Agriculture Industry Entrepreneurs Cooperative Movement

Few names of speculators in real estate in the French community of Alberta are as well known as those of Le Marchand and Revillon. They were far from the only ones, but their rapid rise to fortune is definitely notable.

The Franco-American, H. Milton Martin, came to Edmonton with very little, but that all changed when his Edmonton and Camrose investments became very profitable. In 1912, he was elected president of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. Other names which should be kept to the fore are the associates of Imperial Angencies, P. E. Lessard, Adéodat Boileau, and Léo Savard, sellers of land across the province. Western Timbers and Mines was another enterprise which had, among others, J. H. Gariépy, J. H. Picard and P. E. Lessard as members.

E. J. Hart made this the subject of his master’s thesis which was published in English and in French under the title Ambitions and Realities, the French community of Edmonton 1795-1935, in 1981.