Settlement after 1900
The homesteaders of Strathcona County showed great diversity. Ethnically, they comprised many groups whose origins derived from the British Isles. The Ottewell and Crosswhite families from England, the Boag and Bremner families from Scotland, while the Daly and Morrow families arrived from Ireland.
People arrived from the Scandinavian countries - families such as Fried and Hansen. Also, the French Canadians migrated west to the Fort Saskatchewan and Hastings Lake districts, Germanic immigrants settled in the Josephburg and Ellerslie-Colchester areas, while the Ukrainian families populated the Whitemud region, and northeast of Fort Saskatchewan.
Many brought farming and trade skills, including blacksmithing, carpentry and steam engineering. Some were illiterate, and others highly educated - such as Dr. Tofield who took a homestead in the Agricola district.
In 1911 Dr. Tofield's quarter section was purchased by Lord and Lady Botsfield, along with three other quarters. They built a large English-style country house and brought their own blacksmith with them.
Many arrived penniless, others comfortable or wealthy. A German count farmed in the Ellerslie District as did James Brennan, who lived in a large home with servants, and kept a barnyard full of prize livestock.
In 1906 Sandy Mann, brother of Great Northern Railway building partnership of MacKenzie and Mann, purchased the first of what was to become a 4,800 acre farm in the Scotford district of Strathcona County. Sandy had made his money in railway construction, building mountain tunnels and even making the successful tunnel that blew up Ripple Rock between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. The Scotford farm became the biggest employer in the Fort Saskatchewan district, employing up to thirty men for the land and livestock operations.
On the other end of the social scale was George Card, the Hermit of Good Hope, a wizened old man with a long white beard who dug a twenty foot by ten foot trench into a hillside, in the vicinity of the west boundary of Elk Island Park. The trench was roofed with logs, grass and clay. A door, small window and boards covered the front, making a cozy home. Mr. Card was completely illiterate and made his living by taking regular ten mile trips over the winding trails to Bruderheim, picking up pioneer essentials in the stores, and reselling them from the back of his horse-drawn caravan, in the Good Hope district.
The first settlers arrived by the cart trails such as the Carlton Trail from Winnipeg and followed the southern edge of Cooking Lake to continue on to Edmonton on what was later called the Cooking Lake Trail. Another went east of Edmonton (Baseline Trail), angled along the north sides of Cooking and Hastings Lake, and then turned south to join the Carlton.
Last updated: Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Page ID: 2114