Municipal Tourism Opportunity Opened Alberta Wide!

The History Check heritage & tourism mobile app will expand Alberta wide in June 2019.  This opens regional economic development opportunity for every Alberta municipality.  History Check offers a cost effective, ready made app to share municipal sites and services.  Cross marketing partnerships will attract app users from a global market.

The province wide launch of History Check is planned for June 2019.  Through alliances and partnerships this mobile app creates a tourism opportunity for Alberta.  Expanding to all provincial borders and including attractions, heritage sites and stories, as well as travel related services, makes the History Check app a unique initiative.  We look forward to creating economic opportunity in every community – big and small!

Sheila Willis – Project Manager

Email: [email protected]

History Check is Exceeding its Goals & Strengthening Northern Alberta Communities.

Site by Site; Story by Story; Listing by Listing

Since our launch in October, we have been spreading the word across northern Alberta about this historical, educational & economic development tool created for the region. Our goal was to have 500 downloads by the end of April. WE HAVE REACHED 525 as of this morning, April 12th.

Our marketing has been directed to northern Alberta,  so its surprising and exciting to find that we have had site visits to our download page www.historycheck.ca from 29 COUNTRIES. I can assure you that was not expected – yet.

A Truly Remarkable Project in Volunteer & Cooperative Efforts

This mobile project is truly remarkable.  It has been made possible through the dedication and commitment of a handful of volunteers and multiple collaborators..  In addition to the number of downloads, and the interest generated across the globe, this dedicated team launched the app in less than a 1000 days with 300+ communities recognized.  At launch we had a little less than 1000 sites published.  We have increased that to almost 1500 with another 600 files in progress.  Our long term goal is 10,000.

Community Minded Businesses Fund the History Check Project

For Less Than $1 a Day

Now that the foundations have been laid, we are calling on the businesses in the north to carry the project forward.  For less than a $1 a day you can become an advertising sponsor.  You are funding source for this project both short term and to establish long term self-sustainability.

Your ROI comes not only in the ability of users to find your site listing  through interest driven searches, but in giving us the funding required to add the history and attractions of your community which there is no charge for.   Each visitor will be spending money and adding to strong economics though tourism.  Find out more about advertising sponsorships here.

We will be having a celebration when we hit 1,000 downloads.  By the looks of things – we better start thinking about that!  Any suggestions of offers of assistance would be appreciated.

Sheila Willis ~  780-805-1390  ~ [email protected]

One Volunteer Invests 10,000 Hours into Heritage & Tourism Mobile App

There is a movement afoot in northern Alberta – a mobile app that places sites of interest on a map and are found through “Community Menus”, “Near Me” functions and by Keyword Search”.  These Points of Interest or Site Listings cover everything from historical places, buildings and stories, other attractions and the services to travel in what is often considered a remote region.

“Working in the Visitor Information Centre in Slave Lake, I had people driving motor homes who wanted to take the newly paved Highway 88.  The only thing that stopped them was not knowing if they could get fuel along the way,” says Sheila Willis, Executive Director or Friends of Historical Northern Alberta Society (FHNAS) the makers of the History Check mobile app.

Not everyone is cut out to put so many volunteer hours into a job, but Willis says that being intimately involved with the project from the first concept day, she sees the benefits that it can bring.  She cites various aspects of the project not visible at first glance.

It is the connection those kids make with the history of their hometowns that is a real bonus for me.  They don’t realize that some of their Social Studies curriculum happened in their back yard, says Sheila.

Preserving the stories of the past is important, not only for the youth of today but future Albertans. The offshoot of telling those stories, and sharing the attraction and services of the north is that the attention it brings is also good for tourism,.  Northern Alberta receives only 7% of Alberta’s tourism revenue.

One of the reasons FHNAS was formed as a non-profit vs a business is so that all organizations and businesses in the north could be included.  Each gets a free site listing and only businesses are charged to be included in the interest search function.

Sheila is the first to say she is not the only one involved, or doing the work.  She is just doing a lot of it.  Other volunteers, groups, organizations and municipalities are involved.  This about everyone working together and everyone benefitting – the way they used to do things when this was a land still traveled by foot, dogsled or wagon – and before.

While there are a large variety of cultures that came with settlement History Check will also include Indigenous culture.  One of their grant applications is to find stories of the Indigenous population helping the first settlers from midwives to the sharing of food when times were tough.  It is a part of early European history that Sheila feels is not told enough.

When asked why she keeps it up, Sheila response “This is a big project that has a lot of components.  I can’t quit now.  I know what its success can bring on so many levels from kids, to culture to economic development – and my personal passion – history.  There is a lot of enthusiasm from the few people that know about it.  The challenge right now is sharing it so people can see that value and how it can grow.”

You can download the History Check HERE.

The Power of A Word’s Search-Ability

The technology of today changes the face of travel and road trips into northern Alberta and it’s all about the power of a word – or phrase – and the ability to Search It.  Of course there is also Community Menus & Near Me features – but those are another story.

I remember my Mom, map in hand, giving directions to my Dad to find the Golden Arches or the motel of choice for the evening.  For lunch the entire family peered out the window looking for the next rest stop when the bellies were growling and a picnic lunch was at hand.   Now people can use the heritage & travel companion app, exclusive to northern Alberta to find just about anything.

I think you get the picture!

Our volunteers have over 2000+ sites identified and 1400+ online for you to find.  We are hoping for at least 3,000 ready for you by June 2018.  If you are interested in travelling or a road trip you can stop reading and  download History Check here.

Remember each time you use History Check there will be something new somewhere!

If you are a business or organization in northern Alberta that opens its doors to the public, keep reading. We want to get you listed on History Check so all those who stopped and downloaded the mobile app can find you.

All site listings are free.  To be included we will need up to 3 images, a business description aimed at letting app users know more about you, and your contact details and links to website pages and social media feeds.   Use this online form to send us your information or email the same information to [email protected]

Addition to search functions is free to other nonprofits.  If you are a business the cost to be included on our search functions is $350 a year.  You choose up to 20 business relevant keywords to bring customers to your door.  Also include your logo so we can use it to replace the “Click Here for Website” box.

While you are asking yourself as a business owner what your Return on Investment is, please consider this.

• There has never been an all inclusive mobile app for the entire region north of the Edmonton International Airport, let alone one that is searchable, shows “Community Menus” and uses “Near Me” features.
• Northern Alberta accounts for only 7% of Alberta’s total tourism revenue, the ease of travel and exploration into what is considered a remote area will increase the odds of community guests coming and spending some money in our rural communities.
• Every dollar spent by a community guest cycles through the community 3 to 7 times.   In example, an out of region guest fills up and buys snacks at a local service station.  The owner of that business then pays his employee who might use those funds to buy groceries, go out for dinner or get auto repairs done at another local business.  And the cycle continues.
• FHNAS is a nonprofit organization.  Your advertising dollars go towards adding other local attractions, historical sites and more.  You are not just buying and ad you are supporting your local community.

We have a lot of keyword searches on History Check now.  Many of the businesses featured have been added for user availability.  If you are the first business to advertise using a business specific keyword, all non-paid keywords in your area will be removed.

To become a community supporter through addition to search function you can fill out this online form or email us at [email protected].  Together we can show the rest of the world what northern Alberta really has to offer.

Sheila Willis – Executive Director FHNAS 780-805-1390

Crossing the Tracks of Time

As I sit in my house, especially in the cold winter months, I can hear the train whistle blow at the Soda Flats Crossing about a half mile from my house. Sometimes it gets me to thinking about how that train is crossing the tracks of time. So much has changed from the first whistle blown at that crossing.

You see, where the train is blowing its whistle is now only a trail for horses, hikers and off highway vehicles.   It used to be the main highway or trail from Smith to Hondo – changed of course when the pavement came through and altered the landscape yet again. I would venture to say that for every 1000 times that whistle blows the engineer might encounter a single human being  at that crossing.

While we often consider ‘the tracks” as bumps in the road, where more maintenance is needed, or where we have to wait for the train to pass. Think about how life and communities were centered around the railway.

I live in Smith, Alberta, which was the first divisional point from Edmonton for the ED & BC Railway. Like so many other areas across northern Alberta when the railway came in 1913-14 it essentially changed the town location. The original town was Mirror Landing located on the opposite shore of the Athabasca River.

Within several short years, the thriving steamboat town, Mirror Landing, that had been located on the opposite shore of the Athabasca River, had all but disappeared.

McLennan became the main terminal in the Peace River country, although it was a terminal along the route that really shouldn’t have been a station at all as described in “Ribbons of Steel” by Ena Schneider.

In 1915 as the ED & BC line was deciding on the location for a northern terminal it required a location with abundant water that was free of minerals.   A location next to Round Lake (now called Lake Kimiwan) was suggested and a man named Hughie Hunter was hired to retrieve a water sample.

He got his sample and proceeded on horseback to Grouard, to board the steamer, the Midnight Sun, en route to Edmonton. Somewhere along the line he discovered all of the water had leaked from his sample so reached over the side and got a scoop of water from Lesser Slave Lake.

The test showed the water was suitable for steam engines and the terminal in McLennan was built and they started pumping water for the trains. It didn’t talk long to figure out hat is was high in scale-producing minerals and on top of it was not even fit to drink.

As the stations were established, and community sites rearranged, the railway became central to life. Dances and other activities were often held in train stations.  Christmas turkeys arrived on the train. Loved ones arrived from far away places.  Trains were used as ambulances.

One of my husband’s uncles was accidentally shot. They hauled him out of the bush by hand, and put him in a boxcar to go to the hospital in Westlock – in the winter.

How many people arrived into the North Country to settle the land? Start talking to the locals in northern Alberta communities and you are bound to run into a more than a few whose ancestors along with their belongings arrived in a 2 free box cars from other areas of Alberta and other countries.

As you are driving along the roads, and see the trains they are still on the same track system established over a 100 years ago. In many areas you can still see the long ago abandoned telegraph poles with the insulators glinting in the sun, or the wire covered in frost.

Other portions of track have long ago been torn up, the trails repurposed.  The Iron Horse Trail has over 300 km of trail and parks through boreal forests, wetlands and rolling prairies.  Starting out a trail for First Nation and Metis people, fur traders, for Red River Cart brigades, used it and later in the 1900’s it was the route for the CN Railway.

The next time you are waiting for the train, use your imagination and step back into time. What we consider a nuisance in modern times was the lifeblood of communities across the north.

While the passenger trains ceased long ago, along much of the track, through the bush, much is the same. Wooden trestles, encroaching forests and in many areas, the telegraph lines are still strung with their glass insulators gleaming in the sunlight.

Take a side trip into communities and you will see evidence of the train era. Train cars and cabooses, are available to see. Former stations are now used for Visitor Information Centres or other purposes.  The Alberta Railway Museum, located near Edmonton, offers visitors a ride along their section of track or exploration of a multitude of cars. High Prairie boasts of a mural of the train and its passengers.

If trains are as fascinating to you as they were to previous generations, the History Check mobile app offers a multitude of ways to explore.   You can search ‘railway’ to see the multitude of communities formed by the railway and read of their histories. We continue to add the sites of the station houses, the cars and other railway memorabilia. Take the journey by downloading at www.historycheck.ca .