Bend, British Columbia

Bend, British Columbia
Railway Point
Location of Bend in British Columbia
Coordinates: 53°46′00″N 121°04′00″W
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Land District	Cariboo
Regional District	Fraser-Fort George
Geographic Region	Robson Valley
Area code(s)	250, 778

Bend is the remnants of a community located two miles northwest of Dome Creek in central British Columbia, which comprises several scattered houses stretching along the Fraser River on the northwest side of the railway bridge. The area was named after the 90-degree curve on the railway tracks, a mile northwest of the railway bridge.

Transportation

It is a flag stop for Via Rail's Jasper – Prince Rupert train. The immediate Via Rail stops are Penny to the northwest and Dome Creek to the southeast.

History

Railway

Bend, like Guilford to its northwest, and Kidd to its southeast, was an original train station (1914) on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization). Bend is situated at Mile 57.7, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 147 during the line's construction). Staffing and station facilities was the likely reason the 1928 special Dominion Day train, which ran to Prince George, commenced from Bend rather than Dome Creek. At the rail bridge in 1931, a train struck and killed Mrs. P.J. Strand, who was searching for stray horses with her husband. In 1948, another rail accident occurred when two forestry speeders carrying 17 men to a forest fire at Loos collided near Bend, resulting in hospitalizations. In 1946, a spirited moose paced a westbound train. Tripping on the encrusted snow at Mile 58, it fell behind the tender, derailing four freight cars.

A flag stop by the 1950s, it has maintained that status. Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi's Type E) station building was dismantled in 1962. The fate of an unidentified freight and passenger shelter is unclear.

Community

The school, located near the train station, opened in 1925, with Miss Alfreda Larsen as the inaugural teacher. Becoming part of the former McBride School District in 1945, it closed the following year, having 11 students in grades 1-8. Thereafter, students attended the Dome Creek School. A scheduled reopening for 1948 did not transpire, because no suitable teacher was available. School District 57 initiated disposal of the surplus school site at Bend in 1984. Schoolchildren would cross the Fraser on the ice in winter and by boat in summer. During spring, the hazardous railway bridge provided the only crossing point.

Fred Hanson was the inaugural postmaster (1930–31), with Hans Bernhardt Hanson assuming the position (1931–42) on his death. Commonly, the postmaster in such towns was also a storeowner (1928–42). The post-office closed 5 months after his resignation,

Opened in 1941, the community hall hosted various functions. In his role as rector of All Saints Anglican, McBride, Rev. J.J. Cowan sometimes held evening services in the Bend schoolhouse, a venue also used for dances during the 1940s.

Forestry

The narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched some 100 miles east of Prince George was known as the East Line.

The York Lumber Co. commenced operations in the 1923/24 winter. Auctioned at a receiver's sale of the mill, Wallace N. Jaeck of Longworth offered the highest bid. In partnership with son C. Earl Jaeck, he opened an enlarged mill in August 1928, which operated as the Bend Lumber Co. In 1934, John F. McMillan purchased a controlling interest in the company. A Board of Trade delegation included this 45,000-foot-daily capacity mill on their 1937 tour. Rory (Roy) R.M. McGillivray (1903-1994), and family arrived that year. C. Earl Jaeck, a cousin of Roy's wife Elizabeth, was the president of the mill and Roy became the manager.

In 1938, Donald Jaeck, Earl's 12-year-old son, died of appendicitis. The following year, Leonard H. Jaeck, former Longworth resident, and Earl's uncle, suffered a fractured leg while working for the company. Also, Patrick Murdock, the mill accountant, collapsed at his desk and died. Earl's wife, daughter of lumber pioneer Eugene Bashaw, headed the local Red Cross fundraising effort during World War II.

In 1942, when a 60 mph wind swept through the area, toppled trees fell on telephone wires, cutting off communication with the outside. The gale dispersed embers from the mill burner into the mill building and across the settlement, razing the sawmill, finished lumber, the immediate village, and a number of railway freight cars on the siding. Only the cookhouse, a small dwelling and some shacks remained. It also created spot fires in Dome Creek across the Fraser. Most of the men were away fighting forest fires. Relief supplies for the 200 victims, who had lost everything, were dispatched from McBride, garnering praise for the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Over the following years, salvageable material was reclaimed from the site. The mill not rebuilt, only the farming community and those working in Dome Creek remained.

Hunting & Farming

Martin (Deafy) Dayton was a larger than life trapper and key organizer for the trappers' dance held annually in Prince George. He pressed charges against unscrupulous trappers who looted his possessions and prey. When not trapping, he grew strawberries, and advised hunters on prime locations. He resided in the Bend postal area, after relocating from Aleza Lake.

Oscar Benson traveled by scow from Tête Jaune to Fort George around 1913/14, and proceeded to take up a preemption at Bend, where he built a log cabin. Oscar and Siri, who married in 1919, farmed their quarter section near the railway bridge. Their children raised in Bend were Carrie S. (1923-2012) and Carl A. (1928-2015). Carrie initially relocated to work in the Penny Sawmills' office, where in due course she married Arne Mellows of Penny, both having most recently resided in Vancouver. Breaking his leg in an industrial accident at the Dome Creek sawmill, Carl spent a year at St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver), before returning. By 1948, all three were residing in Penny. Oscar (1892-1950) & Siri Benson (1893-1978) remained Bend residents until early 1950.

James B. & Adeline (1891-1979) Hooker arrived in 1913 with their three eldest children, and established a farm at Bend. In 1920, a physical altercation with Mrs. Bremner of Dome Creek occurred. James became a well-known hunter, trapper and guide, catering to American parties. In 1940, James accompanied a constable in a futile search of 130 miles of the Fraser River bars and banks for a missing logger, who was presumed drowned. When the Rotary barrel floated the 145 miles from Dome Creek/Bend to Prince George in 1943, 1944 and 1945, James was the official monitor for the first half of the journey. On his death in 1955, Adeline remained until moving to Prince George, where she died in 1979. Their children were Cora, Lawrence, Ruth, Edward, Glen, Allen, Marion, Elizabeth, Kenneth, Clifford and Clarence.

Cora E. married Stewart Ganton and moved to Prince George, but Cora and their four children resided in Sinclair Mills while Stewart served (1939–45). They returned to the Dome Creek area during the 1960s. Stewart died in 1973 and Cora in 1977. Ruth married Wentworth Stephen Ganton and moved extensively with their children. When he died in 1969, she had long relocated to Los Angeles, being Ruth Hardin at her death in 1979. Lawrence (Larry) J. (1911-2001) married Thelma Dorene Hutchinson in 1934 and they settled in Sinclair Mills, where he worked as a guide, trapper and mill employee. One child did not survive infancy. In 1942, the family relocated to California.

Edward was the firstborn after his parents arrived at Bend. He teamed up with his father as a guide and outfitter. While breaking up a logjam, the logger slipped and drowned. Only 21, his body was found over seven months later. Glen B. served (1945–46), married Myra, and started a family. He was a principal of Hooker Bros Sawmill in the 1950s to early 1960s, and remained in the Dome Creek area. Allen, at 12, saved a companion from drowning in the river. The absence of any further reference to him suggests he died prematurely. Marion (1924-2002) worked in Vancouver, returned and married Jim Chambers of Penny in 1946. They spent their young married life raising their children in the Dome Creek area, before relocating. Elizabeth (Bette) Rose, enlisting in the CWAC in 1942, relocated to the coast. Married to Lyell Alexander Winters, they raised their children. After his death in 1977, she remarried.

Kenneth W. served (1944–46), remarried and started a family. He partnered in the Hooker Bros Sawmill in the 1950s to early 1960s, and remained in the Dome Creek area. A hunting guide, he built a lodge and was critical of clear-cuts. In the 1980s, he was fined for baiting bears and his guide licence was suspended for three years. Clifford relocated to Vancouver and died in an industrial accident in his late teens. Clarence C. served in the Korean War, married Jean Louise Turner in 1954, and had children. Settling in the Dome Creek area, he was a logging contractor. While Jean cooked at the Hooker Bros. camp, he hauled logs for Nance Lumber. The family relocated to Prince George. They died respectively in 1993 and 2001.

Roads

No outside road access has existed. However people have illegally driven vehicles across the CNR rail bridge. To save on transportation costs, Doug Abernethy of Guilford Lumber once drove a small Cat dozer over the bridge, but was able to talk his way out of being charged.

Electricity, Broadcast Transmissions & Communications Devices

The respective Dome Creek section covers these networks.

References

• "Bend (railway point)". BC Geographical Names.
• http://pgnewspapers.pgpl.ca/fedora/repository
• The Penny Reunion Committee. (1995). A Penny for Your Thoughts… Self-published
• Olson, Raymond W. (2014). Ghost Towns on the East Line. Self-published