The Hoodoos

Later settlers called the formations “tent rocks” and told stories that they moved at night. The English word “hoodoo” came west in the 1800s from folk usage linked to “voodoo”.

1. 68–72 million years agoRivers deposited sand, silt and mud on a floodplain beside an inland sea, forming the Horseshoe Canyon rock that makes up the pillars.
2. 12,000–16,000 years agoMeltwater from the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet carved the valley.
3. Last few thousand yearsIce, wind and water shaped the rock into hoodoos.
4. Indigenous heritageThe valley is within the traditional territory of the Niitsitapi, Stoney Nakoda, Tsuut'ina and Metis peoples. Hoodoos served as landmarks and campsites, and their meanings continue in oral tradition.
5. 1880sAfter the railway arrived, coal mining helped turn the valley into a mining town.