HISTORY OF CALGARY

In 1875 a foot weary troop of North West Mounted Policemen topped the valley rim and saw what they were looking for: two clean rivers, forests of spruce and Douglas Fir on the shady north face, poplars tracking the river's edge. It was the ideal place to build a fort, and though they had no reason to look that far ahead, it was the ideal place to build a city too.

The railway came in 1883 and pioneer ranchers poured in from across Canada and beyond. In 1884, with a population of 4,000, Calgary was officially proclaimed a city. Its first boom was on.

At the peak of the surge in 1912, with 47,000 people living in Calgary, a cowboy promoter by the name of Guy Weadick, planted the seeds of what was to grow into the Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth, the Calgary Stampede.

Although one in every three citizens turned out for that stampede, it still lost money. Weadick did not return to try again until 1919. Since then, the Calgary Show has never looked back. For 10 days each July, Calgarians put away their business suits, grab their white Stetsons and join one million visitor s for a noisy celebration of the Old West.

In 1924 the roar of high pressure oil and gas erupting from a drill stem, Royalite drilled below the Dingman well and struck it rich. Through '25 and '26, well after well was sunk and the flares from the successes were so brilliant that it was nearly daylight at midnight in Calgary, twenty miles away.

In the 50's Calgary became the fastest growing city in Canada and it stayed that way for a long time. From 100,000 in 1947, it mushroomed to 200,000 by 1955 and 325,000 by 1965.

The growth continued to center on oil, with reliable and constant help from the agricultural industries. The establishment as oil capital in the heyday of Turner Valley held, and as the oil patch spread across provincial boundaries and into the untapped North, Calgary remained the heart of the industry.

After the formation of OPEC sent oil prices spiralling upward in the 70's, a fresh boom began in Calgary making past booms look tame. At the peak of the boom, 3000 people a month were arriving in Calgary.

Stereotypes live long and it is hard to change them. Calgary has been known from the beginning as a cow town and still has that wild-west image. The reality, is to expect a forest of Manhattan like sky scrapers, one will see the impressive and monumental new municipal building nest to the well preserved sandstone structure of old City Hall. The 1988 Winter Olympics has left us with the legacy of the country's best hockey arena, the Saddle dome. The speed skating oval is simply a marvel of architecture and technology, only the second covered structure of this kind in the world. As well, Calgary's large ethnic presence, one can delight themselves with the best gourmet meals and a variety of events virtually from around the world. But the Calgary of today will still welcome you to our city with a traditional, warm "Howdy ".