Prince Rupert

PRINCE RUPERT, city, pop 12,815 (2006), is located on Kaien Island (49 sq km) near the mouth of the SKEENA R on the North Coast, 730 km west of PRINCE GEORGE on the Yellowhead Hwy (see ROADS AND HWYS). It is officially Canada's cloudiest place with an average of 6,123 overcast hours annually. The site was selected as the Pacific terminus for the GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RWY, which began clearing a townsite in 1906. The name, which refers to the first governor of the HBC, was chosen in a contest. Alleged shady deals over railway land grants between the province and the GTP sparked a scandal in the legislature in 1906, but the committee formed to study it, the Kaien Island Investigation, found in favour of the government's actions. The city was incorporated on 3 Mar 1910. Founders expected it to become a major seaport, economic rival to VANCOUVER, but it did not. Instead it developed as a commercial FISHING centre. During WWII Prince Rupert became a strategic base for the Canadian services and thousands of American military transshipped here for Alaska and the Far East. Roosevelt Park on the hill overlooking the city commemorates this period. Prince Rupert is the transportation centre of the North Coast with rail service by CNR and VIA Rail, an AIRPORT on Digby Island (34 sq km), opened in 1961, and a seaplane base with flights to surrounding coastal communities. In the 1980s grain and COAL terminals were erected on nearby Ridley Island, so in a way the city has become the international seaport its founders envisioned. BC FERRY CORP operates year-round service to PORT HARDY at the north end of VANCOUVER ISLAND and to the QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, and the Alaska Marine Highway has regular ferry service to Alaska. In the late 1990s the city's economy was hit hard by declines in both the fishing and LOGGING industries. However, in 2007 a major container port expansion opened as trade with China and the rest of Asia boomed and by 2010 there were 340,000 container units moving through the port, bound for destinations in Canada and the American Midwest.