This series consists of papers of the Lieutenant-Governors of British Columbia. Includes transcripts of telegrams between Victoria and Ottawa, letterbook copies of official despatches outward (1871-1881), despatches inward from Governor General, Secretary of State, and Senior Naval Officer, Esquimalt (1871-1918), along with official correspondence from British Columbia government ministries and departments (1874-1919). Also includes miscellaneous, general, and semi- official correspondence inward, addresses, petitions, and memorials, (1872-1936). Records have been organized into five sub-series:

Letterbook copies of official correspondence outward (1896-1919) are on microfilm. Volume 5 (Feb - Dec 1902) and Volume 17 (1915) were missing at the time of filming. Date ranges correspond to the microfilm box labels.

Correspondence Inward: Despatches from the Canadian Government Secretary of State for the Provinces. Official correspondence from the Dominion of Canada to the Province of British Columbia. Files include minutes and reports of Privy Council, memoranda from the Colonial Secretary (London), and other government correspondence relating to British Columbia.

Miscellaneous correspondence inward. Variously entitled "All & Sundry", and "Tout le Monde", files include communications from Colonial Secretary (London) federal and provincial government officials, British consulates and embassies, and Lieutenant Governors of other provinces. Correspondence also includes petitions, memorials, and addresses, letters from private persons and circulars.

General Correspondence inward (I): Unlike volumes 58-65 above, general correspondence files include official despatches from Secretary of State, Ottawa, with official communications from BC government ministries and departments. Files include replies to correspondents.

General Correspondence (II) - Subject Files

This series contains correspondence between Amor De Cosmos, as Special Agent to London, and others, respecting the Petition of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, to the Queen, on the subject of the Canadian Pacific Railway from March 22nd 1881 to August 31st 1881. The series includes a printed copy of B.C. legislature's petition to the Queen, along with a manuscript copy of the Canadian Pacific Railway memorandum on "Vancouver Island Railway," December 1881. De Cosmos' map showing CPR terminus at Port Moody, alienated railway land on Vancouver Island, proposed ferry routes, etc. were transferred to PABC Library & Maps Division under accession M889117.

The fonds consists of records documenting the professional and personal life of Donald MacLachlan. The predominant theme of the records is MacLachlan's involvement in the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, its history, operations, and advocacy when threatened with closure. The records contain textual material, photographs and plans, maps and drawings both created and collected by MacLachlan.

Certified copy of Order in Council of 16 November 1886 regarding payment of subsidy to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company. The records include a 3 page transcript.

The file contains photocopies of two letters written by William Ferriman Salsbury, a railroad official, to his wife "my dear child" describing his trip from Montreal to Vancouver aboard the first transcontinental passenger train.

This series consists of a Minute book from the Legislative Assembly Select Committee on Railways, 16 Mar 1888 - 16 Feb 1900.

Minute book, contract, correspondence and newspaper clippings.

This series contains official correspondence, reports, and related papers of Premier John H. Turner. Records include correspondence pertaining to provincial railway charters (1893-1897), agriculture, and mining; also includes B.C. Agent-General's Report (1895), applications for employment, and miscellaneous letters.

Papers in this series are those of the Honourable John Herbert Turner (1833-1923), premier of British Columbia from 4 March 1895 to 8 August 1898. Since Turner's administration was characterized by rapid industrial development (notably in railways, mining, and agriculture), and by no little political controversy, his official papers are especially valuable.

Most of the reports and correspondence in GR-1197 originated while Turner was the province's chief minister and, as such, they have been included in the archive's collection of Premier's Papers. As will be seen, though, some of the papers pertain to Turner's tenure as Minister of Finance and Agriculture, a portfolio he held from 1887 to 1898.

GR-1197 may be regarded as a supplement to GR-0441 (British Columbia - Premier: 1883-1933), Series II, volumes 2-13, which also contains official correspondence of Premier Turner. Researchers may find that Volume 354 of GR-0441 (Index to Official Correspondence, 1895-1897) will assist them in locating other related records.

The fonds consists of 128 photographs created by Ray Starr Goodwin. The photographs include pictures of Ray Goodwin and other members of the Goodwin and Green families of Kaslo, B.C. between ca. 1900 and 1920. There are images of Kaslo, of family members at home, at their summer camp at Beauty Beach on Kootenay Lake, camping at Greer's Beach (Kitsilano) and in Stanley Park, Vancouver.

There are also photographs of Kootenay Lake and other natural features around the Kootenay Lake and Kaslo area such as the Kokanee Glacier as well as photographs of steamboats, the Kaslo and Slocan Railway and various mines.

Thomas Frederic Harper Reed (1878-1965) was a surveyor, Indian Agent and telegraph operator in Telegraph Creek, Atlin and Victoria.

Records include correspondence clippings and scrapbooks, regarding proposed construction of highways and railroads through Northern British Columbia to Alaska (box 1); personal papers and autobiographical material (box 2, file 1-7), ; British passport; legal papers; private correspondence (box 2, file 8-21); notes, notebooks (box 3, file 1-6) , miscellany (box 3, files 7-10), and annotated publications in boxes 3 and 4. Maps transferred to the Maps Division, listed in box 1, file 12, map call number L/602a/R324as.

This series contains correspondence and copies of memoranda concerning construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, ferries, wharves, railways, and schools. The records also include some drawings and plans.

This series consists of transcripts of evidence presented at the hearings of the Royal Commission to Inquire Into Charges Against James Dunsmuir and His Cabinet Respecting the Negotiation for the Canadian Northern Railway, 1902.

Bound annual report forms, office and working copies, prepared by the company for submission to the Dept. of Railways and Canals in Ottawa. Includes some correspondence regarding the annual reports. The British Yukon Railway Company, which operates the Yukon portion of the White Pass Route, is one of three companies owned by the White Pass and Yukon Railway which operates between Skagway and Whitehorse.

The series contains miscellaneous records including a P.G.E.R. locomotive roster, 1907-1975; Form 19, train orders, for North Vancouver-Squamish, Lillooet, Williams Lake, Quesnel, and Prince George subdivision; sample forms re line-up of trains, train operation, car loading and switching; sample interdepartmental and personnel forms, stationery and telegram blanks.

Clipping books concerning railway policy (1909) and Bowser's political activities (1907-1916).

The series consists of records created by the Minister of Public Works and includes semi-official correspondence outward relating to Public Works between 1909 and 1911 as well as semi-official correspondence outward relating to Public Works and Railways from 1911 to 1915.

The records are arranged in chronologically in 9 volumes. Volumes 1 to 5 are indexed.

The series consists of records created by the Minister of Public Works and includes semi-official correspondence inward relating to Public Works between 1909 and 1911 as well as semi-official correspondence inward relating to Public Works and Railways from 1911 to 1916.

The records are arranged chronologically in 23 volumes.

Ledger listing railways incorporated between 1890-1910 by the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia indicating railway names, Acts of Incorporation, head offices, directors, etc.

Signed agreements between the Province of British Columbia and the Kettle Valley Railway Co. (KVR), 28 February 1910, 12 January 1912 and 28 February 1914; copy of KVR Act (BCS 1914, ch 100); letter from James John Warren, president KVR, to Lytton W. Shatford, M.L.A., Similkameen, 1910.

Letterpress copies of correspondence outward from the Surveyor-General. Many of the volumes contain nominal indexes of correspondents. Volumes 26 - 31 have been water damaged and are partly illegible.

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").

This series consists of Forest Branch timber investigations and inspections files, 1913-1915. Records include correspondence and reports from Nelson, Prince Rupert, Vancouver and Vernon Forest Districts. Includes file on early logging railroads, Vancouver Forest District.

The series consists of records created by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway between 1913 and 1974. The records contain correspondence 1946-1957 re Pension Funds Committee, Inaugural trains 1956, a register of correspondence from 1930-1953, register of accidents 1915-1956; records of dining car and sleeping car sales 1946-1953; certificates (1951) concerning PGE barge #3; employee examinations; tariffs; builders' specifications for diesel locomotives; scrapbooks of newspaper advertisements, etc. and miscellaneous photographs There is also a map of PGE rail lands from Vancouver to Fort George, 1915 and a drawing of a Hart Otis Convertible car from 1913.

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".

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.

Bound annual report forms, office and working copies, prepared by the company for submission to the Dept. of Railways in Ottawa. Includes some correspondence regarding the annual reports. The British Columbia Yukon Railway Co. which operates the British Columbia portion of the White Pass Route, is one of three companies owned by the White Pass and Yukon Railway which operates between Skagway and Whitehorse.

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.