This edition of the History of British Columbia is limited to three hundred and fifty signed and numbered copies, of which this is No 6 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/historyofbritishOOscho To Doctor the Honourable JOHN SEBASTIAN HELMCKEN First Speaker of the first House of Assembly of Vancouver Island, whose name is indelibly engraved in the History of Representative Institutions of British Columbia and To the memory of THE PIONEERS who built so well and nobly, this volume is respectfully dedicated. SIXTY YEARS of PROGRESS BRITISH COLUMBIA Portraits of some of those who laid its foundations and whose memory for years to come will be re- vered for their pioneer services in behalf of all who come after them CAPTAIN JAMES COOK Who visited this coast in 1778, on his third and memorable voyage around the world. US JAMES COOK Captain GEORGE VANCOUVER who met Capt. Quadra at Nootka in 1792, as Com- missioner for Great Britain in the settlement of the Nootka Affair, and remained on and surveyed the coast for three years. H3VU03WAV aoaoao niBlqs'J -mo3 ac ,SCU ni BJtlootf 1 b BibsuQ .IqfiD tam oilw lo Inarmllloa or!} ni rsisiiifl IbsiO iol isnoiaaim bsYSvma bnB no baniBrrsoi fans (lifilSA BjitooW aril 39lrfl Tol 13BOO 3fil GEORGE VANCOUVER Of the North West Company, who reached the Pacific Coast at Bella Coola on July 20, 1793, on his celebrated journey overland; the first white man to cross the Continent of America. 3ISW3XDAM 33QMAX3JA HI«2 arfi barfoBsi oriw t ynBqmoO rtaaW riiioW ariJ IQ no .EQ'vl ,0S ylul. no bIooO BltaS is JbboD 3rlio63 sJiriw Jaift srif ;bnfifi3vo ysnujoi batBidsIsa aid .BaiismA io JnsniJnoQ sd* aaoio ot nsm ALEXANDER MACKENZIE SIMON FRASER Agent of the North West Company, who estab- lished the first trading posts in British Columbia, and who was the first in 1808 to descend the Fraser River, named after him, to its mouth. SIMON FRASER SISgAH^ MOMI2 -deta3 oriw .^nfiqmoO JaaW riiioM arfi lo JnsgA ,£idrrurIcO riailha ni a:taoq gnibsit laid ariJ bariail ad} bnaoaab oJ 8081 ni i aid arfi aew oriw bns ■riioom ali o) ,miri isJic barnen ,i3viH i-saBia SIMON FRASER The Honourable JOHN TOD Born in 1791, and died August 31st, 1882. He was the eldest of a large family, of whom the youngest was Mrs. A. C. Anderson. At 16 he joined the Lord Selkirk scheme of emigration and went to York Factory on the Hudson’s Bay. He traversed the entire west to the Columbia River, becoming in time a chief factor of the company, spending many years in the Western Department. His exploits while in charge of the post at Kamloops are graphi- cally described by Bancroft, and prove him to have been a man absolutely devoid of fear, as well as i possessed of great resourcefulness. He was first in Astoria in 1814 and was early connected with Fort Vancouver. Tod retired about ’48 and settled at Cadboro Bay, and subsequently was a member of the Council appointed by Governor Blanshard before leaving for England. He was a profuse and interesting letter writer, and, although eccen- tric in some respects, was a man of kind heart and generous sentiments. aOT MHOI sldfiioonoH ariT 2 ew sH .£881 ,1a IS tzu-guA baib bnB ,ieU ni mo3 laagriuo^ aril morfw lo .ylimel asnfii £ 1° laabla aril bioJ aril banioi arf 91 lA .noaiabnA .D .A .aiM asw jIioY ol Jnaw bnB noilB-igima lo amarioa riiirilag art} baaiavEiJ aH .'sreS a'noabuH aril no 'ijiolDE'd ni gnimoaad ,iavi5I BidmuIoD aril ol Jaaw aiilna ■^riBni gnibnaqa .^nfiqmoo aril lo loJael lairfa b amii aliolqxa aiH .InamnBqaG malaaW aril ni aiBay -iriqsig aiB aqooImfiX Ifi laoq aril lo agisria ni aliriw avfiri ol mid avoiq bnB .lloianfiS \;d badiioaab sb Haw 3 B .isal lo biovab \jIalirioad6 nsm b naad tsift asw aH .aaanlulaamoaai isaig lo baaaaasoq riliw balaannoo Tjlifia aBW bnB -MSI ni snolaA ni baliiaa bns 8K mods baiilai boT .lavnoansV nol ladmarn b asw ^Ilnaupaadua bnB ,^b9 oiodbaD 1b biBrianBia lomavoO '{d balnioqqs lianuoO aril lo aauloiq b asw aH .bnElgna lol gnivEal aiolad -naaaa riguorillfi .bns ,ialhw aallal gnilaaialni bnB bnB liEari bniri lo nsm b aBW ,alaaqaai amoa ni anl .alnamilnaa auoiartag JOHN TOD WILLIAM FRASER TOLMIE, M. D. (Deceased) Born, Inverness, Scotland, February 3rd, 1812. Edu- cated Glasgow, graduated as L. F. and P. and S., 1832, taking post graduate course in Paris in 1841. Came to Fort Vancouver, Ore., via Cape Horn, 1833, and joined the Hudson’s Bay Company’s service as doctor and clerk and was subsequently a chief factor of the Company. Was agent of the Puget Sound Agricultural Co. Came to reside permanently in Victoria, 1858. Was a member of the first Board of Education, and of the Legisla- tive Assembly for Victoria District for two terms, ending 1876. In 1834 was attached to exploratory expedition under Peter Skene Ogden along North- west Coast as far as Russian Boundary. Was botanist, ethnologist and farmer. Compiled com- parative dictionary of the Haida language along with Dr. G. M. Dawson. Died Cloverdale, Vic- toria, December 8th, 1886. (baaBaaaCI) .a -M .3IMJOT maijjliw -uba .SI8I ,bi& TMUidaa .brnriloag .aaamavnl ,nio3 2 bn6 .q brtB .a .J afi balfiubBig .wogasIO balsa 1^81 ni ansa ni aamoa alBubBig 1 aoq gni^Bt ,£881 ,moH aqsD fiiv ,.aiO .lavnoansV noa ol smeD 8 \nEqmoD ^bH a'noabuH aril banioj. bns ,8881 ^Ilnaupaadua afiw brus riiala bnB loloob be aaiviaa aril lo inags asW .ynsqmoD aril lo ioIob! lairia e sbiaai ol amfiO .oO ImulIixahsA bnuo2 lagua lo oadmam e ebW .8881 ,fiholaiV ni ^UnariErmaq -BlaigaJ aril lo bns ,noi}Eonb3 lo bo£o3 laid aril armai owl iol lahlaiQ fiholaiV iol '{IdmaaaA avil UolBiolqxa ol bariafillB asw K8I ni .9^81 gnibna -rinoW gnolfi nabgO anarig ialaa labnu noilibaqxa zbW .^ifibnuoa nBiaanH as ib! as IbboO laaw -moo baliqmoO .lamifil bns laigolonrila .lamEiod gnolB agsugnBl shiaH aril lo ^Bnoilaib avilBiBq -oiV .alsbiavoID baia .noawBa .M .O .oO riliw .0881 ,ril8 oadmaoaQ .biioI WILLIAM FRASER TOLMIE ALEXANDER CAULFIELD ANDERSON One of the most scholarly and intellectual of the pioneers of the Province. Was born in Calcutta, March 10th, 1814, and died May, 1884, in his 71st year. Educated in England and early in life entered the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and about 1834 crossed the continent via the Yellowhead Pass from York Factory to Port Simpson on the Pacific coast. In 1838 married a daughter of Jas. Birnie, a noted member of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s staff of Oregon. Until the time of his retirement in 1858 he occupied many positions of trust with the Hudson’s Bay Company, in various parts of the Western Department. Subsequent to retirement he was collector of customs, postmaster of Victoria, a member of the Indian Commission for settlement of Indian reserves and at the time of his death, Fishery Commissioner for the Province. Mr. An- derson was author of several pamphlets and essays and of unpublished history of British Columbia. He was an ardent agriculturist. At the time of his death his mother was still living, aged 92. Ban- croft speaks in the highest terms of Mr. Anderson. LFIELD ANDERSON w oaaaanA ajardJUAO aaawAxajA arlt lo Isutoallatni fans Y^Iodoa Jaorn arit lo anO .BtlnoIfiD ni mod be W ,aonivoi c l arit lo aiaanoiq taK aid ni ,£881 ,ybM baib bnfi ,M8I ,dtOI daisM baxalna alii ni yHbo fans bnBlgn3 ni batfiouba .ibsy J nodB bnB .xnBqrnoO yb 3 a'noabnH aril lo aaiviaa adt aaB^ bBadvvoIIaY arit siv tnanilnoo arit baaaoio >£8 1 oflioEa aril no noaqmig Jioa ot yi 0 * 3 ^ dioY moil ,aimiS .3b{, lo •xatdguEb b bainExn 8£8i ni .taBoo a'YiiBqmoD ybH a'noabnH arix lo ladma/n baton b tnanxaiitai aid lo amit arit litnU .nogaxO lo BfiJa ritiw tanxt lo anoitiaoq Y n£fn baiquaao ad 8681 ni arit lo atiBq anohsv ni .YnEqmoO y £ S a'noabnH adt ail tnamaibai ot Jnaupaadn2 .tnamXiEqad mataaW e .siiotoiV lo lataBfntaoq .arnotana lo lotaalloo asw irxamaltlaa iol noiaaimmoO nsibnl adt lo ladmam ,dtBab aid lo amit arit Jb fans aaviaaai nBibnl lo -nA .xM .aDnivoi*? adl tol aanoiaaimmoO YiariaiB BYfiasa bus atalriqniBq Ifitavaa lo loritnB bbw noaiab .BidmnloO riaitiiS lo y 10 *®^ badailduqnu lo bns aid lo arnit arit lA .lahntlnohgB tnabiB ns sew aH -heS ,S6 bags .gnivil Hila asw laritom aid ritsab .noaiabnA .xM lo armal Jaarigiri arit ni adfiaqa tloxa ALEXANDER CAULFIELD ANDERSON The Honourable RODERICK FINLAYSON (Deceased) Born at Lochalsh, Rosshire, Scotland, March 16th, 1818. Entered service of H. B. Co. at Montreal and afterward at Ottawa. In 1839, he crossed the continent to Fort Vancouver. The following year accompanying Sir James Douglas on the steamer Beaver to Sitka. In 1843 he established the new post of Camosun, now Victoria. Member of Coun- cil, Vancouver Island, 1851-1863. Mayor of Vic- toria, 1878. Married Sarah, second daughter of Honourable John Wark, H. B. Co. Died, January 29th, 1892. FINLAYSON (b 33 B 3 D 3 CI) W08YAJVII3 XDIH3G03 aldfiiuonoH arfT .didi rfoisM ,bnBbo32 .aiiriaaoH .riatfidaoJ is mo3 IsaitnoM t£ .oD .3 .H lo aaiviaa baiatnS .8181 arij baaaoia ad ( Q£8I nl .bwe»0 Jb biBwiaJls bris ifisy §niwoIIol ariT .lavuoanfiV :tio3 cd *nani*noa lanriBaJa ari:t no asIguoG aarnfil, ti2 gniynBqmoDDs •wan ad* bariaildsiaa ad ££8I nl .Edtig oJ -iavBa3 -nuoO lo ladmaM .BhoJaiV won ,nuaorriED lo Jaoq -oiV lo ioybM ,£68i-i28I .bnfilal lavuoanBV Jia lo laidguEb bnoaaa ,d£i£2 banifiM .8^81 ,BnoJ yiBimst ,baiG .oO .3 .H .jGbW ndol aldfiiuonoH .SC8I ,ri*6S A RODERICK FINLAYSON The Honourable JOHN SEBASTIAN HELMCKEN, M. R. C. S., Eng.; L. S. A. Physician (retired). Born, London, Eng., June 5th, 1825, son of Claus and Catherine Helmcken, of German descent. Educated St. George’s School, London; Guy’s Hospital. Came to British Colum- bia, 1850, having accepted an appointment from Hudson’s Bay Company. Elected, 1856 to first Legislative Assembly, Vancouver Island; appointed Speaker of Assembly until the admission of the Colony into the Dominion, 1871. Member of Coun- cil, 1864-1871; was one of the delegates sent to Ottawa, 1871, to convey and support the Terms of Union with Canada proposed by the Legislature of British Columbia, and brought back the result for consideration of that Legislature; declined sena- torship, 1871. Married Cecilia Douglas, daughter of Sir James Douglas, K. C. B., first Governor of British Columbia. N SEBASTIAN H El .M33DMJ3H HAIT2A332 MHOL oldBU/onoH 3 riT •A .2 .J ;.gn3 ,2 .0 .H .M 9nfJ l vSn3 .nofanoj ,mo3 . (baibai) nsioie^da lo .nadorrdsH sniisrlJeD bns ausID lo noa ,8S8I ,rii£ ,Ioorio2 a’agioaO .12 balBoubS .in 9333 b nsrmaO -muIoD riaiiha o l otbO dBiiqaoH a\uO ;nobnoJ moil InamlnioqqE ns balqaooB gnivsd ,0fi8I ,Bid laid o 1 d£81 .baloaia .^nfiqmoO \£b 3 a'noabuH bslnioqqB jbnslal isvi/oonfiV .yfdmaaaA avilBlaigaJ ariJ lo noiaaimbs 3 ril liinu ^IdmaaaA lo i 3 dB 3 q2 -nuoD lo isdmoM .IV8X .noinimoCI aril oJni ^noIoD 01 Insa aaiEgafab adl lo sno asw ; I T8I-^d8 1 ,1b lo arrnaT aril iioqqua bns ^avnoo ol ,IT8I ,bwbHO lo smlBlaigaJ aril ^d baaoqoiq BbEnsD riliw noinU ioI lluaai aril dofid Iriguoid bns .BidmuIoO riaiiha -snaa banibab ; amlBlaiga,J lari} lo noilBiabianoa lalrigi/Bb .afilguoQ BilbaO bainsM .IY8I .qirfaiol lo lomavoO lairi ,.3 .0 .3 .afilguod aarriBl ii8 lo .BidmoIoO riaiiha JOHN SEBASTIAN HELMCKEN The Honourable JOSEPH DESPARD PEMBERTON, C. E. (Deceased) Born, Dublin, Ireland. Educated, Trinity College, Dublin. Profession, railway engineer. Made de- sign for Crystal Palace, London. Occupied various positions as railway engineer. Professor of Civil Engineering at the Royal Agricultural College, Eng., 1845-1850. Came to Victoria, 1851, and was Surveyor-General under the Hudson’s Bay Co.’s regime. Member of the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island 1856-1860. Member Executive Council Vancouver Island, 1863-1865. Died, No- vember 11, 1893. .MOTaaaMaq aaAqgaa Hqagoi sidBiuonoH 3 dT (b98B9D3CI) .3 .0 .agsIIoD '{JiniiT ,b3iBDub3 .bnBisiI .nilduG ,mo9 -ab abfiM .issnigna yswIiBi .noiaaaloiq .nilduG suoiiBv bsiquDoO .nobnoJ ,33BlBq IbIb^iD iol ngis liviD lo loaasloiq .issnigns \; bw ^ei as anoitiaoq ,3g3lIo 0 IfiiulIuDugA IfiyoH sriJ 1b gnhasnigna 8bw bns ,1581 .BiioJoiV ol sctibD .058I-Sf8I ,.gna a'.oD x b 9 a'noabuH sril isbnu IfiisnsO-io^aviug lo yddmasaA avbfilaigaJ srf} lo ladmaM .amigai 3viJuo3xa isdmsM .0981-9581 bnfital isvuoanBV -old .bsiG .S981-E981 .bnfilal isvxjoonEV lionuoD .£981 ,11 isdmav JOSEPH DESPARD PEMBERTON The Honourable BENJAMIN WILLIAM PEARSE (Deceased) Born in England in 1832 and educated there. Came to Victoria in the fall of 1851 and was for some years associated with the Hon. J. D. Pemberton, Surveyor-General. Was Surveyor-General from 1864 to time of Confederation, at which time the title of Honourable was conferred upon him. After Confederation he held the office of Resident Engi- neer to the Provincial Government until he retired about 1877. He was one of the men who at his own expense started the first volunteer regiment, in 1864, known as the Victoria Rifles, of which he was captain. In 1862 he married Mary Letitia, daughter of Rev. C. G. Pemberton, of Kensal Green, London, Eng., who died Christmas, 1872. In 1875, he married Jane, daughter of Henry Palmer, Solicitor, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Eng. Died, Victoria, B. C., 1902. A 32HA3q MAIJJIW MIMA^Waa aldfiiiJonoH ariT (ba3B30aG) amfiO .aiaril balfiouba bns S£8I ni bnElgn3 ni mofl smoa iol 36w bns IS8I io IIbI aril ni BiioloiV ol .nonadmaSt .G .noH aril riliw balsiooBBE 3iBay moil lBianaD-io^avu;2 8bW .iBianaO-ioxaviuS aril amil rioiriw 1 b t noilB7abainc3 io amil ol £381 laliA .mid noqu banainoo bbw aldsmonoH io allii -ign3 InabiaaSi io aofRo aril blari ari noilBiabainoD baiilai ad lilnn inarnmavoO iBianivoi 1 ? aril ol laan nwo 3iri 1 e oriw narn aril io ano sew aH .^81 Iuoo'b ni .inamigai laalmriov l3ifl aril baliBls asnaqxa arf rfoiriw io ,3aRiH siioloiV aril sb nwonrl ,£381 .sililaJ ^ibM bainsm ari S33I ni .nifijqBD 3 bw I ssnaX io ^oliadmaa .£) .0 .vaH io lalrigusb .S^8I ,3Bml3iiriD baib oriw ,.gn3 .nobnoJ .naaiO \;maH io lairignsb .ans^ bainsm ari ,2^81 ni ,gn3 ,jiIoiioW ,rfluorm£Y isaiO .loliailog .lamls 1 ! .SOei ,.D ,3 .BiioloiV ,baiG BENJAMIN WILLIAM PEARSE JAMES ALAN GRAHAME (Deceased) Chief factor and sub-commissioner of the Hudson’s Bay Co. from 1861 to 1873. Chief Commissioner, 1873 to 1885. Born, Edinburgh, Scotland, 22nd De- cember, 1825, and educated at Edinburgh Academy. Came to Winnipeg, Man. (then Fort Garry), via Hudson’s Bay, in 1843, and to Fort Vancouver, Wash., on Pacific Coast, via Tete Jaune Cache, in 1844, and to Victoria, 1858. Conservative in poli- tics and prominent member of A. F. & A. M., R. A. and K. T. Died at Victoria, B. C., June 19th, 1905. JAMES ALAN GRAHAME (b3363D9d) HMAHaHO WAJA 23MAI g'noabuH ariJ lo isnoiaaimmoD-duB bns ioJob! lairiO .lanoiaaimmoD laidD .£Y8I ot 1081 moil .oO ^bH -ad bn SS .bnfibtoog .dgindniba ,moS .2881 oi £^8I .^mabBoA rigmdrtiba Jb balBouba bns ,£S8I .isdmao siv ,(\tn60 }7o3 narfl) ,hbM .gsqinniW oJ smsO .lavnoonfiV lio3 0 } bns ,££8I ni ,^b 8 a'noabuH ni .sriofiO snufit sdaT fiiv JesoO oftioBd no ..dasW -iloq ni 3 viJBVi 3 EnoO .8S8I .BhoJoiV oi bnB ,££8I .A .H ,.M .A 3> .3 .A lo ladrn^m Jnanimoiq bns zoit .£061 .rijei anul ,.0 .3 .BiioioiV Jb boid .T .3 bns JAMES ALAN GRAHAME (See Chapter, The Dunsmuirs.) ROBERT DUNSVTUIR ROBERT DUNSMUIR Right Reverend MODESTE DEMERS First Bishop of Vancouver Island. Born Octo- ber 12, 1809, at St. Nicholas, Lower Canada; ordained February 7, 1836, serving 14 months as assistant parish priest of Trois Pistoles; in April, 1837, went west to the Oregon Territory, and la- boured as a missionary throughout Oregon, Wash- ington and British Columbia. Appointed Bishop of Vancouver Island on November 30th, 1847, and took up his residence in Victoria, where he con- tinued to preside over his episcopate until his death, July 21st, 1871. / 2HHM3a 3T23CIOM bnoi:»V!»H JdgiH -oioO mo3 .bnfilel lovnoonsV lo qotlsiS. Izi'rt ; sbEtisO iswoJ .asIorioiVI .12 1b ,6081 ,SI isd sb aritnom M gnivioz ,d£8t yiBuids3 banifibto ,IiiqA ni jasIoJaia aioiT lo izshq dansq insJaiaaB -bI bxiB .xioJinaT nogaiO 3riJ ol iasw Jnaw ,^£8i -riafiW .nogoiO Juoriguoiri} yiBnoiaaim b zb baiu od qodaiS boJnioqqA .fiidmidoD rfatohS bns noigni bns ,U8I ,ri}0£ ladmavoVI no bnslal vtvuoonsV io -noo »d aisriw .fiiioloiV ni sonsbiasi aid qu jioot aid lilnu aiBqooaiqs aid isvo abiaaiq oi baunb .I\8I ,*a!S; vlnX. .dtsab MODESTE DEMERS His Lordship Bishop EDWARD CRIDGE (“Marifield,” Victoria, deceased.) Born, Bratton, Fleming, North Devon, Eng., De- cember 17th, 1817. Educated private school North Moulton and Cambridge University. B. A. of St. Peter’s College, Cambridge. Assistant Curate Church of North Waltham. Second Master of Grammar School North Waltham and first incum- bent of District Christ Church, West Ham, Lon- don. Came to Victoria April, 1855. Chaplain of Hudson’s Bay Co. and District Minister of Vic- toria, and Rector and Dean of Christ Church Cathedral and incumbent of Church of Our Lord, R. E. C., Victoria, and later Bishop of Reformed Episcopal Church in Canada. Author of several religious works. Died May 6, 1913. EDWARD CRIDGE aOaiHD 0HAW03 qoriaia qiriabioJ aiH (.b93E33sb .shoioiV -30 ,.gn3 .rtovaQ riltoW .gnimaia .notlBiS ,mo3 riJioW foorioa aJBvhq bsJEonba AI81 t riKl isdrnao ■J8 lo .A .3 .yiiaiavinU sgbhdrrtBO bns nolInoM sJsu/D inislaiaaA .agbiidmeD .sgsIIoD B'laJsa lo isJbeM bnoosg .mEriJlBW riiioM lo rfoiurlD -muoni JaiB bns msdllBW riJioVI looriog lEmmsiO -noJ ,m£H tasW .riomriD JahdO iohiaiG lo Jnad lo nisIqfiriD .££81 ,IhqA EnoJoiV oi omeD .nob -oiV lo isJainiM JDiUaiO bns .oD ^b 3 a'noabnH rioiuriD JaiiriO lo nsaQ bns ioJdsH bns ,Biiol ,bioJ mO lo rbiuriO lo Jnsdmuoni fans IfiibarfJBO bsmiolsH lo qoriaia 13 *eI briE .shotoiV ,.0 .3 .H Isisvsa lo lodJuA .BbsnfiO ni rfamriD iBqooaiqa .£161 ,9 ykM baiO .adiow auoigHai EDWARD CRIDGE The Right REV. GEORGE HILLS, D. D. (Deceased) Born, 1816, at Egthorne, Kent; eldest son of Rear- Admiral Hills. Educated at the University of Dur- ham, taking degrees of B. A., M. A., B. D., and D. D. Admitted to the diaconate by the Bishop of Lichfield in 1839 and ordained as priest in 1840. Served as curate at North Shields, Northumber- land and at Leeds, under Dean Hook. Was in- cumbent of St. Mary’s, Leeds, and of Great Yar- mouth, Norfolk, and, in 1850, received the appoint- ment of honourary canon of Norwich cathedral. Was consecrated “Bishop of Columbia” in West- minster Abbey, February 24th, 1859, by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury. Arrived, as first Bishop of Vancouver Island, in Victoria in 1860, and for years laboured arduously in establishing the Church of England and in extending missionary work among the Indians. In 1865 he married Maria Philadelphia Louisa, eldest daughter of Admiral Sir Richard King, K. C. B. In 1892 he resigned and returned to England. It was during his episcopate that the troubles in connection with the Rev. Edward Cridge and at Metlakahtla with Mr. Dun- can occurred, which are described in chapters in the second part of this volume. Bishop Hills died at Parkham, Suffolk, December 10th, 1895. GEORGE HILLS (baafisoad) .a .a , 2 jjih aoaoao .vaa jrfgia srfT -ibsX Jo noa Jasbls ;Jn sSl .smorfjga Jb ,3181 ,hto 3 -iud Jo ^JiaisvinU srfJ 1 b bsJBonba .alliH IsiimbA bn£ ,.Q .3 ,,A .M ,.A .a Jo assigsb gnirisJ .msd qoriaia sriJ yd sJEnoosib sriJ o 1 bsJJimbA .Q .d .01*81 ni Jashq 3£ bsnifibic bns 6£8I ni blsririoij Jo -isdmuriJioW ,abl3iri2 rilioM Jb sJbiuo be bsvis2 -ni afiW .jfooH nsjQ isbnn ,abssJ Jb bn£ bnfil -ibY JbsiO Jo bn£ .abssJ ,8 '^ibM ,J2 Jo Jnsdmuo -Jnioqqs sriJ bsvisosi ,0£8I ni ,bn£ .riloJioVl ,riJuom .iBibsriJso rfoiwioH Jo nonsa Jo Jnom -JasW ni "sidmuIoD Jo qoriaia” bslBiosanoo afiW -rioiA srfJ ^d ,6£8I ,rfj£S ^iBuidsa ,*{3ddA isJanim Jo qoriaia Jaift 3£ JbsvhiA .xiudislnfiD Jo qoriaid ioJ bns ,0381 ni BhoJoiV ni ,bn£lal isvnoonfiV srij gniriaildBlas ni \jIauoubis bsinodfil sibs \ Yisnoiaaim gnibnsJxs ni bn£ bnBfgna Jo rioiuriO biibM bsiiifim sri £381 ni .ansibnl sriJ gnornB allow IfiiimbA Jo islrigusb Jasbis .BainoJ Biriqlsbfiliria bn£ bsngiasi srf S68I ni .3 .3 .3 ,gnia bifirtaiH ii2 sJBqooaiqs airi gnhub asw Jl .bnfilgna oJ bsmuJsi .vs5J sriJ riJiw noiJosnnoo ni asIdnoiJ sriJ JsriJ -nud .iM riJiw BUrisriBUsM Jb bnB sgbiiO biswba ni aisJqsrio ni bsdiioasb sib rioiriw .bsnuooo red alliH qoriaia .smulov airiJ Jo Jisq bnoosa srij .£681 ,riJ0I isdmsosd ,al!olln8 .mfirialiBa Jb bsib GEORGE HILLS His Excellency RICHARD BLANSHARD First Governor of Vancouver Island, from 1849 to November, 1851. CIHAHgMAja dSIAHOIH ^31133x3 2iH ol C48I moil .bnfilgl isviroonfiV lo lomavoO Jaii3 .1581 /isdmsvoVI RICHARD BLANSHARD His Excellency SIR JAMES DOUGLAS, K. C. B. Many years Chief of the Western Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Governor of Van- couver Island from November, 1851, to March, 1864, and Governor of British Columbia from Sep- tember, 1858, to April, 1864. S JAMES D .a .0 .X ,2AJOUOa 23MAI SII2 X3n3il33xa siH \o insmdiBqaQ msJasW srii io IsiriO sibs^ ^nsM -nsV lo iom?voO .ynBqmoO a'noabuH arid .rioisM oJ ,1981 .ladmsvoK moil briBlal isvuoo -q32 moil EfdrnuIoD rieiJhH lo lonwvoO fans ,f58I .>981 ,IhqA ot ,8Z8I , 73 dm st JAMES DOUGLAS His Excellency ARTHUR EDWARD KENNEDY Governor of Vancouver Island, 1864-1866. ARTHUR EDW KENNEDY yaaMwax cLsiAwaa huhtha ^onsiisoxa aiH .9d8I-f38I .bnelsl isvuoohbV lo lomsvoO ARTHUR EDWARD KENNEDY His Excellency FREDERICK SEYMOUR Governor of British Columbia from April, 1864, to June, 1869; succeeded Sir James Douglas. HUOMY32 30133(13513 ^Dn3ll9Dxa aiH ,*d8i ,IhqA moil sidmuIoO rtebhS lo lomsvoO . 2 BlguoQ ti2 bsbssDDus ;698I ,anu|. FREDERICK SEYMOUR I His Excellency SIR ANTHONY MUSGRAVE, K. C. M. G. Governor of British Columbia from August, 1869, to July, 1871, and instrumental in a large measure in bringing about Confederation. Was made C. M. G. in 1871 and made K. C. M. G. in 1875. Was afterwards Governor of Queensland, Australia, and died there October, 1888. •-NTHONY MUSti ,3V AX03UM YMOHTWA HIS yansHsoxa ziH .0 .M .0 .X ,6381 .JanguA mo i\ fiidrnuloD rteilha lo -jomavoO 9 ii/ 26 »m sgis! b ni IsJnsnunJzni fans ,1 K 8 1 t yI«I. ol .M .0 absm aeW .noiisisbalnoO tuods gnigniid ni bbW .2^81 ni .O .M .0 .X f>bi>m bns K8I ni .0 baa .sihsUauA .bnelsnsanQ lo lomsvoO sbiBwislls .8881 .lactoiaO siorii baib ANTHONY MUSGRAVE Lieut.-Col. RICHARD C. MOODY, R. E. Born in Barbadoes, 1913, the second son of Col. Thomas Moody, R. E. He was educated for the army at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1827-1829. Lieutenant, 1835. Appointed professor of fortifications at his old academy, Woolwich, 1838, and shortly afterwards selected as the first Governor of the Falkland Islands. In 1849 com- manded the Royal Engineers at Newcastle upon Tyne. Lieutenant-colonel, 1855. Colonel, 1863. Major-general, 1866. In 1858 was appointed com- mander of the forces in British Columbia and had a dormant commission as Lieutenant-Governor. Left England October 30th, 1858, and arrived in Victoria on Christmas day the same year. Re- mained in British Columbia in command of the Royal Engineers, with headquarters at Sapperton, B. C. After the disbandment of the forces left British Columbia for England on November 11th, 1863. Port Moody was named in his honour. Died, March 31st, 1887. .3 .H ,YaOOM .3 (351AH3I5I foO-JusiJ .Io3 lo nos bnoosa aril ,£IQI ,23obBdiES ni moS sri* lol bsJBonbs sew aH .3 .H .xbooM asmoriT .rbiwIooW .^rnabBoA IfiyoH srfi is '(mu loaasloiq bsJnioqqA .££81 .InfinsluaiJE .CS8I-^S8I jloiwIooW .^msbsDB bio airi Js anoiJBofiiJiol lo jairi ariJ 3B baJoalsa abiBwioiis b nB ,8£8I -moo ef8i ni .abnfifal bnBbHBl ariJ lo lonisvoO noqu 3lJ8£3wsVI #b anasnigna Ib^oH aril babnem .£981 .IsnoIoD .££81 Jsnoioo-tnsnaiuai J .anyT -moo batnioqqB asw 8£8I ni .9981 .Ifiisna^-ioLfiM bsri bns fiidrnuIoO riabiiH ni aaoiol srii lo -jabnsm .lomavoO-JnBnaiusid as noiaaimrnoo tnBmtob s ni bavins bns t 8£8I ,riiO£ isdoJoO bnfiljgna JlaJ -351 ,iB9Y ornsa arfi ^sb aBmiaiiriO no siioioiV 3 rit lo bnEmtrioo ni sidmuIoD rfaitn3 ni banism ,noliaqqB<2 Is aiaJisupbEari rfiiw ,aiaanign3 Ib\;o 51 jlal aaoiol ari* lo JnambnBdaib aril iallA .3 .3 .rilll ladmavoW no bnBlgna iol BidmuIo3 riaimS .bsiQ .iuonori airi ni baoifin bew ^booM Jiol .£981 A88I ,JaI£ rioisM RICHARD C. MOODY SIR HENRY PERING PELLEW CREASE (Deceased) Son of Capt. Henry Crease, R. N. Born, August 20th, 1823, Ince Castle, near Plymouth, Cornwall. Educated, Mount Radford School, Cornwall, and at Clare College, Cambridgeshire; graduated as B. A., in 1847 ; called to the bar two years later. Shortly afterwards came to Toronto, and family settled there. Subsequently returned to England and practised law at Lincoln’s Inn. Married, 1853, Sarah, eldest daughter of the late Dr. John Lindley, F. R. S., celebrated botanist, and sister of the pres- ent Lord Lindley, judge, member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, now retired. Came to British Columbia in 1858, and was the first practising barrister of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Elected to House of Assembly Vancouver Island, 1860-61, and in July, 1861, was made Attorney-General for the colony of British Columbia. Was member of the Legislative Coun- cil of British Columbia until 1866, and later was Attorney-General of the united colonies for four years. Had charge of the revision of the laws of British Columbia, and took prominent part in ■ bringing about union with Canada. In 1896 retired from the bench, receiving the honour of knight- hood. Died, December 27th, 1905. F.RING PELLEW CREASE HEN (baaBsosCI) 38A33D W3JJ33 0^1333 Y3H3H 318 JauguA ,moS .VI .3 .safiaiD yinaH .iqsD lo nog .HfiwmoD ,riiuorn^I3 ibs n ,9l*afiD aonl ,ES8I ,rbOS briB .IlfiwmoD JoorfaS biolbfi3 JnuoM ,b9JB3i/b3 eb bsJBubsig ;9iiriE3gbiidrnBD .agalloD sibIO iB .tsJbI E 1 B 3 X ow) isd srfJ oi ballfio ;^8I ni ,-A .9 ydimfil bns .oinoioT oi smEo abiBwiailB ^ItiodZ bnsIgnS oi bamolsi YlinsupaaduS .siariJ balitaz ,Ea8I .bsinfiM .nnl a'nlooniJ 1 b wb! bsaiiOBiq bnE '^albniJ nrfol .id aifil aril lo wJriguBb iasbl^dfiiBg -E 9 iq aril lo isiaia bns .iainsiod baiBidsteo ,.8 .3 .9 iBioibul. aril lo isdmam .sgbut .x^IbniJ bioJ ina .bsiiisi won .lionuoD ^vii3 aril lo aaiiimmoD aril ebw bns ,8281 ni sidmuloD rfeima oi smsD bns bnElal isvuoonEV lo isiainfid gniaiiDBiq JEirl ^IdmaaaA lo aauoH oi bsioalS .EidmuIoD riaiiha ebw ,1581 ,^Iul ni bnE ,15-0581 ,bnBlaI isvuoonBV riaim9 lo ynoloo arfi iol iBiansO-xanioJ iA abBm -nuoD aviiElaigaJ sdi lo wdmsm asW .BidmuioD aaw i 3 iBl bnB ,5581 liinu EidmuIoD riaiiha lo lb mol iol aainoloo baiinu arii lo lBisnsO-i[snioJ)A lo awsl arfi lo noiaivsi srfi lo agiBrb bsH .aiBsy ni iisq inanimoiq riooi bns .aidmuIoD riaiiha baiiJsi 5681 ni .BbEnsO riiiw noinu mods gnignhd -iriginri lo inonori aril gnivboai .rionad arii moil .2061 ,rii^S ladrcwosCI .baiQ .boori HENRY PERING PELLEW CREASE The Honourable PETER O’REILLY (Deceased) Born in Ince, Lancashire, England, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Died at Victoria, B. C., September 3rd, 1905, aged 77 years. Was member of the Old Legislative Council, 1864-71, Stipendiary Magistrate and Gold Commissioner in Cariboo, Big Bend, Wild Horse Creek and Omineca. Was County Court Judge for the Yale District from September, 1867, until January 4th, 1881, after which he was Indian Reserve Commissioner for British Columbia until shortly before the time of his death. In pioneer days officially he had a varied experience of mining life in the most remote parts of the Province. For many years in Vic- toria he occupied an honoured social position. El (baafiaoaCI) YJJI35TO H3Taq aldsiuonoH adT balsauba bns .bnslgna ,aiiri3BDri6J ,ianl ni mofl ( .3 .3 .EholoiV *b baia .nildud .agalloQ yliniiT Is wdmsm bbW .aisay TT bags ,£061 ,bi£ ladmalqaS yi£ibnaqil2 ,IY-M8£ .iianuoD avilslaigad MO aril lo gia .oodiifiO ni lanoiaaimmoD bloO bns alBilaigsM «bW .EaanimO bnB jlaaiO aaioH bliW ,bna3 moil lohlaiCI alsY aril -tol agbul nuoD ylnuoO lulls ,1881 .ril* yisunBt lilnu ^381 ,iadmalqa2 iol lanoiaaimmoD aviaaaH nsibnl asw ad rfoiriw lo amil aril aiolad ylnoria lilnu sidmuIoO daima b bfiri ad yllBioffto ay£b laanoiq ni .rllsab aid alomai laom aril ni alii gninim lo aanahaqxa baiiBV - oiV ni aisay yn£ rn io3 .aonivoia aril lo alisq .noiliaoq IsiDoa baiuonori ns baiquaao ad Biiol PETER O’REILLY ARTHUR THOMAS BUSHBY (Deceased) Prominent in the colonial days of British Colum- bia. Was ittember of the Legislative Council dur- ing two sessions of ’68-’70 and County Court Judge for New Westminster District. Born, London, England, 1838, and educated in England and on the continent of Europe. Came to British Co- lumbia in 1858. Married daughter of Sir Jamer Douglas; died May, 1875. Held the degree of Mus. Bac. and was an enthusiastic amateur musi- cian and artist. ARTHl (baaEODad) YHH2U3 8AMOHT HUHTHA -muloO riaifiiS lo 8\{Eb Isinoloa arft ni inanimoi 4 ! -lub IbnuoO aviiElaiaaJ srij lo ladmarn asW .sid aabul. iiuoO yJnuoO bns (K'-8d' lo anoiaaaa owl gni .nobnoJ ,mo3 .JohJaiCI laJznimiaaW watt iol no bns bnslgna ni baifiouba bits ,8E8I .bnslgna -oD riaiJha oJ am bD .aqoiua lo taaaiinoo aril TamfiX ii2 lo lairijji/Eb bainsM .8281 ni fiidmul lo aaigab sdJ blsH .2T8I ,xsM baib isbIsuoCI -iaum luaifimB ahasiemilna he sew bns .oeSL .ai/M bns msia ARTHUR THOMAS BUSHBY WALTER MOBERLY, C. E. (Vancouver) Civil engineer and architect. Born at Steeple Asters, Oxfordshire, Eng., Aug. 15, 1832, and edu- cated at Barrie Grammar School and under Freder- ick Gore of Trinity College, Dublin. Studied en- gineering under Frederick William Cumberland and W. S. Storm, of Toronto. Came to Penetan- guishene, Ont., in 1834 and to B. C. in 1858 and was associated with Col. Moody, chief of the Royal Engineers, and was Assistant Surveyor-Gen- eral of B. C. during the years 1864 and 1865. In 1871 was appointed by Sir John Macdonald to lo- cate the C. P. R. line through the mountains. At present engaged in promoting several schemes of improvement and development. (lavnooneV) .3 .0 .YJHSSOM H3TJAW 3lq33l8 1 b mo9 .laaliriois bns 1931113113 liviD -ubs bns ,S£8I ,21 .guA ,.sn3 ,3iiriabiolxO t ai3leA -I3b3i3 i3bmi bns looriag iBmmeiO sitieS 1 b balsa -ns baibulS .nHduCI .sgalloO yliniiT lo 3ioO riai bnBlisdmuO msilliW rioii3b3i9 isbmr gnhaanig -nslsns^ ol amsD .olnoioT lo ,miol3 .8 .W bns bns 8281 ni .3 .3 ol bns ££8I ni ,.lnO .snsriaiug sril lo lairio ,^booM .foD riliw balfiboaaB bbw -nsO-ioxoviuS InElaiaaA asw bns t ai33nign3 Ie^oSI ni .2981 bns £981 aiB3y aril gniiub .0 .9 lo Ibis -o[ ol blfinobofiM nriol ii8 balnioqqs asw K8 I jA .anifilm/om aril rigi/oiril anil .H .9 .0 aril 31 bo lo aamsrioa Isiavaa gnilomoiq ni bagfigns Inaaaiq .inarnqolavab bns Inarnavoiqrni WALTER MOBERLY ARTHUR W. VOWELL (Victoria) Born, Clonmell, Ireland, December 8th, 1841. Edu- cated Grammar School, Clonmell. Came to B. C. 1861. Obtained commission with Irish Militia, 1858; retired Senior Lieutenant, 1860; Esquimalt, 1862; Civil Service, 1864. Gold Commissioner and Stipendiary Magistrate, Kootenay gold district, for some years; transferred to Omineca district, where served in similar capacity. From there went to Cassiar; resigned from Government Service, 1875. Elected to B. C. Legislature for Kootenay, 1875; resigned, 1876. Gold Commissioner and Stipendiary Magistrate Cassiar district, 1876-1884. Stipendiary Magistrate Kootenay district during construction of C. P. R. in that district. Was Superintendent of Indian Affairs for many years. ARTHUR W. VOWELL (BhoioiV) JJHWOV .W 55UHTHA -ub3 .{£81 ,rit8 ladrnaaaa .bnfilaiT .IlamrtoID ,moS .D .9 oJ am bD .IlamnolD ,Ioorb2 iBfnnriBiO batsa .BtiiliM rfai-tl rfiiw noiaairnmoa banistdO .1581 .ilfimiupsa ;058I .{nsnaJuaiJ ioina2 baiitai ;8£8I bnfi lanoiaaimmoO bloO .£381 ,aar/Ta8 liviD ;S58I .lahtaib blog ^enatooH ,aJ6itaig£M y;iBibnaqh2 ,*ah*aib BaanimO ot banalanBTt [z-is^x arnoa iol inaw aiarft rnoia .yibBqBa islimia rat baviaa aiariw ,aoivia2 JnarnmavoO moil bangiaai jiBiaasO ot .^BnaiooX tol amtBfaigaJ .0 .3 ot bataafS .5V8I bns lanoiaaimmoD bloO .5^81 ,bangiaat ;£^8I .£88I-3V8I .tahfaib iBiaafiO atfiitaigsM '{iBibnaqiJg gnhub taiitaib ^snatooX atBitaigBM ^ifiibnaqit8 8 bW .taiitaib ifirit ni .H .3 .0 \o noitauitanoa .aiBay; ijnsm loi aiisflA rtfiibnl lo tnabnainhaqu8 ARTHUR W. VOWELL ISRAEL WOOD POWELL, M. D. (“Oakdene,” Victoria) Retired physician. Born, Simcoe, Lake Erie, Ont., April 7th, 1837. Educated, McGill University, Montreal. Degrees, M. D., C. M. Came to B. C. in April, 1862, and commenced practise as phy- sician in that city. Was a member of the old Legislative Council of B. C., and after Confedera- tion was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs of B. C., which office he held for a number of years. ".arobjIfiO’*) .a M ,JJ3WOq CIOOW J3A32I (BnoJoiV ,.}nO ,9ii3 sjIeJ ,30omi2 ,mo3 .nBiois^riq bsibsH .'{JiaisvinU IliOoM ,b3}B3ub3 .Y£8i ,riJY InqA .0 .3 ot drnBD .M .3 ,.(3 .M .assigsG .lEsiJnoM -Xrfq 3E sailoBiq bsonsmmoa bns ,SS8I ,IiiqA ni bio srfi lo isdmsm b 2bW isdt ni rtBoia -EisbslnoQ 13*1 b bns ,.0 .3 lo lionuoQ svbBlaiss.! aiisBA nfiibnl lo isnoiaairnmoD bsinioqqB jbw nob lo isdmun b id blsri 3d aorfto rioiriw ,.D .3 lo . 3163 ^ ISRAEL WOOD POWELL JOHN WORK TOLMIE (Victoria) Retired farmer. Born, H. B. Co., Fort Nisqually, Wash., March 14, 1854. Educated, Collegiate School, Victoria, and by private tutor , 1861-1872. Came to Victoria, 1859, and was manager of the Cloverdale Stock Farm, 1886-1909. Devoted to Natural History studies. (EiioJoiV) 3IMJOT X5IOW WHOt ,yIIfiup8iVI :Ho3 ,.oO .3 .H ,mo3 .larmfil baiiisH alBigalloO .batBDubS .££81 ,M rfs'fiM ,.rigfiW .S^8I-id8I , ioiuJ aifivhq yd bns .shcrtaiV .loorfog 3 rii lo T 3 §snBfn 2 bw bnE ,6£8I .BnotoiV ot amsD oJ baJovetO .6061-9881 ,rmE3 jiooJg slsbiavoIO .831 buJa yioisiH IbiuJbM JOHN WORK TOLMIE WILLIAM CURTIS WARD (Harbourne House, High Holden, Kent, Eng.) Born and educated in England. Entered service of the National Provincial Bank of England, 1858. Appointed to Bank of British Columbia, 1864. Arrived Victoria in 1864. Manager at Victoria, 1866, and subsequently General Superintendent and Director in London until amalgamation with Canadian Bank of Commerce, 1900. Chairman Lon- don Committee, Canadian Bank of Commerce. Formerly part and subsequently sole owner Doug- las Lake Cattle Co., Nicola. rfgiH ,38 UoH smuodisH) GHAW 3 ITHUD MAIJJIW (.gna .nabloH saiviaz baisJna .bnslgna ni batsonbs bnB mo8 .8?.8I .bnElgria lo jlnsfl iBionivoi 1 ! bsnoiJsVI ad* lo >081 .eidmuIoO dahlia lo jlnsfl oJ bslnioqqA .BiioJaiV iB laasnsM >881 ni BhcrtoiV bavinA JnobnaJnhaqng IisiaflsO x I * n9U P» 8clua ^ nB < a981 ritiw aoitEfnEglsme Ihnu nobnoJL ni lotosiia bns -noJ nBtmisrfD .OOQi .soismrnoO lo jinfiS nsibEnfiD .sowmmoD lo jinfiS nsibEnfiD ,33»immoD nob -guoG isnwo alos ^iJnsnpssdua fans lifiq ylistmoa .BloDiVI ,.oD »I}JbD ssisJ sb! WILLIAM CURTIS WARD EDWARD MALLANDAINE (Deceased) Architect; born, Singapore, Straits Settlements, August 10th, 1827; educated Ecole Primaire Su- perieure College, Dinan, France. Came to Vic- toria, via New York and Panama, in November, 1858. Compiled first Victoria Directory, 1860, and designed some of the most prominent buildings in the early days of British Columbia. Many years with firm of Wm. Stowe, Architect, Camberwell, London. Lectured before Architectural and Ar- chaeological Societies; and designed a number of buildings for his firm; was Captain and Paymaster Victoria Rifles in the early seventies; also master French and Drawing, Old Collegiate School; Su- perintendent of Dominion Public Works for a term and Tax Collector for the districts Metchosin, Esquimalt, Saanich and Victoria, 1865-71. Took part in Australian gold rush, 1853, and was em- ployed as draughtsman C. P. R. survey, 1872. (bsaEsasd) attlAdWAJJAM QHAWQ3 , 8 Jnsm 3 lm 2 ziiBiiZ , 3 ToqB§ni 2 ,mod ;J33tirf3iA -u2 siismiia slo^a bsJsDubs ;\S8I ,riJ0I JauguA -oiV erf smsO .sonBia ^nsnid .sgsIIoD siusnsq .isdmsvoM ni .Emfins^ bnE tfioY wsVl fiiv .siiot ,0d8I ,yioiD 3 iiQ siicrfoiV iaifl bsIiqmoQ .8281 a§nibliud Jnsnimoiq izom srb lo smoa bsngiasb bns aiB 3 y ynfiM .BidmuioO rfailha lo aysb yliBs sriJ ni .IIswisdrnsD .tasiidaiA ,swcrf2 .mW lo rmft riliw -lA fans IfiiuJosiidaiA siolsd bsurfosJ .nobnoJ lo i 3 drmm b bsngiasb bns ;a3ii3bo2 iBsiaoIosErio is^aBrnyE*? bnB niBiqsD bbw ;rmft aid 10 I agnibliud istafim oalE ;a3hn3V33 yliss sdl ni asRiSI BhcrfaiV -u2 ; fooriag siBigslIoO blO .gniwEiCI bns donsi^ misJ b loi adioW oildn*? noinimod *o Jnsbnsrfihsq .niaoriolsM aJoirfeib sdi loi icrfosIIoO xsT bns jiooT .n-£98I ,sho}3iV bnB rioinE£2 ,JlEtniupa3 -ms 3 BW bnB ,E£8I ,riam blog nBilBiJanA ni Usq .S\8I t ys vtua .H 3 .3 nBmaJrigusib eb bsyolq EDWARD MALLANDAINE . CHARLES McKEIVERS SMITH (Victoria, Deceased) Retired. Born, Windsor, N. S., April 26, 1823. Educated, Windsor, N. S. Came to B. C. by sea, 1858, and commenced career in Victoria as archi- tect and contractor; erected first post office and customs house; subsequently engaged in mining, Cariboo, 1861; Leech River, 1864 Kootenay, 1866; was first person in British Columbia to put up canned fish for export trade. For fourteen years was engaged in publication “Standard” in Victoria, owned by his brother, the Honourable Amor de Cosmos. Served in Volunteer Co. under Col. Gore, 1840, during the boundary dispute between New Brunswick and the State of Maine. Died, 1911. (b38B903CI .BhoJDiV) HTIM8 gHaVISMoM 83JHAH3 •£S8I ,dS JiiqA ,3 M .‘xosbniW ,mo 3 baiitaH ,698 ^d .0 .3 o* smsO .8 M ,ioabniW ,b9lBoub3 -irioiB be BhoioiV ni 199 ibd b9Dnsmmo3 bits ,8J8I bns 9ofRo ieoq taid b9J39i9 ; loiDBUnoD bnB iost ,§niniin ni b9S£sn9 xUn9iip9adua ;9auori amofaua ;dd8I ,Yfin9iooX £d8I ,isviH riD99J ;id8I .oodiiBD qo iuq oJ BidmuioO riabhH ni noai9q Jaift saw ai£9y n99tiuol io3 .9bfiTt tioqx9 101 daft bgnnBO .shoJoiV ni "bi6bn6:f3“ nobsoilduq ni bggBgng asw 9b iomA 9ldsmonoH 9dJ ,iortioid aid ^d b9nwo ,9ioO ,Io3 i9bnu .oD i99JnuioV ni b9vi93 .aoraaoD wsVI n99wJ9d 9luqaib x iB ^nuod 9 *b gnimb ,0*81 .1161 ,b9tQ .9niBM lo 9i£i3 9di bns AoiwzmnE CHARLES McKEI VERS SMITH EDWARD BENJAMIN MARVIN (Victoria, deceased) Born in Halifax, N. S., Dec. 16th, 1830, and edu- cated there. Came to the province in 1858 and es- tablished about 1874 the business of sailmaking in Victoria, which developed into the business of ship chandlery under the firm name of E. B. Marvin & Co. with Capt. J. G. Cox and F. W. Adams as part- ners. Was heavily interested in sealing business and the largest shareholder in the original estab- lishment of the Victoria Sealing Co. Engaged un- til his death, in 1911, in general ship chandlery business in all its branches. Two years alderman and a justice of the peace. Died Dec. 28th, 1911. (bsEBsaab ,6iioJDiV) MIVHAM WIMA(.V13a Q5IAWG3 -uba bnB ,0881 ,riidi .oaQ ,.8 .VI .xbIiIbH ni mo3 -33 bnB 8£8I ni sonivoiq arlJ ol smsD .anariJ baiBa ni gnidBrnlisa lo aasniaud arfJ K8I JuodE barfaildst qiria lo aaaniand ad* oXni baqo'avab riairiw ,BiiotDiV S> nivisM .3 .3 lo sm«n and aril nsbnu YialbnBria -JiBq 3B amfibA ,W .3 bnB xoO .0 -1, .IqsD riiiw .oD aasniand gnilsaa ni balasislni yiivBad bbW .aian -dfi}33 Ifinigiio aril ni lablodaisda JaagisI aril bnB -nu bagBgnS .oO gniffiaS fihoioiV aril io Jnamdail yiafbnfidD qida Isisnsg ni ,1161 ni ,riiB3b aid lii nErmablB axsa'c owT .aarfonsid ati IIb ni aaaniaud .1161 ,riJ8S .oaG baiG .aoBaq aril lo aabaut b bnB EDWARD BENJAMIN MARVIN JOSEPH MANNION (Vancouver) Retired Born, West of Ireland, 1839. Educated National and Private Schools. Came to Victoria, B. C., on April 6th, 1862. Was among the earliest pioneers of Burrard Inlet and was for many years located on Bowen Island, near Vancouver. bsiiJaH (lavuoonsV) VIOIMVTAM HaaSOL [finoifEW baJsDuba ,C£8I .bnelail }o iaaW ,mo3 no ,.D .3 .shoJoiV of arneO .aloorioS sfEvha fans ai33floiq Jaailisa arif gnoms asW .£581 ,rffd IhqA no bsJBOol 3iB3\; ynsm tol asw bns falnl bisnua lo .isvi/oonsV issn .briBlal njwo3 JOSEPH MANNION GEORGE ALEXANDER (Vancouver and Steveston) Born, Aberdeenshire, 1844. Educated at Foveran School. Came to B. C., 1878. Engaged in business as salmon fisher and lumbering. Commissioner Lulu Island Waste Dyking. Manager Great West Packing Company. (noJ39V9}2 bne isvuoonsV) 33GWAX3JA 303030 n6i3vo9 is bslsaubS .££81 .siirfanssbisdA ,moH Easrtiaud ni bsgBgnS .8V8I ,.0 .9 oJ smeD .loorioS isnoiaaimmoD .gniiadmul bnE isriafl nornlsa eb J ssW JbsiO isgEnsM .§ni?Iy;G 3 *ebW bnfilal uluJ .ynBqrnoO snhiDB 4 ! GEORGE ALEXANDER JOHN CUNNINGHAM BROWN (New Westminster) Born in Ireland, 1844. Educated, Royal Academy, Belfast, Ire. Came to B. C., 1862. In December, 1871, became proprietor and editor of the “Herald,” New Westminster. Was alderman and mayor of New Westminster and for some years, Post Mas- ter. Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1890- 1894. Minister of Finance, Martin’s administra- tion, April to June, 1900. Appointed Provincial Secretary, June, 1901. Resigned owing to defeat in bye-election. Warden B. C. penitentiary. (isJanimlaaW waW) MV/0513 MAHOWIMMU3 VIHOX, .HmsbEaA Ib^oH ,b3JfiDijfa3 .i^SI .bnsfail ni mo8 .ladrnsDsQ ni .S38I ,.3 .3 oJ smsD .ail .JsslbfiL ".blsiaH" arf} lo loJibs fans lojaiiqoiq aniBosd ,K8I io loysm bns nfirmablfi aeW .isiz nirrtfaaW wald - 3 bM }ao3 , 3 is 3 ^ 9U108 lol bns isJanimtaaW wsVI -0681 .^IdmaaaA aviiBlaigaJ aril lo isdrnsM .13J -BiiainimbB a'niJiBM ,3onBni3 lo laiainiM .£681 Isionivoi 4 ! bslnioqqA .0061 ,onuX. oi liiqA ,noiJ ni JBalab ot gniwo bangiaaH .1061 .artifl ,NnB*3i3a2 .yiBiinaiinaq ,3 .3 nabifiW .noxJoala-a'fd JOHN CUNNINGHAM BROWN CHARLES GEORGE MAJOR (New Westminster) Official administrator and financial broker. Born, Sarnia, Ont., October 23rd, 1839. Educated, Public School. Began career as dry goods clerk in Lon- don, Ont., 1854. Came to B. C., 1859. Has real estate and lumber interests. Member of first rifle company on Mainland. CHARLES GEORGE MAJ (loianimJaoW wsM) HOI.AM 30H030 23JHAH3 t mo8 .igjloid IfiionBnd bns loJBtJainimbs IfiiorflO oildua ,b9Jfiouba .Q£8I ,bi£S ladoloO ,.inO .sinifig -nod ni jhslo sboog yib sb isoibd nsgoH .Ioorfo2 l£3i 3 bH ,C£8I ,.D .3 oJ ohieD >£8{ ,.JnO ,nob ofth laid lo isdrnaM ni ^admul bnB slsl as .bnBlnisM no Ynfiqmoo CHARLES GEORGE MAJOR EDWARD STOUT (Miner and Prospector, Yale) Born in Bavaria, Germany, September 26th, 1827. Educated, Public Schools in Bavaria. Came to B. C. May, 1858. Was one of first party of pros- pectors leaving Yale for the Interior. Took part in fight against Indians at the time of the massacre of the Fraser River, July, 1858. One of the dis- coverers of Williams Creek and of Stout’s Gulch, 1861, Cariboo. Captain of the first batteau loaded with Cariboo miners which made the trip from the mouth of the Quesnel, 1862. (alsY .tolaaqaoi 1 ! fans laniM) TUOT2 QHAWQ3 AS8I ,rildS iadrrt3lqa2 ^nsm-iaO .biieveS ni moH oj sitieD .eheveS ni a!ooria2 aildiril .balsaubS - 80 iq lo x^'iBq laift lo sno asW .8£8I ,\;bM .D .3 Jisq riooT .lohalnl aril iol alfiY gnivsaf aiolaaq 3 T 3 B 28 Efn aril lo amil aril 1 e ansibnl lanisgB Irfgft ni -aib aril lo anO .8£8I ,^Iut ,iaviH laa bi 3 ad) lo .HdIuO a'luoi2 lo bns jlaaiD amsilliW lo aiaiavoa babsol UBallEd 1 aid aril lo nislqsD .oodiiBO ,I&8I aril moil qhl aril abBtn rbiriw aianim oodhfiO riliw .S58i JanaatrQ aril lo rilijom EDWARD STOUT WILLIAM TEAGUE, J. P. (Yale) Born, Cornwall, Eng., July 27th, 1835. Educated, private commercial school. Came to B. C., July, 1858, from California. Dominion Forest Fire War- den. Was Government Agent at Yale for 14 years. Engaged in cattle business. Retired and lives on his fruit farm at Yale. (3lsY) .3 .1 .3UOA3T MAIJJIW .boisoubS .££81 .ri^S ^lul ,.gn3 .IIswmoD ,mo3 .^luT. ,.3 .9 oJ omsD .loorioa iBioiommoo aisviiq -ibW oii3 J39io3 nolnimoG .fiimoiilEO moil ,8£8i .aiBS'i M ioI sIeY iB tnss A JnjmmsvoO 2 bW .nab no aavil bnE bsiiJoH .zaanizud slitso ni bo§B§n3 .oIbY Jb miBl Jiml aid WILLIAM TEAGUE WILLIAM DODD (Yale) Born, Matfen, Northumberland, Eng., April 4th, 1837. Educated, public school. Commenced busi- ness career as bookkeeper, Iron Works, Gates- head-on-Tyne, 1858. Came to B. C., June, 1862, and was agent B. C. Express Co., Yale. Was Gov- ernment Agent, Yale, for a number of years. Su- perannuated. ( 3 IbY) aaoa maijjiw ,rii£ IiiqA ,.gn3 .fanKhsdrnurfJioM .naltsM ,mo3 -i aud bsDnsmmoO .loorioa oilduq .baiBoubS AE8f -esifiO ,3 j1ioW noil .isqaaddood as i93iB3 aasn ,Sd8I ,9nut ,.D .9 oi arnsO .8281 .an^T-no-bBsri -voO 2 bW . 3 IbY ,.o0 382nqx3 .3 .9 JnagB asw bxiB -u2 .aissy; lo isdmun b iol ,9IbY .JnagA Jnamms .baJBunnBiaq WILLIAM DODD FRANCIS JONES BARNARD (Victoria, Deceased) Of U. E. Loyalist stock; son of the late Isaac Barnard of Quebec; born, City of Quebec and edu- cated there; was a member of the Legislative Council of British Columbia for the district of Yale from 1866 to the date of Union, 1871. First returned for Yale in the Commons on the appoint- ment of Hon. Edward Dewdney as Indian Commis- sioner; retired in 1886. Founded the Barnard Ex- press Company, succeeded by the B. C. Express Co., and took a prominent part in development of the interior of B. C. and in bringing about Confed- eration. Died, July 10th, 1889, at Victoria, B. C. (b33B33 3 a .bmoIdiV) CIHAMHA 9 83MOI 2IDMA99 3 BB 3 I 3 *Bf aril lo noa ; Aools JailB^oJ .3 -U lO -ubs bns osdsnQ lo ^liO ,mod jsodauQ lo biEmsS aviJfilBissJ 3 dJ lo isdmsm e sbw ;3i9riJ badBO lo JohJaib srii iol fiidmnloD ri3i*h9 lo lionnoD taii3 .1 V8I .noinU lo 3iBb arbf oJ 3381 moil sIbY -inioqqE sdi no anornmoD aril ni sIeV iol bsmulai -aimmoO nsibnl 3B yanbwaQ biEwbH .noH lo )nam -x3 biBmfiS aril b»bnuo3 .3881 ni bsiiJsi ;i3noi3 333 iqx 3 .0 .9 aril ^d bsbasooua ,\jn£qmoO 333iq lo Jnsmqolavab ni *i£q Jrisnimoiq e dool bnE ,.oD -bslnoO JnodE gnignhd ni bnB .D .9 lo ioii 3 lni 3dl .0 .9 .BiioJoiV IE ,6881 .rilOI ylul .baiQ .nobfiia FRANCIS JONES BARNARD STEPHEN TINGLEY (Ashcroft) Born, Westmoreland, N. B., Sept. 13th, 1839. Edu- cated public schools, New Brunswick. Engaged harness making, Santa Clara, 1859-1861; came to Cariboo and engaged in mining, 1861. Made a trip each year from Yale, head of navigation, to Wil- liams Creek, on foot, a distance of three hundred and seventy miles. Drove mail coach for F. J. Barnard, Yale to Cariboo, 1864-1894; purchased that business afterwards which became known as the British Columbia Stage & Express Co.; busi- ness sold, 1897. Discoverer of Nicola Coal and Coke Co.’s Mine. Capitalist. (lloiorfaA) Y3JOWIT M3 Ha3T2 -ufa3 .6881 ,ril£l Aq?Z ,.3 M .bnsIaiomiaaW ,mo3 b 93 B§n 3 .jJoiwznuia wsM .aloorfoa oildnq balBD oJ sniBD ; 1381-6581 , bibID Blnsg .iniriBm aaamsri qhi b abfiM .1381 .sninim ni basBgna bns oodhfiD -I1W o 1 .noilBgivBn lo bBarf ,3IbY moil iB9^ rio£3 baibnurf sairf;} lo aanslaib s ,lool no t jl33iD amsil ,1 .3 iol rioBOO lism avoid .aalim yinavaa bns bsafirfaiuq ^681-^381 .oodiiBO oJ affiY ( biBni6a as nwonri amBoad riairfw abifiwialls aaaniaud Ifiril -iand ;.oD aaaiqx3 $> a;gsl3 BidmuIoO riailiia aril bnB IboD bIooiVI lo laiavoaaid A68I ,b!oa aaan .lailBliqfiD .wiM a'.oO arioO STEPHEN TINGLEY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN YOUNG (Armstrong) Born, Harrisburg County, Penn., October 29th, 1847. Educated public schools. Came to B. C., 1870. Naturalized, 1873. Served in American Civil War, 203rd Pensylvania Volunteers, 1864-1865. Located in Okanagan, 1873. Was pioneer stage driver Cariboo wagon road three years. Located in Spallumcheen, 1873. Passenger first train over Union Pacific train to Fort Scott. Then went to California. Subsequently returned to British Co- lumbia and settled on farm near Armstrong, where he now resides. (gnoUarmA) OWUOY WIJHWAHa VlIMA].VI3a ,.*es oadoJoO ..nna 4 ! .^inuoD g-mdainEH ,mo9 ,.3 .3 oJ 30163 .atoorioa oilduq b^iEonba A£8I liviD nBoiiarriA ni bavioZ .£^81 .basilfiiuifiVI .0V8i .£381-1^81 ,2i33JnuIoV fiinEvI^anal bi£OS ,ibW agsjg i 33 noiq asW .£V8I .nEgEnfidO ni baJBaoJ baJBOoJ .aiB3y said* bsoi nogEW oodhsD oaviib i 3 vo niEii laid o^gnsaasa .£^81 .naarioniijIlEqS ni ol Jnsw nsriT .iiooS *io3 oJ nisrt oftbfia noinU -oD daiJio3 ot bsniuisi ^UnanpaaduS .BimolilfiD 309 riw .gnoiJamiA isan mifil no balma bns Bidmul .aabiaao won ad BENJAMIN FRANKLIN YOUNG ALEXANDER MacDONELL (B. X. Ranch, Vernon) Stock rancher. Born, Glengarry County, Ont., July 23rd, 1861. Educated, Alexandria. Com- menced career as cow-boy and stage driver in Nicola Valley, 1878. Left Nicola September, 1881, and went to Kamloops, driving stage from Cache Creek. Settled in Okanagan in 1886. Was in Nicola during the Hare and MacLean brothers outbreak, December, 1878, and when they killed J. Ussher, rode 24 miles in the dark to warn people of the Lower Nicola. (nomaV ,rtansH .X .8) JJSVIOGdsM H3CIVIAX3JA ,.inO ,^JnuoD ynBsnalO ,mo8 .ladansi doo:t2 -moO .BiibnBxaJA .bsJsDubS .1981 ,bt£S '(lut, ni i 3 viib agsta bns ^od-woD as isaiBD bsonsm ,1881 .isdmaJq^g bIodIVI JlaJ .8T8I filoaiM sHdeO moil 9§.6da gnivhb .aqooImBX oJ inaw bns ni 3 bW .9881 ni nsaBnBjlO ni ba litaZ .jtaaiO a-jsriloid hbsJdbM bns sibH aril gnhub BlooiM X balliji ^ 3 rii narfw bns ,8^81 .ladrrooaCI .dfiaidluo alqoaq nuw oJ iIiBb dd) ni aslim £S sboi .isriaaU .BlooiW uwoJ arii lo ALEXANDER MacDONELL BENJAMIN BAILEY (Deceased) Born at Boston, Mass. Arrived in California, around Cape Horn, in 1849, starting business in San Francisco. Was burned out twice in first and second San Francisco fires. Came to B. C. in 1858. Mined for a short time in Cariboo. Was express agent for Deitz & Nelson at Yale. Afterward opened general business at Yale, which he con- tinued until his decease. (b3--.j39i.od) Y3J1AS MIMAlViaa .EimoliffiD ni bavinA .38bM .noJaoH Jb mo3 ni aasniand gniJisJa ,GA8I ni ,moH aqsD bnooifi briB Jaiil ni aaiwJ Juo bsmud 8bW .ooBionBi'd nfi2 .8S8I ni .D .3 oJ smsO .33ift oDaianEia ns2 bnooaa 833 iqx 3 sb^V .oodnsD ni 3miJ Jioria s 10 I baniM biswiaJlA .sIbY Jb noalaVI & sJiaCI ioI Jnags -noD ad rioidw ,9 IbY Jb aasnisud iBianag bsnsqo .33B9D3b aid liJnn bsuniJ BENJAMIN BAILEY -I JOHN WOOD (Spatsum, Spence’s Bridge) Born, township of King, County York, Ontario; Canada. Educated, common schools. Came to B. C., 1870. Farmer and fruit-grower. » . (agbha z'sonsqZ .nrureJeqZ) CIOOW VIHOl .ohfiJnO ,?hoY ^JnuoD .gnilS lo qirtenwo* ,mo3 oJ smsD .aloorba nornmoo .beJBDuba .BbensD .iswois-timl bns lsmiBa .(K8I ,.D -H JOHN WOOD ART CLEMES (Spence’s Bridge) Born, Cornwall, England, November 13th, 1851. Educated at Lindsay, Ont. Came to B. C., April, 1880. Farmer and capitalist. Post Master Spence’s Bridge. Built Pantages theatre, Vancouver, and other large business blocks. (9§bha a'aDriaqS) 33M3.JD THA .IS 8 I ,r£t £ I isdmavoM .bnsIgnS ,IIfiwmo3 ,moS ,IiiqA ,.D .3 d* smsO .inO ^sabniJ Jb batEoubS a'aonaqS isiasM Jao3 .iailBJtqBa bnB isrrnB3 .0881 bnB ,i3vu odobV .aiiBsrfi a93BinB3 JliuS .ssbiiS .aslaold aaaniaud 331 s! isriJo ART CLEMES ARTHUR STEVENSON, J. P. (Lytton) Born, Wakefield, Ottawa, Jany. 5th, 1840. Edu- cated public school. Came to B. C., April, 1862, and engaged in mining in Cariboo. Appointed Road Superintendent, June, 1865. Became Supt. Public Works, June, 1896. Resigned May, 1908. (Superannuated.) (not^J) .q .I ,M03MavaT3 HUHTHA -ub3 .0^81 ,riJ2 .Y.nBl. .bwbJJO .blarteyfiW ,mo3 ,Sd8I ,IiiqA ,.0 .3 o* amsD .loorfoa oiiduq baJBD baJnioqqA .oodhfiO ni gninirn ni bagfigns bnB .jqug smsDsa .9981 ,«nul .JnabnatnhaquS LboH ,80ei ,ybM bangiaaSI .9Q8I .snul .aiioW aildo^ (.bsJBunnBisqoS) ARTHUR STEVENSON WILLIAM SAUL (Clinton) Born, Dublin, Ireland, April 22nd, 1836. Educated public school, London, Ont. Came to B. C., June 10th, 1869, and engaged in various occupations. Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1872-1875 and 1878-1882. Stipendiary Magistrate and School Trustee. (noJnilO) JUA2 MAIJJIW bsJsouba .3£8I ,bnSS liiqA .bnfilsil .nildud ,moS 3 nut. ,.D .9 oJ smsD .inO .nobnoJ .loorioa oilduq .anohfiquoDO auoiisv ni bsafigns bns ,Cd8I t riJ0I e'CSi-S'vSI .^IdmsaaA svbfilaiasJ sdt lo isdmsM Ioorio2 bns sis-haigEM x^‘bnsqh2 .S881-8W bns .33i8UlT WILLIAM SAUL FREDERICK SOUES (Clinton) Government Agent. Born, Fifeshire, Scotland, June 27th, 1831. Educated at parochial school of Fifeshire, Scotland. Commenced career as farmer in Fifeshire. Went to Australia, 1851. Came to B. C., 1862. Government Agent for the past thirty years. Superannuated. R E ! 'ERICK SO (noiniI3) 23U02 331330333 ,bn6boo3 ,9iiria9li3 ,mo8 .JnsgA JnsmmsvoO \o looriaa IsirfooTfiq ifi baisaubS .1681 ,rfo^S anut isimsl es 1931 S 0 baanammcO .bnslJoaS ,9iiri83li3 ol smsD .R8I .eHeUbijA oi tnsW .aiirfa9ii3 ni Jasq aril joI insgA inammavcO .S98t ,.3 .3 .baJsunnBiaqcg .8 ib9x FREDERICK SOUES PHILIP PARKE (“Buonapart Lodge,” Cache Creek) Born, County Sligo, Ireland, September 5th, 1841. Educated Lungy School, Sligo. Came to B. C., 1862. Commenced career as farmer in Chemainus in 1862. Was Judge of Court of Revision. In- terested in fruit growing and farming. (jlaaiO ariasD *\agboJ JisqEnoua’*) aXHAa aiJIHa .11*81 ,rft£ iadma*qa8 .bnBlail .ogilS ^nuoD ,moE ,.D .3 oi am sD .ogiI8 ,Ioorio8 ^gnuJ baiBOi/ba eu nifirnaria ni lamifil 2b laaisa baonammoO .Sd8I -nl .noiaivaH lo iiuoO lo agbuX. asW .£381 ni .Igninnsl bns gniwoig Jim! ni baJzaiaJ PHILIP PARKE Rancher. Born, San Francisco, Cal., December 2nd, 1857. Educated New Westminster and Santa Clara College, Cal. Came to B. C., April, 1862, and began business in Clinton in 1875. JOSEPH E. N. SMITH * (nolnilO) HTIM3 .VI .3 HqagOl ■McfrroDsCI ,.IsD .oaaionBia riB8 ,moa .-JsrionfiH BlnsZ bns laJznimJgaW waVI baJBDub3 AS8I ,bnS ,SS8i ,IhqA ,.D .9 o t smsD .Ib3 .agalloO bibID .£^81 ni noinilO ni zasniaud n £§9d bns JOSEPH E. N. SMITH SAMUEL A. ROGERS (Deceased) Born, Ireland, 1840. Educated Prince Edward County, Ont. Came to B. C., 1862. Beban busi- ness as general merchant in Barkerville, Cariboo, 1868. Was Sheriff of Cariboo District. Member of the Legislative Assembly, Cariboo, 1896-1898, and 1900-1903. Crossed continent to B. C. via Yellowhead Pass. Died, 1911. (bsas933CI) 85J30O5I .A J3UMA8 biswba sarin 4 ! bslBauba .01*81 .bnBlsiI ,mo 8 -iaud nfids3 .Sd81 ,.0 .fl ol smsD .JnO ,^JnuoD .oodiisD .sllivisshisa ni Jnsriaism Isisns§ se easn isdmsM .JaiUaid oodiisO lo Bhsri8 sbW .8381 ,8681-3681 .oodiifiD .yldmsaaA svilBlaigsJ aril lo siv .3 .3 ot Jnsnbnoa bsaaoiD .£061-0061 bns -Iiei ,bsid .aas 4 ! bssriwoIIsY SAMUEL A. ROGERS WILLIAM VOGHT (Deceased) Born in Holstein, 1838. Emigrated while a lad to the United States and employed for a short time in Philadelphia. Later went West, sojourn- ing for a time in Illinois and Iowa. Was drawn by the mining excitement to the gold diggings of California and later to the banks of the Fraser in British Columbia and the creeks of Cariboo. His next venture was as a farmer at North Bend. In 1865 he joined a hunting expedition to the Nicola Valley, where becoming impressed with the dis- trict for grazing and agriculture he settled in 1873 and became one of the earliest pioneers. His farm later on was found to cover a coal bed and a portion of it now forms part of the Merritt town- site. Member of the Presbyterian Church. Died at Merritt, B. C., 6th February, 1911, aged 73 years. (baafiaoaG) THDOV MAIJtJIW bfil s aliriw batEigim3 .8881 .nialaloH ni moH iioria £ ioI ba^olqma bne aalBl2 balinU aril ot -muotoa ,laaVV inaw lalfiJL .Biriqlab£lirf <: I ni ami! nwBib 3B W .bwoI fans aionxIII ni amil B ioI gni lo agniggib blog sift o 1 inatnalioxa gninim aril ni Isa £i3 aril lo arinsd adl ol isIbI bns EimolilfiO eiH .oodhfiD lo aifaaio aril bnB sidmnloD riailii9 ni .bn»3 rilioH 1b larmfil fi as bbw sminsv ixan ElooiVl aril ol noilibaqxa gnbnuri b banio'i ad 2981 -aib aril riliw baaaaiqmi gnimooad aiariw ,^aIl£V ni balllaa ari aiulIiniigE bns gnissig iol loiil aiH .aiaanoiq laaihsa aril lo ano aniBoad fans £T81 bns bad Ibod b iavoo ol bnuol 3bw no lalfil misl -nwoi llinaM aril lo HBq amiol won li lo noilioq b baiCI .riomriD nfiiial^daaia adl lo ladmaM .alia £T bags ,IICI .^isindaH did ,.0 .9 , llinaM 1 b . 8169 ^ WILLIAM VOGHT REVEREND GEORGE MURRAY, M. A. (Nicola) Clergyman. Born, Pictou County, N. S., June 11th, 1843. Educated, Glasgow University. Degree, M. A. Commenced career as ordained missionary of the Church of Scotland in Nicola, July, 1875, in which capacity he served 18 years. Eight years pastor St. Andrew’s, New Glasgow, N. S. (BloaiW) .A M .YAHHUM 3DH030 (IK3H3V3H ,di'II anol ,.3 .VI ,^nuoD uotoi3 ,mo3 .nEmygialO .M .ssigsG ,\;Ji8i9vinU wogasIO ,b9t£Dub3 .££81 lo YiBnoisaim banifibio se issied bsonammoD .A ni ,&t8I ,^IuX. .filooiW ni briElioDS rioiuriO srft tiss\ Jrigi3 .81B9S: 81 bsviM sri yJiDBqsa rioiriw .3 M ,wos8bIO wsM , 2 'waibnA .1 3 lotasq GEORGE MURRAY J. B. GREAVES (Douglas Lake, Merritt) Formerly manager and co-owner with W. C. Ward, Esq., of the Douglas Lake Cattle Co. Retired. (»insM .mIbJ esIauoQ) 33VAasiD .a ( tneW .D .W rf* iw 'ianwo-03 bos isasnsm ylisftnoa .oD sfMsD mIbJ eel'SuoCl ad* io J. B. GREAVES JOSEPH GUICHON (Quilchena) Born, St. Alban, Savoie, France, 1843. Came to British Columbia, March, 1865, and spent some time at Kanaka Bar. Packed and mined in Omi- neca, Cariboo; later took up a farm at Savona. Resumed mining again in 1871, going as far north as Omineca. This venture proved a failure and he pre-empted land at Mamette Lake, remaining there five years he later bought a farm at Chaperon Lake, which was sold in 1882. He then leased a piece of land which now forms part of his present ranch near Quilchena. JOSEPH (finarialiuQ) WOHDIU0 1133201 oJ smsO .£1^8 1 ,3onBi3 ,3 Iovb 2 .nsdlA .18 ,mo3 amog Jnsqa bns ,£381 .riatfiM ,fiidrnnIo3 riailiiH -imO ni banim bns badasq .ibH BjifinBJI Is srnii .snovsS is miBl 6 qu doo* 131 bI ;oodhfiD ,B33n riiion ib! be §nio;g ,1^81 ni nifigB sninim bamuasH sd bns ainliEl b bavoiq atuJnav airiT .EaanimO afi aiari* §ninisrn9i ,3 jIeJ sdamsM is bnsl baJqma-aiq noiaqBriO Is rmfil b iriguod laisl ad aiB^v; avft b baasal nari* sH .S88I ni bloa asw riairiw .adsJ inaaaiq aid lo Jtfiq armol won dairiw bnfil lo aasiq .snarioIh/Q issn rianBi JOSEPH GUICHON WILLIAM FORTUNE (Kamloops) Born in Yorkshire, Eng., 1838. In 1862, took ac- tive part in Pioneers’ overland expedition from Niagara, Ont., and came over the plains to B. C. in 1862. Built first flour and saw mills in Thompson River Valley. Built steamers and holds captain’s certificate. Is large land-owner and farmer. Founded the first sanatorium in B. C., at Tran- quille. Retired. (aqooImfiX) 3MUTHOT MAIJJIW -db jIooJ ,S38i nl ,8£81 ,.;gn3 .aiiriajhoY ni mo3 moil noiiibaqxa bnsliavo ' 2193 noi^ ni iisq 3vb .0 ,3 ot anifilq aril isvo sitied bns ,.JnO .BiBgsiM noaqmoriT ni allim wsa bnB moft Jairi iIii/3 .S38I ni a'niBlqBD ablorl bnB aiamBaJa bin3 .^sIIbV isviH .lamiBl bns lanwo-bnal 9 §ib[ al .aJBaftbian -nsiT Jb ,.0 .3 ni rnnholsnEa Jaiflt ari* b3bnuo3 .batbaH .allinp WILLIAM FORTUNE WILLIAM JAMES ROPER (Cherry Creek and Victoria). Stock rancher. Born, Dorsetshire, England, 1840, and educated at Sherbourne School, Dorset, England. Came to Victoria direct from England in 1862 and subse- quently engaged in stockranching in the vicinity of Kamloops, where he acquired large interests. In religion is Church of England and in politics Con- servative. Recently retired, and is resident of Oak Bay, Victoria. fans Jl33i0 NrnarfD) Ha^Ofl 23MAI MAIJJIW .i9rion£i dooJg .(EhoioiV Jb balBonba bns ,0-^81 ,bnBlgn5I .atiriaJaaioG ,mo8 o 1 omsD .bnBlg«a .JaeioQ ,Ioorfo2 amuodiadS -sadua brts Sd8I ni bnsfgna moil Josiib BiicdaiV lo ifJinioiv aril ni gnirionEijiDoJa ni bsgBgna yllnaup ni .aJaaiatni agifil baiinpoE 3d sisriw ,aqooImBX -noO aoiiiloq ni bnB bnslgna lo riamdO ai noigilsi lo insbiasi ai bnB .bsiiJsi ylJnsoaH .svifEvisa .BhoiaiV ,xb3 jIeO WILLIAM JAMES ROPER ALEXANDER LESLIE FORTUNE (Enderby, Spal- lumcheen) Left Beaudette, Quebec, May 2nd, 1862, to take part in the second overland expedition to British Co- lumbia in that year. At Fort Garry a deputation interviewed Governor Dallas (H. B. C.) and the late Bishop Tache and obtained useful information as to country to be traversed. It was Dallas’s de- scription of Okanagan valleys that induced Mr. Fortune finally to settle there. Arriving at Ques- nel he visited Williams Creek, and then resolved to return to Quesnel, and reaching Fort Alexander crossed the Chilcotin plains to Bella Coola. Mak- ing Fort Rupert by boat he soon reached Victoria, and there along with W. W. Morrow carried on for a time the Overland Restaurant. In spring of 1864 Fortune packed fifty pounds on his back to Cariboo from Yale and mined on Williams Creek, walking out again in 1865. Wintering in Lillooet, he took a brief part in the Big Bend ex- citement in 1866. Gradually prospecting his way back, he eventually found his way into the Spal- lumcheen valley the same year, where he became the pioneer settler, and, after the usual ups and downs, achieved success. In 1874 he returned east for his wife. He rejoices in their happy lot in the northern Okanagan ever since. Mr. Fortune was born January 20th, 1830. (See chapter on Okana- gan Valley by J. A. McKelvie.) -Jsqg .\jdi9bn3) 3MUTH03 313233 H3GVIAX33A (naadamul ti £ q s dst ot ,S38I ,bnS \bM t osdsuQ ,9tt9bixB9a }la3 -oD riaiiha ot noitibaqxg bnshavo bitooss ad) ni noitfitxjqab b ^nfiO t"io3 tA .isay tsdt ni Bidmxxl arit bns (.0 ,3 .H) aBlisQ loniavoO bawaxviaini noitBimolni Ixxlaau banistdo bnB ariasT qoriaia atfil -ab 3'gBilBa 3BW tl .b9319VBlt 9d Ot \l)BU OD Ot SB ,-iM baonbni tfirit b^sIIbv nBgfinsdO lo nobqhas -aaxxQ 1b gnivinA .aiadt alttaa ot 9nutio3 bsvlossi nadt bnB t da9i3 smBiIIiW batiaiv ad Ian isbnBxsIA tto3 gniriosan bns .IanaauQ oi mut9i ot .jIeM .bIooD Bllaa ot aniEtq nitooliriO arit baaaoiD .BiiotoiV barioBST noos ad tBod yd tiaqixH tto3 gni no bainBO wotioM .W^ .W ritiw gnofs 9i9rii bnB gnhqa ni .tnBmslaaH bnBhavO aril 3mil b to} jlosd aid no sbnuoq ytlft badofiq 9nufio3 M8I lo amBtlliW no banim bns alfiY moil ooditfiO ot ni gniiatniW .9381 ni nisgB tno gnidlsw .daaiD -X 9 bn93 gia 9 dt ni tiBq land b doot ad ,t90oIIx3 \{£W aid gnitaaqaoiq yliBi/bBiO .3381 ni tnamatio -Isqg arft otni V£vr aid bnuol yllButnava 9ri .dafid amsaad 9ri atariw ,1B9^{ 9xnB3 9dt ^9 IIbv naariamul bns aqu Ifiixan adt iatlB ,bnB t t9lti9a isanoiq 9rit tas 9 bamuiai ad K8I ni .saaaoua bavairfoB .anwob arit ni tol ^qqsri liarit ni aaaiotai sH .aliw aid tol 2 Bw anutio3 .iM .aania lava nsgBnBdO marition -BnfidO no ^tqsria 992) .0881 ,rf*0S yiBiinfil mod (.aivIaXaM .A .1 ^d yallsV nBg \ ALEXANDER LESLIE FORTUNE THOMAS GREENHOW (Okanagan, Deceased) Born, in Penrith, Cumberland, Eng., September 5th, 1838. Educated public school. Was farmer and stockraiser and general merchant. Pioneer in the Okanagan district and member of the old firm of O’Keefe & Greenhow, afterwards Thomas Green- how. Died, September 9th, 1889. (bM>»»a .nsssn^O) WOHM33aO 2AMOHT ..g«3 .bnelisdmuCt .d.hn.q ni n,o3 »W doodsa ailduq bdlBoubS .8E8I 4 „i imooH bdB bnd imd bio ,ri> lo bns .dh.aib o.ssdBdO ’d> -nM-iO esmoiiT zbiBwiaJls .worfiwsiO * sb« ° .P88I ,riiC isdmaiqaS .baiCL .wori THOMAS GREENHOW CORNELIUS O’KEEFE (Vernon) Farmer and stockraiser. Born, Ottawa, Ont., July 26th, 1842. Educated public schools. Came to Cariboo in 1862. Commenced career as rancher is Okanagan in 1867. Laid out fifty miles of Cariboo wagon road. Extensive land owner and stockraiser. (nomoV) 33333'0 3UIJ3W30D 'jIoX. «inO ,bwbJ} 0 ,mo8 .laaisulDOtB bns i9ttnB3 ot smuD .aloo daa ailduq baiBDubS .S^8I ,riJdS ai lariDOBi bb laaiBo baanamrnoD .Sd8t ni oodnsD oodiiBD lo aalim Juo bieJ A98I ni nfigBnEjiO .laaifii^Dota bns lanwo bnsl avianalxS .bficn nogsw CORNELIUS O’KEEFE THOMAS ELLIS, J. P. (“Winona,” Victoria) Born, Dublin, Ire., April 26th, 1844. Educated, Royal School, Armagh. Came to Vernon, B. C., March 10th, 1865, and subsequently engaged in cattle-ranching, near Penticton. Has large land and various other interests. THOMAS ELLIS, J. P. (fiiictfDtV ",£noniW“) .*5 -X, ,3I»IJ3 8AMOHT .baJfioufaa .**81 ,rf*dS IhqA ,.9il .nilduCI ,mo3 ,.D .3 ^iomjV oi smsO .rigBanA «Ioorio8 Ib^oH ni bsgfigna i^iJnsupsadiia bnB ,£581 ,rfJ0I rfcnsM bnsl agifil asH .noJabnsa issn ,gmri:)n6i-3b:t£D .atsaiaJni isriio auoiiBV bnB THOMAS ELLIS, J. P. 'HOMA (shoiaiV won ,nomsV) QOOW 2AMOHT .nsgenfijIO srii io -sasnoiq A THOMAS WOOD JOSEPH CHRISTIAN (Near Kelowna) Born, St. Anicet, Que., June, 1829. Educated pub- lic school. Farmer and stock-raiser. Sailed on the Great Lakes from 1850. Came to B. C. 1858. For eighteen years secretary and trustee public schools. Large land owner. JOSEPI (finwolaX ieoM) WAIT2IHHD 11*53201. -duq boJBonbS .6S8I .anul ..ouQ dasinA ,i2 ,mo3 no bo!iB2 .loaiBi-dooia bns i9rmE3 .loorfoa oil .8281 .0 .3 of ohieD .0281 moil aojJfiJ JboiO orii oildxxq aeiaini bns ^isJaiosa sibsx noairigia io3 .isnwo bnfil agisJ .aloodoa JOSEPH CHRISTIAN JOHN CASORSO (“Pioneer Farm,” Kelowna) Born, Province D’allessandia, Tonco, Italy, August 8th, 1848. Educated, Dun Bosco Torino College. Came to Kelowna, July 1883. Commenced mixed farming on a large scale. Interested in oil and mining stock and flour mills. (snwoIaX ".mus'I laanoiT') O2HO2A0 MHOt J 8 u§u A .oonoT .BibnEBaalls'CI aonivoi 1 ! ,mo 8 .agalloD oniioT 00208 nuCI ,baJB 0 ub 3 .8^81 ,rfJ 8 baxim bsanammoO .£881 ^lut ,6nwo(a5I oi am bO bnB lio ni bataaiaJnl .alfiaa a§isl b no §nimi 6 l .allim -tuoft fans jiooJa §ninim JOHN CASORSO GEORGE WHELAN (West Home Farm, Kelowna) Born, High Barnet, England, May 14th, 1844. Edu- cated, private school. Came to B. C. 1870 and engaged in stock-raising and farming. Trustee and secretary public school. GEORGE WHELAN (EnwoteX .rms 1 ! arnoH JaaW) MAJ3HW 3051030 -ub3 .A£8I ,riiM \r B M ,brrsl&n3 .tamea rigiH ,mo9 bns (K8I .0 .3 oJ 3fn£0 .loorioa stBvhq .bstfia bne salauiT .gnirmBl bns gniaifii-^aoJa ni bsgBgna .looriaa 3ilduq GEORGE WHELAN L. W. PATTEN (Armstrong) Born, Oxford County, Ont., August 19th, 1845. Educated, Woodstock, Ont. Came to B. C., 1884. Reeve Municipality of Spallumcheen. Retired farmer. Veteran Fenian Raid. Built and operated first flour mill in Spallumcheen. .££81 ,HtGl iatr§uA ,.JnO ,ytnuoD biolxO ,mo3 ^881 ,.0 .9 oi 3ihbD JnO JooiabooW ,ba*63ub3 ba'xhaH .naarfornuIlBqS io ^JilsqiaintrM avaaJI baJBiaqo bnB Jliira .biB5I HEins"*! nsiaJaV .larmfil .naarfamixIlKqS ni Him mofl isih. L. W. PATTEN FRANCIS XAVIER RICHTER (Deceased) Born, at Freidland, Bohemia, Austria, on Novem- ber 5th, 1837, and educated at Mildenan, Freidland. Commenced his business career as a clerk in a wholesale house in 1853, in San Antonio, Texas. Came to Keremeos in October, 1864; was subse- quently engaged in mining, stock-raising, farming, fruit-growing and general merchandise. Was president of the Southern Okanagan and Kettle River Pioneer Society. Died, 1910. (bssBaosd) H3THDIH H3IVAX 8IDMAH3 -tnsvoM no .fihlsuA ,sim3rk>a ,bnBlbi9i3 Js ,mo3 .bnElbisiT ,nBxi3bfiM Jb bsJBonbs bns ,T£8I .dJS tad b ni jJ-iala b sb 733iS3 aasniand aid bsDnaxnrnoD .8BX3T , ornotnA xib 8 ni ,£281 ni sauorf absaalorfw -9zdue bbw ;*38l .isdoiaO ni aosmsiiX oi arne 0 .gninriBi .sniaifii-daoJa .gninim ni 53363 x 13 ^iJnsup beW .aaibnBrfDisxn Isisnss bns sniwois-Jim'i sliisX bns xissBrnsdO msrfJuoS sdJ io Insbiasiq .0161 ,bsia .^:t3ioo3 issnoia isviH FRANCIS XAVIER RICHTER JOHN FALL ALLISON (Deceased) Born at Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 1825, his father being then House Surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary. Educated at Leeds. Migrated to the United States in 1837 and settled in Illinois, where he completed his education. In 1849 went to California, via Panama, and mined there until 1858, when he went to Victoria and was sent in 1859 by Governor Douglas to prospect the Tulameen and Similika- meen rivers for gold, discovering iridium, gold and platinum. Settled in Similkameen after the rush of miners to Cariboo; later employed by Governor Douglas to seek the shortest route across Hope Mountain, locating and constructing what is known as the Allison trail; later entered into partnership with an American named Hayes, buying a band of Durham cows and settling down as a stock raiser. In 1867 maried Susan Louise Moir, youngest daughter of Shatton Moir, Ceylon. Appointed Justice of the Peace in 1876. In April, 1885, was appointed assistant gold commissioner for the dis- trict, which he held until the office was removed to Granite Creek, when he retired and devoted him- self to his private business. Several severe acci- dents seriously affected his health, and he died October 28th, 1897. Did much towards improving stock raising in and developing his district. (baafiaoaG) M02IJJA JJAa WHOt, lariJcl aid ,£S8I ,bn£lsn3 .aiiriadioY .abaaJ t£ mo3 .ytfinnftnl abaaJ adt ot noaiing aauoH narii gniad aaistS batinU adt oi bat£-i§iM .abaaJ: i£ baiEouba batalqrnoa ad aiariw .aionilll ni balttaa bns t£8I ni Eiv .BiniolilfiD oi tnaw G^8I ni .noiifionba aid 1 naw 3 d nariw ,8£8I litnu atari! banim bas .EmEnfil lomsvoO yd e£8I ni tnaa a£w bns BiioioiV oi -EjiilimiS bn£ naarmriuT adt ioaqaotq ot afilgnoa bn£ blog .muibiii snhavooaib ,blog tol atavri nwm dam adt tailfi naamBtllimiS ni baliiaS .munitslq lomsvoO yd bayolqma taifil ; ooditfiD ot aianim ^o aqoH aaotos atuot taalioria adt riaaa ot aB^noO nwonj) ai tfiriw §nitamtanoo bns gniiBDol .nifitmioM qidaianiiEq otni batatna latsl jlisit noaillA adt a £ lo bnfid s gniyud .aaysH bamBn nfiaiiamA n£ ritiw .taaifii rioota £ as nwob gnilttaa bns awoa msdiuCI iaagnuoy ,iioM aaiuoJ nBan3 baitBm ^981 ni batnioqqA .nolyaD ,tioM nottsriS ^o iatri§ij£b a£W ,5881 ,IiiqA ni .9^81 ni aasaa adt lo aaitaut -aib adt tol lanoiaaimmoa blog tnataiaafi batnioqqB oi bavornat asw aafflo adt litnu blari ad riairiw ( taiit -mid batovab bns baiitai ad nariw ,daatO alinBiO •ioo£ aiavaa Ifiiava8 .aaaniaud atsviiq aid ot ^laa baib ad bns .ritlsari aid bataaftfi ylanoitaa atnab gnivotqmi abiswoi doom biG A68I ,rit8S ladotaO .taiiiaib aid gniqolavab bn£ ni gniaifit jloola JOHN FALL ALLISON WILLIAM FERNIE (Victoria) Capitalist. Born, Kilbolton, Huntingdonshire, Eng., April 2, 1837. Educated, Kilbolton grammar school. In 1851 went to sea in ship “Salesman;” landed in Australia and began career as miner at Bendigo; went to Perdue, 1856, and worked in mines; later became quartermaster on U. S. mail steamer, plying to South American ports; removed to British Columbia, 1860, and for many years engaged in mining in Cariboo country. Appointed gold commissioner for Canada, 1873, and held office until 1882. Joined Col. Baker in securing charter of B. C. Southern Railway, now Crow’s Nest Pass division C. P. R. Located Crow’s Nest coal de- posits, 1887. Fernie, centre of coal mining district of Crow’s Nest, is named after him. \ (shojoiV) amaaa maijjliw .aiirfanobsnidnuH .noiiodiiiH ,moti JailBJiqsD iBramEiy noJlocfliJl t balB3ub3 A£8t ,£ InqA .-3^3 ";n6maa's8“ qiria ni saa o* Jnaw I £81 nl .loorfoa v ts lanim as laaiss nsgad bnB EilfiiJauA ni babnsl ni baa'iow bnB ,9981 .ai/bial oJ tnaw jogibnaS lifint .2 .U no laJaEimaiiBup amsoad ialBl ;aanim bavomai ;a}ioq nEohamA ri)u oS oi gni^Iq ,iamsaJa eiBay unsm iol bnB ,0981 ,sidnu/Io3 rfaiJiiS o* battiioqqA .^linnoo oodhsO ni gninim ni bagBgna aafRo blad bnB ,E\8I .BbsnfiD ioI lanoiaaimmoo blog laiifiria gniiuoaa ni lajlfiS .IoD banioX. .S.88I lilmi aaea JaaVI a'woiO won ,xbwubH madjno3 .0 .3 lo -ab Ibod taatd a'woiD baisaoJ .H .3 .0 noiaivib iaiiJaib gniriim Iboo lo aiinaa ,aima3 A88I ,aJiaoq .mid iatlfi baniBn ai ,taaH a'woiD lo WILLIAM FERNIE ARCHIBALD LEITCH (Cranbrook, Deceased) Born La Prairie, Que., August 17th, 1847. Com- menced business as lumbermen at Ottawa, 1865, and came to Cranbrook, July, 1897. (bsafiaasG .jJooidnBiD) HDTI3J GJAHIHDSLA -moD ,T*8I ,riiVI lauguA ..aup .ahiBn*! eJ mofl ,£581 .ewbuO Jb narmsdmul zb aaaniaud baonam AC8I .docndnBiD o 1 amso bnB ARCHIBALD LEITCH A HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PART ONE Being a survey of events from the earliest times down to the Union of the Crown Colony of British Columbia with the Dominion of Canada E. O. S. SCHOLEFIELD Provincial Librarian PART TWO Being a history , mainly political and economic , of the Province since Confederation up to the present time R. E. GOSNELL VICTORIA, B. C. VANCOUVER and VICTORIA, B. C. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 1913 COPYRIGHT CANADA 1913 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION fan-/ Sc / 1 b-A, 2 . PART ONE - *) LIST OF CHAPTERS. I. Early Pacific Explorations. II. Russian Explorations and Establishments. III. Later Spanish and English Voyages. IV. Later Spanish and English Voyages (Continued). V. The Nootka Affair. VI. Capt. George Vancouver. VII. Overland Expeditions. VIII. The Era of the Fur Trader. IX. The Oregon Boundary. X. Changing Headquarters. XI. Governor Blanshard’s Plight. XII. Representative Government Established. XIII. The Awakening of Victoria. XIV. The Founding of British Columbia. XV. Fraser River in 1858. XVI. Gold in Cariboo. XVII. The Two Colonies — 1859 to 1864. XVIII. Union and Confederation. EDITORS FOREWORD. In the interests of the patrons, and not less in those of the publishers, of this volume, the long delay in its production is to be deeply regretted; but as it too frequently occurs in undertakings of a similar nature original intentions were thwarted by circumstances unforeseen and for the greater part beyond control. The first object to be attained in a work of the nature proposed was a comprehensive and an authoritative review of the events which have made up the whole history of the province, to place in a fair and impartial light the main personal factors in its composition, and to portray as accurately as possible the actual course of development from the beginning of things west- ern to the present highly developed status of British Columbia. The second was to present such a history in a mechanical garb that would represent the best in the art of book-making. The time and labour involved in reasonably achieving these objects have been great, far greater than were anticipated at the outset. Many hundreds, indeed thousands, of authorities and original sources of information — represented in individual recollections, old manuscripts, diaries, official documents and state papers, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets and books — were consulted and the vast amount of material thereby rendered available in concise and concrete form may not be fully appreciated by those who for the first time view the finished product. From the publishers’ point of view, many unlooked for obstacles were met, including delays in securing portions of the manuscript and much of the material for the illustrations. In addition, owing to fires in Victoria and Vancouver, in which two photo- graphic establishments were involved, a large number of photographs assem- bled for the purpose were destroyed, which had to be replaced at the ex- pense of much inconvenience and time. In this connection, the editor may be permitted to explain that while the illustrations represent the highest style of reproductive art, in a few instances they do not come up to the general aver- age of excellence, for the reason that the only available portraits were old and faded and though the modern processes of engraving are capable of wonder- ful things they cannot produce results better than the originals. For the gen- eral artistic effects, however, the publishers are indebted to the principal photog- raphers, Mr. J. Savannah, Victoria, and Mr. George T. Wadds, Vancouver. Few publications, if any, of similar size and general excellence have been produced in Canada and the publishers have reason to cherish the hope that this work is of sufficient merit to be treasured in the families of patrons long after other pretensious works have been consigned to the “scrap heap,” a hope which in a measure compensates them for what has not been, from a pecuniary point of view, a justification for the great labour and the money expended. The promises made at the outset have been conscientiously lived up to. Back of the story of the province are the men, as pioneers and as present factors in provincial development, through Sixty Years of Progress, have made that progress possible, and the aim throughout has been to preserve to posterity a just record of their accomplishments. It is believed that the present volume not only fulfills in every particular the claims put forward at the outset, hut that it has attained to certain desirable ends not heretofore arrived at in any history of British Columbia. This work is distinctive from the fact that the usual fulsome write-ups of individuals in publications not intended for general circulation have been wholly eliminated, and only the bare particulars of the careers of those who constitute the necessarily limited and selected clientelle appear accompanying their portraits. It is a history representing the authors’ views of events and personalities as the latter incidentally and legitimately come within the scope of the narrative, expressed independently of all considerations except those which should influence a writer of history for history’s sake. It has been divided into two parts. The first, dealing with the early period of pro- vincial history, was assigned to Mr. E. O. S. Scholefield. As librarian and archivist of the province, he had unusual facilities at hand for per- forming his share of the work, and, as a matter of fact, he furnished manuscript several times in excess of the requirements of space allotted to him. As a consequence, it was necessary to very considerably condense his pages in order to bring them within the desired limits. This necessity the publishers and the editor greatly regretted on account of the delay occa- sioned and for the reason, also, that much of incidental historical interest had to be eliminated in the process of reduction. In this connection it is only fair to Mr. Scholefield to state that while in substance the matter is his it has been frequently necessary for the purposes of condensation to use phraseology which is not his and in some instances to make statements for which he may not care to be held responsible. The author has gone to the very roots of Pacific Coast history and carried on the narrative to the end, presenting a connected story from the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa in 1513 to the time when the fortunes of British Columbia were merged into those of all Canada in 1871. It has been shown how very remote events have be- come associated as leaven with the elements of our present day fibre and how the mere “shadow of a turning” has had momentous results. There were hun- dreds of contingencies, we learn, which might have entirely altered the des- tinies of the Pacific Northwest. In regard to the second part of the work, it deals mainly with the politi- cal development, a phase of our history which has been much neglected and, consequently, generally speaking, little understood. The events connected with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway — for many years the cru- cial issue of politics in British Columbia and in Canada — are necessarily the most prominent of the features. Incidentally, as part of the treatment, the Edgar affair, the Carnarvon Terms, the memorable visit of Lord Dufferin in 1876 and the Act of Settlement of 1884 come in for more or less detailed discussion. Outside of these, the period is too modern to be dwelt upon from the historian’s standpoint. In other words, it is without that clear per- spective which the historical writer regards as necessary for judicial review. Notwithstanding this limitation Mr. Gosnell has dealt in outline with the po- litical situation to the end of the chapter, more, perhaps, in a journalistic way than otherwise, but as dispassionately and as impartially as it is possible for one who has been a living witness of, and contemporaneous with, most of what has transpired during the past twenty- live years in British Columbia. In the first chapter and several of the final chapters the economic phases of the prov- ince have been discussed. Speaking in a general way, it has not been a ques- tion of what to include in a volume of this nature, but of what to eliminate. There is now material for many volumes and, in such circumstances, it has been deemed wiser to deal with the more interesting and important episodes than to attempt to include many incidents, which though interesting as gos- sip, were merely fortuitous and temporary in their nature and effects. Interest- ing chapters on the historic city and district of Kamloops and on the picturesque and fruitful valleys of the Okanagan have been contributed by Dr. M. S. Wade, editor of the Inland Sentinel, and Mr. J. A. MacKelvie, editor of the Vernon News — two gentlemen probably best qualified in their respective cities to deal with the history and potentialities of the districts of which Kamloops and Vernon are the administrative centres. EARLY PACIFIC EXPLORATIONS. CHAPTER I. It was not until the late Queen Victoria, in a note to Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton (1), the Secretary of State for the Colonies, bestowed the name of British Columbia upon the youngest colony of the Empire, that the vast re- gion between the prairies and the Pacific Ocean assumed for the historian a definite form. July 24th, 1858, was, in fact, the real birthday of the Prov- ince. Upto that time the territory, now the westernmost, as it is geograph- ically the largest province of the Dominion of Canada, had been known under the vague titles of “The Indian Territory,” “British Oregon,” and “New Caledonia.” Captain George Vancouver had, indeed, affixed the names of New Hanover, New Cornwall and New Georgia, to certain sections of the coast ( 2 ) , but these various designations do not appear to have clung to the spots so named nor to have had a vogue even amongst explorers. Brit- ish Columbia, however, was not the first name taken by a British colony in northwestern America. Nine years before, in 1849, the creation of the Colony of Vancouver Island had marked an epoch in the history of that region. But long before the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Colum- bia became geographical expressions the northwest coast and the territories behind it had been the objective of the explorer and the fur trader, and the subject of treatises from the pens of geographers and historians of repute. At a still earlier date the cartographer had embodied in his sea-cards and maps of western America the loose impressions of navigators and travellers, together with the fanciful conjecture of the closet geographer, so that during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a wonderful assortment of charts saw the light which, while teeming with inaccuracies in many de- tails, not infrequently contained the germ of truth. Indeed some of the old sea-cards so faithfully depict the features of the northwest coast in general outline that it is hard to believe that they were founded upon mere conjec- ture. It is not, indeed, altogether improbable that sources of information, consisting of the records of voyages long since lost, were available to the cartographers of Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s “backside of America” (3). For example, as early as 1562, or thereabouts, a map of the world was prepared which gave a surprisingly correct outline of the general trend of the coast of northwestern America (4). The Straits named later in honour of the great Vitus Bering were more or less accurately shown, as were also the shores of Bering Sea. It seems scarcely possible that the compiler of that map should have relied entirely upon the imagination of others, or that con- jecture alone could have guided him. What followed, however, was not characterized by a similar degree of accuracy, and the subsequent charts be- came more and more preposterous in the imaginings of the cartographer. (1) July 24th, 1858. (2) Vide Vancouver’s chart, 1798. (3) Sir Humphrey Gilbert, “Discovery for a new passage to Cataia.” London, 1576. (4) Stevenson-Portolan charts. Publications Hispanic Society No. 82. [ 1 ] In fact, a study of the charts of the Pacific Coast will reward the historian, by revealing the slow and painful progress which always marks maritime discovery. So then, tardily and gradually, the time comes when knowledge ousts conjecture and rumour from their places of honour, and the coast line assumes its true shape, until, after a lapse of more than two hundred and fifty years, Captain George Vancouver’s great chart of 1798 gives the first accurate representation of what is now the western sea-board of the Domin- ion of Canada. The great moral poet of the nineteenth century sings of his trust * * * “that somehow good will be the final goal of ill.” The lodestone of navigation in those early days of Pacific coast history was the mysterious Strait of Anian, the legendary waterway from the At- lantic to the Pacific through which access could be had direct to the riches of the Orient. The importance of its discovery, as well as the general desire to avoid publicity in regard to their sphere in New World operations, led the Spaniards to adopt a policy of great secrecy, much to the disadvantage of the historian and of little benefit to themselves as a nation. This point is of peculiar interest to the historian of British Columbia, because, for a time, at least, if not forever, the whole history of this land might have been changed, if a different policy had been adopted. It is scarcely to be doubted that had Spain advertised her discoveries on the northwest coast, if only in the day of her waning power, it would have had no unimportant bearing on the con- troversies of later years anent the Nootka Affair and the Louisiana Purchase, even though the Spanish discoveries, before the day that Captain James Cook landed on these shores, were, relatively speaking, of small value and extent. This policy of concealement, too, had the effect of encouraging the exploitation of credulity by men whose claims to discovery are now included among what are known as the “Apocryphal Voyages,” of which there are many. Of these the mythical Strait of Anian was a fecund inspiration, and despite the knowledge gained from time to time by the honest and intrepid mariner the faith in it lasted for three centuries and inspired deeds of heroism and led to sacrifices and sufferings, heroically borne, that are not surpassed in the annals of the sea. The toll of the lives of mariners spent in this cause was heavy and persistent. Governments no less than individuals were in- fluenced by the possibility of its existence all these long years. The historic achievement of Columbus gave almost a world-wide impetus to exploration. England, France, Portugal and Holland did not lag far be- hind Spain in their efforts to share in the profits of a new world discovery and of reaching the Indies and “far Cathay” by a direct and expeditious route. Then the nations set about apportioning themselves spheres of influence. The discoveries in the western hemisphere had scarcely been pro- claimed when Pope Alexander VI. issued the Bull which gave rise in after years to heated disputes, not only between Spain and Portugal, the imme- diate beneficiaries, but also between those countries and England and Hol- land. By that memorable ordinance, which was promulgated in 1493, the undiscovered world, from a point in Africa easterly to the Indies, was divided [ 2 ] between the kings of Spain and Portugal. The imaginary line, which de- marked the spheres of activity of the two monarchs, ran from the North to the South pole, a hundred leagues west of the Azores. The Pope’s professed object was to prevent disputes “between Christian princes” as to the domina- tion over such territories and islands as might be discovered by their respec- tive subjects. Great Britain did not recognize the right of the Pope to divide the un- discovered world between two Catholic countries, and when later Spain com- plained of the inroads of British subjects upon what might be termed the Papal preserve on the Pacific and elsewhere, Queen Elizabeth remarked with asperity that “the Spaniards had drawn these inconveniences upon them- selves, by their severe and unjust dealings in their American commerce; for she did not understand why either her subjects, or those of any other Euro- pean prince, should be debarred from traffic in the Indies ; that, as she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title, by donation of the Bishop of Rome, so she knew of no right they had to any places other than those they were in actual possession of; for that their having touched only here and there upon a coast, and having given names to a few rivers or capes, were such insignificant things as could in no way entitle them to a proprietary, further than in the parts where they actually had settled, and continued to inhabit.” There was great activity in both oceans, particularly in the Atlantic, stimulated, as has been seen, by new discoveries and awakened hopes in which the navigators of the several countries in question took part. Naturally enough, these early voyages gave rise to strange and contradictory accounts of the geography of the New World, which were reflected in the maps of the more celebrated old cosmographers. The “Typus Orbis Terrarum,” pub- lished by Hakluyt in 1589 (5), was a skilful drawing of the world, as viewed in the light of the geographical knowledge of that day. The Strait of Anian is shown as a broad channel in the northern part of North America, and the land at its outlet in the South Sea is called Anian. Below, a broad river flows into a large bay. In latitudes 40 to 50 lies the famous land of Quivira, which was supposed to rival Mexico in extent and richness. On the Pacific seaboard of Mexico are spread Zalisco, Zacatula, and Acapulco. The Gulf of California runs northerly far into the land and terminates in the estuary of two large rivers. In the ocean fabulous monsters disport themselves. In such wise was the northwest coast of North America depicted by the geographers of the sixteenth century. At first there was little disposition on the part of the European govern- ments to colonize America. So intent were the navigators of all nations upon finding a short route to India, China and Japan, and so imbued were they with the theories advanced by the leading geographers of the day, who had made such wildly erroneous computations as to the circumference of the earth, that, at first, the continents of North and South America were looked upon by them as nothing more than a barrier in the path of any explorer whose ambition was to reach the Orient. At last, Balboa, in 1513, sighted the Pacific Ocean from the Isthmus of Darien, and gave a new impulse to the search, which from that time was carried on with unabated zeal. Then Ma- cs) Hakluyt, “Principall Navigations, Voiages, etc.” 1589. [3] gellan, a Portugese in the service of Spain, discovered, after labourious effort, the strait which bears his name. Surviving the perils which beset him in that intricate channel, he reached the great ocean which separates America from Asia. He was the first European to sail into the Pacific from the east. At this juncture a new direction was given to the exploration of America. Her- nando Cortes, in the years 1519-1520, conquered Mexico and proved that that portion of the North American continent at least was dowered with richest treasure. Cortes, having heard from the natives accounts of a great sea in the west, pushed his explorations in that direction, and soon established him- self upon the shores of the ocean first sighted by Balboa a decade before. With indomitable energy and perseverance he overcame all obstacles, and built arsenals and ship-yards at Tehuantepec in Oajaca for the prosecution of his adventures in the Pacific, a feat which is memorable because all the arms, am- munition and material needed for the construction and equipment of vessels had to be carried overland from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific port. Spain thus became the first European power to establish a naval base on the west side of America, and in the years that followed she became supreme in the South Seas, although the Portuguese, who in 1518 had obtained by treaty certain rights in Macao, relentlessly opposed the sending of Spanish warships to the Spice Islands. From remotest antiquity the western seaboard of North America had been cut off from all intercourse with the world. No ships had reached its shores, except occasional storm-driven Chinese and Japanese junks; no civili- zation had been engrafted upon the rude culture of its primitive tribes; nor does tradition record a single enlightened ruler or a mighty conqueror who had ever arisen in that unknown land. Its early history indeed is shrouded in mystery. All that can be stated with certainty is that it was inhabited by savages, whose physical characteristics, languages and territorial jurisdictions were more or less clearly defined, and whose chief occupations were fishing, the chase and war. Some of the more northern tribes, however, possessed distinguishing qualities of heart and mind, coupled with a certain ingenuity in the making of implements, as well as some artistic sense, exhibited in their carving and kindred arts. The social structure, if crude, was not ill-adapted to the requirements of a savage people. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the coasts of Lower and Upper California were sunk, as we are told by Venegas, in the lowest depths of depravity. It was only by slow and pain- ful effort that the veil of obscurity was lifted. It is remarkable that a coast which offered no insuperable difficulties to the navigator should have remained unexplored and unknown, except by vague rumour and conjecture, for a space of two hundred and fifty years. Although the Spaniard had reached the Pacific seaboard of Mexico by the year 1523, no determined effort to explore far northern coasts was made until 1774. The knowledge secured by Cortes and the discovery of the Philippines by Magellan in 1520 gave an impetus to Spain to be supreme in the South Seas and His Catholic Majesty issued instructions in 1523 to the administrator of Nova Espana to search for the Strait of Anian on both sides of the conti- nent. To this task Cortes resolutely set himself. His path was strewn with many difficulties and he was doomed to many disappointments. His incen- tive was a high one, from the Spanish point of view at that time. Apart from [4] the lust of riches and adventure, inbred in the official class of the New World, which Cortes shared in an eminent degree, the passion for world-power, the conversion of the heathen and the steadfast desire to establish the Roman Catholic Church in all quarters of the globe were the guiding principles of the Court of Spain. Under the instructions of Cortes, Francisco Maldonado sailed from the mouth of the River Zacatula in July, 1528, and examined the coast line for 300 miles as far as Santiago, returning with extravagant ac- counts of the extent, richness and fertility of the lands he had seen. Two years passed before another expedition was fitted out. Late in June, 1532, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza sailed in the San Miguel and the San Mar- cos to continue Maldonado’s work. He, it is supposed, reached the 27th parallel of latitude off the peninsula of Lower California. The voyage ended disastrously. The crew mutined and while the San Miguel ran ashore and was plundered, the San Miguel and Mendoza pushed on for the north and were never heard of again. Next year Hernando Grijalva, accompanied by Diego Becerra, in search of Mendoza, discovered the Revillagigedo Islands. Diego Becerra, more enterprising, but not less unfortunate, stood to the north, but met an unhappy fate at the hands of his treacherous pilot, For- tuno Ximenes, who in turn in landing on the California peninsula, was killed by Indians. Cortes had an implacable enemy and rival, Nuno de Guzman, President of the Andiencia of Mexico, who was responsible for many of his troubles and not in a small degree for his deposition as viceroy. Determined to emulate the exploits of Cortes and with that object in view, as well as to enlarge the bounds of his province, Panuco, despatched expeditions overland to the shores of the Gulf of California. One of his parties, having returned from the mouth of the Colorado, spread abroad marvellous accounts of populous countries and magnificent cities in the interior. The splendour of the great city of Cibola was heralded far and wide. These reports were attested by the friar Marcos de Niza and one Cabeza de Vaca, a companion-in-arms of the redoubtable Hernando de Soto. De Vava, in his extraordinary wanderings from Flor- ida to the Pacific, had received from the natives wonderful accounts of the region northwest of New Spain. Upon receipt of this intelligence, Mendoza, who had recently succeeded Cortes in the vice-royalty, immediately ordered Marcos de Niza to determine the place of the reputed cities and territories. In the selection of Niza for this mission the viceroy had been guided by his friend, the good Bartolome de Las Casas, known in history as “The Protec- tor of the Indians.” Niza returned in due course to report that he had found an affluent and delectable country, to the north of the thirty-fifth parallel, which produced in abundance gold, silver and precious stones. Here were populous towns and seven magnificent cities, of which Cibola and Totonteac were rich beyond the dreams of avarice, even the walls of their houses being ablaze with jewels (6). So, in all gravity, reported the emissary of the vice- roy. These reports naturally excited the cupidity of soldiers of fortune and fanned the flame of adventure. Indeed, the discovery of new territories was directly due to the prevalence of such lying rumours. But they also checked the exploration of far northern coasts, which quest was wholly neglected, if not altogether forgotten in the excitement of the hour. (6) Greenhow, Oregon and California. [ 5 ] As the result of the feud between Cortes and Guzman, now fully ripened, the former undertook an armed expedition against the latter. At Santa Cruz, as the port was named, Cortes landed with one hundred and thirty men and forty horses, and commenced his celebrated march along the shores of the gulf named in his honour on old charts. Hardships and dangers, famine and pestilence, marked the progress of the expedition, which was remarkable for the endurance and heroism of the men who formed it. Except for the pearls which its coasts yielded, the country was utterly barren. Following the cus- tom of his age, Cortes took possession of the country with due ceremony, in the name of the King of Spain, and shortly thereafter it received the name California, respecting the origin of which much has been written, but nothing settled ( 7 ) . Cortes’ troubles increased and his declining years were made bitter by disappointments and the success of rivals. The history of the troubled period that followed is little more than the history of the intrigues, rivalries and feuds of leaders who lusted to lay hold of territories from which untold riches might be drawn. Such men as the Viceroy, Mendoza, Pedro de Alva- rado, Hernando de Soto and Nuno de Guzman, and the most famous of them all, Hernando Cortes, were not men to balk at obstacles. Each claimed that the land of Cibola lay within his jurisdiction. A long and bitter dispute ensued which ended at last in a compromise between the Viceroy and Alvarado. Cortes, angered at the treatment dealt out to him, spent the remaining years of his life in vain efforts to recover his authority in Mexico and to secure some indemnification for his losses. One other voyage of this period deserves brief notice. The intrepid Ulloa, who commanded the last expedition fitted out by Cortes, rounded Cape San Lucas in 1539, and thus became the first European of whom we have authentic record to reach the oceanic coast of California. Struggling against the boister- ous northwest wind, the navigator pushed on possibly as far as the 28th de- gree of latitude. After several vain attempts, he was driven back. His ship reached Acapulco in safety; but of the explorer no more was heard. Two vessels were despatched by Mendoza, Cortes’ successor, under command of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. He sailed the coast previously explored by Ulloa, and, more successful than his predecessor, reached a higher latitude. It seems that he was the first to discover the port of San Diego and the Santa Barbara channel; his “Cabo de Galera” may be the “Point Conception” of today, but in settling the position of the places named by the early Spanish explorers, all is conjecture. Continuing, he entered Bahia de los Pinos, supposed to be the Bay of Monterey. Near this point a storm separated the two vessels of his expedition and for several days Cabrillo was carried northward, in which direction he sighted another, probably the Point Arena, the highest latitude attained by him. On the 3rd of January, 1543, Cabrillo died from the effects of his arduous exertions and exposure. The voyage was continued by the pilot, Bartolome Ferrelo. It is said that he reached the 44th parallel of north latitude, but the accounts of his expedition are so vague as to leave this point undetermined. Harassed by tempests and sickness, he was forced to return southward. With regard to these early voyages, it is a speaking testimony to the hardships endured by the Spaniards, that, with the sole exception of the (7) Davidson, “Origin and meaning of the name California.” San Francisco, 1910. [ 6 ] voyage of Alarcon, all the captains of naval expeditions despatched north- ward to California by Cortes and Mendoza died from scurvy or exposure or were lost at sea. Only the emaciated remnants of their parties returned, with appalling accounts of the hardships endured and of the storms and dan- gers encountered in their undertakings in inclement seas and on desert lands. No wonder that the zeal for northern explorations cooled. “The north is cold, rough and poor,” was an adage amongst the Spaniards. Their horror of that region was deepened by the return of Ferrelo in 1543. The exertions of Cabrillo had added vastly to the knowledge of the Pacific coast of Aonerica, but no effort was made to add to his discoveries. More profitable employ- ment and greater riches were to be gained in the silver mines of Mexico, which proved more lucrative than the exploration of barren shores; though no doubt it was the same avaricious spirit of the age which tempted the enter- prise of Ulloa, Cabrillo and Vizcaino, for the viceroys were always flattered with the hope that lands equal in richness to Mexico would be discovered in unknown northwestern regions. Little further progress was made in the navigation of the north Pacific in the latter half of the sixteenth century, and no attempt was made to ex- plore the northwest coast. From 1542 until 1596 not a single expedition left Mexican ports with that object in view. In the latter year Vizcaino sailed from Acapulco, but did not achieve anything. Philip III., in 1599, sent ex- plicit instructions to the Viceroy of Mexico to pursue with vigor an active policy in those quarters. Monterey, the Viceroy of the time, decided to employ Vizcaino again, as that navigator was considered to have more knowledge of the coast of New Spain than any other commander. On the 5th of May, 1602, Vizcaino sailed from Acapulco. With greater knowledge and facilities than any of his predecessors, Vizcaino was enabled to survey accurately the coast line of California from Cape San Lucas onward to Mendocino. The imme- diate object of his expedition was to find a suitable landfall for the homing Manila galleons. He was therefore instructed not to proceed beyond the point mentioned. Beating his way against the northwest wind, that scourge of navigators, Vizcaino made slow progress. By the 12th of January he had reached the 41st parallel and then turned back. Not the least important re- sult of this expedition was the information gained by Martin d’ Aguilar, who commanded the Tres Reyes, one of Vizcaino’s vessels. The gale of the 6th of January had separated the two vessels, and Aguilar, according to the observations of the pilot Antonio Flores, was driven before it to latitude 40 degrees north. Some authors, indeed, maintain that he discovered the mouth of the great fluvial artery since named the Columbia. From the vague sur- viving accounts of the discovery, however, it is not possible to settle the point one way or the other. Both Aguilar and Flores died from exposure before their vessels reached San Diego on its homeward voyage. So much for the attempts of the Spaniards to explore the northwest coast. They proved, as has been seen, singularly abortive and disastrous. The Spanish Government was, after all, more concerned with the devel- opment of commerce with the Philippines. Very soon after Cortes reached the Pacific, vessels had crossed the ocean to those islands, but until 1564 no vessel had sailed from the Philippines to Mexico, owing to the prevailing trade winds of the mid-Pacific. In 1564, however, the Friar Urdaneta, a navi- 17 ] gator of repute, found that by steering a northeasterly course a region of variable atmospheric currents was reached. This discovery enabled him to make America from the East, a feat never before accomplished. Urdaneta was possibly the first man to be accredited with having sailed from the Pa- cific to the Atlantic through the famous strait. Reposing in their fancied security, the Spaniards did not even take the trouble to protect their East Indian commerce. F ree for many years from all interference from the out- side and with all their fears in that regard set at rest, they reaped a rich harvest in the South Sea, establishing between India, the Philippines and the Isthmus of Darien, an extensive commerce. At this time there were some few fortified ports on the Mexican seaboard and on the Pacific coast of Cen- tral and South America, while across the narrow Isthmus stretched a road over which the treasure freighted by East Indian argosies was carried to the Pacific on the backs of mules. The fruits of commerce, thus transferred to Nombre de Dios, were more than once destroyed by English and other free- booters. Then, like a bolt from the blue, came Sir Francis Drake’s descent upon the west coast of America. English, French and Dutch privateers for more than half a century had plundered the Spanish colonies on the eastern side of the continent, but this was the first attempt to carry their depredations into the Pacific. Francis Drake was one of the most noted and picturesque of that group of buccaneers who lent an unusual halo of romance to the mari- time history of the Elizabethan period. He added to a love of plunder an in- tense hatred of the Spaniards, so that he robbed and wrecked their galleons with right good will. So far from having twinges of conscience, he flattered Providence by coming to His aid in a righteous cause. He left England in 1577 with five ships. He found himself on the Pacific Ocean with one, the name of which he changed from Pelican to Golden Hinde. The rest had de- serted him. With his single little ship he traversed the coast northward, ravishing the Spanish main; burning and destroying all before him. Richard Hakluyt has preserved for us accounts of that memorable voyage, and to them one must turn for full information. The staunch little band under Drake slit the throat of the Spaniard and burnt his ships, and so great was the terror aroused by the English captain, that it is said the Spanish mothers frightened their children with the threat that if they were not good Drake woidd come and carry them away. At last, laden with spoil, he decided to sail for England. He determined, however, not to pass southward through the Strait of Magellan, for fear the Spaniards would seize him and his loot. So he boldly sailed northwestward with the intention of reaching the Atlantic by the Strait of Anian. The latitude reached by Drake on this occasion has been the subject of much discussion. In “The World Encompassed,” pre- pared from an unpublished manuscript by Francis Fletcher, chaplain to the expedition, it is declared that he reached the 48th parallel. On the other hand, Thomas Maynard’s “Sir Francis Drake, His Voyage,” states that the north- ern voyage did not extend so far by five degrees. Lapse of time and in- definite records of the event prevent any settlement of the question. But it is not altogether unlikely that Sir Francis attained the higher latitude (8). (8) With reference to the northern limit of Drake’s foray, J. G. Kohl, the eminent geographer, states: “The best English and other foreign authorities admit 48 degrees north latitude as Drake’s north- ern limit.” [ 8 ] So great was the cold and the suffering of the crew that Drake gave up his attempt to reach the Atlantic Ocean by the northwest passage, and sailed southward, making a landfall at Drake’s Bay to the north of San Francisco. Here he spent many days refreshing his crew and establishing friendly rela- tions with the natives, by whom he was crowned king of the country, an honour which he modestly states he consented to accept on behalf of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. It was not to be expected, of course, that Drake should forego the custom of the mariners of that age and neglect to lay claim to the country he had discovered for the English nation. He named the land New Albion and formally took possession of it in the name of his sovereign. This incident of 1578 in after years was quoted by the British Government in support of its claim to the Oregon Territory. It was, indeed, a fact that Drake was the first Anglo-Saxon to reach the shore of northwestern America and to lay claim to the territory behind it. Drake then was the pioneer on the road which was to lead many an English and Dutch freebooter to fortune, if not to fame, in the Pacific. Captain Thomas Cavendish (or “Candish,” as his name is spelled in the older records) followed Drake in 1587, but he reached only the southern part of California. From the days of the buc- caneers until the enterprise of Captain James Cook, no Englishman visited the northwestern coast of America. Drake’s name of “New Albion,” however, lives in history, and all the early navigators allude to the coast of what is now northern California, Oregon and Washington, under that title. As has already been stated, one of the direct results of the policy of Spain in guarding jealously the secret of her discoveries in the Pacific, neither affirming nor denying, encouraged those of her bolder spirits to make claims to voyages, explorations and discoveries, which in the light of later develop- ments we know to have been pure inventions, calculated like certain classes of fiction to pander to a taste created in an age of seeming wonders. Hence, we have had a number of what are described as “apocryphal voyages.” Each of these had its believers and defenders and it required almost centuries in which to dissipate faith in them. In dealing with works of fiction it is un- necessary for purposes of history to discuss seriously what was non-existent. Briefly, three of the most important of these were alleged to have been under- taken and accomplished by Lorenzo Ferrer de Maldonado, Bartholomew de Fonte, and Juan de Fuca. The former two laid claim to having sailed through the Straits of Anian, that is, by the northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice versa, and in the case of Maldonado the narrative was so circumstantial in its details as to have deceived learned geographers. He not only navigated the mysterious strait, but reached Cathay and disported among the wonders of the South Sea. What has more interest for us is the reputed discovery of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1592 by Juan de Fuca, a Greek pilot in the employ of Spain, whose real name was Apostolos Valeri- anos. Juan de Fuca, when an old man, was discovered, so to speak, in Venice, by one Michael Lok, trading in the Levant and the story told to the latter by him was published by Samuel Purchas in “His Pilgrimes” in 1625. It is needless to go into details of the story. His description of the latitude, the entrance and general trend of the “broad inlet of the sea,” which he claims to have entered and sailed up, corresponds clearly enough to the strait as it exists to render the story probable under ordinary circumstances, and it is ac- ts] cepted as true by many even today. It must, however, forever remain in doubt. Apart from the narrative given to the world by Lok, there are no historical proofs of the existence of a Juan de Fuca in the capacity in which he represented himself and authorities are agreed that the voyage of de Fuca as described is at least “apocryphal,” while some do not hesitate to repudi- ate it in its entirety. When, however, Captain Barkley at a much later date did enter the Strait of Fuca, remembering the old story of Michael Lok, which had passed into a tradition among navigators, he regarded it as a rediscovery and named the waters after, and in honour of, the old Greek pilot. The de- tails of these apocryphal voyages are nevertheless very entertaining and if they served any necessary purpose in this volume a chapter or two might be devoted to them. They have as much merit as the ordinary novel and in the credulous days in which they found circulation appealed vividly to the imagi- nation and did much towards keeping alive and stimulating afresh the spirit of adventure. [ 10 ] RUSSIAN EXPLORATIONS AND ESTABLISHMENTS. CHAPTER II. In the eighteenth century the lines of exploration converged upon that strip of territory which, hedged in between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, stretches from California northward to the Arctic Sea. It was a land up to that date absolutely unknown. From the four points of the compass gathered the men who were to tear aside the veil that hid this virgin land from the eyes of the world. From the South, after an interval of inaction, came the Spaniard; from the North the sturdy Russian in the face of fearful obstacles worked his way southward; from the West came coldly scientific Britons and the vivacious sons of France; finally, from the East the daring fur trader, undismayed by vast distances, foaming torrents and mighty mountain ranges, pushed across the continent and established posts beyond the Rockies, at the same time that his brother-trader, the mari- time fur-hunter, was searching each nook and cranny of the west coast for the pelt of the sea-otter. Since 1603 Spain had made little progress north- ward. California was looked upon as an island, and not as part of a conti- nent. Compared with her once mighty sway, Spain indeed had sunk into de- crepitude. In California, abandoned by its government, the Jesuits still were active and powerful. By their missionary settlements in, and explorations of, the peninsula of California, they laid the foundations for further advance towards the northwest. The Russians from the opposite direction advanced to the same region; indeed, it was Muscovite enterprise that moved the Spanish government to make a final effort to establish its sovereignty at least as far northward as the 54th parallel of latitude. In the great work of Arctic exploration which preoccupied almost exclusively the ambitions of the last two centuries, Russia and England took the lead. Until comparatively recent times it was to these two nations that the world was principally indebted for its knowledge of Arctic regions. The story of Russian exploits in that bleak field is adorned with a series of great names, but one of the first and perhaps the greatest of all was a Dane. It redounds to the honour of Denmark that as Lauridsen ob- serves, “the most brilliant chapter in the history of Russian explorations is due to the initiative and indefatigable energy of Vitus Bering.” In the serv- ice of the half civilized, if not wholly barbaric, Peter the Great, he doubled the north eastern peninsula of Asia, and on his return to Russia prepared a plan for exploration which was to reach from the White Sea of Japan. Curiously enough, the equipment of Bering’s first expedition to the northeast was one of the last administrative acts of Peter the Great. From his death- bed his energies set in motion forces which in years that followed were to conquer a new world for human knowledge. It was not until his rugged but mighty spirit was on the verge of leaving this world that the work was begun. The death of the great Czar witnessed indeed the birth of a force which was destined to be memorably effective for half a century; and the results [ 11 ] then achieved still excite our admiration. Just before his death no less than three great enterprises were planned — the establishment of a market at the mouth of the River Ivur for the Oriental trade, the creation of maritime trade with India, and a scientific expedition to settle once and for all the mooted point as to the boundary between Asia and America. It was to the last named that Bering devoted his energies and on account of which he gave up his life. The history of Russian explorations and settlements on the northwest coast is interesting and important to us, first, because out of them was evolved the territory known as Alaska, and, second, because our interests were closely as- sociated with, and involved in, two great international questions of recent date, familiar to us — the Bering Sea and Alaska boundary disputes. Pursuant to instructions issued by Peter the Great, five weeks before his death, Bering led an expedition across one hundred and thirty degrees of inhospitable Siberia. Mountains, steppes, impenetrable forests, morasses and fields of ice and snow lay between St. Petersburg and Kamchatka, and to the latter place he carried not only a force of men, but an enormous provision train and materials for ship-building. It was an heroic and unique undertaking and is memorable among similar feats. Bering was commissioned to build boats, sail northward along the coast and ascertain the relative position of the American coast. On March 11th, 1728, after great sufferings and hardships he reached his desti- nation, where he found a handful of Cossacks maintaining the sovereignty of the “Czar of All the Russias.” They were little more civilized than the natives whom they ruled and knouted. With a vessel, the Gabriel, which he built under obvious difficulties, he went to sea with the result that, although he did not on account of fog catch a glimpse of the American continent, he ascertained definitely that it was separated by water from Asia. Keeping land in sight, he coasted to a point near 67° 18', north latitude and longitude 193° 7 east of Greenwich. Bering was convinced that he had sailed round the northeastern corner of Asia, and that his voyage had proved beyond doubt that the two great continents were not connected. From St. Petersburg it was announced that “Bering had ascertained that there really does exist a northeast passage and that from the Lena River it is possible, provided one is not prevented by Polar ice, to sail to Kamchatka and thence to Japan, China and the East Indies.” From personal observations and from infor- mation gleaned from the natives he was satisfied that the land of another con- tinent lay no great distance away. In the summer of 1729 Bering started out once more upon a voyage of exploration, his particular object being to find the country of which the natives had spoken. If the wind had been in the right quarter, Bering Island, where twelve years later he was to die and be buried, might have been reached by the explorer. Again fog obscured his vision, and he did not even sight the island where he was destined to end his days. Important as was his first expedition, it was less memorable than his next and last, which resulted in the discovery of the American continent from the east, and the exploitation of Russian- America, now Alaska. He returned to the seat of government in Russia to carry out his plans, but it was several years before they fructified and his commission in the end was of much greater magni- tude than he had ever dreamed of at the outset — in fact, it was preposter- ous and absurd in that respect. He wanted to explore the coast of America [ 12 ] and establish commercial relations; to visit Japan for a similar purpose; and to map the Arctic coast of Siberia. He was charged in the end with what a commission of experts, made up of all the talents, might have been ex- pected in a lifetime to perform — the development and scientific exploration of Siberia; the charting of northwest America, Japan and the Arctic regions; the visiting of the Spanish settlements; the founding of schools and establish- ment of dock-yards and iron- works ; the introduction of cattle on the Pacific; the supplying of Okotsk with inhabitants, — even to the refinements of scien- tific observation and ethnographic investigation. An imposing expedition of 570 men and 30 or 40 academists, headed by La Croyere, as astronomer, was dispatched and started in detachments across the Siberian desert in 1733. Great bodies move slowly and what was accounted dilatoriness brought upon the head of Bering severe criticism and almost recall. He was able to de- fend himself. In 1737 the headquarters were moved to Okotsk, which be- came a military centre and the Russian metropolis in eastern Asia. The fol- lowing year, 1738, Martin Spangberg sailed for Japan and in two short sum- mer expeditions succeeded in charting the Kurile Islands, Yezo and part of the eastern coast of Nippon. As a result of his operations that part of the globe assumed for the geographer an entirely new appearance. In the course of time Bering reached the Kamchatkan peninsula, where he founded the town of Petropaulovski, so named after the Church of St. Peter and Paul, built at that point by the pious leader of the expedition. This port rapidly assumed importance, and it soon became, as is now, by far the most pleasing town of the peninsula. In the crude ship-yards of this back- woods port the vessels St. Peter and St. Paul were built, and in May, 1731, frugally outfitted with provisions for a summer’s cruise of exploration. Neither the ships’ stores nor rigging were complete or even adequate, but into the unknown sailed Vitus Bering. The nervous strain and great hardships, the necessary accompaniment of such a vast undertaking, had already undermined his health. Indeed the incessant toil and anxieties of the past eight years had been generally debilitating his system, and on his departure from Kam- chatka he was physically a wreck. Vitus Bering commanded the St. Peter and Alex. Chirikof of the St. Paul , and with Bering sailed the naturalist Steller, who alone, by his fascinating records of his observations, would have made the voyage famous. The ships weighed anchor in June, 1741, and on the 20th, in storm and fog, separated and never again came together. Both made important discoveries, but on the 16th of July, 1741, Bering saw land. The country was high and rugged and covered with snow, the coast jagged and girt with inhospitable rocks ; behind, in splendour, towered a snow- capped mountain peak so far into the clouds that it could be seen at a dis- tance of seventy miles. This mountain was the great volcanic cone of St. Elias, some eighteen thousand feet high. “Bering had discovered America from the East.” A stay of only a few days was made in the neighbourhood of the island where the ship cast anchor, when, despite the remonstrances of Steller, the St. Peter proceeded in a northwesterly direction for the purpose of examining the continental shore. Commander and crew were in a sorry plight. Ber- ing was confined to bed, and the crew, with starvation in sight, were for the greater part sick with scurvy. For several weeks the vessel worked along [13] the coast and on July 26th was off the Kadiak Archipelago. During the succeeding weeks the St. Peter was tossed by wind and wave on turbulent waters. Misfortune after misfortune crowded on the expedition. Scurvy and dissension were rife. It was finally decided to give up charting the Ameri- can coast and return home. On August 30th the vessel anchored off the Shumagin group of islands, the plight of those aboard still growing worse — sea, scurvy, dissension, death, all in concert to one end. Leaving Shumagin Islands from September 6th until November 4th, the men suffered untold hardships. On November 4th, under latitude 53° 30' an elevated coast was sighted; and though it was thought to have been Kamchatka, it proved to be an island, now known as Bering, one of the Commander group. Here they found a landing after an almost miraculous escape from the reefs; here they were doomed to be denizened for the winter in roofed pits; here sufferings were intense and death had a heavy toll; here wild animals — Arctic foxes, sea otters, seals, sea-cows and wild fowl — Steller found in abundance to his wonder and amazement; and here Vitus Bering, worn out with fever, scurvy, sufferings and anxiety, breathed his last, literally buried alive where he lay from the sand from the sides of the pit rolling down on his body, which he welcomed for the warmth it afforded him. There have been various esti- mates of the man, as a man and as a mariner. He had many traducers. He has even been accused of pusillanimity and cowardly fear; but his exploits, his long, weary struggle in fighting obstacles, his success in overcoming power- ful opposition, his achievements as a mariner, his almost prophetic vision — ■ all stamp him as quite a different man, and he must forever rank among the outstanding pioneer navigators and explorers of the northwest coast. He accomplished much. He established the fact that America and Asia are separated; he exploded many false theories respecting the northeastern coast of Asia; he discovered the Aleutian Islands; he was the first European to chart any part of the continental shore of far northwestern America; he dis- covered and named Mount St. Elias; his last expedition led to the estab- lishment of Russian sovereignty in and over Alaska. After many strange vicissitudes the remnant of the party embarked in a vessel, built of the wreckage of the St. Peter, and reached Petropaulovski in the summer of 1742, and so ended the long drawn out tragedy of the great northern expedition of the Russians. Chirikof’s adventures in the St. Paul were scarce less unfortunate than those of Bering’s in the St. Peter. After the separation the former drifted southward to latitude 48 and then sailed E. N. E., coming in the course of days close to the wooded shore of Cape Addington, though he found no landing. In Sitka Sound a terrible disaster befell him and his people. Being in need of water, on the 7th of July he sent a long boat and ten men to the shore. After several days, the boat not re- turning, a second boat’s crew was despatched and they, too, disappeared and never returned. From the subsequent appearance of Indians, their fate be- came obvious and the St. Paul set sail for Kamchatka, where she arrived on the 10th of October, all on board having suffered from scurvy, lack of water and untold hardships. The Russian Government, tired of the worry and ex- pense involved in the prosecution of trans-Siberian and American adventures, did not follow up the explorations of Bering; but enterprising individuals were always found to fit out expeditions for the hunting of the sea-otter. [14] None of them seem to have reached the farthest coasts visited by Bering and Chirikof. In the course of their traffickings, however, they explored the Aleutian Islands, returning with rude sketches and maps. Many Russian companies — at one time as many as twenty-five or thirty — were engaged in the sea-otter trade, with the result that these animals were greatly diminished in numbers and attention was directed to the seal herds. In time, in 1768, the Prybilof Islands, their celebrated breeding grounds, were discovered. Following the example of similar companies in many parts of the world, individual private enterprises were succeeded by consolidation and practical monopoly. In 1781, Gregory Shelikof formed an association of Siberian merchants and traded in and explored the northern Pacific. Then at Irkutsk, in 1791, he organized the Shelikof company, which secured a partial monopoly of the American trade. Independent traders continued their operations, to the loss of the Irkutsk company, and the most powerful of these were persuaded to unite their interests with the older association under the name of “The Shelikof United Trading Co.” New competitors entered the field and still demoralized the trade. Then the directors of the United company sued for a monopoly of the fur trade in Russian America and finally obtained it in 1799. “The Russian American Company” was organ- ized by Imperial ukase. This document gave to the members of the old company under its new name the control of all the coasts of America on the Pacific north of the 55th degree of latitude. They were required to organize settlements, promote agriculture, commerce, and discovery and to propagate the Greek Catholic faith; to extend Russian territory and influence on the Pacific as far as possible without trespassing on the territory of any foreign power (1). The capital of the company was fixed at ninety-eight thousand silver rubles. Like the Hudson’s Bay Co., the Russian American Co. represented sovereign power in its territory and was practically an imperium in imperio. It had also power over the natives, who were in effect its slaves. The whole history of the Russian fur trade from the time of its rude beginnings was one marred by cruelty, by oppression, sufferings and exposure, loss of life, coarseness, vice and dissipation. “None,” says Krusenstern, “but vagabonds and adventurers ever entered the company’s service as promishleniks.” Once in that employ they seldom saw Russian soil again. There were at times, however, gentlemen of refinement and intelligence — the educated Russian — at Sitka, the seat of government, with a high sense of honour and justice. It was not all bad. The company had much competition from American sources and the natives proved hostile and several massacres took place before they were subdued in authority. Later on in the chapter, conditions were much mitigated and priests of the Greek Church established missions among the Indians, whose last state, on account of contact with the whites, had been worse than the first. They made a genuine effort to convert the native tribes of Alaska, established schools, churches and hospitals and worked faithfully for a people whose minds were perhaps not able to grasp the full meaning of the truths of Christianity. Among the most picturesque figures of this semi-barbarous regime was Governor Baranof, who for 27 years as repre- sentative of Russian authority and local head of the fur company, was, for (1) Dali, Alaska, p. 318. [ 15 ] 20 years at least, the uncrowned king of Alaska. Of tremendous energy and physical endurance and iron nerve, coarse, unfeeling, shrewd and enterpris- ing, he maintained despotic sway, and while the regulations governing the operations of the company were generally just and humane, in practice they were ignored or made subject to interest and expediency. Baranof ruled first at Kadiak and then at Sitka. Personally, he was faithful to the interests of his company and successful in his own barbarous way; but his orgies, his coarseness and brutality, were of common knowledge and brought down upon him the displeasure of his superiors. Twice he was deposed, but on both ac- casions the death of his successors before reaching Sitka left him still in office, until finally, in 1817, worn out by years of arduous service, he volun- tarily resigned and died in his eightieth year on his way home to Russia. Among the inquisitors sent to Russian America in response to the voice of the down-trodden Aleut, which had reached the Throne, the most noted was Count Nikolai Petrovitch Resanof. He reached Sitka in 1804. He made an exhaustive enquiry into the administration of the company and was success- ful in inaugurating many useful and beneficent changes. He was a man of ability and foresight and one of his projects was to establish a Russian settle- ment on the coast of California for the purpose of supplying the Russian ports with flour, beef, butter and other products of the farm, and for this purpose he visited San Francisco. Though the project was not then carried into effect, it was subsequently in 1812 by Kushoff with the concurrence of the Spanish Government. It was known as the “Ross settlement” — Ross being a con- traction of Russian, and the men stationed there were principally employed in agricultural pursuits and in killing and drying the meat of the cattle which ranged in that neighborhood. The post was held until 1842, when it was sold to General Sutter for $80,000 (2), because the Russian American Company had entered into an agreement with the Hudson’s Bay Company, under the terms of which the latter was to furnish the Russians annually with 560,000 pounds of wheat, 19,920 pounds of flour, 16,160 pounds of peas, 16,160 pounds of barley, 36,880 pounds of bacon, 19,920 pounds of beef and 3,860 pounds of ham at a certain fixed price (3). All these were the products of Hudson’s Bay Company’s establishment at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River, which, under the administration of the famous Dr. McLoughlin, had become an important agricultural centre, even in those early days. Resanof’s San Francisco experience was spiced with a beautiful though pathetic romance. He fell in love with the Governor’s daughter, Donna Conception, renowned for beauty and sweetness of disposition, and she with him. They became be- trothed. In June, 1806, Resanof sailed for Sitka, assuring his love that he would return as soon as he had obtained the consent of the Emperor. On his way to St. Petersburg he died of exposure to the rigours of a Siberian winter. It is related that the beautiful Donna Conception, who did not hear of Count Resanof’s death for many years, continued constant and expectant, refusing many offers of marriage. Long afterwards, when Americans first settled in California and she had become an old woman, she was still faithful to the love of her youth and daily scanned the Golden Gate, in hope that she would one day see the white sail of her lover’s ship. (4) (2) Elliott, Beal Islands, p. 149. (3) Dali, Alaska, p. 339. (4) Dali, Alaska, pp. 324-325. [ 16 ] In the years following 1802, various scientific expeditions were fitted out by the Russian government for Alaska and Bering Sea. Notable among these was the expedition of Krusenstern and Lisianski, who in the years 1804-5-6 examined many of the then unknown fiords and islands of the coast ( 5 ) . In 1821 and 1844 the charter of the Russian American Company was renewed, on each occasion for a term of twenty years, and that corporation retained its control of northwestern America until 1867. From time to time, as was to be expected, Russian interests in that quarter of the globe clashed with the policies of Great Britain, the United States and Spain. By the ukase of 1821 the Czar claimed as Russian all the territories north of latitude 51. This de- cree, however, was immediately combated by the nations more directly con- cerned. Both the British and the United States Governments protested against it as soon as it was issued. Undeterred, however, by these objections, the Russian authorities sent cruisers to enforce the ukase, one of which seized the brig Pearl of Boston, a capture which led to negotiations and resulted in the Convention of 1824. This treaty provided that the Russians were not to make settlements south of latitude 54° 40 , nor the Americans north of that parallel. It was further set forth that Russia reserved the right to determine at the end of ten years the clause which permitted the United States to navigate Russian- American waters and to trade with the natives. In no event were arms, am- munition, or liquor to be sold to the latter. The brig Pearl was thereupon re- leased, and the owners indemnified. At this period the president of the United States promulgated what is known as the Monroe doctrine, and it sufficiently alarmed Russia and Great Britain, to create a new line of cleavage and while the plenipotentiaries of United States and Russia were arranging the details of the Convention of 1824, the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg was ne- gotiating a treaty with the Czar’s government (6). In February, 1825, the Canning Convention between Great Britain and Russia was concluded. This agreement distinctly recognized the southern boundary of the Russian possess- ions as the parallel of 54 40 , and provided that the southeastern boundary should follow the shore of Portland Canal. In other details it closely resem- bled, if, indeed, it was not a counterpart of, the previous agreement with the United States. At first and for many years, the Russian company reaped large profits in the lucrative fur trade, but after the middle of the century it became involved in financial difficulties, owing to the wasteful methods adopted. No serious attempt seems to have been made to conserve the resources of the vast region under its control, with the inevitable result that the islands and continental coasts, in course of time, were depleted of their fur-bearing animals. Its administration of civil affairs was also severely criticised. The company, therefore, lost favour at Court, and the advisability of continuing the mon- opoly, at least as it then existed, was questioned by the Russian ministry. At this juncture affairs took a new and unexpected turn. In 1866 William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, proposed the purchase of Alaska from the Russians and negotiations with that end in view were opened with St. Petersburg, and in the following year the sale was effected. On the 30th of March, 1867, the treaty of sale was agreed upon; on May 28th it was (5) Lisianski, “Voyage Around the World.” London, 1814. (6) Rush, “Residence at Court of St. Petersburg” Stapleton, Geo. Canning. [17] duly ratified by the United States, and exchanged and proclaimed by the President on June 20th. On the 6th of September, 1867, General Jefferson C. Davis, U. S. A., was appointed commander of the military district of Alaska, and a little later the territory was formally surrendered by the Rus- sian authorities to General Lovell H. Rousseau, U. S. A., who had been ap- pointed by the President to receive it. The outstanding features of the story of Russian America are the voy- ages of Bering and Chirikof ; the adventures of the early Russian fur traders; the constitution of the Russian- American Company; the scientific expeditions of Krusenstern, Lisianski, Kotzebue and others to northwestern America and Bering Sea; Baranof’s able, if ruthless, administration; the Emperor’s ukase of 1821, claiming all territories north of the 51st parallel and the international discussions which it aroused; the Convention of 1824 between the United States and Russia; the Convention of 1825 between Great Britain and Rus- sia; the disputes between the Hudson’s Bay and Russian- American com- panies; the operations of the British and French fleets in the north Pa- cific during the Crimean war; and the cession of the territory to the United States in the year 1867. [ 18 ] LATER SPANISH AND ENGLISH VOYAGES. CHAPTER III. For 160 years Spain neglected the regions north of Southern California. From the death of Vizcaino until the last quarter of the 18th century, though she controlled the sea routes to the northwest, she made no effort towards fur- ther discoveries in that direction. Notwithstanding that, true to its national pride, the government, by virtue of a Papal grant of 1493, resisted the en- croachment of all foreigners, with the exception of the Portuguese, in such territory as has not been designated in that archaic and now chimerical eccle- siastical concession. But had the authority conveyed in the Papal Bull been recognized as valid by other nations, Spain was no longer able to enforce that authority. A long series of fruitless military and naval operations in an at- tempt to dominate Europe and a blind system of social and political economics at home, had played havoc with her resources and greatly weakened her pres- tige and power. Great Britain was in the ascendant; Spain was decadent. Now that Great Britain and France had established such a foothold in North America and were partitioning its territory, they were dangerous prospective rivals on the Pacific, the navigation of which, through a religious tenacity, Spain still regarded as exclusively her right. Then, too, the reported activ- ities of the Russians on the northwest coast were an additional menace to ancient rights. The entire situation in North America had changed in a century and a half, and was still changing, and was consequently disquieting to the Court of Madrid. In a word, Spain woke up to events and made a final effort to assert her sovereignty on the coast. In 1765 she adopted a policy of expansion. The first step was to enquire into the state of affairs in Mexico, with a view to reform. The Jesuits were expelled from the California peninsula, which was declared to be a colony of Mexico and the missions in Lower California were handed over to the Dominicans and in the northern part to the Franciscans, both active and zealous orders. In time a chain of missions extended throughout California, twenty-one in all. Military posts were established and settlements made at San Diego and Monterey. In all, important changes were effected and the determination to retrieve lost ground found expression in the establishment of a marine base at San Bias and in the commissioning of ships to explore in northern waters. The first of the ships in the new order of things to sail to northern waters was the little corvette Santiago , on the 25th of January, 1774, in command of Don Juan Perez, whose instructions were to examine the coast as far north as the 60th degree of latitude and sail directly to that point, thence to explore the coast southward to latitude 36° 30’ ( 1 ) and to take possession of all the islands and coasts discovered in the name of his Catholic Majesty. Perez was accompanied by Estevan Martinez and two Franciscan friars. After a long and stormy voyage the first land sighted was the northwestern seaboard of (1) Fray Juan Crespi, Publications Historical Society of Southern California, Vol. IX, part 1, p. 177. [ 19 ] Queen Charlotte Islands, on the 19th of July. Here the ship was visited by natives in boats — the Haida— in large numbers. Of these one of the Friars in his journal has given a graphic account and many interesting particulars. The Haida were perhaps the most warlike and advanced of all the tribes in- habiting the coast region. To the tribes of the mainland to the south, as far as Puget Sound, their depredatory and slave-hunting expeditions were a con- tinual menace. In their large canoes they swept down the coast, ruthlessly putting to death men, women and children, sparing only those whom they wished to make slaves. They are frequently mentioned in the journals of the fur traders, and their exploits live in the traditions of the weaker tribes whom they harassed so terribly. Many years later they were bold enough to threaten the infant colony of Vancouver Island. The isolated cliff first sighted, Perez named Santa Margarita, “because it was seen yesterday, which was the day of that glorious saint.” Some forty or fifty miles north of this point was situated a promontory covered with trees, which was named Santa Maria Magdalena. Beyond this cape and the sheet of water now known as Dixon’s entrance, the coast, flanked by high land cov- ered with timber, trended east and west as far as it could he seen ( 2 ) . An island nearby was christened Santa Christina, and a snow-capped mountain of some height was called San Cristobae, a name still borne by the range of mountains on Graham Island. At this point, after holding a council of affairs, it was decided to disregard instructions about proceeding to the 60th parallel of latitude and to make the return voyage. This decision was arrived at, on account of the uncertainty about the nature of the coast further north, and the fact that there was only a two and a half months’ supply of water board. Hence it was that the expedition made land under the 54th parallel discover- ing the Queen Charlotte Islands. Leaving Cape Santa Margarita, the San- tiago sailed southward, generally in sight of the coast, but the weather was so boisterous or foggy that only glimpses of it were caught. On the evening of Monday the 18th of August, the Santiago made a landfall in the neighbour- hood of the 49th parallel, according to an observation taken on board. On that beautiful summer evening of nearly a century and a half ago, curious Spanish sailors beheld from the deck of their sea-worn ship, the sombre gran- deur of that pine-clad coast. It seemed that, after a lapse of nearly three centuries, the Spaniard was at last to set his seal upon the northwest coast, and to receive the coveted reward of his belated prowess. By a perversity of fate which seemed to have dogged Spanish footsteps on the Pacific, a storm arose and the first Spanish ship to reach this far west coast was obliged to run from the only anchorage possible in the whole course of her voyage. The landfall of Perez, named by him San Lorenzo in honour of that saint, has been the subject of much discussion. Yet, meagre as are the accounts of the place in the journals of the voyage, it is not difficult to fix upon the anchorage of the Santiago. The American historian, Robert Greenhow, in his brief for the government, on the Oregon Boundary question (for such his history of Oregon and California really was), is in serious error when he asserts that the Spanish commander discovered the sound named a few years later King George’s or Nootka Sound by Captain James Cook. The fact that the writer had access to Perez and Pena’s journal, although apparently not to that of (2) The Spaniards did not ascertain the insular character of the land they had discovered. Crespi, which certainly is quite clear upon the point, only makes his blunt assertion more remarkable (3). Father Crespi speaks of San Lorenzo as a C-shaped roadstead lying between two points of which the southeastern was called San Estevan, in honour of the navigating officer, and that to the north- west Santa Clara, after the saint to whom a novena was then being made in preparation for her feast-day, and for better weather. Neither Pena nor Crespi speak of a harbour, but use instead the word “rada,” the Spanish for “road” or “roadstead” in its maritime sense. If the Santiago had anchored in- side Nootka Sound, she would have found a harbour safe in all weathers, and there would have been no necessity to cut the cable in order to make the offing, no matter from what direction the wind might blow. There is little doubt, then, that the open roadstead where the vessel anchored a league from shore, is the bight or bay of which the southern extremity is marked by the Point Estevan of the Admiralty charts today. The character and scenery of Noot- ka Sound are distinctive, and they could not fail to impress the navigator who beheld the inlet for the first time. Nothing in the journals mentioned can pos- sibly be construed as evidence that Nootka Sound was even seen, much less entered. From the position of the vessel under Point Estevan the entrance to the sound is completely masked by wood-fringed shores. It is certain, then, that in spite of N avarette’s statement to the contrary ( 4 ) , Greenhow’s even more explicit asseveration, and the bold assertion of Flores, the Viceroy of Mexico at the time of the Nootka affair (5), Perez did not enter the historic channel named Nootka by Cook. During the few hours that the Santiago lay in the roadstead at San Lorenzo, she was visited by large numbers of natives who exhibited a keen desire to trade their possessions for Spanish gew-gaws. Perez returned direct to Monterey and reached there on Saturday the 27th of August. Beyond having touched the farthermost point northward in the history of Pacific navigation, and viewing hitherto unknown shores, Juan Perez achieved nothing of note in this voyage. He made another voyage northward in a subordinate capacity and finally perished at sea in 1775, off the coast of California. The Viceroy of Mexico, encouraged by the reports brought by the San- tiago, immediately ordered another expedition to be fitted out, proposing to obtain more exact knowledge of the coasts visited by Perez. The corvette Santiago was again commissioned, this time under Naval Lieutenant Don Bruno Heceta, with whom Juan Perez sailed as quartermaster. Lieutenant Juan Francisco de Bodega y Quadra, whose name came to be inseparably associated with the most important incident of early northwestern history, ac- companied him as commander of the Sonora, with Alferez Antonio Maurelle as quartermaster. The vessels sailed in company from San Bias on the 16th of March, 1775. Proceeding northward, they experienced the same foul weather that had so delayed the expedition of the previous year. They sighted the northwest coast in latitude 48° 26' and here southward for over a degree of latitude carefully searched for the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as alleged to exist by geographers, and satisfied themselves that it did not exist south of 48° N. (3) o. 116. (4) Navarette, Introduction, Sutil y Mexicana, p. 93. See also Estevan Point, Walbran, B. C. Coast names, Ottawa, 1909. (5) Manning, Nootka Sound Controversy. [ 21 ] Here, under Point Grenville, on the 14th of July of the year 1775, Euro- peans first set foot on the northwest coast. Bruno Heceta, the Padre Sierra, the surgeon Davalos and Cristoval Revilla, the second pilot, landed with a few sailors, and, after erecting a cross, with due ceremony took possession of the country in the name of the sovereign King of Spain. While the officers of the Santiago were thus engaged, the crew of the Sonora were in sore straits. A few men in their only boat had been sent ashore in quest of water. Scarcely had they landed, however, when the Indians, to the number of two or three hundred, rushed out of the woods and overwhelmed the small Span- ish force. The tragedy was observed from the deck of the Sonora, but noth- ing could be done to aid the landing party, as the schooner could not get with- in range of the shore. Not a man escaped the murderous savages, and Bodega y Quadra found his crew reduced to five men and a boy in good health, and four sailors too ill to perform their duties. The Indians, after the massacre on shore, attacked the vessel from their canoes, but were repulsed with the loss of six men. Maurelle relates that there were only three on board able to handle a musket — the captain, his servant and himself. Fortunately, the Santiago then arrived upon the scene of action and rescued her consort from an awkward position (6). In commemoration of this sad event, the point was called Punta de Mar- tires — Martyr’s Point; and an island a little to the northward thereof for the same reason was named Isle de Dolores, — Isle of Sorrows. The same island twelve years later was called Destruction Island by Captain Barkley of the Imperial Eagle, because some of his crew were massacred on the mainland opposite ( 7 ) . Heceta was timid and wanted to return to Monterey but Perez, Quadra and Maurelle were in favour of sailing northward and their counsels pre- vailed. Shortly afterwards the vessels separated in a storm and while Quadra persevered northward, Heceta, under cover of favourable opportunity, made homeward. After parting company with the schooner, Heceta made land near the 50th parallel, and from thence sailed southward, passing by the roadstead of San Lorenzo, discovered the previous year by his pilot, or quar- termaster. He did not land, but on his way southward, in a latitude reckoned as 46° 17 , Heceta noticed an opening in the coast from which issued a strong current. He thought that he had discovered the mouth of some great river, or perhaps the strait reported to have been found by Juan de Fuca in 1592. In his journal it is recorded that he bestowed upon the bight thus discovered the name Ensenada de Asuncion, and the points north and south of it he called Cape San Roque and Cape Frondoso, respectively. In the charts of the lo- cality subsequently published in Mexico, however, the opening is called En- senada de Heceta and Rio de San Roque. The journal of the explorer is more or less explicit (8) and his description leaves little room for doubt that he had sighted the mouth of the lordly river called by Jonathan Carver the (6) Maurelle Journal, Barrington’s Miscellanies, London, 1781, pp. 497-9. Oregon and California, p. 119. Bancroft N. W. Coast, Vol. I,p. 161. Navarette, p. 94. Heceta, Viage 1775, MS. Heceta Segunda Exploration de la Costa Septentrional de Calif., 1775. Heceta Diario 1775, MS. Bodega y Quadra viage de 1775, MS. Maurelle Diario del Viage de la Sonora, 1775, MS. (7) Mrs. Barkley’s Journal, 1787. (8) Heceta: Journal, Transcript in Academy of Pacific Coast History, Univ. of Calif. See also Greenhow, pp. 430-433. [ 22 ] “Oregan,” subsequently known to the world as the “Columbia,” so named by Captain Gray after his vessel the Columbia-Rediviva, seventeen years later. In the meantime Bodega y Quadra and Maurelle, in their little vessel, the Sonora (she was but thirty-six feet long, twelve wide and eight deep (9) made a desperate attempt to reach the 65th parallel, an effort as heroic as it was fool-hardy in such an unseaworthy and ill-equipped craft. They sailed northwestward for several days without sighting land, until they unexpectedly beheld the beautiful snow-crowned mountain of San Jacinto, so named in honour of St. Hyacinth, on whose day it was discovered. Somewhat further on, the ports of Remedios and Guadelupe were visited and so named. The San Jacinto of Spaniards is unquestionably the Mount Edgecomb of Captain Cook; whilst Port Remedios is probably the Bay of Islands of the English navigator, and Port Guadelupe the Norfolk Sound of today. Here the So- nora was visited by natives who were strongly insistent on territorial rights and, until frightened away by a show of muskets, determined to resist a landing for wood and water unless these commodities were paid for. After the ship had left, they took up and destroyed the cross planted by Quadra as an outward and visible sign of Spanish authority. While still many degrees from the destination of their instructions, 65° north — to attempt to reach which, with their indifferent craft, would have been foolhardiness — it was decided to sail for San Bias, satisfied with having gained a latitude never before reached. On their homeward voyage they searched diligently for the fabled strait of the famous romancer Admiral de Fonta, but found it not, coming to the conclu- sion that it did not exist, though in the numerous openings of the coast which were unnoticed there were still many and wide possibilities of their having been mistaken. The Sonora homeward bound discovered Bucareli Sound, a name which has remained on the map from that day to this. It is situated on the west side of the largest island of the Prince of Wales Archipelago, so named by Vancouver. Here again the Spaniards landed and took possession of the country with due formality. From Port Bucareli, Quadra sailed south- ward across Dixon’s entrance, to which he gave the name of Entrada de Perez, and sighted Cape Santa Margarita (Cape North). San Bias was reached on the 20th of November, 1775, after an absence of eight months. The crews of both the Santiago and Sonora suffered frightfully from scurvy, the bane of northwest navigation in those days. Before the Spanish flag again appeared in the north Pacific, the celebrated navigator, Captain James Cook, had discovered and charted Nootka Sound. The third and last expedition in this period of renewed activity on the part of the Spaniards quitted San Bias under the command of Captain Ig- nacio Arteaga, who sailed in the Princessa, accompanied by Bodega y Quadra in the Favorita, with the faithful Maurelle as second officer. Arteaga sailed on the 7th of February, 1779, and after a voyage of four months made Port Bucareli, where he remained for several weeks surveying the bay, trading with the natives, and refitting his vessels. Leaving that harbour, Arteaga and Quadra made the highest point yet reached by the Spaniards, sighting the magnificent Mount St. Elias, so named by Vitus Bering in 1741. While searching for a passage landing into the Arctic Sea, they entered a large bay, which they called Isla de la Magdalena, containing many islands. Port San- (9) Maurelle: Journal, Barrington’s Miscellanies, p. 473. [28] tiago was also discovered and named. At this point, as their provisions were failing and the men suffering from scurvy, it was decided to return to Mexico. Thus, the three later Spanish expeditions, conceived in a spirit of enterprise and optimism and designed for great purpose from the point of view of re- sults, were practically barren. Their commanders could say, and it has been a matter of pride with the Spaniards ever since, that they had reached a high altitude, and were the first to point the way, but their efforts and discoveries added little to the knowledge of geography or the enlightenment of the world. The Spanish sailors were lacking neither in courage nor love of ad- venture; but they had many handicaps. Their government was niggardly in allowance and inspired rather by a desire to establish territorial rights through pretentious display than by results of a substantial, enduring nature. Their vessels were small, poorly constructed and miserably outfitted and equipped as compared with British vessels. Consonantly with the spirit of the times, the meanest possible provision was made for the health and comfort of the mem- bers of the crew upon whom depended the real success of any voyage. Al- though the common sailor has had hut little consideration at any time, in any service, Captains Cook and Vancouver, for instance, took the most minute precautions against the appearance of scurvy and were thus enabled to under- take unusually protracted voyages and prosecute laborious surveys impossible in the case of the Spaniards and Russians, who paid less attention to the wel- fare of their men than they would have done in the case of ordinary beasts of burden. To one fact alone may be ascribed in a large measure the ultimate failure of the Spanish nation in America, the absence of a humanized policy — the non-recognition of individual rights and feelings. The history of Spanish expeditions in the Pacific is one long record of fortitude in the face of ad- versity, the latter the legitimate fruit of sins which find out nations as well as individuals. In 1779 war broke out between Great Britain and Spain, and for the time being the latter country was forced to abandon her enterprises in the north Pacific. When she was again ready to pursue an active policy, it was found that Captain Cook, and the fur traders who had followed him, had done much to make known the true configuration of the northwest coast, al- though the gaps were not closed, nor the continental shore line fully examined, until Captain George Vancouver’s painstaking and accurate survey of 1792-4. [ 24 ] LATER SPANISH AND ENGLISH NAVIGATORS. ( Continued. ) CHAPTER IV. In 1780 all that was known of the northwest coast was contained in the meagre and unsatisfactory reports of the Spaniards, Perez, Martinez, Heceta, Bodega y Quadra and Maurelle. From that time, however, events moved with greater rapidity. A new force was to be directed to the far northwest coast; and novel and discordant elements were to enter into the discussion concern- ing it. Unknown though it then was, with limits still undefined, the Pacific slope was destined within a few years to come within the purview of European diplomacy, and to be a conspicuous feature in the zone of international poli- tics. Although British ships had carried the flag to the uttermost parts of the earth, no British keel had ploughed the waters of the north Pacific. Now English activities in this quarter were to surpass the achievements of all fore- runners. Of the names associated with that revival of maritime enterprise, that of Captain James Cook, R. N., stands foremost. Upon the conclusion of his second great Australian expedition, he was entrusted with another mis- sion of equal, if not greater importance. The Northwest Passage having again become the subject of animated discussion amongst geographers and men of science, it was agreed by the Admiralty that a scientific and exploring expedition, under the auspices of the British Crown, should be despatched to the northwest coast of America for the purpose of establishing at once and forever the truth or falsity of the accounts regarding the existence of a navi- gable waterway connecting the two great oceans in that region. The objects sought after were so important and the operations involved so new and ex- tensive, that only the greatest navigator of the age, it was thought, could bring them to a successful conclusion. Happily this great work devolved upon Captain Cook, who did not hesitate to respond to the call of duty, cheerfully resigning his position in command of the Greenwich hospital to accept the offer. Heretofore, British navigators had pursued their quest for the North- west Passage along the Atlantic coasts. Now, the plan was to be reversed and it was to be undertaken on the Pacific side of the continent. Cook’s instructions from the Admiralty were most elaborate, specific and even exacting in their nature, the details of which need not enter into our sub- ject. The important sphere of his operations was defined as between the 45th and 65th degrees of north latitude, and he was enjoined not to touch upon any part of the Spanish dominions on the Pacific except by stress of weather or unavoidable accident and in no case was he to give umbrage to the sub- jects of His Catholic Majesty. He was to proceed direct to the 65th degree of latitude; he was to explore “such rivers or inlets as may appear to be of considerable extent and pointing towards Hudson’s and Baffin’s bays,” and, in case of such rivers or inlets, he was to use his utmost endeavour to pass through them. In the contrary event, he was to proceed to Kamchatka and [25] in the spring of 1778 to cruise northward in further search of a Northeast or Northwest passage from the Pacific Ocean into the Atlantic Ocean or North Sea,” making an effort, as before, to sail through it, or in case of failure to make “the best of your way back to England.” His instructions were the most minute as to obtaining information of a varied mineralogical, botanical, ethnographical and cartographical character. He was to give pres- ents to the natives and to take possession of all uninhabited countries in the name of His Majesty. In earnest of the Government’s desire to solve the problem of the Northwest Passage, the Act of Parliament of 1745, offering a reward of £20,000 for its discovery, was extended to ships of the Royal Navy as well as to vessels of the mercantile marine. No expense was spared in fitting out the two vessels of the expedition, the Resolution and the Dis- covery, commanded respectively by Captains Cook and Clerke, and four months were occupied in preparations. Cook was a strict disciplinarian but he was also most painstaking and conscientious in the provision he made for the health and comfort of his crews and we are informed in a recent account of his life and voyages that his precautions in regard to scurvy were so com- plete and effectual that he was successful in being practically exempt from that scourge of navigation in northern seas. Coincident with the departure on this voyage of discovery was the embarkation of ships and troops to quell the American revolution. En route to New Albion, Drake’s name for the west coast of North America, being a general and indefinite designation after- wards employed by geographers, the ships visited Kerguelen’s Land, Van Diemen’s Land, New Zealand and the Society Islands. This was late in 1777 and early in the following year Cook discovered the Hawaiian or Sand- wich Islands. Before sailing from the latter, Cook gave most particular in- structions to Clerke, captain of his escort, as to his course in case the vessels became separated, with the view of giving effect as far as possible to the wishes of the Admiralty. Land was first sighted on March 7th in latitude 44° 88'. A flat-topped hill, which on account of the storms experienced, was named Cape Foulweather. From that point the Resolution and Discovery sailed slowly up the coast, the vessels experiencing the unsettled climatic conditions common to that region. In this, the British expedition was not more fortunate than had been the Spanish vessels under Perez and Heceta. In the circumstances, it was not possible always to sail close to land; nevertheless, it was rarely out of sight and generally more or less clearly seen. The coast appeared almost straight, without any opening or inlet. The northern and southern extremes of the land formed distinct points and were named, respectively, Cape Perpetua and Cape Gregory, the former being in latitude 44° 6' and the latter in 43° 30'. Cook was driven back from here several degrees by severe gales, but again sighted land in latitude 47° o. Sailing northward, by a perverse fate, al- though he had visions of an opening, he missed the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and by reason of his disappointment he “called the point of land to the north of it Cape Flattery,” a landmark familiar by that name to this day. In this vicinity he searched for the strait, said to have been dis- covered in 1592 by the old Greek pilot, but failed. It was peculiarly unfor- tunate that at this time the Resolution and Discovery were obliged to seek an offing in the thick of a gale which threatened to drive them ashore. He [26] was hot upon a most important discovery, or rediscovery, which he missed making by a few miles. His immediate and subsequent reflections, as recorded, were not flattering to the apocrypha of such worthies as Martin d’Aguilar, Juan de Fuca, and Admiral de Fonte. On March 29th, the rugged, snow- covered hills of Vancouver Island hove in sight between the 49th and 50th parallels. The valleys and the coast were covered with tall straight trees “that formed a beautiful prospect as of one vast forest.” Point Breakers and Woody Point, now known as Cape Cook and Point Estevan, were named. The ships found a safe haven in Resolution Cove, Hope Bay, Nootka Sound, where they were moored, head and stern, the hawsers being fastened to the trees on shore. The ships were visited in large numbers by the natives in their canoes, and during the four weeks that Captain Cook stayed at Nootka (1), as appears from his journals, much that was new to the world and in- tensely interesting was acquired in the Avay of information respecting the aborigines. The latter were peaceably inclined, giving no sign of hostile in- tentions, although they proved themselves to be expert and most persistent thieves. They traded readily, but showed great preference for iron and im- plements of iron and were evidently well acquainted with the uses of that metal. They were suspected of being cannibals from the number of human skulls and hands not quite stripped of flesh exhibited, some of them bearing marks of fire; but it is now well known that the cannibalism of the west coast tribes was purely ceremonial and that the practice was not general as in other parts. Their knowledge of the use of iron and the large amount they already had in their possession, have given rise to a good deal of discussion, favourable on one side to the view that the Spaniards first visited Nootka; but Captain Cook concluded himself that this had not been the case as has been stated in a previous chapter. All the historical evidence is also opposed to that contention. There were various sources from which the Indians at Nootka could have obtained articles of iron before Captain Cook’s visit, by means of inter-tribal trade — Mexico, northwest fur companies and Russian America. It is noteworthy that Nootka in 1778 was the scene of the first industrial operations on the west coast of North America. Cook’s men set up a blacksmith’s forge, brewed spruce beer and made new masts and spars for his ships. During their stay in the sound, too, the crew obtained in bar- ter many furs, a fact, apparently of no significance; yet, as it will afterwards appear, a matter which had a most important bearing on the subsequent his- tory of the northwest coast. From the skins in the possession of the natives it was evident that bears, deer, wolves, foxes, martins, ermine, raccoons and squirrels were numerous, and that marine animals, more particularly seals and sea-otters, abounded on the coast. The ceremonial dress of the people was (1) Captain Cook at first named the inlet "King George’s Sound,” but later he changed the name to “Nootka,” for he considered that to be the name by which the place was known to the natives. It was evidently bestowed under a misapprehension. Two or three theories have been advanced to account for Cook’s mistake, but perhaps the most reasonable is that of the Reverend A. J. Brabant, for many years a resident of Hesquiot. “The word ‘Nootka,’ ” he says, “is the frequentation of ‘nootk-sitl,’ to go around; make a circuit — ‘Nootka-a’ would be a form of the imperative — (accent on the last ‘a’ being slight). ‘Nootka-minish’ we have been around. ‘Nootka-aktl-nish’ we are about to go around. Some form of the word ‘nootka’ may be applied to the making of a circuit of the globe, or of an island small or large, etc., only the affix varies according to time, person or place.” It has been conjectured that Cook, after a reconnaissance of the sound may have asked an Indian what the place was called in his native tongue. The Indian probably misunderstood him, but remembering that the white man had sailed around the small island, may possibly have used in reply some form of the derivative “Notk,” thus leaving the im- pression in Cook’s mind that such was the native name of the place. The explanation is not altogether satisfactory; but be that as it may, from that day to this the name Nootka Sound has appeared on the charts of all nations. [ 27 ] generally made of the rich fur of the sea-otter, so coveted by the wealthy Chinese. Everything at last being in readiness, on the morning of Sunday the 26th of April, the ships sailed from the port and proceeded on their northern voyage. It is not necessary to follow further the movements of the vessels, as they did not again touch at any point on the coast that now forms the western seaboard of Canada. Let it suffice that after a careful examina- tion of the shores of Bering Sea, Bering Strait and northwestern Alaska, in the course of which a vast amount of useful information was acquired, the vessels sailed for the Sandwich Islands to spend the winter of 1778-9. Here the humane and noble James Cook perished at the hands of the natives, while attempting to stop an affray between them and his sailors. So passed the man who had made known to the world the great islands of the Pacific. Of the men who sailed with Cook upon his second and third voyages, several afterwards became more or less closely identified with the affairs of the northwest coast. Vancouver, Roberts, Colnett and Hergest, midshipmen; Portlock, a master’s mate; Dixon, an armourer, and John Ledyard, a remark- able but eccentric American, all sailed with Cook. Upon the death of Captain Cook, Captain Clerke succeeded to the com- mand of the expedition. After wintering in the Hawaiian Islands, he pro- ceeded to explore the northwestern and Arctic coasts of America. He died during the summer, was buried at Petropaulovski, and was succeeded by Cap- tain Gore. The latter returned, via China, to England, arriving there in Oc- tober, 1780, the two ships Resolution and Discovery having never, practically, lost sight of each other during the expedition. An incident of the return voy- age was the sale of furs at Macao to Chinamen by members of the crew, who, almost at the risk of mutiny, were deterred from returning and prosecuting trade with the natives, and serious suggestions were made by Captain Gore for its promotion on a large scale, by means of the East India Company. Upon the return of the ships to England, although men and officers had been enjoined to secrecy, knowledge of the lucrative character of the trade leaked out and the northwest coast soon became the Mecca for adventurers from all parts of the globe. It was not, however, until the publication of Cook’s jour- nals, four years later, that general attention was called to the opportunities afforded in this new Eldorado of furs. Captain James Hanna, in a brig of sixty tons, was the first. He arrived at Nootka in August, 1785, and after being attacked by the natives who were repulsed with great loss, he w r as suc- cessful in his venture and sold $26,000 worth of furs in Canton as the result of the enterprise. His second venture, in the Sea Otter , was not so success- ful. In the meantime Captains Lowrie and Guise, in command of the Cap- tain Cook and the Experiment, despatched from Bengal under the flag of the East India Company, had sailed for Nootka which was reached in June, 1786. Sailing northward they explored Queen Charlotte Sound, and, en route, sighting the Princess Royal Islands, reached Cape North in the last days of August. While off Queen Charlotte Islands, they passed two ships com- manded by La Perouse, the French explorer. Then followed various expeditions, Captain Nathaniel Portlock, in the King George, and Captain George Dixon, in the Queen Charlotte, sailed in company from the Downs in September, 1785, and arrived at Cook’s River in July of the following year. Portlock had sailed with Cook on his last voy- [28] age as a master’s mate, and Dixon was the armourer of the Discovery. These vessels spent three years — 1786 to 1788, inclusive — in trading up and down the coast, and, following the usual custom of the pioneer navigators, wintered in Hawaii. In a very few years the fur traders had penetrated all the inlets and sounds on the coast and had named many of them, names, as a rule, sub- sequently recognized by Captain Vancouver and retained by geographers. This relatively brief era of fur- trading, thus opened, was replete with its peculiar interest and incident and was not without its rivalry among traders, rivalry that was keenly bitter at times. It was also productive of impor- tant discoveries. Captain William Barkley, in the Imperial Eagle, a British ship under Austrian colors, arrived at Nootka in June, 1787, and sailing southward — visiting Clayoquot and Barkley Sound, which he named — he reached an opening extending to the eastward. This he recognized as the long lost Strait of Juan de Fuca, “to which,” in the language of Mrs. Bark- ley’s diary, “he gave the name of the original discoverer,” her husband plac- ing it on the chart. He made no attempt to expore the strait, but proceeded to latitude 40° 43', where, not far from Destruction Island, in attempting to trade with the Indians, six of his men were killed. He subsequently de- parted for China. Mrs. Barkley, his young wife, accompanied him and was the first white woman to visit the northwest coast. Captain John Meares, whose exploits on the coast were destined to make him memorable, subse- quently claimed the honour of discovering and naming the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but his claim, as must appear, was not tenable and was more or less in keeping with a reputation he acquired by his writings for unreliability, when misrepresentations or exaggerations suited his purpose. His expeditions had far-reaching results and seriously compromised the status of the Spaniards in the north Pacific. He was the first European to purchase land on the north- west coast (2) and it was he who built the first ship in that quarter. His Cape Disappointment stands as a monument to his non-belief in the existence of the Columbia River. His narrative is the best written and most interest- ing bequeathed to us by pioneer navigators. Even though, as stated, it is to be taken cum grano salis in parts, he relates his story with a certain charm and naivete. His first expedition was in 1786, in command of the Nootka and Sea Otter. He sailed from Calcutta and made Prince William’s Sound and wintered in Snug Corner Cove, where his men suffered severely from ex- posure and scurvy and where his wants were partially relieved by Captain Dixon, who, in the Queen Charlotte had come from the south. The con- junction of these two navigators was noteworthy from the fact that, as the result of an estrangement, they became embroiled in a bitter discussion, now historic, in which they broad-sided each other with pamphlets, bristling with personalities and defamatory statements. This expedition was not particu- larly successful and Meares sailed for China by way of Hawaiian Islands. Meares, a man of dogged perseverance and great energy, was not discouraged and essayed another enterprise. He purchased and outfitted, in January, 1788, the Felice and Iphigenia, two seaworthy vessels, and manned them with Europeans and Chinamen, the latter, fifty in number, being the forerunners of our Chinese immigration. Meares commanded the Iphigenia and Captain Douglas the Felice. The expedition was planned for an enterprise of more (2) Howay: Straits of Fuca. Quarterly Oregon Historical Society, March 1911, p. 10. [29] than ordinary moment, and, as a matter of fact, had a result vastly more im- portant than the promoter anticipated. Three months and twenty-three days from China, May 13th, 1788, found them anchored once more in Friendly Cove, Nootka. They were welcomed by the Indians, among whom the famous chiefs Maquinna and Callicum were conspicuous. Comekela, the Nootkan, who had been taken to China on the previous expedition, was restored to his people, resplendent in scar- let regimental coat, brass buttons and a military hat set off with a flaunting cockade. Captain Meares lost no time in carrying out his plans. He ob- tained from Maquinna a plot of ground, for the price of a pair of horse pistols, and upon it built a two-story establishment, which was protected by breastwork and a cannon— not a thing of architectural beauty, but “of un- common magnificence to the natives of King George’s Sound.” Here, too, was laid the keel of the first vessel built in northwestern waters, the North- west America, a sloop of 50 tons burden. It was constructed from mate- rial brought from China and in greater part by Chinese carpenters. It was completed with much diligence and on the 20th of August, 1788, was launched in the presence of Captains Meares and Douglas and Captain Gray, in com- mand of the Boston ship Columbia. The occasion was one of much festivity, and the event one of significance and note in western annals. In the mean- time trade had been carried on with the Indians north and south; Meares in the Felice went south and established friendly relations with the celebrated Wicaninish, chief of the Clayoquots, and traded. He named Clayoquot Port Cox, but the ancient appellation has never been displaced. On this southerly cruise, Meares sighted the entrance of Strait Juan de Fuca and as we have seen, attempted to appropriate the honour of discovery rightfully belonging to Captain Barkley. He did not explore the strait, but after going as far south as Cape Lookout, returned, crossing its entrance and passed on northerly, naming Cape Beale and anchoring in Barkley Sound. Here he sent his first officer, Robert Duffin, in a longboat to explore the straits. The latter re- turned after advancing a considerable way up the straits — some 30 leagues, Meares records — and reported a stubborn fight with the natives. Meares cher- ished hopes that the extremity of this strait “could not be any great distance from Hudson’s Bay.” He now returned to Nootka Sound to note the course of events there, again leaving it to continue his trading operations. Soon after this he spoke to Captain Duncan in the Princess Royal, a little vessel of 15 tons, in which the intrepid commander had weathered the storm and the entire extent of the Pacific. In the meantime, too, Captain Douglas in the Iphigenia had gone north to trace the coast from Cook's River to Nootka Sound. Re- turning, the two commanders had taken part in the launching of the Northwest America. Shortly after, Meares with all the furs obtained, as cargo, sailed for Macao, which he reached on December 5th. On the 27th of October the Iphi- genia and Northwest America repaired to the Sandwich Islands to winter. This ended the eventful operations of 1788, the net commercial result of which had been successful, laying the foundation for a larger and better equipped ex- pedition the following year. It was planned to send out two more vessels to join the Iphigenia and the Northwest America in the spring, and to this end Meares in China energetically set to work. A Mr. Etches of a London firm became interested in the commercial association of which Meares was acting director, and the Princess Royal , Captain Hudson, and the Argonaut , Captain Colnett, were fitted out by the joint proprietors. It will have been noted that Captain Gray, commander of the American ship Columbia , was present at the launching of the Northwest America, and the fact is of some moment, for at this particular time a new force was being injected into the commercial exploitation of the northwest Pacific and an- other factor of international significance commanded attention. A number of enterprising Bostonians in 1787 associated themselves to take advantage of the rich harvest in furs then being reaped, and the sloop Washington, 90 tons, commanded by Gray, and the ship Columbia, 300 tons, commanded by Captain John Kendrick, were fitted out and sailed in September, 1787, for the Far West, the occasion being deemed so noteworthy that a medal was struck to commemorate it. The Washington reached Nootka Sound on Sep- tember 17th, 1788, and the Columbia later. The two vessels wintered at Nootka. In the spring and following summer the Washington explored the adjacent waters, while the Columbia remained in port. In the autumn, the commanders exchanged ships, the Columbia going to China with the furs collected by both vessels. Colnett sold his furs and shipped a cargo of tea for Boston, where he arrived in August, 1790, being the first American to circumnavigate the world. While Gray was on his way to China, Captain Kendrick traded and engaged in various speculations; one of which was the transportation to China of sandal-wood from the Sandwich Islands. But perhaps the most interesting venture that the American captain embarked upon was his purchase in the summer of 1791 from Maquinna, Wicaninish and other Indian chiefs of large tracts of land, of which he obtained duly certified grants from the aboriginal owners. Upon his return to civilization he endeavoured to dispose of his land in London, but without avail. His heirs, many years afterwards, applied to the Government of the United States for a confirmation of the title, but without success. A very extraordinary story was concocted about Kendrick’s exploits, namely, that after Gray’s depart- ure he had entered and penetrated the labyrinth of channels behind Nootka, emerging far to the northward. In justice to Kendrick, he did not at any time make such pretensions. The honour was thrust upon him by the not over veracious chronicler Meares for purposes of his own in connection with his claim for damages on account of the seizure of his ships by the Span- iards; but Meares’ account was seized upon by American writers and his- torians to prove that Kendrick first circumnavigated Vancouver Island. There is no other contemporary evidence in support of the claim, and Meares, in his memorial on the Nootka Affair simply wished to establish that if his ships had not been seized he could have shared in the profits of undertakings attributed to Kendrick. The cargo of Chinese merchandise brought by the Columbia to Boston did not meet the expenses of the voyage, but the owners determined to per- severe and refitted the ship for a second voyage. The captain arrived at Clayoquot on the 5th of June, 1791, and in the following spring cruised outward along the coast to prove the existence of a large river which he surmised entered the sea about latitude 46°, and on the 11th of May proved his theory correct. He crossed the bar of a river, which he named the Co- lumbia after his ship, and anchored ten miles above. There he remained [81] for a few days, trading with the natives and filling his water casks. Cap- tain Gray then returned to Nootka and communicated his discoveries to the Spanish commandant, Bodega y Quadra. In September he sailed for China and thence to Boston. The voyages of Gray and Kendrick were not com- mercially profitable, but to the United States they were highly important, and, as will be seen later on, were put forward as valuable links in the chain of evidence upon which that country founded its claim to the Oregon terri- tory. Gray’s circumnavigation and exploration of Queen Charlotte Islands, which he accomplished as well, though interesting in themselves, do not rank in importance with his discovery of the Columbia River, the mouth of which had escaped the vigilant eyes of all previous navigators. From many points of view, the voyage of Joseph Ingraham in the brigantine Hope , 70 tons, from Boston, September 16th, 1790, is the most interesting of all the Amer- ican expeditions. The vessel made the Queen Charlotte Islands under the 52nd parallel of north latitude and entered and anchored in Magee’s sound, named after James Magee of Boston, one of the Hope’s owners. Despite the fact that the expedition was purely commercial and not exploratory, Ingra- ham’s manuscript journal is a treasure house of information respecting his landfall and coast points visited and his charts exhibit great care, especially under circumstances which precluded diligent application to surveying and sounding. In Craft Cove, Magee Sound, Independence day was celebrated with a grand feast, the piece de resistance of which was a hog weighing 70 pounds, roasted whole. Port Ingraham was named after Captain Ingraham, and is remarkable for a rock of considerable size, nearby, accessible on one side only and then secured by palisades. It was a place of defence, or fort, to which neighbouring tribes hurried when attacked by their enemies. Later, the Hope fell in with the Columbia and the crews of each greeted the other with cheers. Meanwhile, the interest of the Spaniards in northwestern America had been awakened. In 1788 an expedition sailed from San Bias in command of Estevan Martinez, the pilot who had been with Juan Perez in 1774. Ru- mours having reached the Court of Madrid that the Russians had designs upon the coast, he was instructed to ascertain the extent of the Russian operations in that quarter. Martinez, after a long and boisterous voyage, reached Alaska, where he met an officer of the Russian- American Company, who stated — so at least Martinez reported — that it was the intention of his com- pany to establish a post in the following year at Nootka Sound, to extend Russian influence to the southward. The Spaniard could not speak Russian, and the Russian could not speak Spanish, and therefore Martinez may have misinterpreted the statements made to him on that occasion. Be this as it may, he returned to San Bias and reported to Flores, the Viceroy of Mex- ico, that the Russians were to occupy Nootka the following year, and re- marked that in order that this movement might be checkmated he himself should be instructed to build a fort on the sound immediately. It was this report that led to the Nootka Affair and the disastrous consequences to Spain of that controversy with Great Britain. [ 32 ] THE NOOTKA AFFAIR. CHAPTER V. The episode, or series of episodes, in Pacific Coast history known as the Nootka Affair, might, in all the amplification of its detail, including what led up to it and what came legitimately after it, with good reason be discussed in a volume exclusively devoted to that object. An admirable rule of constructing legal documents is either to include in detail everything the agreement is intended to cover, or otherwise to use such general terms as will involve all things essential to it. Within the limits of a single chapter one could not hope to follow the ramifications of the subject in an intelligi- ble fashion, and, therefore, the question must be reviewed in a very brief manner, having reference to essential facts only. The Nootka Affair, com- ing as it did in a season in which Great Britain enjoyed peace with the world, created a great stir in home circles, as well as, too, in the international political world. The hitherto unknown Nootka — unknown even to the natives in the sense in which it was applied to their tribal habitation — for months passed familiarly from lip to lip in the chancellories of Europe, and doubt- less there was much anxious searching of gazetteers and maps to discover pre- cisely the whereabouts of the locality it designated. In Great Britain the ex- citement was intense, and in London the playwrights out of fruitful imagina- tion modelled a thrilling tragedy, and actors added it to their repertoire. After the return of Cook’s ships to England, and especially after the publi- cation of the journals of his last voyage to the Pacific, the northwest coast, among the mariners of all nations, was invested with a halo of commer- cial and adventurous romance, and in the courts of the world became the object of political concern. The immediate cause of all the flutter was the seizure by the Spaniards of four British ships at Nootka — at least two were British, while nominally Portuguese and flying the Portuguese flag, were British owned — and the Meares trading establishment. It presaged war and the bewilderment of the people may well be imagined when on the morning of May 5th, 1790, they awoke to find that in the darkness of the night men had been pressed in every British port for immediate service. In those days intelligence lagged, on its wings to the people, far behind official despatches and not even rumour had disturbed the public mind when this news burst upon it. Readers are familiar with the voyages and trading expeditions up to this point and among the leading pioneers the northwest coast was familiar as a fur-trading area and as a possible and enviable field for territorial ag- grandizement. In 1788 no less than three expeditions had been planned for the occupation of Nootka Sound. Estevan Martinez, as related, had heard from the Russians, in his expedition of 1788, that it was their intention to build a fort at Nootka in the following year; at the same time a British company, under the notorious John Meares, was making preparations with the same object in view. The Viceroy of Mexico, learning of the Russian [ 33 ] project, decided to forestall Muscovite ambition by despatching without de- lay an armament to take possession of and to occupy the port of Nootka. While the Spaniard had some knowledge of the intentions of the Russian, he knew nothing of the British enterprise; the British company on the other hand was completely ignorant of the designs of either. We have already noted the progress of Meares’ enterprises to the time he affiliated with Mr. Etches for the purpose of enlarged operations. An important consideration in dealing with the events which led to the rupture between Great Britain and Spain — the Nootka Affair — was, so to speak, the nationally dual aspect of Meares’ trading expeditions and the double instructions issued to the commanders of the vessels. According to the directions issued to Meares and by him to Douglas, the ships were purely British in character; Daniel Beale of Canton being the ostensible agent; but another captain and another set of instructions were carried, by which the expedition might become purely Por- tuguese to all outward appearance. Thus the vessels, chameleon-like, could assume the colours and nationality that might suit the circumstances. In the papers directed to Captain Viana, the real commanders appear as super-car- goes. It was later claimed by Meares in his celebrated memorial to the British Government that it was hoped by such means “to evade the excessive high port charges demanded by the Chinese from all other European nations excepting the Portuguese.” Dixon, however, remarks in one of his pam- phlets that the chief object in using Portuguese colours was to evade the South Sea Company’s license. Whatever the cause, the fact remains that the expedition sailed the high seas with two sets of instructions and two commanders, a circumstance in itself calculated to arouse suspicion. It was this that led to the trouble in the first place. One has to know the conditions which governed trading in the Pacific to understand fully the subterfuges adopted. As the result of final arrangements, a joint stock company was formed. Captain Colnett was placed in command of the new expedition con- sisting of two ships, the Princess Royal and the Argonaut , and given full control of all concerns of the company. He was instructed to deal fairly with the natives of the northwest coast, and, if possible, to conclude treaties with them. The establishment was to be called Fort Pitt, and Captain Duffin, already introduced to notice, was to be placed in command of the post. Provisioned for three years, the two ships set sail in April, 1789, to join the lying enia and Northwest America at Nootka, all concerned being filled with great expectations as to the future of the enterprise. Coincidentally, however, with the preparations here immediately referred to, another expedition, whose plans for survey had been carefully laid, was being fitted out at San Bias, Mexico, also for the occupation of Nootka. This was the outcome of a sug- gestion originally made by Estevan Jose Martinez in a report to Flores, Viceroy of New Spain, who advised the Spanish Government of his intention to put into effect, which he proceeded to do without royal mandate. It is a fact of some significance that, speaking on the authority of Professor Man- ning, the Viceroy apprehended more danger to Spanish dominion from the United States than from either Great Britain or Russia; and it would appear that the extraordinary action of occupying Nootka, with a view to the in- vestment of the entire coast southward was really as much to forestall Ameri- cans in an inevitable destiny westward to the Pacific Ocean, as to check the colonizing efforts in that direction, of the other two powers. Flores’ instruc- tions to Martinez were quite explicit and comprehensive. He was to “cap- ture the good will of the natives” and to spread the gospel; he was to assert prudently but firmly the sovereign rights of Spain in the northwest waters and, if foreigners were to attempt to use force, he was to repel it to the extent in which they employed it; he was to exercise a nice discrimination as among Russians, Americans and English — holding out the olive branch of peace and co-operation to Russians, exercising prudent and tactful treatment of Ameri- cans, and assuming an attitude of “we were here before you,” to the British; the coast from San Francisco to Nootka and from Nootka to Prince Wil- liam’s Sound and beyond was to be explored and surveyed. The validity of the claims of the respective nations interested it is not necessary to discuss. No one of them had by any series of acts recognized in international law attained to rights of exclusive sovereignty. In respect to the territory more particularly the object of acquisition, British subjects had certainly been the most active and successful in exploiting and British navi- gators had done by far the most to explore and make it known to the world. In pursuance of the Spanish policy the Princessa and San Carlos sailed from San Bias on February 17th, 1789, in command of Martinez. This expe- dition was to plant the Spanish flag on the northwest coast and to explore northward and southward. And, extraordinary as it may sound, the naval armament was to be reinforced later by a land expedition, consisting of a detachment of troops, missionaries, colonists and live stock (1). On May 5th, 1789, the San Carlos with Martinez on board anchored at Friendly Cove. He found the Iphigenia there, in command of a Portuguese and flying the Portuguese flag, having arrived from the Sandwich Islands ten days be- fore, and the American ship Columbia , Captain Kendrick in command. Four days later the little Northwest America sailed into port. At first the rela- tions between Captain Douglas (nominally super-cargo of the Iphigenia but really the commander) and the Spanish commandant, Martinez, were friend- ly, but naturally the dual character of the ship’s instructions excited the latter’s suspicion. It was, however, the nature of the instructions to Douglas and his Portuguese associate Viana — assuming an authority over Russian, Spanish and English vessels, not unlike to his own from the Viceroy (2) — that aroused Martinez to action, and, after much discussion, that caused him to arrest the two men and seize their vessel. Captains Gray and Kendrick were present in their ships and witnessed the occurrence. They said that the capture was due to a misinterpretation of a clause in the prisoner’s instruction (3). Later, Martinez relented or repented, of haste, and released the British ship, which partially refitted and sailed ostensibly for China, but really northward on a (1) Hanning: Nootka Sound Controversy, p. 303. (2) “In case of your meeting on your voyage with any Russian, Spanish or English vessels,” so ran the obnoxious provision, “you will treat them with the greatest possible friendship and permit them (if they demand it) to examine your papers that they may see the object of your voyage, taking care at the same time to avoid surprise, if they should attempt to divert you from your voyage. In such case you will resist force by force and protest against such violent and illegal proceedings before a tribunal at the first port in which you arrive, giving also an estimate of the value of the ships and cargoes. You will send to us at Macao a copy of said protest, with a narrative of all that shall have occurred, and another such to Francisco Josef Bandieras and Geronimo Ribeiro Nores, our correspondents at Lisbon, and likewise to the Portuguese Ambassador, at the Court of the nation of the aggressor, in order that our Sovereign may demand satisfaction. If, perchance, in such conflict you should have the superiority, you will take possession of the vessel and its cargo, conducting them, with the officers, to Macao, in order that they may be condemned as legal prize and the officers and crew punished as pirates.” (3) Letter of Gray and Ingraham to Quadra, Nootka Sound. Oct. 3rd, 1792, in appendix to Greenhow, Oregon and California. [ 35 ] trading venture. Had Martinez allowed the matter to rest here there would have been no “Nootka Affair,” but the Northwest America , which had been on a trading cruise, returned and, for reasons that are not quite clear, was prompt- ly seized. She was rechristened the Gertrudis and fitted out as a Spanish trader, and the articles found on board sold in barter by the Spanish. In the case of both the Iphigenia and the Northwest America there were grievous complaints made by the English of inhuman treatment, looting, etc., which, on the other hand, were denied. The Spaniards erected at Nootka a fort, a workshop, a bakery and a lodging house (4), and on June 24th, the ceremony of formal possession took place. The proclamation read recited the claims of Spain based on the discovery of Nootka in 1774, and the Bull of Pope Alex- ander VI of May 4th, 1493. Martinez, who accompanied the expedition of 1774 as pilot, must have known that the Santiago did not anchor within some miles of the port and his religious mind apparently could not grasp the fact that other nations did not acknowledge the Papal right to validate such con- cessions as the Bull in question purported to make. Subsequent details are too minute and involved to recite in full. The whole series of incidents form a chapter replete with misunderstandings, displays of temper, overheated zeal, attempts and counter-statements, and on the part of the Spaniards undoubted serious tactical and compromising blunders. It is difficult even for the impar- tial historian with all the available facts before him, to arrive at anything like a certain knowledge of the truth of the situation. A few days before the ceremony of taking possession, just alluded to, the Princess Royal , Captain Hudson, reached Nootka and on the 2nd of July, after a mutual exchange of courtesies between Spanish and English, was al- lowed to depart in peace. It may be remarked here that, notwithstanding the Viceroy’s expressed opinion that the Spanish had more to fear from Ameri- cans than from the English or Russians, the American ships were not mo- lested in port and the intimacy of the Spanish and American officers has led to the conclusion that they were more or less in collusion. Certain it is that, although ultimate conflict between the Spanish and English on this coast on account of divergent interests and antagonistic policies, was inevitable, the precipitancy of Martinez in regard to the English vessels was the immediate cause of the deathblow to Spanish ambitions received as the outcome of the Nootka troubles. With the appearance of Colnett in the Argonaut, events took the most serious turn. He arrived on July 2nd, 1789, unsuspecting what had taken place and, particularly, the Spanish occupation of Nootka. At first all went well, but Colnett discovering the state of affairs was anx- ious to leave. A long discussion arose, which developed much heat and Col- nett, who was of irascible temper, lost it. So also did Martinez. Both com- manders threatened and even it is hinted inflicted violence on each other. The dispute ended when Martinez curtly ordered Colnett to be seized and impris- oned. Although surviving accounts differ much as to details, it is clear that the Spanish commander acted most arbitrarily. Duffin was of the opinion that the quarrel was the result of mutual misunderstanding for which the in- terpreter was largely responsible. It is stated that both commanders were im- mediately afterward repentant of their conduct. On the 13th of July, the Princess Royal returned to Nootka. Hudson, the commander, was at once (4) Flores to Valdez. Mexico Coast, Oct. 27, 1789. See Manning, p. 236. taken prisoner and his ship seized. The Argonaut and Princess Royal were despatched to San Bias. During the voyage the English sailors were kept in irons. Colnett bitterly resented this treatment. The sufferings of the prison- ers did not, perhaps, lose in the telling, but undoubtedly unnecessarily harsh measures were adopted by their captors. It is idle to excuse the fault on the ground that the ill-treatment was the result of excessive caution rather than wanton cruelty (5). After the departure of his prizes, Martinez de- voted himself to exploring in the vicinity of Nootka and in studying the cus- toms of the natives, but was soon instructed to return to Mexico. Before the order for his return had been received he dismantled the fort and aban- doned the enterprise. Strange to say, in view of his previous lenient treat- ment of American vessels, just previous to his departure he seized a ship and schooner flying the Stars and Stripes and took them to San Bias as prizes. Revilla-Gigedo, who had succeeded Flores as Viceroy, promptly set them free on the ground that the Americans had not interfered with the Spanish set- tlements. Colnett, Hudson and Duffin were detained in Mexico for nearly ten months while their case was being discussed by the Spanish Government, Colnett resenting bitterly the inconveniences, losses and insults to which he had been subjected, with the result that the prisoners had more freedom and better accommodation. The Argonaut was dismantled and her stores placed for safe keeping in the royal arsenal; but the Princess Royal, like the Northwest America, was pressed into the service of Spain. Flores had become embarrassed by the zeal of Martinez and finally decided to leave the matter in the hands of his successor to adjudicate. However, in all his despatches to Madrid upon the subject, he loyally upheld the action of Martinez. He never evinced the slightest desire to make that officer a scapegoat. Revilla-Gigedo, on the other hand, evidently re- sented, at least at first, that officer’s zeal, a fact which shows that opinion upon the subject in high official ciroles was divided. At last, after months of exasperating delay, the Spanish Government decided to liberate the prison- ers and restore to them their ships, and on March 23rd, 1790, the Viceroy was instructed to execute the wishes of the Court in that respect. Before this order had reached Mexico, the Viceroy had already released Colnett and his men, but in view, probably, of Colnett’s stubborn attitude, they were duly impressed with the statements that all the coasts north of California were truly Spanish dominions and that their release was an act of pure generosity (6). Thus ended the troubles of the unhappy prisoners, but not of Spain. In the meantime, the case had come before the British and Spanish govern- ments and “all Europe was ablaze over an expected war.” In view of all that has preceded, it is obvious there were good grounds for dispute between the two governments; it is also clear that the representa- tives of Spanish authority on the Pacific Coast had exceeded reasonable lim- its in an attempt to enforce Spanish territorial rights north of California. The situation was interesting from the fact that Great Britain and Spain were each ruled by the strongest prime ministers of their times — the former by William Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, and the other by the noted Count Florida Blanca. Great Britain was a leading power and Spain, though decadent, was by no means feeble. On the last day of 1789 the news came (6) Manning: Nootka Sound Controversy, pp. 357-8. (5) Manning: Nootka Sound Controversy, p. 242. [37] to Florida Blanca of the seizure of the British ships at Nootka, followed by more complete despatches a few days later. It came as entirely new and dis- quieting intelligence. Great Britain was in complete ignorance of the affair and the intelligence conveyed by the British charge d’ affairs at Madrid, who had heard only rumours of the occurrence, to the British Government, was meagre and imperfect in character. Great Britain was intentionally kept in the dark as to the details, and it was not until four months later that Cap- tain Meares arrived in London and gave the authorities his version of the occurrences. The charge d’affairs at Madrid endeavoured to obtain definite information from the Spanish Court, but the only outcome was an almost curt note to the British Ministry, through the Spanish Ambassador, on the 10th of February, 1790, requesting His Britannic Majesty to restrain his sub- jects from occupying and frequenting the Spanish domains on the northwest coast of America ( 7 ) . The Duke of Leeds, Foreign Secretary, replied to the imperious Spanish note in a tone equally imperious, in which a note of war was sounded. Before any pretensions set forth in the Ambassador’s letter could be considered, he de- manded restoration of the seized vessel as “a just and adequate satisfaction” for “a proceeding so injurious to Great Britain.” The Spanish Court was dis- pleased with this rejoinder and preparations were made for hostilities. A sec- ond Spanish note in which ancient rights and treaties were put forward in de- fense of the action of Martinez, and in which His Catholic Majesty was dis- posed to regard the incident as closed, did not improve relations. Great Brit- ain made active preparations for war. At this juncture Captain Meares ar- rived in England and his account of the Nootka Affair added fuel to the flame and the Government, which had proceeded with necessary caution, pending full particulars, now took a firm and determined stand. The Cabinet decided that a press should take place on Tuesday night, May 4th, between 12 and 3 o’clock, so as to cause the least disturbance. Both countries began actively and openly to make ready for the inevitable clash of arms over claims that were irreconcilable. The scene of action was shifted to the House of Com-, mons, where Pitt made a firm and clear statement of the British case and the Government’s policy. Fox, the leader of the Opposition, approved the armament, but criticized the Government for refusing to discuss the respec- tive rights of the two nations before demanding restoration and satisfaction and of having recently assured the House of peace when there was no peace. The House of Commons promptly and enthusiastically voted one million pounds to meet the exigencies of the case. A splendid fleet was soon equipped, and meanwhile the nation rang with declarations of loyalty and the tocsin of war sounded throughout the land. No one thing, perhaps, better illus- trates the feeling of the nation than the fact that a one-act play, “Nootka Sound; or Britain Prepared,” ran for several nights at Covent Garden the- atre ( 8 ) . And the artist, no less than the playwright, sought to profit by the popular indignation. A spirited engraving of the seizure of the British ves- sels in Nootka Sound was sold in the bookshops (9). (7) Manchester Square, February 10, 1790. (8) From an old play-bill in the private library of Mr. J. J. Shalcross, Foul Bay Road, Victoria. (9) “The Spanish Insult to the British Flag at Nootka Sound.” Painted by R. Dodd; published in London, Jan. 21, 1791. Only two copies of this rare engraving are known to the author. One is in the private collection of the Hon. W. J. Bowser, K. C., Attorney-General of British Columbia, and the other is in the Provincial Archives Department at Victoria, B. C. [38] The matter now entered upon a new phase. Having gone so far, both England and Spain found it necessary to make alliances with other powers. Thus England sought to obtain promises of assistance from Prussia and Holland. Holland declared that she was ready to support her ally, and that Dutch ships of the line would be placed at the disposal of Great Britain, at that country’s expense. The Duke of Leeds, Secretary of State for For- eign Affairs, considered the terms so favourable that he instructed the British Ambassador at the Hague to accept them at once and to promote, with the utmost expedition, an equipment of ten sail of the line. The States-General, however, refused to accept the English subsidy and decided to assume the en- tire expense of equipping the squadron. The Dutch vessels, under Admiral Kinsbergen, joined the British fleet at Portsmouth early in July. Prussia also gave assurances that she was prepared to fulfil her engagements in case the contest with Spain should render assistance necessary. The Nootka Affair was the first event to test the strength of the Triple Alliance, and it proved beyond peradventure that Great Britain, Prussia and Holland were prepared to act in concert at all costs. Great Britain sounded the United States on the subject of an alliance, but the latter decided to remain neutral. Spain in the meantime also looked to the countries of Europe for support, and first nat- urally turned to France, the two countries having been intimately united thirty years under the Family Compact of 1761; but France was on the verge of the Great Revolution and although the nation was at heart with Spain, the latter had little to hope from the formal assurances of the Na- tional Assembly. Spain also addressed a circular note to all the powers in which were set forth as favourably as possible the claims of the country, but this endeavour failed of the desired result. Alleyne Fitz-Herbert, the British Ambassador at Madrid, an able and accomplished diplomat, energetically pressed the British claims. At first the Spanish Prime Minister was obdu- rate, but as the diplomatic controversy raged, as it did for months, he began to weaken and show signs of compromise. Finally, a declaration and coun- ter-declaration were duly signed : the first by Florida Blanca, agreeing to resti- tution of the British vessels and to indemnify the parties interested for losses sustained, but with this proviso, “It being understood that this declaration is not to prejudice the ulterior discussion of any right which His Catholic Majesty claims to form an exclusive establishment at Nootka”; the second, by Fitz-Herbert, accepting the terms offered, but with this reservation, “The undersigned declares at the same time that it is to be understood that neither the said declaration signed by Count Florida Blanca nor the acceptance thereof by the undersigned, in the name of the King, is to preclude or prejudice, in any respect, the rights which His Majesty may claim to any establishment which his subjects may have formed or may desire to form in the future, at the said Bay of Nootka.” These declarations paved the way to peace, but did not end the preparations for war, which went steadily on. Spain mobilized a fleet of 34 battleships and 16 smaller vessels, Great Britain put to sea 25 sail, which were joined by the Dutch ships. Spain, as the result of the declara- tions, suggested a partial disarmament, but Great Britain refused, until the dispute was settled. Both countries made overtures to the United States; but the latter wisely remained neutral. The Government rather favoured Spain on the grounds that Great Britain might seize Louisiana and the Floridas, upon [39] which it had envious eyes, to secure which it tried to make a hard bargain with Spain as the price of its favour. The attitude of the United States to- wards the belligerents was most interesting as affording an opening for the expression of an opinion respecting the operations of European nations in America. Jefferson’s letters on the subject were prophetic of the Monroe Doctrine. The National Assembly of France at the time made a show of enthusiastically supporting the pretensions of Spain, but the result of subse- quent negotiations between it and Great Britain were not encouraging to the Spanish hopes. Nor was the French Revolution, of which the National Assembly was the first fruits, to the Spanish King’s tastes. The outcome of it all was that, after protracted interviews and discussions with the British Ambassador, Florida Blanca was forced to yield to British demands. Spain had no firm ally to depend upon, and the internal affairs of the nation were in a wretched state. The truth is that all Europe was in the very throes of unrest and the infectious spirit of the Revolution gave general anxiety. Neither nation, in the circumstances, was anxious to go to war, and only the obviously super- ior position of Great Britain gave her the advantage in negotiating a com- promise favourable to her own contentions. It had been Pitt’s intention at the outset to wipe the Spanish off the map of North America, and had the two nations proceeded to war there can he but little doubt of what the issue would have been, or that today the territory west of the Mississippi river, in- cluding Mexico, Texas, California and Oregon and Washington would have been floating the British flag. On the 28th of October, the celebrated Noot- ka Sound Convention was signed and on the 22nd of November was ratified. By the terms it Avas agreed that the buildings and tracts of land on the north- west coast of which the subjects of Great Britain had been dispossessed should be restored; that a just reparation should be made for every act of violence or hostility on the subjects of either nation; and, as the most important of the provisions, that “it is agreed that their respective subjects shall not be dis- turbed or molested either in navigation or carrying on their fisheries in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas, or in landing on the coasts of those seas in places not already occupied, for the purpose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the country or of making establishments there.” These were the principal provisions of a treaty that should not have been wholly satisfactory to the British people, inasmuch as it left the main issues affecting the future still undecided and the way open for still further complications; and certainly it was not satisfactory to the Spanish people, whose dignity was wounded and on account of which, presumably, Florida Blanca, who worked so strenuously to uphold Spanish dignity and supposed rights, was dismissed from office. The ratification of the Nootka Convention did not end the Noot- ka Affair. Under its terms there was to be restoration of lands and build- ings and indemnifications of the persons who had suffered loss. A long arbitration and two more conventions were required to finally end the matter and four years were to elapse before the two governments were to hear the last of the trouble. [ 40 ] CAPT. GEORGE VANCOUVER. CHAPTER VI. Some months before the news of the capture of the British vessels at Nootka Sound reached England, the British Government had determined to continue the survey of the northwest coast, so well begun by Capt. Cook. In the previous chapter the details of the Nootka Affair have been described and no sooner had that been adjusted than it was decided to resume the proj- ect of the survey. Henry Roberts, who had served under Capt. Cook, had originally been appointed to the command of the expedition for the purpose, with George Vancouver, who had also served under the great navigator, as midshipman, as second; but after the Nootka Affair, which had delayed the enterprise, Roberts being engaged elsewhere, the direction of the expedition devolved upon Vancouver. The Discovery, a 300-ton sloop, and the armed tender Chatham, 135 tons, Lieut. William Robert Broughton, were selected by the Admiralty, and, as in the case of Cook’s ships, the greatest care was exercised in the matters of equipment, stores and hygienic precautions. Capt. Vancouver was instructed, in accordance with the terms of the Nootka Con- vention, to receive from the Spanish commissioner at Nootka the lands and houses that Meares claimed had been taken from him, and to explore the northwest coast between 30° to 60°, north latitude. In regard to the latter part of his instructions, he was to ascertain the nature and extent of any waterways trending towards the Atlantic Ocean and the number, extent and situation of any European settlements made within the limits mentioned, as well as the time when such settlements had been established. Theories, sup- ported by some geographers and navigators, regarding the existence of the Strait of Anian, still survived, and the Admiralty wished to definitely set at rest for all time their truth or falsity. Vancouver had particular instructions to extend all possible assistance to Spanish vessels, and to avoid giving offence to the subjects of the Spanish King, and to enter into a free and frank inter- change of information, as to charts and discoveries, with Spanish men-of-war, upon a reciprocal basis. With later instructions was transmitted a letter from Count Florida Blanca, addressed to the governor or commander of the “Port at St. Lawrence,” authorizing the latter to immediately surrender the lands at Nootka Sound and Port Cox claimed by the British. The Discovery and Chatham sailed from Falmouth on the first day of April, 1791, and sighted “New Albion” on the 17th of April, 1792, under latitude 39° 27 . Under the 46th parallel, the Cape Disappointment of Meares was sighted, but, as Meares before him had done, Vancouver failed to observe the mouth of the great river which a few months later was discovered by Capt. Gray in the American ship Columbia. From his narrative, it is clear that he directed his attention to what had the appearance of “an inlet or a small river,” but the indications were not sufficient to warrant his belief that he was on the verge of an eventful discovery. Vancouver then reached the latitude of the Strait [ 41 ] of Juan de Fuca (1) and on Sunday, April 29th, the two vessels sailed into it. Vancouver in passing gave the name of Classet to the Cape Flattery of Cook. The vessels passed between Tatooche Island and a large rock, which, in honor of Duncan, who had first sketched the entrance of the Strait, was named Duncan. Then commenced the long and laborious survey of the great inland sea, studded with islands, that is such a remarkable feature of this coast. Vancouver hugged the continental shore, and, proceeding from point to point, at last reaching and exploring the maze of islands and inlets, to which he gave the name of Puget Sound, in honor of his second lieutenant, Peter Puget. Although the explorer anchored under New Dungeness, not far from the Port Angeles of the present day, it is not recorded, either in the narrative of the expedition nor in any other authentic work, that he visited that beautiful park-like country at the southern end of Vancouver Island, which fifty years later so excited the admiration of Captain McNeill, of the steamer Beaver, and of James Douglas, who wrote an account of that fa- vored locality. Strictly following the letter of his instructions, Vancouver surveyed, with elaborate care, each bay and harbor, each inlet and sound. The nomenclature of the shores of that mediterranean sea bears ample testi- mony to his minute examination. With the exception of the names bestowed by the Spaniards in their surveys of the years 1790, 1791 and 1792, there is scarcely a large island, bay or sound, or a prominent cape, that does not to- day bear the name given to it by the British explorer. This is largely true, as well, of the entire coast of British Columbia. Vancouver not only laid at rest the pretensions of imposters respecting the existence of a northwest pas- sage in the region with which we are dealing, but he was the first to establish the insular character of the land occupied by the Spaniards in 1789, although that fact was surmised by the Indians probably long prior to his visit. Good weather and good luck followed Vancouver’s fortunes from April to August. Following closely the northern shore of what is now the state of Washington, each bend and curve of the coast was noted. Leaving New Dungeness, Van- couver sailed through Admiralty Inlet to Puget Sound, thence past Whidby Island and the beautiful San Juan archipelago, and, still hugging the conti- nental shore, by Bellingham Bay and Lumni Island into the southern end of the Gulf of Georgia; then past Semiahmoo and Boundary bays, Points Roberts and Gray, to the entrance of Burrard Inlet. Point Gray was so named “in compliment to my friend Captain George Gray of the Navy,” and Point Roberts “after my esteemed friend and predecessor in the Discovery.” Here again Vancouver failed to find a large river. Between these points the (1) Here, by a coincidence, as strange as it was fortunate, Vancouver fell in with the “Columbia,” commanded by Capt. Robt. Gray. Having read Meares’ account of the voyage of the sloop Washington behind Nootka, he was naturally anxious to hear more of the discoveries made on that occasion. Puget and Menzies were sent on board to “acquire such information as might be serviceable in our future ex- peditions.” On the return of the boat, Vancouver learned that Gray had commanded the sloop “Wash- ington" in 1789 at the time she was supposed to have made a singular voyage “behind Nootka.” Van- couver’s officers, however, must have either misunderstood, or unintentionally misrepresented Gray, be- cause he was not in command of the “Washington” at that time, having exchanged vessels with John Kendrick, to whom the unscrupulous Meares had ascribed the first circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. "It was not a little remarkable,” observer Vancouver, "that, on our approach to the entrance of this inland sea, we should fall in with the identical person, who, it had been stated, had sailed through it. His narration, however, differed very materially from that published in England. It is not possible to con- ceive anyone to be more astonished than was Capt. Gray when told that his authority had been quoted, and the track pointed out that he had been said to have made in the sloop ’Washington.’ In contra- diction to which he assured the officers, that he had penetrated only 50 miles into the straits in ques- tion, in an E. S. E. direction; that he found the passage five leagues wide; and that he understood from the natives that the opening extended a considerable distance to the northward; that this was all the information he had acquired respecting that inland sea, and that he returned into the ocean by the same way he had entered at.” [ 42 ] Fraser embouches into the Gulf of Georgia, but, although in crossing from one point to the other, the strong current of the river forced the small boat, in which the explorer was making his examination, far into the gulf, and although it was noticed that the intermediate space was occupied by low land, apparently a swampy flat that extended several miles back from the shore, the river of which this swampy flat was the delta was not discovered. It was observed, moreover, that the water “nearly half over the gulph * * * was nearly colourless, which gave us some reason to suppose that the northern bend of the sound might possibly be discovered to terminate in a river of consid- erable extent.” Between Points Gray and Atkinson, Vancouver found the narrow entrance of a long canal, which he examined with care, little thinking that on the shore of this inlet would arise a great city, destined to be the west- ern metropolis of the greatest dominion of the British Empire. The inlet was named Burrard’s canal, after Sir Harry Burrard. Then following the western shore of the gulf he had named in honour of the reigning sovereign, George III, Vancouver discovered and explored the inlet named after Sir John Jervis. Returning to Point Gray, where it was the intention to land and breakfast, Vancouver fell in with the two little Spanish vessels, the Sutil and the Mexicana, commanded respectively by Don Dionisio Galiano and Don Cayetano Valdes. These vessels proved to he a detachment from the expe- dition of the accomplished, but unfortunate, Italian navigator, Malaspina, in the service of Spain. Galiano and Valdes had entered the straits five days after the British expedition, and since that time had been engaged in exam- ining the coasts partially surveyed by Spanish officers in previous years. Van- couver, who up to that time had not known that the waters he had explored had been visited by the Spaniards, was not too well pleased with his discov- ery. Here, on that summer morning of a hundred and twenty years ago, chance caused the two exploring expeditions to meet. In a manner, it may be described as an historic occasion, for the one signified the rise of a new power in this region, and the other marked the close of Spanish effort on this coast. The well-equipped British vessels were in marked contrast to the little galleys of Spain. The meeting was observed by an interchange of cour- tesies between the British and Spanish officers. Among the first news im- parted to Vancouver was that Bodega y Quadra, the commandant of San Bias, in California, was awaiting the arrival of the British commissioner at Nootka, in order to restore the disputed territory to the Crown of Great Britain, in accordance with the terms of the Nootka Convention. Vancouver spoke highly of the behaviour of the Spanish officers. The Sutil and Mexi- cana had been fitted out at Acapulco as an adjunct of Malaspina’s expedition (2) Galiano’s journal throws an interesting' light upon the Spanish occupation of Nootka, and espe- cially upon the relations that existed between his countrymen and the natives. “While we were in this port,’’ he writes on one occasion, “we saw with particular gratification the close friendship which reigned between the Spaniards and the Indians. Maquinna influenced by the presents and good treatment of Commander Quadra had come to live very near the ships. He ate daily from the Governor’s table, and though not at it, was very near and used his knife and fork like the most polished European, allowing himself to be waited upon by the servants and amusing everybody by his merry humour. He drank wine with pleasure, and left to others (so as not to muddle his brain), the care of limiting his quantum of that liquor, which he called ‘water of Spain.’ He was usually accompanied by his brother, Quat- Lazape, for whom he showed great affection. Some of his relatives and vassals also generally dined in the cabin, and for these latter a dish of beans or haricots, food they most preferred, was set daily. Maquinna was endowed with a clear and alert talent, and very well knew his rights of sovereignty. He complained of the foreign vessels which traded on the coast, on account of certain vexations which he said his people had received. He denied that he had ceded the port of Nootka to the English lieu- tenant, Meares, and only acknowledged that he had allowed him to settle there, repeating continually the cession he made to the King of Spain of that port and the stores pertaining to it with all their products.” Voyage of “Sutil” and "Mexicana.” Barwick’s Translation, pp. 17-18. [ 43 ] in the Descubierta and the Atrevida, leaving there on March 8th, but the for- mer vessels had sailed before the schooners had reached that port. The voy- age had been undertaken for the purpose of continuing the examination of the Straits of Fuca, commenced by Manuel Quimper, under Don Francisco Elisa, who had been ordered in 1790 to survey the inlet. It is stated in the official narrative of the expedition that Estevan Martinez, in sailing down the coast in the Santiago , in the year 1774, had sighted a broad entrance a little north of the 48th parallel. In the log of the Santiago , however, no mention is made of such discovery. The Sutil carried Dionisio Galiano, who commanded the expedition, and Secundino Slamanca and seventeen men, and the Mexicana, Cayetano Valdes, Juan Vernachi, Joseph Cordero, artist, and the same complement of men as the Sutil. They had reached Nootka on May 12th, finding there Francisco Elisa, with the frigate Conception, the Santa Gertrudis, Alonzo de Torres, commander, and the brigantine Activa. Quadra had arrived there but a few days before for the purpose already stated. The French frigate, La Flavia, 500 tons, arrived at Nootka while the Sutil and Mexicana lay at anchor in port. She flew the new national flag, seen for the first time on this coast. Her object was to trade for furs and to seek for information respecting the unfortunate La Perouse. At Nootka, Luis Galvez, surgeon of the Aranzuzu, joined the expedition, and, after re- pairing and provisioning their little vessels, Galiano and Valdes sailed for the Straits of Fuca, and a few days later came to anchor in the port of Nunez Gaona, known as Neah Bay, to which place the Spaniards had determined to transfer the settlement at Nootka, in anticipation of the surrender of that port to the British. The sailors of the Princessa, under Salvador Fidalgo, were busily engaged in preparing for the transfer, clearing a site for an or- chard, and making yards for cows, sheep, pigs and goats brought from San Bias. Nunez Gaona, however, was abandoned shortly afterwards. It seems strange that an effort should have been made to establish a colony at this place, for it was but ill-adapted for settlement. Although Quimper and Francisco Elisa had surveyed the straits and the inland sea, as far as the Gulf of Georgia (called by the Spanish “Gran Canal de Nuestra Sonora del Rosario la Marinera”), they had not completed their examination. The work of continuing the exploration of these inland waters had been entrusted to Galiano and he now proceeded to carry out his instructions. He did not, like Vancouver, follow the continental shore, but touched at the port of Cor- dova, now and for many years known as Esquimalt. “The port of Cordova is beautiful,” runs an entry in the journal of June 9th, “and affords good shelter for sailors; but the water is shallow as we saw, and Tetacus informed us: The land is very irregular, of slight elevation, and, as the neighbourhood shows, the surface of the soil on the rock is of little depth. Nevertheless, it is fertile, covered with trees and plants, and these growths are almost the same as those at Nootka, but wild roses are most abundant. Also rather more birds are seen, and more of the same kind of seagulls, ducks, kingfishers, and other birds. It was in this port, that the schooner Saturnina had to fire at the canoes of the inhabitants to protect the launch of the packet San Carlos, which came in her company, and which launch they obstinately wanted to seize” (3). Exactly fifty years later, in 1842, James Douglas said of Esqui- (3) Voyage Sutil and Mexicana: Barwick Translation, pp. 42-43. malt: “It is one of the best harbours of the coast, being perfectly safe and of easy access, but in other respects it possesses no attraction. Its appearance is strikingly unprepossessing, the outline of the country exhibiting a con- fused assemblage of rock and wood.” As Esquimalt is today, and has long been, renowned for its beauty, the diametrically opposed views of these early explorers, Galiano and Douglas, are not without interest. Galiano then made his way through the San Juan Archipelago, noticing, on June 12th, flames to the southeast of Mt. Carmel (Mt. Baker), which phenomenon was inter- preted as indicating the presence of an active volcano in that neighbourhood. In crossing the Gulf of Georgia, two small boats were sighted, which it was thought belonged to the English ships, known to be exploring in the inland sea. The Spanish vessels at this time were making for the sound of Flor- idablanca (the Spanish name for the estuary of the Fraser), in order to search for the river, which was supposed, from the report of the natives, to empty into that bay; but the current prevented them reaching the head of the channel, so they anchored under Punta Langara (Point Gray), and here the British and Spanish expeditions met, as already narrated. Naturally, the explorers exchanged notes. Upon Vancouver pointing out the only spot he had left unexamined, at the head of Burrard Inlet, Galiano and Valdes were much surprised that the large river, which they had expected to find, had not been seen. The mouth of the river is shown on the Spanish chart between the points Langara and Cepeda, the Spanish names of Points Gray and Rob- erts of Vancouver. This river had been named “Rio Blanca,” in honour of Count Florida Blanca. It is almost beyond belief that Vancouver could have failed to find the mouth of the Fraser, but so it proved. The Discovery and Chatham and the Sutil and Mexicana then proceeded together, as the result of pre-arrangement, for several days, jointly engaged in a minute examination of the continental shore, Vancouver, Broughton, Mudge, Puget, Baker, Whidby and Johnstone, officers of the English expe- dition, in small boats, making excursions hither and thither. The English and Spanish ships parted company off the entrance to Desolation sound with friendly goodbyes. Previous to this, however, Johnstone and Swaine had been dispatched on a flying trip for the purpose of examining the nar- row passage leading to Queen Charlotte Sound, and had returned with the announcement of having reached the open sea, thus establishing the insular character of the Nootka region. The Spaniards remained at anchor and Van- couver sailed for Point Mudge. Traversing Johnstone’s straits, the British explorer reached the broad channel that separates the northeastern end of Vancouver Island from the mainland. After emerging from the long and narrow passage, named after Lieut. James Johnstone, Vancouver, as hereto- fore, adopted the plan of dispatching boats in all directions to examine the indentations of the continental coast. The cluster of large islands to the northwestward of the entrance to Knight’s canal was named Broughton’s Archipelago, in recognition of the services of the commander of the Chat- ham. Vancouver confirmed the name of Queen Charlotte Sound given to the opening by Capt. Wedgeborough of the Experiment in 1786, and recog- nized Fitzhugh Sound— where, by the way, Vancouver’s vessels grounded and only averted destruction by reason of the calmness of the sea — as that so named by Capt. James Hanna of the Capt. Cook, the consort of the [4.5] Experiment. The commander then decided to repair to Nootka Sound and made Friendly Cove on August 28th, having been piloted to the anchorage by a Spanish officer. Riding at anchor in the cove was the Spanish brig Activa, flying the broad pennant of Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, commandant of Port San Lorenzo de Nutka, as the inlet was called by the Spaniards. Beside the Activa lay the store ship Daedalus , and a small merchantman, the Three Brothers of London, commanded by one Alder, late of the Royal Navy, The meeting of the Spanish and English com- manders was not only formally polite, but was accompanied by an exchange of cordial salutations. The meeting was historic in more than one sense. It was the first time that, on the northwest coast, there had been an inter- change of courtesies between ships of war of Spain and England, and, moreover, the respective commanders met as the representatives of two sov- ereign powers to give effect to the terms of the Nootka Convention. The occasion marked an epoch in the affairs of northwest America. Of the two men who conducted the negotiations at Nootka in September, 1792, the Spaniards lost nothing by comparison. Both were Nature’s noblemen, both were worthy representatives of the best traditions of the great navies of Europe, efficient in training and experience, accomplished navigators, gener- ous in their instincts, honourable and high minded — men of official recti- tude to whom duty was their first law. Quadra possessed not only the graces of the cultured Spanish gentleman, but the diplomatic sagacity of which Spain has furnished not a few distinguished examples. He was also of noble lineage. These two men recognized at once in each other a kindred spirit and a foeman worthy of his steel in the cause of national honour. Their relations throughout the whole chapter, although each maintained to the utmost the dignity and rights of his sovereign, were of the friendliest and the most cordial nature. Had men of the stamp of Quadra always admin- istered the affairs of Spain on the northwest coast it is safe to say that its history would have been writ differently and that if Martinez had been Quadra there would have been no Nootka Affair. After ceremonial and so- cial preliminaries had been disposed of, the two commanders settled down to their more serious business. Quadra had been diligently collecting evidence respecting the merits of the dispute and the extent and nature of the Meares’ establishment, included amongst which was a joint letter from Capts. Gray and Ingraham, the captains of American vessels, very favorable to the Span- ish contention. In a nutshell, he claimed from such evidence that there was nothing to be handed over but a part of the beach of Friendly Cove and a piece of land at the back of it. Capt. Vancouver, on the other hand, on the strength of evidence furnished by Robt. Duffin and Capt. Meares, insisted that the whole of the port should be surrendered. Neither would yield a point from this position and as a result of a deadlock it was agreed that the matter should be referred back to their respective sovereigns for adjust- ment, each commissioner submitting a report as to the circumstances of the case. Thus fruitlessly, though amicably, they terminated their conferences and negotiations. The status quo of Spanish occupation at Nootka (4), as (4) Nootka sound in that day was the recognized rendezvous of the traders resorting to the North- west coast. Here they beached and repaired their vessels, and here they refitted and replenished their water casks and conducted all the operations that must of necessity be performed after long and stormy voyages. Nootka sound in the years when the fur trade flourished, frequently presented an animated scene. While Vancouver was there in the summer of 1792, an English and an American shallop were on [46] a result, remained unchanged in the meantime. The personal relations of the two commanders which had been established on the enduring basis of friend- ship and mutual esteem, continued to the end and, after a farewell dinner characterized by the “utmost cheerfulness and hilarity,” they parted company to meet again and exchange civilities and hospitality at Monterey. Vancouver in the Discovery , accompanied by the Chatham and the Daedalus , sailed from Nootka on the 12th of October, passing the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, at which place he completed the circumnavi- gation of Vancouver Island (5), and anchored off near the mouth of the Columbia. Broughton and Whidby were commissioned to examine and ex- plore the estuary and the river, and Vancouver set sail for Monterey. En route, he made the port of San Francisco, where he enjoyed the hospitality of the Franciscan fathers at the mission, and where he was rejoined by Broughton in the Chatham. In the meantime Broughton had ascended the Columbia river 100 miles to a point named in honour of his commander (Vancouver), not far from the spot which later was the site of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s celebrated headquarters for the Western Department of its fur-trading operations. He took possession there of the country in the name of His Brittanic Majesty, as Capt. Gray, at the mouth of the river, had pre- viously done, in the name of the United States. He gave names to all the points of physical importance, among which was “Mount Hood,” given to a noble peak which excited his admiration, in honour of Lord Hood. The inhabitants, at first inclined to be hostile, became friendly. They resembled in most particulars the natives of the coast already visited. In the mean- time, too, Whidby, of the Daedalus , had examined and charted Gray’s Har- bour. The native population, who numbered about 100, spoke the Nootkan language, although it did not appear to be their own tongue. Much has been made of the value of the respective discoveries of Heceta, Gray and Brough- ton, in respect to the Columbia River and their bearing upon territorial rights in the country, but at this date possess only an academic interest in connection with a dispute for a long time settled. Vancouver arrived at Monterey on the 26th of December, where he found Quadra awaiting him and where the latter accorded him a courteous and hospitable reception. Quadra told the British officer that on his arrival he found orders directing him to capture all vessels engaged in commercial pursuits on the coast, excepting British ships, which were not to be molested. This information led both commanders to believe that the two governments had finally adjusted the Nootka dispute. At this juncture Vancouver de- the stocks in the cove, which when finished were to be employed in collecting skins in the inland waters of the coast; at anchor in the stream lay the American brig “Hope,” in command of Ingraham; a French ship, and the “Venus” of Bengal, commanded by one Shepherd, as well as the Spanish ships of war, “Gertrudis” and “Conception”; the brig “Activa,” of twelve guns; the “Princessa,” “Aranzuzu” and "San Carlos,” transport and storeships; the little “Sutil and “Mexicana,” commanded by Galiano and Valdes; and His Majesty’s ships “Discovery,” “Chatham,” and “Daedalus.” On the shores of Friendly Cove were the officers’ quarters, barracks, a hospital, storehouses, and other buildings. Vancouver was greatly im- pressed with the colony. He remarked that the buildings “appeared sufficiently secure and more exten- sive than our occasions required. A large new oven had been lately built expressly for our service, and had not hitherto been permitted to be used. The houses had all been repaired, and the gardeners were busily employed in putting the gardens in order. The poultry, consisting of fowls and turkey, was in excellent condition, and in abundance, as were the black cattle and swine.” From these and other re- marks of the British officer it is to be gathered that after the reoccupation of the place in 1790 the Span- iards had bestowed no little care upon the establishment. In fact, the place had become quite important and it is evident that the Spanish government intended to occupy it permanently, and would have done so had it not been for the Nootka Convention. (5) By agreement, as a token of mutual esteem, Vancouver gave the island the name of “Quadra and Vancouver Island,” which for years it bore on maps and which on Admiralty charts it still bears. In a popular way the name of “Quadra” was, in the lapse of time, eliminated along with Spanish pretensions. [47] cided to dispatch Broughton, without loss of time, to England to apprise the ministry of the occurrences at Nootka during the summer. Puget was given command of the Chatham in his absence. Quadra in the Activa and Vancouver in the Discovery then sailed from Monterey in company, the vessels keeping together as far as latitude 32° 30, where they separated, the one proceeding to San Bias, and the other to the Sandwich Islands. The parting of these two officers, who, in the prime of life, and in the ordinary course of events had brilliant and useful careers before them, was almost pathetic. The touching reference of Vancouver in his journal to the occasion exhibited high admiration and regard for Quadra, and the human interest attaching to the farewell on the high seas is accentuated by the fact that it was to be final and to be followed so soon by the early demise of both. After spending the winter in Hawaii, Vancouver again set sail for the northwest coast, making it at Maurelle’s Port Trinidad. On May 20th, the Discovery anchored in Friendly Cove. Senor Fidalgo informed the British explorer that the Chatham had arrived at Nootka a month earlier and that she had sailed for the north two days before. The San Carlos, from San Bias, in command of Saavedra, followed the Discovery into port. Fidalgo, as Quadra before him, was profuse in his hospitality, but he was not long to remain at Nootka, as Saavedra of the San Carlos had been instructed to supersede him. Vancouver weighed anchor on the 23rd and passing Esper- anza Inlet, the northern entrance to Nootka Sound, sailed into Queen Char- lotte’s Sound, naming the point on the mainland at its northern entrance, Cape Caution. Sailing through Fitzhugh’s Sound, where both the Discovery and the Chatham had run aground the year before, the explorer entered that labyrinth of inlets, channels and deep fiords that everywhere pierce the coast in that singular region. Following the method of the previous summer, the ships coming to anchor from time to time for the purpose, the islands and in- dentations of the coast were carefully, and with great fidelity to details, examined in small boats, and thus the expedition slowly moved northward, leaving nothing undone to establish the true cartography of the coast line. On June 21st the Discovery and the Chatham sailed into Brown’s pass- age, between Dundas and Stephen’s Islands, and there found the Butterworth, Prince Le Boo and Jackal riding at anchor. These vessels were under or- ders of Captain Brown, commander of the Buttencorth. Brown, in his trad- ing excursions in the neighborhood, had acquired some knowledge of its geog- raphy, which he readily imparted to Vancouver, who named the sheet of water that he had just navigated “Brown’s Passage” in honour of the adventurer. After this meeting, Vancouver sailed across Chatham Strait, past Makelyne, into the entrance of Observatory Inlet. While he was surveying these shores, Alexander Mackenzie, after perilous adventures, arrived at the entrance of Dean’s Canal, which inlet Vancouver’s boats had examined a few week’s before. Thus the navigator and the overland explorer narrowly missed each other. Proceeding, the ships sailed up Observatory Inlet and anchored in Salmon Cove. In this vicinity and for sixty miles in a direct line to the north, though in tortuous voyaging Vancouver’s boats travelled 700 miles, he and his officers searched for the famous strait of Admiral de Fonte as here set down in Caamano’s chart — needless to say, in vain. Vancouver explored Portland Canal, he reached and named Cape Fox, he continued his explora- [48] tions to the island Revilla Gigedo, he proceeded up Behm’s Canal and en- tered Clarence Strait. His boats made Port Wales and Observatory Inlet* reaching the vessels in Salmon Cove on August 16th, 1793. Whidby, on simi- lar quest, was not more successful. With all their careful search they failed to find the Naas and Skeena rivers, which enter, respectively, Observatory Inlet and Telegraph Passage; and, with the Fraser, make the three most im- portant fluvial arteries of the northwest coast which escaped Vancouver’s notice. From Observatory Inlet, Vancouver’s ships threaded their way through the intricate inland waterways on the coast of southeastern Alaska, until satisfied of the mythical character of the reputed Strait of Anian, he registered his opinion by naming the southern limit of the entrance Christian Sound, “Cape Decision.” He then returned to Nootka, cursorily examining the west coast of Queen Charlotte Islands on his way and fixing the posi- tions of the prominent capes and bays. From Nootka, reached October 5th, eleven days later he made San Francisco, where he was surprised and chagrined with the cold reception from the Spanish officer in charge. At Monterey, despite his remonstrances, he was refused those polite attentions that had been such a pleasant feature of his former visit. He must have been somewhat surprised to learn that Bodega y Quadra had given the commander of the garrison to understand, in a letter over his own signature, that the at- tentions accorded the Englishmen on the former occasion were for that time only, and were not to be considered as necessary in the future. He left in disgust and sailed for the Sandwich Islands. In March, 1794, Vancouver again sailed for the Alaskan coast tq complete his survey of the region ex- tending from Cook’s Inlet to the point where his operations had ended the year before. Here ten Russians, from one of their several establishments in the neighbourhood, came on board. The visitors took pains to impress upon the Englishmen that the American continent and adjacent islands, far to the eastward, belonged exclusively to Russia. The Russians had occupied the territory for several years, although they had not yet built their fort at Sitka, nor had they acquired an extensive or accurate knowledge of the coast. At last, on August 1st, the expedition rounded Cape Ommaney, the south- ermost point of the archipelago of King George III., opposite Cape De- cision, and came to anchor in a harbor a little to the northeastward of that point. This anchorage was named “Port Conclusion,” as it marked the point where the painstaking survey, which had extended over three years, came to an end; and Vancouver in his journal (6) gives vent to his own feelings and to comments respecting the consummation of the great undertaking, which best illustrates the spirit of zeal and conscientious persistency in which it was carried out. (6) “The accomplishment of an undertaking, the laborious nature of which will, probably, from the perusal of the foregoing sheets, be more easily conceived than explained; a service that had demanded our constant and unwearied attention, and had required our utmost abilities and exertion to bring thus to a conclusion, could not after the indefatigable labor of the three preceding years, fail in exciting in the bosoms of our little community, sensations of a nature so pleasing and satisfactory, that few are likely to experience in the same degree, who were not participators in its execution; and to the imagina- tion of these alone, must I refer to the happiness we experienced on this interesting event.” “In order that the valuable crews of both vessels, on whom great hardships and manual labor had fallen, and who had uniformly encountered their difficulties with unremitting execution, cheerfulness and obedience, might celebrate the day, that had thus terminated their labours in this region; they were served such an additional allowance of grog as was fully sufficient to answer every purpose of festivity on the occasion. This soon prompted a desire for mutual congratulations between the two vessels, ex- pressed by three exulting cheers for each; and it may easily be conceived that more heartfelt satisfac- tion was scarcely ever more reciprocally experienced, or more cordially exchanged.” The explorer went on to say: “The principal object which His Majesty appears to have had in view, in directing the undertaking of this voyage having at length been accomplished, I trust the precision with [49] There is little more to say respecting Capt. Vancouver’s memorable ex- ploring and surveying expedition on the coast. Sailing for Friendly Cove, where he arrived on September 2nd and where he found a number of vessels of various nationalities — Spanish, American and British — and Don Jose Manuel Alava, the governor of Nootka, he remained there until October 17th, refitting his vessels for the homeward voyage. Here he learned of the death of Quadra, which had occurred the previous March at San Bias, and in his journal he fittingly records the state of his feelings upon receiving the sad intelligence. Before his departure, Vancouver, in company with Alava, visited the villages of Maquinna and of the chief of Tahsis Canal, by whom the officers were feasted and amused with dances and other entertainments. Then he sailed away. At Monterey, to his great disappointment, Vancouver found no despatches from London, although instructions respecting the ces- sion of Nootka were awaiting Alava’s arrival. He was at a loss how to pro- ceed in the circumstances. Alava, however, obligingly confided to the Brit- ish commissioner that his instructions stated that no further negotiations would take place with reference to the first article of the Nootka Conven- tion. Vancouver was gratified to learn that the final settlement of the diffi- culty would follow the terms “he had so repeatedly offered to Senor Quadra in September, 1792.” He was also informed that another officer had been commissioned to represent Great Britain in the last phase of the celebrated Nootka Affair. This, however, was a mistake, as these new instructions were addressed, in the first instance, to Vancouver. The voyage home was made by way of Cape Horn, the Discovery and Chatham sailing from Monte- rey December 2nd, 1794, and reaching St. Helena in July, 1795. War hav- ing broken out between England and Holland and France, Vancouver waited at St. Helena for a convoy, as his vessels were not in a condition to resist an attack; but hearing that the French National Assembly had espe- cially exempted the Discovery and Chatham from molestation by French cruisers, he did not wait longer for the convoy, but set sail, overtaking the east Indian fleet and joining the Sceptre, which was convoying the merchant- men — a lucky encounter, as the National Assembly had not yet passed the decree of exemption. On September 12th the fleet reached the River Shannon and Vancouver took leave of his officers. The Chatham reached the Thames October 20th, 1795. The great commander died before the account of his voyage was pub- lished. He was in poor health when he left England, and the hardships and privations endured in the Pacific undermined his constitution. Worn out with his exertions, he passed away at the old Star and Garter Inn, Rich- mond Hill, Surrey, May 10th, 1798. His remains rest in the little church- yard at St. Peter’s, at Petersham, where an humble headstone records his brief epitaph, but the most enduring monument is the nomenclature of Canada’s western seaboard. Of all the names bestowed by Vancouver, these alone do not appear on modern maps — New Georgia, New Hanover, New Corn- wall and New Norfolk, by which terms the continental territories lying be- which the survey of the coast of Northwest America has been carried into effect will remove every doubt, and set aside every opinion of a Northwest passage, or any water communication navigable for shipping, existing between the north Pacific and the interior of the continent, within the limits of our researches. The discovery that any such communication does not exist has been zealously pursued, and with a de- gree of minuteness far exceeding the letter of my commission or instructions; in this respect I might possibly have incurred the censure of disobedience, had I not been entrusted with the most liberal, dis- cretionary orders, as being the fittest and most likely means of attaining the important end in question." [50] tween the 46th and 60th parallels were distinguished. As long as the rugged coast shall resist the wind and the waves, Vancouver’s name will not be for- gotten, and so it is with the Spaniards. Their brief tenure of power is in- delibly recorded in the name of island and headland. It should be mentioned here that in 1793 Spain had indemnified Meares and his associates for their losses. The settlement was arranged by Manuel de las Heras, the Spanish commissioner, and Ralph Woodford, who acted for the British govern- ment. The negotiations extended over a period of many months. At first Spain offered 200,000 Spanish dollars, but this amount was refused. After further delay, however, Spain proposed to increase the indemnity by ten thou- and dollars, and on February 12th, 1793, this phase of the question was laid at rest by the terms of the Nootka Claims Convention. No sooner had this treaty received the signatures of the contracting parties than preparations were made to give the terms effect. Lt. Pierce, of the Royal Marines, and . Don Jose Manuel de Alava, governor of Nootka, were appointed by their respective governments to carry out the programme. They met at Nootka and on March 23rd, 1795, with due formality the Spanish flag was lowered and the British flag hoisted in its place. And then the forces of both coun- tries evacuated the place, leaving it to the savage and the wandering fur trader. For a number of years little attention was given to the northwest coast by European powers, although occasionally British ships of war sailed along the coast on their way to Alaska, the Arctic Ocean, Kamchatka, or Japan. Broughton revisited Nootka and Neah Bay in the sloop Providence in 1796 ( 7 ), and Sir Edward Belcher spent several months on the coast in 1839 in M. M. S. Sulphur (8), but such official expeditions were few and far between. Since those early days when Lowrie and Guise in their little vessels, the Capt. Cook and the Experiment, and Hanna in the Sea Otter, had visited the west coast of North America, the fur trade had assumed large proportions. In Vancouver’s time there were no less than twenty British, American, Portuguese and French vessels engaged in that traffic. After the abandonment of Nootka by Spain and Great Britain in 1794, the coast was left to the fur trader, who carried on his operations unchecked and un- watched for many years. The competition at last became so keen that the coast was almost depleted of sea otter. At first, British adventurers played an active part on the northwest coast, but gradually the American traders from Boston and other ports of the United States obtained control of the trade. They in turn were driven from the field by the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany, until in the end that great monopoly divided honours with the Russian- American Company. It is unnecessary to dilate upon the occurrences of that peculiar period. Not a great deal is known of the exploits of the nondescript adventurers that frequented these shores after the surrender of Nootka, but now and again incidents are recorded that throw light upon their methods and their experience. For example, John Jewitt’s narrative of the disastrous voyage of the American ship Boston to Nootka, in 1803, has been preserved (9). It recorded that that vessel was captured by the notorious Maquinna, the friend (7) Broughton, Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean. London, 1804, pp. 50-58. (8) Belcher, Voyage Round the World. London, 1843. (9) Jewitt, Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt Among the Savages of Nootka Sound. Middletown, 1816. [ 51 ] of Quadra and Vancouver, and all the crew massacred, with the exception of the author of the narrative and one Thompson, a sailmaker. These men were held prisoners at Nootka for nearly three years and suffered many in- dignities at the hands of their savage captors. In 1805, by a ruse Jewitt and Thompson managed to get aboard the ship Lydia of Boston and so regained their freedom. Again, in 1811, the ill-fated Tonquin, of the Astor- ian expedition, having sailed into Clayoquot to trade with the people of Wicaninish, was captured by the natives and all her crew murdered. In this case, however, the victims were suddenly and terribly avenged. From the broken account of that grim episode which has survived, it is learned that one of the wounded men took refuge in the hold of the vessel, and there lay unobserved. When, as it had been thought, all had been put to death, the savages began to loot the vessel. They arrived in ever-increasing num- bers and swarmed from bow to stern, until no less than two or three hun- dred were on board. Then a mighty roar, a burst of flame, and the savages were blown to pieces. This story is still told among the Indians of Clayo- quot. It is surmised that the wounded man, knowing he could not escape the fate of his companions, applied a match to the magazine and perished with the savages who had so treacherously slain his comrades. (10) Compare Washington Irving’s Astoria, Ross’ Adventures on the Oregon or Columbia River, and Franchere’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America. [ 52 ] OVERLAND EXPEDITIONS. CHAPTER VII. While British, American, French and Spanish expeditions were explor- ing the littoral, a new force was at work in the interior of the continent. As we know, the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had the Hudson Bay as their American port of entry, for a long time confined their trading opera- tions to the shores of that inland sea, whither the Indians came to the Com- pany’s forts to barter their furs. Thus a century and half before the wheat fields of the Middle West became the granary of the Empire, the route now proposed as one of the outlets for that fertile region was regularly used by the ships of the corporation of Gentlemen Adventurers. Their trade was a lucrative one and under the terms of their Royal charter of 1670 they en- joyed a monopoly of Rupert’s Land. They were not destined, however, to remain unchallenged in the exploitation of that rich field. Not only did the French attack their forts by sea, but traders from the St. Lawrence pene- trated the wilds of their territory overland. As history records, the Veren- dryes, father and three sons, were the first to explore and trade in the far- thest west. They established a fort on the shores of the Lake of the Woods, and one of the sons caught a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains while in the country near the headwaters of the Mississippi. For ten years, from 1832 to 1843, they sought to pierce the western mystery. In 1754 to 1755 An- thony Hendry (or Hendey), a young Hudson’s Bay Company official, reached the Saskatchewan and found on this river the fort built by de la Corne. The year previous, he met two Frenchmen there and exchange cour- tesies. At that time the French traders were operating in this territory, and Hendry’s journal contains many references to their methods. Part of his mis- sion, in addition to spying out the land, was to induce the natives to ex- change their furs at Fort York, in which, however, he was not successful. A quarter of a century later, Jonathan Carver, a son of Connecticut, went into the west by way of Michilimacinac, Green Bay, and the Fox, Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers to San Pierre, where he sojourned for several months. Nothing noteworthy or reliable is to be recorded of his discoveries, except that in his journal he speaks of the “Mountains of Bright Stones” (supposed to be the Rockies) and the “Oregan,” or “River of the West,” traditionary with the natives amongst whom he mingled. “Oregon” was the name given to the territory through which the Columbia River flows to the ocean. One hundred years after receiving their charter, goaded by criticisms of alleged inactivity in exploring the country, and to sufficiently set forth their zeal in the search for the Northwest Passage, which in the charter of 1670 had been specifically included as one of their special responsibilities, the Hudson’s Bay Company commissioned Samuel Hearne to explore the country to the north- ward from Hudson’s Bay. It was he who, in an expedition of two years, ending on June 30th, 1771, in pursuit of this purpose, after arduous at- [ 53 ] tempts, reached the mouth of the Coppermine River, where it embouches into the Arctic Ocean. Gradually, the vast priaries, and the network of rivers and lakes that provided means of communication in the central portion of the continent, be- came known to the fur trader. But in the year 1763 the conspiracy of Pon- tiac and successive Indian wars rendered the central plains unsafe for the peddlers and caused a temporary cessation of the traffic. It was not until about the year 1771 that British traders could enter with safety the territory of the Saskatchewan, on which river the most remote of the old French posts had been built. The subsequent progress of the fur traders may be said to have corresponded with the wishes of the Indians and the success of the first en- terprises. At first, the whole trade was conducted by the unsupported effort of individuals. The trader, wintering with a newly discovered band of In- dians, or in some favorable spot, would hear of tribes still more remote, among whom provisions might be obtained, and trade pursued with little danger of competition. To the hunting grounds of these he would naturally repair, and while he was suffered to remain alone he might obtain furs at a reason- able rate. But, as all men had the right to traffic at any place, the first dis- coverer of an eligible situation generally soon found himself followed by other traders, who were ever ready to reap where they had not sown. In these circumstances, the fur trader, naturally enough, endeavoured by every means in his power to secure to himself the preference of the Indians and thereby to injure his competitor. Thus, in the Indian territory of the West, each man became a law unto himself. As a natural consequence both the Indian and the trader suffered. The natives were bribed with rum, and this traffick- ing in strong spirit soon had a disastrous effect. While this warfare raged, mutual interests suggested the necessity of establishing a common, or co- operative association, as the only means of ending once for all so injurious a competition. About the year 1779 nine distinct interests became parties to an agree- ment for one year, by virtue of which the whole trade was rendered common property. The success which attended this measure led to a second and simi- lar agreement in the succeeding year, and that to a further agreement, which was to last for three years. Thus co-operation gradually became a recog- nized principle among the traders. However, an agreement for a short term was found not to work as well as had been anticipated, chiefly for the rea- son that the members of the association were naturally less anxious to stand by its articles than to prepare themselves for its termination, and the conse- quent return to the old order of things. It seemed almost impossible that out of this chaos of conflicting interests there could be formed in one broth- erhood an association so powerful as to unite the jealous traders. Yet, this was accomplished. In 1784, practically all the factions were united in one great association, which assumed the now historic name, the North West Com- pany. At first the agreement was for five years only, but so effective did it prove in eradicating evils, and so successful were the operations under it, that the association was continued from time to time, until at last a perma- nent organization, although still subject to agreement, became possible (1). No one thing, perhaps, is more significant of the good results that accrued (1) Origin and Progress of the North West Company. London, 1811. from the policy than the fact that the returns of the fur trade increased from thirty thousands pounds sterling in 1784 to one hundred and fifty thousand pounds in 1810 (2). Another conspicuous result was the decrease* in the consumption of spirituous liquors brought about by the amalgamation of the contending forces. In the year 1800, 10,098 gallons were taken into the territory, but in the year 1803 when the North West Company met its strong opposition from independent traders, the consumption increased to 21,- 229 gallons. After the Company had defeated or placated its opponents, the average consumption dropped to 9,700 gallons in the five years ending with 1810. At the outset the Company had an opponent worthy of its steel in the X. Y. Company, formed by certain malcontents who refused to join the larger association. Amongst these was the notorious Peter Pond and the resolute Alexander Mackenzie. The struggle, however, did not last long. In 1787 the two Canadian companies amalgamated. At a later period the X. Y. Company was revived by a few Nor’westers, who had become dissatisfied with the autocratic behaviour of the choleric Simon McTavish, nicknamed by his associates “Le Premier,” or “Le Marquis.” In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie returned to the X. Y. Company, and for several years was the master mind of that organization. Simon McTavish died in 1804 or 1805 and shortly afterwards the X. Y. Company again united with its rival. In the 38 years of its existence, the North West Company revolutionized the trade, consoli- dated its interests and extended its sphere of influence even far beyond the “Mountains of Bright Stones.” At one time the Company possessed more than eighty forts, or trading stations, in the western territories, several of which were west of the Rocky Mountains. The influence of the bourgeois, as the officers of the association were termed, extended from Montreal across the great lakes to the farthermost northern limits of that vast territory which their daring and prowess had brought under their sway. In short, the great central and western regions were their empire and they governed it firmly and on the whole justly. If the North West Company thought that by this union it had once and for ever put an end to internecine warfare, it had reckoned without its host. As the operations of the Nor’westers (as the partners and servants of the Company came to be called) extended farther afield they tapped the very sources of the trade of the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany. It was the masterly policy of the traders of Montreal to establish posts in the most remote territories. The Indians found that it was no longer necessary to make far journeys to dispose of their pelts. They naturally preferred to trade at the nearest fort, rather than to carry their furs to the shores of Hudson’s Bay. Just as soon as this policy was adopted, the trade of the Hudson’s Bay Company declined. For almost a century the adventurers had scarcely moved out of their strongholds on the western shore of Hudson’s Bay. Indeed, heretofore, there had been no occasion for their going to meet the savage in the wilderness. It was hardly to be expected that the directors of the Hudson’s Bay Company would tamely submit to these encroachments on the part of their opponents. The enterprising daring of the United Fur Traders rendered a conflict inevitable. Roused to action, the great chartered company set to work to frustrate the tactics of its opponents. (2) Ibid. [ 55 ] At each advantageous point it built a fort, at first confining its operations to the more northerly part of the field; but finding its trade molested even here it determined to extend its systems of forts over the whole country. This rivalry gave birth to a bitter feud. Wherever a Nor’wester built his rude fort, immediately the Hudson’s Bay Company would plant one nearby. Hence two forts were often erected within sight of each other— a novel sit- uation, of which the Indians took full advantage, by demanding more exorbitant prices for their pelts. Of all things, however, the Indian loved rum the best. As long as one organization controlled the situation the traffic could be conducted without intoxicants ; but so soon as this deadly rivalry was started, rum again became a common article of barter. When hard pushed by an opponent unscrupulous traders did not hesitate to seduce the Indian from his allegiance with liberal potations. Such conditions could not exist without destroying trade. So keen and so bitter was the rivalry, and so in- fatuated became the Indians with the “fire water” of the whites that in a short time whole districts were depleted of fur-bearing animals. In spite of all, the North West Company prospered, for its energetic bourgeois were ever moving the frontier farther west and north and south, reaching terri- tories where the Hudson’s Bay Company hesitated to follow. Before the latter company had occupied the Middle West, its opponents had planted their flag on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. While this civil war, for it was scarcely less, was engrossing the energies and activities of the opposing forces, there were yet men among the traders to whom exploration meant more than gain. The search for the western sea had never been for- gotten or abandoned. In the Northwest was a young man named Alexander Mackenzie (3), a Scotsman of good lineage. He had helped to organize the X. Y. Company, but was now with and for the North West Company. In the latter part of the 18th century he guided the destinies of Fort Chipewyan on Athabaska Lake; though, like Verendrye, he thought more of exploration than sordid traffic. Samuel Hearne’s exploit of twenty years before was to him both an object lesson and an achievement to be emulated. In 1789, therefore, Mac- kenzie set out to follow the northern outlet of Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean. He was fortunately successful; and so another highway — for all rivers were highways to the fur trader — was placed on the map, and knowledge of the geography of the Arctic coast correspondingly increased. In honour of its explorer the river was named Mackenzie. From a western point of view Mackenzie was about to embark upon another and not less important or hazardous enterprise, namely, an overland journey to the Pa- cific Coast. To more thoroughly qualify himself for this he went to London to take a course of study which would enable him to make observations scien- tifically and, in particular, to accurately reckon latitude and longitude. Hav- ing returned to Fort Chipewyan, equipped with a working knowledge of astronomy and surveying, he made preparations for his memorable journey to the far west. He left the fort on October 10th, 1792, and reached his wintering place on the Peace River towards the end of October. Here he severely disciplined the natives, who had prevented the completion of the post in time for his arrival. Such incidents, it may be presumed, were of (3) Born, it is believed, at Inverness about 1755; died at Mulmain, near Dunkeld, March 11th, 1820. common occurrence in the fur territories; yet this scene exhibits in a very in- teresting way the nature of the relations which existed between the natives and the white men at that time. It seems little short of marvellous that a handful of men by cajolery or threats or by a diplomatic admixture of both should be able to preserve their control over the lawless savages, who out- numbered them hundreds to one. In the spring, having dispatched the furs collected during the winter to Fort Chipewyan, he made final preparation for his chef d’ oeuvre. His birch bark canoe, light enough to be portaged by two men for several miles with- out resting, and but 25 feet long, carried 3,000 pounds of provisions, arms, ammunition, baggage, presents for the natives, and a party of Alex. Mac- kenzie and Alex. Mackay, six voyageurs, and two Indians to act as hunters and interpreters. The equipment was slender enough in all conscience, for a project which was attended with hardships and perils greater than those inci- dent to the journey of Lewis and Clark in 1805-7, about which so much has been written. Being the first of its nature in North America it was without, precedent or experience to guide the dauntless explorer in the wilds of the Pacific slope through which he passed. The overland expedition of Lewis and Clark was under government auspices and was splendidly organized and well equipped. On May 9th, 1793, Mackenzie left his winter quarters and in his journal dwells upon the beauty of the scenery. The country had a magnificent park-like appearance, the landscape made animate with herds of buffalo and numerous elk. As the canoe passed up the Peace River, the park-like scenery gave place to rugged and precipitous hills. When the mountain pass was reached the current became wild and tumultuous, the water rushing between rugged hills and steep, high walls of rock. For days beset with almost insuperable difficulties and dangers the party proceeded up the river to the junction of the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers, and up the Par- snip River to the Height of Land, which divided the waters flowing to the Pacific from those flowing to the Atlantic, and thence forward they voyaged with the current. To this point their progress had been one long series of thrilling incidents. From natives they met, who had heard of, but never seen white men before, Mackenzie got a confused account of a river flowing westward to the “stinking lake” and of people who inhabited the interven- ing country. Crossing a chain of lakes the party followed the outlet into the north fork of the Fraser River. This water Mackenzie called “Bad River,” on account of its impeded and difficult navigation. Going down stream was even a more hazardous undertaking than the previous ascent. On June 7th they reached the great river, the Fraser, but might have taken an easier route by way of Pack River, McLeod Lake and Crooked River to Summit Lake, thence by way of Giscome portage to the north fork, some distance below the mouth of the Bad River. On June 18th, the descent of the Fraser was begun, the efforts of the voyageurs lending wings to the little vessel as she swept down the river, and during the course of a day reached the Great Fork, formed by the confluence of the north and south forks of the Fraser. Tete Jaune Cache marks the head of navigation of the southern fork, which is the larger branch. Even in that early day forest fires seem to have devastated the country side, for under the date of June 19th Mackenzie wrote that “clouds of thick smoke rose from the woods that darkened the atmosphere, [67] accompanied with a strong odor of the gum of the cypress and the spruce fir.” The explorer was now in the neighborhood of South Fort George, but he failed to discover the Nechaco River. The explorer’s journal is filled with interesting descriptions and inci- dents, but it is not easy to follow it from point to point. We can, however, identify the characteristic Fort George and Cottonwood canyons, the mouth of the Blackwater passed on June 20th, the site of the present town of Quesnel and that of Alexandria, where Mackenzie decided to abandon the river route and go directly overland to the sea. On the way to this point of divergence he had several risky encounters with natives and just below Ques- nel was successful in establishing friendly relations, by the giving of pres- ents, and in obtaining sufficient information to enable them to pursue their journey by the river which he was told ran for days to the sea. Even at this distance, the tribe (the Carriers) had heard of white men building houses at Nootka and Neah Bay. Mackenzie was warned against the tribes lower down, as well as the dangers of the river and was advised not to proceed. “They represented its current,” Mackenzie wrote, ‘‘to be uniformly strong, and in three places it was altogether impassable, from the falls and rapids, which poured between perpendicular rocks that were so much higher and more rugged than any we had yet seen, and would not admit of any passage over them. But beside the dangers and difficulties of the navigation that we should have to encounter, the inhabitants of the country, who were very numerous, they also represented their immediate neighbors as a very malignant race, who lived in large subterranean recesses and when they were made to under- stand that it was our design to proceed to the sea they dissuaded us from prosecuting our intention, as we should certainly become a sacrifice to the savage spirit of the natives. These people they described as possessing iron arms and utensils which they procured from their neighbours to the westward, and were obtained by a commercial progress from people like ourselves who brought them in great canoes.” (4) This information, alarming as it was, did not alter Mackenzie’s determi- nation to reach the coast. Having persuaded two of the tribe to accompany him as guides and to secure a favourable reception from the tribes below, the expedition started once more on its perilous way. The “malignant race” who lived in subterranean recesses were evidently the Thompson Indians, who dwelt underground in the winter months in their “keekwillee” houses. The territory of this tribe abutted on the Fraser River. In that day there was a very large village at Camchin, now Lytton. In this region many natives were seen, but, although they exhibited the utmost surprise at the appearance of white men, and were frequently hostile, they did not attack the party. Nevertheless, on their account it was necessarjr to proceed with caution, and it was not known at what point Indians of a more savage dis- position might he met. At one point Mackenzie prevailed upon an old man to sketch the river on a large piece of bark. Again it was represented as being extremely rapid with many falls and cascades, some of which were dangerous and others altogether impracticable. The carrying places were of great length passing over rugged hills and mountains. Beyond lay the lands of three tribes speaking different languages. At a great distance, the old (4) Mackenzie’s Voyages, pages 245-6. [ 58 ] chief observed, the river reached the water which the natives did not drink. Another very old man said that as long as he could remember he had heard of white people to the southward and that, although he could not vouch for the truth of the report, one of them in attempting to ascend the river was destroyed. From what he heard, the explorer concluded wrongly, as appeared subsequently, that the river did not enter the ocean to the north of the “River of the West,” as the Columbia generally was called in the days before it was actually discovered. The natives also told of another route to the sea and one more easily followed. It was upon information such as this that Mac- kenzie decided to go overland to the ocean, and here his most serious troubles, which were soon to culminate, began. Throughout the journey to this point, his men at critical stages of misfortune and danger had been at the point of abandoning him and turning back. He had succeeded in one way and an- other — by determined resistance, by diplomacy, cajolery, flattery, promises of reward and jorums of rum — to make his way thus far without desertions. At no time in the whole of his career did the resolute character of Alexander Mackenzie show to better advantage than on this trying occasion. The mutin- ous conduct of his men, the hostility of the savages, and the rugged nature of the country, all conspired to prevent him executing his great project. At a point not far from the place where Alexandria stands today, Mackenzie de- cided to abandon the river and to continue the journey overland. In order to carry out the new design, it was necessary to return to the mouth of the stream that had been noticed on the north bank — the West Road of Mac- kenzie — the Blackwater of today. The men who had but a short time before been in a state of open rebellion, now promised to stand by their leader, whatever might be the consequences, and follow him to the ocean. “At all events, I declared in the most solemn manner,” said Mackenzie on this occa- sion, “that I would not abandon my design of reaching the sea, if I made the attempt alone.” The expedition reached the Blackwater River at ten o’clock on the morn- ing of Wednesday, July 3rd, 1793, and proceeded up this stream in search of the Indian who had promised to guide the party overland to the ocean. The native kept his word and at four in the afternoon joined Mackenzie, who gave him a jacket, a pair of trousers and a handkerchief, “as a reward for his honourable conduct.” On the following day, pemmican, wild rice, Indian corn, gunpowder and a bale of trading articles were hidden in two caches, and the canoe placed bottom upward on a stage and shielded from the rays of the sun with branches of trees. A cache of 90 pounds of pemmican had pre- viously been placed near Quesnel to provide against the emergencies on the return trip. The expedition then started on the last stage of its adventurous journey. Each man carried a pack of ninety pounds and Mackenzie and McKay seventy pounds each, besides their arms and ammunition. Mackenzie also carried his telescope swung across his shoulders, which proved a tremend- ous addition to his burden. A native road, in places quite clearly defined, led to the upper reaches of the Blackwater, and thence westerly through the Chil- cotin country, to the Bella Coola River, called by Mackenzie, Salmon River. It was not until the 17th of July that the eyes of the explorer were gladdened with the sight of an Indian village. Upon their arrival the chief treated the toil-worn men with every consideration, inviting them to his house, [59] where he regaled them with salmon roe and other native delicacies. This place was on the Bella Coola River. From the natives Mackenzie procured two canoes, in which the party once more embarked. The Indians wielded their paddles so dextrously that Mackenzie was led to observe that he had always imagined Canadians to he the “most expert canoe-men in the world, but they are very inferior to these people,'’ as his crew acknowledged. Arriving at a larger village, the party was again most hospitably entertained. Here the explorer learned that ten winters before, the chief had sailed towards the midday sun in his great canoe, with forty of his people, meeting on the ocean two large ships manned by white men, by whom he was kindly received. Mackenzie thought that these might have been the vessels commanded by Capt. Cook. It was evident from their implements of iron and copper and trinkets that these Indians had traded with maritime adventurers. Mackenzie was now within a short distance of the sea and on the nineteenth of July caught a glimpse of the narrow inlet into which the river emptied. On the following day, at an early hour in the morning, he passed the site of what is now Bella Coola and reached Bentinck Arm. At last Alexander Mackenzie had achieved his ambition. He had travelled from the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of the Pacific, and in doing so had explored a territory never before seen by civilized man. He, however, was not content to reach tidal water. He wished to view the ocean itself. He paddled down the long fiord, and then, taking a northwesterly course, reached the entrance of Cascade channel. Here he reached a point where it would appear the obstacles, which he had heretofore surmounted by much resourcefulness, tremendous energy and in- domitable perseverance, became too great for him to overcome. On his way thither, in passing King’s Island, he met three canoes, manned by fifteen men, one of whom related that but a few weeks before boats had visited the bay, filled with white men, and that one of these, whom he called “Macubah,” had fired on him, and another, “Bensins,” had struck him on the back with the flat of his sword. Perhaps by these names the natives meant Vancouver and Menzies, for but a few weeks earlier the boats of the Discovery had ex- plored this inlet. These indignities lankled in the mind of the Indian, who was only too willing to revenge himself on Mackenzie’s party. The natives became very threatening in their attitude and to escape them the party landed at a deserted village and fortified themselves as best they could, suc- ceeding in passing the night in safety. In the morning the demonstrations of hostility on the part of the Indians alarmed the French-Canadians, who be- came panic-stricken and mutinous, and for the first time in his journey Mac- kenzie was forced to give way to them. He was, therefore, compelled to abandon his project and to return to the river he had quitted the day before. Before leaving, the explorer mixed some Vermillion in melted grease and in- scribed in large letters on the southeast face of the rock this brief memorial — “Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.” On that very day, another great explorer, Capt. Geo. Vancouver, was but a short distance away, survey- ing the channel which leads to Observatory Inlet and Portland Canal. Had these two great men met the occasion would indeed have been a memorable one. The return trip was made under circumstances must less perplexing [ 60 ] than those which had beset him on his way westward, although more strenu- ous than most leaders of expeditions would have cared to face. He had the willing co-operation of his men to assist him; but until, on the 26th of July, when he again reached Friendly Village, he was in imminent danger. The natives who had before appeared friendly, showed every indication of hostility. From this point the explorer retraced his steps with great speed and on Saturday, August 24th, after an absence of three and one-half months, he reached Fort York, where he had spent the preceding winter. The account of the first overland journey to the Pacific may well close with the last entry in the great explorer’s journal: “Here my voyages of discovery terminate. Their toils and their dangers, their solicitudes and sufferings, have not been exaggerated in my descriptions. On the contrary, in many instances, lan- guage has failed in the attempt to describe them. I received, however, the reward of my labours, for they were crowned with success.” Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to find a pass through the Rocky Mountains; he was the first to see the noble stream, which, from its source in the heart of the great Cordilleran range, flows into the Gulf of Georgia, after a devious course of seven hundred miles, and the first to em- bark upon its tumultous current; he was the first to reach the waters of the Pacific overland. His achievements have given him enduring fame. No one explorer, in a few short months, accomplished more than did this imperturb- able man, who linked together the known and the unknown, and gave the world the first glimpse of the vast inland territory which now comprises the Province of British Columbia (5). We have now reached a point where the situation presents a new out- look. In previous chapters there has been an endeavour to show how con- tending forces operated to secure control of the north Pacific Ocean, with an ultimate view to the territorial occupation of its coast line and with an ever present object of exploiting its wealth of furs — Spain from the south, Russia from the north and Great Britain and the United States as inter- mediate rivals. Now the contest was to centre upon the fur-bearing possi- bilities of the great western interior, extending indefinitely from the Arctic circle to Mexico and from the great lakes and the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. The United States, after the acquisition of Louisiana, sent in 1805-7, the celebrated Lewis and Clark expedition, by way of the Missouri, Snake and Columbia rivers, to the ocean to spy out the land. That was the sec- ond overland journey. Beyond the discoveries Mackenzie and Clark had made up to the date of the latter’s expedition, nothing, absolutely nothing, was known of the vast Cordilleran region extending from Spanish domain on the south to the extreme north. This territory which we now designate^ the Pacific slope of North America was a terra incognita, whose wonders in mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, valleys and canyons had not been conceived of in any degree, except in so far as they may have been suggested by the experiences of Spanish adventurers in quest of wealth and wonders. Even in traditionary Indian lore, this vast territory, this region of furs referred to here, was not invested with such marvels as the Fountain of Youth of Flor-> (5) Subsequently, Mackenzie appears to have devoted himself to the fur trade and to have amassed considerable wealth. In 1801 he published the narrative of his explorations. On February 10th, 1802, he was knighted by King George III. in recognition of his distinguished services in the cause of geo- graphical science. He married a Miss Mackenzie in 1812 and settled at Avoch in Rosshire. He died at Mulmain, near Dunkeld, March 11th, 1820, after a long and honourable career. [61] ida, the Isle of the Amazons of Mexico, the Seven Cities of Cibola, or the Gran Quivira of Texas. Regarding the country west of the plains the world had but heard of the “River of the West’’ and the “Shining Moun- tains” or the “Mountains of Bright Stones.” David Thompson, astronomer and fur trader, to whose exploits reference will be made later, about 1806 reached the foothills of the Rockies and explored the Bow River Pass, and we have now reached the period when the North West Company of Mont- real and John Jacob Astor of New York were formulating plans and ac- quiring knowledge of the west from north to south for the purpose of exploit- ing it on a magnificent commercial scale. Mackenzie, Thompson, Lewis and Clark, Simon Fraser and the members of the Astor expedition were, so to speak, thrown out as advance agents. They were parts of machinery de- signed in one way or another to reconnoitre in an unknown field. We have seen how the rival fur traders in British territory fought each other and how from conflicting interests they were by elimination and combination reduced to two — the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company. It is no part of the story of this volume to dwell upon the bitter feud subse- quently waged in the Middle West between these two companies; how that feud acquired almost the proportions of civil war; how blood was shed at Fort Douglas in 1816 and Governor Semple was murdered; how many crimes were perpetrated against the persons and property of each company by the other; how the Indian tribes were demoralized by the traffic in liquor to se- cure their trade; and how finally in 1821 the logical conclusion of this state of affairs was amalgamation, to conserve the furs, and to prevent the ruin of both companies. These things in the main are only incidental to the pur- pose of this narrative; but they undoubtedly were among the factors which stimulated the more enterprising of these companies to reach out westward in advance of the Hudson’s Bay Company. There was, however, another factor in the situation. John Jacob Astor, the progenitor of the present Astor family of New York, was then found- ing his fortunes as fur trader, and having made up his mind to form a com- pany that would exploit Louisiana and the Oregon and California terri- tories on lines similar to those of the North West Company, and having acquired all the information possible as to the policy and methods of the lat- ter, he decided to follow the route taken by Lewis and Clark and establish a northwest depot at the mouth of the Columbia River and a long line of posts in the interior, tributary to it. Astoria, the name of this new estab- lishment, was to be the depot for all the furs collected by sea and land on the Pacific coast and to this point ships from New York would bring sup- plies, and from it convey the furs collected as return cargo, a plan similar to that adopted by the Hudson’s Bay Company at York Factory on Hud- son Bay and subsequently at Fort Vancouver. Astor’s plans became well known to the partners of the North West Company and their object was to forestall him on the Pacific coast. As a matter of fact, it had been part of their plans to ultimately include in their operations the entire area of western North America and the effect of threatened rivalry simply stimu- lated their efforts and hurried on what they had in view. The discoveries made by Alexander Mackenzie had not immediately been taken advantage of. The North West Company had been forced by the exigencies of the [62] traffic to confine their energies to the country east of the Rockies. It was left to another to complete the work Mackenzie began. It was for him to spy out the land; it was for Simon Fraser to occupy it. As has been intimated, the proposed enterprise of John Jacob Astor which took concrete form under the name of the Pacific Fur Company did not escape the ken of the alert part- ners at Fort William. It was decided at once to occupy the country be- yond the Rockies. This decision was reached in the great council hall of the North West Company at Fort William early in 1805. For their purpose, the partners selected a young trader — a bourgeois of three years’ standing — by name Simon Fraser (6). In August, 1805, Simon Fraser left Fort William, and, following the usual route of the fur trader, he arrived at a point on the Peace River, which he named Rocky Mountain Portage, at the eastern end of which he established a rude post named Rocky Mountain House — not far from the Hudson’s Hope of modern maps. He had deter- mined to follow Mackenzie’s track through the Peace River pass, to the coun- try abounding in beaver beyond. In the autumn of the year, having estab- lished his base at Rocky Mountain Portage, he ascended the Peace and Pars- nip rivers, to the point where the Pack River empties into the latter. Simon Fraser followed the Pack to McLeod Lake, where he established the first post ever built in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. Mc- Leod Lake had been discovered earlier in the year by James McDougall. Fraser wintered at Rocky Mountain House in company with John Stuart, his able lieutenant and warm friend. Their journals here and during their resi- dence in the country, testify to the privations they suffered and to what shifts they were put at times. The historian may marvel at the intrepidity and re- sourcefulness of these fur traders, but with these men it was taken as a mat- ter of course. In the following May, Fraser gathered his small force to- gether for a more extensive exploration. He visited Fort McLeod, de<- scended the Pack and proceeded up the Parsnip, until he reached the Height of Land. Then having crossed the portages and lakes discovered by Macken- zie he embarked upon the Bad River. On July 10, 1806, he reached the great river, called by the natives “Tacoutche Tesse,” the north fork of the Fraser River, thought by both Mackenzie and Fraser to have been the Colum- bia. Simon Fraser voyaged to the mouth of the Nechaco and ascended that stream to the confluence of the rivers which drain respectively Lakes Stuart and Fraser. Here the explorer met for the first time men of the Carrier nation. Father Morice in his “History of the Northern Interior of British Columbia” gives a most interesting account of his reception by the natives and the mystery which seemed attached to the white men in their eyes. (6) Simon Fraser came of good stock. His grandfather was a Scotchman, William Fraser of Cul- bochie of Kilbochie, and his grandmother, Margaret Macdonell of Glengarry. William Fraser had nine sons, six of whom wore His Majesty’s uniform in the army. Of the others, William the eldest, suc- ceeded to his father’s estates; Simon, the second, emigrated to America with his wife, settling near Ben- nington, in Vermont. This was in 1773, when the colonies were already in a state of incipient rebellion. Here Simon, the explorer, was born in 1776. When the revolutionary war broke out, Simon Fraser, the elder, joined the loyal forces and being captured, probably at the battle of Bennington, was thrown into prison, where he contracted a fever, from which he died shortly after his release. He left his wife with nine children to fight their own way in the world. After the declaration of peace, the widow at that time in very straightened circumstances, went to Canada, eventually settling at St. Andrews, on the Ottawa river. The Ottawa was the broadway of the fur traders who passed to and from the west and it is not unlikely that his imagination was stirred by the sights and sounds of voyageur life and his after course shaped by his youthful experiences. At all events, after a term in school at Montreal in 1792, at the age of sixteen, he became an articled clerk of the North West Co., possibly through the in- fluence of his uncle John, who served with Wolfe in the capture of Quebec, and afterwards settled in Canada and achieved distinction as a jurist. In the service of the company Simon won his spurs, and at the age of 26 became a bourgeois, or partner, a distinction only accorded to men who have proved their worth. [ 63 ] Kwah, about whom Father Morice tells us so much, was their chief. With- out delay a favourable location was selected above the outlet of the lake for the founding of the celebrated Fort St. James, a place which has figured so prominently in the history of New Caledonia, the designation of the new territory invaded by the North West Company, of rather vague boundaries. On account of shortage of supplies, Fraser despatched a party under John Stuart to reconnoitre south and east, while he proceeded with the construe-* tion of the new fort and examined the adjacent country, gaining all the knowl- edge possible from all sources. It had been agreed between Fraser and Stuart before separating that they should meet later in the season at the confluence of the Stuart and Nechaco rivers. From this point Fraser wrote a long letter to the company headquarters, giving a full account of the sit- uation and of his impressions. This and several letters written to his friend Stuart and to J. McDougall, the manuscripts of which are in the British Columbia Archives, are of the most interesting possible character, and only limitations of space prevent their being printed in full. They give an un- affected description of the country and the natives, of the beginnings of the fur trade and the difficulties and privations incident to its operations, and in addition throw most important sidelights on the man himself, who was a plain, blunt man, who never minced matters in expressing his views and who wrote without literary embellishments. It is evident from his correspondence that he wished to follow the course of the Fraser in 1806 and 1807, but could not carry out his plans, because supplies and reinforcements did not arrive in time, a circumstance due to the tedious and difficult routes by which they travelled to these remote posts. In 1807, he journeyed to and fro in New Caledonia, gathering furs, and establishing friendly relations with the “Sweet- mouths, thieves and lyers,” as he described the Indians of that country. In the autumn of 1807, Jules Maurice and Hugh Faries arrived with two canoes laden with supplies and instructions to Fraser without loss of time to explore the great river. With the aid of reinforcements, he planted another post at the confluence of the Nechaco and Fraser, which he called Fort George. The partners were anxious to forestall the Pacific Fur Com- pany at the mouth of the Columbia, and it was not known then that the Fraser, which the explorer was to descend, was not the latter, a fact which it was left for Fraser to determine at great risk and hardship to himself and party. In May, 1808, he gathered his men at Fort George for the voyage. In his journal of May 22nd, he writes: “Having made every necessary prep- aration for a long voyage, we embarked at 5 a. m. in four canoes at Fraser’s River. Our crew consisted of nineteen men, two Indians, Mr. Stuart, Mr. Quesnel, and myself, in all 24,” being the simple and unaffected introduction to a most remarkable and heroic enterprise, after the manner of such men. The diary of that memorable journey down the Fraser has been preserved and has been published in a carefully edited form by Masson in his “Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest.” A literal transcript is in the Bancroft Library collection in the California University. It would appear from this, if there is not a misprint of dates, that from May 22nd to May 29th, not more than a day’s journey was accomplished. At the very outset he met with an accident in running the Fort George canyon, one of the canoes striking a precipice. The damage was slight, and after that it was [64] “fine going” as far as Cottonwood canyon, through which the lightened canoes ran with much risk. At sunset, they camped at the mouth of the Quesnel River named after Jules Maurice Quesnel. Fraser seems to have been greatly impressed with the appearance of the country in this vicinity, remarking on its “romantic and pleasant appearance.” On May 30th, he landed at a large house near Soda Creek, where the natives told him it would be dangerous to proceed “before his intention was publicly known throughout the country” and, consequently, he remained a day in order that couriers might be dispatched below. The natives interviewed were friendly disposed, and the effect of a discharge of firearms no doubt did something to impress them with fear of the white man. They advised Fraser to take great care in approaching villages not to surprise the inhabitants, lest through fear he might be attacked, advice he sedulously followed. He never failed to induce men of one tribe to introduce him to the next. He was also ad- vised not to proceed further. Below Soda Creek the difficulties commenced in earnest. From that place to Gillooet in high water the river is little more than a series of turbulent rapids while the adjacent country is rugged in the extreme. Forbidding mountains barred progress by land and narrow can- yons, walled in by beetling rocks, seemed to render navigation impossible. Contrary to all advice, however, Fraser determined to proceed by the river to the sea. Almost hourly they incurred the hazard of their lives either from the raging flood of water or the treachery of natives. It was also necessary to cache provisions at various points in order to provide against future con- tingencies. Fraser was diplomatic in his relations with the natives and was able to obtain their co-operation as a rule, and was materially assisted by their advice and information. Everywhere he was warned of the dangers farther on, which he learned by experience were not exaggerated. On June 1st, Fraser reached a place, where for two miles the river boiled and foamed between “high banks which contracted the channel in many places to forty or fifty yards.” The passage through and along this water was a most thrilling episode (7). They were obliged at the risk of being hurled into eternity every moment to proceed carefully along the banks. Proceeding alternately by land and water, the party came to the Great Canyon, near Kelly creek. They were all arrayed in their finest regalia to impress the natives who were to meet them there. Here it was found impossible, as the native had stated, to carry the canoes, so it was determined to risk all on the tide. The passage of this canyon was perilous and highly dramatic (8). After a breathing (7) “Nevertheless, since it was considered next to impossible to carry the canoes across the land on account of the height and steepness of the hills, it was resolved to venture down the dangerous pass.” (Five of the most experienced men were ordered into a canoe, and in a moment it was under way.) “After passing the first cascade she lost her course and was drawn down into the eddy where she was swirled about for a considerable time, seemingly in suspense whether to sink or swim, the men having no power over her. However, she took a favourable turn and by degrees was led from this dan- gerous vortex again to the stream. In this manner she continued flying from one danger to another until the last cascade but one, where, in spite of every effort, the whirlpool forced her against a low, projecting rock; upon this the men debarked, saved their own lives and contrived to save the property, but the greatest difficulty was still ahead, and to continue by water would be the way to certain de- struction.”- — Simon Fraser’s Journal. (8) “Here, the channel contracts to about 40 yards, and is enclosed by two precipices of immense height, which, bending towards each other, make it narrower above than below. The water which rolls down this extraordinary passage in tumultous waves and with great velocity, had a frightful appear- ance. However, it being absolutely impossible to carry the canoes by land, all hands without hesitation embarked as it were a corps perdu upon the mercy of this awful tide. Once engaged, the die was cast; our great difficulty consisted in keeping the canoes within the medium or fil d’eau, that is, clear of the precipice on the one side and from the gulf formed by the waves on the other. Thus skimming along as fast as lightning, the crews, cool and determined, followed each other in awful silence, and when we arrived at the end, we stood staring at each other in silent congratulation at our narrow escape from total destruction.” — Simon Fraser’s Journal. [ 65 ] spell, Fraser proceeded to an Indian camp, where the river below was repre- sented as “a chain of insurmountable difficulties.” Nothing daunted, and with an Indian as a pilot, Fraser went on surmounting similar obstacles, until on the 9th of June it was borne in upon him that further progress by water was impossible, and it was decided to proceed by land. A scaffold was built at Pavilion Creek, and upon it the canoes were placed, covered with branches of trees, and a number of articles were cached. The canoes, it may be re- marked, were of the birch bark variety, while those of the Fraser River In- dians were dugouts, of cottonwood or cedar. The explorer was now in the land of the Lillooets, by whom he was re- ceived with welcome and treated kindly. One of the old men told him that he had been at the “stinking lake,” where he had seen “great canoes.” Here during the night he was deserted by three friendly Indians, who had accom- panied him since May 31st, the result of an altercation with some Indians the previous day. Lillooet was reached on the 15th of June, and here, by dint of much haggling and barter, a canoe was obtained. Four days later the expedi- tion entered the territory of the Thompson River Indians, who, handsomely dressed in leather and possessing many horses, greatly impressed Fraser. Of all the villages visited on this occasion, scarcely any were without articles of European manufacture, showing inter-tribal communication with the coast In- dians. On June 19th, Fraser visited the great village at the junction of the Fraser and Thompson rivers, called then “Camchin,” where the town of Lytton now stands. Here the Indians were friendly and apparently kindly disposed, but Fraser was inclined to doubt their sincerity. Before leaving Camchin, the explorer named the river joining the Fraser the Thompson, in honour of the astronomer and fur trader of the North West Company. The party again embarked on the Fraser, having obtained two canoes from the Thompson River Indians. As every traveller on the Canadian Pacific Railway knows, the Fraser River canyon between Lytton and Yale affords scenery of the grandest character, and that on account of its magnificent rug- gedness. In flood time the effect is greatly enhanced as well as the danger of navigation. The track of the explorer lay directly through this region of wild grandeur and Titanic upheaval. Consequently, the experiences of the party may be in some measure imagined, though they cannot be adequately described. The obstacles in places were appalling. At Jackass Mountain the men were forced to carry their canoes over that steep eminence, every step involved in peril. All along Indians had foregathered to catch salmon. The stages for this purpose are still familiar sights, and judging from his re- marks the Indian population must have been very large. Everywhere he was treated with kindness and hospitality ; and on several occasions rendered valu- ble assistance. The chief of the Camchin Indians, for whom Fraser ex- pressed the highest regard, left him here and was rewarded with a present of a large silver brooch. Fraser’s description for the distance referred to is a repetition of tremendous obstacles overcome. In some places they were drawn up cliffs by ropes and then clambered along the ledges. In other places they had to climb ladders constructed by Indians, some of which were still in existence at the time of the construction of the C. P. R. In all his mountain experience Fraser had never, seen anything so wild or “impossible” as what he saw in this portion of his trip. Spuzzum was reached on June [ 66 ] 27th, and the party was entertained by the Indians. In his journal Fraser speaks of the Indian burial ground, regarding which he said that “the tombs were superior to anything of the kind I saw among the savages.” Here he entered upon the territory of another Indian nation, different in speech and manners from the Thompsons, distinguished for their fine blankets woven from the hair of the wild goat or a white dog bred for the purpose. Eight days from Lytton, they arrived at an Indian camp situated about where the town of Yale is today. With some difficulty Fraser obtained canoes to con- tinue the voyage by water, and as they proceeded the river widened out and they came into the lower Fraser delta, with an unobstructed passage to the sea. Noble forests stood on either bank, meadows stretched away back from the river, seals were observed, Sumas Mountain loomed up, mosquitoes were in clouds, Queen’s Reach was penetrated, and the eminence upon which New Westminster stands — then pine clad — was passed. Here the river divided into several channels, and the explorer followed the North Arm, and was at last rewarded with a view of the Gulf of Georgia. Shortly after leav- ing the broad expanse of water above Lulu Island he was confronted with perhaps the most serious obstacle of his hazardous voyage. Indians in a hos- tile mood, singing their war songs, pursued them in a canoe. They landed at an Indian village, which Fraser called “Misquiame,” and doubtless Mus-i queam of today. After examining the village, almost deserted for the time being, they returned to find their canoe high and dry on the beach, the tide having ebbed. While launching their canoe again, natives made their appear- ance from all directions, brandishing their war clubs; but the party escaped just in time. At this point he was compelled to turn back most regretfully, the hostility of the natives and the lack of supplies making further progress impossible. On July 2nd, Fraser saw the Gulf of Georgia, and ascertained from its latitude that it debouched nearty three degrees north of the Colum- bia, the real object of his memorable mission. There has been a good deal of doubt expressed as to Fraser having reached the village just mentioned, but there can be very little doubt of it. Having accomplished his purpose, the leader of the expedition started on his long journey back to the northern interior. His difficulties were by no means over, however. Until he reached the territory of the friendly natives, he was constantly harassed by the natives whose purpose was to annihilate the party. So serious was his situation and so overworked by fear were the members of his crew that, on the 6th of July, they mutinied and threatened to desert in a body. After much persuasion and appeals to their loyalty, disci- pline and good feeling were restored and the journey continued. When they appeared among the friendly Indians again great surprise was expressed, as it was considered certain they would have been murdered to a man by the war- like and cruel Cowichans. While thirty-five days were consumed in descend- ing the river, the ascent was made int thirty-four. The journey ended at Fort George on the 6th of August. Such was the nature of Simon Fraser’s great achievement. He was the first European to establish posts in the in- terior of the territory lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and these posts have existed to this day. The scene of his activities in the interior includes a wide area which now, over a hundred years later, is about to be developed on a remarkable scale, and the name of Simon Fraser as the stalwart pathfinder [67] and pioneer of pioneers must ever be held in respect, as his deeds will ever be commemorated in the names of Fraser Lake, and the Fraser River, waters worthy of the man whose patronymic they bear ( 9 ) . (9) Simon Fraser did not long remain in New Caledonia after his exploration of the river to which he gave his name. He was given charge of a district in Athabasca as a reward for his services. In 1811 he was at Red River, and two years later on the Mackenzie. In 1816 he was at Fort William when that post was taken by the Earl of Selkirk, against whom the North West Co. had waged relentless war. It has been said that he refused a knighthood as a recognition of his services, but there is no authentic record or proof of the statement. He married a daughter of Captain Alan MacDonnell of Matilda, On- tario, and seems to have retired from active service at the time of the union of the two fur companies in 1821. He spent his declining years at St. Andrew's, the home of his boyhood, where he lived for many years, a highly respected member of the community. He died on the 19th of April, 1862, his wife sur- viving him only a few hours. They were buried in the same grave on the same day. [ 68 ] THE ERA OF THE FUR-TRADER. CHAPTER VIII. The occupation of New Caledonia by Simon Fraser, although his own efforts had been disappointing as to results, was in reality a very important event in the affairs of the North West Company, and indirectly so, as far as the affairs of the whole fur-trading fraternity were concerned. When it is stated that the efforts of Simon Fraser were disappointing, it is true . They were disappointing not only to the company of which he was a partner, but more particularly to himself ; but he was the victim of a misconception. His mission to the West was not merely to establish posts on the Pacific slope, but to anticipate the designs of Astor at the mouth of the Columbia River. Alexander Mackenzie believed, the partners of the North West Com- pany believed, and Simon Fraser believed that the river he was to explore to the ocean was the Columbia. The reports of the Lewis and Clark expedi- tion had not then been published and there was no means of knowing where the sources of the Columbia were. Simon Fraser’s exploits were none the less heroic, none the less remarkable, none the less important ; but the Fraser was not the Columbia and the North West Company did not forestall the Pacific Fur Company. Nevertheless, he was the voice crying in the wilder- ness and he prepared the way for the fur-trading era on the Northwest Pa- cific slope, which for fifty years embodied practically the whole of its his- tory. The northern interior of British Columbia, or rather what was de- nominated New Caledonia, possessed many tribes of Indians and a numer- ous population and proved to be ri(fh in furs. This fruitful territory wa9 gradually extended to the north and south and finally constituted that ivi- perium in imperio — the western department of the Hudson’s Bay Company — a million square miles or more in extent. As we know, that vast territory today, long after peltries ceased to be an appreciable asset, is one of the principal assets of North America in its natural resources and economic de- velopment. It is a territory of great riches, of unparalleled scenic attrac- tions, and splendid climate. Its progress within the fifty years succeeding the fur-trading era is the most remarkable in history. So much for that. We shall now proceed to deal with the subject immediately in hand. Simon Fraser founded Fort McLeod, Fort St. James, Fort Fraser and Fort George and explored a great deal of the country in their immediate vicinities ; then he left the field to worthy successors, with some of whom we shall deal. The sites of the trading posts were carefully selected, generally, if not always, on a navigable stream or lake, and invariably at a point where the natives were accustomed to congregate, or which they might easily reach. The places were selected for no other purpose than the gathering of furs. This as d proposition was true of the entire fur-bearing areas. New Caledonia, in particular, had many lakes and waterways, and, as before stated, many Indians. It had a good deal of game, but for purposes of daily diet the salmon was the staple. The fur-bearing animals were the black and grizzly [ 69 ] bears, the beaver, foxes of different colours, the marten, and fisher, the otter and the mink. As for the Indians, while, as a rule tractable, they were not good hunters. That is to say, they were inclined to be lazy, and if we are to judge by the opinion of the traders the latter were not particularly enam- ored of them. Of course, each tribe varied in its characteristics. When Simon Fraser retired from New Caledonia, he was succeeded by John Stuart, the friend and companion of Fraser. He assumed charge in 1809, and did not relinquish his post until 1825. He did not appear to have liked his position, but was a faithful and highly capable official. It was said that he was querulous and exacting, if not pedantic, but his relations with his subordinates seemed to have been very cordial. John M. McLeod said of him: “On the whole he is a good man but a person would have to be pos- sessed of the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon to agree with him on all subjects.” Daniel William Harmon, a pious but shrewd American from Connecticut, in the service of the North West Company, joined him as lieutenant in 1810, and the relations of these two men seemed to have been cordial throughout. Harmon was quite a remarkable man, a keen and in- telligent observer, pious and humane, modest but firm. He was one of the few traders who carried his religious principles into the wilds and daily practiced what he professed. The general consensus of opinion regarding the furtrader is that he was a blunt, hard-living man— a creature of the extraor- dinary conditions which surrounded him, and, so to speak, gave him being — a man wedded to duty, hardship and danger, and, perhaps, rather given to licen- tiousness. This one man upset all such conclusions. He set apart the first day of eaeli month to prayer and meditation, and his journal is full of pious refer- ences. A modern Pepys, he kept a private journal in which from day to day he jotted down his impressions of men and things and the happenings of the post. This journal was published after he retired from New Caledonia, and to it we owe our knowledge of the early history of that country, and without which a great deal of what we know about that period would have been a blank. He had previously been at Dun vegan and joined Stuart’s ingoing brigade in 1810 and they travelled together as far as Fort McLeod, where Stuart remained and Harmon with thirteen men went on to Stuart’s Lake to take charge of the post there. Stuart, as bourgeois, was the overlord of the district, and pre- ferred Fort McLeod as his residence. James McDougall was in charge there. The latter had been rebuked by, and was rather in disfavour with, Simon Fraser, but Harmon and Stuart both spoke highly of him, so that whatever his faults were, he had evidently retrieved his reputation. Har- mon was stationed at Stuart’s Lake, which was then an important post, and J. M. Quesnel at Fraser Lake, whither he had been sent to re-establish it after destruction by fire. Two clerks, Faries and McLeod, were also at- tached to the district, but their exact location is not known. Faries may still have been in charge of Fort George. Life in those distant posts was very monotonous, when not relieved by hazardous enterprise or of the fear of In- dian conspiracy, or by long journeys from one post to the other, or by the annual New Year’s celebration. Existence was also often precarious when the salmon failed to appear, the men sometimes being reduced to subsist on ber- ries and roots. In November, 1812, the garrison of Fort St. James con- sisted of “twenty-one labouring men, one interpreter, and five women, besides children,” so that even at that day the establishment at Stuart Lake had as- sumed respectable proportions. Harmon lived nine years in New Caledonia — 1810 to 1819 — and his diary is a complete encyclopedia of that period in regard to fort life, the natives, the country and the conditions of the trade. Shortly after his arrival at Fort St. James, which, by the way, was not so named until many years after, Harmon visited the post at Fraser Lake and here he spent the first day of the New Year (1811). His entry of that date throws a sidelight on one of the social conventions of the life of the day. On special occasions, for instance, after a long and difficult journey, or upon a recognized holiday, the servants of the company were treated to what was commonly called a regale, which was neither more or less than a plentiful supply of spirits, generally in the form of rum. New Year’s day was the day above all others set apart for relaxation and mirth. Drinking and dancing and, it must be added, fight- ing — for such convivial gatherings frequently ended in a general melee — were the favourite amusements of the light-hearted engage, who for the time being threw care to the winds and drowned the memory of his hardships in heroic libations. The journals and letters of the fur traders generally con- tain many references to such orgies, which were taken as a matter of course and of custom (1). By means of such information we can catch a glimpse of the furtrader at play. His feastings and merry-makings, however, were few and far between. His days were generally spent in toil. It was the first duty of the bourgeois to get furs. His usefulness was judged by the measure of his peltries, and his promotion depended upon his ability to in- duce the native hunters to bring in beaver. There was a good deal of diffi- culty in getting the Indians in this district to work, because, as has been stated, the Carriers were inclined to be indolent. Notwithstanding all the difficulties of the situation the returns from New Caledonia were large, and as the years went on the natives became more tractable. Reference has already been made to the precarious position of the early furtrader in the New Caledonia district in regard to food, and it was a difficult matter al- ways to find provisions for the posts. All the establishments were held to be self-supporting, that is to say, no supplies other than the goods needed for the trade came in from the outside, with the exception of small allowances of such simple luxuries as tea, sugar, salt, pepper, and perhaps a little flour. Ardent spirits, of course, both for the men and the trade, were also supplied. The inaccessibility of New Caledonia and the tedious and dangerous route by which it was reached prohibited the ingoing brigades from carrying any- thing but bare necessities. All the supplies came from Montreal and a (1) “This being the first day of another year, our people have passed it, according to the custom of Canadians, in drinking and fighting. Some of the principal Indians of this place desired us to allow them to remain at the fort, that they might see our people drink. As soon as they began to be a little in- toxicated, and to quarrel among themselves, the natives began to be apprehensive, that something un- pleasant might befall them, also. They therefore hid themselves under beds, and elsewhere, saying that they thought the white people had run mad, for they appeared not to know what they were about. They perceived that those who were the most excited in the early part of the day, became the more quiet in the latter part, in view of which they exclaimed, ‘The senses of the white people have returned to them again,’ and they appeared not a little surprised at the change; for, it was the first time they had ever seen a person intoxicated.” — Harmon’s Journal. There is a sequel to this story. New Tear’s day, 1812, was observed with the usual honors at Fort St. James. This time the Indians were admitted to the feast, but apparently had profited by their ex- perience of the previous year at Fraser lake. After the banquet in the common hall the host “invited several of the Sicauny (Sekanais) and Carrier chiefs, and most respectable men, to partake of the pro- visions we had left; and I was surprised to see them behave with much decency, while eating, and while drinking a flagon or two of spirits. After they had finished their repast, they smoked their pipes, and conversed rationally, on the great difference which there is between the manners of the white man and those of the savages. They readily conceded that ours are superior to theirs.”— Harmon's Journal. [71] year might be consumed in transporting them across the continent. At Montreal the outfits for the posts of the western frontier were made up into suitable packages and addressed — each being marked for its particular desti- nation — thence the heavy brigades carried them to Fort William, where stood the great council chamber of the mighty Northwesters. At Fort William bales and packages were again assorted and distributed among the light brigades destined for the farthermost parts of the wild countries of the north and west. The assortment of wares and supplies assigned to New Caledonia was taken to Fort Chipewyan, on Lake Athabaska. To this point came the bourgeois, or superintendent of the district, with his bale of furs, the product of his season’s bartering, there to exchange them for meagre supplies. It is hard to say what was allotted to New, Caledonia in the days of the North West Company, as the records are not available, but the minutes of council for the Council held at Norway House in 1825 show the outfit for that year to have been “108 ps. in 6 canoes wh 32 men, guide included.” It must have been very much less in the earlier days. The route to New Caledonia followed the Peace River, Parsnip River, and Pack River to McLeod Lake, often called Trout Lake in the earlier rec- ords of the district. Thence a rough trail, about ninety miles in length, fol- lowed an old Indian path to Fort St. James, which in after years became the capital of New Caledonia. For a time there was no other route to and from the Rocky Mountains. It was not long, however, before the road by the Yellowhead Pass, Tete Jaune Cache and the main fork of the Fraser was discovered and more or less frequently used, especially by the expeditions despatched for leather, which article, not being produced in sufficient quan- tities locally, had to he brought in from the outside. Tete Jaune Cache, as the name implies, was named after a yellow-haired trapper who plied his call- ing in that neighborhood and hid his furs and supplies at the head of the navigable part of the main branch of the Fraser River, which finds its source in Cowdung Lake. The dressed leather and rawhide carried to Fort St. James by this roundabout way were used for mocassins, snowshoes, thongs for baling furs, etc. Each autumn John Stuart would collect his furs at Fort McLeod— packs from Stuart Lake, Fraser Lake, and Fort George at the mouth of the Nechaco River, swelled the returns of that post. The peltries were made up into convenient bales, of which there might be a hundred or more, each weighing ninety pounds and each containing from fifty to sixty beaver, or a lesser number of large pelts. Then the head of the district would marshal his little brigade, and, with his precious bales, set off on his long and ardu- ous journey to Fort Chipewyan, where he would spend a few days before embarking upon his homeward voyage with his supplies for the following year. Gathering stores, exchanging blankets, axes, gewgaws and such sim- ple things for furs, foiling the machinations of the natives, preserving a semblance of law and order, taking out the returns and bringing in supplies — this was the order of the year’s work in New Caledonia, as in all other places where the Nor’westers had planted their flag. The beaver was the best known and the staple fur. The beaver skin was the current coin of the fur traders’ realm and the standard of all exchange. There was something in the life which attached the trader to the calling. Usually he took to himself a [72] Metis or a full-blooded woman as wife in the unconventional way. Even the good Harmon had married after the fashion of the country a beautiful Metis girl, who bore him fourteen children, to whom be said to his credit he was ever loyal and took her with him when he left the country. While there were others equally loyal, there were many who looked upon the marriage a la mode as one of convenience only and left wives and families in the country when they returned to eastern Canada ( 2 ) . Because the tedious and difficult approach to New Caledonia presented sq many obstacles to communication in so promising a district, it soon became apparent that the demands of the western territory would have to be met from some other and more accessible quarter. By this time — 1812-13 — the Columbia River had already become famous and attention was naturally turned in that direction in order to solve the problem. John Stuart had been instructed while at Fort Chipewyan in regard to an expedition to in- vestigate a route. There is very littjle information available in respect to the undertaking or its carrying out, except what appears in Harmon’s jour- nal and that is meagre enough. In the course of the winter Harmon visited “Rocky Mountain Portage Fort” (where W. R. McLeod lived and ruled) and his old station, Dunvegan. Reaching Fort Stuart on the 4th of April, 1813, he found his superior preparing to leave for the Columbia. On May 13th, Stuart and six Canadians and two natives in two canoes embarked for the journey. According to Harmon, they were going to meet J. G. Mc- Tavish and his company, at some place on the Columbia and to procqed to the ocean. The object is set forth in the statement — “Should Mr. Stuart be so successful as to discover a water communication betwen this and the Co- lumbia, we shall for the future obtain our yearly supply of goods by that route and send our returns out that w,ay, to be shipped directly for China, in vessels the company, in that case, assign to build on the Northwest Coast.” From this statement it would appear that the North West Company had large projects in view. Just what route Stuart took is uncertain, but it is probable that he descended the Fraser to a point in the vicinity of Alex- andria or Soda Creek and then went overland to Okanagan, as one of his let- ters is dated from the latter place. In any event Stuart reached the lower Columbia in time to take part in the stirring events leading up to the sur- render of Astoria by John Jacob Astor’s agents to the representatives of the North West Company. He seems to have stayed on the Columbia for two years. With the other officials of the company— McTavish and the rest —he exercised for the time being the authority of the partners at Montreal. From the fact that he spent so many months on the coast it may be as- sumed that the finding of a new route was not his only reason for leaving New Caledonia. Apparently, Stuart discovered the desired route, that is the part lying between the South Fork of the Thompson and Alexandria. From Harmon we learn that on October 18, 1814, Joseph La Roque and company arrived in two canoes, from Fort George (Astoria) on the Colum- (2) There was one notable case in law which arose out of this custom. A highly respected officer of the Hudson’s Bay Co., well known in New Caledonia, had followed the usual course and raised a family. In course of time he retired to Montreal and married a lady of good family. Unon his death his new wife was his legatee, and one of his son’s by his Indian spouse sued for a portion of his father's es- tate, on the ground that although the marriage had not had the sanction of church or state it was valid because it was according to the customs of his mother's people. The courts held in his favor, and de- clared the second marriage null and void. Thereafter flagrant desertion of Indian wives was less fre- quent. [ 73 ] bia River, evidently the first brigade to come by way of the Thompson River, and it is assumed he received instructions from Stuart as to the road to fol- low. Incidentally, La Roque brought the melancholy intelligence of the drowning of Dugald McTavish and Alexander Henry in the Columbia River in May, 1813, through the upsetting of a canoe. Joseph La Roque was afterwards in charge of the post at Fraser’s Lake. It is worth recording here that Daniel Williams Harmon was the first farmer in the territory west of the Rockies, including old Oregon and what is now British Columbia, as well as the first historian of the northern interior. He gives particulars in his journal, May 22, 1811, of having planted pota- toes and of sowing barley, turnips, etc., at Stuart Lake. It is recorded on May 10, 1815, that at Fraser Lake they had planted potatoes and Indian corn and sowed onion, carrot, beet and parsnip seeds and a little barley. In October, 1816, we are told that they had taken up their vegetables, and had dug forty-one bushels of potatoes, the product of one bushel. Turnips, barley, etc., had produced well. In 1818 five quarts of barley yielded as many bushels, which in the same proportion would have yielded eighty-four bushels to the acre. His next observation was prophetic, as he remarked that “it will probably be long, however, before the district will exhibit the fruits of cultivation,” because it is only now that we are beginning to appreciate the agricultural possibilities of New British Columbia. His journal of February 8, 1819, states that Mr. George McDougall had arrived from Fraser Lake to remain, as he was preparing for departure to headquarters, it being his intention to visit his native land and take his family with him to be edu- cated and civilized in a Christian land. He departed accordingly on May following for Fort William (3). Among these early explorers and traders who did so much towards pres- ent knowledge and development by blazing trails through the wilderness of the west, it is difficult to appraise merits, because, as Fenimore Cooper’s Deer- slayer was fond of saying, each man has his own “gifts,” but there is one man who stands out among this galaxy of pioneers, whose name should be emblazoned in the pages of Canadian history in letters of gold. He was a fur trader, perforce, but he was chiefly a scientist. This man was David Thompson, astronomer and map-maker, in the employ of the North West Company. He was noted also as a man of rapid transit. Like Sir Geo. Simpson, he was almost meteoric in his passage from one end of the country to the other. Among all the furtraders he w r as the only one wLo was tech- nically trained, who could observe scientifically, and who could accurately map the country he explored. Hence his services were of great value, not only to the Company for whom they were rendered, but to geographical science. Originally he was in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company, but seeking more active work he proffered his services to the Nor\vesters, who Avere glad to secure them. In the autumn of 1806 he was in the neigh- borhood of Laggan, Field, Golden and Donald, and reached the Blae- berry River, on the banks of which he constructed a rough log raft and started on a perilous voyage down the river. The Blaeberry carried (3) Harmon in his journal gives a vast amount of information about the natives, about the voy- ageurs, about the country generally and about the movements of the traders, which is exceedingly inter- esting and instructive, and as it was the repository of his innermost thoughts it may be regarded as the most reliable form of history; but while entertaining to a degree, space will not permit reproducing many of the best passages. It makes excellent reading but is not altogether history to our purpose. [ 74 ] him to a great river, which, though he did not recognize it, is the north- ern or main branch of the Columbia. He reached it between Donald and Moberley. Not far from where Windermere stands, he built a fort, which he called Upper Kootenay House, long since destroyed. Continuing his explorations he discovered the Kootenay River and followed it into Idaho and Montana. He manned his new post and left for the winter, returning by Howse Pass down the Saskatchewan and thence to Lake Superior. In 1808, Thompson wintered at Kootenay House, and in the following spring established posts at the Flathead and Pend d’Oreille lakes, leaving Finan McDonald in command of the newly organized district, with McMillan and a dozen or more traders. In June, 1810, he was back at Edmonton, on his way east. When he arrived at Fort William he was apprised of the plans of the Pacific Fur Company, at the head of which was John Jacob Astor, the American fur trader, whose aim was to be as powerful as the British companies and to occupy the western territory with a depot at the mouth of the Columbia River as the centre of operations. It is not necessary here to go into the details of that ambitious but ill- starred enterprise — how the promoter secured the services of experienced serv- ants of the North West Company and Canadian voyageurs; how he organ- ized two expeditions, one by sea and one by land, to proceed to the mouth of the Columbia; how the Tonquin, under command of Capt. Thorne, with his force of men and supplies, reached the Columbia around the Horn on March 25th, 1811, and established a post, which was called Astoria, the depot of proposed wide operations; how the Tonquin sailed north in search of furs and was seized by natives in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island and the entire crew murdered; how the overland party struggled wearily across the continent, following the path of Lewis and Clark, suffering untold miseries and hardships; how the Astorian forces quickly established themselves in the interior in the Spokane and Kamloops countries; how for a time they proved themselves dangerous competitors to the Canadian traders; how through losses at sea and mismanagement and internal bickerings and jealousies they became discouraged and sold out to the North West Company; and how as an incident of the War of 1812 the British man of war, H. M. S. Raccoon, shortly after entered the Columbia and took possession of Astoria. All of these things are graphically told in Washington Irving’s famous book, “Astoria,” familiar to most readers. The Astor enterprise, however, is im- portant in this connection as bearing on the policy of the rival company, in the carrying out of which David Thompson played a conspicuous parti The news of the dispatch of the Astor expedition was the subject of grave discussion at Fort William, and Thompson was commissioned to forestall it by a dash across the continent. Now commenced a memorable race — the goal, the mouth of the Columbia and the prize the control of the watershed of that river. Wilson Price Hunt, with his overland party, and Capt. John- athan Thorne, with his ship by sea, were the American competitors, and Thompson the Canadian contestant. The course was continental in extent. Capt. Thorne won the race, making the goal on March 25th, 1811; David Thompson came sweeping down the lower Columbia on the 15th of July, with his crew of lusty French-Canadian voyageurs. As related by Gabriel Franchere, “he (Thompson) had crossed the continent during the preced- [75] ing season ; but that the desertion of a portion of his men had compelled him to winter at the base of the Rocky Mountains, at the headwaters of the Co- lumbia. In the spring he had built a canoe, the materials for which he had brought across the mountains.” There was, therefore, no need to be ashamed, under the circumstances, of his performance, which was brilliantly executed. Details of his route thither are given in T. C. Elliott’s monograph on David Thompson. He was well received at Astoria, but did not remain long. After visiting Cape Disappointment, he at once started up the river again and was at Kettle Falls on August 23rd, and on the 3d of September was again prepared with canoe and provisions and proceeded up the Columbia, through the Arrow Lakes and the Dalles des Mort to Boat Encampment on Canoe River, and from there crossed the Rocky mountains and was again at the Athabaska in October. The Astorians lost no time in extending their sphere of influence. After the departure of the ill-fated Tonquin to the northward, parties were dis- patched up the river to explore the country and to select sites for other posts. One of these expeditions resulted in the founding of Fort Kamloops. The story is extremely interesting, but as the main facts are given in Dr. Wade’s articles in the second portion of this volume it would be superfluous to an- ticipate them here. What happened in the Middle West as the result of the rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company was repeated on a smaller scale in the Columbia watershed. There was keen competition, while competition lasted, between the Astor people and the serv- ants of the North West Company. Opposition posts were built contiguous to each other, and according to Alexander Ross, whose two volumes on the fur trade of this period are invaluable, there was much “sly and underhand dealings.” While fair to each others’ face as soon as their backs were turned “they tore each other to pieces.” It appears, however, that at Kam- loops a different spirit prevailed and that the rival traders “were open and candid and on friendly terms.” Upon his return from a tour of the Russian settlements and the Sandwich Islands, Hunt, who was head of the estab- lishment at Astoria, found that it had been transferred bodily to representa- tives of the North West Company, and while he may not have acquiesced at the time, later on assumed responsibility for the arrangement made, which, by the way, Washington Irving attributed to treachery on the part of men who had formerly been associated with the North West Company. The lat- ter was now left in supreme control of the whole field. No sooner had the Company acquired Astoria, the name of which was changed to Fort George, than it energetically proceeded to occupy the rich territories lying between the Fraser and the Columbia rivers. Fort George became the capital of the Oregon territory and was in its way a miniature Fort William. Fields were cultivated, several large buildings erected and the palisades and bastions strengthened. The characteristic hospitality and bonhomie , so much in evi- dence at Fort William and annually elsewhere, were continued here. The banquetting hall was often the scene of the characteristic revelries of these stern traders, jovial in play and lighthearted in relaxation. Nevertheless, the officers were jealous of each other and life was not always the picture of felicity it has been painted. Heretofore, the supplies for New Caledonia had been carried across the [76] continent from Fort William to the Rocky Mountains and by the Peace River Pass to Fort St. James. Now, with the company in control of the Colum- bia River, the supplies for New Caledonia were taken in boats or canoes to the Okanagan River, and thence to the post at the fork of the north and south Thompson Rivers, the goods being carried by horse brigade on the last stage of the journey. According to John Stuart the route was opened in 1813 and used for the transport of supplies in 1814 and regularly after that year. From Kamloops, the brigade proceeded to Fort Alexandria, on the Fraser River, where the packages were transferred to canoes and carried to Fort George, and thence to Fort St. James. This route, long and difficult as it was, proved to be far superior to that through the passes in the Rocky Mountains. The North West Company, during the seven years it was in control of the Oregon territory, accomplished much. It adopted a very vigorous policy, established new posts and cultivated friendly relations with the Indians. The Company, however, was handicapped in its western venture by bickerings amongst its own officers and by its long feud with the Hud- son’s Bay Company, about which comment has already been made, which caused its resources in men and supplies to be employed along the threatened line of communication, in the territory now embraced in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The circumstances surrounding this feud culminated naturally and desirably in union, which took place in 1821, when the North West Com- pany disappeared, merged in the more historic corporation; but although the name was lost the spirit of the Scotch Canadians remained the dominating influence of the new aggregation and, the Hudson’s Bay Company took on a fresh lease of life and henceforth was a transformed institution. The re- sults were beneficial in every sense of the word, although it left a single com- pany with a monopoly in trade over half a continent. Only a monopoly could deal with the Indians and restrain the abuses which had existed, more espe- cially with respect to the demoralizing traffic in rum, and as the Imperial authorities deemed it highly advisable to provide against a return of such con- ditions as had existed, they wisely, in the circumstances, not only recognized but legalized the monopoly by giving to the amalgamated company a Royal license for “the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians of North America,” subject to certain restrictions and conditions. The infusion of new blood into the Hudson’s Bay Companj^ led to the adoption of an energetic policy of expansion, and no chapter in its history is more fascinating than the one which deals with the consolidation of its interests in the vast region, stretching from California to Russian America, now Alaska. Indeed it ex- tended its trade as far south as San Francisco, where Yerba Buena was es- tablished; to the Sandwich Islands, where another post was maintained; and into Alaska, in respect to which the company entered into commercial rela- tions. At the same time the company drove from the north Pacific coast the American traders who, since the days of Nootka in 1794, had plied their avocation with unhappy results to the natives of that region. At the time of the union of the two companies, Dr. John McLoughlin, of Oregon fame, was in charge at Fort William. He opposed the amalga- mation, but decided to remain in the service of the re-organized company. There was there at the same time a young man named James Douglas, who upon hearing of the union, declared his intention of leaving the country. Dr. [77] McLoughlin, who had taken a liking to Douglas, prevailed upon him to transfer his allegiance to the new company. Both were destined to play a leading part in the west, and one at least to occupy the highest posi- tion in government affairs of which the new country was capable of afford- ing. Dr. McLouglilin was selected to take charge of the company’s affairs west of the Rocky Mountains, throughout the country known as the West- ern Department. Young Douglas was one of the clerks selected to accom- pany him. In 1824, a notable party arrived at Fort George, formerly As- toria. George Simpson — the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s terri- tories in North America — himself led the expedition and with him came Dr. McLoughlin, John Work and other men who became prominent in the west in after years. Dr. McLoughlin was a man of commanding appearance and a wonderful personality. Tall — six foot four — straight as an arrow, framed in an athletic mould, his distingue figure was enhanced by long flowing locks prematurely white. Among the Indians he was designated the “White Eagle,” a tribute to his personal appearance and character. McLoughlin ruled over an empire larger than many of the countries in Europe, subject only to the mandates of the governor and council and the distance from headquarters necessarily left unusual power and discretion in his hands. He governed despotically, but on the whole his rule was a benev- olent despotism. With great energy he threw himself into the work of organ- izing his vast principality and soon established the firm rule of the fur trader throughout its entire extent. Even the fierce and lawless tribes of the interior feared him, while they acknowledged his high sense of justice and his magna- nimity. He was terrible in anger, overbearing at times towards his subordi- nates, hut kind and extremely generous in his impulses. He was always the grande gentilhomme. Courtly and charming, or stern and forbidding, he commanded alike the respect of his subordinates and the affection of his equals. His first work was to choose a site better located than Fort George and one farther up the river. He selected one seven miles above the mouth of the Willamette, and a few miles below the point named Vancouver by Lt. Broughton in 1792. There, in 1825, Fort Vancouver was built. About 1830 the old fort was pulled down and a new one built about a mile west of it. The place is now a United States military barracks. McLoughlin was a man of wide vision, and he formed large projects, most of which found favour with the management. He put into cultivation large farms, planted orchards, built saw and grist mills, raised live stock on a large scale, and for surplus found a market in the Russian settlement to the north and in the Sandwich Islands. The expansion of the company’s operations in the several directions pre- viously referred to were of his inspiration and under his control. He per- sonally directed the details of every branch of the business, and kept his “eagle eye” upon the management of each post. We have some pleasing pictures of the domestic and commercial life at the old fort by Commander Wilkes, of the U. S. exploring expedition and others. At this distance, they read like romances, and one is almost led to regret that his lot had not fallen among such picturesque surroundings and that he had not formed one of the family circle at Fort Vancouver. The life there was unique in many respects and had not a little of the flavour of feudal institutions. There was, [78] of course, the other side of the picture. Those who wrote of Vancouver in those days had been the guest of the Dr. and were still under the spell of his charming personality and his splendid hospitality. Upon McLoughlin’s arrival in the Oregon territory in 1824, Astoria was the only place of import- ance, but even then only a rude frontier village. Scattered throughout the country there were subsidiary posts, but all of them were small and main- tained purely for the sake of the fur trade. To the northward and north- eastward, with the exception of those in New Caledonia and the one at Kam- loops, no establishments had been planted. Vancouver Island was scarcely better known than when it was discovered. The Fraser, from its mouth to the great canyon, had not apparently been visited since the time of Simon Fraser’s memorable journey down its dangerous current in 1808, while the land stretching westerly from New Caledonia was absolutely unknown, ex- cept that portion traversed by Mackenzie. Now, this was to be all changed. While Sir George Simpson was at Fort George in 1824, it was apparently decided to annex the lower Fraser region and to establish posts on the north- ern coast. Success attended his efforts in both directions, although not immediately. James McMillan was at once instructed to explore the lower Fraser, He was accompanied by the clerks, Thomas McKay, F. N. Annance and John Work, of whom the last mentioned enjoyed a long and honourable career in the Oregon territory and afterwards in British Columbia. The expedition was well equipped and left Fort George in three boats on Novem- ber 18th. On arriving at Baker Bay, a portage of 14 miles brought McMil- lan and his party to the Pacific, north of Cape Disappointment. They then followed the coast to the mouth of Gray’s Harbor and ascending the Che- halis River and crossing the country to the eastward of the headwaters of that stream, reached Puget Sound. At this point canoes were obtained and the voyage continued by sea to Mud Bay, where the expedition again landed and crossed the virgin delta to the Fraser River. Thence the expedition paddled up stream for two days beyond the site of old Fort Langley, which was not built for three years later. On the homeward journey McMillan rounded Point Roberts, making the Black River south of Olympia, thence by more direct route of the Cowlitz to the Columbia. John Work’s record of the expedition is interesting from two points of view, in shewing the diffi- culties of travel in those days and in bis descriptions of country which is now all very familiar stamping ground. The expedition was in furtherance of the project to find for New Caledonia an outlet by way of Fraser River. In view of the vastness and great possibilities of the territory the Hudson’s Bay Company had essayed to occupy* and in view also of the rapid expan- sion of the people of the American Republic, both Simpson and McLough- lin realized that the time had come to strike out boldly, and the determina- tion of the company to occupy and h&ld the Pacific slope from San Fran- cisco to the Arctic Ocean ushered in a period of extraordinary activity, of which Dr. McLoughlin was the life and soul. He dispatched emissaries of the company in all directions and the bastioned forts of the furtrader soon dotted his vast domain. Each isolated establishment with its wooden pali- sades and corner bastions was in itself an outpost of civilization. Forts were planted as far north as Taku inlet and as far south as San Francisco Bay. [T9] Fort Langley was built in 1827 ; old Fort Simpson on the Naas River in 1832 , from which point it was moved to its present site on the Tsimshian Penin- sula in 1834 ; Fort McLoughlin, on Millbank Sound, in 1834 ; Fort Nisqually on Puget Sound, where Dr. Tolmie pastured his flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and acted as missionary to the Indians; Fort Durham, named in honour of the famous Lord Durham, was built on Taku Inlet in 1840 ; and Fort Victoria in 1843 . About this time the influence of Dr. McLoughlin was on the wane. His unfortunate misunderstandings with his superiors caused him to retire. American settlers rushed in and in their dire necessity after trekking across the plains and over the mountains he had assisted them liberally out of the stores and in the kindness of his heart befriended them in every possible way. He was accused at headquarters of sympathising with the American invasion through which Great Britain lost Oregon. On the other hand, he was regarded by the settlers, who owed him so much, as the representative of a monstrous and grinding monopoly. In his retirement he was a sad and broken-hearted man, the object of suspicion alike of those he had served as servant and as benefactor. Time, however, has cleared* away the clouds, and he is now referred to in the country of his adop- tion as the “Father of Oregon,” and no stain rests upon his official record as administrative head of the company he represented in Oregon for over twenty years. He was succeeded by James Douglas, who, during all this period, had been second in command and his able coadjutor and confidential adviser. While the operations we have described in old Oregon and on the sea- board were engaging the attention of Dr. McLoughlin and his subordinates, other intrepid men of whom little has been written were exploring the great wilderness tying to the north of the Peace River and the Skeena and west of the Mackenzie. These explorations were not directed from Fort Vancouver, but from Norway House; yet inasmuch as they resulted in the discovery of northern British Columbia, they have a place in the history of the province. The men who discovered and explored the Skeena, Stikine, Liard and Pelly rivers and Dease, Frances and other lakes, persevered in their important undertakings in peculiarly trying circumstances. In 1834 , J. McLeod, a chief trader of the Hudson’s Bay Company, ascended the Liard to Simpson Lake and followed the Dease River to Dease Lake, which he named in honour of Peter Warren Dease. Thence he crossed the upper waters of the Stikine, which was discovered at its mouth by Capt. Cleveland of the sloop Dragoon in April, 1799 . McLeod followed this river — which under a mis- apprehension he called the Pelly — as far as the famous bridge named “Terror Bridge” by Robert Campbell some time later. In the course of his travels McLeod collected a great deal of information, much of which Arrowsmith, the mapmaker, embodied in his map of North America of 1850 . McLeod was followed by Robert Campbell, another officer of the Hud- son’s Bay Company, who carried on the work with indomitable energy in spite of the hostility of the Indians, who were numerous and warlike. Camp- bell reached Dease Lake in the beginning of July, 1838 , and “selected a suit- able site for the fort about five miles from the mouth of the Nahany and at once commenced building operations.” Leaving the men to build the fort, he proceeded to carry out his instructions to explore the west side of the moun- [ 80 ] tains. On July 22nd (1838) he arrived at “Terror 3ridge,” whence Mc- Leod’s party had turned back in 1834. This somewhat famous structure, built by the Indians, is described as very rickety, and appeared impossible to cross, so frail and unstable it appeared with waters rushing in a foaming tor- ent below. However, he managed to cross over with fear and termbling. Here the Indians opposed Campbell’s progress. The “N ah any Chief,” fear- ing that the natives would kill the stranger, advised the explorer to desist, as the “great Chief ‘Shakes’ from the sea was there and Indians from all parts without number.” Campbell, however, was determined to go on, and about thirteen miles from the bridge he found the greatest concourse of Indians he had ever seen, assembled from all parts of the western slope of the Rockies. The Indians camped here for weeks as at a time, and lived on salmon, which could be caught by the thousand in the Stikine. He was introduced to the Indians by the friendly chief. Presently, the great chief “Shakes” appeared and a way was made for him by the Indians. He was a coast Indian, tall and strongly built, and all powerful in that region. He ruled despotically over an immense band of Indians of different tribes. Campbell was sur- prised to find that some of the Indians knew Dr. McLoughlin and James Douglas, and this induced him to write to these officers giving particulars of his trip and informing them that he had ascertained that the “so-called Pelly and the Stikine were identical.” After a vociferous welcome by the Indians, Campbell returned to his camp, where he hoisted the Hudson’s Bay flag and cut ‘ Hudson’s Bay Company” and the date on a tree, thus taking possession of the country. While in the neighborhood the explorer met a re- markable native woman, the chieftainess of the Nahanies. As described by Campbell, she was of middle age, fine-looking, and in her actions and per- sonal appearance more like the whites than the Indians. She had a pleas- ant face, fine intelligent eyes, which, when excited, flashed fire. She was tidy and tasteful in her dress, and in respect to her position exercised abso- lute control over the tribe. On several occasions she intervened and saved the party from destruction. Campbell remarked “that she was truly a born leader, whose mandate none dared to dispute.” From here the young explorer went to Fort Simpson with the news of his discovery. His work was greatly appreciated by Sir Geo. Simpson, who in acknowledging the value of his services in a letter referred to the agree- ment recently concluded between the company and the Russian-American Company, by which agreement the former recognized Russia’s right to south- ern Alaska, and to an arrangement concluded with Baron Wrangel, which was to lease the Russian mainland territory for a term of ten years as far up as Cape Spencer, by which arrangement they would have access to the interior country through all the rivers south of that point. It was intimated to him that his services would be required to push discoveries in the country situated on the Peel and Colville rivers, as it was easier to settle the country from the Pacific than from the east of the Rockies. In 1840 and again in 1843, Robert Campbell was commissioned by Sir George Simpson to con- tinue his explorations, particularly along the north branch of the Liard to its source. In the course of his journeyings to and fro in the northern in- terior, he entered a beautiful lake, which he named Frances, after the wife of Sir George Simpson, and he also named the Pelly in honour of Sir John [ 81 ] Pelly, governor of the company. In the course of his perilous ventures, the intrepid explorer also added much to the common stock of geographical knowledge. In 1824, before the northern field was discovered or occupied, John Finlay had explored the branch of the Peace River named in his honour. So, before the middle of the nineteenth century, the whole northwestern re- gion had at least been roughly, if not actually, delineated and measured. To return now to the Oregon territory, when Dr. McLoughlin arrived in 1824 to organize and direct the western department, he found trade gen- erally in a condition of confusion and strife and proceeded immediately to straighten out the tangled skein. So successful was he that thirteen years after Sir John Pelly could report that the Hudson’s Bay Company on the Pacific Coast was eminently satisfactory (4). This report was, of course, based upon reports from George Simpson, in one of which he says: “The possession of that country to Great Britain may become an object of very great importance, and we are strengthening that claim to it (independent of the claims of prior discovery and occupation for the purpose of Indian trade) by forming the nucleus of a colony through the establishment of farms, and the settlement of some of our retiring officers and servants as agricultur- ists,” so that the management of the Hudson’s Bay Company was alive to the situation if the British government was not. In a letter from Sir James Douglas in 1849 the names of the company’s trading posts on the west side of the mountains are given as follows. To the south of the 49th parallel, forts Vancouver, Colvile, Flathead House, Okanagan, Nez Perce, Boise, Hall, Umpqua, George (Astoria), Nisqually, Cowlitz farm; to the north of the 49th parallel, forts Victoria, Simpson, Langley, Hope, Kamloops, Alex- andria, George (at the mouth of the Nechaco River), Fraser, St. James, Connolly, Kilmaurs (on Lake Babine), McLeod and Chilcotin. There were about six hundred Europeans, men and officers, attached to the establish- ments, besides a great number of Indian laborers, who were employed in the various departments of the service. The exports from the company’s set- tlements on the west side of the mountains were roughly estimated as fol- lows: To the Russian settlement at Sitka, in Alaska, <£10,000; to the Sand- wich Islands, £8,000; to Great Britain, £60,000 — a total of £78,000. The company also employed three barques, a steam vessel (the old Beaver), a brig, a schooner, and a sloop on the northwest coast. The four latter remained constantly on the coast, while the three barques were employed in taking the returns to England and in bringing out supplies for the trade. Although Dr. McLoughlin was directly responsible for the administra- tion of the Western Department, and also administered the old Oregon and its tributary territories, he was yet subject to the will of Governor Simpson and the Council, which met annually at Norway House. This parliament set forth each year in a series of resolutions the arrangements to be carried into effect by the officers in command of the different districts. At the same time it settled the stations of the fur traders and clerks in the different depart- ments and promoted or rebuked them as occasion demanded. The Council also framed the general policy of each department, and apportioned sup- plies. The minutes of council embodied specific instructions and particu- lars as to outfits and equipment of each district in the Indian territories and (4) Hudson's Bay Company, Return to House of Commons, 26th May, 1842, pp. 12 to 15. [82] Rupert’s Land. For instance, turning to the minutes of the Council of 1830 we find the arrangements for the Columbia department minutely set forth as follows: "WINTER ARRANGEMENTS. "Columbia Fort Vancouver Fort Colvile Flat Heads Coutainais Thompson’s River Okanagan Fort Nez Perces . Fort Langley Snake Expedition Disposable Shipping J. McLoughlin, C. F. J. E. Harricott, C. T. Donald Manson, Clk. James Douglas. Clk. James Birnie, Clk. John Kennedy, Surgeon. Michael Laframboise, P. M. Francis Heron, C. T. William Kittson, Clk. Payette, Intr. Frs. Ermatinger, Clk. A Labourer. Samuel Black, C. T. A. McDonald, C. T. J. M. Yale, Clk. P. S. Ogden, C. T. Simon McGillivray, C. T. A. R. McLeod, C. T. John Work, Clk. Thomas McKay, Clk. Geo. Barnston, Clk. F. N. Annance, Clk. Captains Simpson, Ryan and Minors and Mate. "That it be discretionary with Chief Factor McLoughlin to make the appointments of those Gentle- men as he may consider expedient. “That 40 men be provided for this District to accompany the Saskatchewan Brigade under the charge of Chief Factor Rowand until they reach Edmonton and from thence proceed under the charge of Chief Trader Harricott to Fort Vancouver or until he may receive instructions from Chief Factor McLoughlin for his further guidance. "That 160 guns (trading) and a few other supplies as per requisition be taken from York for the use of the Columbia department and from Jasper’s House all the Leather which he may find there of the stock provided last year for New Caledonia. “That Chief Factor McLoughlin take the necessary steps to employ the Shipping in the Coasting and Timber Trades to build a ship at Vancouver to establish the post of Nass and to carry into effect the other objects noticed in the Governor and Committee’s Dispatch of 28th Oct., 1829, conformably to their Honors instructions. COLUMBIA CONTINUED. “New Caledonia Stuart's Lake Wm. Connolly, C. F. J. McDonald, Clk. Fraser’s Lake P. W. Dease, C. F. Thomas Dears, Clk. McLeod’s Lake John Tod, Clk. Alexandria A. Fisher, C. T. Babines P. C. Pambrun, Clk. Conolly’s Lake Charles Ross, Clk. Fort George Wm. McGillivray, Clk. “That it be discretionary with Chief Factor Connolly to make the appointments of the above Gen- tlemen together with the requisite establishment of Servants as he may consider expedient. "That Chief Factor Dease proceed to New Caledonia via Athabasca and Peace River in a canoe manned by 4 men for the Columbia; in which Chief Factor Charles will take a passage from Norway House to Fort Chippewyan preceding his Brigade; from Fort Chippewyan Chief Trader McGillivray to accompany Mr. Dease, or in the event of that Gentleman not arriving there by the 20th September, C. T. Campbell to accompany him and either of those Gentlemen, say Mr. McGillivray or Mr. Campbell to proceed from New Caledonia to Kamloops and thence to Vancouver as early as possible with the men intended for the Columbia Department. That Chief Factor Connolly be authorized to transfer the charge of the District of New Caledonia next spring to Chief Factor Dease, who will make the necessary appointments of Officers and Servants for the summer to the different Posts and Stations as he may see fit and that Chief Factor Connolly at- tend the sitting of Council next season, taking his passage out via Peace River in a canoe manned not by exceeding 4 retiring Servants, the remainder of the crew to be provided by Chief Factor Charles at Fort Chippewyan and that John McDonald, Clerk, late of New Caledonia District, who is to pass the ensuing winter at Peace River, come out from Fort Chippewyan in charge of the Athabasca Brigade to Norway House. “That 650 dressed Moose skins, 100 lb. Babiche Snares and Beaver nets, 2000 Fathoms Pack Cords and a sufficient quantity of Grease to make up 50 peces in all be provided at Dunvegan for the use of New Caledonia District to be sent for in the autumn of every year by the Gentlemen in charge of that District. “That a complete outfit for New Caledonia 1831 conformably to requisition be prepared at Fort Vancouver by next Spring and that the requisite Horses and appointments, etc., to effect the transport thereof be provided and forwarded thither from the Columbia and with reference to further arrange- ments connected with the Columbia Department generally. That the same be determined by Governor Simpson in correspondence with Chief Factors McLough- lin and Connolly.’’ In 1843 the arrangements for the district as set forth by the Council were: [ 83 ] COLUMBIA ARRANGEMENTS. ‘Fort Vancouver Fort George Nisqually Cowlitz Fort Langley Fort Simpson Umpqua Buena Venture Expedition Snake Expedition Fort Hall Fort Boise Fort Colville Flat Heads Coutonais Thompson’s River Okanagan Nez Percez Stikine Straits of de Fuca Sandwich Islands Disposable Beaver Steamer Vancouver Columbia John McLoughlin . . Dugald McTavish . . Forbes Barclay .... A. L. Lewes David McLoughlin . Thomas Lowe D. Harvey James Birnie Angus McDonald . . . .Charles Forrest .... James M. Yale John Work John Kennedy Paul Fraser Michael Leframboise Richard Grant Angus McDonald . . . Francis Payette . . . . Archd. McDonald ... John McPherson Patrick Mackenzie . John Tod Dun. Cameron ..... An Interpreter. Archd. McKinlay William Todd Charles Dodd G. Blenkinsop James Douglas .... Charles Ross Rodk. Finlayson . . . George Pelly George T. Allen .... Wm. Glen Rae Francis Ermatinger Wm. F. Tolmie H. N. Peers Wm. Brotchie J. Carless Wm. Mitchell Duncan James Sangster Oxley • J. Humphrey Cadboro Cowlitz Stuart’s Lake . McLeod’s Lake Fraser’s Lake . Alexandria Fluz-cuz Conolly’s Lake Fort George . . Babines James Scarboro .... Alexr. Lattie .Wm. H. McNeill .... William Heath J. Heald NEW CALEDONIA. Peter S. Ogden Henry Maxwell • A. C. Anderson ,Wm. F. Dane .Donald Manson .Donald McLean ...... .William McBean .William Porteous ,Wm. McIntosh C. F. Clk. Surgeon. Clk. App. Clk. App. Clk. Miller. Clk. Clk. P. M. Clk. C. T. Clk. Clk. P. M. C. T. P. M. P. M. C. F. P. M. App. P. M. C. T. P. M. Clk. P. M. Clk. P. M. C. F. C. T. Clk. Agent. Clk. C. T. C. T. Surgeon. App. Clk. Master. Engineer. 1st Mate. Master. 1st Mate. 2nd Mate. Master. 1st Mate. 2nd Mate. Master. C. T. 1st Mate. 2nd Mate. C. F. Clk. Clk. Clk. C. T. Clk. Clk. Clk. Clk. “That Chief Factor McLoughlin for the Columbia and Chief Factor Ogden for New Caledonia be in- structed to follow up without deviation the foregoing appointments as far as circumstances may admit. “That H. N. Peers, App. Clk. with the guide and 10 servants, as many of them Boutes as possible, to be selected by C. T. Hargreaves be forwarded to he Columbia District and accompany the Saskatch- ewan Brigade under the charge of C. T. Harriott from the Depot to Edmonton, from thence to proceed under the charge of Mr. Peers to Vancouver, unless he may receive further instructions from Mr. McLoughlin en route by which he will regulate his movements. Of these servants two to be black- smiths and two coopers if any such be disposable, if not, those tradesmen coming out by the ship this season to be forwarded next season to the Columbia. “That the gentlemen in charge of the Columbia be instructed to send to York factory in the spring of every year with the accounts an intelligent officer conversant with them, qualified to enter into explanations, and to give information on such points as may not be sufficiently reported in the public correspondence; that Mr. Dugald McTavish be sent out with the accounts next year and be re- lieved in the Office Department by Mr. Thomas Lowe, who will be required to come out with the ac- counts in the year 1845. “That C. F. Ogden having expressed a desire to obtain leave of absence or an exchange of furlough next year it is resolved that the same be afforded him, but this cannot be assured him beyond the en- suing year. “That the new establishment to be formed on the Straits de Fuca to be named Fort Victoria be erected on a scale sufficiently extensive to answer the purposes of the depot; the square of the fort to be not less than 150 yards; the buildings to be substantial and erected as far apart as the grounds may admit with a view to guarding against fire.” [ 81 ] As might be expected the building of a fort in the wilderness was often marked with stirring events. The jealousy of the natives was easily aroused and it was sometimes a difficult matter to prevent inter-tribal feuds from re- coiling upon the meagre garrisons of the different forts. It was the policy of the Hudson’s Bay Company to preserve the balance of power and to main- tain peace by the assumption of an overlordship amongst the native tribes. The chief factors and chief traders in charge of the operations in the field were astute men, bred, it might also be said, to the fur trade. Long years of service in all parts of the country had inured them to hardship and danger, and had given them an insight into Indian character and custom. No one knew how to frustrate the designs of the rival trader or to placate the sav- age better than the old-time servant of the great company; and no corpora- tion was ever better served by its officers than the Adventurers of England. According to the canons of that age, the Indians were well and fairly treated. Their lands were not seized, because the fur-trader was concerned only in the gathering of peltries and not in the promotion of settlement. Their customs were respected because it was less provocative of hostility to humour than to attempt to change ideals based on immemorial usage. The authority of the friendly chief was upheld because it was easier to control the Indian peoples by such means than to foist upon them laws and customs foreign to their mode of thought and social institutions. The unfriendly chief was placated because it was only by diplomacy that a mere handful of men could maintain the sovereignty of the company in the vast territories it had made its own without wars of aggrandisement or in any other manner than by making the natives dependent upon its wares. Much has been said against the policy pursued by the great monopoly, but taking all things into consideration the company was paternal in its solicitude for its Indian wards. The treatment accorded the natives by the agents of the British corporation and later by Brit- ish settlers stands in marked contrast to that accorded the aborigines by the American trader and settler — a fact which is well-borne out by the frontier history of British North America and the United States. In spite of the inherent dislike of the British fur trader for the native — a dislike which is amply revealed in his letters and diaries — he treated the Indian fairly and in so doing won the respect of the savage who at one time owned and ruled the land. For a glimpse of the fort-builder at work and for knowledge of his vicis- situdes and difficulties one must turn to his letters and diaries. With the aid of these documents, which are the materials from which history is woven, the past can be made to live again. Thus the pages of Roderick Finlayson’s autobiography (5) vividly portray the building of Fort Durham on Taku Inlet, the northernmost post of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the seaboard. In the spring of 1840, James Douglas proceeded northward in the Beaver to establish the fort. He was accompanied by Finlayson, who had been ap- pointed to the command of the new district. "After remaining about ten days at Sitka,” (wrote Finlayson, whose journal has fortunately been preserved), "settling various matters relative to our future trade with the Russian Company, the party left in the ‘Beaver’ (having been saluted as before and returned from the ‘Beaver’) to the Gulf of Taco (Taku) and river, for the purpose of establishing a fort there for trading purposes; we ascended the river in boats for about 30 miles looking for a place to build, but found none on the river and se- lected a place about 50 miles, in a land locked harbor, where we built a fort on the usual plan, called it Fort Durham in honor of the Governor General of Canada. It took some time to build this fort (5) Privately printed. [ 85 ] and make it defensible against the warlike Indians in the vicinity. When it was considered in proper state for defence, with bastions erected at the angles of the stockade, a party was left to take pos- session consisting of eighteen men and two officers, of whom I was one, second in command. Mr. Douglas then left for the south in the ‘Beaver,’ when we were left to our own resources to make the best of our circumstances. It was now late in October and the fort built on Taco (Taku) harbor surrounded with high mountains was as dismal a place as could possibly be imagined, the rain pouring down in torrents adding to our other discomforts. The journal kept at this place showed rain and snow for nine months out of the twelve. We opened trade with the natives, a wild turbulent race, so that we only allowed a few of them at a time to enter the fort gate for trade. A few years before this an American vessel from Boston came to tracie in the neighborhood and had a quarrel with the natives in which a large number of them were killed, and, supposing we were Americans, they tried to take revenge for this by attempting to take the fort and murder us all. With this view a warrior of the tribe attempted to force his way in at the gate, where a number of others were watching the gatekeeper, a Sandwich Islander, who did all he could to keep the man out, but failed, when I went to the rescue, having pistols in my belt, and forced the fellow out. In doing so I was struck by a bludgeon and in the heat of passion I went outside the gate where I was laid hold of by a party of wild savages and forced away to a distance from the gate, when I called out to open blank cart- ridges from the cannonades in the bastion to frighten them. In the meantime I managed to get my back to a tree, drew my pistols from my belt and threatened to kill the first man that attempted to lay hold of me; my face was covered with blood and otherwise badly hurt. The firing from the bastion frightened the fellows off so I was enabled to return to the fort. After this we were be- sieged for several days. Preparing ourselves for action and the natives finding trade suspended, they came to a parley, when it was arranged that on payment of the insult to me — who was not a Boston, as the Americans were called — they agreed to pay in furs, a large bundle of which were brought as payment and accepted. Peace declared and trade resumed. I then passed a dismal winter at Fort Durham. (6) In 1843 Fort Durham and Fort McLoughlin, on Millbank Sound, were dismantled and abandoned and the men and supplies taken to Camosun (Vic- toria) to aid in the building of the new depot at that point. The early letters and papers of the fur traders contain many references to Kamloops and by means of these broken records it is possible to por- tray the vicissitudinous history of that post. Towards the end of the year 1822 John McLeod, a prominent officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was placed in charge of the Thompson River district. In his report (7) of the following spring he speaks very hopefully of the trade of that post, and con- gratulates himself upon the result. This is not a view, however, which was shared by the Governor, who expressed great disappointment at the returns from Kamloops and stated that unless things picked up the post would be abandoned; but Kamloops was not abandoned and later became an import- ant way station on the old brigade trail from Fort Okanagan, on the Oka- nagan River, to Fort Alexandria on the Fraser. Here the company main- tained a stud farm for the breeding of horses for the great brigades which annually passed over the trail with bales of supplies and peltries. The beau- tiful ranges afforded an abundance of rich pasture for the large bands of horses kept at the post. Kamloops, however, does not appear to have ranked in the early fur days as a place of first importance. The fort originally stood on the Indian reservation opposite Kamloops. John Tod, who has given us some interesting particulars regarding it, rebuilt it on the other side of the river. Later it was again moved to a point not far from the bridge which spans the Thompson at the west end of the town. Of the first building noth- ing remains but the ruin of a chimney, but an old house of whip-sawn tim- ber still marks the site of the old post near the bridge. Fort Langley was founded by James McMillan in 1827, and he was for some time afterwards in charge of that post. In a letter to his friend, John McLeod, then sta- tioned at Kamloops, he wrote thus respecting the important establishment on the Lower Fraser: “I left Vancouver on the 24th June (1827), the Cadboro schooner some days before. I with the land party up the Cowlitz to Puget Sound; fell in again with the vessel at entrance of Admiralty Inlet where we all embarked and proceeded to Fraser’s River and succeeded in reaching this place on the 29th July, and on the 1st of August began to cut the first stick for Fort Langley. Indians innum- erable about us of whose friendly disposition we soon had reason to know — greater scamps never was. (6) Finlayson, Biography, pp. 6-8. (7) McLeod, Report on Thompson River District, dated Kamloops, Spring, 1823. MS in Provincial Archives. [ 86 ] However, with a good deal of care and watching their motions we got on pretty well, on the 18th Sep- tember the vessel left us to prosecute her voyage to northward. We had then a good fort up, with store, and we managed to keep our numerous neighbors at as respectable a distance as we could. Our returns are not very flattering, indeed much could not be expected the first year and we have only half a year this season. Still our losses will not be much felt. We scraped about 1,100 skins — beavers and otters. The winter here this year is very severe and would not be thought too mild even at your own quarter. I don’t know if this is always the case or not. In such cold our naked Indians cannot go about in search of skins, were they so inclined; but they are very lazy and independent as the sea and river supply their wants plentifully. We make out to live pretty well, fresh salmon in fish season and can procure plenty of dried for the winter. Sturgeon can be had also at times and the forest gives us an occasional red deer now and then. We could trade at the door of our fort, I suppose, a million of dried salmon if we chose — -enough to feed all the people of Rupert’s Land. I do not know when I will be allowed to quit this side of the mountains, but to be plain with you, my good sir, I am tired of it. I would willingly be quit of it.” (8) In New Caledonia affairs moved smoothly, though now and then the turbulence of the natives gave cause for anxiety. Fort St. James gradually became an important centre. The fort was rebuilt and enlarged and beyond the stockade fields and gardens were cultivated with success. John Stuart re- tired from command of the district in 1824, to be succeeded by William Connolly, who in turn retired in favor of Peter Warren Dease. Dease spent four years — 1830-84— in the district, and then handed over the reigns of gov- ernment to Peter Skene Ogden, famous in the annals of the West for his humour and combativeness. For ten years — 1834-44 — Ogden ruled his do- main as autocratically as a McLoughlin. He was a brave man and a jovial companion and many rich anecdotes of his career survive to this day. It was during William Connolly’s tenure of office that James Douglas served his apprenticeship in New Caledonia, as clerk in charge of the fisheries. Here the future Governor of Vancouver Island and British Columbia courted Amelia Connolly, daughter of the superintendent of New Caledonia, and wedded her in the fashion of the country. Upon his return to Fort Van- couver, Douglas solemnized his marriage in accordance with the rites of the church. While in New Caledonia Douglas on more than one occasion was called upon to show his metal. He was the central figure in a tragedy which caused a great stir at the time. It appears that two of the Company’s servants were killed by the Carriers. One of the murderers was captured and slain, but the other escaped. However, after a year or two had elapsed the murderer returned to the village, only to meet death at the hands of Doug- las and his men, who beat out his life with garden implements. Douglas himself led the onslaught. The matter did not end here. In the course of a few weeks the Indians, led by a chief who was exasperated at the treat- ment meted out to the young man, crowded into the hall of the fort and seized Douglas, threatening to kill him. He was saved, so it is averred, by the fearlessness of his wife and the wife of the interpreter, who showered gifts of tobacco, handkerchiefs and other coveted goods, upon the natives, and so diverted attention from the victim of their rapacity. In revenge for this at- tack upon Douglas — so Father Morice asserts (9)— on New Year’s Day, 1829, the Indians were plied with liquor until they became hopelessly drunk, when they were set upon and soundly drubbed by the company’s servants, the noted Chief Kwah alone being spared this indignity. Douglas did not stay long at Fort St. James after this episode. On January 30th, 1830, he bade farewell to New Caledonia (10). Apparently (8) MacMillan, to John McLeod, Fort Langley, Jan. 21st, 1828. MS In Provincial Archives. (9) Morice, Northern Interior, 3rd edition, p. 150. (10) Douglas, it will be remembered, has been previously referred to as going to Fort Vancouver along with Dr. McLoughlin in 1824. He was subsequently removed to New Caledonia, and left again in the year 1830 to rejoin McLoughlin. [ 87 ] his rather unfortunate experiences in that turbulent district had dampened his ardor for the fur trade for George McDougall, in a letter to John McLeod of March 8th, 1828, observed — “Mr. James Douglas is bent on leaving the country.” He then paid this tribute to the young trader — “I am sorry for it. Independent of his abilities as an Indian trader he possesses most amiable qualities and is an accomplished young man.” This independent testimony would seem to refute in some measure the statements of certain learned authors who have sought to disparage Douglas. It is not possible to give in full the history of each post, but the fore- going typifies the work of the founder and builder of the west. Enough has been said to give an idea of his trials and vicissitudes and of the wonderful organization by means of which so much was accomplished in the face of such difficulties as could only be encountered in a virgin wilderness far from centres of civilization. The pioneer trader was no saint, but he was a strong man and nobly bore his part in laying the foundations for future generations to build upon. He did his work from day to day, from year to year, un- noticed and unknown, and in so doing bequeathed to posterity a splendid example of devotion to duty which may well be remembered in this day. [ 88 ] THE OREGON BOUNDARY . CHAPTER IX. Whilst the Hudson’s Bay Comany was enlarging its sphere of influence in the west and in the old Oregon territory particularly, the title to that vast region was the subject of a keen diplomatic discussion between Great Britain and the United States of America, the real question at issue being the right and title to the whole of the country west of the Rocky Mountains and lying between 42 and 54-40 north latitude. Both parties vaguely realized the coming importance of the Pacific Ocean, as a highway of commerce between Asia and America, and both put forward almost identical claims arising from discovery, occupation or derivative titles. Both had, in the language of diplomacy, “essential interests,” or, in other words, a right to a “fair way” to, and forts upon, the Pacific Ocean. Neither party could legitimately claim the whole, although each party was determined to get as much as possible. The subject had been in dispute for twenty-five years, from 1819 to 1846, and was marked throughout its whole course with considerable display of spirit and ebullitions of popular feeling on both sides, threatening at times to involve the two countries in war. Having in mind, however, the compara- tively recent wars of the Revolution and of 1812, both nations were steadied and steered by the saner counsels of those who dreaded war as an arbitra- ment that settled no rights, demonstrating only the greater prowess or the better preparedness of the victors, and while the result was not wholly sat- isfactory to either of the disputants it at least averted bloodshed. Diplomacy steered the spirit of belligerency into the channels of compromise, and the two nations retained a friendship, which has ever since been gradually gain- ing strength. Great Britain based her claim upon discoveries of a national character, such as those of Cook and Vancouver. Prior to the year 1778 the Spaniards had from time to time explored the northwest coast, but in that year the illustrious Captain Cook pushed his discoveries into the same field and pro- ceeded far north, but, whereas Cook tabulated the results of his discoveries in a minute manner and well described the coast, thereby greatly advancing geographical science and the general knowledge of the country, the Span- iards, who, though justly entitled to the claim of earlier discoveries, had not proclaimed the results of their voyages and had established no rights by virtue of publicity. It was claimed on behalf of Great Britain that the pub- lished records of the Cook voyage should give to her the title so far as it was based on the consideration of priority of discovery. After Cook came many British traders and explorers, who visited the northwest coast, and charted it and otherwise added to the world’s knowledge of that part of the Pacific coast. The most important of these was Captain George Van- couver, who, in a man of war, commissioned as Captain Cook was to explore and definitely delimit the portions of the coast visited, made a very thorough examination during three years, beginning with 1792, and accurately sur- [ 89 ] veyed it from 40 degrees north latitude as far north as 60. He prepared the first series of charts, the accuracy of which has never been disputed, and these were published, together with three quarto volumes filled with descrip- tions of the rarest interest and importance. Until 1790 Spain claimed, as we have seen in previous chapters, exclusive sovereignty of the entire coast as far north as the territory occupied by the Russians; but by the terms of the treaty of Nootka, as we have also seen, all such pretensions were with- drawn to the territory north of her own acknowledged sphere of occupation. Moreover, she abandoned the Nootka territory altogether and never after the dispute was settled by convention did she or any of her subjects make any attempt to explore or trade on the northwest coast. The United States, on the other hand, was equally emphatic as to the validity of her claims, basing them upon the discovery by Gray of the mouth of the Columbia River, which strangely enough Captain Vancouver missed entirely, and regarding the existence of which he was highly sceptical, in 1792; the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-06; the Astorian expedition of 1811; and the titles derived from the purchase of Louisiana from the French in 1803, and the Florida Treaty of 1819, whereby, for a consideration, Spain ceded all rights on the Pacific coast north of California to the United States. As the interests and claims of each were more or less identical and as each had vast possessions east of the Rocky Mountains to back up their individual demands for harbors on the Pacific, an “essential interest” which neither party could ignore on the part of the other or afford on its own account to give up, it was evident that the successful issue of this knotty problem could only be arrived at by compromise, or a series of “give and take” on both sides. As has been previously mentioned, Astoria, a fur-trad- ing post, had, in addition to a formal taking over by a British man of war, been purchased from the Astor Company by the North West Company. Therefore, it remained in possession of the latter, under the name of Fort George and under the protection of the British flag; but in the year 1817 the United States demanded the restoration of the post and the contiguous territory under the agreement made in 1815 after the close of the war of 1812, whereby all territory taken during the war should be restored statu quo ante helium. The claim was, of course, absolutely untenable on any principle of international law. The post of Astoria as the property of an American company of traders could not have in the first place established any claim to contiguous territory, and in the second place the post itself had been transferred by purchase to the North West Company before the entrance of the warship into the Columbia. It was not the first mistake made by the British government in the diplomacy which governed the Ore- gon question, but it was in itself an almost irreparable blunder, succeeded by another almost equally fatal in 1818. The Treaty of Ghent was clearly not applicable to Astoria; but the demand was finally acceded to, albeit Lord Castlereagh instructed the British representative at Washington to make it clear that the British cabinet was “not prepared to admit the validity of the title of the government of the United States to this settlement.” It was only conceded that the American government should be in possession pending the settlement of the whole boundary dispute itself. Really, the first mistake that was made was in the treaty of Nootka, [90] a mistake that was pointed out on the floor of the House of Commons by Charles Fox at the time the treaty was made. The mistake was in leaving the title to the country an open question, without settling anything except the actual right to maintain Nootka and to compensate Captain Meares for losses some of which were rather mythical. The British government having gone so far should have restricted the Spanish to their own territory in Span- ish America. It was a critical time, however, and all Europe was on the verge of war, and England, though prepared for hostilities, thought it prudent to accept what was so grudgingly offered by Spain, peace with honour. By a strong, decided step, Spain would have had to forego war, which she was not in a position to carry on, and surrender, and thus have been eliminated as a factor in subsequent disputes. The third mistake was in the convention of 1818, whereby it was agreed between Great Britain and the United States that, while neither party should be recognized as the actual possessor of any property lying between latitudes 44 to 55, both nations should have an equal right to colonize and establish trading posts on any uninhabited place west of the Rocky Moun- tains and along the Pacific seaboard, always providing that these places be free and open to the vessels, citizens and subjects of the two high contracting parties. This treaty was to extend over a period of ten years unless abro- gated by subsquent treaties. Needless to say, in this Great Britain repeated the blunder of which she had been guilty in dealing with the Spaniards, that is, in leaving the door open indefinitely for further parley and shifting of the issues. She should have stood upon her acknowledged rights of prior discov- eries, explorations and settlement and should not have overlooked the vital fact that as each year passed the American settlers would preponderate in Oregon, thereby further justifying any claim the United States might make on the ground of expansion and colonization by her own people and making further negotiations for the settlement of the boundary increasingly difficult. The North West Company had been in possession of the country as trad- ers, and any rights the Americans acquired by a temporary occupation of Astoria by a private company were those of the other company in a much stronger degree. All rights or title the Spanish Government may have had to the northwest coast in the disputed region had been abandoned long be- fore and had been formally extinguished by the Nootka treaty. Spain could not sell the United States rights she did not herself possess. Gray was ad- mittedly the first to enter the Columbia River, but his discovery was acci- dental, he being engaged purely as a trader, and he made no attempt to ex- plore the river. The expedition of Lewis and Clark, whereby these worthy gentlemen crossed the continent and finally reached the mouth of the Columbia, was really the strongest claim the United States had to the country tributary to the Columbia, but that expedition was publicly proclaimed to have been in the interests of science and literature, and without international import, al- though secretly the vote for the expenses was obtained from Congress on the grounds that it was for ulterior purposes — that is to say, to establish a claim when the time came to assert it. It was not what might be termed highly creditable tactics on the part of a president and congress. At that time it must be remembered, with the exception of a few trappers and hunters, [ 91 ] there was not a single American citizen west of the Mississippi River, and there were scarcely more for about twenty years afterwards. Therefore, in 1818 the United States had done practically nothing of its own account to have justified any very serious claims. The question at that time was quite ably argued by representatives of both nations, but after the decision to com- promise by indefinitely postponing the issue the interest in the question lapsed and disputation was quiescent until they were again excited by the im- migration in great numbers into Oregon of American citizens, as the result of efforts on the part of missionaries, who formed the vanguard of this trek, for the purpose of spreading the Gospel among the natives of the coun- try. The time had come when actual colonization was to settle the ques- tion in a way not anticipated by at least one of the contracting parties. The question was keenly discussed on both sides of the Atlantic, but particularly so on the American, where popular imagination was more than once aflame. Ignorance of the real merits was a large ingredient in the cam- paign which followed and, therefore, demagogism played a conspicuous part. The dispute had entered politics and consequently the party that could go far- thest in arousing hostility against Great Britain, at a time when the present amicable feelings toward that country did not obtain, had the best chance of winning out. When the discussion waxed hot, the stump speaker and the professional politician and the party editor won popularity by hurling accu- sations against Great Britain, that country being represented as an usurping and grasping power, the arrogant claims of which should be opposed by a united American people. All, or nearly all, of the State legislatures passed high-sounding resolutions, calling upon the national government to assert its claims to the whole of the Oregon territory, which included everything as far north as Russian-America. Congress in response to popular feeling took up the question and many bitter and impassioned speeches were made in the Senate and House of Representatives, all of which did not tend to allay pub- lic fears or to promote amicable settlement. Committees were appointed to enquire into the subject and their report only helped to confirm the Ameri- can people in their belief that their title to Oregon was unassailable. In Canada we had a not dissimilar state of public feeling over the settlement of the Alaska Boundary question. Through agitation and a lot of ill-informed discussion on the subject, Canadians as a whole prejudged the entire case and had come to believe that their rights were greatly in excess of what they ac- tually were, and when the decision was finally made there was intense, but wholly unjustifiable dissatisfaction expressed. In the Oregon Boundary case, so far did the feeling go that the Hudson’s Bay Company was accused of every kind of high crime and misdemeanor. It was denounced as a grasp- ing monopoly, the tool of the British Government, which exercised tyranny and ground down poor American settlers. The truth was that the Hud- son’s Bay Company treated with the utmost consideration and generosity the American settlers as they came into Oregon. Most of them as they arrived were in a very sorry condition of body and pocket. They were fed, clothed and housed by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and out of the stores of the cor- poration they were given seed to plant and implements to till the soil. In fact, so generous was Dr. McLoughlin during this period that he incurred the displeasure of his superiors, and was blamed for encouraging and assisting [92] the American invasion, whereas he was simply aiding distress. Naturally, the policy of the Company was not in sympathy with the settlement of the country by Americans, or, for that matter, any other class of colonists, but that the settlers were unfairly dealt with or treated in any other than the most liberal way is wholly untrue. Had it not been for the generous aid of Dr. McLoughlin it is highly probable that the efforts to colonize Oregon would have been a disastrous failure. The early settlers were not only with- out resources, but they were exposed to the attacks of hostile Indians. With- out the protection of the Hudson’s Bay Company, these poor people would have run the risk of extermination. As a consequence of this extravagant campaign of agitation, which rap- idly extended until it included every part of the United States, the whole peo- ple beat themselves into a frenzy, and the popular fume reached its height in the presidential campaign of 1845, in which the Democrats helped to rally the nation to the support of their candidate — James Knox Polk — with the bat- tle cry or “Fifty-four Forty or Fight.” In view of the effervescent state of the public mind the government of Washington could not accede to the reasonable proposals of the British Government. In England the matter was taken more quietly, but even in that country, remote as it was from the Oregon territory and the people with naturally much less interest in the issue, the question was vigorously discussed in parliament, on the hustings and in the press. The people, indeed, would have supported the government in extreme measures had it been necessary to resort to arms, as the British people always do. Naturally, however, they were more favourable to peace than war, if the latter could be avoided. Naturally, both countries had their distinguished champions in print. Of the vast mass of printed material bearing on the subject, at least two works have survived, which bid fair to stand as classics on the dispute. Robert Greenhow, librarian of the American Department of State, prepared an elab- orate statement, or, more strictly speaking, brief, for the American govern- ment. It was first published as a public document in 1840 (1). It subse- quently appeared in a more enlarged form in 1844 (2) as a private publica- tion. Though marred by some inaccuracies and other faults peculiar to an author who is proving a case, the work is a plausible and able presentment of the American side of the question, and it is a splendid summary of Pacific coast history, the first of its kind. By far the ablest presentation of the British side of the contention came from the pen of Dr. Travers Twiss, pro- fessor of political economy in the University of Oxford, and a man of high legal attainments. His work (8) is particularly valuable on account of his able interpretation of international law upon the subject of territorial title to and occupation of new lands. The works of these two authorities on the sub- ject and the official papers of the two countries whose interests were in- volved give a very comprehensive view of the dispute from both sides. Briefly, in 1818, by agreement the title to the country was held in abey- ance, the subjects of both countries possessing equal rights, such settlements as might be made in no wise to prejudice the claims of either party. In (1) Greenhow’s Memoirs, Historical and Political, on the Northwest Coast of America and the Ad- jacent Territories, Senate Document, 174: Washington, 1840. (2) Greenhow’s History of Oregon and California, and the other Territories on the Northwest Coast of North America: London, John Murray, 1844. First publication in the United States. (3) Twiss: The Oregon Question Examined, in respect to Facts and the Law of Nations: London, 1846. [93] 1824 and again in 1826 the plenipotentiaries came together with the object of settling, but without avail. The conference, however, led to the conven- tion of 1827, which indefinitely extended that of 1818, and here the matter rested for several years. After 1830 the question became more complicated by the inrush of settlers whereby the valley of the Columbia became better known. The cupidity of landseekers, who carried their nationality with them, caused them to use influence to gain their ends by exciting the poli- ticians and the people for political and patriotic purposes, much as manu- facturers of armaments are said to excite nations to go to war in order to sell their goods. Lord Ashburton having failed to induce the American gov- ernment to include a settlement of the Oregon question in the treaty of 1842 — known as the Ashburton — the British Ministry decided to make yet an- other attempt to dispose of the matter. Accordingly Mr. H. S. Fox, of the British legation at Washington, was instructed to propose to Mr. Daniel Webster that the United States minister to the Court of St. James should be empowered to represent his government in the proposed negotiations to adjust “the unsettled question of boundary west of the Rocky Mountains.” Negotiations dragged on slowly for a year or more, the American govern- ment not being anxious apparently to come to close quarters. A new turn was given to affairs when Mr. R. Pakenham was accredited to Washington as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, with full power to nego- tiate a treaty. The then American Secretary, who died, was succeeded by the famous southerner, the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, and entered upon negotia- tions, but these had only been fairly launched when the Polk administration came into power and James Buchanan succeeded Calhoun, and the years 1843, 1844 and 1845 were consumed in long discussions. The question at first hinged upon the acceptance or rejection by the United States of Great Brit- ain’s proposal that the boundary should follow the 49th parallel to the point where it intersected the Columbia River and thence down the stream to its mouth. In addition Great Britain offered to surrender her claim to the lit- toral lying between the mouth of the Columbia River and Puget Sound. There were other points of a minor character involved, such as a free port on Vancouver Island. The American government was quite prepared to compromise, and did seriously agree that the line should follow the 49th par- allel to the Pacific Ocean, but after Polk’s belligerent campaign of “Fifty- four Forty or Fight” the administration withdrew the offer in deference to public feeling. The American argument was elaborately and ably presented by Mr. Calhoun in a memorandum dated September 3rd, 1844, in which he outlined the historical and argumentative features of the case, which have already been briefly indicated. He was replied to, more succinctly, but not less forcibly, by Mr. Pakenham on September 12th. In a few days Mr. Cal- houn made a counter reply. Several conferences followed this correspondence but to no purpose. There was great excitement in both countries and for a time it appeared that war alone coidd settle the dispute, and the belligerent proceedings of the House of Representatives in connection with the proposal to renounce the treaty of 1818-27 did not tend to allay popular clamor. Mr. Buchanan upon taking office renewed negotiations where they were left off, and on July 12th, 1845, the two ministers started to thresh it all out again. The Secretary’s memorandum on the subject was very long, covering [94] similar ground to Calhoun, but with the use of much verbiage. Pakenham re- plied and Buchanan countered at great length, particular stress being paid to the Nootka Affair and the title derived from the Spanish, too long to be examined in detail. It ended by a declaration on the part of the American government of the withdrawal of the offer of compromise previously re- ferred to. So the question was left exactly where it was in 1818, some 27 years before. In January, 1846, the British government offered to submit the question to arbitration to some friendly sovereign or state, which was de- clined. Great Britain then suggested a mixed commission composed of the most distinguished jurists of the time. This was also declined, on the grounds that the territorial rights of a nation was not a proper subject for arbitration. Popular opinion in the United States did not want division of territory. It wanted the whole of the territory north of Mexico to the Russian possessions at 54° 40'. That was made fully evident in the Polk election, in which United States expansion was the real issue. Notwithstanding the state of public opinion other considerations prevailed and on the 15th of June, a few months later, the Oregon Treaty was signed with the 49th parallel as the boundary line. It was a compromise to avoid war, the only logical conclusion of the differences which existed. Vancouver Island was wholly reserved to the British, the line being diverted in a southerly direction following the middle of the navigable channel of the ocean. The free navigation of the Columbia River to the Hudson’s Bay Company and to those trading with it was stipulated. The possessory rights of the Hudson’s Bay and Puget Sound companies were respected with the proviso that farms and lands con- sidered to be of public and political importance to the United States could be acquired by valuation. There were those on both sides of the contention who expressed great dissatisfaction over the result. On the British side many claimed that Great Britain had sacrificed territory of great value in the interests of peace, mak- ing an ignominious surrender. On the American side. President Polk was accused of truckling to Great Britain, a charge that might have had some point at the time from the fact that he was elected upon an issue that de- manded all or war. Now that the heat and passion engendered by the fa- mous controversy have died away, it is interesting to note that many Ameri- can historians are willing to admit that the United States was fortunate in escaping from the awkward position in which she was placed towards the close of 1845, and their observations are free from that rancour and prejudice which characterized controversy in those days. The Hudson’s Bay Company has been absolved from those crimes which it was popular seventy years ago to attribute to it in connection with its occupation of Oregon. On the other hand, such a competent authority as Gilbert Malcolm Sproat has declared to the writer that the “arrangement was internationally fair and reasonable,” a broad view to which, perhaps, all British historians would not subscribe. It would seem that in 1846 the only alternative was the compromise arrived at or war, and it must remain a matter of opinion whether in the latter event the game was worth the candle. Back in 1790, in 1815, in 1818 and in 1827, however, it is very evident that while the British authorities did not lack in strong argument they were weak in agreeing to compromise, and it can only be said in justification that Oregon was far away, and its resources and [95] ultimate importance were neither understood nor foreseen. When we remem- ber in what little esteem British Columbia was held, as late as 1871, and even much later, in eastern Canada, we can scarcely blame the lack of foresight and knowledge respecting the whole of the Oregon territory which existed in official circles in Great Britain many years before that. The part played by the Hudson”s Bay Company in Oregon affairs in their international aspect is not generally understood; but it seems certain that that corporation — which was so vitally concerned in the issue — did every- thing it could in its power to induce the British government to assert its claim to a large extent of the territory, if not to the whole of the region in dispute, and it must not be forgotten that the Hudson’s Bay Company was a power in government circles in England, and we probably owe a good deal to that influence for the strong fight that was made by the Imperial authori- ties and for the half loaf we got as the result of compromise. So far as the officers stationed in the territory itself were concerned, they received the news of the settlement in a philosophic spirit, but with a keen sense of disappoint- ment, which found expression in contemporary letters. The Company con- tinued to do business south of the line for some years afterwards, still an object of much suspicion and dislike on the part of the settlers, and its inter- ests were subject to a great deal of unfair treatment. After a great deal of negotiations the land and other assets of the two allied companies were taken over by the United States and compensation was made to the extent of $650,000, after which all operations were transferred to the country north of the 49th parallel of latitude, and Oregon knew them no more. It may be well, for the sake of continuity, to state here that the Oregon Treaty had its aftermath in the San Juan Boundary question, which a few years later threatened to disturb the peaceful relations of the two countries. The first article of the convention laid down that the boundary line “shall be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver’s Island; and thence southerly, through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca’s Straits, to the Pacific Ocean; provided, however, that the naviga- tion of the whole of the said channel and straits, south of the forty-ninth par- allel of north latitude, shall remain free and open to both parties.” A question arose as to which channel was alluded to, there being two or three straits of some magnitude. Britain claimed that the line should fol- low Rosario Strait to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, while the United States contended that it should run through the Strait de Haro to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A long discussion ensued, but, as in the larger Oregon question, neither side would yield. In the end the matter was referred to the arbitration of William., Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia. In 1872, His Majesty decided in favour of the United States, and so San Juan Island and other islands in the Archipelago passed into the possession of the Americans. While the question was pending, San Juan Island was occupied by a British garrison at one end and by an American force at the other. The dispute caused much irritation locally, and for a time excitement ran high in Victoria and in the towns of Puget Sound. However, British Columbians, though greatly disappointed at the result of the arbitration, loyally accepted the award of the German Emperor. [ 96 ] CHANGING HEADQUARTERS. CHAPTER X. Several years before the Oregon boundary question was settled in 1846, the Hudson’s Bay Company, apparently uncertain as to the outcome of the dispute, but prepared for an adverse verdict, decided to build an establish- ment in a more northern territory, the title to which was not likely to pass to the United States. In the event of the boundary line not being allowed according to the British claim, that is, the line of the Columbia River from the point where it is intersected by the 49th parallel of north latitude to its mouth, the establishment at Fort Vancouver, with all its rich fields and pas- tures, would be in American territory. It was essential, therefore, that an- other post should be built in a district where extensive agricultural operations might be successfully carried on. The lucrative commerce in agricultural prod- ucts with the Russians in Alaska made it doubly desirable that the new estab- lishment should be in a fertile region. The southern extremity of Vancouver Island with its wild parks, verdant swards adorned with oak trees, and abrupt rocky eminences, had not escaped the notice of the vigilant men who had con- ducted the coast-wise trade of the great Company. Captain McNeill of the steamer Beaver in 1837, and Sir George Simpson later, had remarked upon the eligibility of the place as a site for a future post. James Douglas was ordered early in 1842 to proceed to Vancouver Is- land and report upon the country. In the late spring or early summer, Doug- las left Fort Nisqually in the schooner Cadboro, and after carefully going over the ground, he selected a place called by him the “Port of Camosack,” which was decidedly the most advantageous situation for the purpose within the Straits of San Juan de Fuca. Douglas carried out his instructions in his usual thorough manner. After spending several weeks in a minute exam- ination of the various harbours in that locality, and the eligible sites for a post, he returned to Fort Vancouver, and submitted a written report to his superior, Doctor McLoughlin. The report is a somewhat lengthy document, in which the merits of the different places visited are carefully weighed. It is interesting not only from the fact it is the best description of the southern end of the Island that had been written up to that time, but also because it was penned by a man who, a few years later was to govern the territory in the dual capacity of chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and rep- resentative of the Crown. It was addressed to Dr. McLoughlin under date of July 12th, 1842. James Douglas was a close, almost a scientific observer, and his report very faithfully portrays all the advantages of Camosun or “Camosack,” as he calls it, for the purposes of the Company as well as giving a very faithful description of the physical features of the surrounding districts. It is par- ticularly interesting from the fact that it contains the reasons why Camosun was chosen as the proposed main depot, to succeed Vancouver, in preference to sites on other harbours, and more particularly that of Esquimalt. As a har- [97] bour it was “equally safe and accessible” and had plenty of timber for local and export purposes. Douglas regarded the present Gorge, on what he called the “Canal of Camosack,” six miles long, with an abundant supply of timber on each side, as affording “boundless water power,” for operating flour or saw mills. Douglas examined several locations before he decided upon Camo- sack, and he gave his objections, which may be briefly recited here. Sy- yousung, though well protected, had a very strong current setting through the entrance of the harbour with flood and ebb tide, which would prove in- convenient to vessels entering and leaving the port. At Port Whyring, eight miles from Sy-yousung, there was a good harbour, but on the east side was bounded by naked granite hills and the west shore was of an equally sterile character. Metchosin, one and a half miles east of Whyring, had an open roadsted, with plenty of fresh water running into it; but had an exposed an- chorage very insecure in stormy weather and was surrounded by poor, stony land, utterly unsuitable for a settlement. Is-whoy-malth (Esquimalt) was the next place considered. Douglas speaks of it as having one of the finest harbours on the coast but otherwise possessing no attractions. Its appearance was unprepossessing, and the coun- try around rugged, “exhibiting a confused assemblage of rock and wood.” The shores were “rugged and precipitous,” and he did not see one level spot clear of trees of sufficient extent to build a fort on. One of the serious ob- jections was a scarcity of fresh water. The reasons for Douglas’s choice of Camosun are epitomized in the following sentence: “There is one important objection which applies to all the places except ‘Camosack’ mentioned in the sketch, namely, the absence of any tract of clear land sufficiently extensive for the tillage and pasture of a large agricultural establishment. It would also be difficult to find a convenient situation for an establishment on the rugged high shores of any of the other harbours, and, moreover, these latter places, with the exception of ‘Sy-yousung’ and ‘Metchosin,’ are all scantily supplied with fresh water.” In regard to Camosack, the water supply was scanty enough, but it was proposed to dig wells and those with a small stream 300 paces away from the site of the fort and a lake 800 yards away would, he thought, be sufficient for all purposes. What apparently ap- pealed to Douglas’s trained eye, was the picturesqueness of the situation, with a surrounding district, largely prairie and park-like in appearance, and rich soil having excellent agricultural possibilities. He remarks on the mild and pleasant climate, the extent of bottom land, the luxuriance of the native clover and the flora generally, the abundance of oak and pine timber, the geographical position in relation to the ocean, and the importance of the Gorge for power purposes. Pre-eminently, there was “a pleasant and con- venient site for the establishment within fifty yards of the anchorage, on the border of a large tract of clear land.” In conclusion, he said in his report to Dr. McLoughlin: “The situation is not faultless, or so completely suited to our purposes as it might be; but I despair of any better being found on this coast, as I am confident that there is no other seaport north of the Columbia where so many advantages will be found combined.” As time goes on, the wisdom of the selection made by Douglas is more and more apparent, al- though he was not then looking so much to the future of to-day as to the immediate interests of the Hudson’s Bay Company. [98] The recommendations contained in Mr. Douglas’s report were adopted without delay. Public interest in the United States was thoroughly aroused over the Oregon Boundary question, and a decision might be reached any hour. Douglas was, therefore, ordered to return to Camosun, which appears to be the name the village was called by the Indians, although Douglas stuck to his first name of “Camosack.” It occupied the site upon which the present city of Victoria is built. He embarked on the little steamer Beaver early in March, taking with him a small party of hardy pioneers and the necessary supplies were provided by Dr. W. F. Tolmie, who for so many years kept watch and ward over the Nisqually plains. Having reached the little land- locked harbor of Camosun, the men were disembarked and soon the place be- came the scene of unwonted activity. In a short time the new fort was ready for occupation. James Douglas was accompanied on this occasion by an energetic Roman Catholic missionary, Father Bolduc, who, while the men were building the fort, went among the Indians and preached to them with such success that many of them foreswore their savage customs and were baptized, being received into the fold of the Catholic church. It does not ap- pear, however, that the natives had any definite idea of the high principles set forth in the teaching of the worthy missionary. Perhaps, he was no more successful than a later labourer in the vineyard, Pere Lamfrette, who vainly endeavoured to reform King Freezy, a celebrated chieftain of the Songhees tribe. King Freezy, it is true, accepted the tenets of the Christian faith, as propounded by the good Father, but it was a different matter when he was called upon to practice his faith. King Freezy, in accordance with the cus- tom of his nation, had two wives; one of them had been the partner of his joys and sorrows for many years, but now was old and ugly. He had, therefore, recently taken unto himself a young girl. When he was told that if he would hold to the Christian faith, it was necessary that he should have but one wife, the old rascal quietly abandoned the older woman and declared his intention of keeping the younger. In order to concentrate the forces of the Company at Camosun, it had been decided to abandon the posts on Taku Inlet and Millbank Sound, and to bring the men and supplies from these places to Vancouver Island. The Beaver was therefore despatched northward on this mission. She returned in due course with Roderick Finlayson, and the men who had manned the northern forts. By this means the number of men employed in building the fort at Camosun was increased to forty. Before the end of the summer the stockade was completed and several substantial buildings within it. All the buildings, as well as the stockade, were erected without a single nail being used. Douglas, ever economical, had used wooden pegs in the place of the more expensive metal. Douglas, having completed his work, returned to Vancouver, leaving Charles Ross in charge of the post, with Roderick Finlayson as his second in command. At first the place was called Fort Albert after the Prince Con- sort, but a year or two later, the name was changed to Victoria, in honour of Her Gracious Majesty, the Queen. As soon as the fort was erected, the fur traders turned their attention to agricultural pursuits. Farms were laid out; fields cleared and ploughed; cattle, horses, and sheep brought over from the gravelly plains of Nisqually. Very soon the place became an important cen- [ 99 ] tre. From time to time buildings were added to the fort, wharves and ware- houses built, and the farms extended, until in 1849, three years after the settlement of the Oregon Boundary dispute, Victoria became the headquar- ters of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the northwest coast. The ship that annually brought supplies from England, sailed to Victoria, instead of the Columbia River; and there discharged her cargo and took on board the furs gathered from the various posts on the seaboard and in the interior. Charles Ross died at his post in 1844, and he was succeeded by Roderick Finlayson, who left an interesting account of early days in Vancouver Island. Scarcely had the ink of the Oregon Treaty dried than Sir John H. Pelly, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, sought to extend the sway of the Adventurers of England, even as far as the Pacific Ocean. On Sep- tember 7 , 1846, he addressed a diplomatic note to Earl Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies: “With the view of ascertaining the intentions of Her Majesty’s Government as to the acquisition of Lands or formation of Settle- ments to the North of Latitude Forty-nine.” He was also anxious to know whether the Hudson’s Bay Company would be confirmed: “In the possession of such lands as they may find it expedient to add to those which they al- ready possess.” Clearly it was the intention of the Company to obtain, if possible, from the Crown, a grant of the western territories of British North America, in order to prevent such occurrences as had proved so disas- trous to their several undertakings in the valleys of the Columbia and Willam- ette Rivers. What Sir George Simpson had termed in a moment of disgust or petulance “the unruly population” of that quarter, ought not to be allowed to obtain a foothold on Vancouver Island. So far, the mainland was safe enough, because the exclusive trade of that region was assured to the Com- pany by the terms of the agreement of 1838, which had extended for a fur- ther term of twenty years, the agreement of 1821, in which the amalga- mated Hudson’s Bay and North West companies, had been granted the ex- clusive trade of the Indian territories. These agreements were generally known as “the licenses of exclusive trade.” Early in October, 1846, Earl Grey replied to Sir John Pelly ’s letter. He requested the directors of the Hudson’s Bay Company to apprise him with as much exactness as possible, “What is the extent and what are the nat- ural or other Limits of the Territory in the Possession of which they (the Company) desire to be confirmed, pointing out what may be known regard- ing the Soil, Harbour, and navigable Streams comprised within it.” Earl Grey also wished to be informed by the Company: “Whether they are ad- vised that their Right is clear in point of Law to receive and hold in their corporate Capacity any Lands within the Dominions of the British Crown, Westward of the Rocky Mountains.” In reply to the Colonial Secretary’s note, Sir John Pelly on October 24th, transmitted Chief Factor James Douglas’s report of July 12, 1842, and pointed out that the reports of Lieu- tenants Warre and Vavasour dated November 1, 1845, addressed to the Sec- retary of State for the Colonies, and that of Lieutenant Vavasour to Colonel Holloway of the Royal Engineers, dated March 1, 1846, contained the infor- mation desired by Earl Grey. The Colonial Secretary was advised that the Company held that its right was clear in point of law, to receive and hold in its corporate capacity any lands within the dominions of the British Crown [ 100 ] west of the Rocky Mountains— a claim which was based upon the Royal Charter of 1670, and the license of May 13, 1838, which, however, reserved to the Crown the right of establishing colonies within these territories, or of annexing any part thereof to any existing colony or colonies. This letter concluded with the following paragraph: “It would be a superfluous task to enter into the detail of the reasons which render the colonization of Vancou- ver Island a subject of grave importance; I shall at present merely submit to Earl Grey’s consideration, whether that object, embracing as I trust it will the conversion to Christianity and the civilization of the native population, might not be most readily and effectually accomplished through the instru- mentality of the Hudson’s Bay Company, either by a grant of the Island on terms to be hereafter agreed upon or in some other way in which the influence and resources of the Company might be made subservient to that end” (1). These and other letters addressed by Sir John Pelly to Earl Grey, ex- hibited the keen desire of the Hudson’s Bay Company to obtain control of the territory now definitely determined to belong to Great Britain. The Company indeed wished to obtain a grant of the whole territory lying be- tween the country drained by the rivers flowing into Hudson’s Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. In a communication dated March 5, 1847, the Governor ob- served that “if Her Majesty’s ministers should be of opinion that the terri- tory in question would be more conveniently governed and colonized (as far as that may be practicable) through the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Com- pany are willing to undertake it, and will be ready to receive a grant of all ter- ritories belonging to the Crown, which are situated north and west of Ru- pert’s Land.” In making this sweeping request, however, the Governor over- reached himself. It was quite impossible in view of the state of public opin- ion in England at that time, for any public man to bring forward such a pro- posal. Earl Grey, in reply, proposed that the Company should submit “an- other scheme which should be more limited and defined in its object, and yet embrace a plan for the Colonization and Government of Vancouver’s Island.” This definite request narrowed the scope of the negotiations. Yet, even in the face of the decided opinion expressed by the Colonial Secretary, Sir John Pelly pressed for a grant of the whole of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. The Governor was astute and diplomatic enough to as- sure Earl Grey that the Company was not particularly anxious to take over the territories asked for in the first instance, and to add that he had merely suggested that the whole should be included in a grant to the Hudson’s Bay Company, because, “I was persuaded that the colonization would be much more successfully conducted under the auspices of the Company than it would be in any other manner.” If that proposal should not meet with the approval of Her Majesty’s Government, the Company were quite willing that the lands should be limited to “the territory north of 49°, bounded on the east by the Rocky Mountains, or even Vancouver‘s Island alone.” The Com- pany, however, did not wish to be called upon to pay royalties to the Impe- rial government, because “all moneys received for land or minerals would be applied to purposes connected with the improvement of the country, and, (1) Vide correspondence between the chairman of the Hudson’s Bay Co. and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, relative to the colonization of Vancouver Island. 1849. p. 18. [ 101 ] therefore, if the Grant is to be clogged with any payment to the Mother coun- try, the Company would be under the necessity of declining it.” Earl Grey replied that he deemed it advisable in the first instance, that the grant should be confined to Vancouver Island. He was prepared to entertain any such proposal that the Company might think proper to submit to him for this purpose, proceeding on the principle that the Company should not derive any pecuniary profit from their undertaking. All funds arising from the sale of lands, or minerals, he suggested, should be applied towards the colonization and improvement of the Island. After considerable discussion, the House of Commons, taking into con- sideration the advantages of colonization and commerce, as well as the wel- fare and protection of the natives, which, it was assumed, would be the ulti- mate result of such a grant, decided at last to cede to the Hudson’s Bay Company by Royal proclamation, bearing the date of January 13th, 1849, the whole of Vancouver Island. It was stipulated in clear terms that settlers should be encouraged, especially emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland and other British possessions, specifying particularly that the Company should sell the land to such settlers at a reasonable price. The colony was to bear its own expenses of civil and military establishments, but the Brit- ish government reserved to itself the right to demand at any time land which might be required for naval establishments, agreeing to pay a reasonable price for the same. Under this grant, the Company was not to reap any substantial benefit from the sale of lands, coal, or minerals, as the revenue derived from these sources was to be applied to colonizing and improving the Island. The Hudson’s Bay Company was granted the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians during the term of five years. At the expiration of that term, if the Company had not succeeded in establishing upon the Is- land a settlement of resident colonists, the government reserved the right to itself to resume possession of the Island, with all the licenses and privileges added thereto upon payment to the Hudson’s Bay Company of any moneys expended by them on the Island, added to the value of the establishments and effects thereon. With the exclusive privilege of trading with the natives on the mainland, and the royal grant of Vancouver Island, the Hudson’s Bay Company occupied an impregnable position in northwestern America. How- ever, the grant of the Island was not absolutely unencumbered. Before it had been made, Earl Grey had signified that it was the intention of Her Majesty’s Government to provide for the government of the colony, and to make provision for the establishment of legislative authority among the colonists, on whom were to be conferred the same powers of local self gov- ernment usually granted to settlers in new colonies. A governor was to be appointed who would be directed to summon an assembly elected by the gen- eral vote of the inhabitants, to exeroise in conjunction with himself and a council, the law-making power. At the same time the Colonial Secretary intimated that he was quite ready to be guided in the selection of Her Maj- esty’s representative by the wishes of the Company. Sir John Pellv did not fail to avail himself of the opportunity to bring a name to Earl Grey’s notice. Naturally enough he suggested that James Douglas should receive the appointment. “Mr. Douglas,” observed Sir John Pelly, “is a man of property, a chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and a member of the [ 102 ] board at Fort Vancouver for managing the Company’s affairs of the coun- try westward of the Rocky Mountains.” He added: “I do not propose this as a permanent appointment, but merely as a temporary expedient, until the colony can afford to pay a governor unconnected with the Hudson’s Bay Company.” In the same letter he submitted the names of fourteen gentlemen whom he considered well qualified to hold commissions of the peace, under Act of 1 & 2, Geo. 4, c. 66. All of these men were connected with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and all of them were well known in the Oregon territory, where many of them had achieved distinction. The Reverend Robert Staines was the chaplain at Fort Victoria; Peter Skene Ogden, joint manager with James Douglas of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s affairs west of the Rocky Moun- tains; James Douglas, the protege of the great Dr. John McLoughlin and a man who had already distinguished himself in the service of the Company; John Work, a chief factor, who had lived in the Oregon territory for a quarter of a century; Archibalt McKinley, later a member of the In- dian Reserves Commission; Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, a polished phys- ician, and manager of the Puget Sound Agricultural Association’s estate on the Nisqually plains; Alexander Caulfield Anderson (2), a well known chief factor, who had distinguished himself in exploring the Hope Mountains and in establishing the route from Fort Hope to the interior followed by the an- nual brigades; James Murray Yale, John Tod and Dugald McTavish, chief factors, who had distinguished themselves in the west, and Richard Grant, Donald Mason, George T. Allan and John Kennedy, also well known throughout the Oregon territory and New Caledonia — these were the men selected as justices of the peace in the new colony. These appointments were made, and in due course Sir John’s nominees received their commissions duly signed by the Queen. But, although the Colonial Secretary in a letter to Sir John Pelly bearing the date of Septem- ber, 1848, acquiesced in the suggestion that James Douglas should be ap- pointed governor temporarily, some hitch must have occurred, for the honour of being the first governor of Vancouver Island fell to the lot of Mr. Rich- ard Blanshard, an estimable English barrister, who had seen service under the Colonial office in other parts of the Empire. Blanshard, however, did not receive the appointment until 1849, after the Royal grant of Vancouver Island had received the assent of Her Majesty. (2) Alexander Caulfield Anderson, born at Ruttenpoor, near Calcutta, India, 10th March, 1814. Went to England with his parents in 1817, where he was educated. In one of his manuscripts he says: “I met at a dinner party two veteran chief factors of the Hudson’s Bay Co. at home on furlough — John Clarke and Alexander Stewart. Stirring anecdotes of adventure by flood and field, etc., etc., confirmed my desire in favour of the west. Preparatory to entering the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company he was placed for a time in the office of a merchant in London. He went to Montreal in 1831 and was appointed to Lachine, a station nine miles from Montreal. Mr. Ismay Keith, senior chief factor in charge. Here he remained for one year and was then transferred to the Northwest, crossing the Rocky Mountains via the Tete Jaune Cache shortly after. He was stationed for several years at Fort Van- couver and at Nisqually and Fort Simpson. He was in charge of Fort Alexandria in New Caledonia until 1848 when he was appointed to explore a route through British territory for the transportation of supplies to the various interior posts from Fort Langley. This duty he successfully performed, dis- covering a feasible route via Fort Hope and the Similkameen and for which he was thanked by the Hudson's Bay Company. In the year 1849 he was placed in charge of Fort Colvile, where he served until 1852, when he retired and settled at Cathlamet in Washington territory. In 1858 he came to Vic- toria at the time of the Fraser river gold rush and entered the service of the government. He was placed in charge of the expedition to discover and make a road via Harrison Lake and the Douglas portage to Lillooet, which duty he successfully performed. Anderson and Seton lakes were named by him, being family names. He was then appointed collector of customs and postmaster at Victoria, which position he held for several years, after which he retired and lived for several years on his farm in Saanich. He was appointed afterwards by the Dominion Government as commissioner for the Dominion for the settlement of the Indian land question, at the conclusion of which he received the appointment of fishery commissioner for the province. This position he held to the day of his death, which occurred on the 9th of May. 1884. He married in 1838 the eldest daughter of Mr. James Birnie, of Oregon, by whom he had a large family, six of whom are living. (See also matter accompanying his portrait.) [ 103 ] It must not be supposed that the grant of Vancouver Island to the Hudson’s Bay Company was passed without opposition. As a matter of fact, the government was severely criticised, not only in the Imperial Parlia- ment, but by men who for one reason or another opposed the grant. Nor was the Hudson’s Bay Company, although the official returns to Parlia- ment of that period give no evidence of the fact, the sole claimant for a grant of the territory. While Sir John Pelly was pressing his claim upon the Secretary of State for the Colonies, a determined effort was made by one James Edward Fitzgerald to obtain a grant of the Island. His efforts, how- ever, were of no avail; nor does it appear that his application was seriously considered; he proposed to form a company to take over the Island on gen- erous terms, but as he could give no guarantee, such as that offered by a corporation of such high standing in the financial world as the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Ministry could not in fairness acquiesce in his proposals. Fitz- gerald, soured by his defeat, and feeling that he had been injured, bitterly attacked the Hudson’s Bay Company in a work entitled “Vancouver Island and the Hudson’s Bay Company,” that created some little stir at the time. In Parliament the late Right Honourable Ewart Gladstone objected to the policy of the Colonial office, and was inclined to view with disfavor the granting of further special privileges to the Adventurers of England. The people of England at that time were averse from monopolies, and the Cob- denites with what has been termed by their enemies, their Little England Policy, were exercising a powerful influence over the minds of the people. It was not to be expected then that the action of the government in this par- ticular should escape criticism, yet, in looking back, it does not appear that the government could with advantage have adopted at that time a different policy. The Hudson's Bay Company was already in possession of the land; its officers had penetrated it to its farthest extremities, and they were well versed in the Indian character. For years the Company with a handful of men had managed the whole territory and held the natives in check. More- over, it was beyond question that the Company had won the western terri- tory for Britain. Those qualifications for colonizing a wilderness, and those services in the cause of Empire, could not well be overlooked. As a natural corollary, the Hudson’s Bay Company was entrusted with the settlement of a British colony. For the first time in its history, that great organization had undertaken a colonial enterprise. Heretofore, with the exception of the settlement on Red River, a venture of a totally different nature from that of the colonization of Vancouver Island, that Company had not adopted a policy so inimical to its own interests. Until the reorganization of the Company in 1863 , when a large majority of the proprietors disposed of their shares to the International Financial Society, Limited, the court of proprietors had opposed the formation of settlements in the territories under their con- trol. The policy of the Company up to that time is clearly expounded in the letter of Alexander Dallas (who had succeeded Sir George Simpson as gov- ernor in America) dated Montreal, April 16 , 1862 , and having reference to the proposal of the government of Canada that a practicable line of com munication should be built across the continent. In that communication Dallas took occasion to observe that “while fully admitting the force of the above arguments (as to the public importance of such communication ) and [ 104 ] the immediate necessity of some arrangement being come to, I am reluctantly compelled to admit my inability to meet the government of Canada in this forward movement, for the following reasons: “1st. The Red River and Saskatchewan Valleys, though not in them- selves fur-bearing districts, are the sources from where the main supplies of winter food are procured for the northern posts from the produce of the buffalo hunts. A chain of settlements through these valleys would not only deprive the Company of the above vital resources, but would indirectly in many other ways so interfere with their northern trade as to render it no longer worth prosecuting on an extended scale. It would necessarily be di- rected into various channels, possibly to the public benefit, but the Company could no longer exist on its present footing. “The above reason against a partial surrender of our territories may not appear sufficiently obvious to parties not conversant with the trade or the country; but my knowledge of both, based on personal experience, and from other sources open to me, point to the conclusion that partial concession of the districts which must necessarily be alienated would inevitably lead to the extinction of the Company.” (3) While Earl Grey was considering the overtures made by Sir John Pelly, he sought information of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s management of the Oregon territory, and he requested Lieut. Adam D. Dundas, who had lat- terly returned from the northwest coast, to make a report to him with re- gard to the advantages or otherwise that would accrue to a colony under the supervision of that organization. Dundas’s report was most unfavourable, as it set forth lucidly arguments against the company which, in their exactness, were almost prophetic of ultimate experiences, at a time when the Home gov- ernment, still having this report in its hand, acted contrary to the warnings of its OAvn appointee. Lieut. Dundas told Earl Grey that the greater part of his two years’ service on the northwest coast was spent within the limits of Fort Vancouver. He had every opportunity, therefore, of observing the spirit which pervaded the entire system, and had no hesitation in saying that he thought it totally inapplicable to the nursing of a young colony. There appeared to be overbearing and illiberal usurpation of its power on the part of the Hudson’s Bay Company and in all cases it proved to be repugnant to the independent spirit and feeling of the white colonist. This powerful company existed solely by and for its trade with the aborigines and if, in the advancement of cilivilization, these people were pushed farther afield or should cease to exist, the occupation of the company would be gone. There- fore, its sole aim and object would be to protect as late as possible the ap- proach of civilization to the wilderness and trapping grounds of the red men, who were the raison d’etre of this corporation as a company. The Lieutenant goes on to eulogize the situation of Vancouver Island as much healthier and the climate more equable than any he had visited on the mainland, and, therefore, more suitable for European emigrants. Water was plentiful and fevers unknown on the Island. He reported the coast line as abounding in secure harbors and many evidences of lead, coal and tin. Huge forests of timber, consisting almost exclusively of giant pines, in dif- (3) Canada and British Columbia return to an address of the House of Commons, July 15, 1863 — page 5. [ 105 ] ferent varieties, with a small proportion of oak and ash, grew down the slopes almost to the edge of the sea; and being thus near the water could be easily and cheaply transported. He found conflicting opinions as to the agricultural value of the soil, but thought that in many places rich patches could be found of deep black soil, which only needed clearing. He estimated the num- ber of the Indians on Vancouver Island at about 10,000. Sometimes friendly, often treacherous and never to be relied upon, they subsisted chiefly on fish and game, and even ventured after the whale in their canoes, during the season, as the gigantic mammal frequented the Straits of Juan de Fuca in large numbers. The truth lay between the statements of Sir John Pelly and Lieutenant Dundas. Both, perhaps, made extravagant assertions. For instance, it is dif- ficult to account for Dundas’s criticism of the administration of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the valleys of the Columbia, because, as contemporary rec- ords show very clearly, that administration was extraordinarily successful. The Company was under no obligation to colonize the Oregon territory and it was not to be expected in the circumstances that it would bear with equanimity the encroachments of settlers. For all that, Dr. McLoughlin and other agents of the company had treated the destitute American settlers with great kindness. The great establishment at Fort Vancouver with its fruit- ful fields and great herds of horses, cattle and sheep, would rather create the impression that the Company could, if it chose, successfully form and admin- ister a colony. On the other hand, Sir John Pelly had perhaps misjudged, not the ability, but the willingness of his Company to foster settlements in territories it had long been accustomed to administer solely with a view to profiting by the fur trade. The settlement of the Willamette demonstrated the fact that farming and fur-trading could not be combined in the same region. However desirous of forming settlements in the neighbourhood of its posts the Company might be, sooner or later the rival interests of the settler and the fur trader were bound to clash. Subsequent events in Van- couver Island proved the truth of this. Yet, whatever may be said against the Hudson’s Bay Company, its serv- ices to the Empire can scarcely be over-estimated. It was the instrument by which that magnificent territory stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean north of the 49th parallel was conserved for the British race. With its superb organization, with an administration as effective as it was far-reaching, the Company held the land until, in the fullness of time, it became an integral part of the Empire. [ 106 ] GOVERNOR BLANSHARDS PLIGHT CHAPTER XI. In July, 1849, Richard Blanshard was duly appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Island of Vancouver and its depend- encies, by a commission under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom. The Governor reached Victoria in H. M. S. Driver on March 10th, 1850. On the following day he landed, and read his commission in the presence of Commander Johnson and the officers and servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company. By this simple act Vancouver Island became the first British colony in the north Pacific. Hitherto, the northwest coast had known neither law nor government. From time immemorial it had been under the sway of the native races. It is true that by this time the whole extent of territory from the Columbia River to Alaska, was well known to the adventurers who trafficked along its coast. The Hudson’s Bay Company had established some semblance of law and order therein, but it was not till Governor Blanshard read his commission at Victoria on March 11th, 1850, that it could be said the common law of England became effective. The true significance of that ceremony was not borne in upon the minds of those who took part in it, and outwardly there was little to show that it inaugurated a new era for that region. Nevertheless, it was the birthday of British supremacy in that quar- ter. The ceremony of reading the Queen’s commission and proclamation, creating the colony of Vancouver Island, took place in the great mess hall of the old fort, in the presence of the British naval officers in full uniform, James Douglas, Roderick Finlayson and the employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who greeted the Governor with three cheers. No doubt to the French Canadian voyageurs, and to the the men who had known no other au- thority but that of the great company, and who had observed no laws but those promulgated by Sir George Simpson, Dr. John McLoughlin, and the of- ficers in charge of the different posts where they had been stationed, it must have appeared strange, if not ludicrous, that by such a simple act a greater power than that wielded by the Company for which they worked and lived could set its seal upon the land. Yet, although its influence was not at first noticeable, such was the case. Heretofore, the mandate of the Hudson’s Bay Company had been supreme throughout the vast extent of the Western De- partment, or, as it was generally called the Columbia Department. The Com- pany, entrenched as it was, did not fear the new power that the creation of the little colony of Vancouver Island had established in the land; nor did it show much respect for Her Majesty’s representative. His Excellency, Governor Blanshard, the first duly commissioned repre- sentative of the Crown to assume control of any portion of the northwest coast, did not find his position a pleasant one. At the time of his arrival in the colony there were not more than thirty settlers, in addition to the officers and servants of the Company. Victoria, now the capital of the West- [ 107 ] ern Department, and the place of residence of James Douglas, the manager of the Company’s affairs west of the Rocky Mountains, was a small post beyond the stockades of which lay pastures, farms, and the wilderness. From the fort, winding lanes led to the fields and dairies. Although the agricultural operations of the Company’s officers had reclaimed here and there little patches, the countryside presented generally the aspect of the verdant wild. Game still abounded. The timid deer still roamed in the natural parks that surrounded the little fort. Blue and willow grouse lived in coveys in the thickets and on the rocky eminences of Gonzales Point, Mount Tolmie and Mount Douglas; while wild fowl were plentiful in the swamps and marshes in the autumn and winter months. The lordly elk had not yet forsaken its familiar haunts, and in those days this beautiful animal grazed with the cattle in the fields. The Governor found no residence awaiting him; nor even apartments in the fort. He was, therefore, obliged during the first few weeks of his stay in the colony he had come to rule reside on board H. M. S. Driver. Then he lodged in the fort, and afterwards a small house and office were built out- side the stockade. Blanshard had seen service in the West Indian Islands, in British Honduras and in India, where he had held position under the Colonial office, and he was seemingly well qualified to govern an infant colony; but on Vancouver Island he found nothing to govern, because the Hudson’s Bay Company, under the terms of the Royal grant, managed affairs as it liked, and, it has been said, more in its own interest than in that of the settlers. It was most unlikely that an utter stranger, even though clothed with all the power that the Queen’s commission could give him, would be cordially welcomed by the representatives of the great monopoly, espe- cially in view of the fact that Sir John Pelly had requested Earl Grey, Sec- retary of State for the colonies, to appoint that representative, viz., James Douglas, to the coveted position. The truth is that Blanshard was not wanted, and the Hudson’s Bay Company soon made his position untenable. With high hope he had set out to rule the new colony, where he had expected to be accorded the deference and respect due his rank; but his hope was rudely dashed to the ground. He found no public affairs to administer, no seat of government, no judiciary and no legislature. There was little indeed that he coidd do except to regulate the disputes between the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany’s officers and their servants which disputes were frequent enough. The Governor received no salary. He had accepted the position in the expecta- tion that colonists would flock to the country, and that every inducement would be offered people to settle there; and that, of course, as the colony progressed a civil list would be voted. He also expected that the sale of land and the royalties on coal would produce a considerable revenue. But these sources of income were controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company, under the terms of the grant, and the moneys so derived were expended by its officers. At the celebrated parliamentary enquiry into the affairs of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in 1857, Blanshard stated that before his departure from England, Sir John Pelly had promised him one thousand acres of land; but when he applied for the grant, he was told by James Douglas that the matter would have to be settled at head offices of the Company in England, as the grant was merely intended for the use of the Governor for the time [ 108 ] being. In view of the high cost of living of today, it is interesting to recall that it cost the Governor eleven hundred pounds a year to live, and that very quietly, at Victoria. There were three separate prices in the Company’s stores at that time; one for the superior officers; another for the servants; and a third which was called the “cash price,” at which goods were sold to settlers. The officers received their supplies at an advance of thirty-three per cent upon the cost price; the servants at fifty to one hundred per cent; and the cash price was regulated as nearly as possible by the price in California, where goods of all kinds were exceptionally high, owing to the gold excite- ment. The cash price represented an advance of three hundred per cent upon the prime cost. The unfortunate Governor was treated as a stranger, and was forced to purchase his supplies as such, which meant that he paid three hundred per cent over the cost price (1). An idea of Governor Blanshard’s impressions of the colony, of his struggles and disappointments, may be gained from his official correspondence with Earl Grey. His first dispatch is an illuminating document ; it bears the date of April 8th, 1850. In it, Governor Blanshard, after stating the date of his arrival, goes on to say that he read his commission in the presence of Commander Johnson of H. M. S. Driver and the officers and servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company. As no lodging had been provided for him, he stayed on board of the Driver , visiting Fort Rupert, where the company had established a miners’ settlement for the purpose of working coal, which, owing to want of proper implements, rendered the operations difficult and unsatis- factory, and made the miners discontented with their employers, amounting at times to open mutiny. Governor Blanshard remarked on the thinness of the seams and the poor quality of the coal discovered. He found that the Hudson’s Bay Company strictly enforced the prohibition of the sale of spirit- uous liquors to the Indians, but even at that time the natives were steadily decreasing in numbers, which, by Mr. McNeill, agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Beaver Harbor, were estimated at ten thousand. The quantity of arable land on the Island he reported as exceedingly limited. Upon his return to Victoria, he realized that he could not appoint a council out of the scanty material he found there. He found no settlers and few officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company possessed of the qualifications for a House of As- sembly. He, therefore, requested the Home government to forward instructions. In one of his earlier dispatches, Governor Blanshard mentions for the first time the discovery of gold, rumours of fabulous quantities of which in California, were current. He also speaks of rich gold mines on the Spokane River and suggests the probability of these rumours luring away many of the best servants of the Company. In August, 1850, he makes his first inti- mation to the Home government of a rich specimen of gold, found in the Queen Charlotte Islands, being brought to him by the Indians. In this dis- patch, too, he tells of an American company having started to run a line be- tween San Francisco and some point in Oregon, probably Portland, remark- ing that if coal had been found on Vancouver Island, the steamship company would probably have chosen Nisqually instead, “which would have greatly facilitated communication between Vancouver Island and England.” The Home authorities are also informed that the Hudson’s Bay Company had (1) Select Committee on Hudson’s Bay Co. 1857. Minutes on Evidence, page 288. [109] commenced a survey of the land reserved for themselves in the vicinity of Victoria, and observations are made on the characteristics of Victoria and Esquimalt harbours. At that time there was only one other settlement on the Island, which was at Fort Rupert on the northeastern coast. At this place the Company had been for some time searching for the coal that it was supposed existed in the neighbourhood. The miners brought out for this purpose, as stated in the dis- patch already quoted, soon began to chafe at the restrictions placed upon them. The Indians living near Fort Ruj>ert were also exceedingly trouble- some. They belonged to one of the most warlike and treacherous tribes then inhabiting the Island. A few months before, the ship, Norman Morrison , had arrived at Victoria from London, bringing several settlers and a num- ber of labourers for the Company. On this ship arrived a young surgeon and physician, named John Sebastian Helmcken, who was destined to achieve distinction in his adopted country, not only in his professional capacity, but also as a statesman. Open-hearted, generous, genial and witty, the doc- tor’s spontaneous good humour and broad sympathy soon endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. The doctor, shortly after his arrival, was sent to Fort Rupert as medical officer, and almost immediately he became identified with public affairs. Blanshard, at a loss to find a man uncon- nected with the Company to act as magistrate, appointed Dr. Helmcken to that position. On July 10 , 1850 , the Governor wrote to the Colonial Sec- retary informing him of the appointment of Dr. Helmcken at Fort Rupert, whither the latter had been sent, as medical officer, by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Blanshard considered that he would be more likely to be impartial in his judgments than a representative of the Company. In this dispatch he refers to the natives of that locality as “numerous, savage and treacherous,” and strongly recommended the imposition of a duty on the importation and manufacture of manufactured spirits, “as their introduction tends to demor- alize the Indians to a most dangerous degree.” He, however, doubted his own authority to “impose such duty, free trade having been declared here, without further instructions.” He adds “that the accounts which have been published, respecting the barbarous treatment of the Indian population by the Hudson’s Bay Company, are both from my own personal observation and from all I have been able to gather on the subject entirely without foundation. They are always treated with the greatest consideration, far greater than the white labourers, and in many instances are allowed liberties and impunities in the Hudson’s Bay Company’s establishments that I re- gard as extremely unsafe. No liquor is given them by the Company on any pretence, but it is impossible to prevent their obtaining it from the merchant vessels that visit the coast.” . The next dispatch portrays very vividly the condition of the colony, and affords an insight into the dangers and difficulties that beset the pioneers in the outlying posts: “I have to inform your Lordship,” wrote the Gov- ernor, on August 18 , 1850 , “of the massacre of three British subjects by the Newitly Indians, near Fort Rupert. Want of force has prevented me from making any attempt to secure the murderers; indeed the only safeguard of the colony consists in the occasional visits of the cruisers of the Pacific Squadron, which only occur at rare intervals, and for short calls.” These [ 110 ] circumstances had produced a very unfavourable effect upon the settlers, who had become greatly excited, refused obedience to employers and magistrate, refused to act as constables, and insisted upon the abandonment of the set- tlement. They even unhesitatingly accused the Hudson’s Bay Company of instigating the murders and charged them with having encouraged the Indians in their menacing behaviour towards the whites. “Dr. Helmcken,” Earl Grey is informed, “has tendered his resignation as magistrate, as without proper support the office merely exposes him to contempt and insult, and he further states that being in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company ho cannot conscientiously decide the cases which occur, which are almost invari- ably between the Company and their servants.’’ Later on he states that the miners have left the colony in a body, owing to a dispute with their em- ployers, and that the coal is still undiscovered. In a subsequent dispatch to England, he refers to complaints of Indian outrages at Sooke, where a settler named Grant had located and who had asked for protection. In this dispatch Blanshard pressed upon Earl Grey the necessity of protecting the colony by a garrison at Esquimalt, of which a detachment should be stationed at Fort Rupert. About a month after the massacre at Fort Rupert, H. M. S. Daedalus arrived, Capt. G. Wellesley, and proceeded to the place, under commission from Governor Blanshard, to apprehend the murderers and overawe the In- dians by a display of military force, Governor Blanshard on board. In his report of the affair he says: “On the 11th of October, Dr. Helmcken visited the Newitly Camp, about 12 miles distant, and demanded, by name, the mur- derers for trial; the whole tribe took up arms; they acknowledged the murder and offered furs in payment, but refused to surrender the guilty parties, de- claring themselves hostile, and threatened the lives of the magistrate and his party, pointing their guns at them. On learning this I applied to Captain Wellesley for assistance, and he dispatched the boats of the Daedalus on the 12th, to apprehend the murderers by force, if necessary. They returned on the 13th, and I have the honor to enclose your Lordship a copy of the re- port, by which you will see that the whole tribe had deserted their camp, which was burnt by the officer commanding the boats. I have offered a re- ward for the apprehension of three of the murderers, the fourth who was present being only a boy of nine years of age. The Daedalus left me at Fort Rupert on the 14th inst., to proceed to San Francisco, being unable to remain longer on account of shortness of provisions.” The report fur- ther states that the disturbances among the miners had subsided, that Dr. Helmcken had declined acting any longer as magistrate and “that there are at present no settlers at all on the Island, Mr. Grant having left for the Sandwich Islands some days ago.” In due time answers to his dispatches (2) came to Governor Blanshard, urging him without delay to appoint his council, and further intimating dis- tinctly that Her Majesty’s government could not undertake to maintain a detachment of troops on the Island. He was even severely rebuked by Earl Grey for taking the steps he had to punish the Indians, the rather extraor- dinary proposition being laid down “that Her Majesty’s government cannot (2) Blanshard’s despatches referred to here and all the correspondence are to be found in the British Columbia Archives. [ill] undertake to protect, or attempt to punish injuries committed upon British subjects, who voluntarily expose themselves to the violence or treachery of the native tribes at a distance from the settlements.” From the dispatches of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, it would appear that he scarcely realized the unfortunate position of Governor Blan- shard. His letters displayed little cordiality or sympathy; perhaps he was not altogether pleased with Blanshard’s lugubrious communications, or, per- haps, he repented that he had not in the first place acquiesced with Sir John Pelly’s proposal that James Douglas be made governor of the Island. When Blanshard tendered his resignation, it was readily accepted in a letter which contained no words of appreciation of his services. It was not so, however, with the independent settlers, as the persons in no way connected with the Company were termed. They heard with alarm that the Governor was about to leave the colony. Without loss of time they prepared a memorial, setting forth their grievances and their fears for the colony if it should be left to the control of the Hudson’s Bay Company; and their regret at His Excel- lency’s determination to leave the Island. The memorial was signed by nearly all of the independent settlers, and by the Rev. Robert John Staines, the Company’s chaplain at Fort Victoria. It states so succintly the position of the colonists and sets forth so plainly their idea of the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany, in its capacity as a nation-builder, that the historian of that period cannot afford to overlook it; and it holds such an important place among the few early state papers of the colony of Vancouver Island, that it is worthy of being reproduced in these pages. The document reads as follows. “To His Excellency RICHARD BLANSHARD, Esquire, Governor of Vancouver’s Island. May it please Your Excellency, We, the undersigned, inhabitants of Vancouver Island, having learned with regret that your Ex- cellency has resigned the government of this colony, and understanding that the government has been committed to a chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, cannot but express our unfeigned surprise and concern at such an appointment. The Hudson’s Bay Company being, as it is, a great trading body, must necessarily have interests clashing with those of independent colonists. Most matters of a political nature will cause a contest between the agents of the company and the colonists. Many matters of a judicial nature also, will undoubtedly arise, in which the colonists and the company (or its servants) will be contending parties, or the upper servants and the lower servants of the company will be arrayed against each other. We beg to express in the most emphatical and plainest manner, our assurance that impartial decisions cannot be expected from a Governor, who is not only a member of the company, sharing its profits, his share of such profits rising and falling as they rise and fall, but is also charged as their chief agent with the sole representation of their trading interest in this island and the adjacent coast. Furthermore, thus situated, the colony will have no security that its public funds will be duly disposed of solely for the benefit of the colony in general, and not turned aside in any degree to be applied to the private purposes of the company, by disproportionate sums being devoted to the im- provement of that tract of land held by them, or otherwise unduly employed. Under these circumstances, we beg to acquaint your Excellency with our deep sense of the abso- lute necessity there is, for the real good and welfare of the country, that a council should be imme- diately appointed, in order to provide some security that the interests of the Hudson’s Bay Company shall not be allowed to outweigh and ruin those of the colony in general. We, who join in expressing these sentiments to your Excellency are unfortunately but a very small number, but we respectfully beg your Excellency to consider that we, and we alone, represent the interests of the island as a free and independent British colony, for we constitute the whole body of the independent settlers, all the otiier inhabitants being in some way or other so connected with and controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company, as to be deprived of freedom of action in all matters re- lating to the public affairs of the colony, some indeed by their own confession, as may be proved if necessary. And we further allege our firm persuasion, that the untoward influences to which we have adverted above are likely, if entirely unguarded against, not only to prevent any increase of free and independent colonists in the island, but positively to diminish their present numbers. We therefore humbly request your Excellency to take into your gracious consideration the pro- priety of appointing a Council before your Excellency’s departure, such being the most anxious and earnest desire of your Excellency’s most obedient and humble servants, and Her Majesty’s most de- voted and loyal subjects. (Signed) James Yates, Landowner. Robert John Staines, Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Chaplain to the Honourable Hudson’s Bay Com- pany. James Cooper, Merchant and Landowner. Thomas Monroe, Lessee of Captain Grant’s Land at Sooke. William M’Donald, Carpenter and Householder. James Sangster, Settler. John Muir, Sen., Settler, Sooke. William Fraser, Settler, Sooke. Andrew Muir, Settler, Sooke. John M’Gregor, Settler, Sooke. John Muir. Jun., Settler, Sooke. Michael Muir. Settler, Sooke. Robert Muir, Settler, Sooke. Archibald Muir, Settler, Sooke. Thomas Blinkhorn, Settler, Michonsan.” [ 112 ] The first settlers were dependent upon the Company for everything that they required — not only for supplies — but for markets and transportation facilities. With the exception of an occasional whaler, or American trader, no ships visited Vancouver Island, but those belonging to the Company; hence the Company effectively controlled the avenues of trade beyond the bounds of the colony. The Company had a large trade with the Russian settlement at Sitka, and to that port it shipped the surplus products of its farms, a trade that was not open to the colonists. Again, the Company was the only purchaser on the Island and its store at Fort Victoria was the only market where supplies might be bought or produce sold. The officer in charge of the fort, therefore, regulated the price paid for such things as the settlers might wish to sell. The settlers were borne upon the books of the Company as strangers, and, therefore, were obliged to pay for their supplies such amounts as its officer demanded. In such circumstances it is not sur- prising that the settlers felt that their interests were subordinated to those of the Company, and hence it was that the colony made at first such slow progress. There was another factor, however, that affected in no small de- gree the economic condition of the colony, and that was the gold excitement in California. In California high wages were paid at the mines, and mer- chandise of all kinds fetched high prices, and naturally men flocked thither from all parts of the world. The Hudson’s Bay Company at that time experienced great difficulty in keeping its men, for the alluring prospects of the gold fields enticed them away, and many of them deserted in large numbers. Yet perhaps the greatest obstacles in the path of progress were the high price of land and the Company’s reserves. Ten miles square of the best agri- cultural land, then known on the Island, had been reserved by the Company for its own use and for the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, as this em- braced all land in the immediate vicinity of the fort, settlers were obliged to buy their farms in the remote districts of Metchosin and Sooke, where they were unprotected from the Indians, and a long distance from their only market. No land could be obtained for less than one pound an acre, and for every hundred acres purchased a settler was obliged to bring out five men at his own expense. Captain W. C. Grant, a retired army officer, was the first independent settler to reach the Island. He arrived on the Harpooner , in 1849, and brought with him the first party of colonists under the system in- augurated by the Company. The party consisted of eight men. Captain Grant had been induced to take this step by the Company’s advertisement in the London Times. On his arrival he found that all the land in the neigh- bourhood of Victoria and Esquimalt had been placed under reserve. He was recommended to settle at Metchosin, but not finding the land in that district desirable, he proceeded to Sooke, and there, at a distance of twenty- six miles from Victoria, he settled down. He soon, however, grew tired of life in the wilderness, and a year or two later left the Island in disgust. In looking back at that period it seems that the jealousies, animosities, bickerings, the malice and all the uncharitableness that was such a distinctive feature of the American settlements in Oregon were to distinguish the infant British colony. The colonists were dissatisfied with the Company, and the Company’s servants were perpetually quarrelling, and altogether life at the [113] fort was scarcely in keeping with the beauty of its surroundings. His Excel- lency, the Governor, already tired of his exile, and disappointed in his hopes, tendered his resignation, pleading ill health and lack of means as the cause of his wish to be recalled. Nine months had not elapsed after his arrival in the colony, when he wrote to Earl Grey: “I regret to inform your Lordship that I find myself compelled to tender my resignation as Gov- ernor, and solicit an immediate call from this colony, as my private fortune is utterly insufficient for the mere cost of living here, so high have prices been run up by the Hudson's Bay Company, and as for our independent settlers, every requisite for existence must be obtained from them. My health has completely given way under repeated attacks of ague, and shows no signs of amending. Under these circumstances I trust your Lordship will at once recall me, and appoint some person as my successor whose larger fortune may enable him to defray charges, which involve me in certain ruin. I trust that your Lordship will give directions that I may be furnished with a passage as far as Pan- ama in one of Her Majesty’s ships, as my state of health will not bear the long voyage round Cape Horn, and, being compelled to defray expenses of my passage out by the Hudson’s Bay Company, who repudiated the bills their chairman had authorized me to draw, has so straitened my private means that I am unable to pay the heavy expenses of the route through California.” The Governor’s resignation was dated November, 1850. Grey’s letter of acceptance was written on April 3, 1851, and reached Blanshard in Aug- ust. Thus nearly ten months elapsed between the despatch of the one and the receipt of the other — a fact that well illustrates the isolated postion of Vancouver Island at that time (3). (3) The colony of Vancouver Island was not created by Act of Parliament. The object of the Act of 1849 was merely to remove as far as Vancouver Island was concerned, the restrictive force of cer- tain provisions respecting the administration of justice in the Northwest, or, Indian territories of North America, contained in certain legislation providing for administration, justice, etc. The effect of this act in conjunction with Blanshard's commission and instructions, was to give him power to make such provi- sions as he might consider most advisable, both for the apprehension of offenders, and the trial of prisoners, as well as the conduct of civil cases. This legislative power was, of course, to be subject to the legislature of the Island, when such should be established. [H4] REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED. CHAPTER XII. We have seen that Governor Blanshard retired in 1851 and was suc- ceeded by James Douglas, who, upon his promotion, called Roderick Fin- layson to fill his place in the Council. From 1851, the colony of Vancou- ver Island was administered by the Governor, with the advice of the Legis- lative Council, duly appointed by Royal commission. The Council exercised a restraining influence upon the Legislative Assembly established later and some times modified the policy of the Governor, who at first was inclined to be somewhat autocratic; but during his tenure of office Douglas virtually ruled the colony. The Council did not hold an annual session, but met as occasion required. At first the Governor had no cabinet and it would appear that in some measure the Council performed the duties of an executive, though exact constitutional relations are hard to define. The Minute Book of the Governor’s advisers shows that at that distant date questions which still agitate governments were issues of considerable concern. There were the labor, liquor and land questions, not to speak of a fiscal policy and the matters of defence and the administration of justice. The discovery of gold in California disorganized the Hudson’s Bay Company service in respect to labourers, and in April, 1852, the Governor proposed a rather drastic law regulating the relations of employer and servant and the punishment of certain offences, etc., which it appears was “deferred for con- sideration.” The Governor next submitted a plan for raising a permanent revenue by imposing a duty of five per cent on all British and foreign goods. He anticipated the objections to the measure in one of his despatches to the Colonial Secretary, as there was a general feeling against taxation in any form, and the sequel shows that he correctly appraised the temper of his Council. The proposal was met with several serious objections to the effect that it would prove a bar to progress, would be a heavy burden on the set- tlers, and would, in the circumstances, cost more for collection than it would come to, and as a consequence free trade became the settled policy of the col- ony and was to bear fruit in the rivalry between Vancouver Island and Brit- ish Columbia, which reached its height when the question of union was being discussed in the years 1864, 1865 and 1866. The liquor question also invited attention, and, if some of the contempo- rary records are to be relied upon, the time was ripe for action. “It would almost take,” says a private diary, “a line of packet ships running between here and San Francisco to supply this island with grog so great a thirst pre- vails among its inhabitants.” At any rate, early in 1853 the Governor sug- gested the desirability of regulating the traffic and “restraining the abuse and excessive importation of spirituous liquors” (1). As it was not within the jurisdiction of the govemor-in-council to impose customs duties it was decided (1) Royal Emigrant's Almanac; Concerning Five Years’ Servitude under the Hudson’s Bay Company on Vancouver Island. MS in Provincial Archives. [ 115 ] to impose a duty license “granted to Inns, Public or Beer Houses.” The schedule was fixed at one hundred pounds for wholesale licences and one hundred and twenty pounds for retail licences. The former applied to liquor sold by the cask or case and the latter to smaller quantities “for reasonable re- freshment,” to be consumed on the premises. Wholesale dealers were also allowed to sell farmers “or other persons possessed of landed property, resid- ing at a distance from any licenced ale house,” any quantity not under two gallons, for their private use, or that of their servants (2). The Council re- corded its views as to the impropriety of any of its own members engaging in the liquor business or of following “any calling that may endanger the peace or be injurious to public morals.” The regulations were not altogether pop- ular, if we may judge of the fact that James Yates petitioned that they should be so altered as to permit publicans to sell spirits by the bottle to be consumed off the premises. In the matter of public instruction the councillors were actuated by commendable zeal. Having in view the meagre resources of the colony, the schools were generously supported. In response to applications, five hun- dred pounds was appropriated for a school in Victoria, and one to be estab- lished at Maple Point later on (3), but as the settlements were scattered and pupils had to travel a long distance, boarding schools were a necessity. Instruction was free, but lodging had to be paid for. Robert Barr, the first colonial teacher, proposed a scaleas follows: 16 guineas per annum for chil- dren of officers and servants of the Pludson’s Bay Company; 18 guineas for children of colonists not servants of the Company; 20 guineas for children of non-residents and non-servants of the Company. These charges were changed by the Council to 18 guineas for children of colonists and servants of the Company, and any sum to be agreed upon in respect to others. It is interesting to note that the Rev. Edward Cridge, then parish minister, be- came associated with the educational system of the colony as the first inspec- tor of schools, being appointed in 1856 as member of a committee to enquire into and report upon the state of the public schools, and authorized to hold quarterly examinations and report on the conduct and progress of the pupils. The Company’s chaplain, referred to in John Work’s journal as a “very worthy man,” an expression of opinion unanimously subscribed to then and since, served for many years in that capacity. The erection of a courthouse, the building of roads and bridges and a parish church building also occu- pied the attention of the Council, and five hundred pounds was appropri- ated towards these objects. Shortly after, no less a sum than one thousand pounds was voted for a hospital. The administration of justice was also discussed and machinery pro- vided for giving effect to the law. Edward E. Langford, of Langford Plains, was appointed a justice of the peace for the Esquimalt District; Thomas Blenkhorn for Metchosin, and Thomas I. Skinner and Kenneth Mc- Kenzie for the Peninsula, the name given to the tongue of land bounded by Victoria Harbour and Arm, Esquimalt Harbour and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. No resident of Sooke possessing the necessary qualifications, that dis- trict had no magistrate until some time later. But it must not be imagined (2) Minutes of Council of Vancouver Island, pp. 10-12. (3) Minutes of Council, 29th March, 1853. [ 116 ] that the Council was solely concerned with parochial affairs. Such was not always the case. There were large issues. Thus, when the news that Great Britain had declared war against Russia reached the colony, the matter was brought before the Council by His Excellency the Governor. On July 12, 1854, the Hon. John Tod, senior member, the Hon. James Cooper, the Hon. Roderick Finlayson, and the Hon. John Work, solemnly discussed the Cri- mean war in its relation to the peace and welfare of Vancouver Island. The old Minute Book records that the state of the country and the means of de- fending it were fully discussed, and a proposal of the Governor to call out and arm all the men capable of bearing arms and to levy and arm an auxil- iary body of natives was seriously considered, and, incidentally, abandoned on account of the ineffectual defence they would afford and the danger of arming and drilling the natives. It was wisely decided to allow Her Maj- esty’s government to take care of the colony’s defence. It was, however, resolved to arm and man the company’s propeller, the Otter , and place her in commission to watch over the safety of the settlers until the Home gov- ernment could take other measures for their protection. A few years later there was a recrudescence of the Russian scare, which resulted in the build- ing of earthworks and emplacements for big guns all along the coast from Duntze Head to Beacon Hill park, the remains of some of which are still to be seen. Then, on more than one occasion the infant settlement was threatened by the northern savages, causing much alarm among the colonists and, in 1855, as the result of his representations respecting the danger, the Governor was authorized to raise a company of ten, to consist of eight pri- vates, one corporal, and one sergeant, together with a competent officer to command, the pay to be allowed being $30 per month, for the first, $31 for the second, and $33 for the third, with rations. In the following year, the country being destitute of military defence, and the savages arriving in num- bers from the north, with prospect of many more during the summer, a rifle company of thirty men and officers were formed. It does not appear that the “colonial forces” were ever called upon to take the field. A great deal was due to the personal influence of James Douglas over the Indians that there were not Indian massacres and retaliatory warfare; but, perhaps, the greatest factor of immunity was the protection afforded by Her Majesty’s ships of war which frequently visited Esquimalt and were ever ready to assist the Governor in quelling disturbances. On several occasions they rendered signal service. It was during the war with Russia that Esquimalt was made a British naval base and so remained until the withdrawal of the squadron in 1905. It may be regarded as somewhat remarkable that, while a deter- mined effort was made to capture the Russian base at Petropaulovski, Rus- sian America, or Alaska, was in no way molested. A single battleship might have reduced Sitka and taken the whole of Alaska. There is an interesting explanation of the neglect to extend the sphere of British possessions in the north Pacific in the fact that at the beginning of the hostilities a secret agree- ment was entered into between the Hundson’s Bay and the Russian- American Companies to use their influence with their respective governments in order that the war should not be carried into Russian territory to the det- riment of the fur trade, and their influence must have been considerable when the agreement was endorsed by Great Britain and Russia, and acted upon. The Governor and his Council did not control colonial lands. At that time there was no distinct public domain, the Hudson’s Bay Company hold- ing the land under the grant of January 13th, 1849. After the Royal grant was annulled, the lands reverted to the Crown and it was not until then that a land policy, if such it may be called, was evolved. From 1849 to 1859 the money arising from the proceeds of such sales, eighteen shilling and six pence in every pound sterling was to be applied to the benefit of the colony, one shilling and six pence in the pound being reserved to the Company as compensation. As soon as the Crown resumed control, the land question came under the notice of the Council, and then it was that an embryo public policy in that particular was framed. The matter formed the subject of a debate in Council on March 26, 1860. Of the speeches delivered on that occasion no full report has survived, but the minutes of Council record that “The Coun- cil are unanimously of opinion that a low price,- — say 4/ — an acre, combined with occupation and improvement, would conduce to the general settlement of the Country.” The Council recommended that prices should be reduced, on conditions to prevent speculation and to ensure cultivation; a system of pre- emption without waiting for surveys; and the size of the pre-emptions to be 160 acres. In order, however, to prevent the tying up of all waste lands by pre-empting, it was suggested that capitalists should be allowed to procure extensive quantities when required for “laudable objects,” at more than four shillings per acre, with power to regulate such cases, and conditions attached to prevent abuses. By the commission and instructions which Governor Blanshard received when the colony of Vancouver’s Island was first founded, he was directed to summon general assemblies of free-holders, qualified by the ownership of twenty acres of land, and with their advice and that of his Council, to make laws and ordinances for the good government of the Island. The same com- mission contained another clause professing to empower the Governor to make laws with the advice of his Council only. It may be that this clause was intended to get together a legislative body to meet immediate wants before an elective house could be summoned, but it is quite clear that it was contemplated by the Home authorities that such assemblies should be assembled as soon as practicable. However, the Island developed slowly, and under the existing conditions of settlement, little thought was given to popu- lar government. The settlers themselves had expressed no desire in that direction and matters drifted along until 1856 with a fairly satisfactory ad- ministration. In that year colonial officialdom received a severe shock, when on February 28th, a despatch arrived from the Rt. Hon. H. Labouchere, Sec- retary of State for the Colonies, of which the prologue was: “Considering the small number of established colonists, you thought it advisable to act on the power apparently given to yourself to conduct the affairs of the island with the advice of your Council only, and to pass certain laws which you con- sidered most required by the exigencies of the time. In doing so, you pro- ceeded on a fair understanding of the authority conveyed to you, and Her Majesty’s Government are fully satisfied with the course which you took.” This able despatch was as much a model of constitutional direction to Doug- [118] las as it was of diction. It pointed out that there were doubts as to the power of the Crown to legally convey authority to make laws in a settlement of Englishmen, to any body, even for temporary or special purposes, not elected in whole or in part by the settlers, and, therefore, the clause in his commission upon which the Governor relied seemed to be unwarrantable and invalid. Steps were to be taken at once for the establishment of the only legislature authorized by the constitution of the Island, and for the calling together of a popular assembly. It was left to the discretion and good judg- ment of Douglas as to the fixing of the number of representatives and districts and polling places, and to suggest to the Assembly when summoned the measures most required. Consideration would probably be had of the limited number of inhabitants, so that a “smaller and more select body, will, for the present time, and probably for some years to come, perform in a satisfactory manner the functions really required in the present stage of progress of the Island.” “It would be,” it was remarked, “no unusual circumstance for a legislature thus constituted to surrender its power into the hands of a single chamber.” It was also left with the Governor, with the advice of the local authorities, to consider the qualifications of a single chamber; “but in the event of your determining to introduce the elective principle into it, a certain pro- portion, not less than one-third, should be nominated by the Crown.” The power of assent or veto of measures passed by the council was reserved to the Governor, and it was impressed upon him that “it is very essential that a constitutional law of this description should contain a proviso, reserving the initiation of all money votes to the local government.” Mr. Labouchere very adroitly intimated that a reason for establishing a simpler form of government was that the relations of the Hudson’s Bay Company with the Crown must undergo revision before, or in 1859, when the whole situation on the Island would be subject to review and “if any difficulty should be experienced in car- rying into execution any present instructions, a convenient opportunity will be afforded for reconsidering them.” The Colonial Secretary observed in con- clusion that he was aware of the responsibility he was placing on the Gov- ernor’s shoulders, with so small an amount of assistance as the present circumstances of the settlement afforded, but he relied on Mr. Douglas’s abilities and public spirit, and in turn that gentleman was assured that he could rely upon the Home authorities making full allowance for the pecu- liar circumstances, for assistance and support. Nothing could be better said or designed to be more effectual. From Governor Douglas’s reply, it is easily seen that Mr. Labouchere’s proposal came as a bolt from the blue. To the autocratic fur trader, it seemed strange, indeed, that the people of Vancouver Island should be given a voice in the government. He was not particularly in sympathy with the more advanced views of his day, which had not yet percolated to the shores of his domain. He confessed to a “feeling of dismay” when he contemplated “the nature and amount of labour and responsibility” which would be imposed on him in carrying out his instructions. He explained: “Possessing a very slender knowledge of legislation, without legal advice or intelligent assistance of any kind, I approach the subject with diffidence.” However, James Douglas was not a man to shirk responsibility or to evade the carrying out of instructions. His sense of duty was absolute, and feeling [119] the encouragement and assistance he would receive from Her Majesty’s Gov- ernment, he promised to use every exertion to give the instructions effect at the earliest possible date. He was, indeed, inclined to go farther in the direc- tion of a popular franchise than was contemplated in his commission, which limited it to persons owning twenty acres or more of freehold, to the “exclusion of holders of houses and other descriptions of property, a class more numer- ous than the former.” While “utterly averse to universal franchise,” he was in favour of extending the franchise to “all persons holding a fixed property stake, whether houses or lands in the colony; the whole of that class having interests to serve, and a distinct motive for seeking to improve the moral and material condition of the colony.” The whole matter, however, was submitted to the Council and after being thoroughly threshed out, the freehold qualification was adhered to, absent proprietors being allowed to vote through their agents or attorneys. The colony was divided into four electoral districts as follows: Victoria, Esquimalt and Metchosin, Nanaimo, and Sooke. The District of Victoria was to return three members; the District of Esqui- malt and Metchosin, two members; and Nanaimo and Sooke, one each. The returning officers of the first popular election ever held on Vancouver Island were as follows: Andrew Muir, Victoria District; Herbert W. O. Margary, Esquimalt and Metchosin; Charles E. Stuart, Nanaimo, and John Muir, Jr., Sooke (4). In the opinion of the Governor, the division of the settlements into four electoral districts admitted of a more equal representation and gave more gen- eral satisfaction to the colonists than a single poll in any one district. The electors were so few in number that the returns were mere nominations in all the districts with the exception of Victoria, where the contest was “stoutly maintained” by no fewer than five rival candidates. “The elections are now over,” said the Governor in his despatch of 22nd July, 1856, “and the As- sembly is convened for the 12th day of August.” Victoria District returned Mr. J. D. Pemberton, Mr. James Yates and Mr. E. E. Langford; Esqui- malt District, Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken and Mr. Thomas Skinner; Sooke District, Mr. John Muir; and the electors of Nanaimo District chose Mr. John F. Kennedy as their member. The House of Assembly, as the first parliament of Vancouver Island was termed, met for despatch of public business on 12th August, 1856. In writ- ing to the Colonial Secretary a few days later, the Governor rather quaintly observed. “The affair passed off quietly, and did not appear to excite much interest among the lower orders.” Dr. J. S. Helmcken was elected Speaker, hut no further business was transacted at the first session because objections had been raised as to the validity of the election in one instance, and as to the property qualification in two cases, leaving only four out of the seven members for the transaction of public business. “The House,” said Doug- las, “therefore, hardly know how to get over the difficulty.” The problem was soon solved, however, and the House entered upon its labours in earnest. Mr. E. E. Langford, one of the members against whom objections had been raised on the score of qualification, retired, and Mr. J. W. McKay was duly elected by acclamation to the vacant seat. (4) Proclamation, Government House, Victoria, 16th June, 1856. [ 120 ] The Governor opened the House of Assembly with a notable address, in which he ably reviewed the position of the colony (5). Needless to say, the first meeting of the first colonial legislature was a memorable event. It marked the commencement of representative govern- ment, and it is the more interesting from the fact that the initiative came (5) The Governor’s address on opening the General Assembly at Victoria, Tuesday, 12 August, 1856: Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and of the House of Assembly. I congratulate you most sincerely on this memorable occasion; the meeting in full convention of the General Assembly of Vancouver’s Island, an event fraught with consequences of the utmost im- portance to its present and future inhabitants; and remarkable as the first instance of representative institutions being granted in the infancy of a British colony. The history and actual position of this colony are marked by many other remarkable circum- stances. Called into existence by an Act of the Supreme Government, immediately after the discovery of gold in California, it has maintained an arduous and incessant struggle with the disorganizing effects on labour of that discovery. Remote from every other British settlement, with its commerce trammelled, and met by restrictive duties on every side, its trade and resources remain undeveloped. Self-supporting, and defraying all the expenses of its own government, it presents a striking contrast to every other colony in the British empire, and like the native pines of its storm-beaten promontories, it has acquired a slow but hardy growth. Its future progress must, under Providence, in a great measure depend, on the intelligence, indus- try, and enterprise of its inhabitants, and upon the legislative wisdom of this Assembly. Gentlemen, I look forward with confidence and satisfaction to the aid and support which the ex- ecutive power may in future expect to derive from your local experience and knowledge of the wishes of the people, and the wants of the country. I feel assured that, as public men, holding a solemn and momentous trust, you will, as a governing principle, strive with one accord to promote the true and substantial interests of the country; and that our legislative labours will be distinguished alike by prudence, temperance, and justice to all classes. Gentlemen, I am happy to inform you, that Her Majesty’s Government continue to express the most lively interest in the progress and welfare of this colony. Negotiations are now pending with the Government of the United States, which may probably terminate in an extension of the reciprocity treaty to Vancouver’s Island. To show the commercial advantages connected with that treaty, I will just mention that an im- port duty of £30 is levied on every £100 worth of British produce which is now sent to San Francisco, or to any other American port; or, in other words, the British proprietor pays as a tax to the United States nearly the value of every third cargo of fish, timber, or coal, which he sends to any American port. The reciprocity treaty utterly abolishes those fearful imposts, and establishes a system of free trade in the produce of British colonies. The effects of that measure, in developing the trade and natural resources of the colony, can, there- fore, hardly be over-estimated. The coal, the timber, and the productive fisheries of Vancouver’s Island will assume a value before unknown; while every branch of trade will start into activity, and become the means of pouring wealth into the country. So unbounded is the reliance which I place in the enterprise and intelligence possessed by the people of this colony, and in the advantages of their geographical position, that, with equal rights and a fair field, I think they may enter into successful competition with the people of any other country. The extension of the reciprocity treaty to this island once gained, the interests of the colony will become inseparably connected with the principles of free trade, a system which, I think, it will be sound policy on our part to encourage. Gentlemen, the colony has been again visited this year by a large party of northern Indians, and their presence has excited in our minds a not unreasonable degree of alarm. Through the blessing of God. they have been kept from committing acts of open violence, and been quiet and orderly in their deportment; yet the presence of large bodies of armed savages, who have never felt the restraining influences of moral and religious training, and who are accustomed to follow the impulses of their own evil natures, more than the dictates of reason or justice, gives rise to a feeling of insecurity, which must exist as long as the colony remains without military protection. Her Majesty’s Government, ever alive to the dangers which beset the colony, have arranged with the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the “President” frigate should be sent to Vancou- ver’s Island; and that measure will, I have no doubt, be carried into effect without delay. I shall, nevertheless, continue to conciliate the good will of the native Indian tribes, by treating them with justice and forbearance, and by rigidly protecting their civil and agrarian rights; many cogent reasons of humanity and sound policy recommend that course to our attention, and I shall therefore rely upon your support in carrying such measures into effect. We know, from our own experience, that the friendship of the natives is at all times useful, while it is no less certain that their enmity may become more disastrous than any other calamity to which the colony is directly exposed. Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, according to constitutional usage, with you must orig- inate all money bills; it is, therefore, your special province to consider the ways and means of de- fraying the ordinary expenses of the government, either by levying a customs duty on imports, or by a system of direct taxation. The poverty of the country and the limited means of a population struggling against the pressure of numberless privations, must necessarily restrict the amount of taxation; it should, therefore, be our constant study to regulate the public expenditure according to the means of the country, and to live strictly within our income. The common error of running into speculative improvements, entailing debts upon the colony, for a very uncertain advantage, should be carefully avoided. The demands upon the public revenue will at present chiefly arise from the improvement of the internal communications of the country, and providing for the education of the young, the erection of places for public worship, the defence of the country, and the administration of justice. Gentlemen, I feel, in all its force, the responsibility now resting upon us. The interests and well- being of thousands yet unborn may be affected by our decisions, and they will reverence or condemn our acts according as they are found to influence for good or for evil the events of the future. Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, I have appointed Chief Justice Cameron to administer the oath of allegiance to the Members of your House, and to receive your declarations of qualification; you may then proceed to choose a Speaker, and to appoint the officers necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the House. [ 121 ] from Downing Street, and not from the colonists themselves. The battle had been fought out in eastern Canada, and Vancouver Island had bequeathed to it what the advocates of reform in the other colonies of British North America had won after a long struggle. The principles of colonial admin- istration laid down in Lord Durham’s famous report (6) were now recog- nized as applicable to all communities of free British people, and hence Mr. Labouchere did not wait for a mandate from the settlers of Vancouver Island to have these principles enforced on this coast. The legislature, too, was fortunate in entering upon its career without any of the vexed ques- tions of old Canada to deal with — no race or religious questions, no bilin- gual or separate school problems, no clergy reserves or consideration of bal- ance of power — to promote factional discord. It was not responsible gov- ernment, it is true, and the Hudson’s Bay Company was an oligarchy in control not less objectionable in theory than the family compact, but as we shall see the friction which developed as a consequence was not at all serious. In the first place, the settlers knew and cared very little about the principles of representative or responsible government and did not con- cern themselves much about theories. In the second place, James Douglas, if an autocrat, was of the benevolent species, and as a canny, shrewd Scotsman well knew how to temper the wind to the shorn lamb and still wear ostenta- tiously the emblems of authority. Among the first things to occupy the attention of the new assembly was the question of finances, regarding which, theoretically at least, it was supreme under the constitution. Application was made to the Governor to find out just what sources of revenue the colony had at its control, and as the Hud- son’s Bay Company conducted the land sales, collected royalties and timber dues, appropriating the moneys so derived, with his advice and consent, it appeared to him that there was nothing left to be raised through the “Act of the general legislature” than the revenue derived from licenced houses. The revenue derived from this source amounted in 1853 to 220 pounds in 1854 to 460 pounds and in 1855 to 340 pounds, so that there was little enough to come and go upon. Of course, the Hudson’s Bay Company, under the terms of their tenure of the Island, along with the Council, built highways and undertook public works, defraying the cost from the general revenue. The financial stringency of the times is illustrated in the first supply bill, as follows: 50/. for copjdng statistics and documents; 10/. to Robert Barr for past services as clerk of the House; 5/. to Andrew Muir, past services as sergeant at arms; 25/. for salary as clerk of the House, 1857; 15/. sergeant at arms and messenger, 1857; 20/. for lighting, heating, etc.; 5/. for station- ery; — 130/. in all. Contrast this with a bill of supply for $17,000,000 in 1913 for British Columbia. The administration of justice in Vancouver Island had been provided for in the Imperial Act of 1849, by proclamation, to constitute courts and to do all things necessary for the “administration and execution of justice.” Governor Douglas, in 1854, in pursuance of this Act had recommended his brother-in-law, Mr. David Cameron as judge of the supreme court of civil justice, and the appointment had been confirmed by the Colonial Secretary. (6) Report on the Affairs of British North America, from the Earl of Durham, Her Majesty’s High Commissioner, 1839. [ 122 ] Mr. Cameron was not a lawyer, and had been a linen draper in Demerara, but he undoubtedly possessed good business abilities, a liberal education, and was endowed with “more than ordinary amount of discretion and common sense” (7). In 1856 he was made Chief Justice at a salary of 100Z., which he re- ceived until 1860, when it was raised to 800Z. by the local legislature. The action of the Governor in this respect was bitterly resented by a section of the people. Captain James Cooper, a member of the Council; Thomas J. Skin- ner, J. P.; William Banfield and James Yates, who played a prominent part in the discussion which ensued, circulated a petition to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, which set forth that David Cameron was not a lawyer, that he “exhibited notorious and gross partiality, acrimony, malice and indecorum in the capacity of justice of the peace,” much to the disgust and indignation of the community; that he was a stranger only recently arrived from the slave colony of Demerara; that he held a situation as clerk at Nanaimo in the coal mines of the Hudson Bay Co., and, therefore, could not be expected to ad- minister justice impartially in a court of equity where the interests of the Company were at stake in coal cases. This petition was signed by James Cooper and sixty-nine others, so it would appear that the matter had to a certain extent aroused public opinion. On the other hand, a very influential section of the community rallied to the support of Judge Cameron. A communication addressed to the Governor and signed by John Tod, John Work, Alexander Kennedy, Roderick Fin- layson, William H. McNeill, William F. Tolmie, William Leigh, E. E. Stuart, B. W. Pearse, George Simpson, Richard Golledge, J. D. Pember- ton, Charles Dodd, Joseph Miller, and forty others stated, among other things that few of the petitioners had property stake in the Island and few of them had investigated the nature of the grievances complained of; that Mr. Cameron was a man of business habits and considerable colonial experience and the fittest man in the colony to preside in such a court; that in the short time he had held office he had not had any equity cases to adjudicate upon and, therefore, criticisms based upon his fitness in that capacity were hasty and ill-advised; that if “the labouring and industrial classes were to employ their time more in raising wheat and potatoes, constructing houses to live in, etc., etc., and suffer themselves less to be led away into abstract political questions, all would gain by the alteration;” and that if the unreasonable clamour of a few individuals were to prevail the provisions for the protection of property would fail in their effect and law and order would be in jeopardy. Governor Douglas when called upon for an explanation stated that the griev- ances were more “imaginary than real,” and that conditions in the colony were prosperous, there were no taxes or public burdens, the laws were justly administered, intemperance was on the decrease, and crimes were almost unknown. He had heard of no complaints, except in regard to the price of land, and that grievance he had no power to redress (8). Incidentally, he referred to two men, the Rev. Mr. Staines and his coadjutor Mr. Swanston, leading agitators, since whose departure from the colony there had been no trouble. Staines was the Hudson’s Bay Company’s chaplain and teacher, (7) Despatch from Governor Douglas to the Duke of Newcastle, Victoria, 14th February, 1863. (8) Governor Douglas to the Rt. Hon. Sir George Grey, Victoria, 11th December, 1854. [123] who apparently had the knack of getting into trouble not only with the Company but with his neighbours. Her Majesty’s Secretary of State evi- dently shared the Governor’s views and David Cameron was not only con- firmed in his position, but afterwards was made chief justice of the Colony. He was said to have been a sound judge. In 1862 he was again attacked, whereupon he laid his case before the Colonial Secretary at Victoria, success- fully refuting Mr. Langford’s charges preferred against himself personally and against his administration of justice. Langford then took his case to the Home authorities, but the Duke of Newcastle refused to listen to his complaints and so the matter was laid at rest (9). Later, Mr. Langford attacked the late Chief Justice Matthew Baillie Begbie, of the neighbouring colony of British Columbia, but with no better success. In this, however, he had more cause for complaint, as Judge Begbie never specifically denied the charge that he had issued an election squib ridiculing the candidacy of Mr. Langford, for which he was rebuked by the Duke of Newcastle as inter- fering in what in no way concerned him. Langford seemed to have been one of those men with a chronic grievance, and to whatever extent he was right in the dissatisfaction he expressed did not seem to exercise corres- ponding good judgment. Shortly after his arrival in the colony in the capacity of bailiff of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company he took an active part in public affairs, strongly opposing Governor Douglas and the Hudson’s Bay Company, and, perhaps, not without reason, because represen- tations made to him and others in England before coming out were not lived up to, and on account of the dual, though close, relationship of the two com- panies they were able to evade direct responsibility each for the action of the other, when convenient. That was a large factor in the dissatisfaction which existed among the settlers. On the whole, it may be claimed that the colonial government was judiciously administered, though it was a foregone conclusion that the legitimate aspirations of the settlers would, sooner or later, clash with the traditional policy of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The elaborate parliamentary enquiry of 1857 sufficiently revealed the fact that the terms of the Royal grant interfered in no small degree with the full development of representative government and the free expansion of private interests apart from those of the Company. The committee (which included such eminent men as Gladstone, and Roebuck, the political economist), therefore, recom- mended, for these and other reasons, that the grant should not be renewed. In 1859 the grant expired by efflux of time and the Island reverted to the Crown. The Hudson’s Bay Company was generously dealt with in the set- tlement. It was reimbursed for its outlays (according to the terms of the grant) and later a title to certain large holdings was confirmed (10). In the meantime the little colony of Vancouver Island made slow progress. Its remoteness from civilized centres and the discovery of gold in California, conspired to retard development. It is true that the Hudson’s Bay Company attempted to colonize the Island in accordance with the terms of the Royal grant of 1849, but its action was half-hearted and, therefore, of little avail. Advertisements were inserted in British newspapers to the effect that land could be acquired in the new Pacific colony, but there were (9) Vide Vancouver Island. Return to House of Commons, 13th July, 1863. (10) Hudson’s Bay Land Titles, King's Printer, Victoria. few men who were willing to pay one pound per acre for wild land in so remote a spot. The first batch of colonists arrived in June, 1849, the party consisting of Captain Colquhoun Grant, late of the Second Dragoon Guards, and the eight men he brought with him. “From that day to this,” said Cap- tain Grant in a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society on June 22nd, 1857 (11), “not a single other independent colonist has come out from the Old Country to settle in the Island — all the other individuals, who have taken up land, having been in the employ of the Company and brought out to the country at its expense.” In the Harpooner, in June, 1849, the Hud- son’s Bay Company brought out eight miners to work in the coal mines at Fort Rupert at the northeastern end of the Island. These men were to be paid salaries rumiing from fifty to sixty pounds per annum, and, in addition were to get an extra allowance for every extra quantity of coal mined. Two labourers also came to Victoria by the same vessel. Captain Grant found that all the land in the neighbourhood of Victoria and Esquimalt— compris- ing some forty square miles, and containing nearly all the available land then known, was reserved by the Hudson’s Bay and Puget Sound Agricul- tural companies. Metchosin, some twelve miles from Victoria, was pointed out as the nearest district open for settlement; not approving of this district he proceeded to Sooke, distant twenty-five miles from the Fort. There Captain Grant settled with his men; but after a year or two of solitude and disappointment he left the Colony in disgust. In 1850 the ship Norman Morrison brought out about eighty souls for the Hudson’s Bay Company’s establishments. This vessel carried Dr. the Hon. John Sebastian Helmcken to the Colony, of which he is the doyen of pioneers. In the following year the Tory arrived with about one hundred hired labourers. Of these parties, shipped as settlers, the majority found their way to the American side. “Of the four hundred men,” said Captain Grant, “who have been imported during the past five years, about two-thirds may be said to have deserted, one-fifth to have been sent elsewhere, and the remainder to be at present employed on the Island.” According to that au- thority in 1857 the Hudson’s Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural companies employed forty-five men in the neighbourhood of Victoria, thirty-seven at Nanaimo, and twenty officers and men at Fort Rupert. The population of the Island at the end of 1853 was about four hundred and fifty souls, men, women and children; of these, three hundred were at Victoria, and between that place and Sooke; about one hundred and twenty-five at Nanaimo; and the remainder at Fort Rupert. The gross quantity of land applied for in the Island up to the end of the year 1853 was nineteen thousand eight hundred and seven acres and six- teen perches, of which ten thousand one hundred and seventy-two had been claimed by the Hudson’s Bay Company, two thousand three hundred and seventy-four by the Puget Sound Company, and the remainder by private individuals. One thousand six hundred and ninety-six acres were occupied by individual settlers, sixteen in number; nine hundred and thirty-seven acres claimed by absentees and unoccupied; four hundred and seventy-one acres occupied by the agents of absentees; three thousand and fifty-two acres re- (11) Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, London. Vol. XXVII. 1857. [ 123 ] served by the Hudson’s Bay Company; and two thousand five hundred and seventy-four acres occupied by bailiffs of the Puget Sound Company, four in number. Altogether, under the three above classes, there were fifty-three different claimants of land, about thirty of whom, according to Captain Grant, were bona fide occupying and improving their holdings. The system — at first allowed — of paying a deposit of one dollar per acre, was abolished and purchasers were obliged to pay at the rate of one pound per acre before occupying their claims. The Hudson’s Bay Company, in accordance with the terms of its grant of the Island, was obliged from time to time to submit accounts of revenue and expenditure. These statements are peculiarly interesting be- cause they show to what purposes the moneys not under the control of the House of Assembly were applied. Thus in 1856 the secretary of the Com- pany reported that the expenditure of the Colony for the twelve months ended with the first day of July, 1855, and amounted to the sum of £4,107 2/3d., of which amount the duty on licensed houses £340 sales of public land £334 17/6d. and other sources, produced the sum of £693 2/1 Od. Very gradually — at first almost imperceptibly — the material condition of the Colony improved. As the years passed farms were taken up on the beautiful Saanich peninsula, and hardy pioneers found their way to Metcho- sin, Sooke and other inviting districts — even as far as Cowichan, then of the wilderness. And then other lands, nearer the fort, were sold to the Com- pany’s retired officers, and a small colony of a splendid type of men grew into being. Victoria owed, and owes, much to this little band of pioneers, who thus became her first citizens. The roll of honour includes such names as Sir James Douglas, Dr. the Hon. J. S. Helmcken, Dr. W. F. Tolmie, the Hon. John Work (sometimes called in early letters W ark ) , the Hon. Rod- erick Finlayson, Chief Justice David Cameron, John Tod, William H. Mc- Neill, Alexander Grant Dallas, Kenneth McKenzie, Joseph Despard Pember- ton (Colonial Surveyor), Benjamin W. Pearse, John Irving, John Frederick McKenzie, Charles Dodd, Thomas Skinner, John Munro, and many others, who laid, broad and deep, the foundations upon which future generations were to build. If posterity is as those builders were — strong, cautious, far- seeing, honourable men — then the beautiful city of Victoria need not fear for her future, for it is assured. The contemporary letters of eye-witnesses of and participants in events of some consequence are always welcome, because they add a human touch to records that otherwise might be too prosaic. Contemporary unofficial accounts of the early affairs of the little colony of Vancouver Island are not so numerous that the historian can afford to ignore any one of them. For- tunately, a few such memorials have survived to this day and one of them may well be used to mark the close of this chapter. The letters of Chief Factor John Work — a man of sterling character, who crossed the mountains with Sir George Simpson, Dr. John McLoughlin and Sir James Douglas in 1824, and later, upon retiring from active service, came to reside in Victoria — throw many sidelights on the men and events of his day. On the 8th of August, 1856, the worthy Chief Factor thus unbosomed himself to his friend, Edward Ermatinger, formerly in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the west: [ 126 ] “Our affairs, though great changes have taken place, go on much as usual, the fur trade still does pretty well, notwithstanding many drags upon it and a great departure from the economy of former times, an 85th still brings about £300 a year which is not to be despised as affairs go in the world nowadays. Our colony is not increasing in population. I have already told you of the advantages of soil, climate, &c., which experience fully realizes. The Home Government, except in the article of despatches leaves us to ourselves to get on as best we may. We have had an election lately of Members of a House of Assembly to assemble in a few days. It is to consist of 7 members chosen by about 40 voters, the qualification of a member is fixed property to the amount of £300 and of an elector to own 20 acres of land; hitherto the affairs were managed by the Governor and his Coun- cil consisting of four members. Captain Cooper, Mr. Tod, Finlayson and myself. I have always con- sidered such a colony and such a government where there are so few people to govern as little better than a farce and this last scene of a house of representatives the most absurd of the whole. It is putting the plough before the horses. The principle of representation is good, but these are too few people and nobody to pay taxes to cover expenses. We shall see how the affair will work. Roads are opened in different directions and many improvements made, but we labor under great dis- advantage, owing to the bungling of our Government at home not having us included in the reci- procity treaty with your Yankee neighbours. We have no market but California to go to where we have no chance to compete, having to pay high duty when our American neighbours have none either there or here. My farm does as well as my neighbours, but costs me heavy expense annually, fenc- ing, building, &c. ; could I attend to it myself it would be otherwise, but this duty won't admit. The man I have in charge of it is on sort of shares; in squaring up the first three years accounts, he had about £70 per annum for his share besides maintenance of himself and family, and besides what he cheated me of. Knavery when one is not on the spot can’t be easily prevented, he is no worse than others. I have often thought, how good such a place would be for many a respectable honest man at home. * * * We have a new church built and have a very worthy man, the Rev. Mr. Cridge, as chaplain and clergyman. There is also a Catholic Bishop Demers with two priests, and a school- master; there are also two colonial schools, so that for the population there is enough of spiritual and secular instruction, at least more than the people avail themselves of." (12) (12) MS in Provincial Archives. [ 127 ] THE AWAKENING OF VICTORIA. CHAPTER XIII. In 1857 Victoria was a hamlet of a few hundred souls, and the fort was the centre of its activities. Conditions have been pretty well described in previous chapters. The colony of Vancouver Island was completely isolated from the outside world, except in so far as communication was maintained by the Company with London, Alaska, the Sandwich Islands and San Francisco and other ports. It is not surprising, therefore, that in his speech from the throne in 1856, Governor Douglas expressed the hope that Vancouver Island might be brought within the scope of the treaty of reciprocity between Canada and the United States. It is worthy of remark, in passing, that with the advent of the gold-seeker, which created a good home market for the farmer, reciprocity ceased to be an issue, and it was not until the depression following the subsidence of the mining boom in the early sixties that it was revived, to be soon overshadowed, however, by the question of Confederation. Beyond the fort were the fields of the Company’s farms and from it ran roads in various directions. An embryo Government street, along the east side of the stockade, connected with the highways leading to Saanich, Esqui- malt, Metchosin and Sooke. A winding lane, eastward by swamp and copse and meadow, afterwards became the important thoroughfare we know as Fort Street. Life in this almost sylvan retreat was idyllic in its simplicity and natural beauty of situation. Its rural aspect, however, was relieved by the wonderfully picturesque encompassment of sea and circumjacent moun- tains. “A bit of Old England,” of the early Victorian era, had been trans- planted in this remote outpost of Empire and it grew in congenial soil. The colonists were British and brought with them their British characteristics and love of old-fashioned British institutions and traditions and created, with less of convention, an England in miniature. The farms were modelled after those of England — the well-tilled fields, the comfortable farm house, the barns and outbuildings, generally built in the form of a square with the farmyard inside — all reminded the settler of his old home and old associations. The local affairs of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the proceedings of court under the presidency of Judge Cameron and of the legislative assem- bly and the social affairs of the small community furnished the gossip of the day, while the Old Country newspapers, which came in large batches with every infrequent ship, gave the news of the outside world. A gen- erous hospitality marked the social relations of the people. Feast days and holidays were loyally observed with picnics and sports in summer and indoor gatherings in winter, which were remarkable for bounteous display of honest colonial fare. As the Governor averred on one occasion the people were industrious and happy. While Victoria and vicinity, barring a few domestic feuds, droned along in this felicitous way, the mainland, except in so far as the fur trade was concerned, still slumbered. The life such as [ 129 ] it existed was appurtenant to the Hudson’s Bay Company and their respec- tive trading constituencies, and has been described in previous chapters. Pos- sessing some elements of romance it was nevertheless monotonous, varying little in the general character of its incidents from year to year. A sudden and marvellous change on Island and mainland was wrought by the discovery of gold. Just exactly where and when on the Fraser, or its tributaries, gold was first found is very uncertain and these have been the subject of much dis- cussion. It is not likely that further light will ever be thrown on the mat- ter and it is not really one of historical moment. Without reference to the discovery of gold on Queen Charlotte Islands in 1851, reports go as far back as 1853 and 1854 in the Northwest and definitely to 1856 and 1857 in British Columbia. It was the news of the discoveries in these latter years, conveyed through the despatches of Governor Douglas and through various other media of communication, that caused the excitement of 1858 and the inrush of miners and adventurers. Bancroft states that the excitement began and spread from Puget Sound, where the ships soon lay deserted. He also states on the authority of one Ellwood Evans that the newspapers of Ore- gon and Washington, where reports had been current for several years, had remained silent, not believing that gold would not be found in sufficient quantities to pay. It was charged that the officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company had long been aware of the existence of gold, but from considera- tions of policy had kept it secret. For this suspicion there is not the slightest foundation. So far as can be ascertained from contemporary evidence, the discovery of gold was as much news to the Company as to the rest of the world. Few of the officials had ever seen gold, and when the first gold dust was brought to the posts and offered for supplies the traders did not recognize it as such nor did they know its commercial value. From Cali- fornia came the great tide of gold-seekers. As for the exact manner and date of their arrival of the news there, it is stated on fairly good authority that in February, 1858, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s steamer Otter reached San Francisco with gold dust to be coined at the United States mint in that city. It soon leaked out that this treasure had been obtained from the Indians of the Thompson River, a tributary of the Fraser. A small party of prospectors — among them James Moore of pioneer fame in Cariboo — left for the new field. Ascending the Fraser they reached Hill’s Bar, where they found rich diggings. In April they sent letters and gold dust to their friends in San Francisco, and the news being bruited abroad created the greatest excitement California had ever known (1). It spread from camp to camp, in the manner of mining news, with the inevitable stampede of a population that was cosmopolitan in the extreme — men of all nations, ever ready for excitement or to hazard a throw with fortune. They were, how- ever, entirely ignorant of New Caledonia, as the country was then largely known. Thomas Seward, an old miner, in giving his experience to the Colonist of February 26th, 1905, says he personally did not even know that Great Britain had possessions on the Pacific coast, and his fellow miners were no better informed. This miscellaneous exodus was bound, in the cir- cumstances, to include a large percentage of disappointments and many undesirables. The San Francisco papers of the time stated that 30,000 per- (1) H. B. Hobson, first gold excitement. In Year Book, B. C., R. E. Gosnell, 1897, p. 88. [ 180 ] sons left the city in 1858 for the north. If we allow the usual margin for exaggeration the total may safely be estimated at at least 25,000. Every available form of seacraft was brought into requisition. Alfred Wadding- ton, one of the members of this migration, and afterwards very prominent in the colony, and particularly in connection with the promotion of a Pacific railway, wrote (2) : “Never, perhaps, was there so large an immigration in so short a space of time into so small a place. Unlike California, where the distance from the Eastern states and Europe precluded the possibility of an immediate rush; the proximity of San Francisco, on the contrary, afforded every facility, and converted the matter into a fifteen dollar trip. Steamers and sailing vessels were put into requisition, and old ships and tubs of every description actively employed in bringing up passengers, some- thing like to a fair.” Victoria from a little backwoods trading post was suddenly transformed into a city of tents in which all was bustle and excite- ment. This motley throng of newcomers was doubtless surprised to find a representative form of government already established and law and order strongly entrenched, and governed themselves accordingly. There was some blatant talk, but on the whole the behaviour was good. The ships of war lying in Esquimalt Harbor betokened a power behind the throne, and the moral effect would have been excellent in any event. Victoria was not the only place that, at the outset, participated in the excitement incident to the discovery of gold. Rival towns sprang up on the shores of Puget Sound — Port Townsend, Whatcom and Semiahmoo. There was an inclination, not unnatural, on the part of the American miners and adventurers to give preference to American ports, and Port Townsend was the first place chosen. It enjoyed a little real estate flutter as a consequence. Whatcom attracted attention on account of the “Bellingham Bay Trail,” which was to lead directly to the gold fields. The scheme was launched under the specious cover of American patriotism to induce miners and others to buy their supplies at Whatcom and build up a town there. Semiahmoo was exploited with a similar object in view. All these efforts were doomed to failure, and many miners to disappointment and loss, not only for physi- cal and geographical reasons, but because the objective point was British territory, which, if not politically organized, was under the egis of Governor Douglas and the Hudson’s Bay Company, whose interests were centred at Victoria. Alfred Waddington observed that “after all Victoria was the place for a big city, as everybody might have found out a good deal sooner.” Nearly all the California emigration was landed at Victoria for the reason that it was necessary to obtain permits and mining licenses there. The separate colony of British Columbia came into existence on the 19th of November, 1858, with Douglas as governor. In the meantime, the main- land was governed by proclamation, without authority, it is true, as the Governor had no authority outside of Vancouver Island, but it was not a time to cavil about nice distinctions, and the Colonial Secretary, after being informed, recognized the irregularity and informality of the proceedings. He approved the action that had been taken to preserve order and establish a temporary form of government, but with a warning as to the future. In a (2) The Fraser Mines Vindicated, 1858, enjoying the distinction of being the first book printed on the press of Vancouver Island. [ 131 ] dispatch to Governor Douglas, Lord Lytton said: “I wish to impress upon you the necessity of seeking by all legitimate means to secure the con- fidence and goodwill of the immigrants, and to exhibit no jealousy whatever of American or other foreigners who may enter the country. You will re- member that the country is destined for free institutions at the earliest moment.” Again: But on this head I must give you certain cautions (in the matter of levying license fees for mining purposes). In the first place, no distinctions must be made between foreigners and British subjects as to the amount per head of the license fee. (Nor am I aware that you have proposed to do so). In the second place it must be made perfectly clear to every one, that this licence fee is levied, not in regard to any supposed rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company, but simply in virtue of the prerogative of the Crown (now confirmed by the Act of Parliament transmitted to you, if this was necessary) to raise revenue as it thinks proper, in return for the permission to derive profits from the minerals on Crown lands. Further with regard to these supposed rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company, I must refer you, in even stronger terms, to the caution conveyed to you in my former despatches. The Hudson’s Bay Company have hitherto had an exclusive right to trade with the Indians in the Fraser river territory, but they have had no other right whatever. They have had no right to exclude strangers. They have had no rights of government or of occupation of the soil. They have had no right to prevent or interfere with any kind of trading except with the Indians alone. Douglas had levied a tax of six dollars for each canoe or open boat, and twelve dollars for a decked vessel going up the Fraser, and at first had excluded American vessels entirely. While the outsiders were treated as well as the limited resources of the colony at Victoria would permit, there is no doubt the policy of the Company under Douglas was to turn the events of the year to the very best advantage of that corporation, and the extracts from Lord Lytton’s dispatches quoted in the foregoing only too amply con- firm that view. The dual position which Douglas occupied as governor of the colony and local head of the Hudson’s Bay Company was an extremely diffi- cult one. It was easy enough in ordinary circumstances to draw the line, but in an emergency of a rush of miners and adventurers it involved nice distinctions to determine where his duties and responsibilities in one capacity began and where they ended in the other. The logical outcome of the anomalous situation was, of course, the separation of the two roles. Douglas having given satisfaction and displayed considerable ability as governor was offered the position of governor of the new colony of British Columbia on the condition that he severed all connections with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Among the earliest impressions we have of those days are those of Waddington, already referred to, in his Fraser Mines Vindicated, and sev- eral extracts will be interesting as indicating conditions: On landing we found a quiet village of about eight hundred inhabitants. No noise, no bustle, no gamblers, no speculators or interested parties to preach up this or underrate that. A few quiet gen- tlemanly behaved inhabitants, chiefly Scotchmen, secluded as it were from the whole world and re- minding one forcibly of the line of Virgil Et pene toto divisos ex orbe Britannos. Though perhaps not quite so shrewd as the Californians, they evidently understood the advan- tages of the situation and were quietly waiting results, and more or less acquainted with the country, seemed rather surprised that a people so sharp as the Californians were supposed to be running after such an impossible air bubble as the “Bellingham Bay Trail.” As to business, there was none; the streets were grown over with grass, and there was not even a cart. Goods there were none, nor in the midst of the "comedy of erors” had a single Californian merchant thought of sending a bag of flour to Victoria. The result was, that shortly after our arrival, the bakers were twice short of bread and we were obliged to replace it, first by pilot bread, and afterwards with soda crackers. At the same time flour was worth eight dollars in Whatcom. Miners now came flocking over (from Port Townsend, Whatcom and Semiahmoo, after the burst- ing of the boom there), together with all that heterogeneous class of adventurers commonly called the “pioneers of civilization.” Adopted citizens and others who had consulted their American patriot- ism rather than their interests by stopping over at Whatcom, loudly lamented the necessity of step- ping on British soil, whereas others, Britishers by birth and Americans by adoption, were now white- washed and became Englishmen again. This immigration was so sudden, that people had to spend their nights in the streets or bushes, according to choice, for there were no hotels sufficient to re- ceive them. Victoria had at last discovered that everybody was bound for Victoria, nobody could stop anywhere else, for there, and there alone, were fortunes and large fortunes, to be made. And as the news of such a flourishing state of things soon found its way to California, it was not long before the steamers brought up fresh crowds. As to goods, the most exorbitant prices were asked and realized, for though the company had a large assortment, their store in the fort was literally besieged from morning to night; and when all were in such a hurry, it was not every one that cared to wait three or four hours, and sometimes half a day, for his turn to get in. The consequence was that the five or six stores that were established did as they pleased. [ 132 ] So far none but miners, mechanics, retail traders, or men of small means, had made their appear- ance; but merchants and people of standing, men who had so far hesitated, now began to arrive. Some of them without exactly understanding the situation, or caring to understand it, for the sake of a trip and solely out of curiosity. But others might be seen coming on shore with certain heavy bags full of gold coin, which they were obliged to have carried. They had expected to get ground lots for nothing, and buy the whole city cheap, and were sadly disappointed to find they had come a little too late. Many of them had the trouble of taking their bags of gold back again, without even open- ing, them, and all of them cursed the place. These “big bugs” were closely followed by another class, and Victoria was assailed by an inde- scribable array of Polish Jews, Italian fishermen, French cooks, jobbers, speculators of every kind, land agents, auctioneers, hangers on at auctions, bummers, bankrupts and brokers of every description. Many of these seemed to think very little about the gold diggings, the company’s rights, or their con- sequences. Nor did they trouble themselves much about the state of the interior, the hostile feelings of the Indians, or anything else of the kind. They took it for granted that gold would soon be com- ing down, and whether it did or not was not their object. They came to sell and to speculate, to sell goods, to sell lands, to sell cities, to buy them and sell them again to greenhorns, to make money and be gone. To these may be added, so Waddington affirms, a fair seasoning of gamblers, swindlers, thieves, drunkards and jail birds, “let loose by the gov- ernment of California for the benefit of mankind,” besides the halt, lame, blind and mad (3). Even the infamous Paddy Martin, the California desperado, followed the crowd to Victoria, looking for new fields wherein to exercise his fiendish wits; but the French population forced him to leave town for shame. Bad men of the type of Boone Helm — a noted desperado who found his way to the Fraser River overland in 1859 (4) — joined in the first rush to British Columbia, but they did not find the administration of law in the colony to their liking, so they left it wth a curse; or if they re- mained, either came face to face with Judge Begbie, or turned over a new leaf. Waddington refers to the heterogeneous immigration of the memor- able year of 1858 as “the offscourings of a population containing, like that of California, the offscourings of the world,” but he qualifies this somewhat harsh criticism with the remark: “Let it be said here to the honour of Vic- toria, that some of the worst of these characters kept away.” He is careful to add: “Mixed up among all these, however, was a large body of respect- able emigrants; patient, hard-working miners, and others; honest men who had come here to live by their industry, hoping to assist their families and better their positions; quiet, law-abiding citizens, if ever there were. Many of these have been sadly disappointed, whilst others, more successful, have remained and form a considerable portion of our present population, as exemplary a one as is to be met with.” As a matter of fact, the men of 1858 were Western pioneers of a high type. True, there was a small residue of disreputable elements, but this was soon eliminated. The early history of no settlement, launched in such pecu- liar and trying circumstances, is so free from crime as the early history of British Columbia, and that in itself shows the high calibre of the men who first came to the land. When the old residents of Victoria beheld these varied specimens of humanity streaming in motley crowds from the steamers and sailing vessels and covering the wharfs and filling the streets with the flotsam and jetsam of the mining population of California, they looked in silent amazement, as if contemplating an irruption of barbarians. There were others, of course, who, reflecting on the difficulties to be overcome in a new and unexplored country, where placer gold had first to be found — and the consequent uncertainty of any immediate return, were filled with apprehension, perhaps with alarm (6). (3) Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, p. 17. (4) Emerson Hough, Story of the Outlaw, Chapter VIII. (5) Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, p. 18. (6) Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, 1858, p. 18. [133] It was at this time that the foreign population of Victoria became so pre- ponderant as to give some cause for the apprehensions of the older inhabit- ants. For instance, one evening in early spring some of the rowdies took it upon themselves to rescue a prisoner — in the fashion of California — from the hands of the police. In the excitement of the moment the crowd indeed proposed to hoist the American flag on the fort and to take Victoria. Naturally, this incident created no little alarm, but after all it was merely an ebullition of feeling on the part of a few ignorant men who failed to recognize the fact that such things could not be permitted under the British flag. When it was rumoured that a gunboat had been summoned from Esqui- malt, the riot, if such it may be termed, subsided. On another occasion Governor Douglas was hooted by a few ill- advised American miners at Yale; but such incidents were the exceptions and not the rule. Again, the United States government was unfortunate in its selection of a consular agent for Victoria. Mr. Nugent, the consular agent referred to, caused no little dissatisfaction to the better class of his countrymen, in issuing an address containing strictures upon the adminis- tration of the colony. For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the history of the gold rush of 1858, it may be well to explain that Mr. Nugent had been editor of the San Francisco Herald , in the columns of which had appeared many diatribes against the land of his birth, for he was born in England. It may also be recalled that when three wretches cast dice as to who would shoot down an independent and deservedly popular editor of San Francisco, he chose to follow such a devious course that the merchants and citizens of all classes in that city made a bonfire of his newspaper on Front Street. After that affair he was a byword and a reproach to all respect- able Californians. The government at Washington could hardly have made a more unsuitable choice (7). Meanwhile Victoria was in a state of transformation. Shops, stores and shanties of every description were now seen going up in every direction, and “nothing was heard but the stroke of the chisel or hammer.” In six weeks, so it is authoritatively recorded, no less than two hundred and twenty-five buildings, of which nearly two hundred were shops, were added to the little village of eight hundred inhabitants; and still the people came in ever- increasing numbers. The whole country around the town was covered with tents, resembling the encampment of an army. As was to be expected, the price of land rose suddenly and in proportion. The public domain was held under the terms of the Crown grant of 1849, and the corporation disposed of the lots in Victoria in the following manner: The purchaser on deposit- ing his money had his name inscribed on a list in order of priority, no one being allowed to buy more than six lots at one time; after which the holder was notified to choose his lot or lots on the official map according to the num- ber of his tickets. In consequence, however, of the increased demand, the Company had been obliged to suspend the sale of land in order to give the engineer (Mr. Pemberton) time to survey, or to subdivide, a sufficient quantity of ground. The prices of lots ranged from fifty-five to one hun- dred dollars, and at such buying was high. The newspapers of the day state (7) Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, p. 20. [134] that, although the Land Office did not open until nine o’clock in the morn- ing, before four the door was already besieged by a small army of anxious speculators, and at nine the crowd was such that it was useless for those who had come late to think of getting a place in the line. Speculation was rife and town lots, 60 x 120 feet, that had been sold by the Company for $50.00 or $75.00, were resold a few weeks or months later for $1500 and $3000, and sometimes for even a higher figure. A con- crete case will serve to illustrate the excitement that prevailed at the time. One-half of a $50 corner lot (now the site of one of the business blocks of Victoria), fetched in successive transactions $250, $500, $750 and $1000; and then it was sold for $1100, only to be resold a fortnight later for $5000. Old town lots well situated brought their owners what seemed to be fabulous prices, and frontages of 20 feet and 50 feet by 60 feet deep rented from $250 to $400 a month. Business was equally flourishing. Californian merchants had brought large supplies to the place and had opened stores, so that early in the day the Hudson’s Bay Company had lost its monopoly in that respect. Esquimalt and Victoria had been declared a “free port” by proclamation of the Gov- ernor and merchandise was allowed to enter the country under a nominal tariff. This wise provision enabled miners to procure their supplies at a comparatively low cost, that is to say on the coast. Undoubtedly, a large amount of capital in specie and merchandise had come from California. A contemporary writer estimates that the value of the supplies in Victoria on the 1st of November, 1858, amounted to $250,000. The same writer is the authority for the statement that the real estate in Victoria was worth $600,000. It may be added that wharves and buildings had cost $400,000 (8). So it will be seen that Victoria had laid a sure foundation for its fu- ture prosperity. While these startling changes were taking place in Victoria, miners started in hundreds for the Fraser River, many going by steamer, but many more in small boats laden with provisions and tools. The miners congre- gated at Fort Hope and soon occupied every available inch of the bars between that point and Fort Yale, and then beyond as far as Lytton. At Hill’s Bar, Murderer’s Bar, Boston Bar and at many other points, rich dig- gings were discovered. Unfortunately, however, the miners, having no local geographical knowledge, overlooked the fact that in the early summer the Fraser River is at flood height, the current washing over the auriferous de- posits. On arriving at the scene of operations the men found but few of the bars exposed, so they settled down to wait for the river to fall, in the hope that as the water receded richer ground would be found. As weeks went by and no gold dust found its way to Victoria, a gloom settled upon the place and “the state of the river became the barometer of public hopes and the pivot on which everybody’s expectations turned” (9). This untoward news soon spread abroad and was caught up with avidity by the Californian newspapers, ever ready to publish anything that might check emigration from San Francisco northward. Up to this time Victoria had been all hope (8) Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, p. 45. (9) Waddington, Fraser Mines Vindicated, p. 22. and expectation — “summer and sunshine, a clear morning sky with scarcely a speck on the horizon.” But the miners who were still waiting to go up the river, the retail traders, and more particularly the jobbers, now began to draw long faces. Merchants, who had risked leaving their homes in Cali- fornia and embarking their capital here, began to wonder why they did not sell more, and many left the place in disgust. At last the river did fall, so that those who had staked out claims could work them, yet the bed of the river did not appear to get richer and many who had reckoned on finding valuable ground, and who had lost time in waiting to work it, were sadly disappointed. Besides, there were far too many miners for the ground available. The claims were only 20 square and could be worked out in a week and there were no others to be taken up, con- sequently those who had none were obliged to move up the river towards Lil- looet, if ground was to be staked out before the end of the season. But of the thousands who had found their way to the Fraser River, comparatively few were anxious to proceed further. It was then that what is known as the Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858 collapsed. Steamboats, canoes and craft of all sorts now brought down hundreds of disappointed miners to Victoria, where the unexpected turn of affairs caused consternation to prevail. Alfred Waddington thus describes the situation: The store-keepers of Victoria felt as if annihilated. That comet, too, which had lately appeared shedding its radiant light every evening over the placid waters of the harbor, had shaken its ominous tail over their stores, and it could no longer be doubted that everything would go on worse and worse. “Not an ounce of gold had as yet come down from the mines, and the miners were all leav- ing.” Such was the general cry; and the exodus of miners from above, was followed by that of the traders, restaurant and hotel people, and all those who could conveniently leave, or had never in- tended to remain, from below. The same facilities which had existed when coming to Victoria were now at hand for those who wished to leave: very different in that respect from California in 1849, where the poor adventurer when once landed was caught as a mouse in a trap, and obliged to work whether he pleased or not. Business was at an end, since none could be transacted with the interior, and jobbers had nothing more to do but to “croak,” sweep down cobwebs, smoke segars at their store doors, and project idle spittle into the street. » * * The bright sunshine of past days was now over, and the sky darK with clouds and coming tempest. Every disappointed newcomer began to find fault or to croak, and those who had nothing to hope or to lose in California, the foremost. Men who had tried every country, their own, England, Canada, then New York and the Eastern States, afterwards New Zealand and Australia, and finally California, and had never been able to do anything anywhere or succeed, now began to run down the country, its climate, its government, and especially everything English. When the gold dust did begin to come down, and a new era appeared to be opening, nobody felt inclined to wait any longer. The people had made up their minds to leave and nothing could stop them; traders sold out their goods at ruinous prices, and whole stocks were disposed of at auction. Sailing vessels left every day for San Francisco and so great was the exodus that the old inhabitants might well have thought that they were once more going to be left alone. There was, however, a tolerably numerous class of adventurers composed of men of perseverance — sturdy miners — men who were not over-ambitious, and those who had good claims, who decided to remain, thus giving a practical illustration of their faith in the country. It has been said that a great number of the miners who came to Victoria in the spring of 1858 only did it “for the fun of the thing;” and that one-half of the real miners who left the Fraser River in the autumn of that year did so because they were afraid of the cold. Be this as it may, in a few weeks the mining population of the Fraser River was reduced by thousands. As the exploration of the great interior of the mainland proceeded it was found that the whole country was impregnated with gold. Hardy miners pushed up the Fraser River and its tributaries to their remotest sources, and then came the stampede to Cariboo in 1861. [ 186 ] THE FOUNDING OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. CHAPTER XIV. When the gold-seekers congregated at Victoria in 1858 they found the administration of the colony of Vancouver Island practically in the hands of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Governor Douglas, the members of his Coun- cil, and of the House of Assembly, all of that ilk. Heretofore, as Governor, under such conditions he was supreme and his task was comparatively easy. Now he was called upon to deal with a new situation which involved the greatest responsibility and some rather knotty problems. The adjoining main- land was unorganized territory without any semblance of government whatso- ever. The Hudson’s Bay Company had a license of exclusive trade with the Indians, but beyond that their jurisdiction did not extend. Douglas’s jur- isdiction as Governor was limited to Vancouver Island. Miners and adven- turers were crowding into this country and Douglas was obliged to act upon his own responsibility and to assume an authority which he did not legally or constitutionally possess. He was, however, a man of courage, and equal to the occasion. He proceeded at once to issue proclamations and govern the country in the name of Her Majesty. These actions were declared to be ir- regular by the colonial authorities, but his course was approved as necessary in the circumstances. Douglas apparently first heard of the discovery of gold on the mainland in 1856, and the news seems to have stirred even his cautious mind, for under date of April 16th, of the year mentioned, he thus writes to the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, Secretary of State for the Colonies: “I hasten to com- municate for the information of Her Majesty’s Government, discovery of much importance made known to me by Mr. Angus McDonald, clerk in charge of Fort Colvile, one of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s trading posts on the upper Columbia.” Mr. McDonald had reported that gold had been found in considerable quantities in British territory on the upper Columbia, and that he was of the opinion that valuable deposits of the precious metal would be found in many other parts of that country. He stated that the daily earnings of the persons then employed in the diggings ranged from two pounds to eight pounds to each man. The Governor went on to say: “I do not know if Her Majesty’s Government will consider it expedient to raise a revenue in that quarter by taking all persons engaged in gold digging, but I may remark that it will be impossible to levy such a tax without the aid of a military force, and the expense in that case would probably exceed the income derived from the mines.” The Colonial Secretary replied that in the absence of all effective machinery of government he conceived it would be quite abortive to attempt to raise a revenue from licenses. Indeed, as Her Majesty’s Government did not look for a revenue from that distant quarter of the British possessions, so neither was it prepared to incur any expense on account of it. “I must, therefore,” said Labouchere, “leave it to your discre- [ 137 ] tion to determine the best means of preserving order in the event of any con- siderable increase of population flocking into this new gold district.” (1) Governor Douglas followed up this despatch (April 16th) with a report bearing the date of October 29th, in which he stated that he had heard through reliable sources that the number of persons engaged in the newly discovered diggings was extremely limited in consequence of the threatening attitude of the native tribes, who, being hostile to the Americans, uniformly opposed the entrance of American citizens into their country. The people of Oregon, so he averred, were excluded from the gold district, except such as resorted to the artifice of denying their country, and so succeeded in passing for British subjects. So far, the persons engaged in the search for gold were chiefly re- tired servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who, being well acquainted with the natives and connected by the ties of friendship, were more disposed to aid and assist each other in their common pursuit than wantonly to injure the natives. In this despatch the Governor reports that experiments in wash- ing gold from the sands of the tributaries of the Fraser River had been suc- cessful, and he adds: “I entertain sanguine hopes that further researches will develop stores of wealth perhaps equal to the gold fields of California.” On July 15th, 1857, the Governor wrote that he had received further news from the interior to the north of the 49th parallel of latitude, corroborat- ing former accounts respecting the auriferous character of the country. As yet, however, no definite information had been received as to the richness of the new gold fields, for the reports differed widely on that point — some per- sons reporting that the deposits were exceedingly rich, whilst others main- tained that they would not repay the working. True, gold had been found in many places, but the quantities collected had been inconsiderable, so that the question as to the value of the country yet remained to be determined. At this time a new difficulty arose — the Indian tribes between Lytton and Kamloops took the high-handed course of expelling all the American gold diggers who had forced an entry into their country, the tribesmen openly de- claring their determination to resist all attempts to work gold in any of the streams flowing into the Thompson River. This decision was born of a nat- ural desire to monopolize the precious metal for their own benefit, and from a superstitious belief that the shoals of salmon which annually ascend the rivers and streams of their country, furnishing an abundance of food, would fail to make their migrations from the sea for fear of the white man. Little danger was apprehended so far as the Company’s servants were concerned, but it was feared that serious affrays might take place between the natives and the ad- venturers who had been attracted hither from the United States possessions. As time passed on the reports from the diggings assumed a more definite form. Writing under date of December 29th, 1857, to the Colonial Secretary, Douglas reported that “the auriferous character of the country is becoming daily more extensively developed through the exertions of the native Indian tribes, who, having tested the sweets of gold-finding, are devoting much of their time and attention to that pursuit.” He refers to that portion of the southern interior north of the 49th parallel as the “Couteau country.” He advised the Colonial Secretary that the reputed wealth of the Couteau mines was causing much excitement in the United States territories of Washington (1) Right Hon. Henry Lanouchere to Governor Douglas, August 4th, 1866. [138] and Oregon, and stated that he had no doubt that a great number of per- sons will be attracted thither the next year. “In that case,” he says, “diffi- culties between the natives and whites will be of frequent occurrence, and unless measures of prevention are taken the country will soon become the scene of lawless misrule.” It will be seen, therefore, that he had sufficiently apprised the Home authorities of the situation in order that they might have taken the necessary steps for the proper administration of the country, which they failed to do until the following year, when Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton succeeded Mr. Labouchere as Secretary of State for the Colonies. Late in 1857 Douglas issued a proclamation which was the first local ordinance ever applied to the territory shortly afterwards to be known as British Columbia, in which case he gave public notice that gold was the property of the Crown and that “all persons who shall take from any lands in said districts any gold, metal or ore containing gold, or who shall dig for and disturb the soil in search of gold, metal or ore without having been duly authorized in that behalf by Her Majesty’s Colonial Government, will be prosecuted, both criminally and civilly, as the law allows.” Under this proclamation regula- tions were formulated by which no person was permitted to dig or search for gold without taking out a license. The license fee was fixed at ten shillings per month, paid in advance, and the license had to be obtained at Victoria, until such time as a local commissioner was appointed. In July, 1858, the measures adopted by the Governor for the regulation of the gold fields were approved by the new Colonial Secretary, a man to whom British Columbia owes a debt of gratitude, and who had a high sense of official duty. He took a keen interest in the fortunes of the country, and his despatches to Douglas not only bear the stamp of statesmanship, but were a wise constitutional code for its administration. He pointed out strongly that it was no part of the British Government’s policy to exclude Americans and other foreigners from the gold fields, and that all persons were to be permitted to resort thither and mine, subject to regulations to be duly established. Now, as the weeks passed, the Couteau gold mines became more than ever a source of attraction to the nomadic population of the Pacific slope. In San Francisco the country was reported, and, in fact, believed to be in point of mineral wealth a second California or Australia, and those impressions were no doubt sustained by exaggerated statements of the owners of steamboats and other interested parties, who hoped to benefit by the current of immigra- tion, which by this time was setting strongly towards the north. Boats, ca- noes and every species of small craft, so Douglas reported to the Colonial Secretary (2), were continually employed in taking miners and their belong- ings from Victoria to the Fraser River. It is said that not less than one thousand whites were already at work, or on the way to the diggings. Many accidents happened in the dangerous rapids of the river, a great number of canoes being dashed to pieces in the canyons, and many an ill-fated adven- turer was swept into eternity by the impetuous stream. Nothing daunted by the dangers and hardships of the route, others still pressed on, buoyed up by the hope of amassing great wealth. Of the character of this shifting popula- (2) Governor Douglas to Mr. Labouchere, May 8th, 1858. [189] tion opinions differ. Douglas, however, was not unfavourably impressed with the earliest arrivals, as his despatches prove. On April *25th the American steamer Commodore arrived in the Royal Roads from San Francisco, with four hundred and fifty passengers on board, of whom four hundred landed at Victoria to purchase boats and canoes. These men were all well-provided with tools and there was no dearth of capital or intelligence among them. About sixty were British subjects, with an equal number of native born Americans, the rest being Germans with a small proportion of Frenchmen and Italians. “They are reported as being,” said Douglas of this band of adventurers, “with some exceptions, a specimen of the worst population of San Francisco; the very dregs, in fact, of society. Their conduct while here would have led me to form a very different conclu- sion; as our little town, though crowded to excess with this sudden influx of people, and though there was a temporary scarcity of food, and dearth of house accommodation, the police few in number, and many temptations to excess in the way of drink; yet quiet and order prevailed, and there was not a single commital for rioting, drunkenness, or other offences during their stay here.” Naturally, the merchants and business men of Victoria were elated at the advent of so large a body of people, and they strongly advocated making Vic- toria the stopping point between San Francisco and the gold mines, convert- ing the latter, as it were, into a feeder and dependency of Vancouver Island (3). It was hoped that Victoria would thus become a depot for the trade of the gold district. To effect that object, the Governor foresaw that it would be necessary to facilitate by every possible means the transport of passengers and goods to the furthest navigable point on the Fraser River. The obvious means of accomplishing the desired end was to employ light steamers in ply- ing between Victoria and Fort Hope, distant about one hundred and thirty miles from the discharge of the river into the Gulf of Georgia. He, there- fore, proposed that the United States Pacific Mail Steamship Company should place steamers on the river, in return for certain special privileges. At the same time the Governor issued his memorable proclamation setting forth that all boats and vessels found in Fraser’s River, or in any of the bays, rivers or creeks on the British possessions on the northwest coast of America, not hav- ing a license from the Hudson’s Bay Company and a sufferance from the proper officer of the customs at Victoria, “shall be liable to forfeiture, and will be seized and condemned according to law.” The Governor was explicit upon this subject, solemnly declaring that — “Now, therefore, I have issued this, my proclamation warning all persons that such actions are contrary to law and an infringement upon the rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who are legally entitled to the trade with the Indians in the British posses- sions on the northwest coast of America to the exclusion of all other persons whether British or foreign.” Needless to say, this far-reaching declaration aroused the ire of the min- ers, who evaded, as far as possible, its provisions. Their irritation was not in any way alleviated when the Governor proposed that the steamers running to Fraser River should carry Hudson’s Bay Company’s merchandise and no other; nor any passengers except such as had taken out and paid for a min- es) Governor Douglas to Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, May 8th, 1868. [140] mg license and permit from the Governor of Vancouver Island, and that the Hudson’s Bay Company should receive two dollars per head for each pas- senger carried. The Colonial Secretary disapproved of it and disallowed this proclamation, stating emphatically that the Hudson’s Bay Company had no rights in the territory except that of exclusive trade with the Indians. It is difficult to appreciate the reasons which influenced Douglas in con- nection with these matters. The most charitable and probably the correct view was that he made a mistake in estimating the powers conferred upon him by the Imperial Government. On other occasions, as the late Gilbert Malcolm Sproat records, Douglas did not hesitate to oppose the Hudson’s Bay Company, even if in so doing he aroused the enmity of Mr. Dallas, the Company’s agent, and his own son-in-law. Naturally, as head of the Com- pany in the West, and as a citizen of Victoria, he wished to do the best in the interests of both, but that he was actuated by other motives also is obvious. That he was somewhat nervous about the introduction of a large foreign pop- ulation whose sympathies were, to say the least, anti-British, is sufficiently set forth in all his earlier despatches. He alludes to this as an “alarming aspect of the situation”, and doubted the wisdom of permitting the free entrance of foreigners into British territory without requiring them to take the oath of al- legiance, and otherwise giving security for their conduct. Even at late as May, 1858, the value of New Caledonia as a gold-pro- ducing region had not been established. Indeed, up to that time, the export of gold from the country was inconsiderable, not exceeding, according to the report of the Governor, six hundred ounces from April 6th to May 8th. In the meantime, however, adventurers were pouring into the country, and in a short time it was proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the miners, in pros- pecting the country from one end of it to the other, had found gold in pay- ing quantities. Gradually the Governor’s despatches assumed a more opti- mistic tone, and then he became almost enthusiastic, writing to the Colonial Secretary under date of June 10, 1858, in a very hopeful strain. The Gov- ernor had just returned from a visit to the Fraser River in company with Captain Prevost of H. M. S. Satellite. On the passage up the river, the rev- enue officers seized several lots of contraband goods and sixteen unlicensed canoes. From Fort Langley the Governor continued the journey in a canoe manned chiefly by Indians, while Captain Prevost rode along in his gig, manned with six of the Satellite seamen. The diggings commenced on a bar about one mile below Fort Hope, and from that point continued beyond the falls to Fort Yale, a distance of about twenty miles. Six parties of miners consisting of about one hundred and ninety men, besides double the number of Indians, were found “successfully engaged” in the “exciting pursuit” of digging for gold. As the Governor and his party ascended the stream, the diggings became sensibly richer until they reached Hill’s Bar, about four miles below Fort Yale, the richest bar found up to that time. Hill, the man after whom the bar was named, produced the product of six hours’ work with a rocker and three hands, showing nearly six ounces of clean float gold, worth £100 sterling. All the miners were enthusiastic and earning from $2.50 to $25.00 to the man a day. Three men on Sailor’s Bar, a place about ten miles above Yale, made one hundred and ninety ounces of gold in seven working days, giving a return of nearly nine ounces a day for each man employed. [141] Then the Governor’s faith in the country was further fortified by the reports brought by thirty miners who arrived from the upper country during his stay at the falls. These men had prospected the banks of the Fraser as far as Lillooet, forty miles or more beyond the confluence of the Fraser and the Thompson rivers, and also many of its tributary streams, in all of which gold was found, in pieces ranging from twenty-four grains to half an ounce in weight. They observed that the further they ascended the river the gold be- came coarser. The Governor moved about among the miners conversing with one and then with another. In this manner he obtained firsthand informa- tion. William C. Johnston, an old California miner, and others asserted that the Fraser River was richer than any “three rivers in California.” So in this stimulating atmosphere, the Governor’s cautious mind is stirred to imagine the great things of this huge rough country, heretofore only prized for its fur and salmon. “Evidence is thus obtained,” says the Governor in a mo- ment of enthusiasm, “of the presence of gold over a vast extent of country situated both north and south of Fraser’s River, and the conviction is grad- ually forcing itself upon my mind that not only Fraser’s River and its tribu- taries, but also the whole country situated to the eastward of the Gulf of Georgia, and as far north as Johnston’s Straits is one continued bed of gold of incalculable value and extent.” (4) During the course of his progress through the mining district, the Gov- ernor appointed Richard Hicks, “a responsible Englishman”, as revenue of- ficer for the district of Fort Yale, at a salary of forty pounds a year, to be paid out of the general revenue of the country. Mr. Hicks apparently was the first official of British Columbia. It should be mentioned that on the arrival of the party at Hill’s Bar, it was found that the white miners were in a state of great alarm on account of a serious affray, which, it was reported, had just occurred with the In- dians, “who,” to quote Douglas’s own words, “mustered under arms in a tu- multuous manner and threatened to make a clean sweep of the whole body of miners assembled there.” The quarrel arose out of a series of provocations on both sides, but more particularly because the savages were decidedly averse from the taking out of large quantities of gold from the lands which they held from immemorial times. Douglas’s finesse in dealing with the natives is well shown by his conduct on that occasion. He called the Indians before him and berated them in strong terms about their conduct, and then he took the leader in the affair — one “highly connected” — into the government service, in which he proved himself invaluable in settling other difficulties with the natives of that locality. The Governor also addressed the white miners, nearly all foreigners, representing nearly every nation in Europe. He refused to grant them any rights of oc- cupation and told them distinctly that Her Majesty’s Government ignored their very existence in that part of the country, which was not open for the purpose of settlement, and that they were permitted to remain there merely on sufferance. He finished his address by declaring that the law would pro- tect the rights of the Indian no less than those of the white man. Then after having appointed George Perrier, a British subject, a justice of the peace for the district of Hill’s Bar, and having invested certain Indian (4) Governor Douglas to Lord Stanley, June 10th, 1858. [ 142 ] chiefs with the rank of magistrate, who were required to arrest delinquent na- tives, and maintain order in the Indian villages, the Governor returned to Victoria. It was very evident that the natives of the Fraser River were in a state of unrest. They bitterly resented the sudden influx of population and dread- ed its result, as well they might. Douglas himself remarked at this time that “without the exercise of unceasing vigilance on the part of the Government, Indian troubles will sooner or later occur.” Future events sustained his judg- ment. In view of His Excellency’s earnest representations, which proved con- clusively that an emergency had arisen on the northwest coast of America, the British government could no longer postpone decisive action. Therefore, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton introduced in Parliament on July 1, 1858, a measure entitled “An Act to provide for the government of British Colum- bia”, which after some discussion, in which the late Right Honourable Wil- liam Ewart Gladstone took part, received the Royal assent on August 2nd. The boundaries of the first colony of British Columbia do not exactly coincide with the boundaries of the province of that name. It was not un- til some years later that the present boundaries were established. That the measure was of a temporary character, as stated in the preamble, is suffi- ciently shown by the sections relating to the legislative institutions to be be- stowed upon the colony. Furthermore, the Act was to continue in force for a period of four years only, that is to say, until the 31st day of December, 1862. The Governor was empowered “generally to make, ordain and estab- lish all such laws, institutions and ordinances as may be necessary for the peace, order and good government of Her Majesty’s subjects.” All orders and ordinances, however, were to be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as possible after enactment. The Governor was also empowered to make provision for the administration of justice, and that official was clothed with quite extraordinary prerogatives, although a third section provided “that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, so soon as she may deem it convenient, by any such Order in Council, as aforesaid, to constitute or to authorize and empower such official to constitute a Legislature to make laws for the peace, order and good government of British Columbia, such Legislature to consist of the Governor and a Council, or Council and Assembly, to be composed of such and so many persons, and to be appointed or elected in such manner and for such periods and subject to such regulations as to Her Majesty may seem expedient.” It will be recalled that the Governor’s dilatoriness in call- ing together a Council caused some irritation in the colony, especially among the settlers from Ontario, who had been accustomed to responsible govern- ment. The long series of “I, James Douglas” proclamations seemed to be- token that the Governor was loath to surrender his power, or even to share it with any legislature elected in part or in whole by the people. At any rate under the provisions of this act, Douglas administered the colony of British Columbia for a term of five years without invoking the aid of the people in the making of laws, justifying his course in this connection on the ground that the population was chiefly nomadic and alien. The Act of the forty-third year of King George III, entituled “An Act for extending the jurisdiction of the courts of justice in the Provinces of [143] Lower and Upper Canada, to the trial and punishment of persons guilty of crimes and offences within certain parts of North America adjoining to the said provinces”, and the Act of the second year of King George IV, entituled “An Act for regulating the fur trade and establishing a criminal and civil jurisdiction within certain parts of North America” were repealed in so far as they were applicable to British Columbia. All judgments, however, in any civil suit were to be subject to appeal to Her Majesty in Council. It was also provided that no part of the colony of Vancouver Island, as then established, should be comprised within British Columbia, but provision was made for the subsequent union of the two colonies, which union was actual^ effected in the year 1866. At any time during the continuance of the Act, a joint address from the two Houses of the Legislature of Vancouver Island, praying for the incorporation of that island with British Columbia, would be sufficient authority for Her Majesty “to annex the said island to British Co- lumbia.” In moving the second reading of the Bill, the Secretary of State for the Colonies made an eloquent speech; indeed he was from the first enthusiastic in his support of the colony. Much has been said about the dilatoriness, the lack of tact and intelligence displayed by the Colonial Office in its relations with the far-flung colonies of the Empire; but in the case of British Colum- bia, at least, it may he truly said that the Colonial Office displayed remark- able zeal, energy and acumen in its dealings with that colony. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton in explaining the necessity for creating the new colony said: Circumstances have arisen which call upon us to place, as soon as possible, the adjacent territory under the safeguard of an established government, such as this Bill will provide. And those circum- stances are the discovery of gold fields, the belief that those gold fields will be eminently productive, the number of persons of foreign nations and unknown character already impelled to the place by that belief. I need say no more to show the imperative necessity of establishing a government wherever the hope of gold — to be had for the digging — attracts all adventurers and excites all passions. At this moment there is no Imperial Government at all in the place, for the Governor of Vancouver's owns no commission on the mainland. Thus, the discovery of gold compels us to do at once, what otherwise we should very soon have done — erect into a colony a district that appears, in great part, eminently suited for civilized habitation and culture. The Right Honourable gentleman in the course of his remarks referred to the care he had taken to urge upon the First Lord of the Admiralty the ne- cessity of despatching an adequate naval force to Vancouver Island — a force strong enough to provide against lawless aggression. Thus the Colonial Sec- retary had recourse in this emergency to the great factor that has made the preservation of the Empire possible — the British navy. In explaining why it was that free institutions were not to be granted to the colony in its infancy, Sir Edward remarked that it would not be fair to the “grand principle of free institutions to risk at once the experiment of self-government among set- tlers so wild, so miscellaneous, perhaps so transitory, and in a form of society so crude. This is not like other colonies which have gone forth from these islands, and of which something is known of the character of the colonists. Neither is it like those colonies in which the first thought of the emigrants is the acquisition of land, and the first care of the Governor those allottments of land, which are the preliminary of representation.” He continued: As yet the rush of the adventurers is not for land but gold, not for a permanent settlement but for a speculative excursion. And, therefore, here the immediate object is to establish temporary law and order amidst a motley inundation of immigrant diggers, of whose antecedents we are wholly ignorant, and of whom perhaps few, if any, have any intention to become resident colonists and British subjects. But, where you cannot at once establish self-government, all sound political thinkers, all friends to that re- sponsibility which is the element of freedom, will perhaps agree that the next best thing is to establish a government which shall have as few checks as possible on its responsible functions, which shall possess [144] unhampered what powers we can give it, to secure the respect for recognized authority; which shall be clearly for a limited time, and with the avowed unmistakable intention of yielding its sway at the ear- liest possible period to those free institutions for which it prepares the way, and which it will always henceforth be the colonial policy of this country to effect. Therefore, it was explained, it was proposed to empower the Crown for a limited period, that is to say, until December, 1862, and from that date un- til the end of the session of parliament next ensuing, to make laws for the colony by orders-in-council and to establish a legislature, such legislature to be in the first instance the Governor alone ; but with power to the Crown by itself or through the Governor to establish a nominative council and a representative assembly should the growth of the colony demand such insti- tutions. As a matter of fact, a legislative council was not called into being until the end of 1868, and no representative assembly was ever created in the colony. Very eloquently and with much feeling the Colonial Secretary closed his memorable speech. Sir, I have wished to keep my statement of the present value and ultimate importance of this new colony clear from all the exaggerations which belong to the philosophy of conjecture. I have carefully abstained from over-colouring our imperfect knowledge as to the permanent richness of the gold discoveries. Nothing can be more cruel to immigrants and more dangerous to the peace of the settlement than to give undue favour to any extravagant expectations as to the produce of these gold fields. It is a terrible picture, that of thousands rushing to what is already called the New El Dorado, in- fluenced by avarice and hope, and finding, not wealth, but disappointment and destitution — provisions dear and scanty, and the gold itself meagre in its produce, and guarded by flooded river and jealous In- dians. At present, whatever may be the riches of the discovery, it is fair not to forget the fact that Cali- fornia exported in the first eight months from the discovery of its mines 150,000 ounces of gold dust, while the largest amount ascertained or conjectured from Fraser’s River since 1856 is not more than 1,000 ounces. More rational, if less exciting, hopes of the importance of the colony rest upon its other resources, which I have described, and upon the influence of its magnificent situation on the ripening grandeur of British North America. I do believe that the day will come, and that many now present will live to see it, when, a portion at least of the lands on the other side of the Rocky Mountains being also brought into colonization and guarded by free institutions, one direct line of railway communication will unite the Pacific and the Atlantic. Be that as it may, of one thing I am sure — that though at present it is the desire of gold which attracts to this colony its eager and impetuous founders, still, if it be reserved, as I hope, to add a permanent and flourishing race to the great family of nations, it must be, not by the gold which the diggers may bring to light, but by the more gradual process of patient industry in the culture of the soil, and in the exchange of commerce. It must be by the respect for the equal laws which secure to every man the power to retain what he may honestly acquire; it must be in the exer- cise of those social virtues by which the fierce impulse of force is tamed into habitual energy, and avarice itself, amidst the strife of competition, find its objects best realized by steadfast emulation and prudent thrift. I conclude, sir, with a humble trust that the Divine disposer of all human events may afford the safeguard of His blessing to our attempt to add another community of Christian freemen to those by which Great Britain confides the records of her empire, not to pyramids and obelisks, but to states and commonwealths whose history shall be written in her language (5). At this point it will be interesting, also instructive, to pause for a mo- ment to enquire into the manner of the naming of British Columbia. Here- tofore the term Columbia, as far as the West was concerned, had only been applied to the Columbia River and sometimes to the Western Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was quite frequently termed the Colum- bia Department. It was proposed at first to name the country New Cale- donia, by which appellation, indeed, it had been known for some time, but the Government of France objected to that name being given to the pro- posed colony between the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains, because the French already had a possession so named. The matter was thereupon re- ferred to Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, who in a letter to Sir Edward Bul- wer Lytton, written at Osborne, Isle of Wight, July 24, 1858, once and for all disposed of the question. It was Her Gracious Majesty herself who be- stowed the name of British Columbia upon the new colony and her decision is thus recorded. The Queen has received Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton's letter. As the name of New Caledonia is objected to as being already borne by another colony or island claimed by the French, it may be better to give the new colony west of the Rocky Mountains another name. New Hanover, New Columbia and new Georgia appear from the maps to be the names of subdivisions of that country, but do not appear (5) Parliamentary Debates, 3 Series, June 18, 1858, to August 2, 1858. CLI, 1105-1107. [145] on all maps. The only name which is given to the whole territory in every map the Queen has con- sulted is ‘Columbia,’ but as there exists also a Columbia in South America and the citizens of the United States called their country also Columbia, at least in poetry, ‘British Columbia’ might be, in the Queen’s opinion, the best name. So the latest accession to the colonial Empire of Great Britain was chris- tened in accordance with the wishes of Queen Victoria. It is interesting to recall at this time, although the matter relates to a later date, that Her Maj- esty also gave the name New Westminster to the capital of the colony. Ow- ing to a dispute as to the name to be given to the city founded by the Royal Engineers on the banks of the Fraser River, the question was laid before Her Majesty, who directed the Secretary of State for the Colonies to acquaint the Governor “that Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to decide that the capital of British Columbia shall be called ‘New Westminster’.” (6) No sooner was the Act creating the colony passed than the question arose as to whom should be entrusted the goverance of the new dependency. Fortunately, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton had no doubt in his own mind as to the proper person to receive Her Majesty’s commission. He turned at once to James Douglas, the man who had risen to the occasion; who had exhibited a remarkable aptitude for administration in difficult circumstances. The Colonial Secretary addressed a confidential communication to James Doug- las ( 7 ), offering him the governorship, upon the condition, however, that he should within as short a time as possible sever all connection with the Hudson’s Bay Company, “either as its servant, or a shareholder, or in any other capacity.” It was pointed out that the legal connection of the Hud- son’s Bay Company with Vancouver Island was shortly to be severed by the resumption by the Crown by the grant of the soil and that the Company’s legal rights on the continent would expire in May, 1859, unless it should be deemed advisable to terminate the agreement of 1838 upon the establishment of the Colony of British Columbia. The Colonial Secretary proposed that the Governor should receive a salary of at least <£1,000 per annum, to be paid for the time being out of a parliamentary vote. In replying to this commu- nication, Douglas signified his willingness to accept the governorship on the terms proposed, although he demurred at the salary, asking for £5,000 per annum, as in his estimation that sum would be no more than sufficient to cover actual expenditure, and to maintain the position with proper dignity. “On those conditions,” concludes Douglas, “and with the consent of the Hudson’s Bay Company, I place my humble services unhesitatingly at the disposal of Her Majesty’s Government and I will take early measures for withdrawing from the Company's service and disposing of my Puget Sound stock. I trust that the allowances from Her Majesty’s Government will be adequate to my support in a man- ner worthy of the position I am thus called upon to fill.” In due course, namely, September 2, 1858, Letters Patent under the Great Seal were issued, appointing James Douglas to be Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief in and over the Colony of British Columbia and its depend- encies. The usual instructions were issue on the same date. At the same time and place — at the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight- — an order-in- council was passed empowering the Governor on British Columbia to make laws and to provide for the administration of justice in the Colony, and an- other instrument was issued, under the Royal Sign Manual, revoking so much of the Crown grant of May 30th, 1838, to the Hudson’s Bay Company (6) Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton to Governor Douglas, May B, 1859. (7) July 16. 1858. [ 146 ] for exclusive trade with the Indians as related to the territories within the colony of British Columbia. Having thus established the Colony of British Columbia, the only thing left to do was to appoint the various officers nec- essary to a colonial administration. In this connection the first Civil List of the Colony is not without inter- est, for it gives the names of the pioneer officers who did so much to lay the foundation of that body politic, which is now the Province of British Col- umbia. First of all appears the name of James Douglas, C. B., Governor of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, appointed September 2nd, 1858, at a salary of eighteen hundred pounds; then follows a name which will be remembered as Ions' as the Province of British Columbia stands — Matthew o Baillie Begbie — who was appointed Judge of the colony on the 2nd of Sep- tember at a salary of eight hundred pounds; W. A. G. Young, Colonial Sec- retary, appointed January 6th, 1859, salary five hundred pounds; Captain W. Driscoll Gosset, R. E., Treasurer, October 12th, 1858, five hundred pounds; George H. Cary, Attorney-General, March, 1859, four hundred pounds; Chartres Brew, Inspector of Police, September 2nd, 1858, five hundred pounds; Wymond Hamley, Collector of Customs, September 16th, 1858, four hundred pounds, and James Cooper, Harbour Master, September 2nd, 1858, four hundred pounds. The first Civil List totalled =£5,300. In addi- tion to these civil officers there were the following ecclesiastical appointments: The Right Reverend George Hills, D. D., Bishop, appointed November, 1858, and the Reverend J. Gammage and the Reverend Mr. Crickmer, appointed respectively in September and October of the same year. The bishopric was endowed by Miss Burdett-Coutts, while the Society for the Propogation of the Gospel paid the stipend of Mr. Gammage, and the Colonial Church So- ciety that of Mr. Crickmer. True to his word, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton lost no time in despatch- ing a picked military force to the Colony, the idea being that the men should not only act as police in maintaining law and order, but that they should also build roads, bridges and wharves, wherever they might be required. It de- volved upon this force to survey those parts of the country which might be considered best adapted for settlement, to mark out allotments of land for pub- lic purposes, to suggest a site for the seat of government, to point out where roads should be made and to render the Governor every assistance; on the distinct understanding, however, that the military establishment was to be maintained at the Imperial cost for only a limited period. The force was placed under command of Colonel Richard Clement Moody, who carried with him a dormant commission as Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, a position it is scarcely necessary to add, which he was never called upon to fill. In 1858-59 the picked company of Royal Engineers reached Victoria, or Esquimalt. It comprised three captains, two subalterns, nine sergeants, sixteen corporals and one hundred and twenty-five sappers. The major part of the company came round the Horn in the Thames City which anchored in Esquimalt Harbour in February, 1859. Captain Grant had arrived ear- lier with an advance detachment, in order to prepare barracks for the main party. No force ever rendered the Empire greater service in time of peace than that little detachment of Royal Engineers under Colonel Moody. From the day of its arrival in the Colony in 1859 until its departure in 1863, each [147] and every member of it faithfully and meritoriously performed his duty. The name of the force is inseparably associated with the early history of Brit- ish Columbia, inasmuch as all the important public works of the Colony — roads, streets and public buildings — were planned, built and in many cases maintained by the Sappers and Miners. Then many of the men elected to remain in the country, thus giving strength and stability to the Colony. The next question to occupy the attention of the Governor was the selec- tion of the site for his capital. At first “Old Langley” was chosen, because, said Douglas, “the place possesses great natural advantages for trade, being accessible by land, having deep water, a bold shore and good anchorage,” moreover the land about it was clear of trees and it could be surveyed at small expense, a matter worthy of consideration seeing that the colonial revenues could scarcely keep pace with the colonial expenditure. Langley was shortly afterwards abandoned and the adjoining town site of Derby named as the capital; both Derby and Langley are on the southern bank of the F raser in a low and marshy locality, neither adapted to defence nor suit- able as the site of a large city. Directly Colonel Moody saw the place, he decided that it would not meet requirements, so forthwith he examined the north bank of the river and decided that the proper situation for the new me- tropolis “was on the first high ground on the north side after entering the river,” “about twenty miles above the Sand Heads.” Reporting on the pro- posed site, Colonel Moody said: “There is abundance of room and conveni- ence for every description of requisite in a seaport and the capital of a great country. There are great facilities for communication by water as well as by future great trunk railways into the interior. There is good land for garden ground, if one may judge by the forests and rich meadow lands surround- ing it. It is raised above the periodical floods and with the low lands (which will be most coveted as commercial sites, docks, quays, etc.) are close ad- joining and easily made available. From the advantageous circumstances of the locality, it is easily rendered unapproachable to an enemy. As a military post it is rare to find one so singularly strong by nature in connection with its adaptation as the capital of a country. Immediately in front is the broad navigable river; on the opposite bank is a line of rising ground covering the whole front. This rising ground falls towards the frontier and all around that base is swampy land easily inundated.” It is easily seen that Colonel Moody was largely influenced by his military training for he speaks in glow- ing terms of the military advantages of the situation. “I would further sub- mit,” the report continues, “that in any war with our neighbours, our best, I may say our only chance of success in this country (owing to the geograph- ical distribution of its component parts and physical formation of the whole), would be an immediate offensive advance. I am so strongly impressed with these views as to venture (but believe me, with utmost deference) to press on your consideration, that, should it be determined not to occupy this site in the manner suggested, concentrating there as early as possible a condensa- tion of political, military and commercial interests growing and increasing in force in all time to come. * * * In reference to the adaptation of the actual spot itself, for a city of magnitude, I might add to what I have al- ready stated in general terms, that there is deep water close along an ex- tended line of shore, sea-going vessels of any burden can moor close to the [ 148 ] bank, plenty of water for all ordinary purposes and good drainage. I would wish that the upper region had not been quite so high, as hereafter it might cause some expense in improving the gradients of a few of the streets.” In conclusion the worthy colonel stated that his report would not be complete unless he added that “Langley is open to the gravest objections as to the site of a capital or even a town of importance.” In consequence of Moody’s report the capital was moved again to the site of the present city of New Westminster, first known as Queensborough or Queenborough. It has al- ready been related how in time the name of Queensborough was changed to that of New Westminster. In passing it may be mentioned that His Ex- cellency, the Chief Justice, Matthew Baillie Begbie, and the other colonial of- ficials took their oath of office at Fort Langley in January, 1859, and that seemingly was the only important official function ever held in the first cap- ital of the Colony. [ 149 ] . THE FRASER RIVER IN 1858. CHAPTER XV. In the meantime miners continued to flock to the Fraser River. No less than nineteen steamships, nine sailing vessels and fourteen decked boats entered the port of Victoria between the 19th of May and 1st of June, hav- ing six thousand one hundred and thirty-three passengers on board, all either bound for the gold mines, or proposing to settle on Vancouver Island with a view of going into business. Up to the 15th of May, ten thousand five hun- dren and seventy-three persons had sailed from the port of San Francisco for the north, and there was no sign of abatement in the demand for passages. No sooner was a vessel advertised to sail for Victoria than all her accommo- dation was taken with avidity, so great was the stampede. These statements give an approximate idea of the number of persons at and on the way to the Fraser River from California at that time, but they do not represent the increase of population derived from the territories of Washington and Ore- gon, by parties of adventurers who entered British Columbia by land. At the end of June it was estimated that within six weeks ten thousand men had found their way to the Fraser. Fortunately, notwithstanding the weak- ness of the Colonial executive, the immigrants were quiet and submissive to the laws of the country. So far about two-thirds of the immigrants from California were British and French, the other third being Germans and cit- izens of the United States. There appeared to be little or no adhesion among the different nationalities, and the Governor concluded, therefore, that provided that there should be no grievance to unite them in a common cause, there would always be a great majority of the population ready to support the government. “Notwithstanding our want of physical force,” said the Governor at this time, “I have not scrupled in all cases to assert the rights of the Crown and to enforce the laws of the land for the punishment of of- fences; and we have, thanks to the Almighty, encountered neither resistance nor opposition in the discharge of those sacred duties.” A license fee of five dollars a month was collected from the miners and two thousand, two hundred and twenty-one such certificates had been issued up to July 1st, and three hundred and four more were issued by Captain Prevost of H. M. S. Satellite when stationed off the entrance of the river. The licenses represented the sum of $12,625, which was placed to the account of the public revenue. Yet, after all, only a few of the miners paid their dues; many conspiring to outwit the revenue officers, not a difficult matter, considering the unsettled state of the country. That the mines were rich is amply proved by the report of O. T. Tra- vaillot, assistant commissioner of Crown lands on Thompson River, who represented the country as being “exceedingly rich and abounding in gold, fully to as great an extent as California in its better days.” For instance, on Mormon Bar a rocker yielded in eight days gold dust to the value of $830; [ 151 ] another in twelve days, gold dust to the value of $800; and yet another in five days $248 worth of the precious metal. In the dry diggings near the Fountain, or Lillooet, as it is now called, five rockers yielded from $42 to $54 a day. Notwithstanding the number of miners assembled on the bars of the Fraser River, however, it does not appear that there was a large production of gold, which is accounted for by the fact that at this time the river was at flood height. Nevertheless, the miners exhibited an unwavering faith in the richness of the country, and were in great spirits in anticipation of an early fall in the river. In May and June 5,000 ounces of gold dust were ex- ported, and perhaps half as much had been carried away in small quantities by individuals. The Governor conjectured that the miners were hoarding up their gold either from not being in immediate want of supplies or because they did not know how to send it away, or where to place it for safe-keep- ing. He, therefore, proposed that the output of the diggings should be con- veyed to the coast under government escort and placed in charge of the Treasurer until called for by the depositors. Alfred Waddington calculated that the total production of gold up to October 31st, amounted to the large sum of $705,000. He states that Wells, Fargo & Company exported $6,000 in June, $45,000 in July, $45,000 in August, $164,000 in September, and $255,000 in October, while $50,000 reached Whatcom, Sehome and Portland. In addition, the Hudson’s Bay Company had bought and bartered gold dust to a considerable amount. On one occasion $20,000 in dust was brought down in one single sum towards the middle of September. Waddington compares this output with the $240,- 000 mined in the first year of the California excitement, and with the $725,- 000 produced in the first year of gold-mining in New South Wales. Even as early as July, before the fidl extent of the richness of the coun- try had become public knowledge, the Governor conceived the project of opening up the territory by means of roads and pack trains. “Another im- portant object I have in view,” he stated to Lord Stanley in a despatch dated July 26th, 1858, “is the improvement of the internal communications of the country, which at present is for all practical purposes nearly inaccessible beyond Fort Yale in consequence of a range of mountains running north and south which there interpose an almost insurmountable barrier to the prog- ress of trade.” Beyond that range of mountains the country is open and comparatively level, and the construction of good roads over the plateau would not involve a large expenditure; in fact, it was even at that time almost every- where accessible by pack trains. It was, therefore, evident that the construc- tion of a highway through the mountain barrier, though made in the first instance only for pack horses would be of “prodigious advantage” to the country. In the Governor’s opinion such a road might he carried through the valley of Harrison River to a point near Lillooet and he immediately took measures to undertake the work. This was the origin of the Harrison-Lil- looet trail which, when constructed, gave rise to so much dissatisfaction among the miners. But the Governor could scarcely be expected to realize that a road through the canyons of the Fraser was more practicable than a road to Lillooet by way of Lillooet and Seton lakes. “The trend of immigration,” said the Governor, in concluding his despatch, “is setting in with an impetuous (1) Alfred Waddington. Fraser Mines Vindicated. Victoria, 1858, pp. 42-44. [152] force, and to keep pace with the extraordinary circumstances of the times and to maintain the authority of the laws, I have been compelled to assume an un- usual amount of responsibility.” In August the Governor reckoned that there were ten thousand foreign miners in the country, of whom three thousand were profitably engaged in gold mining. He had appointed gold commissioners and sub-commissioners to mark and to allow the claims and to receive the license of twenty-one shil- lings payable monthly on each lot. These officers required the support of a constabulary, but the Governor had not a single man to send to their assist- ance. Douglas, having once conceived the necessity of providing communica- tion with the central portion of the Colony, did not hesitate to take active measures to attain his end. Without delay he set about the gigantic undertak- ing — for a colony so sparsely settled and so destitute of financial resources — of uniting the coast with the interior by means of grand trunk roads. In July he organized a party of five hundred men to build a road by the Har- rison River and Seton Lake, into the Indian village of Lillooet. This first organized attempt to build a highway on the mainland was of such an extraor- dinary nature that it deserves some little attention on the part of the histor- ian, not only because it exhibits the energy of the Governor, but also because it shows in a very favourable light the character of the earliest pioneers of British Columbia. To returning miners, a route from Anderson Lake to Lillooet, thence by Harrison Lake to the Fraser River, was disclosed by the Indians. There was a large number of men in Victoria idle perforce and restless — anxious to reach the gold fields and participate in the exploitation, but with limited means. Learning of the route in question they made a proposal to Governor Douglas to co-operate with him in solving a problem seriously occupying his attention, a road to the mines. Douglas at once entered into the spirit of the enterprise and an arrangement was made for the Hudson’s Bay Company to convey these men — 500 in number — to their destination and to supply them with food. In return, the miners were to deposit $25.00 as a guarantee of good faith and to give their labour for the construction of the pack road pro- posed, the deposit to be returned when the road was completed. The trail or pack road was 70 miles in length. This combination of credit and co-opera- tion was entirely successful and the road was completed in a very short space of time and the miners were reimbursed. This road was afterwards con- siderably improved by the Royal Engineers and extended to the upper Fraser. It was, however, subsequently abandoned when the road to Cariboo from Yale was built, as described elsewhere; and as a matter of fact, a great many of the miners would not use the road so constructed, preferring the more direct, though terribly dangerous, route to the interior through the great canyons of the Fraser. “It was terrible,” says Douglas, “to hear of the fatal accidents that are daily occurring to miners who, to avoid the high rate of charge for land transport, are striving to make their way in boats and canoes by the river, through those perilous defiles.” So event followed event in the strenuous year of 1858. In the short space of six months such a transformation had taken place of which no man had even dreamed. Naturally enough the Indians looked with sullen [ 153 ] eyes upon this invasion of their territory. As Douglas had foreseen, some of the miners, desperate characters, unaccustomed to law and order, could not be restrained from treating the natives as they had been accustomed to do in the western possessions of the United States. Among the heterogene- ous population then assembled on the banks of the Fraser were desperadoes who had been brought up to look upon an Indian as being altogether un- worthy of consideration. It is not surprising, therefore, that in spite of all the Governor’s warnings, bloody tragedies now and again occurred. On more than one occasion the mining communities were alarmed by reports that the Indians had risen and were murdering the scattered miners. It was towards the end of August that the Governor received the startling news that forty- two miners had been murdered by the Indians of Fraser River. With com- mendable energy and precision he requisitioned Major Hawkins, Her Maj- esty’s commissioner for determining the line of the 49th parallel of latitude, for an officer and ten men, and for a further force from Captain Prevost of the Satellite and Captain Montresor of the Calypso. With his little military force of thirty-five men he proceeded with all despatch to the scene of the disaster, only to hear before he arrived at his destination that only two men had been killed by the Indians instead of the large number at first reported, and that the affair had subsided owing to the prompt action of the miners who had raised a force of volunteers under H. M. Snyder to protect the set- tlements. This little army of one hundred and fifty men met the tribesmen in the defiles of the Fraser and defeated them in a pitched battle, where- upon peace was declared. In the course of the hostilities the miners burnt the native villages from one end of the canyon to the other. The Governor did not abandon his journey on the receipt of this intelligence, but continued to the mines in order, by a show of authority, to impress “the motley popula- tion of foreigners now assembled in Fraser’s River.” In those exciting days there was no rest for the Governor. In issuing in- structions to the gold commissioners, in drawing up police regulations, in promulgating ordinances for the regulation of the gold district, in receiving visitors, and in writing despatches, the days passed all too quickly. The Governor combined in his own person all the functions of the state and to him all turned for advice or instruction. Certainly the man rose to the occasion and history will ever acclaim him as one of the builders of the West. In September the Governor again started upon an official tour of the mining district, visiting Fort Langley, Fort Hope and Fort Yale. It was on this occasion that he authorized the laying out of the townsite of Fort Hope, the principal streets being parallel and the cross streets at right angles to the river. The town lots measured one hundred and twenty feet by sixty-six feet, and they were placed upon the market at <£20, 6s and 8d. Then he turned his attention to the regulation of the liquor traffic, which he accomplished by granting licenses for the sale of spirits to certain men of respectable character, there being no means of preventing the introduction of intoxicating liquors into the country. Two licenses were issued at Fort Hope for which each of the lessees paid tbe sum of $600. After that a Court was convened for the trial of petty offences, which sat every other day during the Governor’s stay at Fort Hope. The Court consisted of Air. Pearkes, Crown Solicitor of Vancouver Island; Mr. Donald Fraser, “a gentleman of high [154] legal attainments,” and Mr. Smith, a local justice of the peace. It is recorded that only one case was brought before the Criminal Court, that being that of William King for the murder of William Eaton on a bar on the Upper Fraser. The defendant was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to transportation for life. When the Court was about to open for the trial of King it was reported that a body of miners intended to rescue the prisoner, but whatever may have been their intention it was not carried into effect, as the proceedings went off quietly, and were in no stage interrupted by any riotous demonstration. The Governor and his party then proceeded to Fort Yale taking two days to cover the fifteen miles which separates that place from Fort Hope. His Excellency walked nearly all the way, stopping at the different mining camps on the river for the purpose of interviewing the miners. About three thousand persons lived in the vicinity. “I entered into conversation with the miners,” says Douglas, “enquired into their wants, heard their complaints, ex- plained to them the views and intentions of Her Majesty’s Government, the reason and object of the regulations which had been established and ascer- tained that their daily earnings were from $5 to $25 to the man, working with cradles or rockers.” The miners were robust in appearance, generally living in tents or log huts, exposed to many discomforts, yet all seemingly in perfect health, pleased with the country and abundantly supplied with wholesome food. The whole course of the river exhibited a wonderful scene of enter- prise and industry. “I was particularly struck,” says Douglas, “with the in- genious contrivances for distributing water, wherever the natural supply was not convenient. In such cases the streams are diverted from their natural course and conveyed in skilfully graded ditches, even from a distance of three miles, and led along the higher parts of the mining bars for sluice wash- ing. The owners of the ditches charge a certain sum per inch for the water supplied to the sluices.” On one of the claims a Mr. Cushing made in one Aveek $2,500, although he employed men at wages ranging from $5 to $8 a day. Another miner, Cade by name, averaged $400 a day; and one Martin Gallagher made $32 a day to the man. At this time the river was falling rap- idly and claims were taken up by newcomers, wherever a bit of dry beach could be found and even such patches were yielding from $2.50 to $5.00 to the man. The Californian miners, however, did not consider anything less than $6.00 a day worth working for. A large assemblage gathered at Fort Yale to meet the Go\ r ernor, in order to learn the views of the Government with regard to gold fields. In accordance with the earnest request of the miners, the Governor met them at a public meeting and in the course of a short address he explained his instructions and the policy he intended to adopt in accordance therewith. The Indians were also assembled and they made no secret of their dislike of the white man. They made many complaints of maltreatment and in all cases where redress was possible it was granted without delay. There are many stories told even today by the old-timers of their experiences with the Indians. That the dif- ferent little Indian wars were not always brought about by the native them- selves becomes quite clear when these stories are considered. For instance, two wayfaring miners were walking along the river not far from Lillooet early in the spring of 1859, when one of them espied a young Indian lad who with [155] great joy had landed the first salmon of the season. Being hungry the men went up to the young Indian and one of them asked him to sell the fish, but the other drew his revolver and without further ado shot the Indian dead upon the spot, and with a curse and a laugh carried away the salmon. This story, which is true, serves to show that the Indians had reason to resent the intrusion of the white man. It must not be thought that all the miners be- haved in this way; by far the greater number respected the Indian rights and customs. It was the unbridled element, chiefly of American origin, that brought down the vengeance of the natives. Richard Hicks, an assistant commissioner of Crown lands, resided at Yale, his office consisting of a simple canvas tent. The Governor considered that public buildings were required without delay, at least a residence for the commissioner, barracks for police, a post office, a court house and jail. A police force consisting of one chief constable, at a salary of $150 a month, and five policemen at $100, were appointed during the Governor’s stay at Yale. “This is a very high rate of pay,” the Governor observed, “but no men worth having will serve for less.” His Excellency also swore in a body of fourteen special policemen, selected from persons who had received leases of town lots, as no dependence could be placed upon the other inhabitants, who were “merely birds of passage and have no views on Fraser River except the one idea of making their pile of gold and leaving the country.” It was that rov- ing class that the Governor feared would give trouble, sooner or later. Then the Governor, having pacified the Indians and encouraged the miners, returned to Victoria. The Fraser is the great fluvial artery of British Columbia, and the only river which, traversing the whole extent of the Colony, affords the least dif- ficult access to the remote valleys of the interior. To accomplish the great object of opening up an almost inaccessible country for settlement by the formation of roads and bridges so pressingly needed; to provide public build- ings for the officers of the Crown, and others for use of the judiciary as offices of record; in short, to create a powerful organization, with civil, judi- cial and military establishments in a wilderness of forest and mountains, was an herculean task, and of necessity involved a large expenditure, far beyond the means of a young colony. The Governor realized all this, and imbued with the desire to foster the growth of the Colony, proposed that the Impe- rial Parliament should grant the sum of £200,000, either as a free gift, or as a loan to be repaid, in order to give the Colony a fair start. “The acquisi- tion,” said he, “is worth the sacrifice, which will soon be richly repaid by the power, the influence and the wealth to be derived from the new possession.” In the meantime the Colony could not meet the expenses of the government, and the Governor wrote for instructions as to the payment of the salaries of the public officers, presuming that the necessary funds would be provided out of the Imperial exchequer. To these proposals Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton replied at some length, remarking, no doubt to Douglas’s disappointment, that: The amount to be expended upon judicial and legal establishments must, however, necessarily de- pend upon the revenue by which the expenditure is to be met. And in this respect there is likely to be a just correspondence between the degree to which the want may be experienced and the means by which it may be supplied, since the same expanding of the population which necessitates enlarged establish- ments, legal or judicial, will furnish the revenue proportioned to its requirements. Both on this head, and with regard to the salaries of civil officers on which you ask my instruc- tions, I cannot too early caution you against entertaining any expectation of the expenses of the colony under your charge being met at the outset by a considerable Parliamentary grant. It is needless [156] to discuss the possible benefits or evils which such pecuniary assistance might produce, inasmuch as I am fully satisfied that Parliament would regard with great disfavour any proposal of a gift or loan to the extent you suggest, and upon such a principle as that on which you would recommend the appli- cation to Parliament being made. But I cannot avoid reminding you, that the results, even if the ob- ject could be attained, would, according to all past experience, be of a very questionable character. The lavish pecuniary expenditure of the Mother Country in founding new colonies has been generally found to discourage economy, by leading the minds of men to rely on foreign aid instead of their own exer- tions; to interfere with the healthy action by which a new community provides step by step for its own requirements; and to produce at last a general sense of discouragement and dissatisfaction. For a colony to thrive and develop itself with steadfast and healthful progress, it should from the first be as far as possible self-supporting. I can assure you that in bringing these general considerations under your notice, I by no means over- look the special circumstances of the case of British Columbia, nor do I at all under-estimate the difficul- ties, and the anxiety which they must occasion you. But X need not impress on one so accustomed as yourself to the details of public business and the conduct of financial enterprises, that even under more favourable prospects than those of a colony of which the resources along with the necessities are rap- idly augmenting, there is room for exercising the control of a judicious economy, and for adapting your objects to such means of attaining them as you may possess. Nor must you forget that we have con- tributed from this country the aid which you state to be the most immediately and imperatively re- quired. You will not only have a naval and military force adequate, I trust, to secure respect to order and law, but the military part of that force will at once assist in the construction of roads and bridges, the want of which is so sensibly felt. I look to the Royal Engineers under Colonel Moody, and the able officers at his command, for the opening of the readiest and speediest means of access and communica- tion. In selecting from Her Majesty’s forces those commonly known by the name of Sappers and Miners, I bore in mind the necessities of a wild country without barrack accommodation, these being the soldiers who could, with the most ease and rapidity, cover themselves; and I thus enabled you to postpone costly buildings for the accommodation of troops, until you could raise from Colonial re- sources the means by which such improved accommodation might be provided. The military pay of this force the Home Government may for the present contribute; but with regard to the pay and expenses which belong purely to Colonial services, I shall expect that the proceeds from land sales, which are the appropriate fund for all collateral costs of survey, will suffice to provide for these objects, and I should regard any advance upon that score as a temporary accommodation to be defrayed from the earliest sales. No doubt it might be more agreeable to the pride of the first founders of a colony which prom- ises to become so important, if we could at once throw up public buildings, and institute establishments on a scale adapted to the prospective grandeur of the infant settlement. But after all, it is on the character of the inhabitants that we must rest our hopes for the land we redeem from the wilderness; and it is by self-exertion, and the noble spirit of self-sacrifice which self-exertion engenders, that com- munities advance through rough beginnings to permanent greatness. Therefore it is not merely for the sake of sparing the Mother Country that I invite your cordial and intelligent co-operation in stimulat- ing the pride of the colonists to submit to some necessary privations in the first instance, and to con- tribute liberally and voluntarily from their own earnings (which appear to be so considerable) rather than to lean upon the British Parliament for grants, or for loans, which are rarely repaid without dis- content and can never be cancelled without some loss of probity and honour. It is my hope that when the time arrives for representative institutions, the Colony may be committed to that grand experiment unembarrassed by a shilling of debt, and the colonists have proved their fitness for self-government by the spirit of independence which shrinks from extraneous aid, and schools a community to endure the sacrifices by which it guards its own safety and provides for its own wants. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton concluded by saying that he could cheer- fully leave the matter of thrift in colonial expenditures to “the discretion of a Governor who had shown himself so provident and sagacious” — a sen- tence evidently designed to soothe the feelings of His Excellency after a polite but firm rebuff. A tolerably fair idea of what the miners had to contend with in their search for the precious metal, may be gleaned from a description of the route to the Upper Fraser, particularly that portion of it lying between Fort Hope and Fort Yale, given by a contemporary authority. The writer re- lates : There is but little mining on the river until about four miles above Fort Hope, where bars begin to form, diverting the channel of the stream and affording a field for mining operations. There are probably two thousand men engaged in mining on the river between Forts Hope and Yale (July 28th, 1858), on Gassy Bar, Emory’s Bar, Hill’s Bar, Texas Bar and other places. T. H. Moreland, a Cali- fornian miner, said he had bene working six weeks and averaged $50.00 a day, and had never taken out less than an ounce ($16.00) in any one day, and some days as much as $90.00. Beyond doubt, very rich strikes have been made on Hill’s, Emory’s, and Texas claims. They can only be bought at very high prices. At all the bars we passed, preparations were being made for the coming winter, in the erection of substantial log houses. At Hill’s Bar I counted forty log houses already built, and several in the course of construction. In all the tents and houses that I examined — and I paid particular atten- tion to the subject — there were flour and provisions enough to last its occupants from one to four months. There is no scarcity of provisions, nor any starvation at any point on the river that I have vis- ited, which extends to New York Bar, two miles above Fort Yale. There may be some articles of luxury deficient, but I refer to the great staples — flour, bacon, pork, beans, tea, sugar, coffee, etc. The miners generally are in good spirit and sanguine of doing well when the river falls. To be sure, there were a few discontented men — persons unaccustomed to the rough life before them, and who set out with en- tirely erroneous ideas as to the country, and unprepared for the hardships and deprivations attendant upon living in a wild, barren territory, peopled withe rude savages. Such, no doubt, will soon return to their old homes, carrying tales of discouragement and dismay, but the old, experienced miner and hardy pioneer will stay, and, I honestly believe and fervently hope, do exceedingly well. The author’s graphic description of another part of his trip throws addi- tional light upon the rush of 1858. He continues: We arrived at Fort Yale in a little less than nine hours from Fort Hope. The Indians charged $6.50 for bringing us up — $4.00 to the owner of the canoes and $2.50 to the other. They were exceedingly [157] expert with their oars and well acquainted with the river, and gave us no trouble at all. I certainly never paid out any money which I thought more dearly earned. Fort Yale is situated on the west side of the river, on a bend, a mile below the ‘Lower Big Canyon.’ The bluff is some twenty feet above the water, and a heavy wooded ‘flat,’ or plain extends back for a mile or more up and down the river. High mountains raise their tall and broken peaks on all sides, shutting the town completely in. There are probably seven or eight hundred people here, nearly all of whom are miners, living in can- vas tents, and waiting for the river to fall. I saw no drunkenness or lawlessness of any kind. Everything was peaceable and quiet. A number of miners were at work on the river bank, with rockers, and most of them were making a living by washing the loose dirt and cobble stones. I slept at Mr. Johnson’s (of Ballou’s Express) tent that night, and breakfasted next morning with my old San Francisco friend, Henry M. Snyder, whom I found tenting a little way down the river. He gave me a good breakfast, consisting of fried salmon, bacon, hot bread and coffee, cooked by himself, and served in tin plates and cups — each man sitting down tailor fashion on the ground. I had a sharp appetite and did the fare full justice. There is but one public eating house in the town, the invariable diet is bacon, salmon, bread, tea and coffee, and the charge is $1.00 a meal. No milk or butter is ever seen. The eating-house is kept in a log house, partly covered with bark and with a dirt floor. Everything is done in the same room, which is not more than 12x14, and consequently exceedingly cramped for space, and as hot as an oven. The weather is warmer at Fort Yale during the daytime than I have found it at any place since I left Sacramento, California, but with cool mornings and evenings. On both sides of the river rise rocky mountains, almost perpendicular for hundreds of feet, so that, in some places, if a stone were dropped from their top, it would fall direct into the water without meet- ing any obstacle in its descent. In the centre of the river is a large island of solid rock, which almost chokes up the stream, leaving only about forty feet of space on each side for the water to pass through. The water being forced through these narrow channels by its immense weight and the momentum gained in its descent along its steep bed, pressed on with awful rapidity and power, roaring and seething like the ocean in a storm. Here all navigation ceases, not even the boldest and most reckless boatman daring to attempt its passage.” A little below the mouth of the canyon, on the opposite shore from Fort Yale, lay New York Bar, settled chiefly by New York and San Francisco boatmen — among whom was the notorious Martin Gallagher, not unknown to the Vigilance Committee; he having been one of the desperadoes transported by that organization. Some rich strikes were made on this bar in early days. A portage of about three hundred yards at this point enabled the miner to avoid the lower canyon, and then the river could be navigated nearly to Hell’s Gate, but not without danger, as there were several smaller canyons through which the water foamed tumultuously. It was said at one time that Messrs. Rouhaud & Son, French capitalists, sought the privilege of being allowed to run a ferry between the two big canyons. It was proposed that small stern-wheelers should be used in this perilous undertaking. As a mat- ter of fact, in after years — during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway— a small steamer succeeded in transporting supplies from one point to another on the river between Yale and Lytton. At first, it was thought that steamers could not ascend the river beyond Fort Langley, but it was soon found that such vessels could be taken as far as Fort Hope, and it was not long before an adventurous pilot succeeded in navigating his vessel even as far as Yale. One day, about half past twelve the residents of that little town were thrown into a state of excitement upon hearing the report of a cannon and the screeching of a steam whistle. The news soon spread that a stern-wheeled steamer was on her way up the river. Everybody made for tlie water front and canoes were sent down to ascertain the cause of the un- familiar sounds. “Soon we learned,” says an eye witness, “by the shoutings along the hanks of the river and the continuous discharge of guns and pistols, that the report was true; whereupon, there was the greatest rejoicing and pleasure manifested by every one, and powder was burnt amidst the wildest excitement.” In a few minutes the Umatilla — the pioneer steamboat on the Fraser River above Fort Hope — made her appearance, and it goes without saying that she was warmly welcomed. Before her plank touched the shore, a number of men clambered up her sides, eager to get aboard. Even the Indians — stoics as they were — partook of the enthusiasm and gazed in won- derment at the novel spectacle. The Umatilla made the passage from Fort [ 158 ] Hope to Fort Yale in five hours, one hour of which she was aground. To celebrate the arrival of the steamer in a fitting manner, a banquet was given on board, to which the principal residents of Yale were invited. After din- ner, “exactly at thirteen minutes past three o’clock,” she started on her return voyage. “We came down” so one of the passengers records, “like ‘a streak of chain lightning,’ with a very light head of steam, being precisely fifty-one minutes on the way.” Probably not more than one in five of all the miners on the river had purchased a license, in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the Government, and there was some complaint on the part of those who had complied with the law in this respect because the regulations were not en- forced on all alike. It seems that many canoes escaped the vigilance of the customs officers, whereas each passenger on a steamer was obliged to show his mining license, under penalty of being put ashore. In consequence, many men who might have taken passage on the steamers preferred to dodge the tax by resorting to other means of conveyance. The mining regulations were soon more strictly enforced, however, and even merchants were required to pay a tax of thirty shillings for the use of the land occupied by their premises, which fee had to be paid on demand to the officer appointed to collect it . A claim consisted of (1) twenty-five feet frontage, on rivers, to each person; or (2) twenty-five feet of the bed of a creek, or ravine; or (3) twenty feet square of table land or river flat. Failure on the part of the claimant to work the same within ten days of the date of his acceptance voided the claim; and persons found working on ground with- out a license were called upon to pay double the fee, and, in default, might be proceeded against in the courts. While these stirring events were taking place on the Fraser River, affairs were moving with equal rapidity in the town of Victoria. It was only natural that the merchants of that place should exhibit the deepest con- cern in the welfare of the mainland, seeing that the gold fields were the source of all their prosperity. The navigation laws, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s claim of exclusive trade, and the Governor’s authority in and over the new district were questions that gave rise to much anxious speculation on the part of the shopkeepers and jobbers of Vancouver Island. In order that these matters might be discussed, or at least some idea of the Government’s policy with regard thereto might be obtained, the Hon. John Work and the Hon. Roderick Finlayson, members of the Legislative Council, and Messrs. Skinner, Yates, Pemberton, McKay and Helmcken, members of the House of Assem- bly, waited upon His Excellency at Government House on the 10th of June, 1858. With regard to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s claim of exclusive trade, the Governor told the delegation that at the time the license was granted there were no white men in the territory, and that the Company did possess the exclusive right of trade and navigation. His Excellency went on to observe, with regard to his authority over the Fraser River region, that as representative of the Crown he had taken measures to preserve law and order, and to enforce the navigation laws of Great Britain. He had allowed all persons to proceed up the river, granting them licenses to mine; appointed custom house officers and justices of the peace; and he had requsitioned H. M. S. Satellite to assist in preventing any violation of the [159] customs and navigation laws. On the point as to his authority for the “suffrances” granted to vessels to navigate the Fraser River, the Governor stated that they were granted by virtue of the power vested in him by the Crown, as well as by the consent of the agents of the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany. Here Dr. Helmcken, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, sug- gested that the miners, having been allowed to go up the river, and the Gov- ernor of Vancouver Island having in a greater or less degree assumed con- trol of that stream, it would follow that these people had a right to be sup- plied with provisions, exclusive of the Company’s monopoly, and that, there- fore, British vessels, duly cleared at Victoria, had a right to proceed up the river for that purpose. It appeared to the Speaker that if the Hudson’s Bay Company had neither the means nor the inclination to supply the miners within short notice, starvation or a serious calamity might ensue. The Gov- ernor replied that the matter had given rise to serious deliberation. Per- mission had already been granted to two American steamers to carry pas- sengers and provisions, under certain restrictions. Necessity had compelled him to take this action, and had also forced him to act without legal authority, but not unjustly. Touching the future government of the mainland, His Excellency said he was not then in a position to make known the facts, as the matter was under consideration, but he anticipated that the regulations and stipulations would not interfere with the rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company; the House of Assembly should remember that what had been done was the conjoint act of the Governor as representing the Crown and the Hudson’s Bay Company. He concluded his remarks with the observation that he had been actuated by two motives: To do full justice to the Company and to promote, by every legitimate means, the welfare and prosperity of the Colony. Victoria had already been made a free port of entry, a wise provision, seeing that the miners were entirely dependent upon supplies imported from the outside, there being no stores of necessities in the wilderness of New Cale- donia outside of those at the fur-trading posts, and these were stocked only for the fur trade. It is scarcely to be expected that the Governor’s policy should escape criticism. As a matter of fact, discontent found expression from time to time, but it does not appear that the opposition to the Downing Street policy ever reached the state of a popular clamour. The Victoria British Colonist, edited by Amor de Cosmos, whose name is linked with the early history of British Columbia, bitterly attacked the colonial administration, even going so far on one occasion as to state that its policy was “repulsive to the people.” On the other hand, the Victoria Gazette, which consistently sup- ported His Excellency, did not hesitate to assert that “As regards Governor Douglas, during the extraordinary excitement which has existed here, his ad- ministration has been the theme of universal admiration, and so far as his acts being ‘repulsive to the people,’ he is, without exception, the most popu- lar man on the Island. He is admired for the ease and facility with which he causes the laws to be strictly, though quietly, enforced, not only for his affability and courtesy to strangers, but he is likewise esteemed as a gentle- man au fait in all emergencies and in every way qualified to represent and guard the important interests committed to his charge.” [ 160 ] After the first rush, the excitement gradually subsided in Victoria, but on the Fraser River itself events moved with astounding rapidity. Soon all of the bars lying between Hope and Lillooet were explored and all the richer ones worked systematically by means of the primitive rocker and cradle. By the beginning of October, the townsite of Lytton, named in honour of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Colonial Secretary and eminent author, was laid out, and before long nine hundred miners congregated at that point, where fifty houses were erected in the course of a few weeks. It is a matter for congratulation that the little town at the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser rivers commemorates one of the “fathers of British Columbia” — a man who once told his constituents that he deemed it the greatest privilege that he had been called upon to preside over the Colonial Office when this magnificent Colony was added to the Empire. British Columbia has every reason to be proud of its association with the author of “The Last Days of Pompeii” who so wisely administered the Colony in its infancy. But to re- turn to the Fraser River. Adventurous spirits pushed on beyond Lytton, even through the rugged gorges that here and there give an awful and for- bidding appearance to the river, while others reached Lillooet by way of the Harrison trail. Still the advance guard of the army of miners, in the face of tremendous difficulties, continued its forward march, prospecting each bar, and working each sandbank which promised a good yield, and leaving the poorer ones for the industrious Chinamen who followed in the wake of the gold rush. Here and there small parties remained to mine, so the popula- tion became scattered up and down the river. At the beginning of Novem- ber (1858) Governor Douglas estimated the population of the different reaches as follows: From Cornish Bar to Fort Yale 4,000 Fort Yale 1,300 Fort Hope 500 From Fort Yale to Lytton 300 Lytton 900 From Lytton to the Fountain 3,000 Port Douglas and Harrison River 600 Total 10,600 As the autumn waned and winter approached, many of the miners left the country owing to the scarcity and high price of provisions, flour being sold at Lytton for four shillings and two pence per pound, and other arti- cles, when available, were equally high. The cost of transporting merchan- dise through the canyons of the Fraser and over the rugged hills that border- ed its course offered an almost insuperable obstacle to the development of the country. Writing from Victoria on November 30th, 1858, the Governor stated: “The exodus from Fraser’s River continues at about the rate of 100 persons a week. The reasons assigned by those persons for leaving the country are various, some having families to visit and business to settle in California, others dreading the supposed severity of the climate, others alleg- ing the scarcity and high price of provisions, none of them assigning as a reason for their departure the want of gold.” In none of the Governor’s des- [ 161 ] patches relating to the Fraser River excitement does it appear that the exodus of miners, which caused the Victoria merchants so much alarm, was the result of the playing out of the gold fields. Alfred Waddington, however, vigor- ously asserted that the miners forsook the country because, as the water of the river receded, the bars instead of yielding greater riches produced little or nothing. Hence — according to Waddington — the exodus. Be this as it may, a great number of the miners left the country, but still many remained, and in spite of the inclemency of the weather, moved onward up the river with goods and provisions to be ready to take the field early in the spring. That the exodus in the autumn of 1858 was of considerable dimensions is evi- denced by the fact that the American steamer Pacific left Esquimalt on De- cember 4th with four hundred passengers — principally returning miners — for San Francisco. That the development of the Fraser mines in the great year of 1858 was substantial, and that this development augured well for the future, is shown by the returns from the gold field. Governor Douglas took some trouble to ascertain the amount of gold produced in British Columbia, estimating the production from June to November at $106,305. It is likely though that the actual production far exceeded that quantity as the customs returns showed that goods to the amount of the large sum of <£231,376 sterling had been im- ported into Vancouver Island during the quarter ended the 30th day of Sep- tember, nearly all of this merchandise being absorbed in supplying the de- mand on the mainland and paid for in gold dust by the miners. The San Francisco Herald, of November 20th, 1858, in order to arrive at a fair es- timate of the gold production of the Fraser River, procured returns from a few of the principal firms in San Francisco, touching the amount of dust re- ceived from the Fraser River by them. H. Van Valkenberg estimated the amount received by his firm at $65,000; Kellogg and Humbert received $200,000; Bull & Banks, $100,000; and the United States Mint $146,000, a total of $511,000. The Herald observed that this was a fair estimate because in the first place the mines had been worked for a period of nine months; secondly, from one to thirty thousand of California’s most energetic miners had been more or less actively engaged in gold digging; thirdly, a great num- ber of Indians had also occupied themselves in mining; fourthly, a great many people from Oregon and Washington territories, likewise assisted in the development of the mines; and, fifthly, the gold obtained by Americans — whether from California, Oregon, or Washington territories — as well as that obtained by Canadian diggers, British diggers, and the Indians, eventually found its way to California to be exchanged for coin. It was argued, there- fore, that nearly all the gold dug in British Columbia had been brought to California; that the gross amount did not much exceed half a million dol- lars; that for the space of six months out of the nine that the Fraser mines had been worked at least ten thousand miners were engaged in the opera- tions; that during the other three months not less than two thousand were so employed. After a careful analysis of these figures the Herald concluded that, even excluding the men who had worked for a short time only, the average earnings did not amount to more than $50 a man. The expenses were reckoned at $350.00 per miner, including passage money, which led to the conclusion that the average loss was $300. “It would be difficult,’’ the [ 162 ] Herald remarked, “to find a more discouraging business than mining on the Fraser River has thus far proved to the number engaged in it.” The expe- rience of all mining camps is the same, wherever they may be situated. The total amount expended in discovering and working mines, be they quartz or placer, generally far exceeds the amount taken out. Reckoned on this basis none of the great gold-producing centres have been entirely suc- cessful in their operations. Taking all things into consideration, much was accomplished in that memorable year 1858. No colony, perhaps, ever came into being in such pe- culiar circumstances as the Colony of British Columbia, for it is indeed ex- traordinary that a government should have been established in the wilder- ness so suddenly and so firmly. In 1857 there was no thought of British Co- lumbia; British Columbia was a fact in 1858. In 1857 that territory was still an appanage of the Hudson’s Bay Company; in 1858 the grant of May 30th, 1838, was revoked and the rule of the fur trader ceased at once and forever. In 1857, besides the Hudson’s Bay Company’s employees, there were no white men resident on the mainland; in 1858 no less than thirty thousand men entered the territory, of whom, in spite of the exodus at the end of the year, several thousands remained to become permanent residents of the country. With the advent of winter, mining operations practically ceased, except in a few favourable spots. At Hope, at Yale, at Boston Bar, at Lytton and at Lillooet, the miners, such of them as remained, went into winter quarters until spring should return. In spite of the strange mixture of nationalities, the lack of government control, and the desperate character of some of the aliens from California, law and order prevailed. “With the small police, which has been hitherto maintained in British Columbia, we have succeeded through the blessing of God, and with the aid of the well-disposed inhabi- tants, in bringing all offenders to justice, and in maintaining a remarkable degree of quiet and good order.” [ 163 ] W BWHSB - m# | : j P if THE DISCOVERY OF CARIBOO. CHAPTER XVI. It must not be imagined that even in the year 1858 the miners confined their attention to the more accessible placers of the lower Fraser. While the great majority of the gold-seekers worked on the bars between Hope and Vale, small parties of daring men kept moving onward, following the wild course of the river to and beyond the Fountain. These men were imbued with the idea common among the Pacific Coast miners of that day that the fine gold of the lower bars must have been carried thither from some great lode far off in the mountains which fed the distant upper reaches of the stream. Like all miners they sought with heroic devotion that ignis fatuus, the Mother Lode, whence came the glittering dust and nuggets, the finding of which was the goal of their ambition. History does not record the toll exacted from the impetuous gold-seekers in the canyons and rapids of that mighty river, nor do headstones mark the last resting places of those who succumbed by the way in the lonely mountain valleys and gulches of the northern interior. That this toll was high and those unmarked graves many, there is every reason to be- lieve. Yet nothing could affright these men or turn them from their course. No sooner had the spring cleared the snow from the hills and melted the ice in the river than the adventurers were again on the wing. Little companies had wintered here and there along the river at and beyond Lyt- ton and in the neighborhood of Lillooet. Continuing their journey they pushed on through the canyons, so aptly described by Simon Fraser but fifty years earlier, and at last reached, after incredible hardships and dangers, the vicinity of Soda Creek; from Soda Creek they made their way to Alexandria; thence to Quesnel. At this point the miners left the main river and entered the Quesnel, which was to lead them to the hidden treasure of Cariboo. In Rose’s Gulch their efforts were rewarded by the finding of coarse gold in paying quantities. It was believed then that in this region the fabulous Mother Lode lay hidden. In the years 1860, 1861 and 1862 the scene of operations is transferred from the lower Fraser to historic Cariboo, the name given in general terms to the region situated between the head waters of the Fraser and the upper reaches of the Thompson River, roughly speaking in latitude 52° to 54°, at an altitude of 3,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea. Here in the heart of the New Caledonia of the fur trader lay the treasure, the discovery of which was destined to have such a marked influence upon the subsequent history of British Columbia. From the day when the old brigade route between Kamloops and Fort St. James had been first es- tablished, the fur trader in going to and fro from Fort George to Fort Al- exandria, year in and year out, had looked upon the Bald Mountains of Cari- boo, little dreaming that their bold escarpments guarded treasure such as would make his profits, considerable as they were, pale into insignificance. On August 23rd, 1859, the Governor reported that the newly explored tract of mining country about Alexandria and Quesnel River was said to [ 165 ] possess more of the general features of a gold country than any known part of British Columbia. From this time one discovery succeeded another, un- til all the auriferous deposits were laid bare. By October, His Excellency was able to state for the information of the Colonial Secretary that about one thousand miners were pursuing their avocation between Alexandria and Fort George and on the Quesnel River, for which it will be gathered that immi- gration had not entirely ceased because of the comparative failure of the lower Fraser mines. At the same time more than eight hundred men were scattered from Yale to Lillooet. The Governor anticipated that the miners would be compelled to abandon their operations in winter, on account of the severity of the weather, and such proved to be the case for there were as yet but few supplies in the country, the nearest stores being those at Fort Alexandria, the property of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Hudson’s Bay Company, however, had not expected such an influx of miners and it was in consequence unable to supply the demand. Provisions were scarce for a time, but the situation was relieved by the arrival of overland parties with cattle and goods. Then the Company, with commendable despatch, pro- cured supplies in order to meet the extraordinary demand. Even as the pio- neers of old Oregon were dependent upon the Hudson’s Bay Company for sustenance, so the pioneers of British Columbia looked to the same source for the necessaries of life. In both case the great monopoly saved the situation. The year 1859 was remarkable for the many expeditions despatched in different directions by the Governor with the object of obtaining reliable information respecting the country. Lieutenant Richard C. Mayne, R. N., explored the territory bordering on the Thompson, Fraser, and Harrison rivers; Lieutenant H. Spencer Palmer, R. E., made an extended reconnai- sance of the Harrison and Lillooet route, from the junction of the Fraser and Harrison rivers to the junction of the Fraser and Cayuse rivers; Mr. Justice Matthew Baillie Begbie visited the interior of the Colony, finding “on all sides a submission to authority, a recognition of the right, which, looking to the mixed nature of the population, and the very large predomi- nance of the California element, I confess I had not expected to meet;” Mr. William Downie, a Californian pioneer, explored Jervis Inlet, Desolation Sound, and the Queen Charlotte Islands, and thence, crossing to the main- land, proceeded to Fort St. James on Stuart Lake. But none of these ex- plorations were so successful as the sporadic forays of the miners in Cariboo, so named from its being one of the favourite haunts of the deer called Cari- boeuf by the Canadian voyageur. The original name seems to have been Cerf-boeuf, meaning “deer-ox,” because of the size of the animal. Only a part of Cariboo, however, was discovered in 1859; no striking developments appear to have been made in that quarter until the follow- ing summer and fall. Then a number of miners, led by the intrepid Rose and McDonald, made the headwaters of the Bear River and there found rich ground; others followed the north fork of the Quesnel to Cunningham Creek to find diggings almost equally important. Keithley, Snowshoe, Harvey, Grouse, and Cunningham creeks — draining the eastern slopes of the Bald Mountains — all became famous in their day, but they were not worked until the autumn of 1860 because there was little indication on the surface of the treasure beneath. Keithley Creek was the first of the rich streams discovered [166] in Cariboo. Mining was so successful here that as early as 1860 several stores were erected upon its banks and near its mouth the little town of Keithley came into existence. For some time Keithley was the base for the entire region of the north branch of the Quesnel. In June, 1861, the place consisted of three grocery shops, a bakery, restaurant, butcher shop, black- smith shop, and several taverns kept in tents and log houses. Beef cattle for the surrounding district were driven to that point from Oregon, the drov- ers establishing a lucrative business, for the miners were ready to pay virgin gold for fresh meat. After Keithley Creek, came Antler Creek, of which the correspondent of the London Times wrote that the bed-rock was paved with gold. Nuggets could be picked out of the soil by hand and in some instances the rocker yielded fifty ounces in a few hours. The discovery was made so late in the year, however, that on the morning following a foot of snow covered the ground and little was done until the following spring. The fortunate discov- erers, it has been said, tried to keep the news to themselves, but the secret could not be kept. Rumours of the rich strike were bruited abroad and in midwinter, over the dangerous trail of the Snowshoe Mountain, came all the daring spirits of the neighbourhood to stake claims on Antler Creek. The story of that wild escapade of the winter of ’59 to ’60 is still told whenever the survivors of the Cariboo pioneers foregather. The diggings were discov- ered by Rose and McDonald late in the autumn of 1860, and then only a single log cabin stood by the Creek; but by June several houses and a saw mill had been built and by midsummer mining was at its height. The find was considered so important that it formed the subject of a leader in the Lon- don Times of February 7th, 1861, and the statements of Donald Fraser, that newspaper’s special correspondent in Victoria, were accepted as trust- worthy. Fraser mentioned that one fortunate miner had obtained three and a half pounds of gold a day, and many other claims were said to yield as much. Small claims gave from one hundred to one hundred and thirty ounces a day. In three weeks a company of three men washed $83,300; another company $37,500. Five men in the same period obtained $26,000, and six men $28,000. Under the date of June 4th, 1861, the Governor stated for the informa- tion of His Grace the Duke of Newcastle that he was daily receiving the most extraordinary accounts of the almost fabulous wealth of the Antler Creek and other diggings in Cariboo. “Mr. Palmer, a respectable merchant,” said the Governor, “who arrived the other day from that part of the country with nearly fifty pounds weight of gold, which he kindly allowed me to ex- amine, assured me that these accounts are by no means exaggerated.” Four of his friends, Palmer told the Governor, were making regularly from four ounces to nine and a quarter ounces a day each. Another company of four men had washed out thirty-six ounces of gold in one day; while the yield of ordinary mining claims was from $20 to $50 a day for each man em- ployed. As in the case of the discoveries on the Fraser River, in 1858, the Governor waxed enthusiastic over Cariboo. Never did he fail to impress upon the Imperial authorities the importance of the new district. Over and over again he refers in glowing terms to the reports from it: “The most ex- traordinary accounts of the wealth of that gold field are received by every [ 167 ] succeeding steamer from British Columbia; and those accounts are con- firmed by letters from the merchants and traders of the district, and by for- tunate adventurers who have realized, by a few weeks labor, their thousands of dollars.” He remarked on another occasion, “the accounts from Cariboo are more than ever satisfactory; and the number of returning miners with their rapidly acquired stores of gold and the extraordinary fact, unusual, I believe, in gold countries, that they have all been eminently successful, offer the strongest confirmation of the almost fabulous wealth of that gold field.” He continued, “I have not, indeed, up to the present time, met with a single un- fortunate miner, from that quarter.” This was in October, 1861, when there seemed no end to the gold-bearing creeks of Cariboo. Grouse Creek also attained some notoriety, but it was not until a few years later that the Heron claim yielded such immense returns — $300,000, so it is estimated, being the return to the fortunate owners of that small patch of earth. And so it was with nearly all the streams flowing into the north and south forks of the Quesnel River — most of them yielding rich returns to the fortunate prospectors who discovered them. But the fame of Cariboo does not rest upon the discoveries in this particular locality. Although the diggings were rich and might well have given Cariboo an enduring fame in the history of the world’s mining ventures, it was not until the miner crossed the height of land dividing the watershed of the streams which flow into Quesnel River from the watershed of the streams which flow into the Willow River and the Cottonwod. The crossing of Snowshoe Mountain led to the discovery of Willow River and its rich tributaries, particularly that of Williams Creek, the most famous of all the Cariboo placers. The history of Williams Creek is almost unique in the mining annals of the AVest. Rich deposits were first discovered near the surface in the bed of the stream above the gorge known as the Canyon, a short distance below which the original bed of the stream is lost in a swampy flat, supposed to be the bed of an ancient lake. It was on this creek that the problem of working the deep ground by means of shafts and pumps was for the first time systematically attempted and profitably solved. The creek received its name from AVilliam Dietz, a German, who was among the first to reach the head waters of "Wil- low River in 1861. At first, it was called Humbug Creek, on account of its supposed worthless character, but that appellation was soon discarded when its great riches were revealed to the astonished gaze of the prospector. Men scoured the country in all directions and soon Lowhee and Lightning creeks were discovered to be as rich as the creeks emptying into the north fork of the Quesnel River. Naturally, the astonishing discoveries in the summer and autumn of 1861 gave an immense impetus to prospecting in Cariboo. Di- rectly the news reached the scattered camps on the Quesnel River, and as it percolated from bar to bar on the Fraser River, a rush set in for AA r illiams Creek, and soon the whole of its bed was staked from one end to the other. The shallow ground yielded immense returns, for the gold, so it is reliably re- corded, lay thickly studded in the layer of blue clay which covered the bed rock. Some extraordinarily lucky finds were made and many miners made fortunes in a few months. The Steele claim was reported to have yielded in two days 387 and 409 ounces, respectively, and in two months no less than $105,000. Towards the end of the season all previous discoveries were ex- [ 168 ] ceeded by the returns in the rich ground lying fifty or sixty feet under the flat below the little gully dignified by the name of “the Canyon.” The Barker Company sank the first paying shaft in the new deposit and to commemorate this event the townsite was named Barkerville. “Supported by the under- ground mining,” writes Bancroft, “the town grew rapidly in population and maintained for years the principal town in Cariboo.” The Diller Company were among the first to sink a shaft into the deep ground, its efforts being rewarded literally with buckets of gold. In one shift of ten hours, this cele- brated claim yielded over one hundred pounds of gold, the largest yield re- corded for one day in Cariboo. Claims were located all over the flat and by means of systematic drifting and tunnelling the old channel of Williams Creek was found and traced for a considerable distance. All of this ground was particularly rich, not a few of the claims yielding one hundred ounces or more, daily. The Cunningham turned out six hundred ounces a day on sev- eral occasions; the Caledonia yielded at one time, from $ 5,000 to $ 6,000 a day; and the Cameron and Tinker were also phenomenally rich. The claim of William Dietz, the discoverer, proved to be one of the poorest on the creek — such is the irony of fate. “Cariboo” Cameron is said to have made $ 150,000 in nine months; at any rate Milton and Cheadle, the explorers, state that the Cameron claim yielded from forty to one hundred and twelve ounces daily and that in the Raby, also belonging to Cameron, one day’s washing produced three hundred and ten ounces. The Wake Up Jake Com- pany in prospecting its ground washed fifty-two ounces from a single pan full of dirt, yet this claim was sold for $100 in 1867 . The Ericcson turned out in seven weeks 10,042 ounces, valued at $ 160 , 672 , or 1,400 ounces a week. The Adams claim yielded, so far as known, $ 50,000 from one hundred feet; the Steele, $ 120,000 from eight feet; the Diller, $ 240,000 from fifty feet; the Cunningham, $ 270,000 from five hundred feet; the Burns, $ 140,000 from eighty feet; the Canadian, $ 180,000 from one hundred and twenty feet; the Never Sweat, $ 100,000 from one hundred and twenty feet; the Moffatt, $ 90,000 from fifty feet; the Tinker, $ 120,000 from one hundred and forty feet; the Wattie, $ 130,000 from one hundred feet. Besides these claims there were the Barker, Bald Head, Grier, Griffin, Wilson, Beauregard, Raby, Cam- eron, Prince of Wales, and ever so many others whose fame spread through- out the world. The average total yield of the claims on Williams’ Creek could scarcely be less than 200,000 ounces. It is recorded that the aggregate product of this famous camp amounted in seven years to $ 25 , 000.00 The creek itself is only a streamlet, a few miles in length. It has been stated with authority that it yielded more gold than any other stream of its size in the world. This may or may not be true, yet without doubt it may be counted one of the most wonderful of all the treasure houses of Nature. Some parts of the bed of the old channel were literally paved with gold. At one place on Stout’s Gulch, a small tributary of Williams Creek, the gold could be seen through the water as it lay upon the bed rock. An idea of the individual profits and losses in the years 1862 to 1867 may be obtained from the statistics compiled by Harnett, who took some pains to arrive at the truth. Harnett’s figures are not official, but it is likely enough that they are as accurate as any which have been published. It should be borne in mind that there is always a tendency amongst miners to [ 169 ] exaggerate their gains and the importance of their discoveries. The author- ity referred to, in the course of one of his addresses on the subject of gold production, states that the Cunningham claim, on Williams Creek, was staked in 1861 , with four interests, cost $ 100,000 to work, and yielded, up to 1865 , $ 500 , 000 ; the Tyack, staked in 1861 , had four interests and paid from $ 16.00 to $ 20.00 a day; the California, staked in 1861 , cost $ 150,000 to work and yielded, up to 1865 , $ 500 , 000 ; the Black Jack, taken up in 1862 , with six interests, cost $ 50,000 to develop, and yielded in two years $ 200 , 000 ; the Ton- tine, recorded in 1864 , with four interests, cost up to 1865 $ 100 , 000 , and yielded $ 500,000 ; and the Dietz paid good wages steadily. All of these claims were above the canyon on Williams Creek. The famous mines below the canyon were the Diller, close to Barkerville, the Wattie, the Cameron, the Tinker, the Baby, and a number of others, well known in their day. The Cariboo Sentinel of May 28 , 1866 , gives a complete list of the companies then working upon Williams’ Creek, the number of shares and other particu- lars, with names of claims and foremen. Of the miners mentioned, but few have survived, while even the names of the claims have been locked in mem- ory these many years. Several towns sprang up on Williams Creek. Richfield, a short distance above the canyon, and so named in honour of the new diggings, became the seat of government and there the court house, the jail, and other public offices were erected — these small log cabins, with their chinks filled with mud and moss, being the first public buildings of the northern interior of British Columbia. Then came Barkerville, just below the canyon, and close by stood Cameronton, named after John A. Cameron, while several miles below lay the little outpost of Marysville, now scarcely more than a name. These and other towns sprang up on Williams Creek and on the other streams of Cari- boo, but Barkerville soon eclipsed them all, becoming for a few years the famous metropolis of the district. Here men gathered from the four quar- ters of the globe — the languages of all countries might be heard upon its long main street — the headboards of its cemetery bearing mute testimony to the cosmopolitan character of the population. Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irish- men, Welshmen, Canadians, Americans, Russians, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Greeks, Frenchmen, Italians, Germans, Australians and Negroes jostled each other on the street in life and in death lay side by side in the ceme- tery. The Chinamen, who came later to wash the tailings on their own ac- count, or to work in the mines for wages, had a burial ground of their own, hard by Richfield. The first white woman to winter on Williams Creek died at Richfield in 1862 , in a little log cabin the site of which is still pointed out to the visitor. She was the wife of John A. Cameron, known in the annals of the district as “Cariboo” Cameron, the founder of Cameronton, and the owner in whole or in part of the Cameron and Wattie claims, from which he reaped a golden harvest, leaving Barkerville in 1863 with eight horses laden with the precious metal. It reads like a romance of Aladdin and his won- derful lamp, nevertheless it is all true. There is a sequel to the story of “Cariboo” Cameron, of whose exploits and good fortune the pioneers still love to speak. Cameron returned to Ontario, whence he came, generously assisting his poor relations and scattering largess among his friends. He in- [ 170 ] vested his gold in ventures that proved unprofitable and in the course of time found himself in straitened circumstances. Once again, after many years, his thoughts turned to Williams Creek and its golden treasure. Hoping, so runs the story, to make another fortune, in 1888 he returned to Barker- ville. But the generous Cariboo of his younger days was no more. In twenty years conditions had changed. Like Rip Van Winkle, he scarcely recognized the place he had known so well. The old life and the old faces had departed, and the gold too had gone. The land was no longer a Crown colony, but a province of the Dominion of Canada. A month or two after his return, he died and was laid at rest in the little, neglected cemetery, which stands on the hillside overlooking the site of his famous claims, the Cameron and the Wattie, at Cameronton — long since buried deep beneath the tailings of Williams Creek. Such is one of the many tragic episodes of old Cariboo. The little band of pioneers, who had found their way to Cariboo, pushed on into the very heart of the country, exploring each gulch and stream with relentless energy. Crossing to the western slopes of the Bald Mountains the gold-seeker discovered one rich creek after another. In the fitful fever of those exciting days rush succeeded rush, from place to place, as rumour dictated. Thus Lightning Creek and Swift River, branches of the Cotton- wood River, and the most important camps on Van Winkle and Lowhee creeks, had a history parallel to that of Antler and Williams creeks. The valley of Lightning Creek was explored in 1861 by three miners, Cunning- ham, Hume and Bell, who first discovered Jack of Clubs Creek and thence struck southward through the virgin forests of that rugged region. After a rough and hazardous trip, they fell back upon Antler Creek, without finding the diggings which but a few weeks later “placed Lightning Creek among the famous localities of Cariboo.” A great rush followed the discovery of rich ground above the Second Canyon on Van Winkle Creek by a miner named Campbell in July, 1861. Campbell and his companions took out 1,700 ounces in three days and on one day alone $1,100. The claims on this part of Van Winkle yielded from $100 to $250 a day to the man throughout that season. The diggings on Last Chance Creek, another tributary of Lightning Creek, were also opened in 1861. Four men took out of the Discovery Claim forty pounds of gold in one day and the yield from half a mile of the creek amounted in one season to $250,000 or thereabouts. The Chisholm, Davis and Anderson creeks next attracted attention and their beds yielded a quantity of gold. So discoveries continued to be made, but after 1861 they were of local rather than geograph- ical importance and pertained chiefly to mining developments in localities henceforth having a history of their own. Hubert Howe Bancroft in an excellent summary of the situation says that the three principal mining camps in 1862 were Williams, Lightning and Lowhee creeks, employing a total number of 5,000 miners. At the same time, the American consul at Victoria estimated the mining population of the whole Colony at 15,000, three-fourths of the people being from California, Oregon and Washing- ton. Naturally, the discoveries led to important local developments in all directions. Up to 1864 the list of richer creeks developed by sinking shafts into the deep channels embraced Keithly, Goose, Cunningham, Lightning, [171] Jack of Clubs, Grouse, Chisholm, Sovereign, Last Chance, Anderson, Foun- tain, Harvey, Nelson, Stevens, Snowshoe, Thistle, Sugar, Willow, McCal- lum, Tababoo, Conklin, Lowhee, and Williams. A series pf letters written in the autumn and winter of 1861-2, by Donald Fraser, correspondent of the London Times, pictured the discoveries and excitements in Cariboo in some- what roseate colours. Fraser’s accounts were truthful enough, but he omitted the darker side of the picture. Later on, he was blamed for having spoken prematurely of the highways and stage coaches which as yet had no existence except in the imagination of the writer. Bancroft, continuing, says that, in all, several thousand British subjects from England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were induced by these letters to undertake the journey to British Columbia in the spring of 1862. Macfie, author of a work on Vancouver Island and British Columbia, vouched for the substantial correctness of the statements made b} r Donald Fraser. Wild cat transportation schemes were launched and many British immigrants were duped thereby, for some of them brought placards of a speculative company which had been circulated in England, where tickets were sold for Cariboo direct, picturing the stage coaches that were to carry them from Yale. The unfortunate holders of these tickets soon learned to their sorrow that no arrangements had been made to give effect to the promise. So far, there was no broad path leading to Cariboo, besides, there were comparatively few houses on the way, so that provisions for one to three days had always to be carried. It was in 1862 that the overland party from Canada arrived by way of the Yellowhead Pass and Tete Jaune Cache, reaching the gold fields too late in the season to stake claims. The party divided on the upper waters of the Fraser, one company journeying southward by the Thompson River and the other by the Fraser River. After innumerable hardships and great suffering, the former reached Kamloops, and the latter arrived at Quesnel. The overland party included many men who afterwards achieved distinction in their adopted country. Mr. Tunstall, Mr. John Bowron, Mr. Fortune, of Similkameen, Mr. J. A. Mara, later Speaker of the Provincial Parliament, and Mr. Robert McMicking and his brother who led the expedition, and many others, took part in this long trek across the continent. Of that band of heroic ad- venturers, only Mr. Mara, Mr. Fortune, Mr. McMicking, and one or two others have survived. Some months elapsed, said a writer in the Overland Monthly in an article reciting his experiences in British Columbia in early days, before any authen- tic news from Cariboo reached Victoria. At last reports filtered through to the coast that great quantities of gold were being obtained from the bed of a small stream near the summit of the mountains, no names being then at- tached to the localities. The daily yield was said to be first twenty ounces, then fifty ounces, one hundred ounces, three hundred ounces, and at last four hundred ounces a day to four or five men. The rumours by the time they reached the coast had assumed such dimensions that it was said that many of the companies had so much gold that they were obliged to hire men to guard it by day and by night. The merchants of Victoria, remembering the fiasco of 1858, at first refused to believe the report. Finally ragged miners reached the sea coast, “staggering under the weight of their summer’s accumulations.” Mules were loaded with gold and men were paid $20 and [ 172 ] $50 a day to bring along the treasure which the owners of it had not strength to carry alone. Then ensued such excitement as had scarcely been surpassed in the palmy days of 1858. Gloomy forebodings gave place to an abiding faith in the riches of British Columbia. Once again the tide of immigration turned to Victoria and the capital of Vancouver Island grew and prospered. The vast wealth of Cariboo was the common talk of the town. As a natural corollary a great stampede took place and the human tide gathered volume and strength until the year 1864, by which time all the ground had been staked. The Governor was constantly advised of the progress of events in the northern interior and his despatches of 1860, 1861 and 1862 are full of ref- erences to the new district. In 1861 His Excellency visited the gold mines, journeying by way of Kamloops and Okanagan Lake to Rock Creek, where important developments had taken place, returning by way of the trail then being built by Messrs. Edgar Dewdney and Walter Moberly. Upon his return he sent the following extracts from his travelling note book to the Duke of Newcastle, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies, which are quoted here because they reflect the extraordinary excitement which prevailed when the news reached the Coast: Laurent Bijou, a native of France, left Cariboo on the 1st day of August. He resided about one month at the mines, and has acquired $4,500 worth of gold dust — says he has not been so fortunate as many others, who are making as much as $1,000 a day. He has mined in California, but never saw a gold field so rich as Cariboo. Joseph Patterson and brother, natives of Maine, United States of America, have been mining on Keithley’s Creek, and left it about the 10th of September. They have cleared the sum of $6,000 be- tween them, or $3,000 each, in gold dust, which they carry about with them on their persons. They report that as a general thing the miners are making from two to three ounces a day. They are well acquainted with Jourdan and Abbott’s claim, and have often seen them weighing out, at the close of their day’s work; the yield on one occasion was within a few grains of 195 ounces, the number of working hands being at that time four in all. That was their largest day’s return; but eighty, ninety and one hundred ounces a day were ordinary returns. Richard Willoughby, a native of England, discovered a mining claim on Lowhee Creek and began to work it on the 27th of July last; he continued mining with four to seven hired men till the 8th of September, when he sold the claim to another person, and returned safely to Yale, where he now resides, with the sum of $12,000 in gold dust. His largest day’s return was eighty-four ounces, and the entire amount of gold taken, during his tenure, from the claim, amounted to 3,037 ounces, val- ued at $48,600, and his own share to the sum of '$12,000. His last week’s work netted $2,032, and for two weeks previously he cleared $1,000 a week for each working hand on the claim; and what is extraordinary is the fact that all this wealth was found immediately at or within four feet of the surface, the extreme of Mr. Willoughby’s sinkings. At that depth he encountered the bed rock, composed of soft blue slate yielding readily to the pick. He also mentions the discovery of a highly auriferous quartz reef; and he gave me a specimen of galena, containing, as per assay, 67 per cent, of lead, and thirty-seven ounces of silver to the ton. He also mentioned several rich veins of silver ore which he saw at Cariboo; but the inferior metals attract scarcely any attention in countries where gold is easily acquired. Mr. Hodge, an American, settled near Yale, held a mining claim on Lowhee Creek for about six weeks, and lately returned to Yale with a sum exceeding $2,100. His reports corroborate and con firm in all respects the statements of Richard Willoughby. Thomas Brown, an American citizen, claims the honour of having discovered and taken up the first mining claim on Williams Creek, just one claim below the Jourdan and Abbott claim. Mr. Brown has been fortunate, and has a heavy pouch of gold, but I did not ascertain its money value. He says that “Ned Campbell,” a friend of him, with a company of ten other miners, selected and recorded a claim on a newly discovered stream, called Lightning Creek, a tributary of the Swift River, which yielded about two ounces of gold to the pan-full of earth; and that a report had reached Quesnel previous to his departure, that the company, almost as soon as they began to work, had realized 1,100 ounces in one day; and he places the greatest confidence in that report. Mr. Brown’s state- ment on all other points respecting Cariboo corroborates the statements of Mr. Willoughby. The Governor continues: I am permitted to use the following letter from Major Downie, an old and successful Californian miner, several of whose reports on mining subjects I have had the honour of forwarding to your Grace. It is addressed to Macdonald, Esquire, banker and assayer, Victoria, and is dated Antler Creek, September 25th, 1861. “I have just been talking to H. N. Steele; he says he will do all he can for you with his boys; they are taking it out by the mule-load, so you may depend upon getting lots of dust when the boys come down. * * * California is nowhere in comparison to Williams Creek. Keep good courage, and order a mint for next year.” Mr. Justice Begbie is next called upon to bear witness to the auriferous wealth of Cariboo. “I will now quote,” says the Governor, “a few passages from a private communication of the Judge, Mr. Begbie, dated Forks of Quesnel, September 25th, 1861, to the Colonial Secretary. In allusion to the amount of gold dust in the hands of the miners at Cariboo, and the quiet orderly state of the population, he observes: ‘I have no doubt that there is little short of a ton lying at the different creeks. I hear that Abbott’s and Steele’s claims are working better than ever — 30 to 40 pounds a day each (they reckon rich claims as often by pounds as ounces now); it must be a poor claim that is measured by dollars. « * • On many claims the gold is a perfect nuisance, as they have to carry it from their cabins to their claims every morning, and watch it while they work and carry it [178] back again (some times as much as two men can lift) to their cabins at night, and watch it while they sleep. There is no mistake about the gold. Steele is here; he says they took out 370 ounces one day. I was very glad to see the men so quiet and orderly; old Downie looked really almost aghast. He said, ‘They told me it was like California in ‘49; why, you would have seen all these fellows roaring drunk, and pistols and bear knives in every hand. I never saw a mining town like this.’ There were some hundreds in Antler, all sober and quiet. It was Sunday afternoon, only a few of the claims were worked that day. It was as quiet as Victoria. The state of affairs so graphically depicted by the learned Judge did not last long. Saloons, gaming houses, and dancing halls soon became part and parcel of the social life of Barkerville, yet none of that debauchery so common in the mining camps of the western territories of the United States ever flourished on Williams Creek. Even when Barkerville reached its high water mark of prosperity, the population was generally distinguished for its sobriety and orderliness. Nobody went armed, even in the earliest days. The custom of carrying weapons fell into disuse as soon as it was recognized that law and order would be maintained by the proper authorities at all costs. Of course, Barkerville was not impeccable — no one could expect perfect be- haviour on the scene of so much excitement and where so much treasure was so easily won and might be so easily spent. The Rev. R. C. Lundin Brown who lived for several months in 1862-3 in a miner’s cabin at Cameronton, suffering great hardship, was not impressed with the miner or his ways. Finding the prospector somewhat indifferent to his preaching, he attacked the gamblers in their own resorts, but was ultimately obliged to withdraw from the field. A relieving feature of Barkerville, says Bancroft, was the public reading room, which in 1865 was already comfortably fitted up and well patronized. Here the talented members of the community enlivened the long winter nights with public debates, recitations, plays, and musical performances for the amusement of themselves and their guests. In 1866, Alexander Allen started the Cariboo Sentinel , which publication in the two or three years of its existence rendered the district yeoman service. The columns of the Sentinel form a perfect repository of information respect- ing the mines of the surrounding country. Then Barkerville had its poet who celebrated local events in apt verse. “Sawney’s Letters,” as Anderson called his rhymes, appeared from time to time in the Sentinel and later were published in pamphlet form. The ups and downs of life, the glories of success, and the power of gold are well portrayed in the following lines: “I kent a body make a strike — He looked a little lord! An’ had a clan o’ followers Amang a needy horde. Whane’er he’d enter a saloon You'd see the barkeep smile — His lordship’s humble servant he Without a thocht o’ guile! » * • • A twal’ months past an’ a’ is gane, Baith f reends an’ brandy-bottle; An’ noo the puir soul’s left alane ”Wi’ nocht to weet his throttle!” Gambling followed as usual in the wake of the successful diggers, and, after the day of which Judge Begbie writes, piles of gold changed hands over green tables to the strain of merry music. A check was soon placed on this vice, but it continued, nevertheless, to flourish. Says the Barker- ville poet: “Amang the hunders livin’ here There’s barely ten per cent. That shun the vice o' cards an’ dice. Such is the natural bent" [174] The votaries of Terpsichore gathered in the music halls of the hurdy- gurdies, of whom the poet writes: “Bonnie are the hurdies O! The German hurdy-gurdies O! The daftest hour that e’er I spent Was dancing with the hurdies O*" But to return to Governor Douglas and his despatch to the Duke of Newcastle. “I will lastly submit for your Grace’s information,” His Excellency went on to say, “the monthly report of Mr. Ball, assistant gold commissioner for the Lytton district, to the Colonial Secretary, dated Oc- tober 1st, 1861, which also bears upon the subject of gold mining, and is otherwise illustrative of the industrial condition of the country: The approach of the fall and the little mining going on at present has caused a stagnation of business. There are many, however, who are only awaiting the commencement of the proposed wagon roads to locate pre-emption claims, and to make permanent improvements on those already located, with a view of making British Columbia their future home. The rich discoveries made in the Cariboo district, and the proposed line of road, have established a confidence in the future prospect of the property holders of the lower Fraser; and all are well pleased with the prospect of the forthcoming season. It may be interesting to His Excellency to hear of the almost fabulous amount of gold which was taken out of a claim on Lightning Creek, belonging to a man named “Ned Campbell”: 1st day 900 ounces 2nd day 500 ounces 3rd day 300 ounces and other days proportionately rich. In view of the reports received from his officers on the ground, the Gov- ernor informed the Duke of Newcastle that he had no doubt “as to the vast auriferous wealth and extraordinary productive capabilities of British Co- lumbia; and with scarcely less probability it may be assumed as a natural consequence resulting from the marvellous discoveries at Cariboo, that there will be a rush thither and an enormous increase of population in the spring.” To meet the exigencies of the situation the Governor decided that it would be necessary to open up the country by means of a system of trunk roads, for until safe and easy transportation to the mines should be pro- vided the colony could not expect to reap the benefit of the extraordinary development in the northern interior. The name of James Douglas will never be forgotten in British Columbia as long as roads exist, for he inaug- urated the policy as a result of which the great interior was linked to the towns on the coast by a highway which was one of the engineering marvels of the day. It soon became apparent that the Harrison-Lillooet road was a failure and that another route to the mines would have to be surveyed. There was only one alternative — to follow the course of the Fraser River through the canyons to Lytton, thence by Spence’s Bridge to the Bonaparte, and thence by way of the old brigade trail to Soda Creek on the upper reaches of the river. A road from Soda Creek to Ques- nel and from Quesnel to Barkerville would complete the line of communi- cation. To provide for the wants of the people, remarked James Douglas, be- comes one of the paramount duties of government. “I, therefore,” said he, “propose to push on rapidly with the formation of roads during the com- ing winter (1861-2), in order to have the great thoroughfares leading to the remotest mine, upwards of 500 miles from the sea coast, so improved as to render travel easy, and to reduce the cost of transport, thereby securing the whole trade of the colony for Fraser’s River, and defeating all attempts at competition from Oregon. The only insuperable difficulty which I exper- ience is the want of funds — the revenues of the colony will doubtless, in [175] the course of a year, furnish the means, but cannot supply the funds that are immediately wanted to carry on these works. I propose, as soon as those roads are finished, and the cost of transport reduced, to impose an ad- ditional road tax as a further means of revenue, a generally popular measure and strongly recommended in the several petitions forwarded with my des- patch (‘separate’) of the 8th of October instant. I, indeed, acknowledge with gratitude the warm support which I have lately received from the people at large in carrying out measures of development; a significant fact, showing that their feelings and interest are becoming every day more iden- tified with the progress of the Colony. I have in these circumstances come to the conclusion of meeting the contingency and raising the necessary funds, by affecting a loan of ,£15,000 or £20,000 in this country, which will prob- ably be a sufficient sum to meet the demands upon the Treasury on account of these works, until I receive the loan which your Grace gave me hopes of effecting for the Colony in England. In taking this decided step, I feel sure that I am assuming an unusual degree of responsibility; but I trust the urgency of the case will justify the means and plead my apology with Her Majesty’s Government, especially as it is so clearly for the honour and advantage of Her Majesty’s servants; and the neglect of the measures, which by stern necessity are thus forced upon me, might prove in the high- est degree disastrous to the best interests of the colony. Accustomed to ex- act obedience within my own official sphere, I know the importance of the rule ; but this is one of those exceptional cases which can hardly serve as a precedent — and as I have always paid implicit attention to instructions, and in no case involved Her Majesty’s Government in any dilemma, I trust your Grace will continue to place that degree of confidence in my pru- dence and discretion which heretofore it has always been my good fortune to experience.” On November 30th, 1861, the Governor again adverted to the subject, remarking, ‘‘I have so fully placed before your Grace in other despatches the exact present condition of the colony, the recent discoveries of the im- mense auriferous wealth in the newly opened district of Cariboo, the al- most certain large increase to the population in consequence, and the general confidence established in the richness and future of the country, that it is not necessary I should revert to the subject here, further than to remark that I trust these circumstances will have their weight with your Grace in leav- ing me free, as heretofore, to devote the whole revenue of the Colony, after deducting the ordinary expenditure, to the important object of opening up the communications with the distant gold fields, so as to cheapen the trans- portation of provisions — a matter which just now demands all our energies, and absorbs all my attention.” Thus, in a broad and generous spirit, was the great project of the Yale- Cariboo wagon road conceived. Bending all his energies to the task, with indomitable perseverance, James Douglas overcame all obstacles and by the spring of 1865 the great highway stretched from Yale to Barkerville. It is not possible to enter into all the details of that stupendous undertaking, deeply interesting as they are. For the purpose of this narrative, it will be sufficient to state that in the years 1862-3 the mule-trail from Yale to Boston Bar, built in the sum- I'm] mer of 1861 by Messrs. Powers and Roberts, was superseded by a broad highway, and that from Boston Bar the road was carried on into the heart of the Cariboo country. The section running from Yale to 6-Mile Post was constructed by the Royal Engineers in 1862; from 6-Mile Post to 13-Mile at Suspension Bridge, by Thomas Spence in the autumn of 1862; the Alexandria suspen- sion bridge was erected in the summer of 1863 by Joseph W. Trutch; from the Alexandria suspension bridge to Boston Bar, 12 miles, by Joseph W. Trutch in 1862-63; from Boston Bar to Lytton, 32 miles, by Spence and Landvoight in 1862; from Lytton to Cook’s Ferry (Spence’s Bridge), 23 miles, by Moberly and Oppenheimer, in 1862 and 1863; Spence’s Bridge was built by Thomas Spence in 1863 to 1864; from Spence’s Bridge to 89- Mile Post, 9 miles, by Royal Engineers in 1863; from 89-Mile Post to 93-Mile Post, by Thomas Spence in 1864; from 93-Mile Post to Clinton at 136-Mile Post, Moberly and Hood in 1863; from Lillooet to Clinton, 47 miles, by Gustavus Binn Wright in 1861; from Clinton to Soda Creek, 177 miles, from Lillooet by G. B. Wright in 1862 to 1863; from Soda Creek to Alexandria, 20 miles, by G. B. Wright in 1863; from Alexandria to Ques- nel mouth, 40 miles, by Spence and Landvoight, 1863; from Quesnel to Cot- tonwood, 21 miles, 1864; from Cottonwood to Barkerville, 42 miles, 1865. The building of the Yale-Cariboo wagon road was a magnificent engineer- ing feat of which any community might justly be proud, but when it is remembered that this gigantic enterprise was undertaken by less than 12,- 000 settlers in a virgin wilderness, some idea is gained of the faith these men had in the future of their country. Scarcely less remarkable was the wonderful system of stage transpor- tation inaugurated by the late Honourable F. J. Barnard, who did so much to build up British Columbia, industrially and politically. Mr. Barnard was a man of indomitable energy and “Barnard’s Express,” familiarly known as the B-X, became a household word in the Colony. His stages ran from Yale clear through to Barkerville, making the return trip in ten days. The first stage left Yale in the spring of 1864, thus inaugurating one of the longest stage routes on the continent of North America. With Mr. Bar- nard was associated a man whose name will ever stand first and foremost in the annals of the coaching days — reference is made to Mr. Stephen Ting- ley, of Ashcroft, who for twenty-eight years drove his four or six-in-hand up and down the Cariboo road without a single mishap. To these two men the Province of British Columbia owes much. It is not too much to say, perhaps, that the discovery of gold in Cari- boo changed the whole course of the subsequent history of this land. With- out that discovery and the extraordinary development which it brought about, not only in the mining districts, but also in the agricultural sections of the Colony, confederation would have deen delayed, if not indefinitely postponed. The riches of Cariboo paved the way for the entrance of British Columbia into the Dominion of Canada and made possible the Terms of Union, and the building of a Canadian railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Of the heroic deeds of the early prospectors, states one authority on the early history of the Pacific Coast, there is evidence on every hand, but [177] such exploits were of every-day occurrence in the pioneer army that was ad- vancing upon the strongholds of the country under the pressure of the gold mania; and it was not the custom of the time to dignify the search for the sordid metal with any title of heroism. Yet had such deeds been per- formed in the name of war, science, or religion, doubtless their story would have been told, and the names of the heroes preserved and honoured. The prospector’s fame depended upon his success in finding gold; and it was restricted to the small circle that shared in the benefits of the discovery, to be lost sight of as soon as the last nugget parted company with him. The romantic and tragic extremes seemed naturally united in his career, but otherwise than as prospectors and discoverers, the lives of Keithley, McDon- ald, Rose, Dietz, Cunningham, and of all the pioneers of Cariboo, were blank. Rose, an American, and McDonald, a Canadian from Cape Breton Island, are credited by Governor Douglas as the greatest of the discoverers of Cariboo. McDonald amassed a fortune which he brought to Victoria. William Dietz, the discoverer of Williams Creek, the richest stream of all, survived till 1877, only to die in poverty at Victoria. Still more tragic was the fate of Rose. When the crowd rushed in on Antler Creek in 1860, he and Dietz left in search of new diggings. Rose disappeared for months, but his absence gave no concern to his friends, among whom similar jour- neys into the wilds were of every-day occurrence. Finally, another party of prospectors happened to follow his track far into the mountains, and there came upon his body in the woods. Near it on the branch of a tree was hanging his tin cup on which was scratched, with the point of a knife, the legend, “Dying of starvation, Rose.” [ 178 ] BRITISH COLUMBIA AND VANCOUVER ISLAND , 1859-1863. CHAPTER XVII. The discovery of gold in British Columbia naturally had a far-reach- ing effect upon Vancouver Island. The Fraser River excitement of 1858, in fact, marked the turning point in the career of that Colony, while the sub- sequent discoveries in Cariboo firmly established its capital, Victoria, as the leading town of the British possessions west of the Rocky Mountains, a supremacy which it held for many years. Victoria owed its influence to its geographical position and to the fact that it was the seat of government and the emporium of the wholesale and retail merchants who supplied the mining camps of the mainland. The surpassing beauty of its surroundings and its delightful climate made it a most desirable place of residence and it naturally became the social centre of the two colonies. The men-of-war stationed at Esquimalt added an important element to the social life of the Colony and gave zest to its social affairs. The colonial officials were all, or nearly all, Englishmen of good families, and they brought with them Brit- ish traditions and British ideals of public and home life which imparted a distinctly British atmosphere to the place. At this time neither Vancouver Island nor British Columbia had any relations whatever with any other portion of British North America, being separate and distinct colonies, each possessing its own governor and administration. Victoria was always noted for its generous, if not lavish, hospitality — balls, dinners, amateur theatricals, cricket matches, horse races and all forms of amusement being the order of the day in colonial times. On one occasion for three whole days all the leading people of the town, including His Excellency, the Governor, were the guests of the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany on an excursion in the beautiful archipelago which separates Vancou- ver Island from the continental shore. On another occasion all the wit, fashion and beauty of Victoria went over to New Westminster to attend a state ball given by Governor Seymour, who was noted as a bon vivant and for his lavish entertainments — which, perhaps, did more to make him popu- lar than his administration of public affairs. The winter was an extremely hard one that year and the steamer which conveyed the party to the scene of festivities was caught in the ice at the dock at New Westminster, where- upon the good citizens of the Royal City vied with each other in entertaining the belated Victorians. So, in spite of the remote situation of the Colony and the uncertainty as to its future, the residents of Vancouver Island lived well and happily. It was a day of open-hearted hospitality and of good feeling, as all the older residents well remember. Victoria, too, had its gold excitement, and for a short space Leech River, where the treasure was discovered, assumed some importance. It was only a flurry, however, and the mines, such as they were, were abandoned to the patient Chinamen, who worked the diggings with cradle and rocker for many years. More important than this ephemeral excitement was the sub- [179] stantial growth of the agricultural districts. One by one the fertile valleys of the Island were explored and settled by men who came to make homes for their families and to till the soil; not, like the gold seeker, who, in the great majority of cases, merely came to snatch the treasure from the beds of auriferous creeks, then to depart, coming and going as the wind. To borrow a phrase from Carlyle, the gold seeker “rushed stormfully across the face of the astonished earth,” only that in the end it should open and swallow him. But each field carved out of the wilderness, and each home planted therein, are permanent assets of the state. A good farm is one of the vertebrae of the backbone of a country. The pioneers of the Saanich peninsula, of the Cowichan valley, of Comox, Salt Spring Island, Met- chosin, and Sooke, proved the fertility of the soil and thereby gave permanence to the institutions of the Colony. By degrees the scattered settlements were drawn closer together and to the centres by means of trails and roads through green woods and rocky defiles. Then came the school house, with all its softening and cultural influ- ences. “The school master is abroad in the land,” is one of Palmerston’s famous sayings, and in so saying he acknowledged one of the greatest of the recreative forces. The first public school was built at Craigflower in 1856. The old school house, of whip-sawn lumber, still stands, overlooking the riv- er-like Victoria Arm midst its grove of broad leafed maples. The class rooms were on the first floor and the dominie had his quarters over them. It is yet a solid structure, mutely illustrative of the worth of the found- ers. Meanwhile Victoria made rapid progress. Substantial buildings were erected on all the main thoroughfares, and the winding lanes leading from the old fort were converted into broad streets. In its issue of May 19th, 1859, the Victoria Gazette records that — “The grading of Government Street from Fort Street is progressing fairly towards completion. The pile driver is busy in setting the foundation timbers for the new bridge which, when completed will extend this fine thoroughfare across James Bay. On the opposite side may be seen the first of the new public edifices. This one, now nearly finished, is intended for the Land office, and the ground in the immediate vicinity is being broken preparatory to the erection of the rest of the projected Government buildings.” The bridge here referred to was that known for so many years as the James Bay bridge, which lasted in one form or another until it was demolished to make way for the present stone embankment. The bridge was opened for traffic on July 5th, 1859. The reference to the Government buildings recalls a forgotten incident. It was Governor Douglas himself who chose the spot upon which they were to stand. However, the Governor’s ideas upon the subject did not meet with the unanimous support of the House. Some of the members vigorously op- posed the plan, while outside the House the British Colonist derided the pro- posal. It was only after much discussion that the Governor succeeded in carrying his point. The members complained because the House had not been consulted in the first place, taking umbrage at what they termed the autocratic action of the chief executive. The official papers on the sub- ject throw a very interesting sidelight on the manner in which the public business of the Colony was conducted in the infancy of representative insti- [180] tutions. The House having heard of the determination of the Governor to proceed at once with the erection of public buildings on the site selected by himself, resolved: “That as His Excellency has determined on removing some of the Government offices from a central position in the town to the south end of it, as well as having a bridge constructed eight hundred feet in length, leading thereto, the erection of which and removal of Government offices has not been brought before the people for their consent, therefore this House protests against the action adopted by His Excellency, and declares the same to be unconstitutional and a breach of privilege.” Where- upon the Governor addressed a communication to the House couched in part in the following terms: I have to inform the House in reply to the subject of that resolution, that it has been deter- mined to erect certain buildings to serve as public buildings for the Colony, on the south side of Victoria harbour, and to connect them by means of a bridge over James Bay, with Government Street, so as to render them convenient of access to the public. I have resorted to this measure simply because such offices have not been provided by the Col- ony, and because they are pressingly wanted for the public service; and the south side of Victoria harbour has been selected as the site whereupon they are to be erected, on account of its being airy, spacious and convenient, and acquired without expense; while by isolation from the town, it is in a great measure secured against the danger of conflagration and because it is impossible to procure a site of extent sufficient for the purpose in the centre of the town, without incurring an enormous outlay of money. I did not think it necessary to consult the House concerning the erection of those buildings, for reason that the House was not called upon to defray their cost, and because the House has on all occasions declined to take any responsibility in such purely Executive matters, or (with one ex- ception) to provide funds for any Colonial improvements whatever. Thus, the support and maintenance of places of public worship, of the Colonial schools, the salaries of the clergymen and teachers, the construction of roads, the erection of the police courts, of the custom house and other public offices, the establishment of a police force, the administration of justice, and all other measures providing for the public safety and convenience have been thrown entirely on my hands, without any pecuniary aid or assistance whatever from the House of Assembly. I will remind the House of Assembly of the reply to a message from me, dated 9th day of Au- gust last, representing the insufficiency of the public jail, and requesting their aid in providing bet- ter prison accommodation, and for the erection of an hospital for the relief of the indigent sick. The House on that, as on other occasions, did not grant the desired aid, and threw the entire onus of erecting such buildings on the Executive. * * » Disclaiming any intention, and assuming no right, to question the opinion of the House as to the nature and extent of its own privileges, I have entered into the explanations herein given to prove that the course I have, in this case, pursued was dictated by necessity — implies no discour- tesy to the House — was founded on precedent — violates no constitutional law — and is admitted on all sides to be of great public advantage. On the same date, May 7th, 1859, His Excellency despatched another message to the House in which he set forth very fully his reasons for de- siring to erect public buildings forthwith and the grounds which had influ- enced him in the selection of the site. The communication reads. In respect to the public offices now required, I have made a demand on the agent and repre- sentative of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the proprietors of Vancouver Island, to provide the neces- sary funds; and he has agreed to defray all expense of erecting such buildings. I have also to remind the House of Assembly that the building now occupied as a Govern- ment office, as well as that used for a land office, are the property of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and that these buildings have not been removed, as the resolution of the House may be understood to imply, but merely surrendered to the agent of that company, on his undertaking to provide for the erection of other buildings for the public offices of the Colony. The offices immediately required are: A Treasury with fireproof vault; a barrack for the military guards; a Land office; an office for the Registrar of Deeds and Conveyances; an office for the Colonial Secretary; a house for the Legislative Assembly; a Supreme Court; and official residence for the Gov- ernor, and other buildings of inferior importance. A moment’s consideration will satisfy the House that no site sufficiently spacious for the loca- tion of so many buildings is obtainable in the centre of the town without involving a very large outlay of money, in buying out the rights of the present holders of the land, which is now selling on Yates Street at the rate of £21 sterling a front foot, and that it would be neither proper nor judicious to pack the public offices of the Colony into a confined space without regard to the ar- rangement and the proper distribution of air and light. The site which I have selected for the location of these buildings is recommended by many advantages, being dry, airy and spacious, containing ten acres of land, and having a cheerful aspect and an extensive view; and being a public reserve it is acquired without expense. I propose to concentrate the public offices on that spot after a plan laid out on the most approved principles for health, convenience and ornament. The only objection made to the site when the question was debated in council was its distance by the circuitous route by James Bay, from the centre of the town; and as that would, no doubt, have been felt as a serious inconvenience, in order to remove it, I agreed to the construction of a bridge as an extension of Government Street. The erection of the bridge has been contracted for at an expense of $3,500 or about £800, which does not exceed the value of half a building lot in the centre of the town. [1811 I have further to observe, that no part of the expense of these buildings has been provided for by the House of Assembly, or out of any moneys, which have been raised by their means, the whole cost being, in the first place, provided for by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and having ulti- mately to be borne by the Crown; therefore, the whole establishment will remain the property of the Crown until otherwise disposed of. I would further remark for the information of the House, that the Crown may lawfully construct bridges in any situation where they do not interfere with private rights and are conducive to pub- lic convenience, and I presume the House is not disposed to question that right. The editor of the British Colonist, who was bitterly opposed to the gen- eral policy of the Governor, took exception both to the building of the bridge across James Bay and to the plans and construction of the buildings. With reference to the public offices he was particularly scathing, remarking: “They have not the merit of being either cheap or convenient. At a very large expense to the Colony, they are built and scattered over a square like a number of goose-pens. The experience of North America colonies, and our utilitarian cousins, points directly to the erection of one building in which all the offices of the capital of the Colony can be located. But for some reason or other, blundering of the most wretched character appears to be an essential characteristic of the present administration, whether it relates to legislation or public works.” Be this as it may, the buildings filled all requirements for many years, and posterity will confirm the wisdom of Douglas in placing them where he did. From the odd pagoda-like appearance of the new offices, with their cross beams of wood, they were jocularly termed “bird cages,” a name which survived in “Birdcage Walk.” The growth of Victoria, and of the Colony, generally, brought about political changes of some moment. Expansion in one direction led to expan- sion in another. The term of the first House of Assembly, of seven mem- bers chosen by a mere handful of voters expired in 1859. In the general elections that ensued fifteen members were returned by a greatly increased electorate, exemplifying in a quite remarkable manner the growth in popu- lation due to the discovery of gold in the neighbouring colony. Victoria returned the Honourable G. H. Cary, Attorney-General, and S. Franklin; Victoria district, H. P. P. Crease, so long and so honourably associated with the affairs of British Columbia as statesman and judge of the Su- preme Court; Dr. W. F. Tolmie, a pioneer of more than ordinary distinc- tion and capacity, and Alfred Waddington, who also contributed in no small degree to the upbuilding of the country; Esquimalt town, G. T. Gordon; Esquimalt district, Doctor the Honourable John Sebastian Helmcken, the dean of the pioneers of British Columbia, whose long and honourable serv- ice needs no mention, and James Cooper; Lake district, G. F. Foster; Sooke district, W. J. McDonald, who later achieved distinction; Saanich district, John Coles; Salt Spring Island, J. J. Southgate; Nanaimo dis- trict, A. R. Green. Before the term of the second Parliament expired sev- eral changes took place in the personnel of the House. J. W. Trutch succeeded H. P. P. Crease, Doctor J. Trimble succeeded Alfred Wadding- ton, and Messrs. R. Burnaby and D. B. Ring, later appointed Acting At- torney-General, succeeded Messrs. J. Cooper and A. R. Green. The election was fought with much keenness, the discussions on the hustings revolving about the policy pursued by the Governor, who was bitterly opposed by Amor de Cosmos, editor and proprietor of the British Colonist, and the debts which the Hudson’s Bay Company bequeathed to the Colony when the [182] grant of the Island was revoked in 1859, as a result of the parliamen- tary inquiry of 1857, and the sudden growth of the Colony in the following year. Space forbids a lengthy report of the discussions of the second House of Assembly of Vancouver Island, but it should be mentioned that the members pointedly refused to become responsible for the charges of the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was resolved to leave the company to settle its claims with the Imperial Government. Ultimately the Home authori- ties paid the claim, which amounted to some <£57,000. The revenues of the Colony did not increase very rapidly. The pub- lic accounts of 1861 show that the sum of £25,291 was collected from all sources. For 1862 the revenue was £24,017, showing a decrease which is accounted for by the fact that the payment of the instalments due by set- tlers for land purchased from the Government were postponed on account of losses sustained during an exceptionally severe winter. In 1863 the sum of £30,000 was brought to account in the treasury and in 1864 £37,- 000. It should be mentioned that the receipts for the years 1862, 1863 and 1864 were swelled by sums due from the Colony of British Columbia and other sources, to about £77,000. The expenditure in 1864 amounted to £59,000, of which £15,616 were voted for public works and buildings, £10,- 360 for roads, streets and bridges, and £1,000 for education. In 1864 the white population of Vancouver Island was estimated at about 7,500, being somewhat less than that of British Columbia. The rate of taxa- tion was nearly eight pounds per capita as against £24 in the latter Col- ony. The principal sources of revenue at this date were land sales and liq- uor licenses, a tax of one per cent on real estate, and the sums collected un- der the trade licenses Act of 1862. The real estate tax produced £13,060; trade licenses, £5,516; liquor licenses, £4,800; and land sales, £6,382. Under the provision of the trade license Act of 1862, merchants and shopkeepers were required to pay an annual assessment varying, according to a gradu- ated scale, for two pounds a year for those whose sales were less than £200, to £60 a year for those whose sales exceeded £100,000. For bankers and auctioneers, the license was £50 a year; for lawyers and real estate agents, £10; for civil engineers, architects, surveyors, and proprietors of billiard rooms, five pounds. In the neighboring colony of British Columbia, development, outside of the mining districts, preceded slowly but surely. In the first place, the pop- ulation being almost entirely devoted to the search for gold, the agricultural resources of the country were neglected, and then the lack of lines of com- munication and the heavy cost of transportation, were insuperable obstacles in the path of settlement. In touring the country in 1859 the Governor was brought face to face with this phase of the economic condition of the new colony, touching which he thus expressed his opinion on the importance of agriculture as a basic industry: “The Colony is yet destitute of one highly important element; it has no farming class, the population being al- most entirely composed of miners and merchants. The attention of the Government has been very earnestly directed to the means of providing for that want by the encouragement of agricultural settlers, a class that must eventually form the basis of population, cultivate and improve the face of [183] the country, and render it a fit habitation for civilized man. The miner is at best a producer, and leaves behind him no traces but those of desola- tion; the merchant is allured by the hope of gain; but the durable prosperit5 T and substantial wealth of the state is, no doubt, derived from the cultiva- tion of the soil. Without the farmers’ aid British Columbia must ever remain a desert — be drained of its wealth, and dependent on other countries for food.” This is all very true, but as a matter of fact it was yet too early to expect agricultural development, even in a country so plentifully endowed with broad and fertile acres. As the mining excitement died down, or rather as mining took its proper place in the industrial order, it indeed became an incentive to the settler inasmuch as the mining centres provided lucrative markets for all kinds of agricultural produce directly communica- tions were opened. So by degrees men settled on the land, naturally se- lecting the elioice tracts contiguous to, or within reach of, the mining camps. As on Vancouver Island, the fertile valleys were occupied one by one, and the luxuriant bunch grass pastures Avere taken up by the stockman, who reared great herds of beef cattle upon his wide-extending ranges. The pioneer farmer and stockman, upon his lonely holding in the wilderness, with no companions but the primitive savages, certainly deserves the respect and gratitude of later generations, for he it was who laid the foundations of the basic industry in circumstances demanding every bit as much heroism and resource as the more dangerous, but far more alluring, occupation of placer mining. Such men as the Honourable Clement F. Cornwall, of Ashcroft; Mr. William Roper, of Cherry Creek; Mr. A. L. Fortune, of Similka- meen; Mr. G. B. Martin, of Ducks; Mr. Charles A. Semlin, of Cache Creek; Mr. Phillip Parke, of the Bonaparte Valley; Mr. Thomas Ladner, Mr. William Ladner, with a great company of other pioneer farmers and cattle men, budded well and truly and to them all honour is due. Two years later, in 1861, the Governor is still deploring the fact that “regular settlement has hardly yet commenced.” But now he is able to report some little beginnings. Touching a “progress” through the country from Lytton to Cayuse, by way of the Bonaparte River and Pavilion, through the Marble canyon, he wrote to the Duke of Newcastle: "A good deal of running stock has been brought in for sale; but with the exception of eight or ten persons, there are no farmers in the district. One of those, Mr. McLean, a native of Scotland, and lately of the Hudson’s Bay Company service, has recently settled on a beautiful spot, near the debouch of Hat River, and is rapidly bringing the land into cultivation. He has a great number of horses and cattle of the finest American breeds; and from the appearance of the crops there is every prospect that his labor and outlay will be well rewarded. He is full of courage, and as confident as deserving of success. He entertains no doubt whatever of the capabilities of the soil, which he thinks will, under proper management, produce any kind of grain or root crops. The only evil he seriously apprehends is the want of rain and the consequent droughts of summer, which has induced him to bring a supply of water from a neighboring stream, by which he can at pleasure irrigate the whole of his fields. The Governor continues: “I received an equally favourable report from Mr. Reynolds, who commenced a farm at the Pa- vilion in the year 1859, and he has consequently had the advantage of two years’ experience. His last crop, besides a profusion of garden vegetables, consisted of oats, barley, turnips, and potatoes, and the produce was most abundant. The land under potatoes yielded 375 bushels to the acre. The turnip crop was no less prolific; one of the roots weighing 26 pounds; and swedes of 15 pounds and 16 pounds were commonly met with. He could not give the yield of oats and barley, the greater part having been sold in the sheaf for the use of the mule trains passing to and fro from the mines; but the crop, as was manifest from the weight and length of the straw, which attained a height of fully four feet, was remarkably good. He generally allowed his cattle to run at large and they sel- dom require to be housed or fed in winter. * * * ‘‘A few successful experiments in husbandry will give confidence and add to the number of the farming class, which continues to be in a lamentable minority in every part of the Colony, even in districts where one would suppose mining to be a less profitable pursuit than the cultivation of the soil.” [ 184 ] It was not until the completion of the Yale-Cariboo wagon road that agriculture may be said to have become a really important industry. The construction of that great highway led to the occupation of all the contigu- ous farming and grazing lands, for with the horse stages and the pack trains came the demand for fodder, and with the opening of the long line of road- houses and the consequent increase in travel, a demand for meat, vegeta- bles, and other produce. Besides, good roads meant easy access to good markets. In a few years, as the mines were worked out, or abandoned for one reason or another, agricultural products became a drug upon the mar- ket. That was in the period of depression which, in a great measure, gave rise to the demand for Confederation. Douglas from the first seems to have done what he could to promote settlement. In 1861 he reduced the price of land from ten shillings to four shillings and twopence per acre, in the hope that that would induce settlers to take up homesteads. No doubt the thriving farms of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Victoria and Vancou- ver, on the Columbia River, with which he had been long familiar, had proved to him the value of agricultural settlements. While the gold-seeker, with indomitable courage and perseverance, was storming the strongholds of the wild and inaccessible region of Cariboo, the diggings of the lower Fraser were still resorted to by a small army of min- ers. In 1859 and 1860 a large quantity of gold was taken out of the river between Hope and Pavilion. In the summer of 1860, two miners near Hope realized $1,300 in six weeks, and others were as fortunate. But with the coming of the news of the rich strikes on the Quesnel River and in Cariboo there was a stampede to the interior, the bars on the lower river being abandoned to the Chinese. It does not appear that after the discovery of Cariboo the Fraser River again attracted a large white mining population. From that time the Chinese practically had the field to themselves. In view of the subsequent agitation in the West relating to Oriental immigra- tion, it is interesting to recall that as early as April, 1860, the same question caused Governor Douglas no little uneasiness, which is reflected from time to time in his correspondence with the Colonial office. “British Columbia,” he remarked on one occasion, “is becoming highly attractive to the Chinese, who are arriving in great numbers, about 2,000 having entered Fraser River since the beginning of the year, and many more are expected from California and China. They are certainly not a desirable class of people, as a permanent population, but are at present useful as labourers, and, as consumers, of a revenue-paying character. I have therefore protected them from paying differential duties not equally borne by other classes of the pop- ulation.” A month or two later he refers to the fact that “about 4,000 Chi- nese are employed in the various districts of the Colonies.” And again in February, 1861, he reports that there were 2,000 Chinese in and about Yale. In fact the Chinese question may be said to have been an ever-present problem in British Columbia. jjf> ; In spite of the heterogeneous character of the population, comprising as it did not a few of the border desperadoes of the Western states and terri- tories, it was generally remarkably orderly and well-behaved, as both Doug- las and Begbie more than once observed. But few acts of violence occurred on the Fraser River, even when excitement was at its height. Next to the [185] short-lived Indian outbreak of 1858, which was so quickly quelled by the min- ers themselves under the leadership of H. M. Snyder, perhaps the most striking episode was that known as “Ned McGowan’s War.” Commander Mayne, R. N., in his excellent work entitled “Four Years in British Colum- bia and Vancouver Island,” gives a lucid account of the whole affair. On the 10th of January, 1859, a rumour reached Victoria that an outbreak had occurred at Yale, and that Colonel Moody, then visiting Langley, had, on receiving the intelligence, proceeded to the scene of action, taking with him the advance guard of Royal Engineers under Captain Grant, a little force of twenty-five men. Governor Douglas, being aware that a large number of undesirable characters were wintering at Hill’s Bar, deemed it prudent to reinforce Colonel Moody. The reputed instigator of the trouble was Edward McGowan, who, although the possessor of many attractive so- cial qualities, had run foul of the law in all the states he had favoured with his presence. At the request of Governor Douglas, Captain Prevost furnished a party of marines and bluejackets from the Satellite , under Lieu- tenant Gooch. The party embarked on board the Plumper and proceeded at once to Langley. On arriving there, it was found that Colonel Moody had taken the Enterprise, the only steamer then on the river capable of stemming the current above Hope, and pushed on to Yale. On arriving at Yale, the town was found to be perfectly quiet with no sign of rioting or disorder. Colonel Moody, indeed, was received with vociferous cheering and every sign of respect and loyalty. The following day being Sunday, Colonel Moody read Divine service in the court house — the first occasion of public Christian worship in the town of Yale. Some forty miners formed a most orderly and attentive congregation. After the service the trouble was investigated, when it appeared that the affair had been grossly exaggerated. Commander Mayne, who had accompanied Col- onel Moody, Judge Begbie and the other officials, explains the matter as follows: At Hill’s Bar, a mile below Yale, there was a resident magistrate, and at Yale two others had been appointed. * • • These three dignitaries were not upon the best terms with each other, and two of them claimed a certain case and prisoner as belonging each to his own district, and disputed the right of adjudicating upon them to such a degree, that, one having possession of the culprit’s body, and refusing to give it up to his colleague, the other went to the length of swearing in spe- cial constables to his aid, and removing the prisoner by force of arms to his jurisdiction at Hill’s Bar. It was at this juncture that Edward McGowan figured so conspicuously. He was among the special constables, and was very possibly among the instigators of the squabble; and it was this outrage the magistrate’s report that this worthy had been prison-breaking in his district that gave it to the authorities at Langley and Victoria so serious an aspect. However, upon investigating the matter, he was found to have acted, if with indiscreet zeal, yet not illegally, and no charge was preferred against him on that account. But the same afternoon, while Colonel Moody, representing the majesty of the law, was still at Yale, McGowan outraged it unmistakably by committing an un- provoked assault. This, coupled with sundry other suspicious circumstances, caused Colonel Moody to think that McGowan’s friends and admirers would, if provoked (or not restricted) break into serious insubordination; and he at once instructed me (Mayne) to drop down the river to Hope and Langley and order up the engineers, marines and bluejackets left at those places. The utmost precaution was taken about my Journey. Mr. Allard, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s officer at Yale, was instructed to have a small canoe launched unseen by the miners, who it was thought might endeavor to stop me, as they no doubt easily could have done. The darkness was waited for, and the canoe being launched and dropped about half a mile down the river, Mr. Allard came to the house for me, and led me to it along the river’s bank. As we dropped down the stream, I was afraid even to light my pipe lest we should be stopped at Hill’s Bar. Absurd as all this now seems — especially as I heard on my return that the miners knew perfectly well of my starting — it was not without its use at the time. The promptitude with which Captain Grant appeared on th* spot with the engineers at daylight next morning astonished the miners a good deal; and it need not be assumed that, because they apologized and paid their fines, they would have done so equally had coercion not been threatened. Reaching Hope at half past eight that night, I very much astonished Captain Grant by telling him he was to start for Yale at once, and, landing his men below Hill’s Bar, on the opposite side of the river, to march thence into Yale. Having given these instructions, I embarked in the canoe again, reached the “Enterprise”, which was to convey me to Langley, and bring the men there up. Here a slight delay took place, as the steamer could not be got ready to start before daybreak; but away we went the instant dawn broke and reached Langley in the afternoon of the following day; when, the "Enterprise” having wooded, and every one got on board, we were struggling up against the current by 6:00 p. m.; reaching Smess (Sumas) River by 9:00 or 10:00 that night and Cornish Bar by 8:30 the following night. There the "Enterprise's” further progress was effectually barred; and taking a canoe again, I made my way to Hope, where I found that further instructions had come from the Colonel, to the effect that the bluejackets were to remain there and only the marines to go on to Yale. Soon things were looking less martial; and I was not surprised, on pushing forward to Yale next morning, to find that the short campaign was at an end; and the peace which hardly had been disturbed, was re- stored. McGowan, after enjoying the sensation he had caused, paid Colonel Moody a formal visit and, after making a very gentleman-like apology for the hasty blow which had disturbed the peace of British Columbia, and entering into an elaborate, and, I believe, successful defence of his previous conduct in these squabbles of the rival magistrates, committed himself frankly into the hands of justice. • » • He was fined for the assault, exonerated from all previous misdemeanors, and next day, upon Hill’s Bar being visited by Mr. Begbie (the Chief Justice) and myself he conducted us over the diggings, washed some ‘dirt’ to show us the process, and invited us to a collation in his hut, where we drank champagne with some twelve or fifteen of his California mining friends. And, whatever opinion the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco might entertain of these gentlemen, I, speaking as X found them, can only say that, all things considered, I have rarely lunched with a better- spoken, pleasanter party. The word ‘miner’ to many unacquainted with the gold fields, conveys an impression similar perhaps to that of ‘navvy.’ But among them may be often found men, who by birth and education are well qualified to hold their own in the most civilized community in Europe. So ended the celebrated incident, known in the history of the Fraser mines as “Ned McGowan’s War.” It only remains to be said that after the Hill’s Bar difficulty, McGowan’s evil genius led him to shoot at a man, whom he fortunately missed. He was obliged, however, to flee across the frontier where he managed to be elected to the House of Representatives of one of the states eastward of the Rocky Mountains. He died at San Francisco on December 9th, 1893. In the matter of revenue and expenditure, British Columbia from the very first had to face a serious problem. The extraordinary physical char- acteristics of the country, its lofty mountains and deep gorges, its foaming torrents and yawning canyons, and its vast extent called for an immense outlay in the construction and maintenance of lines of communication. No other part of Canada had such difficulties to contend with in this particular as had the Colony of British Columbia. Here was a virgin wilderness without highway or line of march, except the rough brigade trails, which were altogether unadaptable for the purpose of rapid communication. They were good enough in their way for the fur trader, who had almost unlim- ited time at his disposal, but absolutely impracticable for rapid transit. Moreover, they were, with one or two exceptions, not on the line of march of the army of prospectors which invaded the country in 1858 and the fol- lowing years. The costly highways, built through the energy and far-sighted- ness of Sir James Douglas, left the Colony under a load of debt which had a paralyzing effect in after years. The Yale-Cariboo road alone cost several hundred thousands of pounds, while other highways leading to the Koote- nays, Big Bend, Similkameen, and other parts of the province, were almost equally costly. Little wonder is it then that as soon as the mines ceased to yield as bounteously as at first, the country bordered on bankruptcy. No small community of a few thousand souls could long stand such a strain upon its resources. The revenue and expenditure of the infant colony, there- fore, are more than ordinarily interesting. The revenue was drawn chiefly from customs duties, liquor and mining licenses, and from the sale of land, while the salaries of officials and the public works — roads especially — ac- count for most of the expenditure. It was found quite impossible to raise sufficient revenue without resort to a tariff, so from the beginning the main- land was protectionist, although there were no industries to foster. The idea was simply to provide a revenue large enough to meet the ever-press- ing demands of the scattered communities. Vancouver Island, on the other [187] hand, from the very nature of its situation as a supply centre, was a free trade colony. Esquimalt and Victoria together were constituted a free port just as soon as the gold rush commenced— a matter of some economic im- portance. Here then were two colonies, side by side, each being devel- oped under a different fiscal system. It was this peculiar circumstance that a few years later proved an almost insuperable bar to their union, neither colony wishing to change its tariff. The revenue of British Columbia to February 23rd, 1859, amounted to <£22,924 and the expenditure to £25,059, showing a deficit of £2,135, which was made up out of the balance of £10,284 in hand and due from the sale of town lots at Langley. The Governor had hoped in accordance with the strict instructions of his superior, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, to keep the expenditure within the revenue — in fact, to make the Colony entirely self- supporting. But in this he was disappointed. The revenues did not come up to his expectations and in the very first year of the Colony’s existence it was necessary to call upon the Mother Country for aid. The sum of £42,998 was placed in the Imperial Budget of 1859 on account of the new Colony. The item provoked some discussion in the House of Commons. Mr. Adderley, a member of the late Cabinet in which Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton sat as Secretary of State of the Colonies, took exception to the vote calling from Mr. Chichester Fortescue, Colonial Under Secretary, a some- what pointed rejoinder, which is interesting not only because it explains the Imperial colonial policy of that day, but also by reason of the fact that it indicates the esteem in which James Douglas was held by Downing Street. Mr. Fortescue said he had not expected criticism from the Right Honourable gentleman, whom he had rather looked to to defend the vote, seeing that the Colony had been established by the government of which he was a mem- ber. The sum asked for, he continued, was large, but the expenditure had been incurred, and unless Parliament paid the bill, there were no funds to meet it. The chief expense, he explained, arose from sending out a party of Sappers and Miners, which was the act of the late government, and an unfortunate accident — the burning of the ship conveying the stores — had in- creased the amount. With respect to the income of the Colony, he had no accurate accounts later than February 23rd, at which time the Governor stated the receipts of local revenue, up to that date, at £23,000, and the ex- penditure at £25,000. There were further receipts expected from the sale of land — town lots — to the extent of £10,000. With reference to the policy adopted by the Governor, Mr. Fortescue thought that nothing could have been more judicious than the conduct of that officer. Governor Douglas had laid out about two-thirds of the receipts of the Colony in building roads, without which colonization could not be carried on. “The Right Honourable gentleman,” Mr. Fortescue continued, “had said that British Columbia should pay its own expenses from the sales of land as the Australian colonies had done; but there was a great distinction between the cases. In British Columbia land for agricultural purposes could not be sold rapidly or at once, owing to the present want of roads and communication. There was a large population flocking in, at- tracted by the gold discoveries, and the Governor had tried a monthly license, but it was found impossible to levy it profitably, as the expenses of [ 188 ] collection would have eaten up the produce. An export duty on gold was in contemplation, but there were difficulties in its way, because the diggers could transfer their gold across the American frontier and thus evade the tax. The Government had urged upon the Governor the necessity of mak- ing the Colony self-supporting, and had been warned that he must not ex- pect perpetual grants from the House.” He hoped in a short time that the result desired would be arrived at. But in the meantime it was impossible to form a new colony without giving it some assistance at starting. Af- ter this explanation the vote passed without further demur. For the year ending December 31st, 1860, the revenue was £53,011, and the expenditure £44,124, leaving a balance in the treasury of £8,887, which goes to show that the Governor had adopted the policy of rigid econ- omy so earnestly inculcated by the late Colonial Secretary, Sir Edward Bul- wer Lytton. But this result was only gained at the expense of much need- ed public works, for the prosecution of which His Excellency had already applied for a loan of £50,000 from the Imperial Exchequer. The principal items of revenue for 1860 were: Duties, £29,702; tonnage dues, £3,369; land sales, £10,962; licenses, spirit and trading, £2,284; and free miners’ certificates, £l,594. The other side of the ledger showed that the chief ex- penditures consisted of: Civil establishment, £16,736; works and buildings, £3,513; roads, streets and bridges, £18,935; transport, £1,143; and surveys and explorations, £l,296. In commenting upon the public accounts of 1861 the Governor said: “I see no probability, short of an absolute abandonment of all the essential public works upon which we are engaged, of our being able this year to maintain out of the Colonial revenue the detachment of the Royal Engineers stationed here; and I rely with confidence upon the Mother Country again affording her assistance in our difficulties, by providing for them, as hereto- fore, out of Imperial funds, so that I may be free to apply the whole surplus revenue of the Colony, after paying all its own Government expenses, to the opening of roads and other public works indispensable to its develop- ment.” The public works outlined for the year 1861 were. A cart-road from Pemberton to Cayuse, length about 36 miles A cart road from Hope to Similkameen 74 miles Improvement of navigation on Similkameen River 60 miles Horse-road from Boston Bar to Lytton 30 miles Horse-road from Lytton to Alexandria 150 miles Horse-road from Cayuse to Junction with Lytton Road 30 miles At the same time the following wagon roads were in course of con- struction : From New Westminster to Langley 15 miles From New Westminster to Burrard Inlet 9 miles From New Westminster to boundary line at Semiahmoo Bay 14 miles From Spuzzum to Boston Bar 20 miles The capital of British Columbia was first New Langley, renamed Derby, and then Queensborough, or Queenborough, situated on a lordly wooded hill, on the north bank of the Fraser, some fifteen miles from the mouth of the river. The story of its naming will bear repeating, often as it has been told. A dispute having arisen in this connection, the Gov- ernor decided to ask Her Majesty, the Queen, to christen the capital of her newest colony. Accordingly on February 5th, 1859, he thus addressed Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton: [ 189 ] “With reference to my despatch, No. 92, of the 4th instant, upon the subject of the site chosen for the seat of Government of British Columbia, I have the honour to state to you that deeply ap- preciating the kind and gratifying interest which Her Most Gracious Majesty has been pleased to manifest towards the development and prosperity of the Colony of British Columbia, we are earn- estly desirous that Her Majesty should vouchsafe one further proof of her continued regard by sig- nifying her will as to the name to be given to the future capital. “Her own Royal name having already been bestowed upon the seat of Government of Vancouver, Island, cannot also be assigned to that of British Columbia, but until Her Majesty’s commands can be communicated, it has been determined, for the necessary sake of convenience, to distinguish the town by the name of ‘Queensborough;’ and it would be received and esteemed as an especial mark of Royal favor were Her Majesty to name the capital of British Columbia, either, indirectly, after Her Royal self, or directly after His Royal Highness, the Prince Consort, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, or some member of the Royal family, so that the colonists of British Columbia, separated from friends and kindred in this, their far distant home, may be ever gratefully reminded in the designation of their capital of the power that protects their hearths, of the watchful interest that guards their liberties, and of the gentle sway by which they are governed.” In due course, the Earl of Carnarvon, in the absence of the Colonial Secretary, replied: “Downing Street, May 5th, 1859. “Sir: “I have laid before the Queen your despatch. No. 93, of the 5th of February, expressing the de- sire that the name of the future capital of British Columbia should be selected by the Queen. “I am commanded to acquaint you that Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to decide that the capital of British Columbia shall be called ‘New Westminster.’ “You will therefore designate the city by that name, and will announce by proclamation Her Maj- esty's decision to the inhabitants of the Colony.” So the city of New Westminster was named by Her Gracious Majesty, in person, who thus again signified her interest in the Colony which she had already named. From that day to this the old-time capital of British Col- umbia has been known as “the Royal City,” a title which it richly de- serves, on account both of the origin of its name and its superb situation. New Westminster, as the capital of the Colony, and the site of the public buildings, soon became an influential centre, over which the British Columbian, edited by the late Hon. John Robson, ever kept a watchful eye. The British Columbian was the first newspaper printed on the mainland. The town was laid out in 1859 by the Royal Engineers under Colonel Moody, and in June of the same year a sale of town lots was held, at which three hundred and ten were sold for $89,000, which was considered very sat- isfactory in view of the fact that as yet the place was altogether undevel- oped. It was suggested that one-quarter of the townsite should be reserved for purchasers in England, but this proposal was vetoed by the Colonial Secretary, as he thought it would tend to promote speculation by non-resi- dents having no vital interest in the place. The largest sum paid for a single lot was $1,925. In the meantime, tenders had been called for the necessary public buildings and these were soon in course of construction. The Royal Engineers moved to the place at once, building their barracks and officers’ quarters hard by the site of the present penitentiary overlooking that mag- nificent stretch of the river known as “Queen’s Reach.” This part of the town was called “Sapperton,” and as such it is known today, the name be- ing one of the links with the past, recalling as it does the splendid achieve- ments of the Royal Engineers during their term of service in British Columbia. The, force was disbanded in 1863, many of the men throwing in their lot with the country they had served, and were to serve, so well. The rest of the corps returned to England. Governor Douglas did not reside at New Westminster during the term of his dual governorship, but many of the officers employed in the several departments of the administration made their homes here, of whom may be mentioned Colonel Moody, commanding the Royal Engineers, and Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works; Mr. Justice Matthew Baillie Beg- [190] bie, the terror of the evil doer of colonial days; Mr. Chartres Brew, Chief In- spector of Police and a man of sterling worth; Captain W. D. Gosset, R. E., Treasurer; F. G. Claudet, Assayer, who took the earliest photographs of New Westminster; Mr. C. A. Bacon, Melter in the Assay office; Mr. Wy- mond Hamley, Collector of Customs; Mr. W. R. Spalding, Postmaster, and Sir (then Mr.) H. P. P. Crease, Attorney-General. The names of all these men were household words in colonial times. Not one of them survives to- day. New Westminster was incorporated under “The New Westminster Municipal Council Act, 1860 ,” on the 16 th day of July of that year. It, therefore, enjoys the distinction of being the oldest incorporated city in the province. Victoria, though founded seventeen years earlier, was not incor- porated until 1862 , by Act of the Legislature of Vancouver Island. One of the sections of the first charter of New Westminster conferred upon the council the peculiar power to force owners of town lots to cut down “all timber and trees standing thereon, except such as may be reserved with the consent of the Council for ornament.” No doubt the danger of forest fires rendered such a provision necessary at the time. The president, as the chief executive was called, was not elected directly by the voters, but chosen by the members of the council from among themselves. [ 101 ] ' UNION AND CONFEDERATION. CHAPTER XVIII. As early as 1861, much dissatisfaction was evoked in British Colum- bia and Vancouver Island on account of the fact that the administration of the two colonies was combined in the person of one and the same governor. In April of that year a memorial was presented to Governor Douglas, signed by Mr. J. A. Homer and seven others, professedly delegates from Hope, Douglas and New Westminster, advocating a representative assembly for the Colony of British Columbia and the abolition of dual government. The House of Assembly of Vancouver Island, although its power was so limited, was at least a recognition of the people’s inherent right to govern. On the mainland the Governor combined in his own person all the functions of the state, as far as the law-making power was concerned, a state of affairs that could not continue indefinitely in a British colony. Irritation on this score was increased by the sectional jealousy of the two leading towns — Vic- toria and New Westminster. The discontent led to an agitation, which event- ually found expression in the petition of Mr. Homer and his allies. The residents of the lower Fraser based their criticism of the Government upon the following grounds: 1. That the Governor, Colonial Secretary and Attorney-General did not reside permanently in British Columbia. 2. That the taxes on goods were excessive as compared with the pop- ulation (the latter being estimated at 7,000, exclusive of Indians) and were in part levied on boat men who derived no benefit from them. The absence of a land tax also formed a subject of complaint. 3. That the progress of Victoria was stimulated at the expense of British Columbia, and that no encouragement was given to ship-building, the leading industry of New Westminster, or to the foreign trade of the Col- ony. 4. That money had been injudiciously spent on public works, and that contracts had been given without public notice, with the result that they were consequently sub-let at a much lower rate. 5. That the public lands were badly administered, several sections of which had been declared public reserves having been afterwards claimed by parties connected with the Colonial Government. 6. The want of a Registry office for the recording of transfers and mortgages. Upon the receipt of the memorial in question, the Governor referred it to the Colonial Secretary in Downing Street. He pointed out in an ac- companying communication of great length that he had spared no exertion to promote the best interests of both colonies and that he had not consciously neglected any opportunities of adding to the prosperity of either. As for the members of the Executive, their offices, if confined to British Columbia [ 198 ] alone, would be little better than sinecures. He remarked that the taxation of the Colony, as compared, for example, with that of the neighbouring State of Washington, was not excessive, and that the proceeds had been spent on roads and public works so as to materially reduce the general cost of living. Moreover, the population, including Chinamen, was ten thou- sand, or, including Indians (who, inasmuch as they were becoming more and more consumers of imported goods, were entitled to be classed with the other inhabitants), some thirty thousand, so that the rate of taxation was really two pounds per capita instead of seven pounds ten shillings as asserted by the petitioners. It was pointed out that the remission of duty on shipbuild- ing material would open the door to injustice and discontent, and would do little good to New Westminster as long as the timber business was monopo- lized by a few persons. The charge that money had been injudiciously spent on public works and the charge that favouritism had been shown with regard to the disposal of Crown lands were declared to be entirely without founda- tion. As for the final grievance — the lack of a registry office — that, the Governor promised, would be remedied forthwith by the passage of a meas- ure providing means for the registration of titles to land, the delay in that regard having arisen solely through the peculiar difficulties inherent in the administration of a new colony. Touching representative institutions, the Governor observed: Without pretending to question the talent or experience of the petitioners, or their capacity for legislation and self-government, I am decidedly of the opinion, that there is not as yet sufficient basis of population or property in the Colony to institute a sound system of self-government. The British element is small, and there is absolutely neither a manufacturing nor farmer class; there are no landed proprietors, except the holders of building lots in town; no producers except miners, and the general population is essentially migratory — the only fixed population, apart from New Westminster — being the traders settled in the several inland towns from whom the miners obtain their supplies. It would, I conceive, be unwise to commit the work of legislation to persons so situated, having nothing at stake, and no real vested interest in the Colony. Such a course, it is hardly unfair to say, could be scarcely expected to promote either the happiness of the people or the prosperity of the Colony; and it would un- questionably be setting up a power that might materially hinder and embarrass the Government in the great work of developing the resources of this country; a power not representing large bodies of landed proprietors, nor of responsible settlers having their homes, their property, their sympathies, their dearest interests irrevocably identified with the country; but from the fact that before-stated, of their being no fixed population, except in the towns. Judging from the ordinary motives which influence men, it may be assumed, that local interests would weigh more with a legislature so formed, than the advance- ment of the great and permanent interests of the country. The Governor stated that he had reason to believe that the memorial did not express the sentiments of the great body of the people of British Columbia; not that he assumed that Englishmen, under any circumstances, were unmindful of their political birthright, but he was convinced that, in the case of British Columbia, the majority of the people would infinitely prefer the Government as established than the rule of party. In the cir- cumstances he thought it prudent to postpone tfie establishment of repre- sentative institutions until the permanent population of the country could be greatly increased and made more amenable to moral influence. He desired to make “representative institutions a blessing and a reality, and not a by- word or a curse.” In view of the fact that the civic affairs of New Westminster, recently established as a municipality, had worked in an eminently satisfactory man- ner, the Governor conceived the idea of constituting similar bodies at Hope, Yale, and Cayuse, and in all the other towns of British Columbia, with the view ultimately of developing the municipal system into a parliamentary one. It was argued that by such accord the government would secure the assist- ance of practical men and acquire valuable information upon local matters, [ 194 ] thus reaping one of the advantages of a legislative assembly without the risk that would attend the formation of such a body in existing circum- stances. The Governor’s views upon the question of representative govern- ment were, perhaps, scarcely orthodox, but it cannot be gainsaid that he was sincere in his belief. In this connection it will be recalled that he had ap- proached the question of the formation of a legislative assembly in Van- couver Island in a similar spirit. Naturally, the ideas of the Governor could not ultimately prevail. It does not appear that the Colonial office was favourably impressed with the memorial of 1861. At any rate, no action was taken at the time looking to the establishment of a representative legislature. The matter of the dual governorship was also held in abeyance. In September, 1863, the commission of Governor Douglas for Vancou- ver Island lapsed through effluxion of time and it was then that the Colo- nial office seized the opportunity to separate the two colonies. This deci- sion may have been prompted by the difficulty of securing an officer equal to the task of governing both colonies; but it is likely enough that it was still more largely due to the inherent weakness of the original arrangement. At the same time it was resolved to take the first step towards the adoption of free institutions. On June 15th, 1863, the Duke of Newcastle, in a des- patch to Governor Douglas, set forth that an order-in-council made at the Court of Windsor on the 11th day of June preceding, empowered the of- ficer administering the Colony of British Columbia to call into existence a legislative council, just as soon as a civil list should be passed, enabling Her Majesty to allot salaries to the government officers at the following rates: Governor, <£3,000, with a suitable residence; Chief Justice, £1,200; Colonial Secretary, £800; Attorney-General, £500, with practice; Treasurer, £750; Commissioner of Lands and Surveyor-General, £800; Collector of Customs, £650; Chief Inspector of Police, £500; Register of Deeds, £500. The order-in-council was designed to prepare the way for a measure of re- sponsible government. “I should have wished,” said the Duke of Newcastle, “to establish there the same representative institutions which already exist in Vancouver Island; and it is not without reluctance that I have come to the conclusion that this is impossible.” The fixed population of British Columbia, he averred, was not yet large enough to form a sufficient and sound basis of representation while the migratory element far exceeded the fixed, and the natives far out- numbered both together. Gold was the only produce of the Colony, extract- ed in a great measure by an annual influx of foreigners. Of landed proprie- tors there were next to none, of tradesmen not very many, and these occu- pied in their own pursuits at a distance from the centre of government and from each other. In the circumstances a purely representative legis- lature would be open to one of two objections — either it must place the gov- ernment of the Colony under the exclusive control of a small circle of per- sons naturally occupied with their own local, personal, or class interests, or it must confide a large amount of political power to transient foreigners hav- ing no permanent interests in the Colony. For these reasons it was deemed advisable that the Government should retain for the present a preponder- ating influence in the Legislature. It was, therefore, decided that one-third [195] of the proposed council should consist of the Colonial Secretary and other officers composing the executive council, about one-third of magistrates from different parts of the Colony, and about one-third of persons elected by the residents of the different electoral districts. “But here,” argued the Duke of Newcastle in outlining the scheme, “I am met by the difficulty that these residents are not only few and scattered, but (like the foreign gold- diggers) migratory and unsettled, and that any definition of electoral dis- tricts now made might, in the lapse of a few months, become wholly inap- plicable to the state of the Colony. It would, therefore, be trifling to at- tempt such a definition * * *” The Colonial Secretary concluded his des- patch with the following significant paragraphs: "I have, therefore, thought it most advisable to have recourse in British Columbia to the tried machinery of a Legislative Council, with the intention, however, that the appointments to that Council, which by the enclosed order you are authorized to make, shall be made, if not in exact accordance with the outline which I have placed, yet at any rate with the object of securing that at least one-third of the councillors shall be persons recognized by the residents in the Colony as representing their feel- ings and interests. By what exact process this quasi-representation shall be accomplished, whether by ascertaining informally the sense of the residents in each locality, or by bringing the question before different public meetings, or (as is done in Ceylon) by accepting the nominee of any corporate body or society, I leave you to determine. I also leave it to you to determine the periods for which (subject to Her Majesty's pleasure, which involves a practical power of dissolution,) the councillors should be appointed. What I desire is this: that a system of virtual, though imperfect, representation shall be at once introduced, which shall enable Her Majesty's Government to ascertain with some certainty the character, wants, and disposition of the community, with a view to the more formal and complete establishment of a representative system as circumstances shall admit of it. “I shall hold the proceeds of the Crown lands at the disposal of the Legislative Council, who will also be at liberty to pass laws for the regulation and management of these sources of revenue, sub- ject of course to disallowance in this country, and subject also to the qualifications which I have mentioned as indispensable in Vancouver Island, viz.: that the Crown must retain such legal powers over the lands as are necessary for disposing of all questions (if any) which remain to be settled with the Hudson’s Bay Company — questions which, without such, might still be productive of embarrass- ment.” The Order-in-Council referred to, after reciting that “There shall be in the said Colony a Legislative Council,” declared that it should be lawful for the Governor, “with the advice and consent of the said Council, to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Colony.” It was pro- vided that the Council should consist of such public officers as might from time to time be designated, and of such persons as might be named by or in pursuance of any instructions or warrant under the Royal sign manual and signet and of such other persons appointed by the Governor; provided that the last mentioned appointments should be provisional only until approved by Her Majesty. The total number of councillors was not to exceed the number of fifteen. All things having been done, as ordered by the Colonial Secretary, the first Legislative Council of British Columbia met in the city of New West- minster for despatch of business in January, 1864 . It is worthy of remark that it fell to the lot of James Douglas to preside at the opening of the two first British legislatures to be established in the region west of the Rocky Mountains. The speech with which he greeted the Legislative Coun- cil on January 1st, 1864 , is scarcely inferior in interest to that with which he opened the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island in 1856 . The withhold- ing of popular institutions, he declared, during the infancy of the Colony, had been prompted only by regard for its happiness and prosperity. A vigor- ous prosecution of public works was urged for the purpose of giving value to the waste lands of the Colony. To encourage settlement, the public lands had been thrown open, and every effort made to promote the development of the country, though thus far with scarcely satisfactory results. Favour- able reports had been received from the Indians, for whom reserves based on [ 196 ] a maximum allowance of ten acres for each family had been already set aside. The opening of postal and telegraphic communications between British Col- umbia and the head of Lake Superior was foreshadowed. Appropriations for education and religious purposes were recommended, and finally, the ex- penditures of the past year amounting in all to £192,869 (of which no less than £88,987 had been spent on roads and £31,615 on the civil establish- ment) were laid before the Council. For the same period the revenue had amounted to but £110,000 of which over half was derived from customs duties. Of the deficit, £65,805 had been met by loans, leaving a sum of £17,055 to be accounted for, besides an additional £10,700 due to the Impe- rial government for the expenses of the Royal Engineers. For 1864, the expenditures was estimated at £107,910 and the income at £120,000, though the former did not provide for the maintenance of a gold escort, or for the erection of additional public works. In conclusion, the Governor appealed to the Council to give their earnest consideration to the pressing financial prob- lem which confronted the Colony. In 1863, upon his retirement as Governor of Vancouver Island, James Douglas was created a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in recognition of his manifold services. The British Colonist re- marked upon the occasion: “Upon the arrival of the last mail steamer, we were much gratified at being enabled to publish the Gazette announcing that the honour of knighthood had been conferred upon the Governor of these Col- onies, and we take the present opportunity of His Excellency’s return to Victoria to offer our most sincere and hearty congratulations to himself and his family. The distinction was so looked for by the public that they would have been apt to feel its omission as a slight upon this Colony, as they are now disposed to take a small share of the compliment to themselves.” The article then went on to say: “We have conceived it our duty up- on some occasions, to differ from the policy pursued by Mr. Douglas, as Gov- ernor of the Colony, and we have, from time to time had occasion as public journalists to oppose that policy. We trust, however, that such opposition has at no time been factious — personal to the Governor himself, it has never been. If we have opposed the measures of the Government, we have never in our criticism of the public acts of the executive head of that Govern- ment, failed in our esteem for the sterling honesty of purpose which has guided those acts, nor for the manly and noble qualities and virtues which adorn the man. The intimate relations which have so long existed between Sir James Douglas and the people of Victoria will shortly undergo a change, and we are quite sure that we echo the sentiments of the public of Victoria, in saying that His Excellency will carry into private life the honest esteem and hearty good wishes of all Vancouver. His services to his country as Governor of these colonies will not be forgotten for many years to come.” The retirement of Sir James Douglas, writes Mr. R. E. Gosnell, in his excellent biography, from the governorship of the two colonies was marked by all those forms and precedents with which the man of public affairs is wont to pass from the scene of his activity, and which may mean much or little. There had undoubtedly arisen a deep-rooted opposition to the princi- ple of irresponsible government in British Columbia and to Douglas as the representative of that system, yet in the mass of customary laudation with [197] which his days of office closed, the note of gratitude for the unequalled ex- perience which he had brought to the service of the country, and for the valuable work he had done, was persistently present, even in the minds of those who realized most clearly the necessity for change.” There were banquets and processions, presentations of memorials and tributes of the press. At Victoria, two hundred of the leading citizens of Vancouver Island took their seats at a dinner in his honour, while no less than seventy-five persons attended the banquet given in New Westminster. Both colonies presented addresses signed by hundreds of the inhabitants to the Duke of Newcastle, in which the administration of the Governor, and his personal attributes were warmly praised. The House of Assembly of Vancouver Is- land declared its belief that the signal prosperity it had enjoyed was “mainly ascribable to the policy which His Excellency inaugurated.” So, likewise, the Legislative Council of Vancouver Island placed on record its high estimation of the Governor’s policy “in originating and administering the Government of the Colony, of its appreciation of his duties and respon- sibilities and of the moral qualities which had adorned his actions and en- deared him to the people of the Island.” In Victoria, the universal respect in which the Governor was held had kindled into an affection which was plainly manifest in the demonstrations with w'hich his departure was accompanied. The following address presented at New Westminster upon the expiration of Sir James’s stewardship, and bearing over nine hundred signatures, bears ample testimony to his popularity on the mainland: During the period his Excellency has been In office, he has assiduously devoted his remarkable tal- ents to the good of the country; ever unmindful of self. He has been accessible to all and we firmly believe that no man could have had a higher appreciation of the sacred trust vested in him, and none could have more faithfully and nobly discharged it than he has. The great road system which Governor Douglas has introduced into the Colony is an imperishable monument of his judgment and foresight. It has already rendered his name dear to every miner, and future colonists will wonder how so much could have been accomplished with such small means. The Colony already feels the benefit resulting from his unwavering policy in this respect, and, year by year, will the wisdom of that policy become more manifest. During his term of office the laws have ever been rigidly, faithfully, and impartially administered. The poorest man has always felt that in a just cause, he would not have to seek redress in vain, and the country has in consequence enjoyed a remarkable exemption from crime and disturbance. In reply Sir James Douglas gave utterance to the memorable words which have been so often quoted: “Envy and malevolence may be endured, but your kindness overwhelms me; it deprives me of the power of utterance; it excites emotions too powerful for control. I cannot, indeed, express at this moment in adequate terms, my sense of your kindness. This is surely the voice and heart of British Columbia. Here are no specious phrases, no hol- low or venal compliments. This speaks out broadly, and honestly, and man- fully. It assures me that my administration has been useful; that I have done my duty faithfully; that I have used the power of my Sovereign for good, and not for evil; that I have wronged no man, oppressed no man; but that I have with upright rule, meted out equal-handed justice to all men, and that you are grateful.” Captain Arthur Kennedy was appointed to succeed Sir James as Gov- ernor of Vancouver Island. He arrived at Victoria in March, 1864, being received with every manifestation of loyalty and respect. In British Co- lumbia Sir James was followed by Frederick Seymour, formerly Governor of British Honduras. James Douglas died in 1877, full of years and honour, having lived to see the western territory pass from the control of the North West Com- [198] pany; the granting of that vast region to the Hudson’s Bay Company under Royal license; the fur preserve of the Company erected into two colonies; the union of those two colonies; and finally the entrance of his beloved Brit- ish Columbia into the Dominion of Canada as the keystone province of that Imperial fabric. Sir James Douglas will live in history as one of the build- ers of the nation. To him had been assigned a herculean task, but, with a never-failing courage and an abiding faith in the future, he shouldered the burden. He was truly a great man and it is not surprising that Downing Street marvelled that one — untrained in the ethics of colonial government — should rule with such wisdom and success. Looking back at it all now, it seems little short of wonderful that such great changes should have taken place in the brief span of a single life. The retirement of Sir James made way for the consideration of an im- portant question involving the status of the two colonies, which could not well be entered into while he was governor of both. The agitation of 1861 for separate and distinct administrations had not subsided in the intervening years. On the contrary, it had gained strength, with the result, as already shown, that Vancouver Island and British Columbia were completely sep- arated for administrative purposes by the appointment of a governor for each colony. Both for political and economical reasons the Imperial authorities deemed it expedient to bring about the union of the Pacific dependencies. No doubt the growing agitation in the Canadas for confederation was re- flected in the policy of Downing Street in this regard. It was hoped that ultimately the proposed Dominion of Canada would extend to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. At least such is the logical inference in view of the activity displayed by the Colonial office in urging the union of British Colum- bia with Vancouver Island. The question was one of more than ordinary difficulty inasmuch as sec- tional jealousies entered largely into the local consideration of the matter. Governor Kennedy did everything in his power to draw the two colonies closer together. The third House of Assembly, elected in 1863, not at first markedly for union, gradually changed its tone, finally passing a strong resolution in favour of the proposal. It seems likely that the change of opin- ion was largely the result of the decline of the Cariboo mines, which reached the height of their prosperity in 1865. The placers of the northern interior were the mainstay and prop of early Victoria ; as soon as they began to show signs of exhaustion business fell off to an alarming degree. It is in just such periods of depression that the desire for political change is most likely to find expression. In his despatch of June 15th, 1863, touching the formation of a legis- lative council in British Columbia, the Duke of Newcastle had also ex- pressed a desire that the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island should pass a civil list, similar to that proposed for, and accepted by, the main- land. Should this be done, the Colonial office was prepared to hand over the control of public lands to the Assembly. That body, fearing that it would be saddled with the charges incurred by the Hudson’s Bay Company during its administration of the public lands under the Royal grant of 1849, refused to pass the civil list. In view of this action, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Edward Cardwell, authorized the Governor to issue [199] warrants for the payment of the Governor and Colonial Secretary “at the respective rates of <£3,000 and £600 per annum assigned to them by my predecessor.” Mr. Cardwell added that it would rest with the Legislature to make provision for the remuneration of the officers employed under the government in any capacity, and from any source available for the purpose. So, when Governor Kennedy arrived at Victoria he found that the House of Assembly had refused to vote his salary, a position of affairs which did not augur well for their future relations. Kennedy, however, was an Irishman and a diplomat and he soon established friendly relations with the members. One branch of the Legislature, the Legislative Council, always supported him. Mr. Cardwell in his despatch of April 30th, 1864, reverted to the fact that Sir James Douglas in replying to the Duke of Newcastle’s instructions, relative to the formation of a legislative council in British Columbia, had raised “the larger and more important question, namely, the union of both colonies under one governor.” He was desirous, therefore, of having Gov- ernor Kennedy’s views on the subject as soon as that officer had acquired, on the spot, sufficient experience and knowledge to enable him to form an opinion, and to supply “reliable information for the assistance and guid- ance of Her Majesty’s Government in considering the question.” The des- patch concluded by stating that a copy of it would be sent to Governor Sey- mour and that he would be requested “to furnish his views on the same matter, and I need scarcely say that it will not only be unobjectionable but highly desirable that you and he should consult freely on the subject, although it will be the most convenient course that each should report to be independ- ently upon the subject.” In the spring of 1864, then, the question of union may be said to have been fairly launched upon the political tide. For three years it formed the subject of keen debate in the legislatures and among the people of both colonies. The proposal evoked a somewhat acrimonious discussion, the main point being the determination of the fiscal policy to be adopted by the united colonies. It may be explained generally that Vancouver Island wished to retain its free port and low tariff, while British Columbia was in favour of protection. Vancouver Island was also loath to see its representative institu- tions, such as they were, merged into a legislative council, partly appoint- ive and partly elective, such as prevailed on the mainland. After a heated controversy the opposing parties reconciled their views and both legislatures passed resolutions in favour of union. On January 27th, 1865, the Vancouver House of Assembly resolved “That the immediate union of this Colony with British Columbia, under such conditions as Her Majesty’s Government may be pleased to grant, is the means best adapted to prevent permanent causes of depression, as well as to stimulate trade, foster industry, develop our resources and ensure our per- manent prosperity; and that this House pledges itself, in case Her Majesty’s Government shall grant such union, to ratify the same by legislative enact- ments if required; and that the resolution be submitted to His Excellency the Governor, with the respectful request that he may take the same into his earnest and immediate consideration.” His Excellency, Governor Kennedy, transmitted the resolution with the explanation that it had been passed by the Assembly, after a warm debate, [ 200 ] by a vote of eight to four. The resolution was introduced by Mr. Amor de Cosmos, one of the members for Victoria. It was alleged by the minority that the majority did not fairly represent public opinion, and to test this fact, Mr. de Cosmos, who proposed, and Mr. C. B. Young, who opposed, the resolution (being two members for the city of Victoria) agreed to resign their seats, and went before their constituents for re-election, which resulted in the return of Mr. de Cosmos and Mr. McClure, both advocates of a union and a tariff, by a large majority. Governor Kennedy, in writing to the Colonial Secretary on the subject, March 21st, 1865, stated that the majority of the House of Assembly was in favour of unconditional union with British Columbia was eleven to four, and that that majority would be increased in case of an election. The Legislative Council, he stated, did not deem it wise to express an opinion, but he was in a position to state that the majority, if not all, of the ex officio members were in favour of the union. The legislature, however, was in favour of leaving conditions and details to the Colonial Secretary. The Governor, in a despatch, expressed this opinion: The form of government at present existing in this Colony, namely, an elective Assembly of fifteen members and a nominated Legislative Council, does not, and in my opinion never can, work satisfactorily. There is no medium or connecting link between the Governor and the Assembly and the time of the Legislative Council (which comprises the principal executive officers) is mainly occupied in the correc- tion of the mistakes, or undoing the crude legislation of the Lower House, who have not, and cannot be expected to have, the practical experience or available time necessary for the successful conduct of public affairs. On financial subjects they are always greatly at fault. He recommended in case of a government assembly that there should be one chamber only, composed of elective members with the addition of the nominees of the Crown in the proportion of one-third with power to resolve it into two separate chambers in the future, if ever considered desirable. Kennedy further remarked that if the proposal for union were acquiesced in by Governor Seymour of British Columbia all serious opposition would be removed. The mainland would, have fallen in with the project earlier if it had not been for Governor Seymour, who, strange to relate, became the head and front of the opposition to the scheme in British Columbia. Perhaps no gov- ernor of any British colony ever penned such a despatch as that written by Governor Seymour from Paris on February 17th, 1866, while His Excellency was on leave of absence. In the course of this extraordinary document, he endeavoured to prove, first, that union with Vancouver Island or the annex- ation of that Colony was not desired in British Columbia; and, secondly, that the larger colony was not in a depressed condition. In view of the fact that a governor is supposed to be above and beyond all party strife, the despatch in question is unique. Premising his remarks with the observation that the question was one of great difficulty, the Governor without loss of time pro- ceeded to make reflections against Victoria and the neighbouring colony generally. In the meantime, petitions for and against union were circulated and signed in both colonies. The merchants and miners of the upper country were disposed to favour the proposal, or at least they were not hostile to it. In March, 1866, the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Arthur N. Birch, transmitted to Downing Street a memorial signed by four hundred and forty-five resi- dents of British Columbia, stating that the signatories were “fully con- [ 201 ] vinced of the necessity of legislative union between British Columbia and Vancouver Island, on fair and equitable terms. That the accomplishment of this event as soon as practicable, is an indispensable requisite for the prog- ress and prosperity of both.” The municipal council of New Westminster, on the other hand, memorialized the Secretary of State for the Colonies, April 26th, 1866, to the effect that that body was strongly opposed to union with Vancouver Island. This memorial shows that the city in opposing the measure was in some degree actuated by the fear that another place might be selected as the capital of the united colonies, for it concludes by reciting “that should Her Majesty’s Government persist in carrying out the union, the capital of the united colonies should be permanently fixed by an act of the Imperial Parliament at New Westminster, and that the question, in the event of the union being forced upon British Columbia, will be finally and forever set at rest by the establishment of New Westminster as the capital of the united colonies.” So the battle raged until both sides realized that union would be an advantage and not a detriment. Whereupon the Secretary of State for the Colonies promptly settled the vexed question by carrying through parlia- ment the Union Act of 1866, by the terms of which Vancouver Island was “annexed” to British Columbia. The Act uniting the colonies was duly pro- claimed in Victoria and New Westminster on the 17th day of November, 1866, the press of both places recording that the event was treated with in- difference by the people. Governor Kennedy was recalled and Governor Sey- mour undertook the administration of the united colonies, henceforth to be known as “British Columbia.” Thus passed the first British colony to be established in the north Pacific. The Colony of Vancouver Island existed for a period of seventeen years — 1849 to 1866. No sooner was the question of union settled than another problem agitated the Colony and tended to further increase sectional animosities, which were not allayed for many years. The Union Act contained no pro- vision respecting the situation of the capital, and a heated controversy arose over the respective claims and merits of Victoria and New Westminster in that particular. It was only natural that both places should seek thg honour. The city council of New Westminster and the residents of the lower main- land generally desired that the capital of British Columbia should be de- clared to be the capital of the united colonies. Again Governor Seymour entered the controversial lists, supporting the claims of the Royal City. Sectional feeling ran so high that it seemed impossible to decide the question without causing serious dissensions, but, in 1868, Governor Seymour with- drew his objections and Victoria was formally declared to be the capital. The Governor upon removing to the new seat of government was accorded a chill- ing reception, the address of welcome being of the most perfunctory char- acter, contrasting strongly with the memorials presented on his departure from New Westminster. In reply thereto he said that he realized that he was unknown on Vancouver Island, but he hoped that at the expiration of his term of office the people and he would part as friends. Gradually the ill-feeling engendered on the mainland died down, but many years elapsed before the incident was even partially forgotten. Even as the retirement of Sir James Douglas paved the way for the [ 202 ] union of the two colonies, so that union paved the way for the still larger question of confederation. The discussion in Canada and in the maritime provinces on the Atlantic, which prefaced the creation of the Dominion, found an echo even in far-distant British Columbia. Many a stalwart son of the older parts of Canada had found his way to the regions beyond the Rocky Mountains, taking with him his love of responsible government and his devotion to the flag. Just as soon as the Dominion became an accomplished fact in 1867, a movement looking to confederation began to shape itself in British Columbia. The movement gathered momentum as earnest men expounded their views on the subject, until in the end the wish for confederation became an insistent demand. Here again the depressing commercial and financial condition of the country accentuated the popular clamour for union with Canada, as it had affected the desire for union. The mines were becoming exhausted, agriculture was at a low ebb because the farmer could find no market for his produce, and industrial activity was almost unknown. Business in all its branches was stagnant. The burden of public debt was intolerable. Development was paralyzed. Such was the condition of the Colony at that time. In these circumstances it is not surpris- ing that the people should seek relief from their accumulated misfortunes. Confederation was advanced as a panacea for all the ills of the body politic, and, naturally, the time being ripe for change, the idea, in the end, was received with acclamation by a depressed and over-taxed community. Governor Seymour, as in the matter of union, was decidedly opposed to any alteration in the political status of the Colony. He would have blocked the proposal if he had had the power to back his will. But the public demand was too insistent to be ignored, and too many prominent men were taking part in the campaign to render his opposition either wise or effec- tual. Moreover, the Imperial authorities were anxious that British Col- umbia should join the Dominion, and the Governor was instructed to shape his policy accordingly. In opening the Legislative Council on March 13th, 1868, the Governor in some measure retracted; he stated on that occa- sion: “During the last session your honourable Council unanimously passed a resolution in favour of negotiations being entered into for the union of this Colony with the Confederation which has been formed among the east- ern British provinces on this continent. Although I could not be blind to the difficulties which made me consider the resolution principally as the ex- pression of a disheartened community longing for change of any kind, yet the possibility alone of something arising out of it to promote an overland communication with Canada, was enough to induce me to support your reso- lution.” The public feeling on Vancouver Island, with respect to this im- portant matter is reflected in a memorial drawn up by Messrs. James Trimble, Amor de Cosmos, I. W. Powell (1), J. R. Findlay, R. Wallace (1) Dr. I. W. Powell, “Oakdene,” Victoria, was born at Simcoe, Lake Erie, Ont., on April 27, 1837, and after a liberal academical training graduated as a doctor of medicine at McGill University, Montreal. He belongs to an old United Empire Royalist family, one of whose ancestors, Thomas Powell, settled on Long Island in 1645, and many of whose representatives have been prominent in eastern Canada. His father was a member of the old Parliament prior to Confederation, when the sessions were held in Mon- treal. His traditions were of Conservative faith and of the English Church. Shortly after taking, his degree. Dr. Powell came to British Columbia, arriving at Victoria, via Panama and San Francisco, in April, of 1862, and engaged in the practice of his profession. He very soon took a prominent part in the affairs of the city and of the Province. Elected to the old Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island, he was a member of that body from September, 1863, to August, 1866. It was during the session of 1865 he introduced and carried the law establishing the first system of free public schools in British Co- lumbia and was the first president of the Board of Education. [203] and A. G. Seeley, a committee appointed at a public meeting of the citizens on January 29th, 1868; and it is interesting because it gives in a condensed form the history of the movement; therefore it will be quoted in full: 1. That March 18th, 1867, a resolution was unanimously passed by the Legislative Council of the Colony, asking His Excellency, Governor Seymour, to take measures without delay to secure the ad- mission of British Columbia into the Canadian Confederacy upon fair and equitable terms. 2. That a public meeting was held at the same time expressing concurrent views with the action of the Legislative Council. 3. That the people of Cariboo, the next most populous and influential portion of the Colony, held in December last a highly enthusiastic meeting, and unanimously passed resolutions in favour of join- ing the Dominion. 4. That public opinion throughout the Colony, so far as we can learn, is overwhelmingly in favour of Confederation. 5. That there is a small party in favour of annexation to the United States, and if it were prac- ticable or possible their number would be increased. 6. That there is a small party, other than annexationists, who are opposed to Confederation. 7. That nearly all the office-holders of this Colony are allied to the latter party. 8. That the total number of those opposed to Confederation on fair and equal terms is numerically small, but supported by the office-holders, they may exert a good deal of resistance to the popular will. 9. That from information in a telegram from Ottawa, dated January 22nd, 1868, we learn that Governor Seymour has not made any proposition to the Dominion Government respecting our admis- sion, as was expected. 10. That the Legislative Council, the only legislative body in the Colony, is made up of a majority, consisting of heads of departments, gold commissioners, magistrates and others, subject to govern- ment influence, and cannot be relied upon to urge a confederation as it ought to be at the present juncture. 11. That the only popular institutions in the Colony are the city councils of Victoria and New Westminster. 12. That the people of this Colony are really without the means of expressing and carrying out their wishes through the Legislature. 13. We, therefore, representing the views of a large majority of the people of this, the most popu- lous and influential section of the Colony, would respectfully ask the Government of the Dominion to take immediate steps to bring this Colony into the Dominion, by telegraphing or communicating with Her Majesty’s Government, to issue immediate instructions to Governor Seymour, or otherwise to conclude negotiations as to the terms of admission. 14. We feel that without the help and liberal support of the Government of the Dominion the time will be somewhat remote when the Colony will be admitted into the Dominion, but with the aid which we solicit, we believe that there is no obstacle to prevent our admission by the 1st of July next. 15. We would further represent, for the information of the Government of the Dominion, that the terms of admission which would be acceptable to the people of this Colony, as far as we can learn, would be: Dr. Powell was a strong advocate of the union of the colonies which took place in 1866, and subse- quently was a leader on the Island of Vancouver in the agitation for confederation, making the first public speech in its behalf. Public feeling in Victoria was strongly opposed to union with Canada, and he was, therefore, on the unpopular side. So much so that he lost his election as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly in 1866 as a consequence of his championship of the cause. The contest was between the late Amor de Cosmos and Dr. Powell, as running mates, and Hon. J. S. Helmcken and the late M. T. (after- wards Mr. Justice) Drake, the issue being straight Confederation, or as it really was, anti-Canadian. After 1871, the efforts Dr. Powell had made in behalf of Confederation and his standing in the com- munity was recognized by his warm personal friend, Sir John A. Macdonald, who offered him a senator- ship. This, owing to the time annually involved, and consequent neglect of private interests, he could not afford to accept; but in 1872 at the request of the Canadian Premier, he became Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Province, in which capacity and as Indian Reserve Commissioner, he remained until 1890. Just after Confederation, this was a most important position and involved large responsibilities. Previous to union with Canada there had been no settled policy of Indian affairs, and apart from a few reserves allotted to the Indians, occasional aid and a general police supervision, the Indians had been left to shift pretty much for themselves and were more or less in their primitive condition, except in so far as contact with whites, not always to their advantage, and missionary influence had altered them. It devolved upon Dr. Powell to familiarize himself with the Indians throughout British Columbia, to investigate the conditions of their social life and tribal relations and to ascertain approximately their numbers; and upon the knowledge and experience acquired to suggest and formulate a policy for the Indian Department. Any one familiar with the history of Indian affairs will appreciate the difficulties incident to the settlement of the whole question of Indian lands as between the Province and the Do- minion, and the Indian Commissioner’s share in this was necessarily a very important and responsible one. The present satisfactory state of Indian affairs in British Columbia, including the system of in- dustrial schools, is to a considerable extent due to him. To those interested in the subject the early reports of Dr. Powell will well repay reading. It was his good fortune, as well as to his personal hazard at times, to pay visits on board H. M. ships of war on this station to Indian settlements on the coast in times of trouble or Indian unrest. Dr. Powell is a member of the Masonic order, and for many years took a prominent part in its affairs in British Columbia. He was the first Provincial Grand Master under the Grand Lodge of Scotland and took a leading part in forming the Grand Lodge of British Columbia, of which he was the first Grand Master. Another matter in which he took an initiative part was in inducing the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to extend its line from Port Moody to Granville, now Vancouver city, making the latter its real terminus. In this he was associated with Major Dupont, and the late David Oppenheimer, who formed the Vancouver Improvement Company, and who were mainly instrumental in getting the Provin- cial Government to assist by a grant of land in South Vancouver. To this end, these gentlemen gave a portion of the townsite previously acquired as a further inducement. In those days, land was valued at but a few dollars an acre and its subsequent value depended upon urban development. In a sense, therefore, Dr. Powell may be said to be one of the fathers of Vancouver, a child of which any foster parent might well be proud. Dr. Powell in addition to property in Vancouver and Victoria, acquired large land interests in New Westminster and Saanich districts, and was among the first to farm on a large scale on the Coast. Since 1890, when Dr. Powell gave up his official position, he has lived in retirement. [ 204 ] “(1) The Dominion to become liable for the entire public debt of the Colony, estimated at $1,500,000. (2) The Dominion to provide for Federal officers and services. (3) To grant a fixed subsidy, and per capita subsidy, to insure the support of the local Government in addition to the powers of taxation reserved to Provincial Governments in the British North America Act. (4) Representation in the Senate and Commons of Canada. (5) Popular representative institutions, insuring responsible control over the Government. (6) The construction of a transcontinental wagon road, from Lake Superior to the head of naviga- tion on the lower Fraser, within two years after the time of admission. This is regarded as an essential condition.” 16. Hereafter we hope to communicate further information. In the meantime we confidently trust the Government of the Dominion will cheerfully aid the people of this Colony in furthering their imme- diate admission. The memorial was forwarded to the Dominion Government and acknowl- edged by the Hon. S. L. Tilley, under date of March 25th, 1868, as follows: “The Canadian Government desires union with British Columbia, and have opened communications with the Imperial Government on the subject of the resolutions, and suggests immediate action by your legislature and the pass- age of an address to Her Majesty requesting union with Canada.” That the proposal was well supported on the Island is also shown by the fact that a Confederation League was formed to expedite the desired union with Canada. The officers of the organization, which numbered many members, were responsible and well-known men, several of them being in public life — James Trimble, president; the Hon. Edward Stamp, I. W. Powell, M. D., and J. F. McCreight, vice-presidents; R. Beaven, secretary; J. G. Norris, financial secretary; Messrs. George Pearkes, R. Wallis, Charles Gowen, M. W. Gibbs, Amor de Cosmos, and George Fox formed the execu- tive committee. According to its own declaration, the object of the League was “to effect Confederation as speedily as possible, and secure representa- tive institutions for the Colony, and thus get rid of the present one-man Government, with its huge staff of over-paid and do-nothing officials.” New Westminster also came out strongly in favour of Confederation, the Hon. John Robson, editor of the British Columbian , taking strong grounds and urging the people to take an active part in the campaign. And the residents of Barkerville, at an open-air meeting, declared unanimously “that in the opinion of this meeting, the conduct of the Government of British Columbia in opposing confederation, is contrary both to the policy of the Imperial Government and the declared wishes of the people of this Colony.” Then came the Yale Convention, consisting of delegates from all parts of the Colony, at which it was resolved, “that the proper remedy for the present political condition of the Colony, and the one that recommends itself as preferable to all others — being in harmony with Imperial policy and the legitimate aspirations and desires of the people of the Colony — is the immediate admission of British Columbia into the Dominion of Canada, on terms equitable, expedient and beneficial, simultaneously with the estab- lishment of representative institutions and responsible government; and that whether admission into the Dominion of Canada shall occur or not, repre- sentative institutions and responsible government should he inaugurated forthwith in British Columbia.” Among the delegates were J. B. Thompson and William Fisher, Esquimalt; the Hon. Amor de Cosmos, J. E. McMillan, J. G. Norris and R. Wallace, Victoria; M. W. Gibbs, Salt Spring Island; T. Fulton, Metchosin; the Hon. John Robson, H. Holbrook, Dr. Black and D. Withrow, New Westminster; H. Nelson, Burrard Inlet; W. Miller, Sumas; J. Donally, Harrison River; A. Rose, Chilliwack; C. Evans, J. Mc- [ 205 ] * Lardy and H. Havelock, Yale; R. Smith, Lytton; F. J. Barnard, Williams Lake; J. C. Armstrong, Quesnel Mouth; and C. W. King and E. H. Bab- bitt, Cariboo. All the influential centres were strongly for the further union, indeed, the more the matter was discussed the more it appealed to the people of the distracted Colony. Meanwhile, Sir John A. Macdonald, Premier of Canada, was not blind to the advantage that would ensue if the boundaries of the Dominion of Canada were extended to the Pacific Ocean. This prescient statesman, having the vision, desired above all things to round out the Dominion, living in the hope that one day British North America would become an autonomous whole, linked from ocean to ocean with a band of steel, and indissolubly welded by common ties of interest and loyalty. The Privy Council at Ottawa, urged thereto by Sir John, in a minute of council, dated March 6th, 1868, recommended that as no official communication had been received from Brit- ish Columbia on the subject of Confederation, the Governor-General of Canada should transmit to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, a copy of the memorial and resolution from British Columbia and to request His Grace to instruct Mr. Seymour to take such steps as may be deemed proper to move the Legislative Council of British Columbia to further action, in terms of the Imperial Act, and that His Grace be informed that the Govern- ment of Canada was prepared to submit to Parliament a proposal for the admission of the western colony into the Dominion. It was urged that the intervening Northwest Territory should be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Canadian Government in order to make the acquisition of British Co- lumbia both feasible and logical. In due course the Northwest Territory was transferred to the Dominion and thus the last obstacle in the way of confederation was removed. At the same time, or shortly thereafter, Sir John A. Macdonald, fully aware of Governor Seymour’s unfriendly attitude, thus addressed the Gov- ernor-General confidentially : I enclose a letter from a newspaper man in British Columbia to Mr. Tilley, giving, I fancy, an accurate account of affairs in that Colony. It corroborates the statements of Mr. Carrall, whose letter I enclosed to you some time ago. It is quite clear that no time should be lost by Lord Granville in put- ting the screws on at Vancouver Island and the first thing to be done will be to recall Governor Sey- mour, if his time is not out. Now that the Hudson's Bay Company has succumbed, and it is their in- terest to make things pleasant with the Canadian Government, they will, I have no doubt, instruct their people to change their anti-Confederate tone. We shall then have to fight only the Yankee adventurers and the annexation party proper, which there will be no difficulty in doing if we have a good man at the helm. It has been hinted to me that Mr. Musgrave, whose time is out in Newfoundland, would have no objection to transfer his labours to British Columbia. Such an appointment would be very agreeable to the members of your Government, and to the country generally. Mr. Musgrave has acted with great prudence, discretion and loyalty to the cause of Confederation. He has made himself personally very popular in Newfoundland, and I have no doubt would do so on the Pacific as well, if he had the chance. Almost everything, I may say, depends upon the choice of the Governor, as we found to our cost in New Brunswick, where we were thwarted and for a time defeated by the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Gor- don, Lord Aberdeen’s son, who took strong ground at first against us. All his subsequent endeavours on the other side, after receiving instruction from the Colonial office, were fruitless, as his private opin- ion was known to everyone; hence the necessity for his removal to Trinidad, and the substitution of General Doyle. But death suddenly removed the recalcitrant Governor of British Co- lumbia. He died on H. M. S. Sparrowhawk at Bella Bella on June 10th, 1869. The body was brought to Victoria and interred in the Royal Naval cemetery at Esquimalt, where a monument stands to his memory. What- ever may be thought or said of Governor Seymour, it is certainly true that he was imbued with a great love of British Columbia. Unfortunately, he was not fitted, temperamentally, for the responsible position to which he was appointed, apparently through influence. [206] Governor Seymour was succeeded by Governor Anthony Musgrave, in accordance with the wishes of Sir John A. Macdonald. He arrived at Victoria on August 23rd, 1869. The new representative of the Queen was entrusted with the delicate task of uniting the Colony with the Dominion of Canada, having been specifically instructed to shape his policy solely with that end in view. Unlike his unfortunate predecessor, he was firmly imbued with the idea that Confederation in itself was eminently desirable from all points of view. He lost no time in reconciling opposing interests, winning the good esteem of all by his manly attributes of mind and character. Sir John A. Macdonald and Governor Musgrave were heartily in sympathy in the matter of Confederation. It is not surprising, therefore, to find the Do- minion and Colonial administrations working in harmony for the first time. Before the new Governor had reached his capital, a despatch (August 14th, 1869), was already on the way to him from Lord Granville, instructing him to consider himself authorized, either in communication with the Governor- General (of the Dominion, Sir John Young), or otherwise, to take such steps as he properly and constitutionally could for promoting the favour- able consideration of the question of union with Canada. The Governor therefore adroitly kept the question prominently before the people until the next meeting of the Legislature, which was convened on the 16th day of February, 1870. The Legislative Council was called upon to consider the resolutions framed by the Governor himself, with the assistance of his execu- tive, relative to the all-important question of the hour. It was destined to be the most memorable session of that body, for it was to consider and to decide the question whether or not British Columbia should continue to stand alone or become an integral part of the great Dominion created in 1867. The Legislature called upon to deliver judgment in this all-important case was composed of the following members: The Hon. Philip Hankin, Colo- nial Secretary and presiding member; Henry Pering Pellew Crease, Attor- ney-General; Joseph William Trutch, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works; Wymond Ogilvie Hamley, Collector of Customs; Arthur Thomas Bushby, Acting Postmaster-General ; Edward Graham Alston, J. P. ; Henry Maynard Ball, J. P.; Henry Holbrook, J. P.; Peter O’Reilly, J. P.; Au- gustus Frederick Pemberton, J. P.; Edward Howard Sanders, J. P.; George Anthony Walkem, J. P.; Thomas Lett Wood, J. P.; Francis Jones Barnard, Yale; Robert William Weit Carrall, Cariboo; Amor de Cosmos, Victoria district; Edgar Dewdney, Kootenay; Montague William Tyrwhitt Drake, Victoria city; Thomas Basil Humphreys, Lillooet; David Babbington Ring, Nanaimo; and the Hon. John Robson, New Westminster. The Terms of Union proposed by the Governor to the Council were briefly: Canada to assume the colonial debt of British Columbia; the pop- ulation to be rated at 120,000, and as the debt of British Columbia was less than that of the other provinces, interest at the rate of 5% per annum, payable half yearly in advance was to be allowed on the difference between the actual amount of its indebtedness and the indebtedness per capita of the population of the other provinces. For the support of the local govern- ment, the Dominion to grant yearly the sum of $35,000 and 80c. per head for each inhabitant — the population being rated, as mentioned, at 120,000 — and the rate of 80c per head to be continued until the population should [207] reach 400,000 at which rate the subsidy was to remain fixed. The survey for a line of railroad to be commenced at once. A wagon road to be com- pleted within three years after Confederation and not less than $1,000,000 to be spent, in any one year, in its construction. The Canadian govern- ment to guarantee 5% interest on a loan of £100,000 for the construction of a graving dock at Esquimalt. To provide fortnightly steam communication with San Francisco; regular communication with Nanaimo and the interior. To build and maintain a marine hospital and lunatic asylum at Victoria and a penitentiary in any part of the Colony it might think advisable. To de- fray the expenses of the judicial, postal and customs departments; to use all its influence to retain Esquimalt as a station for Her Majesty’s ships and to establish a volunteer force in the Colony; the same protection and immu- nities enjoyed by the provinces to be extended to British Columbia; that British Columbia should be allowed eight members in the House of Com- mons and four senators; and that the present officers of the Colonial gov- ernment should be pensioned by Canada. The memorable debate began on March 9th and ended on March 25th with the adoption of the resolutions in an amended form. Then, Dr. the Hon. J. S. Helmcken, Mr. Joseph W. Trutch and Mr. W. W. Car- rail were entrusted with the task of negotiating the Terms of Union with the Dominion authorities. The delegates left Victoria for Ottawa on May 10th, 1870, and on July 7th the Terms were agreed upon, the Dominion accepting almost in their entirety British Columbia’s proposals. The most important clause in the treaty between Canada and British Columbia, known as the Terms of Union, provided for the construction of a railway to connect the seaboard of British Columbia with the railway system of Canada. That famous provision, the interpretation of which gave rise to so much ill-feeling and controversy in after years, reads: The Government of the Dominion undertake to secure the commencement simultaneously, within two years from the date of the union, of the construction of a railway from the Pacific towards the Rocky Mountains, and from such point as may be selected, east of the Rocky Mountains towards the Pacific, to connect the seaboard of British Columbia with the railway system of Canada; and further, to secure the completion of such railway within ten years from the date of such union: And the Government of British Columbia agree to convey to the Dominion Government, in trust, to be appointed in such manner as the Dominion Government may deem advisable in furtherance of the construction of the said railway, a similar extent of public lands along the line of rail throughout its entire length in British Columbia; not to exceed, however, twenty (20) miles on each side of the said line, as may be appropriated for the same purpose by the Dominion Government from the public lands in the Northwest Territory and the Province of Manitoba. Provided, that the quantity of land which may be held under pre-emption right, or by Crown grant, within the limits of the tract of land in British Columbia, to be so conveyed to the Dominion Government, shall be made good to the Dominion from contiguous public lands; and, provided further, that until the commencement within two years, as aforesaid, from the date of the union, of the construction of the said railway, the Government of British Columbia shall not sell or alienate any further portion of the public land of British Columbia in any other way than under right of pre-emption, requiring actual residence of the pre-emptor on the land claimed by him. In consideration of the land to be so conveyed in aid of the said railway, the Dominion Government agree to pay to British Columbia from the date of the union the sum of $100,000 per annum, in half-yearly payments in advance. It but remains to be said that the Terms as agreed upon were submit- ted to the people for confirmation at a general election held in November, 1870. The people showed by their votes the satisfaction they felt at the out- come of the negotiations in Ottawa. The new House consisted of fifteen members, six appointed by the Crown, and nine elected by the people. The elective members were Messrs. Helmcken and Nathan, Victoria city; Amor de Cosmos, Victoria district; Arthur Bunster, Nanaimo; Hugh Nelson, New Westminster; Clement F. Cornwall, Hope, Yale and Lytton; T. B. Humphreys, Lillooet and Clinton; W W. Carrall, Cariboo; and Robert J. Skinner, Kootenay. [ 208 ] The Legislature met for despatch of business on January 5th, 1871. Governor Musgrave in the speech from the Throne dealt particularly with Confederation, remarking: The Terms of Union offered by the Government of Canada were as liberal as the Colony could equi- tably expect. Indeed, in some respects, the arrangements agreed upon are more advantageous to us than the scheme originally proposed. I submit them to you in full confidence that you will join with me in this conclusion and I recommend to you at once to pass an address to Her Majesty, in accordance with the provisions of the British North America Act, 1867, praying for admission into the Union on those terms. * * * I shall, after the proposed Terms of Union with Canada, be prepared to introduce a bill to enlarge the number of popular representatives, excluding nominated members from the Council, so as to enable a new legislative body and the form known as responsible government to come into operation at the first session of the Legislature, subsequent to the union. • • * The Governor went on to say that at no time in the history of the Col- ony had any legislative body, whether on the mainland or Vancouver Island, been occupied with consideration of greater moment than those which now demand your solicitude, and which must, so deeply, affect the future prog- ress of the Province. On January 21st the Council unanimously passed the following resolu- tion, in accordance with the terms of the British North America Act: To His Excellency the Governor. May it please your Excellency: We, the members of the Legislative Council, in Council assembled, having agreed to an address to Her Most Gracious Majesty, praying that Her Majesty will be graciously pleased, by and with the advice of her most Honourable Privy Council, to admit British Columbia, under the provision of the 146 section of the British North America Act, into the Union or Dominion of Canada, on the basis of the terms and conditions offered by this Colony, by the Government of the Dominion of Canada as in such address set forth, do hereby pray that Your Excellency may be pleased to transmit such ad- dress to Her Majesty’s principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, to be laid at the foot of the Throne.” The House finished the business before it on the 28th day of March, 1871, Governor Musgrave proroguing the last Colonial Legislature of Brit- ish Columbia with a striking speech: I entertain the strongest hope and indeed cherish the assurance, that this coming event will be the commencement of a new and prosperous era for the community. The arrangement by which it will be inaugurated are the most favourable to this Province of the Dominion; and it will only remain for the good sense, moderation, and prudence of the people so to use their advantages and the circumstances by which they are surrounded, as to obtain a happy issue from the material benefits, and the working of the free political institutions which are about to be established. At the conclusion of a session begun under so great a sense of responsibility, and with so many important duties incumbent upon us in the arrangements necessary for the future, I congratulate you on the manner in which the business has been conducted. * * * Your existence as the first repre- sentative Legislature of the united colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island will be ephem- eral. Another of the measures to which I have referred will be the cause of your own extinction and the substitution of a larger and differently constituted legislative body. But your members may reflect with pride that you have been confided the privilege of deciding upon the most important question which has hitherto arisen, or are likely to arise for years to come, in the history of the Colony; to you be- longs the honour of extending the limits of the British American Confederation to the shores of the Pa- cific, and of cementing the foundation of a great and prosperous state, whose future promises to be en- lightened and progressive. For myself I feel proud that I have been permitted to participate with you in the work. But one of its effects will probably be soon to terminate my official connection with the Colony. I may not again meet the Legislature in session assembled, and I embrace this opportunity to express my thanks for the support which I have always obtained at your hands, and my acknowledgment of the harmonious re- lations subsisting between the Legislature and myself during the whole period of my administration. Whatever may be my future, I shall carry away with me from British Columbia, and I hope you will retain, a pleasant recollection of good feeling and mutual assistance in accomplishing the work we un- dertook to perform. On July 25th, 1871, His Excellency left for London, having executed his important mission with all honour to himself and with every satisfaction to the residents of British Columbia. Governor Musgrave was the last of the five colonial governors of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and he shares with Sir James Douglas the highest honours of the Colonial ad- ministration. In his subsequent career Governor Musgrave sustained his reputation as a sagacious and broad-minded administrator. Thus, on the 20th day of July, in the year 1871, the Crown Colony of British Columbia became the Province of British Columbia in the Dominion of Canada, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean marked the western limits [209] of the new Confederacy. In the course of its brief existence the Colony experienced many vicissitudes, but it survived all storms, emerging from each trial with renewed vigor and a higher purpose. The history of the Crown Colony is replete with human interest, and it may well be a matter for sin- cere congratulation, as it is a matter of wonder, that so much was accom- plished in the face of so many difficulties, in so short a space of time, with such slender resources. Whatever may be said, one fact must ever stand out prominently before all others — the pioneers built well and truly. They ever exhibited a lively faith in the future of the country, which was mani- fested in great enterprises, thereby bequeathing to posterity a splendid ex- ample of devotion and duty. [ 210 ] * SIXTY YEARS of PROGRESS BRITISH COLUMBIA Portraits of leading men in judicial, political and other capacities , who have been identified therewith The Honourable DAVID CAMIRON Chief Justice of the Coloiy of Vancouver Island from May 5, 1856, to Ocober 11, 1865, brother- in-law of Sir James Dougas. MOHIMAD CUVACI sfdfiioonoH 9 rf T ““JTr'n 50 '‘ ,0 ' 03 io ” f, “t »’» d ,e 1 * n 19cr03 ° ot ,0681 t e ybM mod -esguoQ earnst ii2 io wsl-ni DAVID CAMERON The Honourable JOSEPH NEEDHAM Chief Justice of Vancouver Island from October 11, 1865, to March 31, 1870. Subsequently ap- pointed Chief Justice of Trinidad, and was in the receipt of Knighthood. MAHdaaW Hqaaoi sldfi-monoH 3 rfT isdoJoO moil bnslsl isvuoonEV lo aohsu\ lairiO -qe xltnaupszduS .0T8I ,18 riaisM oi ,8381 ,11 srit ni 8bw briE .bfibiniiT lo aohau^ IsiriD bsJnioq .booriirigina lo Jqisosi JOSEPH NEEDHAM The Honourable SIR MATTHEW BAILLIE BEGBIE Chief Justice of British Columbia from Novem- ber 29, 1858, until June 11, 1894. Knighted Novem- ber 26, 1874. Died, June 11, 1894. JAILLIE B aiaoaa aujiAa wshttam his MdmuonoH »dT -msvo VL moil sidmixIoD rfailha lo sohauX isiriD -rrrevoW baJrisina >C8I « 1 1 anuX liJnu ,8£8I ,CS isd .*681 ,11 snoX .baia .H8I ,dS iad MATTHEW BAILLIE BEGBIE The Honourable THEODORE DAVIE, Q. C. (De- ceased) Born, March 22nd, 1852, at Brixton, Surrey, Eng. Educated, private school. Came to B. C. 1865. Called to bar, 1877. Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1882-1895. Premier and Attorney Gen- eral, 1892-1895. Appointed Chief Justice of Su- preme Court February 23rd, 1895. Died, March 7th, 1898. -3d) .0 .Q 3IVAO aaoaoaHT aldfiiuonoH srfT (fassBsa .gn3 ,Y3 tju 8 ,noixn8 is ,S28I ,bnSS riaiisM ,moS .2981 .3 .8 oi acnsD .looxfoa aisviiq .bsJfiDuba avhslaigaj sdt lo isdrnsM AT8I ,iBd oJ ballsD -nuO ^smtoiiA bns isima-a .568i-£88I .yldmaaaA -u 8 io 3Di*suX. lairiO b3inioqqA .2P8I-S68I ,Isi3 rfaisM .baxQ .£681 ,bt8S '(iBindaa JiuoD anrwiq .8681 ,rM THEODORE DAVIE The Honourable ANGUS McCOLL (Deceased) Born, Toronto, Ont., November 8th, 1854. Edu- cated, Chatham High School. Studied law in the office of Alexander, now Judge Bell, Chatham, and in Sir Oliver Mowat’s office, Toronto. Practiced profession in Winnipeg, Man. Came to B. C. in 1882. Was appointed Supreme Court Judge of B. C. October 13th, 1896, and Chief Justice of Supreme Court on August 23rd of the same year, succeeding the Honourable Theodore Davie. Died, January 16th, 1902. (bsaEsaad) JJODoM 2UOVIA aldBinonoH sriT -ufaa .A£8I ,riJ8 ladmavoH ,JnO .otnoioT ,moH sriJ ni wb! bsihulS, .Ioodo2 rigiH msdlBriO .batBD bnB .rnsriJEdO JIaH sgbut won t i3bnExsIA lo aoifto bsoiJoBi*? .oinoioT ,33rfto a'fswoM lavilO ii2 ni ni .0 .3 oi sihbD .nsM .gsqinniW ni noiaasloiq lo 3gbut JmoO amaiqna baJnioqqB asW .S88I lo 93i iaul lairiO bnB ,dG8I ,ri*£I isdoJaO .0 .H armsa sdf lo bi£S JaugtrA no JiuoD 9m9iqn2 ,baiQ .aivEd aioboariT aldsuronoH ariJ gnibaaoo ua .SOei ,riic)I YiBuriB^, ANGUS McCOLL The Honourable GORDON HUNTER, C. J. (Victoria) Born, Beamsville, Ont., May 4th, 1863. Educated, Brantford College, Brantford, Ont., Toronto Uni- versity, where he graduated in 1885, winning Lome silver and Lansdowne gold medals for general proficiency. Studied law in office of McCarthy, Hoskins & Creelman and called to Ontario bar 1888. Came to B. C., 1892, and appointed first official law reporter to the Supreme Court. Later became Crown Solicitor. Appointed Chief Justice of B. C., 1902, which position he now holds. One of the organizers of the Young Men’s Liberal Association of Toronto in 1887, first organization of this kind in Canada. (sboloiV) -l .0 ,H3THUH MOOHOO aldfiinonoH ariT .bsiBouba .£981 ^bM «.tnO .aliivamBaa ,mo8 -inU ofnoioT ,.lnO .biobnBifi .agalloO biolJnBiS jmoJ gninniw ,£88 1 ni baisubBig ad aiartw .^iiaiav iBianag tol alfibam blog anwobanfiJ bns lavlia ^dJifiDaM lo aaifio ni wb! baibutg .^onaiadoiq iBd oiiBtoO oi ballsa bns nfimlaaiD * anbiaoH Jaid balnioqqfi bns ,S68I ,.D .3 o i arnsO .8881 7 * 1 bJ .JiuoO amaiquS ad* of laJ-ioqai wbI iBiorflo sohau\ lairiD baJnioqqA .loiiaifoS nwoiD armsaad snO .ablori won ad noiiiaoq riairiw ,S0CI ,.D .3 lo leiadiJ a'njM gnuoY adi lo aiasinBgio aril lo nobssinfigio laid A88I ni olnoioT *o noijfiboaaA .BbcnsO ni bnii aids io GORDON HUNTER The Honourable JAMES ALEXANDER MACDON- ALD, LL. B., K. C. (Victoria) Born in Huron County, Ont. Educated, Collegiate Institute, Stratford, Toronto University and Os- goode Hall. Came to Rossland, 1896. Member of Legislative Assembly, 1903-1909, during Arhich time he was leader of the Liberal opposition. Appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal, November 30 th, 1909. JAMES ALEXANDER MACDONALD -WOGDAM JiaaVIAXaJA 83MAI aldfiiuonoH adT (shoJaiV) .3 .X ,.3 .JJ ,GJA atfiigsIIoD .baiBouba dnO .'{JnuoD ncnuH ni moS -aO bns ^JiaiovinU oinoioT ,bio}J6i*2 .stuJitanl lo isdrrwM .6081 .bnBlaaoX o* amsO .HbH aboog rfoiriw gnnub ,0O0i-£O0i .xldrrrsaaA avbBlaigsJl bsinioqqA .nobiaoqqo leisdij aril lo iabEsI asw sd iadmavoH .IfiaqqA lo JiuoD srb lo aabauX. lairiD .0001 ,ri*0E JAMES ALEXANDER MACDONALD His Honour SIR JOSEPH WILLIAM TRUTCH, K. C. M. G., M. I. C. E. (Deceased) Son of William Trutch, Solicitor of Ascot, Somer- set, England, and St. Thomas, Jamaica. Educated, Exeter, Devonshire, and qualified as civil engineer. Went to California, 1849, and subsequently prac- tised his profession in California, Oregon, Illinois and Michigan. Came to British Columbia in 1859, constructing various public works. Chief Com- missioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor-Gen- eral of B. C., 1864-1871. One of the delegates to Ottawa in 1870 to arrange Terms of Union and the first Lieut.-Gov. of B. C., 1871-1876. Died, March 4 th, 1904. .0 .X ,HDTU5iT MAIJJIW Hq32C>t HI2 monoH aiH (baasaoaa) .3.D.I.M ,.O .M -iamo8 ,ioaaA lo ioiioilo8 .riaimT rrjBilliW lo no2 ,bai£aub3 .sdieotb^, ,3£rnorfT .i8 b ns ,bnBl§n3 ,iaa .laanigna livb as baRilfiup bns .aiirtenovaG ,iaiax3 -OBiq ylinai/paadua bns ,6J>8I .EimolilBD oi inaW aionilll .nogaiO .BimolilsO ni noiaaaloiq airi bash ,6281 ni BtdmnloO riaiih3 oi amsD .nB^irioiM bits -raoD lairiD .adiow oilduq suonsv sniiomianoo -naO-io^avuj8 bns ajhoW bnB abnsd lo lanoiaaim oi aaifigalab aril io anO .n8£-£08I ,.3 .3 lo Isia aril bns noinU lo armaT agnBUB oi (K8i ni BwsiiO daifiM ,baiG .0T8i-n8I ,.0 .3 lo .voO-.iuaiJ iaift >06 1 .riifr JOSEPH WILLIAM TRUTCH His Honour the Honourable ALEXANDER NORTON RICHARDS, Q. C. (Deceased) Of U. E. Loyalist stock. Born in Brockville, Ont., 1822. Studied law with his brother, late Chief Justice of Canada. Called to the bar, 1848. He was member of Executive Council, Canada, and Solicitor-General, 1863-1864. Came to B. C., 1871, where he was legal agent of B. C. Lieut-Gov., 1876-1881. Died, March 6th, 1897. .EXANDE idOTHOft 33CIWAX3JA aldeiuonoH aril luonoH aiH (boaEoooCI) .3 .p .8GHAH3I5I ,.inO .sllivjboifl ni mofi .aboia Jailfi^oJ ,3 .XJ 10 lairiD sJbI .isdioid aid rillw wbI baibuJg -SS81 ,H .8*81 ,ifid sri* oi ballfiD .BbBOBO lo aohaul fans .BbBnfiO ,lbnuo3 3vlJuosx3 lo iadmsm sbw ,.3 .3 oi soibO >d8I-.Ed8I ,isi9n90--50ibiIo8 ,.voO-}uaiJ .3 .3 lo insgB legal bbw ad siariw ,tT8I-I\ k 8i .isisnimiesW wsM .snommoD }o sanoH -t88I .lomsvoO-inBnsiusiJ .t88l-0^81 ,7oiEns8 •an3 .nobnoJ ni ,£001 J>t£ rioisM .bsiQ .$081 HUGH NELSON His Honour the Honourable EDGAR DEWDNEY, C.E., P. C. (Victoria) Born in Devonshire, Eng., 1835, and educated as a civil engineer. Came to B. C., 1859, and followed his profession for some years. Represented Koot- enay Legislative Assembly 1868-1869. Returned Yale to House of Commons at general elections, 1872, 1874 and 1878. Appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs of North West, 1879. Appointed Lieut-Gov. Northwest Territories, December 3rd, 1881. Dominion Minister of the Interior, 1888, and Lieutenant-Governor of B. C., 1892-1897. ( See Chapter Advisory Board.) EDGAR DEWDNEY ,.3.0 ,Y3HGW3G HA0G3 aWsiwonoH srfi luonoH aiH (EiiotoiV) .0 .3 b a& balBOJiba bnn ,8E 81 ,.§n3 ,3ixrianov9G ni mofl bswollol bns ,e£8t ,.0 .3 ol smsO . 793 x 11309 livia -Joo3 bsl nasaiqsH .aiBav smos loi noiaaaloiq aid bsmutsH .9081-8881 ^IdmaaaA svhBlaigaJ \j6na .anobosfe Lsionsg Je anommoO lo sauoH ol »IbY lo isnoiaatmmoO bsxmoqqA .8T8I bns #^^8I ,£T8I balnioqqA .6Y8X .JaaW rfnoW lo aiififtA naibnl ,bi£ isdmaosG ^aaiiotinsT iaswriliold .voO-lusiJ ,8881 ,ioii9tnI sdt lo lalainiM rtoinimoG .1881 3»3 ) .Y68I-S681 ,.0 .3 lo lonisvoO-JnBnaJusiJ bitB (.biBoH xtoaivbA islqBriO EDGAR DEWDNEY His Honour the Honourable THOMAS ROBERT Me- INNES, M. D., C. M. (Deceased) Born in Nova Scotia, 1840. Educated Normal School, Truro, N. S., and Harvard University. Mayor of New Westminster, 1876-1878. Member of House of Commons for New Westminster, 1878- 1881. Senator, 1881-1897. Lieut-Gov., 1897-1900. Died, March 14th, 1904. THOMAS ROBERT McINNES -oM TH3SOH 8AMOHT aldsioonoH aril monoH siH (b 98 B 3 D 9 a> .M .0 ,.a .M .33VIVII IarmoVl b9lB9ub3 .0£8I ,siio:>2 Bvold ni mo8 .^JiaisvinU bisvisH bns ,.8 .VI ,oimT JoodoS ladmaM . 8^81-3181 .isianimJeaW wsW lo io^sM -8V8I .isignimJasW w»H iol enommoD lo ssuoH lo .0061-^81 ,.voO-}U9xJ Ae8I-I88I ,io}Bn98 .1881 >061 ,rf*M HoibM ,b9iQ THOMAS ROBERT McINNES His Honour the Honourable SIR HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY DE LOTBINIERE, K. C. M. G., K. C., D. C. L., L. L. D., P. C. (Deceased) Son of the late Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, a Huguenot native of France, and Jule Christine Chartier de Lotbiniere, grand-daughter of the last Marquis de Lotbiniere. Born in France, Decem- ber 5th, 1829, and educated there. Came to Canada and was called to the Quebec bar, 1885. Elected to the Canadian Assembly, 1861, for Lotbiniere; took prominent part in debates on Confederation in opposition; first elected to House of Commons, 1867, and also to Quebec Assembly, remaining a member of both bodies until 1874, when dual rep- resentation was abolished; he remained in the ■ local Legislature and led opposition until March, 1878, when called upon by the Lieutenant-Governor to form a government; resigned as Premier, 1879, and was leader of the opposition until 1883; re- signed his seat in the Legislature in 1885, in conse- quence of the Riel agitation, of which he disap- proved; was elected to the House of Commons for Port Neuf, and joined the Laurier administra- tion as Controller of Inland Revenue, and became Minister of Inland Revenue in 1897. Was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, May, 1895. Took an active inter- est in forestry and was prominently associated with forestry and fruit growing associations. Was entrusted in September, 1896, with diplomatic mis- sion of conducting Li Hung Chang, Viceroy of China, through Canada. Appointed Lieutenant- Governor upon the dismissal of Hon. T. R. Mc- Innes, June 21, 1900; when term of Lieutenant- Governor ceased, retired to his home in Quebec, and died in 1907. • FOLY DE LOTBINIERE 3VAT3UO IHH3H HI3 sldsiuonoH sril luonoH aiH ,.0 .3 ,.D .M .0 .3 ,393IWI9TOJ 30 YJOl (fa9SB9D9a) .o.q ..a.j.j ,.j.o.a £ ,yIot svbIbuQ ansi*! b7£qgeO sis! sril lo no3 snilanrfO slut Jbrus ,33nBi9 lo svilsn lonsuguH Iasi sd* lo idldgUBb-bnB-ig ,3i3«nidloJ sb isiliBrfD -msosG ,3on£i9 ni mo9 .sisinidloJ sb ampisM jsbfiXifiQ oi smsO .sisril bslfioubs bns ,6S8I ,dl£ isd bsiosIS .£881 ,isd osdsuQ sril ol bsllsa sbw bets ;3i3inid*oJ ioi ,1981 .yldmsasA nfiibfinBO sril ol noilfiisbslnoD no aslsdsb ni liBq Insnimoiq riool ,saommo D lo sbuoH ol bslosLs laid ;noiliaoqqo ni b gniniBmsT .yldmsaaA osdsuQ ot oalfi bns A98I -qsi Ifiub nsdw ,K8I lilnu asibod rilod lo isdmsm sril ni bdnifimsT 3d jbsdailodB bbw noilBlnsaai .rioifiM lilnu nohiaoqqo bsf bns siulfilaigsJ IbooI TomavoO-lnBnatusiJ sril yd noqn bsllfio nsdw ,8^81 ,6^81 ,i3im3i c [ sb bsngiasi jlnsmmsvog b nnol ol -31 ;£88I Ihnu nohiaoqqo sril lo isbfisl bbw bns -sanoa ni ,£881 ni aiulBlaigsJ sril ni l£3a aid bangia -qfiaib sri riairiw lo ,noil£lig£ IsiSI sril lo sonsup anomrnoD lo sauoH sri* ot batoah bbw ;b3voiq -BhainimbB isnuBJL aril bsnioj; bns .lusM 1109 10 I srnBosd bns ,sr.rn3V3H bnslnl lo isIIohnoO aB noil sbBm bbW ACS I ni aunsvaSI bnfilnl lo islainiM IssrioiM .13 lo isbiO aril lo isbnfimmoD lrigin3 -tslni svilDB ns riooT .£681 ,yfiM ,3g-«osO .13 bns bslsiooaafi yllnsnimoiq bbw bns yilBsiol ni las bbW .BnoilEiaoaas gniwoig liml fans yilasiol riliw -aim oilBmolqib riliv/ ,9681 ,isdmslqs3 ni balsuilns lo yoisoiV .gnfiriD gnuH iJ gniloubnoa lo noia -InBnalusiJ bslriioqqA .fibsnfiD riguoiril .sniriD -oM .9 .T .noH lo Ifiaaimaib sril noqu lomsvoQ -InBnslusi lo rmsl nsdw ;006I ,IS snut ,asnnl .asdsuQ ni smori aid ol bsiilsi .bsasso lomsvoO A06I ni bsib bns HENRI GUSTAVE JOLY DE LOTBINIERE The Honourable JAMES DUNSMUIR (See Chapter IX.) HIUM8MUCI 33 MAI sldmuonoH adT (.XI lalqfiriD 338) JAMES DUNSMUIR His Honour THOMAS WILSON PATERSON (Victoria) Lieut.-Gov. B. C. Born, Ayrshire, Scotland, Dec. 6, 1851. Educated public schools, Oxford, Ont. Commenced career on public works, Ontario, 1869. Came to B. C., 1885. Elected for North Victoria to B. C. legislature, 1902-1903. Appointed Lieu- tenant-Governor, Dec. 11, 1909. Was contractor on the E. & N. Railway construction, the Shuswap & Okanagan Railway and the Victoria & Sidney Railway. Farms extensively and is a large land owner. HOaaaTAq H08JIW 2AMOHT -tuonoH aiH (fiiiotDiV) .asCI ,bnsI*o:>2 .aiirfai^A ,mo8 .0 .3 .voO-.iuaiJ .UtQ ,biolxQ ,8loofbe aildnq batuai/ba .R8I ,d .6d8I ,ohfiinO ,dww oilduq no taaiBa baonammoD ehotaiV dnoVi -jol bataaia .£881 , 0 .3 oJ amaO -usid bat nioqqA .EOef-SOCI .a-uftslaigal .0 .3 oi •J0l3stino3 asW .60QI ,11 .aad ,-iomavoO-tnsnst qswsurfg adt .nobstmanoa yswiiaH .VI 2 .3 arf* no X3fEbiS * fi£70*?iV adt bns viswfisH nsgansdO * bnsl agisl £ si bns vlavsinatxa arms'? .vsw!i sH •tsnwo THOMAS WILSON PATERSON The Honourable JOHN FOSTER McCREIGHT, Q. C. (London, England) An Irish Barrister and came to B. C. from Aus- tralia; was called upon to form the first adminis- tration for British Columbia under responsible government, December, 1871, in which he took office as Premier and Attorney-General ; resigned Premiership, 1872. Elected for the Legislative Assembly for Victoria City at the general election of 1871; appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, November 26, 1880, and retired November 17, 1897. .0 .Q .THOiaHOoM HaTSOa WHOl aldEiuonoH arfT (bnfilana ,nobnoJ) -buA moil .0 .0 o* srnBD bnE laJainBH rfghl nA -zinimbB iaiR orlt rrnol oi noqu ballBD zbw ;bHbU aldianoqaai iabnw sidrrmloD risbha iol nobfiiJ jioot ad rfoiriw ni ,K8I .ladma^a ,Jn»mmsvoa bangiaai ;l6ianaO-\jamoiiA bns •jairnai‘1 ee aaffto avhBlaiaaJ arij lol bs*oa!3 .S^8I .qiriziaimaia noiJoala iBianag arit Jb BiioJaiV lol yldmaaaA ,1iu oO amaiqwg sri* lo asbul. baJnioqqB ;H8i lo AC8I ,U ladmavoVL baiiJai bnB ,0881 ,dS isdrnavoH JOHN FOSTER McCREIGHT The Honourable AMOR DE COSMOS (Journalist, Deceased) Born at Windsor, N. S., and educated there and in Halifax. Went to California in 1852 and came to B. C. in 1858, where he founded the “British Colon- ist” in that year. Owned and edited “British Colonist” until 1863. Founded “Daily Standard,” Victoria, 1870. Was member of the old Legislative Assembly until 1871. Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1871-74. Premier and President of the Council, 1872-1874. Elected to House of Com- mons for Victoria, general elections, 1872, 1874 and 1878. Died July 4, 1897. Original name William Alexander Smith, changed by act of California Legislature. ,Jeil6/nuo{,) 20M303 3G SOMA aldsmonoH arfT (ba8£333G ni bn£ siariJ baisouba bris ,.3 .W ,ioabniW Jb mofl o 1 arnso fans S£8I ni simoiiifiO oi inaW .xbIHbH *noloD riaiJha" aril babnuol ad aiariw ,8281 ni .D .3 daitn8“ baiiba bne banwO .isay isd* ni "Jai ",biGbns}3 ylifiG" babm/o^ .£881 lilnu "JainoIoD avhsIaigaJ bio ad* lo isdmsm bbW .0X81 .BnoJaiV aviiBlaigaJ arij lo ladmaM .IV8I Ibnu yldmaaaA lo Jnabiaai*! bns laimai^ .K-IX8I .yldmaaaA •moO lo aauoH ol ba*aaI3 .K8I-SX8I JiannoD ad* bri£ K8I ,SX8I .anobaala iBianag ,Bho*oiV iol anom msilliW arnsn IfinighO .X08I .I 1 yluj. baiG .8X81 BimolifBO lo ioB yd bagnsdo ,riJim3 aabnsxalA .aiulBlaigaJ AMOR DE COSMOS The Honourable GEORGE ANTHONY WALKEM, Q. C., F. R. G. S. (Deceased) Born, Newry, Ireland, 1834. Educated, McGill College, Montreal. Studied law with the late Sir John Rose, Q. C. Called to Bar, 1864. Came to B. C., 1862, and was member of the Legislative Council before Union. Represented Cariboo, Leg- islative Assembly, 1871-1882. Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, 1872. Attorney-General, 1872-1874 and 1878-1882. Premier of B. C., 1874- 1876 and 1878-1882. Appointed puisne Judge, 1882. Retired Nov. 10th, 1903. Died July 13th, 1908. ,M3[XiJAW YMOH'i A A 30H05J0 sfc'smonoH ariT (b3069D»a) .8 O H .3 ,.0 ,p IfiOoM .bsteoufoa >£81 .bnisbil .yiwaM ,moH ii2 3 *b 1 sril ritiw wb! baibutg .IsaitnoM .sgsIfoO oi omsO >381 .ibS ol ballsO .0 .Q ,»aoH nrfol avilBlai-gad sdt lo udmsm zbw bns ,S381 , 0 .3 -S8,I .oodhcO biJfisaaiqsH noinU siolsd IbntioO ■janobaimrnoO IsiilO .S88I-K8I .^IdmaaeA 3vit6i 0 j .LB-urttO-y^frioHA .St81 MtoW hti b abnsJ lo -K8I ,.0 .3 lo isiatjnq .S88I-8S8I bns K81-ST8I •S88I .3Sb«t snaioq bhlnioqqA ,S88I-8t8I bne 3^8! .8061 .rftSI ^iut baiCI ,£0ei ,ril01 .voVt boiilsH GEORGE ANTHONY WALKEM The Honourable ANDREW CHARLES ELLIOTT (Deceased) Born and educated in Ireland. Called to bar, Lin- coln’s Inn, 1854, and came to B. C., 1859. County Court Judge, 1860. Stipendiary Magistrate, Lil- looet, 1861. High Sheriff, B. C., 1867. After- wards Police Magistrate, Victoria. Member Leg- islature, Premier and Attorney General of B. C., 1876-1878. Died, San Francisco, April 9th, 1889. ANDREW CHARLES ELLIOTT TTOIJJ3 23JHAHD W3HCIWA aldfi-monoH ariT (bazESDsd) -niJ ,iBd o J ballsQ .bnelsil ni bsiEDubs bnt nioS ^JnuoO .6881 ,.D .3 o 1 smss bns t *88I ,nnl B'nloa -liJ .sJB-iiaigBM ^iBifonaqiiS .0981 .sgbul, JiooD -laiiA .'CdS I ,.D .3 ,Bhsri2 rf^iH .1881 ,*»oof -gsJ ladrrwM .ehoioiV .sisiJzigfiM soiloSE ebisw ,.D .3 lo IsianaO bns isinwi 4 ! .amJElzi .0881 .die IhqA ,03Bbn6i3 nE<3 ,b9iQ .8\8I-8V8i ANDREW CHARLES ELLIOTT The Honourable ROBERT BEAVEN (Victoria) Son of the Reverend Prof. Beaven of Toronto, where he was educated. Formerly merchant of Victoria; Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, 1872-1876; Minister of Finance, 1878-1882, and Premier of British Columbia, 1882-1883. He was Mayor of Victoria for several terms and member of the Legislative Assembly continuously from 1871-1894. ROBERT BEAVEN (fihotaiV) VL3VA3H THaSOH aidfiiuonoH ariT .olnoioT lo navsaS .loi 1 ! bnaiavaH aril lo no2 lo InBriaiam yIiarrno3 .balsouba sbw ad aiariw brtB abnBJ lo lanoiaaimmoD lairiD ;BhoioiV ,5881-8^81 .aonun i3 lo lalainiM ; 9^81-5^81 .ariioW aH .E88I-S88I .sidmuIoD riailHa lo laimai*! bnB bns arrnal Isiavaa iol sholoiV lo loysM asw ylauomtilnoa ytdmaaaA avhfilaigaJ aril lo ladmam .I'CSI-nSI moil ROBERT BEAVEN The Honourable WILLIAM SMITHE (Deceased) Born in Scotland, and came to British Columbia in the early sixties. First returned to the Legis- lative Assembly for Cowichan district, 1871, in which he sat continuously until his death in 1887 ; was made Minister of Finance and Agriculture, August 10, 1876, in the Elliott government, and ap- pointed Auditor of the Beavan government. In 1883 became Premier. LLIAM SMITHE (boaBoooCI) 3HTIM3 MAIJJIW aldsmonoH srfT BidmoIoO rfabha oi smsD bns ,bn£boo3 ni niofl -aigoJ srfi oi bsmuloi laiia .aobxia yliBo aril ni ni ,K8I ,*ohiaib nsrfoiwoD tol '{IdmaaaA avitsl ; T88I ni riJssb aid Ihnu ^lauounbnoo las ltd rioidw .siuiluoiigA bos sonania lo lotainiM sbBm asw -qB bns ,}njmmsvos itoillS sdJ ni ,3^81 ,01 JauguA nl dnommsvog navaga adl lo lotibuA bolnioq .isimoia smaood £881 WILLIAM SMITHE The Honourable ALEXANDER EDMUND BATSON DAVIE (Deceased) Born in Somersetshire, Eng., in 1847 and educated at Silcothe’s School, West Yorkshire. Came to B. C., 1862. Admitted to Bar, B. C., 1868; Law Clerk Legislative Assembly, 1872-1874. Elected to the Legislature for Lillooet, 1886-1890. Premier and Attorney-General of British Columbia, 1887- 1889. Died, August, 1889. bslBouba bn£ ?£8I ni ,.gn3 ,siiria}i>ai9ino3 ni moH ot smsO .anirfad-icY JasW ,Ioorb3 abdioaftS 1b wb%I ;8d8I ,.D .3 ,ig8 o 1 besttirnbA .£381 ,.Q .S oi bM.oalS .K8JL-£^8i .yldrrwaaA avbBlaigaJ disID isimsi*! .0681-3881 .JaooHiJ tol siolBlaiaaJ arit -V88 1 .BidmufoO riabii8 lo iBianaO-yamollA bne .6881 ,tausuA .haid .6881 ALEXANDER EDMUND BATSON DAVIE The Honourable JOHN ROBSON (Deceased) Born in Perth, Ont., 1824. Educated in grammar schools there. Came to B. C. in 1859 and estab- lished the “British Columbian” newspaper in New Westminster. Mayor of New Westminster in 1866. Government Pay Master, C. P. R. for B. C., 1875- 1879. Member of Legislative Assembly, New Westminster, 1866-1870; Nanaimo, 1871-1875; New Westminster, 1882-1890; Cariboo, 1890-1892. Prov- incial Secretary, 1883-1885. Minister of Finance and Agriculture, 1885-1886. Provincial Secretary and Minister of Mines, 1886-1892. Premier of B. C., 1889-1892. Died, London, Eng., June 29th, 1892. tBOimstg ni balBOi/bS ,>£8i ,.JnO .rfltsq ni mo3 -dslas bns 6681 ni .0 .9 ot stnsO .aiarii eloorfos wsM ni isqsqawan "nBidmuloO rteitha’* aril bariail .3681 ni isJgnimiasW wald lo "ioysM .laianimboW -2^81 ,.0 .0 lol .H .1 .0 ,i5i3BM '{B*! JnjmtnsvoO t wsW .^IdrnagaA avitBlaigaJ lo isdmaM ,eT8I ) vr^Vi ; S’CSI-I V8I .omisnsW ;0T8i-638i .lalsnimiaaW -voi*! .£681-0681 .oodhcO ;0681-S88I .islsnimJasW aonsnia lo -wlsiniM . 2881-8881 ,^ibJ 9 im 2 Ifibni YiBisnsB tBionivoia .6881-2881 ,9imIiobsA bns ; lo isimsia .£681-3881 ,esniM lo laiainiM bns ,ri*QS axuit ,.au3 .nobnoJ .bsid .£681-C88I ,.D .9 ' .£681 ] i The Honourable JOHN HERBERT TURNER (London, Eng.) Born in Ipswich, Eng., 1834, and educated there. Resided in Halifax, N. S., 1856-1858, and subse- quently in Charlottetown, P. E. Id., 1858-1863, set- tling in B. C. the latter year. Member of the Council of Victoria, 1872-1879. Mayor, 1879-1882. Member of the Legislative Assembly for Victoria City, 1886-1901. Minister of Finance and Agricul- ture, 1887-1898 and 1900-1901. Premier, 1895-1898. Appointed Agent General of B. C. in Great Britain, September, 1901. .nobnoJ) H3WHUT TH38H3H MHOl sldsiuonoH sriT (,gn3 .atari* ba*6auba bus ,K8I ,.gn3 .ritiweql ni mo3 -aadua bnE ,8281-6281 ,.8 .14 .xeIHbH ni babiaaH -*aa ,£681-8281 ,.bl .3 .3 .nwoJaJJoIiEriO ni ^Itnaup arf* lo tadmaM .tBay ta**Er ari* ,0 .3 ni anil} .S88I-G^8i ,io\(bM .eT81-SV8I .BiioJoiV lo lianuoD BiiolaiV tol ^IdmaaeA avbfilaiaaJ arl* lo tadmaM -luangA bns aanEni3 lo taJainiM .I0QI-688I ,^*iD .8G8I-2G8I .laimat*! .1061-0061 bns 8G8i-V88f ,atu* ,nifi*h3 *satD ni .0 .3 lo IfitanaO JnagA balnioqqA .1061 ,tadma*qa8 JOHN HERBERT TURNER The Honourable CHARLES AUGUSTUS SEMLIN (Cache Creek) Farmer and stock-raiser. Born, Ontario, 1836. Educated public school. Began career as school teacher in Ontario, 1852. Came to B. C., 1862. Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1871-1875, and from 1882-1903. Was leader of the Liberal opposition for some years. Premier, 1898-1900. Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, August 12th, 1898, to March 12th, 1899. Provincial Sec- retary March 10th, 1899, to February 27th, 1900. iRL iUSTUS SEMLIN WIJM33 3UT3UDUA 33JHAHD aldiiiuonoH oriT (d99i0 ariofiD) •d£8I .oiiBlnO ,mo8 .igeiBi-oloola fans igmiEa loorioa as 199163 nsgoa .loodos oilduq bolsoubS ,Sd8I „0 .3 oi smsD .S28I .oiiEinO ni igrfoBol .CV8I-I V8I ^IdmgaaA 9vi}El8tg9J oril io lodrrwM Ifii9diJ 9ril io i9bB9l bbW .806I-S881 moil bits .0061-8681 ,i9im9i3 ,giB9^ smoE ioI noilizoqqo lauguA ,33hoW bnB abneJ lo ignoiaeimmoD IgtriD -398 ffiioniyoi*! .6081 .rilSI doisM ol ,8081 , rilSI .0001 ,dlVS i{iBi/id93 ol ,6681 ,rilOI rioisM ^iBl9i v CHARLES AUGUSTUS SEMLIN The Honourable JOSEPH MARTIN, K. C., M. P., Brit. House of Commons (London) Barrister and Legislator, practising before Privy Council, London. Born, Milton, Ont., Sept. 24, 1852. Educated, Milton public schools and Toronto Normal School. Commenced career as telegraph operator and later school teacher, Ottawa. Called to Bar of Manitoba, 1882, and practised at Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg. Called to Bar of B. C., 1897, and became head of legal firm, Martin, Craig & Bourne, and special counsel C. P. R. Director and Vice-President Northern Pacific and Manitoba Railway. Elected to Manitoba Legislature, 1883, and sat continuously until 1892, when he retired. Was Attorney-General and Railway Commissioner of Manitoba, 1888-1891, and of B. C., 1898-1900. Premier of latter Province, 1900. Elected to Cana- dian House of Commons for Winnipeg, 1893. Un- successfully contested Stratford-on-Avon constitu- ency, Brit. House of Commons, 1909, and elected for E. St. Pancras, 1910. JOSEPH MARTIN .Jha ,.q .M ,3 .X ,WITHAM Haaaoi aldfiiuonoH ariT (nofanoJ) anommoO lo aauoH ^vhq siolad gniailosiq .lolBlaigaJ bns islainsa ,t>£ .iq»2 ,.JnO .nolliM ,mo3 .nobnoJ ,lioni/o3 olnoioT bnB aloorfoa aildoq nolfiM .bslsauba .Sd8i riqBigsIaJ as laaiBa baonsmmoO .loodag IsmioM ballfiD .ewbJJO .isrioBst loorioa islsl bns lolBisqo agBjioq 1b baahosiq bns ,S88I .BdotinsM lo ieE ol ,.0 .3 lo is8 ol ballfiO .gaqinniW bns ahiBiE bI gifiiO .nhifiM ,/mrl Isgol lo bssri arnBood bns ,^081 lolaaiiG .3 ,q .3 laanuoo Isiosqa bns .amuoS & BdoJinsM bns aftiosq marilioM -inabiaaiq-soiV bnB ,£881 ,3-juisIaig9J sdolinsM oJ balosia .^bwIibH .baiitai ari norfw ,S08I Ibnu ^lauouniinoo Jbb bnB isnoiaaimmoO ^swlisH bnB IsiansD-^amollA as W .0001-8081 ,.3 .3 lo bns ,1081-8881 .sdolinBM lo -bhb3 oJ bsJaaia ,0001 ,3onivoiq lallsl lo iaimai3 -nU .£081 ,gsqinniW lol anommo3 lo aauoH nsib -uliianoo novA-no-biolJBti2 bolaslnoo ijIIulaaaoDua bsJaala bns ,0001 ,anornmo3 lo aauoH .iha .yona .0101 ,ssionsq .12 .3 ioI JOSEPH MARTIN Lieut. -Col. The Honourable EDWARD GAWLOR PRIOR, P. C. (Victoria) Born, Yorkshire, Eng., May 21st, 1853. Educated, Leeds grammar school, and at Wakefield in Mining Engineering. Came to B. C. in December, 1873, and was Inspector of Mines for two years. Elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1886 for Victoria, resigning to represent city in House of Commons until 1896. Appointed Dominion Comptroller of Inland Revenue, Dec. 19th, 1895. Re-elected to Legislative Assembly, 1900. Minister of Mines, November, 1900, to June, 1903. Premier, Novem- ber, 1902, to June, 1903. Hardware merchant. HOJWAO G9AWG3 aldfiioonoH sriT .loD-.iusiJ (siioioiV) .3 .3 ,30133 ,b9i Boub3 .££81 ,iaiS ybM ,.gn3 , 3 iirf 8 >hoY ,m oS §niniM ni blsftsjJsW is bns Jooriaa ismmsig abssJ ,£T8I .isdmsosG ni .0 ,9 oi sm sO .grthmnignS bsias 13 .aiBsy; owi iol esniM lo ioiosqgnl asw bns .siioioiV iol d88I ni xldmoaBA sviiBlaigsJ aril oi anommoO lo sanoH ni x } i:> insasiqsi oi gninaiaai lo i3lioiiqmo3 noinimoG bsinioqqA ,0681 fiinn oi bsiosls-sH .£681 ,rii61 .osG ,3un3V»3 bnslnl .esniM lo isiainiM .0061 ^IdmsagA svbclaigsJ -msvoM .laimsiq .£061 .smi], oi ,0061 .isdmsvoW .infirioiam siawbisH .£061 ,9tiu\ oi ,S0et ,isd EDWARD GAWLOR PRIOR The Honourable SIR RICHARD McBRIDE, K. C. M. G., LL. B., K. C., M. P. P. (Victoria) Son of Arthur H. McBride, formerly warden B. C. Penitentiary. Born, New Westminster, December 15th, 1870. Educated high school, New Westmin- ster, and Dalhousie University, N. S. Called to the B. C. Bar, 1892. Contested Dominion elections New Westminster district unsuccessfully, 1896. Sat for Legislative Assembly, Dewdney, 1898-1907, and subsequently for Victoria City from 1907 to the present time. Minister of Mines, June 21st, 1900, to September 30th, 1901, after which he was leader of the Opposition until June 1st, 1903, when he became Prime Minister. Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, June 1st, 1903, to November 5th, 1903. Subsequently Minister of Mines. Was made Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, September, 1912. (See Chapter XIII.) RICHARD McBRIDE M .3 .3 .aaiHHDM <35IAH3I5I HIE sldfiiuonoH ariT (BitoiDiV) .q .q .m ,3 .a ,.a .jj ,.o .3 .a nabisw ,9bh3aM .H iiiriiiA lo no8 TadrrraaaCI .TaianimiaaW wsM ,mo3 .^iBiinaimaq -nimlaaW wsW .looriaa rigid baifioubS .0^81 ,riiEI orfi oi bsIIsD .8 .M .yiiaiavinU aiauorflBCI bnB ,iaia anoiiaala noinimoQ baiaaim>3 .Se81 ,is3 .3 .3 .0681 .ifllulaaaoauann iahiaib TaianimlaaW wald .T06I-868I .yanbwad .yldmaaaA aviiBlaigaJ iol 1 b 3 oi T06I moil ^ii3 BhoiaiV iol ^linaupaadua bnB ,iaIS am/}. .aaniM lo laiainiM .amii inaaaiq arii 3BW ari rfoirfw Tails ,I0CI ,rfi0£ TadmalqaS oi ,0061 narfw ,£061 ,ial aniil, liinu noiixaoqqO arii lo labsai ianoiaaimmo3 lairf3 .laiainiM axnhq amBaad ari ladmavoH oi ,E0ei ,ial anu^. .ariioW bnB abnfij lo 8 bW .aaniM lo laiaxnxM \;^ n 3dpaadu3 .E06I ,rii£ .i3 lo labiO arii lo iabnfimmo3 irfginX absm aa3) .SI6I ,iadmaiqa8 ,agioaO .i3 bnB lasriaiM (.IIIX iaiqBrf3 RICHARD McBRIDE The Honourable JAMES TRIMBLE, M. D. (Deceased) Born in Ireland. Sat in the old Vancouver Island Assembly. Represented Victoria City, Legislative Assembly, 1871-1876, during which time he was Speaker. Died January 1st, 1885. JAMES TRIMBLE (b 92 £ 90 i»a) .a .M .3J8MI5IT 23MAI aldsioonoH sriT bnslal isvooanfiV bio srf* nf Js2 .bnBlail ni mo3 9vhBlaia9«I t'iiiD shoioiV bsJnaaaiqaH .'jldmaaaA 3Bw ad omb doiriw gniiub .d'ISI-KSI .^IdmaaaA .2881 ,*ai yiBunfit bsid ,T93l£9q2 JAMES TRIMBLE The Honourable FREDERICK W. WILLIAMS (Deceased) Born in England. Elected to the Legislative As- sembly for Esquimalt in 1875, and re-elected at next general election. Appointed Speaker 1878. 8MAIJJIW .W XDIHaaaHTI aldutuonoH arfT (b38£333Q) -aA avijsIaigaJ arfj 0 } balosia ,bn£lgn3 ni moS i£ baJsala-ai bne ,6^81 ni tlsmiupaa ioI ^Idmaa .8^81 I3>f£9q2 bainioqqA noilaala leisnag ixan FREDERICK W. WILLIAMS The Honourable JOHN ANDREW MARA (Victoria) Born, Toronto, Ont., July 21st, 1840. Educated there. Commenced business career as general mer- chant, Kamloops. Later interested in flour and saw mills. Member Legislative Assembly, 1871- 1886. Speaker 1883-1886. Represented Yale- Kootenay, Commons, 1887-1896. President Vic- toria Board of Trade, 1906. Director of industrial, mining and land companies and of Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria. Was member of the Provincial Commission for the rating of the members of Civil Service. JOHN -JDREW MA (simroiV) AHAM W3HQMA MHOl alds^uonoH b^Duba .OMI ,*aIS yl«l ,dnO ,oinoioT .niofl '” m lB79n9 S sb 1931BD aaaniaud baona mmoO ,a 7 adt ni b9,3913,ni -sgoormsa .Jnsrio -K3I .^IdmaaaA avitBlaigaJ „dmaM , 3fIim W£g .* .688I-E88I -radBaqg d88I -3«V *nab,aa7£8J ,.8 .14 .xsiiieH ni mo8 ne8 .-wqBqew^n "IIbD gnimoM" babnuoa .Y .M ,8?,8l ,dtCI ylut ,.D 9 oJ amsO .8081 .osannsia )m £2 srf* .BnoJoiV “,9l3inoi(i3“ aril bsbnuo} bns sril baJBmBglfimB bns "JeinoIoD** bstssrioiu^ .issy -IoD“ b!o8 .0881 ,»nuX. ".slainoirfD'* bns "ieinofoD" .yldmaaaA svllsIaigaJ arii lo ladmaM .0881 ",izjno A68I-0e8I ,i33iE9q2 .0001-8881 .Jlsrniupaa DAVID W. HIGGINS The Honourable GEORGE PATON BOOTH (Deceased) Born in Scotland. Came to British Columbia in 1859 and settled on Salt Spring Island; repre- sented Cowichan in the first Provincial Parliament of B. C., 1871 to 1875; sat for the Islands in the sixth Parliament, 1890-1894, and for the Victoria district, 1894-1898; re-elected at general election, 1900; elected Speaker in spring of 1898 at the close of the seventh Legislature, and again July, 1900. Died, February 25th, 1902, aged 64 years. (baaBaaaCI) HTOOS MOTAq 30H030 aldBiuonoH ariT ni BidmiiloO riaitiaa ot amfiO bnfiitoag ni rno9 -aaqaa ;bnfilal gnhq3 iIe 3 no baittaa bns 6£8I tnamsiliEq Isionivoiq laid arfi ni nsdaiwoD bainaa •a fit ni abrtBisI arit aol isz ; 6'C8I ot K8i ,.D .3 lo BiaotaiV aril aol bns >681-0681 .tnamsihEq ritxia .noiiaala Isaanag is bataaia-aa ;868I-J>681 .taiitaib aeoia adt is 8681 'to gnhqa ni aadBaq# bataala ;006I .0061 .ylurX. nis^s bns .aiutslei^aj dtnavaa aril lo .atEay £5 bags ,S06I ,rit£S yiEinda3 ,baiQ GEORGE PATON BOOTH The Honourable THOMAS FORSTER (Clayton) Farmer. Born in Hexham, Northumberland, Eng., and educated there. Member of the Legislative Assembly for Nanaimo, 1890-1894; Delta District, 1894-1900. Speaker Legislative Assembly, 1898- 1900. (nof^BlO) HaTaaO'S 8AMOHT aldsiuonoH arfT ,.3n3 ( bnBf-i3dfntiri^oV! .rnsdxsH ni moS .lafnisa aviifiteigaJ ad* lo ladmaM .aiarfJ baJsaoba bns .JaiiJeKI BlIaG ; *081-0681 ,omi6nBW iol: xldmaaaA -8681 ,x!dma 28 A avbfiteigaJ iadsaq2 .006.1-*e81 THOMAS FORSTER The Honourable DAVID McEWEN EBERTS, K. C. f M. P. P. (Victoria) Born, Chatham, Ont., 1850. Educated, Chatham grammar school and Hellmuth College, London, Ont. Studied law and called to B. C. Bar, 1882. Member of Legislative Assembly, 1890-1900 and 1903 and subsequent general elections. Attorney- General, 1895-1898, 1900-1903. Elected Speaker, 1907 and again in 1910 and 1913. DAVID McEWEN EBERTS ,.o .a .STaaaa wawaaM aivAa sidciuonoH adT (shotaiV) .a .a .M msdlEdO .baiuauba .0881 ,.JnO ,rnErilBd3 ,moH t nobrxoJ ,agaIIo3 dJumllaH bnB locdaa ismmsxg • S881 .ibH .0 .9 oJ ballsa bnB wbI baibulg .1 nO bns 00QI-098I ^IdmaeaA avbslaigaJ lo ladmaM -yamoltA .anoiiaala Isianag inaupaadua bnB £091 ,iadfiaq2 baJaaO .£091-0091 ,8981-8981 .IsianaO .£191 bnB 0191 ni nisgs bnB ^091 The Honourable SIR CHARLES HIBBERT TUPPER, K. C. M. G., K. C. (Vancouver) Born, Amherst, N. S., August 3rd, 1855. Edu- cated, McGill and Harvard Universities. Degree, LL. B. Commenced practising profession in Hali- fax, 1878. Member House of Commons, 1882- 1900. Was Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Minister of Justice and Solicitor-General in Con- servative Administration prior to 1896. Came to B. C., 1902. Knighted for service in connection PER .aaqquT xaaaaiH 23 jxahd Hi8 aidBiuonoH sht (javuoDtieV) .0 .X ,.0 .M .0 .X -ub3 .S68I ,fn£ tauguA ,.2 M ,iai9 rimA .moB .saigaG .asiliaisvinU bisvisH bne IliQoM .bstEo -HbH ni noiaaaloiq gniaboBiq bsonammoO .3 .JJ -S88I .anoinmoO lo aatroH isdmaM .8^81 ,xb! .eahsriaia bnB anhsM lo isJainiM bbW .0061 -noQ ni IsianaO-ioiioiloS bns aoi izuj, lo isfainiM oi jtnfiQ .3681 ol noiiq noilBiiainimbA avilBviaa noiJDannoo ni aoiviaa iol bslriginX .S06I ,.D .3 .noitBiJidiA bo 2 gniiaB sri* riJiw CHARLES HIBBERT TUPPER The Honourable MARTIN BURRELL, M. P. (Grand Forks) Born at Faringdon, Berks., Eng., October 15th, 1858. Educated, St. John’s College, Hurstpier- point. Professional horticulturist. Bank clerk, England, 1875. Came to Canada, 1883. Engaged in fruit culture. Came to B. C., 1899. Unsuccess- ful candidate Yale-Cariboo election, 1904. Elected House of Commons, Yale-Cariboo, general elec- tions, 1908 and 1911. Appointed Dominion Minis- ter of Agriculture, October, 1911. MARTIN BURRELL bnsiD) .3 .M .JjaSIHUa WITSIAM aidfiiuonoH arlT (ajho3 ,rfi2I iadoioO ,.gn3 ..aihsS ,nobgnhB3 is moS -isiqiaii/H .ogalloO a'nrfo|. .18 Jbsifiouba .8281 Mulo jJnsa .iahuiluDiiiori iBrroiaasloi 1 ! .inioq bagsgn3 .E88I .BbanfiO ol artisD .2^81 ,bnBlgn3 -aasoauanU .6P8I ,.0 .3 oi amsO .aioiluo iiinl ni bsioaia >OCI .iioiiosla oodhsO-sIsY aiBbibaso lul -oala Isianog .oodhfiD-slBY .anommoD lo aauoH -ainiM noinimoG bainioqqA .IIQI bnB 80CI ,anoii .IIQi .isdoioO ^luiloongA lo ist MARTIN BURRELL HENRY HERBERT STEVENS, M. P. (Vancouver) Accountant and Financial Broker. Born, Bristol, England, December 8, 1878, and educated at Bris- tol, England, and Peterborough, Ontario. Came to Peterborough, Ontario, May, 1887, and the Pro- vince of B. C. in June, 1894. Director of the Ter- minal City Press and president of the Western En- gine & Supply Company, Ltd. ; alderman of Van- couver, 1910-1911, and elected member of the House of Commons in the general elections 1911; chairman of the Burrard Joint Drainage Commis- sion, and originator of the Burrard joint drainage scheme, a very comprehensive scheme to provide for a system of drainage for a population of 500,- 000 people. HENRY HERBERT STEVENS (lavnoonsV) .3 .M ,8W3V3T2 TH33H3H YHM3H ,Iolah8 ,mo8 .lajloia Ision6ni3 bns InBlnnoooA -ana t£ balBouba bnB ,8T8i ,8 isdmaoaG ,bnfilgn3 smsD .oiisJnO ,riguoiodi3l33 bnB ,bnElgn3 ,Iol -oi3 aril bnB A88I ,\;bM .onBlnO ,riguoiodiala4 oi -iaT aril lo lolaanG .£68i ,anu\ ni .3 .3 lo aoniv -n3 rnslaaW aril lo Inabiaaiq bn/> aaatl \;}i3 lenim -hbV lo nfirmablB ; .bl J t ^nBqmoD ylqqt/g j& anig aril lo udmsm balaaia bnB ,1161-0161 ,iavuoa ;II6i anoilaala Isianag aril ni anommoD lo aauoH -aimmoO agBnnsiG Inioj. biBnu8 ari l lo nBmjiBria agBniBib iniot biBima aril lo loiBnigho bns ,noia abivoiq ol amariaa avianarfaiqmoa xnv s , amariaa -,002 lo noilBluqoq b iol agBnisib lo malay^ b iol .alqoaq 000 HENRY HERBERT STEVENS The Honourable HENRY ESSON YOUNG, B. A., M. D., LL. D., M. P. P. (Atlin) Born, February 24th, 1867, English River, Que. Educated at Queen’s University, Kingston, and McGill College, Montreal, taking post-graduate studies in England. Elected Legislative Assembly for Atlin, 1903, and at subsequent general elections. Appointed Provincial Secretary and Minister of Education, 1907, which offices he still holds. HENRY ESSON YOUNG ,.a .M ,.A .a .OMUOY 110883 YHW3H alds-iuonoH ariT (niijA) .q .q m ,.a .jj .auQ ,iaviH daiign3. ,V©81 ,rflfX yiBuidal ,mo8 bnc .noie^niX ,y:tia7avinU g'nsiuQ is bslesubSi 9lsub&T$~te oq snirfsl ,lsaUnoM ■ ;asaIIoO HiOaM yldmaseA avbslaigaj baJaai3 bnBtso3 ni eaibula .anofaoala Isianag *naupaedua Jb bns ,£0 Qi .niliA -sol \o laleiniM bile yisiaiaag fejamvcnq batnioqqA .ablod llba ad eaDrfto riaidw ,T0rfT (99k>)8 -ub» bus ,.inO .nolmoj ,6981 ,rtlf 'pBind»q ,rnoH btari bnis ,.0 .3 ,9aioiai9VoH oi scntsO .»n»rU balsa jiTtos 70 I usabasJ i&, isbiooar jninim Jo nohitoq yld/nswA aviisbijisJ Id aadmaM bslaaia .»mij -Mb Isi9«»s insupaadne bite ,OOCI joi -sQ .sjIsioW ailduH Jo isleiniM bslnioqqA .jfnoii .8061 ,1*1 S isdmaa THOMAS TAYLOR The Honourable PRICE ELLISON (Vernon) Born in Durham, Cheshire, Eng. Educated, Bow- don, Cheshire, Eng., and St. George’s, Manchester, Eng. Came to Okanagan, B. C., 1876. Engaged in ranching. Acquired large interests in land. Ex- tensive stock raiser and fruit-grower. First elected to Legislature for the East Riding of Yale in 1896 and has continuously represented that district since then. Became Commissioner of Lands, November, 1909. Appointed Minister of Finance and Agriculture, October, 1910. (nomaV) W03U.I3 301513 aldsiuonoH ariT -woH .baJBoubS .gnS ,aiidaadO .msriioQ ni nioS /latzarionsM .E'agioaO J8 bits ,.;gn3 .aiiriaariO ,nob ni bagfignS .d^8i ,.0 .3 ,nsgsn6>10 oJ amsO ,gn3 -x3 .bnsl ni Bteaiatni agisl baiiupoA .gnirionBi baJoala iaij3 .lawoig-liml bns laaifii doota avianai 5C8I ni a!j»Y lo gnibi5I Jbb 3 aril iol aiulsIzigaJ oi ioniatb Jadt balnaaaiqai ^(auounhnoo sad bna .abnsJ lo lanoiaaimrnoO arriBoaa .nadl aonia a?nBni3 lo 7alainiM balnioqqA .C06I .ladmavoM .OICI .ladoloO .aiuiluohgA bns PRICE ELLISON The Honourable WILLIAM RODERICK ROSS, M. A. K. C., M. P. P. (Fernie) Born, March 29th, 1869, at Fort Chipewyan, Atha- baska. Son of Donald Ross, Hudson’s Bay Com- pany. Educated, St. John’s College, Winnipeg. Member of the Legislative Assembly for Fernie Riding, 1903 to the present time. Appointed Min- ister of Lands, October 10, 1910. WILLIAM RODERICK ROSS .A ,M ,280 H XDIHaaOH MAIJJIW sldfiii/onoH sriT (simal) q .q .M ,.D .X -BritA .ns^wsqiriO ib ,Cd8i ,ri*CS HdibM ,moH -moD ^bS s'nosbuH ,aaoH blEnod lo no8 .Bjiasd SsqinniW .agalloO a'nrfot .12 ,bs>:>B:>i/b3 .\{nBq aims'? id yldmsaaA svbBlgigs,! srit io isdmsM -niM bsJriioqqA .smb Jnsasiq srii cd £061 .gnibiJI .0161 ,01 JsdotoO .gbnsJ lo is*gj WILLIAM RODERICK ROSS The Honourable ALBERT EDWARD McPHILLIPS, K. C., M. P. P. (Victoria) Born at Richmond Hill, County of York, Ontario, March 21st, 1861. Educated at St. Boniface Col- lege and Manitoba College, Winnipeg. Called to Manitoba Bar, 1882. Came to B. C., 1891. Mem- ber Victoria City Legislative Assembly, 1898-1900 and “The Islands Electoral District”, 1907, and, subsequently, 1909. Appointed Attorney-General, 1903, but defeated in bye-election and resigned. Appointed president of the Council, October 10th, 1910. ,gqi JJUH<3bM QHAWaa THaflJA sldfiiuonoH ariT (BiioioiV) .q .q .M , 0 .X ,ohstnO ,j!ioY lo x^nuoD ,liiH bnorartoiX 1 b moS -Io3 sDBlinoS .18 is bsisoubSL .1581 ,18IS rioifiM oi ballfiO .ssqinniW .asalloD BdolinsM fans agal "fnaM .1681 ,.D .8. oi amsO .S88I ,i bS sdotinfiM 0061-8681 .yldmaaaA avilBleigaJ 'tliO BholoiV isd t bnB .VOG I ."lainziG Isiolaaia zbnslel adT" bns ,lB7anaO-\;axnollA balnioqqA .6061 /(Ilaaupaadtia .bangiaai bns noilaala-ayd ni balsalab iud ,£06 1 ,dl01 ladolaO JiomioD aril \o Inab iaaiq balnioqqA ,oiei ALBERT EDWARD McPHILLIPS Lieut.-Col. The Honourable JAMES BAKER (Deceased) Brother of Sir Samuel Baker and General Valen- tine Baker Pacha. Born, London, Eng., 1830. Educated Cambridge University. Served in Army and Navy with distinction. Private Secretary to the Duke of Westminster and author of “Turkey in Europe,” and other works. Came to Shookum Chuk, B. C., in September, 1884. Afterwards moved Joseph’s Prairie (now Cranbrook), having bought out John Galbraith. Represented East Kootenay Legislative Assembly, 1890-1900. Provincial Sec- retary and Minister of Mines, 1892-98. Died 31st of July, 1906. MES BAKER (bigMoad) aaXAa 33MAL sldBiuonoH arfT .IoD-.JufliJ -nalfiV tBisnaO bns isjtsa laurnsg ii2 lo isriioia .0£8i ,.gn3 .nobnoJ ,mo3 .sri db*! wjifiH anii yrmA ni baviaS .'{iisiavinU a^bhdnwD balsoubS. oi yisisioaS aifivhS l .noiioniiaib ritiw bns ni 'iSJiiuT' 1 lo loriJn/s bns isianimiaaW lo ajluCI sdi rmnioorig oi smsD .adiow isriio bn6 ",»qo-iu3 bavom abiswiaJlA >881 ,i3drn9Jq92 ni ,.3 .3 .jiuriD Jrianocf gnivBri .(jJooidnsiD won) ahiBift a'riqaaot. YfinsiooX ias3 baJnaaaiqsK .rhiBidlsO nriot iuo -oaZ I6fonivoi3 .0061-0681 .^IdmaaaA avilBlaigoJ iziZ bsiQ .86-S68I .aaniM lo laJainiM bns ^ibJoi .9061 ,^IuX, lo JAMES BAKER MONTAGUE WILLIAM TYRWHITT-DRAKE (Deceased) Born, 20th January, 1830, at King’s Walden, Hert- fordshire, England; son of late Rev. George Tyr- whitt-Drake. Educated at Charterhouse. Admit- ted a Solicitor in England, 1851, and practised there until 1859. Came to British Columbia, 1859. Admitted as a Solicitor in B. C. in 1860. Called to the Bar, 1873. Appointed Q. C., 1883. Member of the Legislative Council for Victoria, 1868-1870. Member of the Legislative Assembly for Victoria, 1883-86. President of the Executive Council, 1883-4. Appointed a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1889. Retired, 1904. Died, April 19th, 1908. Married, 1862, Joanna, daughter of James Tolmie, of Ardersier, Scotland. WILLIAM TYRWHITT-DRAKE MONTAGUE aXAHa-TTIHWHYT, MAIJJIW 3UDATMOM (bszsjtDsCI) -iisH .nablfiW e'aniX iB ,Q£8I .^iBunjs^ riiOS ,mo8 -i^T agiosQ .v»H 9 *bI Io nos ;bnslgn3 .aiiriabioi -timbA .aeuorhaiisrfO *b balEOuba .aHBiCI-Jtiriw baaiJosiq bns ,1281 ,bnslan3 ni icibiloS s bsJ .6281 ,sidmnIoD riaiinfl oJ smsO .6281 Ibnu aiarb bsIIsD ,0d8I ni .0 .3 ni iomiIo3 b be baliimbA ladnwM .£881 ,.D .Q bslnioqqA .£V8I ,ib£L ad* oi .CV8l-898i .sholoiV lol Iionuo3 avilB laigaj adi io .shoioiV iol tldmsaaA avilfifaigaJ aril io ladtnaM Jbm/oO avteuoaxa adl io Jnabieaia ,88-8881 amaiqog aril io a§bu(, ana in 4 ! b balnioqqA .f-E88i •Kiel .baiilaH .6881 ni BidmuloO riaiiha io JiooO ,BnnfioX ,Sd81 .bahiBM .8061 ,rii61 linqA .bsiG .bnsIloaS «iaiaT»biA io ,airnIoT asms!, io lairisusb MONTAGUE WILLIAM TYRWHITT-DRAKE ROBERT LESLIE THOMAS GALBRAITH (Fort Steele) Born, Caledon, County Tyrone, Ireland, December 23rd, 1841. Educated, Royal College, Raphoe. Began business career as merchant in Ontario, 1867. Came to B. C. in 1870. Member of Legisla- tive Assembly for Kootenay, 1878-1886. Subse- quently appointed Indian agent, which position he now holds. Largely interested in lands and Fort Steele townsite. Active in securing charter for Kootenay Central, now being constructed. ROBERT LESLIE THOMAS not) HTIAH8JAO 3AMOHT 3IJ23J 75138051 (»{ 99}2 ladmaaaG ,bn£la-!l .anoi^T \j3nuo0 .nobalsO ,mo8 .aoriqfiH .agalloD Is^oH ,ba}£Dub3 .1^81 ,bi£S .onsJnO ni insdoism zb lasiBo swsctizud nsgaH -BlaigaJ lo ladmaM .OTSi ni .0 .8 oi smsD ,V38I -aadi/2 .3881-8^81 .^BnaiooH ioI ^idmaaaA svb ad nobiaoq rfoiriw ,tna§£ neibnl bainioqqB Jno3 bn.s sbnjsi ni bslaasatni .ablori won loi isdiBrfo gnitoDSB ni svboA .abanwoi slaa)2 .batomia nos gniad won .IstiaaO ^snaiooH ROBERT LESLIE THOMAS GALBRAITH The Honourable JAMES DOUGLAS PRENTICE (Deceased) Born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, February 3rd, 1861. Educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh. Came to Canada about 1888 and for some time was a member of the staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce; settled in the Lillooet district and engaged in ranching; was Managing Director of the Western Canadian Ranching Company, Ltd.; was elected to the Legislature for the Lillooet district in the general elections of 1898 and 1900; became Pro- vincial Secretary in the Dunsmuir administration, June 21, 1900, and on the resignation of Hon. J. H. Turner, became Minister of Finance, September 3, 1901. Married Mabel Clare Galpin, daughter of Thomas Dixon Galpin, of Bristol House, Roe- hampton, Surrey, England, publisher. Died, 1911. aDITWaaq 2AJOUOO 23MAI gidEHJonoH sriT ( 59069330 ) .1581 ,bi£ yiBindta'? ,bnfiho32 .giirteshfinsJ ni moS ot 9mfiD .rfgiudniba ,333lIoD 891193 is bgiBouba 79dtn9iri £ sew 9mh 9fnoa 70 I bne 8881 luods fibEnsO jsaismmoO lo dnsS neibenED gril lo Asia grfl lo ni b98B§n9 bns iohlaib iaoollij gril ni bgilisa mala jW grfl lo lologiiG gni^BnEM asw ignirionsi b9i39i3 8Ew ;.biJ .^nsqmoO §niri3£iB5J nBibEnsD aril ni iaiiiaib igooliiJ gdi iol gmlBlaiggJ gril oi -073 9rnE39d ;0061 bns 8681 lo anoiloglg Isigngg ,noil£7iainirnbB liumam/Q grii ni yislgiogS iBioniv •H .noH lo nohen^iaai sdl no bns ,0061 ,IS gm/J. igdmglqgg ,93nBni3 lo 79lainiM gmsogd ,79muT igldgufib .niqlsO 97 bI 0 igdsM bghifiM . I OQ I ,£ -9oH ,90noH loiaha lo .niqlsO noxiG asmoriT lo .1161 ,bgiQ .igrfailduq ,5n£l3n3 ,Y9nu2 .noiqmfirf JAMES DOUGLAS PRENTICE ROBERT EDWARD McKECHNIE, M. D., C. M. (Van- couver) Born, Brockville, Ont., April 25th, 1861. Edu- cated McGill University, Wm. Holmes Gold Med- alist in medicine. Commenced professional career at Wellington, B. C., 1891. Came to Vancouver, 1903. Member Legislative Assembly, 1898-1900. President Executive Council B. C., 1898-1900. Five times elected to Council of College of Physicians and Surgeons, of which he now is president. -iibV) ;m d ,.a vm ajiAwaa THaaoa (19V003 -ub3 .1381 .rftjS IHqA .slliVjboiS ,moS -b4M bloO *9mfoH :«W .^tiaisvinU HiOoM balsa nasisa Isnbiaasicnq baansrfimoD aniaibam ni fails .MVi/oansV ol ntfisO ,.3 .3 ^oJgnHIsW Is .00Q1-868! ,^ftfmi>8zA svifbiaigaJ latffriaM £061 »via ;00ei-8e8l ,.3 .a lianuoD 9viltn9x3 IbabieS-iSt fensiaigyria lo ajjsIIoO lo TianuoD ol bslaaia asmil .irtabiasiq a* -won arf Hairfw lo ,8nb»S‘io2 bits « ROBERT EDWARD McKECHNIE I The Honourable ROBERT GARNET TATLOW (De- ceased) Born, September 6th, 1853, at Scarvia, County Down, Ireland. Educated, Cheltenham, England. Captain First Prince of Wales Regiment, Mon- treal, and attached to B Battery, R. C. A., Victoria. Came to B. C. in 1879, from Montreal. Member of Legislative Assembly for Vancouver, 1900-1909, and Minister of Finance and Agriculture, 1903- 1909. Died April 11th, 1910. JRT GARNET TATLOW ~»CI) WOJTAT T3WHAD THaaOH sldfiiuonoH uriT (b9SB33 i(JnooQ ,sivis3g *b ,6t8l ,dJd ladmojqag jnoBL .bnalsnS .marina} lariQ .bsiB^uba .bnsiail ,nwoG -noM aaleW lo aonM }aii3 nisjqtD .siiolaiV ,.A .0 91 .xiaiisS H oi bsdoslin bns .ieait ladrnaM .isailnoM moil ,6^81 ni .0 .3 ol am bO ,6061-0061 .lavuoansV iol yldmaggA avfrsIsiaaJ lo -EOCI .aiufloongA bne aansnia lo islainiM bn* .0161 r dm liiqA bait! .6061 ROBERT GARNET TATLOW The Honourable FREDERICK JOHN FULTON, B. A., K. C. (Kamloops) Barrister. Born, Bedlington, England, December 8, 1862. Educated, Cambridge, Eng. Commenced career as solicitor, England, 1887. Came to Brit- ish Columbia, 1889. Elected to British Columbia Legislature, 1900, 1903, 1907; Attorney-General and Chief Commissioner of Lands in administra- tions 1903-1909, when resigned. Has retired from public life and engaged in private practice. Of- ficial Administrator; Judge of Court of Revision, 1890-1900. President Western Canada Irrigation Association. Married Winifred M. Davie, daugh- ter of the late Hon. A. E. B. Davie. DDE ..a .a ,woTJua whoi xDiaaaaaa aidBiuonoH adT (aqooInriBX) .0 .X ladmaoaCI .bnslgna .xioJgnilbaa ,moa .laJainfiH baonammoO .gn3 .sgbiidmfiD .balBonba .S981 ,8 -Jha o 1 arrisD A88I .bnslgna ,7oli3iloa bb iaa ibd sidmuloD dziJha oJ baJoaia .6881 .BrdmuIoO riai Isi9naO-i(»niodA ;^061 ,£0QI ,0061 .a-iulsIaigaJ -BiJsinimbB ni abnsJ lo lanoiaaimmoO lairiD bns moil baiilai bbH .bangiaai nadw ,6061-8061 anoil -lO .aoilosiq alEviiq ni bagsg na bns alii ailduq .noiaivaH lo HuoO lo agbu^ jiolBilainimbA IsiaS noiiBgiril BbEriBD malaaW Jnabiaaia .0061-0681 -rigusb ,aivs<3 .M bailiniW bains M .noilsboaeA .aivsG .3 .3 .A .noH aisl aril lo ia* FREDERICK JOHN FULTON The Honourable CHARLES WILSON, K. C. (Vancouver) Barrister and Solicitor. Born, London, Eng., Feb- ruary 5th, 1841. Educated private school. Came to B. C., 1862. Resided for some time in Cariboo, which he represented in Legislative Assembly, 1882-1886. Represented Vancouver City, 1903- 1906. President Council, June 1st, 1903, to Novem- ber 5th, 1903. Attorney-General, November 5th, 1903, to March 15th, 1906. Commissioner consoli- dation statutes, 1910-1911. CHARLES WILSON .3 .3 .H02JIW 23JHAH3 aldBiuonoH ?riT (isvuoonsV ) -da'i ,.an3 ,nobnoJ ,mo3 .ioiiDi!o2 bns laiamsS srnsO .loorioa sJsviiq baJBoubS .If8I ,d}£ ,oodiis3 ni amil smoz ioi bsbissfl. Sd8l ,.D .3 oi .YldmsaaA avilBlaissJ ni bajn^asiqai sri rioiriw -£0ei .'{JiO -isfuoonBV bsinaaaiq^^ .388I-S88I -mavold oi ,80Ql ,}gl snut .IbrtuoD inabiaai^ .30C1 t riJ6 -ladmavoW .iBiansO-^moJiA .£061 ,riJ£ iad -iioanoo isnoiaaimmoO .dOQI ,ri}£I riaisM oJ ,£0ei .nei-oiei .asJirtBia nobfib CHARLES WILSON ROBERT PATTERSON RITHET (Victoria) (See Chapter Advisory Board). ROBERT PATTERSON RITHET (shoiaiV) T3HTIH W02H3TTA981 ,Biiol -iiaD moil inamfiiliBq laid oi balsa 13 .H8I liln u lo avilfilnaaaiqa3 .E'ISI lilnu baviaa bns ood .oodiisD lol balaaia-ai ;668I-S88i .loiiieib xomoO Inabnalniiaqua iBianag .Inabiaaiq-aoiV >061-0061 omiBnBM A JlfitniopaS aril lo laanigna lairio bns -ivib asw ad airil oi auoivaiq .E06I-E88X ,y6wli63 aril lo Be! a gniiaanigna aril no laanigna iBnoia andab ol balaalaa asw ari rioiriw gniiub ,.H .q .3 ;iavi3 aniriiig aril no yiBbnuod IsnoilBmalni aril yd balqobs naad aonia asri noilBbnammoaai aid aniq baiolqxS .noiaaimmoD IsnoilBmalni aril yldsdoiq asw hns ,8181 ,.3 .q .3 ioI aasq laviH -IA .yilnuoa aril alsilanaq ol nem aliriw laid aril .aisay owl lol BholaiV lol nemiab JOSEPH HUNTER GEORGE LAWSON MILNE, M. D., C. M. (Victoria) Born, Garmouth, Scotland, April 19th, 1850. Edu- cated Toronto Medical School, Victoria Univer- sity, Toronto University. Came to Canada, 1857. Came to B. C., 1880. Health officer for Victoria, 1884-1890. Registrar and secretary Medical Coun- cil and member Examining Board, 1886-1897. Do- minion Medical Inspector, Immigration Agent and Controller of Chinese, 1910-1912. Member Public School Board, member B. C. Legislature, 1890- 1894. Unsuccessful candidate for Dominion House of Commons, 1896. Honorary president Ramsay Manufacturing Co., president West Coast Fishing Co. Served Queen’s Own Rifles, Toronto. (shoJaiV) .M 0 ,.Q .M ,3MJIM MOSWAJ 303030 -ub3 ,0£8I ,riJ0I IhqA .briBlJoaZ .rfJuorrnfiO ,mo9 -isvinU siiolDiV .loorfaS [Boib3M olnoioT baJBO Ad8l .BbBHBO oi uiubO .yliaMvinU oJnotoT ia .shotoiV io1 iDorSo dJlsaH .0881 ,.D .9 oJ 9tn$3 -nuo3 IfiDibsM xiBJsiaaa bns lBiiaigaH .O08I-t'88I -oQ A08I-d88I ,bi6o9 gninirrnsxS ijdmsm brts fia bns JnsgA rtoiJBigimml .loioaqanl isoibaM noinim aildu 4 ! -rsdrrrsM .SI0I-OI0I .aaanirfO lo wIIoiinoD -0081 (SiuJBlaigaJ .3 .9 ijdmsm ,biBo9 Ioorfo2 sauoH noinitnoQ ioi sisbibnED luiaasaouanU >081 yBzm b 3 irwbiaaiq x iBlon °H .6081 ,anornmo3 lo gnidai3 iasoD JaaW Jrwbiaaiq t .oD gnhuJDBlunfiM .oinoioT .aaftiJI nwO a'nMuQ bsvisS .o3 GEORGE LAWSON MILNE ADOLPHUS WILLIAMS, K. C. (Vancouver) Barrister and solicitor. Born, Aylmer, Ont. Edu- cated Toronto University. Degree, B. A. Mem- ber Legislative Assembly for Vancouver, 1894- 1897, and subsequently Police Magistrate for City. Member of the Queen’s Own at battle of Ridge- way. PHUS WILLIAMS (isvi/oDfifiV) .0 .3 .3MAIJJIW BUHqjOaA -ub3 ,)nO t ii>inIyA .nioH .lotbiloa brie islsinfiS -msM .A .9 .asigsG .y*igi3vtr;U oJno-toT bsiso -£681 'lavuooneV tol yldmsaaA avbBlaigsJ isd yJiO iol sJBUaigBM sailo*! yltnaupsadua bns ,^(?8I -agbiH lo alJtsd Jb nwO a'nMuQ »r!i lo ladmsM .yew ADOLPHUS WILLIAMS CHARLES HERBERT DICKIE (Duncan) Born, Beachville, Ontario, September 14th, 1859. Educated at public school and commercial college. Came to British Columbia July 4th, 1886, and set- tled later at Duncan. Was largely interested in the development of mines at Mount Sicker, and later in mining development in the Portland Canal, and is president of the Portland Canal Mining Co., Ltd. Represented the district of Cowichan in the local Legislature, 1900-1903. Is interested in real estate, timber lands, and director of the Island Lumber Co. CHARLES HERBERT DICKIE (nB^nuci) aiaoia TaaanaH 23jjiaho .G£8I ,ri*M i3dm3lq»2 .ohBinO .allivrioBoa ,mo8 .sgslioo Isioisrrimoo bnB loorioe oilduq is bslfiouba -iaa bns ,d88I ,rit£ ylu^, BidmuIoD riebhH ol smsD ni bsJeaistni 8bW .fiBonuG Jb ims! bait bns ,i93iai2 imioM i& esnirn lo Jnomqolsv^b aril .IbhbD bnfiliioa aril ni inamqolavab gninim ni laisf ,.oD sniniM IbhbO bnebioa sri} lo Jnabieaiq ei bns adi ni nBrbiwoD lo Joiueib adi baJnaesiqaH .b?J bsai ni bsleaiaJni el .EOGi-OOGI .siutBlei^aJ IbooI bnsiel arit lo lotoaiib bns .efansl ladmil .aJBtea ,o3 ladmuJ CHARLES HERBERT DICKIE HARRY DALLAS HELMCKEN, K. C. (Victoria, Deceased) The youngest son of the Honourable J. S. Helmcken and grandson of the late Sir James Douglas. Born in Victoria, 23rd of December, 1859, and was educated locally and at the Nest Academy, Jedburgh, Scotland, afterwards passing through the Edinburgh and London universities. Upon his return to Canada he took up the study of law at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, under the auspices of the late Sir James D. Edgar, Speaker of the House of Commons. Called to the bar of British Columbia in 1883, and created Q. C. for the Dominion in the following year and obtained a similar distinction in 1900 for the province. Was prominent in social and political circles. Repre- sented the city of Victoria in three parliaments, beginning with 1894. Belonged to the old legal firm of Drake, Jackson & Helmcken, and before his death was sole surviving partner. Bencher law society. He was married in 1895 to Mrs. Goodwin, who accompanied him to England and was with him in London when he died on the 6th of July, 1912. His decease was widely mourned. (See also footnote 2, Chapter XI.) ,shoioiV) .0 .X ,M3X3MjaH gAJJAa YHHAH (b33B333G ,8 .X, sldfiiuonoH aril lo noa lasgnuo^ sriT asmsX, ii8 31 b1 adl lo no abnsig bns nadomlsH .isdmsDsG lo bi££ .fiholoiV ni mo3 .aElguoG }3sPl aril ts bns ^IIbooI bslsonbs asw bns ,6281 gniaasq abiBwislls .briBlloog .rigmdbsX .ymsbBDA .asiliaisvinu nobnoJ bnB rigiudniba sril dguoiril lo ybula sril qu dool ad EbsnsD ol mulsi aid noqU asoiqsus sril isbnu ,olno-ioT ,IIbH sboogaO Is wb! »dl lo i3>iB3q8 .iBgba .a asmBX liZ 31b 1 sdl lo riabnS lo iBd sdl ol bsIIsO .anommoD lo aanoH sdt iol .0 .Q bslBsio bns ,£881 ni sidmuIoD b bsnisldo bns 7B3\[ gniwollol sril ni noinimoG 3B W .sonivoiq sdl 7ol 0061 ni noiloniiaib iBlimia -siqsH .asbiio [fioililoq bns Isiooe ni Insnimoiq ,alnsmBil7Bq sairil ni EiiolaiV lo aril bslnsa Isgal bio sdl ol bagnoIsH >68.1 dliw gninnigsd siolsd bns .nadomlsH & noadoB^ .sjIbiG lo mid isrfansS .lannsq gnivivu/a sloa asw riisab aid .aiM ol 2681 ni bsirism asw sH .'(Isiooa wbI bns bnBigna ol mid boinEqmoooB oriw ,niwbooO sdl no bsib sri nariw nobnoJ ni mid riliw asw ■bsmuom ^Isbiw 8 ew sa Esosb aiH .SI6I ,\duX lo did (.IX islqfiriO ,S sloniool oals 338) HARRY DALLAS HELMCKEN JAMES WELTON HORNE (Vancouver) Born, Toronto, Ont., November 3rd, 1853. Edu- cated Toronto, Whitby and Belleville. Com- menced business as financial and investment broker in Winnipeg, 1878. Came to Coal Harbour, now Vancouver, March, 1884. Member of the City Council, Vancouver, 1889-1890. Represented Van- couver Legislative Assembly, 1890-1894. Was pro- moter of several large business concerns. Is in- terested in several real estate companies and is one of the largest individual property owners in Brit- ish Columbia. JAMES WELTON IORNE (lavuoansV) 3MHOH WOTJ3W 83MAI -ufa3 .££81 ,bt£ ladmavoW ,.lnO .olnoioT ,ma8 -trtoD .allivallaa bn b ^dlirfW .olnoioT balsa larioid Inamlaavni bne IsiansnS eb saaniBud baanam won .inodisH Ibo3 o 1 smsO .8^81 ,§aqinniW ni yliD arid lo ladmaM ,£881 .riaifiM .lavuoanEV -nfiV balna aaiqaH .0681-6881 .lavnoansV JianuoQ -oiq ebW .£681-0631 >81 .riiQS MdmaiqaS ,mo8 Itilaaaoouanu nA .aloorfaa ailduq baisouba .33 IbW cl baJoaia .0061 .anoiiDab lEiansg 1b slBh ibneo .’COei ,bsl oaJb-aH .£061 .siutBlaiaaJ HARRY JONES ALEXANDER HENRY BOSWELL MACGOWAN, M. P. P. (Vancouver) Born, April 14th, 1850, Prince Edward Island. Educated public schools and came to Vancouver, 1887. Eight years president and secretary Van- couver School Board. Elected to the Legislative Assembly, general elections, 1903 and subsequent elections. Commission agent, shipping and in- surance agent. First secretary of the Vancouver Board of Trade and Provincial Fruit Growers’ Association. (See Chapter Advisory Board.) M .WAWOODAM JjaW809 Y5W3H H3QMAX3 JA (lavuooneV) .3 .3 .fanfifsl biBwb.3 3Dnn*I ,0281 ,ri*M liiqA ,moH ,13VuoocieV ol sm£3 bne atoorloa oilduq bsitBOuba -nfiV ^7Bi9iD93 bnis inobiaoiq aiso^ Jrigi3 .^88 1 ovbBlaiga J arbt o} bsJooIS .biBoS loo d?2 iovuoo J naupoadoa bnB £001 ,anoi}3olo fBionag .yldmoaaA -ni bns gniqqiria .JnsgE noiaaimmoD .anohoolo •savooonBV srit lo ^iBtaiooa *aii3 dns§B oonBiua 'aiswoiO :fim3 Isionivoia bns absiT io biEoS (.biBoS yioaivbA istqBriD ooS) .noilfiiooaaA ALEXANDER HENRY BOSWELL MACGOWAN WILLIAM ROBERT BRADEN, M. P. P. (Rossland) Grocer. Born Cedar Grove, Ont., March 11th, 1858, and educated there. Commenced business as butcher, May, 1883, in Winnipeg, and came to B. C. November 25th, 1896. Elected to represent Rossland in the Legislative Assembly, 1909. Has real estate interests. RT BRADEN (bnBigeo h> .q .q .m .MaaAHe THaaoq maijjiw ,rf*il daisM ,.JnO .avcnO tsbsO mo3 .-i^DcnO sasniaud boo nsmmoD .aiadi bateouba bne ,8281 oJ 3IT1BD bns .gsqinniW ni ,£881 ,^eM .isrioJod be JmBaiqai o ) bsJssia .9G8I .rfiSS isdmavoW .0 .3 bbH .GOGI .^IdmaBBA svbBlBigaJ sriJ ni bnBlBBoSI .aiaoiolni olslao Iboj WILLIAM ROBERT BRADEN MICHAEL CALLANAN, M. P. P., L. R. C. S. I. & L. M. (K. & Q.), C. P. I. (Barkerville) Born, March 29th, 1849, at Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland. Educated at Dublin and Paris. Licentiate of College of Surgeons and of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians, Ireland. Prac- tised profession at Kellsittain and Rosscarbery, County Cork, Ireland, 1875 to 1883. Came to British Columbia in 1899. Physician to Royal Cariboo Hospital, Barkersville. Elected for Cari- boo to the Legislative Assembly at the general elections of 1909 and 1912. .M .J * .1 .2 .0 .H .J ,.q .q M .WAKAJJAO J3AHDIM (siiiviaWiEa) .i .q .d ,(.g * .») ^inuoD ,y}IijIsnoIO 1 s ,G£8I ,rf}GS rioisM ,mo8 .ansq bns niicfuG is bsteoubS .hnslail .jlioD gniH srii lo bns ano3giu2 lo agailoD lo stBitnsoiJ -3Eiq .brtElail .anEoia^riq lo sgalloG a'naauQ bns .yisdiEDaaoH bns niEiiiallaJI 1 b noiaaaloiq baail o 1 jmcO .£881 ol 2X81 .brtBlail ,jhoD ylnuoD [b^oH ol nfiiaiaxriq .GQ8I ni fiidnudoD riailh8 -iifiO 10 I balosiS .sllivaiajhsa .iBliqaoH oodhfiO iEiansg sril 1 b xWmaaaA avilBlaigsJ aril ol ood .S1GI bns eOCl lo anoiloalo MICHAEL CALLANAN ARCHIBALD McDONALD, M. P. P. (Clinton) General merchant. Born, St. Anne De Prescott, Ont., April 18th, 1849, and educated at Carillon Academy. Came to New Westminster, March, 1878, and subsequently went to Lillooet. Began business career general merchandise, Mattawa, Ont., 1869. Was for ten years road superintendent of Cariboo wagon road. Member of the Legislat- ive Assembly for Lillooet, 1903 to 1907. Elected again, 1909 and 1912. McDonald HIBALD (noJnilO) .q q .M .CIJAWOCIoM d JA3IHDHA ,»0383iq sO snnA .12 ,mo9. .Insdoism [ei^naO noIthfiO 1e bslBoubs bns ,Q^8 1 ,riJ8I IiiqA ,.}rtO .rfoiBltf ,73*animta3W wsH oJ sitieD .ymsbBoA nEgsS .JsooIIiJ o* inavr vdinsupsadua bns ,8^81 .BwEttsM .saibnEriDiam Ifiisrwg isaiED aasniaud Jnabnstnhsqua bsoT aiB3^ rial iol asW ,Qd8I ,.JnO -ifilaiga.! aril lo isdmsM .bfioi nogsw oodiifiD lo baJaalS AOQI o 1 E0G1 .iaootliJ iol yldmsaaA avi .Siei bns OOQI ,ni£3E ARCHIBALD McDONALD JAMES PEARSON SHAW, M. P. P. (Shuswap) Farmer. Born, Glanford, Ont., January 24th, 1867, Educated, Brantford, Ont. Came to B. C., 1888. Elected Legislative Assembly general elec- tions 1909 and 1912. (qswauriS) .3 .3 .M ,WAH8 M02HA3*! 83MAI ,rf}fS ^iBunsJ. ,.tnO .biolnsIO ,mo3 .lam-iaH ,.D .3 o 1 smsD .InO .biolinfiiS .bsisaubS ^881 -33la Isisnas '{IdmaagA sviJsfaigaJ bsiaaO .8881 .S1QI bns eoei ano il JAMES PEARSON SHAW JOHN ANDERSON FRASER, M. P. P. (Quesnel) General merchant. Born at Shakespeare, Ont., April 4th, 1866, and educated at the public schools and Stratford Collegiate Institute. Came to Van- couver, B. C., in 1888, removing to Quesnel Janu- ary, 1894. Was elected member of the Legislature for Cariboo District, 1909 and 1912. Was official administrator for Cariboo District and interested in the sawmilling industry. JOHN A ')L FRASER (bnaauQ) .3 .3 .M .H32A5I3 W02H3CIMA MHOT. ,.J nO .aiBsqaejlBriS is moQ .JnBriaiam IfiisnaD eloorioa oilduq aril )e baJBauba bns ,9981 IhqA -nfiV oJ 9 oib 0 .aimbanl aJBigalloO bioliEiJg bns -unfit laneauQ o 1 ^nivomai ,8881 ni ,.D .3 ,i9vuod siuiBfgigaJ arft lo ladmam baJaala seW ,M!8i ,^ib iBiofflo 0 bW .SI6I bnB QOCI .JoibBiG oodhfiD iol bafeaiafni bns JamaiG oodnsD toi loJBiJeinimbB .^ifaubni ignillimwBa arit ni JOHN ANDERSON FRASER THOMAS DONALD CAVEN, M. P. P. (Cranbrook) Born, Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario, May 21st, 1872, and educated at Picton Grammar School. Came to Vancouver, 1889, and for ten years was in railway employment. Elected for Cranbrook in Legislative Assembly, general elec- tions, 1909, and by acclamation in 1912. N DONALD CAVEN (jlocndrnnO) .q .q .M ,M3VAD dJAMOCI 2AMOHT ,ons}nO ,\;lnuoO bifiwbS aoniiq ,noJoiq ,mo8 lenunBiO noioiq Jb bsiBoubo bns ,ST8i ,JbIS ysM naf tol bnB ,0881 .lavuoanfiV o 1 smaO AoorioB joi baJoalH .Jnam^olqma ^Ewlisi ni saw sissy -osh lB'iana§ .yldmaaaA avilfilai^aJ ni AooidnBiD .Siei ni noitBmBlaDB '{d bnB ,0001 .anoit THOMAS DONALD CAVEN ERNEST MILLER, M. P. P. (Grand Forks) Born, New Westminster, November 22, 1870. Educated, Lome College, New Westminster, St. Paul’s School, Esquimalt, Osgoode Hall. Called to B. C. Bar, 1894. Practised Vancouver, 1894- 1896; Grand Forks, 1909. Elected Grand Forks, 1909 and 1912. Was member of Miller & Coch- rane, Barristers, Grand Forks. Recently moved to Victoria and entered partnership with Neil Mackay, Barrister. ERNEST (ajHo3 bnsiO) .3 .3 .M ,H3>JJIM T33WH3 .(K8I ,SS tadmsvoVI .lalanimlaaW woM ,mo8 .13 .islanimlaaW wsH .agalloD jmoJ .balfioubS b»IIfi3 .IIbH aboogaO .llsmiupaS ,Ioorio8 a'luB^ -K!8I ,i»vu oonfiV baailDsil >Iooidiari3 bns IfiailnoM naawlad yswlisi lo iaan bwbJJO A allivjJooia aril lo Inabiaaiq bnB lagfinsM noilssinoIoO marinoM aril iol loloBilnoa .^bwIibH iol bns bwbJiO bns IfiailnoM naawlad lalfivi .fiilooS bvoVI lo yswIifiH noianaix3 malaeS aril lo anoilaaa no noilauilanoo lo lagfinism asw aril lo inabnalnhaqua Isianag balnioqqA .H .a .3 islqsriD aa8) baiilaSI .8881 ni noiaiviCI oSioBa (.3 .a .3 ( IIIV HARRY BRAITH WAITE ABBOTT JOHN M. LEFEVRE, M. D. (Deceased) Born at Brockville. Ont.. and was educated there and at McGill University, in which he won the Sutherland gold medal, graduating in 1879. He entered into partnership with Dr. Mordan of Brockville. Later he was appointed surgeon to the C. P. R., during construction of the Algoma branch, subsequently returning to Brockville. In 1886, he went with Mr. Harry Abbott to Vancouver as surgeon of the Pacific division of the C. P. R., and during the same year was elected an alderman of the new city of Vancouver. He was one of the founders of the British Columbia Telephone Com- pany, in which at the time of his death he was one of the largest shareholders and of which he was a director. In the year 1896 he took the de- gree of M. R. C. S., after a post-graduate course in London, Eng., and on the continent of Europe. Deceased was married in 1883 to Lillie Annie, daughter of the late R. P. Cooke, Esq., of Brock- ville, well known authoress of “The Lion’s Gate- way” and other poems. Died September, 1903, aged 53 years. (See also footnote 8, Chapter XIV.) (baaBaaaG) .G -M (SHVSHSJ .M WHO^. aiadi baisauba bbw bne ..inO .ailivaboia is mo3 adi now ad riairiw ni ,^iiaiavinU IliOoM is bns sH .e^SI ni gniiEubirtg .Isbarn blog bnEhadiuS lo nsbioM .iG riiiw qiriaianiisq oini baiaina aril oi noagiua bainioqqfi aew ad laifiJ .allivslDOiS .riansid smoglA arii lo noilomianoo gnhub ,.3 .a .0 ad ,3881 ni .afiivifooia oi gnimuiai ybnaupaadua zb lavnoansV of iioddA xnsH .iM riiiw inaw bnB ,.3 .a .D arii lo noiaivib aftiasa arii lo noagma lo nsmiablfi ns baiaafa asw isay amsa ad i gnbub adi lo ano asw all .aavuoanEV lo ^iia wan adi -moD anoriqalaT BidrnuioO riaiiha adi lo aiabnuol ano aew ari riiBab aid lo amii arii 1 b riairiw ni ,ynBq ad riairiw lo bns aiabloriaiBria iaagifil arii lo -ab adi riooi ad 3C8I iBa^ adi ni .loioaiib b bbw aaijjoa aiBtrbfiig-iaoq b lailfi ,.S .0 .3 .M lo aaig .aqoii/3 lo inaniinoo adi no bns ,.gn3 .nobnoJ ni .ainnA ailliJ oi E88I ni bairiEm asw baaBaaaG -daoiS lo ,.pa3 .ariooD .3 .3 aisf arii lo aairigusb -aifiO a'noiJ ariT“ lo aaaiodluB nwonsi Haw .alliv ,£061 ,iadmalqa3 baia .amaoq lariio bns '\bw (.VIX laiqsriD ,8 aioniool oalfi aa8) .aisa^ E£ bags JOHN M. LEFEVRE CHARLES E. J. DUCHESNAY, B. S., C. E., D. L. S. (Deceased) Born in Quebec, 1857, and educated at Laval Uni- versity. Came to the Province professionally in connection with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and for years his services were of great value and highly appreciated by that cor- poration. Became superintendent of the Pacific Division in succession to Mr. R. Marpole. Died, September 4th, 1901. UCHESN .8 .J .a ,.3 .0 ,.3 .9 .YAK33HDUCI -l .3 83JHAHD (I)9BB33e>a) -inlJ IeveJ 1 b baisauba bns ,^£81 .aadauQ rti mo9 ai ^IlBnoigaolorq aanivcn 4 ! aril ol smsD .^liziav UEibcnfiD aril lo nohotnienoo aril riliw noiloannoa jmw zaaiviaz ziti zi&9\ iol bits .yEwIisH aBbs*? -too Ifiril \jd balBbaiqqB ytrfgiri bns »uIbv isaig lo ciflbsSi aril lo inabnalniiaqua amsaoS .noilsioq ,baia .aloqifiM .9 ,iM oi noisesooue ni noiziviG .1061 ,ri if ladmalqaS CHARLES E. J. DUCHESNAY RICHARD MARPOLE (Vancouver) Railway engineer. Gen. Exec. Asst, for B. C., C. P. R. Born in Wales, 1850. Educated Wales and Glasgow. Commenced business career with English railways, subsequently with the Northern Railway of Canada. Became connected with C. P. R. in 1881 as contractor, and since 1882 has been on official staff of that company. Was assist- ant manager of construction Algoma branch and Nipissing division of main line, then superinten- dent construction of Lake Superior Division of line and transferred to Pacific Division in same capacity in 1886. General superintendent, 1897: general executive assistant, 1907; vice-president Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway Co. (See Chapter VIII, C. P. R.) V ARPOLE (lovuoonsV) aJO^HAM 051AH3I51 <•3 .3 lol .Jaa A .09x3 .noO .loonigno aaieW bsieauba .0281 .aalsW ni mo8 .H .q .3 riJiw 7991B0 aaaniand boo nommoO .wogasIO bns matfaioW sriJ diiw vlinoupoedue ,a\Bwliei riailgnS .3 riJiw bslosnnoo smEosa ,Eb6nE3 lo '{bwUbSI asri S88I aoniz bns ,7oJoB7inoo zb 1 881 ni .3 .q -JaiaaB bbW .ynBqmoo JsriJ lo ftsla Isbifto no naod bns rionsid nmoglA noiJomJanoo lo isssnsm ins -nsJniiaqua naril .anif nism lo noiaivib gniaaiqiM lo noiaiviG lonsquS ajifiJ lo noilomlanoo Inob omsz ni noiaiviG oiliDBG ol bonalanBi} bris anil :^e8i ^nabnsJnhsqua iBiansO .3881 ni ^jiDsqBD Jnabiaaiq-aaiv ; V 0C I jnsizizzs oviiuooxa Isoonog loiqedD 998 ) .o3 ^bwHbH omifinsH £> Jlfiminpaa (.51 .q .3 ,IIIV RICHARD MARPOLE THOMAS HENRY WHITE, C. E. (Vancouver) Was born at St. Thomas, Ontario, on the 27th Jan- uary, 1848, and educated by private tutors and at the St. Thomas Grammar School and Osgoode Hall, Toronto. Commenced his career as a law student, but never practised, afterwards taking up the pro- fession of railway engineering. Came to British Columbia in 1875 on the government engineering staff of the C. P. R. Was a volunteer in the 1st Canadian Hussars, and is a Fenian Raid Medallist. Was employed on the Canadian Southern (now the Michigan Central), the Great Western of Canada, the Hamilton & North Western, and the C. P. R. and C. N. R. Mr. White located and built the first hundred miles of the last-named railway, and has been engaged on practically all the work under- taken by Messrs. Mackenzie & Mann. Is at pres- ent chief engineer of the C. N. Pacific Railway in British Columbia. THO (lavuoonaV) .3 .0 ,3TIHW YSM3H 8AMOHT -nst riJ'TS aril no .oiislnO .asmoriT .iZ la mod asW la bn£ aioiu* sisvnq yd bataouba bne ,8181 ,yi£u ,I1 bH sboogaO bn£ iooriaS ummsiO asmorfT . 1 8 sri* Jmbutz w«I £ as looifiD aid bsansmmoO .olnoioT -oiq srf* qo gnidfiJ abiswisJlfi .bsaitoaiq tsvon Jud riailnH o 1 amaD .gnhssnigns yswlisi lo noieasl gnhosnigns Inommavog sri} no JV8I ni BidmuloO tel arts ni loaJmdov a asW .3 .3 .0 sdf lo flats daiilfiboM bifi3 Osins'? £ ai bus .aisaaoH nsibenfiO srit won) msriiooa nBfbBneD sdi no bsyolqms afiW ,£b anaO lo msiasW jbsiG sril ,(f£iJn30 nsgirioiM .3 .3 ,0 aril bna .mstajW diiold A nolUonsH sriJ laid srii tliud bn£ bslfiool siiriW .iM .3 .VI .0 bn£ asri bn£ ,y£wit£i bsmBn-tafil sril lo aslim bsibnud -isbnu diow srit IIb yllBoiloBiq no bsgBgns nssd -asiq ta ai .nna M •& aisnsdofiM .aiaasM yd nsdst ni y&wlifi3 3ftioB3 .W .0 sdi lo issnigns Isirfo tna .BidinuloO riailhS THOMAS HENRY WHITE JOHN HENDRY (Vancouver) Manufacturer. Born, Billedune, Gloucester County, N. B., January 20th, 1843. Educated public schools, N. B. Studied and practised saw mill and flour mill engineering and followed this for some time. Came to Victoria, 1872. Later went to California and Washington and finally located in B. C. in 1874. Interested in the pioneering of the timber interests, sawmilling and factories. Member of Conservation Commission of Canada. President Canadian Manufacturers’ Association, 1910. Presi- dent Vancouver, New Westminster & Yukon Railway Co., Nicola Valley Coal & Coke Co.; chairman Burrard, New Westminster & Boundary Railway & Navigation Co.; past president Van- couver and New Westminster Boards of Trade. (See footnotes Chapters XIV and XV.) OvooonsV) YHQM3H WHO}, ,yinuoD isiaoou oiO .anuballiS ,mo3 .laiutoBlunsM .aioodaa oilciuq baJBanba .£^81 ,diOS \iBunB\ ,.3 .W luoft bns Him w 68 baailasiq bns baibulZ .3 .VI .ami* arnoa tol aid} bawollol bns gnhaanigna Him BimolilfiO oJ Jnaw laisd .ST8I .BiiolaiV oJ amfiQ ni .0 .3 ni balsool yllfind bnB nolsniriasW bns ladmb aril lo gniiaanoiq arii ni bafaaiaJnl .K8i lo ladmaM .aaiioJasl bns gnillimwsa .aiaaiaJni Jnabiaai3 .BbBnGO lo noiaaimmoO noilsviaanoD -i?.ai3 .0191 .nobfiiaoaaA 'aian/jJafilunsM nfiibsnfiO no?iuY & laianimdaaW waVI ,iavuoanBV Inab ;.o3 adoQ #> Ibo 3 ^allsV BtoaiW ,.o0 ^bwHbH '{ifibnuoa :& lalanimtaaW waM ,bi£iiu3 nsmiifiria -nsV tnabiaaiq iasq ;.oD noilBgivEW & ^BwIisH .abBiT lo abiBoS laianimiaaW waVI bns lavuoo (.VX bns VIX aiaJqsriD aalonjool aag) JOHN HENDRY RICHARD HENRY ALEXANDER, J. P. (Vancouver) Born, Edinburgh, Scotland, May 17th, 1844. Edu- cated, Edinburgh Academy, Upper Canada College. Came to British Columbia, 1862, via Tete Jaune Cache and head waters of Fraser River, and roughed it with the hardy pioneers of those days, cutting wood, mining, packing Cariboo, etc. Came to Vancouver, accountant Hastings Saw Mills, 1870. Ex-member Board of Health, secretary School Board, alderman, chairman Pilotage Board, Served with Victoria Rifles, 1865. Assistant Gen- eral Manager B. C. Mills, Timber and Trading Co. (See footnotes Chapter XV.) (■wvuoarnsV) .9 ,H3CIMAX3JA Y3M3H (IHAH3IH -i/b3 .H8I ,rfm ,bn6lJ032 .rigiudnibS ,moS .333lIo3 BbensO isqqU .ytnsbBoA dgiudnibS .bsJBD shueX. stsT biv ,S38I .BidmuIoD rizitiiS o ) 3mfi3 bnB ,iaviH is8bi3 lo bisJbw bfisri bns arfofiD ,8'^Bb saodi lo aiasnoiq ybifiri aril djiw 1i bsriguoi smsD .3J» ,oodhs3 gniibBq .sninim ,boow snbtuci t sIIiM wb2 agniJBBH inBinuoDOE ,i3vuo3nfiV ol XiBiwoie .dJlssH lo bisoS isdmsm-xS .(K8I ,bi6ofl 3gBioJi3 nsimifirio .riEimsblB .bisoS Ioori:>2 -naO JfJBJziaaA .6881 .BsftiJI BholoiV riliw b3v™2 .o3 gnibsiT bns -xodmiT ,BlIiM .3 .9 i33bhbM Ibis (,VX i33qfiri3 astonJool 392) RICHARD HENRY ALEXANDER JAMES COOPER KEITH (Vancouver) Broker. Born, Strichen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, February 18th, 1852. Educated private tutor and The London International College, Spring Grove, Isleworth, Eng. Came to Victoria February 29th, 1876. First manager Branch Bank of British Co- lumbia in Vancouver. Was president of the Van- couver Board of Trade and Reeve of North Van- couver. Placed the first loan made by Vancouver City of 600,000 pounds sterling. Originated Rugby Football in British Columbia and donated the Keith Cup for international contest. Large real estate in- terests. President East Vancouver Land & Im- provement Co., Vancouver Estates Ltd., Howe Sound & Northern Railway and the West Shore & Northern Land Co., and is director of the North Vancouver Land & Improvement Co. JAMES COOPER KE 'H (lavuoansV) HTiaX H33OO0 23 MAI .bofilloaB .aiirianaabiadA ,nariaii*2 ,mo8 .aadoia briB toluJ atsviiq ba:tE3i/b3 .SS8I ,riJ8I yi6inda3 , 9 voiO gniiq3 .agalloO Isnobfimalnl nobnoJ adT .riies yiBinda3 BiioJoiV crt siheO .gn3 .dliowalal -cD riailha lo jin£8 rfonsia lagBOBm iaii3 .9^81 -nsV adt lo Jnabiaaiq bbW .lavuoanBV ni sidmul -nsV riJioH lo avaaH bns absiT lo bisoa lavuoo lavi/oanisV yd abBm nsol fair) ad} bsosia .lavuoo ydguH baJBnighO .gnihala abnuoq 000,009 lo yli3 rilba aril baisnob bne BidmuIoD rfaith3 ni iifidtooa -ni aJEfaa Isai agifiJ .Is aJnoa lenoitEmalni tol quD -ml $> bnsJ lavnoansV Ja63 Jnabiaaia .atsaiai awoH ,.biJ aaisiaa lavooonfiV ,.o3 inamavoiq aiori2 laaW aril bns xswIieH rnadnoW & bnuo2 diaoM adt lo lotaaiib ai bns ,.oD bnsJ maritioVI * .oO tnarnavoiqml S> bnBvI lavnoansV JAMES COOPER KEITH CHARLES W. BUSK, Assoc. M. Inst. C. E. (Kokanee) Born, Greenwich, Eng., November 13th, 1852. Educated, Diocesan College, South Africa, and Lancing College, England. M. A. Trinity College, Cambridge. Followed engineering profession in England, 1876. Came to B. C. 1884 and engaged in fruit-growing, mining and real estate. President Kootenay Fruit Growers’ Union and Nelson Agri- cultural Society. Planted first fruit trees Koo- tenay Lake, 1899. (aanfirfoX) .3 0 .1 znl .M .ooaaA ,312119 W 23JHAH D .S£8I ,rfi£I ladmavoVl ,.gn3 .rfoiwnaaiO ,mo9 bns .BoiilA rituo2 ,agaIIo3 nfiaaaoiCI ,ba:tE3ub3 .agalloD ytiniiT .A .M .bnslgna .agalloO gniansJ ni noiaaaicnq gniiaanigna bawoIIo9 .agbiidniBO ni bagsgna bns £881 .3 .9 ol amsD .dV8I .bnslgna Jnabiaaia .aJEfaa Isai bnB gninim .gniwoig-Jiuil -itgA noalaW bns noinU 'aiawoiO licn9 '{EnaJooH -ooX aaai} Jixnl iztti baJnsia IsiuJlua .6681 ,arffiJ ysnaJ CHARLES W. BUSK WILIAM H. ARMSTRONG (Vancouver) Born, Stratford, Ont., September 18th, 1857. Edu- cated public schools. Contractor. Came to B. C. in March, 1883. Commenced business as bridge builder on C. P. R. and has carried to completion a number of railway and other contracts. Gen- eral manager Nicola Valley Coal & Coke Co. Firm, Armstrong & Morrison. Built the Fraser River bridge and other large bridge structures. Developed extensive farm in Similikameen. (See footnote Chapters VIII and XV.) WILLIAM H. ARMSTRONG » (lavuoDfisV) 0MOHT2M5IA .H MAIJIW -ub3 AS8I ,rH8I isdm3Jqs2 ,.JnO .bioliBiiS .moH .0 .3 oi amsO .loJoBTtnoD .aloorfoa oilduq bsiBO sgbiid be aasniaud bs onsmmoO .£881 .rioisM ni nobslqmoo oJ bsinBD afiri bns .3 .3 .3 no isbliud -naO .aJosiinoD isrfio bns yswlifii lo isdmun b . oO sJoD * Ibo3 yallfiV bIodiW isgBnBm Ibis is8Bi3 srfi Jliu3 .noainoM ■& gnoilarmA ,rmi3 .asmtarnfa sgbiid sgisl isriio bns sgbhd isviH s»2) ,nssmB3liIirni2 ni mifii svianstxs bsqolsvsd (,VX bnB IIIV aisJqfiriO stonJool WILLIAM H. ARMSTRONG CHARLES STANFORD DOUGLAS (Vancouver) (See Chapter Advisory Board.) DOUGLAS CHARLES STANFORD DOUGLAS WILLIAM HOLLAND KEARY (New Westminster) Born at Portsmouth, in England, April, 1859, and educated at St. Louis College, New Westminster, and at Victoria, B. C. Came to British Columbia in September, 1860. Learned the business of print- ing. Was mayor of New Westminster eight years. Was manager for many years of the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Society of New West- minster, and honourable secretary of the General Hospital of New Westminster for 30 years. (iaianim*aaW wsM) Y5TA3X CIMAJJOH MAIJJIW bns ,9£8I ,InqA .bnBlgnS ni .riJuomaJioa Js mo9 .latanimtaaW wsM .agalloO aiuoJ . 12 , 1 b baJBDuba sidtrmloD rfabna oi amsO .0 .3 .shoioiV 1 b bns -Jniiq lo aaaniaud arit bamBaJ .0d8i ,iadmaiqa3 ni .ziBsy; irfgia lataninrtaaW waW lo loystn bbW .gni Ib^oH ari* lo aisa'j ynBrn iol lagensm asW -JaaW wald lo iBiuaubnl bns IfiiuJluaiigA IsianaO arii lo \ ib 1 aioaa aldBinonod bns ,ia*anim .aiBa\{ 0£ iol latanirctfaaW wald lo IsJiqaoH WILLIAM HOLLAND KEARY THOMAS JOHN TRAP? (New Westminster) Hardware merchant and auctioneer. Born Wal- tham Abbey, June 4th, 1842. Educated Waltham Abbey. Came to B. C., April, 1873. Began busi- ness as general merchant in 1879. Occupied vari- ous responsible positions, as president Royal Agri- cultural Society, chairman School Board, presi- dent Board of Trade, etc.; also president New Westminster Trust Co. THOMAS JOHN TRAPP (lalanimieaW watt) qqAHT V1HOI 3AMOHT -IbW moS .laanobouB bns Jnsrioism siswbisH rnsdHsW baJs^ubSL .£*81 ,d** art u(. .yaddA rnsriJ -i 2 ud iiBgs 3 .£^81 ,InqA. ,.D .3 oi smsD .yaddA -Hbv baiquoaO .et81 ni Insriaiam Ifiionag as azan -ngA lsyo3 mabiaaiq zb .anoitiaoq afdianoqaai auo -iaaiq .biBoS looriaS nsm-dsda ,yJaoo3 tsiuiluD wjM Jnabiaaiq osIb {.ols ,abfiiT lo biso9 Jnab .oD lauiT laJantmJaaW THOMAS JOHN TRAPP WILLIAM JOHN SUTTON (Victoria) Geologist. Born, Kincardine, Ont., January 19th, 1859. Educated Cornell University, Columbia School of Mines and Michigan College of Mines. Came to B. C., July, 1877, afterwards appointed Provincial government assayer. Degree, B. S. and M. E. For some years geologist to Robt. Dunsmuir & Sons and now to Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Ltd., Victoria. Interested in timber and realty. (shoJoiV) MOTTU2 MHOL MAIJJIW ,rhCi '{iBunBl, t .i nO .onibiBoniif ,nioa .JgigoIoaO BidmofoO ,'{Ji87»vinU HsmoO bsiEOubS .Q&8I .esniM lo agalloD nsgiriaiM bns esniM lo loodo8 boJnioqqB EbiBwiatlB ,^^81 ,'flut ,.0 .S ol smeD .8 .a ,99i§9tl .13XB88B ifismmsvog IsiDnivoia .tdoH o* Jaigolosg eibs^ stnoa io3 .3 .M bne eshailloD nsibenBO oJ won bns ano8 & linmanuG isdmiJ ni bsJasi^Jnl .shoJoiV ,.btJ (liumanuQ) .^Ib 97 bns WILLIAM JOHN SUTTON FRANCIS JOSEPH O’REILLY, C. E.; Assoc. M. Inst. C. E. (Point Ellice, Victoria) B. C. land surveyor. Born in New Westminster, February 9th, 1866, and educated at private schools and King’s College, London, England. Commenced business as assistant engineer in Esquimalt Grav- ing Dock construction in 1884. Member of the firm of Cross & Co., real estate and financial agents. O'REILLY Janl .M . 0082 A ;.3 .0 .YJJI35TO HqagOl 8IDVTAH3 (fiiioJoiV .ooilia Jniol) .3 .3 .-toianrmJasW wsM ni mo3 .loxoviua bnfil .0 .3 atoorioa olsviiq Jb boJfioubo bns ,3381 ,rfJQ ^iEi/ido3 boonommoD .bnfilgn3 ,nobnc»J .ogolIoD a'gnia bns -vbiO Jlsmiupaa ni loomgno inalaiaas sb gaoniaud orb \o lodmoM >831 ni noiiomfgnoo jiooa gni iBionBrni bne oJstao Ieot ,.o3 & aaoi3 lo rmft .atnogs FRANCIS JOSEPH O’REILLY ARTHUR JOHN O’REILLY (Victoria) (See Chapter Advisory Board.) (BhotoiV) YJJiaSTO MHOl HUHTHA (.bisoS yioaivbA MJqfiriO aoB) ARTHUR JOHN O’REILLY GEORGE NEVILLE BARCLAY (Ashcroft) Born in England, January 2nd, 1867. Educated, Cheltenham. Came to Manitoba in 1885 and sub- sequently to the Okanagan Valley in 1888, en- gaging in stock ranching. Director of Vancouver- Prince Rupert Meat Co. Pioneered at Troup Creek (now Summerland) until 1902. Sold his estate to Sir Thomas G. Shaughnessy. GEORGE NEVILI (tloiariaA) YAJ0HA3 3JJIV3M 303030 ,b9iB:wb3 Ad8I ,bnS yiEunfiX. .bnsignS ni mo8 -dun bne £881 ni sdolinsM oJ omsO .mfirinaJlsriO -ns ,8881 ni yallsV nsgfinEsiO 9dl ol yhnaupaa -isvuoanfiV lo lolaaiiQ .gnidanKi siooia ni gnigsg quoiT IB b»i99noi3 .oO JssM JisquH 9Dnii3 aid b!o2 .SOCI lilnu (bn£li9mmn2 won) ?b9i0 .yaa9nrigUBri2 .0 asmoriT ii2 o) otBiss GEORGE NEVILLE BARCLAY JOHN ROPER HULL (Kamloops) Stock raiser. Born in Somerset, England, July 14th, 1855, and educated at Bridport, England. Came to Kamloops July 3, 1873, and engaged in ranching and cattle business. Organized and manager of J. R. Hull & Co. JOHN RC (aqootmfiX) JJUH 33qOH WHOl ^iut ,briBlan3 .iazidtnoS ni moS .mbibi doolZ .bnfit§n3 .JioqbhH 1b baieauba bns ,££81 ni b 3 §ssn 9 bms ,£V81 ,£ xlul aqooImBH o 1 arnsD bnB basinsgiO .BBanisud aiJ}B3 briB gnirionBi .oD * HnH .91 .1 lo i33BriBm JOHN ROPER HULL I EDWARD ALBERT CREASE (Nelson) Barrister and Solicitor. Born, Gosport, Hamp- shire, Eng., September 21st, 1862. Educated Model School and Collegiate Institute, Barrie, Trinity College. Called to Ontario Bar, 1888, British Columbia Bar, 1897, and practised Nelson since. Police magistrate, Nelson, 1898-1909. Sti- pendiary magistrate, County of Kootenay, 1904- 1909. Unsuccessful candidate to B. C. Legislature for Nelson, 1909. Chairman Board of School Trustees. (noalsVl) 32A3HD T5I33JA (IHAWCI3 -qmBH .iioqzoO ,mo9 .ioltoiIo8 briB isiainBa bslBOi/bS .Sd8I ,iaIS ladrrwiqaS ..gnS ,9iirfa .sinfiS .siuJbanl atBisalloD bns loorfoS IsboM ,8881 ,ibS ouBlnO oJ ballsD .agalloD ^JiniiT noalal/I baaboBiq bnB ,V68I ,ib 3 BidmufoO rfabha -hZ ,eoei-8e8I .noatoVI .aJE-Jiaigsm 3 dHo 3 .aania -4>0CI .vBnslooX to y;JmjoD .aJsiiaisBm yifiibnsq aiulfilaissJ .3 .3 crt aJEbibriBa luiaaaaauanU .6091 looriog *o biBoa nfitmiedD .QOei .noalaVI ioI .assiauiT EDWARD ALBERT CREASE EDWARD ODLUM, B. A., M. A., B. Sc. (Vancouver) Broker. Born, Tullamore, Ont., November 27th, 1850. Educated in Goderich and Cobourg. Com- menced career as cabinet maker and wood turner. Came to Vancouver from Japan, 1889. Profes- sor of natural science and college principal. Chair- man Carnegie Library Board. Interested in vari- ous financial and industrial concerns. Student of natural science. EDWARD ODLUM (-isvuoarusV) .08 .8 ,.A .M ,.A .0 ,MUjaO OHAW Q3 ,riJTS ladmsvoM ,.JnO ,3iomBlIuT ,mo0 .ladoiS -moO .giuodoD bns rioiiaboO ni bsJBDubH .0681 •ismuJ boow bns lanidBO zb isaiso bso n 3 m -asloi*? .0881 ,nBqs{. moil isvuoonsV oJ amfiO -lisriD .lEqianiiq sgalloj bns sDnsna iBiulsn lo -ioa -iiBv ni baiesiaJn I .biBo0 'psidij aigamfiO rtscn lo insbuiZ zmsonoo lBi« 2 ubni bns I shnsnil zuo .sonsiDB fBii/tBn EDWARD ODLUM B. F. BOYCE, M. D., C. M. (Kelowna) Born, Norham, Ont., March 30th, 1866. Educated McGill College, Montreal. Commenced practising profession in Fairview, B. C., 1892. Moved to Kelowna in 1894. B. F. BOYCE (BnwoisX) .m .3 ,.a .m .aoYoa .a a faaiaoifba .dd8I ,ri*0£ rtoisM ,.JnO .msdioM ,mo3 aniaiiOBiq baDnammoD .[BaiJnoM ,a§allo0 IliOaM ot bavoM .S68I ,.D ,8 .waiviisa ni noiaaaloiq .^681 ni BnwoIaH B. F. BOYCE WILLIAM DISBROW BRYDONE-JACK, M. D., B. A., L. R. C. S. (Vancouver) Born, Fredericton, N. B., June 13th, 1860. Edu- cated University New Brunswick, McGill College and Edinburgh. Began to practise profession in England, 1884. Came to Vancouver, 1889. Chair- man Vancouver School Board. Vice-president Dominion Trust Co., chairman Vancouver Health Committee. Made an Esquire of St. John’s Ambu- lance Society of Jerusalem, 1912. ••A a ,a m ,aoAt.-3MoaYHa woaaaia maijjiw (isvuoDnsV) .3 .0 .91 .J -ub3 0881 .riJEI anuT. ,.8 .VI .ncrtohsbaia ,mo8 sgsIIoD IliOoM .daiwamna wsH yjiai 9 vinU balBD ni noiaasioiq aaiJDBiq o:t rt6 g;>a .rfgiudniba bftB -lisriO .688! .lavuooneV ot jmaO >881 .bnslgna Jnsbiaaiq-aai V .bisoa Ioorio3 lavuosnBV nsm riJffisH TavixoonBV nBfmiBriD ,.oD JauiT noinimoa -udmA a'nriot, -12 io 9impa3 ns abfiM .ssMimmoO .Siei .malBauia^ lo y) 3 ioo8 sons! WILLIAM DISBROW BRYDONE-JACK THOMAS W. JEFFS, M. B., M. C. (Vancouver) Born, Hastings County, Ont., July 7th, 1857. Edu- cated, Albert College and Toronto University. Degrees, M. B., M. C. Commenced business as general merchant in Queensboro, Ont., 1876. Came to B. C., 1895. Was alderman and police commissioner of city. Now city coroner. (lavu oansV) .3 .M ,.3 .M ,8333:1 .W 3AMOHT -ub3 .Y28I ,ritV ^luX. ,-inO ,^}rwo3 agniiajsH ,mo3 ytiaiavinU oJnoioT bns a^aIIo3 JiadlA ,ba*£D 8B aaanisud baanammoD .3 .M ,.9 .M .saaigaQ .5T8I ,JnO ,oiodanaai;P ni tnsrimam Isiana§ aaifoq bns nsrmablfi asW .£681 ,3 .3 oJ amfi3 .lanoioa ytia wold .y;* i o lo lanoiaairnmoa THOMAS W. JEFFS HENRY TRACY CEPERLEY (“Fairairi,” Burnaby Lake) Born, Oneonta, New York, January 10th, 1851. Educated Whitestown Seminary, New York. Com- menced business career as teacher in Otego, N. Y., 1869. Came to Vancouver, 1886, and engaged in real estate business. President Vancouver Mill- ing and Grain Co., and Ceperley, Rounsfell Co. Ltd. Retired. ^dBrrma '\hiimfiT*) Y3JH3qaD YOAHT YHM3H (asifij .1281 ,rflOI ^iBunjsL ,jJioY waVT ,£in oanO .moS -moO .jhoY waH .^-ismimg nwoitaalrdW balBaubS ,.Y M .ogaiO ni isrioBS} bb i^ibo Baaniaud baortam ni bagfigns fans ,9881 t i3vi/oDn£V ot amsD .6981 -fliM isvuosnfiV inabiBaia .sasniaud alfilaa Ibsi . oD [fslamioH .yalisqaD brtB ,.o3 nisiO bus gni .bsiilsSI .biJ HENRY TRACY CEPERLEY CHARLES WOODWARD (Vancouver) Born, Ontario, July 19th, 1852. Educated Mono College. Came to B. C. and opened general store, 1891, which business still continues. (See Chapter Advisory Board.) WOODWARD (isvuoon bV) QHAWaOOW 83J5IAH3 onoM bsJBDuba .S281 .riJPI .oiiBlnO t mo8 ,3ioJg fBianag bsnsqo brtB .3 .8 o 1 smsD .sgalloO isJqsrfD 332) .83uniJno3 Hi)a aasniaud rf3idw,I68I (.bisoS yioaivbA CHARLES WOODWARD Lieut.-Col. ARTHUR WILLIAM JONES, J. P. (Vic- toria) Born, Vicarage, Branxton, Northumberland, Eng., May 23rd, 1851. Educated Edinburgh Academy. Came to B. C., 1873. Formerly paymaster of Military Division No. 11 and ordnance officer of Army Service Corps, Esquimalt, upon Canada tak- ing over from imperial authorities in 1906. Has large real estate interests. Financial agent. oiv) .q .1 .aavioi; maijjiw huhtha .ioD-.^u (b/ioj ,.gn3 .bnfiliadfnurinoM .noJxnsiS .agsiBDiV ,moS ■ymabBoA d^iudnibS batszub 3 1281 ,bi££ yisM lo laJaBfnyeq yhsrmoq ,E\8I ,.D .3 o* smeD lo laotflo aancnbio bns Jti .o Vl noiaivid yistiliM -jJbj sbsnfi J noqo .llBntiups3 ,aqioD aolviaS yrmA zbH .doe I ni aaiJiiorfJbB Ishsqmi moii mvo gnt dnagB fsonsnia .ataaiatni 3)bUs Ibsi agtsl ARTHUR WILLIAM JONES THOMAS ROBSON PEARSON (New Westminster) Manager of the Dominion Trust Co. Born at Oshawa, Ont., on the 21st May, 1858. Was edu- cated at public schools and the Interior Agricul- tural College at Guelph. Came to New West- minster in 1877. Is director of the Dominion Trust Co., Ltd., the Pacific Loan Co., Pearson, Ltd., and Lees, Ltd., and stockholder in Great West Life, Great West Permanent Loan Co., and Northwest Canadian Trust. Was three years alderman of New Westminster. ROBSON PEARSO f ' (nJenimieiW wjW) M085IA3q M08S05I 2AMOHT jb mo a ,oO jguii noinimoQ srfj }o isgEnfiM •ubo seW .8281 ,xbM lal£ arij no ,.lnO .BweriaO -IiiohgA lohatnl ad* bns afoorioa oilduq jb baJso -*8t>W wsM oJ ams3 .dqlswO is sgsHoD IbiuJ noinimoa sriJ io lobsiib el .U8I ni isJanim ,.blJ: ,no8iBaq ,.oO nsoJ DftbBSf ..bid ,.oO JamT ,oliJ iao W tBsiO ni isbloridooJa bns ,.btd , 33 j»J bns JaswriJioW bns ,.oO nsoJ! JnsnBrmaq tesW 1b$iD io nsmiabls zib*x said* asW .JamT nEibfinfiO .•MJanirmasW wsM THOMAS ROBSON PEARSON ROBERT H. AGUR (Balcomo, deceased) Born, County of Oxford, Ontario, July 13th, 1856, and educated at Ingersoll high school and at Up- per Canada College, Toronto, Ont. Engaged for seven years in the lumber business at Chatham, Ont., and for twenty-one years in the implement business in Winnipeg. Came to Summerland, B. C., in Spring of 1903. Was reeve of Summer- land for three years, and was president of Board of Trade. Was prominent in boating circles and all round athlete. Retired from active business and engaged in ranching. Director of loan and fire insurance companies. Was invariably success- ful in business undertakings. Died at Balcomo, 1912. (bsaiaaosb .omooffiH) HtJOA .H T3330H ,d?8I ,ri)tt vtul 'OhsinO ,bio 1x0 Jo ytnuoD ,moS -qU )b bns Sooiioe rigid (loaiagnl is bsfsoub* bns ioi bsgagnS .JnO .oJnoioT .agsiioO sbBneO i 9 q ,mEdj£riO is zaanizud Mdmul aril ni navaz inanwlqmi adf ni zfsox ano-^inawJ -toJ bn® ,.tn O ,bnBh 9 mmu8 of amsO .gaqinniW ni zg 3 nizud -«mmu 2 Jo 9 van aaW .£051 Jo gnhqg ni , 0 .a biBoS Jo inabigaiq saw bns ,at69^ 99irfr toJ bnsl bns aaloiio gnilBod ni Inanimoiq geW sbBiT Jo tssnisud svitos moil bstitsH .aialrfj* bnuoi Its bns nsol Jo io toiyiia .gnirionBi ni bagsgna bns -szaoouz yidBnBVni zbW '.zsinBqmoo sonsfuzni aid .omooisH Jb baiG .zgnijiBJiabmi azaniaud ni InJ .siei ROBERT H. AGUR JOHN MOORE ROBINSON, J. P. (Summerland) Born Wellington County, Ont., December 30th, 1855. Educated, Lockport, N. Y., Union School and St. Catherine’s Collegiate Institute. Taught school for seven years. Commenced business in Portage la Prairie. Engaged in newspaper busi- ness in Portage la Prairie and Brandon, 1882. Came to B. C., 1897. Member of Manitoba Legislature, 1886-1888. Founder of Peachland, Summerland and Naramata. Interested in townsites. Manager Peachland townsite and Summerland Development Co. Member of Provincial Water Commission. (bnBli3HTfm;3) .3 .1 .VIOgMIflO SI 3HOOM WHOl ,riJ0£ ladmaaaCL ,.JnO ^JnuoO nolgnillaW moS loorlog noinU ,.Y .VI .MoqjtaoJ ,baiE3ub3 .2281 iriaosT .aiulhanl afsigalloD a'anharitfiD .18 b ms ni aaaniand baonammoO aiEay navaa lol looriaa -iaud laqsqawan ni ba§Ean3 .ahifiia b! aasJioa amsD .S88I .nobriBiS bns aiiisia eI a^Eiio 4 ! ni aaan .aiulElai^aJ EdoJinsM lo ladrnaM- AC8I ,.D .3 o 1 bnaharnmug .bnaldaEa*! lo iabnuo3 .8881-8881 ia§BnEM .aaJianwo 1 ni baJaaiafnl .bIbitibibM bns inarnqolavad bnBhamrcmg fans aJienwo* bnElriafia*! .noiaaimmoO lalsW Isbnivoia lo ladmaM .oD JOHN MOORE ROBINSON WALTER T. SHATFORD (Penticton) Born, Halifax County, N. S., November 29th, 1869. Educated, public school. Came to B. C., 1891, and began business as general merchant in Vernon. Was mayor for two consecutive terms. Managing director of the Southern Okanagan Land Co. Ltd. Has large land and business interests. WA-L7 (no*3iJn90Ci ".laniinsg bnsinr* lo isriailduq -qmoriT arfT** lo loriiuA .sbsiT lo bifioS brifilnl .oia ",axBa nsblO nl“ 'VpJnuoD noa MARK S. WADE LEONARD NORRIS (Vernon) Government agent. Born at Brampton, Ont., on March 27th, 1861, and came to British Columbia in 1877. Entered the government service on the 1st of August, 1890. | * (normV) 2IHHOU QHAM03J no ,.1nO .noiqitnjBia Je mofl .tnsgB JnsmmsvoO sidmufoO Azh'iiS. ol smso fans ,1981 .rii^S rinsM adJ no aoivisa insmmjvo^ adJ bsiainS AT8£ ni .0G81 ^zugnA lo izl LEONARD NORRIS W. R. MEGAW (Vernon) Born, Ireland, April 2nd, 1848. Educated in com- mon schools in Ontario. Commenced business as merchant in Clinton, Ont., 1872. Came to B. C., 1878. Mayor of Vernon for a number of terms. Has extensive mercantile business and saw mills, and has the largest individual general merchandise business in the province. AW (nomsV) WA03M .51 .W •moj nr bslBDirba .8^81 ,bnS IhqA ,bnel3il ,moa sb aaaniand bsansmmoD .ohsJnO fit aloorioa nom ,.D .9 o* amsO .SV8I ,.inO ,noiniID ni insriDiam .arms* io isdmim b loi noniaV lo io^bM .8^81 .allim WB8 bns aaaniand albnBoiam avianaJxa bbH aaibfiBrbism Ifiisnsg Isirbivibni Jaa^is! aril afiri bns .sonivoiq arf} ni aaaniaud W. R. MEGAW . V-i .:/£ . JOHN DILWORTH (Alderman, Victoria) (See Chapter on Advisory Board.) JOHN DILWORTH (shotaiV .ruermsblA) HTHOWJIQ MHOl. (.biBoS TflOBIvbA no "i^JqBrfD 932) CHARLES G. DOERING (Vancouver, Retired) Started business in Victoria as an employee of the Phoenix Brewery and subsequently became pro- prietor of a brewery in Vancouver. In time, his business greatly enlarged and he was enabled to absorb several other brewing concerns under the firm name, first, of the Doering-Marstrand Brewing Company, and subsequently, as the Vancouver Breweries Company, Ltd. Was an alderman of the city of Vancouver. Has extensive real estate and property interests. (ba-ritaH ,iavu oonsV) OMIHSOCI .£> 23JHAHD ad* lo js^oiqtns ns as shoioiV ni aaaniaud b^nsiZ -oiq smBDdd ylinaupaadua bnB yiawaiH xinaoria aid ,smit ni .aavnoansV ni yiawaid s lo lolaiiq oJ baldsna asw ad bns ba§7Bina yltBaig aaaniaud arii labnu amaanoa gniwaid aariJo Isiavaa dioadB gniwaiH bnBiJaiBM-gniiaoQ ad} lo .laid .amsn mid tavuoonsV adt as ,yl*naupaadua bnB .ynfiqmoD aril lo nBfmablB he as W .bid .ynBqmoO aaiiawaiH bnB aisJaa Isai avian aJxa asH .lavuoansV lo y*ia .aJaaialni ytiaqoiq CHARLES G. DOERING CHIEF COOPER, of the Songhees Indians, now of Esquimalt, was born in 1864 and was educated in Victoria. When Douglas was directing the affairs of the two colonies, King Freezy, as he was known, was head of the Songhees tribe, then located on the opposite side of the harbor from the fort. He was succeeded by Jim Scomiax. Upon the death of the latter, Charlie, a son of King Freezy, was elected by the band. His reign, however, was of short duration and on the 22nd of September, 1894, Cooper was elected in his stead, and although he has tendered his resignation twice since then the members of the band have insisted upon his re- taining the position. In 1911, the arrangements for the removal of the Songhees to their present location were effected largely by his instrumental- ity, in co-operation with the late H. D. Helmcken and J. S. H. Matson, and the change has been great- ly in the interests of the Indians, who are com- fortably settled on their new reserve, consisting of 163 acres which they are cultivating and improving. Chief Cooper is a very intelligent, shrewd business man, and with his wife and family ensconced in a neat, new residence, is surrounded by all the com- forts of his ordinary well to do white brethren. lo won .ansibnl aaarfgno2 aril lo .HSIOOD 331113 ni balsauba asw bne £381 ni mod asw ,llBmiupa3 aiifiBs aril gnilaaiib asw asIguoG narfW .BholaiV .nwonri 3 bw ari as ,ysaai3 gni3 .aainoloa owt aril lo no balsaol naril ,adin aaarfgno2 aril lo bBarf ajsw sH .liol aril moil lodiEri ad} lo abia aliaoqqo ad} rflsab aril noqU .x£imoa2 mi]. \;d babaaaana asw asw ,T£saai3 gni3 lo noa b ,aihfiri3 ,iallBl aril lo lo asw ,iavawori ,ngiai aiH .bnsd aril ^d balaala ,£G8£ ,7admalqa2 lo bnSS adl no bns noifSiub lioria ad riguodllfi bns ,b£ala aid ni balaala asw laqooD aril naril aania aaiwl noilsngiaai aid baiabnal asri -ai aid noqu bsiaiani avsri bnsd aril lo aiadmam alnamagns ms aril ,i£Q£ ni .noiliaoq aril gninisl Inaaaiq liarfl ol aaarignoS aril lo Ifivornai aril iol -iBlnammlani airi ^d \jlagisl baiaaila aiaw noilfiaol nariamlaH .a .H alfil aril riliw noilBiaqo-oa ni ,yli -lEaig naad 8Bri agnsrfa aril bns .noalfiM .H .2 -l, bnE -moa aiE oriw .ansibnl aril lo alaaialni aril ni lo gnilaianoa .aviaaai wan liaril no balllaa yririsnol .gnivoiqmi bns gnilsviltna ai£ yaril riairiw aaias £81 aaaniaod bwaiiia ,lnagilialni yiav e ai laqooO lairfO e ni baanoaana ^lims! bns aliw airi riliw bns ,nsm -moa aril He yd babnuonna ai ,aanabiaaa wan ,i£an .nairilaad aliriw ob ol Haw ^isnibio airi lo aliol CHIEF COOPER PART TWO PART TWO. LIST OF CHAPTERS. I. At the Time of Confederation. II. Political Conditions and Early Legislation. III. Federal and Other Matters. IV. The Edgar Incident. V. The Carnarvon Terms. VI. The Dry Dock and Financial Muddle. VII. Lord Dufferin’s Visit. VIII. The Story of the C. P. R. IX. The Dunsmuirs. X. The Settlement Act. XI. A Settled State of Affairs. XII. A Period of Political Transition. XIII. Stable Government and Prosperity. XIV. Railway and Industrial Development. XV. Economic Phases of the Province. XVI. The History of Kamloops (by M. S. Wade, M.D.). XVII. Development of the Okanagan (by J. A. MacKelvie). XVIII. The Advisory Board. Addenda. PREFATORY. To write a history which even approximately reflects the true conditions of any remote period to which it refers is always an onerous and responsi- ble task. To attempt to dwell in any detail, according to approved his- torical methods, upon a period which includes the present may be less dif- ficult in respect to the availability of materials and on account of existing personal knowledge of the events and circumstances of the time, but it is much more delicate and dangerous ground to tread upon and the writer of such history must, in a figurative sense, be prepared to carry his life in his hand. There are numbers of persons in British Columbia who have lived through the entire period to which the second part of this volume relates. Some of them, and others as well, have been conspicuous factors of the po- litical situations discussed. Many of the subjects dealt with are still re- garded as extremely controversial topics. The author, therefore cannot hope to escape criticism when he runs counter to the opinions of those who in their time differed with the views herein expressed. As an honest, even if not the most competent, student of the period under consideration, he has at least endeavoured to present the truth as it appears to him. Truth is at all times relative in respect to the great mass of facts and information of which the world now is, or ever has been, cognizant. Truth in its absolute forms is expressed only in the abstract — in the concepts of meta- physics. In its concrete aspects it depends in the main upon the angle of vision — the point of view from which objects, events, personalities, policies, are scrutinized. Atmosphere and environment visually impart the reality which everything possesses and unless an historian can reconstruct these for any given period or group of events he must fail in painting a faithful pic- ture. Much of all history will forever remain in doubt for the very reason that we can never know all the intangible facts of life. Mind and motive are only explicable from what appears to reflect them and in respect to such subtle and elusive, but basic, elements of history, we can never be sure that our analyses are not at fault. Facts, statistics, official documents — in fact, the entire category of archivistic lore, however indisputable its origin or authenticity — can in themselves convey only a very imperfect impression of what they relate to unless we can reincarnate in the narrative, of which they are the anatomical framework, the spirit, the motif, the mental attitude, the mainsprings of thought, the primum mobile , the human element of the time and the action. In regard to the history of the Province of British Columbia since Con- federation, the author has not striven to enumerate a series of facts in organized groups but rather to convey a series of impressions derived from a careful study of the facts and the factors. The period has never before, ex- cept in outline, been dealt with in any comprehensive way, and he is con- fident in stating that, while much of interest has been omitted, much that is interesting and important has been presented for the first time in the form of historical narrative. In a sense and in purpose it is an account of political and economic development and necessarily does not profess to be ency- clopedic in its scope. Incidentally, however, it does deal with many matters that are not strictly germane to the main purpose. Whatever may be the conclusions or criticism of readers, the writer is conscious of a single desire to state accurately what are alleged to be facts; to view impartially the events related and the personalities discussed; to set down naught in malice or in favor. With the men who played a leading part, with a few exceptions, the author was personally acquainted. With the greater number he was on terms of at least friendly relation. With none of them has he been on terms of personal enmity. The personal equation counts for much and the little touch of intimacy with his characters he was privileged to have from time to time has given him impressions invaluable in summing up results and arriving at conclusions that otherwise would have depended solely upon the printed rec- ord and the estimates of others. Nevertheless, he is fully conscious of the fact that all judgments formed in respect to contemporaneous men and events are subject to those re-adjustments and revisions which the lapse of time and the clearer perspective of distance will enable successors in the field of enquiry to undertake. AT THE TIME OF CONFEDERATION. CHAPTER I. At the time of confederation the colony of British Columbia had ad- vanced certainly in political consolidation and self-governing experience. But in other regards there was no perceptible progress. In population indeed it had fallen back since 1858. A local census, in 1870 (1), taken by the col- onial government did not return more than 9,100 white inhabitants, the major- ity of whom were resident in Victoria, New Westminster and Nanaimo districts, whereas it is estimated that there were at least 25,000, some say 35,000, gold- seekers in the two colonies in 1858, although these were mainly transients, a large number of whom left almost as suddenly as they came. The second rush attracted by the Cariboo gold excitements brought a more permanent element; probably two-thirds of these later comers remained. Conditions in the meantime had become stable; but there was little prog- ress made for some time — in some respects indeed there was retrogression. In 1863 the output of the mines had been $3,900,000, while in 1871 it was only $1,400,000. Agriculture (2), which was confined largely to the New West- minster district, and the southeastern peninsula, of which Victoria was the apex, could not be said to have made material advance. There was little local demand for the products of the forest, and the export trade in lumber was restricted to the shores of Burrard Inlet (3), where there were two sawmills, so that the timber industry, though the most prosperous, was not large in volume. It could hardly be said to have been flourishing. Salmon canning was then only a prospective asset, and the fisheries generally afforded a very (l)The census referred to gave about the following results: Whites Coloured Chinese Victoria 2,842 217 210 Victoria District, South Saanich, etc 1,512 56 36 Nanaimo and District 601 92 36 Comox 102 ... ... Dillooet-Clinton 235 3 80 Cariboo 920 32 685 New Westminster City and District 1,292 37 27 Columbia and Kootenay 108 2 145 Yale, Lytton 524 5 50 Cowichan and Islands 456 5 25 Omineca 500 10 25 Total 9,092 459 1,319 <2)There were 13,384 acres under cultivation in 1871, the product of which in that year was: 215,000 bushels of grain (oats, wheat, barley and peas), 140,000 bushels of turnips, 125,000 bushels of potatoes, etc., 2,373 tons of hay and 28,737 head of live stock. According to the census of 1881, 1891 and 1901 the same products amounted to: 1881 1891 1901 Grain, bushels 559,120 1,511,428 1,958,705 Turnips, bushels 352,774 576,242 635,988 Potatoes, etc 473,831 685,802 955,946 Hay, tons 43,398 102,146 170,187 Live Stock, number 151,202 251,367 237,096 (3)There were 126 names in the directory of Burrard Inlet, nearly all of whom were millmen, loggers, etc. Among them are those of George Black (who afterwards kept a hotel at Hastings), T. Brew, J. Deighton (“Gassy Jack”), J. Van Bremer. The Moodyville mill, on the north side, was owned by Moody, Dietz & Nelson. J. C. Hughes and Coote Chambers were office associates. S. P. Moody, the principal of the firm, was lost in the ill-fated Pacific, and Nelson was Hugh Nelson, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor. Hastings Mills, still one of the leading export mills in the Province, was managed by J. A. Eaymur, father of Mr. James Raymur, Wa- ter Commissioner, Victoria, Jonathan Miller (father of Mr. Ernest Miller, M. P. P. Grand Forks), and late Postmaster, Vancouver, was constable. Among the names also are those of the DeBecks and L. Linn, after whose father, who came to British Columbia in 1859, Linn Creek was named. [ 1 ] narrow scope. Lode mining did not become a feature until after the comple- tion of the C. P. R., while, owing to its isolation from the outside world, the absence of effective communication between the interior parts of a vast prov- ince, and the limited opportunity for enterprise the country had come, prac- tically, to a standstill. It was the realization of these facts which actually brought about the union with Canada. Not that there was any lack of faith in the ultimate future; that was as strong then as now. None of the band of pioneers ever lost courage or hope. They were inspired always by the possi- bilities of British Columbia, even in the hour of its deepest depression. The huge mineral wealth which had been exposed and exploited; the vast shoals of fish that swarmed in the contiguous sea and the inland waters; the density and extent of the forests; the fertility and adaptability of the soil already brought under the plough; the geographical situation in regard to the Pacific trade; the charms and salubrity of the climate; the rare opportunities for sport afforded by the abundance and wide habitat of game; the magnificent resources of scenery — all these happy causes combined to render certain, under favourable conditions, the great future that awaited the country. Nature brought optimism to birth on whose lap, like that of Danae, fell showers of gold. She travailed with great destiny. And so it came to pass that when the Terms of Union were proposed the chief demand was for railway connection with the systems of Eastern Canada — unbroken communication between tide water and tide water. This demand seemed to impose a tremendous obliga- tion upon the Dominion as a whole and more especially upon the older provinces, whose shoulders mainly had to bear the added burden without apparently any hope of return. Look at that picture and on this! To-day two new transcontinental railways are being built with eagerness, whereas in 1871 the prospect of one, in order to fulfil the terms of the treaty with British Columbia, was enough to fill the hearts of all Eastern Canadians with dark forebodings. This was the first of the great problems of confederated Canada that chiefly concerned the people of this province for the first ten years of their political history. While there were of course local questions affecting the fortunes of those in office, and the prospects of those out of it, the great overpowering issue was always the construction of a Canadian Pacific Rail- way. This problem brought about a serious estrangement with the rest of the Dominion; it sent delegations to Ottawa and to Downing Street; it occupied diplomatic representatives in the persons of Mr. Edgar, Lord Dufferin and Lord Lome, and it left grievances, the memory of which are still alive, and wounds, the scars of which are still to be seen. In order to account for the stagnation which existed in the midst of progressive elements, the situation as it then was must be realized. It was through no lack of enterprise, because the British Columbians of that day invested freely, and in many instances to their cost, in anything that looked promising. It was merely the lack of opportunity — of outlet. There was a considerable trade with the Indians in some few products, but, beyond that, 10,000 white people, generous consumers as they were, could create only a limited local market. Some trade indeed was done with Puget Sound ports, then a series of hamlets, but the principal market was San Francisco. Thence were imported various manufactured articles and fruits, the Nanaimo col- lieries, the output of which was then about 35,000 tons a year, sold coal in ex- [ 2 ] change for these commodities. Thither gold bullion, too, was imported, though in decreasing quantity. From England, round the Horn, in sailing ships came a number of staple products — liquors, clothes, cottons, haberdashery, apothecary supplies, heavy hardware, etc., etc. The Hudson’s Bay Com- pany sent back furs as in time past, and there were occasional cargoes of lumber and spars. The exports in 1872-78 amounted to $1,750,000; imports to $2,076,476. In 1862, after both colonies had been fairly well established, these had totalled about $2,750,000 and $3,700,000, respectively. The reve- nues of the province at the time of Confederation amounted to $327,215 and the expenditure to $432,082. In 1862 these items had aggregated $490,000 and $540,000, respectively. Statistics are tedious, but a few are necessary to emphasize a progress, which, since the C. P. R. has been completed, has been rapid and during the last decade phenomenal (4). (4)The Exports in 1862 were: Gold Coal Furs Timber Miscellaneous $2,176,185 41,500 300.000 200.000 5,000 Total $2,713,683 (Note: Owing to the difficulty of getting exact details under these different heads, the figures are only approximate, but are substantially accurate.) In 1872 the Exports were: Gold Coal Furs, etc Timber Fish Miscellaneous $1,038,574 180,963 259,292 211,026 43,361 59,231 Total $1,792,347 These exports included $50,000 worth of goods that were not the products of the Province. To carry on the comparison further, showing expansion consequent upon railway building, we find exports in 1891 to have been: (1) The Mines $2,375,770 The Fisheries 2,374,717 The Forest 325,881 (2) Animals and their produce 346,159 (3) Miscellaneous 213,198 Total $5,636,726 Coal $1,970,743 (1) Gold 377,000 (2) Furs 248,832 (3) Not produce of B. C 91,104 In 1895: (1) The Mines 4,615,452 The Forest 500,048 The Fisheries 3,264,500 (2) Animals and their produce 454,618 (3) Miscellaneous 231,647 Total $9,066,265 (1) Gold $ 611,209 (2) Furs 126,091 In 1901: (1) The Mines $11,941,716 The Fisheries 3,443,037 The Forest 771,098 (2) Animals and their produce 482,078 (3) Miscellaneous 578,352 $17,156,281 Coal $ 3,348,920 (1) Gold 5,118,708 (2) Furs 250,619 (3) Including manufactures, $265,663, and not produce of Canada, $210,619. The trade and navigation returns of the Dominion for the year ending the next period of five years do not give the details by provinces, a change made as the result of a mistaken and foolish idea of the department in respect to the danger of discriminating comparisons among provinces. But the comparison may be made in a more general way by the total of exports and imports compared as follows: Exports Imports 1872 $ 1,912,107 $ 1,790,352 1875 2,824,812 2,543,552 1880 2,643,570 1,756,291 1885 3,237,804 4,089,492 1890 5,763,467 4,379,272 1895 9,121,098 4,379,611 1900 17,851,812 10,560,532 1905 16,677,882 12,565,019 1910 25,068,411 27,091,019 [ 3 ] Conditions which affected the colonies from 1860 to 1870 continued more or less the same until the completion of the C. P. R. in 1885. Activity, it is true, had been quickened by the anticipation of the railway, by the circula- tion of the vast sums of money required for the surveys, and construction of the transcontinental line; by the previous completion of the Northern Pacific to the coast, which gave direct communication with the East by way of the Sound; by the development of the salmon canning industry; by the expansion of the lumber industry, and by the attention directed to the prospecting for lode mines. But this activity was more marked in the way of increased popu- lation and speculation than of actual development. During all the 25 years since 1858 the colonies and the provinces had imported, with few exceptions, everything the people ate, wore or used. Of agricultural produce — eggs, butter, bacon, flour, fruits, poultry, canned goods, vegetables even — only a small percentage was supplied locally. Beef cattle for the most part came from the bunch-grass ranges of the interior, mutton and lamb largely from south of the line; bread, biscuits, oatmeal, canned salmon, beer, (for a time) matches, bricks, lime and building material alone were manufactured locally. There were in addition to these industries, ship and boat-building in a limited way and foundry and machine shops. Sealing was an important enterprise for a considerable period. The period from 1870 to 1910 can, therefore, be conveniently divided into two parts, the first ending with the completion of the C. P. R. to Bur- rard Inlet, after which a new era, rendered possible by new 7 conditions, began. Progress in actual development, comparatively slow at first, w r as accelerated year by year. Three new factors were created: first, transcontinental traffic and intercommunication between British Columbia and the other provinces; secondly, the commencement of interior development; and, thirdly, the open- ing of direct trade with the Orient and Australasia. From a federal and imperial standpoint, there was still another and greater factor — the opening of the new Empire trade route across Canada — of which our ocean ports are the gateways. It might not seem the proper place at the beginning of the history of the post-confederation era to enlarge upon the nature and extent of these factors. Nevertheless, the unfolding of the scheme of railway con- struction, the long drawn out negotiations, and the extension of the systems of internal communication, will be better understood and appreciated by being discussed at this point, because the raison d’etre of joining Canada together in confederation was founded upon these considerations and not upon patriotic sentiment, loyal as British Columbians always were. If the British authorities had built the C. P. R. as an Imperial highway, as they w 7 ere at one time strongly urged to do, British Columbia might have remained with some ad- vantage to herself, as Newfoundland is to-day, a separate colony of Great Britain; or, again, if such a course had been constitutionally possible, British Columbia might have removed some of her existing disabilities by merging her destiny with that of the country south of it. Indeed, the situation at one time did create a certain amount of annexation sentiment. Separated as Vic- toria w 7 as three thousand miles away from the seat of central government, with a vast extent of barren and undeveloped country, with huge mountain barriers between, such a course might have seemed to justify the theory of Goldwin Smith that sovereignty should be based on the lines of least resist- [ 4 ] ance, namely, contiguity of place and homogeneity of conditions. In all prob- ability British Columbia, joined to Washington and Oregon, would have more quickly sprung into new life, but on the other hand, she would not have en- joyed the substantial growth in the years which were to follow. Subsequent events have shown that, in so far as the welfare of Canada and British Colum- bia are mutually and separately concerned, Goldwin Smith was wrong in his philosophical deductions, and that the wisdom of his very specious theory has not been demonstrated by practical results. In any event, whatever might have been the outcome of negotiations between the governments of the colony and of the Dominion in respect to union, British sentiment which was domi- nant in the Province would not have agreed to annexation with the United States, except as a very last resort. Far too much weight has been attached to what this crude and very limited tendency towards annexation portended, although indifferently informed writers, some of them in high places in Great Britain, even yet persist in referring to it as a danger which, as a matter of fact, never existed. Indeed, throughout the length and breadth of the Em- pire there is no part where the people as a whole are so wholly and unreserv- edly devoted to the idea of Imperial unity and to British institutions as is Brit- ish Columbia. To consider the above named factors in order, direct communication with the eastern provinces by the completion of the railway made British Co- lumbia an indissoluble part of the Dominion and brought about new conditions of trade and politics. The balance of commercial advantages, indeed, for some time were, as they still are, in a large measure in favour of Eastern Canada. This Province became a new and profitable field for the manufacturers and wholesale merchants of the older provinces — in other words, she enlarged their sphere of activity. On the other hand, the natural products of British Columbia — lumber, fish, and minerals — on account of distance and other disadvantages, could not readily find a market in the East. Nor did she possess manufactured goods to give in exchange. But the completion of the C. P. R. stimulated activity, brought population, incited travel to the Coast, built terminal cities, and gradually and increasingly fulfilled the expectations, so that transcontinental traffic has assumed immense proportions, and from a condition of practical isolation our social and political relations with the East have been rendered intimate. Internal development at the time of Confederation, however, was prac- tically at a standstill. Cariboo, which had enjoyed such a period of prosperity, was on the wane. No other rich fields had been exploited. Wild Horse Creek, Big Bend, Rock Creek, Boundary Creek, and Similkameen had shown spas- modic outbursts, but, had they proved richer than appeared, the difficulties and expense of transportation would have offset their advantages. The Omi- neca and Cassiar excitements of a later day produced considerable gold, but here again the districts were too remote and too hard to reach to be really reproductive. Placer camps have always been the graveyards of the brightest hopes of mankind, and even had the provincial revenues sufficed, the amount of the precious metal won from them, excluding, of course, Cariboo, would not have justified the expense of building wagon roads. The operation of lode mines with wagon roads as the sole means of communication has always been, as experience teaches, an impractical proposition. Mining in the interior is only [ 3 ] possible on one condition: cheap transportation by railways in combination with numerous waterways. The main line of the C. P. R. did not run through the most fruitful parts of the Province. In the Kootenays, to which prospectors for lode mines first directed their attention, opportunities were soon opened up for traffic and interior communication by means of railways, and steamboat traffic began to expand until a network of lines was completed. Thus was made possible the mineral developments of to-day, combined with the establishment of the coking and smelting industries, and the building of mining towns. One of the first results of the completion of the railway to Burrard Inlet was the opening of direct trade with Japan and China. In 1886 sailed the first tea-ship, which transhipped its cargo for overland at Port Moody; soon after which were chartered for this trade the steamships Parthia, Abyssinia, and Ba- tavia, and these again were succeeded by the three “Empresses”: India, China, and Japan. Then followed the establishment of liners to Australia. There is now a large fleet of transpacific steamers calling at Victoria and Vancouver, representing half a dozen companies. The importance to the Province of these developments is very great, involving as they do the building up of seaports, in the creation of commission and forwarding houses, and the bringing of the peo- ple into contact with the commerce and leading men of three continents. But there is a phenomenon of larger and infinitely more important con- sequence to be noted. The coupling of ocean with ocean by means of a rail- way has placed British Columbia on the new Empire route of travel. Coin- cidently with the establishment of Pacific steamships to the Orient came the agitation for a faster Atlantic service between Great Britain and Canadian seaports. Again, the fact that the C. P. R. has subsidiary European con- nections has had the effect of drawing the trade to the west coast cities from the continent as well as from Great Britain. The new condition also sug- gested the idea of a Pacific cable, which in its turn inspired the still wider vision of an all-British cable girdling the earth. All these enterprises will clearly have the greatest effect on the future of British Columbia seaports; add to which the opening and settlement of the Middle West, the invasion of the Great Northern Railway, the development of the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern, the expansion of commerce seaward and coast- ward, the enlargement of shipbuilding, the establishment of pulp mills, and the prospect of iron and steel industries, all of which are fraught with infinite consequence to the Province, the Dominion and the Empire alike — have been the direct and logical outcome of that bargain between Canada and Brit- ish Columbia, which stipulated that a railway should be the main condition of union. The difficulties, however, the heartburnings, the agitations, and pro- tracted negotiations connected with the fulfilment of the terms of that union will be seen to form a large part of this history of the Province after 1871. To begin with, the political, social and economic conditions of the period must first be briefly considered. Victoria, politically the capital, was also for many years the social and commercial centre of the Province. New West- minster had lost its importance as chief city of the colony of British Colum- bia when the union of British Columbia and Vancouver Island took place in 1866, and had by that time become a town of only several hundred inhabitants. Though being on the highway to the interior, the chief point in the navigation [ 6 ] of the Fraser River and the natural centre of New Westminster district, which was the most considerable farming area in the Province at that time, it had a trade and importance peculiarly its own, yet it was inert and lifeless. The feeling of its people on account of the change of the capital, in addition to a natural rivalry was anything but friendly to Victoria. The latter, with the population, the wealth, the men of influence, the trade, and the seat of government, completely dominated the Province. There the traveller in the West, the politician, the commercial man, and the seaman found their natural home. During the winter it was the resort of a more shifting element — miners, prospectors, cruisers, loggers, sailors, sealers — whose avocations called them hither and thither in summer in search of fortune or employment. There the policies of the government of the day were framed, always with an eye to the interest of Victoria and the Island of Vancouver. There in the hotels, the homes of the nomads, during the winter months, was an atmosphere of easy gaiety and distractions. Nevertheless, Victoria had none of the marks of the typical border town of the United States, and was alwa 3 ^s quiet and orderly. There were few restrictions to pleasure, but the freedom enjoyed was seldom openly or flagrantly abused. Similar conditions to those in Victoria obtained almost all over the Province. In the more remote places gambling was a standard form of abusement, but the wholesome fear of law and respect for authority prevented those excesses which were blots upon every mining and frontier town of the western United States. Moreover, the pioneers of this Province were of a much better class, as a rule, than those of the country to the south of the line (5). No reference, of course, is here intended to the first settlers of Oregon and Washington, but to the men who followed in the wake of the prospectors and the founders of towns as settlement advanced — the border desperado, the cattle “rustler,” the “bad man” of the plains, the “tinhorns,” the “Arizona Petes,” the “Texas Bills,” and the rest of that motley herd around which fiction has thrown a halo of romance, and pseudo- moralists have excused on the score of following the “ways of the West” — a class of men who, freed from the restraints of polite and orderly society, revert to sheer barbarism, reducing themselves below the level of the untutored Indian. In British Columbia, on the other hand, towns of the coast society were leavened with an especially religious and moral element. From the very first, Christian churches (6) had reared their spires in all the towns of the (5) This comment is made without disparagement to the general morale of the people of the United States, and is corroborated by works of American origin. The difference in pioneer conditions between the two countries, in the better social order maintained in British Columbia, is due to two things: 1. The population of British Columbia, after the first rush, was drawn, mainly directly from the older communities in Canada and Great Britain, whereas in the western states, there was a large class of adventurers who drifted hither and thither as new discov- eries were made, or new movements took place. 2. The strict enforcement of the law from the outset in British Columbia prevented excesses and crime and engendered a spirit of order and obedience to authority. Had it not been for the latter fact there would have been repeated in this province the deplorable condition of things elsewhere. Nothing has been here stated that has not been maintained hundreds of times over and in much stronger terms by writers of the United States themselves. “It is the idealism of the Americans that makes them such searching self-critics,” says Low, and “It is this which makes the American criticise himself so fiercely, that makes him so quick to resent the criticism that comes from without; and that the American is extremely sensitive to foreign criticism cannot be denied.” The author, realizing this, is the more careful not to give needless offence. (6) In Victoria, almost from the very earliest days of the Hudson’s Bay Company rule, religious ser- vices were conducted first by the Rev. J. R. Staines. He was succeeded by the Bev. E. (now Bishop) Cridge. Accompanying Douglas on his first expedition to old Camosun was the Catholic missionary. Rev. Father Balduc, who baptized many Indians. It is not recorded, however, that these sudden conversions had very lasting effect on the native conscience or that they represented any intelligent conception of the nature of the change supposed to have been wrought. The Oblate fathers were first in the field in Brit- ish Columbia as Indian missionaries, and in 1860 we find the R. C. Church well established in Victoria, with Bishop Demers as head of the Diocese and Revs, and Father D’Herbomez, Baudre and Lejacq (of [7] coast — Catholic, English Church, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist — representing a class of the community trained in religious ob- servances, which were of a restraining and beneficial influence. In fact, the pioneers of British Columbia, if we except the rabble of San Francisco ad- venturers who came with the first rush and left soon after, were essentially a superior class of men and women. They included the Hudson’s Bay Co. traders and their families, the ofAcialiS of the civil list in two colonies, the members of the corps of Royal Engineers, retired army and navy men, enter- prising, ambitious, intelligent, and educated youths from Great Britain, East- ern Canada and the United States, and the better class of western miners. There were also, stationed at Esquimalt, the officers of ships of war who con- tributed their quota to social life, so that at the time of confederation there was a nucleus of society educated and refined beyond the standard of the ordinary new world community. There were churches, clubs, reading rooms, private and public schools — though not yet an educational system — musical societies, theatres, amateur theatricals and lodges of all kinds (7). Extern- ally, towns like Victoria and New Westminster seemed new and unfinished, but in many respects they differed but little from communities in Great Britain and Eastern Canada or elsewhere in the older world. There was, of course, the free and easy life and absence of convention which distinguished the West from the East; but the predominance of British and Canadian resi- dents, especially the former, nurtured by the best traditions of a good home life, gave to the colony special characteristics, which are still marked in Brit- ish Columbia, and which rendered the translation of the best of old conditions to new, an easy process. These were halcyon days to which older men of the present generation can now look back — moderate work, frequent holidays, wholesome recreation and sport, gay evenings, congenial, free-handed social life, beautiful environment, a climate like that of England itself, and, finally, the O. M. I.) as priests. The Oblate order was also established at New Westminster, which was the headquarters for the mainland. In both Victoria and New Westminster there were Catholic schools for both sexes. In 1863 there were two English Churches in Victoria, Christ Church and St. John, of which Rev. E. Cridge and Rev. A. C. Garrett, respectively, were rectors. There were five other English Church congre- gations on the Island in which Revs. Dundas, Wood, Good, Lowe and Kirk ministered. The Rt. Rev. George Hills was Bishop of the Diocese, and Very Rev. H. P. Wright, Archdeacon. The Presbyterians had a church under the charge of the Rev. A. Hall, pioneer clergyman of that denomination, who was sent out to Victoria by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. In New Westminster the Presbyterians were represented by the Rev. Dr. Jameson, sent out by the General Assembly of the Canadian Church in 1862. The Wesleyan Methodists had four ordained clergymen in British Columbia, Rev. E. Evans, Supt. and Revs. E. Robson, E. White and A. Browning. Rev. Mr. Macfie, who wrote a book on British Columbia, was a Congregational minister. On the mainland, the English Church had parishes in New Westminster, Sapperton, Hope, Douglas and Lillooet, of which Rev. J. Sheepshanks (afterwards Bishop of Norwich), Rev. H. P. Wright, Rev. A. D. Pringle, Rev. J. Gammage and Rev. R. L. Brown, respectively, were pastors. (7)In regard to education, in Mallandaine’s Directory of 1860, the following note is to be found: One nunnery — Sisters of St. Ann — also school for females, one school under the auspices of the R. C. Bishop (school for boys in Humboldt Street), one private educational institute for the sexes, E. Mallandaine (late J. Sexsmith); one young ladies’ seminary. In that year there was also a hospital, a Masonic lodge, an Oddfellow's lodge, a Ladies' Benevolent Society (under the presidency of Mrs. Moody, wife of Col. Moody) and a Philharmonic Society conducted by John Bayley. There was no educational system until after Confederation, but there was very soon a Central School in Victoria, of which the late John Jessop was principal. It was strictly non-sectarian, and although fees were charged they were described as “low.” There were two Masonic lodges, No. 1085 and Vancouver Lodge No. 421. Among the officers of the first were Robt. Burnaby, Thos. Harris (first Mayor of Victoria), W. H. Thain, Lumley Franklin, J. J. Southgate and Geo. Pearkes. Of the latter Dr. I. W. Powell, Hon. David Cameron and R. T. Smith. A St. Andrews Society, of which Governor Douglas was Honorary President, and Chief Justice David Cameron and Matthew Baillie Begbie were Vice-Presidents, Gilbert Malcolm Sproat. President, and J. D. Walker, James Duncan, Rev. J. B. Dundas, Dr. Trimble, Capt. Irving (Sr.), A. D. McDonald, Thos. Lowe, and C. Wallace were among the members. Was organized at an early date. So also was the Amateur Dramatic Association, with Governor Douglas, Patron, and Robt. Burnaby, Selim Franklin, W. A. Harris, C. W. Cruickshanks. A. M. Harris (general manager), Lumley Franklin, A. B. Fry, H. C. Courtney, Edward White, and Godfrey Brown were among the members. There was as well a Hebrew Society, called the Chebra Bikin Chalim Ukedisha, of which the officers were Emanuel Levy, David Hart, Lewis Davy and Lewis Levy. [ 8 ] hope in the future. What wonder that some in that happy community re- garded the new era of railways and commercial bustle as an intrusion upon pleasant dreams and rather resented the breaking in of newcomers upon their sacred circle. There was no greedy competition. Business men went late to their offices and came early away. Celebrations of all kinds were frequent, there was cheerfulness in ill fortune as in good, of both of which the colonists experienced their share. The Pacific province, then as to-day, though in a greater degree, had a peculiar fascination for the majority of strangers, and few who came to stay for a time ever left, or if they did leave longed to return again. In truth, the atmosphere of a British Columbian city holds him who breathes it with a grip not felt under other skies. None of the towns of the new province had attained the proportions, although several had all the dignity, of cities. Besides Victoria and New Westminster, there were Nanaimo, Yale, and Barkerville. Nanaimo, like Victoria, had had its origin as a Hudson’s Bay Co. fort — a relic of which is still seen in an ancient bastion on the water front — and was a colliery town pure and simple, as it is still to a large extent. The collieries were operated by the old Vancouver Coal Company. These were subsequently transferred to an- other English corporation, known as the New Vancouver Coal Company, which company after years of operation in its turn transferred its interests to a corporation known as the Western Fuel Company, whose headquarters are in San Francisco. Nanaimo’s fortunes varied with the fortunes of the coal industry, but in the main have steadily progressed. Yale was the head of navigation on the lower Fraser, the seat of local government for a large area of interior country, and the point of departure for Cariboo and Yale dis- trict. It had ever since the first been the headquarters of the mining fraternity of the Fraser and an important commercial and forwarding point. Later on it was the headquarters for railway construction during the period of the Onderdonk contract, and at the latter time as well as in the very early times was extremely “lively” in the western sense of that term. Its environment formed the nearest parallel in British Columbia to the gambling saloons of the typical mining town of the West. It was not municipally organized and may be more correctly described as a “camp,” bustling enough in its heyday, but long since a quiet hamlet, with a railway station, a ladies’ school, a gov- ernment office, a church, a hotel, the broken-down remnants of business blocks, and a few old-time residents, Indians and Chinese. Saloons are pointed out to the visitor where one thousand dollars a day in gold dust used to be spent over the bars. With the completion of the railway the glory and bustle of Yale vanished, when the head office of the stage line to the Lillooet and Cariboo country was removed to Ashcroft. Situated in a snug, fruitful flat in the Fraser canyon, it is, nevertheless, a delightful spot, redolent of Indian tradi- tions and the reminiscences of pioneer mining and travel. Williams Creek was virtually the centre of the mining of the principal division of the Cariboo district, and the mining population of the neighbour- ing creeks really belonged to Barkerville. About 1863 and 1864 Barkerville was a town of considerable importance and, though its citizens were more or less transient, coming and going, as the fortunes of mining ebbed and waned, it maintained, however, a steady trade for almost a decade. A number of business houses were represented and it was noted for its hotels, its dance halls, [9] and as the seat of local government. It boasted of a reading room, of a news- paper — the Cariboo Sentinel — a four-page paper which cost a dollar a copy, paid its editor $150.00 a week and charged $5.00 an insertion for the smallest advertisement— a fire department, together with fraternal and benevolent so- cieties. Although it had several places of worship it was not a martyr to religious exercises. Barkerville never became incorporated. It declined in importance and population with the decadence of the placer industry. It can scarcely be realized now, what the conditions were at that time, of a province so vast, so isolated, and so rugged, and yet potentially so great. Burrard Inlet, now the scene of such activities, was then a solitude, sur- rounded by dark and deep forests, save for two sawmills to which ships came now and then for cargoes of lumber and spars, a hotel, a store, and the Indian village on the north shore. Vancouver was then known as “Gastown,” called after mine host, “Gassy Jack,” who kept the single hotel of the place, a trail connected it with New Westminster, but even then, at the time of the laying out of the townsite of Granville, prophetic minds saw in it “an exceeding great city.” New West- minister itself, according to the census of 1871, was only a burg of some few hundred souls. To it there ran steamships from Victoria via Lander’s Land- ing, which touched at river points as far as Yale. The district was the most populous rural portion of the province, boasting on both sides of the river, but principally on the south side, some 600 or 700 residents. From Victoria there was regular communication with San Francisco, and up the coast to Nanaimo, Alert Bay, the mouth of the Skeena River, and as far north as Fort Simpson and the mouth of the Stikine, travel to which northern points for some time after Confederation was somewhat brisk, owing to the mining excitement in the Omineca and Cassiar districts. Queen Char- lotte Islands, now an important objective point for miners, prospectors, tim- ber cruisers and land-seekers, was only occasionally visited by steamers during summer months, but was then, as for a long time subsequently, practically an exclusively Haida heritage, the possibilities of which were neither appreci- ated nor known. There was a little farming done in the delta of the Fraser, in Saanich, in Sooke, and in Metchosin districts, but hardly any in Cowichan. Beans had been raised in Lillooet with a good market in the mining camps, and some wheat was grown in Cariboo. There were cattle ranches in the Lillooet and Cariboo districts, in the vicinity of Kamloops and in the Okana- gan, and one or two in the Similkameen and Nicola, which found their prin- cipal market at the coast. The ranchmen, however, were few and far between, and for the most part unprogressive. Splendid fruits were grown here and there, but fruit-growing as an industry was as yet only a possibility in British Columbia. Progressive methods, even had they existed, would not have availed much. Ranching was a somewhat unprogressive and easy-going life. The big ranches which were taken up in the early days, for the most part at one dol- lar an acre, have now become too valuable in the majority of instances for running cattle, and a great many of them have been sold and subdivided into small holdings for the growing of fruit, which afterwards became infinitely more profitable and important as an industry than in those early days. Throughout the interior government offices served the needs of the exceedingly thin and widely scattered population, consisting of only a few [ 10 ] thousand or two whites in the aggregate and of a shifting type. Such condi- tions created a form of administration peculiar in Canada to British Colum- bia, that of government agency, which has existed ever since. A govern- ment agent was lord paramount in his district with a multiplicity of official functions— government agent, stipendiary magistrate, gold commissioner, mining recorder, assessor, collector, water commissioner, land agent, issuer of marriage licences and constable. Any of these powers, not exercised by him- self in person, were delegated to responsible deputies under his direction and control, but in early days and in the remoter districts one man usually per- formed all functions, and the system has always worked well. Some of the men who acted in that multiform capacity are honoured names in provincial annals — men such as O’Reilly, Saunders, Fitzstubbs, Cox, Ball, Vowell, Kirkup, Bowron, Tunstall, Haynes, Bray, Hussey, Moresby, Galbraith, and Brew — some of them no doubt with faults of temper and eccentricities, but men of character, bravery, endurance and administrative ability, many of whom travelled for hundreds of miles along trails on horseback through wilderness and by canoes on lake and river, suffered hardships and exposure, and maintained alone at isolated posts the majesty of the law — men of whom their descendants are deservedly proud, and to whom the province owes much both as contributors to its early development and as exemplars of public duty at all hazards. Among Indians in remote places, and miscellane- ous congeries of whites, their duty was always attended with risk and danger, but it is only fair to add as a tribute to both classes of their subjects that few tragedies occurred, and acts of violence were rare and invariably avenged in the courts. Indeed, it may be said that miners and prospectors, however rough in speech and appearance, are proverbially submissive to law and amen- able to order. Moreover, the outstanding feature in British Columbia as a colony, and as a province, has been the prompt and effective administration of justice. No contravention of statute, misdemeanour or crime is so remote that the arm of the law has not been long enough to reach and punish. The fact that men like Douglas and Begbie at the very outset exerted their authority with an unsparing hand in dealing with offences had the effect of establishing a respect for British law and order that soon became universal in the Province and extending far beyond its borders. The Chinese were numerous in the Province and their competition with white labour created at an early date an Oriental question, which perennially agitated the Legislature and was the common topic on the rostrum as often as elections came round. The Chinese came to the country first in 1858, being attracted, according to some authorities, by the stories of the gold discoveries. Some of them were engaged in washing gold, but as a rule were employed as domestics, cooks, and farm hands. Gradually, being a versatile people, they drifted into other occupations. The agitation against them arose from the fact that they worked in factories, in lumber yards, in tailor shops and in other industries at a price against which the white labour was helpless in competi- tion. Some five thousand of them were employed in the construction of the C. P. R. At first, as a political question, it was taken up by the local Legis- lature, which attempted to deal with it by imposing a tax of $50 per head, but the statute, under whose authority it was imposed, was promptly disal- lowed by the Dominion Government on the grounds that it was ultra vires [ 11 ] provincially. The agitation became so strong ultimately that the Federal Parliament was moved to pass an act placing a tax of $50 per head on Chinese. With the exception of advancing wages slightly, this had little perceptible effect in preventing Oriental immigration. Chinese contractors paid the tax, as they paid the passage money, for these people, obtained employment for them at a handsome commission for themselves, and collected their advances as wages were paid. To all intents and purposes the Coolie immigrant was a slave to the contractor for a year or more, as the case might be, until the debt was paid — a system which obtains everywhere where Chinese are largely employed. The agitation against them, however, still continued, and the Dominion Parliament raised the impost to $100 a head, a restriction that still failed to satisfy the labour unions or protect the interests of labouring men. Wages of Chinese went up once more, but the Chinese still came in. At the time of the elections in 1896, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, then leader of the Liberal opposition, had given a definite promise to make British Columbia a white man’s country, and in pursuance of that pledge a Royal Commission was appointed in 1898 to enquire into the conditions of Oriental labour on this coast, and took voluminous evidence in that year bearing on the Oriental question generally. As the outcome of the report of the commission, the head tax was raised to $500 per head, which for some time proved to be practically prohibitive of entry. Thereupon the Chinese who were already resident demanded almost a double wage. This manoeuvre was to some ex- tent responsible for the incursions of Japanese and Hindus in 1907. An- other result has been that the Chinese element has again begun to increase, thereby swelling the coffers of the Provincial Government, whose share of the head tax is fifty per cent. In the foregoing account an attempt has been made to outline fairly and accurately the condition of the Province at and immedately before and after the date of union with Canada. A glance at the figures that have been given, which cover a period of 25 years, reveals the fact, already stated, that the province of British Columbia was in a material sense almost stationary during that long time. In one important sense, however, the country was moving forward. The people were slowly but surely laying the foundations of progress, but not in a manner that can be shown in statistics. From the latter point of view the country was more prosperous in 1860 than it was at any subsequent date until the completion of the railway. But the activity and speculation consequent upon mining or any other class of excitement is not necessarily real prosperity, although on account of incidental developments it may, and under favourable conditions usually does, lead to results of great consequence. This has been true of California, Australia, and South Africa, and it has been particularly true of British Columbia, notwithstanding that mining itself may in the meantime cease to be the most important factor in the new era of expansion. Mining excitement brings population, which seeks new avenues of employment when the original incentive is lost, and utilizes other opportunities to earn a living or accumulate wealth. Some of the thousands who went to Cariboo, without finding what they sought, took up land and formed the nucleus of an agricultural population. Others who came to British Columbia, lured by the stories of golden sands, turned their atten- tion to commercial pursuits. Others again became interested in timber and [ 12 ] fishing, others in transportation and shipping, until a community of diverse interests was formed, with, however, mining as its main prop and hope. But success was in a general way dependent upon railway construction and com- munication with the outside world, and other developments of a national character which were to determine British Columbia’s ultimate place in the history of British North America. [ 18 ] POLITICAL CONDITIONS AND EARLY LEGISLATION. CHAPTER II. Prior to Confederation British Columbia was a Crown Colony, sim- ilar in form of government to that of the Crown colonies of older Canada. Upper and Lower Canada were granted responsible government in 1841, but the fullest and complete expression of all that the term involves is observed in the B. N. A. Act. Responsible government was not enjoyed by British Columbia until the date of Union in 1871 (1). It is scarcely necessary to state that at the head of the Crown Colony regime there stood the Governor, who received his instructions direct from the Imperial Government through the Colonial Secretary in Downing Street, and who necessarily, had a much larger share in the responsibility of the affairs of state and exercised a much greater influence in Executive Council than the Lieutenant-Governor, or His Excellency the Governor-General. The very term “responsible” as implied to government implies of course responsibility to the people, whereas it is the (1) The statement that responsible government was not achieved to its fullest extent, is true in a literal rather than a constitutional sense. During the McCreight regime Joseph Trutch as Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, sat in the Executive Council, and discussed all matters submitted with the members. He was the dominating influence of the cabinet, so that it might be said he was not only the Throne itself, but the power behind the Throne. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, who combined profes- sional knowledge with practical business experience and capacity. From his former connection with the Government as chief commissioner of lands and works, he was familiar with all the details of governmental machinery. He had also a peculiarly practical mind, and possessed a sound and evenly- balanced judgment. To the members of his administration his advice and assistance were of great service. Not one of his ministers was a man of ministerial experience, and all, with the exception of Hon. Mr. Holbrook, were lawyers. His relations with them had this advantage that he influenced their policy, and gave effect to his own views without becoming responsible for their decisions. Moreover, he was a masterful man of forceful character, but like most such men, was selfish, ambitious and in- clined to be dictatorial. He was, also blessed with a belief in himself, and was somewhat pompous in manner, though his good sense was always prominent. At the incoming of the de Cosmos Govern- ment he received a rather severe shock. At the first meeting of the executive council he was present as usual, and an extraordinary amount of time was spent in miscellaneous and desultory conversation. Being a man of prompt business habits, he became impatient and remarked, “Well, gentlemen, is it not time to begin?’’ It was then diplomatically but firmly intimated that they were waiting for him to retire. That was the last occasion in which Crown and Council met in executive conclave in British Columbia. It was likewise the first real responsible government. It is not certain that the Province was any better off without the advice of His Honour, but the arrangement was at least more defens- ible. His Honour did not cease, however, to exert a strong influence on Cabinet counsels and in public affairs, though advice was not always salutary and unselfish. On one occasion he exerted himself to secure the retirement of Mr. Bunster from the Vancouver (Island) contest in favour of Sir Francis Hincks, Finance Minister of Canada, who wanted a seat in the House of Commons. This nearly brought about a grave crisis in his affairs. Bunster, who had his faults, was a blunt, honest, outspoken man, and he negotiated his retirement (so he alleged) in the presence of Hon. Mr. Trutch, and with his concurrence, on condition of special protection to British Columbia agricultural products. Sir Francis Hincks either forgot to, or could not, give effect to his promise, and Mr. Bunster blurted out his state- ment of the case in the Legislature. His Honour denied any share in the transaction, but Mr. Bunster persisted. The matter was finally allowed to drop. Had it been pursued, one of two things would have resulted, the expulsion of Mr. Bunster from the House, or the retirement of His Honour. Other things were whispered about the latter in respect to his relations with administrative and executive affairs. For instance, later on, it was said that he was interested in the Moody lands, of which there was a considerable area, in the vicinity of Burrard Inlet and that his influence, for that reason, was exerted in favour of the C. P. R. terminus being located on the mainland at that point. A letter from Colonel Moody himself satisfactorily disposed of what proved to be manufactured out of people’s imagi- nation. But it is certain that until Dr. Mclnnes entered the arena, no Lieutenant-Governor ventured so far outside of his strict constitutional sphere of influence to interfere in public policy. During the transition from Crown Colony government to Provincial autonomy, there was a brief interregnum in which it was necessary for him to administer affairs on his own initiative, but he continued this rule much longer than was necessary, or than was constitutionally defensible. He did not appoint his ministers until it was barely in time for them to meet the House after their election. It might also be a matter of wonder that he chose ministers who had not been identified with the movement towards Confederation, and who were without political experience. Undoubtedly, this was done to make more firm his own hold on the direction of public policy, and retain a personal supremacy that was much to his liking and in accord with his personal ambitions. On the whole, if we put aside considerations of his personal prejudices and those human weaknesses inherent in a man of his mould, his influence and his efforts were on the whole beneficial at that particular time. There was a tendency to demagogy in a newly constituted Province, which might have steered the ship of state still further out of a sound economic and political course. Moreover constitutional and responsible government in Canada was in its experimental stages — -a fact which applied with more particular force to the situation in British Columbia. [ 15 ] Crown from which the Lieutenant-Governor indirectly derives his authority, and of which he is the local representative. There was the Legislative Council the members of which were, in part, appointed by the Governor and in part elected by the people. In the older Canada these two branches — the elective and the ap- pointed — were often, if not always, in a state of conflict. The Governor was al- ways in conflict with one or both, bat usually the appointed branch represented the will of the Governor. The unsatisfactory results of this combination of irre- concilable elements brought about what was in name at least responsible govern- ment — because the government, backed by the influential remnants of what in Ontario was known as the Family Compact, still continued, or attempted, to exercise undue prerogative and influence. In British Columbia there was not the same hostility displayed between the popular and executive elements. Nevertheless the representatives of the people were essentially in opposition, They in the main favoured Confederation and were to a large extent the leaders in the agitation which brought it about. The same causes, however, which operated in Old Canada to make Confederation possible and neces- sary did not obtain in British Columbia. In the former, Confederation was the solution of a political deadlock between Upper and Lower Canada, which rendered progressive government or satisfactory government of any kind im -. practicable. In the latter, Confederation was not the panacea for government ills, but a great factor of material development — the improvement of a situ- ation which by reason of isolation and lack of communication with the outside world, rendered further commercial and industrial expansion a physical and financial impossibility. The country had become and remained stagnant for want of opportunity. Confederation in British Columbia was not, except in- cidentally, a matter of sentiment evoked in order to help forward the cause of its supporters. The people sought relief in Confederation from disabilities which by their own efforts they were powerless to overcome. In a word, a transcontinental railway, with all the advantages which it promised, was the crux of the issue. There had been it is true, complaints as to the old auto- cratic form of government, but it cannot be said that the evils of the system were out of all proportion to the requirements of the country at that time ( 2 ) . It is even true, indeed, an imperfect system of government well admin- istered is capable of good results equal in degree to the evils made possible by the bad administration of a good system. “For Forms of Government let fools contest,” “What’er is best administered, is best.” In a previous chapter the events which led up to the Confederation have been traced step by step, and, therefore, it is not necessary to deal further with the causes or conditions that gave it effect. The fact, however, should be borne in mind that while in principle and in law the constitution of the Province was made subject to the British North America Act, the Terms of Union were essentially a treaty between British Columbia and the Dominion. The relations of this province and of other provinces which came into confed- eration after 1867, whatever may be said about those of the original members of the Confederation, are not in the nature of a pact among provinces. This (2) In 1871, for instance, the requirements of the civil list amounted to $150,978 out of a total expendi- ture of $522,135. Governor Musgrave received $19,400 per annum. In 1869 the civil list cost $144,465, and the total expenditure was $462,170; in 1868, $157,510, out of $573,035. [ 16 ] proposition has been disputed and endeavours have been made to maintain a contrary theory, but Lord Lisgar, Governor-General, in his telegraphic des- patch to Governor Musgrave, dated 1st February, 1871, is explicit. He stated in explanation of the attitude of the authorities at Ottawa in regard to certain changes in the British Columbia tariff desired by the British Co- lumbia Government, “the Terms of Union are in the nature of a Treaty . . . The Canadian Government, therefore, think they have no right to alter these Terms, after acceptance by Canada. Parliament may, in its discretion, modi- fy the Tariff, on the request of British Columbia To put the case in an- other form — if for any reason British Columbia wished to withdraw from Confederation — which constitutionally, except by successful rebellion, or con- sent of the Dominion she could not do — the acquiescence of the people of the other provinces, as provinces, would not be required or involved. It would be a matter entirely between the Province of British Columbia and the Do- minion of Canada qua Dominion. The British North America Act as a national code, is only constitutionally effective and binding so long as the province remains in Confederation. As a concrete instance of efforts, made by implication at least, to establish the contrary proposition, the Dominion Government contended that the decision of the late interprovincial con- ference at Ottawa was binding upon the Province of British Columbia, not- withstanding the fact that British Columbia had refused to accept that de- cision in so far as it related to the allowance recommended to be made to this province in settlement of its special claims — a decision which the Imperial Parliament was asked to confirm as “final and unalterable.” It is impor- tant that this distinction between a treaty and a pact in federal and inter- provincial relations respectively should be clearly emphasized having regard to its bearing on any future negotiations between the Dominion and the Pro- vince. After the discussion between the delegates sent by British Columbia to Ottawa to arrange the Terms of Union had been completed, a session of the Legislative Council was held to ratify them and to pass necessary legislation. The most important item of the programme was the framing of an act of constitution (8). This done and the incidental labours of the last session of Colonial Par- liament ended, the first election under the new regime was held. In the meantime the Terms of Union, after a long and animated debate, were rati- fied in the House of Commons. Anthony Musgrave continued in office until the appointment and installation on the 1st of July, 1871, of the Honourable Joseph Trutch — later Sir Joseph (4) — as the first Lieutenant-Governor of (3) On the 20th of July, 1871, Confederation with Canada was completed. On that very day, or slightly before it, the first party of railway surveyors, completely equipped, many of whom had come from east- ern Canada, left Victoria for the mainlaid to commence the exploratory survey of the C. P. R. The 20th of July in the next year was the date fixed for the actual commencement of the railway; but be- yond a formal two hours’ survey nothing was done in construction at this end. In the meantime sur- veys were vigorously carried on. Victoria especially at first seemed to realize Confederation in the ar- rival soon after the commencement of the survey of Hon. H. L. Langevin, Minister of Public Works, and Sandford Fleming, Chief Engineer, both of whom on their return presented exhaustive and highly interesting reports on British Columbia. — Mailandaine’s Directory, 1874. (4) On July 20th, 1871, British Columbia formally passed into Confederation as a Province of the Do- minion of Canada. On July 26th Governor Musgrave, afterwards knighted for his services, took his departure. In the meantime, Hon. Jos. Trutch, the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor, was absent, and did not arrive and was not sworn in until August 14th, during which time British Columbia was without an official head or governor of any kind. Governor Musgrave had spent 23 months in office, and assisted materially in bringing about union, to effect which form a special part of his instructions from the Colonial office. He was much respected, and before leaving was presented with an address [17] British Columbia. (5) . The latter, in the period of transition from the old to the new regime, became virtually the government, having control of departmen- tal affairs and being endowed temporarily with powers which later on came exclusively within the domain of the executive. As the British North Amer- ica Act had been passed by the Imperial Parliament, and provided for the inclusion of the whole of British North America as provinces were formed, British Columbia passed automatically under its provisions. The constitution of the Province differed from that of the older provinces in the fact that only one branch of the Legislature was provided for, and the people were thus saved an annual expenditure that would have been as burdensome as it was needless. The meeting of the first parliament was looked forward to with considerable expectation. One portion of the community was highly optimis- tic in regard to the new state of affairs. Another portion of the community opposed to Confederation had predicted failure for the particular form of administration adopted, and considered it as ill-adapted to the circumstances of the country. Although the government had just been formed, and the ministers had not all yet returned from re-election in their constituencies, an opposition already existed, and was represented by a press almost virulent in its criticism — the Daily Standard , owned by Mr. Amor de Cosmos. This opposition, before there was an opportunity for lines to be drawn in the House on definite issues, was personal in its nature and arose to some extent from disappointment as to the personnel of the Government. The gentle- man selected by the Lieutenant-Governor as head of the administration — Hon. J. F. McCreight (afterwards Mr. Justice McCreight) — was in some respects unfitted to be a popular leader, and certainly was unsuited by tem- perament to enter politics, more especially in the Legislature, where tact and strategy were required to pilot his party and his administration among many dangerous shoals. From a personal point of view the choice was unimpeach- able. A man of superior education and breeding, and an able lawyer, he was at the same time scrupulously honest and conscientious, and as a consequence, implicitly trusted and greatly respected by all who knew him. Notwithstand- ing these qualities, however, he was imbued with many of the prejudices that belonged to his special class-environment of that day, both in England and from the public officials of the Province, also from the Anglican clergymen of the Diocese of British Columbia. Governor Musgrave in replying to the address of officials prior to his departure said: "I take this opportunity to state that no pressure had been placed by the Secretary of State upon the local Govern- ment for the purpose of accomplishing the union. The general view of Her Majesty's Government were expressed in a despatch which was made public and of which, of course, you were made aware. But subsequently it was left entirely to my own decision whether union should be attempted, and at every step of the negotiations the Secretary of State has generously trusted to my judgment and dis- cretion. It is not surprising that under these circumstances I should have keenly felt the responsi- bility devolving upon me; and nothing but a personal assurance that it was the good of the community for which I was striving would have given the firmness and confidence necessary to accomplish the pur- pose in view.” (5) Lieutenant-Governor Trutch arrived on H. M. S. Sparrowhawk from San Francisco after a stormy passage of ten days, on Sunday, August 13th, and was sworn in on Monday, 14th, attended by Private Secretary Musgrave, Hon. Mr. Hankin, late Colonial Secretary, Acting Attorney-General Alston and gentlemen connected with the civil service. This extract in this connection, from an editorial in the "Colonist,” July 22nd, 1871, is interesting, probably unique in the history of colonial affairs: “A Curious Situation — Who is Governor, and under what authority are the affairs of British Colum- bia being administered? Under the Dominion Constitution the Lieutenant-Governor holds his authority under a commission from the Governor-General of Canada. The Hon. Mr. Trutch is presumably the only man holding such a commission which will be dormant until he enters the territory. Assuming, therefore, that the Queen's Commission held by His Excellency Governor Musgrave ceased to have any force when British Columbia ceased to be a colony of the Crown, and assuming that he has taken no power from Ottawa, the question naturally arises, in what capacity does he do so? And if we are de facto without a Governor, are we not without Government and all constituted authority? Is British Columbia without any constitutional government? There are no Federal officers amongst us holding authority under the Great Seal of the Dominion. There are no provincial officers holding authority under the Great Seal of the Province.” [ 18 ] in British Columbia, and he did not in any sense represent the progressive element. As a consequence he soon made shipwreck of his government. The fatality befell it over the question of an increase of indemnity to the members. The Government was divided on the subject. The Premier and the Colonial Secretary were opposed to it. As the result of poor generalship the matter was allowed to go to a vote without the feelings of the members being as- certained with the result that an adverse majority was recorded. Hence came indignation among legislators, explanations, apologies and, finally, agreement, and the course of parliament ran on as before. The second man in the ad- ministration Hon. G. A. Walkem, who afterwards succeeded as Premier, was admittedly the strongest man of the administration from a political point of view. With an experience in Ontario politics, a good lawyer, shrewd, an excellent debater, a hard fighter, and a clever manipulator of votes, he suc- ceeded in the rough and tumble of party strife where his predecessor failed. Long after he had retired to the bench he was seriously considered as one likely to lead again political forces to battle. Hon. Rocke Robertson, though occupying a high position in the legal profession, was not a politician of the same stamp as Mr. Walkem and, therefore, not destined to success in the direction of state affairs, while on account of his death in 1881 soon after his appointment as judge he did not long adorn the Bench. His dis- appearance was a distinct loss to the bar and to the judiciary of the Province. A man of high standards, in his social and business relations he was much esteemed. He had a clear, judicial mind. His opinions, which were carefully weighed, were lucidly expressed in correct English, and commanded respect. As a pleader before a jury he was without a peer in the Province. Hon. Henry Holbrook, New Westminster’s representative in the Cabinet, was not so self-assertive as his colleagues, and was rather inclined to peace and com- promise than to aggressive policies. Premier McCreight represented Victoria City; Hon. G. A. Walkem, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, Cari- boo; Hon. Rocke Robertson, Colonial Secretary, Esquimalt; and Hon. Henry Holbrook, President of the Council, New Westminster. It was not essentially a strong or a cohesive government. Possibly, the men were chosen because they had not been prominently identified with pre-Confederation affairs. There were no party lines then drawn. It is difficult at this distance of time to understand just what issues did divide the government and opposition forces. Sectional interests had some influence; also pro-English versus pro- Canadian sentiment ; also conservatism as opposed to radicalism ; but neither of these nor both combined sufficed to bring out the difference, of the parties. It was more a matter of personal inclination and allegiance, a fact which has to explain the somewhat shifting politics of the next few years. The speech from the Throne, at the opening of the Legislature of 1872 was not a long document, and in spirit was in harmony with the occasion. In congratulating the Province upon its union with the Dominion of Canada, His Honour referred to the latter as “that grand Confederation of British Territories in North America, whose constitution is impressed with all the stability of a Monarchy, combined with the freedom, elasticity, and pro- gressive energy of Republican Institutions.” “As a British Colony isolated on this continent — our prospects were clouded,” he went on to say,” and the idea of a railway through British [19] territory, to connect with our fellow-countryman in Canada, was but a dream,” a dream then, of course, with good prospects of becoming a reality. In adverting to the financial condition of the Province the speech described it as “free from debt” with “considerable accumulated funds at your dis- posal.” Further, it was stated that “the establishment of a system of non- sectarian free schools throughout the Province, and a sound and liberal policy for the encouragement of immigration, will occupy your earnest attention.” It was observed with regret, however, that the Terms of Union did not pro- vide for the immediate introduction of a system of free grants of land for the latter purpose. After referring to other proposed measures, reference was made to the fact that the Province, “following in the footsteps of Ontario, has sought legislative success in the adoption of a single Council Chamber, a marked departure from the constitutions of the parent state and many of its dependencies, and that while the power of legislation thus conferred on you is undivided, your responsibility is proportionately increased. Henceforth, the principle of self-government is to prevail. It has been conceded to you in deference to the wishes of the people, and in accordance with the policy of the Dominion of which we happily form a part.” Among the very first things considered was the status in regard to the tariff (6). Prior to 1871, British Columbia had a tariff higher than that of the Dominion, and by the Terms of the Union, 7th section, it was agreed “that the existing Customs and Excise duties shall continue in force in British Columbia, until the Railways in Canada are connected, unless the Legislature of British Columbia should sooner decide to accept the Tariff and Excise Laws of Canada.” In this connection a resolution was moved regretting that “the agricultural interests have been entirely ignored in your Excellency’s Speech.” Now, agriculture was the crux of the question, so far as the tariff was concerned, and it was really upon that subject that the debate took place. It was a subject which figured largely in the original discussion on Confederation. The greatest, and practically the only, anxiety felt was in respect to the effects of the Canadian tariff on our agricultural products, owing to the proximity with the Sound and Pacific coast ports, and the greater degrees of development in the Pacific coast states. It was thought by many that our own agricultural development would be arrested by the “flooding” of the market with United States produce, and it was in defer- ence to that feeling that section 7 was inserted in the Terms. In 1870, when the whole question was under consideration, a calculation was made, the accuracy of which had been generally accepted, that the Pro- vince would be contributing $68,000 more to the Federal Treasury under the British Columbia tariff than under the Dominion schedule, and as in the meantime, there had been further reductions made in the latter, amounting to about two million dollars per annum in the aggregate, it was easy to see how this Province would suffer in course of time. It was shown that, owing to the reductions in question, the Province would pay $100,000, instead of $68,000, a sum altogether too large in the interests of agriculture; in fact, far more than the aggregate of production in such items. With the exception (6) Just then the question of reciprocity with the United States was very much discussed in eastern Canada, and it was felt by those who favoured the adoption of the Canadian tariff at once that if the Province retained an independent tariff, it might be left out in any reciprocity treaty that was arranged. [ 20 ] of breadstuffs and eggs, the Canadian tariff was regarded as favourable to the industry and was not complained of. In regard to breadstuffs it was forcibly pointed out that a little “flooding” of American goods would do no harm until British Columbia was in a position to supply its own markets; while eggs at $2.00 a dozen at Christmas time, and $1.25 during the ordi- nary winter season were damaging to the interests of the consumer, being merely an attempt to bolster up the egg-producer. The Legislature had pre- viously petitioned the Dominion Government to reduce the duty on spirits to the Canadian rate, flour to 75c a barrel, and wheat to 10c a bushel. On a motion of John Robson, a resolution was submitted asking that the Canadian tariff should come into force on May 1st next following. It was then moved in amendment that the said tariff should come into force, with certain modi- fications, and a committee was named to consider what form these modifica- tions should take. Still another amendment was moved to the effect that the Canadian tariff should be adopted, with, however, recommendations from the Legislature to alter certain items. Of the 25 members (7) which were re- turned, 16 were pledged to the Canadian tariff as it stood, so that the adop- tion of the motion was a foregone conclusion. At a subsequent date, after the House had been committed, Mr. Humphreys moved for an address to the Dominion Government praying it to impose a duty of 10c per 100 lbs. on wheat, on flour 50c per bbl., on butter 121/oc per lb., and on eggs 12^>c per dozen. This motion was ruled out of order, and upon an appeal to the House the ruling was sustained by 20 to 2. It is not the intention to refer at length to the proceedings of the Legislature (8), for two reasons, first, because it is proposed to deal with the main subjects in separate chapters, and, a history of provincial legislation would be impossible within reasonable limits. The legislation of the first session was confined largely to what was germane to the new condition of things, 35 statutes being passed in all. These included acts providing for the registration of deaths, births, and marriages; to repeal the civil list of 1871, and to establish a consolidated revenue fund; the emendation of the constitu- tion act, the land act, and the election act; and the modification of the Su- preme and County courts, with provision for additional judges. But the most important measures perhaps were those to adopt the tariff and excise laws of Canada; to define the privileges, immunities and powers of the Legis- lative Assembly; to define the formation and powers of municipalities; to (7)The province had at the time of Confederation twelve electoral districts, and twenty-five members, distributed as follows: District No. Members No. Voters Cariboo 3 441 Lillooet 2 160 Yale 3 262 Kootenay 2 36 N. W. District and Coast 2 439 New Westminster City 1 114 Victoria District 2 228 Victoria City 4 706 Cowichan 2 162 Nanaimo 1 238 Esquimalt 2 136 The voters’ list from which the above was taken is for the year 1874, but there are only slight alter- ations from the original voters’ list of 1871. (8) Two members, J. A. Mara and Chas. Todd, members for Yale, took their seats, by a resolution of the House, in the absence of the return writs. Todd had only a majority of one, given by the return- ing officer. There was strong objection to the procedure by members of the opposition, and especially to seating by resolution, and not by a bill. However the Government pointed out that by resolution they could be unseated, in case of corrupt practices or irregularity being shown, but they could not be if seated by bill. [ 21 ] abolish tolls on the Cariboo wagon road; to provide for the establishment of a public schools system; and to regulate public works. The Lieutenant-Governor’s assent was reserved for the pleasure of the Governor-General, in respect to the following bills: To amend the Naval and Military Settlers’ Act, 1863, to impose a wild land tax, to amend the “Quali- fications and Registration of Voters’ Act 1871,” to render legitimate, children born out of wedlock, whose parents were then, or Avho might thereafter, under certain restrictions, be married. It may here be pointed out that the practice of the Lieutenant-Governor in reserving assent to bills is unusual, and in ordinary circumstances would signify lack of confidence in his responsible ad- visers, and thus bring about a crisis. It is true that the precedent created on this occasion has been followed subsequently without serious results, but it has always been the subject of severe criticism. It is curious in looking over the old records to find how such subjects as the encouragement of immigration, the best methods of developing agricul- ture, the Chinese question, wild land tax, Indian reserves, an adequate sup-> ply of water for the city of Victoria (9), still with us, protection of game, a dower for married women and many others came up, over and over again for discussion in both press and Parliament. Some of these questions dated from the early days of Colonial Government and most of them are still at issue. In fact, few great problems are ever finally solved. One such question which was supposed to be settled at the first session was that of the imposition of road tolls, the grievances in connection with which in the older provinces were well known and very serious. The construction, indeed, of the Cariboo wagon road, which cost $1,000,000, was a large undertaking for the colony of British Columbia, and its maintenance a heaxy drain on the revenue, aver- aging as it did from $20,000 to $25,000 per annum. There was a justifica- tion for the imposition of tolls in the first instance, on the principle that those who used it should pay for it, and without it, of course, transportation would have been very much higher, if not almost impracticable. On the other hand, at the time of Confederation, the tolls had already recouped the colony for the original outlay, and the development of British Columbia, as it then was, was due largely to the expansion of the several districts which the various roads served. F eeling was strong in favour of the total abolition of road tolls. An attempt was made to include them on the Skeena river and Babine trail, over which for 40 miles, the freight was $15 per ton, but it did not succeed, though, as will be seen, such tolls were reimposed in 1876 on the Cariboo wagon road with almost as much unanimity as they were taken off in 1871. They were also imposed in the Cassiar district. Indeed conditions were such as to justify in practice what in theory was objectionable. Policies of immigration were also much discussed. The government of the day became actively interested in that question at the very outset. As an outcome of Confederation, all the provinces of the Dominion took up the subject, and there was an effort made to arrive at more or less concerted (9) The following are noted as improvements In Victoria during 1873: Victoria extended its city limits. The Act to authorize the bringing of water from Elk Lake for the waterworks was passed. Gas made its first appearance for the purposes of illumination and considerable work was done in the improvement of streets. The old postoffice building, marine hospital, customs house, the first dredging of the inner harbour, the Foul Bay Cemetery, and certain aids to navigation date from this year. [ 22 ] action. An immigration conference was held at Ottawa on the 13th of Sep- tember, 1871. The delegate from British Columbia was Mr. Thos. Lett Stahlschmidt, of Victoria, a prominent business man of that city. The other delegates were either members of the various executives or members of parlia- ment. About no subject of recent times has there been perhaps such a variety of schemes advanced. Indeed immigration policies being regarded largely as matters of advertisement, mixed up with considerations of private profit, the methods suggested and employed have been as varied and ingenious as the mind of man could invent. But it is questionable whether anything approaching an ideal system has been evolved up-to-date that could be put into successful operation. The trouble was then, as it has been since, that no one thought out a well- digested scheme based on the special and peculiar circumstances of each province. The chief aim has always been the increase of population, and the simplest and easiest solution seemed to be advertise- ment, and advertising as a fine art has been applied freely and attractively. At all events nothing very important came of the Ottawa conference. Mr. Stahlschmidt submitted a very clear report of what had been done, though without any definite recommendations as to the plan to be followed. Inciden- tally, there was a scheme suggested by two Scandinavian gentlemen, who proposed to found a Scandinavian colony in British Columbia at the rate of $200 per head; also an application by the Rev. Horrock Cocks of London, England, on behalf of the National Colonial Emigration League, to act for the Province in England. Incidentally, too, a reference was made to the scarcity of female servants in Canada, which even at that date was keenly felt. The only practical proposition submitted at the conference was that of Ontario which “had expended $80,000 during the last three years for immi- gration purposes, and was offering special inducements in the shape of free grants of 200 acres, with from three to five acres cleared, and with a house erected thereon, to heads of families.” The outcome of the conference, so far as the British Columbia Legislature was concerned, was a grant of $10- 000, to be spent for the purpose of securing immigrants. Of this sum $4,000 was to be devoted specially to the printing of pamphlets for distri- bution, a portion of which was to go to prizes for the best competitive essay. The first prize of $250 was won by A. C. Anderson of Saanich. It was a most interesting and instructive brochure, and was printed in large numbers. A few copies are still extant, being found mainly in the collections of West- ern Americana, in the public and state libraries. It may here be proper to say, that population, in itself, is only important at its working value, while advertisement, without guaranteed goods behind it, is an experiment fraught with many evils. An immigration system involves not only a definite and comprehensive land policy but an economic system which takes note of the natural aptitudes of the immigrants and the conditions under which these may be harmonized with the genius of the resident population. Immigra- tion, therefore, is almost as much a problem today as it was thirty-five or forty years ago, though with altered circumstances, British Columbia is now attracting a population which no advertising propaganda, however expensive or vigorous, could have attained. At the time of Confederation a system of free grants of land to settlers — first advocated by the Hon. George Brown, — would have been adopted, but owing to the uncertainty of the location of [23] the proposed line of railway, it was not practicable since the Province was pledged to the transfer to the Dominion of Canada of a grant of twenty miles on each side of the railway throughout the entire extent of the Province. But the indiscriminate giving away of free lands to settlers would have been worse than their unconditional sale at one dollar an acre which is now so greatly deplored. However, the financial difficulties of governments were always pleaded as an excuse, revenues had to be obtained, and the deceptive future of “illimitable possibilities” and “natural resources” always seemed brighter than hard matter-of-fact. Hence borrowing money and selling land were always popular expedients to bridge over the chasm of pressing neces- sities. But no wise permanent policy could ever be evolved out of, and suggested by this succession of deficits, while the difficulty of surmounting physical obstacles prevented the Province making the most of N ature’s liberal endowments. There were several other problems to face. Transportation was the most pressing. Its most formidable phase was provided for in the Terms of the Union; but even with a line of railway through the province connecting it with the East, there were still many main roads to construct — a land system to be accommodated to most unaccommodating and widely scattered areas of arable land, a graving dock at Esquimalt, which should clearly have been undertaken as a work of national necessity, was left on our hands as an ob- ligation under conditions which the Province could not finance. Lands had to be apportioned to the Indians on a scale as liberal as had been adopted in the other provinces, a basis indefinite and extremely hard to reach. There was no school system, and Victoria, the capital, was without a single public school. There was a vast extent of country to be settled, mining resources to be developed, and timber areas to be exploited, all awaiting some legal code, which had yet to be enacted. In every single respect, with the exception of an educational system, the Province started badly (10). (10) The old British Columbia rates of postage are interesting. Here are a few of them: On letters not over a half-ounce in weight, which included a colonial charge of 5 cents; United States, 25c; B. N. A. Provinces, 15c; Cape of Good Hope, 50c; Australia, 40c; Great Britain and Ireland, 25c; Chili and Peru, 50c; Sandwich Islands, 25c; Spain, 47c; Portugal, 60c; Greece, 65c; Panama, 25c; France, 40c; Germany, 36c; Russia, 40c. [ 24 ] FEDERAL AND OTHER MATTERS. CHAPTER III. The first Dominion election in the Province excited very little interest. There was no important issues before the people either local or general, ex- cept in Victoria City where both local personal preferences as to the ensuing fight were keen. Only men who had no business at all, or those who were wealthy enough to neglect business, could afford to accept the honour of an election. As it took several weeks to go and to return from Ottawa, and the session lasted several months, there was but little time left at home, so that aspirants at once fit and willing were few and far between. On this point the following, which appeared in the Colonist , March 7th, 1872, is significant: “It was at one time feared that the important district of Yale would be un- represented at Ottawa during the approaching Session of the Dominion Par- liament, owing to the circumstances of Captain Houghton, who was unani- mously elected to that position, not being aware of his election. The lateness of the date at which Parliament is called together will, however, enable Cap- tain Houghton, who is now in the city en route , to reach the capital of the Dominion in ample time.” Thereby hangs a tale, from which it will be seen that sometimes “honours are easy” in politics as in the game of whist. Mr. R. B. McMicking, at that time a young man and inspector of the govern- ment telegraph line to Cariboo at the town of Yale, the governmental seat of the district of that name, tells in effect this story. The chief functionary there, government agent, postmaster and all other things official combined, was also made returning officer for the riding for the first Dominion election in the Province. So little did he think of the honour of the post and the duties pertaining thereto that after reading the election proclamation, which he should have duly posted, he laid it aside and forgot about it. One day Mr. McMicking dropped into his office for a not infrequent “wa-wa” (“Wa-wa” is the Chinook term for talk, palaver, conference, etc.), these be- ing dull days in Yale with time hanging heavily on the hands of inhabitants. Having heard about an election, our young friend enquired of the official when it was to take place. The latter remembering his appointment as re- turning officer, fished out the proclamation, looked it over and, smiting his thigh with great emphasis, exclaimed “the nomination is today!” It was then 11 o’clock and nominations by law were to open at 12, noon. He called to “George,” his assistant, in another room, and explaining to him the urgency of the case, commanded him to go down town and “round up” as many of “the boys” as he could to attend the nomination. As previously remarked, these were dull days in Yale and George returned to the office a little before 12 o’clock with just two men, a blacksmith and “a man around town” — a hanger-on in divers drinking places. The returning officer then read the proc- lamation and an informal discussion took place as to who should be nomi- nated. Two names were suggested, one is forgotten, but the other was Cap- [ 25 ] tain Houghton, a British army officer, whom the blacksmith knew and recom- mended as a “decent sort.” Houghton had occasionally stopped in the town on his way to Okanagan to visit with his friend Forbes George Vernon, a rancher there, and had had his horse shod, for which service he had paid lib- erally. He had every appearance of a man of leisure and fitness. He was duly nominated by the blacksmith and seconded by the man around town, and, after the lapse of an hour, declared elected by acclamation. Walking back from the postoffice, the seconder, who had been deep in thought, sud- denly became excited and stopped. The blacksmith observing the strange demeanour of his companion, asked him what the matter was. “I have dis- covered,” replied he, “what a blithering — ass I am!” “How is that?” quer- ied the other. “How? How?? I might have been elected Capt. Hough- ton some time afterwards was exceedingly surprised to learn of his good fortune. He went, however, to Ottawa, in due course, was promoted to the rank of Colonel, was made an A. D. C. to the Governor-General, returned to Victoria after a brief parliamentary career, and married a daughter of the late Hon. Robert Dunsmuir. In the farming districts the tariff on agricultural products was a de- batable issue. It was much discussed in Saanich and Cowichan districts, and in New Westminster and Lillooet districts, although the farming ele- ment was not yet sufficiently important to make it a very important factor. Mr. Bunster in both legislature and in the House of Commons, was strong in his advocacy. So, indeed, were the majority of representatives, but it was gradually relegated to the shades of obscurity, when the more important question of preserving the Terms of Union came to the front. In Victoria the battle was really between the Colonist and the Standard, the editors of which, Mr. John Robson and Amor de Cosmos were strong political rivals; but the rivalry was more deep seated than that, having ex- tended as far back as 1859. A local cartoonist was very effective in several pictures, describing the situation as the “race for Ottawa.” The rivalry in- deed, of those days was very bitter, and if we could imagine a change of base from Victoria, B. C., to Louisville, Kentucky, for instance, the epithets bestow r ed on each other by “esteemed contemporaries” in the former place would have been followed by an exchange of gunshots in the latter. De Cosmos, though an able writer, was not a man of refined instincts and struck indiscriminately, as often below as above the belt. At this particular time he was a leader in politics, as he had been for some years before, in Victoria, and had a seat in both houses. Those were the days of dual representation, shortly afterwards abolished by a bill introduced by the Hon. David Mills in the House of Commons. De Cosmos, transferred nominally at least, the ownership of the Standard to his brother Charles McK. Smith, and employed as editor Mr. J. II. McMillan, afterwards Sheriff of Victoria County. He was at one time accused of advocating annexation, and he also became a candidate for the Legislative Assembly in Victoria, but though imbued with the journalistic spirit, was no match for his antagonist John Robson, editor of the Colonist, who wielded a very virile pen, was well informed, and, though a hard hitter and vengeful, never indulged in vituperation. The controlling factor of the Colonist, and at this time the Nestor of Pacific Coast jour- nalism was D. W. Higgins, proprietor. He edited the paper himself after [26] Robson’s retirement, was sometimes vitriolic, and often used the local columns to carry on a campaign against the Standard and de Cosmos, his particular bete noir. He did not cultivate the elegancies of the pen, but was always vigorous and often smart. This is a characteristic incident of the daily war- fare. De Cosmos had been thrashed in the street by a man whose veracity he had impugned in the Standard, whereupon the Colonist remarked that he (de Cosmos) “is famous for his defeats inasmuch as he may be compared to a drum, which nobody hears except it be beaten !” The following, how- ever, may be regarded as the chef d’ oeuvre of journalistic reprisals of that period. The Standard had referred to Higgins as the “Lepine of the de- monstration of Saturday night,” an American citizen and “an outcast from the scum of the lowest dens of New York.” Higgins replied in a signed ar- ticle, in the course of which he retorted, “At the very worst, I think my ante- cedents will compare with those of a man who, either ashamed of his paren- tage or his crimes at Salt Lake, dropped his patronymic and assumed the name of Amor de Cosmos, the more effectually perhaps, to preserve himself from punishment.” These are only samples, however, of a wordy warfare that was carried on daily for years. Nor was the same aggressiveness lack- ing in the columns of the New Westminster papers. The Mainland Guar- dian published by the late J. K. Suter, had frequently articles on the politi- cal situation in literary style much above the average of the country news- paper though typographically it closely resembled the latter. The editor, too, could write biting sarcasms on occasion. The Herald, which was in political opposition, was edited by Mr. J. C. Brown, for years postmaster of New Westminster and afterwards warden of the penitentiary. It was more diffuse in style and cultivated smartness of repartee. None of the journalistic coterie, however, reached the level of John Robson and the Colonist which, despite the savagery of some of its writings, was easily the most influential. The first Dominion election campaign, except, as stated, in Victoria, was somewhat tame. It was a special election to give British Columbia represen- tation at Ottawa after Confederation. The members returned were, J. Spen- cer Thompson, Cariboo; Hugh Nelson, New Westminster; Robert Wallace, Vancouver Island; Henry Nathan and Amor de Cosmos, Victoria, and Charles P. Houghton, Yale; all of whom supported the Macdonald adminis- tration. At the natural expiry of the term of the first Dominion Parliament in 1872, another election was held, and needless to say, the people, cheerful over the anticipation of a railway, did not desert their political allegiance to Sir John Macdonald, and again there were no particular issues at stake, except in Victoria, where, as usual, a keen fight centred about the personality of Amor de Cosmos on issues of a local and personal character. The per- sonnel of the delegation to Ottawa was not changed, except in two particu- lars. Sir Francis Hincks was given a seat in Vancouver Island, in the place of Arthur Bunster, who resigned his candidacy in favour of the Dominion Fi- nance Minister, on the condition, it was afterwards alleged, that British Co- lumbia should have special tariff protection in the matter of its agricultural products. Edgar Dewdney, who was afterwards to fill a much higher place in Dominion politics, was elected in Yale in the stead of Colonel Houghton, whose accidental translation to Ottawa has been described. It was during this term of Parliament that Sir John Macdonald’s scheme of building the [27] Pacific Railway took shape. It involved capitalization, and the allotment of the capital was made to each province in proportion to population. In this connection, Mr. Dewdney published a letter to the effect that de Cosmos had called a meeting of the British Columbia members at Ottawa, to which all but Henry Nathan was invited, for the purpose of demanding or securing, $80,000 worth of shares of the capital stock of this company to be divided up among themselves in addition to those allotted to the Province. The members re- fused to attend the meeting, and, of course, nothing came of it. The truth of the story was never affirmed or denied in print by others, so far as is known, although it was made much of by the papers in opposition to the local Government. There was another transaction, however, in which he was involved, and out of which he did not emerge with clean hands. There was certainly a boldness about Amor de Cosmos in whatever he undertook to do that compels admiration. Without the usual sensibilities of most men, a pro- found egoist, unscrupulous in his methods, and exceedingly able, he was not deterred by the ordinary considerations which prevent the average public man exposing himself to the shafts of a vindictive enemy, whether of ridicule or of abuse. He was quite impervious indeed to any kind of appeal. Some years before, he and Leonard McLure, another journalist, stood on the floor of the Legislature and for twenty- two hours talked against and defeated a measure which was intended to relieve those whose property had been sold for taxes, by extending the time limit one year in which to redeem, the reason being that he had been a heavy purchaser of lands bought cheaply at the tax sales. Afterwards another version of the story had a vogue, he being represented as having made the longest speech on record — some twenty hours or more — in the interests of the oppressed settlers of Vancouver Island. He seems at any rate to have taken credit for both the speech and its motives until the day of his death. In the old Legislature he had been a staunch advocate of the people’s rights, had censured the autocracy of the Hudson’s Bay Company regime in politics, had denounced the tyranny of the official class in pre-con- federation days, was the champion of Confederation in all its stages, and was active in formulating and debating the proposed Terms of Union. For many years he swayed the electorate of Victoria in his favour, and was after the union elected to serve in both Houses. Indeed, for a time, he was Premier of the Province and member of the House of Commons. When he had re- signed the premiership, after an outburst of popular feeling in Victoria, main- ly directed against himself, and after a noisy demonstration which in eastern Canada was represented as rebellion, he immediately became a candidate again for the Commons and was elected. He had, in fact, wonderful resource as a politician.* •The particulars of the existing episode is of sufficient interest to be detailed at some length. On Thursday, February 5th, the Hon. Mr. Walkem gave notice of a Bill to amend Articles 2 and 13 of the Terms of Union. This was the first suggestion of the Legislature in that direction. This was followed by an editorial in the “Colonist”, entitled "Our Country in Danger”, and the proposition stirred the whole city. A meeting was called for Saturday evening at which appeared, as described in the press, “the largest and most respectable meeting ever held in the Province”, to protest against the bill before the House to amend the Terms of Union without first "submitting the alterations to the people”. This resolution seems to have been the kernel of the whole situation. After speeches by a number of gentlemen, including Hon. J. S. Helmcken, a resolution was passed declaring it “inadvisable to enter into any negotiations for capitalizing the dry dock guarantee, or to borrow any money from the Dominion Government until the scheme of the Mackenzie ministry for the relaxation of the Terms of Union shall be made known. And further, that it is distinctly opposed to the Provincial Govern- ment interfering in any manner with the Terms, or agreeing to any new Terms offered by the Mac- kenzie Government until the same shall have been submitted to the people for adoption. The follow- ing appears in the report of the “Colonist”: “Mr. Higgins said the House was now in session. The conspirators were forging the fetters that were to bind the Province hand and foot. He moved that the The “other transaction” was as follows: A daring raid made by pre- emptors on Texada Island and known as the “Texada Island Scandal,” be- came the subject of investigation by a Royal Commission of Supreme Court judges. Extensive out-croppings of iron had been discovered on the Island in question, and in view of the fact that iron would be required in large quantities for railway construction in the Province, the discovery was re- garded as extremely valuable. A syndicate was formed, and the whole of the Island was bought up, notoriously with the knowledge and connivance of the Government and of the Land Department. In those days iron and the baser minerals were attached to the fee simple of the soil, and it was neces- sary to acquire it by purchase or pre-emption. Premier de Cosmos and At- torney-General Walkem had gone, ostensibly on a shooting trip, and ex- amined the property. The “steal,” so denominated, was accomplished in the names of some very prominent residents of the Province, and aggregated 150,000 acres. The facts, as alleged in the Colonist at the time were con- firmed circumstantially by the investigation. The prosecution was conducted meeting headed by Dr. Helmcken and the Chairman of the meeting, proceed en masse to the Assembly Hall and present the petition at the Bar of the House. "This proposition was carried unanimously amidst great enthusiasm, and the immense crowd started for the House, shouting and cheering whilst on the way. “The vanguard reached the House shortly after ten o’clock. They crowded into the visitor’s gal- lery, filling it. Mr. Robson was speaking against the resolutions, and the crowd commenced to cheer. "Mr. Speaker said if there was any more disorder in the galleries he would have them cleared. “Mr. de Cosmos here rose and said as the representative of Mr. Trutch he would move that the galleries be cleared. “The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the most fearful storm of execration arose. “The Speaker said if order was not kept he would leave the chair and the proceedings would close. “Mr. de Cosmos said he was there to keep order in the Legislature and in the country. This was received with shouts of derision and cheers for Dr. Helmcken, and amidst cries of ‘Keep your seat, sir,’ from both members and the galleries, the Speaker left the chair. “The crowd then amused themselves by cheering for Helmcken and for Opposition members. Mr. Smithe of Cowichan, who stood almost alone on the floor of the House reading, was asked what May said, and immediately answered that he said it was lawful for the people to present a petition at the Bar of the House, which reply was received with cheers. At last the main body of the crowd had by this time reached the building. The gallery having overflowed they attacked the main entrance. In- spector Bowden and his force arrived and stood at the Bar. A scuffle ensued between the Messenger, the Police, and several gentlemen; the latter finally broke through and entered the Hall . “The members had nearly all left the floor. The Premier and Mr. Beaven, who were the objects of universal detestation, sought refuge in the Speaker’s room. “Cries of ‘Have de Cosmos out,’ ‘Strip the tyrant and traitor,’ etc., were heard; but he did not make his appearance again. “In the meantime Dr. Helmcken, Senator Macdonald, Mr. Findlay and other gentlemen entered the member’s room and handed the resolution to Mr. McCreight, senior member for Victoria City. “Coun. Morton was invited into the Speaker’s room, who requested him to tell the excited crowd that a petition embodying the resolution would be received by him at the Bar of the House on Monday at 2:00 P. M. The crowd, meantime, had kept up constant cheers for the Opposition members and groans for the Government, especially for the Premier. “Coun. Morton having announced the Speaker’s message to the citizens, they finally agreed to dis- perse, cheering and groaning as they went. “The commotion continued far into the night, and it was many hours before the town settled down into its accustomed quietude after passing through this almost unprecedented scene — a scene which the tyranny of the Ministry have brought upon themselves.” In the following issue, the following appeared under the head of the “People Marching On”: “Saturday night witnessed a scene which few men in the course of a long life-time are privileged to see — an oppressed and down-trodden people rising in their strength and wrath to tell their taskmasters that to remain longer submissive would be a crime. The good work of Saturday night was continued yesterday, when 800 citizens, representing wealth, intelligence and respectability of the Province, headed by that sterling man and patriot, Hon. J. S. Helmcken, Mr. G. J. Findlay and others, formed in pro- cession at the corner of Yates and Government streets and marched in solid phalanx through the town to the House of Assembly to demand the restoration of their constitutional rights and privileges. Dr. Helmcken addressed the assemblage before starting and counselled order, and moderation. He was loudly cheered. A placard was also issued calling on the people to preserve order at the House; to be moderate and firm — respectful yet decided. The imposing procession marched across the bridge and reached the House about 1:45 o’clock. A strong police force was found guarding the entrances. The galleries had been densely packed since one o’clock. The deputation entered the Hall (the great mass remaining outside) and advanced to the Bar, where Dr. Helmcken handed the petition to Mr. McCreight, senior member for the City, who presented it to the Speaker. It was read by the Clerk. The Secretary declared that ‘During the reading of the petition and afterwards perfect order was maintained,’ and when the House had decided to consider it on Wednesday the deputation rejoined the immense throng outside. Here tables had been brought from the city and set in the square, around them, the eager hundreds gathered and signed petitions against an alteration of the Terms. The procession then reformed and returned to the city, where they disbanded. As the Government organ will probably again allude to this large, earnest and influential gathering as ‘scum’, we may state that all classes were represented. The richest men in the country jostled the poorest; the merchant, the mechanic, Spratt’s Foundry suspended work, all his men (who were paid for full time) were there. Wharf Street was deserted. A more unanimous demonstration was never witnessed in any country. The Government has since given evidence of weakening, and the Premier has given notice of his Intention to resign.” [ 29 ] in person by Mr. John Robson, who had brought the matter forward in the House, and who was complimented by the judges on the ability he dis- played in conducting the case. It was shown clearly, indeed, it was admitted by his own evidence, that Mr. de Cosmos expected to benefit largely by the sale of the island which had been offered for $200,000 in England on which he was to receive 10% commission. It did not transpire that he had any other interest. It appeared in the evidence that he had gone to Sir Charles Tupper and Sir John Macdonald with the view of the Dominion Government pur- chasing the island, but had failed in his mission. The finding of the com- mission was a verdict of “not proven,” owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence of some of the principals which was severely commented on by the judges; severe rebuke, however, was administered to de Cosmos for the part he had played in the affair. Little can be said about the morality of pri- vate individuals taking advantage of the law as it existed to acquire the prop- erties and making profit out of a sale with the exploitation of an iron in- dustry in the background, but that members of the Government from con- siderations of personal profit, should have been more or less openly associated with the transaction was of course scandalous; nevertheless, except that it rendered the public suspicious of the general good faith of the administration in other matters, notably in the railway negotiations, it did not seem to affect the popidarity of the ministers at the time. In the election which followed the downfall of Sir John Macdonald’s Government, the issues became one largely of preserving inviolate the Terms of Union, then already in great danger in the eyes of the people. Every one of the members elected went back pledged to the terms, and the whole terms, with the exception of de Cosmos, who sat on the fence with his usual dex- terity. He was known to be in favour of relaxation of the bargain on cer- tain conditions, and favourable to Mackenzie. A desperate fight was waged against him. He had as a fellow-candidate Thomas Harris, first mayor of Victoria. On the other side was C. Morton, and Captain F. J. Roscoe, both Englishmen. Roscoe and de Cosmos were elected. Arthur Bunster was elected for Vancouver (Island), J. S. Thompson for Cariboo, James Cun- ningham (who supported the Mackenzie Government, but was sound as re- gards the Terms) for New Westminster, and Edgar Dewdney for Yale. It would be difficult to define their respective political affinities in the House of Commons. Though pledged in their election to the exact terms — with the ex- ception named — after they had gone to Ottawa and had threshed the whole question out with Mr. Mackenzie and other members of the Government and been taught to understand the Canadian view as well, they all came to favour the relaxed terms as proposed by Mr. Mackenzie. In regard to questions other than the railway scheme Messrs, de Cosmos and Cunningham followed the Government, while the others were more in harmony with the opposi- tion led by Sir John Macdonald. The attitude of the Senatorial contingent was also largely that of the latter four. J. Spencer Thompson, the editor of the Cariboo Sentinel, a position he resigned when elected to Parliament, was a bright, clever Irishman, a good speaker, inclined to poetic flights of elo- quence, and very popular, as attested by his being elected four times to rep- resent Cariboo. He was, however, erratic. Arthur Bunster, who like de Cosmos, became a well-known figure at Ottawa, was a brewer, bluff and [ 30 ] honest in his way, and appealed to the rural community with the members of which he was very popular. He had a striking disregard for personal appearances in dress, and was careless as to public opinion of himself. As a speaker he was convincing in a matter of fact way, and his remarks often displayed what is designated as “common sense.” In him the farmer had a warm friend, and he was a consistent and persistent advocate of protec- tion for farm industry. James Cunningham, still living and a wealthy resi- dent of New Westminster, was as hard-headed as he was unimaginative, but steered a straight, strong course. Of Edgar Dewdney it is scarcely neces- sary to speak here. A civil engineer and a land surveyor, he spent his early life in the Province in the pursuit of his profession, in the course of which he had traversed the whole of the southern mainland, and penetrated the in- terior to Cariboo and northward to the Peace River. He had represented Kootenay in the old Legislative Assembly, and was engaged in a C. P. R. reconnaisance in Cariboo when elected to Yale for the House of Commons. He was the strongest advocate of the Fraser River route for the C. P. R. From his engineering knowledge and experience he was well qualified to speak and write on it, and his views were much sought by both Macdonald and Mackenzie. After the return of Sir John Macdonald to power in 1878 his rise was rapid. He became in succession Indian Commissioner of the North- west, Minister of the Interior, and Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Ter- ritories and of British Columbia. He ran in 1900 in the Conservative interest in theDewdney riding against Mr. Morrison (now Mr. Justice Morrison), and was defeated, since which time he has taken no active part in politics. Hugh Nelson was a member of the firm of Moody, Dietz & Nelson, Burrard Inlet, was elected twice to represent New Westminster; at the end of this second term was made a senator; and in February, 1887, succeeded Hon. C. F. Cornwall as Lieutenant-Governor. Captain Roscoe was an able man and a student. His career, however, had an unfortunate ending; he committed suicide as the result of domestic troubles. Henry Nathan, a resident of California, is still a young man for his years. He was a member for Victoria for the first two terms of Parliament, and took a prominent part in affairs about the time of Confederation. The three senators appointed after Confederation were W. J. Macdon- ald, Victoria, still performing his duties as such, and still quite hale and hearty; Dr. Robert W. W. Carrall, Cariboo; and Clement F. Cornwall, in the vicinity of Ashcroft. Senator Macdonald had originally been associated with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and we find his name in the annals of San Juan Island, where he had charge of a salmon-curing concern. He was a merchant in Victoria in the early days, and acquired considerable wealth. During all these later years he has taken an active interest in politics, a con- sistent Conservative; also in municipal, social and church affairs. Hon. C. F. Cornwall, recently deceased, was an English solicitor, was in the old Leg- islative Council of British Columbia representing his district; was created a senator after Confederation; became Lieutenant-Governor, succeeding Lieu-* tenant-Governor Richards, in July 1881; and was appointed to the bench as county court judge for Cariboo. It is interesting to note that the late Captain R. G. Tatlow, Minister of Finance and Agriculture, was his private secretary while Lieutenant-Governor. Dr. Carrall, a big, powerful [31] looking man, was a fair speaker, though declamatory in style, and, for a time at least, a social favourite at Ottawa. He was one of the most power- ful advocates of Confederation, and when the Terms of Union came to be negotiated was one of the three delegates at Ottawa. One of the great po- litical characters of the day was Hon. J. S. Helmcken, who is the sole living representative of the first Legislative Assembly of 1856, of which he was speaker. Dr. Helmcken considered his political life’s work ended when forty years ago he saw Confederation, which by the way he opposed, com- pleted. He went to Ottawa as one of the delegates, refused to be re-elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly after Union took place; refused to be nominated for the Dominion House of Commons; declined a senator- ship. He might have had any office in the gift of the people or the Crown in connection with the new regime; but steadfastly declined all offers and all appeals. Temperamentally unsuited to politics, he, nevertheless, by his rough honesty, singleness of aim and kindness of heart, concealed under a mask of almost uncouth exterior, became universally trusted and esteemed; his fund of information, his resources of common sense and the practical turn of his mind, combined with his long experience and intimate knowl- edge of the country, made his advice and assistance most valuable. When British Columbia became a colony he was even then a pioneer; at the date of Confederation he had outlived in active political life all his contempora- ries of 1856; and is even now a figure unique in British Columbia and al- most in the Empire. In the years immediately following Union, his counsel was much sought after by all parties, and when Mr. J. D. Edgar came to the Province, as a special delegate from Mr. Mackenzie to the local Government, he was frequently in conference with him. In the last ses- sion of the old Legislature, 1871, he made a very important and illuminat- ing speech on the San Juan Island question. At that time it was still un- settled, and an effort was made to have it included among the subjects to be adjudicated upon at the Washington Conference preceding the Wash- ington Treaty. A local suggestion was made that Sir James Douglas, then in retirement, should be appointed a commissioner, as one whose associa- tion with the San Juan imbroglio gave him an intimate local knowledge of the issues. Nothing, however, came of the proposal. In the period to which this chapter relates there was likewise a move- ment which resulted in the establishment of the Reformed Episcopal Church as an off-shoot from the English Church, which had had a sort of official status in the Colonial days. It is not necessary to go into the details of the secession. It had its origin in the Tractarian movement which had spread to our shores through ministerial channels and had reached its flood, and had begun to recede in Great Britain, when Newman went over to Rome. In the ranks of the English Church clergymen and laity there were numerous persons with strong High Church proclivities, among others Bishop Hills. Rev. E. Cridge, the saintly nonogenarian, was then rector of Christ Church, and, with the exception of the Rev. R. J. Staines, who preceded him as chap- lain and teacher for the Hudson’s Bay Company, Avas the pioneer Protestant clergyman of the Province. He was strictly evangelical in his sympathies and practices, and against certain sermons preached in the church and the introduction of certain High Church ritual, he uttered his protest. The [32] difficulty ended in a clash with Episcopal authority and precipitated a crisis in church affairs, which though suddenly brought to a head, was the issue of feeling which had been fomenting for a long time in church circles. To the support of the rector rallied the church wardens and an influential ma- jority of the congregation, including such persons as Sir James Douglas, Hon. J. S. Helmcken, J. D. Pemberton, Judge Pemberton, Senator Mac- donald, B. W. Pearse, Roderick Finlayson, Judge Elliot, Charles Hay- ward, Captain Devereux, D. W. Higgins, Coote M. Chambers, William Wil- son, J. A. Aikman, A. A. Green, and many others of similar standing. The incident created a great stir in the community and had an interest that ex- tended far beyond the limits of the Province. The trial, indeed, of Dean Cridge became a cause celebre, and is quoted in all modern English works on eccles- iastical law. The trial was held in the Pandora Street Presbyterian Church, His Lordship Bishop Hills presiding, and Ven. Archdeacon Woods, Rev. Mr. Mason, and County Court judges O’Reilly and Bushby sitting as assessors. The proceedings were instituted under the provisions of the Church Discipline Act. Against Dean Cridge four charges were preferred, viz. : Of- fences against laws ecclesiastical, refusing to acknowledge the Bishop’s au- thority, neglecting to comply with the Bishop’s requests, and obstructing the Bishop in the performance of his episcoj)al functions, — of all of which, technically at least, he had been apparently guilty. In brief, his alleged offence was violation of canonical law — contumacy, and insubordination. Eighteen objections, in the form of legal procedure obscure to the ordinary lay mind, followed the formal recital of the charges. Mr. J. F. McCreight, ex-Premier, who had been instructed by the law firm of Drake, Jackson & Helmcken, appeared for the prosecution. Rev. Dean Cridge conducted his own defence, the trial lasting four days. He denied the jurisdiction of the Court, objected to the proceedings as irregular and illegal, contended that by his doctrines the Bishop had seceded from the church, protested against His Lordship sitting as judge in a case in which he was prosecutor and an interested party, and against the constitution of the Court generally. He pleaded that as a layman in law, he was at a disadvantage and petitioned for a longer time for the preparation of his defence. It was decided, however, to proceed from day to day without delay. It would serve no useful pur- pose to follow the proceedings in detail. There were many points raised, interesting even to laymen. On the fourth day Dean Cridge appeared and submitted a long protest against the procedure, stated that he could not appear again in court, and, with a number of his sympathisers, left the court-room. The Court found that nearly all the charges against the Dean had been proven, and in this connection it may be said that Mr. Cridge did not deny his acts, nor did he refuse to acknowledge the lawful authority of the Bishop; but his acts were explained as protests against an unlawful authority in certain matters exercised by the Bishop, who by virtue of his doctrines had seceded from the Church, and, therefore, had ceased to have authority. In due course Dean Cridge was notified that the Bishop him- self would conduct services in Christ Church on the following Sunday. The Dean replied that he was supported by his congregation, and that he did not accept the decision of the ecclesiastical court as either legal or binding, expressing himself, however, as always willing to submit to “lawful author- [ 83 ] ity.” Sunday was looked forward to with great expectancy and the church was crowded. Precautions were taken to protect the pastor in the discharge of his duty. What might have happened if the Bishop had endeavoured to carry out his programme it is impossible to say. Doubtless the doctrines of peace would not have prevailed ; but fortunately the carriage with the Bishop inside was seen to leave Bishop’s Close and go in the direction of Esqui- malt. The Rev. Mr. Cridge preached on that and the following Sunday without molestation, and nothing occurred either sensational or unusual. The cause of the Bishop versus the Dean was then referred to the Su- preme Court, before Chief Justice Begbie. Mr. McCreight, as before, ap- peared for the Bishop, and Mr. A. Rocke Robertson for the defense. While the court brushed aside the proceedings of the ecclesiastical court as irregu- lar, and refused to recognize the tribunal as either constitutional or ca- pable of jurisdiction, his decision was nevertheless against Dean Cridge. He granted an injunction, being the form of procedure under which pro- ceedings were instituted, to prohibit him from preaching or officiating as a clergyman of the Church of England. The latter part of the order was con- sidered necessary in order to prevent illegal marriages, etc. On Sunday, October 19th, the friends of Dean Cridge were permitted to remove their furniture from Christ Church. The exodus was large. Pandora Street Presbyterian Church was placed at their disposal for services, while they decided their future plans. It would have been interesting to have followed the trial to a logical conclusion by appeal; but events moved in another direction. Just then a movement had been started towards joining the Reformed Episcopal Church, of which five congregations had been formed in eastern Canada. This was the course pursued. At a meeting, at which over 350 of Christ Church congregation were represented, it was decided to form an organization in connection with the Reformed Episcopal Church of Canada and the United States. At the first meeting on November 16th there was a crowded con- gregation, definite arrangements having been made the previous Thursday. Sir James Douglas gave as a free gift the site of the present church in Vic- toria, and the present building was erected thereon. This was the begin- ning of the Reformed Episcopal denomination in British Columbia, and among the families of those who took sides at that time, the memory of the events incidental to the secession has not wholly been obliterated. Alfred Waddington, a name that will be long remembered in British Columbia history, died in Ottawa on the 23rd day of February, 1871, of smallpox, greatly to the sorrow of his many friends in the Province, and of all those who knew him in eastern Canada. He had spent several years at the Canadian capital, engaged in impressing upon the attention of the Ca- nadian Government a great scheme for the construction of an overland rail- way through Canada and when on the threshold of success, remarked the Colonist , in announcing his death, he was cut down. Waddington was connected with some very good families in England, and in early life had been interested in mining on the Continent. In 1849 he went to California, and embarked successfully in mercantile pursuits. He came to Victoria in 1858 and bought a number of lots in the vicinity of Yale, and Waddington Alley. The first printed publication in book, or rather pamphlet form, which [34] appeared in British Columbia, was from his pen, entitled, “The Fraser River Mines Vindicated,” being a reprint from the Victoria Gazette. In 1862 he conceived the idea of which he was a most ardent advocate, of constructing a wagon road from Bute Inlet to Fort Alexandria, the first link in an over- land highway. In the prosecution of this enterprise he spent nearly his en- tire fortune. He struggled against many difficulties in pursuit of this idea — until the Chilcotin Indians massacred his camp of road makers — seventeen in number — and destroyed his stock of tools and provisions. This was the last straw, and he ceased operations. His plans for the road were pur- chased by the Ottawa Government. As a pioneer, an explorer and a pro- moter he was a good type of the empire builder of which Britain has fur- nished in her sons so many examples. His plans for a bridge across Sey- mour Narrows were the foundation for a report by the late Marcus Smith, in charge of the Pacific department of the C. P. R. surveys, and he was the first to prepare a plan that, perhaps more than any other subject con- nected with transportation, has been much debated ever since. The cost in- volved in these plans was the main objection to connection by railway of the mainland with the Island, and in that sense they may properly be said to have been the pons asinorum of the original scheme of railway construction in British Columbia. Mr. W addington is said to have abandoned this idea at the last on ac- count of the cost involved, which would have been a pretty considerable percent- age of the entire outlay west of the Rockies, but he was otherwise confident of the practicability of the route, of which it was a part. A man of good deal of culture and exceptional information he was prominent in all affairs of public moment. For two terms he sat in the Island Legislature and for a term was superintendent of education. Though his death was untimely, and greatly regretted, he had reached the fair age of 76. In his advocacy and through his personal efforts he greatly stimulated the idea of a transconti- nental railway. His name has almost been forgotten in that connection, but he was the pioneer of the C. P. R. Like the majority of pioneers he died poor, as the result of his labours and just at a moment when his dreams were about to be realized. Capt. Edward Stamp, an early figure in British Columbia development, died in London, England, on the 17th of January, 1872. He left Victoria in the previous November, and it is thought the effects of severe weather in crossing the plains overland resulted in his death. He first visited the Coast in 1856, while on a mission to Puget Sound to secure a cargo of spars for the British Government. The timber resources of Vancouver Island Colony impressed him so much that he secured capital in England to erect a saw mill at Alberni. Subsequently, the plant was moved to Burrard Inlet, where what is known as the Hastings Mill, which was managed by him for a time, was built and operated. In 1871 he embarked in the fish-curing business on the Fraser and his trip to England, where he died, had to do with the forma- tion of a new company for the purpose of packing salmon at New West- minster, and a dry dock project. He was twice a member of the colonial leg- islature. In early life he took to seafaring, and while still quite young was a skipper. During the Crimean War he commanded the troopship Emu and saved her from destruction in a terrible gale. Capt. Stamp was a very energetic and enterprising man, though his success in life was marred by a [35] choleric temper and a manner that might have been suited for sailors in his day on board of ship, rather than with land lubbers in the matter of busi- ness. He was far-seeing, however, and to him is entitled the credit of be- ing a pioneer in British Columbia in the lumber industry, and in the pro- motion of salmon canning and a dry dock, though in neither of the latter was he permitted to go farther than the preliminary stages. In the early days of Victoria the figure of “Judge” Jos. Austin was a very familiar one. He died July 3, 1871, just after British Columbia had entered the Union. Austin was a native of Halifax, N. S., and was born in 1782, so that he had reached a very respectable age. During 1812-1814 he sailed as super-cargo of vessels. He was present in Ghent in 1814 when the treaty of peace was signed by the British and American commissioners, and rode in the same carriage on that occasion with Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, and Mr. Bayard, the American commissioners. Subsequently, he rode with them through Russia, and left them at Cronstadt, joining his ship there. He was also at a state ball at St. Petersburg with them. Soon after the discov- ery of gold, he went to California, and engaged in business as a hardware merchant. In 1856 his business was wiped out by fire. In the same year he was a member of the famous vigilance committee, and was made a justice of the peace, or magistrate, hence his title of “Judge.” He came to Victoria in 1858 and invested in real estate. Austin was extremely religious, but be- longed to a creed called Sandaminian, which did not recognize the right of man to consecrate a building to the worship of God. Hence he was buried with- out religious service and without mourning insignia. “Judge” Austin was half brother to Hon. Joseph Howe, the Canadian, or rather Nova Scotia, statesman and distinguished writer and orator. The death of the Hon. David Cameron occurred in the year 1871 and in his person passed away a very early and prominent pioneer. He had been born in 1804 in Perthshire, Scotland, and while quite a young man had gone to Demerara. He resided there as a merchant, until 1853. During his resi- dence in the West Indies he was subject to severe attacks of illness and upon the recommendation of Sir James Douglas, whose sister he had married, he moved to Vancouver Island early in 1854. In that year he was appointed a justice of the peace and subsequently upon communication with the Home Government he was made Provisional Judge of the Supreme Court of Van- couver Island. In 1856 the appointment was confirmed, and he was made Chief Justice, a rather empty title considering the state of the colony, and that he was the only judge or representative of justice of any kind. He held the position until 1865, when he retired on a pension of £500 per annum and was succeeded by the late Chief Justice Needham. One daughter sur- vived him. Though not a lawyer — and the fact was often laid against him as a fault — his legal knowledge was extensive and under “his able hands,” as the Colonist put it, “the present statutes were framed.” Six sailors from the Sparrowhawk were pallbearers, the chief mourners were Sir James Douglas, H on. J. S. Helmcken, Mr. James Douglas and Mr. Chas. Good, and the funeral sermon was preached by Rev. E. Cridge. The death of Sosthenes M. Driard, the proprietor of the Driard House in Victoria, took place on Feb. 15th, 1873, aged 54. He was a native of Lach- abelle, France, which he left during the revolutionary period. Going to New [36] Orleans, and thence to California, he was borne to British Columbia shores in 1858, and subsequently became proprietor of the Colonial and Driard Ho- tels. The Legislature, which was in session at the time, adjourned until 8:30 in the afternoon, and the members, including members of the Executive and the Chief Justice, attended the funeral. The Driard, now through the pur- chase of the property by David Spencer, Limited, for the purposes of a de- partmental store, passed out of the list of hostelries, was famous in his day, and for years afterwards throughout the Pacific Coast, particularly on ac- count of the excellent repasts its dining room afforded. Bishop Demers, born 1809, the first Roman Catholic dignitary of that rank in British Columbia, died July 28, 1871. A native of Quebec, he en- tered the priesthood in 1836. In the following year he left in company with Archbishop Blanchard and crossed the continent. Arrived in Oregon in 1839 he began an active career as missionary in the wilds of the north Pacific, which work he never abated. He was ordained Bishop of Vancouver Island in 1847, and in the early days of the colony was of great assistance to the Hudson’s Bay Company in their official dealings with the Indians over whom he had great influence and control. He established missions at various points both on the Island and the mainland. In 1864, Bishop Demers took a very long tour through the United States, Canada and Europe, as the result of his health having failed, but without much apparent benefit. In 1870, in company with Father Seghers, he attended the Ecumenical Coun- cil at Rome. While in Rome he received injuries in a railway collision and returned home to die. As the pioneer of missions in this Province, his serv- ices deserve special memory and recognition, and so revered were they that at the time of his death, and for a long time afterwards, the rock at Cadboro Bay on which he first stepped, was pointed to. St. Andrew’s pro-Cathedral was erected in 1868, under his ausjfices, and through his efforts, and it is in- teresting to note that those who assisted at the altar were Rev. Father D’Herbomez and Rev. Fathers Mandart, Kirley, Joincken, Brabant and Bon- dauex. Bishop Seghers succeeded Bishop Demers and was appointed March 21st, 1873. He came to the Coast in 1863, after passing one year in the American College at Louvain, Belgium; he studied four years in the Theo- logical Seminary at Ghent, being ordained priest in 1863 at Malines, 35 years of age. A tragic interest attaches to his memory from the fact that he was murdered in Alaska about the year 1888 by a native there, becoming, in other words, a martyr to missionary work, to which he was so sincerely devoted. Judge A. T. Bushby, who came to British Columbia in 1859, and aft- erwards filled various responsible positions under the Government, died May 18th, 1875. He married in 1860 a daughter of Sir James Douglas, who, a resident of London, England, still survives him. Prior to Confederation he had been Postmaster-General, a stipendiary magistrate, and a member of the Executive Council during the Seymour administration. After Confed- eration he was made a county court judge. A new steamship line to San Francisco was announced in the Col- onist July 13, 1875, promoted by the late Hon. Henry Rhodes, contractor for the mail service. Steamers were taken from the China-Panama line. The Vasco di Gama , the first of the new steamers to come to Victoria, was de- [37] scribed in the local paper as “a floating palace.” The corner stone of the new St. Joseph’s Hospital was laid August 22nd, of the same year. Major-General E. Selby-Smith and staff and Captain Miles Stapleton, A. D. C., and Hon. T. W. Fitzwilliam (brother-in-law of Lord Milton) arrived October 21, 1875, on a tour of military inspection. The occasion was one of unusual social doings. A message to Bishop Seghers brought the news that Rev. Father A. Brabant at Barkley Sound, had been shot in the back and hand by the chief of the Hesquiats. The note had been written by Father Brabant, who believed at the time he was dying, with great difficulty and conveyed to Victoria by an Indian. It asked for a clergyman to administer the last sac- raments and medical assistance. The stalwart missionary, who devoted about 25 years of his life to the west coast Indians, survived his injuries and is still rugged and hale. He was devoted to his work as a missionary and the In- dians were very friendly in their disposition towards him, but the chief, sick- ening of small-pox, attributed his malady to the evil influences of the “white father” and in an unguarded moment the latter was fired upon at close quarters. The chief fled and hid himself in the forest, where his dead body was afterwards found. Father Brabant, in what he supposed to be his dy- ing message, asked consideration for his murderer and that the Indians should be treated kindly — in the spirit of Him who said “forgive them for they know not what they do.” In the columns of the press, it is noted that on Friday, April 19th, 1874, Kenneth Mackenzie, one of the very earliest of the Vancouver Island pio- neers, died of heart disease. He came to Victoria in 1851, and for a long time occupied a position at Craigflower as manager of a farm for the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary company of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Subsequently he purchased a farm near Victoria on the road to Saanich, where members of his family still reside. At the time of his death he was the proprietor of the Craigflower bakery and was a naval contractor. It is also noted as a matter of passing interest that Captain McNeill, one of the Hudson’s Bay Company master mariners, and an old resident of Vic- toria, in the same year, 1874, retired from the command of the steamer En- terprise and was succeeded by Captain H. G. Lewis, of the Otter , who in turn was succeeded by Captain W. R. Clarke. All three, long since passed away, were well known pioneer sea captains. The Pacific Coast West had never been noted for its observance of the Sabbath, and in the early days even less than at the present time; and it is, therefore, surprising to observe that in 1873 a bill was introduced so sumptu- ary and drastic in its provisions as to have been almost Puritanical in its na- ture. The measure, introduced by John Robson, proposed to make it unlaw- ful to “trade, work, labour, sell, buy, barter, convene or attend any political meeting, tipple, or to allow to tipple, brawl, use profane language, play at billiards, ball, football, rackets, gamble with dice or otherwise, or run races on foot, on horse back or in carriages or vehicles of any sort, hunt, shoot or kill any wild animal or game except in defence of life or property, fish, or take, kill or destroy and fish, or bathe in any exposed situation within the limits of any incorporated town, or within view of any place of public wor- ship or private residence,” with penalties for the violation of its provisions. [38] These provisions were intended to cover, of course, the exact nature of in- fractions of Sabbath observances most complained of by church people in British Columbia, and it is needless to say found little favour in the eyes of British Columbia lawmakers. The Legislature sat rather severely on the proposed measure and Mr. Robson resented their treatment of it in the col- umns of the Colonist but did not pursue the subject further. Captain John Swanson, who had been reared under the aegis of the Hudson’s Bay Company, died in its service as captain of the steamer Enter- prise, October 21st, 1872. He was a native of Rupert’s Land and joined the Company’s service as a lad of 14. He came to the Pacific Coast as an apprentice on the Cadboro and had assisted in clearing the ground for the old fort. Subsequently he commanded the Labouchere and the Otter and the Enterprise. His pallbearers were Judson Young, J. W. McKay, Judge Elliot, Captains Moffatt, McNeill and Mitchell and Mr. Pamphlett. Captain Lewis and son were chief mourners. The reaper Death was busy during this period in the ranks of early navigators and claimed Captain William Irving on August 20, 1872. He died at New Westminster, where he had been dangerously ill for some months, attended by Dr. Trimble. A native of Scotland, he had gone at an early age to Oregon, where, on the Columbia river, he was a pioneer in the steamboat business and a member of the original Oregon Steam Navi- gation Company. He came to British Columbia in 1860 and was engaged in the navigation of the Fraser river, running boats from New Westminster to Y ale. He died at the comparatively early age of 55 and his mantle having fallen on Captain John Irving, one of the best known of the modern sea-faring men on the Northwest coast waters, his work was continued by the latter. The death from African fever of Hon. E. G. Alston, a well known of- ficial of the Colony, who had gone to Sierra Leone to serve in an official capacity, was reported in the press January 26, 1873. Not long before this, intelligence had been received of his pursuing a prosperous career in his new field of labour, and his death, therefore, was as unexpected as it was re- gretted by his friends. Alston, who had come to the Colony quite early with letters of introduction to Sir James Douglas and Attorney-General Crease, was for some time Registrar-General, a member of the Executive Council, and for a time acting Attorney-General. His son, Rev. E. A. Alston, is incum- bent of a living near Norwich, England. A death which was not local, but of local interest, was that of Sir George Cartier, which occurred in London, England, May 20th, 1873. The British Columbia newspapers in announcing his death appeared in mourn- ing. As taking, along with Sir John Macdonald, the most prominent part in passing the Terms of Union, his name was held in almost affectionate re- gard in Victoria. As Cartier was a lineal descendant of Jacques Cartier, there was an appropriateness in the famous exclamation of his in the House of Commons, after the bill had passed its final stage, “All aboard for Vic- toria,” which, taken up as a cry by followers of the Government, made “the rafters ring.” It was fifteen years later when it became the real signal for departure of the first overland train for Burrard Inlet. Captain Mouatt, whose descendants still reside in the Province, died [39] Sunday, April 12th, 1871, on his way in a canoe from Knight’s Inlet to Fort Rupert. The demise of George Pearkes is reported in the press March 18th, 1872. The deceased was a native of England, had resided for a time in east- ern Canada, went from there to California and came from there to British Columbia in 1858. He followed his profession of solicitor and in the early days occupied the position of Crown solicitor (equivalent to Attorney-Gen- eral) for Vancouver Island. Mr. Pearkes was prominent in Masonic circles. In a report from Hon. Peter O’Reilly, gold commissioners for Omi- neca district, then attracting a good deal of attention, it appears there were about 900 miners employed there out of a total population of about 1,500. Most of these left for the winter, but from 800 to 1,000 were expected to re- turn again in the spring. This gives an idea of a general condition which ob- tained in mining camps — a population here one year and shifted else- where next year. The mining receipts for the district for 1871 were about $15,000 and the yield estimated at $40,000. Omineca did not turn out to be the bonanza expected, and the scene of activities was changed to Cassiar later on, the aggregate yield of which is estimated to have been about $5,000,000. There is great difficulty in arriving at any accurate figures for any of the early diggings. Gold handled by companies could be fairly well accounted for, but large quantities of gold dust were taken out by the miners themselves, about which they were usually very reticent. One of the worst marine disasters which ever occurred on the North- west Coast of America was reported in the Colonist of November 9, 1875. The news created a profound impression on the public mind, and so far as the city of Victoria is concerned has only been nearly paralelled by the excite- ments incident to the Point Ellice bridge disaster of 1896, the loss of the Islander out of Skagway in 1901, the foundering of the Clallam in 1904 and the wreck of the Valencia in 1906. On the 4th day of November, 1875, the steamship Pacific sailed from Victoria with 283 persons on board for San Francisco and was lost off Cape Flattery. Only two persons were saved, Henry F. Jelly, a passenger, and Neill O’Hanley, quartermaster. Of treas- ure $178,000 went down with the ship. Among the lost were F. Garesche, agent of Wells, Fargo & Company; S. P. Moody, of Moody, Dietz & Nel- son, Moodyville; Captain Otis Parson, a pioneer navigator, and family; Thomas Styles, of the firm of Kinsman & Styles ; Mrs. Moale, eldest daugh- ter of ex-Mayor McMillan, editor of the Standard; the wife and child of Mr. William Lawson, Bank of B. N. A.; Miss Fanny Palmer, daughter of Prof. Digby Palmer, about whom Mr. D. W. Higgins has written in his reminiscences; Richard Lyons and Dennis Cain, two of the discoverers of the Cassiar goldfields; Colonel Mandeville, well known actor, wife and child. These, however, were only a few of the more prominent victims of a disaster which brought sorrow to hundreds of homes in Victoria, although many were lost about whom little or nothing was known. The particulars were gained from the story of the two survivors, Jelly and O’Hanley, from which it appeared that the Pacific in bad weather collided with the ship, Orpheus. The accident was caused by the latter not keeping her lights on the how port. If the narrative is to be credited, the conduct of the master of the Orpheus was inhuman. He bore off, with the cries and signals of [40] distress from the Pacific in his ears, cursing the latter for coming in his way. Mr. Higgins tells a weird story of the captain of the Orpheus dying frightened with the visions of that wreck. But, whatever his conduct, he steered clear of British waters and never was brought to account. It also transpired that after the collision everything on board the Pacific was in un- utterable confusion. It was hinted that the captain, usually noted as a capa- ble and efficient officer, was under the influence of liquor; but from what- ever reason all discipline was absent and the ship’s crew, without a head, were completely disorganized. The passengers, pilotless and helpless, went to death without any intelligent effort to save them or the ship. Investiga- tions were held, much evidence was taken to prove a culpable cause of the disaster; but of what benefit to the dead or recourse for the sorrowful liv- ing? So intense was the impression created by this deplorable catastrophe that the older inhabitants of Victoria living at that time, still speak in sol- emn undertones of the “loss of the Pacific " [ 41 ] THE EDGAR INCIDENT CHAPTER IV No period in the youth of the Province is more interesting politically than that which followed the session of 1874. There was a curious shuf- fling of cards and shifting of seats, leading to confusing situations. In a sense it was a Newspaper War — a battle of the Standard and of the Colonist waving on the forces of the Government and the Opposition respectively, while on the mainland the Herald and the Guardian supported and op- posed the Government at Ottawa, with regard to the proposed modifica- tions in the Terms of the Union. Later on, as this chapter will disclose, the position was practically reversed, although it is very difficult to define ac- curately a situation of extreme complexity. The Colonist, after being a thorough-going Conservative paper, became virtually the mouthpiece of the Mackenzie Government — a fact emphasized by the appointment of its editor, John Robson, to the important position of Comptroller in connection with the C. P. R. surveys in the Province. The local Government on the other hand, which at first was regarded as being in sympathy with the adminis- tration at Ottawa, went into violent opposition. During the session of 1874 there came a well-defined attack on the Esquimalt graving dock and the new railway proposals. The stirring events which led to the resignation of Amor de Cosmos as Premier, and the reconstruction of the Government with G. A. Walkem as Attorney-General and first Minister, have already been described. A very strong feeling, especially in Victoria, developed with reference to the dry dock, which, as has been seen, seemed to indicate a mod- ification of the Terms of the Union. At the close of the session the mem- bers of the opposition, including Mr. Robson, were enthusiastically honoured at a banquet to mark the appreciation on the part of the people of Vic- toria of the gallant fight waged in their interests. Of that fight the Col- onist and John Robson were undoubtedly the intellectual heroes. The opin- ions of the leading lawyers seemed to be almost unanimous in agreeing that the proposals in regard to the Esquimalt graving dock, if not a variation of the Terms, at least placed the Province in an equivocal position. Certain proposals emanating from Ottawa had been made, it was understood, to the local Government for a relaxation of the conditions governing the con- struction of the railway, and the statement was openly made that the pro- posals had come through a confidential agent of the Federal authorities. It was at first supposed that de Cosmos was that agent, and a suspicion which aroused public feeling of conspiring with Ottawa, was directed against the local Government. A semblance of truth attached to these suspicions — indeed there was more than a semblance of truth in them — from the atti- tude of the Standard, which hand in hand with the Walkem administration, was advertising de Cosmos, and showed friendliness towards the supposed Ottawa proposals. De Cosmos, after the general election supported Mac- kenzie instead of Sir John Macdonald, his old chief, and it was asserted [ 43 ] with some show of reason that he had some arriere pensee , and expected among other things, to be taken into the Cabinet. Certain it is that his policy had not been shaped by any definite set of political principles. The Government at Ottawa, no doubt, advised by de Cosmos, assumed that the local authorities were with them and proceeded on that assumption, as is fully evident from speeches made by the Hon. Alex. Mackenzie, Premier, on the subject of C. P. R. (1). The ebullition of popular feeling, throughout the Province on that particular subject in relation to British Columbia brought about a seeming change of policy on the part of Premier Walkem and his colleagues, following upon the negotiations with Mr. J.D. Edgar, who came as a special agent to discuss the railway situation with the local authorities. The circumstances connected with his mission were fruitful in volumes of discussion then and since, and now that time has dissipated the clouds of partisan feeling and misrepresentation that obscured the real merits of the dispute, it is undeniable that Edgar was very badly used by Premier Walkem, whose government behaved in a way not only politically disgraceful, but in- jurious to the Province, and more particularly to the interests of the Island of Vancouver. The whole episode was discreditable to British Columbia, neither statesmanship nor common sense being displayed. The rupture be- tween the two governments was complete, and the feeling on both sides be- came embittered beyond hope of any reconciliation in the future. The results were as unfortunate as they were unnecessary, and the proceedings as fool- ish as they were unjustifiable. As a knowledge of these proceedings is essential to an intelligent understanding of the most acute crisis in our his- tory since Confederation, it is necessary to deal with them at some length. ( 2 ). (l)Mr. Mackenzie made a speech in moving the second reading of the C. P. R. bill, which was his- torically important. He said that he had opposed the original scheme as one that was impracticable at the time it was proposed. He had not changed that opinion, but now that he was in power he was bound to carry it out in spirit if not in letter. The terms were extraordinary. The Province itself had not demanded them. He referred to the speech of Hon. Jos. Trutch at Ottawa, on Confederation. He pointed out the difficulties of building the Intercolonial railway, 500 miles long, which he regarded as a political rather than a commercial transaction. To "quiet the spirit of unquiet” in his own ranks, Sir Geo. Cartier had passed a resolution to the effect that it should be built by private enterprise on the basis of land subsidies, without unduly taxing the resources of the Dominion. It could not, however, be completed within the specified time. He stated on the authority of Sanford Fleming that until 300,000 people were thrown into the territory it would not pay expenses of construction, not to speak of renewals, etc. Bute Inlet, he thought, was the preferable route in British Columbia, though there were 150 miles to be laid on the Island, together with the tunnels and seven bridges measuring 7,880 feet in all, one with a span of 680 feet, three with 1,100 feet each, one with 1,000, and two with 1,350 feet. The whole tenor of his argument was that it was impracticable to build the railway within the legal time limit, and that it was a foolish thing to begin construction until a final and definite route was selected, and he referred to the “farce” of driving the stakes at Esquimau as a formal commencement. An extension of time was necessary, and an agent had been sent to the Province to arrange to that purpose. As it appeared very important that work should commence at Esquimalt, the Government was willing to agree if the time for completion were extended, and if the local government were disposed to make terms, to expend $1,500,000 per annum in construction. Water communication would have to be utilized. The shortest route would be Fraser River. Bute Inlet presented a descent of three hundred and fifty feet in a few miles. He referred to the proposal to give $10,000 and 20,000 acres as subsidy per mile, and proposed to ask intending contractors the extent to which they would require a guarantee of 4%. It was estimated that the road would cost $40,000 per mile. To keep faith with British Columbia, the western end would be begun first and proceeded with as fast as possible. Referring to the dry dock proposal of an advance of $250,000 to be given as work proceeded instead of a guarantee of $500,000 for ten years at 5%, it had been assumed that the proposal had been made as some sort of inducement to alter the Terms of Union. This was a misconception; no such thing was contemplated and no word had passed between the two governments as to any terms at all. The Terms, which could not be carried out, had been forced upon the country as the result of party exigencies, and it was never intended that they should have effect. Mr. Edgar Dewdney made a speech on the bill favouring a survey of the Fraser River valley between Kamloops and Hope. Of the four routes through the Cascades, he favoured the last named. The Province could build a wagon road into Cariboo eighteen to twenty feet wide through the canyons of the Fraser River to Savonas, one hundred and thirty-three miles long, at a cost of $830,000, or $6,315 a mile. No grade would exceed fifteen feet per mile. On Bute Inlet route there were grades, of one hundred and fifteen feet per mile, and from Burrard Inlet a road could be built to Puget Sound, tap- ping a rich country and sharing the traffic with the Northern Pacific. (2)The particulars bearing upon and necessary to the understanding of the incident, require to be dwelt with at some length. Though Mr. Edgar had been some time in the Province, nothing was known except by conjecture of the exact nature of his mission, and the public mind was in a state of suspense, which in course of time became more acute. The first real intimation of what was going on was contained In [ 44 ] Alexander Mackenzie was in the light of history an honest man, and although when in opposition he earnestly and conscientiously opposed the Terms of Union, on gaining power he tried quite as conscientiously to give them practical effect. Compared with it, the policy of the Provincial Government at that time was shifting, dilatory and disingenuous. Geo. Anthony Walkem was a good lawyer, an able parliamentarian and pos- sessed a singularly acute mind; but he was tricky in politics and steered a course largely with a view to take advantage of popular breezes. His treat- ment of Edgar was unworthy the dignity and responsibility of his high a telegram from Senator Macdonald to Hon. J. S. Helmcken, published in the Colonist May 14th, 1874 . that if the time for commencing the construction of the railway were extended, the Government at Ottawa would pledge itself to begin on the Island immediately and to spend $1,500,000 annually on the Mainland until completed. This telegram was published on the very same day as a statement that the Provincial Government had declined to recognize Mr. Edgar’s credentials. A despatch from Ottawa dated May 14th stated that Mr. Mackenzie had made a proposal to the local government (knowledge of which, however, was denied by members of the government) to the effect as above recited. It also appears that the mainland members at Ottawa had protested against this proposition and the Island members had endorsed it. From the Colonist of May 17th it is learned that a number of gentlemen waited on Mr. Edgar to find out if a proposal had been submitted to the Government, who stated with regard to credentials that the Governor-General had written to the Lieutenant-Governor, and Premier Mackenzie had written to Premier Walkem. If the latter had any doubts about the authenticity of these letters he could settle the matter by telegraph. Now, Mr. Edgar had arrived in Victoria in the early part of March. On April 27th he formally placed the local Government in possession of the new terms as agreed to by Mr. Mackenzie. On May 19th "a formal and peremptory” demand was made for a reply. De Cosmos telegraphed from Ottawa advising the acceptance of the new terms. Mr. Mackenzie moved on the 19th of May the seconding of the C. P. R. Bill. Incidentally, Mr. de Cosmos said in debate that the road could be built for $80,000,000 and that it was impossible to build it to Burrard Inlet, while Mr. Cunningham strongly protested against the latter statement. On May 23rd, the Colonist announced the recall of Mr. Edgar. Premier Walkem stated to a delegation that the Government had received certain propositions from Mr. Edgar, but they were of a private nature and could not be published, as Mr. Edgar had produced no credentials. The Govern- ment, he said, had wired to Ottawa to find out whether the Government there would be bound by his action. The C. P. R. bill passed its third reading on May 21st. Mr. Bunster moved an amendment that the Island section should be begun immediately. This was lost. Mr. Cunningham moved that construc- tion of the C. P. R. should begin within one year, and that not less than one-tenth of the whole line in British Columbia be completed each year. This was also lost. Copies of the Edgar correspondence were made public on May 23rd, and from a study of the con- tents as summarized here, the disingenousness of statements made by Premier Walkem may be esti- mated. The negotiations opened with a letter from Mackenzie to Walkem, dated Feb. 16th, introducing Mr. Edgar, who would confer with the Government in questions ‘‘lately agitating” the Province, and receive their views regarding the policy of the Government on the construction of the railway. Were it not for the meeting of Parliament, he added, one of the members of his administration would have come instead, but Mr. Edgar was a public man, well known and fully understood the situation. “I need not,” he went on to say, “I am sure, assure you of my sincere desire to do all I can not only to act justly, but generously to British Columbia.” ‘‘It is in your interest and in the interest of the Dominion that we should both act with a reason- able appreciation of difficulties which are unavoidable, and devise means to remove them or overcome them.” Lieutenant-Governor Trutch telegraphed to Ottawa to find out if the statement made that the rail- way would be begun that year was true. The reply was that Mr. Mackenzie simply said that until loca- tion was made it was impossible to begin construction. A large surveying force was at work, and there was no reason to believe it would be possible to complete “this year." On May 8th Mr. Edgar wrote a letter to Mr. Walkem (presumably after preliminary conferences) and pointed out that the chief difficulty consisted in the Terms of Union — i. e., the stipulation to complete by July, 1881. Engineers advised that it was a practical impossibility to complete within that time, and any attempt would result in wasteful expenditure and financial embarrassment. “It is because they de- sire to act in good faith towards British Columbia that the Canadian Ministry at once avow the difficulty of carrying out the exact Terms of Union, whilst they have no desire to avoid the full responsibility of Canada to complete the railway by all means in their power and at the earliest practicable date.” “The Government,” he said, “appreciating the impossibility of carrying out the Terms of Union, wished to make new stipulations and to enter into ‘additional obligations of a definite character’ for the benefit of the Province. They proposed to begin the Island Railway immediately and push it to com- pletion. The difficulties on the mainland were very great; it was useless to begin there until the route was located, and for that purpose a very large sum had been asked for by the Government in the esti- mates. To give the people as much as possible the benefit of construction they would open up a road and construct a telegraph line through the whole length of the Province, and carry the telegraph line across the continent. It was believed there would be little benefit to the people east of the Cascades from construction if there were no road to convey their products and sell them to the contractors, and the Government was anxious to avail themselves of all the supplies possible along the route. There was, he pointed out, no stipulation in the Terms of Union, as to the amount to be expended in any one year. Not only was commencement desirable, but continuous prosecution as well. To that end the Government was willing to expend under the most favourable circumstances, a minimum each year with the Province of $1,500,000. The delegation to Ottawa who had been sent to negotiate Terms of Union had been willing to be satisfied with $1,000,000 per annum, the road to be begun three years after the Union. In reply Mr. Walkem desired to be assured that Mr. Edgar was duly accredited and that the Domin- ion Government would be bound by his acts. Mr. Edgar in reply pointed to the letters from Ottawa to the Lieutenant-Governor and the Premier and his own assurance that he was making the proposals on behalf of the Dominion Government, and on their instructions. He was indignant at the assumption that his statements might be incorrect, and protested against such extraordinary treatment “of a document which emanated from the Dominion Government of Canada upon a subject of such a deep and pressing moment to British Columbia.” He asked for his pro- posal the consideration it deserved and its importance merited. Mr. Walkem in reply expressed surprise at the irritability of Mr. Edgar and stated that in the only letter received by himself, Mr. Mackenzie had merely suggested an interview with Mr. Edgar to obtain [ 45 ] office, and his whole policy was shaped without reference to the important interests involved. It was, in fact, not honest. If the politicians and peo- ple of Eastern Canada took up a position uncompromising, antagonistic, and unjust to British Columbia, it was contributed to by the local Government’s unreasonable action which alienated their sympathy, and identified British Columbia’s cause with that of the political opponents of the Liberal Govern- ment. The course which affairs took both in the east and west of Canada was due to a variety of causes. G. A. Walkem was only one of the causes — it is true, an essential cause, but, although at that particular moment he held the destiny of the Province in his hands, he was by no means the sole factor. To understand the whole case, a general analysis of the situation is necessary. To politics, in the narrow sense of that term, is attributable a considerable share of our misfortunes at the time. De Cosmos and Walkem may be regarded as political partners. They were both mistrusted, though supported by a popular majority. There was a strong opposition to them in the Legislature represented by Robson, Humphreys, Mara, Tolmie, Smithe, and other leading men. De Cosmos, Walkem, Beaven, Armstrong, Booth and others on their side, were Cana- dians, and the dividing line between Canadians and the English at that time was marked. John Robson, the ablest man in opposition, was also a Cana- dian, but possibly on account of political disappointment — possibly, too, through antagonism to de Cosmos as a rival editor and certainly, too, for sound political reasons, he was opposed to them. Humphreys, though an Englishman, had been a former warm political colleague and co-worker of de Cosmos, but having been overlooked and pushed on one side, was bitter. As a platform orator he had no equal in the Province. Political lines were not altogether as between English and Canadian, for there Avas a good deal between these two that was identical in sentiment, and especially in regard to Eastern Canada. This forms a clue to the situation concerning the rail- the views of the Government respecting a railway policy. That having been held he considered that the object of Mr. Mackenize had been attained. When, however, it was proposed to go further, and to demand changes of an important nature, he considered it his duty to ask Mr. Edgar for his official authority as an agent, but information on that point had not yet been received. Lieutenant-Governor Trutch then telegraphed for information as to Mr. Edgar's authority. Mr. Mac- kenzie referred the Ministry to his letter to the Premier, and stated that Mr. Edgar had been recalled. Lieutenant-Governor Trutch telegraphed again, on June 7th, Mackenzie withdrew his proposals on the ground that the Government had not replied to them. To this Lieutenant-Governor Trutch answered that this was the first direct information the Government had received that the views expressed in Mr. Edgar’s letter were proposals to the Government, and expressed surprise that the only communication substantiating such proposals authoritatively should withdraw them. The Dominion Government was then informed that the local ministry would appeal direct to the Imperial Government on the railway question, and the Earl of Carnarvon was notified to the same effect. One cannot read this correspondence without receiving the impression that Mr. Walkem’s part in It was the specious attempt of a clever lawyer to evade, by a technicality, the direct issue. Assuming that he was conscientious in putting forward the official view, in contradistinction to what he might consider the informal aspect, it betokened a small mind to be capable of placing small questions of procedure in front of the weighty subject in hand. That such trifles did not really trouble him is clearly shown by the fact that he did not take his stand on a matter of etiquette when he went to England to appear before Royalty. As a matter of fact, Mr. Mackenzie followed the usual course of diplomacy, and that he did not adopt more formal methods is proof of his friendly intentions towards the Government. No doubt Mr. Mackenzie, in his obvious disgust at the treatment of Mr. Edgar, was hasty in withdrawing his proposals, and in recalling that gentleman. He should rather have accredited Mr. Edgar in the most emphatic way, thus placing the responsibility of accepting or rejecting the proposals upon the local Government. Mr. Edgar, in replying so curtly to Mr. Walkem's demand for his credentials, has been accused of lack of diplomacy, but after two months’ experience of Mr. Walkem's methods in Victoria he had ample time to divine his purpose, and to suit his reply to the occasion. The anxiety about credentials was obviously a ruse. Had Mr. Walkem, at any stage of the negotiations, been doubtful about Edgar's authority upon any point, he could have used the telegraph to Ottawa and fortified himself at the time. He was not in earnest. The truth seems to be that when faced with a dilemma, he deliberately chose the course calcu- lated to effect the result he desired and what was brought about — viz., the avoidance of an election which was involved in any appeal to the people to confirm any new terms proposed. It has been sug- gested that he wanted a trip to England, and possibly the theatrical effect of better terms as the result of a mission to Downing Street might have influenced him in his course. Certain it is he announced his de- cision to go immediately the rupture occurred. If cleverness in extricating himself from a difficult posi- tion be a virtue in a public man, the Hon. G. A. Walkem possessed that virtue in an extraordinary degree. [ 46 ] way. If it be kept in mind also that among both English and Canadian elements there was a strong and well-founded suspicion of the bona fides of a government dominated by the influence of de Cosmos and Walkem, yet an- other clue is discernible. The two factors together worked much mischief. As has already been maintained in this work, Union, so far as British Co- lumbia is concerned, was born of sentiment — not of love for Canada or of a national idea. It was maintained by force of circumstances rather than by bonds of fraternity. The Terms of Union were hailed in British Columbia merely as the solution of the problem of geographical isolation. On the other hand, though the measure was pushed through parliament by strong and skilful hands, the imagination of the eastern Canadian uninspired by the optimism of the West, could not grasp the possibilities opened out by the Union for national development, and for the extension of interprovin- cial trade and industry. The chief sentiment was one of alarm concerning the great financial obligation (3) involved. Nor were Edward Blake and Richard Cartwright, the intellectual heads of the Liberal party, con- structive statesmen. They reasoned about hard facts logically and acutely without the illuminating vision of the seer. David Mills philosophized about the measure from an historical standpoint, hut history did not suggest to him a precedent for justifying a leap in the dark. Alexander Mackenzie, the titular leader of his party, and the soundest politician in his own ranks. (3)After the rupture of negotiations begun by Mr. Edgar, partisan feeling ran high in Eastern Canada on the subject, and these few extracts from speeches and editorials will indicate how imperfectly the possibilities of opening up the West were understood even by leading men. But if the mass of the people and the great majority of their representatives can be defended for their prudential opposition to the scheme of a Pacific Railway and all it involved, what ungrudging praise on the other hand should not be accorded to the prescience of the men who with faith in the West and confidence in the resources of their country, were willing to pledge such resources to the utmost in order that the great destiny of Canada might be realized with the quickest possible despatch? The fair and impartial historian cannot withhold his tribute of admiration from men who staked their own political future as well as their country’s credit in order to realize the ambition of a con- federated British North America as complete in fact as it was in name. Hon. R. W. Scott, Dominion Secretary of State, spoke as follows: “I fear it will not be built by this Government, nor by the next Government, nor by many Governments to come. The minister would have a line by water and railway, to the Rocky Mountains. From there they would have a wagon road through British Columbia. We know that under the Confederation Act British Columbia was entitled to the rail- way: but he hoped they would see it was impossible as contemplated and not make any disturbance.” Mr. Mackenzie said in his Sarnia speech that “such a bargain was made to be broken.” He referred, of course, to the literal fulfilment of the Terms; and did not mean that it should be inferred that the bar- gain would not be substantially fulfilled. The Halifax Chronicle (edited by Mr. W. S. Fielding, late Minister of Finance) referred on one occasion sarcastically to our 8,000 whites, our six representatives (as against two for the county of Halifax with seven times the population), the guarantee of construction of a railway, a first-class grav- ing dock, pensions to various wornout Government officials, tariff excise allowed to be preserved — "in fact, no concession, however monstrous, however unreasonable, was refused by the Macdonald Ministry,” to the Province “to develop a wilderness and make it laugh with impossible crops.” "Our scattered few millions," he said, “would have been bankrupted within ten years if they had loaded themselves with a work so great and so soon to be completed.” It was “utterly impossible to keep strictly to the terms accorded British Columbia.” “They (the Government) will build the line to Fort Garry, they will utilize the waterways of Canada, and while the West Colony is enjoying the advantages thus afforded, they will with all prudent speed, push on to the Pacific. If the British Columbians ask for more they will be like the child who cried for the moon, and will be as little likely to be gratified.” Edward Blake, at a speech at North York: “The British Columbia section of the railway, even if it turns out to be practicable as an engineering work, will involve an enormous expenditure, approximating $360,000,000, and after its construction will involve an enormous annual charge on the revenue of the country for its running expense; and I doubt much if that section can be kept open after it is built. I think that the chief importance that British Columbia will derive from the enterprise will consist in the circulation of money and the profits of mercantile operations attendant on the construction, and that Can- ada will be a frightful loser by the affair. * * * If, under all circumstances, the Columbians were to say: 'You must go on and finish the railway according to the terms or take the alternative of releasing us from the Confederation,’ the Confederation would survive, and they (the British Columbians) would lose their money (laughter). Fertile as the soil is, great as are the resources, glorious as are the pros- pects with reference to production, it is certain that the distance from the great markets of the world of the inland portions of the country (the Middle West) will form one great difficulty to be overcome. We look upon the success of our enterprise in the settlement of the Northwest as practically dependent on the improvement of the waterways. Of course, there must be railways at once to connect the sheets of water, and eventually a through line, but I am confident that a bushel of wheat will never go to England over an all rail route from Saskatchewan to the seaboard, because it would never pay to send it.” Sir Richard Cartwright (April 14, 1874): “It would be necessary to complete to borrow $30,000,000 a year for seven years. There might be those who believed we could bear that, but he envied their faith. He described the project as ludicrously absurd.” In a speech at Napanee he described the situation, in which the Government was placed, as that “of a morally and politically bankrupt firm, who had to redeem the obligations to which these gentlemen (the Macdonald Government) had committed the country.” He [ 47 ] honestly opposed the Terms on the grounds of impracticability. He believed indeed in being joined with the West, and he believed in a railway. But he clung to the principle of making haste slowly. He believed in building the railway when and as financial resources would permit, and in filling up the country with population as it went along. Unfortunately for his theory British Columbia was on the other side of the continent, and could not afford to wait. The Hon. George Brown, the most progressive Liberal in Canadian history, and the clearest exponent of Liberalism, had wider views. He shared, if he did not, indeed, inspire Mackenzie’s policy and, had he been at the head of affairs, would have been prepared to go both farther and faster to meet existing conditions on the Pacific Coast, but he was instinctively and tradi- tionally opposed to Sir John Macdonald and all his works. Brown was a Puritan of a high type. Sir John was a cavalier. They were irreconcilable in thought, word and deed; one was dogmatic and imperiously direct, but withal persistent, optimistic and far-seeing; the other picturesque, sub tie- pictured the position of affairs as one in which repudiation and the breaking up of Confederation were ; alternatives to going on at great risk, inconceivable burdens to the rest of Canada. The Government chose the latter, but on conditions which made it possible within twenty years. The Monetary Times, the leading financial paper of eastern Canada, was dismayed at an undertaking by the Government to cost $200,000,000, and to the mind of the editor the building on Vancouver Island was additional evidence of the insanity of the scheme. He believed in performing a financial obligation, however bad, because it was an obligation, but at the minimum of expense. Sir A. T. Galt, a man of great prominence as a financier and independent politician, with Conservative leanings, contended that the C. P. R. should not be built, even at the expense of British Columbia. His position, however, was not endorsed by either party. The trend of discussion in the Conservative ranks as to the policy of the Mackenzie government was one of severe criticism, of the railway as a Government undertaking. The Conservatives as a party stood for a railway, in its entirety, without “water stretches," and for Confederation, but believed in adopting the American system of land subsidies, in making the area to be developed pay for development. They believed also as a business undertaking and as a political necessity, that construction should be hastened with all possible speed. The Liberal government were, therefore, between two fires, British Columbia, whose people wanted the road built in any way so long as it was built, and the Conservative party, who wanted it built in a par- ticular way. If both policies are carefully considered from an economic point of view, it will be seen that there were arguments on both sides. The Liberals, in their railway as in their fiscal policy, were shackled by certain party dogmas sound enough when applied to certain recognized evils or abuses, but not always applicable at all times and to every condition of affairs. As we now know, in view of the great success of the C. P. R. and the tremendous impetus given to the industrial and commercial activities of Canada by the consequent opening up of the West, the Liberals were short-sighted in their policy. On the other hand, certain evils inherent in the Conservative policy which delayed settlement and development of the Middle West to the fullest extent, might have been avoided. The one central idea, which the Liberals failed to grasp, was that the purpose of the C. P. R. was not merely to fulfil an obligation to British Columbia to which they had, rightly or wrongly, been opposed, but that it was, in the interests of all Canada, the necessary complement of Confederation itself, and essential to the completeness of the National Idea. The C. P. R. has meant far more to Canada than to British Columbia. But to the people of that time it was a political issue rather than an economic problem. The Conservatives had fathered it; it was in- cumbent upon the Liberals to depreciate its importance and demonstrate their predictions that the scheme could not be accomplished. Moreover, the attitude of opposition in the mind of eastern Canadians to the railway scheme was based on something more than mere political prejudice. If it be remembered that eastern Canada had developed under great difficulties, that money had only been made by years of toil and saving; that debt and obligations were a horror to the average man; that $50,000 was a competency for any man; that $150,000 was a great fortune; and that a million dollars was beyond the dreams of avarice, it may be realized that a railway 3,000 miles long through a wilderness of rock, prairie and mountain, to cost $200,000,000, could not be comprehended as a practical scheme of sane men. The im- mense expenditure and the vastness of the enterprise frightened Canada. That it would be undertaken on behalf of, and at the demands of, ten thousand persons at the other end of the continent, seemed unreasonable and absurd. In British Columbia, on the other hand, was a community of 10,000 persons who did not appreciate small economies, who had no sentimental interest in the rest of Canada who had been urged to enter Confederation, but who only consented, or were anxious, to join the other provinces on account of the material benefits in prospect; and who had already built for themselves a road hundreds of miles long into and through the very heart of mountains, costing over $1,000,000. They could not understand, there- fore, why Canada, with 4,000,000 people, should hesitate at $200,000,000, with more than as many acres of virgin land with which to build it. The“Colonist”of June 6th, 1872, in discussing the probability of the C. P. R. being built, is highly illuminative on this point: "Had British Columbia extorted from Canada, as a condition of Union, the promise to build the railway within the time specified there would be some show of reason for this scepticism. But such is not the case; Union is a far more urgent necessity for British Columbia than it is for Canada. The latter can afford to wait for it much better than the former. Consequently, British Columbia was not in a position to dictate terms or to extort promises.” Reference has been made above to the Conservatives having adopted the policy of a C. P. R. railway as a political necessity. There was rapidly developing a situation in Canada, in respect to its future rela- tions, happily avoided by the ultimate and successful building of the C. P. R., which situation was clearly summed up by Sir George Cartier when he uttered these words: "Canada has ventured upon thin ice; she must skate quickly or fall through.” There was a whole volume in these brief words well understood by his compatriots. It meant that Canada must extend quickly westward with a railway, or look south- wards; and there is scarcely a public man in Canada to-day who will not say that the latter was a dan- ger more serious, and the political necessity involved in avoiding it greater, than the geographical and financial obstacles which confronted the undertaking. [ 48 ] minded, and magnetic. So, in the minds of the people of British Columbia Macdonald and the Tories stood as their friends; Mackenzie and the Liberals as enemies to their interests. As long as Sir John Macdonald remained in power, even though he had failed to live up to the letter of the bond and did not commence construction within two years from the date of the Union, they believed he would do the best he could; and as Esquimalt had, by order-in-council, been named as the terminus, to be connected with a rail- way on the mainland ending at the Bute Inlet, the people of the Island were satisfied. Indeed, the ceremony of driving the first stake at Esquimalt had been solemnly celebrated and the infant enterprise duly christened. The peo- ple of the lower mainland, on the other hand, were content enough, feeling sure that the Burrard Inlet and not the Bute Inlet route would, after sur- veys had been completed, be chosen as the terminus. When Mackenzie came into power all this feeling of confidence changed into fear. It was immediately assumed that an administration, the members of which had been hostile to the Terms of Union, would be loathe to give them full effect. Hence, the very first suggestion emanating from Ottawa under the new regime savoring in the slightest of modification or relaxation immediately excited the suspicion that repudiation was in the air. The Lib- eral party, as a party, regarded the Terms as impracticable of fulfilment and consequently unreasonable and absurd. Thus, at the very outset, a barrier was erected against reasonable and judicious readjustment of relations. Through fear, therefore, of the intentions of the Ottawa Government the feeling in British Columbia was one of insecurity; hence on this side the demand was made for the whole Terms and nothing but the Terms. As an illustration of the feeling engendered — when the local Government undertook to construct the dry dock in accordance with the terms of the Do- minion guarantee, it was found that the contractors would not accept the bonds tendered in payment, even though those bonds carried a guarantee of 5 % interest. It was, of course, a mistake in the first place for the Province to have accepted such an arrangement. It was obviously the business of the Dominion Government itself to have constructed the graving dock as an undertaking of national interest and benefit, as indeed it did later on, and the Province should not have been burdened with it or in any way rendered re- sponsible. However, as a work of presumably local as well as of Federal importance, it had to be continued. The Legislature authorized the Gov- ernment to prepare plans and specifications, and to call for tenders. In the meantime, negotiations began with Ottawa for a new understanding, first with Macdonald, and later with the Mackenzie ministry and some particulars leaked out. The negotiations were connected in the public mind with the railway and with the Terms of Union generally, consequently they provoked discussion. Had the Government been frank, and taken the public into their confidence, hostile feeling would no doubt have been allayed to a considera- ble extent, although it is true that large numbers in the community had even less faith in the local Government than they had in the Government at Ot- tawa. When a definite proposition was mooted to make a direct advance of $ 250,000 to the Province instead of a guarantee, the people jumped to the conclusion, as we have seen, that it was an attempt to vary the terms, and that the two governments were in collusion to that end. De Cosmos, at [ 49 ] Ottawa, was in the confidence of the local administration, the alter ego of the Premier, and he was supposed to have sinister designs of looking after his own interests and advancement. The Province, in fact, rang with denuncia- tions of the proposal. Immediately after this came the news that Mr. J. D. Edgar had been sent to Victoria, as special agent of the Mackenzie Govern- ment to seek a modification of terms. Here again a policy of silence and mystery on the part of the local Government was adopted, thereby tending to create an atmosphere of public sentiment, which operated in the direction of defeating the object of the Dominion Government. It was officially de- nied that any proposals had been submitted from Ottawa, whereas it was a matter of common knowledge that Mr. Edgar had reached the capital of the Province and was in active treaty with the Premier. There was a storm of protest everywhere. Public meetings were held throughout the Province, and resolutions were passed in favour of the Terms being maintained intact. Practically the whole of the Province was committed to oppose the substi- tution of a new contract even long before it was known what the changes proposed to be made really were. It is perhaps not exactly correct to say that the objections to any proposals were unqualified. The fact was that the people were afraid that a bargain might be made behind their backs with- out reference to them; in other words, that the public interests, or what they regarded as the public interests, would be bartered away to serve pri- vate interests, and personal or political ambitions. Resolutions were usually moved, with the rider, “Without the new terms being submitted to the peo- ple.” Now an appeal to the people meant a new election, whereas the local Government did not approve of this idea. Without exact knowledge there- fore of what was proposed or what was going on behind the scenes, senti- ment hardened into a demand for the whole terms and nothing but the terms. With the exception, perhaps, of de Cosmos, the members from British Co- lumbia had been elected to the House of Commons, pledged to that posi- tion. The local Government had undoubtedly been flirting with Ottawa for months on the question. Premier Walkem had publicly passed eulogisms upon Mr. Mackenzie, consequently the authorities at Ottawa naturally be- lieved that those at the head of affairs at Victoria were favourable to the proposals from headquarters. Walkem, for two months, negotiated with Edgar before coming to issue with him, and the C. P. R. bill of 1874 was introduced during that time based on the supposition that it would be ac- ceptable to the British Columbia administration. In fact Mr. Mackenzie in speaking intimated as much. The causes which led to a rupture in the negotiations were as follows: First of all, Premier Walkem had kept his ear to the political sounding board and had come to the conclusion that public opinion was too antagonis- tic to the principles of modifying the terms to risk a decided “Yes;” on the other hand he could not give an honest “No.” “Yes” meant provoking an election contest; “No” meant his own political undoing, for he would be breaking with Ottawa on a proposal which when the new terms offered were more fully understood, would be seen to be reasonable and decidedly advan- tageous, to the Province, and specially to the Island. They were, in fact, practically what were afterwards given in the Carnarvon Terms, which the local Government were only too glad to accept and advertise as favourable [50] to the country. He, therefore, seized on the expedient of questioning Mr. Edgar’s credentials and his authority to act as the agent of the Dominion Government. As he had been unofficially in treaty with him for about two months, the pretext for delay, as the correspondence shows, was too flimsy and pettifogging to require serious consideration. It was not only sharp prac- tice, but also palpably shallow. The result was that Mr. Mackenzie, too ear- nest a man to be trifled with, recalled his confidential agent and broke off negotiations with a suddenness that surprised and perplexed Mr. Walkem. A contributing cause of the rupture was the fact that Mr. Edgar had been in consultation with Dr. Helmcken and other prominent men in the Prov- ince, and the Premier, who is alleged to have referred to him as “a political spy,” took umbrage thereat. As Mr. Mackenzie explained subsequently in the House of Commons, Mr. Edgar’s instructions had been to find out all he could about the situation and the feeling in British Columbia and have interviews with as many representative men as possible. The performance of his duties in that respect was, therefore, quite compatible with his special mission to the Government, and could form no reasonable excuse for the treatment accorded to him. But Mr. Walkem was politically wise in his own day and generation. It seems surprising that the merits of Mr. Mac- kenzie’s proposals did not appeal to the people, and that the virtual repulse of his agent in making them was not strongly resented instead of being en- dorsed. Local prejudice, however, was too strong and feeling had been so worked up in advance that reason was blinded. Walkem by his course found for the time being popular favour, winning the support of some of his bitter- est opponents and silencing the opposition of others. The incident had, how- ever, two serious effects. It created on the one hand sectional feeling in British Columbia itself. The mainland was aroused to its own interests. An association formed in Victoria called the “British Terms of Union Preser- vation League” passed long resolutions (4) which urged the making of (4) A large meeting was held in Victoria June 8th under the auspices of the British Columbian Terms of Union Preservation League, at which it was decided to send a petition to England, which petition, after citing the events leading to Union and the chief considerations involved, set forth that on the 7th of June, 1873, the Privy Council of Canada fixed Esquimau and Seymour Narrows, at the same time asking the Provincial Government to make a reserve of land for conveyance to the Dominion Government twenty (20) miles wide, which reservation was made, thus, it was alleged, in all respects fulfilling the Terms of Union. The Dominion Government had, it went on, already broken the agreement, and from the preamble of the Railway Act was evidently unwilling to carry out the original compact. The Govern- ment in delaying construction was defeating the chief end of Confederation, viz: the immediate union of the provinces. Failure had caused great dissatisfaction and created lack of confidence. The desire of Her Majesty’s Government to unite the British North American Provinces and the proposed construction of a railway were, it concluded, the chief inducements to British Columbia to join Confederation. Here, it will be seen, was a basis of fact upon which was raised a fabric of misleading inferences and several important misstatements, but in view of what has already been stated elsewhere it is unneces- sary to examine them in detail. The speeches at that meeting were a good indication of the feeling which existed. Mr. Drake adverted to the former attitude of members of the Mackenzie government as hostile to the railway, all of whom wanted modification of the Terms. They had all said it was absurd to hold to the bargain, but none of them would commit themselves to a definite statement of what they wanted. The local Government had also decided to forward a petition, and this would strengthen its hands. They were not there to praise or blame the local Government. The question was: Should the petition be sent? It might be argued that as British Columbia was represented in the House of Commons the Railway Act of last Session was a release binding on the Province, which would mean that the Province would have to take what it could get and be content. “The Canadians,” he said, “were no doubt more powerful than we were, but he thought it would be well to show Canada that if we were small we were united, and that we would not be trampled upon without crying out.” And, again, "Mackenzie was a nice spoken gentleman and in pri- vate conversation admitted that justice ought to be done to British Columbia; all this was mere wind.” The contract was the only thing to stand by. The talk of building the railway without taxation was absurd. Mr. Morton talked in a similar strain. “Mr. Musgrave,” he alleged, “had been sent out here to jockey us * * * into Confederation.” The C. P. R. Act, he said, was an act, of repudiation. Protest was, therefore, necessary to maintain original rights. The sooner the true value of the security of Great Brit- ain was known the better, and Mackenzie should be taught that repudiation was not popular in England. Lack of confidence in the Dominion Government was not to be wondered at. He believed Mackenzie was deceiving the Canadians. The Island scheme was part of the C. P. R. and had been so understood and declared by order-in-council. Mr. McCreight, former Premier, also spoke in a similar strain. He said the Canadians were telling us they did not intend to build the railway, of which the Railway Act was a proof. He approved of the local [ 31 ] the terminus at Esquimalt and set forward the building of an Island sec- tion of the railway as a sine qua non, which the mainland, instead of follow- ing the lead of Victoria, veered around, and virtually supported the position taken by the Ottawa Government, declaring that the Island scheme was not part of the terms, and favoured the completion of surveys within the Province before actual construction should be commenced. On the other hand, the Liberals of Eastern Canada became embittered at what they considered to be the unreasonable attitude of British Columbia, and in this respect the speech of the Hon. Edward Blake fairly expressed prevailing sentiment. Thus, in very difficult and delicate negotiations, the main contracting parties were driven apart and rendered suspicious of each other. The Tories, for politi- cal purposes of their own, encouraged rather than deplored the dissatisfac- tion and unrest in British Columbia, which simply added fuel to the Liberal flame. There was, therefore, unity neither in British Columbia nor in the East, in regard to the most important problem arising out of Confederation; whereas, it was obviously the real interest of all parties to make the railway a success in some practical form. Sectional interests and political rivalries in British Columbia prevented a united front on the question being presented; while in the East, the Liberal leaders, apart from Mackenzie and Brown, lacked imagination, and provoked by unreasonable demands and by the taunts of Conservatives would have gladly allowed the Province to drift away if na- tional obligations had not forbidden such a secession. For this condition of Government’s rejection of Edgar’s proposals. Accepting a railway on the Island would be indefinitely post- poning a railway on the mainland. Mr. Roscoe, M. P., was not in favour of the petition. It was premature and we had not a sufficiently strong case, though it might be a strong card to play. He practically accepted the Dominion Govern- ment’s view that it was not bound to build on the Island and that it was absurd to start to build a line on the mainland until the best route was decided upon. The surveys had possibly not been carried on with sufficient expedition, and the petition really came down to this: “that the survey parties ought to have been at work before and done more work.” Regarding the resolution of Sir George Cartier, that the railway should not increase taxation, the time was past to protest and petition against it. He made the strong point that, if in the course of construction of the railway taxes had to be raised to pay for the loans for public works, no one could say that it was the railway that required it. It could just as well put on any- thing else. He was in favour of the concession asked for by the Dominion Government. Owing to the tur- bulent nature of the meeting, the speaker, however, had to retire. Messrs. Fisher and Wilbey approved of the petition. It could not do harm. Mr. Tolmie was strongly opposed to the petition. Could the Dominion Government, he asked, be ac- cused of faithlessness to treaty obligations when they had sent a confidential agent to the local Govern- ment to explain the nature of the relaxations asked for? Dr. Tolmie, too, was much interrupted and re- tired after a vain effort to present his views. Senator Macdonald also opposed the petition, and thought it would be much better to bring about an understanding between the two governments and settle a definite time for commencement, and a minimum sum for construction each year, and moved an amendment to that effect. Mr. Tom Humphreys, a bitter opponent of the local Government, who had declared when he first heard of the treatment of Mr. Edgar by the local Government that it had committed a crime, now held a different opinion and gave to Mr. Walkem's action his hearty support. He “gloried in the fact that at last we had a local Government capable of anticipating public opinion.” He characterized Mackenzie's policy as a “gi- gantic fraud” and the Railway Bill as "disgraceful to Canada and to his administration.” Of course, a number of people, who were prejudiced before the meeting was called, and not prepared to listen to anything that did not suit their own preconceptions of the case, “unanimously” adopted the peti- tion and the resolution to forward to England. But it would be difficult to imagine more absurd comments on the subject than were submitted for consideration of otherwise intelligent people. It would be difficult, too, to conceive of a greater number of misstatements concerning the question, the facts of which from its prominence and great importance should have been familiar to every person present. The speeches in the main were an appeal, pure and simple, to prejudice, and a perversion of all the real merits of the case. It is significant that the representatives in the Dominion Parliament, who by virtue of their position, were best qualified to judge of the merits of the case, were opposed to the petition and were in favour of the pro- posals submitted by the Dominion Government. They were practically refused a hearing. The petition itself, as has been stated, was a tissue of misleading inferences and statements. The petition stated that since 1867 the subject of Confederation had been frequently discussed in the Legislature and in the years 1868 and 1869 condemnatory resolutions were passed, while the official representatives were not favourable or at least might have been termed “lukewarm" on the subject. No such resolutions were passed at any time. On the contrary, in 1867 a strong resolution in favour of Confederation had been unanimously passed. In 1868 a resolution was again passed in favour of the principle, but lack of information was alleged as to the definite scheme itself. The resolution of 1868 neither assented nor dissented, but simply stated that the time was not yet ripe for it. In regard to the resolution of Sir Geo. Cartier about the increase of taxation (which, however, was not now the matter in question, since the Mackenzie proposal undertook the building of the railway as a federal responsibility, which proposal was a departure from the original terms and one much more favourable to the Province), the petition itself dealt with it as fol- lows: “That the preamble of the C. P. R. Railway Act, 1874, shows that provision for the construction of the work is intended to be made by the Act only as far as can be effected without further raising the rate of taxation, thus purporting to modify the obligation of Canada, under the Terms of Union, without consent of British Columbia.” [ 52 ] affairs all parties were more or less to blame, but the Provincial authorities particularly. Had the latter pursued throughout a straightforward, patriotic, honest course, unswayed by local prejudices, and accepted the terms offered by Mr. Mackenzie, instead of showing irritation and hostility, they would have made allies instead of enemies, of the Liberal party of Canada, cemented the East and the West in bonds of fraternity and mutual interest, and a most deplorable chapter from our provincial history would have remained unwritten. If the grounds are examined upon which Mr. Mackenzie’s contentions were based, it will be seen in the first place that he and his party, as a whole, were opposed to the Terms on the plea of their impracticability. It was held, and events proved that they were right to that extent, that surveys could not be completed and construction commenced within two years. It was un- deniable that, in respect to the railway, the Terms were more liberal than the British Columbia delegates anticipated or stipulated. Hon. Jos. Trutch, one of the delegates, in a speech at Ottawa, which became memorable, inti- mated that the Province would not demand the exact pound of flesh. The people, he said in effect, would not demand a literal but a substantial ful- filment of the contract. No doubt Sir John Macdonald and his colleagues entered into the performance of their part of the undertaking with that clear understanding and interpretation. As a matter of fact, when the statutory limit of two years had expired with no progress beyond surveys having been Had the statement been true, without qualification, it would have been a very strong justification of the position taken by Mr. Walkem in dealing with Edgar and for the petition itself; but it was not. As a matter of fact, the preamble of the Act in question was “a mere recitation of the resolution unani- mously passed by both Houses of Parliament in the Session of 1871” (See Colonist, June 23, 1874). It was, it is true, not a part of the Terms of the Union, and as British Columbia was not a consenting party, it was not part of the contract and possibly not binding. As a matter of fact, it was a political resolution introduced to "quiet the disquiet" of Government followers, who at the time found the bargain with British Columbia very hard to swallow, and of no constitutional effect, being outside the lex scripta, even though one of the delegates from British Columbia was a consenting party and subsequently con- firmed it by word of mouth. In that sense the Province may have been said to have been a party to it, and as it was a stipulation incidental to the passing of the Terms it may be said by implication to have been read into the Act itself. Whatever effect it would have had otherwise, it would not have bound the Province, had it chosen to recede from the contract on that ground. Technically, it was not part of the Act of the Union; morally perhaps it was. But the plot deepened later on, in the Session of 1872, when British Columbia was represented in both Houses of Parliament. The Pacific Railway Act was passed and the preamble of the 1874 Act was contained verbatim in the Act of 1872. Then was the time to have protested, as Mr. Roscoe pointed out; but in any event, whether the clause was binding or not, the same grievance had existed for three years without protest, and it was neither fair nor honest to use it as a whip wherewith to lash Mackenzie, the alleged enemy of the railway scheme, when Sir Geo. Cartier and the Conservative Government, the assured friends of the Province, were its authors. A petition founded on such unsound premises, and dictated by unjust prejudices, could not have been expected to succeed in its purposes, even if it had been forwarded. It is significant that, in the correspondence in connection with the Carnarvon Terms, no note is made as to the petition adopted at a meeting of the British Columbia Terms of Union Preservation League, Victoria. It had the effect, however, of being instrumental in forwarding a petition to Ottawa, signed by a great majority of the people of the mainland, containing the following representations, which were brought to the notice of the Colonial Secretary by the Dominion authorities: "That in view of the action taken by an association calling itself 'The Terms of Union Preserva- tion League,’ meeting in the City of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, in petitioning Her Most Gracious Majesty, the Queen, relative to the non-fulfillment of one of the conditions of the Terms of Union, and af- firming in said petition that Esquimau, on Vancouver Island, had been decided to be the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and that a portion of the line had been located between the harbour of Esquimau and Seymour Narrows, and praying that Her Majesty act as Arbitrator, and see that justice be done to British Columbia, we, the undersigned, respectfully submit as follows: "That in our petition, the order of the Privy Council of Canada, of 7th June, 1873, is in no way binding upon Your Excellency’s present Government, and that a line of railway along the seaboard of Vancouver Island to Esquimau is no part of the Terms of Union. “That in any arrangement which may be entered into for an extension of time for the commencement or completion of the railway, any consideration granted by the Dominion of Canada to the Province of British Columbia, should be such as would be generally advantageous to the whole Province, and not of a merely local nature, benefiting only a section thereof. "That the league referred to, acting under the impression that further surveys may detract from the favourable opinion now entertained by the Engineers of the Bute Inlet route, are desirous of forcing Your Excellency’s Government into an immediate selection. “That we consider it would be unwise, impolitic, and unjust to select any line for the railway until time can be given for a thorough survey of the different routes on the mainland, believing as we do, that such survey must result in the selection of the Fraser Valley route, which is the only one that connects the fertile districts of the interior with the seaboard. “That as it is evident that the surveys are not yet sufficiently advanced to allow of an intelligent decision on the question of route being arrived at, we consider that a vigorous and immediate prosecu- tion of the surveys by Your Excellency’s Government, to be followed in 1875 by the commencement of construction on the mainland, will be a faithful carrying out of the spirit of the Terms of Union.” [ 53 ] made, the people of British Columbia, as press comments show, were not seri- ously perturbed. Then came the question of increased taxation, which infer- entially, and with the concurrence of Mr. Trutch, who remained at Ottawa during the passage of the Terms of Union, became part of the general ques- tion. Nothing is more certain, of course, than if the construction of the C. P. R. had involved any material increase of taxation throughout the Do- minion, the Terms of Union could not have passed through Parliament. It was in fact contemplated that the road should be built by a private com- pany, with the aid of land subsidies alone, and the measure was presented by Sir George Cartier to his supporters in caucus and to the House on that understanding. A resolution embodying that idea was submitted to Parlia- ment by him and passed. When, therefore, Mackenzie came into power, the situation was an unsatisfactory one for both parties to the Terms, and he was made to suffer for the sins of his predecessor in office, if indeed de- lay in completing the surveys and failure to begin construction could be said to have been culpable. The problem was of greater magnitude than had been anticipated. The difficulties from an engineering and a practical rail- way point of view, if not greater than had really been anticipated, were at least too great to have been overcome in the short time allowed. Mr. Mac- kenzie was absolutely sound in his position that literal fulfilment of the terms was impracticable, and hence impossible, that a relaxation of the conditions to admit of an extension of time limit was necessary, and that it was unwise and absurd to commence construction on the mainland before a complete survey had proved the best route for a railway. Proposals, on these lines, in- cluding an offer to begin at once and complete as soon as possible a line on the Island — an offer which legally was not part of the contract, though agreed upon by order-in-council — should have been, to say the very least, very seri- ously considered. Whether the amount to be expended on the mainland should have been $ 1 , 500,000 or $ 2 , 000,000 per annum was a matter of treaty, and could have been easily arranged. Had those proposals been accepted, the railway on the Island would undoubtedly have been built wholly at the ex- pense of the Dominion Government, and the 2,000,000 acres afterwards given to the E. & N. Railway Company, and the 3 , 500,000 acres surrendered to the Dominion Government, would have been saved to the Province. What would have been the fortunes of the Bute Inlet route, in such an event, it would be hard to say. At the particular moment when the rupture took place Mr. Mackenzie, so far as his official knowledge went, was favourable to it. If his offer had been accepted the selection of that route would not at least have been prejudiced. Nor is it necessary to discuss here the wisdom of his general policy of building the railway as a government undertaking, combined with a system of “water stretches.” The main point was that, as far as British Co- lumbia was concerned, it guaranteed an immediate commencement and a con- tinuous progress. The general railway policy was one that could have been changed at any time, and, was in point of fact changed, as we know, with great advantage to Canada. But the particular policy relating to the Pa- cific section in particular was of vital importance to British Columbia, and of peculiar value to Victoria and Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, the attitude of the local Government towards it was prejudicial to the interests of the Island and the capital. It was unpardonable from every point of view, and [ 54 ] we can scarcely have patience with the intelligence of the people who, not merely tolerated or condoned, but approved of, such conduct. There is but one explanation possible, namely, that the prejudices of the people had pre- viously been played upon by politicians for personal ends, that they had no confidence in the motives of the local administration, and were ignorant of, and misjudged, the intentions and motives of the government at Ottawa. It is fair to say that their suspicions of both governments were more or less con- firmed — in the one case, by the conduct of the de Cosmos-Walkem adminis- tration, and by the opinion expressed in eastern Canada in regard to Brit- ish Columbia and the railway itself, after the rupture had taken place. Had the people of this Province known sufficiently well the character of the Lib- eral leader, that his intentions were honest and his purpose sincere, they would have disregarded the unwise advice of their own political leaders and the equally irresponsible vapourings of eastern Liberals, and accepted him at his word. It was a great Lost Opportunity, an opportunity flung away in an angry moment. There never was a time when British Columbia needed a true captain of the people more, one whose eyes never gazed on the shifting clouds of personal ambition nor down-turned towards the muddy waters of party politics, but were firmly set on the fair haven of Provincial Patriotism. [ 55 ] THE CARNARVON TERMS. CHAPTER V. Hon. G. A. Walkem, Premier, when he realized that Mr. Edgar had been recalled to Ottawa and that negotiations had been broken off, en- deavoured, without success, to renew them. He was in the position of a man who had received a severe blow, and was not quite conscious of what had struck him. In playing a game of bluff in politics, he had not realized that his antagonist might take him at his word. He therefore decided to peti- tion the Imperial Government, and lay the case at the foot of the Throne. Before carrying out his intention, however, he proceeded to Ottawa, and there, it was stated, made another effort to re-open the question. Mr. Mac- kenzie was obdurate. He, however, offered no objection to the proposed mis- sion to England, and rather encouraged the idea than otherwise. Mr. Walkem was wise in his generation. In proposing to go to England he exhibited a great deal of shrewdness. Want of confidence, indeed, in himself, or in his ability to present his case in its best aspect, were not to be counted among his shortcomings. Now, traditionally, Great Britain had, in her colonial policy, at least since the secession of the United States, favoured a careful considera- tion of all grievances of the weaker party, in any dispute arising out of con- stitutional complications in her outlying dominions. In this particular in- stance, the Colonial Office had urged Confederation upon British Columbia; the Colonial Secretary therefore would feel a measure of responsibility for the success of the partnership. Hence it would be the natural desire of the Home authorities to remove, if possible, any cause of friction, and to render smooth the path of the Province in the relations with the rest of Canada. Notwithstanding the formalities which might have stood in the way of the provincial Premier’s presentation of his case in person, Lord Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary, lent him a not unwilling ear. Mr. Walkem, in later years, used to tell with a good deal of gusto how this was brought about. Whatever may be said of his weaknesses and his shortcomings at home, he showed a firm front in London — and made out the best possible case — while his report to the Lieutenant-Governor upon his return to British Columbia, was, on the face of it, unimpeachable and unanswerable. It was, indeed, a piece of clever mosaic, concealing, however, some exceedingly bad workman- ship. The following is a recital of his somewhat self-satisfied peroration: “As your Excellency will observe from my last letter to Lord Carnar- von, I laboured — I hope not in vain— to convince Eastern Canada that Brit- ish Columbia, in the advocacy of her rights, only sought to obtain a reason- able measure of justice without unduly pressing upon the resources of the Dominion, of which she forms a part. “Happily, the grave differences which at one time threatened a seri- ous breach between the Dominion and her Western Province are now matters of the past. [ST] “For my own part, I trust that I may hereafter have cause to look back with satisfaction upon the settlement which has just been effected, and to re- flect with sincere pleasure that under Your Excellency’s directions it fell to my lot in 1874 to be instrumental in promoting the welfare and advancement of the people of British Columbia.” However sincere Mr. Walkem was in the expression of these sentiments, he was doomed to great disappointment as to the realization of his hopes. It is unnecessary to go into all the details of the mission to England, or into the merits of the dispute. These have already, been sufficiently dis- cussed. The petition itself, which contained the case of the Province, and the letter written by the Hon. Mr. Walkem to Lord Carnarvon, Secretary for the Colonies, at the conclusion of the negotiations, are two very able state docu- ments, in which the contention of the provincial authorities are set forth with great clearness and force. On the other hand, the Dominion Government submitted statements for the information of His Lordship, partly with the object of explaining, and partly to reply to the contentions of the British Columbia delegate. The correspondence on the whole was carried on by both sides in such a spirit of moderation as to call forth compliment from the Secretary for the Colonies, who had undertaken the not altogether pleasant task of arbitrating between the contending parties. The position taken by Lord Carnarvon with respect to the whole dispute was explained in a despatch to Lord Dufferin, in which, after defining his reason for acting as mediator, he said: “The duty which, under a sense of the importance of interests con- cerned, I have thus offered to discharge, is, of course, a responsible and diffi- cult one, which I could not assume unless by the desire of both parties, nor unless it should be fully agreed that my decision, whatever it may be, shall be accepted without any question or demur. If it should be desired that I should act in this matter, it will be convenient for each party to prepare a statement to be communicated to the other party, and after a reasonable interval a counter statement, and that on these written documents I should reserve to myself the power of calling for any other information to guide me in arriv- ing at my conclusions, and then give my final decision.” Both Governments cordially accepted these terms, and there was an interchange of briefs on the subject. The decision of the Earl of Carnarvon conveyed to the Earl of Duf- ferin was in the following language: “That the railway from Esquimalt to Nanaimo shall be commenced as soon as possible, and completed with all practicable despatch. “That the surveys on the mainland shall be pushed on with the utmost vigor. On this point after considering the representations of your Minis- ters, I feel that I have no alternative but to rely, as I do, most fully and readily, upon their assurance that no legitimate effort or expense will be spared, first, to determine the best route for the line, and, secondly, to proceed with the details of the engineering work. It would be distasteful to me, if indeed, it were not impossible to prescribe strictly any minimum of time or expenditure with regard to work of so uncertain a nature; but happily, it is equally impossible for me to doubt that your Government will loyally do its best in every way to accelerate the completion of a duty left freely to its sense of honour and justice. That the wagon road and telegraph line shall be immediately constructed. There seems here to be some differ- [58] ence of opinion as to the special value to the Province of the undertaking to complete these two works; but after considering what has been said, I am of opinion that they should both be proceeded with at once, as indeed is sug- gested by your Ministers. “That $2,000,000 a year, and not $1,500,000, shall be the minimum ex- penditure on railway works within the Province from the date at which the surveys are sufficiently completed to enable that amount to be expended on construction. In naming this amount I understand that, it being alike the interest and the wish of the Dominion Government to urge on with all speed the completion of the works now to be undertaken, the annual ex- penditure will be as much in excess of the minimum of $2,000,000 as in any year may be found practicable. “Lastly, that on or before the 31st of December, 1890, the railway shall be completed, and open for traffic from the Pacific seaboard to a point at the western end of Lake Superior, at which it will fall into connection with existing lines of railway through a portion of the United States and also with the navigation on Canadian waters. To proceed at present with the remainder of the railway extending by the country northward of Lake Su- perior, to the existing Canadian lines, ought not, in my opinion, to be re- quired, and the time for undertaking that work must be determined by the development of settlement and the changing circumstances of the country. The day is, however, I hope, not very far distant when a continuous line of railway through Canadian territory will be practicable, and I therefore look upon this portion of the scheme as postponed rather than abandoned.” It is the duty of the impartial historian, in view of the reflections cast upon the conduct of the local Government, and the justifications given by the Federal authorities of their course of action, to present a resume of the statements made on either side, and to trace each step in the negotiations. The papers relating to the matter are contained in the Sessional papers of British Columbia for the year 1875, and also in the Sessional papers of the Dominion of Canada for the same year. But there is a difference be- tween them, that in the latter document both sides of the case are set forth by the Federal authorities, whereas in the Provincial records Mr. Walkem’s statement is alone presented, and the public were never officially informed of the merits of the dispute. A most illuminating document was the re- port of Mr. J. D. Edgar, including his private and confidential letter of instructions from Mr. Mackenzie, and, lest any should imagine that he was prejudiced against the Province or the people, it is well to refer to some of his statements and conclusions. He speaks in the most appreciative way of the people, and has a generous sympathy for their cause which he espoused with the Dominion Premier. In his private and confidential letter of instruc- tion to Mr. Edgar, Mr. Mackenzie asked him to explain in his conversations with public men in British Columbia that in proposing to take longer time for constructing the railway, than was provided in the terms, the Govern- ment was actuated solely by the necessities of the case. The engineers had advised that it was a physical impossibility to construct the road within the time limit, and that any attempt to do so would only result in useless ex- pense and financial disorder. He was asked to point out that if the Inter- colonial Railway, five hundred miles long, the surveys for which were begun [59] in 1864 , had not yet been completed, what time and labour did they con- ceive would be required to construct a railway five or six times as long? He was particularly asked to convey to the people of British Columbia the desire of the Government to act in good faith towards them and candidly to avow its inability to carry out the exact conditions of the terms. “It would be an easy task,” Mr. Mackenzie said, “to assume the commencement and allow the finish to take care of itself.” It was their desire to deal frankly and honestly with British Columbia, and therefore it was wise to pursue a care- ful, judicious policy to realize all the difficulties and responsibilities con- nected with the scheme, in order that the people might not, in the end, be grievously disappointed. If they insisted on the “pound of flesh,” they would stimulate a feeling in the rest of Canada generally to avoid in future giving anything else but a “pound of flesh.” Mr. Edgar was asked to remind them that the Dominion was bound to reach the “seaboard of the Pacific,” not specifically Victoria or Esquimalt, and that any further concession granted to the people would depend entirely on the spirit shown by themselves in as- senting to a reasonable extension of time, and to a modification of the terms; that those originally proposed by British Columbia were not so stringent as those which they actually obtained, and that it was only the political exigen- cies of the time that rendered the passage of such terms possible at Ottawa. If he found any disposition among the leading men of the Province towards a favourable consideration as to the extension of time, — a modification which was absolutely essential, — he was to endeavour to ascertain how far they would go in such consideration, and he was at the same time to point out that the action of the Government, in agreeing to advance money on the graving dock and on paying off in cash the balance of the amount of debt, notwithstanding which, British Columbia had been allowed to enter Confed- eration, clearly showed that the Federal Government on its part was not stick- ing hard and fast to the exact Terms of Union, but was willing to go beyond those Terms to meet the necessities of the Province, so that it was not un- reasonable to expect a similar disposition in return on the part of the Prov- ince towards the Dominion. In the event of leading men evincing a dis- position to negotiate, he was to endeavour to secure, if possible, something like a combination of parties to sanction any proposals likely to be gener- ally acceptable. He was, therefore, to take some means of ascertaining the popular view of the railway question, by mingling with the people and allow- ing them to talk freely while he listened, remembering always in forming his judgment that the speakers might be swayed by special local considera- tions rather than by the merits of the general question. He was not to con- fine himself to the vicinity of the Government offices, but to visit the people at New Westminster and in the lower mainland, and keep the Government informed as to their desire to negotiate with the Government at Ottawa. He was to take special care not to admit that the Government was bound to build a railway to Esquimalt or on the Island; and while he was not to hold this out as a threat, the people were to be led to understand that such a particular adaptation of the railway scheme w r ould be purely a concession, and that such a concession would depend upon the course pursued by the Provincial authorities regarding other parts of the scheme. Mr. Edgar’s mission, therefore, in the light of his instructions, w r as not only a diplomatic one, but “to spy out the land” and to make himself thoroughly familiar with the conditions affecting the railway quection and the disposition of the people generally. In making his report to Mr. Mackenzie, as to the results of his mission, Mr. Edgar stated that upon his arrival in Victoria, he was called upon by the Hon. Mr. Walkem, Premier, he handed him Mr. Mackenzie’s letter of in- troduction, and informed him that he had letters to deliver from the Gov- ernor-General to the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. He was after- wards introduced by Mr. Walkem to his colleagues, as “the representative of the Canadian Government.” He found that an intense keenness was shown by everybody in the railway question. “It is difficult,” he said, “at a dis- tance to conceive the importance that is attached to the railway by the British Columbians.” On account of the vast expenditure involved, and the im- mediate benefits believed by the public to be derivable, a deep interest was felt. The entire white population of the Province, he pointed out, accord- ing to the census of 1870, was 8,756 souls. Of this number there were upon the mainland 3,571 and upon Vancouver Island 5,175. The white population has probably increased since then to 10,000. Every person believed that he would individually get an immediate advantage, and the stimulus to all classes of business would be very great. “The circumstances of the early settlements of the Province,” Mr. Edgar added, “gave it a population of peculiar intelli- gence, and their keen intelligence and zeal in public affairs suggested a parallel in the history of some of the states of ancient Greece or Italy. He referred to the feeling of jealousy that existed between Vancouver Island and the mainland, but added that Victoria, which was the chief centre of public opinion, had a population almost equal to the rest of the Province. To Victoria, therefore, the position of the railway terminus was a matter of anxiety, largely on account of the fact that there was nothing in the Terms of Union specifying where it was to be, except a revocable order-in-council, and any intrinsic merits which might be claimed for the Island as the ter- minus. While it was quite understood that the surveys were not sufficiently advanced for a final decision as to the route to be taken or as to the situation of the terminus, Victorians strongly pressed the point that a line should be begun from the harbour of Esquimalt to the Fort of Nanaimo, a distance of about 70 miles. “It was urged,” he said, “that at whatever point on the mainland the Pacific railway might be brought to the coast, a steam ferry at least to Nanaimo might be established, which would render that portion of the railway a means of connection with Esquimalt, “which is said to be the finest harbour upon the shores of the Northern Pacific.” They maintained, also, that in view of the admitted impossibility to complete the construction of the railway within the time originally agreed upon, some substantial con- cession should be made to the people of the Island as compensation for the prospective losses involved by such delay. A contention somewhat similar was raised by leading men on the mainland, who insisted that they were entitled to have a definite understanding as to the terms specifying the date of its ultimate completion, and at the same time its vigorous and continuous con- struction. They pointed out the real condition of affairs, namely that the anticipations of a railway under the Terms of the Union had led to specula- tive activity “which had been disappointed by the delay,” and, that in conse- [ 61 ] quence, stagnation had followed. This again had resulted in loss and un- settlement in business. Being, however, familiar with the engineering diffi- culties likely to be encountered in planning a railway route, the people on the mainland were not disposed to blame the Dominion for unnecessary delay, or for asking for further time. Their necessities of the moment induced them to lay more stress on an early commencement and a steady expenditure of money than to an arbitrary time limit. Referring to the Provincial consti- tution of British Columbia, and its representative institutions, he remarked that it was a Government of a simple character. “The system,” he said, “is fashioned after the model of the British Constitution.” With regard to the character of the members in the Legislature, his view was, that they were a number of gentlemen of great experience, with somewhat more than the average intelligence of Provincial legislators. He also remarked upon the small number and size of the constituencies, but that it would not be fair to take the small number of electors as a measure of the intelligence of the representatives, stating that one of the ablest Provincial ministers for instance, was only elected by a constituency of sixteen voters. Passing on to what he held to be the crux of the political difficulty, he referred to a resolution passed at the last session of the local Legislature, the language of which was as follows: “That in view of the importance of the Railway Clause of the Terms of Union between Canada and British Columbia being faithfully carried out by Canada, this House is of opinion that no alteration in the said clause should be permitted by the Government of this Province ‘until the same has been submitted to the people for en- dorsation.’ ” When he came to negotiate with the local Government he found that the saving clause underlined was the real “lion in the path.” The Prov- incial Parliament had still one more year of life, and as the Government had a sufficient working majority, it was clear that any proposal to alter the rail- way clause would not be attractive to the party in power. Indeed, the mem- bers of the administration, while not opposed to any reasonable extension of the time limit, urged that it was a peculiarly unfortunate date at which to attempt any alteration. There were also elements of danger to continued harmony between the two Governments in the act which provided that the Province might receive from the Dominion Government advances of money for the Esquimalt graving dock and other public works in British Colum- bia — advances agreed upon as concessions to the Province, and in excess of what it was entitled to demand under the Terms of the Union. There had been an excepting clause inserted in this Act, providing for the conservation of the rights of British Columbia as regards the railway, to the following ef- fect: “This clause shall not have any force or effect unless this proviso be inserted, which may be passed for the purpose of this Act.” “A profound anxiety,” Mr. Edgar said, “was at once manifested by Mr. Walkem and his colleagues to ascertain through me if the Canadian Ministry would propose to Parliament, the adoption of the words of this proviso.” And he went on to say that when he discussed any proposals of change, the Ministers con- stantly turned to this excepting clause. He had endeavoured, without suc- cess, to get the Dominion Government to agree, and when he announced the failure of his efforts, it was “received by the local Ministers with alarm and disappointment.” The “Ethiopian” is revealed in the following clause of [ 62 ] Mr. Edgar’s report: “When, according to instructions, I endeavoured to as- certain from local Ministers, if their unwillingness to submit proposals as to railway to the people arose entirely from our refusal to adopt the saving clause, I found that even such a concession would not induce them to bring about an appeal to the people.” He then goes on at some length to describe his efforts to obtain in different parts of the Province, the general feeling of the people on the subject. He found that there was a strong desire for the settlement of some early and definite date for the commencement of actual construction, without specification of any particular period for its completion. In this he seems to have indicated, fairly accurately, the actual facts of the situation. He says in one place, “the public agitation, in Victoria, of Febru- ary last, might have been mistaken for a movement to insist upon the Terms, the whole Terms, and nothing but the Terms, or to seek some disloyal alter- native. Indeed, a certain portion of the community, who did not sympathize with the excitement, so interpreted it. Yet I was assured by the leaders of that agitation that no such motives or intentions influenced them.” The en- tire trouble, according to his view, seems to have been that the people were suspicious that some change would be made without their having a chance to vote upon, and sanction it. In view, therefore, of the popular feeling all over the Province, he felt it expedient to take an early opportunity to get the views of the local Government on the subject, and in the first week of April, he confidentially discussed with the Ministry the whole matter — particularly the alteration of the terms; and at that time no question was raised as to his authority to represent the Dominion Government. “At this time,” he goes on to say, “there was considerable irritation displayed by Ministers upon the sub- ject of the saving clause alluded to; they would not admit any necessity for an immediate settlement of the railway problem, persisting that next year, or some future time, should be awaited for the making of any such propositions; and they were particularly careful to avoid saying what concessions in their opinion would be acceptable to the Province in lieu of the original terms.” This memorandum showed the necessity of Mr. Edgar finding out for himself what the real feeling of the Province was. It was quite apparent to him that the local Ministers were determined to be obstructive, and the policy of feeling the pulse of the people seemed to him to be all the more necessary. After gaining all the information possible from every quarter, he put Mr. Mackenzie’s railway proposals formally into writing on the Fifth of May in accordance with his instructions, and handed them to the local Premier and to the Lieutenant-Governor. It was only then, after two months of daily ne- gotiations, that Mr. Walkem raised the question of credentials. When the result of the conferences was generally known, considerable excitement was shown on account of the treatment which the proposals were receiving at the hands of the local Ministers. At this point, as has been previously seen, the negotiations ended, and Mr. Edgar left for Ottawa. From this somewhat lengthy reci- tation a judgment may be formed with regard to the general circumstances surrounding Mr. Edgar’s visit, as to some of which Mr. Walkem’s official version maintains a complete silence. The raising of the question of creden- tials as has been before hinted was only a ruse on the part of the Government to delay the inevitable acceptance or rejection of the proposals made by Mr. Mackenzie. It is clearly evident from all the circumstances of the case that [ 63 ] Mr. Walkem anticipated the result which would arise from his treatment of Mr. Edgar, and had planned to take the whole question to England, in order to cloud the issue in the mind of the electorate and to delay the appeal to the people before the natural expiry of the term of Parliament. The next task of the historian is to examine the arguments cited and the letters submitted by the Dominion Government and by Mr. Walkem, respec- tively, in presenting their case to the Queen through the Earl of Carnarvon. The Provincial petition sets out at considerable length the facts relating to the Union of British Columbia with Canada. The proposed terms are pre- sented in parallel columns along with the accepted terms. The proposed terms record that the British Columbia delegates had asked for a speedy es- tablishment of communication across the Rocky Mountains by coach road or railway, and that Canada should within three years from the date of the Union construct and open for traffic such coach road and engage to use all means in her power to complete railway communication at the earliest practicable date; that surveys to determine the proper line of railway should be com- menced at once, and that no less than $1,000,000 should be expended every year from and after three years from the date of Union. The accepted terms guaranteed the Province within two years from the date of Union the simultaneous commencement of a railway from both ends to connect the sea- board of British Columbia with the railway system of Canada. Among other things the Government of British Columbia was to convey to the Dominion through the entire length of British Columbia a tract of land not to exceed 20 miles on each side of the said line. It was, of course, clear that the agreed terms were much more favourable than the originally proposed. It was emphasized in the petition that the whole question of Union for the peo- ple of British Columbia depended on the guarantee of “speedy railway com- munication.” After enumerating various circumstances which had arisen after Confederation, the petition pointed out that on the 29th day of May, 1873, an order-in-council had been passed fixing “Esquimalt as the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway,” enacting that “a line of railway be located between Esquimalt Harbour and Seymour Narrows, on the said Vancouver Island, and stating that “in a subsequent communication the Provincial Government had been requested to convey to the Government of the Do- minion in trust according to the 11th paragraph of the Terms of Union, a strip of land twenty miles in width along the Eastern coast of Vancouver Island, between Seymour Narrows and Esquimalt.” It was also pointed out that the Provincial Government had declined to convey the land referred to, until railway construction could be commenced under the Terms of Union; but agreed to reserve the said belt on Vancouver Island, “being a tract of most valuable land — about 3,200 square miles in extent — abounding in vast mineral wealth and easy of access from the sea — and this land was accord- ingly reserved by order-in-council on the 30th of June, 1873, and by public notice on the day following; and has ever since been reserved.” The Dominion Government had concurred in this course, as it “was satisfied that as long as the land referred to is not alienated from the Crown but held under reserva- tion * * * the object of the Dominion Government had been attained. That object was simply that when the railway should come to be constructed the land in question should be at the disposal of the Government, for the [64] purposes laid down in the 11th paragraph of Terms of Union of British Co- lumbia.” The petition then recited that the Provincial Government had urged the Dominion Government to define by surveys this belt of land, since uncertainty as to the exact limits reserved was retarding the settlement of Vancouver Island, and that subsequently a series of protests had been made to the Dominion Government against the failure to carry out the terms of the treaty through the delay in construction, but of these protests nothing but formal acknowledgments had been made; that these were the facts of the case up to the month of February, 1874, when Mr. Mackenzie sent Mr. Ed- gar to British Columbia, to confer with the Provincial Government regard- ing the railway policy, the copies of all correspondence, reports, etc., being given in appendices. The negotiations with Mr. Edgar were then dwelt upon, the position justifying Mr. Walkem’s treatment of Mr. Mackenzie’s proposals on the grounds already explained. It might be well to comment here on the refusal of the Provincial Government to convey the twenty- mile belt of land on Vancouver Island. By taking such action, the Govern- ment, from a legal standpoint, made a serious and inexcusable blunder. Had the Government actually conveyed the land in question to the Dominion, that act would have constituted a firm contract, and would have fixed the construction of the Vancouver Island section as an essential part of the terms, and any failure in constructing the section between Esquimalt and Seymour Narrows, would have entitled the Province to a substantial compen- sation for damages. Their refusal to accept the bona tides of the Domin- ion Government that it would build this portion of the road, was inferentially an admission of the non-liability of the Dominion Government to build this section, and practically made it depend on good will only. Having gone so far as to reserve the land, the Provincial Government should have gone the whole way. There might be, of course, from a moral if not from a legal, standpoint, a case for damages in the reservation of the land for an indefi- nite period, but that was recognized by the Dominion Government in agreeing to construct a railway line from Esquimalt to Nanaimo. But the case was given away by the acceptance on part of the Provincial Government of the Carnarvon Terms — an acceptance which seriously compromised afterwards the interests of the Province. Perhaps, in the whole history of the negotiations nothing was more deplorable than this method of dealing with the matter of land-reservation. The petition of the local Government broached the altogether novel contention that the Dominion Government had no power under the Rail- way Act of 1874 to expend public money on the Island of Vancouver, unless Esquimalt were declared to be the terminal point of the railway. If Premier Walkem were right in his law, he exhibited a strange inconsistency, or experienced a sudden change of mind, when he agreed to the Carnarvon terms, one of the provisions of which was that a line of railway from Esqui- malt to Nanaimo should immediately be commenced. Moreover, in taking objection to the Railway Act of 1874, however objectionable its provisions might have been, he was taking objection to something for which he himself was responsible. Mr. Mackenzie had purposely introduced the Act in the House of Commons at the same time as he submitted his proposals to the Walkem Government, in order that, when the proper time came, he might in- [65] corporate provisions which should give effect to the agreement to be entered into between Mr. Edgar and the Provincial Government. Mr. Walkem, however, declined to make any new terms just then, and insulted Mr. Edgar instead. The railway bill was consequently passed in the original form in which it was drafted. The petition also made a point of the unnecessary delay which had taken place in the prosecution of surveys, that Mr. Macken- zie had publicly admitted that the terms of agreement had not been carried out, while British Columbia, on the other hand, had fulfilled all the conditions of the agreement. The petition also represented that the Canadian Pacific Railway Act of 1874 in making the conditional provision that the railway should be constructed only in so far as such construction could be effected without “further raising the rate of taxation,” was seeking or at least pur- porting to modify the Terms of Union. Possibly it was, but such a contention at this stage of proceedings was puerile, because, as has already been pointed out, the clause objected to, sim- ply rehearsed the language of the resolution, introduced by Sir George Cartier, and passed by the House of Commons, as an appendix to the Terms of Union; and it was a verbatim counterpart of a clause in the Rail- way Act introduced by Sir John Macdonald subsequently. The framers of the petition must have known this; the contention was therefore a disin- genuous, if not a dishonest, statement of facts. Despite the clause, the rail- way could not be built without increasing the taxation, and in anticipation of that necessary increase, the Government at Ottawa had raised the tariff from 15 to 17^2% as well as the excise duties. Mr. Walkem, as a public man, was aware of that, too. The petition stated in conclusion, in “consequence of the course pursued by the Dominion, British Columbia is suffering great loss,” in many serious ways. Now, it was quite true that the Province was in an unhappy condition sentimentally, (if political unrest can he so expressed) as well as financially and industrially, on account of this matter of the rail- way. The attempt, however, of Mr. Walkem and his colleagues, who were themselves chiefly to blame for this state of things, to lay the sole respon- sibility upon the shoulders of the Dominion, Avas audacious, to say the least. To stab in the dark and then to execrate the deed publicly betrays a male- volent genius which may compel admiration, but can hardly be said to be attractive or deserving of imitation. In a letter, dated October 31st, 1874 to the Earl of Carnarvon, Mr. Walkem sums up the whole situation. Here he strikes a higher and stronger note than that sounded in the petition; it has been, indeed, suggested that in the preparation of this he was assisted by Mr. Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, then agent-general of the Province, in London, England, and in many re- spects the ablest man of which British Columbia can boast. There is, how- ever, no proof of this collaboration, except some slight internal evidence, nor is there sufficient reason to rob the Premier of that day of the credit due to him for the production of a very astute document. The assumption that the whole load of wrong-doing should rest on federal shoulders is artistically in- terwoven into the narrative throughout, and Mr. Walkem expresses his pious regret at the very outset, as the following sentence shows: “It Avas * * * Avith a strong feeling of regret that the Government of the Province felt themselves under the necessity of seeking the advice and intervention of [ 66 ] Her Majesty’s Government in this matter. The Provincial Government de- sired to work in harmony with the Dominion Government, and it may be safely said that such intervention would not have been sought, had a suf- ficient effort been made by the Dominion to comply with the spirit of the railway agreement.” Such a recitation forms indeed a painful piece of sanc- timonious criticism, but it is only when the part dealing with the Edgar in- cident is reached that the document becomes really interesting. A few months before Mr. Walkem had cavilled at Mr. Edgar, while negotiating about pro- posals of tremendous important to the Province, over a question of cre- dentials. He now devotes the greater part of his letter to those very pro- posals, and herein his statement commands admiration, as a piece of special pleading. “The Government,” he says, “did not at the time understand that these proposals were officially made. They were subsequently withdrawn by the Dominion Government, and only at the moment of such withdrawal de- clared by them to have been made with their authority and on their behalf. The above letter (referring to Edgar’s letter to Walkem), which thus be- came invested, though but for a brief time, with an authoritative character, is available as the only official intimation to the Provincial Government of the policy of the present Dominion Government.” When we consider that Mr. Edgar for over two months had been in almost daily negotiation with the members of the local Government, that these very proposals had been fully discussed privately in conference, and that Mr. Walkem was acquainted previously with the identical terms of the letter proposed to be sent to him — all this without any question of credentials being raised, and when the tele- graph to Ottawa was available to him at any moment by means of which he could satisfy himself as to Mr. Edgar’s authority — the emphasis placed on the word “official” is a quibble so obvious to evade the issue, that Lord Carnarvon must have smiled at the marvellous mountain evolved from a mere molehill of a word. It is hard to deal with the contention seriously. But to proceed, Mr. Walkem, in discussing the proposal, whether official or unofficial, contained in the letter, remarked that in his opinion after an endeavour “to ascertain their value taken in connection with the conditions attached to them * * * they virtually amounted to a surrender by Brit- ish Columbia of her existing railway agreement.” This was another astound- ing statement, the more astounding from the fact that he was glad to accept, substantially, these very proposals as the result of the arbitrament of Lord Carnarvon, and made them the subject, as has been seen, of great self-grat- ulation. He criticised the proposals seriatim upon various grounds, though the criticisms, except in one or two details, are not sufficiently important to deserve notice. Nevertheless the alacrity and satisfaction with which he ac- cepted the findings of the Earl of Carnarvon, which, save in one particular, disregarded these objections, disposes of any value which Mr. Walkem pro- fessed to attach to them. The proposal to “commence construction from Esquimalt to Nanaimo immediately, and push that portion of railway on to completion within the shortest practicable time,” he said, was nothing more than the Government was bound to do under the terms of the order in council of June 1873, and something which it might have done at any time since then. Here he seemed to forget that the Dominion Government was only bound to build to the [67] seaboard, and that an order in council making Esquimalt the terminus was revocable, and no part of the Terms of Union. He submitted that the prom- ise was too elastic in its terms. In regard to the mainland section, the proposal to prosecute the sur- veys for the purpose of locating the line and to expend $1,500,000 a year thereafter in construction, he contended, was altogether too vague, and that, unless a definite time was fixed for completion, the road might not be open for nearly 25 years. There was indeed force and logic in that contention, which will be dealt with later on when Mr. Walkem’s own part in obtaining that concession is considered. He pointed out also that the opening up of a road and the building of a telegraph line along the length of railway in the Province was unnecessary, at least to the extent proposed, and a useless expenditure of money. Here he was probably right, but as the Government proposed to do these things in- dependently of other considerations, there was not much to cavil at, except in so far as the appropriation for a railway might be partially diverted to such a purpose. A telegraph line was obviously a necessary part of the enterprise in any case. Another objection was added that the letter was silent as to the exten- sion of the line beyond the eastern frontier of the Province and that thus British Columbia was “by implication virtually requested to surrender one of the elements most important to her in the contract,” that is, all rail com- munication with the eastern Provinces. As a matter of casuistry, this was on all fours with the general course of argument pursued. Mr. Edgar had come to British Columbia to discuss railway proposals as they affected that Province only. The rest of the scheme was provided for in the general Act. By implication, as a railway must have a terminus, its construction was only justifiable by its being made transcontinental as soon as was practicable. More to the point and more deserving of consideration was his contention that the engineering difficulties of the whole work and the financial obstacles in the way of the continuous and early completion had been greatly exagger- ated in the minds of the people of eastern Canada. He pointed out that two responsible companies had been willing to undertake the building of the rail- way within the time limit, that a third had also undertaken to do it, and, although a provision had been made for an extension of four years, if found necessary, the time limit gave a definiteness to the project. The fears of the Mackenzie Government, therefore, were entirely groundless. The unconscious humour of Mr. Walkem is displayed, when he remarked that “the Province, after all her disappointments, above all things desires that the ‘prompt commencement,’ ‘continuous prosecution’ and early completion of the railway” be guaranteed. His trifling with Mr. Edgar suggests that the local ministry did not represent in any real degree the wishes of the people. The closing paragraph of the letter, which by the way, w^as sent to Lord Carnarvon, long after the Dominion had submitted its case, was a really fine climax, and, had the part of Mr. Walkem been more worthy and more in harmony with his professions, would have reflected credit on his mission; “The peculiar situation of British Columbia — her remoteness — her -weak political position — her dependence on the good faith of the Dominion — the hopes that have been held out and deferred — the grievous loss that has ensued [ 68 ] — the consequent utter prostration of her interests, — all these give her claims upon Canada, which the present Dominion Government have, as already shown, to a certain extent acknowledged — in words. These claims, the Pro- vincial Government hope, will not be overlooked by your Lordship in con- sidering the reasonable measure of justice to which the Province is entitled under the Terms of Union. The Province has not expected anything that is unreasonable, and does not do so now. It is her urgent desire that mat- ters should be forthwith placed on a fair, businesslike footing, and, above all, on a footing of certainty, and that proper understanding may be restored and not again be disturbed.” But after all this imposing phraseology there was evident throughout an artful dodging of the vital issues of the situation, while the rhetoric was employed to bring about a coup d’etat. Indeed his whole political programme exhibited a resource and finesse, which might have been better employed in advancing the true interests of British Columbia. His error consisted in not having discussed with Mr. Edgar what he afterwards discussed with Lord Carnarvon. To haggle over credentials was not worthy of a states- man. Mr. Edgar’s proposals were admittedly tentative. He could not an- ticipate the policy of the local Government without knowing their views. The question as to the sum to be spread over each year and as to the time for completion of construction, which were the only respects in which the original proposals were modified by Lord Carnarvon, were matters of detail which could have been threshed out on the spot, and no doubt would have been arranged satisfactorily. If the Dominion Government should have refused to reasonable compromise, then and then only the local Government could have appealed confidently and with all sincerity to the Imperial Government for justice and fair treatment. In that case Mr. Walkem’s peroration, just quoted, might have been employed as an appendix of historic importance to a great state document, based as it might have been on the assertion of the people’s rights. It is significant that the question of a proposal for a change in the Terms of Union being submitted to the people for confirmation before final adoption, formed no part of the representations submitted to Lord Car- narvon as arbiter in the dispute. It was not even alluded to, nor was it ever raised again as a condition in any new terms proposed or accepted, though it had been for a long time the main issue in the popular mind prior to Edgar’s coming, and for the reason that the people were deceived as to the real inten- tions of the Government at Ottawa, and could not trust the Provincial Government to make terms for them, on a disinterested basis. It is scarcely necessary to rehearse the case of the Dominion Government as submitted to the Secretary for the Colonies. The salient points have, in fact, been already indicated. The representations in reply to those of the Provincial Government were brief and concise. Two phases of the situation were strongly emphasized — one, the absolute bona fides of the Government in dealing with British Columbia, in accordance with the spirit of the Terms of Union; secondly, the practical difficulties in the way of a literal fulfillment of the Terms. They considered the bargain to have been in the beginning bad and, in fact, impossible. It was, of course, admitted that the time for the commencement of the work had long passed, but the charge that the surveys, the completion of which were necessary to locate the line definitely, had not [ 69 ] been vigorously prosecuted, was fully denied. It was pointed out that, on the other hand, the force of surveyors and engineers was larger than would, in other circumstances, have been employed and as large as was possible to utilize. On this point the Dominion Government was strictly correct in their statements, and it was clear that the people of the Province were unreason- able and unduly clamourous. Consequently, complications arose, through stress of political feeling, which seriously delayed rather than hastened the progress of the scheme. Of this the Edgar incident was a striking and a lamentable instance. The Dominion Government, quoting the opinion of Sir John Macdonald, claimed that the terms of commencement had been sufficiently and substan- tially kept by the active prosecution of the surveys. The refusal of Mr. Walkem to consider Mr. Edgar’s letter was described as “a mere technical pretence,” and it was stated that there is also reason to believe that local political exigencies alone induced the Government of British Columbia not to entertain these proposals. In order to enable the Government to carry out the proposals, the average rate of taxation had been raised about 15%. It was pointed out that the weight of public opinion would be against any extension of the proposals made to British Columbia. Lord Carnarvon took some time to consider both sides of the case care- fully, and it became at once evident, from his letter to Lord Dufferin, Gov- ernor-General, what his estimate of the general merits of the case was. As arbiter, he was conciliatory and discreet. “Strong as are, doubtless, the ob- jections urged by Mr. Walkem to the proposals * * * and important as is the subject matter of the controversy,” he could “see no reason why the views of both parties could not be reconciled to their satisfaction and to all interests concerned.” On the one hand, he did not doubt in the slightest de- gree the absolute good faith of the Dominion to carry out the contract in spirit, if not in letter, under circumstances which he admitted were of “no ordinary difficulty.” On the other hand, it would be unfair, he said, to deny that the objections taken bjr Mr. Walkem “have a certain foundation and force,” and he had no doubt the Dominion Government would make any reasonable concession to satisfy local feeling on the subject, and at the same time be consistent with its own dignity. His suggestions as to compromise were simply that the annual amount to be expended should be raised from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000, and that a definite date, say 1890, should be fixed for completion. This was agreed to. He thought also, as a result of inter- views with Mr. Walkem, that the strength of the survey parties should be greatly increased on the mainland, that the wagon road might be dispensed with, and the building of the telegraph line delayed, until the route of the railway was settled. On hearing the counter statement of the Dominion Gov- ernment in reply, these suggestions were abandoned and no further change was made in the nature of the proposals. To the dispassionate and impartial critic — in consideration of the fact that the Carnarvon Terms were, in substance, the same as the Edgar pro- posals, it becomes a matter of wonderment that Mr. Walkem should have embraced the one and repudiated the other. But the end was not yet. A fatality seemed to follow everywhere his political meanderings. Delay, confusion, explanations, and denials marked [70] the correspondence that ensued after he arrived in Victoria. The Government were officially ignorant of many things and threw blame on some unknown persons for some unnamed fault. However, the chief point was Mr. W alkem’s denial that there had been any arbitration at all. He referred to the efforts of Lord Carnarvon to unravel the tangle as merely “friendly intervention.” He denied that there had been an alteration of the Terms, and therefore when the House met did not propose to, and, in fact, did not, bring down any legislation to ratify the new terms. The subtle distinction between “interven- tion” and “arbitration” was worthy of his astute mind, but one that proved fatal, as we shall see, to the whole scheme. A bill was, however, introduced to enable the Dominion Government to build from Esquimalt to Nanaimo. Needless to say, there had been an arbi- tration. That exact expression, as indicating precisely the nature and inten- tion of the intervention of Lord Carnarvon, is the term used throughout the correspondence. The measure, however, was defeated in the Senate. Just what was the cause of the Senate’s action has been very much in dispute. Certain Conservative politicians blamed the Liberal leaders, notably Air. Blake, for conspiring towards the defeat of the measure in the upper House, while Liberals declared that as the majority of Senators were Conservative appointees the Conservatives Avere to blame. It was held, too, that as the British Columbia Premier had not himself regarded Lord Carnarvon’s media- tion as an act of arbitration, but simply as a “friendly intervention,” and as the local Government had not implemented the Carnarvon Terms by legis- lation on its own part, they were not binding on the Dominion. To what- ever extent these allegations were true, it is certain that the great majority of eastern Canadians were opposed to the terms as too onerous on the Do- minion, and the Senate more truly represented the state of public opinion than the House of Commons. The antagonistic policy pursued by the Brit- ish Columbia Government had a great deal to do Avith the sentiment at that particular time. Thus the last phase of the situation Avas Avorse than the first. The Ottawa Government, anxious for the settlement of the whole matter, which was in every way embarrassing, became disinclined to pursue it farther on lines of compromise and took a new departure that dispelled British Co- lumbia’s hopes of early construction of the railway. The term “Fiasco” alone describes adequately the entire episode of diplo- matic manoeuvring and political adventure, but the true sequel to the events Avhich have been described will be found in the chapter entitled “The Act of Settlement.” [ 71 ] THE DRY DOCK AND FINANCIAL MUDDLE. CHAPTER VI. For practical purposes the policies of the de Cosmos and Walkem ministries may be regarded as identical in nature and therefore in results. Not only was the railway problem bungled, but the financial situation and the matter of the dry dock was also muddled. Under the Terms of Union, as has been already stated, the Dominion Government was to guarantee the interest, not exceeding 5%, on any sum not exceeding £100,000, to be devoted to the construction of a first-class graving dock at Esquimalt. As capitalists were not willing to undertake it on these terms, a bill was introduced in the first session of the de Cosmos government to construct it as a “national work” by the aid of subsidies from the Dominion and Imperial authorities. Sir John Macdonald had pledged his government to capitalize the dock guarantee at 5% on £100,000 for 10 years by the payment of $250,000 in cash by way (as it seems at first to have been understood) of a bonus. Amor de Cosmos, Premier, had gone to England, to secure the additional co- operation of the Imperial Government. He submitted plans to the Admir- alty. He proposed that the dock, estimated at £112,000, should be con- structed either by the Provincial Government, assisted by a grant from the Imperial Treasury, or by Her Majesty’s Government, with a contribution from the Province. The first proposal was agreed to and £30,000 bonus was offered, though £50,000 was the sum asked for by the Provincial Govern- ment. In consideration of the bonus the Province offered to dock H. M. ships on the Pacific, for repair, free of charge for fifteen years, although, ac- cording to the correspondence, this offer seems to have been based on the larger bonus. The Admiralty inferred from the proposal of Mr. de Cos- mos that the bonus was not to be paid until after the dock had been com- pleted, although no statement of the kind was made in the letter. In both questions and on both sides a casual method of taking things for granted was observable. So far as it appears from the records, de Cosmos returned well pleased to get the £30,000. In the meantime, that is, after making ar- rangements with the Macdonald Government, but before his visit to England, the Mackenzie Government had come into power, and complications arose. It was understood by de Cosmos that the advance by the Dominion was in the nature of a gift to the Province, and this was confirmed by Hon. S. L. Tilley, late Minister of Dominion Finance, and also by Hon. Hector L. Langevin, late Minister of Public Works. Auditor Langton did not so un- derstand it and advised Mr. Mackenzie accordingly. The latter, therefore, proposed to charge the $250,000 to the debt of British Columbia. His idea of an “advance” was that it should be repaid. All this happened in June, 1874. On November 14th, 1873, in going to England, de Cosmos fortified himself with a letter from Mr. Mackenzie to the effect that he would submit a measure to Parliament to “advance” £50,000 to aid in the construction [ 73 ] of a graving dock at Esquimalt, in lieu of the guarantee of interest of 5% on £100,000 for ten years. At that time the question as to whether the advance should he regarded as a loan or as a bonus had not been raised. Now, however, it was represented to the local Legislature that the money was a bonus and not an advance. The Opposition protested that there was nothing in the correspondence, except in Mr. de Cosmos’s own letter to the Imperial Government, to imply that it was a gift. Meanwhile the Premier, knowing how Mr. Mackenzie had interpreted it, deceived his fol- lowers by simply saying nothing at all. (1) The measure before the Dominion Parliament contained this significant clause: “It shall be lawful for the Province of British Columbia to refund, at any time, the sum so advanced as aforesaid to be held upon and subject to the same conditions by the Dominion Government as the moneys now held by them.” This was meaningless unless it was intended to imply that the subsidy received from Ottawa was an advance, and not a gift. The only other interpretation possible was that the Dominion Government were giving away the money, with the vague hope that a return might be made at some indefinite time in the future. Meanwhile, after the Edgar negotiations fell through, Premier Walkem went to London and returned, bringing the promise of a £50,000 Imperial subsidy towards the dry dock. He asked the Legislature to adopt the scheme of building with the $250,000 advance from the Dominion. The Oppo- sition, as before, doubted that the Canadian offer was intended as a gift, and asked the local administration to make sure by telegraphing to Ottawa for confirmation. The proposal was rejected. The Premier probably thought it impolitic to raise doubts about the meaning of the gift. His proposal was to begin by spending $10,000 on the work, and then apply to the Dominion for a refund as a test of the correctness of his interpretation. On the strength, therefore, of this understanding of the Dominion proposal, as set forth in the Mackenzie Act, one clause of which clearly authorized the “advance” of money not to exceed $250,000 in lieu of the guarantee of interest at 5% on £100,000, the local Government, on the assumption that the money was a gift, spent money creating liabilities to the extent of about $150,000. The mis- understanding might easily have been avoided by the despatch of a few tele- grams, since, as a matter of fact, it turned out that the Mackenzie Govern- ment had never contemplated the advance in any other sense than as a loan to be charged against the Province. No doubt it was a niggardly policy on the part of the Government at Ottawa, but might have been modified, had a reasonable attitude been adopted at Victoria. Of course, it was a political mistake from the first to have saddled the Province with the cost of the dry dock at all, nor should the Province ever have accepted any responsibility in connection with it. It was purely a na- tional work, an Imperial undertaking, while its local importance was greatly ( 1 ) 1 1 transpired that on the 14th of November, 1877, Mr. de Cosmos disclosed the following telegram to Mr. Elliott: "Ottawa, Feb. 7th, 1874. “A. de Cosmos: "Your telegram went astray. Government offer is to pay $250,000 as dock work progresses in lieu of guarantee provided by terms of union. “A. Mackenzie.” This telegram was never produced to the Legislative Assembly and remained in the possession of Mr. de Cosmos personally. [ 74 ] over estimated. It proved, indeed, altogether too big an undertaking for the Province at that time, and not within its scope at any time. So the dry dock became the chief cause of the troubles between British Columbia and the Dominion for the next ten years. The financial resources of the Province, under the Terms of Union, never sufficed for the requirements of the local Government without recourse being had to direct taxation of a burdensome nature, and the dry dock was an additional load that completely broke down the machinery. Bad business methods and unsound public policy were added to poverty of revenue, and so rapidly did the process of disintegration work that, when, as the result of an adverse vote of the House, the Walkem ad- ministration laid down the reins of office, the Province was in the hands of the money lenders and financially bankrupt. The facts had been carefully concealed from the people, and it was not until it became known, that as a temporary expedient the Government had “pawned the subsidy” to the Do- minion Government for an advance of $ 150,000 that the real situation was revealed. It was a shock to the public and occasioned the immediate down- fall of the Government. The Colonist had some time before intimated that the Province was in difficulties to the extent of $ 750 , 000 , but in the excite- ment of politics the warning was unheeded. Immediately after the Elliott administration took office a statement issued by Finance Minister Humphreys showed that the Colonist forecast, in round numbers, had been accurate. There was a total liability of $ 753,228 and an actual deficit of over $ 500 , 000 . There was a total indebtedness on loan account, due in eight months, of $ 310 , 194 , of which sum $ 310,028 was due to the Bank of British Columbia, $ 30,000 to Sir James Douglas (at 8 % interest), and $ 150,000 to the Dominion Government. The amount due to contractors was $ 163 , 476 , and another liability of $ 99,558 on account of dock contracts was about to mature. The Government had been borrowing freely at high rates of interest. It was even paying 5 % to the Do- minion Government on the amount of subsidy advanced. Three years before, the de Cosmos government had begun with more than $100,000 credit in the bank and no liabilities at all. (2) The McCreight government might have been tactless, but it was at least careful and honest. Before proceed- ing to show how the Elliott government succeeded in solving the financial dif- ficulty, it may be well to go back and sum up the effect of the dry dock scheme upon the relations with the Dominion. Early in the de Cosmos-Walkem regime there had been a proposal to advance the $ 250,000 for construction of the dry dock, together with an Im- perial subsidy. Associated with this was a proposal to capitalize the annual interest on the allowed debt of British Columbia, received from the Domin- ion, about $ 45 , 000 , and accept a lump sum of $ 940 , 000 , which should stand to the credit of the Province, to be drawn upon as required. To these pro-< (2)Estimated Revenue of British Colum- bia, 1871 $533,950.00 $533,950.00 Balance in hand of Provincial Govern- ment $170,450.00 Subsidies paid by Dominion Government 212,908.00 $383,358.00 [ 75 ] Paid to Dominion Government $363,500.00 Balance in hands of Provincial Govern- ment 170,450.00 $533,950.00 Amount appropriated by Provincial Gov- ernment 235,073.00 Balance in favour of Provincial Govern- ment unappropriated 148,285.00 $383,358.00 posals strong objection was taken, bringing about at one time a situation in Victoria which was reported in eastern Canada as rebellion, although it never amounted to more than a vigorous and somewhat noisy demonstration against the local Government and incidentally against the Dominion Gov- ernment and the East. At one time it was thought that the latter had suggested the scheme as a means of inveigling the Province into a modifi- cation of the Terms of Union, and thus getting it into their power. But, although the local Government was very reticent on the subject, the pro- posals really came from them. However, much talk had gone on at Ottawa about a relaxation of terms, and it was surmised in the Province that the in- timations appearing in the local press were inspired by the Dominion Gov- ernment. As has been previously observed, the policy of secrecy and mystery which at all times enveloped the dealing of the local with the federal admin- istration on the questions of financial relations and terms, was one of the most productive causes of that mutual distrust which later developed into positive antagonism. Never, from first to last, was there a candid statement of policy made or an open, ingenuous method adopted as to the relations of the Provincial Government, either with the people on the one side or the Ottawa Government on the other. The local Government never took the people into their confidence. There were always mental reservations or secret ulterior motives. Facts, and then only half facts, had to be dragged from them. The results were bickerings in the House, squabbling in the press, distrust, sus- picion, prejudice and bitter hostility. Newspaper warfare was venomous; suspicion and dissension abounded. The Dominion Government came to be regarded as a common enemy, which it was safe for both sides to attack. Had the Provincial Government of the day been better directed and adopted a straightforward policy of negotiation, enlightening the public thoroughly as to the course which was being pursued and the objects in view, vigorously defending them by sound reason and plain facts, the clouds which so long obscured the political horizon would have been cleared away and the right path made plain. Political prejudices for political purposes were created against both Governments, and in particular against the Federal. Those prejudices were played upon, first by one party and then by the other, as expediency and immediate exigencies dictated, until the feeling became so in- tensified that mere misconception developed in a certainty of established fact which few had the perspicacity or the courage to dispute. This, consider- ing the important issues at stake, was a deplorable state of affairs. To revert, however, to the dry dock and the capitalization of the debt, there were two objections to the proposals of the local Government. One of these applied equally to both, and it was the paramount objection. It was held that they involved a change in the Terms of Union. They were, it is true, a variation, but not such a substantial variation as to constitute new terms. A number of the leading men of the Province, however, were op- posed to any change from the original plan, not so much on account of the importance of the change in itself, as because they feared the effect of ask- ing any concessions or favours at the hands of the Dominion Government. They argued, and with a fair show of reason, that, while such a policy might not affect the stability of the terms, yet it placed a weapon in the hands of the Federal authorities whereby they could demand a relaxation in the rail- [ 76 ] way clause. Compromise of any kind was considered most dangerous. Had the Macdonald Government been in power such fears would not have existed, but with an administration the members of which were professedly opposed to the railway scheme and representing a party with similar views, it can be easily realized why the people of British Columbia did not wish to place them- selves in the least degree at the mercies of the Ottawa Government. The rail- way — its “immediate commencement, continuous prosecution and early com- pletion” — was the one vital issue, the aim and end of Confederation, the very breath of life to the Province. Everything else depended upon it. If it failed everything failed. They had a contract with the Dominion of Canada to have that railway built within a certain time limit. Their hope was to maintain that contract at all costs. On the other hand, this point of view, the intense anxiety to carry out the agreement, was not understood in the east- ern part of Canada, where the people realized only the burden imposed, and wondered at the audacity of the community of 10,000 at the other end of the continent who insisted on imposing it upon the rest of the Dominion. That was the keynote of the situation. The chief need of the Province was for leaders capable of grasping the situation and applying to its delicate requirements an honest, statesmanlike policy and strength of purpose. Such men would have been supported by Mr. Mackenzie, the leader of the Govern- ment, and by George Brown, editor of the Globe , the journalistic mouthpiece of his party. These two leaders of the Liberal party, though opposed to the policy to which Canada had been committed, were honestly prepared to carry that policy substantially into effect. It is true that they were mistaken as to the inability of Canada to undertake such a great work and to push it rapidly to completion, and that they had an exaggerated notion of the difficulties in its way, but they were sincere, and British Columbia had less to fear from honesty and sincerity, however mistaken the basis of the judgment, than from a policy of duplicity and intrigue. Had the government at Victoria se- cured the hearty co-operation of two such men as Mackenzie and Brown, the railway policy would have become the policy of the entire Liberal party, and all efforts would have been directed towards making it a success. Unfortunately, every movement at work in the Province seemed to lead in a direction dia- metrically opposite. So, when the proposals as to the dry dock came up, they were strongly opposed. The opinions of leading lawyers in the Prov- ince (outside of the Government ranks) were obtained, and, although they were not unanimous as to the precise legal effect of the changes proposed, they concurred in one point: that the interests of the Province might be com- promised to such an extent as to practically involve a relaxation in the Terms of Union. The ablest opinion of all, that of Mr. A. Rocke Robertson, as- serted definitely that such a modification would be the outcome. (3) (3)The opinion of Mr. Robertson, Q. C., above is so important, that it is here given in full. 1. That I do not think the Bill in question will have the effect of "throwing open the Terms of Union.” The Terms are in the nature of a Treaty, and by consent of both parties thereto, one term may be altered without prejudice to the others. On the other hand the breach of one term by one of the parties entitles the other party to rescind the whole Treaty. Canada has already broken the most important of the Terms of Union. Applying the principle above mentioned, British Columbia is to-day entitled to petition Her Majesty to release the Province from the Confederation. The question then is — - will the bill now before the Provincial Parliament impair this right? I think it will, for the following reasons: 1st. It treats the Terms of Union as still valid and binding, notwithstanding Canada’s default in not commencing the railway. 2nd. It will operate as a waiver of British Columbia’s to pray for a dissolution of the Union on the ground of Canada’s failure to carry out the Terms, we having accepted upon the basis of the treaty [77] It was no doubt a subtle legal point, but the practical result was as predicted, that concession by the Dominion to the Province would be made a basis for concession from the Province to the Dominion, when the railway clause came up for consideration. One of the considerations, indeed, sub- mitted by Mr. Mackenzie, when asking for an extension of time for con- struction, was the suggestion that concessions should be mutual. Had the Province stuck to the text of the agreement and not asked for any favours from the Dominion, its ease would have been very much stronger, and its position more consistent. The other objection referred to was advanced exclusively against the capitalization of the debt as being wrong in principle. The allowance in re- gard to debt was a certain and stead y income. The temptation to spend cash in hand is always very great. It means using up capital resources in current expenditure. Besides, no government has the moral right to hypothe- cate a revenue which belongs as much to future government as to themselves. In the case of an emergency the annu,al allowance might have been pledged indeed to meet the interest and sinking fund on a loan. This method would not have impaired the capital after the loan had been paid off. Contrary counsels, however, prevailed and with them came the usual consequences of bad finance— embarrassment and complication. The original arrangements were made with the Macdonald ministry, but confirmed by the Mackenzie Government with certain saving clauses. An order-in-council was passed November 3rd, 1873, giving them effect, but it transpired that this order exceeded the powers of the Executive, and it was not acted upon. An Act was passed in 1874 with the following purpose in view — “authorizing the Governor-in-Council, in his discretion, to make ad- vances to the several Provinces,” and the second section “was drawn in its present form for the express purpose of guarding against the inconveniences which might arise, if the several Provinces were to consider themselves at liberty to draw for the balance of their debt without previous communica- tion with the Dominion Government.” The minute of the Privy Council, dated 8th of December, 1875, from which the above is an extract, goes on to state that it was never contemplated that any province would enter into con- tracts or obligations of any kind involving the use of this fund without first applying for and getting the counsel of the Dominion Government. This stipu- lation, which was reasonable in view of the fact that the Dominion Govern- ment was virtually a trustee of the fund and might be drawn upon any time for very large sums, was the very condition which the local Government did not observe. They proceeded to borrow $189,150 from the bank, payable on the 1st of May, 1875, and when they could not meet the debt asked the Do- minion for that amount which was already spent, as well as $250,000, to be fresh pecuniary aid from Canada, knowing as we do, the intention of the Dominion Government to ask a modification of the Terms. 3rd. Our ability to obtain a dissolution of the Union is the most powerful lever -we can use in insisting upon Canada commencing the railway at once on this coast, or making satisfactory compen- sation to the Province for not having done so earlier. If we throw away this advantage, we place ourselves at the mercy of a Government whose avowed policy is to seek from us a relaxation of the rail- way terms. The saving clauses which the Attorney-General proposes to add to the bill, simply declare in effect that all the terms other than 2 and 12 shall continue in full force, notwithstanding the altera- tion of 2 and 12. I do not think, however, that these clauses will preserve the right which the Prov- ince now possesses, namely, that of praying for and obtaining a dissolution of the Union. ‘T do not wish to be understood as expressing an opinion as to the expediency of a dissolution of the Union under any circumstances; but it is obvious that the possession of the power to withdraw from the Confederation is invaluable to us in negotiating with Canada for a work which she is bent on delay- ing and which we are desirous of having carried out without delay." [78] spent in local improvements. The Dominion Government, assuming that the $250,000 was for graving dock purposes, refused it on the ground that under the Act no certificates of progress work had been furnished as required. The $189,150 was advanced, and charged against the account. This was on the 3rd of August, 1875. On the 14th day of October, in the absence of Premier Walkem, the local ministry applied for an immediate sum of $150,000, with permission to repay on the 1st of July following (the date due for payment of sub- sidy). Mr. Mackenzie at once replied, stating that the money would be ad- vanced “on account of subsidy,” which message Provincial Secretary Ash acknowledged as follows: “Your telegram received. Government thank you for your prompt attention.” The minute of council at Ottawa, author- izing this advance, a copy of which followed, stated it was made “subject to the usual conditions.” What “usual conditions” meant in that connection is hard to say, except that interest at 5% would be charged. There could be no other “usual conditions” attached to an advance on account of subsidy. On the 29th of October, His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor sent a despatch asking the Government at Ottawa to reconsider their refusal of the advance of $250,000, to charge the $150,000 already promised to the debt of the Prov- ince, and to send the balance of $100,000, stating that “it would be very con- venient if His Excellency’s decision should be communicated by telegraph.” It was obviously the request of a harassed debtor. Premier Walkem, who had now returned to the Province, quickly seized on the weak point of this proposal, and replied to it by stating that the Ottawa Government could not legally withhold any portion of the subsidy and that in the meantime the $150,000 could only be charged against the debt, with interest at 5%. He intimated at the same time that the Province would repay the amount as agreed. Nor had the Province, he said, the power to borrow the $150,000, by pledging the subsidy. In effect, it was “pawning the subsidy,” as the Government depended upon the subsidy to pay the amount back. The weak point in the whole transaction was Dr. Ash’s telegram acknowledging the advance made on the conditions stated in the message from Ottawa. When this correspondence was published, it created a great sensation, and was the cause of the Government’s defeat in the House. This chapter, which throws light on their financial policy, can best be read in connection with their rail- way policy, which will be dealt with later on. The general elections of 1875 followed upon the return of Premier Walkem from England. It may be stated here that it is difficult to determine, from the actual election returns, whether the Government had a majority in the new House, as their strength was not at first tested. The Government candidates were in a minority, but so many members were elected on independent and other platforms that no strict analysis could be made. The Government would probably have lasted for a longer time, had it not been for these financial revelations. The Colonist ad- mitted, virtually, that the Government had been supported in their railway policy, as was shown by an unanimous vote of the Legislature, but stated that they were defeated a few days later on their financial negotiations. When the Elliott administration came into power there was a serious situation to face. The necessity of making a loan was apparent, and authority was taken to borrow $350,000. [ 79 ] The financial resources, under the Terms of Union, were never at any time sufficient for the local requirements without resort to direct taxation, but the local Government had aggravated poverty of revenue by bad business methods. To such straits were they reduced that on one occasion they bor- rowed $ 30,000 from Sir James Douglas, for which they paid ex-Premier de Cosmos $ 600 , by way of commission, for obtaining it, — a transaction which afterwards became a subject of parliamentary investigation. The school sys- tem also proved to be expensive. The estimate of cost in 1876 was $76,000, and, needless to say, though not a very extensive service, requirements were expanding rapidly. The roads, and notably the Cariboo wagon road, had fallen into a very bad state of repair, and were often impassable at certain seasons. About $ 50,000 was required to repair the Cariboo road alone. The dry dock, a very expensive undertaking, had also to be built. Consequently the question of finances received considerable attention. To meet the educa- tional requirements, a school tax bill was introduced and passed. This imposed a head or poll tax of $ 3.00 on each male adult in lieu of a road tax, and was the origin of the revenue tax which took its place afterwards. Although the proceeds of that tax was not specially funded, and went into current reve- nue, it was intended for school purposes, and was levied for school require- ments. Naturally, a great deal of objection to it at first arose, particularly from miners, and also from an important section of the Roman Catholic com- munity. As miners and prospectors were for the most part without families, they seemed to be taxed for other people’s benefit. This objection, however, soon wore off. Many of the Roman Catholics also refused to send their chil- dren to secular public schools, in which religious doctrine, other than their own, was taught ; they therefore sent them to private schools of their own. To be obliged to do this and yet to be taxed for maintenance of public schools did not seem to them to be just, and they petitioned against it. The sub- ject was fully discussed in the press, and in the Legislature; indeed, an agi- tation for separate schools in the Province was mooted. Although they did not join in the petition, a large number of Anglicans sympathized with the Roman Catholic petitioners. The Legislature, however, firmly adhered to the non-sectarian system and the school tax, which has existed ever since. The Cariboo roads tolls, abolished during the McCreight ministry, were re- imposed, as a matter of practical necessity. This again was hard on the miners ; but it was pointed out that bad roads increased the cost of freightage, while good roads implied easier transport, and therefore cheaper goods. The Legislature, in 1876, was almost as unanimous for re-imposition of this tax as it was for abolishing it in 1873 . Tolls were also imposed on the wagon road into Cassiar. The most important measure, however, was the Act mak- ing provision for the levying of a property tax — an impost quite new, not only in British Columbia, but in the Dominion of Canada. This law, sub- ject to certain exemptions, imposed one-third of one per cent, on real estate, one-fifth of one per cent, on personal property, one-half of one per cent, on incomes over $ 1500 , and a tax on wild lands. The measure provoked some opposition, mainly in the farming districts; but it was generally approved as one of financial necessity, the situation being not unlike that which prevailed when the present McBride administration took over the reins of gov- ernment in 1903 . A certain number of politicians and pseudo-financiers, sup- ported a policy of unlimited expenditure. They advocated borrowing money, if it was not to be found in the treasury, and spending it. It is needless to ex- plain how dangerous such a policy is, however popular it may be temporarily. However this may be, the Act was put on the statute book as a temporary expedient. With certain modifications it has remained there ever since. In 1876, when a big deficit had to be faced, the serious problem of administer- ing the affairs of a vast Province on the slender revenue resources of an ex- tremely thin population began to be appreciated by the people, but it was not fully realized for over twenty-five years later. British Columbia, dur- ing all that period, was the only Province that has had to resort to direct taxation, which, nevertheless, even when other indirect sources of revenue were added, did not enable it, until 1904, to grapple with provincial require- ments. The debt, the foundations of which were laid in 1873-76, grew yearly in a higher ratio than the internal development. The causes which operated in 1904 to reverse that condition of affairs will be explained when that period is treated; but there was a certain financial improvement for a time when the Elliott Government took up the reins of government. [ 81 ] LORD DUFFERINS VISIT . CHAPTER VII. A new phase of the railway question is now encountered. The change of Government at Ottawa and the tortuous course pursued by the local Government led, as has been seen, to an almost hopeless complication. When the Senate threw out the bill giving effect to the Carnarvon Terms, the bur- den of delay was shifted largely on the shoulders of the Dominion Govern- ment, who assumed a new attitude on the question, which, though partly justified by the behaviour of the Walkem administration, placed them dis- tinctly in the wrong. If the Carnarvon Terms were a fair compromise be- tween the contending parties and satisfactory to the people of British Co- lumbia, it was the clear duty of the Dominion Government to submit a fresh measure for the consideration of the Commons and the Senate. They showed, on the contrary, a disposition to evade the substantial fulfillment of the terms of agreement, as is shown by a minute of council passed on September 20th, 1875, the official knowledge of which did not come to the local Government before the election were held in that month. (1) What effect might have been produced upon the electors, had the proposals contained in that minute become generally known, it is difficult to say. It prob- ably would not have saved the Government on the financial question in the House afterwards. However this may be, the proposals made were of an important and far-reaching character, and it is probable that Air. Mackenzie in agreeing to them was overruled by his colleagues. Blake, Cartwright and Scott of his cabinet were all strongly against the railway scheme, and their speeches were bitter. Briefly, it was proposed to offer $750,000 in cash to the Province as compensation for not building the railway on the Island, and for any possible delays in the construction, on condition that the provision for the (l)On the 20th of September, 1875, a copy of the report of the Committee of the Privy Council ap- proved on that date was forwarded to the local government. It repudiated all previous negotiations in regard to railway matters, and particularly the considerations which induced the Dominion Govern- ment to accept the Carnarvon Terms. Particular stress was laid upon the fact that every step in the negotiations was necessarily founded upon, and subject to, the conditions of the resolution of the House of Commons, passed in 1871 and twice subsequently enacted, that there should be no increase in the existing rate of taxation. It provided that this debt must not involve too great an obliga- tion, that this ruling was sustained by public opinion throughout the Dominion, and that such a limi- tation must necessarily control the action of the Government. It was pointed out that the sanction of Parliament to the construction of the proposed railway from Esquimau to Nanaimo was a necessary condition precedent to the commencement of the work. It then recited that the “proposed railway from Esquimau to Nanaimo does not form a portion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, as defined by the Act; that it was intended to benefit local interests; and that it was proposed as compensation for the ‘dis- appointment experienced by the unavoidable delay in constructing the railway across the continent.’ “As this part of the Canadian Terms had provoked a great deal of opposition both in the House of Com- mons and the Senate, the Government was faced with the duty of considering some other method of meeting the just expectations of the people of British Columbia, whose Government has not suggested to this Government any solution of the difficulty.” “It would seem reasonable that the people of British Columbia should construct this work them- selves, or (if they think other public local works more advantageous) should, in lieu of this, themselves undertake such other local public works, and that the compensation to be given them by Canada for any delays which may take place in the construction of the Pacific Railway should be in the form of a cash bonus, to be applied towards the local railway, or such other local works as the Legislature of British Columbia may undertake, Canada also surrendering any claim to lands which may have been reserved in Vancouver Island for railway purposes. “The sum of $750,000 would appear to the Committee to be a liberal compensation, and the Com- mittee advise that the Government of British Columbia be informed that this Government is prepared to propose to Parliament at this next session, the legislation necessary to carry out the views contained in this Minute as to the construction of the Pacific Railway and the compensation to be given to British Columbia for delays in such construction.” [ 83 ] specified amount of yearly expenditure and for the completion of the railway to Lake Superior hy 1890 were waived by the Province. It was maintained in the minute of council that the section of railway on the Island of Van- couver was no part of the Pacific Railway, and that the compensation offered was for local losses sustained by delay in construction. It was also affirmed emphatically that the Dominion was not bound to observe the Terms of the Carnarvon award if the execution of those Terms affected the resolution al- ready passed regarding higher taxation. The local Government very properly refused to entertain the proposition put before them as a practical insult to British Columbia, although eventually even a worse bargain had to be made. That a railway on the Island was no legal part of Terms of Union, may be admitted. Canada was only bound to build to the Pacific seaboard; al- though, if the Bute Inlet route had been chosen, it is questionable if Bute Inlet could have been reasonably interpreted as the “seaboard.” The main point, however, was the understanding of the people at the time and the sub- sequent acts of the Dominion Government which endorsed that understand- ing. The Island, and, in particular, Victoria, was at that time the most im- portant part of British Columbia, both politically and in point of population. When, therefore, the Dominion Government named Esquimalt as the termi- nus of the railway, it put a seal on that fact and by an executive act gave official interpretation to the expression “Pacific seaboard.” There can be no question of that, as the Provincial Government was asked to convey 20 miles along the eastern coast, in accordance with the meaning of the 11th clause. If the local Government desired to see Esquimalt made the terminus, as they undoubtedly did, they made a fatal error in not promptly surveying the rail- way belt and conveying it to the Federal Government. N o court in the land could then have relieved the Dominion if a contract had been thus created. An- other error made will be referred to later on. The practical effect of pinning the central Government to the terminus at Esquimalt would have been to lay the basis for substantial damages if it were not finally adopted or possibly to commit the Dominion absolutely to the Island terminus. But to name it and then not clinch the bargain by legal means created disappointment and affected business interests to a very serious extent. The Dominion Government un- doubtedly sought to evade the consequences of their acts. Now, it is not the question whether Esquimalt was the proper terminus or not, or whether the Isl- and railway was legally part of the scheme or not. The acts of the Dominion Government had morally made it so; and by virtue of the Carnarvon Terms the railway on the Island ought to have been built without any expense to or concession from the Province. Everything pointed to such a settlement. In- deed, the Mackenzie Government shipped several shiploads of steel rails to Esquimalt, obtensibly with the object of fulfilling that portion of the contract. From every possible point of view the minute of council was a mistake. Up to the time of the rejection of the Carnarvon Terms the Mackenzie Gov- ernment had steered a consistent and, from their point of view, an honest and wise course. As soon, however, as they began to veer from the straight course every step they took was a plunge in the wrong direction. As they were not responsible for the Senate’s action, they should not have been influenced by it. Nor ought they to have raised the question of increased taxation. At the best, as the local Government pointed out, it was “merely an indication of the scheme [ 84 ] matured by the Government to provide means to fulfil their railway engage- ments with the Province.” That scheme had never been submitted to the people of British Columbia for approval and so far as they were concerned it was no part of the bargain. The resolution had not been submitted to the Imperial Government in 1871 and was not pressed upon Lord Carnarvon’s attention in 1875. But whatever other effect it might have had, when the Mackenzie Government departed from the original scheme of building the railway by private enterprise, assisted by land subsidies, and when they raised the rate of taxation, they virtually declared that they did not propose to pro- ceed if to proceed meant increased cost to the country. Having raised the taxation, they were more than ever compelled to build the railway. The minute alleged as an excuse for not complying with the Carnarvon Terms after the Government had pledged Canada to them, was that any covenant of any kind must necessarily have been subject to ratification by Parliament. As an excuse, it was exceedingly lame. No Government should have bound the country to do something it was not within their power to carry into effect. Moreover, it was a solemn pledge, not to British Columbia alone, but to the Imperial authorities through Lord Carnarvon, who made it abso- lutely clear that his intervention was conditional upon his judgment being regarded as final. The Walkem Government forwarded representations to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in December, 1875, and January, 1876, to the pur- port of which it is unnecessary to allude. When the Legislature met, the Premier was ready with a petition to the Queen to be submitted to, and passed by, the members of that body. This petition, which was a porten- tously long document, was prepared with all the skill that subtle legal daughtsman had at his command. It recited historically the facts — not all the facts, however — bearing on his view of the case and setting forth these with great clearness. When the petition came before the Legislature he in- troduced it in a careful speech of more than ordinary adroitness and force. (2) The weak point in his answer, to which he was no doubt fully alive, but which he carefully concealed, was his own failure to pass legisla- tion on that part of the Province to give effect to the Carnarvon Terms. The original Terms of Union had been referred to the people and been confirmed by the Legislature. If it were necessary for the Dominion, one of the parties to the treaty, to ratify by legislation any changes made in that treaty, it was equally necessary for the other party to it, the Province, to ratify them in the same way. When, therefore, the petition calmly recited “that British Co- (2) Hon. Mr. Walkem moved “that this House resolve itself into a committee of the whole, for the purpose of considering and reporting upon the correspondence between the Dominion and the Provincial Government, with respect to the Canadian Pacific Railway.” He considered that it was only necessary to foreshadow the general report which he would place before the House in committee, and he had moved the resolution with a view of obtaining a thorough ventilation of the subject, and affording honourable members every liberty of discussion. He thought that this was the most ready method of arriving at some satisfactory conclusion to this embarrassing question. He did not deem it necessary to dwell upon the prostration which had prevailed throughout the country caused by frequent delays of the Dominion Government; it was not for them now to go back to the days when our delegates obtained the terms of Confederation at Ottawa. What they had to deal with was the present condition of the treaty, and the unsatisfactory manner in which it had been neglected. This Province had treated Canada with all the honour and respect to which she is entitled, and he hoped that when the question came up in com- mittee no word of disrespect would escape his lips or those of any other hon. member. The hon. gentle- man then proceeded to recite the railway history from its commencement, quoting from reports of the Ottawa House of Commons, and arguing that they could never have altered the original Terms of Union. He reviewed the appeal of the Province to England and the final settlement arrived at through the instrumentality of Lord Carnarvon, dilating on the construction of canals by Canada to the detri- ment of railway enterprise. He referred to the non-construction of the Nanaimo-Esquimalt railway, and admitted his opposition to the building of the telegraph line, because such was in his opinion contrary [85] lumbia had fulfilled all the conditions of her agreement with Canada,” such a statement was not wholly candid. And Mr. Walkem, in his speech in its support, carefully steered clear of the fact that his own attitude towards, and interpretation of, the nature of the Carnarvon Terms, was a contributing cause to their defeat by the Senate. In the debate which followed, although the Government did not escape criticism for its own unworthy part in deal- ing with the railway question, there was a striking oversight of the salient points of the real merits of the dispute. It is to be regretted on historical grounds that Mr. John Robson, who had the clearest grasp of the whole subject, had ceased to be a member of the House. As things were, Premier Walkem was entirely successful in impressing his views on the Legislature, which exhibited a remarkable unanimity in adopting the petition. A single amendment, subsequently withdrawn, was offered by Mr. Forbes George Vernon, seconded by Mr. Ebenezer Brown, both representatives of the Main- land, part of which was as follows: “Whilst endorsing the action of this Government in dealing with the proposals conveyed in the Minute of Council, dated Sept. 20, 1875, this House would be prepared to consider such offer of compensation for abandonment of the present construction of the E. & N. Ry. as Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies might recommend as a fair equivalent for the work. Provided always, that none of the other parts of Lord Carnarvon’s recom- mendations of Nov. 17th, 1874, shall be disturbed or injuriously affected thereby.” The resolution in favour of the petition was passed unanimously. It was a practical and emphatic endorsement of the Government by the people, through their representatives, of everything that had been done in regard to the railway. If the vox populi were even approximately vox del there would be little more to be said on the subject; but as the vox populi , expressed in a similar way, turned the Government out of office a few days afterwards, the sceptic might well doubt of the truth of the maxim. As a certainty, one point is clear what had been all wrong could not, by any popular approval or sanctifying grace, be made right. That the Dominion Government made a serious and inexcusable mistake in judgment and sound policy in finally repudiating the scheme did not render less censurable the course which they had previously pursued or in the least absolve on the other hand the past conduct of the local Government. The position in which the Province found itself and the attitude of the people and of the Government towards the question generally must next be to law. As to the proposed wagon road, every hon. member of the House knew that our agreement was not for this work, but for a railway, and the Provincial Government had therefore resisted the proposal of the Dominion Government. He admitted that it would cost much less, and be to the advantage of the Dominion Government, if they were permitted to commence railway construction from the east and west at once and that the Province would for many years fail to derive any benefit from Confederation. No exertion, however, had been put forth by the Dominion Government to keep prom- ises made, both in the Terms of Union and to Lord Carnarvon; far from it, for by the Minute in Council in September last any railway construction in this Province would appear to be a century distant. The honourable gentleman recounted the financial policy of the Dominion Government with regard to effecting loans in England; he ridiculed the idea of any clerk being so unfortunate as to forget to forward the important Minute of the 20th of September either to the Imperial Government or the Government of this Province. He thought if that Minute, casting to the winds the pledges of Canada, had been sent home, the effect on her financial propositions would have been disastrous, and intimated that the Minute had been purposely withheld. He did not believe that the Mackenzie Govern- ment intended to keep any of its agreements with British Columbia and that it would only build the railway when and how it liked. The honourable gentleman, having alluded to the priority of the claim of the Province on the financial resources of Canada intimated that the committee, if it thought fit could appoint three or four honourable members to draft an address on the questions before the House to be forwarded to her Majesty the Queen. He then sat down. — “Colonist” report. [ 86 ] considered. The dry dock was, of course, part of the question. On March 19th, 1876, the contract for the cofferdam was sublet by Messrs. Hayward & Jenkins to Reed Bros. & Co., London, Eng., for $59,793. This firm represented in the Province by Mr. Dawson, C. E., was looking for further and larger contracts, and hence undertook the smaller one with the other in view. About a year before Messrs. Hayward & Jenkins had received the contract despite the protests of the Opposition at a much higher price than the lowest tender, obviously not with intention of doing the work themselves, but of sub-letting it at a profit. After that the work on the dry dock was suspended for lack of funds, and was ultimately taken over by the Dominion Government under the terms of the Act of Settlement, and completed. At Ottawa, de Cosmos moved a resolution (for which he was severely criti- cised on all sides) condemnatory of the Government’s railway policy, and de- manding that it should promptly and vigorously prosecute the undertaking in British Columbia. He had been strongly urged by his friends not to pro- ceed with the resolution, but he persisted and met with inglorious defeat, it being voted down by 154 to 6, including the vote of Sir John Macdonald, who said it was illogical, being made prior to the Government announcing its policy. The debate was rather interesting as reflecting the feeling among the Liberal supporters of the administration. Mr. John Charlton (then an im- portant member of his party) did not propose to look at it from an abstract point of view, but wholly on its merits as a concrete proposition. He be- lieved in building a road to tap the Saskatchewan, and then wait for further resources to complete it. It was not right that the interests of 10,000 per- sons on the Pacific coast should stand before those of four millions east of the Rockies. Mr. Workman, another prominent Liberal, was more convinced than ever that the policjr of the late (Conservative) Government would have brought the country into hopeless bankruptcy, and if the railway were built, he did not think that any company could be got together that would run it for five years for a million dollars a year. Mr. Jones of Halifax, a man of considerable notoriety, thought the Government upon coming into office should have repudiated the terms with British Columbia. If British Columbia did not want to make new terms, they could go out of the Union. All the Lib- eral speakers spoke in a similar strain. If the people of British Columbia did not gain a high opinion of the political morality of eastern Canadian poli- ticians, it is not to be wondered at. At this time, it may be interpolated, a company was proposed to build the Island railway with a subsidy from the Dominion Government in mines and coal lands, doubtless the germ of the scheme that later on took practical form; but the question of compensation for non-performance by Canada was much discussed. Mr. Mackenzie made his announcement, re the C. P. R., a little later in which he reviewed the situ- ation from his standpoint. After the prorogation of the legislature, Mr. Walkem went to San Francisco remaining there for some months, and was, therefore, absent during the exciting events of the following summer. On June 21st, an announcement was made which roused new hopes in the hearts of the people, the coming of the Marquis of Dufferin, Governor-General of Canada. Nothing quite so important had taken place since Confederation, and socially it was a great event. Elaborate preparations were made through- out the Province, but more especially in Victoria, the seat of government and [87] of the local notabilities. Gilbert Malcolm Sproat was the directing spirit, and worked night and day in formulating a plan and working out its details. One or two of the episodes connected with the carrying out of the programme were not part of the plan, but nevertheless gave to the occasion a significance that rendered it, on that account alone, memorable. Preliminary to the re- ception a very representative public meeting was held well in advance, at which Mr. Sproat was the chief spokesman and outlined a programme, un- animously approved. A committee, of which Sir James Douglas was made president, was instructed to take charge of the arrangements. Curiously enough serious objection was taken to a motto in which reference was made to the Queen as “Empress of India,” and it formed the subject of letters to the press and of a lengthy petition in protest, wisely disregarded. The great day arrived and the Governor-General and Lady Dufferin, and party, were borne into Esquimalt harbour, August 16th, on board H. M. S. Amythyst, from San Francisco. The entire city was in attendance. Lieutenant-Governor Richards, Pre- mier Elliott and Captain Layton, waited on his Excellency and Lady Duf- ferin, who were received on the wharf by Sir James Douglas, K. C. B., Commodore Chatfield, and a large number of officers and others. After a formal welcome by Sir James, and a reply by His Excellency, Lord and Lady Dufferin, Lieutenant-Governor Richards, Sir James Douglas, and members of the suite entered carriages, and drove towards Victoria, followed by a long line of carriages, Cols. Houghton and Powell (in uniform) mounted. They were met at the boundary of the city, in traditionally Royal form, by the mayor, members of the city council, city officials, a detachment of militia, commanded by Captain Vinter, Haynes’ band. At 1 :45, after words of wel- come and reply, His Excellency accompanied by Colonel Houghton, Lieut.- Colonel Powell, Governor Richards, Captain Hamilton, Sir James Douglas, Bishop Seghers and clergy, Chief Justuce Begbie, Judge Crease, Commo- dore Chatfield, Hon. J. S. Helmcken, Sir Joseph Trutch, Senator Macdon- ald, Major Roscoe, and a long cavalcade of prominent persons on horseback, headed by the band, the civic officials and the militia, moved towards Discov- ery street. Drawn up in the vicinity were the members of the fire depart- ment, the French Benevolent society, the Foresters and Oddfellows. The pro- cession moved up Discovery street and down Cormorant, where the Chinese had erected triumphal arches, greatly admired; then up Johnson street and along to the intersection of Government and Yates. Here “the street pre- sented as far as the eye could reach, the appearance of an avenue of verdure, ornamented with flags in great profusion, and lined on either side by num- bers of ladies elegantty attired, whilst the beauty and effect were greatly en- hanced by the magnificent triumphal arch.” Victoria had done everything that loyalty and ingenuity could suggest to do honour to her distinguished guests, and to assure them of a hearty welcome. All classes of citizens joined in the demonstration, including Chinese and Indians, and vied with each other in their expressions of good-will. His Excellency could not but be deeply impressed with all he saw, and had it not been for an incident, which marred the effect intended by the populace as a whole, he would undoubtedly have gone away with a splendid appreciation of the spirit of the people; but, unfor- tunately, at such a time there was a section of badly advised citizens whose [ 88 ] actions were not dictated in good taste. There were many triumphal arches, which bore various patriotic and welcoming devices, erected be it said at very great cost; but one of the arches paraded the legend in hold letters, “Carnar- von Terms or Separation.” This arch spanned Fort street at the intersection of Broad, and had been erected by private citizens independently of the cele- bration committee. Lord Dufferin, who had been previously apprised of this arch, with ready wit suggested that if the “S” in “separation were changed to an “R,” he would pass under it. Obviously, as representative of the Sove- reign, and “the tie which binds us,” he could not officially recognize what was suggestive of a “disloyal alternative,” and he stated that if it were left unaltered he would take another street. The committee refused to give way, and when the vice-regal carriage reached Fort street, it left the procession and drove to and up Broughton to Douglas street and back to Fort street, rejoining the procession there. As the carriage left the route at Fort street several extremists attempted to turn the horses’ heads and Lord Dufferin, who was hooted, was on the point of alighting, but the attempt was not per- sisted in. Had it been, it is altogether likely that His Excellency would have declined to accept further hospitality and left the city without carrying out the object of his visit, which Mr. D. W. Higgins states, was “a heart to heart talk with the people, when the whole subject of railway construction would be reviewed, and the inaction of the federal authorities in failing to carry out the railway clauses of the agreement, * * * and to carry the positive refusal of Mr. Mackenzie to accept the Carnarvon Terms after the Colonial Secretary had made the award as an arbitrator between the Dominion and British Co- lumbia, were to be explained and condoned.” It is said that Lord Dufferin was deeply incensed at the conduct of the Victoria populace, and not with- out good reason. In the interests of Victoria and the Island such a display of temper was ill-timed. If Lord Dufferin came to the Province in any other capacity than that of Governor-General, as other governors-general do, he came as an ambassador of peace, and it was certainly not the time when the fate of the routes hung in the balance, to show resentment. What effect the incident had in the final result no one now living probably knows, but all the circumstances tended to turn the balance against the Island, in so far as Lord Dufferin’s influence might have been used in that direction. When the vice- regal party left for the mainland they were everywhere received with de- monstrations of loyalty and respect. There was no hint of separation, no disloyal arches were erected, no dissatisfaction was expressed at the course of the Dominion; but the people pressed for the early commencement of the railway in such well-chosen words as to elicit praise from His Excellency. At the same time it was everywhere evident that the people of the mainland were really highly pleased on account of the turn of events which had defeated the Carnarvon Terms, and there was no occasion lost to assure His Excellency on that score. Such a policy, however, did not help on the railway, it simply strengthened the hands of the Dominion Government in its policy of delay. The opposition on the mainland to the Carnarvon Terms was, of course, dic- tated by considerations of route. The mainland was afraid that Bute Inlet would be chosen, but the particular route was no part of the Carnarvon Terms, and was not affected by them. It was merely a reprisal for the unworthy course which had been pursued by Victoria. At New Westminster a memo- [ 89 ] randum was presented to the Governor-General expressing pleasure at the setting aside of the Carnarvon Terms. It was endorsed by W. J. Armstrong, a member of the Walkem administration at the time the Carnarvon Terms were being negotiated; by Hon. Ebenezer Brown, president of the council in the Elliott administration— who was very properly and promptly asked to resign; by the mayor; and by Mr. Holbrook, who had been in the McCreight ministry. This unwise setting of one section against the other immediately after asserted itself in Victoria at a large public meeting of which the late Mr. Justice Drake was chairman. A resolution was unanimously passed in favour of separation. Mr. Beaven criticised the Governor-General for not re- ceiving an address from citizens passed at a former meeting, presenting sepa- ration as an alternative to a railway and stated that British Columbia had as much right to secede as Mr. Blake had to offer secession as a contingency. Mr. Beaven regretted the visit of Mr. Edgar, as he had discovered the weak points of the Province, and the Dominion Government had taken advantage of them. (3) Ex-Mayor Fell, the same man to whom the citizens would not listen on the Chinese question, displayed in his remarks similar sectional hos- tility when he said that “New Westminster would oppose any thing that Vic- torians or Vancouver Island might support, but he was sure that the few people who resided in that insignificant district would have the very limited influence to which they were entitled.” At the same time, the Standard re- ferred to His Excellency as the “vice-regal spy,” who attempted to “hood- wink and bilk the people in the name of royalty.” These and other circum- stances form the justification for the opinion that the people by their conduct retarded their own cause. On the other hand, of course, the grievances com- plained of were deep-seated and affected material interests, and the intensity of feeling on that score was shown by the extreme measures taken to make the fact known; but though the people had suffered, they were so misled as to allow local prejudices to stand in the way of the opportunity of redress when redress was offered to them in all sincerity and good faith. In other words their political representatives had sown, and the people reaped the whirlwind. “Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi ." Shortly after the Gover- nor-General’s arrival, a delegation from the Chamber of Commerce waited on him at Government House, and presented him with an address in which the grievances of the Province went set forth in temperate yet forcible language. (4). They were cordially received and courteously listened to, and in- formed that His Excellency would take into consideration the various recitals of their address and that a reply would be given at a later date. In the (3) Here Mr. Beaven spoke a greater truth than he probably intended. The weak points in the pro- vincial armour were obvious to any intelligent and observing visitor. One was, that at the time of Mr. Edgar’s visit, the Government did not want a settlement of the question, notwithstanding that they made such a cry about the delay on the part of the Dominion, and for the very reason that any altera- tion of the terms, however favourable to the Province, meant an appeal to the people for ratification. That was the cause of all the trouble that followed. Another weak point was that the Province itself was divided by sectional prejudices, the people of the island and of the mainland being afraid that the one would secure an advantage over the other. Mr. Fell’s remarks following are a good example of how each regarded the other. Still another reason was that the Government, while it commanded a popular majority in the legislature, did not hold the confidence of the influential men of either section of the Province. ( 4) It is worthy of note that in all the resolutions, petitions, and addresses framed in the city of Victoria, the words in connection with railway matters or the Terms of Union “Province of British Columbia” or the "people of the Province” were used. Victoria, as a matter of fact, dictated the policies of the Government for many years, by reason of its wealth and influence and the support it could command in the legislature; and it presumed to speak for the Province on all occasions; but its sentiments on the railway question did not by any means represent the feelings of the mainland, and history on this phase of provincial affairs as the views expressed and the records written represents the Island side of the case, and Island interests. [90] meantime the official party left for the north coast. In an address at Na- naimo the people complained of the duties on coal from the United States, the non-fulfillment of the Carnarvon Terms was criticised and attention was called to the lack of public buildings. From Nanaimo they preceeded to Waddington harbour, Metlakatla and Fort Simpson, where addresses were presented by the Indians. Thence they returned direct to Burrard Inlet, and the logging camps were visited on Sept. 2nd. Dr. Mclnnes, mayor of New Westminster, presented the address on behalf of that city, and also introduced to His Excellency four Indian chiefs. Lord Dufferin told the Indians that there were three persons in whose eyes the Indians were always equal — God, the Queen and the Law. Lord Dufferin and party arrived at Yale, Sept. 6th and were met by David Oppenheimer, David Douglas and others, and pre- sented with addresses including one from the Chinese and a speech from an Indian chief. From Yale the party travelled to Kamloops, and returned to Ashcroft, camping on Jackass mountain, and then to New Westminster and Esquimalt. At the latter place Lord Dufferin drove the first pile of the dry dock at Thetis cove. Lady Dufferin visited the public school and received an address. After the formal driving of the pile, a luncheon took place, at which Lord Dufferin said that he wished that in addition to driving the first pile he had instructions to turn the first sod of the Esquimalt railway. A great potlatch took place at Saanich at which there were 3,000 Indians and 275 canoes, and $15,000 worth of presents w r ere given away. Various ad- dresses came during his stay. One from Cariboo invited him to that district, an invitation he could not accept owing to lack of time. The people of Ni- cola and Lytton and Cowichan and Chilliwack also paid their respects. A Cowichan delegation called on him to urge the Carnarvon Terms on his atten- tion, but he said he would not “mar” his reply by entering upon controversial topics. In reply to an address from Chilliwack, Lord Dufferin remarked that knowing the differences of opinion as to routes of railway, he was not sur- prised that the mainland attached less importance to the E. & N. railway than the people on the Island, but the Dominion Government having pledged them- selves to its construction were bound to fulfil their engagement. He thought that having been frustrated by the Senate, the best thing was for the two governments to agree upon some alternative scheme. The people at Kam- loops passed a resolution asserting that there was no sympathy with the policy of separation. By them the Island railway was regarded as a doubtful propo- sition and some policy should be advocated ensuring immediate construction at some point which should open some fertile section equally acceptable to mainland and Island. The uncertainty as to location of the main line had exercised a depressing effect on all branches of industry. This review of the railway problem explains more clearly the climax of Lord Dufferin’s celebrated speech at Victoria, and his promised reply to the memorandum of the Chamber of Commerce, one of the most noted deliver- ances of a statesman and diplomatist ever listened to in Canada. Having re- gard to the time, the circumstances, the delicacy of the situation, and the im- portance of the issues at stake, the felicity of the diction, the skilful treatment of the subject, the tactful avoidance of unpleasant phases, the eloquent word- painting, the inspired references to the destiny and vast resources of the province together with the firmness of its tone, and the frankness and dignity [91] of the Avhole utterance make it worthy to rank with the best efforts of the century to which it belongs and to be studied as a classic in the art of peace- making as well as a model of style and diction. The speech occupied nearly two hours. In expressing sympathy with the Province he was extremely care- ful to refrain from making statements which might reflect on the integrity of his ministers. In fact, he rather sought to relieve the government of Canada by dwelling at considerable length on the engineering difficulties of the rail- way route. He referred to the fact that although survey parties had been in the field for several years, it had been impossible, upon the data acquired, to decide as to the best route for the line to follow. The difficulty of locating a feasible pass through the Rocky mountains was already mentioned. Al- though openly avowing that he had no right to speak for the Canadian min- istry, he did not hesitate to take up the cudgels in behalf of Alexander Mac- kenzie, and particularly disclaimed the idea that there was the least desire to break faith with the Province. In discussing the question, remembering per- haps that his hearers were residents of Vancouver Island, he did not forget to state that he was under the impression that if Bute Inlet were selected as the mainland terminus of the railway it was not possible for it to stop there. The railway, he said, under those circumstances must be prolonged to Esqui- malt. When he considered the part of the address which pressed the right of the Province to secede from the Dominion, he plainly told them that the desire for dissolution of the Union did not extend to the Dominion. He pointed out that if the Islanders’ demand to secede was admitted, they would go out alone. The mainland would not follow their steps. Nor would the Imperial Government consent to the annexation of Vancouver Island to the United States. Therefore in case of secession the Island would stand in a position of isolation subject to all the disadvantages of a Crown colony form of government, from which it had just escaped by joining Canada. He then drew a picture of Vancouver Island weighed down by debt and in a forlorn condition, with the commerce of the world passing its doors, while the mainland, which would be connected with eastern Canada by transcontinental railway, prosperous and contented, strode on to greatness and power, regard- ing her ill-advised sister with a feeling akin to pity. He concluded his ad- dress with an eloquent peroration of compliments to the Province, and drew a glowing picture in prophetic language of its prospects. (5) His audience withdrew in silence, deeply impressed with the possession of new thoughts on an old subject, and surprised that a visitor of a few weeks’ standing coidd arrive at definite conclusions in so short a space of time. A great deal of discussion has arisen and various opinions have been expressed as to the exact capacity in which Lord Dufferin came to the coast. Personally, he denied that he had come on a diplomatic mission for the purpose of removing difficulties, a purpose which would seem incom- patible with his position as Governor-General; yet, there can be no doubt that his visit was so interpreted in England. The London Telegraph stated that he had gone at the instance of the Colonial office, clothed with special (5) The eloquence displayed by Lord Dufferin on his memorable tour, apparently not before exhibited, was a surprise even to his own friends. The London "Spectator” refers to his “refined, picturesque, but yet easy and humourous oratory.” [ 92 ] powers, and many press statements have been made to the same effect. In- deed, it is inconceivable that he should have gone the length he did without some definite understanding as to his privileges of speech in his interviews with the people of the Province. Governor Musgrave had once denied that he had had any specific instructions in regard to bringing about Con- federation, but it is certain that his mission in this respect was understood, even if not definitely outlined. Delicate diplomatic instructions are never mathematically proportioned. Such commissions are as indefinite as the methods to be employed. This is part of the art of diplomacy. But what- ever his part was, it was at no time officially questioned, and his perform- ance of it was masterly. In his brilliant career, he had never a more diffi- cult or delicate role to fill, and in the execution of his mission he rose to the very highest pinnacle of achievement. That more immediate, definite, and better results did not flow from his efforts was due to the political exi- gencies of the time. As a matter of fact a dangerous tide of public feeling on the Island of Vancouver was stemmed, and agitation thereafter was con- fined to constitutional limits. Lord Dufferin had revealed to the separa- tionists the weakness of their position and their helplessness apart from the mainland, whose sympathies by their protracted agitation had been alien- ated and turned in an opposite direction. ( 6 ) (6) In connection with this visit a curious story is told of a missing dispatch, related by Mr. D. W. Higgins, in the following language: “When Lord Dufferin left Ottawa for Victoria it was semi-officially announced in the papers that he was the bearer of a proclamation that would decide the contest for the route in favour of Bute inlet and Esquimau. This document, according to Lieutenant-Governor Trutch, was sent from government house to the provinicial secretary’s office by an official messenger and was handed, so the messenger reported, to the provincial secretary. From that day to this the despatch has not been seen. It never reached the public eye. Who destroyed it if it was destroyed, who secreted it if it was secreted, who lost it if it was lost, will never be known. The parties are all dead. Lord Dufferin always denied all knowledgment of its fate, although it was admitted that His Excellency handed the despatch to the Lieutenant-Governor. The Lieutenant-Governor said he per- sonally delivered it to the messenger. The Provincial Secretary and the Premier were equally emphatic in asserting that it never came into their hands. Sir Joseph Trutch categorically declared some years ago that the proclamation adopting the Bute Inlet route was carefully read by him and that he gave it to the messenger himself. He added that its disappearance was as profound a mystery to him as it was to Lord Dufferin.” The missing despatch to which Mr. Higgins refers related to a Dominion order in council, and a memorandum of the Minister of Public Works representing the expediency of obtaining from the Government of British Columbia a conveyance of land, twenty miles ir width, on each side of the line of the C. P. R. survey, and located in the Province. It was passed on the 7th of June and July for- warded. Its receipt was acknowledged on the 4th of July by Lt.-Governor Trutch, just then going out of office, in a despatch stating that “I have this day received and laid before my executive council your despatch of the 13th ulto.” Apparently it never reached the Executive Council, and was of course not acted upon. In the session of 1879 a select committee was appointed to inquire into the circum- stances. Everybody who was supposed to have any knowledge, official or otherwise, was examined, but no one had any knowledge of, or remembered it, in any way. Even the Private Secretary, whose duty it was to copy all despatches to be conveyed to the Executive, had only a faint recollection of it. The original was found at Government House, and how it failed to reach the Government was the mystery, and remains a mystery to this day. Sir Joseph Trutch stated that his expression “laid before my Executive Council” was an official phrase, and simply referred to the fact that he had followed the usual custom, not implying that he personally laid the despatch before his advisers. It may be stated here that a second request came from the Dominion Government in September, 1878, similar to that contained in the missing despatch, and that in the session of 1879 a Bill was passed in compliance therewith. [ 93 ] THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. CHAPTER VIII. To fix definitely the credit of first conceiving the idea of a transconti- nental railway to bind together the various parts of British North America would be as difficult as to settle the dispute as to who was really father of Confederation, of which it was the corollary. Canada to become a political and a practical success as a nation meant that the interprovincial bond should be supplemented by interprovincial communication. Long before Confederation took concrete form, the union of all parts of British America under some common form of government had been suggested. It was just as natural that this solidification of British dominancy over so vast a terri- tory should be suggested as that the various states and territories of the United States should be consolidated under one flag. The same considera- tions which induced the American people to project lines of railway from east to west appealed to the people of older Canada, and therefore very early in Canadian history there was a general, if vague, advocacy of rail- way construction through British territory as far as the Pacific Coast. At first such a scheme seemed visionary and distant, but the enterprise was already germinating in the minds of leading men and writers sixty years ago. Sir Ed. Watkin in the Illustrated London News in February, 1861, definitely predicted it. Fragmentary references to it are to be found in books, newspaper articles, and in the reports of political speeches and lec- tures at various times. In the Library of the Legislative Assembly at Victoria is to be found the original copy of a paper that was published by the Royal Engineers who came out to British Columbia in 1859 on the ship Thames. One of the articles written by an officer of the ship advocated a line of railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Curiously enough, al- though the proposal was purely speculative, the portion of the proposed main line through British Columbia was projected almost along the route actually adopted afterwards by the C. P. R. Company. At that time no surveys had been made, nor, indeed, had the proposal for a railway been considered by any government. Rogers and Moberly Passes, the discovery of which made the present main line route possible, were unheard of for years after- wards. Confederation itself was still wholly in nubibus. It may, therefore, be assumed that the officer of the Thames prophesied “better than he knew.” A little later on, Alfred Waddington advocated a wagon road through the interior of British Columbia by way of Bella Coola and the Palmer trail, to be continued overland. Subsequently he advocated a railway along the same route, and had been in Ottawa several years before he died, urging its con- struction, and endeavouring to interest capital in it. His own fortune had previously been dissipated in the enterprise. The first idea which prevailed in British Columbia in regard to communication with eastern Canada was that of a wagon road, and the idea that Sir James Douglas had in mind in days gone by practically followed the route selected by the Hon. Edgar Dewd- [ 95 ] ney, which is commonly known as the Dewdney Trail, through the Simil- kameen, Boundary and southern Kootenay districts, via Hope; and when the British Columbia delegates went to Ottawa to arrange the Terms of Union, they were instructed to ask for a wagon road. They hardly dared to hope for a railway. The Hon. Dr. Helmcken is the author of the inter- esting piece of information that to the late Sir Joseph W. Trutch is due the credit of suggesting a railway as the real solution of the situation. He relates that one day, before the members of the Executive Council met, Mr. Trutch, then Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, approached him and asked what he thought of the scheme of a railway. Dr. Helmcken, who knew what an enterprise of such magnitude was likely to cost, thought it out of the question, and the experience of the Province in railway matters for the next ten years proved that he was practically right. The Chief Com- missioner, however, with his practical mind, pointed out that a wagon road would he of no use as a commercial proposition, and that if Confederation was to become a reality and a benefit, there must be a railway or nothing at all. As an engineer himself, he realized that the obstacles in the way were not insuperable; indeed, the United States had already demonstrated that en- gineers “could remove mountains.” He convinced Dr. Helmcken and the members of the Executive of the practicability of the scheme. The dele- gates went to Ottawa, and though instructed by the Legislature to ask for a wagon road, they rejoiced in getting the promise of a railway instead. Financially, to the majority of the people of Canada, it seemed impossible as a feasible proposition, although that idea was principally instilled into them by politicians. The fear, however, of national bankruptcy, as a consequence of its being undertaken, proved a bugbear for a long period. As has already been stated, it was not intended at the outset that the Government of Canada should bear any portion of the cost directly, except for surveys. It was supposed that a railway corporation could be induced to build the line in return for a grant of land along side of the railway in the Middle West and throughout British Columbia, just as the Union, Central and Northern Pacific Railways had been financed in the United States. No less than 124 , 000,000 acres had been directly granted by Congress to the States for the purpose of aiding these railways, which at $2.00 per acre had amounted to $ 248 , 000,000 in land value. Thirty million acres had been granted to the Union and Central Pacific Companies, with a mileage of 2019 miles, or approximately $ 30,000 a mile. Hence came the resolution moved by Sir George E. Cartier as a supplement to the Terms of Union, which formed a stumbling-block in the path of construction after the Lib- erals had taken up the reins of government, viz., that the building of the railway should he carried on without an increase of the general rate of tax- ation. This was really intended as a sop to those supporters of the Mac- donald Government, who dreaded the liability involved in a project to be un- dertaken apparently on behalf of the interests of British Columbia alone, a community numbering less than 10,000 white souls. Mr. Trutch, who re- mained in Ottawa to watch the proceedings in Parliament during the passage of the terms as the special representative of the Province, gave a passive assent to the resolution, and it was afterwards held by the Liberal Govern- ment that it had, so to speak, been read into the treaty between the two [ 96 ] governments and formed a part of it. Xeedless to say, British Columbia, as one of the contracting parties, had never agreed to it and was not bound by this restrictive feature in the agreement. That the government of Sir John Macdonald did not indeed feel itself bound by such a stipulation is shown by the provisions of the railway bill introduced during the session of 1872. It included authority for the giving of a land subsidy not exceed- ing 50 , 000,000 acres of land and a cash subsidy not exceeding $ 30 , 000 , 000 , to be agreed upon, and Sir John A. Macdonald, who was in Washington at the time of the passing of the Terms of Union, afterwards declared that if he had been in his place as leader, instead of Sir George Cartier, no such condition would have been exacted. It was first proposed that the work should be undertaken by a sort of national finance company, shares of which were to be allotted in certain proportions to the different provinces, and the allotment was actually made and agreed upon, British Columbia’s share being $ 165,000 out of a capi- talization of $11,000,000. As a consequence of railway legislation to au- thorize construction, two companies were incorporated in 1872 for the pur- pose of taking advantage of the subsidies to be arranged and of building the transcontinental line. At the head of one was Sir David L. Macpherson, Toronto, who organized the Interoceanic Railway Company of Canada, and of the other, Sir Hugh Allan, Montreal, head of the Allan Steamship Line. Both of these men were wealthy and highly influential in financial circles, and each gathered round him a strong group of men as provisional directors. One of these men represented Ontario and its influence, and the other Quebec and its influence. There was rivalry on that account between the two most important factors of Confederation; but the real rivalry was be- tween the two men themselves. Sir John Macdonald, conscious that he had to deal with provinces as well as with individuals, was most anxious to bring about an amalgamation into one strong company. That was possible except for the fact that both men wanted to be president, and upon that rock they split. The general elections came on during this unsettled state of af- fairs, and Sir George Cartier, acting without the knowledge of Sir John Macdonald, and favouring the interests of Sir Hugh, made an arrangement with the latter to supply very large sums of money for election purposes, which actually amounted in the end to $ 350 , 000 . The Government was re- turned to power but the revelations during the following sessions of Parlia- ment in regard to this fund led to what is known in Canadian history as the Pacific scandal, the result of which was the resignation of Sir John and his colleagues, and the return, at the general election following, of the Liberal partj% with Sir Alexander Mackenzie as Premier, letters affecting the matter having been stolen from the office of the late Hon. J. G. Ab- bott, solicitor of Sir Hugh Allan, and sold to the Opposition leaders for large sums of money. Personally, there is no doubt that Sir John Macdonald fully vindicated his own political honour, and there is evidence that the Governor-General, to whom his explanations were made, was fully satisfied, but he and his party had to suffer for the ill-advised action of Sir Geo. Cartier, then in declin- ing health and powers of mind. That a number of Sir John’s supporters, many of whom were coalitionists drawn from the ranks of old-time Liberals, [ 97 ] deserted him in this, his greatest trial, was the most discreditable feature of the whole affair. The defeat of the government of Sir John, and the success of the Liberals, were the beginnings of British Columbia’s troubles in respect to the railway. An endeavour has already been made in previous chap- ters to trace the order of events arising out of that great political disrup- tion. British Columbia did not accept the situation with very good grace, as in very truth is not to be wondered at, but as has been shown, her people did not make the best use of the opportunities still left them, to have the railway built with the least possible delay. That the government of Sir John Macdonald was really in earnest in its desire to push forward vigorously the work of construction is abundantly clear. No sooner were the Terms of Union confirmed and British Columbia had formally entered Confederation than a party of engineers landed in Vic- toria and began the work of exploratory surveys. Of course, in a work of such magnitude, involving so many unknown quantities, the Dominion authorities did not feel morally bound to fulfill the contract to the letter, because that would have been an impossible attempt. There had to be some element of definiteness about it, but to have completed the surveys in two years in a country of the physical conformation and extent of British Co- lumbia, nine-tenths of which was practically a terra incognita, and then to be compelled to commence actual construction immediately thereafter would have been unreasonably exacting. The people of British Columbia did not really expect it, and their feelings on the subject were well expressed — perhaps somewhat indiscreetly — at Ottawa in a speech there when Mr. Trutch said that a reasonable compliance with the terms of the contract, in which the spirit would be respected, was all that could be expected on the part of the Dominion. The intrusion of great mountain ranges throughout the Province, with here and there points of access through passes, created an unusual problem. Not only did considerations of elevation, gradients, the most di- rect route to the sea, harbours and their approaches from the ocean, the ex- isting centres of population, the nature of the country, and the geographical relation to the Orient — all came into play in determining the route to be se- lected, but the particular pass through the Rockies had to be chosen which commercially and strategically would be the best for a line across the prairies. As we know now, there are half a dozen of available good routes, and as many good harbours, as termini, from Alaska to the southern bound- ary line, and there were at that time probably as many differences of opin- ion among those who had good general knowledge on the subject. The Hudson’s Bay Co. people had practically travelled through and explored the entire interior, and many prospectors and miners knew a good deal of the lie of the land. It was necessary for the engineers to examine carefully all known routes, with all the conditions of railway construction and operation, with a view to the final decision, and in the end other than mere physical considerations determined the choice. It took eight years, with strong, efficient engineering forces in the field continuously and indus- triously employed, to come to the point where the Government felt that it had sufficient scientific data to go upon. It was not, however, the necessary delay in starting the enterprise that caused the unrest and discontent in Brit- ish Columbia so much as the obvious lack of sympathy in eastern Canada [ 98 ] with the vigorous prosecution of the enterprise that vexed the people’s feel- ings. The fact that the Liberal party had been hostile to the Terms of Union, and that a large section of Liberals in the House and in the country sought means to evade the responsibility of carrying them out according to spirit of the contract, caused British Columbia to stand upon her legal rights and de- mand the “pound of flesh” in order that by compromise or concessions she might not lose the full benefits of an arrangement which to her was the very breath of life. These two facts, lack of sympathy on one side, and suspicion on the other, led to that mutual estrangement which defeated for the time being the original objects which both had in view. Sir Alexander Mackenzie and some of the leading men of his party, though they believed the bargain en- tered into by their predecessors was bad in the interests of the Dominion, were willing to carry it into effect, or at least to the extent to which it was finan- cially safe to proceed. That they had not greater imagination was not their fault. They were at least honest. Balked in their good intentions at a crit- ical moment by the crass policy of the local Government they pursued a line of policy that was unjustifiable and tended to complicate the situation and embitter both sides to the dispute. The history of the railway in the Prov- ince for eight years was that of making surveys and preparing and publish- ing reports of progress, of fruitless negotiations over starting construction, of mutual recrimination, of indignation meetings, of political squabbling in the local field of politics, of delegations to Ottawa and England, of vice-regal visits to the Province in the interests of peace, and of endless resolutions in and out of Parliament. In the end the return of the Conservative Govern- ment to power at Ottawa, pledged to a progressive and vigorous policy of railway construction and in political sympathy with the grievances of British Columbia, solved the problem and brought about, perhaps not in the very best way, what was desired. In this connection it is not necessary to go into the details of the forma- tion of the C. P. R. syndicate to construct the railway, under terms of a cash bonus and a land subsidy within ten years from 1881; of the rival syn- dicate which was formed; of the political fight that ensued; of the financial difficulties which attended the carrying on of so great an undertaking; of the tremendous vigour with which the syndicate prosecuted the work; and of how it was completed five years before the time stipulated in the contract. These are details which belong rather to the general history of Canada, though they had an immediate and direct effect upon the fortunes of the Province. The history of the practical building of the C. P. R. railway in this Province, from first to last, is most interesting, and it is recorded for the first time in the following contribution from the pen of Mr. H. J. Cam- bie, C. E., the consulting engineer of the Pacific division of the C. P. R., whose experience of all its details is probably more intimate than that of any other official of the Company, past or present. It has been supple- mented by information from Mr. Harry Abbott, formerly General Superin- tendant of the Pacific division, and Mr. R. Marpole, his assistant, who suc- ceeded him, and who is now executive representative of the railway com- pany in the West. [ 99 ] “In giving a sketch of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and its construc- tion through British Columbia, one is compelled to refer to the selection of the route. As soon as practicable after British Columbia had joined the confederated provinces, surveys of the various routes were undertaken un- der the direction of Mr. (now Sir) Sanford Fleming, as Engineer in Chief, the leading railway engineer of Canada, and at that time Chief of the Intercolonial Railway, a gentleman who looked on engineering matters with comprehensive view and on routes from an Imperial standpoint, and who as early as 1877, proposed the Pacific Cable to Australia, which, largely through his efforts, was completed in 1903. After the first year’s opera- tions, he was ably assisted by Mr. Marcus Smith, an engineer of large ex- perience, who had been Chief of the Great Western Railway in Western Can- ada, between Windsor and Niagara Falls and Toronto. He was afterwards in Cape Colony — South Africa — and became District Engineer of the Inter- colonial Railway in New Brunswick, until he came to British Columbia. Mr. Smith conducted the surveys in British Columbia during 1872-1875, and his reports were exceedingly accurate and comprehensive. After that time he became Acting Chief Engineer during Sir Sanford Fleming’s absence in Europe, and the writer had direct charge of the surveys in British Columbia during 1876-1879. “The main passes through the Rocky Mountains were fairly well known. Those of least elevation, which therefore received serious consideration, were the Crow’s Nest, the Kicking Horse, the Yellow Head and the Peace River, with its “cut-off,” the Pine River Pass. The Canadian Pacific, being in one sense a military road, receiving aid from the Imperial Government, the Crow’s Nest Pass was, on account of its proximity to the American Bound- ary, at an early date left out of consideration. The Kicking Horse Pass, through the Rockies, had been examined by Dr. Hector in 1865, in con- nection with Captain Palliser’s expedition, and Mr. Walter Moberly had discovered Eagle Pass through the Gold Range some years previously to Confederation. He was therefore selected in 1871 to make explorations and a survey of the intervening district, in order to connect the passes by following round the Big Bend of the Columbia, or otherwise as his explora- tions might show to be advisable. Shortly after he had reached the scene of operations and before he got actually to work, the Government decided on the Yellow Head Pass, as the one to be adopted through the Rockies, and all efforts were directed to finding the best route from that Pass to a suit- able harbour on the Pacific Coast and eastward towards Edmonton, and Mr. Moberly was removed to Yellow Head to work eastward. “The approaches to Yellow Head Pass from British Columbia were well known. The most notable band of travellers who had come that way being the party who journeyed in 1862 from Ontario to the gold mines of British Columbia. They had come in one band across the plains from St. Paul to Tete Jaune Cache, where they divided, one party going by way of the North Thompson to Kamloops, and the other down the Fraser to Fort George and Quesnel. Among the former was Mr. J. A. Mara, of Kamloops, and now of Victoria, and among the latter Mr. R. H. Alexander, of Vancouver. “Some preliminary surveys had been made in 1871 up the Fraser, the Thompson and the North Thompson, by parties under Mr. John Trutch, [ 100 ] but it was not until 1877 that the route from Yellow Head Pass to Bur- rard Inlet was surveyed in a thorough manner by parties under Mr. C. H. Gamsby, Mr. W. T. Jennings, Mr. G. A. Keefer, Mr. A. Brunei, Mr. C. E. Perry and Mr. H. P. Bell. As a result of that survey the Yellow Head route was a few years later finally adopted by the Government. An explor- atory survey was made in 1873 by parties under Mr. Gamsby and Mr. Jar- vis, from Howe Sound via Pemberton Meadows, Lillooet and the Bonaparte River to the North Thompson, at a point about 80 miles above Kamloops, but it encountered many difficulties. “Great efforts were made to find a line from Yellow Head Pass to Bute Inlet, with a view to crossing over to Vancouver Island by transfer-barge or otherwise, and making the terminus at Esquimalt. To that end surveys were made up the two branches of the Homathco by Mr. Gamsby and the writer, and continued eastward, by parties under Mr. Jennings, Mr. Bell, Mr. Keefer, via Fort George to Yellow Head. Seymour Narrows and the channels of Valdez Island, in connection with the same route, were surveyed by Mr. Joseph Hunter in 1872. As an alternative to the foregoing a line was also surveyed from the Homathco via the Chilcotin River, Williams Lake, Lac La Hache, Mahood Lake and the Clearwater River to the North Thompson River, but many difficulties were experienced. Another alterna- tive line was explored from Fort George via the Fraser River, the Black- water and the Kemsquit to Dean’s Canal — and about 50 miles of it was lo- cated by Mr. W. T. Jennings and a similar distance by Mr. J. Hunter, in 1876. The route via the North Thompson, Kamloops, Lytton and Yale to Port Moody, Burrard Inlet, was selected because that was found to be the best harbour in the southern mainland of British Columbia, and the line leading to it was the shortest, had the best grades, while, though, the diffi- culties of construction were great, they were not insuperable. The surveys just described occupied about eight years, and in connection with them many explorations were made, some entailing a considerable amount of hardship. In 1879, before the Burrard Inlet route had been finally decided on, the writer, accompanied by Mr. H. A. McLeod, the late Dr. G. M. Dawson (then a Director of the Geological Survey of Canada), and Rev. D. M. Gordon (now Principal of Queen’s College, Kingston), explored, by direc- tion of the Government, Port Simpson, Metlakatla, the Skeena River, Ba- bine and Stuart lakes, went down the Peace River about 150 miles in an old boat, and another 150 miles on a raft, to Fort Dunvegan, made a trip from there southward through what is known as “Grand Prairie,” thence northeastward to Lesser Slave Lake. The other members of the party went east by various routes to Fort Garry, and the writer returned with a pack train to British Columbia, via Pine River Pass, being caught by winter and snow in the Pass, while several hundred miles from the settlement at Ques- nel mouth. The Pine River Pass had been carefully examined and explored by Mr. Joseph Hunter in 1877 to a distance of about 80 miles east of the summit. During the same season, Mr. G. A. Keefer made a location sur- vey up the Skeena for about 100 miles from Essington. While on these explorations, we met with much kindness and assistance from the officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and also from some of the Roman Catholic priests, missionaries of the O. M. I., whose devotion and self-denial reminded [ 101 ] us of the stories of the Jesuits of 300 years ago, and they never failed to influence the Indians for good. I hope I may be pardoned for relating one or two little incidents which impressed me much at that time. The only people to be met with in the mountains were Indians, so these tales can refer to them alone. “In October, 1874, I camped on the North Thompson about 52 miles from Kamloops, and, being determined to ride through to that place the next day, started alone before daylight, and reached the Indian Reserve just at sunrise. Riding rapidly along the trail and round a spur of the hill, I came upon an Indian tent with the door flaps open, the Indian kneeling on the right of the door, his wife on the left, and three children between them, all at prayer. Their horses were picketed out, and began to whinny at the sight of mine. I made a slight detour so as not to disturb them, and after going a hundred yards or so, pushed on at a hard gallop — but so far as could be seen they went on with their prayers without looking around. They must indeed have been deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. How few city congregations would have acted in the same way. In the spring of 1875 I explored the east branch of the Homathco pre- paratory to making survey there, and in so doing passed almost unarmed through the country of the very band of Chilcotin Indians, some of whom had taken part in the massacre of Waddington’s men in 1864, and who had since avoided, as far as possible, having any dealings with white men. Many of their women had never before seen a man with a beard, and would not be- lieve that mine really grew on my chin. Bands of these Indians tried again and again to frighten me, and told me that I was not wanted there, but Father Marechal came to visit them, vouched for my good character and be- haviour, and we soon became firm friends. Again in 1877, when passing an Indian village, in the Ahwilgate Canyon of the Bulkley River, I was asked to see a man that was very sick. About a year previously his wife, in a fit of jealousy, had cut his leg with a small axe, inflicting a fearful wound which was still open, and no doubt caused his death, which occurred shortly after wards. But he told me that the priest had explained to him the truths of the Christian religion and told him that he must forgive her, if he hoped to be forgiven, and with tears in his eyes he laid his hand on her head and said he freely forgave her, and that since the priest had taught her, she had waited on him for many months, during every hour of the day; in fact, that she had been his devoted slave. “These anecdotes are merely mentioned to show the influence which the priests had acquired and which was always for good. One more story. When returning from Peace River in the autumn of 1877, I made sundry side trips with only two men, and on one of these expeditions, while among the foothills of the eastern slope of the Rockies, we found great difficulty in forcing our way through fallen timber, etc., to join the main party on Pine River. At Mo- berly Lake we found an Irishman named Armstrong hunting for furs and laying up a store of whitefish for his dogs to eat during the ensuing winter, and engaged him to assist us in cutting our way through the fallen timber, etc. While left alone with me for a day, he explained that he came originally from Belfast, had been brought up by an aunt, had come to the Cariboo gold mines, and finally, for reasons of his own, had taken to hunting and lived [ 102 ] absolutely alone, except for a few days each year, when he went to the Peace River to meet some trader and lay in supplies, etc., and that he found that in such surroundings he lived like a gentleman, as there were no temptations to excesses of any kind. On happening to mention his name in an official report two years later, Mr. John Brown, of New Westminster, who read it, wrote asking for further particulars, and afterwards identified him as a young man who had come to British Columbia with him, and of whom he had lost sight for many years. His aunt was then in very ill health and wanted to find Armstrong. We tried for a whole year to get a letter to him through a trader known as “Twelve Foot Davis,” without success. Finally, Mr. Charles, manager of the Hudson’s Bay Company, at Victoria, sent a letter to the Company’s agent in Winnipeg, and they forwarded it via Edmonton, Lesser Slave Lake, etc., to their post at Hudson’s Hope, where his where- abouts was known, and he came out to British Columbia in the autumn of 1883 and went home to his aunt. She died soon after and left him a com- petency, but he could not endure the restraints of civilization in Ireland, and, as Mr. Brown told me, returned in a short time to the wilds. “In the late autumn of 1879, the Government having adopted the line from Yellow Head Pass to Burrard Inlet, via North Thompson, Kamloops, Lytton and Yale to Burrard Inlet, determined to build at once from Emory’s Bar on the Fraser to Savona’s Ferry, at the outlet of Kamloops Lake, a dis- tance of 128 miles, which should connect the navigable stretch of the Lower Fraser River with the inland lakes and rivers stretching from Savona east- ward to Spallumcheen (now Enderby) and up the North Thompson for about 80 miles to the mouth of the Clearwater; and it was hoped that this section of the railway would improve materially the means of communication between the Interior and the Coast, till such time as it should be found pos- sible to construct the transcontinental line in its entirety. Tenders were asked for its construction in four sections — from Emory to Boston Bar, 29 miles; Boston Bar to Lytton, 29 miles; Lytton to Junction Flat (about 7 miles east of Spence’s Bridge), 281/2 miles; and Junction Flat to Savona, 40t/2 miles. The contracts were awarded for the first named to A. P. Mac- donald, a well-known contractor of Ontario, and for many years member of Parliament for the county of Middlesex. The section from Boston Bar to Lytton was awarded to Ryan, Goodwin & Co., also well-known contractors in eastern Canada. Both of these firms were bought up by Mr. Andrew On- derdonk, and the other two sections were awarded to him direct, so that he be- came the contractor for the whole. Mr. Onderdonk was a young engineer of marked ability, who had been most successful in sundry contracts in Califor- nia, and he was backed financially by Mr. D. O. Mills, a multi-millionaire of California, so that he had unlimited means at his disposal — a most fortu- nate circumstance for all concerned, as the difficulties of obtaining supplies were very great, and a poor man would have been heavily handicapped. The modes of communication with the outside world were crude, and very little was produced in the Province. There was only one line of railway across the continent — the Central Pacific from San Francisco to Ogden, connecting there with the Union Pacific, which reached to Omaha. ‘Hold-ups’ and train-robberies were frequent on this latter line. The writer made one trip over it with a soldier standing sentry at each door of each car, carrying a [103] loaded rifle, a picture of somewhat warlike aspect to the ordinary civilian. From San Francisco there was a steamer every three weeks to Victoria. The old Enterprise , commanded by Captain Lewis, and owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company, ran from Victoria twice a week to New Westminster; and Captain John Irving ran a river boat (of the variety known as a ‘wheel- barrow’ boat) with a paddle wheel at her stern and numerous rudders, twice a w r eek from Westminster to Yale. “I have a vivid recollection of my first trip up the Fraser in 1874. All the staunch boats on the river had that year been taken to run on the Stikine River, owing to the rush to the Cassiar mines, so only the old Onward was left, and, pilots being scarce, they had induced a gentleman known as ‘Gassy Jack’ to leave the comforts of his saloon which stood in Granville — on what is now Carrall Street, Vancouver — for the arduous duties of pilot. The Onward got along nicely till we reached Emory’s Bar, when I saw r the steward go up to the wheelhouse with a cocktail for the captain— but notwithstanding the stimulant, he lost control when we entered the riffle and she was carried back. He tried a second time but without success, and then tied up to the rocks in an eddy until she had a head of steam on that could have been heard blowing off miles away. When she sw r ung out again into the stream, the stew r ard refreshed the captain with still another cocktail of liberal proportions, and with the stimulant, or the steam, or both, the boat went straight up the riffle in first-class style. “Mr. Onderdonk lost no time in starting the work and as soon as a mile or so of it was located and set out, gangs of men w r ere put to work in every cutting. The first section from Emory to Boston Bar was under the charge of the writer, with Mr. T. H. White (now Chief Engineer of the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway in British Columbia) as his principal assistant, with Messrs. Strong, Carman, Eberts and Govin. The work on this section for the season of 1880 extended only as far as the ‘big tunnel,’ one mile above the Spuzzum suspension bridge. The Yale-Cariboo wagon road was a con- tinual source of trouble. All supplies for the interior of the Province had to pass over it, so, when the railway interfered with it, a new road had to be built before the construction of the railway could proceed. This wagon road was not an ordinary one. It had been built by the Province from Yale to Cariboo, a distance of over 350 miles, at a very heavy cost, and at a time when the population was small and resources limited, and it was built to ac- commodate ‘prairie schooners,’ by which all long distance freight was car- ried. For the benefit of those who have not seen these freight wagons, it may be interesting to note that a ‘prairie schooner’ consisted of a heavy wa- gon which usually carried 10,000 pounds. These were drawn by a team of nine yokes of oxen — or perhaps eight pairs of mules or horses. Such an out- fit would be about 100 feet long and could not turn short curves — so road diversions had to be built with care and with easy curves. “Mr. Melchior Eberts, brother of Hon. D. M. Eberts, had charge as engineer, of the work for some miles on either side of the suspension bridge embracing the ‘big tunnel,’ and early in January, 1881, he had laid out the tunnel one morning, and was hurrying back to his office, which was in the toll house at the bridge, when in passing over the bluff immediately north of it, he fell and slid head first about 60 or 80 feet on to the grade and over it, [104] till his clothes caught on a stump; otherwise he would have gone into the Fraser River. When the men returned after dinner to work on the bluff, one of them noticed his body. He was carefully carried to the camp at the tunnel, and Dr. Hannington and the writer were notified by telephone and got there as fast as horses could go; but his skull was fractured in many places and never having regained consciousness he died the next morning. We had made many arduous trips together, and being a large, powerful man of undaunted courage and full of resource, he was an ideal companion for explorations. “Mr. Onderdonk brought with him from California, as his engineer and adviser, Mr. E. G. Tilton, who assisted in organizing the work; but he left after two years, went into business in Victoria, and is now engineer of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railway. The superintendents on the work were Mr. J. B. Harrison, a gentleman who was for many years afterwards an alderman of the city of Victoria, and Mr. James Leamy, late Crown Tim- ber Agent for the Railway Belt with his office in New Westminster, and many others. Mr. George A. Keefer, late engineer of the Dominion Public Works Department at New Westminster, had charge of the section from Boston Bar to Lytton with Frank Hannington (now district engineer for the Canadian Northern Railway in British Columbia) as his principal assistant — also Mr. H. B. Smith, now of Vancouver, and Messrs. J. H. Gray and H. Fry, land surveyors of Victoria and Chemainus, respectively. On this section the line crossed the Fraser River near Cisco on a steel cantilever bridge which I believe to the first of its kind used on a railway. It was de- signed by Mr. Schneider of New York. Another designed afterwards by him for the Niagara River just below the falls, was in place first, though manufactured later. The cantilever is about the oldest design of bridge known and was used extensively by the Indians of this Province; I myself have paid toll for the privilege of crossing the Ahwilgate Canon of the Bulkley River on one so constructed. “When the track had been laid to this point, and during the erection of the bridge, which occupied several months, a cable was stretched across the Fraser and all freight and passengers were carried in a ‘basket’ suspended from a pulley. The wagon road being much lower than the railway the basket ran down with its own weight and was hauled back by a horse. I had occasion to pass there when this arrangement first came into use, and as a ‘basket’ had not then been provided, we were sent across in the body of a wheel barrow slung by a rope from each corner. This cable was 600 or 800 feet long, and as we got about half way across, going at a rapid pace, I saw to my consternation a man roll a bale of hay right into our path and then a second one. The inclination to scream was almost irresistible, but I refrained, and in an instant threw my legs in the air to save them being broken. Our “basket” struck one bale and sent it flying, then the second bale brought us to a stop — the bales of hay had been used for a brake. The section from Lytton eastward was in charge of Mr. H. A. F. Macleod, now of Ottawa; Mr. Heckman, now of Montreal; Mr. Wm. Mitchell, now of Vancouver, and Mr. Col. Carman* now of Cornwall, while Mr. H. P. Tuck, now sheriff of Kootenay, had charge of the work on behalf of Mr. Onder- donk. The fourth section was under the charge of Mr. L. B. Hamlin, who [ 105 ] afterwards lost his life near Dawson in the rush for gold, his principal assist- ant being Mr. J. B. Gauvreau, now of New Westminster. “Shortly after the work of construction from Emory to Savona had been begun in 1880, a syndicate was formed to organize a company and to build the Canadian Pacific Railway as a whole, and as a part of the subsidy to that company the Government undertook to build the line from Port Moody to Savona, 212 miles, and hand it over to the company as part of their sub- sidy. The section from Port Moody to Emory was let to Mr. Onderdonk in 1881, and he commenced work at once, the engineering being in charge of Mr. Marcus Smith, with Mr. Brophy in charge from Port Moody to Harri- son and Mr. E. A. Wilmot from Harrison to Emory. This work was pushed with vigour and the track laid through from Port Moody to Savona in Jan- uary, 1885. When the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. was organized in 1880, they pushed the work from Winnipeg westward with all possible energy and appointed General Rosser, chief engineer. He came to the conclusion that many advantages would he gained by adopting the Kicking Horse Pass as the one through which the railway should be carried instead of the Yel- low Head Pass which had been chosen by the Government, and in March, 1881, he determined to explore the Selkirks, and ascertain if a pass could be found through them which would cut off the Big Bend of the Columbia. Many years before, Dr. Hector had examined the Kicking Horse Pass, and Mr. Walter Moberly had explored Eagle Pass, and continuing eastward had selected the Illecillewaet as far as Albert Canyon. He had also sketched the Columbia Valley from Golden down to the Canoe River in the spring of 1872. So General Rosser sent out Major Rogers in March, 1881, armed with Mr. Moberly’s sketches, to see if a pass could be found where the line now runs. The Major had not had experience in that kind of work, and pinned his faith on his gun and a coat with many pockets and the contents thereof. “He was a man of indomitable energy and very forceful modes of expres- sion; in fact his language was of so impressive character that he passed by the name of ‘the Bishop,’ and was proud of it. After two years of strenuous exertion he explored the valley known as Rogers Pass. He afterwards had charge of the construction of the main line from the outlet of Shuswap Lake to Griffin Lake, and died not long after the line was completed. When the track had been laid from Port Moody to the crossing of the Fraser at Cisco in the spring of 1884, the Company made arrangements with Mr. Onderdonk to continue the construction from the end of the government work at Savona, eastward to Griffin Lake, where it was expected he would connect with the party which was building westward from Winnipeg. At that time the writer, having completed the work under his charge on the government section, en- tered the service of the Company, and took charge of the engineering from Savona to Shuswap Lake, while Major Rogers took charge from there to Griffin Lake. The former was assisted by Mr. R. A. Green, now of New Westminster, Mr. Strong, who died many years ago, Mr. McCammon, now of Victoria, with Mr. Fry and Mr. Burnyeat, now of Vernon. Major Rogers was assisted by Mr. Stevens, afterwards chief engineer of the Great Northern Railway, and for some time chief of the Panama Canal, and Mr. Roberts, who was chief engineer of the Nelson and Fort Sheppard into Nelson, etc., as well as [106] Mr. Watson, who was lately surveyor-general of the State of Washington. Among the contractors east of Savona were Sinclair & Tappen, Mr. Rem. Onderdonk, who died in 1888, Mr. A. G. Ferguson, who built the line along Cherry Creek bluff on Kamloops Lake, where there was some very heavy work with six tunnels in a very short distance. The last named afterwards settled in Vancouver, built and owned several business blocks, was at one time a park commissioner and died in 1904. Mr. James Leamy, of the Leamy & Kyle mill on False Creek, Captain Troup, manager C. P. R. B. C. Coast Steamship Service, Mr. Hugh Keefer, the well known contractor of Van- couver, Mr. Wm. Mitchell, now of Vancouver, and some others may be in- cluded in this list. The work was pushed vigorously during the summer of 1884 and early in 1885 and track laying was continued eastward from Savona. The nature of the country from Yale eastward was such that timber for the bridges and trestles had to be brought forward by train, and erected with all possible despatch in places where there was little room to pile timber, and there were hundreds of such trestles to build, so the necessity for speed was urgent. This work was put by Mr. Onderdonk under the charge of two men, both of whom showed marked ability as organizers of that class of work. The logs were cut mostly on a flat about three miles west of Hope, hauled by tram to Texas Lake, near Emory, where a saw mill with framing machinery was erected, and was operated under the direction of Mr. Edward Choate, now of Fairview, Vancouver. The timber was sent to the ‘scene of action’ with every stick framed, numbered, and marked for its own particular position. On reaching the scene the timber was taken in charge by Mr. Dan McGilli- vray, who adopted a system of stretching a cable over the site of a trestle and sending each piece to its destination suspended from a pulley travelling on the same cable. As relays of men were employed both by day and night, the work proceeded rapidly. This method of erecting trestles was unusual at that time, and was largely Mr. McGillivray’s own device, though it has now be- come the usual method in mountain valleys under similar circumstances. He afterwards became a contractor for various works on a large scale and was the man who hauled the first flexible joint water pipe across ‘The Narrows’ to Vancouver, when the patentee of the said pipes had given it up as an impos- sible feat. He was also superintendent of construction on the Nakusp & Slocan Railway, and died in 1900 at Sault Ste. Marie, where he had some ex- tensive contracts on hand, leaving a wife, son and daughter, who are still living. “The track was laid to Craigellachie, about 16 miles east of Shuswap Lake and 389 miles from Port Moody, in October, 1885, and could not be continued further eastward, as the work done had exhausted all the rails that had been shipped by water to the Pacific Coast. On November 7th, 1885, the track from the east reached Craigellachie and was linked to that from the west, thus completing the transcontinental line from Ocean to Ocean — a consumma- tion which had been looked forward to with hope from the time of the original Confederation in 1867, and more particularly from the time when the Province of British Columbia entered the Confederation in 1871. The ceremonies of linking up the tracks from the east and west were very simple — Sir Don- ald A. Smith (now Lord Strathcona), who had been so prominently identified with the undertaking and whose faith in the future of the enterprise, and the manner in which he staked his immense fortune in it, had formed a leading [107] factor in its success, came all the way from Montreal to drive the last spike. He was accompanied by Mr. (now Sir William) Van Horne, the general manager, and Mr. (now Sir Sanford) Fleming, a director, also Mr. Harris, of Boston, another director, who continued to be one of the board up to the time of his death a couple of years ago, and Mr. Harry Abbott, who shortly afterwards became general superintendent of the Pacific Division. Major Rogers held up the end of the tie with a bar in the usual fashion, while Sir Donald drove the spike, and Mr. M. J. Haney, Onderdonk’s superintendent of construction, with the writer, stood behind Sir Donald on the memorable occasion. “The whole party proceeded at once to Kamloops and next day to Port Moody in a train hauled by Mr. Bob Mee, who till within three years ago hauled passenger trains daily between Vancouver and North Bend. There came with us on the same train to the Coast Mr. James Ross, superintendent of construction from the eastward, with many of the officials and contractors on that part of the work, whom I forbear to enumerate, as they were all strangers to me and it would be unfortunate to make mistakes or omissions. At Port Moody we all embarked on the Yosemite, commanded by Capt. Troup, for Victoria, and after two days there, all the party which had come from the east of the Mountains returned home. Though the rails had been connected across the continent, many things remained to be done before the line could be opened for traffic, the most important of which was the construction of the snowsheds for the tracks, through that part of the Selkirk range where the heaviest snowfall occurs. It was, there- fore, determined to defer the opening until July 1st, 1886. In the mean- time arrangements were made for extending the line from Port Moody to Coal Harbour (now Vancouver) and work was begun. At the same time the New Westminster branch was built and was opened for traffic in the autumn of 1886, while the extension to Vancouver was completed and opened for traffic in May, 1887.” After the completion of the railway by the driving of the last spike, Mr. Harry Abbott, C. E., took charge as general superintendent of the Pacific Division, his jurisdiction extending from Donald to the Coast. Mr. Abbott was a brother to the Hon. Sir John J. G. Abbott, for some years solicitor-in- chief of the C. P. R. Co. and subsequently Premier of Canada. He was an engineer of wide experience and had had engineering charge of two divisions of the road east of Port Arthur before coming to Vancouver. His post at the latter place was, owing to the nature of the Province, its extent, its varied in- terests, and its distance from the executive centre, the most responsible of its kind on the entire line. Though he retired some time ago owing to advancing years, he is still at eighty-two, erect and hale. As stated in the foregoing account by Mr. Cambie, the visiting officials of the C. P. R. in 1885 proceeded to Victoria, and subsequently spent some days in the Province before returning to Montreal. Mr. Abbott stayed behind to arrange for a party to remain in the Selkirk range with the object of study- ing the kind of work required for the snowsheds. He then proceeded to Mon- treal. On the last day of 1885, he left his home in Brockville, Ont., for the Coast, via Grand Trunk and Northern Pacific, and was engaged for some weeks at Victoria and Granville (as it was then), returning once more to [108] Montreal. Mr. Cambie during this time was surveying the extension of the line from Port Moody to Coal Harbour. On the First day of May, 1886, Mr. Abbott returned to Vancouver, over the C. P. R. by train to Donald, then by handcar to within six miles of Rog- ers Pass, walking from that point along the track and passing over deep cut- tings filled to the original surface with, snowslides, to the west end of the loop near Glacier, where a construction train took him to Revelstoke. From Rev- elstoke he proceeded on a handcar to Kamloops, and from there on the regular train to Port Moody. On this trip he was accompanied by Mr. R. Marpole, his assistant in the east, who then gained his first experience in British Colum- bia. It must be remembered that regular communication was not possible through the Selkirks until the snowsheds were built, and the line suffered se- verely through the snow during the first winter, and the pioneers had thrilling experiences in the mountains, especially during the first few years after the construction of the line. The efficiency of the snowsheds themselves, to protect the track at danger points, constituted no mean engineering prob- lem, and many doubts were expressed at the time as to their ability to with- stand the mountain avalanches. These sheds were added to from time to time, as necessity and experience dictated, and exist to-day apparently as impregnable as ever. But through a system of mountain ranges the more rugged, massive and extended than any in the world where railways have been built, snowslides are not the only dangers. It required then and still requires incessant vigilance to secure safety, but so successfully have the operations been carried on in the mountain sections that, though acci- dents have occurred, none have been serious since the date of completion, and the toll of life has been less in British Columbia, proportionately to the mileage, than on the rest of the line. In June, 1886, Sir Joseph Trutch, Dominion Government Agent in British Columbia, was formally notified by the C. P. R. Co. of its accept- ance of a portion of the line, and the road was taken over on the First of July. On that day the first train came through to Port Moody. From that date regular trains continued to run until the 29th day of February, when snowslides stopped traffic for several weeks, after which regular communication was again resumed. Owing to the government portion of the road between Savona and the Coast not having been completed up to stan- dard, the railway company made heavy claims as compensation for unfin- ished work, which, after considerable negotiations, were referred to arbitra- tion. The arbitrators were: Vice-Chancellor Boyd, Toronto, controlling arbi- trator, with Thos. Keefer, C. E., Ottawa, arbitrator for the company, and Judge C. C. Gregory, St. John, N. B., arbitrator for the Government. The Hon. Edward Blake acted as legal adviser for the C. P. R. and T. W. Blackstock, Toronto, for the Dominion Government. An award was fin- ally made in favour of the Company for $450,000. The acceptance of a re- taining fee on behalf of the company by Mr. Blake, who had been most active and vigorous in his opposition to the building of the line, seemed a striking instance of the irony of fate, and old timers will long remember a banquet held in the Hotel Vancouver to celebrate the arrival of the first Empress steamship, the India, on which occasion he was an invited guest, [109] and defended in facetious vein and with exceeding ingenuity his former refer- ences to British Columbia as a “sea of mountains.” During Mr. Abbott’s term of office of general superintendent, there were important extensions of the system in the Province. The Shuswap and Okanagan branch from Sieamous to Long Lake, near Vernon, 50 miles in length, which was built by Larkin, Connolly & Co., as general contractors, under a guarantee of principal and interest of the bonds by the Province and a subsidy of $3,200 a mile from the Dominion, was leased for forty years by the C. P. R., according to an arrangement with the Province for a division of traffic proceeds, and has been operated by the Company ever since. The Columbia and Kootenay Railway from Robson to Nelson, 27.4 miles in length, with extensions of 59.5 miles, received a Dominion bonus of $88,000, and a provincial subsidy of 10,240 acres per mile, and was built as a consequence of the discovery of the rich mines on Toad Mountain in 1887, and the sub- sequent developments in that vicinity which brought Nelson City into ex- istence. Stories are still current of how Sir Wm. Van Horne, besieged by mosquitoes and badly used by the pommel of his saddle, rode into Nelson along the proposed route, suffering from experiences which did not augur well for his recommendation of the enterprise. In 1891 the branch from Mission City south to Sumas was built to make connection with Seattle via the Bellingham Bay and British Columbia and Lake Shore railways. It was probably a mistake that the C. P. R. did not then acquire the Lake Shore Railway and go into Seattle over its own line. The great activity which occurred in the Slocan country, as the result of rich discoveries of sil- ver-lead bodies of ore, induced the C. P. R. in 1892 to build from Nakusp to Sandon, 40.7 miles, under provincial guarantee and an arrangement as to the division of traffic receipts. Nominally, the line was built by the Nakusp & Slocan Company, and leased. At the time the C. P. R. was completed and for some time subsequently, the Inland Navigation Company, of which J. A. Mara, F. S. Barnard, Captain John Irving and Captain Troup were the principal shareholders, operated a line of steamers from Revelstoke on the Columbia, down the Arrow Lakes and for a distance south of the boundary line; also on the Kootenay Lake. The C. P. R. acquired the stock of the company in 1895, and the fleet of steamers, of which Captain Troup was commodore, was the nucleus of the present excellent interior lake service. In 1896 the Arrowhead line, 22 miles from Revelstoke south, was built, making Arrowhead the head of lake navigation. After the completion of the Shus- wap & Okanagan Railway, steamers were placed on the Okanagan Lake to connect with the trains. During Mr. Abbott’s regime also an exploration was made of the Similkameen country with a view to the construction of a line over the Hope mountains, hut the report of the surveyors was not favour- able, and so far as the C. P. R. was concerned was abandoned for the time being. The problem of financing railway lines at that time was not so easy as it is now, and the C. P. R. was not then in its present easy financial position; hence several strong recommendations of the general superintend- ent, the wisdom of which is more apparent to-day, were not adopted at head- quarters notwithstanding his intimate knowledge of the local situation. An interesting phase of the railway scheme in those days, not hitherto directly mentioned, was the extension of the line from Port Moody to Gran- [ 110 ] ville (now Vancouver). A group of men in Victoria induced the Provincial Government to subsidize the C. P. R. to the extent of 4,000 acres with the object of moving the terminus. This was arranged during a visit of Sir Wm. Van Horne in the winter of 1884-1885. Owners of real estate in that region also naturally favoured the change of site. Equally naturally the owners of lots in Port Moody were very much opposed, and after long pro- test applied for an injunction to prevent the line going beyond that point. It was pointed out that large investments had been made, principally by resi- dents of New Westminster, and the change in many instances meant a seri- ous loss. The first maps of the C. P. R. showing the survey to Coal Har- bour bore the legend “extension”. This term, however, was found to be ille- gal, since by the Dominion Act Port Moody had been specified as the ter- minus, so the difficulty was circumvented by describing it as a “branch” of the main line. At the preliminary trial before Chief Justice Begbie the ob- jections to the Granville site were upheld. Upon appeal, however, to the Su- preme Court of Canada the decision of the lower court was reversed, and work proceeded, the first train into Vancouver arriving on May 23rd, 1887. An amusing story is told of the visit of Sir John Macdonald, in this con- nection, illustrating his ready wit. A delegation from New Westminster, headed by the late Senator T. R. Mclnnes, waited upon the Premier at Port Moody, and after being introduced stated their grievances. On the strength of Port Moody being named the terminus and in full confidence of the good faith of the Government in that respect, they had invested heavily in town lots and acreage realty. To extend the line meant loss to many and ruin to some, and the Dominion Government was called upon to prevent it. Sir John sympathized deeply with them in the situation, but pointed out that the C. P. R. was a private corporation, over which the Government had no control in so far as its internal affairs were concerned, and if that cor- poration chose to build a branch to Granville, no exercise of power could legally prevent it from so doing; “But,” he concluded, “there is one thing of which the members of this delegation can be assured, that so long as the pres- ent Government remains in power and so long as my influence can effect it, Port Moody shall forever remain the statutory terminus of the C. P. R.” At least one member of that delegation was not satisfied with Sir John’s re- ply. Senator Mclnnes went over to the Liberal opposition and there remained. Upon the retirement of Mr. Abbott as general superintendent, he was succeeded by Mr. Marpole, who had been superintendent of the division from 1886, with headquarters at Kamloops and Donald. With the increase of traffic and the extension of the line in various directions, the volume of traf- fic had largely expanded, and the development of the Province in many fields of activity, as the result of increased facilities of communication, was propor- tionately great. The rapid growth of interests of all kinds rendered neces- sary further and continued extensions of that wonderful system which the C. P. R. had created, in order to meet the growing requirements, and exact- ing responsibilities fell on the shoulders of Mr. Marpole. The B. C. South- ern was undertaken in 1898 and completed in 1899. This railway gave the C. P. R. a direct line of entry from Lethbridge into southern Kootenay, and its construction was largely the result of an agitation in the commercial cen- [ 111 ] tres of eastern Canada to reach more readily and to acquire the trade of the Kootenay districts, which, owing to mining developments was beginning to command a large share of attention. The work was undertaken under spe- cial provision of a Dominion Government act, and had really a two-fold ob- ject in view: To secure a more direct line into the southern interior, and to develop the immense coal deposits of Crow’s Nest Pass. Several towns of importance, in particular Fernie and Cranbrook, with a very large coal mining and coking industry in the vicinity of Fernie, sprang up in consequence. The Columbia and Western Railway from Robson to Midway in the Boundary country, was another undertaking of importance. The charter and land grant in connection with this railway had originally been obtained by Mr. A. Heinze, the founder of the Trail smelter, and were subsequently acquired and the railway built by the C. P. R. with the object of taking ad- vantage of the traffic arising from the mining development in the Boundary district, where several smelters have since been erected and several of the largest of the copper-gold mines of the west are in a productive stage. About that time, Mr. D. C. Corbin, who had built the Spokane and Northern and the Nelson and Fort Sheppard railways, was negotiating for a charter for a railway along the southern boundary from Marcus into the Similka- meen country. After a sharp fight at Ottawa, Corbin voluntarily withdrew from the field; but subsequently the Great Northern, which had acquired the Corbin system, built a line following the same route, with the ultimate idea of building over the Hope mountain and connecting with its system in the lower Fraser valley. The Columbia and Western Railway, with branches, is about 160 miles in length. After completing these large enterprises on the mainland, the C. P. R. turned its attention to the Island of Vancouver, and in 1905 acquired the Es- quimalt and Nanaimo Railway, together with the land grant which was at- tached to it under the provisions of the Settlement Act, of which there were about 1,500,000 acres not yet alienated. This acquisition was of special im- portance to that section of the Province, as the company, having acquired and largely added to the fleet of the C. P. R. Co., Victoria, and having built the Empress Hotel, one of the finest hostelries on the continent, they had a special interest in developing the traffic of the Island. As the result of the transfer not only was the main line of the E. & N. largely improved in re- spect to roadbed and equipment, but branch lines have been since extended to Alberni, and are now (1912) in process of construction to Cowichan Lake and Comox, while it is the intention of the company to build their line to Quatsino Sound, thus shortening the distance to the Orient by steamer sev- eral hundred miles, so that passengers, mails, express and freight will prob- ably be transhipped there and conveyed by rail to Nanoose Bay and thence by fast ferry to Vancouver. The company has also engaged somewhat ex- tensively in clearing land experimentally for purposes of settlement, while if this experiment is successful, similar or more extensive operations will doubt- less follow. The coast trade of British Columbia has shown vast develop- ment since 1900, and the C. P. R. fleet, consisting of steamers of the most modern type, have virtually monopolized the traffic. [ 112 ] Developments in the coal mining industry in the Nicola country have in- duced the C. P. R. to build into that district also a connection with the main line at Spence’s Bridge, the length of the branch being 47 miles. The Ket- tle River Valley Railway, authorized and aided during the session of the Legislature in 1910, is in process of construction for a distance of 150 miles from Midway via Penticton to connect with the Nicola branch of the C. P. R. near Hope. Though not actually being built by the C. P. R., this line will be controlled and operated by that company when completed. The Koo- tenay Central, also indirectly a project of the C. P. R., is being constructed from Golden to Jaffray, a point on the Crows Nest Pass, a distance of about 200 miles. A passing reference only need be made to the Empress line of steam- ers, and the association of the C. P. R. with the line to Australasia. The first Oriental cargo reached Port Moody October 17th, 1886, in the tea- laden ship Bylgia. Then followed the steamers Partlria, Abyssinia and Ba- tavia, temporarily under commission, plying between Vancouver and Victoria and Japan and China. In the fall of 1887 a bi-monthly mail subsidy for this route was arranged for between Hong Kong and Montreal, amounting to $220,000 per annum. On the strength of this agreement the C. P. R. let a contract for the steamers of the present Empress line, the India, the China and the Japan. The first of these, the Empress of India , arrived, after a voyage around the world, on April 28th, 1891, the other two ships follow- ing when completed. In 1898 the Australian line was established by the late Mr. Huddart, of Australia, and was run in connection with the C. P. R. The expansion in Oriental traffic has been very marked since C. P. R. enterprise pointed the way. The ships of five steamship lines now trade be- tween British Columbia and China and Japan. There are also two lines to Australia and three to California and Mexico. The coasting trade has, of course, increased immensely, the tonnage of vessels arriving and depart- ing amounting to about 8,000,000 tons in 1910. Among the latest develop- ments of the C. P. R. are the intended extensions of the line from Port Moody along the north side of Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver; the erec- tion of a new station and terminal facilities at Vancouver, and the selection of Coquitlam for extensive workshops for the company. Among the older officials of the C. P. R., who were pioneers of the Pa- cific division, were Geo. McL. Brown, station agent at Vancouver, who has since occupied various responsible positions, and who is now the European representative of the C. P. R. system in London, Eng.; Wm. Downie, as- sistant superintendent at Vancouver, now general superintendent of the Atlantic division; E. J. Duchesnay, division engineer and subsequently superintendent at Revelstoke, deceased, a man of great energy and resource, and one of the most trusted and valued officials in the west; D. E. Brown, district passenger agent, who was for years subsequently manager of all the Oriental traffic, with headquarters at Hong Kong, now retired from the company’s service; Wm. Brown, his brother, district freight agent, de- ceased; Allan Cameron, of the freight department at Vancouver, who, after various promotions, became European freight traffic manager with headquar- ters in London, Eng., and is now representative of the traffic department in New York; W. F. Salsbury, who for twenty-five years has remained local [118] treasurer of the British Columbia division at Vancouver; J. T. Wilgress, for many years paymaster, now in the steamship office at Yokohama, second in command; J. A. Fullerton, who from the first has been ship’s husband of the Oriental fleet at Vancouver; James Wilson, now retired, was one of the pioneers in the telegraph service on this coast, and for many years was super- intendent of C. P. R. telegraphs; L. A. Hamilton, the first C. P. R. land commissioner at Vancouver, and his successor, J. M. Browning, the former retired and the latter deceased; Harry Connon, for many years in charge of the C. P. R. freight sheds. In July, 1912, the C. P. R. will have been over a quarter of a century in connection with Vancouver as its Pacific terminus. The changes which have occurred locally as the result of its completion and throughout Canada, have been of a marvellous character, and in a material sense have affected the des- tinies of the Empire. This great undertaking and its successful operations through an almost world-wide system has laid definite emphasis on the con- solidation and maintenance of British possessions at a boundary line running from east to west and is a guarantee of a still closer union in days to come between the different outlying parts of the Empire. [ 114 ] THE DUNSMUIRS. CHAPTER IX. A history of British Columbia would be incomplete without due mention of the Dunsmuir family. The Hon. Robert Dunsmuir, the founder of the family, may be said to have occupied a position in the industrial life of the Province similar to that held by Sir James Douglas in the political sphere. He was a typical Scotchman, shrewd and capable, who made the most of his opportunities, and, by industry, pluck, foresight and enterprise, made for himself a strong position in the commercial and political world. In a bio- graphical sketch written some years ago, he is admirably described: “He was neither a politician nor a statesman, judged by the usual standards, but he was a very practical, hard-headed and level-headed legislator, who knew what he wanted and usually took the shortest road to its accomplish- ment. There were different estimates of his character. He had many ene- mies and many ardent and admiring friends, — facts indicating his strong individuality. Brusque and energetic in his manner, he was at the same time genial, kind-hearted and generous, and numerous acts of benevolence are recorded of him.” He never forgot the friends of his early and struggling days, and, perhaps, the best tribute to him as a large employer of labour is that honest service was always rewarded by continuous employment and generous recognition, and that his employees always remained faithful to him. In later life he was known as the “Coal baron of Vancouver Island.” Born in Hurlford, Ayrshire, in 1825, he was trained in the coal mining business, in which his father and grandfather had been engaged. He was educated at Kilmarnock Academy and, in 1847, was married to Joan Olive, daughter of Alexander White, a woman of strong individuality and keen intelligence. Boyd Gilmour, an uncle of Robert Dunsmuir, came out to Vancouver Island in 1851, as an expert in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company, to prospect for coal, and, with him, came Mr. and Mrs. Dunsmuir, their destination being Fort Rupert, Vancouver Island. They left Scotland, Dec. 10, 1850, and arrived off the Columbia River in June, 1851. The vessel stranded on a bar at the mouth of the river in attempting to land stores and passengers at Fort Vancouver, and the sailors tempted by the gold excitement in California deserted — a circumstance not uncommon at that period. During the stay of the Dunsmuirs at this fort, James Dunsmuir, afterwards Premier and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, was born, on July 8th, 1851. The ship continued its voyage in August, but owing to the slowness and difficulty of navigation in those days, it did not reach Fort Rupert till Dec. 10th, 1851. The discomforts of such a voyage and the primitive conditions of settlement in those early days can be well imagined. The conditions at Fort Rupert at that time are recorded in the first part of this volume. The place was surrounded by Indian tribes, probably the [ 115 ] wildest on the coast, and troubles arose, calling for the intervention of Gov- ernor Blanshard and a man-of-war. Other difficulties incurred by the H. B. Co. in this district arose from the desertions of their coal miners for the gold-mines in California. Gilmour and Dunsmuir were engaged for three years. They prospected for 19 months at Suquash, about eight miles from Fort Rupert, where Mr. John Arbuthnot has recently acquired coal properties; but, after boring five holes, reported that the seams of coal were not workable, and moved to Nanaimo, where coal had previously been discovered in commercial quantity. At the end of his engagement Mr. Boyd Gilmour returned to Scotland, and Mr. Dunsmuir would have returned with him, had it not been for his wife, who persuaded him to remain in the country. About 1862 the Vancouver Coal Company, organized in London, bought out the coal rights of the Hudson’s Bay Co., and Robert Dunsmuir con- tinued as their manager until 1863, when he was succeeded by Mr. John Bryden, afterwards his son-in-law. Now follows an episode introduced to illustrate Dunsmuir’s sound judg- ment as a mining expert. After leaving the service of the Vancouver Coal Co., he undertook to prospect for the Harewood Co., in the neighbourhood of Nanaimo, over the same ground on which operations afterwards developed into what is known as the Harewood mine. He reported unfavourably on the prospect. Captain Lascelles next took up the work on the Harewood pro- perty, finding the necessary money, but withdrew in his turn and was suc- ceeded by Captain Buckley, who put in an aerial tramway, the first in the Province. Buckley was an English surveyor, a man of considerable ability and experience, who had made money in India, in connection with reclama- tion works, but he lost it all in the Harewood enterprise. He was a man of good personal address and optimistic, and, being in touch with English capi- tal, was in great favour with the local Government. It was he who chose Elk Lake as the best available water-supply for Victoria, and who examined and condemned the Goldstream watershed. After his failure with the Hare- wood mine, it was taken over bjr the Vancouver Coal Co., who, after spend- ing a great deal of money in prospecting and building a railway, also aban- doned it, thus confirming Dunsmuir’s judgment. In fact, as a coal pros- pector and expert, Dunsmuir justified his judgment in every project that he rejected as well as in every one that he undertook. His next step was to prospect on his own account, and in October, 1869, he found a splendid seam of coal at Wellington, about three miles from Departure Bay, which was destined to become a busy point of export. This was the beginning of his great fortune, and the turning point in his career. He drove some drifts to prove the property, but lacked capital of his own to develop it. For a time he was assisted by Birmingham & Rosen- feldt, of San Francisco, but they became discouraged and left him. The market was a limited one, and, with the Vancouver Coal Company at Na- naimo as a competitor, capital was not eager to embark in an enterprise that seemed to have so many possibilities of failure in it. Robert Dunsmuir, how- ever, was not a man to be frightened by obstacles. He had a fine 10-ft. seam of coal, and being confident of its future value, he determined with true Scotch grit to succeed. He interested in the project Lieutenant Diggle, [116] of H. M. S. Grappler a man of means, and, through him, Captain Egerton, R. N., and Admiral Farquhar. The three became partners, the condition being that Dunsmuir should own half the mine and have entire control of the operations. Lieutenant Diggle put in $10,000, Captain Egerton $75,000 and Admiral Farquhar $75,000. They acquired 2,000 acres of land. The mine was opened and operated so successfully that Dunsmuir was able, from his share of the profits, to buy out one partner after another, the last being Captain Diggle, to whom he paid a cheque of $600,000. By this time his son James Dunsmuir, who had graduated as a working miner through all the stages, became foreman and manager. When James dug out and sold thirty tons a day for his father, Mr. Dunsmuir was fearful that the market would not be able to absorb more, and cautioned the young man to go slowly. James, however, worked away harder than ever and, as he reached in time fifty, seventy-five, then one hundred and one hundred and fifty tons a day, Robert Dunsmuir was still nervous and deprecating. But the coal was sold in in- creasing quantities as it came out, and James did not relax his efforts, de- spite his father’s anxiety and fear. Each step in production was an experi- ment, and while the son was ambitious to make records, the father felt the responsibility of increasing operations. Coal mining on the coast was then a precarious industry in this respect, that the San Francisco market might at any time become stalled by outside importations, and ships sometimes brought Welsh and Australian coal as ballast. Flooding the market meant a heavy loss in mining, as coal operators will understand. However, when the output reached 500 tons a day, Mr. Dunsmuir ceased to have fears and he became as anxious to increase the output as formerly he had been to restrict it to a fixed quantity. Before he died, he had the satisfaction of seeing it raised to 1,500 tons a day. The first operations of the great Nanaimo mines were not only on a small scale, but on rather primitive plans as compared with present day equipment. In the way of transportation there was at first a bull team driven by an old-timer, Ned White by name. This was succeeded by sev- eral teams of horses with wagons, and for this purpose it became necessary to make a road to Departure Bay. The road was afterwards graded and a wooden track laid down. Later on, a thin band of iron was laid on the rails to lessen friction, and a little locomotive, run by a threshing machine engine, was used. Subsequently regular locomotives and good cars were employed. The profits of the business were very large, due not only to the fine quality of the coal and its accessibility to the sea, but also to econom- ical management and good business administration; and Mr. Dunsmuir very soon acquired a financial position in which he became a large factor in the business community. We must now deal with an epoch in his life which had also considerable influence in public affairs. It may not be generally known that when Lord Lome, Governor-General, came to the Province in 1882, accompanied by H. R. H. the Princess Louise, it was in a diplomatic capacity, much as Lord Dufferin had come in 1876. Much disappointment was felt on the Island of Vancouver, and especially in the city of Victoria, respecting rail- way matters. Lord Lome was keenly interested in the question and, as has been noted elsewhere, endeavoured in governmental circles to bring about a [117] solution of the difficulty. Hon. Robert Dunsmuir was induced by him to undertake the building of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway on terms con- tained in the Act of Settlement. For this purpose he associated with himself men who were known as the “Big Four” of California — C. Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins and C. P. Huntington, and in dealing with an ag- gregation of capital so formidable he displayed great shrewdness and fore- sight. Although the railway, the land grant of 2,000,000 acres with coal rights, and the Dunsmuir collieries, were common assets, held equally in shares of stock as between himself and the other four (whose interests were incorporated in the P. I. Co., i. e., the Pacific Improvement Company), he controlled the financial management of it through his right to nominate a majority of the directors, and managed it exclusively, providing, however, himself the greatest part of the money necessary. The E. & N. Ry. Co. was from the very first a close corporation. It was built entirely out of the private means of the gentlemen named above, with the aid, of course, of a Dominion subsidy, and without the sale of a single debenture or debenture bond. The E. & N. Railway was an expensive line to build, costing for some portions of it $ 60,000 a mile and depending as it did for many years upon local traffic, did not pay its way, much less make a profit for the Com- pany. It was not until the late owner, Hon. James Dunsmuir, established a ferry between Vancouver and Ladysmith, by which freight cars were con- veyed to and fro, that a balance was shown on the right side of the ledger. Since it has become a part of C. P. R. system, receipts have been much aug- mented, partly on account of its being worked in connection with the main line of the C. P. R. and partly on account of the natural increase of local traffic. Mr. Robert Dunsmuir before his death, which occurred on the 12th of April, 1889 , had completed arrangements for the development of the Comox and Alexandra collieries; but this was carried out by his sons, James and Alexander, under the personal direction of the former. After the business at Wellington had assumed large proportions, Mr. Alexander Dunsmuir went to San Francisco and took charge of affairs there, water frontage be- ing acquired and extensive wharves and depots established. Alexander Dunsmuir was a keen, clear-headed business man and, under his charge, a large and profitable trade was built up auxiliary to which was a fleet of col- liers and tugs. In addition to his collieries, shipping and railway interests, Robert Dunsmuir was an extensive owner of metalliferous claims in Brit- ish Columbia, a large share-holder in the Matsqui Dyking Co., the Albion Iron Works, Victoria, the Canadian Pacific Navigation Co. and the Victoria Daily Colonist , and was an extensive real estate owner. At the time of his death he had very large cash deposits in the bank, and his legatee, the late Mrs. Joan Dunsmuir, lent at one time a large sum to the Province. Among others of his activities, he took to politics, although somewhat late in life, and in 1882 he was elected to the Legislature for Nanaimo and returned again in 1886 , when he succeeded the late Hon. William Smithe, Premier, as President of the Council. A man of strong individuality and large interests, he made almost inevitably many bitter opponents, and the ascendancy of the coal baron in the Legislature and in public affairs was the theme of numer- ous diatribes in the House, in the press, and on the hustings. One of the [ 118 ] bitterest of his opponents was the late Thomas Basil Humphreys, who as- sailed him with great virulence. Mr. Dunsmuir’s railway ambitions were not confined to the E. & N. Ry., and had he been a younger man he would probably have become identified with larger schemes. It is said that he shared with the Hon. Dr. Helmcken the latter’s views about a railway to the north end of the island. That he would have extended the E. & N. so far is considered doubtful by James Dunsmuir, who says that his final judgment, based on the experience of the E. & N., was opposed to it. However, he was an advocate of a railway to the mainland, having Bute Inlet as the outlet, to connect with the Island rail- way, and during the session of the Legislature previous to his death, he was prominently associated with a measure to incorporate the Canadian West- ern Railway, of which he was a promoter. An act was passed granting a charter and a subsidy of fourteen million acres of land. This railway was not built, and what effect the death of Mr. Dunsmuir had upon its fortunes can only be guessed. It subsequently was exploited without success as the British Pacific and again as a Canadian Northern project, both propositions being defeated as the result of the political exigencies of the day. Without any reference to its merits or demerits, while the scheme correctly anticipated the future, it was probably ahead of the time, in view of the actual financial capacity of the Province and the development of railways in the Middle West at the same period. The work of carrying on the enterprises created by the Hon. Robert Dunsmuir, assisted by his two sons, fell at his death upon the shoulders of James Dunsmuir, who succeeded his father as president and manager of the great estate, Alexander continuing to represent it as before in San Francisco. Mrs. Dunsmuir was, according to the terms of his will, the sole legatee. Some time later a division of interests was made whereby James and Alex- ander Dunsmuir became owners of the E. &c N. Railway Co. and the collieries, while the bank assets, and certain other interests remained with Mrs. Duns- muir. Alexander Dunsmuir having died in San Francisco, his brother, by will, succeeded to his interests. His widow made no claims to the estate, a settlement being voluntarily effected by James Dunsmuir on the basis of a large annual allowance. Mrs. Joan Dunsmuir died at her home, Craigdar- rach, locally known as Dunsmuir Castle, which was built and completed at great expense by Air. Robert Dunsmuir before his death, but never occupied by him. She was a woman of strong character and vigorous mind, a wide reader, keenly interested in politics and in public events. Hon. James Dunsmuir, upon the death of his father and brother, became the greatest landed and colliery proprietor in Canada and one of its richest men. As a coal mining operator he was in his element; as a railway man- ager or land owner he did not feel at home, and this fact accounts for his business policy differing from the usual standards in such matters. Being a single-minded man and simple in his ambitions, having no desire to go be- yond that which he fully understood, he devoted himself to the firm’s col- lieries. The presidency of the railway was simply an inherited obligation, and he had no taste for it. The development of the Comox coal mines, the coke industry in connection therewith, the opening up and development of the Extension mines, the establishment of coal bunkers at Ladysmith and [ 119 ] the freight ferry from that point to Vancouver were all of his initiation, and carried out under his direct supervision and control. As incidental to the Extension mine he laid out the townsite of Ladysmith, now a substantial town dependent largely, of course, upon the size of the payrolls at Extension and the smelter. It was at first contemplated to build the coal bunkers at Chemainus, to which point the ferry would have run, but there was some dif- ficulty in adjusting the price to be paid for land for the site of the bunkers, and Mr. Dunsmuir went to Oyster Harbour instead, a decision characteristic of the man. The Alexandra colliery was closed down in a similar way — the result of a strike — and Mr. Dunsmuir never afterwards opened it. In this connection a word may be said as to his attitude upon labour. Like his father, he paid good wages, but objected to any dictation as to the way he should work his mines. As a practical coal miner, he fully appreciated the po- sition of the man underground, and could never be justly accused, from his point of view, of treating him unfairly. Had his father not been a coal operator and become wealthy, his son would probably have remained an em- ployee all his life, and in whatever capacity he was placed would have ren- dered hard, industrious, honest service to his employer. He did not object to the principle of union labour, nor to the organization of local unions, but he condemned the system of local unions being controlled or interfered with by outside organizations. The Dunsrquirs, father and son, have been in the past and are still the subject of much unjust criticism, as having been tyran- nical and oppressive in their relations with their working coal miners; but a great deal of this criticism has arisen from prejudice and misunderstanding. Neither of them could be called diplomatic, and a natural brusqueness was too often mistaken for harshness. When Mr. James Dunsmuir discussed the labour question in private he gave the impression that his views on that question were the result of honest conviction and a desire to be fair, while for the lack of mutual sympathy and harmony between the Dunsmuirs and the unions, the blame is not all to be put on one side. It is almost unnecessary to add that Mr. Dunsmuir did not care for politics. He did not like publicity of any kind, being essentially retiring and domestic in his tastes, but the extent of his interests made it almost inevitable that he should enter the Legislature. He was first elected for Comox in 1898. He was subsequently, in 1900, returned for the Newcastle district. His elevation to the premiership in 1900 was not without justification. There was a strong feeling of antagonism to what was known as “Tur- nerism” in the Province, although personally Mr. Turner, former Premier, was one of the best-liked men in British Columbia. There was no other person outside of the Turner ranks, among the newer men, sufficiently prom- inent to be made leader, and Mr. Dunsmuir was chosen, first, because he was a business man and not a politician, and, secondly, because on account of his large interests and acknowledged position, he was likely to consolidate all the elements opposed to Joseph Martin and his methods. What was wanted was the restoration of political and business confidence, after a period of unsettling turmoil. He formed a government which had the support of a large majority of the Legislature. So many elements entered into the situ- ation that justice could not be done without devoting a chapter to its discus- sion. Hitherto, government and politics had not been conducted on the usual [ 120 ] party lines, though the influence of Dominion politics and parties was begin- ning to be felt; it was inevitable, therefore, that a clear division would sooner or later be developed. Mr. Dunsmuir was not a party man, though in fed- eral politics he was inclined to support the Liberals. But in local politics he was not a Liberal partisan; indeed, his own newspaper, the Colonist j sup- ported the Conservative policy. As a matter of fact, the rock upon which his administration split was a railway policy. A strong agitation had existed for some time in favour of building the V. V. & E. Railway with govern- ment assistance. An important wing of the government party was opposed to it as impracticable, while another favoured it. There were strong dissen- sions in the caucus, and, while a general measure was passed advocating its construction, together with other lines, it was not of such a character as to bring about actual construction. The promoters were looking to Ottawa as well. The split came after the Hon. J. H. Turner had resigned the position of Minister of Finance to take the position of Agent-General of Brit- ish Columbia in London, Eng. The Hon. J. D. Prentice, Provincial Secre- tary, was appointed to succeed him, thus leaving a vacancy in the cabinet. Mr. Dunsmuir, contrary to the advice of several of his colleagues, offered the position of Provincial Secretary to J. C. Brown, of New Westminster, member of the House, Minister of Finance in the Martin administration, which had been so badly defeated in the country. This was, of course, contrary to accepted government traditions, and meant a coalition with the Martin forces. It was not good politics, and reflected a certain friendliness between Mr. Martin and Mr. Dunsmuir. The Hon. Mr. McBride, Minister of Mines, resigned as a protest and carried with him a number of Government supporters, prominent among whom were the late R. G. Tatlow, R. F. Green, F. J. Fulton and A. E. McPhillips, all afterwards ministers of the McBride ad- ministration. Mr. McBride then became the elected and acknowledged leader of the Opposition, and there was a rearrangement of parties in a not alto- gether logical combination, but sufficient to ensure a small majority for the Government. The Opposition concentrated their forces on New Westmin- ster, Mr. McBride’s native city, and defeated the new minister, Mr. Brown, electing Mr. Thos. Gifford in his stead, notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Brown was a prominent advocate of the New Westminster bridge, a scheme likely to prove extremely popular in that city. It may be stated here that the Hon. Mr. Dunsmuir had, along with Attorney-General Eberts, gone to Ottawa early in that year, 1901, on a mission of representation to the Do- minion Government with reference to various matters affecting the relations of the Province and the Dominion. The mission originated really in a prom- ise given by the Hon. Mr. Dunsmuir to go to Ottawa and have an inter- view with Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the subject of restricting Chinese and Japanese immigration; but developed in the meantime into a programme of increased allowances to the Province on a number of counts, which was the origin of the celebrated case for Better Terms, and which also included the claims made by the Province in connection with fisheries. The session following the disruption was a stormy and protracted one. Mr. McBride and his followers made a stubborn fight; but the Government, aided by Mr. Joseph Martin, as an independent ally, weathered the storm. It was during this session that the Canadian Northern proposal was before [ 121 ] the Legislature to build a line from Edmonton to Bute Inlet and to Vic- toria via Seymour Narrows. The proposition of a cash subsidy of $5,000 per mile was passed, but the proposal for land subsidy was rejected, there- by making the aid insufficient to ensure construction. It was also during this session that the memorable election contest at Victoria between E. V. Bodwell and Colonel E. G. Prior took place to fill the long vacancy left by the resignation of the Hon. J. H. Turner. The election of Colonel Prior, who had been made Minister of Mines, greatly strengthened Mr. Dunsmuir’s hands. Towards the close of the session an arrangement was effected where- by the Premier was enabled to accept the invitation to be present at the cor- onation of King Edward and to leave for England. Owing to the postpone- ment of the ceremonies through the King’s illness, Mr. Dunsmuir was absent about four months. Upon his return, having intimated his desire to retire from office, he resigned the Premiership and was succeeded by Colonel the Hon. E. G. Prior, still retaining his seat in the Legislature. After the close of the following session and the events which brought the Hon. McBride into power, Mr. Dunsmuir did not seek further legislative honours at the next general election. It was a time of much worry in re- gard to his own private business affairs, owing to a law suit and other mat- ters, and it was then that he decided to dispose of the E. & N. Railway. He had received various offers in that connection, but he was a firm believer in the C. P. R. not only as to its ability to make the deal in a satisfactory manner (which, of course, was obvious), but also as to the benefits to be derived from that corporation entering the field on the Island of Van- couver. The first proposal was to sell the roadbed of the railway and to re- tain the land grant and all its accessory rights, but it became apparent that the effect of separating the railway and the land grant was to subject the latter to taxation. The C. P. R. acquired the E. & N. Railway Company, minus coal rights, fire clay, etc., the sum paid being about $3,000,000. (See interview with the Hon. James Dunsmuir, published in the Victoria Daily Colonist, July 19, 1910.) Mr. Dunsmuir then devoted himself almost ex- clusively to his coal interests. Prior to the sale of the railway, however, he had bought out the interests of the “Big Four,” negotiations for which had begun sometime beforehand. Mr. Dunsmuir paid to the P. I. Co. $3,000,000 and became sole owner of the railway, land, collieries, shipping fleet, and the business in its entirety. Upon the natural expiration of the term of Sir Henri Joly de Lotbi- niere as Lieutenant-Governor an awkward question arose at Ottawa as to his successor, which was the more difficult on account of the popularity of Sir Henri. The selection finally fell upon Mr. Dunsmuir, whose wealth and position, as well as his political neutrality, enabled him perhaps above any of the applicants, to fill the position acceptably. He was Lieutenant-Gover- nor for three years, but, having little inclination for official or public life, he resigned and was succeeded in 1909 by the present holder of the office, the Hon. T. W. Paterson. In the meantime, having disposed of “Burleith,” his residence on Craigflower Road, he had acquired an estate, known as Hatley Park, near Colwood, some 650 acres in extent, and there built Hatley Park House (designed by Mr. S. Maclure, Victoria) to which he retired and where he now lives. Early in 1910 he gave an option on his collieries and [ 122 ] coal rights in the E. & N. Railway belt, and all business in connection there- with, for $11,000,000, which was acquired by Messrs. Mackenzie & Mann, railway promoters, and thus separated himself practically from all former business with which the Dunsmuir name had been prominently associated for so many j^ears. Mr. Dunsmuir is now living in retirement, and enjoy- ing the luxury of his beautiful home, his yacht, shooting, fishing, golf and other recreations, to which for many years, owing to the pressure of business, he was almost a stranger. Mrs. Dunsmuir and family now entertain their friends at Hatley Park, as formerly at “Burleith,” and at Government House. Mrs. Dunsmuir was a Miss Laura Surles, of Georgia, the daughter of a Southern planter, and first met Mr. Dunsmuir during her school days at the Dundas Academy, near Hamilton, Ont. She has long been a lady of deserved popularity in Victoria society, and is the mother of a family of two sons and eight daughters. Three of the latter are married — Mrs. Audain, Mrs. Hope and Mrs. Bromley. The members of the family of the Hon. Robert Dunsmuir were James and Alexander, already referred to; Agnes Crooks, wife of James Harvey; Elizabeth Hamilton, wife of John Bryden, for many years a mine manager and an ex-member of the Legislature; Marian, wife of Colonel Houghton, M. P., spoken of in a previous chapter; Mary, wife of Henry Croft, ex- member of the Legislature and a gentleman at various times identified with lumbering, mining and other interests; Jessie, wife of Sir Richard Musgrave, Bt. ; Emily, wife of the late Henry Snowden, and now Mrs. Burroughs; Maude, wife of Captain Chaplin, a retired army officer in England. The name Dunsmuir will always be associated with the history of the Province from Confederation to 1910, as representing large and influential interests and as having played a part in a stormy transitional period of pro- vincial politics. James Dunsmuir as an industrial factor, as Premier and as Lieutenant-Governor, belongs to a chapter now closed. The fates threw him into a prominence which, by choice, he would have avoided. He had neither a liking nor an adaptability for public life, and he displayed it in qualities of an independence, even to the verge of obstinacy, which rendered a long career highly improbable, even if his ambition had pointed in that direction. [ 123 ] THE SETTLEMENT ACT CHAPTER X. When the Smithe Government came into power, the outstanding dis- pute between the Province and the Dominion was in a very complicated and unsatisfactory condition. The dry dock had progressed but slowly. The Beaven Government had had a disagreement with the contractors, and took over the contract at the expense of the latter, carrying it on at a very costly rate. The Government had agreed to supply the cement to the extent of six thousand tons, but not a ton of good cement was to be found in Esqui- malt or in the Province. It became a scandal Avhich formed the subject of Parliamentary investigation. Through some mistake the resident engineer had ordered large quantities not immediately required, and stored it up. A good deal was said to have been stolen, but at any rate it greatly deterio- rated in course of time. The contractors blamed the Government for inter- fering in the work, alleging thereby loss and delay. They had been refused $13,185 due on a certificate signed by the resident engineer, and had also been refused a petition of right by the Government to sue for $58,000 damages. Railway matters again, particularly in regard to the E. & N., after years of fruitless negotiations, were in a very unsatisfactory condition. ( 1 ) The Walkem Government had repealed the Act of 1875, which placed a reserve on certain Island lands, set apart for the construction of a line from Esquimalt to Nanaimo. The purpose of the repeal was to enable an arrangement to be made with Clements & Co. to build that section of the line. That action of the Provincial Government was regarded by the Marquis of Lome as reliev- ing the Government of Canada from any further responsibility to build that section. Two rival schemes were presented to the Smithe Government dur- ing the session of 1882, one from Clements & Co., known as the Vancouver Land and Railway Co., and the other from the Inland Railway Co., at whose head was Robert Dunsmuir, with whom was associated San Francisco capi- talists known as the “Big Four.” The latter was rejected by the local Legis- lature, but was favoured by the Dominion Government. Two other factors entered into the question. First, a considerable area of land on the mainland, about 900,000 acres in extent, was in the railway belt, and had been taken up bv settlers and others. This had to be made good by the Provincial Government to the Dominion. This railway belt embraced a line from Burrard Inlet to Tete Jaune Cache by way of Kamloops. Sec- ondly, the Dominion Government made a claim that a great deal of the land within the railway belt was entirely useless and that therefore they were en- titled to receive an equivalent in good land in some other part of the Prov- ince. Hence arose the proposal to transfer 3,500,000 acres in the Peace River district to the Dominion Government as a set off for the building of the Island railway. With this as a basis of settlement, came the bonusing of the Island railway to the extent of $750,000 and the taking over of the graving dock by recouping the Province to the extent of $250,000 for money already ex- [ 125 ] pended on that enterprise. According to an estimate of the engineers, the dock completed would cost about $800,000, or about $250,000 more than had been originally estimated, and about $300,000 in excess of the joint contribu- tions of the Dominion and Imperial Governments, it having been originally thought that these two would have been sufficient to complete the undertak- ing. The Provincial Government would therefore be obliged to pay $300,- 000 more to complete it, but in those days such a sum was regarded as exceeding the resources of the Province. The three things, the completion of the dock with its extra demands on the treasury, the feverish anxiety to have the railway on the Island, and the shortage of good land within the Railway belt, rendered the local Govern- ment anxious to come to a working agreement, and caused them to accept the terms of the Settlement Act, whereby they handed over to the Domin- ion Government 2,000,000 acres on the southeast coast of the Island of Van- couver (less lands already alienated) with all their valuents (with the ex- ception of precious metals) and 3,500,000 acres in Peace River district. In return the Dominion Government subsidized the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Rail- road Company with a cash bonus of $750,000 and the 2,000,000 acres on the Island of Vancouver received from the Province, and took over the dry dock, recouping the Province an amount of $250,000 for work performed by the latter. It should be pointed out, however, that previous to this settlement on the twentieth of February, 1883, in a minute of the Provincial Executive it had been urged upon the Dominion Government that the latter should begin (l)In the Legislative Assembly of August 29th, 1878, a long resolution was passed moved by Hon. Mr. Walkem and seconded by Hon. Mr. Beaven, which recited the grievances of the Province as regards the breaking of the contract involved in the non-fulfilment, of the Terms of Union. The conclusion runs thus: ‘‘Under these circumstances. . .Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to see fit to order and direct “That British Columbia shall thereafter have the right to exclusively collect and maintain her Cus- toms and Excise duties and to withdraw from the Union, and shall also in any event be entitled to be compensated by the Dominion for losses sustained by reasons of past delays and the failure of the Do- minion Government to carry out their railway and other obligations to the Province.” This resolution of the Legislature, which took the form of a petition to the Queen, was overlooked at Ottawa and was not forwarded to the Imperial authorities for some time after its receipt. Even then it seemed to have gone astray. It finally reached its destination, but so far as the records go it does not seem to have been acknowledged direct to the Government of British Columbia. Lord Kimberley, on the 25th of August, 1881, acknowledges the receipt from Lord Lome in a despatch from Ottawa dated 19th of May. When de Cosmos went on his special mission to London to press the petition, he enclosed a copy to the Earl of Kimberley, who was secretary of state for the Colonies, and thus again brought it, official- ly to his attention. Its receipt was officially acknowledged to Mr. de Cosmos. The latter was met with a copy of reply from the Dominion Government to In's whole case, in which it was stated: “As regards the prayer of the petition to Her Majesty., the Committee of the Privy Council desires to observe that this request involves a breach of the Terms of Union and the virtual severance of British Columbia from the Dominion.” Attention is called to the fact that since Confederation the Dominion has spent in the Province irrespective of expenditures on account of the railway, nearly two millions more than it has received in revenue. In writing to Lord Lome the Earl of Kimberley recommended the construction of a light line of railway from Nanaimo to Esquimalt; the extension without delay of a line to Port Moody; and the grant of reasonable compensation in money for the failure to complete the work within ten years, as a reasonable settlement of the whole question. The request of the Province to take over its own cus- toms and inland revenue collections he regarded as "inadmissible,” as a contravention of the provisions of the B. N. A. Act, and not possible without Imperial legislation which would conflict with Dominion legislation. When de Cosmos made his first representations to the Dominion Government, enclosing a copy of the petition, and asking to be accredited to the Imperial authorities, he received a reply from Sir Leonard Tilley, Minister of Finance, stating that the Government was proceeding with all haste. The latter pointed out that the E. & N. Railway should be left over for the present as a work that was not essential for connection with the seaboard. In the meantime every effort would be made to have it proceeded with as a private enterprise, and in conclusion he trusted that these explanations would render it unnecessary for Mr. de Cosmos to go to England to press British Columbia’s claims. This de Cosmos considered quite unsatisfactory, and lost no time in starting for England. The crux of his grievance was the failure of the Government to construct the Island railway. Mr. de Cosmos stayed in England for some time, and presented his case, without, however, altering the situation. Incidentally the bill of costs presented by him to the Government was the subject of much controversy and nego- tiation. The financial terms of his mission had not been definitely settled before his departure and Mr. Beaven, the finance minister, evaded direct responsibility for the amounts charged in the bill. A settlement was finally made by the Smithe Government on the basis of compromise. [ 126 ] the Island railway with as little delay as possible, or compensate the Prov- ince for its failure to do so, in order to enable the latter to undertake the work itself ; and that it should take over the dry dock and recoup the Prov- ince for its outlay. The Provincial Government on its own part was willing to set apart 2,000,000 acres on the mainland, to be taken up in lots of not less than 500,000 acres, its areas to be defined within two years. The final arrangements were made with Sir Joseph Trutch, Dominion Government agent, as intermediary, the compromise being in the terms stated above. The agreement was passed in the session of the Legislative Assem- bly of 1883, but, owing to a misunderstanding as to the exact terms, too late to be ratified by the Dominion Parliament of the same year. After the pass- ing of the Act of 1883 by the local Legislature, the result of the failure of the local Government to comply literally with the terms of the Dominion offer, a long discussion arose by letter and telegram between the local Government, Sir Joseph Trutch, and the Dominion Government, as to who was to blame for failure in carrying out the exact terms of the offer of the Federal Gov- ernment. (2) Legislation, however, in both parliaments was passed at the ses- sions of the following year and the contract was let to Robert Dunsmuir and his associates. The survey of the E. & N. line was begun in September, 1883, and the last spike was driven by Sir John Macdonald, August 13, 1886. The contract for the dock was let to McNamee & Co., and completed in due time. On the 23rd of June it was decided by the Government at Ottawa to ask Sir Alexander Campbell, Minister of Justice, to visit British Columbia and confer with the local Government, with Mr. Robert Dunsmuir, and other capitalists who, it was understood, were anxious to enter into a con- tract. Among the latter was the group represented by the late David Oppen- heimer. His proposal included a grant of land on the Island and 3,500,000 acres in the Peace River, to construct and maintain the dry dock and to pay the local Government $250,000 as a refund of money already expended. This was apparently favourably entertained by the local Government. Sir Alexander Campbell, on his arrival entered into a provisional contract with Mr. Dunsmuir, which was submitted to the Executive and finally agreed upon. Mr. Oppenheimer seemed to have been unfortunate through the fail- (2)In the House of Commons, May 25th, 1883, Sir John Macdonald made a very important statement. It reviewed in a concise way the merits of the long dispute. In regard to the act passed by the Legis- lature in 1883, however, he said the draughtsman had made, through error, materially altered the terms upon which an agreement had been reached. The Dominion Government, he said, had no intention of building the railway as a Government undertaking. The latter had only agreed to see that an incorpo- rated company would undertake the work on security satisfactory to the local Government and to hand over the lands and subsidy as the work progressed. Another clause had been inserted in the bill contrary to the agreement, and that was that all the lands, except coal, mineral and timber lands, should be, for four years, sold at $1 per acre to the settler. As the grant was to be given to the contractors, as they built the road, the Government felt that they had no right to diminish its value by limiting the price. He agreed, however, that the lands in the railway belt on the mainland should be thrown open for set- tlement and an office opened for the purpose. It is rather worthy of remark that the Settlement Act went through the House of Commons prac- tically unanimously. The only opposition came from members from British Columbia. Mr. Gordon, of Nanaimo, and members from the mainland were strongly opposed to the measure. Hon. Edward Blake, curiously enough, gave it his active support, as did many of the members of the Liberal party. De Cosmos in 1882 advocated the building of a railway from Esquimau to Nanaimo and Gabriola Island, with a steam ferry to Burrard Inlet, 14 miles distant. The railway was estimated to cost $2,000,000 and the ferry to English Bay from $300,000 to $400,000, whereby direct connection could be made with the east from Victoria. It was announced in the Colonist June 8th, 1883, that the N. P. would be completed to Seattle by the first of September, after the completion of the line from Kalama to Portland, using a ferry across the Columbia. Being desirous of cultivating trade with Victoria they proposed to give the same rates from New York as from Portland, with probably $2 boat charges to Seattle. Passenger rates at that time were $100 from St. Paul to Portland, first class; second class, $75; and immigrants $45. Three “magnificent” 18-knot steamers, it was stated, were to be built, one of which would run daily from Victoria to Seattle. [ 127 ] ure of the telegraph system to have his proposal placed before Sir Alexander Campbell previous to his leaving for the east, and as time was the essence of the contract, the arrangement with Mr. Dunsmuir was completed. The agreement was made between the Dominion Government, represented by Sir Alexander Campbell, and Robert Dunsmuir, John Bryden (Nanaimo) and Charles Crocker, Charles F. Crocker, Leland Stanford (San Francisco), and Colis P. Huntington (New York). It is evident, however, that it had been the intention of the Dominion Government all along to deal with Mr. Dunsmuir. Oppenlieimer’s proposal was not of such a character as would have been entertained in any event. Security in each case to the extent of $ 250,000 was offered. A petition signed by 306 persons was sent to the Legislature praying for amendments to do away with the monopoly features of the Settlement Act. A similar petition was also received from Comox. The arrangement completed at Victoria included the opening of the Do- minion Railway belt on the mainland for immediate settlement, and also the revokement of the fixing of the residence of judges, Mr. McCreight to be as- signed to New Westminster and Mr. Walkem to Kamloops. A County Court Judge was to be appointed to Cariboo and Lillooet at a salary of $ 2 , 500 , which stipend was to be supplemented by the local Government by $500 on account of services rendered as stipendary magistrate. Various opinions have been expressed as to the wisdom of the terms of settlement so far as the Province of British Columbia was concerned. Judged by more recent developments it was a most serious mistake, but in extenua- tion there are special circumstances to be taken into consideration. The de- lay in the fulfilment of the Terms of Union, the exasperation of the people of the Province on account of the unsatisfactory character of the negotiations, the political irritations both locally and in eastern Canada which had arisen, the suspense and consequent business losses and retardation of development, and the anxiety both in Victoria and on the Island of Vancouver to have a railway built, all contributed to the final result. As has been sufficiently pointed out in foregoing chapters, the attitude of the people of eastern Canada towards the Province of British Columbia and towards the Terms of Union, particularly with regard to the magnitude of the undertaking in- volved in building the Canadian Pacific Railway, left no hope of the Prov- ince receiving at the time better terms than those offered. It is indisput- ably evident that the Province should never have been burdened with the con- struction of a dry dock, which was purely a Federal undertaking for Federal purposes. It is clear that the Government was morally, if not legally, bound to construct the line of railway from Esquimalt to Nanaimo free of cost to the Province. It is equally true that the quality of the land in the Dominion railway belt had not been an element of consideration at the time of the union, and that the local Government was in no sense bound to supplement it by land of a better quality. It is obvious also that, considered as a purely private undertaking, the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway was entitled to as- sistance from the Dominion Government, to a cash subsidy about equal to the subvention of $ 750 , 000 ; that is, taking into consideration the policy adopted by the Dominion Government in respect to railways in other parts of Can- ada which has been more or less consistently carried out from the date of Confederation to the present time. On the other hand, all these considera- [ 128 ] tions, taken together, could not counterbalance the feeling so strongly ex- pressed by eastern Canadians at several Dominion elections, and the Prov- ince was bound to accept the terms offered or to let negotiations which had been so fruitless in the past to linger on indefinitely. It is stated that Sir John Macdonald personally was quite willing to recommend a subvention of $750,000 to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, as suggested to him by the Marquis of Lome, then Governor-General, after his visit to British Colum- bia, without the countervailing bonus of three and a half million acres in the Peace River district. But upon submitting the proposal to the caucus, it was stubbornly opposed, and he was obliged to supplement it with the additional land subsidy in question in order to make the terms acceptable. Indeed, there was a great deal of opposition to the final solution even as it stood. The lands in the Peace River district, now considered very valuable, were then described by members of the Opposition as worthless. The price placed upon them by the Government was fifty cents an acre, estimated value. Considering the position of affairs as they stand at the present time, the Settlement Act cost the Dominion Government, in all $1,100,000 in cash, the Imperial Parliament contributing fifty per cent of the cost of the dry dock. It received in return 3,500,000 acres of land, the present market value of which is at least $35,000,000. The Province gave in addition, as a land subsidy to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Co., 1,900,000 acres of land, includ- ing all valuents, the value of which could not be computed at less than $20,000,000, making a total of $55,000,000 worth of assets in consideration of a railway seventy-five miles in length and the construction of a dry dock which originally should have formed no part of the obligation of the Province to undertake. The Settlement Act, therefore, cannot be considered as a good bargain for the Province or a wise solution of a long standing difficulty. On the other hand, a most unsatisfactory condition of affairs, politically consid- ered, was settled thereby, and the relations between the Province and the Dominion were placed upon an amicable basis. In the light of events we could not conceive, at the present time, of any government in British Columbia agreeing to the terms which were entered into with a light heart at that day, nor could we conceive of the Dominion of Canada exacting them from the Province. Neither the Province nor the Dominion could see far enough into the future; certainly not even men like Sir John Macdonald and other fathers of the Terms of the Union ever antici- pated such developments in the West as accrued from the promotion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, while that particular portion of the Dominion, which then so strongly objected to the obligations involved, has reaped im- mense fruits in the expansion of trade and industry from the railway whose construction they so much dreaded. [ 129 ] . . A SETTLED FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. CHAPTER XI. As has been previously intimated, the administrations of Smithe, the Davies, Robson and Turner may be regarded as a continued series of the same political ideals. They originated in the revolt of the electorate against the de Cosmos- Walkem-Beaven regime, which came temporarily to the front when the Elliott Government was called to power. That Government con- sisted of men new to office, and at that date representative of the most pro- gressive elements of the community. They were essentially honest, so far as political ideals then reached, sound as to principles of government and a fairly able set of men. Elliott, Vernon and Smithe were certainly above the average in ability, and were inspired more or less by the ideals of the Brit- ish standard of politics. Humphreys, who was the finance minister selected by Mr. Elliott when he formed his government, as a speaker was easily the ablest in the cabinet, but was a politician pure and simple, and rather belonged to the de Cosmos- Walkem type, whose policies were dictated by the expediency and necessities of the moment, without reference to underlying principles. His term of office was exceedingly short, and he soon returned to his former political associations. Unfortunately for the success of the Elliott Government, it came into existence during a period of financial stringency. It had not only to meet a deficit which was the result of im- provident and careless expenditure of public money when the Province was practically bankrupt, but it had also to impose new forms of taxation in order to make ends meet. Taxation is always unpopular and never so un- popular as during a period of hard times. Times were not only hard, but there was a feeling of almost absolute despair in regard to the most impor- tant of all provincial matters: the construction of a transcontinental railway. In the two years that the Elliott administration were in power there was little or no progress made in the direction of solving the main problem, and, although the administration of public affairs was beyond reproach and the finances of the country were carefully looked after, the people turned back to Walkem, who was skilfully undermining confidence in the Government by ministering to the unrest, playing upon popular prejudices, and promising the people all sorts of good things in store, if they would only bow down to him. He had remained absent from the Province for some time in San Fran- cisco, and upon his return to Victoria, before the sitting of the Legislature, was the recipient of a very hearty welcome, engineered by members of the Carnarvon Club, which had been formed about the time of Lord Dufferin’s visit. As railway matters had not improved in the meantime, the season was opportune for the commencement of a campaign against the Government. Needless to say, the object of the Carnarvon Club was to impress upon the public the necessity of carrying out the Carnarvon Terms in their entirety. The Club became the headquarters in Victoria of opposition to Mr. Elliott, [ 131 ] whither resorted all the elements of discontent, whether with the local Gov- ernment or with the Dominion or with matters in general. As the Carnar- von Terms were not popular on the mainland, Mr. Walkem very astutely steered clear of identifying himself with the articles of faith espoused by the club, and it would be difficult to lay a finger on his precise attitude in respect to any specific phase of the railway question. At the opening of the Legis- lature he was equally vague. No man could have been more elusive in his tactics. As a leader in a guerilla warfare he was splendid. He sought for sympathy by stating that he had been unjustly turned out of office, that he had fought the Dominion Government in the only way that could succeed, that his following had been seduced from him in the House on a false cry of financial ruin, that had he been allowed to remain in office all would have been well, that the Government had wrecked the provincial case in dealing with the federal authorities in respect to the railway, that taxation had need- lessly been imposed, that everything was in a worse condition than it had been and that altogether, while he professed a desire to see friendly relations exist between the Province and the Dominion and the railway built, the prospects were now more remote than ever. His chief lieutenants in the House and on the platform were the Hon. Robt. Beaven and the Hon. Thos. Humphreys. The former, as was shown by his subsequent career in provincial and muni- cipal politics, had a strong hold on the electorate of the city of Victoria, and was for a long time regarded as invincible. Personally unpopular and without magnetism, he was in office almost unworkable — stubborn, self- opinionative, close-fisted, and impractical. Acting in opposition he was a host in himself, industrious, persistent, resourceful, and combative. As a parliamentarian, with a perfect knowledge of the rules of procedure and mastery of tactics, he has probably never been equalled in the local Legisla- ture. Alert and watchful, he never for an instant slept, nor was absent from his post. A forceful and concise speaker; he could infuse fierce bitterness, and concentrate all the spitefulness of the Opposition into his speech. As an ad- versary, he was to be feared, and fear of him almost begat respect, though not personal allegiance on the part of his associates. Humphrey’s power lay in his talent of platform oratory, which he exercised with equal force in the Legislature and on the hustings. With eloquence and fine word-paint- ing, he combined a fierce invective. In office he was wholly at sea and with- out constructive ability^ of any kind to reinforce his professions. What was really a lack of moral responsibility for his utterances passed for fearless- ness of debate, and he could move audiences, who for the time being forgot all but his oratory. Elliott maintained his majority in the House, but in the country, the three men named, with the adventitious aids of unrest and dis- appointment, changed sentiment back again in their favour. The principal political subjects on which they harped were, dissatisfaction with the various forms of taxation — personal and real estate, revenue (or school) tax, and road tolls — and fretfulness at the delay in the construction of the railway and of the dry dock at Esquimalt. It mattered not that the imposition of additional taxation had been rendered in part necessary by their own reck- lessness while in power, or that for the muddle into which railway matters and the dry dock problem had fallen they were largely and mainly respon- sible. It did not enter into their calculations that the finances of the Province had been placed on a much sounder basis, and that, generally speaking, provincial affairs were well administered. In 1878, the Elliott Government appealed with confidence to the electorate, basing this appeal on their record in office, but they did not gauge correctly the measure of pub- lic sentiment. They were hopelessly defeated at the polls, and the Hon. Geo. A. Walkem came back to power, with Hon. Robt. Beaven, Hon. Thos. B. Humphreys and Hon. W. J. Armstrong as members of his cabinet. It will be interesting to note the opinions of Mr. D. W. Higgins on this period of Provincial politics. As editor of the Colonist and a leading figure in the politics of the time, he had opportunities of judging of local conditions which very few of later date enjoyed, and as these opinions were expressed as late as 1905 , long after the events to which they refer occurred, they may be accepted as at least being free from the contemporary preju- dices of the time: “Mr. Elliott’s government, which had gained office after the election of 1875 , held on during two stormy sessions. They were vigor- ously opposed by Mr. Walkem and Mr. Humphreys, his first lieutenant. Mr. Elliott was asserted by his admirers to be an able man; but he was fond of his ease and his books, and was no match in debate for his alert and active opponents. He simply could not turn his thoughts to politics. They were distasteful to him. Most of the time since his arrival in the Colonies in 1859 had been devoted to discharging his duties as magistrate — first at Yale, then at Lillooet, and afterwards at Victoria. As a magistrate he was a marked success. As a politician and a leader of the House he was a con- spicuous failure, and no one was better aware of the fact than himself. His opponents held him up to ridicule in the House and in the country. He was denounced as a traitor to the Province, was told that his govern- ment had sold the colony to Mackenzie, and that in consequence of his supineness and treachery the child yet unborn would not live to see the first rail of the transcontinental line laid in British Columbia. The session of 1878 was worse for the Government than any that preceded it. In the pre- vious sessions, Mr. Elliott had had an unbroken majority of four. In the session of 1878, one of his supporters fell off and his majority was reduced to two. From the date of that vote, which showed that the solid ranks of the Government were broken, the Opposition rode rough shod over the minis- try. They disputed the passage of every public measure, opposed the most trivial resolution if moved by a supporter of the Government, and practically ruled the session. Matters went from bad to worse. The country was suf- fering from legislation. Road work was suspended, salaries were unpaid, and the treasury was at a low ebb. A vigorous militant man at the head of the ministry could have saved it with a majority of two; but Mr. Elliott was neither one nor the other. “At last Mr. Elliott surrendered. A conference was arranged between him and the leader of the Opposition. The latter demanded, did not ask, that the House should be dissolved on the Opposition’s terms. He offered to permit certain money votes and a little necessary legislation to pass. When that had been done, there must be a dissolution and an appeal to the elec- torate. The Premier consented to the humiliating proposition, and an ap- peal to the country resulted in the overthrow of the ministry. Their candi- [ 183 ] dates were mostly defeated. At Victoria, the Premier and all his supporters were beaten by decisive majorities. The other towns, and many of the coun- try districts, were equally pronounced in the condemnation of the ministry, and when in September following, the House was called together by the new Premier, Mr. Walkem, a mere handful of opponents, under the guidance of Mr. Smithe, confronted him. Mr. Walkem had the wisdom to take Mr. Humphreys into his Cabinet and, strange to relate, that gentleman sat through four sessions, and scarcely uttered a word, nor did he introduce a single measure. From a hard-hitting, forcible debator he became as an oyster and sat at his desk twirling his thumbs, or lounged through the lobby smok- ing Havanas.” It would be a waste of time to attempt to follow the details of politics during the Elliott and second Walkem-Beaven administrations. Beyond the question of the construction of the C. P. R. and of the dry dock there wa9 no enterprise of any real moment advanced or discussed (1). So far as the Elliott Government had gone, its legislation was progressive and necessary; but the political condition of the time was unfavourable to its successful continuance. In 1878 there were two sessions of the Legislature, the first abortive, as already intimated, while the second eagerly passed the estimates of supply, enacted some required legislation, and prorogued after formulating an address to the Home Government, calling attention to the continued failure of Canada to carry out the Terms of Union. The Walkem Government which came into power largely on account of the discontent aris- ing out of taxation and the unsatisfactory progress of railway negotiations remained in office for four years, and did nothing. In particular, the taxes were not lessened or removed, a course which met with its inevitable reward. It is one thing to arouse discontent and fan it into flame. It is quite another thing to meet the emergency which such a policy brings into existence. Not a single member of the Walkem Government was resourceful in measures of public utility. The Premier was ingenious in the highest degree in laying snares for the enemy or evading an attack from the same source; but he was a lawyer whose natural instincts in that direction were over-trained. Mr. Beaven, as we have seen, was eminent in criticism, but crass in action and permitted the size of a dollar to obscure the merits of every enterprise, and notwithstanding his undoubted abilities, his work developed into that of a superior clerk in the department of finance rather than that of statesman- ship. Humphreys we have already discussed. A year before the natural expiry of the term of the legislature, Horn Mr. Walkem was appointed to the bench, and Mr. Beaven succeeded him as Premier. The office of attorney-general was filled by Roland P. Hett, a Vic- toria lawyer, who in contesting Esquimalt was defeated by the late Mr. C. E. Pooley, who then made his first advent into politics. This was a body blow to the Government, and upon appealing to the people, the Opposition, led by Mr. Smithe, obtained a decided majority. Mr. Beaven, however, did not (l)From the correspondence it appears that strong, but dignified representations were made by the Elliott Government to the Dominion and Imperial authorities for the early construction of the C. P. R. A despatch from Ottawa, dated 24th of December, 1877, in response to a request from the local Govern- ment for early information as to the surveys, pointed out that the delay had occurred in making a care- ful and instrumental survey of the Fraser River route and that while it had been completed it would take some time to prepare the report. However, the statement was made that no further explorations would be necessary in British Columbia to determine the best route through the mountains. [ 134 ] resign, clinging to office with the pertinacity characteristic of him, and met the House and his Waterloo at the same time. Mr. Smithe was made Premier and brought into his cabinet Hon A. E. B. Davie as attorney-general. Hon. F. C. Vernon as chief commissioner of lands and works, Hon. John Robson as provincial secretary, Hon. Montague T. Drake as president of the council — a much stronger administration than had heretofore been in power, and all men of more than the average ability and of good standing. In a sense it stood for the principles of the Elliott administration, better reinforced as to material and more strongly supported in the House. Premier Smithe was inclined to be prosy, and has been de- scribed as “old-womanish,” but he was well-informed, sound in his political principles, a convincing speaker and a safe administrator. Mr. Robson, among the ablest of the public men British Columbia had produced, was a tower of strength — not from the point of view of personal popularity — on account of his all round qualifications, his executive abilities, his experience of public affairs, his versatility and strength as a writer, his quick, intuitive judgment and force of character. As an aggressive, hard-hitting politician, he had many enemies, and not many warm friends even in the ranks of his political asso- ciates; but his abilities were conspicuous. The best liked member of the cabinet was the late Mr. Alex. E. B. Davie, a man of lovable qualities, of high character, a good speaker and able in his profession as a lawyer. Mr. Vernon was distinguished as a level-headed man of affairs, who had made a good record in the Elliott administration, and in a special sense represented the interior of the country in which he was largely interested. In later years, his tendency to take life easy, obscured his real merits as a public man, who did not do his better parts justice. Mr. Drake, more familiar to a later gener- ation as Judge Drake, though possessed of many prejudices, was of excellent standing in the community and hard-headed and strong-minded. He repre- sented the ultra-English, as John Robson represented the Canadian element, of the Province. On the whole, it was a cabinet of excellent timbre, and in coming into power at the particular crisis of Provincial affairs, had the ad- vantage of the change of administration at Ottawa from Liberal to Conser- vative, with Sir John Macdonald at the helm. This change of affairs federal- ly had given rise to a strong feeling of optimism, and the people, long torn by dissension over the question of routes, and disappointed and disheartened by repeated delays and obstructive politics, were prepared to accept any solution of the railway difficulty that promised definiteness, certainty, early con- struction and progress. In a word, that is why, as is outlined in the chapter relating to the Act of Settlement, a bargain was approved, which was, in the light of events, almost as much to be deplored as the clamourous demands and unreasonable attitude of a former government, which, in the first place, set back the clock at least half a dozen years. In discussing that bargain, however, consideration must be had for all the circumstances recorded up to the present date. The Act of Settlement had the effect of putting the wheels of development in motion and greatly accelerating the progress of the Province, though it was bought at a high price — two millions of acres on the Island, with all their valuents, and 3,500,000 acres in the Peace River dis- trict, all for a railway 75 miles in length not long enough to serve the interests it was intended and without any transcontinental connections. [135] It must not be imagined, however, that relations between the Federal and Provincial Governments were at all times harmonious. There was a num- ber of matters, outside of railway disputation, which formed the subject of animated discussion and negotiation. A good deal of friction occurred between the two governments on ac- count of the tendency of the Macdonald Government to disallow provincial legislation. At that time the lines of demarcation were not so well defined as they are now, the result of frequent appeals to the Privy Council, and of a more settled policy. The Smithe government took occasion to complain very bitterly of this tendency, as being opposed to the principle prescribed by order in council in 1868, in which a policy was enunciated to interfere as little as possible with provincial legislation, and in which a definite course of procedure was laid down in respect to such legislation. For instance, in the case of the Columbia and Kootenay Railway and Transportation Company, the Dominion Government was inclined to disallow the act of incorporation on the grounds that it was unfavourable to C. P. R. interests, that it created a monopoly of land, that the company was composed of Americans, and that its effect would be to divert trade to the United States. The local Gov- ernment took serious umbrage at this, as a flouting of the constitutional authority of the Province. The Dominion Government seemed to have been largely influenced by a public meeting held in Victoria, and the local author- ities contended that, if the views of an irresponsible meeting of citizens were to prevail, the Provincial Legislature might as well adjourn sine die. This rebuke brought back the disclaimer that the Dominion Government did not object to the railway portion of the scheme which was clearly not ultra vires, but to the power given to the company to establish a line of steamers on the Columbia river, which would imply diversion of trade to, and connecting with, a foreign country. Two acts were disallowed incorporating the Fraser River Railway Company and the New Westminster Southern Railway Company, both being held in contravention of the monopoly clause of the C. P. R. It doesn’t appear that the clause applied specially to British Columbia, in the exact language of the Act, but the lack of specification did not of course limit the power of disallowance because the interests of the Dominion generally were effected thereby. The monopoly clause was abrogated in 1887, and the New Westminster Southern was built subsequently. There was also dispute as to the jurisdiction of the Province over judges, and in regard to the juris- diction of gold commissioners to preside over a mining court — a power they possessed prior to Confederation. These matters were all settled in due time. As a result, primarly, of the riot at Metlakatla over the dispute between Rev. Mr. Duncan and Bishop Ridley, frequent communications took place between the two Governments as to the proper control of the Indians. It was contended by the Dominion that the responsibility of preserving law and order rested with the Province, Avhile the latter held that, as the Indians were wards of the Dominion, it was the duty of the latter to manage and control them while on their reserves. The necessity of appointing local agents with this in view was strongly urged — a course which was finally adopted. (2) (2)This unfortunate episode had widespread publicity, not only throughout Canada and the United States, but in Great Britain as well, mainly in church circles. However, the origin of the dispute was largely one of church discipline concerning the Church of England Indian mission at Metlakatla. The rival factors, Mr. Wm. Duncan, the resident missionary, and his sympathizers among the natives, on the [136] On the 28th of June, 1883, the executive council of British Columbia drew up a report claiming equal recognition with Quebec and the Maritime Provinces to share with them the benefits of the fishery question under the provisions of the Washington Treaty. It was contended that under the treaty arbitration deprived the Province of a large area of island territory, com- prising the most accessible part of her sheltered inshore fishing grounds, and these fishing grounds were transferred to a foreign power without the assent of the British Columbia Legislature. In addition to that, British Columbia had been excluded from free access to the United States markets for her fish and fish oil, enjoyed by all other portions of the Dominion. Provincial fishermen were injured by the exclusion of her fishermen from American waters, while American fishermen were intruding in British Columbia waters without let or hindrance on the part of Canada. The report goes on to one side, and the Church of England Missionary Society and the local Bishop of Caledonia, on the other, had their zealous partisans in the Province and in the wider field alluded to. Though ecclesiastical in its nature the trouble well-nigh resulted in bloodshed and the clash of arms. In the United States, as represented by journalists and pamphleteers, it had all the elements of second Grand Pre tragedy, forming the basis of an appeal to the “government of the people, by the people and for the people to save this stricken community from desperation, and perhaps from bloodshed,” a situation with abund- ant materials for another Evangeline. It was, largely however, as one British Columbia writer describes it, “a highly coloured romance,” having “about the same modicum of truth as Mr. Parkman has proved went to the manufacture of Mr. Longfellow’s pretty poem.” — (Biographical Dictionary of Well-known Columbians. — J. B. Kerr). Mr. Duncan had been sent out by the Church of England Missionary Society to the Tsimshean Peninsula, and under its auspices labored for twenty years among the Indians there with wonderful success, civilizing them in a remarkable degree and establishing a real industrial com- munity that excited the admiration and commendation of all visitors. Duncan gained a prestige among the natives and acquired such an ascendancy over them as to be regarded by the home society as undue and undesirable. He did not follow in the beaten paths of the missionary and adapted the forms of the church in such a way as to appeal most effectually to the “untutored” minds and nascent religious intel- ligence of his people. In other words, ritualistically he was not orthodox. For this reason he was withdrawn and it was proposed to substitute another in his place. Against this the natives rebelled and refused to submit to the spiritual direction of a successor. Then the Society requested Mr. Duncan to conform more closely to the episcopal forms of the church, but he refused to obey. The Right Rev. Wm. Ridley, Bishop of Caledonia, was instructed to take charge of the mission in their interests, which he did, and then arose the serious trouble which followed. Land was given to the society by the Government, regarded as a fraudulent seizure of Indian estate, and the surveyors who went north to survey this land were prevented by the natives. The upshot of it all was that Duncan obtained land for a location on Douglas Island in Alaska, and there was a wholesale exodus of the people, along with their leader, to the new establishment, which was organized on lines similar to that at Metlakatla. Mr. Duncan, on the main issue was right in placing the practical results of his system before the mere consideration of church form, but long, undisputed sway among the natives had made him autocratic and uncompromising. His personality was too much part of the system, which would fail when he no longer could direct it; and in addition to that he had been maintained by the Society which had sent him to his field of labour and as its representative he was bound in some measure to respect its man- dates or resign. Unfortunately, at the time, Church of England circles everywhere were much divided over High and Low church principles, which were paramount in importance to all other considerations, and thus imported an element fatal to compromise. The local Government, too, was unwise in, practi- cally, taking sides, and in its deed of land to the Society brought into prominence the question of Indian title, sowing seed that since that time has germinated into the present disturbing claims of the Indians throughout British Columbia. In this connection, reference may be made to the general Indian question. Under the Terms of Union the Province agreed to set apart lands for reserves for the use and occupation of the Indians. After much discussion with the authorities of the Dominion, a basis of action was settled by the terms of the convention of 1876 as to the manner of setting apart and conveyance of lands for the purpose. Indian commissioners were appointed to select lands for the various nations and tribes, the areas of land to be increased or diminished as the tribes increased or diminished. In time, allotments were made to the extent of about 750,000 acres for the entire Indian population. Since the date of the conven- tion there has been a sensible diminution in number of Indians. Some of the reserves are practically abandoned, and a number contain a very few Indians, and are uncultivated. This state of affairs caused the Provincial Government to ask the Dominion authorities, under the terms of the convention, for a readjustment, and as a result a joint Indian commission has been appointed and is at work taking evidence and investigating conditions. The question has been complicated of late by the agitation among the Indians generally for recognition of their title to the lands, which it is claimed on their behalf has never been legally or formally extinguished, as by treaty was done by Governor Douglas in the case of the Songhees and other Indian tribes on the southern end of Vancouver Island. The difficulty of dealing with the Indians in connection with their reserves is well illustrated by the transfer of the Songhees from their ancient home in Victoria West. By treaty the members of that band and their children after them were to occupy it as long as the sun shone and the seasons came and went. In the heart of a growing city, it was at a very early date that, for their own good and in the interests of the community generally their removal was desired. But various negotiations extending over fifty years were fruitless to this end, until, in 1913, the Government through the instru- mentality of the late H. D. Helmcken and J. S. H. Matson, secured the consent of the members of the band, by liberal compensation to go to a new reserve in the vicinity of Esquimau. A somewhat similar transfer of the Indians of the Kitsalano reserve, Vancouver city, was more recently made, but with much less difficulty, the settlement in the first case forming a convenient precedent for the second. Regarding the transfer of the Indians from the Songhees reserve to their present location at Es- quimau, about which there has been so much discussion, Chief Cooper made the following statement to the author, which has been taken down verbatim as made: “About three years ago (dating from October, 1912) the negotiations begun by Mr. Helmcken on behalf of the Indians and the Government. I was working at the cannery at Esquimau and Harry came over and told me he had received a letter from Premier McBride. That was about the time Sir [ 137 ] point out that, by the terms of all the official documents in connection with the negotiation of that treaty, it is clear that the whole of British North America was intended to be included. Inclusion of British Columbia was refused on the grounds that it was not actually a part of Canada when the treaty was signed, though it had been part of Canada for two years at the date of the complete ratification, namely on the First of July, 1873, and although the inclusion of Prince Edward Island, which did not come until still later, was approved of by the Canadian Government in 1879. The subject matter of the report is too long and involves too many details to be discussed here. It is, nevertheless, an interesting feature of the relations of the Province and the Dominion at that time. Wilfrid Laurier was leaving Victoria. I told him he had better wait until I got home from the can- nery. I left the cannery about the middle of September. He started in telling me what the Govern- ment intended to do and then came over on the reserve and held two or three meetings of the band, telling them what the Government intended doing. The band told him if the Government would do what was right then they would give up their homes and accept another reserve. Mr. Helmcken an- swered: Til see you will get your rights. I am just the same as you people. I was raised here the same as you. My grandfather, who knew your fathers and grandfathers, who are all dead now, was their friend. You are living and I am living: so I'll do my best to see you people treated right, the same as my grandfather treated your fathers and grandfathers.’ I told Mr. Helmcken I did not want to see the thing fail, as it had failed so often in the past and would like to know who was back of the negotiations. I would not discuss the matter with my people and him unless it was to be carried out. Mr. Helmcken said: ‘Chief, the party making the deal with you is our own Government, right here at home, without any outside people in it, providing you accept the offer that will be made.’ That was at the meeting held on the reserve. Then after Mr. Helmcken had seen and written to Mr. McBride, he offered $10,000 per head. I asked him if the improvements would be paid for and he said he would have to see Mr. McBride. He held a meeting of the band in his office in the evening and the band told him they were willing to take the offer of $10,000, providing it was paid into their own hands and no- body else had anything to do with it. The improvements were to be in addition to the $10,000, and the graves to be removed to the new reserve at Esquimau on land owned by the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany — 170 acres odd. Mr. Helmcken wanted them to sign. The band said: ‘Let the chief and the councilmen sign; but we will not sign tonight.’ The chief and the councilmen signed that the band agreed. We met Mr. McBride in the Parliament buildings and made an appointment to go to Esqui- mau and inspect the reserve — Messrs. McBride, Ross, Helmcken, Matson and Thompson (H. B. Co.) Chief Cooper, and four councilmen went and saw the reserve and then the Government took up nego- tiations with the H. B. Co. Mr. Helmcken was arranging the matter when Mr. Matson came in. He came with Mr. Helmcken. Mr. Helmcken told me Mr. Matson was coming and asked if I had any ob- jection. I said not. Mr. Matson was at Helmcken’s office with me and councillor, Wm. Robert. This was after the general plan had been arranged. He represented the Government in regard to money matters. Mr. Helmcken came over to the reserve many nights and talked with the members of the tribe or myself. Mr. Helmcken was friendly with the Indians for many years and they had great confidence in him. He could talk Chinook as well as we could and did our business. This was true of all the Indians everywhere. They all knew of his grandfather and liked Harry. He used to come over at Christmas and give the boys tobacco and presents. A great many people used to come over to try and get the reserve, but it was no use. Helmcken and I worked very hard to get the business finished up. People in the city used to blame him for holding it back, but the members of the band were very hard to be satisfied and they only agreed to the settlement because they thought Harry knew better than they did about whether they were getting enough or not.” [ 138 ] A PERIOD OF POLITICAL TRANSITION. CHAPTER XII. Political conditions from the year 1883 to 1889 were fairly well settled and the governments continuous; but about the year 1890 symptoms of a change from old-time to new-time ideas and policies began to manifest them- selves. The influence of Vancouver, then growing into importance, gradually made itself felt, and to some extent the sentiment of Vancouver was reflected throughout the lower mainland and the Kootenays, although in the New Westminster district the feeling of antagonism to the Island of Vancouver and to the capital city, in particular, was more pronounced than ever, while the Government was still dominated by a bias in favour of Victoria. It is significant of this growing sentiment that the lower mainland and West Koo- tenay in 1890 sent an almost solid contingent of independent members to the Legislature. The labour representatives of Nanaimo and district were also opposed to the Government. The remainder of the Island, however, to- gether with Cariboo, Lillooet, East Kootenay and Okanagan and Cassiar, sent supporters of the administration, all these representing old-time influences. Three of the Independents— Messrs. Kellie, of Kootenay, Punch, of New Westminster district, and Horne, of Vancouver City — went over to the Government. Hon. Mr. Beaven was nominal leader of the Opposition, while Hon. John Robson, who had been defeated in New Westminster district, though afterwards elected for Cariboo, was Premier. The Opposition, includ- ing the Beavenites, the independents, and the labour members, formed a vigor- ous opposing force. On the other hand, all the members of the Government during the fifteen years — 1883 to 1889 — Smithe, Robson, Drake, Dunsmuir, Vernon, Pooley, the two Davies, Baker, Turner, Duck, Eberts, Martin — may have been said to have reflected old-time influences and to a large extent the interests or sentiments of Victoria. Robson, Baker, Vernon and Martin were representatives of the mainland, but, with the exception of Martin, had become regular residents in the Capital, with sympathies towards the capital city. These were among the more prominent of the leaders in the middle period of our history, but, nevertheless, might be classed as old-timers. There were three kinds of opposition to the Government: the newcomers, who though scattered, found in the city of Vancouver their chief source of in- spiration; the labour members with whom the anti-Chinese question was the most prominent issue ; and thirdly, the lower mainlanders with the traditional Opposition represented by Mr. Beaven, of Victoria. These various elements found their best expression in The Province, a weekly paper founded by Mr. (now Senator) Bostock, and edited by Mr. E. H. Scaife. Here a new note in provincial politics was sounded. There came into being an Opposition essentially Liberal in its sympathies, which received fresh impetus when the Liberals came into power at Ottawa in 1896. In the Provincial House, how- ever, the parties were not divided according to Federal party lines, but were composite in character. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that for fifteen [ 189 ] years the members of the various administrations were essentially Conserva- tive both in name and sympathies. On the other hand, Messrs. Beaven, Cot- ton and Semlin, though belonging to the Opposition, were Conservatives. There were, indeed, practically few new political issues, except that the Gov- ernment styled itself progressive in respect to the development of the coun- try, — a development which included road and trail-building sufficient to keep pace with mining requirements, aid to railways for the opening of isolated districts, and the re-organization of the Agricultural department. Previous to the death of John Robson, the Government had in hand an ambitious pro- ject for the development of deep sea fisheries, which included what was known as the Crofter Colonization scheme, according to the provisions of which land along the coast was to be reserved for the settlement of Crof- ters from Scotland to be employed in the fisheries. The Imperial Govern- ment had agreed to guarantee a loan to aid the enterprise, and Hon. Mr. Robson, the Premier, was in England, concluding the arrangements in con- nection with the loan, when his sudden and unexpected death took place , Upon the accession to power of Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, successor to Lord Salisbury, the project did not secure continued favour, and the scheme was dropped, much to the relief of a number of Government supporters with whom it was unpopular. But on the assumption that the Crofters were a suitable class of colonists, and that the times were ripe for the ex- port of deep-sea fish to eastern markets, the scheme seemed to be excellent- ly conceived, and, under favourable conditions, might have proved of great benefit, but there were so many doubtful factors that the success of the en- terprise was, to say the least, highly problematical. With regard to mining, owing to the impetus given by the numerous discoveries of lode ore, especial- ly in the southern interior, the laws affecting this industry received a con- siderable amount of attention and scarcely a session passed without some amendment being made in the mining code. It was about this time also that the change was made forbidding the owner of a claim to follow out his lead. In other words, his mineral rights were vertical only, from the four corners of his claim. This measure was productive of a good deal of litigation, sev- eral noted cases arising out of it. However, British Columbia mining laws were gradually evolved to meet the special local requirements, and have been in fact regarded as the best devised code in existence, nor have they been of late years, materially altered or amended. During this regime also tbe bonded debt of the Province was consolidated, and power was taken to issue in- scribed stock under the provisions of the Imperial Act. This undoubtedly, tended to improve the borrowing powers of the Province, but whether it was a real advantage to facilitate the process of running into debt is a question that may be now regarded as more than doubtful. Certainly, the ambitious pro- gramme of railway building not having been carried out, the saving in interest has been considerable, and, fortunately, perhaps, many of the projected en- terprises which received Government favour did not come into being. Among the railways that were financed by the Government, either by land grants or by guarantees of interest, were the Columbia and Kootenay from Robson to Nelson; the Shuswap and Okanagan from Sicamous to Long Lake; the Na- kusp and Slocan; and the Victoria and Sidney on the Island between the two points named. On the first a land grant of 10,240 acres per mile was be- stowed; with regard to the second and third the interest and principal were guaranteed to the bond holders, while in respect to the last named two-per- cent. interest was guaranteed by the Provincial Government and two-per-cent, by the city of Victoria. Conditions in the country and in railway develop- ment have now materially changed, and it can be clearly seen in what ways a much better arrangement could have been made in the interests of the Prov- ince which would have at the same time materially assisted the undertakings. On the whole, the Columbia and Kootenay, the Nakusp and Slocan, and the Shuswap and Okanagan have indirectly paid the Province for the outlay in- volved, although the Treasury has been called upon to pay large and unan- ticipated amounts. On the other hand, the Victoria and Sidney has been more or less, a waste of money out of the public purse, while the require- ments of the Saanich district are only now being met by the construction of the B. C. Electric Railway. Upon the death of Hon. John Robson, Hon. Theodore Davie, Attorney- General, became Premier. It cannot be said that he was a man of great per- sonal charm and he had been the reverse of popular. Contrary to all expec- tations, he soon acquired a strong influence over his party and the members of his Government. He was small of stature and not prepossessing in appear- ance, but he had all the characteristics of the bull-dog and not a few of that animal’s lovable attributes. In many respects he was the strongest of all the premiers of British Columbia. A tireless worker and a persistent fight- er, brusque in manner and direct in speech, he was at the same time neither overbearing nor obstinate. In fact, he came rather to be admired for his frankness in dealing with political friends and foes, and no one was more willing to acknowledge himself in error when convinced of the fact. In many respects he was a democrat, and had a kind-heartedness that endeared him to many of the old-timers, while his purse was always open to the needy. His most conspicuous fault was his impetuous haste in action and in not looking carefully enough to the end. Like most men of such disposition he made suc- cesses and some failures. Among the most momentous of his achievements was the erection of the present Government buildings, which he undertook in the face of much political opposition, and upon borrowed money. It is a mis- take to suppose that the new buildings were projected wholly with the view of “anchoring the Capital,” although they had that distinct effect. The old buildings had become entirely inadequate to official requirements and were, above all, very unsafe as a depository of public documents. In a conversa- tion with an old and influential resident of Victoria one day, the Premier asked for an expression of opinion as to his project, namely, of erecting a new and handsome structure adequate to the requirements of rapidly expand- ing public business, and at the same time creditable to the Province. He had anticipated the political objections, and was anxious to measure the chances of success in carrying the project through. “My opinion is,” was the reply of his advisor, “that, if you do not erect buildings now, in five years’ time the Capital will go to the mainland.” Mr. Davie shut his jaw with a snap pe- culiarly indicative of his having come to a conclusion, and said, with a de- cided “Humph”: “We’ll build them now.” And they were built. The archi- tectural composition and design were undoubtedly an inspiration, and the structure has ever since been not only the most notable landmark in stone [ 141 ] on the Pacific Coast, but a monument to the foresight of their conception. The cost was less than one million dollars. So soon did the floor space now devoted to public service, which twenty years ago was declared to be excessive and out of all proportion for official occupation, prove completely inadequate that extensions are now being made which will practically double the original struc- ture, and are yet not considered by any means to be extravagant. Needless to say, the proposal to erect the present buildings provoked a storm of pro- test from the members of the lower mainland. John C. Brown is believed to have been the author of the saying that every member from the mainland who voted for the new buildings would be decapitated at the next election, and Mr. Kellie, of Revelstoke, one of the Independents who had sided with the Gov- ernment after the death of Mr. Robson, made a statement in regard to the project which earned for him a persistent nick-name. The member for West Kootenay had great faith in the potential resources of his district and was fond of calculating possibilities in seven figures. In a flight of exuberant fancy he pictured the new buildings as being erected out of the wealth of the treasure-houses in his mountainous constituency, and then, shuddering at the thought of niggardliness, he exclaimed: “If, Mr. Speaker, my head must fall as the price of my vote for the Parliament buildings, then with all my heart I shall say, ‘Let ’er flicker’.” The effect was mirthfully magical, and ever afterwards in the political arena he w r as known as “Let her flicker Kel- lie.” Parenthetically, it may be stated that his head did not fall at the next or the subsequent election. Mr. Davie brought on the elections in June, 1894 , and the campaign was hotly contested. The political issues previously referred to had become inten- sified. In the meantime, however, the Government had been strengthened by the vigorous policy of the Premier, who won admiration and support by his energy and boldness. The Parliament buildings and the negotiations set on foot towards the building of the British Pacific won four members for Victoria, Mr. Beaven suffering his first defeat since Confederation in the city. These considerations, on the other hand, did not materially alter the position on the mainland, except that Mr. Vernon, through neglect of his constituency, lost his old seat in Yale. The redistribution bill, carried after the census of 1891 , still left an undue preponderance on the Island. Cari- boo and Lillooet, out of respect to tradition, as well as Esquimalt and Cassiar, though over-represented in proportion to population, were left undisturbed. The Government was attacked on the mainland principally in respect to the Parliament buildings, its so-called reckless land and railway policy, and its unfairness as regards redistribution. The labour constituencies considered the Government too pro-Chinese and out of sympathy with the requirements of labour. On the lower mainland, the tide set in favour of the Government on account of the generous and timely aid it had extended to the settlers who were sufferers from the terrible floods of that year, and whilst this feeling did not win any seats it greatly mitigated the feeling of hostility. The Gov- ernment was in the end returned with a large majority. Mr. Davie himself made a splendid fight, and as a result of the elections felt more free to take the reins still more firmly in his own hands. But the course of events altered his destiny. In that year the Chief Justice, Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, died, and Mr. Davie was induced to look with favour on himself as successor. [ 142 ] Times in the Province, following the natural course of reaction after a period of undue speculation, had become depressed. With hard times had come un- rest and political discontent. Mr. Davie’s personal fortunes had been im- paired, and his private law business had suffered. Press of political work had told on his health. In the spring of 1895 he resigned the premiership, and became invested with the mantle of judgeship laid down by his famous predecessor. In broken health, his malady intensified by business troubles, the loss of his wife, and the breaking up of his family, he only survived three years. What his future would have been as a politician and as a leader of the Government it is hard to say. The fortunes of his successor are perhaps the best indication of his probable fate, inasmuch as the greatest of men have been unable to battle against their destinies. The Hon. J. H. Turner, who since 1887 had been Finance Minister, succeeded as Premier, and brought in with him the Hon. D. M. Eberts as Attorney-General. He also inherited several uncomfortable legacies. The railway policy of the Government was embarrassing, and increasing liabili- ties rendered financing difficult. The Hon. Theodore Davie was bold in pol- icy, but he was also reckless in money matters. The first serious task before his successor was to go to London to float a loan for two million dollars. And here it might be well to review the situation, which must be first understood before it is possible to judge fairly the course of events of the next few years, out of which the present state of provincial politics was evolved. After the resignation of Mr. Davie, the forces of disintegration were strongly at work, and even if Mr. Turner had been successful at the next general elections, it is altogether probable that his fate would have been sealed during the en- suing Parliament. Mr. Turner had an attractive personality; he was genial, generous in his instincts, progressive in policy, and not at all sectional in his sympathies. He had a host of warm personal friends, was fluent and agreeable in debate, had a good grasp of the financial situation, and was of fine physique and striking in appearance. He was fond of horticulture and leaned strongly toward the development of agriculture, which, as head of the department, he did more than any other Minister to place on a sound foot- ing. If he had faults, they sprang from his open-mindedness and his lack of firmness in dealing with difficult situations. Loyalty to personal friends, leniency towards their failings, and a certain yielding to persuasion against his own better judgment led to his defeat and that of his party in 1898. Unin- fluenced by mercenary consideration and imbued with a desire to improve and develop the Province, there, nevertheless, grew up, especially on the mainland, a sentiment strongly opposed to what political opponents were pleased to call “Turnerism.” That meant, if it meant anything definite, favouritism, a lax civil service, extravagance in expenditure of public moneys, looseness of ad- ministration, sectionalism, increasing indebtedness, encouragement of specu- lators and promoters at the expense of public assets, recklessness in railway charters and subventions, lack of definite and comprehensive policies, non- sympathy with labour aspirations, and everything else that might be chargeable against a Government which had been a long time in power. But, essentially, it was the subtle, irresistible force of changing conditions and a desire for change in which the rapidly expanding newer elements were to find a dominating voice. At this psychological moment Joseph Mar- [143] tin, who had run his logical course in Manitoba in provincial and federal affairs, made his appearance in the political arena, and his impetuosity, his practised skill in attack, his reputation for fighting abuses and smashing governments, lent a new interest and gave a new direction to political cam- paigning in British Columbia. Though comparatively a stranger to the Prov- ince, he received the nomination for the city of Vancouver, and his tour through the settled districts bore undoubted fruits in modifying a situation almost unprecedented in Canada. Several of the candidates ran upon inde- pendent platforms, and in a Province in which clearly defined party lines, as between Liberal and Conservative, were yet unknown, it was impossible to predict the sides upon which candidates if elected would range themselves in the House after election. In addition to that, the election in Cassiar dis- trict had been deferred, so that the returns from that remote constituency would not be available for a long time after the general elections had been held. Owing, too, to the keenness of the contest and the general uncertainty as to the result petitions were filed against nearly every member who had been declared elected. Despite these well-known facts, and in opposition to constitutional usage, Lieutenant-Governor Hon. T. R. Mclnnes (late of the Senate) called upon Mr. Turner to resign. His expressed reason for the ac- tion, in brief was that the Ministry had ceased to enjoy his confidence, a point which no representative of the Crown ought to advance except in the presence of some glaring malfeasance in office, or a deliberate attempt to deceive His Honour in matters under consideration. His ordinary and ob- vious course would have been to wait for the Legislature in session, to deter- mine the question as to whether or not the Government had the confidence of the country. The confidence of His Honour in the administration could not, in ordinary circumstances, properly form an issue under our representa- tive form of government. The Lieutenant-Governor, however, proceeded from one blunder to another. He called upon Mr. Robert Beaven, who was in private life and who represented no political following in the Prov- ince, either on the Island or on the mainland at that time, to form a minis- try. That gentleman accepted the responsibility, but it is hardly necessary to say, failed after a few days’ effort. His Honour was then obliged to fol- low the constitutional course and call on Mr. C. A. Semlin, the recognized leader of the Opposition, who accepted the responsibility, and invited Mr. Joseph Martin and Mr. F. C. Cotton, of Vancouver, to be his Attorney-Gen- eral and Minister of Finance, respectively. With Mr. J. F. Hume, of Nelson, as his Provincial Secretary, Dr. R .E. McKechnie, of Nanaimo, as President of the Council, and himself as Chief Commissioner of Land and Works, he completed his Cabinet. There was considerable cleansing of the Augean stables attempted by the new Government, and while the ministry lasted, the work of the administration was in the main carefully and eco- nomically performed, though, probably from lack of financial resources and sufficient political support, nothing ofj note was accomplished. Air. Martin, as Attorney-General and Minister of Education, in his haste, made several departmental mistakes, and the rather wholesale dismissal of officials by the Government did not secure the public favour which it anticipated. With a following that made a majority in the House uncertain, the task of the Gov- ernment was somewhat heroic. Two members elected on the independent [ 144 ] ticket, one whose election expenses had been paid out of the Turner cam- paign fund, went over to the Government side. One of the members for East Kootenay, a Turnerite, died before taking his seat and a Government sup- porter was elected in his stead. Two of the members, over whom election protests were suspended, were confirmed in their seats by special Act of the Legislature. Even then the majority after electing a Speaker was small, though sufficient to carry on business. It is needless to add that the session of 1899 was a stormy one. The unconstitutional action of the Lieutenant- Governor in dismissing his advisers, the seating of two members while their election trials were sub judice, and the summary dismissal of officials came in for severe arraignment. Richard McBride, afterwards to become Premier with a wide political reputation, appeared for the first time in the Legisla- ture as the representative of Dewdney riding — tall, rather slight, pleasant of speech and countenance. His almost boyish appearance did not belie his twenty-eight years of life. The first session went through successfully. After the prorogation, how- ever, domestic troubles developed in the Government, but as all the mem- bers of that Cabinet, in which Joseph Martin may be regarded as the un- ruly member, are still alive, it becomes undesirable, if not impossible, to deal with the situation upon its merits. Rivalry between Mr. Martin and Mr. Cotton, the other dominating factor of the Cabinet, arose, and while the former was the chief cause, he was not the only cause of the disruption which took place. It was obvious to the intelligent observer that two ambitions to rule in the political arena could not succeed, and that for one to survive the other must be destroyed. Mr. Martin was the more masterful and the more direct in his methods, but Mr. Cotton was the more sagacious. The one tried to ride rough-shod over his opponent; the other pursued his way tactfully and insidiously to the end. The eccentricities of the former and his reckless disregard of the social proprieties were his undoing. They were likewise the undoing of his colleague. The Premier shocked by the course taken by his Attorney-General asked for his resignation, and obtained it. Mr. Cotton was then supreme and the occupant of two chief portfolios, Finance and Lands and Works, the Premier taking the office of Provincial Secretary, and Mr. Hume that of Mines. Mr. Alexander Henderson, of New Westminster, succeeded Mr. Martin as Attorney-General. Mr. Martin im- mediately became a fighting factor of the Opposition, and in opposition he was terrible, the more so because he was undeterred by any nice scruples. The way he lashed Mr. Cotton on the floor of the House on personal grounds during the following session was a good example of his powers in that respect, although such methods brought him no political advantage or per- sonal respect. In his general attitude he had at least this outstanding merit, that he fought in the open. His faults were, in the main, temperamental. His position as political leader — and leadership was his sole ambition, even if the party to be led were ever so numerically small, and he never ceased to have admirers and advocates — was sui generis. The regular Opposition wel- comed his aid, but did not assimilate with him. He was purely a destructive force, politically feared and cordially disliked by both sides. The session of 1900 was a memorable one. The defection of Joseph Martin, ex-Attorney-General, and D. W. Higgins, a former Speaker, left [145] the Government very weak, and after two months of warfare, nothing more was accomplished than to demonstrate the impossibility of carrying on the business of the Province. On the opening day, two members being absent, the Government suffered an adverse vote on the motion to adjourn. For sev- eral days a series of non-confidence motions in one form or another followed, the Government sometimes having a majority of one or two, and sometimes only sustained by the vote of the Speaker. On the 23rd of February a member of the Opposition moved the previous question, which was carried. Mr. Prentice, a supporter of the Government, voted with the Opposition, and the vote stood 19 to 18 for the motion. The crisis was reached, and the House adjourned for four days. A situation probably unparallelel in par- liamentary history, and certainly one of rare and unusual interest, arose. Out of it grew most important developments. Without party discipline, as at present constituted, lines of political alle- giance were loosely drawn, and the units in the several combinations began readjusting themselves. The Lieutenant-Governor, as a result of the vote, immediately demanded the resignation of the Ministry. A new combination was formed. Col. James Baker and Messrs. McBride, Turner and Irving, members of the Opposition, and Prentice, who had voted against the Gov- ernment, agreed to support the Premier in order to carry on the Legisla- ture, and armed with this assurance the latter waited on His Honour. The Premier told him that he had a majority of the Legislature at his back, a fact that would be disclosed upon the first division at the next meeting of the House. His Honour was inexoi*able. The Legislature met again on the twenty-seventh, and the resolution moved by Premier Semlin, and sec- onded by Attorney-General Henderson, condemning the Governor for dis- missing his advisers — despite its reflections on His Honour — was carried by 23 to 13. Five of the majority had previously voted to defeat the Govern- ment. The following day Mr. Martin announced that he had been called upon to form a Government. On the First of March the House met for prorogation and passed a resolution of want of confidence in the new Pre- mier, 28 voting yea and one ( J. M. Martin, of Rossland) voting nay. When Lieutenant-Governor Mclnnes entered the House, all the members, with the exception of the Speaker, retired as a protest, and the crowded galleries hissed and hooted His Honour. It was an indescribable scene of disorder and dis- play of contemptuous feeling. Mr. Martin alone stood in the House with the members of the body guard, while the speech, which was exceedingly brief, was being read. As His Honour j>assed out of the Legislative Chamber the members filed in, singing “God Save the Queen,” and proceeded to pass resolutions condemning the Lieutenant-Governor, to sing patriotic songs and generally to behave in an unparliamentary manner. Mr. Martin proceeded to form his Government in an unprecedented fashion. No member of the Legislature would accept office. He went out into the highways and byways to seek ministers. Mr. Corry Ryder, a clerk in a general store, was made Minister of Finance; James Stuart Yates, a lawyer of Victoria, became Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works; Geo. Washington Beebe, an untutored farmer at Agassiz, Provincial Secre- tary; Smith Curtis, a former law partner of the Premier at Rossland, Min- ister of Mines. Mr. Martin himself took the portfolio of Attorney-General, [146] and was Minister of Education. None of his Ministers were in public office, and, with the exception of Mr. Curtis, who had been a member of the Mani- toba Legislature, none of them had had experience in public affairs. Smith Curtis was a man of some oratorial and administrative ability but was er- ratic and socialistic in his political views. Such a government should not have been permitted to retain office a day longer than was necessary to ob- tain the verdict of the people, but the excuse was made and allowed to pre- vail that it was in the public interest to have the voters’ lists revised and printed. It was not until the 9th day of June that the .elections were held. In the meantime the Premier, after a month’s trial, had swapped Corry Ryder for J. C. Brown, of New Westminster, as Finance Minister and had paid vigorous attention to fixing up his political fences. It was openly stated that he had the financial support of the Great Northern Rail- way in carrying on his campaign. The elections were contested on one issue only, viz.: a protest against unconstitutional government and “Joe” Mar- tin. It could have had but one ending. The Government was completely defeated. Mr. Martin came back to the House with between seven and nine followers. It was difficult to differentiate political leanings in several instances. It was indeed surprising that his following had not been com- pletely swept away, but there was a considerable element of people who admired his fighting qualities, his slap-dash and direct, even if harsh, methods. The political situation even now was quite problematical. Martin had been completely routed in the country, though he himself elected to the Legislature, but his ministers, with the exception of Mr. Curtis, were all de- feated ; there was no leader, and no issue save that of anti-Martinism, around which to concentrate a ministerial party. Messrs. Turner, Eberts and Pooley, members of the former Government, represented “Turnerism,” and Turnerism was unpopular and politically dead. His Honour called upon James Dunsmuir to form a Government, and the latter selected Messrs. Turner and Eberts at once as the nucleus of a cabinet. These appoint- ments excited a good deal of criticism. A convention was held at Van- couver, at which all the anti-Martinites attended, and at which the selection of Mr. Dunsmuir and his two colleagues was approved. The result was that Richard McBride, as Minister of Mines, J. D. Prentice, as Provincial Secre- tary, and W. C. Wells, as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, were added to complete the ministry. A curious and anomalous incident occurred at the convention. A resolution was passed condemning the action of the Lieutenant-Governor and demanding his dismissal. The Premier was pres- ent, and voted for the resolution, regardless of the fact that he was in a peculiar way the guardian of the political honour, and constitutional ad- viser of the representative of the Crown at whom the resolution was aimed. His Honour suffered severely both in his political person and in his prestige as the result of these complications, which had been very largely troubles of his own creation. Had the Martin administration been victori- ous at the polls, his conduct would have been vindicated by the people, in whose hands the final arbitrament rests, but not having been sustained by the people it was inevitable that he must suffer the penalty of having acted on his own responsibility, and in defiance of what constitutional usage and pub- [147] lie opinion alike dictated as the obvious course to pursue. He was dis- missed with great promptitude by the Dominion Government on the ad- vice of Hon. David Mills, the Minister of Justice. Dr. Mclnnes may have been quite sincere in the course he took, but he misapprehended the nature of his duties as a constitutional governor. He did not realize that it was not his own view of a certain political situation or of policy which should prevail, but those of his constitutional advisers, and that, except in extreme and exceptional circumstances, he must be guided by their advice, subject to endorsement by the people’s representatives, and as a last resort by the peo- ple themselves. He did not perceive that he must be deaf, dumb and blind in respect to everything but the bidding of Parliament, that his own concep- tion of policies or of events or ethical requirements, except in so far as his own honour or the honour of Her Majesty might be involved, must be made subservient to those of the representatives of the people. He was ambi- tious to make a coup, to create new precedents, to impress himself on the chapter of political history, in which he succeeded beyond his expectations, and wherein he erred egregiously. His first act in dismissing Turner’s admin- istration was a blunder equal to if not greater than the second, but that at any rate was upheld by the Legislature, which endorsed his act. His political career ended in a cul de sac. The Hon. James Dunsmuir took office under conditions peculiarly fa- vourable to success. He had a large following anxious in the interests of the country for political solidarity. The political incidents of the past three years had been most unsettling and from a business point of view highly prejudicial to the Province. The people wanted political quiet and stable government above all things. Dunsmuir was selected as leader, not be- cause of special fitness for a position to fill which he had neither experience nor aptitude nor inclination ; but because of his status in the community. He represented large interests, had no particular political bias, and was a plain, unassuming man with a reputation for integrity and Scotch bluntness and directness. He could not be spectacular or imaginative, but he would, it was thought, be safe and business-like, and for those reasons best qualified at the moment to unite in himself political elements that were divergent and difficult to reconcile. The situation was extremely hopeful. That he was not suc- cessful and that he disappointed expectations were due to fundamental facts overlooked at the outset, although, in reality, he was the one possible leader at the time, and in that sense tided over a serious and imminent difficulty. Mr. Dunsmuir had had no political experience or training. He had never in- terested himself in politics, except in so far as politics affected his own un- dertakings. He had no aptitude or inclination for public affairs. Indeed, in regard to his own affairs, he accepted the large inheritance of collieries, lands and a railway more as trusts which it was his duty to administer to the best of his ability than as enterprises to develop and make the most of on his own account. His administration began well, and the session of the Legisla- ture following the elections was fairly harmonious in its proceedings, and op- timistic in spirit. Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere was seated in the vice- regal chair as successor to Hon. T. R. Mclnnes, curiously enough with politi- cal experiences in Quebec similar to those through which the Province had just passed. Sir Henri was a gentleman of the old French school, and his [ 148 ] demeanour and his entire course in the Province as Lieutenant-Governor during a period of peculiar political stress and untoward incidents, proved to be highly satisfactory to the people, and his memory is held in high regard in the Province of British Columbia. The events of this period, the period of political transition, are too recent to be reviewed in close detail. Looking over the pages of our his- tory from 1897 to 1904 the events referred to appear highly kaleidoscopic in their rapidity of succession and changing complexions and combinations. There is nothing quite analogous in recent political annals. Conditions were in a state of ferment, of unrest, and the process of clarification which en- sued might be compared to a casual admixture of highly reactive chemical elements. The retort boiled and fizzed and spluttered and exploded, until the time when each element found its natural affinity, compounded in nat- ural order, and ultimately came to rest. Even in the session of 1900 there ap- peared the evidences of trouble ahead. No very important legislation resulted. An Act to exclude Orientals, based on the Natal Act, was passed and put into force, inspectors being appointed thereunder. It followed the fate of several succeedings Acts of a similar nature which were vetoed by the Do- minion Government. An increased tax was placed on coal. Petitions from mining operators asked for the repeal of the eight-hour la>v passed during the Semlin administration. The effect of the Act had been very disturbing in the mining districts. Agitation from the same source arose for a repeal or modification of the two per cent, tax on ore. Both of these subjects seri- ously concerned the Government for a time, but political considerations pre- vailed, and the law in both respects was left alone, so that in time the min- ing operators accepted the inevitable and the agitation has long since sub- sided. The question of Oriental immigration, a hardy annual of British Co- lumbia politics for thirty-five or forty years, was then at an acute stage, hav- ing been accentuated by the disturbed condition of politics, and Mr. Duns- muir had at the outset promised to go to Ottawa and make strong repre- sentations to the Federal authorities, particularly with reference to the Japan- ese, who had been coming in in great numbers. At the suggestion of the au- thor, who then occupied an official position as Secretary of the Bureau of Sta- tistics, the whole question of the relations between the Province and the Domin- ion was taken into consideration and the entire case under various heads came to be known as “better terms” and was under that designation formulated. In January, 1901, the first of the numerous delegations to deal with the matter went to Ottawa. The outcome of this mission will be dealt with later; suffice to say it was not at first taken seriously by the authorities there. The session of 1901 developed serious friction, though to the ordinary ob- server little appeared on the surface. The railway policy of the Govern- ment was the prime cause. There had arisen as far back as 1897 a strong demand throughout the mainland and on the southern part of the Island for a railway over Hope Mountain to give closer and more direct connection be- tween the Coast cities and the Boundary and Kootenay districts. The char- ter of the V. V. & E., with this in view, had passed through various changes, and the promoters clamoured for a subsidy. This demand was strongly sec- onded by various public bodies and at public meetings. The C. P. R. had a special executive representative in the Province, and it was felt by the Gov- [149] ernment supporters in the Legislature that the influence of that corporation was being unduly exerted against the proposal. On one or two occasions mutinous voices were heard in the House, hut it was in the caucus that the spirit of unrest was manifested, and while the session closed without open revolt, a number of the Government supporters went home in an unruly frame of mind. Mr. E. V. Bod well, of Victoria, a prominent barrister, rep- resented a company, backed, it was said, by the Great Northern, which was ready to build the road in question and to make a connection by ferry with Sidney, and thus over the V. & S. with Victoria. A Railway Aid Act was passed, enabling the Government to borrow $5,000,000 for this purpose, and for building a bridge over the Fraser River at New Westminster, and aiding the V. V. & E. for 330 miles, a line to the north end of Vancouver Island, the Midway and Vernon, a railway from Kitamat to Hazleton, and one from Golden to Fort Steele, to the amount of $4,000 a mile. In this measure the Government took power to make contracts for the lines in question. A num- ber of the members feared the influence of the C. P. R. and made strong pro- tests in caucus. Among these were Captain Tatlow and H. D. Helmcken, of Victoria; but the real difficulty was that of the attitude of Martin and sev- eral members of his party. Though nominally in opposition, Martin became very friendly with the Premier and intimate in political affairs. In fact it was suggested that he was the Premier’s closest adviser. This marked the point where the breaking up of existing parties began. Messrs. Martin, Brown and Mclnnes supported the Government railway policy, and it was sug- gested that Martin inspired it. Smith Curtis parted company with his old partner and political associate. Messrs. Helmcken, McPhillips, Tatlow, Gar- den, Hall, Hayward and Murphy openly resented the alliance. During the session Hon. J. H. Turner, Minister of Finance, was selected for the post of Agent-General in London, England, and for that purpose he resigned on September 3rd. The straining point in the political situation was reached, when Mr. Dunsmuir invited J. C. Brown, a member of Mr. Mar- tin’s party and for a time his minister, to enter the Cabinet as Provincial Sec- retary, the Hon. J. D. Prentice being transferred to the portfolio of Finance and Agriculture. This provoked a crisis. The influence of Mr. Martin with Mr. Dunsmuir was herein publicly demonstrated. Other mem- bers of the Cabinet protested, but Mr. McBride, Minister of Mines, alone resigned. It was a tactical and inexcusable blunder on the part of the Pre- mier, but a malicious intention on the part of Mr. Martin, who well knew the effect of such a move on the political situation. It afforded him in- tense satisfaction and amusement at the same time. A complete political re- adjustment of the Legislature, when it met again in 1902, was brought about. Some dozen supporters of the Government trooped into opposi- tion, and several followers of Mr. Martin joined them. On the other hand, the Government was reinforced by six members of the Opposition, and had still a working majority. But events soon altered the complexion of affairs. Mr. McBride solidified the opposition to the Government on anti-Martin lines, and met Brown, the new minister, in his bye-election at New West- minster, defeating him on September 18th. That result was a severe blow, more particularly as a bridge was being built across the Fraser River by the Government. Mr. Brown resigned, and there was political and ad- [ 150 ] ministrative inaction for a time. Suspense was great, and dissatisfaction with the general condition of affairs developed rapidly. The country was clamouring for railways, but as the railway legislation of the past session de- pended for success on co-operation at Ottawa, nothing came of it. To allay public feeling about the V. V. & E., the Hon. Edward Dewdney, C. E., was appointed to make a reconnaissance survey of the proposed route over Hope Mountain, about the practicability of which there were very grave doubts. The Government in any event was powerless to relieve the situa- tion, and the Premier in letters to Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the question of the financial relations of the Province and the Dominion strongly called for assistance, especially in respect to railways, and in a long manifesto to the electors clearly and ably set forth the condition which affected the situation. He outlined a policy which, had it been put into effect, would have involved important results. The Government, however, was not much in earnest about its policy, and was too much demoralized to give it serious attention. These efforts had the effect of soothing the public mind for the moment, and in the meantime an election contest came on in Victoria which was waged des- perately for several months. Col. the Hon. E. G. Prior was appointed Minister of Mines to succeed Mr. McBride in that office, and Mr. E. V. Bodwell contested the bye-election. The entire forces of the Government and the Opposition were thrown into the fight with the utmost vigor. The fate of the Government was bound up in the result. The former had a railway policy endorsed and confirmed by the Government — namely, the construc- tion of a line of railway from Victoria via Bute Inlet to Yellowhead Pass — a revival of the old British Pacific. It had, however, this advantage over the earlier proposal, that an actual contract was made with the Canadian Northern to build the line and connect it with their system when extended from Edmonton to the Rocky Mountains. Col. Prior made solemn promises on this subject, and was elected by a small majority. As a matter of fact the election took place on March 10th, and the Legislature having opened on February 20th, the railway question became at once the outstanding issue. The Speech from the Throne outlined an ambitious programme, in- cluding continued negotiations with the Government at Ottawa as to better terms, a Provincial commission regarding freight rates, measures with re- spect to cold storage, re-distribution, settlement of unoccupied lands, railway construction on a large scale and the establishment of pul]) and paper in- dustries. Mr. Richard McBride at a caucus of the Opposition was elected leader of the Opposition. The session was long and stormy, and was marked by the use of much abusive language and by many personal charges. Some of this acrimony was freely reflected in the press. Motions of cen- sure and non-confidence rapidly followed each other in frequent and varied forms (1). The Government had a clear majority of four.' Owing to his position as holder of the balance of power and his pre-eminent parliamen- tary ability, Joseph Martin was the outstanding figure of the session. The original arrangement with the Canadian Northern provided for a cash bonus of .$4,800 per mile for fifty miles on the Island, $4,000 per mile to Ques- nel and $4,500 per mile thence to Yellowhead Pass. In addition it provided O '* The Canadian Annual Review, 1902. [ 151 ] for a grant of 20,000 acres of Crown lands for every mile of standard gauge railway constructed. At the same time the Government had entered into negotiations with McLean Brothers for the construction of the Coast- Kootenay line on terms practically similar. Both contracts were subject to receipt of financial assistance from the Dominion. J. N. Greenshields, K. C., of Montreal, and representatives of the Canadian Northern were in attend- ance, and a fierce lobby fight ensued. Mr. Martin and his following were op- posed to the land grants, and it soon became evident that the contracts in their original form could not be carried through the House. As a result legislation was passed confining the subventions to cash subsidies alone, much to the disgust of the railway contractors who practically threw up the fight as soon as the decision was announced. During the session two of the supporters deserted the Government in the Legislature, but two others, W., H. Hayward, of Esquimalt, and H. D. Helmcken, of Victoria, came back into the fold, as suj>porters of the proposed railway legislation. A delicate situation arose over the fact that the Canadian Northern proposed to acquire the E. & N. Railway, which was owned by the Pre- mier. He, however, was unable to complete the sale, owing to his inability^ to make arrangements with his American partners, and the Canadian North- ern were given an independent charter covering practically the same route. In November, 1902, Mr. Dunsmuir acquired the entire holdings of the E. & N. Railway, too late, however, to be of service in connection with the Cana- dian Northern Railway. These transactions of his were the subject of scath- ing criticism in the Legislature, and became the subject of investigation by Mr. Justice Walkem, who was appointed a commissioner to enquire into the matter. Mr. Smith Curtis, who had made the charges, finally withdrew from the prosecution on the ground that the Commission refused to allow a cer- tain unpublished despatch to be put in as evidence, and the Commission came suddenly to an end without damage to anybody. Re-distribution by which the representation in the House was to be increased from 38 to 42 members after railway legislation was the most important issue. Many other matters occupied the attention of the Legislature, which was pro- longed to June 21st. In May the Premier left for England to be pres- ent at the Coronation ceremonies incident to the accession of King Ed- ward VII to the Throne, and there was a lull in political activities until his return in the fall of 1902. Meanwhile, Mr. Dunsmuir had become tired of his leadership, and had several times expressed his determination to resign. Opinions were divided as to who should be his successor — the Hon. D. M. Eberts, the Attorney General, or Col. the Hon. E. G. Prior, Minister of Mines. Both had been prominent figures in politics, and both were stalwart Conservatives. Each had peculiar claims to the position. On November 21st, Air. Dunsmuir re- signed, and recommended Col. Prior as his successor. The Cabinet remained the same, except that Mr. Dennis Murphy, a Liberal and a member of the McBride opposition, and W. W. B. Mclnnes, a Liberal and a supporter of the Dunsmuir-Martin administration, became Provincial Secretary and Presi- dent of the Council, respectively. The selection of Air. Murphy was a sur- prise to everybody, particularly to his political associates, and various rea- sons were given to account for it. However, no sooner had he come to Vic- [152] toria and had been sworn in than he returned to Yale, presumably to con- duct his bye-election, when his resignation was announced, much to the con- sternation of the Government and the delight of the Opposition. His retire- ment from public life was announced to be permanent and for personal rea- sons. Mr. Joseph Martin, on December 1st, wrote a letter to the press, tak- ing up the cudgels against the new Government, severely criticising it and demanding to know what its railway policy was. Mr. Mclnnes was suc- cessful in being re-elected in North Nanaimo, but Mr. W. T. Paterson, now Lieutenant-Governor, succeeded in capturing North Victoria for the Oppo- sition. This seat had become vacant by the death of the Hon. J. P. Booth, Speaker. During the year 1902 Federal affairs in the Province had not been lacking in interest. Three most important conventions were held, one by the Liberals in Vancouver, marked by a struggle between Hon. Joseph Martin and Hon. Wm. Templeman for the post of nominal leadership, in which, after a most exciting and undignified contest, Mr. Martin succeeded, but at the expense of his repudiation by Templeman and the orthodox Lib- eral party. The Conservatives met at Revelstoke and declared for straight party lines in provincial politics, selecting Mr. Charles Wilson, K. C., of Vancouver, as their leader. Mr. R. L. Borden, the present Prime Minis- ter of Canada, was present, and addressed the convention. During the same year a labour convention was held at Kamloops. An organization was formed of which, strangely enough, the ex-Lieutenant-Governor, T. R. Mc- lnnes, accepted the post of Honorary President. All of these political conventions adopted party platforms framed with an eye to immediate politi- cal exigencies, so that they were in a large measure disregarded afterwards. It was essentially a period of transition. Nevertheless, the effect of these political gatherings was to decide the rule of party lines in Provincial poli- tics. In this rough outline of events, omission should not be made of the memorable visit of the Duke and Duchess of York in the fall of 1901 and the popular demonstrations in their honour; nor of the enquiry held under the commission to investigate Oriental immigration, upon the recommen- dation of which, in 1902 the Chinese entrance tax was raised from one hun- dred to five hundred dollars per head. This increase had the effect tempo- rarily of practical prohibition. Reference should also be made to the finan- cial position of the Province. The Budget Speech delivered by Hon. J. D. Prentice showed a deficit of more than $800,000 for the year ending 30th June, 1901. The Government’s overdraft on June 30th, 1902, was $1,685,- 000 and as more money was required, authority was taken to float a loan of $3,500,000, which subsequently was underwritten at 92 per cent. The stirring events of the session of 1903 must now be considered. One of the first acts of Premier Prior after taking office was to start in company with Attorney- General Eberts, for Ottawa on the second “better terms” delegation, arriving at the Federal capital on February 23rd, 1903. Previous to that journey, an interprovincial conference had been held at Quebec, at which pressure of public business prevented members of the Gov- ernment being represented. Col. Prior, however, had written a letter to the president of the conference concurring in a general way in the resolutions proposed for general readjustment of subsidies, but guarding the interests [153] of the Province by putting forward a strong claim for exceptional treat- ment for British Columbia. On the date of the arrival of the British Co- lumbia delegation, members of the interprovincial conference were already there for the purpose of presenting the resolutions formally to Sir Wil- fred Laurier and his colleagues. The letter of Col. Prior already referred to was submitted along with the resolutions in the form of an addendum, without comment. In the memorandum submitted by Col. Prior and the Hon. Mr. Eberts to the Federal executive, the representations made were in part similar to those of the Dunsmuir delegation, but included further consid- erations based on the physical character of the Province as affecting the cost of administration and the isolated position of the Province in respect to cost of transportation, industrial development, etc. During his return jour- ney from Ottawa, Col. Prior, in view of the bye-election in Yale to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Murphy, prepared a manifesto to the electors in which his policy was outlined. In a large measure it reiter- ated the principles laid down in the Dunsmuir programme and at Ashcroft the Premier and his Attorney-General broke their journey to take part in the election contest. Dr. Sanson, the Government candidate, was defeated by Mr. Semlin, ex-Premier, and the result was regarded as indicative of the fate of the Government. In the meantime, Conservatives and Liberals were preparing themselves to take clear party issues. The session of the Legis- lature opened on April 2nd, the Government having a prospective majority of about two. Proceedings dragged along in a desultory and unsatisfactory way until June 1st, when it was announced that the Lieutenant-Governor had dismissed the Premier from office. Discussion in the meantime was stormy and extremely personal. From the outset the prospect of accom- plishing any legislative programme of importance was hopeless. The tAvo things which led to the disruption of the Government were — first, the im r es- tigation before a select committee of matters affecting the proposed grant- ing of a land subsidy to the Columbia and Western Raihvay Company, and, secondly, the investigation into what Avas knoAvn as the Chimney Creek bridge affair, in Avhich a contract had been given to Col. Prior’s business firm in Victoria upon a tender submitted after the Premier had admittedly seen the other tenders, and during Avhich time he Avas acting Chief Com- missioner of Lands and Works. With regard to the first, the grant to the Canadian Pacific Raihvay of tAA^o sections of land in southeast Kootenay, supposed to be valuable on account of certain coal and oil deposits, as part of a land subsidy to the Columbia and Western Raihvay Company, AA T hose line had been built from Robson to Midway, many miles removed from the sections in question, involves a long story of preA r ious negotiations extending OA r er several years, the details of which must, for the time being, remain an unwritten page of history. Many of these details, so far as they Avere elicited in evidence, are contained in the printed proceedings of the im T esti- gating committee, and AA r ould require at least a separate chapter to make the situation intelligible, as it affects the inner history of four preceding ad- ministrations. Two members of the Prior government AA r ere more particu- larly affected by the report of the committee, and before that report had been submitted to the House, it Avas announced that the Premier had re- quested and received the resignation of these tAvo ministers, the Hon. W. C. Wells and the Hon. D. M. Eberts. On the following day Mr. W. W. B. Mclnnes resigned his portfolio, stating in his letter to the Premier that the action was taken with a view to facilitating an appeal to the country on party lines. Col. Prior knew, of course, that further progress in the House was impossible, and took action with a view to reorganization of his Cabinet before a general dissolution. A new complication, however, suddenly arose which completely altered his status and his expectations. He was confronted with a charge preferred to His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor, in con- nection with the Chimney Creek bridge. He invited an investigation by a select committee, who reported a simple statement of facts without offer- ing any conclusion. Messrs. Eberts and Wells denied the charge against them, and severely criticised the action of the Premier, while the Hon. Mr. Prentice, Minister of Finance, used rather unparliamentary language in try- ing to explain that the Premier had ministers who were unfaithful to him (2). A motion to adjourn moved by the Premier was defeated by 17 to 14, and he then intimated he would ask His Honour to come down next day and prorogue the House. He had previously intimated that the Lieutenant- Governor had promised him a dissolution. The Lieutenant-Governor, however, decided, as the result of the report of the investigation to dismiss him, and in his letter of dismissal took occasion to say that, “While admit- ting that you must have honestly considered that you were doing no wrong, I am, to my sincere regret, unable to continue feeling that confidence in your judgment which would justify me in acting any longer on your advice.” Technically, Col. Prior as Premier committed no wrong, as his company was a limited one, but the acceptance of his firm’s tender was considered by the Governor “so completely at variance” with what he had always under- stood “to be the true principle of parliamentary independence of members, and above all of ministers of the Crown,” that he was forced to the deci- sion at which he had arrived. Thus ended the era of transitional politics in British Columbia. On June 1st, the Lieutenant-Governor called upon Mr. Richard McBride, the leader of the Opposition, to form a Cabinet and he did so by selecting exclusively members of the Conservative party. The Opposition, as then constituted, was made up of both Liberals and Conserva- tives and his action in overlooking those of the Liberal persuasion was se- verely criticised as acts of ingratitude and even treachery on his part. The truth is, however, that he had been forced to take this position owing to the strongly pronounced policy of both the Liberal and Conservative conventions, and as the issue had to be forced sooner or later he cut the Gordian knot by deciding at once in order to establish that which both political parties had asked for and clearly saw was inevitable. Had Mr. McBride formed a com- posite government and gone to the country, there is no doubt that, in the existing state of public feeling, he would have been returned triumphantly at the head of the polls. On the other hand, by going to the country as leader of the Conservative party, he took his political life in his hand and courted defeat, because at that time the Province returned a solid delegation of seven Liberals members to the Federal House. His Cabinet was made up as follows: Hon. R. McBride, Premier and Chief Commissioner of Lands (2) Canadian Annual Review, 1903. [ 155 ] and Works; Hon. R. G. Tatlow, Minister of Finance and Agriculture; Hon. A. S. Goodeve, of Rossland, Provincial Secretary; Hon. A. E. McPhillips, Victoria, Attorney-General; Hon. R. F. Green, Slocan, Minister of Mines; Hon. Charles Wilson, President of the Council. By agreement among the members it was decided to vote supply be- fore the adjournment of the House, and rather a curious departure was made in order to render this possible, as there was no Finance Minister to take charge of the votes in the House. A committee of ten members, of whom Capt. Tatlow was chairman, prepared the estimates and Capt. Tat- low presented them to the Legislature, in the meantime Hon. Richard Mc- Bride being the only member of the new Cabinet in office. The Legislature adjourned and dissolved, and the several political parties prepared for the coming contest, adopting platforms as approved by their respective leaders in convention. Needless to say, the campaign was vigorously conducted on all sides and until several days after the election which was held on October 3rd, there was uncertainty as to the result, which finally stood as follows: 22 Conservatives, 17 Liberals, 2 Socialists and 1 Labour member, the Conserva- tives having a clear majority of two over all the rest. One result of the election was the defeat of Mr. Joseph Martin in Vancouver by a large ma- jority and his announcement that he had left politics in disgust permanently. Another result was the defeat of two cabinet Ministers, Hon. A. S. Good- eve, in Rossland, by Mr. J. A. Macdonald, now Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of British Columbia, and Hon. A. E. McPhillips in Victoria. On November 5th, the cabinet was reorganized as follows: Premier and Minister of Mines and Provincial Secretary, Hon. Richard McBride; Presi- dent of the Council, Hon. F. J. Fulton; Attorney-General, Hon. Charles Wilson; Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, Hon. R. F. Green; Minister of Finance, Hon. R. G. Tatlow (3). On October 19th, a caucus of the Liberal members was held at Victoria for the election of a leader and the choice fell on Mr. J. A. Macdonald, of Rossland, who, without being showy or magnetic in leadership, proved to be a very safe leader and a keen critic in opposition. On November 26th, the new Legislature was opened (3) The changes in the ministry since the formation of the Cabinet above referred to, are indi- cated in the following table: , DATE , NAMES PORTFOLIO FROM TO Hon. R. G. Tatlow j i Minister of Finance and Agriculture. .. . 1 June 1903. . 21 Oct. 1903 1 Chief Com’r Lands and Works 31 Dec. 1906. . 7 Mar. 1907 Hon. Chas. Wilson, K. C. ... ] i President of Council June 1903. . 5 Nov. 1903 Attorney-General 5 Nov. 1903. . 15 Mar. 1906 Hon. Robert F. Green i Minister of Mines 1 June 1903 . . 5 Nov. 1903 1 Chief Com’r Lands and Works 31 Dec. 1906. . 7 Mar. 1907 Hon. A. S. Goodeve i Minister of Education Dec. 1906. . 18 May 1904 l 1 Provincial Secretary 1 June 1903. . 5 Nov. 1903 f President of Council 5 Nov. 1903. . 6 June 1904 | Prov. Sec’y and Min. Education IS May 1904. . 31 Dec. 1906 Hon. F. J. Fulton, K. C 1 Attorney-General 15 Mar. 1906. . 24 July 1907 1 Chief Com’r Lands and Works 7 Mar. 1907. . 21 Oct. 1909 1 [Chief Com’r of Lands 21 Dec. 1908. . 21 Oct. 1909 Hon. F. L. Carter-Cotton.... .President of Council June 1904. . 10 Oct. 1910 Hon. William Manson .Prov. Sec’y and Min. Education .Prov. Sec’y and Min. Education 31 Dec. 1906. . 27 Feb. 1907 Hon. H. E. Young, M.D., LL.D. . 27 Feb. 1907. . Hon. W. J. Bowser, K. C • Attorney-General, Com’r Fisheries 24 July 1907. . and Minister of Finance 22 Oct. 1909. . 10 Oct. 1910 Hon. Thos. Taylor .Minister of Public Works (1st) 21 Dec. 1 90S . . Hon. Price Ellison J Minister of Lands 1 Mar. 1909. . 10 Oct. 1910 1 Minister of Finance and Agriculture. . . . 10 Oct. 1910. . Hon. W. R. Ross .Minister of Lands Oct. 1910. . Hon. A. E. McPhillips .President of Council 10 Oct. 1910. . Among the Ministers who have served in the McBride administration, and one who, probably next to the Premier himself, has exercised the strongest influence in Departmental affairs is the Hon. W. J. Bowser. He is a man of strong personality, fluent of speech, a tireless worker and an excellent ad- [ 156 ] by the Lieutenant-Governor, and the several parties set solidly to work to mould the destinies of the Province under conditions out of which were evolved a new and most prosperous regime in the Province of British Columbia. ministrator. He has probably been the most active among his colleagues in a diversified line of activi- ties. As the law officer of the Crown his work is necessarily exacting and labourious; but apart from that he has taken on many other duties of an administrative nature. In connection with the railway legislation of the past seven years his duties were responsible and arduous. As Fisheries Commis- sioner, Mr. Bowser for the first time in the history of the Province has undertaken under the direction of experts, a scientific investigation of the fisheries and the possibilities of fishery development in all forms. He obtained from the Dominion Government recognition of the Province’s share in the con- trol of the fisheries and has also obtained large sums of money as the Province’s share of the revenues arising out of the fisheries. He has brought the control and regulation of the sale of liquor under a system of licensing probably the most perfect on the continent. He reconstructed the Companies Act on the basis of rigid regulations and supervision and also made many effective changes in the Land Registry and other offices associated with the department of the Attorney-General. Under his direction provision has been made for the inspection of factories, electrical energies, insurance companies, tram- ways and social clubs. His exertions in regard to prison regulations have been along the line of ad- vanced penology, changing the reformatories into industrial schools, establishing prison farms and girls’ industrial schools. He has also undertaken the re-organization of the municipal system and has had much to do with the negotiations successfully carried on with Ottawa for the settlement of outstanding questions in dispute between the two governments. In brief, the policy of his Department and the various activities over which he has had direction has been one of effectual control and regulation by the Government of various public utilities and matters affecting the safety and rights of the people. As a public man in charge of important public offices, he has been and always will be, while in office, a man to be reckoned with. [ 157 ] STABLE GOVERNMENT AND PROSPERITY. CHAPTER XIII. The features and incidents of the McBride administration are of too recent date to be dealt with, except journalistically. Time alone can come to the historian’s aid and place the nine years of that period in their true perspective. Our high estimate of today may be reversed in a decade; or, on the other hand, it may be enhanced by the enchantment of distance. Whatever, however, may be the verdict of the future, a review of the period in question must, from almost any standpoint, give generally a favourable impression of the policy, the political foresight and the leadership of the Hon. Richard McBride. If each session of the legislature and each year of government were a page in Provincial history, then each page would bear the record of achievement. So far, the Government has had a record of unbroken success and, better still, an unsullied reputation. It is not pre- tended that mistakes have not been made or that the administration has been ideal, but reviewing the results in the aggregate, even political opponents must admit that Canadian annals at least have not furnished a parallel. Allowing for the conspicuous good fortune visible in the workings of the Mc- Bride regime, there has also been an unusual amount of wise leadership and sound policy to turn that fortune to good account. The Government found the finances of the Province at a very low ebb, and the public credit seriously impaired. To a very considerable extent that was the result of the political turmoil immediately preceding 1903-4; it was also due to what may be de- scribed as cumulative causes. While business throughout the Province was gathering volume, British Columbia had not experienced in anything like the same degree the measure of prosperity that had for some time been general throughout the rest of the Dominion. Beyond all the other provinces of Canada its material advancement has always depended upon stable govern- ment, upon confidence in its administration and upon its financial credit abroad — upon the inflow and investment of outside capital and the develop- ment of natural resources. The unsettled state of politics had for some time retarded these favouring influences. The entire situation was soon to change and to change very rapidly. Premier McBride as head of the administra- tion and as leader of a new party had many things in his favour, but he had also many obstacles to success. That success, in a word, was due to the fact that he took office at the psychological moment, and that he made the wisest use of his opportunities. His record for the first term of the Legisla- ture is, however, to be judged rather by the difficulties which he had to over- come than by the favourable opportunities which lay in his way, and this establishes beyond doubt the fact that he is in no sense a mere fair weather politician. His best efforts have been put forward under the stress of diffi- culties and storm rather than under sunlit skies. Some of the incidental advantages in his favour may here be noted and [ 159 ] it may be added parenthetically that the remarks applicable to Premier Mc- Bride may be held to include the Government as a whole and especially the late Captain Tatlow, Minister of Finance, to whom in particular is due a great deal of credit in connection with the reorganization of the finances. Mr. McBride came into power at a time and under circumstances when the people were tired of change and political upheaval, and also at a time when they were in a measure prepared to accept government on party lines as a solution of the evils from which they had suffered under other systems, and they were willing to give such a government a fair trial. The discipline which can be exercised through the medium of party organization, whereby the party becomes responsible for the acts and policy of the government, and the government for the party, was, in the hands of a skilful leader, a factor of great advantage not enjoyed by previous administrations. The Premier was a young man not more than 33, with a winning and attractive personality and British Columbian-born. His spectacular fight in opposition, and his initial and early success, gave him prestige as the hero of the hour. Politically and financially, affairs had reached a climax and any change would almost inevitably be for the better. Notwithstanding the fact that the seven federal representatives of the Province were solidly for the Liberal party in the House of Commons, the Province was really Conservative at heart. Premier McBride had for the most part enthusiastic and loyal supporters in the House at his back. These were among the adventitious factors in his favour. But it was upon his own efforts and on those of his colleagues that the future had to depend. On the other hand, the obstacles in the way of success were numerous and harassing. There was a whole network of tangles to unravel. There was only a clear Conservative majority of one after the speaker had been elected, and, as time went on, elements of discord not easy to reconcile de- veloped in the Government ranks. While party lines had been established, the Provincial politicians were new to its methods, and it was some time before they could be successfully brought into operation throughout the Province as a whole. Some of the oldtime politicians continued to cling to the view that its introduction was a mistake and could not settle down easily to its accept- ance. While, therefore, nominally there was a majority in the Legislature, the Government had to depend at a crisis upon the Socialist and Labour members, and at this stage of affairs the diplomacy, tact, and resource dis- play by the Premier in securing support of these members for three years, without at the same time committing himself to their policy and peculiar views, is perhaps the best test of his success in the leadership of men. He had during that period to bear silently the taunts of his political opponents and the criticisms of his political friends in defence of an alliance which had been described as humiliating and unholy. Never once, however, as far as is known, did he compromise himself by that alliance, and came through the trial retaining the friendship of his strange allies, after the necessity for such friendship had ceased to exist, while he enjoyed the respect and increased confidence of his own followers. No one knew, except a few of his confi- dants, to what dangers he was exposed, the narrow margin between success and failure upon which he trod, or the internal troubles which he had to face during three worrying sessions. Complications arose in connection with the [160] inevitable railway problems which all but wrecked him on one or two occa- sions. The condition of the finances was not good, and the Government had to adopt a cheese-paring policy of expenditure and to resort to various measures of increased taxation and money-making. Now, taxation and economy com- bined are sure to be unpopular in any community, especially where spending and borrowing have been rather liberal. In June, 1903, the bonded debt of the Province was about $12,500,000, and the floating liabilities about $1,500,- 000. The banks refused further credit. More loans in the market were not to be thought of. In addition to that, there were many departmental tangles and public matters to clear up and set right — oil and coal rights in East Kootenay, the entire reclamation scheme in the Fraser River valley, mining, land and timber complications, E. & N. settlers’ claims, pulp concessions, disputes with the Dominion Government, railway charter subsidies, the alien labour agitation, etc. The Government faced all these difficulties in a firm and business-like way, its efforts, however, being all the time hampered by de- mands for public works and railways in various places, and by the dissatis- faction as to patronage and the smallness of appropriations and party claims. As was shown by the result of two bye-elections, the electorate stood by the Government, realizing that the situation required heroic treatment in order that better results and more improved methods might follow in due time. Three factors from June, 1903, to the time of the next elections, in the early part of 1907, worked strongly in favour of the McBride administra- tion and secured the largely increased majority in the next Parliament. First, the finances began to improve in a marked degree and deficits in the treasury were changed to substantial surpluses. This was in part due to the financial policy of the Government, and in part to the increasing prosperity of the Province, the latter being coincident with returning confidence in government and more stable conditions generally. Secondly, the labour policy of the Premier appealed to the electorate and the decided attitude and efforts of the Government directed towards the exclusion of Mongolian immigration were received with great favour. Thirdly, the efforts of the Government to secure increased recognition from the Dominion Government in the line of subsidies, and the successful mission of the Premier to Ottawa and his plucky fight at the Interprovincial Conference, the net results of which was a grant of $1,000,000, as a partial recognition of the claims of the Province, fired the enthusiasm of the people and “better terms” became the chief slogan of the elections, following the triumphal return of the Premier to British Colum- bia. He had refused to accept the terms as a “final and unalterable” settle- ment of the claims of the Province, and made it an issue in the Legislature and on the hustings. The result was decisive, and the Premier further en- hanced his prestige and success by his mission to London, to prevent the passage of the Imperial Act, which had as its aim the confirmation of the readjustment of financial relations between the Provinces and the Dominion, on terms agreed upon by the Interprovincial Conference and by resolution which was passed by the House of Commons at Ottawa. In this mission he was entirely successful, and upon his return in the summer of 1907 received a second series of ovations. His majority in the second Legislature was about ten over all other parties, and he was thus free to carry out his pro- gramme independently of all combinations. In the main, the Socialists and [161] Labourites still continued their support on all non-contentious measures — that is to say, on measures in which their own policy and views were not at variance with those of the Government. The revenues of the Province still continued to increase by leaps and bounds, and reflected the increasing pros- perity of the Province very materially. The Legislature passed a number of useful measures dealing with education, the control of water rights, the pro- vision for a Provincial University, the reorganization of dyking schemes on the Fraser, the amendment of the land and timber laws, the reorganiza- tion of departments, etc., etc., still, however, adhering to rigid economy and the piling up of money in the treasury and the reduction of the public debt. It was not until 1909 that the Premier decided to take a long step ahead in several important directions. One was the appointment of a Forestry Com- mission for the thorough investigation of forest conditions, having as its ob- ject a new forestry code and the conservation of timber resources. Another was the reorganization of the Civil Service under a Civil Service Code. Still another was an extensive system of Crown lands survey, a project which, on ac- count of the great expense involved, was not undertaken before. But the great- est and the most momentous of all in its consequences, was the railway policy de- scribed at length in another chapter. This measure brought with it the loss of two Ministers, who were frightened by the magnitude of the proposals it involved, but it won for him the country by a majority almost unpre- cedented in Canada — 38 members in a House of 42, which majority was sub- sequently increased by one, in the defection from the Opposition of Mr. John Jardine, member for Esquimalt. The Province had now a largely reduced debt and a big surplus in the bank drawing interest, and the Government, with several accessions as cabi- net material, launched out on a programme of public works and other im- provements beyond anything heretofore attempted or thought of in British Columbia. The opening of the northern interior by the construction of the G. T. P. necessitated extraordinary expenditures in the way of roads, bridges, surveys, and other services created through development, and the increased prosperity and progress in all directions brought demands which even the Legislature from one session to another could not possibly anticipate. The extensive programme of railway building and big monthly pay rolls stimu- lated a great many activities and brought into life new business of all kinds. This extraordinary stimulation of business had its reflection not only in real estate and land and timber transactions, which were the first to feel the effects of the circulation of money, but in every branch of trade and industry. It also attracted many business men and investors from other parts of the Do- minion, from the United States, from Great Britain, and particularly from the Middle West of Canada, to participate in the extraordinary prosperity. The money-making opportunities of the prairie country had not been over- looked in the scramble for riches, and many of the more fortunate found British Columbia not only an inviting field for speculation, but peculiarly attractive from a climatic, a social, and a touristic point of view. Generally, that condition of things continues to exist at the present time, although there are not signs wanting that the speculative tendencies are in excess of pro- ductive energies, and it is becoming gradually more obviously that, for con- tinued prosperity on a permanent basis, the industrial pay rolls must be pro- [162] portionately increased to maintain the circulation of money after the elements of inflation have been eliminated. It was on the flood tide of these events thus indicated that the Premier decided to go to the country in March, 1912 . The railway policy of 1909 demanded an endorsement for its continuance to com- plete the two systems already begun, and to meet the large requirements crea- ted by business expansion. There were also in the near future the imminent exploitation of the Peace River district, and the opening of the Panama Canal. Political conditions in fact were wholly favourable to dissolution and an appeal to the country. Hon. R. L. Borden, Conservative leader, had led his party to triumphal success largely as the result of the introduction of the reciprocity question. Conservatism was dominant everywhere. Times were good, and extreme optimism was in the ascendancy. The Government at Ottawa had agreed to the appointment of a Commission to adjust perma- nently the claims of the Province against the Dominion, a long standing griev- ance — and to certain representations of Premier McBride, in respect to the matter of Japanese immigration. Premier McBride in going to the country held, so to speak, all the trumps in his hand. Victory was a fore- gone conclusion. The Opposition could only appeal to the electorate, prac- tically almost on the sole ground that a strong opposition of whatever kind in the Legislature was in the interests of the Province. Towards the end of the brief campaign, a clean sweep seemed inevitable. The actual result was the entire elimination of the Liberal opposition, while two Socialists, in la- bour constituencies, were elected by very narrow majorities. Even apart from a railway policy the results would not have been materially different. Indeed, the very magnitude of the railway proposals seemed rather to excite fear in some quarters, and many Conservatives ex- pressed the view that a position in which the Government encountered no opposition was fraught with danger to the Conservative party and to the Province. Paradoxical as it may seem, Premier McBride was the weaker on account of his great strength. On the record of his Government he had absolutely nothing to fear in any single constituency. His land policy, it is true, was not ideal, but the land department had been administered spotlessly and in that respect, as in that of other departments, the record was clean. Nor had the Opposition, with all its criticism of the land policy, presented anything practical to take its place. Criticism was all negative and general. During the election campaign a pamphlet entitled “One Hundred and More Facts Respecting the Nine Years’ Record of the McBride Administration,” was widely circulated, and while the facts recorded carried great weight, it might truly be said the greatest of these was the Hon. Richard McBride himself ( 1 ) . Because, after all, the people love a picturesque and popu- (1) A review of the legislation and administration acts of the McBride government would be a lengthy task. The pamphlet referred to enumerates 150 facts worthy of note. Some of the more important of these may be referred to briefly: Government on party lines, which has produced results in this case even better than anticipated, although the system is never free from political abuses; freedom from scandal, formerly at least, a large part of the stock of Canadian party politics; thorough re- organization of the finances of the Province, on a sound basis, and the complete restoration of Provin- cial credit; securing the rights of settlers in E. & N. Railway belt, a long-standing question of dispute; the satisfactory settlement of the removal of Songhees Indian Reserve, which, for over forty years had been an eye-sore, and more or less of a social evil, right in the heart of the city; important, though only partial recognition of the claims of British Columbia for better terms, and the completion of an arrangement with the Federal Government for a final settlement of all outstanding questions between the two Governments by means of a commission; transfer of the administration of water rights in the Dominion Railway belt to the Province, recognition by the Dominion Government of Provincial interest in foreshore rights, $140,000 for fishery licenses ($56,000 of which came from the Dominion Government as recognition of the Provincial share in former years), and acknowledgement from the Dominion Gov- [ 163 ] iar leader. He is always the greatest of political assets to a party. Hero worship is as strong now as ever. In politics, Disraeli, Gladstone, Sir John MacDonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, not to extend the list, are conspicuous examples. In British Columbia Richard McBride has filled the place which these leaders occupied in their wider sphere, and has been fortunate in having found and created conditions peculiarly favourable to success. He has been wise enough to retain undiminished the qualities which made him popular and not to abuse the confidence reposed in him and his Government, which has been described as “an administration without a scandal.” While bold in pol- icy, Premier McBride has been extremely conservative and careful in action, and refuses to rush into a course which he does not see clearly before him, or alloAv his hand to be forced by any amount of popular clamour. Above all else, he is “wise.” He is neither a wide reader, nor a deep student of books, and, beyond fixing the outlines in his mind, his speeches are never prepared. As a public speaker, therefore, he is sometimes disappointing, but on the other hand, he is frequently powerful, convincing and strong. Few men on the spur of the moment can, on the floor of the House, make an announce- ment, or explain a situation so clearly and impressively. Like Sir John Macdonald, he has the faculty of reaching the heart of his subject in a few words, and when it suits his purpose, he can express himself in admirably flow- ing and non-committal terms. He has Sir John’s gift of imagination and practical insight into public affairs, and a knowledge of men and their mo- tives. Pre-eminently, he is a man of intuitions, and his wisdom is of the world, gained from his human sympathies and contact with men and their affairs in the concrete, and in their actual relations to life. In some respects he resembles Sir Wilfrid Laurier — he might be said, indeed, to be of that ernment that B. C. should be consulted in connection with the framing of the new treaty with Japan so far as it affected the question of immigration; reorganization of the Fraser river dyking schemes on a better basis; taxation commission for the purpose of revising the taxation laws and equalizing Provin- cial assessments; inspection of trust companies, factories, electrical enterprises, tramways, legal of- fices, and licensing of clubs; taxation of canneries and salteries; change of reformatories into industrial schools, establishment of prison farms and girls’ industrial schools, introduction of juvenile courts, radi- cal change of insane asylums into very complete and modern mental hospitals; inspection and sanitation of mining, logging, railway and fishing camps, medical inspection of schools, liberal assistance to the sanatorium for tuberculosis and reorganization of the system of extensive and uniform aid to hospitals and charities; very rigid control, inspection and regulation of hotels and the sale of liquor; adoption of system of special timber licenses and the establishment, through the recommendations of the Forestry Commission, of a very modern system of forestry and forestry bureau, providing for comprehensive and thorough fire protection, conservation of timber resources, reafforestation, watershed protection and non-export of timber; reconstruction of the Companies’ Act on English lines; assumption of the control of fisheries in territorial waters; royal commission to investigate municipal affairs; establishment of a thorough system of good roads, with scientific methods of road-building and road-building machinery, standardization of bridges, of permanent steel and concrete structure, all under road superintendents and the direct control of engineering experts, and the creation of interprovincial highways; develop- ment of Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island, 941 square miles in extent, as a National pleasure re- sort and a game preserve; reorganization of all departments of the Government under the provisions of a Civil Service Code, providing for regular promotion in order of merit and for uniform increase of salaries; the reorganization of the educational system on the basis of popular control; the establish- ment of a Provincial University; night and superior schools, manual training, free text books, physical drill and military training, domestic training, and the Royal Institution of Learning; great expansion of public services in connection with the Department of Agriculture, with increase of appropriation from $20,000 per annum to $285,000, providing for demonstration orchards, fruit packing schools, expert in- struction in all branches of agriculture and horticulture, reorganization of various associations and insti- tutes on wider and more useful basis, experimental work in pre-cooling and storage of fruit, thorough inspection of fruit nursery stock and orchards, and Royal Commission to investigate agricultural condi- tions; fair wages and employment of white labour on all public works, inspection of industries, model coal mines and general mining regulations, with adequate provisions for safety of miners underground, modern safety appliances and training in mining rescue work, and a Royal Commission to investigate labour conditions; a department of railways created with complete control and supervision of rates on railways under provincial jurisdiction, and 3,000 miles increased railway mileage between 1903 and 1915; extensive surveys of public lands and very complete equipment for printing and distribution of maps and literature through the office of the Bureau of Provincial Information and the Agent-General’s office in London. In this latter connection the department of agriculture, in conjunction with the two offices just named, carried on a very extensive campaign of publicity, and did notable work in exhibit- ing fruit products in the Middle West of Canada, in Great Britain and in the United States, winning all trophies in every class for a period of five years in competition with the world. The work of the Government for nine years has been in all departments up to date, business-like and practical with invariably good results. [ 164 ] type of man — but, while he lacks the historical perspective with which Sir Wilfrid’s oratorical fancies are painted, and has not the same intellectual graces and literary subtleties of expression, he has the constructiveness and practical aptitude in which the other is notably lacking. Sir Wilfrid is a child in finance and administrative detail. The Premier does not possess a largely developed business or commercial instinct, but he is an organizer, has a marvellous memory for details, and is not easily deceived as to the merits of any commercial or political proposition laid before him. Apparently al- ways at his ease, and leisurely in his methods, he accomplishes more than the ordinary man at the least expense of nervous force. In brief, without going into a more detailed analysis, he seems to have been born for the position which he occupies, and to be capable of filling a similar post calling for sim- ilar capabilities in any sphere of action however wide. Established as he is, in almost supreme command of his party and of the destinies of the Province, he has great opportunities in front of him and great responsibilities to face. It must be left to history by the records of the next ten years, to determine his true fitness for, and status in, politics and statesmanship. To judge by the impress stamped by himself and his government on the fortunes of British Columbia during the decade which has elapsed, he is likely to remain the outstanding figure of this particular period in British Columbia history (2). (2) Reference in the foregoing has been made to the late Capt. Robt. Garnet Tatlow, minister of finance and agriculture from 1903 until the elections of 1909. His resignation from office and subse- quent death was a great loss to the Province, the finances of which he did so much to improve and place on a sound footing. Deceased came to the Province as an officer of “C” Battery, resigning to take the private secretaryship to Lieutenant-Governor Cornwall. Afterwards he engaged in real estate and general financial business in Victoria and Vancouver, being a pioneer of the latter place. He was a member for that city during three legislatures, being first elected in 1900. He at first supported the Dunsmuir administration, but followed Richard McBride into opposition in 1901, and in 1903, upon the latter becoming Premier, joined his administration and devoted himself assiduously to the work of his department with conspicuous success. Capt. Tatlow also took a keen interest in agricul- ture and at the time of his resignation had planned reorganization of that department on lines since followed. [ 165 ] RAILWAY AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. CHAPTER XIV. In a chapter devoted to the Canadian Pacific Railway and in preceding chapters, a great many particulars were given incidentally as to the incep- tion and progress of that enterprise, which was the pioneer of other lines. The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway forms also part of the earlier his- tory of what might be called the railway period of the Province. That rail- way was built to round off the scheme of uniting British Columbia with Canada, the adjustment of the details of which occupied many years of not altogether pleasant negotiations. It may be said in fact that railway policies have been the supreme issues in politics ever since Confederation; indeed, it may be said that the Province came into Confederation for the sake of railways and for nothing else. One of the first of many railway projects which were brought before the Government for consideration, after the settlement of the original enter- prises was accomplished, was the Columbia and Kootenay from the outlet of Kootenay Lake — where Nelson is now — to the Columbia River, in conjunc- tion with a line of steamers from the boundary line to the head of naviga- tion at or near Eagle Pass. This project was the subject of a great deal of discussion in the legislature, and in the press, and at public meetings. The promoters asked for 1,500,000 acres of land and all the minerals and timber, etc. The legislature guaranteed 750,000 acres, as a subsidy, the same to provide for running steamers on the Upper Columbia River, and the company was to survey its own lands. Three millions of money were to have been expended on the enterprise, which, however, never came into practical effect ( 1 ) . In the same year an act was passed incorporat- ing the Fraser River Railway from New Westminster to Blaine, Wash- ington. This afterwards became known as the New Westminster South- ern. Construction was delayed for some time on account of the mo- nopoly clause in the Canadian Pacific Railway Act, although that sav- ing clause in regard to railways running south to the International line was really only intended for the protection of the national railway in the Mid- dle West (2) . (1) The late J. C. Ainsworth, of Portland, after whom Ainsworth on Kootenay lake is named, was one of the principal promoters. The late Gilbert Malcolm Sproat was commissioned by the Government to explore and examine the Kootenay district affected by this proposed line, and his able and interesting report is to be found in the sessional papers of the following year. At the same time the late A. S. Far- well, C. E., made an exhaustive report on the Baillie-Groham scheme intended to reclaim about 50,000 acres of excellent land in southern Kootenay subject to an overflow. The project did not succeed. A subsequent enterprise seeking to reclaim by dyking was not more successful. (2) The Westminster Southern was one of the very first railways in British Columbia to be under- taken after the construction of the main line of the C. P. R. The promoters were a group of very enterprising men of New Westminster city, among whom were John Hendry, David McNair, C. J. Major, the late Benjamin Douglas, the late Harry Elliot, the late Alex. Ewen, the late John Webster (with whom was associated the late Henry Edmonds), G. E. Corbould, ex-M. P., Judge Bole and T. J. Trapp, who was secretary, and who was a recent candidate for the mayoralty of New Westminster. The line was projected to extend to Blaine. The charter was obtained in 1885, and it was proposed to connect at that point with the Blaine and Seattle Railway. The preliminary arrangements were beset with many obstacles, financial and otherwise. To begin with, under the charter for the construction of the C. P. R. no railway was allowed to run south of its line to connect with an American system of railway. The Company were negotiating at Ottawa for a Dominion charter, and petitioned to be [ 167 ] The Government and the Legislature which, up to a comparatively re- cent date, never gave up the idea of making a railway from the mainland to the Island across Seymour Narrows an accomplished fact, incorporated in the session of 1889 what was known as the British Pacific Railway, of which the late Hon. Robt. Dunsmuir was the prime promoter. It was stoutly op- posed by the members of the lower mainland, but was successful in obtaining land grants of 20,000 acres per mile. It was proposed under that charter relieved from this restriction, but just as they were on the point of success, the monopoly clause of the C. P. R. was rescinded as the result of the agitation in Manitoba. A contract was made for the construction with Senator Canfield of Washington Territory, but the undertaking proved too large for him, it was taken over and subsequently, after considerable negotiations, given to Nelson Bennett of Tacoma. It was built under the engineering supervision of J. J. Donovan, later superintendent of the Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railway, and now of Bellingham. It was opened with considerable eclat in 1889 with a celebration at Blaine, at which Lieutenant- Governor Nelson and Governor McGraw of Washington, attended officially. The New Westminster South- ern operated for years with a tri-weekly service and connected with New Westminster by means of a ferry. It was not until it was amalgamated with the V. W. & Y. and made regularly part of the Great Northern system that, by means of a bridge over the Fraser River, it has become of real importance in the development of the district through which it ran. Mr. John Hendry in 1894 became active in forming a company which acquired a local charter for a railway from Vancouver, extending east through the Cascades, touching at North Vancouver, Squam- ish, Lillooet, Anderson Lake and to and through the Cariboo country. It proved, however, to be too early for this undertaking, and the project lapsed. It will be seen, therefore, that even at this early date, before the Yukon had been discovered or exploited, Mr. Hendry had recognized the great possibili- ties of the route indicated, which have been brought into such prominence by the development of re- cent years. In the chapter on railways in the Year Book of British Columbia, 1897, the following passage occurs: "The railway of the future is neither the Penticton line nor the British Pacific, nor any one yet built or projected, but one of which all these would become tributaries and essential links. Reference is made to a railway from the South to the North extending through the great Interior Plateau of British Columbia and as far north as the mineral belt is accessible and having its outlet, it may be, in Alaska at the mouth of the Yukon, and connecting ultimately with the Siberian Railway now pushing eastward to a Pacific port. It has long been talked of as a possibility, but has never until the present entered the sphere of practical politics. The recent live issues, however, respecting routes to the Yukon have brought it prominently to the front, not only as a possibility, but as a probability as soon as the finan- cial resources of the country will permit, or capital is available. The maps accompanying this book will show the various routes that have been advocated, and it will be observed that they all culminate some- where in this line, which marks itself out as the undertaking in chief. With the resources of the vari- ous sections South to North developed there is not necessarily any rivalry in the conception of the dif- ferent routes, not even of the one from Edmonton; because, taking the Boundary country as a start, and following up the Okanagan Lakes to and by way of Vernon to Kamloops, from Donald and Golden, from Revelstoke and from Kamloops, through the Canoe River Valley; from Ashcroft through Cariboo; from Bute Inlet to Quesnel; from Edmonton via Tete Jaune Cache; from Kitimat to the proposed Stik- ine and Tesline line; or from any of the ports at present in Alaska — there is a raison d'etre for the existence of each. They would all form feeders to the central line, which in turn, as a main artery of the system, would afford them traffic and incidentally develop a series of very rich districts, through which smaller networks of vein communication would be distributed. Instead of acting as rivals they would materially assist in each other’s success, and altogether would constitute the most complete ex- emplification of the benefit of an all-Canadian and British Columbian route to the Klondyke.” This forecast of the situation, made in 1897, is proving almost literally true at the present time, which marks a policy and convergence for all these lines. In 1900 Mr. Hendry, together with a number of enterprising citizens of Vancouver and New West- minster secured a Dominion railway charter from New Westminster, buying out the rights of the Provincial charter as far as Lillooet, and thence up the Fraser River by Quesnel to Fort George and to the northern boundary of the provinces and thence again to Dawson and boundary line between Alaska. Mr. Hendry, by reason of his association with J. J. Hill, was able to raise money sufficient to build and equip the road from New Westminster to Vancouver. It was taken over by the Great Northern, and is now part of that system, operating through Blaine and from Port Guichon. The por- tion of the line proposed to be built to Fort George from Vancouver with a branch line to Edmonton, and to the Yukon, is still in the control of the original charter holders, and it is one of Mr. Hendry’s ambitions to see it constructed in the near future. In this connection, reference is necessary to the Fraser River bridge at New Westminster. The proposal to erect this dates from a considerable time back. It was first put in definite shape in 1896, by the late Mr. C. H. Wilkinson, of London, England, the promoter of the White Pass Railway, who for a time had in hand the building of the V. V. & E. Railway. His proposal for a guarantee was not entertained by the Legislature, and the project for the time being was dropped. There were various suggestions made, and the subject occupied the attention of the local press and politicians, but was considered too large an undertaking for the Province to handle alone. At that time our finances were not in a flourishing condition, and it was only political considerations which rendered it inviting. The Pro- vincial Government in 1900 and 1901 opened up negotiations with the Dominion Government with a view to a subsidy being granted to the Province of 26 per cent, of the cost, the usual subvention allowed to bridges of that character in other parts of Canada. The Ottawa Government refused to establish a prece- dent by subsidizing a purely provincial enterprise, but was willing to grant a subsidy to a pri- vate company organized for the purpose. About this time, Mr. John Hendry made propositions to both governments in the name of a provincial company. He stated in a letter to the press that he was assured of Dominion Government assistance, but popular sentiment, as expressed, was strongly in favour of its construction as a public work, and it was undertaken as such by the Dunsmuir Government, not (it may be candidly stated) without an eye to the political advantage which it would possess, and not without some fears on the part of conservative public men that the Province was paying too dearly for the advantage gained. It was, at that time, rather a gigantic undertaking for the Province, and as a matter of fact cost over one million dollars; but with excellent designing under careful super- vision, and capable contracting by Messrs. Armstrong & Morrison it turned out to be one of the finest structures on the American continent. It was opened with imposing ceremonies in 1904. The traffic in sight was restricted to vehicular conveyances from the district on the south side of the river, and the Great Northern railway system. The vehicular traffic paid tolls, which recently were removed, and the railway paid an annual rental. The British Columbia Electric Railway to Chilliwack has since made arrangements to use it and the revenue has materially increased. [ 168 ] to follow the old Bute Inlet line of the Canadian Pacific Railway and to connect the system with the E. & N. Railway. The death of the Hon. Mr. Dunsmuir, shortly after the close of the Legislature, gave the scheme a set- back and nothing was done, in consequence, although another charter prac- tically covering the same route, was given to another company who were en- titled to assume its obligations and to secure the land grant, in case the first company did not succeed, and the charter and concessions were renewed from time to time. The matter became an issue in the elections of 1890 and 1894. During the latter period, Mr. R. P. Rithet, a man of large business interests in Victoria, became the leading spirit in the enterprise, and represented by Mr. E. V. Bodwell, his attorney, carried on negotiations with the Govern- ment. The construction of the Parliament buildings and the proposed British Pacific Railway won Victoria for Premier Davie in 1894. The proposal took definite shape in the session of 1896 when the Government was asked to subsi- dize the company to the extent of $240,000 per annum for twenty-five years, in addition to 10,000 acres per mile for 600 miles. At that time, and pre- viously, the financial agents of Mr. Rithet had been actively at work in Lon- don, England (3), and elsewhere, endeavouring to finance the railway on the prospect and under conditions of Government assistance. Strong op- position to the proposal developed among members of the Government rep- resenting some constituencies on the mainland who, while favouring it in a general way, felt themselves unable to accept the terms proposed, and the political situation for a time became strained. Mr. Rithet, however, was sup- ported by practically all the members from the Island and by some from the mainland, and the negotiations carried on by correspondence and at va- rious interviews developed a spirit bordering on hostility. The objections on the part of the Government were that the amount to be given by the Prov- ince was too large for it to assume in view of the financial situation and the available sources of revenue, and there was no guarantee, and no great hope, of any connection with a transcontinental line at the boundaries of the Province when the railroad was completed. No proposals of a similar nature came before the Government until 1902-3, under the Dunsmuir administra- tion, when Colonel Prior and E. V. Bodwell made their spectacular fight in Victoria, in the bye-election, particulars of which have been given in a pre- vious chapter, in which chapter also are contained particulars as to the pro- posed building of the V. V. & E. Victoria and Vancouver Island, however, never gave up their ambition to have connection by railway with the main- land by a bridge across Seymour Narrows and of making Victoria the ter- minus of a trunk railway. Energetic efforts at the present time are being put forth to induce the Dominion Government to undertake the work of building that bridge, or, in the absence of a bridge, to establish a ferry line over which the trains on the line from Fort George, on a railway extending to Bute Inlet, may cross Seymour Narrows and run direct to Victoria, and undoubtedly the enterprise will come into effect sooner or later. (3) The clause in the proposed agreement was: ‘‘The Government shall issue bonds or stock for the sum of $6,000,000, payable in years, and bearing interest at the rate of three per cent, per annum, and the Government shall establish sinking funds at the rate of per cent, per annum, which shall be sufficient to pay off the bonds on ma- turity. The annual subsidies of $240,000, to be paid by the Government to the Company, shall be re- tained by the Government for the purpose of paying the interest and sinking fund on the said issue of bonds or stock, and, should that amount be insufficient to wholly pay such interest and sinking fund, the Company shall provide the additional amount required, or the Government may retain the amount from the payments to be made to the Company.” [169] Railway policies above all other things political have been a subject of discussion in British Columbia and have been identified in the minds of the people with progress and development, without regard to any political princi- ple, which might be fair to the people and to the railway builders alike. In other words, the idea for a long time has been to get railways at any cost, so long as the railways were built. Influenced thus, governments in British Columbia have tried various methods of assisting railways — by land subsidies, by land subsidies and cash combined, by guarantees, by exemp- tion from taxes, and otherwise. Railway promotion, therefore, ever since 1883 , when the 750,000 acres of land were authorized to be given to the Co- lumbia and Kootenay Railway, has been one of the most important factors in politics and railway policies, until 1909 , and ever proved to be danger- ous to the Governments which formulated them. It was indeed the rock upon which several administrations struck and were wrecked. One reason for this frequent failure has been the fact that the construction of railways, on account of the topographical features of the country, is necesarily ex- tremely expensive and the immediate traffic in sight, on account of the sparse- ness of population and in view of the capital required to be involved per mile, did not always justify the undertaking. It became obvious — as the re- sult of experiences in the case of the Columbia and Kootenay, the Nakusp & Slocan, the Shuswap & Okanagan, the Victoria and Sidney, the V. V. & E., the expensive bargain involved in the E. & N., the granting of large areas of land to the Columbia and Western, the Nelson and Fort Sheppard, the Kaslo and Slocan and the British Columbia Southern (the Crows Nest Pass line of the C. P. R.) and the number of charters granted to promoters which came to naught — that some better system of aid should be devised and that government efforts should be confined to proposals that were bona fide on the part of companies who were really able to build lines of the greatest promise and of the greatest advantage to the general public when built. Of all the lines of railway in the Province authorized— 150 railway companies chartered with a total mileage of 31,000 miles — scarcely 2,000 miles are at present in operation, while in the case of several, in regard to which the Gov- ernment authorized the guarantee of capital and interest, obtaining in return 40 per cent, of the gross traffic receipts, the result has proved a loss to the Province financially. The bargains looked good on their face, but the traffic receipts had been based on “long haulage,” and the Government has suffered, so to speak, from “shortage.” The land subsidy to the Kaslo and Slocan and the assistance given by the Province to the Victoria and Sidney, guar- anteeing two per cent interest on the bonds, both proved disastrous, one line having been abandoned by the Great Northern after obtaining the land grant, and the other proving a striking example of operating a railway without regard to public interests. The particular policy of railway building recently adopted by the Mc- Bride Government is the result of long experience in the matter of railway promotion in the Province. Many years ago the idea generally prevailed that the best way to encourage and assist railways was by land subsidies, and it was, as we know, fully intended at the time when the Terms of Union were made with British Columbia that the Canadian Pacific Railway should be built on the same principle of costing the country little, if any, actual cash. [ 170 ] As a matter of fact, British Columbia gave twenty-three millions of acres in all for the purpose of railway construction, over 16,500,000 acres of which were conveyed direct to the Dominion Government, and over 6,000,000 to railway companies. In considering such a policy we have to consider con- ditions which existed at the time. Experience has condemned such systems and they may be regarded as forever abandoned. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that in 1903, when the McBride government came into power, the people, after much experience, were sick of railway policies, much having been promised and little done, and the Mc- Bride administration has escaped serious criticism by not attempting to fol- low the example of its predecessors. There were two very good reasons why, from 1903 to 1909, nothing of note was done in the direction of a railway policy. The first was that the Government was not in a position to attempt anything financially on a comprehensive scale, and in the second place ex- perience had shown that the only safe way to succeed was to decline dealing with any company whose bona fides could not be expressed in dollars and cents, and which could not point to a record of its ability to carry out its contracts. The useful lesson was learned, that transportation is a business in itself. Like any other business the only people who are likely to make it a success are those actively engaged in it. So Premier McBride, as soon as he took the reins of power in his hands, steadily set his face against all proposals but those of a strictly business character submitted by men or by companies, about whose financial ability to carry out their undertakings there could not be a shadow of a doubt. As leader of the Government he was almost overwhelmed with variously framed schemes which he refused to rec- ommend to his colleagues or to the Legislature for the reasons already stated. That attitude was severely criticised by the Opposition; the Government was accused of being nothing but a voracious tax collector, attempting no public undertakings on a large scale. The policy of careful and conservative finance, however, had so much improved the revenues of the Province in five years that the Premier began to move in the direction of a great enterprise which had been in his mind even when in opposition. He had refused to move in that direction until the Province was financially able to undertake it with confidence. But when the credit of British Columbia had reached a point where it could launch out in a comprehensive way, at that psychological mo- ment, so to speak, the plans of a transcontinental railway company, fitted in with the policy of the Government, while at the same time the company in- terested showed its readiness to extend its system from the Middle West to the Pacific Coast of Canada. Premier McBride had been for a long time studying the system on which the Canadian Northern had been developing its various lines of railway in Canada, and came to the conclusion that Messrs, (now Sirs) Mackenzie and Mann (3A) simplified in a wonderful de- gree the problem of railway building by means of government guarantee of (3A) These two remarkable Canadians have had business careers which, even in America may be regarded as almost spectacular, and their close and harmonious relations in a large number of big busi- ness undertakings, for so many years, are in themselves not less remarkable than the unbroken success accompanying their joint efforts. Both are native-born Canadians, raised in rural Ontario, and their early life was very similar to that of the average country boy of that period, an element of the com- munity out of which has sprung so many of the great business leaders in Canada and the United States. We refer frequently to the disadvantages and drawbacks of men developed in the atmosphere of the farm and the bush, wholly undiluted by urban influence, but the farm and bush life of those days was peculiarly stimulative of ruggedness, self-reliance and industry. It produced giants in strength and stored up a stock of vitality and endurance which carried the possessor through the struggle for a career and maintained [171] bonds. Nearly all governments of Canada, indeed, including the federal Gov- ernment, following the example of Manitoba, had adopted that principle, and in each case the results had been identical, that is to say, in no single in- stance has a government been called upon to pay a dollar in respect of its guarantee. Fortified by such experiences the Premier felt no hesitation in adopting a similar policy, and in 1909, he went to the country with a com- pleted contract with Mackenzie and Mann to build 600 miles of railway to connect the Canadian Northern system at Yellowhead Pass with Vancouver and Victoria, via Kamloops and the Fraser River, and to build 100 miles of railway on the Island of Vancouver from Victoria to Barkley Sound. He also included in his railway policy of that year a contract with the Kettle River Valley Railway, at the back of which is the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, to build 275 miles of railway connecting Grand Forks with the Similkameen district, thus opening two new and important sections of the country. In the case of the Canadian Northern Pacific, the Province guar- antees the bonds to the extent of $35,000 a mile at four per cent, for 600 miles, the Government taking a first lien on the railway and the railway company’s assets, including those of the entire Canadian Northern system, as security, the railway on its part agreeing to subject itself to the Provincial Government control in the matter of transportation rates. In the other case, the Government gave a cash bonus of $5,000 per mile, for 150 miles, the Kettle River Valley Railway being under Dominion jurisdiction. The statistical aspect of the railway policy of 1909 must be considered in connection with the railway situation as it then existed. Almost the en- tire mileage of the Canadian Pacific Railway was confined to the southern sec- tion of the Province and about 75 miles on the Island of Vancouver. The different branches of the Great Northern system, about 440 miles, were also confined to the area included in that of the Canadian Pacific Railway op- erations. Between the Grand Trunk Pacific on the north, with its terminus at Prince Rupert, there was a vast extent of important country without railway communication of any kind. There was also in Vancouver Island a large tract of country, rich in timber and minerals, hungering for railways. The economic effects of a railway through the central part of British Co- lumbia were to give a line to, and competitive with, the Canadian Pacific Railway in the south, and the Grand Trunk Pacific at the extreme north, him when his mind rather than his body was wrestling with the problems of great after enterprises. There are so many examples of this physical foundation of success in all walks of life as to render the case of Mackenzie and Mann not at all unusual or conspicuous in that respect. Wm. Mackenzie, now Sir William, was born at Kirkfield, Ontario, October 30th, 1849, the son of Eng- lish parents. He was educated at the public and high schools; began life as a school teacher, kept store, lumbered on a small scale and graduated into contracting on the Grand Trunk Railway, subsequently con- tracting on the C. P. R., doing considerable work on the Rocky Mountain division. In 1886, he became associated with Mr. D. D. Mann, in the firm of railway contractors known as Mackenzie, Mann & Co., Limited, and better known as Mackenzie and Mann. Among other important works, they built the Cal- gary and Edmonton Railway, the Qu’Apelle, Long Lake Saskatchewan Railway, and the C. P. R. short line through Maine. They commenced railway building on their own account in 1896, with 100 miles of the Lake Manitoba Railway & Canal Company, which became the nucleus of the Canadian Northern Rail- way system, now practically extending from ocean to ocean, and to be completed "on or before” 1915, be- coming one of three Canadian transcontinental railways. The Canadian Northern system, including owned and controlled lines, has a trackage of about 12,000 miles. This is made up of a number of lines which have been consolidated, and in the main financed on the principle of government guarantee of bonds. In addition, Mackenzie and Mann have promoted, and control, a great many other enterprises of a diversi- fied character — the Toronto and Winnipeg street railway systems; the Electric Development Company of Ontario (which has immense works at Niagara Falls); the San Paulo Tramway, Light & Power Com- pany; the Rio de Janeiro Tramway, Light & Power Company; the Atikokan Iron Company; the Moose Mountain Iron Mines, Limited; the Canadian (Dunsmuir) Collieries Company, Limited; the Pacific Whal- ing Company, and the Western Canadian Lumber Company, besides being interested in many Canadian and other enterprises of importance. In fact, their interests are legion. Sir Donald Mann was born at Acton, Ont., and was educated at the public school there. He was brought up on a farm, but early abandoned farm life for lumbering and was at 21, foreman of a lumber- ing company. He is a man of splendid physique and in his younger days, in physical prowess, had few, [172] to open and develop the great central section of the Province and to give direct communication between the great wheat fields of the Middle West and the Coast cities, and to control the transportation rates and influence the pol- icy of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Grand Trunk Pacific — two railways which were too far apart to enter into competition with each other in their respective spheres of operation in British Columbia. Before proceeding to deal with the Canadian Pacific Railway under- taking it would be well to refer to the relations of the Province with the Grand Trunk Pacific. The latter as a Dominion Government enterprise, undertaken and constructed federally, only enters into the Provincial rail- way policy in so far as its construction and operation in the Province were affected by the negotiations with the local administration. They were slight as compared with the magnitude of the negotiations with the Dominion, but, in so far as the effect on British Columbia was concerned, they were still considerable. As to how the Grand Trunk Pacific came to be built and as to the particular route selected to the Pacific Coast, belongs rather to the history of the Dominion than of the Province. From the British Columbia point of view there were important omissions in the contract. One was the point from which construction should proceed, whether through the Rockies westward, or from the Coast eastward towards the Rockies; another was the time of commencement; and still another was the source of supplies required during construction. Despite representations from the Province, the contract was left open in all these respects, and it does not seem improbable that these omissions were deliberate, so that the railway should reach the Province at a compara- tively later period, in order that the local advantages overlooked in the con- tract with the Dominion might be bargained for at the expense of the Prov- ince. Subsequent events seemed to confirm this assumption. Shortly after the contract was signed, Mr. Morse, President of the Grand Trunk Pacific, came to Victoria, and for a considerable time endeavoured to obtain a con- cession of land to the extent of 15,000 acres per mile as an inducement to start construction on the Pacific side, as well as other concessions in respect to time of commencement, purchase of supplies locally, terminal facilities, etc. These were ultimately refused, and Mr. Morse, unwisely in the interests of his cause, went away threatening to delay construction as long as possible, if any. peers in Canada, and his feats in the lumber woods are already matters of tradition in northern Ontario. Nevertheless, it is a myth that having been challenged to a duel by a Japanese Prince, he ac- cepted, stipulating broadaxes as the weapons to be used. Subsequent to his lumbering experience he took to railway construction work, for which he had a wonderful natural aptitude, and it is said that no man in Canada can gauge so accurately the cost of moving a yard of earth — the secret of successful contract- ing. Naturally, therefore, his share of the work of the firm has consisted largely in directing construc- tion in which he has an unique reputation for speed, efficiency and economy. Another important work in which he has been engaged is that of seeking legislative aid for his various railway projects, and in this he has been remarkably successful. Although to the everyday interviewer and man on the street he is silent and uncommunicative — sphinx-like — and is essentially a man of few words, he has wonderful powers of convincing legislative bodies that his railway projects are for the public good; and for the reason that he has the same clear-cut, intuitive ideas in regard to a railway situation that he has in re- spect to the best and most economical methods of “moving mountains” of earth. He went west to Winni- peg in 1879 and became a contractor on the C. P. R. in 1880. On the other hand, Sir William Mackenzie is the financial partner and to the financial end of all the large projects in hand he chiefly devotes his attention. He has financed all the lines of the Canadian Northern in London and at the cheapest rate of interest ever paid by a pioneer railway in an undeveloped agricultural country. His success in a financial way has been remarkable, almost wizard-like. Twice every year — and oftener if necessary — he goes to Great Britain on financial business. Sir Donald is not a bad financier either, in the same way as Sir William, knows a good deal about contracting, but each has his specialty. Sir Donald in 1888 and 1889 visited Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Chili, it having been proposed that the firm should build railways for the Chilian government. He declined the proposals made. A trip to China resulted in an equally unfavourable judgment in regard to that field. Sir Donald has strong views upon certain public issues of Canadian importance and has contributed articles to the reviews on a Canadian navy and the tariff relations of Canada and the United States. Both Sir William and Sir Donald reside in the city of Toronto. [ 173 ] and to build from the Rockies west. However, as the railway company had, in any event, to seek the co-operation of the local Government in respect to free right of way through Provincial lands and other matters, the course of time found the management in a better mood. As the result of negotiations, the Government was enabled to secure a favourable contract in several essen- tial particulars — to make a business-like arrangement for the sale of a con- siderable area for a townsite and terminal facilities in the vicinity of Prince Rupert — a city which is now springing up at the end of the line, in return for which the Province gave exemption from taxation for a term of years, free right of way, and co-operated in the development and laying out of the townsite, of twenty-five per cent of which the Province became the owner. It was probably the first time in the history of railway building in Canada that an arrangement was made in which a Government and a railway com- pany were joined as partners, sharing in the profits of accretion of values in real estate. As a result of concentrated effort, the Province has already received large sums of money, considerably over two million dollars, as its share of the sale of lands, and will continue to reap in proportion to the growth of population and the increase in the price of real estate — millions of dollars, no doubt, in the aggregate. The Government were thus able by the bargain made to ensure immediate and rapid construction. To return again to the railway policy of the year 1909 — the step was a bold one to take on the part of the Premier. Two of the ministers— Hon. R. G. Tatlow, Minister of Finance and Agriculture, and Hon. F. J. Fulton, Minister of Lands and Works — resigned as a protest against what appeared to be the magnitude of the liability involved; but as the result of a brief and vigorous campaign, in which Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, a stalwart mem- ber of the Conservative party, took the field against the railway proposals, the Government were returned to power with the support of all but four in a house of forty-two, one of these four also immediately after the house met, falling in line. The contract was ratified by the Legislature and signed by the principals, and construction work was commenced on both the Main- land and the Island as soon after as was practicable. The route on the mainland of the Canadian Northern Pacific is to all in- tents that originally decided upon by the C. P. R., before the latter adopted the route via the Kicking Horse Pass. From the Yellowhead Pass it leaves the Fraser at Tete Jaune Cache, and crosses the “Divide” by Cranberry Lake, following on from the head waters of the North Thompson to its junction with the South Thompson at Kamloops. It then follows the South Thompson to its junction with the Fraser at Lytton, and thence down the south side of the Fraser to New Westminster, the point of entrance into Van- couver being yet undecided. It crosses the South Thompson several times, and also the Fraser at Lytton and Cisco to avoid the C. P. R., with which it runs parallel from Kamloops. The terminal facilities will be located at Port Mann, opposite New Westminster on the north side of the river. On the Island of Vancouver, it proceeds from Victoria to Alberni Inlet by way of Sooke River and Sooke Lake and along the west side of Cowichan Lake down to Nitinat, across the head waters of Coleman Creek and down Cole- man Creek to Alberni Inlet and beyond, 100 miles in all, the ultimate desti- [174] nation being the north end of the Island, touching the head of Barkley Sound, by a route not yet determined. The railway policy of 1910 was supplemented by an important railway programme which was given effect during the session of 1912 . It is unneces- sary to go very fully into the details of this programme, which, having re- gard to the recent date of the general elections, must be very familiar to all in the Province. Two very important considerations influenced the Premier in submitting the railway legislation of that year. First, the imminence of the Panama Canal, which will have its formal opening in 1915 . The com- pletion of that enterprise, cutting, as it will, the world’s route of traffic in two, is of a highly revolutionary character, and within two years will bring the commercial fleets of the world into the Pacific Ocean. Its effect on the commerce and industry of British Columbia and of the whole northwest Pacific Coast must be extremely important and far-reaching, and in view of its creating a new route for the grain, of the Middle West to reach the mar- kets of the world, and for other obvious reasons, it was necessary in the in- terests of the Province that the Government should prepare for the epoch- making event by the inception of adequate transportation facilities. The other consideration was the opening of the Peace River district, into which population is already threading its way, and to which the railways are head- ing from the east and from the south. It was essential in the interests of British Columbia that a direct line from the Coast cities should be built as speedily as possible into that district, in order that its prospective trade, legi- timately belonging to British Columbia, should not be diverted into other channels. These considerations had great weight with the Government, and in view of the rapid development of the Province everywhere, and the ex- panding condition of the Provincial revenue, it was decided to take full ad- vantage of the situation by going as far in the direction of further railway development as financial conditions would permit. Legislation was submit- ted, guaranteeing the bonds of a line of railway from North Vancouver to Fort George — 450 miles, the first stage in a line to the Peace River — on terms similar to those contained in the legislation of 1910 , namely, the guar- antee of bonds to the extent of $ 35,000 a mile, and the assumption of Prov- incial control over rates; the extension on the same terms and conditions as formerly, of the Canadian Northern Pacific line on Vancouver Island, 150 miles farther north, and the construction of a line of the Canadian North- ern Pacific from Kamloops to Kelowna by way of Vernon, with a branch line to Lumby, 125 miles; the extension of the Kettle River Valley from Cold- water Junction over the Hope Mountain to Hope, B. C., a distance of 50 miles, carrying a subsidy of $ 10,000 per mile, $ 200,000 being allowed for a bridge over the Fraser River at Hope; the reconstruction of the Kaslo and Slocan Railway on a broad gauge plane for 25 miles, carrying a bonus of $ 100,000 to the Canadian Pacific Railway ( 4 ) ; the extension of the E. & N., (4) The Kaslo & Slocan Railway was built under a charter obtained in 1893 by a company, includ- ing John Hendry, D. J. Munn, Robt. Irving and the late Alex. Ewen, as members, who secured a land grant from the Provincial government. The railway, which was narrow gauge, ran from Kaslo into Sandon, a distance of about 31 miles, and for a time, during the mining activity in the Slocan district, did a very brisk business, making connections with boats which ran on the Kootenay Lake, and carried the ores to the other side of the line. The Kaslo & Slocan Railway became part of the Great Northern sys- tem, but the traffic in ores decreased, and the district having been swept by fires, which did great dam- age to the railway, the Great Northern abandoned it, having previously disposed of the land grant, and removed the rails and rolling stock. Under the arrangement with the C. P. R., referred to above, the latter company agreed to rebuild it as a standard gauge line and operate it continuously. [ 175 ] under the name of the Canadian Pacific Railway, as far north as Comox, 100 miles; finally, the repurchase of the subsidy lands granted to the Co- lumbia and Western and B. C. Southern Railway companies to the ex- tent of 4 , 000,000 acres at 40 cents an acre, with which were coupled several other considerations, which, in combination, effected an adjustment of a number of outstanding disputes with the C. P. R. of several years’ standing. In the elaboration of his policy in its various details, the Premier intimated clearly that those important undertakings in the way of railway building were but the continuation of the policy of 1910 , making together 1,725 miles of assisted lines, to be supplemented later on by additional legislation pro- viding for extensions, and new branch lines to complete within the borders of the Province the main lines of communication necessary to its develop- ment ( 5 ). At the present time of writing, of the mainland section of the C. N. P. R. the contracts for the construction of the entire 500 miles and for the whole of the Vancouver section of 100 miles have been let. The most expensive portion of the work is from Yale to Lytton, some of it costing as high as $100,000 per mile, and there is also some very heavy work on the south side of the Thompson. The 600 miles under construction are estimated to cost $ 30 , 000 , 000 . When completed the C. N. P. R. will have the best gradi- ents of any line crossing British Columbia. Out of 500 miles on the main- land the gradient for 300 miles will not exceed four-tenths, and as regards the balance of 200 miles, not more than seven-tenths per cent, per mile. The G. T. P., though not exceeding four-tenths for the greater part of its line, will reach a gradient of one per cent, from Moosehead to Tete Jaune Cache. The extension of the Kettle River Valley Railway from Grand Forks over Hope Mountain to Hope, where it will connect with the C. P. R., is the practical solution of the old V. V. & E. problem, which for a long time proved to be a continual nightmare to politicians. The assumption of $ 45 , 000,000 of liability in the way of guarantees and the cash subventions, which in the aggregate amount to over two millions of dollars, would, ten years ago, have been considered as entirely beyond the financial resources of the Province to have undertaken. Since that time the onward march of events has been so marked, and the accumulation of the Provincial revenues so rapid, that in 1912 the Province had a very large cash reserve in the banks, and a still larger reserve in the way of deferred pay- ments on land sales. The value of the Provincial assets had during that time, too, trebled and quadrupled. As one effect of railway construction un- dertaken in 1910 , the revenue increased in two years something like $ 4 , 500 , 000 , showing that it has been immediate and substantial. Therefore, the Gov- ernment looks forward with confidence to still greater increases of revenue as the consequence of its railway policy, and to its continued ability to un- dertake still further railway enterprises in the future, without impairing finan- cial credit, or exceeding the limits to which its liabilities might safely ex- tend. In 1903 , when the present Government came into power, the total (5) At the last session of the Legislature (1913) additional aid was granted to the Canadian North- ern Pacific Railway, bonds being guaranteed to the extent of $10,000,000, for the purpose of completing terminals. It has now been definitely arranged, also, that the Great Northern line of railway in Boundary and Similkameen will use the Kettle River Valley Railway line over the Hope mountain and thus obtain a direct route into Vancouver through Canadian territory. [ 176 ] Provincial mileage of railways was about 1,650 miles. Between 1903 and 1909 that mileage was increased by 400-500 miles. During that time, the Grand Trunk Pacific running through British Columbia for a distance of 725 miles, has been under contract and construction, while 1,725 miles are being added directly as the result of the Provincial railway policy. Added to these are about 300 or 400 miles of lesser lines already constructed, or being constructed. There will probably be at the end of 1915 about 5,000 miles of railway in operation, with at least 1,000 more under construction or provided for, or 6,000 miles in all. The Province is therefore only at the beginning of its development even now. Events are moving very rapidly, and, with settlement and development in all parts of a province so vast in area, railways will follow in arithmetical progression. Following the completion of the main arteries which are almost com- pletely provided for in the systems of the C. P. R., G. T. P., C. N. R., G. N. R., and the Pacific Great Eastern (Peace River), (6) will come a net- work of branch lines connecting these and linking up valleys and settlements and mining and lumbering camps, necessary for complete communication in every direction. Quite recently, also, the Government recognized the fact, that to bona fide companies, with capital and experience at their command, there should be presented no obstacles in the way of special legislation which should check their entrance into the field and their taking advantage of any opportunities presented. It, therefore, decided on a policy of free trade in railways — a policy that will permit any person or company to select a route, submit their plans and specifications to the Minister of Railways, and, if ap- proved, proceed with their projects. When a retrospect is taken of the short period of development since 1884, in which only 1,400 miles of railway in actual operation have been added to the mileage (not including five or six hundred miles of interior (6) In 1911 the Peace River district came into prominence through an inrush of settlers and sev- eral railway schemes having in view its exploitation from the Middle West, and the importance of directing its prospective traffic towards the coast of British Columbia became very evident. The gov- ernment seized with the necessity of prompt action and in response to strongly expressed public opin- ion, at once entered into negotiations for the construction of a line to tap that country. Several pro- posals were discussed with promoters, and after careful deliberation an arrangement was entered into with Messrs. Foley, Welch & Stewart, well known railway contractors, whose wide experience and financial ability rendered them most acceptable, to undertake this great work. The Legislature con- firmed the contract made by the government, which provides for a line to Fort George from North Van- couver, a distance of 450 miles, via Howe Sound to Newport and via Pemberton Meadows, and An- derson and Seaton lakes to Clinton and on. Ultimately, the line will be extended to Peace river, and, as announced by the Premier in June, 1913, provision will likely be made to connect it up with north- ern British Columbia and the Yukon. Extensive preliminaries for construction have been undertaken and the line to Fort George will be completed in 1915. A railway line following a similar route had already been projected, and a portion of the line built from Newport in the main direction. The pioneers in this enterprise were Messrs. J. C. Keith, Arthur McEvoy and J. C. Gill, Vancouver, who organized and controlled the Howe Sound and Northern Rail- way company and the Howe Sound Development company, a subsidiary corporation, for the purpose. By arrangement, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway Co., which was the corporate name assumed by the contractors, took over the assets and good will of the Howe Sound and Northern Railway Co. for the sum of $1,000,000 in cash payments. The portions of line already laid out for construction are as follows: North Vancouver to Newport, 38 miles; Newport to Lillooet, 160 miles; and Lillooet to Clinton, 40 miles. The contract with the government provides for an interchange of traffic with the Grand Trunk Pacific between Vancouver and Fort George, to and from, so that the Pacific Great East- ern will serve the double purpose of an outlet south for the G. T. P. and for connection with the Peace River country. The head offices of the company are in Victoria. The resident representative of the P. G. E. in British Columbia is Mr. D’Arcy Tate, formerly chief solicitor of the G. T. P., who is general counsel and vice-president and generally looks after its interests. The country to be opened, though rugged, as nearly all parts of the province are, is in many re- spects extremely potential. The Lillooet country now promises to be the richest mining section of Brit- ish Columbia, and, throughout, the country tributary to the line is mineralized. There are considerable sections of pastoral and agricultural lands on either side, including the rich Pemberton Meadows and a number of large ranches already cultivated. There are valuable timber reserves along the coast sec- tions and in due time several excellent waterpowers will be developed. The country is highly scenic throughout, with chains of picturesque lakes. Game and fish abound and from a touristic and sport- ing point of view the line when completed will afford almost unrivalled attractions. The route se- lected offers gradients not exceeding 1.6 per cent, and, needless to say, when the Peace river district is developed the resources of traffic will be very great. [ 177 ] waterways utilized) it may be realized that there never was a time when still more railways were necessary and essential to continued prosperity than at the present. Events have travelled faster than we could possibly have an- ticipated ten or twenty years ago. None who lived in the Province twen- ty-five years ago expected in his wildest dreams to live long enough to see what may be seen today — not only one, but four, transcontinental lines at our doors, having termini at the Coast cities, not to speak of the numerous branch and main lines which are now immediately in sight, of eight trans- pacific steamships calling at our ports and a half dozen of coasting lines of which Vancouver and Victoria are the half-way houses between Prince Ru- pert and Mexico. The history of electrical enterprises has followed pretty closely the lines of development in other parts of America, the exception being that in this as in many other respects, the Province has always been well in advance of the procession of events. The first and only attempt to reach Europe overland by telegraph was (7) through British Columbia. This Province was connected with the outside world by cable in 1864, and with Europe in the year 1866, Cariboo was reached by wire in 1871. Victoria city was one of the first cities in America to be lighted by electric light. It was also among the first to install the trolley system of electric tramways, Vancouver following the year after. The telephone system followed in the wake of the sister prov- inces, possessing in Canada the first systems independent of the Bell Tele- phone Company. In like manner also its water powers as far back as 1897 were used for the development of power for industrial enterprises. The most important of these developed into what is known familiarly as the B. C. Electric Ry. Company, with an actual invested capital of about $35,000,000. The growth of this corporation has been as remarkable as the cities and districts in which its operations are carried on. Its history is ex- ceedingly interesting on that account. It represents the fusion of three orig- At a meeting of the Canadian Electrical Association in Montreal a paper was contributed by R. B. McMicking, manager of the Victoria & Esquimau Telephone Company, from which the following are extracts: "It may be — it doubtless is — within the recollection of some of its members that, on the failure of the first Atlantic cable in 1858. there was set in motion, as a means of attaining the same end, i. e., the telegraphic communication between the two hemispheres — a gigantic enterprise, known as the ‘Collins Overland Telegraph Extension (Russian Extension) Company,’ having in view the stretching of a wire from the telegraphic system of the Pacific States, through British Columbia and via Bering Strait to Russia and Europe. "With marvellous energy and enterprise, the work of construction was commenced in 1863, the line entering British Columbia from the South in longitude 122 W. in 1864, being carried thence to New Westminster, from which point it followed the valley of the Fraser River and the Cariboo w r agon road northward to Quesnel, a distance of about 450 miles, which point was reached in 1865. Offices were established along the way, and from Quesnel southward the line was soon opened for commercial busi- ness. The enterprise proved a great boon to the early colonists, both by reason of the large expenditure necessary in its construction and operation, as well as by the facilities offered thereby to the w’idely separated settlements for speedy communication. "In 1865, also, a branch line was run across the San Juan Archipelago to Vancouver Island, connect- ing Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, with the main line at Swinomish, Washington Territory. This branch was about 74 miles long, including five submarine cables of a combined length of about 16 miles. “From Quesnel the main line crossed the Fraser River to the west ward and following a northwest- erly course, with Behring Strait as its next objective point, reached the Naas river — about 400 miles distant from Quesnel — when the second Atlantic cable was successfully laid and operated July 29th, 1866. "The construction party of about 250 men — which included explorers, surveyors, choppers, line build- ers, operators, and transport gangs — on receiving the news of the completion of the cable, remained in camp two or three days, awaiting developments. At the end of this time, finding the cable continued to work well, they set out for civilization, leaving their tools, stores and material to the tender mercies (in great part) of the Hudson’s Bay Co. trappers and the native red men, as their transport out would have cost more than the new article. "During the winter of 1866-7 a station was maintained at Fort Stager on the Skeena river, where an operator named McCartney and a companion lived until the following Spring, and where oftentimes during those — to him — dreary winter months, I held converse with him by wire from Yale. “In addition to the construction party, the company owned and had in service a fleet of vessels, steam and sail, plying upon ocean and river, some in the transportation of material, supplies and line [ 178 ] iginal corporations, one in Victoria, one in Vancouver and one in New West- minster. The Victoria Electric Light Railway Company originated in 1888, and was incorporated in 1889. Owing to heavy losses through fire and other causes, the company became involved, and the business was taken over by the Consolidated Railway Company. In Vancouver as early as 1887, the Elec- tric Illuminating Company was organized, and a lighting plant installed. About the same time a street railway company was formed, but it was not till 1889 that a tramway line was built, when the two companies in question were amalgamated under the name of the Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company, Ltd. The venture was not financially successful, and in 1893 the trustees for the debenture-holders took possession of the company’s assets, and the electric system passed through stages similar to those of the Vic- toria Company. In New Westminster in 1890 companies were formed for the purpose of operating a street railway and an electric railway between the cities of New Westminster and Vancouver. The two companies soon were merged and the 12-mile line connecting them was opened for traffic in September, 1891. Although the traffic from the first was brisk, and the service provided, an excellent one, the expenses were too high, and after sev- eral changes in the ownership, the company followed the example of its con- freres in Vancouver and Victoria. The original promoters and shareholders of these systems in all three cities were leading and public-spirited citizens, who invested heavily, inspired by the prospect of the future and with every faith in the venture; but electrical motor power was at that time in its ex- perimental stages, and the immediate traffic did not warrant the undertaking without a large reserve capital at its back. They were the pioneers, and after the fashion of pioneers, sacrificed their fortune as the price of their optimism. The Consolidated Railway Company, into whose hands all three systems passed — composed of British shareholders — went, after the Victoria bridge accident, into voluntary liquidation, and was re-organized, its assets being taken over by the B. C. Electric Railway Company in 1897. With sufficient capital at its disposal for purposes of development, the record since that time has been one of continued progress and expansion. The head office of the B. C. Electric Railway Company is in London, England. The extent of the business of the main and subsidiary companies can only be indicated in outline. From small beginnings, though for those days not inconsiderable, fifteen distinct services are now in existence or in the course equipment, others in preparing for the placing of a cable across Bering Strait, a distance of about 60 miles — quite an undertaking at that date. “The Bering Strait cable was to stretch from Cape Prince of Wales, on this side, to Plover Bay, on the Siberian shore, from which latter point inland about 350 miles of line had been erected and about 500 miles of land line had also been constructed. “The course of this contemplated line through British possessions and down the waterways of Rus- sian America, would have brought it into close proximity to the present Klondike gold fields and near Dawson, in which event it is not improbable that the hole-digging necessary would have developed the riches of that section at least 30 years earlier, and have given to the former generation an additional important mining epoch. “The history of the building of this line and causes which led to a work having for its object the encircling of the world by wire at so early a date, is likely always to be read with interest. “The Company — which subsequently merged into the Western Union Telegraph Company — maintained the line northwards as far as Quesnel until purchased in 1870 by the British Columbia Government, which in turn handed it over to the Dominion Government on British Columbia entering Federation in 1871. Later still the C. P. R. assumed control, and previous to the influx of population consequent upon the building of the C. P. R., the revenue fell far short of the expenditure yearly. “In 1887, Buie Brothers, merchants, built a branch line from Quesnel to Barkerville in the Cariboo gold region, a distance of 60 miles. This branch, together with the main line between Quesnel and Ashcroft, is still operated by the Federal Government. “The original expenditure in the construction of the British Columbia section of the Intercolonial line reached the large sum, roundly, of three million dollars.’’ [ 179 ] of installation on the mainland and on the Island. In Vancouver there are twenty-three miles of street railway, and eleven miles of suburban lines (in- cluding Hastings, lot 30, and South Vancouver), with 110 passengers cars in use. There are 328,000 incandescent lamps, 375 incandescent ones, and 1025 street lamps. In New Westminster there are seven miles of street railway and twelve miles of interurban line between the cities of Vancouver and New Westmin- ster, which maintain a 30-minute service. The latter city supplies its own light. In 1905 a franchise was obtained from North Vancouver for power, heat, light and a tramway system. The latter includes five miles in the mu- nicipality, an expansion of two and a half miles to Lirn valley, and two miles to Capilano River. In the same year the C. P. R. built 14.55 miles from Vancouver to Steveston, Lulu Island, a venture which was turned over to the B.C.E. Ry. Co. for operation. A line, built by the C. P. R. from Eburne to New Westminster, 9.65 miles, was completed in 1909, was also turned over for electrification and operation to the company, and opened on Novem- ber 15th of that year. These two lines maintain an hourly service. In 1906 the company extended its light and power service to Ladner, the wires being extended across the Fraser Rivers from high towers. The company has also extended its light and power service to the municipalities of Richmond, Point Grey and Burnaby. In the last named district the company obtained a fran- chise to operate an electric railway now under course of construction, which will connect Vancouver and New Westminster by another through line. The Vancouver Power Company is a subsidiary of the B. C. Electric, with a nominal capital of $2,500,000, whose directorate is composed of local officials of the parent company. The generating station is located on the north arm of Burrard Inlet, near Lake Buntzen. Power was first developed from Lake Buntzen, and simultaneously a tunnel from Lake Buntzen to Lake Coquitlam, 12,775 feet. The first current was transmitted to Vancouver on December 23rd, 1903. Since then additional power has been installed, the present capacity of the plant being 30,000 h.p., which with improvements will be increased to 60,000 h.p. and distributed over a wide area on the lower main- land for private and public uses. In the year 1906 the municipalities of Surrey, Langley, Matsqui, Sumas and Chilliwack passed by-laws authorizing the Vancouver Power Company to operate light, heat, power and tramway systems in those municipalities. Soon afterwards the company placed several survey parties in the field. Plans and estimates were prepared, and in due course contracts were let for the con- struction of the electric railway and power lines. Construction work proceeded continuously and on October 3rd, 1910, the electric railway was formally opened for traffic — the Hon. Richard McBride driving the last spike. On all the various electric lines, freight and express services are operated in con- junction with passenger traffic. On Vancouver Island the operations of the B. C. Electric Railway Co. were at first much more slowly increased, but latterly owing to the activities of the real estate market and general development, have rapidly extended. A line is being constructed from Victoria through the Saanich peninsula and various extensions of the city system are contemplated. Waterpower has [180] been developed at Jordan River with a present capacity of 12,000 h.p., with an ultimate capacity of 24,000 h. p. Before the advent of the C. P. R. the telegraph facilities of the Province consisted of a single wire from Victoria to Nanaimo, a line across to Gab- riola and Valdez Island and Point Grey, a land line to New Westminster, two wires to Matsqui, one of which branched to Seattle, the other continuing, via Chilliwack, Hope and Ashcroft, to Barkerville. Communication with eastern Canada and the outside world was by means of connection with the American or Western Union System. It is not generally known that the first proposal for connecting this continent with Europe was by way of Bering Strait through British Columbia, and actual construction had proceeded a considerable distance when the news of the successful laying of the Atlantic cable caused it to be abandoned. Since the advent of the C. P. R. the progress has been gradual, and dur- ing the past twelve years it has been very rapid. The C. P. R. started with a pole mileage of 510 and a wire mileage of 1530. The company absorbed the government mileage west of Ashcroft. The part east of Chilliwack was subsequently abandoned, being supplanted by a better and more up-to-date line. The pole mileage at the end of 1910 was 1292 miles — wire mileage 6615; of this one-fourth is copper. There are two submarine cables connecting the mainland with Vancouver Island along different routes — one of twenty-nine knots, the other of thirty-seven and one-half knots, each having three conduc- tors, giving the Island six wires with the mainland. There is also a cable from Alberni to Banfield, thirty and one-quarter knots, having but one con- ductor. A cable across the Arrow Lake at Arrowhead of one mile and a fifth containing three conductors has also been laid. The opening of the Yukon led the Dominion Government to extend its system in the Province through the northern interior, following practically the old telegraph trail of the Western Union as far as Dawson. The actual mileage of the Dominion Government wires in the Province is 2000 miles. With the incoming of the G. T. P., the Canadian Northern Railway and the Great Northern, and the extension of the C. P. R. in various directions, the present mileage will be very largely increased during the next five years. As in the case of electric light and tramways, British Columbia was not far behind other parts of the American continent in introducing the telephone. In fact, the telephone was established and in operation within three years of the date of Prof. Alexander Graham Bell’s discovery. In 1880 the Victoria and Esquimalt Company was organized with Mr. McMicking as manager, and an exchange was opened with 26 subscribers on July 15th of that year. The B. C. Telephone, Ltd., dates back to February, 1884, when a provincial charter was secured for the construction of a telephone line between New Westminster and Port Moody, which line was built. Following this, a line was constructed from New Westminster to Vancouver by the New Westminster and Burrard Inlet Company in the fall of 1885, the in- stallation being destroyed by the fire of 1886 in Vancouver. The peo- ple associated with this line organized the Vernon and Nelson Telephone Company, and that company became interested in the Kootenay Lake Tele- phone Company, which operated in Nelson only. About 1891 the same parties [181] interested themselves in a company serving Nanaimo. For a number of years these four companies operated as individual units. In 1898 the Victoria and Esquimalt Company was acquired by those backing the four little companies, and that year marked also the introduction into British Columbia telephone circles of Mr. William Farrell, president of the B. C. Telephone Company (8). It was not until the year 1903, however, that power was obtained from the legis- lature for the amalgamation of the interests of these various companies, it having been found that they must be united, if the growing requirements of the public were to be satisfactorily met and money invested were to be made to pay a fair return. Amalgamation took place in 1904 under the name of the B. C. Telephone Company. In the fall of 1905 the necessity presented itself for furnishing connection between the company’s system on the mainland and Vancouver Island, the International Telephone and Telegraph Company was organized under the laws of the State of Washington for the purpose of lay- ing a cable between the mainland and Victoria City, via the city of Bell- ingham and Orcas and San Juan Islands. The route via the islands was adopted, because the difficulties of transmission made it advisable to use the shortest possible length of cable. With the cable in operation, the company’s systems on the lower mainland and Island were connected for operation. At first the business was very small, but subsequently increased so rapidly that a second cable was arranged to be laid in 1911. The growth of the telephone in the Province has been remarkable. In 1900 there were about 1000 tele- phones in use in the City of Vancouver, and now there are over 15,000. Throughout the Province the company has invested over $4,000,000. There are probably 25,000 telephones in use altogether. Among the more important watersheds and sources of power which at- tracted the early attention of capitalists was that of Stave Lake, on the north side of the Fraser River in the Dewdney district. The Stave Lake Power Company, Ltd., was incorporated in September, 1899, under the Companies Act and Water Clauses Consolidation Act of 1897, the first directors being Messrs. H. Abbott, W. H. Armstrong, John Hendry, G. C. Hinton and J. B. Ferguson. Stave Lake is 12 miles long by about one mile wide, and out of it flows Stave River. Stave River Falls are about six miles north of the junction of Stave and Fraser Rivers, at Ruskin, B. C., and about seven miles south of the lake. It is estimated that by the construction of another dam below the present works, the same Avater can be used twice, and 100,000 h.p. can be developed for works within 35 miles of the cities of Vancouver and New Westminster. The original company obtained a water record from the Provincial Gov- ernment of 75,000 miner’s inches of water in January, 1900, and also a con- firmatory grant from the Dominion Government. Sur\ r eys and plans were made by Mr. Stoes, C. E., which Avere approved by the Provincial Govern- ment. Some preliminary work was done. Then folloAved a series of negotia- tions and options and agreements, among the parties interested being C. H. Mackintosh, ex-Lieutenant-Governor of the NortliAvest. The difficulties of (8) A gentleman prominently associated with Mr. Farrell in the direction of the telephone company was the late Dr. J. M. Lefevre, who was a promoter and from the outset a large shareholder. It was to a large extent to his work and financial skill that the success of the enterprise, especially in its earlier stages, was due. Dr. Lefevre, in addition to being the C. P. R. physician for the Pa- cific division and having an extensive private practice, was a pioneer alderman of A'ancouver and al- ways identified with public affairs. [ 182 ] obtaining capital for this purpose were very great. Possibly the potential- ities of waterpower were then not so well understood, and the future of Van- couver City not so well assured as now. In the meantime, however, sufficient work was done to conserve the rights and franchises of the company. In 1905 Mr. John Hendry, and his assistant, Mr. W. McNeill, took up the project. Mr. William Kennedy, Jr., C. E., an eminent consulting engineer, thereupon came from Montreal to examine the site and prepare new plans, which were officially approved. In 1906 active work was commenced under the management of Mr. McNeill and the engineering supervision of Mr. Wil- liam Kennedy, with Mr. James C. Kennedy as resident engineer. The com- pany spent about $400,000 in various works, including the erection of a saw- mill and a main sluice dam of concrete. On June 30th, 1909, the property was transferred to the Western Canada Power Company, Ltd., a larger pro- motion of capital being incorporated under the Companies Act of Canada, in which Mr. Hendry is still largely interested. This company immediately made arrangements for the construction of a hydro-electric plant, on a greatly in- creased scale compared with that planned by the Stave Lake Power Com- pany, the entire construction when completed involving an expenditure of $5,000,000. A force of about 400 men have been employed in connection with the works, which will be ready during the present year for delivery of power in Vancouver. The works are the most modern in every respect. The details are, however, too complex and technical to be of interest in this connection — sluice dam, blind slough dam, forebay and intake dam, penstocks, turbines, power house, generators, transformers, transmission lines, receiving station, being part of the scheme. The first installation will have a capacity of 25,000 h.p., and the company expects “that it will not be long before the whole installation of four 12,500 h.p. units will be required,” and after that will fol- low the development of the further power available to which the company has the right. Thus again another important factor has been added by the enter- prise of its chief promoters to the industrial and producing powers of the Province. In 1897 the West Kootenay Light and Power Company, which utilizes the Bonnington Falls power on the Kootenay River, the most powerful source of energy in the Province, with a capacity of 250,000 h.p., was organized, and now supplies power throughout the Kootenay and Boundary districts for all purposes. In the same year the Cascade Water, Power and Light Com- pany, with a small power at Cascade, was also promoted, and is in operation, as supplementary to the Bonnington Falls power, with which it has been amal- gamated. There are numerous other water powers, some of which have been developed in connection with enterprises in the Okanagan — a very extensive system, principally for the purposes of irrigation, being in operation as part of the investments of the British capitalists interested in the great Coldstream Ranch and allied properties, of which Lord Aberdeen was the pioneer and one of the leading shareholders — and in connection with the several large pulp and paper companies at various points on the coast. There are also large powers capable of being developed in Okanagan Falls, on the Elk River in East Kootenay, on the Campbell River and elsewhere, as soon as demand for the power within easy reach arises. Something like 250,000 h.p. has already [183] been developed, and in the aggregate the water powers easily available, have an estimated horse-power of probably 2,500,000. With other industries of the Province — i. e., fisheries, forestry, mining and agriculture, etc., it is proposed to deal with very briefly in another chapter ( 9 ) . (9) Since the foregoing with reference to both the electric system of the B. C. Electric Ry. Co. and of the B. C. Telephone Co., in the spring of 1912, very considerable extensions have taken place. This is also true of the telegraph systems of the Province and of ‘he development of water power. The capital invested by the B. C. Electric Ry. Co. amounts in 1913 to $44,000,000. The number of telephones in use is 50,000. [ 184 ] ECONOMIC PHASES OF THE PROVINCE. CHAPTER XV. In the first chapter of the second part of this work, an attempt was made to deal in a general way with the earlier phases of the social and indus- trial developments of the Province. The four great branches of its natural resources would each require a chapter to itself, if not a volume, to do jus- tice to the theme; but owing to the exigencies of space in a work which is essentially historical a very brief outline only will be given with the object of giving results rather than of furnishing details of their evolution. The earliest efforts of the pioneer, if we exclude the barter in furs, which really gave to the Province its existence, were directed towards agriculture, not mining, as might popularly be supposed. The Puget Sound Agricultural Company was a subsidiary branch of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and was established to utilize the opportunities of trade on the Pacific Coast in cer- tain agricultural products, with Russian America, the Sandwich Islands and China, and, incidentally, to supply the local requirements of the coun- try. Its operation extended to portions of Washington, Oregon and Van- couver Island. A few of the settlers on Vancouver Island engaged in the industry independently of this Company, but not with conspicuous success. So, when mining in 1858 and the immediately succeeding years, became the dominant idea of those who came to British Columbia, agriculture lifted its head somewhat, and endeavored to keep pace (as far as that was possible, considering the primitive and not particularly favourable conditions) with the progress of the country. It got a foothold on the southern end of the Island, on the lower mainland, in the Lillooet and Cariboo districts and a little later on in the valleys of the Okanagan, the Thompson and the Nicola. At the time of confederation, the tariff on agricultural products was a factor of considerable importance; but for many reasons, largely physical, the prog- ress of the industry, despite the protection provided by the tariff, was ex- ceedingly slow, and it was not until the Turner regime that it began to as- sume an importance which justified hopes of a promising future. For a long time it had been known and amply demonstrated that in fruits, vege- tables, and certain grain crops the province had peculiar adaptabilities, but, as already stated, the physical conditions of the country, with its, relatively speaking, small valleys — widely sequestrated — lack of intercommunication, and the general sparseness of population, rendered development in every sense slow, and presented unusual obstacles to success, notwithstanding the high prices of produce. Almost from the very beginning, the principal supply of the ordinary necessaries of life raised on the farm came from south of the line, and during periods of depression, especially, competition was very keen and there was only a limited sale for local products — a commercial con- dition not unusual when the local supply is insufficient to meet the de- mands of the market. It took years to overcome that condition and to [ 185 ] raise sufficient to keep the market stocked regularly. Between ten and fif- teen years ago, however, the situation became very much more promising, owing to rapid increase in population, increasing productiveness, and the general rise in prices throughout the continent. The first real impulse given to the fruit industry was the opening of the middle west for the reception of B. C. fruit. The example set by Lord Aberdeen, who had purchased the extensive Coldstream Ranch, near Vernon, and engaged extensively in horticulture, had excellent results After considerable experiments in fruit- growing, with some initial failures in management, he had ultimate suc- cess, and proceeded to sub-divide his estate into small holdings. Others in a smaller way had likewise succeeded in fruit-growing and the example be- came infectious throughout large areas of the settled districts. The Okana- gan valleys had many large holdings of land, principally devoted to stock- raising, and it soon became evident that even the side hills were more profit- able for fruit growing than as stock ranges (1). One after another, therefore, of these big holdings fell into line, until practically the entire dry belt in Yale district was converted into small holdings for the purpose of being devoted to horticulture. Intelligent efforts in the fruit industry brought (1) Among the large business firms represented in British Columbia are P. Burns & Co., whose members are Patrick and Domenic Burns, names so closely associated with the fortunes of the West of Canada during its more modern development as to be almost inseparable from its history. Outside of the transportation companies and the Hudson’s Bay Company, they represent the largest individual in- terests and their annual turn over is the greatest. The history of P. Burns & Co., like that of Sir Wm. Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann, is illustrative of a phase of Canadian individual enterprise that in recent years has evolved so many men of large affairs out of the rugged elements of Canadian life and pro- duced so much wealth from the resources of a country rich in opportunity and rapid in development. The brothers, Patrick and Domenic Burns, were born in Osbawa, Ont., and raised in Kirkfield, Vic- toria county. Their father was a farmer and dealer in stock and they were brought up to a life the experience of which developed a natural aptitude and founded a fortune. As boys they handled horses and cattle, and traded in them. They rode and drove horses and the fine points of stock became to them like an open book. In addition to that, they were handy and acquired that all round ability and “knack” of doing things for themselves, of turning to advantage every opportunity that lay in their way, which furnished the best part of their capital in starting a career. Among other things, Domenic was a car- penter, and earned some of his first money in that way. As they came to manhood, the West was opening up and we find the Burns brothers in Winnipeg in 1880, not engaged in buying and selling real estate, but in turning the boom there to good account in a practical business way. From 1880 to 1887 they handled all kinds of live stock. In 1887 Patrick Burns went to Maine and supplied meat to the C. P. R. con- tractors building the short line through that state. Domenic came West and we find him assisting in building snowsheds for four months of that year at Rogers Pass. In 1889 the firm’s business extended to British Columbia and Domenic bought horses and cattle and shipped them into the procinces everywhere. P. Burns started in the Northwest shipping cattle and supplied the railways building in and into that country. He shipped east and west, taking advantage of every new opening and new field of operations. In 1892 and 1893 P. Burns & Co. were already the largest factors in the Western meat trade. It was then they started in to establish that chain of retail butcher shops and meat depots which now extend from Edmonton around the circle of transportation to Dawson. They bought out the business of the Hulls of Calgary and Kamloops, of Wilson & Perdue and Mclnnes at Nelson and eventually of Hayes & McIntosh, Vancouver, in the meantime following the trend of mining development, establishing them- selves at Kaslo, Rossland, Sandon, Three Forks, Nakusp, Greenwood, Grand Forks, Midway, Fernie, Frank, Cranbrook, Vernon, Ashcroft — not in the exact order named — until the retail, as well as the wholesale, business of the Interior was in their hands. When the Yukon rush took place they were among the first in the field and were shipping cattle over the White Pass route. They soon established shops at Bennett, White Horse, Dawson, and, subsequently, in Atlin. They shipped thousands of cattle into that country from the first and killed and sold them after the consignments reached their destination. The great advantage their enterprise had gained for them in this extension of business enabled them the easier to develop it in the larger cities in which several years ago they branched out on a still larger scale. They have now a shop in New Westminster, 16 shops in Vancouver, three in Victoria, two in Prince Rupert and in addition to the places previously enumerated are doing busi- ness in Stewart, Port Moody, Kelowna and in the Siinilkameen. Speaking generally, without any attempt at a monopoly, P. Burns & Co. control the meat business of British Columbia and own it in greater part. What is true of British Columbia is also true to a considerable extent of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, where they have very large ranches, some 160,000 acres in extent, with about 40,000 head of stock, of which they ship 30,000 head to Great Britain. These stock farms are also the prin- cipal sources of supply for the Pacific eprovince. They are also extensively engaged in the meat packing business, with establishments at Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. At the last-named place their in- vestment for buildings alone in that business represent $1,500,000. With cattle and meat business they combine mixed farming. When within the past few years many of the large cattle ranches in the interior were sold for subdivision into fruit farms, the firm bought the cattle and disposed of them, after pastur- ing them in their ranges near Kamloops. The extent of this business, as a whole, may best be judged by stating that last year (1910) their turn-over was $15,000,000, which represents a growth of 20 years. Mr. P. Burns, the head of the firm, lives at Calgary, where his residence is one of the landmarks. He married Miss Aileen Ellis, daughter of Mr. Thos. Ellis, retired, formerly of Penticton, now of Victoria. Domenic Burns is a bachelor and lives quietly at the Hotel Vancouver. His diversion is a ranch he is developing at Ladner. These two men only very modestly reflect in their persons the magnitude of their operations, and in their private relations continue the unaffected and unassuming manner of the days when they were struggling as young men for the reward of industry and intelligent effort which is now theirs. [ 186 ] commercial success, and toward this result the policy of the Provincial Gov- ernment did much in the way of encouragement and assistance. The in- fection spread from Yale to the Kootenay district, and the latter from be- ing regarded as a purely mining district has come to be even more famous for its fruits than for its mines. Every available stretch or patch of land around the Kootenay lakes, and for some distance along the line of the Crow’s Nest branch of the C. P. R., has been utilized and is productive. Fruit lands in the interior went up, generally, to almost boom prices, fol- lowing in the wake of similar lands in Washington, Oregon and California. This remarkable development was not confined to the districts of Yale and Kootenay and Lillooet, but extended throughout the lower mainland and the Island of Vancouver and the adjacent islands. In the latter, however, while fruit-growing was successfully developed, mixed farming generally was car- ried on perhaps more successfully. About 1892 dairying began to be a regu- lar industry, and creameries were established in the most important centres with an annual output now of about half a million dollars in value. Stock- raising also has greatly improved, while many are devoting themselves to poultry-raising and other special branches. After the Middle West had be- come assured to the fruit growers, there followed an ambition to reach the British markets, and for this purpose the Provincial Government entered upon a campaign of advertising by means of large commercial exhibits of fruit, which for five years swept all the honours at the various exhibitions, attracted wide spread attention and earned highly favourable comment. Regular shipments of certain varieties of apples are being made to the Old Country. It is now generally conceded that agriculture in British Columbia, having particular reference to small-holding capabilities in special lines, has a future actually greater in dollars and cents than that of any other indus- tries of the possibilities of which much more has been heard. Owing to the minute subdivisions of its branches, to the largeness of the beholding popu- lation, and to the many interior areas, which are actually, though not rela- tively large, and which will be available for cultivation when communication has been provided by railways and highways, the agricultural wealth of the Province must become exceedingly great. (1A) Conditions all point to intensive cultivation as necessary to success, and with more than average fertility, production in ten or fifteen years will reach figures amounting to millions of dollars. Large local consumption and the (1A) The rapid rise into prominence of the Province of British Columbia, may be said to be syn- onymous with the inception and progress of the very important mercantile house of which Constantin Alvo von Alvensleben is the President. Born at Neu Gatterslebel, Germany, in 1879; the son of Count Werner Alvo von Alvensleben and Anna, Baroness von Veltheim, Mr. von Alvensleben came to British Columbia at the age of twenty-five, and for four years after his arrival engaged in such pursuits as would enable him to gain the closest insight into the many opportunities offered by the country, and, at the cost of strenuous personal endeavour, acquired a practical experience of the primary producing industries, such as mining, lumber and fishing, together with a most valuable knowledge of business conditions and methods throughout the Province. Impressed with the rapid growth and future of the city of Vancouver, Mr. von Alvensleben at length decided upon it as a centre for his field of operations, and in the latter part of the year 1908, with a capital of $50,000, of which $25,000 was paid up, the house of Alvo von Alvensleben was in- corporated. The main objects of the company were to deal in real estate, farm lands, first mortgages, etc., etc., and to interest outside capital in the development of the Province. Starting thus in an in- conspicuous way, the operations of the company, conducted with skill and foresight, were attended with success from the outset; indeed, the firm so rapidly forged to the front, that, only three years later, at the end of 1911, not only had most substantial dividends been paid, but from its original working capital of $25,000 a reserve fund of $400,000 had been built up, and the sum of upwards of seven mil- lions of dollars had been secured from Europe and safely invested for its clients. The scope of the company had greatly enlarged, many subsidiary companies were formed to un- dertake the conduct of other fields of enterprise, and a constant stream of fresh capital was employed in the development of new industries in the Canadian West. At the present time, the corporation of [187] lack of effective competition from outside sources, as well as the available markets for special markets in the middle west and in Great Britain, must always make British Columbia a favourable field for the skillful and indus- trial agriculturist. From the census bulletins published from time to time, the following figures are taken, and, when read in connection with others pub- lished in a previous chapter, will be interesting, although for the year 1911 they are as yet incomplete (2) : Grain Crops — Acres. Bushels. V cdue. Fall wheat 3,045 91,000 $ 88,000 Spring wheat 4,010 107,000 108,000 Oats 33,148 1,740,000 997,000 Barley 1,678 70,000 49,000 Peas 1,143 35,000 48,000 1900 1910 Lbs. Lbs. Dairy products 395,808 ! $195,690 1,206,202 $420,683 1901 1911 No. Product, No. Product, Fruits — Bush. Bush. Apple trees 391,644 240,012 1,647,594 606,165 Peach trees 7,953 2,553 193,704 38,275 Pear trees 44,743 25,364 138,054 47,182 Plum trees 86,443 58,221 177,385 67,405 Cherry trees 26,799 14,445 100,627 24,462 Others 10,200 2,938 64,678 967,782 393,533 2,332,342 783,489 Grapes, lb Small fruits, qts. 1900 30,182 691,358 1910 23,365 1,492,978 Alvo von Alvensleben Limited, controls more European capital than any other mercantile house upon the Pacific Coast of Canada, and has enormous interests in almost every one of the natural resources of the Province of British Columbia. Mr. von Alvensleben may be looked upon at the present time as one of the foremost capitalists and leading figures of the West. He is president of many companies of which he was the prime organizer, among which may be mentioned The Vancouver Timber and Trading Company, Limited, which con- trols extensive and valuable timber holdings on the Pacific Coast, and operates several large logging outfits and lumber camps; the Standard Fisheries and Whaling Company, Limited, which is occupied in the development of a most important fishing industry in the coastal waters; the Vancouver-Nanaimo Coal Mining Company, Limited, operating large coal interests upon Vancouver Island; the Issaquah & Superior Coal Mining Company, Limited, with prominent mines in the State of Washington, U. S. A.; the German Canadian Trust Company (Limited) of Victoria, B. C., and many others. Mr. von Alvensleben was educated at Bernburg and Gross Lichterfelde in Germany, serving for several years as lieutenant in the Prussian Army. He married, in 1908, Edith Mary, daughter of the late Captain Westcott, one of the earliest pioneers of Vancouver, and has two sons and one daughter. He is a member of the Vancouver, Western, Jericho Country, Polo, Shaughnessy Heights Golf and Royal Vancouver Yacht clubs of Vancouver, also the Union Club of Victoria. Although he devotes the greater part of his time to his multitudinous business interests, he is yet able to indulge his fondness for wholesome sports, among which hunting, shooting, golf, polo and motoring are his favorites. As an example of what may be accomplished by a man of ambition and energy, Mr. von Alvensleben undoubt- edly deserves the success he has won by his talents and perseverance, while as a capable business man ,a generous giver and a good citizen, he is a type of which the Province of British Columbia has every reason to be proud. (2) “Our produce in 1910 was valued at $14,399,090; while, on the other hand, the value of the imported produce from other provinces in the Dominion and from the United States was $14,962,904. The people of British Columbia were, therefore, dependent for a little more than 50 per cent of their food- stuffs on imported produce. "In 1911 the figures were $20,837,893 of home products, against $14,709,854 of imports. The former, therefore, outstripped the latter by more than $6,000,000, the percentage being 58.6 to 45.4. If the popu- lation had remained stationary, this increased percentage would have been even higher.” — Budget Speech, 1912. The Budget Speech of 1913 gives the agricultural production as $22,000,000, and the importations as $14,500,000. [ 188 ] Next in historical, and probably first in material importance, comes mining. Gold in small quantity was found in Queen Charlotte Islands in the early fifties, and created the first mining excitement, which, however, soon subsided. The discovery of coal, first in the vicinity of Fort Rupert, Van- couver Island, and next at Nanaimo, gave the earliest impetus to perma- nent mining development. The H. B. Co., whose operations were directed by their Scotch experts, H. Gilmour and R. Dunsmuir, after prospecting the first location without satisfactory results, moved to the second, where the industry began, and where it grew to permanent and large proportions. Na- naimo and Wellington, where the late Hon. Robert Dunsmuir began his own career as a mining operator, were for a considerable time the only col- liery towns of the Province. Afterwards the Union mines, at Comox, and the Extension mines, near Ladysmith, on the Island, and the mines at Crow’s Nest Pass, were opened and were developed on an extensive scale. More recently, developments have resulted in establishing industries at Suquash, the point at which coal was first discovered in the Province, and at Nicola, with discoveries and prospecting at other points with very promising results. Statistics of the industry show the results of development at the following dates, in round numbers: Gross tons To 1875 (inclusive) 675,000 To 1880 “ 1,650,000 To 1885 “ 3,040,000 To 1890 “ 5,530,000 To 1895 “ 10,330,000 To 1900 “ 16,000,000 To 1905 “ 22,700,000 To 1910 “ 32,500,000 (NOTE: — A slightly higher valuation is given for the last period of five years.) $ V alue. 2.400.000 5,000,000 9.450.000 16.945.000 30.500.000 48.000. 000 68 . 000 . 000 102,400,000 The production of coke, which began about 1898, has totalled 2,250,000 gross tons, with a value of over $12,000,000. It will be of interest to add that (3) The history of the Nicola Coal Fields began in 1877 when Dr. Dawson made a complete survey which was published in the report for 1877-8. At that time no coal lands had been taken up, and it was not until the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1884-5 that serious attention was given to the field. Mr. Green, of Garesche, Green & Co., Victoria, B. C., then acquired four miles of coal areas at what is known as Coal Gully, and Mr. Stephen Tingley, of Ashcroft, became his partner in the venture. This ground was the area which had coal outcroppings above water level, and today constitutes the prop- erty of the Nicola Valley Coal and Coke Company. For many years a superior coal was mined by John Corbett from a vein exposed at the Coldwater river and sold to local residents for domestic use and blacksmith work. A tunnel was also opened in Coal Gully on a very large vein of good quality, but the work was not of a permanent character and the tunnel caved. In 1890, Mr. Green died and in 1894 his estate became insolvent and was in liquidation. The Supreme Court of British Columbia appointed liqui- dators, and these gentlemen granted a bond for five years to Charles F. Law, of Vancouver, in 1900, who formed a syndicate of prominent Vancouver capitalists, and proceeded to open five tunnels on what ap- peared to be separate veins. The adjoining lands were bonded by interests connected with the C. P. R. and a diamond drill was installed in 1904 to bore through the measures. The work was not successful because of depth of alluvial deposit and work was abandoned. The Diamond Vale Coal Company, a Vancouver company, then bonded all the lands adjoining, and proceeded to drill extensively. This was successful, and proved the existence of two seams, which belonged to the series exposed in Coal Gully. About 1905 work was commenced on the Nicola railway, and connection was made with the main line at Spence’s Bridge. A company was then formed in Vancouver to acquire the syndicate property formerly belonging to Messrs. Green and Tingley and a coal mine was opened up and equipped with shipping fa- cilities which has developed into a great property, now known as the Nicola Valley Coal and Coke Co., which is producing over 500 tons per day. The Diamond Vale Co. made a serious attempt to open up their ground on the flats, but owing to physical difficulties, chiefly from surface waters, the development was discontinued. The present successful position of the coal field is a tribute to the energy and busi- ness ability of Mr. W. H. Armstrong, manager, director of the Nicola Valley Coal and Coke Co., who has given close attention to the active development of the field. The quality of the coal is high grade bituminous coking coal, and is chiefly used by locomotives on C. P. R. main line. The coal is cheaply pro- duced, and when smelting operations begin the middle interior of British Columbia this coal can produce a coke equal to all requirements for smelting purposes. [ 189 ] a general summary of the coal supply of British Columbia, as estimated by Mr. R. B. Dowling, of the Canadian Geological Survey, affords the following: Area in sq. mis. Tons of coal. Koskeemo (Vancouver Island) 5 Suquash “ “ 10 Comox “ “ 300 Nanaimo “ “ 350 Cowichan “ “ 9 Graham (Queen Charlotte Island) 160 Elk River (Mainland) 370 Nicola “ 12 Princetown “ 52 Tulameen “ 5 Telkwa “ 10 Hat Creek “ 2 Skeena River “ 16 Peace and Pine 50 9,000,000 19.000. 000 1.152.000. 000 1.344.000. 000 23.000. 000 563.000. 000 36,600,000,000 30.000. 000 166.000. 000 64.000. 000 30.000. 000 68 . 000 . 000 61,000,000 96,000,000 Total 1,351 40,125,000,000 Of these areas 256,000,000 tons from Queen Charlotte Islands, 166,000,- 000 tons from Princetown and 68,000,000 from Hat Creek — 490,000,000 tons in all— are lignite; 61,000,000 tons of the Skeena River are anthracite, and the balance, 39,674,000,000 tons are bituminous. In respect to the history of the other minerals, it may be divided broadly into two parts, that of placer and of lode-mining. The former industry did not end with 1887, but until that year it was the only class of mining that entered into the annual returns of mineral production. Gold was first dis- covered in the tributaries of the Fraser about 1856, and possibly in the Fraser itself. Previous discoveries had been reported in the Similkameen and the Columbia River as far back as 1853. In 1857 the news got abroad and in 1858 the first great gold rush took place. In the latter year and in 1859 the lower Fraser was exploited. Then immediately followed the rich finds in Cariboo on the upper reaches of the Fraser, whither the restless prospector had gone, in 1860 and 1861. Granite and Rock creeks, in the Pale dis- trict; Wild Horse Creek, in the East Kootenay; the Big Bend of the Colum- bia; and diggings here and there of lesser importance were discovered from time to time, and occasioned excitements and rushes of prospectors hither and thither with varying success. The Cariboo diggings were the most im- portant and the most permanent. Just at the time of Confederation the Omineca mines were discovered, and following the Omineca excitement came the Cassiar discoveries. During the twenty-five years following, the Fraser River produced some $50,000,000 or $55,000,000 of gold, although statistics of the period do not form an exact statement of production. In 1864 and 1865 the placer fever, with its consequent yield, was at its height. There was a long lull in placer work until 1898, when the Atlin gold field was dis- covered. From 1864, the annual yield began to decline, with occasional up- [ 190 ] ward spurts, and steadily declined in the average, until about 1896. Never- theless nearly all the old diggings gave up some gold to the Chinaman, or to the prospector working for a living pay. Hope was revived with the exploi- tation of Cariboo by the more modern hydraulic methods, and at one time it was thought that Cariboo, especially, would revive some of its ancient prestige in gold-getting, and when Atlin was boomed this hope was further strengthened; but the secret of disappointment in most instances, apart from failure through mistakes and bad judgment, which were not inconsiderable, was the remoteness of the placer mining camps, and the difficulties and ex- pense incident to the installation and operation of machinery and to the ob- taining of supplies and labour, through lack of railway transportation. When railway facilities have been gained it is fair to assume that there will be a revival of many of the projects which are now either suspended or aban- doned; and it is possible also that new discoveries will be made. However, in any event, placer mining is necessarily more precarious and short-lived than lode-mining. The aggregate results of placer-mining up to date amount to between $72,000,000 and $75,000,000 from all sources. Although lode-mining claims had been prospected as far back as the middle sixties, and at a more recent date had been developed to some extent, it was not until 1887 that returns began to be made. About that time flat- tering reports were received from many parts of East and West Kootenay and Yale. The first impulse given to the industry came from the discovery and operation of the Hall mines near Nelson. Then followed discoveries in rapid succession of Trail district, at and near the present site of the town of Rossland, Slocan, Camp McKinney, Boundary Creek district, and in East Kootenay, and later on Alberni Canal, Texada Island and Mt. Sicker, on the Island. There was a succession of mining booms, out of which grew towns at Nelson, in the Slocan — Kaslo, Sandon, New Denver, Slocan City, Three Forks, etc. — Rossland, Trail, Greenwood, Grand Forks, Midway, and so on. Each district blossomed out into promising camps and a considerable population, and for a period of five or six years mining promotions and min- ing stocks were a regular industry, and in not a few instances a very lucrative one. In 1899 there was a collapse in stocks, and from various causes — over capitalization, wildcat schemes, labour troubles, the South African War, the fall in prices of metals, etc. — the mining situation was not cheerful. Never- theless, in all the camps there were certain properties which continued to pro- duce largely, others were developed, and the area of prospecting was ex- tended. Smelters were established at Trail, Grand Forks, at Greenwood and Ladysmith, and by degrees, through much adversity and many setbacks, the industry became established on its present basis of permanency and set- tled conditions. Each camp and district had its slump and discouragements, but in almost every case there has been a revival of industry during the past year or two. New elements of promise have arisen in the Slocan, in Ross- land and in the Boundary, more particularly, which are very encouraging, while, of course, the certainty of railway facilities being supplied to numerous districts in various parts of the province leads to the practical certainty of corresponding development and production in the case of mining properties hitherto impossible of operation with profit. The principal metals mined have been gold, silver, lead and copper. There has been only small production [191] of zinc, iron and platinum. Since 1887, of gold there has been, to the end of 1910, about $61,000,000; of silver, $31,000,000; of lead, $24,500,000; of copper, $61,000,000; of all other metals a little over a million. The lode min- ing industry has produced in value nearly $179,000,000. The total produc- tion of all minerals up to date from the first operations with an average of about $25,000,000 per annum during the past five or six years, has been, in round figures, $400,000,000. This includes coal and coke and building ma- terials. It is not too optimistic to assume that that figure will have reached, by the end of 1921, the vast total of $1,000,000,000. It is not inappropriate here to refer to the prospects of the iron and steel industry. Until very recently it was not very definitely ascertained as to what extent large blast furnaces could be supplied to local iron ores; but while there has been no very extensive development, it is tolerably certain and, in fact, beyond doubt, that in the Campbell River and Quinsam Lake districts, on Texada Island, and in the neighborhood of Alberni Canal and Barkley Sound there are very large deposits of high grade magnetite, some of them definitely proved. There are a number of other localities on Vancouver Island, on the west coast of the mainland and on Queen Charlotte Islands that give similar promise. The natural conditions, accessibility to deep water, con- tiguity to lime and coal, and all the year round operations — are highly favour- able to success — so much so that these advantages, in ordinary circumstances, should overcome the high price of labour and render the industry extremely profitable. Owing to recent developments throughout the West, the amount of railway construction and bridge building, the extent to which iron and steel are used in reinforced concrete, and the great general increase in the use of iron in a variety of ways and for a great variety of purposes, the local market is sufficiently large to justify the erection of blast furnaces and roll- ing mills. The extent of outside markets which could be easily and naturally reached by water — a situation which will be rendered still more favourable by the opening of the Panama Canal — is very great for diverse iron products. On the other hand, the most serious problem is the price of coke, notwith- standing the contiguity and extent of local coal fields. At the present time that price would be prohibitive, but it is not improbable that the competition of oil as fuel with coal will make a new outlet for coal very desirable, and the erection of blast furnaces would give the opportunity desired. Another factor of the situation is the possibility of the development of the iron de- posits of China, where, with the unlimited supply of cheap labour, the cost of production would be very low as compared with that possible on the coast of British Columbia. With regard to coal, although the practicability of smelting by elec- tricity has not yet been demonstrated, and apparently is not imminent, yet in the event of it becoming possible the water powers of Vancouver Island would render the use of coke unnecessary. The development of the indus- try on the coast has been a subject of talk for years past. A start has not yet been made, notwithstanding that frequent announcements have been made. The amount of capital required for a new industry, with several problems yet to be solved, is probably the greatest drawback at the present time. Ten million dollars or $15,000,000 is not easily obtained, even in these days of large enterprises. [ 192 ] Another industry must now be touched upon which has been exceed- ingly slow of development, but which has now reached the stage when big results in the way of production may be expected. Pulp and paper mills were talked of twenty years ago. Ten years elapsed from the time that the establishment was seriously considered until the time when success was as- sured. In the case of pulp and paper the distance of the market was the chief difficulty to be overcome. Even after favourable concessions were se- cured from the Government, it is not going too far to assume that the finan- cial arrangements of the enterprise were based on the favourable terms on which the timber for lumbering purposes, which was included in the conces- sions, coidd be secured, rather than upon the immediate prospect of the pulp outlook. But a situation developed very rapidly which gave to the pulp in- dustry on the coast a very decided advantage. The shortage of pulpwood in the United States bore heavily on the papermakers and the news trade, and this, together with the imminent opening of the Panama Canal, gave a spe- cially favourable opening for pulp industry here, so that in time it must have an exceedingly big market, not only in the United States but also in Great Britain. The supply of raw material which is easily accessible is enormous. Mills were first established at Swanson Bay and Port Mellon, with a capac- ity of about 100 and 50 tons a day, respectively. The latter was soon merged into the control and ownership of the David Investment Co., which also ac- quired extensive concessions at and in the vicinity of Quatsino. The two largest concerns, however, are the Powell River Paper Co., with works lo- cated at Powell River and the Ocean Falls Co., at Bella Coola — one with a capacity of 100 tons paper and 100 tons pulp daily, and the other at Ocean Falls, Cousins Inlet (an extension of Fitzhugh Sound) with a capacv ity of 150 tons of pulp daily. It is understood that these companies in oper- ation have a steady market for their output in view. The history of the lumber business is given in rather extended foot- notes (3), in which a good deal of information is contained in respect to (3) With the early development of the lumber and saw-milling business it is not the purpose of this chapter to deal except in so far as it is necessary to make the narrative continuous and complete, be- cause it belongs to a period prior to Confederation. As has been seen, Captain Edward Stamp built the first saw mill at Alberni. He did not remain long in charge, and the mill itself only operated for a short time. Part of the original machinery went to Port Gamble in the State of Washington, and was placed in a mill there. Captain Stamp interested English capital, organized the British Columbia Spar, Lumber and Saw Mill Company, Ltd., and in 1865 started a mill at Burrard Inlet, which he managed until about 1867. Cap- tain Stamp’s experience at Alberni was repeated at Burrard Inlet. A lawsuit ensued, the result of which was that Captain Jas. Raymur was appointed manager in his stead. Not long afterwards, the affairs of the company became so involved that the mill was shut down, and the business wound up and sold to Dickson De Wolfe & Co., San Francisco, of whom E. D. Heatley was a large shareholder and resident managing director. At that time the capacity of the mill was about 50,000 feet per day. Captain Raymur was appointed manager by the new owners, and continued in that position until his death in 1882, when he was succeeded by Richard H. Alexander, who had been Mr. Raymur’s assistant since 1870, and who has ever since been permanently associated with its affairs. During all this early period, Burrard Inlet was the headquarters of the export lumber business, and sailing vessels chartered for various parts of the world were ordinarily to be found anchored at either of the two mills loading, or waiting to be loaded with cargoes of lumber. The other mill was located at Moodyville on the northern side of the harbour, now included in what is known as North Vancouver. It was started by Moody, Deitz & Nelson, the members of which firm were prominent old-timers. S. P. Moody, the senior member, was lost in the wreck of the “Pacific.” Nelson became a member of the House of Commons for New Westminster District, a senator and Lieu- tenant-Governor. Deitz was a German who had been associated with Nelson in the express business. The mill had rather varied fortunes from first to last. It was sold to Welch & Co., of San Fran- cisco, who operated it for some time. Through the agency of the Wulffsohn-Bewick Company of Van- couver it was sold to an English company, in which H. H. Lonsdale had a controlling interest, and was for some time managed locally by J. G. Woods who had been associated with the Leamy-Kyle mills on False Creek. In 1902 the millsite, the mill steamers, logging camp appliances, and limits at- tached thereto, were purchased from the trustees of the Lonsdale estate by the British Columbia Mills, [ 193 ] the establishment of the industry. From the nuclei at Vancouver, New Westminster, Nanaimo and Victoria, the industry gradually spread through the Province, at first principally to supply local requirements, and then to supply the markets of the Middle West. The export trade existed practi- cally from the first, and has not increased in anything like the same propor- tion as local and interprovincial trade. As time went on, there grew up a number of mills in the interior points along the lines of railway, known gen- erally as the mountain mills, in contradistinction to those at the coast. They Timber & Trading Company, and after that ceased to operate. It was for a long time an important seat of local industry, and Moodyville, as a rival to Granville, had a hotel, store, reading room, a school, and occasionally divine service. The history of the development of the lumber trade which gradually centered itself at Vancouver and New Westminster is to a very considerable extent the history of John Hendry for the period under review. Coming to British Columbia by way of California in 1871, he soon afterwards assisted at the installation of the machinery brought from the first saw mill at Alberni in the mill at Port Gamble, and then superintended the construction of the present Moodyville mill, the old one having been burnt down. In the summer of 1875 Mr. Hendry went to Manitoba, but in the fall of the same year returned to British Columbia, engaging in business in Nanaimo on his own account and associated with David McNair, Andrew Haslam, Robert Kelly and Andrew Lee. They started a sash and door factory there in conjunction with a small saw mill. From Nanaimo Mr. Hendry in 1879 went to New Westminster and built a sawmill and a sash and floor and box factory for the people associated with him at Nanaimo, and then formed it into the company known as the Royal City Planing Mills Co., Ltd., in 1880. These operations were successful and rapidly extended. Mr. Hendry was President and the moving spirit of the enterprise. When Vancouver came into existence, the Royal City Planing Mills extended their business there, and built a saw mill and factory on False Creek, near to Westminster Avenue, at a point which is now the very centre of the city. The Royal City Planing Mills Co. then bought the Nanaimo Coal Co.’s mill site and saw mill in Nanaimo, which was managed by Haslam & Lee on behalf of the Royal City Planing Mills Co. Following Mr. Hendry’s move, there was a division of interests, Haslam & Lee taking over the Nanaimo business, and Hendry, McNair and Kelly retaining the New Westminster department. Subsequently Hendry and McNair bought out Kelly, and about the same time Haslam bought out Lee and managed successfully the Nanaimo mills for many years. When in 1886, the Canadian Pacific Railway extended its line from Port Moody to Granville, now Vancouver, the Hastings Mills were acquired from E. W. Heatley by a syndicate known as the Vancou- ver Improvement Company, of which the Oppenheimer Bros., Dr. I. W. Powell, Colonel Prior, Major Dupont, and others were members. The property was prospectively very valuable. In addition to the mill and mill site west of the railway track and the timber limits and logging camps, there were some 1500 acres of land, all now included in the Vancouver townsite. The property extended from Carrall Street to where the sugar refinery is now located and back to False Creek, at the head of which there were 1200 acres of land covered with forest. These large interests were divided, the mill site, mill and limits, etc., being acquired by the Hastings Mill Company, the stock of which was owned in equal shares by E. D. Heatley and the Vancouver Improvement Company. The Vancouver Improvement Com- pany retained the land, one-third of which was given to the Canadian Pacific Railway as an inducement to make Granville its terminus. These two enterprises were the foundations of a number of private fortunes. In 1891 the Hastings Mills Company was bought out by the Royal City Planing Mills Com- pany of New Westminster, and the British Columbia Mills, Timber & Trading Company was formed, with John Hendry as president and general manager. Prominently associated with him were David Mc- Nair, the late C. M. Beecher and R. H. Alexander, now the doyen of sawmill men on this coast. Mr. C. M. Beecher, a nephew of the late Henry Ward Beecher, was vice-president and Mr. Alexander, secre- tary. This represented an aggregation of enterprises, including Hastings Mills, the Royal City Planing Mills at New Westminster and Vancouver, and the Moodyville. The Hastings Mills were increased to a daily capacity of 160,000 feet, and business was being operated on a large scale until the plant was destroyed by fire in 1898. They were rebuilt on an increased scale on the most modern lines, and are now cutting 250,000 feet in 10 hours. The British Columbia Mills Timber Company at present con- trols a daily product in 10 hours of from 400,000 to 500,000 feet, and the business of the company, as a whole, is the largest in British Columbia. Mr. R. H. Alexander, already referred to, at a meeting of the Canadian Club in Vancouver delivered an address on the subject of lumbering conditions on the coast from which some interesting extracts are made: “For a number of years the foreign trade of the Province averaged from twenty-five to thirty-five million feet annually, until the Chemainus Mill came into operation, since when the trade has varied from fifty to eighty million feet per annum. This year the Fraser River Mill has joined the export shippers, and the foreign shipments will probably reach eighty-five million feet, the largest volume since the inception of the business. "Until the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway there was no market available but the foreign, and large quantities of lumber that under other conditions would have found a sale, used to be burned as the only way for its disposal. “The advent of the Canadian Pacific Railway opened a market to the east and mills began to multiply. It was a long time before our Douglas fir established itself, but it crept farther and farther east, until now we have customers even on the seaboard of the Atlantic provinces, and the quantity being shipped in that direction is ever increasing. Our export trade is distributed all ovei the world, shipments being made to Australasia, China, Japan, and occasionally to India, Central Amer- ica, Peru, Chile, and the Argentine Republic, the United Kingdom, France and Germany; it has even penetrated to Baltic ports — a fact which might appear like sending coals to Newcastle, it being used in the modern development of that ancient country, Egypt, and aiding in the building of Johannesburg and the winning of gold in the Rand mines of the Transvaal. “In several of these markets, however, our wood is not in general use, but only taken in the form of special sizes and lengths that cannot be obtained elsewhere, our great distance from the points of consumption and costly transportation militating against it being used in a more general way. Until recently the transportation of lumber has almost entirely been left to sailing vessels, but steam is now competing for the business, and when by this means the distant markets can be reached more quickly, we may confidently expect our trade with them to increase. With the expansion of the export trade it is interesting to note the increase there has been in the size of the vessels used. In the early days of the trade a vessel carrying over 400,000 feet was a large one, and to supply a cargo of a 1,000,000 [ 194 ] catered particularly for the trade of the Middle West, in regard to which they were geographically more favourably located, but anything like a detailed history of development of the extensive system of mills either on the coast or in the interior is impracticable. As pointed out by Mr. Alexander, there are peculiar problems relating to the lumber industry in British Columbia, and as a consequence there has been a remarkable series of ups and downs. For a long time it was very much depressed, and even yet, with greatly in- creased prosperity, the profits are rather represented in the increase of the value of the assets than in legitimate earnings. The industry is extremely sensitive to the condition of crops in the Middle West, and in a period of prosperity there is a tendency to overdo manufacture and glut the market. There has been, however, a very substantial increase in production extend- ing over a recent period of years. In 1910 the value of the output was $ 17 , 160 , 000 , and the cut of the coast mills 605 , 000,000 feet, and of the mountain mills 435 , 000,000 feet, making a total of 1 , 040 , 000,000 feet, which figures include the timber cut in the Dominion railway belt. In 1911 that cut was considerably exceeded, the value of output being $ 25 , 000 , 000 . In round numbers the total stand of timber in the prov- ince and lands under tenure is estimated to be about 150 , 000 , 000,000 feet, and on land reserved and still in the name of the Crown 50 , 000 , 000 , 000 , so that at the present rate of cutting, not allowing for the natural growth of timber, there is still enough to last the millman for 150 to 200 years. The tenure of timber lands, by which lumbermen and others secured limits, has been subject to a process of evolution. At first, timber lands could be secured feet was an undertaking so colossal as to make a mill manager stand aghast, while now it is a difficult matter to obtain a vessel to carry such a small cargo, and steamers carrying 3,000,000 feet are not un- common visitors. "Coincident with the increase in the size of the vessels has naturally been the increase in capacity and improvement in the machinery of the mills, from the mill of early days producing 50,000 feet, in which a great deal of manual labour was employed, to those of a capacity of 200,000 feet per day, equip- ped with all the latest machinery and labour-saving devices whilst the working day has been reduced from eleven and a half to ten hours. “In 1886, when the Canadian Pacific Railway reached Vancouver the output of the coast mills of British Columbia did not exceed 75,000,000 feet. "The development of the shingle industry has also greatly assisted this result, as the commence- ment of the same period of twenty years ago there were only a few machines in use supplying the local requirements and finding it difficult to supplant the old hand-shaved shingles; there are now a hundred and fifty-five machines in operation, each capable of turning out one million shingles per annum, and the excellence of our manufacture has not only obtained for British Columbia shingles the trade throughout Canada, but has gained them a preference in the United States. “In the seventies I think the only two mills having leases of timber land were the Hastings Mills and Moodyville mill, for which they paid the Provincial Government one cent per acre without any further dues, and the revenues could not have amounted to more than $600, from which it has increased, as be- fore mentioned to nearly $600,000. Whilst these mills operated their own camps on their own leases, others cut timber wherever they felt inclined, no one then placing any value on the standing timber. Oxen were the motive power used for the transport of the logs to the water, and the most important man in the camp and the one getting the highest wages was the ‘bull-puncher’ or teamster who gained the above name from driving with a goad stick in the end of which was inserted a brad which was liberally used, along with a good deal of strong language, to make the cattle exert themselves. When moving from camp to camp a teamster generally carried his goad stick as a sort of insignia of office, and it may be a surprise to hear that $5 was an ordinary price for a good hickory goad stick. The teamster’s wages ran as high as $125 per month without any deduction for lost time, and it was a sight to see their skillful manoeuvering of a team of twelve and sometimes fourteen ‘bulls’ in the dense woods. At this time there were also a number of what were called hand-loggers, who, finding a local- ity where timber grew on a slope close to the beach, with the aid of jackscrews, wedges, and axe and a crosscut saw, put in the water no inconsiderable part of the log supply. Later on the camps substituted horses and mules as being faster than oxen, but all these methods have been practically superseded by the use of the steam haulers with fully equipped railways for the main roads where the operations are of sufficient magnitude. “The cost of working small areas will rapidly increase, and I am therefore of opinion that the price of the raw material will have to increase accordingly. If my view is correct, it follows as a certainty that the price of the manufactured article must increase also, and this I think, will be the case gen- erally on the Pacific Coast. The rapid exhaustion of many former sources of supply of constructional timber, leaves practically but two large areas available for future supplies. These are the yellow pine region of the South and the Pacific Northwest; and when I tell you that at a convention of lumber manufacturers at St. Louis, which I attended last spring, it was stated by Mr. Long of Kansas City, a recognized authority on the subject, that the standing timber in the Southern States represented but fifteen years’ consumption, you may realize what the future value will be of the almost virgin forests of British Columbia.” [ 195 ] by purchase in the same way as other lands. Then it was changed to leas- ing, subject to certain restrictions and conditions, but on the whole very favourable to acquisition and tenure on easy terms. There are several classes of leases still in existence. In 1888 they were made subject to a royalty of 50c per M. and certain annual rental per acre. In 1905 leases were abolished, and a licensing system substituted. This had been, for small tracts, in vogue since 1888. The special license system was highly stimulative of activity in staking, which followed in an extraordinary degree upon the boom in timber limits which took place shortly after 1903-4, and continued unabated, until the provincial government placed a reserve on all unstaked timber in the fall of 1907. The government then became impressed with the importance of a more comprehensive system of dealing with this great natural asset of the province, and in 1909 appointed a royal commission on forestry, upon the exhaustive report of which the act of 1912 was passed, which provides for a very complete and modern system of forestry, and a radical change in many respects from former policy. In respect to the industrial and commercial situation generally speak- ing ( 4 ) , the prospect is contingent upon developments to which all look with confidence, the result of extensive railway construction, the opening of the Panama Canal, and the geographical position of the Province on the Pa- cific, with its extensive seaboard and its wealth of natural resources easily accessible, and contiguous in respect to ocean traffic and railway transporta- tion. With the opening of the Panama Canal will come for trading purposes commercial fleets of the world. This naturally suggests a new relation be- tween the sea coast of British Columbia and the commerce of the world to- gether with a rapid development of ship-building, which will undoubtedly be our next greatest industry to be established. Our timber and the possibili- ties of iron and steel industry, taken in connection with ocean front, are the elements in natural juxtaposition, which must decide the extent of future greatness in that respect. The products to be shipped in greatest quantity are the grain of the Middle West, with the secondary product of flour, which involves huge elevators and large flour mills at coast cities; iron and steel products; pulp and paper and timber and timber products of all kinds; fruit and fruit products; fish and fish products; minerals and mineral prod- ucts; and a certain amount of overland freight. It must not be forgotten that the Panama Canal will also divert a large amount of overland traffic — Oriental and Australasian in origin on one side and eastern American and trans-Atlantic on the other, which we might otherwise expect to pass through our ports — and will be instrumental also in creating a vast amount of new traffic peculiar to British Columbia. The opening of the canal will be very revolutionary otherwise in its effects. The controlling and most momentuous result will be the shifting of one base of world commerce to the Pacific Ocean, and the creation of a set of conditions which will inevitably build up an in- (4) The census returns of 1911, just completed in respect to the manufacturers of British Columbia, give the following as relating to 1910: Number of establishments (employing five hands and upwards) Capital invested in land, building and plant Working capital Number of persons employed on salary Number of persons employed on wage Amount of salaries paid Amount of wages paid Value of products 639 $78,988,670 $42,949,073 1,872 30,083 $ 2,474,944 $13,771,476 $63,797,494 [ 196 ] clustrial and mercantile Britain on the British Columbia coast, correspond- ing in all material respects to the Great Britain of many centuries old — with this important exception, that the conditions will be all modern, and that the change, instead of taking centuries to accomplish, will be brought about in a quarter of one century. The subsidiary and incidental industries and enterprises that will develop and spring into new existence here will be varied, numerous and complex, and in the aggregate will be on a scale of Imperial magnitude. The capital of Great Britain will be readjusted so as to be the medium of, and to profit by, the exchange of base; while in addition to all this, the new naval policy, which must inevitably take into account the tremendous strategic importance of the Pacific Ocean, will make for shipyards and naval armaments and an organized naval basis, at New Chathams and Clydes and Newcastles-on-Tyne in the inland waters and the fine coast har- bours of the Far West (5). Included in these are the large items of production in value as follows: Bread, biscuits and confectionery $ 1,260,340 Cake 1,107,970 Fish preserved 4,468,819 Electric light and power 1,301,970 Foundry and machine products 2,099,818 Liquors, malt 1,579,301 Log products 19,752,891 Lumber 3,827,237 Ship and ship repairs 848,236 Smelting 11,715,428 Printing and publishing 545,092 (5) Premier McBride in an address to the Progress Club, Vancouver, recently (June, 1913) said that in anticipation of the opening of the Panama Canal that $10,000,000 would be spent in improving the har- bour facilities of Victoria, Vancouver and New Westminister and that provision had been made for a dry dock at Esquimau, the largest in the world. For railway terminal facilities on the coast some $20,000,000 would be expended by railway corporations. He expected that the annual mineral production would reach the $100,000,000 mark within a few years. Two more transcontinental railways, the Northern Pacific and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, were negotiating for entrance into Vancouver, and the Pacific & Great Eastern would not only be extended from Fort George to the Peace River district, but it would make an entrance into the Yukon. He stated also that the Canada Western Power Company proposed entering the field in electric traction and would build a line through the New Westminster district to Vancouver. Sir Richard spoke hopefully of the iron and steel industry of shipbuilding on a large scale. Already about $13,000,000 had been invested in the pulp and paper industry, and imports and ex- ports had increased from less than $30,000,000 in 1904 to $93,500,000 in 1912-13, and the value of the fisheries product from $5,000,000 in 1904 to $15,000,000 at the present time. British Columbia is credited with nearly half of the entire value of the fishery production in Canada. Three thousand miles of railway are under construction, representing a total investment of $150,000,000. [ 197 ] THE HISTORY OF KAMLOOPS. By Dr. M. S. Wade. CHAPTER XVI. The early history of Kamloops is essentially romantic. It is replete with all the examples of courage and daring, which mark the long fur-trading period of early Canadian and western pioneer life. Thus in his social and business environments, the present resident is far removed, in more respects than mere lapse of years, from the experiences which gave birth to the city at the confluence of the North and South Thompson rivers. One of the most powerful tribes inhabiting the interior of the coun- try were the Shuswaps, and one of their largest villages was situated al- most precisely where Kamloops is now. They occupied a large territory, embracing the valleys of the Shuswap and Adams Lake, the North and South Thompson rivers, the main Thompson almost as far as Ashcroft, the Bonaparte River, Hat Creek, Clinton and the valley of the Fraser River from Pavilion Creek to Soda Creek. To the north of them lived the Tinnehs; along the Fraser, south of Pavilion, were the Lillooets; on their west the Thompsons had their villages, and to the south and east were the Kootenays. The Tinnehs, to the north, made Sir Alexander Mackenzie ac- quainted with their existence and their place of abode. It was not, however, until a number of years after the historic journey of Alexander Mackenzie, that the Shuswaps had their first glimpse of a white man, although a Spokane chief, Pilakamulahuh, connected through his mother with the Shuswaps, had related to them tales of his intercourse with that strange people. While engaged on a buffalo hunting expedition on the plains the party, of which Pilakamulahuh was a member, met some Cana- dian trappers at Hell’s Gate Pass, near where Helena, Montana, now stands, and when the Indians returned to their homes, they were accompanied by two of the whites, Finan Macdonald and Legace. Arriving at his home at Penticton Pi lakamul ahull entertained his tribes- men with stories of the doings and habits of the whites, and achieved such a reputation as a raconteur that he was a welcome guest at remote vil- lages, and thus he came to visit the Shuswaps, staying at several villages on Shuswap Lake and the South Thompson, and becoming the guest of Tokane, chief of the Kamloops band. Pilakamulahuh’s weakness for story- telling proved his undoing, for, extending his tour as far as Pavilion at the invitation of Tokane, Pavilion being the main fishing ground of the Shus- waps, he was slain by a Seton Lake (Lillooet) chief who disbelieved his tales of men with white skins, blue eyes, and light curly hair, who were clad in woven materials; so shod that they could walk unharmed over cactus beds; who were armed with weapons that emitted flame and smoke with great noise, killing birds on the wing and at a great distance, and who rode ani- mals that could outrun the buffalo. All these tales were lies, declared the [ 199 ] Seton chief. To avenge this insult, Pilakamulahuh reached for his bow and arrows, but his adversary was too quick for him and wounded him with two arrows, and to those wounds he succumbed, but not before enjoining his son, N’kuala, the duty of avenging his death. This injunction was afterwards carried out by a band of Indians led by N’kuala, riding horses and armed with fire-arms, who attacked the Lillooets, killing three hundred of them. The permanent dwellings of the Shuswaps were of one type, called in the Chinook jargon, Keekwillee houses, which simply means underground houses, these being the “subterranean recesses” referred to by the Tinnehs when de- scribing the Shuswaps to Mackenzie. These dwellings consisted of a circu- lar hole dug to a depth of about six feet and varying in diameter up to thirty feet. F rom the circumference a superstructure of timbers was erected slop- ing towards the centre, forming a cone-shaped framework. In this were in- terlaced boughs, bark, etc., the roof thus formed being further covered with soil. The entrance was at the peak of the roof, the same opening serving as a chimney. Circular depressions, showing the site of ancient villages, are seen in many places around Kamloops, the term “Keekwillee holes” being given to them. If space permitted, a description of the mode of living of these primitive people, of their implements of warfare, their domestic uten- sils, etc., would be most interesting. Culinary operations, for instance, were of the most primitive nature. Possessing neither metal nor earthemvare pots, food that required boiling was placed in closely woven baskets which were filled with water and brought to the boiling point by dropping red hot stones into it. Basket-making was a fine art with those people. Before the advent of the fur traders, furs and skins of wild animals were largely used for clothing; the fibre of the sage-brush was used for making a sort of petti- coat for the women. Feathers, shells, copper bracelets, strings of animals’ teeth, etc., were used as ornaments for the person — much as they are today. Simon Fraser, as we know, gave the name Thompson River to the large trib- utary of the Fraser which empties into it at Lytton, in honour of his collabo- rateur, the intrepid explorer, David Thompson. Subsequently, when the North West Company established a trading post at the junction of the north and south forks of the Thompson, it was named Fort Thompson. It has been erroneously stated that the Thompson River was discovered by David Thompson, and the trading post established by him, but that is incorrect. As a matter of fact, Thompson never saw either the river or the fort, and was never nearer to either than Boat Encampment, at the mouth of Canoe River, at the Big Bend of the Columbia. The first mention made of Kamloops in any writings was by Alexander Ross, then in the service of the Pacific Fur Company, who referred to it as “a place called by the Indians Cumcloups.” The Pacific Fur Company was created by John Jacob Astor, and the chief trading emporium of that concern was established at Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River. On September 16th, 1811, David Stuart, one of the partners of that com- pany, accompanied by three men, two of whom, Montigny and Bouillard, were Canadian voyageurs, left Fort Okanagan, which had been established at the junction of the Okanagan and Columbia Rivers, upon an expedition to the unknown north, leaving Alexander Ross in charge. Intending to be absent only a month, it was not until March 22nd, 1812, that Stuart returned to [ 200 ] Fort Okanagan. During that interval he had reached Kamloops, where he passed a part of the winter and arranged for the establishment there of a trading post the following winter. This arrangement was carried out by Alexander Ross who, accompanied by Bouillard and an Indian, with a train of sixteen horses, set out from Fort Okanagan on May 6th, 1812, for Kamloops, where he arrived on the 16th of the same month and there en- gaged in trading. Ross returned to Fort Okanagan, and in August of the same year Stuart again proceeded to Kamloops, where he established himself in winter quarters. Visiting Stuart at Kamloops on December 31st, 1812, Ross not only found his chief comfortably settled, but that the North West Company, following hard on his heels, had also established a post, with M. LaRoque in charge. In 1813 the Pacific Fur Company col- lapsed and the North West Company acquired their property, thus ending the friendly rivalry at Kamloops between the two trading posts. Ross joined the Nor’Westers, and was placed in charge at Kamloops where he remained until 1817. Kamloops was the capital of the Thompson district, and the fort was strongly palisaded. Within the stockade there was room for the large horse brigades that were used in the transportation of furs and supplies. These pack trains were large affairs, numbering from 200 to 300 animals. In the winter season they were turned out on the hills near the fort, where there was then abundant pasture. The traders of the North West Company in British Columbia had received their supplies overland from Montreal, via Fort William, and across the continent by canoe and portage — a long, wearisome journey. The Pacific Fur Company had shown the feasibility of taking supplies from the coast into the interior of the Thompson district, She-waps, as Ross called it, by way of the Columbia to Fort Okanagan, and thence by pack train to their fort at Kamloops. In 1821 the North West Company and the Hud- son’s Bay Company amalgamated, and the old route of the Pacific Fur Com- pany was adopted for conveying supplies to New Caledonia, a distributing station being established at Fort Alexandria, on the Fraser. To that point the pack trains went from Kamloops. To Alexandria also came the canoes and boats from Fort George, Fort James, etc., and received supplies brought in by the pack trains, which in turn carried away the pelts gathered in from the northern posts, taking them south to Kamloops, whence they were sent to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River, which had superseded As- toria. This plan was continued until 1848, when orders were issued by the Hudson’s Bay Company, following the Whitman Massacre, to all interior points to obtain their supplies at Fort Langley. After Alexander Ross left Kamloops there is no record of a successor until the appointment of John McLeod, who ruled the post from 1822 to 1826, and when Sir George Simpson in 1828 visited Kamloops, or Fort Thompson, as it was then called, he found a trader named Ermatinger in charge. Between McLeod’s reign and Ermatinger’s accession, Archibald Mc- Donald held brief rule. Next in order came Samuel Black, a Scotchman who was murdered by an Indian during the winter of 1841-2. It is related of Black that on one occasion he had as a guest a fellow-countryman named David Douglas, a [ 201 ] well-known botanist, after whom the Douglas fir is named. Douglas had little respect for the traders in furs and, fortified by a glass of whiskey, bluntly expressed his opinion that the traders had not a soul above a beaver skin. Black took fire at once, and challenged his guest — a lamentable breach of hospitality — to mortal combat. Douglas avoided the issue by taking his departure the next morning. Black was succeeded by John Tod. The original trading post or fort had been built on the east side of the north ford in the angle formed by it and the south branch of the Thompson, and thus adjacent to the Indian village. One of Tod’s acts was to build a new fort on the opposite side of the north river. It consisted of seven buildings, used as stores, dwellings and shops, enclosed within palisades 15 feet high, with gates on two sides and bastions at opposite angles. Within the fort dwelt the trader, and his Indian wife and their children, half a dozen men and a half-breed boy. Protected by this puny force, a large supply of trinkets and supplies was kept on hand with which to carry on trade with the Indians, who came to Kamloops from Kootenay, Okanagan, Similkameen and other points for that purpose. Overlooking the Indian village and Fort Thompson, is an eminence known as Mount St. Paul, towering two thousand feet above the valley. It owes its name to a Kamloops chief who was so-called by the traders, but whom the missionary Catholic priests, for already they had visited the post (Father Demers, afterwards Bishop, coming to it in 1845), had christened Jean Baptiste Lolo. Lolo lived near the fort and was on good terms with Tod. Learning of a plot among the Indians to capture the fort, murder the inmates, and take the goods it contained for themselves, Lolo warned Tod of his danger. The Indians had gone on their annual fishing trip to Pa- vilion and Tod, to whom fear was an unknown quantity, determined upon a bold stroke. He followed the Indians, and upon reaching the camp of the conspirators, gave an exhibition of admirable horsemanship and rode fear- lessly into their midst. “Where is Lolo?” they demanded truculently. Where- upon Tod gravely informed them that Lolo, whom he had left behind at Kam- loops, had been stricken with smallpox. That sufficed; they had a wholesome dread of the disease, and when he told them he had medicine to save them from it, they hailed him as their deliverer. His medicine was vaccine, and without taking too much care in the operation, he vaccinated all of them, thus incapacitating them from using their weapons for some time. Lolo was rewarded with the gift of a sorrel horse which he had long coveted. Chief Trader McLean was in charge of the fort at Kamloops in 1852, in which year he purchased gold from Indians who had obtained it from Thompson River at Nicomen, midway between Lytton and Spence’s Bridge; but it was not until 1858 that the ruish of gold miners began, and British Columbia entered a new era. The miners thronged everywhere, from Lyt- ton up the Fraser to Cariboo and up the Thompson to Kamloops and be- yond. Tranquille Creek, eight miles west of Kamloops, was prospected, and in 1859 five men were making $300.00 a day with sluice boxes, others tak- ing out $10.00 a day with rockers. In 1860 there were 200 Chinamen work- ing at the mouth of the creek. In 1859 Kamloops was visited by Commander Mayne of the H. M. S. Plumper, who made a trip through the districts bordering on the Fraser, [ 202 ] Thompson and Harrison rivers. Capt. Mayne, the author of a well-known book on British Columbia, much quoted by writers, gave a very interesting description of Kamloops, and its social as well as physical environments, which the limits of this article prevent being reproduced here. Among other things, however, he says: “The day after our arrival at Kamloops, we went across North River to the Indian village, to pay a visit to the Chief of the Shuswaps tribe, who was described to us as being somewhat of a no- tability. Here was the site of the old fort of the North West Company which, some twelve years back, after the murder of Mr. Black (the officer in charge of it), by the Indians, had been removed by his successor to the opposite side of the river. No doubt the old site was preferable to the new, which is subject to summer floods. Only the year before our visit, all the floors had been started by the water, and the occupants of the fort build- ings had to move about in canoes.” Commander Mayne also mentioned that he went to see the bands of horses driven in, and those past work selected for food, remarking that “a few colts were chosen for breaking in and then the old mares, whose breed- ing time was past, were selected and — for it was upon horse flesh princi- pally that the people of the fort lived — driven out to be killed, skinned and salted down.” Salt horse as a diet was soon to give place to good roast beef, however. The news of the finding of gold on the river bars had travelled far. In 1858 a party of forty-two men set out from Fort Colvile, Washington, which they reached by way of the Bow River, Kootenay River and Tobacco Plains. From Fort Colvile a number of them made their way into British Columbia, two of the party, Charles T. Gooney and the late Samuel Moore, coming to Kamloops and settling in the vicinity after devoting some time to mining in Cariboo. The excitement in California, Oregon and Washington in 1858 over the discoveries in British Columbia, was intense. Large companies, numbering from four to five hundred men, were formed to make the journey by the inland route, via Okanagan and Kamloops to the bars on the Fraser and Thompson rivers. Trouble with Indians on the way was of frequent occur- rence, and fighting often resulted. Others journeyed by water from San Francisco to Victoria and thence to the mainland, while others again came from the east by way of Panama and San Francisco to Victoria. Some of those who came by these several routes have made Kamloops their headquar- ters, and have been identified with its growth; among them was the late Lewis Campbell, who came to this Province from California in 1858, where he had gone in 1853. In 1864 he went to Oregon and purchased a band of cattle which he drove north to the South Thompson, where he located on a piece of land twelve miles east of Kamloops. On his Oregon trip he was accompanied by the late John Wilson, “cattle king” of Savona, a Yorkshireman, who, when only seventeen, emigrated to the United States and in 1851 taking the Panama route to California; came to British Columbia in 1858, mining and trading on the Fraser and Cariboo before settling down at Savona as a stock raiser. The advent of the gold seekers brought about a great change in Kam- loops. It was no longer merely a Hudson’s Bay Co. trading post. The trad- [203] ing for furs went on as usual, but there was a new element in the land. The leaven of development was making its presence felt. The newcomers were eager to find, and to make gold, and gradually the old order of things changed. The Hudson’s Bay Co. officials had been, in their way, little short of kings, whose subjects, mainly Indians, did their bidding unquestioned. To the gold seekers fresh from other lands, where a storekeeper was a storekeeper only and nothing more, the Hudson’s Bay Co. post was more a convenient place at which to obtain supplies than anything else. Little by little the al- teration from the semi-feudal system of the Hudson’s Bay Company waned, and a new era dawned. Not all those who entered so confidently into the mining camps proved fortunate enough to leave them with fortunes in their buckskin gold sacks. Some did so, and hastened out of the camps, to spend their gains foolishly or well; others, having made useful sums, embarked in other enterprises; while others again, after a trial at mining, gave it up in disgust and took whatever employment offered. Many of all these classes took up land in various parts of the country, and went to farming or stock-raising, while a number of them settled in the vicinity of Kamloops, the benches along the North and South Thompson rivers offering desirable locations. Thus was established a per- manent industry that soon overshadowed the operations of the Company of Gentlemen Adventurers. The presence of gold in the bars and tributaries of the North Thomp- son attracted attention in 1861, and made things somewhat livelier around the fort, and the following year there was still a further addition by the arrival at Kamloops of an adventurous party who had made the long trip across the prairies, crossed the Rockies through the Yellow Head Pass, and de- scended the North Thompson. Two of the party were drowned on the way down, and the others nearly perished for want of food. Among them was one woman having in her care three children, and adding to the number a few miles above Kamloops. Among those who came in this party were J. A. Mara, now of Victoria, Win. Fortune, formerly a rancher at Tranquille, and now living at Kamloops, each of whom has since that distant day done his share in the upbuilding of the town and vicinity. The members of this party had a trying and hazardous experience in their journey down the North Thompson. They were a portion of a large party who attracted by the news of the gold discoveries in Cariboo and other parts of the Province, set out to try their fortunes. Leaving Fort Garry in June, 1862, they reached Tete Jaime on August 27th. There they divided into two companies, the larger with eight animals descending the Fraser River to Quesnel. The smaller body, consisting of twenty men, one woman and three children, chose to hazard the descent of the North Thompson. In this decision they were in a measure actuated by a desire to save the animals, of which there were a good number and which would become their property. Slow progress was made through the forest growth, and when they reached the Thompson they found fresh perils awaiting them. Canoes and rafts were shipwrecked, and often had to be abandoned at portages, and new ones made. They were compelled, too, to abandon their animals, and were destitute when they arrived at the fort. They found the place deserted by the Indians, who had fled to escape an [204] epidemic of smallpox. Fagged out and starving, Mr. Fortune and a com- panion sought shelter in one of the deserted Indian houses, only to find that a pile of grass and branches upon which they cast themselves down to rest, covered the bodies of two victims of the dread scourge. First entering the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company for seven years, he afterwards settled down at Tranquille. The first house in Kamloops was built by William Fortune and in 1868 he had the distinction of building the first flour mill in the interior of British Columbia, the burrs coming from Buffalo, and costing $1,200 for the pair. In 1909 Mr. Fortune sold his ranch to the British Columbia Anti-Tu- berculosis Society and upon it is erected the sanatorium which was opened by Lieutenant-Governor Paterson in September, 1910. G. C. Tunstall, another of the same party of “overlanders,” who came to British Columbia in 1862, was regarded for many years as one of the in- stitutions of Kamloops, filling the important post of gold commissioner, gov- ernment agent, and many other offices for many years. Before his appoint- ment at Kamloops he had spent some time in Cariboo. In 1886, when the Granite Creek gold excitement broke out, he was moved to that place, but soon returned to Kamloops, where he has since resided continuously. He was superannuated in 1909 and died January 7th, 1911. Closely identified with the history of Kamloops, J. A. Mara (at the time of writing this record a resident of Victoria), was for many years one of its most energetic and enterprising business men. An “overlander,” he came to British Columbia in 1862. He is a Canadian and was born at Toronto. He opened a general store in Kamloops, built and operated steamboats on the Thompson waters, and subsequently was chief promoter of the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company, which concern later passed into the hands of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. He took an active part in politics and was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1875 and remained a member until 1886. The following year he was elected a member of Parlia- ment for Yale, representing the district until the general election of 1896, when he was defeated by Hewitt Bostock. Shortly afterwards he removed to Victoria to reside. Governor Sir James Douglas honoured Kamloops with a visit in 1861, and the following year he determined upon the construction of the Cariboo wagon road. In that year the rush to Cariboo was at its height, and the new road was pushed vigorously and was soon thronged with heavily-laden freight wagons bound for the Cariboo mines, or Hudson’s Bay Company posts at Kamloops and elsewhere. In 1863 the late Joseph McKay was in charge of the Hudson’s Bay Company fort at Kamloops, and William G. Cox held the office of gold commissioner and police magistrate at a salary of 400 pounds a year. In that year the company again made a move, this time erecting their post on the south bank of the Thompson opposite the second site, and there they remained for several years, until once more the march of progress rendered it advisable to make another change, and in 1885 a new building was erected a quarter of a mile farther east. The next change made was effected in 1894, when they moved into the brick building which they now occupy as an an- nex to their newer premises acquired in 1911. [205] With the discovery of gold in the bars of the Columbia River in 1864, and the finds at the Big Bend, a busy time came for Kamloops, which was on the direct route of travel to the new mines. The Government opened up a trail from Kamloops by way of Shuswap Lake, and in 1866, the wagon road was extended from Cache Creek to Savona at the foot of Kamloops Lake. Meanwhile the Hudson’s Bay Company, McKay still being in charge at Kamloops, anticipating the rush to the Big Bend country, built the steamer Martin during the winter of 1865. At that time of the find at Big Bend, the Hudson’s Bay Company post at Seymour was in charge of G. B. Martin, a Yorkshireman, who was afterwards a member of the Provin- cial Government. George Bohun Martin was born on Christmas Day, 1841, and in due course entered the navy, ill health compelling him to resign, how- ever. In 1862 he came to British Columbia and entered the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and in 1864 was in charge of the post at Seymour. He left the service and Seymour in 1865 to take up farming on the South Thompson. Entering political life in 1882 he represented the district in the Provincial House from that year until 1898, when he met his first defeat. In 1894 he was appointed Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. Among the local men who took part in the Big Bend excitement was James Ross, now farming near Shuswap. Another of the number was the late A. G. Pemberton, late Sheriff of Yale County, who came to Victoria from Southampton by way of Panama and San Francisco, and in 1861 went to Cariboo, afterwards finding his way to Kamloops. He was one of the men engaged in the building of the Mar- tin and also tried his luck in the Big Bend. In 1866 the rush began to Big Bend and the Martin was kept busy mak- ing regulars trips from Savona and Kamloops to Seymour, at the head of Shuswap Lake, the fare being $10 for passengers and $20 a ton for freight. The boat was crowded each trip. Seymour became quite an important town, of which, however, practically no trace is now left, although a new town has recently sprung up on the same site, not because of gold mining but on ac- count of the more prosaic industries of lumbering and farming. Kamloops derived so much benefit from the rush to Big Bend that Messrs. Mara and Wilson opened up a store in 1867. The Martin was the first steamboat to ply on the Thompson waterways, and ascended the North branch 120 miles from its mouth. The late John Peterson in 1868 pre-empted a parcel of land east of the then little village of Kamloops, afterwards purchasing an additional 320 acres. This location is of interest as this land, the old Peterson Ranch, con- stitutes the larger part of the present city of Kamloops. In 1870 Barnard’s Express stages, carrying the mails, ran as far as Sa- vona, the system soon extending to Kamloops, and finally to Okanagan Mis- sion. Gradually the needs of the little community became more pressing, and the difficulty in procuring lumber for building purposes led to the establish- ment of a new industry about 1875, when a combined flour and lumber mill was built on the river flat, then east of the town. Messrs. Mara, Wilson, Mc- Intosh and Usher were the owners, known as the Shuswap Milling Com- pany. Mr. Usher was the government agent at Kamloops, and was murdered in December, 1879, while engaged in the performance of his duty, at the hands [206] of the McLean and Hare gang, four in number. The murderers were hanged at New Westminster, January 31, 1881. The year 1878 saw another steamer built on the Thompson waters, the Lady Dufferin, the property of William Fortune. The boat did a general freighting business, running from Savona to Kamloops and Spallumcheen. The steamer Spallumcheen, owned by Mara and Wilson, also plied on the same waters for a number of years. Following the entering of British Columbia into the Confederation of the Dominion of Canada, Lord Dufferin, Governor-General, visited Kamloops in 1876. The Canadian Pacific Railway project was then assuming definite form. In 1872 survey parties had been at work. The original intention was for the line to come down the North Thompson River to, the Clearwater, thence to reach Bute Inlet via Chilcotin; but this idea was abandoned, and it was determined to bring the line down the North Thompson to Kamloops, and then carry it to salt water by the Thompson and Fraser valleys — a plan never carried into effect, but strangely enough, is embodied in the present Canadian Northern project. Kamloops was given telegraphic communication in 1878, the line being built by the Liberal Government under Alexander Mackenzie as Premier, the younger F. S. Barnard, who afterwards was member of Parliament for the district, being the contractor. In the same year A. Watson of Victoria built the steamer Peerless for J. A. Mara, to run, according to the Colonist, “between Cook’s Ferry and the head of navigation.” The Peerless made a trip to Harper’s mill, at the mouth of the Bonaparte, near Ashcroft, in 1881, without using a line, and subsequently made one trip to Spence’s Bridge; Captain John Irving of Victoria being in command. The first resident clergy- man to take up his abode in Kamloops was Rev. Father Grandidier, who be- gan to reside in the town in 1878. J. F. McCreight was, in December, 1880, appointed judge for the in- land country, to sit at Kamloops. May, 1881, saw Major Rogers set out from Kamloops to Eagle River, Shuswap Lake, to look for a pass for the C. P. R. through the Selkirk range. He found a pass, Rogers Pass, and an entirely new route for the railway was selected. The Yellow Head Pass in the Rockies Avas abandoned, and the line taken to Kamloops by the South branch of the Thompson River in place of the North branch. In the same year increased mail service was given to points east of Kamloops, and reached by wagon road from that point. So far, a semi-monthly service had been given, but in the spring of 1881 the mail contract from Cache Creek to Oka- nagan (now better known as KeloAvna), via Kamloops and Spallumcheen, giving a weekly service, was awarded to J. B. Leighton of Savona. Kam- loops Avas noAv about to enter upon a new phase in its development. The change from the early order of things had been gradual, but Avas no less decided. Kamloops Avas fairly established as a fully fledged town, possess- ing hotels as well as stores. But a yet greater change was at hand. Creeping nearer day by day the Canadian Pacific Railway was steadily approaching Kamloops. Early in the winter of 1884-5 Andrew Onderdonk, the contractor for the line from Port Moody to Savona, had the rails laid to the latter point, and the same winter the grading of the road bed between Savona and Kamloops, and at [207] several points farther east, was well under way. With the advent of railway construction Kamloops became a busy place, people coming and going by steamer and stage daily. It did not cover much ground, and one straggling street comprised its length and breadth, but, though it lacked size, it was not wanting in stir and bustle. In July, 1885 , the railway track reached Kamloops from the west, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive was heard in the street. From the east the railway builders were rapidly closing in the gap with the twin bands of steel and on November 7th, in the same year, at three o’clock in the afternoon, the first through train from the distant east to Port Moody arrived. The town continued to grow steadily, and as the railway company made it a divisional point, the population was materially and permanently increased. John Peterson disposed of his ranch lying to the east of the old town to a syndicate, of which Messrs. J. A. Mara, C. E. Pooley and Ward were members. The new townsite was at once surveyed and subdivided by R. H. Lee, and alternate blocks given to the railway com- pany in consideration of their making the town a divisional point, thus assur- ing the permanent interest of the company in the progress of Kamloops. Things then moved rapidly. The Hudson’s Bay Company realized it was time to build a modern store and a brick structure was erected. The old log building that had done duty as lock-up, government agent’s office, and court house, also serving for the holding of public meetings, etc., ceased to fulfil the requirements, and the government agent selected a central site, and the building that rose upon it was in constant use, until the present handsome stone and brick structure was raised in its stead by the McBride Govern- ment in 1909 . Court day was deemed a sort of festival, and the coming of a Supreme Court judge — and the late Mr. Justice Walkem was a favourite — was looked forward to with a zest not evinced in later times. The coming of the railway did not put a stop immediately to steamboat traffic, and in April, 1885 , another vessel was added to the fleet, the Kamloops, its machinery being that of the Myra, a stern-wheeler, that formerly plied below Yale. A dispute arising between J. A. Mara, owner of the larger steamers on local waters, and A. Onderdonk, railway contractor, over freight rates for carrying supplies, Mr. Onderdonk decided to build a steamer of his own. A hull was built at Savona, launched, the machinery installed, the boat christened the Skuzzy, and then a compromise was arrived at. The Skuzzy was put to good use, however, serving as a floating hotel for the tracklayers, as they moved along the grade between Savona and Kamloops. The Skuzzy Avas afterwards bought by Mr. Mara, but in a few years the Peerless, Kam- loops and Skuzzy were hauled close to the beach, and there they lay, sheer hulks, until destroyed by fire. It is worthy of note that the machinery in- stalled in the Skuzzy was that used in another steamer of the same name, also built by Onderdonk, on the Fraser at Big Tunnel, east of Spuzzum. The taking of supplies over the trails along the canyon of the Fraser had proved costly and slow, and the building of the Skuzzy was the outcome of a desire to effect a remedy for those conditions. After some difficulty a skipper was found willing to attempt the task of taking the vessel through the boil- ing, eddying, treacherous rapids. Finally two brothers named Smith consented to try, and with J. W. Burse as engineer, and with the assistance of a power- ful steam winch and with the captain and 150 Chinamen hauling on ropes [ 208 ] ashore, the first load of freight was safely carried and distributed along the river. Several trips were made, Lytton being the farthest up-stream point reached. Subsequently the Skuzzy was tied up at Keefers, and there re- mained until the machinery was removed to be placed in Skuzzy number two at Savona. Railway construction enriched the farmers, stock-raisers, hotel and store keepers along the Thompson Valley. The commissariat of the railway con- tractors was an important department, and the farmers and ranchers found a ready market for what they had for sale. Pay day was an occasion of lav- ish spending of money by the men, and the little towns of Lytton, Spence’s Bridge, Ashcroft, Savona, and Eagle Pass Landing reproduced on a small scale the pace set at Yale and Kamloops. Following the example set by Lord Dufferin, the Marquis of Lome paid Kamloops a visit in October, 1882, and three years later the Marquis of Lans- dowme, his successor in the governor-generalship, did likewise. The Inland Sentinel newspaper made its appearance as a Kamloops pub- lication in 1884. It was established, however, in 1880, at Emory, a few miles below Yale, by Michael Hagan, being removed to Yale itself shortly after- wards. Moving with the times, Mr. Hagan brought his paper to Kamloops, where it has since remained. The Kamloops Standard was established in 1897. The water supply, hitherto obtained in the primitive fashion of carry- ing it in buckets, or hauling it in barrels from the river, began to assume a phase that demanded immediate attention. The late James McIntosh, never lacking in enterprise, recognized the need of the day, and met it by installing a pumping plant, reservoir and pipe line. By private enterprise also the town was at an early date equipped with an electric lighting plant. After the place was incorporated as a city in 1893, with Dr. Sibree Clarke as its first mayor, both these utilities were acquired by the municipality by purchase, and have since been kept in a state of high efficiency. Of the men who were instrumental in promoting the prosperity of Kam- loops, the late James McIntosh takes a first place. His father was the well known contractor of Ottawa, Alexander McIntosh. Born in the capital in 1842, Mr. McIntosh came to British Columbia in 1862 via the Panama route to San Francisco, and thence to Victoria. He at once went to the Cariboo mines, but soon discarded mining to engage in the business of ex- press and mail carrier, making the trip from Williams Lake to Barkerville with letters, magazines, and any other matter that he could obtain. After taking part in the Leech River excitement Mr. McIntosh came to Kamloops, and went to work on the building of the Hudson’s Bay Co. steamer Martin , which was being got in readiness for the rush to Big Bend, whither Mr. McIntosh went as soon as the steamer began making trips to Seymour. He was fairly successful in his mining ventures at Big Bend, where he re- mained until the excitement died away, when he returned to Kamloops. In 1871 he located 160 acres of land east of the Hudson’s Bay. Co. property. Subsequently he had his location surveyed as a townsite by Mr. Edgar Dewdney. That townsite forms the now town of Kamloops. About the be- ginning of the “seventies” Mr. McIntosh began making tubs, wash-boards, etc., but the business did not prove very lucrative, and he turned road con- tractor, building the wagon road from Savona to Kamloops and from Kam- il 209] loops to Nicola. He was also engaged on the road from Cache Creek to Sa- vona, built a section of the Sumas road, part of the highway from New West- minster to Yale, the Fraser being crossed at Hope to Nicola, over which large herds of cattle were driven. Returning to Kamloops upon the completion of his road contracts, Mr. McIntosh built the saw and flour mill, which was operated under the name of the Shuswap Milling Company. The discovery of copper-gold ore on Coal Hill south of the city, and of the existence of coal deposits within the district, seem to open up a new field of enterprise, which, with the recent stimulation given to fruit-growing, will greatly enhance the importance of its central location. Formerly, cattle- ranching was practically the sole industry which contributed to the activities of Kamloops. All the later developments, more especially the route selected for the Canadian Northern Railway, confirm the wisdom of the old fur- traders in selecting it as the natural centre of their fur-trading operations in the interior, and Nature undoubtedly has intended that its destiny in regard to the more modern aspects of industry and commerce throughout a very con- siderable area shall be of a similar nature. What Yale was to the Interior in the early days of the Province and of the C. P. R. construction, Kam- loops has been for a number of years. The whole history, political and otherwise, is replete with interesting episodes, but as many of these are doubt- less dealt with incidentally in other parts of this work, this chapter embody- ing the history of Kamloops may well be brought to a conclusion at this point. [ 210 ] THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OKANAGAN. By J. A. MacKelvie. CHAPTER XVII. The word “Okanagan” today conjures up pleasing pictures of sun-lit valleys and inviting vistas of bench lands dotted with orchards, and teeming with a prosperous population devoted mainly to horticultural pursuits. But to the early settler these conditions were unknown and perhaps undreamt of. It was as a pastoral country that the land first became known, and while the cattle-raising industry in time gave place to the production of wheat and other cereals, it was only when the third stage of its develop- ment was reached and fruit-growing became established as the prime fac- tor of its prosperity, that the Okanagan became famous. Stretching from Peace River to the Gulf of Mexico is a general succes- sion of valleys and plains lying in a continental depression behind the Coast range of mountains, and of this chain the Okanagan forms an important link. Until recent years, when what was formerly known as East Yale was divided into four provincial electoral districts of Okanagan, Similka- meen, Greenwood and Grand Forks, the name Okanagan was applied in a general way to the country stretching from Sicamous on the C. P. R. to the United States boundary, and extending from the Similkameen River on the west to Kettle River on the east. The characteristic topographical fea- tures of this region are those of an undulating and elevated table-land, vary- ing in altitude from one thousand to three thousand feet, and embracing rich open valleys which nestle amid encircling hills and grassy benches. The coun- try is one of great scenic beauty, some of its picturesque lakes and streams with their park-like surroundings furnishing a panorama unsurpassed by anything to be found in Switzerland or Italy. The Duke of Argyll, then the Marquis of Lome, visited the valley in 1883, and afterwards publicly stated that he had seen nothing in the world that surpassed in beauty cer- tain parts of this district, particular reference being made to scenes on Long Lake, a lovely body of water which runs parallel to the larger Okanagan Lake for some twelve miles, and is separated from it by a range of hills along which winds the picturesque road between Vernon and Kelowna. That part of the country which is now specifically termed the Okanagan is about 150 miles in length from north to south, and includes within its boundaries numerous flourishing towns and cities, such as Enderby, Arm- strong, Vernon, Lumby, Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland and Penticton. Vernon is the largest of these centres of population, and contains the Gov- ernment office and court house. Entrance to the valley, which is about 300 miles from the Coast, is gained by a branch line — the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway — which is operated under lease by the C. P. R. and extends from Sicamous Junction in a sou- therly direction to Okanagan Landing, some 55 miles distant, at the head of [ 211 ] Okanagan Lake. From the south, a branch of the Great Northern Railway enters the district by way of Keremeos and will shortly be extended to Pen- ticton at the southern extremity of the lake. The Kettle River Valley line is also now under construction, and will pass through Penticton and Summer- land on its way to connect the Kootenay and Boundary districts with the Coast by way of Spence’s Bridge where it joins the C. P. R. Good traffic and passenger accommodation is also furnished by the fine fleet of C. P. R. steamers and barges which ply on Okanagan Lake, the steamer Okanagan being considered the largest and best equipped boat on inland waters. The Canadian Northern Railway is also about to start construction work on a line from Kamloops to Kelowna, via Grand Prairie, Armstrong and Vernon, with a branch from Vernon to Lumby. This lake, which gives its name to the district is a magnificent body of water some seventy miles in length and varying in width from one to three miles. Its deep and cold waters teem with fish, the rainbow trout attaining to great size, specimens of twenty-five pounds and over frequently reward- ing the toil of the angler. The name “Okanagan” is said to have been given it by the Indians and conveys the idea of stormy and treacherous water, sudden squalls occasionally stirring its usually placid surface to an extent that would make it extremely hazardous to venture far from shore in the frail “dug-out” canoes of the natives. Probably the chief attraction of this part of British Columbia is its re- markably fine climate, which, in conjunction with a wonderfully fertile soil, gives it as wide variety of products as can be found within equal limits in any part of the continent. The Okanagan shares with other parts of the West the tempering influence of the Japan current, and the excessive hu- midity of the Coast is here modified by the intervening mountain ranges which rob the sea breezes of their moisture. “The Sunny Okanagan” is the title that has been allotted to this district and serves well to designate its leading climatic characteristic. The bright and warm summer months serve to give that glowing colour to the fruit which has made it world-famous for its rich- ness of tint, while the snow-fall and cold weather from December to March add to the zest of life for those who enjoy sleighing, skating, or other winter sports. The great commercial value of such a benign climate is rightly con- sidered to form one of the chief assets of the southern interior of British Columbia. It has had one outstanding effect since it became known: the trek of health seekers and others seeking relief from the rigours of the prairie winter has of late years been diverted from the Pacific States to this section of the Dominion, which has not been inaptly styled “The California of Canada.” History and tradition are silent as to the first white men who traversed the valleys and plateaus of the southern interior. It may be taken for granted, however, that the fur traders of the North West Company led the van into the unknown wilderness of this part of the country, as they had done in so many other sections of the “Great Lone Land.” Early in the nineteenth century, a N. W. Co. post was established at Fort Colvile, in what is now Eastern Washington, and the voyageurs of the company made their way from that point to the great depot at Fort Vancouver, near the mouth of the Columbia, by way of the Okanagan and Kamloops route. That [ 212 ] the charms and natural advantages of the Okanagan were early recognized by the officers of the Company is proved by the fact that, when the over- land party of 1862 which crossed the plains and entered the Province by way of the Yellowhead Pass, asked advice of Governor Dallas at Fort Garry, he strongly urged them to turn their steps toward this part of British Co- lumbia. Mr. A. L. Fortune of Enderby, who followed this advice and is still a resident of this district, reports the Governor’s words as follows: “After we had a long, interesting and encouraging interview, lie ended by praising the Okanagan country. He advised us strongly to have a look at this most beautiful valley. ‘Why,’ he said, ‘do you know, gentlemen, I call it the most lovely piece of country in this world. I know much of old England, much of the charming homes of Ireland, I met surprises and grandeur in my Eu- ropean travels, I saw much of the rice region of China and the wonders of India; I have travelled much in the United States, but Okanagan with its great lakes of wholesome water, its beautiful streams teeming with fish and wild fowl, its rolling bench lands and flats, carpeted with the richest grasses and flowers, where deer, mountain sheep and game can feed at will, while high on the mountain slopes the Indians winter their horses without having to pile up hay, appeals to me as something unsurpassed. Verily, I could see more prospects of a charming life in the Okanagan than I could possibly find even among the lochs and famous heather hills of bonnie Scotland’.” Later on, when the rush for the gold fields of Cariboo attracted a restless band of adventurers from all parts of the world, many of these fortune- hunters found their way to the northern country by the Okanagan trail, and not a few of them told such tales of its richness and beauty as to stimulate interest in the country among the miners, some of whom later on gave up the pick for the plough and found a more certain competence in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture than was offered by the feverish allurements of gold- seeking. Preceding civilization and blazing the way for the pioneer in the unmapped sections of the Dominion have ever been those devoted servants of the Cross, the missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Okanagan furnishes no exception to this rule. Undoubtedly, the first white settlers to drive in their stakes in this district were Fathers Pendozy and Richard, priests of the Oblate Order, who established a mission among the Indians in 1859 at a point a few miles distant from the present city of Kelowna, on Okanagan Lake. Here they laboured among the natives, gradually extending their field to Penticton, the head of the lake, and Spallumcheen, until churches were erected at these points, and the Indians renounced their Pagan practices for the Christian faith. These Indians furnished favourable material for the purposes of the missionary. Unlike some of their race in the northern sections and the coast districts of the Province, these were from the earliest days noted for their mild and peaceable disposition. Quarrels among themselves were rare, nor do they seem to have any records of warlike encounters with other tribes. The fierce Nez Perces of Idaho never seem to have penetrated into these peaceful valleys, and though there is a tradition that a war party of Blackfeet or Stonies at one time invaded the territory, and were swept to death over the falls of Kettle River when descending that stream, the story bears the impress of legend rather than of truth. Firearms were practically unknown among [2X3] the Indians when the Mission F athers settled among them, the bow and arrow being their weapon of chase. Game, fish and fur-bearing animals abounded in such quantities as to make it generally an easy matter for them to subsist, though at times a bad season or a hard winter found them in miserable straits when hunger compelled them to have recourse to the inner bark of the young pine trees for food. To these missionaries belongs the distinction of having brought the first cattle to the Okanagan, a herd being driven in by them from Oregon, whence came all the original stock of this kind introduced into the in- terior. The Mission Fathers were also the pioneer orchardists of this part of the Okanagan, and apple trees planted by them near Kelowna in 1878 still flourish and bear bountiful crops of fine fruit. Following next after the missionaries, and attracted by reports sent out by them, came Mr. Joseph Christian, who reached the Okanagan in 1861. He, like many others of the pioneers’ brigade, had crossed the Isthmus of Panama and followed the rush to the Cariboo diggings. He reached the Okanagan by way of Hope, and decided to settle near the Mission. Reports which he sent back to his old home in Quebec induced many other French Canadians to set out for this country, and around Okanagan Mission and Lumby are to be found a considerable number of settlers of this class. Mr. Christian is still hale and hearty at the age of 82 and, bears modestly the honours accorded him as the pioneer rancher of the district. It was only a few months after Mr. Christian’s advent that the first white woman arrived in the Okanagan. Mr. and Mrs. Eli Lequime, natives of France, came in from the south. They took up land upon which afterwards the city of Kelowna was built, and in later years established a store and hotel. Louis Brent was another early set- tler who arrived the succeeding year, and it was he who built the first flour mill in that section of the valley. Previous to this the farmers, as Mr. Geo. Whelan, one of the early settlers relates, ground their wheat in large coffee mills, procured from the Hudson’s Bay Company. In those days, prices ruled rather high. Goods were brought in by pack horses by way of Hope and flour sold at $15.00 per sack, seed wheat at $5.00 per bushel and pota- toes at $10.00 per sack. At least, these were the prices which Mr. Christian paid for his first supplies. Home-made harness was manufactured by the early settlers from rawhide, and their trucks or wagons were also of home construction. The wheels were formed from sections of round logs into which were fitted wooden axles. Up to a few years ago, occasional specimens of these rough but serviceable vehicles were still to be seen in use. About this time parties of miners returning from Cariboo prospected the country to some extent, and placer gold was found at Cherry Creek, Rock Creek and Granite Creek. Promising ledges of mineral were also discovered in various parts of the country, and in 1864, Forbes G. Vernon and his brother Charles did some mining on Cherry Creek, and subsequently took up land which afterwards became known far and wide as the Coldstream Ranch. F. G. Vernon was for many years the representative of the district in the Provincial Legislature, and was a member of the Davie government as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. Another Cherry Creek miner was Luc Girouard, a “forty-niner” who became possessed of land upon which part of the city of Vernon now stands. He was Vernon’s first postmaster, and old residents remember his quaint way of sorting the mail. When the [214] meagre package of mail arrived in the early days of Vernon’s growth, it was his custom to dump the contents of the bag on the floor of the cabin. Certain cracks in the floor were devoted to the leading residents, such as the Hudson’s Bay Company, the government agent, etc., who were expected to clean up these rather primitive post-office “boxes” at stated intervals. Cap- tain Houghton, who after Confederation became the first representative of Yale-Kootenay-Cariboo in the Dominion House of Commons, was also asso- ciated with the Vernons in their mining ventures. Other early settlers of the White valley and Coldstream sections off the Okanagan were Nelson Duteau and Peter Bessette. These men have all passed away, but their names are still household words in the district where they endured hardships and laid the foundations of success for those who followed the trails blazed by them. Reference has been made to the overland expedition of 1862, and among the few survivors of that adventurous band of pioneers and explorers is Mr. A. L. Fortune of Enderby, who was among the party who crossed the plains from Fort Garry on that eventful journey. At that time the western ex- tremity of railway communication was at La Crosse, Wisconsin, whence pas- sage was made by steamer to St. Paul, and thence by stage coach and river boat to Fort Garry. The party, about a hundred and forty-five in number, arrived at Edmonton on July 20th, 1862, after a trip of about six weeks through the “buffalo country.” With their supplies packed on horses, mules and oxen, they passed on through the Yellowhead Pass to Tete Jaune Cache on the head waters of the Fraser, where the party divided, some descending the Fraser and others taking the North Thompson route. Mr. Fortune se- lected the former, and made the trip in the “Huntington Raft,” a structure 22 feet wide and 85 feet long. Through crooked and narrow canyons, rapids and whirlpools, they made the water journey of some 500 miles, and after many exciting adventures reached the mouth of the Quesnel on the 13th of September. After spending a few years mining in Cariboo, and following other occupations at the coast, Mr. Fortune remembered the advice of Gov- ernor Dallas, and turned his steps towards the Okanagan. Ascending the Shuswap chain of lakes and the Spallumcheen river, in June, 1866, he pitched his tent near the site of the present flourishing town of Enderby, and began a long career of successful farming in the Spallumcheen district. Writing of this experience, Mr. Fortune says: “I cannot forget the first day in the Spallumcheen valley. We were so near to primitive conditions and quiet elements, so near to Nature, where man’s ambition had never utilized or wasted the wealth of God’s arranging. To think of the centuries past and gone without the sound of an axe or saw being heard over so vast a forest of so many thousands of square miles! Verily, I have ever looked back with gratitude to God for the privilege of being the first pioneer and settler of His guiding and planting in North Okanagan.” Mr. Fortune was the first exporter of farm produce from the Okanagan, commencing a year or two after his arrival to send out hams, bacon and other products of his ranch to Kamloops, by canoe or row-boat down the river and lakes. The next year saw the arrival of the other pioneers who took a promi- nent share in the development of the district. C. O’Keefe, Thos. Greenhow and Thos. Wood came in that season from Big Bend, bringing with them 180 head of cattle which they had purchased in Oregon. Mr. O’Keefe came from [215] the Province of Quebec, having, like most of the pioneers, been attracted to this country by the lure of the Cariboo gold fields, where he mined for some years. While in Cariboo, Mr. O’Keefe and John Saul laid out 50 miles of the famous Cariboo road between Clinton and Bridge Creek. Mr. Greenhow was a native of Cumberland, England, and Mr. Wood came from Newfound- land. Messrs. O’Keefe and Greenhow settled at the head of Okanagan Lake and for many years were partners in the cattle raising and wheat-growing business, while Mr. Wood went further down the country and established himself in the same pursuits near Okanagan Mission. Mr. Greenhow died in 1889 and was mourned by the old-timers as one of the most highly esteemed and respected of the pioneers of the Okanagan. Messrs. O’Keefe and Green- how started the first general store in the district, and for some years con- ducted a large business with the settlers and Indians. The nearest post- office was then at Ducks, about 50 miles distant, but about 1876 an office was established at Mr. O’Keefe’s place and named “Okanagan."’ He was the first postmaster, and has continued to hold that office for some 80 years. “Even in those days,” says Mr. O’Keefe, “Okanagan was described as the ‘Garden of British Columbia.’ I came to the conclusion that it was well named, and settled down here, a decision for which I have always had cause to be thankful.” The late E. J. Tronson, another prominent pioneer, also came to the Oka- nagan about this time, and later on, in partnership with Chas. Brewer, started a saw-mill and engaged extensively in ranching and cattle-raising. In the meantime, contemporary development was starting in the southern end of the valley. In 1866, Thos. Ellis arrived at Penticton with 127 head of cattle which he had purchased in Oregon. A year or two before this, a customs office had been established at Osoyoos Lake on the international boundary in charge of J. C. Haynes, who was also the first Government Agent and Justice of the Peace in the district. Shortly after the arrival of Mr. Ellis, Frank Richter, R. L. Causton and others also entered the southern Okanagan with their herds, and the cattle-raising industry grew apace. Mr. Ellis in 1874 planted the first Okanagan orchard, some of the trees of which are still to be seen at his old homestead, and the success of this experiment demonstrated even in these early days the fact that along this line of develop- ment might be expected wonderful results. The pastoral stage in the history of the district had now been fairly in- augurated, and for the next twenty years or so, it continued to be developed until it attained considerable proportions. Land was obtainable from the Government in large areas and at nominal prices. One dollar an acre was the price paid for grazing land, while the choicest agricultural lands were to be had for five dollars an acre. Under these conditions, the early settlers be- came possessed of large estates, and, as the country was practically unfenced, their herds roamed at will over the hills and bench lands, where the bunch grass flourished in profusion and furnished the most succulent and nutritious food. In the first days of settlement, the market for cattle was chiefly found in Cariboo. When this failed, owing to the cessation of mining in that dis- trict, the beef herds were driven to Hope or Kamloops, and found their way thus to the Coast. Later on the development of mining in the Kootenay also furnished a profitable market. [ 216 ] In 1875-76, a marked change in conditions was brought about by the con- struction of a Government wagon road from Kamloops to Okanagan Mis- sion. This brought with it an influx of new settlers, and at this period ar- rived several men destined to take a prominent part in the development of the district. Among these were Price Ellison (now Minister of Finance and Agriculture), D. Graham, B. F. Young, the Postill Brothers, Alex. Mc- Donnell and others who devoted their energies to wheat-growing and mixed farming. As the country became settled, the stock-raising business naturally waned, the large and unbroken stretches of range being no longer available for pas- turage. Then commenced a period when “wheat was king,” and the rich bot- tom lands soon began to yield a rich harvest of golden grain to the tillers of the soil who had displaced the stockmen and cowboys. A ton and a half to the acre (about 50 bushels) was considered an average crop of wheat in good seasons, and under particularly favourable conditions 65 or 70 bushels were not an uncommon yield. A sample of Okanagan barley exhibited at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 by Mr. Price Ellison was awarded first prize for weight. Large areas were brought under cultivation in all parts of the valley, Mr. O’Keefe at one time having a field of grain 700 acres in ex- tent, while even this was exceeded by Mr. Ellison who was reckoned the lar- gest wheat grower in British Columbia. A large roller flour mill was built at Enderby by the R. P. Rithet Co. of Victoria, and wheat was hauled to it from all parts of the district, the flour being thence transported by steamer to Sicamous or Kamloops. Then came the railway, and a fresh impetus was given to the progress of the valley. To the late Moses Lumby, an early settler of Spallumcheen must be accorded the chief credit for this important undertaking. For many years he worked energetically and with unbounded faith and perseverance with this end in view. He made repeated visits to Ottawa and Victoria in order to interest capital in this enterprise, and at last was successful. In 1892 the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway was built from Sicamous Junction to Oka- nagan Landing by Messrs. Larkin and Connolly, the contractors being T. W. Paterson (now Lieutenant-Governor of the Province) and George Riley (now Senator from Victoria). The road was leased for a period of 25 years by the C. P. R., and on May 24th, 1892, Superintendent Van Horne made a trip over the new line, which was opened for traffic the following month. When Mr. Lumby died in 1893, he held the position of Government Agent at Vernon, and was succeeded in office by Mr. Leonard Norris. In 1890, the site of the largest portion of the present city of Vernon, then a wheat field, was purchased by a syndicate of Coast capitalists from Frank Delory, and surveyed into town lots. First under the name of Priest’s Valley, next under that of Centreville, a settlement had existed at this point, the name of which was later on again changed to Vernon in honour of the Hon. Forbes G. Vernon. Here was situated the Government office, the place of business of W. F. Cameron, the pioneer merchant, the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany’s store, and a few other buildings. With the advent of the railway came the usual rush of population to the new town, and in 1893 the city of Ver- non was incorporated, the first mayor being W. F. Cameron. The Board of Aldermen consisted of Jas. Lyons, A. G. Fuller, Jas. Schubert, S. C. [217] Smith and W. J. Armstrong. R. J. Davies was the first city clerk and H. R. Parke was appointed assessor. Among the early settlers of the Okanagan, a name which stands out prom- inently is that of W. R. Megaw, general merchant of Vernon. Mr. Megaw came to the Province by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1878, and in 1879 established a trading business in the Nicola valley, and was there early intro- duced into one of the sensational sides of western life, as he witnessed the chase and capture of those desperadoes, the MacLean Brothers and young Hare, who had brutally murdered a Government official and a sheep herder. Mr. Megaw later opened business at several different points on the main line of the C. P. R. during the construction of the Onderdonk contract, between Emory and Savona’s Ferry, and located in Kamloops in 1884. He apparent- ly foresaw the natural advantages of the Okanagan and Vernon (then Priest’s Valley) as a distributing centre, and opened the first general trading business there in 1885 with indifferent success during the early years; but as the dis- trict progressed, by keeping always in advance of the times, he succeeded to such an extent that he now conducts the largest individual retail general store business in the Province, enjoying the confidence of the public throughout the district, and having held the position of mayor of the city of Vernon for several terms. Other towns soon sprang into being throughout the valley. The villagers of Lansdowne, which for many years had been the centre of business in the Spallumcheen district, moved in a body to the line of railway, a couple of miles distant, and the new town of Armstrong was established. On Okana- gan Lake, a point of call for the steamers was established, and the flourish- ing city of Kelowna came into existence close to the old settlement at Okana- gan Mission. At Armstrong, a co-operative flour mill was built by the far- mers, while Penticton as the terminus of lake transportation became spoken of as a place of importance. The first newspaper in the valley was started in Vernon in 1891, when A. Iv. Stuart and W. J. Harber launched the Vernon News , and the following year, the Bank of Montreal established its pioneer branch in the Okanagan, at Vernon, under the management of G. A. Henderson. As an indication of the progress made since that time, it may be mentioned that the Bank of Montreal has now branches at Enderby, Armstrong, Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland and Penticton, while the Royal Bank of Canada, the Merchants’ Bank, The Bank of Hamilton, The Union Bank and the Royal Crown Bank all have established branches in Oka- nagan towns. There are now, in addition to the Vernon publication, two papers at Kelowna, and one each at Enderby, Armstrong, Summerland and Pentic- ton. The first methods of transportation on Okanagan Lake were of the most crude and primitive character. The pioneer navigator of these waters was Capt. T. D. Shorts, who in early days established a row-boat service on the lake. Later on he was skipper of a small boat with a coal oil engine which, as traffic increased, he replaced by a larger craft, and finally launched a trim, little steamer, the Penticton, which did good service, until the C. P. R. placed its first boat, the Aberdeen, on the lake. During these early years, the spiritual wants of the settlers were not en- tirely neglected. The first Protestant missionary to visit the district was the [218] Rev. Mr. Good of Lytton, an English Church clergyman, who made his first trip through the district in 1869, the first regularly-stationed Anglican minis- ter being the Rev. Mr. Sheldrick. Early Presbyterian ministers who held oc- casional services among the settlers were the Rev. Mr. McGregor of Victoria, and the Rev. Mr. Jamieson of New Westminster. The pioneer Methodist minister was the Rev. Jas. Turner, who made yearly visitations to the valley in pioneer days, and in 1885, the Methodists established the Rev. Mr. Patten and his wife in Spallumcheen. In 1886 the Rev. Mr. Jaffray and Mrs. Jaff- ray were sent to the valley by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, and in 1886, the first Protestant church in the Okanagan was built at Enderby. In 1890 the Rev. P. F. Langill arrived in Vernon and had charge of the Presbyterian field there and at Okanagan Mission. In 1891 he had a church erected for him in Vernon, the first in the town, and the building was also used for a while by the Methodists. The initial stage of the third and most important period in the develop- ment of the Okanagan may be traced back to the purchase of the Coldstream Ranch from F. G. Vernon in 1891, by the Earl of Aberdeen. The great potentialities of the country as a fruit-producing region had been keenly appreciated by Mr. G. G. McKay, who, acting for Lord Aberdeen, made the purchase of this estate of some 15,000 acres, which had been previously de- voted to cattle-grazing and wheat-growing. At the same time, Lord Aber- deen acquired the Guisachan Ranch near Kelowna. Immediate steps were taken to inaugurate a system of fruit production on a large scale, Lord Aberdeen becoming intensely interested in this project. A year or two later, he was appointed Governor-General of Canada, and during his term of office, he and Lady Aberdeen made many visits to their Okanagan estate and re- sided for several months at a time at the ranch. In 1906, the estate was formed into a limited liability company, of which Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Jas. Buchanan are the principal shareholders, and Mr. Buchanan’s property at Learmonth of about 1500 acres was added to it. Under the management of Mr. W. C. Ricardo the name of the Coldstream Ranch has become a house- hold word, and its products have done more, perhaps, than any other agency to spread abroad the fame of British Columbia apples. A hop yard of over 100 acres in extent is also a feature of this ranch, and the product finds a ready sale in England. As the orchards came into bearing, the success here achieved stimulated many others to engage in fruit-growing, and in succeed- ing years it came to be recognized that in this branch of horticulture lay the path along which the Okanagan was bound to develop to its greatest capacity. The inducements which its fruit lands offer to settlers of a certain class be- came gradually known in eastern Canada, Great Britain and the United States, and a steady influx of the most desirable kind of settlers soon set in. Wheat fields began to be divided into orchard holdings, and in this way the large ranches became broken up and closer settlements made possi- ble. Land companies were formed in all parts of the district, and with the sub-division of the large holdings immense strides in the direction of progress were made. The Coldstream estate was sub-divided, and a large portion of it sold in ten and twenty-acre blocks, and the district surrounding it was soon densely populated, and formed into the Coldstream municipality. Mr. C. O’Keefe and Mrs. Greenhow disposed of 17,000 acres of their property [219] adjoining Vernon on the north to a Belgian syndicate, known as the Land and Agricultural Company of Canada, and this land was also sub-divided. Near Kelowna the same process went on, and in a few years that part of the district grew to be one of the most populous sections of the valley. At Penticton, W. T. Shatford formed a company which purchased the immense cattle ranch of Thos. Ellis, and here again this populating and enriching process was rapidly carried into effect. Along Wood’s Lake, Long Lake, and on both sides of Lake Okanagan, fruit-growers flocked to the land at last made available for close settlement by the changed conditions. Small canneries were started in different communities, and a new industry thus es- tablished. The day of the “Cattle King” and the “Wheat Baron” had passed forever, and the newcomers hardly realized that these phases of development had preceded their advent, or that the toil and hardship of the pioneer had made possible for them the easy conditions upon which they had entered. To the foresight and enterprise of Lord Aberdeen and his advisers is due this speedy transition from wheat to fruit; from large ranches to small or- chard homes; from sparse settlement to populous communities. Co-incidently, and growing out of the establishment of fruit-growing, came the development of irrigation works. It soon became evident that, while in the northern Okanagan, Nature could be depended upon to provide suf- ficient moisture for mixed farming, for horticultural pursuits in the southern section of the district, lying along the lakes and in the neighborhood of Ver- non and Coldstream, irrigation was essential to assured crops. Nor was en- terprise and capital lacking to provide, in a measure at least, for this re- quirement. One of the largest projects of this nature was carried out by the White Valley Irrigation and Power Company, formed as a subsidiary com- pany to the Coldstream Estate, with W. C. Ricardo as manager, and A. E. Ashcroft, C. E., engineer in charge. By this company the Grey Canal was constructed, the largest irrigation system in Canada, with the single excep- tion of the great works carried on by the C. P. R. near Calgary. Over 20,000 acres of fruit lands were by this means furnished with water, and sun- nied slopes transformed by its vivifying influence into productive orchards. At Okanagan Centre, Wood’s Lake, Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland and Penticton, large irrigation works have also been constructed by the land com- panies, and millions of dollars have already been expended on systems of this kind, while hardly more than the fringe of development along these lines has yet been touched. Irrigation combined with foresight, faith, and courage made possible the genesis of the thriving municipalities of Peachland and Summerland. While on the western shore of Okanagan Lake clustered the orchards of Kelowna, the opposite banks for miles to the south presented nothing more inviting to the eye, during the dry season of the year, than a succession of brown and barren hills and slopes. But to the vision of J. M. Robinson, who first visited the valley in 1897, it became apparent that all that was needed to turn these unoccupied areas into prosperous communities were water and cul- tivation. He had good reason for his belief that fruit-growing under such conditions might be successfully prosecuted, for nestling in a hollow near the lake shore on Trepanier Creek was the orchard of C. A. R. Lambly where most excellent peaches and other fine fruits were grown, wdiile a few miles [ 220 ] further down the lake, at Trout Creek, Jas. Gartrell had for several years grown peaches and apples with marked success. Peachland to-day occupies the Lambly ranch and surrounding country, while at the back of Trout Creek now lies the fine district of Summerland, both of which sections have for years been exporting fruit of the highest quality in large and ever-increasing quan- tity. This has been accomplished through the efforts of Mr. Robinson, who succeeded in interesting eastern capitalists in his enterprises, induced set- tlers to come in from his old home in Manitoba, inaugurated irrigation sys- tems, and guided the infant steps of these communities until they could move alone. These fine municipalities stand as living monuments to his faith and perseverance; and across the lake from Summerland is another town, Nara- mata, which he is at present engaged in guiding through the same initial stages. While a very large proportion of the more recent settlers have devoted their attention to fruit-growing a surprising development in mixed farm- ing and dairying has kept step with the extension of the orchard areas. This is particularly the case in the northern Okanagan, including the dis- tricts around Mara, Enderby and Armstrong, while the same may be said of the Lumby and Okanagan Mission sections, where large quantities of hay and vegetables are raised. In fact, the “awakening” which stirred the val- ley when the large farms began to be cut up, has spread to all corners of the district, and the most approved of modern systems of agriculture have succeeded the somewhat hap-hazard methods of an earlier period. The ex- ports of potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, celery and other vegetables are stead- ily increasing, while poultry-raising is also being carried on to a degree that places it well in the front rank of minor industries of the valley. For many years the large farm of Sir Arthur Stepney near Enderby, under the mangement of Mr. George Heggie, furnished an object lesson of what might be accomplished in grain-growing and mixed farming, while in the Kelowna district, John Casorso, one of the early settlers, has won for him- self the name of the “Onion King” by the immense crops of this vegetable which he has grown year after year. Tobacco culture has also been prose- cuted with success in the Kelowna section, where cigar manufactures have been established to work up the excellent quality of the plant which is here produced. The settled portions of the Okanagan, especially the central and south- ern sections, are not heavily timbered, but in some parts of the district are to be found heavy forest growths, and the lumbering industry has been by no means neglected. A large saw-mill at Enderby draws its supply of logs from the Mabel Lake district, while mills of smaller capacity are es- tablished at various other points, including Armstrong, Lumby, Okanagan Landing, Long Lake, Okanagan Centre, Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland and Naramata. A sash and door factory was among the earliest industries established in Vernon, by S. C. Smith, and has developed into a business of large proportions. An electric railway, which will derive its power from Shuswap Falls, is among the enterprises that will mark another stage in the development of the district, and as it will pass through a timbered country at the upper end of White Valley, a new lumbering section promises to be opened by this means. [ 221 ] Mining has never been prosecuted with much vigour or success in the Okanagan, and this industry, which is of such importance in other parts of the Province, has contributed little towards the progress and development of the district. Some placer gold was obtained in early days from Cherry Creek, Whiteman’s Creek and Siwash Creek, and development to some considerable extent has been carried forward on mineral ledges at Monashee and other places in the Okanagan. No shipping mine has yet, however, been brought into operation, and though many good “prospects” have been located, the future of this industry is too uncertain to warrant anything further than a mere mention in these pages. In conclusion, the political history of the valley may he briefly sketched. Col. Houghton, then a resident of the Okanagan, was the first representa- tive of Yale- Kootenay riding in the Dominion House of Commons after Confederation. He was followed in succession by F. J. Barnard (also an Okanagan property-holder, being the owner of the B. X. Ranch) and J. A. Mara. After the census of 1891, Cariboo was added to Yale-Kootenay and in 1896, Hewitt Bostock was elected. He was succeeded in 1901 by W. H. Galliher, and after Yale and Kootenay were divided in 1901, by Duncan Ross, 1904-8 and, subsequently, by Martin Burrell at the elections of 1908 and 1911. In the Provincial Legislature, the first representative of the district was Robert Smith of Victoria. Succeeding him, F. G. Vernon of the Cold- stream Ranch was for many years the member from the district, until he was defeated in 1894 by Donald Graham of Spallumcheen. In 1898 Mr. Graham was opposed by Price Ellison of Vernon, who made his entry into the Legislature. “Party lines” had not up to this time been introduced in provincial poli- tics, Messrs. Vernon, Graham and Ellison all being Conservatives, but in the four succeeding campaigns, through which Mr. Ellison has retained his seat, the Liberal candiates have been, respectively, W. J. Snodgrass of Okana- gan Falls (H. W. Raymer of Kelowna also ran in the campaign as an inde- pendent supporter of Mr. Carter-Cotton), T. W. Stirling of Kelowna, K. C. MacDonald of Vernon and F. R. E. DeHart of Kelowna. In the elec- tion of 1911, Mr. Ellison had for his only opponent Mr. Sterling of Salmon Arm, who ran in the interests of the Socialist party. In the present McBride administration Mr. Ellison holds a portfolio as Minister of Finance and Agri- culture, having first entered the cabinet as Minister of Lands. [ 222 ] THE ADVISORY BOARD. CHAPTER XVIII. In concluding a volume of this nature a few words are necessary regard- ing the members of the Advisory Board to whom the publishers are much indebted for valuable assistance throughout its preparation. These men were selected for the position as being representative of the two cities of Vancouver and Victoria, and they kindly agreed to act in the capacity of advisors. The Hon. E. Dewdney, chairman, has been so frequently referred to as a promi- nent figure in the narrative of the preceding pages as not to require special mention here. Mr. R. P. Rithet is less prominent in public affairs than he used to be; but for many years has been one of the most prominent in business circles in Victoria city, and, in addition, had, as he still has, many interests through- out the Province. Mr. Rithet was the fourth son of the late John Rithet, farmer near Ecclefechan, Dumfrieshire, the birthplace of Thomas Carlyle. He was born the 22nd of April, 1844, at Cleugheads, Parish of Middlebie, and educated at Ecclefechan and Annan. Before coming to British Columbia, in 1862, he had acquired his first business training and experience in a mer- chant’s office in Liverpool. He had many rough and arduous times in the early days of Victoria city, and in a reminiscent mood he could tell of his varied experiences, which included “dock-wolloping” among other things. He had natural business aptitude, however, and soon established a footing for himself, which includes wholesale groceries, insurance, shipping, brokerage, commission, etc. Mr. Rithet has been a large stockholder in various enter- prises, such as the Enderby Milling Company, in the sawmills at Moodyville, afterwards acquired by the Hastings Mill interests, the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, the Albion Iron Works, the Capilano Waterworks, and various metalliferous mining companies, some of which were successful and profitable and some the reverse. Mr. Rithet is essentially a man of big projects. He was the principal promoter of the British Pacific Railway, after the death of the Hon. Robert Dunsmuir, and undertook and carried through the construction of the outer wharf at Victoria, an enterprise cost- ing roughly about $500,000. As a public man, Mr. Rithet has been presi- dent of the Victoria Board of Trade, mayor of the city in 1885, and in 1894 was elected to a seat in the Legislature as one of its members. It was during this Parliament that the British Pacific Railway became an issue which almost ended in the defeat of the Turner Government. In a general way, Mr. Rithet had very sound and clear views on most public questions, and his speech on the financial relations of the Province and the Dominion was one of the ablest of the contributions to that question during the inception of the movement for Better Terms. One of his hobbies is farming, and he has de- veloped two large farms, one in the vicinity of Victoria and the other at Delta. He did not offer himself again for Legislative honours and since his [ 223 ] retirement in 1898 has not taken any active part in public matters; in fact, his business affairs have largely kept him at San Francisco, where he is president of the California & Hawaiian Sugar Refining Company and of the business firm of Welch & Co. The affairs of this company have been con- ducted by him since the death of Mr. Andrew Welch, who was the senior partner in the original firm of Welch, Rithet & Co. of Victoria, the prede- cessors of the firm of R. P. Rithet & Co., who have continued the business established in 1871, and have remained in active operation since. A. H. B. Macgowan, Esq., M. P. P., is an old-timer in Vancouver city, and was the first secretary of the Board of Trade of Vancouver, occupying that position for seven years, the pioneer secretary and one of the founders of the British Columbia Fruitgrowers’ Association, and served for eight years as president and secretary of the Vancouver School Board. He was the son of W. S. Macgowan and Ann Burston Boswell, his wife, Queen’s Co., P. E. I., was born April 14, 1850, is of Scotch-English-Irish descent, and is possessed of characteristics embodying all these three branches of the British stock. Mr. Macgowan was educated at the public schools in Prince Edward Island, and married on July 14, 1874, Miss Fanny M. Hayden of that Province. On coming to Vancouver he engaged in the commission business and subsequently in partnership with his sons has carried on the same class of enterprise, with a general shipping business in addition. Mr. Macgowan was first elected to the Legislature in 1903 and has been twice elected since. In Parliament he has taken a strong and independent stand on several important questions. Charles S. Douglas, Esq., was mayor of Vancouver city, 1909. He came to this Province in 1889 from the Province of Manitoba, and has ever since been engaged in Vancouver city, in the business of real estate. In this re- spect he is one of the few men who never swerved from the line he laid down for himself at the outset. Through adversity and good times, through good and evil report, he clung to business, working industriously and continu- ously, until he developed the large undertaking of which he is now the head, and has acquired large real estate and other interests. From being a com- paratively poor man in 1890 he has become wealthy, and has identified him- self with various enterprises and movements for the building-up and better- ment of the city. The daily calls upon a public-spirited man of means in Vancouver today are very many, and he is among the leading contributors to the various objects in view. Charles Stanford Douglas, Esq., is descended from William Douglas, who came from Scotland in 1640 and settled in Bos- ton, Mass., and is the son of John A. Douglas, who was born at Plattsburg, N. Y., settled in Wisconsin in 1845, and served as quartermaster of the 20th Wisconsin Volunteers during the late American Civil War. He was a sec- ond cousin of the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, who opposed Lincoln for the presidency of the United States in 1860. His son, Charles, was born at Madison, Wis., on the 1st of October, 1852, was educated at Beaver Dam High School and Wayland University, Wisconsin, and came to Canada in 1877, settling at Fort William, Ont., where he published the Day Book news- paper. He moved to Emerson, Manitoba, in 1878, and started the Interna- tional newspaper. He was a member of the Emerson Council in 1881, after- wards mayor, and was returned to the Legislative Assembly on June 23, 1883, when the sitting member was unseated, and was re-elected at the next [224] general election. Mr. Douglas is a Conservative in politics and has always been in British Columbia, as he was in Manitoba, prominently identified with that party. When the Davie Government appealed to the country in 1894, Mr. Douglas contested Richmond Riding as the Government candidate, but, equally with all the Government candidates of the lower Fraser Valley, met defeat by a small majority, mainly owing to a strong feeling that existed on the lower mainland at that time against what was alleged to be an “Island Government,” a feeling which had been rendered more acute by a recent Legislative appropriation of $600,000 for the new Parliament buildings at Victoria. He was first married in 1881 to Annie, daughter of J. C. John- son, Esq., of Toronto, who died in 1908. His present wife, whom he married in 1909, was Elizabeth, widow of the late Major F. F. Manley, of Toronto. Arthur John O’Reilly, Esq., barrister, of the law firm of Messrs. Moresby & O’Reilly, is the son of the late Hon. Peter O’Reilly, whose name is very familiar in British Columbia to old-timers, and who occupied a num- ber of important positions almost from the very first of Crown Colony days until comapatively recent times. Mr. O’Reilly not only occupied honourable positions, but he acquired considerable interests, dying, comparatively speak- ing, a wealthy man. His family, therefore, enjoyed all the advantages which social position and education usually bestow, and are among the best-known of the older members of Victoria social circles. Mr. A. J. O’Reilly was educated at Uppingham School, England, and studied law in the office of Drake, Jackson & Helmcken, Victoria, B. C., being called to the bar July 13th, 1898. William Moore McKay is a member of the legal firm of Messrs. Mc- Kay & O’Brien, Vancouver, and has been prominently associated with politics as secretary of the Liberal-Conservative Association of British Columbia. Mr. McKay was born and educated, in part, at Ottawa, where his family for a long time lived. Mr. McKay went to the Galt Grammar School and also to the Montreal High School. He is, however, a graduate of Toronto Uni- versity. After studying and practising law at Ottawa for a few years he went to the Yukon, and was engaged in his profession for five or six years. Coming to Vancouver in the year 1904 he has since carried on a lucrative practice there. In addition to his regular practice, he is Crown prosecutor for the County of Vancouver; he is president of the Conservative Associa- tion of the city of Vancouver, and vice-president of the Liberal-Conserva- tive Association for the Province. John Dilworth, Victoria, was born in the township of Leeds, Megantic County, Province of Quebec, in the year 1848, and left there at seven years of age with his father to settle in the County of Huron, Ont., in the town- ship of Wawanash. Leaving there in 1868 for the Middle West, he settled near Portage La Prairie. In the years 1868 and 1870 the rebels, in the first Riel Rebellion, had possession of Fort Gariy, and a number of prisoners were immured there. A company of the “boys” in his vicinity was formed for the purpose of going down to the fort and releasing them, and succeeded, but subsequently thirty of the company were taken prisoners; among the number being Thos. Scott, who was shot by order of Riel. Mr. Dilworthy and two others were also sentenced to be shot and were held in duress for thirty days, with nothing but pemmican to eat and cold water to drink. In 1900 [225] he moved to British Columbia, settling at Kelowna, in the Okanagan Val- ley, now one of the best-known fruit sections in the Province, and for nine years carried on stock-raising. In 1909 Mr. Dilworthy moved to Victoria, where he now resides, and is largely interested in property. He is an aider- man of the city. Charles Woodward of Vancouver has been a resident of the Province since 1891. In that year he opened a general store which has developed into a large departmental business. Mr. Woodward, son of John and May Wood- ward, is a native of the Province of Ontario and was born July 19th, 1852. He was educated at Mono College. In 1873 he married Elizabeth Anderson, also a native of Ontario, and has three sons and three daughters. Mr. Wood- ward is a Liberal in politics. [ 226 ] ADDENDA The most important events in the history of the Province are indicated in the following lists of dates. The first relates to the events which may be referred to as epochal in their effect, the mile posts; and the second includes a series since Confederation of the greatest human interest, which have constituted the journalistic framework of that period. Many of these events have not been dealt with in the body of the history on account of consideration of space in a work intended to be mainly political and economic in its treat- ment. HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS. 1284-1825 — Fort Vancouver founded. 1835 — First steamer (Beaver) to Pacific. 1837 — Coal discovered at Fort Rupert (V. I.). 1838, May 30 — Hudson’s Bay Company gets exclusive privilege trade throughout the Indian territory. 1839 — Alaska leased to Hudson’s Bay Company. 1841 — Sir George Simpson visits the Western Department on his tour around the world. 1842 — Victoria selected as Hudson’s Bay Company’s fort. 1843 — Fort Victoria erected. 1845 — First ship England to Victoria. 1846, July 12 — Oregon boundary fixed. 1848 — Gold discovered in California. 1848, Jan. 13 — Vancouver Island ceded to the Hudson’s Bay Company under conditions of settlement. 1849 — Vancouver Island formally erected into a colony. Richard Blanshard appointed governor. 1850, March 10 — Arrival first governor of Vancouver Island. 1850 — Coal discovered at Nanaimo. 1850 — Gold found on Queen Charlotte islands. 1851 — First council Vancouver Island. 1851, Sept. 1 — Governor Blanshard departs. 1852 — Fort Nanaimo founded. 1852 — Victoria city surveyed. 1855 — First school Vancouver Island established. 1856, Aug. 4 — First elections, Vancouver Island. 1856, Aug. 12 — First legislative assembly V. I. Hon. J. S. Helmcken, Speaker. 1856 — San Juan island occupied by American troops, as the result of the “San Juan affair.” 1856— 1857 — Discovery of gold in British Columbia. 1857 — Parliamentary (Imperial) investigation into the affairs of the Hudson’s Bay Company. 1858 — First gold rush of gold miners and settlement of country. 1858, April 25 — First miners arrive in Victoria. 1858 — First sale British Columbia lands. 1858 — British Columbia made Crown colony and boundaries defined. 1858, Sept. 24 — Arrival Lieutenant-Colonel Moody and detachments of Royal Engineers follow. 1859 — Old government buildings begun at Victoria. 1859, Jan. 28 — New Westminster selected capital of British Columbia. 1859 — American General Harney at San Juan. 1859, May 5 — New Westminster founded and named. 1859, June 1 — First sale New Westminster lots. 1859, Sept. 15 — Arrival of Chief Justice M. B. Begbie from England. 1862 — Victoria incorporated. 1862 — Cariboo wagon road begun. 1864 — Chilcotin massacre ( Waddington’s party). 1864, Jan. 21 — First session legislative council, New Westminster. 1864 — Governor Douglas knighted. 1864, June 6 — First issue Cariboo Sentinel. 1864 — Quebec conference to consider confederation. 1865 — Big Bend mining excitement. 1866, June 23 — Miners’ mass meeting, Cariboo. 1866, Nov. 17 — Union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. 1867, March 13 — The United States purchase Alaska. 1867, July 1 — Confederation of Canada. AFTER CONFEDERATION. 1868 — First British Columbia parliament in Victoria. 1868 — Confederation convention, Yale. 1870 — British Columbia decides to enter Confederation. 1871, Jan. 3 — Last meeting of the legislative council. 1871, Jan. 19 — Legislative council passed the terms of union with Canada. 1871, Feb. 14 — Passing Constitution Act. 1871, March 23 — Dr. Black thrown from his horse and killed between New Westminster and Burrard inlet. 1871, April 1 — Terms of union passed House of Commons. 1871, April 12 — Death of Captain Mouatt, H. B. Co., near Fort Rupert. 1871, April 28 — Victoria Pioneer society organized. 1871, April 28 — Pioneer Society organized. 1871, June 16 — First Dominion flag received by Dr. I. W. Powell. 1871, July 15 — Direct telegraphic communication with Cariboo established. 1871, July 25 — Departure of Governor Musgrave for England. 1871, 1872, 1872, 1872, 1872, 1872, 1872, 1872, 1873, 1873, 1873, 1873, 1873, 1873, 1873, 1873, 1873, 1874, 1874, 1875, 1875, 1875, 1875, 1875, 1875, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1877, 1877, 1877, 1878, 1878, 1879, 1879, 1879, 1879, 1880, 1880, 1880, 1880, 1881, 1881, 1881, 1881, 1881, 1882, 18»2, 1882, 1882, 1882, 1883, 1883, 1883. 1883, 1883. 1883, 1883. 1883, 1883, 1883. 1883, 1883, 1883, 1883, 1883, 1883, 1883, 1884, 1884, 1884, 1884, 1884, 1884, 1884, 1884, July 28 — Death of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Demers, the pioneer Roman Catholic missionary. Feb. 15 — First meeting of the British Columbia legislative assembly. Dr. Trimble, Speaker. Feb. 27 — Death of A. Waddington at Ottawa, of smallpox. May 1 — Death of Hon. David Cameron, first Chief Justice of Vancouver Island. Aug. 28 — Death of Captain William Irving, father of Captain John Irving. Sept. 2 — First election for the House of Commons in British Columbia. Oct. 10 — First provincial agricultural exhibition held. Oct. 21 — Death of Captain John Swanson, H. B. Co. Jan. 26 — News of death of E. G. Alston, formerly registrar-general and acting attorney-general, in Sierra Leone. Feb. 15— Death of S. M. Driard, proprietor Driard hotel and Colonial hotel. Feb. 16 — Death of Captain Ella, one of the very early H. B. Co. captains, by drowning at Burrard inlet. March 16 — News of loss of steamer G. S. Wright, near Plumper pass, 31 lives lost. April 20 — Death of Thos. Buie at Yale. Aug. 3 — Death of Lumley Franklin, ex-Mayor of Victoria, at San Francisco. Aug. 28 — News of the discovery of gold in the Cassiar district, by Henry Thibert. Oct. 7 — Foundation stone of the Victoria waterworks laid. Dec. 22— Moody ville saw mill destroyed by fire. March 21 — British Columbia’s first royal commission convened to investigate the Texada island land scandal. Dec. 21— Nanaimo incorporated a city. Jan. 1 — Death of Richard Lewis, ex-Mayor of Victoria. May 19 — Death of Judge A. T. Bushby, son-in-law of Sir James Douglas, at New Westminster. Jan. 6 — Muir’s mills at Sooke destroyed by fire. June 15 — Loss of U. S. warship Saranac in Seymour Narrows. Sept. 3 — Death of Captain W. H. MeNeill, H. B. Co. Nov. 4 — Loss of the steamer Pacific off Cape Flattery, with 383 passengers. Nov. 5 — Attempted murder of Rev. Father Brabant on the west coast by a Hesquiat chief. Aug. 15 — Arrival of Lord Dufferin at Victoria, followed by general celebration and famous "Carnar- von Terms or Separation” episode. Feb. 3 — Strike of miners at Wellington and militia called out, April 28. Aug. 2 — Death of Sir James Douglas, K.C.B. Oct. 7 — Great quartz excitement Cariboo. Nov. 22 — First Thanksgiving day observed by the people of British Columbia. Nov. 8 — Death of Hon. Henry Rhodes, of the pioneer firm of Rhodes & Janion. Dec. 20 — Death by suicide of F. J. Roscoe, M.P., at Victoria. April 17 — Terrible explosion at Wellington colliery, 12 miners killed. Aug. 5 — Death of Captain John Evans, M.P.P., at Stanley, Cariboo. Sept. 19— Death of the Hon. R. W. W. Carrall, B. C. Senator, at Woodstock, Ont. Dec. 7 — J. Ussher and J. Kelly, murdered by the McLean brothers and Hare, outlaws, Kamloops. This was the most notable criminal incident in the history of British Columbia, and created tre- mendous excitement. Ussher and Kelly were shot down in cold blood and the neighborhood terror- ized for some days. The murderers surrendered themselves at Douglas Lake, having been sur- rounded by a posse of 37 constables organized by John T. Edwards, now resident at Louis Creek, near Kamloops. March 11 — Destruction of the Vancouver Coal Company’s works at Nanaimo. July 27 — Disastrous fire at Yale, T. F. McCormick and James McKee died from injuries. Oct. 14 — Great slide on the Thompson river, 20 miles above Spences Bridge, damming the river for 41 hours. Oct. 14 — Town Forks of Quesnel partly destroyed by fire. Jan. 31 — McLean brothers hanged at New Westminster. Feb. 1— News of burning of H. B. Co.’s post and Indian rancherie at Bella Coola. May 15 — Arrival of the first locomotive for the C. P. R. at Yale. June 18 — Launch of the steamer Elizabeth J. Irving; totally destroyed by fire at Hope, Sept. 29. Dec. 1 — Death of Mr. Justice A. Rocke Robertson, first provincial secretary (brother-in-law of Hon. D. M. Eberts), at Victoria. July 31 — Death of Captain James A. Raymur, Victoria (father of J. Raymur, water commissioner). Aug. 11 — Death of Preston Bennett. M.P.P., at Kamloops. Aug. 31 — Death of Hon. John Tod, Mt. Tolmie, a pioneer H. B. Co. official. Sept. 20 — Arrival, on H.M.S. Comus at Victoria, of His Excellency the Marquis of Lome (present Duke or Argyll) and H. R. H. Princess Louise, followed by various functions and visits to various parts of the province. Nov. 16 — Esquimau contested election case, unseating of Hon. J. R. Hett (attorney-general) and seating of Charles E. Pooley. Jan. 17 — Canadian Pacific Navigation Company formed. Jan. 23 — Excitement about a proposed Fenian invasion in militia circles. Jan. 27 — Beaven Government resigned (succeeded by the Smithe administration). Feb. 2 — Gold discoveries in Kootenay; bonanza announced. Feb. 2 — First sale of Port Moody lots, at New Westminster. Feb. 7 — Loaded teams crossed the Fraser river on ice at New Westminster. April 3 — Death of John Muir, pioneer settler, at Sooke, aged 83. May 3 — Loss of the steamer Grappler, destroyed by fire four miles from Seymour Narrows, about 50 lives lost. May 12 — Lieutenant Diggle, R.N., disposed of his interests in Wellington colliery to Hon. Robert Dunsmuir. May 31 — The twenty-fifth anniversary of Father Rondeau’s settlement in Cowichan celebrated. June 6 — Death of Ebenezer Brown, formerly president of the council, at New Westminster. July 1 — A company formed to work a copper lode at Sooke, "traced for twenty miles.” July 20 — First rail laid at Port Moody. July 29 — Arrival at Victoria of Sir Alexander Campbell, Ottawa, Dominion minister of justice, to arrange terms of settlement act. Sept. 28— Arrival of (Sir) Sandford Fleming and Principal Grant overland from London, England. Sept. 29 — Joseph Hunter and party started to select a route for the E. & N. railway. Nov. 7 — Death of James Douglas, eldest son of Sir James Douglas, at San Francisco. Jan. 27 — Edward Hanlan. the oarsman, in Victoria. April 12 — Contract awarded to McNamee & Co. for the construction of the dry dock at Esquimalt. May 9 — Death of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, one of the best known of the officials, who occu- pied various public offices and was a writer of ability. May 9— The old steamer Wilson G. Hunt, which came around the Horn in 1849, laid up for good. June 5— The British Columbia Express Company succeeded the old Barnard Express on the Cariboo wagon road. July 1 — A serious explosion at the South Wellington mines, twenty-three men killed. Oct. 21 — First cable message across the straits. Nov. 6 — H. M. S. Satellite left Esquimalt for Metlakatla, in anticipation of Indian troubles, as the result of the dispute between Missionary Duncan and Bishop Ridley. 1884, Nov. 30 — Death of Sheriff Harris, first Mayor of Victoria. 1884, Dec. 22 — Death of Leopold Lowenburg, uncle of Carl Dowenburg, German consul, Victoria. 1885, Jan. 1 — Death of Hon. Dr. Trimble. 1885, March 31 — Disallowance of the Chinese restriction act by the Dominion Government announced. 1885, June 5 — Capture of Sproule, the Kootenay murderer of Thomas Hammill (June 3). The trial was a cause celebre. 1885, Aug. 12 — Arrival of first locomotive for E. & N. railway. 1885, Aug. 22 — Opening of the Point Ellice bridge, Victoria, the same that subsequently collapsed with such terribly fatal results. 1885, Oct. 7 — Official visit of the Marquis of Lansdowne to Victoria, having come overland on the route of the C. P. R. 1885, Oct. 17 — First railway engine crossed the Columbia river at Farwell (Revelstoke). 1885, Nov. 4 — C. P. R. telegraph connected with Winnipeg. 1885, Nov. 6 — First train over the C. P. R. from the east, and last spike driven by Sir Donald Smith, 11 p. m. 1885, Nov. 8 — (Sir) C. W. Van Horne and party arrive at Victoria over the C. P. R. 1885, Nov. 22 — First through freight received at Port Moody over C. P. R. 1886, Jan. 18 — Arrival of Harry Abbott, general superintendent of the Pacific division of the C. P. R. 1886, April 17 — Death of Dr. John Ash, formerly provincial secretary. 1886, June 13 — Total destruction of Vancouver city by fire. 1886, June 26 — The Esquimau dry dock completed. 1885, July 24 — Sir John A. Macdonald and party arrive over the C. P. R. at Victoria. 1886, July 31 — First issue of the Daily Columbian at New Westminster. 1886, Aug. 3 — Sir George and Lady Stephen and party arrive in Victoria. 1886, Aug. 13 — First through train over the E. & N. railway; Sir John A. Macdonald drives the last spike near Shawnigan lake, Friday. 1886, Sept. 20 — Death of J. A. R. Homer, M.P., New Westminster. 1886, Oct. 16 — Victoria Colonist sold by D. W. Higgins to Ellis & Co. 1886, Oct. 17 — The German vessel Bylgia arrives at Port Moody, 22 y 2 days from Yokohama, with a cargo of tea for overland shipment. 1886, Oct. 29 — Hanging of R. S. Sproule at Victoria for murder of Thomas HammilT at Kootenay lake (3rd of June, 1885). 1886, Dec. 3 — Mr. Raybould, M.P.P., Nanaimo, fell off the rear platform of his store and instantly killed. 1886, Dec. 5 — First press telegrams received over the C. P. R. telegraph line published in Colonist. 1887, Feb. 22 — Death of J. C. Pimbury, a very early pioneer, at Quamichan. 1887, April 28 — News of death of Major-General Clement Moody, formerly commandant of the Royal Engineers and commissioner of lands and works, British Columbia, at Bournemouth, England. 1887, May 3— Terrible explosion in No. 1 shaft. New Vancouver coal mine, Nanaimo. 1887, May 10 — Death of Captain H. B. Good at Victoria. 1887, July 2 — The seizure of the sealing schooner Anna Beck in Bering sea. 1887, Nov. 28 — The murder of Bishop Seghers, of Victoria, in Alaska. 1887, July 20 — Opening of the Esquimau graving dock, H. M. S. Cormorant first to enter. 1887, Aug. 6 — The Hon. Thos. White, minister of the interior, visited Victoria. 1887, Sept. 15 — Canada-China mail subsidy. It is announced in the Victoria Colonist, that Lord Salisbury on behalf of the Imperial Government agrees to the proposal of Sir John A. Macdonald for the granting of a mail subsidy to the C. P. R. for a bi-monthly mail service between Hong Kong and Montreal, amounting to $220,000 per annum. 1887, Nov. 26 — Vancouver illuminated with gas. 1887, Dec. 1 — Standard time adopted in Victoria. 1888, Jan. 24 — Gas explosion in the Wellington colliery, 75 perished. 1888, Feb. 15 — East Wellington mine closed down on account of dispute with miners; opened up with all Chinamen employed. 1888, Feb. 9 — News of death of H. E. Wilby, old-time resident Esquimalt, at Oporto, Portugal. 1888, March 30 — William Rich, a ’52 pioneer, died at Nanaimo. 1888, July 6 — Arrival of the first C. P. R. steamer Parthia at Victoria. 1888, July 16 — “C” battery and a number of specials left in H. M. S. Caroline for scene of Indian troubles at Skeena. 1888, July 29 — Death of Very Rev. Father Jonckan, a pioneer Oblate missionary, at Victoria. 1888, Aug. 3 — Death of Coote M. Chambers, a pioneer accountant, well known. 1888, Aug. 5 — Consecration of Rt. Rev. J. N. Lemmens, R. C. Bishop of Vancouver Island and Alaska. 1888, Aug. 22— New Westminster Southern railway begun. 1888, Aug. 25 — First consignment of Chilliwack fruit sent to Winnipeg. 1888, Sept. 11 — Death of Thomas Elwyn, deputy provincial secretary. 1888, Sept. 27 — The inauguration of Stanley park, Vancouver. 1888, Sept. 30 — Arrival of Major-General Sir Frederick Middleton, commander of Canadian forces, at Victoria. 1888, Oct. 11 — Arrival of Dwight L. Moody, evangelist, at Victoria. 1888, Oct. 19 — Death of Charles J. Phillips, first chief of the Victoria fire brigade. 1888, Nov. 20 — Death of an Indian woman, S. Kunotia Cornechian, at Victoria, aged 116 years. 1888, Dec. 9 — Arrival of steamer Islander from Glasgow. 1889, Jan. 11 — The Islander and Premier refused a landing at Vancouver on account of smallpox epi- demic at Victoria. 1889, Feb. 9 — Arrival of Sir George Baden-Powell. 1889, March 5 — First banquet of the board of trade, Vancouver, at the Hotel Vancouver. 1889, April 9 — Death of Hon. Charles E. Elliott, former premier, at San Francisco. t889. April 12 — Death of the Hon. Robert Dunsmuir at Victoria. 1889, Mav 10 — Opening of the Victoria public library. 1889, June 5 — Death of the Hon. Mr. Justice Gray (one of the Fathers of Confederation in 1867). 1889, Aug. 1 — Death of the Hon. A. E. B. Davie, Premier* of British Columbia. 1889, Aug. 8— Ice first manufactured at Victoria. 1889, Sept. 2 — Commenced construction of the Victoria electric tramway. 1889, Sept. 5 — Telephone line opened between Comox and Victoria. 1889, Oct. 19 — Death of E. V. Bodwell, Sr.. Vancouver, at Field. 1889, Oct 31 — Arrival of Their Excellencies Lord and Lady Stanley at Vancouver. 1 889, Dec. 9 — New Westminster lighted with electricity for the first time. 1 890, Feb. 19 — Inauguration of the tramway in Victoria. 1890, March 31 — Edward Allen, M.P.P. Lillooet, died at Victoria. 1890, April 3 — Commencement of ocean docks at Victoria by R. P. Rithet. 1890, April 5 — D. Chisholm. M.P.. New Westminster, died. 1890, May 2 — Death of Uriah Nelson at Victoria. 1890, May 21 — Arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. 1890, June 26 — Opening of Vancouver electric tramway. 1890, Aug. 25 — Death of Henry H. Wootton at Victoria. 1890, Aug. 27 — Thomas Basil Humphreys, formerly minister of finance and provincial secretary, died. 1890, Dec. 2 — Death of James Mason, M.P.P., for Cariboo. 1890, Dec. 8 — Death of ex-Mayor Fell, Victoria. 1890, Dec. 19 — News of the death of Charles Oppenheimer at San Francisco, a prominent and very early pioneer. 1891, Feb. 14 — Opening ceremonies of the New Westminster Southern railway at Blaine, Washington. 1891, April 15 — Death of J. R. Hett, barrister, Victoria. 1891, April 28 — Arrival of the C. P. R. steamer Empress of India. Celebration and banquet in Vancouver in honour. 1891, Sept. 12 — H. O. Tiedemann, a well-known surveyor and architect, Victoria, died. 1891, Sept. 17 — John Kurtz, noted pioneer, died at Victoria. 1891, Sept 21 — A. A. Green, of Garesche, Green & Co., Victoria, died. 1891, Sept. 23 — Marriage of Sir Richard John Musgrave and Miss Jessie Sophia Dunsmuir at Victoria. 1891, Sept. 25 — Visit of Baroness Macdonald to Vietoriq. 1891, Oct. 18 — Death of the Hon. A. F. Pemberton, pioneer of 1855, police magistrate and county court judge, Victoria. 1892, Jan. 4 — Arrival of steamer “Quadra” from England. 1892, Jan. 20— Death of Hon. Roderick Finlayson, a well-known Hudson’s Bay Company official. 1892, Jan. 27 — Appointment of British Columbia Fisheries Commission by the Dominion Government. 1892, March 15 — Government steamer “Quadra” goes into commission. 1892, March 19 — Decision of C. P. R. to build through Crow's Nest Pass announced. 1892, March 21- — Act introduced in Legislature to authorize the settlement of Crofters on British Colum- bia Coast for purposes of fisheries development. 1892, April 5 — Rudyard Kipling and bride arrive in Victoria from Japan. 1892, April 8 — -A. O. U. W. Grand Lodge British Columbia was formed. 1892, April 21 — J. M. and Robert Kennedy, publishers New Westminster Columbian, brought before the Bar of the House for contempt. 1892, June 15 — Lord Hannen and Sir John Thompson appointed representatives of Great Britain in Ber- ing Sea arbitration. 1892, June 17 — Death of Thomas Ferguson, Saanich, at the age of 101. 1892, June 28— Imperial Parliament sanctions the loan to British Columbia for carrying out the Crofter project, which subsequently came to naught. 1892, June 30 — Death of Hon. John Robson, Premier of British Columbia, in London, England. 1892, July 12 — Government regulations issued re smallpox epidemic and port of Victoria quarantined. 1892, Sept. 12 — Death of Chief Scomiak of the Songhees. 1892, Sept. 15 — General Sir John Ross, commanding H. M. forces in Canada, arrived in Victoria. 1892, Sept. 21 — Seizure of 37 sealers (men from various schooners) by Russians and sent to sea in con- demned schooner Rosie Olsen, arrived safely at Vancouver. 1892, Sept. 25 — Seizure of sealing vessels at Ounalaska by Americans. 1892, Oct. 7 — Royal Commission appointed to inquire into smallpox outbreak. 1892, Oct 20 — Baroness Macdonald arrived in Victoria. 1892. Oct 28 — Inauguration of regular tramway service between Vancouver and New Westminster. 1892, Nov. 8 — Japanese warship “Kongs” arrives at Esquimalt. 1892, Nov. 15 — Dominion Prohibition Commission in Victoria taking evidence. 1892, Nov. 15 — First Assizes held in Vancouver. Judge McCreight presiding. 1893, Feb. 19 — Death of D. W. Gordon, M.P., at Nanaimo. 1893, Feb. 28 — Sale of “Silver King,” Nelson, to Scotch capitalists is announced. 1893, March 3 — Death of Hon. Hugh Nelson in London, England. 1893, March 16- — F. M. Rattenbury's plans for new Government Building is accepted. 1893, May 18 — Steamer “Miowera,” first of Australian line, leaves Sydney for Vancouver. 1893, May 27 — Death of I. B. Nason, M.P.P., Cariboo, at Victoria. 1893, June 19 — Rt. Rev. W. W. Perrin enthroned in Victoria as Lord Bishop of Columbia. 1893, July 20 — Completion of Mackenzie’s overland journey celebrated at Victoria by meeting of pioneers. 1893, Aug. 15 — Award of the Bering sea arbitration made. 1893, Aug. 19 — “C” Battery left Victoria for Quebec. 1893, Aug. 25 — Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry at Agassiz. 1893, Aug. 26 — Edward Holmes completed walk from Montreal to Vancouver, 2,926 miles in 2,700 hours. 1893, Oct. 16 — Death of Rev. Rather Mondart, pioneer of 1863. 1893, Oct. 23 — Death of Moses Lumby, promoter of Shuswap & Okanagan railway, at Okanagan. 1893, Nov. 11 — Death of Joseph Despard Pemberton, first surveyor-general of Vancouver Island. 1893, Dec. 12 — Sir Mackenzie Bowell returns from Australia. 1894, Jan. 2 — Death of Captain Gold of Queen Charlotte Island exploring repute. 1894, March 2 — Failure of Green, Worlock & Company’s Bank at Victoria, with heavy loss to depositors. 1894, May 25 — Royal City Mills, New Westminster, destroyed by fire. 1894, May 29 — Unprecedented floods in the Fraser River Valley which was inundated; great loss and suffering involved. 1894, June 2— Opening of Victoria & Sidney Railway. 1894, June 5 — Disastrous storm at Kaslo, great damage done. 1894, Aug. 24 — Execution of Hugh Lynn for Savary Island murder. Lynn was born on the ship “Thames City,” which brought out a detachment of Royal Engineers in 1859. Lynn Creek, North Vancouver, was named after his father. 1894, Oct. 16 — Death of Charles Freezy, Chief of the Songhees. Chief Cooper elected to succeed him. 1894, Oct. 20 — Norwegians established a colony at Bella Coola. 1895, Aug. 15 — Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Premier and Hon. T. M. Daly, Minister of the Interior in Victoria- 1895, Oct. 23 — W. A. Carlyle appointed Provincial Mineralogist for British Columbia. 1895, Nov. 6 — Opening of Nelson & Fort Sheppard Railway. 1895, Nov. 29 — D. S. Milligan, pioneer of 1860, died at New Westminster. 1895, Nov. 29 — John Wintermute, pioneer of 1865, died at New Westminster. 1895, Dec. 1 — Death of George Williscroft, Hudson’s Bay Company official at Georgetown, near Fort Simpson. 1895, Dec. 16 — British Columbia obtains Cabinet representation at Ottawa in the appointment of Hon. E. G. Prior, of Victoria, as Comptroller of the Department of Internal Revenue. 1895, Dec. 13 — Death of Alexander Fraser, pioneer prospector and son of the late Paul Fraser of the Hudson’s Bay Company. 1896, Feb. 1 — Trail smelter commences operation. 1896, April 9 — Terrible explosion of nitro-glycerine at Departure Bay. 1896, April 9 — Death of the Hon. A. J. Langley, merchant pioneer of 1S5S and prominent in public affairs. 1896, May 24 — Point Ellice bridge disaster at Victoria, 55 persons drowned; span collapsed. 1896, Sept. 15 — Li Hung Chang, Chinese Ambassador, arrives at Vancouver. 1896, Oct. 25 — Death of Captain Martley, pioneer of 1S62, at Liilooet. 1896, Nov. 19 — Hon. Israel Tarte, Dominion Minister of Public Works, visits Victoria. 1896, Nov. 23 — First meeting of the Bering Sea Claims Commission at Victoria. 1896, Dec. 5 — Hon. Louis H. Davies, Minister Marine and Fisheries, visited Victoria. 1896, Dec. 17 — Hon. Mr. Blair, Minister of Railways and Canals, visited Victoria. 1897, Jan. 9 — Death of Henry Lawson, editor of the Colonist, at Victoria. 1897, Jan. 10 — -Survey of Crow’s Nest Pass Railway begun. 1897, Jan. 21 — News of transfer of Kootenay Steam Navigation Company to C. P. R. 1897, Feb. 3 — Bering Sea Commission concludes sittings at Victoria. 1897, April 1 — Railway Bill submitted providing for $2,500,000 aid in construction of railways. IV 1897, April 5 — Death of Thomas E. Kitchen, M.P.P., at Chilliwack. 1897, April 8 — Doss of steamship “Coquitlam” in Malaspina Strait. 1897, May 10 — Death of Mrs. David Oppenheiber by falling from train en route to Philadelphia. 1897, May 30 — Dong list of suits filed against Victoria in re Point Ellice bridge disaster. 1897, July 3 — Steve Tingley sold out his stage and express business in Ashcroft. 1897, July 4 — Death of Hon. Amor de Cosmos at Victoria. 1897, July 7 — West Kootenay Power & Dight Co., started operations at Nelson. 1897, July 9 — Coke ovens at Union in successful operation. 1897, July 20 — -Klondyke excitement at its height. Thousands went in over White Pass and Dyea Pass, business in all the coast cities being greatly stimulated. Facilities of communication were great- ly increased by building of White Pass Railway and establishment of line of steamers from White Horse to Dawson. 1897, Aug. 22 — Consecration of Bishop Dontenwill at New Westminster. 1897, Sept. 19 — Drowning of ex-Mayor Fred Cope, Vancouver, while crossing the Skagway River. 1897, Sept. 25 — Dong distance telephone between Nelson and Rossland in operation. 1897, Nov. 3 — Hon. Clifford Sifton addressed Board of Trade, Victoria, en route from the Yukon. 1897, Dec. 1G — News of death of J. F. Allison, pioneer of Princeton. 1897, Dec. 31 — Death of David Oppenheimer, ex-Mayor, Vancouver, pioneer of British Columbia and very prominently associated in business and municipal affairs. 1898, Jan. 12 — Death of Bishop Dootens at Victoria. 1898, Jan. 1G — Sudden death of William Templeton, retiring Mayor of Vancouver. 1898, Jan. 27 — Announcement of arrangement with Mackenzie & Mann to build line from Telegraph Creek to Teslin Bake. 1898. Feb. 10 — ^'Opening of new Parliament Buildings at Victoria. 1898, Feb. . . — W. A. Carlyle resigns as Provincial Mineralogist and goes to Rossland. 1898. Feb. 26 — Death of D. B. Hamlin, C.E., at Dawson, as the result of exposure. 1898, March 7 — Death of Chief Justice Davie. 1898, March 9 — Resignation of Speaker Higgins on account of difference with Government over Cassiar Railway concession. 1898, May 4 — Introduction of Doan Act to raise $5,000,000 for aiding 1,040 miles of railway. 1898, July 3 — Earl and Countess of Aberdeen visit Victoria. 1898, Aug. 5 — -Induction of Rt. Rev. Alexander Christie, Bishop of Vancouver, at Victoria. 1898, Aug. 8 — Hon. J. H. Turner dismissed by Dt. Governor as Premier and former Premier Robert Bea- ven, called upon to form a government. 1898, Aug. 9 — Dord Herschell visits Victoria and is banquetted by members of the Daw Society. 1898, Aug. 13 — Excitement over the discovery of gold in Atlin District, to which subsequently there was a large rush. 1898, Sept. 10 — Great fire at New Westminster, and complete destruction of the business portion of the city. 1898, Oct. 5 — Dt. Gen. Dord William Seymour, commanding British forces in Canada, arrives in Vic- toria. 1898, Nov. 21— Police Magistrate Macrae, Victoria, dismissed by Attorney-General Martin. 1 898. Nov. 17 — Death of Wm. McGregor, Manager of North Vancouver Coal Company, at Nanaimo. 1898, Nov. 19 — Doss of steamer "Ainsworth” and nine lives on Kootenay Bake. 1 898, Nov. 26 — Commencement of Nelson & Bedlington Railway. 1899, Jan. 1 — News of death of James Yates in Edinburgh, a pioneer of 1849 and member of the first legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island. 1899, Feb. 20 — Vancouver excited over the lease of Dead Man’s Island to Mr. Dudgate. 1899. March 6 — Death of Jacob Denz, founder of Benz & I3 .0*1133332 Y3W3H T3O3H0OH (lavuoDnfiV) .balsoubS .8^81 ,riJQ ,.gn3 .nobnoJ t nio8 IfiisnsO .dC8I ,.D .3 oJ srrsD ,gn3 .agalloD no*3 lo isdmaM .oD ^EwIisSI ohioalS .0 .3 lagBitEM bns ,briBlgn3 ,2i99nign3 IsohloalS lo aJMiJanl ariJ -ign3 lEohloalS lo sii/Jbanl nfioiismA isdmsJn .813911 ROCHFORT HENRY SPERLING FREDERICK BERNARD PEMBERTON (“Mountjoy,” Victoria) Born, Victoria, April 26th, 1865. Educated, Uni- versity College, London. Began business career as junior member of firm of Pemberton & Son, 1887. Real estate and financial agent. FREDERICK BERNARD PEMBERTON 'ViobnuoM*') woTHaaMaa dHAwaaa aoiaaaaaa (shoJoiV -inU .bsifiouba .2381 ,dJ3S liiqA .shoiaiV ,mo8 1391S3 asetniai/d nsgsa .nobnoJ .sgsIIoD ^Jiaiav ,no3 & noJiadmal lo tmft io isdrrwnr toinut as .inags Isbnsnft bns slBisa IsaSJ A88I FREDERICK BERNARD PEMBERTON JOHN SAMUEL H. MATSON (Victoria) Born, York County, Ont., April 21st, 1869. Edu- cated, Pickering College, Pickering, Ont., Days Commercial College, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Ont. Lumbering in woods, Northern Michigan, 1885-1889. Came to B. C., 1889. Real Estate, Insurance and General Brokerage business, Victoria, 1889-1905. Purchased Colonist, 1906. Acquired News Advertiser, 1910, and purchased Nanaimo Herald, 1912. Specially and successfully represented the Government of B. C., negotiating the surrender by the Indians of the Songhees Reservation, within Victoria City, the acquirement of a new reservation and the removal thereto of the Songhees Indians, 1911. Managing Director of Victoria Transfer Co., Managing Director of Hickman Tye Hardware Co. JOHN SAMUEL H. MATSON (■ B'noloiV ) VI02TAM .H J3UMA2 MHOl -ub3 .6981 ,JaiS IhqA ,.}nO ,x}m/oD dioY ,mo9 gyfiCI ,.JnO .gnhajfoia .agalloD gnhadoia .baJBO .agsfloO IfiiuHuohgA oiiEJnO .agalloD IsbiamraoD msriJioM ,aboow ni gniisdrru/J dnO ,riql 3 uO IbsH .6881 ,.0 .3 ot amsO .6881-2881 .nfigirioiM .aasniaud agsiadoia IfiiansO bits aonBiuanl , 9 l£}a 3 .9061 .JainoloO bsaBrioma .2061-6881 .BiioiDiV bsaBriomq bns ,0161 .isainavbA aw sH baiiupoA Ylluiaaaaoua bns ^Ilfiioaqg .SI6I ,bl£i 9 H omiBnBW gnilfibogan ,.D .3 lo insmmavoO aril baJnaaaiqai aaadgnog aril lo anfiibnl aril labnanua srii inamatiupoB arf* ,^iO EhobiV niriliw .nobfiviaaaH lo olaiaril Ifivomai aril bn£ noilBviaaai wan b lo lolaa-iiCI gnigEnsM .1161 , anfiibnl aaarignog ad* lo lolaa-iid gnigBnfiM ,.oD ialan£iT EholoiV lo ,oO aiswbifiH a^T nfimjbiH JOHN SAMUEL H MATSON CHARLES D. RAND (Vancouver) Born, Canning, N. S., August 26th, 1858. Edu- cated, Acadia University, Degree B. A. Came to B. C., 1879. Commenced business as real estate broker in New Westminster, 1882. Was Principal of the New Westminster High School. Now en- gaged in real estate and stock brokerage business. CH (isvuoonsV) CIWA5I .d 83JHAH3 -ub3 .8S8I ,rf7c)S JanguA ,.8 .VL ,§ninns3 ,mofl o7 soibO .A .3 33733(1 .^JieisvinU sibsaA .bstBD 37 b723 Ib37 bb aesnisud bsonsmmoD ,Q^8I ,.0 .H iBqioniid sbW .S88I ,73ianimJ83W wsH ni isjlcnd -ns woM .Ioorio8 rigiH isJanimJasW wsH sriJ lo .883nia ud 3§B73>Io7d jiooia bns sJbJbs Ibsi ni bagsg CHARLES D. RAND W. CRAWLEY RICARDO (Coldstream Estate, Vernon) Born, Gatcombe, Minchin, Lampton, Gloucester, Eng., April 6th, 1864. Educated, Marlborough College, Jesus College, Cambridge, Degree B. A. Commenced business career as stockman in Al- berta. Came to Vernon, 1895, as manager of Gold- stream Estate. Member of Horticultural Board of B. C. Developer of Coldstream Estate and the fruit industry in the Okanagan Valley. W. CRAWLEY RICARDO (noma V .aJEJaS mfia-ilabfoO) OCLHAOIH Y3JWAH3 .W ,i9J89DuoIO .noJqmBJ .nirbniM .admoolsD ,mo3 rignoiodlieM ,ba*6Di/b3 .£381 ,riJ3 IhqA ,.gn3 .A .S aaigaG .agbhdmED .agailoD auaat .agadoO -IA ni nsnuiDOJz as laaiso aaaniand baanammoO -bloD lo ia§Ensrn as ,£Q8I .nornaV o} arriBD .Bltad biBoS iBUJlInabioH lo ladmaM .alBiaS msaiJa aril bns a}B}a3 msaUabloO lo laqoIavaG .0 .3 lo .^allfiV nBgBnBdO arfr ni ^itaubni liml W. CRAWLEY RICARDO RICHARD MASON PALMER (Kamloops and Victoria) Born, Gayton, Eng., March 12th, 1859. Educated, Swaffham Grammar School. Came to B. C. from the Middle West in 1894 and engaged in farming and fruit-growing. Has held the office of Prov- incial Fruit Inspector, Provincial Freight Rates Commissioner, Secretary Bureau of Information and Deputy Minister of Agriculture. Resigned latter in 1902 to become Managing Director B. C. Fruit Lands, Ltd., Financial Agent. Has large land interests. RICHARD MASON bn £ aqooImeX) aSMJA'I H02AM (35IAHDI5I (fiiiobiV .baJBDuba .QS8I ,ri:tSI HdibM ,.§n3 .noJyfiO ,mo3 moil .0 .8 ot smsO .Ioorfo8 ismmBiO mBrfllBwS gnirmfil ni bagBgna bnB A68I ni JeaW slbbiM arh -vo:t3 lo 33tfto ariJ blari beH .gniwoig-iiinl bnB bsIbH lrfgbi3 hsionivoia .lobaqanl lima Ifibni noilBimolnl lo ubshjH yisiaioag .isnoiasimmoO bangiBaJI .aimluohgA lo laiainiM xJuqaCI bnB .0 .8 loJooiia gnigBnBM amooad o} S06I ni isilsl agiBl bbH .JnagA iBionsnia ,.bJJ .ebnfij iima .3lB3i3Jni bnsl RICHARD MASON PALMER CAMPBELL SWEENY (Vancouver) Born, Phillipsburg, Que. Junior Clerk Bank of Montreal, Hamilton, 1863. Opened Winnipeg office and was manager of same, 1877-1887. Opened Van- couver branch, 1887. Appointed Supt. B. C. Branches, 1901. Mgr. and Supt. B. C. Branches, The Bank of Montreal. Director B. C. Packers’ Ass’n. Local Director Royal Trust Co. Director Western Power Co. CAMPP r (^vuoonsV) YM33W8 JJSfl'IM AD lo JnsQ AialO loinut -sup .giudaqilfiriq ,m 0 a 33 ™° 8®q«miW bonoqO .£68 1 .noilimsH .IsaunoM -nsV bsttsqO .X881-XX81 .amsa lo ia S aasin asw bn 6 •3 .3 -lqu2 baJnioqqA .V88I ,rion B id iovuod .aarionBiH .D .3 ,)qu8 bus .t§M ,I0Pi .aorfonsia ei33iD£q .D .a loJoaiid .iBaUnoM lo Jlnsa oriT loiooiid .oD tauiT Ib^oH lolooiid IbooJ .n'zsA .oD iswoq molaoW CAMPBELL SWEENY GEORGE JOHN HAMMOND (Vancouver) Born at Port Dover, Ontario, January 15, 1866, and educated at the public school there. Came to Nelson, B. C., in August, 1907. President of the Natural Resources Security So., Limited, and Director of the Babine Mining Company, and West Shore and Northern Land Co., Ltd., Van- couver. Has taken great interest in the develop- ment of the northern interior, and is largely in- terested in mining and lands. One of the found- ers of Fort George townsite. GEORGE JOHN HAMMOND (isvu oonnV) OMOMMAH MHOl 30HO3O ,5081 ,£I xi fiunf5 l .oiiBinO .lavoG 1109 Jb mo8 amsD .aiarfl toorioa oilduq sri* )b balEoub-o bns lo Inabiaaia AOCi ,JauguA ni ,.3 .9 .noalsH o* bnB .baiimiJ ,.o2 Yiiii/DsB Ibh/*bW arit bnB ,^nfiqmoD gniniM snidsa adl lo loJcoiiG -hbV ,.b*J ,.oD bnsJ mariJioM bns 3iod2 laaW -qobvsb aril ni *aai3*ni *B3ig nads* bbH .iovuoo -ni ^lagiBl ai bns .loiiaJni marfiion aril lo insm -bni/ol ad* lo snO .abnfil bnB gninim ni balaaMi .atianwol sgioaG iio9 lo aia GEORGE JOHN HAMMOND WILLIAM McNEILL (“Ardgowan,” Vancouver) Born, Inverkip, Renfrewshire, Scotland, 1867. Educated, Hamilton College, New York. Com- menced business with Harvey and Co., Chicago, 1889. Came to Victoria in 1895. Appointed assist- ant to Hon. W. C. Wells, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, 1900. Resigned, 1904, to be- come parliamentary agent for Vancouver-West- minster and Yukon Railway Co. Managing Di- rector Western Canada Power Co. Vice-Presi- dent Vancouver-Westminster and Yukon Railway Co. Brother to Rev. John McNeill, evangelist. CwvuoanfiV ".nEwogbiA 1 *) JJISMdM MAIJJIW A58I .bxifilJoag .aiiriswailnaH .qijhavnl ,mo8 -moO .jftoY waVI .saalloO aoJlioiBH JbatEouba (OgfiairfO ,.oO bnE yavisH ritiw aasniaud baonam -JaiaaB bsinioqqA .£Q8I ni shoJaiV oi jmsD .6881 lo lanoiaaimmoO lairiO t aIl9W .0 .W !noH oJ Ins -sd oJ ,£061 .bangiaaSI .0061 ,ajhoW bms abnfiJ -JaaW-iavuoanfiV iol JnagB ^iBJnamBihBq smoj -IQ gnigBnsM .o3 yewIibSI hojIuY bns isJanim -iasia-aoiV .oD iswol Bb eheO mslaaW ioJdsi YEwIIbH nojIi/Y bnB isJanimJaaW-iavuoonBV inab .la il3§nBV3 JlisMoM nrioX, .vsH oi ladioiS .oD WILLIAM McNEILL JOHN HOPP (Barkerville) Born at Preston, Minnesota, 1863, and educated at public schools. Came to Canada, 1879, and to Vic- toria in the same year. Has followed profession of mining for years, his efforts being principally devoted to placer mines in the Cariboo district. (siiivMjhBa) qqoH mhoi Jb bsiBDufas bns ,£d8I .BioaanniM .nolaaiq Jb mo9 -otV ot bns ,QT8I .BbEfifiO ot amsO .atoorioa oilduq noiaaslcnq bawollol beH .ib9\j sitibz arfi ni shot 'fllBqianhq gniad aJiofte aid ,giss^ ioI gninim io .JoiiJaib oodiisO arh ni eanim laoelq oJ baiovab JOHN HOPP JOHN HAROLD SENKLER, K. C. (Vancouver) Barrister at Law, Born, Brockville, Ont., July 24th, 1866. Educated, Upper Canada College and Toronto University; Degree B. A. Began to prac- tise profession Toronto, 1892. Came to Van- couver, 1893. Candidate provincial elections, Van- couver, 1909, and Dominion House of Commons, 1911. Bencher of Law Society of B. C. (• mviiooneV ) .0 .51 .H3J5IM38 CIJOHAH MHOL yli/l ,.inO .sllivjbcnS ,moa .weJ )b -tatai-nsa bne sgsIIoO BbsnED isqqU .baJBDi/ba .dd8I ,rf*£S -OBiq oi nBgaS A .9 ssigaQ ;\jJiai9vinU oJnoioT -rtfiV oJ amfiD .S68I .oinoioT noiaaaloiq aaiJ -hbV .anoiioala iBionivoiq atsbibriEC) .£681 ,i 9 vu oo .anommoO lo aauoH noinimoQ bns ,9061 ,isvuod . 3 .3 lo Yl»bo2 wbJ lo isrionaa .1161 JOHN HAROLD SENKLER CAPT. S. F. MACKENZIE (Vancouver) Steamship agent. Born, Elgin, Scotland, June 3, 1857. Educated, Scotland. Engaged in steam- ship shipping business in North Seas. Came to B. C., 1888. Pioneer in deep sea (halibut) fishing in B. C. S. F. MACKENZIE (isvuoDrisV) 3ISW3XDAM .3 .3 .T*IA3 ,£ snut, .bnBlioog .nigta ,mo8 .insgs qirfameaJg -m B3J2 ni bagegna .bnehoag .baieouba AJ8I oJ sitieD .3B32 riJioW ni aasniaud gniqqiria qirla gniriafl (Judileri) eaa qssb ni iMnoi*? .8881 ,.0 .9 .0 .9 ni S. F. MACKENZIE WILLIAM MOORE McKAY, B. A. (Vancouver) Born, Ottawa. Educated, Dr. Tassie’s School, Galt, Ont., Montreal High School, Toronto Uni- versity. Called to Bar of Ontario, Northwest Ter- ritories, Yukon and B. C. Practised Dawson, Y. T., 1897-1904. Alderman Dawson several years. Came to B. C., 1904; Crown Prosecutor, Van- couver; Senior Captain 43rd D. C. O. R., Ottawa; Acting Pres. B. C. Conservative Ass’n; Pres. Con- servative Club, Vancouver. (See Chapter Advis- ory Board.) (isvuODrtsV) .A .0 .YAHoM 3HOOM MAIJJIW .loorfog B'aiaafiT .iG .bsiBDubS .ewbIiO ,mo0 -inll olnoioT .loorfog rigiH IssilnoM ,.lnO ,iIeO -isT laswrilioM .oiiEinO lo is0. ol bsIIsO iaisv .Y ,noawsQ b3ail3Bi0 .D .0 bne noriuY .asiiolii .81E9V; Isisvsa hobweQ fiBmiablA .K)QI-^e8I ,.T -hbV ,1010333010 nwoiD ;*OGI ,.0 .3 ol smsD ; ewbIIO ,.0 .0 .0 .Q bi£f nislqBO loinsg jisvuod -noD .3310 ;n'aaA svilsvisanoO .0 .0 .2310 gniloA -aivbA islqsriO ssg) .isvooonBV ,do!0 svilsvisa (.biBO0 yio WILLIAM MOORE McKAY WILLIAM WASBROUGH FOSTER, J. P. (Victoria) Born, Gloucester, Eng., October 1st, 1876. Edu- cated at Wycliffe College, Stonehouse. Came to Vancouver, October, 1895. Commenced career in Vancouver Locomotive Works, 1897; transferred to Revelstoke, 1899. Was Assistant Superintend- ent C. P. R. there until 1908. Engaged in lumber business. Appointed Deputy Minister of Public Works, November, 1910. Vice-President B. C. Conservative Association, 1908-1909, and Presi- dent, 1910. Managing Director Globe Lumber Co., Ltd. Deputy Minister Public Works, 1912. WASBROUGH FO WILLIAM (sh oioiV) .q .1 ,aaT2oq HouoaaaAW maijjiw -Xfba .0^81 ,lal tado*aO ,.gn3 .talaaauoIO ,mo3 o ) amfi3 .aBUorianoJg ,aga!lo3 aBiloyW *b ba*B3 ni taatBD baonammo3 .2Q8I .tadoJoO .tavuoansV battalanBt* ; ^e8I .aritoW avbomoDoJ tavuo-jnBV -bna*nhaqug JnBJaiaaA sbW ,e68I ,ario*aIava5I o* tadmul ni bagfigna ,80ei litnu atari* .51 .q .3 *na oildnq io ta*ainiM baJnioqqA .aaaniaud .3 .3 inabigatq-aoiV .OlCi .tadmavoW ,23lioW -ieatq bnB ,6061-8061 .noilBiooaaA avi*Bvtaano3 tadmuJ adoIO tolaatiO. gnigBnfiM .0161 ,*nab -Siei .aritoW ailduq ta*ainiM yJuqaQ ,b*J ,.o3 WILLIAM WASBROUGH FOSTER GEORGE GORDON BUSHBY (Vancouver) Born, New Westminster, December 24th, 1867. Educated, Christ College, Finchley, Eng. Pro- fession, Mechanical Engineer. Commenced career in San Francisco, 1884. Came to Vancouver, 1900. Was superintendent Victoria Harbour Works. Now manager of B. C. Marine Railways Co., Ltd., Vancouver. President Compressed Gas Co. and Salvage manager and director of B. C. Salvage Co., Ltd. GEORC (79vu oansV) YSH8Ua HOCIHOO 30H030 .^d8I ,ritf£ TsdmaDaQ .isJanimizaW wsW ,moS -07*1 .gn3 .yslrfoni'? .agalloD ianrfO .hatfioubS 7937B3 bsanamrncO .799nign3 IfioinsriosM .noiaeal .0061 ,79VU03nfiV oi arrisO >881 .ooaiortEia ns8 ni .ad7oW 7uod7BH shoJoiV JnabnaJnhaqua asW ,.bJJ ,.oD ayBwiifiH anhfiM .0 .H lo lagBriBrn woM bn e .oD zsO baaaaiqmoD Jnabiaa7*I .7avuo3n£V 33 bvIb 8 .0 .3 lo 7ol097ib bns lasBnjsrn agsvfBS .blJ ,.oD i GEORGE GORDON BUSHBY SAMUEL LYNESS HOWE (Vancouver) Descendant Admiral Lord Howe. Born, St. Vin- cent, Ont., March 14th, 1864. Educated, Toronto, Ont. Chemist by profession. Began business as apprentice in Meadford, Ont., 1891. Came to Vancouver, 1897. Was active in organization of municipality of Point Grey, of which he was first Reeve. Has large financial interests. Active pro- moter and afterwards president of Vancouver Horse Show Assc. Ovao^nsV) 3WOH 283WYJ J3UMA8 -niV ,t8 ,mo9 .swoH bioJ IsiirnbA JnsbnsaasCI .oJncnoT .baiBOubS .£d8I ,rf*M ribieM ,.JnO ,Jns3 «b aaaniaud ns^^S .noiaasloiq taimsriO JnO o 1 smsD .IQ 81 ,.JnO .biolbsaM ni aahnnqqfi lo floitBsinsgio ni avhoB asW .^Q8I .lavuoonsV isiii 3bw 911 riairiw lo .ysiO Jnio3 ?o '{jilsqiainum -oiq svhoA .ataaisJni iBionBnri agisl asH .svaaSI lavuoanfiV lo Jnsbiaaiq abifiwiailfi bns isJorn .oaaA wori8 saioH SAMUEL LYNESS HOWE HARRY McADOO GRAHAME, J. P. (Victoria) * Born, Londonderry, County Londonderry, Ireland, June 7, 1861, and educated at the Nest Academy, Jedburgh, Scotland, and Edinburgh University. Came to British Columbia, 1867. Was alderman of the City of Vancouver for three years. Interests, mining and lands. HARRY McADOO GRA (shoioiV) .q 1 .3MAHAHO OOCIAdM YHHAH ,bnEl»iI .^nabnobnoJ \inuoD .ynsbnobnoJ ,mo8 .XmabfioA *3»W is baJfiouba bns ,Id8I 9nu{. .^JiaisvinU dgiudnibSI bns .bnslloog .rigiudbsX, nfirmsblfi zbW .V98I .sidmnioD rieiiiiS ol amsO .eJaaisJnl . 3 iBsy. ssirit "sol i^vuoonsV io ad* io .gbnfif bns gninim HARRY McADOO GRAHAME JAMES STARK, J. P. (Vancouver) Importer of dry goods. Born, Dundee, Scotland, May 25th, 1845. Educated, common school. Began business career as merchant in St. George, Ont., 1873, and subsequently in Toronto and Ayr, Ont. Came to Vancouver, 1892. Fenian Raid, 1866, and Queen’s medal. President and general manager of James Stark & Sons, Limited. VIES STARK (isvx/oonsV) .<* .1 ,2[HAT2 83MAI .bnfilJoaS ,39bnuCI ,nio9 .aboog ^ib lo isnoqml nsgafi .loorba rrommoo .balEaubS .2f8I ,ri}£S ysM ,.inO ,931030 .*8 ni InBrfDism as 199 ibo sagniend dnO .i^A bns oJnoioT ni ^I*naup98du8 bns ,£^81 bnfi ,dd8I .bisH nBin3'? .S68I ,i9VUODnEV of 9tnE0’ lo isgensm fBisngg bnB Jn9bia3i‘i .lB&9in z'nsstiQ .baiimki ,ano3 A jIieJS 89UI6X, JAMES STARK . EDWARD ETHELBERT RAND (Vancouver) Real estate, financial and insurance agent. Born, Canning, N. S., Nov. 21st, 1860. Educated, Horton Academy, Wolfville. Came to New Westminster, October, 1882. Commenced present business in that year. Director and secretary of several land and industriay companies. EDWARD ETHELBERT RAND (lavuoansV) O.VLAX T33aJ3HT3 OHAWaa ,moE dnags aonsn/ani bns iBionenB .alBJaa IsaH nonoH .balsoubS .0381 ,131$ voVt ,.3 .H .gninnsO .laJammJaaW wsH ol sicbO .altivifoW .ymabsaA rxi aaaniaud tnaaaiq baonamrnoD .S88I .ladoJaO bnsl Isiavaa lo yiBiaioas bns loJoaiiG .isa^ isriJ .aainBqmoa yEhiaubni bns EDWARD ETHELBERT RAND FRANCIS L. LEIGHTON (Vancouver) Manufacturer. Born, Birkenhead, Eng., Aug. 28, 1873. Educated, London. Commenced career' as commercial correspondent, London, 1890. Came to British Columbia, 1907. Now general manager of Vancouver Engineering Works. FRANCIS L. LEIGHTON (isvuoansV) WOTHOI3J .J 8IDMAH3 ,8S .guA ,.gn3 .bearinajliifl ,mo8 .isiuIdeIuiibM sb 'laaieD bsortsrnrnoO .nobrioJ .batEoubS .£^81 ol amfiO .0681 .nobnoJ (Jnsbnoqgsnoo iBioismmoo lo lagfinsm Isisnag woW A06I .BidmuloO riaijiiS .gihoW gnhasnignS isvuoonsV FRANCIS L. LEIGHTON WILLIAM N. O’NEIL (Vancouver) Born in Brampton, Ont., July 23rd, 1874. Educated, Erindale-on-Credit. Came to Vancouver, March, 1898, and began career as sales agent in building materials. Private in Fifth Regiment Garrison Artillery and Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles. ( 19 VUODXI bV) JiaM'O .M MAIJJIW ,b9J63iiba ,bi£S ,.JnO .notqmsia ni mo8 .rioifiM .lavnoonisV ot smsO .JibsTD-no-aiBbnHa gnxbliucf ni inags salsa as laaisa nsgad bns ,8681 noainfiO JnamigaSI rixlia ni aXBviifT .alsiiBiBrn .aafltiSI nwO a'JrigUBnnoO lo ajJx/Q bns ^isIIinA WILLIAM N. O’NEIL GEORGE DOUGLAS BRYMNER (New Westminster) Son of the late Mr. Brymner, Dominion Archivist. Born, Melbourne, Que., December 3rd, 1857. Educated, public and high schools, Montreal, St. Therese College, St. Therese, Que., and high school at Ottawa. Came to British Columbia, July, 1887. Has been for years manager Bank of Montreal at New Westminster. DOUGLAS BRYMNER GEORGE waH) H3HMYH9 3AJOUOa 3QH03Q (MJanimlssW .laivirtoiA noinimoG ,iM stsl srto lo no3 •V28I ,bi£ sadnwDaG ,.9nQ .stnuodlsM ,mo£I .13 .IfisiJnoM .efoodoa rigid bns ailduq .balsaubS loorfoa rigid bns ,.ouQ ,333i9riT .18 .agalloD ssaiariT .V88I ,xh/t .fiidmuloO risijiiH 01 smsD .bv/bIIO 1b 1b IsaHnoM io jinsH isgensm ziBay iol nssd zb H .isianirmaaW wsM t GEORGE DOUGLAS BRYMNER WILLIAM BENJAMIN VALENTINE BAILEY (Ashcroft) General merchant. Born, San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 14th, 1859. Son of Benjamin Bailey. Edu- cated, public and private schools, Victoria. Came to British Columbia, May, 1860. Carries on general mercantile business at Ashcroft, under the firm name of Harvey-Bailey, Ltd. Ex-postmaster. His wife was Mary Matilda Hautier, Lytton, daughter of one of the Cariboo earliest pioneers. WILLIAM BENJAMIN VALENTINE BAILEY Y3JIAH 3VJITV13JAV VIIMAIM3S MAIJJIW (JloioriaA) ,.IbD ,o oehnsiH ns2 ,mo8 .insrioiam IsiansO -ub3 -xslisa nimein^fi lo no8 .0881 ,rflM .da3 soieD .BnoJaiV .aloorfoa afBvhq bns oilduq .botfio Ifiianog no asinsD .0381 ,y6 M .BidmnloD riaithH oi imS arii isbnu .JlaioriaA Je eeanizud sliinBorsm esH .i9ieBmizoq-x3 .bid ^oltBS-yiovifiH lo »msn isJdgufib .nolf^J ,niluBH ebliteM x"*sM bbw oliw .aioonoiq iaoihso oodhsD orf i lo sno lo WILLIAM BENJAMIN VALENTINE BAILEY I GEORGE A. HENDERSON (Vernon) Bank manager. Born, Quebec, 1851. Educated there. Came to British Columbia, 1891. District manager Okanagan Valley Bank; president Vernon Jubilee Hospital ; president Board of Trade. Now manager Bank of Montreal, Vernon, B. C. V (no msV) MoaaaanaH a aoaoao botsoubS .R8I .oadaop ,mo3 .logfiftBfn ilnsH ioiiizia .1681 ,B»dmuio3 rteiiha o 1 sm&D .oiorfi nomjV inobizsiq :^ns3 yallsV ns^sns-AO isgsnsm wold .sbsiT \o bi boS fnabisaiq ;Is*iqgoH oolidot ,0 .3 ,noimV JssiinoM lo dnaH lagenetn JAMES B. MATHERS (Vancouver) Retired. Born, Ontario, 1864. Educated, common schools. Commenced business as lumber manufac- turer and general dealer in Manitoba, 1890. Came to Vancouver, 1902. Director of a number of finan- cial companies. Organized and developed Dominion Trust Company. JAMES B. MATHERS OGlunsm isdtnol as aasniaixd baansrmnoD .aioorisa stnsD .0681 .fidotinsM ni isls»b Isiansg bne isiut • ncnd lo ladmiin b io loiaaiiQ .$061 .lavuoonfiV oJ noinimoa bsqolavsb bns bssinsgiO .asinsqaico Isb .'(nBqmoO JamT ROBERT SCOTT LENNIE (Vancouver) Barrister and solicitor. Born, Smith’s Falls, Ont., August 16th, 1875. Educated, Dundas, Ont., Cali- fornia and New Westminster. Began as student- at-law, New Westminster, 1893. Went to Nelson, 1895. Called to bar, 1898. Bencher of the Law Society for five years. Chairman Fire Insurance Commission, appointed under “Public Inquiries Act,” 1909. Was president District Conservative Association, Kootenay, and president Nelson Conservative Association six years. Instrumental consolidation mines, Toad Mountain. SCOTT L E N M (lavuoansV) 3IMM3J TTOD8 TH380H ,.1nO , alls'* s'dlimZ ,fno8 .loJioiioa bns iatams8 -ilsO ,.inO ,esbnuG ,baJB3i/b3 .8T81 ,ri*3I JzuguA -Jnabuta as nsga8 .latanimJaaW waW bns sixnol .noalaW o 1 JnaW .EP8I ,iaJanim*zaW waW .wsI-Js wsJ arit *o larionafl .8681 ,isd oi ballsO .S68I aonsiuznl aii3 nsmiisriO .eisa^ avH ioi ^Jafoo3 aahii/pnl aildu*!** aabrau bainioqqs .noiaaimrnoO aviJsviaanoO izhieiQ Jnabiaaiq asW .Q0Q1 '\1oA noafsH Jnabiaaiq bns .xsnaXooX .noiisboaaA fslnaimmanl .aisay xia nobsboaaA aviisvia2no0 .nisinuoM bsoT ,a anim nohsbiloanoa ROBERT SCOTT LENNIE ALEXANDER STEWART MONRO, M. D. (Vancouver) * Surgeon, Was born in Rattray, Perthshire, Scot- land, on the 1st of May, 1872. Educated at the Toronto and Winnipeg public schools, and the uni- versities of Manitoba, Chicago and Vienna. Came to Canada in 1872, and to British Columbia in 1896. Was president of the Vancouver Medical Association, 1910-11, and now is secretary of the British Columbia Medical Association. Is a mem- ber of the firm of Drs. Brydon-Jack, Monro and Cumming, established 1901. ALEXANDER .a.M ,OHMOM T5IAW3T3 aaaviAxajA (isvuoanBV) -Jod 2 .aiidadm*? .ybiMbH ni mod 3 bW .nosgiuS »ri 1 1b bsJBDi/ba .SV8I ,ybM lo Jal srfj no ,bnfil -inn adl bns .aloorfoa oilduq gaqinniW bns oJnoioT amsD .BnnaiV bns ogfioiriQ .BdolinsM lo aaiiiaisv ni BxdmnloO riabhH oi fans ,SV8I ni BbsmsD ot IfiOibaM lavuoonEV sriJ lo Jnsbiaaiq asW .9681 sriJ lo ai won bns ,11-0161 .nobfiiooaaA -mam b al .noilfiiooaaA IfioibsM BidmuloO riabna bnB oinoM .jiDB^-nobyia .aiQ lo tmrl arb lo isd .1061 bsrfaiidBiaa ,§nimmnD ALEXANDER STEWART MONRO T. G. PROCTER (Nelson, Deceased) Born, Lancashire, 1862. Educated, Heversham. Began life as sailor on H. M. S. “Conway,” 1878. Came to British Columbia, 1891. Member of City Council, Nelson. Vice-president Nelson Board of Trade. Queen’s medal, H. M. S. “Conway,” 1879. (bsaBsasCr ,noafe>W) HSTDOH^ .0 .T .rmsrfa^vsH .baJeoubS .$381 .■siiriasDneJ ,mo3 8T8I ".'(BwnoO" .2 .M .H no loliea as alii msgaS '{JiO lo isdmaM .1681 ,£idmuIoD rfaithH 0 J smeO io bi£oa noabW Jnsbiaaiq-aoiV .noalaH .lionuoD .eV8I ",y£wnoO“ .2 .M .H .[fibam a'nMuQ .sbsiT r T. G. PROCTER VALENTINE HYDE BAKER (Cranbrook) Born, Cork, Ireland, April 20th, 1865. Educated Clifton College, England; Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph. Came to British Columbia, 1885. Ranching, Cranbrook district, 1885-1895; estab- lished present business 1895. Alderman, Cran- brook, four terms; police commissioner, two terms. President Baker Lumber Company; manager Cran- brooke Estate. Agent for Cranbrook townsite. (riocndnBiO) H35IAa 3CIYH 3HITH3 JAV fasJBDuba .2381 ,riJ0S liiqA .bnBlail (3 |ioD ,mo8 IfiiuJlixoiigA o'nBinO .baBlgna .sgalloO noJlilD .2881 .sidmuIoD dsiiiiS o 1 arnsO .riqlauD ^galloD -dBJaa ; 2681-2881 johisib dooidnsiD .gnirionsH -hbi 0 (UBfmablA .2681 aaorriaud inaaaiq b» riail .arms* ow) .isaoiaaimmoo aailoq ;ami 3 J njoi ,jJooid -hbiO ingBnB m ; ynBqmoO isdmuJ isjiBa Jnsbiaaia .sjianwo* dooidnsiD iol JnsgA .atBfaa adocnd t VALENTINE HYDE BAKER ROBERT BEAUCHAMP BOUCHER, M. D., C. M. (Vancouver) Physician and surgeon. Born, Peterborough, Ont., and educated at the Peterborough Collegiate In- stitute, Trinity College School, Port Hope and McGill University, Montreal. Came to the province in 1899. Episcopalian, Conservative, A. F. & A. M. ROBF.l .m .o ,.a.M .HaHouoa qMAHDUAaa THaaoH (lavuoDnsV) ,JnO .ri^uoiodiaJaq ,mo3 .nosgiua fans nBoia'ida -nl atBigalloO rigHo-iodiaiaq ariJ Jb baiBOubs bns bnB aqoH iiol JoorfoS sgalloD ^firthT ,9iutiis aanivoiq orii oJ amfiO .IsaitnoM ,y;iia79vinU IliQoM M .A j& .3 .A ,3viJBvi3anoD .nfiilBqooaiqa .GC8I ni ROBERT BEAUCHAMP BOUCHER EDWARD MALLANDAINE, JR., J. P. (Creston) Architect and civil engineer. Born, Victoria, June 1st, 1867. Educated at Victoria and Portland, Ore., high schools and Royal School of Artillery for Militia. Chief timber ranger and district land agent C. P. R., Cranbrook. Founded the town of Creston. (noUstO) .q .1 ,.HX ,aKIA<3HAJJAM CLHAWG3 snuX. ,J»ho*aiV ,moS .iMnigns livia hns lastirfa-iA ,.siO .bnBi'Jioq hne shotoiV is baisauba .Td8I ,JaI iol xisflfriA lo foorfaS bns aloorfoa rigid bnsl Jahtaib bus aagnBi isdfniJ isiriD .BiJiliM \o nwol aril babrtuoa .alooidnsiQ ,.H .q .0 ms 36 .noJzsiD EDWARD MALLANDAINE, JR. J. L. SKENE (Victoria) Contractor. Builder of many large buildings in the Province, notably the Empress Hotel, Victoria, and the new Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver. (siiotoiV) 3 M3X 8 -J .1 nl Bgnibliud sjial ^n&m Vo labliufl .loiaeUnoO ,shoioiV .IsiciH tut»iqm3 atii \i d«on .aonivoi 4 ! art* .lavooanaV .layuoonsV SsioH wan aril brrs % J. L. SKENE OSBORNE MORRIS, M. D., C. M. (Vernon) Born, Pembroke, Ont., January 20th, 1869. Edu- cated, McGill College, Montreal. Commenced professional career as physician and surgeon in North Bay, Ont., April, 1890. Came to Brtiish Columbia June, 1893. Member of Canadian Army Medical Corps. OSBORNE MORI- (nomaV) .M.O ,.a .M .8IH5IOM SMHOaaO -ub3 .6381 .rftOS yisi/nsX ,.inO ,mofi bso/wmmoO .f«»i*noM .aasHoO HiOaM .bstsa ni nosgiue bna neiaizyriq as nasiBo Lwaiariloiq riaiiiiS o 1 smeO .0681 .IhqA ,.JnO ,ysH rltioM ynnA nsibsnsO lo isdmsM .£681 ,anuX sidmuloO .zqioD IsoibaM OSBORNE MORRIS THOMAS TALTON LANGLOIS (Vancouver) Born, Gaspe, Que., November 28th, 1867. Edu- cated, Port Hope, Ont. Commenced business career as general merchant in Toronto, 1889. Came to Vancouver, 1898. Organized Pacific Coast Fire Insurance Company and the National Finance Com- pany, Ltd., 1907, and the Good Government League of Vancouver, 1910. Is president of several finan- cial corporations. THOMAS TALTON LANGLOIS (wvuosnsV) 8IOJOMAJ WOTJAT 3AMOHT -ub3 Sd8 i ,rij8S TodmjvaH ,.9Up .aqssO ,moS ,889niz«d bsonammoD JnO ( 3qoH fio3 ,bs 1b? smifiD ,6881 ,o}noioT ni Infiricnsm Ifiiansg bs issibd • sii3 IzboO ohi 3b 3 bssinegiO .8681 .lavuoDnsV o* -moO sanjBni^ IfinobaW ndl bns xnBqmoO aonBiuanl sugssvi insmmjvoO booO sdt bns AQei ,.blJ ,\ns q -fjBnS IBT 9 V 38 lo mabiaaiq bI .Old , 19 V 0 O onsV lo .Bnohfiioqioa Ibid THOMAS TALTON LANGLOIS GEORGE VERNON LOCKETT, M. D. (Vancouver) Born, St. Vincent, B. W. I., September 9th, 1866. Educated, York Castle High School, Edinburgh University and London. Degrees M.B., M. R. C. S., L. R. C. P., F. R. C. S. Senior medical officer and honorary consulting surgeon to General Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica Came to Vancouver, 1908. GEORGE VERNON LOO r (lavuoanfiV) .a .M .TT3X30J MCM33V 303030 .3681 ,rfie i9dm9Jq32 ,.I .W .9 .IrwsniV .12 ,mofl rigiudnibS ,Ioorf32 rigiH allgsD jhoY .balBoubS ,.2 .0 .3 .M ,.9.M g93i§9Q .nobxioJ bns ^lisiavinU bns laaffio iBsib^m ioina2 .2 .3 .3 .3 ,.9 .3 .3 .J .IfiliqaoH IfiisrwO ol noagiua gnilluanos \jiBionori .8061 ,i9Vtro3nBV ol smsO BsiBrnB^ ,nolagni3 GEORGE VERNON LOCKETT ( GILBERT BLAIR (Vancouver) Wholesale dry goods. Born, Alloa, Scotland, Sep- tember 30th, 1855. Educated at the Dollar Institu- tion, Scotland. Came to Victoria in 1875 and com- menced business career as clerk in that city. Identi- fied with the Board of Trade and vice-president Children’s Aid Society. Member of the firm of Mackay, Smith, Blair & Co., Ltd. (lavu oDtiuV) HiAja Taaajio -qa2 .bnefioDg .egIIA ,mo3 .aboog \ib alsaaioriW -ulilanl ifilloa ari l 1b balBoi/b3 .6281 .rilOE ladmai -moo bns dT8I ni BiioiaiV ol sms'J .bnehooS .noil -ilnabl .^lb Isril ni riiala as iaaiB3 aaaniaud baonam Inabiaaiq-aaiv bns absiT io biBo3 aril riliw baft io nnft aril lo ladmaM .^laiooS biA a'naiblirfO .blJ ,.o0 & lisia ,rilim2 .ysriaBM GILBERT BLAIR JOHN THOMAS ROBINSON (Kamloops) Born, Listowel, Ont., May 25th, 1868. Educated, Listowel public and high schools and at the Mili- tary School in Toronto. Commenced business as editor and owner of The Ontario Gleaner in Can- ington, Ont., January, 1888. Came to Kamloops, March, 1897. Mayor City of Kamloops for fourth term. Member of the Board of Investigation under Water Act of 1909. (aqooIrnfiH) H03VH30H 8AMOHT MHO]; .b^JBDi/bS .8381 ,rfi££ ^bM ,.inO ,IswoiaiJ[ ,mo3 -iliM arfr is bns aloorba rigid bnB oilduq IswoiaiJ as aaaniai/d bsonsmmoD .oinoioT ni looriog -jtbO ni isriBsIO oiiEtnO ariT io isnwo bns "ioiiba .aqooImBJI o) smsO .8881 .yiBunB^, ,.JnO .noigni rinuoi lol aqooImB^i io io^bM .V68I .rbisM noiJBgijaavnl io biBofl ariJ io isdmoM .rrmt .Q061 io ioA isJbW isbnu JOHN THOMAS ROBINSON JOHN A. LEE (New Westminster) Merchant. Born, Mount Forest, Ont., February 11th, 1868. Educated, Toronto. Began career as salesman in Toronto in 1883. Came to British Columbia, 1891. Mayor of city of New West- minster. Director in several commercial and min- ing enterprises. Promoter for extensive harbor scheme for New Westminster. Died June, 1913. (laJanimJaaW waM) 33J .A MHOt XiEinda3 ,.JnO ,iaaio3 JnuoM ,moa .imsrtoiaM zb laaiBO nsgaa .oinoioT ,ba*B3ub3 .8381 rfabnH o 1 arrisD .£881 ni otnoioT ni nsmaalsa -JaaW wsM io lo io^bM .1681 .sidmuIoO -nim bns iBiaiammoD Isiavaa ni -toioaiiG .latanim lodifiri avianaixa ia}omoi3 .aaahqiaJna gni .£161 .ami^. baiG .laJanimJaaW wsM id amariDa JOHN A. LEE FREDERICK TEMPLE CORNWALL (Ashcroft Manor, Ashcroft, B. C.) Born, Ashcroft, August 16th, 1879. Educated, private school. Commenced practising law in Vic- toria, January, 1901; now at Kamloops. Served four years in the South African War. JioiorteA) JJAWWHOO 3J3M3T 3DIfl3d3Hq ( D .3 .iloiarteA .lonsM ,b 9 }BDub3 .eT8I ,ri*dl Jai/guA ,iioioHaA ,moa -DiV ni wsl gniaiiaBiq baanammoD .loorfoa aisviiq baviag . 8 qooImB3 is won ;I0CI ^isunsl .fiiio* ,ibW nso'nlA ciiuoZ arii ni aiBa^ iuol FREDERICK TEMPLE CORNWALL C. B. HUME (Revelstoke) Born, Florenceville, N. B., October 18th, 1867. Educated, public schools and St. John’s Business College. Began career as clerk in St. John, N. B., in 1887. Came to Revelstoke, April, 1889. Two years alderman of Revelstoke. General merchant. President of Lawrence Hardware Company, and president and general manager C. B. Hume & Co., Ltd. C. B. HUME (adoJalavaH) 3MUH .3 .3 .V88I ,riJ8I ladofoO ,.3 .H .sllivaanaioPI ,mo3 taaniauS a'nriot *2 bn* eloorfae oilduq .baJEDi/bS ,.3 M .nrfoX, .J 2 ni ahab ae isaisa n£ga3 .agalloD owT .C88i .liiqA .aafoJalavaH of amsD A88I ni .Jnfirioism is-ianaO .aaloiaiavaJI lo ncmiablfi aisa^ bnfi ,xnsqmo3 aiswbiBH aanaiweJ io Jnsbiaan^ ,.o3 * smuH .3 .3 -lagsristn Ifiianag bns Jnabiaaiq .blJ W. A. ANSTIE (Nelson) Born, Toronto, December 29th, 1881. Came to Vancouver, 1900. Educated, Vancouver. Account- ant. Engaged in lumber business and now secre- tary of the Mountain Lumber Manufacturers’ Association. Went to Kootenay in 1901. STIE (noalsW) 3IT3MA .A .W ol smsD .1881 ,riJCS igdrrigooQ .olnoioT ,moS -im/oooA .iovuoo nsV ,b9J£0uba .OOCi , 19 vxjo 3 /ibV -91092 won bns 839ni8ud igdmiil ni b9§sgna .Ins 'zioiuJobIuhbM lodmuJ nislnooM oril lo x'NS* .IOCI ni ^Bn9loo3 ol inaW .noiJfiiooaaA W. A. ANSTIE WILLIAM McRAE LAWRENCE (Revelstoke) Hardware merchant. Born, Cape Town, South Africa, August 22nd, 1861. Educated, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Began career as hardware clerk in Winnipeg, 1890. Came to Revelstoke, 1897. Presi- dent Board of Trade, 1909, and alderman of City Council. Has mining and real estate interests. Writer of poetry and water color artist. (aioJafsvaH) aOWSHWAJ 3A5 IdM MAIJJIW tUuoZ ,nwoT aqsD .nioH .Jneriaism aiswbisH rigiudniba ,batBoub3 .Id8 1 ,bn£S ieuguA ,BohlA ni ^ioId aiswbisrf as 1931*3 nsgaH .wogasID bns -iaaia A68I ^jloJaiavaH ol amsO .0681 .gsqinniW ^iiO }o nsmisbls bns ,6061 .sbsiT lo bisoS insb .aJaaislni sisiaa Is*i bns gninim asH .liDnuoO Jziiis lotoo i3*sw bns ^Uaoq lo isliiW WILLIAM McRAE LAWRENCE LIEUT.-COL. JOHN A. HALL (“Longstone,” Esquimalt Old Road, Victoria) Born, Manchester, Eng., August 24th, 1858. Edu- cated, Victoria University, Manchester. Degree M. Sc. Commenced business career as chemist in Manchester. Came to Victoria in 1893. Lieutenant- Colonel Canadian Artillery. Formerly Commander 5th Regt., C. A. Engaged in chemical manufactures. JOHN A HALL VnofzgnoJ") JJAH .A MHOl .JOO-.TUaiJ (fihofoiV .bsoH blO ilsmiupaa -ub3 .8d8l ,rif£S fEuguA ,.gn3 .laJasrionsM ,mo3 aoigoG .laJaarionfiM ^tiansvinU shofoiV .bsfso ni faimsrfo zb ?»9TS3 zzanizud baonsm mo3 .08 M -tnsnstuaiJi .£681 ni shofoiV of smsO .loizsdonsM MbnjsmmoO yhsrmoa .^loIIifiA nBibsrtBO bnoIoD .gaiufoBlonBm Isoimario ni bagsgna .A .D ,.fgsH rif£ JOHN A. HALL LIEUT.-COL. JAMES DUFF-STUART (Vancouver) Merchant. Vice-president Clarke & Stuart Co., Ltd., stationers and printers. Born, Dufftown, Scotland, May 20th, 1866. Came to British Colum- bia, 1889, and engaged in mercantile business, 1894. Lieut. -Col., commanding 6th Rgt., D. C. O. R. ; Adj. Canadian Rifle Team at Bisley, 1907 and 1911 and 1913. (MvuoansV) THAUT2-33UCI 23MAI .JOO-.TU3IJ ,.o0 1isui2 & sjIieIO insbisaaq-aoiV .JxiErfaisM ,nwo)fluQ ,nio3 .aisJnhq bras sianoiiEJa ,.b*J -muloO rizbha ot smsD .8981 ,ri*0S ysM ,bnBlJo 3 2 •f e81 ,883n ieud 3lhnE3i9ra ni bagfigns briB ,G88i ,Bid .[bA ;.3 .O .0 ,Q ,.jgH rfJ9 gnibnEmmoD ..loO-.JuaiJ bxiB IIGI bns TOGI 1b mssT aftiH nsibansD .£ I G I JAMES DUFF-STUART THOMAS KILPATRICK, District Superintendent C. P. R. (Revelstoke) President Revelstoke Hospital Association. Born Simcoe, Ontario, April 27, 1857. Son of James and Elizabeth Netherby Kilpatrick. Educated private- ly and at public schools. Engaged on bridge con- struction, C. P. R., North Shore Lake Superior, 1884; bridge construction foreman C. P. R. British Columbia 1885-1893; bridge building superintend- ent C. P. R., Revelstoke, 1893-1901; district super- intendent Revelstoke since 1901. Alderman Rev- elstoke first council 1899-1900; Mayor, 1901; school trustee, 1912. Married Elsie McKinnon, 1903. Has two sons and two daughters. Club, Revelstoke; (president since organization). THOMAS M .0 inabnainitaqog JohJaia .aDIHTAqJIX 8AMOHT (sjlotelavsH) .ST moS .noiifiboaaA lEfiqaoH ajJoJalsvoH Jnobiaoiq bus aarnfij, lo no3 A28I ,^S liiqA ,oit£jnO .soarniS -sJfivhq boJEanbH .jbnJBqlia ^charbsW dJadfixilS -noD sgbhd no bogfignH .alooriaa oilduq t£ bnfi xl ,ioii9qu2 sjifiJ sioilS rihoM ,.H .1 .3 ,noii6inJa riabhH .H .*? .0 nfinwiol noiJomtanoa sgbiid ;*881 -bnsinhaqua gnibliud agbhd ;8e8l-S88I fiidmuloO -laqna JohJaib ; 1061-8981 .^oialavoH ,.3 .q .0 ina -vaSI nfimioblA .1061 aonia ssloialavaH JnsbnoJni loorioa ; I0ei .io^eM ;00ei-e68I lianuoo Jaift oJoJalo .£0ei .nonniXoM »iaf3 bahifiM .SI6I .aaiaim jojJotafsvoH .duID .aiaJrigufib owJ bn£ anoa owl afiH .(noitfisinfigio aonia Jn^biaaiq) THOMAS KILPATRICK ALEXANDER McRAE (Revclstoke) Postmaster, Revelstoke. Prominently identified with timber and lumbering interests of the moun- tain section of the Province. XANDER (arfoJelsvaH) 3AH;>M H3CIMAXajA bsftbnabi yhnonirnoiq .ajiolzfsvsH ^aiesmlzo^ -nuom 9dt lo slznjami gnhadmul bns ladmi* djiw .aanivoi*! aril lo noiloae nisi ALEXANDER McRAE JAMES A. McNAIR (Vancouver) Timber and investment broker. Born, Jacquet River, N. B., August 11th, 1865. Educated public school. Commenced carrer in general store, Dal- housie Junction, N. B., 1882. Came to British Columbia, 1892. Director and vice-president Hast- ings Shingle Manufacturing Company, Ltd. ; one of the organizers and general manager for thirteen years. Director Prudential Investment Company, Ltd.; Western Pacific Development Company, Ltd.; president Dominion Glazed Cement Pipe Company, Ltd.; director West Vancouver Land Company, Ltd.; Capitol Hill Land Company, Ltd. SIAIR (-tavuoonsV) XIAKoM .A 83MAI. JaupDE^ ,moS .ladoid tnamiaavni bns isdmiT oildi/q baJfiDuba .2981 .riill } a uguA ,.8 ,M , 19 viH -IbG ,aioia [tnanas ni mhbd bsonammoO .loodoa daiihS o t amsD .S88I ,.8 .VI .noiJonut, alauod -izeH irtabiaai q-aoiv bne loJos-iid .SC8I .sidmuIoD io ono ;.bjJ ,^n£qmoO gniiuJoBiuneM algnirig agrti naaiiidj id lagBnErn Isianag bns aiaxiriBgio adi XBwfiBI 26 199163 229ni2Ud b9Dfi9rn ■C88I .BidmuIoO rteilha o t sctibD >681 .BnosiiA .aJ29i9lni Ishizubni bns JfiiuJJxjDiigB .gninim bbH JAMES ALEXANDER MACDONELL (Vancouver) Born, Toronto, Ont., May 1st, 1876. Educated, Ridley College and School of Practical Science, Toronto. Civil engineer and contractor. Began career on survey party in Ontario, 1896. Came to Vancouver, 1905. Member Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI. JR. .%l .IX3WOXO 3UAJ3IWAT3 HIMI3AD (lavuoanfiV) ,b»JBDuba ; aV 8 I 4«r \£*M ,.*nO .otnoioT .n-roH .sansiog ffiabasiq } 0 loorfag bns sgalloD ysfbiH n£ 3 »a .loloB^noo bne -isanigna tiviO .otnoioT ' Jj oitibO .9681 ,o'n&inO ni yiieq ysviua no iooibd lo x*aiaog nsibfinsD 13 d msM .9061 .lavuoansV .Biosnigna liviD CASIMIR STANISLAUS GZOWSKI, JR. JAMES H. HAMILTON, M. B. (Revelstoke) Born, Morriston, Ont., July 6th, 1881. Educated, University of Toronto. Came to British Columbia, 1903. Mayor of Revelstoke, 1910-1911. Physician. JAM (93ioiel9V9H) a .M .WOTJIty AH .H 83MAI ,bs}£3ub3 .1881 ,ri id vlul ,.inO .noJairioM ,nio8 .fiidmuIoO riaiJiiH o i srneD .oJnoioT lo ytiaiavinU .nBioia^ria .IICI-OIGI .sjJofebvsH lo io^bM .EOei JAMES H. HAMILTON WALTER JOHN VAN HOUTEN (Vancouver) Broker; retired. Born in Boise, Idaho, August 8th, 1866, and educated at public schools, B. C. Came to Nanaimo in 1876. Has large land interests. WALTER JOHN VAN )UTEN (isvuoonsV) W3TUOH WAV VIHOL H3TJAW ieuguA .oiifibl ,9sio8 ni rno8 .bsiiJsi ;isjloi3 .0 .8 ,gloodoz ailduq is baJeauba bne ,9981 ,riJ8 .aiZ3i9ini bns I sjjibI bbH .9^81 ni omisnsW oJ smeD WALTER JOHN VAN HOUTEN AMOS BLISS TRITES (Fernie) Wholesale and retail merchant. Born, Coverdale, N. B., February 15th, 1865. Educated, Moncton High School and St. John Business College. Began business as clerk for Shell Lake Lumber Company, 1884. Came to British Columbia, 1897. Was aider- man city of Fernie. Interested in lumber and coal properties. (aimaH) 83TI5IT 82IJ9 20MA .alsbiavoD ,mofl .Jnsrioism lism bns alsaaloriW noJanoM .bstsouba .2981 .ritfil ^iBindaa ,.3 M nsgafl .3§9lIoO aaaniauS ndo^ ,j 2 bns iooriDS rigiH .ynBqmoO ladmuJL sjIbJ Il3ri3 iol diala zb aasniaud -lablB asW AQ8I .EidmuloO riaiihH o i arnsD .*881 Iboo bns ladmul ni baJasialnl .simaa io ylia riEtn .ashisqoiq \ AMOS BLISS TRITES DAVID GRIFFITH WILLIAMS (Vancouver) Broker. Born, Burry Port, South Wales, Novem- ber 13th, 1859. Educated public schools. Com- menced business as clerk in Burry Port, 1873. Went to United States, May 1885. Came to British Columbia, October, 1893. Councillor Point Grey for two years. President Superior Coal and Im- provement Company, Seattle. Director British Columbia Life Assurance Company, Williams & Murdoff, Ltd. DAVI (lavuoansV) 2MAIJJIW HTI^^IHO OIVAa -mgvoW ,89 /bW d1uo2 ,Jio3 ynuS ,mo3 . 193/013 -moD .a/oorba oilduq b9*B3i/b3 .6281 ,rfj£I 13 d .£V8I ,Jio3 ynuS ni 3/19/3 zb aasn iaud b 93 n 9 rn riaiJiiS o) smaO .2881 ^bM ,89Jbi 2 bgtinU oJ * 09 W ^9iO Jnio3 lo/ZbnuoD ' .£68 1 .igdotoO .sidmu/oD -ml bnE ZboD ioii9qu2 Jri9bia9i3 .aiBg^ ow) lol rfaiJiiS iol39iiQ .9 /}}b 92 .ynBqmoO Jngmgvoiq * amsiZ/iW ,^nEqrno3 aoneiuzzA glij fiidmu/oD •btJ ,Bobii/M DAVID GRIFFITH WILLIAMS F. L. MURDOFF (Vancouver) Broker. Williams & Murdoff, Ltd. Born, Picton, Ont., August 16th, 1873. Educated, Picton High School. Began career as clerk in Picton, 1887, and later engaged in Winnipeg, Man., and British Co- lumbia. Shareholder in several development corporations. (isvi/oonBV) ■S'lOCIHUM .J. .a .noloia ,moH .bid .flobiuM & amsilltW .isjicna nojoia .baJBaubS .£T8i ,rfJdf iewguA ,.JnO bns ,\88I .noioiH ni jitslo zb issibo nsgaS .ioorfoS -oO dzuiia bns ,.n§M .gaqinniW ni bagEsna isJbI tnsmqoI»v9b Is-ravsa ni lablorfaisrig .sidmul .BnoiJEioqioa F. L. MURDOFF GEORGE J. DYKE (Vancouver) Born at St. Blazey, Cornwall, Eng., March, 1866. Educated at St. Ansbill School, with success in science, music and drawing. Came to Moosomin, Sask., 1887, and engaged in ranching. Was director Vancouver Conservatory of Music in 1896. Real estate and financial broker with mining interests. GEORGE (lavuoonjsV) 33YCI .X, 303030 .Sd8I .rfo-isM ,.gn3 .IlfiwmoO .12 jb moS ni 2233302 riliw ,!oodo8 IlidanA .12 1b faalBDubS .nirnoeooM ol omeD .gniwBib bns ai aunt .aansiaa lolosiib 8 bW .gnidonBi ni bsgBgns bnB J88I ,.3iz£2 IbsH .9081 ni oisuM lo yiotsvisenoD isvuoDnsV .8l33islni gninirn riliw lajlcncf Lsionfinii bnB alBlas GEORGE J. DYKE B. D. GILLIES, M. D. (Vancouver.) Physician. Born, Teeswater, Ont., June 11, 1875. Educated, Harrison High School, Toronto Uni- versity, McGill Medical College. Came to British Columbia, 1900. B. D G! (.isvuoansV) .(I .M .33IJJIO .a .9 .JT81 ,11 am/I, ,.inO ,ia* sweaaT ,/noH .nfiiaia^dq -inU olnoioT ,Ioorb8 rfgiH noeinsH f ba/s3ub3 riziJnH oJ sitibQ .ajjalloO IsoxbaM IliDoM ^Jiaisv .OOQI .sid/m/IoD WILLIAM F. PALMER (Kamloops) Born, Portland, Ore., 1872. Educated, New West- minister and Victoria. Came to British Columbia, 1874. Commenced business career as rancher in Nicola Valley, 1896. Postmaster Stump Lake. Interested in mining and real estate. One of the largest cattle-raisers in the interior. WIL OqooImBX) H3M JA3 .3 MAIJJIW -JasW wsM ,ba}BDub3 .ST8i ,.aiO ,bnfiln 0 q ,mo 3 .B.'dmirioO rfailha ol am sD .sholaiV bns laiainim ni larfanBi as laaiBo aaaniaud baanammoD ,^V8I •ajJfiJ qrrwlg laiaBmlaoq .6981 .^allfiV bIodIM ad# lo anO .alBlaa Isai bnB gninim ni balaaiainl .lohalni aril ni aiaaiEi-aliiBa iaagiEl WILLIAM F. PALMER JAMES S. REAR (Vancouver) Real estate. Born, Sanford, Ont., August 7th, 1876. Educated, Model School and Collegiate In- stitute, Toronto. Commenced career, Toronto, with Ontario Government for five years and subse- quently with North American Life Insurance Com- pany. Came to Vancouver, 1899, as firm’s manager for British Columbia, Washington and Yukon. Spent two years in Seattle, Wash., when appointed provincial manager Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of New York. Resigned, 1909, to enter colonization and irrigation work. JAMES S. (isvuoonsV) HASH .3 23MA{, .Ht? JzuguA ,.)nO .biolnsa ,moS ,aj£*ga J B aH -nl alsigalloD bns Ioorto2 laboM .batsoubS .dt8I .oJnoioT ,-raaiBD baanammoD .oinoioT .aJuifrz -azdr/a bti£ ziKay; avft 10 I JnammavoO oiieJnO riJiw -moD aariBiuznl alij naana mA rfiioW rftiw ^[Jnai/p lagsriBrn z'unrl zb ,9681 .aavuoanfiV o i arrisD .ynsq .nojIoY bns nolgnirfzfiW ,fiidmufo3 rfzfrha joi baJnioqqs nadw ..dasW ,alma8 ni ziBay owl *naq8 -moO aansiuznl alij IbuJjjM lags/ism Isionivoiq laina ot ,6061 .bangiaaH .ahoY waW lo ^neq •Jliow nohfishii bns noi*Bsinoloa JAMES S. REAR JOHN FREDERICK HELLIWELL (Vancouver) Chartered accountant. Born, Milwaukee, Wis., October 6th, 1871. Educated, Liverpool, Eng. Began career as accountant in Ontario, 1890. Came to Vancouver, June, 1897. JOHN FREDERICK (lavuooneV) JJ3WIJJ3H 3DIH3(I333 VIHO|. ,.eiW ,39jIx/BwIiM ,mo3 JnstnuoDDB baiaJifirfO .gn3 .looqisviJ .bslBoubS .K8I ,ritd isdoioO 90 ibO .0P8I ,oiiB3nO ni tnetnuooos ss issib a nsgaS A68I ,9nuX, (isvixoDtisV oJ JOHN FREDERICK HELLI WELL ABRAHAM EDMUND KINCAID, J. P. (Revelstoke) Born, Ashton, Ont., May 6th, 1870. Educated, Ashton, Ont. Came to Revelstoke, 1890, and en- gaged in real estate and insurance business, 1891. Has timber mining and coal interests. Served as licence and police commissioner. (aaJoJzisvaH) .q .1 .ciiaoviih avnjMqa mahahha ,b3JBCiub3 .0V8I ,rii3 ysM ,dnO ,no*rfaA ,mofl -ns bns ,0C8I .ailoialavsH ol smsD .JnO .notriaA .1681 .aasniaud aonBiuani bnB sJb* aa Ibst ni bagBg cb bavisS .aJaaisini Iboo bns gninirn isdmb asH .lanoiaaimmoa aoiloq bns asnsoil ABRAHAM EDMUND KINCAID JOSEPH PATRICK (Nelson) Lumber manufacturer. Born, South Durham, Que., 1857. Educated, Stanstead College, Quebec. Com- menced business career as accountant in South Durham, 1880. Came to Nelson, 1906. President Y. M. C. A., Nelson. JOSEPH PATRICK (noalaM) JtDIH,TAq HSLaaOj; • 9U P .mfiriiuQ rfjuo?, ,mofl .isiuJaBlunem Tadmi/J -moD .aadauQ .sgalloD bsstanBiZ .batsoub 3 .V28I riiuoS nt instnuo^oB zb imisd zzonizud baarwm i/wbiaatq .6061 ,nozhVl o i 9ms3 .0881 .mErf-rud .noalaW ,.A .0 .M .Y JOSEPH PATRICK ALEXANDER McDOUGALL (Femie) Lumber manufacturer. Born, Glengarry, Ont., 1858. Commenced career as logger in Ottawa Valley, 1876. Came to British Columbia, 1897. (aims'*) JJAOUOCIoM H3CIWAX3JA ,JnO .ymssnalO ,mo8 .laimaBiuriBm ladmuJ bv/bJJO ni laggol 3 b iaaiB3 baanammoD .8S8I AG8f .BidmuIoO rfabha oJ amsD .9^81 .^allfiV ALEXANDER McDOUGALL JOHN LAING STOCK (Beechwood, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and Nelson) Born, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, May 22nd, 1853. Edu- cated, Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh. Commenced 1898. Business, Scotch tweed manufacturer and career as law clerk in Kirkcaldy in 1873. Came to Canada, 1898. Business, Scotch tweed manufac- turer and farmer. Has extensive mills. Largely interested in fruit lands, mining property and tim- ber limits in this province. JOHN LAING ST ,\£bl£D3hi}I .boowrfaaaH) 30OT3 OMIAJ MHOL (noalaW bri£ .bnsboaS -ub3 .££8/ ,bnSS y fi M .bnslioag .yblfiajhiX t moH baanammoO .rigaudnib3 bn£ yblfiaihia ,bslBO bns isii/Jofili/nfirn baaw* rioioDg .eaanieua .8681 oi ameD ,£V8I ni ^blsajhia hi jj 19 £ 3 WB j gB „, 1B3 -OBlunum baa wi rfa*oa3 .gganiaua .8681 .BbsmeD ylagafij .allim avianaJxa aaH .lannsl bns aaii/j -mi* bns ^isqoiq gninim ,abn£l *iml ni bataaiaJni .aanivoiq eirti ni aJimii aad JOHN LAING STOCKS GEORGE HEGGIE, J. P. (Vernon) General manager Vernon Estate, Land & Agricul- tural Company of Canada. Born, Bathgate, Scot- land, September 23rd, 1870. Educated at Bathgate Academy. Has been for fifteen years manager of Sir Arthur Stepney’s Estate at Enderby. GEORGE HEGGIE (nomaV) .q ,3I003H 303030 -luohgA 2 > bnsj ,9*BJa3 nomsV lagfinsm IsisnsO -tooZ ,9ifigrfJs0 ,mofi .BbBnsO lo ynBqmoO Ibiuj sJBariJsa Jb baJBDuba .0^81 ,biES ladmsJqag .bnfil lo logBnBm atBo^ nsaJlri ioI naad asH .^mabsoA .^diabna Jb 9JBJa3 a'^anqajg luriJiA ii2 GEORGE HEGGIE FRANK C. SEWELL, J. P. (Vancouver) General contractor and chajtered accountant. Born, Bolton, Lancashire, Eng., November 22nd, 1869. Educated, Kilgrimol public school and Owens College, Manchester, and Trinity College, Toronto. Degree F. C. A. Commenced business as contractor in Calgary, Alta., 1892. Came to Alberta in 1886. Member of the Royal North West Mounted Police, 1886-1890. Was city Clerk, Sandon, B. C. C. SEWELL (isvuoanfiV) .8 .JJ3W32 .0 HMAHH .JnBJnuoooB bsiarysriD bns loioBtfnoo iBisnaO ,bnSS isdmsvott ,.gn3 .aiiriaBonsJ .noHoS ,moS bns loorfoa oilduq lomiigliH .brfBouba .5381 .agalloO yJinhT bns .-iMBsrfDnBM ^galloD snswO zaaniaud bsonsmmoD .A .3 .3 aaigad .oincnoT °* amBO ,S58i ,.BiIA .xiBglsO ni toloBilnoo bb tssW rtnol/l Ib^oH »dJ lo isdmsM .3881 ni BiwdlA ytb 8 bW .0681-3881 ,93808 balnuoM .0 .8 ,nobnfi8 FRANK C. SEWELL GEORGE BELL (Enderby) Born, Markdale, Ont., December 9th, 1869. Edu- cated in common schools. First employed in Winnipeg, 1886. Came to British Columbia, 1890. Merchant and farmer. Mayoj of Enderby, 1905- 1911. President British Columbia Municipal Union. GEORGE BELL ('tdisbna) jjaa aoaoao -uba .9981 ,rii9 -wdmsDDa ,.JnO .sIsbibsM ,moS ni bsyolqfrw Jeiia .gloorfoa nommoo n i baJ^D .0981 .BidmuIoO rizilhS o* sm bD .a 881 .gsqimriW -£091 ,^di»bna lo joycM .larrmsl bns JnsriDiaM JfiqioinuM BidmuIoD faith 3 Jnsbieaia .1191 .noinU GEORGE BELL SAMUEL CAMERON SMITH (Vernon) Lumberman. Born, Guelph, Ont., March 20th, 1850. Educated, Guelph. President S. C. Smith Lumber Company, Vernon, and is a large land owner. SAMUEL CAMERON SMITH (nomaV) HTIM3 WOHaMAD J3UMA2 .0281 .rfJOS riaisM ,jnO .riqlsuO ,mo8 .nsfimdinuJ isdmi/J rttimZ .0 .3 insbiasiq .riqbuO ,baJBDub3 ■” nwo b nnl 93ibI s si bns ,non»V ^xiBqmoO SAMUEL CAMERON SMITH EDMOND SHOREY KNOWLTON (Vancouver) Born, Newboro, Ont., June 22, 1868. Educated, Newboro, Ont., Brandon and Winnipeg. Com- menced business career in Winnipeg, October, 1886. Came to Vancouver, May, 1896. Director of several associations. Member B. C. Pharmaceuti- cal Association. EDMOND SHOREY KNOW .TON (wvuoDnfiV) HOTJWOMX Y3HOH8 OMOMaa .baJBouba .8681 ,SS anul ,.}nO .otodwaM ,moH -moO .gaqinniW bns nobnBiS ,JnO .oiodwaH .isdotoO .gaqinniW ni isaisa zasnizud baansm loiosiid .9681 ,i(bM t i3vi/oonBV oJ smsO .6881 -iJuaoBrmBri 1 ! .0 .H isdrrwM .enoiiBiboaaB Lsiavoa io .noilshoszA Ibo EDMOND SHOREY KNOWLTON A. J. MACDONELL (Revelstoke) Born, Charlottenburg, Glengarry, Ont., February 27th, 1863. Educated at county school and at Corn- wall (Ont.) High School. Commenced business career in railway construction in Arizona, 1882. Came to British Columbia, 1884. Engaged in ranching. A. J. MACDONELL (sjloJafavsH) JJ3WO(IDAM .A yiBindsa ,.lnO w^nslQ ^uditsliohstiD ,moQ -moD is bns loorfaa ^nuoa is baJsouba .£381 .riJVS aaaniaud baorrammoO .loorbg rigiH (. inO ) IIbw •S 88I .snosiiA ni noiiouiizrtoo vswlis-i ni isaiea m bagsgna .*881 .BidmuloO rfabha ot S msD .gnirfDriBi A. J. MACDONELL * GERALD CRAMER ALERS-HANKEY, J. P. (Vernon) Born, Bromley, Kent, 1869. Educated, Stubbing- ton, House, Hants, England. Commenced business in Argentine Republic, 1897. Came to British Co- lumbia, 1901. Elected mayor city of Vernon. Financial broker. CRAMER ALERS-HANKEY GERALD (nomsV) .4 .1 ,Y33VIAH-2H3JA H3MAHD CIJAH3Q -§nidduJ2 .baisoubS .6381 .^alrrioiE ,mo3 aaaniaud bao narnmoD .bnelgnS .aJnsH ,3auoH ,ncrt -oD riabhH oi smsO A68I t aiIduqe>H anbnsgiA ni .nomsV lo yib io^eiti bsJoalB .1061 .eidmul .i9>Ioid IsiDriBniq * GERALD CRAMER ALERS-HANKEY T. K. SMITH (Armstrong) Lumberman. Born, Renfrew, Ont., March 16, 1871. Prominent in business circles and philanthropic works. T. K. SMITH (gnousrmA) HTIM2 .X .T • K8i .31 rbiuM ..JnO .wailnafl ,moE .nermadmuj oiqoidJnBliriq bn B aaloin 2 39n laud ni inanimoiq .sjhow T. K. SMITH THOMAS FRANK PATERSON (Vancouver) Lumberman. Born, Thamesford, Middlesex, Ont., November 19th, 1869. Educated, Guelph and To- ronto, Ont. Degree, B. S. A. Came to British Co- lumbia, 1896, as lecturer to Farmers’ Institutes. Commenced business career as secretary Canadian Pacific Lumber Company, Port Moody, 1898. Has large lumber, ranching and real estate interests. THOMAS JK PATERSON 'oT°bn^ lt l bl ^ ' bl0}39mBriT .mo8 .n B nn 9 *nuJ -03 h"‘, a 8 " *?* ;r f ” ,m 3,£Ja3 bns snirionsi , 19 c f m uf 9glfiI THOMAS FRANK PATERSON GEORGE A. LEITCH (Cranbrook) Lumberman. Born, Bryson, Que., July 10th, 1875. Came to Cranbrook, 1897, and engaged in lumber business. GEORGE A. LEITCH ■ 2T81 ,rfJOI i^dmul nf (slooidnsiO) H3TI3J .A 303030 ..3up .noa^iS ,mo3 .nsunadmuJ bagBgns bne ,^8I .dooidnmD oi am bD .aaaniaud DAVID LLOYD JONES (Kelowna) Lumberman. Born, Brant County, Ontaria, 1862. Educated, Waterfall, Ont. Commenced career as contractor, 1888. Came to Okanagan in 1880. Com- menced as lumberman in Kelowna in 1895. Presi- dent of Kelowna Saw Mill Company, Ltd. DAVID LLOYD JONES (snwobX) 23HOI QYOdJ dlVACI •Sd8I )6 m*nO .xltiuoD tneiS ,moa .nBimadmuJ “ mmsd b « mmmoD .JnO .UbIisJbW ,bBi63i/faa -moD .088 I ni nB 8 BnB^O o* amfiD .8881 .loioBttnoo -ibst? ,ee8I ni BnwoIaX ni nBfmadrnnl a B baDnam .biJ .^nBqmoD IliM wb3 BnwolaX io *n»b DAVID LLOYD JONES ALBERT EDWARD DUCHESNAY (Vancouver) Born, Biscotasing, Ont., November 3rd, 1884. Edu- cated, St. John’s College. Came to Vancouver, 1890. Commenced business career as bank clerk, 1900. Broker. Has mining and land interests. ALBERT EDWARD DUCHE (isvuoonBV) YAW23H3UCI CIHAWCia TH39JA -ub3 >881 ,bi£ ladmavoW ,.fnO .gnigsloozia ,mo8 ,i9vuoonsV ot am sD .agalloO z'nrioX .tZ .baJsa ,3iial3 jJriEd 3B laaisa aaarriaud baanammoO .0681 .aiaaiaJni bnsl brns gninim «bH .laafoiE .0061 - . > y' .» ALBERT EDWARD DUCHESNAY NEWTON WOLVERTON (Nelson) Financier. Born, Oxford County, Ont., February 5th, 1846. Educated, Toronto University. Degrees, LL.D. and B. A. Began career as college professor in Woodstock, Ont., 1877. Came to Nelson, 1908. Introduced manual training and domestic science into Canada and Texas. Organized the Kootenay- Slocan Fruit Company, Ltd., of Nelson, and the Pacific Investment Corporation, Ltd., of Van- couver, and the Sunset Mills, Ltd., of Nelson. Medallist Fenian Raid. NEWTON WOLVERTON (noalsVI) HOTH3VJOW MOTW3M ^iBinctaa ,.inO ,y1nuo0 biolxO ,mo3 .isnnsnia , 833139 a .yJiaisvinU otnoioT .bslssuba .d£8I ,ril2 io833loiq 3§3lIo3 8 e 1331B3 xiBgsa .A .3 bns .a.JJ .8061 .noelsM ol 3tn bD AT8I ,.JnO .ilioJabooW ni 3303138 shssmob bns gniniBU lEi/nsm bssuboilnl -yEnslooX srfJ bssinBsiO .8 ex 3T bns EbEnsO oJni srit bns .nosIsM io ,.b}J xnsqmoD Jhn3 riBioIS -oeV lo ,.blJ ,nox}£ioqioO Jnsmtssvnl srtioEa .noalsM lo ,.biJ .sIIiM ioznuB srfi bns ,i3vuo3 .bisH nsinsa JaillsbsM NEWTON WOLVERTON CLEMENT HUNGERFORD POLLEN, M. A., I. M. E„ F. G. S. (Cranbrook) Mine manager. Born, London, Eng., May 25th, 1869. Educated, The Oratory, in Birmingham, Eng. Commenced business career as cattle rancher in Wyoming, United States, in 1887. Came to British Columbia in 1896. One time was assistant secretary to Governor of Bahama Islands. Presi- dent and promoter of Kootenay Central Railway Company. • x*i . i .waajoq aao^aaowuH twsmsjd (^ooidneiD) .8 .0 .3 tsLYm^ia 8 " 3 ’ n ° bn0j ' n7 ° a aniM 3 7 3 ni ,Y10 * £1 ° 3rf T .fa^Boubs east <* " 88 " TZ,Z ai '£ t;r mmoD - 8na T^t\h w ,T h Z° M8t r q CT - 3bnBl21 ^Briea lo lomsvoO of y-, £ * 9 „„ ''*’"'** ,s ”"’ 3 W»»«K,a io „ lom o, q L« ,n’ b -YnfiqrnoD CLEMENT HUNGERFORD POLLEN ALBERT EDWARD ASHCROFT, C. E. (Coldstream, Vernon) Born, Aberdare, South Wales, July 31st, 1862. Educated, St. Stephens, Walthamstow and Nelson College, N. Z. Degrees, B. C., L. S. and D. L. S. Entered New Zealand public service, August, 1878. Came to Vancouver, B. C., 1898. Engineer White Valley Irrigation & Power Company. ALBERT EDWARD ASHCROFT D .T3OH0H2A OHAWaa TSiaajA (nomaV ,mB9iiabloO) ^dS l J d 1 f_. yfal ,a 3 I 6 W ff*uo2 .aisfnadA ,moH noa bM b„ B woJamsriJlBW ,an 3 riq 9J 8 .,g .f^BDuba 8VRf'? fan£ . 8 J '•°- a < 33 ^a .S .M (3S3 IloO S " A ' 93Ivl9g 3iIdu q bnsIs 3 S wait baiatnZ 9,lrfW ’«n iS na .8681 ,.0 .3 ,-ravuoansV o, amsD •'i nE qmoD iswol noijEghil ^ 3 IIbV JOHN O’SULLIVAN, F. C. S. (Vancouver) Born, Swansea, South Wales, February 15th, 1854. , Educated at Swansea. Commenced career as as- sayer with Vivian & Sons, in Swansea, November, 1871. Came to Vancouver, May, 1897, as chief chemist to British Columbia Agency, Ltd., of Lon- don, Eng. Elected Fellow of the Chemical Society of London, Eng. Quartermaster-Sergeant 1st Glamorgan Volunteer Artillery. Decorated with medal for long and meritorious services, 1896. Staff Sergeant, 1st Glamorgan Royal Garrison (Volunteer) Artillery, Swansea, S. Wales. JOH ✓ .rfttl v? buiM t3S r B w rftuoS ,E33nEw2 .mofl V* 7 ” 1£3 .esanEwS ,* b^Bouba ,i»dn»voH , £ «n £ w2 ni t ano3 * n siviV ri*i w *"7*“ hi? 1 '^ M ' 13vuo:)nsV o# 9me D .nsi o / ^ 3n3 S A BidmufoD riabha oi J 3 irn 3 ri 3 Sr?® T riD ** 10 WOfI ^ . 3 n3 nob dtiw - 3 n3 .rrobnoJ } 0 aeTl alv 00 ^ 3rli,lA w»*«»ioV nBS-iorrrsrO nosh 'o 7 B M8 5 r 8 "° n0,n9m *“ 8n0f ,oi lBb ^ TB ° 7u/ o nBai0m£f ° * 81 Hb*2 •esfsW .3 .swwwa .ywIIhiA (iMtnuIoV) JOHN O’SULLIVAN DONALD ALEXANDER MACDONALD (Vancouver) President Macdonald’s Limited. Born in Upter- grove in 1878 and educated St. Michael’s College, Toronto. Came to British Columbia in 1899. Busi- ness and financial agent. DONALD ALEXANDER MACDONALD (wuoonsV) CUAWOdOAM H3dWAX3JA dJAWOd -i3JqU m mo a .bsiimij B'bbsnoboaM Jmbiaaiq ,»33l/o0 a’lsBrioxM .j8 baJsouba bns 8T81 ni avora -lat/H .6681 ni fiidmuloO riaiJhS oi weD .otnoioT .inagB ffilonfinfl bits sssn I DONALD ALEXANDER MACDONALD THOMAS JOHN SMITH (Vancouver) Broker and mine operator. Born, Gloucester County, N. B., January 29th, 1868. Educated, Winnipeg, Man. Came to Vancouver, 1898, and engaged in the mining business, 1897. President Diamond Vale Colleries, Ltd. Interested in fruit- growing, ranching and real estate. THOMAS (MvaoanfiV) HTIM2 MHOl 3AMOHT leiiaaouofO ,moH .loJsisqo snim bne mjIo 7 H .btoBouba .8981 .riiCS ^tsunsl ,& M , K i nuo 0 bns ,8e8I t -u>vuoonsV o 1 smeO .msM .gaqinniW Jnatoaaiq Ae8I .aaaniaud gninim :>rfr ni baasgna -ixuil m bajaaisjnl .to J .aahsIIoD 9 IbV bnomaia ■91b1 39 Ib 3 i bns anirfDnsi ,gmwcng THOMAS JOHN SMITH GEORGE HERBERT THOMPSON (Cranbrook) Barrister and solicitor. Born, Toronto, Ont., No- vember 16th, 1871. Educated, Welsey St. Public School, Toronto, Eye Grammar School, Eye, Suf- folk, Eng., Toronto Collegiate Institute and Osgoode Hall. Began to practise profession in Toronto, 1896. Came to British Columbia, 1900. GEORGE HERBERI T > (dooidmnO) MOgqMOHT TH3aH3H 303030 -oM ,.JnO .otnoioT ,mofl .loJbiloa fans laJaiiiBH oilduq . 1 2 xsalsW .balBoubS .K8I ,rf}0i ladmsv -iuZ ,9^3 JoorioZ iBmmeiO 9^3 ,o*noioT .loorfog bns sfuiifanl gjfiiggl loO oincnoT ,.§n3 ni noiaaaloiq sailDBiq o1 ns^a .IIbH 9boo'§80 .0061 .BidmuloO rfaitha of omsD .0681 .otnoioT GEORGE HERBERT THOMPSON DONALD KENNETH CAMPBELL (Vancouver) Born, County of Victoria, Ont., May 21st, 1852. Educated common schools. Commenced business career as produce merchant in Woodville, Ont. Came to Vancouver, June 12th, 1888. Contractor. Interested in construction of two and one-half mile tunnel between Lake Coquitlam and Lake Buntzen. Also interested in farm lands. DONALD (mvuodhbV) jjaaqMAO HTawwaa ajAwoa •S58I ,leIS '.inO .BhoJoiV lo xJmioD .moS easnisud bsons mrnoO .aioorbs nommoo b 9 j£oub3 •inO .sllivbooW ni JnB/foiam aouboiq 8B i 391 bo .toloBUnoO .888 1 t rflSI annl .^vuoohbV ot amsD ilfiri-ano bns owt lo nobou-tfanoo ni baJaai^nl .n^twS. 33 {bJ bns cnahiupoD ^bJ n^wfod ianm/J .abnBl miBl ni bsJasisJni oaJA DONALD KENNETH CAMPBELL (sima’il) ,Q .M ,JJ3MMOa 8 S. BONNELL I WILLIAM IRVING BRIGGS (Revelstoke) Barrister and solicitor. Born, Victoria, December 26th, 1875. Educated, St. Louis College, New Westminster, Military Academy, Portland, Ore., and Osgoode Hall, Toronto, Ont. Admitted to bar 1901. City solicitor for Revelstoke, several banks and mining companies. WILLIAM .7 (sjfotalsvsH) 20DIH3 OWIVfll MAIJJIW ladmsosQ ,6iioJoiV ,moS .lotbiloa bnB isJainBH vraVl .sgsIIoQ eiuoJ ,}8 ,b3}B:>nba .6T8I ,ritdS ,.9iO .bnslJioa .^msbBoA ^tbJxIiM ,i3:t2nimJ23W iBd oX bsltimbA .JnO .olnoioT ,IIbH sboogsO bnB exbiBd Ibi 3V38 ,3jioJal3V35I iol lotioiloa yjiQ .XOei .asinBqmoo gninirn bns WILLIAM IRVING BRIGGS SOLOMON CAMERON (Victoria) Born, Prince Edward Island, July 29th, 1863. Edu- cated public school. Came to British Columbia, December, 1883. General contractor and lumber- man. President Westholme Lumber Company, Ltd. SOLOMON CAMERON (BhoioiV) WOH3MAD H0M0J02 -ub3 .£381 .rites ^ful .brtBlal biBwbS aanhq ,mo3 .fiidmufoD riaitiia 0 l smsO .looriaa 3 ilduq b 9} fi 3 -ladrmri bns lotaBitnoo leianaQ .£88 1 .isdnraosd WJ .xnsqmoO ladmuj amloritaaW tnabiaaiq .nsm SOLOMON CAMERON ROBERT E. BEATTIE (Cranbrook) Born, Barrie, Ont., March 20th, 1876. Educated, Portage la Prairie, Man. Professional druggist. Came to Cranbrook, 1898. Postmaster, Cranbrook. Also engaged in mining and farming. (dooidnsiO) 3ITTA3a .3 T33aOH .bsiEouba .dT8I .riJOS riaisM ..JnO , 3 in e a ,mo3 •Jsiggmb Isnoiaasloia .xieM ,9hi£i3 eI 3 g£ji 0 q •dooidnEiO ,79}a£m}aoq .8G81 JooidnEiO o* smsD .Snimifil bfi£ gninim ni bagEgna oalA ROBERT E. BEATTIE JOHN ROBERT POLLOCK (Fernie) Born, Presidio Barracks, San Francisco, Cal., May 22nd, 1865. Educated, Hill Military Academy and Pacific University. Commenced career as miner in Coeur d’Alene district, 1887. Came to British Columbia 1896. American Vice-Consul. Vice- President Fernie Board of Trade. Business inter- ests, lumber and mining. JOHN ROBERT POLLOCK (aims'?) XDOJJOq TH3HOH WHOl ^bM ,.IbD ,oD 0 iDn£i 3 xib 2 .aabBUBH oibiasiq mo9 bn B ^msbBoA ywiiliM IliH .bsiBauba .£981 ,bnSS m iamm as laaiBD bsonsmmoD .v*iaiavinU afliasq riaimfl oi arnsO .V88I .Jahiaib snsiA'b iu so D -aaiV .luanoD-soiV nBahsmA ,9e8I BidmuIoD - 19ittt 8Mni8ua - 9 ^iT lo biBoa aims? insbia 31 q .§ninim bits isdrrml , 3*39 JOHN ROBERT POLLOCK GEORGE F. STEVENSON (Cranbrook) Wholesale grocer. Born, Brougham, Ont., 1879. Educated, Toronto. Commenced business career as commission merchant in Winnipeg, 1904. Moved to Regina, Sask., 1905, and subsequently to British Columbia. Formerly secretary Fernie Board of Trade. v\.yjc,Vi\i± v [die •evsi ,.in o .mBriguoia ,moa ,„ 3 oig 3 r B33 loriW "Vr ^-na mmo D .crtncnoT ,6 3 , fi3ob3 oj m JnBri3 ' r3m noiaaimmoo BB 2n^ ♦ " ,e ° ei >MS8 ' Bnis 351 °* fa3V °M ' nB * 3733S ^h 3 nno 3 .sidmufoO rfaijhg .3b B iT lo busoH GEORGE F. STEVENSON SIMON GRAHAM JARDINE (Vancouver) Bank manager. Born, Jardineville, Kent County, N. B., September 4th, 1879. Educated, Rexton, N. B., Superior School, and St. Joseph’s College, Mt. Allison Academy. SIMON GRAHAM JARDINE (Mvi/oonsV) 3MICI5IAI MAHAHO MOMI2 'VinuoD inaX .oIlivanibiBl ,mo3 .la^BnBm jbisa ,nolx95I .baJsouba .e?8I ,riJ£ ladmajqag ,.9 M .agalfoD a'riqsaol, .*2 bns ,Ioorb2 lohaqug ,.a .VI •XmabBoA noaiflA .jM SIMON GRAHAM JARDINE 1 GEORGE E. McCROSSAN (Vancouver) Born, Winnipeg, Ont., September 16th, 1879. Edu- cated College Institute and Manitoba University (scholarship and first medalist Arts and Law). Called to Manitoba bar, 1903. British Columbia bar, 1904. Editor “Digest of B. C. Case Law,” “Digest of Canadian Criminal Case Law.” Counsel for Dominion Government on Royal Commission to investigate Chinese frauds and opium smuggling, 1911. President Young Men’s Liberal Association since 1909. GEORGE E. McCROSSAN (MvuoonBV) MA33OH00M .3 aOHOSi -ub3 .CY8I .rildl Mdm sjqsg ,.inO , S 9qinniW .moS V^uisvinU BcloiinBM bns siuiiia nl agsfloO b 9} B3 • ( wbJ bns j 3 il Bb3m , 8lfl bnB qiriaiBlorl33) BidmuloO riaimH .£ 0 GI ,iad sdotinsM o i bsl I eD ,wbJ ssbO .0 .a lo JaggiCT* i 0 Jib3 >oei lfi d -92nuoO ".wbJ seeO I fin imh3 nBibEnsO 1 0 *a 3 g'iCT* °* n ° 12aimm °3 *«*>« no JnsmmavoO noinimoa ioI .Snilgguma muiqo bfIB 3boBli 9a9aid3 «,, Bsij3:JVni notJBiooagA IsisdiJ a'naM gnuoY tngbiagiq .nei .eoei aonia WILLIAM HOLDEN (Vancouver) Born, Sterling, Ont., February 7th, 1872. Owner of Holden Bldg., Vancouver. Broker. V WILLIAM HOLDEN