From the Archives of Western Newspapers

By Samantha Johnson
For Southern Alberta Newspapers

April 14, 1883 – Edmonton Bulletin

Roads are bad, it’s Spring for sure, gardening has commenced, building is lively, D. Ross spotted a beautiful butterfly the other day, freighters are slow to start this season, the bridge on Second Rat Creek is floating, the river is open clear across about a mile above the Fort, and the first rainbow of the season was visible on Saturday last.

The telegraph line has been working so badly the past week, we were unable to receive our usual dispatches, leaving more room for local news.

In Red Deer there has been vast amounts of immigration, but other than that the population has increased by only a single birth, the first in the settlement.

An elderly man living in Hope, ON has been murdered by his wife. Neighbours saw the house on fire and put it out with snow and later discovering the body of the man inside with his throat cut. The wife was found at a house a mile away and she told police he had cut his own throat before setting fire to the house.

April 15, 1908 – The Chronicle (Crossfield)

The town of Cochrane was under quarantine for several days last week due to several cases of smallpox. The trains were shooting straight through without stopping to offload or pick up passengers or mail.

A rare 25 shilling ($5) note from the Bank of Montreal issued on Apr. 3, 1852 was presented at Ogilvie Flour Mills in Montreal recently. A merchant from the Island of Montreal brought the note in, which had belonged to one of his relatives who recently died and had a habit of hoarding money away since boyhood. This is a lesson on the fallacy of hoarding money, the lost interest on the note, if compounded annually at 6%, would have been $133.

Medicine Hat wishes to gain notoriety and has taken a rather peculiar method of doing so. The evangelists Gale and Hatch went there and to have them remembered and talked about in future days, city officials held them up on a $7 license for selling hymn books.

 April 19, 1918 – Irma Times

On Monday, the Provincial Police paid a visit to Irma and removed the sugar bowls, butter dishes and bread plates from the restaurant and hotel. According to the Public Eating House Act, no patron can receive more than two lumps of sugar, one half ounce of butter or two slices of bread at each meal and the bread must be served after the first course. Warning was also given that meatless days must also be observed so that food can be conserved for the Allies.

A contract has been let for a building on Main Street where an ice cream parlour will be constructed. Options have been secured for two lots east of the Imperial Lumber Co. on First St. and plans are being prepared for an up-to-date moving picture theatre. New cars are now travelling around town with 19 residents proud new owners. Others will be delivered as soon as they are assembled.

Dutch fishermen are catching more than fish these days in their nets. “Floating parts of submarines are creating havoc with our nets,” said H. Venstra of Holland. “In many cases, flotsam and jetsam has been submitted to coast guardsmen and officers of the Dutch navy and were identified as belonging to (German) submarines that probably had been destroyed by depth charges.”