Tag Archives: Department of Public Works

Breaking ground: 150 years of federal infrastructure in British Columbia – Lower Mainland Region: Customs Examining Warehouse

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By Caitlin Webster

British Columbia joined Canada 150 years ago, and in the years that followed, federal infrastructure expanded throughout the province. This infrastructure is well documented throughout Library and Archives Canada’s collections. This eight part blog series highlights some of those buildings, services and programs, as well as their impact on B.C.’s many distinct regions.

While many locals and tourists can spot the distinctive clock tower of Vancouver’s former post office at Hastings and Granville, few step around the corner to see the classically inspired architecture of the Customs Examining Warehouse on Howe Street.

Black-and-white photograph of the exterior of the Customs Examining Warehouse in Vancouver, B.C. There is a wooden sidewalk in the foreground, and horse-drawn carts are delivering goods to the building entrance.

Examining [or Customs] Warehouse, Vancouver, B.C. (a046650-v8)

In the boom years leading up to the First World War, increasing trade led to the need for more substantial customs warehouse facilities in cities across Canada. In 1908, the federal government approved the purchase of a Vancouver warehouse site for $75,000. Located on the traditional territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, the building served as an annex to the post office. It is one of four federally owned buildings on the site.

Document outlining the decision to purchase land to build an examining warehouse in Vancouver. The document is signed by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier.

1908 Order in Council to purchase a site for an examining warehouse in Vancouver (e010701436 )

As one of eight new customs houses built across the country, the Vancouver warehouse shared many design elements with counterparts in Montréal, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Port Arthur. Public Works Chief Architect and his team selected a classically inspired façade with a rusticated stone base, rectangular windows, a heavy cornice at the roofline, and ornamental brick pilasters to give the appearance of supporting columns. Constructed from 1911 to 1913, the building was also one of the first structures in Vancouver to use modern steel framing and reinforced concrete floors.

Black-and-white photograph showing the construction of the Customs Examining Warehouse in Vancouver. The lower section has a stone exterior, and the upper section has a steel structure and unfinished brickwork.

The Examining [or Customs] Warehouse [under construction], Vancouver, August 5, 1912 (a046662-v8 )

In 1983, the federal government formally recognized the Customs Examining Warehouse as a heritage structure, along with the adjoining Post Office, Winch Building and Federal Building. The Department of Public Works then began an ambitious conservation project, connecting all four buildings with a glass atrium. Completed in time for Expo 86, the complex is now known as Sinclair Centre, in honour of politician and businessperson James Sinclair (1908–1984). Sinclair Centre currently houses several federal government offices and many retail shops and businesses.

This marks the end of our series highlighting early infrastructure in British Columbia. While federal infrastructure projects varied according to the needs of the diverse geographical areas of B.C., increasing settlement was often the impetus for these expanded federal services. This settlement and accompanying federal infrastructure led to significant and continuing impacts on local First Nations and Métis communities. It also changed the landscape of towns, cities and rural areas across the province. Explore Library and Archives Canada’s extensive collections to discover more about how B.C. has transformed over the 150 years since joining Confederation.

Caitlin Webster is a senior archivist in the Reference Services Division at the Vancouver office of Library and Archives Canada.

Breaking ground: 150 years of federal infrastructure in British Columbia – Kootenay Region: Rossland Post Office

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By Caitlin Webster

British Columbia joined Canada 150 years ago, and in the years that followed, federal infrastructure expanded throughout the province. This infrastructure is well documented throughout Library and Archives Canada’s collections. This eight part blog series highlights some of those buildings, services and programs, as well as their impact on B.C.’s many distinct regions.

In the pre-war years of the early 20th century, Canada saw unprecedented growth, both in its population and its federal infrastructure. As the population increased by 64 percent between 1900 and 1914, demand for expanded federal institutions grew as well, and the federal building inventory tripled in size.

Much of this growth was taking place in newly established towns such as Rossland, a mining town in southeastern British Columbia. Like many small towns in Canada, it received a substantially built post office in the early 1900s. Due to the great volume of construction across the country, many of these buildings shared common architectural elements. The 1903 Rossland Post Office followed this standard design, featuring a steeply pitched and truncated roof, round-arched openings, and gables with ornamental parapets.

Black-and-white photograph of the exterior of the post office building. Small groups of men and children stand at the building’s unfinished entrance and one of its unfinished windows.

Post office [under construction], Rossland, B.C. (a046453-v8)

With the outbreak of the First World War, economic growth abruptly ended. As a result, many of these federal buildings acquired an unexpected prominence in small towns. Some buildings became city halls or other municipal buildings, while others, like the Rossland Post Office, retained their original purpose.

The federal buildings of this era were prominent due to the quality of their construction and the building materials chosen. In most instances, the Department of Public Works avoided the use of wood and instead chose iron, stone, brick and other sturdy materials. The goal of this approach was to protect federal assets against fire and other hazards, and to serve as an example of quality construction in their various communities.

Unfortunately, the use of such materials provided only partial protection for the Rossland Post Office. On March 1, 1929, what became known as the “Big Fire” swept through the town’s business district. The blaze destroyed all of the wood-frame buildings between the Bank of Montreal and the post office. Firefighters used dynamite on some structures in an attempt to create a firebreak, which unfortunately destroyed all of the post office windows and hastened the fire damage to the structure.

Rossland’s Big Fire, March 1–2, 1929 (a046410-v8)

In the end, the Rossland Post Office lost its distinctive roof with ornate gables. However, the stone-and-brick construction enabled the restoration of the two remaining floors. The prominent structure still serves as the city’s post office, and it is now part of Rossland’s Official Heritage Register.

To learn more about the architectural styles of federal buildings, see Crown Assets: The Architecture of the Department of Public Works, 1867–1967, by Janet Wright, 1997 (OCLC 1017536309).

Caitlin Webster is a senior archivist in the Reference Services Division at the Vancouver office of Library and Archives Canada.

Breaking ground: 150 years of federal infrastructure in British Columbia – Northwest Region: The Dominion Telegraph Service’s Yukon Telegraph Line

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By Caitlin Webster

British Columbia joined Canada 150 years ago, and in the years that followed, federal infrastructure expanded throughout the province. This infrastructure is well documented throughout Library and Archives Canada’s collections. This eight part blog series highlights some of those buildings, services and programs, as well as their impact on B.C.’s many distinct regions.

As British Columbia negotiated its terms for joining Confederation, one of the conditions included the establishment of a telegraphic service. Canada’s Dominion (or Government) Telegraph Service, which formed part of the Department of Public Works, was responsible for providing this. It operated telegraph lines in remote areas not covered by railway telegraph systems or private firms. In B.C., the federal government operated lines in the south and on Vancouver Island, and as it expanded its presence in northern B.C. and Yukon in the 1890s, work began on the Yukon Telegraph Line.

In 1899, the Privy Council Office approved the construction of a telegraph line between Dawson City in what is now Yukon and Bennett, B.C. Now a ghost town, Bennett was once a thriving centre for the Klondike Gold Rush.

Black-and-white photograph of the town of Bennett, B.C., at the edge of Bennett Lake. There are buildings and temporary structures along the shoreline, with a mountainside in the background and a wooden bridge in the foreground.

Part of Bennett, B.C. (a016295-v8)

Soon after the line to Bennett was completed, work began on a branch line to Atlin, and then an extension from Atlin to the transcontinental line at Quesnel. This work finished in 1901, although the construction of various branch lines continued over the next decade. As the construction work progressed, the Department of Public Works built telegraph offices and stations at regular intervals along the line. Stations in towns and settlements often housed other federal government services such as post offices and customs houses. Operators at these stations worked regular business hours and enabled customers to send and receive telegrams.

Black-and-white photograph of the three-storey post office building in Atlin, B.C. A sign on the building reads “Dominion Government Telegraph Office.”

Post office in Atlin, B.C. (a046672-v8)

To help ensure that the line had sufficient voltage to carry telegraph messages between the stations, crews also constructed intermediate battery stations, also known as repeater stations, along the more remote sections of the line. At first, these “bush stations” were simple one-room cabins, housing both the assigned operator and the lineman. As these sites rarely saw customers requesting telegrams, both operators and linemen undertook the difficult work of keeping the telegraph wires in good order. In the summer of 1905, crews built second cabins at these isolated stations to ease some of the difficulties of living in such close quarters.

Black-and-white photograph of a young man and his dog sitting in front of a one-room log cabin.

One of the government telegraph cabins [Dominion Government Telegraph cabin, North of Hazelton; telegraph operator Jack Wrathall and dog sit in front of the cabin] (a095734-v8)

Even smaller were the refuge cabins, where linemen could stay overnight if caught in bad weather while maintaining the line. Spaced approximately 10 miles (16 kilometres) apart, these small 8 x 10-foot (2.4 by 3 metres) cabins contained a stove, bunk and limited food supplies.

The telegraph lines affected local First Nations, ranging from the Lhtako Dene, Nazko, Lhoosk’uz Dene and ?Esdilagh Nations near Quesnel to the Taku River Tlingit First Nation in Atlin. Early work on telegraph lines in the 19th century often proceeded without consultation or agreements with First Nations, which led to confrontations when work crews trespassed on their land. A number of First Nations made use of materials left from earlier abandoned telegraph lines, using the wire on bridges and traps. Some First Nations men worked on the telegraph lines, serving as construction workers, linemen and pack-train operators. The most famous among them was Simon Peter Gunanoot, who helped to construct the line and later worked delivering provisions to the bush stations. Accused of murder in 1906, he evaded searchers for 13 years before turning himself in. At his trial in 1919, a jury acquitted him in a mere 15 minutes, and his remarkable story has since inspired books, documentaries and short films.

By the 1920s and 1930s, the federal government began replacing telegraph lines with radio and telephone communications. At the same time, interest in the line as a trail for adventure hiking grew. While the federal government sold off or abandoned the last portions of the Yukon Telegraph Line by 1951, parts of the line are still used by guide outfitters today.

To learn more about the Yukon Telegraph Line, check out the following resources:

  • “A socio-cultural case study of the Canadian Government’s telegraph service in western Canada, 1870–1904,” John Rowlandson thesis, 1991 (OCLC 721242422)
  • Wires in the Wilderness: The Story of the Yukon Telegraph, Bill Miller, 2004 (OCLC 54500962)
  • Pinkerton’s and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot: Double Murder, Secret Agents and an Elusive Outlaw, Geoff Mynett, 2021 (OCLC 1224118570)

Caitlin Webster is a senior archivist in the Reference Services Division at the Vancouver office of Library and Archives Canada.