Between the elections of 1909 and 1913, Alberta continued to thrive under a booming economy. Not only were farmers profiting from great crops; so was industry. As historian David Leonard points out, coal was king:

Alberta was now producing more coal than any other province in Canada. The Crowsnest Pass area of Coleman, Bellevue and Lille and places like that were being challenged by another area: the Coal Branch south of Edson, Cadomin and Luscar and communities like that were producing a lot of coal as well.

In 1912, Edmonton and Strathcona had amalgamated, making Edmonton larger than Calgary. The Peace Country was opening up to development. And travel around the province was becoming easier.

There?s now 472 bridges in Alberta and forty-nine ferries, and over 1 300 000 miles of railway track. 14 692 telephones through Alberta Government Telephones now networked the whole province. And in the rural areas, the rail lines of the Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern brought new towns like Lloydminster, Mundare, Vermillion, Evansburg and Edson. And on the eve of the 1913 election, you could get all the way to Vancouver through Edmonton by rail. So the west coast was now opened up for commerce as well as passenger traffic as well. But despite the popularity of the Liberal government under first Alexander Rutherford and then Arthur Sifton, a new force was rising as rural Alberta began organizing.

By this time, the United Farmers of Alberta had been formed under Henry Wise Wood, a fundamentalist Baptist preacher who stressed the goodliness of rural life with the godliness of Christianity. And by 1913, there?s 107 locals of the UFA throughout the province. And these are combined with women?s interests too. Forty-two women?s institutes are now doing good work in the rural areas of the province.

But this and the earlier railway scandal that forced Premier Rutherford to resign were still not enough to unseat the Liberal government. On April 17, 1913, Sifton?s Liberals were returned, winning 39 of 56 seats. But the Conservatives had increased their representation from two seats in Calgary to a new total of seventeen from around the province.

On the Heritage Trail, I?m Cheryl Croucher.