This is a short walk to view the ruins of a short-lived railway construction town. Well-made stone and concrete fireplaces mark the sites of houses built for higher up officials of Foley Bros, Welch & Stewart who was contracted to build the entire BC section of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, now part of the Canadian National system.
Directions:
From Valemount travel north on Highway 5 to Blackman Road, and turn left. Follow Blackman Road to Old Tete Jaune Road and turn left again. Follow old Tete Jaune Road until you cross the CN tracks and signs indicate that the road has become a forest road. Watch for signs indicating active logging, which means you may meet logging trucks. The gravel road passes a marsh area and then turns left up the hill and away from the tracks. At this point you may wish to park as there is ample space at the bend in the road. Beside the tracks is the six sided concrete base of an old railroad water tower, while beyond the tracks, in the water just offshore in the Fraser River can be seen pilings from the wharves where barges were built to float supplies down the Fraser to various railway construction points. There are still houses in Prince George built from the wood of these craft after their dangerous one-way trip. The sternwheelers "Operators" and "BC express" stopped here at the head of steam navigation on the upper Fraser, until a dispute between the BC Express Co and the GTP deliberately building 2 trestles across the Fraser too close to the water to allow steamboats to pass. Foley Bros, Welch & Stewart had big warehouses on the docks here, as did one of their subcontractors the Sims Carey Company.
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