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About Calgary
Calgary's Battalion Park
Sarcee Camp
| Summer
training camps for militia Calvary were held in Calgary from 1901. With
the out break of war, the military expanded rapidly. The city was also
growing and large land tracts needed for training were difficult to obtain.
Land was leased at the northeastern edge of the Sarcee Reserve and work
on Sarcee Camp, second largest of the major Canadian training
bases, began in April, 1915. By the 1916, twelve infantry battalions plus
other units were under canvas at the same time - almost 15,000 men. Serviced
with water and electricity,
the camp was planned by military engineers. With few wooden |
buildings, thousands of which
tents were pitched in neat rows. Whitewashed rocks outlined roads, walkways and unit perimeters. The camp opened to visitors on Wednesdays and Sundays. It cost ten cents extra for the bus trip from the end of the streetcar line. " Sarcee City" sprang up nearby. Commercial and recreational services included theaters, a pool hall, a photographic studio, several soft drink vendors and a shooting gallery. A reporter from the Calgary Herald described it as a place where soldiers might "relieve themselves of their money on every form of harmless trash imaginable." |
Battalion Parks location:
3015-Signal Hill Drive S.W. (top side)
Battalion Parks location:
Signal Hill Shopping Centre S.W. (bottom side, behind Staples)
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