Historic Ghost Lake Trail Adds Stoney Nakoda Stories to the Landscape

English and Stoney sit side by side on newly constructed signs along the Morleyville Interpretive Trail, a short walk which brings visitors through the site of a historic pioneer settlement and down to the Bow River. 

For decades, interpretive signs at the historic McDougall Mission site (located near Ghost Lake, about twenty minutes east of Exshaw) focused exclusively on the European families who settled the region in the 1880s, with little mention of the Stoney Nakoda people whose connection to the land predates the site itself, and who were an integral part of the local church, school, and community from the beginning. 

“The signs that were existing were decades old and they did need to be replaced,” said Anna Rebus, the lead project historian. “We took it as an opportunity to update the stories, have beautiful graphics, and incorporate the Stoney language into the new signs.”

At the centre of the project was an advisory group made up of Stoney Nakoda Elders and community members. Known as SAGES (Stoney Advisory Group of Elders and Supporters), the group met regularly with the project team to guide the content.

“We would sit down together, listen, take our time, and just chat,” said Rebus. “The Elders would share stories - what they thought people should read about while walking the site.”

Those conversations shaped everything from the themes of the trail to the final wording on the signs. Many of the panels include direct quotes, resulting in a conversational tone that reflects how the stories were originally shared.

The new signs represent both settler and Indigenous histories side by side without collapsing them into a single narrative. 

“It’s the experiences of the settlers and the experiences of the Stoney through time, and how lives were transformed and communities were transformed,” said Rebus.

The trail, which is less than one kilometre and includes no significant change in elevation, is open to the public every day, and at all times. On specific days, it is also used to host cultural and educational events, which will include a commemorative gathering on September 12, and a breakfast and pipe ceremony on September 30 for Truth and Reconciliation Day.