Dr. J.S. Helmcken (Sign missing)

Helmcken, a pioneer Hudson's Bay Company doctor, played a leading role from 1856-71 in the colonial politics of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. A spokesman for those who thought Canada was too distant to make a union practical, he served on the 1870 Confederation delegation to Ottawa. A train trip across the U.S. showed him that the railway to the Pacific promised by Canada could indeed bind the union.

From BC's Stops of Interest