Interior Monologue Benjamin Baltzle and the Geological Survey of BC
A terrible title for an Exciting Exhibit!
Interior Monologues running till next November at the Kamloops Museum & Archives is a fascinating photo exhibit juxtaposing images taken in 1871 by Benjamin Baltzly as part of a Geological Survey of BC (The government was looking for a railway route through the Interior) with images taken in 2019 by KPAC FaceBook friend, Cory Hope. Cory had the help of KPAC’s Lindley Roff who used Google Earth and other resources to pinpoint the GPS locations of the same camera views. There are wonderful enlargements and original photos from the McCord Museum in Quebec along with archival material from the Kamloops Museum. This is a World Class exhibit. Don’t miss it!
Baltzly, along with a team from the Geological Survey of Canada, was tasked to prospect and document a
route through the interior plateau that would be suitable for the new railway that would connect BC to the rest of Canada.
Kamloops Museum & Archives
207 Seymour St. | 250-828-3576
Museum hours: Tuesday-Saturday 9:30AM – 4:30PM ~ Admission $3 per Adult/ $1 per Child
. . . .The expedition was fraught with bad planning and difficulties from the start. They did not leave Montreal until June 26; they missed their steamboat connection in San Francisco causing them to seek alternative transport by local steamer and stage coach. They were further delayed for fifteen days after arrival in Victoria because of the difficulty in locating and purchasing a camping outfit. On reaching Yale at the mouth of the Fraser River Canyon, approximately 120
miles from New Westminster on July 27, they could not find transport of any sort and were obliged to walk along the Cariboo Road up the Fraser River Canyon. Another two weeks were lost in Kamloops due to the difficulty in finding horses and men to hire for the trip into the wilderness of the North Thompson River, the real objective of the exploration party.
Source: “William Notman: the Stamp of a Studio,”
Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario and Coach House Press, 1985, p. 53-56.
Benjamine Baltzly Exhibition (youtube)
