topic:"Horses" found 2 records - Research Collections - Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Abstract: Born in the west but raised initially in the east, Dale Portman was eight years old when his family headed back to the land of the Rockies. Growing up in Calgary, he was introduced to the Rocky Mountains at an early age and as a young man eventually found work in Banff National Park, where he spent most of his time in the saddle while working for outfitter Bert Mickle, based out of Skoki Lodge near Lake Louise. Jobs in the local tourist industry and at a couple of ski hills followed. Eventually Dale was drawn to the warden service, doing avalanche control and forecasting in Rogers Pass, with the backcountry of northern Jasper, Yoho National Park and Field, BC, eventually becoming the stage for many memorable, humorous, tragic and life-affirming moments. The Green Horse takes the reader on a journey through a time when our mountain national parks were less touristy and more substantive. When there was space for everyone to enjoy without having to line up and there was a sense of freedom and adventure in the air. (From Rocky Mountain Books website)

Contents: Foreword -- Prologue -- My youth -- Banff and Lake Louise -- Faye and Donny -- A mountain winter and a spring roundup -- Dale and the Mickles -- Lake Louise -- Rogers Pass -- Early Jasper -- Alfie and Ginger -- Jasper tales -- Blue Creek -- Yoho -- Yoho again -- Epilogue.

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Physical Description: 190 pages : illustrations (some color), color map ; 23 cm

Subjects: Ranching; Horses; Government; Warden Service; Parks Canada; Ya Ha Tinda Ranch

Abstract: "An illustrated history celebrating the 100th anniversary of this historic, working horse ranch located along the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies. The story of the Ya Ha Tinda and its evolution into the only continuously operating federal government horse ranch in Canada is much more than the story of the people who worked and lived there. Its ancient history is an amalgam of geological evolution, with archaeological evidence of ancient indigenous people's use of the land for over 9,400 years and a biophysical inventory of flora and fauna unique to this particular landscape. So important is this small footprint, that it has been the source of a constant struggle for control between governments and special interest groups since the early 1900s, when the Brewster Brothers Transfer Company first obtained a grazing lease in the area for raising and breaking horses for their guiding and outfitting business in Banff and Lake Louise. This unique book covers the 100 years since the inception of the ranch: its challenges to survive intact to the 2017 centennial celebration and the stories of the men and women who worked and survived on the spread as they fought the elements and the politics to keep it as a "home place" for both the warden service and Parks Canada."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents: ch. 1 Discovery -- ch. 2 The Golden Years -- ch. 3 An Uncertain Future -- ch. 4 Some Degree of Settlement -- ch. 5 Resolution to an Elusive Future -- ch. 6 The Shifting Scene.

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