Mining and Tourist Towns in the Canadian Rockies

Abstract

T nHE Canadian Pacific Railway follows Bow River into the Rocky Mountains, the easternmost member of the North American Cordillera. Along its route stand two towns, Canmore and Banff, surprisingly large for such a remote, mountainous region, and between which there is no more interesting contrast in the geography of all Al berta. The two towns lie but thirteen miles apart (Figure 1), or twenty minutes by train or motor. Their climates are almost identical and the main features of their landscapes are alike. Both towns are built, for the most part, on the flat floor of the Bow Valley (Figures 5 and 8), and are surrounded by mountains of gray limestone. The one significant difference in the natural landscapes is that coal occurs at Canmore while at Banif there are hot springs. From a distance, the two towns look not unlike. Both have checkerboard down-town sections, the outlying residences trailing off in shoestrings (Figures 2 and 7). Small houses, half-hidden by evergreen trees, are the rule. Both towns lie near the river, at a little distance from the railway. In both cases a bridge spans the river and leads to buildings on the mountain slopes beyond. Even from a distance, certain differences can be noted. There are more large buildings in down-town Banff and a number of them are of brick (Figures 3 and 8). The Banff railway station is a long, substantial, stone and plaster structure, in contrast to the small, red, standardized frame station at Canmore. To the south, about a mile from Banff, towers a castle of dark gray stonethe Banff Springs Hotel. In a somewhat analogous location in respect to