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THE MARINE TERMINAL OF THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC 
RAILWAY, PRINCE RUPERT, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
By Frank E. Kirsy, Eso., anD W1LLIAM T. DONNELLY, Eso., MEMBERS. 
{Read at the eighteenth general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in 
New York, November 16 and 17, 1911.] 
When, in 1910, the authors of this paper were retained to visit the 
Pacific Coast for the purpose of studying the shipping and marine repair 
facilities and to visit Prince Rupert, the western terminus of the Grand 
Trunk Pacific Railway, they were at a loss how to proceed, for not only was 
Prince Rupert beyond their geographical knowledge, but it also failed to 
appear upon any available map or chart. However, with an abiding faith 
in the Grand Trunk Pacific, they undertook the commission. 
Proceeding to the Pacific Coast over the Northern Pacific, they visited 
Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and Bremerton in the United States, and Vic- 
toria, Vancouver and New Westminster, British Columbia, finally pro- 
ceeding from Vancouver on the Canadian Pacific Steamer northward through 
the inland passage, and after three days steaming through the narrow water- 
ways which were literally the submerged valleys of the Coast Range, they 
arrived on the evening of the third day in the Harbor of Prince Rupert and 
were, for the first time, fully convinced that such a location actually existed. 
Those who are especially interested and desire to extend their geo- 
graphical knowledge, are referred to the most recently published charts 
of the Northern Pacific and Alaskan coasts, on which Dixon’s Entrance, 
North of Graham Island between 54 and 55 degrees north latitude, can be 
readily located. To the east of Dixon’s Entrance, Brown Pass leads to 
Chatham Sound and across this to the east, between Digby and Kaien 
Islands, is found Prince Rupert Harbor. So hidden away and unprepos- 
sessing is the entrance that until 1906 it was supposed to be unnavigable. 
Actual surveys show it to be one of the most easily entered and satisfactory 
harbors on the Pacific Coast. The entrance, which is from the south, is 
about three-eighths of a mile wide. It is entirely unobstructed with a 
depth of water nowhere less than twenty fathoms. The entrance may be 
said to extend northward for three miles, when the harbor is reached, extend- 
ing northeast for four miles, with an unobstructed width of from one and 
one-half to three-quarters of a mile. 
The city of Prince Rupertis located on Kaien Island which forms the 
