Subseries 2002.1.9.2 - PGE R.A. Harlow photographs

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

PGE R.A. Harlow photographs

General material designation

  • Graphic material

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Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title based on creator and collector of the photographs.
  • Attributions and conjectures: R.A. Harlow is believed to be responsible for taking those loose photos which possess a “snap-shot” quality while all others are the stamped on the verso with the marking of H.H. Douglas, a prolific Prince George commercial photographer. As an aside, Douglas had much of his work destroyed in a fire at his Third Ave. store (H.H. Douglas & Company Stationers) on New Years Eve, 1950. R.A.’s brother, Edward (Ned) Harlow, a Civil Engineer on the GTP during construction, who was also Resident Engineer on the project when the railway bridge across the Fraser River at Prince George was built, is the photographer responsible for the photographs found in the photo album.

Level of description

Subseries

Reference code

2002.1.9.2

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1910-1974 (Creation)
    Creator
    Harlow, Roland Alden

Physical description area

Physical description

132 photographs : b&w

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(22 March 1889 - 4 July 1978)

Biographical history

R.A. Harlow was born in Brewer, Maine on March 22, 1889 and died in Kelowna, BC on July 4, 1978 at 89 years of age. At the time of his death, Harlow was a retired roadmaster for CNR.

R.A. Harlow was a member of the surveying party for the Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) Railway c.1911 and later worked on the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) Railway as a Resident Engineer. While with the PGE, he was part of the engineering party which, on April 7, 1914, set the finish point stake and measured the required distance to the starting points for the two track-layer crews (East vs. West) who would race to the finish line. The West end crew cut and placed the last rail in place on the line after which PGE President E.J. Chamberlain drove in the last spike. After this historic driving in of the “last spike” on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway one mile east of Fort Fraser, R.A. Harlow was then commissioned to take a small can of white paint and a brush and inscribe the following notation onto the flange of the 11ft. last rail: “Point of Completion April 7th, 1914”. This marked piece of rail was later taken up, shipped to Winnipeg and sliced into quarter-inch-thick pieces which were polished, suitably engraved and distributed among railway officers as paper-weights. One of these commemorative pieces is at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum. Aside from his involvement with the driving in of the “last spike”, R. A. Harlow was also intrinsically involved with the arrival of the first PGE train into Prince George from Squamish in 1952.

Scope and content

Consists of 47 black and white photographs; 1 photo album containing approximately 85 photographs; newspaper clippings; and some miscellaneous items.

Notes area

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    No restrictions.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Personal or academic use of photographic materials is welcomed under the standard fair use and educational use clauses of Canadian Copyright Law. Commercial use is, however, forbidden without the express permission of the copyright holder. For information on obtaining written permission from the copyright holder, please contact the Northern B.C. Archives and Special Collections.

    Finding aids

    Associated materials

    Part of the Prince George Railway & Forestry Museum Collection (PGRFM Collection)

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