Located at the top of Sulphur Mountain in Alberta's Rocky Mountains (and reached by a short hike after riding the Banff Gondola) the Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station in Banff National Park has been a National Historic Site since 1982.
Constructed in 1956, the Cosmic Ray Station was built along with 9 other sites across Canada to monitor cosmic rays. This station was viewed as the most important because of its elevation (7,490 feet) in the Rockies. After ceasing operation in 1978, today the Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station is better known as an incredible spot to take in epic views of Banff.
There was a lot going on across the country in 1967, Canada's centennial year. Of course, the Calgary Stampede was a huge draw - something reflected in this vintage postcard (featuring the chuckwagon races) mailed from Calgary, Alberta that summer.
Affixed with two 4 cent stamps, this card was postmarked in Calgary, then sent via San Francisco, California to Ronald Schuck who was serving in the Vietnam War. I couldn't find very much about him, but he was in the U.S. Marine Corp, was 20 years old in 1967, and survived the war.
Aunt Jean writes, "We arrived here in time for Stampede Week. We are going to see the big parade tomorrow. We can come back for the show if we want to. Everybody wears ten gallon hats here. It is quite a town." It sure is, Aunt Jean.
Postcards like this are why I started this series. They get my mind racing because of all of the little clues left behind. It's just a small slice of someone's life and yet it links a vintage image of the Calgary Stampede with Canada's centennial year and the Vietnam War. That's a lot of 1967 captured on a single piece of cardstock.
