Southern Alberta - Fabulous Western Canada: Capture the Excitement of the Great West! - page 154

5 Fort Whoop-Up Interpretive Centre, Indian

Battle Park. © Travel Alberta

4 Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. © Travel Alberta

Indian Battle Park , in the Oldman
River valley in the heart of town, is
where Lethbridge's history comes alive;
it is the site of Fort Whoop-Up, the set-
ting of a terrible battle. On October 25,
1870, Cree, displaced by European set-
tlers into Blackfoot territory attacked a
band of Blood Blackfoot camped on
the banks of the Oldman River. In the
ensuing battle, the Blood were aided
by a group of Peigan Blackfoot nearby;
by the end, some 300 Crees and 50
Blackfoots were dead.

of Japanese and Canadian friendship
( Nikka Yuko actually means friendship).
The bell at the gardens symbolizes this
friendship, and when it is rung good
things are believed to happen simultan-
eously in both countries.

Milk River

The Milk River is the only river in
Western Canada on the east side of the
continental divide that does not eventu-
ally empty into Hudson Bay; it fl ows
south into the Missouri River and on
into the Mississippi River and the Gulf
of Mexico. As a result, the area has been
claimed by eight different governments
and countries. When France claimed all
lands that drained into the Mississippi,
this part of Alberta was under French
jurisdiction. The Spanish, the British,
the Americans, and the Hudson's Bay
Company have all staked their claim at
some point in history.

Paths weave their way through fi ve
traditional Japanese gardens at the
Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden .
These aren't bright, fl owery gardens,
but simple arrangements of green
shrubs, sand and rocks in the style of a
true Japanese garden—perfect for quiet
contemplation. Created by renowned
Japanese garden designer Dr. Tadashi
Kudo of the Osaka Prefecture University
in Japan, Nikka Yuko was built in 1967
as a centennial project and a symbol