Foley, Welch and Stewart was an early 20th-century American-Canadian railroad contracting company. It was owned and operated by Patrick Welch and J.W. Stewart of

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

and T. Foley of

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

. The company was created during the reorganization of a prior company, Foley Bros & Larson. It was the largest railway construction company in North America at one time. They built miles of track for the Great Northern Railway,

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by 38th United States Congress, Congress in 1864 and given ...

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...

, and

Pacific Great Eastern Railway The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The names in the partnership are commemorated in summit of the

Cheam Range The Cheam Range (pronounced or ) is a mountain range in the Fraser Valley region of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia near the city of Chilliwack. The region is also a part of the Skagit Range of the Canadian Cascades and contains many rugge ...

near Chilliwack: Foley, Welch, and Stewart Peaks. The company later came to be involved in the forest industry and was renamed

Bloedel, Stewart and Welch MacMillan Bloedel Limited, sometimes referred to as "MacBlo", was a Canadian forestry company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was formed through the merger of three smaller forestry companies in 1951 and 1959. Those were the Pow ...

. The company had large operations in the Powell River area of British Columbia. The company later merged with the H. R. MacMillan company, taking on the name

MacMillan Bloedel Limited MacMillan Bloedel Limited, sometimes referred to as "MacBlo", was a Canadian forestry company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was formed through the merger of three smaller forestry companies in 1951 and 1959. Those were the Po ...

. MacMillan Bloedel became Canada's largest forest company until it was acquired by

Weyerhaeuser Weyerhaeuser () is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company also manufactures wood products. It operates as a real e ...

Commemoration

The names of this partnership are commemorated at the top of the

, near Chilliwack: the Foley, Welch and Stewart Peaks. The Stewart, Foley and Welch Mountains were originally named by Arthur Williamson of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Superintendent of the :fr:Lucky Four Group Copper mine, opened by Stewart and Welch in 1917.3 The names were officially adopted on May 30, 1946, in as a "well-established name in the mountaineering community" (March 1944 WH Matthews, Canadian Alpine Club, M.2.40 and C.1.50).

Major projects

*In 1911, they were awarded a contract for construction of a section of the

from Aldermere (near present-day

Telkwa Telkwa is a village located along British Columbia Highway 16, nearly southeast of the town of Smithers and west of the city of Prince George, in northwest British Columbia, Canada. History Settlement in the area began around 1904 in a townsi ...

, British Columbia) to

Bulkley Valley The Bulkley Valley is in the northwest Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Geography The Bulkley, a stream running through Houston, British Columbia, joins the larger Morice River about to the west. At the confluence, they become not ...

. This segment completed the line. *In 1913, they were awarded a contract valued at $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 to construct a double-track tunnel through the Rogers Pass in the

Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mica Pe ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

by the Canadian Pacific Railway. This was later named to

Connaught Tunnel The Connaught Tunnel is in southeastern British Columbia, on the Revelstoke–Donald segment. The tunnel carries the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) main line under Mount Macdonald in the Selkirk Mountains, replacing the previous routing over Ro ...

. The project included of track on both ends of the tunnel and the contract called for completion in four years. *The western section of the

from

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. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and has a population of 12, ...

, to a point east. Approximately 2000 men were employed. *The railway through

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

in the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

of British Columbia. *In 1914, they were awarded a contract to build a extension of the

from

South Fort George South Fort George is a suburb of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Before the arrival of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914, the Prince George area was known as Fort George and was a Lheidli T'enneh village and Hudson's Bay Company sto ...

through the Pine River Pass to the

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

boundary. A payment guarantee of was made by the British Columbia legislature. *An approximately branch link connecting

Fort William, Ontario Fort William was a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Since th ...

, with Superior Junction and the

National Transcontinental Railway The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was a historic railway between Winnipeg and Moncton in Canada. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway. The Grand Trunk partnership The completion of construction of Canada's ...

for the

. Approximately 2000 men were employed. *Double-tracking the

from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Manitoba, to

. Approximately 2000 men were employed. *A section of the

from a point east of the

Abitibi River The Abitibi River is a river in northeastern Ontario, Canada, which flows northwest from Lake Abitibi to join the Moose River which empties into James Bay. This river is long, and descends . It is the fifth longest river entirely in Ontario A ...

crossing continuing east for approximately . *A section of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta, west to Wolf Creek. About 650 men were employed for this project. *A section of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from

, Alberta, to

Wainwright, Alberta Wainwright is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately southeast of Edmonton. Located west of the Alberta–Saskatchewan border, Wainwright is south of Vermilion in the Battle River valley. Highway 41, called the Buffal ...

. About 1100 men were employed for this project.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Welch And Stewart Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States Defunct companies of British Columbia History of British Columbia