The Irrigation Builders

The Hon. Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt National Archives of Canada, MIKAN no. 3215898 Alberta Railway & Coal Company, ca. 1890

When Charles Ora Card and company arrived in southwest NWT they came with experience in irrigation. They began some small irrigation projects on the Lee Creek to bring water to run a grist mill and to water gardens. Richard Pilling arrived in 1889 and farmed on the banks of the St. Mary River. In 1890 he crafted a water wheel that would lift river water ten feet into a trough that ran into a ditch along his garden (Chief Mountain Country A history of Cardston and district Vol 1, page 445).

The irrigation projects of the settlers interested the Galts of Lethbridge and a second arrangement was made between the Alberta Railway & Coal Company (AR &CC) and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to construct the main irrigation canal to supply water to large acreages of lands in the Magrath, Raymond and Stirling areas. Card advertised for men in Utah and other Church settlements to come and work on the project. They were to receive pay in both cash and in land (The Alberta Temple Centre and Symbol of Faith, V. A. Wood pg. 11, quoting E. J. Wood Diary February 1913).

The irrigation project started in 1898 bringing water from the St Mary River and ultimately to the Lethbridge area making water available to some 150,000 to 200.000 acres along the sixty mile canal. The project was completed in 1900 and on schedule.  

The community of Magrath was established in 1901 by settlers who came to work on the irrigation canal.