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Archival description
Only top-level descriptions Pacific Great Eastern Railway Company
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A.B. Sanderson and Company fonds

  • PR-2409
  • Fonds
  • 1955-1974

The fonds consists of records from A.B. Sanderson Company, Ltd., primarily regarding project proposals, construction calculations and plans for engineering projects. The fonds includes: correspondence, calculations, plans and drawings regarding engineering contracts; reference material for engineers; newspaper clippings and promotional material on the company; and personal records of Adrian Barclay Sanderson. The company’s focus was on bridges, and the records represent work on major projects such as the MacDonald-Cartier Bridge, the Agassiz-Rosedale Bridge, and a number of Pacific Great Eastern Railway bridges.

In addition to bridges, the A.B. Sanderson Company was involved in a number of significant projects including the Mount Kobau observatory. Additional projects include the Esquimalt Sports Centre and the Mt. Tolmie Reservoir, as well as a number of schools, sports arenas, water treatment facilities, and industrial buildings on Vancouver Island and British Columbia. The records include inspection reports for the Canadian National Railway tunnels that connected the CNR lines to the Second Narrows rail bridge.

A. B. Sanderson was named as technical advisor to the Royal Commission inquiry into the Second Narrows Bridge collapse, and the records in this fonds related to the Second Narrows Bridge are primarily newspaper clippings and reports.

Financial records for the company were not in the custody of Ker, Priestman and Associates at the time of transfer and do not make up part of this fonds.

Oversize plans relating to specific jobs can often be found in containers 880055-0522 – 880055-0529, usually identified by the corresponding file or job code. An index to job numbers can be found in container 880059-1582.

A.B. Sanderson and Company Ltd.

B.C. Rail Ltd. films and videotapes

  • GR-3356
  • Series
  • 1945, 1965, 1974-1987; predominantly 1974-1987

The fonds comprises 27 film or videotape titles produced by or for BC Rail Ltd. and its predecessors, the British Columbia Railway Company and the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE). The larger part of the material is 16 mm film, including original footage, printing elements, sound tracks and workprints and/or release prints for 19 productions. There are also 10 video titles, some of which duplicate the films. Other than two films made for the PGE in 1945-47 and 1964, most of the productons date from 1974-1987 and document the activities of BC Rail and the British Columbia Railway.. There are a number of training films produced for internal use, as well as films meant to promote the company. Many of the films were produced in the 1970s by Art Grinke, who was BC Rail's Supervisor of Audio-Visual Instruction.

BC Rail Ltd.

B.C. Rail oral history collection

  • PR-2001
  • Collection
  • 1986-1987

The collection consists of oral history interviews with former and current employees of B.C. Rail as well as residents living along the B.C. Rail lines.

BC Rail Ltd.

BC railway slide collection

  • PR-2341
  • Collection
  • 1950-1982

The collection consists of 583 colour slides taken between 1950 and 1982 by an unknown photographer. They mostly consist of images of the British Columbia Electric Railway, including cars, models and stations. There are also images of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway cars and stations, the Skagit River Railway as well as images of BC scenery. Most of the slides are identified and dated.

Bordertown Publishing collection

  • PR-2282
  • Collection
  • 1886-1966 ; predominant 1920s-1950s

The collection consists of photographic negatives that mainly depict railway operations in western Canada, particularly British Columbia, from 1886 to 1966. The collection was accumulated from photographs shot or collected by Albert Paull, Roy Jennings and P.H. "Spike" Brown, as well as some other private collectors. These photographs document the history, equipment and operations of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian National Railways, Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, and Pacific Great Eastern Railway. A wide range of subjects is depicted, including locomotives (steam, electric and diesel), rolling stock, snow plows, stations, water towers, trestles, bridges, right-of-way scenes, and interior views. In addition, there is a small group of industrial subjects, including images relating to the National Harbours Board, various collieries, the Victoria and Sidney Railway, and a number of lumber companies on Vancouver Island. The negatives are organized in five alpha-numeric series, using prefixes that indicate the subject railways -- CP, CN, EN, and PGE -- and IND (for industrial and miscellaneous subjects). The collection also contain a small amount of textual material, including two copies of Bordertown's published "Catalog No. 1" and two typescript copies of the complete Bordertown collection index, prepared in 1979. (See "Finding Aids", below.)

Bordertown Publishing

Commission on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway records

  • GR-0799
  • Series
  • 1914-1924

This series consists of records of the Commission on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, 1924. The records consist of letter patent appointing the commissioner, Provincial Secretary's correspondence file Pi 9/24 (which contains the petition requesting the inquiry), transcripts of evidence presented at proceedings and the commissioner's original signed report. Also included are several Provincial Secretary files, 1914, relating to the following railways: Canadian Northern, Canadian Northern Pacific, Kettle Valley, Pacific Great Eastern, and Dolly Varden.

British Columbia. Commission on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (1924)

Correspondence and other material

  • GR-1311
  • Series
  • 1946-1947

This series contains correspondence and briefs submitted to the Executive Council. It includes applications and appeals pertaining to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, Seaboard Distributors Ltd., Blunden Harbour Land Company Ltd., and sundry miscellaneous organizations.

British Columbia. Executive Council

Daniel Lawrence McMullan fonds

  • PR-2337
  • Fonds
  • 1928-1946

The fonds consists of three photograph albums created by Donald Lawrence McMullan between 1928 and 1946. The photographs document his work on forest survey teams for both the provincial and federal governments, as well as surveys conducted by logging and railroad companies.

The first two albums contain photographs from several survey jobs, arranged chronologically. They are divided into sections with an introductory page and a cartographic drawing showing where the particular survey took place. The photographs are usually dated with captions and are as follows:
Album 1 (1928-1933)
Amiskwi and Beaverfoot survey, 1928, Forest Service, Dept. of the Interior, Canada
P.G.E. resources survey, 1929, Forest Resources Branch, British Columbia
Preliminary survey of a proposed logging railroad, 1930, Bloedel, Stewart & Welch Ltd. logging company
Elk Forest survey, 1930, British Columbia Forest Service
North Kamloops Survey, 1931, British Columbia Survey Branch
Railway belt survey, 1932, British Columbia Forest Service
Railroad logging operation, 1933, Industrial Timber Mills Ltd.
Album 2 (1934-1939):
Surveys for logging railroads, 1934-1935, UBO Industrial Timber Mills Ltd.
Kettle Forest Survey, 1935, British Columbia Forest Service
E&N Survey, 1936-1937
Harrison Survey, 1939

The third album, created between 1940 and 1946, contains photographs from McMullan's later career and show general forestry activities on Vancouver Island, mainland British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska. Captions and dates are inconsistently applied.

The fonds also includes a copy of McMullan's thesis entitled "The Work of the Surveys Division: British Columbia Forest Service" written in 1932 during McMullan's studies at the University of British Columbia. This thesis is illustrated with five b&w prints and an annotated map. Also included in the fonds is a notice of permanent appointment to the British Columbia civil service dated March 25, 1937 with attached salary schedule and a letter to McMullan dated January 20, 1938 regarding a new classification grading system for Foresters.

McMullan, Daniel Lawrence

Geographic Division

  • GR-1329
  • Series
  • 1915-1959

This series contains records relating to map production, map distribution, personnel and staff salaries. It includes miscellaneous memoranda on resources along the route of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (1936-1942) and a memorandum by F.C. Green on the Post-War Rehabilitation Council, 1943. This unit also includes three notebooks of G.G. Aitken, Chief Geographer, on map production, survey instructions, accounts, and acreages of streams and rivers in British Columbia.

British Columbia. Geographic Division

June Medd film collection

  • PR-2234
  • Collection
  • 1931-1949

The collection comprises 21 films shot or produced between 1931 and 1949, mainly by the Photographic Branch of the British Columbia Government Travel Bureau. It includes prints of ten early BCGTB productions -- one silent and nine with sound -- as well as some reels of silent miscellaneous footage shot by the BCGTB. The completed BCGTB productions include travelogues about Vancouver Island, Qualicum, the Fraser Valley, the Okanagan Valley, the West and East Kootenays, the Bulkley/Skeena Region, and the route of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, as well as films about BC's mining and tourism industries. Other reels show activities of the Canadian Scottish Regiment, based in Victoria; the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco (1939); military parades in Victoria during World War Two; and outdoor activities such as hunting, skiing and trail riding.

Medd, June I.

Pacific Great Eastern Railway collection

  • PR-0789
  • Fonds
  • 1920-1934 [Photocopied 1976]

The collection consists of correspondence between the Brotherhood of Local Engineers and Pacific Great Eastern Railway engineers.

British Columbia Railway Historical Association. Victoria Chapter

Pacific Great Eastern Railway correspondence

  • GR-0818
  • Series
  • 1912-1915

This series consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence files, 1912-1915, between the Premier's Office and Railway Department relating to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway ("PGE exhibits, Sir Richard McBride's correspondence").

British Columbia. Railway Dept.

Pacific Great Eastern Railway correspondence

  • GR-0876
  • Series
  • 1919-1951

This series consists of incomplete general Railway Department correspondence files, incoming and outgoing of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, 1919-1951. Files include topics on Vancouver-Squamish bridges, Car barge and transfer ferry, Directors records, personal freight accounts, Orders-in-council, Location surveys for the Quesnel-Cottonwood revision, Right of ways, Proposed changes of route, Completion of line at Cottonwood-Prince George, tariffs, water licenses and Squamish dock & harbor improvement.

British Columbia. Railway Dept.

Pacific Great Eastern Railway fonds

  • PR-0391
  • Fonds
  • 1907-1976

The fonds consists of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway roster from 1907 to 1975, train orders, correspondence, registers, photographs, sales records, employee examinations, and reports concerning construction equipment and operation of the railway. Fonds includes maps and plans of PGE railway works, bridges, and buildings. Fonds includes records of the Howe Sound Pemberton Valley and Northern Railway and the Howe Sound and Northern Railway. Fonds also includes copies of official timetables #1 to #18 (1913-1918) Squamish division, supplement to timetable #19 (1919) Squamish division, #20 (1919) Squamish and Lillooet subdivisions, 21 (1920) Squamish and Lillooet subdivisions, #23 (1923) Squamish, Lillooet, and Prince George subdivisions and invoices, 1972, from the catering department of Woodward Stores, Vancouver, for grocery items supplied to the British Columbia Railway Company for the Premier's private railway car "Caribou" (formerly "Northern Summit"). A technical drawing showing a profile of the PGE from Squamish Dock to Fort George from 1920 was added to the fonds in 2021.

Pacific Great Eastern Railway Company

Pacific Great Eastern Railways lands survey of resources

  • GR-3084
  • Series
  • [ca. 1926-1968]

The series consists a survey of resources of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway lands undertaken by the Government of British Columbia, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and the Canadian National Railways. The contents include maps, drawings and photographs.

British Columbia. Dept. of Lands, Forests and Water Resources

Premiers' papers

  • GR-1222
  • Series
  • 1917-1952

This series contains official reports and correspondence accumulated during the administrations of Premiers Tolmie, Pattullo, Hart, and Johnson. It includes Departmental, General, and Federal files, plus separate series of documents on Pacific Great Eastern Railway (1917-1945). It also includes applications for employment, petitions, press releases, speeches, and vouchers.

The records which comprise this unit were stored for many years in a maintenance shop adjacent to the Parliament Buildings. Storage conditions were less than ideal and in 1982 arrangements were made with the Premier's Office' to transfer the records to the Provincial Archives. It was a signal event, for the records provide documentation on virtually all facets of provincial life over a thirty-five year period. Additionally, the documents which make up GR-1222 provide a valuable record of the administrations of Premiers Tolmie (1928-1933), Pattullo (1933-1941), Hart (1941-1947) and Johnson (1947-1952). The records fall into three main categories or series, namely Departmental files, Federal files, and General files.

British Columbia. Premier

Premier's records

  • GR-1414
  • Series
  • 1953-1972

This series contains official correspondence, reports, briefs to cabinet, articles and messages, etc. accumulated during W.A.C. Bennett's tenure as premier. It includes files on Dominion-provincial relations, civil defence, centennial celebrations, railways and major business corporations. Also includes copies of congratulatory letters sent to senior citizens by Bennett's successor, Premier David Barrett. Photographs transferred to Visual Records Division; maps, plans, and printed material transferred to Library and Maps Section. GR-1414 consists of a large number of records created and accumulated during the tenure of Premier William Andrew Cecil (W.A.C.) Bennett [1952-1972]. The records originally comprised the Central Registry of the Premier's Office. Included are letters from private individuals and business corporations, inter-departmental memoranda, copies of the premier's articles and messages, briefs to cabinet and other reports submitted for the premier's consideration. This unit also includes documents pertaining to Dominion-Provincial relations, as well as correspondence from federal politicians and foreign diplomats. The records, which comprise this unit, were transferred to the Provincial Archives from the Premier's Office in November 1982. Ten years earlier-following the defeat of Mr. Bennett's Social Credit government-the records had been consigned to a vault in the basement of the Parliament Buildings. Sometime later they were placed in cardboard boxes and removed to a builders' shed in the Parliament Buildings precinct. There they remained, apparently untended, until 1982 when they came to the attention of the Archives. When the records were transferred to the Archives a number of file folders were found to be empty. In most cases, the empty folders concerned cabinet ministers and the work of various government departments. Similarly, contemporary file lists [see Box 131, File 11] indicate that a number of folders were missing from the original series of files. No files marked "Anonymous," for example, were among the boxes received by the Archives, despite the fact that files containing anonymous letters inward were maintained over the years by the Premier's Office. Nor were any "Confidential" files included with the transfer, although they were part of the Premier's filing system. These files may have been removed when W.A.C. Bennett left office in 1972, or they may have been removed sometime after 1976 when W.R. Bennett became premier. [In her interview (taped in 1978) Mrs. Mylrea noted that Premier Bennett asked her to "go through" the correspondence files on 31 August 1972, the day after his party's electoral defeat. Mrs. Mylrea spent the next two weeks reviewing "every piece of paper in those files." "I did not find one thing that nobody else could have looked at" she related, "there was nothing that anybody need be afraid that anybody could see, opposition or otherwise." Nevertheless, some of the files were removed and were taken by Mr. Bennett to his Kelowna home. [SMID 3236:1-2, pp.16-17] Researchers should also note the absence of W.A.C. Bennett's constituency files in this collection. According to the premier's secretary, records dealing with the South Okanagan riding were maintained separately in the premier's Kelowna office. After his death in February, 1979, the Bennett family donated the records to the Simon Fraser University archives. [SMID 3236:1-1, p.17] Despite the absence of certain files, GR-1414 is a remarkably rich collection of executive records. The evolution of the Social Credit Party can be detected in many of the memos and reports in the collection; public attitudes towards government policies can be seen in much of the correspondence inward, while the province's economic growth can be discerned in files devoted to industrial development or to particular companies. Federal-provincial relations are also well documented, as are the activities of local chambers of commerce and sundry community groups throughout the province. Indeed, as a source of documentation for British Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s, GR-1414 is unrivalled.

British Columbia. Premier

Provincial Secretary correspondence

  • GR-0157
  • Series
  • 1913-1916

The series consists of correspondence, 1913-1916, that was originally a part of the Provincial Secretary's Central Registry. The records include grant applications from charitable organizations (e.g. Salvation Army Rescue and Maternity Home, Vancouver); petitions from various citizens groups and trades organizations (e.g. re: Pacific Great Eastern railway, prohibition, and Weekly Half Holiday Act); plus files on diverse topics such as the Belgian Relief Fund (which was administered by the Provincial Secretary), the Progress Club of Vancouver, the provincial coat-of-arms, prohibition, half-day closing, the Provincial Archives and W.W. Walkem's "Stories of Early British Columbia".

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Railway account ledgers

  • GR-1720
  • Series
  • 1918-1984

The series consists of three financial ledgers created by the British Columbia Railway Company and its predecessor, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway Company, between 1918 and 1984. The ledgers contain financial records relating to road and bridge construction. The series also includes a 1919 publication created by the B.C. Department of Railways called general locomotive rules.

British Columbia Railway Company

Railway Department correspondence files

  • GR-0817
  • Series
  • 1912-1953

This series consists of incoming and outgoing general correspondence files, 1912-1953, concerning railways operating in British Columbia. Includes extensive correspondence files on the Westminster Bridge (the Fraser River railway bridge at New Westminster); the British Columbia Electric Railway; correspondence relating to common carriers and industrial railroads; legislation affecting the Railway Department, etc. Box 14, Files 1 to 28 are Minister of Railways: general [correspondence] and Box 14, Files 29 to 38 are miscellany.

British Columbia. Railway Dept.

Railway Department records

  • GR-0877
  • Series
  • 1904-1952

This series consists of records of the Railway Department, 1904-1952. Records include agreements regarding running rights over Fraser River bridge at New Westminster; certificate regarding the amalgamation of the Howe Sound and Northern Railway and the Pacific Great Eastern Railway; contract for PGER locomotives; and leases for land and equipment.

British Columbia. Railway Dept.

Thomas O. Kilpatrick fonds

  • PR-0594
  • Fonds
  • Photocopied 1973, 1975 (originally created 1893-1965)

The fonds consists of copies of records created by Thomas O. Kilpatrick. They include appointments, correspondence, subject files and a diary.

Kilpatrick, Thomas O., d. 1939