Medicine Hat — Alberta’s River City
The roaring of speedboats and jetskis reminds us that summer has arrived on the river. Although a major recreational resource, periodic tragedies and seasonal floods are the dark side of this amazing natural feature. Founded in this location due to the need for a suitable rail bridge crossing, the story of Medicine Hat is linked to our river.
Long before recorded history, Kisiskâciwanisîpiy, the “swift flowing river” was important in First Nations’ culture. Our location on the river, where it veers forever to the northeast and closest to the Cypress Hills, with its tributary creeks, was a camping ground for bands of Blackfoot, Cree and Assiniboine. High above the river, teepees could be sited on the cutbanks to take advantage of the superb view and the breezes which kept the mosquitoes at bay. Although the Plains tribes did not typically travel by boat, the river could provide fish and clams, and attracted game. Most versions of the name legend of Medicine Hat feature the river as a central element.
In 1800, the Hudson’s Bay Company established Chesterfield House, sited downstream at the confluence of Red Deer and South Saskatchewan Rivers (near Empress). It is safe to assume that trading canoes occasionally may have passed by our banks.
In the early days of our town, river transportation came into its own. The C.P.R. bridge was originally constructed with a swing link to allow the passage of river boats. The North-West Mounted Police operated the first ferry across the river. Flatbottomed boats and barges could navigate the shallow river and it was thought that river traffic would be a major transportation route on the Prairies.
Hatter Bob Louden took the steamer “Northcote,” built on Lake Winnipeg, on several trips down the Saskatchewan and the boat was disabled during the Battle of Batoche in 1885. Traders James Hargrave and Dan Sissons put together a springtime barge-load of trade goods in Medicine Hat, and floated it downstream, trading with settlers situated along the river, with a final destination of Fort Carlton where they maintained a store. Both the “Minnow” and the “Baroness” were constructed in 1884 on the south bank of the river. These flat-bottomed, paddle wheel steamers carried passengers and freight. The Galt Company shipped boatloads of coal from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat in the “Baroness.” The only problem was it took as much coal to get back upstream to Lethbridge as the payload.
The flagship of the Medicine Hat fleet was undoubtedly the “City of Medicine Hat,” built by Captain Horatio Hamilton Ross, a Scot who had arrived in the city in 1898 by boat (the “Assiniboine”). An impressive 130 feet long, it launched from his shipyard on the river bank beside today’s Arena parking lot. After a number of pleasure excursions to Galt Island, near Redcliff, he set off for Saskatoon in June 1908. Upon arriving in that city, the boat snagged on a submerged cable, lost its rudder and drifted into a bridge pier, capsizing. Recent excavations for bridge work turned up some artifacts from this wreck.
Although we think of old buildings as our historic resources, our river has storied history as well that we should celebrate.
Malcolm Sissons is chair of the Heritage Resources Committee.