Black Diamond is a quaint little community, located just outside Turner Valley. In fact, I believe that they are sister communities. I might have read something about about one of the roads being called a friendship trail. The large Black Diamond was easy to find; located on Centre Ave (Hwy 7) bu the municipal building. After taking a few photos, the boys and went into a 50s themed dinner and candy shop for some ice cream (Marv's Classic Soda Shop). My mom went into a small coffee shop (I believe the Black Diamond Bakery & Coffee Shop) and learnt that in 1949, a fire ripped through Black Diamond's devouring most of the downtown. Buildings from the nearby abandoned settlements, mostly in the Longview area, were moved to Black Diamond and now comprise a large part of the downtown. There was also a very cute little shop that my mom and Hubby were trying to convince me to stop in. I was on a mission. I really wanted to see "The Big Rock".
As we headed out onto Hwy 7 towards Okotoks, my excitement grew. Eventually, I saw it. In the middle of a field was the rock. I pointed to Hubby and my mom said, "we drove here to see a rock." I looked at her. A rock? I explained that it isn't just a rock, it is the world's largest known glacial erratic-rock. My mom thought that it was just some rock that had been transported and rebuilt into the feild. However, the rock was transported far from its place of origin by glacial ice. The Okotoks Erratic weighs 16,500 tons. It measures 9 metres high, 41 metres long and 18 metres wide. The rock has been eroded into pieces, but is still a large landmark on the flat prairie.vOne interesting feature of Big Rock is the large split down the middle. A Blackfoot story describes how this may have happened:
One hot summer day, Napi, the supernatural trickster of the Blackfoot peoples, rested on the rock because the day was warm and he was tired. He spread his robe on the rock, telling the rock to keep the robe in return for letting Napi rest there. Suddenly, the weather changed and Napi became cold as the wind whistled and the rain fell. Napi asked the rock to return his robe, but the rock refused. Napi got mad and just took the clothing. As he strolled away, he heard a loud noise and turning, he saw the rock was rolling after him. Napi ran for his life. The deer, the bison and the pronghorn were Napi's friends, and they tried to stop the rock by running in front of it. The rock rolled over them. Napi's last chance was to call on the bats for help. Fortunately, they did better than their hoofed neighbours, and by diving at the rock and colliding with it, one of them finally hit the rock just right and it broke into two pieces.
On our way back to Canmore, we drove through Black Diamond, where Hubby and my mom tried once again to convince me to stop at the little shop. It almost became a game. I was just ready for the drive back to Canmore. Plus, my mom and I needed to get ready for our night out.On the way back, we drove through Turner Valley. They have a lovely little park. It is another rustic Alberta Town with an abundance of history.
Thanks for sharing this to us, your blog is really great we can learn something to it, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
waterton national park hotels