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Chinese community at Keefers
Communauté chinoise de Keefers

Keefers is a small community on the western shore of Fraser River. It lies about 15 miles (25 km) south of Lytton, where the Canadian Pacific Railway line crosses the Fraser River and proceeds up the Thompson River. This 1885 photograph titled “the Chinese community at Keefers” was photographed by Charles Macmunn, a British-born, Victoria-based photographer who specialized in views of the railway.

The log cabins pictured here were more substantial than the usual accommodation for Chinese railway workers. Often, they lived in temporary camps, sleeping in tents or boxcars. These more permanent dwellings may have housed longer-term workers at the railway yards below Keefer’s house, which was across from the camp.

Keefers (sometimes Keefer’s) was named after George Alexander Keefer (1836-1912), a surveyor and construction engineer who had worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway in eastern Canada. Keefer was in charge of building the CPR line between Boston Bar and Lytton, and the milepost at 100 miles (160 km) west of Kamloops is named after him.

BC Archives George A. Keefer fonds, PR-1589, consists of copies of Keefer’s outward telegrams reporting progress on railway construction. The Charles Macmunn fonds, PR-0577, contains Macmunn’s photographs depicting views of the Canadian Pacific Railway and of Victoria.

Keefers est une petite communauté sur la rive ouest du fleuve Fraser. Elle est à environ 15 milles (25 kilomètres) au sud de Lytton, où le Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique traverse le fleuve Fraser et puis longe la rivière Thompson. Cette photo de 1885 intitulée « La communauté chinoise de Keefers » a été prise par Charles Macmunn, un photographe britannique établi à Victoria qui se spécialisait dans les vues du chemin de fer.

Les cabanes en bois rond photographiées ici étaient plus complètes que les habitations habituelles de travailleurs chinois du chemin de fer. Ceux-ci vivaient souvent dans des camps temporaires et dormaient dans des tentes ou des wagons couverts. Ces logements plus permanents ont peut-être logé des travailleurs à long terme dans les gares ferroviaires, sous la maison de Keefer, qui était en face du camp.

Keefers (parfois Keefer’s) doit son nom à George Alexander Keefer (1836-1912), un arpenteur et ingénieur en construction qui avait travaillé pour le Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique dans l’est du Canada. Keefer était chargé de la construction de la ligne du CFCP entre Boston Bar et Lytton et la borne milliaire à 100 milles (178,3 km) à l’ouest de Kamloops porte son nom.

Le fonds George A. Keefer PR-1589 des Archives de la Colombie-Britannique est composé de copies des télégrammes sortants de Keefer faisant rapport du progrès réalisé dans la construction du chemin de fer.  Le fonds Charles Macmunn, PR-0577, contient des photos de Macmunn montrant des vues du Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique et de Victoria.

Details

Selected by: Royal British Columbia Museum and Archives
Date 1885
Record D-05652

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