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The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is
more than simply a grand hotel. Since 1890, it has played
a considerable role in the colorful history of Canada's mountain
West. Here are just a few chapters in that continuing story.
1882 LAKE OF LITTLE FISHES
In the summer of 1882, young
Thomas Wilson was employed
by the Canadian Pacific Railway, packing supplies and equipment for
construction crews for Kicking Horse Pass. One night, while camped
with a group of Stoney Indians, he heard the rumble of avalanches.
Using his limited vocabulary of native words and some sign
language, Wilson learned that the noise was coming from ''snow
mountains above the lake of little fishes.'' The next day, two
Stoney guides took Wilson to the lake on horseback. The first white
man to see what he originally named Emerald Lake was captivated by
the ''blue and green water'' of this gem beneath the glacier. He
sat and gazed, sharing a smoke with his companions. ''As God is my
judge, I never in all my explorations saw such a matchless scene.''
(This Emerald Lake was later renamed Lake Louise in honor of Queen
Victoria's fourth daughter,
Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. Wilson also named nearby
Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. And that's Tom Wilson in the
photo at left, above.)
1890 A SIMPLE BEGINNING
''A hotel for outdoor adventurer and alpinist,'' was the
vision Cornelius Van Horne,
general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, had in mind for the
one-story log cabin constructed on the shore of Lake Louise in
1890. It contained a central area that served as dining room,
office, bar and gathering place, a kitchen and two small bedrooms,
fronted by large windows facing the lake and a verandah. The
original Chalet Lake Louise hosted visitors from different dining
stations along the railway line as well as day visitors from its
elegant sister, the Banff Springs Hotel. While only 50 guests
registered at the chalet in 1890, by 1912, 50,000 guests had already
slept here.
(Through two early fires and four architects, this small, summer
cabin would evolve to become today's Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, a
building which dates back as far as 1911.)
1900s SWISS MIX
Lake Louise is renowned as the birthplace of Canadian
mountaineering. In August 1896, during a small but much publicized
expedition to Mount Lefroy, Phillip
Abbot fell to his death just feet from the summit, becoming
the first man known to have been killed in Canadian mountaineering.
His tragic death sent a shockwave through North America's climbing
community. It also influenced Canadian Pacific to hire their first
two professional Swiss mountain
guides to lead guests safely to the summits of their
dreams.
Between 1899 and 1954, generations of these Swiss mountaineers
taught thousands of visitors and locals to climb and, later, to
ski. Canadian Pacific Swiss guides were responsible for over 250
first ascents in these mountains, most of them in the company of
hotel guests. From fondues to hikes, the Swiss influence on
architecture, cuisine and our guided program of
Mountain Heritage Adventures
can still be felt at the Chateau today.
1920s KINGS & HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY
Right from the start, holidays in Lake Louise have meant
mountain climbing, horseback riding and gazing at stars - both
natural and human. A top location within western Canada's
continuing reputation as ''Hollywood North,'' early movies shot in
Lake Louise include 1928 ''Eternal Love'' starring John Barrymore,
1942 ''Springtime in the Rockies'' with Betty Grable and Carmen
Miranda and 1944 ''Son of Lassie.'' Literally hundreds of stars
have come here for filming or vacationing, including Mary Pickford,
Douglas Fairbanks, Alfred Hitchcock,
Marilyn Monroe, Christopher Reeve, Angie Dickinson and many of the
latest celebs - whose privacy we like to protect. |
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As early as 1912, when the British
Prince of Wales (King Edward VIII, who abdicated) included a hike to
the Lake Agnes Teahouse as a part of his ''morning exercise'' the
Chateau has also welcomed dozens of royals including Prince Rainier
of Monaco, Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Phillip, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, King Hussein
and Queen Noor of Jordan. You never know who you might see on a
stroll around the lake...
1930s LAKE LOUISE DAYS
''I first came to the Chateau Lake Louise in 1926 with my
parents...The interior was spacious and charming with the great
plate glass windows in the lounge which opened onto that marvelous
vista of lake and mountains. It was a friendly place too.
The lake and valley were still in deep
shadow, but the surrounding peaks, all I had climbed, were bathed in
golden, rosy light. I was seized by an indescribable ecstasy,
filled with the joy of conquest. They were all mine - my beautiful,
private world of mountains. Yet at the same time, I felt how
infinitesimal I was. It was an unforgettable experience.''
From a letter by
Georgia Engelhard Cromwell,
niece of famed photographer Arthur Stieglitz and artist Georgia
O'Keefe. A widely published photographer and accomplished
mountaineer, in 1931 Engelhard ascended Mount Victoria at the back
of Lake Louise seven times in nine days, while starring in the film
''She Climbs to Conquer.''
(That's Engelhard on the right in the center photo, above.)
1940s PUTTING THE WAR ON ICE
In April 1943, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten dropped a chunk of
special Lake Louise ice called ''Pykrete'' in British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill's bathtub
at sister hotel the Chateau Frontenac, during the historic Quebec
Conference. Much to the chagrin of Churchill, who was in the bath!
Due to gas rationing and
patriotism, Chateau Lake Louise was closed to the public during
WWII, but scientists from the Universities of Alberta, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba used the lake and some surrounding facilities to
develop the ''Pykrete,' a difficult to break and slow to melt
mixture of wood pulp and ice that was part of plans for a potential
Allied invasion through Northern Europe. ''Project Habbakuk''
involved the creation of floating ice platforms for equipment
transport. What ''Maclean's'' magazine termed ''the weirdest secret
weapon of the war,'' was seriously considered by Churchill and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, but abandoned in favor of other,
faster techniques.
1980s POWDER TO THE PEOPLE
Swiss and Austrian mountain guides introduced Banff and
Lake Louise youth to skiing as early as 1909. The Banff Ski Club
was founded in 1917. And by the early 1920s adventurous Albertans
and their guests were carving the logging trails and flying over
jumps at Tunnel Mountain. Full-scale ski areas at Mount Norquay,
Sunshine Village and Lake Louise were all in operation by the
1930s.
Although they were conceived as summer-only resorts, the Banff
Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise opened for skiers on a trial
basis during the peak winter holiday seasons of the 1970s, breathing
new life into both hotels. A decade later the 1988 Calgary Winter
Olympics would showcase Banff National Park's ski resorts to the
world. Today, this hotel is one of the highlights of the
international ski circuit, hosting the
Lake Louise World Cup
racers each November, and welcoming eager skiers, snowboarders and
winter sport enthusiasts from as close as Calgary and the United
States and as far away as Great Britain, Australia and Japan. |
