A COLLECTION OF INFORMATION ABOUT MEDICINE HAT

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MEDICINE HAT IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

HOW MEDICINE HAT GOT ITS NAME

 (Remember, you can click on any image to enlarge it.)

There are a number of stories that have been published in the past about how Medicine Hat got its name.  However, the story above is one passed along by Jim Marshall after much research, including at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and with native Blackfoot Indians.  Thus, this is the most credible story.  The Jim Marshal sculpture below was created and installed at the time of the construction of the then new City Hall.

MEDICINE HAT

Medicine Hat—located in a flat, Is surrounded by hills you know, But it’s an ideal spot for a city that’s got So much to make it grow.

It is a railroad town of great renown, Her future who can guess – It will be, if we live to see, The Metropolis of the West. No beggars you’ll meet upon her streets, Poverty is a thing unknown, For every man owns the land Upon which he has built a home. Natural gas, unsurpassed, But the half is not yet told— For there abounds near the town, Immense beds of coal. A railroad town of great renown, What more can be said? The cattle she raises deserve the praises Of the millions they have fed. A climate rare of purest air, Bright, clear, sunshining days, No rigorous winds through the winter extends, Medicine Hat be praised. L. Cornelius Stewart, Medicine Hat News, December 19, 1901