After 20 years in Montana, where George Lane served as a U.S. Army scout, and worked on ranches as a cowboy, he crossed the border, to work as foreman of the North West Cattle Company’s ranch near Pekisko, Alberta. Before long he was regarded as one of the best cattlemen on the range.

He bought into the sprawling Bar U Ranch in 1902, and knowing the settlers would require good draft horses as they advanced westward, he built the largest percheron breeding operation in Canada.

A story is told that in 1912 after George had purchased a number of sections of land around the Highwood River from the Queen. As he passed a lineup of children waiting to see a circus, he heard some children crying while their mother explained that the circus was too expensive for them. He was so moved that he gave a large parcel of the land to the Town of High River, in lieu of taxes, with the provision that it would always provide a place where children could go to have fun, no matter how rich or how poor they might be.

On September 24, 1925, George Lane died.

In 1951, the donated land was officially named the George Lane Memorial Park. Later, during the period from 1951 through 1960, a campground was added and the park became known as the George Lane Memorial Park & Campground.

Credits: Life and Legends by Lillian Knupp; Museum of the Highwood; the Bar U Ranch; the Town of High River