THE EVOLUTION OF RAILWAYS IN THE KOOTENAYS by '.• BON ALB"; HOWARD MEYER' B.A. , Uhiyersity..of British Columbia, 1967 A THESIS .SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS, FOR THE DEGREE OF -MASTER OF ARTS in the Department , " of Geography We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1970 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial, gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8. Canada ABSTRACT « Traditionally, international boundaries have been re• garded as barriers to the evolution of transportation networks. Numerous examples of the disruptive influence of borders on travel routes have been documented in the literature. Does such a pattern always occur? This thesis is concerned with a railnet which evolved in close proximity to an international boundary, but which for the most part appeared able to develop with little regard for the boundary as a barrier. This railnet is that of the Kootenay district of south• eastern British Columbia and the adjacent United States. An investigation is made of the major elements which best explain the nature of this network's evolution. They are discovered to include a rich natural resource endowment, rivalry between rail• way companies, and private and government decision makers, but not the international boundary. Comparison is made with the railnet of another area, similar apart from the absence of such a border. The nature of private and government decision making is also exam• ined. Each step in turn provides additional evidence to indicate that the boundary was not a major factor, certainly not a signifi• cant barrier, in the evolution of the Kootenay railnet. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction to the Problem The Kootenay Region Methodology Chapter Outline Research Methods 2 THE EVOLUTION OF THE RAILNET 7 The Regional Setting Pre-Railroad Transport Transcontinental Railways The Importance of Water Transport The Development of Railways in the Study Area The 1895 Railway Network The 1900 Railway Network The 1912 Railway Network The 1968 Railway Network Railway Abandonments Projected Railways A Model of Railnet Evolution Based on the Kootenay Pattern 3 RESOURCES, RIVALRY, AND RAILWAYS National Expansion and Transcontinental Strategy Regional Resource Development and the Evolution of Transportation Routes The Importance of Spokane The Spokane Falls and Northern Railway The Growth of Mining and Railway Rivalry Rivalry to Nelson Rivalry to the Sloean Rivalry to Rossland Rivalry on the Waterways Rivalry to the Crowsnest and Kootenay Lake Rivalry to the Boundary Rivalry to the Lardeau A Counterthrust to Spokane: Canadian Retaliation Later Railway Developments .Renewed Rivalry: Rediscovery df the Crowsnest The Rationale for Railway Abandonments Railway Rivalry in the Kootenays—An Overview An Analogy to Kootenay Railnet Evolution Rich Natural Resources,, .. Rival Railway Companies Iv CHAPTER PAGE THE DECISION MAKERS 83 The Identity of the Decision Makers Governments The Dominion Government The Provincial Government Private Railway Interests D.C. Corbin of the Spokane Falls and Northern F.A. Heinze of the .Columbia and Western J. J.. Hill of the Great Northern William'Van Horne and Thomas Shaughnessy of the Canadian Pacific 5 CONCLUSION The Need for Integration: An Overview The Presence of Resources—The Incentive Intercompany Rivalry The Decision Makers The Role of the International Boundary BIBLIOGRAPHY 121 LIST OF MAPS Map Page 1 The Kootenays Place Names . ... .... ... ..... 8 2 Trails and Waterways in the l860s-l880s . ..... 10 3 Transcontinental Railways 1885 12 4 Major Waterways in the l880s-l890s . ... .14 5 Railways 1895 .16 6 Railways 1900 . ....... ' 19 7 Railways 1912 23 8 Railways 1968 . 26 9 'Railway Abandonments ........ ...... 29 10 Projected 'Railways with Charters 1870-1930 ....... 30 11 Spokane and Railways in the Inland Empire 1888 40 12 South line of the Canadian Pacific and Three Main Lines of the Great Northern in 1916 60 13 Railway Affiliations with, the Great Northern and Canadian Pacific 72 14 The Railnet of Arizona-New Mexico 1880-1920 78 15 Railways Projected by the Provincial Government 1890 . 90 16 Overlapping Networks of the Canadian Pacific and Great Northern Railways Built 1880-1940 .... .103 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Schematic Simplification of Railway Development in the Kootenays ......... 32 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Sequence of Developments in the Major Mining Areas ... 74 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank numerous people for their assistance in the preparation of this thesis. My adviser, Dr. A.L. Farley, who encouraged me from the start, and Dr. R. North, who also pro• vided essential assistance, were particularly helpful. I would also like to thank Miss I. Mitchell and Mrs. Blakey-Smithof the Provincial Library and Archives in Victoria, Mrs. A. Yandle of Special Collections, the Library of the University of British Columbia, Miss Walker of the Northwest Room, Vancouver Public Library, as well as the staff of the Glenbow Library and Archives, Calgary, the staff of Cominco, Kimberley, and the staff of the Trail Public Library. Special thanks for their help are also due to Mrs. Mary Daem, Revelstoke; Mrs. Weir of the Valley Echo, Winder• mere; Miss Loretta Mangan, Fernie; Mr. Dave Kay, Cranbrook; Mrs. Mae Slade and Mr. Bill Leaman, Kimberley; Mrs. Kate Johnson, Nakusp; Mr. Kolfage of the Nelson Miner, Nelson; Mr. Bernie Fetterley and Mr. Ian Turner, Nelson; Mr. Craig Weir, editor of Cominco Magazine, Trail; Mr. Gib Kennedy, Trail; Mr. Jack McDonald of the Rossland Museum, Rossland; Mr. Barrie Sanfo^d of the National Railway Histori• cal Society, Vancouver; and Mr. Harry Attertdn and other staff of CP Rail in Vancouver. Each of these people went out of his way to give assistance to the author. Last, but not least, I would like to thank Miss.Vicki March for providing assistance with typing and proofreading.. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Introduction To The Problem The concern of this thesis is the evolution of a trans• portation network. It is a study in historical geography, an attempt to interpret and explain the growth and decline of a particular railroad network. Specifically, it is an investigation into the development of railways from 1880 in the Kootenay dis• trict of southeastern British Columbia, an area adjacent to the United States border. The Kootenay Region The Kootenay area was selected for a number of reasons. Not only was the area readily accessible for field research, it was rich in natural resources, it had witnessed the development of a complex network of railways, and it was bordered by an inter• national boundary. In addition, there had been little geographic investigation of railnet evolution in the region. Although one case study had been made of the area in terms of the international boundary (Stephen Jones, 1937), only superficial treatment was given to transport network evolution. In any attempt to explain railnet evolution in this area, the presence of the international border would appear to be the most important factor. Elsewhere along its length the 49th parallel has had a strongly disruptive effect on railway network 2 development, particularly in the Canadian-American prairies (Losch, 1954; Wolfe, 1962). Its barrier effect in related fields of circulation has? also been noted, for example by Mackay (1958), who investigated the impact of the international boundary on telephone calls in eastern Canada, and by Hinghi (1963, I964), who noted the effect on television preference of the same boundary in the Pacific Coast region. However, the railnet of the Cordil- leran section of the border area appears not to reflect any such barrier effect of the boundary, and in particular it contrasts remarkably with the railnet of the prairie border area. Whereas the majority of lines in the prairies approach, but do not cross the boundary, in the Kootenays there are few lines which approach the border but do not cross it. That railways evolved in the Kootenays with little regard for the boundary as a barrier, i.e. that their pattern of evolution can be explained without much reference to.the boundary, is therefore taken as the major hypo• thesis in this study. Methodology In order to explain the evolution of the Kootenay railnet, we shall proceed through several stages of analysis. 1) Describe, and present a simplified model of. network change. Following a description of the evolution of the railnet, a simple stage model will be presented to summarize that evolution. This,approach was stimulated by the attempt of Taaffe, Morrill, and Gould (1963) to develop a four-stage model to summarize the evolu• tion of transportation networks inland from the seacoast in under- developed countries such as Ghana. 2) Formulate hypotheses concerning the ma.lor elements affecting evolution, and attempt to explain network evolution in terms of these elements. It is not possible to investigate all the elements which might contribute towards explaining the evolution of , the Kootenay railnet. Only certain major elements are hypothesized to have influenced, and thus to explain satisfactorily, the develop• ment of railways. In essence, this provides a simplified model of the real situation. In the Kootenay region, the elements hypothe• sized to have had a dominant influence are (a) rich natural resources, (b) competing interests, particularly rival railway companies, (c) individual decision makers at the head of the railway companies, individuals who were competing on a personal as well as on a corpor• ate level, and (d) government decision makers, both federal and provincial.