Introduced by Scots during the second half of the 18th century, curling was well suited to the Canadian climate. It soon became popular throughout the country. In Manitoba businessman and politician John B. MATHER earned a reputation as an administrator in this sport:

“Although he does not seem to have been an athlete, at one time or another in the late 1880s and early 1890s he was an officer of three of the most prestigious athletic organizations in the west, the Granite Curling Club, the Winnipeg Rowing Club, and the Winnipeg Cricket Club. He was also the first president of the Manitoba branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, later the Manitoba Curling Association, which was both the umbrella organization for western Canadian curlers and the sponsor of the Winnipeg bonspiel. First held in 1889, the bonspiel quickly became the largest and most important annual curling festival in the world.”

The beginning of skiing in the Rockies was due in part to the efforts of the guide, surveyor, trapper, and farmer Conrad KAIN:

“The young guide … impressed the residents of Banff by building a ski-run down the slopes of Tunnel Mountain and onto Cariboo Street in the spring of 1910. One of the earliest promoters of skiing in the Rocky Mountains, he was instrumental in the formation of Banff’s first ski club in February 1911.”

The biographies listed below provide information about different winter sports, their participants, supporters, and spectators: