1
Maps of the trickle then flood, of homesteaders, job seekers, and businessmen in and near Olds.2
Trails and Stopping Houses, Calgary and Edmonton Railway.1885
South Central NWT Canada
3
The Survey Crew along the Calgary and Edmonton Railway.1883
NWT. Canada
4
The system of surveying this vast land for settlement was an English System. The system worked with the earths meridians. The 6th siding (Olds) was west of the 5th meridian. Townships were numbered from 1 at the USA border. The 6th siding (Olds) Olds district was 32, 33, and 34 townships. The ranges are numbered starting with 1 west of the meridian. Then each quarter section (160 acres) was identified by compass points.We will have land descriptions and homestead maps through out this exhibit.
Homestead Map by Jeffery Kearney.
5
Mystery surrounds the 1885 patent applications.1885
6th Siding (Olds) NWT Canada
6
The continuing mystery in the 1885 patent applications.1885
6th Siding (Olds) NWT Canada
7
Early Homestead Records in the Olds District.1885
6th Siding (Olds) NWT Canada
8
Homestead Applications from 1885 to 1892.1892
6th Siding (Olds) NWT Canada
9
Homestead Map up to 1896.1896
Olds NWT Canada
10
Some of the 100 families that came in this year had a lasting influence on the town and district of Olds.A large group was affectionately known as the New Braska colony.
According to the History of Olds, the following is the story of this migration.
The following is part of a letter published in the Farmers Advocate of March 20th 1893:
“ Having made a tour of the NWT, and while thanking you for courtesies to us, we desire to say that in the respective parts of the country we lived in, we have never seen such fine crops as we saw harvested in NWT (Alberta) during the last season. The Edmonton country is especially fine, but ourselves and friends prefer the part of the country between Calgary and Edmonton, about 58 miles north of Calgary, at Olds Station, where so many from our country are settling, The soil is rich black vegetable mould, and crops were enormous all along the road. Some farmers were complaining because oats were only yielding 65 bushels to the acre, wheat 25 bushels of no 1. The grass is excellent and cures on the ground.
We visited the farms of Murray and Batho, and Mitchell-Innes Bros., four miles from Olds station, and found their cattle rolling far, and were assured that the stock had never been fed hay.
From our city of Schuyler alone, our townsmen have entered and purchased 11,000 acres all in the vicinity of Olds station. There is plenty of land, of excellent quality to be entered or purchased.
Our party was composed of persons who helped to settle the state of Nebraska in 1869, and they do not consider they had one-half the advantages offered them as your country affords.
Coal and wood are abundant everywhere, while Nebraska is entirely destitute of both.”
“90 people and 20 settler cars arrived April 7 1893 to bright sunshine and 4 feet of snow the late Jack Smith remembered.”
We will hear more about the Samis family, Shackelton, Cloakley and Moore’s that all arrived in these early years, homesteaded, then started businesses in the town of Olds in later years.
11
In just 15 years, this spot on the virgin prairie became a vibrant centre of farming and lumbering1900
Olds NWT Canada
12
New Homesteaders filed on land west from 1901 to 1912.1913
Olds, Alberta, Canada
 |
 |
 |
 |