Oh Thursday, how I wish you were Friday, but with the days blending together, I guess you're alright.
We are almost through April, Cochrane. Here's to hoping everyone is still hanging in there and truckin' along. With that being said, I have a good one in store for Thursday Tack and Tales.
This week, I thought I would branch out a little bit and do something different. This week, a little piece of Canadian History established by two little ladies known as the Barclay sisters - the first youth hostel in North America.
The year was 1933 and times were a bit tough with the tail end of The Great Depression in sight. Mary Belle and Catherine Barclay of Calgary would often frequent the Bragg Creek area following their sense of outdoor adventure.
Judy Norman, president of the Brag Creek Historical Society recalls Catherine being the sister who went abroad and came back with a mind consumed of hostels.
"She came back and told her sister, Mary, and a group of friends how wonderful these hostels were and how cheap they were," Norman said.
Following Catherine's trip the seed had been planted and the sisters would now jointly work toward the goal of implementing a hostel in the area. Mary Belle holding the determination and Catherine fostering the idea.
In place at the time was the Homestead Act. Settlers would have to put in an application to receive a grant to be awarded a quarter section of land. Certain measures had to be adhered to or for better terms you had to "Prove up" to get title to that piece of land.
A woman by the name of Ida May White housed a bed and breakfast on her quarter piece of land which was known as Wake Siah Lodge.
"Most of downtown Bragg Creek, not all, but most of it, sits on her original quarter," Michele McDonald explained, director with the Brag Creek Historical Society.
The Barclay sisters would eventually cross paths with White and come to an agreement to erect a tent on her property. They were given a tent by Western Awning, if Norman says she recalls properly but they always needed to have two tents because girls and boys could not sleep in the same space.
"You never hear about two tents," chuckled Norman. "You just hear about one."
Travellers were charged 25 cents a night and the sisters hoped they could recruit other like-minded individuals so they could carry out their goal of building a hostel.
"They needed to get interest, get a permanent site and a structure and have so many signatures on a piece of paper to say 'this was going to happen'" McDondald said.
McDonald explained the sisters then reached out to another homesteader who's family was very prominent in the area, Tom Fullerton. His ear was rather large for sympathy and he became keen on helping the sisters' with their pursuit, ultimately providing them with a permanent site for their hostel on his land. It would be built in 1936.
The Barclay sisters had a few other hostels that would transpire, mainly in the backcountry. If a rancher was willing to give them a piece of property to put a hostel, they would certainly build it.
After the sisters' feat, other hostels began to pop up with others wanting to take on the new-found idea.
"Independent people started putting hostels on their property too," said Norman. "You didn't have to have the hostel build the site, you just had to join the Hosteling Association."
In history it is common for information to get contorted over time. It is said the first Canadian Youth Hostel was the Wildrose Hostel located on Highway 22 by the Barnes family. This was in fact the second Canadian hostel. The misleading information can be credited to a photo that used to sit in the Glenbow Museum stating it was the "First Canadian Youth Hostel."
"Once it' been stated, it's really hard to get things reversed," McDonald said.
"As people wanted to promote Bragg Creek, they kind of changed the history of the hostel a little bit," Norman added. "It took us a lot to get it back to the first site where it was on Tom Fullerton's, it was never in the hamlet."
In 1977 McDonald explains a new hostel was built in West Bragg Creek on provincial land. The sisters were in attendance on opening day and were the dignitaries.
"Unfortunately it burned to the ground in the 1980s and it was not rebuilt," McDonald said.
She added this could be because they were focusing their efforts in the Banff and Canmore areas.
On June 19, 2018, a bronze was placed on what used to be Fullerton's ranch, which was home to the Barclay sisters first youth hostel from 1936 to the late 1950s early 60s. It explains the significance and history behind what remains of the hostel.
Norman says there is no structure but you can see the heath stone that sat in front of the fireplace and an outline of the foundation.
In 2012 the Bragg Creek hostel site was named a historically significant location by the federal government and Parks Canada added it to their list of historically significant sites in Canada.
It's safe to say the Barclay sisters will always be in the history books when it comes to Canada and its hostels. They are noted as officially founding and registering the Canadian Youth Hostel Association in 1938. In 1987 sister Mary Belle was awarded the Order of Canada at the age of 87.
"They did start a hosteling movement on the continent and from there it grew," said Norman.
