Canada — Historic Pictures | Snapshots of the Past

15 historic pictures in the Canada collection, part of Landmarks. Each one can be ordered as a print or licensed, and the collection is a starting point for telling stories about the past.

Canada as a country is younger than many of the photographs taken there. The Dominion of Canada was formed in 1867, when Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick joined together. Other provinces followed over the next decades, and the country did not reach from coast to coast until British Columbia joined in 1871.

The promise that brought British Columbia in was a railroad. The Canadian Pacific Railway was built across the prairies and through the Rockies and finished in 1885, when the last spike was driven in the mountains of British Columbia. The railway did for Canada what the transcontinental line did for the United States. It opened the West and tied the country together.

The CPR also built grand hotels to bring in tourists. The Château Frontenac in Quebec City, opened in 1893, and the Banff Springs Hotel in the Rockies are 2 of the most photographed buildings in the country. Railway posters and brochures sold the scenery of lakes, glaciers and mountains to travelers from around the world. Montreal was home to one of the great photography studios of the 1800s, run by William Notman. His studio photographed everyone from fur traders to visiting royalty, and it was known for elaborate composite pictures, with dozens of people photographed separately and assembled into one scene, such as a skating party or a winter carnival.

Pictures of Canada tend to gather around a few subjects. Old Quebec, with its walls, narrow streets and the citadel above the river. Montreal and Toronto as they grew into big cities. The Rockies and the railway. Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. And the Klondike gold rush of 1896 to 1899, when thousands of prospectors hauled their gear over the mountain passes into the Yukon.

When you look at Canadian pictures, notice the winter. Photographers in the 1800s worked hard to show that Canada was not just a frozen place, but they also loved the snow. Toboggan slides, ice palaces, sleighs and snowshoe clubs turn up again and again. Winter was not something to hide. It was part of the national character.