Canadian Heritage Places

Fisgard Lighthouse, Esquimalt Harbour

Dawson, Yukon Territory

Dawson, Yukon Territory

Dawson, Yukon Territory

Dawson, Yukon Territory

Dawson, Yukon Territory

Dawson Town Site

Rainbow, Yukon Territory

It's about 11:00 pm

Jasper House, Trading Post NHS of Canada

Located on the Athabasca River, this post was a transition point in the fur trade to the west coast, called "Oregon Country". Here the furs from the west came through the mountains on pack-horses and were transferred to canoes to continue the journey eastwards. Trade goods from the east were loaded on horses and taken west through the Yellowhead or Athabasca Passes.

Jasper House, Jasper NP (most visitors can ony view the site from across the Athabasca River.)

For almost half a century Jasper House was the main stopping place for fur traders using the Athabasca, and Yellowhead passes, and an important meeting place for adventurers, voyageurs, artists and missionaries. It was not uncommon to find hundreds of horses coralled on this site.

Athabasca Pass, NHS

An amazing view of the Athabasca Pass from the Icefields Parkway. This pass is a NHS located in Jasper National Park

There were two major passes through these mountains: the Yellowhead & the Athabasca. Both are National historic sites. Today, the Yellowhead can be seen from the comfort of your vehicle, the Athabasca Pass can only be viewed on foot or horseback.

Whirlpool River runs through the pass down to the Athabasca River.

David Thompson, the first European to travel this route, recorded that his party had to cross & recross this river about a dozen times as they moved up the pass. This was in January 1811.

Flying up the Athabasca Pass

David Thompson & his survey party came through in mid-winter in 1811. While it was an arduous trip at any time, winter travel had certain advantages. Rivers and swamps were mostly frozen & there were no biting flies! Snow avalanches were another matter.

Looking down at the height of the Athabasca Pass.

The top of the Athabasca Pass

This is also the continental divide: water from the far pond will find its way to the Pacific Ocean and the water in the near pond into the Atlantic via Hudson Bay.

The "Committees' Punch Bowl" at the height of the Pass .

The "Committee" referred to the Board of Directors of the HBC, located in London.

Cairn Island NHS, St. Lawrence River

Members of the Glengarry militia built the cairn to commemorate Sir John Colborne, the commander of the British forces in Canada during the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.

Batoche Landscape

The South Saskatchewan River flows through the shallow valley centre left.

Entrance to Emerald Lake Lodge

Elizabeth Parker Hut, Lake O'Hara, Yoho National Park

Managed by the Alpine Club of Canada

Abbot Pass Refuge Cabin, NHS

Built in 1922 by Swiss guides working for the CPR as a refuge for mountaineers. The building was located at 2922m in the col between Mt Victoria & Mt. LeFroy. It was torn down in 2022 because erosion undermined the building.

Abbot Hut Refuge Cabin

An earlier photograph.

Mt Edith Cavell, Jasper NP

Edith Cavell was a British nurse working in Belgium at the outbreak of WWI, (July 1914). The German army occupied Belgium as it pushed on into France. Miss Cavell helped many British & Belgium soldiers, some wounded, to escape to Holland & avoid capture. In 1915, she was arrested by German authorities & charged with treason. Convicted by a court marshal, she was executed by firing squad. Miss Cavell became a symbol of German barbarism.

Chilkoot Pass, NHS

Sir John Johnson's manner house, NHS, Williamstown, Ontario

This house & property on the Raisin River northeast of Cornwall was an important mill site for the surrounding pioneer community. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Johnson, a loyalist officer (Tory) commanded soldiers from the First Battalion King's Royal Regiment of New York and a contingent of the 84th Royal Highlanders. In the aftermath of the Am Revolutionary war, he received large land grants for himself & his followers in Cornwall & Williamstown. Despite the name, he never resided in this house.

Sir JJ House, NHS of Canada, Williamstown, Ontario

The White Oak on the front lawn is as old as the house & surrounding settlement, dating to the 1780s. The field gun dates from the later 19th Century.

The House at Hatley Park

The church at Batoche, Saskatchewan

The top step of this church was where Louis Riel proclaimed the Metis provisional government initiating the second Riel rebellion.

Remains of Earthworks

Middleton's camp before the attack on Batoche. The straw is placed over the earthworks to slow erosion.

Carleton Trail NHS, near Batoche

This cart track approaches the ford on the South Saskatchewan River. This was the main east-west trail across the Canadian prairies before the building of the railway.

East Village, Batoche

Takhini River, Yukon Territory