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xvii Preface For both the archaeologist and the native dweller, the landscape tells—or rather is—a story. It enfolds the lives and times of predecessors who, over the generations, have moved around it and played their part in its formation.To perceive the landscape is therefore to carry out an act of remembrance, and remembering is not so much a matter of calling up an internal image, stored in the mind, as of engaging perceptually with an environment that is itself pregnant with the past [Ingold 1993: 152-153]. My scholarly interest in the Oldman Gap began over a decade ago with a chance reading of Peter Fidler’s Journal of a Journey by Land from Buckingham House to the Rocky Mountains in 1792 &3 (Fidler 1991; Hudson’s Bay Company Archives [HBCA] E.3/2). Of all the stomping grounds of my youth,the Gap is the one I remain fondest of;I was quite surprised to see it mentioned in the journal of the first European explorer to venture into southern Alberta.This interest led to an honours thesis in archaeology at the University of Calgary (Yanicki 1999) and has continued to be the driving impetus for my graduate research. I am very aware that this work is far from complete.I make no apologies for this:down every avenue of inquiry that I have followed to date, there is something unexpected to be learned and a new path to take.I have learned the most by far from the elders,ceremonialists, and traditional knowledge holders from several First Nations who have generously shared their time with me and who have gently reminded me that the stories Fidler recorded in his journal are a reflection of vibrant,living traditions that continue to this day.I am grateful for this opportunity to share what I have learned; it is my hope that this work is but a chapter in a story that for generations to come will continue to unfold. The Gap is the spot where the Oldman River flows out of the Livingstone Range, the long wall of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains that extends north for a distance of about 35 km from the Crowsnest Pass.From the east,the Livingstones exude a forbidding, impenetrable air, and there are but few ways through. One is the broad Crowsnest Pass at the range’s southernmost end, where the Crowsnest River makes its way out of the mountains ; the other, to the north, is the Gap. Beyond this, the range loses some of its imposing character, obscured by a rugged range of foothills known as the Whaleback, but the Livingstones’ southern extent marks a very abrupt transition between the Rockies to the west and the prairies to the east. From the Crowsnest to the Oldman, the prairies seem to roll right up to the mountains’ feet. I first visited the Gap in my late teens, camping in the mountains with friends.We set out from Barons, a small town on the prairies, and headed due west over the Porcupine Hills with nothing but a tent, a few backpacks, and a cooler full of beer. I was a newcomer to the area; I had no idea what to expect.At the crest of the Porcupines on the old Starline Road,you can make out the Livingstone Range from between towering stands of lodgepole pine and Douglas fir,but the Gap itself is hard to discern.It is concealed,secretive,a hidden parting through what from a distance looks like a continuous range. Only when much xviii PREFACE closer can you see that the Livingstones are actually two ranges, slightly offset and overlapping ,with a narrow cleft between them through which the southeast-flowing Oldman must suddenly veer north before resuming its previous course, making an S-shaped curve. I’ve made the trip countless times since, and still a sense of anticipation builds when I reach Highway 22, cross to the south side of the Oldman, and follow the gravel secondary road past Maycroft, past the Smith and Dennis ranches on the river’s south bank, and past the cattle guard that marks the entrance to the forest reserve.From here,one last bend takes you to the very foot of the mountains, following them north; another long, sweeping turn and the Gap is revealed, a narrow ravine with the blue-green waters of the Oldman far below.Through this ravine, the road swiftly descends and switches back...

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