When Calgary Power built its Spray Lakes electricity generating scheme in the 1940’s, the use of Lawrence Grassi’s trail to Twin Lakes came to an end. The route was severed by an aquaduct, and the upper section was virtually blocked by trees, felled to accommodate a power line.
Our family built a small dwelling in South Canmore, at the edge of the forest in those days. It was in 1961 and I was then three years old. Although thought of as a ‘summer cottage’ it was worked on on weekends over the winter, and so we became regular weekend residents, summer and winter, year after year.
One day, my father visited Mr. Grassi in his house on Three Sisters Drive and learned about the trail. Later, we sought out the upper section and found it to be in good condition, quite free from undergrowth. On the steep section, his “ladders” with log rungs and gravel fill for steps, were quite sound, but felled trees blocked the way. With a four-foot swede-saw, we undertook to clear the path. My younger brother helped – but the youngest brother was just too small. At the cottage, however, he was useful as a weight to sit on a firewood log set on a saw horse while John and I pulled on the saw. This was to produce fuel for our wood-burning “tin” heater.
After Lawrence Grassi’s last rest bench (reconstructed), the trail rises at a gentle angle, and on the right side a stump survives with the warped cut (hard work!) of the narrow blade of the swedesaw – the only remaining evidence of our enterprise.
Brian Carter working on trail up to Ha Ling
The Carter boys, Peter and John, beside Spring Creek
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p. 34-35.
