Growing Up in Southern Alberta "Back in the Day"
An unidentified child wearing chaps and leaning on a rifle
It is a common trope to envision children in previous generations exploring their neighbourhoods and countryside with little or no supervision. People are often impressed with how different the experiences recounted by grandparents and seniors seem when compared to what children experience today.
Local memoirs, oral histories and newspapers found at the Galt Museum & Archives offer plenty of evidence of just how free-wheeling and self-reliant the childhood experience could be in the early 1900s.
Henry Rollingson remembers receiving his first gun at the age of nine. He trapped beavers, hunted lynx and explored the Old Crowsnest railway track, gathering cast iron and buffalo bones for money as a young teenager. Rosella Bjornson grew up in Champion, Alberta, in the 1950s. She remembers that she was regularly allowed to fly a one-motor plane by herself as a young teenager. Flying was not a commonplace experience for teenagers in southern Alberta. But driving vehicles, operating farming equipment and helping with mechanical repairs certainly was. Bjornson spoke about her experiences at a presentation at the Galt in 2016.
A 1920s article in the Lethbridge Herald has an incredible story about two children, seven and eight years old:
“[the children] mounted a couple of ponies and went out coyote hunting with dogs while the family was away.”
The children managed to get a kill and were quite proud of their experience. It is interesting to note that the story didn't make the headlines in the paper. It wasn't even so noteworthy as to be featured in a standalone article. It was simply included as an item in the community news section; just another day in southern Alberta.
You can discover more stories about childhood in the past with the resources in our archives. Discover what we have in our online database at collections.galtmuseum.com.