• Spear points from the Clovis phase found in present-day Alberta.<br/>Source: Historical Resources Management Branch, Archaeological Survey

    Clovis phase spear points used in present-day Alberta.

    Clovis phase spear points represent the oldest hunting technology in Alberta, and indeed all of North America. These fluted, jagged stone points would be attached to a bone or wooden shaft and used to hunt enormous prey such as mammoths and mastodons.
    Source: Historical Resources Management Branch, Archaeological Survey

  • Diagram of an atlatl (spear-thrower)<br/>Source: Courtesy of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

    Atlatl (spear-thrower) technology emerges in present-day Alberta.

    Atlatls were used by early hunter’s to increase the velocity of their projectile weapons. Spears or darts thrown with an atlatl could deliver devastating wounds to an animal, allowing the hunter to kill the animal from a safe distance.
    Source: Courtesy of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

  • Representation of an early hunter drawing a bow<br/>Source: Courtesy of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

    Bow and arrow technology reaches present-day Alberta.

    Bow and arrow technology in North America appears to have developed first in the Arctic before spreading south throughout the continent. The bow and arrow was ideally suited for use in the wide open spaces of the Great Plains, and was widely adopted across the region.
    Source: Courtesy of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

  • Petroglyph of a mounted hunter chasing a bison, Milk River<br/>Source: Royal Alberta Museum

    The ‘Horse Revolution’ begins in present-day Alberta.

    Horses were brought to North America by Spanish colonists in the sixteenth century. From the Spanish colony of New Mexico, horses spread across North America, reaching present-day Alberta in the 1730s. The adoption of the horse had a significant impact on the hunting/transportation patterns of Plains First Nations peoples.
    Source: Royal Alberta Museum

  • Swimmers Enjoying the Banff Hot Springs, ca. 1935<br/>Source: Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, v263-na-3562

    Rocky Mountains National Park is established by the Canadian government.

    One of the main attractions of the new park was the site’s natural hot springs. The luxurious Banff Springs Hotel, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1888, pumped water from the hot springs into its swimming pools and treatment rooms. Tourists flocked to the site to take advantage of the water’s supposed therapeutic healing powers.
    Source: Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, v263-na-3562

  • Calgary Water Power Company hydroelectric plant, n.d.<br/>Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-4477-44

    The Calgary Water Power Company opens Alberta’s first hydroelectric plant.

    The company was owned by entrepreneur Peter Prince, who also ran the Eau Claire & Bow River Lumber Company. From 1894 to 1905, the company was the major electricity provider for the city of Calgary.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-4477-44

  • The city power plant in Edmonton, 1912<br/>Source: Glenbow Archives, NC-6-271

    The City of Edmonton purchases the Edmonton Electric Lighting Company.

    The decision in favour of public ownership was made after repeated disruptions in service from the privately-owned utility. Edmonton was the first major urban centre in Canada to own its own electricity utility.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NC-6-271

  • Changing the name from Calgary Power to TransAlta, 1981<br/>Source: Photo courtesy of TransAlta

    The Calgary Power Company is formed.

    The founder of the company, Max Aitken, was initially drawn to the region by its vast hydroelectricity potential. The company would develop into Canada’s largest investor-owned utility. In 1981, the company changed its name to TransAlta Utilities Corporation, in order to better reflect its provincial reach.
    Source: Photo courtesy of TransAlta

  • Calgary Power’s power house at Horseshoe Falls on the Bow River, ca. 1912<br/>Source: Glenbow Archives NA-3544-28

    Alberta’s First hydroelectric dam opens at Horseshoe Falls.

    Owned and operated by Calgary Power, the Horseshoe Falls Dam was the first of two such facilities built on the Bow River system prior to the First World War. A second hydroelectric dam began operations at Kananaskis Falls in 1913.
    Source: Glenbow Archives NA-3544-28

  • Ghost Hydroelectric Dam, 1935<br/>Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-5663-44

    The Ghost Hydroelectric Dam begins operations

    This massive facility was the largest hydroelectric dam in Alberta at the time it was built. The Ghost Power Plant more than doubled the amount of electricity generated by Calgary Power, which was already the province’s main energy supplier.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-5663-44

  • Rural electrification crew at work near Irma, 1951<br/>Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-4160-20

    The first Rural Electrification Association (REA) in Alberta is established in Springbank.

    Over the next two decades, a total of 416 REAs would be established across the province. These organizations would play a crucial role in the spread of electricity to rural Alberta.
    Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-4160-20

  • CCF Advertisement in the People’s Weekly, August 14, 1948, urging people to support public utility ownership<br/>Source: Image courtesy of Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries

    Voters of Alberta narrowly reject proposal for public ownership of electricity utilities.

    The 1948 provincial election included a plebiscite concerning ownership of electricity utilities in Alberta. Rural areas largely voted in favour of public ownership, while urban voters (particularly in southern Alberta) supported a continuation of private ownership. In the end, the vote was extremely close, with public ownership defeated by a mere 151 votes.
    Source: Image courtesy of Peel’ Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries

  • Five of the turbines installed at Cowley Ridge Wind Farm<br/>Source: Photo courtesy of TransAlta

    Cowley Ridge Wind Farm begins operations near Pincher Creek.

    Cowley Ridge was Canada’s first commercial wind farm. A total of fifty-two wind turbines were installed in 1993-94. In 2000, the project was expanded with the addition of fifteen new (and much more powerful) turbines.
    Source: Photo courtesy of TransAlta

  • Aerial view of Drake Landing Solar Community<br/>Source: Wikimedia Commons/CA-BY-SA-3.0

    Drake Landing Solar Community opens near Okotoks, Alberta.

    Drake Landing is North American’s first fully integrated solar community. This award-winning initiative uses solar heating technology to provide the community with the majority of its space heating and hot water needs.
    Source: Wikimedia Commons/CA-BY-SA-3.0

  • AAdvanced Energy Research Facility, Edmonton, 2011LT<br/>Source: Photo Courtesy of Enerkem

    The City of Edmonton announces the launch of the ‘waste-to-biofuels’ project.

    The waste-to-biofuels project will convert garbage into biofuel by harvesting carbon from the waste material. The project includes an Advanced Energy Research Facility, which opened in 2012.
    Source: Photo Courtesy of Enerkem

Play Timeline

Sources

The First Forms of Power

Ankli, Roger, Dan Helsberg and John Herd Thompson. “The Adoption of the Gasoline Tractor in Western Canada.” In Canadian Papers in Rural History, ed. Donald Akenson, vol. 2. Ganoque, ON: Lansdowne Press, 1980: 9-39.

Binnema, Theodore. Common and Contested Ground: A Human and Environmental History of the Northwestern Plains. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.

———. “‘With Tears, Shrieks and Howlings of Despair’: The Smallpox Epidemic Of 1781-82.” In Alberta Formed, Alberta Transformed, eds. Michael Payne, Donald Wetherell and Catherine Cavanaugh. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2006: 111-32.

Boyd, Matthew. “Identification of Anthropogenic Burning in the Paleoecological Record of the Northern Prairies: A New Approach.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 92, no. 3 (2002), pp 471-487.

Bryant, Sheila J. “The Hind Quarter: Animal News You Can Use: Draft Animal Power.” Journal of Agricultural & Food Information, 11 (2010):360-66. doi: 10.1080/10496505.2010.518074.

Carter, Sarah. Aboriginal Peoples and Colonizers of Western Canada to 1900. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.

Cattelain, Pierre. “Hunting During the Upper Paleolithic: Bow, Spearthrower, or Both?” In Projectile Technology, ed. Heidi Knecht. New York: Plenum Press, 1997: 213-40.

Clutton-Brock, Juliet. A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Dickason, Olive. A Concise History of Canada’s First Nations, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press: 2010.

Falvey, J. Lindsay. An Introduction to Working Animals. Melbourne: MPW Australia, 1987.

Gilpin, John. Roads to Resources: A History of Transportation in Alberta. Edmonton: The Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association, 2005.

Ives, John W. “13,001 Years Ago: Human Beginnings in Alberta.” In Alberta Formed, Alberta Transformed, eds. Michael Payne, Donald Wetherell and Catherine Cavanaugh. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2006: 1-36.

Landels, J.G. Engineering in the Ancient World. London: Chatto & Windus, 1978.

Lappage, Ronald. “Physical Feats of the Voyageur.” Canadian Journal of the History of Sport 15,1 (1984): 30-37.

Lewis, Henry T. A Time for Burning. Occasional Paper 17, Boreal Institute for Northern Studies. Edmonton: Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, 1982.

Losey, Timothy C. History of the Automobile in Alberta, 1900-55. Wetaskawin: Reynolds-Alberta Museum, 1984.

Mazoyer, Marcel and Laurence Roudart. A History of World Agriculture: From the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2006.

Myers, Pat. Facing the Land: Homesteading in Alberta. Wetaskawin: Friends of the Reynolds Alberta Museum Society, 1992.

———. When the Whistle Blows: Steam Threshing in Alberta. Wetaskawin: Friends of the Reynolds Alberta Museum Society, 1992.

Peck, Trevor. Light from Ancient Campfires: Archeological Evidence for Native Lifeways on the Northern Plains. Edmonton: AU Press, 2011.

Peck, Trevor and J. Rod Vickers. “Buffalo and Dogs: The Prehistoric Lifeways of Aboriginal People on the Alberta Plains, 1004-1005.” In Alberta Formed – Alberta Transformed, eds. Michael Payne, Donald Wetherell and Catherine Cavanaugh. Alberta: Centennial History Society, 2005: 55-86.

———. “Islands in a Sea of Grass: The Significance of Wood in Winter Campsite Selection on the Northwest Great Plains.” In Archeology on the Edge. Occasional Paper 4, Canadian Archaeology, eds. Brian Kooyman and Jane H. Kelley. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2004: 95-124.

Pyne, Stephen J. Awful Splendour: A Fire History of Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007.

Rasmussen, Wayne D. “The Impact of Technological Change on American Agriculture, 1862-1962.” Journal of Economic History 22,4 (1962): 578-91.

Sheppard, R. Bruce. “Tractors and Combines in the Second Stage of Agricultural Mechanization on the Canadian Plains.” Prairie Forum 11,2 (1986): 253-71.

Tingley, Kenneth. Steel and Steam: Aspects of Breaking Land in Alberta. Wetaskawin: Friends of the Reynolds Alberta Museum Society, 1992.

Wetherell, Donald with Elise Corbet. Made in the West for the West: A Century of Farm Equipment Manufacturing in Prairie Canada. Edmonton: Prairie Implement Manufacturers’ Association, 1992.

Electricity

Bowers, Brian. “Electricity.” In An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology, ed. Ian McNeil, 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1996: 350-87.

Crosby, Alfred W. Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity’s Unappeasable Appetite for Energy. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.

Dogterom, Irma and William Lingard. The Butcher, The Baker, The Candy Maker,1870-1920: A Guide to the First Fifty Years of Commerce in Lethbridge. Lethbridge: Lethbridge Historical Society, 2005.

Dolphin, Frank and John Dolphin. Country Power: The Electrical Revolution in Rural Alberta. Edmonton: Plains Publishing, 1993.

Government of Alberta (Energy). “Generation Additions Since 1998.” http://www.energy.alberta.ca/Electricity/pdfs/Website_Stats_Update_-_November_2012.pdf . Accessed 25 October 2013.

Hawkins, W.E. Electrifying Calgary: A Century of Public and Private Power. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1987.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Electricity: The Magic Medium. Thornhill, ON: IEEE, Canadian Region, 1985.

Johnston, Alex and Andy den Otter. Lethbridge: A Centennial History. Lethbridge: Lethbridge Historical Society, 1991.

Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify The World. New York: Random House, 2003.

Marshall, Heather and Debbie Culbertson. Candles to Kilowatts: The Story of Edmonton’s Power Company. Edmonton: Duval House Publishing, 2002.

Page, Robert and David Finch. Powering Generations: The TransAlta Story: 1911-2011. Cochrane, AB: Kingsley Publishing, 2011.

Hydro

Andruschuk, Sue. TransAlta Utilities: 75 Years of Progress. Calgary: TransAlta Utilities, 1986.

Armstrong, Christopher and H.V. Nelles. Wilderness and Waterpower: How Banff National Park Became a Hydro-Electric Storage Reservoir. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2013.

Gordon, Robert B. and Patrick M. Malone. The Texture of Industry: An Archaeological View of the Industrialization of North America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Hatch Ltd. Final Report for Alberta Utilities Commission: Update on Alberta’s Hydroelectric Energy Resources (2010). http://www.energy.alberta.ca /Electricity/pdfs/AUCHydroelectricStudy.pdf. Accessed 25 October 2013.

Hawkins, W.E. Electrifying Calgary. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1987.

Kuhn, Dieter. The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.

Lucas, Adam. Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology. Leiden: Brill, 2006.

Major, F. Kenneth. “Wind, Water and Animal Power.” In An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology, ed. Ian McNeil, 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1996: 229-71.

Nye, David E. Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998.

Nelles, H.V. The Politics of Development: Forests, Mines and Hydro-electric Power in Ontario, 1849-1941. 2nd ed. Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

Olson, James Stuart. Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Page, Robert and David Finch. Powering Generations: The TransAlta Story: 1911-2011. Cochrane, AB: Kingsley Publishing, 2011.

Pursell, Carroll W. The Machine in America: A Social History of Technology. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.

Reynolds, Terry S. Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.

Wind

Alberta. Climate Change Advisory Panel to Minister. Edmonton: Government of Alberta, 2016. http://www.alberta.ca/documents/climate/climate-leadership-report-to-minister.pdf Accessed May 6, 2016.

Canadian Wind Energy Association, “Powering Canada’s Future: September 2013.” http://www.canwea.ca/pdf/Canada%20Current%20Installed%20Capacity_e.pdf Accessed October 24, 2013.

———. “WindVision 2025: Powering Canada’s Future.” http://www.canwea.ca/windvision_e.php. Accessed October 25, 2013.

———. “WindVision 2025: A Strategy for Alberta.” http://www.canwea.ca/windvision_ab_e.php. Accessed October 25, 2013.

Capital Power. “Halkirk Wind – Photo Essay.” http://www.capitalpower.com/generationportfolio/merchantcommercial/Pages/Halkirk.aspx Accessed October 25, 2013.

———. “Halkirk Wind – Wind Turbine Fact Sheet.” http://www.capitalpower.com/generationportfolio/merchantcommercial/Pages/Halkirk.aspx Accessed October 25, 2013.

Environment Canada. “Canadian Wind Energy Atlas.” http://www.windatlas.ca. Accessed October 25, 2013.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, “Renewable Energy: Wind and Solar: Canada’s Competitive Advantage.” http://ontariowindresistance.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/canada-renewable-energy-2012.pdf . Accessed October 24, 2013.

Hills, Richard L. Power from Wind: A History of Windmill Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Krivitsky, Julie. Wind Energy and Renewable Resources in Alberta. Canadian Institute of Resource Law Occasional Paper #30 (June, 2010).

Major, F. Kenneth. “Wind, Water and Animal Power.” In An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology, ed. Ian McNeil, 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1996: 229-71.

Musgrove, Peter. Wind Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Redlinger, Robert Y., Per Dannemand Anderson and Poul Erik Morthorst. Wind Energy in the 21st Century. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

Righter, Robert W. Wind Energy in America: A History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.

Satyajith, Mathew. Wind Energy: Fundamentals, Resource Analysis and Economics. Netherlands: Springer, 2006.

Shepherd, Dennis. Historical Development of the Windmill. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of Management, Scientific and Technical Information Division, 1990.

Wang, Rui et al. Alberta Wind Power Variability Study. Prepared for Alberta Electric System Operator, 2005.

Solar

Cheremisinoff, Paul N. and Thomas C. Regino. Principles and Applications of Solar Energy. Ann Arbor, MI: Ann Arbor Science Publishers, 1978.

Drake Landing Solar Community. “Drake Landing Solar Community Brochure.” http://www.dlsc.ca/brochure.htm . Accessed October 25, 2013.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, “Renewable Energy: Wind and Solar: Canada’s Competitive Advantage.” http://ontariowindresistance.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/canada-renewable-energy-2012.pdf . Accessed October 24, 2013.

Krivitsky, Julie. Solar Rights and Renewable Energy in Alberta. Canadian Institute of Resource Law Occasional Paper #31 (July, 2010).

Leggett, Jeremy. The Solar Century: The Past, Present and World-Changing Future of Solar Energy. London: Green Profile, 2009.

McVeigh, J.C. Sun Power: An Introduction to the Applications of Solar Energy. 2nd ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1983.

Perlin, John. From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity. Ann Arbor, MI: Aalec, 1999.

Tabak, John. Solar and Geothermal Energy. New York: Facts on File, 2009.

Alternative Energy (Biofuels and Geothermal)

Bennett, Scott. Encyclopaedia of Energy. Delhi: Global Media, 2007.

Burton, Francis. Fire: The Spark that Ignited Human Evolution. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2009.

Campbell, SueEllen. The Face of the Earth: Natural Landscapes, Science, and Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.

Canadian Geothermal Association. “Canadian Geothermal Project Overview 2013.” http://www.cangea.ca/canadian-projects/. Accessed October 25, 2013.

———. “Introduction to Geothermal Energy.” http://www.cangea.ca/geothermal-energy/ . Accessed October 25, 2013.

Doucet, Joseph. Biofuels in Alberta. Edmonton: University of Alberta School of Business, 2007.

Duffield, Wendell A. and John H. Sass. Geothermal Energy: Clean Power from the Earth’s Heat. Reston, VA: United States Geological Survey, 2003.

Dunbar, Jean. “The Pools at Warm Springs, Virginia.” Early American Homes 31, no.3 (June 2000): 37-40.

Dvorjetski, Esti. Leisure, Pleasure and Healing: Spa Culture and Medicine in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean. Leiden: Brill, 2007.

Fletcher, Katharine. “Past Progressive: Taking the Waters in Banff, Alberta.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 178, no. 4 (February 2008): 444. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.080044.

Government of Alberta (Agriculture and Rural Development). “More from Manure.” http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/newslett.nsf/all/gm10016. Accessed October 25, 2013.

Government of Alberta (Energy). “Bioenergy.” http://www.energy.alberta.ca/BioEnergy/bioenergy.asp. Accessed October 25, 2013.

Grasby, S.E. et al. Geothermal Energy Resource Potential of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada Open File 6914, 2011.

Grover, Velma, Vaneeta Grover and William Hogland. Recovering Energy from Waste. Enfield, Science Publishers, Inc., 2002.

Martin, Elizabeth. “Big Sky Oasis.” Humanities 33, no. 1 (January 2013): 8.

Martynowych, Orest T. The Ukrainian Bloc Settlement in East-Central Alberta, 1890-1930: A History, Including Bibliography with Annotations. Edmonton: Alberta Culture, 1985.

Mousdale, David M. Biofuels: Biotechnology, Chemistry, and Sustainable Development. London: CRC Press, 2008.

Palmer, Howard and Tamara Palmer. “The Icelandic Experience in Alberta.” In Peoples of Alberta: Portraits of Cultural Diversity, ed. Howard and Tamara Palmer. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1985: 174-94.

———. “The Romanian Community in Alberta.” In Peoples of Alberta: Portraits of Cultural Diversity, ed. Howard and Tamara Palmer. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1985: 243-73.

Pyne, Stephen J. Fire: A Brief History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001.

Southern Alberta Alternative Energy Partnership. “Geothermal Energy: Southern Alberta.” http://www.saaep.ca/geothermalenergy.pdf . Accessed November 4, 2013.

Williams, Michael. Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis: An Abridgment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Wynn, Graeme. Canada and Arctic North America: An Environmental History. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2007.

General or Multiple Energy Sources

Bell, Jeff and Tim Weis. Greening the Grid: Powering Alberta’s Future with Renewable Energy. Drayton Valley, AB: Pembina Institute, 2009.

Canadian Centre for Energy Information. “About Energy.” http://www.centreforenergy.com. Accessed October 25, 2013.

Canadian Electricity Association. “Key Canadian Electricity Statistics (released May 21, 2013.” http://www.electricity.ca/media/IndustryData/KeyCanadianElectricityStatistics21May2013.pdf . Accessed October 25, 2013.

Government of Alberta (Energy). “Energy History.” http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/About_Us/1133.asp . Accessed October 25, 2013.

Spellman, Frank and Revonna Bieber. The Science of Renewable Energy. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2011.

Yergin, Daniel. The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World. New York: Penguin Press, 2011.

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