Fonds consists of two series: I. Professional series, ca.1910-1949; II. Professional / personal life series, ca.1896-ca.1967. Professional series contains volumes of textual records, photograph albums and photographs in two sub-series: A. Warden and civil service papers and photographs, and B. Guiā¦
ca.15 cm of textual records. -- 4 photograph albums (ca.360 prints). -- ca.70 photographs : prints, copy negatives, negatives, tintype
History / Biographical
Ulysses LaCasse (or Ulysse; or La Casse), 1888-1972, was a trail guide and national park warden at Lake Louise and Banff, Alberta, Canada. LaCasse came to Banff in 1908 and worked in various cooking jobs including trail cook for surveys and trail outfits. He guided Caroline Hinman's trail riding groups before joining the Canadian Army in Europe and Siberia. LaCasse accompanied Byron Harmon, Soapy Smith and Louis Freeman on their five hundred mile expedition through the Canadian Rockies, 1924. LaCasse was a long-time warden in the Castle Mountain and Lake Louise districts
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of two series: I. Professional series, ca.1910-1949; II. Professional / personal life series, ca.1896-ca.1967. Professional series contains volumes of textual records, photograph albums and photographs in two sub-series: A. Warden and civil service papers and photographs, and B. Guiding and outfitting papers and photographs. Professional / personal life series contains volumes of textual records, as well as photographs, in two sub-series: A. Scrapbooks, and B. Other material.
Textual records consist of warden journals, 1934-1949, and scrapbooks, 1911-1961. Journals record weather conditions, wildlife observations, enforcement, construction and maintenance duties, etc. around Castle Mountain and Lake Louise. Scrapbooks contain correspondence and memoranda, 1929-1948, from LaCasse's civil service career. Textual records also include diary of Mavis Benedict, 1917, kept during Caroline Hinman pack trips; copy of a ski trip diary; and biographical notes on LaCasse, ca.1950. Photograph albums pertain to a Caroline Hinman trip in the Mount Assiniboine area, 1917; Columbia Icefield expedition, 1924; and horse trips in the Canadian Rockies, ca.1925.