Summary information
| Repository: | South Peace Regional Archives |
| Title: | North Western Telephone Company fonds |
| Reference code: | 0423 |
| Date: | 1913-1922 (date of creation) |
| Physical description: | 2 cm of textual records
3 photographs |
| Language: | English |
| Dates of creation, revision and deletion: | Added to new database January 2023 – TD |
Administrative history / Biographical sketch
In 1913 Anson Wagar, pioneer businessman of Lake Saskatoon, applied for a franchise to operate a telephone company in the Rural Municipality of Bear Lake No. 740. Mr. Wagar had graduated from Yale University in 1903, and in 1912 he and his wife purchased homesteads in the Lake Saskatoon district. By January 1914 their franchise had been approved and they had become directors and the principal shareholders of the North-Western Telephone Company Ltd. Anson then turned his attention to obtaining the franchise for the Rural Municipality of Grande Prairie No. 739 and the Village of Grande Prairie, but it was not a smooth road. Opposition from the province, council members and residents culminated in a case before the Supreme Court of Canada where Wagar won an injunction against the village. By November of that year, poles and lines were being installed. Lines were extended to Beaverlodge in 1915, and by 1917 a report tabled in the House of Commons showed 60 phones in operation and 75 miles of wire. When Mr. Wagar sold the North Western Telephone Company to Alberta Government Telephones in 1920, the price was $9,000 for a line of long distance poles and exchanges extending from Beaverlodge to Lake Saskatoon, Grande Prairie, Clairmont and Sexsmith.
Custodial History
The records were donated to the Grande Prairie Museum in 1989 and later transferred to the South Peace Regional Archives.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of a researched history of the North Western Telephone Company, which pre-dated the Alberta Government Telephone Co. in Grande Prairie, and three photographs: two of the first AGT office, and one of the AGT line workers and switchboard operators on the steps of the AGT office. The history was compiled by The System Historian for AGT in Edmonton and contains excerpts from three sources: the minutes and by-laws of the Rural Municipality of Bear Lake No. 740, articles from the Grande Prairie Herald, and the personal and business papers of Anson Wagar at the Provincial Archives.
Access points
- Graphic material – photograph (documentary form)
- Textual record (documentary form)
- Communications* (subject)
Series descriptions
| Reference code | Title | Dates | Physical description |
| 1989.044.03.01 | Item – Alberta Government Telephones Office | [1922] | 1 photograph : b&w; 8 x 10 in. |
| Scope and content:
The first Alberta Government Telephones office in Grande Prairie, after AGT purchased the North Western Telephone Company from Anson Wagar in 1920. The NWTC had been operating since 1913 and were paid $9,000 for a line of long distance poles and exchanges extending from Beaverlodge to Lake Saskatoon, Grande Prairie, Clairmont and Sexsmith. |
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| 1989.044.03.02 | Item – Alberta Government Telephones Office | [1922] | 1 photograph : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. |
| Scope and content:
The first Alberta Government Telephones office in Grande Prairie, after AGT purchased the North Western Telephone Company from Anson Wagar in 1920. The NWTC had been operating since 1913 and were paid $9,000 for a line of long distance poles and exchanges extending from Beaverlodge to Lake Saskatoon, Grande Prairie, Clairmont and Sexsmith. |
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| 1989.044.03.03 | Item – Alberta Government Telephones Workers | [1922] | 1 photograph : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. |
| Scope and content:
Telephone line workers and switchboard operators in front of the first Alberta Government Telephones office in Grande Prairie. |
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