BC Electric's Bridge River Era

In many ways the Second World War was a catalyst in BC-particularly its urban areas- bringing a wide range of industrial activity and almost full employment. After the First World War a generation earlier, people were simply grateful that four years of destructive near-stalemate were over. Now, there was a distinct feeling of hope and energy in the air. Spurred by wartime production, the economy was moving again, and BC Electric was one of the most prominent companies, hiring new employees and undertaking new projects.  Almost everyone who worked for the company immediately after the War remembers the feeling of optimism.

 
The BC Electric Company office employee's picnic at Bowen Island, 1950.  From left:  Anne Coroliuc, Betty Grant, Pat Jones, Merlene Rickert, Maisie Pinchin, W. McGeorge, Joanna Zacharias, Thora Purchase.

During the Depression and the Second World War, BCE had managed to maintain its existing operations, trying to get the most out of the infrastructure. Now, the company confidently made plans to meet the needs of a burgeoning and distinctly modern BC population, As the war effort in Europe drew to a close, BCE president W.G. Murrin announced a $50-million post-war strategic plan to dramatically expand operations.

For BC Electric, the period between the end of the war and the 1960's was defined by the company's highly respected president, Dal Grauer, who succeeded W.G. Murrin, It began with his appointment in 1946 and ended, with sad irony in the minds of most employees, on the day of his funeral in 1961.

This was the Bridge River era. BCE restarted the huge project immediately after the war, and the final phases of construction were completed in 1960. By then, various interests cast their eyes north and east towards the Peace and Columbia Rivers and their tremendous generation potential.  Service to customers greatly improved during this era, and new relationships were forged with them. The much-admired new BCE building in downtown Vancouver, which opened in April 1957, represented both a headquarters and a symbol of technological and business prowess.

But important parts of the company's history were also left behind forever during these years. The legendary interurban railway system was decommissioned. The inevitable transition from "Rails to Rubber" was completed. In the Lower Mainland manufactured gas was replaced by natural gas and in the Fraser Valley gas arrived for the first time.

BC Electric changed a lot during this decade and a half: the company grew, its operations expanded, and the face of its workforce evolved. But as the 1960's approached, no one at BCE could predict the tremendous social and political changes the decade would bring--changes that would spell the end of the venerable company as it had come to be known.