Lake Louise is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

within Banff National Park in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. Named after

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, (Louisa Caroline Alberta; 18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939) was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In her public life, she was a strong proponent of the arts and highe ...

, it lies in

Alberta's Rockies Alberta's Rockies comprise the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. On the southwestern part of the province along the British Columbia border, the region covers all but the south of Census Division 15. The main industry in this region ...

on the

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

, northeast of the lake that shares its name. Initially settled in 1884 as an outpost for the Canadian Pacific Railway, Lake Louise sits at an elevation of , making it Canada's highest community. The nearby lake, framed by mountains, is one of the most famous mountain vistas in the world; the famous

Chateau Lake Louise The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is a Fairmont hotel on the eastern shore of Lake Louise, near Banff, Alberta. The original hotel was gradually developed at the turn of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway and was thus "kin" to its ...

also overlooks the lake.

History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans,

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

lived in the foothills and forests of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

- including what is today Lake Louise, where they hunted bison and other big game animals. In the

Stoney language Stoney—also called Nakota, Nakoda, Isga, and formerly Alberta Assiniboine—is a member of the Dakota subgroup of the Mississippi Valley grouping of the Siouan languages. The Dakotan languages constitute a dialect continuum consisting of Santee ...

of the

Nakoda people The Nakoda (also known as Stoney or ) are an Indigenous people in Western Canada and, originally, the United States. They used to inhabit large parts of what is now Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana, but their reserves are now located in Albe ...

the area is called , meaning "lake of the little fishes". During the 1870s, the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) started. The railway was planned to run through

Bow Valley Bow Valley is a valley located along the upper Bow River in Alberta, Canada. The name "Bow" refers to the reeds that grew along its banks and which were used by the local First Nations people to make bows; the Blackfoot language name for th ...

. A Nakoda guide took CPR workman Tom Wilson to the site in 1882, and Wilson named it Emerald Lake. The hamlet was later called Holt City, and then Laggan, before being renamed Lake Louise. A ca. 1890 CPR station was replaced in 1910 but continued to be used by the railway company for other purposes until it was donated in 1976 to

Heritage Park Historical Village Heritage Park Historical Village is a historical park in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on of parkland on the banks of the Glenmore Reservoir, along the city's southwestern edge. The Historical Village is open from late May to Thanksgiving and Heritag ...

in Calgary. The depot was moved to the park and restored to the era when the Lake Louise village was called Laggan. The 1910 station was declared a heritage railway station by the federal government in 1991, and has been preserved and today operates as a restaurant. Lake Louise was added to Banff National Park in 1892, and has since become a tourist destination made accessible by its location off the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...

Geography

The hamlet is located in Division No. 15, one of 19 census divisions of Alberta and the federal riding of Banff—Airdrie. It is located beside the

( Highway 1), west of Calgary. The background of Lake Louise is filled with views of several snow-capped mountains, including Mount Temple, Mount Whyte, and Mount Niblock.

Climate

Lake Louise experiences a subarctic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dfc''). Annual snowfall averages and although winter temperatures can fall below in January and February the averages are and respectively. Summers consist of frosty mornings and crisp, cool days. Snow can occur in any month of the year. Since lower elevations on said latitude have

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

s instead, it may also be described as a subalpine climate. Because of its high diurnal air temperature variation and high altitude, the frost-free period averages only 14 days.

Demographics

Lake Louise recorded a population of 691 in the 2011 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada. Residents often change year to year, with workers in the service and tourism industries moving to the area for work.

Attractions

Lake Louise features a shopping centre named Samson Mall.

Lake Louise Ski Resort The Lake Louise Ski Resort & Summer Gondola is a ski resort in western Canada, located in Banff National Park near the village of Lake Louise, Alberta. Located west of Banff, Lake Louise is one of three major ski resorts within Banff National ...

, a downhill ski area, is located across Highway 1. Chateau Lake Louise is southwest of the community on the shores of the lake.

Government

Lake Louise is administered by Improvement District No. 9.

Infrastructure

The Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) runs adjacent to the community while Highway 1A begins at the entrance to the community. The southern terminus of the

Icefields Parkway Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through ...

(

Highway 93 Route 93 or Highway 93 can refer to: International * European route E93 Australia - Victoria Canada * Alberta Highway 93 * British Columbia Highway 93 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 93 * Ontario Highway 93 China * G93 Chengyu Ring Expr ...

) is just north of the community.

Bibliography

* Discover Lake Louise * Lake Louise Britannica * The Canadian Encyclopedia, Lake Louise * The Canadian Encyclopedia, Chateau Lake Louise * Banff, Lake Louise History * The Rocky Mountaineer

References

External links

* {{Canadian Rockies Banff National Park Hamlets in Alberta