The Banff-Windermere Highway - 2 Folding Maps - Canadian Rockies
A highly illustrated government promotional booklet issued to commemorate the opening of the first motor highway across the Central Canadian Rockies.
Published by the National Parks Branch under Commissioner J.B. Harkin, this guide marks the pivotal transition from railway tourism to the automobile era in Banff and Kootenay National Parks.
Key Features:
+++ Visuals: The text is illustrated on nearly every page with high-quality, greenish-grey halftone photographic views of the new road, mountain vistas, and Sinclair Canyon. It retains two fold-out color maps at the rear: 'Canadian Rockies Circle Tour' and 'Grand Circle Tour.'
+++ Content: The text serves as both a route guide and a celebration of modern engineering, describing the 104-mile journey from Banff to Invermere. It promotes the 'Grand Circle Tour,' a 4,000-mile motor loop connecting the Canadian parks with US parks like Yellowstone and Glacier, reflecting the 'Good Roads' movement of the 1920s.
+++ Names/Genealogy: Produced under the direction of J.B. Harkin, the first Commissioner of Dominion Parks, who famously championed auto-tourism as a means to secure federal funding for park conservation.
Physical Specs:
+++ Date: [1923] (Dated via OCLC record 3893829; celebrating the June 1923 opening).
+++ Size & Pagination: Octavo (6 x 8.5 inches); 35 pages.
+++ Format: Stapled softcover wraps; heavy textured cardstock cover with yapped (overlapping) edges; glossy paper text block.
Condition Report: Very Good+ -- The bindings are tight and the staples are free of rust. The text block is clean with light, even age-toning. The fragile overlapping cover edges show minimal shelf wear, which is common for this binding style. Both fold-out maps are present, crisp, and intact.
Historical Significance:
The completion of the Banff-Windermere Highway in 1923 was a watershed moment in the history of the Canadian West. Prior to this, crossing the central ranges required a pack train or the Canadian Pacific Railway.
This is a primary documenting the 'Auto-Camping' craze that swept North America in the Roaring Twenties. Issued at the moment the Rockies became accessible to the middle-class motorist. Reflecting the aggressive marketing strategy of Commissioner J.B. Harkin, who argued that 'scenery is a national asset' and used the revenue from automobile tourists to justify the expansion and protection of Canada's National Park system.
Keywords: Banff National Park, Kootenay National Park, J.B. Harkin, Early Automobilia, Canadian Pacific Rockies, Sinclair Canyon, Radium Hot Springs, Canadiana, Vintage Road Maps, Dominion Parks Branch.
Item #21454
Price: $85.00
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