The Work of the Royal Engineers in British Columbia

by Hi Honour Frederic Howay

ISBN: 978-0-9812906-3-8
48 pages 5.25 x 8.5 inches

$ 9.95 CDN

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, in a letter written to Governor Douglas on the 16th October, 1858, wrote:

“The superior discipline and intelligence of this force, which afford ground for expecting that they will be far less likely than ordinary soldiers of the line to yield to the temptation to desertion offered by the goldfields, and their capacity at once to provide for themselves in a country without habitation, appear to me to render them especially suited for this duty; whilst by their services as pioneers in the work of civilisation, in opening up the resources of the country, by the construction of roads and bridges, in laying the foundations of a future city or seaport, and in carrying out the numerous engineering works which in the earlier stages of colonisation are so essential to the progress and welfare of the community, they will probably not only be preserved from the idleness which might corrupt the discipline of ordinary soldiers, but establish themselves in the popular good-will of the emigrants by the civil benefits it will be in the regular nature of their occupation to confer.”

This Address, given in 1909, details the importance of the Royal Engineers in the formation of British Columbia, in keeping the peace, building the first road through the wild Fraser Canyon, building schools and churches and bridges and establishing entire towns.

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