Banff is home to not only one, but two nearby ghost towns. Lake Minnewanka’s name comes from the Îyârhe Nakoda, and it means, roughly, “Lake of the Spirits.” Joining the spirits who inhabit this lake is the ghost town of Minnewanka Landing.

The origins of this town date to 1886, when a log hotel called the Beach House was built on the original shoreline. By 1912, a summer village with four avenues and three streets had grown around the hotel, and this village was called Minnewanka Landing.

The village was a tourism hub. There were boat cruises on the lake, wharves, hotels, and restaurants. The village had a boggy shoreline, so a dam was built in 1895 to improve the stability of the shoreline and to make it easier for boating. The place was a flurry of summer activity for visitors to the mountains that largely revolved around the impressive, mountain-ringed lake.

A second dam, built in 1912 to hold water for a power plant downstream, intentionally flooded part of the village. Despite the sacrifices made for the power plant, the village continued to grow and attract tourists with new cabin lots and an even bigger lake to explore.

Minnewanka Landing met it’s end in 1941 when it was completely submerged by the construction of a new dam, which raised the water level by 98 feet, drowning everything in its path. The War Measures Act temporarily suspended the National Parks Act of 1930 that prevented industrial development within a national park. Therefore, the dam was approved, and Minnewanka Landing was lost to the Lake of the Spirits.

Learn more History:
There are many stories of the mountains that connect people to place. Learn more about the histories of Banff National Park from the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies or the Buffalo Nations Museum. Discover the darker side of the Rockies with a Banff Ghost Tour or try Open Top Touring for modern stories of Banff as a tourist destination while riding in style to see the highlights of the town.

Kate Barker