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.