Patrick Burns Politician

Patrick Burns (July 6, 1856 – February 24, 1937) was a Canadian rancher, meat packer, businessman, senator, and philanthropist. A self-made man, he built one of the world's largest integrated meat-packing empires, P. Burns & Co. , and was one of the wealthiest Canadians of his time. He is honoured as one of the Big Four western cattle kings who started the Calgary Stampede in Alberta in 1912. While making his fortune in the meat industry, ranching was his true passion. Burns' 700,000 acres (2,800 km) of cattle ranches covered so vast an area of Southern Alberta that he could travel from Cochrane to the US border without ever leaving his land. In 1931 Burns was appointed to the Canadian Senate as a representative for Alberta. On October 16, 2008, the Calgary Herald named Pat Burns as the greatest citizen in Alberta's history.