450 MAIN ST |
British Columbia Tourism Region : Thompson Okanagan
Description From Owner:
- Henry J. Cambie (1836-1928) deserves more than this whistle stop on the CPR. Born in County Tipperary, Ireland, he came to Canada while still a boy and learned surveying and railway construction on the Grand Trunk and Intercolonial railways.
- He carne to British Columbia in 1874 expecting to build the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway but, when this project was shelved, was placed in charge, from 1876 to 1878, of all the surveys between Burrard Inlet and Yellowhead Pass
- for possible routes for the CPR. In 1879 he personally made a survey of the Peace River country. During actual construction of the CPR, he was in charge of the Fraser Canyon stretch and of that between Savona and Shuswap Lake.
- The transcontinental line completed, Cambie became the engineer in charge of the Pacific Division and built the New Westminster and Nicola extensions.
- He was a fine man, and the men who worked for him always remembered the care he took to see that they were properly fed and housed. Cambie Street in Vancouver is also named after him.
- With permission from G.P.V and Helen B. Akrigg 1997 British Columbia Place Names. UBC Press.
Address of this page: http://bc.ruralroutes.com/Cambie