CALGARY — There will be more than old saddles and barbed wire at the Western Heritage Centre.
It will be a place that honors ordinary folks as well as the notables who settled the Canadian West, says Norm Haines, the consultant hired in 1993 to see the project completed.
Located at the Cochrane Ranche site in the Alberta foothills, the centre has been a dream since the 1970s. The dream faded a couple years ago but is in focus again. Construction of the 48,000-square-foot structure is to start this spring, he said.
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Plans are to open July 1996 with the centre showing “a mosaic of the history of the West,” said Haines. Besides history, it will give visitors a picture of what’s happening in western agriculture today and what they can expect to see in the future.
It will preserve the story of the rodeo cowboy and celebrate the success of stockmen who settled here more than 100 years ago. A major aim of the centre will be to ensure that the stories of ordinary settlers are told.
“It’s not just the story of the big ranchers, it’s the story of the folks,” said Haines.
Simulated train rides will show people what it was like to travel across the Prairies during the early days. They can enter a sod hut or a bunkhouse. The centre will contain artifacts from the early settlers and will eventually hold archives of such things as livestock records or brand information.
About half the displays will be fixed, with the rest being changed and updated as often as possible to show people how agriculture is changing.
A large part of the centre will be set aside for demonstrations of the latest technology in the livestock business. A theatre for live demonstrations and teaching will be built. Visitors may also stop by the corral and watch cowboys work cattle or see a livestock auction.
Brands and their histories are being preserved on bricks which will be built into one of the walls at the centre, says Scott English. He is travelling around Western Canada collecting family stories and brands that have been used by some families for more than a century.
Preserve Canada’s heritage
The centre was conceived in 1985 by the Stockmen’s Memorial Foundation and the Canadian Rodeo Historical Association to preserve Canada’s western heritage. The project is being guided by the Western Heritage Centre Society made up of members from the livestock community who oversee construction and fund raising.
The centre will cost approximately $12 million to build with money coming from private, corporate and government donations. Fund-raising projects are being planned and when the centre is completed revenue will come from admission fees, renting parts of the facilities and catering to special events, said Haines.
