The Big Muddy Badlands are a series of

badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...

in southern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

and northern

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

in the Big Muddy Valley and along Big Muddy Creek. Big Muddy Valley is a cleft of erosion and sandstone that is long, wide, and deep. Big Muddy Valley and Big Muddy Badlands were formed over 12,000 years ago near the end of the last ice age when a

glacial lake outburst flood A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a j� ...

occurred from a pre-historic glacial lake located at present-day Old Wives Lake. Big Muddy Lake is a large salt lake at the heart of the badlands. Two other notable lakes, Willow Bunch Lake and Lake of the Rivers are farther upstream in the valley. A prominent feature of the badlands is Castle Butte (), which is an outcrop of sandstone and compressed clay that protrudes above the flat prairie. It has a height of and a circumference of . It is located south of Bengough on Highway 34, about halfway between Big Muddy Lake and Willow Bunch Lake. Ranching and tourism are important industries in the sparsely populated area.

Canada's Historic Places

Sam Kelly Sites

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century the Badlands formed the northern end of the "Outlaw Trail", a series of trails and stopping areas utilized by outlaws in the American West spanning from Canada to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Outlaws such as Henry Borne and his brother Coyote Pete, Sam Kelly, the Pigeon Toed Kid, and the notorious Sundance Kid turned up in the area. In 1999, of land was set aside as the Sam Kelly Sites () in the Canadian part of the badlands and put on the Canadian Register of Historic Places. The historical site contains nine archaeological sites, including stone rings and effigies, caves, and homestead remains.

Buffalo Effigy

The Buffalo Effigy () was constructed by local

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

from fieldstone overlooking West Beaver Creek near the border with Montana. The 64-hectare site was formally recognized in 1999. Besides the Buffalo Effigy, there is a stone cairn and at least eight stone rings.

Minton Turtle Effigy

The Minton Turtle Effigy () is located on a hill overlooking Big Muddy Badlands and Big Muddy Lake. The effigy is long and wide. It was first identified by Thomas Kehoe in 1965. He believed it represented a

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

, yet others, including

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

elders, believe it represents a

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...

. The site is a protected area and is fenced off with an informative plaque describing the turtle.

Gallery

File:Big Muddy NWMP Post.jpg, alt=Photograph of the old Big Muddy North West Mounted Police (NWMP) post (1902-1917). Building originally built by James Marshall, then traded to the Mounties for a larger barracks located across the road., NWMP Post in the Big Muddy Badlands, circa 1902 File:Hole in the Wall Coulee Big Muddy.jpg, Entrance to Hole in the Wall Coulee File:Castle Butte Panorama.jpg, Panorama of Castle Butte

References

External links

The Minton Turtle Effigy
* {{Authority control Badlands of Canada Geography of Saskatchewan Natural history of Saskatchewan Landforms of Saskatchewan Happy Valley No. 10, Saskatchewan Canadian folklore