Monkman Pass facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Monkman Pass
Monkman Pass Location in British Columbia
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Elevation	1,061 m (3,481 ft)

Monkman Pass is a mountain pass located in the Canadian Rockies. It's found southwest of Tumbler Ridge and northeast of Hansard, in British Columbia. This pass is part of the Hart Ranges. Some people consider it the southern boundary of the Northern Rockies.

The pass is located at the beginning of the Murray River. It is also south of the high land where the Parsnip River starts. Monkman Pass is a key part of Monkman Provincial Park. Like the park, Monkman Lake, Monkman Creek, and Monkman Falls are all named after Alexander Monkman.

History of Monkman Pass

Who Discovered Monkman Pass?

By the 1920s, Monkman Pass had been a travel route for First Nations people for about 300 years.

Alex Monkman was a pioneer who traded and trapped furs in the Peace Country. He said that during a trapping and hunting trip in the winter of 1921-1922, he realized he had crossed the continental divide through a lower pass. He either found a spike from a 1904 railway survey or met trappers who had traveled by canoe from the Fraser River.

Another person, St. Pierre Gauthier, is also said to have discovered the pass. He was very good at understanding land features and finding trails. He was of French-Cree background. It's believed he led Monkman to the pass. Since Monkman could read and write and was well-known, he supposedly took the credit.

Hank Munro, another important trapper in the area, was also recognized by George Woosley as the real discoverer. It's said that Munro told Monkman about the pass when everyone was excited about building new railways.

Railway Plans for Monkman Pass

In the early 1900s, grain and cattle from the Peace Country in Alberta and B.C. were mostly sent to the west coast through Edmonton. This was a long journey, about 1,441 kilometers by train to Vancouver. A direct route would be much shorter, only 733 kilometers. By 1920, grain prices were low, and shipping costs were high. Many settlers had to leave their farms because a promised railway line was not built.

Monkman shared his discovery with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the Canadian National Railway (CNR). In 1923, he guided engineer E. Murray Hill through the pass. In 1924, CNR president Sir Henry Thornton visited the Peace Country. He promised to build a railway westward if the region produced enough wheat. The region met this goal within two years, but no railway was built.

Railway surveys in the early 1900s looked at routes through Wapiti Pass and Monkman Pass. The Monkman Pass route offered a better slope west of the Canadian Rockies. Shipping Peace wheat through the CNR at Hansard would be 150 kilometers shorter than using the Pine or Peace passes. It would also need less than 160 kilometers of new track to connect with the CPR-controlled Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway. However, the CNR preferred a different route from Brule, Alberta.

The CNR relied on government funding and was happy with its Yellowhead Pass route. The CPR preferred the Pine or Peace passes. Monkman Pass became a possible compromise. Railway engineers liked the Monkman route because it had less snowfall and fewer chances of landslides.

However, this option would bypass farms in the northern Peace region. Residents compared it to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), which "started nowhere, ended nowhere, and served no settlers." For nearly 100 kilometers, the Monkman route had no mines, good farmland, or timber.

The cost estimates for different routes were: Obed $13.3 million, Monkman Pass $16.1 million, and Pine Pass $21.5 million. The government liked Monkman Pass because of its cost benefits. But the CNR and CPR chose Obed. Everyone seemed to want to delay construction. In 1928, the PGE, CNR, and CPR surveyed these three routes together. Some British investors even thought about building a Monkman line on their own.

In 1930, one of the CPR survey teams looked at Monkman Pass. But some problems made it less appealing. A boat carrying supplies to this survey camp sank in the McGregor River, and one person drowned.

Even though the Peace Pass was favored, the expected amount of goods to be shipped didn't justify the cost. By 1937, volunteers working on the Monkman road brought back the idea of a railway line. Politicians wished they had known about Monkman Pass earlier, thinking it could have been a rail route. But the economic downturn in the 1930s ended any national interest.

In 1953, there was a big protest in the northern Peace region. This happened when B.C. and Alberta discussed routing the proposed PGE line through Monkman Pass. In 1958, the PGE opened a Pine Pass link from Prince George to Dawson Creek. This connected with the Northern Alberta Railways. One reason for this choice was that the Monkman option would have delayed the opening until 1960.

By the late 1970s, a railway line through the Monkman Pass area was considered for developing the Tumbler Ridge coal deposits. The B.C. government chose a more expensive alternative, the BC Rail Tumbler Ridge Subdivision. This line passed 30 kilometers northwest of the pass. It had five times more tunneling and steeper grades.

The railway line that was built had sharp curves and long tunnels. Water pouring from the roof of one tunnel section was called the "carwash." When coal mines closed between 2000 and 2003, the government lost its $400 million investment. Parts of the route were abandoned. After reopening temporarily, a coal train derailed in 2007, and another in 2014. The line was abandoned in 2014, but the CNR continued to transport coal on a longer route. The whole line reopened in 2017 after six months of repairs.

Highway Plans and Construction

In 1925, a report was released about building a wagon road. After not getting a direct rail link, newspapers in the Peace Country started a campaign. They wanted a highway from Prince George through Hansard and Monkman Pass to Beaverlodge, Alberta. This road would be great for tourism. However, transporting farm products would be limited because weather would allow its use for only four or five months a year. The Wapiti Pass, another possible route, had the same problem.

In 1933, a petition signed by local residents asked the government for a highway. Parliament discussed building through the Peace, Pine, Wapiti, or Monkman passes. Tired of waiting, a group met in 1936 at Arthur Smith's farmhouse near Lake Saskatoon, Alberta. They formed the Monkman Pass Highway Association. Their goal was to build a 132-kilometer road between Rio Grande, Alberta, and the highway at Hansard. This route followed the path previously surveyed by the railways. Arthur became the publicity director. A dirt road already existed from Beaverlodge to Rio Grande.

This route would be cheaper than the long Turgeon Highway, which was being built slowly. It was unlikely that the government would fund both highways. The Yellowhead Highway Association first thought this plan would hurt their funding. But they eventually supported it. The Monkman team kept asking the governments for support. They believed all such projects were important. George Richardson drove cattle through the pass in 1937.

Work started from Rio Grande in June 1937. A crew of 20 men volunteered two weeks of labor each. After that, they could work two more weeks for $1 a day plus food. The Alberta government loaned old tents. Citizens donated tools, supplies, labor, and money. This route would cut the car journey from the Peace Country to Vancouver by 900 kilometers. By mid-August, the 65-kilometer Beaverlodge-Stoney Lake section was ready for vehicles. For the 47-kilometer Stoney Lake-McGregor River part, packhorses were needed. For the last 20 kilometers from the McGregor River to Hansard, a team led by Alex Monkman had already cleared a trail. The Rio Grande-Stoney Lake road was not great for cars at first. But a truck could go about 5 kilometers per hour with some help over rough spots. By the end of the year, newspapers across Canada had published maps of the proposed highway. But politicians were still focused on the Turgeon highway. Fundraising continued, and more groups of the association were formed. The B.C. government and the federal government in Ottawa did not provide money, but some politicians approved.

In the summer, a 250-man crew from Alberta restarted the work. They stayed in touch with the Finlay Forks radiotelephone station using a portable radio. A four-man B.C. team surveying a route near the McGregor River had a close call with wildlife. A group of four, guided by trapper Martin Framstad, carried a 50-pound bag of wheat across the pass. This was the first commercial product to come directly overland from the Peace Country. They faced four days of heavy rain and almost drowned in the fast McGregor River. At this point, they left their packhorses and carried everything on their backs for the last 10 kilometers. They reached the CNR line 3 kilometers east of Hansard.

By July, the Alberta government had loaned camping equipment. They also provided tools for the 15-kilometer section within Alberta. The Rio Grande-Stoney Lake section still needed final grading. The next 20 miles were passable by truck, and a pack trail existed for the rest. From Hansard, a three-man crew had created a 10-foot wide trail for 5 kilometers by the end of the month. Meanwhile, the road from Rio Grande to Kinuseo Falls was passable by truck. A 60-foot bridge across the river was being built. Three weeks later, the western end was 6 kilometers in. There was a trail for the 8–10 miles to the McGregor/Herrick crossing. Funding limited the size of the crew and how fast they could work.

In mid-September, the "Pathfinder" car, a 1927 Model T Ford modified as a light truck, headed west. Reporters from two national newspapers traveled the route. They finished the last section from the McGregor to Hansard by boat. The "Pathfinder" was expected in Prince George by early November. It struggled through deep snow. Francis Murphy's 16-man and four-horse team reached Henry Hobi's cabin. They had covered 39 kilometers from Kinuseo Falls. They met Ole Hanson, who had waited weeks with his boat. Local trappers had cut 4 kilometers of untouched forest and helped with hauling. After taking out the sick passengers, the frozen river stopped the boat from returning. The plan to ferry the vehicle down the McGregor River to Hansard was put off. This hurt the publicity. Both Canadian and international newspapers had widely reported the road-building effort.

In June 1939, repairs began on the 75 kilometers of completed road. The Alberta government took responsibility for the part within its border. The federal government agreed to match any money B.C. spent on the road. But B.C. saw the road as mainly a federal responsibility and didn't commit money. Special tractor buses ran as far as Kinuseo Falls. They left Beaverlodge at 8 am and arrived at the falls the next morning. That summer, an eight-man crew continued working on the Hansard end of the road. The effort continued during the early months of World War II. Afterward, work stopped beyond maintaining the eastern section.

The lodge at Kinuseo Falls and the lodge, store, and restaurant at Stony Lake became very popular. Efforts to restart the highway project continued. With the Alaska Highway built, Monkman Pass was again considered for a highway link with Prince George. It was surveyed but lost out to Pine Pass. As the war went on, the lodges closed. After the war, the B.C. government stopped any further work on the road.

In the summer of 1951, three hikers tried to go from Beaverlodge to Hansard. They only met a few First Nations campers at Stony Lake and Henry Hobi at his cabin. By 1956, the Hansard-Grande Prairie route was one of many isolated places that needed pioneer roads to access natural resources. The next year, Ferry Strobl from Pine Pass and two other local men visited the abandoned "Pathfinder." In 1961, a father and his two young sons were rescued 5 kilometers south of Monkman Lake after a long search. They were trying to reach Hansard. In 1967, a 17-member team, including Gerry Stojan, one of the original drivers, retrieved the "Pathfinder." They brought it to Prince George to finish its historic journey. It then went to Grande Prairie for restoration and display in the Grande Prairie Museum.

In 1976, Wayne Monkman, Alexander Monkman's grandson, led a nine-member attempt to cross the pass in four-wheel-drive trucks. Traveling from the west, deep muddy logging roads slowed them down. Their permit to cross Fontoniko Creek expired, ending the trip early. Government officials denied another request to enter the area from the east.

Despite strong local support, the government opposed a road through the pass. This was part of developing the Tumbler Ridge coal deposits. The province spent $94 million on a Chetwynd-Tumbler Ridge highway, rejecting the $100-million Monkman option. But the region continued to ask for a Monkman link.

Air Travel in Monkman Pass Area

In 1938, United Air Transport (UAT) started flying their Prince George-Edmonton route through Monkman Pass. The next year, UAT, renamed Yukon Southern Air Transport (YSAT), introduced a direct Prince George-Grande Prairie route over the pass.

In 1965, Ross Davis, a lumber executive from Prince George, went missing on a flight from Grande Prairie to Prince George. This led to a 10-day air search in the pass area. Six weeks later, what looked like wreckage was spotted, and the search restarted. But it turned out to be just a patch of ice. The next month, a helicopter pilot accidentally found the Cessna 180 wreckage in a lonely canyon near the pass. The pilot, with two police officers, recovered the body. That same year, a solo pilot flying from Grande Prairie to Chetwynd got lost overnight in a snowstorm in the Monkman Pass area. Low on fuel, the Cessna 180 landed safely on a small airstrip.

In 1974, a Piper Apache made an emergency landing on the frozen Monkman Lake. The three people in the plane spent 24 hours there. They had minor to serious injuries.