Looking Northwest up to the Head of Johnston Canyon

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Summary

Looking northwest up to the head of Johnston Canyon fromcamp 14 miles (22.5 km.) east-woutheast of Lake Louise Station on the Canadian Pacific Railway, Alberta, Canada. The mountain on the left is part of the north ridge of Castle Mountain. The snowstorm continued all day of September 5, 1925.

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

  • Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927), fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian (1907-1927), was a paleontologist whose research focused on North American Cambrian fossils. He conducted field work in the United States and Canada, and, in 1909, while in the Canadian Rockies near Field, British Columbia, discovered what has come to be known as the Burgess Shale. The shale contained fossils that provided the foundation for study of the Cambrian Period in Western North America. Neither Walcott nor the scientific community realized the importance of this discovery, but the Burgess Shale came to be recognized as one of the most important geologic findings of the 20th century. Walcott is equally well-known for his method of photographing topographies for scientific documentary purposes. His wife Mary Vaux Walcott, who studied and painted North American wildflowers, accompanied Walcott on his trips to the Canadian Rockies.
  • See also Neg. #s 1507 and 1507b.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7004, Charles D. Walcott Papers

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1925

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Scientific expeditions
  • Snow
  • National parks and reserves
  • Canada

Place

  • Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.)
  • Canada
  • Johnston Canyon
  • Alberta
  • Banff National Park (Alta.)
  • Canadian Rockies
  • Castle Mountain

ID Number

Walcott 1507a

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: Neg. 4" x 5" film; Type of Image: Landscape; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

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