12 ■ TIMESReview ■ WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012
www.revelstoketimesreview.com
H I S T ORY
50 years in the making: the opening of the Trans-Canada ALEX COOPER reporter@revelstoketimesreview.com
Revelstoke was first connected to the outside world by road in 1922, when a highway opened through Eagle Pass, to Sicamous. The Revelstoke Review said the road “was without exception the best, prettiest and most scenic drive in the interior of British Columbia.” At the time, it took several days to make the trip from Vancouver to Revelstoke and the road was closed during winter due to avalanches through Three Valley Gap. It wasn’t until 1941, when a Japanese internment camp was established at Three Valley Gap that the road was kept open year-round. For years, Revelstoke was the end of the line for travellers heading east by road. Work began on the Big Bend Highway in the 1930s and unemployed men were pressed into service to help build the new highway. They were paid 20 cents per day and given room, board and clothing in return for working on the road. The Big Bend Highway was opened on June 29, 1940, finally providing a roadway all the way through the Columbia Mountains. Still, the route was long and rough and was closed in winter. Plans began to build a highway through Rogers Pass. In 1949, the Federal and Provincial governments signed the TransCanada Highway Act, which set out plans for a national, two-lane paved highway. A year later, a railway strike made the need for a modern highway between Kamloops and Field even more pressing. On July 5, B.C. Highway Minister “Flying” Phil Gaglardi announced that the new highway would go through Rogers Pass, at an estimated cost of $22 million, despite the opposition of one group
Premier W.A.C. Bennett at the opening of the Trans-Canada Highway bridge at Revelstoke, July 1961.
that promoted Jumbo Pass as the desirable route. Surveyors set to work mapping out a route for the new highway and contracts went out for work to be done on clearing the path. The targeted date for opening the highway was Dec. 31, 1960, with 1958 and 1959 dedicated to grading the route and 1960 to paving. Meanwhile, an avalanche control system had to be developed to keep the highway open in the winter. Led by Noel Gardner and Fred Schleiss, a network of snowsheds was built and a system of avalanche control using a 105mm Howitzer was developed. Meanwhile, people in Revel-
stoke dreamed big. Mayor Walter Hardman predicted the population of Revelstoke would increase 10-fold, to 40,000 from 4,000 within 20 years, reported business writer James Roe. “Development of the area as a tourist and holiday mecca is only part of it,” he wrote. “But today Revelstoke is still just an attractive, sedate railway town.” Naturally, the highway was delayed. First, into 1961 and then well into 1962. Business groups, especially those in the Okanagan, put pressure on the government to get it open. In the summer of 1961 The Okanagan Valley Tourist Asso-
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ciation planned a caravan over Rogers Pass, where they would meet up with the Banff tourism group. On July 27, 1961, a year before the highway opened, the first fatal accident occurred in the Pass when a car carrying two construction workers crashed into a gravel truck. The Trans-Canada Highway Bridge over the Columbia River opened on July 28, 1961. Locals spent all night driving across the brand-new, 300-metre long suspension bridge. Pressure mounted to get the highway finished over the course of the winter of 1961-62. Finally, on
Revelstoke Museum & Archives
Mar. 1, the province set July 30 as the date for the official opening of the highway; a week later the federal government announced plans for a September opening. Special permits started being issued for people to travel across Rogers Pass in early July, 1962. The highway was used to transport a truckload of strawberries from Salmon Arm to Calgary, allowing them to arrive fresh for the market, though the driver A.D. Booth had to return via the Big Bend. ***
Two official openings, page 19
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Please donate at any Salmon Arm Savings & Credit Union. Please give generously! Producers: Gail Viens (gailviens@mybcdc.ca) Richard Good (drgood@telus.net) Generous support from the following: Barley Station Brew Pub & Wicked Spoon Café & Grill, Rotary Club of Salmon Arm, TidBits, Friday AM, Crannóg Ales, Streamers Party Rentals, Monty Kilborn, Craig’s Bakery & Deli, Bonanza Meat Packers, Black Press, City of Salmon Arm, Askew’s, Salmon Arm Savings & Credit Union, Okanagan Spring Brewery, Hucul Printing, EZ Rock, Salmon Arm Recreation, Vernon Morning Star, Revelstoke Times Review, Nakusp Arrow Lakes News, Eagle Valley News and Salmon Arm Observer
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