PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF RAILWAYS PACIFIC GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY also Proposed Extensions and Potential Resources of Central Interior and Northern British Columbia, 1949 VICTORIA, E.C. NOVEMBER, 1949 PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF RAILWAYS PACIFIC GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY also Proposed Extensions and Potential Resources of Central Interior and Northern British Columbia, 1949 VICTORIA, B.C. NOVEMBER, 1949 AN APPRECIATION. From time to time various departments of Government issue bulletins and pamphlets on one or another of the many economic, topographic, or geographic aspects of different sections of the Province. In this bulletin the Department of Railways has gathered together in comprehensive and compact form a wealth of material on the topography, resources, and industries of the district served by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. The Pacific Great Eastern Railway continues to make possible the growth and development of a rich and important section of the Province. The railway is owned and operated by the people through their Provincial Government. It is well that students in our schools should come to appreciate that section of the Prov• ince and the contribution which this railway makes to its present and future. The Department of Education is most appreciative of the generosity of the Department of Railways in providing copies of this bulletin for the libraries of all schools in the Province. W. T. STRAITH, Minister of Education. PACIFIC GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY. PACIFIC GREAT EASTERN RAILWAY, ALSO PROPOSED EXTENSIONS AND POTENTIAL RESOURCES, 1949. The substance of the following reports may be outlined by quoting the Terms of Reference given to the Committee on Resources and Railways, 1945. TERMS OF REFERENCE. To review reports on the resources of Northern British Columbia and also to review surveys previously made regarding railway loca• tions. To review repoi'ts of the resources of those areas in the North which would contribute traffic to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and its extensions and to indicate by which route such extensions might be projected to form part of the transportation system for northern development. Studies will include the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and its extensions; choice of routes; traffic (origin and volume); cost of construction, equipment, and operation; settlement and development of lands and resources. Excerpts from certain reports are reprinted in the following order:— (1) The Industrial Development of the Central Interior of British Columbia by Hydro-electric Power and Railway Expansion, 1949. (2) The Pacific Great Eastern Railway and its Effects on the Economy of British Columbia, 1949. (3) Proposal on a Northern Extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway to the Peace River Region, 1947. (4) Pacific Great Eastern Railway Peace River Extension—Review of 1945 Report on Resources and Railways—Location of Railway Route, 1947. (5) Resources Survey from the Report of Committee on Resources and Rail• ways, 1945. Department of Railways, Victoria, B.C., November, 1949. 5 Pacific Great Eastern Railway Company. THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CENTRAL INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER AND RAILWAY EXPANSION, 1949. VICTORIA, B.C., April, 1949. NORTHERN EXTENSION. The Pacific Great Eastern Railway was conceived as the Vancouver outlet for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, now one of the main lines of the Canadian National Railways system. In 1910 the Grand Trunk Pacific surveyed a route following the valley of the Fraser River from Prince George to Lillooet and then over to Harrison Lake, but this proved too difficult. A feasible line was required to provide Vancouver connections and to form the nucleus of a north and south transportation system through Central and Northern British Columbia. In 1912 the Pacific Great Eastern Railway Company was incorporated under Provincial charter and bond guarantee to construct and operate a railway from Prince George by way of Lillooet and Squamish to Vancouver Harbour, a distance of 470 miles. In 1914 the charter and bond guarantee were extended to a line into the Peace River country. At Prince George, terminal and traffic agreements were made whereby all freight destined for Vancouver originating on the Grand Trunk Pacific was to be routed over the Pacific Great Eastern; reciprocally, all freight originating on the Pacific Great Eastern destined for eastern points was to be routed by Grand Trunk Pacific. Up to 1916 the Pacific Great Eastern graded 13 miles from North Vancouver and 428 miles from Squamish to Prince George. Early in 1915 the 13 miles to Whytecliff and in 1921 the 347 miles to Quesnel were opened for traffic. War-effort shortages and heavy construction costs curtailed the funds available for a completion of the railway to Prince George and beyond to the Peace River country. The line from Squamish to Quesnel has continued under operation in con• junction with its own freight-barge service and Union Steamships between Vancouver and Squamish. A committee of Dominion, Provincial, and transcontinental railway officials in 1945 recommended, in effect, to continue the present railway service for the benefit of the country it serves, and to co-ordinate highway and railway services, also to increase the rate of settlement and the development of natural resources. Pacific Great Eastern gross tonnage has increased from 90,000 tons in 1942 to 254,000 tons in 1948. Earnings in 1948 increased 20 per cent, over those in 1947. The existing railway is now under rehabilitation, the track structure being strengthened and motive power augmented with diesel-electric locomotives to carry the increasing traffic. In a preliminary report upon the development of and market for 150,000 initial and 400,000 ultimate horse-power of mechanical energy, the British Columbia Power Commission states in part:— 7 " The Central Interior area of British Columbia has been endowed with great natural resources which have not been developed to the same degree as those of the Coastal and Southern Interior. In the Prince George-Quesnel-Williams Lake areas there are:— "(i) 9,000,000,000 F.B.M. of standing timber suitable for the production of lumber, newsprint, pulp, plywood, and other wood products. "(ii) Successful mining operations such as in the Wells-Barkerville section. "(iii) Sections of agriculture and grazing lands some distance from market areas. "(iv) Hydro-electric power potentialities, "(v) Sport and recreational attractions. "(vi) A Government-owned railway with but a fraction of the freight and passenger traffic which it could handle and which is essential to its successful operation. " The full utilization of these resources is of utmost economic importance to the people who have pioneered in this great and important area of the Province and to the many additional thousands who would find scope for individual enterprise and constructive employment. The development of this area carries more than local sig• nificance; it would provide additional markets for the fruit-growing industry in the Okanagan, for metals produced in the Kootenay District, for manufacturing and wholesale establishments in the metropolitan area of Vancouver; it would benefit all the taxpayers of the whole Province by improving the financial operation of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. "The further development of this area depends upon three principal elements:— "(a) Human energy. "(6) Mechanical energy. "(c) Capital. " What has been accomplished thus far has been largely the result of human energy, courage, and perseverance. " The time has come—perhaps it is overdue—when the efforts of the courageous pioneers of this area should be supplemented by the provision of adequate mechanical power. " This will require capital expenditure of considerable magnitude. " There can be no doubt that if adequate mechanical energy were made available there would be no lack of venture capital to provide the facilities necessary for the application of both human and mechanical energy to the natural resources of this area-of the Province." It is now proposed to construct adequate connections between Vancouver and Squamish, and operate essential time- and money-saving facilities under railway management. This will include service to important forest and mining communities en route, and offer additional tourist attractions. An 80-mile rail extension to Prince George is essential to foster the forest- products industries. Commodities for water-borne export trade will be handled over an assembly wharf at Squamish. Refined products, lumber, plywood, pulp, and paper for eastern rail points will add to Canadian National traffic. Interior lumber-mills will be able to compete in the Prairie and Central States markets. A Canadian National connection will supply feed-grain direct from the Prairies and reduce the cost of Dominion aid to the Cariboo cattlemen. A comprehensive appraisal of these resources and opportunities was made in 1929 and 1930 by a resources survey, undertaken jointly by the Government of the Province of British Columbia, Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and Canadian National Railways. In addition to the curtailment of the extension north of Quesnel due to war short• ages of men, material, and money, the lines approaching and crossing the Cottonwood 8 River were found physically impossible to maintain and operate. This advice was obtained from the late Dean R. W. Brock, Ph.D., and Professor M. Y. Williams, Ph.D., as to the geological conditions