Dorothy
Ghost Towns of the Canadian Badlands
The village of Dorothy, which never grew beyond 100 residents,
is considered one of Alberta’s classic pioneer communities,
serving as a popular social centre in the first half of the 20th
century in the heart of the province’s famed Badlands
Country. Dorothy is located about 15 miles southeast of Drumheller
in a flat valley bottom. A few years after the turn of the 20th
century, Percy McBeth, a store keeper living in the immediate area,
applied to have a post office and wanted to name the site
Percyville. However, the district post office inspector decided
instead to name the site Dorothy, after the daughter of Jack
Wilson, and early rancher who first arrived in the area in 1900.
The Dorothy post office officially opened in 1908.The hamlet grew
modestly and enjoyed its greatest prosperity in the late 1920s,
shortly after a railway line was built through the area. At one
time the village had three elevators, the Alberta Wheat Pool, the
Alberta Pacific and the United Grain Growers, a grocery store, a
butcher shop, pool room, telephone office, restaurant and a machine
agency. A school was opened in 1937 and lasted in the hamlet until
1960. The village also supported two churches — a United
Church from 1932 to 1961 and a Roman Catholic church from 1944 to
1967. The town is featured in the Tom Cochrane, Life is a Highway
music video.
The photo of the main banner for the Best of the Bad Mega Event
was taken at this location. The photo was reversed so that the
Dinosaur Event image would cover the bridge
This cache is part of the Legacy Trail produced by the Canadian
Badlands Geocaching Association for the Best of the Bad Mega
Event.
The Legacy Trail
The Legacy Trail is a collection of geocaches that circles its
way over 100 miles on country roads traversing some of the most
scenic and spectacular landscape in this part of the Canadian
Badlands. A large number of caches in a variety of types, sizes and
difficulty are placed on the Trail. Every town, village and hamlet
in the Canadian Badlands has its own cache. Some caches were named
after local historic events and people, as well as celebrities who
grew up in this area. Some caches were sponsored by geocachers who
attended the Best of the Bad Mega Event. The Legacy Trail was
produced by the Canadian Badlands Geocaching Association for the
Best of the Bad Mega Event.
The Canadian Badlands
The Canadian Badlands in Alberta are like no other place on
earth, home to the world's most extensive dinosaur bonebeds,
badlands and hoodoos, and a world-class museum that shelters a 75
million-year-old legacy. The region is rich in culturally and
historically significant sites that tell the story of the First
Nations people and early settlers, and of a complex and diverse
modern society that is still deeply rooted in the spirit of the
frontier.
