Northlander Hotel

Northlander Hotel was a CPR-owned hotel in Glacier National Park, BC.

The grade of the railway approaching Rogers Pass was too steep to allow for dining cars on the trains, so the CPR built a hotel west of the pass in 1886. This added to a collection of CPR-owned hotels across Canada, including Mount Stephen House in Yoho National Park, built in the same year and with the same floor plan. Glacier House, located near the terminus of the Illecillewaet Glacier (called the Great Glacier at the time), became a centre for tourism, mountaineering, glaciology, and photography in the Selkirks. The hotel was expanded in 1905 and 1911. It was considered one of western Canada's premier tourist destinations at the turn of the twentieth century.

The hotel attracted alpinists from around the world. Owing to its elevation, climbers could be in the high alpine within hours of leaving their room. In 1899, the CPR contracted the services of several Swiss guides to assist the less mountain-savvy tourists through the high country. Throughout the Glacier House period, many first ascents were made on peaks within the park. The hotel also attracted naturalists and scientists keen to study the mountain environment. Mary Vaux Walcott and her brothers, George and William Vaux, visited the area many times, and began the first scientific studies of the Illecillewaet Glacier.

History
To avoid hauling additional weight up the significant gradient, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) parked a dining car at this location for a passenger train meal stop. Already ruled out were the summit, with its avalanche paths, and the steep river gorges of the eastern slope, which provided little space to develop facilities. This alpine meadow was an ideal setting for the Selkirk dining station. In 1885, Thomas Charles Sorby, future architect of the first CP Hotel Vancouver, designed a chalet for this site. The large dining room opened in November or December 1886, allowing the dining car to return to regular service.

The 15-bedroom accommodation was ready for guests in January 1887, but staff occupied half these rooms. A sleeping car was soon parked permanently to accommodate overflows. A small two-storey station served the stop. Bruce Price's 1889 design for a 22-room addition, was revised as the 32-room annex that opened in 1892. Around 1898, the dining room was enlarged, and CP constructed a two-storey building with five bedrooms upstairs and a billiard room downstairs. The 54-room wing, with elevator, and new reception area, opened in 1904. About this time, the station name changed to Glacier. Few guests stayed through the winter. Francis Rattenbury designed a substantial hotel on the site, but construction never proceeded beyond the footings.

The initial manager struggled to handle the limited time allotted for the dining stop. Acknowledging the whole facility required professional management, CP signed a lease agreement with Harry A. Perley in 1887 to run the enterprise, which appears to have been operating at a loss. Perley received all revenue, without contributing to the cost of capital improvements. After alleging for years that Perley's other hotel interests had prevented sufficient attention being paid to the Glacier operation, Mr. Sheffield, CP manager of hotels, succeeded in Perley's ousting.

Miss A.E. Mollison, formerly at the CP Mount Stephen House, Field, was manager March 1897–December 1899. Succeeding her from Field was Miss Julia Mary Young, who stayed until 1920. Few details survive of the final managers.

Albert W. Sharp was the inaugural postmaster, serving only four months in 1899.

The observation tower was likely built in 1890, but a telescope was not added until 1898 to view mountaineers climbing the glacier and peaks. The tower was demolished around 1910. Other structures included a baggage room, ice house, laundry houses, bowling alley, employee and guide quarters, stables, and powerhouse. Electric lighting came around the turn of the century. Manager Young converted the bowling alley into a curio store. A Union Bank branch existed from 1912, primarily for the tunnel construction workers.

After 1909, when dining car use extended to the mountains, the Glacier House catering staff worked only the summers. George Vaux Sr., with children Mary, George Jr. and William Jr. first came in 1887, and regularly revisited. The children became noted for their photography and documentation of the area and glacier. It is unclear whether a doctor permanently staffed the small hospital. When Sir James Hector and son Douglas, New Zealand residents, stayed while on a cross-country tour of Canada in 1903, Dr. Schaeffer diagnosed Douglas as having appendicitis. Reaching Revelstoke hospital too late, Douglas died. Schaeffer and Edward Whymper attended the funeral procession. Sir James returned home, never to revisit Kicking Horse Pass, whose name recounts his explorations in 1858.

Peter Sarbach, who came in 1897, was the first professional mountain guide. Proximity to the glacier resulted in the house having more Swiss guides than other mountain hotels. CP maintained hiking trails south of the railway track until 1926, while the Department of the Interior maintained those to the north. Tourists would also visit the Nakimu Caves.

Interpretive plaques beside the walking trail around the site identify the buildings associated with the remaining footings.