Field, British Columbia

Field is a community of approximately 300 people located in the Kicking Horse River valley of southeastern British Columbia , within the confines of Yoho National Park. Field was established during the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) as a locomotive depot for pusher engines required to help trains over the nearby Field Hill and Big Hill. It is also the site of the renowned spiral tunnels which were constructed in 1909 to replace the rail route up the Big Hill. The problem was that the railway had to ascend 1,070 feet (330 m) in the space of 10 miles (16 km) from Field at 4,267 feet (1,301 m) climbing to the top of the Continental Divide at 5,340 feet (1,630 m). The ascent was lengthened by tunnelling two spirals, one under Cathedral Mountain and the other under Mount Ogden, thereby decreasing the grade to just over 2% and increasing the safety of rail travel through this very mountainous area.

The town was given its name by the CPR in December 1884 to honour American businessman Cyrus West Field , a Chicago businessman who, the company hoped, might invest in the region. He didn’t.

Field is 27 km (17 mi) west of Lake Louise along the Trans-Canada Highway, about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Canmore. Before going on to Emerald Lake, I took a few pictures around this historic village.

The first picture features the Kicking Horse River Valley from a vantage point just east of the village. The mountains in the distance are the Van Horne Range whose most prominent peak is Mount King, to the right.

Looking in the opposite direction from a location in the village, you can see the entrance to the valley between Mount Field (left) and Mount Stephen (right). Paget Peak and Mount Bosworth are visible at the end of the valley, in the distance.

I then took a number of pictures in the village near the railway tracks, including this shot across the valley. The north side of the valley is walled by a series of peaks, Mount Burgess, Walcott Peak and Mount Field. The orange coloration of the bark is lichen growing on the tree’s trunk.

Today’s last picture features an old CPR building alongside the tracks through Field. No longer in use, it is a remnant of Field’s storied past as a railroad icon in Canada.