Lethbridge, Alberta (Oldman River)

High Level Bridge over Oldman River

     672 miles

Dec 7 - Initially, seeing this river on a map, I thought I had discovered “Old Man River”, but it’s commonly spelled Oldman, so I surmised that it was probably named after a European explorer.  Then I learned that there is also an ancient Blackfoot tale about the “Old Man” who created the earth from mud, and those who use the “Old Man” spelling are honoring that tradition.  Of course, either spelling can refer respectfully to the mythical creator.  It's possible that his original name was too sacred to tell to strangers, much like "Yahweh".  In the late 1980s, traditionalist tribal leaders resisted building a dam on this sacred river of creation.

Lethbridge is the commercial, financial, transportation and industrial center of southern Alberta. The city's economy developed from drift mining for coal in the late 19th century and agriculture in the early 20th century.

The High Level Bridge, built in 1912, is the world’s longest and highest rail trestle bridge in the world.  It is an amazing engineering achievement, but has been the site of many suicidal jumpers.

tale: http://www.uleth.ca/vft/Oldman_River/Intro.html

tradition: http://www3.brandonu.ca/library/CJNS/25.2/cjnsv25no2_pg571-607.pdf

info: Wikipedia.com