Western Canada
; "A Short History of Western Canada")
A Short History of Western Canada
Copyright 1968 McGraw-Hill Company of Canada Limited
163 pages,
ISBN 0-07-077787-X.
The Railways and the Land Rush
The Ranch Herds
Grass was one of the first natural resources to catch the white man's roving eye. It invited grazing, and as a result, trade in meats.
On the Alberta side of the mountains, ranching had to wait for a reduction in the number of buffalo and the Indians' acceptance of the principle of private ownership. On the British Columbia side, cattlemen waited only for markets. Consequently, ranch cattle occupied inter-mountain valleys for some years before Constable Whitney released the first herd to test a winter on the short-grass plains.
A meat-hungry gold rush population provided the first inducement for cattlemen who drove herds from the Oregon Territory for the express purpose of slaughter and sale as fresh beef. When the gold rush ended, the remaining cattle were turned loose to fend for themselves and demonstrate how well they could adjust to those inter-mountain ranges. Cattlemen watched with interest.
Lewis "Shifty" Campbell and "Gypsie" Johnny Wilson were not the first to drive cattle to the Interior for slaughter, but they may have been the first to introduce breeding stock. Wilson was the gypsy lad who left his nomadic people in England to make his way in the New World, and Lewis Campbell was the son of an Indiana farmer for whom Wilson worked after arriving on the continent. Both young fellows were present at the gold diggings in California and then in British Columbia. Although they were not traveling together, their ideas were about the same, and after driving herds for slaughter to the British Columbia gold fields, both thought about raising cattle right there.
By 1864, Campbell was settling down a few miles east of Kamloops, and there he and his friend of former years decided to pool their resources and bring in a breeding herd. Early in 1865, the two men were riding southward, Wilson carrying the bag of gold dust with which to pay for cattle purchased, and Campbell carrying the loaded guns for the protection of the gold. They bought 300 head of breeding stock and turned the herd toward British Columbia. There were broad rivers like the Columbia to be crossed by swimming, and dangerous passes to be overcome by hard driving. There were hostile Indians along the way and hazards in many other forms but, ultimately, men and cattle reached the Wilson and Campbell range near Kamloops. The two men later dissolved the partnership, but both continued to breed cattle and became big operators on the British Columbia grass.
The Harper Brothers, Jerome and Thaddeus, as noted previously, drove cattle from Oregon Territory to the Fraser River mining camps in each of three years: 1862,1863, and 1864. When the last herd could not be sold for beef, the Harpers decided to try ranching on those good inter-mountain ranges. Jerome Harper died a few years later, but Thaddeus carried on, and it was he who directed the big herd overland to San Francisco in 1876.
But the distinction of being the most influential cattleman in the early years must go to Joseph Greaves of Douglas Lake Ranch, in British Columbia's Nicola Valley. As a boy he ran away from his Yorkshire, England, home and came to North America as a stowaway on the sailing ship, Patrick Henry. When he was discovered on board, his punishment came from the ship's captain who ordered him to feed and look after the pigs carried on the voyage. At New York, the boy obtained work with a local farmer, but very soon thereafter he joined a wagon train about to cross the continent to the California gold diggings.
After California, public interest shifted to the Fraser River and Greaves announced that he was going, but he had a hunch that he might make more profit by selling meat than by digging in the gravel. He drove a flock of sheep from the Dalles to Olympia on the coast and there found it possible to ship them to the mouth of the Fraser. Then, after the long drive into the Interior, Greaves slaughtered the sheep and sold the mutton at prices which induced him to return to Oregon for more animals for slaughter. On the second and third trips he drove cattle, but the demand was falling, and the last herd was turned loose at Walachin, beside the Thompson River.
Now and again Greaves would conduct a roundup and cut out a few fat cattle to be driven to New Westminster. The herd was growing faster than local demand, however, and there are stories about 4,000 of Greaves' cattle being driven in the direction of Chicago in 1880. As told by one who later worked with Greaves, the drive ended at a point in southeastern Wyoming where there was the advantage of a railway connection with Chicago.
Greaves was said to return to British Columbia with fresh determination to expand his cattle-raising operations. By this time, the C.P.R. was projected westward, and any man with vision could see markets developing. In 1882, Greaves entered into a partnership with friends to conduct ranching on a much bigger scale at Douglas Lake. He bought hundreds of breeding cattle, and in a short time, his ranch was the biggest beef-producing enterprise in Canada, and its ultimate record made it the oldest.
On the prairie side of the Rockies, interest in cattle-ranching followed quickly upon the disappearance of the buffalo herds. Kootenai Brown had noted that where buffalo flourished, cattle should be able to do the same. He was right. The buffalo was a good judge of grass and had shown a preference for the short but highly nutritious grass of the plains.
In 1878, just a year after Constable Robert Whitney's cattle passed the important survival test outdoors in winter, George Emerson and Tom Lynch drove a thousand cattle from Montana and allowed them to roam on the good grass beside the Highwood River. With no fences in the country, the cattle could wander far in any direction, and the Emerson and Lynch animals became fat and sleek.
The Hon. M. H. Cochrane, from Compton, Quebec, was the next to make cattle history in foothills country. Driving a democrat and team of ponies, he appeared in that part early in 1881, in order to make his own assessment of ranching opportunities. He met up with Kootenai Brown who told him that the future for cattle was as favourable as in Montana. Cochrane was convinced and rushed away to secure a federal government grazing lease on 100,000 acres west of Calgary. Later in the year, a herd of 3,000 Montana cattle, most of them showing their close relationship to Texas Longhorns, appeared on the trail leading to the Bow River. Men of the I. G. Baker Company, commissioned to deliver the herd, were trying to reach the new ranch headquarters at Big Hill, beside today's town of Cochrane, before winter weather overtook them. Major James Walker, who had retired from the Mounted Police to become Cochrane's ranch manager, received the herd under most adverse circumstances. The cattle were thin and tired, and the winter weather which followed was severe. Winter losses were heavy, but Cochrane was determined to succeed with his experiment, and a second herd was being driven over the trail toward Calgary in the autumn of 1882. This one reached the foothills in time to feel the icy sting of an early snowstorm. Once again the Cochrane losses were heavy enough to discourage or ruin any ordinary person.
Believing that a more southerly range would be less risky, Cochrane obtained a lease between the Oldman and Waterton Rivers and moved all his cattle to it. In spite of the transfer, ill fortune continued to follow the pioneer herd, and in the very fist winter after the change, the range west of Calgary enjoyed freedom from heavy snows while the southern range was blanketed with drifts. But Cochrane, the first of the prairie Cattle Barons, persisted and better luck attended later ranch efforts.
The next big herd to be driven over the trails to what is now Alberta was that of the North West Cattle Company, owned by the Allans of Montreal. It was the beginning of the famous Bar U Ranch with which the name of George Lane, one of Alberta's "Big Four" ranchers, was long associated. In delivering the original herd late in 1882, Tom Lynch, "king of the cattle trails", introduced some particularly able American cowboys and cattlemen to Canadian soil, among them the great Negro rancher, John Ware.
After 1882, the big herds were more numerous. The Oxley herd, with English capital and monocled directors, started in that year, while the Walrond outfit appeared in 1883 and the Quorn in 1884. In fact, by 1884, 2,782,000 acres of grazing land were held in 41 leases, mainly in the well favoured foothills. The Cochrane Ranch had the biggest herd east of the mountains at that time, with the I. G. Baker Company, the North West Cattle Company, and Walrond Ranch ranking second, third, and fourth in size.
Ranching continued to prosper for several years and then received its near-ruinous setback. It was the winter of 1886-87. The preceding summer was hot and dry, and with a rapid expansion in the herds, some ranges were overgrazed and bare. An early winter, heavy snows, low temperatures, and an absence of chinooks combined to make it the worst winter cattlemen had experienced. Cattle drifted in the storms, and many perished in the coulees. A rancher who was present estimated that 40 per cent of all cattle south of the Red Deer River died during that fateful winter. When the snow melted in the spring, the countryside was littered with rotting carcasses, and many ranchers faced bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the bad winter served to furnish lessons about ranch management, and the cattle industry was rehabilitated with more thought being directed to reserves of feed and the animals' winter needs.
The Cochrane Ranch, the outfit which brought the first big cattle herd to the foothills and prairies, also brought the first flock of ranch sheep. Although never popular with the cattlemen, sheep deserved their chance on the Canadian range, and the Cochrane management wanted something to eat the grass on the range west of Calgary after cattle were moved to a more southerly location. Accordingly, late in 1884, a flock consisting of 8,000 sheep was being driven from Montana to Big Hill, by way of Calgary. Cattlemen continued their campaign against sheep in the best grass country, arguing that grazing sheep left the range unsatisfactory for cattle. The Cochrane sheep did meet with moderate success, however, and other big flocks followed into what is now southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.
Incoming settlers encroached upon country the cattlemen would have chosen to keep for their exclusive use, and the Canadian ranchland had to be limited to areas considered unsuitable for cropping. Inevitably, ranching changed greatly from the years of open range and country-wide roundups, but in much of the British Columbia interior, the Alberta foothills, and on the most arid part of the prairies, the ranch cattle industry continued to be important. In those areas where it survives as a specialized branch of agriculture, ranching represents the best possible use of land.
