Aerial View Looking West From Mayor Magrath Drive And 3rd Avenue (3390339387)

The modern history of Lethbridge extends to the mid-19th century, when the area was developed from

drift mines Drift mining is either the mining of an ore deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is above ...

opened by Nicholas Sheran in 1874, and the

North Western Coal and Navigation Company The North Western Coal and Navigation Company, also known as Alberta Railway and Coal Company or Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company, was a coal mining company formed in London, England in 1882 by Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, one of Canada's F ...

in 1882. Prior to the development of drift mines in the area,

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to t ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

was known as Coal Banks, and was part of the territory of the

Blackfoot Confederacy The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

. The Confederacy was made up of the Kainai Nation, the

Northern Peigan The Piikani Nation (, formerly the Peigan Nation) ( bla, Piikáni) is a First Nation (or an Indian band as defined by the ''Indian Act''), representing the Indigenous people in Canada known as the Northern Piikani ( bla, script=Latn, Aapátohsipi ...

, the Southern Peigan (Blackfeet), and the

Siksika Nation The Siksika Nation ( bla, Siksiká) is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name ''Siksiká'' comes from the Blackfoot words ''sik'' (black) and ''iká'' (foot), with a connector ''s'' between the two words. The plural form of ''Sik ...

.A Short History of Lethbridge, Alberta
, Greg Ellis, October 2001

19th century

After the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

outlawed alcohol trading in 1869 with the Blood nation in Montana, traders John J. Healy and Alfred B. Hamilton started the whisky trading post Fort Hamilton near the junction of the

St. Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

and Oldman rivers. It was burned down, but they rebuilt it and eventually it came to be nicknamed

Fort Whoop-Up Fort Whoop-Up was the nickname (eventually adopted as the official name) given to a whisky trading post, originally Fort Hamilton, near what is now Lethbridge, Alberta. During the late 19th century, the post served as a centre for trading activ ...

. The whisky traded at this post was often not much more than alcohol, river water, chewing tobacco and lye. The whisky trade eventually led to the massacre of many

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakod ...

s in the Cypress Hills area by some

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

in 1873. As a result, the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territo ...

(now the RCMP) were established, and a contingent travelled to southern Alberta to stop the trade and establish order. The NWMP arrived at Fort Whoop-Up on 9 October 1874. Later in 1875, the NWMP established a post at Fort Whoop-up by renting a room from Healy and Hamilton. For the next twelve years, the fort continued to trade (although not in "whisky") while also hosting a NWMP post.

Coal mining

By the 1870s, Nicholas Sheran (an American entrepreneur) mined a coal seam in the coulees on the west side of what is now the Oldman River. He sold what he mined to Montana traders and the NWMP.

Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, (September 6, 1817 – September 19, 1893) was a politician and a father of the Canadian Confederation. Early life Galt was born in Chelsea, England on September 6, 1817. He was the son of John Galt, a Scottish ...

was interested in the success Sheran was having. He knew a transcontinental railway was soon to be built in the area, and the settlers it would bring would create a profitable market for the coal. On 13 October 1882, Galt's company

opened the first drift mine across from Sheran's operation. This mine was managed by William Stafford. The first president and largest shareholder of the company, William Lethbridge, was the one after whom the town was named.

20th century

By the start of the 20th century, the mines employed about 150 men and produced about 300 tonnes of coal each day. By the time production peaked during World War I, 10 mines employed 2,000 miners and produced 1 million tonnes of coal annually. At the time, Lethbridge area collieries were the largest coal producers in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. After the war, an increase in oil and natural gas production caused a decline in coal production, and the last mine in Lethbridge closed in 1957. Some of this mine, Galt No. 8, still stands today, and a local society is attempting to renovate it as a museum or interpretive centre.

Rail

Dutch Immigrants Arrive at the Lethbridge Train Station (6883494031)

The first rail line was built in Lethbridge, being completed 28 August 1885 by the

Alberta Railway and Coal Company The North Western Coal and Navigation Company, also known as Alberta Railway and Coal Company or Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company, was a coal mining company formed in London, England in 1882 by Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, one of Canada's F ...

. The line was further extended 595 kilometres beyond Lethbridge and was instrumental in feeding the main

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spont ...

lines at the time the ARCC sold it to the CPR in 1912. Because of the rail industry's dependence of coal and the CPR's efforts to settle immigrants in southern Alberta, the railway centre of Lethbridge was instrumental in the economic success of the region. In the mid-1980s, the railyards in downtown Lethbridge were moved to nearby

Kipp The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory schools in low income communities throughout the United States. KIPP is America's largest network of charter schools. The head o ...

and Lethbridge ceased operating as a hub for rail traffic.

Riot of 1907

On 25 December 1907, an altercation occurred at the Dallas Hotel (now the Coalbanks Inn) on 5 Street South in

downtown Lethbridge Downtown Lethbridge is the central business district of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, hosting most of the city's banks and several accounting and law practices, including national firms. Boundaries Strictly speaking, the downtown is defined by th ...

. Reportedly, the altercation was between a Chinese employee working the hotel's restaurant and a

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

customer. Word of the altercation spread and somehow escalated into rumours the employee had killed the customer. As a result, a large crowd gathered at the hotel and ransacked the restaurant. Shortly after, they moved to nearby Chinatown to wreak havoc there. At this point, the local police gathered to control the situation and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

W. S. Galbraith read the

Riot Act The Riot Act (1 Geo.1 St.2 c.5), sometimes called the Riot Act 1714 or the Riot Act 1715, was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorised local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled and o ...

to those gathered. As a result, everything was brought under control and the crowd soon dispersed.

Development

After the CPR moved the

divisional point In Canada, a divisional point (or division point) is a local operational headquarters for a railway. Divisional points are significant in railway maintenance of way operations. Especially historically, they could be the location of facilities and in ...

of its Crowsnest Line from Fort Macleod to Lethbridge in 1905, the city became a regional centre for

Southern Alberta Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017. Between 1907 and 1913, a development boom occurred in Lethbridge, making it the main marketing, distribution and service centre in southern Alberta. Several municipal projects, a construction boom, and rising real estate prices transformed the mining town into a significant city. Part of the impetus behind the municipal projects above was the city playing host to the 7th International Dry-Farming Congress in 1912. As recently as 1911, the city had no facilities to host an event of this significance. By the time the event arrived in October, the city had spent $1.35 million paving

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

streets, putting in cement sidewalks, improving the water and sewer systems, building a street railcar system, creating Henderson Park and setting aside for the Exhibition Grounds. Despite the event attracting thousands of delegates from throughout Canada and such places as China,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, the city's tax base of only 8,000 could not support those improvements. The city carried the debt for decades after. Even so, the Lethbridge Herald labelled the event as "the greatest week in the history of the city". Between World War I and World War II, the city experienced an economic slump. Development slowed, drought drove farmers from their farms and

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

rapidly declined from its peak before 1920. Following WWII, irrigation in the surrounding area caused the city's population to swell, which in turn boosted the local economy. Lethbridge Community College (now

Lethbridge College Lethbridge College (previously Lethbridge Community College) opened in 1957 as the first publicly funded community college in Canada. Over 4,000 students attend the Lethbridge, Alberta, institution. Lethbridge College is a member of the Albert ...

) opened in April 1957, and the

University of Lethbridge , mottoeng = '' Let there be light'' , type = Public , established = , academic_affiliations = Universities Canada , endowment = $73 million (2019) , chancellor = Charles Weas ...

in 1967.

Names

Before settlement, the area where Lethbridge is located was known as The

Arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

Region. After geological surveys around 1880 revealed an abundance of coal, it became called The Belly River Coal District. After the Galts introduced

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

to counter the Arid Region problems around 1900, the locality became called the Irrigated District. Finally, as an aid to land sales after the rush of dryland settlement started about 1905, the non-irrigable portion was called The Winter Wheat Lands. Other names the area was known by are as follows: *

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot language, Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up t ...

**''Aksaysim'', also transliterated as ''Aksiiksahko'' or ''Steep Banks'' **''Mek-kio-towaghs'', also ''Miiksskoowa'', variously translated as ''Painted Rock'', ''Red Painted Rock'', or ''Medicine Stone'' **''Assini-etomochi'', also ''Asinaawaiitomottsaawa'', or ''Where We Slaughtered the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

s'' **''Sik-ooh-kotok'', ''Black/Rocks'' or ''Coal'' * Sarcee **''Chadish-kashi'', ''Black/Rocks'' *Cree **''Kuskusukisay-guni'', ''Black/Rocks'' *Stony **''Ipubin-saba-akabin'', or ''Digging Coal'' *English **''Coal Banks'' **''Sherans'', or ''Sheran's Ferry'' **''The Crossing'' **''The Colliery'' **''Newlethbridge'' **''Lethbridge Colliery'' **''Upper and Lower Town'' **''Coalhurst'' **''Riverside'' Since October 15, 1885, the name ''Lethbridge'' has been the official term. The name Lethbridge was in common unofficial use for the river bottom community at least as early as May 1884.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Lethbridge