Champion is a village in southern Alberta

Southern Alberta

Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of the year 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017. The primary cities are Lethbridge and Medicine Hat...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 within Vulcan County

Vulcan County, Alberta

Vulcan County is a municipal district in Alberta, Canada.It is located in Census Division 6. The current boundaries of the municipality were set in 1951...

. It is located on Highway 23, approximately 74 kilometres (46 mi) north of Lethbridge and 147 kilometres (91.3 mi) south of Calgary, Alberta.

Demographics

The population of the Village of Champion according to its 2007 municipal census is 384.

In the 2006 Census, Champion had a population of 364 living in 170 dwellings

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

, a 2.5% increase from 2001. The Village has a land area of 0.88 square kilometre (0.339769899561431 sq mi) and a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 413.8 /km2.

Government

The village is governed by a village council consisting of a mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 and four councillors, and is administrated by a village manager.

History

Homesteaders began arriving in the Champion area in 1904 and 1905, mainly from the USA, Eastern Canada, and Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The vast prairie

Prairie

Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

 grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

s, cut through by the Little Bow River

Little Bow River

The Little Bow River is a tributary of the Oldman River in southern Alberta, Canada. It is about long. From its headwaters near High River, it flows south, then turns east and flows into Travers Reservoir. Afterwards, it flows southeast into the Oldman near Picture Butte...

, provided ideal country for farming and ranching. One of these settlers was Martin G. Clever, who arrived in 1905. He homesteaded on the quarter section

Quarter section

A quarter section, often shortened to quarter, is an area of one-fourth of a square mile, or . It was a common size of a tract in homesteading in the United States and Canada.For details on its use, see*Dominion Land Survey in Canada...

 of land (160 acres) where the town of Champion is currently located.

The birth of the town was the product of the rapid settlement of the farming and ranching land in the area, but it was also fuelled by the discovery of coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

. Homesteader Henry Therriualt opened the first coal mine in the area in 1906, and soon farmers were travelling from neighbouring towns (including Nanton

Nanton, Alberta

Nanton is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. Nanton was named after Sir Augustus Meredith Nanton, of Winnipeg who directed firms that offered financing for farms and ranches throughout the west...

 and Stavely

Stavely, Alberta

Stavely is a farming community in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located south of Calgary on Highway 2 and east of Willow Creek Provincial Park....

) to purchase coal from the Therriault mine. Their journey took them through the Clever homestead to reach the mine, and soon Martin Clever realized the business opportunity that presented itself.

Soon, a country store and a mail route were established. When the storeowner (George Mark) applied to have a government post office located, the burgeoning settlement required a name, and in honour of Martin Clever, Cleverville was christened. Several other thriving businesses soon sprung up, thanks to Martin Clever's offer of the free use of his land: Cleverville was soon home to three general stores, a millinery and linen shop, drug store, butcher shop, blacksmith shop, livery stable, restaurant, two real estate offices, lumber yard, Bank of Hamilton

Bank of Hamilton

The Bank of Hamilton was established in 1872 by local businessmen in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada under the leadership of Donald McInnes, the bank's first President. Like the other Canadian chartered banks, it issued its own paper money. The bank issued notes 1872-1922...

, and doctor's office.

In 1910 the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 (CPR) reached the area, although it became apparent that the rails themselves would not run directly past Cleverville. As a result, the townspeople decided to move, using horses and skids and wagons, all of the buildings of the town to a new location closer to the railway. This new settlement required a new name, and so the relocated Cleverville became the new Village of Champion. Although there are several stories regarding how Champion got its name, the most likely (or at least the one most commonly retold) is that it was named after H.T. Champion, a banker in the Winnipeg firm Alloway and Champion, well-known bankers and loaners throughout the period of settlement of the west. The Alloway and Champion Bank in Winnipeg, Manitoba built in 1905 is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada. When the town of Champion was relocated, so the story goes, a Winnipeg C.P.R. man named the town after the prominent banker.

The Village of Champion received its charter

Charter

A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...

 on May 27, 1911, and the first council meeting was held in June. The growing village required ever more services, and soon Champion was home to its first grain elevator

Grain elevator

A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...

 (1912), a telephone office, a school (1913), recreational facilities, and an ever-growing number of retail shops and businesses. A local newspaper, The Champion Chronicle, was also started in 1918 or 1919, and remained in print until 1943.

Agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 sustained the growth of the Champion area. In 1915 Champion became known as the “Million Bushel Town,” as one million bushels of wheat were shipped that year. The Champion Board of Trade was eager to promote the village as a land of opportunity, and in 1913 published the promotional pamphlet “Grain Golden Champion,” which was sent around the world to entice settlers and entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

s to move to the area. Claiming that “of all the thriving towns and cities in Western Canada, destined to become the industrial centres of the future, none has established its position, or grown to such importance, in so brief a space of time, as Champion,” the Board of Trade invited people to take up opportunities in, of course, grain farming, but also in poultry

Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...

- and stock-raising, railway work, brick- and cement-making, and the development of the natural gas and coal resources in the area.

However, Champion wasn't the only western settlement claiming to be the city of the future, and its population peaked at around 650 people. Nevertheless, Champion continued to mature into a stable and close-knit village. The building of the Community Hall in the late 1920s was a particularly important moment in the history of the town, and the Hall continues to host a variety of community social events to this day.

Along with agriculture, coal mining was a particularly important economic engine for the area. After the initial discovery of coal by Henry Therriault, a number of mines were established. Between 1906 and 1965, when the last coal mine was shut down, there were 58 registered coal mines in the Champion area. In addition to these, there were numerous mines dug into the river or lake beds by families who used coal to heat their homes. Many farmers worked in the mines in the fall and winter months, when farming work was scarce and there was greater demand for coal to heat homes and businesses.

Agriculture remained, however, the most important economic activity for the town and surrounding area. By the mid-1920s there were seven grain elevators, such distinct landmarks for all prairie towns, in Champion. However, as grain handling procedures, as well as world markets, changed throughout the 20th century, Champion's wooden grain elevators, like so many throughout the prairies, became increasingly obsolete. Champion's last elevator was torn down in 2004.

Champion's population throughout the years has remained small but active. Sports formed an important part of community life, particularly through the heyday of the Champion Men's baseball team throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Social and cultural clubs such as the Lions Club, the Champion branch of the Royal Canadian Legion

Royal Canadian Legion

The Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization founded in 1925, with more than 400,000 members worldwide. Membership includes people who have served as current and former military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, direct relatives of...

, 4-H

4-H

4-H in the United States is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture , with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents...

 clubs, scouts and girl guides

Girl Guides

A Guide, Girl Guide or Girl Scout is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 10 and 14. Age limits are different in each organisation. It is the female-centred equivalent of the Scouts. The term Girl Scout is used in the United States and several East Asian...

, and the Pioneer Club, provide the social backbone of the village and surrounding area.

Since its founding, the Village of Champion has celebrated its anniversary every five years, traditionally on the July 1st long weekend. In 2011 the town will celebrate its 100th anniversary, an important celebration for which planning has been underway for some years.

Services

Champion is home to two schools, the Champion Community School (115 students in grades 1-9, plus a parent-run kindergarten), and the Hope Christian School (grades K-12).

Recreational and cultural services in the village include the Champion Public Library, the Community Pool (outdoors), the Pioneer Club Seniors' Drop-In Centre, two baseball fields, the Champion Community Park and Campground, the Rodeo arena, and in the winter, a skating arena with natural ice.

Retail services and businesses in Champion include a hotel/bar, two grocery stores, a bank, post office, and various other locally-owned businesses.

In terms of emergency response, the Village of Champion is served by the RCMP detachment and EMS services in neighbouring Vulcan, Alberta

Vulcan, Alberta

Vulcan is a town located midway between the cities of Calgary and Lethbridge on Highway 23, in the prairies of southern Alberta, Canada. The population of the town was 1,940 in 2006, and the population of the county, which is also named Vulcan, was 3,718. The town's economy is mainly tourism and...

, as well as the Champion Volunteer Fire Department.

The village is home to several churches, including St. Mary's Catholic Church, the Champion Congregational Church, and a local meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Champion serves as a gateway to Little Bow Provincial Park

Little Bow Provincial Park

Little Bow Provincial Park is a provincial park located near the town of Vulcan and the village of Champion in Alberta, Canada.The park is situated at an elevation of and has a surface of , on Travers Reservoir, an artificial lake formed on Little Bow River, a tributary of the Oldman River. The...

, which is located 20 kilometres east of the village and provides camping and many other outdoor recreational activities.

External links

• AlbertaFirst - Champion - Statistcs
• http://southgrow.com/member-communities/village-champion - Current community information
• http://www.championschool.ca/index.php - Champion Community School
• http://hopechristianschool.ca/ - Hope Christian School
• http://www.ourroots.ca/toc.aspx?id=1469&qryID=a79ff29e-961a-47d3-9965-02ee6bb5309a - Digital copy of Grain Golden Champion, the Champion Board of Trade's 1913 promotional brochure