In 1907, J.T.Johannesen, with a group of his countrymen, founded a Norwegian settlement in this little valley beside the Fallentimber Creek. This part of Alberta reminded them of their homeland and they named their settlement Bergen after the Norwegian city.
Mr. Johansen was the first postmaster when a post office was opened in November 1907. A post office continued to operate here until February, 1970. The name Bergen is derived from Bjorgvin, translating, "meadow between the mountains."
The first people to live in the Bearberry valley were First Nations families of the Stoney tribe from Morley. The Land survey of the Bearberry area began in 1902-03. The first homestead was filed in October 1906. The first post office was opened in 1909. Together with the mail, small supplies were hauled into Bearberry when any settler ordered them. (From the Bearberry Community website)
Coal Camp derives its name from Coal Camp Creek, which flows into the Red Deer River. The name refers to its location as the site of the first coal seam found in the area in the late 1890s. The name was made official in November of 1937 - Place Names of Alberta - Volume III
In the early 1890s, the McDougalls obtained a very large parcel of land on the flats of the Red Deer River. The McDougall Ranch was run by Dave McDougall and his son, Dave Jr., until about 1907, when a hard winter killed about half their stock. Soon after this, they sold out. Dave's father George and brother John were both missionaries to the Indians.
The western-most urban municipality within the Mountain View County region, Sundre's population is 2,729 (2016 Census) year-round. The Town of Sundre was incorporated as a town on January 1, 1956.
The name for this river, noted as early as 1887 by the GSC, is taken from James Dickson, a Stoney chief who was one of the people who signed Treaty No. 7 in 1877.
-Concise Place Names of Alberta
The name Eagle Hill has been in use since 1904, when the post office and school of that name were established. The landmark hill from which the area derives its name may have been known as Eagle Hill by the native Indians long before 1904. The name is thought to have originated from an eagle, or eagles nesting on the tree-covered hill.
Both the Westward Ho school district and post office opened in 1905. The name came from a Charles Kingsley's novel, Westward Ho! published in 1885. The name was suggested by Captain Thomas, a British army officer, who was an early settler. In some early correspondence, the spelling of the name actually included the exclamation mark. The post office at Westward Ho closed in 1970.
- Place Names of Alberta - Volume III
A post office operated here from May 1900 through August 1966 and was named by the department after a dry hot wind that blows on the Atlantic coast of Africa from the interior during December, January and February.
- Place Names of Alberta - Volume III
The name for the post office, which operated from August 1910 through February 1932, is taken from a parish of the same name in Yorkshire, England.
- Place Names of Alberta - Volume III
A post office operated here from May 1900 through August 1966 and was named by the department after a dry hot wind that blows on the Atlantic coast of Africa from the interior during December, January and February.
The origins of the word "Netook" can be traced back to the journals of explorer Peter Fidler, who in 1792 while traveling through what is now central Alberta, mentioned that he and his party "were approximately 20 kilometers away from a point of woods containing a large single pine tree the Blackfoot called 'nee-tuck-kis'- meaning "lone pine tree". An 18th century account of a smallpox epidemic among the Blackfoot, related to explorer David Thompson by Piikani Leader Saukamappee (Young Man), also mentions the lone pine tree, or "Nee tuck kis".
The Town of Olds is the largest urban community in the Mountain View County region with a population of 9,184 (2016 Census). Olds was incorporated as a town on July 1, 1905.
About the year 1870, a man from Iowa named Baxter passed through the country east of Olds, returning form an expedition to the Klondike. He saw the great potential of the vast prairie, so envisioned a great cattle country. In 1901, this same man, having formed a banking company named the Baxter and Reed Banking Company of Ida Grove, Iowa, backed a man named Hutchinson, whose duty it was to come to Canada to purchase land and establish a ranch. 1901, Hutchison bought for the company 22 sections in the area east of Olds, and two sections in the Wimborne area. J.W.Reed, partner of the Baxter and Reed Banking Company, took over responsibility of the newly-formed Baxter and Reed Cattle Company.
Source: Olds: a history of Olds and area
The area was named because of the Lone Pine Creek which meanders from northwest to southeast. The area was first surveyed in 1883, and was described as a "rolling prairie with second class soil". Over the years it has been proven that the Lone Pine district is most suited to mixed farming, with barley and oats being the predominant cereal crops grown.
- from "Bucking Poles & Butter Churns", History of the Lone Pine and District, By the North Lone Pine Women's Institute, July 1972
In 1953, five rural schools- Green Acres, Jutland, Burnside, Bancroft and Siebertville - were consolidated to form Midway School. The new school was constructed next to a curling rink that had been previously established by local residents. The name Midway refers to the location of the curling rink, and later the school, which is midway between the communities of Didsbury, Carstairs and Acme.
- From "Beyond our Prairie Trails, V. 1 Community history"
Rosebud derives its name from the Blackfoot word "akokiniskway", which has been translated to mean "many rosebuds." However, this Blackfoot name may be closer to the modern rendering of "saskatoon berry," namely okonok.
- Concise Place Names of Alberta
The Town of Didsbury is the most centrally located urban municipality in Mountain View County. It has a population of 5,268 (2016 Census) and was incorporated as a town on September 27, 1906.
This Canadian Pacific Railway station was established in 1910 and takes its name after Wessex, England. This was originally a tribal name, "the West Saxons." Wessex was one of the seven kingdoms formed by the Saxons in England.Two grain elevators were established at Wessex siding in the 1920's, and were subsequently dismantled in 1950, and 1962, respectively. A garage and section house also existed at Wessex for many years.
The Town of Carstairs is an urban municipality located just over 5 km north of the County's south boundary. It has a population of 4,077 (2016 Census) and was incorporated as a town on September 1, 1966.
According to Pearl Van Duzee Stone, the name "Jackson" was chosen to recognize her father's home town in Minnesota. The Jackson School District was incorporated in 1906, with one of Alberta's first rural high schools operating for a short time at Jackson before moving to Cremona in the late '20s . A post office, Jackville, operated at 36-29-3-W5 from May 1904 through December 1917.
The name for this post office, previously known as Kansas, is the same as that of a place in Berkshire, England. The post office operated under this name from July 1908 through March 1968.
-Place Names of Alberta - Volume III
The post office at Elkton operated from June 1907 through March 1969, and was named for its proximity to the Red Deer River. The early fur traders mistakenly referred to the elk as red deer.
The name Dogpound was first used in 1883 by a surveyor named Fawcett. According to Pearl Stone, in her local history People and Places by Pearl, "[a] Cree tribe called it "Ko-ma-tas-ta-moin" meaning "stolen horse or dog creek".
Yet another Cree name was Mizekampehpoocahan meaning "wolf or dog caught in a buffalo pound." The word "pound" was a term used to describe an impoundment or cliff where buffalo were driven and killed. The animals were driven into a winged corral at the top of a steep cliff. They were driven into this and forced to jump to their death. Often dogs caught in the stampeding herd met the same fate.
The Village of Cremona is located in the southwest portion of the County, along Highway 22 (also known as the Cowboy Trail). It has a population of 444 (2016 Census) and was incorporated as a village on January 1, 1955.
"In what is now called Winchell Coulee, the Winchell's became one of the first families to homestead when they set up one of the first sawmills in the area. Grandma Winchell lived in the original log home into the 1980's and in 1978 the province installed power to the home in honour of her 100th birthday.
The community of Water Valley became known as such when the official Water Valley School District was formed in 1921. The name was selected by a drawing from the hat. Water Valley School opened in 1926 in what is now called the Chinook Creative Arts Building. The school served the area until 1963 (since then, local children are bussed to Cremona)."
- From the Water Valley Community Association website
The name for Fallentimber comes from Fallentimber Creek, which has been in use since at least 1892 when A.P. Coleman (1852-1939), a charter member of the Alpine Club of Canada, wrote in his journal that he and his party camped here.
The descriptive name is a translation of the Cree word, kow-ikh-ti-kow. The Stoney equivalent is o-ta-ha-wap-ta.
-Place Names of Alberta - Volume III
