The Prairie Years
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| 1882 |
Cornelius left
Denver, for what reason we can only speculate. The most likely reason is that there
was too much competition with already established architects. That probably got him
looking for other opportunities elsewhere. Other reasons could have been because of
lack of commissions caused by a downturn in the economy. However this is unlikely
because Denver did not experience its first bust until 1893. Possibly the English
born Cornelius might not have taken to the American lifestyle. Or perhaps there were
family tensions. Or he didn't like the climate there being the highest City in the
US. Back in Canada the
Canadian Pacific Railway line, under construction, was moving westward creating boom
towns in its wake. Cornelius arrived in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba where, in
April, he designed the Methodist Church. Later in the year, on December 29, his
second son, Cornelius "Norman" was born there. |
| 1883 |
The next place we pick up Cornelius' trail
is in Brandon, Manitoba where he advertised his services as an architect from April 2 to
at least July 13 of 1883. Moving
farther down the line the CPR track arrived in Calgary in August of 1883. Cornelius
was there advertising his services as an architect. However for some reason he
decided to take up a new profession, photography. He began by building his own
camera. Starting in early November he advertised his photographic
service from his Highland Studio, a tent next to Dr. Henderson's. That
advertisement lasted until early January of 1884. By then the track had reached
Laggan (Lake Louise) and had stopped due to cold and snow for the winter. My guess
is that Cornelius took advantage of this to winter in Regina with his family. |
| 1884 |
About the time a
delegation of Metis left Batoche to ask Riel for help s, May of 1884,
Cornelius had left the track laying happening farther south and headed north to Edmonton
and St. Albert. He advertised that he would be at the Hudson's Bay Company
Fort for only a few weeks, taking portraits, and photographs of Groups, Buildings, views,
etc. My guess is that he knew that track laying would be slow through the Rockies
and Selkirks. Track laying did not recommence until late in the spring. So the
available documentation seems to indicate that he decided to do something else in the
meantime, a photographing adventure down the North Saskatchewan River. Leaving Fort Edmonton in a skiff, loaded with everything he needed
to survive and photograph in the wilderness he set off down the river. Whether it
was his aim to photograph the RCMP Forts along the river intentionally who can say.
But in April of 1885 (about the time when Fort Pitt was being abandoned, during the
Riel Rebellion) he advertised for sale his photographs of the Forts and towns taken during
1884. He was asking $1.00 each for them. As he traveled down the river
he spent time in the communities along the way photographing the locale and also offering
his services for portaits as well..
His first stop would have been Fort Saskatchewan about
40km down river from Fort Edmonton. He told his son, Rupert, that he had been
frustrated and slowed down by having to push his skiff off of many sandbars. Given
the serpentine nature of this stretch of the river that is very believable.
Several photographs in his son's collection of Fort
Pittt, some 300 km down river from Fort Saskatchewan and about 340km from his start,
indicate that was likely his next stop. He probably arrived there in the late
summer. There he photographed Big Bear trading at the post. He also
photographed the RCMP in formation, including one, Inspector Francis Jeffrey Dickens, son
of the famous writer Charles Dickens. Inspector Dickens was in charge of Fort
Pitt from 1883 until April 13, 1885 when he and his men, being outnumbered by 250 to 20
during the Riel uprising, found it necessary to abondon the Fort and travel down
river to Battleford in a leaky boat. s
Over two months and almost 500km from Fort Edmonton he
arrived at Battleford on September 8th. Battleford is some 150km down river from
Fort Pitt.
On October 17th the Saskatchewan Herald reported the
following:
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"Mr. Soule,
photographic artist, has been very busy since he came here, and besides a large number of
likenesses and views for private parties he has secured a series of stereoscopic and other
views of Battleford as seen from various points, and a number of places of interest in the
neighborhood. He has two admirable views of the town--one showing the main street on the
north, and the other the town and the hill on the south side of Battle River, besides a
couple showing the town in the distance. He also has a fine series of stereoscopic views
taken from the big hill to the south of the town, showing the lakes at its base, and the
Eagle Hills and the plains in the distance. His collection also contains a good collection
of pictures of points along the railway, in the Rockies, at Edmonton, St. Albert, Fort
Saskatchewan, Fort Pitt, and other points on the Saskatchewan. The views are admirably
taken and should meet with a ready sale." |
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On November 28th Cornelius left Battleford by the
Qu'apelle stage, heading for Regina to spend the winter. He stopped off at Fort
Carlton on the way for a couple of days. There his five and a half month journey
down the North Saskatchewan River ended, about 650km from its beginning. |
| 1885 |
Advertisements seem to
tell us that Cornelius appears to have spent most of 1885 in Regina. We are told
that he had a photographic studio on Broad St. During the year several events of the Riel Rebellion occured that
it would not have been pleasant to be in the middle of. For instance on Nov 16th
Riel was hanged. A person came to their door offering to sell a piece of the rope
that hanged him.
Rupert told us of his father intending to photograph the
last spike to be driven in the CPR line at Craigellachie in Eagle Pass, B.C. on Nov
7. but through some mistake he did not end up on the train that would take him
there.
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Cornelius took photographs all along the western CPR
line, including Banff, Lake Louise, the Fraser Canyon and Vancouver. Many of these
photographs would have been taken in 1883 before his Saskatchewan River adventure.
However I think the photographs in the Banff area were likely to have been
taken at a later time, perhaps on the trip while relocating to Victoria in 1890. The
numbering on the photographs would seem to support this. The numbers along the track
are in a series under 100 and the ones in the Banff to Vancouver area are in a series in
the above 200 range. Anything west of Craigellachie was likely taken after Nov 7
1885 when the last spike was driven and he could travel the line to the west. For
instance the Cisco Bridge was finished in Jun 1884 but CJ was on the North Saskatchewan at
the time.
Cornelius' photographs of the Banff Springs Hotel show
the rotunda on the river side that was there upon completion of the hotel in June of 1887.
The Newton's, a newly wed couple, taking their honeymoon trip, across Canada on the
first through train in July of 1886, acquired some of Cornelius' photographs. Since
none of them were of the Banff Springs Hotel we con guess that CJ's photographs of the
hotel were probably taken after their trip, probably on the trip to Victoria in 1890.
In 1886 CJ's photographs of some of the bridges along the
CPR showed up in the Illustrated London News featuring the Colonial and Indian
Exhibition. CJ received a souvenir medallion for the Colonial and Indian
Exhibition. I take this to be further confirmation that he took the photographs of
the bridges, rather than the other photographers that they are sometimes attributed
to.. |
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