Farms, and Hay, and Dairy Oh My!

When white settlers began arriving in Alberta it was because Clifford Sifton, the Minister of the Interior from 1896-1905, led an aggressive immigration campaign to fill the prairies with European farmers.
"The best crop and pasture land in the world!" A poster in Holland pronounced.¹ Thousands of others were posted throughout England, Ireland, Holland and Eastern Europe announcing that Canada was a wide open space just waiting for someone to occupy it. ²
Of course the idea of the empty prairie was inherently false. Campaigns such as Sifton's blatantly ignore the Blackfoot, Cree and Dene (among others) who had long occupied the lands that you stand on now. Over the decades since the first Europeans had come to the prairies they had brought with them diseases and poor intentions. First the bison were eviscerated due to over hunting leaving people hungry; Then there was smallpox and other diseases which took too many lives to count. Next the North West Mounted Police came to exert control over Indigenous populations in an effort by the Canadian government to 'settle the west.' Despite Treaty Six, the Blackfoot, Cree and Dene peoples were repeatedly pushed aside from their lands.
Still yet, they remained resilient. To this day Treaty Six Indigenous peoples still live, work and celebrate their languages and traditions on this land. It is with respect and thoughtfulness that we continue, mindful of the complicated nature of this place and the complex relationships that continue on Treaty Six land.³

Withold Krause designed the flow line (machinery layout) inside the mill to give a flow of about 25 bushels of wheat an hour. The first floor, with solid 3 by 10 plank Douglas fir flooring, housed the tempering bin, the roller mills, and also the bagging chutes where the refined flour ultimately finished its journey. Bags of flour were stacked for sale or collection on the east side of the first floor. The entrance to the mill and the loading platform were on the south side facing the elevator. On the second floor were the scourer and the centrifugal cloth sifters. The third floor housed a holding bin for wheat, the cylinder where the wheat was washed, and the final sifter.²
Flour mills were best located near the grain elevators along train tracks. Wheat would be cleaned in the elevator before being sent to the mill. In the mill the grain would be put through rollers called 'breaks' and sifted at each phase. Flour was then bagged, weighed and distributed to dry goods shops and shipped to other Canadian cities.
As we walk through the history of agriculture in Leduc, think about the products that you use everyday that might come from these processes.

You may know Leduc as an oil town, but prior to the discovery of oil in 1942 Leduc, and most of Alberta, was known for agriculture. In fact, by 1931 one in every three Canadians lived on a farm!² Beginning in the early 1900s, the Canadian government with the Canadian Pacific Railway(CPR) crafted a number of advertising campaigns to entice Europeans to immigrate to the prairies to farm. Posters featuring images of open beautiful farmland, women watching their smiling husbands harvest wheat, and phrases such as "The Last Best West" in bold print dawned many shop windows throughout Europe. ³
The reality, however, was less idyllic than the promise of perfect soil and endless acres would have you believe. Settlers toiled in the sun and snow trying to make the new life promised to them in deceptive campaigns about the endless riches of prairie life.

In this our…first year naturally we had not been able to get a crop in, coming too late, but we…had been busy all summer preparing it for the spring of 1904; breaking and cultivating this virgin land. ⁴

And it could be lonely and isolating too. Not only was the work hard but people had left their families and homes to come to places like Leduc to farm. It was often especially hard on wives whose husbands made the decision to move them to an unfamiliar place.

Oh my friend when one leaves the bright lights, the theatres, the beautiful parks, the wonderful shopping places, and the wonderful churches with their good choirs, grand pipe organs, and famous minister of the Gospel, all to settle down on a farm out where the coyotes yell and the rack rabbits run, and the caw of the crows can be heard, you must surely know that there is some contrast. ⁵

If the land before you could speak I'm sure it would have hundreds of tales to tell. Tales of being tilled and planted, stolen and returned, portioned and divided; but most of all it would tell you that all of those things are what makes space into a place that eventually is called home.

The story of water can take many forms. When we talk about lakes we can speak to geography and tell the story of glacial movement carving out hollows that then filled with water. We can talk about settlement and how Robert Taylor Telford settled on the banks of this lake in 1889 which spread to become the city of Leduc. In many Indigenous creation stories water is the original state out of which other things are created.¹
For early settlers in the region water was something at the forefront of people's minds. When a building caught fire water was needed to extinguish it. Too little moisture from the sky meant less crop yield and a tough year. Wetlands meant an abundance of beaver and moose for pelts that could be traded and sold.
Drought has plagued the prairies for as long as farmers have tilled the soil. Data suggests that over forty droughts have plagued Alberta in the last two centuries!² But perhaps one of the most famous drought is that of the 1930s or the 'dirty thirties' as they are often called. The Western Farm Leader wrote in July of 1936:

When our last issue went to press there was promise of at least an average crop over the greater part of the Province. Today the situation is most seriously changed. Drought accompanied by intense heat and drying winds has taken heavy toll of the growing crops. In the worst districts it is already certain that little grain will be threshed…Deterioration is proceeding at a rapid pace, and every rainless day increases the seriousness of its effects. ³

Water could make or break a farming economy. Drought meant little harvest and without the harvest animals were not easily fed and flour was more scarce. As you look out onto Telford Lake think about the effect water has and the power it holds for our agricultural systems.

Early agriculture based economies like Leduc's operated on many labor understandings that may be foreign to us today. Farming was a family affair and each member had a particular weight to bear. Women, for example, were vital to a farm success. Women were expected to keep house, have and raise children to work on the farm, feed the family and take care of day to day tasks:

Living as we do on a farm, the size of our family varies. Probably four would be a fair average -- all adults. We have eight rooms. The only woman in the family, I do all the work. This includes washing, scrubbing, butter-making and house cleaning. It is always difficult and usually impossible to get a woman for even a few hours, and I depend upon my own efforts rather than attempt to find help. I buy bread only in an emergency; all other food is prepared at home. Among my household treasures are a washing machine, a bread mixer, a food chopper and a carpet sweeper -- and they are all indispensable. So far as possible I try to conform to this schedule: Monday, washing; Tuesday: ironing; Wednesday: baking; Thursday: sweeping upstairs; Friday: sweeping downstairs; Saturday: baking." ²

- Gertrude Stewart Hyde, 1909
Without the unpaid labour of women and children farming would not have been such a success. Though it was mostly men who worked in the fields it was women who brought them food throughout the long harvest days. The mills owned and run by men but the bread baked by a woman. It was not for some years after this market took place that white women would be allowed vote in Canada and still more years before women would be afford equal opportunities to men.

Early agriculture based economies like Leduc's operated on many labor understandings that may be foreign to us today. Farming was a family affair and each member had a particular weight to bear. Women, for example, were vital to a farm success. Women were expected to keep house, have and raise children to work on the farm, feed the family and take care of day to day tasks:

Living as we do on a farm, the size of our family varies. Probably four would be a fair average -- all adults. We have eight rooms. The only woman in the family, I do all the work. This includes washing, scrubbing, butter-making and house cleaning. It is always difficult and usually impossible to get a woman for even a few hours, and I depend upon my own efforts rather than attempt to find help. I buy bread only in an emergency; all other food is prepared at home. Among my household treasures are a washing machine, a bread mixer, a food chopper and a carpet sweeper -- and they are all indispensable. So far as possible I try to conform to this schedule: Monday, washing; Tuesday: ironing; Wednesday: baking; Thursday: sweeping upstairs; Friday: sweeping downstairs; Saturday: baking. ²

- Gertrude Stewart Hyde, 1909

Without the unpaid labour of women and children farming would not have been such a success. Though it was mostly men who worked in the fields it was women who brought them food throughout the long harvest days. The mills owned and run by men but the bread baked by a woman. It was not for some years after this market took place that white women would be allowed vote in Canada and still more years before women would be afford equal opportunities to men.

A few butchers have existed in Leduc over the town's early days. Herman Waskel and Edward Wolfe became business partners and opened the Central Meat Market together in 1933. The Central Meat Market drew folks from quite a distance famous for its smoked and cured meats.²
Even Leduc's famous photographer Harry Bamber dabbled in the art of the butcher. Though his love for photography was evident he saw no immediate future in the industry. When Harry was eighteen he left his family's farm and worked for Gallagher-Hull Meat Packing Company in Edmonton. It was while he worked as a butcher that he was able to continue honing his craft as a photographer and eventually open his own studio and photograph Leduc through his own eyes.³
While most residents of Leduc did not become a photographer after a visit to the butcher you would be hard-pressed to find one who did not benefit from a butcher's work.

While grocery stores may not immediately bring to mind agriculture these stores are one of the major distribution services for agricultural goods such as fruit, vegetables, meat, butter and cheese. Economies in early twentieth century Alberta were highly local due to the lack of refrigeration for transportation. Grocery stores sold mostly local products unlike today's grocery stores with an abundance of imported products.
Grocery stores also looked much different than they do today. Rather than browsing isles and shelving and filling a cart, customers would stand at the counter and ask the clerk to bring the desired goods to the counter from the back shelf. ¹

Buy your Milk and Cream from a firm that is in position to supply you, not only regularly, but with milk or quality that is beyond question, the best in Edmonton. We have the largest and best equipped Dairy, Creamery and Ice Cream Plant in the West. ¹

The dairy boasted only pasteurized products and consistent delivery with the best products including ice cream.
Creameries quickly became a building block of the community. Dairy was a popular farming choice because of its renewable nature.

For instance (for example), a settler arrives here [with enough resources] to [build] a small house on this 160-acre homestead..., with horses, a plough (a tool used to prepare soil for planting crops) and harrow [a tool for breaking up and smoothing out soil], and with enough of seed to plant a few acres. Then, if he has a wife, and $100 left, let him buy two cows; if more money... more cows — say five cows the first year. From these he will be able to make butter daily during five months, worth in our market 25 cents…. This will support himself and wife. The milk will also feed three calves and a couple of pigs. Now, it must be remembered that the care of these should not prevent him from cultivating [growing] a good garden and attending to a goodly (large) number of acres (hectares) of crops besides. And it must be also remembered... that no matter how favourable (pleasant) the season may be, the garden and the cultivated acres may be a failure, but neither hail-storm nor frost affect the returns (payments) from properly attended milk cows. [These activities will result in] cooperative dairy farming (when farmers work together and combine their resources), when the creamery (a place where dairy products like butter and cheese are made) will be established in the town. In this creamery, a... butter-maker... will produce from the best cream of Alberta the best creamery butter... in the world." ²

-- James Ruby November 17, 1888

It was premier Alexander Rutherford who spurred on the creamery initiative. Beginning in 1906 Rutherford started to invest much of his time into figuring out how to better support farming in the province. In 1906 Rutherford's efforts and investment led to an expansion of creameries in the province and increased Alberta's butter output by $100,000 in 1907. With new creameries popping up more dairy producers had better access to their distribution services benefiting Leduc and Alberta in general.³

It's not difficult to imagine the impacts that technology has had on the farming industry. When Leduc was in its early stages horses and wagons were the most effective form of getting goods from point A to B. During harvest time hay was threshed and tossed onto a wagon and hauled to a baler or barn for storage over the winter.
New decades brought advanced technology and motorized vehicles were becoming increasingly popular. Cars and tractors swept Leduc off its feet making labor intensive tasks quicker and easier. But the debate of horse-power vs motor-power was still alive and well:

Since the farm tractor has actually invaded a field of operations at one time held almost exclusively by horses, it might be well to inquire wherein horse power was deficient, that other power found an opportunity to establish itself. An examination of the development of the use of tractors in farming operations reveals this very gratifying and significant fact: That the tractor found a place because of the scarcity of horses, the lack of volume of horse power, not the lack of its quality. ¹

We now know that the tractor won out in the end. The convenience of machinery as advances continued to be made was undeniable. It's hard to imagine a contest between horse and tractor was ever the subject of headlines but the lure of change is often met with resistance and traditional ways of doing things do not always go easily.

One of the highlights of the Waldorf was its restaurant. Doc Aicher added the restaurant to the hotel when he purchased it in 1901. Mrs. Aicher took over the kitchen at the hotel and it became a sensation! Restaurants such as the Waldorf were important for the local farming economy, farmers, creameries and butchers would all have been sources for Mrs. Aicher's ingredients.
Cafes and restaurants were among the first located on main street. After 1923, provincial liquor regulations required that every hotel with a liquor license have an eating place…They had a direct utilitarian purpose in serving food to the many commercial travellers, to farmers and their families in town for the day, and to local people without cooking facilities.²
With a liquor license and local cuisine hot and ready, the Waldorf opened its doors daily to farmers, business owners, preachers, doctors and all other labourers to get their fill of Mrs. Aicher's renown cooking. And, at the end of the night, all would go home well-fed thanks to the efforts of farms all around Leduc.

The story of the United Farmer's of Alberta (or UFA) is also the story of women. The UFA was instrumental in bringing better social services to rural communities as well as creating the Alberta Farmers' Co-Operative Elevator Co. Women of the UFA eventually began a separate chapter called the United Farm Women of Alberta (UFWA) which became its own independent organization in 1916 so that they could focus on all of the farming women in the province who faced different issues than the men did.²
The UFWA members were instrumental in bringing women's issues to the forefront. Farm women fought that the same homestead privileges afforded to men should be afforded to women as well, and in 1919 the resolution was passed reading:

Whereas women are taxed for the support of the Government that same as men, therefore we feel that any natural resources that the Government has to put at the disposal of its citizens should be free to all, irrespective of sex, and we most respectfully ask that Homesteading privileges be extended to women on an equality with men. ³

Though the United Farm Women of Alberta made way for many women to experience equality on the prairies many were left behind and harmed by their philosophies as well. UFA and UFWA activities and activism was meant for those Canadians of European ancestry and discriminated based on race. Both organizations were strong supporters of the eugenics movement in Alberta that sought to sterilize those they deemed "undesirable" and prevent them from having children. These movements disproportionately affected Indigenous women and First Nations are still fighting ideas set up by the UFA and UFWA today.⁴

Prior to ownership by Ernest Lake Sr. the restaurant building was Leduc's Immigration Hall. Though the exact build date is unknown, it is likely that this site was a temporary home for new immigrants for around five years. In the early 1900s Leduc saw the largest number of German immigrants in the prairie provinces. German, Dutch, and Scandinavian people had been considered by the Canadian government to be the most desirable immigrants for farming.² Minister of the Interior Clifford Sifton was known to have said:

I think a stalwart peasant in a sheep-skin coat, born on the soil whose forefathers have been farmers for ten generations, with a stout wife and a half dozen children is good quality, I am indifferent as to whether or not he is British born. ³

But the prairie immigrant's life was a hard one. Many were deceived into living on rough land that took years of work to make profitable. Others found themselves at immigration halls with no idea where to go next and not able to speak English. Settler Gertrude Watt once said:

I no longer utter mental protest against the prairie as a final resting place. Our western life is too real, too vital to waste time in gloomy speculation. It is enough that you are alive and can take your chances in the great future that lies just at hand. ⁴

Scarcely did early agricultural immigrants have time to consider their dire circumstances, but simply live and work and remain alive.

The hay haul and product of hay is often an overseen one by the general public. Perhaps it's because we don't use hay in our day to day lives. We don't buy it at the grocery store or serve it for dinner. Odds are though, if you drink milk or eat meat on a regular basis hay is actually a very important part of your diet by proxy.
But what is hay other than a large round bale that feeds cows or horses? Hay is a crop, often alfalfa, that is harvested and dried in the sun before being collected and stored to feed animals throughout the winter and when there is no pasture for them.²
In the early days of Leduc harvesting was done by machinery pulled by horses or powered by steam. Tractors only made an appearance after 1905 and even then not all farmers could afford power machinery.³

I know that the average farmer lets the hay stand too long before he cuts it. If you want tht ebay that is going to be the primest kind of food for a dairy cow or a horse or a sheep, cut it a few days before you think it is ready. I know what you think it should be like when it is ready, and I do not quite agree with you…Cut you clover before you see a dead head and cut you timothy when it is in blossom…We think because a certain quantity of hay weighs 50 pounds that, therefore, we have 50 pounds of feed value. If that hay had been cut when it was only 45 pounds we would have 10 or 15 more pounds of food value. ⁴

After harvest a drying hay would be stored in barns or baled and stored (for better stacking and drying). Farmers continued to test different crops and methods to make the best feed for their livestock at the best prices possible.

Seed has not only to be cleaned but tested for germination. Goo crops do not come from bad seed, it is empasized. The horses' feet have to be fixed and the diet fortified for the heavy work ahead. Emphasis is placed on all these things, which are a commonplace to the farmer, because so much depends on the coming season's crops in Canada. The world's production of cereals and other foods is still lagging behind its requirements, and Canada is one of the surplus production countries to which the eyes of the world are turned. ⁴

As farmers saw their crops improve, seed cleaning plants became busier:

"Seed Cleaning Plant…is now operating twenty-four hours a day. The manager reports that 1,500 bushels of grain are being cleaned to a Seed Grade Standard daily. Every kernel of oats we can clean will be used for seed." ⁵

Today technology has advanced to a point that seed cleaning is an integral part of farming life. While it once might have been a luxury or controversial to clean seeds, it has become necessary and expected.

The livery stable may seem something of an antiquated notion today. We no longer have a practical need for horse and buggy transportation. A modern comparison that might be useful, however, is a car rental business; companies purchase vehicles and store them on lots so that people who are traveling without their vehicle or need a truck temporarily can access that transportation.
Instead of cars, livery stables kept livestock and wagons providing a necessary service to small communities like Leduc. In 1911 Leduc was home to three livery stables exhibiting the need for such a business in a growing community.²
Advertisements often illustrated the fanciness of their wagons and carriages or the quality of the horses:

"Phone No. 32 for light livery -- Stylish horses and nobby rigs. Feed Stables in Connection. Give us a trial." ³

Livery stables also served as a place to board animals, especially in the cold winter months. If a farmer came on her monthly trip into town for supplies only to find that there was a thunderstorm headed her way, she might pay the livery to keep her horse for the day while grabbing dinner at the Waldorf hotel.⁴

Grain elevators were and still are a treasured piece of prairie architecture. When elevators began to be popular they were some of the tallest structures on the prairies. While many cities have iconic skylines, few places can claim such a magnificent skyline like that of the prairie grain elevators. The first elevator in Alberta was built in 1895 in Strathcona and the last in 1985. For nearly a century the grain elevator gave farmers the opportunity to store their grain for shipment by training, creating a greater shelf-life for grain.
The elevator that used to stand here was part of a larger operation in Leduc and Alberta. The Krause company owned elevators and mills in both Radway and Leduc as well as a creamery or two. This conglomeration goes to show how each farm goods entity is dependent on another. If one runs a mill, why not have an elevator nearby? And if one one has delivery transportation for grain goods why not expand into dairy goods and have the creamery too?

"[People] who came to prairie Canada to claim homesteads to support their families. Many succeeded, others were thwarted…Prairie Canada was crafted as a colony of the British Empire, and hopes were high for its destiny as the brightest agricultural jewel in the imperial diadem… [they] were to transplant and cultivate not only the crops that would make the prairies the breadbasket of the Empire: here was a "sparsely-peopled or savage-haunted" place where they could plant, grow and prune a "dominating race." ²

Those who settled and farmed around Leduc worked hard, each story is different and significant. The broader implications of the settler agriculture story should not be lost in the details of grain elevators and creameries but help us to build a bigger picture about the prairies and who has called this place home for thousands of years, decades, dozens or just a couple of days. Each of us owes it to the larger story to try to understand and respect each narrative that we hear about this place and those important to it.