FORT MACLEOD, Alta. – When Fenton Blair started to comb through his barn and basement for ranching memorabilia, he probably never realized his father’s 100-year-old saddle would be considered a valuable artifact.
That saddle joins a collection of nostalgia, gathered by southern Alberta ranching families, that sits in a temporary display at the Fort Macleod museum to honor the Western Stock Growers Association and its centennial.
A permanent stock growers’ display will be set up later to show ranching ties with the Northwest Mounted Police, said museum curator Carla Niers.
Read Also
The Western Producer Livestock Report – August 28, 2025
Western Producer Livestock Report for August 28, 2025. See U.S. & Canadian hog prices, Canadian bison & lamb market data and sales insights.
The museum is dedicated to the history of the mounted police.
The ranching display opened in July with artifacts gathered by museum staff and association volunteers. It provides a chance to see the beginnings of one of the largest collections of brands and ranching memorabilia in the province, said Niers. More will be added to the display over time.
Clothes from the 1890s, family photos and tools, wagons and saddles were gathered over the last six months to show museum visitors what ranching was like in the early days.
Most of the items came from people who never realized the value of the memorabilia. Some date back to the 1880s.
Fenton and Mattie Blair, of Granum, Alta., are descendants of original settlers to the area and provided a number of artifacts.
“We threw out a lot of things. We never believed they were worth anything,” said Blair.
Included in the display is a 100-year-old saddle purchased by Blair’s father William in 1903, with its iron stirrups and a Mexican rawhide rope added in 1935. His family came from Ottawa in 1898 and homesteaded in the Granum area. Although the family had a dairy farm back east, the Alberta homestead eventually became a horse ranch.
Old branding irons, giant hypodermic needles and saddles line the walls of the display which will be in the museum’s cultural gallery for a year. Compared to some of the tools of the trade used today, they’re old-fashioned and in some cases no longer used.
“I don’t know how long many of these traditions will continue,” said Blair.
His family’s horse brand, registered in 1898, and the cattle brand registered in 1935 are also on display. Both brands are still used by the Blair family.
Before Alberta became a pro-vince, the foothills were home to ranchers who wanted wide open spaces with room to ride and graze their cattle. Land could be had for $1.50 per acre. Some of the ranches spread over 15,000 acres.
This display also helps publicize the stock growers’ centennial cattle drive July 20-27, 1996 in southeastern Alberta. Cowboys from all over the world are coming for the ride from Buffalo to Medicine Hat, said drive organizer Roy Clark.
