BANFF NATIONAL PARK - Canadian Rockies: Including Banff and Jasper National Parks - page 42

the Bow Summit Loop.) A colony of black swifts in Johnston Canyon is one of only two
in the Canadian Rockies.
Good spots to view dippers and migrating waterfowl are Hector Lake, Vermilion
Lakes, and the wetland area near Muleshoe Picnic Area. A bird blind has been set up below
the Cave and Basin but is only worth visiting at dawn and dusk when the hordes of hu-
man visitors aren't around. Part of the nearby marsh stays ice free during winter, attracting
killdeer and other birds.
Although raptors are not common in the park, bald eagles and golden eagles are
present part of the year, and Alberta's provincial bird, the great horned owl, lives in the
park year-round.
HISTORY
Although the valleys of the Canadian Rockies became ice free nearly 8,000 years ago and
native people periodically have hunted in the area since that time, the story of Banff Na-
tional Park really began with the arrival of the railroad to the area.
The Coming of the Railway
In 1871, Canadian prime minister John A. MacDonald promised to build a rail line linking
British Columbia to the rest of the country as a condition of the new province joining the
confederation. It wasn't until early 1883 that the line reached Calgary, pushing through
to Laggan, now known as Lake Louise, that fall. The rail line was one of the largest and
costliest engineering jobs ever undertaken in Canada.
Discovery of the Cave and Basin
On November 8, 1883, three young railway workers—Franklin McCabe and William and
Thomas McCardell—went prospecting for gold on their day off. After crossing the Bow
River by raft, they came across a warm stream and traced it to its source at a small log-
choked basin of warm water that had a distinct smell of sulphur. Nearby they detected the
source of the foul smell coming from a hole in the ground. Nervously, one of the three men
lowered himself into the hole and came across a subterranean pool of aqua-green warm
water. The three men had found not gold, but something just as precious—a hot mineral
spring that in time would attract wealthy customers from around the world. Word of the
discovery soon got out, and the government encouraged visitors to the Cave and Basin as
an ongoing source of revenue to support the new railway.