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The History of the Challenger Map |
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The Rockies, the foothills, the island-studded lakes and the long, jagged coast line with its innumerable inlets and bays have all been reproduced vividly on George Challengers Relief map of British Columbia. Since his arrival in British Columbia in 1896 George had probably traveled over more of the northern part of the province than any other white man, and his experience as prospector, miner, survey crewman, logging and sawmill operator uniquely fitted him for the map making project. It was his desire to instill in British Columbia's youngsters the same sort of pride in the province that finally prompted him to build the big map. The map was built over a seven-year period, (1947-1954), from three-dimensional cutouts of quarter inch fir plywood donated by MacMillan Bloedel. With help from his wife and his son Bob, George Challenger cut, painted and assembled the 986,000 pieces individually on 180 4-by-8 foot and 16 4-by-4 foot panels of plywood at a total cost of $252,000. He then donated it to the Pacific National Exhibition to be available for viewing by visitors and locals alike. |
 George Challenger at the fretsaw he used to create the 986,000 pieces of the Challenger Map |
The Challenger Map resided in the British Columbia Pavilion at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. It was installed in 1954 at the time of the British Empire Games held at Empire Stadium also at the PNE Grounds. Over the next 43 years the map was seen by millions of visitors to the PNE and many more tourists, locals and particularly school groups during the rest of the year. In 1997 the BC Pavilion was torn down and the map moved to storage at Bekins Moving and Storage in Richmond BC.
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 The size of the map can be compared to the people working on the map and on the overhead gantry. |
