Early Electricity
In 1883, an enterprising Victoria citizen named Robert McMicking contracted with the city council to erect tall masts carrying clusters of arc lamps at three central downtown intersections. Power came from a 25-horsepower steam engine manufactured by the Albion Iron Works. City councillors were invited to judge the illumination by standing beneath a pole and reading their newspapers. They did so, and returned to City Hall to vote for the new lighting system.
However, McMicking had an uneasy relationship with the city over the next decade, largely because the system always seemed to need expensive upgrading. Still, he wasn't one to waste taxpayers' money, as the Colonist reported.
Victoria was plunged into darkness last night when the dynamos which run the local plant were turned off by Mr. McMicking. A reporter of the Colonist was sent down to the Pound office where the dynamos are located and asked the reason for the sudden closing down. Mr. McMicking replied that the moon was up and therefore no electric light was necessary. The Colonist is of the opinion that the lights should remain on all the time.
The next market for electrical entrepreneurs was interior lighting. However, the first electric lamps also had their limitations, as might be indicated by their nickname, "glow worms." The arc lamps that replaced them sputtered, and the first incandescent lamps, in turn, were very fragile.
Electrical companies tried to sell power to municipal authorities first, which wasn't always easy, as promoters of the new Vancouver Electric Illuminating Company found in 1887. Having built a steam-fired generating plant at the corner of Pender and Abbott Streets, they attempted to promote its potential by installing a 16-candlepower light in the city council chamber on Powell Street. Decades later, an article in BC Hydro's Intercom magazine described what followed.
Some aldermen were skeptical… One of them in particular, Alderman Humphries, was much opposed to any newfangled notions and was prepared to squash the proposal.
When the electric light was turned on, he produced a common tallow candle and, striking a match on his pants, lit the candle and then, proudly holding it up to the electric lamp, said: "Mr. Mayor, they call this thing they want to plant on us 16 candlepower. I call it a swindle. I don't see any improvement in it over this single candle."
Fortunately, more progressive minds prevailed and a contract was signed.
There was soon little doubt about the potential of electricity if all the elements of a system, including transit, could be brought together.
About 1890, promising efforts to extend and promote domestic electrification were made in the capital by the Victoria Electric Railway and Lighting Company and on the mainland by the Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company. But unreliable lamps, poor wiring, and an inadequate power supply made the going difficult. New Westminster built
its own municipal electrical power station in 1890. The Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Company completed a New Westminster powerhouse in 1891, followed by a Burnaby powerhouse in 1892. How-ever, the depression of 1893 left the three private companies bankrupt.
