Bar U Ranch National Historic Site
© Parks Canada / Ryan Bray
The Bar U Ranch was designated as a national historic site in 1989.
Commemorative plaque: Bar U Ranch National Historic Site, Longview, AlbertaFootnote 1
The ranching industry and the Bar U Ranch
The ranching industry on the Prairies developed in the 1880s when eastern investors established large ranches on leased Crown land and raised cattle for Canadian and British markets. The Bar U and a handful of other large spreads dominated ranching society during the 1890s. Pressure from farmers and from smaller ranchers reduced the large ranges, and the hard winter of 1906 marked the end of the era of the big ranches. The Bar U was one of the few large operations to survive and, under the successive direction of Fred Stimson, George Lane and Pat Burns, prospered into the mid 20th century.
Description of historic place
Bar U Ranch National Historic Site of Canada comprises 148.43 hectares of rangeland that constitute the original headquarters site of an Alberta cattle ranch established in the 1880s. Located in a shallow east-west valley along the banks of Pekisko Creek in southern Alberta’s foothills, the ranch includes rolling uplands, level flats, covered creek bottoms and a variety of wooden ranch buildings. The designation refers both to the landscape and the built elements of the site.
© Parks Canada
© Parks Canada / Ryan Bray
Heritage value
The Bar U Ranch was designated a national historic site of Canada because of:
- its important role in the ranching industry in Canada.
The heritage value of Bar U Ranch National Historic Site of Canada lies in the integrity of its cultural landscape as a representation of Alberta ranching in the 1880-1950 period. It is embodied in the enduring rural character of the landscape, in its continued use for cattle raising, and in the traditional elements of the ranch landscape associated with foothills cattle country, both natural and man-made.
The Bar U Ranch was established in 1882, under the federal government’s grazing lease policy by the North-West Cattle Company, a firm of investors led by Québec resident Fred Stimson. In 1902 it was acquired by George Lane, a cowboy and former Bar-U foreman who had become a major cattleman. He sold it to Patrick Burns in 1927, and it operated as part of Burns’ cattle conglomerate until 1949. The Bar U Ranch was in continuous operation as a cattle ranch from 1883 until 1991. Since that time, ranch activity has been guided by interpretive priorities rather than those of the cattle industry.
Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, November 1989; Commemorative Integrity Statement, November 2000.
The National Program of Historical Commemoration relies on the participation of Canadians in the identification of places, events and persons of national historic significance. Any member of the public can nominate a topic for consideration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
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