Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1905-11-04
WHERE WEATHER 10 MADE
Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. and
How II Got Its Name.

Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, and
How II Got Its Name.
Here is where you get your wealth
en-" says the conductor, as the train
pulls into Medicine Hat, province Of
Alberta, Canada. And then the ma
tives take the visitors from the States
around the corner and point to a box
eight by four feet on the side Of the
hill where weather for the States Is
bred" Medicine Hat gets a conspic-
uous place on the weather map issued
by the United States bureau, says the
Indianapolis News. The name figures
in most of the cold weather reports,
but, as a matter Of fact, the town Is
not weather breeder. 1t possesses
an extremely mild climate In winter
In comparison with some of these
northwest territory towns. and does
not deserve all the advertisement 1t
receives through Uncle Sans valua-
bic bureau. 1t may be remarked Incl
Gentally that it gets hot here in sum-
mer. To-day it was eighty in the
shade and all that was lacking to
make q summer day of the Central
West was humidity, commodity
with which they are not acquainted
up here.
The traveller who drops off here IL
inclined to ask Of the first native he
meets: where did you get that HAITI"
He learns that there are many the
cries concerning the origin of the
towns name. They grow out of In
dian legends. The country In the vi
cinlty of the town was once the CEN
ter OF the land Of the Crees, and one
OF the traditions is that in the dim
and distant past the daughter of the
head chief OF the tribe fell into the
deep, swift flowing Saskatchewan riv-
er a few miles above the site Of the
town.
An expert swimmer herself, she
was able to keep her head above
water for a long time, but on ac-
count of the high bluffs which skirt
the river, she was carried rapidly
down stream by the current and was
young and athletic member of the
tribe, beholding from the top of a
bluff the girls predicament, jumped
unhesitatlngly into the stream and
soon succeeded in carrying her to the
shore, much to the joy of all the tribe,
and especially Of her father.
The rescue occurred at a point
where the railroad now crosses the
river, and 1t was there that the old
chief, according to the legend. con-
ferred his own hat on the young ath-
lete. With the Indians in those days
the hat was an insignia of chieftain-
ship, and so thereafter the brave
young Indian was the leader of the
tribe, and as such was known as the
chief Of the Medicine Hat" The le-
gend Is defective In that 1t does not
record the marriage of the young chief
to the girl, but the white people OF
the section have done their best to
perpetuate the Indians memory by
naming the town for him.
Another legend is that when, at
one time, the Crees were at war with
the Plegans and the Blackfeet, and
the enemy was supposed to be prepar-
ing for an attack on them, young
Cree brave fell asleep on the banks
of the river, and in vision saw the
hat of member OF the enemys forces
hoa ting down the stream This was
interpreted as a supernatural warning
that the Piegans and Blackfect were
creeping up on the Grees. Thus fore
warned, the Crees were prepared for
the onslaught, and as a result were
victorious. Thereafter the spot at
which the young man slept was
known as Medicine Hat