An Incorrigible History of Alberta
Calgary Stampede's Western Art Winners
The West That Was
Focusing on the West
A Slice of Reality
Lithograph in Western Canadian History
Shadow Stories
Five Hundred
Generations
D.C. Lund
Calgary's Art Walk
Stew Cameron
Dale Auger
Judie Popplewell
K. Neil Swanson
Jerry Doell
Paul Van Ginkel
Diana Stupniski
Janice Blackie Goodine
Gena La Coste
Wendy Risdale
Ash Cooper

An Incorrigible History of Alberta

By Terri Mason

Photos courtesy of Glenbow Museum archives

The Prince of Wales and George Lane at Bar U Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta. It was Lane who convinced the Prince to buy the neighbouring ranch, which he did, and promptly renamed it the EP Ranch.

Alberta was, and continues to be, shaped by mavericks – adventurous, hard-working and spirited men, women and not surprising in the West – horses. To tell the story of a place isn’t hard, but to design a gallery that explores the “sense of place” – what it was like to live in and be an Albertan in the early tumultuous times is quite an achievement. Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta explores, explains, investigates and brings to light many of the untold stories and unsung heroes and heroines of Alberta’s past.

The stories of courageous women like Charlotte Small, the wife of explorer David Thompson, who travelled alongside her husband (with any number of her thirteen children alongside) for an astounding 25,000 miles – more than three and a half times the distance covered by Lewis and Clark. Men like Fred Bagley who, at fifteen, was the youngest member of the North-West Mounted Police when he joined up for the March West in 1874. The great bucking horse Cyclone, who bucked off some 129 cowboys before Tom Three Persons rode him to a standstill in the 1912 Calgary Stampede. These and many others are the stories featured in the new Mavericks gallery in the Glenbow Museum.

Mary Dover was the granddaughter of North-West Mounted Police Colonel James Macleod. Early in the Second World War, she enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC), and became Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of training. She was a stunt rider in the movie His Destiny. The image I’ll be sending is from the 1927 Banff Winter Carnival when she was chosen as Carnival Queen, and when she and her partner placed second in the mixed packing competition, a timed event in which competitors secured large loads to pack horses using a diamond hitch.

This new 30,000 square foot permanent gallery opens February 2007 and features eleven new galleries – each covering an area of Alberta’s history including the fur trade, the North West Mounted Police, the railroads, ranching, politics, oil and gas and immigration. Here visitors can get to know the inside story of some of the explorers, settlers, missionaries, whiskey traders, Mounties, cowboys, immigrants, entrepreneurs, politicians, artists and athletes who, with their risk-taking personalities and ambitions, became the cornerstones of Alberta’s maverick nature. The lives of these fascinating people are explored with artifacts, art, photographs and multimedia.

Forty-eight Albertans were chosen to tell the story of Alberta through their personalities and experiences. These individuals represent Alberta men and women from diverse ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds – from prominent figures to ordinary people.

Pete Knight riding “Too Bad” at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, Calgary, Alta. ca 1924

In piecing this exhibit together, The Glenbow enlisted the support and involvement of Alberta writer, Aritha van Herk, author of Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta.