Ranching Industry National Historic Event
Longview, Alberta
Bar U Ranch NHSC
(© Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, 2005, cover of Management Plan)
Address :
PO Box 168, Bar U Ranch National Historic Site of Canada, Longview, Alberta
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1968-11-28
Other Name(s):
-
Ranching Industry
(Designation Name)
Research Report Number:
RANCHING - July 1989; 97-19; 89-SUA, SUB; 88-A01-02; 77-29; 76-65A-B; 74-SUD; 74-43, 43A
Importance:
Developed in the 1880s when eastern investors established large ranches on leased Crown land and raised cattle for Canadian and British markets
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: Bar U Ranch NHSC Longview, Alberta
The ranching industry on the Prairies developed in the 1880s when eastern investors established large ranches on leased Crown land and raised cattle for Canadian and British markets. The Bar U and a handful of other large spreads dominated ranching society during the 1890s. Pressure from farmers and from smaller ranchers reduced the large ranges, and the hard winter of 1906 marked the end of the era of the big ranches. The Bar U was one of the few large operations to survive and, under the successive direction of Fred Stimson, George Lane and Pat Burns, prospered into the mid-20th century.