The following history of the C.P.R. Swiss guides was written by Edward Feuz Jr. sometime after his retirement.
In 1899, my father, Edward Feuz Sr., and Christian Haesler Sr. came to Canada and were engaged as mountain guides by the C.P.R. company.
They were accompanied by Charles Clark, an Englishman, but educated in Switzerland. He acted as interpreter for these first C.P.R. Swiss guides. 1901, more guides were brought out; the two Kaufmans, F. Michel, Schlunegger and others were stationed at Lake Louise, Glacier and Field.
The writer, Edward Feuz Jr., came out with the older guides in 1903. The Guides came to Canada every Spring and returned to Switzerland in October. They did this until 1911. My cousin, Gottfried Feuz, who came to Canada in 1906, returned to Switzerland in 1912. Ernest, my brother, and Rudolf Aemmer joined us in 1909, but we still returned to Switzerland every fall.
The C.P.R. then decided to build houses for the guides. These houses were completed in 1911 and were named the Swiss Village “Edelweiss.” In June 1912, Ernest, Rudolf, Christian, and I, along with our families, moved from Switzerland to the C.P.R. Swiss Village to stay.
A younger brother of mine, Walter, came out with us but did not do any guiding until years later, but he worked for the C.P.R. company.
The Swiss Village is one mile west of Golden. After 1912, the company employed only four guides.
In the fall of 1925, Glacier House in the Selkirks was closed for good. Chris Jorrimann, stationed in Field, was discharged when Mt. Stephen House in Field was turned over to the Y.M.C.A.
Ernest Feuz and Christain Haesler, formerly stationed in Glacier, joined us (Edward Feuz and Rudolf Aemmer) in Lake Louise, which was the headquarters for the guides at that time. Our four guides were busy with tourists, so the company engaged Walter Feuz as a guide.
He acted in this capacity until ill health forced him to give up guiding. However, he still works for the C.P.R. company, acting as captain of the rowboats and canoes on Lake Louise.
All the Guides are retired now, and the climbing on the wane, no other guides have been engaged by the C.P.R. company.
Christian Haesler, Jr., died in 1940 after being mauled by a grizzly bear, and Rudolf Aemmer returned to Switzerland in 1950 and is still living. Walter Perron, a Swiss guide who came over from Switzerland in 1950 when Rudolf and I retired, stayed with the C.P.R. for five years.
He later settled in Banff and now works for the Parks department and operates a climbing school.
All the guides who came out from Switzerland between 1899 and 1955 climbed the highest peaks in the Canadian Rockies, often going with pack trains and camping for weeks at a time.
In 1906, Gottfried Feuz and I went to the camp at Summit Lake in Yoho Park with the Canadian Alpine Club. We graduated as the club’s first members, and today, it consists of over 800 members.
We climbed with many distinguished people from all over the world. My father, Edward Feuz Sr., climbed Mt. Avalanche in the Selkirks with Lord Minto in 1900. At that time, Lord Minto was Governor General of Canada. We made many first ascents in those years, all of which are records.
In many years of climbing and guiding people up the high mountains, we never had any accidents.
All the guides have greatly developed the adventurous side of their characters during their climbing in the Canadian Rockies. Mostly, all the first ascents required one or more scouting trips to discover practical routes. At the end of a great ascent, the guide brings his patron down from the mountain in good condition and happy.
Often, in the evening, after a long, hard day of climbing, they would sit around the campfire, happy and content, talking over the satisfaction of having mastered a new ascent and conquest.
All told, it was very interesting work. To conclude my story, I might add that much credit goes to the C.P.R. company.
