In 1909 Alberta farmers chose to speak with one voice as
the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA). By 1916 there were sixteen UFA locals in
the Wetaskiwin area alone.
Our earliest records indicate that by 1915 John Berg and
Carl Eliason of the Cherry Grove local had helped organize the other locals and they had
began buying farm and family essentials on a group basis.
A few months later, under the direction of Thomas Toreson
of the Lone Ridge Local, volunteers from the other locals convened a meeting in the
sitting room of the Wetaskiwin Hotel. Together, these representatives decided that
their main purpose was co-operative buying and selling. They adopted a constitution
and bylaws, and elected Edward Schmidt as President and John Berg as the
Secretary. Each local would pay a fee of $1.00 per year and also designate a
representative to the association. The members of the Wetaskiwin District
Association of the United Farmers of Alberta agreed to meet on the last Saturday of every
month. Seventeen locals were represented:
Bears Hill
Bittern Lake Bigstone
Cherry Grove
Crooked Lake
Gwynne
Harvest Home John
Knox
Lone
Ridge
Larch Tree
Malmo
Millet
Mashville
Verdun
Wang
Weiler
Wenham Valley
At the next general meeting held on December 15, 1916
Mr. A.B. (Burt) Evarts assumed the secretarial duties from Mr. Berg because he was
more centrally located to all the locals and his farm was closer to Wetaskiwin and the
railroad.
This was very important to the Association because Mr.
Evarts not only maintained meeting and business records he also assumed the responsibility
of compiling the orders from all the farmers in all the member locals, organizing the
purchasing, arranging financing, collecting payments, and then looking after the
distribution of the commodities when they arrived. This was no small undertaking.
How Mr. Evarts managed this along with his farming operation is a amazing. He was
instrumental in the early success of the Association.
In the beginning the bulk of the business was conducted on a
railway spur at the box car door. Local members were notified that supplies had arrived
and farmers would call at the box car to pick up their orders and sometimes their
neighbours' orders as well. One representative, young Ed Peterson, used to hitch up
a team of horses to a triple-deck wagon and haul the entire order for his local back to
Malmo for distribution at the local meeting.
Even with no significant profit being made the shear
volume of the commodities and the increasing membership resulted in early success for the
Association. This led the members of the Wetaskiwin District Association of the
United Farmers of Alberta to think to offer the same benefits to the town people. So
an incorporated consumer store association was proposed.
Previous < >
Next
Photo Gallery
Anecdotes
Notable Events
View
Lists of Directors From Early
Years
Women of the
Co-op
Return to
History Outline
Return to Home Page
