Resplendent (GTP railway point)

British Columbia. Railway point, former construction town
West end of Moose Lake, between Red Pass and Mount Robson
53.0038 N 119.047 W GoogleGeoHack
Earliest known reference to this name is 1911
Not currently an official name.
29 miles west of the Yellowhead Pass on the Canadian National Railway
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station built in 1912. Renamed as Selwyn
Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass. Detail of Moose Lake. 1912

Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass. Detail of Moose Lake. 1912
Victoria Library, University of Toronto

During railroad construction, the Grand Trunk Pacific had quite a town at Resplendent, or Mile 29, a little over a mile west of Red Pass.

I left Vancouver on May 20th [1912], with a party of twelve men to survey land within the reserve on the south fork of the Fraser River, about fifty miles below Tête Jaune Cache. There are three different routes to get into this country, probably the most expeditious one being via Edmonton — the way we went. Taking from Edmonton, by special permission of the Railway Commission, we travelled over the Grand Trunk Pacific as far as the end of steel, which at that time was Resplendent, twenty-nine miles west of the British Columbia-Alberta boundary. Owing to the fact that the Grand Trunk has not been opened for traffic farther west than Hinton, 185 miles west of Edmonton, it was necessary to get this special permission before we were allowed to travel the remaining ninety-eight miles to the end of steel.

— A. P. Augustine

(The South Fork of the Fraser River is the main branch of the river, the North Fork is now known as the McGregor River.)

The railway point is Indicated on Arthur Wheeler’s “Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass,” 1912.

References:

  • Wheeler, Arthur Oliver [1860–1945]. “Topographical Map Showing Mount Robson and Mountains of the Continental Divide North of Yellowhead Pass to accompany the Report of the Alpine Club of Canada’s Expedition 1911. From Photographic Surveys by Arthur O. Wheeler; A.C.C. Director.” Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. 4 (1912):8-81. Victoria Library, University of Toronto
  • Augustine, A. P. Report on surveys on the South Fork of Fraser River. Victoria: Province of British Columbia, 1913. Google Books
  • Bohi, Charles W., and Kozma, Leslie S. Canadian National’s Western Stations. Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002

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