Southwest Saskatchewan was once home to the final remnants of a ranching empire that combined english ambition with the agricultural lifestyle of the western world.
Founder of the Canadian Agricultural Coal and Colonization Company, Sir John Lister-Kaye, arrived in the prairies from the United Kingdom with an aspiration and around 100,000 acres of land.
According to a September 1949 issue of the Canadian Cattlemen, Kaye, the head of a British syndicate, was given around a dozen tracts of land in 1887 from the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The 76 Ranch, also known as the Old 76, was in operation in southwest Saskatchewan from 1888 to 1920, despite being mostly bought out in 1909.
The Southwest Saskatchewan Oldtimers' Museum & Archive states that by 1889, the 76 Ranch had purchased two million feet of lumber, 500 Clydesdale mares, 7,000 cattle, 700 pigs, and 10,000 sheep.
The only remaining 76 Ranch properties in the province were located in Swift Current, Gull Lake, Crane Lake, which is now near Piapot, and Stair, which is now RedCliff.
During the early 1900s, the ranch was hit by an anthrax epidemic, a shifting economy, and a significantly harsh winter, resulting in livestock losses across the board. By 1905, the Swift Current location had closed.
