Leavings Cemetery (MD of Willow Creek)

The Leavings cemetery was originally a watering site on Willow Creek west of Pulney used by the bull and mule trains as they brought settlers, travelers, mail and supplies to southern Alberta. It was the place where the trail left Willow Creek, hence ‘Leavings’. The route was from Fort Benton, Montana, to Fort Macleod and on to Claresholm and Calgary. That all changed with the coming of the railroad which was a much speedier way to move goods and people, and the watering site was abandoned.

A new railroad station was required between Fort Macleod and Claresholm on the Old Benton trail or Macleod Trail as it is known now and so the new Leavings was born. It was just a railcar on the siding at first but, with the completion of the rail line and a heavy influx of settlers, the area boomed. By 1902 livery stables, a blacksmith shop, grocery store, and hardware stores were all in place. The Leavings Star newspaper had begun publication. The original cemetery was on land owned by Hugh E Vosburgh & Levina (Eckhardt) Vosburgh. The first known burials occurred in 1905 and 1906 when their two baby boys died of meningitis.

Some of the wettest years in recorded history occurred in those years resulting in a 1907 harvest of 500,000 bushels of wheat. It was then that MLA Malcolm Mckenzie suggested Leavings change its name to Granum which is Latin for Grain. Thus, on Oct 1, 1907, Granum was born and with it the new Granum cemetery was established.