Guilford station was southeast of Penny on the northeast side of the Fraser River in central British Columbia. No roads, only railway access, the previous small community to its northwest has now completely vanished.
History Railway Guilford, like Lindup to its northwest, and Bend to its southeast, was an original train station (1914) on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway1914 Timetable scanned (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization) (CNR). Guilford station existed at Mile 65.6, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 155 during the line's construction). The chosen name, a surname of pre 7th century origins, derives either from the city of Guildford, or from residence at a ford where golden flowers grew. It was selected from the list prepared by Josiah Wedgwood (submitted at the request of William P. Hinton, the railway's general manager). Commonly claimed as an English place name,Prince George Citizen, 27 May 1957 no such location with the different spelling appears to have existed in the United Kingdom. However an earldom was created, and the station name, like some US Guilford localities, may have come from a member of that nobility branch.
To benefit from both river and railway access, the mill and settlement were about northwest of the station, but the latter's isolation gravitated passengers to the Penny station. In September 1913, the Sykes family, later at Penny, travelled by construction train to the planned Guilford station on track laid early that month.Fort George Tribune, 13 Sep 1913 The family settled due south, across the river, and Ada Sykes' diary provides one of the earliest surviving references to Guilford's existence. In 1914, a landslide around Mile 66.5 (previously Mile 156), delayed passenger services by a day.Fort George Herald, 14 Mar 1914 Apart from a recluse, only the section (track maintenance) crew lived at the station locality.
In 1960, a speeder collided with a work train in the vicinity, killing Shirley Howard Scott (1905–60), one of the two CNR riders.Prince George Citizen, 30 Aug 1960 Two years later, a bull moose, which charged an eastbound 59-car freight train near Guilford, derailed the caboose. The incident delayed the westbound passenger train by four hours.Prince George Citizen, 17 Jan 1962
Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi's Type E) station building was replaced with a converted freight shed in 1950. Although Bohi notes the demolition of the former in 1950 and the latter in 1968, it appears more likely that the CNR burned down the former in the early 1960s.
BC Spruce/Fortin (Mile 61.4) Service c.1963–c.1971 1964 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1967 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1968 Timetable: Northern BC Archives Passenger Flag stop Way freight Flag stop
Guilford stop (Mile 65.6) Service 1914–c.1916 c.1917–c.1921 c.1921–1931 1932–c.1939 c.1940–c.1948 c.1949–1968 1968–c.1975 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 Archives1965 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 Flag stop Regular stop Flag stop Flag stop
Pioneer Farming & Forestry Ole (1882–1956) & Halvor (1891–1973) Mellos, brothers, arrived by scow in 1913, while the railway was still under construction.Prince George Citizen: 18 Aug 1955 & 9 Feb 1956 Emma (c.1897–1942) and Ole married in 1914.Prince George Citizen, 12 Nov 1942 The pioneer farmers,Prince George Citizen, 29 Mar 1923 who were joined by their sister, Ingeborg L. Mellos (1884–1952), all relocated to neighbouring Penny in 1927.
In 1920, fire totally destroyed the shingle and lath mill,Prince George Citizen, 16 Jul 1920 which had operated at least since 1918. Gordon Bain (likely c.1884–?) had recently purchased the mill from A. H. Booth (likely c.1884–1947). Trading as the Red Cedar Mill, its infrequentPrince George Citizen: 30 Jun 1920 & 27 Aug 1920 advertisements for cedar products became weeklyPrince George Citizen: 30 Sep 1920 to 23 Nov 1920 during the fire sale. The district forester subsequently seized the fire-damaged equipment to settle unpaid timber royalties.Prince George Citizen, 30 Dec 1921
The narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched some east of Prince George was known as the East Line. A 1927 forest fire spreading between Longworth and Guilford inflicted limited timber losses.Prince George Citizen, 25 Aug 1927 Months later, in the vicinity of Guilford, a falling tree fractured the skull of logger John Johnson (c.1889–1927), who succumbed to his injuries while aboard a freight train en route to hospital.Prince George Citizen, 24 Nov 1927 A year later, Asbjorn Fremstad (Framstad alternate spelling) (c.1908–1928) suffered similar fatal injuries when decking logs at the Melrose Camp near Guilford.Prince George Citizen, 8 Nov 1928 The Vick Brothers Lumber Co., known to have operated a 20,000-foot per shift capacity mill 1926–29,Prince George Citizen: 23 Aug 1928, 18 Apr 1929, 11 Jul 1929 & 17 Oct 1929 was a victim of the Great Depression. During 1927–29, Archie McLarty had a 20-man crew producing 100 cedar poles per day in the vicinity.Prince George Citizen: 24 Nov 1927 & 1 Mar 1928 Fire destroyed 7,000 of these poles, worth $30,000, stacked near the station.Prince George Citizen, 10 Oct 1929
Guilford Lumber Co. The acquired assets of Vick Brothers were relaunched as Guilford Lumber Co. in 1939. Herb O. Vick (c.1883–?) owned, and Douglas (Doug) L. Abernethy (1909–83) managed, the sawmill.Prince George Citizen, 21 Dec 1939 The following year, they were charged with the theft of logs, owned by Red Mountain Lumber of Penny, that had been passing their log boom on the Fraser River. Remanded to a higher court, the defendants were found not guilty.Prince George Citizen: 27 Jun 1940 & 3 Oct 1940 In 1941, Abernethy and Frank Belanger, his logging camp foreman, bought new logging equipment in Vancouver.Prince George Citizen, 31 Jul 1941 Months later, Belanger changed employers and moved his family to Bend,Prince George Citizen: 13 & 20 Nov 1941 the same month as the Abernethy family moved into their new six-roomed house.Prince George Citizen, 27 Nov 1941 The following spring, Abernethy was fined for a violation of the Wage Act,Prince George Citizen, 16 Apr 1942 and mill worker John Babich lost two fingers when his mitt caught in the rollers.Prince George Citizen, 2 Apr 1942 That year, two carloads of surplus machinery were shipped from Hutton.
In 1943, Charles Howarth (1885–1994) of Calgary, who managed the Hutton mill during the 1920s, purchased the Guilford one,Prince George Citizen: 24 Jun 1943, 18 May 1944 & 1 Jan 1948 with Doug Abernethy remaining as manager. The next year, logger Gustave Peterson (c.1886–1944) died in a work-related accident around Mile 61.Prince George Citizen, 12 Oct 1944 The Guilford logging camp at Mile 61.4 comprised several windowless bunkhouses, a cookhouse, and horse barn. Another camp existed at Mile 62.5, where the then unmarried Frank Wagner worked 1943-44, and during a subsequent winter.
Clarence Riggs (1933–45) of Penny, employed as a flunky in the mill cookhouse, slipped while walking on the log boom. The Fraser River was unsuccessfully dragged, but the body was found by Joseph Kobra of Penny 12 days later in the millpond at Penny.Prince George Citizen: 12 & 19 Jul 1945 The deceased was transported by rail to Prince George for the funeral. In recognition of Clarence belonging to the recently formed Penny Scout troop, the pallbearers were Prince George Boy Scouts in full uniform, as were other attendees.Prince George Citizen, 26 Jul 1945
Guilford Sawmills was subsequently fined for violating the control of employment of children provisions.Prince George Citizen, 23 Aug 1945 Months later, in an unrelated incident, the company was fined for contravening the National Selective Service regulations.Prince George Citizen, 3 Jan 1946
In 1947, the mill resumed operationsPrince George Citizen, 31 Jul 1947 after a new boiler plant was installed.Prince George Citizen, 17 Jul 1947 The replacement mill engineer was joined by his family,Prince George Citizen, 15 May 1947 and a new bookkeeper commenced in the office.Prince George Citizen, 22 May 1947 The Howarths, the owners, were residents from 1948 until the mill closed permanently the following year. Initially, the horses were sold,Prince George Citizen: 10 & 17 Nov 1949; & 6, 10 & 13 Sep 1951 then the equipment from the 25,000-foot capacity mill was advertised.Prince George Citizen: 29 Sep 1952 to 9 Oct 1952 The boilers and planers remained unsold, but H. Liere acquired the sawmill, which he shipped to Babine Lake.Prince George Citizen, 8 Dec 1955
Charles Howarth died at 108 in Calgary. His wife Jessie lived to 101, making them the only husband-and-wife centenarians on the centenarians' list for West Kootenay-Boundary. He contacted typhoid in 1918, quit smoking in the late 1940s, and retained a sharp mind into his later years.
Community A store and mail collection point opened prior to 1920, however the latter was short lived and recipients thereafter collected their mail from Penny. In 1945, the Guilford population comprised 47 family units,Prince George Citizen, 17 Oct 1946 likely its peak. Owing to the limited social opportunities, residents attended the dances at Penny,Prince George Citizen, 26 Aug 1948 and the wives, such as Irene Abernethy (1907–86), Mary Parranto, and Marie Wagner, participated in the women's functions at that location.Prince George Citizen: 13 Nov 1941, 3 Jun 1943, 29 Jun 1944 & 12 Aug 1948 Occasionally, the Penny women would visit Guilford.Prince George Citizen, 8 Oct 1951
Commuters often rode bicycles adapted for railway line travel, which were prone to jump the track on bends. Authorized employees regularly used the sawmill's motorized speeder for shopping, collecting the mail or social visits to Penny. Usually braking in time, on three known occasions, it collided with oncoming trains. Frances Wilson, Penny school teacher 1943–45,Prince George Citizen: 19 Aug 1943 & 5 Jul 1945 ruptured her appendix on leaping from the speeder during one close encounter.
Philip (1904–90) & Mary (1908–65)Prince George Citizen, 24 Dec 1965 Parranto were residents. Their children were Gordon (1927–74), Theodore (Ted) (1928–92),Prince George Citizen, 8 Jul 1992 Anna Mae (1933–83),Prince George Citizen, 17 Feb 1983 Fern Marie, and Jim (fostered). Steam engineer Philip relocated for work to Prince George in 1945,Prince George Citizen, 28 Dec 1990 but the family remained. The younger ones attended school in Penny. Gordon and Ted worked for the mill, but Ted came and went with work.Prince George Citizen: 17 Jul 1947 & 8 Jul 1992 Borrowed without permission, and hurriedly abandoned on the main line near Penny, the speeder was ejected from the rails on colliding with a train. Gordon, the offender, was sentenced to three months imprisonment or a $100 fine.Prince George Citizen, 30 Sep 1948 The daughters relocated on marriage,Prince George Citizen: 19 Apr 1951, 24 Apr 1952, & 14 & 17 Sep 1953 but Fern's first one was short lived. The family had left the area before the mid-1950s.
Millwright Frank Wagner (1906–90), wife Marie (1912–2000), and her daughter Kaye, became the sole residents and caretakers.Prince George Citizen: 5 May 1955, 27 Oct 1955 & 22 Nov 1956 Except when a cougar was on the prowl, Kaye walked alone to school in Penny. After graduating high school in Prince George, she left in 1953. When the Wagners relocated in 1956, they created a ghost town.Prince George Citizen, 29 Nov 1956
Fortin Sawmill