The mountains change at every turn of the wheels of our train. Now they rise almost straight up on both sides of the track for hundreds upon hundreds of feet. They shut out the sun and their tops touch the sky. Now we shoot out into the open, and there is a long vista of jagged hills rising one above the other until they fade away into the peaks on the horizon. We ride for miles where there is no sign of the works of man except the gleaming track, the snow sheds here and there, and the little mountain stations, where the shriek of our engine reverberates and echoes throughout the valley. Each mile we cover seems to bring a new wonder. It may be a majestic waterfall, a towering peak, an over-hanging cliff, a glacier sparkling under the rays of the winter sun, or a vast panorama of glittering snow and ice standing out in bold contrast against the dark rocks and forests. It takes my breath away, and I think of the Texas cowboy who had made his pile and had started out to see the world. His life had been spent on the plains, and at his first visit to these Canadian mountains their grandeur so filled his soul that, unable to contain himself, he threw his hat into the air and yelled: [Illustration: In a region of beautiful lakes, the “Lake of the Hanging Glaciers” is one of the most picturesque in the Canadian Rockies. Behind it lowers the snowy crest of Mount Sir Donald, some two miles high.] [Illustration: Wainwright National Park has the largest herd of buffalo in America. More than five thousand animals, the descendants of a herd of seven hundred originally purchased from a Montana rancher, range over a fenced-in reserve of one hundred thousand acres.] “Hurrah for God!” One gets his first view of the mountains at Calgary. As we travelled through the foothills our train climbed steadily, and at Banff, eighty miles to the west, we had reached a height of almost a mile above sea level. The region about Banff has been set aside by the government as Rocky Mountain Park. It is known as the Yosemite Valley of the North, and has become the finest mountain resort of Canada. Here the Canadian Pacific Railway has built a magnificent hotel. It stands high above the confluence of the Bow and Spray rivers and affords a splendid view of Mount Assiniboine. In summer the attractions at Banff include hot sulphur baths, open-air swimming pools, tennis courts, and golf links, and in winter there are snow carnivals and ski-jumping contests. The surrounding country offers mountain climbing of all kinds, from easy slopes for the inexperienced tenderfoot to almost inaccessible peaks that challenge the skill of the most expert climber. The region outside the park limits contains some of the finest game lands on the continent, and is a Mecca for the fisherman and the hunter.