We almost made it through another week, folks and that means it is time yet again for another Thursday Tack and Tale from Stockmen's Memorial Foundation ready to go.
This week the story of the Hereford cattle man, Mr. Bert Vernon Powlesland.
On July 25, 1925, Bert was born in Cardston, Alberta. Growing up, his parents Bernard and Effie Powlesland ran a mixed farm at Del Bonita, Alberta. Bert soon became accustomed to cattle and ended up taking quite the liking to the farm lifestyle. He followed up on this by continuing his education at Olds School of Agriculture (now known as Olds College), graduating when he was 20 years young.
In 1945, Bert and his parents purchased some land north of Cochrane. This came at just the right time as his father's registered Hereford herd had grown too big for their Del Bonita farm to accommodate. So, the family was on the move and to Cochrane they would make their way on November 1, 1945. Bert and his brother Ray would bare the duty of trailing 30 head of cows and six calves. They loaded them in boxcars to be shipped by Canadian Pacific Railway to Cochrane on November 2, 1945. After shipping off the herd on the train, Bert and his father grabbed their faithful saddle horse "Old Tony" and threw em' in the back of their half ton pickup with sights set on Cochrane.
The cows were expected to arrive on Saturday November 3, 1945, but Bert and his father were quick to realize that Canadian Pacific Railway wasn't as reliable as they thought. Being in Alberta the weather was always a gamble and come Sunday a very bad storm blew in which pushed back the cows' arrival until 8 p.m. that night. The snow had piled up and the temperature was cool as a young Bert was left in charge of getting the herd to their new home, nine miles north of Cochrane.
Early on Monday November 5, Bert and his helper Joe Allen unloaded the cattle from the freight cars. After noticing that the calves had shrunk a bit, Bert was eager to get them fed. Joe reached out to a friend and it wasn't long before half ton of loose hay showed up for the hungry herd. The pair finally got on the road and the snow was 18 inches deep and it was -20 C. They kept moving the cows as much as they could each day and this venture would end up taking about a week to accomplish - a task that a cattle liner today could do in mere hours or less.
While Bert attended Olds College he would cross paths with a little cutie named Marion Clayton. She was from Airdrie and about a year after they graduated they tied the knot on November 16, 1946. The pair lived just outside of Cochrane on a ranch and continued in the Hereford game for many, many years contributing to sales in Canada, the United States and Russia, winning numerous trophies and ribbons along the way.
Bert and Marion had two children, Lawrence Ivor (Larry) and Donna Marion. They attended Westbrook School and while Larry went on to Mount Royal College followed by Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to become a Radiology Technician, Donna carried on to Cochrane High then graduated from Olds College.
Raising Purebred Horned Herefords for more than 40 years, Bert and Marion were inducted into the Alberta Hereford Association Hall of Fame. The dynamic cattle duo were also actively involved in the community being on countless organizations including the Cochrane Lioness Club, Cochrane Lions Club, Cochrane Lake Gas Co-op, Cochrane Mutual Telephone and Western Heritage Centre, just to name a few.
Bert's sharp looking hat was purchased at Kenway's Western Wear which was located just north of the Stampede grounds. This could be known as his lucky hat as he would wear it to many bull sales and come back a little richer each time. Bert enjoyed living in the community but found that times were changing too much and too fast, something we can all agree with today.
