Mountain View County is a

municipal district A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It can refer to a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area. Brazil In Brazil, municipal districts are, in genera ...

in Division No. 6 in

central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...

, Canada. Located between the cities of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, its municipal office is located north of the Town of

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

. Mountain View County is a member of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, along with numerous local boards, commissions and committees.

History

The first government surveys of the area between Calgary and

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

were not made until 1883, around the time when the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

arrived from

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, ...

in Calgary, then just a small settlement. Just to the east of where the busy Queen Elizabeth II highway runs today, people and goods travelled between Calgary and

Fort Edmonton Fort Edmonton (also named Edmonton House) was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1795 to 1914, all of which were located on the north banks of the North Saskatchewan River in what is now central Alberta, ...

by wagon along the original

Calgary and Edmonton Trail The Calgary and Edmonton Trail was a land transport route between Fort Edmonton and Fort Calgary in the Northwest Territories. Prior to European contact, there was already a route through the area that local Indigenous peoples used to travel fro ...

. In 1890, the

Calgary and Edmonton Railway The Calgary and Edmonton Railway (C&E) was an early pioneer railway in what was then the Northwest Territories, now Alberta, Canada. It connected the towns of Calgary and Strathcona (also called South Edmonton). Construction started in April 18 ...

was chartered, and construction began, with the line reaching the area now comprising the county by the end of that year. While a handful of squatters had arrived pre-1890, settlement in the area did not begin in earnest until the arrival of the C & E Railway. On July 27, 1891, the first through train made the trip from Calgary to Strathcona, marking the beginning of regular scheduled passenger train service for the next 60 years. The operation of Calgary & Edmonton Railway passed to the Canadian Pacific Railway, which continues to operate the line as its main Calgary-Edmonton connection. After 1891, homesteaders began to arrive in the region from across Europe and North America, with settlements sprouting up around the fourth (

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs ra ...

), fifth (

) and sixth (

Olds Olds may refer to: People * The olds, a jocular and irreverent online nickname for older adults * Bert Olds (1891–1953), Australian rules footballer * Carl D. Olds (1912–1979), New Zealand-born American mathematician * Chauncey N. Olds (181 ...

) sidings. Settlement in the early days was typified by ethnic and usually religious groups living in close-knit communities or colonies. Notable among them were a group of

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

families who homesteaded in the Didsbury area from Europe via

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

around the turn of the 19th century. A large number of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

settlers from the American Midwest also settled around Olds; and a group of

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

pioneers blazed a trail westward towards Sundre and

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. As the population grew, so did their needs. This led to the formation of local government, though the creation of local Improvement Districts. These were relatively small administrative units, generally no bigger than in size, and were responsible for a number of limited duties including setting local tax rates, and keeping track of necessary local improvements. In December 1911 the Alberta government brought forward new legislation designed to introduce greater self-government into rural areas of the province. Specifically, the Municipal Act of 1912 encouraged local improvement districts to consolidate with one another to form larger rural municipalities. Initially the response to the idea of consolidation was unenthusiastic. A majority of rural residents in Mountain View voted against consolidation with other L.I.D.'s in a series of plebiscites held in 1912. Only the Rural Municipality of Mountain View No. 310 would be created out of four improvement districts around Olds and Didsbury, making it one of 55 rural municipalities to come into existence province-wide on December 9, 1912. While Mountain View was the first to consolidate, others would soon follow their lead. The Municipal District of Mountain View No. 49 was formed into the County of Mountain View No. 17 as of January 1, 1961, with William J. Bagnall of Dogpound was selected as the county's first reeve. A municipal councillor prior to the county's formation, Bagnall would continue to serve as reeve until 1980. The newly formed county chose Didsbury as the location of its municipal office, and in October 1962, a new administration building was opened to house both the county administration and the school board. This building would serve the county until a new state-of-the-art office was built in 2005, near the Olds-Didsbury Airport along Highway 2A. On January 21, 1998, the County of Mountain View No. 17 officially changed its name to Mountain View County, as it continues to be known today.

Geography

Communities and localities

The following urban municipalities are surrounded by Mountain View County. ;

Cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

*none ;

Towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

* Sundre ;

Villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

; Summer villages *none The following

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

are located within Mountain View County. ;

Hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

*none The following localities are located within Mountain View County. ;Localities *Blooming Prairie *

Bearberry Bearberries (indigenous kinnickinnick) are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. Unlike the other species of ''Arctostaphylos'' (see manzanita), they are adapted to Arctic and Subarctic climates, and have a circumpolar d ...

*Dogpound * Eagle Hill * Elkton *

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

*Harmattan *Jackville *Mayton *Minaret *Mound *Neapolis *Netook *Shantz * Stirlingville * Water Valley *Wessex *Westcott *Westerdale * Westward Ho

Rural neighbourhoods

In 2008, Mountain View County established 20 districts as ''rural neighbourhoods''. *

/ Coalcamp *

* Dogpound *Eagle Hill / Westward Ho *Elkton / Rugby *Fallentimber *Hainstock *Harmattan *Jackson *James River *Lonepine *McDougal Flats *Midway *Netook *Reed Ranch *Rosebud *Water Valley / Winchell Lake *Wessex *Westcott *Westerdale

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Mountain View County had a population of 12,981 living in 5,014 of its 5,743 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 13,074. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Mountain View County had a population of 13,074 living in 5,025 of its 5,666 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 12,359. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Economy

Oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and combustion, burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, oil, and natura ...

is the main economic driver of Mountain View County, along with

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

Education

In the early 1890s the first schools began to organize in the area now comprising Mountain View County. By 1930, almost 90 school districts had been created to serve the region, with the

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

house remaining a fixture of rural life until 1936, when the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

government allowed for the creation of larger school divisions. As consolidation of rural municipalities continued throughput the 1940s and 50s, the provincial government moved to amalgamate municipalities and the local school boards. In 1955, the M.D. of Mountain View and Olds School Division No. 39 were made "coterminous" (meaning they shared the same boundaries). With the introduction of the County system of government in 1961, joint administration of municipalities and the school boards was initiated, and would continue until 1994. Olds School Division No. 39 would eventually evolve into the Chinook's Edge School Division, which continues to serve the county.

References

External links

* {{Alberta, RM=yes Municipal districts in Alberta