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Ben Gadd fonds
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions55758
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Scope & Content
- Fonds consists of materials pertaining to Ben Gadd's personal life and career as an environmental researcher, educator, interpretive guide, publisher, public speaker and author, ca.1956-2018. Fonds includes maps, research materials, publication notes/drafts, correspondence, contracts, photographs, …
- Date Range
- 1956-2018
- Reference Code
- M590 / V810 / S61
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- GMD
- Digital image
- Drawing
- Negative
- Newspaper clipping
- Photograph
- Photograph print
- Postcard
- Published record
- Textual record
- Video
- Transparency
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- Fonds Number
- M590
- V810
- Sous-Fonds
- M590
- V810
- Accession Number
- 2021.20
- 2024.01
- Reference Code
- M590 / V810 / S61
- GMD
- Digital image
- Drawing
- Negative
- Newspaper clipping
- Photograph
- Photograph print
- Postcard
- Published record
- Textual record
- Video
- Transparency
- Date Range
- 1956-2018
- Physical Description
- ca. 7.9 metres of textual records -- ca. 274 maps -- 29 VHS tapes -- ca.15 discs with digital files -- 21 cassettes -- photographs -- oversized materials -- USB stick with 15 sldeshows
- History / Biographical
- Ben Gadd (1946-) is a retired naturalist, guide, geologist, instructor, freelance writer and award-winning author based in the Canadian Rockies. Ben was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1946. He met his wife, Cia (Langdon) Gadd at Colorado College in 1965, and the couple married four weeks later. Ben and Cia had two sons, Will and Toby. Ben and his family relocated to Jasper in the late 1960s. Ben later attended the University of Lethbridge and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Earth Science in 1972. Between 1976 and 1980, Ben taught classes at Mount Royal College and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology; he later taught additional classes at Grant MacEwan College and Lakeland College. From 1981, Ben also worked as a seasonal naturalist/guide for Parks Canada. Ben left Parks Canada in 1985 to start an independent naturalist guiding business with Cia based in Jasper and other parts of the Canadian Rockies, which the couple continued to operate for over two decades. Ben published his best-known work, "Handbook of the Canadian Rockies", through his publishing company Corax Press in 1986. The second edition of "Handbook of the Canadian Rockies" received multiple awards after its release in 1995. Ben's fiction book, "Raven's End" won the title of Best Canadian Rockies Book at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival in 2001 and became a Canadian bestseller. Overall, Ben has authored or co-authored 11 books and received nearly one dozen awards for his achievements as a writer, researcher and guide. Ben continued to lead guided hikes and school programs until his retirement in 2016.
- Scope & Content
- Fonds consists of materials pertaining to Ben Gadd's personal life and career as an environmental researcher, educator, interpretive guide, publisher, public speaker and author, ca.1956-2018. Fonds includes maps, research materials, publication notes/drafts, correspondence, contracts, photographs, video and sound recordings, and other related material. Materials donated in 2024 include one USB stick containing
- Notes
- Ben Gadd fonds arrangement: Series I : Personal records - Subseries A : Travel guides and maps - Subseries B : Education and early writings - Subseries C : Personal interest files - Subseries D : Other personal and collected Series II : Research and publication records - Subseries A : Handbook of the Canadian Rockies - Subseries B : Other publications Series III : Professional records - Subseries A : Parks Canada Records - Subseries B : Interpretive guiding - Subseries C : Teaching records - Subseries D : Other contracts and projects Series IV : Legal and financial records - Subseries A : Legal records - Subseries B : Financial records
- Subject Access
- Education
- Research
- Publication
- Environment
- Geology
- Tourism
- Family and personal life
- Personal and Professional Life
- Academics
- Guiding
- Guides
- Businesses
- Finances
- Conservation
- Wildlife
- Natural history
- Sports and recreation
- Geographic Access
- Canada
- Alberta
- Jasper National Park
- Banff National Park
- Yoho National Park
- Kootenay National Park
- Lethbridge
- United States of America
- Colorado
- Canadian Rocky Mountains
- Reproduction Restrictions
- Copyright restrictions apply
- Language
- English
- French
- Dutch
- Title Source
- Title based on contents of fonds
- Processing Status
- Processed / Unprocessed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Jon Whelan fonds
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions57454
- Part Of
- Jon Whelan fonds
- Scope & Content
- Fonds consists of research materials, publications, ephemera, and other materials collected by Jon Whelan. Fonds includes three Canadian Pacific bell boy log books, 1970-1980; five bound scrapbooks with collected newspaper clippings, ca.1880-1890; and collected advertisements and articles pertainin…
- Date Range
- [1880-2022]
- Reference Code
- M595 / V818
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- GMD
- Textual record
- Photograph
- Newspaper clipping
- Published record
- Scrapbook
- Album
- Part Of
- Jon Whelan fonds
- Description Level
- 1 / Fonds
- Fonds Number
- M595
- V818
- Sous-Fonds
- M595
- V818
- Accession Number
- 2022.39
- Reference Code
- M595 / V818
- Date Range
- [1880-2022]
- Physical Description
- 3 bankers boxes
- History / Biographical
- Jon Whelan (1952-2022) was a researcher, historian, and collector based in Banff, Alberta. Jon had a special interest in topics related to Banff National Park and Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Jon conducted independent research, as well as research for various authors and historians, from the 1980s onwards. Jon was also an active participant in municipal politics in Banff. "For most of Jon’s life, he was engaged in community affairs and fearless in voicing an opinion. He was successful in raising public awareness and his tenacity achieved a personal goal, which was to initiate the use of video for regular Town of Banff council meetings. He dedicated himself to the concerns of Banff residents." -Barry Kelly, Rocky Mountain Outlook, July 30, 2022
- Scope & Content
- Fonds consists of research materials, publications, ephemera, and other materials collected by Jon Whelan. Fonds includes three Canadian Pacific bell boy log books, 1970-1980; five bound scrapbooks with collected newspaper clippings, ca.1880-1890; and collected advertisements and articles pertaining to Canadian Pacific, Banff, travel and tourism within Canada, and related subjects.
- Name Access
- Whelan, Jon
- Subject Access
- Research
- Chateau Lake Louise
- Canadian Pacific Railway
- Canadian Pacific Railway Company
- Tourism
- Travel
- Recreation
- Publication
- Newspaper
- History
- Community events
- Reproduction Restrictions
- restrictions may apply
- Language
- English
- Title Source
- Title based on contents of fonds
- Processing Status
- Unprocessed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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The Cave and Basin : Banff's hot springs and the birth of Canada's national parks
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/catalogue25251
- Medium
- Library - Book (including soft-cover and pamphlets)
- Published Date
- 2017
- Author
- Hart, E.J. (Ted)
- Publisher
- Banff, AB : Summerthought Publishing
- Call Number
- 08.3 H11c
1 website
- Author
- Hart, E.J. (Ted)
- Responsibility
- Ted (E.J.) Hart
- Publisher
- Banff, AB : Summerthought Publishing
- Published Date
- 2017
- Physical Description
- 91 pages
- Abstract
- THE CAVE AND BASIN by Ted Hart is the story of mineral springs in Banff National Park that were instrumental to the growth of Banff and formed the nucleus of Canada’s national park system. Authored by renowned historian E.J. (Ted) Hart, Cave and Basin offers background on what is now protected as a national historic site, exploring the story of its discovery and the lives of those involved in its development as a world-famous attraction. It describes these unique and fascinating hot springs and how they became the catalyst for important developments in Canadian history and culture. The book details the story of the springs’ first discovery, their critical place in a government decision to create a reserve to protect them for public use and their development into a tourist location where generations of Canadians and those from around the world came to enjoy their soothing balm. In the process, the springs, and the Cave and Basin particularly, became the epicentre for both the creation and the commemoration of Canada’s national parks. (From publisher's website)
- Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 - Sacred waters of the mountains
- Chapter 2 - Like some fantastic dream
- Chapter 3 - The hot springs investigation
- Chapter 4 - Recuperate the patients and recoup the treasury
- Chapter 5 - As near perfetion as it is possible to make
- Chapter 6 - Walter Painter's wonder
- Chapter 7 - Different guises
- Chapter 8 - Recent times
- Index
- Photo credits
- About the author
- ISBN
- 9781926983271
- Accession Number
- P2020.07
- Call Number
- 08.3 H11c
- Collection
- Archives Library
- URL Notes
- Publisher's website
Websites
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Personal Interest Files
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions55796
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Scope & Content
- Sub-series consists of textual records and photographs collected by Ben Gadd. Content pertains to various research subjects, current events and other topics of interest, including: environmental science; wildlife; sports and recreation; Parks Canada; clubs, charities and organizations; natural hist…
- Date Range
- [ca.1980-2015]
- Reference Code
- M590 / I / C
- V810 / I / C
- Description Level
- 4 / Sub-series
- GMD
- Textual record
- Photograph
- Digital image
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Description Level
- 4 / Sub-series
- Fonds Number
- M590
- V810
- Series
- Series I : Personal records
- Sous-Fonds
- M590
- V810
- Sub-Series
- Subseries C : Personal Interest Files
- Accession Number
- 2021.20
- Reference Code
- M590 / I / C
- V810 / I / C
- Date Range
- [ca.1980-2015]
- Physical Description
- ca.180 cm of textual records -- 5 CDs with digital image files -- 1 floppy disk -- ca.122 photograph prints : b&w and col. -- 2 negatives : b&w ; 6 x 7.5 cm -- 26 film strips : col. negatives ; 35 mm
- Scope & Content
- Sub-series consists of textual records and photographs collected by Ben Gadd. Content pertains to various research subjects, current events and other topics of interest, including: environmental science; wildlife; sports and recreation; Parks Canada; clubs, charities and organizations; natural history; and conservation.
- Notes
- Subjects are arranged alphabetically by title. Original titles and arrangement of materials by Ben Gadd has been preserved. See file-level descriptions for content details.
- Name Access
- Gadd, Ben
- Subject Access
- Animals
- Buildings
- Buildings and facilities
- Businesses
- Boats
- Climbing
- Columbia Icefield
- Community events
- Community life
- Conservation
- Dams
- Environment
- Events
- Forestry
- Fishing
- Flowers
- Government
- Geography
- Geology
- Hiking
- History
- Ice climbing
- Land, settlement and immigration
- Landscapes
- Laws and legislation
- Membership
- Mining
- Mountaineering
- Municipal views
- Natural history
- Natural resources
- Parks Canada
- Politics and government
- Property
- Provincial parks and reserves
- Recreation
- Rivers
- Science and technology
- Settlement
- Skiing
- Snakes, Insects
- Sports
- Tourism
- Townsite development
- Trails
- Transportation
- Travel
- Wildlife
- Geographic Access
- Canada
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- United States of America
- Rocky Mountains
- Canadian Rocky Mountains
- Reproduction Restrictions
- Restrictions may apply
- Language
- English
- Category
- Commerce and industry
- Environment
- Exploration, discovery and travel
- Government
- Land, settlement and immigration
- Law and justice
- Natural resources
- Politics
- Science and technology
- Sports, recreation and leisure
- Transportation
- Title Source
- Original title used
- Processing Status
- Processed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Personal Interest Files - "Maligne Canyon Teahouse" to "Maligne Valley - Not Canyon"
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions55806
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Scope & Content
- File consists of personal interest materials, including newspaper clippings, research articles, loose notes, and other textual records collected by Ben Gadd. Materials are arranged alphabetically by subject title.
- Date Range
- [ca.1980-2015]
- Reference Code
- M590 / I / C / 94 to 100
- Description Level
- 5 / File
- GMD
- Textual record
- Published record
- Newspaper clipping
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Description Level
- 5 / File
- Fonds Number
- M590
- V810
- S61
- Series
- M590 / I : Personal records
- Sous-Fonds
- M590
- Sub-Series
- M590 / I / C : Personal Interest Files
- Accession Number
- 2021.20
- Reference Code
- M590 / I / C / 94 to 100
- Responsibility
- Compiled by Ben Gadd
- Date Range
- [ca.1980-2015]
- Physical Description
- 12 cm of textual records
- Scope & Content
- File consists of personal interest materials, including newspaper clippings, research articles, loose notes, and other textual records collected by Ben Gadd. Materials are arranged alphabetically by subject title.
- Notes
- Contents of individual folders in file: M590 / I / C / 94 : Maligne Canyon Teahouse M590 / I / C / 95 : Maligne Valley Caribou and Maligne Tours M590 / I / C / 96 : Maligne Valley History M590 / I / C / 97 to 99 : Maligne Valley Planning [Files 1 to 3 of 3] M590 / I / C / 100 : Maligne Valley - Not Canyon
- Name Access
- Gadd, Ben
- Subject Access
- Sports and recreation
- Tourism
- Environment
- Businesses
- History
- Natural history
- Landscapes
- Conservation
- Geographic Access
- Canada
- Alberta
- Maligne Canyon
- Maligne Lake
- Jasper National Park
- Reproduction Restrictions
- Restrictions may apply
- Language
- English
- Title Source
- Original title used
- Processing Status
- Processed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Proofs and test pages
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions55985
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Scope & Content
- File consists of sample pages and images from the second edition of Ben Gadd's book, Handbook of the Canadian Rockies. Materials in file were produced prior to the second edition's publication, and include accompanying notes by Ben Gadd.
- Date Range
- 1995
- Reference Code
- M590 / II / A / 85
- Description Level
- 5 / File
- GMD
- Textual record
- Published record
- Part Of
- Ben Gadd fonds
- Description Level
- 5 / File
- Fonds Number
- M590
- V810
- S61
- Series
- M590 / II : Research and publication records
- Sous-Fonds
- M590
- Sub-Series
- M590 / II / A : Handbook of the Canadian Rockies
- Accession Number
- 2021.20
- Reference Code
- M590 / II / A / 85
- Responsibility
- Prodced by Corax Press, Ben Gadd
- Date Range
- 1995
- Physical Description
- 1 cm of textual records
- Scope & Content
- File consists of sample pages and images from the second edition of Ben Gadd's book, Handbook of the Canadian Rockies. Materials in file were produced prior to the second edition's publication, and include accompanying notes by Ben Gadd.
- Name Access
- Gadd, Ben
- Subject Access
- Publication
- Research
- Wildlife
- Animals
- Birds
- Geology
- History
- Environment
- Natural history
- Guiding
- Tourism
- Geographic Access
- Canada
- Alberta
- Jasper
- Canadian Rocky Mountains
- Reproduction Restrictions
- Copyright restrictions apply
- Language
- English
- Category
- Environment
- Title Source
- Original title used
- Processing Status
- Processed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Souvenir travel books and guides
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/descriptions54706
- Part Of
- Luxton family fonds
- Scope & Content
- File consists of 24 textual records including bound books, small booklets and brochures. Content pertains to travel and tourism in the Canadian Rockies, Calgary, Fort Langley, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Montana, and Japan. Includes two "pocket directories" for Vancouver [1899 and 1900] and one for Saska…
- Date Range
- 1899-1900
- [1905-1910]
- 1907
- [1912]
- 1914
- 1919-1920
- [1925-1930]
- 1935
- 1953-1954
- 1957-1958
- [1960-1965]
- 1963
- 1972-1973
- Reference Code
- LUX / II / F1 / 15 to 18
- Description Level
- 5 / File
- GMD
- Textual record
- Published record
- Part Of
- Luxton family fonds
- Description Level
- 5 / File
- Fonds Number
- LUX
- Series
- LUX / II / F : Collected material
- Sous-Fonds
- LUX / II : Eleanor Luxton sous-fonds
- Sub-Series
- LUX / II / F1 : Textual
- Accession Number
- LUX
- Reference Code
- LUX / II / F1 / 15 to 18
- Date Range
- 1899-1900
- [1905-1910]
- 1907
- [1912]
- 1914
- 1919-1920
- [1925-1930]
- 1935
- 1953-1954
- 1957-1958
- [1960-1965]
- 1963
- 1972-1973
- Physical Description
- 9 cm of textual records
- Scope & Content
- File consists of 24 textual records including bound books, small booklets and brochures. Content pertains to travel and tourism in the Canadian Rockies, Calgary, Fort Langley, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Montana, and Japan. Includes two "pocket directories" for Vancouver [1899 and 1900] and one for Saskatoon [1914]; souvenir booklets for Pincher Creek [1900 - 1905], Turner Valley Oil Field [1915 - 1920] and the Canadian Wax Gallery; booklet "Calgary Alberta: The Land of Plenty"; two copies of a Banff National Park guide book [ca. 1912]; "A Sprig of Mountain Heather" tourist booklet by the Department of the Interior, Canada [1914]; "Hippodrome" souvenir book; “Pocket Guide to Japan”; "Westward Honk!" travel publication by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1919) detailing a National Parks road trip across Canada and the United States; two copies of “Pictographs in Southwestern Alberta” information booklet; an information sheet and map of the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve signed by “E. Wakelyn”; a scrapbook of newspaper clippings from The Albertan [1963] pertaining to Calgary; a brochure on Marble Canyon; and two brochures pertaining to interpretive programming in Banff National Park [1972 and 1973 respectively].
- Notes
- Contents have been arranged chronologically and divided into four files (see Content Details).
- ”A Sprig of Mountain Heather” souvenir book contains pressed plant matter
- Name Access
- Luxton, Eleanor
- Subject Access
- Advertising
- Banff National Park
- Camping
- Commerce and industry
- Commercial products
- Ecology
- Environment
- Flowers
- Geography
- Government
- Guiding
- Guide
- Hiking
- History
- Hot Springs
- Industry
- Leisure
- Museums
- Natural history
- Natural resources
- Oil
- Photography
- Recreation
- Tourism
- Tourist information
- Trail guides
- Travel
- The Albertan
- Geographic Access
- Canada
- Alberta
- Banff National Park
- Calgary
- Pincher Creek
- Turner Valley
- British Columbia
- Vancouver
- Marble Canyon
- United States of America
- Montana
- Japan
- Access Restrictions
- Restrictions may apply
- Reproduction Restrictions
- Restrictions may apply
- Language
- English
- Conservation
- “Picturesque Calgary” booklet placed in acid-free envelope due to damage and fragile state
- ”Hippodrome” souvenir book stored in mylar sleeve
- ”A Sprig of Mountain Heather” souvenir book kept in original envelope in file folder. Consider additional storage measures, and handle with caution as attached pressed plant is fragile and may break apart easily
- Category
- Sports, recreation and leisure
- Natural resources
- Government
- Exploration, discovery and travel
- Environment
- Commerce and industry
- Title Source
- Title based on contents of file
- Content Details
- Folder contents: LUX/II/F1/15: 1899 - 1907 LUX/II/F1/16: 1912 - 1914 LUX/II/F1/17: 1914 - 1935 LUX/II/F1/18: 1953 - 1973
- Processing Status
- Processed
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Thumbing a ride : hitchhikers, hostels, and counterculture in Canada
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/catalogue24955
- Medium
- Library - Book (including soft-cover and pamphlets)
- Published Date
- 2018
- Author
- Mahood, Linda
- Publisher
- Vancouver ; Toronto : UBC Press
- Call Number
- 02.4 M11th
1 website
- Author
- Mahood, Linda
- Responsibility
- Linda Mahood
- Publisher
- Vancouver ; Toronto : UBC Press
- Published Date
- 2018
- Physical Description
- Description:xii, 331 pages : illustrations, portraits
- Abstract
- In the 1920s, as a national network of roads and youth hostels spread across Canada, so did the practice of hitchhiking. By the 1960s, the Trans-Canada Highway had become the main thoroughfare for thousands of young baby boomers seeking adventure. Thumbing a Ride examines the rise and fall of hitchhiking in the 1970s, drawing on records from the time. The Trudeau Liberals responded to youth unemployment by subsidizing a network of hostels to make travel an educational adventure, and many equated hitching and hostelling with the freedom to do their own thing. At the same time, a counter-narrative emerged, of girls gone missing and other dangers. Town councillors, community groups, and motorists called for a nationwide clampdown on a transient youth movement that they believed was spreading hippie sensibilities and anti-establishment nomadism. Hitchhiking is a ritual that requires trust, boundary negotiation, and control. Neither the identity of the hitchhiker nor the motives of the motorist can be determined in advance. Linda Mahood unearths good and bad stories and key biographical moments that formed young travellers’ understandings of personal risk, agency, and national identity. Thumbing a Ride asks new questions about hitchhiking as a rite of passage, and about adult interventions that turned a subculture into a pressing moral and social issue. This book will appeal to students and scholars of history, sociology, and social policy. It will also find an appreciative audience among baby boomers who recall the transient youth movement. (from publisher's website)
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Get your Motor Running: Risk, Ritual, and Rite of Passage Travel
- Thumb Wars: Adventure Hitchhiking
- Rucksack Revolution: Quest in the Age of Aquarius
- Cool Aid: The Transient Youth Movement
- Crash Pads: Blue-Jean Bureaucrats versus the Canadian Youth Hostels Association
- Head Out on the Highway: Stories from the Trans-Canada Highway
- Car Sick: Hitchhiking Dos and Don'ts
- Conclusion: The Vanishing Hitchhiker Eulogy
- Notes
- Index
- ISBN
- 978077483733
- Accession Number
- P2019-30
- Call Number
- 02.4 M11th
- Collection
- Archives Library
- URL Notes
- Publisher's website
Websites
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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Banff : park of all seasons
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/catalogue19832
- Medium
- Library - Book (including soft-cover and pamphlets)
- Published Date
- 1980
- Author
- Downs, Art (ed.)
- Publisher
- Surrey (B.C.) : Heritage House
- Call Number
- 13.113 B22d Pam c.3
- Author
- Downs, Art (ed.)
- Responsibility
- Art Downs
- Publisher
- Surrey (B.C.) : Heritage House
- Published Date
- 1980
- Physical Description
- 62p. : ill., ports
- Series
- Frontier series, 10
- Subjects
- Accidents
- Geddes, Malcolm Daniel
- Frank Lloyd Wright Pavilion
- Johnston's Canyon
- Paley
- Skoki
- Elk
- Tourism
- Birds
- History
- Feuz Ernest
- Contents
- hot water from the mountain side
- Banff today
- Wapiti
- Bighorn at Banff
- Gray Jay - friendly symbol of the wilderness
- Notes
- "Fred A. Feuz Salmon Arm" with phone number written on front cover in black ink
- ISBN
- 0-919214-10-X
- Accession Number
- 2019.43
- Call Number
- 13.113 B22d Pam c.3
- Collection
- Archives Library
This material is presented as originally created; it may contain outdated cultural descriptions and
potentially offensive content.
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The Great Glacier and its house : the story of the first center of alpinism in North America, 1885-1925
https://archives.whyte.org/en/permalink/catalogue20180
- Medium
- Library - Book (including soft-cover and pamphlets)
- Published Date
- 1982
- Author
- Putnam, William Lowell
- Publisher
- New York : American Alpine Club
- Call Number
- 01.4 P98t reference
1 website
- Author
- Putnam, William Lowell
- Responsibility
- Willaim Lowell Putnam
- Publisher
- New York : American Alpine Club
- Published Date
- 1982
- Physical Description
- 23 pages : illustrations, portraits, map
- Subjects
- Glacier House
- Illecillewaet Glacier
- Selkirk Mountains
- Railway routes
- Railway stations
- Railways
- Tourism
- Mountaineering
- American Alpine Club
- History
- Abstract
- he hotel is gone and the passenger trains, now rarely on time, go by only once daily. The Great Glacier has all but vanished. The motor traffic on the fast, modern highway sweeps past in ignorance that this deep, half-forgotten, Illecillewaet valley of the Selkirk Mountains, with its dark forests and glittering summits, was the cradle of professional North American mountaineering and, for several decades, the principal Canadian attraction for climbers from three continents. Surely the time has long since passed for someone to tell the story of the early days when geologists, scientists, alpinists, guides, tourists and more than a few of our continent’s empire builders stopped in Glacier, British Columbia to explore, study, climb, earn a modest living, admire the scenery or just rest from their labors. It is most appropriate that William L. Putnam, one of America’s outstanding experts on the Selkirks, should have undertaken the task of writing a history of the area. It is even more appropriate that this history should have been published by The American Alpine Club, whose first president, Professor Charles E. Fay, spent many sunny days over several seasons scaling the region’s unclimbed summits and, as we learn from the text, many rainy weeks in the Old Glacier House where at idle moments he amused himself by analyzing the comments in the hotel’s guest register. The author has labored hard and gone to great lengths to obtain original source material and to check facts. As might be expected, his story begins with the construction of the Canadian Pacific track through Roger’s Pass; without it, the central Selkirks and the outstanding Matterhorn-like crest of Mount Sir Donald would no doubt still be little known and less visited. The absence of dining cars on the early transcontinental express trains, plus the superb view of what was then the awesome Illecillewaet Glacier, led to the building of a small restaurant-hotel by the track some five miles west of the pass. In time that hotel grew to become the Canadian Pacific’s western show-piece. Tourists, scientists, mountaineers and guides arrived in growing numbers. The peaks were measured and climbed, trails were built, caves explored and an electric generator was constructed to light the premises. A pet bear was even provided on the grounds for the entertainment of guests. Then, slowly, the Great Glacier retreated, the railroad was modernized and rerouted through a five-mile tunnel some distance from the hotel, tourists and climbers alike went off to war on the battlefields of France, and the Canadian Pacific shifted its emphasis to its latter-day attraction at Lake Louise in the nearby Rockies. The old hotel was closed, then torn down, and the valley and its glacier almost forgotten. Such is the skeleton of Putnam’s story. But it is far more. Putnam has labored industriously. He has unearthed, and quoted at length, the original on-the-spot observations of the early visitors in the decades between 1890 and 1920. He has recovered ancient photographs, many excellent, to illustrate the stories and anecdotes he recounts. Thanks to his labor of love, those of us who are familiar only with modern mountaineering now have the opportunity to learn what climbing was like in the good old days around the turn of the century. Despite its deceptive scrapbook style, the work is scholarly. It is also highly nostalgic. The author is at his best with the history of the early climbing. One wishes he had personally said more and quoted less—but, then, many of the quotations are memorable. He might also have omitted, or at least modified, the chapter on distant Mount Sir Sandford, for its story, while essential in any broad account of Selkirk climbing, belongs elsewhere and shifts the focus away from the House and the Glacier at the very moment when the reader has become engrossed in both. But these, however, are minor flaws, overshadowed by good research, an entertaining style, excellent history and magnificent illustrations. Samuel H. Goodhue (from American Alpine Club)
- Contents
- Introduction
- The Railroad Track
- The House
- The Tourists
- First Climbers
- Men of Science
- Alpina Americana
- Britannic Majesty
- Canadians at Last
- Some of the Best
- The Last Big Mountain
- The Rest is Silence
- Appendices
- A: The Guides
- B: Place Names in the Central Selkirks
- Bibliography
- Index
- Notes
- Signed by author - addressed to Hans Gmoser
- ISBN
- 0930410130
- Accession Number
- AC637
- Call Number
- 01.4 P98t reference
- Collection
- Archives Library
- URL Notes
- Link to book review on American Alpine Club website
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