Early Years of Simmental in North America: Mountain View School: "Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow"

Friday, February 27, 2026

Mountain View School: "Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow"

A video of the Mountain View School Parisien 60th birthday celebration (of Feb 13, 2026) was posted today on YouTube:

Parisien Video [event of Feb 13, 2026]
(Mountain View School | posted Feb 27, 2026 | Time 1:01:36 min.) at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsEfQVLu3es&t=4s
Also: https://youtu.be/lsEfQVLu3es

Correction on Cost: at circa minute 46:50 the cost is mentioned as $50,000, but that is incorrect. The initial eight investors each put in $500.00 Cdn for $4,000.00 cash and guaranteed another $500.00 each for a bank loan of $4,000.00 to fund the project being an investment total of $8,000.00 Cdn. The total costs to get Parisien to Mountain View and to organize SBL left the company with about $534.00 by about October 1966. Parisien's farm purchase price worked out to be $3,620 Cdn. The cost breakdown can be found at https://simmental-sbl.blogspot.com/search/label/Costs .

Birthday cookies in Memory of
Mountain View Men & a Magnificent Bull
(Photo by MV Principal Curtis Leishman)

"Early Years of Simmental in North America" blog © 2010, 2011 by SMSmith. See Creative Commons License at bottom of this column. NOTE: all quotes and resources from others are subject to the terms of their copyrights and do not fall under my CC licensing.

NOTE re photos: Many of the early photos were taken by SBL for their promotional needs. The owners of other photos are not known. If you are the owner of a photo not credited herein, I hope you would extend the courtesy of letting it remain on the site (I will credit you). I am seeking permissions for some known photos that may be posted in due course if permission is obtained. If you have photos that would enhance this blog, please notify me at simm66blog at gmail dot com.

Note: this blog author is aware that Simmental was referenced in North America in the late 1880s and early 1900s, but did not survive as a distinct breed here, thus Simmental became one of the "exotics" in the heady days of the 1960s and '70s.

Chronology: this "blog history" is essentially posted in chronological order of unfolding events, thus it is probably best to begin reading forward from the first posting of May 7, 2010.

See the post of October 15, 2015 describing its recovery and return to its owner nine years after its theft. (This info of the theft is being left on for the historical record.)

We continue to seek information about the taxidermy head of the famous Simmental bull Parisien. It was stolen from the Calgary Stampede grounds in the early morning hours of Friday, July 14, 2006 where it was on loan during the 2006 World Simmental Congress.

Information can be reported anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or the Calgary Police Service at 403-266-1234.

▪ This is a priceless, irreplaceable historical artifact (weighing about 250 to 300 lbs. and mounted, at the time, on a wheeled stand);
▪ It was a prime exhibit of the Cardston and District Historical Society "Court House" Museum and belongs either with its owner, Don Jensen, or on public display in the locale of Parisien’s first Canadian home;
▪ Three other items were stolen at the same time: 1) an approx. 4’x6’ framed photo layout of Parisien (owned by the Canadian Simmental Association in Calgary); 2) a dry-mount picture/storyboard of Rocabar, a son of Parisien, written by Priscilla Hatch (owned by the Cardston & District Historical Society); and 3) a Canadian flag (probably used to camouflage the stolen items). All these items, except for the flag, were unique, one-of-a-kind.
▪ Private collectors or pranksters should not be allowed to continue to benefit from this crime.

Contact / Submissions

If you have a short story or memory of Travers Smith, Parisien, or SBL that you would like posted here, you may contact the author of this blog at: simm66blog at gmail dot com

Please note the following:

▪ not all submissions may be published; depends on various factors including the discretion of blogger SMS
▪ brevity is appreciated; editing may be required
▪ copies of supporting documentation may be requested for some submissions
▪ authors of submissions will be given byline credit for their submissions if posted
▪ if you see what you believe to be errors in any posts, please advise of your reasons (and documentation)
▪ the simm66blog email address is monitored once a month or so, so replies may take awhile.

Creative Commons License

Early Years of Simmental in North America blog by SMSmith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.