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Paint Pots, natural ochre beds in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada.

Historically, humans have mined the Paint Pots, natural ochre beds in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada. The Paint Pots formed by the accumulation of iron oxide around the outlets of three cold mineral springs. The Ktunaxa (formerly Kootenay), Stoney, and Blackfoot tribes collected ochre here for important ceremonies and trade. The yellow ochre was cleaned, kneaded with water into walnut sized balls, then flattened into cakes and baked. The red powder was mixed with fish oil or animal grease to paint their bodies, tipis, clothing or pictures on the rocks. In the early 1900s, Europeans hand-dug and sacked the ochre for hauling 24 kilometers via horse-drawn wagons to the Canadian Pacific Railway line at present-day Castle Mountain, where it was shipped by train to Calgary and became a pigment base for paint.

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Filename
1807CAN-464.jpg
Copyright
© Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
Image Size
5472x3648 / 8.9MB
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Contained in galleries
Highlights 2018, 2018 Jul 13-27: CANADA all, CANADA: Jasper, Banff, Yoho, Kootenay: Rockies, CANADA: mountain park favorites
Historically, humans have mined the Paint Pots, natural ochre beds in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada. The Paint Pots formed by the accumulation of iron oxide around the outlets of three cold mineral springs. The Ktunaxa (formerly Kootenay), Stoney, and Blackfoot tribes collected ochre here for important ceremonies and trade. The yellow ochre was cleaned, kneaded with water into walnut sized balls, then flattened into cakes and baked. The red powder was mixed with fish oil or animal grease to paint their bodies, tipis, clothing or pictures on the rocks. In the early 1900s, Europeans hand-dug and sacked the ochre for hauling 24 kilometers via horse-drawn wagons to the Canadian Pacific Railway line at present-day Castle Mountain, where it was shipped by train to Calgary and became a pigment base for paint.
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