Terminal Terminal

The Creation and Decline of the Canadian Northern Pacific / Canadian National Railways Yard in Victoria, 1909-1931

Abstract

Compelled by Premier Richard McBride, the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway created a plan for a grandiose yard on the surrendered Songhees reserve in Victoria.  Blocked several times from direct connection to the newly established breakwater ocean docks, the successor company, Canadian National Railways, located an alternative ocean terminus at Cowichan Bay, which made the Victoria terminal, along with much of the island main line, redundant.   Drawing on Richard White’s analysis of the wasteful and inefficient activities of transcontinental railways in the late nineteenth century, this study examines flaws in the company’s development strategies for Victoria harbour and Vancouver Island.  It probes examples of hasty judgment, inadequate study, careless planning, and incompetent execution in the origin, acquisition, and early operation of the terminal.  The investigation advances the reopening of the neglected study of Victoria’s industrial history before the Second World War.