History of Lethbridge
Encyclopedia
Drift mining
Drift mining is either the mining of a placer deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. Drift is a more general mining term, meaning a near-horizontal passageway in a mine, following the bed or vein of ore. A...
opened by Nicholas Sheran
Nicholas Sheran
Nicholas Sheran was an entrepreneur born in New York City. He spent his early years apprenticing as a printer, working on Arctic whalers, and serving in the United States Army.-History:...
(1874) and the North Western Coal and Navigation Company
North Western Coal and Navigation Company
The North Western Coal and Navigation Company also known as Alberta Coal and Railway Company, was a coal mining company formed in 1882 by Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, one of Canada's Fathers of Confederation...
(1882), whose president was William Lethbridge
William Lethbridge
William Lethbridge was a lawyer in England. When bookseller W H Smith owner William Henry Smith II decided to become involved in politics in 1864, he enlisted Lethbridge as a managing partner....
. Previous to this, the area now known as Lethbridge was part of the territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
: the Kainai
Kainai Nation
The Kainai Nation is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada with a population of 7,437 members in 2005, and had a population of 9,035 members as of 9 February 2008...
, the Piikani
Northern Peigan
The Northern Peigans or Aapátohsipikáni are a First Nation, part of the Niitsítapi . Known as Piikáni, "Pekuni" or Aapátohsipikáni , they are very closely related to the other members of the Blackfoot Confederacy: Aamsskáápipikani , Káínaa or...
and the Siksika
Siksika Nation
The Siksika Nation is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name Siksiká comes from the Blackfoot words sik and iká , with a connector s between the two words. The plural form of Siksiká is Siksikáwa...
.
Whisky trade
After the United States ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
outlawed alcohol trading in 1869 with the Blood nation
Kainai Nation
The Kainai Nation is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada with a population of 7,437 members in 2005, and had a population of 9,035 members as of 9 February 2008...
in Montana, traders John J. Healy
John Healy
John Healy was an American entrepreneur in the late 19th century. Originally from Montana, he and Alfred B. Hamilton established a whiskey trading post near present-day Lethbridge, Alberta in 1869...
and Alfred B. Hamilton started the whisky trading post Fort Hamilton near the junction of the St. Mary and Oldman
Oldman River
The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, Taber, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins with the Bow River to form the South Saskatchewan River, which eventually drains into...
rivers. After it was burned down, they rebuilt it and eventually it came to be nicknamed Fort Whoop-Up
Fort Whoop-Up
Fort Whoop-Up was the nickname given to a whisky trading post, originally Fort Hamilton, near what is now Lethbridge, Alberta. During the late 19th century, the post served as a centre for various illegal activities...
. The whisky traded at this post was often not much more than alcohol, river water, chewing tobacco and lye.
The whisky trade eventually led to the massacre of many Assiniboines in the Cypress Hills
Cypress Hills
The Cypress Hills are a region of hills in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, Canada.The highest point in Saskatchewan at is located at Lookout Point in the Cypress Hills.-Name:...
area by some Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1873. As a result, the North West Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(now the RCMP) were sent to the area to stop the trade and establish order. The NWMP arrived at Fort Whoop-Up on 9 October 1874. Later in 1875, the NWMP established a post at the fort by renting a room from Healy and Hamilton. For the next twelve years, the fort continued to trade and host a NWMP post.
Coal Mining
By the 1870s, Nicholas SheranNicholas Sheran
Nicholas Sheran was an entrepreneur born in New York City. He spent his early years apprenticing as a printer, working on Arctic whalers, and serving in the United States Army.-History:...
(an American entrepreneur) mined a coal seam in the coulees on the west side of what is now the Oldman River. He sold what he mined to Montana traders and the NWMP.
Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt
Alexander Tilloch Galt
Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, GCMG, PC was a politician and a father of Canadian Confederation.He was born in Chelsea, England, the son of Scottish novelist and colonizer, John Galt, and Elizabeth Tilloch Galt. He was a cousin of Sir Hugh Allan.Alexander Galt is interred in the Mount Royal Cemetery...
was interested in the success Sheran was having. He knew a transcontinental railway was soon to be built in the area, and the settlers it would bring would create a profitable market for the coal.
On 13 October 1882, Galt's company North Western Coal and Navigation Company
North Western Coal and Navigation Company
The North Western Coal and Navigation Company also known as Alberta Coal and Railway Company, was a coal mining company formed in 1882 by Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, one of Canada's Fathers of Confederation...
opened the first drift mine across from Sheran's operation. This mine was managed by William Stafford. The first president and largest shareholder of the company, William Lethbridge
William Lethbridge
William Lethbridge was a lawyer in England. When bookseller W H Smith owner William Henry Smith II decided to become involved in politics in 1864, he enlisted Lethbridge as a managing partner....
, was the one after whom the town was named.
By the 20th century, the mines employed about 150 men and produced about 300 tonnes of coal each day. By the time production peaked during World War I, 10 mines employed 2,000 miners and produced 1 million tonnes of coal annually. At the time, local collieries were the largest coal producers in the Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
.
After the war, an increase in oil and natural gas production caused a decline in coal production, and the last mine in Lethbridge closed in 1957. Some of this mine, Galt No. 8, still stands today, and a local society is attempting to renovate it as a museum or interpretive centre.
Rail
The first rail lineRail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
was built in Lethbridge, being completed 28 August 1885 by the Alberta Railway and Coal Company. The line expanded for 595 kilometres beyond Lethbridge and was instrumental in feeding the main CPR
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
lines when CPR bought them from ARCC in 1912. Because of the rail industry's dependence of coal and the CPR's immigration efforts to settle southern Alberta, Lethbridge became instrumental in the economic success of the region. In the mid-1980s, the rail yards in downtown Lethbridge were moved to nearby Kipp and Lethbridge ceased operating as a hub for rail traffic in the province.
Names
Before settlement, the area where Lethbridge is located was known as The AridArid
A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
Region. When geological surveys around 1880 revealed an abundance of coal, it was called The Belly River Coal District. After the Galts
Alexander Tilloch Galt
Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, GCMG, PC was a politician and a father of Canadian Confederation.He was born in Chelsea, England, the son of Scottish novelist and colonizer, John Galt, and Elizabeth Tilloch Galt. He was a cousin of Sir Hugh Allan.Alexander Galt is interred in the Mount Royal Cemetery...
introduced irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
to counter the Arid Region image around 1900, the locality was called the Irrigated District. Finally, as an aid to land sales after the rush of dryland settlement started about 1905, the non-irrigable portion was called The Winter Wheat Lands.
Other names the area was known by are as follows:
- BlackfootBlackfootThe Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
- Aksaysim, also transliterated as Aksiiksahko or Steep Banks
- Mek-kio-towaghs, also Miiksskoowa, variously translated as Painted Rock, Red Painted Rock, or Medicine Stone
- Assini-etomochi, also Asinaawaiitomottsaawa, or Where We Slaughtered the CreeCreeThe Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
s - Sik-ooh-kotok, Black/Rocks or Coal
- Sarcee
- Chadish-kashi, Black/Rocks
- Cree
- Kuskusukisay-guni, Black/Rocks
- Stony
- Ipubin-saba-akabin, or Digging Coal
- English
- Coal Banks
- Sherans, or Sheran's Ferry
- The Crossing
- The Colliery
- Newlethbridge
- Lethbridge Colliery
- Upper and Lower Town
- Coalhurst
- Riverside
Since October 15, 1885, the name Lethbridge has been the official term; although the name Lethbridge was in common, if unofficial, use for the river bottom community at least as early as May 1884.
Riot of 1907
On 25 December 1907, an altercation occurred at the Dallas Hotel (now the Coalbanks Inn) on 5 Street South in downtown LethbridgeDowntown Lethbridge
Downtown Lethbridge is the commercial centre of Lethbridge, Alberta, hosting most of the city's banks and several accounting and law practices, including national firms.-Boundaries:...
. Reportedly, the altercation was between a Chinese employee working the hotel's restaurant and a Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
customer.
Word of the altercation spread and somehow escalated into rumours the employee had killed the customer. As a result, a large crowd gathered at the hotel and ransacked the restaurant. Shortly after, they moved to nearby Chinatown to wreak havoc there.
At this point, the local police gathered to control the situation and mayor W. S. Galbraith read the Riot Act to those gathered. As a result, everything was brought under control and the crowd soon dispersed.
Development
After the CPR moved the divisional pointDivisional point
In Canada, a divisional point is a railway depot that includes more than just a basic siding or station.- Overview :In the coal and steam era, a divisional point would include such amenities as a substantial passenger station, freight and baggage sheds, a roundhouse, water tank, coaling and sanding...
of its Crowsnest Line from Fort Macleod to Lethbridge in 1905, the city became a regional centre for Southern Alberta
Southern Alberta
Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of the year 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017. The primary cities are Lethbridge and Medicine Hat...
; something the region did not have previously. Between 1907 and 1913, a development boom occurred in Lethbridge, making it the main marketing, distribution and service centre in southern Alberta. Several municipal projects, a construction boom, and rising real estate prices transformed the mining town into a significant city.
Part of the impetus behind the municipal projects above was the city playing host to the 7th International Dry-Farming Congress in 1912. As recently as 1911, the city had no facilities to host an event of this significance. By the time the event arrived in October, the city had spent $1.35 million paving downtown
Downtown Lethbridge
Downtown Lethbridge is the commercial centre of Lethbridge, Alberta, hosting most of the city's banks and several accounting and law practices, including national firms.-Boundaries:...
streets, putting in cement sidewalks, improving the water and sewer systems, building a street railcar system
Lethbridge Transit
Lethbridge Transit manages and operates the municipally-owned public transportation system in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.-History:...
, creating Henderson Park
Henderson Park (Lethbridge)
Henderson Park is a 47 hectare located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. The park contains many amenities and attractions, including a 24 hectare man-made lake, the largest lake in the city...
and setting aside 60 acres (24.3 ha) for the Exhibition Grounds
Exhibition Park (Lethbridge)
Exhibition Park is an exhibition complex located on the eastern edge of Lethbridge, Alberta.-Facilities:Permanent structures at the site include a 10,664 m² pavilion complex , Heritage Hall, Pioneer Park, a grandstand, and Whoop-Up Downs.-Events:Roughly 950 events are held at the park every year,...
. Despite the event attracting thousands of delegates from throughout Canada and such places as China, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, the city's tax base of only 8,000 could not support those improvements. The city carried the debt for decades after. Even so, the Lethbridge Herald labelled the event as “the greatest week in the history of the city”.
Between World War I and World War II, the city experienced an economic slump. Development slowed, drought drove farmers from their farms and coal mining rapidly declined from its peak before 1920. Following WWII, irrigation in the surrounding area caused the city's population to swell, which in turn boosted the local economy. Lethbridge Community College (now Lethbridge College) opened in April 1957, and the University of Lethbridge
University of Lethbridge
The University of Lethbridge is a publicly-funded comprehensive academic and research university, founded in the liberal education tradition, located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with two other urban campuses in Calgary and Edmonton. The main building sits among the coulees on the west side of...
in 1967.