The unstoppable train
Banff National Park exists because of a railway, two brothers, and sacred hot springs. The Canadian Pacific Railway created Canada’s first national park—and built castle hotels to match.
Few names hold as much influence over Banff’s development than the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1883, as the railroad pushed west into the Canadian Rockies attempting to connect the Eastern provinces of the Confederation to the Pacific coast. It was here, along the Bow River, that two off-duty railway workers—the McCardell brothers—stumbled across the sacred Cave and Basin hot springs beneath Sulphur Mountain. Known for their healing and spiritual powers amongst local tribes, the hot springs served as a ceremonial meeting ground for the Indigenous Peoples that had traveled through the region for thousands of years.
Thinking they’d struck gold, the brothers filed a claim to the land but quickly hit a roadblock to riches when in 1885 the Government of Canada took the unique step of designating the hot springs as public lands. Spotting a business opportunity to fund the railway’s push west through tourism, the Canadian Pacific Railway lobbied the government to expand the protected area beyond the hot springs to become Canada’s first National Park—Rocky Mountains Park, later renamed Banff National Park in homage to the then President of the CPR’s hometown of Banff, Scotland.
With the monopoly on accessing these spectacular protected areas, a series of grand railway hotels were built by Canadian Pacific Railway along the train line. First with the opening of the Banff Springs Hotel in 1888, followed by the Chateau Lake Louise two years later. Known as “Canada’s castles” with their prized locations, in view of towering peaks, turquoise lakes, and their unique “châteauesque” style—a fusion of both Scottish baronial and the châteaux of the Loire Valley—aptly, the home countries of two of Canada's largest immigrant groups at the time.
Today, along with the resurgence of local First Nation culture and art inspiring geology, the legacy of the Canadian Pacific Railway can still be found throughout the region. The grand railway hotels (now Fairmont Hotels) welcome guests to experience a window into the golden age of train travel that shaped Banff at the turn of the 20th century. Nestled in the mountains at 7000ft, the less grand but no less spectacular Lake Agnes Tea House, an alpine refuge built by the CPR in 1905, continues to reward hikers with tea, scones, and delicious views.
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