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Sports was an important aspect of the early families social life.Before there were many towns, sports were more of the sort like horse racing, coyote hunts, clay-bird shoots, steeplechases and polo matches, ones brought over with the settlers who came from Britain. These were more individual sports, and were engaged in at various ranches and out in the wilderness.
Once a town was built, it was easier to socialize, in larger groups and friendly team competition became a big part of that.
Sports teams were formed in the small towns and farming districts, and they would meet and play together, bringing their families along to interact with each other. Ball tournaments were the big events which brought the various towns together into larger social circles.
Mirror was very active in all kinds of sports and social activities, including boating, fishing and swimming, with Buffalo Lake at their doorstep.
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Mirror's First Baseball Team1912
Mirror, Alberta
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Many of the settlers in our area hailed from the USA, bringing with them a love of baseball.This photo shows Mirror's early baseball team.
The team was sponsored by many of the local businesses, of who's names are on the backs of the team members uniform shirts.
The book, "Land of the Lakes" tells the following:
Lamerton, Mirror's predecessor, sported our area's initial team members, with John Neis managing the team in 1909. Some of the Lamerton team members were, Rex and Ray Simpson, Harold Peterson, Jim Cairns, Clyde Pittman, Irving Peterson and Raymond Reay.
Mirror's own official first baseball team, in 1912 consisted of CN agent L. Harper, L. Minkler, Bill Good, Ray Simpson, Jim Cairns, Carl McCormick, catcher, Jack Iveson and Joe Heumann.
In 1923, Mirror had a really good ball team. The players were, Bill Walker, Tiny Turner, Virgil Neis and Joe Heumann, as pitchers. Bump Ray was catcher, and the other team members were; Jerry Stgacey, Harry Lord, Clayton Kehoe, Jim Cairns, Gordon Tulloch, Andy Lakey, Roy Merkley, Len Murray and Joe Tulloch (bat boy).
The Ray family had 9 boys, all of which were big on baseball, and one, Kid Ray going on to be a famous ball player, who's name is included in Edmonton's Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Early Hockey Team1912
Mirror, Alberta
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Mirror's early hockey team.6
Basketball Team1919
Mirror, Alberta
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Mirror's Basketball team in 1919.Left to Right - back row are:
Carl McCormack, Gordon Sharpe, Harry Hornby, Bump Ray
Second row:
Kid Ray, Milton Merkley
Front row:
Lawrence Williams - manager
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An Early Tennis Team1920
Mirror, Alberta
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An early tennis team in Mirror.Tennis was a very popular sport with the townsfolk of Mirror, who had their own tennis court built near the edge of town.
The court was built in 1909, and was mostly managed by Sid Carter and his two sisters, who had just arrived from England.
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Mirror's Brass Band1915
Mirror, Alberta
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Mirror Bay1914
Buffalo Lake, near Mirror
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Buffalo Lake is a huge lake, close to the town of Mirror. It is so large, bordering the Stettler area, over to Bashaw and down to our area, that natives, early traders, trappers and hunters used it as a major means of transportation.In the early days, the lake was higher than today, and was right at the town's doorstep, while today, access is a few kilometers away.
Prior to that, however there was evidence that the lake had also been lower before, as deep Red River cart tracks had been seen criss-crossing Mirror Bay before Mirror sprang up.
The lake's shape resembles a side view of a buffalo, hence it's name, and thousands of buffalo used to roam the countryside around the lake before the herds were decimated in the hunts in the mid and late1800's.
Mirror Bay was on the hind leg of the lake's buffalo shape.
In the early days of Mirror, Buffalo Lake was a wonderful fishing, swimming and boating area, with sandy beaches and picnic areas, where today it is more of a wildlife sanctuary for various water fowl.
A long pier was built at Mirror Beach, where Mr. Jackshaw and Jim Brindle took people on pleasure cruises in their larger boats.
Boat houses, mostly owned by people in Edmonton, were built near the pump house on Buffalo Lake. The owners of the boat houses kept sailing boats in them, and would come down by train to sail on our huge lake.
At the time Mirror was created, and for quite a few years afterwards, Buffalo Lake was at it's highest, later receeding to the lower levels of today. It is told that there are trees with six inch diameters growing where people used to swim in the twenties.
This photo shows a number of people out for a day at the lake. Many are walking on the pier, watching the others having fun in their sailboats and rowboats in the water, and a small boy plays in the sand on the beach.
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Mirror Bay's Boat Dock1914
Buffalo Lake, near Mirror
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Another view of the pier and boat dock, with Mr. Brindle's boat, the Kathleen on the left in the photo. This boat is full of passengers just leaving for or arriving from a water cruise on the lake. |
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