Photograph of telegraph line construction

Photograph of telegraph line construction

British Columbia
town
development,
technology
federal
communication

A photograph (dimensions unknown) captioned ‘an uphill pull’, by federal government employee Lance Burdon, of two workhorses pulling a large load uphill over felled trees, followed by two men supervising. The construction of the telegraph line connected Quesnel in central B.C. with Atlin in the far north of the province, allowing for communication between the two. Due to the ruggedness of the terrain all construction materials had to be transported by packhorse across largely unknown distances as no thorough survey had been done. The plan to complete the line in 1900 was ironically defeated by inadequate communication and the impending inhospitable B.C. winter. The image presents the difficulties of developing British Columbia industrially, commercially and economically given the difficulties faced in creating communication and infrastructure across the massively rugged landscape, which was largely unknown territory for Europeans.

Lance Burdon – For the Canadian Government

Royal BC Museum Archives

http://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/

1900

Sebastian Jones

Royal BC Museum Archives
"An Uphill Pull, Atlin-Quesnelle Tel. Line." F-03365

English

Visual - photograph

20th century British Columbia