Little Mountain Cemetery
16025 54th StreetEstablished, 1895
The story of Little Mountain starts in 1888. Drawn by promises of the “Last Best West,” a group of Parry Sound rock-farmers came to Alberta. They settled, lock, stock and barrel, in Medicine Hat where they found seasonal work with a local coal company.
William Mitchell was the group’s leader. By all accounts, he embodied the stereotypical pioneer spirit; daring but practical, hardworking, and always looking for new opportunities. In-between shifts at the mine, an Edmonton Journal writer-in later recalled, he “broke some land and planted potatoes, peas and oats. Good spring rains, warm weather and plenty of back-breaking toil did wonders for the crop and Mitchell’s ‘spare time farm’ was the talk of the community by early summer.”
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t hold, and a cool spring gave way to one of the warmest summers on record. Scorching winds hounded the region and Mitchell’s prize crop withered to dust. This was too much for the Ontarian emigrants, and the entire group, some forty in all, set their sights on Edmonton. There the band dispersed. Mitchell settled in the Belmont district northeast of Edmonton, homesteaded, “and began a race with winter to prepare for the cold weather.” Mitchell succeeded, and by the time his wife and four children arrived some months later, he had developed a reputation as one of the district’s best wheat growers.
From his vast wooded estate, Mitchell eventually donated some five acres to the local Presbytery for use as a cemetery. Sitting atop a hill, the small plot commanded a view of rolling Albertan plains. Together with some other locals, Mitchell would form the Little Mountain Cemetery Company to supervise the construction and continued maintenance of the grounds. Locals could buy shares in the business, and the company regularly heard meetings at the Poplar Lake Schoolhouse nearby.
By the time Mitchell passed on June 27th, 1906, his cemetery had already had a handful of graves. His obituary recounted that the service was “conducted by Revs. Douglas and McPhail and was attended by a large number of acquaintances — several from the city being present. [The] deceased was superintendent and manager of the Presbyterian Sunday School at Belmont and a man of high standing in his community.” He was laid to rest at Little Mountain and is buried at Block 10, Row 2.
In the intervening decades, Little Mountain became the final resting place for other rural pioneers, victims of Spanish Influenza, and Depression-era reliefers. Through it all, the cemetery’s operating company struggled to remain solvent and attempts to secure funding from families, philanthropists, and Sturgeon County all proved fruitless. By 1985, the graveyard didn’t have a dollar to its name. The City of Edmonton — creeping closer and closer every year — annexed the region, and assumed control of Little Mountain on August 23rd of that year.
The land surrounding William Mitchell’s cemetery is now home to cookie-cutter suburban houses, and the rustling sound of leaves, Jim Farrell once lamented, has given way to the occasional “roar of a car with a bad muffler motoring down the Manning Freeway.” Nevertheless, Little Mountain continues to stand unchanged, an unwavering reminder to those early settlers, their struggles, and their stories.
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Sources:
“Little Mountain Cemetery,” Edmonton Bulletin, February 11, 1895.
“Belmont Old Timer Gone,” Edmonton Bulletin, July 21, 1906.
‘Old Timer’, “The Third Column: The Mitchell Farm,” Edmonton Journal, April 19, 1958.
“Historic Last Resting Place,” Edmonton Journal, May 13, 1978.
“Public Notice: Acquisition of Cemetery Property,” Edmonton Journal, January 5, 1986.
Jim Farrell, “Sprawling Suburbs Encroach on Haven For City’s Wildlife,” Edmonton Journal, October 19, 1998.
“Grieving For Lost Land,” Edmonton Journal, December 12, 1999.
City of Edmonton Cemetery Search, s.v. “William Mitchell,”
