Indian stories of remarkable and curative hot springs probably led to
the creation of the Rocky Mountains Park, the oldest and
best-developed of the Dominion's national playgrounds. With
statesmanlike foresight, the Government determined to retain the
springs region in a National Park as a permanent health and pleasure
ground for all the people. In 1889, two hundred and sixty square miles
were thus set aside, and the Park has since been enlarged to eighteen
hundred square miles. It lies on the east slope of the Rockies in
Alberta, adjoining Yoho Park.
The springs rise in Sulphur Mountain, near Banff, the geographic and
chief tourist center. On this mountain-side the Government conducts
public baths. The region is a winter as well as a summer resort.
The Banff district also possesses notable scenery. It has an
invigorating atmosphere and the peaceful serenity of a lovely
mountain valley, with bare, rocky summits and dark, forest slopes.
This was a celebrated Indian hunting-ground, and the legends and
traditions of the aborigines will ever touch it with the spell of
adventure and romance. Here is beautiful Lake Minnewanka. Beyond lies
the strange valley of the Ghost River. It is a limestone cañon, into
which a number of streams fall, but from which none are known to flow.
An undiscovered subterranean outlet is supposed to account for this
phenomenon.
Banff has an excellent Government museum, containing complete
collections of the mountain flora and fauna, also a zoo,
buffalo-corral, and moose-pasture. The town-site is owned and
controlled by the Government, which makes regulations, leases ground,
and issues permits for competitive business.
Laggan, another railway station in the Park, is the center for the
celebrated Lake Louise district. Near are snow-capped peaks standing
thickly together, with countless tumbling streams and leaping
waterfalls.
High among the mountains are exquisite blue or emerald lakes, set like
sparkling gems in the bold surroundings of peaks and glaciers. Chief
of these is the famous Lake Louise.
Brilliant wild flowers in luxuriant profusion and of many varieties
are one of the Park's chief charms. Delicate twin-flowers,
adder's-tongue, false heather, and dainty blossoms of every hue are
included in these wild alpine meadow displays.
A transmountain automobile road from Calgary runs through the Rocky
Mountains Park and into the Yoho Park. Its route includes points of
great scenic interest. This road will be extended to the Pacific.