Agriculture Rocks: A Salute to the 4-H
4-H is one of Canada's longest-running organizations for youth aged between 8 and 21.
They celebrate their 100th anniversary this year and the Bar U Ranch is proud to showcase the agricultural leaders of tomorrow through "Agriculture Rocks".
4-H stands for Head, Heart, Hands and Health and the organization encourages youth to develop skills that will help enhance their community.
Participants are exposed to a wide variety of projects, from building websites to photography and animal care.
4-H demonstrations will happen at the Bar U Ranch throughout the season.
Last year Bar U Ranch helped the Calgary Stampede celebrate its centennial. Three of the 'Big Four' founders of the Stampede managed the Bar U at one time or another.
If you are a 4-H club interested in offering a display, please contact us.
A Work in Progress: The Root Cellar
The Root Cellar: "Belly of the Bar U" © Parks Canada
Gaze through the fence at the entrance to root cellar this summer as part of your visit to the Bar U Ranch.
The rest of the root cellar will be restored by the Mountain Parks Restoration at the end of the operating season. The root cellar is part of the “belly of the Bar U”, which also includes the cookhouse and garden. The cellar was complex with a network of passages and built in wood shelving.
The cellar stored food year-round for up to two dozen people. It may not seem a big deal to have a functioning root cellar, but consider that in the 1920s, there was no grocery store nearby, and Calgary was a couple of days away on horseback.
The root cellar was state of the art technology for root cellars, probably built in 1917 and used right through 1950.
Because it was built on level ground, it lasted longer than previous root cellars. C.E.Miller, most likely the construction foreman, and a cowboy known as Charlie, left his name on one of the stone walls.