Elbow Valley is a rural area in the

Calgary Metropolitan Region The Calgary Metropolitan Region (CMR), also known as Greater Calgary or Metro Calgary is a conglomeration of municipalities centred on Calgary, the largest city in Alberta. With the Government of Alberta's establishment of the Calgary Metropoli ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada within

Rocky View County Rocky View County is a municipal district in southern Alberta, Canada that is named for its views of the nearby Rocky Mountains to the west. It surrounds most of Calgary, forming the city's northern boundary and most of the city's western and e ...

. It is adjacent to the west boundary of the

City of Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

along Highway 8. The community is bordered by Range Road 25 to the east and Range Road 31 to the west ''(excluding the bordering communities of Braemar Estates, Mackenas Estates, Elbow Valley West, Stonepine, Swift Creek Villas, and Lott Creek Grove)''. Elbow Valley is also the name used to designate
specific recreational zone
southwest of the

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Bragg Creek within the

Kananaskis Country Kananaskis Country (abbreviated: K-Country) is a multi-use area west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the Rocky Mountain Foothills, foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. Its western edge borders Banff National Park and the Alberta-Br ...

park system.

History

Elbow Valley gets its name from the

Elbow River The Elbow River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River. Its name is derived from the elbow-like turn the river takes before it joins the Bow. Course ...

, a river in the region that flows into the

Bow River The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...

Fort Calgary Fort Calgary was a North-West Mounted Police outpost at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers in present-day Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally named Fort Brisebois, after the outpost's first commander, the outpost was renamed Fort Calga ...

. The name for Elbow River is descriptive and refers to the point at which it abruptly turn northward and enters the Bow River (elbow-like curve). David Thompson referred to it as "Hokaikshi" in 1814, and Arrowsmith's map of 1859 labels it "Hokaikshi" or "Moose River". The Cree called it "o-too-kwa-na" and according to Tyrell, the Stoney referred to it as "mn-no-tho-ap-ta". Until 1880, it was often called "Swift Creek", after the speed of its watercourse.

Climate

References

Karamitsanis, Aphrodite (1992). ''Place Names of Alberta – Volume II, Southern Alberta'', University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta. Read, Tracey (1983). ''Acres and Empires – A History of the Municipal District of Rocky View'', Calgary, Alberta.

External links

Community of Elbow Valley™Rocky View County's official websiteHikes in Elbow Valley
Rocky View County Calgary Region {{CalgaryRegion-geo-stub