Prince George, British Columbia

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Cleanup-date Template:CoorHeader

Prince George

Image:Flag of British Columbia.svg	Image:Pgcoatofarms.PNG
(Flag of British Columbia)	(Coat of Arms)

Motto: Shaping a Northern Destiny

Image:Prince George, British Columbia Location.png

Members of Parliament

Dick Harris (Conservative) for Cariboo—Prince George

Jay Hill (Conservative) for Prince George—Peace River

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Shirley Bond, Pat Bell, John Rustad

Mayor

Colin Kinsley

Governing Body

Prince George City Council

Land area

315.99 km²

Elevation

691.30 m (approximately 575m (1886ft) in city centre)

Population (2004)

77,721

Population Density

229.1 km²

Immigrant Population

7,230 (9.3%)

Languages

English (Official)98.8%
French (Official)2%
Carrier (indigenous language) nearly extinct

Unemployment rate

9.6%

Average house price

$155,000

Image:Nechako cutbanks.jpg

Nestled deep in the endless forests of northern British Columbia, Prince George is a thriving city of 77,000, and is generally recognized as "BC's Northern Capital." Conveniently situated at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako Rivers, and the crossroads of Highways 16 and 97, the city is a boon to the province's economy, culture, and spirit. Despite its challenging climate and relative isolation, or perhaps because of these, Prince George has refined a local culture and character that is remarkably unique.

1 Economy
2 Education
3 Sports and recreation
4 Arts and culture
5 Media
6 Transportation
7 History
- 7.1 About the Name
8 Local Attractions
9 Bibliography
10 See also
11 External links

[edit]

Economy

Wood drives the local economy, with forestry, plywood manufacture, 12 sawmills and three pulp mills as major employers and customers. Other industry includes two chemical plants, an oil refinery, brewery, dairy, machine shops, aluminum boat building, log home construction, value added forestry product and specialty equipment manufacturing. Prince George is also a staging centre for mining and prospecting, and a major regional transportation, trade and government hub. Several major retailers are expanding into the Prince George market, a trend expected to persist. In recent years, several market research call centres have opened in Prince George.

Heritage, College Heights, Hart Highlands and St. Lawrence Heights are prime residential areas, both commercial and residential development are growing at an accelerated rate and more subdivisions are planned for St. Lawrence Heights, West Cranbrook Hill and East Austin Road.

[edit]

Education

Prince George's education system encompasses 37 elementary, 8 secondary, 2 junior secondary, 1 middle school and 8 private schools. Post-secondary education choices include the regional College of New Caledonia (CNC), which offers two-year university courses plus vocational and professional programs. Several BC universities, British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and the Open Learning Agency have integrated their local programs with CNC.

The University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) is the first new university to be built in Canada in over 25 years. A total of 55 undergraduate programs, 15 masters programs and two PhD programs are now offered at UNBC as well as the new Northern Medical Program, a joint program with the University of British Columbia intended to alleviate the shortage of physicians in the north. A degree-granting institution with regional teaching centres in nine BC communities and a sponsor for several research institutes, UNBC has recently completed the construction of the I.K. Barber Enhanced Forestry Lab. UNBC's hilltop campus overlooks the City of Prince George and offers spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains to the east.

[edit]

Sports and recreation

Prince George is very competitive in sports, with teams including the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL), the Prince George Spruce Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCJHL), Youth Bowling Club (YBC) bowling teams (Nechako Bowling, 5th Avenue, and also a ten pin team), Prince George Curling (Prince George Golf and Curling Club), and several high school teams in Track, Football, Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball, Hockey and Badminton. Recently, the Duchess Park Secondary School Senior boys basketball team won the provincial AA title for the first time in 26 years. The city also has at least 6 golf courses.

Recreation facilities include 116 playgrounds and parks, plus tennis courts, ice rinks, two swimming pools and an 11 kilometer riverfront trail system. Four provincial parks in the region provide downhill, cross-country and heli-skiing. The CN Centre is a 7,000 seat multipurpose arena.

[edit]

Arts and culture

Prince George plays host to a lively arts scene. The Two Rivers art gallery, craft guild, theatre workshop, symphony, playhouse, Civic/Convention Centre and 800-seat Vanier Hall provide a cultural base for the city.

[edit]

Media

[edit]

Radio

FM 88.7 - CFUR, University of Northern British Columbia campus radio
FM 90.3 - CBUX, CBC Radio Two
FM 91.5 - CBYG, CBC Radio One
FM 94.3 - CIRX ("94X"), modern rock
FM 95.5 - CBUF-4, La Première Chaîne
FM 97.3 - CJCI ("The Wolf"), country music
FM 99.3 - CKDV ("The Drive"), classic rock
FM 101.3 - CKKN ("The River"), hot adult contemporary

[edit]

Television

Channel 2 - CKPG, CBC
Channel 4 - CBUFT, SRC
Channel 12 - CIFG, Global

[edit]

Publications

Prince George has two main newspapers, the daily the Prince George Citizen which appears Monday through Saturday and the free semiweekly Prince George Free Press which appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Prince George also has two advertising publications, the Prince George Buy & Sell and the Bargain Finder. The two major national newspapers, the National Post and the Globe and Mail, as well as The Province and the Vancouver Sun, are widely available.

[edit]

Transportation

Located at the intersection of Highways 97 and 16, Prince George is the hub for Northern British Columbia. Considerable truck traffic passes through Prince George, which also has extensive facilities for maintenance of trucks and heavy equipment. Greyhound Bus Lines provides daily bus service South to Vancouver and West to Prince Rupert.

Prince George Airport, located 7 km from the city centre, is an international airport with customs facilities. The primary air connection to the rest of the world is provided by multiple daily flights to Vancouver on Air Canada and Westjet. Westjet's service also includes a weekly direct flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico during the winter months. Central Mountain Air and Northern Thunderbird fly to regional and smaller centres. Charter services provide flights to outlying areas primarily by float plane though helicopter service is also available.

Both CNR freight and BC Rail freight lines operate out of Prince George as well as VIA rail passenger service.

Local public transportation consists of the PG Transit bus service.

[edit]

History

The origins of Prince George can be traced to the Northwest Company fur trading post of Fort George, established in 1807 by Simon Fraser. The post was centred in the centuries-old homeland of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation, whose very name means "people of the confluence". Agricultural settlement around Fort George began about 1906 when it was realized that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (later CN Rail) would pass near the fur post. The railway arrived in 1914 and construction of the railway townsite commenced. The City of Prince George was incorporated on March 6, 1915.

[edit]

About the Name

There is a long-standing controversy over the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway's choice of the name Prince George for the community at the junction of the Fraser and Nechako rivers.

The company gave two reasons for its choice. In 1914 vice-president Morley Donaldson said it had been named after the ruling King George V. But, before he was crowned, King George was actually Prince Edward, so the explanation seems unlikely.

In an internal company note written in December 1911, Grand Trunk Pacific president Charles Hays put forth another reason for the choice of the name. He said the name Prince George had been chosen because it would ensure that the company's new townsite was “permanently distinguished from the numerous towns now called Fort George, South Fort George, etc., which are in the vicinity” and also make it clear none of the other towns carried the company's endorsement.

When E.J. Chamberlin, who had succeeded Hays as president of the company, announced in 1913 that Prince George would be the official name of the new townsite, businessmen in Hammond's Fort George townsite launched an attack through the provincial government to have the new name set aside. They felt it threatened the future of their fledgling community by creating confusion about the true location of the townsite.

The businessmen forwarded a petition which read in part: “If there is one thing B.C. has stood for in the past it is that the works of those who have rough graded the paths of progress...shall not ruthlessly and unreasonably be torn from under them.”

But it was all to no avail and the Prince George townsite was officially registered in Victoria.

In recent years a third explanation has arisen for the choice of Prince George as the name of the city. It holds that the city was named after Prince George, the youngest brother of King George VI and the uncle of Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince George, who late became the Duke of Kent, was the fourth of King George V's five children. He married the elegant Greek princess Marina in 1934. The couple had three children: Edward, Alexandra, and Michael.

Prince George was killed in an air crash in Scotland in August 1942 while serving as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force. His flight from Invergordon to Iceland aboard a Sunderland flying boat had run into a storm in northwestern Scotland, and the plane crashed into the side of a mountain.

[edit]

Local Attractions

Parks include Fort George Park, Paddlewheel Park, Rainbow Park, Connaught Hill, Foot Park, Ginter's Property, Eskers Park, Forests For the World, and Cottonwood Island Park. The city also boasts a series of urban hiking trails called the Heritage Trails.

Vanier Hall is the home of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. The Prince George Playhouse has many different uses such as theatre workshops and major plays put on by small businesses. Theatre Northwest is a professional theatre company producing stage productions throughout the year. Other facilities include the Prince George Public Library, Two-Rivers Art Gallery, a regional courthouse, Civic Centre, City Hall and the CN Centre. Prince George is served by an international airport operated by the Prince George Airport Authority, and a bus depot.

Local wild edible fruit include crab apples, bunchberries, rose hips, blueberries, huckleberries, cranberries, chokecherries, strawberries, raspberries, saskatoons, and soapberries (from which "Indian ice-cream" is made). Morel mushrooms are also native to this area.

Famous people from Prince George include the writers Barry McKinnon, Brian Fawcett and Lynda Williams, mountaineer Peter Austin, politicians Paul Ramsey and Bruce Strachan, and social activist Bridget Moran, as well as former Prince George Cougars Chris Mason, Eric Brewer, Blair Betts, Trent Hunter, Tyler Bouck, Dan Hamhuis, and Derek Boogaard.

The book Unmarked: Landscapes Along Highway 16, written by Sarah de leeuw, includes a short essay on Prince George titled "The Scent of Pulp".

[edit]

Bibliography

{{ cite book

|title = Lheidli T'enneh Hubughunek (Fort George Carrier Lexicon)
|last = Poser
|first = William
|authorlink = William John Poser
|location = Prince George, BC
|publisher = Lheidli T'enneh
|edition = third edition
|year = 1999

}}

{{cite book

| first = Reverend Francis Edwin
| last = Runnals
| authorlink = Reverend Francis Edwin Runnals
| year = 1946
| title = A History of Prince George
| location = Prince George
| publisher = the author

}}

[edit]