Standing just west of Okotoks, the Big Rock formation has played an important role both in the history of the town and as a popular attraction.
The Okotoks Erratic, known as Big Rock, is an 18,200-ton boulder that was transported from the Jasper National Park mountain formations on top of a glacier between 10,000 to 30,000 years ago.
In addition to the scientific history of Big Rock, the indigenous Blackfoot peoples had their own legend to tell of the formation.
Blackfoot elder Stan Knowlton told the version shared by education program specialist Jaime-Brett Sine, at the Okotoks Museum, as his elders and chiefs told it to him when he was a young boy on the Piikani Reserve.
While the Blackfoot legend of Big Rock has many versions, all feature Napi, the supernatural trickster of the Blackfoot.
The legend tells of Napi having cheated someone out of a nice buffalo robe, only for the Sun and Wind to take their revenge on Napi and his tricks.
The Sun makes it so hot that Napi gives the robe to Big Rock. Only after he has given away the robe does Wind begin to blow such cold air that Napi goes back to the Rock to take back the robe.
The Rock refuses to give back the robe, so Napi takes it, assuming the Rock will not be able to follow.
The Rock, however, begins to roll after Napi, across the prairies, coulees and rivers.
Eventually swallows, or bats depending on the speaker, swoop in to help Napi, eventually breaking the Rock in two and stopping it in its tracks at its final resting place just west of Okotoks.
When asked about the different versions, Knowlton shared what his elders told him when he asked the same, that stories are like grass.
“Grass looks like it has a lot of different leaves on it, but when you get to the bottom it’s the meaning that is in the root. As long as you tell a story to the best of your ability, in the end it all comes to mean the same thing,” he said.
While the Blackfoot legend is an oral story to be passed down from elders to the young, the Okotoks Museum currently features it as a text panel.
Sine emphasized the legend was not her history to tell as it belongs to the Blackfoot people, but was able to share the story and education programs around it.
Sine explains that the town itself is named after Big Rock, derived from the word “okatok,” the indigenous Blackfoot peoples word for rock.
“Obviously the Blackfoot people named Okotoks for that rock, so it held great significance in their community,” said Sine.
“Through the years it’s become a bit of a symbol of this area, certainly a landmark, something we’re known by.”
“It’s an interesting protected site for people to go visit, and certainly for tourists.”
Speaking of her education programs relating to Big Rock, Sine says they are a huge success.
“The kids love the story,” said Sine.
“We give the background of the rock, talk about the story according to Blackfoot legend, and then also of course speak about the science of how the rock ended up there.
“So the kids get both versions, and they really connect to that idea of storytelling, it really sparks imagination for them, and it also gets them to think about the world in a different way.
“It’s not directly scientific or factual, it’s more about culture and storytelling, and the history of the indigenous people in the area, and I think that holds significance.”
Museum specialist Kathy Coutts is considering including an audio story-telling component to the museum, in order to tell the story as it was meant.
“The Big Rock is very significant to our community,” said Coutts.
Describing the role of Big Rock to the community, Coutts tells the Blackfoot legend in addition to the science.
“At the museum, we include both the Blackfoot legend and the scientific reason why the Big Rock is there in our exhibits and our programming,” said Coutts.
For both community members who have heard the story already and for newer members who haven’t heard it yet, the legend remains a cherished part of Okotoks history.
