Western Irrigation District Memories – Hilton

By John Godsman Times Contributor

Gordon and Vi Hilton both originate from families with vibrant connections to agriculture in the region, including a history of involvement with irrigation that continues to this day.
Gordon’s grandparents Henry and Florence Hilton emigrated from England to the Nightingale area in 1910. Henry had been a tailor in England and moved to Canada to become a farmer. He established irrigation on the farm in Nightingale using the flood methods that were common in the early days of the Western Irrigation District (WID). Subsequently, a volume gun that could shoot up to 200 feet was purchased followed by wheel-move systems. Due to the labour-intensity of these systems, they have been replaced by low-pressure pivot systems which are among the most water efficient cur-rently available. Gordon continued the family tradition of farming and involvement in irrigation, representing division 2 on the WID board for successive terms.
In addition to his involvement in irrigation, Gordon has been a pioneer of conservation tillage since purchasing the Harvey farm in the Crowfoot area in 1964. The Hilton’s farm became a demonstration farm for soil conservation, hosting groups from across Canada, the U.S., China, Russia, South Africa and Australia. Gordon has been recognized for his innovation and foresight into soil and water conservation, and was inducted into the Soil Conservation Council of Canada’s Hall of Fame and the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame, and also received the L.B. Thompson Award for Soil Conservation, as well as numerous other awards.
Vi’s father’s family, the Bartelens, and her mother’s family, the Verweires, maintain a strong tradition of farming in the WID with both family names continuing to be repre-sented on the WID’s roll of irrigators. The Bartelens immigrated from Holland in 1908, to the Akenstead Dutch Colony, northeast of Strathmore. They were among the group who helped build the first Catholic Church in Strathmore in 1910. Her mother’s family – the Verweires – immigrated from Belgium to the Finnegan District, near Gem, in 1913.
Both Vi and Gordon attended local elementary schools in Turner and Berta Vale, re-spectively, before both attending Samuel Crowther in Strathmore. Gordon went on to attend SAIT while Vi went to Olds College. They married in 1955.
Gordon and Vi state that irrigation will always play an important role in southern Alberta and their family’s continued involvement speaks to its value.