Canadian Roadstories » Siksika http://roadstories.ca Glenn and Judy’s Excellent Adventures in Canada Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:40:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Siksika Nation http://roadstories.ca/siksika-nation/ http://roadstories.ca/siksika-nation/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:07:14 +0000 admin http://clearcommunications.ca/roadstories/?p=20

Darcy with his caboose in Brooks, Alberta

Darcy with his caboose in Brooks, Alberta

Glenn and I have been working with the Canadian Badlands for the past two years. On our first product tour of the area in July, 2007, we had the pleasure of touring the Brooks-Bassano area with Bob Cromwell and D’Arcy Pharmacy, two locals involved with tourism in the region. This part of the Canadian Badlands is about an hour and a half east of Calgary along the Trans Canada Highway so, easy to get to on a Badlands road trip.

Bob and D’Arcy took us on a great tour that included the Bassano Dam, Rosie’s Diner (great stop for java and homemade pie), and Siksika Nation, home of the Blackfoot Confederacy.

Chief Crowfoot Cemetary, Siksika Nation, Alberta

Chief Crowfoot Cemetary, Siksika Nation, Alberta

A particularly poignant stop for all of us was the little Chief Crowfoot Cemetery on Siksika Nation. It sits high above the Bow River valley,  just south of the Trans Canada Highway. The cemetery is the final resting place for several Blackfoot including Chief Crowfoot, who signed the famous Treaty 7 in 1877. The names on the graves give a glimpse into Siksika Nation life. Running Rabbit, Bad Boy Lepetre and Owl Child. What is particularly sad is the number of young we found buried in this cemetery. Siksika Nation (Blackfoot) is part of the Blackfoot Confederacy which also includes the Piikani and Kainaiwa of southern Alberta and the Blackfeet of Montana.

Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park

Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park

Just five minutes from the cemetery, you’ll find the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park. This architectural gem of a museum just opened in 2007. It is filled with Blackfoot Confederacy history and artefacts. Blackfoot Crossing is an actual ridge of land stretching underwater across the Bow River. For centuries, migrating herds of buffalo, people and horses were able to cross the river with relative ease and the crossing became significant in Canadian history as a meeting place and later as the site of the Treaty 7 signing. You can read more about it and about Siksika Nation at http://www.siksikanation.com.

Also check out the Treaty 7 Management Corporation site at http://www.treaty7.org

Google map

]]> http://roadstories.ca/siksika-nation/feed/ 2 The Ultimate Canadian Road Trip http://roadstories.ca/the-ultimate-canadian-road-trip/ http://roadstories.ca/the-ultimate-canadian-road-trip/#comments Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:19:57 +0000 admin http://clearcommunications.ca/roadstories/?p=33

Rainbow in the big Alberta sky
Rainbow in the big Alberta sky

No traffic, big skies: For downtown Torontonians, we learned we could actually enjoy driving again. We crisscrossed The Canadian Badlands in southeastern Alberta from Calgary to the Saskatchewan border south through Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills to the Montana border, west to the border town of Milk River and north through Siksika Nation to Stettler and Drumheller. Here are some of the highlights.

Interior of the new Blackfoot Crossing interpretive centre

Interior of the new Blackfoot Crossing interpretive centre, Siksika Nation, Alberta

The new Blackfoot Crossing: Canada’s largest aboriginal historic site. This place so impressed us. Although smaller, I would put it on the scale of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Extraordinary collection of Plains Indians history on the site of the famous Treaty Seven signing by Chief Crowfoot who is also buried close by. The site overlooks an original grassland valley that has not been touched by modern civilization. You can feel the ghosts of the Blackfoot riding horseback here. http://www.blackfootcrossing.ca/

Medalta Potteries National Historic Site, Medicine Hat, Alberta

Pots on exhibit at Medalta Potteries National Historic Site, Medicine Hat, Alberta

Medicine Hat’s incredible historic clay district: I had no idea of this city’s pottery history. The first finished goods to be shipped from western Canada to eastern Canada were crocks, etc from Medalta potteries (now, a national historic site). This clay district supplied Canada’s hospitality industry with dishware, etc. You can still find old crocks and dishes at flea markets all over Canada today. We got great shots of present day Medalta collection and of its wonderful gift shop where you can order fabulous reproduction bowls and more. http://www.medalta.org/

Oyen, Alberta’s annual Bull-a-Rama: a professional bullriding and bullfighting event that literally took our breath away. So up close and personal compared to the Calgary Stampede. The dust was flying. This is where we got to meet real Badlands cowboys. Everyone wears Wranglers’ cowboy cut jeans (and I mean everyone). They serve homemade corndogs and beer and everyone from infant in arms to great-grannies comes out for this annual event. We snapped some incredible pix here too.

Dinosaur Provincial Park: a UNESCO world heritage site where you can hike to a huge centrosaurus bonebed. It is as if the gods shook a big bag of bones onto the site. It’s about the size of two tennis courts and contains the bones of an entire centrosaurus herd – near Brooks, Alberta. UNESCO