Circle L Ranch

Claresholm, Near

Street Address:
Community:	Claresholm, Near
Boundaries:	Portion of Legal Subdivision 15 in Section 27-12-29-W4
Contributing Resources:	Building: 7 Landscape(s) or Landscape Feature(s): 7

ATS Legal Description:

Mer	Rge	Twp	Sec	LSD
4	29	12	27	15 (ptn.)

PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):

Plan	Block	Lot	Parcel

Latitude/Longitude:

Latitude	Longitude	CDT	Datum Type
50.032735	-113.878492	Secondary Source	NAD83

UTM Reference:

Northing	Easting	Zone	CDT	Datum Type

Recognition

Recognition Authority:	Province of Alberta
Designation Status:	Provincial Historic Resource
Date of Designation:	2004/06/10

Historical Information

Built:	1896 to 1896
Period of Significance:	N/A
Theme(s):	Developing Economies : Extraction and Production Peopling the Land : People and the Environment
Historic Function(s):	Food Supply : Farm or Ranch
Current Function(s):	Food Supply : Farm or Ranch
Architect:
Builder:
Context:	HISTORICAL CONTEXT: As the American Northwest began to fill up with farmers and ranchers following the Civil War, many drifted across the 49th Parallel to do business. With the signing of Treaty 7 with the Blackfoot Confederacy in 1877, vast tracts of land became available for settlement in what is now southeast Alberta. Where the land seemed suitable for dry land farming, it was subdivided into quarter sections and made available for homesteading, or for purchase from the Canadian Pacific Railway or the Hudson's Bay Company. Where the open range land seemed more suitable for raising cattle, it was given over to such by the government by means of grazing leases. The latter was the case with much of the southern foothills, and when it was learned that the Canadian Pacific Railway would be traversing this region on its way to the Pacific Ocean, several large ranching companies were formed, such as the Cochrane, Oxley, Winder and Quorn Ranches, many of them with British and eastern Canadian capital. A number of smaller family ranches also sprang up tin the area however. Many of these were established by migrant American cowboys who were determined to get away from the huge Montana ranches, which had lately been plagued by bitter and violent range wars. Among the Americans determined to start their own ranches in Canada was a storekeeper from Salt Lake City named Charles Lyndon. In about 1881, he, his wife, Margaret, and their eight-year old son, William, made their way to the Porcupine Hills district west of present day Claresholm, and east of the large Walrond Ranch. Here, they took out a grazing lease and built a crude dwelling with a barn and corral. With cattle and supplies purchased at Fort Benton, Montana, they proceeded to establish their ranching operation. For a few years, Lyndon drove his cattle south to Fort Benton to market. However, once the Calgary and Edmonton Railway was extended south to Fort Macleod in 1892, the new railway centre of Claresholm became a logical marketing point. By this time, other small ranches had been carved out in the area, and so, in 1893, the government decided to extend postal service to the district. This was located on Lyndon's grazing lease at SW35 Township 12 Range 29 W4, and, so, the post office was named Lyndon, as was the creek running by it. For years, the ranchers on the southern foothills prospered from the high tariffs maintained by the federal Conservative government, which guaranteed them a market in eastern Canada for their beef. However, once the Liberals under Wilfred Laurier took office in 1896, the federal perspective began to change, and more emphasis came to be placed on settling the west with small, independent farmers. As a result, some of the grazing land in the foothills began to be subdivided into quarter sections for homesteading. Those small ranchers who had lived on this land, and had made improvements on it, were given the right of pre-emption of the quarter-section on which they dwelled and were encouraged to begin new careers as ranch-farmers, but many found this too restrictive and so they moved on, even though extensive areas were still left open for grazing leases. Among those to stay was Charles Lyndon, who obtained a pre-emption for the quarter on which he and his family lived, and, in December 1896, he appears to have built the log ranch house that is still standing on this property, possibly as part of his homesteading requirements. This quarter was hardly enough room to maintain a ranch, but there were then still many sections given over to grazing leases in the immediate vicinity, and, on these, he would continue to raise his cattle, which were mainly Herefords. He called his ranch the Circle L, which was also his cattle brand. By the turn of the century, much of the Circle L ranching operation was in the hands of William Lyndon. As more and more grazing lease land in the district was turned into homestead land, the Lyndons sought ways in which to maintain their ranch. In 1896, all of Section 26 was purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company, while William himself took SW34 as a homestead. When she passed away in 1911, William Lyndon and his second wife, Clara, were thus in charge of 11 quarters of land, sufficient for a small ranch, but made bigger with the continued use of much land to the south which was still given over for grazing lease. William Lyndon, who had helped organize a local unit of Alberta Rangers (23rd Division) in 1906, was with this unit when it served overseas during World War I. He eventually gained the rank of Major. Though he was wounded during the war and would be hospitalized for shell shock, he would return to his ranch in 1919 and reassume business. He would obtain two more quarters by purchase and still use grazing leases to the south, and would concentrate on raising horses as well as cattle. He also engaged in some dry land farming near a dam his father had built on Lyndon Creek. After he passed away in 1938, the ranch passed on to his sons, Lawrence and Charles, under whom its operation was contracted out to various foremen, primarily Alec Patterson. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The historical significance of the Lyndon Ranch buildings lies in their representation of small-scale ranching in southeast Alberta during the turn of the 20th century, where, amongst several large corporate ranches, many smaller operations were maintained. Many of these would not survive the decision of the government to subdivide much of the rangeland into quarter sections for homesteading, but others, like the Lyndons', would be sustained by taking homestead quarters, purchasing other quarters as they became available, and utilizing what land was still open for grazing leases. The buildings are important also in their association with the early independent rancher, Charles Lyndon, and his son, William. Though not so prominent as to be mentioned in Victor Kelly's The Range Men (1912), or in later studies on ranch life in southeast Alberta by Lewis G. Thomas, David Breen or Henry Klassen, the Lyndon Ranch was a prominent concern in the Porcupine Hills district west of Claresholm.

Additional Information

Object Number:	4665-0892
Designation File:	DES 2109
Related Listing(s):
Heritage Survey File:	HS 32628
Website Link:
Data Source:	Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (Des. 2109)