John Goodwin "Gravity" Watson

Found in:  Chaps and Chinooks: A History West of Calgary. Volume 1 page 308
By George Edworthy

The first resident on 23-24-3-4 was John G. Watson who came to this district in 1897 from his birthplace in Renfrew County, Ontario. It was on this location that he established one of the early brickyard and quarried some sandstone. At that time there was a flag station nearby on the C.P.R. called Shaganappi. Some time after the late E.H. Crandell purchased Watson's brickyard, in defence to his wishes, the C.P.R. changed the name of the flag station to Brickburn. Because of this the Edworthy property which was on both sides of the C.P.R. at this point was called the Shaganappi Ranch and was registered as such with the Provincial Government many years ago.
Watson was an ambitious man and was on the lookout for a moreactive field of operations. As a result he sold his property to E. H. Crandell and moved into Calgary where he soon became involved with municipal politics among other things. He was elected an Alderman in 1906 and following that served five consecutive terms on the council.

He had an active mind and a great deal of ability and he concieved the idea of a gravity water system for Calgary, drawing water from the Elbow and replacing the old plant pumping water from the Bow. He promoted this idea to the point where it was considered feasible and the gravity water system with its intake upstream in the Elbow in Springbank became a reality. Old timers will remember the laying of the wooden pipes which brought the water into Calgary to the Reservoir in South Calgary west of 24th Street at the end of 34th Avenue. Old timers too will remember the water trough on the South side of the South Springbank Trail just about opposite where the Elbow Valley curling rink is today. Water for this trough came from the wooden pipe buried underground just across the fence. Here was a meeting place for riders and teamsters stopped for a breather and a cold drink on their way to and from Calgary.

Having seen his favourite project, the gravity water system completed and successfully operating; having a achieved success in a number of other endeavours and having seen his name on the corner stone of the new city hall built in 1911 out of sandstone, his favourite building material,(for he was a stone cutter and mason by trade) he began to look around for new fields to conquer.

In 1912 all of the Watson family except daughter Maggie Belle, moved to the coast, first to Victoria and later Vancouver where Mr. and Mrs. Watson spent the rest of their days.

John Goodwin "Gravity" Watson is my great grandfather on my dad's side