CONTENTdm
Northwest bookshelf. Vol. IV
British Columbia Historical Books Collection
Lamb, W. Kayle
Provincial Archives of British Columbia
British Columbia Historical Association
"Supersedes the association's Annual report and proceedings. Table of contents, index in each volume. Indexed in Canadian index. Last number appeared in 1958."-- Lowther, B. J., & Laing, M. (1968). A bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the foundations, 1849-1899. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 193. "Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. Superseded the Association's Annual report and proceedings. Table of contents and index in each volume. Also indexed in the Canadian Index. Publication suspended with vol.21, Jan., 1957-0ct., 1958, i.e. 1963. Includes many articles and reviews of publications on the precolonial period."-- Strathern, G. M., & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 32.
298 pages : coat of arms, photographs, tables, plan, portrait, facsimiles ; 25 cm
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BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY JANUARY, 1940 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. ADVISORY BOARD. ', Princeton. F. W. Howay, New Westmins L. Reid, Vancouver. T. A. Rickard, Victori W. N. Sage, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor, Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Subscriptions should be sent to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Price, 50c. the copy, or $2 the year. Members of the British Columbia Historical Association in good standing receive the Quarterly without further charge. Neither the Provincial Archives nor the British Columbia Historical Association assumes any responsibility for statements made by contributors THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY 1940 VICTORIA B.C. EDITOR. W. Kaye Lamb. ADVISORY BOARD. J. C Goodfellow, Princeton. F. W. Howay, New Westminster Robie L. Reed, Vancouver. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. All comim FS-Ztrv I BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Vol. IV. Victoria, B.C., January, 1940. CONTENTS. Articles: Coal-mining on Burrard Inlet, 1865-66. By F. W. Howay Why " Bits "? By Robie L. Reid Documents : The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. With an introduction and notes Notes and Comments: British Columbia Historical Associatioi Kootenae House Memorial Cairn COALMINING ON BURRARD INLET, 1865-66. In the instructions given by Sir E. B. Lytton to Colonel E. C. Moody on his taking command of the detachment of Royal Engineers for service in British Columbia, in 1858, he was directed to " ascertain the real value of the coal for all purposes of steam communication, both in British Columbia and Vancouver [Island]."1 Early in 1859, after Colonel Moody had selected the site of New Westminster as the Capital and obtained Governor Douglas's approval, H.M.S. Plumper was sent to survey Burrard Inlet with, amongst other things, a view to the protection of the seat of Government. In the prosecution of this duty the existence of coal near the entrance and on the southern shore of that inlet was discovered. The official report shows that the Indians knew of the presence of coal and probably directed the explorers to the exposed seams, just as they had done at Beaver Harbour in 1835 and at Nanaimo in 1850. Thus on June 12, 1859, coal outcroppings were found " on the southern side of the inner harbour, about a mile and a half within the first narrows." This description places the site, probably, near Burrard Street. Following Vancouver's nomenclature the whole stretch from Point Grey and Point Atkinson to Port Moody was locally known as Burrard Inlet, even as it is to-day in the British Columbia Pilot. English Bay was the " outer harbour "; Coal Harbour, the " inner harbour "; and Port Moody, the " head of the south arm." Beneath a layer of sandstone at a depth of 7 or 8 feet, the first seam outcropped on the shore. It was 4 or 5 inches in thickness. Below it, and separated by layers of shale, was another seam which, in a distance of 7 feet, increased from 7 to 15 inches. The complete account is contained in the reports of Dr. C. B. Wood and Captain Richards which, by the courtesy of the Provincial Archives, are reproduced in the appendix hereto, together with Captain Richards's letter to Admiral Baynes announcing the discovery, and later documents dealing with the attempt to mine the coal. i, Part I., presented 2 F. W. Howay. January The late Hon. John Robson, who was in the Colony at the time, in referring to the existence of coal near Vancouver, wrote:— Admiral (then Captain) Richards picked up coal on the beach in quantity and quality sufficient to steam his ship across to Esquimalt, and it was from that coal the magnificent harbour took its name.2 But from Captain Richards's report it appears that about 2 tons were obtained from " a vein of apparently good coal." Much of it had, however, been so long exposed to salt water that, on testing, it proved unsatisfactory. Nevertheless a small portion " of very good coal" was secured, and he believed that at trifling expense large quantities of a superior description could be found.8 In a tracing, dated July 4, 1859, sent by Captain Richards to Colonel Moody, the words " Coal beds" are written on a part of Stanley Park, then or later a military reserve, and also at a point farther up the harbour. Writing on January 20, 1860, Colonel Moody mentions " the Coal District on the South side of Burrard Inlet," and in the same letter he refers to " the east side of the Naval Reserve at the Coal site."4 The late George Turner, R.E., in his evidence in the Dead- man's Island case, stated that some time prior to February, 1863 (probably in February, 1862), he, in company with Colonel Moody and Captain Parsons, of the Royal Engineers, made a trip from Port Moody " in a gun boat, either the Grappler or the Forward " to Coal Harbour, where they examined a seam of lignite. He does not condescend to the exact location; but it may, perhaps, be inferred from the fact that, when in February and March, 1863, he surveyed Stanley Park, he marked it on his map " Coal Peninsula." At the same time Turner surveyed Lot 185, immediately adjoining Stanley Park to the eastward. His field-notes show an outcrop of coal 10 inches in width, on the shore close to John Morton's cabin. The perti- (2) Editor (3) Richar appendix.) (4) Moody to W. R. Spalding, January 20, 1860, in Deadman's Island Case (Appeal Book before the Privy Council), p. 299. The naval reserve referred to lay east of Lot 185, and possibly included the Granville townsite of later days. 1940 Coal-mining on Burrard Inlet, 1865-( nent portion of those notes is herewith reproduced from the original in the Provincial Archives. This was the situation of affairs when, in October, 1863, the detachment of Royal Engineers was disbanded and Colonel Moody returned to England. Lieutenant Mayne, who was on the Plumper, in speaking of Burrard Inlet says:— Two miles inside the first narrows is Coal Harbour where coal has been found in considerable quantities and of good quality, although the demand is not yet sufficient to induce speculators to work it in opposition to the already established mines at Nanaimo.5 Turning now from Coal Harbour to English Bay, we find Captain Richards in his letter to Admiral Baynes, dated June 14, 1859, reporting the existence of undeniable evidences of coal at the " outer harbour."6 Yet it does seem strange that the first proposals to undertake exploratory work to test the coal- (5) R. C. Mayne, Four Years in Br London, 1862, p. 142. (6) See this letter in the appendix. '.ish Columbia and Vancouver Island, 4 F. W. Howay. January measures should relate to English Bay where, so far as the record shows, only " evidences " had been found, rather than at Coal Harbour whose small seams of ascertained quality were known. Within a month of the discovery at Coal Harbour— that is, on July 21, 1859—an alleged syndicate, supposed to include well-known people of Victoria (J. J. Southgate, A. R. Green, Robert Burnaby, Dickson Campbell & Co., and A. F. Main), was applying to purchase 5,000 acres of supposed coal lands situated " on the range of hills between the North Arm of Fraser River and Burrard's Inlet," where they asserted they had " discovered a lead of good coal." Colonel Moody was in favour of the application and suggested that the price be fixed at 4s. 2d. an acre; the proposition likewise met the approval of that hard-headed business man, Governor Douglas. Neither of them called for any proof; and neither was alarmed by the vagueness of locality and description which in other circumstances might have suggested a mere bit of land-jobbery. Nothing, however, eventuated; an endorsement on the correspondence in the Provincial Archives laconically states: " Not carried out. Ascertained to be an imposture." Thus from 1859 downwards for the next five or six years coal was, so to speak, in the air of Burrard Inlet, using that expression in its wide geographical sense. The first genuine proposal to search for and mine it was made on November 24, 1864, by two men, prominent in the commercial life of the colony: George Dietz, then in the express business in partnership with Hugh Nelson (later, Senator Nelson), and Sewell P. Moody, then about to engage in the manufacture of lumber at Moodyville. They selected not Coal Harbour but English Bay as the scene of their effort. They did not allege that they had found coal. They applied for a grant of 640 acres at " English Bay, Burrard Inlet" for the purpose of prospecting and sinking for coal. The rough sketch attached to their application shows that the land applied for was in the neighbourhood of the Kitsi- lano Indian Reserve of later years. They asked for a period of six months in which to commence operations, and that after they had expended £500 in the venture they should be entitled to purchase the area at 4s. 2d. ($1) an acre. 1940 COAL-MINING ON BURRARD INLET, 1865-66. - 5 The Governor, Frederick Seymour, in replying, emphasized his desire to aid the successful working of coal mines in the vicinity of the Capital (New Westminster) and promised to reserve for six months 600 acres, more or less, in the specified area with the provision that the applicants might purchase it at the price named by them, but on the understanding that in the grant a covenant should be inserted enabling the Government to impose a royalty of not more than %6 of all coal produced.7 This royalty clause was the snag on which the scheme later struck and went to pieces. In the Governor's view his promise to grant the land was conditional upon the discovery of a workable coal mine, on whose product royalty could be charged. While this was not definitely stated in the letter of December 30, 1864, it was claimed that it was a necessary inference from the reservation of the royalty. By a subsequent arrangement the six-months period was extended for a further term of six months, which would expire on December 30, 1865. The two promoters, Dietz and Moody, with whom was associated John Pickavent Cranford (of Cran- ford vs. Wright fame), discovered, it was alleged, a 15-ineh seam on English Bay near deep water. The three now set about the incorporation of a company to prospect for and develop a coal mine at English Bay. In floating the concern they felt that a mine with a reserve of only 600 acres looked like a small affair; in consequence they applied to Governor Seymour for a reserve of greater extent, instancing the Nanaimo and Harewood companies with coal rights covering, as they alleged, 6,000 and 9,000 acres respectively. The Governor's reply, as was to be expected from him, was most gracious: he was fully alive to the importance of a producing mine in the district and while wishing to give every encouragement when satisfied that the work was proceeding bona fide, it was in his opinion premature to extend the 600-acre reserve.8 In the meantime the incorporation was completed and the British Columbia Coal Mining Company, Limited, came into being on July 22, 1865. It had a nominal (7) See letter December 30, 1864, Colonial Secretary to Messrs. Dietz and Moody, in the appendix. The original is in the Provincial Archives. (8) See the letter of application from Dietz, Moody, and Cranford, dated July 19, 1865, and the Colonial Secretary's reply, dated the following day, in the appendix hereto. 6 F. W. HOWAY. January capital of $100,000 divided into 2,000 shares of $50 each. Of these the promoters were allotted 300 for their services in securing the reserve of 600 acres, in discovering the 15-inch seam, and in securing incorporation. The remainder were for sale on the terms of $2 per share on allotment and the monthly calls of $1 a share; one thousand shares being, however, retained for the time being from subscription. The company's prospectus showed a strong directorate composed of some of the best-known men in the colony. The Chairman of the Board was Captain James Cooper; the Secretary was William Clarkson. The other directors were the Hon. J. A. R. Homer, M.L.A., John Robson, W. J. Armstrong, and J. P. Cranford, all of New Westminster; Sewell P. Moody, Josias Charles Hughes, George Dietz, and James Van Bramer, all of Burrard Inlet. It stated that the company had a reserve of 600 acres at English Bay and had the assurance of the Governor's support in every reasonable way. It went on to indicate that the company intended " to explore the vicinity of English Bay for coal by putting down a bore " and that in less than ninety days the ground would be prospected and the company ready to sink a shaft and open a mine.9 In an editorial in the British Columbian, John Robson, its editor and one of the directors of the company, took occasion to stress the importance of the new undertaking and figured out a paper profit of $3.50 a ton at the point of delivery, or $700 a day on an estimated output of 200 tons. He urged the importance of the venture, pointing out that the mining of coal meant long- continued operations and a great benefit to the community, inasmuch as it involved a large outlay in wages, supplies, etc. In a later issue he reported that four directors of the coal company (of whom, from the detailed account that is given, he was probably one) went to English Bay, probably by the military trail to I Jericho," early in August, 1865, to " reconnoitre the coal grounds of the company, preparatory to inaugurating active operations." He continues:— How about coal? That's the question. We may say, in a word, that in the general formation of the country, the continuous range of sandstone, permeated for miles with cropping veins of lignite, anthracite, and fossilized (9) This prospectus appeared in the British Columbian, July 27, 1865, and subsequent issues. 1940 Coal-mining on Burrard Inlet, 1865-66. 7 vegetation, the most unquestionable and abundant evidences of the close proximity of coal beds is to be found, while, cropping out at low tide, there are to be found substantial seams of coal, detached pieces of which are picked up and used by the natives for fuel. There can be no doubt at all as to the existence of coal measures in abundance, and that all that would appear to be needed in order to open them up and turn them to profitable To prosecute the work of drilling on its reserve at English Bay, the company, on August 5,1865, applied to the Government for the loan of a boring-rod, winch, and the other necessary apparatus, chisels, etc. The request was granted upon the company's guarantee of their value and safe return, ordinary wear and tear excepted. This activity of the company brought trouble with Captain Edward Stamp, the manager of the British Columbia & Vancouver Island Spar, Lumber, and Sawmill Company, which was then commencing its mill on the southern side of Burrard Inlet. He claimed that the coal company's reserve was within the sawmill company's large timber limit, which covered a great part of the present Shaughnessy Heights. The timber at any rate, he said, was his company's, and in enforcement of its rights he placed a logging camp on the 600-acre coal reserve and began to fell the trees. The upshot of the dispute was that the coal company agreed to surrender all its claims to the reserve on English Bay, and to accept in lieu a reserve of 400 acres on the south shore of what is now Vancouver Harbour, lying east ■ of Lot 185. This was to be supplemented by an adjoining tract of land extending to the shore of False Creek, and sufficiently wide to make up a reserve of 600 acres in all.11 The terms on which the new reserve was to be held required the bona-fide expenditure of £500 in exploring for coal. Thereafter, the company claimed that it was entitled to purchase the land at 4s. 2d. an acre; but the Governor's position, as later developed, was that such purchase could not be made unless the prospecting had actually disclosed a producing mine on whose output a royalty could be collected. What work, if any, had been done on the Kitsilano reserve before the exchange has not been ascertained. Probably noth- (10) British Columbian, August 1 and 3, 1866. (11) The letters of H. P. P. Crease, dated in August and September, 1865, upon which this paragraph is based, are in the Provincial Archives and are reproduced in the appendix. F. W. Howay. January ing in the way of actual boring had been accomplished, as the company only obtained the loan of the drilling outfit on August 17, and by that time the trouble with Captain Stamp had commenced. At any rate, the scene is now shifted to the reserve on Coal Harbour. On September 11, 1865, the Colonial Secretary made a very poor attempt to crystallize the terms of the arrangement. The following quotation therefrom will show its remarkable looseness of thought and expression—not to say ignorance of the situation. I am directed by the Officer Administrating the Government to acquaint you that the surrender in question is accepted. The right to mine for coal only being reserved to the Company; and the grant in lieu thereof of 600 acres of the Reserve next to section 185, on the conditions heretofore arranged as to expenditure of capital by the Company, is hereby confirmed.12 It will be observed that the new reserve of 600 acres was in two parts: that next to Lot 185 was of 400 acres, more or less; the other 200 acres were on the opposite side of False Creek. Furthermore the Colonial Secretary only refers to the condition regarding capital expenditure; he is silent on the crucial point of the royalty of y16, mentioned in the letter of December 30, 1864, when the terms were being fixed for the original reserve on English Bay. The company secured the services of John Dick, of Nanaimo, a thoroughly experienced and practical miner, as their adviser and manager. On August 12, even before the exchange of reserves had been officially made, he and his party were busily engaged in examining and prospecting the area east of Lot 185 where operations were to commence. He had not then settled upon the exact spot for the " shaft"—meaning the bore-hole— that was to be sunk; but the result of his investigations was highly encouraging. His report was as follows:— To the Board of Directors of the British Columbia Coal Mining Company, Limited. GENTLEMEN,—After a careful examination of several square miles of the country lying to the southward of Burrard Inlet, I take pleasure in being able to state that, although owing to the general regularity and unbroken nature of the beds of strata there visible I have not been able to discover the outcroppings of any coal seam worthy of note, still there is every indica- itish 1940 Coal-mining on Burrard Inlet, 1865-66. 9 tion of the existence of such a seam at no great depth—say from 40 to 60 fathoms. Should my surmise prove correct there is no doubt (judging from the very trifling angle of dip and its freedom from faults and other dislocations of strata) that the field will be quite equal in extent to any yet discovered on Vancouver Island. For the purpose of further proving the quality of Coal and its depth from the surface, I would recommend that a series of borings be commenced at such places as, after further deliberation, I shall be prepared to point out. I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, John Dick. The company appears to have had its drilling apparatus on the ground and to have commenced driving the bore some time in October. The site selected, says the Dominion Pacific Herald in its issue of June 29, 1881 (its editor, John Robson, had been interested as a shareholder and director in the venture), was " a little below the south-west boundary of Granville."18 Through the winter of 1865-66 the boring went on, and by February, 1866, the test-hole had been sunk to a distance of 380 feet, passing through " three seams of coal, five, nine, and sixteen inches respectively." The real nature of the coal seems to be in doubt; George Turner called it a lignite, but John Robson, in 1881, thought it to be Albertite. From month to month the calls were made on the stock; and on February 7, 1866, the first general meeting of the company was held in the old Hyack Hall, New Westminster. Despite the failure to find a workable seam the manager, Mr. Dick, " reported highly favorable indications." The old Board of Directors was re-elected, with the exception of James Van Bramer and J. P. Cranford, whose seats were taken by William Grieve and J. S. Clute. The prospects of the company were canvassed at length and it was resolved to continue the bore.14 The work was resumed, and by the following April the bore (or " shaft" as Robson calls it) had reached a depth of 500 feet. There the work stopped, after the company had spent $3,000 in the venture. As the money expended exceeded the £500 originally mentioned by the promoters, Dietz and Moody, in their letter of (13) Granville townsite did not come into being until 1870, but Robson is making an identification in the nomenclature of 1881, not of 1865. (14) British Columbian, February 10, 1866. 10 F. W. Howay. January November 24, 1864, the company applied for a Crown grant of the 600-acre reserve on Coal Harbour and False Creek. Then came up the question of royalties and the Governor's view that the grant was contingent upon the discovery of a workable coal mine. After much discussion, which dragged on for some two months, the Hon. Mr. Birch, who was administering the Government in the absence of Governor Seymour, refused to make the grant and the undertaking was abandoned.16 John Robson, in the Dominion Pacific Herald, June 29, 1881, expressed the views of the company:— The operations of that company were brought to a premature and abrupt termination through the bad faith of the Government in refusing to give a title to the land according to agreement. A shareholder in the company had in 1870 stated his view:— An expenditure of over £700 was made by the Company in a bona fide attempt to discover coal; they having failed to do so ought not to vitiate a contract entered into between the Government and the Company, and I for one claim an interest equivalent to $160 thus invested on the written engagement of the Government that the land should be granted to the Coal Company on condition that £500 was honestly expended in prospecting for coal.is So ended the first and only serious attempt to test the coal- measures that were supposed to underlie the City of Vancouver. But this does not end the story of coal on Burrard Inlet. In 1881 the late Dr. Thomas R. Mclnnes (afterwards Senator and, still later, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, but then the Member representing New Westminster in the House of Commons) took to Ottawa A quantity of coal apparently of very superior quality, obtained from the outcrop of a well-defined seam, showing a thickness of three feet, situated on the tongue of land dividing English Bay from Coal Harbour. Parenthetically, one may ask: Has any one, now living, any idea of the location of this seam? The coal is described as:— Unlike any coal yet discovered in Canada except the famous Albertite found at Hillsboro, N.B., which it closely resembles. Albertite, which is a bright, shining substance, sells for five to eight times the price of ordinary bitu- (15) See letters, April 5 and i Columbia Coal Mining Company, in the appendix hereto. (16) British Colonist, April 7 1940 COAL-MINING ON BURRARD INLET, 1865-66. 11 The editorial from which these quotations are taken goes on to say:— There can be little doubt that the coal seam from which Dr. Mclnnes took the specimens underlies all the land fronting on Coal Harbour, and it would indeed be difficult to over-estimate the value of such coal measures under the terminal city.1' The last words in the above quotation, written in 1881, show John Robson's belief that the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway would not be at Port Moody, but at Coal Harbour—the Vancouver of to-day—a belief which he, as a member of the Smythe Government, aided, four years later, in bringing into a reality. F. W. Howay. New Westminster, B.C. (17) Dominion Pacific Herald, June 29, 1881. F. W. Howay. CAPTAIN G. H. RICHARDS TO GOVERNOR DOUGLAS. H. M. Surveying Ship Plumper Burrard Inlet 14th day of June 1859. Sir, I have the honor to acquaint you that having reason to believe from Native report, as well as from the geological formation exhibited over certain portions of the Coast of this inlet, that coal existed, I desired the Senior Engineer—Mr. F. Brockton to direct his attention to the investigation of the subject, during the ships sojourn here on surveying duties, which resulted in Mr. Brockton acquainting me on the 12th instant that an apparently extensive vein occurred on the Southern side of the inner harbour, about a mile and a half within the first narrows. Having visited the spot and satisfied myself that sufficient could be procured with facility, to test practically in our furnaces under steam, I dispatched a boat and procured in the course of a few hours—over two tons; it has been used in the ships galley (Grant's patent distilling apparatus) with success, and I shall shortly take an opportunity of giving it a further trial in the steam furnaces. I have intimated the discovery to the Lieutenant Governor, Colonel Moody, R.E. and sent him specimens of the coal, and as it appears to me that it may exercise a considerable and possibly an immediate influence on the prosperity of the new town of Queenborough [New Westminster], on the Fraser, within such an easy distance both by land and sea of this fine Port; I have thought it right to apprise your Excellency of the facts without delay, and I send the Shark to Esquimalt for this purpose, she will also carry to you specimens of the coal, with the f ossilif erous sandstone in which it is embedded. I beg to enclose you also a report on the subject furnished me by Dr. Wood—the Surgeon of this ship, who made as full an investigation as time and circumstances would permit, I fully concur with him in the belief, that extensive coal measures exist here, not only in the single position already examined, but generally throughout this capacious Inlet; as I write I receive undeniable evidences of their existence in the outer harbour and I would add my belief that the working of the coal will be attended with but inconsiderable labour or expense. I have the honor to be Sir Your most Obedient Servant Geo. Henry Richards Captain His Excellency James Douglas. CB. Governor of British Columbia. 1940 COAL-MINING ON BURRARD INLET, 1865-66. 13 DR. C B. WOOD TO CAPTAIN RICHARDS. H. H. Surveying Ship Plumper Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, 14th day of June 1859. Sir, Having been requested by you to report upon a coal bed lately found by the Officers of H.M.S. Plumper on the South Shore of Burrard Inlet, yesterday visited by me, I beg to submit the following short statement of my Upon the beach at low water, coal is found cropping out for a distance embracing the two points of high and low water; these croppings proceed from a vein of coal some 4 or 5 inches in thickness, superficially covered by a thin layer of shale, and with an underlying stratum of the same character, grey sandstone rock forming the roof. Beneath the underlying or second layer of shale another vein of coal is seen, which commencing with a thickness of seven inches increases to fifteen inches, at a distance horizontally of seven feet, dipping at an angle of 15% degrees to the Southward, running with the super-adjacent layers of shale and sandstone North and South, this vein has an underlying layer of clay- stone; beneath this point; from the limited means at command—water from the surrounding slopes rapidly filling the pits made, investigation could not be directed, but I imagine sufficient evidences were thus far obtained as to prove the presence of the true coal measures and the probability of an extensive coal deposit. Selected samples of coal taken from the second seam presented all the outward characters of English Newcastle, it burns freely in a common furnace, and produces little smoke. In the overlying sandstone or roof a considerable number of beautiful vegetable fossils are found mostly leaves of Exogens belonging to the orders of Mastworts and Willow-worts. In conclusion I may observe that indications of coal are likewise observed about 100 yards from the line of cropping I have described in the sandstone i thickness covered by a deep vegetable i of coal firmly embedded between layers cliffs, which are here 7 or mould; in the shape of sma of sandstone. I have the hor CAPTAIN RICHARDS TO REAR ADMIRAL BAYNES. H. M. Ship Plumper Esquimalt, 24th June 1859. Sir I have the honor to acquaint you that in the prosecution of the Survey of Burrard Inlet in the Strait of Georgia, a vein of apparently good Coal was discovered by the Officers of the Ship; about two Tons of which was procured and subjected to trial in the furnace. The quantity obtained however owing to long exposure to Salt Water, and from the shale which always surrounds surface Coal cannot be considered as a fair specimen, and did not produce sufficient heat to generate steam; a small portion however of very good Coal was obtained and I think there is no room to doubt but that at a small expense, Coal of a superior description and in large quantities will be obtained. I beg to enclose you a report from Dr. Wood, the Surgeon of this Ship who at my desire examined the locality. I have &c. MESSRS. DIETZ AND MOODY TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY. We being desirous of prospecting and sinking for Coal at English Bay, Burrards Inlet we beg leave to make application for a grant to be given to us of Six Hundred and Forty (640) acres of land more or less of which the annexed paper is a sketch and would also request that the privilege of commencing work at any time within Six months may be given to us and that after having expended the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds (£500.0.0.) that we may be allowed to purchase the said tract at the Government price of Wild Lands, viz: Four Shillings and Two Pence per acre. We have &c. George Dietz & S. P. Moody. COAL-MINING ON BURRARD INLET, 1865-66. THE COLONIAL SECRETARY TO MESSRS. DIETZ & MOODY. 30th Deer. 1864. Gentlemen. I am directed by The Governor to acquaint you, in reference to your application to be allowed to occupy a tract of land on Burrards Inlet for Coal Mining purposes that His Excellency is most desirous of facilitating, by every means in his power, the successful working of Coal Mines in the neighbourhood of New Westminster. His Excellency is therefore prepared to reserve a tract of land of 600. Acres, more or less, as applied for by you for a period of 6. months from the date of this letter, to enable you to thoroughly prospect for Coal. At the end of the above named period, should you have expended capital to the extent of (£500.) Five Hundred Pounds as promised in your letter of the 24th ultimo, The Government will be prepared to allow you to purchase the land at the upset price of 4s. 2d. per acre on the understanding that at the time of such purchase a Covenant be entered into by you to enable The Government at any time to impose a Royalty, not exceeding 1/16, on all the Coal produced. The terms of such Covenant to be previously agreed upon. I am to request you will have an accurate plan made of the reserve in question and that you will take care that such Reserve does not in any way interfere with the property of Mr. Southey which is supposed to be adjacent thereto. I have &c. Arthur N. Birch We have the honour to represent that we are about to register a Joint Stock Company—organized for the purpose of working the Coal Mine on English Bay, Burrard Inlet, in accordance with the terms of your communications of the 30th December 1864 and the 13th June 1865, which engage to reserve 600. acres of Land for the purposes of a Mining Company. We are organizing the Company in good faith, and, as we believe, with a due regard to the interests of the Colony as well as of the Shareholders and desire to secure such advantages that the Company may, should they deem it advisable, be able to place the Shares in the English Stock Market. At this distance from England it is obviously necessary that the Company should possess some real and striking advantages that would operate so as to overcome the reluctance of English Capital to go abroad. After proof of the quality and quantity of Coal we think nothing would be of more consequence than extent of territory, and we respectfully submit that as the first British Columbia Coal Company, it is very desirable that the prospectus of the Company should not compare unfavourably in this particular with the Nanaimo and Harewood Companies—already known in England—and owning respectively, if we are correctly informed, about 6,000 and 9,000 Acres. We therefore most respectfully beg that you will lay this matter before His Excellency, Governor Seymour for his consideration. We may further remark that if an additional Reserve be made in our ise our private benefit beyond what is We have the honor to be Your most obedient Servants Geo. Dietz. S. P. Moody. J. P. Cranford. To the Hon: Arthur N Birch Colonial Secretary. Colonial Secretary's Office. New Westminster. 20th. July, 1865. Gentlemen. I have received and laid before The Governor your letter of the 19th instant, making application for an additional Reserve of Land beyond that already granted in my letters of the 30th December 1864 and 13th June 1865. 1940 COAL-MINING ON BURRARD INLET, 1865-66. 17 His Excellency desires me to assure you that he is fully alive to the importance of establishing, beyond a doubt, the existence of good Coal Seams within this District, and that he will be prepared to give every encouragement to the Company which you are about to form as soon as he is satisfied that the work is proceeding in a bona fide manner; but until such time His Excellency is of opinion that it would be premature to extend the present Reserve. I have the honor to be Gentlemen Your most obedient Servant. Arthur N Birch To G. Dietz. S. P. Moody & J. P. Cranford, Esquires Attorney] G[eneral's] 0[ffice] 17 Aug 1865 My dear Sir. I am negociating [sic'] a settlement of Capt Stamps difficulty with the Coal Co. at this moment the Chairman for whose good offices I am indebted —and Messrs. Homer and Robson—are disposed to do all they can to avoid any difficulty. I do not acknowledge Capt. Stamps claim to the 600 acres of timber—at the same time I am doing all that is possible to meet his wishes as well as the objects of the Coal Co. With a little good temper on both sides the thing can be very easily settled without loss or injury to either of the Claimants I send a Copy of a Letter I had dispatched to the Co. In haste but vy faithfy yrs Henry P. Pellew Crease H. E. The Governor The B. C. Coal Co. Sir In preparing to make out the drafts of Timber Licenses for Capt: Stamp's Co and Messrs Moody & Co. I find a difficulty or what seems to be one respecting the Timber on the Coal Mining Reserve—which I think your 18 F. W. Howay. January Company can set right without the necessity of referring the matter back to Head Quarters—so I bring it directly tho' somewhat informally before you to save time and correspondence. It is this:— On 24th last November Messrs Dietz & Moody applied for lease to prospect and sink for coal for 6 months in 600 acres more or less in English Bay with a subsequent right of purchase after expending on the work £500. On 30 Dec. last this was conditionally assented to for 6 months ending 30th June last. No work was done up to 8th May last. On that day Capt. Stamp applied to take up 15,000 acres of timber at such places as he should specify at Howe Sound Port Neville Burrard Inlet English Bay &c, subject to the Government approval. This was conditionally assented to. Capt. Stamp alleges that 'the Coal Reserve was among these 15,000 acres and I believe acting under this impression whether rightly or wrongly commenced building a Mill—set out a logging Camp on the very reserve in question and cut timber. And on the 8th June Messrs Dietz and Moody got a renewal of the Coal privileges for 6 months ending 31st December next. Can your Company suggest any means of setting this right? Yours Truly Henry P. Pellew Crease. H. P. ] COLUMBIA C The Chairman British Columbia Coal Min Sir I have Communicated to Go[verno]r [Seymour] your proposition of the 22nd August ulto. in reply to my informal letter of the 17th inst: and have the honor to inform you that upon receiving a surrender of all claim to the 600 acres forming the present Coal Company Reserve at English Bay, the Government are prepared to engage to reserve (under the existing conditions of expending £500 in bona fide Coal workings to the satisfaction of the Government on the ground and the subsequent payment of one dollar an acre)—that portion of the Burrard Inlet Crown Reserve (supposed to contain about 400 acres more or less) between Lot 185. and the Mill site and premises of Captain Stamp—together with sufficient Land on the other side , of False Creek—adjacent and immediately. opposite to such p coal site—as shall with these estimated 400 acres make up Reserving to the Crown, and its assigns the Timber on tioned piece of land. 1940 COAL-MINING ON BURRARD INLET, 1865-66. 19 The Company of course being regularly constituted with a reasonable amount of capital paid up for the purposes set forth. The Govr. at the Grantees expense to survey & fix the actual limits in accordance herewith whenever requisite. Your assent to this will enable the papers of the various Companies now in abeyance to be concluded and the works dependent thereon to proceed. I have the honor &c Henry P. Pellew Crease A.G. C[olonial] S [ecretary's] 0[ffice%] 11th Sept. 1865. Sir, With reference to your letter of the 5th Instant to the Attorney General, and to previous correspondence on the subject of the surrender of the Reserve at English Bay by the British Columbia Coal Mining Co. I am directed by the Officer Ad[ministratin]g the Government to acquaint you that the surrender in question is accepted. The right to mine for coal only being reserved to the Company; and the grant in lieu thereof of 600 acres of the Reserve next to section 185, on the conditions heretofore arranged as to expenditure of capital by the Company, is hereby confirmed I have &c Charles Good for the Col. Secy. Sir, C[olonial] S [ecretary's] 0[fl 5th April 1866 I have the honor to ack: the receipt of your letter dated 17th Feby applying for a Deed for 600 acres of Land at Burrard's Inlet. I am directed by the 0[fficer] Administrating] the Government] to request you will inform him whether the Company you represent intend to prosecute further researches for Coal on the Land in question, as, according to Par: 3 of the letter dated 30th Deer. 1864, forwarded to you from this office, it is apparent that the grant of Land was to be conferred only on the supposition that the Compy were still prospecting for, or bona fide working, a Coal Seam, as, previous to any grant being conferred, a c( 20 F. W. Howay. has to be entered into for the payment of a Royalty on all the duced, & until His Honor has received your answer, no decis arrived at. I have &c Coal H. M. Ball The Secy of the British Columbia Coal Mining Compy C[olonial] S [ecretary's] 0[ffice] 26th April 1866 Sir, In reply to your letter of the 12th Inst: respecting the purchase in Fee Simple of 600 acres of Land at Burrard Inlet, reserved for the purpose of enabling the Co. to prospect for a Coal Seam, I am directed by the 0[fficer] Administrating] the Government] to inform you that the grant of this Land was intended by Govt. Seymour to be conferred, provided a Coal Seam had been discovered on the Land within the prescribed time of the reserve, with the view of enabling the Co. to continue their researches & works on a basis more secure than on a temporary lease; as must be evident from the general tenor of the letter of the 30th Deer. 1864, & also from the covenant contained in it binding the Co. to pay a Royalty on all Coal raised; but no Seam—which can be worked bona fide—having yet been developed, His Honor is unable to convey the Land in question to the Co. In order however to enable the Co. to prosecute further researches for a Coal Seam, according to the intentions stated in your letter of the 12th Inst:, H[is] H[onor] is willing to extend the reserve of the 600 acres for this purpose in favor of the Co. for 12 months from this date, & at the expiration of this period to confer a grant of Land to the Compy on payment of $1. per acre, provided a Coal Seam has been discovered capable of being worked, & that the Co. have made preparations to work the same in a bona fide manner; provided also that the Co. enter into a covenant to pay a Royalty on all Coal produced not exceeding %s. I have &c H. M. Ball The Secretary of the B. C Coal Coy New Westminster I WHY "BITS"? Wherever you travel in British Columbia, and to some extent in the Pacific Coast States, you will hear people, in ordinary conversation, speaking of " two bits," " four bits," and " six bits," meaning thereby twenty-five cents, fifty cents, and seventy-five cents. Asked " Why bits ? " they do not know. These expressions are in the category of other expressions relating to money which crop up from time to time. For example, there is " not worth a sou marquee," common in the Maritime Provinces, meaning something of trifling value. It dates back to the days when the French Government sent to their Colony of French Guiana, sous, which were eagerly appropriated by other West Indian settlements for use as small currency, counterstamped for use there, and carrie example is the expressio the same m< rried north in the course of trade. Another ssion " not worth a continental," which has 5 " not worth a sou marquee," and refers to the paper currency issued by the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War. It soon became worthless, although issued against the credit of the revolting colonies; hence its meaning. There was also the "York shilling," well known to the older generation in Ontario, to which reference will be made later. As to " bits," even the dictionaries which attempt to define it know little about it. The Century Dictionary, a standard authority in the United States, where, if anywhere, its meaning should be known, defines it as follows:— Any small coin; as, a fourpenny-Mt; a sixpenny bit Specifically, the name of a small West Indian coin worth about 10 cents; also in parts of the United States, of a silver coin formerly current (in some states called a Mexican shilling) of the value of 12% cents; now chiefly in the west, the sum of 12% cents. A long bit [Western U.S.] 15 cents. A short bit, ten As a definition this is unsatisfactory. It covers some of the various uses of the term, but gives no information as to its origin or history, although the word has been in common use for over two centuries. To give some general information on, and to tell the history of, its use in British Columbia is the purpose of this article. 21 22 Robie L. Rehj. January To do this we must go back to the early history of the West Indies. There we find the term " bit" or " bitt" in common use as early as 1718, the first record of its use that has been found being of that date. We are told by Douglas C. McMurtrie, that indefatigable student of early printing in America, that in that year a new Governor, Governor Lawes, came to the Island of Jamaica, and the local Assembly presented to him a loyal address. This was printed by R. Caldwin, of Kingston, and sold to the good people of the Island at the price of " one bitt." Take a glance at the currency generally used in North America during the eighteenth century. " Dollars" were in use, hut " cents " were unknown. Only in the waning years of that period do we hear of " cents." It was not until 1782 that Robert Morris recommended to the Congress of the United States that a dollar should be coined to contain 100 cents, and another ten years passed before Congress put his idea into effect. Not until the middle of the nineteenth century did Canada— meaning, at that time, the present Provinces of Ontario and Quebec—abolish pounds, shillings, and pence, and take up the decimal system. We, who have so long looked upon a dollar as 100 cents, must not forget that when the term " bits " came into use a dollar was merely a coin called by that name, and that " cents " did not exist. For while English money was to some extent current in America, the staple coin, not only in Mexico but also in the British Colonies and the West Indies, was the Spanish milled dollar coined in Mexico and other Spanish colonies, the " hard money " of the Revolutionary days. It is easy to see why this was so. Vast deposits of silver had been found in Mexico and other Spanish colonies, and was being mined and minted into dollars in immense quantities. The British Colonies in America, and, in a lesser degree, the rest of the world, looked to this source for a supply of silver money, which was not then the poor relation of gold which it has become in later years. We find it used in Australia in its early years and in African Sierra Leone. Even in Great Britain itself the Bank of England, when in need of currency, did not deem it beneath its dignity to take the Spanish dollar, counter- stamp it with the head of the reigning English King and use it as English currency. L 1940 Why "Bits"? Little, if any, silver or gold was produced in the British Colonies in America. On the other hand, they produced from the farm, the forest, and the sea articles in demand by the inhabitants of the Spanish Colonies. The West Indies among other things produced large quantities of sugar and its secondary products, molasses and rum. The British Colonies sold their goods to the Spanish Colonies, receiving Spanish dollars therefor, and these they in turn paid to the West Indians for the goods received from them. Now, as has been said, the Spanish dollar did not, to the people of the time, contain 100 cents. It was but a coin which bore that name. It consisted of eight parts, called " reales." Hence it was called a " piece of eight," a term familiar to all readers of romances of the Spanish Main. Half reales, one reale, two reales, and four reales were coined in Mexico for local use, but not in large quantities, the bulk of the coinage being in Spanish dollars to be used in trade. Near to this land of silver dollars were the little settlements in the various West Indian Islands. They were separated by distances which made intercommunication difficult. There was no political organization which could enable them to act as a unit. They were village communities rather than states. None of them could afford a coinage of their own, and lack of political organization made impossible a common coinage. England, at one time, issued a common coinage for her West Indian Colonies, but it never got into general use. No doubt the people had become accustomed to the use of the Spanish money and had no desire to change their ways. These small colonies, of course, needed small coins for retail transactions. It was easier, however, to get dollars than the smaller pieces. To obtain small change it became the custom to cut the dollar into parts. There being eight reales in a dollar it could be cut into eight pieces, each of the value of a reale; each such part would be a " bit" of a dollar, hence the name. When the dollar became 100 cents, the " bit" would naturally be 12V2 cents. But greed is the same in all ages. The dollar was often cut into nine, ten, or even eleven parts, and each part was a " bit" and had the value of a reale. In same cases this was done 24 RoBrE L. Redd. . January deliberately by the Government of a colony, in order that the " bits " would have a greater value at home than abroad and would therefore remain in the colony and not be sent abroad. In Chalmer's Colonial Currency (London, 1893, p. 82) will be found a statute of Grenada, passed in 1787, which shows that the custom of cutting the dollar into parts had long been in vogue and had originated with private individuals. Its quaint verbiage, as well as the light it throws on our subject, makes it worthy of reproduction:— Whereas by reason of the great scarcity of British silver coin in this Colony, a certain foreign coin called a dollar, at a rate of 8s3d current money of Grenada, and a certain piece of silver called a " Bitt" (being the eleventh part of a dollar marked with the letter " G ") at the rate of 9 d. like current money, have for purposes of commerce and public convenience, been by general consent suffered to circulate and pass in payment; and whereas a practice hath lately prevailed amongst divers evil-disposed persons of cutting, for wicked gain's sake, dollars into a greater number of parts than eleven and marking each of such parts with a " G," and then imposing the same on the public for a Bitt, and also cutting, clipping, or filing such Bitts, as were originally equal in value to the eleventh part of a dollar, by which means the intrinsic average worth of the Bitt now circulating is diminished nearly one-third. The statute goes on to provide that no private person should thereafter cut dollars or stamp bits with the letter " G," and that no one was to be obliged to receive more than one-fifth of a payment in bits, whether by tale or weight. Why the dollar was allowed to be cut into eleven pieces instead of eight is explained by the fact that the value of the dollar was fixed by the Colony at 8s. 3d. in order to keep it in the Colony, its true exchange value with British coin being 4s. 2d. This statute was soon followed by legislation in St. Vincent in 1797, which recited :— Great Frauds have been practised under the pretence of cutting Dollars into Halves and Quarters for the purpose of facilitating the circulating of It required such coins to be stamped in the " three angles " in order to make them lawful currency. The carving-up of the Spanish dollar continued. In some places a piece was cut out of the centre, either round—as in Prince Edward Island (the "holey" dollar), Dominica, and Australia—or heart-shaped, as in Martinique. Some divided 1940 Why "Bits"? 25 the dollar into three pieces by horizontal cuts; some counter- stamped it without cutting it at all. But at all times it was taken for granted that when the dollar was cut into eight parts, each should be a " bit," a reale, or, with the decimal system taken into account, 12^ cents. From the West Indies the term passed to Mexico and thence to California, then a Spanish possession. When the California miners came to British Columbia in 1858, they brought it with them. Even after the early mining excitement in British Columbia • passed away and the Province settled down to a peaceful existence, the term " bit" remained in constant use as the denomination of the smallest unit of current money. In 1871 British Columbia became a part of the Dominion of Canada, which had as its small coins pieces of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents, as to-day— the first in copper and the rest in silver. Of these, British Columbians refused to accept the first two, as they represented amounts which were considered too small for Western people to use. British Columbia would have nothing of less value than a " bit," and kept to that for years. Nothing was sold by the stores for less than a " bit." We translated the larger silver coins—25 cents, 50 cents—into " two bits " and " four bits "; 75 cents became " six bits," and these names still remain in the vernacular, no one knows why. It has long been forgotten that they are a legacy from the Spanish milled dollar of Spanish Mexico, cut in pieces to satisfy the need for small currency in the West Indies a century and a half ago. But how could a "bit," meaning 12^2 cents, be used when the nearest coin available was a 10-cent piece? It was done in this way: If an article or service was valued at a "bit," and one offered a 10-cent piece in payment, it was accepted. The purchaser was paying a " short bit." He paid less than the actual price. If, on the contrary, he offered a 25-cent piece, he only received 10 cents in change. He paid a " long bit." The losses on the one hand and the gains on the other were, in the long run, supposed to balance each other. If they did not, it was a matter too small to be considered. At the same time one was not supposed to offer a 10-cent piece for a " bit" too often. If he did, he soon got in bad odour 26 Robie L. Reid. January with the community. One prominent business man in New Westminster, a visitor to the bar several times daily, who made it a habit always to pay for his refreshment with 10-cent pieces, offering no quarters, was called the meanest man in the City. The old residents of the Province rather prided themselves on this peculiar method of dealing with small sums. It seemed to differentiate them from what they sneeringly called the people of the " Cent Belt." It took a newcomer some time to accustom himself to the use of the " bit," and also to the fact that he was not allowed to use 5-cent pieces or copper cents. People took it as an insult to have these pieces of little value offered to them. A pilgrim from the " Cent Belt," otherwise a newcomer from the Eastern Provinces, went into Hall's bookstore in New Westminster one evening in 1886, and purchased 10 cents worth of postage stamps. Having received them he laid down two 5-cent pieces in payment. Hall swept them back across the counter with a gesture of disgust, saying, " We don't use that kind of rubbish in this country." The 5-cent piece first came into general use in British Columbia when daily newspapers were issued at that price per copy. The copper cents came into use with the establishment of department stores. A few instances of the use of the 12%-cent " bit" in early British Columbian life may be gleaned from the press of that time. The Victoria Gazette, the senior paper of Vancouver Island, in 1858 sold for 25 cents per single copy. In July, 1859, the price was reduced to 12% cents per copy (one bit). The weekly rate at the time was 62% cents (five bits), but soon after it was reduced to 37% cents (three bits). The British Colonist charged 12% cents per single copy during 1859, 1860, and until April 9, 1861, when the price was reduced to 10 cents. In New Westminster the price of single issues of the Dominion Pacific Herald was stated in its columns to be 12% cents, and this continued until September 22, 1880, when the price per copy was dropped from its pages. The Mainland Guardian, also published in New Westminster, stated on the front page that the price of single copies was 12% cents. This continued until May 2, 1883, when the single copy price was dropped from the paper but continued to be charged for some time afterwards. 1940 Why " Bits " ? 27 On January 3, 1885, Louis Gold advertised in the Guardian that he was selling the best flour at $5.37% per barrel and lump sugar at 12% cents per pound. Some publishers confounded the English sixpence with the " bit" and charged 12 cents per copy. This was done by the North Pacific Times and Le Courrier at Victoria, and the British Columbian at New Westminster. As 5-cent pieces and copper cents were not in use, such payments could only be made in the same way as in the case of " bits." The use of " bits " continued in this way more or less generally till the last decade of the nineteenth century. During that period there was a mining boom in the Kootenays, and men from Eastern Canada and the United States poured into the Province, and especially into its south-eastern part. These men were used to dealing with small change in the ordinary way, and " bits," " long bits," and " short bits" annoyed them. What they bought they expected to pay for at the price fixed. At first an attempt was made to comply with their wishes by the issuance by private individuals of metal " checks " good for 6% cents and 12% cents in trade, which they could use for purchases of the value of a half-bit or a bit. Similar checks were being issued on the Prairies and in Eastern Canada, but they were all for 5 cents or its multiples. The only ones issued in Canada for 6% cents and 12% cents were those which appeared in British Columbia. One cannot enumerate all the firms and towns by whom and in which these peculiar tokens were issued, or all the towns where they were used, as no doubt many have completely disappeared. In Vancouver we know that they were issued by the Criterion Cigar Store, The Balmoral, Clarendon, Board of Trade, Arlington, and Merchants Exchange Hotels for 12% cents, and by the Strand for 6^4 cents. We find checks of one or both denominations in considerable quantities in Victoria and in Huntingdon; at Nelson and Rossland, the chief centres of the Kootenays; in Greenwood, Grand Forks, Sandon, Kaslo,' Cranbrook, Silverton, Midway, and Moyie. Of course, as these checks were not dated, the exact period during which they were current can only be approximately determined, but as it was during the last years of the last century that many of these 28 Roble L. Reed. settlements flourished, we can not be far wrong in taking it for granted that they were used at that time. About the same time some " checks " were being issued for 5 and 10 cents each, showing that the influence of the newcomers was making itself felt. There is no evidence of the use of " bits " after the commencement of the twentieth century. The small currency of Canada came into general use and we found ourselves in the | Cent Belt" with the rest of Canada. The " York shilling" in Ontario is the Spanish reale in another form. New York counted the dollar as eight shillings, and when the dollar became 100 cents a shilling in New York became 12% cents. In the British Colonies to the North a Spanish dollar was counted as five shillings, of 20 cents each. This was called " Halifax currency." To distinguish the New York shilling of 12% cents from the Halifax shilling of 20 cents and the English shilling of 24% cents, it was called a " York shilling." Roble L. Reid. Vancouver, B.C. I EMPRESS TO THE ORIENT."* I. Just fifty years ago the hulls of three steamships destined to make history on the Pacific Ocean were taking shape amid the bustle and noise of a busy English shipyard. These vessels were the three original Empress liners, ordered by the Canadian Pacific Railway to take the place of the old chartered steamers which had opened the service between Vancouver and the Orient in 1887.1 Work had begun on the Empresses some two years later than the Canadian Pacific had hoped and intended. As early as July, 1887, the Company had submitted a tender for the carriage of mails from the Atlantic seaboard to Japan and China, the terms of which differed little from those later accepted by the Imperial Government. By December the details of the agreement were settled; and while.these final discussions were in progress the Company had also made preliminary arrangements for the building of the steamers which would be required to fulfil the contract. Indeed, Mr. (later Sir William) Van Home announced in Vancouver that the Canadian Pacific had actually ordered "three grand new steamers for the trans-Pacific trade,"2 and later reports stated that they were to be built at the Fairfield yard on the Clyde.8 These announcements proved premature, however ; for, although it was true that agreement had been reached on the terms of the mail subsidy, no contract was signed for another eighteen months. Political considerations were responsible in part for this delay, but it was due primarily to the inadequacy of the existing steamship service between Great Britain and Canada, which was much too slow to form a satisfactory part (1) For the history of the chartered service see W. Kaye Lamb, "The Pioneer Days of the Trans-Pacific Service: 1887-1891," in British Columbia, Historical Quarterly, I. (1937), pp. 143-164. (2) Vancouver News-Advertiser, December 1, 1887. (3) Ibid., December 23, 1887; Engineering (London), 44 (1887), pp. 512, 676. * The invaluable assistance received from many persons during the preparation of this history of the old Empress liners will be acknowledged in detail in the second article of the series. W. Kaye Lamb. January of a new fast route to the Orient. At last, in 1889, plans for an improved Atlantic service seemed so far advanced that the British Government deemed it prudent to proceed, and the trans- Pacific mail contract was awarded to the Canadian Pacific Railway on July 15. This contract called for a four-weekly service and covered the carriage of mails across Canada as well as across the Pacific. The time in transit from Halifax or Quebec to Hong Kong was not to exceed twenty-eight and one-half days in summer or thirty and one-half days in winter, and heavy cash penalties were imposed for late departures or arrivals.4 The steamers employed were to operate between Vancouver and Hong Kong, calling at Yokohama and Shanghai. They were to be designed as auxiliary cruisers, which meant that they were to be provided with gun platforms and built to specifications approved by the Admiralty. Their speed was to be at least 17% knots on the measured mile and 16 knots at sea. The terms upon which troops and supplies were to be carried, and the ships themselves requisitioned for war service, were also set forth in the contract. In return for meeting these numerous and exacting requirements the Canadian Pacific was to receive an annual subsidy of £60,000, of which the Canadian Government was to pay £15,000. The agreement was for a period of ten years, dating from the initial departure of the first of the new liners from Hong Kong. Three fast steamers would be required to maintain the new schedule from Vancouver to the Orient, and no time was lost in arranging for their construction. The chartered ships already in service—the famous old pioneer liners Abyssinia, Parthia, and Batavia—happened to be owned by the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company. Both for this reason, and because, as we have seen, the contract had been all but awarded to the Fairfield yard in 1887, it was expected that the order would be placed with that firm. Instead, to the general surprise, the contract, which was signed on October 12, 1889, went to the Naval Con- (4) The exact terms may be of interest, as a matter of record. The time in transit was not to exceed 684 hours in April-November, or 732 hours in December-March; a penalty of £500 was imposed if a boat or train failed to start on time, and a further £100 was to be paid for each additional twenty-four hours of delay. The penalty for late arrival was £100 for each twelve hours. 1940 " Empress to the Oreent." 31 struction and Armament Company, of Barrow-in-Furness. The Fairfield interests were much disappointed and threatened to withdraw the chartered steamers, as it happened that the current running agreement with the Canadian Pacific was about to expire; but tempers cooled rapidly and the service continued without interruption. Even at this late date the reason for giving the order to Barrow seems fairly clear. The great works at Fairfield, which had grown out of the famous shipyard of John Elder & Company, had owed much in recent years to two men—Sir William Pearce, the chief proprietor, and A. D. Bryce Douglas, the engineering superintendent. But Sir William had died in December, 1888, and some months before his death Bryce Douglas had been persuaded to accept the position of managing director of the yard at Barrow. Between 1879 and 1884 Pearce had built and Douglas had engined the Guion liners Arizona, Alaska, and Oregon, and the Cunarders Etruria and Umbria—the five fastest and most successful Atlantic express steamers of their day. It was an astonishing record, and there was no reason to suppose that Douglas had lost anything of his skill or inventive genius. In a word, everything suggests that the Canadian Pacific order simply migrated with him from the Clyde to Barrow-in-Furness. It is interesting to speculate upon the origin of the design of the original Empresses. We know that it differed radically from that in preparation in 1887, when considerably smaller vessels with a single screw were contemplated.6 The decision to build larger and more elaborate steamers was probably due to Van Home, who in the interval had succeeded Sir George Stephen as President of the Canadian Pacific and who> took a very great interest personally in the service to the Orient. When the vessels were being planned, Van Home was represented in England by T. G. Shaughnessy (later Lord Shaughnessy), who understood fully the business requirements of the case, and by Henry Beatty, who could pass upon the design from the point of view of the practical steamship operator. Mr. Beatty, father of Sir Edward, had owned the line of Great Lakes steamers which the Canadian Pacific had purchased. (5) See the article in Engineering, 48 (1889), p. 497. 32 W. Kaye Lamb. January Turning next to technical matters, it is said that Professor J. H. Biles, the most celebrated naval architect of the day, helped to determine the underwater lines of the hulls of the Empresses. So far as appearance is concerned, we need look no further afield than the Inman liner City of Rome, the finest ship and greatest failure produced by the Barrow yard 'before Bryce Douglas assumed its management. She is known to history as one of the most beautiful steamers ever to sail the Atlantic, in spite of the fact that she failed to make her contract speed and was returned to her builders. She had the long clipper bow, the graceful overhanging counter stern, and the yacht-like lines which characterized the Empresses, and although she had three funnels and four masts, whereas they had but two funnels and three masts, even in a photograph the resemblance in general design is striking. So far as machinery was concerned, the Empresses were, of course, designed by Bryce Douglas. Construction of the machinery was superintended, on behalf of the Canadian Pacific, by James Fowler, who had been in the service of the Allan Line and who was said to have crossed the Atlantic 250 times without the slightest mishap to the machinery in his charge. Full particulars of the Empresses are given in an appendix to this article, and only a few of their principal dimensions need be repeated here. Their length between perpendiculars was 455.6 feet, but the clipper bow increased their length over all to 485 feet. Their width was 51.2 feet, and their gross tonnage 5,940. By contemporary standards they were large ships, for the largest vessel in regular service on the Atlantic in 1889 registered no more than 10,600 tons. It will be recalled that the mail contract with the British Government called for a trial speed of 17% knots and a sea speed of 16 knots. The Canadian Pacific decided to exceed these requirements, and asked the builders to guarantee a speed of 18 knots on trial and 16% knots at sea. The most important mechanical feature of the Empresses was the provision of two independent triple-expansion engines, each driving a separate propellor. Though a commonplace these many years, twin screws were still a novelty in 1889, and the pioneer twin-screw Atlantic liner had only been in service for a little more than a 1940 " Empress to the Orient." year. On the Pacific, even the new Pacific Mail liner China, which had just been delivered by the Fairfield Company, had only a single screw, and the Empresses were the only twin-screw steamers in the trans-Pacific trade for eight or nine years. On the long run to the Orient, in relatively unfrequented waters and long before the days of wireless, the duplication of machinery was an important safeguard against disaster, for a disabled steamer might drift helplessly for weeks without sighting another vessel. The accommodation provided for first-class passengers compared well with that in the finest Atlantic liners of the day. During their early years in service the most advertised feature of the Empresses seems to have been the promenade-deck, which had a length of 220 feet. The contract called for a cargo capacity of 3,250 tons, in measurement tons of 40 cubic feet. A tradition persists that the Empresses caused a great stir" when they were being built, but there is little or no evidence to support the story. A careful search through several technical journals has failed to reveal even a detailed description of the vessels. There is no avoiding the fact that the failure of the City of Rome had cast a shadow over the Barrow shipyard which it took Bryce Douglas and the Naval Construction Company some years to dispel, and in reality the Empresses caused a sensation, not by their construction, but by their outstanding and consistent performance in service. The cost of the three steamers, as given in the annual reports of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was $3,471,587, or slightly more than $1,157,000 each. According to reports current when she entered service, the cost of the Pacific Mail steamer China was only $826,000. As this comparison indicates, no reasonable expense was spared to make the Empresses fully capable of maintaining the service contemplated; and another of those intangible traditions, which are so difficult to prove or disprove, would have us believe that the Naval Construction Company was so anxious to deliver three ships of the first quality, and thereby enhance its reputation, that it lost money on the contract.6 (6) It is interesting to note that the finest coastal steamers now owned by the Canadian Pacific have a gross tonnage almost as great as that of the first Empresses, and exceeded them in cost. The 5,875-ton Princess Kathleen, for example, cost |1,258,000. (Report of the Royal Commission to inquire into Railways and Transportation in Canada, Ottawa, 1932, p. 26.) 34 W. Kaye Lamb. January The keel of the first of the steamers, the Empress of India, was laid in November, 1889, and she was launched only nine months later, on August 30, 1890. The christening ceremony was performed by Lady Louise Egerton.7 It was expected that she would be completed in record time, in another two months, but labour troubles intervened and she did not run her trials until January, 1891. Her fastest mean speed on the measured mile was 18.65 knots, which was comfortably in excess of the contract requirements. It is interesting to note that the trial trip of the Empress of India was the first occasion upon which the familiar red and white checker-board house-flag of the Canadian Pacific was ever hoisted. The flag was designed by Van Home, and its origin is described in an amusing letter to Mr. M. McD. Duff, now Assistant to the Chairman, Canadian Pacific Steamships. Van Home wrote:— Yes, I designed the house flag—partly to differ from any in use and partly that it might be easily recognized when hanging loose. It has no historical or heraldic significance. Somebody has suggested that it meant " three of a kind " but that would not be a big enough hand for the C.P.R. for which a " straight flush " only would be appropriate.8 Van Home is also credited with having chosen the names of the vessels—Empress of India, Empress of Japan, and Empress of China. As they had clipper bows, the Empresses also had figureheads. That of the Empress of India was a bust of Queen Victoria, while the Empress of Japan and Empress of China carried a Japanese and Chinese dragon respectively. In view of the fame of the "white Empresses," a word may also be added about their colour scheme. Then as now, models of the ships were sent out for advertising purposes, and the earliest of these, which were completed before the vessels themselves,9 were painted black; but the Empresses themselves were never so painted. The photographs taken of the Empress of India, in January, 1891, show that she ran her trials with the white (7) The Times, London, September 1, 1890. (8) Mr. Duff wrote to Van Home on April 26, 1913, and Sir William returned the letter after adding the marginal note quoted. Mr. Duff has kindly presented a photostat of the letter to the Provincial Archives. (9) One model was on display in New York in December, 1890. See the amusing account in the Vancouver News-Advertiser, December 24, 1890. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 35 hull and yellow funnels which became so well known in later years. The models had therefore to be repainted, as Mr. Duff recalls, in a letter to the writer:— . . . One model was changed from black to white right behind the desk at which I worked during the Winter of 1892 and 1893. The original intention must have been to have them [the Empresses'] painted black with green boottopping and bottom and when the change to white was made it was either too late to notify the model builders or else it was just overlooked by those in charge.io The second of the three ships, the Empress of Japan, was launched on December 13, 1890, by Lady Alice of Stanley, daughter-in-law of Lord Stanley, then Governor-General of Canada.11 The Japan was ready for her trials in March and proved to be slightly faster than the Empress of India. Her speed on the measured mile was 18.91 knots, and on a 500-mile sea trial she made the very satisfactory average speed of 16.85 knots.12 Meanwhile the Empress of India had sailed for the Far East, by way of the Mediterranean, to take up her station in the trans-Pacific service. For some months the Canadian Pacific had been advertising world tours in connection with the maiden voyages of the Empresses, and undertook to carry passengers " around the world in 80 days for $600." This was the nearest approach to a world cruise which had yet been offered; and the Empress of India had more than a hundred saloon passengers on board when she left Liverpool on February 8, 1891. She sailed under the command of Captain O. P. Marshall, late of the P. & O. Line, who became an Elder Brother of Trinity in later years and who died recently at the age of 82: Her Chief Officer was Rupert Archibald, who later commanded the Empress of China for almost twenty years, and E. G. Montserrat sailed as Second Officer. The Chief Engineer was F. W. Wood, James Adamson was Second Engineer, and James E. Macrae, Purser. Mr. Macrae, who had been Purser of the old Abyssinia in 1888-1890, recalls the following details of the voyage of the Empress of India from Liverpool to Hong Kong:— We called at Gibraltar, where we spent the day, at Marseilles, where we spent three days, at Naples one day, then over to Port Said. I always (10) M. McD. Duff to W. Kaye Lamb, December 29, 1939. (11) The Times, London, December 15, 1890. (12) Engineering, 51 (1891), p. 433. 36 W. Kaye Lamb. January remember the distance from Naples to Port Said—1111 miles. We coaled at Port Said and our passengers were sent by train to Cairo and the Pyramids and rejoined us after we had made the passage of the canal, at Suez. From there we went direct to Colombo, Ceylon, passing near enough to Aden one forenoon to get a close-up view of the town and shipping. We were three days in Colombo, while some of the passengers went to Kandy, and I have recollections of a cricket match I attended, played by a team of our passengers, some of whom were members of the M.C.C, against Colombo. We lost, but a good time was enjoyed by all. After Colombo the next stop was Penang, where we spent a day, and then Singapore. We were specially favoured in the Straits for in one day we saw no less than four waterspouts at one time, and passed a fight between a killer and a whale. After two days at Singapore we sailed for Hong Kong. We were scheduled to arrive at Hong Kong on March 16th at 1 p.m. and with true C.P.R. punctuality we threw out our first line to the Kowloon Wharf exactly as the clock struck one. I was in the corner of the bridge with Captain Marshall all the way in as I was the only officer who had been in Hong Kong before. We picked up our Chinese pilot outside Green Island Passage and he was very proud to take our lovely great white ship across the harbour, at the highest speed Captain Marshall would allow, with all our flags flying. We had a great reception, every steam whistle in the harbour was blowing to welcome us. Before Macrae left the Abyssinia he had been waited upon by the entire Chinese crew, to whom he had become much attached, and they had exacted from him a promise that he would take them with him on " the big new ship." The sequel appears in a further passage from his description of the arrival of the Empress at Hong Kong:— On the Kowloon Wharf stood a long line of Chinese, drawn up like soldiers on parade, and as we came alongside they began waving to me, calling, " Maclae, Maclae!" Captain Marshall said to me, " Who are your friends?" To which I answered very happily, " That's your new crew." It was the entire crew of the Abyssinia, paid off two weeks earlier, and they had not forgotten my promise made nine months before in Vancouver.13 At Hong Kong the Empress was dry-docked and painted, and many of her passengers travelled on to Japan and rejoined her later at a port of call there. She sailed finally on April 7, 1891 —the date which marks both the commencement of the regular Empress line service, and the start of the ten-year mail contract with the Canadian and British Governments. After calling at Shanghai, Nagasaki, and Kobe, she left Yokohama on April 17, at 4.14 p.m., and at 6.30 a.m. on the 28th she dropped anchor prepared by J. E. Macrae for the uv 1940 j Empress to the Orient." 37 off Victoria, where she was welcomed officially by Mayor Grant. Her total steaming-time from Hong Kong was 416 hours 33 minutes, and her average speed 15.16 knots. Though it was soon lowered both by herself and by her sister ships, her passage of 11 days 7 hours and 27 minutes from Yokohama was a land-to- land record, and she therefore ended her maiden voyage Queen of the Pacific. The whole trip from Liverpool had been remarkably free from trouble. A heated low-pressure eccentric made it necessary to stop the port engine for a few hours between Hong Kong and Shanghai, but her twin screws enabled her to proceed at reduced speed and the main engines gave no further trouble. The refrigerator machinery failed in the heat between Suez and Singapore—a misfortune which befell each of the three Empresses in turn—but it proved equal to its task when the vessel reached the more temperate climate of her regular run. The most serious trouble experienced by the Empresses arose from their electric wiring, which proved to be insufficiently protected from wear and moisture. Electricity was still in its pioneer stage aboard ship in 1891, and this difficulty was to culminate, as we shall see, in a serious fire in the Empress of Japan.u The Empress of India remained three hours at Victoria and then proceeded to Vancouver, where an elaborate welcome awaited her. Van Home and a party of Canadian Pacific directors were on the dock, as well as Mayor Oppenheimer and other civic dignitaries. A grand banquet and ball were held in the evening at Hotel Vancouver, but Van Home, who heartily disliked functions of the kind, left for Montreal in the afternoon. Fortunately the Hon. Edward Blake was in the city, and could assume the role of guest of honour.16 On this maiden voyage the Empress brought 131 saloon passengers and 355 Chinese in the steerage. Her cargo totalled 1,810 tons measurement, and consisted mostly of tea, silk, rice, and opium.16 Many of the saloon passengers and the through (14) The details in this and the preceding paragraph are mostly from the reports made by Captain Marshall and the other officers to the Company. (15) A complete and amusing account of the banquet was contributed to the Vancouver Province some years ago by the late R. E. Gosnell. (16) Vancouver News-Advertiser, April 29, 1891. 38 W. Kaye Lamb. January mail from the Orient, which consisted of twenty-seven bags, left for the East on a special train at 6.10 p.m. Just fifteen days later, on May 13, part of this mail was distributed in London, having been in transit only twenty-six days from Yokohama and thirty-six days from Hong Kong. This fact was reported in the British House of Commons by the Postmaster-General, who added that the last mail received from the Far East via Suez had been forty-five days in transit from Yokohama, but only thirty-three days from Hong Kong.17 As this indicates, the new service brought about an important saving of time for mails from Japan, but not from points in China beyond Shanghai. The Empress of India arrived in Vancouver with a double crew in certain departments, as Chinese stewards and firemen had been signed on at Hong Kong to replace the temporary English staff engaged at Liverpool for the voyage to the Far East. J. E. Macrae recalls that one of his first jobs when the vessel docked was to send this English staff off to Montreal, on their way home. He adds:— The firemen were about the roughest crowd that ever sailed out of Liverpool. Two Colonist cars were reserved for them on the train. Before they left the station in Vancouver they had smashed every piece of glass in the windows, and I heard later that when the cars reached Montreal their fittings had been entirely demolished by this tough gang. The Empress of India sailed from Vancouver on her first outward voyage on May 9, 1891, and arrived at Hong Kong on the 28th. Her average speed on the entire passage was 15.55 knots. She remained at Hong Kong for more than a month, partly to allow numerous small adjustments and alterations to be made and partly to let the Empress of Japan take her place in the trans-Pacific schedule. The Japan had left Liverpool on April 11, and although her main engines gave great satisfaction minor troubles made part of the voyage to Hong Kong anything but enjoyable for J. N. L. Roberts, her harassed Purser. Between Suez and Colombo her refrigerator machinery failed, and to make matters worse her electric fans were continually breaking down. Finally, Roberts had to struggle with a staff which he considered incompetent. His report states that complaints were numerous, and that for (17) Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, III., 353 (1891), p. 690. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." a time "the grumbling was horrible"; but when the ship reached her station, and secured her experienced Chinese crew, things smoothed out rapidly. Her maiden trip across the Pacific proved to be both fast and pleasant, and she arrived at Victoria late in the evening on June 22, after a passage of 10 days 21 hours and 23 minutes from Yokohama. She brought 145 saloon, 4 second class, and 352 steerage passengers, or a total of 501 i in all, and her cargo totalled 2,318 tons measurement.18 The Empress of Japan was under the command of Captain George A. Lee, who was already well known on the Pacific as captain of the Parthia. The other interesting name in the list of officers is that of Edward Beetham, her Fourth Officer, of whom more will be heard later. Thomas Tod was Chief Engineer. The Empress of India and Empress of Japan completed two round trips between Hong Kong and Vancouver before they were joined by the Empress of China. The last of the three pioneers was launched by Lady Northcote on March 25, 1891, and ran her trials early in July. For no apparent reason, for she was identical in design, she developed about 600 more horsepower than'her sisters, and worked up to a full 19 knots on the . measured mile.19 Oddly enough, this initial performance was the best of her career, for on the regular run to the Orient she proved to be neither the fastest nor the most economical of the three ships. The Empress of China sailed from Liverpool on July 15. In 1891 a world cruise still seemed to be a venturesome proposal, and the maiden voyages of the two other Empresses apparently exhausted its appeal. Only twenty-one saloon passengers sailed in the China, but they appear to have had a thoroughly good time. Each was berthed in a separate cabin, and the Empress of China News, a four-page paper, was printed on board each week for their amusement. At the end of the voyage H. L. Coulson, the Purser, was able to report that he had received no complaints whatsoever. Unfortunately, the trip was marred towards the end by very rough weather between Yokohama and Victoria, and 12 days 9 hours were spent on the passage. It (18) Details from luver News-Advertis (19) Engineering, le reports of the officers , June 24, 1891. 2 (1891), p. 67. 40 W. Kaye Lamb. January was not until the morning of September 23 that she finally docked in Vancouver. For purposes of record it may be added that the Empress of China brought 67 saloon, 4 second class, and 104 steerage passengers; and her cargo, which consisted mostly of tea, measured 2,525 tons. Her list of officers contains several names of interest. Her commander, Captain A. Tillett, made only two round trips in her, as he was then promoted to the post of Marine Superintendent for the Canadian Pacific at Hong Kong. Her Chief Officer was Henry Pybus, and her Chief Engineer James Fowler, who, it will be remembered, had watched the construction of the engines of all three of the steamers at the shipyard.20 With the arrival of the Empress of China the last of the old chartered steamers was retired, and the three new sister ships began to shuttle back and forth across the Pacific with a regularity which was to become proverbial. In the course of years they established a record for adherence to schedule which has probably never been equalled on the seven seas. Though the mail contract called for only a twenty-eight-day service, the Canadian Pacific increased this to a departure every twenty-one days between April and September, which raised the number of sailings to fifteen per year. Yet for no less than fifteen years —from 1891 to 1906—no Empress ever missed a sailing or was ever penalized for the late arrival of her mails. There is no doubt that the foresight of the Canadian Pacific in ordering steamers which could exceed the trial speeds called for in the mail contract made this astonishing record possible. Upon innumerable occasions the task of getting the mails to Hong Kong on time resembled nothing so much as an obstacle race. Forty years ago the Atlantic steamer service to Canada left much to be desired, and the railway service across the Continent was both relatively slow and subject to delays of many kinds. It was quite usual for the English mails to reach Vancouver at least one day late, and of course an Empress could not sail until they arrived. Delays of two and even three days were not infrequent. In 1899 matters were improved greatly when the first " Imperial Limited " was put on the run in summer, and (20) This paragraph is based o ;o the Company. 1940 | Empress to the Orient." 41 reduced the train journey from Montreal to 100 hours. But as late as July, 1902—to quote only a single example—the Empress of China sailed from Vancouver more than 3 days and 2 hours behind schedule. Two days of this time was made up on the voyage to Yokohama, and another day was gained during a fast run from Shanghai to Hong Kong, where the China arrived just 7 hours and 37 minutes within her contract time. The late arrival of the mails at Vancouver was only one of many difficulties which had to be overcome in the never-ending endeavour to keep the Empresses on schedule. They were both carefully run and lucky ships, but nevertheless they had their share of small accidents. For example, the Empress of Japan bumped a rock when leaving Vancouver on her sixth voyage in 1892. A diver found that she had suffered only very slight damage to a propellor, but it had been necessary to hold her overnight at Victoria for examination.21 Homeward bound, early in August, she found herself in much greater peril. When 800 miles from Yokohama her lights flickered and then went out, and it was discovered that the electric cables had fused in the after-hold and caused a fire there. Efforts to check the flames proved unavailing, so with hatches battened down she turned about and headed at full speed for Hakodate. When the fire had been extinguished and the damage repaired she set sail once more for Vancouver. Though she arrived laden to the hatches and found a large outward cargo awaiting her, she was prepared for sea in only six days and left for the Orient on time.22 Some two years later, in August, 1894, the Empress of China suffered a serious delay from another cause, when the incompetence of a pretended pilot stranded her on the Woosung spit, and she remained ashore for nine days.23 All three Empresses collided with junks at various times, but it remained for the Empress of Japan to ram a whale with such violence that she had to go hard astern to get clear.24 Storms played their part in the lives of the Empresses. The Empress of India was the first of the trio to encounter a typhoon, (21) See Victoria Colonist, June 28, 1892. (22) For a full account of the fire by Sir Edwin Arnold, Vancouver News-Advertiser, August 26, 1892. (23) Ibid., September 7, 1894. (24) Ibid., August 18, 1894. ivho v 42 W. Kaye Lamb. January but it scarcely matched in violence the tempestuous weather encountered by the Empress of China on her second passage from Yokohama to Vancouver. The gale persisted for seven days; and at the height of the storm the hurricane-deck shipped water, which poured through the fiddle-gratings and fell into the stoke-hole. Movables on deck were carried away and a steel lifeboat stove in. This second round voyage had been a trying time for the officers of the China, for on the outward passage she met headwinds so continuously that she was compelled to put in at Hakodate for coal; one of her seamen was killed in a fall at Hong Kong, and when she finally reached Vancouver a case of smallpox was found aboard and she had to raise steam hastily and return to the quarantine station at Albert Head.26 But through all these misfortunes the Empress ploughed her way, and succeeded in keeping herself approximately on schedule and her mails on time. The Empress of China enjoyed no monopoly of bad weather. In 1895 the Empress of India had her bridge disabled in a storm, and in March, 1898, it was in great part carried away in what was perhaps the most severe gale she ever encountered. The Empress of Japan came through a typhoon in October, 1899, when two days out of Yokohama, which not only stove in several of her boats but smashed the smoking-room skylight and flooded the room and a number of cabins. Mention has been made of smallpox, and it should be added that both smallpox and, upon occasion, the plague broke out amongst the steerage passengers and threatened to delay the liners. Every care was taken to keep the steerage isolated, and the consequence was that saloon passengers very rarely suffered much inconvenience or detention at quarantine. Much the most serious delay was caused in June, 1901, when the Empress of China—which deserves to rank as the unlucky one amongst the three pioneers—was held at Nagasaki for ten days following an outbreak of plague in the steerage. An epidemic was raging in the Orient at the time, and as a precautionary measure the Empresses ceased to carry Asiatic passengers for several months. It should be added that, following her experience at Nagasaki, the Empress of China averaged 16.6 knots on the ] (25) Ibid., December 3, 1891. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 43 Vancouver, managed to arrive only eight days late, contrived to prepare for sea in only five days, and sailed on the return passage on time. Lastly, the Empresses managed to keep to schedule despite wars and rumours of wars. The impression that the years previous to 1914 were peaceful is largely illusory; and it is interesting to recall that during the years 1891-1906, when the Empresses were setting up their record, no less than four major conflicts troubled the Far East—the Sino-Japanese War, which broke out in 1894; the Spanish-American War, which commenced in 1898; the Boxer Rebellion of 1900; and the Russo- Japanese War, which was declared early in 1904. From the first the Empress of Japan proved to be a little faster than her sisters, and her maiden passage from Yokohama to Victoria, which she made in 10 days 21 hours and 23 minutes, took the trans-Pacific record from the Empress of India by a margin of more than ten hours. When she returned to Hong Kong she was dry-docked, and on August 11, fresh from overhaul, she sailed for Vancouver on what was to prove a memorable voyage. Though no document has come to light which so states, there is every reason to believe that she sailed with orders to make the best time she could, consistent with safety and reasonable economy. She responded by travelling from Hong Kong to Vancouver in a total steaming-time of only 380 hours, at an average speed of 16.31 knots. Trans-Pacific records are timed between Yokohama and the Pacific Coast, and the Empress made her best time on this leg of the journey. Clipping more than eight hours off her previous run, she arrived in the Royal Roads only 10 days 13 hours and 10 minutes from Yokohama, with an average speed of 16.59 knots to her credit. This record run gave the Canadian Pacific an opportunity which it seized with alacrity. The Empress of Japan reached the Royal Roads early on the morning of August 29, 1891. She hurried on to Vancouver, and a special train left for the East with her mails at 1 p.m. The 2,803 miles to Brockville, Ontario, were covered at an average speed of 36.3 miles per hour, and with the co-operation of Canadian and United States postal officials the mails were quickly transferred across the river to Morristown and rushed on to New York. The end of the story 44 W. Kaye Lamb. January contains the most dramatic touch of all, for the train bearing the mails reached the Grand Central Station on September 2, at 4.43 a.m., just seventeen minutes before the express steamer City of New York was due to sail for Liverpool. She obligingly waited a few minutes, and at 5.10 cast off her lines with letters on hoard which had left Yokohama only fifteen days before. Rising to the occasion, she made a fast passage across the Atlantic, and the mails reached London at 10.12 a.m. on September 9, only twenty-two days from Yokohama. Their arrival aroused great interest on both sides of the Atlantic, and did much to establish the reputation of the new Empress line.26 Some years later the Empress of Japan further reduced her time for the passage from Yokohama to Victoria to 10 days 10 hours, and this record stood until the arrival of the new Empress of Russia in 1913. Meanwhile, in 1897, she had set up a westbound record which was never approached by either of her sisters. This fast run was occasioned by a delay in the arrival of the English mails, which reached Vancouver no less than five days late. Instead of sailing on schedule on June 21, the Empress did not get away from Victoria until 4.10 p.m. on the 26th. Captain Lee was on leave at the time and she sailed under the command of Captain Henry Pybus, who was instructed to make every effort to reach Hong Kong within the contract time. The engine- and boiler- room staffs, under Chief Engineer E. O. Murphy, responded magnificently, and the Japan arrived at Yokohama at 1.35 p.m. on July 7, after a passage of only 10 days 3 hours and 39 minutes. Her average speed was 17.14 knots, and on July 1 she had set up a record run for a single day of 441 miles, at an average speed of 18.4 knots.27 In addition to lowering the record, this phenomenal run enabled the Empress to catch up on her schedule and deliver her mails in Hong Kong on time. (26) For a detailed account s, York Herald, September 3, 1891; London, September 12, 1891. (27) Further details of this run are given in the appendix. In 1936 Captain Pybus, in conversation with the writer, paid a warm tribute to Chief Engineer Murphy: " I sent for him and asked him what he could do, and he said he would do his best. Then I sent for the chief stoker, Chinese, and told him, too. They did their best, certainly." 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 45 Though the Empress of Japan never lost the blue ribbon, her sisters both exceeded an average speed of 16.5 knots on the trans-Pacific run, and they, too, had their moments in the limelight. One of these came the way of the Empress of India in 1896, when she was popularly credited with having won a race with the United States cruiser Olympia. It is difficult at this late date to get to the bottom of the story, but the facts appear to be as follows:— The Olympia was a cruiser of 5,870 tons displacement, and when completed in 1894 she attained a speed of 21.69 knots on trial. In January, 1896, she was in Japanese waters, supposedly with the object of demonstrating her speed and efficiency, with a view to securing orders for warships from Japan for American shipyards. Late in the month she arrived at Kobe, and a story went the rounds that she had recently maintained a speed of 22 knots through a heavy gale and was about to attempt a record passage from Kobe to Nagasaki in order to prove her capabilities. At this point the Empress of India entered the picture. She was engaged in the familiar task of making up time with her English mails, and was therefore running on a faster schedule than usual. About 5 p.m. on January 22 the Olympia left Kobe, bound for Nagasaki. At 9.25 p.m. the Empress of India, which had been in port most of the day, left for the same destination. The next day, in beautiful weather, the Empress slowly overhauled and passed the cruiser, and her log was endorsed: " Passed United States Warship Olympia at Simonesaki." Her log shows further that her average speed on the whole 390 miles from Kobe to Nagasaki was 16.64 knots. It seems perfectly clear that nothing in the nature of a race really took place. It is possible that in view of the excitement amongst his passengers, which contemporary accounts show was intense, Captain Pybus, who happened to be in command of the India that trip, kept the Empress up to her comfortable full speed, but there is no reason to suppose that the Olympia could not have outdistanced her if she had tried. Be that as it may, the wide publicity given to the incident certainly added to the prestige of the Empress liners.28 (28) Based on the records of the Empress of India and on an account by the correspondent of the San Francisco Daily Report, reprinted in the Vancouver World, March 16, 1896. 46 W. Kaye Lamb. January It should be understood that the voyages with which we have been dealing were quite exceptional. They were made at relatively high speeds, either to establish the reputation of the line or to fulfil the requirements of the mail contract. The average trans-Pacific crossing was made at a much more modest rate. In 1899 an attempt was made in certain quarters to discredit the northern route to the Orient from British Columbia, as compared with that from San Francisco. It was contended that the route to the north was so beset by fog and smoke that the vessels plying upon it derived no advantage from the fact that it was many miles shorter. T. G. Shaughnessy considered that this criticism merited serious consideration, and therefore released the following very interesting table giving the average length of the voyages of the Empresses over a period of four years:— Average Length op Passage, Yokohama to Victoria. WESTBOUNP. EASTBOUNO. Hour,. Minutes. Hours. Minutes. 303 303 298 302 41 30 32 285 289 287 287 1896. 1897 . 32 44 Shaughnessy added that these figures covered an average of fifteen round voyages per annum, and stated that the Empress schedule called for an average speed of 14.5 knots westbound and 15 knots eastbound. He next examined the sailing lists of the three trans-Pacific lines operating out of San Francisco, and showed that their scheduled time on the voyage to Yokohama, via Honolulu, was 439 hours westbound and 363 hours east- bound. The equivalent time on a direct run from San Francisco to Yokohama would be 425 hours and 351 hours respectively. A simple calculation revealed that to cover the distance in the time stated a vessel would only have to average 12.5 knots on the passage to Yokohama and 12.9 knots on the return voyage.29 In a word, Shaughnessy was able to prove, beyond any doubt, that the Empresses were not only scheduled to run at a higher ; length i the Vancouver " Empress to the Orient." i their shorter route than the San Francisco steamers, but had maintained their scheduled s larity for the previous four years. W. Kaye Lamb. 48 W. Kaye Lamb. January APPENDIX. ' Specifications, etc., op the Original Empress Liners. Dimensions and Tonnage. Length between perpendiculars, 455.6 feet; over all, 485 feet. Width, 51.2 feet; depth, 33.1 feet; depth moulded, 36 feet. Empress of India i— 5,943 3,032 Empress of Japan 5,940 3,039 Empress of China . 5,947 3,046 s at a draught of 24 feet 6 inches. Const The hulls were built of Siemens-Martin steel and had cellular double bottoms. Tanks were fitted in the double bottom for 755 tons of water- ballast, and an additional 36 tons could be carried in an after-peak tank. The vessels had thirteen transverse bulkheads, which divided the hulls into fourteen water-tight compartments. Six of these bulkheads had no openings of any kind; the others were equipped with rapid-closing water-tight doors. The ships could remain afloat with any two of the compartments flooded. Added protection was given by a longitudinal bulkhead in the engine-room. The Empresses w " spectacle " framing their twin propellor-shaf ts. Boilers. Each Empress had four double-ended Scotch cylindrical boilers, 19 feet long and 16 feet in diameter. The steam-pressure was 160 lb. Each boiler had eight furnaces, making thirty-two in all. The grate area was 710 square feet; the heating surface 20,193 square feet. The Empresses had two sets of triple-expansion reciprocating engines, driving twin screws. The cylinders had a diameter of 32, 51, and 82 inches; the length of stroke was 54 inches. The diameter of the crank-shafts was 16% inches; of the propellor-shaf ts, 15% inches; of the propellors themselves, 16% feet. The nominal horse-power was 1,167; the indicated horse- Power and Speed on Trials. Though the Empresses were rated at 10,000 horse-power, only the Empress of China ever actually developed that power. During her trials she developed 10,068 horse-power on the measured mile, the maximum being 10,128 horse-power. This was stated by Engineering (July 17, 1891, p. 67) to be about 600 horse-power in excess of the power developed by the Empress of India and Empress of Japan. In view of this, the following comparative I Empress to the Orient." res relating to the 500-mile s a trials of the Japa n and China 7,949 1.594 Coal consumption 1.56 (pounds of coal burned per i.h.p. per hour) As this table suggests, the Empress of China never seemed able to use her superior power to advantage. The Empress of Japan proved the faster ship in service, and on her sea trial it will be seen that she sustained a higher speed with less power and a lower fuel consumption. On the other hand, the Empress of China reached a speed of 19 knots on the measured mile, where she proved fractionally faster than her sisters. Fuel Consumption in Service. On an average passage, operating at a speed of from 14 to 15 knots, the Empresses burned about 110 to 120 tons of coal a day. The following data, covering six winter voyages of the Empress of India between Vancouver and Yokohama, in 1895-1896, are of interest:— 24 outward 13.90 1,378 24 homeward 13.75 1,495 (A rough voyage; ar rived 24 hours late.) 25 outward 15.23 1,714 (Sailed a day late with delayed mails.) 25 homeward 14.96 1,300 26 outward 13.88 1,325 26 homeward 14.42 1,245 As these figures indicate, from 1,350 to 1,500 tons of coal were burned during an average passage from Vancouver to Yokohama, depending upon weather conditions. This total increased sharply, of course, if it were necessary to make faster time than usual. Peak consumption was reached on the record passage of the Empress of Japan, in 1897, when she burned 1,953 tons to maintain an average speed of over 17 knots. It is interesting to know that the Empress of India reached Vancouver at the conclusion of her maiden voyage with only 32 tons of coal left in her bunkers. This was much too close a margin for comfort, and on her next eastbound passage she left Yokohama with extra coal on deck, as a precaution. In regular service, however, the bunker capacity of the Empresses , proved to be quite sufficient, but coal was occasionally carried on deck between Oriental ports in order that the vessels might start the long trans- Pacific passage with a good margin in hand. Coal consumption on the round trip from Vancouver to Hong Kong usually totalled about 5,500 tons. To be exact, on her first round trip from Vancouver the Empress of India burned 5,496 tons; the Empress of Japan, 5,536 tons. 50 W. Kaye Lamb. Record Passage of the " Empress of Japan," 1897. On this famous voyage the Empress left Vancouver on June 26, at 10 a.m., sailed from Victoria at 4.10 p.m., and passed Cape Flattery at 7.45 p.m. She dropped anchor in Yokohama Harbour at 1.35 p.m. on July 7. The abstract log states that the total distance was. 4,270 miles; the actual • steaming-time 249 hours 4 minutes, and the average speed 17.144 knots. Coal consumed, 1,953 tons; average r.p.m. of the engines, 79.91. The best day's run was made on July 1, when the Empress travelled 441 miles at an average speed of 18.4 knots. On this record day the average r.p.m. rose to 80.4. For purposes of the trans-Pacific record, the passage was timed from Victoria, and the run was made to Yokohama in 10 days 3 hours and 39 All the details above are taken from the abstract log. In 1936 the writer was permitted to copy certain entries from the notes of the late Captain Henry Pybus, who was in command of the Empress on this voyage. These differ slightly from the log, and give the total distance run (from Victoria) as 4,237 miles, and the successive daily runs as follows: June 27, 396; June 28, 413; June 29, 414; June 30, 421; July 1 [record day's run], 441; July 3, 433; July 4, 432; July 5, 429; July 6, 417; July 7, 415; July 7, p.m., 26 miles; total, 4,237 miles. THE CENSUS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND, 1855. The four tables which follow add very materially to our knowledge of the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island in its early days. Except for the actual fur trade of the Hudson's Bay Company and the coal-mining operations at Nanaimo and Fort Rupert, they touch upon practically every activity of the community. In particular, they give an exact tabulation of the population as of December 31, 1854, and an amazingly complete and detailed account of the agricultural industry as carried on in the season of 1854. The census was prepared by James Douglas, in his dual capacity of Governor of the Colony and Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. It was forwarded to Archibald Barclay, Secretary to the Governor and Committee of the Company, on July 19, 1855. Two paragraphs from the accompanying letter are of interest:— I have been at much trouble [Douglas wrote] in compiling those Tables, which are still less complete than I could have desired, they nevertheless exhibit a pretty correct view of the statistics of the Colony. The valuations of Farms and implements given . . . are taken from the estimates of the Proprietors themselves but no valuation is made of Town property. Hitherto practically the only statistics relating to the population of Vancouver Island in early days which have been available are those given by Captain W. C. Grant, in the paper he read before the Royal Geographical Society, in London, in June, 1857. In this paper Grant stated that The population of the Island in the end of the year 1853 was about 450 souls, men, women, and children; of these, 300 are at Victoria, and between it and Soke; about 125 at Nanaimo'; and the remainder at Fort Rupert.1 In October, 1853, Douglas had reported to Archibald Barclay that the white population of the town of Victoria consisted of 111 men, 50 women, and 93 children, or a total of 254 persons.2 If Grant's figures are correct, it would appear that there were no more than 50 additional persons then residing in Esquimalt, Metchosin, and Sooke. (1) W. Colquhoun Grant, "Description of Vancouver Island," Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, XXVII. (1857), p. 273. (2) Douglas to Barclay, October 10, 1853. 52 The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. January It will be seen that the population of Victoria < slightly and totalled only 232 at the end of 1854, but the population of the Island as a whole had increased to as much as 774 by that date. Both the distribution and composition of this population are interesting. The figure for Nanaimo had increased from 125 to 151, and the four farms operated in the Esquimalt region by the Puget Sound Agricultural Company had a population of no less than 154. Of these 76 were at Maple Point (Craigflower), where Kenneth McKenzie was in charge; 34 at Constance Cove (T. J. Skinner), 30 at Esquimalt Farm (Captain Langford), and 14 at Viewpoint (Donald Macaulay). Of the total population of 774, almost half were children under 20 years of age—180 girls and 178 boys, or a total of 358. Of these no less than 240 were under the age of 10. Of the 416 persons 20 years old or older, 307 were men and 109 women. There were only 15 persons on the Island who were 50 years of age or over, and no one had yet attained the age of 60. The tables as here reproduced are taken from James Douglas's own copy, which was amongst the papers belonging to the late Dr. J. S. Helmcken, Douglas's son-in-law, which have been transferred to the Provincial Archives by the heirs of Dr. Helmcken's daughter, Mrs. Edith L. Higgins. They require no elaborate introduction, but the following notes on some of the proper names and places listed may be of assistance to students. Soke [Sooke] Residence of the Muir family, who had taken over the property of Captain W. C Grant. Fairfield The Fairfield estate of James Douglas; now the Fair field district of the city of Victoria. Beckley Beckley Farm, owned by the Hudson's Bay Company; now part of the city of Victoria. Foul Bay Presumably the reference is to the estate of Isabella Ross, widow of Charles Ross, the first Hudson's Bay officer in charge of Fort Victoria. Staines Property of the Rev. R. J. Staines. Cloverdale Estate of Dr. William Fraser Tolmie. Oak Bay Presumably the estate of John Tod. North Dairy The North Dairy Farm of the Hudson's Bay Company. Uplands The Uplands Farm of the Hudson's Bay Company. Mr. Work The property of John Work. Gonzalo The property of J. D. Pemberton, Surveyor-General. McPhail's Dairy The farm owned by Angus McPhail. 1940 The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. 53 Bishop Der, The establishment of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Vancouver Island. Mr. Yates The property of James Yates. Albert Head The sawmill of the Vancouver Island Steam Sawing Mill Company was at Albert Head. Constance Cove Puget Sound Company's farm, managed by T. J. Skinner. Esquimalt Farm Puget Sound Company's farm, managed by E. E. Langford. Better known as Craigflower; Puget Sound Company's farm, managed by Kenneth McKenzie. Viewpoint Puget Sound Company's farm, managed by Donald Macaulay. Belmont Estate of David Cameron, Chief Justice of Vancouver Island, at Esquimalt. Mr. Cooper's Presumably the farm of James Cooper, at Metchosin. HBC Sawmill Situated on Millstream, at the head of Esquimalt Harbour. San Juan San Juan Island. Hawkin's Property of George F. Hawkins. Sangster's Property of James Sangster. Halcro's Property of Gideon Halcro. Greig Property of John Greig. The exact property referred to in the census under the headings Cordova, Coulcouts [Colquitz], Burnside, and Strawberry Vale cannot be identified at the moment, nor can any other reference to " Mr. Thorne " be found. The location of the property listed as " George McKenzie's " is also in doubt. W. K. L. Maple: SCHOOLS. AC, ™. Dish E •j- ■S f Public Fi mds. Ann ome. fc » * 26 «: --o ^ -.1 1 1 29 do. — do. 54 The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. January POPULATION BY DISTRICTS. WHITES. Districts. Under 1. underd6. nntolO. undern!6. ontoM. M. F. | F. | F. M. F. M. F. w> I 1 I I I i I 1 I ny ||pv* ™~L 21 18 61 58 45 37 20 | 26 81 41 The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. classification of ages. 56 The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. January AGRICULTURE FARMS, IMPLEMENTS, STOCK, AND PRODUCTS. | 100 James'Bay — Rock Bay M-Cooper's 1940 The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. 57 agriculture farms, implements, stock, and products. The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. CENSUS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND HOUSES. 1855. Districts. Colviie (Town) George McKenzie Stawbetr Vatel Constance Cove Farm NOTES AND COMMENTS. British Columbia Historical Association. Victoria Section. The annual meeting of the Section was held in the Empress Hotel on the evening of November 13, 1939. The Princess Louise Room was filled with interested members, who listened to eight reports submitted by officers and convenors of the different committees. The Secretary's report reviewed the activities of the year. All meetings held had been well attended, and the sustained interest which the members took in the Society's doings was most gratifying. The paid-up membership of the Section was 148 when the books were closed for the year, and the Treasurer was able to report a substantial balance on hand. The result of the election for the new Council was as follows: Mrs. M. R. Cree, Miss M. Gait, Mr. F. C. Green, Mr. B. A. McKelvie, Mr. E. W. McMullen, Dr. W. Kaye Lamb, Major Harold Nation, Dr. J. S. Plaskett, Dr. T. A. Rickard, Miss Alma Russell, Mrs. Curtis Sampson, and Miss Madge Wolfenden. Mr. John Goldie, retiring President, will be a member of the new Council ex officio. Mr. Goldie chose as the subject of his presidential address Flour-milling in Canada. The subject was handled in a manner that was both comprehensive and illuminating, and with a knowledge of its technical intricacies which made a deep impression on the attentive audience. As no complete history of flour-milling in the Dominion has yet been written, it is to be hoped that Mr. Goldie may be persuaded to continue his researches. The first flour-mill in Canada, Mr. Goldie stated, was started at Port Royal, in what is now Nova Scotia, in 1604. By 1665 the number of mills in operation had increased to nine, and by 1724 there were no less than 118 mills in the country. The subsequent history of the industry through more than two centuries was traced from Eastern Canada to the Pacific Coast. The speaker had much to say of interest regarding the beginnings of grist- and flour-milling in British Columbia, and it is hoped that this part of his paper at least may be printed later in this Quarterly. At a meeting of the new Council held shortly after the annual meeting the following officers were elected for the year 1939-40:— President B. A. McKelvie. Vice-President Mrs. Curtis Sampson. Honorary Secretary Mrs. M. R. Cree. Honorary Treasurer Miss Madge Wolfenden. Convenors of Standing Committees: Necrology Mrs: George Phillips. Mining ' Major H. Nation. Historic Features C. C. Pemberton. Marine History Major F. V. Longstaff. Publications Dr. W. Kaye Lamb. 60 Notes and Comments. January A meeting of the Section was held in the Provincial Library on the evening of December 11, 1939. Mr. B. A. McKelvie, the new President, was in the chair. About 125 members and friends were present, and the Reading Room was filled to capacity. The first part of the programme consisted of magnificent coloured moving pictures of the visit of Their Majesties the King and Queen in British Columbia, which were shown by Mr. Douglas Scott. The arrival of the King and Queen and the ceremonies connected with their visit were preceded by lovely views of spring flowers and gardens which, as the caption explained, showed " Nature donning her spring attire to greet the King and Queen." Following this Mr. Hubert Lethaby described and displayed pages from his unique collection of stamps, autographs, photographs, and other souvenirs of the Royal visit which he has mounted and preserved in a remarkable series of loose-leaf albums. Mr. Lethaby's hobby involves a vast amount of enterprise and labour, but it has resulted in a collection which will become more and more valuable as the years slip by. The programme concluded with two more reels of moving pictures, one of which was devoted to flower studies taken by Mr. Scott and the other to a tour of the Lillooet and Bridge River area. The Secretary reported that the Society for the Preservation of Native Plants had utilized a war-time message from Prime Minister Mackenzie King, addressed to the people of Canada through the Canadian Forestry Association. Copies of the message, suitably decorated with a sketch of a British Columbia fir-tree, had been sent to many societies, clubs, and schools. As the Secretary knew the Prime Minister personally, she had been asked to forward a copy to him, in order that he might learn how much his message had been appreciated in this Province, where the conservation of forest wealth is so essential. Vancouver Section. Mr. D. A. McGregor, Vice-President, presided at the third annual meeting of the Section, which was held in the Aztec Room, Hotel Georgia, on November 7, 1939. The gathering was the largest in the Section's history, approximately 165 members and friends being present. In his opening remarks the Chairman expressed the regret of the President, Mr. J. R. V. Dunlop, that business duties made it impossible for him to attend. Reports submitted by the Secretary and the' Treasurer recorded a successful year, and were favourably received. A report of the annual meeting of the Provincial body, which was held in Victoria, was presented by Mr. K. A. Waites, who had attended as delegate of the Vancouver Section. The paid-up membership of the Section was reported to be 185. This was below the corresponding total for the previous year, but allowance must be made for the fact that a number of former members now belong to the New Westminster and Fraser Valley Section, which was organized early in 940 Notes and Comments. The officers and councillors for 1940 are as follows:— President J. R. V. Dunlop. Vice-President E. S. Robinson. Secretary. Miss Helen R. Boutilier. Members of the Council: E. G. Baynes. J. M. Coady. Judge J. A. Forin. J. E. Gibbard. A. G. Harvey. Miss E. B. Mercer. D. A. McGregor. Miss T. Nevard. Dr. W. N. Sage. George White. Dr. M. Y. Williams. The speaker of the evening was His Honour Judge Howay, who took as his subject Golden Days in the Cariboo. Judge Howay set out " to show the circumstances surrounding the discovery of gold in the Cariboo, and to make it clear that Cariboo was a continuation of the Fraser River rush, and in a sense the second chapter of the story." He sketched the activities of the men who sought wealth and found either an Eldorado or a grave in the Fraser Canyon or in the shadow of Bald Mountain, and found fault with the writers who insisted that there was something mysterious about how and why the earliest miners penetrated to Cariboo. In actual fact, in their search for the "Mother Lode" they simply followed the river; there was nothing else to do if they wanted gold. Later in his address Judge Howay told how many of the best-known characters of Cariboo received their names, including Ned Stout, " Twelve-foot" Davis, and, most picturesque of all, John " Cariboo " Cameron. Mr. Louis LeBourdais, M.L.A. for Cariboo, was the guest speaker at the meeting of the Section held in the York Room, Hotel Georgia, on December 1,1939. Taking as his subject Bedrock Men of Barkerville, Mr. LeBourdais, who has an amazing knowledge of the lore and legend of the Cariboo, told many interesting and amusing anecdotes of early days. Races in money spending as well as in money making were apparently popular in the days of old and days of gold, and Mr. LeBourdais told how Tinker Brown, who owned a claim jointly with Henry Beatty, father of Sir Edward Beatty, made a wager that he could spend his money faster than any one else in town. He won—and died broke. The speaker recalled in detail the strange story of the camel trains to Cariboo, which packed all manner of goods, including pianos, before they were banished from the road. What became of all the animals is not quite certain, but it is known that one of them ultimately provided steaks for the tables of 180-Mile House, and these were considered very tasty until their identity became known. When referring to the diaries kept by many of the early prospectors, Mr. LeBourdais told the strange story of one which was found in the coat of a miner who had been drowned in the Grand Canyon. It recorded that its owner had attempted to cross the Canyon " and was drowned." Notes and Comments. Kootenae , House Memorial Cairn. Attention has been called to the fact that in the October issue of the Quarterly (p. 295) it was stated that the money to build the cairn marking the location of Kootenae House was contributed by the residents of the Windermere Valley, whereas in actual fact the cost was borne by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The Editor regrets very much that this mistake occurred. PATRON. r Eric W. Hamber, Lieutenant-Governor of Brii OFFICERS, 1939-40. Hon. G. M. Weir - - -. - Honorary President. T. A. Rickard President. Kenneth A. Waites - - - 1st Vice-President. B. A. McKelvie 2nd Vice-President. G. H. Harman Honorary Treasurer. Muriel R. Cree Honorary Secretary. Robie L. Reid Archivist. MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. F. W. Howay J. M. Coady H. T. Nation J. C. Goodfellow Helen R. Boutilier J. A. McKelvie (Victoria Section). J. R. V. Dunlop (Vancouver Section). W. N. Draper (New Westminster and Fraser Valley Section). OBJECTS, rage historical research and stimulate public interest in history; e the preservation and marking of historic sites, buildings, relics, lateral features, and other objects and places of historical interest, and to lblish historical sketches, studies, and documents. MEMBERSHIP. Ordinary members pay a fee of $2 annually in advance. The fiscal year n the first day of October. All members in good standing r« the British Columbia Historical Quarterly without further charge. All correspondence and fees should be addressed in care of the Secretary, Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY APRIL, 1940 We TISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. ADVISORY BOARD. r, Princeton. F. W. Howay, New Westminster. s L. Reid, Vancouver. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor, Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Subscriptions should be sent to the Provincial Archives, Parliament' Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Price, 50c. the copy, or $2 the year. Members of the British Columbia Historical Association in good standing receive the ■rterly without further charge. Neither the Provincial Archives nor the British Columbia Historical Association assumes any responsibility for statements made by contributors le magazine. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Vol. IV. Victoria, B.C., April, 1940. No. 2 CONTENTS. Articles: Page. The Astronomy of the Explorers. By J. S. Plaskett . 63 " Empress to the Orient." Part II. By W. Kaye Lamb 79 Documents : Helmcken's Diary of the Confederation Negotiations, 1870. With an introduction and notes by Willard E. Ireland 111 Notes and Comments: British Columbia Historical Association _- 129 Early Locomotives on Vancouver Island. By I. E. Barr 134 Contributors to this Issue ——"— 136 The Northwest Bookshelf: Waddington's The Necessity of Reform 137 A Second Checklist of Crown Colony Imprints 139 1 THE ASTRONOMY OF THE EXPLORERS.* The task of tracing the early history of the use of astronomy in British Columbia is not easy. The writers who have essayed to give the history of the early explorations have had in general little knowledge of astronomy and assumed, correctly enough probably, that their readers would be more interested in a general . account of the explorers than in how their positions were obtained and their maps constructed. The details of the instruments used and the methods employed are generally lacking in their accounts, and have been obtained in unexpected places or are tentatively given from a knowledge of those in use at the time. It is desirable at the beginning to give a general idea of how astronomy was used in the early explorations in the Province. In order to determine our position on the earth, given in latitude and longitude, we must measure by suitable instruments the altitudes of, or the angular distances between, some of the heavenly bodies. In the sky or on the celestial sphere, positions are given in declination, equivalent to latitude on the earth, and right ascension, equivalent to longitude. Thus the equator on the earth, with latitude zero, produced to the sky becomes the celestial equator with declination zero, and the altitude of the celestial pole, or the declination of the zenith, is the latitude of the place. The longitude of a place on the earth is usually expressed as the number of degrees it is distant from the standard of longitude, the meridian of Greenwich being universally accepted as the standard with longitude zero. Or the longitude may also be expressed by the difference in time between the local time of the place and the time of Greenwich. As the earth revolves once, or 360 degrees, in twenty-four hours, it is obvious that one hour of time corresponds to 15 degrees and 1 degree to four minutes of time. Hence it is only necessary to determine both Greenwich and local time, their difference being the longitude of the place. The latitude can be readily obtained as stated above from the altitude of the Celestial Pole and this can be easily derived from *The first part of the presidential address to the British Columbia 64 J. S. Plaskett. April the altitude of Polaris, which is only slightly more than a degree from the true Pole. Or it can be obtained from a single altitude of a star if the local time is known, or both time and latitude can be obtained from the times of equal altitudes of the same star east and west of the meridian. Local time can be obtained by equal altitudes, as above, or by a single altitude when the latitude is known. Latitudes have been obtained with fair accuracy for some centuries. Columbus for example placed his discovery correctly on the map so far as latitude was concerned. Longitude, however, is much more difficult to obtain accurately and it was not until after the middle of the eighteenth century that any methods were developed which enabled it to be even approximately determined. This was a vital matter to navigators who frequently had no idea how far in an east or west direction they were from land, and in chart-making such distances were frequently guessed at, with grotesque distortions of the resulting map. For example, as late as 1741, Anson, in the course of one of the' last great voyages made before improved methods of obtaining longitudes were available, when approaching the South American- Coast came upon Cape Noir when he thought he was still 350 nautical miles to the west of it. A quotation from his account is most illuminating, ascribing the discrepancy to easterly currents: " It was indeed most wonderful, that the currents should have driven us to the eastward with such strength; for the whole squadron esteemed themselves upwards of ten degrees more westerly than this land, so that in running down by our account about nineteen degrees of longitude, we had not really advanced above half that distance." The difficulty in obtaining accurate longitudes, which as stated above are simply the differences between local and Greenwich times, lies wholly in the determination of Greenwich time. Local time could be obtained as simply and accurately as the latitude, but until well on into the eighteenth century there was no known method for getting Greenwich time. So important did this appear that in 1714 the British Government offered a reward of £10,000 for a method of obtaining longitudes accurate to 1 degree, corresponding to nearly 70 miles on the equator and 35 miles at latitude 60 degrees. This reward would be increased to £20,000 if the longitudes were accurate to half a degree. 1940 The Astronomy of the Explorers. 65 Although it is perhaps doubtful whether the offered reward was wholly responsible for the advance, it is interesting to note that two entirely independent methods of obtaining the Greenwich time, and hence the longitude, were developed during the period 1730-1770. (1.) By astronomical observations.—Two kinds of observation were used, either the measurement of the angular distance between the moon and some of the brighter fixed stars, or the local time of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. For the measurement of lunar distances, an instrument which could be held in the hands by an explorer or on a moving ship's deck was essential, and this was provided by the invention of the sextant by John Hadley about 1730, which developed into much the same form as we have it to-day about 1750. For the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites a good telescope and a watch were all that was necessary, but in general the method of lunar distances gave more accurate values. From Bayly's and Cook's observations, on Cook's famous third voyage, the method of lunar distances gave a probable deviation of between one and two minutes of time, some 12 to 25 miles. The eclipses of Jupiter's satellites gave an error about half as much again, or 20 to 40 miles. It may well be asked how the measurement of the angle between the moon and a star could give Greenwich time. The answer is obvious when it is remembered that owing to its revolution around the earth the moon moves among the stars about 13 degrees a day, and if we have tables giving the accurate position of the moon among the stars for suitable intervals of Greenwich time, the Greenwich time and hence the longitude can be determined for any given lunar distance. Similarly tables giving the Greenwich time of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, when compared with the observed local times, immediately give the longitude. From the foregoing it appears that accurate measurements of lunar distances or of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites is only half the battle and would be quite useless to obtain Greenwich time or determine longitudes without accurate tables giving the position of the moon at sufficiently short equal intervals of Greenwich time. From these tables, with suitable interpolations, the Greenwich time corresponding to the measured lunar distance and hence the longitude can be computed. Similarly tables giving 66 J. S. Plaskett. April the Greenwich times of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites would give the longitude directly from the observed local times. Such tables of fair accuracy were first published in 1763, while the Nautical Almanac first appeared in 1767. (2.) By chronometer.—Greenwich time could be obtained from a timekeeper of high accuracy and reliability and of sufficient portability to be carried on board ship or across unknown lands. A pendulum clock, while fulfilling the first conditions, must be used in a fixed position on land; and only an enlarged and refined form of watch or chronometer could fulfil both requirements of accuracy and portability. John Harrison, a native of Yorkshire, after a lifetime of work, produced a number of chronometers with radical advances in the movements and escapements. His famous No. 4 chronometer, finished in 1759, was first tested publicly in 1761 on a voyage to Jamaica; and again in 1764 on a trip to Barbados. These tests showed that the chronometer came within the required half a degree of accuracy in determining longitudes, thus fulfilling the Admiralty requirements for the reward of £20,000 offered in 1714. After innumerable delays and postponements, apparently inevitable in Government affairs, Harrison finally received the full award. All these developments are of particular interest to us because they occurred only shortly before serious British explorations of the Pacific Coast began. Cook's second voyage offered one of the first opportunities to test thoroughly the two methods of determining longitudes. He took with him a chronometer made by Larcum Kendall — a copy of Harrison's famous No. 4 — also another of Kendall's own design, which did not behave nearly as well. Also observers were sent along by the Board of Longitude to make astronomical observations by the first method, to check the accuracy of the chronometers. This procedure was repeated in the third voyage, during which Cook came to the coasts of British Columbia. The Kendall chronometer, a copy of Harrison's No. 4, proved highly accurate and was enthusiastically praised by Cook. The general method used in these tests was to establish stations both on the ship and the shore, and to take a very large number of observations to check the longitude as indicated by the chronometer, and over a long enough interval to ascertain the rate of variation of the chronometer. 1940 The Astronomy of the Explorers. 67 The instruments used in the earliest reliable surveys of the North Pacific Coast, on Captain Cook's third voyage, are fortunately tabulated by W. Bayly, of the Discovery, in the printed record of the observations made by Captain Cook and himself. This list includes the chronometer by Kendall just mentioned, one of the first made; an astronomical clock for stations on shore; a quadrant of 1-foot radius; two telescopes for observing Jupiter's satellites; two night telescopes; two sextants, one by Dolland, one by Ramsden, reading to 15 seconds, for measuring angles; a marine dipping needle; an azimuth compass; two variation compasses; artificial horizon, barometers, thermometers, etc. It was from Bayly's Observations that the probable deviations in the determinations of longitude given above were obtained and from the same source it was found that the probable deviation of a good set of observations for latitude was about half a minute of arc, equivalent to slightly over half a mile. This description of the astronomical methods used and the instruments employed in the early surveys of the irregular coastline and in the preliminary mapping of the Interior of British Columbia forms a necessary introduction to an account of the astronomy of the early explorers. I shall have to confine myself to Cook and Vancouver on the Coast, and Mackenzie, Fraser, and Thompson in the Interior. Captain Cook, one of the most famous of British navigators and explorers, on his third voyage sailed up the West Coast of the continent in 1778, entirely missing the Strait of Fuca, and landed at Nootka, carefully determining its position. He then followed the West Coast right up through Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean, reaching north latitude 69° 36'. The island-studded and estuary-indented coast-line was carefully examined for the famous North-west Passage, for the discovery of which the Admiralty had offered a reward of £20,000. Cook took observations at many points, but did not attempt to make the complete and detailed survey that Vancouver carried out a few years later. In making his exploration and survey of this uncharted and dangerous coast, Cook followed a method, later extensively used by Vancouver, of sailing his ships as close to land as safety permitted and then sending out boat parties to explore and survey the neighbouring territory. The J. S. Plaskett. April last inlet explored was named Cook's River, while the farthest north point in the Arctic he named Icy Cape. Vancouver, however, made a much more complete and extensive survey of the coastal waters, the islands and inlets of Vancouver Island and the mainland as far north as Cook's River or Inlet, in the years 1792 to 1794. In his instructions from the Admiralty, before starting on his voyage on April 1, 1791, with his ships Discovery and Chatham, he was ordered to proceed to Nootka " to receive back in form a restitution of the territories the Spaniards had seized, and also to make an accurate survey of the coast from the 30th degree of north latitude north-westward to Cook's River." Perhaps the main purpose of this survey in the minds of the Admiralty officers was to settle once and for all the question of the fabulous North-west Passage, for the discovery of which the reward of £20,000 still stood. That Vancouver was the man to carry out the second part of the instructions was obvious from his training with Captain Cook, and from his extraordinary preoccupation with his chronometers, astronomical instruments, and his observations during the long years he was to spend in exploration. It is interesting to note that Vancouver had with him the Kendall chronometer which Cook had used on his second and third voyages and praised highly. He also had two chronometers made by John Arnold, one of the best- known instrument-makers of the time. Owing to his well-known capacity in surveying and navigation, it was not considered necessary to carry observers on this voyage. He took the greatest pains to get positions as accurately as possible. As many as 199 sets of observations at one place and time were noted, the mean being accepted as the final result. Notwithstanding this great care, the limitations of the method of lunar distances, depending finally on the accuracy of the moon's tables, which were uncertain in the eighteenth century, made occasional errors of as much as 20 minutes of arc, 12 to 15 miles, possible. Vancouver became a great scientific navigator, advancing the science by demonstrating the value of new methods such as chronometer longitudes, then in its infancy. Vancouver's method of surveying followed the same plan as mentioned above, of anchoring his vessels as close to the land as was safe and then sending out boat parties to survey the coast- 1940 The Astronomy of the Explorers. 69 line under his lieutenants, Whidbey, Baker, Puget, Broughton, Hanson, and Johnstone, familiar names, given characteristically by Vancouver to coastal features of British Columbia. From information supplied by F. C. Swannell and others, it seems likely that Vancouver's method was to keep his ship in one spot for a sufficient time to determine the latitude and longitude with some accuracy. In the meantime he sent out his boats to map the coast in detail. As soon as the ship's position was well determined, he moved on to a new station and once again determined its position with the greatest possible accuracy. When the boats caught up, their outline of the coast, which under the circumstances could not be highly accurate, was expanded or contracted sufficiently to make it fit the distance between the two positions. The most likely way the boat crews worked was to determine as well as possible the distance and direction of prominent features of the coast, and then fill in the coast between by sketching in the general contour. The distance might be obtained by basing it on the time taken in rowing, subject to considerable errors from unknown currents, or perhaps by timing the echo of a musket- shot. Direction would be obtained by compass, probably not an azimuth compass, as there is no evidence that a sufficient number were carried to supply all the boats. Inaccuracies were bound to occur from time to time, but Vancouver's work compares exceedingly well with that of later surveys, and at times actually surpasses them in accuracy. At Kwatna Inlet, for example, he gave the distance across the neck of the peninsula as about 1 mile, which is correct, whereas the Admiralty chart based upon the work of Captain Richards, who surveyed the same area some seventy years later than Vancouver, is badly distorted and places the distance at more than 4 miles. Vancouver fulfilled his instructions literally by surveying the coast-line from latitude 30° north in lower California to Cook's River at latitude 61° 29' north, taking the summer seasons 1792, 1793, and 1794. In approaching the British Columbia coast from the south he failed to notice the Columbia River, and sailed into the Straits of Fuca early in May, 1792. He thoroughly surveyed the south shore and the intricate coast-line of Puget Sound, and, although inexplicably missing the mouth of the Fraser River, he explored Burrard Inlet where the city named after him now 70 J. S. Plaskett. April stands. Proceeding northward he surveyed the whole intricate, island-studded and fiord-embedded coast-line and came out into the Pacific through Queen Charlotte Sound, thus proving the insularity of the island that bears his name. During the season of 1793, Vancouver continued his survey up the coast as far as the north end of Prince of Wales Island, while in March, 1794, he pushed his way north directly to Cook's River—the limit of his instructions. He thoroughly explored and mapped the whole of this inlet, under most difficult conditions, being greatly hampered by ice and snow, fixing its northern extent in latitude 61° 29' and longitude 152° 17' W., hence proving conclusively there was no river and no North-west Passage here. The ships proceeded southward on May 7, completing the survey in July, 1794, in a harbour he named Port Conclusion. Here they held a celebration, signalized by an extra allowance of grog to the men of the two boats, with mutual congratulations upon the explorations and surveys successfully completed. Vancouver tells that when the question of a passage from the Atlantic to this coast was thus finally settled, " no small portion of mirth passed among the seamen in consequence of our having sailed from old England on the first of April for the purpose of discovering a North-West Passage, by following up the discoveries of De Fuca, De Fuentes and a numerous train of hypothetical navigators." Although success in the discovery of a North-west Passage meant a prize of £20,000, Vancouver apparently found as much satisfaction in showing the fallacy of the strange charts and stories of these old voyagers as if he had found it and enriched himself. The geographical significance of Vancouver's work, and the steadfastness with which he pursued the main objective— namely, the close examination of the intricate continental shores for an opening linking the Pacific and Atlantic—was so thorough that there could never more be fairy-tales of other mariners where Vancouver's boats had penetrated. A glance at his Great Chart, upon which his tortuous course is indicated, cannot fail to rouse admiration for the man under whose leadership it was prepared and whose enduring monument it remains. This Chart was the sole authority for the western coast of North America for over a century. 1940 The Astronomy of the Explorers. 71 Before leaving the maritime explorers, it will be interesting to interpolate an account of the first triangulation made, so far as known, on the Pacific Coast. In July, 1786, La Perouse spent a considerable time in the bay he named " Port des Francais "— now Lituya Bay, Alaska—securing fresh water, wood, etc., and refitting his ships generally. He spent the time apparently in making a plan of the bay itself, evidently by triangulation, including observations from a shore station, which is amazingly accurate even by modern standards. Two short quotations from La Perouse are of interest in this connection: (a) The list of instruments taken with the expedition included " Four theodolites or graphometers, with and without telescopes, for measuring angles on shore and taking plans." (Vol. 1, p. 186.) (6) The reference to the plan of Lituya Bay reads as follows: " The plan of Messrs. Monneron and Bernizet was finished as well as the measure of the base taken by M. Blondelas which had served . ... to measure the height of the mountains trigonometrically." (Vol. 1, p. 376.) Turning now to land explorations, we shall begin with Sir Alexander Mackenzie—perhaps the greatest of the three. His journey down the river named after him to the Arctic need only be referred to, because he then felt strongly the need of means to determine his position and plot his course, being able to determine only the latitude. As he said: " In this voyage, I was not only without the necessary books and instruments, but also felt myself deficient in the science of astronomy and navigation. I did not hesitate therefore to undertake a winter's voyage to procure the one and acquire the other." In preparation then for his long-dreamed-of journey overland to the Pacific, he sailed to England in the fall of 1791, where he studied assiduously to acquire a sufficient knowledge of mathematics and astronomy to determine his position with the accuracy attainable at that time. He purchased the necessary instruments and practised their use until proficient, and when satisfied sailed for Montreal in the spring of 1792. His plans met with discouragement and opposition from his partners, who were much more interested in trading furs than exploring, and had belittled his successful exploration of the J 72 J. S. Plaskett. April Mackenzie River, but that did not deter him from his projected journey to the Pacific. Immediately upon his return to Fort Chipewyan, men were sent up the Peace River to prepare winter quarters in preparation for an early start in the spring. He left Fort Chipewyan in October, 1792, and travelled up the Peace to 6 miles beyond its junction with the Smoky River, the post being called Forks Fort. From several observations its position was fixed at latitude 56° 9' N. and longitude 117° 35' 15" W. It is interesting to note that in spite of the fact that Mackenzie had made a special trip to England to secure the astronomical knowledge he thought necessary to make his great journey to the Pacific, he still seems to have distrusted his skill as an observer and to have trusted his dead reckoning rather than his observations, whereas in actual fact the latter were considerably more accurate. Mackenzie had few instruments, merely a sextant, a compass, a chronometer of sorts, and a large telescope for observing the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites on which he depended for longitudes. The sextant was of an obsolete pattern, as on June 22 he could not observe the sun, as its altitude was too great for his instrument. The compass he used for taking rough bearings of his courses on the waterways was probably not graduated in degrees, as his field-notes use the terms " south west by west" and " south south-east " and he apparently neglected the variation. Observations for latitude were made repeatedly on his arduous and dangerous journey, but for longitude much less frequently, on account of the greater difficulty and the longer time required for reduction. When we consider the circumstances under which these observations were made, the raging torrents, the difficult portages, the hostile Indians, and the discontent and clamour of the men to return, the wonder is that he could find time for any observations and their reduction, and that they were so relatively accurate. Only a man of his indomitable energy and determination could have overcome these difficulties and finally reached his goal, the waters of the Pacific. Mackenzie and his crew of ten men left Forks Fort on the evening of Thursday, May 9, 1793, and after innumerable difficulties and dangers finally reached salt water at the mouth of the Bella Coola River, emptying into Bentinck Arm, on July 19. On 1940 The Astronomy of the Explorers. 73 the next day they were so much troubled by hostile Indians that the men urged Mackenzie to commence the return journey immediately, but this he would not do until he had determined his position. So they sought a place that could be defended, and where an uninterrupted view over water of several miles would . enable the artificial horizon to be checked. Landing at what is now known as Mackenzie's Rock in Dean Channel, they prepared for defence and camped for the night of July 21. The morning of July 22 fortunately being fine, Mackenzie commenced observations, and still being seriously threatened by Indians and urged by his men to commence the return journey, continued them until satisfied, conceding to his men, however, that they could load the canoe while he was observing. One can imagine his feelings of anxiety during the observations, with the Indians crowding around examining his instruments, but persisting, nevertheless, until complete. Most of us, under such circumstances, could not have made very dependable observations. Mackenzie took several observations and finally fixed the position of his Rock as 52° 20' 48" north latitude and 128° 2' west longitude. In his journal he says: " I had now determined my situation which is the most fortunate circumstance as a few cloudy days would have prevented my obtaining the longitude of it." The exact position of Mackenzie's Rock was for long unknown, and was finally identified by Captain R. P. Bishop, of Victoria, who made a special expedition for the purpose in 1923, and by careful and thorough work found the identical rock. Captain Bishop found that Mackenzie's longitude was 40 minutes of arc in error, nearly 30 miles, and the latitude about a mile and a half. Even without considering the trying circumstances under which the observations were made, these are very good results for the time and place. Thus ended this memorable journey, the first crossing of the American Continent north of Mexico—even though the American historian, John Fiske, states the first crossing was by Lewis and Clark in 1805, twelve years later. We seem to know less about the astronomical competence of Simon Fraser than about the other two land explorers, although it is certain he made observations for latitude, probably with a sextant. He started the descent of the river named after him on May 28, 1808, believing he was on the Columbia, which he had 74 J. S. Plaskett. April been sent to explore. It was only finally when the mouth was reached and he observed the latitude to be nearly 49°—actually some minutes north of 49°, while the mouth of the Columbia was known to be at 46° 20'—that he realized that the impracticable and tumultuous waterway he had descended with such difficulty and danger was not the Columbia River. In connection with this misconception of Fraser, and also of Mackenzie, it is curious that at the very time Fraser was struggling down the raging torrent he thought was the Columbia, David Thompson—the astronomer and explorer par excellence of the early days in Western Canada —was paddling up the true Columbia without knowing it! It may be wondered how they could make such mistakes; but it must be remembered that they had no maps, and all that had been discovered was the upper waters of an unknown river and the mouth of the Columbia. David Thompson had a good training in mathematics at school and had a gift for astronomy and surveying. Apparently he commenced trading in furs, his business, and surveying, his hobby and pleasure, in the Northwest Territories in 1789 when he was 19 years old, and in British Columbia in 1807. That year he travelled from Rocky Mountain House over the divide through what is now called Howse Pass, though Howse did not begin to use it till two years later. In 1811, Thompson travelled down the Columbia to Astoria and back to the source, surveying and mapping as he went. The instruments he carried are given in his Journal, and consisted of a 10-inch Dolland sextant reading to 15 seconds; an achromatic telescope of high power for astronomical phenomena, mainly the eclipse of Jupiter's moons; one of the same for general use; a Mercury artificial horizon for double altitudes; an azimuth compass; thermometers and other minor articles. With these simple instruments he obtained geographical positions that were of a different order from his predecessors, and would put to shame some recent determinations with modern instruments. Thus in the longitudes of ten places taken at random in the west, using lunar distances, his determinations are remarkably close to modern ones, the average difference being only about 5 minutes of arc, not much more than 3 miles, while his latitudes are less than a mile out. His surveys were not merely rough sketches 1940 The Astronomy of the Explorers. 75 sufficient to give some general knowledge of the country, but were careful traverses made by a master in the art, short courses being taken by compass, the variation being constantly checked, the distances carefully determined; and the whole checked by numerous observations for latitude and longitude. He not only accurately mapped his course, but recorded the height of the mountains, the length of the rivers, the extent of the plains, and the general topography of the country he explored. Mackenzie and Fraser devoted all their time and energy to the one object of accomplishing their explorations and surveys, and then turned to other work. Though Thompson's business was trading in furs, surveying was his chief pleasure, and he spent all his spare time in exploring, surveying, and mapping the features of the country in which he was living or travelling. The quality and quantity of his work is accounted for largely by his passion for it, and his systematic continuation of it for twenty-seven years. A fine tribute to Thompson's work was paid by J. B. Tyrrell, who wrote his life: " Between the years 1883 and 1888, while engaged on the staff of the Geological Survey of Canada, it fell to my lot to carry out explorations in canoes, on horseback, or on foot, over many of the routes which had been surveyed and explored by David Thompson a century before, to survey the rivers he had surveyed, to measure the portages he had carried, to cross the plains and mountains on the trails which he had travelled, to camp on his old camping grounds, and to take astronomical observations where he had taken them. Everywhere his work was found to be of the very highest order, considering the means and facilities at his disposal, and as my knowledge of his achievements widened my admiration for this fur-trading geographer increased." These eulogistic remarks by Dr. Tyrrell of David Thompson's skill as an observer and surveyor have been subjected in a recent article by W. M. Stewart to a critical analysis. He admits that Thompson's observations for latitude and longitude were in general remarkably good, his latitudes being mostly within a mile and his longitudes on the average mostly within 2 miles, except in isolated cases. Mr. Stewart's main criticism is directed at the track surveys used to fill in between his astronomical positions. Thompson's directions were obtained by a compass apparently 76 J. S. Plaskett. April graduated only to five degrees, and Mr. Stewart states that his magnetic bearings will include errors up to two and a half degrees, perhaps more. Thompson's distances were in most cases underestimated; that is, his mile was actually on the average one and four-tenths miles. Nevertheless Mr. Stewart finally concludes his article by stating: " To have entered the unmapped region of the Northwest, and to have fixed the location of the main topographical features of so vast an area as closely as he did, has established David Thompson as the greatest of American geographers." The final, practical astronomical event in British Columbia to be discussed is the Survey of the International Boundary between British Columbia and the United States. The treaty was made in 1846, but it was not until 1858 that work was started. Captain Hawkins was the British, and Archibald Campbell the United States Commissioner, while Captain Haig was Chief, and Captain Darrell Assistant Astronomer, in the British party. At first there was some disagreement, mainly on methods of marking the Boundary, between the two Commissioners; but later these differences were ironed out and the work was concluded amicably. The method of determining the Boundary, the 49th parallel, was to choose suitable stations a few miles apart, as near the Boundary as possible, and to determine repeatedly and with the utmost care the latitude of these stations. The instruments used by the British astronomers were a 12-inch, and —wherever it could be handled—a 15-inch theodolite. Also, .somewhat later, a zenith telescope which seemed to give somewhat better results. After considerable discussion the final latitude of the station was taken as the mean of British and American results. The average differences were of the order of one second of arc, slightly over 100 feet, the smallest being 38 feet and the largest 860 feet. The large differences were ascribed to observations being made at different times and temperatures and with different stars. These stations were sometimes as much as 3 miles distant from the 49th parallel, and this distance had to be accurately measured along a meridian, directly north or south. As it was a rough and mountainous country often heavily timbered, this was difficult and slow work. These points along the parallel had 1940 The Astronomy of the Explorers. 77 to be joined along its curve and a path cut through the forest and marked by monuments. Iron monuments were provided west of the Cascades and stone cairns between the Cascades and the Rockies. So great were the difficulties of transport and supply in this rough and unsettled country that the survey and marking were not completed until the end of the third season, November, 1861, and the final maps and description until 1869. A resurvey and remarking were carried out early in the present century under Dr. W. F. King, H.M. Commissioner, and 0. H. Tittman, U.S. Commissioner. J. S. Plaskett. Victoria, B.C. 78 The Astronomy of the Explorers. bibliography. Anson, George. Voyage Round the World in the years 1741-2-S-U. London, 1748. Bayly, William. The Original Astronomical Observations made in the course of a Voyage to the Northern Pacific Ocean. London, 1782. Bishop, R. P. Mackenzie's Rock. (Historic Site Series, no. 6.) Ottawa, 1924 (?). Cook, James. A Voyage towards the South Pole and Round the World, performed in . . . the Resolution and Adventure in the years 177Z, 1773, 1774 and 1775. London, 1777. 2 vols. Cook, James. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean . . . performed . . . in . . . the Resolution and Discovery. London, 1784. 3 vols, and atlas. Fraser, Simon. Journal of a Voyage from the Rocky mountains to the Pacific Coast, 1808. (In Masson, L. F. R., Les bourgeois de la compagnie du Nord-Ouest Quebec, 1889, vol. I.) Gould, Rupert T. The Marine Chronometer: its history and development. London, 1923. Klotz, Otto. The History of the Forty-ninth Parallel Survey west of the Rocky Mountains. (Reprinted from the Geographical Review, May, 1917.) La Perouse, J. F. Galaup, comte de, A Voyage Round the World performed in the years 1785, 1786,1787 and 1788. London, 1799. 2 vols, and atlas. Mackenzie, Sir Alexander. Voyages from Montreal . . . to the frozen and Pacific oceans in the years 1789 and 1798. London, 1801. Stewart, W. M. David Thompson's surveys in the North-West (In Canadian Historical Review, September, 1936.) Swannell, F. C. Mackenzie's Expedition to the Pacific Ocean in 1798. (In British Columbia Historical Association, Fourth Report and Proceedings. Victoria, 1929.) Thompson, David. David Thompson's Narrative of his Explorations in Western America, 1784-1812; edited by J. B. Tyrrell. Toronto, 1916. Vancouver, George. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World. London, 1798. 3 vols, and atlas. I EMPRESS TO THE ORIENT." II. In the shipping world reputations are rarely made in a day, but fame and popularity seem to have come the way of the Empresses almost with their maiden voyages. No doubt this was due in part to the fact that they were the largest and fastest steamers trading across the Pacific. Even in 1891 size and speed made a strong appeal. But, in addition, the graceful appearance of the vessels, and their very names, seem to have caught the imagination of the travelling public. The consequence was that they immediately captured a large share of the first-class passenger trade. In 1890 the old chartered liners had landed 279 saloon passengers at Victoria and Vancouver. In 1892, the first complete year they were in service, the three Empresses landed 993.1 In 1897 Van Home could state that they were carrying " 60 per cent, of all the first-class travel across the Pacific notwithstanding that there are 18 steamships competing for the business."2 Then, as now, the traffic was seasonal. In April, May, and June the Empresses almost always arrived with their saloon accommodation well filled. Outward voyages to the Orient were busiest in September, October, and November. The fluctuation in passenger lists in the course of the year was often startling. In 1897, for example, the number of first-class passengers carried eastbound varied from 14 to 130. Four sailings in the rush season handled more than half the saloon passengers booked during the whole year. Steerage travel fluctuated less violently. The chief seasonal influence was the Chinese New Year, to celebrate which many Celestials made a round trip to the Orient, thereby swelling westbound passenger lists just before, and eastbound lists just after, the great event. During the nineties most of the steerage passengers were Chinese. When the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants entering Canada was increased from $50 to $100 in 80 W. Kaye Lamb. April 1901, and finally to $500 at the beginning of 1904, this traffic was naturally affected, but substantial numbers continued to be carried. In later years many of the Oriental passengers were bound for distant destinations, notably the West Indies. In attracting this trade the Empresses benefited greatly from their close association with a transcontinental railway. After the turn of the century the number of Japanese carried increased sharply, and in 1905 Hindu immigrants appeared on the passenger lists. The peak was reached in 1907 and 1908, when as many as 700 Hindus landed from a single ship. This trade ended abruptly when a " gentleman's agreement" was concluded with Japan, and steps were taken to bar Hindu immigration. In view of the many factors involved, it is surprising that the total number of steerage passengers carried did not fluctuate more widely. In 1892 the eastbound total was 4,312. In 1897 it was 5,341, and it seems to have remained thereabouts for a good many years. In the six-year period 1908-13, for example, it averaged 5,630. Westbound steerage traffic in the same period averaged 3,690. The average total movement in both directions was thus 9.320.3 In November, 1891, T. G. (later Baron) Shaughnessy, then Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific, sailed from Vancouver in the Empress of Japan with instructions " to look into matters generally and to make such arrangements for conducting the company's business in China and Japan as he may find necessary."4 This commission he carried out so effectively that the Empresses continued to sail with well-filled holds, even during the depression years of 1892-95. Homeward-bound the most important items in their cargoes were silk and tea. Speed was of cardinal importance in the transport of raw silk, and, since they offered the fastest schedule, the Empresses captured a large proportion of this trade. Million- dollar shipments were carried from time to time. Even this figure was surpassed in 1902 when, within forty days, Canadian Pacific steamers landed four silk cargoes in Vancouver valued at 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 81 $5,941,000.6 Tea shipments came mostly from Japan. Extra ships were chartered occasionally at the peak of the season if more cargo offered than the Empresses could handle. The sailing-vessels /. B. Walker and Benjamin Sewell landed 5,500 tons measurement of tea at Vancouver in 1891, and the steamer Hupeh made a voyage for the Company in 1896 and another in 1897. Opium shipments arrived on almost every steamer for some years. Rice was also carried in large quantities. Curios and a small assortment of miscellaneous packages completed the usual inward cargoes of the Empresses. For many years the most important items in their outward cargoes were flour and cotton goods. At first almost all the flour carried came from Portland, Oregon. Its usual destination was either China or New South Wales. The latter trade continued even after the establishment of a direct line of steamers between British Columbia and Australia, in 1893. Efforts were made later to develop a market for Canadian flour in Japan.6 Other important cargo items were machinery and a variey of manufactured goods. In common with other lines, the Canadian Pacific found that the volume of freight loaded for the Orient was substantially lower, on the average, than that carried inward. Nevertheless the Empresses frequently sailed with capacity cargoes, and sometimes were even compelled to leave freight on the dock. The annual reports of the Company show that even in 1891, when their reputations were still in the making, the three steamers " cleared their working expenses and the interest on their cost, without taking into account the value of the business contributed to the railway itself."7 Shareholders were informed in the report for 1893 that the Empresses had " shown a healthy increase in profits each year since the fine was established."8 A year later the directors reported that these profits had risen by $80,467 in 1894, in spite of the prevailing depression.9 In 1895, (5) Vancouver Province, November 12, 1902. (6) The first large shipment was made in 1903. See Vancouver Prov- :ce, August 20, 1903. (7) Annual Report, Canadian Pacific Railway, 1891, p. 9. (8) Ibid., 1893, p. 10. (9) Ibid., 1894, p. 11. W. Kaye Lamb. April though hard times continued, profits fell by only $3,000.10 Though mentioned quite casually in the annual report, this fact was actually of vital importance to the Company, for it was the revenue derived from the Empresses, together with the through traffic they brought for the railway, which " helped to save the Canadian Pacific from the disaster which sunk a hundred and fifty-six American railroads in the depression of 1893-95 and might well have overwhelmed a new railway through Canada depending for its existence on local business."11 Freight traffic grew so rapidly that the Canadian Pacific was contemplating additions to its trans-Pacific fleet only two years after the Empresses were completed. " The experience of the Company in this trade indicates the need of a more frequent freight service," the report to the shareholders for 1893 stated, " and your authority will be asked for the building at the discretion of the Board and at such time as the general conditions of trade may warrant, two freight steamships to supplement the three passenger steamships now in the line."12 The authority asked for was duly given, but the project was dropped, owing to the depression of 1893-95. When reinforcements for the Pacific fleet finally arrived, they came from an unexpected quarter. The gold-rush to the Klon- dyke, which caused immense excitement in 1897, induced the Canadian Pacific to enter the coastal trade. Late in the year the Company purchased the steamers Athenian and Tartar from the old Union Line, and announced that they would be placed on the run from Vancouver to Skagway the following spring. Captain Archibald, commander of the Empress of China, was sent to England to bring out the Tartar, which sailed from Southampton on February 5, 1898. Travelling by way of Cape Horn, she arrived in Vancouver on April 1. Her cargo included a submarine telegraph cable which the Tartar herself laid between English Bay and Departure Bay—that is to say, between Vancouver and Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island—on April 6.18 On (10) Ibid., 1895, p. 9. (11) Gibbon, op. cit, p. 336. (12) Annual Report, Canadian Pacific Railway, 1893, pp. 10-11. (13) The distance in a direct line was 32 miles, but 40 miles of cable were required. Laying commenced at 5 a.m. and was completed about 10.30 p.m. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." the 12th the Athenian arrived, under the command of Captain H. Mowatt, formerly Second Officer of the Empress of India. Captain Mowatt remained in the Athenian for some years, but Captain Archibald resumed command of the Empress of China and was succeeded in the Tartar by Captain Henry Pybus. The service to Skagway called for a departure every Thursday. The first sailing was taken by the Tartar on April 28,1898. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that traffic was quite insufficient to give profitable employment to such large steamers and they were withdrawn in July, after each vessel had made but six round voyages. The last trip of the Tartar is of interest because she arrived at Skagway just after the death of the notorious " Soapy " Smith. As a result she had the doubtful honour of carrying away his accomplices and henchmen, who were forced to flee the country.14 After swinging idly at anchor for several months in Vancouver Harbour, the Athenian and Tartar entered the trans- Pacific trade. The Athenian sailed in October for Vladivostock, carrying a heavy cargo which had been loaded at Portland. She was then laid up at Hong Kong for a time and did not return to Vancouver until April, 1899. After a trip to San Francisco she made a second voyage to the Orient, in the course of which she rode out a great storm at Kobe. Meanwhile, in December, the Tartar had entered service, and on her first homeward passage carried 600 Japanese to Hawaii. Her call at Honolulu was the first to be made there by a Canadian Pacific steamer. The Tartar made two more trips to the Orient, but both she and the Athenian were employed somewhat spasmodically, and no attempt was made to place them on a regular schedule or relate their sailings to those of the Empresses. As early as June, 1898, when the Spanish-American war was in progress, the United States Government had wished to charter the Athenian and Tartar for its transport service. The offer had <14) " We arrived at the Skagway dock just in time to receive the gang of murderers—men and women—as the citizens rounded them up, after the shooting. . . . The crowd were driven into our ship with rifles behind them, with no money, the men working in the bunkers to make enough money to get a meal when they got ashore in Vancouver." (Letter from Walter Lewin, who was an engineer in the Tartar, to J. A. Heritage, January 25, 1940.) W. Kaye Lamb. April been refused because the Canadian Pacific would have preferred to sell the vessels at that time. Early in 1899 the United States found itself faced with an insurrection in the Philippines, and a little later, when the offer of a charter was repeated, it was accepted by the Company. The Tartar was taken over for six months, as from July 4, 1899. This was later extended to nine months, and she was not turned back to her owners until April, 1900. The Athenian was chartered later in July, 1899, and served for a similar period. The vessels were employed in carrying troops, horses, and supplies from Pacific Coast ports to Manila. The Athenian proved so satisfactory, and Captain Mowatt was so popular with the United States Army officers, that she was taken over a second time in July, 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion made further troop movements necessary, and retained until February, 1901. These charters were in effect practically continuous, for in the brief interval between them she made a special voyage for the United States Army to St. Michael, Alaska. The Tartar returned to the ordinary trans-Pacific trade in May of 1900, and was joined by the Athenian the following year. In the autumn of 1901 it was at last determined to operate the vessels on a regular schedule, and thus establish an intermediate service which would supplement the express service maintained by the Empresses. The first sailing was taken by the Tartar from Vancouver in September, 1901. Thereafter regular Canadian Pacific departures increased from fifteen to twenty-four or twenty-five per annum. The Tartar and Athenian were not ideal additions to the trans-Pacific fleet, but they were soundly-built ships and useful traders. Moreover, their capital charges were low, as they had cost the Company no more than $297,000.16 Both were iron, single-screw steamers, designed to run in the mail service of the Union Line between England and South Africa. The Athenian was of 3,882 tons gross, and was built at Whiteinch, near Glasgow, in 1882. The Tartar was a little larger, registered 4,425 tons, and came from the same yard in 1883. For more than a decade the three original Empresses were beyond dispute the premier ships in the trans-Pacific trade. So (15) To be exact, $297,336.28. (Annual Report, Canadian Pacific Rail- 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 85 far as saloon passengers were concerned, their only serious rival was the Fairfield-built Pacific Mail liner China, which sailed out of San Francisco. On the northern route the Upton Line, which attempted to establish a service from Portland to the Orient, soon collapsed, and for a time the only competition came from the old Victoria and Tacoma (formerly the Parthia and Batavia) and a few chartered steamers, all of which were sailing from Tacoma in connection with the Northern Pacific Railway. Though of little importance as competitors for the saloon trade, these vessels were popular with the Chinese, and in later years handled much more freight than the Empresses. Presently a new and more aggressive rival appeared on the scene in the person of James J. Hill, President of the Great Northern Railway. In 1896 he concluded a working agreement with the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, which led to the establishment of the first Japanese steamer line across the Pacific. The pioneer ship of the service arrived in Seattle on August 31, and monthly sailings were maintained thereafter. In a few years the N.Y.K. was able to assign larger ships to the Seattle line, and by 1901 the vessels employed exceeded the Empresses in size. The Kaga Maru, for example, was of 6,301 tons gross, and when she reached Victoria on July 9,1901, she was the largest ship which had ever used the port. But much more startling developments were in store, for by that date it was known that Hill was not satisfied with the improved N.Y.K. service. He was planning to organize a steamer line of his own, and to build and operate several monster ships of 20,000 tons in the trans-Pacific trade. Meanwhile new rivals had appeared, or were in prospect, on the southern route. A second Japanese trans-Pacific line had been started by the Toyo Kisen Kaisha, and the company's first vessel, the Nippon Maru, arrived in San Francisco in January, 1899. She and her two sister ships slightly exceeded the Canadian Pacific liners in size, and imitated their appearance so obviously, with their twin funnels and clipper bows, that the crews of the Canadian ships immediately dubbed them the " tin Empresses." As they were operated on different routes, their relative capabilities were rarely put to a test, but the Empresses were undoubtedly superior in speed. The story goes that upon a the Nippon Maru undertook to race the Empress of W. Kaye Lamb. April India between two Oriental ports. Despite the fact that her boilers were forced to such an extent that she burned the paint off her funnels, she dropped far astern.16 On the San Francisco run, however, the Nippon Maru and her sisters could outstrip any of their competitors, with the possible exception of the China. Fortunately for the Pacific Mail Company, its financial resources were sufficient to meet the situation, and before the end of 1899 it was able to order two new steamers, intended to be the largest and fastest on the Pacific. In the midst of all this competition, actual or impending, the Canadian Pacific seems to have remained curiously unperturbed. When paying a visit to Vancouver in 1897 Van Home told newspapermen that " trade and traffic " with the Orient were outgrowing the present service. That service must be made more frequent and quicker, and we hope some day to be able to substitute larger steamships for the Empresses of the China line, and establish a fortnightly How soon this would be done, however, he could not say. Four years later, in August, 1901, action on the matter was evidently contemplated, as the directors reported that The growth of the Company's traffic on the Pacific Ocean suggests the importance of providing at an early date an additional steamship, somewhat larger and faster than the [present] Pacific Steamships of the Company.18 The shareholders subsequently authorized the issue of bonds to cover the cost of construction, but no order for a new steamer was placed. This left the three pioneer Empresses, supported after a fashion by the Athenian and Tartar, to meet the intense competition which now developed in the trans-Pacific trade. In July, 1902, the first of the new Pacific Mail liners, the Korea, entered service. On her second homeward voyage she sailed from Yokohama with orders to omit the usual call at Honolulu and to do her best to capture the Pacific record. She arrived in San Francisco on October 28, having covered 4,537 miles in only 10 days 15 hours and 15 minutes, at an average speed of 17.8 knots. So far as average speed was concerned this passage broke all records, as it surpassed the 17.14 knots which the Empress of Japan had (16) Captain A. W. Davison described this incident to the writer. (17) Vancouver News-Advertiser, October 20, 1897, which quotes his )me length. (18) Annual Report, Canadian Pacific Railway, 1901, p. 8. Officers of the En 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 87 maintained on her famous voyage in 1897. If the Korea had been travelling on the shorter northern route, she would, of course, have broken the time record as well. Even on a course 300 miles longer than that to Victoria, she was only 5 hours and 15 minutes behind the Empress of Japan's fastest homeward passage of 10 days 10 hours. The Korea was joined by her sister ship, the Siberia, early in 1903. Together they cost the Pacific Mail Company almost $4,000,000.19 The Siberia registered 11,284 tons gross—8 tons more than the Korea—and by this narrow margin was the largest ship on the Pacific. She did not hold the distinction for long, for about the time she entered service the Pacific Mail purchased two still larger steamers, which were building for the trans- Atlantic trade, and renamed them Manchuria and Mongolia. They registered 13,639 tons gross and were completed in 1904. Within three years the Pacific Mail thus acquired four new liners totalling almost 50,000 tons, the average size of which was more than twice that of the old Empresses. Developments of equal interest were taking place on the northern route, for James J. Hill and his Great Northern Steamship Company had proceeded with his grandiose plan for the construction of two big liners to run between Seattle and the Orient. The Minnesota and Dakota were monster vessels for their day, had a gross tonnage of 20,718 tons, and could each carry the fantastic total of 22,740 tons of cargo. Their weakness lay in their slow speed, and, in addition, they proved to be singularly unlucky ships. Nevertheless, for a time Hill made a formidable showing in the North Pacific. He arranged to have the big freighters Shamut and Fremont, which were owned by the Boston Steamship Company, run opposite the Minnesota and Dakota. Three smaller vessels of the Boston Company's fleet maintained a second service in co-operation with three N.Y.K. liners. By 1906 Hill thus had ten steamers operating in connection with the Great Northern Railway, including the two largest ships on the Pacific, and might well feel that he was leaving all competitors far behind. (19) The exact sum was $3,979,114.37. Annual Report of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. for the year ending April SOth, 190S, p. 8. W. Kaye Lamb. April In spite of this the Canadian Pacific continued to rely upon the now ageing Empresses to maintain its prestige in the trans- Pacific trade. Early in 1903 the Company had extended its shipping interests to the Atlantic by purchasing the fleet of the Beaver Line, and its neglect of the Pacific was undoubtedly largely due to its preoccupation with this new venture. In 1906 a modest improvement was made in the Oriental service when the former Beaver Line steamer Monteagle was transferred from the Atlantic to the Pacific. She was a sturdy twin-screw vessel of 6,163 tons gross and was completed in 1899. She was one of a very successful series of freight and cattle boats, and had seen service as a transport during the South African War. Originally she was intended to carry only six cabin passengers. Before she left for the Pacific, however, she was refitted at Liverpool to carry 97 cabin class and as many as a thousand Orientals in the steerage. She then loaded a full cargo of Welsh coal for the Admiralty at Newport, and proceeded to Hong Kong by way of Teneriffe and Durban. She sailed from Hong Kong on her first trans-Pacific voyage on May 2, 1906, and arrived in Vancouver on the 26th. One of the newspapers remarked at the time that there was " nothing remarkable about the Monteagle."20 In a sense this was true; yet in the course of a few years she acquired an excellent reputation. She was noted for her steadiness and, although her accommodation was far from elaborate, at least one of her captains remembers her as the only ship he ever commanded in which he never received a complaint from a passenger. The Monteagle was brought out by Captain H. Parry, of the trans-Atlantic fleet, who handed her over at Vancouver to Captain Samuel Robinson, formerly commander of the Athenian. Her Chief Engineer was J. B. Penty, who came ashore after a few voyages and took over the post of Engineer of the new Empress Hotel, then under construction in Victoria. Disaster almost overtook the Monteagle after she had completed only two round trips across the Pacific, for she was caught in Hong Kong by the great typhoon of September 18, 1906. The Empress of Japan, which was also in port, rode out the storm successfully, but the Monteagle was driven ashore and damaged (20) Victoria Times, May 26, 1906. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." her stern-post. As a new one had to be forged in England, she was laid up all winter and did not resume service until March, 1907. A few months later, early in August, it was announced that the Athenian and Tartar had been sold to Japanese purchasers. On the 22nd the Athenian sailed from Vancouver for the last time, under the command of Captain A. 0. Cooper. Her final voyage was made without incident, but the career of the Tartar had a more exciting conclusion. She sailed from Vancouver on October 17, 1907, with Captain A. H. Reed, now Harbour Master of Vancouver, on her bridge. Outside the Narrows she encountered fog, and presently collided with the coastal steamer Charmer. The Tartar was badly holed and was beached in English Bay, where she lay for some days. She was repaired in the old Esquimalt dry-dock, but various small misfortunes caused further delays, and it was not until December 15 that she finally reached Yokohama. Neither the Tartar nor the Athenian was operated by their new owners for long, and both went to the ship-breakers in 1908. Such traffic statistics as are available indicate that the old Empresses retained their popularity to a surprising degree throughout these exciting times. The reason is not far to seek. Though surpassed in size and speed, they still offered the fastest regular schedule across the Pacific, and the reliability of their service remained proverbial. These were considerations of great importance to the silk and tea trades, and it was because they could meet these specialized demands that the prosperity of the Empresses continued. Their success in attracting first-class passengers is more difficult to explain. Their faster schedule accounts f6r it in part, and they benefited greatly from through bookings to and from the Canadian Pacific Railway. But there is no doubt that the yacht-like lines which had caught the imagination of the travelling public when they first entered service, together with the reputation they had established in the intervening years, were important factors. For, considered objectively and stripped of the glamour which surrounds their memory, the old Empresses cannot be said to have been specially attractive ships in some Plan of the first-class accommodation of the original Empress liners. Reproduced from an advertising booklet issued in 1906. " Empress to the Orient." 91 respects. They were speedy and safe, but wet and very uncomfortable in a rough sea. They could roll and pitch in an astonishing way, and upon occasion threw the clinometer beyond 45 degrees. They were fitted with bilge-keels in 1901, which reduced their rolling considerably, but there is no doubt that the Monteagle was the comfort ship of the old fleet. It is interesting to recall some details of their passenger accommodation. Even by the standards of 1908 it was becoming antiquated. The largest of the three public rooms for first-class passengers was the dining saloon, which was at the forward end of the upper deck. The two long tables down the centre of the room, and the dozen smaller tables along the walls, could seat a total of 104 persons. The style of decoration used is well illustrated in the accompanying photograph. The saloon measured about 36 by 48 feet, and its dome occupied the centre of the library, or lounge, which was on the promenade-deck above. This was a smaller room, about 30 feet square, decorated in a similar style. The smoking-room, which occupied the traditional position farther aft, was smaller still. All the furniture in all three rooms was either built-in or screwed down, which was just as well, in view of the lively way the Empresses behaved at sea. The first-class cabins were mostly outside rooms, and were well fitted for their day. Almost all of them had three berths. There was no such thing as a private bath on board, and the " special suites of staterooms " referred to proudly in the early handbooks were nothing more than four larger cabins on the promenade-deck, which boasted real bedsteads and sofa berths. About 160 first-class passengers could be carried, and cabins for another 40 persons were provided aft in what was sometimes called second class, and at other times intermediate. Accommodation in the steerage varied in extent, for as much 'tween- deck space as was required could be fitted up at short notice if an exceptionally large number of Orientals booked passage. Two other important reasons for the success of the Empresses must not be overlooked. In the first place, they were kept in good condition. Upkeep was never stinted and they were thoroughly overhauled at Hong Kong each year. In the second place, they were well run, and had the good fortune to attract a large number of efficient and popular officers. 92 W. Kaye Lamb. April Of the three original commanders, Captain 0. P. Marshall of the Empress of India was easily the favourite. He was popular with both crew and passengers, and took such care of his ship that she was referred to humorously by those in the service as " Marshall's private yacht." She was his last command, for he remained in her until May, 1905, when he resigned to become an Elder Brother of Trinity House. It is said that he received this appointment, for which he was admirably qualified, through the good offices of the Prince of Wales, later King George V., who, as Duke of York, had visited British Columbia in 1901. The Royal party travelled from Vancouver to Victoria in the Empress of India on October 1 and returned in her on the 3rd. The Duke was much impressed, both by the smartness with which the liner was handled and by the personality of her commander. Captain Marshall retired some years ago, and died as recently as December, 1939. The first Chief Engineer of the Empress of India, F. A. Wood, died at sea in 1892 and was succeeded by James Adamson, the Second Engineer. Adamson was as capable and careful an engineer as Marshall was a commander, and together they made a team which became famous in the Empress service. The India was undoubtedly the most economically run of the three pioneers, and her fuel consumption was consistently lower than that of her sisters. This result was obtained by good management and not by slower speed, and Adamson always regarded the records held by the Empress of Japan a little ruefully. He served as Chief in the India for twenty years and left her in 1912 to join the new Empress of Russia. As noted previously, Captain Tillett, first commander of the Empress of China, left her in 1892 to become Marine Superintendent for the Canadian Pacific at Hong Kong. He was succeeded by Captain Rupert Archibald, formerly Chief Officer of the Empress of India. Although the Empress of China was the unlucky ship of the three, every one agreed that this was not the fault of her popular skipper. Captain Archibald commanded her for over nineteen years—the longest term any Empress captain has ever served in a single ship. He seems to have looked back with some regret to the days of sail, for he made much more use 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 93 of the canvas with which all the Empresses were originally equipped than did his brother officers. Ill-health compelled Captain George A. Lee of the Empress of Japan to resign in August, 1900, and he spent the rest of his life in retirement in England. His successor was Captain Henry Pybus, one of the most prominent figures in the history of the old Empresses. Captain Pybus came to the Pacific as Chief Officer of the Empress of China, and in 1892 became Chief of the India, and relieving captain for the fleet. Though somewhat of a martinet, Pybus was an able navigator, and when he was on the bridge things were likely to happen. Thus it was while he was relieving in the Empress of India that she had her adventure with the cruiser Olympia, in 1896, and he was in the Empress of Japan when she made her record run in 1897. His first permanent command was the Tartar, in 1898, and from her he was promoted to the Empress of Japan in 1900. He retired in January, 1911, and lived in Vancouver until his death in July, 1938. The last of the original officers of the Empresses to receive a command was Edward Beetham, who came out as Fourth Officer in the Empress of Japan, in 1891. His promotion was rapid, and within a few years he was next in seniority to Captain Pybus. As a consequence he succeeded Pybus as commander of the Tartar when the latter moved on to the Empress of Japan in 1900, and in 1905 Captain Beetham himself took over the Empress of India upon the resignation of Captain Marshall. In 1913 he moved on to the new Empress of Russia, and in 1914 came ashore in Vancouver as Marine Superintendent. Three other Empress captains who were very well known in later years received their first commands while the old liners still headed the trans-Pacific fleet. Captain Samuel Robinson joined the Empress of Japan as a junior officer in 1895, and became Chief Officer of the Empress of China in 1899. In February, 1903, he was appointed Captain of the Athenian, and it will be recalled that he took over the Monteagle when she came to the Pacific in 1906. Upon the retirement of Captain Pybus, in 1911, he moved to the Empress of Japan. He was in her only two years, as he was sent to the Clyde to join the new Empress of Asia in March, 1913. 94 W. Kaye Lamb. April The early careers of Captain A. W. Davison and Captain A. J. Hailey closely paralleled that of Captain Robinson, for they were taking successive steps up the same ladder. Captain Davison joined the Empress of China as a junior in 1895, and after serving as Chief Officer in the India was appointed to his first command, the Tartar, in 1905. He succeeded Captain Robinson in the Monteagle, and in 1913 was promoted to the Empress of India, which he left early in 1914 to take over the Empress of Russia. Captain Hailey entered the service as Fourth Officer of the Empress of Japan in 1900, and after a spell in the Athenian returned to the Japan as her Chief Officer in 1905. His first permanent command was the Monteagle, but both before and after this appointment he made voyages as relief captain in the Empress of India. In 1914 he became her regular skipper and remained in her as long as she was in the Canadian Pacific service. It is interesting to note that Captain Hailey grew up across Morecambe Bay, within sight of Barrow-in-Furness, and well remembers the days when the old Empresses were taking shape in the shipyard there. Analysis of these biographical notes shows that the three pioneers had remarkably few captains, considering their length of service. Though they sailed the seas for the Canadian Pacific for a total of seventy-five years, they had no more than twelve regular commanders between them. For purposes of record the following tabulation will be of interest:— Commanders of the old " Empresses." Empress of India: 0. P. Marshall 1891-1905; Edward Beetham, 1905-13; A. W.Davison, 1913-14; A. J. Hailey, 1914-15. Empress of Japan: George A. Lee, 1891-1900; Henry Pybus, 1900-11; Samuel Robinson, 1911-13; W. Dixon Hopcraft, 1913-21; A. V. R. Lovegrove, 1921-22; A. J. Holland, 1922. Empress of China: A. Tillett, 1891-92; Rupert Archibald, 1892- 1911. A similar tabulation of the Chief Engineers of the old liners would not be of much greater length, and a few of the names which would appear should be mentioned here. The record of James Adamson, in the Empress of India, has already been noted. In the Empress of Japan, Thomas Tod was succeeded after a brief period by E. O. Murphy, who was Chief when she made her 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 95 fastest passage in 1897. Murphy retired to go into business in Hong Kong in 1899, and his post was taken by William Auld, who was in the Japan for some fourteen years and was then promoted to the new Empress of Asia. James Fowler, first Chief Engineer of the Empress of China, resigned about 1900 to become a Lloyd's Surveyor. H. T. Richardson succeeded him, but after a time was appointed Superintendent Engineer for the Company at Vancouver. The next Chief of the China was James McGown, who served in her until 1902, when Richardson was promoted to the post of Superintendent at Hong Kong and McGown came ashore to take over his duties at Vancouver. James Neish then became Chief of the China, and in 1907 was succeeded by D. H. Mathieson, who served in the Empress until the end of her days. Although small delays and misfortunes inevitably came their way, the Empresses suffered remarkably few serious accidents. One such occurred about 2.40 a.m. on the morning of November 6,1900, when the steel barque Abby Palmer collided with the outward-bound Empress of Japan. The liner was struck on the port side, well forward, and suffered considerable damage. Fortunately this was all above the water-line. A lookout-man on the bow of the Abby Palmer jumped aboard the Empress as the vessels met, and it is amusing to note that he stayed with the ship and joined the crew. Captain Pybus contended that the lights of the Abby Palmer were improper, but the court of inquiry found the steamship to blame. After the accident the Empress returned to Victoria for temporary repairs, and although she was nearly six days late in sailing, she managed to land her mails at Hong Kong within the contract time.21 Some three years later the Empress of India was involved in a much more serious collision. When darkness fell on August 17, 1903, she was steaming between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Shortly before midnight the officer on watch realized suddenly that she was coming up with another vessel, later found to be the (21) For an account of the accident see Victoria Times, November 7, 1900. The finding of the Admiralty Court is printed in full in the Times, April 20, 1901. W. Kaye Lamb. April small Chinese cruiser Huang-Tai, travelling on a parallel course. Exactly what happened in the next few minutes is still not entirely clear, but a press dispatch based upon Captain Marshall's report to his owners reads as follows:— When the Chinese gunboat was off the Empress' starboard bow, the captain of the cruiser suddenly starboarded his helm and turning to port attempted to cross the bows of the liner. The Empress immediately reversed her engines, trying to avoid being rammed broadsides by the cruiser. The liner sheered off sufficiently to catch a glancing blow from the bows of the cruiser instead of receiving the direct impact of the war vessel, which would probably have cut her in two. The cruiser struck the Empress near the starboard side of the bridge and in sliding off carried away some of the upper works of the liner. As she drifted back, the steamer was still working her engines to stop, and still steering to sheer oft* from the warship. The result was that the starboard propellor of the Empress smashed the side of the warship as the latter passed her stern.22 It turned out later that the Empress had suffered relatively little damage, but the Huang-Tai was so badly holed that she sank. About 150 of her crew were rescued, but a group of officers refused to leave the ship and went down with her. The sudden change of course made by the Huang-Tai has never been explained satisfactorily. Various stories have gone the rounds, one of which suggests that the collision was due to the mistaken interpretation of an order shouted to the helmsman on the bridge of the Empress, while another insists that the cruiser was making a deliberate attempt to sink the liner, because she was carrying Chinese political refugees. A curious misfortune befell the Empress of China late in October, 1907, while she was tied up at the Canadian Pacific dock in Vancouver. About 6 p.m. a longshoreman on board made the startling discovery that the vessel was sinking. Fire- pumps were rushed to the dock, but lack of proper hose connections made them ineffective and by midnight the Empress was down by the stern and resting on the bottom. For a time she was in grave danger of rolling over into deeper water. Fortunately the coal hulk Robert Kerr was lashed alongside and held her upright. It was known that the trouble was due to an open condenser discharge, through which water had poured into the engine-room when the loading of cargo and coal brought it below the water-line, and a diver was hurried to the scene to close the (22) Vancouver Province, August 18, 1903. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 97 offending valve. Early next morning the salvage steamer Salvor came alongside and her pumps had the Empress safely afloat in a few hours. Thanks to the heroic efforts of all concerned, she was able to sail from Vancouver on time, but dynamo trouble made it necessary to hold her overnight at Victoria.28 Fourteen months later, in February, 1909, the Empress of China was again in difficulty, this time in the Inland Sea of Japan. A shifting current carried her off her course and she ran ashore. Though she struck heavily, she was able to get off under her own steam three hours later. The damage suffered extended for a hundred feet of her length, but she was able to complete her voyage to Vancouver before going to Hong Kong for repairs. In the autumn of 1906 the schedule of the Empresses was altered for the first time since 1891. Henceforth the vessels were expected to travel from Vancouver to Hong Kong in nineteen days, instead of twenty-one. This change was due to developments on the Atlantic, where the Canadian Pacific had recently placed in service the first Empress of Britain and the Empress of Ireland. These vessels were the largest and fastest in the Canadian trade. By speeding up the trans-Pacific liners, the Company hoped to be able to carry mails from Liverpool to Hong Kong in as little as twenty-nine days. This was asking much of steamers which had been running for sixteen years, and the old Empresses were taxed to the limit by the new schedule. It left practically no margin for contingencies, and assumed that the mails would always reach Vancouver at least approximately on time. For a few months all went well, but early in 1907 the line incurred its first penalty for the late arrival of an Empress at Hong Kong. To add a touch of irony to the incident, it was the queen of the fleet, the Empress of Japan, which fell behind the contract time. The fault was not really hers, for the English mails were over four days late in arriving in Vancouver, and it was obviously impos- (23) The Empress's own water-soaked dynamo could not be repaired in time for her sailing, and the substitute secured had proven unequal to its task by the time the liner reached Victoria. The Tartar was in Esquimalt dry-dock, after her collision with the Charmer, and her dynamo was hastily installed in the Empress overnight. W. Kaye Lamb. April sible for her to complete the voyage to Hong Kong in only fourteen days. It was evident that new tonnage was needed on the Pacific if the faster schedule were to be maintained satisfactorily. In January, 1907, D. E. Brown, an official of the Company, stated that two new Empresses would be built at once, but no order was actually placed.24 In July it was announced, on the much better authority of Arthur Piers, General Manager of the Canadian Pacific steamships, that plans for one new Pacific Empress were in preparation.25 A month later, shareholders found the following paragraph in the report submitted at the annual meeting of the Company:— The subsidy that is now being paid to your Company for the carriage of the mails between Liverpool and Hong Kong will expire in April of next year, and it is not improbable that a faster and more frequent service will be made a condition of its continuance. In view of this fact your Directors recommend that they be authorized to arrange for the acquisition or construction of two steamships to meet the requirements of your Pacific trade, or to build two larger and faster boats for the Atlantic service and transfer the Empress of Britain and Empress of Ireland to the route between Vancouver and Hong Kong.2« But matters do not seem to have worked out quite as anticipated. Though the new contract signed in October, 1908, covered the carriage of mails all the way from Liverpool to Hong Kong, the service required was slower than that the Canadian Pacific was already maintaining.27 Moreover the amount of the subsidy was reduced from £60,000 to £45,000 per annum. No doubt these circumstances account for the fact that nothing more was heard about new Empresses for several years. Meanwhile the old steamers carried on with remarkable regularity and success. Competition ebbed and flowed in a curious way. On the San Francisco route the Toyo Kisen Kaisha placed in service two fine new turbine steamers, which were the fastest and most modern ships on the Pacific. On the northern route, James J. Hill's formidable merchant fleet dwindled rapidly. The Dakota was wrecked, the Boston Steamship Company's steamers (24) Victoria Times, January 23,1907. (25) Ibid., July 25, 1907. (26) Annual Report, Canadian Pacific Railway, 1907, p. 8. (27) The contract time from Liverpool to Hong Kong, via Quebec or Rimouski, was 818 hours; via Halifax or St. John, 853 hours. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." were withdrawn, and only the ships of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the single American liner Minnesota remained. Through it all the Empresses continued to offer the shortest route to the Orient. Though they were equipped with wireless in 1909,28 no great attempt was made to bring their passenger accommodation up to date. But if their deficiencies were apparent, so were their low capital and maintenance charges. In the summer of 1911 it was announced at long last that two new Empresses had been ordered from the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company, builders of the Empress of Britain and Empress of Ireland. The assumption was that the new liners and two of the old steamers would maintain a fortnightly service to the Orient. This gave rise to some speculation as to the fate of the third old Empress, but this ended a few weeks later when the Empress of China was wrecked on the Japanese coast. The unlucky ship of the fleet met this final misfortune of her career on July 27, 1911. She had just come safely through a typhoon, and was proceeding cautiously through a fog-hank, when she struck Mera Reef, off the entrance of Tokyo Bay. The engines were put astern, but she was found to be hard aground. All the passengers and most of the crew were soon taken off by small craft which came out from shore. No one was injured. The official inquiry found that the accident was due to the fact that the Empress had been carried 18 miles off her course " by a strong and unusual current, of the existence of which the master had no knowledge and no means of knowing, and to the mistiness and obscurity which left him in ignorance of his proximity to the shore."29 The Empress of China was so firmly embedded on the reef that salvage operations proved difficult and costly. It was not until December 12 that she was floated and taken to Uraga for docking. Several months later it was decided to abandon her (28) The first Empress to China, which reached Victoria o operator. See Victoria Times, (29) The finding is quoted arrive with wireless was the Empress May 29, 1909. R. L. Stevens was her fir larch 12 and May 31, 1909. l the Victoria Colonist, September 6, 191 100 W. Kaye Lamb. April to the underwriters. They, in turn, disposed of her to ship- breakers. The price is said to have been $65,500.80 Captain Archibald stood by his ship until illness compelled him to leave her, shortly before she was floated. In March, 1913, he succeeded J. A. Fullerton, who had held the post since 1888, as ship's husband at Vancouver. He retired in 1914 and lived in North Vancouver until his death in May, 1936, at the age of 82. The interval between the loss of the Empress of China and the completion of the new Empresses was a difficult one for the Canadian Pacific. The Monteagle had to be pressed into the mail service, for which she was too slow and inadequately fitted. It is significant that first-class bookings fell off 60 per cent, in 1912 as compared with 1911. No wonder every one in the service looked forward to 1913 and the arrival of the new steamers. The story of the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia lies outside the scope of this article, which is concerned with the older units of the fleet, but their chief characteristics may be stated briefly. Their length over all is 592 feet and their gross tonnage 16,900 tons. In 1913 they were exceeded in size on the Pacific only by Hill's lonely giant, the 20,718-ton Minnesota. Their construction aroused considerable interest, for they were the first large steamers to have cruiser sterns. This novelty in design, together with their three large funnels, gave them a distinctive appearance which was much admired, and which has been copied in all later Empresses. Their turbine engines, driving quadruple screws, enabled both sisters to exceed 21 knots on trial. As their passenger accommodation was luxuriously furnished, it is not surprising that the two vessels cost the Company slightly over $5,000,000.31 The Empress of Russia was completed first and sailed from Liverpool in April, 1913, under command of Captain Beetham. Her maiden voyage ended at Vancouver on June 7. On the last leg of her long journey she travelled from Yokohama to William Head in the record time of 9 days 5 hours 29 minutes. Like the (30) Frank C. 1928, p. 113. (31) Entries ii indicate that the ci , History of the Canadian Pacific Line, London, 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 101 Empress of India before her, the Russia thus ended her first passage Queen of the Pacific. She was joined presently by the Empress of Asia, Captain Samuel Robinson, which arrived in Vancouver on August 31. Experience was to prove that the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia were indeed the fine, soundly-built vessels which they appeared to be. In particular, the years were to show that their builders had anticipated the subsequent trend of liner design to an astonishing extent. The result is that they are much the most modern-looking ships of their age now afloat. When new, in 1913, they immediately restored the old prestige of the Empress line, for they were beyond dispute the fastest and best-equipped steamers in the trans-Pacific trade. The new liners inevitably overshadowed the old Empress of India and Empress of Japan. Though admired as much as ever by ship-lovers, to most people they seemed all at once to be small in size and antiquated in equipment. Nevertheless they were still sufficiently fast to run in conjunction with the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, and the four vessels enabled the Canadian Pacific to inaugurate a fortnightly service to the Orient. It took the old liners all their time to make the trip from Vancouver to Hong Kong, but the superior speed of the newer Empresses left them with a few days in hand. In June, 1914, it was therefore possible to extend the run of the Russia and Asia to Manila. Only two calls had been made there, however, before the whole schedule was disrupted by the declaration of war. The Empress of India sailed from Yokohama just before the outbreak, and arrived at Victoria on August 14. She had made the crossing to William Head in 11 days 18 hours, which was the fastest time made by an old Empress in some years.82 When she left for the Orient on August 22 it was realized that perils and adventures probably lay ahead, but few can have suspected that the famous pioneer of the Empress line was leaving Vancouver and Victoria for the last time. Officially, the voyage was number 120, outward; actually, it was her 238th trans-Pacific crossing. Captain A. J. Hailey was in command. (32) Vicl r, August 15, 1914. 102 W. Kaye Lamb. April When the Empress of India reached Hong Kong she was ordered to Bombay, there to await orders from the Admiralty. She proceeded thither via Singapore. No lights were shown after she passed through Malacca Strait, as the German cruiser Emden was still at large in the Indian Ocean. At Bombay the Empress was examined by the Director of the Indian Marine, who informed Captain Hailey that his ship would be fitted out as a hospital ship, under the patronage of certain Indian royalty. The work of conversion was started at once and took about two months to complete. Meanwhile, in December, it was announced in London that the Empress had been sold to the Maharajah of Gwalior, who proposed to equip and maintain her as a hospital ship, at his own expense, as a contribution to the war effort of the Empire.88 The price paid was £85,000.84 In keeping with her new purpose, she was christened Loyalty at Bombay on January 19, 1915. Shortly after this she was ordered to the Persian Gulf. Then, when two days out at sea she was directed to proceed to Karachi. From there she sailed for Southampton, where she picked up sick and wounded Indian troops. In March she was back at Bombay. All this time she had retained her Canadian Pacific officers and crew. Upon her return to Bombay, however, Captain Hailey handed her over to the Indian Marine, and the last link with her original owners was broken.86' Her subsequent career as a hospital ship was a busy one. Press reports state that by the end of the war she had made forty-one voyages and carried a total of 15,406 patients. These included British, Indian, Chinese, East African, West African, and West Indian troops, and a number of German, Turkish, and Arab prisoners. After the Armistice the Loyalty served briefly as a troopship. Then in March, 1919, she was sold to the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, of Bombay, which proposed to operate her between Indian ports, the Mediterranean, and Great Britain. She was refitted as a passenger ship, and a sketch furnished by (33) Ibid., December 16, 1914. (34) Annual Report, Canadian Pacific Railway, 1915, p. 11. (35) Most of the details given in this and the preceding paragraph were given to the writer by Captain Hailey. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 103 the Company indicates that some minor changes were made in her superstructure. Her period of service proved to be brief, for she was laid up at Bombay in March, 1921, after making only a few voyages to Marseilles and London. For two years she lay at anchor, neglected and rusting. Finally she was sold for scrap to Messrs. Maneckchand; Jivray & Co., late in February, 1923.36 The records of Lloyd's Register of Shipping show that the actual work of breaking her up commenced in June. Very different were both the war record and the subsequent career of the old Empress of Japan. She had sailed from Vancouver on July 23, 1914, and was nearing Yokohama when war was declared. She hurried on to Hong Kong, where she was at once fitted out as an auxiliary cruiser. She was stripped of movable fittings, but her passenger accommodation was not otherwise interfered with. Her armament consisted of eight old 4.7-inch guns, platforms for which had been provided at the time she was built. Some difficulty was experienced in securing a crew, but in spite of this she was prepared for sea in remarkably short order. When commissioned she joined the squadron under Rear-Admiral Jerram which was protecting the Eastern and Australian trade routes. While on war service she had a naval commander, but her regular skipper, Captain W. Dixon Hopcraft, stayed with her as navigator. Her first cruise took her to Singapore, and then to Batavia, Macassar, and Sandakar. On October 8 she was back in Hong Kong. For ten days she had had the honour of serving as flagship of Admiral Jerram, while H.M.S. Minotaur was detached on special duty. In addition, she had convoyed several captured enemy ships to Singapore. Her chief concern was the cruiser Emden, then at the height of her career as a commerce raider. Later the Empress was to have the satisfaction of retaking the British steamer Exford, which the Emden had seized and placed in charge of a prize crew. From Hong Kong the Empress of Japan proceeded to Co- lumbo, where she remained about three weeks. Her next cruise took her to the Red Sea, where she assisted the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia in bombarding Turkish batteries and I Scindia Steam Navigatii iCo. t the r, November 4,1939. 104 W. Kaye Lamb. April capturing armed dhows. When her services were no longer needed there, she was ordered to Bombay, where she was dry- docked, overhauled, and finally released by the British Admiralty. As Captain Hopcraft was ill at the time, the Empress was taken to Hong Kong by her Chief Officer, Captain A. J. Holland. There another two months were spent refitting her for her regular run across the Pacific. It is amusing to note that while she served as an auxiliary cruiser the Empress retained her white hull and yellow funnels. When turned back to her owners, however, she was painted grey as a precautionary measure. As events turned out, she never regained her familiar colouring, for the hulls of the Empresses were all painted black for some years after the Great War.87 The Empress of Japan sailed from Hong Kong on December 1, 1915, and arrived in Vancouver on the 21st. As the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia also returned to their regular run in the spring of 1916, the Canadian Pacific service reverted for a time more or less to normal. Later, however, the two big ships were again commandeered, and only the Empress of Japan and Monteagle were left on the Pacific. Even so, many war-time duties came their way. The Empress carried thousands of Chinese labourers, who were either bound for France or returning home, and in 1919 she brought many of the British and Canadian troops in the Siberian Expeditionary Force back from Vladivostock. When she finally returned to her normal trade it was clear that her remarkable career was nearing its end. True, she was still sound and trim, and lovely to look upon. But she was nearly 30 years old, and was obviously too small to be retained longer than necessary. In the Fairfield yard the new Empress of Canada was already taking shape, and presently it was announced that the German liner Tirpitz had been acquired and would come to the Pacific as the Empress of Australia. The Empress of Canada was expected to be ready for service in 1921, but her completion was delayed, and the Empress of Japan was reprieved for another year. In the interval Captain (37) On the war service of the Empress of Japan see the illustrated article, based on data secured from Captain Hopcraft, in the Victoria Colonist, December 23, 1915. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." Hopcraft, who had been her commander since 1913, was succeeded by Captain A. V. R. Lovegrove. He remained in her for only three voyages, after which she was taken to Hong Kong by her Chief Officer, Captain P. Sinclair, and there turned over to Captain A. J. Holland, in April, 1922. On June 1 she sailed for the Orient on her 158th and final round trip. On her return she passed through the First Narrows and tied up at Vancouver for the last time, on July 18. The next day the proud new Empress of Australia arrived from England to take her place in the sailing schedule. Few ships have served their owners as well, and caused them as little anxiety, as the old Empress of Japan. From first to last she was in commission for over thirty-one years. For twenty- two of them she held the Pacific record. She crossed the Pacific no less than 315 times, yet the collision with the Abby Palmer, in 1900, was the only serious accident in which she was ever involved. She steamed in all a total of over 2,000,000 miles, 62,000 miles of which she covered while in the service of the Admiralty as an auxiliary cruiser. During the longshore strike of 1923 the old Empress was used as a floating hotel for stevedores. Except for this interlude she swung at anchor in Vancouver Harbour for almost four years. Finally, in the spring of 1926, she was sold to Victor Lamken, who acted on behalf of R. A. Mahaffay, of the Railway Equipment Company, of Tacoma. It was said at the time that she would be dismantled and the empty hull sold as a barge. Actually, however, she was broken up by slow degrees in North Vancouver by R. J. Christian, a local contractor. Two relics remain in Vancouver to recall the memory of the beautiful old liner. Her bell was purchased by F. H. Clenden- ning and presented to the Merchants Exchange, where it hangs to-day. Her dragon figurehead was acquired by the Vancouver Daily Province, and has been erected in Stanley Park, not far from the First Narrows, through which the Empress passed so many times. In conclusion, a word should be said about the later years of the Monteagle. She was in Vancouver when war was declared and was held in port for a time as a precautionary measure. She finally got away to the Orient on August 19. In September 106 W. Kaye Lamb. April she was taken over by the Admiralty at Hong Kong. She was released early in 1915, but was taken up again in 1918 and for a time in 1919. Most of her time was spent in the Pacific, though upon occasion she travelled as far afield as Suez. She carried many coolies from North China, and in 1919 called several times at Vladivostock to repatriate prisoners of war from Russia. One of the few exciting incidents in the career of the Monteagle came in 1921, when she rescued the survivors of the French steamer Hsin-Tien under conditions of great difficulty. The gallantry of her crew was suitably recognized by the French Government. Upon the arrival of the new Empress of Canada and Empress of Australia in the summer of 1922, the Monteagle was withdrawn from service and laid up in Vancouver Harbour. In September it was decided to send her to the Atlantic. She loaded a full cargo of lumber and sailed for St. John, New Brunswick, on the last day of the month. There she lay idle for a second time, after which she crossed the Atlantic to London. Her last days have been described by Frank C. Bowen. It seems that she was laid up in the East India Dock during most of 1923, and was then taken down the Thames to Southend, where she swung at anchor for another two years. She was retained all this time because the Canadian Pacific had intended to rebuild her as a modern cargo-carrier and rename her Belton. Owing to rising costs and low freight rates the plan was abandoned. In the spring of 1926—about the same time her old running mate, the Empress of Japan, was sold—the Monteagle was disposed of to Messrs. Hughes Bolckow, of Middlesbrough. The purchase price was £10,750. Subsequently she was towed to Blyth, where many great liners have met their end, and broken up.88 So passed a famous generation of ships from the Pacific. W. Kaye Lamb. Provincial Library and Archives, Victoria, B.C. 1940 " Empress to the Orient." 107 acknowledgments. Many persons have assisted most generously in the work of gathering the material for this history of the old Empresses. Mr. M. McD. Duff, Assistant to the Chairman, Canadian Pacific Steamships, not only talked over old times, but very kindly answered a number of inquiries by mail. Captain E. Aikman, General Superintendent, Vancouver, placed all available records of the old Empresses at my disposal. More recently Captain R. J. Hickey, Assistant Marine Superintendent, kindly checked a number of points. I am indebted to Mr. J. Murray Gibbon, General Publicity Agent, Montreal, for the loan of two of the photographs used to illustrate this I am also greatly indebted to a number of retired commanders and former officers who served in the original Empresses, all of whom have contributed reminiscences and have enabled me to clear up innumerable points which would otherwise remain in doubt. They include Captain Samuel Robinson, Captain A. W. Davison, Captain A. J. Hailey, and Mr. H. L. Radermacher, all of Vancouver; Mr. J. B. Penty, of Victoria; and Mr. J. E. Macrae, of New York City. I also had the good fortune to spend an afternoon with the late Captain Henry Pybus, in 1936, and my files include letters from two other pioneer Empress captains who have passed on, Captain Rupert Archibald and Captain 0. P. Marshall. The Secretary of Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London, and the Manager of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, of Bombay, both searched their records and contributed a number of details to the narrative. Finally, I am specially indebted to two friends. One is Mr. John Haskell Kemble, of Pomona College, an authority on the history of trans-Pacific shipping, who contributed various notes and suggestions. The other is Mr. J. A. Heritage, of Victoria, who served for several years as an engineer in the Empress of India before he joined the B.C. Coast Service, of which he was senior engineer at the time of his retirement. If the story is found to be technically correct as well as historically interesting, the credit will be very largely his. w t £ APPENDIX. 1. Specifications op the Athenian, Tartar, and Monteagle. The Athenian was built in 1882 by Messrs. Aitken & Mansel, at White- inch, near Glasgow, for the mail service of the Union Line between England and South Africa. She was an iron, single-screw steamer, and was fitted originally with compound engines of some 3,200 indicated horse-power, which gave her a speed on trial of slightly over 13 knots. In 1887 she was given new boilers and triple-expansion engines, which developed 4,600 horse-power and increased her speed on trial to 14.76 knots. The new engines were so much more economical than the old that her fuel consumption was lower than before, in spite of the marked increase in both power and speed. When first she came to the Pacific the Athenian had very high topmasts, but these were cut down later to the height shown in the accompanying photograph. 108 W. Kaye Lamb. April The Tartar was built in the same yard, and for the same service, in 1883. She, too, was an iron, single-screw steamer, and her original compound machinery was likewise removed and replaced by triple-expansion engines. Captain A. W. Davison, whose first command she was, in 1905, recalls that she was an exceptionally well-built ship, with solid teak deck-rails and elaborate brass fittings. He states that upon one occasion she was used as a royal yacht by Queen Victoria, and that when she came to the Pacific the furniture in one of her rooms still bore the royal arms. The Monteagle was a steel ship, and was completed in March, 1899, by the Palmers' Company, of Newcastle. She was built for the Beaver Line, and, as stated elsewhere, was one of a very successful series of cattle and freight steamers built by the line in the decade 1897-1907. Her regular run was from Bristol to Montreal, though she made voyages to various ports in the United States as well. While on the Atlantic she became noted for the consistency of her performance, and her ability to keep strictly to schedule, in fair weather and foul. Her three double-ended Scotch boilers had a heating surface of 11,721 square feet and a grate area of 363 square feet. Her triple-expansion engines drove twin screws. The Monteagle was the first vessel in the Canadian Pacific trans-Pacific fleet to have refrigerated cargo space. Its capacity was 24,785 cubic feet. The principal dimensions of the three steamers were as follows:— 2. Westbound Traffic Statistics, 1892 and 1897. Careful search has so far failed to reveal any official record of the traffic handled by the Empresses during the nineties. It has therefore been necessary to turn to the newspapers of the time for the statistics set forth in the two tables which follow. The arrival of practically every Empress was described at some length in early days. As the tables themselves suggest, the ship reporters frequently secured from the purser a detailed return of the passengers carried. However, at other times they were content with estimates or round figures, and it must therefore be emphasized that too much reliance must not be placed upon the totals given. It can be said with confidence that they are not very wide of the mark, but on the other hand it is equally certain that they are not entirely accurate. Oddly enough, much less attention was given by the press to the sailings of the Empresses than to their arrivals, and it has proven quite impossible to compile any corresponding tables for their outward voyages. " Empress to the Orient." Canadian Pacific Trans-Pacific Steamships, (a.) Passengers carried, Inward Voyages, 1892 January26 I 13 I 8 October 80 52 18 249 (b.) Passengers and Cargo a January 18 ! 14 24 I 248 286 2,772 February 11 23 1 I 289 313 1,895 3. Traffic Statistics, 1908-1913. Official returns of the traffic handled by the trans-Pacific si available for the years 1908 to 1913. These are included in the report on subsidized steamship services which is found in the annual report of the Department of Trade and Commerce. The tables which follow have been compiled from this source. W. Kaye Lamb. Canadian Pacific Trans-Pacific Steamships. Traffic Statistics, 1908-1913. (a.) Passengers. HELMCKEN'S DIARY OF THE CONFEDERA- TION NEGOTIATIONS, 1870. On May 10, 1870, a delegation of unusual importance left Victoria for San Francisco, en route to Ottawa. It was composed of three of the leaders of the political life of the colony of British Columbia: the Hon. J. W. Trutch, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works; the Hon. R. W. W. Carrall and the Hon. J. S. Helmcken, elected members of the Legislative Council for Cariboo and Victoria City, respectively. To them Governor Anthony Musgrave had entrusted the task of negotiating with the Canadian Government suitable terms for the entry of the Pacific colony into the newly federated Dominion of Canada. Federation with Canada had been mooted in the colony since 1867, but the supine administration of Governor Frederick Seymour had done little to secure its accomplishment. It remained for his successor to initiate the official action which alone could bring the matter to a successful issue. Upon the opening of the regular session of the Legislative Council on February 15, 1870, Governor Musgrave, referring to the projected union with Canada, had said:— For my part I am convinced that on certain terms which I believe it would not be difficult to arrange, this Colony may derive substantial benefit from such an union. But the only manner in which it can be ascertained whether Canada will agree to such arrangements as will suit us, is to propose such as we would be ready to accept.! Consequently the Governor, after consultation with his Executive Council, had drawn up a series of proposals for presentation to the Legislative Council. Long and careful consideration by that body resulted in certain amendments to the terms and the addition of some supplementary recommendations. Thus armed, the three delegates travelled to Ottawa to sound out the Canadian Government. Hitherto a veil of secrecy has shrouded the negotiations which followed. The various occasions upon which the delegates met with representatives of the Canadian Cabinet were, of course, (1) Victoria Daily- British Colonist, February 16, 1870. 112 Willard E. Ireland. April noted in the press; but no details whatever of the proceedings were made public, either then or later. Moreover, careful search in the Archives of the Dominion, and in other collections, has failed to produce any minutes or memoranda, and after a lapse of almost seventy years it still appeared that not one of the participants had left any record of the discussions which took place. Such a record has now finally come to light. Amongst the papers belonging to the late Dr. J. S. Helmcken, recently transferred to the Provincial Archives by the heirs of his daughter, Mrs. Edith L. Higgins, is a concise, day-to-day account of the eventful negotiations between the British Columbian and Canadian delegates. The diary was kept in an ordinary exercise- book. When Dr. Helmcken refused a senatorship and retired from politics in 1871, he seems to have placed it in a drawer of his secretaire and ignored it thereafter. Possibly he regarded it as a personal and confidential document, as no reference to it has been noticed in any of the reminiscences he contributed in later years to the press. The historical importance of the diary is obvious. Though relatively brief, it reveals clearly both the general course of the negotiations and the questions upon which discussion centred. Two points are of special interest. The sincerity of Canada's desire to secure the adherence of British Columbia was made patent by the generosity of the final terms offered by the Dominion. Helmcken's journal makes the interesting suggestion that the concessions Canada was prepared to make were limited only by the necessity of carrying the terms through the federal parliament. The reader cannot but be struck by the number of times this matter is referred to in the diary. In the second place, the journal enables us, with some degree of certainty, to account for some of the most important differences between the proposals which the delegates took to Ottawa and the terms of union offered later by the Dominion. It is not necessary here to detail all the changes made, but Helmcken's notes throw much light upon three of the most important alterations—those in the terms relating to subsidies, to communications, and to the form of government. For the sake of clarity these are reproduced in full. 1940 Confederation Negotiations, 1870. British Columbia's Proposal.2 Subsia 3. The following sums shall be annually paid by Canada to British Columbia, for the support of the Local Government and Legis- An annual grant of $35,000, and a further sum equal to 80 cents a head per annum of the population, both payable half-yearly in advance, the population of British Columbia being estimated as aforesaid at 120,000. Such grant equal to 80 cents a head to be augmented in proportion to the increase of population, when such may be shown, until the population amounts to 400,000, at which rate such grant shall thereafter remain. (Amendment proposed by the Legislative Council:— That the Governor be respectfully requested t< Final Terms of Union.8 3. The following sums shall be paid by Canada to British Columbia for the support of its Government and Legislature, to wit, an annual subsidy of 35,000 dollars, and an annual grant equal to 80 cents per head of the said population of 60,000, both half-yearly in advance; such grant of 80 cents per head to be augmented in proportion to the increase of population, as may be shown by each subsequent decennial census, until the population, amounts to 400,000, at which rate such grant shall thereafter remain, it being understood that the first census be taken in the n lieu therof " $75,01 8. Inasmuch as no real Union can subsist between this Colony and Canada without the speedy establishment of communication across the Rocky Mountains by Coach Road and Railway, the Dominion shall, within three years from the date of Union, construct and open for traffic such Coach Road, from some point on the line of the Main Trunk Road of this Colony to Fort Garry, of similar character to the said Main Trunk 11. 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 (2) British Columbia, Legislative Council, Debat federation with Canada, Victoria, 1913, pp. 162-164. (3) Howay and Scholefield, British Columbia, Vancow the subject of Con- 114 Willard E. Ireland. April Road; and shall further engage to use all means in her power to complete such Railway communication at the earliest practicable date, and that Surveys to determine the proper line for such Railway shall be at once commenced; and that a sum of not less than one million dollars shall be expended in every year, from and after three years from the date of Union, in actually constructing the initial sections of such Railway from the Seaboard of British Columbia, to connect with the Railway system of Canada. (Amendment proposed by the Legislative Council: That the word " and," between " construct" and " open," be erased, and words " and maintain " be inserted after " traffic". That this Section be altered so that the section of the Main Trunk Road between Yale and New Westminster may be included in the Coach Road which the Dominion Government is to be asked to construct within three years from the date of Union.) Railway within ten years from the date of the Union. And the Government of British Columbia agree to convey to the Dominion Government, in trust, to be appropriated in such manner as the Dominion Government may deem advisable in the furtherance of the construction of the said Railway, a similar extent of public lands along the line of Railway, 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 North- West Territories and the Province of Manitoba. Provided, that the quantity of lands 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 portions of the public lands of British Columbia in any other way than under right of pre-emption, requiring actual residence of the pre-empter on the land claimed by him. In consideration of the land to be so conveyed in aid of the construction of the said Railway, the Dominion Government agree to pay to British Columbia, from the date of the Union, the sum of 100,000 dollars per annum in half-yearly payments in advance. Confederation Negotiations, 1870. Form of government 15. The constitution of the Executive authority and of the Legislature of British Columbia shall, subject to the provisions of "The British North America Act, 1867 ", continue as existing at the time of Union until altered under the authority of the said Act. 14. The constitution of the Executive Authority and of the Legislature of British Columbia shall, subject to the provisions of the " British North America Act, 1867 ", continue as existing at the time of Union until altered under the authority of the said Act, it being at the same time understood .that the Government of the Dominion will readily consent to the introduction of Responsible Government when desired by the inhabitants of British Columbia, and it being likewise understood that it is the intention of the Government of British Columbia under the authority of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to amend the existing constitution of the Legislature by providing that a majority of its members shall be elective. It is now generally conceded that the inclusion of the guarantee of responsible government in the terms was largely the work of H. E. Seelye, the diligent special correspondent of the Victoria Daily British Colonist.* Willard E. Ireland. New Westminster, B.C. 116 Willard E. Ireland. April Diary of the Confederation Negotiations, 1870. Friday, June 3rd.6 We arrived at Ottawa City at 1 o'clock to day from Prescott; would have been in yesterday had we not missed the train.6 Mr. Trutch sent in a note stating we had arrived. The Governor General summoned us to his presence at 3 o'clock.7 We were received courteously; after a few minutes Sir G[eorge] Cartier made his appearance and we were introduced to him and very shortly after conducted and inducted by him to the Privy Council and presented to all the Members—a Council being at that time held.8 After an ordinary conversation, we were informed that we should be made acquainted with the time when our presence would be required and then the Hon. J[oseph] Howe [President of the Privy Council] volunteered to shew us the City. He did so and we dined with him in the evening, Sir F[rancis] Hincks [Minister of Finance] being present and Honble. Mr. Tilley [Minister of Customs]. We subsequently learned that on Monday next we were required to meet the P [rivy] Council at 2 P.M. Monday. [June 6\] According to appointment we proceeded to the Govt. Buildings and met Sir G. Cartier, whom we found in his shirt sleeves, hard at work. He, as usual, was exceedingly pleasant, gave us sherry, and introduced us into the Privy Council, Mr. Trutch (5) Contrary to the general acceptance of June 4th, as the date for the arrival of the delegates (see Howay and Scholefield, op. cit, II., p. 293), the date here mentioned is correct. Compare telegraphic message in the Victoria Daily British Colonist, June 5, 1870. (6) The Toronto Globe, June 10, 1870, states quite definitely that the delegates arrived in Ottawa on the 28th of May, and H. E. Seelye, special correspondent of the Victoria Colonist, in Toronto on the 27th. Presumably they made a short visit out of the capital before undertaking to contact the Government, for this same issue of the newspaper quotes at length from a speech made by Dr. Helmcken at a dinner in honour of R. W. W. Carrall, in his native city of Woodstock, Ontario. (7) Sir John Young, later Baron Lisgar, Governor-General of Canada, 1868-72. (8) The reference here is to a meeting of the cabinet. It is to be remembered that the Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, was seriously ill at the time. Consequently the responsibility for the negotiations fell upon Sir George Cartier, Minister of Militia and Defence, the acting prime minister. 1940 Confederation Negotiations, 1870. 117 being told to occupy the Gov. General [sic] seat, I upon his right and Carrall the left.9 We were informed that the Council had agreed to appoint a deputation from their body to confer with the delegates and discuss the various points submitted by/from the Govt, of B.C. Mr. Tilley explained to the Council, that the Delegates considered they were here to give every information and explanation required or desired, 2nd to support the terms of their own Govt., 3rd That they had no power whatever to bind the Colony to any terms, but that the terms as agreed upon would be submitted to the people as proposed and already determined upon by the Governor of B [ritish] Columbia. From the remarks of various members of Council, it appeared as tho the Govt, of Canada would grant everything they possibly could or that they could get the parliament to agree to. Sir Francis Hincks thought the 120,000 population clause a very ingenious manipulation of figures, and advised that we should bring all the information upon which it was based. After conversing generally and pleasantly it was agreed that we should meet the committee at 3 o'clock to-morrow to proceed to business. The Committee being Sir George Cartier, Honble. Mr. Tilley, and Sir Francis Hincks. We have every reason to be pleased with our reception—the cordial feeling exhibited towards us—the plainness & simplicity of manner and the studied endeavour to be agreeable and to conduct the business in a fair, plain and upright manner. Tuesday. [June 7.1 We attended at 3 o'clock but found Sir G. Cartier engaged and continued so for half an hour longer. He then excused himself in a most merry way, took us to wine and himself to a sandwich likewise, he not having had time to take anything before. It is astounding how Sir G. works—morning, noon, night, brings no cessation. Of course the first thing entered upon in Council (9) This was in reality the first business meeting of the negotiation. An endorsation by Sir John Young on the dispatch of Governor Musgrave introducing the delegates reads: "6 June, 1870. Acknowledge receipt and say I have placed these gentlemen in communication with the Council of the Dominion. They are to have their first meeting this morning." Musgrave to Young, May 7, 1870. Canada Public Letters Received, G series, no. 1493 (Public Archives, Ottawa). I 118 Willard E. Ireland. April was the 120,000 population. The ministry knew of course this to be a fictitious number and stated they could not propose it to parliament,10 but Sir Francis Hincks observed that he saw that we must have the $150,000. Yet the puzzle was how to get it. It could not be done by real population and real debt even supposing the allowance for the debt to be increased. We made no objection to our population being put down at its real number provided that the money could be obtained. We consented to [sic; too] that our Tariff should remain in force, but suggested that it might be improved for B[ritish] Columbia as well as themselves. Sir F. Hincks believed that under present circumstances the tariff could be different in the two countries for some time to come at all events. Tilley differed, but bowed to Sir F. Hincks. They both saw that if they did not maintain the B.C. Tariff the income of the Dominion would not be the same as that set down. However much they could get over our fictitious population they could not support our mode of calculating the debt.11 It was not logical and could not go down. When we were at a non-plus as to how it was to be done, viz., the money we demanded, obtained, Sir George conceived the brilliant idea of our giving up lands for the Railway and for the Govt, to compensate the colony therefore and in this way make up the sum (10) Governor Musgrave explained the method of computing the population at 120,000 as follows: " It is proposed therefore that for the purposes of an arrangement with Canada our Population should be estimated from the amount of Revenue contributed to the general fund of the Dominion, from the sources which would be transferred. On a moderate computation the Customs and Excise duties are estimated for this year at $350,000. This sum is more than is raised from 120,000 of the population of Canada, . . . British Columbia claims accordingly to come into the Union with the privileges, as she relinquishes the Revenues, of 120,000 of the population of the Dominion." Musgrave to Young, 20 February, 1870, Canada Public Letters Received, G series, no. 1359. (11) The debt clause of the terms proposed by British Columbia read as follows: " British Columbia not having incurred debts equal to those of other Provinces, now constituting the Dominion, shall be entitled to receive, by half-yearly payments in advance from the General Government, interest at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum on the difference between the actual amount of its indebtedness at the date of Union and the proportion of the Public Debt of Canada for 120,000 of the population of Canada at the time of Union." British Columbia, Legislative Council, Debate on the subject of Confederation, p. 162. 1940 Confederation Negotiations, 1870. .119 specified. Every one was taken by surprise and all conceived the idea to be good. The ruling idea was however that they must obtain as much money from the B.C. tariff as B.C. now does, that they could not go to Parliament without that, because all the other Provinces would oppose or all would require to be put upon the same footing as B [ritish] Columbia. They could understand our wish to gain as much as we could, but at the same time it must be recollected that they could not give us more than parliament would allow. They would give us everything they could possibly ask of parliament. Wednesday. [June 8.] I saw Sir F. Hincks to-day upon the subject of the Tariff and recommended that our tariff should be altered so that Silks, Satins and such articles should be admitted duty free. He replied that there would be a loss of Revenue and what they had granted had been granted upon the condition of our Tariff being maintained. He asked would we allow our duty upon Sugar to be increased equal to that of Canada ? I told him that a reduction of from 12 down to 5 per cent, would not be a loss to the Govt., because the trade in those articles with foreign parts would increase to that extent. He did not believe it. I told him, if he would allow us to alter our tariff to that extent, we could then go in under that tariff. He would not go in for Free Trade in V[ancouver] I[sland]12 because in the first place the same amount of Revenue could not be obtained from direct taxation; secondly, smuggling could not be prevented; thirdly, it was doubtful whether people wanted it. I pointed out to him that the B.C. tariff and and (sic) the Dominion Excise Laws could not go on together, that if we kept our Tariff we could not have the Dominion Excise at the same time, that it would be increasing our taxation and giving apparently a larger revenue than we proposed, but at the same time it would not be really so because the introduction of the Excise Laws would prevent (12) At the time of the union of the colonies of Vancouver Island and iritish Columbia in 1866, Victoria had lost the free port privileges granted o her by proclamation in 1860. The restoration of that system was fre- uently mooted and assumed considerable proportions in the editorial dis- ussions of the Victoria Daily British Colonist during February and March, 120 Willard E. Ireland. April brewing altogether and ruin the Brewers and react upon the farmers. It is true that more beer might be imported but that would not be beneficial to the country. Sir F. Hincks would maintain that my proposition would diminish the revenue. He did not believe in the increase by increased trade. He would think over the matter. Other people came in to see see (sic) Sir Francis and then I had to leave. Wednesday afternoon. [June #.] Had to wait as usual for half an hour. The ministers seem overworked.18 Sir G. said the same thing occurred with every province, but the peculiarity of our case was that our tariff was in reality higher than theirs. After due consideration there seemed to them two simple courses to pursue, either to take the Canadian Customs Act and Excise or to keep our own Act and Excise. To make a special tariff for B.C. would look very bad and indeed they could hardly face the Commons with it, because each province would then want something for itself specially and lead to great trouble, besides they could hardly propose a diminution of the revenue, because our whole scheme was based upon possessing so much revenue. After some general debate, the conclusion come to, seemed to be, to allow our own tariff to continue until the Railway was built or until the legislature petitioned for the adoption of the Canadian Tariff and Excise. With regard to the Railway the Committee the committee (sic) were enthusiastically in favor thereof. They do not consider that they can hold the country without it. It was a condition of union with the provinces14 and they could not see any reason why if agreed upon it should not be made a condition with us. They agreed that a railway was necessary to Red River, ours or that of B.C. would only be an extension of the Railway from Red River. The Committee seemed to agree to put the railway in as part of the (13) It should be remembered that the Red River difficulties were approaching a crisis at this time. The expeditionary force under Colonel Wolseley sent to suppress Riel and his associates was en route to Fort (14) The idea here conveyed is that as the Intercolonial Railway had been a sine qua non of union between the Maritimes and Canada, so the Pacific Railway should be the sine qua non for the admission of British Columbia. 1940 Confederation Negotiations, 1870. 121 terms. They then had a long conversation about the Railway and country and Mr. Trutch proposed a plan for advertising, so as to obtain tenders for the construction of the road. With regard to the Dry Dock16 [at Esquimalt] they did not see much difficulty in that, it was to guarantee interest upon a certain sum. It was a purely local work and Quebec and Ontario would object, but in such a case a similar guarantee might be given to those provinces for a similar work. The Committee thought they now had all the information required and they would report to the Privy Council. In the meantime we were to go to Montreal to see the Prince installed into various orders,16 having received an invitation from the Gov[ernor] General so to do. Mr. Tilley said he would go with us by steamer down the St. Lawrence to Montreal, and probably we would be asked to go to Quebec. [Negotiations were not resumed until June 25, and in the interval the delegates visited Montreal and Quebec. The following paragraph in the dispatch by H. E. Seelye which was printed in the Victoria Colonist for July 8, 1870, is of interest:— " At the investiture of the Prince at Montreal our Delegates were honored with seats among the Cabinet Ministers of the Dominion. Hon Mr Trutch dined with the Prince, and in the evening the three Delegates attended a party given by His Royal Highness, by whom they were treated with marked attention, the Prince assuring them that he would visit Victoria as soon as the railroad was completed to the Pacific over British soil." Presumably the Canadian Cabinet next proceeded to consider the question of union in the light of the information garnered from the discussions with the representatives of British Columbia. The visit made meanwhile by the delegates themselves to Montreal and Quebec seems to have assumed the character of a " stumping tour " in the interests of confederation and the construction of the transcontinental railroad. The two paragraphs which immediately follow are clearly an interjection into the regular diary. Upon his return to Ottawa, Dr. Helmcken evidently jotted down, in the notes which follow, his recollections of certain conversations relating to the question of union which he had had in the course of the journey.] Proceeded to-day by steamer to Montreal, Mr. Tilley and Mr. Mitchell [Minister of Marine and Fisheries] accompanying. We had long conversations upon the subject of our mission. Mr. (15) The fourth term proposed by B.C. asked the guarantee of 5 per erit. on a loan of £100,000 to build a dry-dock at Esquimalt. (16) H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Corinaught, third son of Queen Victoria, ras then serving in Canada. The ceremony mentioned was s K.C.M.G. IT 122 Willard E. Ireland. April Tilley said the Govt, wished to grant all they possibly could, but we must recollect that they had the Parliament to deal with and that they could only grant such things as they were able to carry through the House. He spoke very favorably about steamboat communication with Puget Sound,17 but he could not advise to allow the Govt, of B.C. to alter the tariff. He made various enquiries about the colony. Mr. Mitchell said that he would do all he could to promote our wishes. At Montreal we saw various Senators, Governors and other influential people to whom we talked railway and confederation. All appeared to be impressed with the necessity of a Railway to connect the Colonies. From Montreal we went to Quebec and there saw many influential people likewise. The general character of our conversation was the same, and the wishes and desires of the people there in regard to Railways and other matters seemed to be about the same. [The IS.] Saturday. [June 25.] Met the Council to-day. The Honble. Mr. Tilley read over the draught of the Resolutions which the Government were prepared to adopt. The population to be 60,000, they could not give the 120,000 for reasons before asked. The debt to be allowed to be at the rate of $27.77 per head, 5 per cent to be allowed upon the smaller amount of indebtedness of the Colony. The Council would not agree to increase the rate of $35,000. If they did the other colonies or provinces would require the same, besides we, they conceived, had a very good bargain without, always remembering that we were to have $100,000 per annum for roads. The Council would not accede to the desire to increase the 400,000 to 1,000,000 people. There was no reason why they should do so, if they did the other provinces would complain, and the Govt, could not probably carry it through the house. With regard to the Dry Dock, they did not wish to grant it, because it was purely a local work. If they granted it to B.C. every other province would require the same thing. It was not (17) l reque 1940 Confederation Negotiations, 1870. 123 the amount they dreaded so much as facing parliament with so unusual a demand. They understood the whole subject of the benefit to be conferred upon the Colony and through it upon the Dominion. After long argument on both sides and cold determination on ours, a modification of the clause was agreed to, making the limit of the guarantee ten years, and that being considered preferable to the indefinite period " the completion of the Railway." Court of Appeal was struck out because the Judges must be paid by the General Government, but the local Government establishes the Court. A very long discussion took place about the Telegraph service but Sir George Cartier decided it, by saying the Telegraph would be valuable and fall in with the plan of the Govt to build a Telegraph to Red River, from there to B.C. would follow, so the Telegraph was taken over. With regard to Steamboats we reminded them that they had previously agreed to allow us mail communication with Puget Sound; so they consented to put it in altho at the same time demurring very much. Of course the Railway had been previously agreed upon by the Govt., who still seem enthusiastic upon the matter. The resolution was drawn up by Mr. Trutch to-day, and was considered the best that could be had under the circumstances. The Waggon road could not be allowed, could not be carried either in the Council or the House. Having granted the Railway the other must be considered a local work. We should not attempt to press the govt, too much. The erection of Lunatic Asylums did not belong to the Dominion, but they had no objection to a ward of the hospital being appropriated thereto if found advisable, but with regard to the Marine Hospital they did not wish to stipulate to build one specially, as the organic act18 provided for it. They might put their seamen in an ordinary hospital and pay for them. We told them this was the very thing we did not want, but exactly vice versa and moreover we wished to establish a Med[ical] and Surgical school in connection therewith. It was promised that a resolution should be drafted conveying the obligation to build. (18) Thatii iritish North A a Act, 1867. 124 Willard E. Ireland. April The penitentiary was also in a similar category. They had to build it in accordance with the terms of [the] Organic Act and no doubt would do so. Coast mail service, after various explanations, granted. Sec[tion] 11 not considered applicable to B.C. altho it was to Newfoundland, therefore expunged.19 12. The Govt, had nothing to do with immigration, but the Provinces had, the clause must be expunged.20 With regard to Senators, it was agreed that they might be taken from any place or places in B.C. With regard to the qualifications of members of the Commons it was left to the local Govt., because the General Govt, had no law upon the subject. Clause about volunteers considered unnecessary. With regard to Tariff the draught was read and thought to answer, it being in accordance with the Terms previously agreed upon, but it was decided that all domestic productions must be admitted duty free. The Fishery laws of the Dominion would not apply to B.C. until made to do so by an order in Council.21 The laws in force in B.C. would continue until altered by the Govt of [the] Dominion. The subject of tariff I broached again but there is an evident reluctance to grant the request. Mr. Tilley now informed us that the Council would privately consider the resolutions arrived at. On Monday we should be furnished with a clear copy and probably on that day we should be called together and the government or rather privy Council (sic) would make a minute upon their journal of the whole transaction. (19) This clause asked that the Dominion Government extend " in similar proportion to British Columbia " whatever " encouragement, advantages, and protection " it afforded to the fisheries of any of its Provinces. (20) A similar request that British Columbia should participate in any measures or funds appropriated by the Dominion for the encouragement of immigration. (21) The final Terms of Union stated that Canada would " assume and defray the charges for " certain stated services, including " Protection and encouragement of fisheries." No attempt was made to define either Dominion or Provincial responsibility or jurisdiction, and fisheries questions have since been taken to the Privy Council at least twice. 1940 Confederation Negotiations, 1870. 125 The Council have sat four hours then adjourned, but not before the subject of Govt. Responsibility; i.e., Responsible Government] had been talked over, but we were obliged to wait for telegram from Governor.22 With regard to the million dollars for the Railway. The Govt, did not intend to do the work so could not agree to the item, as they could hardly make a contract to that effect even with contractors. The Government of [the] Dom [inion] was quite as much interested in this question and as anxious for the completion of [the] Railway as the Delegates, as something must be trusted to their honor. With regard to material guarantee of money. The Delegates thought that the first thing to be kept in remembrance was to have the Railway commenced from B [ritish] Columbia. Whilst the agreement considered it would be a breach of honor and of the agreement not to carry it out, if not carried out the people of B.C. had just cause of complaint, even for asking separation, and no doubt the Dominion Govt, would do something for them in compensation for the injury resulting from the non-commencement of the Railway. On the other hand to put in a forfeiture, which, however, the Govt, would not agree to, was to offer an inducement not to commence the road on the Pacific coast, at all events it might so happen that a few thousand dollars forfeiture per annum would be rather borne than carry out the agreement. On the other hand it would be very easy to commence the work on the Pacific and do very little. What is a commencement and continuous working. It might mean anything. Considering then that the first object to be held in view was the commencement of [the] Railway on [the] Pacific, we considered it more advisable to rely upon the honor of [the] Govt to fulfill the treaty and secondly if for some cause it was not, to leave it to the people of the time to decide for themselves what demand they would make or what steps take in the matter. June 27th. [Monday.] Met the council at 4 o'clock. The subject of Railway and Dry Dock was again gone over and Railway and Dock resolutions finally agreed to. Of course much of the old ground was gone (22) No explanation of this reference seems to be available. 126 Willard E. Ireland. April over again. The Govt, wanted to diminish the amount for dry dock but had to give in, which they gracefully did but considered that it was the hardest thing they had to swallow as it would open so many questions in the House. The whole of the Resolutions were gone over again. Clause 5. The District Judges would be paid by Govt but their services would be also utilized in other ways, probably as Indian agents and so forth. With regard to Court of Appeal the Council promised not to oppose a Bill to that effect in any way. A promise was made to build the Marine Hospital at Victoria and to admit other patients upon making reasonable allowance. Langevin could not make any stipulation as to the time. He would probably visit Victoria beforehand.23 With regard to penitentiary. The Govt, could not take in prisoners sentenced for short periods. It had been tried and people had very much complained that small criminals should be mixed up with great ones. Such had been the case in Nova Scotia, where the Govt, had now to build a penitentiary or make arrangements with the local government. We must remember that the local govt, could oblige the Dominion to build a penitentiary, because when there were any prisoners sentenced for long periods the general govt, must have a place to keep them in and therefore the local government could if it thought fit compel them to do so. Lunatic Asylums the Govt, has nothing to do with. With regard to Pensions.24 The resolution was agreed to, but the ministry said they meant to make such arrangements as would suit and be agreed to by Gov[ernor] Musgrave. Perhaps give them appointments or get appointments for them from H.M. Govt. With regard to Attorney General [the Hon. H. P. P. Crease] he might be made a judge and thus settle [the question of a] court of appeal and an official at once. Pensions they did (23) The reference is to H. L. Langevin, Minister of Public Works. He . visited British Columbia in 1872 and his Report appears in the Canada Sessional Papers, 1872, V., no. 6, paper 10. (24) Under the terms proposed by British Columbia, pensions were to be provided for those executive officials of the colony whose services were dispensed with as a result of confederation. The inclusion of this clause had influenced not a little the change in attitude of the officials towards the question of confederation. 1940 Confederation Negotiations, 1870. 127 not like to go before parliament with, they did not like them and were afraid of them. As few officials as possible would be interfered with. With regard to the Addresses to be presented to the Queen,25 the forms would be found in the journals of the House of Commons, copies of which would be sent to Victoria. The section about Responsible Govt, would be put in and speaks for itself. The Govt, are not particularly anxious about Responsible Govt, but will put no objection in its way. It would perhaps be advisable to let confederation come first and settle the responsible govt, afterwards. The clause about Indians was very fully discussed. The Ministers thought our system better than theirs in some respects, but what system would be adopted remained for the future to determine. I asked about Indian Wars and Sir G. Cartier said that it depended upon the severity, as a rule the expense would have to be borne by the Dominion Govt. The Laws of B [ritish] Columbia would remain in force until altered by the Dominion Parliament. There was some probability of a Reciprocity Treaty,26 in which case B [ritish] Columbia would have to be included. This was considered certain. It was likewise determined that all produce and manufacture of the Dominion or of B [ritish] Columbia should be admitted free from Customs Dues, each being a portion of the same country. It was decided that the clause mean this. Mr. Tilley likewise said that if the Governor determined to or desired the Tariff to be slightly modified, if he would show the alterations, the Dominion Govt, would consider and most likely agree to them, but the Dominion could not invite such a request.27 (25) The reference is to the Addresses necessary in the admission of a new Province as laid down in the British North America Act, 1867. (26) The original reciprocity treaty of 1854 had been abrogated in 1866 although considerable opinion favourable to the negotiation of a new treaty existed. The signs were particularly hopeful at the close of 1869 and during the early months of 1870. See Shippee, L. B., Canadian-American Relations, 1849-1874, New Haven, 1939, pp. 304-321. (27) Such a request for tariff adjustment was made early in 1871 (see Musgrave to Lisgar, February 10, 1871, Canada Public Letters Received, G series, no. 1879), but it was not acceded to, for it was considered inadvisable to make any changes prior to the consummation of the union. 128 Willard E. Ireland. The Council desired the Resolutions to be kept quiet until the Governor choose to make them public,28 the fact being that a Minister was about to proceed to Ontario to get lands there for the Railway and if Sand [field] McDonald [Premier of Ontario] got wind of it beforehand, he would not give up the lands.26 This was understood to be the reason. Sir G. Cartier considered that Lower Canada and B.C. would be the most important of the divisions of the Dominion, that the former would be the manufacturing part of the Dominion, B.C. had a great commercial future before it. That in the Dominion Parl[iamen]t the Maritime Members of the Atlantic would always be with the B.C. Members in matters relating to shipping, &c, whilst the interior would also have a policy for its own interest supported by its own Members. That the Dominion would ever act kindly by B [ritish] Columbia and that her Members would be as much listened to as those from other places. That all the provinces would act for the public good and the greatest goodwill existed among all. I am to tell from Sir George Cartier that it is necessary to be Anti-Yankee. That we have to oppose their damned system— that we can and will build up a northern power, which they cannot do with their principles, that the Govt, of Ontario or rather of the Dominion is determined to do it. (28) The reference is to Governor Musgrave. A postscript marked private to Young to Granville, July 5, 1870, reads as follows: " Sir G. Cartier desires me to add that it was understood between the Canadian ministers and the delegates from British Columbia that the publication of the terms of the agreement should first be made by Governor Musgrave in British Columbia." CO. 4Z/681. (29) The terms were made public in British Columbia on August 31, 1870. It is interesting to note that the Toronto Leader, July 7, 1870, mentions the arrival of a deputation of the Canadian Privy Council, composed of the Hon. Sir Francis Hincks, the Hon. Alexander Morris, and the Hon. J. C. Aikins, to wait on Sandfield McDonald to secure his assistance in building the Pacific railroad, a scheme which is heartily endorsed by the newspaper. From a previous article on July 4, 1870, it is apparent that while the newspaper was aware that British Columbia was making a grant of land, it did not know of the indemnity awarded for that grant. NOTES AND COMMENTS. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Victoria Section. No less than four meetings of the Section have been held since the last number of the Quarterly went to press. The first of these was held in the Provincial Library on January 29, 1940, when the Section was addressed by its President, Mr. B. A. McKelvie, who chose as his subject Facts and Fancies of our Historical Beginnings. Mr. McKelvie believes that North America was discovered by castaways and explorers from Asia, a thousand years before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, and devoted the greater part of his fascinating address to a review of some of the manuscripts that support this contention which have been found in archives in China. These indicate that the Chinese visited the Pacific Coast frequently during the years 458-566 A.D. Mr. McKelvie has had new translations made of certain passages in these documents, and he feels that these new versions clear up certain puzzling points quite satisfactorily and go far to establish the authenticity of the originals. Turning to a later period, he next discussed certain new evidence that suggests that the story of Juan de Fuca may, after all, be authentic, and concluded his remarks by describing how he and Mr. W. M. Halliday had uncovered certain relics of the visit to this coast of James Strange, who presumably buried them under a tree in 1786. On February 19 the Section was addressed by Dr. J. A. Pearce, of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, who spoke on Early Postal Communications in British Columbia. Dr. Pearce devoted special attention to the old express companies, and explained the very important part they played in the postal service, as well as in general communications, in colonial days. His address was illustrated with a remarkable series of slides, which traced the history of the postal service from the letters and reports carried by the servants and brigades of the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company to the present day. Dr. Pearce, who is an authority on the postal history of the Province and has a large and valuable collection of Crown Colony stamps and covers, brought many of his original documents with him to the meeting in order that they might be examined by those present. His interesting and authoritative account of the gradual improvement in communications, and his explanation of the significance of many of the " covers " treasured by collectors were much enjoyed by the large number of members who were in attendance. In view of the approaching retirement in May of the Chief Justice of British Columbia, the Honourable Archer Martin, Dr. Lamb, who presided in the absence of the President, suggested that a vote of congratulation should be sent to His Lordship upon the consummation of a long and successful term of office. This was duly moved by Mr. Beaumont Boggs, seconded by Dr. Rickard, and passed unanimously amid applause. It will Notes and Comments. April be recalled that the Chief Justice is a charter member of the Association, and that he has been known for many years as an historian and collector of Northwest Americana. Some time ago His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor and Mrs. Hamber graciously extended an invitation to the Section to hold the annual observance of Blanshard Day at Government House, and the members will long remember the gathering held on March 11. The programme commenced with a brief address by Mr. McKelvie, who explained the significance of the anniversary of the reading of his commission by Governor Blanshard in 1850, and thanked His Honour and Mrs. Hamber for their great kindness in entertaining the Society. Dr. Kaye Lamb next outlined the life and career of Richard Blanshard and sketched the historical setting of the one- act play, entitled His Excellency Requests the Pleasure, which followed. This play, which was written by Mr. A. M. D. Fairbairn, and produced under the direction of the author and Mr. H. S. Hum, enabled those present to meet Blanshard in person, as it depicted a reception held by the Governor in the cramped quarters of the first Government House " on the afternoon of the eighteenth day of November, A.D. 1850." The incident is apocryphal, but the deftness of the playwright and the skill of the large cast, which was headed by Mr. W. H. Brimblecombe, in the role of His Excellency the Governor, gave it all the vividness of actuality. It is to be hoped that the text of the play will be made available to amateurs elsewhere, for it is not only dramatic in itself, but a most interesting re-creation of an important episode in the early history of the Province as well. Following the play, Dr. T. A. Rickard outlined the history of the British Columbia Historical Association since its organization in 1922, and suggested ways in which members might further its work and the cause of historical knowledge in the Province. The second part of the programme consisted of a series of Tableaux Vivants—living pictures depicting the Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of what is now British Columbia from 1851 to 1900. Many members and. friends had loaned family heirlooms and treasured costumes for the occasion, and the representations were both artistic and authentic. During the presentation of the pictures Mrs. Arthur Cree gave a resume of the personalities and lives of the respective Governors, Lieutenant-Governors, and their Chatelaines. Those taking part were as follows:— Before Confederation: Mr. James Douglas - - (1851-1864) Mrs. Douglas (Afterwards Sir and Lady) Lt.-Col. R. C. Moody, R.E. - (1858-1863) Played by Mr. John Goldie. Mrs. E. Heddle. Mrs. Moody - - - Mr. A. E. Kennedy Mrs. Kennedy Mr. Frederick Seymour Mrs. Seymour (1864-1866) - Mi - Mr. L. Duke. Mrs. L. A. Genge. Douglas Bullen. Mrs. D. Doig. r. R. H. Palmer. Mrs. Elkington. 1940 Notes and Comments. Mr. Anthony Musgrave - (1869-1871) Mrs. Musgrave (Afterwards Sir and Lady) After Confederation: Mr. Joseph Trutch - - (1871- Mrs. Trutch - (Afterwards Sir and Lady) Mr. A. N. Richards - - (1876- Mrs. Richards - Mr. F. C. Cornwall - - (1881- Mrs. Cornwall - Mr. Hugh Nelson - - (1887-1892) Mrs. Nelson ... - Mr. Edgar Dewdney - - (1892-1897) Mrs. Dewdney - - Mr. T. R. McInnes - - (1897-1 Mrs. McInnes Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere (1900-1906) Lady Lotbiniere ... - Major H. C. Holm. Mrs. McKinnon. r. J. A. Duff Robertsoi Miss Helen Cornwall. - Mr. G. H. Haj Mrs. Douglas Bi - Col. J. H. Goodland. s Yolande Langwort] Capt. J. U. Copemi Miss Anne Gardiner. Mr. Neil I - Mrs. W. K. Lamb. At the conclusion of the series, His Honour and Mrs. Hamber graciously consented to complete the picture by posing for a moment in the large frame, and were greeted with hearty applause by all present. The costuming and arrangement of the tableaux were under the direction of Mesdames Fitzherbert Bullen (convener), Curtis Sampson, L. A. Genge, T. A. Rickard, and Arthur Cree. It is interesting to note that several of those who posed in pictures were related to one or other of the Governors represented. These included Mrs. E. Heddle, Mr. Douglas Bullen, and Mrs. Douglas Bullen, greatgrandchildren of Sir James Douglas; Mrs. McKinnon, a granddaughter of Lieutenant-Governor Richards; Miss Helen Cornwall, a granddaughter of Lieutenant-Governor Cornwall, and Mrs. John O'Reilly, who is a niece-in-law of Sir Joseph Trutch. The programme concluded with the singing of the National Anthem, after which refreshments and a social hour brought the memorable evening The fourth meeting of the Section was held in the Provincial Library on April 8. The speaker was Mr. A. G. Harvey, of Vancouver, who had chosen as his subject Douglas of the Fir. Mr. Harvey is the leading authority on Douglas's life, and his most interesting account of the man and his work was much enjoyed by all present. Vancouver Section. David Douglas, a Scottish botanist, whose name was later given to the outstanding commercial tree of British Columbia, was the subject of Mr. A. G. Harvey's address at the February meeting of the Section. A native of Scone, near Perth, where he was born in 1799, Douglas obtained much of his early training in botany as an apprentice on the 132 Notes and Comments. April estate of the Earl of Mansfield, where he spent seven years. He eventually succeeded in gaining admission to the Botanic Garden at Glasgow, where he made the acquaintance of Professor W. J. Hooker, under whose influence he was recommended to the Horticultural Society as a Botanical Collector. His first expedition to North America was a short one in the spring of 1823, to the United States, where he procured a fine collection of trees. This led to his being sent, through the Hudson's Bay Company, to Northwest America the following year on a similar mission. Douglas spent four interesting and profitable years collecting plants in Oregon and northern California, returning to England overland by way of York Factory and Hudson Bay in the late summer of 1827. In 1830 he again came to Fort Vancouver and from there he explored and collected, this time penetrating to New Caledonia. The speaker sketched a vivid picture of Douglas's arrival at Fort St. James in June, 1833, with the annual brigade. He was the most unusual visitor Fort St. James had ever had. Hitherto the trading-post had only received Hudson's Bay Company employees, Indian trappers, and such like, but here was a man laden with boxes of botanical specimens and astronomical instruments, at whose heels trotted a faithful terrier. A cherished plan to continue his explorations northward beyond New Caledonia into Alaska, and to return home by way of Siberia and Russia, had to be abandoned after hearing reports of bad weather and ravages of intermittent fever amongst the natives. Whilst descending the Fraser River on his return to Fort Vancouver, Douglas was unfortunate enough to lose his Journal and his botanical specimens when his canoe capsized at " Stoney Islands," his astronomical instruments alone were saved. Having been attracted to the Hawaiian Islands, he accordingly left the Columbia in October, 1833, for the last time, and met his disastrous and untimely death there the following July. Douglas found his work in Oregon and New Caledonia both interesting and disheartening. The extremes of climate and the hostility of the Indians did much to try his patience and perseverance. But, in spite of his dangerous and uncomfortable journeys, he diligently kept Journals, which, with his letters to Professor Hooker, show him to have been remarkable as a naturalist and traveller. In summing up David Douglas's contribution, Mr. Harvey said: " To no single individual is modern horticulture more indebted than to Douglas. He was the pioneer botanist of North-west America, and made two hundred and fifty-four plants known to the world. He died young in years but old in achievement." In moving a vote of thanks to the speaker, Mr. E. S. Robinson referred to the tremendous amount of research which Mr. Harvey had put into his study of David Douglas, and emphasized the value of the British Columbia Historical Quarterly as a medium for the publication of such studies. Dr. M. Y. Williams, Head of the Department of Geography and Geology of the University of British Columbia, was the speaker at the meeting of 1940 Notes and Comments. 133 the Section which was held on March 4. His topic was entitled The History and Development of the Peace River Area of British Columbia. Dr. Williams outlined the close relationship between geology and human development, and compared the strata to the leaves of a book. Sir Alexander Mackenzie's Journal is remarkably accurate according to Dr. Williams, who has made many trips through the country which the explorer described. At one point Mackenzie referred to smoke issuing from a rock: at the present time a coal-seam is burning underground and there are places where the rock is too hot to touch. There are curious quirks of nature to be noted: regularly arranged rows of timber trees on the south side of the river, while the north side is bare; cactus growing on the banks of the river in some places, seed of which must have been carried by the buffaloes in the fur of their coats. The modern Peace River area belongs to Alberta in everything except politics. In 1922 a few settlers were to be found near Fort St. John, but there were probably not a thousand settlers in the British Columbia section. When the Pacific Great Eastern Railway survey was made in 1929, the population was increasing and good wheat was being grown near Rolla and Dawson Creek. Coal is one of the greatest assets of the area, but transportation has, to date, been an almost insurmountable problem. In an area possessing vast reserves of coal, that produce is being imported from Alberta and Pennsylvania at $30 per ton! In recent years river transportation has fallen off, but aeroplane service is excellent. Dr. Williams referred to his appointment as leader of a Provincial sur-, vey party to investigate the possibilities of oil resources in the Peace River area. He said that the oil-seepings are very small and that it is the general character of the country that makes geologists expect to find petroleum there. The only reason that wells have not already been drilled is that the land has been closed to private enterprise. The location the party has chosen for investigation is 85 miles west of Dawson Creek, and nearer to the coast than any other known field. There are no concessions to cross and, provided the geologists' opinions are proved to be correct, British Columbia may yet develop into a rival to Turner Valley. The annual dinner is to be held on April 19, at the Hotel Georgia, when Dr. W. N. Sage, of the University of British Columbia, will speak on Sir James Douglas, the Father of British Columbia. New Westminster and Fraser Valley Section. The annual meeting of the Section was held on April 10, 1940, when the following officers were elected for the current year:— Honorary Presidents Judge F. W. Howay. President E. M. Cotton. Vice-President Mrs. E. G. Pearson. Secretary Mrs. C. D. Peele. Treasurer E. H. Sands. Notes and Comments. Members of the Council: D. E. MacKenzie. H. Norman Lidster. A. W. Petapiece. G. A. Mercer. S. L. Speck. aid of which The Section has had a n the local membership was forty. A drive for additional members is planned for the near future. The guest speaker of the evening was Mr. J. W. Sinclair, who gave a most interesting address on the old days of the Hudson's Bay Company. Later, other members spoke on the early days of New Westminster. EARLY LOCOMOTIVES ON VANCOUVER ISLAND. By I. E. Barr. Due to fortunate preservation and a certain amount of publicity, the locomotive Countess of Dufferin, now on exhibition in a small park in front of the Canadian Pacific station in Winnipeg, has become widely known as the first locomotive in Western Canada, and similarly the Curly, now preserved in Hastings Park in Vancouver, bears a plate stating that it was the first in British Columbia. Actually, however, there were several earlier locomotives on Vancouver Island and one of them, the Pioneer, was at work nearly fifteen years before the Countess of Dufferin arrived at St. Boniface on the deck of a scow. The Vancouver Coal Company commenced mining operations in the vicinity of Nanaimo in the early sixties and in 1863 they imported from England the small standard-gauge locomotive Pioneer. It was built at Staleybridge, near Manchester, and the manufacturers sent out Harry Cooper and Thomas E. Peck with the engine to set it up, and they became the first engineer and fireman west of Ontario. The Pioneer was a saddle- tank engine, outside connected, cylinders 8 by 10, 36-inch drivers; the throttle was a slide-valve, the safety-valve was spring-loaded and the pressure carried was 115 lb. The pump was operated by an eccentric on the main axle. The weight in running order was about 10 tons. In 1903 it was reconditioned by the late William H. Hall, Master Mechanic of the New Vancouver Coal Company, and sold to a contractor for construction-work near New Westminster. The second to arrive was the Euclataw, and it was landed in 1866. It also was built at Staleybridge and was similar to the Pioneer but somewhat smaller. At its arrival a number of Indians gathered around, saying that ten of them could hold it from moving, so the Euclataw tribe, being the smallest on the island, felt proud of the locomotive being named after them. It was a saddle-tank engine, inside connected, cylinders 6 by 8, drivers 30- inch, and the water-feed pump was operated from the wrist-pin. The Euclataw was used principally to take ballast from the ships. It was sold in 1903 to the Joseph Dobeson Foundry at Nanaimo, and broken up several years later. 1940 Notes and Comments. 135 The next to appear was the Nanaimo, in 1874. It was built by Boiling & Low, of Leeds, and was generally similar to the Pioneer and Euclataw. It was a 0-4-0 saddle-tank engine with cylinders 8 by 10, 36-inch drivers, and weighed about 10 tons. After many years service it was sold to the Dobeson Foundry, rebuilt, and then sold to John W. Coburn, who used it in his lumbering operations near South Wellington. Later it was sold to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway for laying track during construction, and finally it was scrapped about 1908. The London, built by Manning & Wardle, of Leeds, came out in 1884 It was a 0-6-0 side-tank locomotive, inside connected, with 10 by 12 cylin ders, 64-inch drivers, and it weighed about 20 tons. In 1918 it was sold ti a junk-dealer in Vancouver and scrapped. In 1891 the Vancouver Coal Company purchased its first modern loco motive from the Baldwin Locomotive Works; it was called the San Fran cisco, later No. 5; it was 0-6-0 type with 15 by 22 cylinders, 48-inch drivers arid it weighed about 35 tons. It gave good service, and another, No. 6, wa: bought in 1896, and still later Nos. 7 and 8. With the old locomotives i j was hard to ship 2,000 tons of coal in twelve hours, but shortly after No. 6 was put to work 5,800 tons were put aboard the steamer Titania in ten and one-half hours, which at that time was a world record. The Vancouver Coal Company became the New Vancouver Coal Company, then the Western Fuel Company, and is now the Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir), Ltd., and controls most of the large mines on Vancouver When Robert Dunsmuir opened the Wellington Colliery he built a 5-mile line from Wellington to Departure Bay, using fir rails, 4 by 4 inches, topped with strap-iron. The gauge originally was 2 feet 6 inches, but later was widened to 3 feet. It was a gravity-operated cable railway and the loaded cars in descending pulled the empties back. In 1874 Mr. Diggle, one of the partners, bought two traction-engines from the Admiralty in London which, on arrival, were changed to locomotives by the application of flanged wheels. They each had one cylinder mounted on the top of the boiler, a fly-wheel 6 feet in diameter, and a chain gear to the drivers. One of these engines was used for shunting at the mine and the other at the Departure Bay wharf, each one replacing six horses. In 1878 these rebuilt traction-engines were replaced by two small 0-6-0 saddle-tank engines, the Duke and Duchess, products of the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The Duke was built in 1876 and was exhibited at the American Centennial Exhibition, where Mr. Dunsmuir saw it and liked it so well that he bought it and ordered another just like it; they arrived at Nanaimo in 1878. These locomotives had 10 by 12-inch cylinders, 42-inch drivers, and originally were 2 feet 6 inch gauge, but later were altered to 3-feet gauge. The Duke worked around the mines until 1909, when it was scrapped, but the Duchess had a much more interesting career. At the time of the Yukon gold rush, Captain John Irving, manager of the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, went north to build steamboats on the northern lakes. The route from Skagway to Atlin City was by the White Pass & Notes and Comments. Atlin Lake was 40 feet higher than Taku Arm, and the distance across was 2% miles, so the Atlin Southern Railway was built across the portage. This little " gold rush " railway was one of the smallest and most expensive in the world, and the passenger fare was $2 for the 2% miles. At first it was operated by horse-power, but in 1899 the Duchess was bought and sent north on the steamer Danube. At Wellington it had been a coal-burner, but when it went north it was converted into a wood-burner, and somewhat later into an oil-burner. The cars were flat cars with seats along the sides . facing inwards; freight and baggage were loaded between the seats and in many cases the passengers had to get out and walk and push to help the Duchess over the grade. The Atlin Southern became part of the White Pass & Yukon and a few years ago the Duchess was spurred off at Taku City and a "more modern locomotive assigned to this run. It is still there. Following the Duke and Duchess, Mr. Dunsmuir purchased three more Baldwin engines which were of the same type but a little larger. They were the Robert Dunsmuir in 1883, the Departure Bay in 1887, and the Victoria in 1889. They were later rebuilt to standard gauge and worked around the mines for many years. Going back a few years, a Mr. Chandler, from San Francisco, opened a mine at East Wellington, and he brought in three Baldwin locomotives which were the same as the later Dunsmuir engines. They were the Premier, built in 1878, and the East Wellington and San Francisco, both built in 1883; the Premier was second-hand, as they all arrived in 1883. They were 0-6-0 saddle-tank engines with 10 by 20-inch cylinders and 30-inch drivers. A short time later the mine was closed because of a threatened strike and the locomotives were then purchased by Mr. Dunsmuir, and eventually were altered to standard gauge. In 1905 the Premier was transferred to the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway for switching purposes, and finally scrapped in 1912. CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. Dr. J. S. Plaskett, C.B.E., F.R.S., was Director of the Dominion Astro- physical Observatory until his retirement some years ago. He has contributed many papers to the proceedings of learned societies, and is one of Canada's most distinguished scientists. Mr. I. E. Barr has been a member of the staff of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway for many years. The account of early locomotives on Vancouver Island which he contributes to this issue appeared originally in the Bulletin of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association, and is here reprinted by kind permission of the association and the author. THE NORTHWEST BOOKSHELF. Historians and bibliographers both will be interested to learn that a copy of this long-lost pamphlet has at last been located. Oddly enough it has turned up many miles from home, in the Library of Acadia University, at Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The University recently published a catalogue of the Eric C. Dennis Collection of Canadiana, and the entry caught the ever- watchful eye of Dr. Robie L. Reid. Dr. Reid immediately wrote to the librarian of Acadia, who very kindly permitted a photostat copy of the pamphlet to be made for the Provincial Archives. The name of the author nowhere appears, but there is little doubt that Bancroft was correct in attributing the booklet to Alfred Waddington (History of British Columbia, 1887, p. 769). To ascribe it to Amer de Cosmos would appear to be the only alternative, and certain statements in the text seem to rule out this possibility. It is true that certain passages resemble paragraphs in editorials in the Victoria Colonist, of which de Cosmos was editor, but it is entirely possible that Waddington was a con- ' tributor to that journal. On the other hand, it is almost inconceivable that de Cosmos, who was born in Nova Scotia, could have written the paragraph in the pamphlet which includes a disparaging reference to persons whose " only knowledge " of British institutions was " derived from their native soil, in Nova Scotia or other parts of the Canadas." A brief note in the Colonist for February 19, 1859, indicates that the intended publication date of the booklet was February 22. A week later, on the 26th, the Colonist announced that " A little work on Reform, just issued from this office, may be found at all the bookstores in town to-day." Some indication of the contents of the pamphlet will be of interest. It considers first the general principles which should guide political reform in Vancouver Island, and refers frequently to the reform movement which at the time was sweeping Great Britain. The author, though an ardent democrat, was no extremist, and comes out strongly in opposition to anything approaching an unrestricted franchise, as the following passages show:— " Universal suffrage, however, is a bug-bear. Those of us who have resided in the United States, and observed the working of the principle, can afford to smile at the notion of taking for a model an American election, or appealing to the sacredness of the ballot. . . . The British people cannot adopt the American custom; they consider that the safety of reform is in ' the manly virtue of the enfranchisement,' and they know that personal liberty and safety are better assured, and that public opinion is more faithfully represented, and acts with a better regulated power, than in the United States." The Northwest Bookshelf. ,rd . . . is not known; but we ersal suffrage or vote by ballot, 1 the House adopt the Chartist And again:— " What measures may be brought f orw may be satisfied it will not be either uni- after San Francisco fashion; neither wi principle of manhood suffrage." The outline of the political abuses in Vancouver Island which it is hoped to correct forms the most interesting part of the pamphlet. The principal charge is that the House of Assembly, as then constituted, made no true representation possible; and it is evident that the writer must have agreed with most of the hard things that de Cosmos had to say in the Colonist about what he termed the Company-Family Compact. The following excerpts are typical:— " The present restricted Franchise deprives a large number of our fellow- countrymen of their just Electoral rights; entails on the Colony bad Legislation and an irresponsible policy; and demands a radical reform in the Representation and the Representatives of the people." " The present system is a monopoly—an iniquity. The great Supreme has given to man intellect and intelligence, and he who obstructs, by a e of those powers c o friend of the human md popular materials into composed of ' three Chief a reform that w deluvian ideas, the e: family." " The people want to see an infusion of new the Executive Council, which has hitherto beer Factors' of the Hudson Bay Company. They -h them twenty members instead of seven, that will bring nearer to a balance those who advocate open, wide-spread legislation, and take cognisance of their general interests, to weigh down the monopolists whose actions are selfish and exclusive." Later the author indicates certain matters which it is most desirable should be " agitated," and devotes a vigorous paragraph to the £50,000 which Fort Rupert is said to have cost, and which the Hudson's Bay Company contended was chargeable against the Colony. In a postscript, prompted by the introduction of a proposed franchise bill' sponsored by J. W. McKay, the writer finally reduces his general demands to specific proposals, and asks for a £10 household franchise, an assembly of fixed duration, and the abolition of the property qualification for members. Bancroft dismissed The Necessity of Reform as being " merely a tirade against the restricted franchise, and the petty infelicities of the day." The stricture was unduly severe, and students will find that it is of some interest; but it is not a document of any great importance. 1940 The Northwest Bookshelf. 139 a second checklist of crown colony imprints. Being a supplement to the checklist printed in the Quarterly in October, 1937, pp. 263-271. 39. [Waddington, Alfred Penderill, 1801-1872.] The Necessity of Reform. A tract for the times; addressed to the Colonists of Vancouver Island by one of the people. Victoria, Printed at the British Colonist Office, 1859. 12p.O. The only known copy is in the Eric C. Dennis Collection of Cana- diana in the Library of Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Photostat copy in the Provincial Library and Archives. Attributed to Waddington by Bancroft (History of British Columbia, San Francisco, 40. Waddington, Alfred Penderill, 1801-1872. Judicial Murder. Victoria, n.pub., 1860. [4]p.sq.Q. No imprint. A protest against " the mockery of a trial" and the alleged prejudice which had resulted in the execution for murder of a young Indian in Victoria. Dated August 27, 1860. 41. [British Columbia]—Immigration Board. Assisted Immigration. N.p.n.pub. 1870. [4]p.F. Three blank pages, no imprint. Gives notice of " a scheme of Assisted Immigration, on an extended scale . . ." Dated at Victoria, August 12, 1870. 42. [British Columbia—Legislative Assembly.] Rules and Regulations, issued in conformity with the Gold Field Act, 1859. Victoria, V.I. Printed at the British Colonist Office, 1860. cover-title, 12p.T. Commercial reprint of a government document. Judging by its small size it was intended to slip into a miner's pocket. 43. British Columbia and Victoria Steam Navigation Company. Act of incorporation of the British Columbia and Victoria Steam Navigation Company Limited. Incorporated February, 1860. Victoria, V.I. Printed at the British Colonist Office, Wharf Street, 1860. llp.O. Printed cover. 140 The Northwest Bookshelf. April 44. Colonial Bank of British Columbia. The Colonial Bank of British Columbia. [Prospectus.] N.p.n.pub. [1862]. [4]F. Signed by Henry Holbrook, John Cooper, and F. G. Claudet, members of the " Provisional Managing Committee." The project was never carried further. 45. Cridge, Edward, 1817-1913. "Spiritualism:" or Modern Necromancy. A sermon, with preface and notes, by Edward Cridge, B.A., St. Peter's College, Cambridge, Dean of Christ Church, Victoria, Vancouver Island. Printed by request. Victoria, B.C. Printed by David W. Higgins, 1870. cover-title, 12p.O. Dedication dated July 5, 1870. 46. Hibben & Carswell. Dictionary of Indian Tongues, containing most of the words and terms used in the Tsimpsean, Hydah, & Chinook, with their meaning or equivalent in the English language. Published by Hibben & Carswell, Victoria, V.I. Printed at the office of the Daily Chronicle, Government Street, 1862. [2] 15p.D. 47. Hibben & Carswell. Dictionary of Indian Tongues, containing most of the words and terms used in the Tshimpean, Hydah, and Chinook with their meaning or equivalent in the English language. Published by Hibben & Cars- well, Victoria, V.I. Printed at the British Colonist Office, 1865. cover-title, 14p.sq.D. 48. Hibben & Company. A Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or Indian trade language, of the North Pacific Coast. Published by T. N. Hibben & Co. Victoria, B.C. Colonist print, Victoria, B.C. [1871?] cover-title, 29p.O. None of the three dictionaries listed above is in the Provincial Library and Archives. The entries have been copied from J. C. Pilling, Bibliography of the Chinookan Language (Washington, 1893). 49. Naval Club, Esquimalt. Rules of the Naval Club, Esquimalt, V.I., established 1867. Victoria, V.I., Higgins, Long & Co., 1867. lOp.S. Rear-Admiral Hastings was Patron of the Club, and Captain R. Dawkins, of H.M.S. Zealous, its first President. The Northwest Bookshelf. 50. New Westminster Public Library. Rules and Regulations for the manage ment of the Public Library, New Westminster. N.p.n.pub.n.d. [4]p.sq.O. Has two blank pages. No imprint. Probably issued in 1864. Marginal notes and corrections; appar ently a proof copy. ~51. Parsons, Robert Mann. Abstract of meteorological observation s taken at the Royal Engi- neer Camp during the year 1862. . . New Westminster, Royal Engineer Press [1863]. [4]p.illus. (map) sq.Q. The tinted map indicates the gold regions. .--52. [Parsons, Robert Mann.] [Report of a journey from New Westminster to Lake la Hache. New Westminster, B.C. Printed at the Royal Engineer Press, 1862.] 8p.fold.pl.2 maps.Q. Covers and title-page wanting. Includes an interesting tinted profile of the entire route. 63. [Shotbolt, Thomas.] An Account of the Establishment and subsequent progress of Freemasonry in the Colony of British Columbia, from its origin in 1859 to 1871. Victoria, B.C. Printed at the British Colonist Office, 1871. cover-title, 18p.O. Signed by Thomas Shotbolt, District Grand Secretary. Dated Victoria, April 24, 1871. Contains letters and documents relating to the founding of a Grand Lodge in British Columbia. A very rare pamphlet. One of the few copies known was secured recently for the Provincial Archives through the kind offices of Dr. Robie L. Reid. Much of the contents was reprinted in the Report of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia for 1937. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. F. W. Howay, New Westminster. Robie L. Reid, Vancouver. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor, Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Subscriptions should be sent to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Price, 50c. the copy, or $2 the year. Members of the British Columbia Historical Association in good standing receive the Quarterly without further charge. Neither the Provincial Archives nor the British Columbia Historical Association assumes any responsibility for statements made by contributors to the magazine. We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY " Any country worthy of a future should be interested in its past" Vol. IV. Victoria, B.C., July, 1940. No. 3 CONTENTS. Articles: Page. The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. By Edmond S. Meany, Jr 143 The Construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in British Columbia. By J. A. Lower 163 John Carmichael Haynes: Pioneer of the Okanagan and Kootenay. By Hester E. White 183 Documents: John Robson versus J. K. Suter. An exchange of articles regarding Robson's early career, originally printed in 1882 203 Notes and Comments: British Columbia Historical Association 217 Contributors to this Issue 219 John R. Jewitt. 1 THE LATER LIFE OF JOHN R. JEWITT.* The captivity of John R. Jewitt among the Indians of Nootka Sound may have been hardly more spectacular than a number of similar adventures in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Yet there are few tales of Indian captivities which enjoyed so extensive an audience, for by a combination of timely chance and Jewitt's own restless showmanship his story obtained widespread currency along the eastern seaboard of the United States upon his return to civilization. The early 1800's was an era when the glamour of trade with the Northwest Coast was a motivating factor in commercial circles. Inquisitive explorers and traders were pushing overland toward the western sea, and Americans generally were turning from European associations toward opportunities on their own continent. Culturally, the time was ripe for recognition of things American, and native themes began to enrich the product of authors in the quickening nation. Into this new atmosphere Jewitt brought the story of his captivity, and it is not surprising that through continual advertisement during his personal wanderings, the man, his tale, and something of the customs and inhabitants on distant Vancouver Island became familiar to a great many persons far removed from the scene of action. It is therefore of interest to recall that two of the country's most prominent men of letters laboured to perpetuate the Jewitt tale, * The author wishes to express his gratitude to the following: Mr. Norman L. Dodge, of Goodspeed's Book Shop, Boston, for copies of the Jewitt letters; Mr. Julian P. Boyd, until recently the librarian of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, for permission to reproduce the play-bill; the Curator of the Rare Book Collection of the Library of Congress for information concerning copyrights; the Chief of the Division of Music of the Library of Congress, the Chief of the Music Division of the New York Public Library, and Miss Joanna C. Colcord for information about the songs; the late Mr. Frank C. Deering for the photograph of the sole known copy of the broadside song; and two great-grandchildren of Jewitt, Mrs. Elwood Street, of Richmond, Virginia, and Mr. Frank R. Jewitt, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, who searched for family letters and kindly furnished the pen-and-ink J SP 144 Edmond S. Meany, Jr. July and that he himself enjoyed a short theatrical career on the sophisticated stage of Philadelphia. The outline of Jewitt's biography through the period of his captivity is well known and briefly recounted. He was born in 1783 in Boston, England, of humble parentage, but his blacksmith father destined his boy for a life more exalted than his own. However, the boy's entreaties led his father to teach him his trade, and a second ambition of the lad was gratified when he was permitted to sail as armourer in the ship Boston, of Boston, Massachusetts, under'command of Captain John Salter. The vessel left England in September, 1802, and arrived in Nootka Sound on March 12, 1803. Ten days after the ship's arrival the Indian chief, Maquinna, avenged what he considered an insult of the captain by seizing the vessel and murdering the officers and crew. Only Jewitt and John Thompson, sail-maker and gunner, of Philadelphia, were spared. Thenceforward these two were the servants of the chief, fashioning his weapons and performing his menial chores under conditions which at times approached starvation and exhaustion. Through the months of slavery Jewitt managed by deception to continue a journal, using berry-juices for ink. This journal he carried with him when the two white men were rescued by Captain Hill, of the brig Lydia, in July, 1805. The Lydia remained on the Coast another year, departing for China in August, 1806, and arriving there in December. She left China in February, 1807, and sailed into her home port of Boston, Massachusetts, 114 days later. Before the year was out, Jewitt saw to it that the above facts and the details of the captivity were preserved for posterity by publishing A Journal Kept at Nootka Sound by John R. Jewitt,1 purporting to be the exact account which he had kept with such pains during his slavery. Yet almost nothing is known of Jewitt's life for the next few years beyond the fact that on (1) Extant copies of the Journal are rare. To remedy this situation, Goodspeed's Book Shop, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1931 issued a limited edition of A Journal Kept at Nootka Sound by John R. Jewitt, One of the Survivors of the Crew of the Ship Boston During a Captivity Among the Indians from March, 1803, to July, 1805. Reprinted from the Original Edition, Boston, 1807—With an Introduction and a Check List of Later Accounts of Jewitt's Captivity, by Norman L. Dodge. 1940 The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 145 Christmas Day, 1809, he married,2 this time according to the customs of his own people. His first wife was an Indian girl whom he alleged he had been forced to wed during his captivity. Thenceforward he probably spent at least a portion of his time relating his adventures, and perhaps for a livelihood peddled copies of his Journal from town to town, as it is known he did with his later publications.3 About 1815, however, Jewitt attracted the attention of Richard Alsop, Hartford merchant, and one of the renowned group of American authors of the time known as the Connecticut Wits. He was recognized as perhaps the cleverest of the clan next to John Trumbull. Alsop was one of the few millionaires of his day, and his great means permitted him the leisure to indulge in wide reading and in the polemic literary efforts of the local Federalist party.4 According to his nephew, Theodore Dwight, writing in 1860, Alsop " had a peculiar taste of adventures," and drew from Jewitt the details of his captivity among the Nootkans. Repeated interviews were necessary to obtain the story, Dwight later remembered, and his uncle encountered difficulties from Jewitt's " small capacity as a narrator," and felt the task would have been much easier had the story-teller been a Yankee. Dwight was present at his uncle's house on at least one occasion when Jewitt was there and heard him sing Indian songs learned on the Northwest Coast.5 Alsop is recognized as a literary amateur and an " incorrigible imitator of late eighteenth century English modes,"6 and his adaptation of Jewitt's tale is no exception to this rule. For his model in this instance he chose Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.1 That (2) Jewitt was married in Boston, Massachusetts, to Hester Jones, who had migrated to America at the age of 17 with an older brother, Lewis Jones. Mr. Dodge obtained this information from Mr. Frank R. Jewitt in a letter of March 9, 1931. (3) Journal, Goodspeed edition, introduction, pp. xvi.-xvii. (4) Vernon Louis Parrington, The Connecticut Wits, New York, 1926, pp. xxvi., xxxii.; S. T. Williams and J. A. Pollard on Alsop in Dictionary of American Biography. (5) The Historical Magazine, April, 1860, quoted in Goodspeed edition of the Journal, p. xx. (6) Parrington, p. xxxii. (7) Theodore Dwight in The Historical Magazine, op. cit. 146 Edmond S. Meany, Jr. July he succeeded in following his pattern is evident from the comments of a Philadelphia reviewer who remarked:—8 Our Connecticut Redacteur has . . . made a book which, while it may communicate a good deal of entertainment and information to all classes of readers, is peculiarly fitted for the perusal of the young; it forms, in fact, a very appropriate companion to Robinson Crusoe. It is, to be sure, not so entertaining: that was an advantage not to be obtained without bold deviation from real facts; but it is written in the same unaffected, perspicuous, and pleasing style, and though the writer never indulges in reflections or general remarks, a serious air of piety and morality reigns through the The book which Alsop wrote is, of course, A Narrative of The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt . . . , the first edition of which was printed at Middletown, Connecticut, in the spring of 1815, by Loomis & Richards. The records of the Clerk of the Court for the District of Connecticut show that Jewitt made application for copyright of the Narrative on March 8, 1815.9 It is not generally known, however, that on the same day Jewitt staked his personal claim to another production. Henry W. Edwards, the Clerk, recorded:— Be it Remembered: That on the eighth day of March in the thirty ninth year of the independence of the United States of America, John R. Jewitt of the said District hath deposited in this office, the title of a Print, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following to wit " The Poor Armourer Boy, A Song." The song was printed as a broadside, on a long sheet of paper, with a cut at the top depicting " The Ship Boston taken by the Savages at Nootka Sound March 22"*—1803." The cut is identical with the frontispiece in the March, 1815, edition of the Narrative, and at the bottom of the page is the copyright notice and the name of the printing firm, Loomis & Richards. The song itself is ornately " boxed " and is preceded by the explanation, I Imitated from the Poor Cabin Boy, of Dibdin, and adapted to the case of John R. Jewitt, a native of Boston, in Great-Britain, (8) Analectic Magazine, June, 1815, vol. 5, pp. 493-496. Philadelphia, I Published and Sold by Moses Thomas, No. 52 Chestnut-Street." (9) The record of copyright was obtained through the courtesy of the Curator of the Rare Book Collection, The Library of Congress. 1940 The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 147 the only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, of Boston in New England, who with the captain and officers were cruelly massacred by the savages on the North-West coast of America." The song itself is as follows:—10 NO thrush that e'er pip'd its sweet note from the thorn Was so gladsome and lively as me, 'Till lur'd by false colours, in life's blooming morn I tempted my fortune at sea. My father he wept as his blessing he gave, When I left him " my time to employ " In climates remote on the rude ocean wave, Being but a poor Armourer Boy. Whilst amidst each new scene these " maxims of old " Upheld me when grief did oppress; That a fair reputation is better than gold, And courage will conquer distress: " So contented I brav'd the rude storm, dry or wet, Buoy'd up with hopes " light painted toy, In thinking that Fortune would certainly yet Deign to smile on the Armourer Boy. With our ship, on return, with riches full fraught, We hop'd soon for Boston to steer, My heart it with exstacy leap'd at the thought, " My eyes dropp'd through pleasure a tear." " But, alas! adverse fate so hard " and untrue " Did all these gay prospects destroy," For burn'd was our ship and murder'd our crew, And wounded the Armourer Boy. For a long time in pain and sickness I pin'd, With no one to feel for my woe, No mother, my wounds, as she sooth'd me, to bind, No sister her aid to bestow! By savages fierce for years held a slave, Did affliction my poor heart annoy, Till Hope dropp'd her anchor at last on the grave As the birth of the Armourer Boy. nof tl '.Jour (10) Mr. Dodge, editor of the Goodspeed & the song and quoted a portion of the first stanza on pp. yu-ai. obtained his information from the late Mr. Frank C. Deering. A known, the Deering copy is unique; letter of Mr. R. W. G. Vail, Antiquarian Society, January 4, 1940. Edmond S. Meany, Jr. From slav'ry escap'd, I, joyful, once more Hail'd a civiliz'd land, but alone And a stranger was I on a far-distant shore From that which my childhood had known. " If such be life's fate, with emotion I cried," Of sorrow so great the alloy; " Heaven grant that sole blessing that ne'er is denied," To the friendless Poor Armourer Boy! The authorship of Jewitt's song is unknown. As to the original from which it was imitated, investigation reveals little. The Englishmen, Charles Dibdin and his son Thomas, were prolific writers of sea songs of the parlour type, which were sung widely in the theatres of the period and had a great following among English-speaking people. Jewitt himself was no doubt familiar with them, and it may be that he mimicked in crude verse a well-known song, hoping to obtain a popularity reflected from the Dibdin name.11 Jewitt, however, made no definite statement of his authorship upon the broadside itself, and the song seems too good to be the work of the unskilled adventurer. It is possible, moreover, that Alsop, with whom Jewitt had been recently conferring, was prevailed upon to dash off the ditty as a supplement to the Narrative which he had just written. The verse hardly reaches the standard of Alsop's poetry, yet it differs in metre and rhyme from the style of Dibdin, and such alterations would require some ability with the tools of the trade. Furthermore, many phrases of the song are enclosed with quotation marks characteristic of the imitative tendency of Alsop.12 (11) Each Dibdin is credited with a song entitled The Cabin Boy, although neither caption contains the adjective " poor." Thomas's song bears the closer resemblance to Jewitt's, and concludes with the stanza:— My purse soon fill'd with Frenchmen's gold, I hasten'd back with joy, When, wreck'd in sight of port, behold The hapless Cabin Boy! This song is found in Songs, Naval and National, of the Late Charles Dibdin, with a Memoir and Addenda, Collected and Arranged by Thomas Dibdin, London, 1841, p. 252. See also The Songs of Charles Dibdin, Chronologically Arranged, with Notes, Historical, Biographical, and Critical . . . , London, 1848, II., p. 386; Dictionary of National Biography; and Edward Bliss Reed, editor, Songs from the British Drama, New Haven, 1925, pp. 237-238. (12) Cf., Parrington, op. cit, pp. 423-426. 1940 The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 149 Some substantiation for the claim that Alsop or some other person wrote the song likewise might be derived from Jewitt's use of the word " proprietor " rather than " author " in application for the copyright of the song as well as the Narrative.™ Jewitt's most important years in the purveyance of his tale seem to have been 1815 through 1817. It is not certain whether his publications of 1815, the Narrative and the song, were distributed through established book-dealers. It is recorded, however, that he himself set out in a wagon with copies of the book, to peddle them from town to town. Alsop is said to have regretted his part in the transaction, feeling that Jewitt thereafter " became unsettled in his habits by his wandering life in selling the book."14 Just how far his journeyings took him is unknown, but he was seen dispensing his book from a one-horse wagon in Philadelphia. Another observer recalled seeing Jewitt with a wheelbarrow of books near the Capitol in Albany, the adventurer being readily identified by the large head-scar resulting from his wound during the capture of the ship at Nootka.16 The few extant letters which Jewitt wrote to his family16 indicate that he travelled at least as far north as Portland, Maine, as far south as Baltimore, Maryland, and even to Nantucket Island. It may be that from his stock he could offer two kinds of merchandise to suit the purses of his customers, the more expensive book and the cheaper broadside souvenir of The Poor Armourer Boy. (13) It is perhaps presumptuous to suppose that the Clerk of the Court exercised a discriminating use of the terms in recording applications for copyright. Yet on the same day that Jewitt was twice listed as proprietor, another applicant appears as author. Furthermore, among the ten entries preceding and the ten following Jewitt's name, ranging in time between August, 1814, and September, 1815, there are recorded ten authors, one authoress, and nine proprietors. These facts were ascertained by Mr. David C. Mearns, of the Library of Congress, January 31, 1940. (14) Theodore Dwight, Historical Magazine, op. cit. (15) Inquiry concerning Jewitt in Historical Magazine, March, 1859, and reply in the same publication for April, both quoted in Goodspeed edition of the Journal, pp. xvii.-xviii. (16) Jewitt's mother, Ann, writing from London in 1822, without knowledge of his death, requested two or three copies of the Narrative. She had heard of it, but could obtain no copies there. Copies of these letters, the originals of which are now in the possession of Jewitt's descendants, were kindly furnished by Mr. Dodge. 150 Edmond S. Meany, Jr. July dless of the manner in which his productions were distributed, it is evident that Jewitt's Narrative attracted some attention. A reviewer in the Analectic Magazine of June, 1815, thought rather highly of the book, and took opportunity after the manner of the time to reflect upon the effect which atrocities against the savages by white captains had upon aborigines everywhere. Continuing he stated:— We do not wish to give a disproportionate importance to this unassuming little volume, and shall therefore abstain from extract or analysis. It is proper, however, to state, that there is scarce any relation of savage manners which can lay higher claim to authenticity, than this simple narration. The facts are undoubted, and the book was prepared for the press by a literary gentleman of Connecticut, who has scrupulously abstained from all digression or embellishment of style, and restricted himself to a plain relation of the story in simple and correct language. The form and size of the volume afford pretty strong proof that arts of literary manufacture are yet in their infancy among us. If by any chance these materials had fallen into the hands of one of the regularly-bred literary artisans of London, the lean narrative would have been larded and stuffed out with sonnets, sentiments, and philosophy, with digressions and disquisitions political, commercial, and economical, until at length, ' Jewitt's Voyages and Travels' were fit to be ushered to the world in full pomp of quarto typography. The reviewer then points out, no doubt with tongue in cheek, some of the comparisons which might be made between the native Nootkan hierarchy and British politics, and between the Indian ceremonials and songs and the English theatricals and literature of the time. As a whole, the Analectic writer seems pleased that simplicity rather than wordy elaboration pervaded Alsop's treatment of the tale. The fact that the same magazine, in February, 1817, saw fit to review an 1816 edition of the Narrative further attests the book's popularity.17 This account begins with a straightforward summary of the volume. In his subsequent criticism, however, the author is less impressed with the quality of the book than was the first reviewer. He reports that since the magazine noted the first edition, (17) Analectic Magazine, IX., pp. 141-165. The last sentence of the review states that Thompson died at " Havannah " not long after the Lydia's arrival, " and Jewitt is now distributing his Narrative through the United States." The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 151 it has been twice more put to press;—and it would at first sight appear somewhat singular that a book which is very badly written, and a great deal worse arranged, should have already circulated in the Northern States alone to the1 number (we are told) of about nine thousand copies. It is not recommended by those interior and exterior decorations which ordinarily get off a book of travels; for instead of an equilateral quarto, as " dick as all dis chees," accompanied by all manner of maps and plates and annotations,—we have here only a thin parallelogram of a duodecimo, " embellished" (the author thinks) with a single effort at an engraving, and blotted on the outside with two daubings, which are intended to represent the king of the Nootkians, first, in his visiting costume, and, secondly, in the act of harpooning a whale. All the interest of the volume is, therefore, derived solely from the nature of the facts which it contains. Of these we have already expressed our opinion; and have only to add, that although Jewitt has not been had up two or three times a day for a fortnight and crossexamined by the imposing Members of the Royal Society of London . . . , we know from the simplicity and good faith which appears in the narrative itself, and from the consistency which the author has preserved in telling ourselves the story at different times, that what he has given to the world is a faithful record of the facts. In all, eighteen editions of the book have appeared in print. Two of these were issued in the British Isles. Of the two latest editions, one was published in 1896 by Clement Wilson, of London, with notes by Robert Brown, and the other is a German edition of 1928.18 Peter Parley, astute editor and publisher for successive generations of young people, placed the story on the market in his series of Miscellanies under the title The Captive of Nootka, as a companion to such well-known works as the stories of La Perouse and Alexander Selkirk.19 This extensive and long record of publication is adequate testimony of the popularity of the Narrative. (18) See Appendix B. This location list brings up to date the information in the Goodspeed edition of the Journal and the account of F. W. Howay in "An Early Account of the Loss of the Boston in 1803," Washington Historical Quarterly, XVII., October, 1926, pp. 287-288, and the editorial note, ibid., p. 311. (19) See Appendix B. Earlier authorities, quoting Parley, whose true name was Samuel Griswold Goodrich, give the first publication date as 1832. Evert A. Duyckinck and George L. Duyckinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature, New York, 1855, II., pp. 311-313; and S. Austin Allibone, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors, Philadelphia, 1872, I., p. 701. 152 Edmond S. Meany, Jr. July The attention aroused by early editions of the Narrative no doubt accounts for the interest of the second great literary personage to be attracted by the inherent possibilities of the adventurer's tale. About the time Philadelphia intellectuals were reading the 1817 Analectic review, Jewitt was in conference concerning a new venture, the dramatization of his Nootkan experience, and in this undertaking it was his good fortune to enlist the services of James Nelson Barker. Barker enjoyed a varied career. Not only was he a noted biographer and playwright but, in addition, he served as a soldier in the War of 1812 and held office in both the Philadelphia and Federal governments. Many of Barker's plays were performed in the theatres managed by William Burke Wood and William Warren in Washington, Alexandria, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Historians of the theatre differ as to who took the initiative in proposing to Barker that he exploit the Jewitt theme. One authority contends that Wood and Warren " had the journalistic enterprise to commission Barker "; another investigator believes Jewitt took the lead.20 ffr \ ^ As early as March 10 advance notice was given of the Barker play in an advertisement of the Philadelphia Theatre: " In preparation, a Melo Drama, founded on the interesting narrative of Mr. John Jewitt, called the Armourer's Escape, or Three Years at Nootka, with new scenery, dresses, &e. &c. ..." Similar (20) Actually, there seems to be no direct evidence as to which party took the initiative. Paul H. Musser, James Nelson Barker, 1784-1858, Philadelphia, 1929, especially pp. 72-74; Reese D. James, Old Drury of Philadelphia; A History of the Philadelphia Stage, 1800-1835; Including the Diary or Daily Account Book of William Burke Wood, Co-Manager with William Warren of the Chestnut Street Theatre, familiarly known as Old Drury, Philadelphia, 1932, p. 27. Musser believes that the dispute with England over the settlement of the Oregon question provided a timely interest in any one who had visited that region under such exciting circumstances as Jewitt. There is no notice in the Philadelphia newspapers of early 1817 concerning the Oregon controversy, however, and Musser's contention seems to be unfounded. Perhaps he took his cue in this matter from his mentor and predecessor in the history of the theatre, Arthur Hobson Quinn, A History of the American Drama from the Beginning to the Civil War, New York, 1923, p. 144. 1940 The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 153 announcements appeared in the newspapers in later editions.21 On March 20 the advertisements became more detailed, stating that the new play would open the next evening, Friday, the 21st.22 It was to be preceded by a tried and favourite comedy, The Busy Body, in accordance with the custom of billing two offerings an evening. The prices were the standard tariffs of the theatre, | Box, 1 dollar—Pit, 75 cents—Gallery, 50 cents." Doors were to be opened at 5.30 and the curtain was to " rise precisely at half after 6 o'clock." Notice was called to the play-bills for further details; but particular attention was directed to the concluding feature of the programme, the rendition of The Song of the Armourer Boy, to be sung by Mr. Jewitt himself. There were to be three performances—an unusual occurrence, inasmuch as a play was seldom repeated on successive evenings. On Saturday the accompanying piece was to be " the celebrated Play of Abaellino, The Great Bandit"; on Monday, the comedy The Stranger. Monday was also to be the occasion of Mr. Jewitt's benefit. No copy of the play has been discovered, as the only manuscript was taken by Jewitt and has disappeared.23 Description of the performance itself must then depend in part upon the advertisements already cited, but more upon the " bill,"24 a broadside sheet delineating the play in such detail as to be, in the words of one author, a veritable scenario.26 Therefore little comment upon the contents of the melodrama is necessary. It will be noted that efforts were made to sketch the narrative accurately, (21) Philadelphia Aurora. Musser gives the 14th as the first date of preliminary notice; pp. 72-74. In addition to the Aurora, the following papers contained notices: Political and Commercial Register, Poulsen's American Daily Advertiser, Democratic Press, and United States Gazette. (22) E.g., the Aurora. (23) Letter of J. N. Barker to William Dunlap, June 10,1832, in William Dunlap, A History of the American Theatre, New York, 1832, pp. 379-380. Barker mistakenly recalled that the first performance took place March 24. (24) See Appendix A for the text of the play-bill. The only known copy is in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The substance of the play-bill appears in Charles Durang, History of the Philadelphia Stage, between the Years 1749 and 1855, arranged and illustrated by Thompson Westcott, 1868, I., 1749-1818, p. 114. This consists of a series of scrap- books in the library of the University of Pennsylvania. (25) A. H. Quinn, op. cit, p. 144. 154 Edmond S. Meany, 2 July even to the point of a faithful recording of the " costume, manners, ceremonies and superstitions of these extraordinary people," the savages of Nootka Sound. To this end, Jewitt aided in directing the dancers, and, what is more important still, the adventurer was to take the part of the Armourer. The other principal performers were regular members of the company's troupe, among whom were some of the most prominent actors and actresses of the period, including members of the famous Jefferson family. It is interesting to speculate upon the manner in which the various and complicated scenes were staged. In particular one wonders about the fourth and fifth scenes of Act I., showing the interior of Maquinna's house, and the Nootkan village during the eclipse of the moon, and the procession and ceremonials of the Indians in Act II. How the audience was able to differentiate between the many tribes represented, and to what degree the showmanship of the day simplified for Philadelphia playgoers the elaborate " Ceremonies of the Bear" and the Nootkan War Dance, are questions open to conjecture. That Jewitt held the centre of the stage as much as possible, and revelled in it, we can be reasonably sure. While he had been actually among the savages the rigours of his captivity had been somewhat lightened by his cheery disposition and his willingness to recite and sing in his own tongue for the amusement of his captors.26 Now, on the stage, he entertained the more sophisticated Philadelphians in the language of the Nootkans, for near the end of the play he sang the Indian war song.27 The final curtain fell as Jewitt concluded singing his Song of the Armourer Boy. What the audience in the Philadelphia or Chestnut Street Theatre thought of the play is not known. William B. Wood, one of the managers, reported that " much curiosity and some interest were excited hy so unique an exhibition."28 Some measure of the popularity of Jewitt's appearances may be derived from the (26) Journal, Goodspeed edition, pp. xiii.-xiv. (27) All editions of the Narrative Tribe," with the instructions that it is gestures and brandishing of weapons." (28) William B. Wood, Personal Recollections Notices of Actors, Authors, and Auditors, during Philadelphia, 1855, p. 206. 1940 The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 155 record of receipts for the three evenings—$721.50, $339.75, and $301.50 respectively.29 These comprise $1,362.75 out of the week's total of $2,202.75. The smallest sum was from Jewitt's benefit, and while the low receipts may partly reflect upon his performance it is well to note that the weather may have had considerable effect upon the size of the house. Manager Wood's diary records " fine " weather for the first night, " very mild " for the second, and " rain " for the final evening.30 Even so, the average receipts for the three showings—$454.25—was considerably below that of the whole season, which was $596 a night.31 Thus the play could not be considered an exceptional success, but neither could it be called a dismal failure, breaking precedent as it did by running three consecutive nights, and with the handicap of poor weather on one of these. The brief theatrical career of John R. Jewitt had its beginning and its climax in The Armourer's Escape at the Philadelphia Theatre, but he was to have one more gala appearance before his curious public. There was, in the outskirts of Philadelphia, a summer amusement resort called Vauxhall Garden after its London model. Established in 1813 by John Scotti, Italian perfumer and hairdresser, the park or " circus " had enjoyed several successful seasons before opening again in the summer of 1817. The attractions were equestrian performances, fireworks, songs and speeches by famous celebrities, in addition to refreshments and relief in the cool of the suburbs from the heat of the city. Here we find Jewitt listed among Scotti's offerings. Nothing is recorded of his performance except the simple fact that he " sung songs dressed in Nootka costume."82 Later in the summer Jewitt was ill for eight weeks. " I have had," he wrote, " a complaint in my head attended with a fever which brought me verry low." But by October 12, when he (29) R. D. James, Old Drury, p. 217. Cf. Wood, Recollections, p. 206. (30) R. D. James, Old Drury, p. 217. (31) Ibid., pp. 27 and 217. By contrast with these receipts, one night in the previous week, because of snow, brought only $160. Further, the next performance following Jewitt's benefit was a benefit for the famous Jefferson, bringing $ 1,337.50! (32) Durang, op. cit, p. 115. See also Joseph Jackson, "Vauxhall Garden," in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, October, 1933, pp. 289-298. 156 Edmond S. Meany, Jr. July signed the above letter to his wife, he had recovered his health sufficiently to journey to New York. Apparently the correspondence with Mrs. Jewitt had been enlivened by reference to his experiences with the drama. She had stated that she would rather learn he was a corpse than hear of his " being at the theatre," and he commented with feeling, " That is all nonsence and the State of Connecticut selfconceite, but no more of that I expect to heare enough about it. . . . "83 Perhaps, before he was done with life, he did " heare enough about it," for Jewitt had essayed a venture on the stage in an era when many people considered a theatrical career far from respectable. From this time forward, Jewitt's recorded life is less colourful. He probably continued his itinerant existence, sending back to his wife and children in Middletown occasional remittances and bountiful expressions of hope and pious wishes.34 At long last he returned to Connecticut and permanent rest from his wanderings. He died at Hartford, January 7, 1821.36 If Jewitt was not widely mourned at the time of his death, at least his story kept his memory alive for succeeding generations. One of the two editions of his Journal and twelve of the eighteen various editions of the popular Narrative were published after 1821. Moreover, looking backward from the vantage point of great distance, we see Jewitt as one of the more picturesque characters of his day. Armourer, adventurer, author, peddler, and showman—these were the pursuits of his lifetime. To two men more skilled in letters than himself he provided inspiration for literary achievement of some merit and considerable interest. To countless persons along the eastern seaboard of the United States he brought knowledge of a far country, a land of savage (33) This letter is cited in the Goodspeed edition of the Journal, p. xix. Mr. Dodge drew the natural conclusion that " at the theatre " meant " playgoer," but with the knowledge that Jewitt had experience on the bright side of the footlights it is possible to assume that this reference was to his acting. (34) E.g., Jewitt to his wife, from Boston, May 24, 1816. " I have enclosed to you fifteen dollars which I hope you will lay out to the best advantage you know Dear Hester what to do best and I am satisfied. I think it would be well to buy a few shad but you must do my dear as you think best. ..." His letters are filled with solicitations for his children and sorrow at his failure to be as provident and accessible a parent as he should. (35) Journal, Goodspeed edition, pp. xvii.-xviii. 1940 The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 157 make-believe. Jewitt's life and achievements thus served as links between the Northwest Coast and the awakening nation across the continent of America. Edmond S. Meany, Jr. The Hill School, Pottstown, Pa. Edmond S. Meany, Jr. appendix A. Text of the play-bill advertising The Armourer's Escape, 1817. Philadelphia Theatre, Illuminated with Gas. Friday Evening, March 21, 1817, Will be presented a favourite Comedy, called the BUSY BODY. NEVER PERFORMED, will be presented a new historical melo-drama, in two acts, called the ARMOURER'S ESCAPE; Or, three years at Nootka Sound. [Founded on the interesting narrative of John R. Jewitt, armourer of the ship Boston, captured by the Savages at Nootka. In this little Drama, is attempted an accurate sketch of this unfortunate circumstance; the sufferings and perils of Jewitt and his companions, and their providential escape. At the same time pains have been taken to represent faithfully the costume, manners, ceremonies and superstitions of these extraordinary people, by as rigid an adherence to the narrative as the stage will permit.] The music compiled and arranged by Mr. Lefolle. The New Scenes and Decorations by Messrs. Warren and Reinagle, and the Dresses by Mr. Harbaugh and assistants. THE DANCES Correctly got up by Mr. Francis under the direction of Mr. Jewitt. The part of the Armourer will be performed by J. R. Jewitt. 1940 The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. 159 THE PRINCIPAL SCENES ARE:— A Bay near the Village of Nootka. The ship Boston is seen lying at anchor, Close to shore, and moored to a tree. In this scene is exhibited the treachery of Maquina and his people; the destruction of the crew, except John R. Jewitt, and Thompson. View of Part of the Village of Nootka. The artifice by which Jewitt attempts to preserve Thompson's life is The part of the crew which had landed for provisions, surprized & slaughtered by the savages. Interior of Maquina's House. The king, his chiefs, and women assembled. In this scene will be attempted an accurate representation of the Singular Customs, and Ceremonies op the Nootkians. Funeral Ceremonies over the Body op a Chief. The ereda 'illage of Nootka. iternation of the r An attempt to attack the Nootkians, By the Aycharts (a neighbouring tribe,) who are discovered and defeated; their mode of approach accurately represented, &c. Act Second, Scene Fdjst, The Nootkians, during this scene, enter fantastically dressed, in the habits of the murdered crew, and part of the goods belonging to the ship, armed awkwardly with guns, pistols, &c. A Procession of the Klaizzarts, A more civilized nation, headed by Machee Utilla their king, (by whose friendship Jewitt was enabled to communicate to his deliverers his situation,) followed by some of the Wykinnish, Esquates, Attizarts, Cayuquits, and other tribes, armed with clubs, bows, and arrows. The Ludicrous Ceremonies of the Bear. A War Dance by the Nootkians. Sings the Nootkian War Song. The Armourer is compelled to select a Wife, and chooses the Edmond S. Meany, Jr. Dance of young Nootkian girls. masked with heads of animals, to carry them off—the g rescued, and a general Dance succeeds. AN AMERICAN BRIG, Maquina is seized by the Captain, as a hostage for the safety of the Armourer & Thompson, Who are at length released, and Maquina restored. End of the Melo-Drama the Song of the Armourer Boy, The Later Life of John R. Jewitt. APPENDIX B. Location list of editions of Jewitt's Jourr The numbers assigned to the various editions i same as those used in the check list on pages 87-£ of the Journal. The various abbreviations used explanatory. Journal by John R. Jewitt; Nar, the following list are the . of the Goodspeed edition re for the most part self- of A Journal Kept at Nootka Sound edition of A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, the original issue of which was adapted by Richard Alsop; Captive, an edition of The Captive of Nootka, the free adaptation of the Narrative compiled by " Peter Parley" (S. G. Goodrich). It is believed that the three largest collections of Jewitt are in the library of His Honour Judge Howay, New Westminster, B.C.; in the Provincial Library, Victoria, B.C.; and in the Newberry Library, Chicago. These libraries are indicated in the location list by the symbols " H," " PL," and " N," respectively. It will be noted that Judge Howay possesses fifteen of the twenty items, the Provincial Library twelve, and the Newberry Library nine. Copies of three of the four editions lacking from all three collections have been located through the Union Catalogue of the Rare Book Collection of the Library of Congress. No copy of the 1837 edition of The Captive of Nootka has been found. Of the twenty items listed, only the original 1807 edition of the Journal is believed to be very rare. The Goodspeed check list states that copies are in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society, the Boston Athenaeum, the Boston Public Library, the British Museum, Harvard College Library, the Huntington Library, the Peabody Museum, the Provincial Library of British Columbia, and Mr. Frank C. Deering. To this list should now be added the name of Judge Howay. ■ 1. Journal, Boston, 1807. • 2. Narrative, Middletown, March, 1815. - 3. Narrative, Middletown, July, 1815. 4. Narrative, New York [?1815]. 5. Narrati ve, New York, 1816. 6. Narrati ve, London, 1816. 7. Narrati ve, Wakefield, 1820. 8. Narrati ve, Edinburgh, 1824. 9. Captive New York, 1835. 10. Captive Philadelphia, 1837. 11. Narrati ve, Ithaca, 1840. 12. Captive Philadelphia, 1841. 13. Narrati ve, Ithaca, 1849. 14. Narrati ve, Ithaca, 1851. 15. Captive Philadelphia, 1854. 16. Captive Philadelphia, 1861. 17. Captive Philadelphia, 1869. 18. Narrati ve, London, 1896. 19. Makwin tive, i ti German], Leipzig, 20. Journal, Boston, 1931. H. PL. H. PL. N. H. PL. H. PL. N. H. H. PL. N. H. PL. N. H. PL. Boston Public Library. ' No y located. Ne w York Public Library. H. H. PL. H. PL. N. H PL N. Library of Congres THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. No single factor had a greater influence upon the opening-up and development of Central British Columbia than the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. In 1900, before its construction, this vast area could be reached only by way of the Cariboo Road, from Ashcroft. This led to Quesnel and Fort George (now Prince George), from which points local roads and trails extended into the surrounding hills and valleys. Except in the immediate vicinity of these two towns, travel conditions had changed little since the days of the fur trade. But within fifteen years this section of British Columbia was to be traversed from east to west by a first-class railroad, communication was to be opened to the south by means of regular coastal steamship service from Prince Rupert, as well as by railways from Quesnel and Tete Jaune Cache, settlement was to be greatly increased, hitherto undiscovered resources were to be developed, and Central British Columbia was to enter upon a boom period. Although in 1900 there was no east-to-west communication system through Central British Columbia, there was, as Sand- ford Fleming had pointed out thirty years before in his Canadian Pacific Railway exploration surveys, a natural route for the construction of a railway. At the eastern boundary an excellent pass, the Yellowhead, opens a way through the Rocky Mountains to the headwaters of the Fraser River, which flows north-west through a region of plateaux, low mountains, and river-valleys. From Prince George, where the Fraser River turns southward, this railway route follows its tributaries, the Nechako and En- dako rivers, which flow from the north-west. From Decker Lake, near the source of the Endako River, it is possible to cross the Bulkley Mountains by a short pass to the headwaters of the Bulkley River. This river flows north-west until it empties into the Skeena River, which flows south-west through the Coast Range into the Pacific Ocean. This is the route followed by the British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. IV., No. 3. 163 1 164 j. a. Lower. July Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Along it lies the chief belt of settlement in Central British Columbia. The construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a natural outcome of conditions in Canada at the beginning of this century. Whereas the decade before 1896 had been one of depression, the years 1896-1913 were years of unprecedented prosperity. Capital, both from Great Britain and other countries, was ample and credit was cheap. Of even more significance was the spectacular increase in immigration to Canada, both from the United States and from Europe. This great influx may be attributed to the strong Imperialistic sentiment in Great Britain at that time, to the aggressive propaganda of Clifford Sifton, and to the shortage of free land in the United States which resulted from the end of the " frontier " movement. Whereas the number of immigrants to Canada in 1898 was only 31,900, in 1903 it had reached 128,364 and the following years were to show still larger figures. Thus boom times, cheap money, and unprecedented immigration resulted in a veritable flood of newcomers to the Canadian prairies, and with their coming there arose an increasing need for more railway facilities to the West. A new railway to serve the prairies north of the Canadian Pacific main line was a necessity; but, unfortunately, this expansion was carried beyond all rational limits and, probably as a result of the blind optimism of the times, not one, but two, new transcontinental railways were concurrently constructed through this section. In 1902 the railways west of the Great Lakes proved inadequate to handle the greatly increased grain trade. At that time Western Canada was served by two railways of importance—the Canadian Pacific, extending to the Pacific, and the youthful Canadian Northern, which in 1902 had 1,200 scattered miles of line extending between Port Arthur, Ontario, and Erwood, near the eastern boundary of Saskatchewan. But early in that year two more transcontinentals were planned. The Canadian Northern announced its intention of building from coast to coast, and in Quebec a group of promoters were planning a railway to pass through the northern latitudes and to be called the Trans-Canada Railway. This latter line was actually begun and 16 miles were constructed in Quebec province. It died a sudden death when The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 165 the Grand Trunk Railway made its unexpected announcement that it planned to support another transcontinental line to the Pacific Coast. This line was first conceived by the officials of the Grand Trunk as an independent railway, to be called the Grand Trunk Pacific, which was to be a subsidiary of the older company and was to serve as an extension into the West. The project undoubtedly sprang from the vigorous mind of Charles M. Hays, who had served as General Manager of the Grand Trunk in 1896-1900 and had just returned to the road after a single year with the Southern Pacific. Hays realized that the financial difficulties of the Grand Trunk.were caused not only by its inefficient methods but also by the fact that it was not gaining the amount of new business from the West that it should. The increased settlement on the prairies had resulted in an enormous increase in the export of wheat, but this traffic was controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Grand Trunk, traditionally concentrating on Ontario, was in the humiliating and unprofitable position of depending upon its rival for any of this trade which it might handle. Furthermore, the Canadian Pacific threatened not only to encircle the Grand Trunk lines with its track across Northern Ontario, but it was actually building branch lines into the south and destroying the monopoly which the other railway had consistently sought to maintain. In Hays's opinion the solution of these difficulties was the building of a feeder-line to the prairies which would be subsidiary to the Grand Trunk. Such a railway was first planned as a projection of the line through Chicago to Winnipeg and the west, but Hays realized that the Canadian Government would not approve this route, both for political reasons and because of tariff difficulties. The Grand Trunk therefore proposed to build the extension westward from North Bay, the existing terminus of its lines in Northern Ontario. Hays's first steps in the development of this new railway were a general survey of the territory and the submission of a proposal to the Canadian Government on November 2, 1902, for the building of a line from North Bay to Port Simpson, on the Pacific Coast. The terms suggested implied a subsidy of $6,400 and 5,000 acres of land per mile of line, as well as certain other concessions with regard to mail subsidies, free importation of con- 1940 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 167 struction material, and taxation exemptions. The Government turned the proposition down. In spite of this, on November 24, 1902, Hays made a bare announcement that a transcontinental railway would be built which would be entirely independent of the Grand Trunk Railway, but which would have exclusive traffic arrangements with it. Meanwhile the Government was trying to bring the Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern railways together in an attempt to have each build lines which would be complementary, rather than opposed, to each other. After several meetings the two lines could not agree, and for some reason the Government did not exert the pressure which it could have used to force such an agreement. Instead it permitted them to plan separate trans- continentals which at times paralleled each other at a distance of less than 30 miles. Probable reasons for the failure of the two companies to come to an agreement were the excessive demands of the Canadian Northern and the belief of the Grand Trunk that it could easily crush its younger rival. Early in 1903 the officials of the Grand Trunk and the Government discussed possibilities of construction and terms. Judging from the fact that Mr. Blair, the Minister of Railways, resigned from his position on July 10 it must be supposed that these talks were mainly between the railway officials and the Prime Minister, Wilfrid Laurier, who was becoming very enthusiastic over the plan. As a result of his attitude it is only right to accept the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway as a Liberal project, just as the Canadian Pacific Railway has been accepted as the work of the Conservatives under Sir John A. Macdonald. The chief result of these discussions was that, for political reasons, the project was extended still farther and the railway was planned as a transcontinental, stretching all the way from Moncton, New Brunswick, to the Pacific Ocean. On June 4,1903, the Bill providing for its. construction passed the Railway Committee, after being discussed for seven days. On July 9 it was accepted by the Liberal caucus. This was followed immediately by the resignation of Mr. Blair. On July 29 Laurier signed an agreement with the company, and on the following day personally presented the Bill to the House. 168 J. A. Lower. July The Acts1 which ultimately resulted in the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway provided for a transcontinental line which was to be built in two divisions. The first of these, to be known as the National Transcontinental, extending from Winnipeg to Moncton, was to be constructed by the Government. The other, to be built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, was to extend from Winnipeg to Port Simpson " or some other port on the Pacific Coast." When the National Transcontinental was completed it was to be leased to the Grand Trunk Pacific for fifty years, with the privilege of renewing the option at the end of the period. By way of rental the Grand Trunk Pacific was to meet " working expenditures " during the first seven years and to pay 3 per cent, of the " cost of construction " for the remaining time. As it turned out, the National Transcontinental was not taken over by the Grand Trunk Pacific as agreed, and ultimately the line became part of the Canadian National Railways. The Grand Trunk Pacific was an independent company with a capital of $45,000,000, consisting of $20,000,000 in preferred stock and $25,000,000 in common stock. Except for 1,000 shares held by the directors, the Grand Trunk Railway held all the common stock. The new railway was to be divided into two sections—the prairie section, extending from Winnipeg to Wolf Creek, Alberta, and the mountain section, from Wolf Creek to the Pacific.2 The Dominion Government guaranteed principal and interest on the bonds issued by the company up to 75 per cent, of the cost of construction in each division, but it was stipulated at first that the principal so guaranteed was not to exceed $13,000 per mile on the prairies and $30,000 per mile in the mountains. In 1904 this restriction was removed from the mountain section and no definite limit was set. The company was to pay interest (1) Statutes of Canada, 1903, c. 71 (National Transcontinental Railway Act) and c. 122 (An Act to Incorporate the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company); 1904, c. 24 ( amending the National Transcontinental Railway Act), and c. 80 (An Act respecting the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Com- (2) The total mileage, Winnipeg to the Pacific, was 1,757 miles. The prairie section was 917 miles; the mountain section 840 miles. Edmonton to Wolf Creek is about 120 miles, and the distance from Wolf Creek to the boundary of British Columbia 130 miles. Thus there were about 710 miles within British Columbia. 1940 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. on the bonds for the prairie section from the date of issue and the Government was to pay the interest on the bonds of the mountain section for seven years, at not over 3 per cent. This meant that the company was to have the use of 75 per cent, of the capital expended on the mountain section free for seven years. The remaining 25 per cent, of the bonds on both sections was to be guaranteed by the Grand Trunk Railway. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had two motives for building through British Columbia. In the first place it aimed to be a colonization road, which would open new land to settlement, exploitation, and the discovery of new natural resources. More important, the line in British Columbia would form a link between the prairie and eastern lines, which were expected to pay, and a Pacific port. Through traffic from the Coast to points across the continent had proven highly lucrative to the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Grand Trunk Pacific clearly wished to reach the Pacific and secure a share of the Oriental traffic. Because its route was 200 miles shorter, the Grand Trunk Pacific expected to have a very definite advantage over the other trans- continentals in competing for this trade. Reconnaissance surveys for the new railway began soon after the Bills passed the House of Commons. The first sod was turned at Sand Hill, Manitoba, on August 28, 1906. By July, 1909, the line had been built from Winnipeg to Edmonton, and in the following year the prairie section was completed to Wolf Creek. Of the 840 miles in the so-called mountain section, approximately 710 were in British Columbia. Building of this section began from both the eastern and western ends. When the prairie section was completed from Winnipeg to Wolf Creek, construction continued progressively westward into the mountain section until it met the tracks from the west, which had been begun at Prince Rupert. The contractors for the entire section were Foley, Welch & Stewart, but the work was almost entirely sublet to contractors in sections which were usually shorter than 5 miles each.8 (3) The sub-contractors included: R. Ross and C. A. Carlson; A. L. McHugh; Craig Brothers; John E. Bostrom; Angus Stuart; Neil Keith; M. Sheedy; McDonald and McAllister; Smith Brothers; Stano and Har- stone; Prince Rupert Construction Company; Dan Stewart; Fred Peterson; Norman McLeod; Dan Horrigan; Washstock and Company; D. A. 170 J. A. Lower. July Edmonton was the base of operations for the construction gangs building from Wolf Creek westward. Supplies were carried from there to the different bases either by construction train or by wagon. The construction train was able to run over the tracks as soon as they were laid, and, because it could not average over 8 miles per hour, was nicknamed the "flier." Wagons were used to carry supplies to those camps which were beyond the " end of steel." The customary price for hauling was 5 cents a pound, regardless of distance. There were about six hundred teams working along the line through the Rocky Mountains, about two-thirds of which were privately owned. Another common method of obtaining supplies after steel had crossed the Yellowhead Pass and reached the Fraser River was by steamer from Soda Creek, up the river to the " end of steel." F. W. Stewart, of the Foley, Welch & Stewart Construction Company, had two steamers in operation, the Operator and the Conveyor. Each had a capacity of 175 tons and was powerful enough to push a scow carrying a 90-ton load against the current. Steamboats were not as satisfactory as teams, however, as they could only be operated when the water was high. In 1912, because of the light snowfall, they were only used for three weeks. One of the most interesting phenomena of railroad building is the " end of steel" village. One writer has described that of the Grand Trunk Pacific as follows:— The " end of steel" village was built around the " Pioneer," the mechanical track-layer—an ungainly overgrown box car with weird semi-human arms. The village is always three miles from the end of steel. That is positively the only restraint it knows; for within that distance of the end of steel the contractor has complete legal control on unsettled districts. And knowing the hell that lives in those shacks he pushes them to the extreme of his authority. Rankin; Freberg and Stone; Boie Brothers and Stone; Joe Amantea; Kerr and Company; Backus and Company; P. Salvus; John Moran; John AIM; Mike Sheady; A. L. McHugh; J. Stanio; Duncan Ross; McDougall and Rankin; Moran and Chiene; Bostrom and Kullander; Sheedy and Paget; Lund, Rogers and Company; B. A. Rankin; A. E. Griffin; Carlton and Griffin; Burns and Jordan; John Bostick; Hugh McLeod; M. Sheedy; Bates, Rogers Construction Company; Siems, Carey and Company; Hogan Construction Company; Ross and McCaull; Johnston, Carey and Helmers; and Magoffin and Berg. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 171 An " end of steel " village is made up of booze, billiards, and belles. It is the home of the illicit liquor traffic of construction, the location of enough pool tables to stock a large city, and the residence of women who never elsewhere enjoyed so much freedom. Three-quarters of the shacks are restaurants in front—for about six feet. The restaurant is merely an outward plausible excuse for the existence of the shack. Back of the little counter is the pool room . . . and then through a small doorway, up a short flight of stairs that breathe exclusiveness and privacy is the real object of existence—the card room. Free bunk houses are the provision of the contractors for the disabled, helpless bohunk who has spent the evening and everything else in the other shacks. At Mile 50 B.C. there was even a bath house, but it failed ignominiously but not expectedly. At Fitzhugh, which is within the province of Alberta, the lid was kept closed a little by the mounted police, but their jurisdiction ended at the border of British Columbia, and there at the summit, right on the boundary, the doors were opened wide, and down through the miles 17, 29, and 50 they remained that way. Mile 29 had a reputation of which its inhabitants refused to be proud. . . . A special collection of shacks grew up at the western end of the pass, on the site of the Tete Jaune Cache Indian Village. ... An old negress ran the town An " end of steel" village is a disgrace, but Tete Jaune was indescribable.4 The summit of the Rocky Mountains, which marks the British Columbia boundary, was reached by steel about November 15, 1911.6 From this point the road followed the Tete Jaune gorge for about 10 miles to the headwaters of the Fraser, at Yellowhead Lake. Steel reached Moose Lake, 20 miles farther, in March, 1912,6 and a tri-weekly service from Moose Lake to Edmonton was inaugurated in August. From this point construction was much easier, as supplies could be obtained by the river- boats and the country was much less rugged than in the Rockies. (4) Fort George Herald, September 20, 1913, quoting W. Lacey May in Railroad and Current Mechanics. (5) Prince Rupert Daily News, November 15, 1911. Most of the dates of construction which follow in the narrative have been taken from contemporary newspapers. It should be noted, however, that the exact meaning of the dates given is often none too clear, and that they may indicate the date of clearing, laying of steel, or arrival of the first train. An effort has been made, as nearly as possible, to give the date when steel was laid (6) Fort George Herald, March 3 1912. 172 J. A. Lower. July The greatest problem in this section was the " gumbo," or clayey mud, which is the common terrain. In April, 1913, steel reached the Raushuswap River, where a bridge 850 feet long was built.7 Two months later trains were running from that point to Tete Jaune Cache. Late in November the railroad crossed the Fraser for the third time near the present site of Hansard,8 and by the end of the year the line was at Willow River,9 less than 20 miles east of Prince George. By January 12, 1914, steel had reached the Fraser River opposite Prince George, and on January 27 the track-layer crossed on a temporary bridge which was destroyed by ice the same day. Fortunately, construction of the permanent steel bridge required at this point had been begun on August 31, 1912, and the struc-. ture was completed on March 7, 1914. The laying of tracks across this bridge linked Prince George to the east by rail. Progress from that time was rapid. By the end of March, 1914, the present site of Finmoore, which is 50 miles west of Prince George, was reached,10 and on April 5, 1914, the rails met those from the west at a point 2 miles west of Nechako Crossing, just east of Fraser Lake.11 The meeting-place is a solitary spot to-day, being marked only by a sign which states that the Grand Trunk Pacific was completed there. The Pacific Coast end of the railway presented many difficulties. The first of these was the problem of a suitable terminus. The original contract had mentioned Port Simpson, which is located on the Tsimpsean Peninsula, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Skeena River, but it was understood at the time that this would not necessarily be used if a better place could be found. Surveys showed that the best location would be on Kaien Island, which was in a small inlet known as Tuck's Inlet. An old Admiralty chart showed a rock in the harbour which would be a serious obstruction to navigation, but a new survey failed to locate this impediment and, as a result, the island (7) Ibid., April 12, 1913. This river is now called the Raush River. (8) Ibid., November 26, 1913. (9) Ibid., December 31, 1913. (10) Prince Rupert Daily News, March 15, 1914. (11) At this point the Nechako River flows from the south, but the Grand Trunk Pacific continued westward along the shore of Fraser Lake and the Endako River. 1940 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 173 was selected as the western terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific. The name Prince Rupert was given to it as a result of a competition sponsored by the railway. Five thousand answers were received, the winner being Miss Eleanor MacDonald, of Winnipeg, who received a prize of $250. On May 4, 1904, by an Order in Council, the Government of British Columbia entered into an agreement with E. V. Bodwell, who was acting for an American financier, Peter Larsen, to dispose of 10,000 acres of land on and near Kaien Island, provided that the latter sold it to no one but the Grand Trunk Pacific, and provided further that the terminus of the road was placed upon it. Larsen duly sold this land to the Grand Trunk Pacific, at no profit, and Bodwell became the representative of the railway on the Pacific Coast. For some unrevealed reason this agreement was not made public for two years, and the result was a crop of unproved charges of graft which gave rise to the notorious Kaien Island investigation. This inquiry was conducted by a Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly and completely exonerated the Government from any charges of improper practice.12 On July 12, 1904, Charles M. Hays, President of the Grand Trunk Pacific, had stated: " So soon as the progress of the surveys in British Columbia will permit, construction will be commenced from the Pacific coast to the end of the road and be carried on continuously in an easterly direction until the road is completed."18 However, much to the dismay of British Columbia, it was discovered that there was no clause in the contract which forced the railway to build from the western end. The Grand Trunk Pacific sought to use this fact to force concessions from the Government in the form of either a cash subsidy or a land grant. In 1905, while the Legislature was in session, F. W. Morse, Vice-President of the Company, spent five weeks in Victoria. Apparently his demand was a land grant of 20,000 acres per mile to abut on the railway, which the company agreed to sell at prices set by the Government. As it was estimated at that time that there would be about 400 miles of line built in British itish Columbia, Van- 174 J. A. Lower. July Columbia, the grant under these terms would be over 8,000,000 acres. The Government, evidently considering that, in view of Hays's earlier statement, such a demand was a breach of faith, told Morse definitely that he would receive no subsidy. Morse thereupon left British Columbia, determined not to build from the west.14 Premier McBride now found himself in a difficult position. Apparently he had saved the land grant, but had lost the agreement of the railway to build from Kaien Island eastward. However, a weapon soon appeared by which he was able to force the railway to build from the Pacific end. It was trying to obtain possession of certain Indian reserves, particularly those near Kaien Island, but to do this it was essential to have the consent of the Provincial Government. McBride used this lever, not only to withstand the pressure of the Liberal Government at Ottawa but also to force several concessions from the railway. Not the least of these stated that construction was to be begun at Prince Rupert by June 1, 1908, and was to continue steadily eastward.16 The first sod on the western end was turned at Prince Rupert on May 7, 1908, a month after the first sub-contracts were let. Construction began at Copper River,16 on the Skeena River, about 100 miles east of Prince Rupert. The beginning of the work is described as follows in the Prince Rupert Empire of August 24, 1908:— (14) " I am only sorry that the people of British Columbia have not signified a desire to co-operate with us. . . ." (Vancouver World, February 24, 1905.) See also a thinly disguised statement by Morse in the Winnipeg Free Press of March 27, 1905. (15) See Canadian Annual Review, 1908, p. 528. The correspondence between McBride and Ottawa will be found in Correspondence between the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia relating to the application of. the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company to acquire a portion of the Metlakatla Indian Reserve. Victoria, King's Printer, 1908. Note particularly the statement by McBride in a letter of March 3, 1907: " I beg to state that the action of the Federal government in connection with the Indian reservations in B.C. has been so unsatisfactory of late that . . . this government does not intend to enter into any further arrangements with the Indian authorities." (16) This was at first called Newtown, and is now called Copper City. 1940 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 175 Construction work has been started on the Kitimat branch" of the Grand Trunk Pacific at the mouth of Copper River ... the Kitimat branch is being built under a charter granted by the provincial legislature several years ago. . . . The company that obtained this charter also received a promise of a cash subsidy of $5,000 a mile provided $100,000 in construction work was expended before a specified date this year. The Grand Trunk Pacific purchased the charter in 1905, and in order to get the cash subsidy have let a contract to " Jack " Stewart and his associates. Ninety men with horses and supplies were unloaded at Port Essington on August 13, and went by the steamer Northwest up the Skeena to Copper River mouth. One of the serious problems which faced the railway surveyors was the selection of the best route between Aldermere, near the present town of Telkwa, and Copper River. Two alternatives were carefully considered. One of these was via the Telkwa and Zymoetz rivers to the Skeena River; the other followed the Bulkley River to its junction with the Skeena at Hazel- ton. The former route was about 80 miles shorter and was favoured by the engineer in charge of the district, but pressure from the Provincial Government resulted in the latter being chosen. It was shown that this route would serve both the agricultural district near Hazelton and the northern mines, especially those in the Babine Range; would afford an outlet to the Babine and Kispiox valleys, and, finally, would afford a satisfactory junction-point for a railroad to Dawson, in the Yukon. Such a railroad, which was contemplated in the original Grand Trunk Pacific plans, would find a natural route to the north through the Kispiox and Nass River valleys. The 180 miles from Hazelton to Prince Rupert offered the most difficult engineering problems in the entire railroad. In 120 miles the Skeena River drops 1,000 feet, which makes this one of the most rapidly running waterways on the Coast.18 The (17) This apparently refers to the Pacific, Northern & Omineca Railway, whose charter was apparently purchased by the Grand Trunk Pacific. Its route is described as " from a point on Kitimat Inlet ... by the most convenient and feasible route to a point at or near Hazelton, on the Skeena River." (Statutes, British Columbia, 1900, c. 50.) Kitimat Inlet is the first one south of the mouth of the Skeena River. A railroad such as described would meet the Skeena River near Copper River. (18) The difficulty of this problem was accentuated by Hays's attempt to have a maximum grade of one-quarter of 1 per cent. The railway was built with a maximum of four-tenths of 1 per cent, except for 19 miles near Tete Jaune Cache, where the grade is 1 per cent. 176 J. A. Lower. July last 60 miles are tidal, which further complicated the problems of construction. The railway follows the banks of the river through almost solid rock for these 60 miles. Moreover, on these mountains avalanches and snowslides were so frequent that a tunnel almost 1,600 feet long had to be driven near Kwinitsa in an attempt to reduce the hazards of operation. Farther up the river is Kitselas Canyon, where great rock barriers made three tunnels measuring some 400, 700, and 1,100 feet respectively necessary. In the first 211 miles of railway there were no less than thirteen tunnels, totalling 8,886 feet, or well over a mile and a half, in length. When the railway crossed the Skeena, at Skeena Crossing, about 13 miles west of Hazelton, a bridge of six spans, with a total length of 930 feet, was needed. One cut in this section of the road was 6,600 feet long and took almost twenty-six months to complete. So difficult was the route that over 12,000 miles of trial lines and surveys had to be run in order to locate 186 miles of track. Construction of the first two sections—the first of 100 miles to Copper River and the second of 140 miles to Aldermere—was carried on simultaneously in many places. The arrival of steel was delayed by the Zanardi Rapids, which lie between Kaien Island and the mainland.19 The problem of bridging them was accentuated by the tide, which not only runs at a speed of from 12 to 14 miles an hour but rises at times as high as 26 feet. The bridge across this channel was not completed until July, 1910, and consisted of six spans totalling 645 feet. This delayed the completion of the line from Prince Rupert eastward, and materials for construction were therefore carried to the camps up the Skeena River by means of shallow-draught, stern-wheeled steamers. There were five of these, the Henrietta, Port Simpson, Distributor, Omineca, and Conveyor, all owned by Foley, Welch & Stewart. They were used in the summer but were of little use in winter. Their speed was estimated at 15 miles per hour. Because of the strong current in the river, in actual operation this speed varied greatly, and whereas it took five to eight days to travel up-stream to Hazelton the return journey could be made in fourteen hours. Sometimes the cur- e Rupert. The 1940 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 177 rent was so strong that it was necessary to haul the boats through the canyons by cables attached to donkey-engines. By March 31, 1910, grading and culverts were completed for almost 100 miles east of Prince Rupert and the wharf had been completed in that city, but only about 7 miles of track had been laid and no stations or buildings of any kind had been built along the road. On July 31, 1910, the first construction train from Prince Rupert crossed the newly completed Zanardi Rapids bridge,20 and from this time the trains greatly assisted the work. By September, steel was laid for 70 miles and C. C. Van Arsdoll, the chief engineer of the mountain section, had moved his headquarters to New Hazelton. At the same time lots were offered for sale in Ellison,21 the first townsite to be sold east of Prince Rupert. Steel went little farther that year because of Kitselas Canyon, where the tunnels were not completed until January 20, 1912. By March, 1912, the rails had reached Skeena Crossing,22 where they were again forced to wait for the building of a bridge. Meanwhile, trains were run from Prince Rupert to this point and passengers took a boat across the Skeena to the remainder of the track. In September, 1911, arrangements had been made with the Hudson's Bay Company by Foley, Welch & Stewart by which boats met the trains and made it possible to buy a through ticket to Hazelton. In the spring of 1912 track-laying was pushed ahead rapidly and, in spite of the fact that there was snow on the ground, 30 miles were laid in six weeks. On March 31 the Skeena bridge was completed. In August the tracks reached Sealy,23 where a huge gulch necessitated the building of one of the longest bridges on the line, measuring 900 feet. (20) Prince Rupert Optimist, August 1, 1910. (21) Ellison was also called Sealy. It was 3 miles west of New Hazelton. The land thereabouts lacked a sufficiently level grade, and later the station was built a short distance to the east, at South Hazelton. Price Ellison was Minister of Lands in 1910. J. C. K. Sealy was proprietor of the Omineca Hotel, in Hazelton. (22) Prince Rupert Daily News, March 13, 1912. (23) Omineca Herald, August 9, 1912. 178 J. A. Lower. July The choice of Sealy (or Ellison) as the temporary terminus of the railway for some months was the result of an attempt by the railway to exploit its route. Hazelton, which is on the north bank of the Bulkley River, could not be made a station, since the railway ran along the southern bank. It was therefore planned to build a station on the opposite side of the river to the town, in the section known as New Hazelton. But the land adjoining this site was owned by the Northern Interior Land Company, which was determined not to agree to the terms offered by the railway. Finding itself unable to exploit more than a small section of New Hazelton, the Grand Trunk Pacific attempted to erect its station first at Sealy and later at South Hazelton.24 An appeal to the Railway Commission resulted in a decision that the station must be built at New Hazelton. Thus balked, the railway for some time unloaded its passengers at Sealy, ran empty trains to the " Y " at New Hazelton, and returned empty. This practice continued for almost a year before a station was built at the latter place. From this time the work progressed steadily. On February 28, 1913, trains were running to Porphyry Creek, about 18 miles east of New Hazelton and near the site of the present station of Beament.26 On May 23 steel reached the Telkwa River; in September it was at Decker Lake; and by the end of the year it was at Burns Lake, 316 miles east of Prince Rupert and 136 miles from New Hazelton. By March 15, 1914, steel was laid to Fraser Lake, and on April 5 it met the rails from the east. The last spike was driven by H. B. Kelliher, the chief engineer, and although no official ceremony was held at the time a crowd of 1,500 persons was present. The first train from the east reached Prince Rupert on April 8, 1914, but it was not until September 6 that regular passenger service was inaugurated from Prince Rupert to Winnipeg. With the beginning of regular train service the actual construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway may be said to have been completed, although there was still much to be done, such as the improvement of the road-bed, the construction of sidings, and the replacement of temporary bridges. When this 1940 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 179 was finished the Grand Trunk Pacific was recognized, as one of the best built of the colonizing lines in North America. The vision of Charles M. Hays had become a fact. Closely connected with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway were j a number of subsidiary companies. One of the most interesting of these was the Grand Trunk Pacific Branch Lines Company, which was incorporated on June 30, 1906. By the end of 1909 this company had chartered twenty-two branch lines, five in the eastern division and seventeen in the western.26 Only two of these were in British Columbia—one to Dawson, in the Yukon, from the main line (probably near Hazelton), and one to Vancouver. Neither of these was built, but the latter project undoubtedly gave rise to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. Construction on this line began in 1912, but because of financial difficulties the Provincial Government was forced to take control of it in 1918. Construction finally ceased in 1922. By that time it extended from Squamish, at the head of Howe Sound, to Quesnel, about 80 miles south of Prince George and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. It is interesting to speculate as to whether this line, if completed, would in effect have diverted the main line to Vancouver and relegated the track to Prince Rupert to the position of a secondary road. Another important and valuable subsidiary was the Grand Trunk Pacific Town and Development Company, Limited, which was incorporated on August 2, 1906. In January, 1910, it changed its name to the Grand Trunk Pacific Development Company. The purpose of this company was to acquire land and lay out townsites, promote mining, operate tramways, and to develop other related projects. It was very active in Central British Columbia, particularly in the opening of Prince Rupert, New Hazelton, Fort Fraser, and Prince George. As noted above, one of the fundamental reasons for the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway through British Columbia had been the development of trade with the Orient. In connection with this the promoters of the company hoped to establish a trans-Pacific steamship service. The British Columbia Coast Service was expected to be the beginning of this great (26) Debates, House of Commons, Canada, December 13,1909, p. 1366. J. A. Lower. July steamship system, for in 1909 Captain C. H. Nicholson was appointed manager and organizer of the Pacific fleet, and its extension to China and Japan. The Grand Trunk Pacific Coast Steamship Company operated a regular coast service for many years. The Prince Albert was the first of its fleet to reach the Coast, and arrived off William Head, near Victoria, from England, on May 30, 1910. From there she went to Seattle for docking before entering service. She was an old steamer, built as the Bruno in 1892, and was refitted for the new trade. Her length was 232 feet and her gross tonnage 1,015. On November 12, 1909, an agreement had been made with the Dominion Government for a steamer service to the Queen Charlotte Islands from Prince Rupert, for which the Government agreed to pay a subsidy of $200 a trip. The Prince Albert was intended for this run. The service was to be weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter. Two fine new steamers, the Prince Rupert and Prince George, arrived at Esquimalt on June 4 and July 12, 1910, respectively, from England, where they had been built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, at Newcastle. Their principal dimensions were: Gross tonnage, 3,379 tons; length, 306 feet; beam, 42 feet; speed, 18 knots. They were oil-burners and attracted much attention because they were the first merchant ships with cruiser sterns. Each was fitted to carry 220 first-class passengers and 32 in the second class. The Prince Rupert sailed on her first voyage from Seattle on June 12 and from Victoria and Vancouver on June 13, 1910. She reached Prince Rupert on June 16. The Prince George joined her on the run late in July. Each steamer made a round trip each week from Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver to Prince Rupert and Stewart. In 1916, 1917, and 1918 a summer service was operated to Skagway. For many years they maintained the fastest service to the northern In 1911 a fourth vessel, the Prince John, was added to the fleet. She had been built in 1910 as the Amethyst and was completely rebuilt before coming to the Coast. She was the smallest of the Grand Trunk steamers, having a length of 185 feet and a gross tonnage of 905. She was the last ship to be added to the Grand Trunk Pacific Steamship Company's fleet. When the rail- 1940 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 181 way became a part of the Canadian National Railways system the steamship service on the Pacific Coast was maintained. Two other subsidiaries are of particular interest to British Columbia. The Grand Trunk Pacific British Columbia Coal Company controlled twelve sections of land alongside the railway about 16 miles east of Hazelton. Here it drilled three tunnels, from which it supplied coal to the British Columbia section of the railway. The Grand Trunk Pacific Telegraph Company inaugurated a service between Winnipeg and Prince Rupert on November 21,1914. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company and its subsidiaries were organized in times of prosperity and peace. Their founders expected them to do great things for Canada. But their vision, probably blinded by optimism of the times, was too hopeful and did not foresee the factors which were finally to cause the collapse of the railway. The general prosperity and boom had definitely declined by 1913. This decline had been accentuated by the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, which had restricted the British money market. The outbreak of the World War in 1914, during which immigration practically ceased, gave the final blow. The railway struggled along for a few years with the assistance of Government loans, but was finally forced into receivership in 1919. Nevertheless, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway did two things for British Columbia which earn it a permanent place in the history of the Province. It opened the area between Prince Rupert and the Yellowhead Pass, supplying it with transportation and telegraph facilities. Furthermore, it afforded an outlet from this section to the remainder of Canada, so that the agricultural lands, mines, and fisheries of Central British Columbia could be developed. Whatever condemnations may be heaped upon this great project, the indubitable fact remains that the years which saw its construction were clearly one of the vital periods in the development of British Columbia. J. A. Lower. JOHN CARMICHAEL HAYNES. Pioneer of the Okanagan and Kootenay. Though more than fifty years have passed since his death, the name of Judge Haynes, who pioneered in the Okanagan and in Kootenay, remains familiar to many. The mention of Osoyoos to old-timers still conjures up memories of the Haynes Ranch and of the hospitality which made it a mecca for hunters, weary travellers, missionaries, lonely settlers, and puzzled, inquiring Indians. John Carmichael Haynes, eldest son of Jonas Haynes and Hester Carmichael, was born at Landscape, County Cork, Ireland, on July 6, 1831. When he was 27, tales of the gold mines and adventure to be found in the new Colony of British Columbia came drifting back in letters from friends who had gone to seek their fortunes there. Finally the lure became too great and young John turned for assistance to his influential uncle, James Carmichael, of Hyndford. Carmichael was a personal friend of Chartres Brew, an officer in the Irish Constabulary, who had recently been appointed Inspector of Police for British Columbia. Haynes was able to secure what Brew himself described as a " strong testimonial" from the Mayor and Magistrates of Cork, and letters from two gentlemen known personally to Brew who were Magistrates for the County and City.1 Armed with these, John Haynes set sail for Victoria, having bade farewell to a heart-broken mother and a sad father whom he was never to see again. Travelling by way of San Francisco, he reached his destination on Christmas Day, 1858. He lost no time in presenting his recommendations to Chartres Brew, who in turn introduced him immediately to Governor Douglas. Haynes asked for an appointment in the new British Columbia Police. His application was accepted, but the exact date upon which he was enrolled as a constable is not known. It must have been within a few days, for he left for the Mainland with Chartres Brew early in January, 1859. (1) Chartres Brew to James Douglas, December 29, 1858. 184 Hester E. White. July Haynes arrived at a dramatic moment, just in time to have a share in the episode known to history as the Ned McGowan War. In actual fact this consisted of nothing more than disorders amongst the miners near Yale, but for a time much exaggerated reports which .reached Victoria had the authorities seriously alarmed. Colonel Moody was hastily dispatched up the Fraser with twenty-five of his newly-arrived Royal Engineers. A hundred marines and bluejackets from H.M.S. Satellite were hurried to Fort Langley. In the midst of this excitement Chartres Brew proceeded to the Mainland. Two of the four constables who went with him remained at Fort Langley, while the other two, John Haynes and Thomas Elwyn, accompanied him up the river to Fort Yale. There they were joined in a few days by another constable, W. G. Cox, whom Haynes was to know very well in later years. The Ned McGowan disturbances soon came to an end, but Brew and his officers remained at Yale. This was to be expected, for the district was at the time the chief centre both of mining and population in the Colony. Moreover, Brew was Chief Gold Commissioner as well as Superintendent of Police. Both Haynes and Elwyn soon won his firm regard, as is shown by the fact that early in March, 1859, he proposed to send one of them to act as . Chief Constable for the Lytton District. " These gentlemen while with me have afforded me great satisfaction," Brew wrote, " and I am persuaded that either of them will exert himself to the best of his ability to perform the duties of any office he may hold with zeal and fidelity."2 In the end both men remained at Yale, as the proposed appointment proved unnecessary. Later in March, Haynes and W. G. Cox were assigned the difficult task of collecting licence fees from the miners at work between Yale and Hope. Their efforts met with little success, for they collected only $80, in spite of the fact that they " visited every bar between the two places."8 A more ambitious expedition up-river to Lytton fared no better, for the revenue secured did not even cover travelling expenses. This failure did not shake Brew's confidence in his officers, and in reporting the matter to Victoria he was careful to state that he was " satisfied (2) Chartres Brew to Colonel Moody, March 2, 1859. (3) Chartres Brew to W. A. G. Young, March 19, 1859. 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 185 that the want of success " could not be " attributed to any want of sufficient exertions on the part of Mr. Cox and Mr. Haynes."4 Viewed in retrospect, indeed, the fault seems to have been his rather than theirs, for he had sent them forth to collect a highly unpopular tax armed with little more than their powers of persuasion. More drastic action was required, and a marginal comment added to Brew's report by Governor Douglas shows that the latter perceived this quite clearly. If a miner would not pay, Douglas wrote, he should be evicted, and his claim made over to any one who would pay the tax. In April, E. H. Sanders became Assistant Gold Commissioner at Yale and Brew turned over to him his local duties in the district. A decline in activity had set in, and by the early summer, when the freshet was interfering with placer operations on the bars, Sanders's reports were far from encouraging. " Mining operations have almost entirely ceased for this season," he wrote on June 3, 1859. " To the best of my judgment there are not more than two hundred men in the District, below Yale, and even that number is gradually diminishing. Boats heavily freighted with men leave this place every day. The panic is general but unaccountable, for I have never met a miner yet, who denied the existence of gold in remunerative quantities."6 Within a month, however, the tide was at the point of turning. Sanders was able to report" that the news from the Upper Country continues most cheering. Trade is reviving, mule trains leave constantly for the Forks, laden with provisions. The river is rapidly subsiding and mining will soon be resumed."6 As it turned out, this was the start of the determined up-river trek by miners which was to end in the discovery of the golden riches of Cariboo. These conditions are worth noting because they illustrate vividly the constant ebb and flow of mining, population, and prosperity, which affected the careers of most of the pioneer officials of the Colony, including that of John Carmichael Haynes. In January, 1859, it had been necessary to engage many special constables at Yale. By the end of May, Sanders was drastically reducing even his small regular staff. Haynes was one of the (4) Ibid., April 9, 1859. (5) E. H. Sanders to Chartres Brew, June 3, 1859. (6) E. H. Sanders to W. A. G. Young, July 2, 1859. 186 Hester E. White. July very few officers retained, however, and when we hear of him next, in November, he has become Chief Constable at Yale.7 Though he retained this position for a considerable time, events were already in preparation which were to lead to his transfer to a new post. In the autumn of 1859 gold discoveries had been made both on the Similkameen River and on Rock Creek, not far from the international boundary, and the inevitable influx of miners followed in the spring of 1860. Early in the summer Governor Douglas travelled to Hope to consider the problems of communication and government to which this influx gave rise, and in September he visited Rock Creek itself. The problem which he discovered there was twofold. First, it was necessary to make provision for the maintenance of law and order and the collection of the various mining and trading licences. Secondly, provision had to be made for the collection of customs duties upon the horses, cattle, and supplies which were pouring into the country from the American side. Previous to this, as practically every one who entered the Colony was bound for a mine or settlement on the Fraser River, only one port of entry—New Westminster—had seemed necessary. The first step taken by Douglas was to place W. G. Cox in charge of the whole Rock Creek-Similkameen area, as Justice of the Peace and Gold Commissioner. Next, while at Hope on his way back to the Coast, he wrote to Cox telling him that he was sending J. C. Haynes to the Rock Creek district to assist him in his duties. " Mr. Haynes," Douglas added, " has been nearly two years in the Service, and bears an excellent character for steadiness and efficiency, and I have no doubt will prove exceeding useful in the department to which he is now appointed."8 It transpired subsequently that the " department" to which the Governor referred was the Customs service, with which Haynes was to be associated all the rest of his life. Though many and varied duties were to come his way in his new district, officially his position was that of Deputy Collector of Customs. The appointment, which dated from September 23, 1860, provided for a salary of £250 per annum. 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 187 After his return to Victoria, Douglas completed his arrangements by the proclamation of the Southern Boundary Act, in December. New Westminster remained the sole port of entry, but the Act permitted the importation of " goods, wares, animals, or merchandize " at other points provided " the duties, tolls, and fines hereinafter specified shall have been first paid to some duly qualified officer of customs, and such officer shall have first granted to the importer a permit on behalf of such goods." The advantage of this plan was its flexibility. No one could tell where gold might next be found; and the Act made it possible for a Customs officer to cope promptly with any new influx of miners, since it authorized him to levy duties and tolls anywhere along the international boundary without any further formality. Haynes reported to Cox at Rock Creek on October 15, 1860. He was to be stationed at Similkameen (or Shimilkameen, as it was then usually spelled), but did not proceed thither until late in November, as the Customs station there took longer to build than was expected. His jurisdiction was confined at first to the one post, but in April, 1861, it was extended to include the trails to the interior which bordered Okanagan Lake, upon which two constables were stationed.9 Even so his work cannot have been onerous, for over the period January 1-October 19, 1861, duties were collected on only 356 horses, 92 mules, and 625 cattle.10 The reason is not far to seek. The riches of Cariboo had been uncovered and the rush northward was depopulating the Rock Creek-Similkameen area. In November, as the season ended, Cox was transferred elsewhere and Haynes was placed in charge of the whole district. Some reorganization was obviously needed, and Haynes's first action was to arrange for the transfer of his district headquarters to a new and more central location on Sooyoos (now Osoyoos) Lake. This move is of special interest, since it marks his arrival in the neighbourhood which was to become his permanent home. As Rock Creek was completely deserted in the spring of 1862, Haynes closed the station there, and proceeded, just as Sanders had done at Yale in 1859, to reduce his staff. In March it consisted of four constables. In April it was cut to 188 Hester E. White. July three and a further reduction to two was in prospect. As the revenue collected in the first four months of the year had totalled only £65, these cuts were well justified. Sooyoos was indeed in the doldrums; but a revival was close at hand. Cariboo had almost robbed it of life by drawing away its miners; its position on a route to Cariboo which now became popular was to make it again a prosperous revenue station. The change came suddenly in the month of May, 1862, when 963 horses, 203 mules, and 681 cattle were imported and revenue jumped to nearly £600. During the whole year tolls and duties were paid on over 9,285 horses, cattle, and sheep, and revenue exceeded £2,200.u Traffic was again heavy during the summer season of 1863 and was still considerable in the spring of 1864. A few matters of local interest which occurred in the district during these years deserve notice. For a time mining in the area seems practically to have ceased. Rock Creek, as already noted, was completely deserted in April, 1862. In September, however, Haynes reported that seventeen miners were at work once more. By July, 1863, the number had risen to thirty-three, fifteen of whom were Chinese. In July, 1865, a small rush had arisen and 200 miners were at Rock Creek. One is tempted to remark that old mining camps, like old soldiers, never die. Practically the only crime mentioned in the letters written by Haynes during his early years at Osoyoos was an assault by a drunken Indian upon the Hudson's Bay Company's storekeeper at Keremeos, in 1863. The injuries suffered were not serious. The Company had carried on farming operations there for several years, and in 1861 Haynes forwarded samples of the wheat and oats grown at Keremeos to Victoria, where the first Agricultural Exhibition was being held. Throughout this period Haynes seems to have given complete satisfaction to his superiors, except in one small particular. Governor Douglas welcomed elaborate reports, and marginal notes in his handwriting on a number of Haynes's letters show that he did not consider them sufficiently detailed. It was a defect which Haynes apparently found it difficult to correct, as few of his letters are of any considerable length. (11) Complete details are given iHayne report, dated Decern- 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 189 As early as November, 1863, Haynes passed on for the information of the Governor a report that gold had been discovered in Kootenay. By the spring of 1864 it was known that a rush was taking place to Wild Horse Creek. From the point of view of the Government, this rush simply duplicated the problems created by the Rock Creek excitement of 1860, with the additional complication that Wild Horse Creek was both farther away and more difficult of access. The presence of an able and experienced official in the new camp was obviously essential, and on July 9, 1864, the Colonial Secretary wrote to Haynes and instructed him to proceed to Wild Horse with as little delay as Haynes acted promptly upon these instructions, and was able to leave Osoyoos on July 20. He was accompanied by William Young, who had served under him for some time as a constable, and an Indian. Fort Colville was reached on the third day. Haynes was anxious, if possible, to travel the rest of the way north of the boundary, in British territory; but inquiries indicated that the going would be too hazardous for his horses and he therefore continued his journey by way of Spokane. He crossed the frontier on August 6 and arrived at Wild Horse Creek on the 10th.12 " There were about one thousand men here including miners, shopkeepers, and laborers," Haynes reported to Victoria a few weeks later. " The mines so far discovered on this creek extend for about four miles and a half and are divided into five hundred claims of one hundred feet each including creek and Bar." He went on to give a detailed account of ten outstanding claims, employing a total of one hundred and fourteen men, which of late had been producing, on the average, no less than $4,308 in gold per day. But the most interesting and significant thing about his report was the simple statement that he had collected duties " on all merchandize and animals found in the District on my arrival " and had "made proper arrangements for the collection of Revenue in future."18 The unpopularity of the licence fees and customs duties which Haynes set out to collect can be imagined, 190 Hester E. White. July and the successful manner in which he enforced the law in a turbulent and remote community is proof both of his own sense of duty and his ability to handle men. That ability had been further tested by the aftermath of a shooting affray that had occurred just before his arrival at Wild Horse. An interesting account of this affair is given by Daniel Drumheller, who reached Wild Horse in June, 1864, in a letter addressed to the late R. L. T. Galbraith, of Fort Steele, some years ago. It will be noted that Drumheller's recollection of the exact date of the shooting is incorrect, but there would seem to be , no reason to doubt the essential accuracy of his story. It reads as follows:— I shook hands with Judge Haynes before he dismounted from his horse when he arrived at Wild Horse. This was about the 1st of July [sic] and the next day [sic] after the free-for-all fight in which Tommy Walker was killed and several wounded. Within less than two hours after the judge arrived he came into my little store to discuss the intolerable conditions then existing in the camp. We went into my little sleeping-tent where we spent more than one hour discussing the situation. I told the judge the camp was full of outlaws and gun-men. The judge asked what percent of the population I really thought was bad. I told him about 20 pr. ct. He said he was horrified to think of such a thing happening in Her Majesty's Domain. He asked me how many men there were in camp he could depend upon. I told him hundreds of them and gave him the names of many which he dotted down. I told him furthermore that at least 75% of the population would willingly aid him in enforcing the laws. The Judge thanked me and said he had come to me because I was, perhaps, the only man [in Wild Horse whom] he had ever met before. The Judge asked me what I knew [about] the scrap the night before. I told him it was caused by a feud existing between two certain elements and that the aggressors had been worsted and there had been so many men engaged in the fracas I doubted if convictions could be had against any of them. A few days afterwards Overland Bob East Powder Bill and Neil Dougherty were tried before Judge Haynes, acquitted and peace for ever afterward in the camp prevailed.14 That law and order did prevail is evident from the fact that Haynes collected substantial sums in cash and gold and that these •funds were never molested, although it was common knowledge that no safe was available in which to deposit them. At the end of September the Colonial Secretary, Arthur N. Birch, reached Wild Horse on a tour of inspection, and his report contains the following amusing and enlightening entry:— (14) D. M. Drumheller 3 R. L. T. Galbra h, August 22, 1922. 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 191 Mr. Haynes had collected a large amount of Revenue, considering the short time that he had been resident in the district. I found his "Treasury" to consist of an old Portmanteau, which he zealously guarded by night and day, in the log hut in which he is at present living. At the urgent request of Mr. Haynes I relieved him of a portion of his responsibility, by taking over some 75 lbs. weight of gold. This I brought down with me, and have safely deposited in the hands of the Treasurer. It is an interesting incident for Mr. Evans, Mr. Bushby, and myself to remember that we were the first Gold Escort direct from the Rocky Mountains to the seaboard of the Colony. 16 Haynes's own accounts show that he collected over $16,000 between August 10 and September 30, over $9,000 of which was in customs duties, so that the 75 lb. of gold is well accounted for. An experienced administrator, such as Birch, was well qualified to appraise Haynes's activities at Wild Horse! It is of interest therefore to find that the report which he submitted to the Governor upon his return to New Westminster concluded with the following very generous tribute:— I cannot conclude this letter without expressing my sense of the admirable manner in which Mr. Haynes has carried out his duties under most difficulty circumstances; arriving as he did with only one constable to assist him, among a body of 1500 Miners from the adjoining territories, many of whom were known as utterly regardless of law and order; he found them banded together making their own laws and meting out their own ideas of justice; each man, as many have owned to me, carrying his life in his hands. In fact so insecure had life and property become in the eyes of many of the miners that Mr. Dore, one of the original discoverers of the Creek and a few others had formed themselves into a committee, and drawn up a code of laws which they intended enforcing on the community had not a Government Officer arrived at the moment. Copies of these laws were handed to me by Mr. Dore, and I enclose them as interesting documents. I would add that the gentlemen forming this Committee have cheerfully rendered Mr. Haynes every assistance in their power in maintaining law and order. I arrived, within 6 weeks of Mr. Haynes' residence in the District, to find the Mining Laws of the Colony in full force; all Customs Duties paid; no pistols to be seen, and everything as quiet and orderly as it could possibly be in the most civilized district of the Colony, much to the surprise and admiration of many who remembered the early days of the neighbouring State of California.16 Shortly after he submitted his report, Birch was able to write to Haynes and inform him that the Governor had been pleased to appoint him a Member of the Legislative Council of British Co- 192 Hester E. White. July lumbia.17 Haynes accordingly left for the Coast soon after Birch's letter was received, in order to attend the forthcoming session of the Council, which opened at New Westminster in December, 1864, and continued until April, 1865. While at New Westminster Haynes received a number of reports upon affairs at Wild Horse Creek from Constable William Young. The first of these brought news of the beginning of the rush to the Big Bend country. "A great excitement is at present raging in this camp relative to reported fresh gold discoveries on several creeks emptying into the Columbia River," Young wrote on December 1, 1864. " Numbers of men have been leaving the town every day for the last week. . . . There are not more than three hundred men remaining in this camp."18 Later Young reported that snow-covered trails and severe weather had prevented most of the gold-seekers from progressing far and that practically all of them had returned to Wild Horse. " Christmas week," he added, " passed cheerfully and quietly. I do not think a more orderly community than this of three or four hundred men principally idle, is to be found on the coast."19 For some reason Haynes never liked the Kootenay country, and to his delight he was able to hand over Wild Horse Creek to Peter O'Reilly in the spring of 1865. His district still included Fort Shepherd, which he visited personally twice later in the year, but his home and chief interests were once again at Sooyoos. Upon his return, his first action was to arrange for the removal of the Government station from the northern end of Sooyoos Lake to a new and more strategic location farther south at the I narrows," where headlands almost cut the lake in two. The building was enlarged when rebuilt, and converted into a combination customs house, official residence, and jail. Two bids were received for the work, one from James Sanders for $800 and the other from S. T. Marshall for $750. Marshall's tender was accepted on May 14, 1865.20 The new site was on a hill about a quarter of a mile from the lake and commanded a good view of the roads on both sides of the water. The work of mov- 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 193 ing and rebuilding commenced late in June and was completed in September. Many and varied duties came Haynes's way, for, in addition to being an Assistant Gold Commissioner and a Deputy Collector of Customs, he was responsible for law and order and acted as the general agent for the Government throughout his enormous district. He was expected to keep an eye on all roads and trails in the area, and road repairs and extensions were usually carried out only upon his recommendation. His jurisdiction even extended to the Indians. Thus in 1865, when it was found that the reserves which had been marked off by W. G. Cox some years before in the Okanagan were far too large, it was Haynes who arranged with the Indians to have them reduced to reasonable proportions. Haynes had been appointed a Magistrate when he was ordered to Wild Horse Creek in 1864. Two years later, in July, 1866, he received his commission as a County Court' Judge.21 Most of the cases which came before him were of a routine nature, but occasionally he was confronted with serious crime or its consequences. One day in 1867 three men turned up at Sooyoos with an Indian murderer who had escaped from custody at Quesnel. Haynes took him in charge and paid the men, who had apprehended him in Spokane, the promised regard of $500 for his capture.22 Upon another occasion Haynes's life was threatened by Nor-ma- cheen, an Indian on trial at Similkameen. The prisoner was standing before the table at which the Judge was sitting, when he suddenly seized a large inkstand and hurled it at the Judge's head. Only a quick move saved him. This Indian gave much trouble until it was considered expedient to make him a chief, after which he reformed his ways! In the sixties Sooyoos was the junction of a number of important travel routes. Trails from the south bordered both sides of the lake and led northward to roads or trails on both shores of Okanagan Lake, which in turn led to the Kamloops country and Cariboo. The famous Dewdney Trail, which extended all the way from Hope, on the Fraser River, to Kootenay, followed the Similkameen Valley and then swung eastward through (21) J. C. Haynes to the Colonial Secretary, August 4, 1866. (22) J. C. Haynes to the Colonial Secretary, April 8, 1867. 194 Hester E. White. July Sooyoos, where it crossed the lake at the " narrows " already mentioned. The first bridge there was built with Indian labour by John Utz and Ben McDonald, son of Angus McDonald, Chief Trader for the Hudson's Bay Company at Colville. It was not more than 5 feet wide. Loose split rails formed the covering, and careful riders dismounted and led their horses across. In high water the rails were removed and travellers walked the stringers, letting the horses swim. No toll was charged. Fort Shepherd, which it will be recalled was still in Haynes's district, occupied a somewhat similar position farther east. It was situated on the Columbia River, just north of the boundary, on one of the busiest travel routes from the American side to the mines of Kootenay. In 1866 Haynes was again a Member of the Legislative Council of British Columbia. The session opened in New Westminster on January 18, but, owing to the depth of snow lying in the mountain passes, he was not able to take his seat until Feb- bruary 26. The Council prorogued early in April, and on the 15th Haynes started for home. He was able to spend only six days at Sooyoos, however, as the gold-rush to the Big Bend was in full swing and he was compelled to travel on to Fort Shepherd, where he arrived on May 1. The winter had been unusually long and severe and many of the trails were still rendered impassable by snow, but miners were hurrying up the Columbia in spite of this. Moreover, Fort Shepherd had seen its first steamboat—the little steamer Forty Nine—which left on her second trip up-river the day of Haynes's arrival. She carried 87 men and some 25 tons of freight.28 Later Haynes himself was to follow her up the Columbia, as he was ordered to proceed to French Creek and assume charge of the country thereabouts. By the late summer, however, the Big Bend rush had collapsed completely, and in (23) Haynes gives a number of details regarding the Forty Nine in a letter dated Fort Shepherd, May 3, 1866. She passed up-stream on her first trip, carrying 73 men, on April 16. On the return journey she " came down from Death Rapids to this place in 48 hours." On her second trip northbound she arrived from the south on April 30, and left the next morning. A postscript in Haynes's letter states that she arrived back on May 7. The Forty Nine was the first steamer to ply the waters of the Columbia River in British Columbia. 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 195 September, as Haynes's services were no longer required there, he was able to leave for home, where he arrived on October 2. Sooyoos, meaning " where two lakes come together," and " a shallow crossing," with its natural ford, good fishing, and large flat race-ground on the east side, had been a favourite meeting- place and playground for the Okanagan Indians. Trails converged here from the north and south, the east and west. An occasional battle had been fought thereabouts with the Shush- waps, from the north, but otherwise Sooyoos had been a peaceful spot. Riding down the mountain on the east side toward Sooyoos one evening, at the end of the long journey from Kootenay, the beauty of the lake, with its shadows and reflections, so appealed to Judge Haynes that he decided to acquire land and make it his home. The grove of ash-trees, in which flocks of noisy crows gathered, brought memories of Hyndford and his youth in Ireland ; so, bit by bit, he purchased land until his holdings covered 22,000 acres. They stretched northward from the international boundary, where an obelisk stood near the southern fence, and included Haynes Meadows, as they were later called, at the head of Sooyoos Lake. Haynes's partner in the ownership of these lands was W. H. Lowe, who had served under him as a constable at Similkameen and whom he had left in charge at Sooyoos when he left for Wild Horse Creek in 1864. It will be remembered that horses and cattle frequently passed by the Government station at Sooyoos, and Haynes was able to purchase stock which formed the nucleus of the large bands he owned eventually. The cattle were owned by the partners, but Haynes retained sole title to the horses. He imported a number of thoroughbred stallions, which were turned loose on the open range and which greatly improved both his own stock and that of the Indians, whose horses roamed at will. Haynes sold numerous lots of horses at the Coast and at Calgary, but he continually lost money on them, and later only those needed for the operation of the ranch were kept. Judge Haynes was an expert horseman, and to him a good mount was one of the necessities of life. During nearly thirty years of duty in the Similkameen, Okanagan, and Kootenay dis- 196 Hester E. White. July tricts he invariably rode the finest horses he could buy. He judged a horse and loved it, as only one can who has been brought up to follow the hounds, to enter the steeplechase, and later to ride many hundreds of miles over mountain trails to hold Court, to wa-wa with the Indians, to visit mines, and to keep law and order in every part of a vast district. On horseback he invariably appeared as if " riding in the Row," with his Irish tweed coat, riding breeches, and English riding boots. An army helmet was part of the picture in summer; a felt hat at other seasons—never a Stetson or " cow-boy." His horse was well groomed, its tail docked, and its bridle and bit polished and shining. In the spring of 1865 Thomas Ellis arrived in the Okanagan, and after examining the valley in company with Haynes and Andrew McFarlyn, who later became his partner, settled at Penticton. In the spring of 1866 the Hudson's Bay Company built a log house and opened a store at Sooyoos. Roderick Finlayson was in charge for a time, but he was soon succeeded by Theodore Kruger. Previous to this the only store in the district was that owned by Hiram F. Smith, better known as Okanagan Smith, who had moved from Rock Creek, when mining declined there, some years before. There was thus a community of sorts, albeit a widely scattered and lonely one, to which Judge Haynes could bring his bride when he married in 1868. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. W. E. Hayman, at Hope, on September 26. The bride was Charlotte, youngest daughter of William Moresby, solicitor, late of London. He was a younger brother of Sir Fairfax Moresby, Admiral of the Fleet, and the uncle of Admiral John Moresby, who in his book entitled Two Admirals records much of interest about his experiences while on the Pacific Station. Mrs. Haynes was a fine horsewoman, and the couple rode over the Hope Trail and thence to her new home at Sooyoos, where she was the first, and for some years the only, white woman. In the summer of 1870, Haynes was instructed once again to proceed to Wild Horse Creek and take charge of the Kootenay district. It was an assignment which he disliked heartily, and the salary offered, though higher than that paid to him at Sooyoos, was not in his opinion adequate. As he remarked in a 1940 . John Carmichael Haynes. 197 private note to P. J. Hankin, the new Colonial Secretary, he was being " obliged at great personal inconvenience to do duty in the most out-of-the-way and unpleasant station in the Colony at a lower rate of pay than any other magistrate receives."24 Nevertheless, he stated that he would leave for Wild Horse as soon as a suitable companion for Mrs. Haynes could be secured—which, he added, was a problem " of no small difficulty in this part of the country where there is but one white woman besides my wife within a circle of nearly 100 miles."26 After much searching, he was able to get Miss Annie Ellen Mackin, who had come to British Columbia with an uncle and aunt in 1869. As the party had stopped at Sooyoos on their way into the valley at that time, she was not a stranger. Wild Horse Creek proved to be quite as uninteresting as Haynes had anticipated. " The place is nearly as dull as Rock Creek," he wrote on October 16, " and I do not think there will be 50 white men in the district after another month. Unless I receive very strict orders to the contrary I will leave for Sooyoos about the beginning of next month. . . . There is scarcely any thing to do in the office and only one County Court case has been entered since my arrival."26 A week later he expressed the fervent hope that he would be able to " leave this confounded place " as planned.27 In 1871 and again in 1872 Haynes received the unwelcome instruction to return to the Kootenay. In 1871 it was a return with a difference, however, as he was accompanied by Mrs. Haynes. They passed through Colville in July,28 and Walter Moberly, in his Rocks and Rivers of British Columbia, recalls a visit with them at Wild Horse Creek in September. Mrs. Haynes's ride from Kootenay to the Coast, at the end of the season, was a performance of which any horsewoman might well be proud. (26) J. C. E tter). (26) J. C. Haynes to Mrs. Haynes, ^session of the writer.) (27) Ibid., October 24, 1870. (28) Victoria Colonist, July 12, 1871. 198 Hester E. White. July Part of the winter was usually spent at New Westminster, where Haynes had purchased Ince Cottage, the former residence of Judge Crease. There he left Mrs. Haynes when he returned to Kootenay, and there his son, Fairfax Moresby Haynes, was born on February 10, 1872. Unhappily, this event cost Mrs. Haynes her life, for she passed away on May 5, having very foolishly insisted upon riding, and thereby exposing herself to cold. Judge Haynes knew nothing of his loss until a traveller arrived at Wild Horse Creek and handed him a newspaper, in which he discovered the notice of his wife's death. Meanwhile Sooyoos and the surrounding district was growing slowly. In 1872 Mrs. Thomas Ellis arrived at Penticton. In 1873 Theodore Kruger was married in Victoria and brought back his bride to Sooyoos itself, where, the same year, he purchased the store originally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company.29 To this number there should have been added Mrs. W. H. Lowe, whom Lowe went to Ontario to marry in 1872. Just before the wedding, however, Lowe lost both arms in a railway accident. His fiancee insisted on marrying him in spite of this, but it prevented their coming to Sooyoos as planned. Instead, Lowe was appointed Collector of Customs at New Westminster in 1873, a position he retained until he moved to Keremeos in 1880, where he died in 1882. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lowe, Judge Haynes was married in January, 1875, to Emily Josephine Pittendrigh, daughter of Captain and Mrs. Pittendrigh, who had come to the Province by way of Cape Horn and San Francisco in 1872. The new Mrs. Haynes was pretty, petite, and charming; she could play and sing and generally amuse those around her. In addition she was an accomplished cook, and a hostess whose dinners and hospitality few could forget. On December 21, 1875, Valentine Carmichael Haynes was born. Sooyoos was growing, but it was still necessary for the midwife, Mrs. McDougall, a French half-breed, 75 years of age, to come all the way from Colville. Following the happy event the weather turned cold, and the snow was so deep that Mrs. (29) See Mrs. Chrestenza Kruger, " Early Days at Osoyoos," in Sixth Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, 1936, p. 76. 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 199 McDougall was obliged to return to Colville on snow-shoes. Valentine Haynes was the first white child born at Sooyoos, but Dora Kruger was born only twelve days later. On April 25, 1877, a daughter, Hester Emily, was born, and before she was a year old the old Government station, which was still Judge Haynes's home, was burned to the ground. Relatively little furniture was rescued, but, oddly enough, the articles saved included a celebrated safe, which is said to have weighed 1,200 lb. This safe had been brought in for the use of the Government officials by W. G. Cox in 1860, when he was stationed at Rock Creek, and was moved to Sooyoos when the Rock Creek office was closed. In spite of its weight, the safe was tumbled end-over-end and moved to safety by Theodore Kruger, who, needless to say, was a man of prodigious strength. For a time the Haynes family lived with the Krugers. Then, the Sooyoos Court-house was made habitable and there they lived for nearly four years, until a new and permanent home was completed on the east side of Sooyoos Lake. Lumber was difficult to procure, and that required for the new house was brought from the mill operated by Postill Brothers. David Lloyd-Jones recalls that it " was hauled to the shore of the lake [i.e., Okanagan Lake] at Okanagan Centre and there made into a raft which had a mast and a sail and two sweeps."80 From there it was floated down the lake to Penticton, and thence down the Okanagan River to Okanagan Falls, portaged around the falls, and finally rafted once more down to Sooyoos. The house was built of tamarack logs, shiplapped outside and lined and papered inside. There were six rooms downstairs and four upstairs. This house was Haynes's home for the rest of his life, and he exerted himself to make it the most attractive and well kept in the district. He took special pride in his garden, in which he had a few peach-trees he had grown from seed, and also some apple-trees. Wonderful muskmelons and watermelons were grown in round beds, which were watered from the lake by an Indian, night and morning. The house was open to all—and, not least, to the Indians. They came to Sooyoos for advice when puzzled, and especially (30) David Lloyd-Jones, " Over the Hope Trail," Sixth Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, 1936, p. 293. 200 Hester E. White. July when sick. Mrs. Haynes ministered to them all. At Christmastime Chief Gregior would come and receive beef, flour, sugar, tea, cakes, fat, and tobacco as a cultus potlatch. But life was not without formality; and the famous Father Pat, arriving at Sooyoos in 1885, was astonished, when he knocked on the door and was shown in, to find Judge Haynes sitting in the large dining- room, dressed for dinner. It was as if he had stepped into an old home in the old land. Missionaries, pioneers, and travellers of all descriptions came to Sooyoos and enjoyed its hospitality. Occasionally a famous personage passed by, such as General Sherman, who arrived on August 13, 1883. Of this visit the official narrative of the General's travels has this to say:— About 2 miles beyond this noted line [the international boundary] we came to the residence of Judge J. C. Hayne[s] the British collector of customs. Unlike the custom-house on the other side of the line, this is a neat, comfortable frame building with brick chimneys and broad piazzas. It occupies a beautiful site on the shore of the lake, which is here a clean sandy beach. Judge Hayne[s] received us most hospitably; his wife and family were absent at Westminster. At this point is a narrow place in the lake, making, in fact, two lakes. Over this neck is a rude bridge built and kept by Mr. Kreuger, a German, living on the opposite side.31 It may be added that Mrs. Haynes was at New Westminster in expectation of the birth of a child. A son was born on September 3, and in view of the General's visit he was christened John Sherman Haynes. When informed of this, the General was so pleased at having a " little Britisher " named after him that he sent the baby a copy of his memoirs, elaborately bound. John Sherman was Mrs. Haynes's fifth child. William Barrington had been born in April, 1879, and Irene Margaret in October, 1880. A sixth child, another daughter, died at birth in 1885, while Susan Jane was born in November, 1886. These were happy and prosperous years for the Judge and his family. His time was fully but pleasantly occupied by the affairs of the ranch, his trips to hold Court, the business of the Customs office, cattle drives to the Coast and Calgary, and other journeys here and there on business and pleasure. It was in 1888, while homeward-bound from Victoria, where he had gone on business, that Judge Haynes was suddenly •t of the Secre of War, for the HS, Wash- 1940 John Carmichael Haynes. 201 stricken with a fatal illness. He was returning by way of the Hope Trail, accompanied by his sons Fairfax and Valentine and Miss Mabel Pittendrigh, when he was taken ill at the Allison home. Mr. and Mrs. Allison did their best with such remedies as were at hand, but the Judge died on July 6—his fifty-seventh birthday—before the nearest physician, Dr. Chipp, could arrive from Nicola. A coffin was made and a canoe purchased, and the body was taken down to Similkameen, the spot where Haynes had commenced his official service in the Interior, nearly twenty-eight years before. From there it was taken by wagon to Sooyoos. Henry Nicholson read the burial service, and hundreds of Indians passed by the grave, chanting as they each threw a bit of clay on the coffin as a token of esteem and respect. Surrounded by many friends, the sorrowing family saw a much-loved husband and father laid to rest. Mrs. Haynes survived her husband for twenty years, and died in Spokane, in 1908. Through an unhappy chain of circumstances which need not be detailed here, Judge Haynes's estate passed out of the hands of the family within a few years, and the great Haynes Ranch is no more. In spite of this his memory lives on; first, in the recollection of the pioneers who remember him as " the Squire," " the Baron," or " the Cattle King," and, secondly, in the records which relate to his long and honourable career in the public service. Hester E. White. Penticton, B.C. JOHN ROBSON VERSUS J. K. SUTER. Three articles on Robson's early career. The early history of journalism in British Columbia is enlivened by two outstanding feuds. One of these flourished for many years in Victoria, between Amor de Cosmos, founder of the Colonist, and D. W. Higgins. The other was between John Robson and J. K. Suter, both of whom lived for a considerable time in New Westminster. The articles which follow are typical of many exchanged by Robson and Suter. Two of them are from the columns of the British Columbian, of which Robson was owner and editor; the third is from Suter's Mainland Guardian. All three appeared during the provincial election of 1882, when Robson returned to public life and successfully contested one of the two seats for New Westminster District. The reader will notice that the articles give a good deal of biographical information about Robson. Some of this is not to be found elsewhere. For this reason it seems worth while to reprint them, particularly as time has dealt severely with the early files of papers published in New Westminster, and, so far as is known, only two copies of the original articles are now in existence. The Provincial Library is so fortunate as to possess both newspapers for 1882, while the second copies of the British Columbian and Mainland Guardian for that year are to be found in the library of His Honour Judge Howay and the Carnegie Library at New Westminster respectively. The articles make mention of three of the many interesting incidents in John Robson's eventful career. The first of these is his imprisonment for contempt of Court, in 1862. Judge Howay has summarized the circumstances as follows:— The British Columbian, edited by that fearless champion of the .people's rights, the late Hon. John Robson, had in its issue of November 22, 1862, published a letter signed " A " (the writer of which is now known to have been the Rev. Arthur Browning), in which it was suggested that Judge Begbie had accepted a gift of twenty acres of land at Cottonwood from Dud Moreland and later reversed the magistrate's order and directed a certificate of improvements to be issued to Moreland for the whole quarter section. When the assizes opened, the judge summoned Mr. Robson and after explaining the whole transaction called upon him to show why he should not British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. IV., No. 3. John Robson versus J. K. Suter. be committed to prison for contempt of court. Mr. Robson stated that he was not aware of the facts and his informant was not then accessible and if the implied charge were untrue' he regretted having published it. The judge thought that the use of the word " if " suggested a doubt as to the correctness of the explanation he had already given and stated that the editor was thereby merely aggravating the offence. Mr. Robson having answered that in view of-his imperfect knowledge he could only offer a conditional and qualified apology, was placed in custody for contempt. A public meeting was at once held at which resolutions supporting the editor and condemning the judge were passed, and the Hon. Malcolm Cameron was asked to demand from the Imperial authorities an investigation into the land and other speculations of the public functionaries of British Columbia. On breaking up, the meeting paraded to the gaol and gave cheers for the editor and groans for the judge. From his cell, Mr. Robson poured out his " Voice from the Dungeon." On December 5th, after being imprisoned for five days, having made one of those casuistical apologies, so frequent in libel actions, he was released. The gist of his apology was that the judge having stated that he had paid ten shillings an acre for the twenty acres, the newspaper was in error in saying he had obtained the land as a gift and hence he apologized therefor. Later developments, including a letter from Dud Moreland himself, left considerable doubt as to the real nature of the transaction.1 Mention is also made of the mysterious fire which destroyed the office of the British Columbian early on the morning of September 29, 1866. There seemed little doubt that the blaze was incendiary, and the police offered a reward of $500 for the apprehension of the person or persons responsible. The building and printing plant were valued at between $4,000 and $5,000. No insurance was carried. A public subscription to assist Robson was opened immediately, and the generous response of the people of New Westminster enabled him to acquire the plant and premises of the defunct North Pacific Times. Matters were arranged so quickly that the Columbian, which was then published twice weekly, only missed a single issue. As noted below, Suter's remark about the punishment received by Robson " for his coarse abuse " can only be interpreted as a reference to an episode which occurred in the spring of 1868. The vote in the Legislative Council on the removal of the capital from New Westminster to Victoria had taken place on April 2, and on the 20th of the same month Robson was assaulted and painfully injured by a fellow member of the Council, the Hon. R. T. Smith. According to the late W. H. Ladner, the motive (1) Scholefield and Howay, British Coh 3-664. 1940 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. 205 was revenge for an effort made by Robson to prevent Smith, who favoured the removal of the capital to Victoria, from voting, on the ground that he (Smith) was a bankrupt and should therefore forfeit his seat in the Council. Ladner was in a position to know the facts, as he and Smith had been partners in business. Their firm had invested heavily in supplies and provisions at the time of the Big Bend excitement in 1865-66, and when the rush to the Columbia River diggings collapsed, trade collapsed with it. Apparently no proceedings in bankruptcy were taken for the moment, but Robson was evidently aware of Smith's financial distress and endeavoured to turn it to account when the crucial vote on the removal of the capital approached. In this he was not successful, but it is interesting to note that a petition for adjudication of bankruptcy was filed against Ladner himself on April 3, the day after the vote was taken. Following the assault, Smith was hailed into Court, but was let off with a fine of £5. This leniency was naturally resented by Robson, who denounced the sentence as " a mere mockery of justice " in a long and stormy editorial in the British Columbian. A brief outline of Robson's career as a journalist may be of interest and value. In September, 1860, the office and press of the New Westminster Times, which had commenced publication in 1859 in Victoria, were moved to the Royal City, and it is said that Robson, who had been disabled earlier in the year by an accident to his foot, joined the staff of the paper. In any event, early in 1861 it was arranged that the Times should move back to Victoria, and so leave the Mainland field clear for a new journal to be owned and edited by Robson. This paper, the British Columbian, first appeared on February 13,1861. All went well until 1868, when the capital of the United Colony was transferred to Victoria. The fortunes of New Westminster then fell to such a low ebb that it was unable to support a newspaper, and in March, 1869, Robson and the British Columbian moved to Victoria. At the same time the paper, which had been issued tri-weekly, became a daily, in order to compete with the Victoria Colonist. It quickly became evident, however, that there was insufficient business in the city for two papers. D. W. Higgins, proprietor of the Colonist, solved the problem by purchasing the Columbian, which ceased publication on July 25. At 1 206 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. July the same time Robson was appointed editor of the Colonist, a position he held until early in 1875. For the next four years Robson was Paymaster and Purveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railway Surveys. When this office was abolished in 1879, he returned to New Westminster. In the interval since the demise of the British Columbian, J. C. Brown had started a new paper on the Mainland, the Dominion Pacific Herald. In October, 1880, Brown was appointed postmaster at New Westminster, and immediately sold the Herald to Robson. The first issue to appear under his editorship was dated October 16. In August, 1881, Robson was joined by his brother, David, who was also a journalist, and who had sold the Collingwood Bulletin in order to come to British Columbia. Although the Dominion Pacific Herald was firmly established, John Robson evidently preferred the title of his old paper, for on January 4, 1882, the Herald gave way to a new British Columbian. As things turned out, Robson's personal association with it was to be relatively brief. He was elected to the Legislature in July, 1882, and early in 1883 was appointed Provincial Secretary and Minister of Finance in the Smithe Government. This necessitated his residence in Victoria, and in February the Columbian was turned over to David Robson & Company. Later it was taken over by the British Columbian Printing Company, Limited, of which David Robson was manager, and in 1888 was sold to Kennedy Brothers. A word about J. K. Suter may be added in conclusion. He was a native of Scotland, and came to British Columbia in the . early sixties. After spending some time in the upper country, he settled in Victoria, where he joined the staff of the Colonist. He subsequently moved to New Westminster and there founded the Mainland Guardian in August, 1869. It ceased publication in 1889. Suter died in New Westminster on December 18, 1899, d76. W. K. L. 1940 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. 207 1. From the British Columbian, July 8, 1882. PERSONAL—HISTORICAL. For some time past the local organ [the Mainland Guardian] of a demoralized administration [the Beaven Government] has been devoting its whole energy and most of its editorial space to the interesting work of heaping personal abuse upon Mr. Robson—endeavouring to make him out a failure, a " dead-beat" both as a public journalist and a politician, one who never did and never will exert the slightest influence in public affairs. Perhaps Mr. Robson ought really to feel grateful for the opportunities thus afforded of making personal explanations and statements which, under other circumstances, he might experience some delicacy in presenting to the public. At any rate these coarse and venomous personal attacks must plead our excuse for offering the following historical jottings—chiefly designed for such of the Electors in' New Westminster District as may have come here since these occurrences took place. Many of the old settlers will bear witness to the accuracy of most of these statements, every one of which is susceptible of proof. In the year 1860 Mr. Robson, laying down the axe and shovel, took up the pen and commenced the publication of the British Columbian newspaper,2 a paper which soon became an acknowledged power in the Six years later he was elected Mayor of this City [New Westminster] (a position at that period accounted honorable) and soon afterwards Member for the City and District in the Legislative Council. His parliamentary duties were discharged with so much acceptance that he was the recipient of a very flattering address, accompanied by a purse containing $600 in gold coin. He was re-elected by acclamation for a second term, during which he discharged his duties with equal satisfaction to his constituents. The seat of government having been removed from New Westmin- ' ster in 1808 [sic, 1868], the city dwindled down to a very low ebb, and ceased to be an important political centre, and Mr. Robson, with the fullest concurrence of his friends, removed temporarily to Victoria, where the important public questions of the period—particularly the questions of Confederation and Responsible Government—had to be fought out. In the summer of 1869 Mr. Robson was induced by some of the most influential men of that time to accept the position of responsible editor of the Colonist at a monthly salary of $250, and in dping so he was the innocent cause of displacing a person by the name of J. K. Suter, who was at that time employed on the editorial staff of that journal at a salary of $55 a month. Whether or not that little circumstance may (2) Publication of the British Columbian did not commence until February, 1861, but the Columbian was the successor to the Mainland edition of the New Westminster Times, the staff of which Robson seems to have joined 208 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. July have contributed towards the rancorou since exhibited by that person toward: public to judge. During the five years and a half that Mr. Robson held the position it was universally admitted that he did much towards securing for the Colonist a leading position in the country, and it is certain that he changed its tone to one of uniform friendliness to this part of the Province. During the early part of 1870, the last session in which Mr. Robson sat for New Westminster, the Terms of Union of Canada were discussed and framed, a work in which it is scarcely necessary to say he took a very prominent part—as, indeed, he had done in advocating Confederation and Responsible Government for years before. He had the satisfaction of being instrumental in obtaining several concessions, the most important of which was Responsible Government. The following extracts from the official report of the debates which took place on the Terms of Union will help to show in what estimation Mr. Robson was held. Responsible Government being the immediate subject of discussion, HON. MR. TRUTCH (having disposed of Mr. Humphrey's speech) said:—" But, sir, the argument of the Hon. Member for New Westminster [John Robson] is of a very different character. I congratulate him and I congratulate the House on the manner in which the matter was treated by . . . The Hon. Member for New Westminster, in his powerful oration, has not only allured us with the prospects of popularity under Responsible Government, but he has, I will not say threatened, but warned us of the results of opposing him in this matter." Replying more particularly to Mr. Robson's contention that the people of i British Columbia were fit for self-government and that there were many working men in the country well qualified to take seats round the Legislative table, HON. MR. WALKEM said:—"The main speech, for the Hon. Member for Victoria District (Mr. DeCosmos) did not deign to express his views, has been that of the Hon. Member for New Westminster. As I listened to that speech, sir, one of the best ever uttered in this House, I almost felt that for five long years I had been wrong. He almost made a convert of me. . . . I coincide with the Hon. Member for New Westminster as to what Tie says about callous hands. I believe there are men with tattered garments in the country quite capable of giving a sensible vote upon all questions likely to come before a Council in this Colony. . . . Those gentlemen with the patched garments and callous hands have the same opportunity that the Member for New Westminster has had of coming into this House. He has told us with pride of his hard work as a pioneer on the Fraser river, and to-day we hear him advocating with most eloquent language his views upon the great question. His voice has had much to do with shaping the councils of this House, and I ask, are these doors shut to any man in the Colony of equal talent with the honorable gentlemen who can be found willing to devote their time to the service of their country? " John Robson versus J. K. Suter. It will be observed that the above quoted acknowledgements came from opponents—gentlemen with whom Mr. Robson was contending in a hand-to-hand struggle for the political rights of the people. At the close of that session Mr. Robson was sent for by Governor Musgrave and invited to go to Ottawa as one of the Delegates to arrange with the Canadian Government for the admission of British Columbia upon the Terms passed by the Legislature or upon such modified terms as might be mutually agreed upon—an invitation which Mr. Robson, for business reasons, hesitated to accept, and other arrangements were made. In 1871 Mr. Robson, in response to a pressing invitation, consented to become a candidate for the representation of the important District of Nanaimo in the new Legislature. He was elected, and represented that constituency with complete satisfaction until, in April, 1875, he accepted service under the Dominion Government, as Paymaster and Purveyor of the C.P.R.S. [Canadian Pacific Railway Surveys] in British Columbia, at a salary of $6,000. It was while representing Nanaimo that Mr. Robson was offered and refused a seat in the McCreight Ministry. For four years (less two months) Mr. Robson continued to hold the important and very responsible Dominion appointment, during which period considerably over a million of dollars was disbursed by him and the whole business of that vast service managed to the entire satisfaction of the Department at Ottawa. During the period he held that appointment, as well as subsequently, Mr. Robson employed every legitimate means in his power for the purpose of having the railway brought down the valley of the Fraser, and he had the satisfaction of being invited to Ottawa in the spring of 1878 in connection with that question; and he had the still greater satisfaction of knowing that he was enabled to render important service in that direction. Since then Mr. Robson has dared to renew the publication of the British Columbian* and once more lift up his Italics against bad government and in defence of the rights of the people; and he has succeeded in a few months in building up a first-class newspaper business —a business which makes his local contemporary green with envy. Worse still, Mr. Robson has had the astounding presumption to aspire once more to represent in the Legislature the place of his first choice, the scene of his pioneer struggles, the District in which his large property interests are situated! These simple and unvarnished facts may suffice for the present as an answer to the vituperation constantly flowing through the columns of the Guardian. They may aid such of the Electors as have not had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with Mr. Robson and his antecedents to come to a correct conclusion respecting his fitness to do them good service in the most important crisis of our country's history. (3) It will be remembered that Robson had been publishing the Dominion Pacific Herald in New Westminster since October, 1880, though its name had been changed to British Columbian only in January, 1882. 11 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. 2. Froi e Mainland Guardian, July 12, 1 PERSONAL—HISTORICAL. We have evidently effected " a raw " through the ponderous hide of honest John. His shameless attempt to brazen out and glaze over his own personal record, is about the best illustration of the man that could be produced. He is so weak as to think that gross falsehood and impudence are likely to impose on the electors of this district. But, happily, there are too many of the old residents still with us, who know the fellow intimately, and can remember his career to their cost, with great distinctness. In 1860, as this man states, he left the axe and the shovel for the pen—a great misfortune for the people of this Province. A number of persons here, from mistaken kindness, or those of his own set, from a desire to satisfy personal spite on'the respectable portion of the inhabitants by whom they were treated with contempt, subscribed for a small press and plant. Honest John, unprincipled and untrammeled with the feelings of a gentleman, immediately began to serve the ill-conditioned portion of his subscribers, and was not long before he was sent to gaol for insulting the Judges.4 He was afterwards punished on several occasions for his coarse abuse,5 until at last those identified with him as having furnished with the means of printing a scurrilous paper, were glad to get rid of him with a memorial and a purse,6 by this means hoping to lay the evil spirit they had raised. Honest John is peculiarly cut out for a hack politician; he has a lot of stereotyped language like a penny showman, a shameless countenance, and the facility, in a very humble way, of a penny-a-liner. His office here was burned in a very mysterious way.7 It must be remembered his plant was a small one, and useless in any other place. After the fire he made.a piteous appeal to the people of this city and district, and they, with characteristic liberality, furnished him with a considerable sum of money in order to provide him with a new plant. No sooner had he secured the new plant than he took it down to Victoria, and there started a paper which had a short and weakly existence.8 But the proprietor of the Colonist, in order to prevent the plant getting into hands that might turn to more account against the Colonist than honest John was capable of, agreed to give him a stipulated sum per month, H.J. to give his own services in the Colonist to boot. The writer, at that time, occupied the editorial chair at the Colonist, and that paper was then, at least, respectably conducted. We may note, in passing, that honest John, with an evident (4) Refers to Robson's imprisonment for contempt of Court in 1862. See introduction. (5) The only possible reference would appear to be to the assault by Smith in 1868. See Introduction. (6) The memorial is quoted by Robson, infra. (7) On September 29, 1866. See Introduction. (8) Robson moved the British Columbian to Victoria in March, 1869, where it ceased publication in July. 1940 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. 211 object, tells a direct falsehood about the writer's salary. The proprietor of the Colonist tried to retain the writer in his services, but the latter declined to act as co-adjutor to a man of honest John's stamp. The Colonist then began the career for which it has since been noted, and, in consequence, has fallen from the pinnacle on which it had been placed by the original proprietor. It will then, be seen, that H. J. made a handsome profit out of the charity bestowed on him by the people of this city and district: he afterwards sold the plant. In the vain hope of securing the Government patronage, honest John once more effected his entrance into the local Parliament as member for Nanaimo, but his previous career was so well known that, prepared as he was to stoop to any mean action, no party would have anything to do with him. There was probably no man in Victoria at the time, pretending to respectability, who was so generally disliked by all classes. In due course Mr. Edgar9 came to this country, anxious to appease the Victorians, and, by some odd circumstance, he was led to suppose that the Colonist was such an influential paper, and honest John such a talented man, that the administration of " Balm " to these worthies would allay the irritation so prevalent in Victoria. It is stated that the Colonist was very handsomely treated, and honest John, for his share, received the paymastership for the railway survey. How completely poor Edgar was hoodwinked, is now a matter of history, and the futility of the Colonist help is equally well known. The proprietor of the Colonist, doubtless was made happy, and so was honest John, who continued for a time to make the best of his position; but there was a term put to his felicity. There was an enquiry at Ottawa, and honest John was discharged. Let us draw the curtain here. It is sufficient to say that his name " honest" John was conferred upon him about this time. We have given a very brief sketch of H.J.'s. career. Our object is simply to reply to an article intended to be self lauditory, in the last issue of his paper. He gives some phrases from the speeches of Mr. Trutch and Mr. Walkem, long ago, in relation to himself; he should have given the speeches entire, and the circumstances under which they were spoken, and it would then have been clearly apparent that the seeming praise was merely sarcasm. As proof of this, we append an extract from a Victoria paper of the time:— A STINGING REPLY.—The Hon. member for Nanaimo, got a well merited reply in the Local Legislature the other day. The circumstances of the narrative are as follows:—Mr. Robson in his whining manner, so familiar and so detestable to every member of the House, had just advocated his Bill to give Nanaimo an additional representative and also to procure for Cassiar the privilege of one representative. All went well until the Hon. member discovered that the Bill would be rejected, when he " got up on his hind legs" and accused the Government of attempting to kill him (9) J. D. (later Sir James) Edgar, who was sent to British Columbia by the Mackenzie Government in February, 1874, to confer with the Walkem Government in an effort to smooth out the railway difficulties between the Province and the Dominion. John Robson versus J. K. Suter. politically, no matter how good the cause he pleaded for. He also supplemented his remark by saying that it was only too evident members of the Government were " afraid " of him. Finally the hon. gentleman sat down, and Mr. Walkem the Hon. Attorney General " rose to explain." He said " Mr. Speaker, I reject [sic, regret] that the Hon. member for Nanaimo has accused me as leader of the Government of attempting to kill him:— why, Sir, such a thing is actually out of the question, for it is well known that it is utterly impossible to kill a Corpse, and such to all intents and purposes is the Hon. member for Nanaimo politically. As for being afraid of him—why? Simply because we cannot trust him, and he knows it." It is needless to add that this stinging answer was well merited and elicited applause from all parts of the house. Robson has since ordered his coffin for his political corpse.10 3. From the British Columbian, July 15, 1882. MORE SHAMELESS SLANDERS. The conduct of the Government organ in this city during the present provincial contest is a most conspicuous exhibition of personal vindictiveness and moral depravity. So soon as it became known that Mr. John Robson would be a candidate for the representation of this district, the Guardian opened the flood-gates of its billingsgate and resorted to the most cowardly stratagems with the object, if possible, of accomplishing his defeat. The organ had a legitimate right to oppose Mr. Robson's election, if it saw fit, and to discuss fully his political opinions and personal fitness for the position he sought. But no journal has a right, either in law or justice, to manufacture slanders and keep on repeating the most contemptible and groundless insinuations merely for political effect. A man's character is his sacred trust. If it be dishonorable, he must suffer the shame of his own acts: if it be upright, the enemy who assails it with suspicious surmises of possible crimes which he is too cowardly to name is not less to be dreaded than the midnight assassin. In a late issue of the Columbian there appeared a brief statement of facts setting forth a sketch of Mr. Robson's public career in British Columbia. There was no assertion in that statement which is not abundantly capable of proof, and which is not well known to hundreds who are still resident in this province. But the organ of a defeated party could not pass by the opportunity for attempting the moral and political assassination of one whose influence he evidently dreads. In his last issue appeared an article which, for meanness and criminal falsehood, has seldom been equalled by any public journalist. There are doubtless many in this district who know nothing of these matters, and some who may possibly allow themselves to be influenced in their votes by the gross libels of the organ. To prevent such a result we (10) This quotation has not been found either in the Colon Standard, which were the papers published in Victoria at the tin tion. It would appear to be based in part upon the much short of the incident in the Standard for March 16, 1875. r the John Robson versus J. K. Suter. propose briefly to notice a few of the organ's slanders. Most of the statements, it may be promised [premised?], are so utterly inconsistent with ordinary probability, and with themselves, that every intelligent elector will at once dismiss them as slanderous and absurd. The organ suggests that Mr. Robson had a small printing plant which would have been useless anywhere else; that he burned it so as to get a better one; that he then made a "piteous appeal" to the people of this city and district who, with great liberality, presented him with a much better plant, which he immediately took to Victoria. Now, the facts (and they may be proved in a court of justice when the contest is over) are simply these: In the fall of 1866 the Columbian plant and buildings were burned, and it was very generally believed at the time that the fire was kindled by a political enemy. The printing plant was not a small one, but large and complete—amply sufficient for the publication of a tri-weekly paper which was then issued. The loss in plant and buildings could not have been less than double the cost of the plant so promptly supplied by a generous and indignant people. Mr. Robson made no appeal, piteous or otherwise, for the purchase and presentation of the new plant were arranged entirely without his knowledge, and were completed before the fire in the smouldering ruins had been extinguished! The new plant was not taken to Victoria immediately, for the British Columbian continued to be published for nearly three years after the fire, and in its columns was fought the great battle of the removal of the capital. When it and Mr. Robson removed to Victoria in 1879 [sic, 1869] it was with the fullest concurrence of those who had contributed towards its purchase. On that occasion every man in the community (except two who had not contributed towards the plant) joined in the following address: " TO THE HON. JOHN ROBSON.—SIR:—We, the undersigned inhabitants of the city and district of New Westminster, wish to express to you the regret we feel at your departure from amongst us. We believe it would be unjust to you, not alone as a journalist of eight years standing in this nity, but also as our representative in the Legislative Council, if we to allow you to leave us without some expression of our sentiments on icasion. We would, therefore, now assure you that although we deeply t your departure, we are at the same time fully impressed with its that, in leaving us, you are in no way forfeiting the confidence which we have hitherto reposed in you. We would also, though some of us differ with you on political questions, take the opportunity of expressing our sense of the ability and zeal with which you have advocated any measures which you have felt would be beneficial to the public or to your constituents, and the attention which you have given to any matters entrusted to your care which you felt at liberty to advocate. Trusting that your removal will be the means of increasing your sphere of usefulness, and wishing you every success and prosperity in your new undertaking, we remain, yours, &s., JAMES CUNNINGHAM," and upwards of 150 others. So much for this slander. The organ says " there w: as discharged! " There w: o Government official e 214 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. July The Dominion Government office held for four years by Mr. Robson, it may be mentioned, was created by the administration from whom he received his appointment, and abolished by their successors.11 The change of Government took place in the fall of 1878, and on the 11th of February, 1879, Mr. Robson received the following telegram from Ottawa: " The office of Paymaster and Purveyor having been abolished, your services are no longer required. You will, therefore, please hand over to Mr. Creighton the books and Government property under your charge. F. BRAUN, Secy." n enquiry at Ottawa, and Honest John o enquiry at Ottawa or anywhere else, even suggested the suspicion that the affairs of the department had not been honestly and efficiently managed by Mr. Robson. On the contrary, in the spring of 1879, when Mr. Dewdney mentioned the matter to Sir Charles Tupper he received the following reply: "I abolished the office to save expense, because Mr. Fleming (chief engineer) reported to me that it was unnecessary." It may also be mentioned that the office of paymaster and purveyor on the Thunder Bay section of the C.P.R. was abolished at the same time and the services of the officer dispensed with. There is nothing in the whole transaction over which the organ, with its contemptible hypocrisy, need " draw the curtain." He may investigate as much as he pleases and bring to light every transaction connected with that service, and Mr. Robson will thank him for the publication of his discoveries. So far from suspecting crookedness, Sir Charles Tupper even conceded Mr. Robson his salary for the unexpired portion of February and a month's salary as gratuity, making $375 more than could have been claimed by law. But there was an enquiry at Ottawa. The Railway Commission appointed by the present Government12 sat there for months enquiring into every department of the railway administration during the existence of the Mackenzie Government, but even they found nothing crooked in the accounts of the British Columbia purveyor's office. Any man who was influenced in the least by honest purpose would certainly consider it a credit to Mr. Robson that he had been able to fill so responsible an office for four years and leave a record against which the breath of suspicion has never been raised except by the unprincipled slanderer of the Guardian. During these four years, as already intimated, he disbursed about $1,000,000, and had occasion more than once to draw from the bank, on his own cheque, lump sums of $20,000, but every dollar of the whole expenditure was accounted for to the complete satisfaction of the department at Ottawa. It is scarcely necessary to add one word to the above statement of facts. The irresponsible hireling who does the local Government's (11) The Mackenzie , and the Macdonald Govern 1940 John Robson versus J. K. Suter. 215 dirty work in this city knows perfectly that his venomous insinuations respecting Mr. Robson's official acts are absolutely without foundation. He knows.that these insinuations are thrown out for a political purpose, and that they are intended to deceive those electors who have recently arrived in this province and know no better. The trick is such as no man would resort to except a coward and a moral assassin—and the editor of the Guardian is both. n NOTES AND COMMENTS. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Victoria Section. The association of the name of Moresby with British Columbia was the title of the most interesting address delivered before the Section on May 27 by Mr. William Moresby, K.C., of Victoria. The name itself was apparently of Danish origin, and the family tree could be traced back to Sir Christopher Moresby, a Yorkshire gentleman, who was knighted in 1471. In the 17th century the family moved to Cumberland, where, in the small village of Moresby, Moresby Hall and Manor House still stand. The first member of the family to visit what is now British Columbia was Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby, who was born in Calcutta in 1787 and entered the Royal Navy in 1799. In 1849 he was 1850 to 1853 was commander-in-chief oi of his long and active career he had s appointed Rear-Admiral and f a the Pacific Station. In the coi urveyed Algoa Bay, in South Afrit and spent several energetic years suppressing the slave trade. While on this coast he cruised and surveyed as far north as the Queen Charlotte Islands. Moresby Island and Moresby Passage, in Haro Strait, were named after him, and it will be recalled that the southern main island of the Queen Charlotte group is also named Moresby. Sir Fairfax became an Admiral in 1862, an Admiral of the Fleet in 1870, and died in 1877, at the ripe old age of 90 years. His elder son, Fairfax Moresby, was flag lieutenant on H.M.S. Portland, which was the flagship of Sir Fairfax when he was on the Pacific Station. He was drowned in 1858, when in command of H.M.S. Sappho, when the vessel was lost with all hands in Bass Strait. A younger son, John Moresby, was gunnery lieutenant in H.M.S. Thetis, Captain Kuper, when that vessel arrived in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1852. The Thetis was based on Esquimalt for eight months, and for a part of the time young Moresby was in charge of the construction of the Old Esquimalt Road. Later he sat as a judge in the first trial ever held in the Colony of Vancouver Island. A settler had been murdered by two Indians, who fled to Nanaimo, and Governor Douglas, accompanied by officers and marines from the Thetis proceeded thither in the famous old steamer Beaver to apprehend them. They were finally captured and tried on January 17, 1853, condemned to death, and duly executed on the shore at the spot now known as Gallows Point, near Nanaimo. After a long and distinguished career, John Moresby was promoted to the rank of Admiral, and in later years he wrote a book entitled Two Admirals, which described his own and his father's experiences. Admiral John Moresby's daughter, the late Mrs. L. Adams Beck, resided for some years in Victoria. She was a very well-known writer, both under her own name and her pseudonym, E. Barrington. The speaker dealt next with the career of his grandfather, William Moresby, who was a younger brother of Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby. 217 218 Notes and Comments. William was a barrister of the Inner Temple, and he and his family spent a few years in China in the fifties, after which they returned to England. In 1861 he came to Victoria and opened a law office. His wife and family followed him the same year, and arrived safely after a tedious passage which had lasted no less than six months and twenty days. William Moresby, junior, father of the speaker, was articled to a barrister at a very early age, soon after the family reached Victoria, but presently he caught the gold fever and spent several years in the Cariboo. In 1868 he entered the police service and became assistant jailer at New Westminster. Ten years later, in 1878, he was appointed Governor of the New Westminster prison, a post he retained until 1895. He then left the service of the Provincial Government to become warden of the penitentiary at New Westminster. He died in November, 1896. Many and varied duties came the way of a jailer and prison governor in earlier days, and Mr. Moresby outlined some of the interesting and extraordinary cases in which his father played a prominent and frequently a courageous part. One of William Moresby's sisters married John Carmichael Haynes, whose career, by a coincidence, is dealt with elsewhere in this issue of the Quarterly. Another sister married E. H. (later Judge) Sanders, who started his career as Gold Commissioner at Yale, in 1859. Mr. Moresby's maternal grandfather was William Edwards, a member of the company of Royal Engineers who arrived in the Thames City, in 1859. He was accompanied by his wife and also by his small daughter, who was then only a few months old. William Edwards had a share in the work of building the Cariboo Road, and was one of the contingent sent to Bentinck Arm following the massacre of the Waddington party, in 1864. Following his early death, Mrs. Edwards opened what is believed to have been the first school in New Westminster. The pupils were chiefly children of the Royal It should also be noted that Ellen Moresby, daughter of Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby, married Captain J. C. Prevost, who, in 1856, was appointed to the command of H.M.S. Satellite. In 1858 the Satellite was stationed in the mouth of the Fraser River to collect licences and duties from the miners who were flocking up-stream to the gold diggings near Hope and Yale. On February 18, 1859, Captain Prevost wrote to William Moresby, senior, from H.M.S. Satellite, describing the gold-rush and expressing the opinion that the number of persons involved reached a total of 30,000. This letter, along with a number of other documents of great his- s presented to the Provincial Archives by Mr. Moresby at the conclusi. i of his addre Vancouver Section. Mr. J. R. V. Dunlop presided at the fourth annual dinner meeting of the Section, which was held in the Aztec Room, Hotel Georgia, on Friday, April 19. It was one of the largest annual gatherings of the Section, and from the standpoint of historical interest probably the most outstanding. Sir James Douglas, the Father of British Columbia, was the topic which the speaker of the evening, Dr. W. N. Sage, head of the Department of Notes and Comments. 219 History at the University of British Columbia, had chosen, and there was in his audience a man who had known Douglas personally. James William Sinclair, the grandson of Dr. John McLoughlin, and Douglas's " white- haired boy," told of his conversations with the Governor, whom he used to meet each morning on his way to school, and of the circumstances under which he secured the autographed picture of Sir James which he showed to the r mbers, Dr. Sage outlined the activities of Sir James Dough governor, and showed the way in which his contributio of other men whose names are connected with the early history of the Province. Of particular interest was his description and discussion of the cumstances of Douglas's retirement, upon which various documents earthed in recent years have thrown new light. In moving a vote of thanks to the speaker, Mr. E. S. Robinson referred not only to Dr. Sage's interesting address but also to his work among graduates and students of the Univ sity. ings from the Provincial Council and from the Victoria Section were brought by Dr. T. A. Rickard, who, with Mrs. Rickard, was the guest of the Vancouver Section. Mr. E. N. Cotton, President of the New Westminster and Fraser Valley Section, spoke as a representative of that group, many of whom were present. Dr. W. Kaye Lamb gave a brief report on publications, and referred to his forthcoming move from the Provincial Archives to the University Library. A group of most enjoyable musical numbers was contributed by the Blue Jackets Quartette, composed of Gordon Blythe, Lome Daly, Horace E. Chapman, and Archie Runcie, accompanied by R. A. Douglas. [Helen R. Boutilier, Secretary.] CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. Edmond S. Meany, jr., Ph.D., is a graduate of the University of Washington. He received his doctor's degree from Harvard University in 1936, for which he submitted a thesis on The History of the Lumber Industry of the Pacific Northwest to 1917. He was a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, in 1935-36, and Assistant Archivist in the Division of Classification of the United States National Archives in 1936-37. Since 1937 he has been Instructor in History at the Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Meany is the author of A Survey of Research in Forest Land Ownership (1939), and is now making a further study of the history of the lumber industry in the Northwest. J. A. Lower, M.A., is a member of the staff of the University Hill School, Vancouver. His article in this issue is based upon a thesis on the history of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway which he submitted for the degree of Master of Arts at the University of British Columbia. Mrs. Hester E. White is a daughter of the late John Carmichael Haynes, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere. She has long taken an active interest both in the history of the Okanagan and in the Indians of the district. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION* Organized October 31st, 1922. PATRON. His Honour Eric W. Hamber, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, OFFICERS, 1939-40. Hon. G. M. Weir .... Honorary President. T. A. Rickard President. Kenneth A. Waites 1st Vice-President. B. A. McKelvie 2nd Vice-President. G. H. Harman ----- Honorary Treasurer. Muriel R. Cree Honorary Secretary. Robie L. Reid - - **^- - - Archivist. MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. F. W. Howay J. M. Coady H. T. Nation J. C. Goodfellow Helen R. Boutilibr B. A. McKelvie (Victoria Section). J. R. V. Dunlop (Vancouver Section). E. M. Cotton (New Westminster and Fraser Valley Section). OBJECTS. To encourage historical research and stimulate public interest in history; to promote the preservation and marking of historic sites, buildings, relics, natural features, and other objects and places of historical interest, and to publish historical sketches, studies, and documents. MEMBERSHIP. Ordinary members pay a fee of $2 annually in advance. The fiscal year commences on the first day of October. All members in good standing receive the British Columbia Historical Quarterly without further charge. All correspondence and fees should be addressed in care of the Secretary, Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY OCTOBER, 1940 1 1 H BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY B.C., October, 1940. CONTENTS. Articles: David Douglas in British Columbia. By A. G. Harvey The Discovery of the Fraser River: the Second P By F. W. Howay. The Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. By Sylvia L. Thrupp Documents : The Annexation Petition of 1869. With an introduction by Willard E. Ireland.... Notes and Comments: British Columbia Historical Association Similkameen Historical Association New Provincial Archivist Contributors to this Issue CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. Articles: Coal-mining on Burrard Inlet, 1865-66. By F. W. Howay Why " Bits "? By Robie L. Reid " Empress to the Orient" Part I. By W. Kaye Lamb_.. The Astronomy of the Explor By J. S. Plaskett " Empress to the Orient." Pi By W. Kaye Lamb b Construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in British Columbia. y J. A. Lower John Carmichael Haynes: Pioneer o, By Hester E. White David Douglas in British Columbia. By A. G. Harvey_. The Discovery of the Fraser River: the Second Phase. By F. W. Howay The Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. By Sylvia L. Thrupp Documents : The Census of Vancouver Island, 1855. With an introduction and notes Helmcken's Diary of the Confederation Negotiations, 1870. With an introduction and notes by Willard E. Ireland John Robson versus J. K. Suter. An exchange of articles regarding Robson's early caree nally printed in 1882 The Annexation Petition of 1869. With an introduction by Willard E. Ireland Notes and Comments 59,1 The Northwest Bookshelf: Waddington's The Necessity of Refor it of Crown Colony Imprints— ERRATA. •t and Prince George a Page 137, line 11. For Amer Page 180, line 22. The Princt designed to burn coal, and were been in service for some years. Page 205, line 16. For hailed read haled. Page 218, lines 26-28. This sentence should read: " early death of William Moresby, Sr., Mrs. Moresby opened v to have been the first school in New Westminster." DAVID DOUGLAS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.! My story comes from an early period of British Columbia history, the period which followed the coastal explorations of Cook and Vancouver and the cross-country expeditions of Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser, and which preceded the gold-rush. It was the rather dull intervening period when fur- traders ruled the country and their forts were the only outposts of civilization. The largest post in the territory now comprising British Columbia was then Fort St. James, far north on Stuart Lake, founded in 1806, the second oldest permanent settlement in this Province. Let us go back then to the year 1833—four years before the coronation of Queen Victoria. One day in June there arrived at Fort St. James, with the Hudson's Bay Company's annual brigade from the south, a young Scotsman. There was nothing unusual in that, for many of the fur-traders were Scottish. But this Scotsman did not look like a fur-trader. He carried flowers and weeds in his hands and had more in a tin box (vasculum) slung over his shoulder. At his heels trotted a shaggy little Scotch terrier. He had a white man-servant and some Indians to help him with his horses and baggage. He was laden with botanical equipment and with instruments for taking geographical and astronomical observations. Quite clearly he was not a fur- trader. Instead, he was a nature student and a collector of botanical specimens and birds. That was unusual. Fort St. James never before had been visited by a man of science. In fact, this was the first white man of any kind, other than a fur-trader, to visit the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Pacific Northwest. But before dealing with his journey to Fort St. James, let us sketch briefly his earlier life. (1) General authorities: David Douglas: Journals, London, 1914; David Douglas: Journal and letters, in Companion to Botanical Magazine, London, II. (1836)—reprinted in Hawaiian Spectator, Honolulu, II. (1839), and Oregon Historical Quarterly, Portland, V. & VI. (1904-1905); Edward Sabine: Report on Douglas' Observations, MS., Royal Society, London. 222 A. G. Harvey. October David Douglas, for that was the visitor's name,2 was born in 1799, of humble parentage, at Scone, the little village in Perthshire which had been the ancient capital of Scotland. Early in life he became interested in nature study, and preferred rambling, fishing, and bird's-nesting to school-work. The high spiritedness, inquisitiveness, and determination which marked his later life and which led to his tragic death, already were in evidence. He collected all sorts of birds, and sometimes had difficulty in finding food for them. At one time he had some young owls which he fed with mice—when he could catch the mice—but when the mice were too elusive, as frequently happened, he fed his pet owlets with beef liver bought with the daily penny provided him for buying bread for his own lunch. At the age of ten he was apprenticed in the palace gardens at Scone. His diligence and enthusiasm led to steady advancement. Obtaining a position in the Glasgow Botanic Garden, he became a pupil of Dr. W. J. (later Sir William) Hooker, afterwards famous as Director of Kew Gardens, and was recommended by him to the Royal Horticultural Society of London for a plant-collecting mission to the United States and Upper Canada. This mission was so successful that the Horticultural Society sent him on a similar mission to North-west America, where the Hudson's Bay Company had offered the facilities of its trading- posts and travel routes. After a voyage of eight and a half months, around Cape Horn, Douglas landed at the mouth of the Columbia River in April, 1825. His botanizing began even before he landed. From the ship he spied three kinds of trees: a hemlock, a balsam fir, and one he could not identify. Little did the enthusiastic young man think, as he studied the forest-covered shore, that the strange tree he saw was to be given his name and become the world's greatest producer of structural timber. Douglas was enraptured with the country. The scenery he found sublime: the profusion of flowering plants, the natural meadows, the grand forests of giant trees and the snow-capped mountains. As botanist and nature-lover he found it a virgin field, and plunged into his work with desperate zeal. Archibald 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 223 Menzies, the surgeon who had accompanied Captain Vancouver, had done some plant collecting, but Douglas was the first to specialize in the botany of the North-west, and systematically comb the territory for specimens. Making his headquarters at Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, in the State of Washington, opposite Portland), he travelled up and down the Columbia by canoe or on foot, sometimes with an Indian guide, sometimes with the Hudson's Bay Company's men, but often alone with his dog. The young explorer endured terrible hardships. He had to " live off the country " as he travelled, his food being largely fish, birds, and berries. He became an expert shot and surprised the Indians by his ability to shoot birds on the wing. His journal he wrote by the light of his camp-fire or his " Columbian candle " —a stick containing rosin. Several times his canoe upset, resulting in loss of precious botanical specimens. Frequently he was famished, exhausted, ill; but he persevered. He laboured at his plant collecting under great difficulties. During the early part of the summer the almost continual rains caused the loss of many of his specimens, for in spite of oilcloths he was unable to keep his plants dry or to preserve a single bird. Before he could lie down to sleep it took an hour to dry his blanket. Sometimes he ran short of food and was so weakened by hunger and fatigue that he could only crawl. The change from the wet climate of the lower Columbia to the dry climate of the Interior was equally distressing. A walk of 19 miles across a dry, barren plain at 97° in the shade without a drop of water caused much suffering; at night his feet burned like the hot sand, and the upper part of them was in one big blister. Nevertheless, it was here that he discovered the beautiful Clarkia pulchella and the gaudy mariposa lily, both of which he introduced into England. The natives, too, were troublesome. Like children, they were very inquisitive and took up much time with questions and palaver. Their fleas were not only inquisitive, but "pestiferous" and hard to avoid. Often dependent on the Indians for food or canoes or travel directions, he learned the Chinook language. Often they were treacherous, and would steal or murder if they Tl 224 A. G. Harvey. October thought they would not be punished. Douglas had several narrow escapes from bad-tempered or suspicious Indians. They placed strange interpretations on the white man's inventions. When Douglas made an effervescent drink his canoe- men and guides were much surprised to see him drink it "boiling," as they thought. For this, and for lighting his pipe with the sunlight and a magnifying-glass, they classed him with the bad spirits, and called him olla-piska, the Chinook words for fire. But beyond all their comprehension was his putting spectacles on his nose, leading them immediately to place their hands tight over their mouths in indication of fear or astonishment. Afterwards, as they came to know him better and understood his earnestness in gathering plants, shrubs, and grasses to send to England, the Indians regarded him as one of King George's chiefs and gave him the title of " The Grass Man." Nevertheless he continued his work undaunted; he had a robust constitution and a merry heart; fresh difficulties brought forth fresh enthusiasm and determination, and few seemed insurmountable. Difficult and exhausting as were his journeys, he was happy in the rich harvest of plants which he obtained. His expectations were fully realized. During the six months following his arrival in the country he collected about 500 different specimens (499 to be exact), obtaining as far as possible from twelve to twenty-four samples of each specimen. All of these he carefully dried in paper brought from England for the purpose, and classified and minutely described in his diary. This work he did at Fort Vancouver during the intervals between his journeys. Some of the plants were of peculiar interest. There was the salal, some berries of which Douglas preserved in spirits for sending to England, but which were stolen at Fort Vancouver " by some evil-disposed person—f or the sake of the spirits." There was the camas, an onion-like root baked by the Indians and forming a substantial item of their food. There was the musk-scented monkey flower, which quickly naturalized itself in Great Britain " and so won the hearts of the people that even our grandmothers deemed it old-fashioned,"3 and which has been of particular interest to botanists because of (3) F. J. Chittenden, in Gardener's Chronicle, London, 88 (1930), p. 457. 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 225 its loss of scent.4 Most important of all was the collection of seeds—over a hundred varieties—which were packed in a chest by themselves. These, soon to bloom in European gardens, included the clarkia, the different species of pentstemons, lupines, Oenotheras, ribeses, and a host of other ornamental plants. Little escaped the keen observation of the young student of natural history. His attention was not confined to vegetation; specimens of birds, insects, and animals were also obtained. The fir which he called pinus taxifolia, but which was afterwards named after him, he found nearly everywhere. Its great height proved an obstacle to obtaining cones: his buckshot would not reach them; and the trees were too large to cut down with his hatchet. As to climbing, he had " already learned the propriety of leaving no property at the bottom of a tree." It was some time before he succeeded in getting cones. The gigantic size and compact uniformity of the tree led him to call it " one of the most striking and truly graceful objects in nature." He anticipated its future commercial value, saying:— "The wood may be found very useful for a variety of domestic purposes; the young, slender ones exceedingly well adapted for making ladders and scaffold poles, not being liable to cast; the larger timber for more important purposes, while at the same time the rosin may be found deserving After two years' painstaking labour in.the Columbia River region, and a very hard journey south towards California to find the sugar-pine he returned to England. He had travelled more than 7,000 miles through what is now Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. He went home by way of Hudson Bay, making the tedious overland journey with the Hudson's Bay Company's annual express, travelling up the Columbia to the head of the Big Bend and crossing the Rocky Mountains through Athabaska Pass. This introduced him to our British Columbia terrain (April 19 to May 2, 1827). The journey is described in detail in his published journals and need not be dealt with here. The most noteworthy incident was his climb of one of the Rocky Mountains—the first peak in the Canadian Rockies of (4) See Gardener's Chronicle, London, 45 (1909), p. 267; 75 (1924), p. 79; 88 (1930), pp. 259, 349, 399, 457, 520-1. (5) David Douglas: Journals, 1914, appendix VIIL, p. 340. A. G. Harvey. October which there is any recorded climb. He named this peak Mount Brown and another one near-by he named Mount Hooker, in honour of eminent English botanists.6 His estimates of their altitudes were excessive and led to their being prominently shown on the maps of North America as the most stupendous mountains on the continent. Their true heights were not determined until many years afterwards. After a two years' sojourn in England, during which he was feted and lionized for his botanical discoveries, he came back to Western America in 1830. This time he came trained and equipped for doing work quite different from that formerly undertaken. On his previous expedition Douglas had realized that his limited education prevented him from rendering service to the geographical and physical sciences in keeping with the excellent opportunities afforded by his travels. He regretted particularly his inability to determine geographical positions. The Oregon boundary dispute remained unsettled, and an accurate record of the longitudes, latitudes, and directions of rivers and mountains which might serve as natural boundaries would be valuable from a national standpoint. Accordingly, during his stay in England he underwent a short but arduous course of study in the use of instruments for fixing geographical positions, and the methods of computing the results of observations made with them, together with the essential knowledge of plane and spherical trigonometry and of logarithms. His instructor was Captain (afterwards General Sir Edward) Sabine, Secretary of the Royal Society. The result was that upon his return to America he added the taking of geographical and astronomical observations to his former pursuits. A year and a half was spent in California, many of whose beautiful flowers he introduced into England. He was back on the Columbia River again in 1832, and wintered there. Then followed the journey into the interior of what is now British Columbia, to which reference has already been made. His plan was to go to Fort St. James, then westward to some (6) Robert Brown (1773-1858), first keeper of the botanical department of the British Museum; the greatest botanist of his day. William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865), famous teacher and writer on botany; first director of Kew Gardens. 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 227 of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts on the sea-coast. He hoped to make his way up the coast to the Russian headquarters in Alaska, at Sitka; then cross the Pacific to Siberia, and proceed overland across Asia and Europe back to England, thus completing a journey round the world. His purpose was to compare the vegetation and the astronomical phenomena of America with those of similar latitudes in Asia. He had conceived this ambitious plan while in England. I What a glorious prospect," he wrote Hooker, " thus not only the plants, but a series of observations may be produced, the work of the same individual on both Continents, with the same instruments, under similar circumstances and in corresponding latitudes! I hope I do not indulge my hopes too far. . . . People tell me that Siberia is like a rat-trap, which there is no difficulty in entering, but from which it is not so easy to find egress. I mean at least to put this saying to the test. And I hope that those who know me know also that trifles will not stop me."' He submitted the plan to the Russian ambassador in London, who referred it to his government. Four years later, while in California, Douglas received a letter from the Governor of Alaska, extending a warm welcome and offering a passage from Sitka to Siberia on one of the Russian naval vessels. But while the prospects for the Russian part of the journey were encouraging, those for the journey north and west to the Russian settlements were just as discouraging. New Caledonia, as the territory now comprising the Northern Interior of British Columbia was then called, had a bad reputation among the fur- traders. The climate was (and still is) severe, the temperature sometimes reaching 55° below zero. Food was scarce, the staff of life being salmon, fresh or dried—chiefly the latter—and starvation was not unknown.8 The trading-posts were isolated and the Indians troublesome. Altogether it was a territory to be avoided. Indeed, the fur-traders had such a dread of being sent there that they looked on it as another Botany Bay.9 (7) Companion to Botanical Magazine, II. (1836), p. 143 (reprinted in Oregon Historical Quarterly, VI. (1905), p. 223). (8) See A. G. Morice: History of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Toronto, 3rd edition, 1905, pp. 177-8; John McLean: Notes of twenty-five Years Service in Hudson's Bay Territory, London, 1849, I., p. 251; W. N. Sage: "Peter Skene Ogden's Notes on Western Caledonia," in British Columbia Historical Quarterly, I. (1937), p. 52. (9) John Tod: New Caledonia, MS., Bancroft Library, Berkeley, California, p. 52. fl 228 A. G. Harvey. October Another discouragement was the terrible epidemic of intermittent fever which was raging in the territory along the Columbia. Its ravages amongst the natives were awful. Whole villages were wiped out; the houses being left empty, with famished dogs howling about, while dead bodies lay strewn around in every direction. Whites as well as natives were struck down. Twenty-four of the Hudson's Bay men died; and for a time, the Company's entire business on the Columbia was tied up. Only three whites escaped it altogether, Douglas fortunately being one of that small number. Greatest discouragement of all was his failing eyesight. Exposure to the glare of the sun on the snow while mountain- climbing, and to sun glare on the burning sands of the Interior and California, had seriously affected the sight of both eyes— that of the right eye being gone almost entirely. Such had been his devotion to science that he had become half blind" at the age of 33. But again his determination brushed aside his discouragements; he decided to make a start and go as far as he could, even though he was forced to return. Leaving Fort Vancouver on the 20th of March, 1833, he travelled with the express as far as Fort Okanagan. From here the journey was over territory new to him. Horses were used to ascend the Okanagan Valley —along the east side of the river, and the west side of the lake.10 From the head of Okanagan Lake they crossed over to the junction of the Thompson and North Thompson rivers at Fort Kamloops, or Thompson's River Post, as it often was called. Here the horses were changed and the journey continued along the north shore of Kamloops Lake, up the Bonaparte River11 to Green Lake and Horse Lake, and then northwesterly along the general route of the present Cariboo Road via Lac la Hache and (10) The name now is spelt Okanogan in the United States; Okanagan in Canada. It has the distinction of having been spelt in no less than forty-five different ways. See L. Norris: " Some Place Names," in Sixth Report, Okanagan Historical Society, Vancouver, B.C., 1935, pp. 133-6; W. I. Symons: Report on Upper Columbia River, Washington, D. C, 1882, p. 130. (11) Later, the fur brigade route was up Deadman's Creek. 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 229 Williams Lake to the Fraser River.12 The east bank of the Fraser was then followed to Fort Alexandria,18 where the horses were left. Boats were taken for the remainder of the journey up the Fraser, Nechako, and Stuart rivers to Fort St. James on Stuart Lake, although frequently a portage was used by the fur-traders for the last portion of the journey between Fraser Lake and Stuart Lake.14 Although Douglas began the journey with some trepidation he was well provided as to equipment; and in this there was marked difference from his expeditions of earlier years. For food he had rice and biscuit, with tea, coffee, and sugar, and even a gallon of wine. He had a small tent, and his clothing included a straw hat, a pair of deer-skin trousers, and twelve pairs of moccasins, as well as two pairs of shoes. As presents for the Indians he took a supply of Irish roll tobacco, scalping knives, beads, coat buttons, and hair ribbon.16 Moreover, he went well attended. According to a letter which he wrote to Dr. Hooker, there were my faithful servants, several Indians, ten or twelve horses, and my old terrier, a most faithful and now, to judge from his long gray beard, venerable friend, who has guarded me throughout all my journies, and whom, should I live to return, I mean certainly to pension off on four pennyworth of cat's-meat per day.16 (12) Later, an alternative route went up the North Thompson to Mount Olie, then westerly along the shores of Lac des Roches and Bridge, Sheridan, and Horse Lakes to Lac la Hache, where it joined the old trail. (13) Fort Alexandria afterwards was moved to the west side of the Fraser. Morice, op. cit, p. 194. (14) On the route in general see F. M. Buckland: " The Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail," in Sixth Report, Okanagan Historical Society, Vancouver, B.C., 1935, pp. 13-4; McLean, op. cit, I., p. 307; A. C. Anderson: History of the Northwest Coast, MS., Bancroft Library, pp. 4, 42-4; George Barns- ton: " Abridged Sketch of the life of Mr. David Douglas, Botanist, with a few Details of his travels and discoveries," Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, Montreal, V. (1860), pp. 277-8; F. W. Howay: "British Columbia Brigade Trails," in The Beaver, Winnipeg, Outfit 269, No. 1 (June, 1938), p. 50. (15.) Transfer Book B 239 CC2, 1831-5, Hudson's Bay Company's Archives, London, fol. 897-901. (16) Companion to Botanical Magazine, II. (1836), p. 168 (reprinted in Oregon Historical Quarterly, VI. (1905), p. 306). 230 A. G. Harvey. October As his personal servant he had William Johnson, an employee of the Company, who afterwards became the first permanent settler on the site of the City of Portland, Oregon.17 After a few days at Fort Okanagan, the horse journey with the New Caledonia brigade was begun. They travelled slowly, and Douglas was able to botanize and take astronomical observations and fix geographical positions along the way. Regularly during the whole of the journey he never allowed twelve hours to pass without taking an observation of the sun or stars. A list of the positions is given at the end of this article, together with the modern positions furnished by Major G. G. Aitken, Chief Geographer for British Columbia, as far as he has been able to identify Douglas's observation points. Major Aitken tells me that, speaking generally, the Douglas latitude observations are exceedingly good, considering the instruments and difficulties he had. Naturally, the longitude observations are not so close; although, speaking generally, they are surprisingly near the present-day positions we have. Douglas also undertook the making of field-sketches along the route and did a continuous series of the country travelled from Fort Okanagan to the Quesnel River, showing the natural configuration, with notes on trees, vegetation, and soil. I succeeded in finding Douglas's note-book containing these sketches in England in 1938, and it has since been deposited in the British Columbia Archives. Fort Kamloops, established by the Astorians in 1812, was the half-way house of the northward journey, and here the horses were changed for new ones. During the few days' stay, Douglas had a very serious altercation with Chief Trader Samuel Black, who was in charge of the Post. The incident is related by the historian, H. H. Bancroft, in his History of the North West Coast,ls as follows:— For one who had received from the Hudson's Bay Company nothing but kindness, David Douglas was somewhat free with his comments. He did not like to see that powerful organization which was so ready at all times to sacrifice human life on the altar of their own avarice, so cold and selfishly indifferent outside of their money-making to anything affecting the weal or (17) George B. Roberts: Henry E. Reed: " William Jol XXXIV. (1933), pp. 314-23. (18) San Francisco, 1884, II., pp. 510-511. 1940 Davh) Douglas in British Columbia. 231 woe of their fellow-creatures. And the shaggy Scotchman was not afraid to tell them so. Samuel Black-was then in command of Fort Kamloops, and thither David Douglas in his wanderings repaired. While enjoying the lonely hospitality of his brother Scot, and discussing the affairs of the company, Douglas, who was more fiery than politic, exclaimed: "The Hudson's Bay Company is simply a mercenary corporation; there is not an officer in it with a soul above a beaver-skin." Black was up in arms in a moment. He informed his guest that he was a sneaking reprobate, and challenged him to fight. As it was then dark the duel was postponed until next day. Bright and early in the morning Black tapped at the pierced parchment which served as a window to the guest- chamber, and cried out, " Misther Dooglas! are ye ready? " But the man of flowers declined the winning invitation, and saved his life only to yield it not long after in that luckless wild-cattle pit. Black was formerly of the Northwest Company, and on the coalition was presented a ring on which was engraved: " To the most worthy of the worthy Northwesters." Though a fur-trader he was not at all indifferent to science, being therein an exception to the fur-worshippers so scourged by Douglas. Black was an educated man of no small attainments, geology and geography being specially interesting to him. At all events he managed to command the respect of his associates, if not by his learning, then by his enormous stature, his powerful swing of limbs, and his slow, sonorous and imposing speech. His death was no less sad than that of David Douglas; indeed, many a brave man went hence from this quarter for whose profitless taking off the angels never gave adequate excuse. Samuel Black was killed by an Indian boy for having charmed away the life of his uncle. Black was a man of great physical and mental ability—he was a brother of Dr. Black, editor of the London Morning Chronicle19 —and being used to having his own way, even though he had to fight for it, he had a stormy career.20 The fur-traders were not accustomed to criticisms by visitors (Douglas was the first man other than a fur-trader or an Indian to travel through the country) and it is easy to imagine how his criticisms nettled a man of Black's temperament. Leaving Fort Kamloops the brigade went on to Fort Alexandria, where the horses were changed for boats. Douglas, however, evidently continued on horseback or afoot to a point a little beyond the Quesnel River, where his field-sketches cease. The strong steady current of the upper Fraser was a severe obstacle to the loaded boats and necessitated the constant use (19) Anderson, op. cit, p. 85. (20) See J. N. Wallace: "The Explorer of Finlay River in 1824," in Canadian Historical Review, Toronto, IX. (1928), p. 25. I 232 A. G. Harvey. October of the pole and tracking-line.21 The journey was also up-stream on the Nechako and Stuart rivers. Douglas went up the Nechako to Fort Fraser, on Fraser Lake, and probably went overland from there to Fort St. James, where he arrived about June 6. Here he was the guest of Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease, the Company's superintendent in New Caledonia, and one of the kindest and most considerate of men.22 But Fort St. James was a disappointment; not in itself, but in the unfavourable conditions for continuing his journey. He found that a party was preparing to leave on an exploring expedition down Simpson's (now the Skeena) River, and at first was disposed to accompany them. However, as it was doubtful whether and when they would reach the sea or any Company post there, he decided not to go with them. He had come an arduous 1,150 miles from Fort Vancouver on what he hoped was his way home to England. He now found himself in the wilds of New Caledonia, about 500 miles from the nearest Hudson's Bay post on the sea-coast (Fort Simpson, at the mouth of the Nass River), with another 300 miles to the Russian headquarters at Sitka. To reach there meant weeks, if not months, of travel through new country, along little known rivers and waterways and over difficult portages. Moreover, the natives were hostile, especially towards the coast, where they were too plentifully supplied with liquor by American trading vessels.28 For once his determined spirit was beaten. Reluctantly he abandoned his plan of travelling home by Siberia, and decided to return to the Columbia. Accordingly, after a very brief stay at Fort St. James, during which he took some observations, he and Johnson embarked in a small birch-bark canoe and descended the Stuart and Nechako rivers. At Fort George they stayed a day or two with George Linton, clerk in charge there, and then began descending the Fraser. And now disaster was added to disappointment. On June 13, at the " Stony Islands," as he called them, they were wrecked in the rapids; the canoe was smashed to pieces, and they barely (21) Anderson, op. cit, p. 44. (22) McLean, op. cit, I., pp. 244, 249. (23) See Frederick Merk: Fur Trade and Empire; George Simpson's Journal, 1824-5, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1931, pp. 301, 309, 311, 314; Bancroft, op. cit, II., pp. 623, 693. 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 233 escaped with their lives. Douglas was carried down the rapids and into the whirlpool below, and he was swept about in the turbulent waters for an hour and forty minutes, before being washed on to the rocky shore. He lost everything he had except his instruments, his astronomical journal, notes and charts, and his barometrical observations. Food and blankets—all were lost; also botanical notes, and a collection of about 400 species of plants, 250 of which were mosses, some of them new. What concerned him most was the loss of his diary, which he had been writing daily for Hooker, and which could not be replaced.24 Two years ago, after considerable inquiry, I succeeded in finding the exact spot where Douglas was wrecked. His " Stony Islands " are small rocky islets in what now is known as Fort George Canyon, between Quesnel and Prince George. Fort George Canyon, it may be noted, is a notoriously dangerous place and many persons have lost their lives there. Soon after Douglas's misadventure, Linton himself, with his wife and three children and three other persons, the entire party, were drowned between Fort George and Fort Alexandria—probably at this spot.26 Before steamboats could pass through it the Canadian Government had to blast out a channel. Even as late as the year 1937, two visitors from California who were descending in a small boat were wrecked there and nearly drowned, losing practically everything—an experience similar to that of Douglas and Johnson more than a hundred years before. Making their way as best they could back to Fort George, Douglas and Johnson obtained another canoe from Linton26 and this time descended the Fraser safely to Fort Alexandria, where they obtained horses and proceeded on to Fort Kamloops and Fort Okanagan by the same route as they had come. There is no record of any further quarrel at Kamloops. After his recent hardships, Douglas no doubt appreciated better the rude comforts afforded by the Company's posts, and was not in the mood for criticism; while Black probably was pleased at the turn of (24) On this disaster see the letter, David Douglas to W. E. P. Hartnell, November 11, 1833, in Madrono (Journal of California Botanical Society), Berkeley, II. (1933), p. 98. (25) Archibald McDonald, letter to W. J. Hooker, April 15, 1836, MS., Kew Gardens; Morice, op. cit, p. 193. (26) Ibid. 234 A. G. Harvey. October events or else inclined to pity. Getting two Indian canoes at Okanagan, they descended the Columbia to Fort Walla Walla, where Douglas stayed some days. He again visited the Blue Mountains and botanized more sedulously than ever, to try to make up for his recent heavy losses. He returned to Fort Vancouver in August, worn out in body and broken in spirit. The hopes for the journey home by Siberia which he had been building up for years had been shattered in the first stage of the journey; and following that came the river disaster. He had suffered severely from hunger and exposure, and had been faced with " indeed, nearly utter starvation."27 " I cannot detail to you," he wrote Hooker, " the labour and anxiety this occasioned me, both in body and mind, to say nothing of the hardships and sufferings I endured. Still I reflect, with pleasure, that no lives were sacrificed. - - - This disastrous occurrence has much broken my strength and spirits."28 Then, too, besides the loss of his collections, journals, and other belongings, he had lost four months of the best part of the year for travel. Yet despite his cruel experiences he blamed no one. Such are the not unfrequent disasters attending such undertakings. On the whole I have been fortunate, for considering the nature and extent of the Country I have passed over (now 8 years here) and the circumstances under which I travelled my accidents have been f ew.29 Nor had he any harsh feelings against New Caledonia. Instead, he uttered an encouraging note of prophecy as to its future, saying:— The interior, north of the Columbia, for the space of nearly 4° of latitude and 7° of Longitude, is a beautiful and varied country; the soil is generally fertile; and even to a much higher Latitude it is well worth looking after.so Another remark:— The country over which I passed was all mountainous, but most so towards the Western Ocean—still it will, ere long, be inhabited.81 (27) Douglas to Hartnell, November 11,1833. See note 24, supra. (28) Companion to Botanical Magazine, II. (1836), p. 159 (reprinted in Oregon Historical Quarterly, VI. (1905), p. 308). (29) David Douglas, letter to W. F. Tolmie, September 25, 1833, MS., British Columbia Archives, Victoria. (30) Sabine, Report on Douglas' Observations, p. 12. (31) Companion to Botanical Magazine, II. (1836), p. 159 (reprinted in Oregon Historical Quarterly, VI. (1905), p. 308). 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 235 One noteworthy incident of his journey Douglas failed to record—an incident which was an augury of the country's future. It is said that on the shore of Okanagan Lake Douglas found enough gold to make a seal.82 Just where or when is not stated; but the only occasions on which he visited the lake were on his journey to Fort St. James and back, his route being along the west side. Probably the discovery was made at the mouth of some creek entering the lake.83 In later years placer-mining has been carried on with more or less success at several places in the region. On Naswhito (Siwash) Creek, operations antedate the settlement of the Okanagan Valley,34 and it may have been there that Douglas found his gold.36 Still another mineral discovery is credited to Douglas: not gold this time, but a great deposit of carbonate of lead, galena, and copper situate on the east shore of Kootenay Lake, in British Columbia, and now known as the Bluebell Mine. The story has been told often, and apparently is taken from a report made in 1887 by G. M. Dawson, Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, which states that the ores " are said to have been discovered by the botanist Douglas in 1825."36 One writer has amplified the story by adding that Douglas " sent a specimen or (32) W. C. Grant: "Remarks on Vancouver Island," in Journal of the Royal Geographic Society, London, XXXI. (1861), p. 213. (33) See T. A. Rickard: " Indian Participation in the Gold Discoveries," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, II. (1938), p. 5. (34) Canada, Geological Survey, Report, 1931, p. 73A. (35) Douglas's name is also linked with the discovery of gold in California; for it seems that one of the tales he told upon his return to the Columbia River was that he had found enough gold about the roots of plants in California to make a watch seal (Roberts, Recollections, MS., Bancroft Library, p. 11). He does not seem to have written home about it at the time, probably because he did not deem it of sufficient importance. Furthermore, after news of the great discovery in California in 1848 reached England, some one remembered that the roots of some of the pines sent home from California by Douglas in 1831 were found to have small flakes of gold held together in the clotted earth still attached to them. And there was a tendency to blame the early botanists for being so engrossed with the flora and fauna that " they had not an eye to the main chance and saw no gold." (Quarterly Review, London, 87 (1850), p. 416.) But neither did those whose business it was to see it: Fremont, the American explorer, and Dana, the skilled mineralogist and geologist of the Wilkes expedition, who even made a geological report on California. (Ibid., pp. 417-418.) (36) Canada, Geological Survey, Report, 1887, p. 62R. 1 236 A. G. Harvey. October two of the glittering ore home with his report. In 1831 these and other samples were assayed and their low grade established."37 How the story and its amplifications originated is a mystery, for Douglas never was on any part of the shore of Kootenay Lake. His carefully written journal, with its daily entries and a detailed list of his travels during 1825-27, makes no mention of it, and, in fact, leaves no room for it. Nor is it shown on the map of his route in Hooker's Flora Boreali Americana. On his return to the Columbia in 1830 he went only as far as Fort Walla Walla and the Blue Mountains; while in 1832-33 his travels were on the lower Columbia, and to Puget Sound, New Caledonia, and again to Walla Walla and the Blue Mountains. Except for his overland journey to Hudson Bay in 1827, in the course of which he passed the mouth of the Kootenay (or McGillivray's) River,88 his nearest approach to Kootenay Lake was at Kettle Falls (Fort Colviie). He was there three times in 1826, spending altogether seven weeks, and on one occasion walked 20 miles up the Columbia and back. That was the closest he got to Kootenay Lake. However, while at Kettle Falls he may well have heard of the great ore deposit. No doubt it was known to the Indians. They afterwards called it Chicamen (metal) Mountain,39 and ore was used by them and by the Hudson's Bay men for making bullets.40 Douglas was known to be interested in minerals as well as plants, as he was collecting rocks from various places along the Columbia, and he would almost certainly be told about it. Kittson, his travelling companion, himself had been up the Kootenay River during the previous summer.41 Possibly he was Douglas's informant. (37) W. A. Baillie-Grohman: Sport and Life in the Hunting Grounds of Western America, London, 1900, p. 232. The writer has searched diligently and written many letters of inquiry in an effort to find where Dawson and Baillie-Grohman secured their information, but without success. Possibly there is something hidden away in some old book or scientific journal which search has not yet brought to light. (38) Douglas, Journals, 1914, p. 249. (39) R. E. Gosnell, in Vancouver Daily Province, November 21, 1908. (40) Canada, Geological Survey, Summary Report, 1928, Part A, p. 129A; British Columbia, Sessional Papers, Victoria, 1909, p. J 95. (41) See Washington Historical Quarterly, 5 (1914), pp. 177-8; 186-7. 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 237 Douglas carried his collection of rocks all the way home to England, and presented them to the Geological Society of London. The collections of this society were transferred to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1911, but Douglas's specimens were not amongst them. No trace of them can be found at either place, although the museum has the list of them written by Douglas. This list does not mention any from Kootenay Lake. To add the climax to Douglas's troubles, the intermittent fever seized him. However, he fought it off, and " being something of a leech, had an early recovery, and recruited perfectly by following his wonted healthful perambulations."42 The season of 1833 was an unhappy and unfortunate one for him: everything seemed to have gone wrong. Nor did Northwest America look promising to him for the immediate future. The fever epidemic continued. Travel northward along the coast was unsafe, not only on that account, but also on account of the hostility of the natives. He therefore gave up entirely his idea of •the Alaskan-Siberian journey. The Sandwich Islands beckoned him—those tropical islands whose enchanting beauty and opportunities for botanical and astronomical observations had drawn him more and more strongly whenever he visited there. Instead of going home by Siberia he decided to go by the Islands; so on October 18, 1833, he left the Columbia, as it turned out, for the last time: " A land where his discoveries had furnished him frequently with the brightest moments of the purest joy, and where also his losses had caused him days of the most poignant sorrow and regret."43 While Douglas was away on his New Caledonian journey, two interesting persons arrived at Fort Vancouver from England: Doctors Meredith Gairdner and William Fraser Tolmie, two more of Hooker's students, who, upon his recommendation, had been sent out by the Hudson's Bay Company to help Dr. McLoughlin, the Company's head officer in the Northwest, in combating the fever epidemic. Gairdner brought Douglas a long letter from (42) Barnston, op. cit, p. 214, from which it appears that the illness was in 1830. However Douglas's letter to Hooker of April 9, 1833, states he has escaped the: disease so far. (43) Barnston, op. cit, p. 329. 238 A. G. Harvey. October Hooker, and upon Douglas's return from the north the two young men spent much time in discussing matters of mutual interest. Tolmie, who was one of Hooker's most zealous botanical students, had brought with him some acacia seeds, which he planted at Fort Vancouver. Some of the trees are still standing. Later, Dr. Tolmie took some of their seeds to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, and from them grew the beautiful trees now at the old Tolmie homestead. Dr. Tolmie had been sent to Fort Nisqually before Douglas returned from New Caledonia, but Douglas wrote him indicating the most favourable fields for botanizing and urging his attention to seaweeds.44 Douglas looked on Gairdner and Tolmie as his successors on the Columbia. Writing to Hooker regarding his recent misfortunes, he says:— It reconciles me somewhat to the loss, to reflect that you now have friends in that country, who will probably make up the deficiency. I have given Dr. Gairdner my notes on some more new species of Pinus. This gentleman and Mr. Tolmie will have a good deal to contend with. Science has few friends among those who visit the coast of North-West America, solely with a view to gain. Still with such a person as Mr. McLoughlin on the Columbia, they may do a great deal of service to Natural History.45 Again his prophecy proved true: both men did render a great deal of service to natural history, in spite of their multifarious duties and in spite of the early death of Gairdner, who survived Douglas by only three years. Gairdner's situation at Fort Vancouver turned out to be quite different from what he had been led to expect. Besides the duties of medical officer, those of Indian trader were allotted to him, so that he had little or no leisure to devote to natural history pursuits. He complained bitterly of the close confinement to the Company's service, saying: " Scientific researches are quite out of the question in their service however liberal they may be in encouraging them in persons unconnected with them." The former part of this remark confirms the sizzling criticism Douglas offered Samuel Black at Kamloops. The latter part shows envy of Douglas's freedom, as also does another remark: " The true method of examining this country is to follow the plan (44) Letter, Douglas to Tolmie, September 25, 1833, MS., British Columbia Archives, Victoria. (45) Companion to Botanical Magazine, II. (1836), p. 160 (reprinted in Oregon Historical Quarterly, VI. (1905), p. 309). 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. of Douglas, whether with the view of investigating the geognos- tic, botanical or zoological riches of the country." Gairdner brooded over his disappointment so much that it affected his health; he began to have haemorrhages from the lungs—symptoms of tuberculosis. Temporary benefit was obtained from a visit to the Interior and from bleeding himself by opening veins in his arms, but the disease continued. As a last resort he got leave to visit the Sandwich Islands, hoping their equable climate would arrest the disease. But it was in vain; he died there in 1836.46 Tolmie was more fortunate, being sent to outlying posts where he had leisure for botanical and other pursuits. His complaint was of loneliness and monotony of trading-post life in the pays du sauvage; but his rugged constitution and philosophical nature enabled him to survive and to attain prominent positions in the Hudson's Bay Company and in Vancouver Island, where he i afterwards lived for many years.47 The late Premier of British Columbia, Dr. Simon Fraser Tolmie, was his son. The last months of Douglas's life were spent in the Sandwich Islands. He arrived in Honolulu in December, 1833, and spent the next few months in exploring the island of Hawaii. He collected a large number of ferns. The two great volcanic peaks attracted him and he climbed both, being the first white man to do so. As usual, he endured terrible hardships. In August, 1834, while crossing the island alone with his dog he fell into a pit used for trapping wild cattle, and was gored to death. Some say he was pushed in, and in this way murdered for his money. Whichever it was, it was a horrible death, and an untimely one, for he was only 34 years old. Douglas was a votary of science. From the long, hard days of his youth as a garden boy, his whole life was devoted to scientific pursuits. Strong, enthusiastic, self-reliant, and resourceful, he faced dangers, overcame difficulties, endured hardships, and (46) See A. G. Harvey: "Chief Concomly's Skull," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Portland, XL. (1939), pp. 161-7. (47) Bancroft: op. cit, II. pp. 615-6; Dorothy 0. Johansen: "William Fraser Tolmie, "The Beaver, Outfit 268, No. 2 (September, 1937), p. 29; William Fraser Tolmie: Journal, MS., British Columbia Archives, Victoria —partially published in Washington Historical Quarterly, Seattle, I. (1906), pp. 77-81, III. (1912), pp. 229-41, XXIII. (1932), pp. 205-27. j 240 A. G. Harvey. October made sacrifices such as have been the experience of few men. Over and over again he had driven his body beyond the safe limit of human endurance. He became racked with rheumatism, his eyesight was seriously impaired, and his mind confused. So he met his end. His work was done. His devotion to science was so great that he prematurely wore himself out in its service. As the pioneer botanist of North-west America and California, Douglas made their flora known to the world. The number of plants which he introduced to England in the form of root, seed, or cutting is remarkable. Other collectors have contributed more to botanical knowledge or made more extensive collections, but none has contributed more to our stock of beautiful and hardy plants than he. A list of them published by the Royal Horticultural Society shows 254. " There is scarcely a spot deserving the name of a garden, either in Europe or the United States, in which some of the discoveries of Douglas do not form the chief attraction," says an English admirer; " To no single individual is modern horticulture more indebted than to David Douglas."48 Hardly a garden exists that does not contain the clarkia, mari- posa lily, California poppy, or some of the lupines, phlox, pent- stemons, mimulus, or others of his beautiful flowers. Towering over all is the great tree, the Douglas fir, and it is for introducing this that he is chiefly remembered. From 1827 (the year Douglas returned to England from North-west America), when John Lindley, Assistant Secretary of the Horticultural Society, received two planks, each about 20 feet long, to test its durability49—one wonders whether Douglas had anything to do with it—it has come to be the world's greatest structural timber. Growing over a great range of territory and thriving under diverse conditions, it is the most important tree in the American lumber trade. Outstanding also as an ornament, this "King of the Conifers" is a favourite with garden lovers and tree planters. It has been introduced into gardens and estates wherever climatic conditions permit its growth. Nowhere, outside its original habitat, has it grown to greater perfection than in Douglas's native county of (48) An unnamed writer, quoted by Neville Cooper, in Gardener's Chronicle, London, September 25, 1926. (49) See R. C. Mayne: Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island, London, 1862, p. 409. 1940 David Douglas in British Columbia. 241 Perthshire, where it is deservedly popular. The Earl of Mansfield, at Scone, his old employer, was one of the earliest planters, and to-day in the palace grounds near Douglas's birthplace may be seen a sturdy Douglas fir raised from the first seeds brought home by him in 1827. It is also distinguished for the large number of names, scientific and common, by which it is or has been called—more than any other American tree. Oregon pine, red pine, Puget Sound pine, Oregon spruce, red spruce, Douglas spruce, red fir, yellow fir, Oregon fir, spruce fir, are some of the common names. Scientists have fought over the name more than lumbermen or laymen. The name given by Lambert in his great work on pine trees, The Genus Pinus, 2nd edition, 1832, Pinus Douglasii, came to be Pseudotsuga Douglasii (Carriere), and that is the name in general use in Great Britain. However, according to the code of the International Botanical Conference of 1905, and subsequent conferences, the name is Pseudotsuga taxifolia (Lambert) Britton; and this is the scientific name officially recognized in Canada and becoming generally adopted in the United States.60 So, wherever we go, whether to his Scottish birthplace, or whether to the wilds of Hawaii half-way round the world where he was killed, or whether to some forest, field, or garden somewhere in between, we may find trees and plants that David Douglas made known to the world. By them let him be remembered. A. G. Harvey. (50) John Davidson: Conifers pp. 39-40; E. H. Finlayson: Native letin 61), Ottawa, 1933, pp. 6, 61; London, XIV. (1892), pp. v., 12-3, 24 British Columbia, London, 1927, •ees of Canada (Forest Service Bul- mrnal, Royal Horticultural Society, 1 A. G. Harvey. o Cari- Situated within Lot 46. Doubtful as to whether present site identical with Douglas's. Approx. 20 chs. N. of N.W. I.R. No. 1 fixed by S.B.M. control. Assumed jet. Fraser and Nechako, centre of bridge. See R.M. 22a. Vicinity Fort George Canyon.8 Fort Alexandria Jet. Fraser River Quesnel R. E. bank Hudson's Bay House Fraser Lake Hudson's Bay House Stuart Lake Fort George Jet. Nasetley and Fraser River Fraser R. foot of Rocky Islands David Douglas in British Columbia. appendix B. Douglas's Itinerary. March 20 Left Fort Vancouver April 13-7 Fort Okanagan. April 25 _ Head of Okanagan L Ap. 28-Mayl Fort Kamloops. May 11-8 _... Fort Alexandria. May 20 _ _ Quesnel River. June 2-4 _ _ Fort Fraser. June 7-9 1 Fort St. James. ...Fort George. ... Fort Alexandria. _.Fort Okanagan. __Fort Walla Walla: June 12_ THE DISCOVERY OF THE FRASER RIVER: THE SECOND PHASE. At first blush it may appear like threshing the straw to offer anything on the discovery of the Fraser River. Every schoolboy, to use Macaulay's oft-quoted expression, knows that in 1793 Sir Alexander Mackenzie found its headwaters and traced its course as far as Alexandria, and that Simon Fraser in 1808 explored it to the mouth of the North Arm. But the story of the discovery of its main channel—the approach to the mouth of the Fraser River by water—is one not so generally known. It is the purpose of this article to set forth in detail (and, where possible, in the words of the actors) the steps by which that end was accomplished. From 1792 to 1794 Captain George Vancouver was engaged in the exploration of the mainland coast-line from the Strait of Juan de Fuca northward to ascertain if there existed any navigable channel either to the Atlantic Ocean or reaching far inland. In June, 1792, he passed the mouth of the Fraser River three times: twice in his boats and once in the Discovery. It is frequently asserted that he did not see it, and he is sometimes criticized by arm-chair explorers for this alleged failure. It must be remembered, first of all, that in his instructions he was told that his work was to be carried on " without too minute and particular an examination of the detail of the different parts of the coast laid down by it" ;x and, secondly, that he was to seek arms of the sea leading to the eastward; thirdly let us see what he actually wrote. On June 13, as he, in his boats, approached Point Grey, the position of which he fixed as being seven leagues from Point Roberts, he said:— The intermediate space is occupied by very low land, apparently a swampy flat, that retires several miles, before the country rises to meet the rugged snowy mountains, which we found still continuing in a direction nearly along the coast. This low flat being very much inundated, and extending behind point Roberts, to join the low land in the bay to the eastward of that point; gives its high land, when seen at a distance, the appearance of an island: o the North Pacific 246 x. W. Howay. October this, however, is not the case, notwithstanding there are two openings between this point and point Grey. These can only be navigable for canoes, as the shoal continues along the coast to the distance of seven or eight miles from the shore, on which were lodged, and especially before these openings, logs of wood, and stumps of trees innumerable.2 Menzies, the Scottish botanist who was with the expedition but did not accompany the boats, reports that they met with an extensive shoal laying along shore the outer edge of which they pursued for about 15 miles in a North West direction & found it much indented with small Spits; its greatest extent from the Shore was about 3 leagues & the land behind was low & woody; in two places they saw the appearance of large Rivers or Inlets but could not approach them even in the Boats.3 Neither Bell, in A New Vancouver Journal,4 nor Manby, in his manuscript account of Vancouver's voyage, makes any reference to the matter. At almost the same time the Spanish expedition of the Sutil and Mexicana, under Galiano and Valdes, was in these waters. These commanders were particularly interested in the discovery of the Fraser River, for in the preceding year a Spanish officer, Eliza, had seen Point Roberts and Point Grey, and regarded them as islands lying in the mouth of Floridablanca (Fraser River). They had searched for the canal or river, whichever it might be, trying to find its mouth by way of Boundary Bay. This effort proving futile, they had rounded Point Roberts, having difficulty with the Sandheads and noticing the discoloured water, as Vancouver had done, and they had sailed across the Strait of Georgia, eventually reaching the vicinity of Nanaimo. On June 19 they recrossed the Strait of Georgia to examine the mysterious Floridablanca Canal. In the night they collided with a large, drifting tree, brought down by the freshet then running, and early the next morning they reached Point Grey and anchored in 21/2 fathoms. The Indians from the village on the south-west side of the point came out to meet them and traded a canoe and some salmon. The current ran, at this time, 41/2 miles an hour, and was supposed to be more rapid in the so-called canal, inside the point. (2) Ibid., II., pp. 188-189. (3) Menzies' Journal of Vancouver's Voyage, edited by C. F. Newcombe, Victoria, 1923, p. 60. (4) In Washington Historical Quarterly, V. and VI. (1914-15). 1940 The Discovery of the Fraser River. 247 "We were now," say they, "in almost fresh water, and we saw floating thick logs; these indications confirming our idea that the mouth that we called Floridablanca was that of a river of great volume."5 The vessels soon shifted their position and finding the depth of water very changeable: 70 fathoms, then 25 fathoms, and finally shallowing to 10 fathoms, they cast anchor near Spanish Bank in English Bay. The Indians tried to induce them to enter the North Arm, promising them refreshments, but for some reason the Spaniards did not comply. That ended the Spanish effort to solve the mystery of Floridablanca. Thus, for the second time the Fraser River " was nigh found but was not, for reasons which are said or sung." While they lay at anchor, on June 22, Captain George Vancouver, returning in his boats from Jervis Inlet, saw them and came on board. The commanders compared the maps of their discoveries, and, says Vancouver:— . . . They seemed much surprized that we had not found a river said to exist in the region we had been exploring, and named by one of their officers Rio Blancho, in compliment to the then prime minister of Spain; which river these gentlemen had sought for thus far to no purpose.6 Sixteen years later Simon Fraser arrived at Musqueam, near Point Grey, the terminus of his exploration of the river whose mouth had evaded both Vancouver and the Spaniards. He had come from the interior, and had a dream of crossing the Strait of Georgia in the hope of reaching the " sea coast," but the hostility of the Indians prevented him from putting the plan into execution. After Fraser's departure no European was near the mouth of the baffling river until 1824. In that year James McMillan, under instructions from the Hudson's Bay Company, led an expedition from Astoria to the Nicomekl River, ascended that river, crossed overland to the Salmon River, dragging his boats with him, descended the Salmon, and reached the Fraser, which he called the " Coweechin " River, near the present Fort Langley. After two days spent in examining the river with an eye to the location of a trading-post, McMillan and his party, on December 19,1824, began their return journey. They descended (5) Viage hecho por las Goletas Sutil y Mexicana, Madrid, 1801, p. 65. Quoted from a translation kindly made for me by V. D. Webb, Esq. See also A Spanish Voyage to the North-West Coast of America, London, 1930, p. 54. (6) Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery, II., p. 212. 1 248 F. W. Howay. October the Fraser, but when they reached the site of New Westminster instead of taking the North Arm, as Fraser had done, they chose the South Arm and passed out of the river by the main channel. John Work, whose journal of the expedition is in the Provincial Archives, says:— There were two other channels on the south side and a large one supposed to be on the N. side. The channel through which we came was sounded in several places towards its discharge and found to be from 7 to 3% fathoms about high water.' From the main channel McMillan and his men rowed along the edge of the Sandheads, called by Vancouver " Sturgeon bank," 12 miles to Point Roberts, and we follow no farther the first European that passed out of the Fraser. In his report on the expedition, McMillan calls the river " Frazer's " stating that, though called by the natives " Cowitchens," it was without doubt that explored by Messrs. " Frazer and Stewart," as one of his party who had been with those explorers identified and described several parts of it. McMillan describes it as " a fine large River emptying itself by various channels, but in none of which do I conceive there is a draft of Water for a Vessel exceeding 150 to 200 tons burthen."8 As McMillan's expedition was connected with the plan of the Hudson's Bay Company to establish a trading-post on Fraser River that should, if possible, become its headquarters on the coast, so the next visit appears to be linked with the same scheme. In August, 1825, the Company's barque William & Ann, Captain Hanwell, was at Point Roberts on a trading voyage, but it would seem with instructions to ascertain whether there was a navigable channel into Fraser River. Dr. John Scouler, the botanist, was on board, and in his journal under date of August 23, as the vessel sailed along the edge of the Sandheads, he wrote:— The fresh taste of the water, although we were three miles from the shore, seamed [sic] to indicate the vicinity of large rivers. As this was the grand object of our enquiries, the long boat was dispatched & on its return in the evening confirmed our suspicions. The river is shut up from the access (7) " Journal of John Work, November and December, 1824," edited by T. C. Elliott; in Washington Historical Quarterly, III. (1912), pp. 198ff, at p. 223. (8) Frederick Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, Cambridge, Mass., 1931, 1940 The Discovery of the Fraser River. 249 of vessels for a great way by sand banks & has not more than 6 feet water at its mouth.9 Though Captain Hanwell had not entered the river he appears to have proclaimed himself as having discovered it, for in Stephen Reynolds's manuscript journal under the date of April 29, 1827, he states:— Captain Swan of the Hudson's Bay Company's ship William & Eliza [sic]i° pointed the position of the new river discovered a year or two since by Capt. Hanwell of the brig William & Eliza [sic] just to the north of Point Roberts in about latitude 49° 07'. Vancouver overlooked it.n So far the story of the approach to the Fraser by water has covered thirty-three years, yet no vessel has entered the river. McMillan's boats had, it is true, passed out in December, 1824, and the long-boat of the William & Ann had perfunctorily examined and sounded the supposed channel in August, 1825. Now comes the pioneer vessel, the schooner Cadboro. The Hudson's Bay Company had determined to build a trading-post: Fort Langley, on the Fraser River. In pursuance of that purpose, McMillan with a party of twenty-five men left Fort Vancouver on June 27, 1827, and met the schooner Cadboro at Whidby Island. They embarked on July 12, and three days later were at the mouth of the river. For nine days the effort to find the channel continued; the schooner was constantly dragging her anchors or going aground on one sand-bar or another. The trials and difficulties of the Cadboro in pioneering the route through the Sandheads of the Fraser are set out baldly in the Fort Langley Journal. A copy of its entries follows:— Sunday 15th July, 1827 . . . . We got under weigh for Fraser's River, but the wind being from the North west, and the tide against us, we made little or no progress, and came to an anchor not far from that of last night. Monday 16th. Wind still unfavorable—with the morning flood Tide, hove anchor and stood out into the Gulf. At change of tide cast anchor o the edge of Stui (9) " Journal of Oregon Historical Qu (10) Reynolds hai . He has written " Wil She was a barque. Columbia River in February, 1828. (11) From the manuscript copy of Reynolds's Journal in the possession of George Carter, Esq., of Honolulu, Hawaii. Reynolds served for some years as harbour master and pilot of Honolulu Harbour. rgeon Shoal. In the aftern the same was repeated 1 a Voyage to N.W. Amer by John Scouler," in uarterly, VI. (1905), p. 203. istake in the n e and rig of the vessel. liam & Eliza " for " William & Ann " in both instances. The Willian & Ann was w recked at the mouth of the 250 F. W. Howay. October but we made little or nothing out of it. Shashia came on board again, and remained all night. Scenawa who has contrived to follow us thus far was also on board but went away in the evening. Tuesday 17th. Another attempt was. made this morning to beat up to the entrance of the Channel into Fraser's River but without proceeding any distance, for the wind fell and about 7 A.M. anchor was again cast on the edge of the south Sturgeon Shoal. Captain Simpson and Mr. Annance were off twice in a Boat during the day to sound for the channel; but returned after 9 at night without having discovered one. Wednesday 18th. Mr. Sinclair the first Mate was sent off to Sound; and upon his return reported that there was a good channel into the River, and that two Fathoms were the least Soundings he had in the fair way. Thursday 19th. This morning stood across the mouth of the Channel, and anchored on the edge of the North Shoal. About 11 at night the vessel was discovered to be drifting, her anchor having lost hold of the steep Bank on which it had been cast. The Cable was let loose with the idea that the water was not deep, and that the anchor would still catch. This however did not happen—the cable was dragged out to its full length 80 or 90 Fathoms, and with difficulty checked at the end. All Hands called, Ship's Company, & Canadians, to heave upon the Wind- Friday 20th. By two in the morning the Cable was got in, and all sail set to beat up again for the entrance of the Channel. At Break of day we found that we had drifted considerably to the North West. A Fresh Breeze during the day from the South East. In the afternoon the wind shifted to the Southward and we succeeded before night in again anchoring near the Entrance of the Channel. Saturday 21st. Weighed Anchor early—made across to the Southward till we had on the Bearings for entering the River, and then stood in. At 7 A.M. we got aground upon the Shoal which forms the south side of the Channel—no damage done. Were again afloat at 2 P.M. Half Tide. It now blew a light air from the South East, and we anchored a mile within the river, at 3 O'clock, close to the Black Bluff of Woods on the north side. Sunday 22nd. Went down at 12 O'clock to the north Point of Entry, which Captain Simpson has named Point Garry, and by a Meridian Observation made the Latitude 49.5.30. This is hardly however to be depended on as the observation was but an indifferent one on account of the shoals that extended themselves to a great distance along the Horizon. Mr. Sinclair was sent up the River in Boat to Sound, and returned in the evening saying that he had found deep water as far as he had gone which was a considerable way up. During his absence, the Cadboro was put under weigh, but as it was still uncertain on which side the Channel ran, and the wrong one being unluckily taken, we got into shoal water and were obliged to return to our anchorage to await the arrival of the Sounding Party. The Discovery of the Fraser River. 251 Monday 23rd. All hands employed towing across to the other side. At 3 P.M. a breeze springing up from the South West, Sail was set, and we passed the Cowitchen Villages Saumm Pinellahutz & Quonutziu about 6 O'clock, and anchored about a mile above, 200 Yds. from the north Bank. Scanawa was on board all day but went on shore at night. The Population of the Cowitchen villages may be at a rough guess 1500 Souls." In conclusion, a few words may be added in regard to the Cadboro. This vessel, sometimes called a schooner, at others, a brigantine, was a small craft of about 72 tons burthen, built at Rye, England, in 1824. She was only 56 feet in length; her greatest width was 17 feet; she had two masts, mounted six guns, and carried a crew of thirty-five men. She was, says Bancroft, the pride of the Pacific. She arrived at Fort Vancouver in the spring of 1827. Almost as historic as the pioneer steamship Beaver, she was the first vessel to enter Victoria Harbour, Cadboro Bay, and Fraser River. She had a long life; her end came in October, 1862, when, lumber-laden, she was driven ashore near Port Angeles, Washington, and became a total wreck; but she had lived to see the route she had pioneered through the Sandheads of the Fraser become well-marked and, if the expression be allowable, way-worn. F. W. Howay. New Westminster, B.C. (12) Quoted from the original journal in the Provincial Archives. S- THE PEDIGREE AND PROSPECTS OF LOCAL HISTORY. The writer of local history is to-day deservedly receiving more and more recognition. Thanks to the part that his more dramatic findings can play in arousing the historical imagination of children at school, and to the attention that is paid to his subject in research-work directed from universities, a growing number of people now take an interest in the background of the communities in which they live. The subject has always a certain romantic colour; it appeals to local patriotism, and it has also, to students of history and sociology, a more serious appeal. This serious interest in the evolution of community life is essentially modern. The writing of history was for many centuries guided by quite different ideas. One can therefore best appreciate and understand the position and importance of the study of local history by looking backward over the long procession of writers and thinkers who throughout the ages have sought to interpret past experience. Men's outlook upon history has always been conditioned by the attitudes and interests of their own time; this has been so from the very beginning. When a consciousness of the past first began to dawn within our Western civilization warlike and predatory peoples were playing a dominant role. Tales of adventure—recited either in prose, or in verse, which was more easily memorized—were everywhere popular. In the circumstances any one who wished to arouse interest in the past naturally tended to fasten upon the adventures and deeds of great heroes and leaders. Memories of the past were inevitably shaped into stories, and were handed down in the form given them by the more dramatic story-tellers. When professional story-tellers and poets appeared, another influence was brought to bear upon the shaping of historical traditions. For the audiences best able to reward these men were to be found at the courts of kings and chieftains, and here the subjects most in favour were the valour of the leader and 254 Sylvia L. Thrupp. October his nobles and their ancestors. Since in all warlike and aristocratic societies people have held blood and ancestry in more or less superstitious reverence, the minstrel who could spread abroad the fame of a leader's ancestors might very greatly enhance his prestige. Thus early written history inevitably came to focus upon the fortunes of the great, the holders of power. Historical narrative was not at first clearly distinguished from mere story. It was only very gradually and painfully that the idea of founding history upon what had actually occurred assumed the force of an ideal; and had the relating of history been left entirely to the poets and minstrels of the courts, this ideal might never have arisen at all. But fortunately, early in the development of the great kingdoms and empires of the ancient world, the poetic monopoly was broken by prosaic competitors, for it became the duty of certain officials to compile a record of major public events as they took place, year by year. Such annals made dull reading, but their value grew with their length. They preserved and symbolized, for governments and dynasties, the accumulating dignity of age and lineage; besides, they were of practical use. To be able to refer back to exact records was a convenience, and sooner or later a necessity, in the work of government. Hence a care for truthful records of many kinds arose. Mythology and religion also exercised an immense influence in moulding the traditions of the historian's craft. Indeed, it was through mythology that the historical imagination was originally stimulated. The idea of supernatural intervention in human affairs was carried over from mythology and remained for many ages the chief means of explaining critical turns in the course of events. Priesthoods in many cults had much the same attitude towards the past as noble families and royal dynasties, feeling that records enhanced their dignity. They made efforts, with varying degrees of success, to develop the science of chronology. Moreover, the priests, unlike the kings, could embrace a vision not only of the past but of the future. The Hebrew and the Christian religions gave to the whole sweep of history one single meaningful pattern. As early Christian writers viewed it, the history of the world was that of a sequence of empires rising and falling in turn; of these the Roman Empire 1940 Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. 255 was to be the last, and in some form it would endure until the world's end, when men would be gathered in for judgment upon the fate of their immortal souls. In this vast prospect all issues but moral issues were dwarfed into insignificance. Such a philosophy of history obviously gave little direct encouragement to concentration upon accuracy of detail for its own sake. Nor did it have any tendency to turn attention to the study of local communities. In the Greek and Roman worlds a number of intellectual and emotional interests opened on to the past. Among the wealthy nobility, family pride fostered the art of constructing flattering genealogies, that sometimes ran back to divine ancestors. Religious cults kept a medley of myths in circulation. Nevertheless, an educated and sophisticated reading public gradually emerged, among the ruling classes, that was deeply interested in the political history of its own time. Both in Greece and in Rome the art of tracing the fortunes of empire in vivid political narrative was carried to a high point of excellence. History came in fact to be viewed as a way of studying politics. As such its scope was limited by the scope of popular political theory. And since political theory as yet took little account of economic and social problems, there was no need to delve into the details of local history, as is the fashion to-day. The histories of Rome deal less with the city itself than with the successes of its armies and the expansion of its power. The pages of most of the classical historians echo, often monotonously, with the clash of arms and the ringing periods of great political orations. Like all other intellectual pursuits in Western Europe, the art of writing history sank to a low ebb during the early Middle Ages. With the decline of Roman civilization the sophisticated reading public disappeared. A limited circle of ill-educated readers remained, confined for the most part within the ranks of the clergy and the monks. These kept alive among themselves some knowledge of ancient historical writing and of Church history with its Biblical background. But new historical composition was inevitably conditioned by the tastes of the public at large, consisting now mainly of a boorish military and landowning aristocracy and an utterly ignorant and superstitious mass of peasants. In such an environment historical traditions 256 Sylvia L. Thrupp. October could live and develop only in story and epic form. Ancient times were viewed through the curious perspective of the poetry of Virgil, and memories of more recent times tended to recede into a kaleidoscopic confusion of romantic adventure, abounding in supernatural occurrences and supernatural creatures, both pagan and Christian. A few men of superior intellect — a Gregory of Tours, a Bede—wrote faithful accounts of the careers of kings and bishops, but their work was not nearly so popular as the dramatic short stories, encrusted with legend, that told of the lives of saints, or the long poetic romances about the exploits of Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, King Arthur, and their warriors. On so colourful a stage there was no room for the drab figures of the humble and obscure, with which truthful local history would largely have had to deal. In time the Church succeeded in gradually raising the level of education among the clergy, and from the tenth century onward, with reviving prosperity and longer periods of peace, more and more members of the richer laity found leisure to read or to listen to reading. Romances, religious treatises, and legends of the saints were still their chief fare, but there was some demand for genuine history. Interest centred naturally in matters which the nobility best understood, and in which they or their ancestors had played a part; that is, in political conflicts and in the fortunes of aggressive leaders. Writers among the clergy supplied what was wanted, producing lively narratives of the Crusades, biographies of kings, and national chronicles. The chronicles grew out of the files of notes on important events which many monasteries made it their business to keep. It became customary for the abbot to assign a capable monk the task of working the notes into a connected narrative. The monastic writers were often well-read in scriptural and classical history, and well-informed on contemporary politics. In any case their interests tended to stretch far beyond their monastery walls, for the property which monasteries accumulated through the gifts of the pious was often widely scattered. Furthermore, the chances of retaining the whole of the property securely depended upon the state of law and order, and this depended increasingly upon the power of the king, his character, and ability. At the same time there were religious and moral reasons i 1940 Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. 257 why churchmen should follow the fortunes of monarchy with eagerness, for it was regarded as an institution divinely sanctioned, and each king at his consecration was sworn to the maintenance of justice. For the one reason or the other most of the monk-historians followed the plan of concentrating upon the development of royal power. Thus they created national history. Some of the monks who were assigned to historical writing attempted little more than the compilation of a history of their own house. The result was a kind of local history, but a kind that suffered from the defects of a narrow and partisan spirit. The purpose of this type of chronicle was simply to magnify the importance of a monastery and the power of its abbots. The writers took no interest in their neighbours outside the precincts of the cloister, and rarely mentioned them except when they proved to be unsatisfactory or rebellious tenants. In the Peterborough chronicle, for example, one learns of the development of industry in the district only through an account of the abbot's action in seizing the stones of mills that had been set up by tenants in defiance of his monopoly rights as feudal lord. The monk always took the point of view of a lord intent on his feudal rights. In short, he was incapable of viewing local developments objectively. The cult of local history grew up among the bourgeoisie of the mediaeval towns. The people of the mediaeval towns, crowding together for security, century after century, behind their encircling walls and moats, generated among themselves an extraordinarily intense spirit of community. It grew and found expression in long and tenacious struggles to win rights of self- government from feudal overlords, in the adoption of laws and customs different from those of the countryside, in the triumphant enforcement of the custom that all residents of the town acquired the status of free men. Pride in local traditions was in the very atmosphere. Every street and market-place, every church tower, had its dramatic associations with the past. For a time these traditions would be handed down orally. But those townsmen who were engaged in trade were obliged for business reasons to learn to read. Hence there was sooner or later— sooner in the South of Europe, later in the North, which was 258 Sylvia L. Thrupp. October economically more backward—a bourgeois public eager to read histories in which the bourgeoisie would figure. The earlier town chronicles can scarcely be regarded as models of good historical writing. They are crude in form and unpolished in style. Their authors, who were usually of the merchant class, the ruling class in the towns, looked down upon the humbler inhabitants. They often concentrated rather narrowly upon the fortunes of the town government, and they were not free from bias in discussing quarrels among the magistrates. Their interest in national development, like that of the monk- historians, was restricted to the surface of political events. Although they were obviously more sceptical of stories of i cles than were the monks, they were not above relating entertaining fables about the founding of their city by the descendants of gods or mythical heroes. Yet, despite all these limitations, the vigorous and neighbourly sense of community which was a part of their character as townsmen enabled them to portray a wider sector of local life than any other historians had yet had the power to describe. For example, here and there they would fill in a few lines with journalistic jottings of matters of human interest that had evidently been the talk of the town. They note the bolder local crimes, crimes committed by women, sensational damage done by storms in the neighbourhood, the nature of local epidemics, as how one summer many people were ill of a flux that came from eating too much fruit. They introduced anecdotes of eccentric characters, such as the story of a musician in London who superintended his own funeral, coming to the service and making offerings at masses sung for his soul, because, as he said, he could not trust executors to do this for him liberally enough. With all their faults, the town chroniclers had their feet planted squarely on the common earth on which the common people lived. From another point of view their work became of the highest importance. The interest in town history that had been aroused in Italy by the time of the Renaissance helped to make possible a marked improvement in historical writing. One of the results of the vogue that classical studies enjoyed at that period was a renewed enthusiasm for the writing of history. Scholars were anxious to prove that they could write in as elegant a style, and 1940 Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. 259 with as much political shrewdness, as had historians in ancient Greece and Rome. They chose to write of their own cities, partly because they could often obtain commissions to do so, and could therefore be assured of readers and pecuniary reward, and also because the wars and revolutions in which the Italian cities so constantly indulged made them a fascinating field in which to study political rivalries and factions. The Italian scholars sought, in the spirit of the ancient Greek and Roman historians, to produce books that would be useful to rulers by pointing out mistakes made by their predecessors. As Machia- velli expressed it in his own book on Florence, rulers might be " thus taught wisdom at the cost of others." Whether or not the new histories achieved this end, the emphasis that they laid upon the political development of the Italian city-states had the effect of giving educated people a better historical perspective. The way was opened for scholars to modify the early Christian view of world history, which had been based upon exaggeration of the role played by the ancient empires and by the Hebrews, and upon a faulty chronology; and the old pessimistic assumption that all hope of progress on earth had died with the decline of Rome began to yield before a new spirit of optimism. Wherever the culture of the Italian Renaissance radiated, these new views of history spread. Outside Italy, historians in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were naturally more preoccupied with the writing of national history. Intelligent kings, realizing that knowledge of and pride in a people's common traditions could be of invaluable help to them in the work of national unification, wisely encouraged the scholars. The cult of local history also received a fresh impetus from the growing sentiment of national patriotism, for it was soon realized that only through the winnowing of local traditions and records could sound and reliable national history be written. John Leland, who was appointed official historiographer by Henry VIII., toiled up and down England amassing notes on local institutions of all kinds—monasteries, churches, families, towns. So ambitious was his programme and so severely did he drive himself that he ruined his health and collapsed into insanity before his researches were nearly completed. But a succession of scholars arose to carry on the labour 260 Sylvia L. Thrupp. October of research in the same spirit of excitement, inspired partly by local patriotism, by love for their own city or county, and partly by national feeling. John Stow, who, to quote his own word, " consecrated " forty-five years of his life and much of a modest bourgeois fortune to research, is best known for his Survey of Elizabethan London and its monuments, which he felt himself " bound in love " to undertake, but he worked also to popularize the reading of national chronicles. It is evident that history, both local and national alike, was a means of enriching and widening the sense of citizenship. No one nowadays could sit down and read very far at one time in the books of John Stow and his successors for pleasure. Their works are still indispensable to the specialist, but they were compiled for the most part with complete disregard of literary style or artistic form; they were in essence merely encyclopsedias of local antiquities. Modern scholarship, having at its command a much greater volume of sources, can pick out inaccuracies, but the authors were unquestionably guided by scrupulous zeal for accuracy of detail. In setting themselves this ideal, as also in their indifference to artistic canons, the early English antiquaries breathe the Puritanism of their age. The heavy yoke of discipline under which they bent their shoulders, however, was lightened daily by the sheer delight that they experienced in the turning-up of ancient yellowed records and in the exploration of the long-forgotteri details of past events. John Stow liked to think of himself as one of the great explorers: " I have attempted the discovery of London, my native soyle and Countrey," he wrote. In course of time this first enthusiasm waned. It received little encouragement from the universities and less and less, as the years wore on into the eighteenth century, from the reading public. It was not that the reading public of the eighteenth century was uninterested in the trend of history. Gibbon's philosophical and controversial manner of treating the story of the Roman Empire and the Church won him sensational success, and partisan political histories of England found a ready market. The antiquaries were neglected because they lagged behind contemporary thought; they were not discovering or discussing anything that appeared to bear upon vital interests of the day. 1940 Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. 261 They became absorbed in detail for its own sake, never pausing to consider whether one fact was not more significant than another in illustrating the direction of social change. Moreover, they busied themselves chiefly with the Middle Ages, a period which the fashionable wits and intellectuals of the day, following the lead of Voltaire, chose to view as an era of ridiculous and debased superstition, best buried in oblivion. Yet under the banner of the Society of Antiquaries, founded in 1717 with barely two dozen members, a small group of enthusiasts ploughed obstinately on in the observation and study of miscellaneous mediaeval antiquities. Monumental county histories, representing monumental labours and of immense value to later historians, continued to appear at intervals until late in the nineteenth century. For a long period, however, there was little progress in the art of writing local history. The cultivation of local history did not come into its own again until the rapid social and economic changes of the nineteenth century aroused an interest in the social and economic aspects of the past. In many places amateur historians had come to realize the great importance of economic changes in their own localities long before the professional historians had grasped their importance in the national life. Societies, such as the Camden Society and county archaeological societies, were formed for the publication of documents and descriptive notes bearing on local questions, and were increasingly active from the third decade of the century. Their work gradually made available a great variety of records that dealt in one way or another with economic life, or with gossipy details of private social life in past generations. Thus when some of the professional historians finally decided to turn aside from political and constitutional history to consider economic matters, they found quantities of raw material conveniently at hand in print, and it was clear that there were masses more in manuscript. It is probable that without the work of pioneer local historians the appearance of any satisfactory interpretations of national economic development would have been very considerably delayed. It is not merely in connection with specialized economic studies that historians have found it necessary to take account of local changes. The old idea that the political and constitu- Sylvia L. Thrupp. October tional history of a nation could be written satisfactorily on the basis of the records of its wars and its laws, its parliaments, revolutions and reforms, died hard, but is now safely in its coffin. New laws are a clue to the wishes of those who framed them, but one cannot necessarily assume that they were enforced. Much of the legislation of mediaeval and early modern times fell as far short of its aim as the Eighteenth Amendment to the conT stitution of the United States. Local opposition decided its fate. Nor, even when enforced, did it necessarily produce the effects that its architects intended. Local conditions again were decisive. Even the significance of important constitutional changes has often been dependent upon the state of repair of the machinery of local government. Even the more popular type of historical writing, the kind that bases itself on biography, cannot afford to ignore the work of the local historian. The notion that the gist of a nation's story is contained in the life and character of its great statesmen and generals is true only in a superficial way. It is true that the lives of such men as Cromwell, Danton, Robespierre, and all the great colourful leaders of movements, not only changed the course of many other men's lives but also expressed in some degree the spirit of their time, since they would not have become leaders had they not been capable of dramatizing the aspirations and hopes of many of their contemporaries. Yet, since great numbers of their fellows hated, loathed, and despised them, one may still ask why such men were thrown upon the central stage of power. And to answer that question one must turn to the little country towns and villages, to scenes where there were probably no great figures at all, but where the impact of unwise government policies, of official corruption, of sacrifice in war, or of gradually changing conditions—the rise of new occupations, new families and classes, and the decadence of old, were creating social tension and cutting channels for new ideas. Every aspect of general history is inevitably bound up with the slow currents of change at work in the local community. Most modern corrections of the errors in fact or interpretation that are to be found in the work of the older historians are based upon increased knowledge and understanding of the diversity of local conditions. Scholarly modern accounts of the rise 1940 Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. 263 of the great national states of Western Europe rest upon hundreds of patient investigations into the duties and efficiency of local officials, the organization of local industries, the trade of ports, the fortunes of the peasant under the different agrarian systems of different regions, the spread of education and ideas among different sections of the people. Every type of record that survives from the past is pressed into service—not only the vast files of government and municipal records in public archives, but the intimate letters and diaries of private people; family housekeeping accounts; the business letters and accounts of merchants, bankers, industrialists, and stewards of landed estates; wills, inscriptions on tombs; the inventories of old libraries long scattered; ecclesiastical records; school and hospital records; not to mention early newspapers and handbills and literary material of every kind. It is beyond the powers of a single scholar to master all the materials that are needed to illustrate truthfully the varied aspects of life in any historical period. The writing of history is therefore now essentially a co-operative enterprise. It progresses only by virtue of a working partnership between the general historian and the specialist in local research. Looking back over the evolution of his craft, the local historian may well feel proud of the long cultural traditions that he inherits and represents. Mediaeval townsmen, politicians and patriots of the Renaissance, seventeenth and eighteenth century seekers after truth, and nineteenth century social philosophers, have each in turn practised it With similar and perpetual delight, but guided by ever-widening horizons of thought and aspiration. On this continent the local historian has had the advantage of enjoying the whole of this heritage with almost none of the trouble that Was involved in creating it. He has been spared the heavy labour of research in damaged mediaeval records written in bad, semi-legible abbreviated Latin, and has been spared the reproaches of those who have no patience save for modern history. He has been able to avoid the antiquary's temptation to concentrate upon the genealogy of long-dead aristocrats or the architecture of ruined buildings. It has been much easier for him to gain the respectful co-operation of the general historian because the striking diversity of different regions on this conti- 1 264 Sylvia L. Thrupp. October nent has made it essential for the latter to seek the assistance of his special knowledge. Again, economic factors have played so obvious a part in shaping national life that the value of the economic and social data which form so large a proportion of the local historian's stock-in-trade is readily recognized. Although a very great amount of work remains to be done, it should not, in these circumstances, take very much longer to round out the history of national development. But when this task is approximately finished, when all the documents in all the archives have been made to yield up all the economic, political, constitutional or biographical facts that bear upon the national development, when all the important sources now mouldering in the cupboards and basements of lawyers' offices and business firms have been tapped, what will the local historian do? What will become of him? Will he be regarded as a useless relic of the past? It is sincerely to be hoped that he himself will never take this view, for there will always be vital and absorbing work for local historians. New horizons and new goals will always be appearing. The idea of writing national history will in all probability be succeeded by the idea of writing international history. This will entail far more than the analysis of diplomatic negotiations and the conduct of foreign policies. It will have to include a study of all those movements that transcend national boundaries, not matters of world trade alone, but also cultural changes, currents of opinion, the rise of new attitudes and ideologies, new objects of ambition, changes in the social structure. Rapid changes of this order in many quarters of the world have been reshaping the lives of our own generation. We live in a day of mass movements, of unprecedented possibilities for good or evil through the mobilization of public opinion. The study of shifting attitudes, opinions, and values is already of far more than abstract academic interest: it is essential for any one who professes to have a realistic approach to the political problems of the day. As time passes it will become more and more necessary for those who are in charge of the planning and administration of government policies to understand the forces that are at work in the formation of public opinion. To whom will they turn for guidance? The journalists, no doubt, will be at hand with advice. We have already floods of journalistic comment on such 1940 Pedigree and Prospects of Local History. 265 questions. But journalistic generalizations about the ideas and interests of the average man in this or that corner of the world are of necessity often based on haphazard guesswork, and often biased by prejudice and the desire to be impressive. What is needed is expert intimate knowledge of local conditions. The sociologists, again, will offer help in the form of detailed surveys of social conditions in typical communities. These are useful and important. Yet what is needed is not only a knowledge of the material conditions under which people live, but a grasp of the varied elements in the traditions of their community which will help to determine their attitude to new ideas and policies. For this reason a full understanding of local conditions can only be gained through an historical approach. It is not likely, therefore, that the local historian will wish to fold his hands when present tasks are completed. He will find instead more and more occasion to cultivate the skill and insight of the gifted sociologist. It may be that enlightened governments of the future will find work for him. He may become able to develop the art of forecasting, as it were, the social and political weather. In any case, his unique understanding of tradition, of its lasting influence and its ways of change, cannot fail to find useful application. Sylvia L. Thrupp. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. THE ANNEXATION PETITION OF 1869. The emergence of an annexationist movement in British Columbia was not a political phenomenon peculiar to our Province. Movements, very similar in character, existed elsewhere in British North America. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, for example, dissatisfaction with the newly-organized Canadian -Confederation for a time assumed the form of a distinct agitation for annexation to the United States. Even in the Red River Settlement the same spirit existed among some of the leaders in the insurrection. It was, therefore, only natural—indeed, almost inevitable—that in British Columbia such a sentiment should arise during the crucial years which witnessed the transformation of a federation of eastern British American colonies into a transcontinental dominion. British Columbia's American heritage dates from the influx of miners drawn from California by the lure of Fraser River gold in 1858. Long after the main body of the rush had withdrawn there still remained a large proportion of Americans in the permanent population of the colonies. This was particularly true of Victoria, the commercial metropolis. Geographical isolation from the mother country, as well as from Canada, successfully hindered the augmentation of the British element in the population by any considerable immigration. In consequence, it was almost inevitable that within the colony there should be evinced a sympathetic response to the increasingly insistent propaganda of the " manifest destiny " school of American expansionists. Moreover, there was much to dishearten even the most patriotic of the British residents of the colonies. Political discontent and economic depression were widespread. The union of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia in 1866, designed as an economy measure, had been bought at a high price —the loss of the representative assembly, and of the free port system on Vancouver Island. And, unfortunately, it had failed to act as a panacea for the ills of the country. In addition, the anti-imperialist statements of the " Little Englanders " then current gave rise to the uncomfortable idea that possibly the mother country was not desirous of retaining her colonial possessions. Willard E. Ireland. October In direct contrast to this, the United States had given tangible proof of its interest in expansion in the North Pacific by the purchase of Alaska from Russia, in 1867. Such, then, was the background for the annexationist movement. Its history has often been told,1 but now for the first time it is possible to analyse more fully its significance. The erroneous rumour of a negotiation pending between Great Britain and the United States, which contemplated the cession of British Columbia, or at least a portion of it, in settlement of the Alabama Claims,2 followed closely the receipt of the news of the acquisition of Alaska by the United States3 and brought the latent annexation sentiment to a head. In July, 1867, a petition to the Queen circulated in Victoria, which sought:— Either, That Your Majesty's Government may be pleased to relieve us immediately of the expense of our excessive staff of officials, assist the establishment of a British steam-line with Panama, so that immigration from England may reach us, and also assume the debts of the Colony. Or, That Your Majesty will graciously permit the Colony to become a portion of the United States.* In all probability the petition was never transmitted to the Queen, certainly not through the regular channels. Its existence, however, was not unknown to the Colonial Office, for in a private letter to the Duke of Buckingham, Governor Seymour had written:— There is a systematic agitation going on in this town in favor of annexation to the United States. It is believed that money for its maintenance is provided from San Francisco. As yet, however, nothing has reached me officially on the subject, and should any petition on the subject, I will know how to answer it before I transmit the petition to your Grace. On the Mainland the question of annexation is not mooted . . .s (1) Sage, W. N., " The Annexationist Movement in British Columbia," Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 3rd ser., XXL, sec. ii. (1927), pp. 97-110; Sage, W. N., " The Critical Period of British Columbia History, 1866-1871," Pacific Historical Review, I. (1932), pp. 424-443; Keenleyside, Hugh L., " British Columbia—Annexation or Confederation," Canadian Historical Association Report, 1928, pp. 34-40. (2) British Colonist, April 25, 1867. (3) Ibid., April 3, 1867. (4) Annexation Petition, July, 1867, enclosed in Allan Francis to F. H. Seward, July 2, 1867, Consular Letters from Victoria, Vancouver Island, Department of State, Archives, Washington, D.C., vol. 1. (5) Seymour to Buckingham, June 26, 1867, private, CO. 60/28. 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 269 The reaction of the Colonial Office to the situation is to be gathered from a minute by Frederic Rogers, permanent Under- Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated September 16,1867. As to the future it is no doubt true that high taxation, distress and want of assistance from home, will probably cause the American population of these colonies to keep for annexation, a purpose wh wd soon become irresistible except at a cost far greater than the worth of the fee simple of the Colony. On the other hand if the Colonists ever find that the annexation threat is satisfactory in extracting money from us, they will plunder us indefinitely by it. ... I suppose the question to be (in the long run) is B.C. to form part of the U.S. or of Canada; and if we desire to promote the latter alternative what form of expenditure or non-expenditure is likely to facilitate or pave the way for it.6 Within the Colonial Office the decision favoured amalgamation of British Columbia with Canada, and from that time every effort was made to facilitate that end. Annexation sentiment, however, died hard in the colony. The apathy of Governor Seymour to the cause of Confederation did little to destroy it. Moreover economic conditions were still far from satisfactory. Consequently there was an occasional resurgence of the movement; a typical example of which is to be found in a letter to the editor of the British Columbian, dated April 20, 1869, and signed " Anglo Saxon." With a depleted treasury, revenue falling off, and the Colony suffering from a depression beyond all precedent, with no prospect, either present or remote, of immigration, what are we to do? . . . Were the inhabitants of British Columbia a thriving community, the question of annexation would not be popular; for the people are loyal and patriotic. The force of circumstances alone compels them to advocate a change of nationality. ... I am a loyal Briton, and would prefer living under the institutions of my own country, were it practicable. But I, like the rest of the world of which we are each an atom, would prefer the flag and institutions of the United States with prosperity, to remaining as we are, with no prospect of succeeding as a British colony.7 Economic dissatisfaction was the basis of the movement. To many the alternative of confederation with Canada offered little hope of a satisfactory solution of the problems facing the colony. Just as twenty years earlier, in Montreal, discontent, bred of economic and political disillusionment, had resulted in the signing (6) Minute, signed F. R., September 16, on Seymour to Buckingham, July 15, 1867, CO. 60/28. (7) British Columbian, April 30, 1869. 270 Willard E. Ireland. October of the famous Annexation Manifesto* so, in British Columbia, similar conditions produced similar results. In the fall of 1869 there circulated in Victoria another petition, this time to the President of the United States, seeking his assistance in facilitating the annexation of British Columbia. In the issue of November 13, 1869, the British Colonist reported that the document had been entrusted to General Ihrie, a passenger on board the U.S.S. Newbern, for delivery to President Grant, and asserted that it had " less than forty signatures, principally those of foreigners." In addition it was claimed that the chief agent in circulating the petition was a " naturalized foreigner."9 Actually, however, the petition appears to have been handed to Vincent Collyer, special Indian Commissioner for Alaskan tribes, judging from an item in the San Francisco Morning Bulletin of November 17,1869. Vincent Collyer, special Indian Commissioner for Alaska tribes, who arrived here from Alaska and British Columbia this morning, carried with him a petition signed by (forty prominent business men of Victoria} addressed to President Grant, praying for the annexation of British Columbia to the United States. Another petition of similar import is to be forwarded to the Queen. The petition is very strongly worded, setting forth with much force and cogency of reasoning, the isolated and helpless condition of the colony, and the imperative necessity for forming a political alliance with its powerful and more prosperous neighbour. Mr. Collyer represents the feeling in favor of annexation as having received new impulse from the recent note of Earl Granville, urging the British Columbians to affiliate with the Canadian Dominion. This they regard as little less than insulting, as it would increase their burdens without affording them either political protection or material relief. Mr. Collyer is on his way to Washington and has promised to present the petition in person to the President with a statement of what seems to be the prevailing sentiment of the people.1" On December 29,1869, the petition was formally presented to the President. The press dispatch announcing the event merits reproduction. Washington, Dec. 30. Vincent Collyer yesterday handed to the President a memorial signed by a number of property holders and businessmen in Victoria to be followed by another which will contain the names of all the British merchants and others at Victoria, Nanaimo and other places, in favor of the transfer of British Columbia to the United States. The Presi- (8) Allin, C. D., & Jones, G.M., Annexation, Preferential Trade and Reciprocity, Toronto [1911], passim. (9) British Colonist, November 13, 1869. (10) San Francisco Morning Bulletin, November 17, 1869. 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 271 dent to-day returned Collyer a verbal reply that he had received it with great interest and sent it to the Secretary of State. Collyer also showed a memorial to Senator Sumner, Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations, who, after reading it, said the movement was important and could have but one termination. Meanwhile the government waits the movement of England, which is fast seeing the uselessness and impracticability of European empire on this hemisphere. Both the President and Sumner desired their replies to be made known to the memorialists.!1 The petition itself was found in the Miscellaneous Letters to the Department of State in the Archives of the Department of State, Washington, D.C.12 It is herewith printed for the first time, complete with forty-three signatures. To His Excellency, the President of the United States of America. Your Memorialists beg leave most respectfully to represent, that we are residents of the Colony of British Columbia—many of us british subjects and all deeply interested in the welfare and progress of our adopted country. That those that are british Subjects are penetrated with the most profound feelings of loyalty and devotion to Her Majesty and Her Majesty's Government and that all entertain for Her, feelings of the greatest respect as well as attachment to the country. That while we thus indulge such feelings, we are constrained by the duty we owe to ourselves and families, in view of the contemplated severance of the political ties which unite this Colony to the " Mother Country ", to seek for such political and commercial affinity and connection, as will insure the immediate and continued prosperity and wellbeing of this our adopted home. That this Colony is now suffering great depression, owing to its isolation, a scarcity of population and other causes too numerous to mention. That we view with feelings of alarm the avowed intention of Her Majesty's Government to confederate this Colony with the Dominion of Canada, as we believe such a measure can only tend to still further depression and ultimate injury for the following reasons, viz:— That confederation cannot give us protection against internal enemies or foreign foes, owing to the distance of this Colony from Ottawa. That it cannot open to us a market for the produce of our lands, our forests, our mines or our waters. That it cannot bring us population, (our greatest need) as the Dominion itself is suffering from lack of it. (11) British Colonist, January 11, 1870. (12) Now in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. A photostat copy of this petition was presented by the writer to the Archives of British Willard E. Ireland. That our connection with the Dominion can satisfy no sentiment of loyalty or devotion. That her commercial and industrial interests are opposed to That the tariff of the Dominion will be the ruin of our farmers and the commerce of our chief cities. That we are instigated by every sentiment of loyalty to Her Majesty, by our attachment to the laws and institutions of Great Britain and our deep interest in the prosperity of our adopted country, to express our opposition to a severance from England and a confederation with Canada. We admit the Dominion may be aggrandized by confederation, but we can see no benefit either present or future, which can accrue to us therefrom. That we desire a market for our Coal, our lumber and our fish and this the Dominion seeks for the same produce of her own soil, she can take nothing from us and supply us nothing in return. That confederating this Colony with Canada, may relieve the mother country from the trouble and expense of fostering and protecting this isolated distant Colony, but it cannot free us from our long enduring depression, owing to the lack of population as aforesaid and the continued want of home markets for our produce. The only remedy for the evils which beset us, we believe to be in a close union with the adjoining States and Territories, we are already bound to them by a unity of object and interest; nearly all our commercial relations are with them; They furnish the Chief Markets we have for the products of our mines, lands and waters; They supply the Colony with most of the necessities of life; They furnish us the only means of communication with the outer world; and we are even dependent upon them for the means of learning the events in the mother Country or the Dominion of Canada. For these reasons we earnestly desire the acquisition of this Colony by the United States. It would result at once in opening to us an unrestricted market for our produce, bring an influx of population and with it induce the investment of capital in our Coal and Quartz Mines and in our forests. It would insure us regular Mails and communication with the adjoining States and Territories and through them with the World at It would lessen the expense of Government, by giving us representative Institutions and immediate control of our domestic concerns, besides giving us protection against foreign enemies. And with all these, we should still be united to a People of our own kindred, religion and tongue and a people who for all time, must intimately affect us in all our relations for weal or woe. That in view of these facts we respectfully request, that Your Excellency will cause this Memorial to be laid before the Government of the United States, that that in any negociations which may be I The Annexation Petition of 1 273 1 pending or undertaken between Your Government and that of Her Most Gracious Majesty, for the settlement of territorial and other questions, that you will endeavor to induce Her Majesty to consent to the transfer of this Colony to the United States. We believe that Her Majesty earnestly desires the welfare and happiness of all Her People, in view of the circumstances that for years she has consented to the annual exodus of tens of thousands of her subjects to the United States and that she will not let political traditions and sentiments influence her against a Measure, which is so earnestly desired by the People of this poor isolated Colony. British Columbia November 1869. H. F. Heisterm Emil Sutro Jacob Morris Ld Lowenberg W. H. Oliver Hry. Wolff Lewis Lewis J. L. Jungerma A. de Neuf Thomas Geiger P. Brady Archd. Turner John G. Wirth Louis Vigelius Thos. Fowlis A. Martin William H. McNeill B. Ronssin [?] I. Oppenheim (Yale) Frank Sylvester Joseph Joseph[s] G. W. Boardman David F. Fee M. W. Waitt Samuel Stubbs Tulino Seitz Anton Vigelius G. C. Keays H. M. Cohen David Shirpser William Wale G. R. Fardon John Swanson Jno. Dickson Louis Wolff J. Kriemler Thos. Chadwick I H. j C. W. Kammerer W. Farron Henry Rudolph P. Feuchs Joseph Loewen The press dispatch mentioned the probability of further signatures being forwarded. This was actually done, for in Washington, D.C, an additional list of sixty-one names was found. This supplementary list was forwarded to President Grant in a letter from T. G. Phelps, of the Collector's Office, San Francisco, California, dated September 1, 1870, which read, as follows:— I have the honor to enclose a letter from Mr. Heisterman to W. H. Olliver [sic], Esq., a very prominent resident of Victoria, British Columbia, temporarily stopping in this city, relative to the resources of British Columbia, annexation, &c, also some additional names to a copy of the petition presented to you by Vincent Collyer, some time since. I trust Sir, you will not deem me too importunate in this matter. I feel that the advantages which would accrue to us from annexation are very great, and that this is the golden moment for bringing it about. That the great majority of the people are favourable to it, there is no doubt, but the office-holders—those who have a chance to make themselves heard and felt, will, and do oppose it. These men to retain their positions and power, are doing everything they can to Willard E. Ireland. forward confederation with Canada. Should Confederation take place, I greatly fear it will postpone annexation for many years, if it does not defeat it altogether. I am informed that copies of the petition enclosed were sent through British Columbia and very generally signed, but with the exception of the one enclosed, were destroyed by parties in the interest of confederation's The enclosed letter from Mr. H. F. Heisterman, dated August 17, 1870, at Victoria, was an eloquent attempt to convince the Government of the United States, by detailed references to the agricultural and mineral resources of British Columbia, of the excellent bargain to be had in the acquisition of the colony. It read, in part:— Understanding that you are likely to have His Excellency President Grant among you some time this month and that you will likely have an opportunity, I herewith hand you a further list of names to the memorial presented in December '69 by Vincent Collyer, Esqr. It would have been sent then, but owing to the hostility shown to it by the Canadian Newspaper here it was not sent. I therefore transmit it to you, to make whatever use of it you see fit in the premises. It is exasperating to me and to many of my fellow citizens, to see a country aggregating 405,000 square miles, of which 11,000 square miles come upon Vancouver Island and 6,000 square miles upon Queen Charlotte Island and the balance of 388,000 square miles upon the mainland of British Columbia, shut out as it were from the prosperity around it. The people of the Colony are too few to make an armed resistance to Confederation which seems from all accounts intended to be forced on us unless some countenance were given to parties who des" to the United States by the Government of President Grant, i settle the Alabama Claims by the transfer of this Colony, I don't see can move in the matter.14 The additional list contained the following signatures:— Charles Meloy Edwin T. Percy W. D. Lyts P. W. Scully Wm. Wolff James Burns Collin Rankin [?] Peter Walsh Joseph Dwyer B. La Bel Wm. C. Bryant Henry La Fleur Thomas Holden Wm. Shepherd Henry Calbraith George Henderson Thomas La Vuz George Wilson W. Hoffman John Glassy Andrew Vigelius H. Passerard J. Valentine Oliver Sweney [?] Eli Harrison H. Laihauf [?] Joseph Lovett (13) T. G. Phelps to President Grant, September 1, 1870, Miscellaneous Letters to the Department of State, Department of State, Archives, Washington, D.C. (14) H. F. Heisterman to W. H. Oliver, August 17, 1870, enclosed in T. G. Phelps to President Grant, September 1, 1870, ibid. 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 275 Andrew Patten L. A. Davis Robert Snelling Henry N. Simpson Bart. Dooling George Stelly John J. Murphy J. W. Williams T. J. Burnes Thomas H. Currie T. N. Hibben M. W. Waitt B. S. Armstrong J. A. Williams D. W. Chauncey John Fenerty C. B. Sweeney Henry Grunbaum Edward Grunbaum David Jenner Henry Malery [?] Peter Ousterhout Emil A. Mihin [ ?] Alex. Hendry John Stanoviz H. T. Shepherd John Montebi Charles Loring Reed Wm. Davis Edward Holman John Sinclair Aime Leclair The true significance of such a memorial depends upon the status of its signatories. Of the forty-three signatures on the original petition, forty-one have been identified. Wherever possible the attempt has been made to ascertain the nationality of the signatory, his occupation in 1869, and his ultimate relation to the colony. The result of an extensive research reveals the following information.16 H. F. Heisterman: Born July 22, 1832, in Bremen, Germany; removed to England in 1853, where he was naturalized in 1861. He arrived in Victoria, in August, 1862, and after an unsuccessful effort at mining in the Stickeen district established a reading-room in Victoria' and later a wholesale paint and glass business. In 1864 he established the real- estate business which he conducted until shortly before his death on August 29, 1896. In 1869 he was president of the Germania Sing Verein, and Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of British Columbia, A.F. and A.M. Emil Sutro: A German Jew, who arrived in the colony probably late in 1859. He was a partner of G. Sutro & Co., cigar and tobacco dealers and importers. He removed to San Francisco in November, 1875. Jacob Morris: Partner of Wolff & Morris, boot and shoe dealers and clothiers, who presumably left the colony about 1871. (15) Biographical information was obtained principally from the following sources: Scholefield, E. 0. S., and Howay, F. W., British Columbia, Vancouver, 1914, III. and IV.; Kerr, J. B., Biographical Dictionary of well- known British Columbians, Vancouver, 1890; Mallandaine, Edw., First Victoria directory, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th issues, Victoria, 1868, 1869, 1871/ respectively; and Victoria British Colonist. I Willard E. Ireland. 3, a native of Potsdam, Prussia. He was involved in an extensive law suit with the Hudson's Bay Company over a land purchase in 1861. He was a real-estate agent and a man of considerable means. He died in Victoria, December 22, 1884, and Sir Matthew B. Begbie acted as one of his pall-bearers. W. H. Oliver: Probably arrived in Victoria Chamber oi mation regarding the Big Bend gold district in 1866. Of him the British Colonist, June 23, 1870, wrote: "Mr. Oliver is one of our oldest and most respected American citizens and has given palpable evidence of the confidence he reposes in the future prospects of our beautiful city by the heavy investments he has made." H[en]ry Wolff: Known to be in the colony in July, 1869, when he was arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Lewis Lewis: Born in 1828 in Poland, removed to England in 1837 and thence to New York in 1845. After residing in Brazil and Peru he reached California in 1849 and came to British Columbia in June, 1858. After visiting Yale, he opened a grocery business in Victoria in 1859, and in 1861 started the clothier's establishment which he operated as late as 1890. He was a Mason and Oddfellow and a member of the Hebrew Society. J. L. Jungermann: Born in 1820, a native of Hesse Cassel, Germany. He arrived in Victoria in 1861, and established himself as a watchmaker and jeweller. He died in Victoria, May 28, 1879. A. de Neuf: An employee of J. L. Jungermann in 1869, who presumably left the colony in 1871. Thomas Geiger: A partner in Geiger & Becker, barber-shop. p". Brady: An employee of H. Mansell, bootmaker. Arch[ibal]d Turner: Also an employee of H. Mansell, bootmaker. JohnG. Wirth: A trader, resident of Hope, who was in the colony at least as early as 1860, and who, in 1870, was appointed postmaster at Hope. Louis Vigelius: A native of Bavaria, Germany, who arrived about 1866, and established the St. Nicholas hair-cutting saloon. In 1886 he became an alderman of the City of Victoria. 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 277 ' Thos. Fowlis: An employee in the store of Fellows & Roscoe, iron merchants, who presumably left the colony in 1871. A. [J.] Martin: A general dealer and mariner. He was included in a list of " many old Victorians on board the Prince Alfred " in the British Colonist, August 17, 1871. William H. McNeill: A retired Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, born in Boston, Mass., in 1801. He first arrived on the coast in 1816 from China, and returned in 1826 on the brig Convoy, a trader for a Boston fur company. In 1832 he returned to the coast in command of the American brig Llama, and in April of that year entered the Hudson's Bay Company's service when his vessel was acquired by that company. He 'remained with the company until 1865 when he retired as a farmer, but evidently returned to command the steamer Enterprise for a time, from which position he retired in 1874. He died in Victoria, September 4,1875. B. Ronssin: Signature indecipherable, no such person known. I. Oppenheim: A member of the famous firm of Oppenheimer Bros., dry-goods merchants, established at Yale in 1858. Signed his name variously as " Oppenheim " or " Oppenheimer." Frank Sylvester: Born in New York in 1835, of Jewish parentage. He came out to California in 1853 and on to British Columbia in the gold-rush of 1858. After several years of mining in the Interior settled in Victoria. In 1869 he was employed by H. M. Cohen, clothier, but he later joined the firm of J. P. Davis & Co., auctioneers. Ultimately he established himself as a private accountant. In 1869 he was secretary of the Board of Delegates, Victoria Fire Department. He died in Victoria, December 25, 1908. Joseph Josephs: Born in 1810, a native of Liverpool, England, of Jewish extraction. In 1869 he was messenger, City Council Chambers, and continued as such until his death, September 10, 1872. G. W. Boardman: A miner, known to have been in Victoria 1869 to 1871. David F. Fee: Born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. In 1851 he removed to California and came north to Victoria in 1861 on the Enterprise and continued on her as engineer at intervals until 1883. He also had charge of the engines of the Beaver, Otter, Yosemite, and Wilson G. Hunt at Willard E. Ireland. ~)ctnhfvr I. Waitt: In 1869 an employee of T. N. Hibben & Co., booksellers and si and S.G.O., Provincial Grand Lodge of British Columbia, A.F. and A.M. Samuel Stubbs: i, employed by H. Mansell, bootmaker. Tulino Seitz: Unidentified. Anton Vigelius: Born on September 24, 1847, at Kaiserlautern, Bavaria, Germany. He arrived in Victoria, June 15, 1868, and was employed by his brother in the St. Nicholas hair-cutting saloon. G. C. Keays: An employee of Fellows, Roscoe & Co., iron merchants, and later mined in Omineca. He was a Past Master of the Vancouver Lodge, No. 421, A.F. and A.M. H. M. Cohen: Arrived in the colony about 1862, and operated a clothier's establishment. In 1869 he was Vice-President of the French Benevolent Society and manager of the Jewish Cemetery. David Shirpser: Of Jewish extraction, came to the colony as early as 1860. He entered the dry-goods business in Victoria in 1862, and in 1867 opened a store in New Archangel, Alaska. The British Colonist, July 13, 1869, records that Major-General Thomas, then inspecting the American military stations on the coast, passed through Victoria en route to Sitka, and that " Mr. Shirpser, formerly of this city, is interpreter for Gen. Thomas." W. Wale: An employee of G. C. Gerow, wagon and carriage builder. G. R. Fardon: A native of Staffordshire, England, born in 1806. He migrated to New York and in 1849 to San Francisco, as a daguerreotypist, and is credited with the introduction of photography to that city. He came to Victoria in 1858 and established himself as a photographic artist and made important investments. He was a half-brother of Mr. A. J. Langley, J.P. He died in Victoria, August 20, 1886. John Swanson: A native of Rupert's Land, who joined the Hudson's Bay Company as a lad of 14 and came out to British Columbia about 1843 as an apprentice on the schooner Cadboro. He helped clear the site of the old Hudson's Bay Company's fort and stockade in Victoria. He was elected the first member of the Vancouver Island Assembly for Nanaimo in 1859, his constituency having only one qualified elector. He became a Chief Trader of the company in 1860 and commanded 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 279 many of their vessels, including the Labouchere and Otter. He was a member of the B.C. Pilot Board in 1866 and Pilot Commissioner in 1867. In 1866 he assumed command of the Enterprise, on which he continued until his death October 21, 1872. Jno. Dickson: Born in 1827, a native of Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland. He claimed in 1862 that he was an American citizen. He was a stove and hardware dealer in Victoria, and one of the founders of the Fire Department, in which organization at one time or another he held the positions of foreman, treasurer, chief engineer, president, and delegate. In 1869, after two terms as chief engineer, he became head of the Board of Delegates. Later he was purser and part owner of the Stickeen river steamboat Glenora. He died at Wrangel, Alaska, June 2, 1875. Louis Wolff: J. Kriemler: A native of Switzerland, who was in the colony as early as 1862. In 1869 he was a partner in Spratt & Kriemler, Albion Iron Works, and also chief engineer of the Victoria Fire Department and Treasurer of the French Benevolent Society. He was naturalized, July 5, 1872, and in 1874 removed to Guatamala, where he established himself in Thos. Chadwick: A saloon-keeper, formerly proprietor of the International. In 1868 he opened Garrick's Head Saloon, and in 1871, the Blue Post R. H.Adams: A partner of Robert Beaven, general outfitters, who arrived in the colony as early as 1863. In 1869 he was Sub Grand Master, Provincial Grand Lodge of British Columbia, A.F. and A.M. In 1870 he removed to San Francisco, where he entered the hat business. C. W. Kammerer: An employee of T. N. Hibben & Co., booksellers and stationers, and later a member of the firm. He took out naturalization papers along with T. N. Hibben, August 4, 1880. W. Farron: Born in 1840, a native of County Down, Ireland. He came to British Columbia in 1858 and was one of the holders of rich claims on Hill's Bar, and subsequently went to Williams Creek and owned in the Aurora and other claims. He acquired considerable wealth which he invested in real estate in Victoria. In 1869 he owned the Fates Street Saloon. He was also a pioneer of the Omineca and Cassiar mines. He was drowned en route to Cassiar aboard the steamer Grappler, passing Ten-mile Point, May, 1877. r Wd-,lard E. Ireland. eer watchmaker and jeweller in Vic- 20, 1879. P. Feuchs: Employed by Wm. Lohse in the Bank Exchange Saloon. Joseph Lpewen: Born in Ediger, Prussia, in June, 1832. He moved to New York in 1850 and to California in 1856 and arrived in British Columbia, July 4, 1858. In 1869 he was a partner with Joseph Lovett in the Bank Exchange Saloon, and also librarian of the Germania Sing Verein. In 1871 he became a partner in Erb & Loewen, Victoria Brewery, in which business he continued until his death in 1906. Of the sixty-one signatures on the supplementary list, it has been possible to identify only forty, but of these it can be said that they are representative of much the same elements of the population of the colony as is indicated by the preceding analysis of the original signatories. A few of the more important are singled out for special note. George Stelly: Born in Bettlach, Switzerland, in 1829. He went to New Orleans in 1852 and eventually to California by way of Illinois and Iowa. In May, 1858, he arrived in Victoria, and after mining unsuccessfully at Hill's and Emory's Bars, returned to Victoria and commenced business as a contractor and transfer agent. He was also a pioneer farmer of Saanich district. He died in Victoria, May 28, 1913. J. W. Williams: Born in 1830, a native of New York, who came to Victoria in 1859. He possessed considerable property in Victoria and San Francisco, and served four years on the City Council, and represented Victoria City in the local legislature from 1878 to 1882. He was naturalized in November, 1872. He died in San Bernadino, California, January 24, 1887. T. J. Burnes: A native of Dublin, Ireland, born about 1832. He came to Victoria in 1858 from San Francisco where he had resided since 1854. For some time he was a member of the Customs House staff of the colony, but later engaged in the hotel business, owning the American Hotel in 1869, at which time he was also foreman of the Tiger, No. 2 Company of the Victoria Fire Department. As late as 1907 he re-entered the Customs service. Thos. Golden: Proprietor of the Broi on Jug saloon and Tre asure of the I.O.O.F. Victoria Lodge, No. 1, i n 1869. In 1871 he ren loved o San Francisco. 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 281 Eli Harrison: Born in September, 1822, in Cheshire, England. He went to Macon, Georgia, in 1850, and shortly afterwards removed to San Francisco and to Victoria, June 18, 1858, where he established himself as a house- and sign-painter. From 1878 to 1881 he was Grand Master of the Masonic order in the Province, and served for several years as a Justice of the Peace in Victoria. He died in Victoria in September, 1907. T. N. Hibben: A native of Charleston, N.C., born in 1828. He went to California in the gold-rush of 1849 and subsequently established a stationery business in San Francisco which he sold to H. H. Bancroft, the historian, in 1858, on his departure for Victoria, where he established himself as an importing stationer and bookseller. He was naturalized, August 3,1880. He died in Victoria, January 10, 1890. D. W. Chauncey: Born in 1830, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He went to San Francisco in the rush of 1849 and on to British Columbia in 1858. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade and at one time was considered a wealthy man. He was a brother of the Chaunceys who were extensive steamboat operators on the Hudson River. He died at Victoria, May 2, 1887. Because of the relatively small number of signatures, it could hardly be maintained that the petition was representative of the opinion of the majority of the residents of British Columbia. Certain observations, however, can be made with reasonable accuracy. There can be no doubting the sincerity of the signatories of the petition,16 nor is it reasonable to levy the charge of disloyalty against the signers of the petition. They were motivated by the conditions in the colony and considered annexation to the United States a preferable solution to the alternative of confederation with Canada. It is to be noted that most of those signing remained in the colony long after Confederation was accomplished, some rising to positions of considerable importance. From the petition it is apparent that the annexation sentiment was confined mainly to Victoria, and even there drew its main support from the non-British element in the population. Indeed, most of those concerned were not even Americans. Germans and Jews provided the main support for the movement and lead one (16) Some of the leading signatories of the petition were also active in a movement amongst the Masons, the object of which was to secure an independent Grand Lodge for British Columbia. The point is of some interest, and will be dealt with in a subsequent issue of this Quarterly. 282 Willard E. Ireland. October to suspect that it was a foreign move purely and simply. It did, however, have a broad base, for the signatures are a fairly adequate sampling of the various elements of the population, constituting, as they do, a curious blend of prominent and public- spirited businessmen and inconsequential characters of doubtful reputation. Moreover, the petition is remarkable for the absence of the signatures of certain Victorians who might have been expected to sign, notably Dr. J. S. Helmcken, who gained the reputation of being annexationist in sympathy, though actually there is little to substantiate the accusation, and J. Despard Pemberton, ex-Colonial Surveyor of Vancouver Island, whose three letters on separation from the mother country,17 appearing in the British Colonist on January 26 and 29, and February 1, 1870, provoked such a storm of controversy in the colonial press. In the colony itself the petition did not arouse a great deal of interest. The Victoria Evening News reproduced it in its issue of November 15, 1869, and continued to moot the subject—a policy which contributed greatly to its demise in June, 1870, after a precarious existence of only fourteen months. The British Colonist, strong advocate of Confederation, dubbed the movement a " sublime bit of cheek," but none the less recognized the urgency of the local conditions which had given rise to the spirit of annexation. We cannot say we are surprised that some colonists should desire annexation to the United States. The loyalty of British subjects in this colony has been submitted to far too severe a test, one under which the loyalty of most persons in the Mother Country would long since have broken down; and all that can be said regarding the present movement is that the fruits of mis- government and neglect have made their appearance in a less harmful form than open revolt. The feasibility of the movement and the advantages promised by the sought for change are, however, a very different affair.1* From an official point of view the cause of annexation was hopeless. Governor Musgrave had been appointed to British Columbia for the specific task of bringing about Confederation. By the publication of Lord Granville's dispatch of August 14, 1869, in the Government Gazette on October 30, 1869,19 he had revealed to the people of British Columbia that the Colonial Office (17) British Colonist, January 26, January 29, February 1, 1870. (18) Ibid., November 18, 1869. (19) British Columbia Government Gazette, October 30, 1869, reprinted in the British Colonist, October 31, 1869. 1940 The Annexation Petition op 1869. 283 was irrevocably determined upon seeing Confederation accomplished. Governor Musgrave chose to ignore the whole question of annexation. His only report on the incident occurred in a dispatch to Sir Edward Thornton, British Minister in Washington, who had been shown the petition by the American Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish.20 Musgrave wrote (it is to be noted none too accurately) :— I am not aware that any such memorial was ever forwarded. It was known some time ago that a foolish Petition to the President of the United States was said to have been entrusted to Mr. Colyer (sic) from about forty foreign residents in Victoria, but the matter was indeed of so little importance that I did not think it necessary even to mention it to the Secretary of State in my despatches. The names you give are known here but they are not those of British subjects or of persons of any standing or influence whatever in the Community. I do not believe that a single British subject signed the Petition. The frequent notice of this matter in the American Papers have been a fruitful source of pleasantry in the Colony.21 With the imprimatur of the Colonial Office on Confederation, with Canada anxious to obtain a Pacific outlet, and with the mainland of British Columbia strongly advocating the cause of Confederation, it is not to be wondered that the British Colonist should counsel:— Knowing, as we do, that Annexation is impossible, even if it were desirable, and that Confederation is inevitable, even if it were undesirable, would not all of us be more profitably employed in seeking to secure the best possible terms for this Colony as a province of the Dominion.22 (20) Thornton to Musgrave, January 12, 1870, enclosed in Musgrave to Granville, March 7,1870, confidential, CO. 60/38. Thornton reported there were forty-three signatures, but having only seen it for a moment only remembered that the first name was Heisterman and that the names of Wolff and Adams also occurred. (21) Musgrave to Thornton, February 23, 1870, enclosed in Musgrave to Granville, March 7, 1870, confidential, CO. 60/38. In the covering dispatch Musgrave wrote: "My reply to him contains all that really need be said upon a matter, which I believe to be of no importance." The whole correspondence arose from Granville to Musgrave, February 3, 1870, confidential, CO. 398/5 in which were forwarded two letters from the Foreign Office containing Thornton's reports on matters in Washington. Similar information was sent to Canada, vide, Granville to Monck, February 5,1870, confidential, CO. 43/156. (22) British Colonist, November 20, 1869. 284 Willard E. Ireland. October The advice thus tendered was evidently taken to heart, judging by the terms of confederation finally agreed upon.23 In the United States, however, the petition aroused a more sympathetic response. Numerous press references are made to the movement in all parts of the country,24 and the petition was frequently printed in full. In Washington Territory considerable interest was evoked.26 The Olympia Pacific Tribune became particularly belligerent over a rumour to the effect that the ruling powers in British Columbia planned to arrest the leaders of the movement, which act, it prophesied, " would fan into flame a fire long smouldering in our midst, and bring upon the people of that country a force of filibusters who, under the pretext of releasing the prisoners, would really seek the overthrow of British Dominion on this coast."26 The British Colonist, moreover, reported that the Legislature of Washington on November 23, 1869, had passed a memorial relative to the annexation of British Columbia.27 The receipt of the petition by the President was a signal for the renewal of the legislative schemes for the annexation of at least a portion of British America in settlement of the " Alabama Claims." This fact was made apparent to the Foreign Office by a dispatch from the British Minister in Washington, who, referring directly to the British Columbia annexation petition, wrote:— This circumstance, the existing disturbance in the Hudson's Bay settlement, and the asserted disaffection in Nova Scotia, are much commented on by (23) Vide, Ireland, W. E., "Helmcken's Diary of the Confederation Negotiation, 1870," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, IV. (1940), pp. 111-128. (24) Cf., Detroit Free Press, January 2, 1870; St. Paul Press, December 23, 1869 (which reprinted the earlier petition to the Queen); New York Tribune, January 6,1870; New York Times, December 31, 1869; San Francisco Alta California, January 21, 1870. Even the London Times, January 1, 1870, carried the news dispatch.- The Toronto Leader, January 5, 1870, mentioned the petition and returned to deprecate its importance in the issue of January 20, 1870. (25) Olympia Transcript, November 20, 1869; Seattle Weekly Intelligencer, November 22, 1869; Olympia Washington Standard, February 5, 1870. (26) Olympia Pacific Tribune, November 20, 1869. (27) British Colonist, December 1, 1869. No further reference to this memorial has been found at the time of writing. 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 285 the newspapers of this country, and are looked upon as the beginning of a separation of the British Provinces from the mother country, and of their early annexation to the United States. This view of the matter is put in connexion with the settlement of the differences with us arising out of the & Alabama " affair, and Senators are evidently indulging in the [i]llusive hope that England has it in her power, and might not be unwilling to come to an amicable settlement of those differences on the basis of the cession of our territory on this Continent to the United States.28 The resolutions introduced to this effect by Senator Corbett, of Oregon, on January 10, 1870, made an extensive quotation from the petition,29 and the subsequent resolutions of Senator Ramsey, of Minnesota, on February 1, 1870,30 probably were much encouraged by its publication. The American Government, however, was more loath to take direct official notice of British Columbia's plea. To be sure, a copy of the petition was forwarded to the American Minister in London, John L. Motley, but the accompanying instructions as to the action he was to take were extremely vague. I enclose a copy of a paper purporting to be a memorial from Inhabitants of British Columbia urging the transfer of that colony to the United States, which has been presented to the President, and which has already been printed in the public papers of this city and elsewhere through the agency of the parties charged with its presentation. In an informal conversation with Mr. Thornton, he referred to this petition, and I showed him the original. As Mr. Thornton had very frequently and very openly, not only to me, but in the presence of others, expressed the willingness of the British Government to terminate its political connection with the Provinces on this Continent, whenever it should appear that a separation was desired by its present dependencies, I took occasion to suggest that possibly the desire indicated by these petitioners, taken in connection with the troubles in the Red River or Selkirk Settlement, and the strong opposition to confederation manifested in the Maritime Provinces, might induce his Government to consider whether the time was not near when the future relations of the colonies to Great Britain must be contemplated with reference to these manifestations of restlessness, and to some extent, of dissatisfaction, with their present condition. . . . It is not impossible that Mr. Thornton may have communicated to Lord Clarendon, the substance of the conversation to which I have referred. Should the subject of the Red River troubles, or of the petition before mentioned be referred to, at any time, by Lord Clarendon, you will express the anxiety of this Government that the Indians remain quiet. . . . (28) Thornton to Clarendon, January 3, 1870, F.O. 5/1191. (29) Congressional Globe, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., part I., pp. 324-325. Cf. also, Thornton to Clarendon, January 11, 1870, F.O. 115/506. (30) Congressional Globe, 41 Cong., 2 Sess., part I., pp. 931-934. Willard E. Ireland. October You will exercise your discretion in reference to this question availing yourself of every opportunity to obtain information as to the real sentiments of the British Government on the question of the separation of the colonies from the Mother Country, and when opportunity offers, indicating the facts which seem to make such separation a necessity.81 Such an opportunity did arise on February 19, 1870, at the home of the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Clarendon, on which occasion an interview took place " so informal, intimate and unrestrained " that Motley thought it " improper to record the conversation, even if I could report it accurately, in an official despatch, which might come before the public." Of the substance of the conversation relative to British Columbia he wrote:— We talked fully of the Red River Insurrection, the annexation petition from British Columbia and the opposition manifested by the Maritime provinces of British America to Confederation. views materially different from those which are set h and from the opinions which I have myself always ;rave subjects. Substantially he said that the British I did no forth in yoi entertained governi them whenever they decided e observed that a and rather ener- of his remarks that he rather a transient than a I talked very p for themselves and assert their independence, pro-colonial feeling had of late got up in certain qi getically manifested; but I gathered fn had no great sympathy with it; consic permanent symptom of the public humor. . . . On the general subject of independence and annexati unreservedly; expressing my conviction that the natural within a period that is rapidly diminishing in extent must bring about the independence of all the British Colonies in North America and that furthermore independence would lead naturally to amicable annexation to the An independent, separate confederacy stretching across the continent and conterminous with our own Republic would have no special reason for existing. So soon as the slight and much-relaxed cord which now bound these colonial possessions to the far distant Crown had been voluntarily severed, they would gravitate to the Union through a community of interests (31) Fish to Motley, January 14, 1870, Instructions to the United States Minister in London from the Secretary of State, Department of State, Archives, Washington, D.C, vol. 22. 1940 The Annexation Petition of 1869. 287 violent annexation of those territories by the United States were much to be deprecated. . . .32 Whatever may have been the personal views of both the British and American statesmen on the question of the future position of the British colonial possessions in North America,33 there were foreshadowings of an important shift in opinion. No clearer statement of the new attitude is to be found than that offered in the editorial columns of the New York Times. The future political and material destinies of the vast region lying to the north of the United States, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, have long been topics of no ordinary interest to the advanced thinkers of both countries. . . . Sooner or later the whole continent must be brought to the recognition and adoption of one harmonious policy, in which not only the general interest but the allied championship of all by all shall be assured. . . . Such a policy by no means implies absorption into the United States, so far as Canada is concerned. We are believers in " manifest destiny," but our faith does not necessarily carry us to that extent. We are content with the assertion of a purely American civilization, in which the principles upon which our institutions are based shall be established and perpetuated from the Pole to the Isthmus. Outside our own boundaries we should not presume to dictate in the matter of details beyond the point of European interference or aggression. In that respect we stand frankly upon the Monroe doctrine.34 The wise policy, thus advocated, was adopted and has become a guiding principle of Canadian-American relations. The Treaty of Washington of 1871 rang down the curtain on the issue of annexation by removing the many diplomatic problems which had troubled British-American relations since the American Civil War. But of far greater significance than its actual clauses, is the fact that the Treaty of Washington gave the tacit consent of the American Government and people to the right of the British possessions in North America to pursue their own national destiny. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. (32) Motley to Fish, February 21, 1870, confidential, Despatches from the United States Minister in London to the Secretary of State, Department of State, Archives, Washington, D.C, vol. 102. (33) For a recent detailed discussion of this question, vide, Shippee, L. B., Canadian-American Relations, 1849-1874, New Haven, 1939, pp. 180-212, 472^-78, in particular. (34) New York Times, April 1, 1870. NOTES AND COMMENTS. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. The annual meeting of the British Columbia Historical Association was held in the Provincial Library, Victoria, on the evening of Friday, October 11, with the President, Dr. T. A. Rickard, in the chair. The report of the Secretary, Mrs. M. R. Cree, showed that the year just closed had been a particularly successful one and that the membership was still increasing. The number of paid-up members was 480, which compared with a total of j462 on the corresponding date in 1939, and 444 in 1938. The Treasurer, Mr. G. H. Harman, was able to report a substantial balance on hand, as his department reflected the increased membership. Dr. W. Kaye Lamb, Editor of the Quarterly, stated that the paid circulation of the magazine had risen to the gratifying total of 501, which compared with a total of 485 on the corresponding date in 1939. In view of world conditions, the Association's record is a remarkable one, and the unfaltering support which the membership has accorded the Council and the executives of the various Sections throughout the year has been most encouraging. The report of the scrutineers showed that the following officers and councillors had been elected for the year 1940-41:— President Mr. Kenneth A. Waites, Vancouver. 1st Vice-President Mr. B. A. McKelvie, Victoria. 2nd Vice-President Mr. E. M. Cotton, New Westminster. Honorary Secretary Miss Helen R. Boutilier, Vancouver. Honorary Treasurer .Mr. W. E. Ireland, Victoria. Archivist Dr. Robie L. Reid, Vancouver. Members of the Council _Mrs. M. R. Cree, Victoria. Mr. J. R. V. Dunlop, Vancouver. Rev. J. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. Judge F. W. Howay, New Westminster. Major H. T. Nation, Victoria. Dr. Rickard chose as the subject of his presidential address The Strait of Anian. The topic was dealt with in a most comprehensive manner, and, in addition to the Strait of Anian proper, Dr. Rickard traced at length the search for a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, either by the north or south, and the successive stages by which men gradually became aware of the physical extent of the Americas. The narrative was carried down through the ages to the work of such nineteenth century explorers as Franklin, and the expeditions of Amundsen and others in more recent days. Dr. Rickard's paper will be printed in the near future. The new President, Mr. Kenneth Waites, and the new Secretary, Miss Helen Boutilier, who were in attendance, and who brought greetings from the Vancouver Section, were introduced at the conclusion of the meeting. A vote of thanks was accorded the retiring executive, and particular men- 290 Notes and Comments. October tion was made of the work of Mrs. Cree, who had been Secretary of the Association since its reorganization in 1936. Mrs. Cree had been urged to stand once again for re-election, but had declined because she felt that, as the new President was a resident of Vancouver, the work of the association would benefit if its Secretary were also on the Mainland. The meeting closed with the singing of the National Anthem. Victoria Section. The field day held annually by the Section took the form of a box-picnic, and was held in the Goldstream Canyon, which is some 20 miles from Victoria, on the afternoon of July 20. Between 80 and 90 members attended, and perfect weather added to the success of the gathering. Mr. B. A. McKelvie, President of the Section, addressed those present, and recounted the fascinating story of the gold-rush to the Goldstream district which'took place in 1863-64. It all began, Mr. McKelvie explained, on October 19, 1863. The next day the Victoria Colonist reported that a hundred men had gone to the new diggings. He recalled that the discovery of the deposits at Gold- stream resulted from one of the last official acts of Governor Douglas, who had sent out a party of four prospectors to look for gold and silver in the vicinity of Victoria. Sir James was among the first to go out to the diggings after they were reported. At the height of the excitement about 300 men were at work on the creek. One of the richest claims staked assayed no less than $430 to the ton, and so positive were the good people of Victoria that an extensive and profitable field had been found at their very door, that a crushing and recovery plant to treat Goldstream ore was constructed at the Albion Iron Works. Unfortunately the workings did not prove as remunerative as had been expected, though wages could be made. The majority of the miners in the country at the time were placer-miners, and when the rich gravels of Leech River were discovered in July, 1864, by Dr. Robert Brown's expedition, Goldstream was abandoned, and it has never been worked since. Some twenty-two mines had been worked between the first discovery in the Goldstream area and the discovery of the placer wealth of the Leech River. The first meeting of the autumn season was held in the Provincial Library on September 23, when the Section was addressed by Mr. George Naden. His subject was Early Days in the Kootenays. Mr. Naden, formerly Deputy Minister of Lands, first went to the Kootenays in 1891, and was later Mayor and Member of the Legislature for Greenwood. He played a prominent part in public affairs during the colourful days of early mining activities in the Boundary and Kootenay districts, and told many interesting anecdotes which threw light upon persons and events of the time. Among those mentioned were John Houston, one time Mayor of Nelson and a pioneer journalist of note, whom the speaker characterized as having been "one of the ablest paragraphers that British Columbia ever had"; Fred Hume, who later became Minister of Mines; John Oliver, later Premier of British Columbia; Pat Burns, who became one of the big names in Western Canada as head of the firm of P. Burns & Company, and the famous and beloved " Father Pat," the Anglican clergyman whose service to the Province in early days is commemorated by a monument erected in Rossland. 1940 Notes and Comments. 291 Miss C. I. Alexander contributed an interesting sketch of the life of her brother, the late J. Stephen Alexander, who served for some years as Government Agent at Fernie, and handed to the Archives, for copying, a number of Mr. Alexander's letters concerning his work from 1885 until the time of his Mrs. Michael Jamieson presented to the Archives a miner's pickaxe, which had been found at Goldstream, and which was of special interest to members in view of the fact that the Section's field day had been held at Goldstream only a few weeks previously. Mrs. Curtis Sampson, Vice-President, presided in the absence of the President, Mr. B. A. McKelvie. Members stood in silent tribute to the memory of the late Charles H. French, former Chief Factor and Fur Trade Commissioner of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a past president of the Association. The annual meeting of the Section will be held in the Provincial Library on Monday, October 28. r Section. The Section met in the York Room of the Hotel Georgia on September 18. The President, Mr. J. R. V. Dunlop, presided. The speaker of the evening was Rev. J. H. White, D.D., who had chosen as his subject Recollections of Pioneer Days in British Columbia, 1859-1871. Dr. White, a retired minister of the United Church, commenced his first journey to British Columbia from Ontario, where he was born, at the age of four. The date was December 30, 1858. The Methodist Church had decided to send missionaries to the gold mines which were then opening up, and Dr. White's father, the Rev. Edward White, was one of the first party to travel by way of the Isthmus of Panama to Victoria, and thence to Queenborough, as New Westminster was then called, which was reached in April, 1859. Mr. White went to New Westminster a few days before his family, and when they finally joined him there, he recorded in his diary: " What a blessing to be home again "—home at the time being a tent which the Whites shared with another family. Life was interesting for a small boy who was on the alert for adventure. The little community was surrounded by forests, and a young lieutenant found that the growth was so dense that it took two hours to cover 1% miles. Dr. White's aunt was the only unmarried young white woman in the entire community, so the family met most of the eligible bachelors of the district. The speaker seems to have enjoyed the contacts, and his stories were many and amusing. The first school for white children in New Westminster was a private venture conducted by Mrs. White's sister. From 1863 to 1866, Rev. Edward White's duties took him to Nanaimo, where his family became friends of the Dunsmuirs. Almost the entire population of the town was interested in the coal-seams, and the mines were operating on three shifts at the time. The family returned to New Westminster in 1866, and that city formed the centre for Methodist activity extending as far as Chilliwack. From 1864, settlers began coming from Yale, where they had been placer-mining, to the Chilliwack Valley, and the first religious services in the district were held in the homes of Isaac Kip J 292 Notes and Comments. October at Chilliwack, and David Miller, at Sumas, in June of 1865. Regular Sunday activities included services at Langley, Maple Ridge, and New Westminster. Life in a pioneer community, where travel was difficult and communication slow, left little time for either clergy or laity to rest. The annual meeting of the Section will be held on Monday, October 28, when Dr. Robie L. Reid will speak on The Komagata Maru Case. SIMILKAMEEN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. The election of officers for the year 1940-41 was held in July, when the following were elected:— Honorary President Mr. Perley Russell. Honorary Vice-Presidents Mrs. H. Tweedle. Mr. P. Y. Smith. President Mr. A. Gould. Vice-President Mr. J. D. Saunders. Secretary-Treasurer Rev. J. C. Goodfellow. The annual supper meeting was held in Princeton on the evening of Wednesday, October 2. The gathering was well attended, 126 persons being present for this, the ninth annual banquet of the Association. At the quarterly meeting held on October 29, reports were received, business transacted, and Rev. J. C. Goodfellow read a paper on A. C. Anderson and his.Explorations in Similkameen. NEW PROVINCIAL ARCHIVIST. Mr. Willard E. Ireland was appointed Provincial Archivist of the Province as from September 1, in succession to Dr. W. Kaye Lamb, who resigned in August to accept the position of Librarian of the University of British Columbia. Mr. Ireland, who is a native son, is admirably qualified for his new position, both by training and experience. He graduated from the University of British Columbia, with first-class honours in history, in 1933, and received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 1935. The same year he was awarded the Alexander Mackenzie Research Scholarship in History, which enabled him to pursue his studies in many of the great archives collections. These included the manuscript collection of the Library of Congress and the National Archives of the United States, in Washington, D.C; the Public Archives of Canada, in Ottawa; and the British Museum and the Public Record Office, in London, England. In addition Mr. Ireland enjoyed for several months the privilege of access to the archives of the Hudson's Bay Company, in London, and his personal acquaintance with and knowledge of the papers relating to British Columbia in all these collections is unique. The Government is to be congratulated upon Mr. Ireland's appointment, and there is every reason to expect that the Archives Department will prosper under his direction. For the present at least Dr. Lamb will retain the editorship of the British Columbia Historical Quarterly, but Mr. Ireland will become Associate Editor and share with him responsibility for the publication of the magazine. 1940 Notes and Comments. 293 contributors to this issue. A. G. Harvey will be remembered as the author of the article entitled The Mystery of Mount Robson, which appeared in this Quarterly in October, 1937. Readers will find his present paper equally interesting. Mr Harvey has devoted several years of careful search to the task of compiling a definitive biography of David Douglas, and the article here published is based upon two chapters of the longer work, which has now been completed. It is to be hoped that the book will be printed at an early date. His Honour Judge F. W. Howay, LL.D., F.R.S.C, is the leading authority on the history of British Columbia, and the author of the standard history of the Province. Sylvia L. Thrupp, Ph.D., is a member of the Department of History of the University of British Columbia. She received her doctor's degree from the University of London, England, and is the author of A Short History of the Worshipful Company of Bakers (London, 1933), and other studies and articles. Beetham, Capt. E sT'se- IJMftTs'l j AmethystT^T Art 0; Cadboro, 249-251; Charmer, Conveyor, 170, 176; Dakota, 87, ?'sPT 'port'Sampson, 176; Prince*M- L BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIA Organized October 31st, 1922. PATRON. His Honour Eric W. Hamber, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. OFFICERS, 1940-41. Hon. G. M. Weir .... Honorary President. Kenneth A. Waites - - - President. B. A. McKelvie .... E. M. Cotton ----- Willard E. Ireland - Helen R. Boutilier - .. \_ Robie L. Reid ----- Archivist. MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. Mrs. M. R. Cree. J. R. V. Dunlop. F. W. Howay. J. C Goodfellow. H. T. Nation. Mrs. Curtis Sampson E. S. Robinson (Victoria Section). (Vancouver Section). E. M. Cotton (New Westminster and Fraser Valley Section). OBJECTS. To encourage historical research and stimulate public interest in history; to promote the preservation and marking of historic sites, buildings, relics, natural features, and other objects and places of historical interest, and to publish historical sketches, studies, and documents. MEMBERSHIP. Ordinary members pay a fee of $2 annually in advance. The fiscal year
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