Day Nineteen
Decided to spend today out of Calgary at the Bar U Ranch. Bar U is a national historic site whose purpose is to capture the importance of ranching in Canada. Bar U has a lot of history. It was the first major cow/calf operation in the Alberta Foothills. It had famous cowboys working there such as John Ware and the Sundance Kid. It had famous neighbours (Prince of Wales) and its owners help found the Calgary Stampede.
The second owner was a man who fancied Percheron horses. He brought horses over from Europe and created a world reknowned herd. After World War 1, Bar U percherons helped replenish the Percheron blood lines in Europe.
The farm itself has numerous original buildings. These included the post office, the portable cookhouse, two barns from the 1880s, the leather and harness shop, and the black smiths shop.
There was a school there today, so we tagged along with them for the wagon ride. We also spent time with the 'blacksmith' (a local cowboy) and at the roundup campfire (run by a woman originally from Montreal, but who had lived mostly in rural Yukon). They had many interesting stories. One of them was that the 3rd Bar U owner (Pat Burns of Burns Meats fame) was friends with Lorne Greene. When the show Bonanza started up they used the name of the Bar U cook (Hop Sing) in the show.
Parts of the farm were closed due to flood damage, but nothing that really detracted from the experience. There was an archeological dig in progress (one archaeologist with two students). They were digging up the old root cellar. It was a buried style root cellar and the roof had originally collapsed when a draft horse had walked up on the roof to eat grass. The girls saw them retrieve their best find of the day (a padlock).
It was a pretty relaxed day and we would recommend a visit for a low-key museum experience.
Returned to Calgary for a steak dinner, grocery shopping and then to bed.
Margot, John and Rex
Post Office -- Bar U Ranch
Portable Cookhouse and Dining Lounge -- Bar U Ranch
View from the Wagon Ride -- Bar U Ranch
Lock found while we were watching the excavation of the old root cellar -- Bar U Ranch
Cowgirls -- Bar U Ranch
The second owner was a man who fancied Percheron horses. He brought horses over from Europe and created a world reknowned herd. After World War 1, Bar U percherons helped replenish the Percheron blood lines in Europe.
The farm itself has numerous original buildings. These included the post office, the portable cookhouse, two barns from the 1880s, the leather and harness shop, and the black smiths shop.
There was a school there today, so we tagged along with them for the wagon ride. We also spent time with the 'blacksmith' (a local cowboy) and at the roundup campfire (run by a woman originally from Montreal, but who had lived mostly in rural Yukon). They had many interesting stories. One of them was that the 3rd Bar U owner (Pat Burns of Burns Meats fame) was friends with Lorne Greene. When the show Bonanza started up they used the name of the Bar U cook (Hop Sing) in the show.
Parts of the farm were closed due to flood damage, but nothing that really detracted from the experience. There was an archeological dig in progress (one archaeologist with two students). They were digging up the old root cellar. It was a buried style root cellar and the roof had originally collapsed when a draft horse had walked up on the roof to eat grass. The girls saw them retrieve their best find of the day (a padlock).
It was a pretty relaxed day and we would recommend a visit for a low-key museum experience.
Returned to Calgary for a steak dinner, grocery shopping and then to bed.
Margot, John and Rex
Post Office -- Bar U Ranch
Portable Cookhouse and Dining Lounge -- Bar U Ranch
View from the Wagon Ride -- Bar U Ranch
Lock found while we were watching the excavation of the old root cellar -- Bar U Ranch
Cowgirls -- Bar U Ranch
posted by Winter Family Web Logs at 2:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home