CREE SNOWSHOES circa 1890 Ex-Eric Harvie Riveredge Foundation. Ex-Glenbow Museum

CREE SNOWSHOES Ca. 1890.  EX. ERICK HARVIE RIVEREDGE FOUNDATION.   EX. GLENBOW MUSEUM. Well worn authentic native made snowshoes with some remaining redwood tassels.  A century old native repair- Roh-hide, sinew, bent wood and trade metal. ERIC LAFFERTY HARVIE– Alberta’s noble man and Canada’s most generous philanthropist 2 April 1892- 11 January 1975.  A brilliant lawyer and a very successful oilman.  Holding mineral rights to large tracts of land around Edmonton.  He made a huge fortune after oil discoveries in Leduc in 1947 and Redwater in 1948.   Born in 1892 in Orilla, Ontario.  On 8 October 1916 in WWI, Harvie was badly injured in a trench attack which lasted most of the day.  He had to hide in shell craters and was finally rescued in the evening.  In 1918 while on leave, he met Dorothy Jean Southam.  After their marriage in 1919 they moved to Calgary.  The rest is Alberta history.   Following the sale of western lease holds in 1955, Eric Harvie dedicated increasing time to his collecting hobby and philanthropy through his Devonian Group of Charitable Foundations which also included the Riveredge Foundation. Towards the end of his life, Eric Harvie gave back most of his fortune.  In 1962 Eric Harvie was made an Honorary Chief of the Blackfoot Nation and in 1967 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.