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Olof Hanson fonds
- Date Range
- [1910-1951]
- Collection
- Olof Hanson fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- graphic material
- Scope and Content
- Fonds includes photographs, personal scrapbooks, and accounts ledgers and correspondence from Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. Scrapbooks include newspaper clippings, photographs, election posters and House of Commons debate programs, which document Hanson’s involvement in the lumber trade and politics.
- Collection
- Olof Hanson fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- graphic material
- Fonds No.
- PF15
- Accession No.
- 1981.5
- 1982.21
- 2017.7
- 2020.36
- Physical Description
- 38 cm of textual records, 62 photographs
- Date Range
- [1910-1951]
- History / Biographical
- Olof Hanson was a Swedish immigrant born in Tannas, Sweden in 1882 to a poor farming couple, Hans Ingebrikston Hanson and Kirsten Olson. When he was 20 years-old, Hanson immigrated to United States, pursuing his education in Spokane, Washington, and spending summers working as a farm hand in Minnesota, North Dakota and Idaho. He left Spokane in 1905 to work for a large sawmill in Bonner Montana. Later that same year he left to homestead in Canada.
- Hanson bought land in Manville, Alberta and spent his time cultivating land and erecting buildings. In the winter seasons, Hanson worked in Grand Trunk Pacific Railways construction camps, cutting ties and bridge timbers for the new line. Hanson left Manville in 1907 and with a companion walked towards Hazelton, B.C., surveying the timber resources along the entire 800-mile route. In 1909, Hanson arrived in Prince Rupert to begin his business, supplying the GTP railroad construction with cut ties. When the construction of the GTP railway was completed, Hanson began producing cedar poles for exportation.
- He married Martha Johnson (who emigrated from Sweden to Gunn, A.B., near Edmonton, in 1907 with her parents) in Prince Rupert in 1910. Together they had two children, Linnea (1911) and Olof, Jr. (1914).
- Demand grew once more for railway ties and by 1919, Hanson had at least 20 camps along the rail line employing about 300 men. Hanson continued to operate company tie camps in addition to the sub-contracts. Hanson was also involved in sawmilling, with the Royal Lumber Co. being built in 1920 and located on the Skeena River near Hannall, B.C. HHanson, with a partner named Shockley, were contracted to build the original bridge over the Skeena River at Terrace, B.C. in 1924 and the Central Park Building in Smithers, B.C. in 1925. Come 1926, Hanson constructed an office building on the corner of Main and Broadway in Smithers, moving his company’s headquarters into it. From here Hanson directed the varied operations of his company.
- He was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Skeena District in 1930, and held office for 15 years. Hanson was also president of the Royal Fish Company, Massett Canneries, the Prince Rupert Board of Trade, a partner in a real estate firm and had extensive minin interests in the Skeena and Bulkley Valleys. He served as vice-president of the Scandinavian Aid and Fellowship Society and was an active member of the Lutheran Church and the Masonic Lodge. Later Hanson served as president of the Smithers Board of Trade, became the Swedish Counsul of British Columbia and was appointed to the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission.
- During Hanson’s absences, Austin Goodnenough, Field Superintendent, would manage the business interests. Hanson’s son, Olaf Jr., finished law school at McGill University, in Montreal, QC, in 1937, returning to work for his father’s company. Shortly after a year, Olaf Jr. joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, but epilepsy forced him to leave the service and return to Smithers, becoming vice-president of Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. Hanson entered semi-retirement in 1945.
- Olaf Jr. (“Bill”) passed away in 1950 from a heart attack. Hanson passed away in 1952 and his company, Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. sold to the Bell Pole Company of Hazelton, B.C. in 1954. Linnea Hanson passed away April 2, 2011.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds includes photographs, personal scrapbooks, and accounts ledgers and correspondence from Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. Scrapbooks include newspaper clippings, photographs, election posters and House of Commons debate programs, which document Hanson’s involvement in the lumber trade and politics.
- Arrangement
- Original order no longer exists, so records are artificially arranged.
- Type of Record
- Archival Description
Less detail