Title: Souvenir Album

This record describes series 6 of the George A. McNicholl fonds.

Creator: Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

Date: 1904

Physical Description: 1 album : 20 x 27 cm

History/Biography: Charles Melville Hays proposed the idea of a new railway to the Canadian Government on November 2, 1902 and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) was incorporated in 1903. On July 29, 1903 Prime Minister Laurier signed an agreement with the GTP for building the western section. In October 1903, the GTP sent out Harbour Engineer, James H. Bacon to inspect the northwest coast and he reported that Tuck's Inlet was the most suitable location for the pacific terminus. Hays encouraged American railway contractor Peter Larsen to form a syndicate to acquire land from the Provincial Government. The syndicate's Victoria lawyer E.V. Bodwell negotiated with the province and on May 4, 1904, by an Order in Council, acquired a crown grant of 10,000 acres for $1 per acre reserving one quarter of the townsite and waterfront for the province. Larsen sold this land to the GTP at no profit and Bodwell became the representative of the railway on the Pacific Coast. A group of the directors and officials of the GTP took a special trip to the West Coast August 17 to September 19, 1904 by special train and steamboat. The decision of the GTP pacific terminus was to be made on this trip. Construction commenced in 1905 on the prairies working west from Winnipeg and East from Prince Rupert. The first sod on the western end was turned at Prince Rupert on May 7, 1908. Construction began at Copper River, 100 miles east of Prince Rupert and the contractor was Foley, Welsh and Stewart. In the fall of 1908, Charles Hays made an inspection trip to Prince Rupert. By March 31, 1910, grading and culverts were completed for almost 100 miles east of Prince Rupert, but only seven miles of track had been laid. Supplies had to be sent up the Skeena River by paddlewheeler as a bridge across the Zanardi Rapids joining Kaien Island and the mainland wasn't completed until July 1910 and this delayed the arrival of steel rails. On July 31, 1910 the first construction train from Prince Rupert crossed the newly completed Zanardi Rapids bridge and by September steel was laid for 70 miles. Mr. C.C. Van Arsdol, chief engineer of the mountain section then moved his headquarters to New Hazelton. The first regular passenger train pulled out of the Grand Trunk Pacific wharf depot in Prince Rupert by engine No. 103 at 1:00 p.m. sharp on June 14, 1911. Two hundred passengers took the 100 mile trip scheduled to reach Copper River at 9:00 p.m. The last spike joining the east and west rails was at Fort Fraser on April 7, 1914. The first train from Winnipeg reached Prince Rupert on April 8, 1914, but regular service to Winnipeg did not start until September 1914. Charles Hays who had become president in 1905 never saw his dream come true as he lost his life in the sinking of the RMS "Titanic" on April 14, 1912.

Scope & Content: The series consists of a leather bound souvenir book containing the itinerary and photographs of the trip to the Pacific Coast, from August 17 to September 19, 1904. This edition was limited to 24 copies with the first book presented to Prime Minister Laurier. George McNicholl was a part of the tour and received copy no. 22. The book describes the trip when the GTP president, directors and officials traveled by special train from Montreal to the Pacific Coast arriving in Vancouver on August 29, 1904 where they transferred to the Dominion Government steamer "Quadra." They travelled up the coast to Kitimat Arm and on to Port Simpson and after a tour through the village by Rev. Mr. Hogan and a call to Chief Dudoward at his residence, they transferred to the Hudson's Bay sternwheeler, "Mount Royal." They arrived in Metlakatla on September 2nd and spent the night and then arrived at Tuck's Inlet on September 3rd where they made a landing on Kaien Island. They journeyed up the Skeena to Port Essington and Hazelton and then back to Vancouver and Montreal. Included are photos of the village at Kitimaat Arm, the GTP party aboard the steamship "Quadra," village of Metlakatla, sternwheeler "Mount Royal" in Tuck Inlet, canneries, Port Essington, and the Hudson's Bay Post and Indian cemetery at Hazelton.

Name Access:
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
McNicholl, George Alexander
Hays, Charles Melville
S.S. Quadra
Mount Royal (Sternwheeler)

Subject Access:
Metlakatla, B.C.
Canneries
Hazelton, B.C.
Steamships
Sternwheelers

Geographic Access:
Kaien Island, B.C.
Port Essington, B.C.
Port Simpson, B.C.
Tuck's Inlet, B.C.

Accession Number: ["996-33-6", "993-15"]

Record ID: 711


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