琉璃神社

Skip to content

Rediscover B.C.鈥檚 Old Glory in video of Canada鈥檚 highest weather station

National Film Board of Canada digitally restored documentary of B.C. weather station near Rossland
web1_240123-tdt-bigger_1
The National Film Board of Canada released a digitized reel of the highest weather station in Canada located atop Old Glory near Rossland.

It was the highest weather station in Canada, the home an eclectic collection of 鈥減rofessional hermits鈥.

And you can get a glimpse of the faded slice of national history on a classic newsreel, recently released online.

The Old Glory weather station once stood atop Old Glory Mountain in the Cascade Mountain Range near Rossland. The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) released a 1954 newsreel that includes a short report called 鈥淥ld Glory Weather Station鈥 on its streaming platform.

The meteorological observatory was constructed in the early 1940s to support commercial air travel with accurate weather data and was staffed continually throughout the year.

The short documentary has been restored and digitized from the NFB鈥檚 vault near Montreal as part of an initiative putting out more NFB collection films from Western Canada.

鈥淟ife on top of the world is a year-round experience for meteorologists who work at the highest observatory in the Canadian Rockies on Mount Glory in British Columbia,鈥 reads the release.

鈥淚 hope your audience will enjoy reconnecting with the Old Glory weather station.鈥

The 6.5-minute film was shot in 1954 on Old Glory mountain and features not only the meteorological technicians (aka the 鈥淢et Men鈥) at work, but also the late pioneer and horse packer Wilf Gibbard (1913-2011), who supplied the station with goods in the summer months.

The reel explains the daily regimen of meteorologists stationed at the site, and the task of accessing and transporting supplies to the remote and sometimes dangerous location. Supplies included coal for heating and cooking, groceries, fuel for a generator, hydrogen cylinders for the weather balloons, and water in the summer.

The weather station was ultimately destroyed by an over-stoked fire in the wood stove on Jan. 2, 1968.

The film restoration initiative is managed by NFB鈥檚 English Program Collections Curator, Camilo Mart铆n-Fl贸rez.

Titled Eye Witness No. 65, the full newsreel is now available for .

READ ALSO:

READ ALSO:



Jim Bailey

About the Author: Jim Bailey

Read more



(or

琉璃神社

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }
Pop-up banner image