George Lane (politician)
George Lane (6 March 1856 – 24 September 1925) was an American-born Canadian politician and rancher and known as one of the Big Four who helped found the Calgary Stampede in 1912. In 2016, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.[1]
George Lane | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Bow Valley | |
| In office April 17, 1913 – May 26, 1913 | |
| Preceded by | New District |
| Succeeded by | Charles Richmond Mitchell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 6, 1856 Booneville, Iowa |
| Died | September 24, 1925 (aged 69) Bar U Ranch, Alberta |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Sexsmith |
| Children | 8 |
| Occupation | Rancher, businessman, politician |
Lane was foreman at the Bar U Ranch and eventually returned in the early 1900s to purchase it for $250,000.[2] In 1885, he married Elizabeth Sexsmith and they raised eight children together.[3]
In the 1913 Alberta general election, Lane was elected as the first member for the Bow Valley riding for the Alberta Liberal Party. Somewhat of a star candidate for the Liberal Party, he defeated Conservative incumbent Harold Riley, who had changed from the Gleichen district, thereby helping keep a critical southern Alberta seat from going Conservative. He would spend very little time as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, however, resigning a short time later so that defeated Cabinet Minister Charles R. Mitchell could regain a seat in the legislature.
Legacy
- Hall of Great Westerners, 2016
Election results
| 1913 Alberta general election: Bow Valley | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | George Lane | 396 | 61.78% | – | ||||
| Conservative | Harold William Hounsfield Riley | 245 | 38.22% | – | ||||
| Total | 641 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | N/A | – | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / turnout | 1,081 | 59.30% | – | |||||
| Liberal pickup new district. | ||||||||
Source(s)
Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1913 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. | ||||||||
References
- "Hall of Great Westerners". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- Morrison, Elsie (1950). Calgary, 1875-1950 : A souvenir of Calgary's seventy-fifth anniversary. Calgary: Calgary Publishing Co. p. 135.
- Ward, Tom (1975). Cowtown : an album of early Calgary. Calgary: City of Calgary Electric System, McClelland and Stewart West. p. 160. ISBN 0-7712-1012-4.
External links
- George Lane and his home in Calgary
- Evans, Simon M. (2005). "Lane, George". In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XV (1921–1930) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- George Lane – Legislative Assembly of Alberta Member Profile