Rocky Mountain Legacy

Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies Society

By Terri Mason

They’ve ridden the trails with kings and queens, renegades, famous artists, raconteurs, legendary horsemen, launched Wilf Carter’s career, influenced environmental policy and introduced eight generations—and counting—to the most spectacular area in the world; Canada’s Rocky Mountains. This is the legacy of the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies.

In 1883, CPR worker Billy McCardle discovered what the Natives had known of for years; a pool of hot water that was later rechristened the Cave and Basin Hot Springs near Banff, Alberta. Cornelius Van Horne, then the president of the CPR, pressured the Dominion government to establish the Hot Springs reserve and by 1887, Canada’s first national park was established. 

In 1923, Walter Nixon, an outfitter from Windermere, BC, toured a group of influential travellers through the region. The party included Reginald Townsend, editor of Country Life in America magazine; Mrs. Townsend; H.B. Clow, President of Rand McNally Map Makers; R.H. Palenske, well-known Chicago artist; Dr. J. Murray Gibbon, General Publicity Agent of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR); H. Armstrong Roberts; and Byron Harmon, official photographer of the Alpine Club of Canada.

The idea of an "Order of the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies" found enthusiastic support and, to help provide a draw for its hotels at Banff and Lake Louise, the CPR agreed to sponsor the non-profit Trail Riders (and later, their sister organizations, the Skyline Hikers and the Ski Runners) and to advertise the Order worldwide.  

In 1924 the new committee launched the first official ride and “pow wow” held in the Yoho Valley. It was here that the button and teepee tradition began. With over two hundred people attending, the cabin accommodations at Takakkaw Falls were supplemented with twenty teepees and a large circular tent painted as a sundance lodge. The lodge was painted on the spot by Chief Walking-in-the-Road of the Stoney band, assisted by two artists of his tribe whose skill and speed astonished not only the army of photographers but also the noted artists (such as Carl Rungius) in attendance.

Buttons were created to distinguish the number of miles a rider had ridden in the National Parks. R.H. Palenske, who had been on that first ride, designed the buttons and by 1927, there were 97 - 2500 mile pin-holders.

While a Trail Rider is embossed on the buttons, the most recognized symbol of the TRCR is the teepee. Native artists painted each new teepee until about 1950. Today the group, still incorporating traditional native designs including images taken from rock carvings in Writing-On-Stone Park, Alberta, carries on the tradition.

Music has always played an important part and at the first pow wow in 1924 a piano was hauled up to Takakkaw Falls. In subsequent years, a portable organ was utilized until 1944, when the frustrated packers, led by Soapy Smith, finally hurled the organ over a precipice. Gibbon, however, retrieved the pieces and got it working again. Shortly after, the packers again hurled it, this time to its demise in a lake. Since then the TRCR has relied mainly on guitars.

One of their most famous musicians was Wilf Carter who had been a packer on various rides. Carter came along as the musician in 1932, and the next year he was the Official Trail Songster, launching his career under the name of Montana Slim.

Royalty has also ridden with the group and earned their buttons. In 1931, King Prajadkipok and his Queen of Siam heard about the TRCR. The King of Siam, over the protests of his advisors, and his Queen both earned pins and then took out life memberships.

Early in 1961, the CPR notified all riders and hikers that it would no longer financially sponsor the associations, and a group quickly established independent non-profit associations. At the end of the 1961 Trail Ride season, the CPR transported the equipment back to the Banff Springs Hotel and after intervention by Norman Crump, then president of the CPR and also a Trail Rider, the CPR sold all the equipment to the TRCR and the Skyline Hikers for $1.00.

Since the inception of the non-profit group, they have been the darlings of the media, who know a good thing when they see it. In 1943, CBC joined them on a ride, and both National Geographic and Time Magazine hit the trail in 1946. They’ve been featured in three movies including Trails In The Rockies and Riding High, a video special and numerous magazine articles ranging from Western Horseman to Horizon Air’s in-flight magazine.

Today, the TRCR continues their 84-year tradition; working in tandem with contracted outfitters to supply horses and wranglers while the TRCR supplies teepees, lodges, shower tents and about twenty enthusiastic riders per trip. Their bi-annual meetings are part socials and part planning, organizing the upcoming year to ensure that riders, ranging in age from eight to 84 ride not only into the most spectacular country in North America, but also into Canadian history.

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