UC-NRLF
and Geography of
British Columbia
Lawson and Young
O O
W, J, Gage & Co, Limited
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Class
(Safe's 20tb Century Series
H
1foi8tor\> anb
of
British Columbia
FOR USE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
HISTORY — By MARIA LAWSON.
GEOGRAPHY — By ROSALIND WATSON YOUNG, M.A.
Authorized for use in the Schools of British Columbia.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
W. J. GAGE & COMPANY, Limited TORONTO
^
Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the office of the Minister of
Agriculture, by W. J. GAGE & COMPANY, Limited, in the year
one thousand nine hundred and six.
CONTENTS.
HISTORY.
PAGE
CHAPTER I 9
CHAPTER II. Nootka Sound 15
CHAPTER III. The Hudson's Bay Company 23
CHAPTER IV. Explorations Overland 30
CHAPTER V. A Hudson's Bay Colony 39
CHAPTER VI. How We Are Governed 45
CHAPTER VII. A Crown Colony 49
CHAPTER VIII. Confederation 57
CHAPTER IX. Churches and Schools 64
CHAPTER X. Later Progress 70
GEOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I . . . ' 81
CHAPTER II. Vancouver Island 87
CHAPTER III. The Coast. — Queen Charlotte Islands ...... 104
CHAPTER IV. Atlin 110
CHAPTER V. New Westminster District 116
CHAPTER VI. Yale District 123
CHAPTER VII. Lillooet. — Cariboo 130
CHAPTER VIII. Kootenay District 137
Appendix 147
192821
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGK
Provincial Parliament Buildings, Vic- toria Frontispiece
First Steamer on Pacific and Steamer
of To-day 11
New Westminster iti Early Days . . 12
New Westminster of To- Day . . . . 13
Indian Cradle 14
Captain Cook 16
Launch of the " North-west America." 17
Captain Vancouver 19
Vancouver's Ships in Nootka Sound . . 21 Fac-Simile of Hudson's Bay Company's
Standard of Trade 23
Prince Rupert 25
Stalking Seals 26
Rival Traders '., 27
An Old Trapper 28
Sir Alexander Mackenzie 30
Fort St. James 31
Ships of the Hudson's Bay Company .. 32
Indian Raid 33
Sir James Douglas 35
Esquimalt Harbor 36
Fort Simpson— Indians in foreground . . 37
Fur Brigade 38
Hudson's Bay Company's Fort, Victoria 40
An Aboriginal Stockade 42
First Assembly in British Columbia . . 44
Too Busy to " Tal k Politics " . . . . 45
Yale, on the Fraser 50
Coke Ovens, Comox 53
Old Parliament Buildings, Victoria . . 56
Home of the Buffalo 60
Bishop and Mrs. Cridge 65
Indian Church, Metlakahtla .. .. 66
Craigflower School, Vancouver Island. 67
An Indian Burial 70
A Centre of Supplies 72
Chinaman 73
King Edward VII. . 74
PAGE
.. 80
.. 82
.. 83
.. 84
.. 85
.. 87
.. 89
.. 90
.. 91
.. 92
.. 94
.. 95
.. 96
.. 97
.. 99
.. 101
.. 103
.. 105
.. 107
.. 109
.. Ill
. . 112
.. 113
.. 114
.. 118
Fraser River Bridge, New Westminster 120
Vancouver Harbor 121
Ashcroft 125
A "Round-up" 127
Harvesting in Vernon . . . . . . 129
Cariboo Waggon Road 130
Quesnel 133
"Cariboo Cameron's" Cabin .. ..134
Barkerville 136
Kicking Horse Canyon, C. P. R. . . . 138
Washing Gold 140
A Smelter 142
Tipple and Coke Ovens at Michel . . . 144
Bonnington Falls . . . . 146
The Rocky Mountains
Okanagan Lake
A Glacier
The Fraser River
Si wash Rock
Devil's Club
The Olympic Mountains
City of Victoria
Rockside Orchard Dry Dock, Esquimalt . Aerial Tramway
Chemainus
Coal Mine
Steam Logging
Cable Station
Quatsino Wharf
Nootka in 1778
Totem Poles
Oolachans in Net
Haida Types
Dredge at Gold Run Hydraulic Mining
Dog Team
Town of Atlin
Fishing Fleet in Fraser River
MAPS.
Hudson's Bay Company's Territory . . 8 Vancouver's Track along N.-W. Coast. 22 Northern British Columbia . . 51, 115 Haro Archipelago, Showing the Three
Channels 62
Disputed Territory 77
Map of British Columbia Vancouver Island Queen Charlotte Islands Westminster District. Yale District Kootenay District
79 86 108 116 129 137
INTRODUCTORY.
THIS little book has been prepared for the use of the public schools of British Columbia, in the hope that the children who study it will derive both pleasure and profit from its perusal. Its aim is to show how, from a wilderness, this province has become the home of civilized meiij who are preparing the country for a much larger population.
We shall see how the explorers came here, first by sea, afterward by land ; how they were followed by the fur-traders, the fur-traders by the gold-seekers; and they in their turn by the miners, lumbermen, manu- facturers, fishermen and merchants, who now occupy the settled parts of the province. In the course of our story we shall learn how, from a fur-trading territory, British Columbia became a province of the Dominion of Canada and was linked to her sister provinces by the great railroad which has done so much toward making of the inhabi- tants of widely separated provinces a united people.
If, while reading these pages, the children learn to love better the grand and beautiful province which is their home, and resolve that, by honest work and brave endeavor, they will do their part toward making it a great country, the earnest wish of the authors will have been accomplished.
HISTORY
. . OF . .
BRITISH COLUMBIA
CHAPTER I.
BRITISH COLUMBIA, the largest province of Canada, is situated between the Eocky Mountains on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. The States of Washington, Idaho and Montana lie to the south of it, while the Canadian territory of Yukon and the district of Mackenzie
stretch from its northern limits to the Arctic and Extent.
Ocean. For about three hundred miles along the
northern part of the coast there is a fringe of islands and deeply indented rocky territory belonging to the United States. The extent of this strip of seacoast was a matter of dispute between Great Britain and the United States for many years. In 1903 a commission, appointed by England, the United States and Canada, settled the question of the position of the boundary line between Alaska and British Columbia.
The many fine harbors of the Pacific province and the great length of its seacoast have already made it noted for its commerce. Its position on the border of the continent makes it the western gateway of Canada. A line of magnificent
9
10 HISTOKY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Canadian steamships crosses the Pacific with wonderful regu- larity, to exchange the productions and manufactures of the young Dominion for those of the ancient lands of India, China and Japan. Another line, not greatly inferior in size and ac- commodation, traverses more than a quarter of the distance round the globe, returning with fruits and other products of Australia and the islands that lie along this great route across the pathless ocean. Every week, the Pacific Steamship Com- pany's steamers bring mails, passengers and freight from San Francisco, the greatest western port of the United States, meeting often on their way ships laden with coal from the collieries of Vancouver Island.
To and from the cities on Puget Sound steamers ply daily
to supply us with many things that the busy ircia brams anc[ skilful hands of our kinsfolk in the
neighboring republic have prepared for our use, taking in return such products of our mines, our fisheries and our forests as will find a market there.
From Vancouver and Victoria, during summer, numbers of steamers carry to the miners of Northern British Columbia and the Yukon, food, clothing, machinery, furniture and books, and whatever else will help to make life in the far north comfortable, prosperous and happy. All along the coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, are fur-trading, fishing and mining settlements which furnish a profitable trade to the merchants of Victoria and Vancouver.
Besides the ships bent on peaceful errands, gun -boats were formerly seen in British Columbia waters, Esquimalt being until recently, the British naval station for the Pacific Coast.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
11
But we have lingered too long outside. Pausing one moment to glance at the great sailing vessels or big steamships that, having crossed two oceans, bring merchandise from Great Britain or some other distant land, we turn our attention to the province itself. The sides of the coast mountains, the islands, and the uncleared valleys, are covered with a magnificent growth of timber, which one might suppose would last forever, did he not know that regions which half a century ago were clothed with forests almost as vast, are now timberless.
THE "BEAVER," FIRST STEAMER ON THE PACIFIC, AND A STEAMER OF TO-DAY.
The city of Victoria, at the south end of Vancouver Island, seems to welcome the traveller from his ocean voyage.
Its lovely gardens, delightful climate, and picturesque surroundings invite him to make his home there. A great deal of business is done in its quiet streets. Want is comparatively unknown and many of its citizens are wealthy. It is, as the splendid parliament buildings show, the capital of the province. The population of Victoria and its suburbs is at least 25,000. Nanaimo, an important coal-mining centre, on the east coast,
Beauty of the Capital City.
12 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
seventy miles from Victoria, has about six thousand inhabitants. There are also several smaller towns on Vancouver Island.
As yet, only the southern portion of the island is inhabited. Farmers and coal-miners have been at work there for half a century. Recently, copper and silver were found between Victoria and Nanaimo. Mines have been sunk and smelters erected to separate the metal from the ore. On Texada Island is a marble quarry ; there, also, are iron, copper and gold mines.
Crossing to Burrard Inlet we find spread out before us on the mainland, a rapidly grow- ing city. Its wide and well- ^j paved streets, large park, excellent system of water- works and many good school buildings testify to the public spirit of its citizens. This is Vancouver, the
largest City in British Columbia. NKW WESTMINSTER IN EARLY DAYS.
It has a population of over forty thousand, and is the centre of the lumber trade in the Province.
The neighboring city of New Westminster, on the Fraser, is the oldest city on the mainland.
Though it has not fulfilled the hopes of its founders, its lumber mills and salmon canneries give employment to a large number of people. It is the centre of a fine agricultural district, and has a good
market and considerable country trade. '" ^ Vancouver we first see the Canadian Pacific
th C't"
Railway, which has climbed over the wall of moun-
tains separating this province from the rest of Canada. Part of the goods that come to Victoria and Vancouver from Asiatic ports for eastern Canadian and United States cities, and even those for Great
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 13
Britain, are sent over this great continental road. To the south of the railroad and along its route, mines have been developed and cities are growing up. Of mining towns, Rossland and Nelson are the largest, though there are nearly a score more.
The silver, lead, copper and gold of Kootenay and Yale have been heard of all over the world, while the fruit and grain of Okanagan are finding markets both at home and abroad. There are great coal mines at the Crowsnest Pass and smelters in various places. Rich gold mines are operated in Cariboo, Omineca and the Boundary.
NEW WESTMINSTER OF TO-DAY.
Branch roads from the Canadian Pacific and the Great Northern Railroads have entered southern British Columbia in many places and others have been projected. To the north, though there are great cattle ranges in Cariboo, and a number of men employed in hydraulic mining, the country is to a large extent uninhabited. With the exception of a few missionaries, gold-seekers, fur-hunters and employees of the salmon canneries, the great districts of Cassiar and Omineca have 110 civilized inhabitants ; and large tracts of land there are yet unexplored.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, no white man had made his home in all this region — greater than any
14 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
European kingdom — that lies west of the Rocky Mountains between the 49th and 60th parallels of north latitude. At the present time, however, the white population of the province is estimated at about 160,000.
Its forests and valleys, the banks of its streams and the rocky islands near its coast, were the haunts of beautiful fur-bearing animals. Beside the rivers, or in sheltered coves, dwelt tribes of savages who dressed themselves in the skins of these creatures and lived on the salmon that every summer sought the fresh water in millions. Other tribes among the mountains obtained a less certain livelihood by hunting. Many of the Indians were skilled in the arts of carving and weaving. The coast tribes were good canoe builders, and displayed much ingenuity in making fishing implements and weapons of warfare. Learned men tell us that the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains are descended INDIAN CRADLE. from the inhabitants of the opposite coasts of Alaska, or of the islands in the Pacific Ocean, but no one has yet discovered certain evidence of this, or of how or when they found their way to our shores.
CHAPTER II.
NOOTKA SOUND.
IN the mighty battle that is ever going on between sea and land, the western coast of the American continent has, throughout the greater part of its extent, stood firm against the ceaseless onset of the waves of the Pacific Ocean. For hundreds of miles, in both North and South America, there is scarcely a break in the shore line. But, as the mariner nears the forty-ninth parallel, a very different scene presents itself. The land is everywhere indented with long narrow inlets, bordered by great rocks or over- hanging precipices. Hundreds of islands have broken away from the mainland, and against their rocky shores the first force of the western waves is spent. It was on one of the inlets in the largest of these islands, that the history of British Columbia began.
In 1774-5, three Spanish explorers sailed along the north- west coast of America, from California nearly E i ' t'° ^ne Border of Alaska, and claimed the terri-
tory for the king of Spain. In the course of their voyage they landed at Nootka Sound, on the west side of the island now known as Vancouver.
In 1778, Captain Cook, a British navigator, reached the same inlet. This famous man had twice before sailed round the world. He set out on his third voyage in order to find an open passage between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. For more than two hundred years, captains of ships had tried to" thread their way among the islands and icebergs of the North
15
16
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
CAPTAIN COOK, 1787.
Atlantic Ocean, seeking the open sea, which was believed to lie near the North Pole. They had failed.
Captain Cook hoped to succeed by entering the Arctic Ocean from the west, He left England in 1776, and, after a long cruise in the Southern Seas, crossed the Pacific. He first saw land near Lat. 44° on the coast of Oregon. Missing the mouth of the Columbia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, he reached Nootka. Here he found a safe harbor where he could repair his ships — the Resolution and Discovery. Soon great numbers of Indians came in canoes to see the strange white men and their wonder- ful ships. The natives were dressed in beautiful furs which the explorers admired. •
Before sailing away, Captain Cook gave to a friendly chief a parting gift, and received in return a valuable beaver robe. The Indians begged their visitors to return, promising to have a store of skins ready for them. In this way began the fur-trad^, which for many years was the chief business, not only of the island, but of the whole of British Columbia.
When his ships were repaired, Captain Cook sailed north. He reached the Arctic Ocean, but could see no sign of an open passage. However, it was late in the season, and he hoped to have greater success in the spring. But he had taken his last voyage. He was murdered by the natives of the Sandwich Islands where he had gone to winter. Captain Clerke, who
Captain Cook Saw the I/and.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
17
succeeded to the command of his ships, tried, but he also was unable to find the open sea, and the expedition returned to England. The chief result of this voyage was the knowledge gained that the north-west coast of America abounded in valuable fur-bearing animals.
Not long afterward British fur-trading ships from England, India and China appeared on the coast. The first of these came in 1785. Cape Scott, Barkley Sound, Dixon Entrance, Queen Charlotte Sound and other places were discovered and named by the masters of these vessels.
In 1788 Captain Meares arrived at Nootka with two large ships. He was one of a company of East India merchants who had pre- pared in China an ex- pedition to the north- west coast, to establish a trading post there. Be- sides the
crews of the ships, he brought with him ninety men, among whom were mechanics, both white and Chinese. The Indians were friendly, arid Meares bought a site for his trading
LAUNCH OP THE "NORTH-WEST AMERICA."
18 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA,
post. There he erected a large building to serve as store- house, dwelling and workshop for his little colony. As f soon as possible he set his men to work to build
Explorations a S^p — ^e North- West America — meanwhile going out to explore the coast and to purchase furs. He entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, examined the coasts on both sides, and made friends with several tribes. Later, he launched his ship and then returned to China to sell his furs and prepare for a still larger expedition the next year. The new ship and another were left at Nootka with directions to winter at the Sandwich Islands and return as early as possible in the spring.
In May of the following year two Spanish ships arrived from San Bias in Mexico, destroyed Meares' establishment, seized his ships as they arrived from China and the coast, and sent two of them as prizes to San Bias. The indignant trader complained to his government of the insult to the British flag and of his loss of property. England remonstrated with Spain; but the government of that country declared Meares was a trespasser on Spanish territory, and denied the right of any other nation than Spain to settle on the Pacific coast of America south of the Eussian possessions.
There was talk of war, but the quarrel was peaceably
settled. The Spaniards agreed to pay Meares for his
losses, to abandon Nootka Sound and to allow
the British to trade, sail and settle wherever with Spain.
they wished on the west coast north of San Francisco. To satisfy the offended dignity of England, the Spanish fortifications at Nootka were to be destroyed, the
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 19
Spanish flag lowered, and that of England hoisted in its stead. The harbor was then to be abandoned by both nations.
The British government commissioned Captain George Van- couver to proceed to North America to see that this ceremony was duly performed, and to search the coast thoroughly for any waterway that could lead to the Atlantic Ocean.
Near the end of April 1792, Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca with two war ships— the Discovery and the Chatham. The officers of these ships gave their names to so many places along the coast, that it is well to learn who they were. On the Discovery were Captain Vancouver and Lieutenants Mudge, Puget and Baker. The officers of the Chat- ham were Commander Broughton, Lieutenant Hanson and Master Johnstone. The expedi- tion left Falmouth on April 1st, 1791, so
CAPT. VANCOUVER.
that a year had passed before Vancouver arrived at his destination. As they sailed up the strait, the voyagers saw, away to the north-east, a splendid snow-covered
mountain peak, which Vancouver named English Captains Mount Bak in jlonor of itg discoverei,.
Explore the Coast.
As they coasted slowly along, capes, har- bors, islands and bays received the names of places or people in the old land dear to those sailors who had roamed so far from home.
Soon they entered the body of water that still bears the name of Lieutenant Puget, and spent weeks in following the windings of its shores. They left Puget Sound about the end of
20 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
May and began the exploration of the islands and coasts of the Strait of Georgia. Strangely enough, Captain Vancouver missed the mouth of the Fraser River, as, in coming along the coast of what is now the State of Oregon, he had passed, without noticing it, the mouth of the Columbia.
«r
In June he met two Spanish captains, Don Yaldez and Don Galiano. They told him that Quadra, the commander of the west coast of Spanish America, had arrived at Nootka and awaited him there. Before meeting Vancouver, the Spaniards had visited — besides other places — Victoria Harbor, Nanaimo and Burrard Inlet, but they, too, had missed the mouth of the Fraser River. The English and Spanish captains were very friendly, and together they explored many islands and inlets of the Strait of Georgia, some of which such as Galiano Island still retain their Spanish names ; while Johnstone Strait and Cape Mudge recall the English explorers.
When the lateness of the season warned the English that they must hasten on their way, the courteous Spaniards — whose vessels were much slower — gave them charts of the waters toward the northern end of the island.
By the close of August, Vancouver reached Nootka Sound, where he was hospitably entertained by General Quadra.
When the* British officer produced his Interesting History . ,. AT ,, „
f "F 1* ~n instructions to receive Nootka h-om the
Spanish commander, Quadra si tiled that
he had received no orders to deliver the place to him. Van- couver agreed to wait; and, in the meantime, the island, whose coasts had now been thoroughly explored, received Ilie name of the Island of Quadra and Vancouver. The I wo
HISTOKY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA. 21
commanders spent some time pleasantly together, and parted in September when Quadra sailed for Monterey.
In October Vancouver went to the Sandwich Islands to winter. The officers never met at Nootka again. When Van-
QUADRA S AND VANCOUVER S SHIPS— NOOTKA SOUND.
couvcr Mimlo his final call in 1794, he was grieved to learn that Quadra had died the previous winter. General Alva succeeded to his command, but still no orders had been sent from Spain concerning the delivery of Nootka to the British.
In 1793 Vancouver went on with his exploration of the west coast of the mainland, again returning to the Sandwich Islands for the winter. The following spring he sailed directly for the coast of Alaska, and proceeded southward till he reached the highest point gained the year before, thus com- pleting his survey of the coast from Cape Flattery to Alaska. He was then able to report that no great body of water pene- trated the continent of America above the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude. Vancouver's maps of the north-west coast and the journals of his voyages have been relied upon by England
22
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
in all disputes with foreign nations con- cerning her owner- ship of British Columbia.
In 1792 Vancou- ver had sent Captain Broughtoii home by- way of China with despatches. Not re- ceiving any orders, he sailed for England in the autumn of 1794. He was pro- moted, but did not live long to enjoy his honors. In 1798 this brave and cap- able officer died at the early ago of forty.
Lieutenant Pearce and General Alva met at Nootka in March 1795. Th«> Spanish fort, there, was dismantled, the lands restored to 1 lin- king of England, and the British flag hoisted. England luid established her right to settle on the north-west coast of America. Then both commissioners sailed away and the place was left to its original owners — the Indians.
SKOTION OK ONE OF VANCOUVER'S MAI'S.
Showing his vessel's track along the north-west coast when he was seeking a
waterway to the Atlant ii-.
CHAPTER III.
THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
ALTHOUGH it is little more than a hundred years since the first white man crossed the Rocky Mountains and entered
|
N« XIX. |
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STANDARD of TRADE at the feveral FACTORIES of the |
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FAC-SIMILE OF COMPANY'S STANDARD OF TRADE. |
British Columbia, if we go much further back we shall find facts which had a most important bearing on the early history of the province.
Over two centuries and a half ago, the people of England
went to war with their king, Charles L, because he wanted to
put his own will in the place of the laws of the
"" * country. He was defeated, taken prisoner, and
when it was found that he did not intend to keep the
23
24 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
many promises he had made, was beheaded. England tlfen became a Commonwealth, at the head of which was a great man whose name was Oliver Cromwell. At his death the English nation, which, after all, loved the name of king, recalled the son of Charles I. from exile and put him on his father's throne.
Even those most devoted to the royal family of Stuarts, have been able to say little that is good about Charles II. However, he was fond of science, took an interest in com- merce, and had considerable knowledge of the discoveries made by the many great sailors who had, from the days of Queen Elizabeth, crossed the seas and explored the shores of distant lands.
In the year 1666 two French fur- traders were brought from New England to London by a great lord, Sir George Carteret, who had been sent by Charles II. to America to settle some disputes among the English colonies there. These traders, whose names were Radissoii and Groseilliers, had lived many years in Canada and had quarrelled with the governor of the French colony because he had fined them heavily for trading in furs without a license. They told the king about
the great bay to the north of Canada which had renc }}(^n discovered by an Englishman, Henry Hudson,
some ififty years before; and described the animals living in the Surrounding regions. They showed what uivat fortunes were made by those who bought rich furs at a trifling cost from the natives of the western wilderness, and sold them at high prices in European cities. Why should not London merchants have a share in these profits t
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
25
The two Frenchmen strengthened their statement by offering to guide British ships to this wonderful Bay of the North, if the king would furnish them. The king had a cousin, Prince Rupert,
a famous cavalry officer who had fought gallantly for Charles I. during the civil war. Charles II., his brother James Duke of York, and Prince Rupert, were greatly interested in the story told by these foreign fur- traders, and approved of the plan proposed. Accordingly two vessels were sent out in 1668, and the report of Radisson and Groseilliers was found to be true.
In 1670 a charter was granted to a company of gentlemen — with Prince Rupert at its head — giving them "the whole trade of all those waters that lie within the entrance of Hudson's Straits and of all the lands that border those waters." They and their successors were made sole owners and rulers of the region thus described.
What were the waters spoken of in the charter ? Look at your map. The Saskatchewan, flowing from the Rocky Mountains, the Red River, rising near the source of the Mississippi, and a number of streams issuing from the rocky region to the north- west of Lake Superior, all find their way into that great natural reser- voir called Lake Winnipeg. When it can hold no more, it
PRINCE RUPERT.
The "Great Company " Formed.
26
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
STALKING SEALS.
sends its surplus waters by way of the Nelson River to Hudson Bay. The Churchill, the Severn, the Albany and a thousand lesser streams empty directly into the bay. The territory thus drained forms the larger part of Canada. Little did the selfish, easy- going king guoss how vast an * JB extent of land he was giving away. All that the Company was asked to do in return for the great privileges granted them, was to endeavor to find the North-west Passage from ocean lo ocean, and to teach Christianity to the savages.
At first the Company prospered greatly. Markets were found in Holland for the furs not needed in England. The shrewd Dutch merchants sent the furs they bought from the Hudson's Bay Company, to Russia. Forts were built at the mouths of the principal rivers emptying into Hudson Bay, and ships were sent out from England every summer with cargoes of goods, to return in. October laden with costly skins of the seal, beaver, otter, marten and silver fox.
But before long there came stormy times for
French the Qreat Company. The French fur-traders were
Traders jea]ous of their English rivals. The forts on IIu<ls<m
1S* Bay were taken and n>lak<>n ninny times between
1685 and 1713, and profits grew less in consequence. At that
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
27
time, however, Hudson Bay became, by treaty, an undisputed possession of England, and has remained so ever since.
The Company's men did not go far inland. The Indians brought them all the furs they wanted. The country around the bay was, except for a few months of the year, a dreary, barren wasto, dangerous to traverse. The conversion of the Indians, and the finding of a North-west Passage were alike looked upon by these shrewd, sober traders as the dreams of enthusiasts impossible to realize.
In 1731, however, a French family of explorers, the Veren- dryes, set out from Lake Superior and built trading stations at Lake Winnipeg, on the Assiniboine and on the distant Saskatchewan. They, of course, occupied the terri- tory in the name of the king of France. Whether news of these ex- plorations reached England or not, there began to be great dissatisfac- tion in that country, with the Hudson's Bay Company, which would — it appeared — neither explore the iiorth-
RIVAL TRADERS.
28
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
_>T A. 4^. A.
west of America nor allow any one else to do so. On account of its want of enterprise, France was likely to get possession of territory that rightfully belonged to England. In spite of the condition in the charter, no attempt had been made to discover the North-west Passage. Many other accusations were brought against the great corn- Seeking the pany of fm.-traders ; but beyond the fact that it limited its operations to building about half a dozen factories (trading posts) on the shores of the bay, nothing was proven. Its officials declared that they had tried to find the North-west Passage, but were convinced that no open channel existed.
Since that time numbers of valuable lives have been lost and great sums of money expended in the search, yet men of to-day are no nearer finding a water Way between the Atlantic and the Pacific, than were the explorers of the eighteenth century. In 1769 a daring trader and suc- cessful explorer, Samuel Hearne — sent out by the Hudson's Bay Company- discovered the Coppermine River, reached the Arctic Ocean, and on his return in 1772, visited Lake Athabasca. He made friends, during the journey, with all the Indian tribes he met. Six years before Hearne set out on his journey, Canada had come into the possession of the English, and in 1783 a number of Scottish merchants in the old fur-trading city of Montreal formed themselves into an association called
AN OLD
HISTOKY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA. 29
the Northwest Company, and sent out expeditions of French voyayeiArs and trappers by way of Lake Superior, to hunt and trade in the great prairie country. Then began a busy time for the Hudson's Bay Company. On every lake and river between the Rocky Mountains and the bay, and between the Arctic circle and Ilni United States frontier, where bands of Indians could bring their winter's gathering of furs, forts were built by one or both companies. Often there were fights between the rival traders, and each company tried to sell its goods cheaper and give more for its furs than the other. At last, fearing they would both be ruined, the companies united in 1821. The new association, thus formed, bore the old name of the Hudson's Bay Company.
CHAPTER IV.
Alexander Mackenzie.
EXPLORATIONS OVERLAND.
IT is to the Northwest Company that the honor belongs of first sending explorers across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. In 1788 a young Scotchman named Alexander Mac- kenzie was stationed at Fort Chipewyan, on the shores of Lake Athabasca. Adventurous and enterprising, he determined to exchange the life of a fur-trader for that of an explorer. He left the fort on the third of June, 1789, and having cruised around Great Slave Lake, found its outlet, the great river now called by his name. In six weeks he reached the Arctic Ocean, and on the 12th of September returned to Fort Chipewyan, before the frosts of winter had sealed the river. He had traversed a vast fur-bearing region and was con- vinced that the road to the Pacific did not lie through the Arctic Ocean. Feel- ing his need of the knowledge of the use of instruments, he spent most of the year 1791 in England, studying astronomy and mathematics. In the autumn of 179'J 1m returned to Lake Athabasca, where he inad<* preparations for a journey to the Pacific coast.
Already, posts had been established along the Peace River; and, wintering at the most westerly of these, Mackenzie set out
30
8IK ALEXANDER MACKKN/JE.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. .31
early in the spring of 1793 and rowed through the Peace River Pass in the Rocky Mountains. Turning south, he followed the Parsnip branch of the Peace River to its source. After a short portage he embarked on a stream fed by a thousand mountain torrents — the mighty river now known .as the Fraser — and followed it to the mouth of the Quesnel. Finding his course impeded by rapids and waterfalls, he left the Fraser, and, turning west, travelled by land till he reached the Bella Coola. He procured a canoe from the Indians and paddled down that river to the ocean, which he reached on the 22nd of July, 1793.
Mackenzie was afterward knighted by King George III.
Early in the nineteenth century the Northwest Company determined to occupy the country into which Mackenzie had discovered a way. Two men, a Scotch-Canadian named Simon Fraser, and an English surveyor and astronomer, David Thomp-
son, were sent to establish trading posts in the Fraser and [m {
Thompson.
Rocky Mountains,
and to explore its rivers. Fraser ^ followed Mackenzie's route into what v^^ these Scottish fur-traders called New Caledonia. He and his hardy compan-
i. --li. Tfc 1 ~\T i • TT
ions built Rocky Mountain House — now called Hudson Hope — Fort St. James on Stuart Lake, Fort Fraser, and Fort St. George at the mouth of the Nechaco. Fort McLeod had already been established on Lake McLeod.
Having founded the northern fur trade, Fraser, in 1808, in defiance of danger and difficulty, explored the Fraser to the present site of New Westminster. This pioneer fur-trader and
FORT ST. JAMES.
32
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
explorer of the Pacific slope lived to be a very old man, but received no honor, unless he counted it one that the grand river whose course he was the first to follow was named after him.
In 1805 Thompson found his way into southern British Columbia, where he discovered and explored the Kootenay and the Upper Col- u m b i a with their many trib- utaries and lake expansions. He established the fur-trade in the Kootenay coun- try. He crossed
, -. SHIPS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
and recrossed
the mighty range of the Rocky Mountains, and is said to have been the first to traverse Kicking Horse, Vermilion, Athabasca and Kootenay passes. At last, in 1811, he was ready to descend to the Pacific coast by the Lower Columbia. But Lewis and Clarke — explorers from the United Stntes- had preceded him. In 1805 they had reached the Col- umbia at its confluence with the Snake River and followed its course to the occ.-ui. When, in 1811, Thompson iirrived ,-tl the mouth of the Columbia, In* Found that a fur-trading station, called Astoria, had been established there by a rich New York merchant, John Jacob Astor. Thompson was hospitably treated by the fur- traders at Astoria, .Mini 1m \ ing accomplished his commission, returned to Canada. In the honor-roll of men who have helped
Rival Explorers.
ISTOKY or BRITISH COLUMBIA.
33
to make~Canada, the name of this explorer and pioneer sur- veyor of the rich region of south-eastern British Columbia, should not stand last.
Near the close of the war of 1812, Astoria was purchased for the Northwest Company by John G. Mactavish. Shortly afterward the flag of England was hoisted at the post by the captain of a British cruiser. In 1818 the place was restored to the United States by treaty, although the Northwest Com- pany was allowed to retain its property there. The loyal fur- traders had changed the name of Astoria to Fort George. The first governor of the united fur-trading companies was George Simpson. Few men have ruled a wider territory. He was master of all Canada— excepting Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces — besides the greater part of that region now included in the States of Washington and Oregon. Under him were officials noted for their business ability andhonorable deal- ing. Their skill in the management of the native races did much to save Canada from the horrors of Indian warfare, and made
it possible for the INDIAN RAID.
more capable among the Indians to share in the occupations and adopt the pursuits of white men.
34 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
The Hudson's Bay men, with few exceptions, treated the
Indians of this coast as fellow-creatures — kindly, firmly,
honestly. Of no one was this truer than of John
n ianj MacLoughlin, the manager of the Company's affairs
T t d on ^ie north-west coast, who came to Fort George
in 1824.
MacLoughlin determined to abandon this post and to build a new one on the north bank of the Columbia. This change was made because it was thought that before long the boundary between British and United States territory must be drawn, and it was believed that the Columbia River would form part of that boundary. The site chosen was about six miles from the mouth of the Williamette. Here was erected Fort Van- couver, for twenty years the principal Hudson's Bay station on the Pacific coast. Other posts were established farther up the river and on Puget Sound. Fertile situations were selected and farms cultivated. Cattle were imported and saw and grist mills built. Soon lumber, and the produce of the farm and cattle ranches, were sent to the Sandwich Islands, to the Russian settlements in Alaska and to the forts in the Upper Country. MacLoughlin ruled at Fort Vancouver, loved and respected by his subordinates as well as by the Indians who, though hostile at first, soon became the firm friends of this noble white man.
Attracted perhaps, by the reports of the Company's successful
experiments in commerce and agriculture, immigrants from the
Eastern States came to live in the neighborhood of
Settler °f its forts an<1 t>arms in Ol'e£on> and the shrewd
officials sa\v that a still more northern site must be
found to serve as ji centre for their trade on the Pacific slope.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
35
They determined that the best situation for such an establish- ment was the southern end of Vancouver Island.
In 1843, James Douglas went from Fort Vancouver to what is now the inner harbor of Victoria City. This man who played so large a part in the early history of British Columbia, was then about forty years of age. He had been in the ser- vice of the fur- traders since boyhood and had spent about twenty years west of the Rocky Mountains. Although he j had passed most of his life in the wilderness, he was neither ignorant nor uncultivated. His body was vigorous and his intellect powerful. He was a brave, honorable man and an efficient servant, whether of the Company or of the Queen.
Douglas soon selected the present site of Victoria as the most suitable for his purpose. It was near the ocean and in its neighborhood was a large area of excel- lent farming land. Moreover the situation was Douglas, very Beautiful. It was at first called Camosun, Founder of /, m, , *'•!_• „ i
v- , . The place of rushing water," the name given by
the Songhees Indians, whose village was not far away. With the fort-builders, came Father Bolduc, a Jesuit missionary whose preaching had so great an effect on the surrounding tribes of savages — the • Songhees, the Cowichans and the Clallams — that numbers of them were baptized. The Indians looked upon the erection of the fort with no friendly
SIR JAMES DOUGLAS.
36
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
eye, but they did not interfere with the work of the builders, and by October, 1843, a large and strong fort was ready for occupation. Charles Ross, who was put in charge of the new establishment, lived only a few months. He was succeeded by Roderick Finlayson, a gentleman who spent the greater part of a long life in the city of which Fort Camosun was the beginning, and performed the many duties that fell to his lot with perfect integrity and thoroughness.
In 1845 the name of the new fort was changed to Victoria. It was a prosperous place. Crops grew well and flocks and herds increased. Trade sprang up with the Russian ports in Alaska. Goods were imported from England; and the Hudson's Bay Company's forts along the coast and in the interior were supplied with these as well as with the produce raised in the vicinity of Victoria. Occasionally whaling ships called at the
neighboring harbor of Esquimalt for sup- p lies. Gradually the Indians be- came friendly, or at least peaceable. When in 1845 there was talk of
war between Eng-
^INSKS&BA BhilPk*
*S1 land and the United
Ks^riMAi/r iiAunoK. States concerning the
Oregon boundary, quite a. fleet of warships were stationed at Esquimalt.
In 1818 'an agreement had been made between England and
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
37
No Trade Restrictions.
the United States by which the subjects of both nations were equally free to trade, hunt or settle on territory west of the Rocky Mountains, between the forty-second and forty-fifth parallels of north latitude. This agreement remained in force till 1846 when the Oregon Treaty was signed, making the forty-ninth parallel the bound- ary to the middle of the channel, where the line bent south in order to give all of Vancou- ver Island to Great Britain.
As the Hudson's Bay people would thenceforth have to pay duty on all goods brought by them into American territory, the posts there were abandoned. During the forty years that elapsed since Fraser and Thompson had carried the fur-trade across the Rocky Moun- tains, their successors established stations at intervals over the territory now called British Columbia, and opened up a profit- able trade with almost every tribe of Indians living there. The posts on the coast were Fort Rupert at the northern end of Vancouver Island, Port Essingtoii near the mouth of the Simpson River and Fort Simpson on Portland Canal. (Forts Taku on the Taku River and McLoughlin on Milbank Sound
FORT SIMPSON— TSTMPSHEAN INDIANS IN FORKGROUND.
88
ii
i;i nsi
m v.
h.i.l UM*N ulwutUmod Vfhen Oamosun WM roundel) A
,•:. h.'.l northward from l.;in:\l«\\ lo Kort Si
.•in. I h.M,' .in.l th.Mv, in \\liMl :no no\\ rnlloil KootouM\. i >k.ina;v;iu
an.l \ .-ilr hisiriois, iho ii|mn> - il .
. \ lotions I-\M! KMtnloops, \\lurh was ihotMMii
imk i iiio forts .MI ..ihl thoaQ on tho Columbia,
most important uf tho interior tiwiing poets, ^ hio of t; .in.l Irmlors at thoso stations vv»ks a
MM. I .lan.-..M.Mis ,>n.> N .MI a! ipio.l tin*
outpoata of . i\ Biiation, sun-oiuuioa i.\
MM. I onl\ \ isitoil l'\ a \\Mihlorinii Inivolli IIP. IM N .-atli.MT.l lh«
Lonely
mid I'nsutc.
ol
to
or
pro\ i-i
>! ih
d ,>
tlit^ n»n^ ^ lo il-,.
tUr l> O I M U t s I
•,t \w
OXMIUUUU^
Dough »
tho Uiituo oi' ihi- iiMturnhxi.
most ,>f tii. d to M rin»
sol.i au.l th. I iho KV
r u\mio U poxMl.l,-
aiul
plants oi" tins of in
CHAPTER V.
A HUDSON'S BAY COLONY.
ilu«|*on'* Bay ( ny had
••N id. liriti*h North America. Gradually
y west of Hnd»on Bay and ted th< 'Mtinent. Thu* far
h.-..| .1. ..It with In«han- «.nly, .'m«l it was their policy to
When immigrant* did
™ i near their trading-
rut I
v at once abandoned those dim-net*,
wlii«-h v, iM t*?a*t» and wild men fled. The Hudson's Bay !n»-n i -ll»-nt U*r«, >n.it excepting in
thf f 11 r- trader** day wa* pa«t,
(( r* and 4rader* of Fort Victoria
nl'l ••hniJit*- and fine harbor* of Vancouver
I*larid, a« well a* it* wealth «.F < oal, rnn*t »ooner or later
•vith the new- it}, thi- fi.-liari*; and in order that no • I'l dum in t i (ftid*on** Bay Company
in I -F-oin th*. British Government a grant of
<»«*• of col' it. There
wa« ly, and the great corpora-
i with a charter for five year*,
I Blan*hard wa* f«: 'I governor of the new
v, c'lltliuujrh the ( 'iave their own
N
40 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
chief factor, James Douglas, selected to fill the position. No salary was provided for the governor, who arrived in 1850. He resigned his post and left the colony in 1851. Governor Blanshard was a conscientious gentleman, anxious to do his duty, but at that time there was no need of him, as there were very few colonists ; and the Hudson's Bay Company, who owned all the property and employed most of the people on Vancouver Island, were very well able to manage their own affairs.
During his short stay of about a year and a half the governor spent much of his private means, — for living, in Victoria, was very expensive. He was succeeded the same year by Douglas, who was provided with a salary of £800.
The colonist who, attracted by the advertisements in the English papers, came out to the new
colony, in those days A Walled
would have seen on Town. .
landing at Victoria, a
little walled town protected by two bastions. Inside the walls were the Company's stores, warehouses and workshops, with cottages for its servants and a large building where the officials had their quarters. Outside of the fort, where much of the present city stands, was the fine farm of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a few miles away, at Craig- flower, that of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. If the stranger had enquired the price of land in the neighborhood, he would have been told there was none for sale, as ten square
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 41
miles were reserved for the use of the Hudson's Bay Company and another large tract for the Puget Sound Company. Beyond these reservations, land could be bought for one pound sterling an acre. If an immigrant had money enough to procure a hundred acres, he was compelled to place three families or six single persons upon it.
The first settler in the colony was Captain Grant, a Scotch- man, who bought a farm at Sooke. He shortly after sold his land to Michel Muir, whose descendants still own it. The second pioneer had a farm at Metchosin.
No goods could be purchased in the colony except at the Company's stores, and if the farmer were fortunate enough to have any produce to sell, he must exchange it for the Com- pany's goods, as money was riot then used in Victoria. The colonist who ventured to engage in trade soon found that the Company undersold and outbid him till he was forced to give up his enterprise. Most of the early immigrants came out as servants of the Company, and many of them were paid in land at the close of their term of service.
The period of the early settlement of Vancouver Island,
was that of the first gold excitement in California. News of
the wonderful success of the miners on the
Sacramento reached Victoria, and not only
California Gold. /
the settlers but the Company's servants made
haste to leave the struggling colony for the gold-diggings. Perhaps it was little wonder that in 1853 the white population of the Island numbered only four hundred and fifty.
In one respect the people of Vancouver Island were fortunate. Douglas effectually protected them from the natives,
42
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
AN ABORIGINAL STOCK A UK.
who were many times as numerous as they. He formed a force of mounted men from among the settlers and servants of the Company; and the commanders of the war-ships stationed at Esquimalt were always ready to help him maintain ordej- or punish crime. He took care that the guilty persons, and they only, were punished. By a dis- play of force he was generally able, without bloodshed, to per- suade or frighten the savages into giving 'up the criminal. On the other hand, the Indians were treated by -the Company with kindness and justice, and the white men were not allowed to injure or molest them in any way.
Nor were the Hudson's Bay officials unmindful of the higher needs of those depending upon them. In 1849 they engaged the services of a chaplain, the Rev. Robert Staines, who was accoinpanied by his wife, a most estimable lady. Mrs. Staines was employed children, of whom there were then several Mr. Staines was not satisfied, either with his duties or his salary, as clergyman. He tried to make money by farming, and when he found difficulties in the way, became a leader of the discontented among the colonists. In 1855, he was commissioned by them to go to England to complain of the misdoings of the Hudson's Bay Company, but the ship in which he took passage was wrecked, and all on board perished. Although so little had been done toward settling Vancouver Island, and in spite of much discontent,
Efforts to Christianize.
to teach the at the fort.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 43
the British Government in 1854 determined to allow the Com- pany to continue its experiment for five years more.
Previous to 1853 the governor and the officers of the Company, had themselves administered justice and maintained order. In that year a chief justice was appointed ; and to meet the expenses of his salary and of the necessary courts, a heavy license fee was exacted from all who sold intoxicating liquors. One of the conditions upon which the Hudson's Bay Company had obtained a grant of the colony, was that the revenue from nine- tenths of all the Crown Lands sold, should be expended for the good of the colony, and it was thought that this would be sufficient without resorting to taxation.
The government at this time consisted of Lieu tenant- Governor Douglas and his council, James Cooper, John Tod, Roderick Finlayson and John Grant. When the Governor-in- Council — finding that the proceeds of the land sales were not sufficient to defray the expenses, of the management of the colony — undertook to make the liquor dealers pay Colonists a iicensei they and other colonists declared that it Object to wag not lawful to tax British subjects who had
Taxation. . . .
no voice in the imposition ot the taxes. Complaints
were sent to England, where for many years governments had been employed in trying to give all who were entitled to it, their fair share of representation in Parliament. The states- man who directed the affairs of the colonies sent Douglas orders to summon a House of Assembly. The governor, as in duty bound, proceeded to obey the command, and the colony was divided into the four electoral districts of Victoria, Esqui- malt, Sooke and Nanaimo. An election was held and the first
44
HISTORY OP BRITISH COLUMBIA.
House of Assembly met on the 12th of August 1856. The names of the members were J. D. Pemberton, James Yates
and James W. McKay, Victoria ; Thos. Skinner and J. S. Helmcken, Esquimalt ; John Muir, Sooke, and John F. Kennedy, Nanaimo. Through the Assembly, the Governor was able legally to obtain the money neces- sary for governing the colony.
Of this little legislature, the only survivor is the Hon. J. S.. Helmcken. For more than half a century he has assisted in the development of the province and watched its progress; and even yet there are few more acute observers and fewer still as well able to form an intelligent opinion on the events of the day, as the "old doctor." He spends a quiet and honored old age in the city of Victoria, where his many deeds of unpretending kindness, long ago gained for him the affec- tion of the community.
Governor Douglas and his Assembly continued to manage the affairs of the colony, when suddenly the discovery of gold roused, not only the methodical fur-traders and the dis- couraged settlers of the Island, but the whole world.
FIRST ASSEMBLY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. (From an old Daguerreotype.)
CHAPTER VI.
legislation.
HOW WE ARE GOVERNED.
UP to 1856, the colony of Vancouver Island was governed by one man — James Douglas. In that year he obeyed, some- what reluctantly, the command of the British authorities to sum- mon a parliament.
Between 1856 and 1871, the legislative assemblies of the colony made laws and granted money, and the governor and council spent the money and conducted public affairs, without much regard for the wishes of the law-makers or the taxpayers. The legislative body had little control over the executive branch of the government. During the first gold ex- c i t e in e n t , people were
too busy to pay much attention to politics, but when British Columbia threw in its lot with the Dominion, a great change was made. Ever since, legis- lators have met at Ottawa to make laws concerning those matters which affect every province in Canada alike, and to
45
Confederation Brings a Change.
JUSY TO "TALK POLITICS.
46 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
vote money for carrying on the business of the whole country; while the Parliament of British Columbia provides for the expenses of such public works as are needed for the exclusive use of the people of its own province, and makes those laws which concern its people only. The members both of provincial and federal parliaments are chosen by manhood suffrage, only Indians and Chinese being prohibited from voting.
Every governing body has two duties to perform. First, it must make laws; secondly, it must see that those laws are obeyed. These are called the legislative and the executive func- tions of government. Sometimes, as in the case of Governor Douglas, before the first Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island was summoned, the same person tells what must be done and then sees that it is done. A school is a good illustration of this kind of government.
In countries governed by the people, there are two ways of
selecting representatives. In one case, each elector votes for
the person whom he considers best fitted by character and
ability to assist in making the laws of the country and in
conducting its business. In this way mem-
bers of school-boards and town councils are are Chosen.
elected. In the other, the man is chosen
who holds opinions on -some great public question which the elector believes to be true, even though he may not be as able or as good a man as his opponent. This is called party government, and is the plan followed in provincial, federal and imperial politics. The man of most influence and ability on either side becomes the leader of the party. After the elections are over, he who has the greater number of followers
HISTOKY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 47
in the legislature, is asked by the governor to form a ministry. The leader then chooses the men whom he considers most able to manage the affairs of the country. When the selections are made, he and his associates take charge of the ship of state, and as long as they remain in office, are spoken of as the Government, the Executive, the Cabinet or the Ministry.
If a member of the cabinet disagrees with his colleagues on any important question he must resign his office. , Should the government lose the confidence of the majority of parliament the premier is expected to .tender his resignation to the governor, who would then call upon some one who he thinks can command a majority, to form a new ministry. The Executive is therefore the servant of Parliament, and Parliament is the servant of the people. If foolish laws are made or if the Execu- tive mismanages public affairs and wastes the people's money, the electors can refuse to return to power the men who have abused their confidence. A wise and upright nation will never long want able and honest rulers.
In British Columbia, as in most other provinces, the people
of the towns and more thickly settled rural districts are
allowed to form municipalities. A government,
called a council, consisting in the cities of a mayor
and aldermen, and in the rural districts of a reeve
and councillors, is elected by the householders every year.
This body levies taxes and has control of the expenditure for
local public works. In this way a town is supplied with
light, water and sewers ; streets are paved, school-houses
built, parks laid out and provision made for enforcing order
within its bounds. The representatives of the municipalities,
48
HISTOEY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
whether in town or country, have important work to do, and should be independent, public-spirited, trustworthy men of good business ability.
Over all our public buildings, whether municipal, i P^>v provincial, or federal, floats the flag of Eng- •^ land, in token of safety and protection. Canadians have the fullest measure of self - government, while the Mother Country defends them from their enemies. The only power which Great Britain still withholds is that of making treaties. Before Canada asks to be allowed to undertake the grave responsibility of dealing directly with foreign nations, she should be prepared to share .in the defence of her shores and the protec- tion of her frontiers.
CHAPTER VII.
A CROWN COLONY.
THE Hudson's Bay factors had long known that there was gold in the river-beds and in the rocks of various parts of the region now called British Columbia. They had sent men to examine these places, but not until 1857 were they
convinced that there was enough of the The Precious . , , , , , -,.
M , j precious metal to make gold -digging more
profitable than fur-hunting. In that year, Douglas reported to the British Government that gold nuggets had been found in the bars of the Thompson; and Finlayson recorded the statement that the precious metal had been dug with iron spoons out of the rocks bordering the river. It was no longer possible, even if the Company had wished it, to keep these discoveries secret. In a few months the news reached the California miners, and during the summer of 1858, thirty thousand gold- seekers arrived at Victoria and pitched their tents outside the walls of the fort. Many of them became discouraged and left the place when they heard of .the distance yet to be traversed and the expense and difficulties of the journey, but thousands persevered and reached the Fraser. A town soon sprang up at Yale; and along the river between Hope and Lytton, every bar was searched and its sands washed. A few sluices were made, but most of the gold was washed out in pans by hand. Though large quantities of
49
50
HISTOHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
gold were taken from the river, many were disheartened by the hardships, the difficulties, and the uncertainties of their life, and forsook the Fraser.
Great profits were made by the Hudson's Bay Company, who had large stores of provisions and other necessaries at its posts. The Company's officials, nevertheless, dealt honorably with the miners and were trusted by them.
From the beginning of the gold excitement, Governor Douglas exercised authority , over the miners of the Fraser River. At first he declared that the Hudson's Bay Company had an exclusive right to carry freight and passengers and to trade on the Fraser. When the Colonial Secretary was informed of this claim, he wrote to Douglas and told him that the only monopoly the Company could claim was that of the fur-trade. In 1858 the British Government created the colony of British Columbia, and took from the Hudson's Bay Company all its exclusive privileges. About the same time England reimbursed the Company for all the expenses which it had incurred for the colony of Vancouver Island, and this, as well as British Columbia, became a Crown
YALE, ON THE KRASER.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
51
colony. Governor Douglas was made governor of each of the colonies.
When the miners first took possession of the gold bars of the Fraser, the Indians resented their intrusion. The savages
thought they had as good a right to the gold Indians ,, « . ,, . ., n
Resentful as in r Wllderness .home, and
attempted to drive away those who were carrying it off. After many murders and more than one little battle, the miners formed a small force under a humane and reso- lute leader named Snyder. The Indians were soon convinced that it was useless to try to overpower the white men, and numbers of them went to work for the miners at good wages. There were many lawless char- acters among the miners, but Douglas promptly appointed officers of justice in all the principal camps. In 1859 Matthew Begbie was made chief justice of British Columbia, and evil-doers, whether white or red, learned to
A SECTION OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA, SOUTHERN YUKON, AND ALASKA, SHOWING ROUTE TO DAWSON.
52 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
their cost that in the wilds of the new colony the man who committed crime would be surely and severely punished. Those who had come to the Fraser to make a living by deceiving and robbing their neighbors, left the camps, and this province became distinguished among mining countries as a place where life and property were safe.
In 1860, great quantities of gold were discovered in the creeks tributary to the Cottonwood, the Willow, and the Quesnel (branches of the Fraser, in Cariboo), and a period of renewed prosperity began for Victoria, as the miners spent their winters, and a large part of their fortunes as well, in the little city by the sea. From Cariboo, the gold-seekers went farther north, to the Omineca, the Stikine, the Liard and Dease Lake districts. Many of them remained from 1872 to 1876 in that northern country, in spite of the fact that scarcity of labor and the difficulty of transporting supplies, made mining, except in the very richest diggings, unprofitable. Twenty years passed before (in 1897) the discovery ' of the wonderfully rich gold fields in the Klondike, Yukon Territory, turned the eyes of the whole world in that direction. The memory of that excitement still remains, substantial evidences being the city of Dawson and the White Pass Railroad (built to accommodate the miners who made their homes in that almost Arctic region), while, within the confines of British Columbia, is the beautifully situated town of Atlin — the centre of a rich mining area.
But though the gold of British Columbia is famed the world over, it was not the first of her mineral deposits whose extent and value became known. In .18^5 a tribe of Indians visited Fort McLoughlin on Milbank Sound. Seeing the blacksmith feeding
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
53
Coal on the Surface.
the forge fire with coal, they informed him that such black stones as he was using were to be found on the beach at the north end of Vancouver Island. Men were im- mediately sent to inquire into the truth of their story, the result being that a fort was built at Beaver Harbor, Scotch miners were brought out, and in 1849 a mine was opened at Fort Rupert. The coal did not prove of the best quality, and in a year or two the mine was aban- doned and the miners removed to Nanaimo, where a large seam of very fine coal had been discovered beside an excellent harbor.
The first mine Bay Company was earliest shipment of
opened there by the Hudson's called the Douglas mine and the coal to San Francisco was made in 1853, when that trade began which is still Nanaimo's chief source of prosperity. A memo- rial of the days of the Hudson's Bay Company's rule, still exists in the old bastion which attracts the attention of the visi- tor as he lands at the Coal City. In 1862 the Nanaimo mines were sold to the New Vancouver Coal Company, an association of British capitalists. For nearly twenty years the mines of this Company were under the management of Samuel Robins, an English gentle- man, who not only extended, developed and improved the mines, but carried out many plans for the good of the people
COKE OVENS, COMOX.
54 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
of the town. In 1902 this group of mines was sold to the Western Fnel Company.
In 1869 Robert Dunsmnir discovered coal mines at Departure Bay, at Wellington and afterwards at Comox. These coal fields are of vast extent and the coal is of excellent quality. Their discoverer became a very wealthy man, and was for some years before his death a member of the legislature. These mines and others since discovered, are now owned by the Wellington Colliery Company, of which James Dunsmuir, son of the Hon. Robert Dunsmuir, is the largest shareholder.
More recently, great deposits of coal have been found in the Crowsnest Pass near the south-eastern border of the province. The coke made from the coal of this region is used in smelting the ores of Kootenay and the mines immediately south of the United States boundary line.
In 1858, when Douglas assumed the office of governor of British Columbia, he, in obedience to the wishes of the Imperial Government, resigned that of Hudson's Bay factor
and severed his connection with the Company Governors of m . , ,, . ....
To assist the governor in maintaining order the Colony. . e
among the miners and in preparing the colony
for settlement, the British Government sent out Richard Clement Moody, colonel of the Royal Engineers and com- mander of Her Majesty's land forces in British Columbia., with a corps of 400 men. On his arrival, Colonel Moody went at once to the Fraser, and finding there was no need of their services as soldiers, set his men to prepare the site for a town to be the capital of the province. The place chosen was on the bank of the Fraser, and a town was laid out which at
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 55
first received the name of Queensborough, soon afterward changed to New Westminster. The city was incorporated in 1860.
In 1863 a legislative council was formed in the colony of British Columbia, consisting of thirteen members, only three of whom were elected by the people. With the assistance of this Council the governor imposed taxes and carried on the business of the colony. The taxes were heavy, for it cost a great deal to open up roads in the sparsely settled country and construct such public works as were absolutely necessary.
In this year Douglas' term of office as Governor of Van- couver Island expired, and Governor Kennedy was sent out to succeed him — though for another year he presided over the colony of British Columbia, whose inhabitants had petitioned that their government should be separated from that of the Island colony. In April, 1864, Frederick Seymour went to relieve Douglas, who received the order of knighthood and, as *SVY James Douglas, retired from public life followed by the best wishes of the principal people of the colony.
The first governor of British Columbia served her long and well. In the twenty- two years of his rule, the territory which had been a vast hunting ground, became a great colony. 'By his resourcefulness, foresight and firmness, the multitude of gold- seekers had been provided for and controlled. Govern- ment had been established and nowhere Governor Douglas ,, ~ , -,
M h E t d in Queen's dominions were there more
law-abiding people than those who dwelt by
the sea-coast of Vancouver Island or among the mountains and rivers of British Columbia. The many tribes of Indians inhabit-
56 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
ing the widely separated territories ruled over "by Douglas, both as chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and as governor of Vancouver • Island and British Columbia, had been treated by him with such humanity, justice and wisdom that the majority of them had come to look upon the white men as friends. British Columbians, young and old, do well to honor the name of James Douglas, the founder of the province. The experiment of dividing the colony did not succeed. The total population of Vancouver Island and British Columbia was not more than fifteen thousand, and it cost twice as much to govern two colonies as one. Accordingly, in 1866,
they were united under the name of the mainland col- ony, but it was con- sidered best that Victor in, where Governor Douglas
OLD PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, VICTORIA. had
at the time was considered a handsome and suitable group of public buildings, should be the capital. (Jovrnior Sey- mour, who had succeeded Douglas as governor of the mainland, was neither wise enough nor strong enough to govern the new colony. He died in 1869, and was followed by Sir Anthony Musgrave, who for the previous five years had been governor of Newfoundland.
CHAPTER VIII.
CONFEDERATION.
THE gold excitement which began in 1858, lasted about ten years. At the close of that period, there were still some white miners and many prospectors at work. But the great majority had abandoned the streams from which the coarse gold had been taken, leaving to the more patient Chinaman or
TIUl
Period.
the stolid Indian, the task of sifting the sand for
the fine grains which remained. Many of the miners, the mechanics and the merchants who had brought their families to the coast in the belief that great commercial cities w^ould grow up to minister to the wants of the miners, found themselves without the means of subsistence in a country where living was very expensive. Some of those who had the means sought a livelihood elsewhere, and the noisy mining camps and busy seaport towns were alike deserted. Yet there remained men of means and working men, too, who could see that in a country where the supply of timber was unlimited, whose rivers and seas teemed with the finest fish, where the rocks were rich in coal and other minerals, and where there were areas (limited, it is true) of rich grazing and agricultural lands, there was room for a thriving, if not a wealthy population. These British Columbians remained in the country and looked around them for some means of developing the vast resources of the colony. A few saw in annexation to the neighboring Republic the way to prosperity, but the majority were loyal British subjects ; and while they
57
58 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
could not help admiring the energy and enterprise with which their American cousins were developing the resources and extending the commerce of California and Oregon, they were determined, for their part, to live under the British flag.
North of the forty-ninth parallel there was a territory whose extent and natural resources were sufficient to support a people
that, in the years to come, might be a great A Pregnant J, . , . ..
^ , nation, but which 111 its growing time would
remain under the protection of England. In 1867, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had united to form the Dominion of Canada, and in 1870, Manitoba. Why should not the Pacific colony cast her lot with them? The answer to this question was that there lay between the Rocky Mountains and the western border of Ontario a wilderness belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, which it was not to the interest of that body to make the home of civilized man. But even the greatest corporation cannot long prevent, the progress of the world, and in 1869 the Dominion purchased the North- West territory. In 1870 Dr. Helmcken and Messrs. Trutch and Barnard were sent to Ottawa to see if Canada would make British Columbia a member of her new household on terms that would ensure the future prosperity of the Pacific province. The premier of Canada, John A. Macdonald, was a wise and prescient statesman. He foresaw that the prairies would in the not distant future form one of the vast granaries of the world, and that a great commercial, mining and manufacturing community would inhabit the Pacific Slope. He determined that British Columbia and the North-West should form part of Canada. He promised the delegates from British Columbia that if that
HISTOKY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 59
colony joined the Confederation a railroad would be built to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean; that the eastern
and western sections of the road would be British Columbia -, -, ,, ., n -, ,
commenced together, and that it would be Joins Canada. ... . , „ . , , .,,.
begun within two and finished within ten
years from the time of Confederation. The consent of the Canadian Parliament was obtained to this bargain in spite of great opposition, and on the 20th of July, 1871, British Columbia became a province of the Dominion of Canada.
Governor Musgrave, who was a man of much tact and ability, helped to negotiate the terms of union and assisted in bringing about the introduction of Responsible Government, which took place on the eve of Confederation. He was succeeded by Sir Joseph Trutch, the first governor of the province of British Columbia.
The work of building the road was even more difficult than had been anticipated, and the surveyors had not decided upon the best route when, in 1873, Sir John Macdonald resigned. A company of which Sir Hugh Allan was the head, was trying to get a contract to build the great railroad. An election must soon take place ; and Sir Hugh Allan and his associates, thinking that the Macdonald party would be more likely to favor their scheme than a Liberal Government, con- tributed a large sum to the Conservative election fund. The electors, justly indignant that the Government should have put itself under an obligation to the company with whom it was about to make a bargain in the people's name, returned its opponents to power. Alexander Mackenzie, the leader of the Liberal party, changed the plan of beginning the road from
60 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
the western end, and during the next four years not a sod was
turned on the Canadian Pacific Eailroad in British Columbia.
The people of the province were very angry at what they
considered a breach of faith, and threatened to separate from the
Dominion. They sent petitions to the British Government, but
England would not interfere. The Earl of Carnarvon, acting as
peace-maker, drew up a fresh agreement which however, like
the first, was broken. Earl Dufferin, the Governor-General of
Canada, visited the province and tried to convince the discon-
tented British Columbians that the Mackenzie
Railroad Built G°vernment was doing its best to fulfil
Canada's part of the bargain. Though the
disappointed people were not to be pacified, Lord Dufferin's
visit accomplished great good. His pen was as powerful as
his speech was eloquent and he used both freely to make the resources of western Canada known to the British public and more highly valued by the people of the eastern provinces of the Dom-
HOME OF THE BUFFAI.,.. ^ inion. Jn Igyg gfr
John Macdonald returned to power and resolutely set to work to fulfil his pledge to British Columbia. The contracts for the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad were made in 1879, and in 1885 the last spike was driven at Eagle Pass by Sir Donald Smith, now Lord Strathcona.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
The Canadian Pacific Railroad has done all that was hoped for from the North-west Passage so long and so vainly sought. It has brought the East and the West together. The traveller from Liver- pool can reach Vancouver in a fortnight. In three weeks more he can be in China, and in less than a month, in Australia. The great prairies, the home of the buffalo and the hunting-ground of the Indian, have become immense wheat-fields, where a busy, a prosperous and a rapidly increasing population toils cheerfully to supply food to the cities of the East and West. In our own province, forest and mine, valley, river and ocean have begun to yield a generous return to enterprise and industry.
The year 1871 — in which British Columbia became a province of the Dominion — saw the settlement of a dispute between England and the United States which had lasted since 1846 and been the cause of much ill-feeling between the people of Vancouver Island and their neighbors on the other side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. To the south of Vancouver Island, lies a small group of islands of which the largest is San Juan. The archipelago is separated from Vancouver Island by a passage of water about seven miles
1
62
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
wide, called Haro Strait, and from the mainland of the United States, by a narrower channel named Rosario Strait. The ques- tion in dispute was: through which of these ehaii- Territorial , ,. , ,, , ,.
Dispute n boundary line pass, or, in other words,
was the island of San Juan, with the smaller ones adjacent, United States or British territory! The Hudson's Bay Company had made a settlement on San Juan about the
time that Fort Vic- toria was founded. Settlers from the United States had also more recently made their homes there, and the gov- ernment of that country had de- clared the islands part of one of the counties of Wash- ington Territory.
Officials both from the colony of Vancouver Island a n (1 from the United S tat es,
tried to exercise
1 ,-intlioritv on San
SKETCH MAP OK HARO ARCH I l'KI,A«iO, SIloU'lVO THK THRKK
CHANNKIS. Juan. The subjects
1. Line claimed by the United States. 2. Proposed middle channel. n ,-\
3. Line claimed by Great Britain. of the tWO gOVeni-
HISTORY OF. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 63
ments quarrelled, American soldiers took up their station on the island and British ships threatened to drive them away, so that for a season there was real danger of war. Owing largely to the forbearance of Rear-Admiral Baynes, com- mander of the ships at Esquimalt, the danger was averted, and it was agreed in 1860 that a company of British soldiers as well as a contingent from the United States, should occupy the island until an agreement as to its ownership was reached.
As time went on, still graver causes of quarrel arose between the two great nations so closely related in blood and speech. Ambassadors from England and the United States met at Washington with Sir John Macdonald, premier of Canada, and settled the Alabama Claims and the Fisheries dispute. They determined to leave the matter of the San Juan* boundary to the arbitration of the German Emperor. He gave his decision in favor of the United States.
More than a third of a century has elapsed since British Columbia became a province of Canada. The old feeling of isolation has passed away. A very large number of its inhabitants are bound to the older parts of the Dominion by the closest of all ties, that of Home. Yet while each holds dear the memory of his native province, he loves also the land of his adoption, the birth-place of his children; and in his heart has grown up a feeling which he shares with the best of those who live in this, the noblest colony of the British Empire; for beneath the shadow of the everlast- ~j^ ing hills, on the broad wind-swept prairie, in the
C ntr valley of the St. Lawrence and on the shores where
the Atlantic billows make solemn everywhere are proud to bear the name CANADIAN.
CHAPTER IX.
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
WE have seen that a Jesuit Missionary, Father Bolduc, accompanied the party of Hudson's Bay men who went in 1843 to found Fort Camosun. In 1849 a priest arrived in Victoria ; and from that time forward, missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church have settled in every part of the province. They have been specially zealous in their work among the Indians, and the majority °f the natives of Britisn Columbia
profess the Roman Catholic faith. In
NATIVE BOY, CIVILIZE!*.
all the cities there are convent schools for girls, and hospitals where the good sisters wait on the sick. St. Ann's Convent in Victoria, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest institutions in the province.
Rev. Edward Cridge, an Episcopalian minister, went in 1855 to Vancouver Island, as chaplain of the Hudson's Bay Company, succeeding Rev. Mr. Stain es. Mrs. Cridge opened a boarding and day school at the fort. Bishop Hills arrived in Victoria in 1860 as the first Bishop of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. The Baroness Burdett-Coutts en- dowed the Church of England in Victoria, and in 1860 sent out from England an iron church which is still in use. With the increase of population during the mining excitement, clergymen of other denominations arrived, and very soon churches were
64
HISTOEY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
65
built where each man could worship according to his belief or
inclination. Bishop Hills and Rev. Edward Cridge could not
agree concerning the doctrines and ritual of the Church of
^^^ England. Mr. Cridge,
therefore, left the Anglican and joined the Reformed Episcopal church. He was afterward made a bishop, and though now no longer in active service as a minis- ter, his venerable form is seen wherever kind-hearted people meet to make plans for the relief of those who are in want or affliction.
While the population was insufficient, the Government helped to build churches, and paid for teaching in schools under Church of England control ; but as soon as people of other denominations settled in considerable numbers in the colony, it was considered unfair that public money should be spent in teaching the doctrines of any par- ticular church. The practice was stopped, and ever since, British Columbian schools have been unsectarian and the churches supported by money freely given by the members of each.
The most noted of the Protestant missions was that founded by Mr. Duncan, who was sent out by the Church Missionary
BISHOP AND MRS. CRIDGE.
Unsectarian Education.
66
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Society of England. He arrived at Fort Simpson in 1857 and found the Tsimpshean Indians there a very savage race. Their evil passions had been made worse because of the liquor sold by the white traders who came to the coast in vessels. In 1862 Mr. Duncan persuaded a thousand of these people to remove to Metlakahtla, a village 011 the northern coast.
Here the Indians, under his direction, built a good church and a comfortable schoolhouse. They erected shops, a storehouse and a salmon -cannery, all owned and managed by themselves. The little town was well lighted and a musical band organized. There were carefully cultivated gardens and potato-patches. Later, saw- mills, and a factory for weaving cloth, were established, and the Indians learned how to make forge and do many other things Bishop Hills testified to the piety But this zealous and
DUNCAN'S INDIAN CHURCH, METLAKAHTLA.
barrels, to work at the
requiring mechanical skill.
of the Indians of Duncan's mission.
successful missionary, . intolerant of what he considered undue
interference on the part of Bishop Ridley, who was appointed
in 3879 to preside over the northern diocese of Caledonia, went
with a great part of his flock to Annette Island in United
States territory, where he founded New Metlakathla.
The Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Methodists and Presby- terians have missions in different parts of the province.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
67
Connected with many of them are schools, for it is felt that
more lasting and better work can be. done with the children
than with adults. In many a lonely station,
both on the coast and in the interior, good and Schools.
men and women are quietly devoting their
lives to the uplifting of the native races of the province.
Allusion has been made to the schools taught • by Mrs. Staines and Mrs. Cridge. The first public school in the colony was 011 the Company's farm at Craigflower. During the time that public affairs were under the control of Mr. Douglas, much interest was taken in the schools, and provision was made for the education of the small num- ber of children in the colony. In the period between the retirement of Sir James Douglas and Confederation, little attention was paid to education ; but in 1872 a common school system was instituted in the province. Ever since, money has been liberally granted for the support of schools. The school law has been amended several times. High schools have been established in most of the cities ; and in every part of the province where twenty children can be brought together, there is a public school. As yet, British Columbia has no
CRAIGFLOWER SCHOOL, OLDEST 1 1ST VANCOUVER ISLAND.
68 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
university; but in Vancouver, students can take the first two years of the Arts Course of the University of McG-ill in Montreal, and in Victoria they can complete the First Year Course. It is expected, however, that in the near future, British Columbia students will be able to graduate from McGrill without the expense and inconvenience of leaving their own province.
The schools are under the management of the Executive
Council, which, when it turns its attention to the schools, is
called the Council of Public Instruction. One
Schools Well of the members of the Council is the Minister of
^IY*O*Q "ti I & f* f\
Education. Under him, are the Superintendent of Education and the inspectors. In addition to these officials, a City Superintendent is engaged by the Board of Trustees in each of the cities of Vancouver and Victoria. A board of trustees is elected annually by each school district and by each of the cities. The trustees in the cities have control of the expenditure of all the money needed for the support of their schools ; and by an Act passed in 1905 the people of each rural school district are required to contribute directly to the payment of the teachers' salaries and all other expenses of the school. The country schoolhouses were formerly built by the Government and the teachers received their pay from the same source. There are manual training classes in the schools of the principal cities, and a provincial Normal School is established at Vancouver. The people of the province spend a great deal of money on education, and the boys and girls of British Columbia should leave school well-prepared to enter upon the duties of manhood or womanhood.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 69
There are many teachers, besides those who conduct classes in a school-room, and in these days one of the most important is the daily paper. An honest, independent and truthful news- paper has an influence for good which it would be hard to overrate. The men who in 1858 and in succeeding years sought their fortunes in British Columbia, did not lose their interest in what was taking place in the countries from which they were self -exiled. To satisfy their anxiety for news and to afford a channel for the expression of public opinion, newspapers were established. The first two had but a short existence. Then in December, 1858, Amor de Cosmos published the British Colonist. Mr. De Cosmos was a man of talent, and the Colonist became a leader of public opinion. It is still one of the principal papers of this province, though it has now a score or more of con- temporaries. It was, for a long time, owned and edited by Hon. D. W. Higgins, formerly Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.
•Vi'< '
NATIVE GIKL, CIVILIZED-
CHAPTER X.
LATER PROGRESS.
SINCE the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway the
growth of the province, though not rapid, has been steady. By
almost every train immigrants have arrived, chiefly from Great
Britain and the eastern provinces of Canada, In
k^£ the mining districts and in the cities, are to be
found many United States citizens whose money
and enterprise have aided in the development of the province.
Among the working miners are Belgians and Italians. These
with the Chinese and Japanese form our foreign population.
The natives of the province, unlike the Indian races of the Atlantic coast or of the plains, readily learn the occupations of civilized men, If they had not also learned to drink the white man's whiskey j (which, in spite of the law, is " supplied them by unprincipled traders), they could support them- selves and their families in comfort.
The directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway were soon dissatisfied with Port Moody, the western terminus at first AN '™IAN BURIAI-
chosen, and selected the site of the present city of Vancouver, on a broad inlet, from whose northern shore tlio mountains rise in well-defined peaks. Very soon prop!.' arrived and the new city was commenced. The Canadian Pacific Railway
70
HISTOEY or BKITISH COLUMBIA. 71
Company owned considerable property in Vancouver, and was accordingly anxious for the progress of the city. The first settlers were chiefly mechanics and business men from the eastern provinces. They were enterprising, industrious, am- bitious and persevering. When but a beginning had been
made, a fire destroyed nearly the whole town. -. . The ashes were hardly cold before saw and
hammer were again at work. In less than five years Vancouver had grown into a prosperous little city which invited all who arrived at the Pacific coast to remain and share in its prosperity. Many of these thought they could not do better than invest their capital and employ their skill, strength and knowledge where such a good beginning hud been made.
It must be hard for the visitor from a European or even an eastern American city, to realize as he (in 1905) rides around Vancouver in a commodious electric car, that less than twenty years ago its site was a dense forest.
Victoria has grown more slowly, but it, too, has greatly increased in wealth and population. What an eye for natural beauty the Hudson's Bay factor, Douglas, must have had when he chose Fort Camosun as the site of a future city! There are few more delightful places in the world, and its situation as the first point of call from Pacific and Puget Sound ports, gives it an advantage as a commercial city which will always make it an important wholesale centre.
Along the line of railway, Revelstoke and Kamloops have grown from stations into cities. New Westminster with its fisheries and lumber, and Nanaimo with its coal mines, have
72
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
perhaps less for which to thank the great railroad. Farmers from Great Britain and from eastern Canada have settled on Vancouver Island, on the smaller islands in the Strait of Georgia, and in the valleys of the Fras.er and the Okariagan. But in none of these places can the traveller drive more than a few miles before he passes through belts of forest or acres of uncultivated land. Excellent roads penetrate the southern part of the colony. The centre and north have yet been scarcely touched by man.
The greatest progress, as might have been expected, has been made in mining. The mountains that border the valleys of the Columbia, the Kootenay and their tributaries are
Mineral Wealth.
rich in gold, copper, silver and lead, as well as coal.
The rivers of this region, with their fine lake expan- sions, afford natural m e an s of communica- tion.
During the time between 1890 and 1900, this mining territory was opened up, and Rossland, Nel- son, Kaslo, Greenwood, Phoenix and many other places in the Kootenay country, grew from mining camps into cities.
A CENTRE O*'
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
73
It costs a great deal more to get minerals from the rocks than to wash gold from the river bars, ' so that the richest of quartz mines must lie idle until a great deal of money is spent in buying machinery and hiring labor. In other words, mining cannot be carried on without capital.
Unfortunately, here, as in other mining countries, the men
who work the mines and the men who own them have not
agreed very well. He who has labor to sell is too prone to
look upon his employer as hard and grasping,
while the man who invests his money in what Difficulties.
may after all, turn out an unprofitable specula- tion, thinks the wage-earner unreasonable and exacting. The result is that far less work has been accom- plished than would have been, had there always been good feeling between em- ployers and workmen. The presence of a large proportion of Chinese among the population of the province, has added to the difficulties of the labor problem. The Chinese work cheaper, live on less, and send more money out of the country than any other class of laborers. On the other hand they are industrious, sober and reliable. In 1903 an Act was passed by the Dominion Parliament exacting from every Chinaman an entrance fee of five hundred dollars — which will discourage further immigration. Except for a little gold and copper mining in the district of Alberni, the twentieth century drew near before it was
74 HISTOKY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
found that the rocks in the southern part of Vancouver Island contained copper, gold and silver in sufficient quantities to pay for working. A good beginning has been made, and smelters have been erected at Crofton and Ladysmith — small towns between Victoria and Nanaimo. From what we have read, it is evident that British Columbia, though a rich country, will not yield its treasures easily. He who would succeed in this province must be prepared to work hard and to spend much thought on his labor. To such, the immense area and vast resources of British Columbia offer a grand field, and promise a great reward.
Even since Confederation, the task of managing the public affairs of this great province has not been an easy one. It is the duty of the provincial government to build roads and bridges and to keep them in repair. The education of the youth of the province is under its control. Although the Federal Government pays the salaries of the judges and maintains the penitentiary, a great part of the cost of keeping order and administering justice is borne by the provincial government. These and many other expenses, made greater by the vast extent of land to be traversed and by the rugged character of the country, must be met without overburdening the com- paratively small population with taxation. To do this requires honesty of purpose, wisdom and foresight. British Columbia needs able and patriotic legislators in Victoria as well as at Ottawa.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 75
During later years, as well as in the earlier period of her
history, our province has had reason to disagree with the
United States. One of the industries of this province is sealing,
and, in Victoria, a large amount of capital has been invested in
building and fitting out sealing schooners. The
seal is a migratory animal, whose principal Seal-Hunting ' f
Ri hts breeding grounds are the Pribilof Islands in
Bering Sea. Alaska, which borders that sea on the east and south, is United States territory, having been purchased from the Russians in 1867. The seal-hunters were accustomed to follow the animals from California along the coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland into Bering Sea where they hunted up to the three-mile limit, the waters inside of which are by international law the property of the country owning the land that borders the sea. About the year 1886 the United States declared that Bering Sea and all the seals in it were United States property, and that no one had any right to enter it or hunt the seals without her permission. To enforce her claim she sent armed cruisers into the sea to seize all foreign sealers found there.
British Columbia sealers, indignant that their trade should be ruined by such high - handed proceedings, appealed to England. It was agreed that the dispute should be sub- mitted to a number of learned gentlemen who had no interest except to see justice done. This assembly met in Paris in 1893, and determined : that Bering Sea was part of the Pacific Ocean, that it was open to all the world, and that seals were wild animals not owned by any nation. While deciding against the claims of the United States, the arbitrators advised
76 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
that, for the sake of all who had an interest in preserving the seal herds from extinction, the following rules should be observed: 1. No seals should be killed within sixty miles of Pribilof Islands. 2. There should be a close season of three months — June, July and August. 3. No firearms should be used in seal-hunting within the limits of Bering Sea.
The United States and England agreed that their sealers should be bound by these rules for a period of five years when, if found satisfactory, the experiment could be renewed. These rules do not affect other nations, nor the operations of an American Company, who are allowed to kill one hundred thou- sand seals annually on the Pribilof Islands.
The question of the Alaskan Boundary which had been in dispute for many years, was settled near the close of the year 1904 in favor of the United States, by a tribunal consisting of the Chief Justice of England, two commissioners appointed by Canada, and three by the United States. The question at issue concerned the width of that strip of seacoast — west of British Columbia, between latitude 54° 40' and
the 60th parallel — which with Alaska was Boundary Case.
bought from Russia by the United States.
The United States claimed that the strip was to be ten leagues wide, measured from .the heads of the inlets, while Canada insisted that the distance should be measured from the seacoast of the Pacific Ocean. The Canadian Commissioners refused to accept the finding of the majority of the commission, which gives every inlet north of the 55th parallel to the United States and prevents Canada from having a harbor along three hundred miles of seacoast. One cannot help feeling, with
HISTOKY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA.
77
Portia, that it is not always right to take all that the law allows, for these inlets are of far more value to Canada than they will ever be to her wealthy neighbor.
No history of the province, how- ever brief, should omit to mention the fact that when help was needed during the Boer war in South Africa (1899-1902), volunteers from all parts of British Columbia joined the Canadian regi- ment that went to reinforce the British troops. At Paardeburg, where Canadians proved themselves worthy to take their places
DISPUTED TERRITORY.
Heroes in the Boer War.
in the ranks with England's heroes, British Columbia lads did their duty nobly, many of the little band falling on the field. After- ward, in skirmishes, on many a long, hard march, during anxious nights of watching and in all that makes up the hard but necessary routine of a soldier's life, they fulfilled their
78 HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
duty so as to win the approval of officers not easy to satisfy. The Fifth Regiment of Victoria had to mourn the loss of their gallant and much-loved officer Captain Blanshard, who early in the summer of 1900 fell a victim to a Boer bullet.
One of the last acts of Queen Victoria was to thank the first contingent of Canadian volunteers for its aid. Not one of these young men will ever forget the day when she, who had spent so long a life in England's service, praised their loyalty to her their Queen, and to their country. The enthusiasm with which every South African victory was greeted in British Columbia proved the warm and deep affection of the people — not only for the absent soldiers, but for the dear old Motherland.
Our task is now accomplished. We have tried to bring before our young readers the beauty, the immensity and the varied resources of the province. The story of its settlement and development has been briefly told. Its past is short. What its future may be, depends (Who knows how much?) on the genera- tion of boys and girls into whose hands this little book will fall. If they grow up industrious, intelligent, brave, honest and pure, they will add many noble pages to the record. Nature has done her part, and as we look forward into the future, the hope arises that here, as in the countries of the old world, the poet's words will be fulfilled :-
Two Voices are there ; one is of the Sea, One, of the Mountains ; each a Mighty Voice : In both from age to age Thou didst rejoice — They were Thy chosen music, Liberty.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
GEOGRAPHY
BRITISH COLUMBIA
CHAPTER I.
BRITISH COLUMBIA, the most westerly Province of the Dominion of Canada, lies between the 49th and 60th parallels of North Latitude. The Rocky Mountains divide it from Alberta on the east; on its west lie the Pacific Ocean and a portion of Alaska. The region thus bounded exceeds every other Canadian province in size. But, though the area is about 400,000 square miles, the people number only 178,657. A comparison with England sug- gests the thought that an inhabitant of British Columbia has a thousand times more room than an Englishman.
Not only is British Columbia large, it is rich in natural resources. Whereas the wealth of Manitoba is in wheat-lands, that of British Columbia is in minerals, forests, fisheries, and, to a lesser degree, fruit.
Roughly speaking, British Columbia is a paral- lelogram twice as long as it is wide, and trending from north-west to south-east. Conforming to the general direction of the country are four chains of mountains.
81
82 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
These are the Rocky, Selkirk, Coast, and Island ranges. Taken together, they embrace a portion of the Cordillera or great mountain belt of the West.
The Rocky Mountains, 60 miles in average width, skirt our Province along its eastern margin. Near the 49th parallel they show peaks of 10,000 feet; at the 52nd, the peaks approximate 15,000; but in the neighborhood of the Peace River, the mountains dwindle into hills. Of the dozen or more passes that intersect the range, the Crow's Nest and Kicking
Horse have been used as gateways , for railroads. The Yellow Head and Peace — passes lower in eleva- tion but farther north — are likely to be selected in the future for a similar purpose. Separated from the Rockies by a valley TOO miles long, is a second range of mountains — the Selkirks. So broken is this range that in different parts various names have been given :— North of the "big bend" of the Columbia— " the Cariboo Mountains"; between the Okanagan and Arrow Lakes— " the Gold Range " ; between East and West Kootenay— " the Purcell Range." This broad mountain region a\vnii;vs eighty miles in width, with many of its peaks surpassing 8,000 feet. Towards the 54th parallel it becomes lost in cross ranges. Whereas the Rockies are grand in aspect, their lofty crests seeming to form castles and cathedrals, the CS" Selkirks are pleasing in their softer outlines, their forms being more rounded and their sides well timbered.
OKANAGAN LAKK.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
83
Many glaciers have their homes in the gorges, and avalanches have often been the cause of loss of life. The rocks of the Sel- kirk Range are believed by geologists to be older than any others in the province, indeed to be part of the original crust 'of the earth. If so, then the Selkirk s lifted up their heads above the water when all else of what is now British Columbia was ocean.
A third and parallel mountain system is the Coast Eange. For a width of 100 miles, it fringes the Pacific from the delta
of theFraser to the head of L y n ii Canal. The average alti- tude of the higher peaks is about 6,000 feet.
The Is- land Range,
being partly submerged, is represented by an archipelago that includes Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands. Several summits on Van- couver Island exceed 6,000 feet, and on Queen Charlotte Islands 4,000 feet. The great Interior Plateau of British Columbia lies between the Selkirk and Coast Ranges. But lakes and rivers have cut
A GLACIER.
84
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
such deep channels in the lava rocks of which the plateau is composed that it closely resembles the mountainous tracts. This
is the chief agricultural area of the province. Begin- pj ^ 1 ning about the southern boundary line, it extends
northward for 500 miles until cut off by trans- verse mountains in the Stuart Lake region. Its average width is 100 miles, and its mean height 3,500 feet. It is drained principally by streams flowing south, of which the Fraser River is chief.
A glance at the map suffices to show us how well provided our province is with waterways, without which so mountainous a country would be inaccessible. The lakes, ribbon-like in length and narrowness, are generally of great depth. Atlin in the extreme north-west, Babine and Stuart in the middle, and Shuswap, Okanagan, Arrow, and Kootenay Lakes in the
GrEOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
85
Climate.
south of the province, are a few of the larger ones. The inlets or fiords of the coast, outrivalling those of any other part of the world, with perhaps the exception of Greenland, are the submerged valleys of the coastal mountains. Of rivers, the Fraser and the Columbia (with their tributaries), the Skeena, the Nass, and the Stikine are of most importance.
British Columbia being in the same latitude as the British Isles, a similar climate is experienced. Moisture-laden winds from the ocean are in both cases a moderating factor. The part played by the Griilf Stream in modifying the climate of the United Kingdom, is assumed by the warm Japan current, which sets southward along the North American coast after crossing the North Pacific to the Aleutian Islands. On the mainland the mountain ranges govern climate to some extent, for to them is due the alternate moist and dry belts.
The people that have made this province their home are largely of English, Scotch, and Irish extraction. One-fourth of the population, however, consists of Indians, Chinese, and Japanese.
SIWAS1I ROCK.
CHAPTER II.
VANCOUVER ISLAND.
IF valued only by its area, Vancouver Island would not be of much importance. It is only half the size of Ireland. And, small as the island is, settlement is confined mainly to the south-eastern part. This fact is not to be won- dered at;
Natural Wealth for iof ty of the Island. moun.
tains, thick forests, and the matted undergrowth of moss, salal, and devil's- club, make travelling in the interior very difficult.
•\T J. tT TIT DEVIL'S -CLUB.
Yet Vancouver Island
is important. Why? Because it has fields of coal which, though worked for over half a century, show no signs of giving out. Because it has timber — fir, spruce and cedar- equal to any in the world. Because it has rich deposits of gold, copper, and iron ; and because the capital is situated there.
Over a great part of the island, there is but a shallow cover- ing of soil ; indeed, in many places, bare rock forms the surface. Twenty per cent of the entire area may be said to be pro- ductive, and of that, only about two per cent is under cultivation. In the making and placing of soil, glaciers have
87
88 GEOGKAPHY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA.
played an important part. A glacier is a river of ice which, as it moves, makes a path for itself by breaking up or carrying along every obstacle that it meets. Rocks thus carried in front or on the sides of a glacier form moraines. When a glacier retreats, the moraines are left strewing the surface of the country. Water made by the melting of the ice carries them until power to do so is lost. As rocks of all kinds make up the moraines, the soils produced afford great variety, for soil is just powdered rock to which decayed vegetable or animal matter has been added. Once a glacier occupied the position of the Gulf of Georgia and the southern end of Vancouver Island. When conditions changed, the glacier disappeared ; but grooved and polished rocks, gravelly, sandy, and clay soils remain as evidence of its former activity.
VICTORIA, the capital of British Columbia, is situated at the south- eastern extremity of Vancouver Island. For age, natural beauty,
and wealth, this city holds first rank. When the ' Hudson's Bay Company* feared that they were going
to lose their trading posts on the Columbia River, by reason of a more northern boundary line, they sent Sir James Douglas to select a spot suitable for a fort on undoubted British territory. As a result of that gentleman's recommendations, Victoria was founded in 1843. Fifteen years later, when gold was discovered on the Fraser River, Victoria became a city of tents with as large a population as she now possesses.
In the matter of climate Victoria is favored. The records of many
years indicate the mean annual temperature to be 49°. Southerly winds
prevail throughout the year. Blowing from the ocean,
^ they have the effect of lessening the heat of summer and the
cold of winter. From the continent comes the hot wind
of summer and the cold wind of winter — the North wind. Its changed
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 89
nature is due to the ability of land to absorb heat and its inability to retain heat. Less rain falls here than elsewhere on the island. This is partly accounted for by the fact that the ocean winds leave much of their moisture on the Olympic range of Washington state,
THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS.
and pass dry over Victoria. Lack of rainfall in the summer months renders dust a nuisance. Rainy weather is prevalent during Novem- ber, December, January and February. The thermometer never goes below zero. If snow falls, it remains on the ground but a short time.
In June the Capital City looks its best, when there is a wealth of roses on every cottage and gorgeous yellow broom in
fields and hedges. Every day some steamer lands The Resort of ., ,, , ' ,-, .. ,
„, . . its parties or tourists, to whom the English tone of
the city appears novel. The Parliament Building, of gray granite and sandstone, constructed in chaste and dignified style, and surpassing in beauty the buildings for similar purposes in other provinces of the Dominion, never fails to call forth their admiring remarks.
By tally-ho, these visitors drive along the Dallas Road, with tasteful cottages on their left, and Juan de Fuca Strait and the Olympic Mountains on their right, until they come to the gnarled
90 GEOGRAPHY OP BRITISH COLUMBIA.
and stately oaks, sombre firs, artificial lakes, deer park, aviary, and bear pits of Beacon Hill Park. Continuing along the water front they pass the rifle range, and a succession of picturesque bays along whose shores are many campers. Government House is seen occupy- ing a commanding position on a rocky ridge.
Upon returning to the city, they go, perhaps, to one of the boat houses and secure seats in a naphtha launch. Speedily they are conveyed through the Inner Harbor with its varied craft of steamers, sealing
CITY OF VICTORIA.
schooners, and Indian canoes, into an arm of the sea. Many bathers are in sight, for the water of the "arm" is pleasantly warm. Among the trees lining the bank attractive homes appear.
Despite the quiet air of the town, much business is transacted. Government Street contains many retail houses that have a good reputation throughout the province. Of wholesale houses, such as the
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 91
Hudson's Bay, some have been established since the city's infancy.
Shipbuilding is an important and growing industry, and, Industries. ... .., ., , . ,
in conjunction with the iron works, gives employment
to many men. Here, sealing has its headquarters ; and also the whaling industry which has lately been revived.
There are two hospitals of high standing, many well-built churches, and an efficient school system consisting of ward schools and the High School (or Victoria College) which is in affiliation with McGill University.
Beyond the city limits and near the pumping station which elevates the water for Victoria mains, there are a number of fruit farms.
ROCKSIDE ORCHARD.
A pretty sight it is to see row after row of straight, clean- barked trees, even when their leaves are off; but it is in spring that orchards look their best, when bowed down by the weight of blossoms. As land is expensive, worth $175 an acre, all available space is made use of. Small fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, and logan berries, are planted between the rows of apple, plum, pear, and
cherry trees. Trees bear early, even in their second year, „ therefore are planted thickly and afterwards thinned out.
If shippers exercise proper care in packing, an abundant market may be found in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the demand for fruit is very much greater than the supply.
92
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Having touched at the Capital, we are now ready to begin our travels throughout the Province of British Columbia.
Wishing to see the
Saanich Peninsula, which
ranks next to Comox as
an agricultural district, we
board the
TheSaanich Victoria Peninsula. m
Terminal
Railway. After passing the lakes that provide with water the city we have just left, we come to a cross - road leading to Tod, Inlet, where there is a plant for the manufac- ture of Portland cement. The rich valley lands which we see, consist of a
DRY DOCK, BSQUIMALT.
clay subsoil and a black loam. On the highlands strawberries are cultivated with wonderful success. At Sidney, the terminus of the railway, connection is made with a ferry running to Port (ruichon 011 the mainland; and also with a stmiwr that makes calls at Nanaimo, Crofton, and the neighboring islands.
Of these islands, Salt Spring is the largest and most fertile. Its ranchers make a living by dairying, fruit-growing, sheep-raising .mil poultry-keeping. Between Ganges Harbor and Vancouver Island there is telephone communication.
Fender Island is particularly suitable for sheep.
GEOGKAPHY or BKITISH COLUMBIA. 93
Mayne Island is a favorite summer resort. Between it and Galiano Island lies Active Pass,* through which the daily steamer from Victoria to Vancouver runs. Because of its narrowness and tide-rips, this channel is difficult, especially in foggy weather. Then, pilots keep the fog-horn blowing almost constantly that the echo may serve them as a guide.
On Darcy Island there is a lazaretto.
Saturna Island has a quarry of excellent sandstone.
The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Bail way, 78 miles long, runs between Victoria and Wellington. For building the railway, in addition to a cash bonus, a land subsidy was granted. This railway belt, represented on the map by a dotted line, extends from Otter Point to Cape Mudge. It includes mineral as well as surface rights, except in the case of the precious metals, gold and silver.
Soon after our train leaves Victoria, we come within sight of
the ideal harbor of Esquimalt which for many years was the
headquarters of the North Pacific squadron.
Flagship, cruisers, torpedo boats, gun boats and Commodious Harbor a survey ship formerly lay at anchor in
its waters. But in 1904 the Admiralty with- drew the naval forces. Henceforth the station will be frequented only by flying squadrons.
At the time of the above change the Canadian Government undertook the maintenance of the military defences. The garrison, about 400 strong, is divided between Work Point, Macaulay Point and Rod Hill, but the barracks and most of the men are at Work Point. How complete the fortifications are we do not know, for on this point secrecy is necessary.
* Commonly known as Plumper Pass.
94 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
West of the entrance to Esquimalt harbor lie the Royal Roads, a bay where any vessel can anchor three-quarters of a mile from shore.
In an adjoining bay the William Head Quarantine Station is situated. Every steamer from the Far East must stop here, that its passengers with their effects may be fumigated. This delay irritates travellers, but it is necessary as a precau- tion against the introduction of cholera, smallpox, and bubonic plague, diseases which are liable to come to us through Chinese and Japanese steerage passengers.
The head of the Saanich Arm is the prettiest bit of scenery along the line of railway. At Shawnigan Lake we see trim summer cottages and well-patronized hotels.
Duncan's, half way up the line, is the market town of the Cowichan district, a fine farming section. The freight taken on board is chiefly dairy products and fruit, especially apples. Much of it, we observe, is addressed to Ladysmith. From Duncan's a road goes to Cowichan Lake, a favorite resort for fishermen.
AERIAL TRAMWAY.
Westholm interests us, not on its own account but because from it we can reach the copper mines of Mount Sicker and the smelter at Crofton.
At Chemainus we come in sight of the water of the Strait of Georgia, a happy relief from the walls of sandstone and shale, or the firs of a second growth, which we have been looking at from the car window.
G-EOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
95
In the bay are several vessels bound for Africa, Australia and South America, taking on cargoes of lumber from the Chemainus mill.
Cars laden with coal, and immense coal bunkers, tell us that we have arrived at a colliery town. It is Ladysmith. Though its foun- dations were laid during the Boer war, its growth has been so rapid that it is now incorporated as a city. The coal mine upon which the prosperity of Lady- s m i t h largely d e - pends is seven miles distant. A copper smelter adds an im- portant industry to the place.
As soon as we arrive in Nanaimo we make arrange- ments to visit the CHEMAINUS. underground workings of the coal mine. We have not far to go, for the shaft is within the city limits. Clad in waterproof and cap, we enter a cage and slowly drop down 650 feet, the sensation no worse than that of going down an elevator in a large building. When the cage stops, we walk out into a spacious, electric-lighted apartment with white- washed walls. A motor with a long train of cars happens to be going to Protection Island. We get into an empty coal car and, seated on a sack of straw, are rattled along, amid a deafening noise, for two and a half miles. To us, travelling through the "level," comes the thought that several hundred feet overhead is the water of Nanaimo Harbor. At Protection Island, through another shaft we regain the surface, and return to Nanaimo by rowboat.
A Coal Mine.
96
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Dangers of
Fifty years ago, the level through which we have just rid- den, was a seam of coal.
The usual mode of mining is the pillar-and-stall system. The stalls represent the portion from which coal is removed, and the pillars, the coal left as props. When any part of a mine is to be abandonea the pillars are " drawn," that is, the coal of which they are composed is taken out, the result being that the roof caves. In those parts of the mine to which electric cars cannot go, hauling is done by mules.
Danger in coal mining arises from various causes, but chiefly from explosion due to coal-dust or to noxious gases, and from falling coal or timbers. To secure pure air, when miles of levels, slopes, arid inclines have to be ventilated, becomes a difficult problem. Large fans are used to force the air to circulate. By a careful system of com- partments, the "intake" and the "upcast" air are kept from mixing.
Wellington, the term- inus of the railway, is a forlorn-looking place. When its coal seam was worked out, new fields had to be "sought. Miners were withdrawn to Ladysmith and in many cases their houses also were moved.
Leaving the Nanaimo coal area behind us we go fart 1 in- north, to the Comox coal area. The steamer lands us at Union, where there are wharves, bunkers, and ovens for the making of coke. By a mixed train composed of coal cars and one pas-
COAL MINK.
GEOGRAPHY or BRITISH COLUMBIA.
97
senger coach, we proceed to Cumberland, a coal-mining town of about 2,000 people. Here not long ago the discovery of a vein of hard coal or anthracite was reported. In all other places on 11 i<k island the coal is soft or bituminous.
In the Comox district, the valleys of the Comox and Courtenay rivers are wide, undulating, and composed of rich bottom land.
STEAM LOGGING.
Conditions are most favorable for dairying. Cattle raising and vegetable gardening also receive attention. All agricultural products are easily sold to the local miners.
North of Comox, logging camps are the chief scenes of activity. The timber limits of Vancouver Island rank among the most valuable in the whole province. On the east coast they extend from Cowichan to Nimpkish. Douglas fir and red cedar are the principal trees. Of these, the former — named after David Douglas, a well-known botanist — is the staple timber of com-
98 G-EOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
merce. Average trees grow 150 feet high, clear of limbs, with a diameter of 5 to 6 feet. The wood has great strength and is largely used for shipbuilding, bridge work, fencing, railway ties, and furniture. As a pulp-making tree the fir is valuable. Its bark makes a good fuel.
The red cedar, unequalled as a wood for shingles, comes next to the fir in importance. Because of its variety of shading, and the brilliant polish which it takes, it is prized for the interior finishing of houses. As the cedar lasts well under- ground it is used for telegraph poles and fence posts. , An Indian war canoe is but a cedar tree the heart of which has been dug out. Well can this wood be called the settler's friend, for from it he can with simple tools, such as axe and saw, build his house, fence his farm, and make his furniture.
On Malcolm Island, opposite the Nimpkish river, there is a Finnish community numbering about five hundred. These frugal and thrifty people engage in lumbering and farming. In their blacksmith shop they have the equipment for repairing small steamers that have been disabled.
, Alert Bay is an Indian village noted for its totem poles, salmon
cannery, and industrial school.
At Fort Rupert the Hudson's Bay Company in early days established a fort in order to trade in furs with the Indians. In front of the fort • for a long time lay a pile of coal carried thither in sacks by the Indians. Scotch miners were brought out by the Company to prospect and work the coal but were soon transferred to Nanaimo. Though Fort Rupert is now of little importance, near at hand is Hardy Bay, which is ex- pected to become some day the terminus of an island railway. A town site has been blocked out and a wharf built.
In the region north of Comox there are areas which, if drained, would make valuable meadows and cattle ranges.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 99
Though we might reach the west coast of Vancouver Island by stage from Nanaimo to Alberni, or by trail from Hardy Bay to Quatsino, we prefer to return to Victoria in order to go by steamer. Our journey has just begun when we pass the
CABLE STATION.
oldest lighthouse on the coast, that on Race Rock, built in 1861,
and modelled after the Eddystone. At Sooke and
W t Tri Otter Point we see fish traps, where sockeye
salmon are caught as they are about to enter
the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. An examination of the
stomachs of these fish shows them to be devoid of food. This
indicates that the unknown feeding ground of the sockeyes is
a long way off.
Our first stop is at Port Renfrew (or San Juan), seat of a botanical station and a lumber mill.
Through a choppy sea, we sail past Carmanah Point and Cape Beale into the smooth waters of Barkley Sound, and soon reach Bamfield Creek, where the Pacific Cable Station is located. We make fast to a wharf, the first since leaving Victoria. Upon going ashore we climb a steep road. Uncleared ground, with a confusion of stumps and branches, stretches to right and left. The Cable Station is a
100 GEOGRAPHY OF BEITISH COLUMBIA.
spacious building, shingled and stained, and commanding from
the height of rocks an exquisite view. The front door opens
into a long, broad hall that leads to the despatch
aci c a room. By the machine sits an operator, who
seems to do nothing but receive into his hand
long, tape-like pieces of paper on which the instrument has
recorded a message, or press a button to flash a thought round
the world. We stand only a minute or two by his side, yet in
that time he cables to Fanning Island, 4,000 miles distant, and
receives his answer.
Proceeding, we pass on our left Tzartoos or Copper Island, upon which there is an enormous deposit of iron.
Alberni Canal, as the upper part of Barkley
Sound is called, is always windy. Along its Cumbering. ' J
shores prospecting for gold and copper has been carried on to some extent. Hills wooded from summit to base, rise abruptly from the water's edge. Alberni and New Alberni, small rival towns two miles apart, are situated at the head of the canal. Their support is derived from agriculture and lumbering. The Alberni Road, through varied and beautiful scenery, crosses the island to Nanaimo. Along this road are some fine specimens of the arbutus — a tree which, on account of -its shiny evergreen leaves and red b;irk, is of striking appearance.
Before leaving Barkley Sound wo enter (Vluolet Arm. The large Indian reserve is deserted except by a few old people, for the younger portion of the population have gone sealing or to the canneries. The curing of halibut is carried on and shipments of the dried fish are made regularly.
HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
101
We are in open water now until we get to Clayoquot (Klak'-wat). Wreck Bay, where gold is washed from black sand, lies along our route. Midnight though it is, we land at Clayoquot in order to make purchases of Indian baskets and other curios. Mining, fishing, and lum- bering engage the people. Farming is carried on to a small extent, but dyking is necessary to reclaim the tidal lands, of which there are thousands of acres. T^he lighthouse in Clayo- quot Sound contains a light said to be the most powerful now in operation in America. Under favor- able conditions it may be seen for twenty-five miles.
Bedwell Sound, the northern extension of Clayoquot Sound, is im- pressive in its beauty.
Bordering the water are mountains higher than those hitherto seen. We turn in here to let off a couple of men who are .on their way to a copper prospect on Bear Eiver. There is one empty house where they land. Forest surrounds it, and we breathe the fragrance of pine trees. Immense cedars grow in the neighborhood.
QUATSINO WHARF.
102 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
After stopping at Sydney Inlet to put off supplies for the copper mine, we proceed to Hesquoit (Hesk'-wit) Harbor. Here, a church gives evidence of a prosperous Roman Catholic Mission. On the beach are native children playing in the sand. There is no wharf, so we anchor and wait for passen- gers, who come out in " dugouts " piled high with bundles and cedar baskets. Klootchmen (Indian women) are in the majority — most of them neatly dressed, and not unattractive in feature.
Historic Nootka, — noted in the 18th century on account of
its fur trade and diplomatic correspondence! Here in 1778
Captain James Cook landed at Friendly Cove. Ten
years later came Captain Meares, who erected the
Cove ^rs^ house in British Columbia and launched the
first ship built in the colony. No opportunity is
afforded us to go ashore, but we are led to understand that
Friendly Cove is an Indian village little different from what
it was in Cook's time.
After passing Kyuquot (Ki-ii-kot) we steer far oceanward that we may safely round the towering promontory of Cape Cook. This part of the coast is rocky and dangerous, the scene of many a wreck. Off Solander Island we see a herd of sea-lions. In the open water are schools of spouting whales and darting porpoises.
On the south-east arm of Quatsino Sound, Yreka (Wi-re-ka) is situated. Ore bunkers, a sawmill, shops and cabins haVe been built. Leading to the copper mine is a steep trail, shady with hemlock, spruce, and cedar. There is no Douglas fir. So humid is the atmosphere that ferns grow in rank
GrEOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
103
Coal and Copper.
luxuriance. Other deposits of copper occur on the opposite side of the arm. These bodies of ore lend value to some workable coal seams which have been exploited on the north side of the Sound. If local smelting were advisable the coal would be of inestimable importance. A pulp mill has been erected for making pulp out of spruce.
Three and a half days after leaving Victoria we gain sight of Cape Scott and drop anchor in Fisher- man's Harbor. An inhos- pitable shore it looks. Having heard of a Danish settlement we expected to see a village. Less than half a dozen houses are all that we find. Others there are, however, on inland clearings. The Danes, about sixty in number, make a meagre living out of fishing, farming and hunting.
The west coast of Vancouver Island is an unsettled region, and one not likely to support a large population. Its future depends on its minerals, its timber, and its harbors.
NOOTKA IN 1778.
CHAPTER III.
THE COAST.— QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS.
THE waters separating Vancouver Island from the Mainland are the Strait of Georgia, Discovery Passage, Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound. Opening into these on the Mainland side, is a series of inlets remarkable both for grandeur and size. Howe Sound is perhaps best known, because of its large copper mine and its fruit industry. Logging camps are thickly strewn as far north as Knight's Inlet where the Douglas fir disappears, giving place to the yellow cedar.
In the Strait of Georgia the largest island is Texada. The
name is of Spanish origin, and was originally spelled Tejada,
which probably means the "roofed" island,
because the , mountainous interior gives "Roofed Island." s
the appearance 01 a pointed roof. At
Gillies Bay iron has been mined for upwards of thirty-five years, though not continuously. As there are hills of it, mining can be carried on cheaply by. means of open cuts. From the iron mine a road crosses the island to Van Anda on the eastern side, where there are copper mines, and kilns for making lime.
104
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
105
Seymour Narrows, less than half a mile wide, is the gate to Dis- covery Passage. Its tide-rips make careful navigating very necessary.
Issuing from Queen Charlotte Sound we stop at Rivers Inlet. Seven salmon canneries give employment to a large number of Indians, Japanese and Whites.
Bella Coola is an Indian village at the mouth of the Bella Coola River. This river affords the best route into the Ootsa arid Chilcotin country. In the valley there is a Norwegian colony.
Totem poles and flags, marking an Indian burial- ground, catch our eye at Bella Bella on Campbell Island. The custom of inter- ment not being practised, the dead are placed in wooden houses.
Gardner Canal with its lofty perpendicular shores, its water- falls and glaciers, is
very beautiful. Near it is Douglas Channel, whose head is called the Kitimat Arm. From Kitimat, an all-Canadian railway, to Hazelton, Atlin and Dawson, is projected. If built, this line will open up coal land, mineral belts, and fertile valleys.
The Skeena, 300 miles long, is a difficult river to navigate by reason of its winding course, canyons, fierce rapids, bars, and
TOTEM POLES.
The Kitimat Railway.
106 GEOGKAPHY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA.
shoals. Salmon canneries and sawmills dot its shores. The Babine and Bulkley rivors are its chief tributaries. The for- mer drains Babine,* the second largest lake in p. British Columbia. The Bulkley valley, contain-
ing many acres of good farming land, is already attracting settlers by the hundreds. Port Essington, situated at the mouth of the Skeena River, is the monument of one far-seeing man who owned its canneries, sawmill and public buildings, but who died before realizing all his plans.f Though not a port of call for Alaskan steamers, it is visited by vessels in the coasting trade. One hundred and fifty miles higher up the stream, Hazelton occupies a picturesque spot hemmed in by mountains. Goods for the Omineca gold mines and the Hudson's Bay post at Babine are landed here by steamer, to be packed inland. Here, too, the Dominion telegraph line crosses the Skeena.
Metlakahtla is the seat of an Anglican mission founded by Mr. Duncan, a missionary, who had pronounced success in teaching the Indians the industrial arts as well as religion. When superseded he founded a New Metlakahtla farther north.
Port Simpson — at the entrance to Portland Inlet — is an old Hudson's Bay post. Lately it has been given 'pro- minence as the proposed terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The excellence of the harbor and its direct access to the ocean through Dixon Entrance constitute two powerful factors in its favor. The population, with the exception of a dozen white families, consists of eight hundred Indians. Like
* The name "Babine," French-Canadian in origin, means "lippy" and refers to the Indian custom of piercing the lip with wood or bone. t Cunningham.
GEOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
107
other places on the coast, it has the disadvantage of an excessive rainfall.
Portland Inlet has a triple head —Portland Canal, Observatory Inlet, and Nass River. With the Nass the name of oolachan (candle-fish) is closely connected. In. March, a month earlier than they appear in the Eraser, the oolachans enter the Nass. A superstition is current among the Indians that snow al- ways falls at this time in order to keep clean any fish that might touch the ground — for their
An Indian Superstition.
regard for the oola-
chan amounts almost to reverence. In addition to the use of the flesh as food, the fat is col- lected by steaming the fish with hot stones. When cold this fat looks like lard, and is used in much the same way. Done up in boxes, it is in great demand among Indians liv- ing as far east as the Rocky Moun- tains. Another use of the oolachan is to provide light. For this purpose strings of them two yards long are dried in the sun. Such a string, nailed to a board and lighted, burns like a torch, hence the name " candle-fish."
OOLACHANS IN A NET.
108
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Now we are at the portals of Alaska. From Portland Canal northward, British Columbia is shut off from the coast by a narrow strip of United States territory. Survey parties are in the field marking the boundary line determined by the Alaskan Boundary Commission of 1903.
The Queen Charlotte Islands are about one hundred and
fifty in number. Of these Graham and Moresby are of most importance. Though known to be mineral-bearing since 1852, they have received little attention up to the present, because so hard to reach.
Off Queen Charlotte Islands are the halibut banks. An average fish weighs sixty pounds, but specimens occur five to six feet in length and of two hundred pounds weight, Stunners engaged in deep-sea fishing convey their cargoes to Vancouver in four or five days. Ice preserves the fish while on the steamer ; at Vancouver the
Queen halibut is repacked and sent in cold storage to Charlotte ...
_. ., eastern cities. Islands.
West of Queen Charlotte the black cod (or skil) is abundant, Though a delicious pan-fish, the skil is difficult to preserve. Too delicate to be transported fresh, it is too fat to dry and salt. Pickling has been tried but without complete success. The pungent yellow cypress or cedar, which in southern British Columbia is not found at sea level, here descends to the coast. Of great durability, the wood commands a higher price
GEOGRAPHY OF BEITISH COLUMBIA.
109
Fish, Timber, and Coal.
than either Douglas fir or red cedar. Spruce and hemlock also
are common.
Skidegate (Skid'-e-g-at) Inlet is rich in resources, abounding
in fish, timber and anthracite coal. The waters just outside its
entrance are the greatest resort on the coast, so far as known, of
the dog fish. From spring to fall the fish are caught continu- ously and oil extracted from their livers. While the liver oil is fine in quality and useful for lubricating purposes, a coarser oil is obtained by
steaming the bodies of the fish in ^^^jfjf^^^
retorts. Massett is another inlet
of importance and the site of a
large Indian village.
The Queen Charlotte natives
are the Haidas, a clever tribe with character- istics distinct from the Coast
Indians, towards whom they fcj
have always been war-like and IJj
aggressive. Strangely enough, %
the women have red hair.
Their mode of burial resembles
the Peruvian. The dead are placed
in boxes in a sitting posture.
The climate is milder than that of the coast of the opposite
mainland. In winter the sky is nearly always .overcast.
Though there are areas suitable for agriculture, a light, sandy
soil prevails.
Natives of the Islands.
HATDA TYPES.
CHAPTER IV.
ATLIN.
IN the autumn of 1898, through the discovery of gold, Atlin came before the world's notice. Previously, it was only the
hunting ground of the Taku-Teslin Indians. Gold Discovered a ,.,,, , .,
. DO little was known about it, that during
its first year as a mining camp, there was uncertainty as to whether it was in British Columbia, the North- West Territories, or Alaska. Now, in 1906, it is the foremost Placer Camp in British Columbia.
It is easily reached. Car Cross, a station on " The White Pass and Yukon Route," 68 miles from Skagway, is the rail- way divisional point. Twice a week during the summer a steamer plying on Lake Tagish makes connection with the train.
In the early morning we arrive at Taku, the stopping place of the steamer. After two and a half miles of railway portage we come to Lake Atlin, and another steamer conveys us to the town of Atlin on the opposite side of the lake. It has taken twenty-four hours to come from Skagway.
Atlin Lake is the largest and, we believe, the most beautiful lake in the province. It is encircled by snow-clad
mountains, and out of its limpid
The largest I,ake . . , , m, , .,
. ,. _ waters rise many islands. Through its
in the Province.
outlet — the Atlmto River — it becomes
one of the head waters of the Yukon River. The lake
no
GEOGRAPHY or BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Ill
runs north and south. Midway on its eastern side, it receives the water of Pine Creek, the Creek where the first gold was discovered.
Pine Creek and its tributaries, especially Spruce, Gold Run
and Boulder, have been _ . —
the mainstay of Atlin. Traces of gold, however, can be found in every creek. Without doubt, as rich ground as any worked will yet be located. Atlin gold is generally coarse and is worth about $16.00 an ounce. The largest nugget found weighed 48 ounces and was valued at $875.00.
The methods of mining followed may be placed under three heads: (1) Individual Placer Mining, (2) Hydraulicing, (3) Dredging.
In Individual Mining the gold-bearing gravel is handled with pick and shovel. When the gravel is thrown into sluice boxes, the gold being heavy sinks to the bottom and is held between " riffles," while the "tailings" (i.e. the gravel without the gold) are dumped at the end of the boxes. When a "clean-up " is made, the water is turned off, and the riffles — either poles or blocks — are taken out. Then the material in the boxes is "panned," that is, washed with a peculiar rotary motion in a shallow iron pan. Gradually the pan is emptied of its contents until naught remains but black sand and gold. The black sand is got rid of by blowing and using a magnet. If the gold is fine, quicksilver is used to collect it.
DREDGE AT GOLD RUN.
Sluicing and Panning.
112 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Where gravel is moved by hand, the ground must be very rich in gold in order to pay more than wages. Hydraulicing is a manner of working ground that would not pay the individual miner. Water
HYDRAULIC MINING.
under high pressure is directed through a "giant" or steel pipe against a bank of gravel. By the force of the water the bank is broken down and passes as. a muddy stream through the sluice boxes.
But hydraulicing has its drawbacks. There must be a good head of water and adequate dump. These are often impossible on flat land. In that case dredging becomes a feasible method of working. The dredge works by electricity. A chain of buckets lifts the gravel and tumbles it into a revolving cylinder fitted with jets of water. Through holes in the cylinder, the finer material drops into sluice boxes, whereas the boulders, too big for the holes, roll into chutes which dump them at the side of the dredge.
The town of Atlin is charmingly situated on the lake front.
Though here and there tents remain as relics of pioneer days,
they have in general been replaced by comfortable
~ AxyJ cabins and houses. The public buildings are well
built with a view to permanence. Delicacies as
well as necessities are found in the shops, for bacon and beans no
longer form the staple diet. In the gardens all the common
GEOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 113
vegetables are raised. Indeed potatoes, turnips, carrots, and cauliflower have a sweetness and lettuce a crispness that is unusual. Atlin is a relay station of the Dominion Telegraph. On account of leakage of current along the line, messages from Ashcroft to Dawson are here strengthened.
No better roads are to be found anywhere than those leading to the principal creeks. A rubber-tired carriage and spirited horse — for Atlin is quite civilized — enable these roads to be
enjoyed. In winter, dogs are more used than Doc°-
horses. One in front of another, with the most Mushing.
sagacious as leader, they are harnessed to a narrow
sleigh. Without rein or whip they trot steadily along the trail
at the rate of six miles an hour. The "musher," or driver, runs behind the sleigh. " Mush " is a cor- ruption of the French word marche, and means "go ahead."
The summer though
IXMS TEAM. . , „ ,, „
short is warm and tull ot
sunshine. In June there is no night, for the sun rises about two and sets toward ten. Between sunset and sunrise there is bright twilight. Winter weather is on the whole moderate. So dry is the air that even intense cold is not much felt. Three to four feet is the ordinary depth of snow. Spring is rather a tedious season, because, though the snow goes off the ground in April, the ice in the lake does not break up until May.
114 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Before leaving Atlin we must visit the Llewellyn Glacier, so far as known, the largest inland glacier on this continent. We go to the south end of the lake, and, following a rough trail
TOWN OF ATLIN.
from the lakeside, emerge upon a flat covered with gravel and
sand. At every step our feet sink into the loose soil. Now we
have gained the ice! By cutting out steps
we climb to its surface. The ice looks black. Inland Glacier.
That is on account of the powdered rock.
Though the walking is good, we have to be on the lookout for crevasses or rents in the ice. To fall into one of these means destruction. Some of them are narrow, and we can jump across; at other times we have to retrace our steps. Lying at the edge of one crevasse, we look down upon a waterfall of thirty feet, imprisoned in ice of a heavenly blue. Hours pass as we walk, but the air is so exhilarating that we feel no fatigue. This glacier extends for sixty miles as one con- tinuous ice-field, out of which rise isolated mountain peaks.
The Atlin Electoral District extends as far south as tin* Stikirie River, up which many an expedition tried to gain the Klondike in 1898. Telegraph Creek is the head of navigation, a Hudson's Bay post, and a station of the Dominion Telegraph. From it a pack-trail goes to Dease Lake. On Dease River, a
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
115
tributary of the Liard River, gold-mining has been carried on for many years. The Liard country contains thousands of acres never yet looked upon by a white man. It, as well as Atlin, forms part of the Cassiar mining district.
The whole of this northern country abounds in game. There are moose and caribou; mountain sheep and mountain goat; grizzly, cinnamon, brown, black, and silver-tip bears; wolves and wolverines; black, silver, and red foxes; lynx and marten. Of the countless ducks, the mallards, teal and butter balls are considered least fishy. Blue, willow, and spruce grouse; geese, and ptarmigan, complete the list of game birds. In the lakes are trout, grayling and white fish.
Animals and Birds.
CHAPTER V.
NEW WESTMINSTER DISTRICT.
THE New Westminster District comprises sixteen municipal- ities, two of them urban, namely Vancouver and New West- minster. Each rural municipality is governed by a reeve and council; the cities by a mayor and council.
The Fraser River is the life-giving artery of the dis- trict. By it the rich soil has been deposit- ed, and to it come count- less salmon.
Farming, fishing and lum- bering are the main industries.
Though agriculture is general, it is pursued with special
success in Chilliwack, Langley, Delta and Rich-
lity c mond municipalities. Hay, oats, and barley are
the usual crops. Vegetables are superior in
quality and size. Fruit culture is most successfully carried on at
Chilliwack, Maple Ridge, and Mission. The fruit includes apples,
116
U.S. TERRITORY
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 117
pears, peaches, grapes, plums, prunes, and cherries. At Chilli- wack hops are grown to perfection.
The soil consists of clay covered by an alluvial deposit. This alluvial deposit is made up of gravel, sand, and mud, mixed with humus, and varies in depth from one to six feet. In Delta municipality, however, the alluvium is much deeper.
Dyking has been necessary to protect this fertile land from
the river and from the sea. The Chilliwack dyke, following
the Fraser and Chilliwack rivers for twelve to fifteen
Costly mil cogt the provinciai Government $250,000. Rich-
Dykes
mond and Delta have been dyked to keep out the sea,
the expense of the undertaking being borne by the munici- palities. In all, about one hundred miles of dykes have been constructed. The work is done by means of steam dredges which cut out broad ditches on the inside of the dyke. The material thus cut out is thrown up in the form of an embank- ment very much like that prepared for a railroad. Sluices and openings under and through the dyke provide for the drainage of tine reclaimed land.
The fishing industry centres round Steveston and New West- minster. Steveston, situated on the south side of Lulu Island, has in summer a population of over 4,000, made up of Chinese, Japanese, Indians, and Whites, engaged at the canneries and in fishing. In a good season, from six to eight weeks, enough money is made to allow a fisherman to be idle, if so disposed, during the rest of the year. Indians leave sometimes with $1,800 in cash, and ordinarily with $500 to $1,000.
Five varieties of salmon run in the Fraser River. These are Sockeye, Spring, Coho, Dog, Humpback. The first three are used for canning, but the sockeye, on account of its rich flavor and the deep
118
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
pink color of its meat, is most prized. Dog salmon, though never canned, is dry-salted and exported to Japan. Humpback, the smallest variety, is not of much value. There is a difference between Pacific and Atlantic salmon. The former go up rivers and lakes to spawn, but die after depositing The latter, after spawning, return to the salt water. To maintain the supply of fish, hatcheries have been established. Spawn taken from some lake stream is placed in especially designed at the hatchery. After the fry come out and have attained
Varieties of Pacific Salmon.
their ova.
FISHING FLKET AT THE MOUTH OF THE FRASER RIVER.
sufficient size, they are" towards spring put in large boxes which are then placed in different parts of the river.
During the fishing period there is a weekly close-season of thirty- six hours. What more engaging sight than that of the fleet as it rides out to the sand-heads on a Sunday evening ! At least two men are in each boat, one to throw the net, the other to pull the boat. The nets are very long, some of them 1,200 feet. One end, having a buoy attached to it, is thrown out to drift with the tide ; the other end is
GrEOGKAPHY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA. 119
securely fastened to the boat. When the buoy sinks, the net is taken up. If it does riot contain enough fish with which to
How the Fish t h cannery, another "drift" is taken. The
are Caught.
net is supplied by that cannery to which the boat is
bound to deliver. On arrival at the cannery the fish are counted by a marker, for the fisherman is paid for each fish he delivers. The principal fishing ground is the mouth of the Fraser River as far as the sand-heads ; but fishing is allowable as far up as Sumas River.
Other fish frequent the Fraser. Sturgeon are taken at some of the canneries, and the roe shipped as caviare. They are also sent East in cold storage. Oolachans and smelts are caught in large quantities and preserved by salting.
The chief logging camps are along the Lillooet arid Stave
rivers. Douglas fir and cedar logs are hauled to the streams by
means of horses and steam railways, then rafted
[ns down to the mills at New Westminster. In the form Camps.
of planks, boards, and square timber they are sold at
home and abroad. The smaller timber is well fitted for piling, and finds a ready market in San Francisco.
The Fraser River is tidal as far as Harrison River, a distance of seventy miles. Formerly, Yale was the head of navigation, but now, owing to the sediment brought down from the mountains or as a result of mining operations, the river has become so filled between Yale and Chilliwack, that deep-draught steamers do not run above the latter place. Even below Chilliwack, bars are con- stantly forming which require to be dredged to keep the passage clear. Between forty and fifty years ago, vessels drawing twenty feet of water went up to the Hudson's Bay fort at Langley to load salted salmon. At the present time, vessels of that draught can go only to New Westminster, sixteen miles farther down the river.
120
GrEOGEAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
FKASER RIVER BRIDGE, NEW WESTMINSTER.
Magnificent Bridge.
A steel truss bridge, built by the province at a cost of one million dollars, spans the Fraser at New Westminster. The substructure consists of nine granite piers rest- ing on a foundation of concrete and piles. Great solidity is required to stand the strain during seasons of freshet. The bridge has two decks, the lower one for railways, the upper for vehicles. Over it pass Great Northern Railway trains from Elaine (on the American side), from Port G-uichon, and from Vancouver.
AGASSIZ is the sit>e of a Dominion experimental farm and the starting place for Harrison Hot Springs.
MISSION is a Canadian Pacific Railway junction, from which a branch line runs to Seattle.
LADNER'S LANDING is the shipping-place for the Delta.
NEW WESTMINSTER — the "Royal City" — was the capital of British Columbia until 1866, the year of union with Vancouver Island. It is superbly situated on terraced ground on the right bank of the Fraser, in full view of Baker and Rainier mountains. Since
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
121
the great fire of 1898, when a space six blocks long and four blocks wide was devastated, the business part of the city has been rebuilt.
The city's water supply is brought fifteen miles from _,. Coquitlam lake at a head of 400 feet. In July and
August, all along the water front, canneries are running to their full capacity. The leading factories are for the making of boxes and cans. An inter-urban electric line provides an hourly service with Vancouver.
Friday is market day. Farmers come fifteen to twenty miles with their produce, and thither dealers from Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver arid local centres repair to make their purchases.
The Royal City has an insane asylum capable of housing 500 inmates ; it has also a penitentiary and a jail. The penitentiary is controlled by the Department of Justice, Ottawa ; the jail and the asylum by the Provincial Government.
VANOOTTVKR HARBOR.
VANCOUVER is the Terminal City of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the commercial metropolis of British Columbia. Since the laying of its foundations in 1885, it has grown to be a city of 40,000 people, and its full growth is not yet attained.
122 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
The entrance to Vancouver harbor is known as " The Narrows." The harbor is all that could be desired — land-locked, roomy and of great depth. The wharves and freight sheds that extend for a mile along the water front denote the importance Vancouver's yf the shi in Trade with the Orient steadily
Shipping Trade. .
increases, oteamers from (Jhina, Japan, Australia,
California, and Alaska are often in port at the same time. The railway station, substantially built of stone and brick, is within easy access to the wharves.
The lumber and shingle mills on Burrard Inlet and False Creek are the most complete of their kind. At the sugar refinery, raw sugar from Java, Fiji Islands, and South America, is purified. Foundries and machine shops are numerous. Shipbuilding yards are growing in importance.
Paved and boulevarded streets, fine houses and gardens mark the residential section. Handsome business blocks are built on Granville, Hastings, and Cordova Streets. The Coast mountains on the opposite side of the Inlet, afford a beautiful setting to this young seaport city.
Stanley Park, named in honor of the Governor-General who per- formed the opening ceremonies, is Vancouver's chief pleasure resort. It forms a peninsula of which Brockton Point is the apex. The seven-mile drive along the shore line is one continual feast p of pleasure. Out of mountains, water, and forest an end-
less combination of beautiful pictures is furnished. For large ferns and gigantic trees the park is justly famous. The big trees, 300 feet high, are Douglas firs.
Vancouver has a speedy car service, a mountain water supply, and an efficient sewerage system. Money has been lavishly spent in building good school houses. Here the McGill University College of British Columbia is established. A Provincial Normal School provides for the training of High School graduates who intend to make a profession of teaching.
CHAPTER VI.
YALE DISTRICT.
THE District of Yale contains five important valleys:—
Thompson, Nicola, Similkameen, Okanagan, Kettle. Its
resources are mainly agricultural and mineral.
nd Mineral ^s ^ ^es a^mos^ wholly within the dry belt its
Yale. climate is exceptionally fine.
By Cana- dian P a c i fi c Railway we emerge from the New West- minster D i s- trict. Follow- ing the canyon of the Fraser, we at length stop at Yale Station. With- in sight, are the fine build- ing and the well -kept grounds of a girls' school conducted by
Map of Yale District.
123
124 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
an Anglican Sisterhood. Above Yale all the " bars " or shallow places in the river were worked in the fifties for gold. Since that time Indians and Chinese have, year after year, mined in the same places by means of rockers.
At Lytton, the railway departs from the Fraser to follow its tributary, the Thompson. However, by waggon road we may
follow the Fraser from Lytton to Lillooet, a distance of £-. , forty-six miles. Many fine ranches lie along this route.
So mild is the climate that grapes, watermelons, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes can be raised. Three miles from Lytton there is an industrial school for Indian boys where practical farming is taught. For several years gold-dredging in the Fraser has been tried. Heretofore, coping with boulders has been the main obstacle in the way of success.
Spence's Bridge is the station where connection % is made with the Nicola and Similkameen stage. The drive to Nicola Lake is 45 miles ; and to Princeton, situated at the junction of the Similkameen and Tulameen rivers, 110 miles. Cattle raising is at present the chief industry both in Nicola and Similkameen. But immense possibilities centre in the coal beds that underlie
the Nicola valley. In view of the great smelt- C lid in^ industry which is being built up in the Yale
District, it will probably not be long before rail- way communication is obtained with Nicola, that her coal area may be developed. No less keenly felt is the need for ;i railway in the Similkameen, where gold, copper, platinum and other minerals are found, but where mining is retarded because of poor transportation. In both valleys conditions are favorable for fruit culture.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 125
Eesuming our railway journey from Spence's Bridge, we come to Ashcroft, important as the cattle-shipping point of the grazing districts to the north. As we shall have to return to Ashcroft if we wish to make our way into Lillooet and Cariboo, we now pass on to Kamloops* at the forks of the North and South Thompson. By ranching, mining, trading, and trapping, the city of Kamloops has attained its present importance. Among its pub- HH^^^^
lie buildings of more than local interest, are a jail and an old-man's home. It has sunshine the year round, little rain, and mild, short winters, and is thus a resort of health - seekers. On the outlying ranges are about ASHCROFT.
40,000 head of cattle. The whole country north of Kamloops for a hundred miles, is rich in gold and silver. Deposits of copper, iron, quicksilver, and coal have been more or less opened up.
Following the shore of the beautiful Shuswap Lake we come
to Sicamous, and there take the Shuswap and Okanagan railway
in order to reach the greatest wheat producing
area in British Columbia — the Okanagan. Ender- Wheat Belt. T>. .,, ,
by, on the Shuswapf Kiver, has a mill where
wheat, not only of the valley but of the region about Moose Jaw, in the Province of Saskatchewan, is turned into flour. A
* Kamloops is an Indian word meaning the "meeting of the waters." t Formerly known as the Spallumcheen river.
126 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
day's output, when the mill is running to its full capacity, is two hundred and fifty barrels. Armstrong, 15 miles from Enderby, though small, is an important and busy town. Under the co-operative system the farmers run their own flour mill and butter factory.
Between Enderby and Armstrong the country is compara- tively flat and the soil is for the most part a clay loam. The farms therein situated are of moderate size. One of them, which will serve as a type, contains about 1,400 acres. Of this amount 600 acres are arable. Timber and meadow lands make up the balance. All the wheat is fall sown, and the average yield is thirty to thirty-five bushels an acre. Two hundred sheep, eighty head of cattle, seventy-five horses, and one hundred hogs comprise the live stock. Coyotes are trouble- some to sheep, the bounty of two dollars a head not serving to reduce their number.
Vernon, prettily situated and the terminus of the railway, is the most populous town in the Okanagan. Between it and Armstrong the country is rolling and made up of bush and wheatlands. Here are the big ranches, some containing 14,000 acres. On a ranch of such size about a thousand head of cattle are kept, and approximately 600 tons of wheat
Vernon s grown-. These large holdings are a detriment to
Big Ranches.
the valley. Gradually they are being broken up
into smaller holdings, which can be more completely cultivated without their owners being at the mercy of laborers.
South of Vernon there stretches an extensive fruit belt in which Coldstream and Kelowna are the largest producers. In order that fruit raising may be carried on with profit, great care
GEOGKAPHY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA.
127
is required. Given the right location as to soil and temperature, orchards must be thoroughly drained, cultivated, and fertilized. The fruit planted ought to be suitable to the locality, — only
A " ROUND-UP."
after practical tests can the best varieties be determined.
Frequent and careful spraying are necessary to keep the trees clean and free from pests. There should also be judicious pruning, that the trees may be kept in
Fruit Raising.
good shape and their fruitfulness insured. The Cold- stream ranch, five miles from Yernon, is the property of Lord Aberdeen. Many acres are set out with apple, pear, and apricot trees. Hops are grown with success and in ever increasing amount. ' The hills that flank the ranch are used as ranges for cattle.
A steamer runs on Okanagan Lake, making calls, among other places, at Kelowna, Peaehland, and Penticton.
Kelowna is the centre of the Mission Valley, devoted to fruit- growing and mixed farming. Sufficient fruit is raised to export to the
128 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Kootenays and to Alberta. In Kelowna there is a plant for the making of evaporated fruits; a cigar factory, in which the tobacco used is home-grown ; and a pork-packing establishment.
Peachlapd is on the opposite side of the lake. Thither the fine climate has attracted many retired farmers from the North-west Pro- vinces. As the name implies, the land is favorable for peach-growing.
Penticton, at the south end of the lake, is the starting-place of stages into the Boundary. From it, also, a road goes to the mining camps in Similkameen.
The Boundary is that country, between the divide of the
Okanagan and the divide of the Columbia, drained by the
Kettle River. The drive from Penticton to
Greenwood is 83 miles, but we need not enter
the Boundary by stage. We can go to it by railway, riot,
however, from the Okanagan. The Columbia and Western
Railway, a branch of the Canadian Pacific, runs from Robson
in Kootenay to Midway in the Boundary; while a branch of
the Great Northern Railway goes to Grand Forks.
Within ten years the Boundary has advanced from ob- scurity to being the largest producer of copper in Canada. Were it not for cheap mining and smelting, Boundary ore would be of too low grade to be profitably worked. But it is mined largely from open quarries by means of steam shovels, and smelted on a large scale in huge furnaces, all at small cost.
Grand Forks and Greenwood are the chief cities. The former is well situated at the junction of the Kettle River and
its North Fork, in a fertile valley favorable to
Chief Towns. ,, ,, c e ., . •.-, " -,
the growth of fruit, vegetables, and grain.
Near it, is the Granby Smelter, with a capacity for treating 2,000 tons of ore a day. A Bessemer plant converts the forty-
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
129
five per cent copper matte into a ninety-nine per cent blister copper.* Up to the present there is no refinery in Canada for extracting the gold and silver values. For refining, the blister copper is sent to the United States.
Phoenix is purely a mining town with the Granby mines on its outskirts. A railway spur to Eholt connects it with the Columbia and Western.
*The marketable product of copper smelting.
HARVESTING IN VERNON.
CHAPTER VII.
A Coach- and-Four.
LILLOOET.-CARIBOO.
ONE summer morning before dawn, the Cariboo stage
stands in front of the door of the Express Office at Ashcroft. Soon the coach-and-four is clattering across the Thompson River bridge, and with many a sharp turn takes us up the
river terraces. On the light-colored, sandy-looking
soil nothing is growing but sage-brush and
wormwood. Though seemingly barren, the
soil requires only water to
make it fer.tile. Proof
of this is afforded at Cache
Creek, where there are vege- table gardens from which
potatoes and onions are taken
to Ashcroft to be shipped by
the carload.
After driving fifteen miles
we pass from the District
of Yale into that of Lillooet.
From Hat Creek a branch
road runs to the town of
Lillooet. Perhaps in early days, when it was the base of
supplies for the Cariboo gold diggings, this little town enjoyed
130
CARIBOO WAGGON KOAD.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 131
greater prosperity than now. The quartz and the placer mining on Bridge River, and the gold dredging near at hand in the Eraser, promote its present welfare.
Northward from Clinton, the chief town in the Lillooet District, the main Cariboo road crosses a plateau, then by four hills it descends into the valley of Lac La Hache. Whereas up to this point the settled portions of land have been long distances apart, along Lac La Hache farm adjoins farm. Dairying is the
principal occupation of the people, all the Chinese 3,s
butter made being easily disposed of in the Butter-makers. . . . ,, n, ,
mining region to the north. Chinese are
frequently the butter-makers as well as the general farm laborers. They are old residents, for they came from California when the white miners came, upon learning of the discovery of gold. Not only do they mine and farm, but also " freight," As there is no railway, goods have to be delivered by freight waggons, large canvas-covered vans drawn by six or eight horses. So large and profitable a business is by no means wholly in the hands of Chinese. They freight only for their own countrymen.
The divisional point for Horsefly and Bullion is 150-Mile- House. Though gold was discovered in the Horsefly country in 1859, it was not found in such quantities as to hold men in the face of richer strikes made farther north. Though well-nigh abandoned, the Horsefly was never wholly so. On the very ground where the first gold was taken out, an Hydraulic Company is now operating. But the hard character of the gravel, poor dump, and difficulty in obtaining labor have retarded development.
132 G-EOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
The road from 150-Mile-House to Bullion passes through a
sparsely settled section well fitted for stock-raising. Even at
an altitude of 3,000 feet, farming is successful. This is evident
from the fields of fine oats we see at Big Lake.
Greatest Bullion is purely a mining camp. Its cluster of Hydraulic ,
houses, comprising offices, store, bunk houses,
boarding house, hospital, shops and stables, form the neatest little settlement in Cariboo. On account of the large extent of high-grade gravels and the magnitude of the hydraulic plant, Bullion surpasses all other properties of its kind on the continent. A visit to the camp garden reveals almost every kind of vegetable. Wild fruits also abound— strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blueberries, huckleberries, service berries, and soap berries. The last mentioned are very bitter and used by Indians as a tonic. When stirred in a bowl they froth like soapy water, hence the name.
About the month of August, Pacific salmon, which ^ have come up the Fraser and Quesnel rivers, arrive at Quesnel Lake, four miles from Bullion. Recently a fish-ladder has been made, to enable them to get above the dam at the lower end of the lake, because formerly the salmon were so tired out by their long journey of about seven hundred miles up stream that they could not make headway against the swift water coming through the sluice gates. Baffled again and again in their efforts, they at length died of exhaustion.
From Quesnel Forks, a small settlement at the junction of the north and south forks of the Quesnel River, a trail leads to Barkerville by way of Keithley Creek. The journey to Barkerville would be much shortened by taking this route, and,
G-EOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
133
moreover, there would be the satisfaction of following in the footsteps of the men who discovered Barkerville Creeks; never- theless the stage returns to 150-Mile-House and continues by the main Cariboo road.
Down grade we go to Soda Creek, the next stopping place and the first point of contact of the road with the Fraser
QUESNEL.
River. Here a wire rope ferry gives access to Chilcotin, one of the best grazing districts in the province. Another mode of entry is from 150-Mile-House by ferrying the Fraser at the mouth of Chimney Creek. Extensive meadow lands lie on either side of the Chilcotin Eiver. Bunch grass provides feed for large herds of cattle, and the climate is so tempered by Chinook winds that the animals do not need shelter in winter.
134 G-EOGKAPHY OF BKITISH COLUMBIA.
The Fraser is navigable from Soda Creek to Quesnel, a distance of sixty miles. So strong is the current that while the stern-wheel steamer takes nine hours to make the trip up stream, the return is made in one-quarter of that time. Precipitous banks, wooded to the top, border the river. When navigation closes, the stage runs through to Quesnel, passing on its way fine cattle ranches and farms. The altitude is sufficiently low to admit of wheat being ripened. At Quesnel there is a flour mill with all modern appliances, also a lumber mill. The timber is mainly fir, the largest trees measuring about forty inches in girth, twelve feet from the stump. Well-stocked stores indicate that Quesnel is the base of sup- plies for a wide area.
The last section of the road is from Quesnel to Barker- ville. Up, up we climb until we reach a summit of 5,000 feet, and the famous Lightning Creek comes in sight. Tail- ings, old timbers, and falling cabins tell us that here in years
gone by hundreds Deep Gravel of men worked
Mining. .., . ,
with pick and
shovel. But Lightning Creek is not wholly deserted. Mining still goes on, though the modern method differs from that of early days. By boring, it has been dis- covered that below the thirty feet "OABIBOO CAMERON'S" CABIN.
of surface-gravel worked by the old miners, there is a stratum of clay about seventy feet thick, beneath which are other gravels carrying gold. To work these deep gravels a shaft is
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 135
sunk to bed-rock, that the gravel may be hoisted to the surface for sluicing. Deep gravel mining is likewise carried on at Slough Creek and Willow River.
On the fourth day after leaving Ashcroft, the stage arrives at Barkerville, the end of the Cariboo Waggon Eoad. This road is 280 miles long, and was originally longer, for it began at Yale. As is well known, it was built in the time of Governor Douglas and was rendered necessary by the influx of miners in the opening sixties. To keep it in good repair, thousands of dollars are spent annually. Barkerville is situated among mountains, itself at an altitude of 4,000 feet, too high up for either vegetables or fodder to be grown. One long straggling street that runs by Williams Creek comprises the town. Williams, the richest creek in Cariboo, has already produced $20,000,000. Nor has all the gold yet been taken out. Balsam, tamarac, spruce and pine are the timber trees.
Though this is the end of the stage line, a big northern
country lies beyond. It is the New Caledonia of the early
explorers. From Quesnel one may go by trail to
many a Hudson's Bay trading post established a Caledonia.
century ago and still occupied to maintain the
trade in furs. Buffalo and elk are extinct, but marten, lynx, mink, otter, beaver, fox, bear, moose and caribou are plentiful. The caribou or reindeer has an excellent food in the lichen that hangs in threadlike masses from trees. In the sixties, the Hudson's Bay forts were enlivened by the coming of prospectors who by hundreds drifted up from Barkerville and the Fraser River. As a result of the prospecting, gold was discovered in the Omineca, the country north of Fort St.
136
GrEOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
James. By 1871 there were 1,200 people in Omineca, and the output for the year was $400,000.
Lakes and mountains make up so large a portion of New Caledonia that the productive area is limited. Yet there are many tracts suitable for agriculture and cattle raising. The gardens at the forts prove that vegetables and grain can be
grown. Summer frosts are prevalent, but these will A. Rfl,ilw3.v
- - probably disappear as the country becomes settled.
Settlement is out of the question, however, until a railway is built and with it roads and trails made to connect. The railway is in sight. This is the very country through
which the Grand Trunk Pacific is likely to run. If, as is confidently expected, the railway comes through the Rockies by the Peace Eiver Pass, approximately 10,000 square miles of agricul- tural lands will be opened up.
Peopling New Caledonia are about 5,000 Indians called the Western Denes, among whom for many years Oblate Missionaries have labored. At Fort St. James there is a prosperous Mission. Stuart Lake, on which the Fort is situated, is a beautiful expanse of water, surrounded by lofty hills, and with the Rocky Mountains in plain view. Salmon and sturgeon are found in its waters.
BAKKERVILLE.
Kootenay District.
CHAPTER VIII.
KOOTENAY DISTRICT.
1. Columbia River Valley. 2. Kootenay River Valley.
THE District of Kootenay occupies the south-eastern corner of the province. In shape it is a triangle, with the International Boundary as base and with its apex just above the "big bend" of the Columbia River. The Selkirk range of mountains bisects it lengthwise into East and West Divisions. East
137
138 GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Kootenay differs from the Western Division in containing extensive coal deposits and a considerable amount of land fit for cultivation. Too mountainous for agricultural lands, West Kootenay is almost entirely devoted to gold-copper and silver- lead mining.
The Columbia River, with its tributaries, drains both Divisions. Taking its rise in Columbia Lake, situated in the valley between the Rocky and Selkirk Mountains, it flows northward past Windermere and Golden. The Windermere country contains many fine farms and affords good pasturage for cattle. Timber, consisting of fir, tamarac, pine and cedar, is plentiful; and the mineral prospects are good. A waggon road extends from Cranbrook on the south to Golden on the north.
Golden, at the junction of the Kicking Horse River and
the Columbia, may be called the first Canadian Pacific Railway
station in British Columbia, because the intervening
Golden, stations between it and the Rocky Mountains
come within the boundaries of the Canadian Big" Bend.
National Park. It is chiefly a distributing centre.
Lumbering, a little mining and stock-raising are carried on in its neighborhood. Below Golden the railway for a space parallels the Columbia. Then while the former makes its way through the Selkirks by Roger's Pass and the Illecillewaet River, the latter continues its course to the north until with a gigantic swerve the " big bend " is formed and the direction of the stream is reversed. Railway and river come together again at Revelstoke. The Big Bend attracted thousands of miners in the sixties and produced in its best year about $5,000,000. Placer mining still goes on, though not to the same extent.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
139
North and west, there is a large mica-bearing belt, but the expense of production, where everything has to be packed in or out on mules' backs, is too great to permit of its develop- ment. In addition to minerals, there are agricultural lands, some of which, however, are subject to overflow during high water.
KICKING HORSE CANON, C.P.K.
Revelstoke is a supply centre and divisional point. It spreads over a large area, for around the railway station a town has grown up a mile and a half away from the old town. Workshops for the Pacific Division of the railroad are here on a large scale. In them we see huge engines that have been smashed in snow-slide or in collision, awaiting repairs. From Eevel-
Railway Workshops.
140
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
stoke a railway spur runs south to Arrowhead, where close connection is made with the lake steamers.
East of Arrowhead is the Lardeau section, including Fish River and Trout Lake. Though this has long been recognized a,s a mineral-bearing region, development was slow, until the
WASHING GOLD.
discovery of rich gold quartz near Poplar Creek, attracted both men and capital. Improved means of travel being desir- able, a railway has been built from Lardeau, on Kootenay Lake, to the lower end of Trout Lake. Thence by steamer and waggon road the way is open to Arrowhead.
The Arrow lakes, two in number, are long and narrow. As mountains rise abruptly from the shores, there is little land fit for cultivation except what may be at the mouth of creeks flowing into the lakes, in the flats along the shores, or in the loamy slopes that here and there form the base of the mountains. Such fertile patches would be insignificant were
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 141
it not for the value lent them by the extreme ruggedness of the country and by the large mining population to be supplied with fruit and vegetables. From Halcyon Hot Springs, a favorite resort of Kootenay people, we steam ahead to Nakusp, where the steamers required for the Columbia Eiver and Arrow Lake service are built. These are fine boats of three decks, luxuriously furnished.
Nakusp is the terminal of a railway that taps the chief silver-lead district in Kootenay, namely the Slocan, situated on the eastern side of Slocan Lake, with Sandon as its centre.
It is in the slate which comprises the country rock over an area of about one hundred square miles that the principal bodies of galena, or
sulphide of lead, occur. South of the slate formation is the JYJ. , " dry ore '' belt, i.e., a granite formation containing quartz
veins high in silver. Actual mining began in the Slocan in 1891. After ten years of advancement there came a falling off in pro- duction owing to depression of the lead market and the low price offered for silver. Under the stimulus of a bounty granted by the Dominion Government, for five years, on every ton of lead mined and smelted in Canada, mines that have been shut down are being re-opened. The Slocan is exceedingly mountainous. Because near the tops of mountains, rocks are more exposed than at lower levels, outcrops of ore have usually been discovered at high altitudes. This has not been a disadvantage ; for ore so situated can be mined by running tunnels, a method cheaper than that of sinking a shaft, inasmuch as expensive machinery is not required.
In addition to the railway from Nakusp to Sandon, there is a narrow-gauge line between Sandon and Kaslo. An outlet to the south is provided by a steamer that runs on Slocan Lake, connecting at Slocan City with a railway to Slocan Junction, half way between Nelson and Robson.
142
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
From Nakusp there is an unbroken run down Lower Arrow Lake to Robson, where two trains are waiting, one bound for Nelson, the other for Eossland. We choose the latter because as far as Trail it follows the Columbia River. On approaching Trail a group of buildings painted black may be seen. These, covering a space of forty-five acres, are the largest lead-copper reduction works in Canada. Refined silver and pig lead are produced and a plant has been installed for
the manufacture of lead pipe.
As the crow flies, Rossland is about five miles from Trail, but it is so much higher i n elevation t h a t the railway, in its switchback ascent, covers double "the distance.
SMELTKU.
In 1894 the Rossland mining camp began active production. At the close of ten years its total yield in gold, silver, and copper amounted to $26,000,000, gross value. The chief contributing mine has been " Le Hoi." And next to it in output, the "War Eagle" and "Centre Star."
A study of the rocks has shown that the city of Rossland
Rossland's Output.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 143
stands on the neck or central area of an old volcano. The ore veins that are being exploited are above the town on the side of Red Mountain, not in the neck of the volcano but near its edge. The greatest depth so far reached in mining is 1,600 feet.
A short distance beyond Trail the Columbia River crosses the International Boundary and makes its way to the Pacific Ocean through the State of Washington. The Le Roi smelter at Northport, a few miles south of the boundary line, obtains almost all its ore from Rossland, with which place it is connected by the Red Mountain Railroad.
The Kootenay River rises in the Rocky Mountains, not far
from the headwaters of the Columbia. Indeed so near do
these two rivers come that at Canal Flat they are separated
by a low divide only one-quarter of a mile in width.
y The canal constructed across the divide, to divert
Vv ctlClT\^£LV
the water of Kootenay River into the Columbia, is closed by order of the Government; for the reason that, as the Kootenay flows in part through United States, the diver- sion of the stream was likely to give rise to international complications. Throughout its length of 113 miles, from Canal Flat to Tobacco Plains, the Kootenay is navigable; and if the canal were open, a steamer could go all the way from Tobacco Plains to Golden. When it becomes more widely known how fertile is the land of the upper Kootenay Valley, settlers cannot fail to be attracted.
Before the coming of the Southern Railway, Fort Steele on the left bank of the Kootenay, midway between Canal Flat and Tobacco Plains, was an important town. Since 1864, placer mining has been earned on in its vicinity. Thither, to
144
GrEOGKAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Crowsnest Pass Coal Mines.
accommodate the early miners and to keep their gold from going across the line, the Dewdney Trail was constructed from Yale.
The valley known as Tobacco Plains is fertile and sparsely settled. Years ago it was employed by the Hudson's Bay Company as a winter range for their horses. From it a trail leads to the petroleum fields of the Flathead. Another trail into the same oil region starts at Elko. Both are well-worn paths used by the Kootenay Indians when they went to hunt buffaloes east of the Rockies. The principal seepage of oil, so far as known, is at Sage Creek where, near a spring of water, several pools are covered with a thick dark-green oil.
The British Columbia Southern, or Crowsnest Pass Railway, crosses Southern Kootenay from east to west. In 1897, simultaneously with railroad construction work, coal mining was started in the region of the Crows- nest Pass. When the railway reached Coal Creek, several thousand tons of coal were ready for shipment. Besides the colliery at Coal Creek there are those at Michel and Morrissey. A fair estimate of the extent of the coal fields is two hundred and thirty square miles. One-half of the coal produced is made into coke at Fernie, Michel and Morrissey.
TIPPLE AND COKE OVENS AT MICHEL.
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 145
The coke ovens are built of fire brick, in double rows, with support- ing walls of masonry. A railway runs along the top of each battery. Over it cars are hauled to charge the ovens with slack coal, through a circular hole at the top. For about seventy-two hours the coal is burned, that is, the gases are driven off. Almost pure carbon is left behind. When drawn from the oven the coke is firm and has a metallic lustre.
The City of Fernie, in the heart of the coal area, is the most important place in East Kootenay. Into it Great North- ern trains run. Thus two railways give markets to the coal fields for their products.
Cranbrook, farther west, situated on a prairie and within view of the Selkirks and Rockies, ranks next to Fernie in im- portance. It is a lumbering centre and has the railway work- shops. From it a railway runs to the lead and silver mines of Kimbeiiey.
The chief lead producer in Canada is the St. Eugene silver- lead mine at Moyie. By means of machinery the ore is sorted
in a huge concentrator, the largest in the 1 d M' province, and shipped as concentrates.
After leaving Moyie the British Columbia Southern passes through the Goat River mineral section to Kootenay Landing, its terminus, whence a steamer runs all the year round to Nelson.
When we parted with the Kootenay River at Tobacco Plains we did so with the expectation of meeting it again after it had passed through the States of Montana and Idaho. Upon recrossing the boundary line the river expands into Kootenay Lake, then issues from the west arm of the lake to join its old neighbor, the Columbia. The confluence of the two streams is at Robson.
146
GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Nelson, on the west arm, is the third city in importance in the province. In 1886 ore was accidentally discovered on Toad Mountain, so in the following year the townsite of Nelson was located. The Hall Mines smelter was built for the treat- ment of copper-silver, but latterly its work has been confined to lead ores. Nelson is well built and beautifully situated. By railway or steamer it is in close touch with the rest of Kootenay and also with the Boundary. Southward is the Ymir Camp, where the ore is chiefly free milling gold, and where the largest stamp mill in the province is to be found. Eastward are orchards along the west arm as far as Procter; and westward, in the Kootenay Eiver, are the Bonnington Falls, which supply Trail, Eossland and Nelson with light and power.
BONNINGTON FALLS, KOOTENAV KIVER.
APPENDIX.
DISTRICTS.
British Columbia is divided for political purposes into Electoral and Federal Districts ; for judicial purposes, into Counties. There are in addition school districts, mining and land divisions. From time to time the boundaries of the Districts are rearranged, the convenience of the people affected and the geographical features being, as a rule, the determining factors in the rearrange- ment.
A.
ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.
|
1. Alberni. |
13. Grand Forks. |
25. Richmond. |
|
2. Atlin. |
14. Greenwood. |
26. Rossland. |
|
3. Cariboo. |
15. Islands. |
27. Saanich. |
|
4. Chilliwack. 5. Columbia. |
16. Kamloops. 17. Kaslo. |
28. Similkameen. 29. Skeena. |
|
6. Comox. |
18. Lillooet. |
30. Slocan. |
|
7. Cowichan. 8. Cranbrook. |
19. Nanaimo. 20. Nelson. |
31. Vancouver City. 32. Victoria. |
|
9. Delta. |
21. Newcastle. |
33. Yale. |
|
10. Dewdney. 11. Esquimalt. 12. Fernie. |
22. New Westminster. 23. Okanagan. 24. Revelstoke. |
34. Ymir. |
147
L48
APPENDIX.
B.
C.
|
FEDERAL DISTRICTS. |
COUNTIES. |
||
|
1. Atlin. |
|||
|
1. Comox-Atlin. |
|||
|
2. Cariboo. |
|||
|
2. Nanaimo. 3. New Westminster. 4. Kootenay. 5. Vancouver City. 6. Victoria City. 7. Yale-Cariboo. |
3. Nanaimo. 4. Kootenay. 5. Vancouver. 6. Victoria. 7. Westminster. |
||
|
8. Yale. |
|||
|
POPULATION OF CITIES AND TOWNS. |
|||
|
1st class — Vancouver . |
26,133 |
3rd class — Continued. |
|
|
Victoria |
20,821 |
Grand Forks . . |
1,455 |
|
2nd class — Lady smith |
3,057 |
Greenwood |
1,500 |
|
Nanaimo . |
6,000 |
Kamloops . |
1,596 |
|
Nelson .... |
5,237 |
Kaslo .... |
1,680 |
|
New Westminster |
6,950 |
Phoenix |
1,050 |
|
Revelstoke . |
3,000 |
Sandon .... |
551 |
|
Rossland . |
6,500 |
Slocan .... |
950 |
|
3rd class — Cumberland . |
1,149 |
Trail .... |
1,535 |
|
Fernie |
2,000 |
Vernon .... |
800 |
Total population of British Columbia according to census of 1901 . 178,657
RAILWAYS.
Canadian Pacific, main line and branches 1,265 miles.
Great Northern . . ."' 180 "
Others 130 "
Total . . . 1,575 «
Under construction :
Spence's Bridge to Nicola Valley by Canadian Pacific.
Boundary to Similkameen by Great Northern.
Roads 5,800 "
Trails _^_. 4,500 «
^BR^=
OF T" ' "^
AVER'S/TV
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE.
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I7CD O1^* <n*5~> |
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irtks £7 193& |
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FEB 28 1955 |
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MAR 24 1936 |
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T - r \ \ j • |
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l7xApr boLm |
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LD 21-100fn-8,'34 |
YC 09910
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192821
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