Alberta celebrates its cowboy past every July with a
ten-day rodeo and fair held in the city of Calgary. The Calgary Exhibition and
Stampede, as it’s called, is the biggest annual event in Alberta. Cowboys
demonstrate their skills in steer-wrestling, bronco-riding, and calf-roping
contests at the daily rodeo. Chuck wagons race each evening.
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Facts About Alberta
|
|
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Capital
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Edmonton
|
|
Population
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3,470,000
people
|
|
Rank
among provinces and territories in population
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4th
|
|
Major
cities
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Calgary,
Edmonton
|
|
Area
|
256,000
square miles
662,000 square kilometers |
|
Rank
among provinces and territories in area
|
6th
|
|
Entry
into federation
|
September
1, 1905
|
|
Provincial
bird
|
Great
Horned Owl
|
|
Provincial
flower
|
Wild
Rose
|
|
Abbreviation
|
AB
|
THE LAY OF THE LAND
Alberta is the westernmost of Canada’s three
Prairie Provinces. The other two are Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Much of the
land is flat prairie, where wheat grows and cattle graze. But the land is
varied.
In Alberta, you’ll find golden wheat fields,
rolling plains, forested foothills, and snow-covered mountains. The Rocky
Mountains rise along the southwestern border. Their rugged crags and towering
peaks provide magnificent scenery.
Beef cattle graze in the rolling grasslands
east of Alberta’s Rockies. Farther north, much of the province’s wheat and
other grains are grown in the foothills and sloping plains.
In the far northeastern part of Alberta, you’ll
find forests dotted with lakes and swamps. Wood Buffalo National Park—the
largest national park in Canada—is a popular attraction here. The park was
originally founded to protect the region’s free-roaming bison herds. Now it is
also a breeding ground for North America’s endangered whooping crane.
BANFF AND JASPER
Alberta has the most land devoted to national
parks of any Canadian province. Several of these parks are in the Rockies.
Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest national park. It was founded in 1885.
Two years before, railroad workers had found hot mineral springs while laying
railroad tracks in the mountains. These springs became part of the park.
Both Banff and Jasper National Park have
spectacular mountain scenery, glaciers, and beautiful lakes. Lake Louise is in
Banff. Its turquoise-blue waters mirror the forested slopes and snowcapped peaks
nearby. The parks are popular with skiers in the winter and with hikers and
nature-lovers in summer.
Waterton Lakes National Park is in the foothills of the
Rockies. It lies next to Glacier National Park in the neighboring state of
Montana in the United States.
ALBERTA’S BEGINNINGS
In the 1750s, British fur traders began arriving in
what is now Alberta. The traders exchanged European goods with native peoples
for buffalo robes, dried meat, horses, and furs. Beaver pelts were especially
popular for men’s hats in Europe.
The fur trade led to exploration of a
vast region of western Canada known as the Northwest Territories. In 1905, two
provinces were carved out of the southern part of the territories. They were
Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Alberta became a province of Canada on September 1,
1905. The province was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, a daughter
of Britain’s Queen Victoria and wife of a governor-general of Canada. As a
result, Alberta is known as the Princess Province. Lake Louise in Banff
National Park also was named after the governor-general’s wife.
EDMONTON AND OIL
Edmonton is the capital of Alberta and its second
largest city. It started as a fur-trading post. In the 1890s, prospectors
arrived. They were heading north to the Yukon, where gold had been discovered.
Some stayed on.
Edmonton’s population grew again in the 1950s, after oil was
discovered near the city. Today, Alberta produces most of Canada’s oil and
natural gas.
Edmonton is the site of the world’s largest
shopping mall. The West Edmonton Mall has an amusement park and more than 800
stores and restaurants. It covers more than 120 acres (50 hectares).
CALGARY
Calgary is Alberta’s largest city. It is located in
a valley near the foothills of the Rockies. Most of Alberta south of Calgary
was once open range where cattle grazed. But the land was fenced in by the
early 1900s, after farmers settled in the region. The annual Calgary Stampede
recalls the city’s cattle-ranching days.
Today, Calgary is an important business and
transportation center for Alberta. The city is located near Alberta’s oil
fields, and many oil companies have headquarters in Calgary.
THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE
The North-West Mounted Police were established in
Alberta in 1873 to bring law and order to Canada’s “Wild West.” They built a
network of forts in Alberta and Saskatchewan for policing the prairies.
The Mounties, as they are popularly called, have
become one of the best-known symbols of Canada. They wear bright red jackets,
flat-brimmed hats, and ride on horseback. Today, they are formally known as the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
COLD WINTERS AND WARM WINDS
Alberta’s summers are hot and dry, except in the Rocky
Mountains region where it is cooler. The winters are very cold throughout the
province. Albertans appreciate the warm winds that sometimes blow in from the
Rocky Mountains during winter and early spring.
The warm winds are called chinooks. On cold
days when the sky is gray, Albertans often look for the Chinook Arch over the
mountains. This curved patch of blue sky tells them that the warm winds are
coming.
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