Material Type

Mixed Media

Other Title Info

LNIC fonds

Date Range

1896-1979, predominantly 1919-1956

Physical Description

0.96 m of textual records. - 81 photographs

Physical Condition

Good

History Biographical

The Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District was enacted by a vote of the resident landowners. The water license incorporated under the Irrigation District Act, entitled the District to divert 200,000 acre feet of water for the irrigation of 105,265 acres. The district comprised of 93,100 hectares of land on the north side of the Oldman River, between Fort Macleod and Turin, Alberta. Funding for the construction of the project was obtained from debentures issued and guaranteed by the Provincial Government in the amount of nearly $6 million. In return the Province received about 10,000 acres in the District which was sold through the Colonization Branch as irrigable farm parcels. Construction of the system was completed in 1923, but the diversion works were destroyed that year in an unprecedented flood and had to be rebuilt. The entire construction was under the direct administration of the Irrigation Council. The engineers responsible were C. M. Arnold, P. M. Sauder, E M. Wood, E H. Clarke, C. S. Clendenning, G. E Hilliard, and C. L. Dodge. The general contract for the excavation and construction was awarded to Grant, Smith, & Company and McDonnell Limited, on June 21st, 1921. Originally managed by elected trustees, the district was administered by a provincial government trustee from 1926 to 1968. L.C. Charlesworth was the official trustee, 1926-1939. Penrose M. Sauder, who had been the LNID project manager from 1925 to 1939, served as official trustee from 1939 to 1965. C.J. McAndrews was official trustee from 1966 until an elected board once again resumed management in 1968.

Language

English

Custodial History

The majority of the records were donated to the Galt Archives in 1973 by the Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District. During the arrangement process, the original order of the fonds was compromised: the files were physically had been re-arranged into series and assigned individual accession numbers.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of annual reports, budget submissions, requests for material and equipment, contracts, attendance figures, correspondence related to sugar beet industry, legal action records, water use table, minutes of annual meetings, trustee elections, livestock registration, sales forms, land transfers, list of farmers and their properties, and other administrative and financial records. The fonds also contains a number of maps of the district, as well as various drawings, blueprints, plans including those of St. Mary – Milk River Project. The photographs include images of field operations, head office, construction work, personnel, etc.

Notes

Includes the following accessions: 19651451, 19731023, 19731212, 19731275, 19731305, 19731322, 19731425, 19731500, 19731505, 19731563, 19731617, 19731640, 19731644, 19731651, 19731685, 19731686, 19731688 – 19731691, 19731693, 19736226, 19736228, 19736230, 19736236, 19736255, 19736260, 19736261, 19736268, 19736269, 19736271, 19736272, 19736274, 19736277, 19736285, 19736288, 19736290 – 19736293, 19736295 – 19736300, 19736302 – 19736304, 19736306, 19736824, 19736825, 19737162, 19737164 – 19737166, 19737553 - 19737557, 19737559, 19737947, 19737976, 19800197, 19800198, 19800200, 19800203, 19800204, 19851039, 19851044, 19861110, 19871008 Photographs associated with the accessions can be found through the online database. 20131056/001 to 007

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

20131056/001

Collection

Archive

Less detail