The Rocky Mountains - Fabulous Western Canada: Capture the Excitement of the Great West! - page 127

discover the region's majestic scenery
just kept growing. Although this area is
a major tourist draw, Jasper remains a
decidedly more tranquil and less com-
mercialized destination than Banff.

contains two large valleys, the humid
Vermillion River Valley and the drier
Kootenay River Valley; the contrast is
striking. The park owes its existence to
a bold attempt to lay a road between
the Windermere region and the prov-
ince of Alberta. In 1905, Randolphe
Bruce, a businessman from the town of
Invermere who became the lieutenant
governor of British Columbia, decided
to turn a profi t with the local orchards.
To accomplish this, he had to be able to
transport produce to other parts of the
country, hence the necessity of laying a
road between isolated Windermere and
the cities to the east. Bruce was so infl u-
ential that construction began in 1911.
A number of obstacles sprung up, and
the audacious project soon proved too
costly for the province to fi nance alone.
The 22km of completed road, born of
a bitter struggle between man and na-
ture, ended up leading nowhere, and
the project was abandoned. Refusing to
admit defeat, Bruce turned to the fed-
eral government, which agreed to help
in return for several hectares of prop-
erty that lined the road on both sides;
thus was born Kootenay National Park
in 1922.

KOOTENAY NATIONAL
PARK VIA THE OLD
WINDEMERE HIGHWAY

Kootenay National Park

Although less popular than Banff and
Jasper, Kootenay National Park never-
theless boasts beautiful, majestic land-
scapes and is just as interesting to
visit as its more touristy neighbours. It

Vermilion Pass, at the entrance of
Kootenay Park, marks the Continental
Divide; from this point on, rivers in
Banff Park and points east fl ow to the
east, while those in Kootenay Park fl ow
west and empty into the Pacifi c.

A few kilometres farther lies Marble
Canyon . Marble Canyon is very
narrow, but visitors will fi nd a lovely
waterfall at the end of the 800m Marble
Canyon Trail. Several bridges span the

3

The inspiring stillness of Maligne Lake.
© Philippe Renault