Mountain Cairns: A series on the history and culture of the Canadian Rocky Mountains
Searching for Mary Schäffer
Mary Schäffer was a photographer, writer, botanical painter, and mapmaker from Philadelphia, well known for her travels in the Canadian Rockies and Japan at the turn of the twentieth century. In Searching ...
Conrad Kain
Conrad Kain is a titan amongst climbers in Canada and is well-known in mountaineering circles all over the world. His letters to Amelie Malek-a life-long friend-offer a candid view into the deepest thoughts ...
Climber's Paradise
The mountain parks are for all Canadians for all time and their value cannot be measured in terms of how many access roads, motels, souvenir shops and golf courses we've provided. -Bob Jordan, 1971 The ...
Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park
Adults need playgrounds. In 1907, the Canadian government designated a vast section of the Rocky Mountains as Jasper Forest Park. Tourists now play where Indigenous Peoples once lived, fur traders toiled, ...
This Wild Spirit
In 1912, Mary Vaux, a botanist, glaciologist, painter, and photographer, wrote about her mountain adventures: "A day on the trail, or a scramble over the glacier, or even with a quiet day in camp to get ...
J.B. Harkin
Many of Canada's superb national parks owe their existence to James Bernard Harkin (1875-1955), the first commissioner of Canada's new Dominion Parks Branch in 1911. Ted Hart follows Harkin's career from ...
Mapper of Mountains
Mapper of Mountains follows the career of Dominion Land Surveyor Morrison Parsons Bridgland, who provided the first detailed maps of many regions of the Canadian Rockies. Between 1902 and 1930, this unheralded ...