The election of 1926 returned to office the United Farmers of Alberta. The economy had recovered from the recession and labour woes of the early 1920?s. And as historian David Leonard explains, Premier John Brownlee was leading the province into a time of buoyant prosperity:

The wheat was selling good internationally. This was an age of international accord, at least the late 1920?s were, the LeCarno Pacts and all of that.

And in 1928, the government had sold the financially strapped northern railways, being the Edmonton Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway, the Alberta Great Waterways, the Central Canada and Pembina Valley lines. All losing money but they managed to sell them to CN and CP jointly, who would proceed to operate them as the Northern Alberta Railway.

And even greater impact was achieved in 1930 when the government secured the control of natural resources and Crown Land from the federal government to the provincial government of Alberta. And Brownlee was highly acclaimed, highly applauded for that. Indeed, when he came back on the railway, there were 2000 people in Edmonton waiting for him to cheer him for this achievement.

But despite the progress in Alberta, the late 1920?s also gave root to a darker intolerance for people?s differences.

There were other things afloat. This was an age of what is called Nativism. People objecting to the vast numbers of immigrants floating in. There was a strong reaction to the number of Orientals that were coming into Alberta. A lot of feeling against the French. And this gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan, which secured a number of local chapters in Alberta during the late 1920?s. And also, other fundamentalist groups were causing concern.

And so it was an era of great fundamentalist vivification if you would. And people were rejecting that, and that gave rise to the Klan and its manifestation in different areas in rural Alberta. But did they predominate politically? No they didn?t. People were still very, very comfortable with their local UFA member who represented them in the Legislature.

The Alberta Provincial Police monitored the activities of the Klan. But soon something else grabbed the attention of Albertans. The stock market crash of 1929 came just before the next provincial election.

On the Heritage Trail, I?m Cheryl Croucher.