The Prince of Wales Hotel is
located in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada
The Prince of Wales Hotel was
built as an extension to the chain of hotels and chalets
built and operated by the Great Northern Railway in Glacier
National Park, Montana. Louis Hill, President of the Great
Northern Railroad, picked the site for the hotel in 1912. It
took until 1926 to get the land leased from the Canadian
Government and construction began immediately thereafter.
All materials and supplies for the construction were shipped via railway to
Hill Spring and then transported the last 25 miles by mule team. During
construction the building crew faced numerous obstacles including a spring
thaw that turned the 25 miles of road into a muddy quagmire and high winds
that blew the building off center twice. The fear of these high winds almost
caused the project to be abandoned but construction finally proceeded and
the building was completed and officially opened to the public on July 25,
1927.
Occasionally the building will sway slightly when the winds are heavy, but
there is no danger because the building was constructed to withstand even
the fiercest of gales. The building is anchored to its site by means of
large cables installed from its loft, through the structure and into the
ground itself.
The hotel is named after the Prince of Wales, the popular Prince Edward, who
was later to become King Edward VIII. He was admired and adored worldwide,
even after his abdication of the British Throne in 1936 when he chose to
marry a commoner from America. The hotel was designated a National Historic
Site of Canada in 1992 with Plaque status granted in 1995.
Prince of Wales Hotel
Box 33
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta
T0K 2M0, Canada
Phone: (406)892-2525
Website:
glacierparkinc.com/prince_of_wales.php |