Louis Patrick comes West

Long before Joe Patrick started a lumber company in British Columbia whose sale financed the start of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, his elder brother Louis came west to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway and earned an enviable reputation for safely and efficiently running trains through some of the most challenging mountain terrain imaginable. He also became well known in his adopted home of Revelstoke, BC.

Lou Patrick and W. McCullogh with engine No. 561 at Field, BC in 1908. (Courtesy of the Revelstoke Railway Museum, P-1294)

“Everyone within hearing distance of his engine whistle knew when Lou Patrick was coming home,” wrote Ruby Nobbs in Revelstoke History and Heritage. “It was a whistle distinctively different from that of any other engine and Lou liked it that way … The sound of that whistle gave Mrs. Patrick just enough time to get a meal ready for Lou before he arrived home.” [1]

Some jokester once swiped Lou’s whistle and substituted another in its place, but Lou didn’t find it funny at all and raised hell at the CPR shop until the missing whistle was recovered. [2]

Lou was born in 1854 at South Durham, east of Montreal. The CPR hired him at St. Boniface, Man. in 1878 as a brakeman on its Pembina branch. After four months he became a conductor, and six months later he started working as a fireman. [3] He became a locomotive engineer in 1881 or 1882, whereupon he was assigned to the construction of the CPR main line across the Prairies. [4] Among his prized possessions was the first timetable issued west of Winnipeg. [5]

On June 6, 1886, Lou drove the first passenger train across the Rocky Mountains from Canmore, Alta. through Lake Louise to Donald, BC — a feat that alone ensured his fame in railway circles. [6]

At Donald, he “devoted his spare time … to spinning yarns and presiding at ‘mock courts.’ He was dignified almost as much so as a British Columbia Supreme Court justice, and his sentences were always carried out to the letter by ‘Jim’ McBride, his sheriff.” [7]

Although lauded for his safety record and ability to run his trains on time, Lou was lucky to have escaped a couple of dangerous scrapes. In 1882, the train he was driving collided with another in the Winnipeg rail yard. Both locomotives were badly damaged, but no one was injured. [8] (This blemish on his otherwise sterling record was long forgotten or ignored when his obituary claimed he retired “without having had a single accident.” [9])

In 1888, Lou was driving a passenger train about three miles from Anthracite, Alta. (now a ghost town in Banff National Park) when it began to cross a bridge across the Bow River. Due to a sudden thaw, the bridge buckled. Quick-thinking Lou reversed the engine, throwing passengers against each other. While shaken, no one was hurt. An examination revealed how narrowly disaster had been averted: the engine was six inches short of falling into the river and dragging the rest of the train with it.

“But for the prompt and brave action of the driver, who stuck to his post like a hero, averted the calamity, and the passengers have him to thank for their almost miraculous escape,” the Calgary Tribune observed. [10]

On Dec. 22, 1886 (or Dec. 23, 1887 — sources vary), Lou married Minnie Eliza Hood Compston, 23, in Winnipeg. [11] Her first husband had died a couple of years earlier, leaving her with two children, Annie and Charles. [12]

Minnie was a railway pioneer in her own right. After learning telegraphy from a brother-in-law who worked for the CPR in Moose Jaw, she became the first CPR agent at Lake Louise (then known as Laggan), which is presumably how she met Lou. [13]

The 1891 census found the family at Canmore with the addition of Lucinda Eleanor (Lulu), who was born in Donald in 1888. [14] Another daughter, Tannis Perlye, was born in 1893 in Canmore. A son, born in Banff in 1896, was named Wilfrid Laurier after the prime minister, but died just short of his first birthday. [15]

By 1899, the family relocated to Revelstoke, by then a major CPR divisional point, where two more children were born: Jean Marilla in 1899 and Louis Thomas (Jack) in 1903. [16]

In 1901, Louis had the honour of serving as engineer on the train that carried the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (the future King George V and Mary of Teck) from Lake Louise to Revelstoke. [17] He also operated the first train through the spiral tunnels of the Kicking Horse Pass in 1909 and was the first to traverse the Connaught Tunnel when it opened in 1916 — distinctions earned by virtue of seniority and probably safety record. [18]

Vancouver Province, May 10, 1939 showing the royal trail crew of 1901, including Lou Patrick.

In 1902, daughter Lulu fell ill with an unknown ailment. Lou took her to Montreal, where her left arm was amputated. Upon their return home, the Revelstoke Herald was “pleased to announce that the young lady has fully recovered from the operation and is now in splendid health.” [19]

Unfortunately, the improvement was only temporary. In 1905, Lulu was sick again. She died a month later at home, age 17, a crushing blow to her family and many friends. Following a funeral attended by the teachers and students of the city’s schools, she was buried in the Revelstoke cemetery. [20]

The family received another scare in 1918 when Minnie, Jack, and one of the sisters caught the Spanish flu. Hardest hit was Jack, who suffered from double pneumonia. Louis took him to Vancouver General Hospital, where he recovered. [21]

Lou finally retired from the CPR after more than 40 years’ service, including 32 years at the helm of passenger trains No. 1 and 2. The last 18 months he spent on the short Arrowhead branch line south of Revelstoke. His final run came on Oct. 31, 1919. [22] The next day Lou left to join his family in Vancouver, where they had recently moved. [23]

Although Lou received a pension from the CPR, he had a problem: in his later years, he didn’t work during the winter, but the pension was based on the average of his last 10 years’ earnings. He found it difficult to get by. So around 1924, possibly at the urging of former CPR colleagues, the provincial government hired him to mind a bridge at Eburne, a now-vanished community in Richmond. In this position, The Vancouver Sun said, he “gave splendid service.” [24]

But in 1929, Louis received a note from the acting minister of public works that read: “This is to notify you that your services will no longer be required after today.” An hour later, he was out of a job.

The Sun, in going to bat for him, noted “In all his years with the CPR, Mr. Patrick never received one black mark. In his five years as bridge tender at Eburne there was never a complaint against him … Railway men are said to be deeply resentful not only at his dismissal, but at the abrupt and inconsiderate way in which this pioneer western railroader was ditched. Vigorous protests have been made from several quarters.”

It was for naught. As for the reason for his dismissal, none was given except that it was part of Conservative Premier Simon Tolmie’s reorganization of the civil service in the interests of “efficiency and economy.”

The Sun speculated, however, that Patrick’s Liberal connections did him in. Although he wasn’t as active politically as his brother Joe, he did serve as vice-president of the Revelstoke Liberal Association in 1915 and name his son after a Liberal prime minister. (Although it is not known if Lou met Sir Wilfrid Laurier on his visits to Revelstoke in 1894 or 1910. Laurier did meet other Patrick family members in Nelson.) [25]

Minnie and Louis Patrick, in their retirement years.

•

Louis Patrick died on May 13, 1942 at his home at 6379 Yew Street in Vancouver, age 88. He was survived by his wife, son, two daughters, brother Feather, and five grandchildren. [26]

Minnie Patrick died in 1958, age 95. [27] Among her other claims to fame, she served as the first president of the ladies auxiliary to Brotherhood of Railroad Engineers at Revelstoke when it was founded in 1908. [28] Oddly, there was no sign of her two children from her first marriage after 1891.

•

Did Louis pave the way for other family members to come to BC? It’s unclear.

In a footnote to Coast to Coast: Hockey in Canada to the Second World War, Jon Chi-Kit Wong wrote: “In an interview with the Patricks’ descendants, they could not recollect if Louis and Minnie had any influence of Joe’s coming west.” [29] However, Wong did not say which descendants he spoke with.

We do know that Lou Patrick visited Nelson in 1904 and expressed a desire to live there, a couple of years before Joseph first showed up in that city. But it wasn’t to be. [30]

•

What signs remain in BC of the Louis and Minnie Patrick family?

The 1911 census indicated the family lived at 225 Second Street in Revelstoke, an address that no longer exists. However, in Revelstoke History and Heritage, Ruby Nobbs revealed this home was renumbered 403 Second Street East and still stands. I photographed it a few times many years ago before discovering that it was the Patrick home.

It still has its original gingerbread trim and used to be unpainted, except for a robin’s egg blue trim. This was still the case as of September 2015, when Google Street View captured it. But it has since had new siding added, as seen below.

A photo caption in the Revelstoke archives says the home belonged to the Patricks from 1900 to 1918.

The Patrick family home in Revelstoke in the 2000s.

The Patrick family home in Revelstoke in May 2025.

The Patrick home at 5574 Larch in Vancouver also stands. BC Assessment indicates it dates to 1920, and therefore might have been built by or for Louis and Minnie, as they were listed there on the 1921 census.

The house at 6379 Yew Street, where the couple was living when Lou died, is also still standing, as is Minnie’s final residence at 3528 West 12th Ave. These are all minor miracles for a city hellbent on erasing its heritage homes.

The Revelstoke Museum has a clock that belonged to Lou, which is depicted on an interpretive panel in Centennial Park on the history of railways, pictured below.

Grave markers remain in Banff and Revelstoke respectively for Wilfred Laurier Patrick and Lucinda Eleanor (Lulu) Patrick. Louis and Minnie also have grave markers in the Masonic section of Burnaby Heritage Cemetery.

Lulu Patrick’s gravemarker in the Revelstoke cemetery.

Notes

[1] Revelstoke History and Heritage, Ruby Nobbs, 1998, p. 41-42

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid

[4] “Pioneer of western railroading guests at banquet,” The Province, 19 Feb 1925 and “Louis Patrick, 89, pioneer engineer with CPR, dead,” The Vancouver Sun, 15 May 1942

[5] Kootenay Mail (Revelstoke), 20 May 1905

[6] “Louis Patrick, 89, pioneer engineer with CPR, dead,” The Vancouver Sun, 15 May 1942

[7] Kootenay Mail, 28 May 1904

[8] “Serious collision,” Winnipeg Daily Sun, 12 May 1882

[9] “Louis Patrick, 89, pioneer engineer with CPR, dead,” The Vancouver Sun, 15 May 1942

[10] “A hairbreadth escape,” Daily British Columbian, 16 Apr 1888, quoting Calgary Tribune

[11] https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/106781769/person/190081240086/facts, viewed 3 Jun 2020

[12] https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/106781769/person/190081246008/facts, viewed 3 Jun 2020 and Revelstoke History and Heritage, op. cit., p. 41-42

[13] “Railway pioneer dies at 95,” The Vancouver Sun, 7 Apr 1958

[14] 1891 Canada census and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190919860, viewed 3 Jun 2020

[15] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50087412/wilfred-laurier-patrick, viewed 3 Jun 2020

[16] Calgary Herald, 12 May 1899 and https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/106781769/person/190081240086/facts, viewed 3 Jun 2020

[17] “The men in the cab,” Vancouver Daily World, 27 Sept 1901

[18] Revelstoke Mail Herald, 16 Dec 1916 and and “Noted pioneer fired by gov’t without notice,” The Vancouver Sun, 28 May 1929

[19] Revelstoke Herald, 8 Jan 1903

[20] Revelstoke Kootenay Mail, 11 Mar 1905 and 22 Apr 1905

[21] “Praises treatment at general hospital,” The Province, 5 Nov 1918

[22] “Louis Patrick, 89, pioneer engineer with CPR, dead,” The Vancouver Sun, 15 May 1942 and Revelstoke History and Heritage, op. cit., p. 42

[23] Revelstoke History and Heritage, op. cit., p. 42

[24] “Noted pioneer fired by gov’t without notice,” The Vancouver Sun, 28 May 1929. All subsequent details about Lou’s work at Eburne are also from this story.

[25] “Revelstoke Liberals hold annual meeting,” The Vancouver Sun, 23 Feb 1915

[26] The Province, 15 May 1942 and “Louis Patrick, 89, pioneer engineer with CPR, dead,” The Vancouver Sun, 15 May 1942

[27] “Tribute paid pioneer,” The Province, 7 Apr 1958 and “Railway pioneer dies at 95,” The Vancouver Sun, 7 Apr 1958

[28] Revelstoke History and Heritage, op. cit., p. 42

[29] Coast to Coast: Hockey in Canada to the Second World War, Jon Chi-Kit Wong, p. 251

[30] Kootenay Mail, 28 May 1904

Updated June 5, 2025 to add current pictures of the Patrick house in Revelstoke as well as Lulu Patrick’s gravemarker and the interpretive sign showing Lou Patrick’s clock.