Calgary to the Border - Cowboy Country!

Here are the notes I jotted down as we drove this part of the trip:

Calgary and Southwest Alberta Canada

Cowboy country

Calgary = large city

Big cattle farms

Big business supporting cattle farms

Bison

Appaloosa museum

Windmill farms

Huge western accessory stores

Huge hay farms

Wide open land

No foothills

First Nation Reserves

Huge farms wide apart

Wild horse shows medium town sizes

Wild Rose

Good roads

Huge cattle feed lots

Clean air roads clean

Cowboy Trail

Rodeos

What does UFA stand for

Snow fences

Wind shelters/breaks

Lots of 18 wheelers

Mild Summers

Lots of apiaries

Beautiful Magpies and Ravens

Close proximity to states

I just continued to think as we rode along - Patty would LOVE this area!  It was a modern REAL COWBOY land.  We passed the Appaloosa Museum, for goodness sakes, you know you're in Patty country when that happens!  It was indeed beautiful land.  The art of hay baling was incredible.  Round bales, square ones, triangles of rectangled bales, covered bales, sloppy looking bales....the whole nine yards about baling hay!  There were so many places to stop, but we were on a mission, so no stopping around here.

In Alaska and the Yukon there were trails on the side of the highway for off road vehicles.  Some were paved while others were only dirt/mud trails.  In Alberta there just weren't any side roads for ATVs!  They were all licensed and ON the road!  Every turn in the road presented a different herd of beautiful horses and fat cattle.  I really enjoyed the ride - it was just so authentic and up to date.  Nothing fancy anywhere, just saddles, horses, cattle and cowboys! Lots of rodeo postings too. 

We had left ahead of PaL so we expected to catch them at our next campground.  We pulled off the road at a scenic area to give the engine a rest, and as we were about to pull back on, who comes rolling down the hi-way but The Lounge Lizard and the Toad!  We were all headed for US customs and it was such old hat by now that no one had the jitters.  This time the agent was on the passenger's side of the vehicles, so I passed the passports, and Barry answered most of his questions. 

It was funny when we were asked if we had any pets.  Three, Barry said.  The agent then said assuming that he guessed they were in the RV.  No, we said they were right there in the back seat.  He couldn't believe his eyes when he looked back there and they were all still asleep!!!!  He asked us where we were going and we told him St. Mary's CG at Glacier Park and his reply was...good luck getting a site!!!  So off we went with that bit of consternation! 

Chinooks were called “snow eater” by the  Native tribes. They are warm westerly winds that drop over the Rockies, melting the snow, clearing the open range and allowing year round grazing. Chinooks were a major factor in attracting the big ranching outfits that moved large cattle herds into southern Alberta in the early 1880s.

In 1881 the Marquis of Lorne, The Governor General of Canada at the time, visited the Elbow valley and sketched the Mount Glasgow-Banded Peak group. Alberta is named after his wife, Princess Louise Alberta. Now heavily forested with spruce, pine, and aspen, Bragg Creek was open meadow and flats when the first settlers arrived in 1885. Fire and buffalo grazing had stripped the trees from the land, making it attractive for settlers but many moved on when they discovered that early frosts and snowy winters left little food for their livestock. One man lamented that he could not feed his family on scenery. Bragg Creek is a climatic anomaly along the southern half of the Cowboy Trail, that is more akin to Sundre and Rocky Mountain House with its cooler climate and heavy snows.

The dense evergreen forest attests to the effect that the nearby mountains strong>have on this area. In 1894 two boys, Warren Bragg aged 17 and John Bragg aged 12 ran away from home in Nova Scotia over a disagreement with their new, very young step-mother. The boys settled along the Elbow River and made a homestead application but left a few years later when they got homesick. However, both boys returned to Alberta and ranched in the Rosebud district.

When A.O. Wheeler surveyed the area, the community had been named after the Canadians Tom and Huck adventurers. Dr. George Ings prospected this area in the 1890s. He mined a thousand tons of coal at base of Moose Mountain near the ice cave. Natural gas spewing from springs fueled expectation that oil was close by. In 1913 the Mowbray-Berkeley oil well was drilled and operated for three years before being shut in. A number of wells were drilled over the next 70 years looking for oil but could only find natural gas which was not commercially viable until Shell and Esso developed the Moose Mountain and Quirk Creek fields in 1985.

“Stoney Trail” a centuries-old trail used by our first peoples. It’s not a coincidence that Natives still frequent the Trading Post to trade their goods, hence we obtain genuine handicrafts&moccasins. While Calgary may just seem to be another strong>modern metropolis with no connection to cowboys, don’t believe it. The city has a rich western tradition as displayed by its citizens and at a number of venues which tell the story of Calgary and Alberta’s west.

Less than 150 years ago Calgary was a broad expanse of prairie with few trees and no townsite until the North West Mounted Police established Fort Calgary at the junction of the Elbow and Bow Rivers in 1875 to control the whiskey trade, which was decimating the Blackfoot nation. Eight years later the Canadian Pacific Railway laid down tracks in Calgary and connected Alberta to eastern Canada. This opened the  way for settlers to come west and beef and wheat to be shipped east and started a migration west that continues today.

In 1912, four wealthy ranchers held the first Stampede Rodeo and Agricultural Fair to recognize the passing of open range ranching,which was disappearing as agriculture settlement combined with barb wire fencing changed the face of the country. Almost 100 years later the Calgary Stampede still celebrates the wild west and the survival of cowboy traditions despite barb wire, automobiles and urbanization. Western Canada’s largest museum, the Glenbow boasts two of the country’s finest exhibitions on western history and heritage. One celebrates the culture of the Blackfoot People, the other tells the story of Alberta’s legendary Mavericks who helped shape the history of the West including Fannie Sperry who rode Red Wing to earn the title “Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the World.

The town of Pincher Creek got its name from a pair of hoof pincers that were left by the creek by a group of prospectors in 1868 and found in 1874 by the North West Mounted Police (NWMP). They named the stream Pincher Creek and set up a horse ranch along its banks in 1878 to raise horses and feed for the force because of the excellent grassland.Many of the early Mounties settled here and their descendants continue to farm and ranch the same land, a testament to the success of the original ventures.

As I recall the road leading up to the customs house was very curvy and full of very steep grades - both ascending and descending!  Phyllis said Larry was so nervous that by the time it was time to hand over the passports he couldn't stop shaking!  She was afraid the agent would wonder what the heck Larry was hiding, so she passed along the passports and answered the questions!  They didn't have any trouble, so I guess the agents see the white knuckles a lot! 

That's about it for the Cowboy Trail....

from the MABarry - over and out!