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Ainsworth (sternwheeler) [1][2][3]
Expand history section for Prince George
History
The origins of Prince George can be traced to the Northwest Company fur trading post of Fort George, which was established in 1807 by Simon Fraser and named in honour of King George III.[1] The post was centred in the centuries-old homeland of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nations, whose very name means "people of the confluence".
1800’s
Throughout the 1800's Fort George remained unchanged, while Fort St. James reigned as the main trading post and capital of New Caledonia. Even during the Cariboo Gold Rush, Fort George was isolated, although Quesnel prospered as the Cariboo Road was built to its doorstep, making it the main staging area for the miners going to the goldfields at Barkerville. Then, when the Collins Overland Telegraph Trail was built in 1865-67, it bypassed Fort George, following the Blackwater Trail from Quesnel and continuing northwest towards Hazelton.
The Grand Trunk Pacific
Finally in 1903, Fort George's fortune began to change when it was announced that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (later CN Rail) would pass near the fur post. In 1906, agricultural settlement began around Fort George and then in 1909, development of the town began as two rival land speculation companies built the communities of South Fort George and Central Fort George. South Fort George was built on the Fraser River near the Hudson's Bay Company’s trading post and Central Fort George was built two miles to the northwest on the Nechako River. Both communities flourished due to the marketing strategies of the land promoter for Central Fort George, George Hammond, who advertised the community all over Canada and Britain, describing Fort George in glowing terms as being the future hub of British Columbia, having mild winters and being suitable for any agricultural endeavor (except for the growing of peaches). Ten paddle steamer sternwheelers serviced the area, coming up on the Fraser River from Soda Creek.[2]
Properties were sold in both of the main townsites and many others nearby, such as Birmingham, Fort Salmon,[3] Nechako Heights and Willow City. By 1913, South and Central Fort George each had a population of 1500 and were booming as thousands of rail construction workers came to town for supplies and entertainment.[4] Both communities believed that the Grand Trunk Pacific station and townsite would be built in their town, and both were disappointed when the railway purchased the 1,366 acres of land in between them from the Lhiedli T'enneh instead, even though Charles Vance Millar, then the owner of the BC Express Company, was well into negotiations to purchase that property himself.[5] The railway recompensed Millar by giving him 200 acres of the property and, by 1914, when the railway was completed, there were four major communities in Fort George: South, Central, Millar Addition and the railway's townsite, Prince George, where the station was built. And, although George Hammond fought a series of bitter legal battles for a station for Central and for the right to incorporate, the railway won in the end and the City of Prince George was incorporated on March 6, 1915. The actual history of where the city's name is derived from is under dispute, but it is likely that the most obvious name of Fort George wasn't chosen because the Grand Trunk Pacific wanted to take credence away from the two rival townsites. Prince George could simply have been named after the ruling King George V or for Prince George, Duke of Kent the fourth son of King George V.[6]
The war years
With the onset of the Great War in 1914, the local economy was devastated as many local men enlisted and the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway was halted, creating a massive drop in population, a problem that was exacerbated by the ensuing Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.[7] Prince George persevered through the 1920’s and the Great Depression of the 1930’s and did not experience any significant growth until World War II when an army camp for 6,000 soldiers was built at the foot of Cranbrook Hill, bringing new life to the struggling businesses and service industries. After the war, as the ravaged European cities rebuilt, the demand for lumber skyrocketed and Prince George, with its abundance of sawmills and spruce trees, prospered.[8] Finally, in 1952, after 40 years of construction, the Pacific Great Eastern was completed and joined with the CN line at Prince George, and with the completion of Highways 16 and 97, Prince George finally fulfilled George Hammond’s long ago promise of being the hub of British Columbia.
Modern history
In 1964 the first pulp mill, Prince George Pulp and Paper was built, followed by two more in 1966, Northwood Pulp and Intercontinental Pulp.[9]. New schools and more housing were needed and the new subdivisions of Spruceland, Lakeland, Perry and Highglen were built. Then, in 1975, Prince George amalgamated and extended its borders to include the Hart area to the north, Pineview to the south and the old town of South Fort George to the east. In 1981, Prince George was the second largest city in British Columbia with a population of 67,559, narrowly edging Victoria out of the honor, whose population was then 64,379. [10]
Other drafts
Millar Addition
Central Fort George
Central Fort George was a townsite that was promoted in what would later be called Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. It encompassed the area from the Nechako River south to 15th Avenue and from Carney Street west to Quinn Street.[11] Before the arrival of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914, the Prince George area was known as Fort George and was a Lheidli T'enneh village and Hudson's Bay Company store. When the construction of the railway was announced, there was a great deal of interest in the area and in 1909, both Central Fort George and South Fort George on the Fraser River were built and promoted by land speculators who were hoping to get in on the ground floor before the railway was completed. Both of these townsites believed that the railway would build a station in their community, but in May of 1912, the railway chose to purchase the First Nation's village instead.[12]
Natural Resources Security Company
Maple Street Station
Fire
References
- ^ F.E. Runnalls, A History of Prince George (Vancouver: Wrigley, 1946), 23
- ^ Downs, Art (1971). Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1. Foremost Publishing. pp. 47–59. ISBN 0888260334.
- ^ Ramsey, Bruce (1963). Ghost Towns of British Columbia. Mitchell Press. p. 212. ISBN Unknown.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ West, Willis (1985). Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central BC. Heritage House. ISBN 0-919214-68-1.
- ^ Christensen, Bev (1989). Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber. Windsor Publications. p. 36. ISBN 0-89781-266-2.
- ^ http://www.city.pg.bc.ca/pages/ourcity/
- ^ Christensen, Bev (1989). Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber. Windsor Publications. pp. 77–79. ISBN 0-89781-266-2.
- ^ Christensen, Bev (1989). Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber. Windsor Publications. p. 88. ISBN 0-89781-266-2.
- ^ Christensen, Bev (1989). Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber. Windsor Publications. p. 114. ISBN 0-89781-266-2.
- ^ Christensen, Bev (1989). Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber. Windsor Publications. p. 116. ISBN 0-89781-266-2.
- ^ Sedgwick, Kent (2205). Street Names of Prince George. CNC Press. ISBN 0-9735092-0-1.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help) - ^ http://www.city.pg.bc.ca/pages/streethistory/
Further reading
- Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber Bev Christensen ISBN 0-89781-266-2
- A History of Prince George Rev FE Runnals
- Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume One Art Downs ISBN 0888260334
- Stagecoach and Sternwheeler Days Willis West ISBN 0919214681
- Bacon, Beans and Brave Hearts Russell Walker
- A Thousand Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia Frank Leonard ISBN 0-7748-0552-8
Category:Greater Prince George
Books I refer to a lot
- Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber Bev Christensen ISBN 0-89781-266-2
- Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume One Art Downs ISBN 0888260334
- Stagecoach and Sternwheeler Days Willis West ISBN 0919214681
- The BX and the Rush to Fort George British Columbia Historical Qu
arterly Volume 13 Willis West
- A Thousand Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia Frank Leonard ISBN 0-7748-0552-8
- A History of Prince George Rev FE Runnals
References I use a lot
- West, Willis (1985). Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central BC. Heritage House. ISBN 0-919214-68-1.
- Downs, Art (1971). Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1. Foremost Publishing. ISBN 0888260334.
- Christensen, Bev (1989). Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber. Windsor Publications. ISBN 0-89781-266-2.
- Leonard, Frank (1996). A Thousand Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia. UBC Press. ISBN 0-7748-0552-8.
- Ramsey, Bruce (1963). Ghost Towns of British Columbia. Mitchell Press. ISBN Unknown.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - Stangoe, Irene (1994). Cariboo Chilcotin Pioneer People and Places. Heritage House. ISBN 1-895811-12-0.
- West, Willis (1949). BX and the Rush to Fort George. BC Historical Quarterly.
- Sedgwick, Kent (2205). Street Names of Prince George. CNC Press. ISBN 0-9735092-0-1.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help) - Koppel, Tom (1995). Kanaka:The Untold Story of Hawaiian Pioneers in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. Whitecap Books. p. 104. ISBN 1-55110-295-1.