Nordegg Region
Nordegg Region of Big West Country
Great Places to Visit; Beautiful Sights to See
Shunda (Baldy) Mountain and Coliseum Mountain
Looking East along Lake Abraham
The David Thompson Highway (Highway 11) of Big West Country passes through some of the most beautiful country in North America.
The land west of Nordegg is an area still relatively unsettled, containing unbelievable amounts of natural space, tranquil lakes, sparkling rivers, and thunfering waterfalls.
Wild animals roam throughout the region, wild flowers grow profusely, and the scenery to be foud is unmatched anywhere.
Two O'Clock Creek Flats
Early explorers and traders used this route for their first passage through the Rocky Mountains, south of the MacKenzie River.
David Thompson, accompanied by his wife and three children, spent time in the upper reaches of the North Saskatchewan River Valley in June 1807, before crossing through the "Shining Mountain" into what now is British Columbia. His sextant reading indicates they were in the general area of Two O'Clock Creek Flats on Kootenay Plains. Thomspon's eldest child, Fanny celebrated her sixth birthday on June 10th of that year, while they were camped on Kootenay Plains.
Kadonna Peaks has been renamed Ex Coelis Mountain
The large, relatively open area near the western end of the North Saskatchewan River Corridor, is known as Kootenay Planis. It was called Kedonneh Tinda, or "Meadow of the Winds" by early native tribes.
An impressive series of mountain peaks that, in 1911, were named the Kadonna Peaks by the early 20th century adventurer and explorer, Mary Schaeffer, were renamed Ex Coelis Mountain in 1994, in honour of the First Canadaian parachute Battalion of World War Two.
Whirlpool Point, looking west to Mount Wilson
This route westward along the North Saskatchewan was followed originally by First Nations people, then by European explorers and fur traders. It also was expected to be the route that would carry the traffice of the nation, both by railway and by roadway.
Walter Moberly, District Engineer for railway construction had begun thinking about a route across the mountains in 1858. He was so sure howse pass would be chosen he began locating the line before permission was given.
However, by 1883 Kicking Horse Pass had been chosen as the ral route. Officials had decided that, although Kicking Horse Pass was more difficult and expensive to construct and operate, it would delight the tourists.
Looking southwest from Windy Point 1943
The flow of the mighty North Saskatchewan River was brought under human control when the Bighorn Dam began to fill in 1972.
This river, seen here in 1943, as it flowed through the mountain gap at Windy Point, now fills a large area of the North Saskatchewan River Valley, and has become known as Lake Abraham.
By following this river to its source, and beyond, the fur trade industry's NorthWest Company had crossed the mountains into what is now British Columbia, and built trading posts. Large, fur-laden canoes plied there waters from 1807 until 1811, when angry Peigan First Nations forced the early Eurpoeans to move northward, to Athabasca Pass, in order to make their way through the mountain.
It is in this same valley that Lake Abraham now lies. It has been created by harnessing the flow of a once might ricer. The glacial "flour" or silt, which the river carries from the mountains, causes the lake to take on a beautiful turquise colour.
But the beauty of the lake hides and ever-present danger. The wide North Saskatchewan River Valley acts as a funnel for fierce and unpredictable winds which race down the Rockies' eastern slopes and roar eastward.
Bighorn Falls and the rocky shores above were part of Brazeau Collieries' coal holdings.
In 1907 Martin Nordegg was guided by D.B. Dowling of the Geological Syrvey of Canada to the Bighorn Coalfields. Dowling had located the coal and mapped the area the previous year.
Coal claims, being made at this time, were in unsurveyed territory. Applying for any land claim required that it be surveyed, and the claims tied to a survey post or to a fixed spot.
These Bighorn rocks ere used as the "immovable starting point" for survey measurements, when an official survey post could not be located.
Upper Crescent (Bighorn) Falls
The Bighorn coalfields were staked and location given, by using the rocks above Bighorn Falls as the "immovable starting point".
The Bighorn coallands, which included the double waterfall now known as Crescent falls, were purchased outright. This coalfield, staked in 1907, became part of the Brazeau Colliereis holdings in 1909, but they were never developed.
A campground is now located where the mine and town of Bighorn were to be built, above the Falls.
In later years, after the mining town of Nordegg was closed, the name, Bighorn Falls, was changed to Crescent Falls. This was done to avoid confusion with another Bighorn Falls, located in the Yaha Tinda area, near Sundre.
Bighorn Canyon Lookout
The Bighorn coal claim had included the entire beautiful double waterfall and the land on both sides of Bighorn River, above the Falls. However, downstream from the falls, toward the Canyon, tthe coal claim covered land on the south side of the river, only.
At the awsome Bighorn Canyoun Lookout, coal strate can be seenwithin the canyon walls. Here, the land across the river (south side) also was part of the Brazeau Collieries' coal claim, purchased in 1907.
The power of the relatively small Bighorn River is evident in the depth of the Bighorn Canyon, vreated by the action of this river over many centuries.
Further downstream from Bighorn Canyon, the Bighorn river flows beneath the David Thompson Highway, then through the Stoney First Nations' Bighorn Reserve, before emptying into the North Saskatchewan River.
