'Two years of fun': Historian Harry Sanders talks new book on stories behind Alberta's placenames

Historian Harry Sanders talks 'Abee to Zama City' Every placename in Alberta has a story behind it and Calgary historian Harry Sanders tells those stories in his new book.

"It was two years of fun."

Calgary historian Harry Sanders has an uncontained enthusiasm for his subject and is sharing it with readers in his new book, Abee to Zama City: How Alberta's Cities, Towns, Villages and Hamlets Got Their Names.

"You can't make it up. I'm confined by the known facts and if I know the facts, I'm free to zip around and construct a narrative and find the connections. It's like painting a painting or writing a song in my head," Sanders told CTV News.

Not only has Sanders zeroed in on some of the quirky origins of remote Alberta communities, he's written about the roots of the province's big cities.

Fort Calgary at one point was Fort Brisebois, named after the Northwest Mounted Police commander there.

"He was unpopular among the men and he was in the wrong political party at the time, so they ousted him," said Sanders.

Colonel James MacLeod took over and named the fort after a community in Scotland.