(13:29) Ole- We had three horses, that’s all. I took one trip in that district that was down the Panther with Ed Carleton.
(13:43) Alice – That’s where we had all the mice!
(13:50) Ole – We went down the Panther and back up the Dormer. Alice stayed with Dorothy Carleton.
(14:06) Alice –Yes, it was (nice to meet another warden’s wife). They just had Michael at that time. That was the only child they had. I was raised on a homestead and a farm (so district life wasn’t a big adjustment). It wasn’t that different really. Except there were bears in Banff! We didn’t have any bears where I was raised.
(14:44) Ole – We were at Windy for (only) three weeks or so.
(14:49) Alice – Johnny Royal quit. They were at Healy Creek and (then) we got to go to Healy Creek, which was just really something. Well, first of all, we had a beautiful three room log cabin to live in. It was only about six miles from town. Even on the old road.
(15:20) Ole – But it was still behind the fire gate! The iron gate…
(15:32 ) Alice – One day in town a month to do our shopping.
(15:34) Ole – Herb Ashley said I shouldn’t [even] get that because I was close to town and it didn’t take too long to get there.
(15:44) Alice – So we should only get half a day!
(15:45) Ole – He was a very nice guy…
(15:55) Alice – We didn’t have a vehicle of our own. Naturally, we didn’t have too much. And they gave Ole, you know one of those little army jeeps like they had on Mash, those little short things. Well, that’s what we had
(16:13) Ole – It didn’t have side curtains on it either. We’d come into town, only six miles and three of them, the Sundance Canyon from town was all paved, but the other three miles weren’t paved. You’d come into town dustier than heck, because it was a slow road you know. You couldn’t leave your dust behind.
(16:46) Alice – But we saved our money, I’ll tell you to get a car of our own! And at least then we could come in during the wintertime. We’d buy all our things for the month, one month’s supply, and you got very good at it.
(17:07) Ole – They didn’t care what you bought because you had to buy it. But they wanted that diary in at the end of the month.
(17:13) Alice – The dairy was the big thing. The odd time Ole would get called into the office and what not but then I never could go. Once a month was when we would go to do our business, get our groceries.
(17:28) Ole – I got a little bit intelligent there. I used to run out of gas halfway through the month, so that we could get fresh meat and what not!
(17:38) Alice – I’ll tell you the guys, Bill Hope and Jimmy Brewster were the Park truck the drivers (hauling lumber from the Red Earth Sawmill that Art Cartlidge ran) and those guys were really good. They used to bring us our mail, they would pick up anything we needed and what not you know. They were so good about stopping in and checking to see if we needed anything.
(18:09) Ole – Jeff Staples he was a truck driver.
(18:11) Alice – They were very good. The thing is it was driving a government vehicle. Ole had to do his business and not chauffer me around town. In the winter time our friends used to drive out. We would visit and play cards.
(18:59) Alice – (We were at Healy Creek for) 15 years. Seven in the old cabin which they built onto. We had three kids in that time and kind of out grew it. So they built on a kitchen and we got running water and a bathroom. A porch and a little basement under that part. So then we had two bedrooms and the living room was the old part. It was a cozy cabin.
(19:37) Ole – We had lots of bears there because Johnny Royal never took his garbage anyplace. He was the warden before me.
(20:11) Ole – (Showing a photo of a group of wardens in uniform) You’ve seen this picture of the Banff Warden Service on the steps of what was that building? On the east side of Banff Avenue across from Stafford’s Grocery.
(20:21) Alice – The Banff Auditorium it used be!
(21:32) Ole – We skipped a place there. I used to go and help bring in the horses too. I almost laughed when I heard it took them four days to bring in the 40 horses (for the 2009 Park Warden Centennial Celebrations) in for that parade. It took them four days and I don’t know how many guys there were! Three of us brought in 110 head in two days. We left the ranch (the Ya-Ha Tinda) early in the morning and we hit Windy that night. Then we went from there into town and dropped off Ed Carleton’s horses on the way at Stoney Creek. Early May (was when they brought the horses in) as soon as the pass got clear of snow, Snow Creek Summit. It took two of us the first spring I was there…They had two horses in town. They took us out to Cuthead cabin, dropped us off there. That day we rode right over to Scotch Camp. We never stopped at Windy at all. We rode down to the ranch and started chasing horses on the way to the ranch.
(23:33) Ole – Just on the farm (was Ole’s previous horse experience). That was the first horse chasing I ever did. Talk about sore! But the guy I was with Red Haskell. He broke his back. He got to be foreman of the ranch and he got to bragging down at the Bearberry Stampede. Forman of the ranch, good rider and what not, so they got him drunk and put him on the bronc. He broke his back and that ended that! It didn’t take long either.
(24:34) Ole – I did that two years in a row (bringing in the horses). I went out a third year but I didn’t ride. Only in an old army short truck with a right hand drive (a donut wagon).
