Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
  • Listen to CMAJ podcasts
The Left Atrium

Taking the waters in Banff, Alberta

Katharine Fletcher
CMAJ February 12, 2008 178 (4) 444; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.080044
Katharine Fletcher BA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading
  • © 2008 Canadian Medical Association

In January 1884, William and Tom McCardell were working on the Canadian Pacific Railway on the site of present-day Banff, Alberta. Being observant types, they noticed a wisp of mist rising from the mountainside. Curious, they clambered further up the slope, finding steam escaping from a gash in the rock.

Further investigation led them to enjoy a dip in the mineral-rich waters of a sulpherous-smelling spring, likely making them the first white men to luxuriate in what became Banff's renowned Upper Hot Springs at Sulphur Mountain.

For perhaps a few thousand years, however, Aboriginals have considered such sites sacred because they associated the heated mineral waters with miraculous healing powers. In fact, in some Aboriginal cultures, such as the Lakota, hot springs were considered neutral ground where even warriors from warring tribes could soak up some relaxation, unharmed.

Such spirituality eluded the McCardell brothers. Instead, they envisioned making their fortunes. Why not lay claim to the land, build a pool enclosure, and charge visitors for the luxury? They knew Europeans had been flocking to spas for centuries to “take the waters” and treat everything from infertility to rheumatism and paralysis. People even drank the waters and bottling businesses prospered. According to Dr. William A. Frosch at Weill Cornell Medical College, famous people have flocked to spas for centuries: Michelangelo claimed a kidney stone was broken up by the Italian waters at Fiuggi and the 19th century explorer and evolutionary biologist, Charles Darwin, took the waters for dyspepsia (which was defined, at the time, as physical weakness, loss of appetite and depression, morbid despondency and gloom).1 In his diary, Darwin noted, that the waters had “an astonishingly renovating action on my health.” He assured a friend that, “I feel certain that the water cure is no quackery.”1

Figure

Some 300 000 visitors now “take the waters” at the Banff Upper Hot Springs, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of its opening last year. Image by: Katharine Fletcher

The McCardell brothers were likely unaware of these famous mineral bath enthusiasts, but they were astute enough to realize they could make their fortune by building bathhouses and bathing pools. They erected a wooden shack at the site, thus establishing squatter's rights, and began charging people to use the sulfurous springs. They then presented their discovery to William Cornelius Van Horne, the Canadian Pacific Railway's general manager, who was trying to find a way to complete the trans-Canada railway.

Van Horne declared the springs “worth a million dollars” and offered the McCardells $675 each, which they accepted. Now Van Horne possessed the perfect hook to convince the government to conserve the area's spectacular mountain scenery as a national preserve — and tourism Mecca. At the same time, Van Horne's and the government's funding problem was solved: tourists would bankroll the Canadian Pacific Railway.2 In 1885, Banff National Park was born.

Van Horne's plans geared up. He envisioned a series of luxury hotels to accommodate wealthy visitors who would, of course, arrive by train. On June 1, 1888, the Banff Springs Hotel opened its doors, one of a string of Canadian Pacific hotels across the country. From the confluence of the Spray and Bow rivers in Banff, horse-drawn carriages conveyed well-to-do Victorians from Philadelphia, Boston, New York and other centres to the Upper Hot Springs bathhouse for “the cure.” Meanwhile, less well-heeled visitors stayed at the Grand View Villa hotel, built adjacent to the hot springs in 1886.

Not only did tourists soak in the spring water, they drank it, too. Bob Elliott, acting operations manager at Banff Upper Hot Springs, said, “Local bars sold bottled hot springs water as a tonic and cure for hangovers. Banff's mineral water was bottled and sold as ‚Lithia water' for a short time until the medical experts realized that one of the active ingredients found naturally in the hot springs, Lithium, was addictive. This ended the bottling and consumption, by drinking, of Banff's mineral springs.”

All and sundry came to soak outside in the steaming mineral waters, which possessed what Van Horne knew was a compelling scene of majestic beauty: a sweeping backdrop of Sulphur, Rundle and Cascade mountains. Time passed — bathers indulged — and, in 1932, the Government of Canada erected the present bathhouse, which has been recently renovated. A heritage treasure, it is a distinctive Queen Anne Revival architectural style, finished — just as is the Banff Springs Hotel — in Rundle Stone. Last year marked the 75th anniversary of its opening and, over the past decade, it has steadfastly attracted some 300 000 visitors annually.

Regardless of their medical benefits, the Banff mineral waters do offer the undiluted, exquisite pleasure of soaking up the heat amid spectacularly scenic nature.

REFERENCES

  1. 1.↵
    Frosch WA. “Taking the waters” — springs wells, and spas. Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimentation in Human Biology 2007;21:1948-50.
    OpenUrl
  2. 2.↵
    Chisholm B, Floren R, Gutsche A. Castles of the North, Canada's Grand Hotels, Toronto: Lynx Images Inc; 2001. p. 29.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 178 (4)
CMAJ
Vol. 178, Issue 4
12 Feb 2008
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Taking the waters in Banff, Alberta
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Taking the waters in Banff, Alberta
Katharine Fletcher
CMAJ Feb 2008, 178 (4) 444; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.080044

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Taking the waters in Banff, Alberta
Katharine Fletcher
CMAJ Feb 2008, 178 (4) 444; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.080044
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
    • REFERENCES
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • On becoming
  • Chronicles of a cardiologist in Canada's North
  • Rethinking randomized controlled trials
Show more The Left Atrium

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Medical humanities

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • CPD credits
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: [email protected]

CMA Civility, Accessibility, Privacy

 

Powered by HighWire