How A Railroad Help Build Up Southwestern Alberta

Hero122, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Because of the influx of settlers arriving in the Cardston area from the United States, the Galt family who owned the Alberta Railway & Coal Company (AR&CC) of Lethbridge saw that a railroad from Lethbridge to the US boarder would be beneficial to them for shipping coal and for the immigrants to have rail passage into Canada. The AR&CC and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entered into a joint agreement to build a rail line between Sweet Grass and Lethbridge. Construction began in 1890. The Church supplied the labor, the AR&CC supplied the materials and paid the workers in cash and land. The Village of Stirling sprang up from this contract.  

Stirling is east of Cardston and became the jumping off point for future settlers. It was founded in 1899. The Village of Stirling is also referred to as Stirling Agricultural Village due to its designation as National Historic Site of Canada.