Stettler

place. Canadian town about to shake off its slumber and burst into the twentieth century. The party phone lines are being removed and the coal-fired steam train, filmed in many cowboy flicks and one of the few still in use in the civilized world, is on its last runs. Mom and pop stores, self-taught hairdressers, and migrant labourer shacks will soon be replaced by fancy corporate establishments, and a name-brand eating place is in the planning stages. First settled by Cree indians, Stettler was overrun in 1845 by Europeans who thought the area would prosper if they ran the place instead. They were wrong for over a century but discovery of major deposits of shale, sandstone, and fist-sized boulders in 1956 saved the town from absolute desolation as there was a niche use of these products in the concrete yard-novelty industry. Grain farming and repairing asphalt are pursued locally and The Stettler Groundkeeper is purused avidly. There are no significant sports teams, high schools, or marching bands but a horse rodeo is held quadrennially on the horse rodeoing grounds ....................................................................................