|
ANONYMOUS
BANFF SPRINGS HOTEL & BOW RIVER VALLEY, ca. 1926
photogravure printed by the Detroit Rotogravure Co.
image: 40 cm x 52.1 cm
image framed: 64.8 cm x 76.8 cm
ESTIMATE: $750-1,000
William Cornelius Van Horne, general manager of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) has been credited with recognizing the tourism potential of the Canadian west. Van Horne maintained tourism was an intricate ingredient in getting people to ride the CPR and was conscious of the financial possibilities attached to the western mountain scenery. His philosophy reflected this awareness, 'Since we can't export the scenery,' he said, ' we'll have to import the tourists.' To enhance traffic on the CPR, Van Horne envisioned a succession of lavish resort hotels along the railway line through the Rocky and Selkirk Mountains. In 1886, Van Horne commissioned blueprints for a gothic style hotel to be built at the convergence of the Bow and Spray Rivers in the recently established Rocky Mountain Park. By the start of the twentieth century, the Banff Springs Hotel had developed into one of the top three mountain getaways in North America. The current hotel was finished in 1928, rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1926.
Beautifully framed in oak with an embossed gold “Canadian Pacific” stamp, this gravure print was produced by the CPR to promote tourism, likely in one of its offices or rail stations.
|
|
|
|
