LANGLEY, B.C. — The trucking industry has changed significantly in the past 10 years, but the changes are even more mind boggling if you look back 100 years and the B.C. Trucking Association is looking to capture that history.

In 1913, the General Cartage and Storage Association, the forerunner of the B.C. Trucking Association, was formed by a group of companies including both team-drawn freight wagons and early automobiles.

The campaign for a single Canadian highway – the Trans-Canada Highway – had begun in 1912, but there was no coast-to-coast road system. Some roads were mere tracks of mud and rock, and out in B.C., the Hope-Princeton (Highway 3) didn’t even exist.

That’s just one slice of trucking history the BCTA is looking to capture. The association is looking to publish more trucking tales from the past century to help celebrate the BCTA’s 100th anniversary in 2013, and they’re looking for help.

The BCTA needs material to illustrate the trucking history book – photos, souvenirs, old maps, waybills, company logos, licence plates – really, anything of interest from the last hundred years.

If your company maintains an archive or has a history written up, the BCTA would like to see it.

“We’d also appreciate having a resource list of members who are willing to be interviewed, especially if your company has existed for some time,” says the association. “But there are no requirements for contributing.”

The book is meant to be a history of trucking in B.C., not just specifically the BCTA, so contributions don’t have to be from just members.

To contribute photographs or other memorabilia to this project, please send details about what you have to BCTA’s Communications Specialist, Shelley McGuinness, by e-mail at shelleym@bctrucking.com or you can fax to her attention at 604-888-2941.

A brief description is suitable, especially if you have a large collection, or you can scan and send examples or provide links for photo sharing online. Suggestions and comments are also welcome.