Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.) -- Discovery and exploration, Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.), Discoveries in geography, Canada -- Canadian Rockies, Nakoda, Nakoda -- Alberta, Cree -- Alberta, Cree, Maskepetoon -- Cree Chief -- 1807?-1869, Siksika, Kainah, Alberta 

"An enormous barrier rising before the white man's westward-reaching civilization, the Canadian Rockies were also an irresistible source of fascination, nature's challenge, to a special breed of men and women. Some came to explore, some came for adventure and some came for gain; the great peaks met them all with impassive silence, yielding their secrets only to the very brave and the very persistent. The variegated history of those early travels and explorations includes the remarkable stories of men of power, like Sir George Simpson and Donald Smith, and men whose courage was equalled only by their curiosity -- Thompson, Mackenzie, Palliser, Hector, Rogers. It includes the ambitious, the seekers after a new world and a new life, and the peacemakers, De Smet, Rundle and McDougall. Occasionally it includes the incredibly naive; in telling their stories, Mrs. Fraser has not forgotten the comedy of some of those early expeditions -- the Earl of Southesk rambling through the wilderness with his copies of Shakespeare in hand, or Milton and Cheadle struggling along the uncharted Yellowhead route, burdened with a most undesirable hitchhiker.

The Rockies themselves have their own stories. Mrs. Fraser writes of passes and peaks sought out and conquered, one by one, by men of daring. She explores historic man-made landmarks, many of them destroyed or changed by time: the Banff Springs Hotel, the first little log chalets on Lake Louise, old Jasper House. And she tells of the massive barrier finally breached by a transcontinental railroad.

The first alpinists and the colourful early residents of Banff and Jasper, some of them still living in the mountains they love, provide a link with the present. The Rockies themselves remain virtually unchanged, "a heritage enhanced" by the white man's history: the mountain vista from the modern highways holds out the same promise and the old challenge that has inspired travellers and explorers ever since the day Anthony Henday first beheld his Shining Mountains."--Book jacket. 

252 pages : illustrations (some color), color maps, portraits ; 24 cm. 

Contents:
1. Banff's First Tourist --
2. Gateway to Wealth and Power --
3. Gateway for Thousands --
4. Two in Search of a Fortune --
5. A Toast to Their Honours --
6. Among the Blackfoot --
7. An Artist's Glorious Adventure --
8. A Patrician Hunter --
9. Probing the Barrier for Rails and Roads --
10. The El Dorado of Our Hopes --
11. The Incredible Journey --
12. Achieving the Impossible --
13. Initiating a New Age --
14. Tantalizing Glimpses into the Unknown --
15. The Quaint Botanist and the Legendary Mountains --
16. Searching for the Mysterious Mountains --
17. Triple Quest --
18. Solution and Exciting Discovery --
19. Conquering Heroes --
20. Triumphs, Disappointment and Failure --
21. From Drawing Room to Chaba Imne --
Drama at Mount Robson --
23. Extending the Domain --
Severing the Last Links with the Past --
25. The Wonder Trail. Epilogue. Appendix.

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.