Material Type

Mixed Media

Date Range

[between 1912 and 1952]

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

1 print item 1 map 1 photograph

Physical Condition

Excellent

History Biographical

James Jacob "Jim" Morrison was born July 17, 1882 in Rock Run Township, Stephenson County, Illinois. His Morrison ancestors lived in eastern Pennsylvania over 40 years before the American Revolution started in 1775 and his grandfather, James Morrison (1819-1894) and father, Charles Ross Morrison (1856-1930) came to Illinois in 1859 from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. In 1886 the family moved to West Blue Township, Fillmore County, Nebraska where his father owned a railroad contracting business and had a number of contracts to build roadbeds and rails for the Burlington Railroad in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. By the age of 15, Jim Morrison was working for his father operating old style earth moving equipment that was pulled by a string of 30 mules. Afterwards, he always said his first job was a mule skinner and he knew how to crack a whip. By the late 1890s several of Jim Morrison’s boyhood friends had moved to the Ponoka District of Alberta (NWT) and wrote him letters encouraging him to come to Alberta to take a look at the wonderful country up here. In 1900, at the age of 18, Jim Morrison left Nebraska and travelled by train to Ponoka. Within several hours of arriving in Ponoka he had a job working at a sawmill. In 1901, Jim Morrison’s father sold his contracting business in Nebraska and moved first to Ponoka and then to Okotoks where he bought the Alberta Hotel. In the summer of 1901 Jim Morrison moved to Okotoks where his parents were now located. In Okotoks, Jim Morrison obtained employment as a clerk at the Paterson Trading Company store and it was during the time that he worked there that he became fluent in the Sarcee language. Many years later, he took great joy in talking to Indians in their native tongue as there were very few white people who knew the language. On June 26, 1906 Jim Morrison married Ethel Mary Colvin at Okotoks. Ethel Mary Colvin was born in Calgary on July 31, 1885. Her father, James Colvin, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and came to Canada in 1870, he came to Alberta in 1875 as a member of the North West Mounted Police and her mother Matilda Fisk came to Alberta in 1882 from Guelph, Ontario with her father who homesteaded in the Gladys Ridge district west of Okotoks. They travelled from the end of the rails near Moose Jaw to Alberta by Red River cart prior to the arrival of the CPR railroad in Calgary in 1883. In 1913, Jim Morrison went to work for the Canadian Western Natural Gas, Heat, Light and Power Company, Limited, hired by the founder Eugene Coste. Until 1918 he was the agent in Okotoks and in that year he moved to Viking where he was drilling superintendent and drilled a number of gas wells to develop the Viking-Kinsella Field. Natural gas from this field was piped into Edmonton in 1924. In 1921 he was transferred to Calgary where he was in charge of building a gas pipeline from Turner Valley to Calgary. From 1922 to 1923 he was in charge of drilling a number of gas wells at Barnwell and in 1924 went to Foremost and was in charge of building the 10" pipeline to link the Foremost and Burdett gas fields. In 1925 he went to Burdett where he was in charge of the gas company’s operations in that part of the province. In 1936, he was transferred to Lethbridge as District Superintendent where he remained until he retired in 1946. The biographical sketch is supplied by Chris Morrison in 2014.

Language

English

Acquisition Source

Morrison, Chris 537 25 Street South Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 3P4

Custodial History

These items were in the possession of the donor's mother-in-law, Mrs. Dorothy Morrison. Dorothy Morrison was the wife of Jack Arthur Morrison and the daughter-in-law of James Jacob Morrison.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of a photograph of the the crew that constructed the Canadian Western Natural Gas Heat Light and Power Company compressor plant at the Bow Island field, and a pamphlet giving the history of the Bow Island natural gas field. Finally, there is map that shows the route of the pipeline from the Bow Island field to Calgary.

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

20091075000

Collection

Archive

Less detail