Big grizzly started a hidden-gem collection in northern Alberta hamlet

As tall tales go, a seven-foot-eight-inch 892-pound grizzly bear is tough to beat.

Legally taken by hunter Dave Griffin on May 9, 1981, the huge bruin — since stuffed and mounted — now resides at the Kinosayo Museum in Kinuso, Alta., a small hamlet 300 kilometres northwest of Edmonton by road.

"Anybody who was around at that time goes, 'Oh, I remember when they had it in the back of the truck, and it was leaning out the box and everyone went to see it at the bar,'" said Jennifer Churchill, the museum's president.

"Every time somebody went up to hear the story of the bear, the story got bigger and bigger and bigger."

WATCH | Take a tour of the Kinosayo Museum in Kinuso:

Grizzlies and waffle irons are all part of the Kinosayo Museum

1 year ago

Duration 2:10

See how volunteers are preserving local lore and the story of rural northern Alberta.

Judging by the width of its huge paws and the length of its skull, Churchill says the grizzly has been assessed as the 64th largest on record.

When the bear was donated to the museum it was the beginning of an animal room that has now grown to more than 60 specimens, including porcupine, skunk and deer killed on roads and then stuffed and mounted.

"We have a really good relationship with Fish and Wildlife, who phone us and say, 'Hey, we know you're missing one of these,'" says Churchill.

Other animal specimens are donated from private collections. In fact, the museum's entire collection — an estimated 20,000 artifacts — has been donated by locals, says Churchill. 

"Everyone had stuff."

The museum was started 40 years ago by Churchill's great-grandmother Vera McLaughlin.

It's housed in a 2,500-square-foot building that was formerly home to the Kinuso fire ranger station.

"Everything comes from the community, tells a story of our community but it also tells a story of rural northern Alberta." 

Dianne Doerksen's family donated a number of artifacts to the museum, including an old waffle iron. 

"This was my mom and dad's. We had a wood stove — we didn't have power. It would go over the open flame," said the great-grandmother who volunteers as a guide.

Highlights of Doerksen's tour include a 1928 Twin City tractor, lumber and homestead displays, a telephone switchboard similar to the one she operated as a teenager, blacksmith tools like the ones used by her father, Gavin Dow, and the restored Swan River School. 

"People come in and I'll get their school records out and show them what their marks were," said Doerksen. 

But for many visitors it is the pictures that bring the past to life.

 

Richard Davis, former chief of the Swan River First Nation, points to a wall filled with black and white photos to "my dad's friends, my mom's friends, my relatives, my in-laws," he says.

"It's preserved history."

He said his daughter, a teacher, loves bringing her students to the museum.

Churchill, the museum's president, says the goal is to keep that history alive, "so when kids from the community come to the museum we can show them, 'Here are your ancestors.'"

 

This year, for the first time, the museum received a grant to hire a staff person allowing it to be open year round — three days a week in winter and seven days a week in summer.

Now Churchill says volunteers are drawing up plans to offer more educational programming and expand the museum so they can take in more stuff.

"We're hoping to build a whole other wing and extensions because we have the material," said Churchill. "We're not finished telling the story. It's a work in progress."