Alberta
Alberta, named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, is Canada's fourth largest province stretching 1,223 km north from Montana to the Northwest Territories. Six Englands can fit into the land mass of Alberta. Its landscape reflects a sweeping expanse of hummocky northern wilderness, towering mountain ranges, and cattle-crowded flatlands dotted with oil and gas wells.
Alberta Quick Facts
- Land Area: 661,190 sq. km.
- Capital: Edmonton
- Largest City: Calgary
- Population of Alberta: 2,974,807 (2001)
- Weekly Newspapers: 152
- Daily Newspapers: 9
- Universities: 4
Recreation and sports are spread throughout the province and include national and provincial parks. Wood Buffalo National Park in northernmost Alberta is Canada's largest national park. Within its wilderness area, beside the buffalo, are the nesting grounds of the near extinct whooping crane. Resorts are especially popular in the mountain and foothills areas. Both Banff and Jasper townsites, favourite tourist destinations, are found in the Banff and Jasper National Parks. These areas provide a myriad of activities including skiing, both downhill and cross-country, hiking, caving, canoeing, mountain climbing, swimming in hot springs, heli-skiing, wild life watching, golf, ice fishing, skating and much more. On the wild side, Banff National Park is the home to hundreds of big horn sheep, grizzly bears and elk. Jasper, the home of the Columbia Icefields, which is the Rockies largest accumulation of ice, feeds three great river systems, the Athabasca, flowing to the Arctic, the Saskatchewan, emptying into Hudson Bay, and the Columbia tumbling into the Pacific.
The area around Drumheller, known as the Badlands, is the place where the first skull of the dinosaur Albertosaurus, the close cousin to the Tyrannosaurus, was discovered by Joseph Burr Tyrrell. The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Dinosaur Provincial Park makes a fascinating visit for those interested in paleontology.
No description of Alberta would be complete without reference to the West Edmonton Mall which is noted for being the world's largest mall. Located in the city of Edmonton, it has over 800 stores and seven theme park attractions, including an amusement park, a water park, an ice palace, and the world's largest triple loop roller coater.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, near Fort MacLeod, is the site of one of the largest and best preserved buffalo jumps in North America. Used for more than 5,500 years, at the base of the cliff is an eleven metre (approx.) thick layer of bones from buffalo killed there up to the early nineteenth century.
Climate: Low Humidity, Summer temperatures between 15°C and 25°C, Winter temperatures between 8°C and -26°C.
Transportation: Major Airlines that service Alberta include Air Canada, Northwest, Delta, American, United, KLM, Lufthansa, Air North, Continental, Martinair, Westjet and Horizon Air.
Railroads that service Alberta are: Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway.
Floral Emblem of Alberta
The Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis) was designated the Floral Emblem of Alberta in 1930. The wild rose grows almost everywhere in the province, brightening the countryside with flashes of pink.