Loos

British Columbia. Locality
On Canadian National Railway, NW of Crescent Spur
53.6 N 120.7 W — Map 093H10 — GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1911 (GTP map)
Name officially adopted in 1983
Official in BCCanada
124 miles west of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Mile 34 in Fraser Subdivision (McBride to Prince George as of 1977)
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station built in 1904

In 1916, the name of the Crescent Island Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station was changed to Loos, in honour of Loos, a town in France near the Belgium border, occupied by Germany in the First World War. In September of 1915, there was a particularly bloody battle at Loos, when ten thousand Allied and German soldiers were killed in less than four hours. The Loos post office was open from 1916 to 1951.

In August 1913, Foley, Welch and Stuart, railway contractors, moved their distribution depot from Tete Jaune to Mile 129, in the vicinity of present day Loos. As the rail steel moved west, the work for the paddle wheelers diminished and eventually ceased once the rail bridges at Dome Creek and Hansard were built. These bridges were constructed without swing or draw spans thus restricting navigation.

The Leboe Lumber Company sawmill was the reason that Loos grew from a mere station beside the tracks into a community. The Leboe Lumber Company went into bankruptcy in 1921. Subsequent mills upstream from this location were run by Ole’s sons Bert and Wilfred, and eventually the sawmill was relocated two miles east and a new community was founded in 1940 called Crescent Spur. Most of the population of Loos then relocated to Crescent Spur, however the school remained at Loos as well as the homes of a number of the Leboe family.

— Olson 2011

LOOS
Post office and station on the G.T.P. Ry. 37 miles west of McBride. Population 85. Local resources: Lumbering and a few settlers and mixed farms.
Bracket Chas trapper and sawyer
Bryanton Chas farming
Cooper Albert scaler
Dolly T section foreman at Urling
Gareckey laborer
Gibbs Joe section foreman
Gunderson Gus farming
Holte Ole farming
Johnson L B mgr Loos Lumber Co
Longury Joseph farming
Lonsdale lineman
LOOS LUMBER CO., Lars B. Johnson, Manager Sawmill
McGlothin laborer
Martensen Mat farming
Martin A S section foreman
MARTIN, MRS. A. S. Postmistress, General Store and Hotel.
Nosek Geo working a copper mine
O’Connell Pat farming
O’Connell David secion foreman
Olson Ole sawmill foreman
Peart Wm farming
Ranshaw farming
Ryan Wm farming
Sampson laborer
Shaik Van farming
Simonson Sam sawmill mgr
Sjolie Oscar engineer
Songery Joe farming
Twasuk Paul section foreman
Welsh Edward farming
Westaway & Waldron shingle mill
Westgard laborer
Westgrade Thos financier Loos Lumber Co

Wrigley’s British Columbia Directory, 1918
References:

  • Wrigley Directories, Limited. Wrigley’s British Columbia Directory. Vancouver: 1918. Internet Archive
  • Munro, Iain R. Canada and the World Wars. Toronto: Wiley, 1979
  • Topping, William. A checklist of British Columbia post offices. Vancouver: published by the author, 7430 Angus Drive, 1983
  • Olson, Raymond W. From Liaboe to Loos and Beyond. Prince George, B.C.: Raymond W. Olson, 2011
  • British Columbia Geographical Names. Loos

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *