If you were driving through rural Alberta and spotted what looked like a random stone doorway sticking out of the middle of the field, you’d probably have a few questions.
But the peculiar structure near Three Hills, approximately 130 kilometres northeast of Calgary, is actually a more than century-old underground structure tied to some of the province’s earliest homesteaders.
The Sunnyslope Sandstone Shelter consists of a small chamber with sandstone masonry walls and a barrel-vaulted, sandstone masonry ceiling beneath an earthen, grass-covered mound. Its only visible portion is the west-facing, arched, sandstone entrance.
Inside, it has a sandstone ceiling and a hard-packed earth floor. Measuring approximately 2.25 metres by four metres, it’s certainly not built for tall people, with a ceiling height ranging from 1.7 to 1.8 metres, along with a small opening for light and ventilation.
The shelter sits on a quarter section of productive agricultural land alongside Township Road 314 in Kneehill County, approximately 24 kilometres west of Three Hills.
Why was it built?
Dugout shelters were a common form of housing during the earliest stages of settlement in Alberta, according to The Canadian Register of Historic Places. After arriving at their homesteads, settlers, many lured by the Dominion Lands Policy that offered 160 acres of land for only $10, needed immediate protection from the elements and often built rudimentary shelters using simple, pre-modern construction techniques. Along with tents, sod huts, and basic shacks, dugouts were frequently excavated and used as temporary living quarters.
In what would later become Alberta, dugouts were typically built below grade or carved into embankments. Roofs were generally made from logs or sod supported by poles. While a variety of construction techniques existed, stone was considered relatively unusual in Alberta at the time.
Where did it come from?
It’s not known who built the Sunnyslope Sandstone Shelter, though it was likely constructed by homesteaders who migrated from the American Midwest to Central Alberta between 1900 and 1905.
Those settlers came from regions where root cellars were also used as storm shelters, and where stone construction was more common due to a lack of trees and the protection it offered from tornadoes and other severe weather.
The Sunnyslope Sandstone Shelter was recognized as a provincial historic resource in 2011.
So while many Albertans today may complain about heating bills or hail damage claims, it’s fair to say we’re living a little more comfortably than the early settlers!
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