The David Thompson Highway (Highway 11) of Big West Country passes through some of the most beautiful country in North America.

Looking east, along Lake Abraham.

The land west of Nordegg is an area still relatively unsettled, containing unbelievable amounts of natural space, tranquil lakes, sparkling rivers, and thundering waterfalls.

Wild animals roam throughout the region, wild flowers grow profusely, and the scenery to be found is unmatched anywhere.

area of 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 Mountains" 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. Thompson's eldest child, Fanny, celebrated her sixth birthday on June 10 of that year, while they still 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 Plains. It was called Kedonneha 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 Canadian Parachute Battalion of World War Two.

Whirlpool Point, looking west to Mount Wilson glacier in Banff National Park, enroute to Howse Pass

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 rail 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 these waters from 1807 until 1811, when angry Peigan First Nations forced the early Europeans to move northward, to Athabasca Pass, in order to make their way through the mountains.

Lake Abraham, from west of Windy Point

It is in this same valley that Lake Abraham now lies. It has been created by harnessing the flow of this once mighty river. The glacial "flour" or silt, which the river carries from the mountains, causes the lake to take on a beautiful turquoise colour.

But the beauty of the lake hides an 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.

Man-made Lake Abraham is located not far east of its source, in the Icefields

of the North American Continental Divide

These unpredictable winds, as well as the extreme coldness of the water so close to its glacial source, in combination with the rocky and uneven footing provided underwater, make Lake Abraham unsuitable for anything more than very basic recreational water activities.

Bighorn (Crescent) Falls, and the rocky shores above these falls, all were part of Brazeau Collieries' coal holdings.

In 1907, Martin Nordegg was guided by D.B.Dowling, of the Geological Survey 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 were 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 (Crescent) Falls as the "immovable starting point".

These Bighorn coal lands, which included the double waterfall now known as Crescent Falls, were purchased outright. This coalfield, staked in 1907, became part of the Brazeau Collieries holdings in 1909, but they never were developed.

A campground now is 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.

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, the coal claim covered land on the south side of the river, only.

Bighorn Canyon Lookout

At the awesome Bighorn Canyon Lookout, coal strata can be seen within 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, created 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.

These briquetting buildings are part of the Brazeau Collieries Industrial Museum at Nordegg, and now a National Historic Site.

This industrial expansion of Canada's resources in the early 20th century, has left us the Nordegg legacy. This is Canada's most complete industrial museum to honour development of the nation's coal resources.

Tours of this site begin from the Nordegg Heritage Center, and run every day the Center is open. Check this web site's Home Page for more detailed information.

This Brazeau Collieries site at Nordegg once was Canada's largest briquette producer, and the second largest briquetting output source on the North American continent.

There are numerous lakes in the region. But two, in particular, have been utilized for recreational activities. Situated relatively near to each other, these are Fish Lake and Goldeye Lake.

Goldeye Lake provides family recreational fun.

The road into Goldeye Lake is seven kilometers (4 miles) west of Nordegg. From there, the lake is a short distance north of the highway.

This lake provides fishing, swimming (slightly warmer than Fish Lake), boating (no gas motors), hiking, and camping.

Fish Lake is family oriented

Fish Lake turn-off is five kilometers (3 miles) west of Nordegg. The Lake is located a short distance southwest of the highway.

Fish Lake, often shown on maps as (but never called) Shunda Lake, was the summer place of Nordegg people during the lifetime of the mining community.

This lake provides swimming (if you can stand the cold mountain water), fishing, canoeing, and hiking. It also includes an extensive family-oriented camp ground area.

Sunset at Fish Lake

Fish (Shunda) Lake drains into Shunda Creek which, in turn, drains into the North Saskatchewan River. However, Fish Lake is not the source of Shunda Creek, but a tributary, along with numerous other bodies of water.

Shunda Creek flowing south, toward Nordegg area

The source of Shunda Creek is in the muskeg area northwest of Nordegg, where the Forestry Trunk Road (Highway 734) now runs.

Shunda (the Stoney word for "mire" or "swampy") has also been known as Mire Creek.

In previous centuries, First Nations people refered to it as "Big Fish Creek" and "Fishing Creek", to establish location. (Native place names are descriptive of the spot, to simplify recognition.)

Early First Nations people, who were part of this land even before the ancient pyramids were built in Egypt, created a network of trails, some still visible and in use.

A major First Nations overland route through the mountains followed Shunda Creek from its confluence with the Saskatchewan through Shunda Gap .

The Shunda at Beaverdam

This trail then branched into different directions. The south branch of the trail crossed the Shunda at a shallow spot just east of an area now known as Beaverdam.

From Beaverdam, this trail angled toward higher ground reaching the southern edge of Shunda Basin, where the rail line later was constructed into Nordegg.

The Shunda increases in size at Beaverdam, due to drainage of smaller creeks converging from nearby mountains. In the late 1920s, a dam was built to float cut timber downstream to a small lumber mill at Harlech. This was not very successful since the Shunda has too many twists and turns for lumber to free-float downstream.

The First Nations' Overland Trail through Black Canyon still is visible

The Native Trail passed just above Brazeau Collieries minesite, then turned south. The South Forestry Trunk Road, or Highway 734, now follows a portion of this trail until it reaches The Forks. Here, the First Nations' Trail had split into two trails. One followed relatively close to the river, continuing westward. It passed through Black Canyon, returning to the river at Tershishner Creek. This ancient trail, with a history of approximately 10,000 years, is still visible today.

The other branch of this ancient trail returned more directly to the North Saskatchewan, to a grassy meadow on the north side of the river, not far west of the present bridge.

Early in the 1900s, this meadow, or "flats", was named Brewster's Flats, for George Brewster, who built a small ranch at this historic spot. It was here that some of the giants of Western Canadian history had camped, while enroute through these mountains.

North Saskatchewan River, south of Nordegg. Brazeau Collieries' coal claim extended to this river.

The Brazeau Collieries' Nordegg coal field was the largest of their coal claims. This claim extended north, where the Forestry's North Trunk Road (Highway 734) runs, to beyond the Trout Ponds now situated along this roadway. To the south, the claim was more extensive, running as far south as the Saskatchewan River on the South Trunk Road.

Original intentions were for the mine tunnels to travel through these mountains, until they "outcropped" near the river.

When the mines closed, in 1955, the tunnels had extended beyond the coal claim's height of land, and were being dug downward, toward the North Saskatchewan River.

is alive with history, and with unsurpassed beauty.