other who was wont to come to the mountains for inspiration and refreshment. Others, too, there were; but these two talked much about it, one of them putting the reproach into bold print on every possible occasion. Our American friends, who had meanwhile organized an American Alpine Club, were keen to have us organize a branch or an affiliated club. Canadian indifference being so apparent and our mountains being debtors to the American Club, Mr. Wheeler was minded to organize on that basis. It was pointed out to him that, once a movement was started in the interest of an independent Canadian mountaineering club. Canadians would wake up in the way John Bull wakes up if he is hardly and persistently shaken. And a circular was sent to certain University men and persons proper to the scheme, containing a number of questions, notably two: "Are you in favor of the Alpine Club?" "If so would you support a branch of the American Alpine Club, or an independent Canadian Club?" There was a common response. The C.P.R. Company gave passes from Vancouver to Halifax, and there gathered in Winnipeg on March 27, 1906, on the resolute, level plains a thousand miles from the field of operations, a company of enthusiasts. The charter members numbered 79, among them four from the American Alpine Club. The large and warm response was a rebuke to our accusation of Canadian apathy. But no doubt the appeal was maae at "the psychological moment"—when the young nation was beginning to feel its own potential strength; when the word. Canada, was becoming big with meaning; when the "Strathcona Horse" had strengthened the cords of Empire.
From the first, Mr. Wheeler's amazing energy and capacity for work have been manifest in the growth of the Club. To-day (1911) its membership is nearly 600. From the first, both English and American climbers were keenly interested, many of them joining the young club which took the dignified name, Alpine Club of Canada, and thus pre-empted a national appellation. From the first, again, it has been pre-eminently a club for making mountaineers, which differentiates it from the older conservative clubs whose qualifications for membership demand skill and experience in the sport. To show the objects and scope of the Club the constitution is appendid.
An outstanding feature of the A.C.C. is the annual meet in some strategic situation where graduating members may qualify for active membership and where observations may be made on the action of glaciers. It is, in short, a school for mountaineering, for mountain study, and for mountain photography and painting. Swiss guides are in attendance and experienced climbers give their services freely. The first meet was in 1906 on Yoho Pass when 100 members were in camp and when seven high mountains (one a virgin peak I were climbed by successive parties. 44 graduating to active membership. The experiment became an institution; and successful camps, one with an attendance of 175. have been held at Paradise Valley, Rogers Pass, Lake O'Hara. Consolation Valley and Sherbrooke Lake, with auxiliary camps at other climbing rendezvous.
These camps are the life and soul of the Club, and the campfire has been finely termed its altar and hearthstone. They last from one to two weeks, and in time no doubt they will last throughout t'ie climbing season. Every day parties are conducted to mountain-
