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Ancel Maynard Bezanson, born near Halifax in 1878, began his love affair with the Peace Country in 1906. That year he traveled throughout the Peace with a camera and a notebook, and shortly thereafter published The Peace River Trails, which was a success. He was convinced of the agricultural potential of the area, and returned for a scouting trip in 1907, and again with his bride, Dorothy Robillard, in 1908. That winter, Dorothy died in childbirth, but her child (Frank) survived. In 1910, Bezanson married Dorothy's sister Lois and the couple returned to the Peace Country. The couple lost twin girls and had one more son who survived (Jim). The Bezanson Ranch was called Teepee Ranch, but Bezanson also kept herds of cattle at Saskatoon Lake. When the C.N.R. Survey came through Teepee Ranch in 1908, Bezanson began to promote a townsite "along the railway" on a bench above the Smoky River. In 1913, Bezanson drove the first car over the Edson Trail. Accompanying him was A.J. Davidson, a real estate dealer from Edmonton, who supported Bezanson's vision of a railroad and town. In 1914 Bezanson published "Looking Ahead in the Peace Country-Building of a City" with a detailed map of the Bezanson townsite. However, when the railroad finally came in 1916, it came to Grande Prairie. Bitterly disappointed, Bezanson left the area, returning to settle at Pouce Coupe in 1931. His sons Frank and Jim, with their families, continue to make their home in British Columbia. Ancel Maynard Bezanson died in Vancouver on September 2, 1959.
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South Peace Regional Archives
Title of fonds based on contents.
Accession numbers: 2003.87; 2004.68; 2010.38
The fonds consists of a collection of photographs donated by the Bezanson family when the Bezanson Towsite became an historical site ca. 1986; and a collection found in a Seattle rooming house in the 1970s. There is some duplication in the collection. They include photographs of Bezanson’s first trip into the Peace Country in 1906, their homestead on the Smoky River from 1908-1913, his 1913 trip over the Edson Trail in a 1912 Cadillac with an Edmonton Realtor named Davidson, the creation of the hamlet of Bezanson at the junction of the Smoky and Simonette Rivers, and a collection of Peace Country scenes dating from 1910 to 1930.
In 2000, records were transferred to the Grande Prairie Regional Archives by the Grande Prairie Museum. An accrual was donated to Grande Prairie Regional Archives by Mack Prentiss in 2003.
The first donation of photographs were brought to the Peace Country by the Bezanson Family at the time the Old Bezanson Townsite was declared a historical site ca. 1986. They were left in the care of Janet Sarmaga, who later deposited them with the Grande Prairie Museum. In 2000 the records were transferred to the Grande Prairie Regional Archives.
In 2003, an accrual was donated to Grande Prairie Regional Archives by Mack Prentiss, son of Marion Prentiss and Mary Sheer. These photographs had been preserved by a cousin in Seattle who ran a rooming house. When an old man there died, she was asked to forward anything of value to his next of kin, and destroy the rest. She found the Bezanson pictures, and since they referred to Grande Prairie, she sent them to her cousin Mack Prentiss. They were copied by both the Daily Herald Tribune and the Provincial Archives of Alberta, but the originals were donated to this Archives in 2003.
There are no restrictions.
A finding aid is available at http://southpeacearchives.org/bezanson-family-fonds/
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The town of Bezanson was planned and promoted by A.M. Bezanson, but doomed to decline when the ferry was put in at Goodwin Crossing instead of Bezanson Crossing.
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Portrait of A Maynard Bezanson taken in 1907.
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Starting construction on the new Bezanson home.
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The road from the Bezanson townsite down to the ferry landing on the Big Smoky River under construction in 1914.
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Making a road from the ferry landing on the Big Smoky river to the townsite at Bezanson.
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A.M. Bezanson showing another corner of the townsite of Bezanson.
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Road-building crew stopped for lunch while building the road to the Bezanson townsite in 1914.
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Frank Bezanson at 18 months of age at the Bezanson homestead.
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A .M. Bezanson's home the first winter after it was built. The outbuilding behind the house is the ice house.
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Frank and Jim Bezanson at San Diego in 1913.
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A. M. Bezanson's farm, two miles below Bezanson's town site.
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Mrs. Lois Bezanson on board the Princess Louise with son Jim.
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Frank and Jim Bezanson in the swing at the Bezanson homestead.
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Bezanson family traveling by caboose to Teepee Ranch in the winter of 1908.
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Malcolm Campbell and some companions with their dog teams in the winter of 1910-11.
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A.M. Bezanson and his son on a horse-drawn mower, cutting the first crop on Teepee Ranch in 1909.
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Settler's cabooses stopped at Teepee Ranch in the winter of 1911-12.
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First grain crop grown on the grande prairie. These grain stacks are on Smith & Sons farm.
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A. M. Bezanson and party standing on a sweep of the "grande prairie" before settlement c, 1910.
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A. M. Bezanson and party look over the grande prairie for likely homesteading sites.
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A party of the first white women in Grande Prairie celebrating around an improvised tea table includes Lois Bezanson at far left.
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A.M. Bezanson with his automobile at Grande Prairie, Alberta in 1913.
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Ox team racing at first Lake Saskatoon Sports in 1910.
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Image shows several Indigenous girls racing horses at the first Lake Saskatoon Sports in 1910. The original title is taken from the photograph caption.
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Fanny and her colt at the McFarlane farm near Buffalo Lake.
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Image shows four Indigenous men racing horses at the first Lake Saskatoon Sports in 1910. The original title is taken from the photograph caption.
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Walter McFarlane survey crew on the Peace River near Rolla in 1911.
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Walter McFarlane survey crew rafting on the Wapiti River.
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Soccer game being played by members of Walter McFarlane's survey crew.
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Ganzeveld & Jazzard threshing in front of the W. McFarlane Barn.
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Spectator stands at Lake Saskatoon Sports, Mrs. W. McFarlane with Doris, Lorna, Graham & Lillian lower left in stands.
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Mr. & Mrs. Harry Clifford's home and store at Flying Shot Lake in 1910. Mrs. Clifford was the ""midwife"" for early Grande Prairie babies.
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Harry Horte's snow cruiser - automobile cut down to run on a sleigh track.
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Registered Holstein cow & newborn calf on McFarlane's Farm in 1912.
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St. Vincent's Mission on the future site of Grande Prairie in 1910.
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Jim McFarlane's homestead buildings at Cutbank Lake.
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Aboriginal women at Dunvegan in 1909, in a photo taken by W. G. McFarlane, land surveyor.
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The Hudson's Bay Company and other buildings at Dunvegan in 1909.
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St. Charles Catholic Church and Mission at Dunvegan, complete with its outbuildings in 1909.
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Horses from the McFarlane Survey outfit gather around the mosquito smudge.
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Aboriginals and settlers congregating for Sports Day at Lake Saskatoon in 1910.
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A.M Bezanson automobile at a stopping place on the Sturgeon Lake-Grouard Trail.
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Image shows Indigenous students gathered together standing behind a fence. The caption beneath the photograph says “Indians at Sturgeon Lake let out of school to see their first car – Dec. 1913.”
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Settlers gathering at the Sports Grounds at Lake Saskatoon in 1909.
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Beef cattle belonging to A.M. Bezanson at Lake Saskatoon in 1909.
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A.M. Bezanson cattle grazing on the prairie at Lake Saskatoon c. 1910.
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Photograph of the town of Lake Saskatoon in 1911 with the lake in the background.
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Loaded car starting down the Edson trail on Dec. 9, 1913 from in front of the Edson Grocery Company.
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A settler identified as Webb traveling to the Bezanson homestead on a raft, by way of the Wapiti River.
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A.M. Bezanson his two young sons at a Golf Course in Edmonton c. 1913.
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A.M. Bezanson with his wife Lois and his son Frank.
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Frank Bezanson was born on Dec. 25, 1908, the first non-aboriginal boy born in the Grande Prairie area.
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Effie Flint poses on a swing at Bezanson's homestead.
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The flower and vegetable garden at Teepee Ranch, with farmyard buildings in the background.
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Bezanson uses his automobile to skid the outhouse to a new site.
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A. M. Bezanson walking with his six-year-old son Frank.
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The new road through the valley leads to the townsite of Bezanson.
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A very large plot of turnips served for cattle feed as well as kitchen produce
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The corner of the Bezanson home in 1915.
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A view of the townsite of Bezanson from high up on the bank.
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A. M. Bezanson with his dogs on the banks of the Saskatchewan River in 1907.
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Leonard's first store at Bezanson in 1914.
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Marking one corner of the Bezanson town site, from where the Smoky River is visible below.
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A view of the Simmonette River from high on the bank near the townsite of Bezanson.
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Photograph of the Bezanson cabin on the banks of the Big Smoky in 1908.
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A.M. Bezanson with the "Dolly Varden" he caught in the Big Smoky in 1908.
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Lars crossing the Smoky River by boat.
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A.M. Bezanson's boat on the Big Smoky in 1910. The bear shown was shot while the man was standing in the boat going through rapids.
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The ice-covered Big Smoky River above the Bezanson homestead.
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The Big Smoky River in front of the Bezanson homestead.
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The confluence of the Smoky & Simmonette rivers near the Bezanson homestead.
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Photograph of a bear shot near the mouth of the Little Smoky River in 1910 or 1911.
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A.M. Bezanson and his automobile on the snow covered north bank of the Big Smoky River.
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The Big Smoky River in front of Teepee Ranch, the Bezanson's homestead.
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Frank Bezanson was born on Dec. 25, 1908, the first non-aboriginal boy born in the Grande Prairie area.
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Booklet by A.M. Bezanson presenting the reasons for the rapid development of the Peace River Country and arguing for the inevitable trend of this development to lead to the establishment of important trade centers.
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A.M. Bezanson's party of explorers stopping for lunch en route to the Peace Country.
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Image shows an Indigenous woman holding a child and standing at the entrance of a teepee on the prairie near Slave Lake. The original title is taken from the caption written on the back of the photograph.
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Loaded canoe going up the Lesser Slave River. "A tenderfoot navigating his own boat is likely to get his feet wet."
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Companions enroute up the Slave River with their loaded canoe.
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Passengers disembarking from "The Beaver" at the ferry landing below the Bezanson homestead.
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"The Beaver," a long narrow river boat which plied the Smoky River.
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A.M. Bezanson cutting the first oat crop on the Bezanson Ranch in 1909.
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A.M. Bezanson family caboose on the Athabasca River enroute to their homestead in the Peace Country, 525 miles from railway.
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A.M. Bezanson's first home on the banks of the Smoky, a sod-roofed log home.
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Pack of horses crossing the Big Smoky River near the Bezanson's homestead.
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The first automobile driven over the Edson Trail was a 1912 Cadillac sponsored by a Real Estate developer, Mr. Davidson, and A.M. Bezanson, shown here with A.H. McQuarrie, engineer of the Edson Trail.
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Mr. Davidson, of Robertson and Davidson, Edmonton Realtors, at the wheel of the 1912 Cadillac he drove over the Edson Trail.
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Herd of horses in a log corral on an unidentified homestead.
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Double exposure of men and horse in front of the village of Lake Saskatoon viewed from the west in 1914.
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Looking south east, the tallest building is Patterson's Store with log barn adjoining. Slightly to the right is the Lands Office.
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Settlers, with loaded wagons and cabooses, crossing frozen Sturgeon Lake enroute to the Peace Country.
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Settlers crossing Athabasca River during freeze-up in December 1913.
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Party of men and women at Fort McLeod, presumably with A.M. Bezanson, just before he left for the Peace Country.
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J. B. Oliver in line-up for the opening of the Hudson's Bay Reserve at Edmonton. He stayed in the line-up all night to save his place.