of mines and parks

When I arrived Valerie (my host at Canadian Artisan's B&B) talked a bit about the history of Canmore. The town was once inside of Banff National Park but the park boundary was moved to the west because there were coal mines here. That created a conflict with the National Park Act of 1930 which said that mining was inappropriate for a national park.

I thought that was quite interesting. That little bit of information was enough until I saw the poem (below) on the sidewalk as I walked in the center of Canmore. If you're curious too you might find these two "history of Canmore, Alberta" pages interesting, one on CanmoreAlberta.com, the other on Kananaskis.com.

poem in 3 sidewalk blocks, unknown author Canmore, Alberta Look down. There's a world below, dug out and timber-framed, mapped and named. Its tunnels stretch for miles under the mountain. Once it shook with blasting, screech of train, and whistles. The coal was iridescent blue. Headlights on a curved track burst like shooting stars out of the deep. That mirror world is dark now. The men laid down their tools, and took the mantrip to the surface, home. In the quiet, hear the mountain sigh.