The engaging little Jasper Yellowhead Museum is one of the town’s best rainy-day options.

It tells Jasper’s story, starting with the settlement of the Athabasca Valley 10,000 years ago (as early tools here prove) but largely focuses on what happened after fur traders and the Hudson’s Bay Company arrived in the 18th century. Excerpts from the diaries of its governor George Simpson help paint a picture of frontier life here; as do the paintings of artist Paul Kane.

As the town laid down proper roots, an adventurous cast of local characters became involved in the race to bag local summits for the first time with climbers from all over the world. The last local peak to be conquered was Mount Alberta in 1925. The coming of the railway – given particularly extensive treatment in the museum – then heralded a new era, particularly by bringing in numbers of tourists. Local outdoorsmen became outfitters for them and grew commercial empires from the businesses – the Brewster brothers among them.