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Christian Haesler, Jr. gave up a promising career in the Swiss Mountain Artillery because it would interfere with his guiding interests. He came to Golden in 1912, having received his guide's licence at Meiringen in 1911. Although he was originally stationed at Field, he was soon transferred to Glacier House where he remained until its closure in 1926. He and Ernest Feuz were responsible for the maintenance of the Hermit and Glacier Circle Huts in Glacier National Park. Lillian Gest accompanied him on climbs each season from 1932 until his death. She accompanied him on his last ascent in the summer of 1940. Although Mr. Haesler had been badly clawed by a grizzly bear the previous September, they completed the climb of an 18,283 foot peak above Panther Falls, between Nigel Peak and Mt. Cirrus. | |
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Rudolph Aemmer, having received his Swiss Guide’s licence at Pontresina in 1907, came directly to Lake Louise in 1909 where he remained until his retirement in 1949 at the age of 65. Rudolph assisted in the erection of the Swiss-type stone hut on Abbot's Pass. He was instrumental in the rescue of Mrs. Stone when she was stranded on Mt. Eon after the accident which claimed the life of Dr. Stone on the first ascent of the mountain in 1921. In the spring of 1950, he returned to Interlaken, where he lived until his death in the summer of 1973. | |
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Walter Feuz was engaged as a Guide by the C. P. R. He served in this capacity till ill health forced him to give up guiding. He then worked many years for the C.P.R. as Captain of the rowboats and canoes at Lake Louise. Walter always had a boat ready for any emergency that might arise. Walter and his wife, Johanna, lived at their home in the Swiss Village until their deaths. | |
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Edward Feuz Jr. (1884-1981)was born in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, on November 27, 1884. In 1897, when he was thirteen, he climbed his first mountain, the Jungfrau, a major peak in his home mountains of the Bernese Oberland. He was the youngest ever to make the ascent, up to that time. The climbing party was made up of tourists and led by his father, Edward Sr. In 1903 Edward came to Canada with his father. He made his first climbs, in the Selkirks, as a porter, under his father's guidance. After spending the winter of 1903-04 in the Canadian mountains, he began the seasonal migration from Switzerland to Canada. In 1908 Edward earned his guide’s certificate in Switzerland, and the following year (1909) he married a girl from his homeland, Martha Heimann. She was with him until her death in July, 1974. After 1909 Edward centred his guiding activities in Lake Louise. He was one of the first Swiss Guides to come to Canada to work for the C.P.R., and recorded more first ascents in the Canadian Rockies than any other guide or mountaineer. When the C.P.R. built facilities for housing their guides at “Edelweiss” near Golden, in 1912, Edward and his wife moved to the B.C. community. However, they only remained in the “Swiss Village” until 1915, when they moved to a house on Hospital Creek, and lived there until 1960 when they moved to downtown Golden where Edward remained until his death (April 13, 1981). | |
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Ernest Feuz Family. Until her death, Mrs. Elise Feuz, Ernest's widow, lived with her daughter, Mrs. Alice Pollard. As a bride Elise had come to her first home in the Swiss Village in the year 1912. All the couple’s children, Ernest, Fred and Alice were born in Golden and lived in the Swiss Village during the years they attended school, with the exception of young Ernest, who for a brief time, went to school in Glacier. This is how it came about: In the early 1920’s Glacier Station was an important stop on the Canadian Pacific Railway's transcontinental route through the Rockies. There, tourists from all over the world would be met by horsedrawn vehicles which would take them up to the well appointed and very popular Glacier House. To many, one of the main attractions of this beautifully situated summer resort was the mountain climbing, conducted by the C.P.R.’s very reliable employees, the Swiss Guides. At the end of each season Glacier House was closed but some Guides were still employed as caretakers, their chief duties being shovelling the heavy snowfall from roofs of the buildings. The Company provided comfortable living space for the Ernest Feuz family in the storage area attached to Glacier House. This was in the winter of 1920-21. The next year the C.P.R. had water brought in to the “old” section house and the family was quartered there. During these winters the near neighbours were the Christian Haesler family and also the caretaker for Glacier House who enjoyed dropping in for a visit with the Feuz family. The old section house was left over from the days before the building of the Connaught Tunnel. Upon its completion the tracks, station and other Glacier "Town" buildings were moved to their present site. Thus it was that son Ernest began his Primary schooling in the Glacier schoolhouse. For travelling outside the shovelled areas Glacier people used skis. Young Ernest used his homemade ones for travelling down to school and back. His brother Fred was not yet of school age. Once Ernest and Christian persuaded their wives to try skiing down to the station with them. Unfortunately Mrs. Haesler broke her ankle so that ended the skiing for the ladies. Life for the two Swiss Guide families was very quiet during the winters they spent at Glacier. Occasionally they would receive a call from the C.P.R. divisional superintendent. After the winter of 1922, Mrs. Feuz did not spend another winter at Glacier. She came back to Golden in the spring of 1922 and her daughter, Alice, was born in March of that year. The family returned to living all year round in the Swiss Village. Like the other Guides' families they became accustomed to long absences of husband and father, guiding or safe guarding C.P.R. resort property in summer and winter seasons. As caretaking services at Glacier, once it was torn down, were no longer required in that winter, the Feuz family took the opportunity to visit grandparents in Switzerland. Mr. Feuz's father (Edward Feuz) had been a very well known guide in the Canadian Rockies. Elise also had the pleasure of visiting her parents and other relatives. She, Ernest Jr. and family sailed and returned on the C.P.R. ship, the S. S. Champion. In 1943 Ernest Feuz bought the McDermot House. He retired in 1954 and busied himself in the upkeep of the home and garden. He died in May, 1966, shortly before the death of his son-in-law, Ray Oakes. He and Alice had built a house on the lot adjoining her parents' property. Sometime after the death of her first husband, Ray, Alice sold her home and moved in with her mother. At the age of ninety-two Elise Feuz was a very active senior citizen. She took part in that Society’s events such as carpet bowling and also attended her church, St. Andrew's United. Her vegetable and flower garden was her pride and joy. She spent many hours working there and many more processing the produce from the garden. She welcomed visitors with a cup of tea and a plate of dainties she had baked. Sometimes the callers were people she and her husband knew in the days of Swiss Guiding. | |
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Golden and District Historical Society
1302 - 11th Ave. South Box 992, Golden, B.C. V0A 1H0 Phone & Fax (250)344-5169 
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