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Chronological Overview: 1860 - 1929
1860
Victoria Gas Co. Ltd. is formed (joins BC Electric in 1905).
1862
September. The colony's first gaslights are lit in Victoria.
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1871
British Columbia joins confederation.
Assorted private businesses employ electrical generating plants.
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1882
Robert McMicking experiments with electric street lighting in Victoria.
1883
December. British Columbia's first street lighting system is switched on in Victoria. It uses arc lamps on three tall masts and electricity from a 25 hp steam engine.
1886
Victoria Electric Illumination Co. incorporated.
Vancouver Gas Co. is incorporated.
Vancouver Street Railway Co. is incorporated (reincorporated in 1887)
1887
January. Electricity becomes available in Vancouver from a steam plant built at the conrer of Pender and Abbott Street. On the same day in Victoria, the lights go on at the first incandescent electric light station in Canada.
First gas is manufactured and distributed in Vancouver.
1888
New Westminster Gas Co. begins operations.
The first hydroelectric plant on the coast is built by Nanaimo Electric Light, Power and Heating Co.
November. City of Victoria signs agreement for a street railway and electric power for street lighting. Promoters organize the national Electric Tramway and Lighting Co. (NET&L), which is incorporated in the following year.
1889
Vancouver Electric Illuminating Co. incorporates, then joins with Vancouver Street Railway to become the Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Co. (VER&L)
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1890
February. NET&L electric streetcars begin operating in Victoria.
June. Electric streetcar service is inaugurated in Vancouver by VER&L.
Nanaimo receives first electricity from steam generating plant.
Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co. incorporated.
1891
Westminster Street Railway Co. incorporated, then joins Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co., builds New Westminster steam plant.
Vancouver - New Westminster interurban rail pasenger service from Vancouver to New Westminster is inaugurated by the reincorporated Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co.
First convention of the National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (forerunner of the International Brotherhood, IBEW) is held in St Louis, Mo.
1892
National Electric steam plant in Victoria burns down.
Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co.'s power plant starts up in Burnaby.
Amalgamated Transit Workers Union formed.
1893
Twelfth Street short line opened by Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co.
1894
VER&L, Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co., and NET&L go into receivership.
Railway Amalgamation Syndicate formed in London, England, to refinance the NET&L as the Victoria Electric Railway and Lighting Co. Frank S. Barnard and Robert M. Horne-Payne elected president and vice-president, respectively.
1895
April. Consolidated Railway and Light Co. (CR&L) incorporated in Vancouver, bringing together the Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co. and the VER&L.
North Vancouver Electric Co. is incorporated. Joins the CR&L the same year, along with the Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Co. (Plans for a Seymour River hydroelectric plant submitted, land
clearing is done, and tenders are put out before the project dies on the drafting table.)
1896
January. Nelson Electric Light Co. constructs the province's first hydroelectric plant to light the City of Nelson. Produces 100 hp.
April. Victoria Electric Railway and Lighting Co. joins the CR&L.
May. Fifty-five people die in Victoria when the Point Ellice Bridge collapses, plunging a crowded streetcar into the water. In response, the Railway Amalgam-ation Syndicate in London withdraws financing from the CR&L and the company goes into receivership on October 13.
1897
April. Consolidated Railway Act becomes effective, bringing the Lower Mainland and Victoria electric and gas companies together in the British Columbia Electric Railway Co. (BCE). Horne-Payne is chairman; Barnard is managing director.
West Kootenay Power and Light Co. starts up 1,800-kW plant on the Lower Bonnington River to serve smelter at Trail.
Hydroelectric plants established at Sandon and Kaslo.
1898
February. Revelstoke municipal power plant starts up.
April. Johannes Buntzen is appointed general manager of BCE.
First hydroelectric generating plant on Canada's West Coast is built at Goldstream to serve Victoria. Produces 1,200 hp.
BCE creates the Victoria Power Co. and Vancouver Power Co. to develop steam plants in the respective cities' hinterlands.
Local of the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees is organized at BCE.
1899
Electric service in Vancouver. 20 cents per kilowatt-hour.
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1900
Victoria and Esquimalt linked by electric railway. Fare is 15 cents one way, 25 cents return.
1901
IBEW local organized is at BCE.
Stave Lake Power Co. formed by Vancouver investors to develop Stave Falls as competition for BCE in the field of industrial power. First surveys conducted in 1907.
West Kootenay Power and Light installs 2,610-kW plant at Kettle River, begins to serve mines in the Cascade-Greenwood area as well as local communities.
1902
Passengers are carried on first steam train from Steveston to Vancouver for Dominion Day celebrations. Service with electric trams commences on this route in 1905.
1903
December. First hydroelectric generating plant in the Lower Mainland comes onstream at Buntzen Lake (originally Lake Beautiful), built by BCE to serve Greater Vancouver area. Four 3,000-hp waterwheels drive the plant's 1,500-kW generator.
1904
BCE begins acquiring gas companies in Vancouver and Victoria. Purchases five companies over the next two years.
BCE begins selling gas appliances.
Lulu Island interurban line to Steveston leased and electrified.
Tunnel between Buntzen Lake and Lake Coquitlam completed.
Electric service in Vancouver costs 13 cents per kilowatt hour.
1905
July. Henry Sperling replaces Johannes Buntzen. Serves till 1914.
July. Opening of Gorge Park, donated by BCE to the City of Victoria.
Britannia Mining and Smelting Co. begins generating its own electric power for its mining operations.
1906
Streetcar service begins in North Vancouver.
BCE hires its first female employee, Ethel G. Golightly, as a ticket and transfer counting clerk.
1907
February. Vancouver Island Power Co. created by BCE to harness hydroelectric potential of the Jordan River.
Construction begins on an interurban rail line to provide passenger and freight service to the lower Fraser Valley.
Victoria Electric Illuminating Co. acquired by BC Electric.
West Kootenay Power and Light Co. opens 12,000-kW Upper Bonnington hydroelectric plant, selling all power to mining industry.
1909
Stave Lake Power Co. reorganized into the Western Canada Power Co.
Municipally owned steam generating plant enters service in Fernie.
Whalen Pulp and Paper Mills starts up 450-kW plant at Swanson Bay.
Observation cars completed, one each for Vancouver and Victoria.
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1910
BCE's Fraser Valley interurban line to Chilliwack opened.
Teddy Lyons begins 40-year career as observation-car "spieler."
1911
Western Canada Power's Stave Lake power plant (two 10,500-kW generators) comes onstream to serve industrial customers in the lower Fraser Valley. A 60,000-volt transmission line is built to Vancouver.
Burnaby Lake interurban line opens.
October. BCE's Jordan River hydroelectric plant begins transmitting power to Victoria.
1912
August. Canadian Collieries Ltd. completes hydro plant on Puntledge River.
Steam generating plant provides first electric energy to Prince Rupert.
City of Duncan is incorporated, installs a small plant to serve businesses.
Powell River Co. installs 7,162-kW hydroelectric plant on Powell Lake to power pulp mill operations.
In the Southern Interior, Kamloops receives first electricity from steam plant.
Bridge River Power Co. incorporated to secure development rights on river, but no construction begins till 1925 agreement with BCE.
BCE's Brentwood Steamworks begins operation near Victoria.
1913
February. After years of negotiations, BCE agrees to purchase power from rival company Western Canada Power Co.
Port Alberni area receives first electricity from diesel plant generating 150 hp.
Comox Colliery, Canadian Collieries, and the Extension Colliery band together to create 8,950-kW hydroelectric plant at Puntledge River below Comox Lake, replacing their individual coal- and steam-powered units.
In Northern BC, Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Co. installs 2,090-kW hydroelectric plant on Falls Creek.
New BCE head office building completed at Hastings and Carrall Streets.
1914
January. Stamp River Falls Power Co. incorporated.
May. George Kidd replaces Henry Sperling as managing director (title changes to president on June 20, 1923).
Power comes onstream from Coquitlam Dam.
Second power plant on Buntzen Lake completed.
1915
"Jitneys" (independent taxis) appear on the streets of Vancouver and
Victoria, providing competition for the streetcars and a political issue that smoulders for more than a decade.
Pacific Stage Lines bus company is created by Ivor Neil.
1916
June. First edition of the Buzzer is published for distribution on BCE's streetcars. The first issues cover both Vancouver and Victoria, but soon a separate Buzzer is published in Victoria .
Western Canada Power Co. (renamed Western Power Co.) contracts to sell power to BCE and to Puget Sound Power and Light Co. for use in the Bellingham area.
1917
BCE starts Home Service department, with Agnes Reed as its first employee.
May. City of Vancouver amends city charter to allow it to generate and sell power in competition with BCE. Provision made effective two years from change to charter.
June. 8-day strike by street railwaymen of Vancouver and New Westminster.
Electric service in Vancouver costs 11 cents per kilowatt hour.
1918
July. 11-day strike by electrical workers and streetcar workers in Vancouver. Electrical workers resume strike from July 13 to 16.
BCE Employees Magazine first published by Office Employees Association.
1919
June. 27-day sympathy strike action in the Lower Mainland by street railway and electrical workers (among others) in solidarity with Winnipeg General Strike.
June. First meeting of provincial Public Utilities Commission.
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1920
Annual meeting of BCE in London reports first dividend in five years to company's 10,000 shareholders, who authorize $1 million for extensions.
April. BC's Public Utilities Commission is abolished after it is discovered that federal legislation has put BCE and the BC Telephone Co. under federal jurisdiction.
1921
January. BCE merges with Western Power Co. With increasing acceptance of tungsten and nitrogen gas-filled lamps, the company discontinues the 15-year-old practice of exchanging burned-out carbon filament lamps for free new ones.
December. Esquimalt decides to keep streetlights on all night, rather than continue to turn them off at 1:00 a.m.
1922
January. Rule of the road is changed from left to right in Victoria and the Lower Mainland. BCE receives $370,000 from province towards adapting streetcar tracks and rolling stock.
East Kootenay Power Co. is formed to take over assets of British Columbia and Alberta Power Co. In March, the company completes its 5,370-kW hydroelectric plant on Bull River (later renamed Aberfeldie plant).
1923
First buses in Vancouver commence operating along Grandview Highway.
BCE sells power to Britannia Mining and Smelting Co. via 34-kV transmission line from North Vancouver.
West Vancouver gets electricity.
Electric service in Vancouver costs 5 cents per kilowatt hour.
1924
March. East Kootenay Power Co.'s 11,190-kW Elko plant completed on Elk River, southeast of Cranbrook.
Interurban railway line from Victoria to Saanich is closed.
BCE subsidiary BC Rapid Transit Co. is formed to protect the company's freight and interurban transit interests. Opens luxury interurban bus service.
1925
BCE buys Bridge River Co. for $500,000 and begins planning for preliminary work on power project.
November. Nanaimo Electric Light, Power and Heating Co. completes plant on Coal Creek. (This is the company's second plant, the first being on Millstream River.)
Stave Falls plant and Alouette Lake tunnel completed.
BC Motor Transportation Co. formed by BCE, bringing together BC Rapid Transit Co., Pacific Stage Lines, Vancouver Transfer Co., Consolidated Truck Lines, Yellow Taxi, Gray Line, and Triangle Line.
1926
February. Following BCE's January annual general meeting in London, the BC Electric Power and Gas Co. is formed as a holding company. Preferred stock sold publicly (in the "customer ownership" campaign) and stock sold to employees is oversold within a few days.
March. National Utilities Corp. acquires Nanaimo electric plant for $375,000. In June it creates Duncan Utilities Ltd., which makes an agreement to supply the City of Duncan with light, power, and water services.
June. Parksville Light, Power and Heating Co. is incorporated.
BCE acquires New Westminster Gas Co., giving it a gas monopoly in the Lower Mainland.
BC Motor Transportation Co. builds new bus terminal at Dunsmuir and Seymour in Vancouver.
Construction begins on Bridge River project near Lillooet. Due to the Depression and Second World War, however, major development not re-started until 1946.
1927
Electric heaters installed on all BCE streetcars.
BCE's Home Service division is created in Victoria to promote use of home appliances. Headed by Margaret Foulds until her retirement in September 1947.
1928
February. BC's first all-electric home is created in Victoria at the corner of Linden and Oscar. More than 15,000 people tour it during an open-house week.
April. Syndicate headed by Montreal's Power Corporation takes over BCE from British owners. Half of shares held in Canada, 35 percent in England, and rest in USA. Local management remains in place.
West Kootenay Power and Light Co. brings 55,950-kW South Slocan plant onstream to supply Cominco.
BCE's Alouette Lake dam and diversion tunnel project is completed, connecting with 8,000-kW plant on west side of Stave Lake-the largest completely automatic power plant in Canada at the time. (Dam replaced in 1984.)
West Canadian Hydro Electric Corporation installs 2,800-kW generating station at Shuswap Falls.
1929
January. W. G. Murrin becomes president, replacing George Kidd, who becomes chairman of the board. On the same day, the British Columbia Power Corporation is incorporated to acquire BC Electric and its subsidiaries.
March. Through new Water Act, public utilities in BC are brought under control of the Provincial Water Board. Powers include adjudication of rates and other matters related to sale of electric power.
June. BCE acquires the National Utilities Corporation, giving it control of the Port Alberni Electric Light Plant, City of Alberni Electric Light Plant, Cumberland and Union Waterworks Co., Royston Light and Power Co., and Parksville Light, Power and Heating Co.
Summer. Drought conditions force power companies to ask consumers to be sparing in their use of electricity. Several cities reduce streetcar operations and ration power to large consumers.
October. Canadian Collieries Co., through subsidiary Wellington Colliery Co., is granted permission to sell and distribute power on Vancouver Island between Courtenay and Campbell River.
December. Long-awaited "up-Island" transmission line by BCE brings electric power to Mill Bay, Shawnigan Lake, and Cobble Hill districts.
BCE buys municipal electric system and generating plants in Kamloops.
Power comes onstream from Sugar Lake and Wilsey dams.
Gas supplied to North Vancouver over temporary main across damaged Second Narrows Bridge.
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