# The Selkirk Mountains/Chapter 1

CHAPTER I. THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF CANADA.
The Canadian Rocky Mountain system, covering an area of 200,000 square miles, extends from the Eastern Foothills to the Pacific Coast, 600 miles, and from the 49th parallel towards the Arctic, 1,000 miles, about as far north as a man can win. It is part of the North American Cordilleras and is subdivided into four great ranges: the Rockies, the Selkirks, the Gold, and the Pacific Coast Ranges. Of these, the Rockies and the Selkirks are the greatest. Within all this vast mountain region are resources to sustain a large population—agriculture, forests, mines, fisheries; resources of health—mineral springs, remote valleys without number where tents or chalets may be set up and where transportation is by broncho and pack-train; resources of sport—hunting, fishing, mountaineering.
The early history of the Canadian Rocky Mountains holds stories, written in reliable journals, of high and hardy and desperate adventure—adventure as dangerous as any story of any Norseman of old. All the earliest explorers were fur traders, and the oldest human landmarks in the Rocky Mountains were their trading posts. The wonder to us who travel by the splendid highway chosen by the Canadian Pacific Railway is that for well nigh a century after Sir Alexander MacKenzie in 179.3 crossed the Great Divide beyond the sources of the Peace River, no way was known from eastern foot-hills to western slopes except those paths discovered north and discovered south. Even in the middle of the century following, when Simpson and Palliser and Hector, penetrating the Rockies from the east, reached the Bow River in the vicinity of the present village of Banff, they did not seem curious to follow the wide valley upward, but turned south following Indian trails, one towards Simpson Pass, one towards Kananaskis Pass, and another towards Vermilion Pass each his own discovery. When Hector discovered the Kicking Horse River, he was beyond the Great Divide, having followed the route he found to the south of the beautiful glacier-bearing region lying about Lake Louise that forms a group of the Summit Range.
Before ever a white man saw the Rockies, the Indians had called them the Shining Mountains, and afterwards the Stony Mountains. The first white men to look upon them and to stand within their shadow were French Canadians, though it is an anachronism to call them so. On New Year's Day. 174.3, Francis and Pierre, two sons of De la Verendrye, a French nobleman born at Three Rivers in 1686, saw the grey skyline of the Bighorn Mountains, south of the parallel of latitude one day to mark the international boundary. Two weeks later Pierre was at the foot of the main range, eager to cross it and seek beyond, the western sea: but. owing to the defection of his Indian guides he was compelled to retrace his steps towards the Assiniboine River from which he had set out. It had been the elder De la Verendrye's purpose to find the fabled narrow sea supposed to separate the valley of the Great Forked River (the Mississippi) and China. A soldier who had fought in the New World and in the Old, he had returned to New France filled with a passion for discovery, bent on adding new territory to the French Crown. Disasters stopped his discoveries ere reaching the Rockies, but he was ​first to explore the Valley of the Assiniboine and to visit the Missouri plains north. There was, therefore, poetic destiny in the discovery by his two brave sons, one of them coming into the very foothills.
Exactly half a century later, MacKenzie, the Scotsman, treading down dangers of savage nature and savage men linked together against him, was the first white man to cross the Rocky Mountains, reaching the Pacific Ocean on July 22nd, 1793, at a place on the Coast in the region of Prince Rupert, the modern transmontane terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Had commerce but consulted the stars, this town would have been called by his name. Poetic justice in nomenclature is due to the great pathfinders; and a city named MacKenzie was his due who made the first overland journey across the Continent from Ocean to Ocean, just as the name MacKenzie River was his who first navigated its waters to the Arctic Sea.
Among others to follow in the interests of the fur-trading companies of that time were Simon Fraser, who discovered the Fraser River in 1809; David Thompson, who discovered Howse Pass; and Ross Cox, who ascended the Columbia in 1817 and crossed the Athabasca Pass. Ten years later came David Douglas, the first explorer in the sole interest of science. He was a botanist and his name is perpetuated in the Douglas fir tree, and not in Mount Douglas that giant north of Laggan that so long defied the hardiest climbers. Douglas reached Athabasca Pass in 1827 and halted to exploit two mountains on either side which he named Mt. Brown and Mt. Hooker and to which he gave the fabulous and long credited altitudes of 16,000 and 17,000 ft. When measured by Professor Coleman in 1892 these high figures were reduced to some 9,000 and 10,000 feet respectively. Between them lies a lakelet about 20 feet in diameter, which Douglas's party judged to be 20 yards across and named the 'Committee's Punch Bowl." And who could expect sober arithmetic over that appellation? The name remains to this day.
The next eminent pathfinder, one of the Fur Traders, came in 1841, travelling with a cavalcale of forty-five horses strength and making speedy and luxurious progress. This was Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who entered the Rockies through the defile now called Devil's Gap, north of the Gap entered by the C. P. Railway. Piloted by Peechee, a Cree Chief, this imposing company followed an Indian trail through the forest stopping by a large and beautiful lake set in high mountains which Simpson named Peechee. This is our Lake Minnewanka, a favorite haunt of tourists: and Peechee's memory lives in the name of an overlooking mountain. Could we know the exact spot of this historic camp, some memorial of native stone would be a grateful remembrance. Simpson's progress to the Bow River across the Cascade River and up the valley past Cascade Mountain and admiring the stream issuing from its side and falling like a silver ribbon to its foot, is a pretty story. Goat and sheep were clambering about the mountains. They camped on the right bank of the Bow, horses and all crossing on a raft covered with willows. Instead of ascending the Bow valley, Simpson turned south by Healey's Creek, ascending the tributary valley and traversing the Pass which received ​his name, and so crossed the watershed and pushed on towards the Columbia and the Kootenay.
The next notable traveller came in 1845, crossing the watershed of White Man's Pass south of Mt. Assiniboine. It was Father De Smet, the Jesuit Missionary journeying from his Missions recently established in the Kootenay Valley, to minister also to the spiritual needs of the Indians along the eastern foothills of the Rockies. On the summit of White Man's Pass he set up a wooden cross which he called the "Cross of Peace." When the late Dr. G. M. Dawson eplored the Pass, an Indian showed him the spot where the cross had once stood. This is the circumstantial evidence to prove De Smet's route eastward, his book "Oregon Missions and Travels over the Rocky Mountains 1845-6" giving no records of the route travelled. But there seems to be no doubt that from White Man's Pass De Smet descended the little Spray River to the Bow Valley on his way to the encampment of Assiniboines at a place in the foothills near the present village of Morley, the headquarters of the Methodist Mission. De Smet spent sometime at this place preaching and baptising, then journeying north to the Hudson's Bay Post at Edmonton where he continued his missionary labours until spring, recrossing the mountains via the Athabasca Pass. This is the only transmontane journey for religion's sake in the early history of the Canadian Rockies.
And now, in 1846, the year of the Jesuit Father's return, there came a traveller for art's sake who made a round journey, as thrilling and as picturesque as any in the history of the Canadian Mountains. Paul Kane, who is to Canada what George Catlin is to the United States, travelled in that year from Toronto to Fort Vancouver, a post of the Hudson's Bay Co. on the Columbia River, 100 miles from its outer ocean-bar. His object was to record in paint what the pioneers recorded in ink; and he carried back with him over 300 oil sketches of the Indians and Indian life, of the buffalo, of Hudson's Bay trading posts, and many a bit of landscape besides.
In 1858 came several exploring parties belonging to Captain Palliser's expedition sent out by the British Government to find one or more practicable passes south of the pass between Mt. Brown and Mt. Hooker (Athabasca Pass) over the Rocky mountains. In other words, it was to search for some shortest and easiest route for a possible railway. Palliser's official journal contains in detail the story of these most important explorations, and there is not one dull page in it. But it is a very scarce book. The most lucid synopsis in any modern book found by the writer is in "The Selkirk Range."
By far the most interesting and most fruitful discoveries were made by that section of the expedition led by Dr. James Hector, the geologist. Hector ascended the Bow Valley passing Cascade Mt., called by the Indians "the place where the water falls," to Castle Mt. where he crossed the Bow, turned south and followed a stream (Little Vermillion Creek) to the height of land, Vermillion Pass; descended Vermillion River to its junction with the Kootenay, turned north towards the Kootenay's headwaters; and portaged to the Beaverfoot River which he followed to its confluence with the ​kicking Horse. This important river of his discovery he so named from a serious accident of that kind to himself at the time and the place. Various legends obtain concerning the origin of this curious name, but Hector tells how he was laid up by a kick from one of the pack-horses, and how hunger alone spurred him on after one day's delay. Now turning eastward he ascended the Kicking Horse Valley, crossing the Great Divide to the Bow Valley scarcely 25 miles west of his halting place at Castle Mountain while travelling westward. He had come a long way round but he had discovered that high wide pass where a granite monument now stands to his memory.
The next year, starting from Old Bow Fort at the eastern Wall of the Rockies, Hector followed the Bow River to Pipestone Creek which he explored, crossing Pipestone Pass to the Siffleur River and on to the North Saskatchewan; then across Howse Pass to the Blaeberry River, proceeding to the Columbia Valley. It is interesting to note in Hector's reports which are incorporated in Palliser's Journals, that so early as 1858 the following well known mountains were already named: Ball, Goodsir, Vaux, Lefroy, Balfour, Forbes.
The year following Hector's second traverse of the lower Bow Valley, Lord Southesk and his party travelled that way and passed the site of his camp, reading the inscription on a tree: "Exploring Expedition, August 23, 1859. Dr. Hector." His name is now affixed to a mountain, a lake and a station. It is a place-name familiar to all visitors; also Palliser's and that of M. Bourgeau who was the botanist of the Expedition and for whom Bourgeau Mountain is named. Bourgeau secured a valuable collection of alpine plants. Dr. Hector received a knighthood for his services to geographical and geological science. He revisited the Rockies in later years and died in New Zealand
The next notable expedition to cross the Rockies was one led by Viscount Milton and Dr. Cheadle in 1862. They entered by way of Jasper House and the Athabasca River but crossed the Divide over the Yellow Head Pass some 60 miles north of the Athabasca Pass. The object of their expedition was to find a direct route by British territory to the far-famed goldfields of Caribou in the heart of the British Columbian mountains. Their book makes interesting reading to-day when these wide northern valleys are being so successfully exploited. Other travellers penetrated the fastnesses of the Rockies, but no outstanding journeys were made until the movement was on foot for the first Canadian Transcontinental railway.
THE SELKIRKS.
Geographical Position: The Selkirk Mountains, noted for splendour of alpine scenery, form a section of the Canadian Rocky Mountains belonging to the great North American Cordilleras, which stretch from Mexico to the Arctic Ocean.
The Selkirks themselves constitute an immense mountain system over 300 miles long, of interlocking ranges some 400 miles inland from the Pacific Coast. They are richly forested, vegetation being almost tropical in its rank growth, and bear innumerable ​snowfields and glaciers. They are ages older than the eastern or higher range and were once the crest of the chain "rearing their serrated and snow-capped summits above the prehistoric ocean when their neighbours, the Rockies, were as yet unborn beneath its ice-bound bosom." When in the long geologic processes of fires and earthquakes and floods that went to the making of this planet, the giant ages upheaved the enormous chain of mountains which forms the main range, and shifted the continental divide eastward, they "relegated the Selkirks to a subordinate position and left only their older archaean formation to tell the tale." (A. O. Wheeler's "Selkirk Range.") Geology, says Tennyson, is a terrible muse, singing of past aeons when the earth was "manless and forlorn." Yet in rock and soil she tells a wonderful story. In these Selkirks, the witness of mountain and valley and of a mighty encompassing river, is a testimony written on rock and soil and flood in aeonian terms—"Aeonian music measuring out the steps of Time." Persons interested in Geology will find the Selkirks a rare and delightful play-ground for investigation. There is no geological field in the world providing more enchanting scenery, more charming excursions.
The Selkirks occupy the loop made by the Columbia River in the first 600 miles of its course. Rising in Columbia Lake over 100 miles south of the Railway, the river flows north some 300 miles, when, not far from Athabasca Pass, the historical portage of the early fur-traders, it turns again, making the "Big Bend" and, 300 miles south, joins the Kootenay which forms the southern portion of the Eastern boundary and the whole of the southern. Though the extent of the Selkirk Range below the 49th parallel is a matter of doubt, it is generally assumed that either wholly or partially, the Kootenay River defines the southern limit.
The Columbia is one of the longest rivers in the world. After finally leaving the Selkirks, it still flows 800 miles to the ocean. Its relation to the Kootenay is a geographical phenomenon attracting the interest of all visitors to the upper Columbia Valley where both rivers have their sources. The Kootenay rises in a small lake on the western flank of the Rockies some miles south of the source of the Columbia, and the rivers, almost parallel during the first part of their journey, flow in opposite directions. An almost level plain, a mile and a quarter wide, separates them near Columbia Lake. Indeed the two rivers are here joined by a canal, now unused. This strange trick of nature is accounted for by a tilt in the mountain range. Far south in Idaho, the Kootenay makes a curve similar to the Columbia's far northern bend and both rivers meet and mingle near the international boundary at Arrow Lakes. Therefore, the Selkirks are practically a huge inland island of forest, rock, ice and snow.
Origin of Name: The first general map on which the Selkirk Mountains appear was made in the years 1813 and 1814 by David Thompson, for the North-West Fin-Company. It is a map of genuine historical interest. The result of twenty years' surveys and discoveries (from 1792 to 1812); covering an enormous extent of territory embracing fifteen degrees of latitude and forty degrees of longitude (roughly from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean and from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the vicinity of Great ​Slave Lake); and made by one topographer, Thompson's map is a wonderful achievement. Though inevitably sparse and incorrect in detail, it is in the main, accurate. A reprint of that portion covering the mountains is published in the "Selkirk Range." British Columbia was then called New Caledonia, so named by Simon Fraser of the North-West Fur Company, the discoverer of Fraser River and one of the more notable of the earlier explorers.
On Thompson's map, the Selkirks are called Nelson's Mountains. When we remember that Trafalgar was fought in 1805 and that Nelson's thrilling signal was still ringing in the ears of Englishmen, the name is obvious. Subsequently, when the North-West Fur Company and the Hudson's Bay Company amalgamated, the name was changed to Selkirk Mountains i7i honour of the Earl of Selkirk, the great and famous member of the Hidson's Bay Company and founder of that Selkirk Colony on the Red River known as "Britain's one Utopia."
Historical—Early Explorers: David Thompson was the earliest pathfinder of the Selkirks and the first white man to make the inland voyage. 1,400 miles long from the Columbia River's source to its mouth. It was not in one year nor in one journey, but he explored the great waterway throughout its long, slow, devious length. He first reached the River (it is worthy to be spelt with a capital) in 1807 by way of Howse Pass, north of the railway. How he happened to go upstream instead of downstream when his objective point was the Pacific Ocean, Miss A. C. Laut tells in her "Conquest of the North-West." On June 22. 1807, having come to the River, he wrote in his journal: "May God in His mercy give me to see where the waters of this river flow to the Western Ocean." If he goes north, says Miss Laut, he knows from what the Indians tell him that he will come to an enormous detour. It is the Big Bend around the Selkirks north. But he is in a hurry, and it seems to him that he will reach the western ocean sooner "where American traders are heading." if he ascend the River. This is how Thompson came" to spend the winter of 1807-8 near the beautiful lake now called Windermere and to build a wooden fort there which he named "Kootenae House." It was not until his return in 1811 that he followed the River south to its source in Columbia Lake. He named both lakes "the Kootenae Lakes" and the Kootenay River he called McGillivray's River. Between these two visits. Thompson was indefatigable in extending the operations of his Company. His ascent in 1810 of the Athabasca River to its source and the descent of Wood River to its junction with the Columbia near the mouth of Canoe River which he named and where he established a post called "Boat Encampment." made known the route by the Athabasca Pass, which became the highway of early trade and the bridge of the dividing mountains between the vast plains east and the mountainous territories west.
Thompson never received recognition for services of exploration as great and more valuable than those of Sir Alexander MacKenzie who first navigated the MacKenzie River to the Arctic Ocean and first traversed the Rockies to Northern Pacific waters. He was, says Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, who is preparing the first biography of this pathfinder of the Selkirks, the greatest land geographer the British race ​has produced. And his career, from a Charity School in London to an obscure death in poverty at the great age of eighty-seven in a village near Montreal, is one of the most remarkable and romantic in the annals of the great geographers. He entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1789, exploring and surveying the Nelson, Churchill, Athabasca, Peace and Saskatchewan Rivers. In 1797 he went over to its great rival, the North-West Fur Company as geographer and astronomer, and in 1800 first entered the Rocky Mountains in latitude 51, probably near the Pass followed by the C. P. Railway. Thompson discovered the source of the Mississippi in 1814. In 181C he was appointed by the British Government astronomer and surveyor to define the boundary line between British North America and the United States. Nine years were occupied in this international survey, and the maps then made are still and will always be the ultimate authority on the line dividing the two nations, from the State of Maine to the north-west angle of Lake of the Woods. Thompson married a "Child of the Western Country."
There were other outstanding explorers to cross the Great Divide far north of the C.P.R. highway or south of it, and to navigate at least a portion of the great river surrounding the Selkirks. Notable among them was Alexander Henry of the North-West Fur Company, sometime companion of Thompson in his travels. He was drowned in the lower reaches of the Columbia in 1814. His journals appear in Dr. Elliott Coues's book. Many of these travellers were in the employ of the Fur Companies, notably Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, whose progress through the mountains was both imposing and speedy, his cavalcade making at least forty miles a day. Ross Cox's ill-fated expedition of 1817, consisting of eighty-six persons of various nationalities, which proceeded from Astoria, a fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia, to Athabasca Pass, is one of the tragedies of the river.
A picturesque traveller of the forties was Father de Smet, the devoted Jesuit missionary called "Black Robe" by the Indians. De Smet paddled the river in the Kootenay region where his missions were, and crossed the Great Divide south over the White Man's Pass in 1845, to preach the gospel to the tribes along the eastern Foothills. He returned to the Kootenay Missions by way of Athabasca Pass and the Columbia. His are the only early transmontane travels in the interest of religion.
The next traveller to skirt the Selkirks by the waters of the Columbia was Paul Kane in 1846, who came in the interest of art. His story is written in a scarce book sure to be reprinted, "Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America." Its title, as was the way with titles in the early and middle nineteenth century, is more cumbersome still. Here is the rest of it: "From Canada to Vancouver's Island and Oregon, through the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories and back again." The record in this volume of the inland voyage of the Columbia has a touch of epic in it. Kane went down the River from the Big Bend to Fort Vancouver in Oregon (roughly 1,100 miles by its windings) in fifteen days. And the reader will concede that the voyage itself was epic whether the story of it was epic or no. The return voyage upstream occupied four strenuous months. Kane was that artist who crossed the ​Continent from Toronto for the purpose of putting on canvass aboriginal scenes of the various tribes of Indians, of the buffalo, and such human marks of pioneers as the forts of the great Fur Trading Companies. lie brought back to Toronto some 300 rough sketches. Some of his finished pictures are now in tlie Parliament T5uiUlings of Ottawa and of Toronto, some are in private collections; but all or nearly all of the original sketches are in the possession of the artist's son, who lives in a small town in Manitoba. Their historical value is considerable and any Western Province would do well to secure them. Kane lost his eyesight and his painting was stopped.
Other early explorers might be mentioned, but these belong especially to the great days of adventure and heroic transit, now picturesquely placed by the perspective of the years. In the "Selkirk Range" Mr. Wheeler gives us a touch of their glamour, and yet a glamour not theirs but ours: "Often have the recesses of these mountain fastnesses echoed to the stirring strains of a French-Canadian camp song; and the camp-fire, flickering among the dark shadows of the pines, has lighted up the bronzed and strikingly characteristic features of bourgeois voyageur and redskin, men who lived hand in hand with nature, to whom the trackless forest was an open book and the surging rapids an everyday pastime."
Later History: Modern discovery and Exploration began in the Selkirks in 1865, under Mr. Walter Moberly, an eminent engineer who came to Vancouver Island in 1858 by way of Cape Horn, his ulterior purpose being to search for the shortest low-level route through the Rocky Mountain system. A man of vision, he saw the day when the mountains would no longer separate east and west in Canada, when men would ride to and fro on a trans-continental railway. Mr. Moberly's career is part and parcel of the history of the great railway's advent, and in itself is a record of historic importance. The reader is recommended to a scarce little book of thrilling interest entitled "The Rocks and Rivers of British Columbia," published in London (1885) containing an account of his pathfinding north and south by flood and precipice and jungle in savage wildernesses.
Mr. Moberly discovered Eagle Pass, explored the Illecillewaet to its forks, crossed the Selkirks for the first time by a pass north of Rogers Pass, examined the route around the Big Bend, and made many explorations of value both to the C.P.R. Company and to the British Columbia Government. Only for the refusal of the Indians owing to the advancing season to proceed beyond the junction up the south fork of the Illecillewaet (he chose the name meaning "rapid river") Mr. Moberly had discovered Rogers Pass. This achievement, as everybody knows, came to Major Rogers. It is interesting to learn that Paul Kane was the begetter of Mr. Moberly's inspiration and determination to explore the western mountains. The artist gave him long and minute descriptions of his tour, literally a grand tour, and showed him all his sketches; and there was born the purpose, carried out under many and heavy difficulties.
The Railway—Discovery of Rogers Pass (1881). The key which unlocked the door to tourist travel in the Selkirks was the discovery of Rogers' Pass by Major Rogers, engineer in charge of the mountain division of the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1880 to 1885. His ​soubriquet in railway circles was 'The Railway Pathfinder;" and some of that company who blazed the trails and measured the valleys were wont to speak of him affectionately as the "swearing Major."
From its inception in 1871 until 1880, explorations and surveys for the railway were carried on by the Dominion Government, with Mr. (now Sir) Sandford Fleming in charge as Chief Engineer. It was proposed to cross the main divide by the Yellow Head Pass. But in 1880 a radical change was made and the enterprise transferred to a private syndicate. Its promoters were: Mr. George Stephen (now Lord Mountstephen), Mr. Donald Smith (now Lord Rtrathcona and Mount Royal), Mr. James J. Hill and others. Mr. W. C. Van Horne (now Sir William Van Horne, K.C.M.G.), was appointed general manager and Major A. B. Rogers engineer in charge of the mountain division.
The decision of the new Company to find a more southerly route led to an examination of the Bow River and Kicking Horse Passes and the valley of the Columbia River. Mr. Moberly had already established the accessibility of the Eagle Pass through the Cold Range and of the Columbia Valley north round the Big Bend. But this entailed an enormous distance, whereas an air-line across the Selkirks was only 60 miles. Hence every effort was made to find a more direct line through these apparently impenetrable Selkirks.
Major Rogers was a man of few words but vast practical energy. He lost little time in getting into action, and in April, 1881, commenced his famous expedition across the Selkirks which resulted in finding the pass that bears his name. In 'The Selkirk Range," appendix E, an interesting account of the expedition is given, written by Albert Rogers, nephew of the Major, who accompanied him. The expedition was made from Kamloops to the Columbia River across the Gold Range and then up the Illecillewaet River to the summit of the Selkirk Rnnge, with ten strapping Indians to carry the necessary supplies. The following extracts from the story will give some idea of the difficulties encountered. "Although at this season the days were very long and we travelled from early till late, we were five days making sixteen miles and arrived at the Forks of the Illecillewaet which was the farthest point white man had ever reached. (Walter Moberly, 1865). Our course was up the east fork and. one mile and a half from its mouth, we came to a most wonderful box canyon or gorge, which three yearslater was named by the Rev. George M. Grant—Albert Canyon—in honour of the writer. There must have been heavy snows in the mountains the preceding winter, for snow on the level was several feet in depth in shaded places, and the next five days our course was across avalanches, some of which had started from the very peaks and had left a clean path behind them, crushing the timber into matchwood for several hundred feet on the opposite sides of the mountains. We crossed several snow-bridges, under which the river passed, which were one hundred and fifty feet above the river's bed.
"On May 27th, we found snow in the valley about five feet on the level and, it being too soft to hold us, we waded the river most of the day ..........On the 28th of May, we came to where the stream seemed to fork and in front of us appeared the backbone or main range of the Selkirks. The whole success of our trip and the ​possibility of getting a direct route for this great national thoroughfare depended upon the gateways that might be at the head of either of these streams.
"At the forks we decided to cache everything that would impede travel and make a hurried trip up the north fork to the summit..........In a short time we were able to cross the summit and convince ourselves that the water divided here, running east and west.
"After checking our barometer readings and mapping the course of the valleys, we decided to climb the mountains on the south side of the pass to get a better geographical idea of the country, as the timber in the valleys was very dense and obstructed the view.
"From the opening of the summit we had seen a strip of timber extending about halfway up the mountain between two snow slides, and decided to make our ascent at this point. Cutting each a good, tough, dry, fir stick and adjusting our light packs, we began to climb. Being gaunt as greyhounds, with lungs and muscles of the best, we soon reached timber-line, where the climbing became very difficult. We crawled along the ledges, getting a toe-hole here and a finger-hole there, keeping in the shade as much as possible and kicking toe-holes in the snow crust. When several hundred feet above the timber-line, we followed a narrow ledge around a point that was exposed to the sun. Four of the Indians in the lead had tied pack-straps to each other's belts in order to help over bad places. The leader had made several attempts to gain the ledge above by crawling on the soft snow, when suddenly by some awkward move he fell backward with such force as to miss the ledge upon which the other three stood, pulling them headlong after him. They fell some thirty feet straight down, striking upon a very steep incline. The snow being soft and their momentum so great, it was impossible to check their speed and they went rolling and tumbling, tangled up in their pack-straps, until they disappeared from view over another ledge;. Our hearts were in our mouths, fearing the worst might have happened to them. Dead Indians were easily buried, but men with broken legs to be carried out through such a country and with barely food enough to take us back to the Columbia River on a forced march, made a problem which even strong men feared to face. Any one who has been a mountain climber knows that there are times when going down is a great deal more dangerous and difficult than going up. Slowly descending, we had nearly reached the timber-line when one of the Indians with an exclamation pointed to four black specks moving across a snow-slide far below. Our glasses were quickly turned on them. There they were and to our great relief all were on their pins making down the mountain as fast as possible. We had lost several hours of the best part of the day for climbing, but we had started for the top, and what Major Rogers purposed, that he performed. It was late in the evening when we reached the summit, very much exhausted.
"Such a view! Never to be forgotten! Our eyesight caromed from one bold peak to another for miles in all directions. The wind blew fiercely across the ridge and scuddy clouds were whirled in the eddies behind the great towering peaks of bare rock. Everything was covered with a shroud of white, giving the whole landscape the appearance of snow-clad desolation. Far beneath us was the ​timber-line and in the valleys below the dense timber seemed but a narrow shadow which marked their course. We had no wood for a fire, no bouglis for beds, were wet with perspiration and eating snow to quench our thirst—not a pleasant prospect for camp; but the grandeur of the view, sublime beyond conception, crowded out all thoughts of our discomforts.
"Standing upon a narrow ridge at that great elevation, mid Nature crowned by solitude, where a single false move would land one in the great beyond, man feels his weakness and realizes how small is human effort when compared with the evidences of Nature's forces.
"Crawling along this ridge we came to a small ledge protected from the wind by a great perpendicular rock. Here we decided to wait until the crust again formed on the snow and the morning light enabled us to travel. At ten o'clock it was still twilight on the peaks, but the valleys below were filled with deepest gloom. We wrapped ourselves in our blankets and nibbled at our dry meat and bannock, stamping our feet in the snow to keep them from freezing, and taking turns at whipping each other with pack straps to keep up circulation."
In the following year, 1882, the exploration was completed by ascending the Beaver River Valley, on the eastern slopes, to Bear Creek, a tributary stream; then up that stream, through the rugged defile between Mts. Macdonald and Tupper to the summit of the pass and over to the Illecillewaet Valley.
Thus was discovered the celebrated Rogers Pass and the present route of the C.P.R. located across the Selkirks, leading to the establishment of Glacier Station and Glacier House, one of the most popular and attractive of the Railway Company's many delightful tourist resorts.
The first Alpine Club of Canada (1883).—Two years after Major Rogers' successful expedition, the C.P.R. surveys had been carried through the pass; and in August of 1883 Sir Sandford Fleming, who has been chief engineer of the railway up to the time it passed into the hands of the syndicate, was induced as a railway expert to make an examination and report upon the proposed route through the mountains by way of the Kicking Horse and Rogers Passes. A graphic accotmt of this expedition is fotuid in Sir Sandford's book, "England and Canada, a Summer Tour between Old and New Westminster," published in 1884. Two passages from it are quoted below, describing the arrival at the summit of Rogers Pass and the subsequent journey down the Illecillewaet river.
Mr. Walter Moberly, C.E.
Topographical Surveyor's taking their instruments up a Mountain
​the most suitable of all spots, viz., at the summit of Rogers Pass. Here, seated upon a grassy knoll, amidst the very climax of Selkirk scenery, the meeting was held. What more appropriate! Around, in full view, are all the adjuncts that go to make alpine climbing of interest. The rugged black precipices of Mts. Macdonald and Tupper stand grim sentries over an apparently closed gateway. To the north and west the primeval forest rises to grassy alpine slopes decked with brilliant flowers; beyond are icy glaciers and fields of pure white, sloping gently to the curving ridges that lead upwards to rocky peaks capped with snow. The sharp-cut pyramid of "Cheops" is silhouetted in space; below, the '"Little Corporal" stands at attention, on guard over the hazy blue vistas reaching into the south-west. Around are gently swaying spruce and not far distant a murmuring brook. Aloft, wrapt in silent meditation, the "Hermit" stands upon his ledge of rock and gazes for all time upon the marvels of creation that surround him."
The account of the meeting is given in Sir Sandford Fleming's book: '"The horses are still feeding and we have some time at our command. As we view the landscape, we feel as if some memorial should be preserved of our visit here, and we organize a Canadian Alpine Club. The writer, as a grandfather, is appointed interim president; Dr. Grant, secretary, and my son, S. Hall Fleming treasurer. A meeting was held and we turn to one of the springs rippling down to the Illecillewaet and drink success to the organization. Unanimously we carry resolutions of acknowledgment to Major Rogers, the discoverer of the pass, and to his nephew for assisting him. "The bold idea of climbing Mt. Sir Donald, then known as Syndicate Peak (so named by Major Rogers in 1881; subsequently re-named after Sir Donald A. Smith, now Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal) was conceived as a fitting virgin attempt of the Alpine Club, but the idea was not put into execution."
Leaving the summit, the party proceeds down the valley of the Illecillewaet. At a distance of fourteen miles, the last surveyor's camp is reached. Thenceforward it is the primeval wilderness of the Selkirks. Again quoting from Sir Sandford's account: "The walking is dreadful, we climb over and creep under fallen trees of good size, and then men show that they feel the weight of their burdens. Their halts for rest are frequent. It is hot work for all. The dropping rain from the bush and branches saturates us from above. Tall ferns, sometimes reaching to the shoulder, and devil's club, through which we had to climb our way, made us feel as if dragged through a horsepond and our perspiration is that of a Turkish bath. The devil's club may be numbered by millions and they are perpetually wounding us with their spikes, against which we strike.
"The rain continues falling incessantly. Although Sunday, owing to limited supplies, we are compelled to travel. We make little headway, and every tree, every leaf is wet and casts oft' rain. In a short time we are as drenched as the foliage. We have many fallen trees to climb over, and it is no slight matter to struggle over trees ten feet and upwards in diameter. We have rocks to ascend and descend; we have a marsh to cross in which we sink often to the middle. For half a mile we have waded, I will not say picked, our way to the opposite side through a channel filled with stagnant ​water, having an odour long to be remembered. Skunk cabbage is here indigenous and is found in acres of stinking perfection. We clamber to the higher ground, hoping to find an easier advance, and we come upon the trail of a caribou, but it leads to the mountains. We try another course, only to become entangled in a windfall of prostrate trees. The rain continues falling; the men, with heavy loads on their backs, made heavier by the water which had soaked them, become completely disheartened, and at half-past two o'clock we decide to camp. Our travelling to-day extended only over three hours. We have only advanced about a mile and a half of actual distance and we all suffer greatly from fatigue. I question if our three days' march has carried us further than ten miles."
Members of the British Association Visit the Selkirks (1884)—William Spotswood Green, M.A., F.R.G.S., A.C., in the opening lines of his charming book "Among the Selkirk Glaciers," writes as follows: "When the British Association met in Canada in 1884 one of the most interesting excursions planned for the members was that provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company on the portion of their line then completed to the summit of Hector Pass, or as it was then called, the Kicking Horse Pass, in the Rocky mountains. Among the members of that excursion were two gentlemen, Mr. Richard M. Barrington and the Rev. Henry Swanzy, who, not satisfied with the interesting scenes revealed to them by the completed portion of the railway, determined to continue the journey to the shores of the Pacific, with the aid of pack-horses. After separating from the excursion party on Hector Pass, they experienced very considerable difficulties. The temporary track for construction trains was available only as far as the Ottertail bridge on the western slopes of the Rockies. From this point they had to depend entirely on their horses. Having been ferried across the Columbia River, they followed a very imperfect trail up the valley of Beaver Creek, into the Selkirks and so reached Rogers Pass. Often missing the trail, they were compelled to make the best of their way along the precipitous mountain side, through tangled forest, until descending by the side of the Illecillewaet River they joined the Columbia in the more westerly portion of its course. They ferried once more across its waters and on its farther shore met the trail in the Gold Mountains, which they followed to the shores of Shuswap Lake. Here, taking the steamer to Kamloops, they finally reached the railway at Spence's Bridge in the valley of the Thompson, and so completed their journey to the Pacific."
Expedition (1885)—No sooner were the rails laid across Stony Creek bridge than Professor John Macoun. Dominion Naturalist and Botanist, accompanied by his son, were in the Selkirks. They arrived in August, 1885, before a through train had passed over the route. Glacier House was not then in existence and visitors of the present day cannot possibly imagine the tangle of brush, logs and fallen trees that filled the valley at that point. An expedition was made up the Asulkan Torrent, but the impenetrable bush and windfall proved too much for them. An ascent of the slopes of Mt. Avalanche revealed a bird's-eye view of the Illecillewaet Glacier. Ascents also were made to the Roger's Glacier and to the base of the Pyramid of Cheops.
​The driving of the last spike (1885)—Sir Sandford Fleming, in an interesting paper, prepared for the Royal Society of Canada, entitled "Expeditions to the Pacific," describes the dramatic ceremony at Craigellachie—the driving of the last spike and the passage of the first through train over the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885:—
"On the evening of October 27th, when the regular Winnipeg train left Montreal, a private car, the "Saskatchewan," was attached, with the design of proceeding to Port Moody, at that date the terminus, the new city of Vancouver having no existence. The car contained seven persons; five came the whole way from Montreal, one joined at Ottawa, and one on their way to Port Moody..........The train beyond Calgary became a "'special" and reached the western crossing of the Columbia in fifty-six hours after leaving Winnipeg. The gap, however, was not closed; the work having been retarded by incessant rains, the train could not proceed farther. Early on the morning of the 7th the junction was verging to completion, and at 9 o'clock the last rail was laid in its place. All that remained to finish the work was to drive home one spike.
"By common consent the duty of performing the task was assigned to one of the four directors present, the senior in years and influence, whose high character placed him in prominence—Sir Donald Alexander Smith. No one could on such an occasion more worthily represent the Company or more appropriately give the finishing blows, which, in a national sense, were to complete the gigantic undertaking. (The other Directors present were Messrs. Van Horne, Harris and the writer.)
"Sir Donald Smith braced himself to the task, and he wielded the by no means light spike hammer with as good a will as a professional tracklayer. The work was carried on in silence. Nothing was heard but the reverberation of the blows struck by him. It was no ordinary occasion, the scene was in every respect noteworthy, from the group which composed it and the circumstances which had brought together so many human beings in this spot in the heart of the mountains, until recently an untracked solitude. Most of the engineers, with hundreds of workmen of all nationalities, who had been engaged in the mountains, were present. Every one appeared to be deeply impressed by what was going on. The central figure in the group was somewhat more than the representative of the Railway Company which had achieved the triumph he was consummating. His presence recalled memories of the Mackenzies and the McTavishes, the Stuarts and McGillivrays, the Erasers, Finlaysons and McLeods and McLoughlins and their contemporaries, who first penetrated the surrounding territory. From his youth he had been connected with the Company which for so long had carried on its operations successfully from Labrador to the Pacific, and from California to Alaska. To-day he was the chief representative of that vast organization which, before the close of the last century, had sent out pioneers to map out and occupy the unknown wilderness and which, as a trading association, is in the third century of its existence. All present were more or less affected by the formality which was the crowning effect of years of labour, intermingled with doubts and fears and oft-renewed energy to overcome what at times appeared unsurmountable obstacles. Moreover, was it not the triumphal ​termination of numberless failures, the successful solution of the frequently repeated attempts of the British people, ever since America had been discovered, to find a new route to Asia? To what extent the thoughts of those present were turned to the past must, with that undemonstrative group, remain a secret with each individual person. This much may be said: To all the scene was deeply impressive, and especially to the many hundreds of workmen, who from an early hour up to the last moment, had struggled to do their part, and who were now mute lookers-on at the single individual actively engaged—at one who in his own person united the past with the present, the most prominent member of the ancient company of "Adventurers of England," as he was the representative of the great Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The blows on the spike were repeated until it was driven home. The silence, however, continued unbroken, and it must be said that a more solemn ceremony has been witnessed with less solemnity. It seemed as if the act now performed had worked a spell on all present. Each one appeared absorbed in his own reflections. The abstraction of mind, or silent emotion, or whatever it might be, was, however, of short duration. Suddenly a cheer spontaneously burst forth, and it was no ordinary cheer. The subdued enthusiasm, the pent-up feelings of men familiar with hard work, now found vent. Cheer upon cheer followed, as if it was difficult to satisfy the spirit which had been aroused. Such a scene is conceivable on the field of hard-fought battle at the moment when victory is assured.
"Not infrequently some matter-of-fact remark forms the termination of the display of great emotion. As the shouts subsided and the exchange of congratulations were being given, a voice was heard, in the most prosaic tones, as of constant daily occurrence: "All aboard for the Pacific." The notice was quickly acted upon and in a few minutes the train was in motion. It passed over the newly laid rail and amid renewed cheers sped on its way westward.
"On the same night a telegram was sent to Ottawa and published in the eastern Canadian papers. It ran: "The first train from Montreal is approaching Yale, within a few hours of the Pacific Coast. The last spike was driven this morning by Hon. Donald A. Smith at Craigellachie, in Engle Pass, some 340 miles from Port Moody. On reaching the coast our running time from Montreal, exclusive of stoppages, will be five days, averaging twenty-four miles per hour. . . . . . . . . ."
Result of the Completion of the Railway—The driving of the last spike at Craigellachie opened up not only the glorious scenery and invigorating atmosphere of Canada's mountain-belt to the whole world, but also its immense resources in minerals and timber, and the many industries and enterprises dependent upon them, to the capitalist. Soon after construction had been completed European and American travel began to and fro over the transcontinental highway. The fame of the Rockies and Selkirks went forth to the world and they have become the playground of those whose leisure permits such recreation. Others with limited time, content themselves with spending a day or two en route, at the favourite resorts, or simply with passing through and seeing all that can be seen from the railway during an unbroken journey.
​In order to provide meals for its passengers and at the same time not to make its trains heavier by hauling extra cars over the steeper portions of the line, the Company at first found it necessary to erect dining-halls at various points in the mountains. With increase of travel, these gradually became stopping-places, and there finally evolved the large hotels at Banflf and Lake Louise and the smaller but commodious hotels at Field, Glacier, Revelstoke, Sicamous and North Bend. These hotels are found all too small to accommodate the multitudes that visit the mountain-places during the tourist season. And still the process of enlargement goes on.
Government Surveys (1886)—In this year the Selkirks were visited by the Dominion Government Surveyors and a careful traverse-survey of the railway line was made to establish it as a base for future land surveys. The work was under the direction of Otto J. Klotz. In the course of his work, Mr. Klotz established the position and altitude above the sea level of a number of the prominent peaks, to which also he gave the names they now bear, notably Mts. Sir Donald, Macdonald, Tupper, MacKenzie and Cartier. In conjunction with the survey of the railway-line, a preliminary topographical survey of the mountains, valleys, and streams adjacent was made. It was in charge of J. J. McArthur, the veteran topographer of the Department of the Interior. In the "Selkirk Range," he is referred to as "a quiet, unassuming man, who has probably climbed more mountains in these regions than any other person, and has made a large number of first ascents. No flourish of trumpets ushered him forth to conquest; no crown of laurels awaited his victory: a corps of trained Swiss guides was not at hand to place his footsteps, to check his down-slidings and select for him the surest road. With one assistant, transit and camera on back, many a perilous climb has been made, the rope only being used in case of most urgent need. In all kinds of weather, through snow, over ice and in pouring rain, manj- a difficult ascent has been accomplished, many privations encountered and much hardship endured; the only record being a few terse paragraphs in the Departmental Bluebook. Short as they are they are well worth reading."
The years 1887 and 1888 saw other surveyors in the region, extending the land-surveys system to the tract of land known as the "Railway Belt of British Columbia." This tract, which extends for twenty miles on each side of the railway line, had been conveyed by the Provincial Government to the Federal Government as compensation for the construction of the Railway.
First Scientific Observations of the Illecillewaet Glacier (1887)—On July 16th the Illecillewaet Glacier was visited by Messrs. George and William S. Vaux, Jr., and Miss Vaux, of Philadelphia, and a series of observations inaugurated, comprising photographs from fixed points and measurements to the nearest ice. These have been faithfully carried on from year to year with increasing accuracy, right up to date. They are here recorded in greater retail under the caption, "Glaciers of the Selkirks."
Topographical Survey by William Spotswood Green (1888)—It was the expedition of Messrs. Barrington and Swanzy and the glowing description they gave of the scenery that aroused Mr. Green's interest. Survev instruments were loaned to him by the Royal ​Geographical Society and on the 29th June, 1888, accompanied by Mr. Swanzv, he started for New York, arriving at Glacier on the 17th of July.
Glacier House, which they made their headquarters, was built by the Railway Company in 1886 as a stopping-place, some two and a half miles from the summit of Rogers Pass and almost at the junction of the two streams which, flowing respectively from the Illecillewaet Glacier and the east face of Mt. Cheops, unite to form the southerly or main branch of the Illecillewaet River. The hotel was then a pretty little building, somewhat in the Swiss Chalet style, nestling among the trees at the base of ]Mt. Abbott, and contained some half-dozen bedrooms and a spacious dining-room, capable of seating a large number of travellers. The wants of the public were first served by a staff from the dining-car under a man called Wharton. Soon, however, it became apparent that this beautiful spot would be a favourite with lovers of Nature; and in 1887 the house was placed under the management of Mr. H. A. Perley who, assisted by a capable staff, made himself popular with guests, even then filling it to repletion during the summer months.
Messrs. Green and Swanzv spent six weeks—from July 17th to August 29th—exploring, surveying and climbing in the vicinity. The result was the compilation and publication of the first topographical map of the district surrounding (Jlacier House. It accompanied an able and interesting paper read by Mr. Green before the Royal Geographical Society on the evening of February 11th, 1889. (See proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society Vol. XI., No. 3, March 1889.)
This paper was followed later by Mr. Green's vividly descriptive book, "Among the Selkirk Glaciers," published in 1890, which, unfortunately, is now out of print and can only be picked up in second-hand book stores. A volume of rare interest and charm, it ought to be reprinted.
From a climber's point of view the chief features of the expedition were the first attempt to ascend Mt. Sir Donald and the successful first ascent of Mt. Bonney. Many of the names of peaks and places that are so familiar to habitual visitors at Glacier can be traced to this expedition, for instance: Mts. Bonney, Fox, Donkin, Dawson, Macoun, Asulkan Pass and Creek, Geikie Glacier, Loop Creek, Marion Lake. Lily Col and others.
The chief difficulty encountered by Messrs. Green and Swanzy was that of procuring packers to carry supplies and other outfit. On several occasions they were compelled to carry double packs, taking one a short distance and then returning for the other, a process which, in that almost impenetrable region, must have been heart-breaking. "At Donald a mighty hunter was discovered, who expressed a desire to join us and accept our terms, but when he heard we were two parsons he 'chucked it up' in disgust, saying that he would have to knock off swearing for more than a month and that that was impossible." A cayuse (Indian pony) was sent up to the glacier for their use by Mr. Marpole, then superintendent of the railway at Donald. No pack-saddle came, so the best possible was done with a riding-saddle, and the two gentlemen started on ​their first expedition to Mt. Sir Donald. "The path was getting steep and the pack seemed to need braeing up. Some idea of a similar nature must have crossed the mind of the cayuse, for without the slightest warning, he took a sudden fit of back-jumping, tumbled down, rolled over and over down the slope and when our goods were thoroughly smashed up and scattered to the winds, he got on his legs and shook himself with apparent satisfaction. It was really too horrible—I rushed to my unfortunate knapsack. If the man from Donald had been with us I think I'd have given him permission to swear for five minutes without stopping and so vicariously relieve my over-burdened mind. A sextant, fortunately not a new one, was smashed to bits. I picked up its little ivory scale all by itself on a bush. A thermometer, which had been carefully tested at Kew, was in shivers. I could not look at my photographic plates then, and concluded they were all broken. Fortunately, however, they escaped; the rifle, too, came off all right. But oh! what fools we felt at having been taken in by the deceitful calm of that cayuse's temper. We all made good resolutions on the spot, and kept them so far as never again to trust any instrument to the tender mercy of a horse."
The Alpine Club, England, and The Swiss Alpine Club (1890).—In this year Mr. Harold W. Topham, of the English Club, and Messrs. Emil Huber and Karl Sulzer of the Swiss Club, visited the Selkirks. They joined forces and added to the number Mr. Harold E. Forster, a gentleman now residing near Wilmer on the Upper Columbia River. Together and in couples they made a series of expeditions from Glacier House, their permanent base. The following first ascents are recorded to their credit: Mts. Fox and Donkin by Topham; Mt. Selwyn (named Mt. Deville by Green and subsequently changed) by Topham and Forster; Mts. Purity and Sugar Loaf by Huber, Topham and Forster; Mts. Sir Donald and Uto Peak by Huber and Sulzer; and Swiss Peak by Sulzer.
In a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, Vol. XIII. 1891) Topham remarks: "The glaciers of the Selkirks, though comparatively small, are very numerous and the area which is covered with ice is large in proportion to that which is covered with snow. Where in Switzerland we would expect to find patches of snow, in the Selkirks we may expect to find ice. The great snow-fall in the Selkirks may perhaps explain this. The pressure exerted upon the lower layers of the snow by the great depth of the snow which lies above them tends to consolidate and make into ice these lower layers."
"The great drawback to travelling in the range is the thickness of vegetation at the bottom of the valleys and the difficulty of procuring men capable of acting as porters over a mountain country." (For full account of these expeditions see '"The Selkirk Range" by A. O. Wlieeler.)
Edouard Feuz of Interlaken
Triangulation of the Railway Belt (1891-92)—W. S. Drewry, who since 1889 had been conducting a triangulation of the Railway Belt through the Main Range, was occupied on a similar work in the Selkirks during the years 1891-2. All visitors to the Selkirks hear of "The Prairie Hills" and "Bald Mountain" lying along the east side of Beaver River. The following extract from Drewry's report gives an idea of the strikingly impressive views seen from Bald Mountain.
"By the middle of October the snow was knee-deep on the summits and part way down the slopes of the mountains. It was therefore decided to retrace our steps to the Columbia Valley. Before doing so. however, I made an exploratory trip across Bald Mountain to the slopes of the Beaver Valley. From a eoign of vantage on the mountain, a view of solemn grandeur was obtained. I must confess that the feeling of awe and impotence which the spectacle inspired will long remain with me. Facing us and extending to our right was the dark mass of Mt. Sir Donald, rising 10,625 ft. above the sea, with five miles of almost sheer cliffs 3,000 ft. high. To our left, and west of the Beaver for more than twenty miles, peak after peak towered aloft surpassing 10,000 ft., but one and all, from top to base, were clad in glacier and snow. Not a living thing was visible and the sense of desolation and awful loneliness conveyed was overpowering. Nowhere else in the mountains have I seen such immense masses of glaciers and ice-fields and I believe that little of the area in which these lie has yet been trodden by man."
Subsequent Mountaineering.—From 1893 to the present day the Selkirks have surely and steadily come into prominence as an attractive field for the mountaineer, the nature-lover, the artist, the scientist and the holiday tourist. One by one the peaks reached from Glacier House have been conquered, the passes traversed, and the glaciers and valleys explored, until now only one virgin peak of exceptional prominence remains, and that one, very difficult of access, is Mt. Sir Sandford, some thirty miles due north of Glacier. A few of the more important of these exploits are here briefly outlined. (For full details see Wheeler's "Selkirk Range.")
1895—Messrs. Abbott, Fay, Thompson and Little made the first traverse of the ridge bounding the Asulkan Valley on the west, including the ascents of Mt. Afton, Mt. Abbott, The Rampart and Mt Castor, the three latter being first ascents. The remaining two prominent peaks of the ridge—The Dome and Mt. Polhix—remained unconquered until climbed in 1897 by a combined party from the Alpine Club, England, and the Appalachian Mountain Club. This party had with them the first accredited Swiss guide to appear in the Selkirks—Peter Sarbach, who was brought out by the Englishmen.
1869—This year witnessed the advent at Glacier of two properly certificated Swiss guides, employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company—Edouard Feuz and Christian Hasler, of Interlaken. The former has been in the Selkirks every summer since that date ​until the present summer. (1911.) Two of his sons and a nephew are now, also, in the employ of the railway company as guides.
The year was noted for the first ascent of Mt. Dawson, by Professor Fay and Professor H. C. Parker, of Columbia University. The highest point (Hasler Peak) was reached. Mt. Dawson is the peak of second greatest known altitude above sea-level in the Selkirks (11,113 ft.) being surpassed only by Mt. Sir Sandford (11,623 ft.).
The year was also noted for the second ascent of Mt. Sir Donald by M. Leprince-Ringuet, by the route attempted by W. S. Green. He was accompanied by guides Feuz and Hasler.
1900—The Selkirks were now so greatly in favour that it was necessary to detail four Swiss guides to Glacier House. No less than four ascents were made of Mt. Sir Donald in the order named: By George Vaux, Jr., A.M.C., by J. H. Scattergood, A.M.C., both of Philadelphia; by the Rev. James Outram and G. C. Butler and by Hugh E. M. Stutfield, A. C, of London, England.
1901—The records of 1901 include the second ascent of Mt. Dawson (Hasler Peak) by B. S. Comstock, of New York: the first but futile attempt on Mt. Sir Donald by a lady, Mrs. Florence Gough, registering from Ottawa; the first ascent of Sir Donald by a lady, Mrs. E. E. Berens, St. Mary's Craj', Kent, England, accompanied by her husband and guides Karl Schlunegger and Chas. Clarke; and the first ascent of Eagle Peak by a lady. Miss Henrietta L. Tuzo, Warlington, England, now Mrs. J. A. Wilson, Ottawa, a member of the A.C.C.
1902—In this year the first ascent of Mt. Macoun was made by the late Rev. J. C. Herdman, of Calgary, one of the first two Vice-Presidents of the Alpine Club of Canada. Also, the second ascent by a lady, of Mt. Sir Donald was made, and in the face of a blinding snow storm. The plucky climber, who refused to forego the triumph she had set out to win, was Miss Marion Raymond, A.C.C, of Boston, Mass.
1901–2—These are two outstanding years in the modern history of the Selkirks. They mark the Topographical Survey of the region by the Federal Government resulting in an accurate detailed topographic map showing contour lines at 100 feet equi-distance. The survey was in charge of A. O. Wheeler, F.R.G.S., and the information gathered during the survey, together with all other available information concerning the Selkirks, was compiled in two volumes, published by the Department of the Interior under the title of '"The Selkirk Range." Volume I. is composed of some 450 pages of text, together with ninety illustrations. Volume II. is made up of maps and sketches of the survey, of previous surveys, and of routes up prominent peaks.
A sad note among the happy records of 1902 was the account of the death of Fritz, a dog with more right to the title "mountaineer" than many who lay claim to it. Fritz is of the noble company of "Rab" and "Stickeen," immortalized by Dr. John Brown and John Muir. The story of his climbs and of his tragic death is matter for a little classic, wanting only the discerning and sympathetic writer with the "magic of the words." He was killed on the north side of the ​Geikie Glacier by a fall of 700 feet. In his two summers of life in the Selkirks he had climbed many peaks, among them Swiss Peak, Rogers Peak, Cougar Peak, Mts. Ursus 5lajor, Avalanche, Cheops, Abbott, Grizzly, Cartier and Mackenzie. He was a general favourite and well known. In the minute-book at Glacier House a friend has entered a tribute to his memory.
1903—The most important ascent of this season was that made by Herr E. Tewes, Bremen, Germany, of Mt. Sir Donald by the north-west arête (a new route) accompanied by the guides Edouard Feuz and Christian Bohren.
1904—This was a ladies' year. The second ascent of Mt. Bonney (the first had been made by W. S. Green in 1888) was accomplished by Miss Henrietta L. Tuzo, previously noted as having made the first ascent by a lady, of Eagle Peak. The third ascent of Mt. Bonney was made a little later by Miss Gertrude E. Benham, of London, England. Miss Tuzo chose the route via Marion Lake trail, Mts. Abbott, Afton and the Lily Glacier, ascending the escarpment of the Swanzy-Bonney Ridge between Mts. Swanzy and Clarke's Peak and following the escarpment over Clarke's Peak to the cairn erected by W. S. Green in 1888. Miss Benham made the ascent via Loop Torrent, following closely in the footsteps of W. S. Green. Guide Christian Bohren accompanied Miss Tuzo and Edouard Feuz accompanied Miss Benham.
The same year Miss Benham made the first ascent by a lady, of Swiss Peak, at the same time making the traverse and first ascents of Fleming Peak and Grant Peak. She was closely followed over the same route by Miss Turzo, to whom belongs the second ascent by a lady, of these three peaks.
Beyond the Asulkan Pass, Miss Benham made the first ascent by a lady, of Mt. Dawson (Hasler Peak). Both made successful ascents of Mt. Sir Donald, making respectively the third and fourth ascents by ladies.
The year further witnessed the record ascent of Mt. Sir Donald by J. Duke Smith, of Boston, who, according to the statement in the minute-book, left the hotel with Christian Bohren at 4.08 a.m. and arrived at the summit at 8.35 a.m. Starting homeward at 9.30 a.m., the hotel was reached at 12.20 p.m.—eight hours and twelve minutes, with fifty minutes spent at the summit. The mountain was in its best condition.
1905—War was carried into Cougar Torrent Valley when Mt. Bagheera was conquered by W. S. Jackson, of Upper Canada College, Toronto, accompanied by Edouard Feuz, .Jr.
1906—The principal feat of the season was the first ascent of Mt. Tupper by Wolfgang Koehler, of Leipzig, with the guides Edouard Feuz, Jr., and Gottfried Feuz (for account see Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. II., No. I.).
1907—Little of importance was done in the Selkirks, partly owing to the continuous snowfall on the heights. The highest peaks were in bad condition. The only ascent of Mt. Sir Donald this season was by F. W. Freeborn and Jean Parker (the first Canadian lady to climb it) with guides Edouard Feuz Sr. and Jr. Dr. J. W. A. Hickson with Edouard Feuz, Jr., made the first ascent of Mt. McGill— ​and Bald Mountain at its northerly extremity, is a similar tract of mountain country of surpassing interest but as yet little accessible owing to lack of trails or trails littered with fallen timber, and streams from which the bridges are gone. The same kind of country extends southward for miles, embracing many fine alpine features, such as Mt. Hammond and the peaks on Toby and Horse-Thief Creeks, which have become known on account of the camp held at the head of Toby Creek in 1909 by Earl Grey, Governor-General of Canada.
In the same section also, on September 2nd, E. W. Harnden of Boston, and C. D. Ellis of Wilmer, B.C., attempted the first ascent of Mt. Hammond. Owing to fatigue, Mr. Harnden gave out and Ellis pushed on alone and reached the summit. The start was made from Paradise Mine, at about 8,000 feet. According to Mr. Ellis' aneroid barometer Mt. Hammond has an altitude of 12,125 feet. Considerable doubt exists as to whether there is any peak of so great an elevation in this section of the Selkirks; and until more reliable and complete methods have been employed, the above altitude can only be accepted tentatively. This is the first notable climbing done in this interesting region.
Fritz, a hardy mountaineer.