Willow River is a community northeast of Prince George, on the northeast bank of the Willow River, southeast of the confluence with the Fraser River, in central British Columbia. The name derives from the many willow swamps in the river valley. Comprising about 150 residents, it has a general store/post-office, a volunteer fire department, church building and a small community hall. Street map.
Transportation A trackside signpost marks the flag stop for Via Rail's Jasper – Prince Rupert train. The immediate Via Rail stops are Prince George to the southwest and Aleza Lake to the east.
History
Railways & Speculation The river confluence, close proximity to the Salmon River, and being handy to the Giscome Portage, made it a strategic location. The Cariboo, Barkerville & Willow River Railway (CB&WR) proposed linking Barkerville and Eagle (Eaglet) Lake. In its 1909 Annual Report, the Willow River Timber Co. (WRT) of Ontario highlighted the line's value in accessing the company's remote timber limits in the upper reaches of the Willow River.Fort George Herald: 6 May 1911 & 21 Oct 1911 Investing $1.5 million in timber limits, a British syndicate planned a mammoth sawmill at the river mouth.Fort George Tribune, 3 Dec 1910 The CB&WR never eventuated. Asset sales followed the 1922 WRT receivership.Prince George Citizen: 8 to 20 Dec 1922
By 1912, a Victoria-based syndicate acquired Lot 788, and the GTP acquired Lot 785, which was about due east and across the Willow River. Lot 782 lay between.Fort George Herald, 5 Oct 1912Fort George Tribune, 16 Nov 1912 That March, the Railway Commission had approved the future station location as near the centre of Lot 785.Fort George Tribune: 2 & 9 Aug 1913, & 13 Sep 1913 The Lot 788 syndicate widely publicized a 2,500-lot subdivision called "Willow City" on the soon coming Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) and at the terminal for the proposed Pacific & Hudson Bay Railway (P&HB),Fort George Herald: 3 Aug 1912; 28 Sep 1912; & 5, 12 & 26 Oct 1912; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and additional misleading claims.; ; ; ; ; Although, the proposed P&HB passed no closer than away,Fort George Herald, 15 Feb 1913 the locality was a possible terminus for an unlikely branch line crossing the Fraser, but no track ever eventuated anywhere. Tree clearing defined the planned streets the following year.Fort George Herald, 10 May 1913 Meanwhile, the GTP surveyed and subdivided its land,Fort George Herald, 10 Aug 1912 and contracted to have the 40 acres cleared by Christmas. Further lots were surveyed,Fort George Herald, 23 Nov 1912 and cleared.Fort George Herald, 22 Mar 1913 Warning prospective buyers not to confuse their 640-acre development with the syndicate's one away by rail from the planned station, the GTP began marketing their real estate.Fort George Herald: 5 & 12 Oct 1912 Already owning Lot 784, bordering to the north, the GTP also purchased Lot 781, northwest of the latter, to secure an overland access to the Fraser.
The syndicate renamed its parcel as "Willow River",Fort George Herald: 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 Nov 1912; & 7, 14, 21 & 28 Dec 1912 and then further described the location as "the only townsite registered as Willow River".Fort George Herald: 11, 25 Jan 1913; 1, 8, 15 & 22 Feb 1913; 22 Mar 1913; & 19 Apr 1913 Either their acquisition of Lot 782 between the two developmentsFort George Herald, 29 Mar 1913 or legal pressure amended it to "next to the GTP townsite of Willow River".Fort George Herald: 17 & 24 May 1913; 21 Jun 1913; & 5 & 12 Jul 1913 The devious marketing practices created some buyer remorse among naïve faraway investors.Fort George Herald, 5 Jul 1913 Most of the premium lots with river frontage are now merely river silt. Meanwhile, the GTP weekly advertisements publicized their land as "the only one official and original GTP town of Willow River".Fort George Herald: 1 Feb 1913 to 31 Dec 1913 Based in South Fort George, F.W. Crawford, the BC manager of the GTP's Transcontinental Townsites Co.,Fort George Herald, 7 Mar 1914 was also secretary-treasurer of the chamber of commerceFort George Herald, 18 Feb 1914 and a director of the Herald.Fort George Herald, 14 May 1915 The start of World War I saw land prices tumble.Prince George Citizen, 8 Jan 1953 The syndicate lots never became more than rural and the GTP ones ultimately attained merely a hint of the significance promised by the promoters. Of the surveyed GTP town, the demand for lots evaporated.Prince George Post, 2 Jan 1915 Only a quarter of the land, comprising the central portion and a sliver east along Railway Ave. to slightly beyond the Upper Fraser Rd. intersection, was eventually developed, but half these lots have since reverted to open spaces. (1913 map)
The Prince George-Willow River sternwheeler service provided a destination for day excursions,Prince George Citizen, 18 Mar 1980 and an indispensable link until the railway service became reliable.Prince George Citizen, 16 Mar 1953
Willow River lies at Mile 127.0, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 216.5 during the line's construction). The hospital, near the mouth on Hospital Creek, was at Mile 217. The railway right-of-way contract, completed by J.M. Kullander (Collander alternate spelling) during 1912/13,Fort George Herald, 20 Jul 1912 advanced from camps at Miles 208 and 217,Fort George Herald, 17 May 1913 and encompassed Willow River, Giscome and Newlands.Fort George Herald, 8 Feb 1913 The campimage: Prince George Citizen, 14 Nov 1966 received some supplies from Prince George,Fort George Herald, 15 Jun 1912 but most came down the Fraser River.Fort George Herald, 13 Jul 1912 A. Roy Spurr (1885–1954), later at Penny,Prince George Citizen, 16 Aug 1954 maintained a camp store and accommodation at this time.Fort George Herald, 13 Sep 1913 The unprecedented low water limiting navigation on the Upper Fraser (which beached steamboats)Fort George Herald, 21 Sep 1912 made it impossible to transport steam shovels downstream in 1912. Fortunately, the Collander contract was primarily light work through considerable muskeg. During the following springtime, a large force was at work, but much of the unfinished grade was submerged.Fort George Herald: 17 May 1913 & 14 Jun 1913 In late summer, near the D.J. Carey (Siems, Carey & Co.) camp southwest of the river mouth at Mile 220, the single firing of over 200 tons of explosives demolished a solid rock hill.Fort George Herald: 17 May 1913; 9 & 30 Aug 1913; & 20 Sep 1913Fort George Tribune, 13 Sep 1913 The previous winter, an employee at Carey's camp, who suffered frostbite when lost, had both feet amputated at the GTP hospital.Fort George Herald, 25 Jan 1913
Willow River, like Shelley to its southwest, and Giscome to its east, was an original train station (1914) on the GTP1914 Timetable scanned (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization). The railway bridge spans at Mile 127.8 (formerly about Mile 217.3). Although tracks were supposedly laid across this bridge on 31 December 1913, the discrepancy of having reached Mile 220 the previous dayFort George Herald, 31 Dec 1913 probably indicates that mileage references in newspapers were sometimes approximations.
In 1920, around to the west, a freight locomotive derailed and submerged in the Fraser River.Prince George Citizen, 14 May 1920
About to the east, a westbound passenger train fatally struck Albert Beacham (1923–40), who was likely asleep on the track. The wheels severed his head, one arm at the shoulder, one arm at the elbow, and the right foot at the ankle.Prince George Citizen, 8 Aug 1940
Trains regularly struck straying livestock.Prince George Citizen: 31 Dec 1942, 15 Jul 1943, 18 May 1944 & 12 May 1955 When a collision demolished a fully laden Geddes lumber truck on the old highway level crossing in 1947, the driver escaped with only concussion and fractures.Prince George Citizen, 13 Mar 1947 A decade later, Max Pious suffered fatal injuries when struck by a freight train near the settlement.Prince George Citizen: 1 & 8 Apr 1957 After passing trains had destroyed 100 head of cattle between Willow River and Aleza Lake during 1958–63, the CNR erected protective fencing.Prince George Citizen: 1 Mar 1963 & 9 Oct 1963 Passing in front of a moving train at the crossing, after failing to stop and properly check, a school bus narrowly avoided danger.Prince George Citizen, 13 Dec 1966 In 1996, a train struck an unoccupied truck.Prince George Citizen, 14 May 1996
The station, at the foot of Willow St.,Prince George Citizen, 21 Nov 1946 had a 700-foot freight platform.Prince George Citizen, 5 Apr 1921 Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi's Type E) structure was boarded up in 1969. An unidentified freight and passenger shelter, relocated from Decker Lake that year, remained into the 2000s. The original building continued to be vandalized, and was demolished in 1982.
Service 1914–c.1921 c.1921–c.1929 c.1930–c.1939 c.1940–c.1948 c.1949–1968 1968–1977 1977–present 1920 Timetable: Bulkley Valley Museum collection 1922 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1933 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1943 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1960 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1964 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1965 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1967 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1968 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1972 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1973 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1990 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1992 Timetable: Northern BC ArchivesRecent timetables Passenger Regular stop Regular stop Flag stop Regular stop Flag stop Flag stop Way freight Flag stop probably Regular stop Regular stop Regular stop Regular stop Regular stop
Pioneer Forestry & Farming By 1911, J.M. Wiley (Wylie alternate spelling), a Winnipeg grain operator had 50 acres of his cleared land under cultivation.Fort George Herald, 9 Sep 1911 Tenant farmers worked the ranch,Prince George Citizen, 13 Mar 1924 which comprised Lot 780 that straddled the river mouth. Fred Burden acquired an interest in this property.Prince George Citizen: 3 May 1921, 3 Jun 1921, & 9 & 30 Aug 1921
Two pioneer farmers in the area were Ralph McVoy (1864–1934), and Charles (Charlie) T. Harvie (1879–1962) (Harvey alternate spelling).Prince George Citizen, 24 Mar 1955 McVoy was also involved in railway tie contracting.Prince George Citizen, 28 Oct 1921 Retired from farming,Prince George Citizen: 7 & 14 Jun 1934 his body was discovered in the Fraser River near Shelley.Prince George Citizen, 26 Jul 1934 A coroner's jury returned an open verdict on his death from a rifle wound inflicted by a person unknown,Prince George Citizen, 2 Aug 1934 but locals suspected murder. Charlie arrived about 1912, joined by his brother Fred Harvie (1876–1955)Vancouver Sun, 5 May 1955 in 1914, whose family followed the next year. Ira W. Lewis (c.1877–1955) arrived in 1913. His family followed during the 1914 springtime, the McBride-Willow River segment taking three days, owing to track conditions west of Hansard. They moved to Giscome in 1916. The Harvies left around 1917 when Charlie sold his farm near the river mouth to William H. Fairis, who became known for his fine hay, grain and vegetable crops.Prince George Citizen, 3 Sep 1918 His strawberries were popular,Prince George Citizen, 23 Jul 1919 and the potato yields prolific on his preemption.Prince George Citizen, 10 Dec 1920 Though the influenza epidemic infected his whole family, they all survived.Prince George Citizen: 20 Feb 1920 & 5 Apr 1921 By the time the Royal Bank successfully sued him for failing to honour a promissory note,Prince George Citizen, 16 Dec 1921 he had sold his property,Prince George Citizen, 3 Jun 1921 and returned permanently to Illinois.