Perhaps the British and Canadian governments didn’t expect Victorian titles when they commissioned the British explorer John Palliser in 1857 to survey and map the Canadian west. Palliser named his intended route across the continental divide in the previously uncharted valley ‘Kananaskis Pass’ after a local Indian who, he had heard, made an extraordinary recovery from an axe wound to the head. Along his journey through the valley, Palliser was moved to name a river, two lakes and another pass after Kananaskis – hence the tag ‘Kananaskis Country’.

Today Kananaskis or ‘K-Country’ covers the Rockies’ eastern foothills and front ranges between the Trans-Canada Highway and Highwood River. The multi-use recreational area neighbours Banff National Park to the north, the British Columbia border to the west and Calgary’s outlying foothills to the east, enveloping Canmore and its surrounding hamlets. The Stoney Indians (see Native History) were the first known people to occupy the Kananaskis Valley. The Stoneys hunted and trapped resident ungulates following seasonal migration patterns throughout Alberta’s southern and central Rockies. By the mid-1800s, though, most natives moved to better hunting grounds as Europe’s first settlers began to explore K-Country’s outlying areas. In 1854, a Red River settler named James Sinclair led an expedition from the Kananaskis Valley’s north end to what is today known as the ‘Kananaskis Lakes’. He reportedly passed route information (made known to him via the Cree chief Mackipictoon) to Palliser. During Palliser’s expedition in 1858, Dr. James Hector made the area’s first known geological study, partly in response to the building gold rush in British Columbia.

Hector found no gold but, in the years to follow, K-Country became known for its natural resources. Early settlers established trap lines for fur pelts and, by the 1880s, a logging industry operated out of Eau Claire and Evan-Thomas Creek. Logs were floated down the Kananaskis and Bow rivers (which meet near Seebe) to lumber mills in Calgary. The early 1900s saw the first detailed geological surveys in areas like Ribbon Creek but claims were slow coming. Hydroelectricity projects were developed on the Kananaskis Lakes in 1932 and, in 1936, the first road was built through the valley. In 1947, the Kananaskis Exploration and Development Company eventually set up a coal mining operation at the foot of Mount Allan near the area today known as ‘Kananaskis Village’. Miners' families came to join the workers and several dwellings were built below the mine on Ribbon Creek’s north bank. The township was given the name ‘Kovach’, after a district forest ranger, but most residents preferred to call the settlement ‘Ribbon Crick’. The village grew to a population of almost 200 people before slumping coal markets forced the mine’s closure in 1952. Today, only some crumbling stonework and foundations remain in the woods, which have overgrown the old town-site.

The Alberta Government officially delineated Kananaskis Country as a provincial multi-use recreation area in 1977. Today the region spans 4,100 square kilometres (1,583 square miles) comprising several contiguous provincial parklands and forest reserves, a 36-hole golf course, two ski resorts, petroleum leaseholds, grazing lands, water reservoirs, high-end hotel facilities, guest ranches and a hostel, among other amenities. Kananaskis Village received international renown for hosting the 1988 Winter Olympic Games alpine ski events (Nakiska ski resort, Mount Allan) and, most recently, the Kananaskis 2002 G-8 Summit. Attracting around 3 million visitors annually, K-Country has become the largest and most popular recreation-wilderness area in southern Alberta.