I did a double-take when first exposed to Crowsnest Pass' new brand, but decided to keep quiet. I thought the community, already suffering from advanced self-destruction, might crumble if so much as touched by another form of criticism. And so, with great resolve, I promised not to touch the new brand with a ten-foot pole.
As days passed, however, the pole grew shorter. And then it vanished.
It disappeared when I noticed that the brand's subtitle, when used in newspaper ads, was not legible.
If the community ever decides to rebrand itself, it might, for a single, defining vision, give some passing consideration to the drop-dead gorgeous, heralded power peak that, for millennia, has turned heads and punctuated the skyline … the peak that, surrounded by mountain ranges, stands alone to command supremacy amid the stunningly beautiful headwaters of the Crowsnest River.
This iconic, one-of-a-kind, quintessential landmark—the focus of vision quest sites throughout southern Canada—is so grand, sublime and strikingly unusual in form as to be instantly recognizable to anyone who's seen it, and profoundly compelling to those who have not.
Eminent geologist, George Dawson, a towering figure in Canadian history and science, travelled widely across North America during a lifetime of exposure to nature's most dramatic landscapes. Generations of international scholars have lauded his work, and countless Canadians have referred to him as a national hero. On the day of his death (1901), Dawson penned his last words. He described, from among the countless places he'd been, an 1880s trip into the Crowsnest Pass.
Dawson, valiantly searching for a "good morrow" while on his deathbed, recalled the day he camped near today's AB/BC border, witnessed a grand auroral display, then woke and headed east. There on the trail shortly after sunrise, Dawson, riding his horse Samson, ascended a ridge to a high point and witnessed "a view like no other."
Dawson's remembered "good morrow" likely placed him on the cliffs above the north shore of Crowsnest Lake. His poignantly described "view like no other" was almost certainly the sublime form of Crowsnest and the Seven Sisters, framed between the Flathead and High Rock ranges, the Livingstone Range in the distance.
This is the brand George Dawson took to heaven.
George Dawson took that view or vision to heaven and the new generation of community leaders have a different view or vision of what they consider progress. It seems their vision of progress is to bury the past under steel and concrete as the view of nature is hard on the eyes. It is not only happening in the Pass it is happening everywhere in the so called modern society of the day. Great letter. Have a great day enjoying the beauty around us while it is still around us to enjoy.
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