By Al Jones
Lone Butte will be celebrating 96 years since the arrival of the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) railway at this year's Lone Butte Rocks celebration on July 25.
After the First World War in 1918, the Liberal provincial government under Premier John Oliver purchased the PGE railway, which, at the time, ran 176 miles from Chasm, Clinton, to the coastal town of Squamish and it became a Crown corporation.
By the end of April 1919, the PGE had reached Lone Butte, which was the point of highest elevation at 3,900 feet above sea level. A large construction camp was set up in Lone Butte by Captain John Bright and the superintendent of engineering J.A. Murdock, which included a kitchen staff of 25 cooks and helpers, with 11 returned servicemen.
The location of the current water tower was selected because of a good source of water in the area and the construction was completed in 1920. A water licence was issued that year and the Lone Butte pioneers had a year-round source of drinking water, as the water tower held 40,000 gallons.
On May 20, 1920, George Duncan McFee received a 148-acre Crown grant parcel of land just south of railway, which he and Lee Brown subdivided into lots in 1922.
With the combination of the railway and the water source, Lone Butte was born and the construction began, including the historic Lone Butte Hotel.
The railway served as an economic lifeline to the Cariboo and brought much needed food, supplies, passengers, and the mail to British Columbia Interior communities. In its early years, the PGE was used mainly to ship cattle, but later it connected the Interior’s mining and logging industries with Squamish.
The water tower is open to the public, once a year at the Lone Butte Historical Association's annual fundraiser garage sale during the Lone Butte Rocks celebration on July 25.
Al Jones is the Lone Butte correspondent.
