Malahat Roadway, c. 1912 (Unedited)

[@dennis2376]

Very cool to see this stuff.

[@sim-sam]

Glad you shared this as it is - without the whole AI-fps-flattening and artifical sound-awkwardness... thanks for that.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Honestly, the original quality of the film was so poor that AI would probably have just made it worse.

[@JoeTourist]

1:50 might be Thetis Lake and at 4:30 the train heading south for the tunnel from what is now the straight stretch north of Tunnel Hill. It's really cool to see the highway wind through the campers at Goldstream Park!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Good catches, thanks so much! It's really staggering how much ground this old filmstrip covers- pun intended.

[@redwater4778]

Thetis lake is manmade. It may not have been around back then.

[@eternalfizzer]

The opening shot is along what is now Mill Bay Road between Mill Bay and the ferry terminal. I sure recognize that! I walked it month!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

It's a bit more lush and overgrown now than it was in 1912.

[@albertstadt9853]

I hope the duchess will support us in advocating that the Malahat be expanded to two lane traffic. This would allow traffic to travel in both directions at once. Perhaps it could also be paved.

[@hlk5887]

It is with great pleasure that the duchess announces the Malahat will indeed be widened to a two lane road. She thought it was a rather splendid idea, especially because now traffic would move in both directions. This suggestion must have come from someone with foresight of what is to come. Her opinion moved the powers that be to move forward.

[@geoffa3017]

They need to build a tunnel around the bad part is what has to happen.

[@seekingtruthnotfindingany7301]

Perhaps

[@anthonysinclair5721]

😆

[@richardrobinow5289]

The who?

[@nickswanson2263]

That shot in the very first clip is where i have got so stoned so may times with the boys! Hell yeah! Still looks very similar today.

[@vikneumann4148]

That bridge near the end of this footage was built in 1913, which is still there in Lilooet.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Excellent spot! That's definitely the Lilooet suspension bridge.

[@johnb3118]

I've been across it before they built the new bridge. Right before that scene is a nice view of Seton Lake. Still is beautiful there.

[@garyfrancis6193]

Lilooet is only s few hundred miles from the Malahat.

[@MikeH-sg2ue]

I see that since then, the Malahat has improved a little! Cool video, a piece of history! I drive the Malahat often. Thanks for sharing!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@dlittlester]

Doesn't stop us from complaining about it though! 🙂

[@anthonysinclair5721]

It is nice to see this old footage , that was me driving in the first car shown and my son is filming! 😆 Thanks for showing this! 😎👍

[@zigarten]

Cool train shot too!

[@TriumvirVespasianus]

My grandparents used to tell me that mill bay rd was the main hwy back in the day, this film confirms that at the beginning there...👍

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Not only the main highway, the first highway! Or at least the first one in the area developed specifically for motor traffic.

[@Rhythm911]

I didn't know where it was at first ... but I recognized the name Malahat, and I've lived all over south BC over the last few decades, so I couldn't pin-point it ... I had to hit a GOOGLE map !!! 😜 But Shawnigan (Lake) I knew... But I didn't make the connect !!! 🤭 I've traveled that way many times '81 to '84, and then '94-2002 I think the highway was built above that original road (?) Maybe ??

[@garyfrancis6193]

A beautiful scenic drive to Duncan and Nanaimo.

[@northwestalternativemedia2125]

Wow! Im surprised how recognizable that mill bay rd is in this video from 1912. How so much has changed yet still so fermiliar. Great video!

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@JMac-fj1rg]

Note when they meet another car it can be seen that traffic in BC (in 1912) drove on the left hand side of the road.

[@dlittlester]

Until about '31 I think.

[@Rhythm911]

British for sure !!!

[@garyfrancis6193]

Compared to all over the road now.

[@dlittlester]

@@garyfrancis6193 Ha! Indeed!

[@MelioraCogito]

@@garyfrancis6193 🤣 Indeed.

[@darrenhansen354]

The location in Alberni, BC on May 4,1912 would be the confluence of the Somass River and Kitsuksis Creek. The lake footage starting at 7:42 is the eastern shore of Cameron Lake.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Both certainly look like they could be, and geographically make sense together. Do you have anything to hard-confirm this?

[@darrenhansen354]

The mile zero mark was installed at Victoria Quay and Johnson Road. There are pictures online. Cameron Lake part of the video I know those mountains around the for sure as I have driven past them for the last 60 years. You can check Cameron Lake photos online and see the same mountains. 1912 was the same year the rail line was brought into the Alberni Valley.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Oh, we hadn't realized there was a mile marker! Fascinating stuff. We're really uncovering up this proto-Trans Canada Highway story as we go. Thank you!

[@darrenhansen354]

Mile Zero: In 1912, hundreds gathered at Victoria Quay for the installation of a post recognizing the terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway. In the spirit of rivalry between the two towns, pranksters from Port Alberni stole the sign in the middle of the night and replanted it at Argyle and Kingsway; Port Alberni's mayor, Arthur Waterhouse, made sure that the sign was returned. In 1950, the terminus, or Mile Zero, was moved to Victoria

[@helgabruin2261]

I'm sad to report that I've enjoyed the comments more immensely than the clip itself! I am teasing (a little). Thank you.

[@Kaptain13Gonzo]

The very beginning reminds me of Mill bay Rd. along the water. Not sure the bridge in the canyon is lillooet. My money would be on Spences Bridge. But i will admit I'm old, but not that old. The canoeing bit near the end reminds me of the mouth of goldstream river, to the side of the old shooting range. Just some thoughts from an old islander. .

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We've been looking over Street View of the Mill Bay road, and it certainly could be- it's tough because the area is now a lot greener and more overgrown than it was at the time this was shot. We're pretty sure the bridge isn't the old Spences Bridge one, as that was a box girder- in the footage you can clearly see the towers of a suspension bridge, so it's probably the one in Lilooet, which would have been brand-new when the latter half of this footage was taken. That river mouth could be the Goldstream, yeah. It's certainly in the right area for the rest of the footage.

[@millbaymoll2420]

I agree on the Mill Bay Rd. footage. Near the start of the movie, it is heading south as it rises up towards the First Nations village. Later in the footage, a similar section, with several cars passing the camera, headed north on the MB waterfront, headed towards Verdier Point, I thought.

[@V.I.Outdoors]

For sure it is​@@millbaymoll2420

[@davemacmurchie6982]

Mill Bay Rd for sure!

[@frankemcgillivray6695]

Road looks pretty rough but it has been under construction/improvement continuously ever since.

[@streaky689]

even after over 100 years of improvements the road still is a disgrace!

[@alancooper3473]

The Malahat is on Vancouver Island, North of Victoria.

[@alancooper3473]

NW.

[@uwusmolbean]

Looks like they all had fun 😊

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We only have one brief newspaper report on the trip as evidence, but yes, it seems to have been a success for everyone involved!

[@dougabbott8261]

1912 .... even the logging practices had not developed.Horse and hand logging and lots of first growth everywhere amazing how 100 years will change things. thx

[@kevinoneill41]

A much more scenic drive. Not so over grown.

[@JakeFockstein-cn3hc]

Great footage

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@BADBIKERBENNY]

Only if there was footage like this of the Cariboo Road in the Fraser Canyon.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

If you find any, let us know!

[@Me-ei8yd]

I have a picture of my grandma is driving her model t ford through the canyon in the late 1930s. When her husband and 2 kids drove from Saskatchewan all the way to Victoria and never left.♥️🇨🇦♥️

[@assassinlexx1993]

We still travel the same speed today.

[@kerrybutler5908]

In the early '50's we had three families from Sidney who would form a convoy to go over the "hat" and camp at Rathtrevor beach each year. The convoy was so that if one car broke down there were others to help.

[@benbradley7028]

that is Lillooet and the Fraser River at the end...

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We suspect that footage is from somewhere along the Fraser, yeah. It doesn't seem to be part of the original Malahat footage, and we don't have any contextual info for it. Do you recognize a specific spot in or near Lillooet? Or just general vibes? Either way, thank you!

[@towgod7985]

1912!!!!! I'am floored!

[@pbasswil]

2:57 That's a lot of traffic for a back-woods road, before WW I! Even a lowly Ford Model T cost a good chunk of 1912 dollars (its price would go down considerably in later years as production scaled) - motoring was still not quite attainable for the common man. Clearly, though, some B.C. islanders had the $$ to travel in style.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Yes, absolutely! Victoria had one of Canada's largest auto clubs at the time- we know that by 1909 there were at least a dozen cars being regularly driven on the city's roads, which is certainly above-average for that time period. The city's motoring community were also early lobbyists for the construction of a trans-Canada highway, and appear to have used their local highways often.

[@garyfrancis6193]

@@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum A dozen cars. Why that’s absolute chaos. What if they were all on Douglas or Fort streets at the same time? It wouldn’t be safe to go downtown.

[@garyfrancis6193]

I must have driven the Malahat a few hundred times in the 1970’s and 80’s. Last time was probably 1998. Hasn’t changed a bit.

[@bimmjim]

In this film you can see some forest the way it used to be.

[@planesandbikes7353]

On the Malahat today you can work your way 20 feet from the road into the woods and see the forest the way it used to be still.

[@swaddington9399]

That first minute of footage looks like the road to the mill bay ferry that runs near the water, with the same big hill?

[@maxpower6765]

Cool video. It’s a much easier drive these days There is a rifle range at the top I belong to ✌🏼

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@islguy420]

My great-grandparents were probably there

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Oh? Tell us more! Did they live in the area?

[@brucemckean2848]

A real mix and certainly not all Malahat. Goldstream, OK, and E&N railway, and a bit of Saanich Inlet, all great but, but, but other stuff just doesn't fit.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Absolutely correct. This footage is mostly Malahat, but also appears to include footage from at least two other driving trips in B.C.; it doesn't represent one continuous voyage.

[@HOWNDOG66]

It’s explained in the description.

[@michaelzimmer1115]

Pretty hard to figure out just where these films were taken. The caption says the Malahat, but I cannot place the shots with respect to the current road.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Absolutely. Our only reference for where some of this footage might have been taken is a single newspaper article from 1912- the rest is guesswork, not helped by it clearly incorporating footage from multiple different trips.

[@bimmjim]

5:33 Here are the road crews at work. .. I'll bet the road repair was constant.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

In this case it's less road repair and more road cleanup, as construction on the Malahat had only recently finished. We're also not sure to what extent the workers shown are part of the logging camp versus part of the road-construction team.

[@JustADumbTrucker]

Some of those Lake shots look like Cameron Lake. 🤔

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

There's a good chance they are, though we don't know for certain, and you're definitely not the first person to suggest as much. We know for a fact some of the footage was taken at Port Alberni, and given that Cameron was and is the next big stop on the highway between Alberni and Victoria... again, can't say for sure but probably.

[@marceld6061]

This kind of makes me think.... you had to be a little brave to risk driving that road from the very beginning.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Extremely brave! Early driving, even on a good road, was scary. The cars were dangerous and unreliable, and could be quite difficult to control, and even the best roads were rough. There was no easy way to call for help if you got in an accident. Driving, especially fast driving, was an activity for the foolhardy or confident.

[@PaulRudd1941]

My goodness, maybe I shouldn't complain so much about having to drive this route. Sometimes I forget people come from all over the world to see the capital.

[@alfawcett2606]

My grandparents said it took the whole day to get to Victoria on horse and buggy

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

It probably did! Most Canadian towns and cities established during the horse and carriage era are usually just far enough apart that you could cover the distance between them in 8-12 hours by horse. Nobody planned things this way, it was just sort of an unconscious unit of measurement that settlements developed around.

[@ant-1382]

Could use a little music.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

We leave that to people wanting to remix and edit the footage. This is the raw stuff, digitized straight out of Library and Archives Canada.

[@billsmith7320]

Looks about the same today

[@willowsworld111]

I don’t understand the comments here, arg. 👧🏻🏴‍☠️🇨🇦 Lillooet is on the mainland, it is mile zero on the Gold Rush Trail, highway 99, drive the switchbacks on the Duffy, turn left after the historic Hatcreek Ranch onto the 97, and boom, there’s 70mile, 83mile, 100mile, take the right turn exit at The 150, (Yes it is called THE 150), you see Chief Will-Yum’s gas station there at The 150, do the righty turn, and you hit 160mile Likely and Horsefly. The end of the mile-road is here peoples! 🩵👧🏻 This road is where the Mt Pauley mine breached its tailing pond. (Just a tidbit of info as we drive.) There is no swingy bridge at the end of the Malahat in Lillooet, there might be two swingy bridges, I should go visit…. 🚙🚙 Woot woot! Gotta love the Cariboo…. And the Malahat, Gotta drive that….

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

So, this footage is made of driving footage from two, possibly three different road trips and filming sessions edited together, the last of which was probably taken at least a few months after the previous two. We don't have notes for context on any of them, and they certainly don't show any kind of geographical sense. Think of this as a compilation of three different trips, instead of one continuous route.

[@JS-jh4cy]

Before that , 1900s it was ass drive or horse drive

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Not at all! Canada's first steam car was around in the 1860s, and there were electric cars and gas cars by the late 1890s. Plus, bicycles started being really popular in the late 1880s- when this film was made, the country was on the tail-end of a huge cycling boom.

[@MelioraCogito]

*Malahat Roadway:* _As treacherous in 1912 as it remains in 2024._ 😨😱 Some things never change.

[@billfarley9167]

Now you know why MacMillen became a multi millionnaire and why Bloedel joined forces.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Is this a reference to the B.C. lumber barons of the same names?

[@billfarley9167]

All those people look so........................British.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Well, a substantial chunk of this road trip is the entourage of the Duchess of Connaught, so presumably they are, yes!

[@margyeoman3564]

LOL. yes that was before the 1960's when a nasty MP or someone like that began to curtail the British Isles immigration/ migration to Canada and opened it up for a very different demographic.

[@srpacific]

In other countries they just build tunnels, in Canada we suffer with poor infrastructure…

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

There are pretty good reasons, at least originally, why the Malahat didn't have many tunnels- these were the very early days of driving, and even modern road-building in Canada, so the funding and demand weren't there for full-scale road tunnels. Also, the first Canadian highways were often expected to pay for themselves through auto and cycle tourism, mostly from the United States- so the more scenic and windy the route, the better the investment. That was the thinking in 1912, at least.

[@murrayandru7527]

The road hasn't changed much , lol.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Little more pavement, little more greenery, sliiiiightly more traffic...

[@billyrock8305]

Not much different than most Canadian roads today.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

In terms of rural roads, absolutely! Dragged and flattened gravel roads is one of those technologies we pretty much figured out a century ago.

[@Rhythm911]

WOW the scenes of them driven along cliffs on roads that were basically off-road by today's standards, with no seat-belts, no roof and no windows !!!! 😱😱😱😱😱🤕💀 On vehicles that never should have been convertibles. or off-road. And then one, I assume, youngish woman/girl stands up to wave frantically... like someone in a speeding boat on a choppy sea, with corners!!!!! 🤢🤮 I was posted/stationed/lived in Esquimalt/Victoria, for 3 and a half years, I guess I need to Sub' I love this type of "Time Travel"... ( {A.J.L.} footage, especially when it has a more personal connection. And I'm tired of just city footage or foreign footage. I was born on 1957 , my father was born in 1901 and his father in1868 in bilingual Ontario ! I could see what they had lived before civilization got much more serious. And decades before I was born. I always look for my father in antique film footage of WW2 (his parents forbid him to go to WW1 until he turned 18, It was over before he was 18.

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Thanks for tuning in! Driving in the early 20th century was indeed a heckuva lot more dangerous than it is now- the only reason accident rates weren't incredibly high is that so few people were actually driving.

[@janknudsen145]

kinda sad

[@jl3059]

And now our stupid city is going backwards. Lets add more unused bike lanes. Lets not twin the malahat

[@AMPSLY]

so it was always terrible...

[@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum]

Not at all, actually! By the standards of 1912, the Malahat was an excellent gravel highway- the Victoria region in general had very good roads pre-WW1, partially due to the needs of the logging industry.

[@AMPSLY]

@CanadianAutomotiveMuseum too bad it never advanced from 1912 good to 2024 good😭