Along the Kicking Horse River...

... AGAIN!

Once again, we see a post card showing the struggling train as it heads up the Kicking Horse Canyon next to the Kicking Horse River. The words scratched onto the bottom of the picture say,"777. Mt. Field and Kicking Horse River." This train looks as if it is on its way from Golden, British Columbia to Field.

It is a passenger train of nine cars; the observation car at the back tells me that the Canadian Pacific Railroad certainly knew the stunning beauty of this area would be a great attraction to paying passengers. I wonder if this car simply went back and forth from Revelstoke, British Columbia (or even Vancouver) to Calgary, Alberta and back over and over and over...


Once again, I include some biography about Byron Harmon from the website: "http://www.harmonphotography.com/artists/byron.html"

The most ambitious and photographically lucrative trip of Harmon’s career was a self-initiated trek across the Columbia Icefield with writer Lewis Freeman in 1924. What made the expedition so impressive was not only the crossing itself but the inclusion of a pack train of 15 horses loaded to the teeth with photographic and motion picture equipment. In one instance of extremely bad weather near the beginning of the trip, Harmon lost,”more supplies in two days than the recent US Geological Survey expedition lost in its three months voyage through the rapids of the Grand Canyon. Even at that, however, we were never seriously handicapped by a shortage either of food or of photographic supplies”1. Also included in the supplies were several carrier pigeons Harmon had bred himself and an early radio device, the intent being to, prove that radio reception was possible in the wilds of the western mountains, and “wanting to see if the pigeons could thread their way through the peaks back to Banff” 2. In both cases the experiments were successful. The trip followed, primarily, the line of the Continental Divide and included many dangerous river crossings as well as the treacherous ice travel. In one extreme case of photographic stoicism, Harmon camped in one spot for eight days waiting for the perfect light on Mt. Columbia. The trip yielded 400 stills, 700 feet. of film, an article for National Geographic, and a book by Freeman entitled On the Roof of the Rockies.

Working Hard!!

Once again, we are in the Kicking Horse Canyon. I have chased trains for many years in this area. There are some areas where the highway is right next to the railroad tracks and others up high where some very spectacular views can be had. I know from my own experience why Byron Harmon would have so many pictures of trains taken in this area. PLUS, it is close to Banff, his adopted home town.

In this picture There are two engines puling a passenger train up the hill toward Banff, after passing Field, Yoho, Stephen, Divide and a few other stations. I tried to read the numbers on these engines with my magnifying glass, but could not. I can't even see the wheel arrangements clearly, but it looks like they could be either 2-6-0s or 2-6-2s.

Letting my imagination carry me away, I like to think that Bryon was spotted by the first engineer who is blowing his whistle to recognize Byron and his camera's presence.

Again, more about Byron from the website:


Harmon reached the peak of his career in the early 1920’s. Although by this time his participation with the Alpine Club had petered off, he was organising his own mountaineering trips with purely photographic objectives, allowing him to seek out the ideal situations for mountain photography. As well, his work had gained national and even international recognition.

Going UP!

These two post cards are pictures of the same view. And, they have the same writing on the bottom of the picture to identify where it was: "772. Kicking Horse Canyon." I have both of these cards in my collection because one is in black and white while the other is done in sepia tones.

One can tell by looking at the rapids in the river that the train is headed up hill. What I do not know is where the picture was taken and what mountain is in the background. My experience while chasing trains in the Kicking Horse Canyon is that this might be at the bottom of the canyon where today a very large bridge flies over the river and trains tracks. The highway is in the middle left of the card just as the river bends to the right. I think that this closeness places the scene where I just described??? I will have to take my collection with me next time we head west from Edmonton at that latitude.

The train in the picture only has one engine and it is a freight! Maybe there is a pusher at the back helping it up the mountain slopes. Anyway, this one certainly is working!! Look at that smoke coming out of the stack.

Here is a profile of the elevations along the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway as it goes from Calgary, Alberta to Golden, British Columbia through the Rockies. I found this on the wall of the Whyte Museum in Banff, Alberta.

It shows that Calgary is 3,248 feet above sea level; the second station is Cochrane (a town in Alberta) at 3,749 feet; Morley, which is a very flat plain on an Indian Reservation, is at 4,067 feet; three stations later we are in Canmore, Alberta (another town) at 4,284; then Banff is at 4,521 feet; Castle Mountain (we will see this in a later blog posting) is at 4,880 feet; Stephen (the tallest point on the chart) is at 5,321 feet; then it drops down to Field, British Columbia at 4,064 feet.
So, you can see that the change in the elevation from Morley to Stephen is the same as the change in elevation from Stephen to Field. However, the distance from Morley to Stephen is about 67 miles and the distance from Stephen to Field is only 13 miles.

More about Byron Harmon from the website:


In town, Harmon pursued his civic responsibilities as enthusiastically as he did his photography. After 1908, his business continued to expand and additions and renovations to his commercial building, Harmons, became almost yearly events. He lent his time and energy to many boards and committees and was an outspoken businessman in the community. He garnered a reputation as a quiet, amiable man with a good sense of humour, dedicated to his work, his family, and his town. Portrait work became an active pursuit for Harmon again, as well, and he recorded many famous images of the Stoney Indians both on their reserve at Morley and during the Banff Indian Days celebrations in Banff.

Getting Even Closer

I thought that the last blog post had a close up of a train along the Kicking Horse River; I was mistaken.

Take a look at the picture on this post card. While it is not in the best of shapes, it does show a very close up view of another train on the CPR mainline. Through my 15 power magnifying glass, I can see that the engine number has four digits, but I can't make out what they are. The train does seem to be double headed, as per usual on this section of the mainline. There is writing along the bottom right hand toward the corner. It says,"357. Kicking Horse Canyon." It was written there by Byron Harmon when he developed and printed the post card. The back has the stamp on it that tells us that it is his card and provides reminders of which side is for the address and which side is for the correspondence.

This poor post card has several bends and creases in it. But, it is a Byron Harmon original and so it stays in my collection. So, a bit more about Byron:(taken from the website: http://www.harmonphotography.com/artists/byron.html)

In 1906 The Alpine Club of Canada was formed under the Directorship of Arthur O. Wheeler. With Byron’s noticeable presence in town, Wheeler invited him to become a charter member and the official club photographer. To compliment it’s lofty ambitions, the ACC was committed to publishing an annual journal, which would feature prominently Harmon’s photos. The opportunity was a rare blessing and afforded Harmon a shot at reaching his goal of photographing every peak in the Rockies in as many moods and settings as possible.

Two Alpine Club trips in particular accounted for a sizeable body of Harmon’s collection and increased his stature as a photographer and a mountain goer. The first was a trip into the Purcell Mountains with Wheeler and Himalayan climber Dr. T. G. Longstaff in 1910, during which Harmon discovered and photographed Bugaboo Glacier.. The second was a three-month expedition the following year into the Mt. Robson area with Wheeler, mountain guide Conrad Kain, and four scientists from the Smithsonian Institute. For Wheeler, the trip was a chance to explore new territory in preparation for a later ACC camp and to scout out the Canadian Rockies’ most lofty peak; for the scientists it was a great look at the flora and fauna of the northern Canadian Rockies; and for Harmon it was an intimate look at some of the wildest country in Western Canada. During the trip, Harmon and Kain made a first ascent of nearby Mt. Resplendent, 3362 meters. During a future trip Harmon would photograph a party summiting the ridge of Mt. Resplendent, one of his most famous images.