DEAR SHIRLEY: FORT MACLEOD - June 11TH AND 12TH

Fort MacLeod was founded as a Northwest Police barracks. The Fort - Museum of the Northwest Mounted Police is the most famous attraction in town.

In the summer, there are daily performances of the NWMP Mounted Musical Ride. We were there too early for those (we were too early for summer events at most places) but we watched the teenagers who perform go through their paces.

Another notable claim to fame is that part of the movie Brokeback Mountain was filmed here.

HEAD SMASHED IN BUFFALO JUMP

Carole was very squeamish about going to this historic site. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest and best preserved buffalo jumps in North America.

Why is this place a World Heritage Site?

In 1981, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump as a World Heritage Site, placing it in the company of significant cultural attractions like the Egyptian Pyramids, Lascaux Caves, Stonehenge, and the Taj Mahal.

There is evidence of human activity in this region of North America for at least 11,000 years. This buffalo jump bears witness to a custom practiced by native people on the Great Plains for nearly 6,000 years.

Thanks to their excellent understanding of topography and bison behavior, groups of native hunters killed bison by driving them over a precipice. These communal bison hunts required much organization and special skills to lure buffalo from the gathering basin into the drive lanes and finally over the cliffs.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump has become known around the world as a remarkable site that teaches us about Plains Buffalo Culture.

The interpretive center explores the buffalo hunting culture of the plains people from ancient times to the arrival of the European.

A long time ago, according to one legend, the people were driving buffalo over these sandstone cliffs. A young brave wanted to watch the buffalo tumbling past. Standing under the shelter of a ledge, as if behind a waterfall, he watched the great beasts fall. The hunt was unusually good that day and as the bodies piled up, he became trapped between the animals and the cliffs. When his people came to do the butchering, they found him with his skull crushed by the weight of the buffalo carcasses. Thus, they named this place "Head-Smashed-In."

We began by watching a film, Pis'kun - The Buffalo Jump. Exhibits occupying five levels of the award-winning interpretive centre tell the story.

After we ascended the four interior floors, we climbed to the trail overlooking the buffalo jump.

Linda and Linda

It's a little windy for Randy and Susanne.

Originally the cliff was twenty metres high above the kill site, but after thousands of years, the buffalo bone deposits reached 10 metres in depth. This left only the 10 metres of exposed cliff you see here today.