Lake Louise & Victoria Glacier — About 1949
It’s safe to say that when many Americans think of Canada they visualize vast expanses of nature and, in particular, the Canadian Rockies. These vintage postcards — most of which are colored photos — feature scenes of the Rockies in Alberta, spanning the early 1900s up to the early 1960s.
Athabasca Glacier — About 1960 (Love that funky snow bus!)
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Bow Valley, Banff — About 1950s
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Bow Valley, Showing Golf Course — About 1950s
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Cascade Mountain, Banff — Early 1900s (This was quite a ride then in a horse drawn carriage.)
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Cascade Mountain, Banff — 1920s
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Wind Mountain, Alberta — About 1910s
I’ve always loved vintage post cards. What a wonderful look into the past.
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Wow! Where did you find these fabulous vintage postcards? They’re great! Having been out west, I can picture the real thing through these (minus that oh so funky snow bus!)
Dale, yeah, old postcards are fun!
The best, Brett!
Lake Louise capped off a week vacation a few years ago, experienced Banff and casinos in Calgary.
That sounds like a wonderful vacation!
Amazing. I really like the postcards.
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Cute postcards.
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I like looking at these Brett. Is fun to see what these places looked like, especially the ones I’ve seen. I was in Banff in the early ’80s but not in horse drawn wagon 🙂
Dan, thanks. Amazing how times have changed in some ways but nature continues with its majestic appeal.
Great find and great idea to share them with us. NEAT!
Thanks! 🙂
Love them. I echo Fiola (first comment in this chain), Funny thing is, the super-saturated, unreal/hyper-real colour of this era of photography has been revived, largely thanks to TV shows like CSI Miami. What’s old is new!
Penny, that is a wonderful observation and connection!
Love those postcards, especially as I was lucky enough to see most of those views a few years ago. The snow bus was just a little bit different to the one in the postcard 🙂
Very nice! That snow bus looks very much like something from an earlier era.
Great images, Brett! And Carole’s absolutely right – the snow bus isn’t that different from the one in the postcard!
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You have postcards over 100 years old here :), valuable cultural heritage.
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Interesting. I assume you’ve been there? We live just 120 km. southeast of Banff/Lake Louise area in Calgary. There’s another embedded vintage poster in this blog post:
https://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/lake-louise-snowshoeing-snow-glazed-mountains-ice-castles-and-bison-reuben-sandwiches/
The Canadian Pacific Railway has a real history in western Canada in terms of its line, buildings, bringing in Swiss mountain guides, etc.
That’s interesting about the Canadian Pacific bringing in Swiss guides. It seems that railroad was always connecting the dots literally and figuratively.
These are great — especially the first two !!!!
Simpler times, for sure. 🙂
These are beautiful, and I admire the time you must have spent scanning!
Hi, Elisa, thanks. I’ve got the scanning down pretty good now! 🙂
I just found your blog and I am delighted as I also love Canada. Your postcards are lovely – I collect vintage postcards and try to show some on my posts when appropriate. I first went to Canada after arriving from Paris to the US and taking a 2 months trip on Greyhound! Whenever I cannot go back home (to France) I try to go to Canada so I can speak some French, but even where they don’t speak French (like in BC or Newfoundland) it is a wonderful country to visit. I remember in the 80s when I was going to visit a French friend who lived in Montreal I tried to find a book on Canada history in the local bookstores (here in Atlanta) and could not find one. The salesperson told me that there was no call for them … I ended up getting one from France! Canada may not be appreciated in the US but it is loved everywhere else.
Thanks very much for your comment and bravo for all that you mention here. Yes, I’ve often heard it said that going to Quebec is like a less expensive visit to France and it certainly provides many opportunities to practice the language. Best, Brett
This is a wonderful post – combines two of my favourite things: the rockies and postcards 🙂 Thank you for sharing! (And thanks for visiting my blog!)
Thanks! 🙂
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