Rolf Wallgren Bruhn (September 4, 1878 – August 30, 1942) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-born farmer, lumberman and political figure in

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, ...

. He represented

Salmon Arm Salmon Arm is a city in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia that has a population of 17,706 (2016). Salmon Arm was incorporated as a municipal district on May 15, 1905. The ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

from 1924 to 1942 as a Conservative. He was born Rolf Wallgren in Resterod parish, in 1878, the son of Axel Wallgren. His father, a Crown Reeve in Sweden, was accused of embezzlement in 1890 and subsequently adopted the surname Bruhn and went to Canada, leaving his family behind. The family moved to

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, where his mother operated a bakery. In 1894, Rolf left school and worked as a deckhand on freighters. He won a sailboat in a raffle in 1895; he gave most of the money to his mother and bought a ticket to Canada. There, like his father, he adopted the surname Bruhn. Bruhn worked as a sailor on the

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; moving west, he worked on the railway and as a miner and logger. In 1898, he settled in

Malakwa, British Columbia Malakwa is a settlement in Shuswap Country in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, in the Eagle River valley, along the Trans-Canada Highway between Sicamous Sicamous is a district municipality in British Columbia located adjacen ...

. Bruhn married Anna Treat in 1902. Bruhn supplemented his income from farming with road contract work. In 1910, he moved with his family to

, working as a road foreman and then road superintendent. He also served four years as an alderman. Bruhn lost his position of road superintendent after the

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s were elected in 1916. He moved to Sicamous, where he established a business producing cedar poles. Bruhn was badly burned in a fire and, for a time, his wife managed the company. The company expanded, building a lumber mill at

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and adding logs and railway ties to its products. He was named to the Conservative cabinet as President of the Executive Council in 1928 and as Minister of Public Works in 1930. Bruhn helped draft the platform for the Social Constructive Party in 1937 and, although he ran as an Independent candidate in the 1937 general election, he was endorsed by the Constructives. The Social Constructive Party was not successful and Bruhn ran again as a Conservative in 1941. Later that year, he was again Minister of Public Works in a Liberal/Conservative coalition government. Bruhn suffered a stroke and died in office the following year.

References

1878 births 1942 deaths Swedish emigrants to Canada British Columbia Conservative Party MLAs {{BritishColumbia-MLA-stub

Further reading

References