It isn’t easy to do properly.  But every now and then, someone says something that you know is just right.

I recently acquired a vintage 1937 brochure entitled “Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies” that surprisingly contained a hidden gem that seems to capture the essence of the park.

The gem is a description of Jasper National Park that is, well,…you have to read it for yourself…here:

“Nature writes her music and plies her brush with such a lavish hand here that he who dares to imitate is foredoomed to failure.  The pen, the brush, the lute nor the camera can catch the magic of Jasper.  That magic is only for the hearts and the souls of men and women who have been to Jasper and found it.  But found, it will remain like the fire of the sun in the diamond, imprisoned, but a joy and beauty forever.” – author unknown, Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies brochure, Canadian National Railways, 1937

Impressive.

Put out by the Canadian National Railways, the then operator of Jasper Park Lodge and a lot of the tourism goings on, the brochure sought to bring people to Jasper National Park.

The brochure also had this wonderful picture of Maligne Lake’s famous Spirit Island.

Maligne Lake - Spirit Island (click to zoom)

I’ll write more about this brochure in the future. For now though, can you think of the better way to describe Jasper National Park?

A promotional magazine from 1948 will give some clues.

A page from a 1948 Jasper National Park promotional magazine put out by the Canadian National railways suggests all sorts of clothing options, which are still valid today even though trends change.

The magazine centers around the Jasper Park Lodge (now the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge), which at the time, was a property owned by Canadian National Railways.

Canadian National's Jasper National Park 1948 brochure cover

The “What to Wear” page covers what to wear “At the Lodge” (meaning the Jasper Park Lodge), explaining:

“Let your taste be your guide.  Wear what you like, but you’ll find sports and lounging clothes best for relaxation.”

Use the zoom tool below to zoom in and see the details.

It also gives suggestions for motoring (driving a car), riding (horseback riding), golf, day time wear and evening wear.

The suggestion for what to wear during the day time seems to say it all:

“…depends on the weather and what you’re doing. Suit yourself….Just be comfortable.”

My advice: bring layers. During summer, mid-afternoon at a low altitude may be warm enough for short-sleeves and even shorts on some days. Most of the time, something warmer will be more comfortable. As the magazine page says for evening wear, “come prepared for cool mountain evenings.”

The 1928 hotel stands proud on Patricia Street, not far from the Jasper Park visitor centre.  Many a weary traveler have spent the night in the Athabasca Hotel over the years.  Let’s look a little more into its past.

An old brochure (from my collection) that appears to date back from the 1940s or 50s will serve as a tool from which to look further into the history of travel in Jasper National Park.  The brochure was put out by Athabasca Motor Tours Ltd (now defunct as far as I can tell) which was based out of the Athabasca Hotel (possibly a service of the hotel).

The brochure offers potential Jasper National Park visitors a wide range of activities with both similarities and differences from today’s travel experience.

The brochure centers around staying at the Athabasca Hotel “a base for the enjoyment of Jasper’s famous scenic attractions”.  Upon opening the brochure, the first spread is all about the Athabasca Hotel.  “Fifty rooms of home-like comforts…Hot and cold running water, electric lighted, steam heated rooms…”  Water, electricity and heat.

The Athabasca Hotel was advertised in the 1940s brochure as “A substantially built and charming modern hotel in the Canadian Rockies.  The Athabasca caters alike to the tourist, the hunter, the fisherman, the Alpine climber, and the man of business.”  What a wild assortment of people one might encounter.

• the tourist
• the hunter
• the fisherman
• the Alpine climber
• the man of business

Back then, rooms ranged from $3.50 to $6.00 a night for rooms without bath and 5.00 to $8.00 for rooms with a bath.  Though the prices have substantially risen to the $70-$150 per night range (suites are higher), the good news is that the prices are reasonable for staying within Jasper National Park (which tends to be on the high side for hotel rooms).

Here’s a zoom in on the picture of the hotel.

Here’s a further zoom in on a doorway and car parked out front.  You’ll also notice basement windows (which have since been sealed up).  When you visit Jasper and pass by (or stay at) the Athabasca Hotel, try to see if you can find where the old basement windows used to be.

My understanding of Jasper National Park from this brochure, from reading “Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park“, and other historical materials, is that tourism in the 1940s centered around the train, horse and guided tour.  At this point in Jasper National Park’s history, the roadways were limited and many were gravel.  Many visitors arrived by train or bus.  Upon arrival, travelers then went off on a variety of guided tours.  The self-guided tour in one’s own “family truckster” would have to wait until the late 1950s to be popular.

A map on the inner pages of the brochure, which calls Jasper National Park “A Delightful Vacation Land”, shows a variety of “sightseeing motor drives” offered to the travelers of the era.  A sightseeing motor drive involved being driven by a chauffeur to such sights as Maligne Canyon, Mt Edith Cavell and Miette Hot Springs.  The tours ranged from 2 to 8 hours and gave tourists a chance to see parts of Jasper National Park only accessible by horseback 10 or 20 years prior.  It must have been a splendid experience.

(click for larger image)

Besides the sightseeing tours, Athabasca Motor Tours offered multiple day “all expense tours” where tourists would see the sights, do motor tours and partake in activities like hiking and horseback riding during the day and then return to Athabasca Hotel for meals and spending the night.

While the Athabasca Motor Tours service is no longer, the Athabasca Hotel has maintained its charm even today.   The Athabasca Hotel looks very similar to the hotel of old.

A few details have changed.  For example, you’ll see in the modern pictures below red awnings over the doorways and green/yellow signs for O’Shea’s restaurant – both of which are absent from the 1940s picture of the hotel.   But the overall character seems similar and this is a place many travelers will want to stay.

Added bonus:

Check out this 1969 home movie of Jasper National Park and Yellowstone.  At about 24 seconds into it, a few seconds capture the front of the Athabasca Hotel.

But 1969 in Jasper National Park, well, that is another era, another story, another day…

Notice how different the hiking clothing is.  It seems as if the 1930s Jasper National Park hikers are all dressed up.

It is also very likely, given what I’ve read about Jasper National Park’s history in Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park and in other sources, that the people visiting Jasper National Park in the 1930s were more wealthy than most.  Remember too that the great depression was in the 1930s.  In the 1930s, Jasper National Park was still relatively obscure compared to Banff National Park, with Jasper having an average of 14,859 visitors per year in the 1930s whereas Banff National Park had an average of 173,178 visitors per year in the 1930s (source: I used the visitor statistics chart on page 226 of “Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park” [2007] to come up with these averages).

Edward Wilson Moberly had more ties to the Jasper National Park experience and history than just about anyone.

The book “Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park” is where I learned about Edward Wilson Moberly.

The book is a collection of scholarly articles on the history of Jasper National Park with one of the articles all about Edward Wilson Moberly. One of the articles, Homesteading in the Athabasca Valley to 1910 by Peter J Murphy, is an interview with Edward Wilson Moberly.  In it, I learned that Edward Wilson Moberly (1901-1992) was the real deal when it comes to the Jasper National Park experience.

According to Peter J Murphy’s excellent article and interview, Edward Wilson Moberly was born in the current park boundaries prior to the region being made a national park.  Moberly’s family lived in the Athabasca valley (center of today’s Jasper National Park) prior to being relocated in 1909 to an area just outside of the park.

Most of the article is a transcript of an interview with Edward Wilson Moberly at age 78.  Moberly talks about his experience living and working in the park.  Though he only lived in the park’s boundaries from 1901 to 1909, Moberly says he spent 52 years as a guide in Jasper, starting in 1920.  After he left that, he did landscaping in the park including Whistler Campground and even the gardens of the administration building.

Moberly’s Jasper family history goes way back. His grandfather was one of the first residents.  In the interview, Moberly says that in 1850, his grandfather Henry John Moberly moved in.  His father John Moberly and his uncle Ewan Moberly were both born in the Athabasca valley too.  John lived on the Athabasca River near Jasper Lake and Ewan lived on Jasper Lake.  (Note: See a pictures of ruins near John’s homestead here via Jasper Yellowhead Museum’s archives). Then, in 1909, they were dispossessed and forced to move out.  They both moved to an area around the Prairie Creek, which is just over the modern eastern Jasper National Park border.

In the interview, Edward Wilson Moberly discusses the way of life.  He talks about his father cutting hay to feed the cattle in winter.  “There was no sleigh.  There was no wagon.  There was no road.  He had to pack it down with packhorses,” says Moberly in the interview.

Life was not easy.  Only a small number of families called the Athabasca valley their home.  Moberly says “Sometime you have to work hard — sometime you have to go far away for things — but everybody was happy — because everybody helps one another, all the time.”

Moberly lived through a lot of Jasper history.  He was there in the beginning before the park came into being.  He was there when the parks were made a park and his family was forced to move out.  He was there when the railroads were coming in.  He was there when the roads were built and automobiles drove on the roads.  He died in 1992 at a time when hundreds of thousands of tourists visited Jasper National Park each year in the area that used to be his home.

If you are interested in more Jasper National Park history, take a look at “Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park“.

Planning to visit Jasper National Park this year?  This book might be of interest.   The book provides the historical perspective that general travel guide books are unable to fully explore. Culturing Wilderness looks in detail at what makes Jasper tick, readying the traveler for a more enjoyable and rewarding experience.

A word of warning: this book is the real deal. It is thick, content rich and will take a while to get through. But reading is worth the reward. The reward is the gaining of a deep appreciation of how Jasper National Park came to be.

The book starts with a thoughtful foreword by the Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien, Former Prime Minister of Canada, who has himself been involved in the creation of newer Canadian National Parks and “setting aside about 150,000 square kilometers for the people of Canada and generations to come.”

Chretien sets us up for the kind of history that unfolds throughout the book:

“Just as it is tough work making parks, it is tough to make parks work!” (Jean Chretien, Former Prime Minister of Canada)

The book goes on to document the tough work in making Jasper National Park as we know it today – Canada’s largest national park. It starts with an investigation into the early years, the 1800s before the park was formed. It looks at the early residents and visitors of the region and how they survived in the region’s harsh terrain.

I.S. MacLaren writes a piece about the 1846 artwork of Henry James Warre and Paul Kane. Both sketched the Jasper region in 1846. These works are the earliest surviving pieces of artwork capturing the Athabasca region. MacLaren compares and contrasts the artwork which includes mountain scenes and even sketches of Jasper Hawse’s House – the name that stuck when Jasper Forest Park was signed into being in 1907.

In a very detailed review of local and national policy-making, Peter J. Murphy traces the boundaries of Jasper National Park as the boundaries were defined and re-defined several times during the years following the park’s formation in 1907. In doing so, Murphy reveals the goals for Jasper as defined by several policymakers, and how the park fits in to the surrounding forest reserves, reserves whose reason for being differ from Jasper National Park.

In another fascinating piece, Murphy provides the text of an interview with Edward Wilson Moberly (1901-1992). Moberly recounts his family’s tough life in Jasper prior to 1909 when forced to leave the park and his tough life growing up and living just over the border, living off the land while spending many years working in the park. This interview is one-of-a-kind.

A piece by Pearlann Reichwein and Lisa McDermott opens the readers eyes to the story of Mary Schaffer who started as a Canadian Rockies traveler and then turned into an explorer, authority and a contributor to Canadian Rockies preservation. In many ways, Schaffer made Jasper National Park and the region what they are today.

The book also contains pieces about the history of tourism in the park and concludes with a serious piece about ecological restoration and the human impact on the Jasper National Park landscape.

The book is available on Amazon.com: Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park: Studies in Two Centuries of Human History in the Upper Athabasca River Watershed

In 2007, Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp to celebrate Jasper National Park’s 100 year anniversary. The stamp portrays a Jasper wilderness landscape with surrounding Canadian Rockies in the background.

The scene choice is nice, though it would have been nice to show a few animals. Still, it’s pretty cool.

The 2007 Jasper National Park stamp

Pictured is a scan of a Jasper Park Lodge restaurant menu I have.  The menu is dated Wednesday, July 22, 1953.  The menu depicts Spirit Island on Jasper’s famous Maligne Lake.

The words “Canadian National System” are written on the bottom of the restaurant menu.  Therefore, it is likely that travelers who received this menu were traveling across Canada on a Canadian National Railway transcontinental train ride and making a stop in Jasper for sightseeing and meals at Jasper Park Lodge.

Given that printing full color menus in 1953 was not cheap, nor was/is Jasper Park Lodge, I’m guessing this was an upscale dining experience.

Jasper Park Lodge 1953 Dinner Menu

Imagine the scene.

People sit in the Jasper Park Lodge restaurant talking about Ford and Chevy cars, B&W televisions or the black bear they saw from the window of the train.  In 1953, the geographic region had only been a national park for less than 50 years.

The dining experience starts with the waitstaff delivering celery and olives to the table as a snack.  The tourists are given a menu and choice of drinks, fruit supreme, grenadine, merry widow cocktail, or chilled tomato juice.  A merry widow cocktail, not as common today, is an alcoholic drink made with brandy, maraschino liqueur and a cherry.

Next comes the soup.

The travelers pick from the fancy-sounding “consomme vert pre” (probably some sort of veggie broth) or the less fancy sounding “jellied broth” or “cream of green beans”.

The Main Course

The Main Course selections for the day featured a wide variety of cuisines, some French, some traditional:

• Fresh lake trout saute, meuniere
• Breaded veal chop with spaghetti, chef’s style
• Sugar-cured ham glace, pineapple fritters
• Broiled beef tournedos, bearnaise
• Roast turkey, cranberry sauce
• Cold lobster, mayonnaise
• Fruit plate with cottage cheese, brown bread

The Jasper travelers would be served their main course meal along with lettuce and french dressing and a vegetable.  The vegetable selection was mashed, boiled or au gratin potatoes, new green beans and cauliflower with fine herbs.  Apparently “new green beans” differ from plain “green beans” in that new green beans are picked earlier in the season.

Dessert, the other main course.

Everyone loves dessert.  Dessert is one of the things to look forward to when traveling.  Jasper in the 1950s was no exception.  The dessert served on this fine 1953 evening consisted of a choice of frozen puff, frosted layer cake, pear cream pie, cantaloupe a lo mode or a cheese board (selection of cheeses).

The Jasper travelers of the 1950s

Imagine the travelers wearing the fashion of the 1950s.

Maybe the travelers who received this menu were going from Vancouver to Toronto or maybe just Vancouver to Edmonton.  Jasper National Park was one of the notable stops on the route.

Travelers would ride the train and then spend a day or two at the park, taking in sites like Maligne Lake or wandering around the Jasper Park Lodge (now known as the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge).  The engine car may have been like this steam locomotive train, typical of what was in operation in 1953.

Our July 22, 1953 Jasper National Park travelers not only had a great meal, but a few days later, they’d learn that the Korean War ended, a war that took the lives of over 300 Canadians and injured hundreds more.

A few years after this dinner, the more famous train line called “The Canadian” line launched with new trains and an even better transcontinental train ride experience.

Today, train buffs seeking a Canadian train adventure with stops in Jasper should look at Via Rail who offers a service here that is top notch.  It is not cheap, but must be one of the best train travel experiences in the world.  There’s a good article about the modern transcontinental Canada train experience here.

The 6 scenic views in this Jasper National Park postcard set:

1. Maligne Lake – Spirit Island close-up
2. Mount Robson – through the trees and overlooking Berg Lake
3. Jasper Park Lodge – aerial view
4. Athabaska River – with mountain goats at water’s edge
5. Maligne Lake – Spirit Island from far away
6. Mount Edith Cavell – the scenic 11,000 ft high mountain

The photo credits read “Canadian National Railways” except for the photo of Mount Robson, which is credited to award-winning photographer and local legend Bruno Engler. I’ve mentioned Bruno Engler in regards to another vintage Jasper postcard in the past.

The publisher of this postcard had to pick the 6 best scenic photos to fit the limitations of the type of product being sold – a 6 photo postcard set. Picking the 6 best Jasper park scenes is a difficult task. Jasper National Park seems to emit great scenery from wherever one stands.

If I were to create a Jasper National Park postcard set today, I would remove one of the Maligne Lake photos. I’d instead include a picture of the Athabasca Glacier or one of the other glaciers.

The glaciers have been regarded for their beauty since the early days of the park.

The Jasper Tramway also offers an excellent source of scenic views.

I’d replace the Jasper Park Lodge aerial photo with a panoramic photo from the top of the Whistler’s Mountain – after riding the Jasper Tramway up the mountain.

From the top of Whistler’s Mountain, everywhere you look is wonderful, nature scenery. After all, Jasper’s most recent slogan is “Jasper. Wonderful by nature.”

• Big 60s American cars parked on Connaught Drive in the town of Jasper at the center of Jasper National Park…then a Volkswagon Bus drives by
• A mule deer or elk stands in a field and then bighorn sheep walk amongst tourists and campers.
• The Ranger Station looks like it does today – though it now serves as the Jasper Information Center and houses a gift shop
• The Athabasca Hotel looks like it did when the current building opened in 1928. Though modernized, it still maintains its charm today. I imagine the traveler stayed here.
• The Jasper Firehall building is still there today but now functions as the Jasper Artists Guild….right near the park information center. A new firehall building was recently opened elsewhere in town.

The second half of the video covers a trip to Yellowstone National Park, a place I just visited and whose relation to Jasper National park I will explore further in upcoming articles.