A Little Out of the Way. A Lot to Remember.
The people, places, and everyday stories of Del Bonita, Alberta. A living archive of a community that is still writing its history.
From family memories to the public record.
01 / Follow the years
Choose a moment. Follow the story.
The area lies within the Blackfoot homeland. The nearby Hoyt Tipi Ring Site is a designated Provincial Historic Resource.
People queued at the Dominion Public Building to file for homesteads in the Del Bonita area. Galt Museum & Archives preserves a photograph of the crowd, dated 1912.
A postal-history study credits Emma Waters with proposing Del Bonita during a 1913 petition. It dates the post office’s opening to June 1, 1914, with William Newton as postmaster.
The U.F.A. met at the schoolhouse on April 5 to discuss roads, a proposed bridge and wheat-pool payments. Singing and refreshments followed.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated Del Bonita, Montana, as a customs port. The road crossing opened in 1939, linking the two Del Bonitas.
The schoolhouse was moved to land north of the post office for Del Bonita’s consolidated school. The July 14 newspaper report records the move.
Jim Woods gave more than thirty unpaid days to finish the school and hall alongside Leon Weiss and other volunteers. Neighbours gathered there for a farewell to Jim and Mrs. Woods in August.
The Del Bonita Historical Society published Heritage of the High Country, a history of Del Bonita and the surrounding districts.
Del Bonita Store and the Country Association remain active. Find store updates, community events and ways to get involved.
03 / Community stories
Explore how Del Bonita found its name, kept in touch and built places to learn and gather.
Explore the community archive →The postal petition, the proposed name and the beginnings of Del Bonita’s post office.
Read the story →The mail routes, stores and postal service that connected the surrounding community.
Read the story →District schoolhouses, community gatherings and the neighbours who helped build a shared hall.
Read the story →The Fisher home, Red & White storefront, John’s Hardware and Huey Gum Inn, through photographs and community memories.
Read the story →04 / Places that hold stories
Follow a building, a gathering place, or a route across the prairie.
The grassland holds a history that reaches far beyond the settlement dates.
Explore this place ↗Cummins settlers’ map — 1917–1918
Heritage of the High Country, p. 18 · Original: Glenbow Archives, Calgary
Detail around Shanks Lake · Source details
The old trail, Fareham post office, railway and buildings connected with Del Bonita.
Explore this place ↗Galt description: circa 1978
Galt Museum & Archives / Prairie Towns
Complete source image · Source details
The postmasters, stores and mail service that have connected Del Bonita since June 1914.
Explore this place ↗27 July 1953
The Lethbridge Herald / Galt Museum & Archives
Complete source image · Source details
The schoolhouse, community hall, concerts and pupils' move to Magrath.
Explore this place ↗Lens Schoolhouse — 1929
Heritage of the High Country (Del Bonita Historical Society, 1981), p. 148
Complete supplied book photograph · Source details
The restaurant, pool hall and rooms moved from Whiskey Gap to Del Bonita.
Explore this place ↗24 August 2009
John F. Novotny / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Display crop; full photograph in the article · Source details
One of Alberta’s six road crossings into Montana, where the American community is also called Del Bonita.
Explore this place ↗Photograph date unverified
Oporto2 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Complete source image · Source details
05 / Open the archive
Photographs, newspapers, and records. Open an item for its date, source and provenance.
About the collection →43 source records
People queued at the Dominion Public Building to file for homesteads in the Del Bonita area. Galt dates this photograph to 1912.
View artifact +People waiting at the Dominion Public Building on 1st Avenue South to file for homesteads in the Del Bonita area. Galt dates this photograph to 1912 and identifies police watching the crowd and automobiles in front. George Bruchet donated the photograph.
View artifact +School District No. 3329 sought tenders for a schoolhouse on Section 2, Township 2, Range 21, west of the Fourth Meridian. Secretary-treasurer W. L. Baxter used a Del Bonita postal address.
View artifact +Page 5 reports a Del Bonita U.F.A. meeting and concerns about road access and wheat payments. Publication and meeting dates are separate.
View artifact +Fisher with two trucks at his store, dated 1929 or 1930 by the book caption. A view of transport and the general-store business.
View artifact +Gum bought a lot beside the proposed Woolford Mercantile premises at the Fareham railway terminus.
View artifact +The newspaper identifies Houie Gum as a Woolford restaurant keeper buying a restaurant site at Fareham.
View artifact +The Woolford correspondent reports Gum moving to his restaurant at the Fareham terminal.
View artifact +Reatha Fisher outside the building identified by the curator as the Fisher home. The book calls the scene “their store”; that original caption is retained in the provenance.
View artifact +Thomas Helgeson of Del Bonita, photographed by de Jourdan's Studio Ltd. Galt dates the portrait to June 28, 1930.
View artifact +F. Tracy and his wife planned to operate a restaurant and confectionery business in Gum’s former Woolford premises.
View artifact +A local report records improvements to Gum’s premises at Whiskey Gap.
View artifact +Gum left for a several-month visit to China; Huey Foone operated the café during his absence.
View artifact +Shanks Lake School pupils in 1931. Galt identifies Phil Hillmer, Keith Gibb, Don Gibb, John Gibb, Albert Hillmer, Merman Hillmer, Bertha and Myrtle Hillmer, and Mary Gibb. The museum credits the Del Bonita Historical Society and records Ernie Hillmer of Magrath as the owner of the original photograph.
View artifact +Gum appeared as a witness describing a customer’s October 21 visit. A sandwich and pie cost 30 cents.
View artifact +President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7947 on August 9, 1938, designating Del Bonita, Montana, as a customs port in District No. 33. The order took effect thirty days later.
View artifact +A 1939 photograph catalogued by Galt Museum & Archives as Moving The del Bonita School. The catalogue describes men moving, or preparing to move, the building to a centralized site.
View artifact +The Del Bonita column reports that the Shanks Lake schoolhouse had been moved to land north of the post office, purchased by St. Mary’s school division for a consolidated school.
View artifact +Duel (J. J.) Secretan and Scotty Train outside the Canadian Pacific Railway station at Whiskey Gap, as identified by Galt Museum & Archives. Three grain elevators stand beyond the station.
View artifact +Duel (J. J.) Secretan and Scotty Train at the Canadian Pacific Railway station in Whiskey Gap. Galt lists the date range as 1940–1978 and describes the scene as circa 1978. The original photograph was owned by Robert and Olive Train of Magrath; the acquisition source was the Del Bonita Historical Society.
View artifact +An itemized Fisher’s Store bill from January 1942, with a total of $3.85. Reproduced on page 219 of the community history.
View artifact +Mr. and Mrs. G. Harker took over management on November 1, 1945. C. Collet retained ownership and his fuel business.
View artifact +Del Bonita post office and general store. Date supplied by the journal.
View artifact +H. L. West bought the Del Bonita Trading Company and succeeded Collet as postmaster. The post office remained at the same location.
View artifact +Page 5 records a farewell for the Woods and earlier volunteer work. The article dates the labour to the preceding winter, not necessarily August 1950.
View artifact +Page 5 reports a school concert held on the preceding Friday. The publication date should not be presented as the performance date.
View artifact +The post office and grocery store building on a street in Del Bonita, photographed by The Lethbridge Herald. Galt dates the photograph to July 27, 1953.
View artifact +Edward Newton in Del Bonita, photographed by The Lethbridge Herald. Galt dates the photograph to January 15, 1958.
View artifact +Officials cut the ribbon to open the Magrath–Del Bonita Highway. The Lethbridge Herald photograph is dated July 27, 1964 in the Galt catalogue.
View artifact +Royal Canadian Mounted Police and American Border Patrol members at a border cairn unveiling in 1974. Galt names Alva Bair and Lawrence Halmrast of Milk River as the builders and Albert and Bernice Robinson of Del Bonita as the owners of the original photograph.
View artifact +A historical titled-landowners map detail around Del Bonita and Shanks Lake, dated 1978 and credited to Cardston M.D. No. 6. It records historical ownership.
View artifact +John's Hardware in Del Bonita, photographed in 1979. The white storefront has red window trim, with a large rusted tank in front.
View artifact +The Del Bonita Historical Society's 1981 collection of district and family history, photographs and community recollections. Includes photographs of Whiskey Gap and Shanks Lake School.
View artifact +Del Bonita post office and general store. The caption identifies Betty Speirs at the door.
View artifact +A July 2000 study records that Del Bonita School closed between 1995 and 2000 and that all its grades then attended school in Magrath.
View artifact +The designation record describes an archaeological site near Del Bonita. Its recognition date is not an occupation date. Precise site coordinates are intentionally omitted from this project record.
View artifact +The former restaurant and lodging building associated with Huey Gum, at right in Del Bonita, photographed in 2009.
View artifact +A roadside view of Del Bonita’s historic storefronts on September 1, 2011. The full-resolution photograph and its licence record are preserved locally.
View artifact +Del Bonita post office and general store. Date supplied by the journal.
View artifact +The study follows Del Bonita’s postal story, including Emma Waters, the 1913 petition, and the June 1914 office opening. Pages 16–18 contain the local account and photographs; page 21 identifies earlier sources to follow.
View artifact +Fisher’s store carrying the Red & White Stores sign, with the separate house beside it. The printed caption does not date the photograph.
View artifact +Two Fisher store buildings side by side, identified in the book as the new store and the old store. The photograph is undated.
View artifact +The first Fisher store on George Weatherley’s farm, identified by the printed caption. The family account dates the business there to 1924, but does not date this photograph.
View artifact +No records match yet. Try a shorter search, all record types or all subjects.
06 / Del Bonita today
Visit the store. Join a gathering. Get to know the people who are still making this community’s history.
Del Bonita today ↗07 / Keep the story going
A name on the back of a photograph. A story from your grandparents. A physical item that could be scanned. A correction that helps us get something right.
Every contribution begins with listening.
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