Our Story

Summer 1886, Fort Mcleod, Alberta – Kit bag in hand and five dollars in his pocket, 18-year-old Frederick Burton, stepped off the new CPR rail car and gazed over a sea of grass. Being a younger son meant Fred had to make his own way in the world, and he decided this land, land that would one day be known as Alberta, was the place for him to get his start. 

He had no way of knowing that he was about to create a legacy that would last for generations. 

Young Fred lacked capital, but he was full of ambition and smarts. He quickly moved from farm crew ploughing land to ranch hand to land owner, initially gaining his own piece of soil “squatting” on Trout Creek near Claresholm in 1890. He built a sod-roof cabin, a barn and some corrals, adjacent to a good spring. He then moved in a few horses and a small herd of cattle.  His intention was not to turn the sod, as government policy at the time encouraged, but to partner with the natural resources to graze cattle.

In 1896, Burton married Minnie Furman, who had emigrated from Baker, Oregon. To help finance the operations and growth of their ranch they established Furman Postal Outlet. Every two weeks, Fred would hitch up his team and head to the nearest postal service in Claresholm where he would gather up the mail for all the homesteaders in the coulees west of Claresholm. Furman, Alberta is marked on Google Earth today, for this reason. 

Over their lifetime, the couple expanded the humble beginnings of the ranch, supporting their sons to also get places of their own in the area. 

Youngest son Gordon left the area to pursue an academic career gaining a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University, and later becoming a professor at McGill University. But the call of the land was too great. Gordon left his career, moving his wife Jean and young family back to manage the ranch after the passing of his father. Gordon continued to build on the legacy set by his family in ranching, contributed to the development of provincial and federal agriculture trade and policy, and was inducted into the Alberta Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1977.

From a pampered city girl who didn’t know the difference between a market garden and a cattle ranch in 1941, Jean Burton, Gordon’s wife, became absolutely devoted to the continuation of this pioneer ranching operation—one of many important female players in the Burke Creek Ranch story. Without Jean’s incredible personal sacrifice, unbelievable determination and absolute devotion, Burke Creek Ranch would be nothing more than a distant memory today.