Okotoks ( , originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Downtown Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2021 Federal Census, the town has a population of 30,214, making it one of the largest towns in Alberta.
History
thumb|left|[[Big Rock (glacial erratic)|Big Rock glacial erratic]]
The town's name is derived from "ohkotok", the Blackfoot language word for "rock". The name may refer to Big Rock, the largest glacial erratic in the Foothills Erratics Train, situated about west of the town.
Before European settlement, journeying First Nations, members of the Blackfoot Confederacy, used the rock as a marker to find the river crossing situated at Okotoks. The tribes were nomadic and often followed large buffalo herds for their sustenance. David Thompson explored the area as early as 1800.
thumb|left|This section of the Old Macleod Trail in Okotoks passed through a ravine that made it easier for wagons, stagecoaches and horse riders to get up the northern escarpment of the Sheep River valley.
In the late 1870s and early 1880s, the site of the future town was a river crossing location on the freight wagon route from Fort Macleod to Fort Calgary. Stagecoaches also used the trail. Known as the Macleod Trail or the Macleod-Calgary Trail, the route was an extension of the Fort Benton-Fort Macleod Trail, which led from Fort Benton, Montana to Fort Macleod. There were two fords on the Sheep River, and two stopping houses were established on the north side of the river for rest and shelter for the travellers. Because of these stopping houses, the area attracted settlement. Once the railway was built through the town in 1892, the old trail fell out of use.
In 1879, the area saw the killing of the last buffalo. Government leasing of land for or began in 1880. This created a major change in the region. The first settlers arrived in 1882.
A community grew around a sawmill that was established in 1891, and it would grow in size. The last stagecoach stopped in Okotoks in 1891 when rail service between Calgary and Fort Macleod replaced horse-drawn travel.
By 1897, the community name had changed three times, first from Sheep Creek, to Dewdney after Edgar Dewdney the Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories, and later being informed by post office authorities in Ottawa of an older settlement named Dewdney in Lower Mainland, British Columbia, the name Okotoks was chosen by local businessman John Lineham. The rail line is still a main line south to the United States border, but the last of the passenger service (Dayliner unit) ended in 1971.
In 2007, the energy efficient Drake Landing Solar Community was established in Okotoks.
Flooding
Okotoks has experienced three major flooding events, in 1995, 2005 and 2013. The 2005 event, which affected much of southern Alberta, flooded virtually all lands adjacent to the Sheep River, including the central business district, were at least briefly flooded, with the most serious damage being inflicted to riverside pathways, parks and campgrounds. blocks away to avoid destruction by the widening of the highway through the townsite.
Geography
Land annexation
Effective 1 July 2017, the Government of Alberta approved the annexation of approximately of land. Okotoks and the Municipal District of Foothills reached an agreement more than three years after the town first issued its notice of intent to seek more land to accommodate its long-term growth plans. Okotoks will gain a 60-year land supply that will enable the Town to develop housing and other services over the next several decades.
Water conservation
Although the Sheep River runs through Okotoks year round, artesian wells near the river supply the town with its water. In September 1998, Okotoks became one of the first communities in Canada to recognize its environmental limits to growth were restricted by the carrying capacity of the local watershed. In concern for the supply of water, the town announced a unique and controversial suggestion of capping its population at 25,000 residents. In an interview on The Current, Mayor Bill McAlpine stated that this objective may be politically difficult due to the surrounding region.
Climate
Okotoks experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), with generally warm summers and long, cold winters. Rainfall is usually limited to the summer, with most of it falling between the months of May and September.
Neighbourhoods
thumb|Downtown Okotoks
Neighbourhoods of Okotoks are:
- Air Ranch
- Central Heights
- Cimarron
- Cornerstone
- Crystal Shores
- Crystal Ridge
- D'Arcy
- Downey Ridge
- Drake Landing Solar Community
- Green Haven Estates
- Hunter's Glen
- Mountainview
- Olde Towne
- Rosemont
- Ranchers Rise
- Sandstone
- Sheep River Ridge
- Skunk Hollow
- Suntree
- Tower Hill
- Wedderburn
- Westmount
- Westridge
- Woodhaven