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Ever wonder how the Alberta towns of Balzac, Dewberry or Hemaruka got their names?
Do you know who Daysland, Olds and Tofield are named after?
Place names in Alberta have been influenced by a variety of factors including settlement patterns, natural landscape and just plain imagination. Places can be named after events or people, be descriptive in nature, be a reminder of a place in a distant land, be named in another language, or be a combination of letters from more than one word.
Currently, the province of Alberta has just under 10,000 officially approved names. Every place name tells a story and the Friends of Geographical Names of Alberta website lists about three hundred of the most prominent Alberta cities and towns, as well as select villages, hamlets and localities. Also included are geographical features, many of which can be found on a typical highway map of Alberta.
One example:
Bath Creek which flows east into Bow River, Approximately 55 km north-west of Banff, got its name 20 July 1881. On that day, Major A.B. Rogers, of the Canadian Pacific Engineering staff took an involuntary "bath" in the stream when thrown from his horse. The creek had been noted on the Palliser map of 1865 as Noore's Creek.
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