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Alberta lies between the 49th and 60th parallels, and is bounded on the west by British Columbia, on the south by the state of Montana, on the east by Saskatchewan and on the north by the Northwest Territories. It comprises 661,190 sq. km in size and is 1,223 km north to south and 660 km east to west. The population of Alberta was 2,696,826 as of 1996. The single greatest event in Alberta history was the arrival of the railway in 1883. The railway made the Canadian settlement of the West possible. In 1881 there were about 1,000 non-Native settlers in Alberta. Ten years later that number had grown to 17,500. The most successful early settlers were the ranchers, who found Alberta's foothills ideal ranching country. Most of Alberta's ranchers were English settlers, but the cowboys - such as John Ware who in 1876 brought the first cattle into the province - were American. Farming the prairie proved more difficult. Most newcomers preferred to settle in the United States West, but by the 1890s, most of the American land was taken. In 1897, Canada's minister of the interior, Clifford Sifton, began a massive advertising campaign in Europe to encourage people to come to the Canadian West. While most of the early settlers came from Ontario, Britain or the United States, many of the people who came as a result of Sifton's campaign were of German, Ukrainian, and Romanian descent, giving Alberta the diverse population that it has today. The result of Sifton's campaign was spectacular. Alberta's population grew to 73,000 in 1901; to 374,000 in 1911; and to 584,000 in 1921! Living in poorly insulated sod huts or flimsy frame huts, the newcomers transformed the plains' open grassland into farms - narrowly surviving Alberta's harsh winters. Today Alberta has a vital and diverse business community. It includes not only oil and gas, but several other thriving industries such as foresty, telecommunications and agriculture. |
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| I N D E X |
| Beynon |
| Taber |
| ALBERTA - Historical Database |
| Alberta Genealogical Society |
| Cemetery Records Online |
| Cyndi's List - Alberta |
| Glenbow Archives |
| Longeway's Genealogy & History |
| Traces - Alberta Genealogy |
