Harropian Books

[Rockies, CPR] 1880s Boorne and May Photograph 645. Field Hotel & Mount Stephen. Winter

BOORNE and May (Photographer)

Calgary, NWT: Boorne and May, 1888. Mounted Photograph. An original c. 1887-89 Boorne and May albumen silver salts photograph, captioned in negative along bottom edge "645. Field Hotel & Mount Stephen. Winter". Photograph measures 4.25 x 7.75 inches wide, with original album card mount backing hinged with Japanese tissue onto recent 5.25 x 8.5 inch wide card stock. Photo with some toning, else a nice image of an early work by Boorne and May. Ref. A copy of this photo is held by Glenbow Library and Archives Collection "(CU185407) by Boorne and May, circa 1886-1888." Very Good. Item #4629

"Mount Stephen House, Glacier House, and Fraser Canyon were the first three hotels developed by Canadian Pacific Railways in BC. Because it was difficult to bring dining cars through mountainous areas, the hotels were initially intended as “dining stations”. These three “chalet” style hotels were designed by the architect Thomas Sorby and had very similar designs, each with six or seven bedrooms. Mount Stephen House was a small hotel located in Field, British Columbia. Shortly after opening in the fall of 1886, it was described in a Canadian Pacific Railway pamphlet : The Mount Stephen house, a pretty chalet-like hotel, is situated fifty miles west of Banff, in Kicking Horse Canon, at the base of Mount Stephen — the chief peak of the Rockies in this latitude, whose stupendous mass is lifted abruptly 8,000 feet above. This is a favorite stopping-place for tourists and mountain climbers, and there is good fly fishing for trout in a pretty lake nearby, and “big horns” and mountain goats are found in the vicinity…This is a favorite region for artists, the lights and shadows on the near and distant mountains giving especially interesting subjects for the brush. – The Canadian Pacific : The New Highway to the east Across the Mountains, Prairies & Rivers of Canada, 1888, p. 51. The nearby Mount Stephen was named after George Stephen, the Canadian Pacific Railway’s first president." Canadian Pacific Railway Hotels in B.C. Kelly Stathis (2019).

Price: $225.00 CAD  other currencies