You wanna talk storm? 1907's severe winter shaped our politics

The brutal winter storm that lashed much of Alberta over the weekend was certainly nasty, but as bad as that storm surely was I'm guessing it didn't rearrange the provincial economy or forever alter the political landscape. The storm that swept over the province in January 1907 did all of that and is still recalled (just barely) in Alberta folklore as "the Winter of the Blue Snow" -- it was so devastatingly cold. But it did more than just set temperature records. It marked the end of cattle ranching's ascendancy on the southern Alberta rangelands, and cemented in place a Calgary-Edmonton political divide which is very much alive more than a century later. The awful winter that reshaped the fledgling province began with a series of storms through the later part of 1906 (much like this winter), making for heavier than usual snow cover and a picturesque Christmas. By New Year, the ranchers who represented Alberta's most powerful industry knew they were in for a tough time -- from the Battle River southwards cattle were already starving -- but they had no idea just how bad it would get.

Towards the end of the month there was the usual January thaw, with some cowboys reportedly in shirt sleeves as they rode out to assess the damage done to the vast herds of cattle that dominated the southern part of the province. Then on January 29, the worst storm of the winter arrived like an express train, obliterating visibility in minutes and sending the mercury plunging. Cowboys and entire herds disappeared into the howling whiteout, many not to be seen again until the spring melt revealed a gruesome toll of death and destruction. There were reports of thousands of cattle vainly roaming the country in search of a patch of bare grass. When the trains resumed, passengers reported thousands of cattle lying dead along the track fences between Medicine Hat and Calgary...more