In my last entry I talked about the coming of the railway into
the Prairie Provinces and the effect that had on settlement. As
I was researching some of the small towns in Alberta for our
presentation for Historic Calgary Week, “Wish you were here,” I
discovered that the coming of the railway had a very profound
effect on some settlements. In fact, the announcement of the
route of the railway caused the denizens of quite a few towns to
pack up and move, buildings and all. One such town was Castor
Alberta. It was started one mile from where it is now and was
known as Williston. The site of the town was sold and homes and
businesses were moved to the rail line. It’s new location at the
railhead for the district east almost to the Saskatchewan border
led to booming enterprise. A postcard which dates to around
1910-1914 says it all: “More business is done in Castor in one
day sometimes than in Waterford in a week. It supplies a country
one hundred miles east, forty miles south, twenty miles north
and five west. M