Cypress Hills Provincial Park

Alberta Parks

Timeline

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    Year Event
    2004 Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Fort Walsh) designated a dark sky preserve.
    1991 Cypress Hills celebrates its 40th anniversary.
    1989 New day lodge, quad chair and other improvements open at "Hidden Valley" ski hill.
    1989 Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Agreement signed, creating Canada's first interprovincial park.
    1987 Forest management program implemented; small scale logging occurs in the park for 5 years.
    1983 Major upgrading of Elkwater facilities underway (i.e. marina).
    Early 1980s Cypress Hills Provincial Park master plan approved.
    Early 1980s Serious infestation of mountain pine beetles affects park's lodgepole pine.
    1976 Elk hunting season established in park.
    Late 1960s Fort Walsh National Historic Park established.
    1968 Mr. Bob Townsend hired as Cypress Hills Provincial Park's first naturalist - the first one within Alberta's provincial park network.
    1967 Cypress Hills visitor centre constructed.
    1967 Commercial lumbering operations terminated; domestic grazing allowed to continue.
    1967 Cypress Hills Skier Association moves to present location.
    1967 Police Point slump occurs along north escarpment of Cypress Hills plateau.
    1962 Wild turkeys introduced.
    Early 1960's Spruce Coulee Reservoir and Reesor Lake created.
    Early 1960s Cypress Hills Skiers Club establishes ski run serviced by a handle tow.
    1955-1956 Red squirrels and moose introduced.
    1955 Elkwater Community Hall opens.
    1954 Park expanded; facilities developed.
    1953 Elkwater Park Golf course opens.
    1952 Dam constructed on Elkwater Lake for Ducks Unlimited.
    1951 Cypress Hills Provincial Park established.
    1949 Second Elkwater school moved from #34 Air Base in Medicine Hat.
    1947 Elkwater Provincial Park established.
    1947 First school in Elkwater burns down (prior to this school, school housed in cabin).
    Early 1940s Cobbles mined from Cypress Hills for war effort.
    1939 Forestry Branch establishes camp at Nichol Springs to train men as forest rangers (during World War II, camp used on occasion by prisoners of war from Medicine Hat Camp).
    1938 Elk reintroduced; Elkwater Lake Park established on shores of Elkwater Lake.
    1934 Another major fire burns in vicinity of Willow Creek headwaters.
    1930 Control of natural resources transferred from Dominion Government to Alberta Government; Alberta Cypress Hills designated a provincial forest.
    1926 J.A. Flath family opens store in Elkwater; over next 30 years Flath store & dance hall area landmarks.
    1924 Forest Service constructs Elkwater's first tourist shelter; construction took 3 years and cost $1,005.
    1922 Three wolves killed a short distance from west end of Forest Reserve.
    1921 Eleven permits issued to hunt wolves in Forest Reserve.
    1920 First grazing permits issued in Forest Reserve; in previous years, bench area used only for hay cutting.
    1919 Three stock associations (grazing) established in the Cypress Hills.
    1919 Cottage lot lease fees were $5.00/year
    1917 Royal NWMP detachment at Eagle Butte closed.
    1917 First store opened in Elkwater.
    1913 Elkwater subdivision surveyed and construction of roads completed.
    1911-1930 Cypress Hills Forest Reserve operated under authority of Canadian Department of Interior.
    1911 Forest Reserves & Parks Act expands Cypress Hills Forest Reserve to 492 square kilometres (190 square miles), 80 square miles of which located in Alberta (known as the Elkwater Block, which coincides with present Cypress Hills Provincial Park (Alberta); Mr. Wright becomes first ranger in "Elkwater Block".
    1910 First telephone line from Medicine Hat reaches Elkwater Lake area.
    1907 Happy Jack Hart opens first coal mine in the area along north shore of Elkwater Lake.
    1906 Cypress Hills Forest Reserve created under Federal Forest Reserve Act; reserve comprises 18 sections (18 square miles).
    1894 A number of forest reserves established in Canada as concern over exploitation of natural resources becomes prevalent.
    1890-1925 Much of the area's large game wiped out in the Cypress Hills; populations of smaller mammals and birds also greatly reduced.
    1890 Buffalo come under protection of Canadian Government.
    1890 Last great plains grizzly shot in the Cypress Hills.
    1887 Mitchell brothers establish first homestead in Elkwater Lake area.
    1886 Major fire burns through most of the Cypress Hills.
    1883 Canadian Pacific Railway reaches newly established community of Maple Creek; leads to influx of farmers, ranchers & homesteaders; Fort Walsh abandoned and NWMP detachment established at Maple Creek; several NWMP outposts remain active in the Cypress Hills.
    1883 L. Sands Lumber Co. active in the Cypress Hills.
    1880 Two farms established in the Cypress Hills to demonstrate farming to natives; farm operated by John Setter located 48 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Fort Walsh; J.J. English farm located at Head of the Mountain (these farms did not last long, one reason being harsh frost at the end of August).
    Early 1880s Bison disappear from the Cypress Hills.
    1879-80 Bison virtually eliminated from Canadian Plains.
    1879 NWMP Constable Graburn murdered in the Cypress Hills; a native named Star Child arrested and brought to jury; found not guilty due to lack of evidence.
    1878-82 Fort Walsh serves as headquarters for NWMP.
    1877 Blackfoot Confederacy (Peigan, Blood & Blackfoot proper) sign Treaty No. 7 at Blackfoot Crossing; 129,500 square kilometres (50 000 square miles) of land surrendered (consisting of remainder of southern Alberta that had not been given up in Treaty No. 6; more than half of Plains Indians refuse to try farming or reservation life; they instead leave reserves, gravitating to the Cypress Hills; more than 5,000 Indians occasionally congregate at Fort Walsh and its village, a situation that prevailed until 1883 when Indians persuaded to move onto reserves, at which time, Fort Walsh is abandoned.
    1877 Chiefs Joseph & Nez Perce seek refuge from U.S. Army in the Cypress Hills; they are captured in Bearspaw Mountains en route.
    1876-82 Sitting Bull & his Teton Sioux (3,000-5,000 people) take refuge at Wood Mountain after Battle of Little Bighorn and slaughter of General Custer & his men; Little Bighorn is a direct consequence of discovery of gold in Black Hills of South Dakota, which was at the time a Sioux Indian Reserve - American government tries to force Sioux from gold-rich lands and Sioux fight back in an attmept to protect their sacred Black Hills.
    1875-83 102 men under command of James Morrow Walsh establishes Fort Walsh in west block of the Cypress Hills; during its operation, NWMP at Fort Walsh virtually eliminates whiskey trade, establishes law and order and helps negotiate treaties with natives.
    1875-79 Métis hivernants winter in the Cypress Hills at head of Gros Ventre Creek, near Head of the Mountain.
    1874 NWMP detachment leaves Dufferin, Manitoba; after a demanding trek across the plains, detachment is set up at Fort Macleod.
    1872-74 Four trading posts established in the Cypress Hills, including Farewell's & Solomon's.
    1873 Cypress Hills Massacre occurs: horses belonging to a wolfing party made up of Americans & Canadians who were returning to Fort Benton are stolen; upon acquiring new mounts they begin looking for the thieves; after spending the night at Farewell's Trading Post, they fall into conflict (for reasons that are not entirely clear) with some Assiniboines who are camped nearby; one of the traders and thirty natives are killed; the day after the massacre, Farewell's & Solomon's are burned down; no convictions are ever made.
    1871-72 Isaac Cowie of the Hudson Bay Company runs a fur trading post east of the Cypress Hills; the trade of whiskey is forbidden.
    1870's Métis families occupy and re-occupy a winter village site along the northwest slope.
    1873 Exaggerated reports of the Cypress Hills Massacre are the last straw in convincing Sir John A. MacDonald to pass a bill establishing the force known as the North West Mounted Police (NWMP).
    Middle 1870s American ranchers begin driving their cattle onto the Canadian Plains; permanent white settlement begins for the first time.
    1869-70 Hudson Bay Company relinquishes its charter to Rupert's Land; the newly established Dominion of Canada assumes sovereignty over the territory renamed North West Territories.
    1859 John Palliser leads an expedition from Edmonton across the plains to Cypress Hills; he describes the hills as "a perfect oasis in the desert".
    1853 American Exploring Expedition travels through much of the Cypress Hills region in an attempt to establish friendly relations with natives.
    1754 Anthony Henday, trader and explorer, visits the Cypress Hills to urge the Blackfoot Tribe to participate in the fur trade; the Blackfoot refuse to hunt for the Hudson Bay Company.
    1670 The Hudson's Bay Company is founded in British North America.
Updated: Mar 20, 2025