"Camping in the Canadian Rockies," which has since been amplified and brought up to date as the author pushed his investigations farther afield, both north and south, accompanied in the latter direction by Henry G. Bryant of the Philadelphia Geographical Society.
The late Jean Habel of Berlin, a noted explorer and enthusiastic mountaineer, explored the Yoho valley in 1897, and it was due to his representations that it first attained notoriety. Again, in 1901, he travelled to the headwaters of the Athabaska river, visited Fortress lake, and gazed upon the mighty Mt. Columbia, which he designated in his records as "Gamma."
Subsequently, we have records of explorations and first climbs, in 1897, 1898, 1900 and 1902, by Dr. J. Norman Collie,[1] Hugh E. M. Stutfield, G. P. Baker and Hermann Woolley in the mountaineer's paradise on the north side of the Blaeberry river, along whose banks lay the old Howse pass route of early furtrading days. These have been embodied in a splendid book: "Climbs and Explorations in the Canadian Rockies," written jointly by Mr. Stutfield and Dr. Collie. Accompanying the book is the only existing detail map of the region.
In 1901, and following years, came Mr. Edward Whymper[1] with four Swiss guides. The same year, the Rev. James Outram captured Mt. Assiniboine, and, in 1902, he made his big killing in the north country, first explored by Collie, Stutfield, Woolley, and Baker. Mts. Columbia, Bryce, Lyall, Alexandra and many others succumbed to his attacks, a truly wonderful mountaineering record for one summer. Mr. Outram has set forth his achievements in a well-written and charmingly descriptive book, entitled, "In the Heart of the Canadian Rockies."
