In 1886, the “Beach House,” a log hotel, was built along the original shores of Lake Minnewanka. By 1912, a summer village called Minnewanka Landing was established.

The townsite consisted of four avenues and three streets. There were hotels, wharves, restaurants and sailing tours aboard two cruise boats – “Lady of the Lake”, and “Daughter of the Peaks”.

Scuba divers are the only ones who can visit Minnewanka Landing now, as it is all underwater. The lake was first dammed in 1895 to improve the boggy shoreline for boating. It was dammed again in 1912, this time to store water for a downstream hydroelectric plant on the Cascade River.

Photos: Vlad Umnov