Jasper plans to move historic rock

To most, it’s something of an eyesore. A giant rock, the ground churned up around it, sitting in the middle of a parking lot. It’s tricky to maneuver around for cars and not very attractive to look at. But that rock has a long history in Jasper and despite it’s current state of dilapidation, it once occupied a much more prestigious role. 

Now, the rock is set to return to some of its past glory. The rock in question is the large boulder that sits in the parking lot just behind the locomotive engine on Connaught Drive. After some 80 years in that location, by the end of 2010, the rock will be moved to a park-like area near the new pedestrian underpass and the south-side Petro-Canada.

“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘I grew up on that rock,’” said Ron Stanko, deputy fire chief for Jasper and the point man on the rock’s history and the logistics for moving it. “Dads who were working for CN, when they were going in to get a pay cheque, they put their kids on that rock to wait. There’s a real history there.”

“For a lot of kids who grew up in Jasper, that rock has a pretty solid connection,” said Meghan Power, manager for the archives at the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives. “It means something to a lot of people.”

But the rock has a history that stretches back further than the town of Jasper. 

Stanko said the rock was probably brought to the general Jasper area by a glacier centuries ago. The rock was here before the CN rail that runs through town was even thought about. As the railway expanded, sometime between 1912 and 1916 the rock was turned into a marker to identify mountains surrounding the town. Residents of the town painted the rock white and in black lettering, named the mountains on the rock, placing each name on the adjacent side of the rock facing the mountain. 

Stanko said that he knows that the paint was applied before 1916 because one of the markers calls Mt. Edith Cavell by a different name: Mt. Geike. Mt. Edith Cavell was named so in 1916, but prior to that, it had several different names. Locals called it Mt. Geike, but it was formally titled Mt. Fitzhugh.

At some point around the same time, a weather vane was placed on top too. Sometimes it was taken down and signs commemorating the Shriners or other local groups would be installed temporarily. The rock was something of a gathering point and a bellwether for what was happening in town.

Sometime before 1930, the rock was moved around from its original glacial resting spot. Prior to 1930, it sat on the other side of the CN buildings. Photos from 1930 show the rock being moved by a steam powered crane that was loaded onto a flatbed railcar. The rock was moved, presumably, to accommodate new rail lines that were being laid down.

“The rock’s been around a little bit,” said Stanko. “It was really a huge effort to get it moved.”

For the next 80 years, the rock sat in its current position. Parking lots went up around it. Buildings across the street were raised. Jasper changed immensely, but the rock remained the same.

But, once again, the rock’s location is changing. Stanko said the new location will be a little more picturesque than the middle of a parking lot. There will be spruce trees in the background and a little landscaping is planned too.

However, moving the rock to its new home has proven to be a little more problematic than Stanko originally anticipated. Over the last year, front end loaders, airbags and good old man power haven’t proved forceful enough to get the rock up and out of its current resting spot. Even a crane on the back of a truck capable of handling weights of up to 53,000 lbs wasn’t enough to get the rock out. Although the rock has been lifted up enough to get several timbers underneath it, it’s just been too heavy to move.

Stanko said that should change by next year. A company named Arctic Crane, based out of Edson, has offered to move the rock for free next time they’re in town. Stanko said that as soon as the crane is in town for a construction project on a house or some other job, that the rock will be moved to its new home.

The new home for the rock will also serve as the ‘Mile Zero’ marker for Highway 93, said Stanko. Highway 93 stretches far and long once it leaves the Albertan border into Montana. From Jasper, it runs 2,791 km through Montana, Idaho, Nevada (even passing through Las Vegas) before finally making its stop at Wickenburg, Arizona (pop. 6,423) in the Sonoran Desert, just north-west of Phoenix. 

Stanko said that Wickenburg was a pretty good spot for Highway 93 to finish up. It’s a town about the same size as Jasper that caters to tourists and also has a locomotive on display. The town’s website states it is “noted for its clean air, good country living, western hospitality and all-around high quality of life.”

“There’s something of a connection there, it’s a good spot for the end of the line,” said Stanko, adding that he’s happy to be associated with moving the rock.

“I think the move is really to be celebrated. There’s not enough room where the rock is right now, so even practically, this is a good move,” said Stanko. “I just think it’s one of the coolest things in town right now. Not many people know the history, what it all means to people here. It’s something special.”