As our research is concentrating on German speaking immigrants in BC my posting today is about Swiss emigrants in Western Canada. The first most famous Swiss settlers in Canada were brought in by the Canadian Pacific Railway to guide tourists through the mountains in Western Canada. To make them feel more comfortable in Canada, the company for example built several chalets in typical Swiss architecture near Golden, BC and called it Edelweiss Village.
One of the interesting mountaineers who came from Switzerland was Conrad Kain and 144 of his letters he wrote during his time in BC were collected and published by Zac Robinson, historian in the Faculty of physical education and recreation at the University of Alberta. In one of his letters from 1909 he writes for example about the train trip from Quebec to Winnipeg:
” The trip from Quebec to Winnipeg is wonderful. For almost two days, you drive through forest and pass a thousand lakes! You see no houses for hours. Not like at home, every two kilometers a little house, a signal box station.”
A little bit later he writes about being homesick:
“I often think I have to get it out of my head and not think of home, but the old thoughts return whenever one sees something familiar and that is how you will feel. I don’t know whether you know homesickness? I tell you it is horrid! No food tastes good, no smoking helps, and not even work.”
Please check out these websites for more information:
Edelweiss Village, near Golden, BC
www.conradkain.com
Conrad Kain – Letters from a Wandering Mountain Guide, 1906 – 1933
Hello, I read with interest the above article. BUT: Konrad (Conrad) Kain was not swiss, but austrian!
Best regards,
Irmtraud Hubatschek
Hello ! I am patiently awaiting for a package to arrive in my US Postal Mail.
” Conrad Kain: Letters from a wandering Mountain Guide: 1906 – 1933.”
Curiousity reading about the Purcell Range and an unusual name for a British Columbia Provincial Park ” The Bugaboos ” led me to a visit there in late September 1987. 3 Amazing days at the Conrad Kain Hut in a land of towering granite and ice Spires and Larch Trees with their needles turning incandescent yellow. The hike up to the hut took most of the afternoon, partly along a new route of ledges and bolted ladders due to powerful August thunderstorms that washed away part of the trail on a moraine. I received a free Helo flight back down for helping a Parks Trail Repair Crew load up equipment on 3 Helo flights out with suspended Cargo Nets ! I am writing from my home in the USA New England State of Maine. Mr. Kain was a real Gentleman of Warmth and Spirit !