Stirling, Alberta

and community hall c. 1905 As the development of Railway took place throughout the 1880s in Southern Alberta, at the time Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) constructed a railroad from the city of Calgary to Fort Macleod. The Alberta Railway and Coal Company (ARCC) built a narrow gauge railway from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat in order to supply coal to the CPR. In 1899, the ARCC built another narrow gauge railway from Lethbridge, Alberta to Great Falls, Montana through the Coutts-Sweetgrass border crossing, closely following the route of the old Whoop-up Trail. Originally this railway was not built to promote colonization, but to open additional markets for Galt Coal in Montana. There was a limited amount of ranching along the route and no agricultural settlement. The ARCC opened the line to advertise land in parcels of 80-6401 acres for stock. The first station along the line south of Lethbridge was located near what was then known as "18 Mile Lake" (18 miles from Lethbridge), for locomotives to replenish water for their engines. This station siding was named after J. A. Stirling, an executive in a company in England that helped finance the ARCC. At that time, there were no people or buildings in the region, with the exception of station employees who lived in the section houses along the railway. Alberta Railway & Coal Company owned millions of acres of semiarid dry-land throughout Southern Alberta. This land was only suitable for ranching, not many new settlers saw potential in the dry landscape. Alberta Railway and Coal Company liked how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) was implementing irrigation in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah and nearby Cardston, Alberta. In 1899, it was decided to call upon the LDS Church to help colonize the area. As part of the agreement, the LDS church and the Alberta Railway & Irrigation Company (Successor to Alberta Railway & Coal Co.) was to build an irrigation canal as well, establish two communities, within the year end of 1899. The Community of Stirling and Magrath. Upon completion of the St. Mary's Irrigation Canal, the Church was granted thousands of acres of land, which was given as payment to its missionaries, who worked on building the canal. With the arrival of irrigation on November 14, 1899, the Village of Stirling quickly developed adjacent to the ARCC and station house. Today, the St. Mary's Main Canal is 312 km long and continues to be a vital source of irrigated water for much of Southern Alberta. National Historic Site status On May 5, 1899, a small band of 30 Mormon settlers led by Theodore Brandley of Richfield, Utah, arrived at Stirling station, they were greeted by Charles Ora Card of Cardston. The day after his arrival, Brandley with the help of Card inspected and planned out the new town site of Stirling. Like many Mormon settlements, Stirling was designed following Joseph Smith's "Plat of Zion". The village, originally made up of 47 blocks and 1 "Reserved" block, within one square mile . Each block was divided into with 8, lots, each measuring, by . A surveyed street, 100 ft wide with irrigation canal, surrounded each block. Stirling is unique, as each block has a 20 ft wide lane or alleyway separating the blocks, giving each residence access to a back alleyway. Also unique to Stirling is its Town Square, located at the northeast corner of the village. Originally made up of 4 "half blocks"; blocks, 1, 2, 4, 15, 17,1 8, were divided into 44, by commercial lots with alleyway between. Blocks 3 and 16 were divided into 25, by commercial lots with a by block south of block 3 and north of block 16. This block was reserved (R) for a town park or civic buildings. The reasoning for locating the town square in the corner of the village, was because at that time this location was nearest to the original Alberta Railway & Coal Co. station. Whereas, Joseph Smith's ideal Plat of Zion, planned for the town's square or business center and civic buildings to be located at the centre of the settlement, surrounded by large residential lots, giving residents enough room for a house, barn and shelters for animals. Irrigation water was accessed at the canal running along each street, giving residence the opportunity to grow and water a large garden and raise livestock. For this reason, Stirling was known as the "Village of Gardens". These canals were used up until 1968 when the village of Stirling public works installed fresh drinking water and sewer lines to each property. Of the 47 blocks, Stirling was laid out with 32 blocks divided into 8, residential lots with an alleyway separating lots 1-4 & 5–8. 13 of the 47 blocks, bordering the western and southern borders of the village, were used by residents for agriculture purposes and never divided. Although many original Mormon Settlements throughout Southern Alberta were planned using the Plat of Zion, Stirling presently is known to be the best preserved Mormon Settlement in Canada, still following the Plat of Zion. As so, the village of Stirling has been recognized as a National Historic Site of Canada New Stirling Construction of the St. Mary Railway, beginning in Stirling and ending in Cardston began in 1900 and was finished in 1902. The Canadian Pacific Railway took over all assets of Alberta Railway and Irrigation company (successor of Alberta Railway Coal Company) in 1912 and started construction of a new line east of Stirling to Saskatchewan. Stirling had now become an important railway junction in Southern Alberta with rail lines from north, south, east and west. To accommodate the expansion of the railway the CPR needed more space for yards and shunting. Kipp Coulee near the original station did not have enough room to expand, so the CPR moved the station one mile north. This created an ideal location for a new town. A town site was planned and lots were advertised for sale in what was called New Stirling also known as New Town. Due to confusion between the two post offices in Stirling and New Stirling, the name was changed to Maybutt. Mr. Fisher, who was the original owner and planner of the town site syndicate of Stirling, decided to rename the town after his wife, Mrs. "May Butt". A large hotel; the Prairie Queen Hotel, a Presbyterian Church, and a large variety of other businesses and houses quickly sprung up shortly after land was opened up. The community even had its own newspaper; the "New Stirling Star". The town did not flourish and eventually, buildings were moved away; the school, that was never built was closed, before speculation of building one had failed. By the 1950s the post office closed its doors. Maybutt slowly died off making it a forgotten ghost town with few original buildings remaining. In recent years homes have been moved into Maybutt as small hobby farms and acreages. == Geography and climate ==