La Crête, Alberta
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La Crête is a hamlet in northern Alberta, located in the Municipal District of Mackenzie No.23. La Crête is about 56 km southeast of High Level on Highway 697, or 800 km north of Edmonton, Alberta.
The predominantly Mennonite community had a population of 2,039 in 2003, more than double its 1995 population of 995. La Crête also acts as the hub for more than 5000 rural residents in the area.
The residents of La Crête typically speak both English and German, and most businesses serve customers in both languages, often switching between the two over the course of business.
La Crête has walking trails that were paid for using donations from the residents of the town. La Crête holds a hockey tournament every year known as the Challenge Cup, where teams from all over northern Alberta come to challenge each other in hopes of winning the Challenge Cup. Temperatures can range from 30 degrees Celsius to a chilly −50 degrees Celsius (−58°F). The name La Crête means "rooster's comb" in French, which is how the earliest settlers described the area they settled.
[edit] History
La Crête was first settled in 1914 as La Crête Landing. When the first Mennonites arrived in the 1930s, they settled a short distance southwest of the original settlement on the current site of La Crête. When the first highways were built into the area in the 1960s, the population began to increase as new settlers arrived, and in 1979, La Crête was created into a hamlet.
During the summer months the La Crête Ferry, one of only seven ferries still operating in Alberta, shuttles vehicles across the Peace River on Highway 697 about 70 km southwest of the hamlet. In the winter, an ice bridge is maintained at the same spot. This access connects La Crête to the Mackenzie Highway near Paddle Prairie, offering a considerable time saving when travelling to or from La Crête. During the spring and fall, when the river is unfit for the ferry and the ice too thin to support vehicle traffic, or at other times when the ferry is not operational, travellers must continue north to High Level, then east on Hwy 58 before coming back south to reach La Crête. In the summer of 2006 a sandbar formed in the centre of the river, where the ferry normally crossed, forcing it to travel around it. The sandbar has grown to such a size that the ferry does not always run if the water level is too low.
[edit] References
- La Crête Visitor Map and Business Directory
- Discover the Peace Country—La Crête
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