Some early trucking companies
The Westrade Traffic Directory, 4th revised edition, was published in the early 1950s by the same company which published Motor Carrier magazine.
It listed every place in B.C., some with populations of only a few people. Towns which were just mining camps or sawmills, and some with only water access by companies, such as Union Steamships, were all included.
The listing for Kelowna reads as follows: “Kelowna, 40 miles north of Penticton. Mile table 37. Motor Freight: from Vancouver and New Westminster, Country Freight Lines, Expressway Truck Lines, O.K. Valley Freight Lines, Western Freight Carriers, & White Transport. From Vernon and North O.K. Valley. From Penticton and South, D. Chapman & Co. Ltd., O.K. Valley. From Quesnel, Interior Freightways.”
Express: Greyhound Lines, Agency Point C.N. & C.P: Agency Point, collection and delivery service.
Rail: CPR Agency Station. CNR Agency Station.
From Vancouver: CPR LCL overnight service.
Banks: Commerce, Montreal, Nova Scotia, Royal CN and CP telegraph Two of the display advertisements on the page next to the Kelowna entry were Jenkins Cartage Ltd. (1658 Water Street; phone 20) and D. Chapman & Co. Ltd (305 Lawrence Avenue; phone 298). White Transport was one of the earliest companies to haul from the Coast to the Okanagan Valley. At one time, it belonged to Mr. King, whose antique trucks formed the beginning of the B.C. Transportation Museum. Country Freight Lines was also an old company.
O.K. Valley Freight Lines ran up and down the Valley for some time before venturing to the Coast. It was founded by J. Goodkey in 1934. It was sold several times: to Fred McLeod and Ivor Neil; in 1944 to Oscar Matson; in 1946 to Bill Rathbun; and in 1947 to C.P. Transport. Maurice MacNair was manager. Drivers included Ray Jacobsen, Paul LaPorte, and Walter Krause.
Expressway was probably started as Inland Motor Freight by Andy Craig, whose book, Trucking – A History of Trucking in British Columbia Since 1900, published by Hancock House in 1977, provides a good description of how Kelowna residents received freight before the advent of good roads. Of course, most freight probably came by rail. Two drivers in the 1940s and 1950s were Bill Rippen and Jack Hutchison. Jenkins Cartage was the Kelowna agent for Expressway for a while, then they had a manager who rented an office space from Jenkins. Mort McNally was the manager and agent.
Chapmans had a daily run from Kelowna to Penticton. One of its trucks even converted from flat deck to van, to haul freight. D. Chapman & Co. Ltd. was started by Dave Chapman, Sr. in 1919. Later, sons Dave, Jr. and Eric took over. They were agents for Allied Van Lines and Shell Oil. Later, they sold to CN.
Western Freight Carriers was a short-lived company. Others we saw here occasionally were J. Reitmier (from the Kootenays), Cascade Motor Freight, and Millar and Brown from Cranbrook. Millar and Brown eventually had an agent and warehouse in Kelowna.
Interior Freightways covered the area from Kelowna to Quesnel, with its head office in Williams Lake. Interior Freightways had diesel tractors with three and four cylinder engines.
Before the opening of the Hope Princeton Highway, in late 1949, all trucks used the Fraser Canyon Highway, which had a length limit of maybe 25 feet. These trucks were single-axle, three tons, with a gross vehicle weight of 26,000 pounds.
Country Freight and Vancouver Penticton came to the Okanagan via Merritt and Princeton. White Transport came by way of Kamloops. The distance from Kelowna to Vancouver by that route was 391 miles, and so the Hope Princeton Highway cut off about one hundred miles of travel.
Some of the trucks in the 1940s had hood sides which could open to cool the engine on a hot day. The drivers often kept cool by standing on the running board, when climbing a long hill. Newer trucks climb faster, and so that is not necessary now.
The aforementioned book by Andy Craig and a newer publication by Daniel Francis called Trucking in British Columbia, published several years ago by Harbour Publishing, cover this period of history quite well.
One company which I nearly forgot was Vancouver Kamloops, now called Van Kam. It interlined at Kamloops with another company called Kamloops Okanagan, but the daily run was only as far as Vernon.
With the completion of the Hope Princeton Highway, larger trucks could make their way into the interior. Most of these trucks would be single-axle or tandem tractor with perhaps a tandem semi trailer. A tandem-tandem would have a GVW of 76,000 pounds. Expressways, though, had a tandem truck and a pup, both vans. The pup could be loaded with Penticton freight and dropped at the depot there, while the truck continued with its freight to Kelowna.
The largest engines at that time were 200 horse power. Now we have super B trains with much more power and eight axles.
A. Charley Adam has lived all of his life in Kelowna. He is a descendant of the pioneer Clement family, which came to Kelowna in 1898. This article is part of a series submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society. Additional information would be welcome at PO Box 22105, Capri PO, Kelowna, BC, V1Y 9N9.