Biography of Kenneth Cameron (1841-1893)

In or around 1855 he joined his parents and siblings in making the journey from Scotland to Canada, where they initially settled in Cobourg, Ontario.  The Cameron family resided in Cobourg for a few years, but in 1863 planned a move west, to homestead in Bruce County, Ontario.  Before the family left, Kenneth wed Mary Elizabeth Carstairs.  When the family arrived in The Bruce, Kenneth obtained a Crown Deed to a 50 acre farm on Concession 13, Lot 23, "next door" to his father's 100 acre holding.  His farm was completely “improved,” according to records, and outside of the 10 acres reserved for pasture lands, the remainder was devoted to wheat, oats, hay and peas.

In 1876 Kenneth and two of his brothers left Bruce County, heading to the Manitoba frontier.  Surviving family lore relates that each brother had a trade – one being a carpenter and two others trained as blacksmiths.  With their respective tools strapped to their backs, the three Cameron men set off on foot, eventually making their way through the upper U.S. before arriving in Manitoba’s Red River Valley.  Kenneth and his brother David took up land in Woodside, where he eventually opened a store and served as postmaster.  Kenneth’s homestead was located at the Second Crossing of the White Mud River, Section 12-14-11 .  

With his wife apprehensive about the cold winters on the prairie, she temporarily kept their young family in Ontario.  In 1878 Kenneth’s daughter Elizabeth made the journey to Woodside, accompanied by David Cameron’s fiancé, Georgina Sebastian, via a combination of steamer, train, flat bottomed scow and horse-drawn wagon.  She shared her father’s pioneering spirit and began to prepare their home for the remainder of the family.  The following year Mary and the other children joined them in Woodside, but the reunion was short-lived.

By 1880 Kenneth’s pioneering spirit took hold once again and he headed to the west.  Joined by his friend Alexander McRae, he set out that spring with a wagon piled high with provisions and several teams of oxen to pull the load.  Their plan was to find a suitable location in Alberta, arriving ahead of the railroad, settle the land and then sending for their families.  All through the summer they gradually made their way west, following stream banks for days and weeks looking for suitable fording places.  One day, toward the end of that summer, they stopped the oxen to rest for a while by the side of a bluff, seeking shade in the mid-day sun.  A band of Indian squaws, who were out berry picking, spotted the men’s small camp and made their way toward them en mass.  Having dealt with the local Indians on numerous occasions, Kenneth and Alex knew that the women had their sights set on the wagon and its provisions.  Kenneth jumped onto the wagon and with his whip fended off the squaws as Alex hitched the oxen to get the outfit moving.  As they left the bluff, the women continued their pursuit, with Kenneth keeping them at bay.  Before long they tired and fell back, leaving the men with their supplies and a story to tell for years to come.  This was, by all accounts, the most serious incident that occurred during their trip west.

Kenneth and Alex reached the Sheep Creek Crossing in early September, just as a blizzard hit.  They were forced to make camp, since the snow and high winds made travel next to impossible.  When the gents woke the following morning, they discovered that the oxen had drifted away with the storm.  Despite several days of thorough searching, their team was gone (the animals were found the following spring by Mounties down near Fort McLeod).  Weighing their limited options, they took the only course of action possible and made a dugout on a nearby hillside to wait out the long winter.  Kenneth and Alex took squatter’s rights on this location, on the banks of the Sheep River.  When eventually surveyed, these lands became their homesteads, and both men received preemptions making a half-section for each.

The railway finally reached Calgary in 1883 and soon afterwards Kenneth’s family came to join him once again.  Since his land was located on the left-hand (west) side of the MacLeod Trail, Kenneth eventually opened a popular stopping house for travelers at this spot.  It was situated at the foot of the big hill on the trail (where many years later the highway would pass).  Travelers and freighters bypassed MacMillan’s in favor of Kenneth’s stopping house.

The town of Okotoks now stands on the original site of Kenneth and Alex’s winter shelter.  Kenneth farmed the quarter where the Okotoks Cemetery is now located, which was originally part of his homestead.  Cameron Coulee, which is southwest of Okotoks, was named after Kenneth’s family and Cameron Crossing (1/2 mile east and ½ mile south of Okotoks) was named after Kenneth as well, as is a present-day school there.

Kenneth Cameron was a well respected member of the Okotoks community, where he and his wife, finally reunited, spent their remaining years.  He would pass away in 1893, a true pioneer in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta.