Derek Hayes is a geographer by trade, and a writer by avocation. Both skill-sets put Prince George on the map in his latest book Iron Road West.
The new volume came out just in time for Christmas and scratches out the details of the province's railway history. Trains are a passion for even the passing British Columbian, whether it be for the conveniences and environmental impacts of Skytrain in Vancouver or the foundation industries that built the province on the steel backs of 19th century steamer rails.
Prince George and the greater Lheidli T'enneh First Nation territory walked into modern times on these metal footprints. Trade and settlement with the overseas world had some early action thanks to pack trains on the forest trails and the paddle-wheelers plying the rivers, but interior towns became cities due to the screech and screams of steel and steam. Trains carried the minerals and ore, the livestock and crops, and Herculean amounts of lumber that cemented the central interior economy.
"In Iron Road West, Derek Hayes charts the development of the province through its railway lines, using a wealth of photographs and other visuals to show how rails were laid through the wild terrain that characterized much of British Columbia," said a spokesperson from Harbour Publishing, the B.C. bookmaker that pressed the new title. "As railways revolutionized the province, they inevitably incited fierce competition and personal hatreds, creating an exciting frontier-like environment that Hayes describes in vivid detail. The book also covers the emergence of the modern freight railway in British Columbia, including fully automated and computerized trains. An extensive section details our railway legacy, including preserved railways, locomotives and facilities that can still be visited today. Prolifically illustrated, Iron Road West will fascinate not only railway enthusiasts, but anyone with an interest in the history of the province."
This hardback legacy book has 500 vibrant photos, illustrations and maps. The visuals are what consolidate each of Hayes' books and he gave special thanks to the Prince George Railway & Forestry Museum for providing him with some of that beauty as well as the raw information he used to hammer together his Iron Road West.
Prince George earned its rail wings later in the industrial game than many other B.C. communities, especially southern ones where the first steel lines were drawn from Atlantic to Pacific in 1886.
Being at the centre of this expansive province made getting here difficult, but an important part of any book on the history of Canadian railways can't fail to recognize the economic importance of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad (the route taken over later by CN Rail) that connected this region in 1914 to the rest of Canada to the east and the Pacific coast to the west. Coming with it was an equally long telegraph link and a mail service.
The last spike in that continental connection was driven at nearby Fort Fraser on April 7, 105 years ago.
Even later came the north-south link to Prince George and beyond to the coal mountains and grain fields in the northeast.
In an exlusive interview with The Citizen-Industry & Trades, Hayes said this was a provincially interesting period of time. The plan when BC Rail was formed in 1912 was always to have a line from North Vancouver all the way to Prince George at least and on, as the economy dictated, to the natural resources baskets in the northeast (it got built) and the northwest (the right of way was set to Dease Lake but rails never set).
The southern terminus was Squamish. It took a long time to get to North Vancouver because of the epic terrain challenges along Howe Sound.
The northern terminus was Quesnel. Prince George was the intended northern interchange, but, said Hayes, the cost of building the Cottonwood River rail bridge was so prohibitive, it took the bold push of premier W.A.C. Bennett to get it done. It finally happened on November 1, 1952.
Six years later, the line reached Peace-country.
Spur-lines were added in 1966 to Mackenzie and '68 to Fort St. James, then a connection to Fort Nelson in 1971.
Each of those expansions (and the ones that didn't occur despite political aspirations) has its own set of stories. The one from Prince George to the coal mines northeast of the city had a particularly electrifying chapter.
"There's a whole section (of the book) on the electrification of the Tumbler Ridge branch which was done to open up the coal mines at Tumbler Ridge," Hayes said. "They built those very, very long tunnels, and that's why they electrified the line, is because they thought that there would be too many fumes to deal with, with diesels going through it. It was subsequently found that it was ok, so it is used now by diesels. And as you probably know, the only surviving BC Rail electric locomotive is standing in the Prince George railway museum, there."
All these stories came together as a byproduct, in a way, of his past authorship. Hayes is renowned for his series of historical atlases, using geography as a basis for telling stories. Some of those volumes involved railway information. That material began to accumulate for Hayes.
"The way I typically write books - this is my 17th book - is I collect material and information, images and stuff, sometimes for years and years before I actually write anything," he said. "Suddenly I'll think I've got enough and sit down and start writing. That process may only take a year or so, but it's the result of years of collecting information."
Some of the maps and images he squirreled away were specific to this area, like the one of a steam locomotive pulling much more modern and capable diesel locomotives and a string of cars behind.
"The PGE was a pioneer in the use of diesel, but the rules said that to cross the Fraser there had to be a CN locomotive on the front of the train, so you've got pictures of the steam locomotive at the front and two diesels behind it. It was quite silly because the steam locomotive hadn't pulled it from Squamish."
Hayes also put some journalism instincts to use, in the making of this book. There are questions, he said, about the current state of the 2004 BC Rail deal that saw the former provincial Crown corporation get leased in large part to the CN Rail company. One part of that deal, the northernmost part of it, has not been acted on, as close as he can determine.
"CN wouldn't answer some of my questions, like the Hythe Line, which was part of the deal," said Hayes. The Hythe Line, also known as the Grand Prairie Substation, is a short connection between northeastern B.C. and northwestern Alberta, was a stretch that hasn't been in much use for decades, but came with the BC Rail package.
"They were supposed to start up service again, because it had been disused, and as far as I can see they have not and I was trying to find out how they managed to get out of that, and they didn't want to answer any of that. I talked to Transport Canada and the Competition Bureau about it, and I never got any proper answers," said Hayes.
There are plenty of answers, and the inspiration to many interesting questions of your own, contained in the pages of Iron Road West out now on bookstore shelves across Canada.
