The Canadian Badlands

Alberta’s most famous cowboy

Glenn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:22:31 +0000

John Ware, Alberta’s most famous cowboy, will be commemorated on a new Canadian stamp. The stamp will be issued by Canada Post on February 1, 2012, to honour Black History Month (February).

John Ware defied stereotypes and rose to folk hero status in Alberta. His remarkable story begins in South Carolina where he was born into slavery. Following the U.S. Civil War, he traveled to Texas where he became a skilled cowboy and worked with the great cattle drives on the Chisholm and Oregon Trails. On one of these drives, John Ware ended up working at the Bar U Ranch, famous in Canada’s ranching history. He won the respect of his peers when he single-handedly saved a herd of Bar U cattle from the ravages of a fierce winter storm. In time, his extraordinary strength and skill with livestock earned him the monicker Alberta’s most famous cowboy. By the late 1890s, John Ware and his young family had moved to what is now the Canadian Badlands. Their ranch, which was located in the Duchess area near Dinosaur Park, had three hundred head of cattle. Ironically, John Ware was killed in 1905 when his horse fell into a badger hole. His funeral in Calgary was one of the largest ever attended in the city.

Besides the new Canada Post stamp, John Ware’s legacy lives on in the Canadian Badlands, and in Alberta. His cabin was eventually relocated to Dinosaur Provincial Park, a World UNESCO Heritage Site, better known for its dinosaur fossils. The cabin, which has been restored, is open to park visitors during the summer months.

Besides the cabin, a local coulee, a creek, and a 4H club bear John Ware’s name. The Brooks & District Museum displays Ware memorabilia and his saddle and spurs are on display at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum. A junior high school and college are also named in his honour. John Ware is buried in a cemetery overlooking the Calgary Stampede grounds.

John Ware’s renovated cabin in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Canadian Badlands, Alberta

Cypress Hills

Glenn — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:01:39 +0000

We were dusty, hot and thirsty when we turned off the TransCanada highway and began the climb into Cypress Hills, a green oasis on a parched, summer prairie landscape. Canada’s only interprovincial park is a year-round destination that straddles the Alberta- Saskatchewan border, one hour east of Medicine Hat.

Sunset at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park

In summer, Cypress Hills is a magnet for travelers from the prairie provinces in Canada and from the Great Plains in the United States. In winter it’s a ski destination but, but most don’t know it. Hidden Valley Ski Resort is here, a dynamite hill for young families costing a fraction of what it costs to ski the Canadian Rockies.

Elkwater Lake Lodge, in the park’s townsite, partners with Hidden Valley on ski packages. We stayed in one of its loft-style condos which include a full kitchen, fireplace and entertainment unit. The lodge also has pet friendly suites and cabin rentals. Reesor Ranch is a working cattle ranch that’s been going since 1904. Located just outside the park gates, the ranch operates as a B&B with log cabin and room rentals. “City Slickers” can actually join a real cattle drive here and ride with the Reesor Wranglers as they gather and move cattle.

Relaxing at Elkwater Lake Lodge

Cypress Hills holds an extraordinary place in Canada’s history. First Nations found game and plant medicines at Cypress Hills that they could not find on the prairie, and even today First Nations consider it sacred land. In the 1870s, four American whiskey trading posts in Cypress Hills set the stage for the Cypress Hills Massacre. The massacre quickened the recruitment and organization of a new police force which would later become known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, aka the “Mounties”. In 1876, following the Battle of Little Big Horn, Chief Sitting Bull and his Sioux followers fled to the Cypress Hills area.

Cypress Hills is also one of North America’s darkest dark sky preserves. Every August, hundreds of amateur astronomers flock to a big summer star party here complete with powerful telescopes for night sky viewing. A couple of years back, an amateur astronomer discovered a new star at the party.

Alberta Parks staff helping out with the Learn To Fish program – photo courtesy of Alberta Parks

Alberta Parks opened a new visitor centre here a couple of years ago. It operates in warmer weather months. Learn to Fish is perhaps its most popular family program. Interpreters teach kids basic fishing skills like how to tie a line, where to look for fish, and how to cast. “You can see the magic on kids’ faces”, says Peter Swain, Alberta Parks head of visitor services at Cypress Hills. “The first time they manage to cast a line properly, they just light up and become completely wrapped up in the experience. Every weed, every rock, every snag of wood – it’s a bite from the big one.” Cost per child is nominal and fishing gear is provided by the Alberta Parks visitor centre.

Cypress Hills is home to a variety of wildlife including Wapiti, White Tail, Mule Deer, Elk and Cougar, the largest wildcat in North America (rarely seen). Evening wildlife tours in warmer weather months highlight park wildlife habits and habitats.

Several campgrounds are located in Cypress Hills. Campsite reservations are recommended.

Descending out of the forested hills onto the rugged terrain of the Canadian Badlands

The Canadian Badlands encompass 90,000 square kilometres of southeastern Alberta, including Cypress Hills.

Mascots, advertising, oddities

Glenn — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:46:47 +0000

Squirt the skunk, mascot of Beiseker, Alberta

Town mascots, interesting advertising and bizarre geographic oddities are a part of every Canadian Badlands roadtrip. On our last trip in southeastern Alberta we came across Drumheller’s Dinosaur (again), the Big Woman and Cornstalk in Taber, Gleichen’s Buffalo, Bow Island’s giant Bean Pot, Pinto the Bean, and its giant Putter, Vauxhall’s Spuds and Alix’s Alligator. We saw Mud Butte, a massive geographic landmark in the region’s Special Areas but missed the Badlands Guardian, one of Google Earth’s top 10 finds.

Donalda’s giant lamp

The world’s largest dinosaur is in Drumheller. That makes good sense since Drumheller is also home to the largest museum in the world devoted to palaeontology. The Donalda lamp symbolizes the village’s 900 lamps collection, and Taber’s cornstalk represents “Taber Corn” which Albertans rave about.

Coronation’s Crown

With a little digging, we also found Alix the Alligator‘s connection to Alix, Alberta. We’re still trying to figure out Squirt the Skunk‘s association with Beiseker, an early railway centre east of Calgary.

The ”Really Big Putter” in Bow Island

The massive, abandoned aqueduct near Brooks, Alberta

If you have any pictures of BIG THINGS in the Canadian Badlands to share, or if you know the Beiseker skunk connection, please drop us a line in the comments below, or send us a pic and we will be glad to link.

Bean Pot Water Tower in Bow Island

Big Woman at a gas station in Taber

Sammy and Samantha Spud, the potatoe farming mascots of Vauxhall, Alberta

Protected: Videos

Glenn — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:26:40 +0000

Village of Alix and Alix-Gator

Glenn — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:56:28 +0000

The Canadian Badlands are dotted with “Mascots”. Perhaps the most well known is the 86-foot T-rex in Drumheller, but if you snoop around a bit, you”ll find quirky charactors and giant, over-sized objects of all kinds in the most unlikely places. Not far east of Red Deer, towards Rochon Sands Provincial Park, we found Alix-Gator. Not to be confused with Alberta Gator, wife of Albert E. Gator, the official mascots of the University of Florida, Alix-Gator is the proud mascot of the Village of Alix, Alberta, population: about 850.

A man by the name of Joseph Todd came with his wife and children to this area from Michigan in 1900. They travelled in a covered wagon pulled by an ox and a horse. They were on their way further east but decided to stop overnight, and were so impressed by the quality of grass, soil and abundant water that they decided to settle in the area. The quarter section that the Todds purchased was to become the site of the settlement known as Toddsville, later to become the Village of Alix.

Alice Westhead

Mrs. Alice Westhead was the first white woman to come to this area. Along with her husband Charles, she arrived in 1892 and established a cattle and horse ranch, raising saddle horses and polo ponies to be shipped to England.

Mrs. Westhead met Sir William Van Horne, president of the CPR, on a trip back from England. At this time, the CPR was building a railway between Stettler and Lacombe. Sir William asked if he could change the name from Toddsville to Alix in her honour (Mrs. Westhead’s mother was Austrian, and the European name for Alice is Alix). Apparently she agreed.

At one time there were three railway stations in Alix. The Grand Trunk, the CPR and CNR depots.

The first grain elevator to be built in Alix was the Alberta Pacific Elevator in 1909 beside the CPR tracks. It was replaced with a sturdier building in 1916, which was demolished circa 1990. The Alberta Wheat Pool Elevator was constructed by the CNR tracks in 1927. It was demolished circa 2002.

Link to Google Maps

The Arrowwood Siphon

Glenn — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:33:35 +0000

Just south of Siksika Nation and not far from the Hamlet of Mossleigh in Vulcan County we stumbled upon the Village of Arrowwood. It’s a very pleasant place with a population of about 225. Our curiosity was piqued by a large wooden tube resting at the side of the road. It having obviously been put there with some care and forethought, we stopped to read the descriptive plaque. Thus were we introduced to the Arrowwood Siphon.

If farmers choose to grow crops that need more moisture in a more timely manner than nature provides, these crops must be irrigated. A complex irrigation system was developed to bring water from the Bow River through a canal to be stored and used to irrigate farms in the Lomond / Vauxhall area. The canal passes north of Arrowwood and continues southeast to feed McGregor Lake, the first in a series of reservoirs making up the irrigation system.

Engineers had to design a system to carry the water across the West Arrowwood Creek valley seven kilometres to the northwest. A siphon, which is a tube or pipe that uses pressure to move a liquid against gravity, was chosen as the best way to accomplish this.

For display purposes, bracing has been added to the interior of old wooden siphon.

Gravity pulls the water through the canal and down the north side of the valley inside the siphon. The pressure of the water in the siphon is high enough to enable the water to flow up the south side of the valley to resume its course toward McGregor Lake.

The first West Arrowwood siphon was built in 1936. A second siphon was built parallel to the first one in 1951 so that more water could be transported. These wooden siphons were replaced in 1991 by a single large concrete siphon. What we see here is a section of the original siphon that was kindly donated to the Arrowwood Museum by Alberta Environment.

Taking a break in Arrowwood, Alberta

Rosebud, Alberta

Glenn — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:08:10 +0000

One minute we’re following our friend’s RV. The next minute she and the RV have disappeared. It’s a regular occurrence in the Canadian Badlands. Drive open prairie and suddenly, a river valley that you didn’t see coming, swallows you up. We were on our first road trip to the southeastern Alberta tourism region when we discovered Rosebud, Alberta, 100 kilometres northeast of Calgary.

Rosebud may only have one hundred permanent residents in its lush, little river valley but that hasn’t stopped it from growing. That’s because the Rosebud Theatre is here, a year-round playhouse that is now western Canada’s largest rural theatre.

The Rose Hip gift store in Rosebud, Alberta – photo courtesy of Bob Cromwell

European settlers began homesteading in Rosebud in the late 1800s. By the First World War, the place was flourishing, but by the 1970s, Rosebud was dying. Its population had dropped to just over 30 people. That’s when a Calgary music and art teacher named LaVerne Erickson began the Rosebud Camp of the Arts. The camp was an instant hit with Calgary youth and by 1977, it had morphed into the Rosebud Fine Arts High School. In 1988, the Rosebud School of the Arts was formed. This post-secondary apprenticeship program focuses on theatre and music and creative arts ministry training. Fast forward to present-day and Rosebud is a vibrant visitor destination that attracts over 40,000 travelers annually.

It now has places to stay, including some with theatre packages . Wild Horse Jack’s Bistro & Grill has recently opened in the hamlet’s handsome new Mercantile, a 10,000 square foot space that will showcase Alberta artists and culinary. The Royal Sproule Art Gallery is also new. I fell in love with Royal’s extraordinary pen and ink drawings which I discovered on our last road trip through the region. Rosebud’s historic United Church is now the Akokiniskway Art Gallery and Rosebud Creek Recording Studio. A general store and a gift shop also sell local items of interest and the hamlet’s Centennial Museum has added a self-guided walking tour highlighting First Nations and early settler history. Even a nine-hole golf course has opened. The little hamlet is also a good jump off point for visiting other Badlands attractions close by, including the famous Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller.

Looking out at the prairies from Rosebud, Alberta – photo courtesy of Bob Gromwell

The Rosebud Theatre has already announced its 2012 playbill. Canada’s favourite redhead, Anne of Green Gables, comes to the Rosebud Theatre stage along with plenty more, but in the meantime, The Gifts of the Magi, a classic Christmas musical which opens this week, is on until December 23, 2011.

Soapy and the chefs from The Gifts of the Magi – A Christmas Musical at the Rosebud Theatre

Halloween Badlands style

Glenn — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:46:42 +0000

The Canadian Badlands of southeastern Alberta is sometimes called “The world’s largest graveyard with the biggest bones”. That’s because this massive tourism region is known for its fossil finds at Dinosaur Park and at the Royal Tyrrell, the largest museum in the world devoted to palaeontology. But did you know the Canadian Badlands is also home to some of Canada’s most unique Halloween events?

The kilns at the Medalta Potteries, Medicine Hat, Alberta. Photo courtesy of Friends of Medalta.

Leading the pack is the new Medalta Ghost Hunt at Medalta Potteries, a national historic site that is part of Medicine Hat’s Historic Clay District. Rumours have circulated for years that the old Medalta factory and its huge kilns are haunted. The kilns once fired crocks, water coolers, butter churns and other Medalta ware still found in many Canadian homes. During the Great Depression, the kilns served another need. People riding the rails relied on the warmth of a cooling kiln for an overnight rest as they traveled across Canada looking for work. The Medicine Hat Paranormal Investigation team will lead Medalta’s first-ever ghost hunt on Saturday, October 29, 2011. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. More on Canada’s pottery capital.

Fright Nights at the Haunted Stirling Mansion

The Haunted Stirling Mansion may be Canada’s best haunted house. Owned by a costume/set designer and her husband, the attention to detail in this house is what makes it extraordinary. The 1919 Neo-Classical Georgian-style brick mansion was built for William T. Ogden, an early pioneer who came to Stirling, Alberta (near Lethbridge) in 1899, to help construct irrigation canals and other public works. The mansion later became a temporary school, then a pool hall, dance studio and rooming house before standing empty for many years. That’s when its haunted reputation grew. Fright Nights run Thursday through Saturday on the second, third and fourth weeks of October and on October 30 and 31. B&B accommodation at the Haunted Stirling Mansion (if you dare) is available for those who want to turn a Fright Night into an overnight. Prices range from $100-$150 per person per night, with breakfast and tour included.

The notorious wooden tipple at the Atlas Coal Mine. Photo courtesy of Sue Sabrowski

The Haunted Atlas Coal Mine stands next to the ghost town of East Coulee near Drumheller, an hour and a half east of Calgary. Its grey-timbered tipple is creepy enough in daylight, let alone at night when Halloween guests are invited to explore the tipple, a mine shaft and the bathhouse with only a flashlight. Big hooks attached to ropes and pulleys hang from the bathhouse ceiling. Miners once used these to hang their street clothes on, high above the coal dust. The Drumheller Paranormal Group thinks this national historic site is haunted. You be the judge. Big Boo tours of the haunted mine are $10 each and take place from 7-9pm, October 22 & 29. Little Boo tours designed for children under 9 years will be held from 2-4pm, October 23 and 30 and cost $5 each. Further details are found on the Atlas Coal Mine website.

Canada’s Pottery Capital

Glenn — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:48:40 +0000

I love contemporary ceramics and dabbling in clay but before visiting Medicine Hat in the Canadian Badlands of southeastern Alberta, I had no idea that this city once produced three quarters of all the pottery made in Canada.

Behind the scenes at Medicine Hat’s Medalta Potteries and Historic Clay District

An abundance of clay, the discovery of natural gas, and a decision by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to make Medicine Hat its divisional headquarters paved the way for Medicine Hat to become Canada’s pottery capital.

From 1912-1954, Medalta Potteries Limited of Medicine Hat was Canada’s largest pottery producer. Thousands of crocks, water coolers, butter churns and other every day household items were fired in Medalta’s massive kilns and sold at Eaton’s, Woolworth’s and Hudson Bay Company stores coast to coast. Medalta also produced dinner ware for Canadian hotels and for restaurants across the country – places like Frankie’s, a once popular eatery in Edmonton, and Au Lutin qui bouffe in Montreal. Medalta is now prized by collectors who scour Canadian antique and flea markets. I’ve acquired a couple of pieces since my Medicine Hat visit. My latest find is a pretty little Medalta oyster plate.

Kilns at Medalta Potteries - photo courtesy of Friends of Medalta Society

Present-day Medalta Potteries is the centrepiece of Medicine Hat’s Historic Clay District, a national historic site. This extraordinary living, working museum has more than 30,000 artefacts in its collection. To whet your appetite, check out this online collections room which showcases new pieces from the Medalta collection every month.

Turning Clay Into Gold - photo courtesy of Friends of Medalta Society

But it’s not just vintage Medalta that you see at Medalta Potteries. Ceramic artists from around the world produce contemporary works at Medalta’s Artists in Residence Program every year. On the Medalta website, you can find a list of current artists and examples of their work.

Medalta also offers pottery classes and half-day workshops. This fall, a bean workshop teaches how to make baked beans from scratch using Medalta bean pots. The original Medalta bean pot was shipped across Canada and became an icon of warm, home-cooked meals. Today, Medalta bean pots are made in Medalta’s production studio as part of its museum display. Medalta baking bowls are also made and sold in the museum’s gift shop and online. We couldn’t resist buying a set of these beauties for our kitchen.

Every summer, teens sign up for a week of hands-on throwing on their own pottery wheels. A summer day camp for younger kids is also offered.

And if you love industrial architecture and are up for a good scare, check out Medalta’s annual Halloween Ghost Hunt.

Have you got a piece of Medalta pottery? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Alberta Arts Days in the Canadian Badlands

Glenn — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:34:23 +0000

Alberta Arts Days 2011 poster

Among the pumpjacks and fields of canola, beside the farms and ranches and along the lonely roads through the badest of the badlands, the agri-industrial lifestyle of southeastern Alberta is shot through with a creative spirit that can’t be missed. You see it everywhere – from the Royal Sproule Art Gallery in Rosebud to the hive in Medicine Hat and from the kilns at Medalta to That’s Empressive in the tiny village of Empress.

Alberta Arts Days was created in 2008 to celebrate that creative spirit. It started as a one-day event “to recognize the value of Alberta’s arts and cultural communities” and has since expanded to a three-day, province-wide festival showcasing Alberta’s artists, arts organizations and cultural industries.

Here are some highlights of the 2011 “Three wildly creative days” in the Canadian Badlands.

Rosebud, home of the Rosebud Theatre and the Rosebud School of the Arts hosts the official opening of photographer Harry Palmer’s “A Portrait of Rosebud” featuring the people and places of Rosebud shot in the early 1980s and in 2010 and 2011. The gala opening will be displayed in the brand new Encana conference centre space at Rosebud Centre for the Arts. Saturday, October 1, 2011 is Music and Spoken Word Night at the Thorny Rose Café, Wild Horse Jack’s Bistro and Grill and the Rosebud Country Inn.

In Lethbridge you’ll find everything from Japanese drumming to Metis jigging to Scottish country dancing. The 4th annual 3D Sculpture Show at the Galt Museum includes three-dimensional pieces in a range of materials including wood, metal, clay and multi-media. Afternoon demonstrations are planned on all three days. Visitors can also view the Chinook Winds mural by Alex Pavlenko in the Discovery Hall and special exhibits in the main level hallway. For info contact Wendy Aitkens at wendy.aitkens@galtmuseum.com or call 403-320-3907.

Drumheller – Depth of Field, Sept 30th at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, – the Museum’s resident photographer welcomes visitors to the outdoor amphitheatre for a lesson on how to capture the unique beauty of the Canadian Badlands on film. Visitors can enter their favourite shots in the Museum’s photo contest on Flickr. Contact Information: tyrrell.info@gov.ab.ca or call 403-823-7707.

Medicine Hat – starting at 7pm, the Downtown Medicine Hat Art Walk continues, featuring the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre, Framing and Art Centre, The Clay Trade, the hive Artists’ Hub, Inspire Studio Gallery & Café, Luna Fresca, Remenda Designs and Street Art Works. Contact Tobie Laliberte at toblal@medicinehat.ca or call 403-502-8786.

Medalta, the pottery centre of Canada, will be hosting a Raku Festival during Alberta Arts Days. Participants will have the opportunity to glaze a piece of pottery and watch it fired before their eyes. There will also be free admission to the museum. Call 403-529-1070 for program details.

Castor – all weekend – The Lang Gallery features local art, photography, and wood carving. Look for entertainment and refreshments on the Saturday. Contact Sandi Jackson at sandi@townofcastor or call 403-882-3215.

For more information, check the Government of Alberta’s Alberta Arts Days website, or contact artsdays@gov.ab.ca 780-427-6315.