The History of Miette Hot Springs

In 1908, just a year after Jasper National Park was created, coal was discovered at Pocahontas, a mining town that once sat on Miette Road near Hwy 16. While resource extraction is no longer permitted in Canada’s national parks, in those days resource extraction provided a welcome source of royalties paid to the federal government.

Taking its name from a famous Virginia Coal Field, the community of Pocahontas quickly swelled to a population of 2000 over the next decade. Isolated in Jasper National Park’s wilderness, Pocahontas’ connection to the outside world was the railway.

During WWI, the rail line shut down and the eventual competition between the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways lead to bankruptcy that had a profound impact on Pocahontas. When the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern merged into the government-owned Canadian National Railways, an inefficient spur line was all that was left connecting the community to the outside world. More misfortunes followed as the coal being mined was not suitable for heating homes or running railway locomotives.

Bathers in the Miette Hot Springs Pool, Jasper National Park, Ab, 1929

Photo Courtesy of Jasper-Yellowhead Museum & Archive - PA 39-57

By 1921, the mine closed after only 11 years in operation. Industrial buildings were demolished and houses were moved east into other towns. Eventually, Pocahontas was all but forgotten. The legacy left behind? A log pool with mud and moss chinking built at Miette Hot Springs in 1919 by workers during a labour dispute.

Accessible via a rough-hewn trail cut through the forest in 1910, the original pool was used by only the hardiest and most determined of travellers. Arriving on foot or by horseback, visitation to the hot springs became increasingly popular throughout the 1920s.

During the Depression, relief projects employed hundreds of men who built a new road, campground, and aquacourt. Wedged into the base of a narrow ravine near the source, the original aquacourt site was considered to be geologically unstable and replaced in 1986.

Miette Hot Springs, 2014

Photo Courtesy of Parks Canada, Lee Simmons Photographer

As Canada celebrates the 150th Anniversary of Confederation, visiting Miette Hot Springs remains a popular pastime of visitors. The easy-to access Miette Hot Springs road is a popular place to view wildlife and easy stops such as the Punchbowl Falls and Ashlar Ridge viewpoint are great places to take in the view. The short walk from the day-use area next to Miette Hot Springs to the water’s source gives history buffs a chance to explore the ruins of the old aquacourt. An on-site café and nearby accommodations, including hotels as well as the Pocahontas Campground, means that soaking in Miette Hot Springs is no longer just for hardy and determined travellers!