
Tag Archives pages from our past
History: “Charlie” Knox – Pioneer Western Canadian Stockman
Reprinted from the October 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
“Charlie” Knox – Pioneer Western Canadian Stockman By Guy Weadick, High River, Alta. ‘Probably no other individual had more to do with the early development and creation of interest in markets for the open range Western Canadian livestock industry than did “Charlie” Knox, whose activities in that field extended from 1883, when he first hit […] Read more
History: Bunkhouse philosophy
Reprinted from the September 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Bunkhouse philosophy (a monthly column) By W.R. Cochrane, Crowley, Alta. Things have changed quite a bit since the old days when it was the accepted custom either to drive your beef to the nearest railway point and ship them yourself to one of the central markets in this country, or if you were willing to […] Read more
History: Buffalo Park Grazing Ass’n Community Pasture
Reprinted from the November 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
By Capt. K.S. Tory, Wainwright, Alta. In this rich ranching country of Alberta the big name ranches and ranchers, and ranches with romantic backgrounds steeped in the traditions of the Alberta cattle story, are liable to obscure the less romantic but just as vital little ranch lay-outs known as Community Pastures. Such a little lay-out, […] Read more
History: Those Wild “Payment” Days at Old Fort Pitt
Reprinted from the October 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Those Wild “Payment” Days at Old Fort Pitt By WM. Bleasdell Cameron, Meadow Lake, Sask. ‘When Indian Agent Tom Quinn came down from his headquarters at Frog Lake to the old Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading post of Fort Pitt on the North Saskatchewan river to “pay treaty” to the members of Chief Big Bear’s turbulent […] Read more
History: Bull Teams of the Cariboo
Reprinted from the October 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Bull Teams of the Cariboo By P. W. Luce, Vancouver, B.C. ‘Motor freighting began during the First World War. Before that the lumbering wagons had been drawn by horses and oxen, and the horses stayed on the road until the early twenties. The oxen passed out of the picture at the turn of the century. […] Read more
History: Reflections from a California Feedlot
Reprinted from the October 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Reflections from a California Feedlot By Mary Terrill, Medicine Hat, Alta. ‘From a low hill at Collinsville, California, I gazed with mixed feelings on the biggest feed-yards in the West. It was built on the delta of the river, across the Bay from San Francisco, where the mighty Sacramento holds back the sea. It was […] Read more
History: Cattle Empire
Reprinted from the September 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
By Lewis Nordyke A book review by Sheilagh S. Jameson Cattle Empire, the fabulous story of the 3-million acre XIT ranch of Texas, provides proof of that old maxim that “truth is stranger than fiction.” It records the history of the biggest ranch in the United States of America, of the building of the largest […] Read more
History: The Outlaws of the Cariboo
Reprinted from the September 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
The Outlaws of the Cariboo By P. W. Luce, Vancouver, B.C. ‘Suicide Valley is the ominous name of a place four miles south of Clinton, a town of considerable importance in the gold days of the Cariboo. Some unremembered prospector hanged himself there long ago, but today the sheltered spot might well be called Double […] Read more
History: The First Public Picnic and Stampede to Be Held on the Milk River in Alberta
Reprinted from the September 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
The First Public Picnic and Stampede to Be Held on the Milk River in Alberta By Harry C. Smith, Milk River, Alta. ‘It was while doing homestead duties in the latter part of May of 1910, in the Writing-on-Stone district, that Dean Smith, Fred Miller and I were talking one evening in the shack on […] Read more
History: Mr. and Mrs. George Paterson
Reprinted from the September 1950 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Mr. and Mrs. George Paterson By T. L. Shepherd, West Plains, Sask. ‘To most of us, the words “Old Timer” bring to mind an wrinkled old lady, or a man with a long white beard. Neither George Paterson nor his charming wife fit into that class. But when a man has lived 60 of his […] Read more