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Blackie area's history revisited for first time since Woodstock days

Committee looking for further submissions for Fencelines and Furrows Vol II
BlackiehistoryBook.3
The Blackie History Book Committee is working on Fencelines and Furrows Vol II. Members of the committee include, clockwise from top, Grant Cooke, Sharon Cooke and Harold Hansen. (Photo courtesy of Steve Hofland, Hofland Images)

History is getting a 50-year update in Blackie and the surrounding area.

Work is in progress on Fencelines and Furrows Vol II, a historical look at Blackie and smaller communities — past and present — in the area.

The first edition came out in 1969, said Sharon Cooke, president of the Blackie History Book Committee.

"It started in 1967 as a centennial project and it was printed and distributed in 1969," Cooke said. "The first edition has been sold out for quite some time. 

It's now time for an update for the next generations.

"It was our parents who did the first book, so suddenly we are the older people now... It's up to us to write the next book and that's what we did."

Back in '69, Cooke was one year into her marriage with Grant Cooke, who is also on the committee.

"The book was a very big thing then — we all got history books for Christmas that year," Cooke said. "The technology wasn't quite so good back then and the committee put in a lot of effort. It (the book) was very accurate."

The committee is striving for the same accuracy and has received a helping hand from 92-year-old Harold Hansen, a walking encyclopedia of the Blackie area.

"I approached Harold one day at a Blackie Lions meeting and he said: 'Yeah, I think that would be a great idea,'" Cooke said.

The book will cover the areas of Blackie, Herronton, Mazeppa, Brant and the former Frankburg — where Sharon Cooke grew up just south  of as a member of the Christofferson family, who homesteaded there in 1904. Frankburg was a community founded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All that remains is a cemetery south of Frank Lake.

The historical book committee has received over 160 family histories as well as 60 other stories about local people, past businesses, events and other miscellaneous stories for the second volume.

The updated edition will include businesses throughout the years in the Blackie area.

"Some of those businesses were pretty significant and they kind of kept the Blackie community together," Cooke said.

Some of those businesses included Ellard Egeland and Sons who ran the John Deere dealership, JD Eamor who ran the area's International Harvester dealership, Jake Stier and Sons who operated the Case International, have submitted stories for Fencelines and Furrows Vol. II.

There is also a piece from Niels Jensen, who operated the Polaris Snowmobile dealership in town.

"He was probably one of the largest Polaris dealers in Canada," Cooke said. "He did a whole lot for Blackie. It (the dealership) brought people in from all over southern Alberta... Everybody in this area had a snowmobile then -- back when we got snow."

The committee is still looking for more historical stories from families in the area. The committee has set a deadline of Sept. 30 for family history information.

To make a submission e mail your history, photos or story to [email protected]  Or  mail it to: Fencelines & Furrows History Books, Attention: Janet Snider and Shirley Laycraft, Box 143, Blackie, AB. T0L 0J0 
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