I found a couple of copies of something called the “Cochrane Eye Opener”, which seems to be a handwritten news type booklet. I’m not sure how long this Eye Opener operated for, but this one was printed around Christmas time of 1927.

The first story in this edition of the Eye Opener is called “the fire” detailing the fire that destroyed the Alberta Hotel (since we seem to be on a prairie fire theme), and an account of the fire at the Alberta Hotel can be found on this history of Cochrane site.

Answering to the toll of the church bell, many Cochrane citizens gathered to watch a roaring blaze which completely destroyed the historic Alberta Hotel. It was a wonderful sight. Never in the history of the village has such a fire occurred.

In its history, the hotel has had two other fires, however, these were but minor ones, each one being extinguished before it gout of control. But nothing could have checked the final blaze. The three-story structure burned as if it was an immense heap of firewood saturated with coal oil.

The fire started in one of the front rooms of the (second?) floor, soon spread to every corner of the building.

Roaring and cackling, it burst through the floor sending a shower of sparks into the air to be blown fat over the railway track by a gusty north wind. Three or four inches of snow on the ground and roofs prevented these sparks from igniting any other buildings.

The hotel disappeared very quickly. In about two and one half hours the site changes from a modern boarding house and beer parlour to a heap of hot embers.

There are a few stories written here, some of the handwriting has faded, but what’s there is a fun little window into life in Cochrane in 1927. As someone who grew up eating at the Cochrane Cafe, and who was saddened when they finally closed their doors a few years ago, it was kind of fun to see their advertisement in this paper.