Foreman is a community just northeast of Prince George on the southeast side of the Fraser River in central British Columbia. The station was named after a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) supervisor.Prince George Citizen, 27 Aug 1994 Foreman Flats (a descriptive used as early as 1954)Prince George Citizen, 11 Feb 1954 comprises about 20 residences inhabiting the northern and western parts of Foreman and is part of Prince George's Blackburn neighbourhood. Vehicular access to the eastern part of Foreman/Foreman Flats is via Shelley Road N.
History Railway Foreman, like Prince George to its southwest, and Shelley to its northeast, was an original train station (1914) on the GTP1914 Timetable scanned (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization). Situated at Mile 140.7, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 230 or 231 during the line's construction),Fort George Herald, 14 Jan 1914 it encompassed camps for Lund-RogersFort George Herald, 8 Jun 1912 and Magoffin & Berg.Fort George Herald: 30 Nov 1912 & 17 May 1913 George Hardie, a Foley, Welch and Stewart superintendent, had a clearing contract that included Foreman at its eastern extremity.Fort George Herald, 15 Jun 1912
In 1957, a slow-moving train brushed three men walking along the tracks near Foreman, resulting in hospital stays.Prince George Citizen, 18 Nov 1957 One year later, a Canadian National Telegraphs employee suffered a crushed leg and hip injuries when a railway speeder struck him.Prince George Citizen, 20 Nov 1958
Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi's Type E) station building primarily accommodated the section crew. Reconfigured in 1948 to Plan 100‐318, it functioned as a freight and passenger shelter, before relocation to Shelley in 1963.
Service 1914–c.1916 c.1917–c.1921 c.1921–1931 1932–c.1939 c.1940–c.1948 c.1949–c.1969 c.1970–c.1974 1920 Timetable: Bulkley Valley Museum collection 1922 Timetable: Northern BC Archives Prince George Citizen: 12 & 19 Nov 19311933 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 Archives1968 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1972 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1973 Timetable: Northern BC Archives Passenger Regular 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 Lumber Workers Industrial Union targeted the railway tie camps during 1919–20. The J.W. Blain camp at Foreman, a major producer in the area, was one of the first to be unionized. The company agreed to most of the union demands, but by season end, it had failed to address the abysmal living conditions. J.W. Blain, which held the timber rights for the government reserve (northeast of the station), expected to take out 150,000 ties.Fort George Herald, 20 Aug 1919
In 1922, headed by Martin Caine (1879–1978) of the Caine and Brawn partnership, the Foreman Lumber Co. built a 15,000-foot per shift capacity sawmill.Prince George Citizen: 10 Feb 1922 & 19 May 1922 One of the worst fires in the district occurred south of Shelley, where the company was logging.Prince George Citizen, 6 Jun 1922 The creek water at Foreman being too low for fire prevention, the mill temporarily shut down.Prince George Citizen, 28 Jul 1922 In 1924, milling commenced with two million feet of logs on hand.Prince George Citizen, 20 Mar 1924 Children lighting a piece of fuse caused a forest fire at Foreman, one of the many raging in the district that summer.Prince George Citizen, 14 Aug 1924 Having exhausted the available harvest in the vicinity and dismantled the mill,Prince George Citizen, 2 May 1988(57) the company purchased Larsen Timber Co.'s six timber limits, near Miworth, in 1928.Prince George Citizen, 9 Nov 1928 The next year, from the Foreman mill, high winds caught a settler's fire, which spread into an area burned four years earlier.Prince George Citizen, 23 May 1929 That year, Caine began building a new mill on the Nechako River, at the western end of the Prince George rail yard,Prince George Citizen: 23 May 1929 & 3 Oct 1929 but postponed construction when the work was half complete.
The company's CNR tie production contracts, which were largely performed by subcontractors, were: 100,000 (plus overrun) for 1923;Prince George Citizen, 16 Mar 1923 unspecified for 1924; 35,000 for 1926;Prince George Citizen, 12 Nov 1925 40,000 for 1930 (CNR having reduced tie acquisition volumes by 50% from the previous year);Prince George Citizen, 14 Nov 1929 and 10,000 for 1939.Prince George Citizen, 12 Jan 1939 The mill sawed the longer ties for switches, but the standard-length ones were hand hewn. Stacked high, they could occupy the full length of the siding. Caine admitted that in those early decades, the tight margins meant very few mills avoided bankruptcy. In his own case, the winter tie business subsidized the summer sawmilling.
Caine's lumber activities were dormant during the Great Depression,Prince George Citizen, 30 Nov 1959 but thereafter, he operated a planing mill at the Nechako River site as Caine Lumber Co.Prince George Citizen, 23 May 1940 Martin Caine came to the area in 1919. At different times, he served Prince George as chair of the school board (1933), a mayoral candidate (1939), president of the Board of Trade (1943–44), president of the Northern Interior Lumbermen's Association (1944–45), president of the Rotary Club (1950–51), and citizen of the year (1972).Prince George Citizen: 14 Dec 1939, 21 Jan 1943, 4 Feb 1944, 1 Nov 1945, 20 Jul 1950, 30 Nov 1959 & 28 Mar 1978
Farming John Porter (1860–1934)Prince George Citizen, 1 Nov 1934 built the original cabin in the vicinity in 1909, one of the six earliest settlers to take up preemptions in the entire Fort George area. His mixed farming included potatoes.Prince George Citizen, 23 Apr 1925
In 1912, Antonio (Tony) Denicola (1887–1947),Prince George Citizen: 19 & 26 Jun 1947 who worked on the GTP construction, bought a small holding about from the station location.Prince George Citizen, 3 Sep 1994 His older son Joseph (Joe) (1909–78), later at Lindup, soon followed from Italy, and both were CNR section workers (track maintenance).Prince George Citizen, 30 Jun 2015 In 1922, Baron Byng, the governor general, decorated Tony with a military medal for his World War I service,Prince George Citizen: 21 Dec 1944 & 26 Jun 1947 where he was wounded at the Battle of Vimy Ridge.Prince George Citizen, 9 Apr 2017 In 1932, while climbing a tree to escape a pursuing bear, his legs were clawed. A passerby alerted the section foreman, who dispatched the bear with rifle fire.Prince George Citizen, 19 May 1932 Years later, he experienced two further close encounters with bears.Prince George Citizen, 26 Sep 1946
In 1925, wife Maria (c.1884–1953), with daughter Lucy (c.1914–?), and son Armand (1922–2019), joined them from Italy.Prince George Citizen: 26 Jun 1947, 30 Jun 2015 & 6 Mar 2019 Andy Andersen (probably 1877– 1966) felled the trees and built their big barn 1934–37,image: https://cnc.bc.ca/services/library/cnc-press/chamberland/contents Chapter 20: Blackburn, Tabor Lake and Foreman Flats, 3rd slide right of centre while Armand hauled the logs from the bush. A land sale to Otto Bartkowski (1914–99)Prince George Citizen, 17 Feb 1999 included the barn. For his World War II service, Armand was awarded France's National Order of the Legion of Honour. After his father died, Armand returned to manage the family farm, where he had been raised. He also was a partner in a small sawmill on Foreman Road. A chimney fire totally consumed the family house in 1950, which he later rebuilt. He married Doreen in 1964. On retirement, their son Neal took over the farm.Prince George Citizen: 4 May 1950, 30 Jun 2015 & 6 Mar 2019
Albert H. Junker (1902–87), one or two brothers, and Barbara & Andy Crooks (mother/stepfather) settled in the early to mid 1920s. Acquiring a quarter section, they ran 25–30 head of cattle, and hacked ties for Martin Caine. Albert marriedPrince George Citizen, 4 Jan 1934 Lucy Denicola, but they divorced. He later married Ida Mae Wilkinson (1916–59). His children were Carol and June.Prince George Citizen, 28 Jan 1987 Albert, who conducted a mixed farm,image: https://cnc.bc.ca/services/library/cnc-press/chamberland/contents Chapter 20: Blackburn, Tabor Lake and Foreman Flats, centre slide and 1st slide to right of centre had a White Leghorn hen that laid an egg eight inches in circumference and weighed eight ounces.Prince George Citizen, 1 Feb 1940
Jim & Roma Tingle purchased the farm in 1970. A casual employee at the federal experimental farm while at university,Prince George Citizen, 26 May 1971 Jim joined the agricultural research station on graduation.Prince George Citizen: 7 Mar 1975 & 26 Mar 1976 He moved to the BC Ministry of Agriculture as a field crop specialist,Prince George Citizen: 24 May 1977, 19 Jul 1977, 27 May 1981, 3 Jul 1981, 11 Feb 1982, 17 Jun 1982, 5 Aug 1982, 6 & 9 May 1983 & 26 Mar 1976 and became a senior agrologist.Prince George Citizen: 10 Aug 1995; 5 Apr 1998; & 18 & 19 Feb 1999 Meanwhile the agrologist couple operated their own farm and contributed to the agriculture community.Prince George Citizen: 8 & 11 May 2000
William (Scotty) (1885–1970) & Annie (1887–1964)Prince George Citizen, 6 May 1964 Howieson and daughter Margaret (c.1920–?) lived in South Fort George. William was a journeyman-carpenter involved in building construction, and wood and coal deliveries. During the summer months from 1918, he would stay on his farm at the north end of Foreman Road.image: https://cnc.bc.ca/services/library/cnc-press/chamberland/contents Chapter 20: Blackburn, Tabor Lake and Foreman Flats, 1st and 2nd slides right of centre He harvested and sold the hay.Prince George Citizen: 20, 27 May 1926, & 3 Jun 1926 John (1904–84)Prince George Citizen, 1 Oct 1984 & Mary (1926–96)Prince George Citizen, 28 May 1996 Armella were the next owners. During the late 1940s, John developed five-acre lots in the area. Daughter Diane (1945–64) from his first marriage, the thirteenth victim in the Prince George polio outbreak of 1960,Prince George Citizen, 29 Jul 1960 died a few years later of multiple sclerosis (MS). In 1974, the Armellas built the subdivision of what became Denicola Crescent. Bernie & Fern Gould are the current occupants of the Foreman Ranch.Prince George Citizen, 13 Jun 1990
Edmond Poty (1916–87), whose 1942 marriage to Ellen Rouse (c.1923–?) did not last, later married Anne Brodowski (1916–87). In 1950, an affray between two local residents led to broken ribs. Charged with assault, Edmond (misstated as Edward Potty)Prince George Citizen, 9 Feb 1950 would go on to operate a sawmill at Mud River. His brother, Sebastien (1913–86), after whom Poty Road is named, farmed in the Foreman area until his death.Prince George Citizen: 29 Aug 1979 & 3 Sep 1994 During 1957, Foreman Flats underwent extensive land clearing for agriculture.Prince George Citizen, 30 May 1957
Community By late 1962, Foreman Flats had yet to be connected to the telephone and electricity networks.Prince George Citizen, 19 Oct 1962 Electricity came the following year,Prince George Citizen: 31 Jul 1963 & 12 Feb 1964 and telephone service a decade later.