Longworth comprises scattered houses in a settlement between Sinclair Mills and Penny on the northeast side of the Fraser River in central British Columbia. Containing less than 15 permanent residents, a community hall,Prince George Citizen, 3 Jun 2014 and former schoolhouse housing the post office, the location is a jumping-off point for outdoor recreational activities. Longworth Peak is the highest mountain in the Dezaiko Ranges and is prominent above the community.
Transportation A trackside signpost marks Longworth station, a flag stop for Via Rail's Jasper – Prince Rupert train. The immediate Via Rail stops are Hutton to the northwest and Penny to the southeast.
History Railway Longworth, like Hutton to its northwest, and Lindup to its southeast, was an original train station (1914) on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway1914 Timetable. p. 4. (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization). The name, a locational surname of Anglo-Saxon origin, deriving from any one of the places called "Longworth" in Berkshire, Herefordshire, or Lancashire, was probablyPrince George Citizen, 27 Jan 1984 selected from the list prepared by Josiah Wedgwood (submitted at the request of William P. Hinton, the railway's general manager).Prince George Citizen, 27 May 1957
Longworth lies at Mile 79.4, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 169 during the line's construction). New arrivals for the Mile 172 camp and those passing through to Mile 166 (northwest of Lindup) often become lost on the forest trails.Fort George Herald, 7 Jun 1913
An interesting example of track maintenance workers was the 1936 section crew. The image shows John Prudun (1902–81) (left background), George Wlasitz (1891–1962) (left foreground), Peter Doonchoff (c.1883–1945) (foreman: centre background), Steve Wlasitz (1919–2008) (right foreground), and Steve Bylycia (1899–1956) (right background). Subjects who advanced to section foremen were John Prudun at Hansard and Steve Bylycia at Hutton. George Wlasitz of Lindup, who remained a section hand, would at least have employment throughout the Great Depression and go on to qualify for a 20-year pass that allowed free travel on Canada and U.S. railroads. His son Steve would qualify for a 10-year pass that allowed free travel within Canada for the family, before resigning for a better paying sawmill job.
Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100-152 (Bohi's Type E) station building was demolished in 1969. Longworth, and similarly isolated communities, unsuccessfully appealed when the Prince George-McBride way freight ceased operations in 1977.Prince George Citizen, 11 Oct 1977 These crews, who knew everyone along the line, would often stop beside residents' homes, especially where heavy groceries needed carrying.Prince George Citizen, 25 Jul 1977
Although CNR trains struck straying livestock,Prince George Citizen: 26 Aug 1937 & 25 Jul 1940 wildlife was a greater problem. During one 24-hour period in 1982, collisions with trains killed 17 caribou near Longworth. Steep snow banks along the rail lines made it all but impossible for moose and caribou to get off the track in time. Over a three-week period, 30 caribou and 150 moose were estimated to have been killed in the area. The reported deaths of 1,000 moose in a previous year was reckoned an understatement.Prince George Citizen: 18 Jan 1982 & 23 Feb 1982
The remaining passenger shelter went in 1996.Prince George Free Press, 21 Jan 1996
Service 1914–15 1916–c.1917 c.1918–c.1921 c.1921–c.1923 c.1924–1931 1932–42 1943–c.1958 c.1959–1965 1965–66 1966–77 1977–present 1920 Timetable: Bulkley Valley Museum. p. 8. 1922 Timetable: Northern BC Archives. p. 8. 1925 Timetable. p. 105. Prince George Citizen: 12 & 19 Nov 19311932 Timetable. p. 58.1933 Timetable: Northern BC Archives. p. 8.1935 Timetable. p. 60.1942 Timetable. p. 58. 1943 Timetable: Northern BC Archives. p. 9.1945 Timetable. p. 61.1949 Timetable. p. 59. 1960 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1964 Timetable. Northern BC Archives 1965 Timetable. Northern BC Archives 1967 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1968 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1972 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1973 Timetable. Northern BC Archives 1990 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1992 Timetable. Northern BC ArchivesRecent timetables Passenger Reg. stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Regular stop Regular stop Flag stop Reg. stop Flag stop Flag stop Way freight Flag prob. Flag stop Reg. probably Regular stop Reg. probably Reg. stop Regular stop Regular stop Reg. stop Reg. stop
Forestry The narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched some east of Prince George was known as the East Line. In the 1920s, with logging limited to the winter and fall seasons to facilitate the hauling of logs by horse or oxenPrince George Citizen, 3 Apr 1997 over snow and ice, loggers were transient. However, year round work existed in sawmill towns such as Giscome, Aleza Lake, Hutton, Penny and Longworth.
The first sawmill was built about 1915. In partnership as the Jaeck-Allen Lumber Co., Allen constructed their mill in 1919.Prince George Citizen: 3 Sep 1919 & 6 Nov 1950 One family was Bessie (1878–1949)Prince George Citizen, 15 Dec 1949 & Wallace (Wally) N. Jaeck (1876–1954), later at Bend,Prince George Citizen, 1 Feb 1954 with son C. Earl Jaeck (1904–52), also later at Bend.Prince George Citizen, 28 Apr 1952 The other family was Robert (Bob) (1885–1950) & M. Olive (1891–1977)Prince George Citizen, 3 May 1977 Allen, with children Florence (1912–85),Prince George Citizen, 12 Oct 1985 Ethel (c.1914–?), Robert (c.1918–?), Enid (1920–90),Prince George Citizen, 24 May 1990 Hazel (c.1921–?), and Harry (c.1921–?). In 1921, Wally acquired the Longworth Lumber Co. from a Mr. Trimble. In 1923, the Jaeck-Allen partnership dissolved when Allen joined Frederick (Fred) Thrasher (1890–1967) (the mill's former accountant) in a sawmill venture at Snowshoe, from Loos.Prince George Citizen, 19 Apr 1923, 2 Jul 1925, 4 Mar 1926 &, 9 May 1929 Labour shortages at Longworth, forced the mill to drop the night shift initially,Prince George Citizen, 12 Jul 1923 and later to erect a boarding house and rooming house to address the limited accommodation for employees and visitors.
Jack Turnbull (probably 1878–1964) ran logging camps for the company during the 1925/26 winter.Prince George Citizen: 12 Nov 1925, 3 Dec 1925 & 28 Jan 1926 Following the severe 1927 forest fires,Prince George Citizen, 1 Sep 1927 a lookout opened in 1929. This building still exists away on top of Longworth Mountain.Prince George Citizen, 16 May 1929 That year, the Longworth mill worked double shifts, but US lumber duties loomed,Prince George Citizen, 24 Jan 1929 and the mill closed in 1932. In 1935, Donald (Don) S. McPhee (1892–1964), formerly at Sinclair Mills,Prince George Citizen, 6 Mar 1964 and A. Roy Spurr (1885–1954), formerly at Penny,Prince George Citizen, 16 Aug 1954 partners in the Giscome mill, acquired the bankrupt Longworth Lumber Co., and relocated the equipment to the Hudson Bay SpurPrince George Citizen, 5 Mar 1936. (Upper Fraser). Longtime resident John Flotten (1896–1987)Prince George Citizen, 19 Dec 1987 and Torsten Berg (1912–2007), who would later mill at Lindup, were pole producers.Prince George Citizen: 17 Jun 1937, 25 Sep 1941 & 5 Feb 1942 . The return of logging in 1937 provided a vital outlet for the farmers' produce. Don McPhee managed the summer and winter logging campsPrince George Citizen, 14 Oct 1937 established between Toneko Lake and the Fraser.Prince George Citizen: 24 Mar 1938, 9 Mar 1939 & 4 Dec 1941 Karl (Carl alternate spelling) Anderson (1906–94), and C. Gunnar Johnson (1911–82), son/stepson of Carl & Alice Caroline (c.1900–1945) Johnson,Prince George Citizen: 21 & 28 Jun 1945 held the contract to build the plank road for haulingPrince George Citizen, 9 Jun 1938 to a point where logs could float downriver to a mill. Robert Allen operated his crew from LongworthPrince George Citizen, 4 Jan 1940 during the 1938/39 and 1939/40 winters, before relocating his equipment back to Snowshoe. In 1942, the Sinclair Spruce summer camp was in the vicinity.Prince George Citizen, 12 Mar 1942 Carl Johnson, who purchased the former mill site with plans to renovate the houses,Prince George Citizen, 24 Mar 1938 resold the properties to Karl Anderson.Prince George Citizen, 25 Apr 1940
InjuryPrince George Citizen: 24 Mar 1938, 4 Aug 1938, 21 Sep 1939 & 8 Aug 1940 and death were common in sawmills and logging camps. Falling trees fatally crushed loggers Carl G. Johannson (c.1886–1925)Prince George Citizen, 1 Oct 1925 and William Stack (possibly Slack) (c.1900–1925).Prince George Citizen, 12 Nov 1925 Kicks from horses used for hauling sent several men to hospital.Prince George Citizen, 28 Jan 1926 Another year, a falling log broke logger Harold Mallery's (1916–2000) leg,Prince George Citizen, 27 Apr 1939 & 18 Apr 2000 and a falling tree fatally injured Everett Martin (c.1911–1939).Prince George Citizen, 12 Oct 1939 At C.A. Berg's sawmill, near Longworth, while jumping from a snowplowing tractor, Kenneth D. Wilson (1920–56) was fatally crushed between the tracks and hydraulic cylinder.Prince George Citizen: 6 & 9 Feb 1956
In 1965, logging operator Torsten Berg was fined for omitting some employee earnings from his Unemployment Insurance Commission records.Prince George Citizen, 13 Apr 1965
In 1981, the government established a 478,683-hectare provincial forest at Longworth.Prince George Citizen, 28 Jan 1981
Farming Lennox Thompson (1879–1960), who farmed 1918–40,Prince George Citizen: 27 May 1943 kept poultry and grew strawberries and hay.Prince George Citizen, 17 May 1934
In 1924, Wilson A. (1880–1959) & Mary (c.1883–1939)Prince George Citizen, 11 Jan 1940 Riggs arrived. Their children were Annie Armanda (1905–70), George W. A. (1907–78),Prince George Citizen, 3 Apr 1978 Harold E. (c.1910–?), Wilbert A. (1912–99), later of Penny,Prince George Citizen, 21 Jan 1999 Lillian Oliveria Pearl (1914–85),Prince George Citizen, 1 Aug 1985 Arthur (c.1917–1987),Prince George Citizen, 14 Oct 1987 Clara Margaret (c.1921–?), William, Ernest, and Dorothy. The family residence became a focal point of the community.Prince George Citizen, 14 Mar 1929 Their expanding farmPrince George Citizen: 24 Jul 1930 to 2 Oct 1930; & 22 Jan 1931 to 19 Mar 1931 comprised vegetable cropsPrince George Citizen, 29 Sep 1938 and dairy cattle. In 1937, Wilson was the first local farmer to ship cream to the Interior Creamery at Prince George,Prince George Citizen, 10 Jun 1937 expanding to a local six-farm source by 1940.Prince George Citizen, 25 Jul 1940 These farmers' purebred Ayrshires gained renown.Prince George Citizen: 4 Dec 1941 & 16 Jul 1942 He was also active in advancing the farming community.Prince George Citizen: 10 Feb 1938 & 16 Feb 1939
Logger and farmer William Henry (1888–1949)Prince George Citizen, 31 Mar 1949 & Estella (1890–1946) Turner arrived around 1924. Their children were Thelma (c.1917–?), R.D. (1918–94), Earl (1919–84),Prince George Citizen, 10 Apr 1984 Ronald (1921–88),Prince George Citizen, 9 Mar 1988 Ernest E. (1923–56), who drowned at Hansard, Wallace, Herbert (1926–53), who died in a traffic accident at Prince George,Prince George Citizen, 27 Apr 1953 Naomi, Alberteen, and Helen. Ronald and his parents were residents until death. R.D. legally changed his name to Ardie Keith.Prince George Citizen, 25 Jul 1969