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Home > Destinations > Canada > Alberta > Banff

Banff National Park - Canada's Oldest Park

EcoRegion: Montane (Western) Cordillera
Trails of Banff National Park

As Canada’s oldest national park, Banff is known as a place of splendid scenery and endless opportunities for outdoor recreation. At 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 square miles), this park covers a vast area. Long before Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) surveyors arrived, the area around Banff had been visited by local natives, missionaries, and fur traders.

The Stoney Indians were very familiar with this area. They had traveled its valleys for generations before George Simpson made his way into the area. Simpson, known as the “Little Emperor,” was in charge of the Hudson Bay Company and was also one of Canada’s greatest travelers. He passed through this area during a trip around the world and covered countless miles of Canada’s wilderness during his career.

Missionary Robert T. Rundle arrived on the scene in 1847. This Methodist missionary, after whom Mount Rundle is named, did extensive work with the local Indians and may have traveled as far as present-day Lake Louise. Ironically, neither Simpson nor Rundle made any mention of hot springs in the area, yet it would be these warm waters that would eventually spawn development here.

It wasn’t until the railway chugged its way west that development of the springs became inevitable. With this development came more and more people. On a cold morning in November 1883, three workers, Frank McCabe and William and Thomas McCardell, noticed steam rising from the side of Terrace (now Sulphur) Mountain. As they checked out the source of the steam they became the modern discoverers of the Cave and Basin hot springs.

Being good capitalists, they quickly built a small bathhouse and filed
a homestead claim. Unfortunately, homesteads weren’t recognized in the Rockies. They then tried a mineral rights claim. Unfortunately again, mineral springs were not considered a mineral resource. All of this brought the area to the attention of William Pearce, the mine superintendent in Calgary. Upon investigation, he was so impressed that he, along with William Van Horne, general manager of the C.P.R., began to agitate for the creation of a park.

Finally, on November 2, 1885, the Banff Hot Springs Preserve was set aside. It was only 26 square kilometres (10 square miles), but two years later it was enlarged to include present-day Lake Louise and renamed Rocky Mountains Park—Canada’s first national park. It was the third such park in the world behind only Yellowstone in the United States and Royal National Park in Australia.

For more than a hundred years, the hot springs in Banff have attracted untold numbers of visitors to their healing waters. There’s something very soothing about soaking in a pool of water heated by the primordial heat of the Earth’s core. Today, Banff looks very different than it did a hundred years ago. With several million visitors a year making their way through the gates, the connection these pools provide to the early days becomes more and more vital. We need to ensure these landmarks continue to soothe the aches and pains of travelers for many years to come.

Banff National Park Contact Information:

Box 900
Banff, AB
T1L 1K2
Canada

 

Toll Free:
Phone:	(403) 762-1550
Fax:	(403) 762-3380
*TDD:
Email:	banff.vrc@pc.gc.ca
Website:

*TDD = Telecommunications Device for the Deaf

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