HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

One of the slides, 300 ft. (90 m) long and 4-6 ft. (1.2-1.8 m) wide (?) carried away the machinist’s
bunkhouse. Three men were killed and 12 others injured. *1) The first avalanche hit the camp housing about 200
construction workers at about 7:30-7:45 a.m., just as the men were preparing to leave for work It swept away two small
bunkhouses, the first aid shed and a 14-ton donkey locomotive. Had it struck an hour earlier, while the men were still
in their bunkhouses, the toll might have been much higher.
Two larger bunkhouses were smashed later. Other buildings were carried away in four subsequent slides.
(The Daily Colonist, February 14, 1943). The second slide destroyed the two remaining bunkhouses and a third one
destroyed the office. The six buildings were all swept into the Skeena River. The slide also tied up the train traffic.
A father, who with his son was caught in the second slide, saw it coming towards them. “It looked like the
whole camp was moving towards me. The next thing I was in the river.” He later found his son nearly buried under
snow and debris. One of the injured men said he heard “a rumble like a heavy wind.”
On February 15, the body of one of the missing men was located. Late on February 15, the third victim was
reported, but the body of third victim, 44-year old George Balderchak of Edgerton, Alta. was never found. Presumably
the river carried it away.
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*1) The coroner’s jury investigating the death of the two men, in their verdict expressed the opinion “the Federal
Government, through the engineers in charge, should prohibit construction of any camp in a dangerous location.” The
verdict also expressed the opinion that, “having been warned of the danger from slides at this point, the Tomlinson
Construction Company should have selected a less dangerous site for their camp.” A few days later the incident, the
camp was rebuilt in a safer location at Telegraph Point, about a mile (1.6 km) west.
Late May-early June 1943
Event type: Spring runoff flooding.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
Source: The Vancouver Daily Province, June 2, 1943.
Late May-early June, the Fraser River was slowly rising despite continued cool weather. At the steel bridge
east of Prince George, water levels rose 3 ft. (90 cm) during the previous week. Spring temperatures were 20 degrees F
(degrees C) below average, leaving the bulk of the previous winter’s still in the hills and retarding the annual runoff.
July 9-10, 1943
Event type: Flooding.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
Source: Coates 1992 (p. 146).
The spring thaw of 1943 ravaged the newly constructed Alaska Highway, washing away large sections and
knocking out numerous bridges and culverts. The problems had been anticipated. Civilian workers set to work rebuilding the
roadbed, culverts, and bridges. However, just as the work was nearing completion, on 9 and 10 July 1943, torrential rains
hammered the south-central portions of the highway. Dozens of bridges were washed away in the two-day storm, setting
back construction plans by many weeks.
One worker heard “boulders bumping their way down the small river that passed our camp” (Recollections of
Duncan Bath). Huge mudslides, in July and again in August, further hampered reconstruction efforts. (Coates 1992).
October 14, 1943
Event type: Rockslide.
Precipitation: Not available.
Source: The Omineca Herald and Terrace News, October 20, 1943.
On October 14, a washout or slide occurred at Mile 86 near MacLean Point, at the same place where a slide
took out a construction camp in the spring. The westbound train was held at Pacific for 16 hours.
February 11-13, 1945
Event type: Rockslide.
Precipitation: Prince Rupert (33.0 mm/2 days), February 11-12, 1945; Falls River (141.0 mm/3 days), February 11-13,
1945.
Source: The Interior News, February 15, 1945.
On February 12, a big rockslide came down west of Amsbury. The slide blocked the roadbed for a distance
of 200 ft. (60 m). Hitting the railway in a cut, it piled up to a depth over 25 ft. (7.5 m). The slide consisted of boulders,
some of which were reported “as big as boxcars.” The schedule was expected to return to normal by February 17 or
18.
March 5, 1945
Event type: Rockslide.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
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