# Exshaw

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For people named Exshaw, see [Exshaw (surname)](/source/Exshaw_(surname)).

**Exshaw** is a [hamlet](/source/Hamlet_(place)) in [Alberta](/source/Alberta), Canada, within [Municipal District (MD) of Bighorn No. 8](/source/Municipal_District_of_Bighorn_No._8).[1] Located approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of downtown [Calgary](/source/Calgary) and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of [Canmore](/source/Canmore,_Alberta), Exshaw is situated within the [Bow River](/source/Bow_River) valley north of the [Bow River](/source/Bow_River).

The hamlet was once located within Rocky Mountains Park later [Banff National Park](/source/Banff_National_Park), with the original park entrance being only a couple miles east of Exshaw.

## History

Sir [Sanford Fleming](/source/Sanford_Fleming) named Exshaw after his son-in-law, [E. William Exshaw](/source/E._William_Exshaw) (15 February 1866, [Bordeaux](/source/Bordeaux) – 16 March 1927; of Anglo-Irish descent; and [sailing](/source/Sailing_at_the_1900_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_2_to_3_ton) Olympic gold medalist at the Paris 1900 Summer Olympics), who with Fleming helped establish the Western Canada Cement and Coal Company. William Exshaw visited in 1908 when a banquet was held in his honour by the staff of WCC&C.

Robert D. Hassan, an American mechanical engineer, was hired in 1906 to build a mill in Exshaw, Alberta for the Western Canada Cement and Coal Company. He was assisted in building the plant by [Alexander Graham Christie](/source/Alexander_Graham_Christie). In 1911, the plant was acquired by the [Canada Cement Company](/source/Canada_Cement_Company).

Although the original cement plant was further west, the community has had a large plant for many years.

In the 1970s, a portion of Exshaw was demolished – 47 homes, a church, and a school – to make way for expansion of the cement plant.[2]

## Geography

East of Exshaw are smaller [company town](/source/Company_town) communities of Kananaskis (lime plant), which is not the [recreational area](/source/Kananaskis,_Alberta_(community)) of the same name, and [Seebe](/source/Seebe,_Alberta) (power dam), which is now closed but proposed for future residential redevelopment. A small [ranch](/source/Ranch) area, now mainly [dude ranches](/source/Dude_ranch), is also near the hamlet. Of note is the Brewster's Kananaskis Ranch & Golf Course, which sits on the original homestead property of Bud Brewster and has remained in the family's possession since the 1880s.

A number of smaller parks with camping facilities have also developed in the east [Bow Valley](/source/Bow_Valley). Directly across the Bow River south from Exshaw is the Hamlet of Lac des Arcs although no bridge connects the two hamlets.

A dam on the [Bow River](/source/Bow_River) is east of Seebe.

The smaller Exshaw Mountain, 1,783 metres (5,850 feet), is north of the hamlet, and is locally known as [Cougar](/source/Cougar) Mountain. Across from the community south beyond Lac des Arcs is [Heart Mountain](/source/Heart_Mountain_(Alberta)) is easier to scale. This mountain is sometimes used as a wedding venue because of the heart shape.

Exshaw Creek, locally known and identified on the [Highway 1A](/source/Alberta_Highway_1A) bridge as Canyon Creek, runs through the hamlet. In 1958, [Alan McGugan](/source/Alan_McGugan) et al., identified a new species of the [pelecypod](/source/Pelecypod) [*Megalodon*](/source/Megalodon_(bivalve)) in a river cliff of Exshaw Creek and gave the new [specific name](/source/Specific_name_(zoology)) *M. banffensis*, for the proximity of the [Banff](/source/Banff,_Alberta) area.

The eastern portion of the hamlet is on the flood plain for Jura Creek. In 1937, P.S. Warren described outcrops on the banks of Jura Creek, naming these the [Exshaw Formation](/source/Exshaw_Formation). The Jura Creek valley is known to provide a good introduction to some Front Range geology, with the exposed formations including the Palliser ([Devonian](/source/Devonian)), Exshaw and Banff ([Mississippian](/source/Mississippian_age)). The naming of Jura Creek was from misidentified Jurassic fossils, which are actually [Paleozoic](/source/Paleozoic), not [Jurassic](/source/Jurassic).

Grotto Creek, 3 km west, has pictographs, including a possible "fluteplayer" [Kokopelli](/source/Kokopelli) image that may[according to whom?] be from the [Flute Clan](/source/Flute_Clan) of the [Hopi](/source/Hopi) tradition.

The local area is known for wildlife, despite the industrial development. [Duncan MacGillivray](/source/Duncan_McGillivray), with explorer [David Thompson](/source/David_Thompson_(explorer)) on his survey of the Canadian Rockies, first encountered a [bighorn sheep](/source/Bighorn_sheep), near Exshaw, on 30 November 1800, which led to the specimens collected and subsequent scientific naming. Mount MacGillivray, to the west of Heart Mountain, is his namesake.

## Demographics

In the [2021 Census of Population](/source/2021_Canadian_census) conducted by [Statistics Canada](/source/Statistics_Canada), Exshaw had a population of 449 living in 170 of its 185 total private dwellings, a change of 8.98% from its 2016 population of 412. With a land area of 1.55 km2 (0.60 sq mi), it had a population density of in 2021.[3]

As a designated place in the [2016 Census of Population](/source/2016_Canadian_census) conducted by Statistics Canada, Exshaw had a population of 412 living in 164 of its 178 total private dwellings, a change of 13.81% from its 2011 population of 362. With a land area of 1.58 km2 (0.61 sq mi), it had a population density of in 2016.[4]

## Economy

The cement plant, now owned by [Lafarge](/source/Lafarge_(company)) North America, is the main industry in the community. The limestone is quarried on the mountain north of the plant.

A number of other plants and quarries are in the area east and west, such as [Baymag](/source/Baymag)'s [magnesium oxide](/source/Magnesium_oxide) [calcination](/source/Calcination) plant, with technology that minimizes energy consumption,[5] and [Graymont Inc](/source/Graymont_Inc)'s [lime](/source/Lime_(mineral)) and limestone products plant.

Baymag had its 40th anniversary in 2022; it had one year earlier reached a milestone of 150,000 metric [tonnes](/source/Tonne) per annum capacity.[5]

## Administration

Exshaw is the largest hamlet in the M.D. of Bighorn No. 8, which also includes the hamlets of [Benchlands](/source/Benchlands,_Alberta), [Dead Man's Flats](/source/Dead_Man's_Flats,_Alberta), [Harvie Heights](/source/Harvie_Heights,_Alberta) and [Lac des Arcs](/source/Lac_des_Arcs,_Alberta), as well as rural ranchland west of [Cochrane](/source/Cochrane,_Alberta). The M.D. of Bighorn No. 8's [municipal office](/source/List_of_municipal_districts_in_Alberta#Office_locations) is located in Exshaw.

## See also

- [List of communities in Alberta](/source/List_of_communities_in_Alberta)
- [List of designated places in Alberta](/source/List_of_designated_places_in_Alberta)
- [List of hamlets in Alberta](/source/List_of_hamlets_in_Alberta)

## References

1. ["Our History"](https://www.lafargeexshaw.ca/lafarge-exshaw-plant-history). Lafarge. Retrieved September 28, 2024.

1. ["Population and dwelling counts: Canada and designated places"](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=9810001201). [Statistics Canada](/source/Statistics_Canada). February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.

1. ["Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and designated places, 2016 and 2011 censuses – 100% data (Alberta)"](http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/Table.cfm?Lang=Eng&T=1301&SR=1&S=45&O=A&RPP=9999&PR=48&CMA=0#tPopDwell). [Statistics Canada](/source/Statistics_Canada). February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.

1. ["About"](https://www.baymag.com/about/)

## Further reading

- Alexander, Rob, and Dene Cooper. Exshaw: Heart of the Valley. Exshaw, Alta: Exshaw Historical Society Centennial Project, 2005. ISBN 1-55383-093-8
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100825162358/http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/DIY/jura1.htm](https://web.archive.org/web/20100825162358/http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/DIY/jura1.htm)
- McGugan, A. (1960). "A New Species of the Pelecypod *Megalodon* from the Permo-Carboniferous of the Banff Area, Alberta". Journal of Paleontology 34 (1): 101–106.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Exshaw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exshaw) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exshaw?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.