Waterton Park is home to Vimy Peak, named for the Battle of Vimy Ridge (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

Southern Alberta filled with many historical war landmarks

Nov 7, 2019 | 7:19 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Picture yourself driving down the highway and looking off to the side of the road.

Chances are you could be looking at a historical landmark. It turns out southern Alberta is home to many historical sites from the wars of years past.

Glenn Miller, a retired Warrant Officer who works with the Lethbridge Legion, sat down with Lethbridge News Now for a series of stories to mark Veterans’ Week and Remembrance Day.

Miller noted that when it comes to local historical landmarks, Lethbridge has many unique sites.

“The first one is the first armory. When the artillery started in Lethbridge in 1908, a certain person was in charge and said, ‘you’re going to have a bunch of equipment and where do you put it?’ [The owner] happened to have a big house and some empty lots beside [them] so that was the first armory,” he said.

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The Vimy Ridge Armoury is located at 337 Stubb Ross Road in Lethbridge (Lethbridge News Now)

“The current armory was originally called the Kenyon Field Armory – it was located out by the airport [and still is today] and it was renamed Vimy Ridge Armory and that was chosen by design because of the historical connections of Vimy Ridge and Lethbridge – we’ve had some horses that were born on Vimy Ridge and the foal was called Vimy and it belonged to the local 20^th Battery.”

Further south is Waterton Park, which holds a strong connection to the Battle of Vimy Ridge. In Waterton, visitors and residents can spot Vimy Peak, a 2,385-metre summit that’s part of the Canadian Rockies. Vimy Peak anchors the northern end of Vimy Ridge.

The mountain was originally called Sheep Mountain, later referred to as Goat Mountain before becoming Vimy Peak in 1917 to honour the Canadian Army’s victory in the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

In 1943, the Geographical Names Board of Canada made that name official.

“We also have a landmark on Vimy Ridge itself with a Lethbridge connection. It was a trench, named after the Battery Commander – it was called Stafford Street. A lot of the trenches had specific names and I found this out through a personal letter of General [John Smith] Stewart and I was able to share that with the grandson of Major [Alexander Boswell] Stafford, who was actually killed at Vimy Ridge just after the battle, so those historical landmarks and connections have relevance a century later.”

Stafford Drive, one of the major streets in Lethbridge, was coincidentally enough, not named after Major Stafford, but rather after mining engineer William Stafford, who was responsible for determining the location of the southern Alberta city.

“One of the other landmarks is by Henderson Lake and that’s Battery Point. That’s where the Artillery first kind of did some major training as part of the historical landmarks, the sheds out at Exhibition Park is where the military first trained, in the First and Second [World] War,” Miller said.

He added that in addition to Vimy Peak, there are other connections to war efforts in Waterton Park and across the Rocky Mountains.

“In the First World War, there was a whole naming convention and committee set up to decide, you know, ‘this peak is gonna be called that and here’s why’, so Waterton Park has a number of historical connections with Generals – not just Canadians but other allies. In the Rockies, there’s a set of mountains named after the Victoria Cross winners.”

There’s also the First Special Service Force Memorial Highway – which is the section of Highway 4 in Lethbridge and Interstate 15 in Helena, Montana. This honours the First Canadian Special Service Battalion’s achievements and sacrifices.

Miller noted there’s a marker outside the tourist centre in Lethbridge marking this special designation.

“The other more recent historical landmark is the last gun to fire in World War One, that came from a Lethbridge Battery – the 39^th Battery and that and another gun were actually presented to the city of Mons [Belgium] as a gift from Canada,” he added.

“The King of the Netherlands last March presented that gun, the 18-pounder, to the War Museum in Ottawa on a long-term loan, but the Lethbridge United Services Institute is fundraising to create a bronze of six horses towing a gun and that gun is modelled after the last gun to fire in World War One, so that we here in Lethbridge will have a permanent historical reminder of some of our contributions from southern Alberta.”

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Miller explained that the amount raised from that recent initiative will determine the size of the replica, which will be placed on the grounds of Exhibition Park.

This LNN series of stories commemorating Veterans’ Week and Remembrance Day will continue with more insight from Glenn Miller.