Shelley, northeast of Prince George in central British Columbia, was often misspelled as "Shelly", especially during the earlier years. The First Nations Shelley Reserve No. 1 is on the northwest side of the Fraser River, and the Reserve No. 2, on the southeast side, includes a gas station and convenience store. Beyond the west of the latter are freehold properties, comprising about 30 residences immediately and in the vicinity. To the south is the Shell-Glen volunteer firehouse, which lies on the west side of the Gleneagle neighbourhood.
History Railway Shelley, like Foreman to its southwest, and Willow River to its northeast, was an original train station (1914) on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (the Canadian National Railway after nationalization).1914 Timetable scanned The name, a locational surname from any one of the places called "Shelley", derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "scylf" meaning literally a shelf cut out of the hillside, plus "leah", an enclosure or wood. Since Shelley, BC, lies on flat lowland, the name likely acknowledges an individual instead. The most probable candidate was a GTP contractor.Prince George Citizen, 27 Jan 1984 Another possibility is the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822). If the latter, it was likely on the list prepared by Josiah Wedgwood (submitted at the request of William P. Hinton, the railway's general manager).Prince George Citizen: 27 May 1957 & 30 Mar 1967
Shelley lies at Mile 136.3, Fraser Subdivision (about Mile 226 during the line's construction). In 1912, Magoffin (McGoffin alternate spelling) & Berg (Bergh alternate spelling) subcontracted with camps to the west and east.Fort George Herald: 15 Jun 1912, 6 Jul 1912 & 30 Nov 1912 By 1913, the Mitchell & Ahern camp was at Mile 223, the Nugent & Co. camp at Mile 225, and the Magoffln & Bergh ones at Miles 226 and 230.Fort George Herald: 17 May 1913 & 13 Sep 1913
During 1980–81, Northwood built of track and a $14m combined road/rail bridge across the Fraser southeast of Shelley.Prince George Citizen, 1 Dec 1980
Built in 1914, the standard-design Plan 100‐152 (Bohi's Type E) station building, and the Plan 100‐318 freight and the passenger shelter relocated from Foreman in 1963, were demolished in 1969. A nondescript building remained at the closed station into the 2000s.
Service 1914–c.1916 c.1917–c.1921 c.1921–1931 1932–c.1939 c.1940–c.1948 c.1949–1957 1957–1968 1968–1977 1977–c.1989 1920 Timetable: Bulkley Valley Museum collection 1922 Timetable: Northern BC Archives Prince George Citizen: 12 & 19 Nov 19311933 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1943 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1960 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1964 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1965 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1967 Timetable: Northern BC Archives 1968 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1972 Timetable: Northern BC Archives1973 Timetable: Northern BC Archives Passenger Regular stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Regular stop Regular stop Flag stop Flag stop Way freight Flag stop probably Flag stop probably Regular stop Flag stop Regular stop Flag stop Regular stop Regular stop
Forestry The narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched some east of Prince George was known as the East Line. In 1920, the Prince George Sawmill Co. built a 10,000-foot per shift capacity mill.Prince George Citizen: 28 May 1920 & 13 Sep 1921 A delegate from the Lumber Workers Industrial Union, who visited that company's logging camp at Shelley the following spring, reported on the abysmal living conditions. Injury and death for humans and horses were common in sawmills and logging camps. In a 1925 incident, logs falling from a sleigh in a pole road accident killed the hauling horse team.; ; ;
Facing financial troubles by the summer, the mill experienced a change of ownership and name to the Shelly Lumber Co.Prince George Citizen, 9 Sep 1921Prince George Citizen, 4 Apr 1922 Legal wrangling continued regarding the debts of the former operation.Prince George Citizen, 6 Sep 1923
In the 1921/22 winter the mill's production goal was 100,000-tie.Prince George Leader, 26 Aug 1921 In 1922, raging forest fires south of Shelley, where the Foreman Lumber Co. was logging, threatened the railway station and the Shelly Lumber Co. mill, but about two million feet of fire-killed timber remained loggable.Prince George Citizen: 30 May 1922; & 2 & 6 Jun 1922 The following winter the mill had a 60,000-tie goal.Prince George Citizen, 8 Dec 1922
In the 1923/24 winter the mill had a 100,000-tie goal, the Buchanan camp 25,000 ties, and one smaller outfit 10,000 ties. The Mclean mill employed about 50 men in the bush and at the mill (which ran all winter), and the Shelly Lumber Co. about 20 men. This totalled about 200 men working in the sawmills and tie camps.Prince George Citizen: 1 & 8 Nov 1923; & 13 Mar 1924
A 1926 fire, which started in slash, threatened the McLean mill.Prince George Citizen, 13 May 1926 Two months later fire destroyed the Shelly Lumber Co. mill and the finished lumber stacked in their yard.Prince George Citizen, 22 Jul 1926 In 1928, leasing 16 acres of Crown land, the company abandoned the old mill on the slough to build a new 30,000-foot capacity mill at Mile 134 on the Fraser, which was the only one operating in the vicinity at that time.Prince George Citizen: 26 Jan 1928 to 12 Apr 1928Prince George Citizen: 23 Aug 1928, 26 Aug 1958 & 2 May 1988 (56 & 60); Prince George Citizen, 11 Jul 1929 McLean Lumber closed during the Great Depression.Prince George Citizen: 17 Aug 1962 & 11 Jul 1966 McLean Lumber opened a new planing mill in the fall of 1937.Prince George Citizen, 9 Dec 1937 In 1939, a small tornado lifted the McLean blacksmith shop roof and carried it about 35 feet.Prince George Citizen, 29 Jun 1939 A year later, the sheriff seized company assets to settle outstanding workers' compensation premiums.Prince George Citizen: 30 May 1940 & 6 Jun 1940
The increased wartime lumber demand required upgrading the McLean mill and caused an acute housing shortage.Prince George Citizen, 26 Mar 1942 Increasing labour shortages caused some of the smaller mills to close down and focus upon logging crews.Prince George Citizen: 1 Oct 1942 & 25 Nov 1943
In 1962, Eagle Lake Sawmills of Giscome purchased the 75,000-foot capacity Shelley Sawmills and 150,000-foot capacity planing mill. Logging operations were about up the Fraser River, whose summer flow transported the logs to the mill.Prince George Citizen: 17 Aug 1962 & 29 Nov 1963
In 1966, Northwood Pulp and Timber purchased Eagle Lake Sawmills, which included Shelley Sawmills.Prince George Citizen, 14 Apr 1966 The next year, after voting in favour of strike action, the IWA strike at BC interior mills ended the following month in the north, but in the south lasted seven months.Prince George Citizen, 25 Sep 1967Prince George Citizen, 5 Oct 1967Prince George Citizen, 22 Nov 1967Prince George Citizen, 13 May 1968
By 1975, although weakened lumber markets resulted in massive layoffs and reductions to single shifts at other Northwood sawmills, the Shelley mill, which exported much of its product to the United Kingdom, maintained two shifts a day.Prince George Citizen, 19 Feb 1975 The pulpworker strike months later put many sawmill employees on indefinite layoff, owing to a lack of burning capacity or space to store the chips.Prince George Citizen, 24 Jul 1975 IWA members at Northwood sawmills, having accepted their latest contract, continued on the job despite the ongoing pulp mill strike.Prince George Citizen: 10 & 18 Sep 1975 In 1977, the IWA was pressing for one province-wide set of negotiations, while employers in the north, which included the Northwood sawmills, clung to separate talks.Prince George Citizen, 27 May 1977 The following year, owner-operators of logging trucks stopped deliveries for a month to protest their compensation rates. This resulted in a two-week layoff of workers from the midnight shift at Shelley.Prince George Citizen: 21, 23 & 25 Aug 1978; & 1, 7 & 8 Sep 1978
With weakening market demand during 1980, Northwood temporarily introduced a four-day workweek at all sawmills except Shelley, whose off-shore sales again saved it.Prince George Citizen, 18 Apr 1980 The following year, lack of progress in contract talks led to illegal strikes, which included Shelley.Prince George Citizen: 10, 13 & 14 Jul 1981 A month later, Northwood sawmills temporarily implemented four-day workweeks.Prince George Citizen, 30 Sep 1981 In early 1982, with the ongoing market slump, the mill implemented a series of one-week shutdowns, which became a two-week on and two-week off work schedule.Prince George Citizen: 10 & 17 Feb 1982Prince George Citizen, 12 Mar 1982 The company consolidated all vacation time into a four-week period to shut down the mill for the summer.Prince George Citizen, 17 May 1982 When a five-day week returned in August, Shelley was the only Northwood mill running with a full staff.Prince George Citizen, 30 Aug 1982Prince George Citizen, 7 Dec 1982
In 1984, two weeks of secondary picketing of the mill by the Canadian Paperworkers Union initially had minimal impact in discouraging IWA members and independent truckers from crossing the picket line, but eventually the mill closed for three days until a court order restrained the picketers.Prince George Citizen: 22, 23, & 27 Feb 1984 to 2 Mar 1984Prince George Citizen: 5 to 9, 12 & 13 Mar 1984 CNR crews honoured the picket, which continued another two weeks.Prince George Citizen: 15 & 20 Mar 1984 Rolling strikes throughout the north during 1986, which escalated into a four-month province-wide woodworkers' strike, resulted in a moratorium on contracting out work normally performed by union members until a royal commission had studied the issue.Prince George Citizen, 30 Jul 1986Prince George Citizen: 6 Aug 1986, 28 Oct 1986, 28 Nov 1986 & 8 Dec 1986 In 1988, market conditions necessitated a permanent reduction from three to two shifts per day at the mill.Prince George Citizen, 5 Oct 1988 To secure log supplies months later, Northwood increased subcontractor payment rates to improve compensation for logging truck owner-operators.Prince George Citizen, 17 Jan 1989 The mill permanently closed in 1990 with a loss of about 100 jobs.Prince George Citizen, 24 Nov 1989Prince George Citizen, 7 May 1990
Community With limited entertainment opportunities, residents attended dances in nearby larger communities.Prince George Citizen, 3 Nov 1922 The school, located almost mile west of the station, opened in 1922, with Edith Emmett as the inaugural teacher.Prince George Citizen, 1 Jul 1937
In 1922, John Newsome of Willow River erected and opened the general store. R. Howatt (Howate alternate spelling) and his sons managed the business and was postmaster 1923–24, a role commonly performed by a storeowner in such towns. They also provided meals and lodging.Prince George Citizen: 8 Nov 1923, 8 Jan 1953 & 26 Aug 1958
The one-room schoolhouse, in which a dance floor was laid, was also the venue for social gatherings. The dances held at the schoolhouse were sometimes combined with card party fundraisers.Prince George Citizen: 2 Jun 1927, 17 Dec 1942, 22 Apr 1943, 24 Jun 1943, 2 Jan 1947 & 3 Apr 1947Prince George Citizen: 22 Apr 1926, 9 Dec 1937 & 10 Oct 1940 Lutheran church services took place in the schoolhouse during 1925/26.Prince George Citizen: 17 Dec 1925, 21 Jan 1926, 18 Feb 1926, 25 Mar 1926 & 29 Apr 1926
Richard H. Kidston applied for a liquor licence in 1925 for premises next to the store,Prince George Citizen: 19 Feb 1925 & 12 Mar 1925 which became a small hotel.
In 1926, the Commonwealth Trading Co., which carried groceries and men's furnishings, had a closing down sale.Prince George Citizen: 18 & 25 Nov 1926
In the late 1920s, the predominately black local baseball team ranked respectably in the league.Prince George Citizen, 16 Jun 1927