History of Lethbridge
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The city of Lethbridge, Alberta developed from drift mines opened by Nicholas Sheran (1874) and the North Western Coal and Navigation Company (1882), whose president was William Lethbridge. Previous to this, the area now known as Lethbridge was part of the territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy: the Kainai, the Piikani and the Siksika.[1]
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[edit] Whisky trade
After the United States Army outlawed alcohol trading in 1869 with the Blood nation in Montana, traders John J. Healy and Alfred B. Hamilton started the whisky trading post Fort Hamilton near the junction of the St. Mary and Oldman rivers.[1] After it was burned down, they rebuilt it and eventually it came to be nicknamed Fort Whoop-Up. The whisky traded at this post was often not much more than alcohol, river water, chewing tobacco and lye.
The whisky trade eventually lead to the massacre of many Assiniboines in the Cypress Hills area by some Americans in 1873. As a result, the North West Mounted Police (now the RCMP) were sent to the area to stop the trade and establish order. The NWMP arrived at Fort Whoop-Up on 9 October 1874. Later in 1875, the NWMP established a post at the fort by renting a room from Healy and Hamilton. For the next twelve years, the fort continued to trade and host a NWMP post.
[edit] Coal Mining
By the 1870s, Nicholas Sheran (an American entrepreneur) mined a coal seam in the coulees on the west side of what is now the Oldman River. He sold what he mined to Montana traders and the NWMP.[1]
Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt was interested in the success Sheran was having. He knew a trans-continental railway was soon to be built in the area, and the settlers it would bring would create a profitable market for the coal.[1]
On 13 October 1882, Galt's company North Western Coal and Navigation Company opened the first drift mine across from Sheran's operation. This mine was managed by William Stafford.[1] The first president and largest shareholder of the company, William Lethbridge, was the one after whom the town was named.
By the 20th century, the mines employed about 150 men and produced about 300 tonnes of coal each day.[1] By the time production peaked during World War I, 10 mines employed 2,000 miners and produced 1 million tonnes of coal annually. At the time, local collieries were the largest coal producers in the Northwest Territories.[2]
After the war, an increase in oil and natural gas production caused a decline in coal production,[1] and the last mine in Lethbridge closed in 1957. Some of this mine, Galt No. 8, still stands today, and a local society is attempting to renovate it as a museum or interpretive centre.
[edit] Rail
The first rail line was built in Lethbridge, being completed 28 August 1885 by the Alberta Railway and Coal Company. The line expanded for 595 kilometres beyond Lethbridge and was instrumental in feeding the main CPR lines when CPR bought them from ARCC in 1912. Because of the rail industry's dependence of coal and the CPR's immigration efforts to settle southern Alberta, Lethbridge became instrumental in the economic success of the region. In the mid-1980s, the rail yards in downtown Lethbridge were moved to nearby Kipp and Lethbridge ceased operating as a hub for rail traffic in the province.
[edit] Names
Before settlement, the area where Lethbridge is located was known as The Arid Region. When geological surveys around 1880 revealed an abundance of coal, it was called The Belly River Coal District. After the Galts introduced irrigation to counter the Arid Region image around 1900, the locality was called the Irrigated District. Finally, as an aid to land sales after the rush of dryland settlement started about 1905, the non-irrigable portion was called The Winter Wheat Lands.
Other names the area was known by are as follows:
- Blackfoot
- Sarcee
- Chadish-kashi, Black/Rocks
- Cree
- Kuskusukisay-guni, Black/Rocks
- Stony
- Ipubin-saba-akabin, or Digging Coal
- English
- Coal Banks
- Sherans, or Sheran's Ferry
- The Crossing
- The Colliery
- Newlethbridge
- Lethbridge Colliery
- Upper and Lower Town
- Coalhurst
- Riverside
Since October 15, 1885, the name Lethbridge has been the official term; although the name Lethbridge was in common, if unofficial, use for the river bottom community at least as early as May 1884.
[edit] Riot of 1907
On 25 December 1907, an altercation occurred at the Dallas Hotel (now the Coalbanks Inn) on 5 Street South in downtown Lethbridge. Reportedly, the altercation was between a Chinese employee working the hotel's restaurant and a Caucasian customer.
Word of the altercation spread and somehow escalated into rumours the employee had killed the customer. As a result, a large crowd gathered at the hotel and ransacked the restaurant. Shortly after, they moved to nearby Chinatown to wreak havoc there.
At this point, the local police gathered to control the situation and mayor W. S. Galbraith read the Riot Act to those gathered. As a result, everything was brought under control and the crowd soon dispersed.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g A Short History of Lethbridge, Alberta, Greg Ellis, October 2001
- ^ City of Lethbridge website
