KVR History-Page 1 KVR History-Page 2 KVR History-Page 3
Written and maintained by Hector Turner (hectorturner@home.com)
Contents Copyright ©2000
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| THE CHALLENGE OF THE COQUIHALLA: |
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The Coquihalla, however, would not be easy to conquer. In addition to
the obvious ruggedness and difficulty of the pass itself there were also many
imposing obstacles on both sides of the approach to the pass. McCulloch disagreed, and he personally lowered himself down the cliff face on ropes in order to survey the route. He found that it would be possible to drill not one tunnel but four, one of which was "daylighted" or opened up on one side, giving the impression of five tunnels. This lead to them coming to be referred to the Quintette Tunnels. Even more amazing was the fact that all four tunnels and the two brides between them were all in a perfect straight line alignment.
The Othello or Quintette Tunnels--BCARS & CPCA Elsewhere on the line, trackwork proceeded slowly mainly due to the large number of tunnels and trestles that needed to be built. Also a factor was that as the winter progressed the weather was rapidly getting worse. It was now November and the snow was piling up too deep for the work trains to get through. The KVR managed to acquire an old rotary snowplow from the Kaslo & Slocan, a narrow-gauge railroad in the Kootenays, that had originally come from the Rio Grande Southern in Colorado. It was quickly put to work on the rapidly accumulating snow in the Coquihalla, but it could not keep up with the mounting snow. Finally in December, with only a mile of track left to lay, McCulloch was forced to suspend all work for the winter. This was just a sample of what the Coquihalla held in store for the railway in later years. When work resumed in the spring there was much repair work to do before they could concentrate on the remaining trackwork, trestles and snowsheds all along the line had been shattered by the numerous slides that had come down during the winter. It would take a full four months before, near one end of the newly completed Ladner Creek bridge, the line was finally finished and opened for service. This marked a crowning achievement for McCulloch, who had just built a railway that had been thought could not be built, though some of the most inhospitable terrain in North America. On one final note, something must be said about the unique names chosen for the stations in the Coquihalla. Many stories have been told about how they came to be. The truth is that McCulloch was a great lover of the works of Shakespeare and that at night by the light of the campfire he would recite, from memory, passages from the Bard's plays for the construction crews. When it came time to choose names for the stations he naturally picked the names of some of his favourite characters. Later, as word of the fanciful station names spread, tourists from around the world would come to ride the train and marvel at this touch of literature in the wilderness. |
| THE DREAM FULFILLED: |
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When the last spike of the Kettle Valley Railway was driven on July 31, 1916 near Portia and the Coquihalla Pass line was declared open, it finally fulfilled the long-held dream of a coast-to-Kootenay railway. For the people of Southern British Columbia it meant that they now had a direct link to the coast, but more than that, the railway saw to it that American dominance in the area was now a thing of the past. Canadian goods and resources would now travel over Canadian rails to Canadian ports, instead of south into American hands. In this respect the Kettle Valley Railway, even though it was said to be the most expensive railroad ever built and never managed to pay off its immense construction debt, did succeed. Southern British Columbia would now remain a part of Canada and for many years the Kettle Valley Railway was a lifeline for the people of the interior. 
Locomotive #3405 at the Penticton station-- Vancouver Public Library Keeping the line open though, especially in the winter, when the Coquihalla would turn into a frozen nightmare for the train crews, would be another matter altogether. |
| Coming soon: |
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The continuing story of the Kettle Valley Railway and its struggles to keep the line open in spite of economic and natural hardships.
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