Where the Mountains Meet the Prairies
A History of Waterton Country

Graham A. MacDonald

About the Book

Where the Mountains Meet the Prairies reveals the human history of one of the most popular and breathtakingly beautiful national parks in western Canada. The scope of this book is grand; Graham MacDonald takes his audience back to prehistoric times in the Waterton-Glacier area and finally, deposits his readers in the 1990's park, after a tour covering thousands of years of history.

From a discussion of the British naturalist, Charles Waterton, for whom the park was named, to explorations of such topics as conservation and ecology, native traditions and treaties, townsite development and the current challenges facing national parks, Graham MacDonald's study provides a broad interpretive history of this unique area. Far from just providing lovely images, Where the Mountains Meet the Prairies also captures the human element of this special landscape, most colourfully personified by J.G."Kootenai" Brown, Waterton's most famous and eccentric personality.

Supported by extensive photographic and cartographic material, this book is not to be missed by lovers of the unparalleled western landscape and those who would like to know more about the people and events that shaped this incredible park.

About the Author

Graham MacDonald has worked as a teacher, planner and historian across Canada and is currently a historian for Parks Canada, Calgary.

Table of Contents

Introduction: On the Waterton Country

1. Beginnings
2. Intrusion of the European
3. Ranchers, Resources and the First Waterton Park Reserve: 1895-1930
4. Waterton During the Years of Depression and War: 1930-1945
5. The Literary and Artistic Response
6. Changing Ideas of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism: 1945-1975
7. Towards Cooperative Relationships: Waterton and its Neighbours, 1975-2000
   
   Notes
   Bibliography
   Index

Related Interest

Guardians of the Wild: A History of the Warden Service of Canada's National Parks, by Robert J. Burns with Mike Schintz

The Road to the Rapids: Nineteenth-Century Church and Society at St. Andrew's Parish, Red River, by Robert J. Coutts

Orders

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