Sam Livingston
Encyclopedia
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
n gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
of 1849, and eventually found his way to Jumping Pound, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
in 1873 where he opened a trading post. He was going to settle near the confluence of the Bow
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, and is considered the headwater of the Nelson River....
and Elbow River
Elbow River
The Elbow River is a river located in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River....
s in 1875 but, when the North West Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
arrived and established Fort Calgary
Fort Calgary
Fort Calgary was established in 1875 as Fort Brisebois by the North-West Mounted Police, located at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in what is now Calgary, Alberta.-History:...
, Livingston and his family moved further up the Elbow River to the current location of the Glenmore Reservoir
Glenmore Reservoir
The Glenmore Reservoir is a large artificial reservoir on the Elbow River in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. The Glenmore Dam is the concrete structure that holds back the reservoir. The reservoir is a primary source of drinking water to the city...
. When the Glenmore Dam was built and the area flooded, part of the Livingston house was preserved and now stands at Heritage Park
Heritage Park Historical Village
Heritage Park Historical Village is a historical park located in Calgary, Alberta. The park is located on of parkland on the banks of the Glenmore Reservoir, along the city's southwestern edge. As Canada's largest living history museum by number of exhibits, it is one of the city's most visited...
. Sam Livingston was an important man to Alberta's history. The Glenmore Reservoir
Glenmore Reservoir
The Glenmore Reservoir is a large artificial reservoir on the Elbow River in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. The Glenmore Dam is the concrete structure that holds back the reservoir. The reservoir is a primary source of drinking water to the city...
gets its name from Sam too; Sam and Jane started a school on their farm that Sam named 'Glenmore School' after a place in Ireland.
Sam Livingston married Jane Howse in 1865 and had a more settled way of life. He also started a business which included trading for buffalo skins. By 1874 he had relocated his operations southward to be closer to the trade with the plains Indians and was doing business near the Roman Catholic mission, Our Lady of Peace, on the Elbow River. In the summer of 1876 Livingston moved with his family closer to Fort Calgary (Calgary), the newly established North-West Mounted Police post on the river. Here, in 1876, he began cultivation and with John Glenn was one of the first farmers in the area.
Livingston was a great innovator who brought the first examples of mechanised equipment to farming in the Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
area. Some people call Sam Livingston "Calgary's First citizen", but George Clift King
George Clift King
George Clift King was the second mayor of the town of Calgary, Alberta.King was born in Chelmsford, England in 1848. At the age of 26, he left England for Canada, arriving in Toronto, Ontario in 1874. He joined the North West Mounted Police and was part of the first contingent sent west to...
(the first man to marry in Calgary) is also given that title. In fact John Glenn was the first documented European settler in the Calgary Area, in 1873.
Sam Livingston died in 1897 shortly after the birth of his fourteenth child. His funeral procession was forty carriages long.