Chocolate Snorting. What's Next?

Chocolate snorting has hit Vancouver. Now that Toronto has had a whiff of the news, they're clamouring for it, too. Apparently, it's imported from Belgium, where people are already hooked on it. It's the west coast way of expanding your mind and will have you instantly speaking 3 or 4 different languages. I'd try it but my tastebuds would be jealous. Also, it could be a "gateway" to sticking chunks of turkish delight up my nose.

Coming soon to Kitsilano-- chocolate rehab houses. You've been warned.

Another Bold Prairie Move: "First Bank" of Grassy Lake.

Lethbridge Herald, December 6,1909

A homegrown bank in Grassy Lake, Alberta? Did I hear you snicker? I don't know what became of the Grassy Lake Securites Company but it appears it's founding in 1909 was a sign of the optimism of the times-- along with less restrictive banking laws  In 1909 all you needed were a few big ideas and a few eager investors. The fact that your new bank was located in a tiny community of 200 souls should  prove no obstacle. Houses and businesses were "erupting" out of the rich dust of the Southern Alberta prairie-- so why not a homegrown bank, too?

Grassy Lake, ca.1912, Glenbow-Alberta Archives photo. 

 

Unloading horses at the Grassy Lake train station in 1902 (left). Abandoned train station, 1967 (right). 

Glenbow-Alberta Archives photos. 

Pushed along by land speculators and mecca-builders William Salvage and Harry Driggs, "Grassy" had achieved village status by 1911 and by  the early Spring of 1912 had hit the 460 mark. Presumably, it's new banking establishment was growing along with it, in anticipation of hitting the population requirement for "town" status: then set at 700.  Grassy Lake by this time was possessed by a spirit of optimism that ran rampant even in the smallest hamlets and villages along the CPR rail line. One claim regularly made by land speculators on the prairies was that the first crop would pay for the farm. Grassy Lake could hardly wait to see the new found wealth flowing down its streets. So, indeed-- why not a bank to help to both hold and promote all that coming wealth?

 

Full page ads with enlarged maps from William Salvage's full-page January, 1910 Medicine Hat News ad promoting real estate, industries and resources of Grassy Lake from the Medicine Hat News. The second map highlights the location of Grassy Lake in relation to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

Where's Taber? Railway Timetables and Archaeology

Taber goes missing, again!  Until my early elementary school years, Taber, Alberta, Canada was the centre of the universe. Then I discovered maps, world maps. Taber wasn't on them.  To my horror, nearby cites Lethbridge and Medicine Hat were also often missing.  Where on earth were we?  Did anyone "out there" know that we existed? "We" knew a lot about " them." We had National Geographic magazine, television and The Lethbridge Herald to expand our world. But did the world know about us? And if they found out about us, would they give us the time of day?  

After Neil Armstrong set his foot on the moon, I realized that "they" would never come looking for us. Taber had been permanently bypassed. Eventually, I realized Taber, Alberta, Canada would have to take it's lowly place in the universe. I thought I'd gotten over my psychological battle for recognition as a Taberite. Problem: that old wound has been opened up because I  dared to poke around online, discovering an 1885 train timetable that "snubs" Taber. Again, I found myself suffering from Small Town Syndrome. How much more so for the folks of Barnwell and Grassy Lake?  Well, maybe not.

 Timetable for the newly-opened Northwestern Coal and Navigation Company Railway, published in The Lethbridge News, December 6, 1885

Woodpecker, which would within a few years become Barnwell, was not much more than a boxcar located on a rail siding that served as a telegraph office for local settlers and the new railroad. But at least it was worth including on the published timetable for the North Western Coal and Navigation Company Railway, built by Father of Confederation and founder of Lethbridge, Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt. The timetable lists stops for Lethbridge and points east. Even "Grassy" made the railway timetable in 1885. 

Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt

The newly-established narrow-guage railway had been built to ship coal from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat , replacing the  the steamboat 'Baroness' and a number of barges which had been transporting coal on the Oldman River since 1883.  It seems the short-lived Oldman solution was a nightmare with its lack of high water and abundance of shoals and sandbanks.

Post card featuring Canada West Coal Company plant at Taber, Alberta

In the late 1890s, just after the railway was built, the first homesteaders began settling the area now known as Taber and coal appears to be the first attraction to Taber.  (Moses Johnson, my English-born paternal grandfather-- miner, later mine boss and provincial mine inspector-- was among the the early 20th century settlers.) Specific details are hard to find but it appears that a hamlet at Tank No. 77 wouldn't come into existence until the arrival of Mormon settlers in 1903. (My maternal grandparents were part of that settlement). 

Given Taber's relatively late blooming along the new railway, it's understandable that it's a no-show on the 1885 timetable. It seems Woodpecker/Barnwell, Grassy Lake, Winifred and Dunmore may well have had the upper hand at the time-- at least from the railway perspective. Humbling indeed, since Barnwell is yet but a village and the other three remain hamlets. 

Taber has made up for lost time, becoming a thriving, economically and agriculturally diverse town, the "Market Garden of Alberta" with the help of irrigation. (Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt had his hand in launching that, too.)  Taber not only has the most varied crop production in the province but perhaps the country. 

But there's another trump card for Taber that helps it gain ground, historically speaking. In 1961, about 5 km due north of Taber in the Oldman River's east bank, a child's skull was found by a Geological Survey of Canada team. It's believed to be one of the oldest inhabitants discovered in Alberta.  It's perhaps under-included in current discussion of Taber's history. Estimates vary widely, but the "Taber Child" skull is at least 4,000 years old and as much as 40,000 years old. Bling! Taber is back on the map-- at least until someone finds the skull of Barnwell Barney of the Flintstone era.

Small Sip of Southern Alberta Beer History

I've heard it said that until about the 1960s, Canadian beer was not meant to taste good. Even if it did taste like it was brewed in a dirty sock, in the 1920s in Lethbridge, Alberta, you simply rang 3554 and got it cold.  This 1924 beer ad in the Lethbridge Herald  was for a brew made at the "most up-to-date brewery in the West."

Lethbridge Breweries "cordially" invited the public to inspect their plant and even bring a friend from out of town.. Presumably, this the brewery's way of being ambassadors for bridge town.  Who would dare put down Lethbridge after seeing the fine, modern brewing facilities and breathtaking view from atop the coulees? I'd have taken them up on the offer to see how they get the mice in the bottles. 

Canadians Now Sharing the Beach with Americans

The media buzz this morning: With help from Canada and Pope Francis, the U.S. and Cuba will be resuming diplomatic relations. 50 years of great spots for Canadians on Cuban beaches and blowing  Havana cigar smoke on Americans is over. Such is the price of the good old-fashioned Canadian diplomatic help we've given to the U.S.

All dogs go to heaven? Bark if you love mass media fables.

Pope Francis said no such thing. But the more tall the tale, to more likely it is to get media wagging their tails. And you can follow their trail all the way to the front page of the New York Times. The Huffington Post also picked up the scent of this theological fable, too. In their confused weaving of the story, St. Paul, the Apostle is mixed up with Pope Paul VI, the Roman Catholic pontiff-- though the two are separated by twenty millennia. And then something Pope Francis did not say somehow makes this fable into a news story.

In the midst of this massive media mess-up, ReligionNews.com has set the record straight. It's going to disappoint millions of people. But think about this as it relates to your dog.  Of course you want Fido to go to heaven.  But what about that incessantly barking beast of your neighbour's that you're tempted to shoot. Do you really want to meet him (the dog, not necessarily the neighbour) there, assuming that you'll reach heaven?  If so, is that heaven? And what about cockroaches and mosquitos?  These are theological questions too deep for NYT and  Huffington Post. Perhaps another news hound, the National Enquirer, will pick up the ball... or the bone.

Calgary's Worst Driver or Pong? Choose Your Video Poison.

Why am I edified by interesting, mindless videos only after they've been viewed 4 million times? Why am I so hopelessly out of the loop? I'm sure I'm the last person in the internet world to view Calgary's Worst Driver and now, apparently, Canada's Worst Driver.

Until recently. I was very close to a video virgin.  But damn you Facebook, with your latest tempting video format and to all my "friends" who love and share mindless videos. To be honest, I resisted the first couple of times but finally caved like the front bumper of that car that was hit on the video. 

 In a related pondering, why do people who claim there's "never enough hours in the day" watch 4.5 minutes of something as slow as Pong and even more painful-- and that involved no kittens or high speed crashes. (By the way, this new 12-minute Pong video should take our lives to the next level.)