Our Lake and Its Beginnings 100 Years of

Our Lake and Its Beginnings: 100 + Years of Political & Economical Events Jen Peddlesden Nov 5 2015 1

1857 Its Too Dry Here! v John Palliser 1857. v Palliser Triangle v the evaporation often exceeding precipitation. http: //homes. chass. utoronto. ca/~ech ist/lec 6. htm 2

1883 The CPR Arrives v Government of Canada did not have the money to pay the CPR v 25 million acres ( 10 million ha) with mineral rights & $25 million v what to do with all that ‘desert’ along the railroad ? v Meanwhile back in Parliament… 3

1894 The NW Irrigation Act v Drought conditions in the 1880 s and 1890 s v The Northwest Irrigation Act took away all riparian rights (water and shorline) v. All water in all streams, lakes, ponds, springs, or other sources belongs to the Crown. ( the government) 4

1903 William Pearce brings irrigation to the CPR v highest paid man west of Winnipeg v CPR put forward $18 million ($437 billion today) to develop 1, 200, 000 ha to become the Eastern and Western irrigation sections v Pearce goes to work for CPR v See more at Glenbow Maverick’s 5

1905 Alberta Becomes a Province http: //www. culture. alberta. ca/paa/archives/research/centennial. aspx 6

1906 Chestermere Lake v He builds the largest irrigation Project at that time in North America v 1904 Construction began on Reservoir #1 Dam (Chestermere Lake) and the diversion weir on the Bow River (Harvie Passage) and the 28 km main canal. Completed 1906. v Was the lake dredged or not? v Over 2000 km of canals fanning out 160 Km from the source was completed 1907 v The drop from Calgary to Kininvie is 303 meters. 7

8

1910 A Swell Place to Live! Land boom 1910 to 1913 - Chestermere will be one of the ‘swellest’ communities! 9

10

Between 1912 and 1914, the CNo. R built a line between Saskatoon and Calgary and established Hanna as a divisional point. 1913 Chestermere Station Between 1912 and 1914, the CNo. R built the Goose Lake line between Saskatoon and Calgary. (1) (CNo. R later became the CNR) Chestermere was a stop at mile 124. 3 west of Hanna (0. 5 mi east of the crossing on Rainbow Road west side of Lake). The station house was built in 1913 & was St James style only one of three built in Alberta, ostensibly to serve tourist traffic. It was on the schedule until 1921 and burned down in 1930. (1) http: //forgottenalberta. com/2010/01/15/goose-lake-line-is-on-thechopping-block / 11

Chestermere Station Photos courtesy Kay Clarke 12

1926 Chestermere is listed as a post office 13

1954 A Near Miss! Due to some hard ‘political’ lobbying by local residents, one of whom was Gordon Soderberg, a plan to locate a jail where Mattamy Development is now ( N end of lake), was foiled! A land exchange by the Stryker family brings them to Chestermere and their farm on Spy Hill becomes the jail! 14

1958/59 Chestermere Cabin Owners Formed v Fred Paasche invites cabin owners to form a social club— 50 attended! v These people were non voting renters in the MD of Rocky View & limited to using the land for 6 mo of the year. v They had a little 1952 Ford that they used as a firetruck. 15

16

1959 Camping in Chestermere The Provincial government opened a campground at Chestermere Lake on land purchased from the Western Irrigation District. It was located where John Peake Park now sits. 17

1977 The Summer Village of Chestermere is born! v Western Irrigation district tired of being landlords v CCOA facilitates selling to individuals – mortgages now possible! v Elections were held in the summer! v The first office was a little trailer located where Centex is now - first mayor was Bill Porter v Sour gas wells 18

19

Sour Gas Well Map Canadian Oxy No Date 20

1979 A New Home! 21

1993 Straight to Town status! v Chestermere missed being a Village, going straight to becoming a Town in 1993. v Fall elections were held every 2 years for a mayor and 6 councillors. and a new town hall was built in 2004. v v Too big!!! It is nearly too small…just 11 years 22 later!

th 25 2002 Anniversary Celebration ! A huge celebration was held in 2002 for the 25 th Anniversary and a cairn was erected at Founders’ Point – the cairn will be opened in 2052. That is if there is someone alive to remember to do this! 23

2009 Encroachment Settled at last v Many cabin owners had shorelines that were crooked or muddy, sometimes they just filled these in. v WID required that they pay for this ‘new’ land v Argued for about 20 years but finally settled in 2009—in the same way as in 1977 – the Town bought this land settled with the individuals. 24

2015 Chestermere Becomes a City v In the summer of 2014 Mayor Patricia Matthews and the six town councillors asked residents if they wanted to become a city. v The reason for this was to attract more light industry to help defray taxes for residents. v The decision was made final in the fall of 2014 and Chestermere became a city. 25

What is unique to Chestermere? q We are a town with no main street! Well, there is q q q one, but not like other small communities that grew up in the 1900 s. We skipped being a Village! We don’t have street lights on our main roads— citizens like the feel of the countryside and to be able to see the stars! However, developments since have required these to be installed. You can store recreation vehicles on your property all year long—we are a ‘recreation’ oasis! Chestermere is located in a wetlands – Ray’s talk. Alberta’s newest city! We were the ‘pot’ capital of Alberta in 2003 26

27

Where else would you have this kind of election sign? 28

Thank you!
- Slides: 29