Altario

History

In 1909 Porterfield Robinson arrived in the area and established the first post office where settlers believed the CPR Moose Jaw-Lacombe line would go. He built a store to bring in supplies for the settlers from the nearest railway point, Macklin, SK. A survey had been made, but it was still a question. Steel had been laid as far east as Stettler. Robinson named the settlement site "Wilhelmina" after his daughter and the post office was opened in February 1911. Settlers could walk half a day to get their mail if they had no horse or oxen. In August 1914, the steel came in from the west, four miles north of Robinson's site. The CPR moved a boxcar in, to serve as a station. But the first building in the new hamlet named Bideford (then Saskalta, then Altario) was the lean-to part of Porterfield Robinson's store, which he moved from Wilhelmena with the help of R. H. Bartels and his four Percheron horses. The town was renamed Bideford (the government said Wilhelmina was too difficult to spell), then Saskalta, and the name was subsequently changed again, to Altario. A crew of young Doukhobor men built the first grain elevator for United Grain Growers. "They were a jolly bunch of young men, and hard workers." Robinson's Department Store was followed by John McLeod's Hardware store, the pool hall, the Chinese restaurant, the garage, and other places. Porterfield Robinson kept on being postmaster, and he also ran a farm machinery agency, and sold coal and oil. There was a livery stable run by Mr. Oxton, a pool hall, other farm machinery agencies, a notary public, doctor and a dentist. In April 1920, the first Red Cross hospital was opened, with Dr. Dean Robinson as the doctor. He was later joined by his brother-in-law, Dr. W.W. Almond, husband of Wilhelmina Robinson.…

Most-observed species

• Willet

  Tringa semipalmata (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  8
• Swainson's Hawk

  Buteo swainsoni Bonaparte, 1838 · Aves
  7
• Horned Lark

  Eremophila alpestris (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  5
• Eastern Kingbird

  Tyrannus tyrannus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4
• Northern Shoveler

  Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4