Grand Canyon of the Fraser

The Grand Canyon of the Fraser is a short gorge on the Fraser River in central British Columbia about 30km upstream from the confluence of the Bowron River and about 100km due east of downtown Prince George, British Columbia. Just downstream of the canyon, which pierces a rocky ridge, is a stretch of water called Scow Rapids, where towropes from the gorge's banks dragged vessels and rafts upstream. The canyon is located in the section of the Sugarbowl-Grizzly Den Provincial Park and Protected Area that is about 6km south-southwest of Hutton.

Scow at Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon
Location of Grand Canyon in British Columbia
Coordinates: 53°56′00″N 121°39′00″W
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia

This stretch of the river is commonly confused even by journalists with the much more impressive Fraser Canyon, which runs south from the city of Williams Lake to the town of Hope.[1]

History

The canyon head, 106 miles from Fort George via the Fraser,[2] progressed into dangerous rapids.[3] In 1909, the Nechacco was the first sternwheeler to navigate the treacherous canyon.[4] During 1912–13, railway construction scows negotiated the canyon. Using 30 tons of dynamite, experienced rock men spent the 1912 summer removing some of the larger obstructions from the steamboat channel here and at other Fraser rapids.[5] The charges fired, roaring explosions echoed through the canyon.[6] Assumedly the bustling freight activity from the railhead in late winter was over the frozen river.[7] Since the improved flow continued to cause wrecks and drownings, a portage remained for transporting goods from the upper to the lower level. From 1913, an onsite police constable ensured each scow doubled its crew to eight men and offloaded for portaging any cargo in excess of 15 tons.[8]

Throughout 1912 and 1913, Foley, Welch and Stewart (FW&S), the principal contractor, maintained an important cache at the canyon for supplying the construction camps.[9] When low water, scows ran aground upon sand bars. During the spring 1913 high water, a whirlpool sucked down and destroyed a FW&S scow carrying a mile of steel cable, a hoisting boiler and a steel rails, but the crew reached shore safely. When a J. M. Olsen & Co. scow struck a rock, the impact sent Mike Johnson overboard and knocked the steersman unconscious. Sucked under, Johnson, a strong swimmer, managed to reboard. Clearing the canyon, they completed the journey without further mishap. On its first round trip for the season, the steamer B. C. Express[10] required three lines to navigate the canyon going upriver, but when returning ran the canyon untethered and without difficulty.[11] Of the 12 drownings reported for the year to early August 1913, the only body recovered was at Mile 176, three miles below the canyon.[12]

Charles S. Sager operated a barber shop/bathhouse on a good-sized scow from September 1913,[13] prior to establishing a bathhouse in Prince George in early 1915.[14][15] In 1937, a capsizing canoe almost resulted in drownings below the canyon.[16]

Footnotes

1. https://theprovince.com/travel/grand+canyon+north+hidden/10177629/story.html
2. Fort George Herald: 21 Jan 1911; 15 Apr 1911; 20 May 1911; & 3 to 24 Jun 1913
3. Fort George Herald, 27 May 1911
4. Fort George Tribune, 25 Jul 1914
5. Fort George Herald, 3 Aug 1912
6. Fort George Herald, 24 Aug 1912
7. Fort George Herald, 11 Mar 1913
8. Fort George Herald, 14 Jun 1913
9. Fort George Herald: 8 Feb 1913 & 13 Sep 1913
10. https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/sternwheeler-bc-express-in-rapids-of-grand-canyon-of-fraser-river
11. Prince George Citizen, 26 May 1938
12. Fort George Herald, 16 Aug 1913
13. Fort George Herald, 20 Sep 1913
14. Fort George Herald, 26 Mar 1915
15. Prince George Post, 10 Apr 1915
16. Prince George Citizen, 3 Jun 1937

References

• "Grand Canyon". BC Geographical Names.
• http://pgnewspapers.pgpl.ca/fedora/repository