City Notebook: Prehistoric present day

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 5, 2019.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

On Friday, we heard that for the first time in Canada, a sabre-tooth tiger fossil had been found in Medicine Hat.

The obvious question is how are the Medicine Hat Tigers responding to the reports.

“We’ve been tossing it around in the office this morning, and basically think it’s pretty cool,” Adam Jones, the team’s media manager, told the News adding jokingly that the team’s mascot, Roary has deep roots in the area.

“To think that there were tigers here long before any one of us.”

The team was named well before the bones were unearthed in the 1960s, only identified this year by a University of Toronto researcher.

For the record, it’s believed the current Tigers are named for the previous junior hockey team of the same name that operated in the 1950s.

There’s no readily available explanation or definitive answer as to why that team were the “Tigers” and not “Gassers” or something like that.

A quick search of the News archives finds the moniker was used for Southside teams in the city hockey league as far back as the 1920s.

Congrats

Local Chamber of Commerce official Lisa Kowalchuk was named the executive director of the year at the Canadian chamber conference awards, held in Sept. in St. John, N.B., among chambers with between 500 and 1,000 members.

She was spontaneously honoured locally at the conclusion of this week’s election forum at Medicine Hat College that was hosted by the chamber and moderated by Alberta chamber president Ken Kobly.

Upgrades

The process to revamp the fountain in front of city hall, officially known as city hall plaza, is moving along, and creating a bit of an illusion for motorists. With the brick removed from the bottom section of the tower, a quick glance leaves the impression that the whole thing is levitating.

Keen observers, or those without adequate time-telling devices, will also note the clock atop the spire is now operating properly.

It’d been stopped suspiciously near to 4:20 ever since early 2018, right around the time of the Aurora Cannabis announcement … you know, on the same night as the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

Speaking of…

Staying downtown, we can now observe banners on the city centre’s light standards advertising the upcoming World Under-17 hockey challenge. That tournament takes place Nov. 2-9.

Staying with hockey, Brooks is making a push to host the World Junior A challenge in 2021.

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching next weekend, and that means that the final farmer’s market of the season takes place Saturday morning, Oct. 5, at the Cypress Centre on the Stampede grounds.

Flood plan

The Regional Drainage committee was set up following several floods in southeast Alberta at the dawn of the decade. It’s mentioned only rarely, but that will change as the city’s infrastructure committee will receive reports this week into proposed reservoir and spillway projects in the multi-jurisdictional working group.

As for flood planning, there’s some confusion in Calgary among interest groups this month after the new provincial government unveiled several new mitigation projects would be examined, but separately avowed that work on the Springbank Dam. Why should Hatters care? Simply, all that water winds up here at some point.

Meanwhile, there’s some scuttlebutt in the greater region about a new slate of potential irrigation projects that could theoretically accomplish both.

A look ahead

Council meets on Monday to take up a light agenda except for the substantial issue of the future operations plan for the Veiner Centre.

100 years ago

“It’s the most marvellous sight I have seen; It’s simply wonderful,” remarked the Prince of Wales, according to Medicine Hat mayor Brown as the heir to the British throne viewed the Armoury gas well blown off in his honour.

The visit to the city by Prince Edward, the eldest son of George V, on Oct. 6, 1919, included a parade along First Street, Ash Avenue, Allowance, Bridge Street and Industrial Avenue to a waiting tour of Medalta Potteries. The well was blown off – during daylight hours – along the way and ended a short presentation of war service medals. Locals honoured were named Thorne, Hawthorne, Parks, Young and Matthews, according to a brief report.

A council committee would study the issue of housing in the vein of an expected influx of industrial activity following a promotion campaign.

Ald. Jimmy Hole was elected president of the Medicine Hat branch of the domino labour party

U.S. federal troops entered Omaha, Neb. after a black man was lynched, the town’s mayor was marched to a trolley pole threatened with the same and a courthouse was burned down by an angry mob.

Canadian born star of the silver screen Mary Pickford was appearing in the film Cape Kidd at the Monarch complete with music provided by an in-house orchestra.

Collin Gallant covers city politics, paleontology and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664