Every place name tells a story.
If you choose any bit of the province, and just look at its place names, you can tell a great deal about an area. For example, take an area in central Alberta, roughly encompassing Millet to Airdrie, and Rocky Mountain House to Donalda. This is an area of over 12,000 square miles. Pretend you are a casual, yet keen observer with some knowledge of history and geography, and with a good gazetteer of the area. You will that there are 441 place names in this area.