Mary Schaffer: Queen of the Mountains
In 1908 Mary Schaffer set out on an expedition with her best friend (Mollie Adams), 3 guides, 22 horses and a dog to make one of the most historical discoveries in our Canadian Rockies and it was done by a woman!!
”Our real objective was to delve into the heart of an untouched land, to turn the unthumbed pages of an unread book and to learn daily those secrets dear Mother Nature is so willing to tell those who seek” This was a quote made by Mary Shaffer in 1908 upon her return from one of the most historical expeditions in our Canadian Rockies history. Mary and her best friend Mollie challenged the notion that the wilderness was only a man’s domain.
Mary was an American botanist, artist, photographer, and writer. She discovered the Canadian Rockies as part of her botany explorations where she photographed and documented about the many types of flowers in the Canadian Rockies. She developed a relationship in this time with the Stoney people and they triggered her curiosity of the unexplored valleys in the Laggan aka Lake Louise area and beyond. The Stoney people talked about Chaba Imne and it’s beauty. In the summer of 1907 one of the Stoney tribe members drew her a map on how to find it in exchange for flour, sugar, tea, a dress and doll for his daughter. At this time no non-native had set foot on it’s shore.
Mary knew she could not take on an expedition of this enormity without proper planning and experienced guides.
She enticed her best friend, Mollie Adams to join her in this adventure as well as 3 local experienced guides, 22 horses packed with gear and one dog!!
On June 8, 1908 with map in hand, Mary and her crew left a rainy Laggan to make the month long journey through what we now know as Yoho National Park into Jasper National Park in a search for Chaba Imne.
Their journey did not come without weather, deep snow, bushwhacking, navigational errors and days of utter defeat.
One month after departing Laggan they found the shores of what Mary named Maligne Lake. Mary was quoted as saying “Lake Louise is a pearl. Lake Maligne is a string of pearls” The guides got to work to build a raft so they could make the 22.5 km journey to cross this vast lake to find the other side.
When she returned from the expedition she wrote a book about it called the “Old Indian Trails of The Canadian Rockies” Til she wrote the book people did not know Maligne Lake existed.
Mary Schaffer and her 1908 expedition team had no idea the future impact their finding of Chaba Imne aka Maligne Lake would have.
In 1911 the Canadian Government asked Mary to return to the area to survey the lake and return her findings. While she was there she named many of the peaks and those names still stand today. In 1907 Jasper National Park was formed to help protect and preserve the land for future generations. Mary fought to have Maligne Lake included in that. If she had not, it may not have been protected and treasured as it is today.
