During the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the meat company owned by Patrick Burns [1856–1937] unloaded cattle near McBride at the junction of Dominion Creek and the Fraser River. The cattle were rafted down from Tête Jaune Cache, near the slaughterhouse at Swift Creek. The Ontario-born cattle king made his fortune supplying meat to the construction camps.

Burns was born near Oshawa, Upper Canada. While living at nearby Kirkfield, he made a friendship with William Mackenzie, a young contractor who would help Burns in establishing a meat business on a large scale. Mackenzie’s firm was general contractors for the construction of the Canadian Northern Railway.

Burns came west in 1878, and established a slaughter-house in Calgary in 1890. He bought the 7,000 deeded acres of the CK Ranch on the north side of the Bow River about 10 km west of Calgary in 1905.

His company became one of the largest meat-packing businesses in the world, with branches in London, Liverpool, and Yokohama. In 1931 he was appointed to the Canadian Senate, but relinquished his seat in 1936. He died at Calgary.

“Burns P & Co Ltd meat market” is listed in the 1918 Wrigley’s British Columbia Directory under McBride. The company also had British Columbia operations in Ashcroft, Corbin, Cranbrook , Fernie, Field, Golden, Grand Forks, Greenwood, Hazelton, Kamloops, Kaslo, Kelowna, Marpole, Nanaimo, Natal, Nelson, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Phelan, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Princeton, Revelstoke, Rossland, Salmon Arm, South Fort George, Steveston, Trail, Vancouver, Vernon, and Victoria.