Person:Elwood Butchart (1)

The following letter was written by Uncle Elwood dated March 17, 1980 to the Alberta Archives:

"Some few years ago I gave you a picture of the first Page boys to sit in the Provincial Legislature at Edmonton in 1913. This was when the new parliament building was opened. The first person I spoke to said he would send me a copy but none was sent. Just a letter giving information as to the number of the article in the archives.

As you will see from the article that appeared in the Toronto Globe - enclosed - we came to Edmonton in 1905. I am going back to Edmonton to celebrate the Province's 75th anniversary and I would like to have a copy of the picture as I intend to look up Mr. Anderson who of course retired but he was Clerk of the Legislature when I was a Page. I worked four sessions so got to know Mr. Anderson very well and I would like to discuss old times with him.

The Province of Alberta was very good to me and I had many outstanding experiences. Edmonton City Council sent me and three other Boy Scouts to the Coronation of George V and then on to Carnarvon for the Investiture of the Prince of Wales. A trip like that doesn't mean much now with parents sending youngsters to Honolulu for Christmas but in those days that was quite an experience.

Then the wonderful page boy experience which was outstanding, getting to know Premier A. L. Sifton and his whole group and also Mr. Michener, the leader of the Conservative Opposition and who was the father of Roland Michener our former Governor-General whom I knew very well as he lived across the street on 7th Street.

I went overseas with the Western University Battalion in C Company, which Company was sponsored by the University of Alberta. This was in 1916. I returned in 1919.

I then had the pleasure of playing semi-professional baseball with Frank Wolfe as my catcher and various tournaments. Frank at that time was Grain Buyer at Tofield and he later started Edmonton Motors which developed into the largest General Motors dealer in Alberta. We remained friends over the years curling and golfing.

I then enrolled in engineering at University of Alberta and the following summer my friend and I surveyed the property of the Ingenika Gold Mining Company - building our scow to carry Keystone Drill and equipment to the other side of Hudson Hope beyond the Peace River Canyon.

In 1923 George Parney and I, with whom I played basketball for the University, were chosen by Percy Page to referee the first international games of the Edmonton Grads and subsequent games. Sir Henry Thornton who was in Edmonton arranged for this first team, which was the Cleveland Favorite Knits, to go to Jasper for a weekend. I was going out to Jasper Park Lodge as superintendent of Automobile Transportation and most of the University Basketball team was going out as drivers, truck drivers, bellhops, office workers, etc., so we had our uniforms sent out and I know this sounds corny but we played an exhibition game with the girls in Jasper.

I continued on as superintendent each summer for five years. I played on the first Totem Pole Golf Tournament in 1925. I did have one memorable experience one year - all the regular guests were checked out at the end of the season but we kept the Lodge open for the Prince of Wales and I had the pleasure of driving him for the three days he was there.

You are probably tired of this narrative but it tells you why I am anxious to go back to Alberta for the 75th celebration.

I loved Alberta and still do."