Centennial '71 - Trail, BC
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 49° 05.710 W 117° 42.343
11U E 448480 N 5438274
This cairn is at the corner of Helena Street and Esplanade Ave, along the Columbia River in downtown Trail.
Waymark Code: WMGZ6X
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 04/26/2013
Views: 3
It commemorates British Columbia's entrance into Confederation in 1871. Though British Columbia became a British Crown Colony in 1858, 9 years before the birth of Canada, it did not enter Confederation until 1871, 4 years after Confederation.
Shortly after Canada became a nation, the value of British Columbia's membership in Confederation became obvious to the powers that were in Ottawa, partly for its mineral wealth, and partly for its access to the Pacific Ocean. As a result, it became a province of Canada 34 years before the nearest neighboring provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, were formed, in 1905. Further, it was BC's entrance into Confederation, combined with its isolation that were the impetuses for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway to the west coast, a massive and expensive project that nearly bankrupted the country, completed in 1885.
The cairn is part of Spirit Square, a river-side park commemorating BC's 150th Anniversary of becoming a British Crown Colony.