Coast Tsimshian occupation of the Prince Rupert Harbour area spans at least 5,000 years. About 1500 B.C. there was a significant population increase, associated with larger villages and house construction. The early 1830s saw a loss of Coast Tsimshian influence in the Prince Rupert Harbour area.[4]
Founding
Prince Rupert, May 1910. Looking north toward Mount Morse.
The GTP purchased the 5,700 ha (14,000-acre) First Nations reserve, and received a 4,000 ha (10,000-acre) grant from the BC government. A post office was established on November 23, 1906.[6] Surveys and clearing, that commenced in that year, preceded the laying out of the 810 ha (2,000-acre) town site. A $200,000 provincial grant financed plank sidewalks, roads, sewers and water mains.[7] Kaien Island, which comprised damp muskeg overlaying solid bedrock, proved expensive both for developing the land for railway and town use.[8]
By 1909, the town possessed four grocery, two hardware, two men's clothing, a furniture, and several fruit and cigar stores, a wholesale drygoods outlet, a wholesale/retail butcher, two banks, the GTP Hotel and annex, and numerous lodging houses and restaurants.[9] The first lot sales that year created a bidding war.[10]
Prince Rupert was incorporated on March 10, 1910. Although he never visited Canada, it was named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, as the result of a nationwide competition held by the Grand Trunk Railway, the prize for which was $250.[11][12]
With the collapse of the real estate boom in 1912, and World War I, much of the company's land remained unsold. The GTP also planned a large hotel, the Château Prince Rupert, connected to a railway station and passenger ship pier, all of which went unbuilt.[13]Charles Melville Hays, president of the GTP, whose business plan made little sense, was primarily responsible for the bankruptcy of the company, and the establishment of a town that would take decades to achieve even a small fraction of the promises touted. Mount Hays, the larger of two mountains on Kaien Island, is named in his honour, as is a local high school, Charles Hays Secondary School. The Prince Rupert station, a listed historic place,[14] replaced a temporary building in 1922.[15]
Local politicians used the promise of a highway connected to the mainland as an incentive, and the city grew over the next several decades. US troops finally completed the road between Prince Rupert and Terrace during World War II to help move thousands of allied troops to the Aleutian Islands and the Pacific. Several forts were built to protect the city at Barrett Point and Fredrick Point. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Canadian government planned to level off Mount Hays, the largest mountain to the southeast of the city, to allow for a potential airstrip due to its tactical location and advantage.[16]
The former Capitol Theatre built in 1928.
After World War II, the fishing industry, particularly for salmon and halibut, and forestry became the city's major industries. Prince Rupert was considered the halibut capital of the world from the opening of the Canadian Fish & Cold Storage plant in 1912 until the early 1980s.[17][18] A long-standing dispute over fishing rights in the Dixon Entrance to the Hecate Strait between American and Canadian fisherman led to the formation of the 54-40 or Fight Society. The United States Coast Guard maintains a base in nearby Ketchikan, Alaska.
In summer 1958, Prince Rupert endured a riot over racial discrimination. Ongoing discontent with heavy-handed police practices towards Aboriginals escalated to rioting during BC centennial celebrations following the arrest of an Aboriginal couple. As many as 1,000 people (one-tenth of the city's population at the time) began smashing windows and skirmishing with police. The Riot Act was read for only the second time since Confederation.[19][20][21]
Over the years, hundreds of students were said to have largely paid their way through school by working in the lucrative fishing industry. Construction of a pulp mill began in 1947 and it was operating by 1951. In 1958, Indo-Canadian industrialist Sohen Singh Gill established Prince Rupert Sawmills at the location of the old dry dock on Prince Rupert's waterfront.[22] In the 1960s, the majority of the town's workforce was employed either in the fishery or at Gill's sawmill.[22] The construction of coal and grain shipping terminals followed. From the 1960s into the 1980s, the city constructed many improvements, including a civic centre, swimming pool, public library, golf course and performing arts centre (recently renamed "The Lester Centre of the Arts"). These developments marked the town's changes from a fishing and mill town into a small city.
In the 1990s, both the fishing and forestry industries suffered a significant downturn. In July 1997, Canadian fishermen blockaded the Alaska Marine Highway ferry M/V Malaspina, keeping it in the port as a protest in the salmon fishing rights dispute between Alaska and British Columbia. The forest industry declined when a softwood lumber dispute arose between Canada and the USA. After the pulp mill closed, many people were unemployed, and much modern machinery was left unused. After reaching a peak of about 18,000 in the early 1990s, Prince Rupert's population began to decline, as people left in search of work.
The years from 1996 to 2004 were difficult for Prince Rupert, with closure of the pulp mill, the burning down of a fish plant and a significant population decline. 2005 may be viewed as a critical turning point: the announcement of the construction of a container port in April 2005, combined with new ownership of the pulp mill, the opening in 2004 of a new cruise shipdock, the resurgence of coal and grain shipping, and the prospects of increased heavy industry and tourism may foretell a bright future for the area. The port is becoming an important trans-Pacific hub.[23]
Geography
Prince Rupert is on Kaien Island (approximately 770 km (480 mi) northwest of Vancouver), just north of the mouth of Skeena River, and linked by a short bridge to the mainland. The city is along the island's northwestern shore, fronting on Prince Rupert Harbour. It lies at similar latitudes to Cumbria and the city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the northeast of England.
Prince Rupert has an oceanic climate (KöppenCfb) and is also in a temperate rainforest. Prince Rupert is known as "The City of Rainbows",[24] as it is Canada's wettest city, with 2,620 mm (103 in) of annual precipitation on average, of which 2,530 mm (100 in) is rain. In addition, 240 days per year receive at least some measurable precipitation, and there are only 1230 hours of sunshine per year, so it is regarded as the municipality in Canada that receives the lowest amount of sunshine annually. Tourist brochures boast about Prince Rupert's "100 days of sunshine".[25][26][citation needed] However, Stewart, British Columbia, receives even less sunshine, at 985 sunshine hours per year.[27]
Out of Canada's 100 largest cities, Prince Rupert has the coolest summer, with an average high of 15.67 °C (60.21 °F).[28] Winters in Prince Rupert are mild by Canadian standards, with the average afternoon temperature in December, January and February being 5.2 °C (41.4 °F), which is the tenth warmest in Canada, surpassed only by other British Columbia cities.[29]
Summers are mild and comparatively less rainy, with an August daily mean of 13.8 °C (56.8 °F). Spring and autumn are not particularly well-defined; rainfall nevertheless peaks in the autumn months. Winters are chilly and damp, but warmer than most locations at a similar latitude, due to Pacific moderation: The January daily mean is 2.4 °C (36.3 °F), although frosts and blasts of cold Arctic air from the northeast are not uncommon.[citation needed]
Snow amounts are moderate for Canadian standards, averaging 126 cm (50 in) and occurring mostly from December to March. Snowfall in Prince Rupert is rare and the snow normally melts within a few days, although individual snowstorms may bring copious amounts of snow. Wind speeds are relatively strong, with prevailing winds blowing from the southeast.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Prince Rupert was 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) on 6 June 1958.[30] The lowest temperature ever recorded was −24.4 °C (−11.9 °F) on 4 January 1965.[31]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Prince Rupert had a population of 12,300 living in 5,072 of its 5,747 total private dwellings, a change of 0.7% from its 2016 population of 12,220. With a land area of 66 km2 (25 sq mi), it had a population density of 186.4/km2 (482.7/sq mi) in 2021.[38]
Population by age group (2001 Canadian census and BC Stats Population Estimates, 2004):
Under 18 years = 4,320 (28.2%)
18 – 34 years = 3,370 (22.0%)
35 – 54 years = 5,020 (32.8%)
55 – 74 years = 2,075 (13.6%)
75 years and over = 515 (3.4%)
Total = 15,300 (100.0%)
Median age = 34.8
Ethnicity
As of the 2001 Canadian census, among Canadian municipalities with a population of 5,000 or more, Prince Rupert had the highest percentage of First Nations population.
Panethnic groups in the City of Prince Rupert (1986–2021)
Iona Campagnolo, politician: Prince Rupert City Council, Liberal Party candidate elected in the federal riding of Skeena; in 1976 she was appointed Minister of Amateur Sports. President of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1982, and served as British Columbia's Lieutenant-Governor from 2001 to 2007.
A belief at the beginning of the 1900s that trade expansion was shifting from Atlantic to Pacific destinations,[62] and the benefit of being closer to Asia than existing west coast ports, proved wishful. Reduced transit times to eastern North America and Europe did not outweigh the fact that rail transport has always been far more expensive than by sea.[63] The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 exacerbated the problem.[64]
During 1906–08, the federal government undertook a hydrographic survey of the Prince Rupert harbour and approaches, finding it free of rocks or obstructions, and sufficient depth for good anchorage. Furthermore, it offered an easy entrance, fine shelter, and ample space. By 1909, a 1,500-foot wharf had been constructed.[65]
The port possesses the deepest ice-free natural harbour in North America, and the 3rd deepest natural harbour in the world.[66] Situated at 54° North, the harbour is the northwesternmost port in North America linked to the continent's railway network. The port is the first inbound and last outbound port of call for some cargo ships travelling between eastern Asia and western North America since it is the closest North American port to key Asian destinations.[67][68] The CN Aquatrain barge carries rail cargo between Prince Rupert and Whittier, Alaska.[69][70][71]
Much of the harbour is formed by the shelter provided by Digby Island, which lies windward of the city and contains the Prince Rupert Airport. The city is on Kaien Island and the harbour also includes Tuck Inlet, Morse Basin, Wainwright Basin, and Porpoise Harbour, as well as part of the waters of Chatham Sound which takes in Ridley Island.
Prince Rupert is ideally located for a port, having the deepest natural harbour depths on the continent.[72][73] The city's port capacity is comparable with the Port of Vancouver's. Unlike most west coast ports, there is little traffic congestion at Prince Rupert. Finally, the extremely mountainous nature and narrow channels of the surrounding area leaves Prince Rupert as the only suitable port location in the inland passage region.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) is a federally appointed agency which administers and operates various port properties on the harbour. Previously run by the National Harbours Board and subsequently the Prince Rupert Port Corporation, the PRPA is now a locally run organization.
The Canadian Coast Guard maintains CCG Base Seal Cove on Prince Rupert Harbour where vessels are homeported for search and rescue and maintenance of aids to navigation throughout the north coast. CCG also bases helicopters at Prince Rupert for servicing remote locations with aids to navigation, as well as operating a Marine Communications Centre, covering a large Vessel Traffic Services zone from Port Hardy at the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the International Boundary north of Prince Rupert.
Prince Rupert is also served by the Prince Rupert/Seal Cove Water Aerodrome, a seaplane facility with regularly scheduled, as well as chartered, flights to nearby villages and remote locations.
CN Rail has a mainline that runs to Prince Rupert from Valemount, British Columbia. At Valemount, the Prince Rupert mainline joins the CN mainline from Vancouver. Freight traffic on the Prince Rupert mainline consists primarily of grain, coal, wood products, chemicals, and as of 2007, containers. As the renovations at the Port of Prince Rupert continue, traffic on CN will steadily rise in future years.
In addition, a three times weekly Jasper – Prince Rupert train operated by Via Rail connects Prince Rupert with Prince George and Jasper. Running during daylight hours to allow passengers to be able to see the scenery along the entire route; the service takes two days and requires an overnight hotel stay in Prince George. The route ends in Jasper and connects passengers with Via's The Canadian, which runs between Toronto and Vancouver.
Communications
Telephone, mobile, and Internet service are provided by CityWest (formerly CityTel). CityWest is owned by the City of Prince Rupert. CityWest provides long-distance telephone service, as does Telus.
In September 2005, the city changed CityTel from a city department into an independent corporation named CityWest. The new corporation immediately purchased the local cable company, Monarch Cablesystems, expanding CityWest's customer base to other northwest British Columbia communities.
Since January 2008, Rogers Communications has offered GSM and EDGE service in the area—the first real competition to CityWest's virtual monopoly. Rogers offers local numbers based in Port Edward (prefix 600), which is in the local calling zone for the Prince Rupert area. The introduction of Rogers service forced Citywest to form a partnership with Bell Canada to bring digital services to Citywest Mobility, using CDMA.
In December 2013, CityWest and TELUS announced it was transitioning out of the cellular business over 2014 and would partner with TELUS to bring CityWest wireless customers onto TELUS' 4G wireless network.[80]
Prince Rupert is also the starting point for many wildlife viewing trips, including whales, eagles, salmon and grizzly bears. The Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear sanctuary features one of the densest remaining populations in North America; tours can be arranged by water, air (using float planes) or land departing from Prince Rupert.[81][82][83]
Neighbouring communities
By virtue of location, Prince Rupert is the gateway to many destinations:
^Talbot, The Making of a Great Canadian Railway ... The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, (1912, The Musson Book Co.), at pp. 318–19; BC Names entry "Prince Rupert (city)"Archived 2013-12-12 at Wikiwix
^ abNayar, Kamala Elizabeth (2012). The Punjabis in British Columbia: Location, Labour, First Nations, and Multiculturalism. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. ISBN978-0-7735-4070-5.
^Pearson, Natalie Obiko. (13 August 2018). "Busiest Pacific Port in North America Thrives Amid Trump Tirades". Bloomberg website Retrieved 3 January 2020.
^"Daily Data Report for May 1912". Canadian Climate Data. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
.jpg)
