Canmore, with its desirable surroundings, fantastic recreational opportunities, and convenient location between Calgary and Banff, is a modern boomtown. But it also has a long and accessible past, which is explored in this new title, the only book in print on Canmore’s colourful history. Founded by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883, Canmore has a history of reinventing itself. The town began as a railway divisional point, but when the Canadian Pacific Railway closed its facilities in 1898, the fledgling settlement would have slid into oblivion had it not been for coal mining. Eventually, mining, too, would come to an end, leaving the town to reinvent itself as a mountain resort town. Interesting writing by a longtime local, a reader-friendly layout, and the liberal use of historic and contemporary images make THE HISTORY OF CANMORE an appealing read for everyone. The book includes sidebars, a timeline, recommended reading, and a thorough index.

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ROB ALEXANDER grew up in Canmore, steeped in the history of the Canadian West and the sights and sounds of a coal mining town. With an affinity for ruins and abandoned sites, he gravitated towards story and sense-of-place, leading him to study writing and photography. He is a reporter for the Rocky Mountain Outlook newspaper, a freelance writer and co-author of Exshaw: Heart of the Valley and The Exshaw Cement Plant: Foundations for the Future. He and his wife, Cathy, were married in the historic Canmore Miners’ Union Hall in 2008 and their daughter, Alaina, was born in Canmore in 2009.