A cairn to honour the legacy of A.O Wheeler will be set up in Banff following the demolition earlier this year of a near century-old home he once lived in.
Parks Canada plans to install an interpretive cairn by the Upper Hot Springs to commemorate mountaineer and surveyor Arthur Oliver Wheeler, with a focus on his Banff connections.
“There was a lot of interest in the house and a lot of interest in Wheeler, so we thought it appropriate to honour his legacy,” said Susan Kennard, heritage programs manager for Banff National Park.
“The history leading up to this was very challenging, so a lot of time and thought has been put into getting this right, in appropriately telling his story.”
The Wheeler House, also known as Claremont, was demolished by Parks Canada earlier this year because it was located within a wildlife corridor and considered to be in a run-down state, posing a threat to public safety.
The dilapidated house was built in 1920 by Wheeler, a surveyor, mountaineer and one of the principal founders of the Alpine Club of Canada.
The house was designated as a recognized federal heritage building in 1994.
Wheeler ran a horse-packing and guiding business from the house and, as president of the Alpine Club of Canada, welcomed many visitors to his home.
Demolishing or removing the house from its location in the wildlife corridor on the slopes of Sulphur Mountain was one of the 1995 conditions of approval for the Middle Springs II housing development.
Plans for demolition led to an outcry from heritage preservationists, including University of Alberta professor PearlAnn Reichwein, who wanted the federal government to intervene.
The Banff Heritage Corporation also nominated the Wheeler House for the Heritage Canada Foundation’s annual Top 10 endangered places list in the hope the move would lead to an option other than demolition.
As well, the corporation later recommended Parks Canada do something to honour Wheeler following the demolition, as did land surveyor associations in both British Columbia and Alberta.
Ralphine Locke, a member of the Banff Heritage Corporation who pitched the original idea for the cairn, is happy the interpretive exhibit is being installed.
“There was a lot of anger and upset in the Banff community about demolishing the house, so I think this balances that out a little bit,” she said.
“He did some wonderful work and he certainly deserves to be remembered.”
Part of the cairn proposal includes a replica boundary marker, plus plaques detailing and showcasing Wheeler’s life.
“It’s nice to be able to work with these organizations and we’re taking quite a bit of creative input from them,” said Kennard. “There’s been a lot of thought put into this project, including where it will be placed.”
Parks Canada hopes to have the cairn, to be placed on a grassy bank by the lower part of the parking lot at the Upper Hot Springs, installed this year.
Wheeler, who was born in Ireland in 1860, moved to Canada with his family in 1876 at the age of 16. He died in 1945.
