Charles Fenn Pretty
Encyclopedia
Charles Fenn Pretty was the father of the forestry industry in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

.

Early years

Charles Fenn Pretty was born in 1865 to an Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 family. Charles was brought up on the family farm at Belleville
Belleville, Ontario
Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...

. In his early twenties, he entered the contracting business. He quickly made money off of the demolition of the old jail at Stratford
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of 32,000.When the area was first settled by Europeans in 1832, the townsite and the river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is the seat of Perth County. Stratford was...

 by selling its timbers at a profit. However, he lost everything after building several hundred houses in Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...

 for a contractor who went broke and couldn't pay.

In 1890, he moved to New Westminster with 17 cents in his pocket and, according to tradition, booked a room in the best hotel straightaway. He got wind of a poorly organised housing project with an impossible deadline, took it over and immediately set about rounding up all available labour from local bars. He finished with one day to spare and to a satisfactory standard. With the proceeds from this development, he opened a fish cannery but was faced with strong opposition. To solve this problem, Pretty bought the entire supply of ice in New Westminster. By 1892 he had bought out all his competitors and incorporated C.F. Pretty and Co.

Forestry

At the end of the 1890s, the forestry industry was gaining momentum and importance in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 and Charles began to invest in timber lands. In 1903, he founded Pretty's Timber Exchange. The corporation acted as brokers for timber limits scattered throughout the province, accumulating large acreages for sale by buying up numbers of smaller holdings. This was a huge success.

By the start of the First World War, Pretty was director or president of several major forestry companies. He was said to sell more timber in a day than any other man, making him a huge fortune. However, the Wall Street Crash of 1929
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...

hit business hard and he lost much of his businesses. His sons would go on to enter the logging industry, a venture that the family continues to be involved in to this day.

Death

Charles Fenn Pretty died in May 1940, aged seventy-five. His wife, Charlotte, survived him by only one year.
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