The Father of MagrathLevi Harker Left Lasting Legacy in Southern Alberta 

Levi Harker grew up the youngest son in a family of sheepherders. It was that pursuit that took Levi’s brother Ephraim to Alberta, Canada, when the area was first opened for settlement.

Making his home in Cardston, Ephraim ranged 20,000 sheep, which at the time was called Canada’s largest flock. Levi joined his brother in Canada in June 1892, and together they partnered in the long-time family business for several years. Levi also served as director of the Canadian Woolgrowers Association and president of the Alberta Woolgrowers Association during his thirty-seven years in the sheep business.

In addition to his standing in the business world, Levi was known as “a man who walked with the Lord and the Lord was always with him.” That devotion to his faith would earn Levi the title of “father of Magrath” thanks to an 1899 call to help colonize the new town of Magrath, Alberta, roughly 25 miles away from Cardston.

Levi served as the Magrath Ward’s first bishop and remained in that position for thirty-two years. Levi was also the town’s mayor for two terms, organized the first store in Magrath (the Magrath Trading Company), and served on the town’s City Council. Eventually, Levi Harker became Magrath’s patriarch.

Levi and his wife, Martha Burns Harker, were the parents of nine sons and one daughter. Levi died September 5, 1939, in Magrath. A week later, the Lethbridge Herald wrote that “the passing of no man who ever lived in [Magrath] was more deeply mourned than that of Bishop Levi Harker, ‘Father of Magrath.’”

Source: https://history.lds.org/article/levi-harker-magrath?lang=eng

• Sep 2014 will be 75th year since his passing ..
  

Magrath, Alberta, was settled as a result of a contract between the LDS Church and the Alberta Irrigation Company.

Magrath, Alberta, Canada, was settled as a result of a contract between the LDS Church and the Alberta Irrigation Company. In the deal, the Church sent settlers to build and maintain an irrigation canal in exchange for land and pay.

Because a water source was vital in order to settle that portion of arid Canadian land, the Galt Canal was conceived and the project’s directors recruited Mormon settlers for the task. Latter-day Saints were uniquely fitted for the job because of their experience settling Utah and Idaho—two other places where extensive irrigation projects were necessary for settlements to thrive.

The Magrath town site was located by Charles Ora Card and Thomas Duce in the fall of 1898 and surveyed the next year,  with blocks and lots divided according to Joseph Smith’s concept of the “Plat of the City of Zion.” Card soon traveled throughout Utah and encouraged members to move to Alberta, and the Church called families to relocate to Magrath and help settle the community.

On April 20, 1899, Charles Heber Dudley arrived as Magrath’s first permanent settler. Levi Harker, a member of the Church who had moved to the first Mormon settlement in Canada—Cardston, Alberta—in 1892, was soon called to help colonize Magrath. Harker served as the local ward’s first bishop and was also the town’s first mayor, filling that position for two terms.

By November 1899, the Galt Canal was completed. At ninety miles long, it was Canada’s first large-scale irrigation system. A marker placed at the head-gates in Magrath by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada credited “British capital, Canadian enterprise, and the vision, experience and labour of Mormon pioneers” with completing a project that would “fructify and beautify the land.”

Known today as “The Garden City,” Magrath is a town of just over 2,200 people and is still home to an LDS stake that includes seven wards and two branches.

Source: https://history.lds.org/place/magrath-alberta-canada?lang=eng

"The Magrath Lions Club was founded in Magrath, Alberta in 1938 with Gladstone Balderson as our first Lions Club President and soon grew to 35 active members [it was a gravel road to Lethbridge back then]. We currently operate with about a dozen active members but welcome new members and celebrate our 75th Charter Night in May 2013! The Magrath Lions Club is a proud member of Lions District 37N."

Source: http://www.magrathlions.com/history.html

Current club president is Lion Roger Davies 
Source: http://www.magrathlions.com/executive.html

Welcome to the new 'Magrath News' ..  moving magrath-ab.net  to new weebly host today .. just a work in progress while I rebuild my web servers and content will be added as time permits //rdd