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This cache is one of the 8 oldest active virtual caches in Calgary. |
Cowboys and the Stampede
What makes Calgary a cowtown? Well, cows of course, or more specifically their keepers, the cowboys. Their unwritten code of neighbourliness, loyalty, independence, and uncomplaining persistence became a part of the Calgary's code very early in its history. After the buffalo and First Nations peoples had been largely removed from the landscape, the prairies were wide open to entrepreneurs who could fill it up with cattle. There were no fences, no farms, no limits.
The early missionaries, settlers, and even the NWMP, brought cattle with them in the mid 1870s. Thousands of cattle and horses were driven up from the United States in the late 1800s. These animals were handled by working cowboys, doing everything flawlessly from the back of a horse. The cattle roundups became a big social occasion for cowboys, allowing them to show off and compete with their "working skills" and a few fancier tricks too!
Spunky Calgary decided to impress the East and the rest of the World by hosting the Calgary Dominion Exhibition in 1908. It was advertised: "Visit Alberta before the Golden Opportunities, Picturesque Riders, and Indians are Gone" (a motto which thankfully seems to have been unnecessarily pessimistic!). There was a parade, horse racing, rodeo events, brass bands and fireworks. The real "Stampede" began in 1912 with the investment of $25,000 each by the Big Four - four prominent Calgary businessmen (Pat Burns, A.E. Cross, George Lane, and Archie McLean). They were convinced by Guy Weadick, an American trick rider and shameless self-promoter, to put the event together. They put on another show in 1923, and it finally became an annual event in 1932.
It was the Stampede of 1923 which seems to have begun a large number of the lasting Stampede traditions. Guy Weadick encouraged downtown businesses to decorate like the "Old West", horses were ridden into restaurants, western dress became required for everyone in town whether or not they'd ever seen a real cow, and the official chuckwagon races began. It is rumoured that Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, early Calgary con man and sometime Calgary Herald correspondant, organized the playful kidnapping of then Mayor George Webster. A group of Blackfoot and Sarcee made the mayor cook pancakes and sing cowboy songs on a downtown street - a tradition continued today by any vote-hungry official in town - Yahoooooo!
Objective
Your mission in exploring this theme of Calgary history is to obtain information from the following three locations.
- Park at the above coordinates (access from Macleod Trail and 25th Avenue, turn right after the LRT tracks to Reader Rock Gardens). Please note that this "park" is closed from 11pm to 5am. Walk up to N51°01.728 W114°03.424 and pay your respects to this famous cowboy who was born a slave in South Carolina. He drifted west and then followed the cattle drives north into Canada, working at the Bar U and Quorn Ranches before homesteading. He was known by area natives as the "bad black white man", though he was known for his size, strength, skill, and humour. Find the number of days between his wife's death and his own.
- Carry on down to N51°01.694 W114°03.338 where one of the Big Four now rests with his family in the shade of 4 spruce trees. He came west as a veterinarian and assistant manager of a horse ranch, bought his own cattle ranch, and started a very lucrative brewery and hotel business. His wife was the first non-native child born in what is now southern Alberta. Her famous parents (James and Mary Macleod) are buried just up the hill beneath the only flag flown in Union Cemetery. Send me the year that Mr. "Big Four" came to Alberta.
- Proceed north towards the building on the Stampede grounds named after Patrick Burns, George Lane, A. E. Cross, and Archibald J. McLean, who were a group of businessmen integral to the history of the Calgary Stampede. This should also be about a 10 minute walk from Stage 2. Your target is point #3 N51°02.210 W114°03.455 where you will find a mural depicting a momentous scene from the rodeo during the 1912 Stampede. Feel free to read the information plaque for more details about this historic moment. Then send me the name found on the belt worn by one of the cowboys in the mural.
Click on the "Arkyquest/sapien" at the top to email us your answers to the above questions.
Do not post the answers to these questions in your cache log
even if it is encrypted!
(Don't spill the baked beans!)
Don't forget there is a bonus cache associated with the Calgary History Tour series. Check out GC53FE Calgary History Tour - Bonus Cache for more details.
