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Though MEDICINE HAT is barely a
hundred years old, the origin of its wonderful name has already
been confused. The most likely story has to do with a Cree medicine
man who lost his headdress while fleeing a battle with the Blackfoot;
his followers lost heart at the omen, surrendered, and were promptly
massacred. These days you rarely see the town mentioned without
the adage that it "has all hell for a basement", a quotation
from Rudyard Kipling coined in response to the huge reserves of
natural gas that lurk below the town. Discovered by railway engineers
drilling for water in 1883, the gas fields now feed a flourishing
petrochemical industry which blots the otherwise park-studded
downtown area on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River.
Medicine Hat may claim that its 1440 hours of summer
sunshine make it Canada's sunniest city, but its main function
is as a major staging post on the Trans-Canada Highway. The world's
tallest tepee (twenty storeys tall and actually made
of metal), on the highway close to the visitor centre, and the
nightmare Riverside Waterslide at Hwy 1 and Powerhouse
Road (mid-May to early Sept daily 10am-8pm; $12.50; tel 529-6218)
are the only attractions of note. If you're pulling off the road
for a break, the best place for coffee and snacks is Caf? Mundo
, 579 3rd St SE (tel 528-2808); for lunch try Caroline's , 101
4th Ave SE (tel 529-5300); and for novelty "Wild West"
setting the place to go is the historic Rustler's , 901 8th St
SW (tel 526-8004), one of the town's oldest restaurants. The least
expensive of the many motels is the Bel-Aire , 633 14th St (tel
527-4421; up to $40), conveniently situated at the junction of
the Trans-Canada and Hwy 3, though the Best Western Inn , on the
Trans-Canada at 722 Redcliff Drive (tel 527-3700 or 1-800/528-1234;
$100-125), is more appealing if around three times the price.
The best place around is the smart and comfortable Medicine Hat
Lodge , 1051 Ross Glen Drive (tel 529-2222 or 1-800/661-8095,
www.medhatlodge.com ; $100-125). The main downtown accommodation
is the Medicine Hat Inn Downtown , 530 4th St SE (tel 526-1313
or 1-800/730-3887; $60-80).
