Joseph Hunter (Canadian politician)

Joseph Hunter (May 7, 1839 – April 8, 1935) was a Scottish-born surveyor, civil engineer and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Cariboo from 1871 to 1875 and from 1900 to 1903 and Comox from 1890 to 1898 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1898 and 1903 provincial elections.

Hunter was born in Milton of Murtle near Aberdeen in 1839^[1] and educated at the University of Aberdeen. He came to Victoria, British Columbia in 1864. From 1872 to 1874, he worked performing surveys for the future Canadian Pacific Railway including one route across what is now Wells Gray Provincial Park. He discovered and named the Murtle River and Murtle Lake for his birthplace.^[2]

In 1875, Hunter was employed by the Canadian government to establish a boundary between the province of British Columbia and the state of Alaska on the Stikine River.^[3] In 1883, he became chief engineer for the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway; in 1886, he also became general superintendent for that railway.^[1] In 1878, Hunter married Frances Ellen,^[4] the daughter of John Robson.^[1] He died in 1935, aged 94.^[5]

References

1. Morgan, Henry James, ed. (1898). The Canadian Men and Women of the Time: A Handbook of Canadian Biography (first ed.). Toronto: William Briggs.
2. Neave, Roland (2023). Exploring Wells Gray Park, 7th edition. Wells Gray Tours, Kamloops, BC. ISBN 978-0-9681932-3-5.
3. Gosnell, R. Edward. A history; British Columbia. pp. 772–3. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
4. "Marriages (1872-1935)". BC Archives. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
5. "Deaths". Leader-Post. April 9, 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-07-21.