Michael courted the second daughter of the Andersons who owned the Petrolia Hotel. Before he left Petrolia to travel west at the turn of the century, he promised Annie Anderson that he would send for her when he had made a place for them in the West.

Michael traveled west in 1901 and with his three brothers he set up a farm near Fort Macleod. Then he returned to Petrolia where he married Annie Elizabeth Anderson. They came back west and settled on the farm in Fort Macleod.

Michael was a straightforward young gentleman by all accounts. His brothers may have been on the other hand, little more - dare we say, interesting. The three brothers decided that the farm wasn’t big enough for the three boys, so they tossed a coin to see which one would leave. Michael lost and he set out east to seek a new fortune. It is also thought that he knew Patrick Burns. Mike wanted to set up a ranch on a larger scale than that of Burns. I have heard from several sources that Michael ran against Patrick Burns. But of course Mike lost the race and Pat Burns later became a Senator.

We don’t know whether Michael traveled into the Palliser Triangle/Jenner area and inspected the region before buying there, or whether he knew from title maps, that there were large tracts of land available for lease at the rate of $0.03 an acre.

I suspect that Michael James was anxious to set up his own place. He obviously knew a good deal about farming and he knew that the short-grass country produced good tasting beef. I think he probably looked at the township maps and title maps and saw that there was a lot of land available near Jenner. He then took the train, along the Royal Line; through Duchess, Patricia, Majestic, Empress and Jenner, and stopped where there were many new people in the growing little town. He probably rented a horse and rode north into the lands that were open on the map. When he saw the magnificent view north over the Red Deer River Valley on the road from Jenner, he probably fell in love with that country. If it was in spring and rainfall had been good, then the country would have been beautiful. He probably decided to stay there, despite the warnings of John Palliser that the area should never be opened up for agriculture.

Mike decided to buy an available quarter section on the banks of the Red Deer River known as the Quail Ranch. He knew that; with water available, large tracts of land for lease or purchase and protection in the valleys for cattle, it might be worth the gamble. Also, the railway was only seven miles south of the Quail homestead.

All the arrangements were made over a period of time. Michael sold his interest in the Stapleton farm at Macleod, purchased the Quail Ranch and was ready to settle in Jenner in 1909.

Michael and Annie’s son, Murray Michael Kerwin Stapleton was born in 1904 so he would have been four or five years of age when they moved to Jenner.

Michael James was by all accounts tough but fair, a pioneer, and a gentleman. Mike became known to the cowboys as The Chief. The boys in the bunkhouse would refer to the pair as Queen Anne and The Chief.

Michael and Annie adopted a daughter – Kathleen. It is not known what year that was and not much is known about Kathleen’s early years. She married Fred (Sykes) Robinson and lived for some time in the Cochrane area.

Michael The Chief passed away in 1937.

Annie left the ranch around 1937-38 and lived with her sister, Mary Anderson Samuels, in Calgary, until her death in 1950.