Edmonton Bulletin was the first newspaper published in what is now Alberta.
It was started in 1880 (even previous to that, Frank Oliver and a man named Mitchell issued hand-copied news summary from news provided by the telegraph service. Mitchell later settled in Pakan (Victoria Settlement); Frank Oliver went on to be elected as Edmonton's representative in the NWT Assembly (at Regina) and as MP in the House of Commons.
1880 was so early it was prior to the CPR transcontinental coming into the western Prairies.
The present City of Calgary was founded along the CPR line where an NWMP post had been built just a few years before, in the mid-1870s. The Calgary Herald began publication in 1883. An Edmonton spin-off, the Edmonton Herald, was published by William Short, later mayor of Edmonton, from 1895 to 1896. (Glenbow has a few copies.)
A branch-line was built off of the CPR main line to come to the vicinity of Edmonton (at the time a mere hamlet built around the old HBC fur-trading post (founded in 1811). The Calgary & Edmonton rail-line actually did not connect to Edmonton (on the northside of the North Saskatchewan River), stopping just on the brow of the river valley opposite the hamlet in late 1891. And a southside hamlet sprung up, mostly along Whyte Avenue and spread out north and south of that "strip", and to the east and west of the rail-line (along today's 103rd Street).
Shortly after the southside hamlet's founding, the South Edmonton News began publication in 1894, first as a weekly, then it took the name Alberta Plaindealer 1896-1900
then after the hamlet became a town under the name Strathcona, the newspaper took name Strathcona Plaindealer. It was published under that name 1900-1912, the heyday of Strathcona's existence.
The South Edmonton News was edited by "boy editor," the young R.P. Pettipiece, only 18 years of age (born in 1876). Pettipiece edited the newspaper for just a couple years before going on to found a newspaper in a BC mining town then going on to be an official in the BC Federation of Labour and a candidate for the Socialist Party of Canada. His pro-worker sentiments did come out on a couple occasion even in South Edmonton circa 1895. And it seems, he left South Edmonton when he or his newspaper was threatened with legal action after an article he wrote. He was followed by "Pioneer" J. Hamilton McDonald, a former minister. Clarence H. Stout took over then a triad - A.M. McDonald, Godson and H. Jackman - took over.
Bob Edwards, later famous as editor of the satirical and humorous Calgary Eye-opener, for a short time published a newspaper in South Edmonton / Strathcona. The Alberta Sun (nicknamed the "Strathcolic," due to Bob's alcoholic predilections) was published just 1899-1900. Edwards lived and wrote in the upper room of the building that would later house the Hub Cigar Store, 1910-2005.
Ouest Canadien, a French-language newspaper, was published in Edmonton 1898-1900.
The Advertiser was also published in Strathcona in 1900. (No issues survive.)
The Edmonton Post was published 1899-1902. It was a Conservative paper just as the Edmonton Bulletin was a Liberal party newspaper. When it went into bankruptcy, its assets were bought by Richard Henry Secord. They were put to use by John MacPherson and John W. Cunningham to start the Edmonton Journal in 1903. it was a Conservative newspaper.
The Alberta Herold, a Liberal party, German-language newspaper, was published in Edmonton 1900-1915. It backed the German war effort during WWI and Canadian governments contemplated arresting its publisher for treason or censuring the newspaper but (apparently) it ceased publication before they had to take those measures.
A new Strathcona newspaper appeared in 1904. The Strathcona Chronicle first came out as a weekly, then became a bi-weekly (1908-1909), then a weekly again before it ended publication in 1911. Its first publisher was William Godson, then James Weir in 1907 (later a leftist MLA in the Alberta Legislature 1917-1921), then Godson, Beaumont and H. Jackman, then just H. Jackman 1909-1911. It was edited by Godson 1908-1911 or so.
A version of the Strathcona Chronicle - the Strathcona Evening Chronicle - was published as a daily 1907-1908. James Weir, then James Graham, then Godson, Beaumont and H. Jackman, then just H. Jackman 1908.
(That newspaper's fascinating account, by Charles Lewis Shaw, a person once regarded as one of Canada's foremost literary workers, of spending an evening listening to Laurent Garneau's philosophy and music is (partially) reprinted as a footnote to this chronicle of Edmonton's newspapers.)
The writings of Charles Lewis Shaw were also to be found in another of Edmonton's early newspapers. This was the Saturday News, published 1905 to 1912. The Oct. 6, 1906 issue announced that Shaw was to do a whole series of articles for the newspaper.
Arthur Balmer Watt was the force behind Saturday News for all or most of the eight years it was published. He was also involved in the publication of Alberta Homestead (later Homestead), the Edmonton Capital and the Edmonton Journal.
Gertrude Balmer Watt (nee Hogg), Arthur's wife, was editor of the weekly Mirror -- subtitled: "A journal of protest and conviction" -- in 1912. This soon became the Edmonton Saturday Mirror and was in print just until early 1913. (Issues of the Mirror, Aug. 23, 1912 to Jan. 11, 1913, are available on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.)
"The Mirror" was also the name of a column likely written by Gertrude in the pages of the Saturday News.
The installment of Dec. 29, 1906 includes a New Year's resolution for any aspiring writer, devised by Henry Van Dyke. [It is a bit lengthy but I will try to copy it over. in the meantime you can check it on the pages of the Saturday News on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.]
Gertrude Balmer Watt also penned two books, A Woman in the West (1907) and Town and Trail (1908). A Woman in the West is the account of her life as a recent arrival from Ontario and as a woman journalist in pre-WWI Edmonton. Town and Trail is available on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
(Their son Frederick was a reporter for the Edmonton Journal 1920-1928, and author of two books of poetry, Boy Blue's Verses (1918) and Vagrant, and other poems (1927). (The first is available on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website, but not the second.) He also penned an account of his career as an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII, Ready Aye Ready.)
Town Topics was first published in 1905. The group that produced the Saturday News purchased Town Topics in 1905. Joe Adair (later a reform-minded city councillor) bought the paper in 1908. It kept in print until about 1919.
Edmonton Free Press, 1906-1907 -- subtitled "the people's popular weekly" -- covered business news.
The other "Edmonton Free Press" -- Later a labour newspaper of that name was published in Edmonton. Henry Roche and Elmer Roper (later mayor of Edmonton) was behind it. For a time it was published by the Edmonton and District Labour Council and in 1919 by the General Strike Committee. It was renamed Alberta Labour News in 1920 and then the People's Weekly in 1936, finally ending publication in 1952.
William Irvine (variously a Labour, UFA and CCF MP) was editor for many years. In the late 1910s he had produced a leftist newspaper in Calgary called Nutcracker (later renamed The Non-Partisan). (issues from 1917-1919 are available on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website).
Socialist Edmonton city councillor Margaret Crang (who was on city council during the depths of the Great Depression 1933-1937) wrote a column in the Alberta Labour News for a short time under the name "Ingenue."
The Legislature Library and Provincial Archives has copies of this "labour rag."
Radical Rags -- Ron Verzuh penned a book Radical Rag - The Pioneer Labour Press in Canada regarding leftist books of early Canada. I don't know if Verzuh mentions these "labour rags" of early Calgary and Edmonton but they would make for interesting reading:
-- Northwest Call, published by the Knights of Labour, of Calgary, 1887
-- Nova Hromada/New Society published as the organ of the Federation of Ukrainian Socialists in Canada, 1911-1912. Roman Kremar was a force behind it. (available at UofA Libraries)
-- Moukari published by the Finnish Socialist Organization of Edmonton, 1913-1915
-- Statesman for Albertans (later The Statesman) 1917-1920, published by the Edmonton Labour Representation League, then by the Dominion Labour Party, Edmonton branch. (The DLP was a co-founder of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party, a precursor to today's NDP.) Issues of the Statesman for Albertans/The Statesman are available at the EPL and the Provincial Archives of Alberta.)
-- the Edmonton Strike Bulletin of 1919 published by the Strike Press Committee in contradiction to the Edmonton Free Press's more moderate stance. (available at the EPL and the Provincial Archives of Alberta.)
-- One Big Union Bulletin published by the One Big Union Provincial Executive Committee of Alberta (available at the Provincial Archives of Alberta (and some libraries outside Alberta).)
-- The Soviet published by the Socialist Party of Canada Edmonton Local No. 1, 1919 (available at the Provincial Archives of Alberta.)
-- Ernest Brown's The Glow-worm, 1923. Published during the recession of the early 1920s, Brown targets the monetary system and capitalists in general. Following the bloody WWI, as it did, it also was strongly anti-war. (available at the Provincial Archives of Alberta 65.124/430)
Ernest Brown's fonds at the PAA are a treasure trove. They contain many unpublished book-length manuscripts on politics and history of Edmonton's early days. It was he who pointed out a fact still true today -- that Canada has never grown at the usual rate. The normal two-percent annual growth would give Canada 56M, not the 40M we just achieved last week (June 19, 2023). The problem is even despite births and waves of immigration, we are constantly losing people to other places. Every family has family members living outside Canada when it isn't that whole families do not just leave. Brown could see that back in the 1930s and it is still true today.
Farmers also found a voice (or made one for themselves) in newspapers of that era. Until 1909, the organized farmer movement in Alberta had two main groups, and each had their own newspaper.
The Great West was published by local branches of the Society of Equity, starting in 1907. (The SofE's Great West is available at the Glenbow.)
Alberta Homestead was published by the Alberta Farmers Association 1908-1910. The AFA was the group co-founded by Rice Shepard, later a long-serving Labour Party city councillor. (Issues of the Alberta Homestead (Homestead) are available at the Provincial Archives of Alberta.)
In 1909 the SofE and the Alberta Farmers Association merged to form the United Farmers of Alberta, whose political wing was government of the province 1921-1935.
Following the merger, in 1910 Alberta Homestead was re-named Homestead and carried on to about 1913. Arthur and Gertrude Balmer Watt, George B. Fraser and Floyd H. Higgins were active in its production. Some of Gertrude's articles were reprinted in her book Town and Trail.
The SofE's Great West was absorbed by the Grain Growers Guide in early 1909. Issues of the Grain Growers Guide, 1909-1919 are available on Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
The United Farmers of Alberta had its semi-monthly newspaper. Issues from 1922 to 1933 are available on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website. The newspaper continued on later, under the name Western Farm Leader. Issues of the Western Farm Leader 1936-1954 are available on Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
The Edmonton Capital was published 1910 to 1914, in competition with the Edmonton Bulletin and the Edmonton Journal. (Issues 1910-1911 and 1913-1914 are available on Peel's Prairie Provinces website.)
After votes of the City of Strathcona voted to amalgamate with Edmonton and the two cities did so in 1912, the Strathcona Plaindealer newspaper took the name Edmonton News-Plaindealer, and was published under the name for just a year.
In 1913 the Strathcona newspaper formerly known as the Plaindealer ceased publication for a spell, then resumed publication under the name Alberta Illustrated News for just a year to some time in 1914.
In 1913 the economy of the whole Edmonton district went into recession. In part this was due to unemployment caused by the completion of major construction projects such as the High Level Bridge and the Legislature Building. And in part it was caused by a drop in British investment as the British government geared up for the coming WWI.
And in part it was just another turn of fortune under the cyclical fluctuations of capitalism - people paid sums for property, land and homes not for use but on expectancy that its selling price would be higher later and they could sell at a profit. Eventually these false values reached a peak and then tumbled hard. People then were able to find buyers not at the current price but only for the even-lower price that was expected down the line.
Amy H. Keane
Author of two books The Gambler's Wife and Stories of the West. (Copies of these books are almost impossible to locate.)
An essay by her entitled "The German Colony at Leduc" was published in Alberta History Autumn 2002.
Before coming to Edmonton she had run a newspaper in Chauvin, the Advance, 1912 (copies are available at the Legislature Library)
In Edmonton she launched the Great West Saturday Night, 1913. (Issue(s) of the Great West Saturday Night are (or were) available at the Glenbow).
A few years later she launched another newspaper, Great West Saturday Night Advance, 1918 - ? - 1924.
In 1924 she recounted how she had come to Edmonton after battling with local Board of Trade, pool hall and liquor vendors in Chauvin, and then how she had been ripped off by "Edmonton politicians, corporations and business firms."
Sarah Carter gives Amy Keane special mention in one of her books on women's history in Canada. (An excerpt from the 1924 issue of her newspaper is in the footnotes.)
(Great West Saturday Night Advance --
1918 issues available at the Provincial Archives of Alberta 65.124/431;
January 1924 available at PAA 1969.289/158A)
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Other newspapers were later published in Edmonton - by reformers and conservatives alike - in the last hundred years.
But I hope this small chronology has been interesting and informative to readers.
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According to Gloria Strathearn's book Alberta Newspapers and other sources:
The Edmonton Bulletin of 1880-1923 is available in search-able format on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
The South Edmonton News and Alberta Plaindealer is available at the UofA Libraries on microfilm.
Also, the Strathcona Plaindealer, May 1906, is at the City of Edmonton Archives.
Also, the Strathcona Plaindealer, 1907 and 1908-1912 is available at the UofA Libraries on microfilm.
Copies of the Strathcona Plaindealer of 1913 are available at the Alberta Legislature Library.
The Strathcona Plaindealer used to be available at the Edmonton Public Library in large original format, but it seems it has been taken out of circulation
Alberta Illustrated News of Oct. and Dec. 1913 is available at the Alberta Legislature Library.
Edmonton Post issues available at the Glenbow and the City of Edmonton Archives.
Strathcona Chronicle and the Strathcona Evening Chronicle are said to be available at the Edmonton Public Library and (perhaps more reliably) at the Alberta Legislature Library. Issues of the semi-weekly Strathcona Chronicle from early 1909 are available on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
Issues of the daily Strathcona Evening Chronicle from 1907 and 1908 are available on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
The Edmonton Capital 1910-1914 is available in search-able format on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
Saturday News 1905-1912 is available in search-able format on the Peel's Prairie Provinces website.
Town Topics issues available at the EPL and the Provincial Archives of Alberta
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Charles Lewis Shaw recounted spending an evening with Laurent Garneau
Few of us even in these days of social communism ever really understood the complex character of the half-breed. The lights and shades of his variable nature were not clearly enough defined to admit of clear comprehension and certainly not of definition to anyone accustomed only to the clear-cut racial distinctiveness of world-old peoples, for the point of view of the half-breed is to be sometimes felt but never described.
Once only it was given to me and then by the master hand of one of the race through the magic music of his violin, for few men, I have been told, could play the violin as could Larry Garneau, the finest example of the French half-breed it has ever been my fortune to meet.
The long summer day of the Saskatchewan had closed and we sat in the coolness of the evening looking out over the river where high above the feeble flickering lights of the little settlement on the northern bank, shone the bright glimmering stars of the universe and the words of the intellectual man at my side were in harmony with the scene. He talked ethically of the rights of man, the duties of government, personal freedom, etc. And the desultory conversation gradually drifted from wonderings at the purpose of creation, the law of the powerful, the injuries of the weak, and the abstract theories as to man's relations with the Infinite, until as the shadows deepened the soft, deep voice of Larry Garneau spoke directly of the rights and wrongs of his people.
Unconsciously I must have assumed the mental attitude that a legal training and the teachings of my race would once beget. With keen intuition my companion understood. Sympathy and feeling, human qualities as necessary in the judgement of worldly things as they are in religion, should be brought to bear on the question of half-breed rights and wrongs,” said he, quietly reaching for his violin. “Let me tell you the story of the half-breed.”
And with the stars glimmering down upon us, with no sound to break the quietness of the night but the soft swishing flow of the mighty Saskatchewan, the notes of the violin, now vibrating with the swirl of the buffalo hunt and the mad merriment of the dance, then softening to some old French love song brought over seas and prairies from Brittany, now murmuring the quaint, sweet lullabies of childhood, then breaking into the fierce chants of war and revenge at last died away in the wailing sadness of a
requiem that told of a dying race.
Only the other day I heard a great military band of world-wide repute tell the awful story of Bonaparte's most disastrous campaign, with blare of trumpet, the shriek of shells and the groans of the wounded, and some at least learned something of the horrors of war. From the throbbing notes of the singing, sobbing violin pressed under the strong chin of Larry Garneau, from his deep chested words of rapid explanation uttered now and then during the recital, from his softened or flashing eyes, and the mobile features of his expressive face in the clear northern starlight, I learned the tragic story of the Half-Breed.” (Strathcona Evening Chronicle, May 6, 1907)
Now that is writing...
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Amy H. Keane -- Editor of the Great West Saturday Night
Great West Saturday Night, January 1924 (Special edition) contains her sorry tale of being ripped off by "Edmonton politicians, corporations and business firms" after she tried to set up a newspaper just outside Edmonton [Chauvin] but had met opposition from the local Board of Trade due to her stand in favour of prohibition and women suffrage and against the local liquor trade, pool-room (because that was where men were buying their liquor), and prize-fighting. She was further tormented and oppressed by lawyer manoeuvres that saw her held responsible for the payment of interest on a loan she never received and then had her property foreclosed on and was deprived of her personal property through legal malfeasance performed by the legal firm of Short, Cross and Biggar (sp?) and lawyers/businessmen Hyndman and Bowden, and did not get any help from Judge Ives.
But she said "Yet when we pick up our gun with the intention of relieving the Bench of its rottenness, science halts us again with the warning that eliminating this or that judge may create a momentary diversion but not give any permanent cure. For the will of the people, though conditioned like all mundane things, is, after all, the immediate proximate cause of all its institutions. And that will of the people, throttled by tyrants and drugged by pagan priests, has done strange things in its time. How few the years since it ceased to sanction the long agony of slavery. And have we not our public trusts taxing the people in the form of various monopolies, with privileges bartered off to them of exercising political or judicial functions - yes, bartered off with as little thought of the consequences as if we were bartering a pot or a pan."
That issue of the newspaper also campaigned against the Health Act, which she said was a thinly-veiled Venereal Diseases Act under which someone suspected of such shall be detained and sequestered and forcibly examined as per regulations set outside of the Legislature, perhaps until "every shred of maidenly modesty, decency and self-respect was gone and some real disease set up as the result of the unnecessary treatment occasioned by the Act, destroying the independence and reputation of men and outraging the virtue and honour of women."
Keane pointed to the possibility of political interference in the Act, the secret registration and reports that require nothing more authentic under the Act than the mere "suspicion" of a personal or political nature leaves every person in the country open to suspicion points to recent incident whereby a student at the U of A "where he was supposed to be studying all about various nations and governments" was spotted with a copy of the book Soviet Russia and was carried off under arrest to the police court. she said, under the Act, farm families should be warned that their young daughters at the University could be suspected and ordered off and forcibly detained for the purpose of "physical examination" and "treatment" She said it violated the Magna Carta that prohibits sudden and unexpected arrests and secret trials.
She says people tell her everything is going on as usual, society is gay.
She retorted "There is a national gaiety that proclaims national death more plainly than any national mourning could do, and that is when transparent vice and judicial corruption and alien treachery openly flaunt their social and financial triumphs in the faces of striving, bereaved and boycotted patriots. Let me implore of you to tear away the disguises of these camouflages by constitutional means today, for, if you don't, someone else will do it with fire and sword tomorrow." (Letter dated Jan 21, 1920 (sic?), Great West, Special edition, January 1924)
After her husband, a surgeon, was invalided, she took up teaching but was forced to retire as teacher ca. 1930 (when she worked for only $1000/year plus free room and board). She had written a letter to government asking for a pension.
(Great West Saturday Night, January 1924 (Special edition), found in PAA, Premier's Papers, 1969.289 158A)
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