Viking, Alberta and how it was named
Photo: Viking ship icon sits beside the Tea Shop (former CN station) and Viking Troll Park.
Like other towns that were being named after Members of Parliament, Viking was once slated to be called Meighen (pronounced mean) after an MP called Arthur Meighen who served briefly as PM.
The townspeople would have none of it. Instead, they agreed to hold a vote. Located mostly on the north side of Highway 14, the Norwegian contingent wanted the name Viking, while those on the south side, mainly Czechs, favoured Prague. The Scandinavians must have turned out in greater numbers: the name Viking won the day.
The people of Viking have a strong sense of history and heritage and they value the pioneer spirit of the ancestors who founded their town. Currently there is talk of re-floating a signature Viking ship that was formerly used as a ceremonial town object.
Meanwhile the dragon-prowed wooden boat stands proudly by the Station Tea House and Art Gallery, which occupies the former CN train station. This historic building was rescued by a dedicated group of townspeople who refused to let the old building be destroyed.
Today it is bedecked with summer flowers, beside a lovely little park. After the grain elevator and water tower, the ship, the Tea House and the park are the first sights to greet the eye of the visitor arriving in Viking.
The food at the Station is delicious. Vi arrives at 4 am to bake her own bread. The train arrives at 4:30, and she lets the passengers come in and have coffee if they need to wait for a ride.
This city dweller was amazed to learn that this charming tea shop doesn't stay open on weekends; it's not worthwhile. Weekends are when the townspeople leave to do their shopping in nearby centres including Vegreville, Stettler, Camrose, Vermilion and of course Edmonton.
The lonesome sound of the train whistle is haunting, as always. Prairie sidings are two miles long, to accommodate the long trains. I've watched several of the many trains that go by each day. So far I've seen no grain tankers. But there's wheat in the fields, golden ripe.
The frequent trains have other kinds of tankers and a lot of flat cars carrying containers: Hanjin, China Shipping, Maersk. Many of these cars carry two containers, one on top of the other.
Viking people are developing geothermal heating, and the area is also the site of a couple of fields that provide grain for the Canada Foodgrains Bank. Sustainability and organic farming are definitely of interest in the area; nearby villages have state-of -the-art-green garbage disposal and mulching operations.
Unlike BC, Alberta has counties; Viking is in Beaver County. The land has been surveyed in sections, the sides of which are measured in miles. The highway signs give kilometers but most Albertans talk about travel time in hours. Viking is about 50 minutes from Camrose and roughly an hour and a half from Edmonton.
The town also has a large and very impressive museum; indeed,the Viking Museum (the former hospital building) has the distinction of winning a provincial award. At the museum site, many additional historic buildings have been brought together and made to look as they did in the old days.
The museum has a wealth of clothing and uniforms as well as household, professional, farming and sports equipment, including all sorts of tractors and other farming implements housed in a long shelter that stretches behind a lawn at the back, across the full length of the sizable main building.
It even possesses copies of the local paper's report of the first time oil was struck in the area in 1947. When I asked the attractive blond girl who welcomed visitors today if she was a Viking descendant, she told me she was a young member of the pioneering Hafso family.
Viking is a stable town; many people are related and of course, with a population of about 1100, the inhabitants know each other. Young people go away for education, but many come back and work in town. Among the big employers are the well-equipped hospital and the Vialta Care Home. The town also has a medical clinic and a sizable veterinary clinic. In the past, Viking School has had as many as 700 students, but currently stands at about 400.
While I was here, I used the public library, a pleasant and well-equipped facility located upstairs in the arena building. Currently the library is on summer hours; when I left at closing on Friday, I was disappointed to learn that it will not be open again till Tuesday, from 3 till 8 pm. By then I expect to be home in Surrey. Meanwhile, my writing requires me to find another location with lots of light, a large table, and wireless internet.
Tomorrow I am hoping to see the buffalo-shaped "ribstones," carved by ancient aboriginal peoples thousands of years ago. They're at a high point on the prairie, very close to this fascinating town.