TICKET TO JASPER

[Music] long ago when the Canadian Rockies were known as The Shining Mountain the valley of the Athabasca River was the main fur trade Nature had made this the natural high one of the heart of the mountain [Music] in the old records of the Athabasca Trail pioneers like Gabrielle Fran share and David Thompson told of a dominating landmark a white hooded peak the traders called lamilton to LaGrant Revere katha bastion across the Rockies none of the trails went north of the me at River through the yellow head known to the traders at the leather pad and fence followed the river [Music] in the early part of this century the Dominion set aside a great region of this mountain country as a part largest of all the national parks in Canada and today the park is crossed by the Canadian National Railways for the surveyors followed the old fur trail when the line was built [Music] many changes have come to the river valley since the canadian artist paul cain saw the white-capped mountain nearly a hundred years ago in those days the cabin of Jasper Hawes a Missouri trapper was the only stopping place for the fur traders who met where the trails north and south of the mountains reached the Athabasca but with the railway came settlement and now the old cabin is gone the meeting place of the fur brigades has become the meeting place of transcontinental train the village of Jasper's goal of visitors from all over the world [Music] the 65-foot totem pole beside the railway station is a link with the Canadian past a past that never seems very far away or although the railway the village and the modern highways all belong to this century the mountains are timeless just as the fur traders saw some years ago and three miles from the village on the shore of Black Bull there you can rest and relax in your own way where you can have fun with the crowd or loaf in the Sun and forget the world you left behind [Music] the lodge with its 18 hole golf course and heated swimming pool it's tennis courts and shady lawns offers a great deal in holiday fun but the vast area of the park outside the large grounds offers even more if you bring your camera and pretty nearly everyone does you'll find subjects everywhere most of them perhaps more interesting than Aunt Minnie on the front porch back home the cameras that click busily in Jasper Park every year haha watch this hold it hold it please good the cameras that click in the park range all the way from the snapshot variety for the mammoth equipment of the Technicolor crews who come from far away to capture the color and loveliness of the shining Mountain [Music] it's a big park biggest of them all 4,200 square miles of mountain country set aside as a natural holiday land for the people of Canada and their gift [Music] jasper village is the capital of this wilderness empire and from here though the men of the parks bureau who maintain the modern highways and the 800 miles of mountain trails that crisscross the map like a spider's web many of the peaks are still unnamed and some remote regions to the north have been little explored but you can travel by road or trail from jasper village and death for park Lords to nearly every corner of the huge playground [Music] and trails of course mean horses it wouldn't be a Western holiday if you didn't climb into a high horn saddle at least one and the horses are very patient with beginners [Music] there are miles of sawdust trails around the lodge so you don't have to be an expert rider to enjoy the breakfast ride that is a morning feature of large life a few morning's of that and you'll be ready for longer rides for all-day outings or for journeys of a week or more with trail parties into the backcountry at the beginning however you'll be content with trips to the nearer beauty spot [Music] the magnificence of maligne Canyon is a rugged prelude to the shimmering beauty of maligne lake where glaciers that were born centuries ago tower majestically above a mirror of their own creations you can come here to fish for trout if you wish like most of the waters of the park the lake is well stocked every year from the government hatchery and every angler will agree that Moline provides the perfect setting the gentle arts deserves but if you only come to look and feast your eyes the journey offers full reward [Music] reward of a different kind lies at the end of the highway to the foot of lamilton de la grande traverse the mountain landmark of the old fur traders powering above the lake of forgiveness in frozen magnificence the White Peak is now called Mount Edith Cavell in honor of an heroic British nurse of the First World War here there was a great hanging glacier with vast wings resembling an angel sculptured by wind and weather out of the eternal ice the lake of forgiveness the angel gray seer and the white hood of mount edith cavell all constitute a trinity of commemoration the most magnificent monument ever dedicated to a woman's memory [Music] past Mount Kirkland and athabasca falls you can drive to the very source of the Athabasca River high in the Rockies here is a highway where every turn in the road offers a new glimpse of wonder and beauty [Music] perhaps you'll catch sight of a beaver swimming busily about his affairs perhaps a brood of ducklings in the deep green shadows of a quiet pool [Music] [Applause] perhaps a deer a flock of mountain sheep or even a friendly black bear or a moose by the roadside to all the wildlife in the park the coming of the highway has brought no threat of danger [Music] in all the heights and valleys of these friendly mountains the creatures of the wilderness are protected and live out their lives without fear of man the road winds higher and higher into the mountains and 75 miles from Jasper village the waters of the Athabasca have their beginnings in a great place here the very roof of the mountains straddling the Rockies the huge frozen mass of the Columbia Icefield [Music] 10,000 feet above sea level here is a strange white world where the heat of the Summer Sun beats down on a hundred square miles of ice and snow when you come to Jasper you'll set aside at least one day for a visit to the ice field for this is one of the great scenic spectacles of North America but if you come for more than sightseeing if skiing is your sport and you welcome a chance to enjoy January in July you'll make the Chalet at the foot of the glacier your headquarters for a week or more [Music] [Applause] [Music] and if skiing is a bit too rugged as a summer sport you can mount one of the sure-footed ponies at the chalet and go exploring the great ice field and here you come to grips with a miracle but the ice field is more than a frozen sea more than a great view and a natural wonder it is a source of life and fertility to Regions far away in the warm days of summer its melting ice fills the mountain streams and then the rivers the rivers of the Western watershed tumbling to the Pacific the waters of the Athabasca flowing north to the Mackenzie and the Arctic the waters of the Saskatchewan rolling far across the prairies to distant Hudson Bay [Music] warning the highways and the saddle trail the alchemists are those who tackle the mountain country the hard way world famous mountain climbers men who have scaled the heights of the Alps and Himalayas have come here to accept the challenge of the Canadian Peaks and the members of Canada's Alpine Club have often chosen jasper climbs for their summer outing they climb mountains for fun and they'll tell you which the most fascinating of all sports some are novices some are expert climbers who know every trick of the game the beginner serves an apprenticeship on the shorter and easier climb then comes back next year for more difficult ascent mountain climbing calls for strength and urine and a love of adventure it also calls for first-rate dependable equipment such as nylon ropes steel creepers ice axes and a knowledge of how to use them [Music] from a distance the mountains may seem harsh and formidable at times the backcountry may seem a forbidden land but every mountain has its valley the guides and the Rangers know the trails of the big park as well as a city man knows his own streets on the back of a trail broken horse with pack ponies to carry your supplies you can travel far from the highway into regions that have known little or no change since the days of the Indian [Music] you go away back into the long-ago into the land of classman and you feel the romance and magic of the wilderness in the very names of the peaks and rivers the Athabasca and the whirlpool the Sun Worcester the Astoria and the Tonquin in Mount Takara and Mount diadem the forum and the catacombs the drawbridge and the Barbican turrets mountain and sunrise peak every name with its own legend and meanings of those who know the mountains [Music] from the white clay Sears to the rocky pinnacles from the silent valleys of the backcountry to the slopes and meadows near the village all the beauty and majesty of the mountains can be yours for the taking from the fresh charm of a medal flour to the deep wonder of a green valley and the white splendor of a distant peak [Music] no matter why you come or what you do there is rest from familiar team and escape from a noisier and more complicated world memories to take back with you and treasure for years to come your ticket to Jasper's is a passport to a summer land of infinite mood and variety to a land of loveliness unequaled in the world [Music] [Music]