AN AMUSING STORY
In 1912 both of the Girvan brothers immigrated to Canada; first, locating in Edmonton, Alberta, where they established Girvan Studios.
During this time, the brothers did much work on such buildings as The Alberta Hotel, Edmonton Parliament Building, First Presbyterian Church, Gem Theatre, Hudson’s Bay Store, the MacDonald Hotel, and the Royal North West Mounted Police Barracks.
According to prospective, this photo would have to be taken from just west of the rat hole above the rail-road tracks. This prospective, as is evident up to the Howard & McBride Funeral home gives a downward slant to the photo However, running south from the funeral home the prospective, Jasper Avenue and the 109th street, angle changes. As the slight differences in colour and exposure makes all the more evident; the above image
is a postcard type composite; of, I would say; three separate
and distinct photos. The Legislative Building dome should not
dominate the sky-line and should not appear to be closer than the other government building; as the prospective given to this photo would indicate.
The government buildings cannot even be seen from where the ECD photo would
have been taken. As the bottom picture clearly shows, the Legislative Building is located in the river valley: follow the skyline; then ask yourself; even if there were no other buildings blocking the view, how much of the Legislative building could be seen from a, ground level location, just slightly west of the old ECD site?
I
doubt, very much, that both the buildings shown could have been captured
from the point --South of Jasper Avenue, West of 109th street, on the CPR
track-- at which point; a second photo, showing the Federal Building, would have to have been taken.
This composite (a technique borrowed from Hollywood films of the time, super imposed, triple exposure) does however; show well, the
famous ECD milk bottle. ECD was bought out and later became Silverwood's.
Unfortunately, that milk bottle, (now a historic monument), did
and does not depict the "Cream Saver" the bottle that helped to make that dairy famous.
You can't have everything.
PC007077: "A section of Edmonton, Alberta, showing the High Level Bridge, Parliament Buildings and MacDonald Hotel." is licensed by University of Alberta Libraries under the Attribution - Non-Commercial - Creative Commons license. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/permissions/postcards.html.
As is readily apparent to anyone viewing this image and observing the horizon(More importantly, the lines of the river bank; and the roof of the Federal Building ); to anyone stationed, at ground level, North of Jasper Avenue (any where near E.C.D. largest structure, behind Federal Building, background ,left) the entrance to the "Rat Hole"; or North of the McDonald Hotel(larger building furtherest to the right; the rear portion[South-toward bottom of picture] of which is also below the river bank) but looking South, the Federal Building, and all but the very top dome of the Parliament building; would be below the horizon; and, thus out of sight.
We, EDMONTONIANS, were all justly proud of OUR
dairies and dairy products.
WE OWNED THEM.
SURVIVING IMAGES ARE OURS.
NOT THE PROPERTY OF SOME PRIVATE (self-interested) ARCHIVE
OR MUSEUM.
THEY ARE A PART OF OUR HERITAGE
After closing
down, and thus leaving Fraser's; Henry Cranna (uncle), became head blacksmith
/MASTER farrier at Edmonton City Dairy where he remained until they
closed. Henry was known to be a very tough, hard spoken, but, very
soft hearted, man.
He offered great
help to mother and I after my father died.
The true story is
told, amongst family members, of how Henry, suffering a broken leg,
after being kicked by a horse, somehow, completed all work scheduled for the
day, before going to the hospital, or, in fact, letting anyone know that
he had been injured. Henry was also well known at the Edmonton Exhibition
Grounds and for being the first ever to put his forge and
other equipment in the back of a pick-up truck-thus becoming the
FIRST TRAVELLING BLACKSMITH/FARRIER. In later years he constructed
ornamental iron railings and often gave demonstrations of the almost forgotten
art of “forge" or "powder" welding.
The Girvan brothers did a considerable
amount of work on the Legislative Building (seen in background).
©Al (Alex, Alexander) D. Girvan 2012
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