Transcribed article from the,
British Columbia Magazine Vol IVIII, No.11 November 1912 pages 823-825
Coquitlam Making Good
By Max Enos
NATURE
first fashioned a plain, locating it on a broad, deep magnificent river—the
Pitt—surrounding it with mountains, and scenic effects unparalleled. A
railroad, the Canadian Pacific, traced its main line across the plain into
Vancouver, seventeen miles away, and made of that city the largest and most
prosperous in Western Canada. Eight miles away on the Fraser River, into which
the Pitt flows, was New Westminster, a municipality throbbing with real Western
energy and progressiveness.
Less
than two years ago some of the shrewdest railway experts in the country decided
upon this plain as the location of a railway terminal in which would be combined
all of the experience of the past five decades of railway building. Following
this decision approximately $1,000,000 has been spent by the C. P. R. to
establish on this splendid location the first unit of the vast scheme evolved.
Following
this move by the great transportation company in the world, industries have
located there, buildings have been erected, houses have been constructed, roads
have been built, the acres surrounding the railway holdings have been cleared
and graded, and a city has been designed on broad, generous and far-sighted
lines. That is COQUITLAM.
Less
than two years ago a little hamlet called Westminster Junction marked the
parting of the C. P. R. main line and the New Westminster branch. About this
Building the great C.P.R. Terminals at Coquitlam ( Flickr Image )
Typical scenes in busy Coquitlam ( Flickr Image )
(1) New block, corner Simpson and
Broadway. (2) Starting work on the Call
Switch factory. (3) Paving Simpson
Street. (4) Scene in Shaughnessy
Division. (5) Building Dewdney Trunk Road. (6) Pitt River Road.
wooden station-house sprang up the typical
Western community. This small cluster of houses looked out upon the broad,
welcoming plain, the only one offering any inducements to the great railway
builders of Canada. The dreamers dreamed and the prophets told of the future,
but the Canadian Pacific experts acted on the wisest counsels and with the best
brains money can buy. They said, “This will be the greatest railway terminal in
Canada— yes, it will rival any on the continent,” and on this plan they have
proceeded.
On
December 15 about two hundred and fifty employees of the C. P. R. will be moved
to Coquitlam, there to operate what the railwaymen are pleased to state is but
the first unit, which consists of twenty miles of yards, a round house, car
repair and construction shops, machine shops, coaling stations, and the latest
and most improved of railway terminal equipment.
These
men are but forerunners of the employees to come. They are to operate only this
first unit, which is to he expanded as rapidly as time, money and labor will
permit. When the terminals are completed there will he thousands of railway
employees placed on the ground to manipulate the immense facilities provided.
Looking
to the future, the Canadian Pacific is now extending a long industrial spur
track to the property of the Coquitlam Terminal Company, where have been
located industrial sites suitable for any industry that wishes location near
big markets, on a large transcontinental railway line and with adequate
deep-water facilities.
Already
there are reservations made for a long list of industries. Another large group
of manufacturers are busy building their machine shops, their warehouses and
their plants. Others are now in operation.
Vancouver
is the logical solution to the wheat congestion of the eastern Canadian
cities—it is the only port in Canada of any size which is open twelve months of
the year. All of the other ports, with the exception of Prince Rupert, which
has as yet no transcontinental railway connection, are frozen up during the
winter. The elevators are filled to the brim and storage space for the fruits
of the bountiful prairies is at a high premium. Wheat and grains of all kinds
can flow through Vancouver to the markets of the world during the entire year.
But in the city of Vancouver waterfrontage and dock facilities are not
available in sizes sufficient for handling this tremendous business.
Coquitlam
solves Vancouver’s congestion.
The new Coquitlam mental
hospital ( Flickr Image )
With
deep water, immense railway terminals connecting with all of the cities and
territory of the greatest railway line in the country, it offers unparalleled
opportunity for grain elevators and other facilities for the handling of the prairie
products. Coquitlam has been investigated by the C. P. R. as a location for the
grain elevators which that company intends to build. Elevators in themselves do
not bring such large numbers of employees, but they are conducive to the
establishment nearby of other industries such as flour mills, cooper shops, bag
manufacturing works and others of kindred sort.
A
shipbuilding plant has been located on the banks of the Pitt River on one of
the large industrial sites of the Coquitlam Terminal Company. The first keel
will be laid by the middle of November. The company is incorporated at half a
million dollars and has as much more money to use when the time comes. Other
industries besides the shipbuilding plant and the C. P. R. terminals located at
Coquitlam are: Vancouver-Prince Rupert Meat Packing Co., B. C. Electric Power
House, Fraser River Mills, Dominion Match Co., B. C. Paper & Pulp Mills, McKay,
Brown Lumber Co., Crabb Lumber Co., Lamont Shingle Mills, Call Switch Co.,
Coquitlam Shipbuilding & Marine Railway Co., J. A. Dewar gravel pits, and
the Western Canada Power Co., Ltd.
The
C. P. R. is building a $2,000,000 double-track railway bridge across the Pitt
River and has double-tracked the distance between Coquitlam and Vancouver, preparatory
to the doing of an immense business. The provincial government of British
Columbia will within the next few weeks begin construction on an electric railway
and vehicular bridge to cross the Pitt a few rods north of the C. P. R.
structure.
The
old village of New Westminster junction is being absorbed in the new city,
which will soon be incorporated under the name of Port Coquitlam. The new Port
Coquitlam station, which is to cost about $30,000, is about 3,000 feet east of
the old station, while the new business district is to be located in the centre
of First Division.
With
the development of the C. P. R. Western terminals, the establishment of
industries and the building up of the district comes a general influx of minor
industries which are locating close to the C. P. R. holdings. All of these are
to be provided by the Coquitlam Terminal Company with track and yard facilities
to be found on no other industrial sites near Vancouver. Another important
factor in the consideration of Coquitlam is that workingmen can secure sites
for homes at prices very much cheaper than in Vancouver By the same token sites
for industries can be secured cheaper at Coquitlam and with much bigger,
broader and better facilities than at Vancouver.
Coquitlam
is, as one railway man declared, “to be the distributing point of Western
Canada. It will form the working portion of Greater Vancouver. There will be
located the industries, the life, the pulse of the Canadian Pacific coast.
In the same issue an advertisement for the Coquitlam Terminal Company, this company operated for at least five years, and extensivley promoted themselves. I have an extensive collection of information about this company.
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In the same issue an advertisement for the Coquitlam Terminal Company, this company operated for at least five years, and extensivley promoted themselves. I have an extensive collection of information about this company.
