The Importance of Striking
November 21st, 2024
The Great Northern Railway in B.C.
The Great Northern is remembered as the only transcontinental railway built without land subsidies.
James J. Hill is recognized in the U.S. as an empire builder. The Canadian-born businessman was part of the consortium building the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1880. He recommended Cornelius Van Horne for the position of chairman.
However, when the CPR chose to build along the rugged north shore of Lake Superior instead of using U.S.-based connections, he quit the company in disgust, vowing to get his revenge on the CPR.
The running battles the CPR and the Great Northern had in southern B.C. led to the development of the Kootenays and the Boundary region. Hill’s first foray in the southern interior of B.C. was building a narrow-gauge railroad, the Kaslo and Slocan Railway, in 1895.
A competing CPR line connected Nakusp to the Slocan. The Great Northern crew burnt down the CPR station built on disputed land. The line connected Slocan and the lead and silver mining towns of Cody and Sandon to Kootenay Lake.
Hill was able to gain control of the Nelson – Fort Sheppard line and the Red mountain line from Northport to Rossland in 1898. Both of these lines provided a direct connection to Spokane.
Meanwhile, in the East Kootenay, Hill had quietly bought controlling interest in the Crows Nest Pass Coal Company and incorporated the Crow’s Nest Southern Railway in 1901.
The aim was to connect with the Great Northern mainline in Jennings, Montana. By 1902, the railway had crossed the border at Roosville and reached Morrissey Mines and the mine site at Carbonado. By the end of 1904, the railway had extended into Fernie. By 1908, the line ran to Sparwood and into Natal.
The Great Northern would run at the copper mines in the boundary region and the smelters in Grand Forks and Greenwood. The line to Phoenix, B.C., was completed in 1903, two years after the Columbia and Western Railway (part of the CPR) had built a spur to Phoenix.
The most famous competition between railroads in B.C. was the mile for mile battle between the Kettle Valley Railway (CPR-backed) and the Great Northern’s Victoria, Vancouver, and East. This rivalry would reach a boiling point in November 1905 in Midway, B.C. Both crews, totalling 800 to 900 men, took to the streets of Midway in a series of brawls over several days.
Finally, the crews would form a truce and collaboratively build the notoriously challenging stretch of the KVR track through the Coquihalla. The Great Northern forced the CPR to develop the southern route leading to improved transportation in the southern interior and connecting it with the rest of the continent.
