Dead Man's Flats

History

A variety of explanations account for the origin of the hamlet's name. One explanation associates it with a murder which took place in 1904 at a dairy farm situated on the flats of the Bow River. Francois Marret stood trial in Calgary for killing his brother Jean, whose body he had disposed of in the Bow River, but the jury acquitted him by reason of insanity. Another account states that two or three First Nations people who were trapping beaver in violation of colonial game regulations noticed a warden approaching in the distance. Knowing that they did not have time to flee without being spotted, they smeared themselves with beaver blood and pretended to be dead. The warden, fooled by their deception, ran for help. Meanwhile, the trappers took their beaver pelts and escaped. This account is regarded as dubious; for example, no known description of this incident appears in the official wardens' reports. However, the phrase "Dead Man's flat" (lower-case "f" without the plural "s" at the end) is used in the August 25th, 1924 edition of the Calgary Herald. In an article that describes some recent events in Canmore it is stated that "A party of Canmore boys...returned last week from a seven days' outing at Dead Man's flat." They went on the outing for the purpose of fishing. From 1974 to 1985 the hamlet was officially called Pigeon Mountain Service Centre, but it changed its name to Dead Man's Flats in 1985 to encourage tourism. The new name had been unofficially used to designate the hamlet for several decades prior. There is a CSA-standard playground in the River's Bend subdivision. The community sets up and maintains a temporary outdoor ice surface during winter in River's Bend. An asphalt-surfaced trail runs along the south and west boundaries of Pigeon Creek…

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,534
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  4,229
• Mountain Chickadee

  Poecile gambeli (Ridgway, 1886) · Aves
  4,140
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  3,900
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,223
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,949
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,853
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,561

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2025-01-26
  58 km NNW of Banff, Canada
• M 2.7 — 2023-06-07
  16 km NNW of Elkford, Canada
• M 4.1 — 2021-02-14
  5 km N of Banff, Canada
• M 3.3 — 2017-05-23
  23 km NNW of Elkford, Canada
• M 3.1 — 2014-10-16
  1 km SW of Banff, Canada
• M 2.9 — 2011-04-10
  16 km SE of Invermere, Canada