Canmore, Alberta - A Rich Legacy ...
 Campsites dating back 11,000 years and ancient pictographs daubed in ochre attest to the special relationship aboriginal peoples had with this area. The valley was an important trade route and hunting ground for the Kootenay, Peigan, Cree and Stoney tribes. The Rockies were spiritually important as well, and tradition dictated that young men would be sent on vision quests to these mountains, to fast and to experience hardship in search of a guardian spirit to guide them in their adult lives.
The Explorers
In 1800, Duncan McGillivray and David Thompson's vision of a fur trade route across the Rockies brought them to where the Bow River flows from the mountains-the first Europeans to view the Three Sisters and other mountains surrounding today's Canmore. But it would be another 40 years before other European travellers and explorers would follow in their footsteps.
Bound for new lives in the Oregon territory in 1841, a party of Red River Metis families led by James Sinclair forded the Bow River near present day Canmore and climbed to the narrow gap beneath Mount Rundle.
In 1845, Lieutenants Henry Warre and Mervin Vavasour followed the trail of the Red River emigrants to Oregon, investigating a possible route across the Rockies for British troops; Warre, an accomplished landscape artist, lingered long enough at the ford on the Bow to make the first paintings of the Canadian Rockies. A few weeks later, the Jesuit priest Pierre-Jean De Smet crossed the Rockies in the opposite direction on a mission to the Stoneys and other plains tribes. And the Wesleyan missionary Rev. Robert Rundle travelled up the valley with the Stoneys on a similar quest for souls in 1847, passing beneath the mountain that now bears his name.
In 1858, Captain John Palliser's Expedition reached the Rockies to survey passes for the British government. Expedition geologist Dr. James Hector and botanist Eugene Bourgeau explored this section of the Bow Valley and named Wind, Grotto and Pigeon Mountains, the Fairholme Range and Mount Rundle. Hector continued up the valley to discover the Kicking Horse Pass-the route the Canadian Pacific Railway would use to cross the Rockies 25 years later.
Railroaders & Miners
 When the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in 1883, a divisional point was established 68 miles west of Calgary. CPR President Donald Smith is said to have provided the name for the operational centre-Canmore, after Malcolm Canmore, the 11th century Scottish king who vanquished Macbeth. To house the railroad men and their families, a community grew around the depot on the north side of the Bow River. By 1888 the population was 450.
Though geologists mapped coal deposits in the area in 1884, the first mine didn't begin operation until 1887. When Canmore ceased to be a railway divisional point in 1899 it was well established as a mining town. For the next 80 years coal was king.
An Evolving Vision
From 1902 until 1930 Canmore was included in the Rocky Mountains National Park and was under federal jurisdiction. When the park was renamed Banff in 1930, its area was reduced to the present boundaries and the town became the administrative responsibility of the Province of Alberta. In October 1965, the Town of Canmore was formally incorporated with an elected mayor and council.
The recreational potential and ecological importance of the Bow Valley were recognized at hearings on the future of the eastern slopes of the Rockies in 1973. When the last coal mine closed in 1979, it was clear that our mountain setting and location would play crucial roles in the economic future of the town.
The community was changing. New residents, attracted by the mountain setting and friendly, small town atmosphere, created a demand for housing and services. Tourism was a growing factor in the local economy In the late 1970s, when the Alberta government established Kananaskis Country, Canmore became the administrative centre for government services in the Bow Corridor.
When Canmore was selected as the venue for Nordic ski events for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, the Canmore Nordic Centre was established with 57 kilometers of trails and associated facilities to challenge the world's best cross country skiers and biathletes. An army of local volunteers made the occasion a memorable one. Thousands of competitors, spectators and media, plus millions of television viewers, saw the area for the first time and were impressed by Canmore's natural beauty and community spirit. A vision for the future was taking shape.
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