Magrath Celebrates 125th Birthday With a Musical Theatre Production of ‘Diggers’

The year 2024 marks the 125th birthday of Magrath, a small town in southern Alberta settled by Latter-day Saint pioneers. Those pioneers helped dig the Galt Canal, Alberta’s first large-scale irrigation project. The irrigation project’s success proved that arid southern Alberta was fit for agriculture, opening the region to further settlement. To celebrate the town’s birthday, Magrath Arts is presenting a musical theatre production of “Diggers,” written by Jonathon Penny with original music by Mark Mitchell.

‘Diggers’ Tells the Story of the Canal Diggers Who Settled Magrath

“Diggers” tells the stories of families who received mission calls from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1899 to leave their homes and families in Utah to dig a mile of the Galt Canal before settling in a new Latter-day Saint community on the Alberta prairie. It describes the arduous work of digging ditches with horse-drawn slip scrapers amid unusually heavy spring rains. With encouragement from Church leaders, the diggers persevered and were blessed with a miraculous extension of the fall season. This allowed them time to finish the canal, harvest crops, and get shelter and supplies to survive their first winter.

Cast Members Find Deep Meaning in Portraying Their Ancestors

Many of the play’s participants descend from the original settlers of Magrath. For example, Laurel Bennett, director, is cast as her great-grandmother Eleanor Spencer. Bennett’s mother, Elizabeth Olsen, 91, is playing Eleanor Spencer’s mother.

LeRoy Rasmussen found out about the play and asked if he could portray his great-grandfather, Rasmus Rasmussen, whose family was the first to arrive in Magrath. LeRoy is in the process of moving back to Magrath and building a home on land his great-grandfather settled.

After auditions, the key role of Levi Harker, Magrath’s first bishop and first mayor, was unfilled. Bennett reached out to several potential candidates to no avail. Dennis Strong, a great-grandson of Levi Harker, was one of the potential candidates. He ignored Bennett’s text for weeks, but it kept coming to his mind. Finally, he decided to read the script. “I started reading through it, and it was over at that point,” said Strong. “It was as if Grandpa Levi was standing right next to me saying, ‘You need to do this.’”

Cast members portraying their ancestors have felt a deep connection to them through the experience. “The whole thing has such a feeling for me,” says Bennett, “because you’re telling the story of how much courage it took to come up here and dig your mile of ditch. … There are many songs that we sing, and you get goosebumps and have a hard time singing.”

This was a real story of real hardship and real obedience and willingness to accomplish a great work that led to the expansion of this area,” said Strong. He added that the story shows today’s young people “what you can be blessed with if you are willing to put your trust in God. Perhaps the greatest significance of this play is in rekindling the heritage of faith of the early settlers of Magrath.”

Get Your Tickets

Diggers is a one-hour play performed in conjunction with the Magrath Days annual town celebrations. Performances are July 25–27, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. at the Magrath High School theatre. Additionally, a 2 p.m. matinee will be held on July 27. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at magratharts.ca while supplies last.

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