Lieut. Gov. Joseph W. Trutch, c. 1875
BCA Catalogue No. HP002101
BCA Negative No. F-07196
Photo: B.C. Archives

After British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871, the Dominion Government appointed Joseph W. Trutch as the Province's first Lieutenant Governor. He actually owned a house in Yale which he had built in 1863. Trutch was apparently an Engineer who had been responsible for the construction of the Alexandra Suspension Bridge on the Cariboo Road in 1863.

As the railway construction was about to begin, in 1880, Trutch became the Federal government's "Dominion Agent" in Victoria. The Daily British Colonist of Victoria (April 23, 1880) described his position primarily in connection with the railway lands.

The papers, &c., relating to the appointment of Hon. J.W. Trutch as the resident agent of Canada for British Columbia at a salary of $5,000 per annum, with an allownance of $5 per diem for travelling expenses when travelling, were laid before Parliament on the 7th inst. The instructions are long, but the following is a synopsis of their contents:—He is charged with the entire management and administration of the lands in the Pacific slope to be transferred by the Province of British Columbia to Canada for railway purposes; with the obtaining of a statement of the condition, &c., of all lands within the twenty miles railway belt; the establishment of a branch of the Surveyor-General's office either in Victoria or New Westminster, as shall be found convenient, and to employ with the approval of the Council the necessary draughtsmen; with obtaining from the Provincial Government the substitution of good lands elsewhere equivalent to such lands within the railway belt as may be valueless; with obtaining a survey of the twenty-mile belt and to advise the Government in regard to the same, and the substitution of valuable for valueless lands; with exercising a general supervision over all Indian affairs in the Pacific Province, and conferring with Mr. Superintendent Powell and other chief officers in charge.

While the 'instructions' do not specify Trutch's responsibilities as regards the construction of the railway, he seems to have acted in some general supervisory capacity, particularly as the work progressed and the railway was to be transferred to the Dominion government.

Trutch was often attacked in print in the pages of The Inland Sentinel and was a regular guest at the Onderdonk Residence in Yale. As the contracts neared completion, Trutch enjoyed Onderdonk's Private Car on the newly constructed railway.