The scenic South Saskatchewan River valley is the backdrop for Medicine Hat, a community with more than 92 kilometres of hiking and biking trails and 250 hectares of parks. There are six first class golf courses and a multitude of superior sport and leisure facilities.
Medicine Hat has grown to a population in excess of fifty-six thousand and our economy is firing on all cylinders. As a result of the result of the entrepreneurial spirit of our forefathers, Medicine Hat invested and developed its own gas and electrical utilities in the early 1900s. Strategic business decisions have resulted in these utilities providing the community of Medicine Hat with an unmatched quality of life. Medicine Hat residents and businesses experience the lowest combined tax rates in Canada, the lowest utility rates in Alberta, friendly people, safe streets and an enviable climate.
Check out these sites to learn more about Medicine Hat
Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede
Medicine Hat School District 76
Medicine Hat Catholic School District
Origins
The name "Medicine Hat" is the English translation of 'Saamis' (SA-AH-UMP-SIN) the Blackfoot word for the eagle tail feather headdress worn by medicine men - or 'Medicine Hat'. Several legends are associated with the name from a mythical merman river serpent named Soy-yee-daa-bee, the creator, who appeared to a hunter and instructed him to sacrifice his wife in order to obtain mystical powers which were manifest in a special hat. Another legend tells of a battle long ago between the Blackfeet and the Cree in which a retreating "Medicine Man" lost his headdress in the South Saskatchewan River.
In 1883, when the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) reached Medicine Hat and crossed the river a town site was established using the name from Indian Legends. As the west developed Medicine Hat became instrumental with the development of the first hospital past Winnipeg in 1889 and as a C.P.R. divisional point. It was incorporated as a town on October 31, 1898, and as a city May 9th, 1906.