Prince Rupert

Sister cities

• Cangzhou
• Owase

History

Coast Tsimshian (Ts'msyen) occupation of the Prince Rupert Harbour area spans at least 5,000 years. About 1500 B.C. there was a significant population increase, associated with larger villages and house construction. The early 1830s saw a loss of Coast Tsimshian (Ts'msyen) influence in the Prince Rupert Harbour area. Prince Rupert replaced Port Simpson as the choice for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) western terminus. It also replaced Port Essington, away on the southern bank of the Skeena River, as the business centre for the North Coast. The GTP purchased the First Nations reserve, and received a grant from the BC government. A post office was established on November 23, 1906. Surveys and clearing, that commenced in that year, preceded the laying out of the town site. A $200,000 provincial grant financed plank sidewalks, roads, sewers and water mains. Kaien Island, which comprised damp muskeg overlaying solid bedrock, proved expensive both for developing the land for railway and town use. By 1909, the town possessed four grocery, two hardware, two men's clothing, a furniture, and several fruit and cigar stores, a wholesale drygoods outlet, a wholesale/retail butcher, two banks, the GTP Hotel and annex, and numerous lodging houses and restaurants. The first lot sales that year created a bidding war. Prince Rupert was incorporated on March 10, 1910. Although he never visited Canada, it was named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, as the result of a nationwide competition held by the Grand Trunk Railway, the prize for which was $250. With the collapse of the real estate boom in 1912, and World War I, much of the company's land remained unsold. The GTP also planned a large hotel, the Château Prince Rupert,…

Geography

Prince Rupert is on Kaien Island (approximately northwest of Vancouver), just north of the mouth of Skeena River, and linked by a short bridge to the mainland. The city is along the island's northwestern shore, fronting on Prince Rupert Harbour. It lies at similar latitudes to Cumbria and the city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the northeast of England. At the secondary western terminus of Trans-Canada Highway 16 (the Yellowhead Highway), Prince Rupert is approximately 16 km west of Port Edward, 144 km west of Terrace, and 715 km west of Prince George. Prince Rupert has an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb, Trewartha Dolk) and is also located in a temperate rainforest. Prince Rupert is known as "The City of Rainbows", as it is Canada's wettest city. It has annual averages of precipitation ranging from at the airport to in town. In addition, on average 240 days per year receive at least some measurable precipitation, and on average there are only 1242 hours of sunshine per year, so it is regarded as the municipality in Canada that receives the least amount of sunshine annually. Tourist brochures boast about Prince Rupert's "100 days of sunshine". However, Stewart, British Columbia, receives even less sunshine, at 985 sunshine hours per year. Out of Canada's 100 largest cities, Prince Rupert has the coolest summer, with an average high of . Winters in Prince Rupert are mild by Canadian standards, with the average afternoon temperature in December, January and February being , which is the tenth warmest in Canada, surpassed only by other British Columbia cities. Climate is controlled by several factors: prevailing westerly global winds, the influence of the Pacific Ocean, regional pressure systems, and local topography. Summers are mild and comparatively less…

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,215
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,058
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,039
• Alaskan pink shrimp

  Pandalus eous Makarov, 1935 · Malacostraca
  1,857
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,649
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,416
• sidestripe shrimp

  Pandalus dispar (M.J.Rathbun, 1902) · Malacostraca
  1,377
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  1,375

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2022-12-24
  97 km WSW of Prince Rupert, Canada
• M 2.8 — 2022-10-21
  98 km WSW of Prince Rupert, Canada
• M 3.9 — 2022-10-21
  99 km WSW of Prince Rupert, Canada
• M 3.8 — 2022-10-10
  61 km ESE of Metlakatla, Alaska
• M 2.9 — 2022-10-10
  61 km ESE of Metlakatla, Alaska
• M 2.8 — 2020-06-21
  62 km WNW of Terrace, Canada