Retroactive Alberta and the Provincial Archives of Alberta Youtube channel has old ACCESS TV show on UFOs in Alberta
12:35 talks of a wave of sightings of unidentified flying objects in the late 1800s including off our eastern shores and as far west as Chicago and San Francisco.
This was at a time before human's use of controlled flight -- the Wright Brothers first flew in 1903; the first powered-flight in Canada was in January 1909; a man in Edmonton flew an aircraft of some sort in 1909*; the first confirmed flight of heavier-than-air vehicle in Alberta was in 1911 -
(see https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/setf/html/Teachers%20Guide/Teacher's%20Guide%20Activity%20Sheets/01_AviationTimeline.pdf)
But the late-1800s sightings were long after man's first flight - balloons had been used for decades by that time.
Could the sightings have been balloons or dirigibles?
*On September 7, 1909, Edmonton resident Reginald Hunt completed the second man-powered flight in Canadian history by launching his airplane off the hill behind the Alberta Legislature Building. His achievement was all the more remarkable given the fact that he designed and built his plan without assistance.
also see write-up on his flight in Red Deer News in 1909 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/newspapers/RDN/1909/09/15/4/Ar00406.html?query=newspapers%7Chunt%7C%28date%3A1909%2F09%2F15%29+AND+%28publication%3ARDN%29%7Cscore
Reginald Hunt lived into the 1980s but soon after his flights - he flew again in 1910 and crashed - he left Edmonton.
Perhaps for the rest of his life he had the thrill of knowing he was the first to fly in Alberta perhaps western Canada. Or was his flying machine a sort dirigible with motors for guidance? Was it heavier than air? The Red Deer News report is unclear on this point. if it was an airplane, could he have have landed it at his house?
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Earlier in the program, the moderator refers to stone-age drawings showing what looks like UFOs alongside ancient animals.
Interesting...
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The film is also interesting because it shows Edmonton of the 1970s. Note the number of people thronging the sidewalks of downtown Edmonton back then - a time before freeways and commuter traffic and West Edmonton Mall.
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