Local author updates work on Waterton history
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman on June 18, 2022.
Chris Morrison, above, is seen at Cameron Falls in Wateron.LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com
A local author has revised and updated one of her books over a decade later to tell the history of Waterton in an improved way after writing about the national park for over 35 years.
Waterton Chronicles People and Their National Park was originally published in January 2008, and author Chris Morrison decided to publish a revised, enlarged and updated version in March 2022.
Morrison said there is a lot of history involved in Waterton, much of it the result of Parks Canada’s activities and the people themselves who developed the town and worked hard over the years.
“Some of them were more or less ignored and this is my way of getting to the core of the history of Waterton,” said Morrison.
She said the first version of the book was sold out and many kept asking her if she would write another one, and since it has been more than a decade and a lot happened since then, she decided to start digging into the new history that developed since and update her previous book.
“So much has happened since the first version of this book, I thought I’d better update it,” said Morrison.
She said since the first version a major forest fire took place, a couple of floods and a lot of construction has occurred.
“To do the updating took about seven months because there is so much to say. For example, the story of a fish hatchery somehow got left out by me the first go around, and so I had to do a lot of digging about the fish hatchery, about how long it lasted, who was involved in it and all the pertinent details,” said Morrison.
She said she also expanded some of the chapters from the first version while some were left untouched.
“I had a chapter on prohibition because it played a key part in the history of the park at one point in the ’30s, but I decided I’d said everything I could say about prohibition, so I didn’t include that in this version, but I expanded the golf course chapter,” said Morrison.
She said one of the expansions to the golf chapter involved adding details and pictures she did not have access to when working on the first version.
“I expanded to the things that were new in the park, like buildings. There’s the new visitor centre, lots of new buildings in the town, in fact they are even building as we speak,” said Morrison.
She said people nowadays seem to be very interested in history and she believes that is important for the future.
“I always say if we know where we’ve been, we have a good idea where we’re going,” said Morrison.
She said, that was the reason for writing the first version of the book.
Starting as a Lethbridge Herald correspondent in 1986, Morrison developed an enduring interest in the park’s past and began digging into the human history of the park.
This book tells of the risk-takers who created this tourist resort out of the wilderness, betting on Waterton’s future.
Heavily illustrated with black and white photographs, both historic and modern, this is a book that commemorates the past and honours the future.
Waterton Chronicles can be purchased for $34.95 at the Galt Museum, and Analog Books in Lethbridge, Kootenai Brown Museum in Pincher Creek, and Akamina Gift’s Book Nook in Waterton and online at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter
Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter
4-3
A commendable work by the author, indeed! Many of us local southern Albertans still value and enjoy the vistas and the scenery. But, the actual village appears to have lost some of its charm. Many of the former buildings, shops. restaurants, cabins, houses….are gone. Much of the village is now concrete with so many parking spaces now that it is a reminder of how this small park is often overvisited, a reminder of Joni Mitchell’s song, “Big Yellow Taxi.” Also, the trend in the village includes, for example, two small, older properties in the village now, are for sale, one for $1.3 million and the other for $950,000, a big gain on former investment, for sure! They might be purchased by those fortunate enough to be able to afford them. The trend has been to purchase, tear down, and build new, even more financially valuable structures. Traditionally, instead, for many of us, a day trip includes bringing our own food, snagging a picnic table, and/or going for a hike.
We also lean toward going to this park in offseason or on a weekday when it is less crowded.
I think it will be so interesting to me to read updated writing