John Ware

By Margaret Evans Reprinted with permission from Canada’s Equine Guide 2018, a special edition of Canadian Horse Journal.

Think cowboy and images come to mind of a rugged man riding a horse across the landscape of a bygone era. While those alluring images and the iconic cowboy lifestyle were glamorized in books, television shows, and movies, the fact remains that cowboys were part of the indelible fabric of the opening up of the Canadian and American west.

But one man stands apart from so many people, Ware was given the lower level jobs others. He was black. He had been enslaved. on cattle drives, such as being the cook’s He was tough and a hard worker. In his helper or riding drag. A drag rider rode at day, he was the best cowboy that ever sat the back of the herd in the dust and dirt, a bucking horse. He was good-natured in pushing up the stragglers, but Ware took a time when such social graciousness was it in stride. seldom extended in return to a black man. Good fortune led him to cross paths He became a successful rancher despite with a man named Tom Lynch in Idaho, the white-centric society of 19th century who in 1882 hired him to drive 3,000 Canada. And in 2012 he was celebrated on head of cattle to the North West Cattle a commemorative Canadian stamp during Company, which would become known Black History Month. as the Bar U Ranch in Alberta. The story

John Ware was born in the mid-1800s goes that he was given a somewhat medioand grew up in slavery. The exact details cre horse to ride. about his early life are not entirely clear. But one day Ware asked an innocent He was freed at approximately age 20 when question that would cement him in cowslavery was abolished with the ratification boy folklore. He asked his boss for a better of the 13th Amendment of the American horse. He may have had a sense that the Constitution in 1865. Leaving the plantahorse he’d get wouldn’t prove to be “bettion, he travelled to Texas and pursued a ter” in the way he wanted. But he was used cowboy life, then worked his way north to people joking around at his expense and driving cattle to Montana. he would prove his worth.

According to the Glenbow Museum in The “better” horse was an ornery bronc Calgary, because of prejudice against black that had bucked off every cowboy who’d

Far left: Postage stamp of John Ware in honour of Black History Month, issued February 1, 2012. Photo courtesy of Canada Post. Left: John and Mildred Ware with children Robert and Nettie, circa 1896. Photo: Wikimedia. tried to ride it, but Ware sat securely, anticipating every spine-jarring twist, turn, buck, and leap. By the time he dismounted, his companions’ scorn had been replaced by admiration for his skill and courage.

That became Ware’s hallmark. He built an enviable reputation by proving his skills with horses and the use of a lariat, staying on task no matter what was given him, working hard, and remaining true to his principles.

He quickly discovered that skilled, experienced cowboys were in high demand in Canada and decided to stay, finding work on ranches, including the Quorn Ranch west of Okotoks, Alberta. He deflected prejudice and planned to one day have his own ranch.

As the story goes, one day in 1882 Ware’s horse smelled something amiss and refused to drink from Sheep Creek. Apparently, John looked hard at the scum on the water, dismounted, and cautiously tasted it. He definitely agreed with his horse. That scum was oil. Thirty-two years later in 1914, Dingman No. 1 well produced the first oil in Turner Valley.

According to Glenbow Museum, in 1887 Ware started his ranch on the north fork of Sheep Creek in the Alberta foothills. In 1892 he married Mildred Lewis who had come to Calgary with her family from Ontario. They would have six children, one of whom died at age two.

Ware continued to earn respect among ranchers and cowboys, and that admiration was further endorsed when, according to the Canada Post website, he pioneered steer-wrestling and won his first competition at the Calgary Summer Fair in 1893. It set a precedent for what would much later become a highlight of the Calgary Stampede.

In 1901, Ware sold his ranch and resettled northeast of Brooks on the Red Deer River. But life began to take a tragic turn. The following year his home was destroyed by a spring flood. Undaunted, he rebuilt

the cabin on higher ground overlooking what is now called Ware Creek. But tragedy struck again when, in March 1905, Mildred died of pneumonia and typhoid. Ware sent his grief-stricken children to stay with Mildred’s parents in Blairmore. The following September, Ware himself was killed when his horse stumbled in a hole and fell on him.

Ranchers from around the region attended Ware’s funeral in Calgary, the largest funeral the young city had ever seen. Ware had become a symbol of all that it meant to be a hardworking, trustworthy, talented rancher and horseman, qualities other ranchers respected and admired.

Despite the prejudices of the day, Ware was an influential industry builder who took the skills he had and made the best of every situation with humility and good humour.

Today, Calgary is home to John Ware Junior High School. At the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, the John Ware Building houses a student-run retail food market and the 4 Nines Dining Centre. The 4 nines (9999) was Ware’s original registered brand, later changed to 3 nines.

The National Film Board is currently in production on a documentary on John Ware titled John Ware Reclaimed. The director is African-Canadian Cheryl Foggo, who also wrote the awardwinning play John Ware Reimagined. The film’s release date is late 2018 or spring 2019.

“John Ware is one of the people I admire most from the Canadian story, for a number of reasons,” says Foggo. “I was crazy about horses and cowboys as a young girl, but I didn’t see people of African descent represented in the books I read or films and television shows I watched about cowboy culture. Discovering the existence of a great cowboy and rancher of African descent who was instrumental in creating the brand of my city, Calgary, helped me to unify different aspects of my own identity. He met challenges with a combination of astonishing skills. I am also interested in the beautiful family life he created with Mildred Lewis Ware, his close bonds with her siblings and parents, and the pride his children took in his legacy, although he died when they were young.”

For Foggo, the story of Ware’s life connects people from a wide range of cultural and racial backgrounds, occupations, ages, and demographics. Ware would indeed be proud.

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