Kitimat’s first big promoter was Charles Clifford, and entrepreneur/politician who had great faith in Kitimat’s future.

But who was this man who has a Kitimat street named in his honour?

Mr. Clifford was an Englishman born in Sittingbourne, Kent in 1842. He reverend father was a vicar whose religious ways may have contributed to his son’s rebellious nature, independent thinking and his decision to emigrate to Canada.

After marriage to Harriet Young, a Catholic Irish woman - further aggravating his Anglican father - Clifford became a manager with the Hudson Bay Company, taking up a variety of posts in Canada’s North.

He had lots of experience in BC’s Cassiar region and, as a businessman, he was always investing in new opportunities.

Early on he became firmly entrenched in politics. He was officially a Conservative and eventually became a three-term member of the BC Legislature.

Twice he was MLA for Cassiar and in 1903 he was elected in the new riding of Skeena with 197 votes. He was a member of premier Richard McBride’s government, earning an impressive $800 per year in MLA’s pay.

As an MLA he became a fierce promoter of the North and, in particular, Kitimat. Clifford purchased land at the Northwest corner of the Douglas Channel, including the present day area of Moon Bay, the barge terminal and Alcan Beach - in those days you could ignore conflict of interest concerns.

Despite his religious upbringing, Clifford had no problem profiting from liquor. He built the first Kitimat Hotel - a 7-room structure near Anderson Farm - and according to Gordon Robinson in a 1956 article in the Northern Sentinel liquor could be purchased there by the glass, crate or barrel.

His wharf, likely built with government money, was located close to Moon Bay.

Clifford gambled heavily on Kitimat becoming the terminus of the northern railroad through to Ontario and the Atlantic coast.

Beside his wharf and hotel, he helped develop plans for the townsite at Minette Bay (the inner harbour). He was a partner in the Kitimat-Omineca rail line proposal and helped with obtaining improvements on the mail route trail through to Lakelse and Terrace.

Two improvements were the cablecar ferries across the Kitimat, one being at Chist Creek.

In 1907 Clifford’s plans came crashing down when Prince Rupert, not Kitimat, was chosen terminus for the Grand Trunk Pacific.

By then, he was a 65-year-old retired MLA. He lived on another nine years, dying in Victoria.

Clifford’s greatest contribution was the confidence and vision he had for Kitimat’s future as a port.

Unfortunately, he never did witness the success that he knew was inevitable.

Today, Clifford’s assets within the valley are all erased. The wharf disappeared in one particularly heavy Winter storm, his hotel was dismantled by a disapproving pioneer rancher, George Anderson, and the mail route he helped improve became obsolete and was swallowed up by the encroaching rain forest.

Charles Clifford’s picture is proudly displayed in the pioneer settlement section at Kitimat’s museum. Pictures of his hotel and wharf are also available in the Kitimat archives.

And additional information is available through the library at the Legislature in Victoria.