John A. McDougall’s Pierce-Arrow, at rest on a rural road in 1916.
AMA 100
“We Got Stuck
in a Bad Hole”
As AMA marks 100 years, a road trip diary reveals what driving in Alberta looked like before anyone was there to advocate for motorists.
By Allison Bench | Photographs courtesy of the McDougall family
“We got stuck in a bad hole.” It was the first day of John A. McDougall’s road trip from Edmonton to Vancouver in the summer of 1916, and there were already problems. McDougall was 62, a former Edmonton mayor and one of the city’s pioneering businessmen. According to his diary, the car eventually did get out — but not until a young boy on a horse came across the stranded car by chance and rode off to find a nearby man, who came with a whole team of horses to pull it out. In 1916, that’s the closest to roadside assistance there was in the province: a chance encounter, and a willingness from people to help one another get moving again. In those early days of driving in the province, motorists faced muddy, rutted roads, washed-out bridges and mechanical breakdowns. And as more vehicles appeared in the province, Albertans needed better infrastructure and someone to advocate for motorists. That’s exactly what led to the founding of the Alberta Motor Association in 1926. While AMA’s own archives tell part of that story, John A. McDougall’s road trip diary — shared with AMA by his descendants more than a century later — offers a vivid account of what Alberta was like before it had paved highways, roadside assistance and reliable infrastructure. In the early 1900s, going by road from Edmonton to Vancouver was truly an adventure and not the well-travelled trail it is today. John McDougall and his son Ed left Edmonton at 9:40 a.m. on the morning of July 31 — in Ed’s Pierce-Arrow, one of the most coveted vehicles of the era — and they even brought along their mechanic, Steve, to help with repairs on the road.
July 31, 1916 - Near Lacombe
“Got stuck in a bad hole 4 or 5 miles north of Lacombe at 2 o’clock. An [Indigenous] boy came along on a pony and we sent him for a man and a team to pull us out. We got out easy with the assistance of the team and a block and tackle, gave the boy 50c and the man $1.50 although he only asked for $1.00. Got up against a bad place in the road and we had to cut brush and trees to corduroy the place and then we got over. Crops looking fine. It was a beautiful warm day. Lovely sunset tonight. Reached Olds at 9:20. Making 141 miles this our first day.”
The following morning, the trio headed south to Fort McLeod. As they moved into Alberta’s foothills and mountains, the roads proved to be an ongoing challenge.
Aug. 1, 1916 – south of Calgary
“Were delayed by one bad hole and had to carry a heavy railroad tie to fill up the hole. Passed through splendid fields of wheat, oats and barley. Very fine crops all round.”
Approaching the B.C. border, the journey got even more dramatic. They passed through the remains of the famous Frank Slide in Crowsnest Pass, where just 13 years before, more than 80 million tonnes of limestone had crashed down Turtle Mountain and destroyed part of the town of Frank. John noted in his diary that the road “runs right through and over the broken rocks.” As the day went on, the trio faced a new problem: washed-out and unfinished bridges.
(Clockwise from top left) Ed and John A. McDougall; Steve and Ed near Alberta’s foothills; along the foothills in southern Alberta.
Aug. 2, 1916 – approaching the B.C. border
“Many bridges have been washed away by the recent high water. One creek, the bridge over which had been carried away, we forded and Ed got through all right but it was some splash. Another place we had to cut and carry logs and make passable a bridge left unfinished. It was some job but we did the work and got across.”
Shortly after they entered B.C., they were halted at Elk River near Hosmer, where the bridge had been swept away entirely. For two hours, they examined the nearby railway bridge, debating along with some helpful rail workers whether they should carefully drive the car over. In the end, the safest option was to load the car onto a railway flatcar the next day to make a journey of just seven miles to Fernie.
Aug. 3, 1916
“We decided that this was the best thing to do… we were afraid the car might get damaged bumping over the ties and rails on the bridge… Steve and I rode in the caboose and Ed in the car on the flat car.”
Their route then took them down through Washington State before they reached Vancouver on Aug. 7, a total of eight days after they had left Edmonton. After spending nearly a month on the coast, John, Ed and Steve hit the road again on Aug. 31, travelling home through the United States and visiting Yellowstone National Park. But it was the final stretch home through Alberta in early September that tested them the most. As they crossed the border and headed towards Lethbridge, recent heavy rain had made some areas nearly impassable.
(Left) Ed posing on the fingerboard on the Alberta-B.C. boundary. (Right) A difficult spot on the road.
Sept. 12, 1916 – Near Lethbridge
“We found the road in places and also the fields covered with water… We could see no way around, and it seemed a sure stick in the mud if we attempted to go through it and it was getting dark… Just then another car came up behind us and they turned out to be two Lethbridge men and had gone through this place earlier in the day and were now returning. They told us that we would get through if we put on chains and rushed it. We did so but it was some splash and some rocking that the car got in going through. Those men very kindly offered to go ahead and show us the road and for us to follow them... It was now quite dark and we could not possibly have got along without their assistance.”
After spending the night in Lethbridge, they headed out again, and the chains on their tires didn’t stop the car from getting stuck again on Sept. 13 — east of Cayley, pulled out by a team of horses after about an hour. They made it into Calgary just before dark, the car so caked in mud that John said its windshield was completely opaque and its headlights could not cast light. They did not get far the next day, either.
(Left) A photo of John A. McDougall’s 1916 diary. Rather than writing on both sides of each page, he wrote on one side only, then flipped the diary over and began writing from the back. (Right) John R. McDougall — the great-grandson of diarist John A. McDougall — holds a wooden licence plate that belonged to his great-uncle Ed, handmade from an era before Alberta provided formal plates to drivers. Thank you, John, for sharing this story with us!
Sept. 14, 1916
“The worst hole of all was 7 miles north of Crossfield where we got stuck and bent the steering rod badly — one wheel is headed off straight but the other is turning sideways. We got a farmer who was coming along the road to pull us out. He was very kind and obliging and he stayed around for 1½ hours until Steve got the knuckle off and he took Steve with him in his buggy to Carstairs where he would try and get it straightened. It is now 11 o’clock and I am sitting in the car writing this. The car is standing on three wheels. Ed is here too and there is nothing we can do but wait till Steve gets back. This was our worst trouble since leaving home.”
John, Ed, and Steve finally arrived back home in Edmonton on Sept. 15 — 47 days and 4,718 miles (7,593 km) later. John A. McDougall’s road trip diary has been in his family’s possession for more than a century. In the final entry, John noted that by the end of the return trip, the car’s brakes were “completely worn out,” six tires had been replaced and the car had been pulled out of the mud three times. The Alberta Motor Association was formed a decade after this road trip took place — to help advocate for improvements to the very roads John detailed in his diary. As John himself put it: “The roads in Alberta were the worst of any we had to travel over... Ed drove the whole way there and back. He is a splendid driver and very careful. The weather throughout was good.” AMA
EXACT ROUTE DETAILS FROM THE DIARY:
OUTBOUND: Edmonton to Vancouver July 31 – Aug. 7, 1916
Edmonton → Wetaskiwin → Lacombe → Red Deer → Innisfail → Olds → Didsbury → Calgary → Nanton → Fort Macleod → Frank (Crowsnest Pass) → Hosmer, BC → Fernie → Cranbrook → Kingsgate / Coutts (Canada-US border) → Bonners Ferry, ID → Spokane, WA → Harrington, WA → Ellensburg, WA → Seattle, WA → Mount Vernon, WA → Blaine, WA → Vancouver, BC
Total: 1,204 miles (1,938 km) over 8 days
RETURN: Vancouver to Edmonton Aug. 31 – Sept. 15, 1916
Vancouver, BC → Blaine, WA → Mount Vernon, WA → Seattle, WA (stopped over Sept 1) → North Bend, WA → Ellensburg, WA → Vantage Ferry (Columbia River crossing) → Spokane, WA → Coeur d’Alene, ID → Wallace, ID → Missoula, MT → Drummond, MT → Philipsburg, MT → Anaconda, MT → Butte, MT → Three Forks, MT → Bozeman, MT → Livingston, MT → Gardiner, MT (Yellowstone Park entrance) → Mammoth Hot Springs → Old Faithful → Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone → Tower Falls → Mammoth Hot Springs → Livingston, MT → Big Timber, MT → Melville, MT → Judith Gap, MT → Great Falls, MT → Sun River, MT → Choteau, MT → Conrad, MT → Shelby, MT → Sweet Grass / Coutts (US-Canada border) → Warner, AB → Lethbridge, AB → Fort Macleod, AB → Granum, AB → Cayley, AB → Calgary, AB → Crossfield, AB → Carstairs, AB → Olds, AB → Innisfail, AB → Red Deer, AB → Wetaskiwin, AB → Leduc, AB → Edmonton, AB
Total return: 2,138 miles plus 1,376 miles driven within Vancouver — 3,514 miles (5,655 km) over 16 days
A 1916 Roadtrip: By the Numbers
Departure: July 31, 1916
Return: Sept. 15, 1916
Duration:
Total distance driven in miles:
(7,593 kilometres)
Total trip cost:
(about $20,400 today)
Roadside assistance: A young Indigenous rider, a team of horses, bridge workers, railway crews and countless other motorists and locals who shared directions and road conditions.
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