| The first pioneers to live on the land that the Resort | | | | a spectacular setting and excellent fishing, allowed the |
| Municipality of Whistler now inhabits arrived in the | | | | Philip's to expand Rainbow Lodge with cabins until it |
| 1880s. The Squamish and Lil'wat people have been the | | | | could accommodate 100 people. It soon became |
| stewards of these lands and to this day these two | | | | known as the most popular resort west of Banff and |
| First nations people follow in the footsteps of their | | | | Jasper. The Philip's operated the Lodge until 1948 when |
| ancestors. | | | | they sold it to Alec and Audrey Greenwood. The main |
| Alta Lake, BC was the original name of Whistler. The | | | | Lodge burnt down in 1977, but today the area has |
| lake itself was originally called Summit Lake as its | | | | been preserved as Rainbow Park. Some of the |
| creeks flow out of both north and south creating a | | | | original cabins and a replica of 'the Bridge of Sighs' are |
| chain of four connected lakes (Alpha, Nita, Alta, and | | | | still standing at the park. |
| Green). The valley was part of the traveling route | | | | Alex Philip, an incurable romantic and writer of fiction |
| known as the Pemberton Trail. The area was first | | | | novels, named the 'Bridge of Sighs' and the 'River of |
| surveyed and documented in 1858 by Hudson's Bay | | | | Golden Dreams and Romance'. The Philip's both |
| men looking for an alternate route into the Caribou | | | | remained in the valley until their deaths. Alex died in |
| area. In the 1860's British Naval Officers and Surveyors | | | | 1968 at the age of 86, and Myrtle died in 1986 at the |
| named what is now Whistler Mountain as 'London | | | | age of 95. Many other lodges were built around the |
| Mountain.' | | | | lakes due to the summer tourist trade. |
| London Mountain soon became locally known as | | | | By 1965 the Provincial Government had completed a |
| 'Whistler' because of the shrill whistle made by the | | | | narrow gravel road from Vancouver. It followed a |
| Western Hoary Marmots who lived among the rocks. | | | | rough service road under the large Hydro towers |
| One of the first settlers was John Millar, a trapper who | | | | leading to Bridge River. Electricity in the Alta Lake |
| ran a stopping house on the Pemberton Trail near | | | | community was not realized until a substation was built |
| today's Function Junction. In 1911, John Millar met Alex | | | | to power the ski lifts in 1965. GODA made a total of |
| Philip on a trip to Vancouver to sell furs. He invited | | | | four separate bids for the Winter Olympics. In 1968 |
| Alex and his wife Myrtle to experience the superb | | | | Vancouver/Garibaldi won the Canadian nomination for |
| fishing on the chain of lakes near his cabin. Myrtle and | | | | the 1976 proposed site. However, Montreal was |
| Alex Philip, both from the state of Maine, had moved | | | | bidding for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games, which |
| to the west coast and dreamed of opening their own | | | | they were awarded and the International Olympic |
| fishing lodge and resort. | | | | Committee would not allow both summer and winter |
| In 1914 the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) | | | | games in the same country. On August 27, 1965 |
| reached Alta Lake and opened the valley to the | | | | London Mountain's name was officially changed to |
| outside world. The legendary hospitality combined with | | | | Whistler Mountain. |