Prince Rupert, British Columbia

Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Its location is on Kaien Island near the Alaskan panhandle. This port city is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia’s North Coast, and has a population of 12,220 people as of 2016.[2]

Coast Tsimshian occupation of the Prince Rupert Harbour area spans at least 5,000 years. About 1500 B.C. there was a significant population increase, associated with larger villages and house construction. The early 1830s saw a loss of Coast Tsimshian influence in the Prince Rupert Harbour area.[3]

Prince Rupert replaced Port Simpson as the choice for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) western terminus.[4] It also replaced Port Essington, 29 kilometres (18 mi) away on the southern bank of the Skeena River, as the business centre for the North Coast (see #Seaport).

The GTP purchased the 14,000-acre First Nations reserve, and received a 10,000-acre grant from the BC government. A post office was established on November 23, 1906.[5] Surveys and clearing, that commenced in that year, preceded the laying out of the 2,000-acre town site. A $200,000 provincial grant financed plank sidewalks, roads, sewers and water mains.[6] Kaien Island, which comprised damp muskeg overlaying a solid rock foothill, proved expensive both for developing the land for railway and town use.[7]