Canada's Wild West
In the 1880s, the great buffalo herds had been hunted almost to extinction. It was this exodus which gave birth to the great cowboy ranches of the Canadian “Wild West”. The vastness of the Prairies, once roamed by buffalo,was now ideal grazing land for cattle.

Huge ranches sprang up in the foothills of the Rockies and the biggest was the Bar U Ranch. In its heyday between 1882 and 1925, the Bar U was really a self-contained town - the largest community in the region. More than 35 different buildings made up the ranch “village”. And a small army of cowboys were needed to ride herd on more than 10,000 head of cattle.

One of these cowhands in 1891 was a 25-year-old horse wrangler named Harry Longabaugh. Later he became a legend as the Sundance Kid. The cowboys' life was a hard one. Long hours werespent in the saddle often in the worst possible weather. Wages were low... but so were expenses. The cowhands lived on the ranch in bunkhouses and meals were provided. Payday came just once a year.

Any women who accompanied their men onto the ranch were confined to cooking, cleaning laundry, gardening and looking after their children. Most of the neighbouring ranches went bust during the Depression Thirties. But the Bar U somehow stayed in business.

When the outbreak of World War Two claimed the ranch's entire staff for military service, the local community kept the Bar U running until they returned six years later. But in 1950 the ranch was finally split up and sold. It was the last hurrah of the “Wild West”.

It wasn't until four decades later that Canada rescued the Bar U from oblivion by purchasing the old ranch's “village” of outbuildings on 367 acres of land. The Bar U is now faithfully restored to its former glory...but as a working museum that wears the spurs.