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Camp Sarcee was set up in December 1915 on land leased from Tsuu T’ina Nation. The military expanded from a summer-only camp to prepare soldiers for trench warfare, housing 45,000 troops — the second largest military site in the country — through 20 battalions.

Those battalions would be marked within the camp by vehicle-sized stone assemblies, following British military tradition. But the large numbers seen today are part of symbolic, oversized markers assembled to practise troop logistics and reinforce battalion pride before the men left in the summer of 1916. Many never returned home.

Most of the roughly 20 oversized markers were destroyed in the 1950s when the military constructed a mess hall nearby at Harvey Barracks. Today, roughly 16,000 to 20,000 whitewashed field and river stones remain, with 11 digits forming four battalion numbers that can be seen from miles away.

Photo by Glenbow Archives / Calgary Herald

Originally called Cairn Hill, the city renamed the site Signal Hill in 1982, stoking public confusion over the numbers’ purpose. And while the “113” geoglyph at the top of the hill was declared a protected Alberta Heritage Site, the other numbers were once moved.

The sloping hill needed to be upgraded, and a developer had plans to bulldoze the stones for new houses. Instead, in 1988, the city had the stones painstakingly moved 200 metres east through a string-grid method, and moved back three years later when the hill was corrected.

“The stones almost had a mind of their own, it’s almost spiritual. Because they weren’t gong to be destroyed; it was all in their time,” Wheaton said.

Local military legions then put a cenotaph and storyboards on the 39,199 square-metre field. They dedicated it as Battalion Park in 1991, and the developer set up walking paths and stairs in the surrounding park.

There are commemorations held at the park every Remembrance Day, but Wheaton is taking a creative approach to keeping the camp’s memory alive.

Alongside other local musicians, Wheaton is organizing a July 26 concert tribute called Take A Pilgrimage, through music, stories and archival photos. It’s part of the annual Herald-sponsored Historic Calgary Week, run by the Chinook Country Historical Society.