The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-17

Banff Hot Springs, Canada, Sept. 10.
-Banff has one of the finest summer
climates in America, bright, clear, brac-
ing and health-giving and the traveller
is invariably 10th to leave this restful
place. Really, to enjoy the hot springs
and the glorious air, which gives new
lease of life, the visitor should stay here
a month right on the shoulder of these
mighty Rockies" mile nearer heaven
than at the sea level, which is itself a
genuine inspiration. And such AIR!
There is nothing anywhere else Ike this
Rocky mountain air when the western
wind has brought the soft Chinook
breezes to temper the keenness at TINS
altitude. One tourist says, How long
to bring my friends out OF their SICK
rooms and let them drink 1t in.' An
other says, 1T is like being in Paradise
before ones time"
Our stay at the c.. p. Hotel was en-
joyable in the extreme. That hotel Is
fitted up with all the refinement ana
creature comforts of life, and from its
wide yerandas on all sides we inhale
the invigorating breezes, and at the
same time feast cur eyes upon the mag
ulllCeIll W i'iAoe' Nf~N' N''.- -
fatigue. While the grandeur is over
powering and the air is oppressively
still, when the locomotive whis lies, it Is
echoed and re-echoed by hundred
mountain walls.
HOTEL ADVANTAGES.
1t is only just to say that this big
summer hostlely, where Billy Matthews
receives his guests is fully equal to Ho-
tel Vancouver, where his brother Is the
manager, and for situation far more
commanding. Both are as well quail
fled and skillful managers as are to be
found in the east 1t can be no easy
task to manage q hotel where the SER
wants have to be brought two thousand
miles, provisions, eggs, poultry, etc,
thousand miles, and fruit and VSge-
tables six hundred miles. Yet. with
American skill and energey. everything
runs smoothly, even when the house is
full with some great Raymond party
returning from Alaska. as was our ex-
perience, or when one Of the Empress
es" has sent on her passengers from
India, Japan and China.
1t is lively scene that we look down
upon from the galleries and corridors
which surround the large central hali
and office. Here is group chatting
around the great open fire place with its
blazing four foot logs! Another earn
estly discussing plans for the morrow.
American ladies eagerly looking
through the hotel register in search of
acquaintances' names-some studying
the books of photographs or reading the
telegrams which give the daily news
from. each end Of the continent, others
bartering with the attendants of the
museums for the elegant robes of the
grizzly, cinnamon and black bear. or the
antilers of the moose, deer, caribou and
mountain sheep found right around
here, as mementoes of their ranscon-
tinental thrip through the Dominion.
Seeing all this it is difficult to believe
oneself in the Rocky mountains where
only a few years ago solitude and ST.
lence reigned supreme.
Our visit here will long live in our
memories as one of the brightest rem
jniscences of our wonderland" jour-
ney.
AGAIN ON THE MOVE.
The ride from Banff to Calgary,
eigthy-two miles is q novel as wellas an
Instructive experience. The railway
rejoins the Bow river and follows 1t
eastward through the forrested valley
for five miles to Anthracite station,
properly named, for here are the great
anthracite coal mines and vast, deposits
of coal penetrating a spur of the Fair
holme sub-range, which rises to the
left nearly ten thousand feet high. right
under the shadow of the Cascade Noun
tain. This coal Is true anthracite, of
high quality and the mines are being
developed rapidly under scientific
methods. The output supplies the
country from Vancouver eastward to
Winnipeg.
The scenery along the Bow is strik-
ingly grand. The pass here narrows
suddenly to four miles in width and
each curve Of the road brings into view
endless peaks, rising on each side, with
ranges towering one above another as
far as the eye can reach, all tinted
with rose, blush pink and silver, as the
sun shines upon their snowy SUBMITS.
No traveller should miss these marvel
Gus effects. They are simply magni-
ficent.
AS we proceed, Rundel mountain is
on the right. nearly 10000 feet high,
behind which lie the Hot Springs just
visited, while the Cascade, thOughmany
miles away, is apparently but a stones
throw distant, rising an enormous mass
boldly to meet us. In fact all the way
out of the Park limits, and for miles,
at every turn. some huge mountain
seems to stand right across our way
with overhanging peaks frOwning upon
us, as if we We're invaders and had
no business here-when suddenly we
Ind %hn via,
left far behind in another direction.
THE THREE SISTERS.
We exit from the Canadian National
Park through the Bow river gap on
approaching Canmore, at an elevation
of 4,230 feet. Canmore Is a divisional
point of the railway and from the sta
tion we have not only wonderful noun
tain scenery, but beautiful level val
ley at our feet. Here is a striking pro-
file Of the "Three Sisters" snow clad
peaks, $3.50 feet high beautiful by
name, and a beautiful sight, together
with Wind and Pigeon mountains, the
former 10,400 feet,) and groups Of iso-
lated. curiously wreathed, conglomer-
ate mountains, which are penetrated by
enormous alcoves and ravines 'in
which haze and shadow of gorgeous
coloring lie engulfed." These mountains
hold our gaze until lost to view by
Intervening SUBMITS. / can testify that
the white Mountain Notch" in all
Its glory. gives but hint of the grand
eur of the scene here.
AS the train leaves the gap and ap-
proaches Kawanasl,is station, we get n
parting view of these monarchs, their
bases deeply tinted in purple and gold,
while in the mists above are distant
snowy peaks. Soon the Kananaskis
river is crossed BY high iron bridge
q little above where 1t joins the Bow
river. The roar Of the Kananaskis Falls
forty feet high, is distinctly heard from
the railway above the noise of the
train. The walls through the gap here
, are vertical and rise to dizzy heights,