The Medicine River is a medium-sized

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in central

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. It begins at the outlet of Medicine Lake, north of

Rocky Mountain House Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of Red Deer at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) and Highway 11 (David Th ...

. The Medicine River initially travels through the ''Rocky Mountain House Grazing Reserve'', a protected area with over of land set aside for cattle grazing and recreation. The river flows southeast, taking on a number of creeks before passing

Eckville Eckville is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is west of Red Deer on Highway 766 just north of Highway 11. History Eckville gets its name from A. E. T. Eckford, a pioneer citizen. Eckville relocated to its current location in 1912, af ...

. The Medicine River joins the

Red Deer River The Red Deer River is a river in Alberta and a small portion of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a major tributary of the South Saskatchewan River and is part of the larger Saskatchewan-Nelson system that empties into Hudson Bay. Red Deer River ...

north of Innisfail, downstream of the

Dickson Dam Dickson Dam is a flow regulation dam constructed in 1983 which impounded the Red Deer River creating a reservoir known as Gleniffer Lake (Alberta). The dam is located west of the town of Innisfail and southwest of the city of Red Deer. The dam ...

, at the Medicine Flats. The Medicine is bridged by Alberta highways 53, 12, 11, and 54. The name Medicine River is a

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

from the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

words ''muskiki and nipagwasimow'', or ''Sundance river''. It first appeared on a John Arrowsmith map in 1859.Tracey Harrison, ''Place Names of Alberta: Volume III, Central Alberta.'' (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1994), page 164.

Tributaries

*Open Creek *Wilson Creek *Welch Creek **Block Creek *Wood Lake *Blueberry Creek **Lobstick Creek *Lasthill Creek *Tindastoll Creek *Dickson Creek

References

Rivers of Alberta {{Alberta-river-stub

Tributaries

See also

References