Junkins, Sydney E.

Sydney E. Junkins, born in Union, New Hampshire in 1867 and attended Dartmouth College where he received his AB degree in 1887, his AM in 1890, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering in 1927. He taught school in Newport, NH and Quincy, MA for a few years after graduation, but was also active in engineering projects with J.F. Springfield, between 1884 and 1886. Between 1898 and 1914, he joined the firm of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr and Co. in New York where he eventually rose to the positions of Vice President and Director. In 1916 he married Mary Lyon and the following year he branched out on his own and established the firm of Sydney E. Junkins Co., Ltd., in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His subsequent large scale engineering projects and professional accomplishments included: lining the 5-mile Connaught Tunnel through Mt. MacDonald at Glacier, British Columbia, with concrete (1921); being appointed as one of five commissioners in charge of 12th Street Bridge in Kansas City, Kansas as well as the primary Engineer in its design and construction (1922); and he completed the Canadian Pacific Railway's 1100 foot deep- sea pier at Vancouver, BC (1926). Also in 1926 he started with Hanover Engineering and Development Co., New York. In 1927, the year of the Peace River Expedition, Junkins was in British Columbia compiling a number of reports for Canadian Pacific Railway on grade separation. In 1932, Sydney E. Junkins went into semi-retirement and moved to Hanover, New Hampshire. He passed away on October 3, 1944. (excerpt from Darmouth College at http://ead.dartmouth.edu/html/ms845.html)

This collection relates to an official excursion along the Parsnip and Peace Rivers by a party of 13 men, including the Hon. Dr. James Horace King, Minister of Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment and Minister of Health (1926-28) and Harry George Perry, former mayor of Prince George and Provincial MLA. The excursion started at Vancouver, B.C., then proceeded by train to Ashcroft, and by motor car to Summit Lake (just north of Prince George). At Summit Lake, they loaded supplies and embarked on their boat trip on 21 August 1927. The party proceeded along the Parsnip River to Finlay Forks, and then down the Peace River to Hudson Hope and just past Fort St. John. The trip then continued by motor car to the Peace River, and then by train to Edmonton.

Revised January 31, 2012.

• English