George Lane (politician)


George Lane was an American-born Canadian politician and rancher and known as one of the Big Four who helped found the Calgary Stampede in 1912. In 2016, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
George was foreman at the Bar U Ranch and eventually returned in the early 1900s to purchase it for $250,000. In 1885 he married Elizabeth Sexsmith and they raised 8 children together.
In the 1913 Alberta general election George was elected as the first member for the Bow Valley riding for the Alberta Liberal Party. He was somewhat of a star candidate for the Liberal Party, and helped keep a critical southern Alberta seat from going Conservative. He defeated Conservative Incumbent Harold Riley who had changed from the Gleichen district. George would spend very little time as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, he would resign a short time later so that defeated Cabinet Minister Charles R. Mitchell could re-gain a seat in the legislature.

Election results