WE left the Glacier Hotel on the 19th, at 1 p.m., or, as stated in the time tables of this country, at thirteen o’clock, and arrived here at 11 p.m. We spent the whole time on the observation car, viewing the mighty mountains and magnificent scenery along the banks of the Columbia and the Beaver.
Banff is an ideal place for an hotel, being situated near the Bow River Falls and the mouth of the Spray, and surrounded by great mountains, often ten thousand feet high. There are fine roads and walks everywhere. The hotel is a splendid one, built and run by the railway company, and everything about it is first-class. Sulphur springs are located two miles up among the mountains, the water being brought down in pipes to the rear of the hotel, where there are bathing houses, and an open-air bathing tank, thirty by twenty feet and five feet deep. The water in this tank is strongly impregnated with sulphur. Young Mr. Townsend and I took a bath in this tank, and found the water so delightful, soft, and nice to swim about in, that we stopped in too long, or were not sufficiently cautious coming out, and I caught a bad cold, followed by a cough and headache, and consequently had to spend a couple of days in bed, seeking, with the aid of Doctors Diet and Quiet, to recuperate.
CHAPTER XVIII
CONCLUSION.
WE left Banff at 10.20 p.m. on the 22d, and after two days and two nights on the cars, reached Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. At the hotel there we found the rooms for which we had telegraphed ready for us. The sulphur bath at Banff, and the subsequent exposure, proved too much for me, and I was obliged to go to bed and stay there for a week. Very often I suffered extreme pain in the head, and was only conscious of being carefully nursed by my sister and travelling companions, and attended by a skilful doctor. After three days and nights of continuous illness I grew better, and began to appreciate how exceedingly kind every one was. One lady, Mrs. E., of Winnipeg, sent for my use calf’s-foot jelly and beef tea prepared by her own fair hands, and accompanied with beautiful flowers from her garden. Another one, Mrs. B., of New Orleans, sent a pot of beautiful flowering fuchsia. All of which attentions were very acceptable.
Ever since we left Vancouver, all along the railroad, there was a small-pox scare. There had been a hundred cases at Victoria, and the city had been quarantined; reports were also circulated that the disease was bad at Vancouver, and as a consequence the passengers on our train were looked upon with suspicion. At one stopping place, called Medicine Hat, ropes were put around the station, and the passengers were prevented from going into the town. The governor of North Dakota issued a proclamation forbidding all persons to come into that State from Manitoba, by rail or otherwise, because a Chinaman near the line, and a girl who nursed him, had the small-pox. In two or three days, however, this proclamation was withdrawn, much to my relief, as I wished to return home by the shortest route. The Manitoba Hotel, where we were located, is owned and managed by the Northern Pacific Railroad Co., and is a model one in every way.