Deb: That was the end of that little episode.
Ken: He wasn’t the best horseman for finesse but he did understand a lot….and he had a way of doing things. And of course, when he was there every colt had to be hooked to the stone boat….you couldn’t just break them to ride….you had to stone boat them, pack them and ride them. And we had la few wrecks on those stone boats.
Rod: So he wasn’t really rough with horses, just knowledgeable.
Ken: (Cal was) Knowledgeable enough and especially with the studs.
Deb: Cal was not the best horseman as horsemen go….but he just had an interesting way with horses….and, as Ken says, especially with the studs. They were well mannered around him. Cal did not tolerate any nonsense. As you know, Cal was only this high anyways (indicates Cal’s height). And so we could work with the studs, we could ride the studs, no problem, and even bring the mares in with them. Our kids used to sit right in the manger with Arrow and put their ball caps on his head. But those studs were not ever mean because Cal would not tolerate any of that nonsense.
Ken: Every year Cal would get a bred mare and put it in with the stud….the stud didn’t spend all winter by himself. He always had a mare with him. You’d worry about the stud because the first thing he’d want to do was snort some flank and that old mare would give him a wallop in the chest.
Deb: Cal never isolated the studs. Some people do that and the studs get a little crazy, but no, Cal never let them be by themselves and he always had a bred mare with them and they were happy as a clam and they were good to be around.
Rod: Tell me about the stud. Was he there when you first got there? Whose idea was it to try a Morgan? Or do you know?
Ken: I don’t know. He was there already. He already had quite a few years on him. His name was Canalta Gaylark. That was his papered name.
Deb: I think he was about 18 years old already.
Rod: I wonder if it goes back as far as Fred Dixon’s time because Fred Dixon was always high on Morgans. (a breed of horse). When I worked with him in Elk Island he always thought the park should be using Morgans or a Morgan cross.
Ken: The Morgan crossed with a Thoroughbred are pretty hot colts for most of the wardens….especially those Fort Walsh (RCMP) Thoroughbreds that we had. Omaha and Norma’s colts were really snorty.
Deb: But they came along and they had a lot of stamina and endurance. They were the big heavy thoroughbreds. Did you ride any of them Perry?
Perry: Yes, when I first went to Lake Louise and it was a bit of a ‘cowboy ride’ at first.
Rod: So there were a number of horses that came from Fort Walsh….was that at the same time you were at the ranch or before you came?
Ken: They were there when I got there. There were a bunch of those Thoroughbred mares. It seemed as if half of them weren’t even halter broke. When we went to worm the mares it was a feat to get halters on them and get them caught. They were quite a wild bunch, but boy they had some good colts. I remember Omaha and Norma because they were half sisters and they were about 16-3 (hands high – big black mares).
Rod: Were you there for the decision making to buy the Quarter Horse stud?
Ken: No, that was Johnny Nylund, Denny Welsh and Mike Schintz. They went on a buying trip and they bought him from Hans Hansma….and he was from Peppy San Badger bloodlines. So we crossed him with those thoroughbred mares and we got some pretty good colts out of him too. I think he produced over a hundred colts on the ground (live birth).
Deb: They transitioned over to quarter horse mares too….so they didn’t have the hotter Thoroughbred blood lines in them anymore.
Ken: I have a story about Cal on that one….oh, sometimes he did some things that would just make you shake your head you know. When we first got there we fed with a team, and we fed square bales, so it was quite a chore as we had 235 horses at the time. So you’d go down there with the team and load up the sleigh and go feed the bales and then come back and load up another bale. We had Olga and Nina (the team). One spring Cal was feeling sorry for the team and said, “I think the stud needs a visitor or two” so he turned the stud in with them. The stud ended up breeding both of them….so we ended up with (foals) Dutch and Dolly. Dutch was from Olga and Dolly was from Nina. They were two little Percheron crosses. Dolly never got to be more than 14-3 hands high.
Deb: They are still packing her in the park. It’s rather funny but Cal never called Jessie by her name…he always called her ‘Dolly’ so when the ‘D’ colts came along, it just seemed to fit.
Ken: Dutch kicked one of the other horses in the head and killed it. The guy was riding Dutch and went to let them drink water, and when the packhorse came up, Dutch kicked him right in the forehead and killed the packhorse. That was in Jasper.
Deb: How long did you guys feed with the team before you got the new tractor?
Ken: Two or three years that I was there we fed with the team. We had that round bale feeder that was on runners, and it was archaic as hell. You’d back in with the team and you’d have to run out and watch the team and drive these pins through these holes in the arm. And there was a hand winch, and the bale had to be cranked up with that. On the front of the sleigh there was the oat bin so you’d drive the team up to the building where the museum is now. That used to be called the grain bin. You’d pump oats in and go out and spread the oats then swing around and roll the bale out. Well, when you let the bale down you made sure you were well away because when you unclicked the winch, the handle would go around about 900 miles per hour as it let that bale down. It was just an archaic thing, and we fed round bales all one winter like that. Cal was tough! Even if it was 50 below zero he’d drive the team when it was that cold and go out and feed.
We also used the one-ton Ford to feed grain and I’d have Clint or Jessie drive the truck (standing on the seat) in first gear while I walked along beside and monitored the grain slide. A few times, I’d have to make a run for it to get the truck turned away from a dip in the field.
Perry: Ken, when you first came to the ranch there was 230 head of horses?
Ken: 235 head. That was in 1988. I don’t think they even have 100 now do they?
Rod: No, I don’t think so.
Ken: (Back then) It would take all day to worm them all.
Rod: Did you do the shoeing at the time? Or was that contracted out?
Ken: The park horses were contracted out….but all the horses on the ranch (that were being trained etc.) were shod by the guys that worked there. We shod all the colts. Some of that was a bit western at times too.
Rod: So, any other notable experiences during your time there? I’ve heard stories about planes landing in the yard and different wildlife stories.
Ken: We used to chase the elk. You’d go feed first thing in the morning and by 2 pm the elk would start moving in and chasing the horses off the hay. So we got this brilliant idea that if the elk were going to chase our horses off the hay….then we would chase them off. Have you ever tried to chase 800 head of elk? You don’t chase them…they scatter! It’s just horrible! I remember one time, they went right through the fence in the Little Bighorn Field….and went across that road that went to the Clearwater….just as these natives were driving up. All these elk ran across, going wide open in front of their truck. They stopped us and said, “You guys seen any elk?” I said “Yes, but I don’t think you want any of them; they are a little hot!” (lots of laughing). When you get 800 head of elk in front of you and they start doing the snake and they are about 5 abreast and it makes it very interesting.
Deb: They (the Province) did an aerial count and there was about 2700 head of elk at their peak.
Rod: Was that in the 1990s?
Ken: Yeah. I remember we were doing our first warden schools then. We took the guys to get square bales down at the stack yard. And we were talking about all these elk and these guys (warden school participants) had not seen any. But as we were loading the square bales the elk started filing by and these guys did a quick count and they came up with 1800 head in that quick count.
Deb: That is when they started looking at an elk relocation program.
Ken: We were there for that – the whole thing. Moving elk.
Rod: They are down to about 300 head there right now apparently. That is what we saw when we were up there.
Ken: What was that guy’s name, Brian ? (Fish & Wildlife). He hired Barry Ferguson to run the elk trap for a few years up there to trap elk. They moved the elk south to the Burnt Timber and places like that. The first year was a lesson because they trapped all the older cows who would come right back to their calving grounds. So then they started just taking the young ones and we did not have as much problem with them coming back.
Rod: I understand that the Province was supposed to be responsible for wildlife management. I read that somewhere….the management of the ranch was kind of shared between the province and the feds.
Ken: Fish & Wildlife had the responsibility for wildlife and enforcing hunting regulations .
Rod: What was the situation on the hunting?
Ken: The worst were the natives. Again….another Cal story. They came all the way from St. Paul, Alberta to hunt at the Ya Ha Tinda, and they usually would come in the week before Christmas. It was the ‘Christmas elk’ instead of the ‘Christmas turkey’. But they’d shoot….just herd shoot…. it was just like a war going on out there. And they get all these elk…and they had this little tiny team (of horses) and this wagon to haul the elk. We were out feeding and they came over to us and asked, “Would you mind hauling some elk out for us? Cal just looked at them and said, “If you’d get some of those God damned savages off the wagon you could haul your own elk!” They just turned around and drove away.
Rod: Were they (natives) able to hunt any time without any restrictions?
Ken: (According to the Alberta Hunting Regulations) They were supposed to follow the 365 meter restriction off each side of the road. And that was one of the reasons that we closed the road going up to the Clearwater because that was one of their favourite things. And not only that, but they could drive up and hunt sheep too, right in behind the buildings. That was why we closed that road; it was to stop all that driving. When they closed the (Cascade) Fire Road going west then it almost stopped the native hunting because they couldn’t drive anywhere.
Rod: What about the resident hunters? Were they a concern? Did you get along pretty good with them?
Ken: We had a few problems. Most of them were pretty good. But there was always a conflict up on the Clearwater between the hunters and the outfitters. They always said it was our fault and we should do something about it but it was off of the ranch (property) ….so they would need to call Fish & Wildlife. We probably hauled 5 or 6 (abandoned dead elk) from back of the buildings and we would hang them up with the tractor and gut them. We’d call Fish & Wildlife and they would come and get them. They’d take them to that Reserve west of Rocky towards the Saskatchewan River Crossing….the Stoney First Nation. They’d take them there and give them the meat. That was where our Fish and Wildlife officers came from at that time; they were out of Rocky Mountain House.
Deb: We had a few issues with hunters…. One had a heart attack and we had to call STARS in. Another guy shot himself through the foot and we had to get him hauled out.
Ken: He shot himself with a 30:06 right through the top of his foot. He was a retired R.C.M.P. officer…and he was up above Bighorn Falls, way back, almost to the break of the hill….we put him in the back of the quad trailer and it must have been a painful ride down to the road.
Deb: But really when you think about it….we were there at the Ya Ha Tinda almost 10 years and we really didn’t have a lot of incidents with hunters…. just a few here and there.
Ken: Yeah, they were all pretty good. The biggest problem I had was with Tim Barton. He had the “sidehill gouger café” at the boundary (Banff Park boundary west of the ranch). He’d always try to sneak his horses onto West Lakes (to graze). The problem was they’d always wander towards us. One time they were all down on the flat and I gathered them up and put them in the Little Bighorn Field and it was three days before he came looking for them. He wanted to know if I’d seen his horses and I said to him, “I know exactly where they are Tim.”
Rod: Have you seen his little blurb on his website? I looked it up the other day. You should have a look at it. Quite the dialogue he’s got on there.
Deb: We haven’t seen him in years.
Rod: Rick & Jean said they heard it was up for sale. I don’t know.
Deb: It could be. He has had it (The Outpost at Warden Rock) for lots of years. He was a teacher at the college (Olds Agricultural College) the same year that Ken went to farrier school there. Tim was the anatomy teacher.
Ken: After the prescribed burn in Banff Park, he started using (the area) between his place and Scotch Camp for grazing.
Rod: A woeful character.
