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Charles Ora Card was the son-in-law of Brigham Young, the founder of Salt
Lake City and one of the great figures in the American Mormon Church. In 1886,
Charles Card ventured north of Utah to scout out new territory where Mormons
could settle.
According to historian Don Wetherall, the expedition was a success. So, in
1887, 41 Mormon settlers followed Charles Card and established the community of
Cardston in southern Alberta.
Well the town was located immediately south of the Blood Reserve and it’s
likely that Card wanted to be close to the reserve because he thought the
Aboriginal people there were prime candidates for conversion to Mormonism.
But there were other concerns too. The site he chose had good water and
fertile soil, and, as well, it was close to the United States border, and that
location was logical given the tight relation between Cardston and Salt Lake
City and the supposition that the Canadian colony would only last until
conditions in the United States had improved for Mormons.
At the time, feeling towards those of the Mormon faith was quite hostile in
the United States, and they sought refuge from persecution for their beliefs.
Before 1890, the church also endorsed polygamy, and church members wanted a
place where they could practice polygamy, which at that point was not against
the law in Canada. So Cardston was a sponsored community that received both
financial assistance and guidance from the parent community in Salt Lake City.
And the church saw the Canadian settlement as a temporary refuge until
conditions had improved in the United States.
Early on, the colony at Cardston began to prosper, and, even though hostility
towards Mormons had abated somewhat by the turn of the century, the settlers
decided to stay in Alberta.
And, by 1898, Cardston and the surrounding districts had about a thousand
people, and Cardston was the service center for this farm district and it was
also a religious center. And after the railway arrived in the district in
1907, further settlement took place.
The community around Cardston continued to prosper with the advent of
irrigation and sugar beet farming. And in 1913, Cardston was chosen as the site
for the first Mormon temple in Canada.
On the Heritage Trail,
I’m Cheryl Croucher.
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