Cows, cowboys, cattlemen & characters
Leonard Friesen

A history of the Calgary stockyards, 1903-1989.

Alberta has always been cattle country and still is today. Calgary has often been referred to as ‘Cowtown’. Many people think this is because of the world-famous Calgary Stampede, which is true; however, besides the Stampede, this city was home to one of Canada’s major terminal livestock markets, Alberta Stock Yards, for eighty-six years, 1903-1989. Calgary was once the home of six packing plants. Today, 1995, there is just one. This book tell about the ‘movers and shakers’ of the cattle industry in Alberta, it contains 625 character sketches. These people are men and women who worked at or often came to the Calgary Stockyards to do business, they helped shape Calgary and make the cattle business in Alberta what it is today. Included in these pages are a number of anecdotes and events told as they happened at the Yards. This book also documents a lot of early Alberta history. It is good reading for the young and old whether they are in the cattle business or not.