Key Number:	HS 54786
Site Name:	Oxley Ranch Barn / The Leavings at Willow Creek
Other Names:
Site Type:	0502 - Farming and Ranching: Barn 1311 - Governmental: Police Station or Post

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			13	28	4

Address:
Number:
Street:
Avenue:
Other:
Town:
Near Town:	Claresholm

Media

Type	Number	Date	View
Digital scan of Negative Digital scan of Negative Digital scan of Negative Digital scan of Negative Digital scan of Negative Digital scan of Negative	83-R0090-16 83-R0090-17 83-R0090-18 83-R0090-25 83-R0090-26 83-R0090-28	1983/03/17 1983/03/17 1983/03/17 1983/03/17 1983/03/17 1983/03/17	Southeast Southeast South Second storey Northeast Northwest

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	Rectangular Long Facade
Storeys:	Storeys: 2
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Stone
Superstructure:	Vertical Plank
Superstructure Cover:	Wood: Vertical Plank Stone - Finish: Natural
Roof Structure:	Medium Gable
Roof Cover:	Wood
Exterior Codes:	Massing of Units: Single Detached Wings: Either Side Wall Design and Detail: None Roof Trim - Eaves: Projecting Eaves Roof Trim - Eaves: Rafters Exposed Roof Trim Material - Eaves: Wood Roof Trim - Verges: Projecting Verges Roof Trim Material - Verges: Wood Towers, Steeples and Domes: None Dormer Type: None Chimney Location - Side to Side: None Chimney Location - Front to Rear: None Roof Trim - Special Features: None Window - Structural Opening Shape: Flat Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Head: Plain Flat Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Material: Wood Window - Sill Type: Plain Slip Sill Window - Sill Material: Wood Window - Trim Within Structural Opening - Head: Plain Window - Trim Within Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Window - Number of Sashes: One Window - Opening Mechanism: Unknown Window - Special Types: None Window - Pane Arrangements: 2 over 2 Main Entrance - Location: Centre (Facade) Main Entrance - Location: Off-Centre (Facade) Main Entrance - Structural Opening Shape: Flat Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Head: Plain Flat Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening Material: Wood Main Entrance - Trim Within Structural Opening - Head: Plain Main Entrance - Trim Within Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Main Entrance - Number of Leaves: 1 Main Entrance - Leaves - Special Feature: Vertical Board Main Entrance - Leaves - Special Feature: Dutch Door Main Stairs - Location and Design: None Main Porch - Type: None
Exterior:	Original barn is built into hill. First storey is constructed of sandstone blocks, second storey of wood with vertical planks nailed with square nails. Sandstone foundation. Lower story (sandstone block) intact; some minimal weathering. Upper wooden hay loft has collapsed almost entirely. (2011)
Interior:	Upper storey collapsed; lower storey has intact interior structures including stalls and original wood floors. Cement added to the floor in 1927. Knob and tube wiring added 1940s. Several name / date inscriptions.
Environment:	Site located by Willow Creek in a valley plateau. Building is built into hill. On Willow Creek flood plain.
Condition:	Structure: Good Repair: Poor (1983) Lower storey intact with some natural weathering. Uper story (hay loft) collapsed and largely destroyed. (2011)
Alterations:	Apparent Alterations and/or Additions: South Shed added Site: Original Cement added to the floor in 1927. Knob and tube wiring added in the 1940s.

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Construction Completed Construction Started	1884/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Farming and Ranching: Barn Farming and Ranching: Barn Currently not in use	1884/01/01 2011/10/20
Owner:	Owner Date:
Herb Maurushat Stavely Hill Scott Maurushat	1884/01/01 2011/12/13

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	NWMP / Oxley Ranch
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	The barn was built in 1884. The Kountz cabin / stopping house is presently at this location. It is unclear if this is the original location of the Kountz cabin or if it was moved here from a few miles away. The Kountz stopping house was bought by Oxley Ranch in 1882. John Craig, the first manager of the Oxley Ranch built a home for his family in 1883-1984 using this location as the original ranch headquarters. In 1886, Craig parted ways with the New Oxley Ranch and the headquarters of the ranch were moved to 31-13-28-W4M. The NWMP began using the location / buildings as an outpost in1886. After Graig left in 1891, the NWMP rented all of his buildings at this location, including leasing a 55 acre NWMP horse pasture nearby. The outpost was named until 1903. Several inscriptions are visible on sandstone blocks inside the barn. These inscriptions date between 1884 and 1914 (in the sandstone blocks), with 1927 on the cement floor. This includes one which reads “WS NWMP 1900”. 1884 has been chiseled below both windows on the barn’s short side. The British M.P. in the House of Commons who, with the help of Lord Lathan's money, began the Oxley Ranch. It is not clear whether Oxley Ranch was responsible for the barn's construction). According to present owner, Herb Maurushat, site was originally part of the Oxley Ranch, a British enterprise that finally went broke due to poor management and/or lack of finances. The barn was probably built by Oxley Ranch. If not, it is likely that the North West Mounted Police were the builders. Present owner would like to restore but is afraid that publicizing site would encourage visitors. ========================== D-1832 - OXLEY RANCH BUILDINGS HISTORICAL CONTEXT: When the Montana cattle industry began to thrive in the aftermath of the American civil war, and the extension of railways to the western states, many cattle barons began to extend their activity north of the 49th Parallel. Sensitive to the encroachment of American influence in western Canada, the Dominion government took several measures to ensure the "Canadianization" of this region. A Department of the Interior was formed to oversee developments on the central prairies, a North-west Mounted Police force was formed to establish law and order, and a Dominion Lands Act was passed to see to the orderly disposition of Crown lands to British subjects, or those who would agree to become British subjects. Plans were also put in place to extend a transcontinental railway through the region. Another measure taken by the government to ensure the loyalty of the region to Canada was to encourage a ranching industry in the western foothills, with capital to be provided by eastern Canadian and British entrepreneurs. For such Canadian or British cattle companies, vast tracts of land would be set aside as grazing leases. By the early 1880's, much of the southern foothills of what was to become Alberta was therefore given over to a few major cattle companies, including the Cochrane, Winder, Walrond, Northwest, Quorn, Stewart and Stinson Ranches. Their success depended to a great extent on the arrival of the CPR, which reached the site of Fort Calgary in 1883. Another major ranching operation was founded in 1882 by Alexander Staveley Hill, a Conservative Member of the British House of Commons, backed by Lord Lathan. This was the Oxley Ranch, which came to base its operation on two vast tracts in the districts of present day Champion and Staveley, north of Fort Macleod. This ranch flourished throughout most of the 1880's and 1890's, and, during much of this time, its success appears to have been due to the efficient management of John Roderick Craig. An added benefit was the extension of the Calgary & Edmonton Railway from Calgary to Fort Macleod in 1892, which eliminated the necessity of making long cattle drives to Calgary. By the end of the decade however, changes were in the air. In order to provide a greater population base in western Canada, the new Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier began to curtail the predominance of many of the large ranches by not renewing the grazing leases on much of the range land. The idea was to encourage smaller independent farms and ranches, which would specialize in mixed farming. During the early 20th century, many of the large ranches went out of business, while others saw their scope of operation severely curtailed, including the Oxley Ranch. During its heyday, the western portion of the Oxley Ranch had based its operation from headquarters on NE14 TP13 R28 W4. On this site today are a log house which was, no doubt, part of the Oxley Ranch operation at some point, and possibly the home of its manager, John Craig. It is located next to a trail that extended from Fort Macleod to Calgary, but which went out of use after the E & E Railway to the east saw the center of activity also shift, when railway communities like Claresholm and Staveley emerged. Near the house is a wood frame barn on a large concrete foundation built into a hillside which could also have been part of the Oxley Ranch. The buildings are also spoken of as having been part of a North-west Mounted Police detachment, which existed in the district in the late 1880's, but was moved to Claresholm shortly after the railway came through. The grazing lease of NE14 TP28 R4 W5 expired by 1906, for, in September of that year, the quarter was applied for by John Morgan as a homestead, with Morgan gaining title in December, 1909. From that point on, it would serve as a small farm. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The historical significance of the Oxley Ranch buildings lies in their provision of structural evidence of this ranching operation, one of the biggest in the southern Alberta foothills, prior to 1900. As such, they tell of both social and commercial activities of the ranch, and of the southern Alberta cattle industry in general during this time. The buildings are also important in being close to the original cattle trail between Fort Macleod and Calgary, which was the major thoroughfare between these two centers prior to the coming of the railway in 1892.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
(not assigned) Provincial Historic Resource	2006/11/17

Register:

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places: