He tamed mountain of horror – but at what cost?

Fame can be a fleeting thing—today’s “celebrity,” tomorrow’s nonentity. It can get worse than that—yesterday’s hero, today’s heel!

Even though he has a British Columbia mountain named for him, if you google Andrew Onderdonk, he gets little mention beyond the first two listings of several pages of other Onderdonks which include members of his own family, and doctors and lawyers, etc.

There’s no denying that time not only passes—but times change. Once celebrated for his building of much of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Fraser Canyon, there’s no denying Onderdonk’s engineering abilities or his strength of character even a full century and a-half later.

What has come under the glass in latter years is his treatment of the army of Chinese labourers he imported to blast his way through the mountains.

A look at Andrew Onderdonk, engineer extraordinaire and—in the eyes of some—villain, in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Andrew Onderdonk. —Vancouver City Archives