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Though MEDICINE HAT is barely a hundred years old, the origin of its wonderful name has already been confused. The most likely story has to do with a Cree medicine man who lost his headdress while fleeing a battle with the Blackfoot; his followers lost heart at the omen, surrendered, and were promptly massacred. These days you rarely see the town mentioned without the adage that it "has all hell for a basement", a quotation from Rudyard Kipling coined in response to the huge reserves of natural gas that lurk below the town. Discovered by railway engineers drilling for water in 1883, the gas fields now feed a flourishing petrochemical industry which blots the otherwise park-studded downtown area on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. Medicine Hat may claim that its 1440 hours of summer sunshine make it Canada's sunniest city, but its main function is as a major staging post on the Trans-Canada Highway. The world's tallest tepee (twenty storeys tall and actually made of metal), on the highway close to the visitor centre, and the nightmare Riverside Waterslide at Hwy 1 and Powerhouse Road (mid-May to early Sept daily 10am-8pm; $12.50; tel 529-6218) are the only attractions of note. If you're pulling off the road for a break, the best place for coffee and snacks is Cafe Mundo , 579 3rd St SE (tel 528-2808); for lunch try Caroline's , 101 4th Ave SE (tel 529-5300); and for novelty "Wild West" setting the place to go is the historic Rustler's , 901 8th St SW (tel 526-8004), one of the town's oldest restaurants. The least expensive of the many motels is the Bel-Aire , 633 14th St (tel 527-4421; up to $40), conveniently situated at the junction of the Trans-Canada and Hwy 3, though the Best Western Inn , on the Trans-Canada at 722 Redcliff Drive (tel 527-3700 or 1-800/528-1234; $100-125), is more appealing if around three times the price. The best place around is the smart and comfortable Medicine Hat Lodge , 1051 Ross Glen Drive (tel 529-2222 or 1-800/661-8095, www.medhatlodge.com ; $100-125). The main downtown accommodation is the Medicine Hat Inn Downtown , 530 4th St SE (tel 526-1313 or 1-800/730-3887; $60-80).
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