Big Rock travels hundreds of kilometres to get to Rocky Mountain House
Channel: RhPAP
Date: 2022-05-20

During the last ice age ten to thirty thousand years ago, this rock fell off one of the Rocky Mountains near Jasper, most likely Mount Edith Cavell, landed on a glacier and was carried all the way to Rocky Mountain House.

These large rocks are called erratics. Big Rock is one of numerous erratics that a glacier carried along its path southward along the foothills.

It’s estimated to weigh 6.3 million kilograms. While the erratic in Okotoks is over twice as big, it's Rocky Mountain House cousin has an interesting story to tell.

In the 1700s, members of the Ojibwe from the Sault St. Marie area in Ontario came to this area and became known as the Chippewa.

"The Chippewa followed the fur trade west and they became most of the trappers that supplied the fur trade posts," says Vic Maxwell, a local historian whose lived in the Rocky Mountain House area all his life. 

In 1790, at Big Rock, the Chippewa Chief’s wife was ready to deliver her baby. 

“They were camped [at Big Rock] and she went behind the rock to have her baby," added Maxwell. 

The baby was called HaKamasen, Chippewa for 'The other side of the rock'. He would later become chief of the tribe.

In the 1800s, Big Rock was a well-known landmark to both the Chippewa and fur traders alike. The North West Company’s fur trading post was just three kilometres away.

Today, there’s a walking path right next to Big Rock. And a few years ago, some trees were removed so that the erratic could be clearly seen by passing motorists on Highway 11.