Kootenay Plains

The Kootenay Plains stretch between two ridges: Windy Point to the east and Whirlpool Point to the west. Between them is one of the largest unspoiled montane regions left in Alberta. This landscape is characterized by a pattern of open forests and grasslands caused by low rainfall and many chinooks. The Kootenay Plains is the warmest and driest region in the Rocky Mountains.

The mild temperatures and low snow cover make this a critical wildlife winter range for elk, mule deer, mountain sheep and moose. In the past, mountain caribou wintered here, as well as the now locally extinct wood bison. In all, over 60 species of birds, 14 mammals and over 240 species of vascular plants live here. Among the plants are many that are uncommon in Alberta.

The pleasant temperatures and abundant wildlife made this an attractive hunting area for Aboriginal peoples. The first were the Kootenay. They are the region’s ghosts. When fur traders David Thompson and Alexander Henry were recording their presence on the plains, the Kootenay were already nearly gone. They were being pushed west across the Continental Divide by the better-armed Peigan. They left behind their name, empty campsites and a vacuum soon to be filled by another group, the Stoney.

The Stoney, also called Assiniboine, were originally part of the Sioux Nation. Sometime in the late 17th century, they split from the Sioux and then began to migrate westward from the Lake of the Woods–Lake Nipigon region of Ontario. It was during this westward migration that they split into different groups. One group, today called the Wesley Band, moved northwestward along the parkland before entering the foothills west of Edmonton. From this region along the Athabasca River, they filtered down to the Upper North Saskatchewan and Kootenay Plains.

There is a biblical flavour to the Wesley Band history: their migration to the Kootenay Plains, exile and “Egyptian captivity” at Morley, followed by “exodus” back to the plains. The migration period began with a man named Abraham, who, according to his son John Abraham, sometime around 1820 “went up in the mountains to what is now known by the name of Kootenay Plains and there settled, growing vegetables with success.” Abraham was present at Blackfoot Crossing in 1877 for the signing of Treaty No. 7. Under this treaty, the Stoney bands were gathered together on a number of reserves near Morley. No reserve land was set aside along the upper North Saskatchewan, though the Wesleys present at the treaty signing later insisted they had received verbal assurances that this would be done.

The Wesley Band continued to make annual summer forays to the Kootenay Plains area to hunt. With food supplies and living conditions at Morley deteriorating, about 100 Stoney followed Peter Wesley in 1894 back to their “promised land” on the Kootenay Plains. Several years later, they petitioned the federal Department of the Interior for a reserve.

In 1910, the Stoney land claim to the Kootenay Plains was accepted. It was cancelled the next year due to the discovery of coal along the Bighorn River and Whiterabbit Creek. The federal government for a time considered forcing them back to Morley. By 1947, however, the Stoney received a reserve with conditions attached. The land they received at the confluence of the Bighorn and North Saskatchewan rivers was not part of their original land claim. The provincial government stated that they had given up their claim to the plains, while the Stoney assumed, due to the smallness of the reserve, that more land would be forthcoming. They continued to use the Kootenay Plains to support themselves, their horses and cattle.

The construction of the Bighorn Dam and creation of Abraham Lake flooded most of the land claim area, including cabins, graves, campgrounds and pastures. The Stoney asked for compensation, which included reserve land on what remained of the Kootenay Plains. In 1974, the federal government agreed that they should be given another 7300 hectares. The provincial government, however, rejected the federal government’s request to provide land to meet the outstanding treaty obligation.

In the meantime, the provincial government transferred two blocks of land to the Stoney as compensation for the lost gravesites caused by the flooding behind the Bighorn Dam. One block of about 480 hectares lies directly across the highway from the Two O’Clock Creek Recreation Area campground. The other block of about 700 hectares lies across the highway from the Siffleur Falls Trail staging area parking lot.

Historical Footnotes: The Stoney Cemetery

Windy Point, with its spectacular view of the valley, was a popular location for the Stoney people to bury their dead. At least five children were buried there. The creation of Abraham Lake threatened to cover these and other gravesites. The Stoneys at the Bighorn Reserve were thus faced with an emotional and religious quandary. Stoney Chief John Snow summed up their dilemma: “While we do not want to move the graves, as the spirits of our dead relatives do not like to have their place of rest disturbed, we also feel that it would be a greater sin to leave the graves where they are to be covered and flooded by water. Many of our people believe that at the time of the resurrection, the spirits will not be able to rise up through the water when the body was originally buried on dry land.”

In total, there were 24 known gravesites to be covered by Abraham Lake. In 1972, 20 of them were disinterred by the provincial government and reburied at the Stoney graveyard and memorial beside Two O’Clock Creek. Two Stoney families asked that four graves not be moved.

Aboriginal burials and water have a close association. Aboriginal people nearing old age often asked their families to take them to a mound near the confluence of two streams, or a stream and a lake. There, after the family sang songs and offered prayers to the Great Spirit, the Elder was left alone to commune with the Great Spirit and to die. One stream represented life and the other death. When the Elder died, both streams carried away the spirit to heaven. It is because of this belief that some Aboriginal people have a dread of dying a long distance from a flowing stream.