The park started as a ten square mile reserve around the Sulphur Mountain Hot Springs, established by the Dominion of Canada in 1885. Over five million people a year visit Banff National Park to recreate and sightsee. Banff National Park's western boundary runs for 240 kilometres along the Continental Divide. Banff was the first national park established in Canada, and the third established in the world behind Yellowstone National Park in the United States and Royal National Park in Australia. In the Canadian Rockies, there are 69 naturally occurring species of mammals.
Visitors often see bighorn sheep, deer, elk, coyotes and black bears.
Elk are the most common large animal found in Banff National Park, with a population numbering in the thousands. The Bow Valley Parkway is an alternate scenic route from Banff to Lake Louise. The town of Banff was not always the largest town in the park. The largest lake in the park, Lake Minnewanka, is man-made. When it was dammed, the water level rose and drowned the tiny resort village of Minnewanka Landing.