PRINCE GEORGE 



4821 



PRINCE RUPERT 



Under French rule the island was known for 

 nearly two centuries as Isle Saint Jean (Island 

 of Saint John). The name was changed in 

 1708 to Prince Edward, in honor of the Duke 

 of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, then com- 

 manding the British troops in North America. 

 At Charlottetown was held in 1864 the impor- 

 tant conference which paved the way for Con- 

 federation, but the colony refused to join the 

 Dominion until 1873. The province has long 

 been interested in securing a tunnel under 

 Northumberland Strait from Cape Traverse to 

 the mainland, but the Dominion government 

 has not yet agreed to its construction. The 

 Dominion government does, however, operate 

 the Prince Edward Island Railway as a branch 

 of the Intercolonial Railway. The main line 

 runs from Tignish southeast to Souris, and 

 branches extend to Georgetown, Charlottetown 

 and other points. The size of the Dominion's 

 financial subsidy to the province, the suppres- 

 sion of the liquor traffic and the reduction of the 

 province's representation in Parliament have all 

 been political issues in recent years. W.F.Z. 



Consult McAlpine's Gazetteer of Nova Scotia, 

 New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and New- 

 foundland. 



Related Subject*. The reader who is inter- 

 ested in Prince Edward Island will find helpful 

 material in the following articles in these vol- 

 umes: 



Charlottetown Province 



Fur and Fur Trade Summerside 



Georgetown 



PRINCE GEORGE, a city in the Cariboo 

 district, in Central British Columbia, at the 

 junction of the Nechako and Fraser rivers. It 

 is a divisional point on the Grand Trunk Pa- 

 cific Railway, and is destined to have the same 

 distinction on the Pacific Great Eastern, the 

 railway which is being constructed from Van- 

 couver to the Peace River Country. The 

 Nechako and Fraser rivers are both navigable 

 for considerable distances; the total length of 

 navigable, waterways which can be reached 

 froni the city is about 1,100 miles. Before the 

 completion of the Grand Trunk Pacific there 

 was only a trading-post, Fort George, at the 

 junction of the two rivers, but in 1915 Prince 

 George was laid out and incorporated as a city. 

 Population in 1917, about 2,000. 



Prince George's location, at the junction of 

 two railways and two navigable rivers, will 

 make it an important distributing point for 

 central and northern British Columbia. Lum- 

 ber, coal, copper, galena and other minerals are 

 found in the vicinity, and grains and root crops 



do well. The chief manufacturing establish- 

 ments are lumber mills and a sash-and-door 

 factory. 



PRINCE OF WALES, the title bestowed on 

 the male heir first in line to succession to the 

 throne of Great Britain. He is therefore al- 

 most always the eldest son of the king. The 

 title was created in 1301 by Edward I, that king 

 of England who accomplished the conquest of 

 Wales. Tradition has it that when a baby 

 prince was born in one of the castles newly 

 built in Wales by the victorious monarch, he 

 was presented to the Welsh people as a prince 

 "who could not speak English." This story 

 may be a myth, but when the boy was seven- 

 teen years old his father formally made him 

 Prince of Wales; he became King Edward II. 

 His son, Edvard III, was known as Edward of 

 Windsor, and was never created Prince of 

 Wales. But it has since become an invariable 

 custom to honor the heir to the throne in this 

 way; the title is not hereditary, but must be 

 created for each prince so honored. The title 

 is purely honorary, and no power or authority 

 attaches to it, although Parliament votes a 

 yearly sum for his support. 



The present Prince of Wales received his 

 title in June, 1910, less than three months after 

 his father, George V, relinquished it to ascend 

 the British throne. 



PRINCE RUPERT, a city of British Colum- 

 bia, and one of the most important ports on 

 the Pacific coast of North America. It is the 

 western terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific 

 Railway, and has direct steamship connection 

 with Vancouver, Victoria, various ports in 

 Alaska, the United States, Japan and other 

 foreign countries. Prince Rupert is 400 miles 

 nearer Japan than any other port in Canada 

 or in the United States. It is located on t he- 

 north end of Kaicn Island, adjoining the Tsimp- 

 scan Peninsula, about 500 miles northwest of 

 Vancouver. The island is seven miles long, and 

 has an area of nearly 12,000 acres, or about 

 eighteen square miles, an ample space for fu- 

 ture growth. It lies a short distance north of 

 the mouth of the Skeena River and about 

 thirty-five miles south of the southernmost 

 point of Alaska. 



The city was laid out in 1908 by engineers 

 acting jointly for the government and the rail- 

 way, and was named in honor of the first gov- 

 ernor of the Hudson's Bay Company (see Kr- 

 PERT, PRINCE). The first lot was sold in May, 

 1909, and the city was incorporated in 1910. 

 later the Dominion census gave it a 



