Portal:Alberta/Selected introduction
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Portal:Alberta/Selected introduction/1
Alberta became a province of Canada in 1905. It and the new province of Saskatchewan were carved out of the Northwest Territories. Out of 22 members in the Canadian Parliament it was given a representation of seven members. It lies north of the international boundary line and immediately east of the Rocky Mountains, between the 49th and 60th parallels of latitude and the 110th and 120th meridians. Its area is 255,285 square miles and its population (2007) 3,486,767. It stretches 760 miles from north to south. The state of Montana lies to the south of it and the province of Saskatchewan to its east. The province possesses vast natural resources. Edmonton is its capital and seat of government, Calgary is the largest city in the province, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Fort McMurray are considerable centers of population in Alberta.
Climate
It is characterized by a mild climate in winter and cool breezes in summer. Its location gives it the benefit in winter of the Chinook winds, which follow an easterly direction from the currents in the Pacific Ocean, whence they receive their warmth. The snow in winter rarely lies longer than four or five days at a time when it is melted by the wind, thus making the winters mild and filling the creeks and ponds with water for the stock on the ranches. In the summer these creeks are constantly supplied with water from the melting snow in the mountains, so that during summer and winter there is always to be found throughout the district an abundance of water for grazing and all other purposes.
Resources
The wild grasses are most nutritious, as has been demonstrated by the thousands of cattle sold from the different ranches all in first-class condition for the market.
The grain raised in Alberta at present is largely required to supply local requirements. The surplus finds a market in British Columbia, the Orient, and to some extent in eastern Canada. Winter wheat is successfully grown in Alberta, more especially in the southern parts, and the area under crop is rapidly increasing. The growing of winter wheat has revolutionized conditions.
The cool temperature in summer, with the grasses and pure cool mountain streams mentioned, makes Alberta one of the best countries to be found for cheese and butter-making, and it is rapidly becoming as noted for such industries as for its ranches.
There is a local lumber supply at Edmonton and other points, but the finer grades are obtained from British Columbia.
The province is opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railway and its branches from Calgary to Edmonton, Macleod and to the great ranching country around Medicine Hat, which, owing to its climate, permits cattle to graze without shelter throughout the whole winter.
Alberta has a border line of 30 townships which front upon the American Republic. The province contains 170,000,000 acres of arable lands. Of this immense tract scarcely one million acres have been tilled. It has no waste country. In its southwest corner (near Montana) there is a rich oil field. Its coal fields extend all over the province; vast deposits of coal are found all along the foothills. Medicine Hat, one of its largest towns, is famous for its natural-gas wells. The largest zinc smelter in the world is at Frank, Alberta. Its greatest wealth, however, will always be in agriculture. The northern part of this province is in the same degree of latitude as Scotland, and the southern part of the province the same as a part of Germany. North Alberta is watered by portions of two great river systems, the Peace River and the Athabasca River. The markets of the agricultural products of Alberta will, it Is likely, ultimately be to the west and to the Orient what they are now to the mining districts of British Columbia. Her coal will go to the east, to the plains of Saskatchewan and the prairies of Manitoba, but her agricultural products will seek a nearer market. It is over 2,000 miles to Montreal, and only 600 to Victoria, B. C. The soil of from one to three feet of black vegetable mould with but little of sand or gravel is of almost inexhaustible fertility.
.Adapted from The New Student's Reference Work (1914) Alberta
Portal:Alberta/Selected introduction/2
The twin provinces of the Canadian West, so called because they were formed on the same day (1 Sept., 1905), by an Act of the Dominion Parliament, which gave them an identical constitution. The former derives its name from the important river, Kissiskatchiwan, or Swift Current, now better known under the abbreviation of Saskatchewan, whose two branches drain it from west to east. The latter was called after the episcopal borough of St. Albert, nine miles from Edmonton, which itself had been named after its founder, Father Albert Lacombe, O.M.I., the veteran missionary of the Far West.
Boundaries and Area rn Athabasca, while the original Territory of Alberta and the remaining half of Athabasca contributed to form Alberta, the second province. Both provinces have identical southern and northern boundaries (49 deg. and 60 deg. N. lat.). The western frontier of Alberta is the summit of the Rocky Mountains as far as 54 deg. N. lat. and the 120th meridian. The greatest length of both provinces is 760 miles. The breadth of Alberta varies from 200 miles in the south, to nearly 400 in its northern half. Its total area is estimated at 253,450 square miles.
Physical Characteristics
The mean altitude of Alberta is 3000 feet, which likewise notably decreases in the north. The climate of both provinces is exceedingly healthful, though the cold is at times intense on the treeless prairies of Saskatchewan. A warm south-west wind, called Chinook, occasionally crosses the Rocky Mountains, and renders the winters of Alberta appreciably milder and shorter in spite of its great altitude. This immense region is traversed by the River Saskatchewan which has its source in the Rocky Mountains, and after winding its way for some 1200 miles, empties into Lake Winnipeg. Northern Alberta is drained by still larger rivers, such as the Peace, which rises in Lake Thutage (Thutade), British Columbia. It is first called the Finlay, and after its confluence with the Parsnip, is known as the Peace, but north of Lake Athabasca it again changes its name to the Slave, only to course further on the great Canadian Northland as the Mackenzie River. South of the Peace is the Athabasca River, which flows into the lake of the same name. This fine sheet of water is common to both provinces. It has an area of 2842 square miles. Alberta can boast only one important lake, namely Lesser Slave Lake, which in spite of its name is almost 70 miles in length. There are in either province few mountains, none of which are important.
Resources Alberta's best farming-lands are in the northern interior (the region of which Edmonton is the centre), and this extends much farther north than in Saskatchewan, while the southern portion of Alberta, being rather high and of lighter soil, is better adapted to stock-raising. In addition to the above cereals the province also grows alfalfa, and all classes of roots, notably the sugar-beet, whose cultivation constitutes one of its most important industries. Lumbering is carried on around the upper waters of the North Saskatchewan and Athabasca Rivers in Alberta. Alberta is also rich in coal and oil. Its principal mining centres are Lethbridge, Coleman, Frank, Canmore, Edmonton, and Morinville. Oil is also found at the last-named place, as well as in the south of the province.
A.G. MORICE Adapted from Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) (Saskatchewan and Alberta)
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[edit] Nominations
Feel free to add top or high importance introductions to the above list. Other Alberta-related introductions may be nominated here.
