Nose Spring Park
Nose Hill Spring Park
Nose Hill Spring Park lies within Section 9, Township 25, Range 1 west of the Fifth Meridian. This section includes the west half of Huntington Hills and the eastern portion of Nose Hill Park. The property lay outside the city limits until 1961, and the development of Huntington Hills began in 1966.
This section was part of a 25-million acre land grant that the federal government gave to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) as an incentive to build its transcontinental line. The CPR positioned its stations on its own land where it could profit from selling its property as townsite lots—as in the case of Section 15 in the township immediately to the south, which it subdivided and sold in 1884 as the townsite of Calgary. Other sections were sold to become farms. Archival records show that Mrs. Annie Armour (died 1914) of Los Angeles, California, bought this section on November 13, 1885.[1] The price was $2.50 per acre (for 640 acres), and the terms specified “coal and stone reserved”. But records show that the status of the purchase was uncertain, and there is no evidence Mrs. Armour or her husband, Andrew Moorehead Armour (died 1904), occupied the land. The Armours had farmed in Ontario before moving in 1883 to Calgary, where Andrew Armour and Thomas B. Braden founded the Calgary Herald. The Armours later moved to Medicine Hat, where Andrew founded the Medicine Hat Times in 1886. The Armours finally settled in Los Angeles, where they remained for the rest of their lives.[2]
This site evidently remained Crown land for the next fifteen years. The spring that gives the park its name became an important and useful local landmark. In 1891, the Calgary & Edmonton Railway became operational, and it established a railway stop at Beddington a short distance to the northeast.[3] At an unknown date between 1880 and 1919, a surveyed road between Calgary and an unknown location to the northwest passed through this quarter section.[4] An early roundup corral was built in the section immediately to the south.[5] The corral and associated horse camp were destroyed by fire at the beginning of the twentieth century.[6]
In 1899, the partnership of Burns and Duggan added this section to its growing land (holdings. Patrick Burns (1856-1937) is much better known than Conrad J. (Con) Duggan 1845-1937). From his start as a cattle buyer and beef supplier, Burns built up a massive industrial concern that included ranching, meatpacking, and retailing, and he became one of the most successful businessmen in Canada. Burns was one of the Big Four ranchers who offered financial backing for the first Calgary Stampede in 1912, and in 1931 he was called to the Canadian Senate.[7]
Burns and Duggan had similar backgrounds: both were Ontario-born farm boys of Irish descent; both came west as pioneers in the 1870s, walking great distances as part of their journey; and both made money as railway construction subcontractors, Duggan in tie and timber supply and in fence building, and Burns as a beef supplier.[8] Around 1892, Burns and Duggan became partners in a beef cattle business.[9] While other large-scale ranchers leased vast acres of land and built up substantial ranches, Burns and Duggan kept a small ranch near Olds but maintained their herds on the open range for as long as it existed.[10] At a time when most ranchers left their cattle to graze in the winter, Burns and Duggan fattened theirs with large quantities of hay that they cut from public lands or bought from farmers.[11] Others’ cattle lost weight during the winter, meaning most were sold in the autumn. This created a surplus that kept prices low. Burns and Duggan’s winter-fed cattle stabilized the beef supply and kept prices from fluctuating.[12] Duggan earned distinction by bringing the first cattle shipment into the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush.[13]
By the end of the nineteenth century, the arrival of homesteaders meant the end of the open range. Burns and Duggan began buying land, and the title for this section was in Duggan’s name.[14] This property operated as part of P. Burns and Company, Limited, until 1928, when Burns sold his meat business to a Toronto concern and retained his ranches as P. Burns Ranches Ltd. The sale and reorganization ended Duggan’s business association with Burns, but they remained friends, and Duggan’s great-nephew Neil J. Duggan (circa 1896-1943) served as manager of P. Burns Ranches Ltd. for many years.[15] This section became property of P. Burns Ranches Ltd.[16]
In 1948, Arthur William Savill (1909-1991) bought this quarter-section.[17] Savill was born in Stockport, England, and he immigrated to Canada with his family in 1908.[18] His father, Walter Savill, homesteaded near Balzac and hoped the conditions there would cure his tuberculosis.[19] Sarah Savill later came with her three children, including Ernest, although their journey included a rescue from a sinking ship and a train crash that killed two passengers.[20] The Savill family continued dairy farming in Balzac after Walter’s death in 1918. They were early supporters of the Calgary Co-op, and Sarah and Arthur invested $1000 each in 1956 and became members No. 1 and No. 2 respectively.[21] Arthur had a green thumb, was an active supporter of the Balzac Anglican Church, and called the square dances in Balzac and area.[22] He retired from farming in 1963 and went into business, eventually becoming a Red Deer hotelier and member of the Red Deer Horticultural Society.[23]
Carma Developers Ltd. bought Savill’s quarter section in 1966, adding it to the south-east quarter that the company had acquired earlier.[24] Carma began to develop Huntington Hills, and the company donated this site and named it Nose Hill Spring Park.[25] In a project conceived in 1963,the Nose Creek Farmers Union of Alberta placed a cairn and plaque to mark the significance of Nose Hill Spring, to honour the early settlers, and to celebrate the centennial of Confederation in 1967. Mayor Jack Leslie officiated at the cairn’s unveiling ceremony on November 2, 1968, which former owner Arthur Savill attended.[26] The plaque has been vandalized and repaired.[27]
Harry SandersPage 1July 9, 2007
[1] Glenbow Archives, CPR Land Sales database.
[2] Gerald Brawn, “Fate Of Herald Founder Finally Solved,” Calgary Herald 2 Jan. 1965.
[3] Stephen Wilk, ed., 100 Years of Nose Creek Valley History (Calgary: Nose Creek Historical Society, 1997) 248.
[4] Township map, 1919.
[5] C. Redvers Perry. Nose Creek Historical Map, 1792-1960 (Calgary: Northwest Printing & Lithographing, 1967).
[6]Ibid.
[7] “Burns, Patrick,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 1988 ed.
[8] Grant MacEwan, Pat Burns, Cattle King (Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1979) 130; Ada Beaton, “Pioneer Calgarian Walked to Western Canada 60 Years Ago,” Calgary Herald 10 Nov. 1934: 23.
[9] MacEwan 131.
[10]Ibid 132.
[11]Ibid 132-33, 136.
[12]Ibid 136.
[13] Beaton.
[14] Land title search.
[15] “Neil J. Duggan, Stockman, Dies,” Calgary Herald 12 Jan. 1943: 7; “Noted Stockman Dies at Calgary,” Edmonton Bulletin 12 Jan. 1943. J.J. Duggan—Con’s nephew and Neil’s father—once served as the mayor of Strathcona, a city that was later amalgamated with Edmonton. (“Mrs. J.J. Duggan, Welfare Worker, Dies: 76 Years,” Edmonton Bulletin 25 July 1945.)
[16] Land Title search.
[17]Ibid. One source characterizes Savill as a rancher on this property (Wilk 108).
[18] “Savill,” Calgary Herald 21 Oct. 1991.
[19] Wilk 369.
[20]Ibid.
[21]Ibid 370.
[22] “Savill,” Calgary Herald 21 Oct. 1991.
[23]Ibid.
[24] Land Title search.
[25] Wilk 3. This source characterizes the name as Nose Hill Springs Park.
[26]Ibid 13. See According to Wilk (p. 3): “Another centennial project completed by the Nose Creek F.U.A. originated in 1963, when the F.U.A. endorsed the concept of unveiling a plaque to honour the pioneers and settlers of the area. They did this at a dedication ceremony on November 2, 1968. The cairn stands on land in Huntington Hills in the northwest corner of the city of Calgary. The land was provided and improved by Carma Developers, who named the site Nose Hill Springs Park. The F.U.A. placed the following items in the cairn: a scroll by Redvers Perry describing the history of Nose Hill Spring; some current newspapers, coins and stamps; photographs of the area before development; a Calgary Historical Society notice; a document signed by three oldtimers who were present; samples of wheat, oats and barley; and a copy of the Nose Creek Historical Map. Several groups, including Cub Scouts and Girl Guides, planted Colorado spruce trees to enhance the park, in a project sponsored by the City of Calgary Parks Department. After the Nose Creek F.U.A. disbanded, the Nose Creek Historical Society followed its example by unveiling 15 plaques to date, to honour various people or recall historical events.”
[27]Ibid 65.