Okotoks, Alberta
Encyclopedia
Okotoks is a town situated on the Sheep River
Sheep River
The Sheep River is located in southwestern Alberta, Canada, and is part of the Bow River watershed. The river begins in the mountain valleys of Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park, passes through Sheep River Provincial Park, and joins with the Highwood River about 8 km east of Okotoks...
, 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) south of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The town is a member of the Calgary Regional Partnership, a cooperative of communities within the Calgary Region
Calgary Region
The Calgary Region is an area centred around Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It consists of the City of Calgary, Rocky View County and the municipalities it encloses, and the Municipal District of Foothills No. 31 and the municipalities it encloses. The Calgary Census Metropolitan Area and Calgary...
. Okotoks has become a popular bedroom community for the City of Calgary. According to the 2006 Census, the town's population has grown by 46% since 2001.
The town celebrated its centennial in 2004.
History
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
First Nation word for "rock". The rock being referred to is the world's largest known glacial erratic
Glacial erratic
A glacial erratic is a piece of rock that differs from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests. "Erratics" take their name from the Latin word errare, and are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres...
which is situated about 8 km west of the town.
Before European settlement, journeying First Nations used the rock as a marker to find the river crossing situated at Okotoks. The tribes were nomadic and often followed large buffalo
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
herds for their sustenance. David Thompson
David Thompson (explorer)
David Thompson was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...
explored the area as early as 1800. Soon trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
s sprang up, including one established in 1874 at the Sheep River crossing on the current Okotoks townsite. This crossing was on a trade route called the Macleod Trail
Macleod Trail (Calgary)
Macleod Trail is a major road in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a six to eight lane principal arterial road extending from downtown Calgary to the south of the city, where it merges into Highway 2. South of Anderson Road, Macleod Trail is an expressway and is slated to be upgraded to a freeway in...
, which led from Fort Benton, Montana
Fort Benton, Montana
Fort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. A portion of the city was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1961. Established a full generation beforethe U.S...
to Calgary.
In 1879, the area saw the killing of the last buffalo. Government leasing of land for one cent per acre ($2.47/km²) began in 1880. This created a major change in the region.
A community grew up around a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
that was established in 1891, and it would grow in size. The last stagecoach stopped in Okotoks in 1891 when rail service between Calgary and Fort Macleod replaced horse-drawn travel. By 1897 the community name had changed three times: from Sheep Creek to Dewdney to Okotoks, assigned by the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
. The rail line is still a main line south to the U.S. border, but the last of the passenger service (Dayliner unit) ended in 1971.
Okotoks, like much of southern Alberta, suffered major flooding in June 2005. Virtually all lands adjacent to the Sheep River, including the central business district, were at least briefly flooded, with the most serious damage being inflicted to riverside pathways, parks and campgrounds. Prior to this event, the last major flood in Okotoks and the surrounding area occurred in 1995.
In 2007, the energy efficient Drake Landing Solar Community
Drake Landing Solar Community
The Drake Landing Solar Community is a planned community in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, equipped with a central solar heating system and other energy efficient technology. This heating system is the first of its kind in North America, but much larger systems have been built in northern Europe...
was established in Okotoks.
Geography and climate
- Average hours of sunshine per day: 6.34
- Chinook average: 25 days
- Frost free days: 112
- Mean rainfall per year: 11.8 in (300 mm)
- Mean snowfall per year: 60 in (153 cm)
- Mean total precipitation: 16.7 in (424 mm)
- Number of days with precipitation: 113
- Distance to Calgary City Centre: 32 km
Water conservation
Although the Sheep River runs through Okotoks year round, artesianArtesian aquifer
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. This type of well is called an artesian well...
wells near the river supply the town with its water. In September 1998, Okotoks became one of the first communities in Canada to recognize its environmental
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
limits to growth were restricted by the carrying capacity of the local watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
. In concern for the supply of water, the town announced a unique and controversial suggestion of capping its population at 25,000 residents. In an interview on The Current
The Current (radio program)
The Current is a Canadian current affairs radio program, hosted by investigative reporter Anna Maria Tremonti on CBC Radio One. It airs weekdays starting at 8:37 a.m. local time and runs until 10 a.m. for most of the year, although during the summer the program airs until 9:30 a.m...
, Mayor Bill McAlpine stated that this objective may be politically difficult due to the surrounding region.
Historical conservation
Residents of the town are proud of their heritage. Numerous old buildings have been restored, and one house was even resituated blocks away to avoid destruction by the widening of the highway through the townsite.Demographics
| Census History |
|
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1911 | 516 |
| 1941 | 591 |
| 1951 | 767 |
| 1961 | 1,043 |
| 1971 | 1,247 |
| 1981 | 3,847 |
| 1991 | 6,720 |
| 2001 | 11,664 |
| 2006 | 17,145 |
| 2011 | 23,981 |
The population of the Town of Okotoks according to its 2011 municipal census is 23,981, a 3.4% increase over its 2010 municipal census population of 23,201.
In 2006, Okotoks had a population of 17,145 living in 5,927 dwellings, a 46.7% increase from 2001. The town has a land area of 18.55 km² (7.2 sq mi) and a population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 924.4 /km2.
Almost 3% of Okotoks residents identified themselves as aboriginal at the time of the 2006 census. About 93% of residents identified English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as their first language
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
while 1.4% identified French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and 1.0% identified German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
as their first language learned. The next most common languages were Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, and Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
.
Neighbourhoods
- Air Ranch
- Bannister Drive
- Cimarron
- Cornerstone
- Crystal Green
- Crystal Ridge
- Crystal Shores
- Drake Landing
- The Hill in Westmount
- Hunter's Glen
- Sandstone
- Sheep River
- Suntree
- Tower Hill
- Westmount
- Westridge
- Woodhaven
Economy
The sawmill that was established by John Lineham along the Sheep River in 1891 operated for 25 years and was a major part of the local economy. At one time it employed 135 people, producing an average of 30,000 feet (9,000 m) of lumber per day. The growth of the Canadian Pacific Railway created a demand for railway ties and the mill helped meet that demand. Logs were brought down from the west via the Sheep River. The mill has long since disappeared but one building (one of the oldest remaining in the township) still stands. It housed an award-winning (butter) dairyDairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
from the 1920s to the 1940s. It currently houses a law office and restaurant.
In 1900, just west of Okotoks, four brick-making plants were opened. Many of the first brick buildings in Okotoks (of which a number still exist) were constructed using locally-made brick. The industry reached its peak in 1912, when twelve million bricks were manufactured. The outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
caused the shutdown of “Sandstone” as it was known.
By 1906 the population had hit 1900, a figure that would not be reached again until 1977.
Oil was discovered west of Okotoks in 1913. Okotoks became the supply centre. In its heyday, from 1913 to the 1960s, Okotoks was busy with horses, wagons, and transports hauling all types of equipment to the oil fields, and crude oil back through town to refineries in Calgary.
The Texas Gulf sulphur plant (known as CanOxy) opened in 1959, employing 45 people. It was not unusual to see the bright yellow, three-story high, block-long, block-wide sulphur storage waiting to be melted or ground up and poured into railway cars.
Since 1974, Okotoks has been hosting a collector car auction in late May. It is the longest running collector car auction in Canada.
Okotoks was one of the few communities its size to have its own airport. A number of small air shows were held there over the years. It was the home of an aircraft charter company, flight school, and a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
flying school. The site has now evolved into an airpark community called the Okotoks Air Ranch, where the property owners, if they wish, can build homes with attached hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
s for their private planes.
Education
Foothills School Division:- Big Rock Elementary School
- Cameron Crossing Outreach School
- Dr. Morris Gibson Elementary School
- Percy Pegler Elementary School
- Okotoks Junior High School
- Foothills Composite High School
- Alberta High School of Fine Arts
- Ecole Francophone d'Okotoks
- Westmount Elementary-Junior High School (Opening Fall 2012)
Christ the Redeemer Catholic School Division:
- Good Shepherd School
- John Paul II Collegiate
- Holy Trinity Academy
- St. Mary's School
- St. Luke's Outreach Centre
- St. Paul's Academy
Private Schools
- Edison Private School
- Strathcona Tweedsmuir School
Sport and recreation
In July 2004 Okotoks, High River, and the Municipal District of Foothills hosted the Alberta Summer Games. More than 3,200 athletes competed in 17 sports. In the three-day competition, the largest in its 30 year history, 512 medals were handed out.Sports teams
Hockey- Okotoks OilersOkotoks OilersThe Okotoks Oilers are an ice hockey team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. They play in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada at the Foothills Centennial Arena....
of the Alberta Junior Hockey LeagueAlberta Junior Hockey LeagueThe Alberta Junior Hockey League is an Alberta-based Junior A hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League . It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The regular season league champions receive the Dave Duchak Trophy... - Okotoks BisonsOkotoks BisonsThe Okotoks Bisons are a Junior "B" Ice Hockey team based in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the South Division of the Heritage Junior B Hockey League...
of the Heritage Junior B Hockey LeagueHeritage Junior B Hockey LeagueThe Heritage Junior B Hockey League is a Junior "B" ice hockey league in Alberta, Canada, sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The HJHL was founded in 1987 and is made up of teams from southern and central Alberta... - The Oilers minor hockey team
Football
- Foothills Eagles Bantam Football Club
- Foothills Eagles Peewee Football Club
- Foothills Eagles Atom Football Club
- Foothills Falcons Bantam Football Club - 2008 Provincial Champions - 2006, 2007, 2008 League Champions.
- Foothills Falcons Peewee Football Club
- Foothills Falcons Atom Football Club
- Foothills Composite High School Falcons Football
- Holy Trinity Academy High School Knights Football
Baseball
- The Okotoks DawgsOkotoks DawgsThe Okotoks Dawgs are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. They play in the Western Major Baseball League . The Dawgs are the three-time defending WMBL champions.-History:...
began play in the Western Major Baseball LeagueWestern Major Baseball LeagueThe Western Major Baseball League or WMBL is a collegiate summer baseball league. The league can trace its roots back to 1948, as it has gone by many names over the years, including the Alberta-Saskatchewan Baseball league, Western Canadian Baseball League and Saskatchewan Baseball League before...
in 2007.
Aquatic Sports - Swimming, etc.
- Foothills Stingrays Swim Club
- Okotoks Stingrays Swim Club
- Okotoks Synchro Sea Queens
- Dolphins Water Polo
- Okotoks Masters Swim Club
Lacrosse
- Okotoks Ice - Tier II
- Okotoks Icemen - Tier III
Rugby
- Foothills Lions
- Under 13-15-17 and mens leagues
Recreation
Golf coursesThe D'Arcy Ranch Golf Course
The River's Edge Golf Course is an 18-hole, grass-green course on the banks of the Sheep River 5 km east of Okotoks.
The Crystal Ridge Golf Club opened on August 8, 2004. The 9-hole, 3125-yard, par 35 track features water and rock work on every hole, with many mature trees, berms, sand traps, and large undulating greens. Each hole features a minimum of five tee boxes.
BMX bike track
The town has its own BMX
BMX
Bicycle motocross or BMX refers to the sport in which the main goal is extreme racing on bicycles in motocross style on tracks with inline start and expressive obstacles, and it is also the term that refers to the bicycle itself that is designed for dirt and motocross cycling.- History :BMX started...
bike track maintained by local volunteers.
Indoor recreation facilities
- Okotoks Recreation Centre
- Swindell's Swimming Pool
- Murray Arena
- Piper Arena
- Shane Homes Gymnasium
- Okotoks Curling Rink
- Centennial Arena
Outdoor recreation facilities
- Skateboard Park
- Kinsmen Outdoor Skating Arena
- Various outdoor ball diamonds, soccer fields and tennis courts
- Okotoks Spray Park (opened June 4, 2010)
Camping
- Okotoks Lions Sheep River Campground
- Country Lane RV Park
- Okotoks Wilderness Campgrounds
- Riverbend Campground
Fishing
The Sheep River offers some excellent opportunities for fly fishing
Fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...
.
External links
- Town of Okotoks (Official website)
- Western Wheel - Community Newspaper (Established August 3, 1976)
- THE FOOTHILLS GUIDE - Okotoks Community/Regional Portal (Business Listings, Classifieds, & Events)