Fonds 0107 - Bill Pratt fonds

William Crawford (Bill) Pratt came to the Grande Prairie area in 1912, followed by his wife, Florence Patterson Pratt, and son Garnet in 1913. That same year he founded the first newspaper, The Grande Prairie Herald. Mr. Pratt later entered into business as the Imperial Oil Agent, and then as a warehouse distributor. He was active on the Board of Trade and in the community as a town councillor. In September 1928, during the time Bill Pratt was president of the Grande Prairie Board of Trade, the Board arranged a promotional tour of the Peace Country by E.W. Beatty, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and a party of Canadian Pacific directors and prominent business men from the east who were on their annual inspection trip of Canada. The purpose of the tour was to show the potential of the Peace Country and find solutions to the transportation difficulties for Peace River products going to market. Accompanying the C.P.R. group were area politicians, a photographer from McDermid Studio in Edmonton, and members of the local Board of Trade. Some of those identified are MLA Hugh Allen, Deputy Mayor P.J. Tooley, Bill Pratt, Jack Thompson, Jack Kerr, Martin Eagar and George Hart. After the south Peace tour, the CPR party went on to Spirit River, from where a north Peace tour may have been taken. Some of the photographs being from Peace River and area. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt had three children: Garnet, George and Marion. Mr. Pratt passed away in 1943.