Adit - A horizontal passage or opening through which the mine is entered and water is removed. This passage has sufficient slope to allow for adequate drainage.
Agriculture - The science, art or occupation concerned with cultivating land, raising crops and feeding, breeding and raising livestock; farming.
Anabaptist - A member of any various 16th century Protestant sect. They refused to swear oaths and to bear arms.
Ancestors - A person from who one is descended; forbear, where decent is claimed from.
Anonymous Workers - The workers who can not be named or identified because it is not recorded anywhere.
Apostles - Any of the first or best known Christians that followed Christ.
Armistice - A temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement of the warring parties; a truce.
Artillery Units - The troops or the branch of the army concerned with the use and service of mounted projectile guns or missiles launchers.
Auxiliary Hospital - An auxiliary hospital is a hospital that does not have all the services of a normal hospital. Auxiliary hospitals usually do not have emergency rooms or operating rooms. Auxiliary hospitals mostly take care of the elderly or people who need to be cared for a long time.
Aviation - The design, development, production, operation or use of an aircraft.
Baseball - A game involving the batting of a hard ball, played by two teams usually nine players. They play on a large field (diamond shaped) defined by four based, to which batters run and advance to score runs.
Battalions - A military unit of ground forces made up of a headquarters and two or more companies.
Battery - A military tactical unit of artillery.
Beacon - A tall tower for a signal. A radio signal used for guiding aviators through fogs and storms.
Boom - A sudden activity and increase in business, prices or values of property; rapid growth.
Boycott - To join together to stop or preventing dealings with; as a means of protest.
Brewery - A placed where beer is brewed.
Brigade - A military unit consisting of a headquarters and two or more regiments, squadrons, groups or battalions.
Buffalo Brand Cultivators- Buffalo brand was the company who made cultivators. A cultivator is a tool or machine used to loosen the ground and destroy weeds.
Bull Train - A wagon train using bulls for pulling power. Usually consisted of 6 to 8 oxen hitched to a series of wagons called the lead, swing and trail wagons.
Bushels - A measure of grain. (equal to 4 pecks or 32 quarts).
C.P.R. - Canadian Pacific Railway
Canals - A man made waterway for irrigation. The water runs from the canals to the fields.
Canteen Credits - Instead of using cash soldiers were often given canteen credits. These worked just like real money, except that they could only be spent at certain places. The canteen was a place where soldiers could buy things that they wanted such as cigarettes, coffee, or candy bars.
Cenotaph - A monument erected in the memory of a deceased person or a group of people whose body is buried elsewhere.
Charter Passenger Service - This refers to airplanes that carry people. A charter is a flight that goes to a place only when their are people willing to go there. For example, a large air travel company like Canadian Airlines has regular flights that it fly everyday. Even if their are only two people on the plane, Canadian Airlines will still make the flight. But, a charter airline only flies when a certain amount of people ask to go somewhere, the flight is not on any schedule.
Chronically Ill - A person that has a disease or illness for a long time.
Citizenship - The state of having rights, privileges and duties of a citizen.
Coal Cutter - A machine used to undercut or shear a coal seam; one who operates such a machine.
Coal Deposit - A defined area over which consistent coal deposits exist and reserve calculations can be obtained.
Coal Banks - Term used by early settlers and prospectors to indicate a location on the west side of the Belly (Oldman) river, where coal deposits could be seen sticking out of the hillside. Known to natives as sik-ooh-kotoks or "black rocks".
Coal - A mineral formed from carbonized plant material or peat. The result of geological processes involving heat, pressure, and a lack of oxygen.
Coal Seam - A continuous layer of coal extending over some distance.
Coal Field - A large area of consistent coal deposition for which reserve calculations can be obtained; usually comprised of two or more deposits.
Coalbanks - Name of the mining village that became Lethbridge. It was located on the east side of the Belly (Oldman) river and should not be confused with the coal banks which was the location of the coal deposits found of the west side of the river.
Colliery - A term used to describe a whole mine plant, including the mine and all its additions.
Commercial Aviation - Aviation simply means flight or flying. Commercial aviation is flying that is done as a business. Company’s like Air Canada are involved in commercial aviation because they charge people money to use their services. Commercial aviation companies usually carry either people or goods. The military is an example of aviation that is not commercial.
Commercial Distribution Centre - see divisional rail centre.
Commercial Aviation - The use of aircraft for a wide popular/public market.
Communal Living - A small group of persons living together, sharing work and income; they often share common interests.
Communist - A person who belongs to the communist party. Communism is a theory or system
based on the holding of all property in common.
Competitors- A person, team, company that competes; rivals.
Conductors - An employee on a train who is in charge of the train and its passengers, collects fares or tickets.
Confucianism - The system of ethics, education and statesmanship taught by Confucius. It stresses love for humanity, ancestor worship, and harmony in thought and conduct.
Convent - A community of people, especially nuns, devoted to a religious life devoted to God.
Copper and Barrel Smithing - The profession of working with copper to make or repair barrels.
Cottage Brewery - A small scale brewery.
Coulees - A small valley, usually dry has been formed by running water.
Cultivator - A tool or machine used to loosen the ground and destroy weeds.
Decade - A period of ten years.
Demonstrate - To describe, explain, or illustrate by example. To prove or show.
Denominations - A religious group, usually including many local churches.
Depression - The Great Depression: the economic crisis and period of low business activity. It hit Lethbridge hard in 1918-1919, but in the years 1931-1937 it was not too bad due to irrigation in the area.
Discrimination -To make a distinction in favor of or against a person on the basis of the group or class to which the person belongs , rather than according to merit.
Diversity - The state of being diverse; difference and unlike.
Diverting - To turn aside or from a path or course; deflect.
Divisional Rail Center - It was the centre used to fix locomotives, people came and left from there and freight was delivered there. It is also called the commercial distribution centre.
Drift Mine - A mine that begins with a horizontal entrance cut into a coal seam or valley wall. In the Lethbridge coal fields, drift mines were started at the river bottom and dug into the face of the Coulee or hill.
Drought - A period of dry weather, a long time is very difficult on crops.
Dry Land Farming - Farming that depends only on nature to supply enough moisture to grow crops. These farmers do not use irrigation.
Emigrate - To leave one country or region to settle in another.
Engineers - A person who operates or is in charge of an engine or locomotive.
Enlistment - To enroll for military service, usually voluntarily.
Erosion - The act or process of eating into or away of a surface.
Evacuation - The act or process of evacuating. (see evacuee)
Evacuee - A person who is withdrawn or removed from a place because of danger or due to that person is seen as a threat.
Evaporate - To change from a liquid or solid state into vapor; to give off moisture.
Evolved - To develop slowly; gradually.
Experimental Farm - A farm based on experimental practices. Different types of crops or/and livestock are there.
Facility - Something built, designed or installed for a certain reason.
Feed lots - An area where livestock are gathered to be fattened for the market.
Fertile soils - Land that can produce or capable of producing crops or vegetation.
Firedamp - A mixture of air and methane gas.
Furrow - A narrow groove made in the ground with a plow.
Glaciers - A mass of ice formed from snow falling and gathering over years. It moves very slowly from higher points.
Hectares - A measure of area in the metric system (equals to 100 acres).
Hereford - One of an English breed of beef cattle with a red coat and white face.
Hockey - Ice hockey-A game played on ice between two team of six skaters, the object being to score goals by shooting a puck into the other teams cage (goal) with a stick with a wooden blade.
Homestead- Public lands that were available to settlers to be used as farms. It is any dwelling that has land and buildings which a family makes a home.
Hop Beer- It is beer with a low amount of alcohol in it.
Immigration - To come to a country of which one is not a native, usually for permanent residence.
Incline - A rising entry tunnel or haulage road. In the Lethbridge coal fields, a sloping railway in which coal cars were hauled by a circular cable.
International - Between or among two or more nations.
Internment Camp - A camp that holds prisoners confined within set limits until the end of a war or conflict.
Irrigation - It is to supply land with water by man made means, such as diverting streams, flooding or spraying.
Journalism - The occupation of gathering, writing, editing and publishing the news.
Judo - A martial art based on jujiitsu but stresses athletic or sport element.
Karate - The Japanese method of self-dense using fast hard blows with the hands, elbows knees or feet.
Kilogram - A unit of mass and weight. (equal to 1000 grams or 2.2 pounds).
Land subsidiaries - Farmers were given assistance in purchasing land.
League - A group of people having a common goal. A group of athletic teams organized to compete against each other.
Legacy - Anything handed down from the past.
Legislation - The making of laws.
Lethbridgians. - Refers to people from the city of Lethbridge.
Locomotives -A self propelled engine for pulling or sometimes pushing a train or individual railroad cars.
Maternity Ward - A section of a hospital for women who will soon have a baby.
Merger - A joining or combination of two or more businesses, leaving only one business.
Meteorological Station - It is a place where the science of the atmosphere and weather is studied.
Methane - A colourless, odourless, and highly flammable gas often present in coal mines.
Metre - The base SI unit of length. (equals to 39.37 inches).
Migrate - To move from one country, region, or place to another.
Militia- A body of citizens enrolled for military service, but do not serve full time. They only serve in emergencies.
Millimetres - A unit of length equal to 1/1000 of a gram, equals .03937 of an inch.
Miner - A worker in a mine with a valid certificate of competency as a miner.
Monoplane - An airplane with only one pair of wings.
National Policy - In 1879, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald promised as part of the National Policy was the completion of the transcontinental railway and settlement of the west.
Natural Resources - A natural wealth of a country, consisting of land, forests, mineral deposits and water.
Nazis - A member of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, which controlled Germany from 1933-1945 under Adolf Hitler.
P.O.W. - Prisoner of war.
Palliser's Triangle - In 1858, Captain John Palliser, who was working for the British Government, studied the Canadian plains from southern Manitoba to southwestern Alberta. He studied the area during a time when there were many dry years in a roe and said the most of the region was not good for settlement. The area Palliser studied is now known as “Palliser's Triangle”.
Party of Wolfers - A group of American men who poisoned wolves because they wanted to protect their livestock and collect the wolves pelts.
Peat - A primitive form of coal made up of layers of decayed plant matter. Peat consists of about 50 percent carbon and a 50 percent combination of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and ash (sand and clay fragments).
Petroleum - An oily, thick flammable dark coloured liquid; used as fuel.
Physiotherapy - A treatment of diseases and defects by physical treatment such as massage.
Pillar Removal - The removal of pillars after rooms have been worked out; usually begins at the furthest extent of mining and proceeds back to the entrance.
Pillar - A section of seam left between rooms (stalls) while the coal in the rooms is being extracted. Pillars can be 9 to 15 meters in width. The size of the pillars is determined by the stability of the surrounding rock.
Polygamy - The practice of having more than one spouse.
Porters - A person hired to carry packages or baggage at a railroad station. An attendant in a railroad parlor car or sleeping car.
Prairies - A large, level or unleveled mostly treeless tract of land. In Canada this grassland is located in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Prejudice - Unreasonable feelings, opinions or attitudes, regarding racial, religious or national ground.
Pro-Business Policy - In favour of business.
Professionalism - Following an occupation as a means of livelihood.
Prohibition - A law against making or selling alcoholic liquors. The prohibition movement began in the early 1900's and ended in 1948. Each province had different times that they had prohibition. Alberta began after W.W.I and ended in 1924.
Prosperity - Having good fortune, success or/and wealth.
Protestant - Any western Christian not part of the Roman Catholic church.
Pulitzer Prize - Any of the annual prizes for example one for journalism, literature or music. It was established by Joseph Pulitzer.
Railroad - A permanent road laid with rails forming a track, on which locomotives and cars run. A system of transporting passengers, freight and mail.
Railway - A railroad using light weight equipment or operating over a short distance.
Ranching - An establishment used for raising livestock under range conditions.
Rationing - A fixed allowance of food, this usually happened during war time.
Recruited - A newly enlisted or drafted member of the armed forces.
Regiment - A military unit of ground forces, has two battalions (headquarters units and supporting units).
Religious - Concerned with religion; it is a general word that describes a particular set of beliefs and practices.
Reservoirs - A natural or man-made place where water is collected or stored for use.
Rezoned - The changing of boundaries on a piece of land that has in the past had set boundaries.
Room and Pillar - A system of working by which solid blocks of coal are left on either side of the entries and the rooms where the coal is extracted act as supports. When the rooms are worked out, the pillars are then mined.
Room - A stall, gallery, or working place, where coal is mined.
Sabbath - The 7th day of the week, Saturday , it is observed as a religious holiday by some Christians and Jews.
Safety Lamp - A lamp in which the flame is protected by a fine wire mesh so that a mixture of firedamp can be detected by its burning inside the lamp; generally used to detect the presence of dangerous gas in the mine by the miner observing the colour and character of the flame. The wire gauze prevents the heat from the flame from passing to the outside air, thus preventing ignition of lamps.
Saloons - A place where alcoholic drinks are sold and drunk.
Sermons - A talk for the purpose of religious instruction, usually delivered by a cleric during religious services.
Silos - An airtight building used to store food.
Sovereignty - The state of full independence of a nation.
Steamer - A steam powered boat that was used by the Galts to transport their coal down river to Medicine Hat.
Strychnine - A colourless poison.
Sugar Beets - A large grey vegetable which looks like a beet. They are processed and refined to make many different types of sugar products.
Texas Longhorn Cattle - One breed of long-horned beef cattle of the southwestern U.S. developed from Spanish stock.
Theocracy - A form of government in which the God or a deity is recognized as the ruler.
Tipple - The dump trestle and tracks at the mouth of a shaft or slope, where the output of a mine is dumped, screened, and loaded; also applied to the whole structure of the head frame containing the tipple.
Track and Marshaling Yards - it was an area in the rail center that rail cars were put in order and track was fixed and stored.
Transcontinental - The passing or extending across a continent. (continent: one of main land masses of the globe). The transcontinental railway was to go across Canada not North America.
Transmitter - A device for sending radio waves.
Tributaries - A stream that flows to a larger stream or body of water.
Tsar - Also czar: the former emperor of Russia.
Turkey Trail - A narrow gauge railway line that was constructed by the Galts to move their coal from Lethbridge to Dunmore. The coal was then loaded on to standard gauge rail cars and then exported out for sale.
Undergraduate - A college-level student who has not received a first, usually Bachelors degree.
Vertical shaft - This method of mining is much like drift mining, but instead of a horizontal mine entrance into a coal seam or valley wall, a vertical shaft is cut down towards the coal deposits. The mine is then started from the bottom of the shaft.
Viaduct - A bridge for carrying a road or railroad.
Victory War Bonds - During the first and second World Wars the government needed to raise money to support the war effort, they did this through Victory War Bonds. Victory War Bonds were papers that anyone could buy from the government. The bonds were like a loan from the people who bought them to the government. The government would then use the money from the sale of these bonds to help fight the war. After the war anyone who had bought a Victory War Bond could take them back to the government. The government would then give them back the money they had paid for the bonds plus a little extra money, called interest. Victory War Bonds were also referred to as War Savings Certificates.
War Savings Certificates - see Victory War Bonds
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