Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission

When the British Columbia-Alberta Boundary Act was amended in 1932, the preamble explained the context:

WHEREAS by Order in Council P.C. 337, approved on the eighteenth day of February, 1913, an invitation was extended by the Government of the Dominion of Canada to the Governments of the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia to participate in the joint survey of the boundary line between the Province of Alberta and the Province of British Columbia; And whereas the said invitation was accepted by the Government of the Province of Alberta by Order in Council No. 534-13, approved on the sixteenth day of June, 1913, and by the Government of the Province of British Columbia by Order in Council No. 812, approved on the second day of June, 1913; And whereas by Order in Council approved on the eleventh day of July, 1913, J. N. Wallace, D.L.S., was appointed Boundary Commissioner to represent the Dominion on the joint survey of the boundary line, and whereas by Order in Council, approved on the twentieth day of September, 1915, R. W. Cautley, D.L.S., was appointed Boundary Commissioner to represent the Dominion in the place of the said J. N. Wallace; And whereas A. 0. Wheeler, B.C.L.S., as Commissioner for the Province of British Columbia, with the said J. N. Wallace, as Commissioner for the Dominion up to the twentieth day of September, 1915, and the said R. W. Cautley, as Commissioner for the Province of Alberta and, after the twentieth day of September, 1915, for the Dominion as well, did subsequently enter upon the work of the joint survey of the said boundary line and did complete the same in or about the year 1924 from the International Boundary on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, northerly to a point on the one hundred and twentieth meridian of west longitude in or about latitude north fifty-seven degrees, twenty-six minutes, and forty and twenty-five one hundredths seconds.

— Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Act (1932; 22-23 George V., Chap. 5)

British Columbia commissioner Arthur Oliver Wheeler [1860–1945] explained the necessity of the survey:

Of late years the influx of settlement into the Province of British Columbia and the rapid development of its vast natural resources have brought to the front the necessity for the delimitation of the boundary-line between this Province and the Province of Alberta.

The instructions received from the Surveyor-General of Dominion Lands set forth the following premises: …

(5) The portions of the boundary requiring first attention are: (a) The Crowsnest Pass, owing to the proximity of mining properties; (b) the Vermillion Pass, owing to the construction of the motor-road from Banff to Windermere; (c) the Howse Pass, owing to the proximity of timber claims; (d) the Kicking Horse Pass, Simpson Pass, and White man Pass, owing to their lying within or adjacent to populated areas; (e) the Athabasca Pass, which may possibly become a railway route; (f) the South Kootenay, the North Kootenay, North Fork, and Kananaskis Passes; (g) the Moose Pass, which may become of importance as a feasible route to the north via the Smoky River; and (h) the Robson Pass, which is part of the boundary of Mount Robson Park and is one of the most striking scenic centres of the mountain regions.

— Wheeler 1913

Map sheets 26 to 39, published in 1924, cover the boundary from Athabasca Pass to Intersection Mountain.

References:

  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Boundary survey between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1913
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Boundary survey between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1914
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Boundary survey between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1915
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Survey of the boundary between the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1916
  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Survey of the boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.. Victoria: Government of British Columbia, 1917
  • Cautley, Richard William [1873–1953]; Wallace, James Nevin [d. 1941]; Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Report of the Commission Appointed to Delimit the Boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Part I: From 1913 to 1916. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1917. Internet Archive
  • McCaw, R. D. “Report of the Alberta and British Columbia Boundary Survey, Part I., 1913 to 1916 [review].” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 10 (1919):77-79
  • Cautley, Richard William [1873–1953], and Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Report of the Commission appointed to delimit the boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Part II. 1917 to 1921. From Kicking Horse Pass to Yellowhead Pass.. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1924. Whyte Museum
  • Interprovincial Boundary Commission. Boundary between Alberta and British Columbia. Index Sheet 3. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1924. Internet Archive
  • Cautley, Richard William [1873–1953], and Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. Report of the Commission Appointed to Delimit the Boundary between the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia – Part III – from 1918 to 1924. Atlas. Ottawa: Office of the Surveyor General, 1925
  • Sherwood, Jay. Surveying the Great Divide. The Alberta/BC Boundary Survey, 1913-1917. Qualicum Beach, BC: Caitlin Press, 2017
  • Sherwood, Jay. Surveying the 120th Meridian and the Great Divide: The Alberta/BC Boundary Survey, 1918–1924. Qualicum Beach, BC: Caitlin Press, 2019

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