Residual Fields:

A Photographic Study in the Alberta Rocky Mountains

This project examines sites across the Alberta Rocky Mountains transformed by long-term administrative and ecological processes. The locations reflect treaty histories, park formation, industrial development, and land and fire management. These histories shape the contemporary landscape.

Chapter One: Bison

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Kill Site

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Natural Spring

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Sage Grassland

Waterton Bison Paddock Six Plains Bison

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Butchering Area

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Base of Kill Site

Head-Smashed-In was one of the most heavily used jump sites on the northern plains… in use from 5,800 years BP to AD 1850.

The heritage value… resides in its archaeological integrity and in its historical significance as one of the oldest known buffalo jumps in North America.

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada 2020

Nor shall it be lawful to destroy buffalo by running them into rivers or lakes, or over steep banks or precipices.

North-West Territories Ordinance 1878

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Archeological Site

Waterton Bison Paddock Loop

Waterton Bison Paddock Grassland

The said tract of land is hereby reserved and set apart as a public park and pleasure ground for the benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the people of Canada.

Rocky Mountains Park Act 1887

The removal of Aboriginal children from their villages was seen as a necessary step in the achievement of assimilation. However, not only did the Government of Canada take the children from their homes, but it also then proceeded to destroy the cultural and functional integrity of the communities from which the children came and to which they would return.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Final Report 2015

Chapter Two: Mission

Mînî Thnî Residential School Site

Mînî Thnî Protected Site

Mînî Thnî McDougall Morley United Church

Christian teachings were a fundamental aspect of residential schools. Aboriginal children were taught to reject the spiritual ways of their parents and ancestors.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Final Report 2015

Students have been physically abused, spiritually abused, sexually abused and mentally abused. We were called stupid Indians, dirty little Indians. ‘You will never amount to anything.’ When we came out of school, we had no sense of self-esteem. We felt worthless, unworthy. It’s a reminder of bad things that happened to us as residential school students.

Tina Fox, residential school survivor, CBC News, August 9, 2020

Mînî Thnî McDougall Memorial Church Gates

Mînî Thnî Path to Residential School

The day it burned down, we saw that as an opportunity to rid ourselves of something that really brings up some painful memories for many Stoney people.

Ryan Robb, Stoney Tribal, 2021

After McDougall Memorial United Church burned down in what was determined to be an arson in 2017, the province granted approval to the McDougall Stoney Mission Society to rebuild the structure.

Calgary Herald, June 2021

Mînî Thnî Memorial Church

The Governor in Council may do and authorize such acts and things… as he may by reason of the existence of real or apprehended war… deem necessary or advisable for the security, defence, peace, order and welfare of Canada.

War Measures Act, 1914

It was felt that it was not good for the prisoners to live for months in a state of idleness; that it would be advantageous for them to have work to do and that having to maintain them in any case would be good business for the Government to secure with such labour the construction of roads and other public works in the park.

Annual Report of the Department of the Interior, 1916

Chapter Three: Internment

Bow Valley Parkway

Castle Mountain Internment Camp Rockpile

Banff Springs Internee Worksite

I, Jacob Kondro, received a letter from my wife that my son, John Kondro, is in prison a the internment camp, Banff. I do not think that Canada would take their own people and put them in prison in an internment camp. I am naturalized as a citizen of the Dominion of Canada. Please let him go.

Letter to the Commanding Officer

National Archives of Canada, February 1916

Castle Mountain Internment Camp Trail

Path to Internment Camp

Castle Mountain Internment Camp Clearing

Aliens available for work twenty seven clearing new golf course doing good work. Aliens are making good progress the first hole having been cleared today and a start made with the second tomorrow. We have as many aliens as we can get on the golf-links but they work absurdly slow and are not making the headway I would like to see made.

Telegrams between J.B. Harkin and S.J.

Clarke, Library and Archives Canada, 1917

Banff Springs Golf Course

On 8 June 1918, a detail… in two canoes set off for the recapture of two escaped prisoners. The route taken was up the Kapuskasing river, a wide, deep and rapid stream, twelve portages varying from a quarter to three miles in length had to be overcome in a distance of 80 miles, occupying four whole days, when the delinquents were overtaken and brought back to camp.

Internment Operations 1914–1920

Camp Otter Internment Site

Chapter Four: Mining

At dawn, on April 29, 1903, a huge rock mass, nearly half a mile square and probably 400 to 500 feet thick in places, suddenly broke loose from the east face of Turtle mountain and precipitated itself with terrific violence into the valley beneath, overwhelming everything in its course.

The number of people killed by the slide is not known exactly, but it is given at about 70. The people occupying the houses in the track of the slide were all swept away with it and destroyed, with the exception of a few near the edge of the slide who escaped in some almost miraculous way, which they themselves cannot explain.

Report on the Frank Slide 1903

Frank Slide Turtle Mountain

Frank Slide Mine Entrance

It is almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that these great chambers, 130 feet long, 250 to 400 feet high and 15 feet wide, situated directly under the foot of the mountain must have weakened it… The pressure on them must have been considerable. It is a significant fact that the edges of the break correspond very closely with the limits of the big chambers and mined coal.

Report on the Frank Slide 1903

Frank Slide Original Townsite

Frank Slide Buried Townsite

Frank Slide Limestone Debris

Frank Slide Rubble

Frank Slide Utility Pole

The explosion in the mine of Hillcrest occurred... at about 9.30 o’clock in the morning of the 19th of June this year. At the time of the explosion there were 235 employees of the company in the mine. Of these, 189 perished.

Report of the Royal Commission on the Hillcrest Mine Disaster, 1914

Hillcrest Cemetery

Hillcrest Miner Graves

Hillcrest Shop

The last shift of work at the Canmore Mines will be the day shift of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 13, 1979.

V. Mroklia, General Superintendent, July 1979

Canmore Mine Entrance

Canmore Coal Seam

Chapter Five: Wildfire

Canadian attitudes to fire have changed markedly over the years. For much of the 20th century, putting out fires (known as fire suppression) was the goal. Often costly to achieve, it was generally successful, though to the detriment of ecological values. Historical fire suppression has caused a significant decline in ecosystem health and diversity of species within the mountain national parks.

Parks Canada, 2024

Since the 1970s, the average area burned annually has doubled, and wildfire experts predict that number will double again by the end of the century. Modelling also suggests that overall fire occurrence will increase as much as 75% by 2100.

Natural Resources Canada, 2022

Jasper Athabasca Trail

Jasper Maligne Lookout

Jasper Palliser Formation

Extreme: Forest fuels are extremely dry and pose a very serious fire risk. Fast-spreading, high-intensity fires are likely, which are very difficult to control.

Government of Alberta, Fire Danger Ratings

Jasper Skyline Trail Sign

Jasper Maligne Canyon Sign

July 10: Fire danger rating set to Extreme following weeks of hot and dry weather.

July 12: Fire ban went into effect.

July 22: First fire reported, three additional wildfires reported…wind gusts additional wildfires reported…wind gusts of 30-45 km/hour merged the wildfires into one

July 23: Over 20,000 people evacuated.

July 24: Wildfire swept through 33,000 hectares of the Athabasca Valley, loss of approximately 30% of the structures within the town of Jasper.

Jasper National Park Annual Report 2024

Jasper Forest

Jasper Skyline Trail

Jasper Skyline Trailhead

Jasper Townsite Ash Crescent

Jasper Townsite Lodge Pole Avenue

August 30: Lightning strike ignites a wildfire close to the park boundary.

September 2: A small 0.5 hectare spot fire starts inside the western boundary of the park.

September 8: Evacuation Order is issued.

September 11: Exhibiting extreme behaviour...wildfire burned across the park throughout the night, firefighters worked tirelessly to protect the townsite.

September 12: Fire suppression continues as the fire is still active.

October 3: Classified as "under control".

Parks Canada Kenow Wildfire Report 2017

Waterton Douglas Fir

Waterton Fire Scar

Waterton Cameron Lake

Waterton Akamina Pass

Waterton Lodgepole Pine

Waterton Silvered Bark Aspen

Waterton Fire-Blanched Aspen

Wildfires occur naturally and fulfil critical ecosystem functions, with the positive ecological effects usually greater than the negative. These are dynamic ecosystems, changing and adapting in response to natural forces.

Parks Canada Kenow Wildfire Report 2017

Waterton Pinecones

Residual Fields was produced as part of a practice-based PhD in Art History. Archival and site access were facilitated by Parks Canada, Library and Archives Canada, Glenbow Western Research Centre, and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. This work engages with the lands of the Stoney Nakoda, Blackfoot, and other Indigenous peoples of Treaty 7, and with the histories of settlers, refugees, miners, internees, and firefighters whose lives and labor remain inscribed in the land.

ARCHIVAL SOURCES

Rocky Mountains Park Act, 1887

Canada. Indian Act. Statutes of Canada, 1876

Canada. Treaty No. 7, Ottawa, 1877

Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Ottawa, 2020

North-West Territories Council, The Buffalo Preservation Law, Ordinance of 1878

Parks Canada Agency, Bison in Waterton Lakes National Park, Ottawa, 2021

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Final Report, Ottawa, 2015

CBC News, August 9, 2020

Calgary Herald, June 9, 2021

Canada. War Measures Act, Statutes of Canada, 1914

Canada. Internment Operations 1914–1920, Ottawa, 1921

Canada, Department of the Interior Annual Report, Ottawa, 1916

Harkin-Clarke correspondence, Library and Archives Canada, June 1917

Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation, Internment Archival Documents

Report on the Frank Slide, Ottawa, 1903

Report of the Royal Commission into the Hillcrest Mine Disaster, Edmonton, 1914

Canmore Mines Closure Notice, 1979

Government of Alberta, Wildfire Predictive Services: Fire Danger, Edmonton, 2025

Natural Resources Canada, The State of Canada’s Forests Annual Report 2022, Ottawa, 2022