1952-Oil Boom Continues, Urbanization Gives Manning a Smooth Run:
1959-Prosperity, Communism, and Nuclear Destruction:
1963-Land of Prosperity, Oil Royalties and Education:
Horses to Engines:
Alberta's cities witnessed tremendous growth and affluence
following World War II. Largely owing to the baby boom and the oil
boom, both Edmonton
and Calgary grew from just over 100,000 people each in 1946 to over 400,000
by 1971. While Alberta was akin to all of North America in experiencing
the baby boom, it also received thousands of
people from other provinces and the United States, arriving to work in the oil
industry.
Although this growth coincided with wealth and consumerism in Alberta's cities, this same period
marked the beginning of an uncertain future for the rural portion of the province. The economic troubles
of the depression in the 1930s had halted and even reversed the use of farm machinery. However,
with renewed affluence, a shortage of labour and a drop in the price of equipment, the use of machinery
on Alberta farms increased dramatically during World War II. Less labour and larger farms were needed to
make
economically feasible the use of equipment such as tractors,
combines and other new
machinery. The development of better roads, new crop strains, fertilizers and pesticides also
reduced the amount of labour required. As a result, the percentage of
Albertans living in rural areas dropped from 67 percent in 1946 to only
31 percent by 1966.
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This digital collection was
produced with financial assistance from Canada's Digital
Collections initiative, Industry Canada.