Medicine Hat is in southeast Alberta, halfway between Winnipeg and Vancouver, and is Alberta's sixth largest city. After the Canadian Pacific Railway reached Medicine Hat in 1883, it was incorporated as a town October 31, 1898, and as a city May 9, 1906.
"Medicine Hat" is the English translation of the Blackfoot Indians' word for the headdress of eagle tail feathers that was worn by medicine men. With large natural gas fields, the city is also known as "The Gas City".
With its friendly residents, beautiful homes, vibrant and spirited community, gorgeous scenery, and a wide range of amenities, Medicine Hat also strives to be a "community of choice" where people choose to live, play and work.
Family oriented events occur throughout the year.
JazzFest. This week-long party in June has grown from a community-based event to one of the great jazz festivals in Canada. It features free and ticketed events, jams, workshops and more.
Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede. A tradition since 1887, this is four days of bull riding, cattle roping, steer wrestling, entertainment, rides, exhibits, one of Southeast Alberta's oldest rodeos, and other festivities.
Medicine Hat Tigers Western Hockey League games. This junior ice hockey team was established in 1970 and has won seven Division Titles, five WHL Championships and two national Memorial Cups.
Saamis archaeological site. This historic and scientific site contains more than 80 million Aboriginal artifacts and was a winter/early spring campsite that was occupied repeatedly between A.D. 1390 and A.D. 1820 in the Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric Periods.
The lower terrace has artifacts of bison butchering, and the upper terrace has evidence of campsites. Archaeological investigations between 1971 and 1993 yielded stone tools, pottery, items of personal adornment, glass trade beads, bone and shell beads, a metal arrow point, European trade goods, and remains of nine species of prey animals.
Artifacts excavated from this site are stored in the Royal Alberta Museum. On the ridge above the site stands the worldâs tallest teepee.