They knew something Van Horne had yet to experience – powerful winds usually barrel through the Bow Valley at Lac Des Arcs, lifting dust off the dry lakebed shores and dumping it over the surrounding forest. Van Horne had no clue how rare a wind-free day is at Lac Des Arcs – the area is an increasingly popular spot for present-day kiteboarders and windsurfers.

Eugene Bourgeau, a botanist with the British-led Palliser Expedition, was inspired by the numerous small lakes and arc-like curves the Bow River makes as it meanders through the Bow Valley and in 1857 named the lake and surrounding area 'Lac Des Arcs'.

The Palliser Expedition passed through the area (about 15 kilometres or 9 miles east of Canmore) in 1857 searching for a viable pass west over the Continental Divide. The expedition also represented the first time scientists like Bourgeau took samples and documented the Canadian Rockies’ natural history. Van Horne eventually experienced for himself how the winds rocket through Lac Des Arcs and abandoned his idea to develop the area as a tourist getaway. However, the location jokingly remained known as ‘Van Horne’s Park’. Lac Des Arcs was comprised within the Rocky Mountains National Park (see ‘Banff Overview’) when the boundaries were expanded in 1887. But the borders were again changed in 1930 when Banff National Park took on its present-day form and the area from Exshaw to Canmore was excluded outside the park gates as industry positioned the towns as centres for mining.

Near Lac Des Arcs, the Calgary Power Company built the first hydroelectric dam on the Bow River in 1911, flooding a deep gorge and what has since become known as ‘Horseshoe Falls’. The dam was built to supply water to the Canada Cement Plant (today owned and operated by Lafarge Canada) on Lac Des Arc’s north shore (see ‘The Story of Exshaw'). Today, the dam still supplies power throughout southern Alberta.