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The Calgary Public Library celebrates Alberta's centennial with Alberta Trivia.
Click on the links supplied to view complete details of the source. Happy 100th
Anniversary Alberta!
Try your luck with The Great Alberta
Trivia Showdown!
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| Three dinosaurs with Canadian names come from the
Badlands: the tyrannosaur Albertosaurus (Alberta lizard), the duckbill
Edmontosaurus (Edmonton lizard), and Lambeosaurus (Lambe’s lizard, after
pioneering Canadian paleontologist Lawrence Lambe). |
Source: Columbo, John Robert. 1001 Questions About Canada . Doubleday Canada, 1986.
p.156 |
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| “The deepest known cave in Canada is Arctomy’s Cave.
It is 522 metres deep and is located on the eastern slope of Mt. Robson (the
highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies), in Alberta. The cave was discovered
in 1921. There are stalactites and stalagmites more than 426 metres below the
entrance and it also has a waterfall 50 percent higher than Niagara Falls.” |
Source: Blake, Don. Alberta Trivia . Lone Pine, 1992. p.82 |
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| More dinosaur bones have been found in the Alberta
Badlands than anywhere else in the world. |
Source: Columbo, John Robert. 1001 Questions About Canada . Doubleday Canada, 1986.
p.156 |
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| In February 1947, in the Leduc Valley, South of
Edmonton, Imperial Oil hit a gusher and Alberta was transformed almost
overnight from a sleepy “have-not” prairie province into an oil-rich
superpower. |
Source: Ferguson, Will. Canadian History for Dummies. CDG Books Canada, 2000 |
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| Wayne Gretzky’s first two professional goals were
scored against the Edmonton Oilers (at the time, he was playing for the World
Hockey Association’s Indianapolis Racers). |
Source: Blake, Don. Alberta Trivia . Lone Pine, 1992. p.52 |
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| The first oil in the Waterton Parks area was
discovered by the local aboriginals. This mysterious black liquid that seeped
up through the earth was thought to be medicinal and used on wounds. Kootenai
Brown, the area’s first white settler, used the aboriginal’s black medicine as
a fly ointment and to lubricate his wagons. |
Brestler, Don. A Young Adult’s Guide To the Canadian West. Bayeaux
Arts, 2002. p. 66 |
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| The Java computer language was developed by an
Albertan who, at age 14, learned the combination to the door lock to the U of C
mainframe computer room which he entered when he wanted to work on
computers. Dr. James Gosling went on to develop the universal programming
language. |
Source: Conacher, Duff. More Canada Firsts. M & S, 1999. p 31 |
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| The mechanical skirt-lifter was invented by a Calgary
woman in the 1890s to help her cross muddy streets |
Source: Brown, J.J. Ideas in Exile: A History of Canadian Invention.
McClelland & Stewart, 1967. p. 5 |
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| Premier A.C. Rutherford, in 1907, put forth a bill in
the legislature to establish public libraries. |
Source: Blake, Don. Alberta Trivia . Lone Pine, 1992. p.80 |
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| Cattle and cattlemen arrived in Alberta in the 1870’s
about 20 years before the farmers. |
Source: Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Canadian Provinces.
U*X*L, 2002. |
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| By the mid 1880’s, all major buffalo herds in North
America had been exterminated so that by 1888 there were only an estimated 20
animals roaming wild. A number of Canadians tried to ensure their survival as a
species and in 1909, 199 buffalo arrived at Elk Island National Park near
Edmonton. Over time as herds increased, thousands of buffalo were moved to Wood
Buffalo National Park. Now buffalo are listed as “threatened” rather than
“endangered” animals. |
Source: Frontier Days in Alberta. ed. Garnett BasqueSunfire
Publications, 1992. |
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| The original structures in Calgary built of logs
tended to burn down. Sandstone became a popular alternative and many buildings
in the downtown core were constructed of this material in the 1890’s. When the
Province of Alberta was created in 1905, one reason advanced in support of
Calgary’s bid for the Capital was the solidity of buildings in the downtown
area. “Our people have built for eternity” Mayor John Emerson boasted at the
time. The Cathedral Church of the Redeemer is a remaining example. |
Source: MacEwan, Grant. Calgary Cavalcade: From Fort to Fortune. Institute of
Applied Art, 1958, 1965. |
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| Alberta was the first province in Canada to elect a
woman to the Provincial Legislature. Louise McKinney represented Claresholm in
1917. |
Source: Blake, Don. Alberta Trivia. Lone Pine, 1992 |
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| The Marquess of Lorne, governor General of Canada from
1878-1883 named the provisional district of Alberta, North-West Territories,
for his wife, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen
Victoria. When she died at the age of 91, provincial librarian John Blue
remarked that he could not recall ever having heard of the late princess having
visited Alberta. Lake Louise is also named for the Princess. |
Source: Sanders, Harry. The Story Behind Alberta Names. Red Deer Press, 2003.
p. 10-11 |
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| Cash prizes were not the only compensation for winning
at the 1912 Calgary Stampede. Other prizes included city lots valued at $200,
silver mounted spurs and a diamond ring valued at $100. |
Source: Kennedy, Fred. Calgary Stampede Story. T. Edwards Thonger, 1952. |
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| The name Dog Pound comes from the Crees referring to
the sound of dogs pounding on the creek as the braves returned to winter camp
from hunting food. |
Source: Big Hill Country: Cochrane and Area . Cochrane and Area
Historical Society, 1977. p. 42 |
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| The first Stampede opened on Labour Day 1912, founded
by promoter and showman Guy Weadick. Plans to hold a sequel in 1915 were
shelved when war broke out in Europe. in 1919 the Big Four organized a Victory
Stampede and in 1923 the Stampede was added to the Exhibition to form the
Annual Exhibition and Stampede. |
Source: Boom and the Bust. ed. Ted Byfield. United Western
Communications, 1994. |
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| The Dunvegan Suspension Bridge crossing the Peace
River on Highway 2, is Alberta’s longest clear-span bridge and the fourth
longest suspension bridge in Canada. The 550 metre bridge was completed in
1960, replacing a ferry service. |
Source: Zuehlke, Mark. The Alberta Fact Book. Whitecap Books, 1997. p.75. |
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| Two stories explain how the Kananaskis River got its
name. A Stoney Indian legend tells of a warrior struck on the head with a
tomahawk near the river. According to some people, Kananaskis is a white
corruption of the Stoney word for “man with tomahawk in the head.” |
Source: Stone, Ted. Alberta History Along the Highway. Red Deer College
Press, 1996. p. 241 |
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| The largest lake entirely in Alberta is Lake Clair, at
1436 square km. |
Source: Stone, Ted. Alberta History Along the Highway. Red Deer College
Press, 1996. p. 241 |
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| The name Blackfoot, Sisksisawa refers to the black
soles of moccasins, painted or darkened by the ashes of fires. |
Source: Blake, Don. Alberta Trivia. Lone Pine, 1992. p.16. |
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| The NWMP (today's RCMP) was formed to deal with
whiskey traders taking advantage of the Indians of Southern Alberta. Fort Whoop
Up was a pretty wild place when the NWMP arrived in 1874. It was only recently
that the fort saw liquor inside its walls again. |
Source: Blake, Don. Alberta Trivia. Lone Pine, 1992. p.15. |
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| Boston Pizza, with 100 stores in Canada and Asia and
annual sales of over $100million, started in 1963 with 1 store in Edmonton. |
Source: Blake, Don. Alberta Trivia. Lone Pine, 1992. |
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| Wilf Carter, one of the founders of Canadian Country
and Western music, was born in Nova Scotia and moved to Alberta in his youth,
where he was employed as a cowhand. |
Source: Penguin Treasury of Popular Canadian Poems and Songs.
ed. John Robert Colombo. Penguin, 2002. p. 9 |
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Interested in more amazing Alberta Trivia?
Try your luck with The Great Alberta
Trivia Showdown!
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