<P> Started as a railroad town, today Medicine Hat is served by the Trans - Canada Highway (Highway 1) and the eastern terminus of the Crowsnest Highway (Highway 3). Nearby communities considered part of the Medicine Hat area include the Town of Redcliff (abutting the city's northwest boundary) and the hamlets of Desert Blume, Dunmore, Irvine, Seven Persons, and Veinerville . The Cypress Hills (including Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park) is a relatively short distance (by car) to the southeast of the city . </P> <P> Historically, Medicine Hat has been known for its large natural gas fields, being immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as having "all hell for a basement". Because of these reserves, the city is known as "The Gas City". </P> <P> The name "Medicine Hat" is the English translation of Saamis (SA - MUS)--the Blackfoot word for the eagle tail feather headdress worn by medicine men--or "Medicine Hat". Several legends are associated with the name of a mythical mer - man river serpent named Soy - yee - daa - bee--the Creator--who appeared to a hunter and instructed him to sacrifice his wife to get mystical powers which were manifest in a special hat . Another legend tells of a battle long ago between the Blackfoot and the Cree in which a retreating Cree "Medicine Man" lost his headdress in the South Saskatchewan River . </P> <P> A number of natural factors have always made Medicine Hat a gathering place . The gently sloping valley with its converging waterways and hardy native cottonwood trees attracted both the migratory bison herds which passed through the area, and humans who used the waterways and hunted the bison . Before Europeans arrived, the historic Blackfoot, Cree and Assiniboine nations used the area for hundreds of years, but they had been preceded for thousands of years by previous indigenous cultures . </P>

Where does the name medicine hat come from
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