All Hell For A Basement Trivia Quiz

Answer: Medicine Hat

Kipling, the author of classic children's book, "The Jungle Book" (1894) was describing the region's huge underground stores of natural gas. His full quote was "This part of the country seems to have all hell for a basement, and the only trap door appears to be in Medicine Hat." The phrase was used by Big Sugar as the title for their 2001 song, from the album "Brothers And Sisters, Are You Ready?"

Answer: Northwest Territories

Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta gave her name to this newly formed province, as well as to Mount Alberta in Jasper National Park and Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Alberta is the fourth largest province by area, behind Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

Answer: Red Deer

Red Deer is called Red Deer because of a British translation mistake. In the Cree language, the river that flows through the city is called "Waskasoo Seepee", which translates to Elk River, but the British thought the elk were European red deer and so named the river and the new community Red Deer. I guess the real name of the city should be Elk, but it would be a lot of work to change it now, especially as in 2016, Red Deer became the third Albertan city after Calgary and Edmonton with a population in excess of 100,000 people.

The Sports Hall of Fame has many interactive exhibits covering a variety of sports as well as honouring Albertans that have made their mark in over 60 sports.

Answer: Drumheller

Drumheller is a great day out for the family with attractions such as the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, housing Canada's largest collection of dinosaur fossils, the Star Mine Suspension Bridge, the cause of 117 metres (383 feet) of nervous walking, Bleriot Ferry, a seasonal cable ferry across the Red Deer river, and the largest dinosaur in the world, a 26.2 metre (86 feet) tall fibreglass Tyrannosaurus rex that visitors can enter for a view of the Badlands and the many hoodoos in the area.

Answer: Frank

Frank was named after Henry Frank, who with his partner Sam Gebo established coal mines in the base of Turtle Mountain in the Crowsnest Pass. The town quickly grew, to the point where it had a school, a post office and many small businesses. The huge rock slide in 1903 engulfed several of these businesses as well as residential properties, destroyed mining equipment and killed up to 90 people. Within a matter of weeks though, the mine was reopened and the rail line which had also suffered damage in the slide was simply rerouted through the debris. Frank continued to thrive, with a three storey hotel being built and a zoo to entertain visitors, until 1911 when the government, fearing another slide, ordered the closure of the south townsite. Frank very quickly declined and by 1912 the mine had closed followed by many of the businesses.

When driving through Frank today, boulders from the slide are still scattered at roadside and the surrounding area.

Answer: Cold Lake

Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Cold Lake has grown around the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR), which is used as training due to its taiga or boreal forest and large number of lakes in the area. The CLAWR covers 11,700 square kilometres (4517 square miles) and features over 700 targets including mock runways and tanks as well as simulated missile launch sites and command centres.

Answer: Pig

The Lacombe pig is a medium sized meaty pig that was bred by the Canadian Department of Agriculture Research Station at Lacombe after 12 years of selective breeding involving breeds such as Berkshire, Yorkshire, Danish Landrace and Chester White. Lacombe residents are quite proud of their five-way stop intersection, one of the few five-ways in Canada.

Answer: Calgary

The name Calgary is believed to be derived from the Norse for "cold" and "garden", which seem equally suited to both the Scottish and Canadian locations. With regard to the Canadian city, several native bands would like the name changed to reflect the area's past and its importance to native peoples.

In many indigenous languages, the settlement was referred to as "elbow" due to the acute bend made by the Bow river and the Blackfoot name of the City, "Mohkínstsis" meaning "elbow" is acknowledged by the city.

The government of Alberta received an application from the Stoney Nakoda people in 2017 to rename Calgary "Wichispa Oyade" meaning elbow town, but this was challenged by Piikani Nation.

Answer: Fort McMurray

The fire began on May 1st 2016 and spread quickly assisted by record temperatures, dry weather and gusting winds, eventually causing the mandatory evacuation of over 85,000 people in the area. Some of the people initially evacuated had gone to communities such as Anzac and The Fort McMurray First Nation and then found themselves having to evacuated again as the fire spread across northern Alberta and into neighbouring Saskatchewan.

The fire was officially confirmed as extinguished on August 2nd 2017, 15 months after it had started.

Answer: Edmonton

West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is by 2018, only the 23rd largest in the world, but still the largest in North America, covering a gross area of about 490,000 square metres (5,300,000 square feet). It houses around 800 stores, two hotels and attractions including an ice rink, an indoor mini golf course, a water park, a shooting range and Galaxyland, the world's largest indoor amusement park complete with the world's largest indoor roller coaster, "The Mindbender."