This trailhead sign is stationed along the west site of the trailhead for two trails, the Galt Canal Trail, heading north, and the Highline Trail, heading north. about 60 m (200 ft) west of the Irrigation Park parking lot. Facing East, the sign is easily spotted after the 60 m walk (wheel) west from the parking lot. The parking lot and the short trail to the trailhead are both smoothly paved, as is the Galt Canal Trail, affording a smooth and relaxing wheelchair journey to the site of the
Historic Canal Diversion Headgates. Of the several trails in the Magrath Trail System, the Galt Canal Trail is the only one purposely built in its entirety for wheelchair travel.
Note the small wheelchair logo on the trailhead sign.
Trail System
The trail head is located by the campground and fish pond.
Approximately 5.4 kilometers , the trail follows the edge of the canal up to the diversion headgates. At the headgates, the trail switches back alongside Pothole Creek before crossing the creek and returning back to the campground and the trailhead or you can turn west at the headgates and follow the outer loop back.
From Magrath Recreation
Along Highway 62 at the south end of the town of Magrath, named for
Charles Alexander Magrath, one of the principles in the Galt Canal project, is a large park, J.A. Spencer Memorial Irrigation Park, dedicated to another notable Magrath resident, historian
John Arthur Spencer.
Magrath is one of two settlements whose origins are tied to the construction of the Galt Irrigation Canal. In 1898 the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entered into a contract with the Alberta Irrigation Company, which called for the Church to provide labor to construct the Galt Irrigation Canal and to develop two villages of 250 persons each.
Since its completion the area around the canal was transformed into a beautiful park with walking trails, a disc golf course, informational plaques, machinery displays and memorial plaques, all surrounded by evergreen and cottonwood trees. Along the walking trails there are numerous dedication plaques and informational signs. At the end of the Galt Canal Trail are the original headgates for the canal, first opened on November 14, 1899. Also in the park is a memorial plaque for J.A. Spencer, acknowledging his tireless work and dedication to preserving the history of the Galt Irrigation Canal. Also in the park is
Galt Canal Provincial Historic Site, a Canadian National Historic Site.
Immediately north is Jubilee Park, with a fish pond, fountain, children's playground, ball diamond, picnic tables, benches interpretive kiosk and campground.
THE GALT CANAL
Prior to the 1890s, much of southern Alberta had been perceived as unsuitable for agricultural settlement. Enclosed within "Palliser's Triangle" - an arid expanse in the southern Canadian Prairies - the region had been largely avoided by settlers convinced of its dubious farming possibilities. This dreary vision was of particular concern to Elliott Galt, whose companies had amassed vast land subsidies in the area in return for constructing railway lines.
In the 1890s, Galt and his associate A. C. Magrath of the Alberta Irrigation Company (later the Canadian North-West Irrigation Company) spearheaded the St. Mary River Project to address the problem of aridity in southern Alberta. Galt succeeded in securing the support of the federal government, the Mormon community, and British investors for the project. The government agreed to offer a rebate on the surveying fees associated with the endeavour in order to encourage settlement in an otherwise unattractive region. The Mormons offered their labour and their considerable expertise on irrigation - cultivated through years of "making the desert bloom" in Utah - in exchange for land and cash payments. And the financiers agreed to provide capital in the hopes of substantial returns.
Begun in 1898, the St. Mary River Project was completed in 1900. As a result of this happy confluence of interests, vast tracts of southern Alberta were made viable for agriculture and settlement. The St. Mary River Project, of which the Magrath Canal was a part, was the first major irrigation project undertaken in Alberta and was essential in transforming the image of southern Alberta from a dry, desolate land unsuitable for agriculture to a region made fruitful by irrigation. The establishment of the communities of Magrath, Raymond, and Stirling was directly linked to the project.
From the CNHS plaque at the site