Daytripping from Edmonton

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Gibbons, St Paul, Andrew Loop
 

Take Highway 28A out of north east Edmonton and follow it to Gibbons. On the corner of 28A and 50th Avenue in the town is the Emmanuel Anglican Church. The interior, with its U-joint style and large beams, is modelled after the inside of a ship and is unique in Alberta. It was constructed in 1902 and is still in use today.
The Sturgeon River Historical Museum is in Oliver Park on 48th Avenue. McLeans Store has a counter with an antique cash register, shelving full of boxes and cans, books, photographs, desks and an old sewing machine sitting on a hardwood floor. A log building with artifacts from the area and a small home with 1920s furnishings are two of the other buildings on the grounds.
At the opposite end of town is Echo Glen Park. The park is beside the Sturgeon River and there is a hiking/biking trail that will take you along the high banks of the river.
Continue past the park to reach a stop sign on Highway 28. Turn right and head to Redwater.
One of Alberta's major oilfields was discovered near Redwater in 1948. To commemorate the oil industry the town has preserved the Discovery Derrick which was used to drill the first well. The derrick, which at 51.2 metres high is said to be the tallest oil derrick in North America, is in a park on 53rd Street.
Follow 48th Avenue out of town to the junction with Highway 38 where you go right. Turn left at the Victoria Trail sign to head towards Fort Victoria itself. The road is fifty-eight kilometres long and mainly gravel, and although is doesn’t exactly follow the route since some of it has been plowed under, it uses as much of the original trail as possible. The Victoria Trail was part of an overland route from Fort Garry (Winnipeg) to Edmonton dating from the 1820s and called various names such as the Carlton trail, Winnipeg Trail, Fort Pitt and Saskatchewan Trail depending on the section referred to. Victoria Trail is that part between Edmonton and Fort Victoria.
There are signs along the road so don't let the number of twists and turns stop you from taking this enjoyable drive along a trail that natives once walked and, beginning in the 1820s, early settlers travelled in Red River carts. They would probably be surprised at the changes along it: the large, modern homes, the big barns, the rows of metal granaries, the machine sheds with their full line of farming machinery, the open fields of grain, and the animals. The biting smell from the barn yards would certainly be unlike the sweet smell of flowers, trees, and open air to which they were accustomed.
The road winds through farmland and beside farm houses and old buildings. You will come to the original site of the Jack Pine Grove School PSD No. 2051, which operated from 1910 to 1951. Just past that is a cairn for Jack Pine Grove School District No 2051, Eldorena, founded in 1909. The church behind the cairn is the Eldorena Ukrainian Catholic Church built in 1912.
As you continue driving watch for the valley to your right and the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. At one point the road is like a country lane with trees lining it. But it is also narrow and winding with blind corners so keep to your side of the road. At about the half way point you reach Highway 31. It goes to Waskatenau if you wish to get off the gravel road. Proceeding ahead watch for the road to the left that goes to the church and cemetery of the former Lobstick Settlement.
Return to the Victoria Trail and soon you will come to the RCMP Memorial Sculpture. The thick, plate steel statue of an RCMP officer astride a horse sits on a base made of rock. Names like S.B. (Sam) Steele #1, P. Coutts #95, Sub-Inspector S. Gagnon, R.E. Steele #7 are painted on some of the rocks. These are the names and rank or regimental number of the twenty members of the newly founded NWMP who left the main group on July 29, 1874 and headed to Fort Edmonton, passing along this trail in October of that year. The cairn was erected on August 4, 1998.
There are two sharp curves after cairn and then a dangerous curve, with an old house to the left, so proceed with caution. When you reach SH 855, the road to Smoky Lake, continue across and you will be on pavement heading to the Victoria Settlement. Here there are two cemeteries, the Pakan Church constructed in 1906, and the clerk’s quarters built by the Hudson Bay Company in 1864. The quarters is said to be Alberta's oldest structure still on its original foundation. It has been restored and on the inside walls you can see where the Hudson Bay employees carved their initials.
Stroll along the asphalt paths under the spreading branches of the tall maples planted during the early years of the post. If you brought a lunch have a picnic at a table on the large lawn. Or grab your fishing gear and hike down the wide path to the North Saskatchewan River. You can fish from the banks where the fur traders landed their canoes over one hundred years ago.
In Smoky Lake the old CN station, on West Railway Drive, is now a museum. Inside are photographs and posters on the wall, an old telephone and telegraph, the original desk, and the old wood stove.
The town of Smoky Lake was named for the nearby lake which was initially called Smoking Lake by the Cree. In one version of how the lake received it name, the aboriginal people, who stopped by its shores to smoked their pipes during their hunts, called it Smoking Place. In the other story, it was selected because the mist lifting off the lake resembled rising smoke.
Smoky Lake bills itself as the Pumpkin Capital of Alberta. This is because the town holds the Great Pumpkin Fair and Weigh Off on the first Saturday in October. Prizes are given for the largest, the ugliest, and the best looking pumpkin.
Drive into Vilna to see what are claimed to be the world's largest mushrooms in a little park. They are six metres high and are from the Tricholoma family. They are called uspale mushroom which is a traditional mushroom used in Ukrainian cooking in the area. The mushrooms were erected in August, 1993.
Glendon bills itself as the Pyrogy Capital of Alberta. You drive into town on Perogy Drive and in Perogy Park is a giant perogy, said to be the largest in the world. The pyrogy, which is held up by a fork, is over seven metres in height.
The pyrogy was unveiled on August 31, 1991 to coincide with the beginning of the 1992 nation-wide celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in Canada. If you want a sample of the Ukrainian fare, visit the Perogy House across from the park.
As you drive into St. Paul watch for unidentified flying objects hovering overhead, waiting for an opportunity to land on the world's first man-made UFO landing pad. The circular platform, with provincial and territorial flags flying overhead, waits patiently for its first UFO landing on the corner of Galaxy Way. It was erected as a centennial project in 1967 and a time capsule inside the pad is to be opened in 2067.
The land beneath the landing pad has been designated international by the town of St. Paul. Climb the steps onto the UFO pad and walk across the pedway to the visitor information building which has been designed to resemble a UFO. Inside you will see an interpretive display complete with photographs of UFOs and crop circles, and write-ups on the different hoaxes that have been pulled. The town operates a UFO hotline with the number to call being 1-888-SEE-UFOS.
As you enter Elk Point, on your right is a statue of Peter Fidler in the Peter Fidler Peace Park. This park was officially dedicated in 1992, Canada's 125th anniversary of confederation, as part of the Peace Parks Across Canada project.
Fidler joined the Hudson Bay Company when he was nineteen and studied surveying. In 1792, he helped build Buckingham House and became its Factor five years later. He then travelled throughout the west constructing other fur trading posts.
As you leave Elk Point follow the signs to Fort George and Buckingham House. At the parking lot you will find an interpretive centre with replicas of voyageurs, buffalo, teepees, and a gift shop. There is also a map showing the layout of the forts. A short interpretive trail takes you to the sites of Fort George, constructed by the North West Company in 1792 and Buckingham House, built later that same year. Both were fur trading and provision posts providing pemmican for the canoe and York boat brigades.
They were situated on a plateau overlooking the North Saskatchewan River and the fur traders had the difficult task of hauling their supplies up the hill from their canoes. The posts did, however, have a beautiful view of the river valley.
Follow the scenic highway to Two Hills and check out their museum on the corner of 51st Street and 52nd Avenue. In Willingdon is the Willingdon Tourist Park with a campground, picnic tables, and a mural on a huge rock. At the end of town is SH 857 which will take you north to the Historical Village and Pioneer Museum at Shandro. A few of the more than twenty buildings to tour are a blacksmith shop, a post office, a funeral home, and a reproduction of a sod house, all of which are furnished appropriately. You will also see the ferry used on the North Saskatchewan River north of the museum before the Shandro Bridge was constructed.
In Andrew is a small park. Besides a caboose, a playground, mini golf, and tennis courts there is a statue of a giant duck. The colourful Mallard duck was chosen as a symbol for the village of Andrew and this replica was erected on April 29, 1992. It is said to be the largest Mallard in the world.
On the corner of Highway 45 and SH831 is the Skaro Shrine. The shrine was designed as a replica of the Grotto of Lourdes in France and constructed in 1919 by local residents. The first pilgrimage was held on August 14, 1919.
And this ends your journey for today.

Famous Canadian Authors from Nova Scotia

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Nova Scotia

Joyce Barkhouse (nee Killam) was born in Woodville, Nova Scotia on May 3, 1913. She earned her Teachers License in 1932 and began teaching in Sand Hill, now known as East Aylesford. At the age of nineteen she had her first short story published in Northern Messenger, a Baptist Church paper for children. She moved to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, to teach and met her future husband, Milton Joseph Barkhouse. They married in 1942 and had two children. They lived in Halifax, Charlottetown, and Montreal and after his death in 1968, Joyce moved back to Nova Scotia.

     Mrs. Barkhouse wrote many young adult adventure and secular stories for other church papers, anthologies and had articles published in teacher’s publications, school text books, and the Family Herald and the Weekly Star. She also wrote a self-syndicated column for weekly newspapers across Nova Scotia titled For Mothers and Others.

     Although Joyce had begun writing in 1932, her first historical book, George Dawson: The Little Giant wasn’t published until 1974. Joyce’s niece is Margaret Atwood and the two of them co-wrote Anna’s Pet, a children’s book that was published in 1980. Her most notable novel was Pit Pony, a story about the friendship that developed between an eleven year old boy who was forced to work in a coal mine and a Sable Island who was a pit pony in the mine. The novel was published in 1989 and won the first Ann Connor Brimer award in 1991 for “outstanding contribution to children’s literature in Atlantic Canada” and was chosen by the librarians of Nova Scotia to be produced as a talking book for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). Pit Pony was also made into a television film in 1997 and a television series in 1999.

     Joyce Barkhouse wrote eight books and was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia in 2007 and a year later she was made a Member of the Order of Canada for her contributions to children’s literature. She died at the age of ninety-eight on February 2, 2012.

Evelyn May Fox was born on May 16, 1902 on Emerald Isle (Stoddard Island) and raised on Cape Sable Island. Both islands are off Shag Harbour, which is at the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia. She went to high school in Halifax and then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Dalhousie University. She taught school until her marriage to Morrill Richardson in 1926. They moved to Massachusetts and then in 1929 they bought the 600 acre Bon Portage Island, a three kilometre boat ride from Shag Harbour. There, Morrill took over the duties of light keeper.

     Evelyn Richardson helped with the lighthouse duties, raised their three children, and began her writing career. During their thirty-five years of lighthouse keeping, she wrote many articles and several books about her experiences on the island.

     She won the Governor General’s Award for her memoir, We Keep a Light, in 1945, and the Ryerson Fiction Award for Desired Haven in 1953. The Evelyn Richardson Memorial Literary Award is an annual award given to a Nova Scotian writer of non-fiction.

     When the lighthouse became mechanized in 1964, Evelyn and Morrill left the island and retired to Doane’s Point near Barrington, Nova Scotia. She died on October 14, 1976 at the age of 74.

Canadian Authors from New Brunswick

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New Brunswick

Julia Catherine Beckwith was born on March 10, 1796 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Her mother, Julie-Louise Le Brun, was from a wealthy French family that had immigrated to Canada in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Her father, Nehemiah Beckwith, moved from New England in 1780 and owned a successful ship building business. Julie-Louise had given up her Roman Catholic faith when she married, but Julia spent a lot of her early life visiting her French cousins in Nova Scotia and Quebec. One of her cousins became a nun of the Hotel-Dieu in Montreal.

Her mother’s previous religious background was the source of the idea for her first novel St. Ursula’s convent, or the nun of Canada. She wrote it in Fredericton when she was seventeen and it had complicated plots, romance, suspense, and heroic adventures. It was not to be published for almost ten years.

     In 1820, in order to lessen the burden on her mother after her father’s death by drowning, Julia moved in with her aunt in Kingston, Upper Canada (now Ontario). She married George Henry Hart on January 3, 1822. George was a bookbinder and Julia operated a boarding house for girls. Her novel was published in 1824 by Hugh C. Thomson as St. Ursula’s Convent or, The Nun of Canada; Containing Scenes from Real Life. According to Beckwith’s wishes, the author was listed as anonymous. It was the first work of fiction written by any man or woman who had been born in Canada and the first to be published in what is now Canada. Julia Beckwith is considered Canada’s first novelist.

     Julia and her husband moved to Rochester, NY, in 1824 where her second novel, Tonnewonte; or, the adopted son of America, was published and portrayed as having been written by an American. It, too, had suspense and depth of feeling, but as some critics said it had the same stilted expression and moral overtones as her first novel. Besides entertainment value, Julia wrote to express attitudes toward society.

     By 1831 Julia and George had six children and they moved back to Fredericton. There she contributed to the weekly paper, the New Brunswick Reporter. She also wrote her third book Edith (or The Doom), which was never published.

     Julia Catherine Beckwith died in Fredericton, New Brunswick on November 28, 1867, the age of 71.

Raymond Fraser was born on May 8, 1941 in Chatham (now Miramichi), New Brunswick, the youngest of three children. His older sisters left home and his mother died when he as a teenager. He spent a lot of his alone time reading. He attended St. Thomas University in Fredericton. There he played sports in his freshman year and was co-editor of the student literary magazine Tom-Tom in his junior year.

     He worked as a teacher for a year then moved to Montreal in 1965 where he and poet Leroy Johnson created the literary magazine Intercourse: Contemporary Canadian Writing (1966-1971). He was also one of the founders of the Montreal Story Tellers Fiction Performance Group, which put on readings in local high schools. To earn money while writing he worked as an editor, chief staff writer, and a freelance writer for the tabloid newspapers. Fraser’s first book of short stories, The Black Horse Tavern, was published in 1973.

     Raymond Fraser and his wife, Sharon, travelled through Europe during the 1970s. The Struggle Outside came out in 1975 and The Bonnonbridge Musicians in 1978. The Bonnonbridge Musicians was a finalist for the 1978 Governor General Literary Award for Fiction. He finally settled in Fredericton and began writing full time. He also was the Writer-In-Residence at the Fredericton High School.

     Raymond Fraser wrote a total of eight books of poetry and fourteen novels and short story collections, five of which were listed in Atlantic Canada’s 100 Greatest Books (2009). He also received the first Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts that year. He became a member of the Order of New Brunswick in 2012 and received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from St. Thomas University in 2016.

     Fraser died in Fredericton on October 22, 2018, at the age of 77 from cancer.