The North American Great Plains are one of the most spectacular features of our Earth—a broad steppe reaching up from northern Mexico through the heartland of America and north to the Canadian prairie provinces. On these endless grasslands half a millennium ago a Blackfoot named Eagle Birth was born. He lived on the northwestern edge of the Great Plains near the Belly Buttes, an isolated citadel on the prairies, on the Blood reserve.
Blood Reserve, 1937. AY Jackson.
Eagle Birth fell in love with a married woman. She returned his love and the two ran away together. They travelled east and made camp at Police Point Park. Fortune did not smile on them. Success as a hunter eluded Eagle Birth and the two lovers were soon desperate for food. Eagle Birth’s lover began having continuing visions of a huge headdress in the Strathcona bluffs. One night a merman emerged from the river and spoke to Eagle Birth in a dream. “Hello my son, I come to you, feed me a human being and I will give you all my children that fly and run on this land.”
With no other humans around Eagle Birth was in anguish. He understood the dream was an omen—that he would continue to have no success hunting. But the alternative was unthinkable. Eagle Birth did not share his dream. His lover sensing his torment said, “Eagle Birth, you and I chose to be here because of our love for each other and I know what you are thinking. It is up to you. I will do whatever you decide.”
Eagle Birth went off to think when a stranger approached from a distance. Eagle Birth invited this man back to their camp having already decided to sacrifice him. On the banks of the South Saskatchewan Eagle Birth murdered the stranger and dove to the bottom of the river with the body. Underwater on the riverbed a large tepee appeared. Inside the merman fulfilled his promise to Eagle Birth and also gave him this tepee. From that point on Eagle Birth’s success as a hunter returned. He had great success catching eagles and became rich with eagle feathers and accumulated many skins. They returned home and made peace with his lover’s husband. He built his tepee designed with the waves of the river.
In 1990 a great tepee, adorned with the waves of the river, was being constructed in the same place where Eagle Birth had his vision 500 years ago. The Bloods saw this as fulfillment.
There are a dozen or more contenders. Of these versions, the Sanderson and Gillett legends stand out, though all share elements. In 1894 a prominent Medicine Hat businessman James Sanderson recorded this story. The Great Spirit, appearing as a serpent, promised to make a young man a great warrior in exchange for the sacrifice of his wife. He was reluctant, but his wife was willing. She sacrificed herself at the bend in the river by Strathcona Island—a special place known to never freeze over and considered a breathing hole for the Great Spirit. Her death won the warrior a medicine hat to be worn only in war.
The Gillett story is the best known. Earl Gillett, a homesteader and later fireman for the CPR recorded this story after speaking with Maj. Bray, Sgt. McCutcheon and two Cree, Sun Child and Little Corn. The legend recounts a battle between two storied tribes, the Cree and the Siksika (Blackfoot). Racing down from Crescent Heights a band of Blackfeet ambush some Cree near Hargrave’s Park in Riverside. The Cree flee towards Police Point Park and after crossing the river under the bluffs turn to face the Blackfeet. The Siksika continue their pursuit across the river, but now vulnerable in the water meet a volley of arrows. The Siksika Medicine Man in the lead is hit in the heart. He loses his life and his medicine hat in the river. At the loss of their leader and this sacred object, at the breathing hole of the Great Spirit no less, the Blackfeet turn and retreat.
Each legend has details that don’t cohere, but all suggest that the bend in the river where our city was founded is mysterious. In 1947 the Medicine Hat News recorded a strange sighting, confirmed by multiple witnesses from different vantages. Mrs. R. Ireland’s two prized French poodles were scared out of the river by a ‘monster’ swimming towards Strathcona Island. It appeared like a log with a foot wide mouth. Separately, Lt. Russell and CQMS Lewis of the South Alberta Regiment Reserve described the creature similarly. A witness from a higher vantage described a broad back, a curved neck not unlike a serpent and mottled skin devoid of hair. Perhaps a great spirit still lives in this bend of our river.
Medicine Hat News. April 26, 2017.
Strathcona Island is across from me. By Jane Garrecht.