Self Guided Historic Walking Tour of Calgary - Characters of the Stampede

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About

For thousands of years people have come here to this in the Bow valley at the junction of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, Calgary has been a place where people from across the prairies gathered to meet, hunt, and trade.

Prior to the 1600s the First Nations in the area did all of their bison hunting and travel on foot. When the Spanish reached what is now Mexico they brought with them horses which quickly became a useful tool to indigenous populations. Eventually, horses made their way North through escape and trade changing hunting and transportation for the Plains First Nations

When Europeans settled in Southern Alberta they were intrigued by the bison and began to hunt the bison for their coats. While the First Nations had been strategically hunting the buffalo and using every part of the animal, Europeans hunted the herds en masse fur and drove them to the edge of extinction.

Without the bison the Bow Valley was left with rolling hills and empty fields, so ranching and agriculture became a feature of the region. Soon cattle were brought in replacing the bison and vast ranches were everywhere.

Ranching life was the height of the Western aesthetic. Roping, busting broncos, cowboy hats, and wrangling became how easterners and others outside of the prairies envisions the 'Wild West.' The Calgary Stampede has become a preservation of cowboy life out on the prairies, imprinting a 'Wild West' past on a modern present.

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Organizer

On This Spot

On This Spot​ guides people on a tour back in time, showing & telling the history that surrounds them. On each spot, users will find themselves standing in the footsteps of a photographer who took a historic photo. On site tourists/users can use the built-in camera feature to create their own then-and-photos, which can be shared on social media and saved as a digital souvenir. Selections of these photos are chained together into walking tours that take a deep dive into local history.

On This Spot​ strives to make history engaging, educational, and accessible to all with a focus on easy to use features and a succinct writing style. The aim is to create an intuitive user experience that provides historical unparalleled depth without overwhelming or confusing users.