Canada's beautiful Banff has history of 'importing tourists'

In the olden days, especially on the frontier, hot baths were not all that easy to come by. So, if you happened on a place where you could soak your bones in a natural hot springs you weren't anxious to let it go.

That's how Banff, Canada's oldest National Park, got its start.

The hot springs at what is now Cave and Basic National Historic Site had probably been known for centuries, as first native tribes and later gold prospectors moved through the area.

But when railroad workers building the line through the Canadian wilderness found them in 1883, they filed a claim. "Wait," said other folks who knew about the springs, "you can't claim them; we knew about them first." And so there were claims and counter claims — and one, big, hot, bubbly mess.

The government stepped in. Hot water may seem like liquid gold, it said, but that doesn't mean hot springs could be claimed like they were gold mines.

In 1885, the government decided that the hot springs and the surrounding area should be set aside as a preserve for the good of all.

In 1886, more land was added to the preserve, and a year later the Rocky Mountains Park was created. Land was again added in 1892, when the area around Lake Louise was tacked on.

These were the days of railroad resorts, when far-flung destinations that could be reached by railroad had a great deal of appeal to the well-heeled set. And the Canadian Pacific Railroad, which was building a line through the Rockies in order to connect the country, saw a great deal of potential in the ruggedly breathtaking views in the area.

"Since we can't export the scenery, we'll have to import the tourists," CPR vice president and general manager William Cornelius Van Horne was noted as saying.

The CPR began to build what is now famous as the Banff Springs Hotel in 1886. The story is told that Van Horne visited the construction site and discovered that the plans for the hotel had somehow gotten turned around, and the hotel was being build backwards — with the kitchens overlooking the rivers and the guest rooms viewing the forest. Luckily, he was in time to correct the problem.

When the hotel, built in the area known simply as Siding 29, was completed in 1888, tourists could stay there for $3.50 a day. A town grew up in the area surrounding the resort, and that's how Banff came to have the only self-governing town inside a Canadian National Park.

The name Banff, by the way, didn't come until 1930, when it was suggested as a way to honor the CPR's first President, George Stephen, who had been born in Banffshire, Scotland. In 1984, Banff was named a United Nations Heritage Site.

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