Medalta is the heart of Medicine Hat's "Historic Clay District," a few blocks of brick factories that exploited the same natural gas reserves Kipling joked about — gas-fired kilns turned local clay into stoneware crocks, table china and industrial insulators from 1916 until the 1950s. The site is now a National Historic Site, with the original beehive kilns, the production halls, and the office buildings preserved.
What makes Medalta worth a couple of hours is that it works as more than a static museum. There are studios for resident artists, demonstrations in the old factory hall, a contemporary ceramics gallery, and seasonal workshops where you can throw your own pot. The interpretive panels are thorough on the technical side — how to fire a beehive kiln, what the gas wells looked like — and on the labour history.
Combine with a walk along the South Saskatchewan River; the clay district sits in the river bottom, with paths leading back up to downtown.