Okotoks

Okotoks is a town in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is located 18 km south of Calgary on Sheep River and has developed lately to a satellite town of Calgary.

The name Okotoks is derived from o'kotok, the word with which the Blackfeet call the Big Rock, one of the largest boulders, which is located about 5 km west of the city. In the period before European colonization, the Rock of roving Indians were used as a ground marker to find a nearby river crossing.

The area was already around the year 1800 by David Thompson, a Canadian cartographer and fur traders explored. A short time later emerged trading stations, including 1874, in which today is at the river crossing over the Sheep River, the city Okotoks. The trading post was on a trade route called the Macleod Trail, which led from Fort Benton, Montana to Calgary.