A rough ride: automobiles in Banff National Park, 1905-1918 (1).

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In 1911, automobiles were officially admitted into Banff National Park, as the federal government lifted its six-year ban. (2) In celebration of the announcement, members of the Calgary Automobile Club hit the road, setting off on the two-hour drive on the newly refurbished Calgary-Banff coach road. At one time, the park had been reserved nearly exclusively for railway travellers. Now, automobile owners were able to visit the park free from the confines of stiflingly regimented railway travel. In contrast to the perpetually delayed railway, the automobile offered its owners a remarkable independence in choosing departure times, destinations, and travel speeds, while also allowing automobilists to experience their natural environment in a fresh and exciting way. (3)

The controversy between automobile owners and Banffites began in 1905, after the federal government passed an Order-in-Council proclaiming that: "the use of Automobiles of every kind be prohibited on any road or elsewhere within the limits of the Park." (4) The dreadful state of roads made it imperative that automobile traffic be excluded from the area until necessary improvements could be made. At that time there were less than fifty automobiles in the entire province and a year was to pass before the Alberta government passed the Automobile Act which set speeds and other limitations on travel.

After the federal ban was passed, the Calgary Automobile Club began to lobby to have it changed, alerting politicians of their problem, writing letters to the Parks Branch, financing the necessary repairs to the Calgary-Banff coach road, and even flouting the laws by driving their cars to the park. (5)

Residents of Banff were initially accepting of the automobile, since most were surviving on the tourism-based economy, and so few Banff residents were necessarily opposed to the automobile. (6) According to the Automobile Club, its members did not expect open-access to the park, but rather simply the right to drive to Banff. (7) With such assurances, the prospect of the automobile was widely accepted among Banff residents, as it would most assuredly influence the developing tourism-economy of the park and the village. Similarly, the Dominion Parks Branch made the correlation between automobiles and generating more income for the park through license fees. Nonetheless, residents were concerned that the narrow roads throughout the town could not safely accommodate both automobiles and horse-drawn wagons. (8)

During the early century, Banff's main transportation network consisted of livery shuttles, horse-drawn wagons known as tally-hos that transported tourists and locals throughout the town. Since the livery was the means of transportation for tourists and residents alike, several people were concerned with the imminent arrival of the automobile and its possible interference with the current transportation arrangements. According to a delegation of Banff's livery people, allowing the two modes of transportation would assuredly result in, "damages to the livery people and possibly loss of life to the tourists." (9) As long as motorists respected the rules of the road and fellow road-users, however, most residents were willing to accept the prospect of automobiles in the park.

Some Banff residents, led by the Crag and Canyon newspaper, expressed their concerns over the automobile; in particular, critics depicted its users and owners as endemically law-breakers. Even though the Calgary Automobile Club and its members sought to enjoy the park and scenery, their admission as automobile users soon prompted a tepid if not reviled reception. "Auto Cranks Running Amuck," exclaimed the front page of the August 9th, 1913 edition of the Crag and Canyon. "Through carless [sic] of recognizing motor laws," the editor explained, "accidents are happening every day in and around Banff ..." In the years that followed, many Banff residents continued to oppose, what Banff's Crag and Canyon newspaper termed as, the "auto-crazy" motorist, while the automobile club, counting the support of Calgary politicians, constantly pressed the government for further concessions.