Calgary

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital and second largest city of Alberta. Over 1.3 million people live in and around the city, making it slightly smaller than Calgary. It is the northernmost major city in North America. It is the fifth largest city in Canada.

Fort Edmonton was founded in 1795 as a trading post of England's Hudson Bay Company. It was named after the hometown of the fort's founder. The city began to grow in the late 1800s with the advent of several railway lines. Its rich soil attracted immigrants from around the world, making the city a major center of agriculture. On July 31, 1987, the city was struck by a devastating tornado that killed 27 people. The day became known as "Black Friday."

Today, Edmonton is sometimes known as "The Gateway to the North." It is home to the West Edmonton Mall, one of North America's largest shopping malls. 32 million people visit the mall every year. It is also home to Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest living history museum. Edmonton is also home to the NHL's (National Hockey League) Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers won four Stanley Cups in the 1980s. During this time the Oilers' Wayne Gretzky became widely acknowledged as one of the greatest hockey played to have ever lived.

Medicine Hat

Medicine Hat is an industrial city in the vast plains of eastern Alberta. It is located in the heart of the region known as Palliser's Triangle, a semi-arid steppe region perfect for agriculture but also prone to drought and dust storms. It was once called the "Pittsburgh of the West" and "Gas City" because of the coal and natural gas operations in the region. Medicine Hat was largely established as a transportation point by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883. The name "Medicine Hat" most likely comes from a Blackfoot word for an eagle tail feather headdress worn by medicine men. Today, the city is home to about 63,000 people who enjoy its sunny weather. Medicine Hat is one of Canada's sunniest cities.

Banff National Park

Banff National Park is one of the world's most famous national parks and the oldest national park in Canada. Located in the Canadian Rockies, the park is famous for its incredible vistas, glaciers, alpine ecosystems, boreal forests, and of course, the crystal-blue Lake Louise. Visitors can view over 100 glaciers on the Icefields Parkway, which connects Banff to Jasper National Park to the north. Grizzly bears, black bears, moose, bighorn sheep and mountain lions, are among the species that can be observed in the park.

Established in 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway built two hotels: The Banff Springs Hotel and the Chateau Lake Louise, which attracted visitors from around the world. Today, over three million people visit the park each year.

Jasper National Park

Wood Buffalo National Park

Waterton Lakes National Park

Lake Athabasca

Lake Athabasca is a large lake in northwestern Saskatchewan and northeastern Alberta, although 74 percent of the lake is in Saskatchewan. The name Athabasca is a Cree word meaning "there are plants one after another." Covering an area of about 3,000 square miles, it is the eighth largest lake in Canada. It is about 176 miles long and at its widest is 31 miles. Its maximum depth is 407 feet.

Lake Athabasca was heavily contaminated in the 1980s by gold and uranium mining operations that were staged along its shores. In 2013, the lake was further contaminated by over 250 million gallons of wastewater from a coal mining operation.

South Saskatchewan River

The South Saskatchewan River rises at the confluence of the Bow and Oldman Rivers and flows 865 miles to its mouth in the Saskatchewan River. Both the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers are tributaries of the much smaller Saskatchewan River.

For much of its history, the South Saskatchewan River would completely freeze in the winter, creating dangerous conditions in its port cities of Saskatoon and Medicine Hat, Alberta. In the 1960s, the construction of the Gardiner Dam diverted much of the water to the Qu' Appelle River, mitigating the danger.

North Saskatchewan River

The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that rises in Alberta's Rocky Mountains and flows about 800 miles to the Saskatchewan River. It passes through Banff National Park and flows alongside the famous Icefields Parkway.

• In 1916, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba granted women the right to vote - three years before American women enjoyed the same right.
• The West Edmonton Mall has one of the world's largest parking lots. It can hold over 20,000 cars.
• The world's first indoor water park opened in Edmonton in 1985.
• Alberta was named after Princess Lousie Carolina Alberta of Great Britian.
• Alberta's provincial bird is the Great Horned Owl.
• Alberta's motto is "strong and free."
• About half of Alberta's citizens live in Calgary and Edmonton.
• Alberta is Canada's fastest growing province.
• Alberta produces about 1/3 of Canada's wheat and 1/2 of its barley.