The Basin Record Newsletter Vol.6 Issue 3

Published by the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History CBIRH Newsletter : Vol. 6 No. 3 Francis Rattenbury: pioneer BC Architect F rancis Rattenbury was born in Leeds, England in 1867. He is remembered as the architect that defined the look of Victoria particularly the Inner Harbour. In 1891 shortly after his arrival, he won the design competition for the BC parliament buildings which were completed in 1898. He designed many other iconic buildings in the province’s capital including the Empress Hotel, the CPR steamship terminal, and the Crystal Gardens. Rattenbury is best remembered for his work in Victoria but his designs were scattered across the young province and beyond. In Vancouver, as well as doing additions to the Hotel Vancouver, he designed the Vancouver court house which now houses the Vancouver Art Gallery. He designed the Burns manor (built for the Burns family of Burns meats) in Calgary and additions to the Chateau Lake Louise and Banff Springs Hotel. He did work throughout BC including the Merchant’s Bank and court house in Nanaimo, the CPR station in Aggasiz (now housing the Aggasiz Harrison museum), the Buntzen No. 2 power house on Indian Arm. Some of his work in the Columbia Basin include the Bank of Montreal buildings in Rossland and in Nelson both completed in 1899. He also designed the Nelson court house in 1906 with the work completed by Alexander Carrie in 1908. Some of his work in the basin has not survived including a hospital in Phoenix, BC. One wing (32x112 ft.) of the two wing plus main building design was completed in 1902. He also designed a three story wood frame hotel in Greenwood in 1899. Some of his notable work was done for CPR hotels. He made major additions to Mount Stephen’s House in Field, BC in 1901. He was purported to have made additions to the CPR hotel at Emerald Lake near Field and the hotel at Glacier 1902, and designed the CPR Hotel in Revelstoke. None of these buildings remain. Rattenbury moved back to England in 1929. He had fallen out of favour in Victoria. He had left his wife and children for a mu ch younger woman, 27 year old, Alma Pakenham, whom he married after being granted a divorce. Rattenbury was found murdered on March 23, 1935 at home in Bournemouth, England. He had been bludgeoned to death with a carpenter ’s mallet. Although his wife, Alma, confessed. Her purported lover and chauffeur George Stoner was convicted of the crime while Alma was acquitted. Shortly after the trial, she committed suicide on June 4, 1935. She stabbed herself in the chest several times then jumped into the Stour River in Dor set. The Great Northern Railway in BC. The Great Northern is remembered as the only transcontinental railway to be built without land subsidies. James J. Hill is recognized in the US as an empire builder. The Canadian born business man was part of the consortium building the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1880. He recommended Cornelius Van Horne for the position of chairman. When the CPR chose to build along the rugged north shore of Lake Superior instead of using US based connections, he quit the company in disgust vowing to get his revenge on the CPR. The running battles the CPR and the Great Northern had in southern BC led to the development of the Kootenays and the Boundary region. Hill's first foray in the southern interior of BC was building a narrow gauge railroad the Kaslo and Slocan Railway in 1895. A competing CPR line connected Nakusp to the Slocan. The Great Northern crew burnt down the CPR station that had been built on disputed land. The line connected Slocan and the lead and silver mining towns of Cody and Sandon to Kootenay Lake. Hill was able to gain control of the Nelson – Fort Sheppard line and the Red mountain line from Northport to Rossland in 1898. Both of these lines provided direct connection to Spokane. Meanwhile in the east Kootenay, Hill had quietly bought controlling interest in the Crows Nest Pass Coal Company and incorporated the Crow’s Nest Southern Railway in 1901. The aim was to connect with the Great Northern mainline in Jennings, Montana. By 1902, the railway had crossed the border at Roosville and reached Morissey Mines and the mine site at Carbonado. By the end of 1904, the railway extended into Fernie. By 1908, the line ran to Sparwood and into Natal. The Great Northern would make a run at the copper mines in the boundary region and the smelters in Grand Forks and Greenwood. The line to Phoenix, BC was completed in 1903. This was two years after the Columbia and Western Railway (part of the CPR) had built a spur to Phoenix. Probably the most famous of competition between railroads in BC is the mile for mile battle between the Kettle Valley Railway (CPR backed) and the Great Northern’s Victoria, Vancouver & East. This rivalry would reach a boiling point in November 1905 in Midway, BC. Both crews, totalling 800 to 900 men, took to the streets of Midway in a series of brawls over several days. The crews would form a truce and collaboratively built the notoriously challenging stretch of the KVR track through the Coquihalla. The Great Northern forced the CPR to develop the southern route leading to improved transportation in the southern interior and connecting it with the rest of the continent. 0039.0283 0019.0038 2282.001