Our Day 2 of visiting Calgary, we went to Town Okotoks, Alberta. This is the our first visit to this Town.

Okotoks is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately 38 km south of Downtown Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. We love the peaceful and quietness of the Town!

History of Okotoks
First Nations people led a nomadic existence in the Okotoks area for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The First Nations left us with a legacy in the name of Okotoks, which is derived from the Blackfoot word "Okatok", which means "rock". Plains First Nations, like the Blackfoot, did not use rivers as a means of transportation; instead they were often an impediment to travel and a good river crossing was important. There were safe river crossings at the present day Town of Okotoks. The Blackfoot may have referred to this area as "Okatok" because of the Big Rock which they used as a reference marker in their journeys. The Sarcee called this area "chachosika" meaning valley of the big rock. The Stoney name is "ipabitunga-ingay" meaning "where the big rock is".

Early Settlers
Among the earliest European settlers in Okotoks were Kenneth Cameron and Alexander McRae, who settled on the banks of Sheep Creek after their oxen drifted away in a snowstorm in 1882. Cameron established a stopping house on the north side of Sheep Creek, uphill from where the Macleod Trail crossed river. Cameron Crossing, as it became known, is believed to be near the present-day walking bridge south of the library. There was a second river crossing which existed prior to Cameron's arrival. It was named after John Macmillan who ran a stopping house near the present-day recycling depot. The Macmillan stopping house also housed the Okotoks post office in 1884.

From approximately 1892 to 1896 the fledgling community was called Dewdney, after the Lieutenant Governor of the North West Territories. However, it was changed back to Okotoks because there was another Dewdney in the North West Territories. Okotoks incorporated as a village in 1893 and officially became a town on June 1, 1904.

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