'A Case Of You'. Joni Mitchell
I know this is not a place but we had lunch in Fort Macleod today and it is where Joni was born! Several scenes from 'Brokeback Mountain' were filmed there too and it's only a little town!
Frank was a newish little mining town when,at around 4.00 am one morning in 1903, Turtle Mountain had an epic slide and dropped nearly 500 million tons of rock onto it. Miraculously, the death toll, although 90, could have been much higher as it missed the most populated part of town. One, very brave man, ran two miles down the tracks to stop an approaching passenger train which would have ploughed right into the rock. Whole families were wiped out in the tragedy and the town never fully recovered. One man, who was working the mine on the night shift, did escape only to be killed in another mining disaster a few years later.
It is staggering to see where the mountain slipped. The piles of rock not only came down into the valley but also started to go up the other side. It is monitored very closely now as another slide is expected to happen, at some point.
The local Indian oral history called it 'the mountain that moves' and they never set up their camps beneath it.
On to the quite fabulously named 'Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump' for 6,000 years, until the mid 1800's the Indians used this spot for mass slaughter of the buffalo. Probably 100,000 animals were herded over this buffalo jump. Every single part of the animals was used for something. Not a bit was wasted and they only ever killed what they needed. The practise stopped when European traders gave the Indians horses and guns giving them a much easier way to kill their prey.
When European traders first arrived on the plains region it is estimated that there were 60 million bison. By around 1880 they were almost extinct. They were killed indiscriminately and for fun, there were even special 'shooting excursions' on the railroad allowing early settlers to shoot from the windows and the animals were left to rot where they fell.
They had a massive firework display to welcome us to Calgary last night. Some might say that it was for the Stampede but, as we had a perfect view of them from Angela's house, we feel sure it was known that two intrepid travellers had arrived in town after covering nearly 5000 miles in Landie and want to play cowboys for a bit.
Frank was a newish little mining town when,at around 4.00 am one morning in 1903, Turtle Mountain had an epic slide and dropped nearly 500 million tons of rock onto it. Miraculously, the death toll, although 90, could have been much higher as it missed the most populated part of town. One, very brave man, ran two miles down the tracks to stop an approaching passenger train which would have ploughed right into the rock. Whole families were wiped out in the tragedy and the town never fully recovered. One man, who was working the mine on the night shift, did escape only to be killed in another mining disaster a few years later.
It is staggering to see where the mountain slipped. The piles of rock not only came down into the valley but also started to go up the other side. It is monitored very closely now as another slide is expected to happen, at some point.
The local Indian oral history called it 'the mountain that moves' and they never set up their camps beneath it.
On to the quite fabulously named 'Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump' for 6,000 years, until the mid 1800's the Indians used this spot for mass slaughter of the buffalo. Probably 100,000 animals were herded over this buffalo jump. Every single part of the animals was used for something. Not a bit was wasted and they only ever killed what they needed. The practise stopped when European traders gave the Indians horses and guns giving them a much easier way to kill their prey.
When European traders first arrived on the plains region it is estimated that there were 60 million bison. By around 1880 they were almost extinct. They were killed indiscriminately and for fun, there were even special 'shooting excursions' on the railroad allowing early settlers to shoot from the windows and the animals were left to rot where they fell.
They had a massive firework display to welcome us to Calgary last night. Some might say that it was for the Stampede but, as we had a perfect view of them from Angela's house, we feel sure it was known that two intrepid travellers had arrived in town after covering nearly 5000 miles in Landie and want to play cowboys for a bit.
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