ALBERT OLSON.
 


	Although he is still a young man, by dint of his own unaided efforts
Albert Olson has attained the ranks of the Regina business men who, in
common parlance, are said to have "made good."  Born in far-away
Sweden, on the 27th of January, 1884, he is the son of Nels and Cecelia
Olson, native born citizens of that land. The father, now deceased, was
a lumber manufacturer and a Member of Parliament. He was a Liberal
in his political views. He and his wife were parents of eight children,
seven of whom are living, Albert of this review, being the oldest. Mrs.
Olson is still living.
	Albert Olson was educated in his native land, going through the high
school and a business college, following which he learned telegraphy and
became an operator in Sweden. It was in 1903, when he was nineteen
years old, that Mr. Olson came to Canada from the States, where he
had been working as a telegraph operator. He located in Winnipeg and
there worked for the Bell Telephone Company for three years-from
1905 to 1908-before he was transferred to the government telephone
service. His work in this connection brought him to Regina in 1909.
Here he formed a partnership with a Mr. Somerville, under the name
of Somerville & Olson, for the purpose of doing contracting in the field
of telephone construction.  This partnership was continued until 1918,
since which time Mr. Olson has continued his contracting business alone,
erecting lines in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and he does
a gratifying amount of such work each year. In addition to the telephone
construction work Mr. Olson has become interested in the comparatively
recent oil development projects in western Canada and is now a director
in the Queen City Oil Company, which owns large tracts of land in the
oil regions. There is every indication at the present time that this busi-
ness will become one of the great industries of the region in the next few
years and of course the men who have done the most work in promot-
ing its development will enjoy the largest share of the profits a good oil
field is sure to yield.
	In 1910 Mr. Olson was married to Miss Adeline Hunter, who was born
in Kincardine, Ontario, and educated there and at Sault Ste. Marie. They
have become the parents of one child: Alberta Dorothy. Mr. and Mrs.
Olson belong to the Westminster Presbyterian church. In the Masonic
order Mr. Olson has attained high rank, being a Knight Templar and an
officer of the Mystic Shrine. In the Rotary Club he represents the tele-
phone contracting business and socially he is a member of the Assinibola,
Wascana Country and Gun Clubs, associations that provide an excellent
clew to his recreational interests, for golf and shooting are his two hob-
bies. Mr. Olson has never regretted his decision to leave his native land
for the opportunities of the New World, where he has been successful to
a degree attained by few men. He is intensely loyal to his adopted land
and is a public-spirited citizen, his interest in the upbuilding of the com-
munity being manifested in many tangible ways.


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