A new book about the role women played in developing the ranching industry is about to hit the shelves.

Ranching Women in Southern Alberta started off as a thesis for Rachel Herbert, whose family has deep ranching roots in the Nanton area.

She was looking for information on the subject and realized there wasn't any.

"The book is based on the research I did for my masters thesis in history," she said.

Herbert grew up in Calgary, but spent a big part of her years growing up visiting her families ranch and riding horses by Nanton before moving there 14 or 15 years ago.

"I saw this amazing, thriving cowboy ranch culture and wanted to know more about it."

So she started pursuing a Western History Degree at University.

"I couldn't find anything written academically about ranch women. I found amazing stories about women who had farmed and homesteaded, but there seemed to be a gap about women who ran cows and horses and I knew that they were there, from my own family history."

So she started digging and found a wealth of information.

"It was right there. People were happy to talk and do interviews. The local history books were full of stories of women who had contributed and kept ranches going."

And her own family had diaries and letters that went back to the 1880s when her family first come out to Alberta to ranch.

"So it was pretty easy to access ranch women's own narratives of the first and second generation of ranch women here. I just put it together."

She is happy to share it with more than just her thesis committee.

"My goal in writing the my thesis was to truly just capture women's stories in an accessible and academic way."

The book really is is a great resource in for women's names and their stories.

"So I am really hoping this can be a jumping off point for people interested in those women's stories and also for history classes in schools and universities."

She adds the history of southern Alberta ranches didn't just include the cowboys and the cattle barons.

"It was actually women working in partnerships on family ranches that were the foundations of the cattle industry and have kept it going as we see it now."

Herbert's children are the fifth generation of the Ings family. Her great-grandfather Fred Ings came out in the early 1880s. They started the OH ranch that is now owned by the Calgary Stampede.

After selling his shares in 1903 he moved to the Nanton area and started the Midway Ranch and one piece of that was the Trails End Ranch which Herbert and her husband operate.

Edith Ings came out in 1910, she meet Fred out east when he was looking to buy horses.

Growing up in Calgary Herbert didn't plan on being a rancher, but things changed first when her mom inherited her small part of the family ranch, in the early 2000's.

Then she fell in love and married her cowboy Tyler and now they have two children William and Avery.

"So now I get to spend my life with cows and horses and I wouldn't have it any other way."

They have a direct to marketing ranch. They finish everything on grass and they keep their cattle until they are processed.

"It feels like what I was meant to do. We get to tell the story of ranching from the cow-calf perspective all the way through the cycle of life. That gives us a lot of connection with the people who are eating our beef interested in the stories of the West."

"I feel lucky I get to tell the stories of this lifestyle, I feel like it is my heritage, and it is my turn to get to make sure this lifestyle we lead continues to thrive."

The official book launch is at the Glenbow Museum in the Hugh Dempsy Reading Room on October 16th from 2 to 4 p.m.

Ranching Women in Southern Alberta can be bought at Amazon and Chapters, it will soon be available in local bookstores.

 

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