Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park

The Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park (BCHP) is fairly new and has been open for just a year or so. This is Siksika's newest endeavor into the museum business, and by first impression, it looks like a good start. The BCHP building is architecturally stunning. The building site is along the Bow River Valley near the historic Blackfoot Crossing site (where the Treaty 7 was signed). The building is perched along a ridge of the valley, and cuts into part of the canyon wall, and yields a great view of the river and valley. The design is culturally unique in that it employs many Siksika features in the building structure. The building is laid out like half of a big teepee, with the other half open and facing the valley. Large glass windows offer awesome views.

No "Indian discounts" for admission here. I didn't mind though. It was only $10, and I was supporting a local endeavor for our people. I feel bad, and have to apologize now, but as soon as I entered the museum, I totally went into tourist-mode and had my camera holstered and ready to go. I also asked lots of questions about the place. After the initial adjustments, I then checked out the museum.


I was impressed. This was definitely a world-class tourist destination. No punches were pulled, and you can see that in "most" of the museum. Being nitt-picky as can sometimes be, I did see a few cosmetic items which could be improved. I noticed some dust, dirt, bugs at certain areas. I also saw that some of the painting and dry wall looked to be unfinished at some places. Ok, that's it for that, they were very minor, and can be easily fixed.


I ended up doing a quick scan of the museum (which is on the bottom floor---no photos allowed), and then headed upstairs to the theater--a show was starting at 12:30pm. This was a movie about the Siksika and was very good and professional-looking.

After the movie, I decided to grab lunch at the cafeteria. I had a bison burger and fries with gravy---it was a huge meal and I couldn't finish it. To work off some calories, I then went for a little "hike". Outside the museum is an eco-walk down the hill from the museum. There are a couple of things to check out along the path: "authentic tee pee" lodging, choke cherries, and a dig where mud housing was found.




After the hike, I then went back into the museum (to cool off first) to check out the museum more thoroughly). There were quite a few exhibits and I checked out most of them. i must admit that I didn't read everything. I think I'd need more than a few hours to go through everything. I mainly chcked out most of the exhibits, and then watched several of the video presentations. After checking out the museum I then made my way up to the gift shop and dropped some more i/do?\ bumop (money) on various things.

A couple of other things, there is a library on site at the museum, but it was closed. I would definitely like to come back and check this out. Like I said earlier, one other feature which is offered is sleeping in an "authentic teepee". I don't think I'd do this, but FYI, the rates are something like $370!

All in all, I liked the BCHP, and would like to make it back and spend more time to thoroughly explore what is offered. I hope it continues to flourish and help spread the word about us Siksika people.