Lindup, between Longworth and Penny, existed on the northeast side of the Fraser River in central British Columbia. The previous small community has now completely vanished.
History Railway Lindup, like Longworth to its northwest, and Guilford 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, an early medieval English surname, was possibly 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
Lindup lay at Mile 75.0, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 164.5 during the line's construction). In 1912, Magoffin (McGoffin alternate spelling) & Berg subcontracted at Mile 162.Fort George Herald, 30 Nov 1912 The next year, their steam shovel at Mile 163 was one of the largest on the line.Fort George Herald, 17 May 1913 A camp existed at Mile 166.Fort George Herald: 7 & 14 Jun 1913 The station included a pumpman and water tower,1920 Timetable. Bulkley Valley Museum. p. 8. located just east at Lindup Creek (formerly called Tank Creek). The early telegraph office likely relied upon automatic printing apparatus, because there was no dispatcher at this location. By 1922, a telephone had replaced the telegraph. A 1926 forest fire brought down nearby telegraph wires.Prince George Citizen, 13 May 1926 The following year, a fire burning on both sides of the tracks from Hutton to Guilford threatened the station building and the railway dispatched a crew to protect the company property.Prince George Citizen, 18 Aug 1927 While attempting to board a railway cable car at Lindup, Wesley Goheen (1910–78),Prince George Citizen, 21 Feb 1978 a work train employee, slipped and a wheel crushed his ankle. The injured foot required a hospital amputation.Prince George Citizen: 18 & 25 Aug 1927
This track maintenance location closed in the mid-1930s, with the section crew reassigned elsewhere. & Joseph (Joe) Denicola (1909–78) was foreman from about 1930 until closure. to He was later a roadmaster (supervised section foremen within a territory), before joining BC Rail.Prince George Citizen, 7 Nov 1978 His brother Armand Denicola (1922–2019), raised at Foreman,Prince George Citizen, 6 Mar 2019 worked for him during this time. Joseph (Joe) Bugyinka (1888–1971), was a section hand from around 1927–28 until closure. to He lost his first wife, Margaret (1891–1934), who inadvertently consumed poisonous mushrooms she had picked locally.
George (1891–1962) & Helen (1901–60) Wlasitz arrived around 1927–28. George worked as a section hand from that time until retirement. When the section closed, he was reassigned to Longworth. to & to However, they remained Lindup residents until about 1956. Their children were Stephen (Steve) (1919–2008), Mary (1921–2001),Prince George Citizen, 19 Jun 2001 Frank (c.1923–2012),Prince George Citizen, 5 Dec 2012 and James (Jim) (c.1932–?).Prince George Citizen, 24 Jun 1948 Mary married Nick Mokrey (1910–97), they lived elsewhere, but the marriage failed. Steve worked as a logger and as a section hand from 16. The older brothers enlisted.Prince George Citizen: 6 Apr 1944 & 26 Oct 1944 After the war, Steve commuted to Dewey by speeder where he was a section hand, but also worked elsewhere as a relief section foreman. When Steve married Helen Petro,Prince George Citizen, 6 May 2014 the couple initially lived at Lindup, but soon relocated to Sinclair Mills. Frank married Winnifred Tate and they settled in Longworth,Prince George Citizen, 13 Nov 1947 as did Jim on marrying Anna Margaret Mann.Prince George Citizen, 5 Mar 1953
Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100-152 (Bohi's Type E) station building was transported in 1947 by railway flatcar to Penny,Prince George Citizen, 16 Oct 1947 and exchanged for the latter's Plan 110-101 converted sectionmen's bunkhouse. In 1960, this smaller structure was relocated to Eddy.
In 1952, when a westbound passenger train smashed into two boxcars at the siding, the impact shattered the empty one and extensively damaged the partly loaded one. Safety supervisor Edward F. Daly (1892–1958) suffered a badly wrenched shoulder. The boxcars apparently rolled onto the mainline following shunting operations the previous night.Prince George Citizen, 29 Sep 1952
Grade stabilization at Mile 75.87 in 1994 included culverts, manholes and revetment work.Prince George Citizen, 9 Jun 1994
Service 1914–c.1915 c.1916–c.1921 c.1921–1931 1932–1942 1943–c.1947 c.1948–1961 1961–c.1962 1972–c.1974 1922 Timetable: Northern BC Archives. p. 8.1923 Timetable. p. 70.1925 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 Archives. pp. 21–22. 1972 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. pp. 25–26.1973 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. p. 18. Passenger Regular stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Way freight Flag stop probably Flag stop probably Regular stop Flag stop Regular stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop
Forestry & hunting In the 1920s, a hunter for caribou in the vicinity observed the plentiful moose population.Prince George Citizen, 4 Dec 1924
The narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched some east of Prince George was known as the East Line. In 1929, J.B. Turnbull (possibly 1878–1964) conducted summer logging south.Prince George Citizen, 25 Apr 1929 Across the river to the north, Jack Smedley ran a logging camp. This is likely the same Jacob (Jake) Smedley (c.1882–?) based in the Dewey area (encompassing Sinclair Mills) during the 1920s,Prince George Citizen: 25 Oct 1923, 15 Nov 1923, 26 Apr 1928 & 3 Oct 1929 who was later foreman at the Sinclair logging camp near Longworth.Prince George Citizen: 24 Mar 1938, 24 Nov 1938 & 22 Dec 1938
In 1928, Edward (Ed) V. (1888–1951) & Elsie (1904–95) Chambers arrived from Foreman. Their children were D. Bernice (c.1923–?), Jim (1924–?), Marie (c.1926–?), Lillian Jean (c.1928–2002),Prince George Citizen, 13 Nov 2002 Charles Lindburgh (Lindy) (1929–79),Prince George Citizen, 10 Aug 1979 Jean (1930–2012), and Bette. While hunting, Ed seriously injured his hand, when a falling loaded rifle accidentally discharged.Prince George Citizen, 26 Sep 1929 Ed ran a 25-man logging camp that produced telegraph poles. Non-payment for a two-railway-car consignment to Nogle Co. during the Great Depression bankrupted his business. Unable to settle his business debts, the remaining cedar poles stacked at the siding were seized and sold by sheriff's sale.Prince George Citizen: 21 & 28 Mar 1929; 17 & 31 Oct 1929; 12 & 19 Feb 1931; & 2 Apr 1931 In 1934, the family relocated to the Mile 72 Relief Camp.
During 1949–52, Torsten Berg (1912–2007), a Longworth resident, operated the only mill to exist at Lindup. Milling the high quality spruce from north and east of the railway line, he subcontracted to Charles Howarth of Guilford Lumber to supply planks for the podium used at Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation. The sawmill soon returned to Longworth.Prince George Citizen: 27 Oct 1949 & 22 Jan 1996
Community Comprising minimal residents, recipients collected their mail from either Longworth or Penny. The population peaked at about 50 in 1929, but dwindled into the Great Depression, and was almost a ghost town by the mid-1940s.Prince George Citizen, 8 Jul 1989 Children attended school in either Longworth or Penny, a walk each way for most students.Prince George Citizen, 20 Jun 2001 These were also social venues.Prince George Citizen, 21 Sep 1939 When Penny, a settlement and station not originally planned by the GTP, took root, it shadowed Lindup's future. George & Helen Wlasitz were the final permanent residents. The back-to-the-land movement, which peaked during the 1970s, likely prompted the brief reopening of the flag stop.
Crime, calamity & safety measures In 1934, the partial remains of a man were found in bush near Lindup. Wildlife had torn apart the victim, a former Penny relief camp resident, who had apparently committed suicide.Prince George Citizen: 12 & 19 Jul 1934
That year, trapper/loggers Joseph Pastor (1896–1982)Prince George Citizen, 22 Nov 1982 and Joseph Kobra (1902–65),Prince George Citizen, 29 Jan 1965 Hungarians, were sentenced to one month's imprisonment for assaulting a police officer in the discharge of his duty.Prince George Citizen, 28 Apr 1932 In an unrelated offence, Kobra was sentenced to two months hard labour for relief fraud during 1931.Prince George Citizen, 22 Jun 1933 He continued to flout the law by running his three-wheeled homemade speeder on the railway line. He was one of the few who not only drank the muddy Fraser water, but proclaimed its qualities. Pastor, followed by Kobra, resettled in Penny.
In the summer of 1938, a transient walking the railway track started a forest fire between Longworth and Lindup, prompting a precautionary temporary evacuation of the latter. The blaze quickly spotted, a crew of 100 volunteers (largely drawn from Longworth) brought it under control.Prince George Citizen, 2 Jun 1938
Relief camps The Aleza Lake to Tête Jaune highway-construction relief project began in 1931. The seven camps between Aleza Lake and McBride housed 500 workers. Nearby relief camps operated at Miles 72 and around 76.5 (occupying the former GTP construction camps at the then Miles 162 and 166).Prince George Citizen, 20 Aug 1931 Inhabitants built a road alongside the railway track and a ski hill at Mile 74, both of which fell into disuse.
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