. I also remember when natural
gas was first discovered by Mr. Colter in 1889.
In the early spring of 1883 there came to Medicine Hat a man by
the name of John Charles Colter. He came from County Cork, Ireland. His parents
had first settled at Stratford, Ontario. Mr. J. C. Colter was a stone mason by
trade. He joined the B. and B. gang and helped to build the first railroad
bridge at Medicine Hat. That done, he started a bake-shop, in a tent which he
pitched where Riverside Park is now located. His tent was approximately on the spot
where the gas house now stands. When the town was started he went to work as a builder. He helped Harry
Yuill build the American Hotel. Mr.
Yuill was the first owner. He built himself a house joining the hotel on the west
side. He had a large family, some of his children still being alive. His eldest
son was Charlie, who now resides in Vancouver, B.C. The eldest daughter was
Lilly (Mrs. Nichol), now deceased. Next was Nellie, now in Port Huron.
Michigan; next, Manley, who died in Bassano; then Frank, who now is in New
Jersey; and Winwright. who was kicked to death by a horse about 1910. Kennedy,
another son, is teaching in Victoria High School in Edmonton, and Ardus is a
C.P.R. conductor between Medicine Hat and Calgary at present. Then there are
Edgar of Salmon Arm. B.C., and Hazel, the youngest, now living in Ashland,
Oregon. There were also three other children who died in infancy. Mr. John
Charles Colter was the man who first discovered gas in Medicine Hat in 1889. He
drilled his first well about a quarter of a mile below the General Hospital,
within 50 yards of the river. He used to burn limestone with the gas. When the
Indians saw the gas burning amongst the spray of water it blew out they called
it the devil’s fire.
Mr. Colter later built three concrete houses on
Second Street. He drilled another well back of them about 1893 when he had finished
the three duplex houses. The first person to use gas for domestic purposes was
Mrs. Robert Irwin. It was piped into her kitchen with a length of garden hose.
Several people blew up their houses when they first started to use gas as they
didn’t have it under proper control.
In the next issue I will write more about
Medicine Hat’s early residents and business establishments.
Early
History of Medicine Hat
By W. HENRY McKAY, Gen. Del., Calgary,
Alta.
From Canadian Cattleman magazine,
March 1950.
THE first
stores in Medicine Hat were all in tents in 1883, on the present site of
Riverside Park. I do not know in what order they were opened by the following
merchants: Mr. William Cousins. Mr. Tweed and Mr. James Hargrave.
Mr. Cousins had some daughters and a son by the
name of Gerald. As the young man grew up his father soon saw that standing
behind a counter and waiting on people did not suit him so he bought Gerald
some cattle and a few horses and settled him at Petrified Coulee, about 20
miles south of Medicine Hat, so that he could follow the life that appealed to
him. Gerald was a good fellow who treated his friends generously, and now and
then when funds that his father allowed him were exhausted, he would sell some
of his fine bulls that his father had bought him in order to replenish his bank
account. The last time I saw him he told me that he was at Hussar with Emile (Emery)
La Grandeur, now deceased. I don’t know whom his beautiful sisters married. Mr.
Cousins’ children grew up in Medicine Hat and I believe Gerald was born there.
I think Mr. Cousins later sold his store to A. Des Brisey and went into the
real estate business. He used to own the property on which the Alberta Clay
Products is now located.
Mr. Tweed later, got into partnership with a man
named Ewart. Tweed and Ewart were the principal shareholders of the Medicine
Hat ranch (MHR) which they established some ten miles south of Seven Persons
where they raised cattle and horses. Mr. Ezra Pearson was the manager. Mr.
Tweed had two very fine boys, Harry and Tommy Tweed. Tommy. I think, was killed
in World War I and Harry died about three years ago. I do not know if Mr. Tweed
had any daughters or not.
Mr. James Hargrave, the other merchant, was
originally from Ormiston, Quebec, about 30 miles from Montreal. As a young man
he got into the Hudson’s Bay Company Service and was stationed at York Factory
near the mouth of the Hays’ River, about 12 miles south of Port Nelson, on
Hudson’s Bay. From there he was transferred to Cumberland House on the
Saskatchewan River; then from there to Fort Frances, in Algoma, Western Ontario
and then to Portage La Prairie. Mrs. Hargrave was one of the very finest and
kindest women I have ever seen. She didn’t look down on people on account of
the Indian blood that flowed in their veins. Whenever I was at their house,
whether I was working for them or not, she would always invite me to a good
meal. She would not hand it to me outside, but would serve it to me right on
their dining table. The last time I ate there was in the Spring of 1908. I had
come to buy some of the fine vegetables that Mr. Hargrave used to grow, which
he irrigated from the springs that were on the side of the hill. An Indian
named Little Corn sat across from me, also enjoying a square meal. Not only
that, but when I offered to pay Mr. Hargrave for the two sacks of vegetables,
he refused to take any money for them.
I believe Mr. Hargrave was in partnership with
his brother-in-law, Mr. Daniel Sisson. Mr. Sisson conducted a store at Carlton
on the right bank of the north Saskatchewan river. As horses were cheaper
around Medicine Hat, Mr. Hargrave used to send down to Carlton those he bought
out of the goods from the store. He used to have such horses branded with an S,
which meant “shop”. Mr. Sisson sold the horses around Carlton at a good profit
and the cattle he bought or traded for horses he sent up to Medicine Hat where
there was less snow, more Chinooks and shorter winters.
Mr. Hargrave first had a ranch along the Big
Plume near where Mr. William Geddis had his coal mine many years later. As the
snow lies deep in that district, he moved down to Many Island Lake, where there
was an abundance of good feed and water. I believe his son, Thomas, is still
there. Mr. Hargrave got most of the Indian and half-breed trade. He had learned
how to deal with them, while he was in the Company’s service and the experience
served him in good stead when he was operating his own store. He was expert in
buying furs, as he knew when they were prime. When a man had no money, he gave
him credit and soon knew the ones that pnid their bills. They always got more
credit. Those that didn’t pay had to leave some security.
Mr. and Mrs. Hargrave had a family of eight
children. Four fine daughters and four splendid sons. The order of their births
was as follows: Jackie (after Dr. Hargrave, the veterinary), Thomas, William
H., Carlton. Queenie, Melrose, Lissa and Heather. Dr. John Hargrave married
Mary, one of Mr. Porter’s daughters. I don’t know whom Tom and Willie married.
Queenie married the late James Mitchell. Melrose married Dr. Hawk and Heather
married Thomas Murray. I don’t know whom Lissa and Carlton married. The Hargrave
boys were real good fellows. Tom and Willie were good riders, also splendid
ropers. All the girls grew up to be fine ladies.
Had it not been for Mr. Hargrave many a family
of Indians and half-breeds would have had to live on meat alone. I do not know
the number of cattle and horses that he had on his ranch. Mr. Hargrave’s
family came to Medicine Hat in 1885.
Mr. Porter was the first dry land farmer in Medicine Hat. He and
his son-in-law, Mr. Hawk, came in 1883 and located about two miles east of town
on the bench. Mr. Hawk settled along the Gros Ventre, a little above where
Norton is today. Both moisture and hay were more abundant up there, so he did
very well at mixed farming.
Mr. Porter and his sons. Dick, Bob and Jim moved into town when
they found out that dry farming wasn’t a paying business. Richard moved up to
where his brother-in-law. Mr. Hawk was located. Robert and James, with their
father, moved into town where they got into the water selling business. A man
named Mr. Peake was the first waterman. I believed he died near Dorothy within
the last five years. Another man named Jack Clark also hauled water for many
years. As the town grew Robert Watson Sr thought there was room for another
waterman so about 1896 he had a water tank built and painted red. But others
didn’t agree with him and the next morning he found that his tank was half full
of fresh cow manure with the outside liberally plastered with the same
material, by persons unknown; so he gave up the idea of hauling water and went into the draying business. The Indians called old Mr. Porter the man
with the pretty daughters and they were right. He had four or five of them.
In 1886 two more of the good old pioneers came
to Medicine Hat. They were James and Robert Mitchell. They were real Scotsmen.
They had come to Regina in 1883 and on to Medicine Hat in 1886. I believe I
heard one of their boys state that they trailed their cattle from Regina but I
may be mistaken. They went direct to Elkwater Lake where James, who I think was
the elder brother, built his ranch along the creek that runs into the lake from
the South. James Ferguson and old Jack Smiler lived on the place after Mr.
Mitchell moved to Medicine Hat so that his children could go to school as there
were no country schools in those remote days. The other brother, Robert,
settled about 4 miles west along a wooded creek fed by some good springs of
excellent drinking water. He also moved to town like his brother for the same
reasons; school and deep snow. He located a ranch about 8 miles below “the Hat”
on the right bank of the river, on which his descendants still carry on the
cattle raising industry.
Mr. Robert Mitchell Sr. was the father of the
late James, who was, I believe, the greatest livestock buyer that Medicine Hat
ever produced, and for several years was president of the Western Stock Growers’
Association. He was a good all-around cowboy, a very good roper and a real
broncho rider. He was also a man of very good principles, sober and honest in
all his dealings. I have been on roundups with him, that is how I know that he
was a good rider and roper. He was also my school mate in 1893. He married Mr.
Hargrave’s eldest daughter. Mr. Mitchell also had two other good boys. Robert
Jr. and Henry. I only remember one daughter but there may have been more.
Mr. James Mitchell Sr. also had some very fine
boys. The name of the eldest was Robert. He was, I believe, the biggest man of
the Mitchell boys. He was a very good young man, well liked by everyone. About
1894 he went to South America, probably to the Argentine Republic. His reason
for going there was to raise sheep, where there was more range and a better
climate. His father paid him a visit some two years after and from there Mr.
Mitchell Sr. took a boat bound for Glasgow. Scotland, and, sad to relate, he
died at sea. Robert, the poor lad, also died soon afterwards in South America.
Then William, being the oldest boy left, took charge and located the LA Ranch
on Willow Creek. He also built a dug-out to camp in at times, near the present
site of Altawan. I also knew Bill well as I used to hunt on his range where he
used to tell me I was always welcome. Whenever I ran out of provisions, I went
to him and he would replenish my larder. In return I killed a few grown-up
wolves and three dens of pups and about 25 coyotes on his range, thereby saving
a number of his cattle. I am not so well acquainted with his younger brothers,
James and John. They may be big men like their older brother Robert, I haven’t
seen them for forty years. I believe they had two sisters, one being Mrs.
Terrill, who writes for this magazine, and Jessie, if I remember well.
Mr. Robert Mitchell Sr. operated a butcher shop
for many years in Medicine Hat. He also had two sisters who had a
confectionery.
There was also a general merchant by the name of Louis B. Cochrane
who hailed from Hants County. Nova Scotia. I don’t know the year he came, but
he was there as far as my memory goes. He wasn’t a refined man like Mr.
Hargrave. Cousins, Tweed, Colter or the Mitchells, but he was a kind old man just
the same. He believed in having a good time while he was alive. He used to get
on a big drunk every so often and while on a tear he insisted on treating
everyone he met. Cigars to men. oranges to women and apples or candles to
children. He used to smoke cigars himself; “Nothing like having a good time on
earth,” he used to say. “as the beautiful shore may be a joke”. But just the
same he had a very nice family; two
daughters and three sons. His daughters used to teach Sunday school in the
Church of England. He had a very fine wife too.
There was another gentleman named Mr. Walton. I don’t remember
what his business was. I think it was a confectionery, but he had a ranch some
six miles south of “the Hat”, near where Bull Head Siding is today. He later
became a collector of customs. He also had a splendid wife, who I believe was
Mrs. L. B. Cochrane’s sister. I don’t know where he came from, nor in what
year. He had, I think, two daughters and one son. He may have had more. The
name of one of the girls was Ferris. She married James Alcock, the son of one of the old-time ranchers. I
believe the couple now reside near Edmonton.
During the winter of 1891 and 1892, there was a
very sad occurrence. On a fine morning after a good Chinook had taken off all
the snow, the Cochrane boy and his cousin, the Walton boy, saddled up their
ponies to ride to Mr. Payton’s ranch on the Big Plume, about 25 miles south.
They were going to visit Mr. Philip Millar, who was looking after the ranch for
Mr. Payton. When the little boys, who were about 14 and 15 years old, got
within 10 miles of the ranch, one of our sudden cold blizzards started up and
soon covered up the crooked wagon trail. There were no fenced road allowances in
those days. The poor boys soon lost their way. For the benefit of those who
have never been on the prairie during an Alberta blizzard let me say that even
an experienced traveller would get lost, if he had no road, fence or coulee to
follow. I have been out in many and therefore I know. Mr. Millar did not know
that the lads were on their way to visit him. The next day was clear but still cold. Mr. Millar had to come
to Medicine Hat that day and on his way home 4 or 5 miles from the ranch he saw
the horn of a saddle sticking out of the snow about 5 yards from the road. Upon
pulling up the saddle, he was shocked to see the frozen body of a boy that he
recognized. It was the younger boy of the two, I don’t know which one. The
elder boy had covered his little cousin with the two saddle blankets and the
saddle and heroically struck out to look for help. I don’t know what Mr. Millar
did. He may have brought the little frozen corpse in or he may have left it
there. However, the frozen body of the other lad was found beside a haystack.
His horse was still held by his frozen fingers. The other horse was found grazing
about a mile from where the first boy was found. It was a terrible blow to the
two fine mothers. The two cousins are buried side by side in the Anglican
Cemetery.
In March, 1900, another 15-year-old boy froze to
death in a sudden snowstorm. On a fine morning after a Chinook had taken off
all the snow, Ed Hanson struck out on foot to look for his team. He made the
mistake of taking his young son along. They walked about 10 miles east and
circled northwest by Tex’s Spring. A blinding snowstorm came. They got lost,
and the next day, when the storm had abated, my brother Philip and I found the
boy, Joe Hanson, dead on a snowdrift about five miles northeast of Medicine
Hat. That is why I never leave my winter overcoat when I go out in the country,
no matter how nice a day, until the first of June and I grab it again on the
first of September. I know the Alberta climate, and how changeable it is, too
well.
There was another store owned by Mr. McQuage
after the townsite was surveyed. It was what we would call a “Men’s Wear Store’’
today. A man by the name of Mr. Bradley had a tobacco store too in the very
early days, probably in a tent. His daughter was the first baby girl born in
Medicine Hat after the railway arrived. I think Mr. Albert Hughes was the first
druggist. There was also a man named Dan Calder who was a druggist in the very
early days of Medicine Hat. I think the first hotels were the American and
Cosmopolitan. The latter was owned by Mrs. Bassette. Two of her frame hotels
burned down, before she built the brick building that still goes by that name.
The first baker shop was owned and operated in a
tent by Mr. John Charles Colter in the early spring of 1883. Mr. Mike Leonard
also had a bakery on South Railway St. in later years. He was the father of the
late Joseph Leonard. the musician.
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas operated a confectionery
store joining Mr. James Hargrave’s general store after he moved to the corner
of South Railway St. They had two sons, Everette and Weldon. The latter is a
C.P.R. conductor at the present day. Everette is In Portland. Oregon. I believe
Mr. Finlay was the first lumberman. He had a son named Willie. The earliest
restaurant owners were Mrs. David Calder and Mr. J. L. Wright. Mrs. Calder had
a son by the name of George Calder, who now resides in Calgary. He was a good
cowboy and a good wolf runner. There were also two daughters. One married James
McClennan. who was one of the earliest barbers. He was also a very good shot in
duck hunting. Mr. Wright had three daughters, Victoria, Olive and Beth.
One of the very earliest doctors was Doctor Oliver.
In addition to being physician and surgeon, he was a dentist. He was probably
the only surgeon to have ever performed a surgical operation on a grizzly bear.
It was this way, the C.P.R. garden had a female grizzly bear named “Nancy”. One
day Nancy got very sick. There being no Veterinary Surgeon available at the
time, the owners called Doctor Oliver, who, after an examination, decided that
what Nancy needed was an operation. A few days before Nancy had bitten a young
squaw on the leg. Her mother hit the bear over the head with her hatchet and
dented the bear’s skull, hence her sickness. Doctor Oliver chloroformed the
bear and performed an excision, probably the only one ever performed on a bear
up to that time. It wasn’t a successful operation as Miss Nancy died a few days
later and so did the doctor. The Indians, being superstitious, said that God
had punished him for trying to doctor a bear which was the enemy of man. But I
don’t think so myself, I think that his time had come for him to die.
Mr. John Niblock was the Divisional
Superintendent of the C.P.R. He organized a party in 1888 to build a hospital. I
think he laid the cornerstone. The result was the general hospital. Sad to say
that Mrs. Nibiock was the first one to die in the hospital. The Indians again
said that God punished him by taking his wife because he built a “Sick House”
as they called the hospital. The sandstone used for building the hospital was
hauled from Peter Robertson’s coulee, a branch of the Big Plume. The maternity
cottage was built some years later. As many old-timers will
remember, the C.P.R. depot was, until 1906, on the opposite side of the railway
and about 200 yards west of where it is today.
My uncle, James F. Sanderson, who came to Medicine Hat with his
father-in-law Edward McKay in 1882, had the first Feed and Livery Barn. He also
ran a ranch a half mile below the first cutbank on the flat that was known as
Sanderson’s Point. He raised some fine horses. He became a big contractor as
well, building grades and putting up and hauling hay for N.W.M.P. He put up the
ice for the C.P.R. at Medicine Hat and Banff for many years. He had two sons,
Owen and Duncan; two daughters, Clara and Mary. Also a foster daughter named Lizzie Clark. She was an orphan. Mary
married James F. Anderson and 1 believe still resides in Medicine Hat. Duncan
was in Dawson Creek quite recently. Owen died on the 23rd of February, 1903.
Clara died March 29th, 1891. Mrs. Sanderson died on August 29th. 1892. Mr.
Sanderson himself passed away on December 8th, 1902.
There were some very fine old railroad men too
in the early days of Medicine Hat. I can only remember the names of some. James
Fisher, who was an engineer, lived until a few years ago. Mr. Samuel Hayward,
also an engine driver, was a big man and very powerful. His fingers were half
the size of my wrists. I have seen him working around his engine with a crow
bar in his bare hands when it was forty below zero. J. H. Spencer was another
engineer; he was a fine and well educated man. He used to be the manager of the
Drowning Ford Ranch.
Mr. Moody, who died a couple of years ago at the
Earl of Egmont Estate south of Calgary, was the Officer in Command of the police
barracks when I first remember Medicine Hat. When the barracks at the Police
Point were abandoned, there were two or three Mounties left in the town.
Sergeant Richurds was in charge. Some of the early Mounted Police were: Mr.
Martin, a Frenchman; Albert Ernest Dunn; also Mr. William Parker, who later
became Inspector Parker. There was a veterinary also by the name of Mr. Poet.
The last time I saw him was at Battleford in 1898.
An old gentleman named Mr. Bridgeman was the
undertaker; he was always complaining about his business being bad. “A poor
business.” he used to say. “A good winter, nobody sick, and no one dying”.
I think the first coal mine owner was Mr. George
Cully. He operated a small lignite coal mine a few miles up the river. It was
such a mine as would be called a gopher hole today. I don’t know what year he
started.
Mr. Flaeger was one of the earliest blacksmiths.
Mr. Robert McCutcheon, the N.W.M.P. blacksmith, preceded Mr. Flaeger, but as
far as I know he never plied his trade in Medicine Hat. He settled in a beautiful
maple grove just west of Mr. Hargrave’s and there he farmed on a small scale.
He was also an auctioneer and later became Sheriff. He had four daughters and
two sons, also one stepdaughter. He was the first “squaw man” to settle in
Medicine Hat, Robert Watson, William Johnstone and Robert Everson (4 Jack Bob)
being the others.
There was a family named “Adsit” in the very
early days of Medicine Hat, but I do not remember their vocation. All that I
can recollect is that Earl, one of the brothers, liked hunting and in later
years became a good hunter. In 1896 he and a man by the name of Charlie Lenox
went to Sounding Lake for a winters trapping. They did pretty well as they
trapped 90 red foxes, besides other furs. Charlie Lenox died out there towards
spring. Earl burled him by the cabin as soon as the frost was out of the ground
so that he could dig the grave. Then, as soon as the deep snow melted he came
back to Medicine Hat. Some Indians, who were out trapping muskrats, saw the
cabin and when they saw the grave and blood on the floor of the log house, antelope
and deer blood, they assumed that a man had murdered his partner. On their
return to Battleford they reported it to Major Cotton, who was then in charge
of the barracks there. So the Major sent two Mounties, a Dr. Parry and Sam
Ballentine, who was to act as guide and interpreter. They had no trouble
finding the cabin, as the Indians had told old Sam where it was and they also
had the wagon tracks of the Indians to follow. After exhuming the corpse, the doctor
performed an autopsy and found that Lenox had died a natural death. But he was
taking no chances. He took the stomach and other internal organs, which were
sent to some analyst, probably to Regina, but they likewise were free from any
signs of poison.
Had they known what a good man Earl Adsit was
they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble. Earl went to Dawson City,
Yukon, the time of the gold rush of 1898. I later heard that he did very well
killing moose and selling the meat as a side line to his gold mining. I think
he died up there.
I will not make any attempt to describe the
early newspapers of Medicine Hat, as Mrs. Terrill has dealt with them in a
former issue of this magazine.
I think the town of Medicine Hat was
incorporated in 1894. I don’t know who was the first Mayor. I have been told
that there were three routes surveyed for the railroad. But although my father
used to tell us the name of the surveyors. I only remember one, whose name was
Shaw. One was surveyed along the Qu’Appelle Valley and by Eyebrow, and to cross
the South Saskatchewan at approximately where Riverhurst is today. Then one by
about Beechy and then to go along the river from Chesterfield flat and up the
Red Deer as far as where Bindloss is today and to cross the river there to the
south side and then to follow about the line of the Empress-Bassano line.
Another was surveyed between that and the main line to cross about where Mr.
Lokier’s ranch is today, and formerly known as the Drowning Ford. But after the
engineers figured out the different grades they picked out the one by Medicine
Hat as being the cheapest. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company wasn’t as rich in
those days as it is today.
Mr. F. F. Fatt was the first postmaster that I
remember. He held the post for many years, as he was efficient. He wasn’t fat,
as the name would make you believe; on the contrary, I think he was the leanest
man in Medicine Hat. He married Annie, Mr. L. B. Cochrane’s eldest daughter.
Mr. J. K. Drinnan, who was a principal of the
school, bought out Mr. Hargrave about 1897. He operated the store for a number
of years and later sold out to Spencer and Todd to go to ranching and located a
little south of Pashly, Alta., where he died about 1932 or 1933. The first
graveyard was on the side hill near St. Barnabas Church. The graves were moved
over the hill to the present cemetery about 1897 or 1898.
I have written down from memory what I know of
businesses and people in the very early days of Medicine Hat, hoping it will
assist Canadian Cattlemen in its
very fine policy of recording the early history of Western Canada.
