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Yorath House Artist Residency Blog Post 5: Treaties and Settlement History

By Adriana A. Davies Yorath House Artist-in-Residence

A sketch of the buildings at Fort Edmonton done by Dr. A. Whiteside, 1880, City of Edmonton Archives EA-10-1178.

Sitting in Yorath House next to the North Saskatchewan River doing online research on homestead records, and also reading newspaper accounts from the end of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries, I come face-to-face with racism. The accounts are written from the settler perspective. The City of Edmonton Archives on its website has posted the following statement:

The City of Edmonton Archives (CoE A) has developed this statement regarding the language used in archival descriptions to meaningfully integrate equity and reconciliation work into the City’s archival practice. The changes reflect the staff’s on-going efforts to acknowledge known instances of discrimination that appear in archival records.

Archivists have been working on identifying and contextualizing problematic content, language and imagery found in our collections since 2017. This was partly in response to the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Commission’s Calls to Action, specifically those aimed at cultural and heritage institutions. Further work is on-going in alignment with the City of Edmonton’s commitments to inclusion and respect for diversity and the work of various groups in the City and, specifically, of the Anti-Racism Committee of City Council, as well as the Association of Canadian Archivists’ Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

While the statement deals with the language in historic documents, there is a larger issue. The Government of Canada was intent on colonizing traditional Indigenous lands. The territories that became Canada initially attracted the attention of the British and French because of the bounty of fur-bearing animals. The fur of beavers, in particular, was used to create felt for hat making. Fur trading companies were the first major commercial enterprises (Hudson’s Bay Company and North-West Company) and were followed by others to harvest other natural resources including fish and stands of timber.

The interior of Fort Edmonton within the palisades showing the warehouse, Chief Factor’s House and Clerks’ quarters, 1894, City of Edmonton Archives EA-10-88.

With the signing of Treaty No. 6 on August 23, 1876 at Fort Carlton and on September 9, at Fort Pitt, the federal government was ready to unite the country “from sea to shining sea” through the building of a railway. The territory in question covered most of the central portions of what became, in 1905, the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. The signatories were representatives of the Canadian Crown and the Cree, Chipewyan and Stoney nations.

Front and back of large medal presented to the Chiefs and councillors who signed treaties 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. It shows a relief portrait of Queen Victoria and the representative of the Crown shaking hands with one of the Chiefs. Libraries and Archives Canada, Accession number: 1971-205 NPC.

Treaty 6 was mid-way in the 11 numbered treaties; Treaties 6, 7 and 8 cover most of Alberta. At the Fort Carlton meeting, on the part of First Nations, Chief Mistawasis (Big Child) and Chief Ahtahkakoop (Star Blanket) represented the Carlton Cree. On the part of the Crown, principal negotiators were Alexander Morris, Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories; James McKay, a Metis fur trader, and Minister of Agriculture for Manitoba; and W. J. Christie, Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Chiefs at Fort Pitt trading with Hudson’s Bay Company representatives, autumn 1884, unknown photographer. L-R: Four Sky Thunder; Sky Bird (or King Bird), the third son of Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear); Moose (seated); Naposis; Mistahimaskwa; Angus McKay; Mr. Dufresne; Louis Goulet; Stanley Simpson; Constable G. W. Rowley (seated); Alex McDonald (in back); Corporal R. B. Sleigh; Mr. Edmund; and Henry Dufresne. There is a difference of opinion as to the names of the two corporals: some sources claim it is Corporal Sleigh and Billy Anderson, while others claim it is Patsy Carroll and H. A. Edmonds. Library and Archives Canada, Ernest Brown Fonds/e011303100-020_s1.

When Treaty negotiations began at Fort Pitt, on September 5, Cree Chief Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear) was away and therefore did not participate. Chief Weekaskookwasayin (Sweet Grass) led the discussions and appeared to accept that the terms of the Treaty would be beneficial; he was likely influenced by Chiefs Mistawasis and Ahtahkakoop. When Chief Mistahimaskwa returned, he was surprised that the other chiefs had not waited for him to return before signing. He had some important news to share: he had spoken to some of the signatories of previous Treaties and they had told him that they had been disappointed with the outcomes. Historian Hugh Dempsey has written that, if the Chief had been there, Treaty 6 may not have been signed. The entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia notes:

When Mistahimaskwa returned to Fort Pitt, he brought discouraging news with him from the Indigenous peoples on the prairies who had already signed Treaties 1 to 5: the treaties had not amounted to everything that the people had hoped. However, he was too late; the treaty had already been signed. Mistahimaskwa was frustrated and surprised that the other chiefs had not waited for him to return before concluding the negotiations. According to the notes of the commission’s secretary, M.G. Dickieson, Mistahimaskwa referred to the treaty as a dreaded “rope to be about my neck.” Mistahimaskwa was not referring to a literal hanging (which is what some government officials had believed), but to the loss of his and his people’s freedom, and Indigenous loss of control over land and resources. Dempsey argues that if Mistahimaskwa had been present at the negotiations, the treaty commissioners would have likely had a more difficult time acquiring Indigenous approval of Treaty 6. Mistahimaskwa was not the only chief who initially refused to sign the treaty. Chief Minahikosis (Little Pine) and other Cree leaders of the Saskatchewan District were also opposed to the terms, arguing that the treaty provided little protections for their people. Fearing starvation and unrest, many of the initially hesitant chiefs signed adhesions to the treaty in the years to come, including Minahikosis (who signed in July 1879) and Mistahimaskwa (who signed on 8 December 1882 at Fort Walsh).1

The “adhesions” involved the adding of signatories from other areas including Edmonton in 1877, Blackfoot Crossing in 1877, Sounding Lake in 1879, and Rocky Mountain House in 1944 and 1950. Treaty 6 encompasses 17 First Nations in central Alberta including the Dene Suliné, Cree, Nakota Sioux and Saulteaux peoples. The Edmonton adhesion was signed on August 21, 1877 on the land that would become the site of the Alberta Legislature. The site was a sacred gathering place for the Indigenous People of Alberta.

While the Treaties outline the rights, benefits and obligations to each other of the signing parties, there is no doubt that they were intended to enable a “land grab”: the Government of Canada wanted to open up the land for settlement. Indigenous People were to be confined to “reserves” and the remaining lands were to be made available. In 1869, Canada had purchased extensive parts of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company but the Company, because of its historic role in the fur trade, retained extensive tracts of land. When the federal government gave the Canadian Pacific Railway a monopoly to build the railway through the prairies they were also given extensive lands not only for laying of tracks and building of stations but also for establishing town sites and farms.

As sovereign peoples, why would Indigenous People in what became Alberta and Saskatchewan want to sign Treaties? They came to the negotiations in good faith expecting that the Government of Canada would protect their lands from outsiders including white settlers, surveyors and the Métis. By the mid-nineteenth century, buffalo herds had declined, as had deer and other big game, and they faced starvation; in addition, various smallpox epidemics were decimating their population and that is why they negotiated the “medicine chest” provision in Treaty 6; it was literally to be housed with the Indian agent. In addition, the Government promised to assist the signatories in farming initiatives by providing various types of equipment.

With respect to the Metis or “mixed blood” peoples who were the result of marriages between fur traders and Indigenous women, the Government of Canada devised Métis scrip, which was a one-time payment whether in money or land that “extinguished” the individual’s land rights. Whether the recipients understood this is open to question. The certificate or warrant was issued by the Department of the Interior and printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company. Money scrip came in $20, $80, $160 and $240 increments. Land scrip came in allotments of 80, 160 and 240 acre (32, 65 and 97 hectare) increments. This allowed the Canadian government to acquire Métis rights to the land. As Robert Houle writes:

To the detriment of the Métis, who at the time did not fully comprehend the foreign system, traders like McDougall and Secord began to venture away from mercantilism. Through continued exploitation of the Crown system, McDougall and Secord were able to become “Edmonton’s First Millionaire Teachers”. The Scrip system allowed those with resources to purchase a certificate for face value or perhaps a marginal increase, then redeem the certificate on behalf, sometimes through fraud, of the original holder and re-sell for profit. Once a sale was undertaken, unbeknownst to Métis, their claims and rights would be extinguished in the eyes of the Crown.2

Métis Scrip for 30 acres issued March 20, 1901. Image Courtesy of the City of Edmonton archives MS-46 File 38.

In order for the land to be settled, it needed to be surveyed. This work had begun in 1871 after Manitoba became a province, and the North-West Territories was established as a result of the purchase of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Dominion Land Survey covered about 800,000 square kilometres and began with Manitoba and then continued West. In 1869, the first meridian was chosen at 97°27′28.4″ west longitude. The survey excluded First Nations’ reserves and federal parks. The Hudson’s Bay received Section 8 and most of Section 26.

The surveys were done in three stages: 1871-1879: southern Manitoba and a little of Saskatchewan; 1880: small areas of Saskatchewan; and 1881: the largest survey that includes what became Alberta. There was a sense of urgency about finishing the survey because the Government of Canada feared US encroachment into Canada. Over 27 million quarter sections were surveyed by 1883; maps and plans were given to the provinces. Townships were composed of 36 sections, and sections comprised 4 quarter sections or 16 subdivisions.

After Hudson’s Bay Company railway right of ways and school sections were carved out, the remainder became available for homesteads. The federal and provincial governments and municipalities advertised land availability for settlement. A homesteader had to pay a $10 fee to register a quarter-section and, within a term of three years, had to cultivate 30 acres (12 hectares) and build a house to gain title to the land. The bulk of prairie settlement occurred in the period 1885 to 1914.

With respect to the surveying of the land at Fort Edmonton, W. F. King did an initial survey for the Government of Canada in 1878. The formal survey was done in 1882 and adhered to the river lot pattern that the largely Métis population had established. This was based on the system used in Quebec. Because many of the Métis at Fort Edmonton and St. Albert had begun to settle the land and their small farms and landholdings adhered to the river lot system, this was grandfathered in.

The Hudson’s Bay Company had an extensive tract of land to the West of the downtown centred on Jasper Avenue (the Hudson’s Bay Reserve). The survey established 44 lots covering both sides of the North Saskatchewan River. These were East of the HBC reserve lands. By and large, these were Métis owned with the remainder purchased from the Company by current and former employees. The lots on the northern side of the River were even-numbered and the lots on the south side were odd-numbered. Among the former HBC employees were Malcom Groat, Colin Fraser, John Sinclair, Donald McLeod, James and William Rowland, Kenneth Macdonald, James Kirkness, John Fraser and James and George Gullion. Métis homesteaders included Joseph McDonald (River Lot 11), Laurent Garneau (River Lot 7), some of whom had also worked for the Company.3 These lots were by and large farmland until the communities of Edmonton and Strathcona began to expand quickly becoming towns and cities in the period from 1890 to 1914 when a worldwide economic recession and the First World War put an end to development.

Connor Thompson in “Edmonton’s River Lots: A Layer in Our History,” writes:

As the area’s fur trade was winding down, farming began to take on a greater importance in the lives of the people around Fort Edmonton. Many began staking claims to land in the Fort’s immediate vicinity, farming in a river lot fashion. A staple of Métis culture, this style of farming allowed for access to the river, wooded areas, cultivated land, and provided space for hay lands as well. While a rough (and unapproved) survey was undertaken by government surveyor W. F. King 1878, a more thorough government-approved survey in 1882 formalized the division of the land in terms of a river lot pattern, which is what the predominantly Métis population in the area at the time desired. The survey created 44 large lots across the banks of the North Saskatchewan, most of which stretched east of the Hudson’s Bay Company reserve lands. In many ways, the early history of these river lots is a history of the Métis and their kinship networks – marriage between the area’s families was common, as were friendship and support systems.

Other south side families faced struggles relating to their Indigenous identities, especially with the pressures of Métis scrip and the 1885 rebellion – Métis scrip was a one-time payment of either money or land that, in the eyes of the Canadian government, extinguished the person’s Indigenous land rights. Scrip was notorious for its convoluted process and unethical nature. Many families on these south-side river lot farms, including the family of William Meaver on River Lot 15 (bounded by present-day 99th St. to 101 St.), Charles Gauthier and his son on River Lot 17 south (99th St. and Mill Creek Ravine), George Donald and Betsy Brass of River Lot 21 (91st to 95th St., in the present-day Bonnie Doon neighborhood), took scrip. Some of the families that were members of the Papaschase band either took scrip (as Brass herself, who was a woman of mixed Cree/Saulteaux ancestry did), or joined the Enoch band, as William Ward’s family (of River Lot 13) did. As settlement increased, many Métis families of this period would leave to places such as St. Paul des Métis, St. Albert, Tofield, and Cooking Lake.

As the largely British towns of Edmonton and Strathcona grew, the Indigenous origins of the land were erased and the rights of Indigenous Peoples violated.

Edmonton Settlement showing the river lots, ca. 1882. City of Edmonton Archives EAM-85.

Interpreting History

In August 1951, my Mother Estera, older sister Rosa and my brother Giuseppe and I joined our Father, Raffaele Albi in Edmonton. He had left Italy in 1949 and made his way to Edmonton and begun work for an Italian-owned company, New West Construction. The company was helping to finish the Imperial Oil Refinery in Strathcona. In 1953, my parents purchased an old house on 127 Street and 109A Avenue in the Westmount area. That September, we went to school at St. Andrew’s Elementary School across from the Charles Camsell Hospital. That is when I encountered racism personally: as a dark and thin southern-Italian kid, I became the target of “half-breed” jokes. I knew who these people were because daily I watched the dark-skinned children looking at me through the chain-link fence that surrounded the Hospital. They looked sad and I felt that they were jealous watching us play our care-free games in the school yard. There were some Métis children in my school and I quickly made friends with members of the L’Hirondelle, Mercier and Majeau families not realizing that for some of my school mates this was not done.

It came as a surprise to me that Italians were considered a “visible minority” and therefore the butt of jokes, many about the Mafia, DPs, Wops or other pejorative terms. I was thus sensitized to “being different.” When I was in junior high, I decided that I wanted to be a journalist and, in 1962, became a student at the University of Alberta with an English major and French minor. I volunteered with the student newspaper, The Gateway, and the summer of 1964 was a student intern at The Edmonton Journal.

Two traumatic experiences occurred that summer that helped to shape my thinking and influenced my life and career. A friendly journalist told me that there was a bet on at the Greenbriar Lounge, where the largely male staff went to drink, as to who would get me into bed (nobody did!). The other occurred when on weekend duty I was assigned to cover a story on a northern reserve. Weekend duty was assigned to younger staff and the carrot was that you got to do a photo essay for the Sunday newspaper. A young photographer and I drove up to the reserve and I remember arriving in a tiny, tiny community (it wasn’t large enough to be described as a town) and going to what looked like the community hall. Dave and I entered an extremely smoky room where all the men were talking animatedly. When we introduced ourselves, they were extremely kind and I began the interviews. I discovered that they were discussing Treaty rights and that the Government of Canada was not honouring these. I was captivated. On our return to the Journal offices late that evening (Saturday), I wrote the article telling their story. I was delighted with the two-page spread that included David’s photographs of the Chiefs and Elders. The following Thursday at the weekly Editorial meeting, Editor Andrew Snaddon tore strips off me for having “lost my objectivity” and only told the “Indian” side of the story. From that day forward, I knew that I wanted to continue to tell those stories.

The first opportunity came in January 1987 when I started work as the executive director of the Alberta Museums Association. I took a call in the first week from someone wanting to know what “ICOM Resolution 11” was. I didn’t know so I called the Canadian Museums Association and learned that the International Council of Museums at its General Assembly in 1986 in Buenos Aires, Argentina had passed a resolution that was to guide museums in dealing with living Indigenous communities. It stated:

Resolution No. 11: Participation of Ethnic Groups in Museum Activities

Whereas there are increasing concerns on the part of ethnic groups regarding the ways in which they and their cultures are portrayed in museum exhibitions and programmes, The 15th General Assembly of ICOM, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 4 November 1986, Recommends that: 1. Museums which are engaged in activities relating to living ethnic groups, should, whenever possible, consult with the appropriate members of those groups, and 2. Such museums should avoid using ethnic materials in any way which might be detrimental to the group that produced them; their usage should be in keeping with the spirit of the ICOM Code of Professional Ethics, with particular reference to paragraphs 2.8 and 6.7.

The resolution enshrined consultation on all Indigenous exhibits and programs that has become a practice with Canadian museums. When I called back and gave the mystery caller this information, I asked who they represented and learned that it was the Lubicon Cree. This northern Alberta First Nation had been left out of Treaty 8 negotiations. They had filed a claim with the federal government as early as 1933, for their own reserve but nothing had been done to resolve the matter. Pressures on their traditional way of life resulting from the number of oil companies drilling on the contested territory had accelerated their need for a settlement. Under a new, young Chief, Bernard Ominayak, the cause received renewed impetus and he sought the help of professionals.

American human rights activist Fred Lennarson became his chief advisor in 1979. His consulting company, Mirmir Corporation, had already done work for the Indian Association of Alberta (under Harold Cardinal). Ominayak and Lennarson aimed to get a $1 billion settlement from the federal government and, to do this, organized an aggressive letter writing and media campaign. By 1983, they were mailing information about the land claim dispute to over 600 organizations and individuals around the world and had been successful in obtaining the support of the World Council of Churches and the European Parliament. Knowing that they would need the support of Indigenous organizations, they had extensive meetings and, among the first to come on board were the Assembly of First Nations, the Indian Association of Alberta, the Métis Association of Alberta and the Grand Council of Quebec Cree.

Subsequently, when the Glenbow Museum launched its exhibit, curated by Julia Harrison, titled “The Spirits Sings,” as part of the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, there were protestors there indicating the museum had violated ICOM Resolution 11 and also attacking the display of “False Face” sacred masks that were on display. In fact, Harrison had had an Indigenous advisory committee and the masks had previously been on display in Ontario museums as well as in the Canadian Embassy in London, England, without objections. This event galvanized museum personnel to undertake some serious reflection on the way in which they represented Indigenous history and artifacts.

The Canadian Museums Association with the Assembly of First Nations undertook the Task Force on Museums and First Peoples and I was delighted to take part in this work which was led on the museum side by Morris Flewwelling, the CMA President at the time. With the support of the Board of the Alberta Museums Association, we created three symposia held in 1988, 1989 and 1990 to address the relationship between museums and First Peoples, repatriation of ceremonial and sacred objects, and the topic “Re-inventing the Museum in Native Terms.” For this last, I invited representatives from the Ak-Chin Eco-Museum in Arizona. The community, which was established in 1912 as a reservation, was plagued by poverty and scarcity of resources until it declared itself an “ecomuseum” and focused on preservation of its language and culture to promote economic development.

As a result of information gathered through our symposia and meetings with representatives from various Indigenous communities (both within and outside of Alberta), I was delighted to provide advice to a number of Indigenous museum projects. I could not have done this work without the help of some prominent individuals, who championed Indigenous history and were chiefs, elders and ceremonialists. The most important were Russell Wright and wife Julia; Leo Pretty Young Man Senior and wife Alma; and Reg Crowshoe and wife Rose. They participated willingly in the Alberta Museums Association Indigenous symposia and in other planning and advisory work.

Russell struggled to maintain a museum in the old Residential School at Blackfoot Crossing on the Bow River East of Calgary. In the 1970s, he had helped to develop a Blackfoot studies program for the Old Sun College on the reserve. He was troubled by the high rate of student suicides on the reserve and firmly believed that it was only through the renewal of the Blackfoot culture and language that this trend could be halted. I did my best in advising him as to how to go about fundraising for a new museum, which had been his dream since the 1977 centenary celebrations of the signing of Treaty 7 (Prince Charles attended the ceremonies). With Leo Pretty Young Man Senior and wife Alma as well as other Elders and their wives, he envisioned an appropriate building that would house cultural artifacts and function as an education centre.

The Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park is a legacy to their vision. In 1989, six square kilometres of land were set aside but funding would not become available until 2003 to initiate construction. Neither Russell nor Leo lived to see the museum, which was completed in 2007. The iconic teepee-like structure was designed by architect Ron Goodfellow. The Buffalo Nations group, headed by Leo, took over the old Luxton Museum in Banff and I was delighted to attend planning meetings to assist them to obtain grants to develop new exhibits, care for collections and undertake necessary restoration work to the building. The Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum became a popular attraction in Banff.

The vista from the rear windows of the Blackfoot Crossing Interpretive Centre, which is a National Historic Site of Canada located near Cluny, Alberta. The area in southern Alberta is significant as both a geographic and cultural centre of Blackfoot territory and includes the grassy flood plain of the Bow River Valley. It was the location where Treaty No. 7 was signed in 1877 by representatives of the the Siksika (Blackfoot), Pekuni (Peigan), Kainai (Blood), Nakoda (Stoney) and Tsuu T'ina (Sarcee) First Nations. They surrendered their rights to 50,000 square miles of territory. Numerous archaeological resources and historical features are located there including the grave of Chief Isapo-Muxika (Crowfoot). Photographer: Adriana A. Davies.

Another of my Indigenous mentors was Reg Crowshoe, a former chief of the Piikani Blackfoot First Nation, who had worked as an RCMP officer. He assisted the Historic Sites Service on various projects and generously shared his traditional knowledge with students at the universities of Lethbridge and Calgary. He founded the Old Man River Cultural Society and followed in the footsteps of his father, Joe Crow Shoe Senior. Joe was an Elder and Bundle Keeper and ran Sun Dances; he renewed the Brave Dog and Chickadee Societies. Father and son collaborated with Historic Sites Service, Government of Alberta, and were instrumental in the building of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre near Fort Macleod, which showcases and interprets Blackfoot culture. It opened in 1987 and is run by Alberta Culture. It is a Canadian national historic site and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gerald Conaty, Julia Harrison’s successor at Glenbow as Curator of Ethnology, was an invaluable resource and took me on a number of field trips to Treaty Seven areas to meet with Elders and ceremonialists. Beginning in 1990, he helped the Glenbow to develop and implement repatriation policies with respect to sacred objects. The initial work was done by Hugh Dempsey, long-time Glenbow curator and sometime Acting Director, who had extensive relationships in the Indigenous community going back to his involvement with the Indian Association of Alberta. He married Pauline Gladstone, the daughter of James Gladstone, the first status Indian appointed to the Canadian Senate. In mid-1990, Dempsey with Board approval loaned a medicine bundle to Dan Weasel Moccasin for a ceremony thereby setting a precedent. The bundle was returned.

Towards the end of my tenure as Executive Director of the Alberta Museums Association around 1998-1999, I was involved in an interesting project titled “Lost Identities” put together by Historic Sites Service Museums Advisor Eric Waterton; Provincial Archives of Alberta Archivist, Marlena Wyman; Pat Myers, historian with the Provincial Museum of Alberta; and Shirley Bruised Head, the Education Officer at the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Centre. We wanted to develop a photographic exhibit for the Centre and Marlena scanned their collection for a cross-section of photos representing Treaty 7 people. When the committee reviewed them, we noticed that archival photographs frequently had the label “unknown Indian.” We decided to focus on those photographs for the exhibit and selected about 30 photographs that were enlarged and framed. They were hung in an exhibit room at the Interpretive Centre and next to each was a copy of the photograph with blank outlines of the people. Visitors to the exhibit were encouraged to identify anyone they knew.

I remember well the exhibit launch organized by Shirley. There was a feast for the Elders and after the blessings were finished, the exhibit was introduced and the participants began to walk around looking at each photograph carefully. For some time, there was absolute silence in the room followed by a kind of buzzing noise as they began to talk to each other and point at people they knew.

Shirley was an extraordinary woman (Sacred Hill Woman "Naatoyiitomakii"), who died too soon in 2012. She was a member of the Piikani Nation and she and her twin sister Barbara were born on the reserve on February 19, 1951 to Irene and Joe Scott. Her parents ranched. After their early death, the children were separated and she grew up in her Uncle’s home in Siksika and then moved to Edmonton to attend St. Joseph’s High School. She married Norbert Bruised Head and supported his rodeo career and worked for Native Counseling Services in Lethbridge. She obtained a BA degree from the University of Lethbridge and, later, a Master’s in Education. She was a ceremonialist and was a pipe owner; she assisted in the beaver bundle ceremony.

A committee of former presidents of the Alberta Museums Association met for several years to discuss how to make the Association more financially independent and how to promote museums more effectively. The result of this was the creation of the Heritage Community Foundation in summer 1999 with the mandate “to link people with heritage through discovery and learning.” At that time, I was a member of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) advisory committee and involved in a “Museums and the Web” study. I quickly became convinced that the World Wide Web offered enormous opportunities for promoting heritage. The Foundation obtained funding to create our first website – a kind of overview of Alberta’s heritage and museums – and this gave us our direction.

I pitched to the Board that the primary focus of the Foundation should become the development of web content drawing on museum and archival collections and, furthermore, that we should create the “Alberta Online Encyclopedia.” They wholeheartedly endorsed this and www.albertasource.ca was born. Luck and, I guess, timing was on our side. In March 2001, CHIN launched the Virtual Museum of Canada, which had a grants program, and I knew which project to bring forward. The Spirit of the Peace Museum Network had developed a travelling exhibit titled “The Making of Treaty 8 in Canada’s Northwest.” It was rich in artifacts, documents and records. I approached Fran Moore, the Chair of the network, and asked whether they would partner with us and the answer back was an unequivocal, “Yes!” It was all systems go. I developed the grant application, which was jointly submitted, and we obtained funding to hire some project staff and a firm of web developers. In the end, content and images for the bilingual website were contributed by not only the Museums of the Peace but also, the Glenbow, Provincial Museum of Alberta, Treaty 8 First Nations and the Lobstick Journal. I remember going up North to test the site with Elders and seeing the excitement on their faces when they began to identify relatives in the archival photos. The website was launched in 2002 and CHIN was thrilled with it.

In 2004, we designed a project to celebrate Alberta’s centenary: expansion of the websites in order to cover Alberta’s social, natural, cultural, scientific and technological heritage. Albertasource.ca, the Alberta Online Encyclopedia, received a $1 million Centennial Legacy grant. On September 29, 2005, the Foundation launched the Encyclopedia – the Province’s intellectual legacy project – at the Edmonton Space and Science Centre to a supportive crowd including children from neighbourhood schools.

After development of the Treaty 8 website, we moved all technical development in-house because we found that we could better control quality as well as guaranteeing that websites were completed on time. This was crucial because in some instances the majority of funding was received on project completion. Of our first four interns, two stayed on with us for a number of years and became permanent staff. Dulcie Meatheringham, a young Métis woman from Northern Alberta, became our first webmaster. Over the 10-year life of the Foundation, we had over 450 interns, most for three-month internships.

There are certain groupings of websites that the Trustees and I take particular pride in; among them are the over 30 websites that are either wholly or partly devoted to Indigenous content. All involved partnerships with Treaty organizations and the Métis Nation of Alberta. These include sites on individual treaties as well as Alberta’s Metis Heritage, People of the Boreal Forest and Elders’ Voices. The last included content from the “Ten Grandmothers Project” undertaken by Linda Many Guns of the Nii Touii Knowledge and Learning Centre; the Centenarians, a nine-minute video production celebrating Indigenous women resulting from a partnership between Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women and EnCana Energy. We also undertook some oral histories of Métis veterans. Thirteen Edukits draw on the content of the various websites and provide teacher and student resources directly related to the K-12 curriculum. They are: Alex Decoteau; Origin and Settlement; First Nations Contributions; Culture and Meaning; Language and Culture; Spirituality and Creation; Health and Wellness; Leadership; Physical Education, Sports and Recreation; Math: Elementary; Science; and Carving Faces: People of the Boreal Forest.

I am proud of the fact that we created three Indigenous internship programs in partnership with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology that trained young people in web design. We obtained some funding from Western Economic Diversification in support of the project. We had not only interns who specialized in web design but also graduates in history who wrote site content. They worked on both Indigenous and non-Indigenous websites. Some have made careers in this area. On June 30, 2009, the Heritage Community Foundation gifted the Alberta Online Encyclopedia to the University of Alberta so that it could make available the websites in perpetuity.

What people in the museum and heritage field accomplished in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and institutions from 1987 to the present is only a beginning. As we move into the era of the “decolonizing of museums,” a whole new generation of Shirley Bruised Heads, Linda Many Guns and others are needed. It’s good to see these new voices, talents and abilities emerging and tackling recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I was privileged to be able to attend the last day of the Commission hearings held in Edmonton from March 27-30, 2014 at the Shaw Conference Centre. I eagerly awaited the release of the report in June 2015 and have tracked how heritage and arts organizations have begun to implement its recommendations.

The last physical event that I attended before Covid was the Edmonton Heritage Council’s Symposium titled “Reconciliation and Resurgence: Heritage Practice in Post-TRC Edmonton.” Their website notes:

On March 3 and 4, 2020, 150 people came together at La Cité Francophone to discuss Reconciliation and Resurgence in post Truth and Reconciliation Commission Edmonton. Members of the Indigenous community, Edmonton’s heritage sector, academics, not-for-profit workers, students, public sector workers, and members of the public, came together to learn how each of us can contribute to reconciliation work in the heritage community. Those in attendance were encouraged to consider and examine the ways in which Indigenous peoples and heritage have been and continue to be excluded or marginalized within heritage institutions and narratives. We asked attendees to think critically about their own roles in this pattern of erasure, and to consider a way forward where Indigenous voices are lifted up, where Indigenous heritage is told by Indigenous people, and how historical erasure and marginalization has contributed to the current realities of systemic racism.

The Edmonton Heritage Council was advised by Elders and community members from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities throughout the planning process. Each day of the symposium began in ceremony with smudging and a prayer.4

From the 15 - 18 of March, 2021, I attended a virtual symposium organized by the International Committee for Museology of the International Council of Museums, which is part of UNESCO. I have been a member for over 30 years and served on the ICOM Canada Board. The conference was to take place in Montreal but Covid turned it to an online encounter. The topic was “Decolonizing Museology: Museums, Mixing and Myths of Origin.” The focus was as follows:

The purpose of the ICOFOM Annual Meeting is to create an international forum for a high level discussion on a museological topic. Usually, the topic is different each year, but sometimes it is analyzed over a three year period.

Approaches to museology vary widely around the world, for example, using museums to make statements about nationalism is given priority in some countries. In others, conservation and the exhibition of highly aestheticized, non-controversial artefacts, are regarded as the primary roles for museums. By contrast, in other nations, the development of “histories from below” or the salvaging of the histories of the lives of people who were regarded as having no value, is now a primary museological focus. The wide international variety of museologies means that the annual meeting has fundamental importance for the expression and recording of these differences.

I am looking forward to seeing the next era of history writing and interpretation.

The Dome

Standing on the Dome, Dawson City, You can see the fingers of river stretching towards the Bering Strait. Rotating through 360 degrees, The various landscapes open up to you.

The place is magical – Both in its natural and human elements. The light, in this Land of the Midnight Sun, Is like no other.

It brings out the artist in me. I want to paint word pictures— Of rocks, trees, sky and water, A haze smudging the distant mountains into the cloud cover.

Time present and time past merge. Geological time has shaped rock formations; Glaciation normally softens these, but not in this valley; And vegetation adds the finishing touches.

Up here, the town site is miniscule— The works of man diminished by the works of nature. The reverse of what is seen at the valley floor, Where churned-up gravels dominate.

There, the striations of gold-dredging, Form giant worm leavings— The only industrial operation that almost looks natural— The regularity and symmetry of gravel ridges resembling a moraine.

Dredge no. 4 now sits tethered. Its work of creating new landforms ended. Its appetite for muskeg stilled by economic forces, The devaluing of the sovereign metal.

And what of those changed lives? The preserved buildings are a memorial to them. Window displays tell of events, And objects are tangible evidence.

You can identify buildings and streets, Forming the background of archival photos. But, what you don’t get are the raw emotions— The greed, flimflam, pain and loss.

When it all went bust, Those gold gypsies walked away, Leaving their possessions behind, like empty cocoons— The residue of a transitory, disposable society.

We now want to put those lives on show, In restored and recreated buildings, For the entertainment of bus-tour travellers. How can we do it and pay homage to their humanity?

In the window in the madam’s house, I see photos—a woman in a fashionable, fifties swing coat with a dog, Also a family portrait with an Oriental man and little boy. Was it greed that brought this genteel Parisienne to the Yukon?

The priests and religious are also there. Ministering to their flocks brought hardship and even death. Did they feel it was worth it, in the end, When facing their Maker?

The substantial buildings survive, Set down for a future territorial capital, Their neoclassical tin facades, Bravely face river and forest.

Those gold hustlers must have had other qualities to counter the greed. Some must have come to stay— To put down roots, And leave a legacy for their children.

What about the Native People— Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie? Cast as bit players in this colonial saga, Their impassive countenances don’t say much.

We need the Han Centre to place the Gold Follies in a larger context. Indigenous time and values— Centuries in the making— Providing a silent commentary on white mayfly lives.

Did they know that it would be heritage tourism — The “gold rush” of the early 20th century— That would provide the window on their lives, The measure of their success whether they struck it rich or not.

The aged prospector in the CBC documentary, Repeats the eternal round of digging into the earth, Like an Ancient Mariner marooned in mid-century, A generation away from when the action left Dawson.

Museums have serious powers. Unearthing the past has its responsibilities. Each day, we make and break reputations— Validate one person’s struggle, while ignoring another’s.

We have become dream merchants. A rootless civilization finally coming to its senses, Needing the bone, twigs, cloth and feathers Of heritage “shamans” to reconstruct the world.

Is a code of professional ethics enough? Or do we acknowledge our powers— To create the symbols and icons for the next generation, And turn job into vocation?

Whitehorse, June 3, 1998, Canadian Museums Association conference

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1 Michelle Filice, “Treaty 6,” The Canadian Encyclopedia Online, URL: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-6, retrieved January 15, 2022. See also Harold Cardinal and Walter Hildebrand, Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan: Our Dream is that Our Peoples Will One Day Be Clearly Recognized As Nations (2000).

2 Robert Henry Houle, “Richard Secord and Métis Scrip Speculation,” June 28, 2016, Edmonton Heritage Council, Edmonton City as Museum Project, URL: https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2016/06/28/richard-henry-secord-and-metis-scrip-speculation/

3 See Connor Thompson, “Edmonton’s River Lots: A Layer in Our History,” September 9, 2020, URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=Edmonton%27s+River+Lots&ei=QBraYfTfC5mU0PEPuq-0oAk&ved=0ahUKEwj0_7fYo6P1AhUZCjQIHboXDZQQ4dUDCA4&oq=Edmonton%27s+River+Lots&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAxKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQAFgAYABoAHAAeACAAQCIAQCSAQCYAQA&sclient=gws-wiz

4 See “Reconciliation and Resurgence: A Year Later,” Edmonton Heritage Council, URL: https://edmontonheritage.ca/blog/2021/03/04/reconciliation-and-resurgence-one-year-later/, retrieved January 18, 2022.

#yegarts #yeg #edmonton #edmontonarts #yegheritage #yorathhouse

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yegarts · 3 years ago

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Yorath House Artist Residency Blog 6: Marion Nicoll as Muse

by Marlena Wyman, February 22, 2022 Artist-in-Residence at Yorath House

The walls of Yorath House are graced with inspiring artworks by major Alberta artists, on loan from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. The works were carefully curated by AFA’s Art Collections Consultant Gail Lint to complement the modernist style of the house, built in 1949. Mid-century prints, drawings and paintings are on exhibit in the house by eight significant Alberta artists: Marion Nicoll, Thelma Manarey, John Snow, Stanford Perrot, George Wood, J.K. Esler, E.J. Ferguson, and Kenneth Samuelson.

Background about these artworks can be viewed on the AFA’s website.

I was especially pleased to see four artworks by Marion Mackay Nicoll (1909 – 1985). She was on the cutting edge of Alberta’s early abstract art movement, and her work paved the way for the acceptance of female artists in a male-dominated art scene. In 1933 she became the first woman instructor at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art.

Two of her works are just down the hall from our studio at the second floor staircase landing. They are fittingly titled January and February, which are the months of our artists’ residency. Nicoll has provided her muse to me, and these two prints were a beginning point. In my walks through the winter landscape near Yorath House, I became aware of forms that echoed those in Nicoll’s January and February prints, and my intent is for my interpretations to honour her two works.

After Marion Nicoll’s February by Marlena Wyman.

One of the thin central lines in Nicoll’s February is a red-brown, which I interpreted as the wooden exterior of Yorath House. When looking at the house from the river side, there is a large expanse of open land leading up to the house which had been the Yorath family’s lawn and flower gardens. Trees surround the house on all sides.

February by Marion Nicoll. Courtesy Glenbow Museum. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts #1981.155.244

What I have noticed about being at Yorath House in January and February is that the cool winter whites and blues frame the warm wooden tones of the house exterior more so than in any other season. My outdoor palette has been in contrast to the brown and golden tones of the house interior used in my drawings from our first blog post.

After Marion Nicoll’s January by Marlena Wyman.

January by Marion Nicoll. Courtesy Glenbow Museum. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts #1973.004.004.1_2

Much of Nicoll’s entire body of work expresses her love of Alberta’s seasons and weather, and her elegant perception of prairie space is evident.

My watercolour pans in the blue and grey tones have been getting a real workout with all of the outdoor artworks that I have been creating. Prairie Farm, another of Nicoll’s winter paintings (not hanging at Yorath) is a subject that is more connected to the setting of the Yorath House than might be initially thought. There were farms in the river valley where Yorath House is situated and what is now parkland had been the site of chicken, turkey and mink farms along with other agricultural activities.

After Marion Nicoll’s Prairie Farm by Marlena Wyman.

Prairie Farm by Marion Nicoll. Courtesy Glenbow Museum. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts #1973.004.006.1_2

Nicoll also worked in automatic drawing – something that I have not attempted. It is not easy to enter into that level of the subconscious mind, and I admire her for that and her other departures from what were the strong British watercolour landscape traditions taught by A. C. Leighton in her early art school training (1928-1930) at Calgary’s Provincial Institute of Technology & Art (later the Alberta College of Art). Although she had a lifelong gratitude for what Leighton taught her, she felt that her true identity as an artist came about after she learned automatism from Jock Macdonald (1946), and then made abstract her genre.

I have to admit that at times my paint test sheets actually turn out better than my drawings/paintings. That was the case here with the test sheet that I used when I was painting a watercolour of the exterior of Yorath House. I scrapped the “painting” but I liked the test sheet. It is nothing more than random blobs and brush strokes to see whether the colours were what I wanted. My test sheets are not conscious acts of art, but I have been keeping some when I look at them at the end of the day and say, “Hey I like that.” I may do something with them one day. In this case I think that my test sheet was guided by the muse of Marion Nicoll. They are as close to being automatic drawings as I have come.

Marlena Wyman paint test sheet

Nicoll worked in sketchbooks as well, often using the continuous line drawing technique. I sketch regularly with my Urban Sketchers Edmonton group, and I have a tendency for the line in my sketches to become tight, so making a continuous line drawing from time to time helps me to loosen up.

Continuous line drawing of my artist-in-residence partner, writer Adriana Davies.

Figure sketch continuous line drawing by Marion Nicoll. Courtesy Glenbow Museum. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts #1981.155.216.K

Marion Nicoll, Annora Brown, Ella May Walker and others produced the 1935 exhibit Women Sketch Hunters of Alberta as a reaction to the almost completely male membership of the Alberta Society of Artists at the time, and the preferential attention given to male artists. Women artists played an integral role in Alberta’s art scene, although both it and the Canadian art scenes were mainly a boys club at that time and for the next several decades.

Nicoll’s abstract art practice began in 1957 at Emma Lake, SK and then at the Arts Students League in New York (1958-59) where she studied with Will Barnet at both locations. It may seem unusual for me to have an abstract artist as muse since I do not work in that genre - I also love the work of American artist Joan Mitchell – but the light of inspiration enters through many windows and it is not always direct.

Nicoll is the most recognized female artist in the development of abstract art in Alberta, and her legacy of Canadian postwar modernism remains at the modernist-designed Yorath House.

Continuous line drawing of Yorath House by Marlena Wyman.

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References:

Townshend, Nancy. A History of Art in Alberta. Calgary: Bayeux Arts Inc., 2005.

Laviolette, Mary-Beth. Alberta Mistresses of the Modern 1935-1975. Edmonton: Art Gallery of Alberta, 2012.

Zimon, Kathy. Alberta Society of Artists - The First Seventy Years. Calgary: The University of Calgary Press, 2000.

#yeg #yegarts #edmonton #edmontonarts #YorathHouse #artistresidency #MarionNIcoll

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yegarts · 3 years ago

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Yorath House Artist Residency Blog Post 4: Winter

Words by Adriana A. Davies, Jan 21, 2022 Artwork by Marlena Wyman Jan 22 – Feb 2, 2022 Artists-in-Residence at Yorath House

North Saskatchewan River looking north from below Yorath House

Since time immemorial, human beings have been afraid of ice and snow. Indigenous Peoples in the Northern Hemisphere donned warm clothing made of the skins of fur-bearing animals and used snowshoes to get around. In Northern Europe, the Swedes invented cross country and downhill skiing, saunas and a honey liquor called mead, and that began to change things.

Being born in warm, southern Italy, my first Canadian winter after immigration with my family as a child was a huge shock. My parents took my siblings – sister Rosa and brother Giuseppe – and I to the old Army & Navy store downtown (that’s where most immigrants first shopped) and bought us our first winter gear. Rosa got a wool coat and ugly brown long stockings; Giuseppe and I got one-piece snowsuits with long zippers that inevitably jammed. My suit was red. Against all instructions not to do so, I licked an icy lamp post and jumped on the ice on top of puddles and broke through, and had to walk home with water-filled boots.

I quickly learned to respect winter and fear the cold. I admit it: I am a wimp who prefers to look at winter through a picture window. Yorath House has plenty of those and during the cold spell this January, it is a wonderful place to be. I wrote my first poem there watching the snow fall but I’ve been writing winter poetry for a long time.

The dualities of winter �� cold that can kill and also the extreme beauty of frozen landscapes – have captivated me. I remember reading Anglo Saxon poems at the University of Alberta and the later Icelandic sagas that told of life in Northern climes. One account described it being so cold that words froze in the air as people spoke and, when spring came and they defrosted, the air was full of a cacophony of sound. Here are some winter poems.

Snow

In the North Saskatchewan River Valley, Snow has formed A white crust That cracks And settles In footprint shapes.

Underneath, The brown leaves Are undergoing A transformation— Becoming New soil. The Yorath House grounds Are over-run by dog walkers on this winter day. The dogs run ahead Evading their owners, On the track of wildlife. They disappear For minutes on end And I am left alone wrapped in silence. It is almost too cold To be walking outdoors. Fingers and toes Chilled to a dull ache. Ice forms around eyelids And scarf covering my mouth. Nature asserts itself, Making the human irrelevant In this landscape Where sleep and death Are one And absolutes converge. No sunshine Or bird song In this dark place Defined by negatives. An eternal winter of the heart. Beyond the solace of human touch. Hoar frost has covered everything. So much whiteness— Field, trees and sky. All the same But different— Incandescent. So easy to forget That one lives in a populous city Visible above the trees At the top of both river banks. Black swallows Break from the tree tops And form a ragged line As they fly for the horizon.

Walking the Dogs

The beagles are ready to walk. They bay excitedly And run in circles, Tangling their leashes around themselves and us. They are off— One moment dragging me behind, The next, Stopping so suddenly That I nearly trip over them, As they inhale deeply, Whatever catches their eye in the grass— Whether the scent of another dog, Or morsel of discarded food. Others we meet Are of enormous interest To these curious hounds, Who want to bound up To adults, children and other dogs, And must be restrained By a pulling back on the leash. Their unbounded enthusiasm, And enjoyment of the fall day, Leaves no leeway for reflection, Or melancholy. Only when they tire, As we climb the final hill, Do they settle to a sedate pace, Leaving me in charge at last, Able to admire the golden haloes, Punctuated by clusters of red, Which are the Mountain Ashes In their fall glory, And to contemplate The grove of fir trees Pierced by a single shaft of light, Which focuses on the leaf-strewn earth, And feathers out to the spiky edges Of the trees surrounding the clearing. It is not only the beagles who perk up With excitement When the suggestion is made, "Let's go for a walk."

Winter Dawn

Dawn's rosy finger Warms the grey clouds And tips with fire the smoky stacks Of the mist-shrouded power plant. Another winter dawn And journey to work, Driving on the river road, Conscious of the vapour coming off the water. Tree branches outlined in frost, And the valley edges Crowned with highrise apartments— All part of this dream. The coldness rather than driving me indoors, Catches my imagination And I wonder At the metamorphosis. The palette of white and grey, Is augmented by mother-of-pearl, As warm life asserts itself And night becomes morning.

Reflections on Nature and Art

1 Silent ravens Soar Above the desolation, Making invisible patterns In the cloudless sky.

2 The birds are audible But not visible This winter morning In the city. Bare-branched Mountain ashes and poplars Provide no shelter. Only dense firs With their crowns of cones Offer hospitality. Songs emerge From nowhere— Sweet, Repetitive, Melodic. I have no language To describe them Other than— Chirp, chirp To-whit, to-whit. But they have Animated An ordinary morning Walk to work, Made the trees emerge From between buildings And remnants of houses On this once residential street Nature asserting itself And gladdening the heart.

3 The air is heavy With snow. No distinction between Earth and sky, Only the ribbon of asphalt Leading onward. Suddenly, A flock of snowbirds Appears, Hanging in the sky Like a character In Chinese calligraphy.

Their wings formed By a sable brush Dipped in Indian ink. Other than us, The only living element In the landscape. Until the clouds begin To move And the wind picks up snow Sweeping it down The length of the valley Disturbing the stillness. Heeding a secret call, The cluster of buntings Explodes outward And they disappear Into the pervasive Whiteness.

Snow Storm

Jagged bowing, Suggestive of icicles and cold winds, A long-dead composer’s evocation of the seasons, My background on a winter day. But the real snow Drifts down, Gently, Past dark spruce branches, And the frozen blood-red berries Of Mountain Ash. It accumulates, Imperceptibly, The stillness punctuated By the rhythmic rise and fall of bows, On massed fiddles, Now evoking the descent Of myriad individual flakes Audibly drifting down. But behind can also be heard the silence That is so much a part of falling snow.

Now, the flakes are denser, As the sharp, insistent violin bowing, Is joined by the guttural rasping of cellos, And the snow drifts and eddies around the halo of a street lamp. In the music, The storm rises and abates, But, today, nature does not toy with us, Offering only a contrast, To quiet reflection, On what the next year will bring.

Gathering of Crows

Winter afternoon, Trees outlined in the half light, Branches bare Except for the occasional Detritus of an empty nest, Evidence of another season. Some trees Have black shapes in them, Like over-sized leaves. On a closer view, A congregation of crows emerges, Sitting at branch ends in silent colloquy. So many, Perhaps fifty, Perched For no apparent reason, That I could discern In this urban landscape. An enigmatic picture That I take away. Nature, Defying me to find meaning In a gathering of crows In Midwinter.

My Parkview Garden

The trees in my back garden Are fir, Manitoba maple And another, I cannot name.

On this winter morning. They are still and, Seemingly, lifeless Until a slight movement Catches my attention. A squirrel, Leaps from branch-to-branch And tree-to-tree, Finishing with a high-wire act On the powerline. The contemplation of winter, When plants do not grow, The clearing, empty of birds And their sweet song. That time of endings, Of being trapped In the ruins of the past, Unable to evoke remembered music. Always, the clearing in the woods, In the River Valley. The stillness, Silence, The pastness of things. The inexpressible beauty Of the snow, Blinding in the sunlight And masking death. The birds have fled But I am here, Contemplating winter And making my own music. The sound of the wind Wrapping itself around the house, Whistling past obstructions And making the cold siding crack. This signals a subtle change That is not evident Until morning When water drops from the eves. Warm Chinook winds Have come over the mountains, Loosened the grip of winter And given us a taste of spring. The insistent drip of water Creates stalactites And stalagmites Of yellowy ice. But this is only temporary— Nature teasing us with hope; The next night, the house tenses, It is winter again.

#yeg #yegarts #edmonton #edmontonarts #YorathHouse #artistsinresidence #yegHistory

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yegarts · 3 years ago

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Yorath House Artist Residency Blog 1: Yorath House Sleeps in Snow

Words by Adriana A. Davies, Jan 5, 2022 Artwork by Marlena Wyman Jan 5-15, 2022 Artists-in-Residence at Yorath House

I drove from my mid-1950s bungalow in Parkview downhill, down Buena Vista Road to the flat area that is Laurier Park (named for Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier). The temperature this morning was -31 degrees Celsius and at 8:45 am there were not many cars on the road and those that were, like mine, were being driven carefully because of the thick snow that covered everything. Edmonton is truly a winter wonderland at this time of year though the admiration at its beauty, after a cold spell of nearly a month, is wearing thin. I passed the back entrance to the Valley Zoo on the way down and I tried to identify the 1950s Modern Style homes that had not been renovated and upgraded to more modern house clones, and I was pleased that there were still a few.

I made several turns on the flat land next to the north bank of the North Saskatchewan River that comprises part of Laurier Park and saw a sign for Buena Vista Park. I made a turn and saw the house. It is an angular, wooden-sided structure designed by the prominent architectural firm of Rule, Wynn and Rule and built for businessman and manager of Northwestern Utilities, Dennis Kestell Yorath and his wife Margaret Elizabeth (Bette) Wilkin in 1949. It was built on a 12-acre lot gifted to the couple by Bette’s father, William Wilkin who was one of the developers of the Laurier Heights subdivision.

The area at the River’s edge was once known as Miners’ Flats both because of the panning for gold that occurred along the North Saskatchewan River banks but also because of the number of coal mines that stretched along both sides of the River, the largest number in the stretch from the High Level Bridge to Cloverbar. The coal, unlike that buried deep in the Rockies, was found close to the surface of the banks of the sedimentary channel carved over the centuries by the River on its way East to its drainage in Hudson’s Bay. In the first decades of the twentieth century, there would have been miners’ shacks and some small homestead structures in the area now encompassing Laurier and Buena Vista parks.

All that was to change in the late 1940s as a result of the post-war boom experienced by Edmonton and other Alberta communities. Almost 60 percent of the residences in the Laurier Heights subdivision were built in the years 1946 to 1960; the rest, in the period 1961 to 1970; thus, the neighbourhood was not part of the inner “circles” of historic Edmonton neighbourhoods including not only the City Centre communities but also Westmount, Glenora, the Groat Estates and Capitol Hill. Laurier was built as a part of the movement westward that included Crestwood, Parkview and Valleyview neighbourhoods.

Architectural drawing of Yorath House by Rule, Wynn & Rule, 1949. Yorath family collection.

Yorath House, when it was built, made a bold statement both in its design and materials used. It did not hearken back to the past and the Craftsman Style houses made of brick and wood, and the brick public and retail buildings of past generations with Tindall stone trim. It was unlike the small stuccoed houses built for working class families. The new business elite wanted houses that were more futuristic in design and that affirmed that this was not their parent’s house. They seemed to say, “Look at us; we are part of the new world of prosperity based on resource wealth.” Edmonton looked to Toronto and New York for design influences. Rule, Wynn and Rule represented that larger world of architecture. Some iconic buildings that they designed include Glenora School, the Petroleum Club (demolished), U of A Rutherford Library, Eastglen Composite High School, AGT Building, Northwestern Utilities Building (now Milner Building), William Shaw House (St. George’s Crescent) and Varscona Theatre (demolished).

It was the fitting house for a young couple (he was born in 1905 and she in 1912) with an established British lineage on both sides of their family trees. Christopher James Yorath, Dennis’ father, left the UK with his young family in 1913 to become the Commissioner of the City of Saskatoon and then moved on to Edmonton in January 1921 to head the public works department of the City of Edmonton and, subsequently, became City Commissioner. He then moved to Calgary and was instrumental in the creation of gas and utility companies. William Lewis Wilkin, Betty’s father, left the UK in 1892 on the White Star liner Teutonic and initially worked for his maternal uncle, Henry (Harry) Wilson, a Whyte Avenue merchant, before striking out on his own in various business ventures including mercantile and property development. Dennis followed in his Father’s footsteps becoming involved in the natural gas industry in Calgary and, later, various utility companies that were local, national and international.

What drew me to the art residency was not only because I knew Laurier Park well having taken my children and grandchildren there for many outings over a period of 40 years but also because I had done the biography of Christopher Yorath for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography (to be published online in 2022) and, in the course of the research, had met several family members. I felt that the residency would allow me not only to further explore the history of the family but also to pursue another love, nature poetry. It would also allow me to work with Marlena Wyman, visual artist and archivist, who has begun the residency by documenting the house using her urban sketching skills.

Marlena Wyman & Adriana Davies in front of Yorath House, January 15, 2022. Photo by David Johnston.

On this unusually cold winter morning, I was wrapped up in a down coat with a hood and wearing silk long johns under my slacks, and my face was covered with a Covid mask (great in cold weather). I drove the car very close to the house and parked next to a City of Edmonton white truck. The young man blowing the snow off the walks around the house helped me to carry in my boxes and bags with research materials, books, laptop and various edibles since I’ll be working at the house all day (except for occasional forays to the City of Edmonton and Provincial Archives) until March 2nd.

I am now seated in the designated artists’ studio in one of the bedrooms on the second floor. It overlooks the small, cleared parking lot – not that you would know that it served that function since everything is covered in snow and the house is surrounded by beautiful fir trees of various types and hardy deciduous trees.

The empty house is “literally” asleep in the snow. As a historian and preservationist of the cultural and built heritage, buildings and landscapes speak to me and, in the depth of the silence of winter in this fascinating house that happened.

I need to clarify that they do not speak in ghostly voices but rather through the knowledge of the history of the City of Edmonton and the geology, geography and natural history of this place that I’ve acquired over the years.

I had much internal knowledge to draw on. I was the Science Editor of The Canadian Encyclopedia from 1980 to 1984; Executive Director of the Alberta Museums Association from 1987 to 1999; and ED of the Heritage Community Foundation from fall 1999 to June 30, 2009. In this last position, I was the creator and Editor-in-Chief of the Alberta Online Encyclopedia (www.albertasource.ca). Over a period of 10 years, we developed 84 multimedia websites dealing with all aspects of the human and natural history of Alberta placed in national and international contexts. When the Foundation shut down in 2009, the Trustees gifted the Encyclopedia to the University of Alberta in perpetuity for the people of Alberta.

In the first hour-and-a-half that I have spent sitting in front of the picture window in the studio contemplating nature, I’ve only seen one hardy individual walking a dog. The house embraces me and I feel sheltered and warm. But I know that it is not the house that Dennis and Bette built.

It is a City of Edmonton-designated historic property, purchased from Bette’s estate in 1992. When it was acquired, Edmonton’s heritage and architectural communities had great expectations that it would be restored and interpreted. From the mid-1980s, the City was committed to a park’s development strategy that aimed to remove all structures that were part of the River Valley Parks system. This left the house in a state of limbo and, after years of disuse, it was a sad structure. When I walked past it over the next ten or so years, I couldn’t resist the temptation to look in the windows. I thought at some point it may have been used for offices. I discovered in the 2012 historic assessment that it was used only for police-training exercises.

There were some protests about the City’s “benign” neglect of the property. An article in The Edmonton Journal of July 4, 2001 titled “Smith wants proposal on Yorath house,” noted that the Mayor had visited the “abandoned house.” The unnamed writer noted: “Smith says the house is still a valuable asset, particularly when one considers the land value of the 4.5 acre property. ‘You couldn't put a value on this property now,’ says Smith. ‘The house, structurally, is okay. It could be used for some purpose, with some alterations and repairs.’ Smith says it's too soon to say what the property might be used for. Past suggestions include a tea house or a community hall. But city officials say the house may be too far gone to repair, and may have to be replaced with something new.” Nothing happened during Smith’s term as mayor nor during Stephen Mandel’s term (2004-2013).

I became engaged in the house personally when I met Elizabeth Yorath-Welsh, when I was commissioned by the Dictionary of Canadian Biography to do the entry for her grandfather in 2013. She shared with me a number of archival resources relating to the families and the house (one is a small original drawing of the house done by the architects). At the time, she mentioned that she, her sister Gillian and cousins were saddened at the deterioration of the house.

Its designation in 2015 as a City of Edmonton Historic Resource, and conversion to a multi-use facility to host weddings and other family events, as well as meetings and planning sessions, required that the structure meet all contemporary building codes. The inside was rebuilt with new systems including an elevator and an extension was added. A total of $5.7 million was spent (up from an original estimate of about $2 million). While on the outside with its wooden cladding it is still mostly the house that Rule, Wynn and Rule designed, inside there are only a few features of the original left.

At the entrance, there is the wonderful wooden door with side lights reminiscent of an earlier era with its wrought-iron fittings. There is a red-brick entryway.

Inside the house, a wooden staircase with the original wooden steps and risers leads upstairs to the bedroom level. The bannisters are not metal but rather long wooden panels interwoven in a checkerboard pattern.

The massive fieldstone fireplace acts as a wall dividing the living/dining areas. It also extends through the exterior wall onto the back porch and forms an outdoor grill/stove and oven. It is an impressive place to have hung Christmas stockings. I imagine cocktail parties in the 1950s attended by the power brokers of Edmonton and Alberta.

The old galley kitchen looking into the living room is now set up for caterers and the only remnants of the original are four cupboard doors with fittings resembling those on wooden Hoosier cabinets or old ice box refrigerators. These are mounted on what would have been a kitchen wall facing into the living/dining room.

In other parts of the house, the remains of red brick floor-to-ceiling chimneys, and chimney breasts can be found.

This was the era of “picture windows” and Yorath House has them in abundance; they bring the outdoors in and also frame different landscapes surrounding the house. There are also windows set high in the staircase walls that allow light to flood in. Even in mid-winter on a dull day, the house is alive with light. While there is no historic furniture of the era, throughout the house are hung works of Alberta artists of the period including Marion Nicoll and John Snow drawn from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Collection.

I am delighted that the house has been preserved and uses found for it but the purist in me wanted to walk into the perfectly-preserved period house that the City bought in 1992. In designation language, it was part of urban development associated with industry, in particular, the petroleum industry and the boom that occurred after the coming in of the Leduc #1 well in 1947 and the Redwater field shortly after.

Yorath House is part of that economic boom that made Alberta the powerhouse of the Canadian economy and spurred a massive wave of immigration to Alberta and Canada. Many of these immigrants from the UK and Eastern and Western Europe, were involved in resource industries and construction.

That era is at an end today, and the boom has become a mere echo. The Wilkin and Yorath families were part of booms and busts and left their mark on the province’s history.

In French museum studies, there is a term “objets phares” or “lighthouse objects.” This is used to describe artifacts and buildings that epitomize different points in history. I think that Yorath House is one of these iconic objects, looking forward and back in time.

#yegarts #yeg #yegheritage #edmonton #YorathHouse

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yegarts · 3 years ago

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Yorath House Studio Residency: Meet the Artists - Emily Chu & Chelsea Boos

As we draw near to the end of 2021, we’re excited to welcome a new artist pair to Yorath House: Emily Chu and Chelsea Boos. The Yorath House Artist Studio Placement pilot program began in 2020 as a partnership between the Edmonton Arts Council, the City of Edmonton, and the City Arts Centre, investing in artists working in a range of art forms and practices to foster experimentation and creative collaboration.

Emily Chu is a Chinese illustrator based in amiskwacîwâskahikan/Treaty 6 territory. Emily’s work flows between commercial illustration, community-centred arts engagement projects, visual arts, and public art/murals. Her journey into community based visual arts began in late 2019, with the project On-Location YEG, which received funding through an EAC Small Artist Project Grant. In the spring of 2020, Emily led sketch-and-storytelling tours in Chinatown, creating a small series of drawings and prints. The Chinatown exploration project allowed her to learn about the history and role of Chinatowns locally and across North America, and kickstarted a personal journey of identity through art. Emily wishes to use this studio opportunity to grow and find her voice as an emerging visual artist; to pursue more analog processes, learn, collaborate, and be challenged by working alongside Chelsea. She will also integrate her learnings at this residency to refine and push her creative practice as an illustrator.

Chelsea Boos is grateful to be based in Treaty 6 territory and recognize the 2-Spirit and Queer forerunners of this place, known in nêhiyawêwin as amiskwacîwâskahikan (beaver hills house). As a cisgender woman, white settler, neurotypical, and able-bodied artist, Chelsea feels a responsibility to acknowledge her privileges and act in ways that promote healing and justice. She aims to build community power with socially-engaged projects and site-specific compositions incorporating multimedia artifacts ranging from performance to textiles. Themes of her contemporary artwork relate to the spectrums of discord/repair, nature/technology, and individual/collective. A bachelor’s degree in design sparked Chelsea’s passion for unpacking visual culture, while her professional career fuels her obsession with media, such as video, sound, and obsolete technologies. Chelsea is overjoyed to be partnered with Emily in this exploratory journey on the North bank of the kisiskâciwanisîpiy river valley.

Since starting their placement at Yorath House, Emily and Chelsea have been occupied by wandering the trails and gathering materials on their daily walks in the forest. They have made natural inks from things they find like blue spruce, goldenrod, acorn caps, chokecherries and discarded iron, as well as local produce such as red cabbage, Evans cherries and onion skins.

Emily has also focused on creating sketches, collages, and linocut prints of scenes found in the natural environment, while Chelsea has been weaving intimate tapestries with collected trash and natural fibres inspired by the sky, water, and creatures found in between. The artists plan to continue playing and pursuing threads that honour their process of artistic experimentation and open co-creation in relationship, meanwhile drawing from the lively character of the location.

To see more of Chelsea and Emily’s work, you can check out their respective websites:

Chelsea’s website: https://www.chelseaboos.com/

Emily’s website: https://www.heyemilychu.com/

#yeg #yegarts #edmonton #edmontonarts #yorathhouse #artistresidency

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yegarts · 3 years ago

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Yorath House Artist Studio Placement: Meet the Artists – Alicia Proudfoot and Stephanie Florence

The studio space at Edmonton’s historic Yorath House is buzzing with new energy as we welcome our next artist duo to the space: Alicia Proudfoot and Stephanie Florence. Alicia and Stephanie will be sharing the studio until June 18th, as they devote time to their individual practices and collaborate on new works. Let's get to know a little bit more about Yorath House’s current artists in residence.

Alicia Proudfoot is an interdisciplinary artist who completed her BFA at the University of Alberta and her MFA at NSCAD University. Alicia uses sculpture and performance to discuss how humour affects a somatic response in themes on family or bodily experiences in illness. Her latest projects include the Digital Stone Project in Gramolazzo, Italy – where she is embracing new technologies to carve a marble yo-yo that compares her asthma to the toy – as well as a project funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts where she created the couch-based series “Sofa Loaf.”

“Beaded Lung” by Alicia Proudfoot.

“While on the grounds of the Yorath House, I am researching the performative nature of breathing and am creating sculptural vessels that impinge on how air is held or withheld by the body,” says Alicia. “Balloons are an immediate material choice to begin this research and I have experimented with stitching wax beads into the red, rubbery surface to create a puckered restraint on the inflation. The beads themselves have a visceral quality to them and through the process of threading them with a heated needle they look like rotten teeth. I intend to do a small series with these beaded inflamed balloons during the studio placement, but it is leading me to a larger scale that works with latex to mold my own distorted vessels to perform with. The field behind the Yorath House is a tantalizing open space for performance! A goal would be to take the latex objects I create outside and perform with them in that large space. The field also provides enough space for park goers to keep a safe social distance as they glimpse at my performative experiments.

Another component of my time spent at the Yorath House focuses on constructing an interactive sculpture where I will hydroform steel balloon letters to exhibit in the trees at the Lowlands Project Space this June. To have the audience elongate their vocal cords and read aloud the four letters of a monosyllabic “BAAH” mimics the involuntary enunciation I make in the onslaught of an asthma attack. I liken the strength required to inflate the metal with the physiological struggle that my asthmatic body has to breathe regularly. I cut out the letters on the balcony of the Yorath house against a backdrop of budding trees and found great relaxation working in the bright sun.

Top: “The Air of Balking” by Alicia Proudfoot, cut letters. Bottom: Welded letter part of “The Air of Balking”.

There is a delightful oddity in framing my projects around the domestic space of the Yorath artist studio. It makes these different vessels feel like decorations for a house party that celebrates my asthma, which seems to be a catharsis I share with many during this COVIDian time. By already having a prominent macabre aspect to my work, I am wholeheartedly leaning into this playful energy and am excited to see what unfolds next.”

Stephanie Florence is an emerging Canadian artist and curator working from Amiskwaciwâskahikan, colonially known as Edmonton, AB. Their artwork is primarily based in collage and collaboration, borrowing from sculptural objects, installations, performative gestures, explorative painting, and photographic means. Stephanie has recently been accepted into an MFA program with the University of Waterloo that begins in the Fall of 2021. They are also a graduate of the University of Lethbridge with a BFA and a Diploma in Fine Art from MacEwan University. Recently, they curated the SkirtsAfire Festival for a second consecutive year, and they are currently interweaving collections of experiences, interviews, art, and poetry into a book from an inclusive array of Edmontonians during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a non-binary artist, Florence acknowledges the use of pronouns such as they, their, them, she, her, he, him, and his.

Currently, Stephanie is conducting exploratory research on the coevolution of interspecies interactions, and how living bodies become a commodity for capitalist culture.

Top: “Bacteriophage Attacks a Cell” by Stephanie Florence. Bottom: “Intrinsically Linked” by Stephanie Florence.

“My material choices at this time include paint, sculpture, performance, plants, and meat that is cut out from grocery store flyers, which I use to collage the bodies of viruses and bacteria. I choose to use meat from flyers with the intention of producing a connection between colonial-capitalism, food production and distribution, and our societal view of animal bodies,” explains Florence. “By focusing on the flesh of animals in the production of viruses, a mixture of disgust and the grotesque is implicated, but the viruses are also given a form that feels closer to our flesh as humans. The collaged viruses are intended to demonstrate how domesticated animals’ flesh is essentially the same as human bodies, and intrinsically connects the evolution of virus, animal, and human. I feel that the use of flesh as a paper form shows how propaganda and corporations wish to devalue and dissociate from the idea that humans are all connected in a cellular, biodiverse, and evolutionary manner. The artwork that I am working on in the Yorath House Studio is an attempt to form an empathetic bond between species, adaptation, the flesh of an othered-animal, and our privileged human bodies. Above all, I wish to promote habitat and community building by collectively empathizing with non-humans and humans.

I wish for my artworks to act as devices for social transformation in how we view all species, whether plant, animal, insect, or viral. If society is questioning their thoughts on the ownership and interaction with all species – whether it is a zoonotic disease or house pet – then we might form new behaviours, norms, and interaction with the vibrant world around us.”

“Devalued Goods” by Stephanie Florence.

Keep an eye on the EAC blog and social media for more information about the Yorath House Artist Studio residency project, and updates from the current artist duo.

#yeg #yegarts #YorathHouse #ArtistsinResidence #edmonton #ContemporaryArt

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yegarts · 2 years ago

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Yorath House Artist Studio: Meet the artists — Fern Facette and Matthew Cardinal

Over the course of 2022, the Yorath House artist studio has hosted four unique artist duos, with disciplines ranging from poetry, printmaking, textile arts, visual art, and music. With another year quickly coming to a close, we're excited to share that the final artist pair to take up residence at Yorath House in 2022 is Fern Facette and Matthew Cardinal.

Photo by Matthew Cardinal

Jessica Fern Facette (Fern, she/her) is a fibre artist based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). Her work is a decades long exploration of linear and grid patterns formed using various fibre, colour and texture. Fern is a stalwart advocate for the accessibility of textile arts and has created opportunities to explore textiles through years of demos, volunteering, mentoring and an in-studio residency at Fern’s School of Craft.

During her time at Yorath House, Fern plans to explore weaving with foraged plant materials, three dimensional sculptural double weave, incorporating text, as well as continuing her ongoing exploration of pattern and textile design. Should time allow, she'd also like to explore ways to use weaving scraps, as well as start recreations of her great grandmother's rug hooking and beadwork.

Photo by Matthew Cardinal

Matthew Cardinal is an amiskwaciy (Edmonton, Alberta) based musician, composer, and sound designer, known for his work with Polaris Short List nominee group nêhiyawak. Cardinal’s solo full-length album Asterisms was released in October 2020 on Arts & Crafts. Cardinal’s music moves from delicate, minimalist pieces to vast drones and sparkling, modular synthesizer beats. He has been performing music across the country for the last few years in various groups, as well as doing soundtrack work in film and sound for art installations. Matthew also works in photography, primarily using film, capturing dreamy moments in time and space, evoking a similar feel to his music.

During his time at Yorath House, Matthew is looking to experiment with different production and sound techniques, taking inspiration from the space and it's surroundings. In addition, he is interested in combining video work with his sound explorations.

The Yorath House Artist Studio Placement pilot program began in 2020 as a partnership between the Edmonton Arts Council, the City of Edmonton, and the City Arts Centre, investing in artists working in a range of art forms and practices to foster experimentation and creative collaboration. You can learn more about Yorath House pilot program here.

#yegarts #edmontonarts #YorathHouse #artistsinresidence #yegphotography #textile art #yegmusic

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yegarts · 2 years ago

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Yorath House Artist Studio Residency: Meet the artists - Andrew Thorne and Anna Wildish

At the end of August, we welcomed a new artist duo to the Yorath House Artist Studio. Andrew Thorne and Anna Wildish, partners and artistic collaborators, have been busy experimenting with sound, textiles, and printmaking.

Andrew Thorne is an early career artist, born in Mi’kma’ki and Wolastoqiyik, or Moncton, New Brunswick, he received an interdisciplinary BFA from NSCAD University in 2020. Thorne moved to Treaty Six territory, Edmonton, in the winter of 2021 with partner and collaborator, Anna Wildish, and their cat, Bubba. Thorne is drawn towards mediums that hold the capacity to share and offer the potential for discovery. These materials have recently involved woodcut, copper etching, and exploration of sound. Recently, Thorne has had work featured in SNAP’s 40th Anniversary portfolio, the Slow Down and Resist portfolio at MAPC, and a sound piece involving many radios with Anna Wildish featured in blur, a Mile Zero Dance salon curated by Stephanie Patsula. Andrew also teaches printmaking and other art classes through the City Arts Centre and SNAP (Society of Northern Alberta Print-artists).

Anna Wildish is a newcomer to Amiskwaciwâskahikan or Edmonton, having moved here in the winter of 2021 after receiving a BA in Art History and Textiles from NSCAD University in Kjipuktuk, also known as Halifax. Since then Wildish has been fortunate enough to learn about the artist community here through her work at the Alberta Craft Council as a Gallery Assistant. Wildish is particularly interested in art as a means of connection, community building and confrontation. You can often find her biking, playing music, talking to her cat or moonlighting at Wee Book Inn.

During their Yorath House Artist Residency, Wildish and Thorne will expand on their collaborative practice of making sounds and noises, while transforming the Yorath House and the surrounding area into a place of discovery. The artists believe in the importance of public spaces; for them, they offer an opportunity for widespread collaboration and collective expression.

Through their print and textiles-based installation, “Symposium of Non-sense", their aim is to evoke a space that invites all members of the community to interact and play. “Buena Vista Park is a very relaxed and friendly place, we want to surprise people, catch them off guard in that relaxed environment and provide the chance to think and to play, if that’s what they’d like to do.”

The artists invite the public to participate by discovering the plinths and pedestals that they have constructed and placed around the grounds of Yorath House. These structures will bring into question what we value or “put on a pedestal”, while encouraging people to ask “what work deserves to be public work ? Who do we build monuments for and for what purpose?”

Wildish and Thorne believe that sound as an experiential medium has the potential to gather people and spark moments of collective joy. As with the plinth and fibre creations, the artists look to sound as another means of impacting and altering an environment, and encouraging community through collaboration. Wildish and Thorne have played music together in the Halifax based group, Tangent, having just completed a tour of the east coast in August. However, the sonic work they are creating during their residency is a far cry from the music they are used to making.

Aside from building plinths, tapestries and woodcut prints, the two have been creating collages of sound, derived from the many sounds of people and plants alike in the River Valley.

Thorne and Wildish have also been documenting their time at Yorath House on Thorne's website. The blog section includes additional photos, observations, and a recording of a xylophone played using the rocks and stones surrounding the shore of the river. Check out their blog here.

At the end of September, Edmontonians are invited to come find the duo at the Yorath House, where they will be performing some of the sound work they have been developing, live in the Buena Vista Park. More details will be shared soon, so keep an eye on the EAC's social media channels and EAC Weekly newsletter.

#yeg #yegarts #edmontonarts #edmonton #yegartist #artist residency #yorathhouse

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yegarts · 2 years ago

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Yorath House Residency Event: Simply Yorath

As Jody Shenkarek and Thea Bowering conclude their residency at Yorath House, the artists have scheduled a pop-up performance to provide a sample of what they have been working on. Please see below for the event details.

Simply Yorath: A glimpse into our artist residency

1:00pm-1:45pm, Wednesday, August 17th, FREE Yorath House, 13110 Buena Vista Rd NW

Come to what's been “our" Summer home on the most beautiful bend of the North Saskatchewan. A 1/2 hour of music and reading, and time to answer questions about Yorath House and our residency. Outside garden level performance--weather and air quality permitting; otherwise, air-conditioned indoors. Handicapped accessibility, parking, and bathrooms.

This is a short, simple and sweet performance. Bring what you need with you. There will be seating. Afterwards, take advantage of the gorgeous surroundings and go for a walk! Look for us on Instagram @_sisteryorath and our blogposts on the YEGArts blog (introductory post, reflections #1, reflections #2).

#yegarts #edmonton #edmontonarts #yorathhouse #yegwrites #yegmusic #artistresidency

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yegarts · 2 years ago

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Yorath House Studio Residency: Words and images from the artists

In the first update from Thea Bowering and Jody Shenkarek, the current Yorath House Artist Studio artists in residence, the duo shared initial reflections, prose excerpts, and images. As they continue their residency, Thea and Jody have graciously shared more of their work.

Continuation of "Piece of the River" by Thea Bowering, accompanied by images from Jody Shenkarek

7. A serial poem has something to do with not looking back, so as not to build or explain. Let latent memory take care of the path. Receive what comes, don't rush towards it. Go forward, but delay getting there. Be carried and work across the current. Or meander. Or whirl. This is what the river suggests. The river is old and experienced, but also always new. And in most places along it, you can't see a beginning or end. It will surprise you, moving in unexpected directions at times. "My God, Edmonton--look out!" was the only warning sent down the river in 1915, as it rose up fast, flooded its banks, destroyed homes and industry, and deposited minerals for things to grow. It rises up now to meet your fingers on a keyboard. It rises up to push the naïve song out your chest.

Unlike walking through a serial poem, when walking in the bush, it is smart always to stop and look back. This is what Aapi'si, the coyote, teaches. This is what I read on an information post along the garden path at the new, beautiful Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park. Whenever a coyote runs away, he looks back. If you only ever look ahead, you don't see the danger behind you---- Harley Bastien, Piikani, Blackfoot.

Today's path takes us to the last telephone pole, which marks where the bush meets the circumference of lawn around Yorath. It's the pole we saw from the small porch the first day here, when a pileated woodpecker was banging its head repeatedly against it. I think about the early surveyors, forging their way forward west with their meridians, listening to telegraph clicks down the line to determine the longitude in Edmonton. I wonder if they were ever thrown off by a giant woodpecker banging away, completing its own project. "Let's turn back," J. says when we reach the pole. I am hesitant about going back down the same path. I never like doing that. It seems like a waste of time. "But you see things differently going back," J. says. In that way, it's not the same path. It's a new path. This seems like a good argument. On the way back I see a Tim Horton's cup, some old tent poles. "Well, the way back is filled with garbage," I say, as we make our way forward, going back, open-mouthed and singing like angels, the garbage of history piling up before our eyes.

8. In an early survey map of Edmonton, the part along the river I am writing on is a blank space. White paper. There is a rectangle of Bay reserve land that looks like a giant skyscraper, a couple smaller lots huddled against its west flank, and then the river fades out like a paint stroke and falls south off the map.

How did those surveyors, alone at night, culminating with the moon, heads in the stars, turn from the sky to the ground with a chain to measure, and cut it all up? What occurred in that moment each time, again and again, when an Englishman turned his head from the awesome sky to the ground? In the universe, he saw only himself inside a small and repeating rectangle, walking along in a rhythm with little variation, until the grid was fully laid out and he no longer needed to look up.

I think of the ghost pipe, that lives its short, lyrical life with its face to the earth. Its star system underground. It gets nothing from light, pulls all it needs from the dark and the roots of others, like a parasite. I can't help being moved by the mystery of some reverse tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. Knowing the time is near, Ghost Pipe gathers nerve and straightens up, puts its face to the sun--whom it loved all along--then turns completely black and dies.

12. Today we come to the other side of the river for a change of scenery. I lean against the railing of "The End of the World," a row of pillars left from where an old farmer's road fell down into the river, on land that, earlier, had been repossessed from an industrialist who lost everything in a flood. From our Yorath side, the row of pillars reminds me of a soaring baroque pipe organ made of cement, or the ladyfingers of a partially eaten tiramisu cake. For around two decades it was left like that. This seems characteristic of what's been going on here for decades. Once in a while a person walks down a sidewalk in Edmonton only to find it suddenly end, without logic, no warning or alternate route. Historic materials, supposedly saved for memorializing, are left in a field until they mysteriously disappear--Charlie Stevenson's stone chimney, and the dismantled logs of Fort Edmonton. Old farmhouses standing near the highway, soften. History merges sensually with setting.

At "The End of The Word," young people, always attracted to ruin, shimmied past the no trespassing sign, to make out beside the ragged edge or dangle their legs over it. In 2019, the edge was transformed into a viewing platform, a kind of stage over the river valley.

J. has brought her small guitar, and a saw for me to play. My Scottish grandfather, who I never met, played the saw. I feel so distant from these ancestors and the lives they built, only a few generations back. I have inherited their nameless, tight-lipped faces in oval cardboard frames. Bits of copper, a precious tree ornament. I am the last in line: no siblings, no children. I often wonder where all this material will go, once I'm gone. Perhaps to a thrift store, eventually picked out and included in some future person's ironic art project.

With the wrong placement between the knees, the saw might get dulled by clothing, J. says. I probably won't pursue it. It is hard on the hand, unfamiliar and difficult to bend into the shape of the letter S. From up here, we can see the way this part of the river bends to fit the map's idea of it. A snaking S sustained for as long as possible across the prairies. From the other side of the broad river, comes a single dog's bark, amplified in the silence. Yorath House appears small, our things inside, nestled in the green that rolls up from the river and expands out, far-reaching and lush, in any direction so that it's remarkable to think of words like "city" or "Edmonton." This green looks like a past we imagine. Something whole, not invented like a park. It's hard from here to picture all the industry that once muddied the banks and erased the trees. But it occasionally appears in traces: I pick up a broken brick in the woods, a limestone rock at the boat launch. You can walk out along the overhang of "The End of the World" and see a smashed black office chair that has tumbled down to the ridge below. Walter Benjamin said that allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things: broken pieces that point to an irretrievable, even false, whole. From this edge, our eyes move serenely over the green that fits into our eye. The bend of the river seems simple and pure, like the single bend of a flower. Monotropa, from the Greek meaning "One Turn." Our world-stage, this single lifetime.

#yegarts #edmontonart #YorathHouse #artistresidency

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yegarts · 2 years ago

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Yorath House Studio Residency: Reflections from the Artists

Reflections: Thea Bowering

In the three weeks we've been residents at Yorath House, Jody and I have been busy writing songs, poems, and prose, and creating experiments inspired by our locale. We've taken instruments into the woods and made recordings of the river and human highways. We've performed impromptu pieces on the original balcony of Yorath House, for passersby below. We've written a lot about a family we don't know. Over the next two weeks we're going to make charcoal rubs from material found on our walks--textures, images, and words--and incorporate them into art pieces. We're also writing a fugue to be called back and forth across the river. During these first weeks, we became obsessed with historic, shifting borders and the lost footprints of things (river lots, road allowances, a prize-winning garden, a prospector's eight-foot tall stone fireplace, Metis homes and orchards). This led us to online research, and a visit to the Indigenous People's Centre at Fort Edmonton. The content of the Indigenous People's Centre came together through conversations with many Indigenous Elders, historians and community members, and has not been published or duplicated online; you must go to this beautiful, immersive space to receive it.

We've attempted to exhaust our temporary place along the river through daily walks along established trails. Looking for Ghost Pipe (the hard to find, ghostly-white flower), we've run into the same dogs, fallen trees, whispering aspens, mysterious jar on a stump, again and again. We forged desire trails and found a cluster of old tin cans, rusted gears grown into a large tree, part of a hearth, and cute hidden mushrooms. What happens when nothing happens? Song lyrics, poetry, and prose have come out of our daily active practice of attending to our environment.

We've placed repetition against insistence and variation--as people before us living down here have done. One of our aims is to write about our own family loses; however, thanks to the excellent research of previous residents Marlena and Adriana, we've become absorbed with the history of the Yorath family, specifically the stories of the women. We've written pieces about Bette, the mother, and also her two daughters, filling in what we don't and can't know with what we imagine.

In this post, we're sharing some of Jody's photos, painting and writing, and an excerpt from a piece of serial prose I'm working on. My piece feels risky to me because it's being written without a set plan or a lot of looking-over. It comes as a flow of associations: each shift in thinking determines the next; each day, full of experiences, works its way in. I'm trying to think as a river does, adopting different currents according to my environment, carrying things along and dropping them, as seems natural. It is a spiritual thing being here down in the valley alongside the green and the water. It's already had such an effect on my relationship to the city, and also taken me out of it. Many people don't quite know the spot we're talking about when we tell them we're staying at Yorath, the house set between two river parks. Every day I ask myself: how is it that I've lived in Edmonton for two decades and never been down here? This week we met a young boy on the Buena Vista trail who, his father said, has been walking this trail all his short life. The other day we met the man who has been mending boats at the rowing club since 1981. Then there are the dogs and their humans, who for years have been doing the walks we have just begun to know. Always on our minds are the many people who have lived on, worked in, and travelled by this river over thousands of years.

Piece of the River (Sections from a work in progress.)

1. They look at first like flowers that grow on the moon. Tender alien legs, waxy and knock-kneed. Then like late Victorian girls in an Australian movie, who gather on Valentine's Day for a picnic by a hanging rock, before vanishing forever. Each stem ends in a single flower, bonneted and bowed, turned in its own direction--individual, modest. But up close under a neck ruffle is a hidden face, a seed of waiting death. Planted in the mind, a ghost pipe is pure design-- a flourish of wrought iron, a plumed and soft arrangement of feathers from some exotic bird brought home from the colonies; or a peacock hat worn by a stylish musician in the 17th century. A feather to protect from rain and a number of ailments, such as bad air. A feather to soften the reputation of a soldier, make him look less like a murderer. As I walk along the desire paths of Buena Vista, imagined histories and futures come together in this elusive plant.

2. Snow leopard in a nearby zoo is hiding. White arctic wolf is his neighbour. The better tenant, he lies on his plywood pedestal set against bars, soft fur blowing up white as it might on the tundra. Only 10 months old, says the guide. Children, hold the rail and do not howl! His black-rimmed eyes stand out against perfect whiteness. They close in a black line. Hope is slowly exchanged for waiting; freedom he knew, now avoided in wolf dreams. Your face wet with tears changes nothing. Whiteness for our viewing pleasure, it takes us there. Spirit bear, sacred white buffalo. White jade, white peacock, or white rainbow, a magic mountain Mont Blanc. A great white whale.

A white dress in a museum: demure, with one square pocket at the right hip. In it, she tucked today's lines on scraps of white paper. An ordinary house dress, because she never went out anymore. Not symbolic, just easy to launder and mend, slop about in not worrying about reception. The only complete remaining outfit of Emily Dickinson. In a different museum is another white dress worn by Marie Antoinette, scandalous for its cotton simplicity. Madame B.'s white coffin dress--a canvas for 19th century bile, green poison puked down the front. White on white painting by Robert Ryman. He was once a museum guard who thought he'd try art. All through his career he painted white paintings. But when asked if he makes white paintings, he says no. Surface is where things are happening, where the material might come through--steel or linen. There's some problem to solve. And yet his paintings are loved by all, for their whiteness. I use white because it doesn't interfere, he says, which may be the reason Emily took to wearing a white dress near the end. His white painting The Bridge sold recently for 20 million dollars. The everlasting universe, a drop of white in green.

3. The possibility of a rare white flower, Emily Dickinson's "prefered flower of life," directs our eyes to the ground. J. better trained than me to do this. She points out duller versions: squat yellowish-white mushrooms, and the beginnings of a white oak that may not make it, other small common white flowers that fool us to look. I glimpse something large and white just off the trail, half hidden amongst the shivering aspens. "Unwelcoming," suggests J., as I go into the trees, wondering if I'll come across a human. But there is only the frame of a 1950s white stove tossedinto a small ravine. Black holes where elements should be. Could it be Bette's? In the woods, one always wonders how the human thing got here, what happened, and how long it will remain.

What we touch the hems of / On a summer's day -- / What is only walking / Just a bridge away --

--Emily Dickinson

Staying here is dangerous, we step into old forms. The river changes more quickly than a human heart. A super-highway pushes out steamboats and crumples the L-shaped wooden dock into a letter mess against the bank, keeps talented rowers out of the water. A dog goes under the dock and comes out the other side, thank goodness. We can't blame nature for pulling us in. Just out of view, each end of the bend, a bridge we can walk to and cross, if we want.

This river resists the city even as it orients it, divides it. Even as we fight with it, putting out sandbags along where others once scooped out lime and coal and flour gold; then built on top against all good advice. It is Friday afternoon at the house by the river, and though the sky is a gray pelt, the air is comfortable, and it is not raining, yet. Meanwhile, Calgary remains alert, maintaining a state of local emergency over the weekend, waiting to see what the snow in the Rockies will do, hold tight or release. The uncertainty of forecasts and early models means the storm could miss the city all together. What do I really know about models, except not to trust them completely? Once a city is built, you have to think about what side of the river you're on. I couldn't tell you if I am sitting north or south of it. You're west, says J. She shows me an old map. Where the river drops down, she rests a finger on our unmarked home. I tell the committee that I want to write a long serial prose piece that resembles a river. I don't know what it's going to do, exactly, I say. I couldn't tell you.

Reflections: Jody Shenkarek

Our time at Yorath, in the beautiful landscape of Buena Vista Park in Edmonton has been a life altering experience already. In the 3 short weeks since we started, Thea and I have had many meaningful talks and intimate experiences. We have pushed each other to try new ideas with words and music. This house and our residency have provided time and a safe place for collaboration. The last 2 years have been very isolating. A summer residency with Thea is reminding me of how friendship and time spent walking and talking can lift you up, spark creativity and re-ignite artistic passion. Our days are filled with reading, creating songs and poetry, exploring the house and the history of this place and the people that called this area home. We have met many people on our walks and visits in the surrounding community. We live up the road from the Zoo and across the river from Fort Edmonton. There are many stories in this place, and we are having a great time listening, learning, growing and sharing.

To see more photos from Jody and Thea’s residency, you can follow their account @_sisteryorath on Instagram.

#yegarts #edmonton #edmontonarts #yorathhouse #artist residency

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yegarts · 2 years ago

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Yorath House Studio Residency: Meet the artists - Jody Shenkarek and Thea Bowering

Artists Jody Shenkarek (left) and Thea Bowering (right). Photos supplied by the artists.

The third artist pair to take up residence at the Yorath House Artist Studio Placement are Jody Shenkarek and Thea Bowering. Friends for over two decades, during this joint residency at Yorath House, they will begin a long talked-about collaboration that blends Jody’s music with Thea’s storytelling.

Jody Shenkarek is a long standing member of Edmontons music and arts community. A singer and songwriter, she is currently leading the band Jody Shenkarek and Hot Kindlin’. Her musical career has enabled her to share the stage with many local and touring artists over her 30 years in music. Jody is excited to be working toward releasing her second recording that was put on hold due to COVID 19. She is also a member of the Edmonton Potters Guild and a pinhole photography enthusiast and artist. Jody’s many talents extend beyond the arts as well. She is an accomplished vegetarian chef and former owner of Café Mosaics in Edmonton. Jody is a current student at Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. Music, food, art and nature’s medicine are her way of connecting with her community.

Primarily a fiction writer, Thea Bowering also works in several forms of creative nonfiction. Much of her work is an experimental hybrid of both fiction and nonfiction. Her subject is often the city she's living in--its underrepresented locales, work, and circumstances--presented through an immediate perspective. She explores the relationship between walking and writing, and themes of memory and trauma, the technologization of culture, the environment, and intergenerational conflict. But she's also funny! Her collection of short fiction Love at Last Sight (NeWest Press, 2013) won the Alberta Book Publishing Award, Trade Fiction Book of the Year in 2014 and was longlisted for the Alberta Readers’ Choice Award. She has taught in the areas of film, fiction, and creative nonfiction, and has helped organize literary events and reading series around Edmonton. Currently she sits on the board of NeWest Press.

Jody and Thea intend to use this residency time to blend their respective practices. The work will continue the story of a city as told through the artistically generative relationship that they've been developing for years. Their process will involve long walks and talks around Yorath House, during which they will record the sounds of the trails and river, as well as their unfolding ideas about place and nature within the city, their shared history in Edmonton, memory and loss, aging, and finding hope and purpose in this current difficult moment. The afternoons will be spent writing, together and apart, delving into shared musical and artistic influences and experiments in form. Each one will push and encourage the other to work in the medium less familiar to the her: Thea will move her prose closer to song, try her hand with the keyboard and maybe even sing, while Jody will work in new areas of sound recording, prose narratives, and page poetry.

While on a nature walk, the artists happened on the central symbol for their project — a healing flower called the ghost pipe. Although hard to find, ghost pipe grows all over the world in dark woodland areas. Jody has even seen it growing close to her home, here in Edmonton. It has been used for both physical and mental pain by allowing a person to stand beside their pain—experiencing and observing it without being overcome by it, and without trying to obliterate it. The flower itself is ghostly white. It does not get its nourishment from the sun; instead, it takes nourishment from nearby trees through the dark earth. It has a single bowing head on a stalk that it raises slowly to the sun just before it turns black and dies. While Jody and Thea will hunt for the ghost pipe during their time at Yorath, they will also put the ghost pipe at the center of their project, as an organizing motif. The aim will be to have enough songs and spoken word pieces by the end of the residency to put on a small performance at Yorath House. The long-term goal is to develop and record the material towards an album accompanied by a book of stories and photos.

#yegarts #YorathHouse #artistsinresidence #yegmusic #yegwrites

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yegarts · 3 years ago

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Yorath House Studio Residency: Meet the Artists - Kerri Strobl & Christine Lesiak

Artists Christine Lesiak and Kerri Strobl. Photos provided by the artists.

“Once upon a time, when we were not here, not like we are now the stars planted seeds in our mouths filled with words becoming our story, filled with songs becoming our movements they take us through this world, we didn’t know this, we had forgotten, the mysterious workings of stars to do things this way.” - Kerri Strobl

The second artist pair to take up residence at the Yorath House Artist Studio Placement are Kerri Strobl and Christine Lesiak. The Yorath House Artist Studio Placement pilot program began in 2020 as a partnership between the Edmonton Arts Council, the City of Edmonton, and the City Arts Centre, investing in artists working in a range of art forms and practices to foster experimentation and creative collaboration.

Kerri Strobl is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked across Canada, the U.S. and Europe with various types of folk. Her practice explores Land, Plant Medicine (European Tradition), Spirituality and Ancestry through installation, sculpture, performance, sewing, and video. Her work has been shown at several pop-up galleries, festivals and theatres. Kerri is a Bilingual Art Educator (French and English) at the Art Gallery of Alberta where she develops art projects and facilitates classes in person and online for children, youth and adults. She is studying to be an Art Therapist.

Christine Lesiak (christinelesiak.com) is an award-winning theatre-artist with a specialization in interactive comedy, performer-created work, empathy-based experience design, and site-specific performance. Through her company, Small Matters Productions (www.smallmatters.ca), Christine has been creating, performing, touring, and producing original theatre since 2007. She is passionate about experiences that invite the audience to engage directly with art. Her current areas of interest are performer-created interdisciplinary work that integrate fact-based science, environmental, and social justice topics into entertaining and engaging performance. She is excited to celebrate Edmonton’s natural areas and encourage Edmontonians to see the land in new ways, with a new understanding of its unique history.

According to the artists, they are looking forward for the opportunity to undertake a time of focused and intensive exploration to write and develop a live-performance work about memory, ancestry, and nature. The work will be centered around a collection of poetry and accordion melodies that Kerri wrote while living for three years in the forest and tending gardens. While in the studio at Yorath House, the artists will explore Kerri’s poems with the accordion, explore clay as a medium for ephemeral environmental sculpture, and develop the story line.

“Yorath House is the perfect place to inspire this work because of its cultivated outdoor space on the river valley. The land placement dovetails perfectly with our key themes of exploration: the cultivated versus the natural, the line between collective memory and personal ones and the spirit or language of land.

The ability to attend to this work at this time, in this place is a gift. We are living in challenging, divisive times that call for us to reach out to each other by sharing our gifts and experience. One of the hopes in doing this work is that it will create ripples of more sharing to help create bridges of understanding in how our personal histories and views influence how we live together.”

#yeg #yegarts #edmonton #edmontonarts #YorathHouse #artistsinresidence

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yegarts · 3 years ago

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Yorath House Artist Residency Blog Post 8: Family and Home

Words by Adriana A. Davies, February 2022 Artworks by Marlena Wyman February 2022 Artists-in-Residence at Yorath House (Photographs as credited)

It is time to write the final blog post, No. 8, which focuses on family. It’s hard to believe that our two-month residency is up. It’s been an amazing experience and has resulted in a surge of creativity for Marlena and myself.

Yorath House ca 1980s. Yorath family collection.

Yorath House was a family home for 43 years and was a passive observer of all the joys, hopes and sufferings of the people who lived there. To understand this, I’ve done a lot of research on key family members. This started with revisiting the work on Christopher James Yorath, Dennis’ father that I did for his entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, which I began in 2013. The family entrusted me with biographical accounts, correspondence, a memoir, newspaper clippings, speeches and other materials about C. J. but also touching on other family members.

Among these treasures was a small watercolour sketch of Yorath House done by a member of the team at Rule Wynn and Rule. Little did I know at the time that my attention would be focused on the house and that I would be a “resident” there for two months in 2022 (at least during the day). It seemed natural for me, therefore, to spend part of the residency focusing on the Yorath-Wilkin families and their experiences. This spun off naturally from one of the goals of our residency, which was to examine the relationship between space and place, and also time and the river.

Architectural drawing of Yorath House by Rule, Wynn & Rule, 1949. Yorath family collection

In this respect, the experiences of the families are both unique and universal. Historic structures are not just about the design and building materials but rather about these and also the occupants who lived or worked there. The range of human experience, I believe, somehow leaves a residue in the walls and natural landscapes. I know that this is a fanciful and, to some, an absurd notion but, humour me, visual artists and writers get to play with this kind of stuff! I think that I can be both rational and fanciful as I move between non-fiction and creative non-fiction. I propose to tell some family stories in both prose and poetry, and show that human beings turn space into place.

The Yoraths: Father and Son

C. J. (Christopher James) and D. K. (Dennis Kestell) Yorath, father and son, were skilled businessmen and “community builders.” They were part of the industrialization and urbanization of the City of Edmonton and Province of Alberta in the twentieth century. C. J. was born in 1870 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of William Yorath and Sarah Hopkins. In 1904, he married Emily Kestell.i The couple had two sons, Dennis and Eric, and a daughter, Joyce. From 1895 to 1898, he studied civil engineering at Cardiff College (later part of the University of Wales). When he completed his studies, he obtained work with the City of Cardiff and learned a great deal on the job about issues such as drainage, street-railway electrification, road and bridge building, and artificial gas delivery. In 1909, he moved to London and did some lecturing at the Westminster Technical Institute and, more significantly, worked for the firm of Sir Alexander Richardson Binnie on a massive drainage project in the city. At that time, many ambitious young men looked to the colonies to further their careers. In 1912, he became aware of a major urban planning project: Canberra had been designated the capital of Australia. He submitted an application to develop the master plan; he was unsuccessful and then turned his eyes to Canada.

C. J. Yorath, Who’s Who in Canada, volume 16, 1922, page 748.

In 1913, C. J. submitted an application to an international competition to become city commissioner and treasurer for the City of Saskatoon and won. He may have learned of the competition from his brother Arthur, who had homesteaded near Oyen, a town in east-central Alberta, near the Saskatchewan border and north of Medicine Hat beginning in 1911.i C. J. was charged with preventing the City from declaring bankruptcy – the state of many Canadian municipalities at that time as a result of the worldwide recession and a dramatic fall in the value of land and property, and huge decline in the property tax base. On April 23, Yorath sailed from Southampton, England, on the Olympic (a sister ship of the Titanic) with wife, Emily, and their two sons Dennis and Eric. They arrived in New York on the 30th and reached Saskatoon early the following month.

C. J. brought not only engineering and project management expertise to his job but also a vision about the proper layout and development of urban areas. In a 1913 article that he wrote for Western Municipal News, he approvingly quotes Aristotle’s definition of a city as a “place where men live a common life for a noble end”; stresses that municipalities should be purposefully planned; and laments that too often “cities have grown up in a haphazard manner, and many a beautiful spot turned into an ugly accumulation of bricks and mortar.” Emphasizing natural beauty and artistic symmetry, Yorath allied himself with the Garden City movement, describing the ideal municipality as “beautiful, well planted and finely laid out, known and characterized by the charm and amenities which it can offer to those who seek a residence or dwelling removed from the turmoil, stress and discomforts of a manufacturing district.” He not only got the City out of debt, he also left them with a “Preliminary plan of greater Saskatoon,” which made tangible his vision of a city with plentiful green space and, among other innovations, a ring road around its outskirts. While it was shelved for lack of funding, as was the case in many municipalities across the country at the time, it was a legacy.

In 1921, he accepted a higher-paying job in Edmonton and, on March 23, the Edmonton Journal, welcomed him to the city and noted, “There are no airs of the autocrat or supposed superman about him.” He had a very large mandate: he was commissioner of public works and utilities and joint commissioner of finance, in effect, Edmonton’s city commissioner. C. J. found that the municipal debt was higher than that of most western cities and, during his three years in Edmonton, succeeded in putting the city in a stronger financial position. While more than a third of Edmonton’s debt was tied to its waterworks, electrical powerhouse, street railway, and telephone system, under his tenure all of these services were financially self-sufficient and provided additional tax revenue. Newspaper articles reveal that he was a popular speaker and visited other municipalities; a favourite topic was “public ownership vs. private control.” He was a strong believer in the latter.

Edmonton City Council minutes during C. J.’s term frequently deal with discussions about the provision of gas to residential and business customers. In 1909, Eugene Coste, who worked for the Geological Survey of Canada, made a major gas discovery in the Bow Island area near Calgary. He established Canadian Western Natural Gas in 1911 and built a pipeline to Calgary. In 1924, C. J. joined the company and, in 1925, became President and managing director of Canadian Western Natural Gas, Light, Heat and Power Company, which supplied not only Calgary and Lethbridge but also towns in between.i By 1927, Northwestern Utilities and Canadian Western had become subsidiaries of the International Utilities Corporation, an American holding company, and by 1930, Yorath was president and managing director of several other Canadian subsidiaries.

In June of that year, he arranged the sale of all these firms to the Dominion Gas and Electric Company, an American subsidiary. After this massive deal (the Calgary Albertan estimated its value at $30 million or $505,056,287 Cdn today) was completed, C. J. remained in charge. He was at the peak of his career when he died as a result of a heart condition on April 2, 1932. Family members believe that it was the stress of his work that precipitated his health issues. His obituary in the Albertan encompassed nearly an entire page and outlined his business successes, as well as his community service, noting: “But the heavy burden of business cares did not curtail Mr. Yorath’s interest in sport and community life. He was a prominent member of the Kiwanis Club and a keen golfer, having been a member of Calgary Golf and Country Club for many years.” He was also a member of the Masonic Order, as were most members of the British establishment, and was interested “in conservation of the gas supply.” The article notes: “He had just returned from Edmonton, where discussions regarding conservation measures took place, when he was stricken with the illness which proved fatal.”i The work that he set in motion would result in the establishment of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Conservation Board in 1938 (later the Alberta Energy Conservation Board).

C. J. was part of Calgary’s business elite and the family’s home at 1213 Prospect Avenue in the Mount Royal district was an enormous brick and wood Craftsman-style home with some Tudor elements built in 1912. The district was initially nicknamed “American Hill” because of the number of wealthy Americans who lived there (this was pegged at about one-third). Some were initially drawn by the ranching opportunities and others by the coming in of the Turner Valley oil field in 1914. The formal photograph of the house in the bottom lower right corner shows the gas fittings in the home to demonstrate the importance of the fuel in a modern residence. The house was similar to the one built by Eugene Coste for his own residence, in 1913, which had 28 rooms and was located at 2208 Amherst Street in Mount Royal. As the district name suggests, the subdivision was built on an escarpment that provided expansive views of the new city. Like Old Glenora in Edmonton, there was a covenant that directed that only homes of a certain (high) value be built there. C. J.’s granddaughters remember the extensive grounds that surrounded it including gardens and flowerbeds and also allowed horses to be kept on the property.

C. J. Yorath residence, Calgary, Alberta, ca. 1930. C.J. was President and Managing Director of the Calgary Gas Company. A sketch of the plumbing and heating system appears in the lower right-hand corner. Photographer: W. J. Oliver. Glenbow Archives, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary, PB-946-8.

Dennis Kestell Yorath was born in London, England in 1905 and was educated in London, Saskatoon and perhaps Edmonton. His father’s wealth allowed him, as a young man, to enjoy the benefits of being part of Calgary’s elite and he learned to fly a plane and play polo. A number of young Canadian men had learned to fly during the First World War, among them Calgary’s Captain Fred McCall and Edmonton’s Wilfrid “Wop” May. They were pioneers who helped to set up flying clubs in their communities. Dennis knew both of them and was a charter member of the Calgary Flying Club, which was established in 1927, and obtained a pilot’s license in 1929.i He was also an expert horseman and played polo; in fact, according to his daughters, he played in a game with the Prince of Wales, Edward VIII, when he visited Calgary in the 1920s. According to newspaper accounts, he played for the Calgary Blues Polo Team among whose members was J. B. Cross. His father, A. E. Cross, was a rancher and co-founder of the Calgary Stampede, the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, and Calgary Petroleum Products (1912). J. B. and Dennis would follow in their father’s footsteps. The pages of the family’s photo albums include pictures demonstrating these pursuits.

Dennis Yorath painting by Marlena Wyman – image transfer and oil stick on Mylar. (Photos from Yorath family collection ca 1930).

With respect to his career, Dennis started work with the Imperial Bank of Canada in Edmonton where he worked for two years and, then, following his Father to Calgary began work, at the age of 19, for Northwestern Utilities and, in 1925, for Canadian Western Natural Gas. His father’s early death at the age of 52 catapulted him into a leadership position in the companies. In 1933, he married Bette Wilkin, whose father, among his various real estate and insurance interests, was also a co-founder and shareholder of the North West Brewing Company. According to family history, the Wilkin and Yorath families knew each other when C. J. and wife Emily lived in Edmonton, and that Dennis dated Bette’s older sister Jean until she found the man she was to marry. Dennis then turned his attention to Bette. After their society wedding, the couple went on an extended honeymoon to China and Japan, and brought back some lovely antiques including a Chinese chest, Japanese screen and brass inlaid tray table and two stools. They moved into a cottage on the grounds of C. J.’s home in Mount Royal. In 1940, Dennis left his jobs to serve his country becoming director of pilot training for southern Alberta, based at the No. 5 Elementary Flight Training School near Lethbridge as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.i In 1941, the School relocated to High River. Bette and their two daughters, Gillian (born 1936) and Jocelyn (born 1938) remained in Calgary. Just as his father’s career had been impacted by an oil and gas boom, so would Dennis’ career. The coming in of the Leduc and Redwater fields, in 1947 and 1948, triggered massive development, and prosperity for not only Edmonton but also the entire Province of Alberta. In 1949, Dennis was transferred to Edmonton to become general manager of Northwestern Utilities and, in 1956, became president of both Northwestern and Canadian Western Natural Gas. He served as chair of both from 1962 to 1969. From 1957 to 1973, he served as Director of the International Utilities Corporation and, from 1973 to 1981, as vice chair of International Utilities Corporation. On March 2, 1971, the New York Times noted: “TORONTO, March 1 (Canadian Press) – The International Utilities Corporation reported yesterday that its 1970 net income rose to $33,475,000 [worth $242, 562, 610 Cdn in 2022], or $2.42 a share, from $33,070,000, or $2.61 a share, a year ago. The Toronto-based conglomerate, which has administrative offices in Philadelphia, reports its financial results in United States currency.”i

Dennis Yorath headed the Canadian Western Natural Gas Company when it celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. A commemorative book titled Half a Century of Service: 1912 – 1962: Canadian Western Natural Gas Company included photos of its presidents on page 3.

On their move to Edmonton, Dennis and Bette chose to build a “signature” house in the Modern Style designed by Rule Wynn and Rule, just as his parents had chosen a Craftsman-Style House in Calgary. Dennis died on May 8, 1981 as a result of early onset Alzheimers’ Disease. In 1985, Bette had her nephew, architect Richard Wilkin, design and see to the renovations required to create a rental suite on the second-storey of her home to avoid living alone. In 1992, the city bought the 11-acre Yorath property for $900,000 to consolidate public ownership of river frontage in Buena Vista Park. The fieldstone memorial at the river’s edge of the property commemorates not only Dennis and Bette but also her parents, William and Hilda Wilkin, who had given them the land.

Wilkin-Yorath family cairn on the grounds of Yorath House. Yorath family collection.

During his lifetime, Dennis received many honours and was an active volunteer in both professional associations and community organizations. For his war-time service, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire by the British government in 1946. From 1947 to 1949, he served as the president of the Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Association, and, in 1949, was awarded the McKee Trans-Canada Trophy for his contributions to aviation. From 1947 to 1955, he was Director of the Canadian Gas Association (CGA) and served as Vice President in 1951, and, President, in 1953. From 1955 to 1957, he was a director of the American Gas Association. In 1951, he received a life membership in the Edmonton Flying Club and, in 1973, was inducted into the Alberta Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1955, he was president of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and, in 1962, headed the United Community Fund of Greater Edmonton. From 1966 to 1972, he served on the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta and was involved with the Friends of the University of Alberta Botanical Gardens; the University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree in 1974. Dennis was active with the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, the Community Chest Air Cadet League of Canada, Boy Scouts Association and the Salvation Army. He was a supporter of the Edmonton Klondike Days Association and, in 1966, as part of the Sourdough Raft Race, six boats raced from the dock below Yorath House down the North Saskatchewan River. He was a member of the Committee that helped to decide on the design of the Canadian flag. He died on May 8, 1981 in Edmonton.

Mothers and Daughters

The women of the Wilkin and Yorath families lived in a time when they were defined by what their husbands did, and were expected to be excellent wives, mothers and hostesses. This was certainly true for Hilda Wilkin, Emily Yorath and Bette Yorath. Their husbands worked hard and the families were part of the upper middle class elite of people of Eastern-Canadian, British or American origin who dominated the development of Edmonton and other communities not only in Alberta but also the rest of Canada. Their doings can be found in the pages of the Edmonton Bulletin, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Albertan and Calgary Herald. Their attendance at events at the Legislature, church fetes and meetings of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, St. John’s Ambulance and other patriotic societies always referenced them as “Mrs.” or “Miss.” Their first names were rarely mentioned, if at all. They are invisible except in the many pictures in family albums.

William Lewis Wilkin in military uniform, 218th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, ca. 1916. Photo courtesy of Richard Wilkin.

William Lewis Wilkin arrived in Edmonton in 1892 on an adventure and began to make good working at retail, real estate and insurance brokerage. He returned to England in 1904 to marry a childhood friend, Hilda Richardson Carter, and brought her back to the relative wilds of Fort Saskatchewan where he operated a store and served on the town council. Their first child, a son, also called William, was born in 1905, and their fortune improved with the increase in numbers of their family. As property ventures began to dominate William’s business life, he and Hilda decided to move to Edmonton from Fort Saskatchewan. They auctioned their furniture so that they could have a fresh start and also went to England for a holiday with children Bill and Jean. This was not a “steerage voyage” and he writes in his memoir: “The trip over was as far as I remember very nice but not startling. On the boat Bill & Jean (about 4 & 2) shared our nice fairly large cabin at night & had meals & play room in the nursery which was well equipped with everything including a competent nurse.”

Hilda Wilkin (née Richardson Carter) and son W. V. (Bill). Yorath family collection.

Their Edmonton home was located on the corner of 123 Street and 103 Avenue and was a three-storey Craftsman-style home with a wrap-around porch. It was across the street from Robertson Presbyterian Church (Robertson-Wesley United Church today), which was built in 1913, and kitty-corner from the Buena Vista Apartments. Children Margaret Elizabeth (Bette) (born 1912), Robert (born 1914) and Richard (born 1919) completed the family. Their comfortable family home was known for excellent hospitality and, according to grandson, Richard Wilkin, almost every evening his grandparents were “at home” for visits from family and friends. This continued in their new home at Connaught Drive in Old Glenora, which was built around 1945. Both Hilda and William lived to the age of 97 and welcomed grandchildren into their home and even hosted sleep-overs. Their homes were tastefully decorated with English antiques and they adhered to the formalities and civilities of British life with teas and formal Sunday dinners.

Emily “Marnie” Yorath (née Kestell) pictured in formal dress for a wedding or other society event. Yorath family collection.

Emily Kestell Yorath was the perfect hostess for her husband, a leader of the business community, and presided at events in Calgary at their Mount Royal home. The Yorath children – Dennis, Eric and Joyce – all married well and had children. The Yorath children called their grandmother “Marnie.” There was always something to do both inside and outside the grand home. There were extensive gardens as well as games such as tennis and lawn bowling as well as horseback riding. The Yorath children and their spouses took part in not only family events but also other more official entertainments. After her husband’s death, Emily remained in Calgary where her daughter Joyce Yorath Williams and son Eric resided. Eric was vice president of Carlile and McCarthy Ltd., a firm of stockbrokers. Emily died in 1958.

Dennis and Bette Yorath wedding photo taken in the garden of the Wilkin home in Edmonton in 1933. Photographer: McDermid Studio. Glenbow Archives, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary, ND-3-6389a.

It could be said that Bette Wilkin “married up” but she was undaunted when she moved with Dennis to a modest home, referred to as a “cottage” on the grounds of the Mount Royal property. She had attended a private girl’s school in Vancouver for a time, according to her daughters, and was a superb equestrienne. The wedding photo of her in her parents’ garden in Edmonton shows a beautiful, self-assured and serene young woman. She was prepared to be the perfect wife, mother and hostess. Since Dennis’ father was dead, the oldest son and wife became the principal supports for his widow; and, since Dennis was in the same business, he continued his high-level social interactions with civic and provincial leaders, as well as the business community. Bette tended extensive gardens and bred peonies, rode daily and also raced thoroughbreds in “Powder Puff” Derbies in Calgary.

Bette Yorath (née Wilkin) painting by Marlena Wyman – image transfer and oil stick on Mylar. (Photos from Yorath family collection ca 1930).

Bette supported Dennis in all of his activities including the war-time work with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. She and her young daughters visited him in Lethbridge and High River where he was based. According to daughters, Gillian Brubaker (née Yorath) and Elizabeth Yorath-Welsh, the couple responded to the call from the Canadian government to help refugees and also befriended some Japanese Canadians interned and re-located to the sugar beet farming areas around Taber and Brooks. The move to Edmonton in 1949 was difficult but Bette took it in stride and with Dennis planned their new home working with architects Rule Wynn and Rule. The joy of the new home was extinguished when daughter Jocelyn died of leukemia in 1950. Sorrow was followed by joy with the birth of Elizabeth Jane. Life in Yorath House was a continuous round of socializing both with family and friends, and business associates and community leaders.

Bette’s taste was evident in the home’s furnishing which were a blend of antiques and contemporary furniture animated by purchases made on their honeymoon trip to China and Japan as well as other international travels. These included an inlaid brass tray coffee table and matching stools, a Chinese chest and Japanese screen. Bette also collected Japanese prints. The symptoms of early Alzheimer’s disease ended Dennis’ career but Bette supported him to the end. Four years’ after his death, she decided that she did not want to live alone and commissioned her nephew, architect Richard Wilkin, to design a self-contained suite to be created on the second-storey of her home. She died in 1991, the year before the City purchased her home.

Family Voices

In my work in community and social history, I’ve found that oral histories and correspondence, memoirs and other documents are an invaluable tool. The first-hand account is both exciting and revealing, and makes history come alive. Besides archival and other primary sources, I had the pleasure of talking with Yorath daughters Gillian and Elizabeth and nephew Richard Wilkin. I will let them speak in their own voices whether through transcripts of interviews or reminiscences.

Interview with Gillian Yorath Brubaker Adriana A. Davies and Marlena Wyman Zoom Conversation, Sunday, 3 pm Edmonton time and 1 pm Alaska time, January 30, 2022

After my parents’ marriage in Edmonton in 1933, they settled in Calgary where he worked. The family home, a “cottage” on the grounds of my grandparents’ large house, was situated near the Sarcee Reserve [Mount Royal] in Calgary. My father was an excellent rider from an early age and played polo including with Prince Edward on his visits to Calgary. One of his polo ponies, Cheetah, was brought up to Edmonton when the house in Buena Vista was built in 1949, in addition to our mother’s horse, Lady Patricia. We had more horses and donkeys in Calgary, but not all were moved up to Edmonton. Both my parents excelled at riding and my mother as a young woman had ridden as a jockey in “Powder Puff” derbies in Calgary and won! She had attended a private school in Vancouver for two years when in her teens. It was Crofton House School.i We rode almost daily and my sister Jocelyn was an excellent rider.

I believe that the Calgary cottage was built around 1920 and my parents bought it and moved in after their honeymoon in China and Japan. My grandparents lived in the “Big House” next door. My grandfather died in 1932 and my father followed in his footsteps working in the gas business in Calgary and later Edmonton (International Utilities).

My father was a skilled aviator who learned to fly in his early twenties. He would fly a Tiger Moth aircraft to our home in Calgary. He was a friend of First World War flying ace Wilfrid “Wop” May. From 1939 to 1945, my father lived in Lethbridge as head of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. He was very concerned about the air crews that he helped train and grieved at the loss of lives. He was away from the family and this was hard for me, my mother and Jocelyn, who was 14-months younger than me.

The nearby community of Taber was a centre of the sugar beet industry and was chosen as a location to intern Japanese from British Columbia, who were designated enemy aliens in the Second World War.i Our parents befriended two Japanese young women, Tammy and Ruby, from the internment camp. My parents also signed on to sponsor displaced persons: the Government of Canada was advertising for host families. They arranged for Eine Kranz from Riga, Latvia to come to Canada and my father located her fiancé Henry in a European internment camp and arranged for their wedding when they arrived. In Calgary, we had a huge garden and the Kranzs worked for us.

In Calgary, I attended St. Hilda’s School, which was a boarding school, and had to wear a uniform.i In 1949, when Father became the head of Northwestern Utilities, we moved to Edmonton and lived with my grandparents until our house was built. We moved in in the fall of 1949. Leaving Calgary was hard – I felt that I was losing all of my friends. I went to Glenora School in Edmonton at 135th Street and 102 Avenue (Stony Plain Road).i Jocelyn and I wore uniforms on the first day of school and we stuck out like sore thumbs. Jocelyn held my hand tightly and shivered. In the 1944 photograph of myself and Jocelyn with our cousin Rick Wilkin, we are wearing our school uniforms and Rick was wearing a robe. The photo was taken at the Wilkin summer place at Kapasiwin Beach on Lake Wabamun.

Wilkin and Yorath Cousins painting by Marlena Wyman – image transfer and acrylic paints on Mylar. (Photos from Yorath family collection ca 1944).

My mother loved the move to Edmonton since she was born and raised there and had family and friends there. It was a “huge move” with not only furniture but also horses and a pony being transported up. The current Yorath House parking lot was a pasture at the time and the Yorath horses as well as some belonging to our neighbours grazed there. There was a shed for the horses. Near the house was also a gravel pit and the Legroulx family lived nearby. There were three or four houses at the top of the hill. The Tellingtons also lived nearby, along the river.

Our house was built on about 14 acres of land and there was a mink farm owned by Esther Fisk nearby. It was 14 miles away from the City and located in wilderness. The house had many flower beds and also fruit trees around it. In Calgary, we also had large gardens including one devoted to peonies, which my mother bred and entered in competitions, some of which she won. She transplanted some of the peonies from Calgary into the Yorath House flower beds. The lawn and gardens sloped down on the land behind the house toward the river, and a large vegetable garden was planted on the side of the house where the garage is.

My parents had lots and lots of parties. Many had lost loved ones in the Second World War and just wanted to enjoy themselves. Cocktail parties took place all the time not only in our own house but also the Bill Wilkin residence [Richard’s family] at 16 St. George’s Crescent.

I remember breaking down when my sister Jocelyn died in 1950 and the first five years in the house I was in a daze. I remember that my parents were away and Jocelyn and I were staying with our Wilkin grandparents and sleeping in the same bed when Jocelyn woke me up and told me that she was not feeling well. I turned the light on and found the bed sheets covered in blood. Jocelyn had had a massive nose bleed. I called our grandparents and they took Jocelyn to hospital where she was diagnosed with leukemia. This was in September and she died in October [Provincial Archives death records show date as Oct 21, 1950]. I made a vow at that time to study radiology and go into nursing.

I attended Westglen High School [now an elementary school] at 10950 – 127 Street as did my cousin Richard Wilkin.i Initially I biked to school but eventually my parents bought me a blue Renault car, which I drove to the edge of the City, and parked on Stony Plain Road and 136 Street and walked the rest of the way. I remember that once while driving through the gravel pit near our house in my Renault, I nearly tipped it over. Baby Elizabeth was inside. We had a maid called Ilse who helped look after Elizabeth.

When I finished High School in 1954, I attended the University of Alberta and as a student worked for Dr. Bill Armstrong, who was a friend of the family. His specialty was ear, nose and throat. Around 1957, when I finished university, I went for a year of travel and work in Europe. I lived in London, England, and Linz, Austria. I remember climbing the Matterhorn and meeting my future husband John Brubaker on the climb. I climbed the West Ridge and he and a friend climbed the East Ridge. We then met in a bar. John was at Yale as an undergrad and attended law school in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In Linz, I worked in a Lutheran Church refugee camp that helped refugee boys who had been active in the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. They were kicked out of Hungary or maybe just left. I worked as a general “dog’s body” in the camp and was similar in age to the boys. Some of the boys went to Canada and established themselves. I returned to Canada but no-one seemed to be interested in my experiences other than mother and father.

John and I got married on December 28, 1959. The day was beautiful but cold and the well froze which meant that the inside toilets could not be flushed. Portable toilets were set up on the grounds. John and I flew to Calgary that night and then on to Washington, DC. There was a storm the next day and I heard that some of the guests from away stayed for three or four days adding to my parents’ worries.

John and I moved to Virginia and, then, in 1962, to Juneau, Alaska, and lived there until 1964 when we moved to Anchorage and we’ve been there ever since. I never went back to medicine and worked in a number of fields. John and I had two children, Heather and Michael.

I remember coming back to Edmonton for a visit in 1978 for the party that my parents hosted for Prince Philip. My son Michael was set to open the car door when the Prince arrived but the Prince opened it himself and said, “Beat you.” My parents knew a number of Royals.

With respect to the sale of our house, I remember that the City had “right of refusal.” I was shocked to see that the renovated house was so open and white on the ground floor. The downstairs was more closed in with “swing doors” into the dining room. There was also a door into the kitchen opposite the freezers on the wall. The dining room walls were pale blue and the floors throughout were teak.

Elizabeth Yorath-Welsh Reminiscences: Part 1: Life at Yorath House

My parents moved up to Edmonton after World War 2 so my father could head up Northwestern Utilities. They built this house in 1949. The land was purchased from a farmer named Stephenson. The architects were Rule, Wynn and Rule.

I was born in 1951. My very early childhood of course is vague, but we did have maids until I was 2. Then there was a lady named Mrs. Bowman who looked after me when Mum & Dad would go away.

As a child I have very fond memories of growing up in the River Valley area now known as Buena Vista. There were quite a number of people living in that area along the river or overlooking the valley. Buena Vista road didn't exist back then, so we used 81st Ave down the hill to 131st St. to get to our house, and it was all dirt/gravel road – awful after a heavy rain!

I remember Old Tom & his horse drawn wagon would come and cut the fields for the hay. He lived up above the zoo before it was built. Also, the milk was delivered by a horse wagon!

By age 2 I was getting to know how to get around rather quickly. Having the "run" of the river valley was not a bad life! There were other farms & small homes throughout the Valley, & the people were all wonderful. There was a chicken & turkey farm right across our field to the north owned by the Bates family. Both Sue & John Bates babysat me. Near them was my best friend, Heather Washburn & her brother, Rod. I would visit the Bates’ first, then carry on in time to watch Heather's Mum braid her long red hair. Then we were off and running. This is all at ages 3, 4, & 5. The Washburns moved away when I was 6. I lost my dear friend to Vancouver!

At the area where Buena Vista Park begins, where the public washrooms now are, is where the Legroulx family lived. Larry & Jean & their 2 boys Claude & Marcel. Larry worked for my Dad both at Northwestern Utilities, & as a gardener & fix (nearly everything) man! Jean also helped out with a lot of the parties.

There were several mink farms around. One was owned by the Blaylocks on what is now 81 Ave at the bottom of the hill. That road used to go straight through until about 1970 when the city built the berm. Chris Blaylock was also a babysitter, & I played with his sister Lynne. Further up that 1st hill and to the right were several families, the Neimans. Kim was my age, & his sister Noanie also babysat me. The Shaws, who owned Shaw plumbing, had 4 boys & a girl. Actually one of the boys lives in the last house on Buena Vista beside the top end of the Zoo, Alan Shaw.

Laurier Heights School opened in 1958. By then a bunch of young families had moved into the Valley.

A wonderful couple lived across the field in a house that was beside the little hill that goes down to the parking for people going for walks. Esther & Ted Fisk & Ted’s brother, John. They had a few mink for a while, but then got rid of them to grow raspberries. Esther became our housekeeper & was a Nanny to me. A wonderful woman who taught me a lot! I would often have lunch at their house & tea after school. I will never forget going canvassing with her when I was about 5 or 6, & one of the houses we stopped at was Al Oeming’s. There in his back yard was this magnificent creature!! His Cheetah! Well . . . although a bit scared at first, I fell in love with Cheetahs!

I learned to ride with Betty Tellington who lived with her Mum & brother across from the big field where the dogs play in the off leash area. That used to be a horse field & riding ring. Betty had some great horses & I loved riding. We had some fun gymkhanas in the ring! I was not bad at the barrel racing! Betty was yet another babysitter as well. And her mother was my grade 6 teacher. There were several other small houses past the Tellingtons, and a large house at the end where the bridge to Hawrelak Park is now. I don't remember much about them though.

In 1958 they were building Buena Vista Road to accommodate the opening of the Storyland Valley Zoo in 1959. Rather daunting to see those huge earth movers rumble down the road! But that changed things considerably. It soon became the new way to get to our house. And Laurier Park was built . . . which took care of the family of Métis that lived in the “woods” 1/2 way into the Park with their team of huskies tied up outside their shack.

Another shocker, there was a couple in the very early 50s until about 1956, who lived in the River Bank in a cave. I would not have believed it if I had not been in it! It was near where the Métis lived. I think Dad helped them out. It actually looked kinda cozy.

Before 1958 there were very few houses even up to where the IGA is now [not the IGA at 91 Avenue and 142 Street but another store that no longer exists near Laurier Heights School]. It used to be a Loblaws. And across from it was also small houses, shacks & farms. We bought our chicken eggs from a family who lived in a shack there. And, yes, shacks were common housing back then. I also remember our milk being delivered by a horse driven cart. We had well water until I was 9. Dad quickly got rid of it after my sister's wedding in December 1959. The well froze the night before the wedding. A shock to wake up to. 150 guests coming to the reception & no water. Luckily, December 28th 1959 was a warm day. We were able to be outside around the fireplace. The caterers had to bring water in. The hairdresser had to come at 7 AM & bring hot water to wash Jill's hair. She looked fabulous despite it all & it was a day to remember.

Across from where the Washburns & Bates had lived, a family from Holland moved in with their then 6 children. The Matthezings. A very good family. My father helped them over the 1st few years with getting city water, gas heating, & a proper fridge as I recall. The girls & I quickly became playmates. Liddy & I had a “club house” kind of a hole in the woods which is still there today.

Things began to change in the 60s & certainly in the '70s a lot of these places got bought up by the City Parks Dept. It has now become the Buena Vista off leash area we all know today. Thank God we hung on to this beautiful house my parents built, and it was declared a Historical Site so the public can now enjoy it today!

Reminiscence Part 2: Mum, Marnie & Granny

Marnie was my Dad's mother. I remember her as being a lovely, warm, caring lady! She would come up to stay with us at least once a year, and shared my room. I also remember going to see her when we went to Calgary. Occasionally we stayed at her house & I always went in to see her in the mornings! Unfortunately she died when I was 5. She was staying with us when I got that spanking when Heather Washburn & I were caught playing by the river. She was very consoling, but also clear that Heather & I had made a wrong choice, that playing by the river could be dangerous. (So as you see, though Mum may have said something once, I learned the hard way that playing by the river was not a good plan).

Granny & Grandpose [Wilkin grandparents] were my favorites! I spent many weekends at their house on Connaught Dr. And the family often met there for drinks after work. Sunday dinners were also frequent. They were very patient with me, especially given I made a fort out of 2 card tables right in the middle of their living room! But I always helped out and cleaned up when asked. One big tradition was after Christmas Dinner we children were allowed to walk down the center of the dining table! Another Christmas Tradition was them coming out to our house to be there to open presents. I was not allowed to see the tree until they got there! Grandpose was gruff in a very amusing way . . . always teasing us. Granny would sometimes admonish him by saying "Tod, you're scaring the poor child!" Later as I got older I learned a lot from Granny, especially cooking. I loved to bake with her & after finishing school it became apparent I was good at it & was sent to Cordon Bleu in London. Granny lived to be 97, and was always very spry. She would love to tell everyone "I'm 97 you know!" She was an amazing dressmaker & knitter. She made most of my Barbie doll clothes. Imagine the fidgetiness of that.

Mum was a wonderful & very gracious woman. She was very clear when I was a child what my chores were . . . setting the table for dinner, cleaning up, helping guests with things . . . get this get that. "Jane will get it". . . "Jane will do it." We loved to go "hacking" in the woods and cut branches out of the way . . . and look for wild onions. (I have to see if I can find those again this spring.) Parties were certainly plentiful & friends would pop down on weekends for a drink in the garden. I loved my parents’ friends. I usually helped Mum cook the dinners, and also did a lot of the flower arrangements. A wonderful bunch of people.

I would attend most of the dinner parties, often helping out the caterers in the kitchen as well. Then of course there were the wonderful Pre Derby parties held the night before the Canadian Derby in mid-August. Dad was head of the racing commission, so the parties were pretty grand events! We always had a marquee set up as there were often showers or even thunderstorms! And in 1976 there was the party for all the Heads of State for the Commonwealth Games. Prince Phillip made an appearance there as well. Dinner even with just the 3 of us was always in the dining room. Properly served & with wine . . . which I started drinking at a young age. My godfather gave me a wee wine glass at the age of 8!

Mum loved the outdoors, so we walked, x-country skied, downhill skied & rode horses. She also played tennis. We went up to Sunshine Village to ski every year when I was a young kid. I learned to ski there when I was 8 . . . and was a very fast skier! She always loved a good afternoon of going for a walk then having a cup of tea by the fire. We also loved to garden, and had a huge vegetable garden and flower gardens. Dad always grew daffodils & tulips in his greenhouse for spring . . . and the living room was a sea of color when they were in bloom!

When I was in my 20's and proved my riding skills, Mum & I would go ride horses belonging to a good friend . . . ex race horses. We would ride down in the fields below the Edmonton Country Club . . . often encountering coyotes. We always had Mum's dog, a Great Pyrenees & my Labrador. Naturally, there was always quite the interaction . . . Pyrenees – 1; Coyotes - 0! But it was always amusing!

She also loved fishing, & I would sometimes join her & her friend on trips down around Caroline to Nordegg. They fly fished & I used a casting rod with a worm . . . I caught the bigger fish! Always delightful fun.

Apropros your writings on Keillor Rd [Yorath Art Residency, Blog Post 2], I had a couple of friends over for dinner one night back in the '70s, & Dad was home as well . . . Mum was away. As we ate our dinner we watched a couple up on a small clearing just off Keillor Rd set up a card table with a nice tablecloth, candelabra and silverware. The lady then served her gentleman friend a nice dinner! So lovely!

I miss those days! So many delightful friends, and always something interesting going on!

Interview with Richard Wilkin Adriana A. Davies and Marlena Wyman Wednesday, 2 pm, January 19, 2022, Yorath House, Edmonton

I was born in 1938, the son of William Wilkin [1905-1986], the first child of William Lewis (Tod) Wilkin [1875-1972]. I remember that my grandfather was a questionable driver, who handled his car as he would a team of horses and buggy. He was very strong minded; my grandmother Hilda was a “brick of a woman.” She was a childhood friend of Tod’s, and he returned to England to marry her [circa 1904]. Their other children were: Jean (Jefferey) [born 1907], Margaret Elizabeth (Yorath) [born 1912], Robert [1915] and Richard [1920], who died in the Second World War.

Sometime before 1905 the Wilkin family moved into a big house on the corner of 123 Street and 103 Avenue with a detached garage/stable/servants’ quarters. The main house was a three-storey single family home. Around 1946, they built a new house at 10314 Connaught Drive in Old Glenora.

My parents Bill Wilkin and Katherine Frances Tyner married in 1928. They lived in the apartment over his parents’ stable when they were first married. My parents built a house at 16 St. George’s Crescent also in Old Glenora ca. 1948. This is where I grew up. The house was sold to Cam Sydie years after my parents’ deaths. The Sydie family (owners of Fabric Care Cleaners in Edmonton) were close friends of the Wilkins’ ever since the 1920s.

My father and Uncle Robert were with W. L. Wilkin Ltd until the 1970s. William L. Wilkin and Co. acquired the Buena Vista land along the River Valley – not only the 12 acres of what became the Yorath property but also a similar amount to the East. My father planned to build a house on the adjoining 12 acre property but changes in bylaws in 1950 enabled the City to expropriate land from private land owners in order to extend the parks system in the River Valley. I don’t know the financial details of the acquisition of the Yorath property. Certainly, as head of Northwestern Utilities, Dennis would have had adequate compensation for the move to Edmonton from Calgary.

I remember a number of small houses along the road in front of the Yorath House, maybe five or six. One of the houses was the residence of the Yorath’s maid/friend, who along with her husband were caretakers of the property. According to my cousin Elizabeth Yorath-Welsh, this was Jeanne and Larry Legroulx.i The area was rural and the neighbours raised small livestock. Bette and Dennis kept several polo ponies on their property at that time. Dennis had been a keen polo player in Calgary in earlier years.

The Wilkin building in downtown Edmonton was sold around 1969-1970 and my grandfather got rid of his insurance and bond business. My father and Uncle Bob retained the real estate component and had offices on the ground floor of the Buena Vista Building. My father’s career was always connected to his own father’s, including the North West Brewing Company (later Bohemian Maid), of which he was president at one point. The building was located below Saskatchewan Drive and above Walterdale Hill; it has been for many years the City of Edmonton Artifacts Centre.

The Yoraths and the Wilkin families were friends with many of the business leaders in Edmonton during the 1950s through the 1980s. These included such names as Munson, Milner, Macdonnell, de la Bruyère, and Mactaggart.

I remember numerous dinner parties with family, friends and business colleagues. I remember Gillian’s Christmas wedding in December 1959 to John Brubaker, a young lawyer from Philadelphia. I was a groomsman. The wedding was at Christ Church Anglican on a Saturday; the septic tank failed [Gillian and Elizabeth say it was the well], and they had to bring in portable toilets placed in the field at the back of the house, two for men and two for women. I remember the well-dressed guests having to go out through the snow to use the facilities. Gillian and I were and are close friends.

As the head of Northwestern Utilities, my Uncle Dennis had many social commitments and had a public presence. I remember that, for a Klondike Days Breakfast, my Aunt Bette wore a beautiful lace dress from ca. 1910-11 that belonged to her mother Hilda Wilkin. In 1985, my Aunt Bette, who was living alone after her husband’s death, came to me as nephew/architect to create the separate apartment on the second storey of the house. The tenant was a friend of Bette’s, John Layton, and his partner. I remember the City, over the years, pressuring Dennis to sell the house for parkland; a deal was worked out that allowed them to live there so long as they chose. I remember that my grandparents were extremely sociable well into their 90s. They hosted a drop-in/cocktail hour almost every evening. They did this until their deaths in their late 90s.

Tour of the house:

The architects were Rule Wynn and Rule – who were the most prominent in town, and had the largest practice during the 1940s and 1950s. John Rule did the design for the Yorath house. I subsequently worked for RWR one summer when I was studying architecture. I attended the University of Washington from 1957, where I studied architecture.

The house was built on a floodplain, thus it had no basement. Instead, it had a dugout area under part of the house that was filled with rock for drainage in case of flooding. A few years after it was built, the river did flood and the water came up almost to the level of the main floor of the house. There were no utilities when it was built because City infrastructure did not reach that far out of the city at that time. There was a well for water and oil tank for heating and cooking. The house did however have power. On my return from Italy in 1968, I lived with my ex-wife, Karen, in the House for several months while Dennis and Bette were travelling.

The house was not as open as City renovations have made it today. A hallway ran the length of the main floor from the living room to the kitchen where the posts are located today. The living room’s wood-burning fieldstone fireplace wall continued with a partition between it and the dining room. The sunken living room was entered through an open doorway directly across from the main staircase to the 2nd floor. The walls were stained mahogany and there was a floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcase on the right of the door (along where the current accessibility ramp is located). The dining room was located next to the living room and it also was closed in with a door or case opening from the corridor. Next to it was the kitchen which was also enclosed. There were windows and a Dutch door out to the garden on the end (south-east) wall. Kitchen cupboards were located on both sides and there was a sitting area and table at the north-east end. A stove and fridge were located on the north wall. The freezer cabinets were located in the corridor, in the same spot as they are presently. Across the corridor was the ironing/service room, plus the main furnace/utility room.

The large master bedroom was located at the south-west end of the second floor. The bedroom area was where the fireplace is (the fireplace was natural gas). The bed was located on the west wall where there are no windows. A large dressing room and master bath were located at north-west end of the room. The door leading to the hallway was located on the short south-west wall around the corner from where the present doors are located. The present doors were originally a wall. The full-length balcony is original to the house. The present-day washroom was part of Elizabeth’s bedroom and the original bathroom was between Elizabeth’s and Gillian’s bedrooms. Gillian’s bedroom was at the far south-east end. Across the corridor from the girls’ bedrooms was the recreation room.

The house was renovated to include an apartment on the second floor after Dennis’ death. Bette retained the master suite and 2 bedrooms, and the rest was converted into a self-contained apartment; stairs led to it from near the garage.

A Maid or Nanny’s Tale Based on a telephone interview with Ilse Ella Messmer (born Hanewald) Adriana A. Davies, January 29, 2022

Around 2011, Ilse at the prompting of her children began to write a memoir; she had taken a writing class at the Lion’s Seniors Centre in Edmonton. Included in the memoir is an account of her work as a maid/nanny for Dennis and Bette Yorath for five-and-a-half months in 1953. I asked for permission to quote from her account in a Yorath House Residency blog post and she agreed. She was delighted to be interviewed.

Ilse Hanewald was born on a small farm owned by her parents that was 20 kilometres North of Dresden. They witnessed the bombing of Dresden by the Allies but fortunately were outside of the range. Her brother Karl was a soldier in the German Army and was injured and, after convalescing, decided to immigrate to Canada because he “didn’t want to become a Soviet coulee” in East Germany. He left around 1951 and worked, first, on a farm near Winnipeg; next in the Town of Kerrobert, Saskatchewan; and, finally, in Slave Lake at the air base as a cement finisher. Ilse, who had studied at an agricultural college for a term and started work in the office of a collective farm. Not happy with the work, she decided to begin a nurse’s course at the Görlitz Hospital in the town of the same name in East Germany near the Polish border. She hadn’t finished her course when her brother sponsored her in 1953. She boarded ship on January 31 and left from the Port of Bremerhaven. She had fled to West Berlin via East Berlin and was helped by some friends of her parents who lived in the English Zone. On board ship, she felt alone – she says “I felt that I had burned all my bridges.” She frequently cried herself to sleep.

The Yorath period of her life was “like a dream.” Coming from East Germany, it was a huge change. She sent parcels home with coffee and cocoa for her family; she also sent chocolate; she preferred not to eat it herself but rather send it to her family. She had arrived with two small suitcases. The “match” between her and the Yoraths was made by immigration officials in Edmonton, who arranged for a meeting at Immigration Hall. Ilse could not speak English but she felt that Mrs. Yorath had a “kind face” and agreed to work for them. She says of the Yorath House, “For me it was a good place to come to; I hold it dear in my heart.” She arrived in February 16 or 17, 1953 and felt that the house was away from everything. She had Thursday afternoons off and Mrs. Yorath would drop her off downtown but she had to make her own way back. Every second weekend she had off. She worked for the Yoraths for just under six months and left so that she could study English and better her circumstances. After completing English and bookkeeping courses, she was able to find work in a bank and later married.

Ilse’s Memoir Excerpt 1: Arrival

Karl arranged for a friend to give them a ride to the Yorath House but they got lost around 142 Street and 87 Avenue and had to telephone Mrs. Yorath. She told them to wait there that she would come and pick them up.

She arrived with baby in car seat, we left Karl’s friend behind, and she would bring Karl back to the city after I was settled in their home. Driving we had been very close, one more hump and a bend we would have seen across the snow-covered meadow the stately Yorath house, as we did now. First thing on arriving we were greeted by two friendly black Labradors. All the while the Baby about fifteen months old eyed us intently, as her mom peeled off her baby-blue woolen coat and leggings to put her in her crib to sleep upstairs. Mrs. Yorath showed us through the rest of the house and then ferried Karl back to town, as I took to my littler room across the kitchen, unpacking to stay.

My situation seemed to me more than adequate and I would handle what was before me, however very difficult would be learning to understand let alone speak this eccentric “Weltsprache” so far much confounding me. Later that day I became introduced to Mr. Yorath and their teen-age daughter Gillian, each as we met extending their hand in a formal gesture of Welcome to Canada. Mrs. Yorath explained to me that my day starts mornings at seven, I set the alarm clock in my room. Also there 3 were uniforms folded in one drawer for me to wear, for which I was grateful, since my wardrobe was quite limited. Near the front entrance was a cloak room with washbasin, mirror, and beside a private toilet for my use.

Next morning perkily dressed in my uniform and on time I entered the kitchen to meet Mrs. Yorath, who was beset by two hungry dogs, their feeding time. Bindy, the smaller and calmer was the mother to Skippy, her lively male offspring about three years old and were very friendly family pets. Their beds were in the garage, a connecting door with a swing flap gave them entry into the house. Also to the north-west end of the house was the furnace room and the place for the dog’s food bowls, we filled them with water and dry dog food. Next in the kitchen we prepared an electric coffee percolator, taking it through a swing door into the formal dining room, it was placed on a side board, plugged in an outlet.

Here we set the table for two with place mats and simple blue earthenware dishes, stainless steel flatware, complimented by washable napkins. Toast was made in the kitchen, in a warmed silver dish with glass inset and cover brought to the table, as well apple juice in small glasses. Mr. Yorath wearing a business suit came downstairs and the couple sat down for breakfast.

Into the kitchen walked Jill, greeting me with “Good Morning” Ilse, setting the kitchen table for two, making toast, all the while chatting and showing me about, inviting me to join her at the table and encouraging me to choose from cornflakes with milk, toast and jam with peanut butter. Jill went off with her father who took her to Victoria Composite High School [actually Westglen High School] before starting his work day as General Manager at Northwestern Utilities, their office on 104 Street south of Jasper Avenue. Mrs. Yorath attended to the Baby bringing her to the kitchen where she sat her in the seat of a low play table to be fed breakfast, a fine milled product of grains from a box called “Pablum,” mixed with warm milk. For now I sat with them, smiling and listening while Baby regarded me with her curious eyes, until the dogs showed up and broke the spell, between them was great mutual fondness. Jane was a lovely contented fifteen-month-old, bright, responsive and playful, early on I thought her a little boy, what with the blue woolen winter outfit and daily she wore little overalls and Dr. Denton’s pyjamas for the night, none of these items were pink, also the name “Jane” did not strike me then as feminine.

Several times a week I washed diapers, and folded returned them to her room, when I spotted little dresses in her closet I did wonder. Soon then Mr. and Mrs. Yorath with Jill had to go out for the evening and would I mind giving the Baby her bath and put her to bed, yes, with pleasure I smiled, and found Jane to be a little girl after all. Yet another snowfall in March, a bright sunny day followed and Mrs. Yorath packed Jane with a blanket into a sleigh, inviting me to come along for this pleasant outing in a lovely winter scene, accompanied by our playful dogs.

Ilse’s Memoir Excerpt 2: Kitchen, Living and Dining Room

Yorath Kitchen painting by Marlena Wyman – image transfer and oil stick on Mylar. (Photos from Yorath family collection ca 1980s).

The nerve center of any house after all resides in the kitchen, the layout of this one was practical and modern with plenty of smartly arranged cupboards and counter space, incorporating necessary electrical appliances. A screen door opened to outside next to a large picture window and bench seating area around a dining table. As a divider a counter attached to the inside wall reaching into the middle accommodating a double sink, as well a dishwasher cum cloths washing machine, for washing cloths the wire rack was removable. For washing dishes I found it more fanciful than useful, the dishes had to be dried still and those it could not accommodate washed in the sink, Mrs. Yorath nodded in agreement and henceforth all dishes were washed in the sink. Mrs. Yorath prepared the meals, I was eager learning new ways, with Imperial Cheddar she made a tasty cheese sauce for home-grown broccoli, out of a freezer compartment located across the hallway from this kitchen. The only telephone was in the kitchen, mounted on the wall beside the swing door to the dining room and conversations were brief, nowhere to sit.

Furniture in the dining room consisted of a long trestle table, a corresponding side board and both built of a heavy wood, almost black and polished to a shine, ten or twelve high back ladder chairs of ebony wood with seats of woven hemp material. On the side board placed against the wall to the kitchen sat a silver tray with silver tea set, two covered silver serving dishes with removable insets of tempered glass and daily in use, as well a spot for the electric coffee percolator. Above hung a large picture of an English Hunting Party, and before it on the floor lay a fair size thick red rug having a large motive of a tiger woven in. On the inside wall a counter with cupboards and drawers from floor to ceiling held table ware and linen, all for entertaining guests. The outside wall has tall windows, on the end a door to a patio and outside fire place, the dividing wall covered by field stone as it is backing the fire place in the living room, and opposite a door leaving the dining room into the hallway, at this point extending into a foyer.

The front entrance is at the south end of the house, it opens into a small ante room with the next door opening into the foyer, to the left is a cloak room, and also the beautifully crafted wooden staircase starts winding its way up, a lovely chest of drawers holding mittens and such with mirror sits conveniently to the side. From the foyer facing east taking two steps down enter a spacious living room with its warm and friendly atmosphere, focal point on the inside wall is a large fire place, width and height set with rustic field stone and meeting the outer wall which has a row of tall windows with a door mid-ways. The southern wall as well has several tall windows, and heavy lined drapes could be pulled over all windows for privacy at night. The back wall above the wainscot paneling is fitted with shelves that are laden with a library of books of every description, awesome and intimidating since I could not even read their spines, as I did my task of dusting I opened one or another rather dumfounded.

Next to the shelves was yet a cabinet with record player and collection of records, such as Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, Rhapsody in Blue, and Glen Miller Music, contemporaries of that time. Where the wainscoting and the bookshelves end is a divider of wooden struts with a flowerbox meeting the steps, across the steps meeting with the fire place runs also a flowerbox, all with healthy thriving plants, philodendrons and amaryllis in bloom, and the dark wood paneling behind is painted with an iconic mural large as life, Eastern in origin. No space was left for other pictures, and none needed, the large windows providing scenic pictures with their seasonal changes.

Ilse’s Memoir Excerpt 3: A Party

I was barely familiar with the household when Mrs. Yorath announced, there will be a party held coming Saturday night with about sixty guests. I smiled not comprehending, party in that sense was not yet a concept for me. I knew party to be a political animal. She took me along for grocery shopping to a Safeway on Stony Plain Road and 124 Street, I pushed the cart with little Jane sitting up front and Mrs. Yorath picking items from a list, with a lot of Greens for salads. On Saturday morning we took out from the buffet in the dining room stacks of plates, many sets of cutlery and tea cups, arranging all in an attractive order, serving dishes to the kitchen later to be filled. Next to my little room was yet another small storage room where a bar tender would be installed and Mr. Yorath busied himself setting the place up for that use.

Mid-afternoon boxes of food had arrived, as well one very efficient lady caterer who was Olga, giving me an appraising look how useful might I be not speaking English? I had put on a clean uniform and a little white apron tied around the waist, and next I was washing salad greens, instructed to cut the celery stalks paper-thin, Olga repeating a few times until she saw I did get it. Meanwhile Bartender George had come bringing his own glass ware, ensconced in the bar room and ready to serve drinks to early guests. Huge roasts of beef had been delivered still warm and were kept inside the oven, serving dishes were filled in the kitchen and placed on the long dining table.

Finally Mr. Yorath carried the first roast on a cutting board from the kitchen through the swing door to the far end of the table, and as the host proceeded carving and serving the assembled and honored guests, who were by the sound of it in jolly good humor and ready for a feast. Nor was the kitchen staff forgotten, there came for us a generous portion of sliced beef to fill our plates. Olga replenished the serving dishes, on the side table were laid out a great selection of fine tartlets and pastries, and she began brewing coffee and tea. My job was washing dishes as they arrived back in the kitchen while the evening progressed, George serving drinks, the glasses were his responsibility, but the ash trays had become filled and with an empty coffee can Olga sent me among the guests to take away the ashes with an “excuse me” and a smile.

Shyly I observed the noisy crowd, well dressed and polite they were, little groups sitting together or standing in the foyer in lively conversation and laughter, some went up the stairway to find the table-tennis, and some were playing records and singing along, in the foyer dancing to the familiar tunes to them. By eleven o’clock Mrs. Yorath dismissed Olga and when leaving she gave me praise and some advice, that I should buy some “Mum” deodorant on my next afternoon off, available at any drug store. After midnight and the last guests had left, Mrs. Yorath came to tell me that we “call it a night,” she praised my extra work done with kind words and a five dollar bill. As for me I had enjoyed the hectic bustle, and facing the clean-up next morning I considered the five dollar bill it had earned me, adding to the fifty dollar monthly wage, not to forget the lovely food that was left to enjoy.

Ilse’s Memoir Excerpt 4: The Garden and Neighbourhood

The snow melt had uncovered a large patch of brown earth that lay north of the house bordering the garage drive way. It might have been near half an acre in size and when the dark lumps had well dried, a farmer came with a team of horses to cultivate it for the growing season ahead. Attached to the house and garage was a greenhouse glassed in to start seedlings, and below ground accessible by trap door and ladder was a space for cold storage of root vegetables and one crock of sauerkraut. Our potatoes were grown on that little field together with the cabbages, and the broccoli stored in the freezer compartments in the hallway. In front of the house facing the river a grassy area became visible, soon turning green and growing, as a lawn kept short with a push mower by a young lad who was hired for the job. The edge of this plateau was planted with beautiful peonies, with a couple of steps divided and the gentle slope terraced, planted with some familiar and hardy perennials, sweet Williams, clumps of daisies and lilies. From here a sort of path led straight to the river’s edge.

When first I saw the river from afar I had illusions of summer time swimming, now standing up close they went with the swift and swirling flow of the brackish water, making eddies near the shore without a sandbank in sight. The back of the house facing west, and from my window across the gravel road I had the view of a large meadow growing into hay. One bright Sunday morning with the meadow lush in bloom, did I see from the corner of my eye a little creature standing quite erect above the grass, looking for it gone it was, yet to pop up again not far away, was there more than one? I asked Mrs. Yorath what I had seen, laughing at my description she said “Gophers,” Ilse, they live here and as well they are a nuisance to farmers.

The flat terrain of the valley seemed spacious with farm fields as far north one could see. Thickets of bush with spruce interspersed grew along the river bank. On some fine evenings I went for walks around the area and did find places of interest, a large name plate reading “Lasha Morningstar,” was attached to a wide gate across a gravel driveway leading to a rustic looking bungalow, a fenced in property. This lady was an Edmonton Journal Staff Writer, as I discovered a few years later reading an article by her, headed “Lasha’s Garden.” Following the road north I came upon a mink ranch unknowing it was that. In a stand of high crowned spruce between the trees were numerous wooden boxes sitting elevated off the ground, a shed nearby and a garden plot with a very adequate house, all within rustic fencing. Someone was about the place and gave me a nod with the question was I looking for an address. The name Yorath in my answer was well understood, and in his friendly way the man invited me to see his not so friendly pets in the boxes, very shy, hissing and snarling, they were fed fish caught in the river nearby. In the garden grew tall raspberry canes, the berries soon to ripen for the market in the city. On the western side across the fields where the terrain rises was an Indian Camp with Teepees erected, if I was curious by this sight I did not venture near. I took the path along the river southwest and found it very lonesome under dark spruce, even the dogs turned back when at first they had accompanied me. From there due west lay an expansive gravel pit, if not scenic here something was underway. Very few years later the Valley Zoo was built on that site.

Poems About Family – Adriana A. Davies

Memories The empty room in which I sit and write Once echoed with the sounds of children’s laughter. But the new home was first marked by a great sorrow – The year the family moved in, The second daughter, aged twelve, died of leukemia.

Life went on and family stories Provide me with details Of the hopes and dreams Of a family that called this place home.

Built on a river bank terrace, This very modern house Replaced a fieldstone hearth – The remnant of a log cabin. The homestead records noted with pride The presence of “many head of cattle and horses.” The architects echoed the fireplace with a modern equivalent Spanning almost an entire wall And emerging outside as an outdoor oven and grill, The site of summer gatherings.

The Buena Vista (beautiful view) subdivision Was envisioned as early as 1911 But an economic downturn ended The Riverview Land Company’s ambitious plans. It remained for almost a century A ramshackle collection of farms, shacks and outbuildings That housed an assortment of people Some of whom were Métis.

As the City affirmed its new-found oil wealth In the fifties, families came down From the neighbourhoods of Crestwood and Parkview To buy eggs, milk and strawberries. It was not a recreational area for dog walkers, families or rowing enthusiasts As it is today.

The youngest daughter and her friends played at river bottom Until their mothers discovered their guilty pleasure And spanked them To ensure that they never did it again.

The river was unpredictable and dangerous – An untamed beast That could take lives and sweep away human habitations and businesses. Everyone knew the stories of the “big flood” of 1915 That nearly destroyed the thriving community in the Rossdale Flats.

Situated on a high bank and fronted by a meadow The house is built on a flood plain So it had no basement Only a deep hole filled with rocks on top of which a cement pad was laid.

But the River flooded And the water came up the steep banks Right to the back of the house, As if taunting the inhabitants. In olden times, rivers were beings who affirmed their dominion.

The house stood proud – Half-way between the past, and modernity. When it was built, There were no city utilities there So water came from a well And an oil tank Provided heat. Its design turned its back on the past and embraced the future.

These are just a few of the stories That made this house, a home.

Home I have dwelt in many places, Using favourite objects to make them seem familiar, And like home. But a true home is more than a comfortable space. It is a place that you can see, When you close your eyes, Many years later, And walk from room to room, Greeting familiar chairs, paintings and other remembered objects. But, above all, feeling the comfort of a life lived, Within those sheltering walls. Births, anniversaries, deaths— Events painful and joyful— All adding up to the sum total of our lives. Sometimes it is only by leaving, That you can, finally, come home.

Fine China I hold in my hand a fragile China cup, Its ivory shell almost translucent. In a distant time, A craftsman embellished it by hand – Dark blue swirls around the rim, Tiny red flowers traced out below. And then, all outlined in gold.

Inside, it has a small bouquet of red flowers, Visible when the cup is tilted to drink. Such a fragile survivor of another age, Beauty and function allied in it, And the appreciation of these qualities, Links me with other women who owned it, And willed its survival— An object associated with domestic ritual, Continuity and grace.

Drinking tea out of such a cup, Makes the daily ritual, into a ceremony.

Special Places I know that they are out there to be discovered, But they have no reality until I have seen them With my own eyes, And created a personal catalogue of images, To be filed away in my mind’s eye, For later classification, and reflection.

They are not photographs, Rather, three-dimensional images allowing one to walk into them, Like Alice-through-the-looking-glass. I can feel the waterfall’s spray on my cheek, And the thermals beneath the hawk’s wings, As it soars above my head.

The brightest and best, Stored away for future illumination. Places of the heart, To be preserved at all cost, Not only for my private enjoyment, But also for the enrichment of future generations.

That is why we need the eyes of artists, To isolate and frame, To separate from the ordinary and mundane So that even those who are untouched by Earth’s beauty, Can see that we are not just consumers, But stewards of this wonder for all time.

Every region has its beauties, To be discovered— Landscapes that together make up the visual map Of this country we inhabit but do not own.

Hearth and Home Some words guard their meaning closely, Having to be studied And broken into their elements, In order to discern their origin from foreign tongues. One letter only distinguishes between heart – The Old English heorte, The seat of feeling – And hearth, the place where a fire is laid, And by extension, home. A juxtaposition of a place, With an action that creates warmth, And the feelings evoked thereby.

In most homes today, heat is produced by machines. We have gained convenience, But lost the understanding of what making fire involves, And with it the virtues of laying the fire, So that it burns well, Keeping the hearth clean to sustain future fires, And the circle of conviviality, The gathering power of fire since time immemorial. Is it any wonder that people move more easily Having no connection to the place, Where their ancestors had their being, The connectedness to hearth and home, broken.

________________________________________________________

i I am drawing on the entry on C. J. Yorath that I wrote for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography which will likely be posted online in late 2022.

i An article in the Oyen News on September 19, 1917 noted: “Word has reached Commissioner Yorath of Saskatoon that his brother, Arthur, was admitted to a British Hospital during the latter part of August suffering from the effects of gas. Private Yorath is well known in Oyen and district having farmed here since 1911.” Arthur had joined the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in 1915.

i Canadian Western Natural Gas Company, Half a Century of Service: 1912 – 1962: Canadian Western Natural Gas Company (Calgary, AB: Canadian Western Natural Gas Company, 1962), URL: http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/search/?index=peelbib&search=follow&pageNumber=1&authordisplay=%22Canadian+Western+Natural+Gas+Company%22&sort=score, retrieved February 26, 2022. See also, Turner Valley Gas Plant,” in Alberta’s Energy Resources Heritage website, URL: http://history.alberta.ca/energyheritage/turner-valley-gas-plant/default.aspx, retrieved February 25, 2022. I researched and wrote the content for this component of the website.

i Anon., “Gained Prominence as Engineer and Financier in West,” in The Calgary Albertan, April 4, 1932.

i Dennis Kestell Yorath entry when he was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame, URL: https://cahf.ca/dennis-kestell-yorath/, retrieved February 26, 2022.

i See BCATP Station High River, URL: https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/bcatp/bcatp-station-high-river/, retrieved February 26, 2022.

i Anon., International Utilities Corp., New York Times, March 2, 1971, URL: https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/02/archives/international-utilities-corp.html, retrieved February 25, 2022.

i The Wikipedia entry notes: “Crofton House School was founded in 1898 by educational pioneers, the Gordon sisters, Jessie Fisher Gordon LL.D. and Mary Elizabeth Gordon. The school was founded in the Gordons' family home on Georgia Street, Vancouver, with just four girls. Three years later, in 1901, the school moved to the corner of Jervis and Nelson in the West End.” URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crofton_House_School#:~:text=Crofton%20House%20School%20was%20founded%20in%201898%20by,of%20Jervis%20and%20Nelson%20in%20the%20West%20End, retrieved February 3, 2022.

i Over 3,000 men, women and children of Japanese ancestry lived in work camps in southern Alberta.

i The St. Hilda’s School for Girls (now Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School) website notes: “The development of St. Hilda’s School began in 1889 under the direction of Bishop Pinkham. It was the only Protestant Girls' School in the Territories and one of the first private schools in Calgary. In 1905, St. Hilda’s College, as it was then known, opened its doors with 20 day students and 20 boarders, all girls. For 44 years the school building occupied most of the block at 8th Street and 12th Avenue, in Calgary. The School followed the English example of training young women in fine arts and higher education under the direction of Caroline Gerrie-Smith of Toronto.” URL: https://www.strathconatweedsmuir.com/explore/history-of-sts/st-hildas-school-for-girls/, retrieved February 3, 2022.

i The Edmonton Historical Board entry notes: “Glenora School was built in 1940 using the Tudor style in an effort to have it blend in to its residential surroundings. The 1940 Glenora School replaced an earlier school built in 1918 that had become overcrowded. The original school still stands on the north west corner of Stony Plain Road and 128 Street [now demolished]. The current Tudor inspired school, reminiscent of an English country garden, was designed by John Rule of Rule, Wynn and Rule. It features the peaked roofs, half-timbering of roughly hewn lumber, and a stucco and brick exterior typical of this style in Edmonton. According to a report by G. A. McKee, Superintendent of Schools, the style was chosen to fit in with the residential development occurring in Glenora at that time, which included many Tudor revival homes. This design decision resulted in the only Tudor Revival school ever built in Edmonton.” URL: https://www.edmontonsarchitecturalheritage.ca/index.cfm/structures/glenora-school/, retrieved February 3, 2022.

i The entry in Edmonton Maps Heritage notes that the school was designed by Rule Wynn and Rule and built in 1940. It notes further: “Westglen School is an excellent example of the Modern Style of architecture and is typified by the balanced weaving of vertical and horizontal compositions, the use of clean horizontal lines, flat roofs, stucco cladding, horizontal emphasis in the window design and continuous perimeter horizontal stucco bands with additional ‘speed lines’ at the corners and articulated v-shaped stucco-clad buttresses ‘supporting’ the gymnasium.” URL: https://www.edmontonmapsheritage.ca/location/westglen-school-1940/, retrieved February 3, 2022.

i A genealogy of the LeGroulx family posted on the web notes: “Larry married Marie Jeanne LaPointe on June 26, 1946 in Alexandria ON. They had a son William Claude LeGroulx in 1949; in 1951 Larry & Jeanne moved to Alberta and made their home in Edmonton. In 1956 they had a second son named Marcel LeGroulx.” Of Jeanne, they note: “When she wasn't busy taking care of her home, Jeanne enjoyed reading, baking and creating beautiful needlepoint and knitting projects. She was well known for her caring, giving spirit, and never failed to be there for her family and friends. Jeanne was the heart of her family and an inspiration to all who knew her.” URL: https://mfn.ca/Legroulx/Legroulx1920.html, retrieved March 3, 2022.

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Yorath House Artist Residency Blog Post 7: Beautiful Views: Edmonton’s Westerly Park

Words by Adriana A. Davies, Feb 5 - 13, 2022 Artworks by Marlena Wyman Feb 8 - 20, 2022 Artists-in-Residence at Yorath House

Outing in Laurier Park 1913 - Marlena Wyman - image transfer and oil stick on Mylar (Image from City of Edmonton Archives #EA-10-2927-15).

I think it is time to start writing what is in effect a history of Laurier and Buena Vista Parks because that is the setting for Yorath House. I’ve spent about four weeks researching aspects of this history. It was difficult getting this information and, thank heavens for archives and digital records.

The stories of how Laurier and Buena Vista Parks came into being spans a period of over 100 years: from the end of the fur trade era to the 1950s. The land on which they are located was originally the home of Indigenous Peoples, specifically the River Cree. The ward name, Sipiwiyiniwak, means “People of the River” in Cree. Yorath House is located in what became Buena Vista Park. It is like a “bull’s eye” in the centre of this important piece of land.

Gold Seekers and Homesteaders

In order to tell the story of the “Western Parks,” it is important not only to find out who owned the land but also to examine emerging visions of what cities should be, and their relationship to the land. Land settlement is part of the story of the signing of treaties with Indigenous Peoples and filing of homesteads. Though the fur trade was essentially over when settlement began in the 1880s, a new resource drew fortune seekers. In 1859, James Hector, a geologist with the Palliser Expedition, noted the presence of gold flakes at Fort Edmonton.

Gold rushes had been occurring in various parts of the U S in the first part of the nineteenth century. Tom Clover, a Missouri native and veteran of the California gold rush of 1849, in the 1860s heard about gold being found at Fort Edmonton and made his way here. The section of the North Saskatchewan River that he worked in the 1860s became the Cloverdale and Clover Bar neighbourhoods. Several early Edmonton businessmen also started out in the gold fields of California and BC including Timolean Love, Jim Gibbons, Ed Carey, William Cust and Donald Ross. In 1862, over 170 gold seekers known as “overlanders” (in contrast to those who took maritime routes) passed through Edmonton in July.1 While the majority were heading to BC, about 60 stayed in Edmonton to pan for gold along the River.

The transition from gold seekers to residents happened in the next 10 to 15 years. In 1866, James Gibbons, from Donegal, Ireland, was one of those gold miners. At the age of 15, he travelled to the US in 1852 visiting a sister in New York and an uncle in Delaware. Greed for gold took him to California and Nevada before he headed North to the Fraser River in BC (1859) and, finally, Edmonton. The signing of Treaty 6 enabled gold seekers and others to file for homesteads. The cross-over to settlement in what became Edmonton’s west end took place as a result of a Hudson’s Bay employee from Scotland. Malcolm Groat signed on with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1861 and served at Fort Edmonton. By the time he ended his service with the HBC, he was in charge of farming operations at the Fort. In 1870, after the HBC selected their 3,000 acre land reserve around the Fort, Groat claimed 900 acres along the western edge of the reserve (what became River Lot 2), and settled there in 1878 with wife Marguerite and their nine children. She was the daughter of Chief Factor William Joseph Christie. Other HBC employees including Métis did the same. They established the pattern of long, narrow lots with river frontages on both banks of the North Saskatchewan. Many of their names are reflected in neighbourhoods or land features.

On the Miner’s Flats, now Buena Vista and Laurier parks, three gold-seekers and friends claimed land: Gilbert John Anderson, Thomas Charles Stephenson/Stevenson (so-called “English Charlie”) and James Gibbons. In 1873 Gibbons married Mary Isabel Anderson, a stepdaughter of Gilbert Anderson. With the help of his wife, who was Métis, he made several trips to Winnipeg to bring back trade goods. After 100 years of the fur trade, family ties were complex as a result of the inter-marriage of HBC employees and Indigenous women. Linda Goyette and Carolina Jakeway Roemmich note in Edmonton In Our Own Words:

Their descendants take care to describe the mingled lineage: Gilbert Anderson, who grew up among Cree relatives in the Enoch band, inherited his name from a Métis great-grandfather who was an HBC employee; but he was also great-grandson of Chief Michel Callihoo and a [great]-nephew of the early gold prospector Jimmy Gibbons. “These people were contemporaries in a small community,” said Anderson. “The families intermarried in the early years and that’s how Edmonton began.

Gibbons wrote a reminiscence in which he notes:

Christie was in charge at Edmonton. There were about twenty-five families about the place. They were French Canadians, half-breeds, and Highland Scotch. William Borwick was the blacksmith. William Lennie was also a blacksmith; there were those days two kinds of Scotch – those who could speak English and those who could not. Jimmie Gullion was the boat builder assisted by his brother, George. Pig Kenny was in charge of the pigs. Malcolm Groat was in charge of the men. There were two clerks in the post – McAulay and McDonald. Sandy Anderson was the saddler and made the dog harness. John Norris was dog runner. Donald McLeod was in the company service at that time and I remember that he spoke very little English. Gilbert Anderson was sawing lumber for the Company, and William Meavor was getting out the logs.”2

Gibbons filed for a homestead comprising 80 acres “on the North side of the Sask. River,” in 1878 (Section 24, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4). The records note that he has a family of five and will be using the land for “mining, farming and trading.” The value was placed at $1,000. His witnesses were Stephenson and Anderson. He later got a pre-emption for the adjoining land and, in 1893, he noted that he had 40 acres under cultivation, 25 “horned cattle,” 15-20 calves and yearlings, and 40 head of horses, mares and colts. In 1885, he applied for a “patent of home.” Gibbons also served as the Indian Agent for the Stony Plain Reserve (1898-1908) and, in that capacity, was involved in three key surrenders of lands: Enoch in 1902; Alexander Band in 1905; and the Michel Band surrenders in 1903 and 1906. Gibbons was the founding President of the Old Timers’ Association in 1894. He also filed for a homestead in Stony Plain in 1902 and purchased land and built a house for his retirement at 125 Street and 105 Avenue (this is a designated historic resource). He died in 1933.3

Gilbert John Anderson appears in the HBC Archives database of servants’ contracts: in 1852, he is listed as a “labourer” and, in 1862, as a “sawyer labourer.”4 On July 23, 1885, he filed for homestead Section 25, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4, which is also part of the Laurier Park lands. On January 24, 1894, he did another filing for Section 26, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4. The record shows that he had been a miner for 20 years and had two children, and that this would be his permanent residence. He also notes that he had broken the land and had cattle, four horses, a chicken house and a stable. Anderson was born in Stenness, Orkney Islands, Scotland on July 1830 and died in Edmonton in 1915 and was buried in the Edmonton Municipal Cemetery.

The last of the three friends to file for a homestead, in 1885, was Stephenson. He filed for Southeast ¼, Section 25, Township 52, Range 25, Meridian 4. His witnesses were his friends and neighbours James Gibbons and Gilbert Anderson. The land purchased by William Wilkin on which Yorath House is situated is part of this homestead. Stephenson was born in England in 1838 and died in 1923 in Edmonton and is buried in the municipal cemetery. In most records, his surname is spelled “Stevenson,” which made it difficult to locate his homestead papers, which were under the name “Thomas Charles Stephenson.”

Alberta’s Capital City: The Rush to Urbanization

Painting of Valleyview Drive by Marlena Wyman.

Edmonton incorporated as a town in 1892 and as a city in 1904; in that time period its population rose from 700 to 8,350. In the early years of the twentieth century there was a feeding frenzy of property speculation. In 1903, Malcolm Groat sold his estate to property developers. In the same year, Charles Stephenson sold part of his land to realtor S. H. Smith, a city alderman (1906-07), for $12 an acre. Stephenson did not sell all of his land retaining a number of acres on which he and, later, his grandson, William Stephenson, resided. Maps from about 1912 show a square of land with river frontage in private hands.5

The extent of Edmonton’s property boom, partly fueled by the building of railways, is described by historian John Gilpin as follows:

Between 1903 and 1914, 274 new subdivisions were created, which inflated the assessed value of city property to $191 million. Most of these existed only on paper and would never be developed. This rate represented an 1800 percent increase in the number of subdivisions on the north side alone compared with an 800 percent increase in the total population of Edmonton between 1904 and 1914.

These new subdivisions were located on both sides of the river, with the largest concentration being northeast of the central business district. Mundy's 1912 map of Greater Edmonton shows new subdivisions established as far as seven miles from the downtown area. The names chosen were common to other Canadian cities, and included Tuxedo Park and Queen Mary Park. With the exception of Windsor Park, Glenora, and Beau Park, these subdivisions did not deviate much from the grid pattern. The cumulative result was the creation of a blueprint for a "Greater Edmonton" that dazzled the imagination of Edmonton's boosters, strongly influenced many aspects of civic policy, and created new opportunities for Edmonton real estate brokerage firms.6

The property speculation was also fueled by Alberta’s becoming a province on September 1, 1905 and Edmonton being designated as the capital in 1906. This was the result of powerful allies in Ottawa including Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who had been there at the inauguration of the province on a bandstand in the Rossdale Flats.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier speaking at the inauguration of the Province of Alberta, September 1, 1905 in Edmonton at the Rossdale Flats. Photographer: Ernest Brown, City of Edmonton Archives EA-10-3217.

The provincial government immediately began to plan for an impressive Legislature building and grounds, and 21 acres was purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company for the site overlooking the North Saskatchewan River. In an article in the Bulletin of November 5, 1906, the headline states: “New C.P.R. Bridge Will Have Suitable Design: Architecture Will Accord With Surrounds and Harmonise With Provincial Buildings.” Premier Rutherford himself met with Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, head of the CPR, to discuss this and tells the journalist that landscape architect “Mr. F. G. Todd of Montreal” has been contracted, and notes that the same process was happening in Saskatchewan. The Province chose Todd because of his impressive credentials: he had studied with pre-eminent American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of New York’s Central Park and Montreal’s Mont Royal.

View of Fort Edmonton with the completed Legislature Building behind, ca. 1912, Photographer: McDermid Studio. Glenbow Archives NC-6-234.

Drawing of proposed approach to Legislature building, 1912. The Legislature was built in the period 1907 to 1913, in the Beaux-Arts style and is an impressive steel-frame, sandstone and granite structure. It was designed by architects Allan Merrick Jeffers and Richard Blakey and Montreal architect Percy Nobbs helped with the final revisions. Photographer: McDermid Studio, Glenbow Archives NC-6-160.

A postcard showing a panoramic view with the completed High Level Bridge and Alberta Legislature, ca. 1917-1918, Glenbow Archives NA-5002-5

The City of Edmonton Archives has extensive correspondence pertaining to parks development in the period 1906 to 1912, including Todd’s 1907 typewritten report that presents a grand vision for the City. In November 1906, Todd was contracted “to prepare a comprehensive beautification scheme for the city” for a fee of $500. He begins by praising the civic government for initiating planning early and cites a number of examples of cities that had not done so, and had to do very expensive remedial work.7 He sees no limits for Edmonton, the capital of a resource-rich province, and makes a key recommendation:

In evolving a comprehensive scheme for parks and boulevards for Edmonton, every advantage should be taken of the great natural beauty of the situation, and also attention must be given to the economic interest of the city, by withdrawing for park purposes, property which is of least value for building, if it is equally valuable for park purposes. Indeed it often happens that the land most unsuitable for building is the best for park purposes, such as the sides of steep ravines and hillsides.

The report has the following sections: East and West End Parks, North End Park, Hudson Bay Flats, Ravine and Hillside Parks, Rat Creek Park, Groat Creek Park, Small Parks and Playgrounds, Boulevards and Parkways, Boulevard to Groat Creek, Boulevard to Rat Creek, Hudson Bay Boulevard, Namayo Boulevard, Capital Boulevard. He devotes a final section to “Plantings.” Thus, before Edmonton had even begun its urban development, it was committed to becoming a “green” city and part of the Garden City Movement that had gained dominance in the UK, the US and Australia. In 1898, Ebenezer Howard published a book titled Cities of Tomorrow. In it, he espoused a method of urban planning in which towns and cities are surrounded by “green belts” and a balance is struck between housing, industry and agriculture. Three such communities were built near London and he received a knighthood.

In the section titled “East and West End Parks,” Todd praises the City as follows:

Your city has already made a commendable start in the way of supplying its future generations with ample breathing space, by purchasing a good sized park East of the city, and one in the Western part of the city. These are splendid properties and well adapted to the purposes for which they have been set apart, and I would suggest that when these are developed later on as the city assumes a larger size, that as much as possible of their present natural beauty be retained, and that their natural picturesqueness be further increased by planting of many trees and shrubs in an irregular and natural way. When drives and walks are built they should be designed with graceful curves, and arranged with the existing and proposed woods in such a manner as to present the park to the best advantage.

The west end park purchase that he refers to is an as-yet unnamed area: it is part of the North 1/2 of Section 24 and West 1/2 of S.W. 1/4 of Section 5, 52, 25, West of the 4th Meridian. The 205 acres belonged to James Gibbons and the city paid $25,625. The purchase was made through the power plant capital account because, initially, the City intended to move its power-generating facility from the Rossdale Flats to this site. In the City records, and also in articles in the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Bulletin, the matter is discussed. A December 29, 1906 article in the Bulletin titled “Recommends Gibbons Site for Water Work” notes that the Commissioner had had specifications prepared for a water treatment facility that would supply “three-million gallons” through a “direct-connected, motor-driven pump.” The other part of the proposal was for a power plant.

The move seemed to be supported by the City Commissioner because not only was there ample land but also water and coal. An article in the Journal of October 10, 1907 titled “New and Extensive Improvements Are Being Planned for Edmonton” provides information on the equipment for the power plant including generating capacity and notes that testing of coal deposits had been done. It does, however, point out an issue: “The Gibbons’ property is about three miles from the centre of the city in a direct line, but owing to a bend in the river it is about five miles distant by trail. In order to transport the heavy machinery to the plant to the site, and to provide communication with other coal mines in case the fuel supply should at any time fail, it is considered necessary to construct a spur line to the property.”

The urgency of expanding the current power plant and the drawbacks of Gibbons’ land supported the vision provided by Todd in his report, and the decision was made not to build on the west end site. By 1909, the Journal was advocating for the location of a park there with the support of the City’s medical officer Dr. T. M. Whitelaw, who gave his hearty approval for a “large suburban park.” On July 29, 1910, it reported: “The advisability of christening the McGibbons [sic.] property Laurier Park will be considered at a special meeting of the council which has been called for Monday at 10 o’clock. At this meeting also a resolution urging the removal of the penitentiary from its present site will be drafted. The resolution will be presented to Sir Wilfrid Laurier during his stay in the city.”

Removing a penitentiary and designating an urban park were both part of the beautification of the City. The new provincial jail would be moved to Fort Saskatchewan, a more remote community in which to situate dangerous offenders. In 1910, Laurier travelled across Western Canada via railway for a period of two months. It was an electioneering trip to get in touch with this fast-growing region of the country. He stopped in Edmonton on August 10 where he was honoured by the park naming.

The influence of Frederick Todd cannot be underestimated. We experience it every time we walk or drive along roads and walkways on the embankments on both sides of the North Saskatchewan River. These reflect the following recommendation in his report:

The advantage of a system of boulevards and driveways connecting the different parks surrounding the city is of such obvious importance that it is hardly necessary to dwell upon it. Few cities have such splendid opportunities for magnificent scenic drives as Edmonton, and it will always be a matter of regret to future generations that land for a boulevard along the entire river embankment was not secured until it was too late to make it continuous. There is however still left the opportunity of obtaining boulevards commencing a little east, and a little west of the city, and the land for these it seems to me should be secured at as early a date as possible.

Laurier Park was the beginning of over 100 parkland purchases that the City undertook in the period 1907 to 1931. These included the Highlands golf course and the Mill Creek, Groat, Mackinnon, Kinnaird and Whitemud Creek ravine lands.8

With respect to the “West End Park,” on October 19, 1910, a proposed nursery was approved; the site comprised five acres. A December 20, 1910 document provides costs for clearing the land of burnt and dead timber. Itemized costs include: ploughing of 37 acres; brushing of 75 acres; mowing, curing, stacking of hay on 50 acres. In another document of the same date, the following activities with accompanying costs are listed:Todd had recommended the planting of many trees and the City took his advice to heart. On April 4, 1911, a Blue Print of the layout of the West End City Park is requested from the Engineering Department (unfortunately, it is not in the file).

Todd had recommended the planting of many trees and the City took his advice to heart. On April 4, 1911, a Blue Print of the layout of the West End City Park is requested from the Engineering Department (unfortunately, it is not in the file).

A family outing at Laurier Park in 1913; trail for not only walkers but also people on horseback was developed. Photographer: Byron May Co. City of Edmonton Archives 2A-10-2927-14

While Todd had set the City on the development of parks, in 1912, correspondence reveals that other landscape architects were also being consulted. Whether this was because Todd was unavailable or “new blood,” as it were, was needed is not clear. A September 16, 1912 letter from American Park Builders, Chicago, requests that they be placed in a position to bid for projects. They note that they can either plan and build the park, or use the plans of other landscape architects. To support the application, they note that they are responsible for the Lincoln Park System in Chicago.

Correspondence also relates to other parks existing at the time including Rat Creek Ravine and Victoria Park; and the building of proposed East and West “river drives.” All are costed fully by A. J. Latornell, the City Engineer. Other projects include roadways leading to the Legislature and the proposed CPR High Level Bridge. A letter dated September 26, 1912, deals with the acquisition of three ravines in the Quesnell subdivision for park purposes. It notes: “Quesnell Ravine would form a desirable addition to Laurier Park to the West, while the other two would form a nucleus of two parks between Laurier Park and West End Park. All three are useless for building purposes.” Market sites on both the North and South sides of the River were also planned.

The Parks Commission delivered its first report on December 31, 1912. During the year, they received proposals from Morell & Nichols, Landscape Architects and Engineers of Minneapolis for park planning work. They were invited to produce a report. In 1912 and 1913, at the recommendation of Morell & Nichols, prominent town planners from the US and Great Britain were brought in to provide public lectures. In addition, the Report notes that “A Womans Club has been formed for the purpose of studying Town Planning on the basis of Mr. Morell’s report.” To help get the message out, it is proposed that 2000 copies of the report be printed and sold to clubs at 50 cents per copy. It is also suggested that copies be made available free of charge to high schools and the University. Finally, the recommendation is made to Council that Morrell and Nichols be retained as the City’s town planning experts.

A January 23, 1913 letter from P. M. Barnes, Assistant Superintendent of Parks to Mr. R. B. Chadwick, refers to a report prepared by the Provincial Archivist, Miss Katherine Hughes, with recommendations for the naming of Edmonton Parks. They are as follows:

What is fascinating is that, in this era of white dominance, the Provincial Archivist recommended the following names: Cree Embankment, Metis Park, Blackfoot Park and Assiniboia Park.

According to her entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, prior to coming to Alberta, she was linked to Indigenous causes. She was born in 1876 in Prince Edward Island and became a teacher and journalist and was a member of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. Her Uncle, Cornelius O’Brien was Archbishop of Halifax. According to the DCB entry, written by Pádraig Ó Siadhail,

Biographical sketches claim that she was involved in mission work for the “uplift” of natives in eastern and central Canada. In the summer of 1899 she was employed as teacher at the Mohawk reserve of Saint-Régis (Akwesasne). Two years later Hughes launched, with ecclesiastical support, the Catholic Indian Association, which sought to find employment outside reserves for graduates of Indian schools and, reflecting contemporary attitudes to natives, assimilate them.9

In 1906, she moved to Edmonton to work for the Bulletin reporting on provincial politics. In May 1908 she was appointed as the first provincial archivist and charged with developing the Bureau of Archives. In 1909, she was seconded to serve as the private secretary to Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford and served in the same position for his successor, Arthur Sifton. In September 1913, she accepted the position of assistant and secretary to the agent general for Alberta in London, England.

Katherine Hughes, first Provincial Archivist of Alberta, ca. 1906. The Provincial Library of Alberta along with the Provincial Archives was established in 1906. Provincial Archives of Alberta A5398.

Besides the list of names, Hughes also provided suggestions as to the historical periods to be commemorated through naming. This is an amazing document for its time. The periods are as follows:

1. The Indians.

2. The coming of the fur-traders, voyageurs, &c.

3. The rise of a new race – The Metis (mixed blood), halfbreeds.

4. The advent of a, The Missionaries, b, the gold miners, c, distinguished travellers or explorers (like Palliser, Southesk, Kane, Butler &c.)

5. The pioneers (free traders, independent of the big fur companies, settlers on farms &c. Mounted Police.

6. The era of the klondyke rush – very brief period, but one fraught with results, affecting Edmonton’s development.

7. The present day period of record making, growth and progress.

In April 1913, Morell & Nichols were advising about the setting up of shelters at East End Park, Groat Ravine, Laurier Park and South Side Park. Advice is also given on the building of playgrounds and a “swimming pool on Syndicate Avenue.” They also suggest that a gymnasium be added to the pool, perhaps the first multi-use recreational facility in the City. It is noted that the consultants had provided three “schemes” to date. In January 1913, the City hears from another landscape architect wishing to do business with the City: Thomas H. Mawson & sons from Vancouver. Their credentials and extent of their work is impressive. It is clear that the Commission is taking its work seriously and they add another name to their roster: L. L. May & Co. Inc. Nurserymen, Florists & Seedsmen from St. Paul, Minnesota.

Civic-minded individuals or, perhaps developers who had an interest in enhancement of their own property development ideas came forward to offer land to the City. Perhaps the most extensive was the proposal by Dr. L. L. Fuller of Strathcona to donate property for the development of Glen Lockhart Park in the Whitemud Creek area. The Bulletin of June 12, 1912 reported on the proposed donation of land as follows: “The only conditions attached to the offer are that the City develop the valley as a high class recreation and amusement park and make it possible for the citizens to get to it by building a car line to it. The exact area offered to the city will not be known until the survey is complete. It will be between 275 and 300 acres. The proposed lake will be 1 ¾ miles in length and some 100 acres in extent.” Fuller proposed building a dam to create Lake McKeen, which could be used by pleasure craft and could also be stocked with fish. The “park fever” incited by Todd would come to an end with the recession that began in mid-1913; this also would end the existence of the Park Commission.

Land Development: The West End

Yorath House and Laurier Heights from across the river - Marlena Wyman – water soluble wax crayon on Mylar.

While so-called “highlands” were the preferred sites for subdivisions for the wealthy and upwardly mobile (think of Ada Boulevard, Saskatchewan Drive, Connaught Drive and Valleyview Drive), areas bordering on parks were similarly desirable. There were enormous opportunities for realtors and property developers, who purchased lands adjacent to city limits to avoid paying taxes, and subdivided them into subdivisions. In 1906, Martin Runnalls established M. Runnalls Real Estate and Insurance Company and began land speculation. The year 1911 sees Runnalls entering into a partnership with Walter Ramsay, owner of greenhouses at Victoria (100th) Avenue and 110 Street and teacher; Dr. Edgar Allin, a medical doctor; Dr. Harry R. Smith, also a doctor; James H. Smith, realtor and land surveyor; and Norman B. Peak of Vancouver. They begin promotion of a new subdivision that Runnalls named Buena Vista (“beautiful view”) in keeping with Frederick Todd’s vision. They acquired land in River Lot 2, the old Stephenson homestead on the banks of the North Saskatchewan. Part of this might be the land purchased by Sam Smith in 1903 (I have been unable to determine whether Smith, the doctor, or Smith the realtor, were relations). A Plan was drawn up and it notes that the subdivision is part of Section 25, Township 52, Range 25, W4 of the Meridian and is described as Capital Hill South. The owner of the land is listed as William Stephenson. An ad in the Bulletin of April 26, 1911 has an image of the subdivision and offers lots for sale. It’s a boilerplate grid design with streets numbered “thirtieth” to “thirty-eighth” and the proposed avenues from north to south named: McMillan, Michigan, Hastings, Spadina and Laurier. The last reflects the nearby park. Lots are priced from $100 to $300 and the ad notes: “One-third Cash. Bal. 1 and 2 years at 7 per cent. Or 6 and 12 Months Without Interest.”

Squatter on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, 1938. Photographer: Hubert Hollingworth. City of Edmonton Archives EA-160-451.

Buena Vista advertisement. Edmonton Bulletin, April 26th, 1911.

Another venture, in 1912, was the erection of a brick and concrete apartment building – the Buena Vista Apartments – with retail on the ground floor at 12327 – 102 Avenue. The building, designed by local architects Herbert Alton Magoon and George Heath MacDonald, cost about $11,000 and, when it opened in 1913, the Bulletin described it as “a most desirable residential property in the west end.” While this venture was a success, the companion subdivision was not completed though some houses were built.10 The recession prior to the First World War ended speculation in property.

The 1912 Driscoll & Knight Map of the City of Edmonton shows the huge land mass of the City (developed and undeveloped). In the left hand bottom corner, Laurier Park and Buena Vista lands are green areas forming an “L” shape. The vertical piece is Laurier Park (the current park is a smaller area because the Storyland Valley Zoo was built on the land in the 1950s) and the horizontal piece, by and large, is the unbuilt Buena Vista subdivision. There is a square piece of land that is unidentified; this is the Stephenson land that Yorath House would be built on.

Driscoll and Knight Map of the City of Edmonton, 1912, City of Edmonton Archives EAM-86.

A review of the City Tax Rolls for selected years beginning in 1907 is very revealing. The degree of land speculation can be clearly seen in the number of properties owned by companies such as McDougall and Secord, the Riverview Land Company, Weber Bros. Realty and other businesses, as well as individual investors. Many did not reside in the City; for example some resided in Vancouver; others in various parts of Ontario and other Canadian provinces; and some even in the UK. As well, city-owned lots for parks and other developments are noted as are those owned by religious denominations (such as the Faithful Companions of Jesus) and designated for use as locations for churches, schools and hospitals. The earlier years in the rolls are listed in no particular order: just dates when property taxes were paid. Later, they are organized according to the name of the subdivision and it is easier to review all of the Buena Vista records.

City of Edmonton Tax Rolls selected years from 1907. City of Edmonton Archives. Photographer: Adriana A. Davies.

The economic recession can be seen in these records and the column of payments with red ink indicating arrears becomes the norm. As individuals and companies defaulted on tax payments, the City seized the property in lieu of payment and then would hold property sales with ads appearing in newspapers. Buena Vista lands owned by the Riverview Land Company, which were likely seized by the City for non-payment of taxes before 1915, appear in a 1918 advertisement for the sale of City-owned land in the Bulletin (Monday, June 10, 1918). It is noted that a number of properties, including Buena Vista (the first on the list), were removed from the sale. This may mean that either Runnalls and his partners paid the arrears, or that someone else purchased the land. The 1920 tax rolls show a number of Runnalls or Riverview Co. properties not only in Buena Vista and Laurier Park areas but also in other parts of the City being in arrears; however, very few have a stamp indicating that they had been/or were to be sold.

I examined Tax Rolls for select years beginning in 1907 and this proved fascinating. All of the noted property developers are there (many of whose names are immortalized in City features including roads, parks and subdivisions) can be seen to own property all over the City. Martin Runnalls from 1911 owns a lot of property not only in River Lot 2 but also in other areas of the City as does the company he created with partners, the Riverview Land Company. The year 1921 is fascinating because of the number of property owners who are in arrears; the status column noting arrears is literally bleeding red. Both Runnalls personally and Riverview Land Company are in arrears in many properties; however, they have not as yet forfeited their properties for non-payment of taxes. Many individual landowners had. The City was in major debt and this faced the new Commissioner for Public Works, C. J. Yorath who was hired in 1921. He had held the same position in Saskatoon from 1913 and had got them out of debt as well as developing the new City Plan based on Garden City models. The Tax Rolls get easier to review once they are set out according to subdivisions/neighbourhoods. Buena Vista had quite a number of residents indicating that Runnalls and the Riverview Land Company had succeeded in selling lots and houses had been built.

From the 1907 Tax Roll onward, it can be seen that as new immigrant groups arrived in the province, they purchased land. This includes not just people from the UK and the US but also Ukrainians and Germans. A number of properties are also owned by women. In Buena Vista, there are about 34 property holders listed in the Tax Rolls including lots 8 to 14 owned by W. L. Wilkin and his wife Hilda Wilkin.

The recession prior to the First World War continued through the war-time years when government funding was focused on the war front, through the 1920s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and, then into the Second World War. Surprisingly, during these difficult times, the City of Edmonton and province of Alberta did not lose their interest in beautiful communities. In 1928, the Town Planning and Preservation of Natural Beauty Act was passed by the Government of Alberta. While the “natural beauty” in the title suggests that some of Frederick Todd’s tenets are embedded in it, this is not the case. The legislation enabled municipalities to formulate and carry out planning schemes and is as dry-as-dust.

City records in the Archives indicate that just before the Dirty Thirties, Edmonton officials were much preoccupied with town planning as they prepared to host the Town Planning Institute of Canada Convention. The 1930s brought an end to most planning activity in Canada and the Institute was disbanded in 1932 and not revived until some 20 years later. The List of City Parks 1931 is an important document because it shows the progress that the City has made since 1907 when Todd promoted the designation of parks sites. Two land acquisitions in the document are of particular interest because they pertain to the area of the “westerly park”:

Quesnell Heights

All that portion of N.W.1/4 of Section 23-53-25 W. 4th, 107 Acres, excepting thereout the areable land, 51.2 Acres more or less. Date Acquired: 1918. Purchase Price: no price listed (could this be a property forfeited for non-payment of taxes). Land Assessment: $3,250.00. Area: 55.8 Acres.

Laurier Park

Pt. of the N.1/2 Section 24 & W. ½ of S.W. ½ of Section 25-52-25 W. 4th. Date Acquired: 1906. Purchase Price: $25,625.00. Land Assessment $20,500.00. Area: 205.0 Acres.

This document also refers to a significant land donation in Groat Estates/Glenora; the wording is as follows: “Donated by Jas. Carruthers in consideration of Bridge over the Ravine being built forty feet wide. The Title is subject to a Caveat filed by Jas. Carruthers.” This would set a precedent for donations of land for park purposes. Carruthers was a Montreal grain merchant and entrepreneur who, in 1905, purchased the Groat homestead from other real estate promoters. His plan was to build a subdivision for individuals who could afford to spend at least $3,500 on a residence; this subdivision became Old Glenora. Carruthers faced the difficulty of getting over the Groat Ravine; as a result of some wheeling and dealing with the City, in 1909, he committed to build a 20-foot wide bridge in exchange for a municipal street car route on 102 Avenue into his subdivision. After further negotiations, Carruthers committed to building a 40-foot wide bridge and donated two parcels of parkland in the adjacent Westmount area in exchange for the City paying the additional bridge building costs. The bridge was built in 1910; however, because of the recession that followed shortly after in 1913, his grand vision was truncated but the city retained the donated property. Eventually, Westmount would be developed as a suburb for young professionals.11 The Edmonton Historical Board entry on the suburb notes:

Thought to be named after the suburb of Montréal, the community of Westmount is bounded by Groat Road, 111 Avenue, 121 Street, and Stony Plain Road. It also includes the Groat Estate area south of Stony Plain Road between Groat Road and 124 Street. A large portion of homes in this neighbourhood were built in the land boom of 1912. Apartments make up about half the living space, but only appeared relatively recently in the 1960s and 1970s along major traffic routes.

A key piece of legislation was passed in 1933 – the 1933 Zoning Bylaw that delineated 12 zoning districts that specified use and building type. It would appear that the City was prepared for orderly development but this would have to wait until the late 1940s.

A rebound in property values and development required the coming in of the Leduc and Redwater oil fields in 1947 and 1948, respectively. This began a boom that would last until about 1980. In this period, the City of Edmonton grew dramatically and infrastructure to support the growth was built. This was the era of the Modern Style epitomized by the architectural firm of Rule, Wynn and Rule. With respect to development in the west end, the realty firm established by L. T. (Timothy) Milton came to the fore. Melton came to Edmonton in 1918 from Winnipeg and learned the business in the offices of Allan, Killam, McKay and Greene where he worked until 1922. The next year, he opened the Stanley Investment Company named for his son, and, in 1932, the company changed its name to L. T. Melton Realty. A 1945 ad in the Journal of May 17, 1945 advertises a subdivision as follows: “River Frontage and Capital Hill South 138 St. and 90th Ave. Acre lots $40 cash, balance $25 per month give you title in 10 months. West End Acreage ‘in a growing city is the best investment on earth’.” The West End Office is located at 14921 Stony Plain Road.

In 1947, his son Stanley, on returning from fighting in the Second World War, took over the firm and filed a subdivision plan for Capital Hill South (N.E.1/4 & N.W. ¼ Sec. 25 – Tp. 52, Rg. 25, M 4). It shows a strip of land, named Melton Hill, above what is now the Valley Zoo. This indicates Melton’s interest in the development of the West End communities running across the brow of the north bank of the North Saskatchewan River (Capital Hill, Valleyview, Crestwood, Parkview and Laurier Heights). The company website notes: “Development of the Laurier Heights subdivision residential neighbourhood in west Edmonton begun postwar with approximately six out of every ten residences (58%) being built between 1946 and 1960, and approximately four in ten residences being built between 1961 and 1970.” By 1953 there were 16 Melton branch offices in Edmonton.

The Wilkin and Co. realty and insurance firm was tiny in comparison to the Melton and Weber Bros. firms but, according to Richard Wilkin, his grandfather likely acquired the riverside lands in the Buena Vista subdivision around 1945. That was the year that he purchased land on Connaught Drive to build a home for himself and wife Hilda. The firm, which in the 1950s was run by Wilkin’s son Bill (Richard’s Father) had its offices on the ground floor of the Buena Vista Building on 124th Street and 103 Avenue. When Dennis Yorath, Wilkin’s son-in-law was transferred from Calgary to Edmonton to head Northwestern Utilities, he required a home for wife Bette and daughters Gillian and Jocelyn. Whether Wilkin senior donated the land or sold it to Dennis is unknown; Richard says either option is possible since his Grandfather was a shrewd businessman and his Uncle would have had some type of housing allowance from the company.

There is no question that the house that Dennis and Bette built in 1949 was intended to make a statement: he was part of the elite of Edmonton/Alberta businessmen intending to lead the province into its second half century. The couple chose the architectural firm of Wynn & Rule to design a two-storey home. The house, which was 4,380 square feet, was built near the river edge on a 12-acre lot. The building remains a symbol of design and architecture of the period known as the Modern Style. The house was distant from other subdivisions with few amenities nearby. It seems that Dennis as head of Northwestern Utilities was able to get power there, gas came later as did water (until at least 1959 they used well water). The house had to be reached via 81 Avenue because Buena Vista Road did not exist.

The few houses nearby in what would have been the Buena Vista subdivision were, according to Richard, small cottages or even shacks. Agricultural activities were still taking place in the area and there was a gravel pit in what is now the car park near the house. For a time, there was even a mink farm. Dennis donated a fieldstone chimney, what was left of the original Stephenson log home to the City. A letter in the City Archives dated October 22nd, 1949, thanks him for the gift and notes: “The fireplace is to be rebuilt, according to current plans, at some suitable location and when this is done the descriptive placard to be attached will make note of your thoughtful donation…. As you know, the fireplace was the oldest relic of early Edmonton still in existence. Without your permission for removal, it would have been lost forever.” The City would later inform him that the fireplace could not be rebuilt. There are, however, some fieldstone pillars at the entrance of the property and the family built a cairn near the embankment to honour the Wilkins. The building of the Yorath home would mark a shift in the City’s planning with respect to River lands.

Rebirth of the Garden City

Yorath family flower garden ca. 1980s by Marlena Wyman – water soluble wax crayon on Mylar (based on a family photo of the garden).

The year 1950 saw the City repeal the 1933 Zoning Bylaw on the grounds that it was outdated and passed the Interim Development Bylaw No. 1. This enabled Council to make development decisions based on individual cases. An article in the Edmonton Journal of February 27, 1951 titled “New Subdivision Plan Authorized,” notes:

City council Monday night authorized the filing of a subdivision plan for residential development in Capital Hill south. To this was added a recommendation that the city exchange land it owns for privately owned lands in order to protect riverview land.

Commissioner Menzies estimated it would be at least two years before utilities were brought into the area. He also said there would be restrictions as to the type of residence which could be erected. Ald. Clarke had remarked that this was one of the good residential areas available in the city and asked for assurance there would be restrictions on the type of house constructed.

The upshot of Council deliberations was that further park development would occur in the Laurier Park area and that the City was prepared to use the “first right of refusal” to force property holders to sell to them. A further article in the Journal of April 4, 1957 titled “Buena Vista Park Plan Wins Committee Vote,” notes that the Finance Committee had recommended development of the Buena Vista lands around 142 Street to be developed as a park. There was, of course, opposition and residents who opposed the plan were represented at the Council meeting by Cameron Steer. He is quoted as follows:

Mr. Steer charged that “What the city really seems to be doing is freezing the home-owners’ capital until the city is good and ready to use the land for its own purposes.”

“The city is obligated to buy as soon as the home-owner is ready to sell.” Mayor Hawrelak answered. How is this any different from about 50 other situations in the city?”

“In this case the city doesn’t intend to do anything for years,” Mr. Steer said. He argued that residents moved into the area under the assumption it was residential land “and in June 1954, like a bolt out of the blue, the situation was changed.” That, he said, was when council decided definitely the land would be used for park purposes although as commissioner Menzies pointed out, it was zoned as park in 1933.

Prior to the interim development by-law in 1951, “the private owner could develop the land as a unit.” Mr. Steer said. “In 1951, that protection was taken away.”

The April 1958 Map of the City of Edmonton, according to the legend, shows transit routes, public and separate schools, hospitals and neighbourhoods as well as the City boundaries. It provides an aerial view of Laurier Park and the Buena Vista subdivision spanning 34 lots from 76th Avenue, which is closest to the River, to 8th Avenue, and from 138th Street, which borders on Laurier Park, to 130th Street. It also shows the layout for the Valleyview and Laurier Heights subdivisions. The creation of Buena Vista Park is evident. The area dedicated to Buena Vista Park and Laurier Park comprises 110 hectares, while the residential neighbourhood comprises 132 hectares.

The 1951 tax rolls list the following owners of land in Buena Vista: Hilda R. Wilkin and W. L. Wilkin (owed A78, A79 and A80); City of Edmonton (gravel pit, A81, A82 and A86a); Edward B. Fisk; Margaret Smillie (New York); Arthur S. Cummings; Arthur S. Cummings (Winnipeg); Andrew & Muriel Lucas; Robert F. & Audrey G. Aitchison; Philip Gabel; Frederick M. Wilson; J. Wilbert Wright; Estate of B. S. Muttart; Amy E. Sherman; Ella M. Muttart; Esther Ross Clindinin; Harley G. Nilson; Bertha M. Challis (Altadena, Calif., U.S.A.); City of Edmonton, A22 Lots 12 & 13; Evelyn M. Allen; Cecil B. Atkins; Chas. W. Hosford; Thomas & Mary V. Sinton; Cecil B. Atkins; D. G. Sandilands; Evelyn M. Allen; William A. Dreany; J. R. Washburn; William A. Dreany; Nolan O. Blaylock (owned multiple lots A37, A38, A39 and A40); Christie V. Blaylock; Winnifred Crawford; Charles A. H. Lawford; Florence E. Deltombe; Hollis D. Howard; Arthur S. Cummings; John Welling; Frank H. & Bessie C. Kenwood; Albert F. & May D. Oeming; Wolfred J. & Leona M. Law; Daniel J. & Eva Driscoll; Wilfred J. & Leona M. Law (they owned two lots A59 and A59b); Albert F. & May D. Oeming (owned A60 Lots 16 to 20); City of Edmonton (owns a series of lots A62, A63, A64, A66, A66a (old gravel pit); Alberta & Hattie Lewis; John F. & Winnifred Crawford; Albert & Hattie Lewis (owed A70 and A72); John W. & Winnifred Crawford (owed A72c and A72e); Charles Henry Smith (W. Finchley, London 3, England); Jessie A. Ohlsen; Earl Enger (owns A74 and A75); Merrill H. & Winnifred C. Baker; Maud L. Thomas (New York); Florence Southall; and George M. & Jean Bates (owned A77a and A77b).

There are a number of interesting observations: some of the owners did not live in Edmonton; a number owned multiple properties; and the City already owned property in the subdivision. Richard Wilkin and the Yorath sisters (Gillian and Elizabeth) remember a number of agricultural enterprises there including a stable (the family also kept two horses on the property), a berry farm and a mink farm. Gillian remembers when newly-licensed driving her car through the gravel pit and almost tipping the car over with her baby sister inside. Elizabeth remembers Al Oeming and his fierce cheetah, which he kept on the property. This was in the 1950s.

A section of the City of Edmonton Map, April 1958 showing Laurier Park and Buena Vista subdivision, City of Edmonton Archives.

City records in the Archives indicate that some of the property holders chose to enter litigation with the City to preserve their land. There was an immediate impact: after the introduction of the Interim Development Bylaw No. 1, no more building could occur in the area. Richard Wilkin says that his Father Bill had been intending to build a house on one of the lots 8 to 14 held by the Wilkin Co. but could not do so. As owners decided to leave for a variety of reasons, the City took possession of the land that became Buena Vista Park.

The City of Edmonton District Names Advisory Committee Minutes of June 27, 1956 approved the naming of what is described as a driveway: “This will be a view drive overlooking Laurier Park, the zoo area and the Saskatchewan River. Laurier Drive is suggested because of the subdivision and neighborhood unit name which is “Laurier Heights.” The new subdivision of Laurier Heights was bounded by 87 Avenue to the north (west of 142 Street), 149 Street and Highway 2 to the west (later Whitemud freeway), Buena Vista Park and the Edmonton Valley Zoo to the east, and the North Saskatchewan River valley to the south. It was marketed by real estate companies such as Melton as a neighbourhood for young families with means and a range of amenities were built including a school at 8210 – 142 Street and community League located at 14405 - 85 Avenue; the latter comprises a community hall, outdoor rink and tennis courts.

To add to the amenities of the upper-middle-class subdivision, on July 1, 1959 the City opened the Storyland Valley Zoo, which was built on Laurier Park lands.12 The Edmonton Zoological Society, in 1926, had established a zoo in East End Park, created by the City in 1906. The 140-acre park was renamed after a 1914-visit to the city from then PM Robert Borden. This paralleled the earlier naming of the “West End Park” in 1910 for PM Sir Wilfrid Laurier. In 1930, likely for economic reasons, the City took over the operations of the Zoo from the society that had established it.

Borden Park was a popular destination not only because of the zoo but also other amenities that included the City’s first swimming pools, a tearoom, and carnival features including a carousel, roller coaster and tunnel of love. By the 1950s, declining attendance and the need for the Edmonton Exhibition Society to expand its facilities and grounds had the City focused on relocating it and the Laurier Park site seemed ideal: the City was acquiring land to create Buena Vista Park and the new Laurier Heights neighbourhood was focused on attracting upper-middle-class families. Locating a zoo there focused on children seemed ideal. To build public interest, the Names Advisory Committee designed a public naming contest and, on September 3, 1957, Storyland Valley Zoo was chosen. By 1958, plans had been developed to have a five-acre children’s zoo, two lagoons, a bridge, and mini-railway and illustrations that featured storybook characters and animals. The miniature Allen Herschell 5-16 train became so popular that a second train, the Valley Zoo Express, was added in 1965.

As popular opinion turned against zoos and they became viewed as “prisons” for animals, the City embarked on change. The zoo introduced some “natural” habitats and focused on animals native to the region and conservation of wildlife was also promoted. To reflect this change, in 1975, the name was changed to Valley Zoo and the “storyland” element was dropped. The most recent major addition, which was announced in 1910, was a $43 million project resulting in new state-of-the-art facilities.

Adjacent to Yorath House in Buena Vista Park is the home of the Edmonton Rowing Club and the White Water Paddlers. A group of rowing enthusiasts, in 1972, created a rowing club and registered as a not-for-profit society. They initially stored their shells at the Mayfair Golf Club near the foot of Groat Bridge. This was not an ideal location because of the amount of debris that gathered there. The rowers moved their facility to Saunders Lake east of Leduc. Ultimately, the City of Edmonton gifted them land and they were able to build a permanent facility with the White Water Paddlers, who registered a society in 1973 to promote canoe and kayak paddling for recreation and competitive purposes. Both societies fundraised to build the facility.

Edmonton Voyageurs Canoe Club Annual Regatta, North Saskatchewan River, August 1947. City of Edmonton Archives EA-600-333d.

Parks development from the 1950s was largely ad hoc though the locations identified in 1912-1913 documents were surprisingly prescient. This was to change: the City strengthened its efforts to improve land use planning and control by passing the 1977 Planning Act. Efforts to reinforce park development continued and culminated in the City’s 1990 Ribbon of Green: North Saskatchewan River Valley and Ravine System Concept Plan. The introduction harkens back to Frederick Todd’s recommendations made in his 1907 report. Section C is devoted to “Whitemud, Buena Vista and West Central River Valley Area” and spells out the capital costs to accomplish proposed work that was pegged to cost over $30 million. The following projects were planned:

Whitemud Park to Laurier Park Pedestrian Bridge

Buena Vista Park to Wm. Hawrelak Park Pedestrian Bridge

Mayfair to MacKinnon Pedestrian Bridge

11.5 km main trail (West end of Ft. Edmonton Park to High Level Bridge

2 minor amenity nodes; Buena Vista Park improvements (road, parking and park improvements)

access trail development

Fort Edmonton access road relocation

Fort Edmonton facilities (hotel)

Valley Zoo infrastructure and

Muttart Conservatory/Grierson Hill.

A map in the plan indicates through green arrows the area where work would take place. These measures can all be described as intended to improve access and the visitor experience rather than protecting the sites.

The death of Bette Yorath in 1991 triggered the City’s acquisition of Yorath House from her estate in 1992. The cycle of development of a “westerly park,” which began in 1907 when the City acquired the Gibbons lands, was, thus, completed through the consolidation of the Laurier/Buena Vista park lands. In 2015, Yorath House was designated as a Municipal Historic Resource. In 2019, renovations were completed. Projected at about $2 million when the property was designated, costs rose to over $5.7 million because of difficulties encountered. The official opening took place on September 20, 2019. The restorations to the house, while maintaining the look of the original exterior, would not be as respectful of the interior. The house was gutted and few original architectural features were kept other than the huge fieldstone fireplace and brick and wooden detailing. Bringing it up to code became the imperative so that it could serve its new purpose: a multi-use facility for small gatherings. The integrity of its inherent heritage value was by-and-large ignored.

Wise Use

Part of the 51 acre site in the river valley that would lost to the proposed EPCOR solar farm - Marlena Wyman – ink and watercolour on paper (I painted this soon after the solar farm was first proposed).

Jane Jacobs in her 1961 book titled The Death and Life of Great American Cities attacked 1950s urban planning policy with its emphasis on slum clearance and the building of freeways in urban areas. She rejected large-scale urban development projects and insisted on preserving the integrity of old neighbourhoods because of their human scale. She was also an activist who used protests by ordinary citizens to challenge government policies and projects. She did this in her home neighbourhood of Greenwich Village in New York. After her family’s move to Toronto in 1968 to avoid her sons’ being drafted into the American military to fight in the Viet Nam War, she also championed Toronto neighbourhoods and opposed the building of the Spadina Expressway that would have seen the disappearance of swaths of historic neighbourhoods.

A fascinating National Film Board of Canada documentary titled “City Under Pressure,” directed by Theodore Conant in 1965, places Edmonton squarely in the debate between freeways and parkland.13 In 17 minutes, it captures Mayor William Hawrelak talking about development and making the point that once something is lost (by implication through slum clearance or under a paved roadway), the clock cannot be turned back. A number of un-named “talking heads” make their points; these include aldermanic and mayoral candidates, and civic officials and planners as well as engineers. Key players in the 1964 election, besides Hawrelak, were George Prudham, former Member of Parliament; and oilman Stanley A. Milner. Excerpts from several public hearings about urban development issues are also included. The documentary is described as follows: “A case study of municipal government and the influence of citizens acting as a group. The case study is that of Edmonton, but the problems shown are those of many cities: urban renewal, traffic congestion, zoning, etc.” It is interesting to see Edmontonians debating these important issues and to know that they did not go away and are still dividing the city and communities today.

Parks development in Edmonton, and other towns and cities in Alberta was given a huge push in the early 1970s when the Province provided funding for what was described as “provincial parks” in its two major cities. This resulted in the creation of Calgary’s Fish Creek Park and Edmonton’s Capital City Recreation Park. An initial agreement was struck between the City and Province in 1970; this defined limits to potential use of River Valley lands. In 1975, the Province made available to the City about $45 million for the reclaiming, protecting and developing the River Valley for recreational purposes. The initiative, in effect, created a “super park” that included Rundle, Gold Bar, Hermitage and Dawson parks in the East end of the City. In addition, with the support of the Province, the City conceptualized a “river valley trail system” and acquired lands to ensure that this would be continuous. A layer of accountability was added when the Province built into the agreement that the approval of the environment minister was required for any changes. While initially covering Hermitage to the High Level Bridge, the trail system grew to include areas to the West including the following parks: Victoria, Emily Murphy, Mayfair, Whitemud and Laurier. The firm of Roman Fodchuck and Associates took on the leadership role of guiding the development of the Capital City Park Project.14 The Park opened in 1978.

In its parks planning and development activities, the City was reflecting a major, worldwide increase in environmental awareness prompted by largely unchecked economic developments such as the James Bay hydroelectric project in Quebec/Labrador and oil sands development in the Fort McMurray area. The year 1971 was a banner year when both the federal government and Province of Alberta established departments of the environment and subsequently implemented environmental and social impact assessments.

In order to educate the public about parks and natural areas, in 1976, the John Janzen Nature Centre was established and, in 1985, passage of the River Valley Bylaw offered the River Valley parks, which now comprised over 18,000 acres, protection. This era of intense awareness of the River Valley culminated in the Ribbon of Green report, published in 1990. This was followed by establishment of the Natural Areas Policy in 1995, the Natural Systems Policy (C531) in 2007, and the Biodiversity Report in 2008. This intense activity culminated in 2011 with publication of The Way We Green, the City’s environmental master plan. The wording of the objectives hearkens back to the recommendations of Frederick Todd in 1907:

3.3 The City of Edmonton protects, preserves and enhances a system of conserved natural areas within a functioning and interconnected ecological network.

3.6 The City protects, preserves, and enhances its urban forests.

3.7 The City protects, preserves, and enhances the North Saskatchewan River Valley and Ravine System as Edmonton’s greatest natural asset.

Buena Vista and Laurier Parks owe their current configuration to these pieces of legislation and policies. When judged by the measure of public use, they are an enormous success. On a sunny winter day, the car parks are full and there is a crowd of dog walkers, and young families enjoying nature. This is particularly important at a time when the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020-22 prevents interior gatherings. However, a tipping point has been reached. While the Hawrelak Park Footbridge study indicated that wildlife and natural areas had not been adversely impacted by park development, this is contradicted by the dog walkers and crowds as they swarm the area. The balance between natural areas and human use is difficult to maintain and the good fight needs to be continually fought.

This became evident beginning in the 1960s as development of the west-end neighbourhoods gained momentum. The City developed the Metropolitan Freeway System plan that at its heart saw the river valley and ravines as possible conduits to the downtown. Fortunately, citizen action emerged. The first successful protest prevented the Mill Creek Ravine from becoming a freeway. Next, the MacKinnon Ravine became a target. Trees were cut, a roadbed laid and storm sewers installed before opponents such as artist Margaret Chappelle, whose home backed on to the end of the ravine at about 149 Street and Stony Plain Road, succeeded in having City Council re-consider its decision. In 1974, a narrow vote halted construction and, as Mayor Ivor Dent noted, “If you’ve gone partway down the incorrect path, that’s regrettable – but not as regrettable as going all the way down the incorrect path.”15 The stopping of the MacKinnon Ravine freeway served as a “wake up call” for not only citizens but also councillors and civic staff.

The City of Edmonton’s River Valley protection plan is at a crossroads in 2022. Many jurisdictions are turning to solar power as more environmentally sensitive than hydrocarbons. In 2017, EPCOR presented the City with a proposal to build a solar power plant next to the E. L. Smith water treatment plant in the west end. This was in response to a requirement set by the City for the company to convert 10 percent of its power consumption to locally produced renewable resources. While on the surface this seems admirable, all that glitters is not gold. The proposal required rezoning of 99 acres of River Valley parkland near Big Island/Woodbend Urban Provincial Park for industrial use. The whole concept is a violation of over 50 years of environmental planning and implementation. The building of the plant would require not only the cutting of trees and enclosure of the whole area by a fence but also the installation of 45,000 ground-mounted solar panels.

How City Council could have approved this with even a narrow margin flies in the face of all of its environmental and parks plans that focus on protecting natural areas including sensitive habitats and ecosystems. Just as the Mill Creek and MacKinnon Ravine freeway projects were halted as a result of citizen activism, there is currently an initiative to block the solar farm mounted by several groups including the Edmonton and Area Land Trust and the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition Society. They noted that the project would have a negative impact on the human use and environmental health of the area.

The Yorath House Art Residency has made abundantly clear to me, and my fellow artist Marlena Wyman, that we must continue to learn from the past to preserve the best of the natural and built environment. I believe that my poetry for many years has been written in the spirit of the recommendations of Frederick Todd and others like him.

For me, Edmonton needs to remain a garden city whatever the economic growth and development proponents would say to the contrary. Working in the Yorath House studio has re-energized me and reinforced my love of nature and the desire, as Grant MacEwan termed it, to leave the vineyard a better place. I began walking in this area as a young wife and mother, beginning in 1981 and, now, for many years as a grandmother. I want those who come after me not only in my family but also my community and the City of Edmonton to enjoy this privilege.

February 10, 2022

I am woken up in the middle of the night with the lines of a poem emerging into my consciousness. I write it down immediately after I arrive at Yorath House. I then add other poems that I have previously written that are in keeping with the sentiments expressed in it.

Buena Vista

Sitting at river’s edge In a silent house I am focused on dualities again – What to let go, And what to keep.

Over 100 years ago A landscape architect admired The broad sweep of the North Saskatchewan River Valley – The high escarpments And the beautiful view they afforded Of water, trees and sky.

I am thankful That through the process of city building That we have not lost this beauty. Every generation must fight for it So that useful things Such as power plants, water treatment facilities And solar farms are not built On this sacred land That has defied development So that it can continue To please the eye And gladden the heart.

Powers

How can one encompass all that Earth is – In words? Like trying to cram the myriad grains of sand into an hourglass, The ebb and flow of tides into power-generating turbines, The Earth’s inner fires into furnaces, And the turbulent winds into mere drivers for electric machines.

Subservience to our will, a litany of uses. These do not explain the mystery at the heart of Nature, The raw power and energy-defying imaginings. Is it any wonder that past civilizations invented deities, To represent these primal forces, Making them powerful, and capricious.

Satellite images allow us To observe the birth of hurricanes – Winds mass into a whirling vortex, The eye of the storm the still point, In that uncontrolled fury, Soon to be unleashed on vulnerable human habitations.

No matter how many roads we tarmac, Power lines we erect to straddle continents, Streams, brooks and mighty rivers channeled, Meadows and hills saddled with houses, And space, that last frontier, become a mighty communications medium, It will never be just man’s world.

Canticle of Hope

Oh, we are such stuff that dreams are made of. . . . William Shakespeare

I dream a better world Where people love rather than fight Care for the environment Plant trees rather than cutting them down Use the Earth’s resources wisely Elect good leaders Avoid the easy way out Celebrate small things View each day as a gift Make time to reflect on the beauty of nature Pray in a church, a street, field or mountaintop Experience pain when an unknown child dies in sectarian violence Challenge injustice March to support a good cause Share their lives with others Gather with others of goodwill Reject acquisitiveness and notions of more being better Practice charity through small acts of kindness Learn a new thing each day Say thank you often Retain the idealism of youth in old age Learn from the past Use optimism as a tool for change Reject those who say a thing cannot be done Affirm life Work only at occupations that improve the human condition Celebrate the achievements of others Preserve what is good from the past Envision change to improve our common lot Give and receive love and affection Ensure that all people enjoy fundamental freedoms Put individual needs below common needs Share the pain of others Demonstrate compassion Provide assistance to the needy Keep governments honest Run for public office Reject creeds that divide and set one person above another Support the arts that grow the spirit Live in the present since today is the only day that we may have Build today for 100 years from now Use technology as a tool rather than as an end Leave no opportunity to do good unfulfilled Live life fully Dare to dream a better world.

The Peaceable Kingdom

Unthinkable to give up on Earth, In a post-industrial period, The record of the past 200 years, One of plunder of riches, For short term gain. How to change the inbred attitude That all exists for our use, That resources are inexhaustible, And there for the taking.

The evidence is present— In books and other documentary sources, But also before our eyes, As we walk the streets of populous cities, Once fields and forests, See the pollution from other parts of the world, As it precipitates out of the sky in acid rain, or other blight, And washes up on our beaches As red tides or decaying corpses of sea creatures.

Is Earth dying, As writers have predicted, In science fiction chronicles Of the past 100 years, Killed either by human aggression, Resulting in a nuclear holocaust, Or by excessive use of soil, air and water, Resulting in an uninhabitable wasteland, And spurring a diaspora to other worlds.

So long as love of Earth remains a minority passion, There will be no change, No mid-ground brokered between jobs and preservation, And humankind will remain in conflict with Nature. Only the very young Loving Earth unreservedly, And the old, cultivating their gardens,In restful ease, At the twilight of their lives.

Thinking green thoughts, The task of all who wish not only Earth, But all living creatures to survive, Wise use become the rallying point On which all agree, Valuing not only the things of Nature, But also all human achievement. The lion lying down with the shepherd and lamb, In the Peaceable Kingdom.

_____________________________________________________

1 An account can be found in Michael Donnelly’s article “Gold Mining at Edmonton,” Alberta History, Spring 2017, vol 65, issue 2, URL: https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE|A491183689&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=10c64db3, retrieved January 14, 2022.

2 J. G. MacGregor, Edmonton: A History (Edmonton, AB: M. G. Hurtig Publishers, 1967), 67.

3 See Alberta Register of Historic Places entry for Gibbons’ home on 125 Street and 105 Avenue in the Groat Estate, URL: https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=2&ObjectID=HS%2014858; and Anon., “Pioneers Hold Golden Wedding,” Winnipeg Tribune, May 30, 1923, URL: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1118632/james-gibbons-story-about-his-life/, retrieved January 14, 2022.

4 Archives of Manitoba, HBC, Servants’ Contracts 1780 – ca. 1926, URL: https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/name_indexes/hbc_servants_contracts.html, retrieved February 10, 2022.

5 Samuel Hardman Smith was British-born and set up the Western Realty Company Ltd. He wrote a “biographical sketch” of Stephenson/Stevenson, which is in the City of Edmonton Archives. In the sketch, he confirms the purchase of some of his land and notes: “Some years later, the writer being at Miners’ Flats and wanting some fresh eggs went to a log house built on the bank of the river, got into a conversation with the inhabitants of the house, finally asking their name was told Stevenson. This man was the grandson of English Charlie who had come out from New York and was remaining on the portion of the old claim that was still in the name of Charles Stevenson.”

6 See John Gilpin, Responsible Enterprise: A History of Edmonton Real Estate and the Edmonton Real Estate Board (Edmonton, AB: Edmonton Real Estate Board, 1997), 16.

7 Anon., “City Council: Three Important Propositions Attended to at Last Night’s Meeting,” in The Edmonton Bulletin, November 15, 1906.

8 See ERVVC, “A Brief History of Edmonton’s River Valley and Ravine Park System: Early History,” Edmonton River Valley Coalition, URL: https://www.ervcc.com/brief-history-of-nsr, retrieved February 10, 2022.

9 See Pádraig Ó Siadhail, “Hughes, Katherine (Catherine) Angelina, Dictionary of Canadian Biography online, URL: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hughes_katherine_angelina_15E.html, retrieved February 13, 2022; and Pádraig Ó Siadhail, “Katherine Hughes, Irish political activist,” in Edmonton: the life of a city, Bob Hesketh and Frances Swyripa, eds. (Edmonton, AB, NeWest Publishers, 1995), 78–87. Hughes was also likely responsible for the addition of carved masks of four Chiefs wearing headdresses in the rotunda of the Leg. See Cole Hawkins, “Tokens of Remembrance: Indigenous Faces in Edmonton’s Beaux Arts Architecture, 1907-1930,” September 21, 2021, URL: https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2021/09/21/tokens-of-remembrance-indigenous-faces-in-edmontons-beaux-arts-architecture-1907-1930/, retrieved February 21, 2022.

10 In 1916, Runnalls was advertising land for sale in Wainwright in the Bulletin. The stock market crash in October 1929 signalled the start of the Great Depression and the City of Edmonton foreclosed on the Buena Vista Apartments for non-payment of taxes in 1930. Credit Foncier, holder of the mortgage, paid out the $5,656.77 owing in taxes and assumed the title, which it retained until the 1980s.

11 See Edmonton Historical Board, “Westmount,” URL: https://www.edmontonsarchitecturalheritage.ca/index.cfm/neighbourhoods/westmount/, retrieved February 10, 2022.

12 For various documents relating to the Valley Zoo, the City of Edmonton Archives has materials in its fonds relating to parks and recreation, facilities, Valley Zoo. URL: https://cityarchives.edmonton.ca/valley-zoo, retrieved February 12, 2022.

13 See National Film Board of Canada, City Under Pressure, URL: https://www.nfb.ca/film/city-under-pressure/, retrieved February 17, 2022.

14 See Nancy Ellwand and Roman Fodchuck, “Edmonton Restores Its River Valley: A Capital Case for Reclamation,” Landscape Architecture Magazine, vol. 69, No. 3 (May 1979), 279-290.

15 See ERVVC, “A Brief History of Edmonton’s River Valley and Ravine Park System: Early History,” Edmonton River Valley Coalition, URL: https://www.ervcc.com/brief-history-of-nsr, retrieved February 13, 2022.

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