Business ventures
Sir Alexander Galt and his son Elliott Torrance Galt used their connections in Ottawa to arrange for Elliot to be appointed the Assistant Indian Commissioner in southern Alberta. Alexander was undoubtedly aware of the work done by Dr. George Dawson to map the coal deposits in south Alberta on behalf of the Geological Survey of Canada. As well, knowing a railroad was soon to be built in the region, Alexander likely saw the economic potential in southern Alberta's coal. This knowledge and planning may have been part of why he secured Elliot a post as Assistant Indian Commissioner.
Alexander Galt sent Nicholas Bryant and William Stafford to decide the best location for a mine in southern Alberta. The men took samples at five locations across the region. Finally, Stafford decided upon the west side of the Oldman River. On October 13, 1882, William Stafford and a group of miners from Nova Scotia opened Drift Mine No. 1 near the community of Coalbanks. Alexander created the North Western Coal and Navigation Company to grow his industry with the participation of English investors, the largest shareholder being William Lethbridge. William Lethbridge was named the president of the company, and the growing community called Coalbanks was officially renamed Lethbridge in his honour in 1885.
Alexander and Elliot Galt established the Alberta Railway and Coal Company to build two narrow-gauge rail lines, hoping that the infrastructure would attract other businesses and settlers to the region. One rail line would go east to Dunmore, near Medicine Hat, and the second line would go south to Montana. Canada's Governor-General, the Marquess of Landsdowne, demonstrated the Dominion government's support of the Galt enterprises by opening the Galts' railway in September 1885 in Lethbridge.
The Federal Government granted large tracts of land in southern Alberta to the Galt's companies in return for building those two rail lines. The Galts wanted to sell that land to colonists and settlers, but the community and the region did not attract new European settlers to move here in the numbers they had expected.
Charles Ora Card was sent to establish a colony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Canada in 1886. He selected a spot "3 miles up Lee's Creek," the current site of the Town of Cardston. A small group of Mormon colonists arrived to establish the community in June 1887.
Card encouraged the Galts to undertake a significant irrigation project because the area around Cardston was so dry. Even though he was unable to secure financing for the project at a time of nationwide recession, the Galts nevertheless formed the Alberta Irrigation Company to purchase the Alberta Railway and Coal Company land for future irrigation projects. Galt, Charles A. Magrath, the Company Land Commissioner, and the Lethbridge News lobbied the Government for almost ten years for additional funding for irrigation projects.
In 1896, the Dominion Government and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) agreed to fund their irrigation plan by supplying cash, constructing a rail line to the Crowsnest Pass and writing off the debt of surveying fees on previous land grants.
The leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah entered into a contract with Galt and Magrath in 1898 to construct an irrigation system in southern Alberta. The agreement required the Church to provide skilled labourers to build fifty miles of irrigation canals from Kimball to Stirling. They were also required to populate two settlements along the planned irrigation line with at least 250 colonists each. These two communities would become the Village of Stirling and the Town of Magrath.
Voluntary immigration of LDS colonists to southern Alberta was slow, despite propaganda put out by the Church. LDS Church leaders eventually resorted to calling members on "missions" to build the irrigation canal or move to southern Alberta with their families to meet the Church's contractual obligations for populating colonies.
By 1900, over 95 miles of canals had been completed, including the main canal from the St. Mary River starting from the hamlet of Kimball near the United States border and branch canal to Lethbridge.
The immigration boom to southern Alberta began in earnest in 1905. The Government, the CPR, and Galt and Magrath promoted the region heavily. People lined up for homesteads every year until the outbreak of the First World War. Galt's sugar beet farms and factory at Raymond and his model farm near Lethbridge demonstrated that agriculture could prosper in southern Alberta.
Galt's company, the North Western Coal and Navigation Company, went through various name changes as it moved into railways and irrigation enterprises. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier dedicated the 1910 Galt Hospital addition. Since the construction of the new hospital Lethbridge Municipal Hospital in 1955, The 1910 Galt Hospital has served as a senior citizen's home, a rehabilitation centre, and the Health Unit. In 1966, the Sir Alexander Galt Museum moved from the Bowman Arts Centre into the Galt Hospital and occupied the top and bottom floors. In 1979, the Galt Museum & Archives took over the rest of the building. The museum has built two expansions to the original building, one in 1985 and the most recent in 2006.
Alexander Galt was also the founding president of The Guarantee Company of North America in 1872, providing fidelity bonds to guarantee the surety of employees of railroads and Government. Today, the company is the largest provider of surety bonds in all of Canada in public works and government services.
