Exhibit examines 100 Views of the Eastern Bow Valley
by
Rob Alexander
Change is funny. It’s either so dramatic that you notice it immediately. Or it’s so gradual that it can take years before you realize that something is different.
In the case of the Bow Valley, located near the eastern edge of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, the change has been dramatic. In the nearly 125 years since the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the valley has gone from a wilderness setting to one that is now heavily developed.
But that is a blanket statement as the change has occurred both slowly and methodically and quickly and dramatically – and not all of it is permanent, as the odd concrete foundation in what is now deep forest can attest to.
And how do we mark change? Memories are always the first if we are familiar with an area, followed by writing and photographs.
But words and memories can be misleading or downright wrong. As a result, photographs are the most accurate and reliable.
Last year, the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre set out to document change in the eastern Bow Valley to complement its ambitious Negotiating Place exhibit, an ongoing exhibit that seeks to explore and document the past, present and future of the Bow Valley.
Museum curator Edward van Vliet created the 100 Views of the Eastern Bow Valley to create a broad-stroke take on the ‘then-and-now’ of the entire region.
Historic photographs of the region came from Calgary’s Glenbow Museum, the Exshaw Historical Society, Banff-based Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies and Parks Canada.
But the bulk, over half, came from the Canmore Museum archives, which houses a growing collection of over 600 images.
As part of that project, I was hired to re-photograph the 100 historic views that span a century. As a Canmore local, I know the old Bow Valley when Canmore was still a coal-mining town and tourists went to Banff.
Today Canmore has become a resort community, having shed its industrial blue-collar roots for a more polished and upscale image. Nearby Exshaw is still a cement town, home to the 100-year-old Exshaw cement plant, while the other Bow Valley coal-mining communities of Anthracite, Bankhead and Georgetown are gone. Their short lives were ending in the early 1900s with the vagaries of the market place and the difficulties of mining coal.
Through this project, we looked at each of these communities, or the remains of them, along with the more remote valley settings. On paper it sounded easy. In reality, it proved more difficult and rewarding than I had anticipated.
Taken on a snowier day in Canmore’s mining heydey, this scene of the Three Sisters shows an active Canmore mine site and railway extension.
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This autumn view of the Three Sisters Mountains shows how the old mine site has faded away and returned to nature.
What helped – and perhaps what makes the exhibit more interesting – is that a century is simply a heartbeat in geological time. In that heartbeat the mountains have not changed and even though the foreground was often completely different, having the mountains in the background allowed me to line up the modern view.
But even that is easier said than done. Quite often I spent hours trudging back and forth through the snow, climbing fences and dodging traffic to find the right match.
Or I would photograph a scene, go home and download it to my computer to compare with the historic image to discover it didn’t line up. So I would return to the scene and try again only to discover I really needed to be standing on someone’s fence or in their living room to get the accurate angle and distance.
Even a difference in lens length could create a difference that I could not match. While that did add an element of frustration, it also allowed me to explore my hometown and be led to places like Anthracite that I may have never taken the time to explore.
Like any local in any town in any country, I can become complacent about where I live, forgetting how remarkable it is to live in the Bow Valley.
But a project of this nature, which dragged me all over the valley, reminds me of the unique qualities of this place I call home.
Hopefully, locals, newcomers and visitors alike can look at 100 Views of the Eastern Bow Valley and get that sense for themselves. And at the same time have an opportunity to see what has and what has not changed.
Or for that matter, what has gone through a complete cycle – such as Anthracite and Georgetown – where the wilderness has been reclaiming the two former coal-mining towns for many years.
Ultimately, my hope is that the exhibit contributes to a growing historical record and helps maintain the importance of keeping our history alive.
And perhaps 100 years from now, a photographer will take 100 Views of the Eastern Bow Valley and update it for an audience of that day.
Find the Museum:
The Canmore Museum & Geoscience Centre is located in the Canmore Civic Centre building at 902B 7th Ave., Canmore. Summer hours are: Mondays and Tuesdays, noon to 5 p.m., Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Rob Alexander is a Canmore writer and photographer with a passion for this place he has called home for most of his life. If you unexpectedly find him standing in your living room, do not be shocked. He is merely capturing the changes that have occurred for posterity.
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