Bears and wildlife encounters are also common in this riding, requiring extra attention to waste disposal.

[3] The electoral district was created in the 1940 boundary redistribution primarily from the ridings of Cochrane and Rocky Mountain.

The first representative to win the district was Independent candidate Frant Laut who defeated former Cochrane Social Credit incumbent William King in a hotly contested race.

Laut was defeated running for a second term in the 1944 general election by Social Credit candidate Arthur Wray.

Two years into his term Wray was suspended by the Social Credit caucus on February 20, 1946 for criticizing the Alberta government after requests to the Public Works department to remove snow from Cochrane roads was ignored.

[6] The situation came to a head a year later when the Social Credit members passed a motion in the legislature to force Wray to move his desk to the opposition side of the house.

Wray would run for a third term in the 1952 election but would be defeated finishing a distant third by Social Credit candidate Lee Leavitt.

Leavitt was defeated by Frank Gainer who was one of two joint nominee's by the Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties in the 1955 election.

Pundits at the time figured he would be chosen to lead the four opposition members of different stripes with his Coalition banner, however no one was picked.

Banff-Cochrane also voted on question B1 with a number of residents lying inside the electoral district within the corporate limits of Calgary.

The vote was designed to educate students and simulate the electoral process for persons who have not yet reached the legal majority.