COUNTY OF RED DEER NO.23 - Excerpts taken from the "Story of Rural Municipal Government in Alberta 1909 to 1983" by the Association of the Municipal Districts and Counties Contributed for use in Alberta Digital Archives by Darlene Homme *************************************************************************** ALBERTA DIGITAL ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed Alberta Digital archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the Alberta Digital Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *************************************************************************** County of Red Deer was formed largely within its present borders, December 31, 1943, with the amalgamation of several small municipal districts to set up what has been described as the 'Big Red M.D.' Gathered under the broad shield of the Municipal District of Red Deer were the municipal districts of Arthur (headquarters Innisfail); Poplar Grove (Innisfail); Pine Lake (Red Deer); Golden West (Sylvan Lake); and Hays (Delburne). At the beginning, there was some controversy as to where the Big Red M.D. seat would be, lnnisfail vying vigorously for the honor but losing out to the City of Red Deer, then showing signs, in the war years of becoming the main urban centre of the parkland region. Apparently a quarrel also raged about the title of the new municipality temporarily named M.D. of Penhold, that small village being roughly the geographic centre of the fledgling political district. Elected at-large, the first council was comprised of 11 councillors, including Messrs. Christensen, Kelly, Brewster, Parsonage, Ryrie, Pearson, Hillman, Edgar, Domoney, McPhee and Wilton. Elected as reeve by the brethren was R.H. Edgar who farmed west of Red Deer and who had been a leading member of the dissolved M.D. of Pine Lake. Deputy reeve was M.L. Kelly. Appointed secretary-treasurer was WH. Stringer. His assistant was H.K. Allison. Immediately on discharge from the armed forces, based on prior agreement, J.M. Rear was appointed assistant secretary-treasurer. Mrs. Rear and R. McMakon aided the administration during the organizational period. Made co-terminus with the Red Deer school division in 1955, the M.D. saw reduction of its council from 11 members to seven and under the revised jurisdiction, these members were elected as divisional representatives: A.E. Prudhomme, Division 1; WHoweIl, Division 2; C.L. Doan, Division 3; A. Ryrie, Division 4; D. Pearson, Division 5; L. Erickson, Division 6; and C. Braithwaite, Division 7. Mr. Doan soon emerged as reeve and was consistently re-elected to that position until his retirement to enter provincial politics in 1971 when he was elected PC MLA for lnnisfail riding. Several other members of the changed council went on to become prominent in Alberta rural municipal affairs. Dave Pearson, at his retirement in 1973, was the acknowledged dean of rural municipal councillors having first entered local politics as a Spruce View district school trustee in 1927. Chalking up one of the longest tenures as a rural government employee was Victor Bjorkeland who joined Pine Lake M.D. in 1922, came into Big Red as road foreman, fieldman and constable to retire in 1972 after 50 years before the mast! In 1963, the M.D. changed again with blending of the municipal territory with Red Deer school division to form the County of Red Deer No. 23. The first council under that joint heading was: Messrs. Prudhomme, Howell, Doan, Sheets, Pearson, Erickson, and Braithwaite. Together with urban trustees John Wilson, Jr., lnnisfail; WO. Johnston, Penhold; and G.R McMillan, Delburne, they formed the necessary school board. Current members of Council are: Reeve William Mills, Division 4: Councillor's William Greenwood, Division 1; Jim Williamson, Division 2; Jack Wagers, Division 3; Harold Rhodes, Division 5; Stanley Swainson, Division 6; and William Hazlett, Division 7. In order to reduce the workload on Division 7, 259 which surrounds the burgeoning City of Red Deer and contains a large and important cluster of commercial and residential sub-divisions, council recently reduced the area of the division by transferring territory to Division 6. Other growing urban centres within the county, such as lnnisfail and Sylvan Lake, also are exerting pressures on adjacent rural districts. With a generally buoyant economy and accounting the dramatic growth of the urban points, planning, zoning and development has become the salient business of meetings. Like other rural municipalities adjacent to progressing cities and towns, the county is constantly responding to annexation moves. While essentially rural in character, the county must deal with some of its residents in an urban way. County of Red Deer is the eighth largest organized rural municipality in Alberta. BACKGROUND Early records reflect the western part of the county was settled by homesteaders concomitant with the progress of the Calgary-Strathcona railway in the late 1890's. Settlers realized that the soil was fertile with a thick chernozem profile in most parts. Game such as deer, buffalo, elk, moose and rabbit abounded as a ready supply of meat while pelts of weasel, skunk, coyote, muskrat, beaver, some mink and fox yielded a good trade for a largely cashless society. Rivers contained edible species of fish such as perch, pike, goldeye and trout which fortified larders. Prolific stands of timber served as handy building material when the few sawmills of the district could buck it up. While waiting for construction, homesteaders often lived in sod huts; but the good news was that those primitive houses could be kept warm with an almost limitless resource of poplar. Extensive grasslands provided adequate fodder for the horses and oxen that were the chief motive powerforclearing,cultivation and harvesting, which included basic machinery such as plow, seeders, mower, rake, harrow, a disk and jerry- built floats. Chief crop of the western portion was oats which was hardy and yielded as much as 100 bushels per acre, or more. Before the more resilient cereal grains were developed by the federal agricultural department, those crops were plagued by frost and fungus and were graded poor by the commodity dealers. The east country was settled much later due to distances between trading centres and the lack, until 1912, of a railroad. With the advent of the Grand Trunk Trailway, connecting Calgary and Edmonton, hamlets and villages went up at intervals of about one every eight miles. Only the villages of Elnora and Delburne and the hamlet of Lousana survive as railside centres, even though the stations have long since vanished. Still, with places to trade in, settlers began development and while breaking and cultivation was much more difficult due to the hilly topographical nature, many of the present flourishing farms got their beginnings at that time. Where the land was not amenable to grain farming, a thriving meat industry built gradually on well covered pasture land. Largely a result of the last glacial melting of the Red Deer River basin, the area has many creeks, large sloughs and small lakes providing one other element for successful ranching. Because of their decided ranching flavor, the district- Pine Lake and east to the Red Deer River- has produced many sons who became famous in the national and international rodeo theatre. Compensating the district for its thin agricultural gifts was the water, of course, and the same wildlife that supported the western townships, plus King Coal, discovered in large and, as yet, far-from-exhausted reserves. Recent coal prospecting has determined strong possibilities that coal deposits extend muchfurtherafieldthanthe proven mining locus north of Delburne. In any event, coal, as a fuel, was easily accessible to east district farmers and some created mining and coal transport businesses that augmented the cream cheque. Clam beds in the same area, varied the Friday diet of the region's entire Roman Catholic faithful. Early trails through the county formed the foundations for the modern rural road system that now laces the municipality. Not unnaturally, these trails are strongly connected with the early history of the whole region. The C & E Trail, for a long time the territory's main street, is the primary historical route of the west, linking as it did Calgary and Edmonton. In the east, the Rosebud Trail was a connecter between Fort McLeod and Tail Creek. Both these major paths were used extensively by the Alberta Field Force to move militia to deal with the 1885 Saskatchewan Rebellion and its leader, Louis Riel. Earliest white man's view of the region is believed to be that of the explorer- trader Anthony Henday who is known to have crossed the Red Deer a few miles south of Tail Creek in the year 1754. Among the great resources enjoyed by the county, its cities and towns and the agricultural industry is a reliable water supply by way of the streams and lakes evenly distributed within its borders. The major river is the Red Deer which has glacier origins in the eastern slopes and blends on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border with the drylands prairie system. Reflecting its importance to Alberta, the province has undertaken a $100 million dam construction project at Dickson, west of innisfail. The government hopes that the completed project will guarantee water supply to users throughout the region and control flooding that now and again rises between Garrington in the southwest and Red Deer (city) in the north central district. Other important streams are the Blindman River, three miles north of Red Deer, the Little Red Deer River, famous for its Red Lodge Provincial Park, nine miles west of Bowden; the Medicine River which cuts north to south through the far western townships to join the Medicine Flats confluence of rivers (Medicine, Red Deer, Raven and Little Red Deer). Once called Snake Lake, Sylvan Lake has a large town of the same name on its southern shore and is one of the major resort waters of the province. It rests in the central northwest of the county, just west of the fifth meridian. Similarly, Pine Lake, on highway 42, is growing in importance as a recreation lake and fishery. This lake and its famous old stopping house, soon to be demolished, was an early rest-up for travellers. Though much frequented by Indians up until the First World War period, the lake seldom sees those first Canadians now. Mentioned before were the lakes of the east country. Unfortunately, many of these, like Quill and Mikwan lakes, are large but unsuitable for recreation due to their alkalinity. Scenery along the Red Deer River is matchless, particularly east of Elnora where a viewer is thrilled by the hues of its banks and the first traces of the badlands. The county is fortunate to have within its borders, many fine parks. In addition to the parks mentioned above, there is also the county-maintained parks and campgrounds at Garrington; Penhold Bridge park, 3.5 miles west of the town; Petro Beach Park on the east side of Sylvan Lake, Balmoral Heights Park, east of Red Deer; and the Provincial parks at Sylvan Lake (town); Jarvis Bay, northeast side of Sylvan Lake; Pine Lake; Raven, on Highway 54; and Dickson park. A new park, is being built east of Elnora on the Red Deer River - a joint effort of district service clubs, private donors and the county. A committee has been formed to advise the government on the feasibility of an important recreational water park on the eastern rim of the Dickson Dam reservoir, currently under construction. INSTITUTIONS It is remarkable that where an unsophisticated hospital was established back in the homestead period,they mostly survive today as modern facilities. Having a humble beginning, the Red Deer hospital has grown to massive proportions as the Red Deer Regional Hospital, offering as good or better patient-care as the large teaching and general facilities of the metropolitan centres. Red Deer has gradually gained eminence in the medical spectrum through the desire of specialists to locate in the parkland's principal city. Well equipped and staffed hospitals also grace the centres of Innisfail, Elnora, and Eckville. Though the latter town is just outside the county, it serves the people of the northwestern area of the municipality. Elnora, atthis writing, is costructing a modern 10-bed facility to replace one that has seen better days. One-room schools were built by volunteers under a skilled carpenter who acted as czar of the job, often for $1.00 per day. While sections 11 and 29 were set aside for school purposes in the dominion land survey of the late 1800's, the trustees fixed school sites more in line with how far a pupil would have to travel to reach the school in the worst weather. With a deal of magic, the crown reserves were swapped for more suitable natural locations. In the county, many of the names of the school districts survive as community flavoring since the original structures have been reincarnated as district halls. The histories have served to revive interest in these place names, even the ones with no tangible proof they ever existed. The hills and valleys of economics constantlythreatened survival of the one- roomers. The nub of the problem was getting good teachers to come to districts with few amenities; and when they came, raising the money to pay them. Though even the really effective teachers were paid a pittance by today's standards, it frequently was a desperate business raising salary and operating capital in what was largely a cashless society. Still, many of the teachers remained, married into the district and inspired their students and children to follow in theirfootsteps. Though basic economics always loomed large in rural affairs, it was ultimately the logical progression of schooling that finally made the little red schoolhouses cherished memories. Consolidation - the provision of a broader curriculum in centralized plants - was completed within the county by the early 1960's. In the space of 20 years, and despite the agony of initial change, consolidation - by and with efficient transportation systems - is firmly entrenched in the county. The same central plants created to accommodate consolidation flourish as educational achievements, notably at Bowden, lnnisfail, Elnora, Delburne, Penhold, Sylvan Lake, River Glen (in Red Deer), Benalto, and Spruce View. Indeed, the county school payroll and purchasing forms an important economic building block in those mostly urban-organized points. Some pupils of the first schools have lived to serve trusteeships on the succeeding consolidation, righ up to the present. They express astonishment that so much was taught and learned with so little resources, in so short a time, but are convinced that it was the lack of amenities, the singleness of purpose of the teachers and a parental yearning for education that pushed even the most recalcitrant student along. There is also a strongly held notion that since a pupil might only be held to grade six, the teacher had to get quickly on with arming the student with the ability to self-learn; one good reason why teachers placed great emphasis on the communicative arts -grammar, spelling, reading and composition. Equally amazing was the graduation of girls who seemed to have been finished at expensive private schools when, in fact, their life's orbit was never more than a 10-mile journey. Spartan school programs however, were augmented by mothers who not only expertly taught the culinary and other domestic arts, but insisted on a good foundation in the social graces. The rearing of sons formed the other dimension of country life. Seemed like they couldn't be gotten out of school soon enough to take their place in the farm operation. One exception was the husky young fellow who spent the happiest four years of his life in grade six, was given a piece of the family farm on his 21st birthday and promptly married the teacher! An overly long stay in a grade was not unusual and certainly didn't reflect on the intelligence of the pupil. Problems that might keep a student in say, grade eight for several years would include the shutdown of the school during particularly cold and heavily-drifted winters; mid-term plight, death or sickness of a teacher, or the pregnancy and subsequent child-rearing of a married pedagogue, and the inability of the trustees to secure a replacement. All able-bodies males participated in community and public road construction chiefly because it was an efficient and logical way of cleaning off taxes when cash was scarce. There were no strikes. Some of the main market arteries of the county still rest on the foundations constructed with fresno, slip, wheelscraper and drop-wagon. Using the hand- operated, horse-drawn chief-item of municipal equipment, the grader man had the choicest of jobs. Crossing sloughs was accomplished by corduroying the ice in winter, putting straw or manure on the brush and when it settled in the spring, covering it with earth. Horse-drawn elevating graders with eight to twelve horses in trace were a common sight. Smaller graders could be pulled by four horse, a far cry from the new machines that cost $250,000.00. REPRESENTATION As it should be, county councillors take on a heavy responsibility with the win at the polling stations. Unlike their brothers of long ago, today's rural government representative must dedicate a great deal of his time to his constitutents, and while that close, direct approach with the electorate is still demanded, a councillor must also be better informed about municipal affairs. Though he has many regular meetings to attend, the modern rural elected official is required to devote much of his working day, and night, Monday through Sunday, learning his craft, both in his home territory and beyond - wherever seminars, symposiums and conventions are set up to improve his knowledge of the civilized system he administers. In County of Red Deer, the seven councillors have each division roughly three-quarters the size of the municipalities that formed the big jurisdiction in 1943. Apart from provincial highways 2, 2A, 11, 20, 21, 42 and 54, the county has under its control about 3,000 miles of road including the major secondary highways 590 (lnnisfail - McKenzie Crossing); 592 (Penhold to junction 781); 495 (Red Deer to junction with Provincial 21); 596 (Burnt Lake Trail from Red Deer to junction with 781); 587 (Bowden to Garrington Crossing); 781 (Sylvan Lake to junction with Provincial 54); 766 (Provincial 11 at EckvilleDiamond Valley to junction with Provincial 54); 805 (SR590 junction Wimborne Road to the border with M.D. of Kneehill). Some other vital statistics: The total county land area is about 1,000,000 acres with current land assessment valued at $19,949,530. Other assessments such as pipelines, powerlines, refineries, commercials, non-farming acreages and Improvements, other utilities, trackage and institutions amounts to $25,225,960. for a total of (1982) assessment of $45,175,490. County plants and shops (municipal and educational) have a value of $13,903,000., while the machinery inventory for the public works, and field services departments have total a worth of $5,670,000. Owing to the expertise of the mechanical branches of these departments, repair costs are kept to a minimum. Most of the county's D8 bulldozers have been in service for more than 20 years, due mainly to the mechanical aptitude of the journeymen and operators at the Innisfail shop. IN TRANSITION First school centralizations began at the close of World War I, enabling rural children their first chance for unbroken secondary education. Several of the smaller school dsitricts were joined together in what they called a consolidated school district. In these, three or four teachers at first taught grades 1 to 11. Later grade 12 was added. Children were picked up in horse-drawn vans, some that could be changed from wheels in the summer to runners for winter travel. The latter season saw the fixing of a small stove in the front where it could be stoked by the driver. A sort of live coal relay took place, keeping the small foot warmers on the floorboards at tolerable levels of comfort for pupils. As roads improved, small motor buses were introduced to the rounds. Motor transport rapidly developed along with consolidations. Buses of the several private systems serving the county today carry upwards of 50 students per trip. Two small schools, served by four to six teachers at Benalto and Lousana Consolidated, have successfully resisted dissolution of their plants and carry on in a way that is reminiscent of the earlier educational experience. In addition, three modern elementary schools, supported by the Seventh Day Adventist Church are located near Sylvan Lake and Red Deer. As they did in the beginning, the pre-consolidation clapboard schools go on serving their districts as community centres, an astonishing number of them still stoutly eminent on the prairie horizons at Valley Centre, Calder, Big Bend, Woods Lake, Craig, Hillsdown, Hill End, Cumberland, and many others. Still others have been converted to handsome private dwellings. An early seat of education and, for its time, a bold experiment, was the Indian Affairs school immediately west of the City of Red Deer, just south of the Burnt Lake Trail. Teaching basic arts, the school featured industrial training as well and achieved a great deal of success with native youths. The records are spotted however, by frequent kicking of the traces by eloping students who couldn't endure the discipline of dormitory surroundings. The industrial school ceased classes in 1920, the historically important (and for a long time the most prominent) structure fell into decay, its sandstone walls finally crumbling to bulldozers a scant few years ago. Its loss is only partly compensated for the fact it is a well documented and photographed story of the archival section of the Red Deer Museum. Standing out among the industrial school's workers, was a fellow named Domoney who, because he lived on the opposite side of the river to his place of work, crossed on horseback when the Red Deer was low, and swam across the sometimes turbulent stream when it was broad and high. Almost alone in the district, he saw the onset of winter as a most convenient time. DESCENDANTS Counting among their ancestors, some of the pre-1900s settlers are the families Allison, Herbert, Pierce, Lawrence, Doan, Braithwaite, Erickson, Greenwood, Gaetz, Hepburn,Thompson, Grimson, Schrader, Morris, Phillips, Cunningham, Swainson, Johanson, Forss, Vandaele, Lewis, McKain, Bjarnason, Chandler, Budvarson and Dallaire, to name but a few, who flourish today in the established farms. PLACES OF INTEREST Numbered among the few but eminent men of Icelandic letters, one of that small republic's poets is a man whose greatest output occurred while he homesteaded near Markerville on the Medicine River. Stephan Stephansson settled near Hola Bridge. In the modest settler's home, the poet turned out the poems that have made him immortal in the hearts of his countrymen who read a mixture of reverence for the island nation and find appealing his reflection of the new land that welcomed so many of his countrymen before and during the turn of the century. The Alberta government, recognizing the international importance of the Markerville farmer's literary fame, has re-created the farmstead, aptly preserving its essential rustic modesty. To this place annually, come hundreds of citizens of both Iceland and Canada who pay th~ir respects to a man who saw and penned the best of the two countries. While completion of the Dickson Dam on the Red Deer River is several years off, it is already a major provincial attraction where sightseers are adequately accommodated. In the planning for 10 years, the dam is an engineering wonder and has been designed to stablize water flow for downstream users, including two cities. Immediately west of the City of Red Deer, on the old Red Deer Crossing, Fort Normandeau has been preserved, incorporating the original lumber of the stopping house which was already in place when the Northwest Rebellion broke out in the spring of 1885. Part of a line of communication strongpoints established by the government in preparation for a protracted civil war, the fort was erected under the command of Lt. Bedard Normandeau of the 75th Quebec Regiment of Foot. Like Normandeau, the string of forts established for the Alberta Field Force are named after the French-Canadian officers who oversaw their construction. Another point of interest is the Content Bridge flats, north of Delburne, on the Red Deer River. A heavily-used provincial park now marks the spot where Indian tribes are said to have rested in their migrations through Rupert's Land. It has been the site of recent archaeological diggings which are yielding valuable data on the first inhabitants of Alberta. It is said that even warring tribes could find peace and reconciliation, for a time, on this sacred meadow.