Byron Harmon Photos | The Collected Visual Experience | The Columbia Icefields Expedition, 1924

Family Portfolios

SOCIETY

n 1903 when Byron Harmon first passed through Banff it was a village located between a train station, a hot springs, and a European chateau style hotel. Rocky Mountain National Park, Canada’s first national park, was a small reserve of 26 sq. km (10 sq. miles) established in 1887 by Sir John A. MacDonald to sidestep the disputed ownership and rights for commercial development of the Cave and Basin Hot Springs on the lower slopes of Sulphur Mountain.

It was in these same hot springs that Byron met Tom Wilson, a local outfitter and notable who allegedly convinced him that Banff and its endless surrounding mountains would offer ample opportunities for photography with little or no competition.

IMAGE 1