Bend, the remnants of a community northwest of Dome Creek in central British Columbia, comprises several scattered rural properties stretching along the Fraser River on the northwest side of the railway bridge. The area was named after the 90-degree curve on the railway track, northwest of the railway bridge.Prince George Citizen, 20 Feb 2013
Transportation A trackside signpost marks Bend station, the flag stop for Via Rail's Jasper – Prince Rupert train. The immediate Via Rail stops are Penny to the northwest and Dome Creek station to the southeast. The stop is across the Fraser River from the village of Dome Creek which is accessible by Gravel Road from the Yellowhead Highway.
History Railway Bend, like Guilford to its northwest, and Kidd to its southeast, was an original train station (1914) on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway1914 Timetable. p. 4. (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization). Bend lies at Mile 57.7, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 147 during the line's construction).
Commencing the 1928 special Dominion Day train to Prince George from Bend suggests the community's significance at the time.Prince George Citizen, 28 Jun 1928 At the rail bridge in 1931, a train struck and killed Elfrida Strand, who was searching for stray horses with her husband.Prince George Citizen: 6, 13 & 27 Aug 1931 In 1948, another rail accident occurred when two forestry speeders carrying 17 men to a forest fire at Loos collided near Bend, resulting in hospitalizations.Prince George Citizen, 24 Jun 1948 In 1946, a spirited moose paced a westbound train. Tripping on the encrusted snow at Mile 58, it fell behind the tender, derailing four freight cars.Prince George Citizen, 7 Mar 1946
Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100-152 (Bohi's Type E) station building could not have survived the 1942 fire, or been the structure dismantled in 1962. The fate of an unidentified freight and passenger shelter is unclear.
Service 1914–c.1915 c.1916–c.1921 c.1921–1931 1932–1942 1943–c.1948 c.1949–1968 1968–1977 1977–present 1920 Timetable. Bulkley Valley Museum. p. 8. 1922 Timetable: Northern BC Archives. p. 81923 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. 21–221964 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. p. 441965 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. pp. 25–261967 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. p. 38 1968 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. pp. 25–261972 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. pp. 25–261973 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. p. 18 1990 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. pp. 95–971992 Timetable. Northern BC Archives. pp. 103–105Recent timetables Passenger Regular stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Way freight Flag stop probably Flag stop probably Regular stop Regular stop Regular stop Flag stop Flag 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.
The York Lumber Co., Baldry Bros. proprietors, commenced operations in the 1923/24 winter.Prince George Citizen: 22 Nov 1923 & 24 Jan 1924 Wallace (Wally) N. Jaeck (1876–1954), formerly at Longworth,Prince George Citizen, 1 Feb 1954 acquired the mill at a 1925 receivership auction.Prince George Citizen: 7 & 28 May 1925 In partnership with son C. Earl (1904–52), later at Penny, he opened an enlarged mill in August 1928,Prince George Citizen, 23 Aug 1928 & 2 May 1988(56) which operated as the Bend Lumber Co.Prince George Citizen: 22 Mar 1928 & 2 May 1988 It is unclear whether P.J. Strand ran a small sawmill at Mile 59.9 or only logged in the vicinity.
In 1934, John F. McMillan purchased a controlling interest in Bend Lumber. At this time, Sinclair Spruce Mills were logging for the company.Prince George Citizen, 10 May 1934 A Board of Trade delegation included this 45,000-foot-daily capacity mill on their 1937 tour.Prince George Citizen, 26 Aug 1937 Rory (Roy) R.M. McGillivray (1903–94), later at Penny,Prince George Citizen, 8 Jun 1994 and family arrived that year. C. Earl Jaeck, a cousin of Roy’s wife Elizabeth (1906–91),Prince George Citizen, 15 Dec 1949 was the president of the mill and Roy became the manager.Prince George Citizen, 9 Jul 1942
Donald Jaeck (c.1926–1938), Earl's son, died of appendicitis.Prince George Citizen, 9 Jun 1938 The following year, Leonard H. Jaeck (1880–1958), formerly at Longworth,Prince George Citizen, 20 Feb 1958 and Earl's uncle, fractured his leg at work,Prince George Citizen, 10 Aug 1939 and Patrick Murdock (1883–1939), the mill accountant, collapsed at his desk and died.Prince George Citizen, 26 Oct 1939 Lillian (1903–69), Earl's wife, daughter of lumber pioneer Eugene Bashaw,Prince George Citizen, 29 Dec 1938 headed the local Red Cross fundraising effort during World War II.Prince George Citizen, 27 Mar 1941
In 1942, when a wind swept through the area, toppled trees fell on telephone wires, cutting off communication with the outside. The gale dispersed embers from the mill burner into the mill building and across the settlement, razing the sawmill, finished lumber, the immediate village, and a number of railway freight cars on the siding. Only the cookhouse, a small dwelling and some shacks remained. It also created spot fires in Dome Creek across the Fraser. Most of the men were away fighting forest fires. Relief supplies for the 200 victims, who had lost everything, were dispatched from McBride, garnering praise for the Red Cross and Salvation Army.Prince George Citizen, 16 Jul 1942 The CNR had immediately provided a special train to collect residents and their rescued possessions. Over the following years, salvageable material was reclaimed from the site.Prince George Citizen: 18 Feb 1943 & 19 Oct 1944 The mill not rebuilt, only the farming community and those employed in Dome Creek remained.
Hunting & farming Trapper Martin (Deafy) Dayton (1886–1940) relocated from Kidd in the late 1930s.Prince George Citizen: 12 Oct 1939; & 6 & 13 Jun 1940
Oscar Benson (1889–1950) travelled by scow from Tête Jaune to Fort George around 1913, and proceeded to take up a preemption at Bend, where he built a log cabin. Marrying Siri Magnuson (1893–1978) in 1919, they farmed their quarter section near the railway bridge.Prince George Citizen: 29 Apr 1937 & 10 Feb 2015 The 1936 flood filled their basement and submerged the low-lying parts of their farm bordering the river. Household water was collected by the bucket from the river. Their children raised in Bend were Carrie S. (1923–2012)Prince George Citizen, 12 Dec 2012 and Carl A. (1928–2015).Prince George Citizen, 4 Dec 2015 Carrie relocated to Penny,Prince George Citizen, 22 Apr 1943 where in 1946 she married Arne Mellows of Penny.Prince George Citizen, 5 Sep 1946 Breaking his leg in an industrial accident at the Dome Creek sawmill, Carl spent a year at St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver),Prince George Citizen, 10 Feb 2015 before returning.Prince George Citizen, 2 Aug 1945 In 1948, he also moved to Penny and became co-owner of the store with his brother-in-law.Prince George Citizen, 27 May 1948 Selling his interest, Carl and his parents acquired the Aleza Lake store in late 1949, and moved there in early 1950.Prince George Citizen: 21 Sep 1950, 5 Apr 1978 & 10 Feb 2015
James B. (1884–1955) & Adeline (1891–1979) Hooker arrived in 1913. He divided the first five years in working for the Great Northern Railway in Minot, North Dakota, and establishing the farmPrince George Citizen: 2, 9 & 16 Dec 1943; & 6 & 9 Jun 1955 at Bend.Prince George Citizen: 26 Aug 1937; 1 Jun 1939; 30 May 1940; 1 Aug 1940; 7 Nov 1940; 24 Apr 1941; 21 May 1942; 19 & 26 Oct 1944; 15 Mar 1945; 5 Apr 1945; 31 Jan 1946; & 8 Aug 1946
James became a well-known hunter, trapper and guide,Prince George Citizen: 9 Jun 1938, 29 Dec 1938, & 27 May 1943 catering to American parties.Prince George Citizen: 12 May 1938, 16 Mar 1939, 17 Jul 1941, 19 Oct 1944, 7 Nov 1946, 15 May 1947 & 8 Jan 1948 In 1940, he accompanied a constable in a futile search of of the Fraser River bars and banks for a missing logger, who was presumed drowned.Prince George Citizen, 2 May 1940 When the Rotary barrel floated the from Dome Creek/Bend to Prince George in 1943, 1944 and 1945, James was the official monitor for the first half of the journey.Prince George Citizen: 8 Jul 1943, 6 Jul 1944 & 12 Jul 1945 On his death, Adeline remainedPrince George Citizen: 16 Sep 1958 & 28 Oct 1958 until moving to Prince George.Prince George Citizen, 27 Feb 1979
Lawrence (Larry) J. married Thelma Dorene Hutchinson (c.1917–?) in 1934. They settled in Sinclair Mills, where he worked as a guide, trapper and mill employee. One child did not survive infancy. In 1942, the family relocated to Los Angeles.Prince George Citizen: 28 Jul 1927, 8 Feb 1934, 30 Mar 1939, 6 Apr 1939, 10 Aug 1939, 28 Dec 1939, 27 Feb 1979 & 7 Sep 2001 Ruth married Wentworth Stephen Ganton (1907–69) and moved extensively with their children. They divorced and she relocated to Los Angeles in 1955.Prince George Citizen: 29 Jul 1926, 7 Oct 1943, 7 Dec 1944, 22 Mar 1945, 12 Jul 1945, 26 Sep 1946, 9 Jun 1955, 22 Aug 1969, 27 Feb 1979 & 9 Mar 1979 Edward, who was the first baby born in the area,Prince George Citizen, 26 Aug 1958 teamed up with his father as a guide and outfitter. While breaking up a logjam at Penny, the logger slipped and drowned. Only 21, his body was found over seven months later.Prince George Citizen, 13 May 1937
Glen at 12, misreported as Allen, saved a companion from drowning in the river.Prince George Citizen, 30 Aug 1934 He enlisted 1945–46,Prince George Citizen: 2 Aug 1945, 6 Sep 1945 & 31 Jan 1946 was a principal of Hooker Bros Sawmill during the 1950s to early 1960s, and remained in the Dome Creek area.Prince George Citizen: 19 Feb 1962, 1 Oct 1964, 23 Oct 1968, 18 Nov 1999 & 7 Sep 2001 His marriage to Mary Myttennor produced two sonsPrince George Citizen: 26 Jun 1947 & 21 Aug 1952 and a daughter, and the one to Myra VanDeReit likewise. Glen and Myra relocated to McBride in 2008. From around 1990, they divided their time with their Arizona property. Marion worked in Vancouver, returned and married Jim Chambers (1924–?) of Penny in 1946. They spent their young married life raising their children in the Dome Creek area, before relocating.Prince George Citizen: 16 Mar 1939, 22 Apr 1943, 26 Aug 1943, 11 May 1944, 9 Nov 1944, 26 Sep 1946, 9 Jun 1955, 27 Feb 1979, 18 Sep 1993 & 7 Nov 2001 Elizabeth (Bette) Rose, enlisting in the CWAC in 1942, relocated to the coast. Married to Lyell Alexander Winters, they raised a family. After his death in 1977, she remarried.Prince George Citizen: 30 May 1940, 1 Oct 1942, 10 Jun 1943, 23 Aug 1945, 22 May 1947, 9 Jun 1955, 12 Jan 1977, 27 Feb 1979, 18 Sep 1993, 7 Sep 2001 & 30 Dec 2002