Alberta's Cornerstone: Archaeological Adventures in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park

By Shari Peyerl

The fascinating exploration of a vanished settlement in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, told within the framework of an archaeologist’s memoir.

While excavating Alberta’s most important historic sandstone quarry, archaeologist and oral historian Shari Peyerl uncovers fascinating clues about the province’s past. From metal fragments and dusty artifacts, she pieces together a story about a settlement situated in today’s picturesque Glenbow Provincial Park. Chronicling the development of ranching, village life, industry, and the Canadian Pacific Railway, Alberta’s Cornerstone is an engaging and authoritative history that reads like an archaeological detective story.

As Peyerl dispels archaeological myths, explains scientific techniques, and shares the excitement of unearthing lost histories, she introduces readers to a colourful array of characters who once lived at Glenbow, including a local embezzler, Alberta’s first graduate nurse, a Canadian soccer champion, an acclaimed mathematician, and a member of an international spy agency. Written for the general public, the detective-like attention to detail of this carefully annotated book will also appeal to historical scholars. Beautifully illustrated with modern colour photographs and many historic photographs (including fifteen previously unpublished), Alberta’s Cornerstone brings the ghosts of Glenbow to life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heritage House
• Release date: May 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781772033922

Shari Peyerl

Shari Peyerl is an archaeologist, archivist, oral historian, and writer, who holds BSc and MA degrees in archaeology from the University of Calgary. She has volunteered at Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park since 2009 and enjoys giving tours and presentations about its history and archaeology. She created The People of Glenbow Family Photo Album, on display in the park Interpretive Centre. Peyerl loves using clues from written and oral history, archaeology and genealogy to reveal how ordinary people contributed to history.

Book preview

Cover: Alberta’s Cornerstone: Archaeological Adventures in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park by Shari Peyerl.

Every time I see the big blue sign pointing off the highway to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park (

grpp

), a rush of anticipation hits me. I am about to enter a peaceful, 1,334 hectare (3,297 acre) pocket of undeveloped ranchland, nestled in Alberta’s beautiful Bow River valley—a magical refuge for wildlife and native plants, hiding many secrets of the past. As I slow down to turn south, time begins to warp.

While excavating Alberta’s most important historic sandstone quarry, archaeologist and oral historian Shari Peyerl uncovers fascinating clues about the province’s past. From metal fragments and dusty artifacts, she pieces together a story about a settlement situated in today’s picturesque Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. Chronicling the development of ranching, village life, industry, and the Canadian Pacific Railway, Alberta’s Cornerstone is an engaging and authoritative history that reads like an archaeological detective story.

As Peyerl dispels archaeological myths, explains scientific techniques, and shares the excitement of unearthing lost histories, she introduces readers to a colourful array of characters who once lived at Glenbow, including a local embezzler, Alberta’s first graduate nurse, a Canadian soccer champion, an acclaimed mathematician, and a member of an international spy agency. Written for the general public, the meticulous attention to detail of this carefully annotated book will also appeal to historical scholars. Beautifully illustrated with modern colour photographs and many historic photographs (including fifteen previously unpublished), Alberta’s Cornerstone brings the ghosts of Glenbow to life.

Alberta’s Cornerstone

Archaeological Adventures in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park

SHARI PEYERL

Logo: Heritage House.

Landscape of Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

courtesy of harvey martens

Contents

PROLOGUE: MY ADVENTURE BEGINS

1THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

2EARLY SETTLEMENT AT GLENBOW

3GLENBOW QUARRY

4GLENBOW STONE AND THE BUILDING(S) OF GOVERNMENT

5THE WORKERS’ QUARTERS

6DIGGING INTO GLENBOW’S PAST

7THE BUNKHOUSE

8GLENBOW VILLAGE

9THE STONECUTTERS’ UNION LABOUR HALL

10 THE GLENBOW SCHOOL

11 THE COMMERCIAL AREA

12 TIME TICKS AWAY

13 WRAPPING UP

EPILOGUE: THE LAST WORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

courtesy of alberta parks and the glenbow ranch park foundation

Note Regarding Measures

Both imperial and metric systems are used in this book, depending on context. The imperial system was used in Canada until the introduction of metric beginning in 1970. In historical contexts in this book, imperial is used, so details are given in inches, feet, miles, pounds, and degrees Fahrenheit; in most of these cases, metric equivalents are given only for reference. For example, the land survey system was created based on the mile, so it would be cumbersome to use only the metric conversions in these instances. In modern contexts, metric units such as centimetres, metres, kilometres, and degrees Celsius are used, often with imperial equivalents noted. For example, archaeological discussions use the scientific standard of metric units.

Prologue

My Adventure Begins

Mist at Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park.

courtesy of harvey martens

As i sped

down Alberta’s Highway 1

a

, westbound from Calgary, my mind whirled faster than my tires. Here I was, 50 years old, with my first excavation permit in my pocket: the Grandma Moses of archaeology. If only I could be a fraction as successful as she had been. At an age when most archaeologists are planning for retirement, I had just been granted permission, by the Alberta government department in charge of such things, to conduct a little excavation project under my own name. To be perfectly honest, this wasn’t a permit as sweeping as the ones received by professional archaeologists half my age; my restricted research permit allowed only the specific work for which I had applied. It was a permit to test my capabilities.

Decades earlier, with my freshly minted master’s degree in archaeology in hand, I had taken what work was available. A stint on a contracting company excavation crew, in a snowy October, had been enough to convince me that my future lay elsewhere. I just did not have the build or strength to spend eight hours a day shovelling gravel out of a one-metre-square unit into a wheelbarrow waiting at the edge of the ever-deepening pit. I transferred to part-time lab work, analyzing animal bones and stone artifacts, and also became a sessional instructor, teaching university-level introductory classes in archaeology and anthropology.

By the time my company employers began pressuring me to apply to become a permit-holder, which would require me to spend most of the year excavating in remote Alberta locations, I had moved in with my boyfriend and we were planning our wedding. After quitting my job with the contracting company, I increased my course load and settled into domestic life. With the arrival of our son a few years later, parenting became my focus, and I shifted to teaching only night classes. When a change in my husband’s work schedule would have necessitated arranging for outside childcare, I chose to give up archaeology completely so I could raise my own child. Most of my colleagues frowned on this choice and warned me I would never work again—but I had no regrets.

Several years later, I was asked to volunteer as the secretary for the local archaeological society and I accepted, slowly becoming more involved in the organization. In 2009, the then-president had suggested a research project for the society, and I volunteered to do archival research while my son was in school. As the years passed, I became more committed to the project, spending increasing amounts of time piecing together clues about the history of the sites and the people who had lived there.

Now, here I was in the spring of 2017, officially the project co-director and operating my own little project under my baby permit. I wanted so desperately to complete the permit successfully, by the government-imposed deadline. It was time to prove I had not wasted all those years of post-secondary education—time to do what I had been trained to do. But would I measure up and be able to relaunch my career?

Chinook arch over the visitor centre.

courtesy of harvey martens

1 The Archaeological Project

Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park (

grpp

) ranchland.

courtesy of harvey martens

Every time

I see the big blue sign, pointing off the highway to Glen-bow Ranch Provincial Park (

grpp

), a rush of anticipation hits me. I am about to enter a peaceful 1,334 hectare (3,297 acre) pocket of undeveloped ranchland,¹ nestled in Alberta’s beautiful Bow River valley—a magical refuge for wildlife and native plants, hiding many secrets of the past. As I slow down to turn south, time begins to warp.

I have been making this journey, at irregular intervals, for several years. My first visit to the park was in 2009, when the Archaeological Society of Alberta Calgary Centre (

asacc

) launched the Glenbow Town and Quarry Project (

gt&qp

) under the direction of the society president. This public archaeology project was created to provide opportunities for society members to participate in field studies that would make a meaningful contribution to archaeological knowledge.

Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park was the perfect location for such a project: it contained a group of related sites that were historically significant, well-preserved, and relatively unstudied. Glenbow Quarry was vital to our provincial history, as it had supplied the sandstone for the exterior of the Alberta Legislature Building and Government House, the former residence of the lieutenant-governor of Alberta, both located in Edmonton. Glenbow sandstone was also used for government buildings in nearby Calgary. Despite its importance to our local history, little had been officially recorded about the quarry itself, and most people today know nothing about this vital cornerstone of our provincial history.

Fortunately, the quarry and its associated settlement had remained relatively undisturbed over the years because the whole area had reverted to ranchland following the settlement’s abandonment. After one land sale, that ranchland had stayed in the hands of a single family, the Harvies, for more than seventy years. In 2006, the Harvie family sold the land to the Government of Alberta at a reduced price, in exchange for a tax receipt for the balance of the land value. The park was officially created in 2008 and opened to the public in 2011.² I was fortunate to have explored

grpp

in its early days, freely roaming the grassland and brush in search of archaeological remains, before the general public strode onto freshly paved trails.

Ranching at

grpp

.

courtesy of ken wright

Archaeology is the study of past human culture. In the popular imagination it conjures thoughts of dirt-smudged people, usually in exotic locations like Egypt, sifting intently through age-old dust on a quest for golden treasures. Indiana Jones has become archaeology’s poster child. Yes,

asacc

volunteers did map, survey and even excavate at Glenbow during the course of the project. However, because I study the past that falls within the era of recorded history, I do many other things as well.

Initially, my main contribution to the project was gathering historical documents about the quarry and its workers. I looked everywhere I could think of, beginning with standard resources like maps, land titles, aerial photographs, censuses, and archives. I also found references to Glenbow in such records as local history books, newspapers, and government documents. I queried community groups in the area: churches, the Masonic lodge, and the police, for example. The most unique source I located was a set of audio-cassette recordings of oral history interviews dating from 1973, discovered among a collection of old artifacts at the local university.

As I transcribed the recordings, the voices of the old-timers recounting tales of their youth began to haunt me. Suddenly, The Past transformed from an abstract concept into a reality that I had failed to witness merely by being born too late. Those voices planted the seed of an interest that grew to an obsession: I needed to understand the people of Glenbow and what they had experienced more than a hundred years ago. It became my self-imposed responsibility to gather and record their history before it was lost forever.

I wanted to hear more stories, to find more clues to the daily life of the people who had lived and worked at Glenbow. I began tracking down descendants of the Glenbow people and asking them to share their family stories and photos. Almost all descendants I located happily shared what remaining knowledge and records they had. These kind and generous families from across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom helped illuminate the history of Glenbow and contributed to the archaeological investigations. For instance, clues in old photographs indicate where buildings once stood, and by identifying a photo’s location, a comparison can be made to depressions in the field. In some cases, I have been able to identify the families that lived in specific houses, buildings represented today by no more than overgrown concavities in the land surface. Most importantly, the individual stories of these families, from their heartbreaking struggles to their triumphant successes, help bring the cumulative history of Glenbow to life.

Over the years, my involvement grew from documentary research to include more archaeological fieldwork. In September 2009, I was one of many

asacc

volunteers helping to survey and map building depressions at Glenbow. It was a brilliant fall day. The project volunteers buzzed with excitement, the setting was enchanting, and I fell in love with Glenbow.

Background details behind Betty Wearmouth include a building by her hip and the trail to Glenbow Quarry by the dog’s head.

courtesy of pat wearmouth

The park path bordered by grasslands, with the Bow River on one side and the uplands on the other.

courtesy of harvey martens

The grassy open land of the park is bordered by coulees and cliffs to the north and the swift, wide Bow River to the south. Gooseberry, wolf willow, wild rose, and saskatoon berry bushes—along with stands of aspen—sprout in the swales of ancient river terraces. Small streams of water trickle pleasantly from natural springs seeping from eroded cliff-lines. A wide variety of wildlife lives in the park: bounding deer, regal moose, swift coyotes, determined beavers, majestic bald eagles, nesting osprey, cheerful bluebirds, and, of course, lowly ground squirrels (commonly disparaged as gophers).

Fieldwork of the

gt&qp

continued over the years, and I helped with some of it, particularly the initial excavations of a building foundation in 2013. In 2015, I supervised the majority of excavations that continued at the same site. Now, in 2017, I had graduated to directing a field season, with the advice of the experienced archaeologist who had held the permits for all the

asacc

’s previous work at Glenbow.³ In addition to the fieldwork, I was now responsible for ensuring all the recovered artifacts were correctly processed and the final report to the government was submitted on time.

Hillside wildflowers.

courtesy of harvey martens

Time—I have been preoccupied with time my whole life. Clocks of assorted styles clutter my bookshelves, some just resting their hands wherever they happened to stop, others ticking industriously away, and the heirloom clock chiming day and night, wound weekly and synchronized with my phone, computer, or watch. Time, regulating life, marking growth and change.

It seems when I turn off the double divided speedway that is Highway 1

a

, onto the gravelled track leading to

grpp

, that I am winding my way back in time and everything slows down. I descend gradually into the Bow Valley along a sinuous coulee. Houses and acreages evaporate and are replaced by cattle and ranchland. Vistas across the valley tease the eye as I meander around curves. By the time I park my truck and inhale the crisp morning air, I am in another world. A rainbow of wildflowers greets me, and osprey call out from above. Grasses rustle, emitting a dusky scent, as I brush past them. I am walking through history itself.

Glenbow—A Familiar Name

Glenbow, as a named location, did not exist until quite recently. Glenbow originated as the name for the water tank (now gone) at the east end of today’s park. The tank was placed beside the Canadian Pacific Railway (

cpr

) line, which was laid there in 1883.⁴ At that point, the valley through which the Bow River flows is narrow—a glen.

The term Glenbow has been used to name several things in the area. A nearby sheep ranch took up the name as its own.⁵ Adding some confusion, the name was later used for another ranch just to the west, this one a sheep and horse ranch. When a sandstone quarry was begun, it was also named Glenbow, as were the village, post office, train station, and school that all sprang up close by.

The owner of the sheep and horse ranch sold his land to his lawyer and friend Eric Harvie in 1934.⁶ When Harvie made his fortune in the oil industry and became a philanthropist, he used Glenbow in several of his company and foundation titles, the most well-known being the Glenbow Museum in downtown Calgary and the Glenbow Library and Archives now housed in the Glenbow Western Research Centre at the University of Calgary.⁷ The specialness of the Glenbow ranch must have made a real impression on Harvie. It certainly influenced his descendants, as they continued ranching, acquiring more land over the years. The Harvie family and the Government of Alberta worked together to create

grpp

in 2008,⁸ and everyone can now enjoy this breathtaking park situated along the mighty Bow.

Glenbow water tank, section house, and Cochrane Co. shepherd’s house and corral, 1884.

george a. bayne, alberta land titles

Glenbow itself tells the story of Alberta: scenic landscapes, railways, ranching, industry, settlement, and cultural prosperity.

2 Early Settlement at Glenbow

A modern tipi at

grpp

.

courtesy of harvey martens

Human history

in the place that would become Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park stretches back thousands of years, to the arrival of the First Nations people. There are many prehistoric sites in the park and they are awe-inspiring. However, I have always felt somewhat uncomfortable with prehistoric archaeology. I studied it and learned how to analyze ancient artifacts, but I never felt comfortable trying to tell stories about those artifacts and the people who used them. I suppose it’s because my ancestors are relatively recent arrivals to the continent; only half of my great-grandparents were born in North America. I just feel out of place trying to interpret a culture so different from my own. On the other hand, historical archaeology encompasses many more sources of information, with a variety of perspectives. These numerous sources provide an abundance of clues that help reveal the story of what happened long ago.

As western Canada was opened to immigrants, the region that would become

grpp

was recognized as suitable for ranching. In 1881, a group of investors led by Senator Matthew Cochrane acquired huge land leases for the first large-scale ranch in what would one day be Alberta: Cochrane Ranche. After two winters of drastic cattle losses, the ranch was reborn in 1883 as the British American Ranch Company and switched to raising horses and sheep. This was also unprofitable, so the company closed in 1888.¹

Settlers operating farms and smaller ranches began to move into the area. The first ranch to use the Glenbow name was located at the eastern end of what would be

grpp

. The Walter and Janet Moodie family and their cousins, the Leslie Hill family, lived at Glenbow from 1891 to 1894.² Among the earliest settlers in the area, they faced challenges. Janet, writing to her family in England following a long cold prairie winter, referred to the experience on the ranch as the ‘abomination of desolation.’³ Lack of local medical care caused the Moodies to move to Calgary, leaving Leslie on the ranch.⁴ The Moodies’ trail-blazing attitude was embraced by the children, who became western pioneers in the fields of surveying, teaching, and nursing. Of particular note is Marion Moodie, the first nurse to train at Calgary General Hospital and, in 1898, the first nurse to graduate in what would become the province of Alberta.⁵ (She also became a published poet⁶ and collected botanical specimens, which were accepted by organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution.⁷) Also in 1898, Leslie Hill, a mining engineer by trade, swapped the ranch for mining prospects and moved away.⁸ The original Glenbow ranch went through several ownership and name changes over time, and was known most recently as Bearspaw Ranch.⁹

In the centre of

grpp

, another early ranch was established. Waverley Ranch was homesteaded in 1893 by Joseph and Elizabeth Cockbaine, who built the original log house there.¹⁰ William and Edith Copeman bought Waverley in 1900 and expanded the ranch. After the Copemans, a sequence of owners took charge of Waverley Ranch, some of whom contributed to Glenbow’s flowering.¹¹

Two of the Copeman children are noteworthy for decidedly different reasons.¹² Constance Blytha Copeman was born in the log house at Waverley Ranch and grew up to marry a decorated First World War veteran, George Pearkes. He eventually became Canada’s Minister of National Defence and, later, the lieutenant-governor of British Columbia. Blytha’s little brother, Humphry, in stark contrast, died in infancy and is the only person known to have been buried within today’s park-lands. The Copeman family illustrates the range of experience, from resounding social success to deep emotional despair, that Glenbow residents encountered.

The ranch most important to our story is also in the middle of today’s park. Hertford Ranch was created by Stephen Christopher Lay Moore and his sister Mary Cresacre Moore in 1904.¹³ They situated their house and other structures near the top of a coulee on a section of land.¹⁴

Glenbow by Marion Moodie, ca. 1892.

courtesy of libraries and cultural resources digital collections, university of calgary

The neighbouring section, which they leased as pasture for their 150 head of cattle and ten horses, became Glenbow Quarry.¹⁵ Cattle still graze there today, roaming along the steep slopes and over the sandstone boulders marking the former quarry works.

In 1908, the Moores sold out to Chester Rhoades de la Vergne, a rich New Yorker, who had decided to take up sheep and horse ranching.¹⁶ He went into business with Leonard Harry Kennerley, the man who soon became his brother-in-law.¹⁷ The two men moved into the Moores’ house and together turned Hertford Ranch into the Glenbow Sheep and Horse Ranch.¹⁸

Not only was this land important to the development of Glenbow’s main industry (the quarry), but de la Vergne himself was critical to the social and business fabric of Glenbow. He was the hub of Glenbow’s elite society, which consisted of his family and friends. He also impacted the lives of other Glenbow people through his business activities.

The arrival of de la Vergne and Kennerley coincided with a significant and independent development at the local quarry,¹⁹ which heralded the dawn of Glenbow’s boom era.

Millionaire Hill

Most of my time at the park has been spent in the valley, investigating the lives of the working-class residents. However, there were upper-class Glenbow homeowners as well. Chester Rhoades de la Vergne, a wealthy American, invited several friends and relatives to join him at Glenbow. Almost all of them built seasonal homes nearby on the highland, with its sweeping panorama of the Bow River valley and the mountains beyond. Consequently, the area became known as Millionaire Hill.

Chester’s sister, Mary, and her husband, Craig Fitz Randolph Drake, a New York real estate broker,²⁰ built a house a short distance from the homes of de la Vergne and Kennerley. The Drakes named their land Buck Spring Ranch.²¹ Today it is private property, but their red barn can be seen on the approach to the park entrance.

Near the Drake house, the Morris residence once stood. Part of the same social set as the de la Vergnes, Dr. Dudley Morris (a New York physician)²² and his wife, Gertrude, bought their Glenbow land in 1914 and built a lovely home,²³ where they lived with their two children (Elinor and Dudley Jr.). An accidental fire destroyed the home in the 1970s. The only remains consist of two fireplace chimneys, now the focus of a modern picnic area located beside the park Visitor Information Centre.

George de St. Clair Stevenson and his wife, Kathleen, bought land on the Glenbow highlands between the de la Vergne and Drake properties.

Construction of Drake Home, ca. 1914.

courtesy of the vanderhoef/evans family archives

Morris Home, ca. 1915.

courtesy of the vanderhoef/evans family archives

Morris Family, ca. 1915.

courtesy of the vanderhoef/evans family archives

George de St. Clair Stevenson and his horse Belinda, sent from army training camp at Purfleet, Essex, March 17, 1915.

courtesy of the vanderhoef/evans family archives

George was a British army officer and Kathleen was