Founded in 1882, Bar U was once one of the largest commercial ranches in the world, covering 160,000 acres. You can wander back in time through its two dozen buildings – including a cookhouse, post office, corral, smithy and slaughterhouse – which have been preserved in their Sundance Kid–era glory. Costumed interpreters demonstrate ranch skills while telling stories of the past.
Visitors can hop on a wagon ride, try to rope a (fake) steer, and gather with the ranch hands beneath the cottonwood trees for a campfire and cowboy coffee.
John Ware, a freed African American slave and, allegedly, Alberta’s first cowboy, was an early visitor. A decade later, the ranch's horses were trained by Harry Longabaugh – known to history and Hollywood as the Sundance Kid – a dapper cowboy who worked at the ranch in 1891 before taking up a more lucrative career holding up banks with the Wild Bunch.
The on-site restaurant dishes up ranch-style favorites. Bar U Ranch is just off Hwy 22, 13km south of the town of Longview.
As of 2020, the park will be under a new management plan and some of the above may change.