DVD capture

Contributed photo

Travel Directions:
42 km west of Fort Macleod on Hwy 3 (Crowsnest Hwy). Right (north) onto Hwy 510 / Range Road 1-3, left (west) onto Railway Avenue.

Remarks:
Cowley is a gusty place, as any Brokeback Mountain fan can attest. The nearby Crowsnest Pass channels powerful winds through Cowley day and night. The surrounding landscape is, quite understandably, dotted with wind turbines which play a role in protecting the region’s pristine environment.

To local Native tribes, the nearby Oldman River is the haunt of Napi (or “Old Man”), a mythical trickster figure who created mankind from mounds of mud. The area’s twisted stands of poplar trees, shaped by constant wind action, have been suitably dubbed “the Curly Wood Hills” by Native people.

Cowley has a proud history, peppered with a string of achievements and setbacks that typify the drama of frontier life. See:

http://www.crowsnest-highway.ca/cgi-bin/citypage.pl?city=COWLEY#4

As you walk down its Railway Avenue (almost every Alberta town with a rail line has a “Railway Avenue”), you may feel a bit of the joy of encounter, as well as the pain of separation, that brought the filmmakers, and now you, here. See:

http://ca.epodunk.com/profiles/alberta/cowley/2000546.html