Columbia Icefields Highway (1946-07) by Andreas FeiningerLIFE Photo Collection
The story of Canada’s oldest national park
Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada boasts some of the world’s most glorious, unspoiled ecosystems. It’s no surprise then that it’s one of Canada’s most popular tourist destinations. Known for its Rocky Mountain peaks, cerulean glacial lakes, and picturesque resort town all topped off with an abundance of wildlife, it’s a sight that’s hard to beat.
Delve into the history of this natural wonder and immerse yourself in some archive imagery of Banff National Park from over 70 years ago, alongside some recent street view captures of the landscape.
In 1885 it was declared as Canada’s first National Park
In 1885, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald decided to set aside a small reserve of 26km2 around the hot springs at Cave and Basin to be a public park known as the Banff Hot Springs Reserve. Under the Rocky Mountains Park Act, on 23 June, 1887 the park was expanded to 674 km2 and named Rocky Mountains Park. This was Canada's first national park, and the third established in North America, after Yellowstone and Mackinac National Parks. The Canadian Pacific Railway built the Banff Springs Hotel and Lake Louise Chalet to attract tourists and increase the number of rail passengers.
Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park (From the collection of LIFE Photo Collection)
The name “Banff” is derived from Banffshire in Scotland
Banff National Park has gone through various name changes over the years. In 1930, after the boundaries of the park were extended under the National Parks Act, the area was renamed Banff National Park.
The Canadian Pacific Railway’s involvement in the park was not only key in the development of Banff, but also in the naming. The original directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway, George Stephen and Donald Smith, were born in Banffshire in Scotland and passed the name along to the station that was built there, and in turn to the park.
Banff is part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site
In 1984, Banff was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the other national and provincial parks that form the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, for its mountain peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, canyons, limestone caves, and fossil beds. With this designation came added obligations for conservation and means over 20,000km2 of the Canadian Rocky Mountains will always be protected.
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Over four million visitors make the pilgrimage to the park every year
The Canadian Pacific Railway helped establish Banff National Park as an attractive tourist destination through the building of hotels and extensive advertising to show off its natural beauty. And it worked! Now over four million people visit the park annually for a variety of activities including hiking, biking, skiing, and camping in one of its 2,468 campsites – all among some of the world’s most breathtaking mountain scenery.
Columbia Icefields Highway (1946-07) by Andreas FeiningerLIFE Photo Collection
Cascade Mountain in the background of main street (From the collection of LIFE Photo Collection)
Lake Louise is the second largest skiing resort in Canada
Lake Louise is a hamlet and home to the landmark Chateau Lake Louise at the water’s edge. It is one of the most visited lakes in the world and during winter it becomes the second largest ski resort with 139 different runs. It’s also home to the Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup, Canada’s most popular alpine ski race.
If skiing isn’t your thing, every year the locals wait for Lake Louise to freeze solid enough to start the skating season. Depending on the temperature, the rink is usually ready for use in the first week of December. It’s rare the lake can be skated on naturally though: the ground crew at the nearby Fairmont Chateau Hotel start measuring the ice thickness near the end of November and once it has reached a certain depth they flood the ice with water until they have created a smooth surface for skating.
By Peter StackpoleLIFE Photo Collection
Lake Louise (From the collection of LIFE Photo Collection)
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The Icefields Parkway took nine years to build
The Icefields Parkway is a 230km-long scenic road that traverses the rugged landscape of the Canadian Rockies, traveling through Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. It is named for the Columbia Icefield, which is visible from the parkway. The road is dotted with more than 100 ancient glaciers, cascading waterfalls, dramatic rock spires, and emerald lakes set in sweeping valleys of thick pine and larch forests.
The building of the road was a public works Depression-relief project, beginning in 1931 and finished in 1940. More than 2,000 unemployed city men did the work but conditions were awful; the men were kept in small camps that resembled forced labour camps, where they earned $5 a month and had to have written permission to leave camp. Surveyors plotted the road daily, just ahead of construction crews and groups worked from opposite ends of each road section and moved toward each other.
Columbia Icefields Highway (1946-07) by Andreas FeiningerLIFE Photo Collection
Icefields Parkway with Cascade Mountain (From the collection of LIFE Photo Collection)
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Moraine Lake was featured on the back of the $20 Canadian banknote
Moraine Lake is a glacially fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) outside the village of Lake Louise. It is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks and from it you can see a scenic vista of the Valley of the Ten Peaks. This picturesque scene was featured on the back of the $20 Canadian banknote, in the 1969-1979 "Scenes of Canada" series.
The lake is fed by a glacier, so doesn’t reach its crest until mid to late June. However, when it is full, it reflects a distinctive shade of blue. This vibrant hue is due to the refraction of light off the rock flour deposited in the lake on a continual basis, which is finely powdered rock formed by glacial erosion.
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