CONTENTdm
Northwest bookshelf. Vol. XII
British Columbia Historical Books Collection
Ireland, Willard E.
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 Superseded the Association's Annual report and proceedings.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.
333 pages : coat of arms, photographs ; 25 cm
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THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY VOLUME XII 1948 EDITOR. Willaed E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. GOODFELLOW, Princeton, B.C. T. A. Rickaed, Victoric W. N. Sage, Vancouver, B.C. CONTENTS OP VOLUME XII. Articles: Page. Empress Odyssey: A History of the Canadian Pacific Service to ' the Orient, 1918-A5. By W. Kaye Lamb L_ 1 John Foster McCreight. By Patricia M. Johnson 79 The Early History of Hedley Camp. By Harry D. Barnes _ 103 McCreight and the Law. By Patricia M. Johnson 127 Federal Parties and Provincial Groups in British Columbia, 1871-1903. By Walter N. Sage.... 151 Staging and Stage Hold-ups in the Cariboo. By Willis J. West _ 185 McCreight and the Bench. By Patricia M. Johnson 211 The Development of the Eastern-Fraser Valley. By George B. White 259 Judge Begbie's Shorthand: A Mystery Solved. By Sydney G. Pettit. 293 McCreight and the Church. By Patricia M. Johnson 297 Documents: Gold-rush Days in Victoria, 1858-1859. With an introduction by Willard E. Ireland 231 Notes and Comments 93, 171, 247, 311 The Northwest Bookshelf: Esquimalt—■" Place of Shoaling Waters." By W. Kaye Lamb 17V- • Romantic Vancouver Island; Victoria, Yesterday and Today. By Madge Wolfenden 178 FortLangley: Outpost of Empire. By Willard E. Ireland 178 The Letters of Letitia. Hargrave. By Walter N. Sage ...._. 180 m% THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY JANUARY, 1948 UNIVERSITY OF IRfTISH COLUMBIA MAR 2 2 1948 CHE LIBRARY BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in cooperation with the tish Columbia Historical Association. EDITOR. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. Parliai Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor, iptions should be sent to the Provincial Archiv Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Price, 50c. the c 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 mm BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Victoria, B.C., January, 1948. Empress Odyssey: A History of the Canadian Pacific Servi to the Orient, 1913-1945. By W. Kaye Lamb John Foster McCreight. By Patricia M. Johnson Notes and Comments: British Columbia Historical Association , Unveiling of the Oregon Boundary Treaty Centennial Plaques- Unveiling of the Memorial Plaque to Amor De Cosmos——. Contributors to this Issue approaching the Outer Docks at Victoria, B.C. EMPRESS ODYSSEY: A HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC SERVICE TO THE ORIENT, 1913-45.1 The harbours of Vancouver and Victoria are once again filled with steamers in their peace-time colours, but for the ship-lover something is still lacking from the scene. No white-clad Empress liners yet glide into port, or lie resplendent, tied up in their accustomed berth. World War II has broken the rhythm of the famous service to the Orient that had been conducted without interruption, except for a few months in 1914-15, for a full half-century. The initial sailing of the line was made by the old Empress of India in April, 1891, and the Empress of Asia completed the last regularly scheduled voyage in January, 1941. A few months later the new Empress of Japan paid a secret wartime visit to Vancouver; but more than six years have passed since an Empress stood into Royal Roads or passed under the Lions Gate Bridge. In the interval three of the four Empresses that the water-front knew so well in 1939 have been destroyed. Only the Empress of Japan, renamed Empress of Scotland, now survives. Clearly, the end of an epoch has been reached in the history of the Empress service, and let us hope that the line will emerge from its present difficulties as happily' as it did from an earlier crisis of a very different kind that developed a few years before the First Great War. The three original Empresses were then still on the run, and the Canadian Pacific's troubles arose from its tardiness in recognizing the fact that its wonderful old ships could not carry on indefinitely. Small as they were (their gross tonnage was only 5,940), they had nevertheless been the largest and fastest steamers on the Pacific when they were completed in (!) For an account of the original Empress liners and a history of the trans-Pacific service generally to 1913 see W. Kaye Lamb, " Empress to the Orient," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, IV (1940), pp. 29-50, 79-110. 2 • W. Kaye Lamb. January 1891. Few ships have become so well known so quickly, but when twenty years had passed without any new Empresses being added to the fleet, the prestige of the service began at last to decline. Thanks to their reputation, their reliability, and the shorter northern route upon which they operated, the old liners still managed to hold their own as mail and silk carriers, but as passenger-ships they had been definitely outclassed. Competition had been severe ever since the turn of the century, when the Pacific Mail Company acquired four new liners, all of them twice as big as the Empresses, for the run from San Francisco to the Orient. It had been still more severe since 1908, when the Pacific Mail's Japanese rival, the Toyo Kisen Kaisha, placed in service the Chiyo Maru and the Tenyo Maru. .These turbine-driven sister ships were the fastest and best-equipped liners yet built for the Pacific. Their length over all was 575 feet, and their gross tonnage 13,450. On trial they attained a speed of 20.6 knots, and on one of her first voyages the Tenyo Maru averaged 18.25 knots from Honolulu to San Francisco.2 This was far beyond the capabilities of the old Empresses in their palmy days, let alone their old age. True, it soon became apparent that the Japanese did not intend to operate their new ships at more than about 15 knots, but they could always change their minds. When the Canadian Pacific decided at last to take the measure of these rivals, its first plans were conceived on a grand scale. About the beginning of 1910 the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, on the Clyde, was asked to prepare preliminary designs for ships no less than 700 feet in length. An air of mystery surrounded the inquiry, for only a few high officials knew that it came from the Canadian Pacific. Within the yard it was referred to merely by the curious code word " UBAB." The proposed ships were much larger than any that the Fairfield Company had yet built, and the draughting-rooms buzzed with excitement. Unfortunately disappointment soon followed, for it became apparent that 700-foot vessels would cost much more than the Canadian Pacific cared to spend. In the course of a twelvemonth the design was completely revamped (2) See S. Terano and C. Shiba, " Remarks on the design and service performance of the Transpacific liners Tenyo Maru and Chiyo Maru," in Transactions, Institution of Naval Architects, LIII (1911), part 2, pp. 185, 1948 Empress Odyssey. 3 twice—once for a proposed length of 650 feet, and then for the over-all length of about 600 feet that was finally accepted. This brought the hull dimensions down to figures that the yard had exceeded in some respects, in the Cunarders Campania and Lucania as long before as 1892, but in gross tonnage the final design still established a record for Fairfield.8 The contract for the new liners was finally signed in the early summer of 1911, and the news was announced in Vancouver by W. T. Payne, then Oriental manager of the Empress service, as he was about to sail in the Empress of China for his headquarters in Yokohama.4 It was assumed that the two new ships and two of the old Empresses would between them maintain fortnightly sailings across the Pacific. This gave rise to some local speculation as to what would become of the third old Empress, and as if to settle the matter, the Empress of China, with Mr. Payne on board, piled up on a reef outside Yokohama on July 27 and damaged herself so severely that she was never reconditioned. In September the press reported that one of the new steamers would be named Empress Van Home,5 and if this quaint suggestion had been adopted one can only assume that the sister ship would have been called the Empress Mount Stephen. Fortunately the idea, if it was ever seriously entertained, was quickly abandoned, and early in October it was stated officially that the vessels would be named Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia.6 No one was surprised that the order went to the Fairfield Company, for the Canadian Pacific was already an old customer of the yard. The Assiniboia and Keewatin for the Great Lakes, the Princess Charlotte and Princess Adelaide for the British Columbia coast fleet, and the Empress of Britain and Empress of Ireland for the trans-Atlantic service had all come from Fairfield since 1906. The surprise lay in the characteristics of the new ships themselves. One might have expected them to bear at least a family resemblance to the Atlantic Empresses, but in fact it was quite otherwise. The Empress of Britain and her sister were orthodox in the extreme. They had old-style elliptical sterns, reciprocating engines, and lounges and cabins that recalled (3) Details given to the writer by Mr. W. D. McLaren, Vancouver. (4) Victoria Colonist, July 16, 1911. (5) Vancouver World, September 12, 1911. (6) Ibid., October 4,1911. 4 W. Kaye Lamb. January late-Victorian interior decoration at its plush- and drapery-clad worst. The Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, on the other hand, incorporated many new ideas and anticipated the general trend of passenger-ship design for many years to come. For this three men were largely responsible: Dr. Percy Hillhouse, naval architect for the Fairfield Company; W. D. McLaren, now a resident of Vancouver, who was then in charge of turbine research and design at Fairfield; and Major Maitland Kersey, who watched over the planning and construction of the ships on behalf of the Canadian Pacific. The over-all length of the vessels was 592 feet, their width 68.2 feet, and their moulded depth 46 feet. Owing to small variations in design the Empress of Asia was slightly the larger of the two. Her gross tonnage was 16,909, that of the Empress of Russia was 16,810. Similarly, the Asia's displacement was 25,400 tons, while that of the Russia was 25,200.7 The visitor on board had no difficulty in telling one sister from the other, as different schemes of decoration were used in their lounges and smoking-rooms. Externally, however, even an Empress officer could detect only one distinguishing feature: the wheel-house of the Empress of Asia had portholes, whereas that of the Empress of Russia had square windows. The Empresses were not the largest ships on the Pacific, as they were at first intended to be, for the Great Northern Steamship Company's Minnesota, of 20,718 tons gross, was still in service when they were completed.8 But they were the fastest, and by far the best equipped and most modern in design. Amongst other things, they were the first big liners to have cruiser sterns, a feature now virtually universal. Dr. Hillhouse was responsible (7) When the Empresses were new, Canadian Pacific publicity booklets stated in their enthusiasm that their displacement was 30,625 tons, but this was far beyond any figure ever reached in actual service. One Empress skipper, when consulted on the point, suggested playfully that it must represent the displacement of the vessels when they were totally submerged! (8) For a detailed account of the Minnesota, which was withdrawn from the trans-Pacific run in 1916, see W. Kaye Lamb, " The Trans-Pacific Venture of James J. Hill: A History of the Great Northern Steamship Company," American Neptune, III (1943), pp. 185-204. A sister ship, the Dakota, was wrecked near Yokohama in 1907. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 5 both for this innovation9 and for the attractive and distinctive appearance of the vessels. Their cruiser sterns, long unbroken deck-houses, and three funnels set the general pattern that was to be followed in later Empresses for twenty years. To the best of their designer's knowledge they were also the first "four- compartment " ships—that is, the first liners in which four watertight compartments could be flooded without sinking the ship. A maximum speed of 20.5 knots and a service speed of 18 to 19 knots were specified, and Parsons turbines were chosen as the best means of developing the required power. The whole machinery layout therefore became the responsibility of W. D. McLaren. Ordinarily a ship of the size would probably have had three turbines (one high-pressure and two low-pressure) driving three propellors. Mr. McLaren decided to use four turbines driving four propellors instead. This enabled him not only to keep the individual turbines conveniently small, but also to introduce an intermediate-pressure turbine into the series. This in turn increased efficiency and cut down fuel consumption. No large liner afloat had such turbines at the time the Empresses were designed. Major Kersey took a special interest in the passenger- quarters, which accommodated 284 in the first class, 100 in second class, and 808 in the Oriental steerage. Every first-class cabin was either an outside or a Bibby-style room, but it is interesting to note that to begin with only the eight special suites were fitted with running hot and cold water. A big ship's plumbing and wiring, the complexity of which adds prodigiously nowadays to the cost of a liner, were still relatively simple in 1911. The public rooms were designed at the height of the enthusiasm for " period " styles that swept the seven seas in the (9) It is interesting to note that the first merchant steamers of any size to have cruiser sterns were built for service on the coast of British Columbia. These were the Prince George and Prince Rupert, completed at Newcastle in 1910 for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The Prince George was destroyed by fire in 1945, but the Prince Rupert is still sailing for the Canadian National Railways between Vancouver and northern ports. Dr. Hillhouse was an enthusiastic advocate of the new type of stern and stated his views in a paper entitled " The Cruiser Stern in Merchant Ships," published in the Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, XIV (1919), pp. 737, 738. 6 W. Kaye Lamb. January years immediately before and after the Great War. It is the fashion now to poke fun at such rooms, but the fact remains that they were usually a vast improvement upon those of an earlier day. Few pleasanter dining saloons have been put afloat than those in the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, and the smoking-room of the Asia, which was finished in carved wood in natural colour, was a fine example of successful ship decoration.10 The keel of the Empress of Russia was laid on November 7, 1911. By that time the Canadian Pacific's need for new tonnage in the Pacific was acute, for the loss of the Empress of China in July had disrupted schedules badly. In 1912 the number of first- class passengers carried to and from the Orient fell to the all- time low of 649.11 Fortunately the Fairfield Company was able to deliver the new ships in relatively quick time. The Empress of Russia was ready for launching by August of 1912, and on the 28th she was sent afloat by Mrs. Wyndham Beauclerk, daughter of Sir Thomas (later Baron) Shaughnessy, then president of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The keel of the Empress of Asia was laid on December 4,1911, and she was launched on November 23, 1912, by Mrs. G. M. Bosworth, wife of the manager of the Canadian Pacific's ocean steamships. The Russia was ready for her trials in March, 1913, and the Asia followed at the end of May. The former was thus completed in less than seventeen months, and the Empress of Asia in less than eighteen months.12 Between them the new sisters cost just over $5,000,000.18 This was looked upon as a vast expenditure at the time, but their performance on trial indicated that the company was getting its money's worth. The contract requirements were a speed of 20.5 knots on the measured mile, and an average of 20 knots on a 600- (10) The best general description of the Empresses, complete with profile, deck plans, and interior views, is probably that in the Shipbuilder, IX (1913), pp. 122-130. (11) Details will be found in the report on subsidized steamship services included in the annual report of the Department of Trade and Commerce. (12) Dates, etc., are quoted from the official records in the files of Canadian Pacific Steamships Limited, Montreal. (13) To be exact, $5,005,738.84. See entries in the Annual Report of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 1912, 1913, and 1914. The cost of the liners had first been estimated at £440,000 each. As the total given indicates, they 1948 Empress Odyssey. 7 mile sea trial. The turbines were expected to develop about 22,500 shaft horse-power. Those of the Empress of Russia actually developed a maximum of 26,285 s.h.p., and she attained a speed of 21.178 knots on the measured mile. The Empress of Asia did even better. Her fastest runs were made at 21.43 knots, and her turbines developed 27,280 s.h.p. This was probably the only time in their whole careers that their turbines were forced to the limit, and the 600-mile sea trials gave a much better idea of the maximum speeds that might be expected in regular service. The Empress of Russia averaged 21,030 s.h.p. and a speed of 20.14 knots; the Empress of Asia—once more doing just a little better than her sister—averaged 21,810 s.h.p. and 20.33 knots. Equally satisfactory was the fact that the intended ordinary service speed of 18 to 19 knots was reached when the turbines were developing considerably less than the designed power.14 There had been talk of equipping the Empresses to burn oil, but they were completed as coal-burners. This is surprising, for even in 1913 oil fuel was coming to the fore on the Pacific. The Chiyo Maru and Tenyo Maru could burn oil or coal at will, and so could the new Canadian-Australasian liner Niagara. As in all coal-burning ships, poor-quality coal or inefficient firemen could slow the Empresses down, but through the years they established a fine record for consistent performance, and rarely fell far behind schedule. The Empress of Russia dropped anchor at Greenock, after her trials, on March 24, 1913. That same day she was formally handed over to her owners, and her log commences with the notation: "Hoisted C.P.R. flag." Her first commander was Captain Edward Beetham, who had joined the old Empress of Japan when she was first commissioned, and in recent years had been in command of the Empress of India. A. J. Hosken was chief officer, and James Adamson, another old-timer who had been in the Empress of India since 1891, was chief engineer. The Empress's maiden voyage commenced at Liverpool on April 1, when she sailed with a large party of round-the-world excursionists. Proceeding by way of the Mediterranean and the (14) Details from the official reco Steamships Limited, and from data in Vancouver, who supervised the trials. 8 W. Kaye Lamb. January Suez Canal, she called at Gibraltar and Monaco, passed through the Straits of Messina, paused at Port Said, gave her passengers time to see some of the sights in Colombo, visited Singapore, and tied up at Hong Kong on May 9. Twelve days later she set off to make the round of the Oriental ports she was to know so well in years to come: Shanghai, Nagasaki, Kobe, and Yokohama. This first visit to Nagasaki was memorable, for between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. on May 25 the human chains of Japanese coal-handlers, for which the port was long famous, swarmed up her sides and poured no less than 3,200 tons of coal into her bunkers. This . was an average of 533 tons per hour—a record that has never been equalled.16 On May 29 the Empress left Yokohama and set off across the Pacific. In spite of strong winds, rough following seas, and some dense fog, she made steady progress, and completed the passage to William Head in 9 days 5 hours and 29 minutes. This reduced by more than 28 hours the old east-bound record of 10 days 10 hours, held for many years by the Empress of Japan. The Russia's average speed—about 19 knots—was higher than any other vessel on any competing route had ever averaged, and when she tied up in Vancouver, she was indisputably Queen of the Pacific. Quite as satisfactory from the point of view of her owners was the fact that she brought no less than 1,066 passengers—198 of them in the first class—and a cargo that totalled 3,854 tons measurement.16 The Empress of Asia was delivered to her owners on May 31 and sailed from Liverpool on June 14. In order to avoid the extreme heat that prevails in the Red Sea during the summer months, she travelled to Hong Kong by way of the Cape of Good Hope. She arrived off Victoria late on the night of August 30, docked there the next morning, and tied up in Vancouver later in the day. Captain Samuel Robinson, one of the best known of all the Empress skippers, was in command, L. D. Douglas was chief officer, and William Auld was chief engineer. All three had been promoted to the Asia from the famous old Empress of Japan. (15) A fine photograph of the Empress, taken while she was coaling at Nagasaki, hangs in the office of the General Superintendent, Canadian Pacific Steamships, in Vancouver. (16) Details from the ship's log; also Victoria Times, June 7,1913. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 9 For the next few months the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, running in conjunction with the Empress of India and Empress of Japan, shuttled back and forth across the Pacific without incident. Then, in the spring of 1914, there came a spate of record-breaking. On May 3 Captain Robinson brought the Empress of Asia to William Head after a record run of 9 days 2 hours and 44 minutes from Yokohama. The average speed maintained was 19.19 knots.17 If she had not encountered heavy gales that persisted for two days, the Asia would have done better still, for her best day's run was made at an average of 20.4 knots. But her performance was not to go unchallenged for long. On May 29 the Empress of Russia, now commanded by Captain A. W. Davison, regained her laurels by completing a voyage in only 8 days 18 hours and 31 minutes, at an average speed of 19.86 knots—a record that was to stand for nine years.18 A month later, on June 29, the Russia added another page to the story of the Empresses when she tied up in the harbour at Manila. Hitherto the Canadian Pacific liners had not gone beyond Hong Kong, but it was found that the superior speed of the new Empresses left them with a few days in hand at the end of their run. The service was therefore extended to the Philippines, and the initial sailing fell to the lot of the Empress of Russia. Four weeks later the Empress of Asia followed, but thereafter the schedule was completely disrupted by the outbreak of war between Great Britain and Germany. For the Empresses the Great War proved to be a drama consisting of three acts and an interlude. The first act opened in familiar waters, but was played for the most part in the Indian Ocean. The second act was staged in the Red Sea. The inter- (17) Marine Engineer and Naval Architect, June, 1914, p. 417 (where the length of the voyage is incorrectly stated to have been eight days nineteen hours); Victoria Colonist, May 5, 1914. On her best day the Asia steamed 473 miles in twenty-three hours and ten minutes. (18) Victoria Colonist, May 30, 1914. The Russia's log shows that she crossed at an extraordinarily steady pace. Her daily runs were as follows: 386, 460, 461, 466, 460, 464, 463, 452, 451, 224. During the last three hours of the voyage she speeded up to an estimated 21 knots. 10 W. Kaye Lamb. January lude consisted of a return to regular trading across the Pacific, while the closing act took place in the Atlantic. The Empress of Asia was actually requisitioned on August 3, before hostilities commenced. She was lying at Hong Kong, and the naval base there had been a hive of activity for some days past. She was quickly stripped of superfluous fittings, armed with eight old 4.7-inch guns, and prepared for service as an auxiliary cruiser. Mustering a naval crew proved to be a difficult problem, and when she finally sailed, her complement consisted of a strange conglomeration that included most of her regular officers, engineers, and Chinese seamen; men of the Royal Naval Reserve; detachments from the French Yangtse River gunboats and the Royal Garrison Artillery; and some Pathan Sepoys. Her first naval captain was Commander C. C. Walcott, R.N. (Ret.), who was succeeded later by Commander P. H. Colomb, R.N. Captain Robinson stayed with his ship, serving in the capacity of navigating officer. ■ Her first cruise took her to the Yellow Sea, where she joined a squadron headed by the old battleship Triumph that was keeping a watch on the German naval base at Tsingtau. When the entry of Japan into the war made her presence there no longer necessary, the Empress was sent to the Philippines. A dozen or more German merchantmen had taken refuge in various harbours there, and it was highly important that they should be prevented from sailing and carrying supplies to the enemy cruisers known to be close by. The blockading squadron off the Philippines included the Empress of Japan, which had also been commandeered, and she and the Empress of Asia were joined presently by the Empress of Russia. The Russia had sailed from Vancouver on August 6, on schedule, in spite of the outbreak of war. Two days out her wireless operator picked up signals that two German vessels— one apparently near by—were exchanging in code, and more German messages were heard the next morning. Otherwise the voyage was completed without incident, and the Empress arrived at Hong Kong on the 22nd. At midnight on the 23rd she was taken over by the naval authorities, who fitted her out as an auxiliary cruiser. Like the Empress of Asia she was armed, with eight 4.7-inch guns, but this armament was less formidable 1948 Empress Odyssey. 11 than it sounds; the guns were of an ancient pattern, and their effective range was only about 10,000 yards. Commander Archibald Cochran, R.N., took command, and Captain Davison became navigating officer. The Empress of Russia's first cruise was to Singapore, and from there she was ordered first to Hong Kong and then to the Philippines. The only excitement encountered came one day when the North German Lloyd steamer Mark was sighted on the horizon. The Empress of Russia gave chase, but in spite of her efforts to cut the enemy off the Mark managed to take refuge in American waters. About the middle of September the first exploits of the famous commerce-raiding cruiser Emden became known, and to emphasize her presence in the Indian Ocean the Emden boldly bombarded and fired some oil-tanks at Madras on the 22nd. At this time the Empress of Asia and the Russian cruiser Askold—an ancient five-funnelled craft of questionable combat value—were escorting three transports that were carrying garrison troops home to Europe from the Far East. When they got as far as Colombo, the Empress was sent off in company with the British cruiser Hampshire to patrol trade routes and try to run down the Emden. Within a fortnight—although this was not known till long afterwards—the Asia came within an ace of doing so. She first got definite track of the raider on October 15, when she called at Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago, far to the south of Colombo. The little port had no wireless station, and its people were astonished to learn that war had broken out. The officers of the Empress, in their turn, were equally astonished to hear that the Emden had spent two days there the previous week. Captain von Muller had told the curious islanders that joint German-French-British naval manoeuvres were being held in the Indian Ocean, and several pleasant social functions had marked the Emden's visit. The Hampshire and Empress of Asia returned at once to Colombo, to protect shipping thereabouts. Then, on the 20th, they sailed with orders to sweep the seas between Ceylon and the Maldive Islands. All night long they steamed in line ahead, but when daylight came on October 21— Trafalgar Day—they prepared to spread out, so as to scan the widest possible area. Their general course was to the southwest, and about 6.30 a.m. the Asia swung round to the north- 12 W. Kaye Lamb. January west, the intention being that she should maintain this course for an hour or so, and then swing back to the south-west and proceed on a course parallel to that of the Hampshire. At this same hour, as it happened, the Emden, which had decided to leave the now heavily patrolled Colombo region and seek victims in safer waters, was in the same vicinity, steaming to the southeast. About 8 a.m. she and the Empress of Asia, steaming on virtually parallel courses but in opposite directions, cannot have been more than 10 miles apart. But it was a case of so near and yet so far, for the Empress failed to sight her quarry. In the closing days of the search for the Emden, both the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia were based on Colombo. On November 9, when the welcome news came that the raider had at last been found in the Cocos Islands and engaged by the Australian cruiser Sydney, both the Empresses were ordered to proceed thither immediately. Four days later the Empress of Russia met the Sydney at sea and took on board 230 survivors of the Emden. Many of the men were wounded, and it was impossible to care for them properly in the cruiser. The Empress brought them to Colombo. Meanwhile search parties from the Empress of Asia had combed the Cocos Islands in an unsuccessful effort to find a landing party that the Emden had left behind, and the Asia later joined in a search for the raider's attendant collier.19 Before the end of 1914 both Empresses had shifted their base to Aden; the second act of their war drama had commenced. Turkey had allied herself with Germany on November 1, and it (19) This account of the war-time movements of the Empresses in 1914 is based chiefly on the log of the Empress of Russia, conversations with Captain L. D. Douglas, and Sir Julian Corbett, History of the Great War- Naval Operations, revised edition, I, London, 1938, pp. 142-149, 302, 333-337, 379-384; also chart entitled " Operations against S.M.S. Emden August to November 1914." The latter is the British official history. See also Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenzollern, Emden, New York, 1928, in which the belief is expressed that the Emden once actually sighted the Empress of Russia (p. 162). As happens so often in accounts of sea warfare, times and places do not coincide exactly, but it is entirely possible that the Emden did sight the Empress of Asia (not the Russia, which was many miles away). Even though the Empress was only a converted merchantman, the Emden would not seek to engage her; her great anxiety was to avoid damage, and she was probably aware that the Empress and a cruiser usually operated in company. First class smoking-room in the Empress of I 1948 Empress Odyssey. 13 was essential that the trade and transport route from Aden to the Mediterranean be kept open and secure. The duties involved were of the most varied description. Some of the Red Sea lighthouses had to be taken over from the Turks or defended from them. At Hodeida the British and French consuls had been bundled off inland to Sana when hostilities commenced, and when their release had been arranged for, after protracted negotiations carried on through the intermediary of the Spanish authorities, the Empress of Russia sent in a steam pinnace under a flag of truce to bring them off. Later it was decided to take possession of Kamaran, the island port where many pilgrims bound for Mecca passed through quarantine. This the Russia accomplished, thanks to the combined efforts of her own guns and some Indian territorials brought along for the occasion. At one time the Turks were in a position to threaten Aden itself, and the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia defended the port until British reinforcements arrived from Suez. A little later the Minto, of the Royal Indian Marine, was struck and damaged at Lohaia, to the north of Kamaran. The Empress of Russia answered her call for assistance, bombarded the port, and set a spectacular blaze alight when she fired the Turkish oil-supplies that were stored there. Salif, Port Sudan, and Shaiksaid were the scenes of further incidents in which one or other of the Empresses was engaged. For the most part, however, they served as patrol ships. Five German steamers had taken refuge in Italian waters at Massaua, and one of their chief concerns was to keep an eye on them, and to prevent the dhows that dodged from one shore to the other from smuggling their cargoes across to the Turks. Some of these dhows the Empresses sank; others they towed to Aden. As dhow-towing in the stifling heat of the Red Sea was tedious in the extreme, the officers of the Empress of Russia devised slings that would hold a dhow against the ship's side, clear of the water, and so permit the liner to proceed at speed. One dhow, unable to stand the strain, collapsed amidships—an accident that called for elaborate explanations in high places! In the course of time it became evident that the valuable Empresses were being wasted in the Red Sea; the routine duties they performed could be done just as well by much smaller and 14 W. Kaye Lamb. January slower ships. In the fall of 1915 it was therefore decided to turn them back to their owners. The Empress of Russia concluded her active naval duties at Bombay on October 19, and the Empress of Asia followed on the 22nd. The latter had travelled a total of 64,024 miles during her commission. From Bombay the Empresses proceeded to Hong Kong, where they were overhauled, refitted, and restored to their pre-war condition. By the early spring they were ready for service. Just before the Empress of Russia sailed from Hong Kong, instructions were received from Montreal that the sisters were to exchange commanders, and it was therefore Captain Robinson who brought the Empress of Russia into Vancouver on April 8, and Captain Davison who was on the bridge of the Empress of Asia when she docked four weeks later.20 The interlude in the war drama of the Empresses lasted for two whole years. In spite of mounting shipping losses, it was not until 1918 that they were again taken off their regular run to the Orient. The service they maintained was in itself important; they carried thousands of Chinese coolies, bound for France, where they worked in labour battalions behind the battle- fronts, and both the Canadian Pacific and the British Government were reluctant to abandon the whole of the trans-Pacific trade to the Japanese. It was the need for transports to move American troops to Europe that finally led to the second requisitioning of the Empresses. The Empress of Asia left Vancouver in May, 1918, travelled to New York by way of the Panama Canal, and made six voyages to Europe before the end of the year. Five of these were to Liverpool, and the sixth to Brest. The Empress of Russia followed in due course, and made the first of her four trans-Atlantic sailings as a troop-ship on July 6. Complete figures are not available, but we know that on five trips the Empresses carried a total of 14,489 officers and men. As many as 3,222 were carried by the Empress of Russia at one (20) Useful accounts of the Red Sea adventures of the Empresses appeared in the press when they returned to the trans-Pacific run. On the Empress of Russia, see Victoria Colonist, April 9, 1916, and on the Empress of Asia, see ibid., May 7, 1916. Captain Douglas possesses an interesting chart illustrating the movements of the Asia while she wi 1948 Empress Odyssey. 15 time.21 Most of the voyages were without incident, and Captain Davison reported later that the Empress of Asia never sighted a submarine nor, so far as he knew, was she ever attacked. Upon one occasion it was known that a submerged submarine was lurking under the convoy, but at the surface the fog was so dense that it could take no action, and eventually it made off. Needless to say, this was before the days of Asdic, wolf packs, or the acoustic torpedo !22 Once the war ended, the Canadian Pacific was able to secure the release of the ships in remarkably short order. The Empress of Asia was able to sail from Liverpool for Vancouver on January 2,1919, less than two months after the signing of the armistice. Travelling by way of Panama, she made the passage in 23 days, and the 1,100 veterans she carried received a great welcome at Victoria on January 24 and in Vancouver the next morning. The Empress was reconditioned by the Wallace yard, at North Vancouver, and the work was completed so quickly that she was able to sail for the Orient on February 27. Meanwhile the Empress of Russia had returned to her station by way of the Suez Canal. Leaving Liverpool on January 10, she picked up several thousand Chinese at Havre on the 14th and landed them safely at Tsingtau before proceeding to Hong Kong for refitting. In less than a month she, too, was ready for service, and on March 31 she tied up in Vancouver. Both ships had fared far better than most of the big British liners had done during the war. They were on active war duty for only about two years in all, and at no time were they badly knocked about. When they returned to peace-time service, they were virtually as good as new. Indeed, the only visible mark the war left upon them was a new colour on their hulls. When they went to the Atlantic in 1918, they were both given coats of camouflage, and the Empress of Russia received one of the most elaborate dazzle-paint jobs of the war. At refit time it was decided not to restore the white hulls that had been a distinctive feature of the Empress liners since 1891, and they returned to the trans-Pacific run with an all-over coat of light grey. (21) See Benedict Crowell and Robert Forrest Wilson, The Road to France, New Haven, 1921, II, pp. 553-559. (22) Vancouver Province, January 25, 1919. W. Kaye Lamb. The only running-mates available for the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia in 1919 were the old Empress of Japan and the Monteagle. The latter was primarily a freighter, and had neither the speed nor the passenger accommodation necessary to enable her to fit comfortably into the mail service. Such a mixture of ship-types, ages, and sizes made the fleet difficult to handle, and all that could be done was to arrange a regular schedule for the two big liners and let the others fill in with extra sailings as they were able. This was regarded as a temporary arrangement only, for a new Empress was ordered soon after the Armistice, and the intention was that a second new liner should follow shortly. The first two years of peace saw an unprecedented rush of traffic across the Pacific. To cope with it, various modifications were made in the passenger accommodation of the larger Empresses. Hitherto they had carried only three classes: first, second, and Oriental steerage. In 1919 staterooms for ninety- two persons in a new third class were added. The next year it became necessary to extend the first-class accommodation. By appropriating all the original second-class cabins, which were roomy and comfortable, the number of berths was increased from 296 to 374. New second-class quarters were added presently, further aft. In spite of this the ships were frequently taxed to the limit—indeed, demands were so pressing that they were often booked far beyond their nominal capacity. Saloon lists totalling 450 were not unusual, and the peak seems to have been reached in May, 1920, when the Empress of Russia arrived with no less than 480 in the first class. To accommodate them, cots had been placed in staterooms, officers had given up their cabins, and the patience and ingenuity of the ship's staff had been tried to the utmost. It will be recalled that in 1912 the Canadian Pacific had carried only 649 first-class passengers to and'from the Orient. In the year ended June 30, 1914—the first twelvemonth in which the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia were in service—the total jumped to 2,514. But in the year ended June 30,1921, no Jess than 9,761 first-class passengers sailed by the Empress 1948 Empress Odyssey. 17 route23—a volume of traffic that must have brought at least $3,000,000 into the coffers of the company. Second class, the new third class, and Oriental steerage all added to the total, and the number of passengers carried in all classes, which had been 14,575 in 1913-14, rose to no less than 35,555 in 1920-21.24 Cargo holds as well as cabins were well filled, and the freight department shared in the boom. Silk was the most important single item in Empress inward manifests, and many immensely valuable shipments v/ere landed at Vancouver. For example, in August, 1919, the Empress of Asia arrived with 10,800 bales of raw silk which, according to Harbor and Shipping, were valued at $8,500,000, and in addition she brought 2,053 cases of silk goods that increased the total to more than $10,000,000.25 Tea, rice, and miscellaneous Oriental goods were for years the chief • additional items in the cargoes carried from the Orient. Outward bound, the two staple items soon came to be spelter (zinc) and wheat products. When flour and wheat shipments first commenced on any scale, it was assumed that the trade would be temporary, but between the wars a shipment totalling several hundred tons, and upon occasion consisting of as much as 2,300 tons, became a fixture in Empress cargoes. On a smaller scale the same was true of spelter. Machinery, manufactured goods, timber products, and canned goods made up the bulk of the rest of the cargo. In spite of their size the Empresses were not big cargo carriers; their dead-weight cargo capacity was only about 3,500 tons. They were primarily passenger and express ships, intended to carry shipments that were of great value, or for which rapid transit was essential. In order to share in the prosperous general freight business, the Canadian Pacific decided to bring to the Pacific two of the freight steamers that had been purchased during the war to run on the Atlantic. The first of these was the Methven, a 10-knot steamer of 4,852 tons gross, completed in 1906. She came to Vancouver by way of the Panama Canal, arriving early in March, 1919. More than a (23) E. W. Beatty, " Canada and the Orient," Harbor and Shipping, IV, p. 209 (April, 1922). (24) Ibid. (25) Harbor and Shipping, I, p. 389 (September, 1919). 18 W. Kaye Lamb. January year passed before she was joined by the Mattawa, which came to the Pacific by way of Suez, and arrived in Vancouver for the first time in August, 1920. The gross tonnage of the Mattawa was 4,874, her speed was 9% knots, and she had been built in 1912. On some of their trans-Pacific trips these freighters turned back at Hong Kong, but the intention was that they should continue on and maintain a service as far as Singapore. As it turned out, their careers on the Pacific proved to be brief. By the end of 1920 the freight market was collapsing, and in January, 1921, both ships were laid up in Hong Kong. Later they were employed for a time in the Asiatic coastal trade. The Methven carried rice from Saigon, and upon one occasion went as far afield as the Persian Gulf, but before the end of 1922 both vessels had found their way back to the Atlantic.26 The Methven was the first permanent command of Captain L. D. Douglas, a future commodore of the Pacific Empress fleet, and such well-known figures as Captain A. J. Holland, Captain Herbert James, Captain A. V. R. Lovegrove, and Captain George Goold served in her or in the Mattawa. The spring of 1921 was an interesting time for the Empresses. For one thing, each of them, as they came back into service after the usual annual overhaul, appeared in a new colour scheme. The light grey of 1919 now gave way to black hulls and white upper works; their funnels were buff, as before. For another, a new passenger service was started from Seattle to the Orient, and this inevitably aroused the spirit of competition. The five new American liners placed on the run were all of the well-known " 535 " type—redesigned army transports with a length of 535 feet, a gross tonnage of over 14,000, and a maximum speed of about 18 knots. Outwardly they were unattractive, and the arrangement of their cargo holds made it impossible to give them the spacious public rooms that characterized the Empresses. To compensate for this, special attention was lavished on their cabins, which were unusually large and abounded in private bathrooms. Nor were the Americans content to let the speed laurels of the Empresses go unchallenged, at least on paper. Time after time the claim was advanced—usually by the Seattle Post-IntelU- gencer—that silk brought to Seattle by the new steamers had (26) For further details of the Methven and Mattawa, see Appendix. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 19 been delivered in New York in less time than shipments landed in Vancouver by the Empresses. It was a difficult point to counter conclusively, but an opportunity came finally at the end of April, 1922. The American steamer Bay State (soon after renamed President Madison) left Yokohama for Seattle some time before the Empress of Russia sailed for Vancouver. Setting out in pursuit, the Russia overhauled the Bay State, passed her at sea, and arrived at William Head on May 7, after a passage of 8 days 21 hours and 43 minutes. The average speed maintained was 19.6 knots, which was only a quarter of a knot below the record established by the Russia in 1914. The Bay State took 10 days 5 hours and 22 minutes to make the crossing, and did not arrive until May 8. True, her captain contended that he . was under orders not to exceed 17^ knots, but this speed was below the voyage average regularly scheduled for the Empresses, and it was difficult to reconcile the captain's instructions with a claim that the line offered the fastest route for the shipment of silk from the Orient to New York.27 Actually the President Grant (ex-Pine Tree State) seems to have been the fastest of the American liners, and she has to her credit a crossing at an average of 18.63 knots. It may be well to add that this was not the only time that the Empress of Russia's record was closely approached. In the summer of 1919 the Empress of Asia completed a passage in 8 days 21 hours and 4 minutes at an average speed of 19.6 knots,28 and in April, 1921, she came within minutes of repeating this performance.29 Two months later the Empress of Russia crossed in 8 days and 21' hours at an average speed of 19.65 knots.30 Later still, as we shall see, the Empress of Asia was to average more than 20 knots, and set a mark that neither of the sisters ever improved upon. A memorable adventure befell those on board the Empress of Asia in October, 1921. The Empress had sailed from Vancouver (as the superstitious will note) on the 13th. A week later she (27) The whole matter is dealt with in some detail in the Victoria Times for May 8 and May 9, 1922. (28) Harbor and Shipping, I, p. 307 (July, 1919). (29) See Victoria Colonist, April 19, 1921; Victoria Times, April'18, 1921. (30) See Victoria Times, July 11, 1921. J 20 W. Kaye Lamb. January encountered what may well have been the worst storm to strike the Pacific in a quarter of a century. At noon on October 20 the barometer stood at 29.81. By 4 p.m. it had fallen to 29.29, and was still falling rapidly. At 10 p.m. the reading was 2813. Even in the worst storms off the China coast the barometer rarely falls as low as 28.00, but on this occasion it fell much farther. At midnight it stood at 27.53, and at 1 a.m. reached the lowest level of all, about 27.48. By that time the needle was off the barograph, and only an estimate of its position was possible. It was the lowest point that Captain L. D. Douglas, who was in command, had ever seen the barometer reach in the course of a lifetime spent at sea. Fortunately the Empress was a little to the north of the centre of the storm, the velocity of which far exceeded 100 miles per hour. In spite of the pounding she- received she suffered no structural damage, though at times her speed had to be reduced to as little as 8 knots. One of Captain Douglas's most vivid memories relates to a minor incident—the way in which the storm suddenly tore the canvas covers from the life-boats. In his own amusing phrase, " they went away like a flock of gulls! "31 4. By the autumn of 1921 the new Empress of Canada was in the final stages of completion at Govan. Built by the same Fairfield yard that had constructed the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, she resembled them closely in general appearance. Internally, however, she was a very different ship, for her larger dimensions enabled her designers to plan her accommodation upon a more lavish scale. She had an extra deck, and the whole of her promenade deck was devoted to an elaborate suite of first-class public rooms. The older Empresses had boasted lounges, writing-rooms, smoking-rooms, gymnasiums, and veranda cafes. In addition to these, the Canada offered a long gallery, drawing-room, card-room, and children's room. She was also the first Pacific Empress to have such luxury-liner attractions as an elevator and a swimming-pool. All her cabins had hot and cold running water, and forty of them had private baths or toilets. i, IV, p. 60 (December, 1921), and personal 1948 Empress Odyssey. 21 Compared with the earlier Empresses, over-all length had been increased from 592 feet to 653-feet, width from 68.2 to 77.5 feet, and gross tonnage from just under 17,000 to 21,517. The Canada's maximum displacement was 32,250 tons, and she was both the largest ship ever built for the trans-Pacific trade and the largest yet built by the Fairfield Company. Like most of the big liners built just after the Great War, the Empress was propelled by double-reduction geared turbines driving twin screws. She burned oil fuel, and her boilers were grouped compactly in two boiler-rooms under the two forward funnels. The third funnel was a dummy, added for the sake of appearance, and used only as a ventilating-shaft for the engine-room. The Empress of Canada had been laid down as soon as possible after the Armistice—too soon, as it proved, for her own good. Skilled labour and first-quality materials were both extremely scarce at the time, and her builders frequently found the going most difficult. Fine ship as she undoubtedly was, the Canada was never particularly lucky, and the minor mechanical troubles that dogged her throughout her career doubtless sprang in great part from the circumstances of her construction. Those circumstances, and the rapid rise in ship-building costs, had between them the further result of robbing her of a sister ship. A fourth big liner was required to maintain a fortnightly service across the Pacific, and by the summer of 1919 the Empress of Canada's projected sister was being referred to in the press by name as the Empress of Australia,™ but within a few months plans for her construction were definitely abandoned. The Empress of Canada herself was launched on August 17, 1920, by Mrs. G. M. Bosworth, who, it will be recalled, had sponsored the Empress of Asia eight years before. The intention was that the Canada should leave Liverpool in March, 1921, and cruise to Vancouver by way of the Mediterranean, but the work of fitting her out progressed so slowly that this plan was soon abandoned. By June, 1921, the installation of her machinery had been completed, and she was able to leave the shipyard and run a series of builders' trials in the Firth of Clyde.33 Newspaper stories credited her with having worked up to a speed of (32) See for example, ibid., I, p. 349 (August, 1919). (33) Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, XVII (1921), p. 781. 22 W. Kaye Lamb. January 25.6 knots,34 but she was, in fact, quite incapable of any such performance. Moreover, the type of gearing used in the Canada required extremely careful handling when new, and it goes without saying that she was not forced in any way on this initial cruise. Owing to a joiners' strike that kept work on her cabins and lounges at a standstill for many months, the Empress was not finally completed until April, 1922. Her official trials followed, but these were inevitably an anticlimax, thanks to the wild rumours that had circulated the year before. The maximum speed reached on the measured mile was 20.3 knots, with the engines developing 24,000 shaft horse-power. It will be noted that neither in power nor speed did she equal the showing made by the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia in 1913. It was nevertheless clear that she would have no difficulty in maintaining the service speed of 18 knots that her owners had in mind, and on a 365-mile sea trial she averaged 20 knots, as required in the contract.35 This sea trial ended at Falmouth, and from there the Empress proceeded to Hong Kong without delay, travelling by way of the Mediterranean. Captain A. J. Hailey was in command. In the Red Sea the new liner met the freighter Methven, which was returning to the Atlantic after her brief sojourn on the Pacific; otherwise the voyage was uneventful. On her first passage from Yokohama to William Head the Empress of Canada covered the distance in 9 days 2 hours—a good average run, but well below the marks set by the Russia and Asia. Victoria and Vancouver were both agog to welcome the largest ship ever to cross the Pacific, but one of those minor misfortunes that were to trouble the Empress of Canada so frequently marred the occasion. A case of smallpox developed on board, and this not only delayed her arrival until June 24, but made it necessary to cancel all festivities, including a reception to which thousands of invitations had been issued. (34) See Vancouver Province, August 22, 1921; Harbor and Shipping, III, p. 901 (August, 1921). (35) Files of Canadian Pacific Steamships, Montreal; Engineering, CXIV, p. 388 (September 29, 1922). 1948 Empress Odyssey. 23 Less than a month later Vancouver welcomed another new Empress, and we must next describe the circumstances that brought this interesting vessel to the Pacific. ' When ship-building costs soared in 1920-21, one of the factors that caused the Canadian Pacific to abandon plans to build a sister ship to the Empress of Canada was undoubtedly the fact that a number of German passenger liners, seized by the Allies at the end of the Great War, were coming on the market at knockdown prices.' The Canada was costing £1,700,000; German ships of comparable size were selling for a fraction of this sum. To buy instead of to build would save time as well as money, and the company ended by making several purchases. One of these was the former North German Lloyd liner Prim Freidrich Wil- helm, a vessel of 17,082 tons that had been operated for half a dozen years on the New York run. She was renamed Empress of China, and the work of refitting her, to make her suitable for the trans-Pacific trade, actually began. Before it had proceeded far, however, it was decided to bring a larger and much newer steamer to the Pacific in her stead.36 This was the Tirpitz, one of a class of three ships that the Hamburg Amerika Line was building in 1914 for a new de luxe service to South America.37 Her length over all was 615 feet, her width 75.2 feet, and her gross tonnage 21,861. She was thus much the same size as the Empress of Canada, and, like her, she had three funnels. But there all similarity ended. The Tirpitz had the old-style elliptical stern and the ungraceful, bulky upper works that were typical of the German ships of the period. Built in the famous Vulcan yard at Stettin, she had been launched on December 20,1913. In several respects she was an unusual vessel. To begin with, she had achieved a certain notoriety because rumour insisted that when the war was going well for the Germans, she had been (36) The Prim Freidrich Wilhelm sailed under four different names while in the service of the Canadian Pacific: Empress of China, Empress of India, Montlaurier, and Montnairn. She was used most of the time as a reserve ship, and made-a voyage as. a trooper to the Near East during the crisis of 1922. She was sold finally to Italian ship-breakers in December, (37) For further details of this project, s 24 W. Kaye Lamb. January selected to carry the Kaiser on the triumphal cruise that would have followed a German victory. It was even stated that her luxurious suites had been specially designed with this cruise in mind. The whole story is highly improbable, though work on her, which had come to a standstill, does seem to have been resumed for a time during the war, and her accommodation certainly included several palatial suites in which even an emperor should have felt at home. Her fittings throughout were elaborate, and her deck plans followed, on a reduced scale, those of the monster liners of the Vaterland class that the Hamburg Amerika Line was building at this same time. In particular, the uptakes to the two forward funnels were brought up through the passenger accommodation in two sections, some distance apart, and these did not come together until they reached the boat deck, at the base of the funnels proper. This made it possible to provide a broad hallway along the centre line of the ship, extending from one public room to another. On the promenade deck the effect was impressive, but on the cabin decks it gave rise to such a maze of corridors that the plan has not been repeated. Mechanically the Tirpitz was frankly an experiment. Her two sisters were fitted with machinery of orthodox design, but she had been chosen for a full-scale test of the hydraulic transformers upon which Dr. Fottinger had been working for some years. Instead of using mechanical gearing (as in the Empress of Canada) to reduce the high speed of her Brown-Curtis turbines to the relatively low speeds at which propellors operate most efficiently, the Tirpitz was fitted with what would nowadays be called a variety of fluid drive. In effect, her turbines drove water-pumps, and the water from these in turn drove water- wheels which were attached to the propellor shafts. It was an ingenious idea, and tests made with a full-scale set of turbines and transformers in 1912 seemed to show that it would prove reliable and economical in operation.88 The Tirpitz was completed about May, 1919, and after a period of uncertainty she was finally allocated to Great Britain, on reparations account. On February 3, 1921, she arrived at Immingham, and there she lay at anchor until she was purchased (38) For an account of these tests, see Marine Engineer and Naval 1948 Empress Odyssey. 25 by the Canadian Pacific in July.89 She was sent first to Hamburg, where she was dry-docked, refitted, and equipped to burn oil fuel instead of coal. Captain Samuel Robinson arrived to take command of her early in 1922, and he presently took her to the Clyde for a few last-minute touches.40 She had by this time been twice renamed. She first became the Empress of China (the other ship so named having by this time become the Empress of India), but this was soon changed to Empress of Australia. On June 16 she finally cleared for Vancouver, by way of Panama, and she reached her destination on July 19. Only a skeleton crew travelled out in her, but her complement was brought up to full strength as soon as she arrived in Vancouver. Many of those who joined her came from th'e old Empress of Japan, which had just completed her last voyage from the Orient. The Australia was given a thorough spring cleaning, took on cargo, provisions, and passengers, and sailed for Yokohama on July 28. Her departure was a landmark in the history of the Empress service, for the Canadian Pacific now possessed the four big ships that were required to provide fortnightly sailings to the Orient. As all four of them were larger, and all but the Empress of Australia were faster than the ships of any other line, the competitive position of the Empresses seemed to be an exceptionally strong one. But unsuspected difficulties lay ahead, and another eight years were to pass before the state of the Empress fleet became really satisfactory. The most serious of these difficulties was presented by the latest addition to the fleet, the Empress of Australia, whose engineers quickly discovered that they had a problem on their hands. She was fitted with water-tube boilers, and these were (39) A photograph of the ship arriving at Immingham,appears in the Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, XVII (1921), p. 172. (40) The late G. M. Bosworth, then general manager of the Canadian Pacific's ocean steamships, visited the Tirpitz while she was refitting. The story is told that he was horrified to find that the nymphs that figured in the ship's decorations were very scantily clad, and instantly gave the order, " Put clothes on them! " When he later paid the ship another visit, he was not satisfied with the changes made and issued a further order, " Put more clothes on them!" 26 W. Kaye Lamb. January found to be poorly constructed and very hard on fuel. Equally important, the ship failed to develop her designed power and speed, and on her first trip to the Orient she lagged far behind the schedule maintained by the other Empresses. Her second sailing was delayed a week, in order that various adjustments might be made in Vancouver, and a 24-hour test run in Georgia Strait seemed to indicate that all was well. On September 28 the Empress therefore put to sea, bound for Yokohama. Two days later, however, a terrific thumping and crashing suddenly arose in the engine-room. The thrust blocks on one of the turbine shafts had failed, damaging the shaft itself, and completely disabling the turbine. Turning about, the Empress came slowly back to port, escorted part way by a salvage ship. Repairs were made in the Puget Sound Navy Yard, at Bremerton, where dry- docks, heavy cranes, and other equipment were available. The work was carried out by the Todd Company, and the opportunity was seized to install improved oil-burners, which reduced somewhat the ship's excessive fuel consumption. The Empress missed only one voyage to the Orient, and was back in service by the end of November. No further major machinery troubles developed, but it was no secret along the water-front that she was still far from being a satisfactory ship. A year after this mishap, sudden fame came to the Empress of Australia and to her commander, Captain Robinson. A minute or two before noon on September 1,1923, when the Empress was lying at her wharf in Yokohama, on the very point of casting off and sailing for Vancouver, the first shock of the great earthquake that levelled most of Yokohama and Tokio swept over the land. The ship shook and rocked so violently that Captain Robinson expected her masts and funnels to fall; a large slice of the wharf alongside subsided suddenly into the water, and from the vantage point of the bridge it was actually possible to see the land " rolling in waves apparently 6 to 8 feet high like a succession of fast moving ocean swells . . ."4I For a complete account of what followed, the reader is referred to the graphic report submitted by Captain Robinson 'nson, R.N.R., . . . on the Japa- 1948 Empress Odyssey. 27 to his owners, and subsequently printed in pamphlet form;42 only a summary may be given here. For many hours the Empress, though serving as a haven of comparative safety to the refugees who crowded on board, was herself in extreme peril. Other ships in the harbour blundered into her, and her port propellor fouled a cable and held her prisoner close to the ruins of the wharf, which were soon a mass of flames. Huge masses of burning oil adrift in the harbour soon added to the dangers that beset her. But through it all her captain and crew worked calmly and ceaselessly to safeguard their ship, and to do their utmost to save life and lessen suffering. By slow degrees the Empress was edged away from her berth, but it was 36 hours before she was able to reach a safe anchorage. Later she moved outside the breakwater, and there her propellor was freed of obstructions by a diver secured from a Japanese man-of-war. With his ship once more functioning properly, Captain Robinson steamed back into the harbour, in order to do all he could to assist relief-work. It was not until a week after the earthquake, by which time British and American warships had arrived with emergency supplies, that the Empress finally withdrew and sailed for Kobe with refugees. Both the Canadian Pacific and Captain Robinson received and deserved many expressions of appreciation for the outstanding service the Empress rendered, and the following March a tablet was presented to the ship by the passengers who had been aboard her when the earthquake occurred. Months before the Yokohama disaster it had been announced that the Empress of Canada would make a world cruise in 1924. Officially this was to start from New York on January 30, but so far as the ship herself was concerned, it commenced on January 4, when she sailed from Vancouver for New York, via Panama. The company was not above recognizing the publicity value of the fame Captain Robinson had achieved, and he was transferred to the Empress of Canada before she sailed. Captain Hailey took his place on the bridge of the Empress of Australia. The Canada's cruise lasted four months. After a call at Madeira she visited various Mediterranean ports, sailed on to (42) Ibid. The pamphlet seems to have been published late in 1923. 28 W. Kaye Lamb. January India and Ceylon, and proceeded thence to the Straits Settle- . ments, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, China, and Japan. Returning across the Pacific she deviated from her usual course in order to call at Honolulu and Hilo, and arrived back in Vancouver on May 24. For the next two years the Empress of Canada, Empress of Australia, Empress of Russia, and Empress of Asia were all on the regular run to the Orient. It was known, however, that company officials were still far from happy about the Empress of Australia. Passengers found her luxurious lounges and well-, fitted cabins pleasing, but down in the engine-room it was another story. There engineers fought a continuous battle to keep her on schedule, for she never developed anything approaching the speed of her running-mates. Thanks to great efforts below decks and a stretch of good weather, Captain Hailey was able to bring her to William Head on May 3,1925, with a passage of 10 days 17 hours and 32 minutes to her credit, her average speed having been 16.4 knots, but this was her peak performance on the Pacific. She still burned a prodigious amount of oil, and, in addition, she was burdened with 1,500 tons of permanent ballast that the Germans had found it necessary to add, because her bulky upper works tended to make her top heavy. About this time the Canadian Pacific reviewed the whole field of its ocean steamship operations, and several major decisions presently emerged. The first of these cleared the way for the great building program that was carried through during the next five or six years. Another concerned important units of the existing fleet. The company came to the conclusion that, from a long-term point of view, a thorough overhauling would prove to be a good investment. Early in 1926 it was announced in the annual report that a re-engining program would get under way immediately, and that the Empress of Australia would be one of the first ships to be dealt with. At the same time it was made known that when she returned to service she would be transferred to the Atlantic—the ocean for which she was originally intended. The Australia made her last trans-Pacific sailing from Vancouver in May of 1926. It was her twenty-first voyage outward, for she had completed a score of round trips to the Orient during 1948 Empress Odyssey. 29 her somewhat checkered career of just under four years. Captain Hailey took her on to Great Britain by way of the Mediterranean, and there delivered her to the Fairfield Company at Govan, where her new engines and boilers were to be installed. The name of John Johnson will be familiar to few outside shipping circles, but his name looms large in the later history of the Empresses. Johnson came on the scene about 1924, when he was appointed chief superintendent engineer of the Canadian Pacific fleet. At that time the Diesel engine seemed to be sweeping all before it, and the opinion was becoming general that it would only be a matter of time before it displaced steam even in the largest and fastest liners. Johnson, however, believed that steam propulsion still had great advantages, and that the efficiency of steam engines and boilers could be increased to such a degree that they would continue to be much the most economical machinery for the various types of ships in which the Canadian Pacific was interested.43 His first experiments were made in some of the older ships in the Atlantic service. The changes made were relatively small, but they were successful, and they convinced Johnson that he was on the right track. More important, they also convinced the company, and Johnson had the unparalleled good fortune to have the Canadian Pacific's large existing fleet and even larger shipbuilding program virtually placed at his disposal, so far as propelling-machinery was concerned. Some notes on the chief technical problems in which Johnson was interested will be found in the Appendix. Here it will be sufficient to outline the developments in the Pacific Empresses for which he was responsible. This outline must start with the re-engining of the Empress of Australia, for although the ship herself never returned to the Pacific, the changes made in her influenced policy with regard to other units of the fleet. There was nothing very new about the (43) Mr. Johnson has contributed many papers to technical journals and the proceedings of learned societies. Perhaps the most informative and interesting of these, from the present point of view, is " The Propulsion of Ships by Modern Steam Machinery," Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects, LXXI (1929), pp. 39-81. 30 W. Kaye Lamb. January machinery layout that Johnson proposed—indeed, one suspects that his purpose may well have been to prove his own competence by showing what he could accomplish without departing far from current practice. The new boilers he installed were of the old Scotch cylindrical type, and the pressure was no more than 220 lb. The engines were Parsons turbines, and in place of the Fot- tinger transformers he used single-reduction gearing. The only Johnsonian touches were the use of superheated steam (which a good many other companies were abandoning at this time) and the introduction of Diesel engines to drive the ship's generators and other auxiliaries. By the late spring of 1927 the Empress was ready for her trials, and it at once became apparent that the re-engining had been a spectacular success. She developed the designed horse-power of 20,000 and a speed of over 20 knots with ease, and accomplished this on a fuel consumption about one- third less than before. When placed in regular service, she soon made an entire voyage at an average speed of 19.25 knots. From being a fuel hog and a continual worry to her owners and engineers, the Australia suddenly blossomed forth as the most economical liner of her size and speed in commission. With this achievement in hand Johnson next turned his attention to the Empress of Canada, which had never come up to expectations from the mechanical point of view. When she entered service in June, 1922, the trans-Pacific record was held by the Empress of Russia, which had crossed from Yokohama to William Head at an average speed of 19.86 knots. A year passed before the Canada improved upon this, and it was not until June 17,1923, that Captain Hailey brought her to William Head with a new record to her credit. Her time from Yokohama was 8 days 10 hours and 53 minutes, and her average speed 20.6 knots. Her best day's run was made at 21.2 knots.44 It was not a very resounding victory, and this was made apparent in July of 1924, when the Empress of Asia, with Captain Douglas in command, completed a passage in 8 days 14 hours and 48 minutes, at an average speed of 20.2 knots.46 This was (44) Victoria Times, June 18, 1923; Harbor and Shipping, V, p. 343 (July, 1923), where the arrival date is wrongly given as June 20. (45) Her best day's run was 477 miles at an average of 20.63 knots. Her day runs were 472, 463, 469, 466, 468, 468, 477, 471, and 445 miles. Victoria Times, July 21, 1924. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 31 the fastest run ever made by either the Empress of Asia or the Empress of Russia, and it left the Empress of Canada in possession of her laurels by the very narrow margin of two-fifths of a knot. In spite of this, the Canada showed little sign of being able to improve on her record, and, quite as important, her fuel bills continually reminded the company that her oil consumption was very high—some 225 tons per day, as compared with only 142 tons for the re-engined Empress of Australia, in which comparable power was developed, A careful study of the ship's performance led to the conclusion that the fault lay in her engines rather than in her boilers. Few of the double-reduction geared turbines installed in 1919' to 1925 proved very satisfactory, and those in the Empress of Canada were no exception. Johnson proposed to remove them and replace them with single-reduction geared turbines of the type that had been so successful in the Empress of Australia. The official announcement that the change would be made came in the spring of 1928, and on November 1 the Empress sailed from Vancouver on a voyage that took her first to the Orient, and thence to Great Britain and her birthplace, the Fairfield yard at Govan. As the departure of the Empress of Australia had already reduced the Pacific Empress fleet to three ships, a substitute had to be found for the Empress of Canada while she was under refit. This problem was solved by temporarily transferring the Empress of France from the trans-Atlantic run to the Pacific. Originally the Alsatian, of the Allan Line, the Empress of France had served with distinction as an auxiliary cruiser throughout the First World War, and in recent years had become widely known as a cruise ship. She was completed in 1913, the same year as the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, and was a most satisfactory running-mate for them. Her length over all was 600 feet, and her gross tonnage 18,481. The year before she came to the Pacific she had averaged 20.49 knots on a voyage from Southampton to Quebec. The Empress of France met the Empress of Canada in the Orient, exchanged crews and captains with her, and took her place in the trans-Pacific schedule under the command of .Captain Robinson. 32 W. Kaye Lamb. January Work on the Empress of Canada proceeded apace, and the re-engining was completed within nine months. The old turbines had never developed much more than 24,000 horse-power, but Johnson was confident that the original boilers, to which he added superheaters, would be able to produce sufficient steam to drive new turbines intended to develop 26,000 horse-power throughout a trans-Pacific voyage, and as much as 29,000 horsepower for short periods. His expectations were fulfilled, and the Empress worked up to 22.4 knots on her trials. She then made a round voyage to Quebec which was really in the nature of an extended sea trial. The results were highly satisfactory, for on the east-bound crossing she averaged 20.53 knots and burned only 175 tons of oil per day, whereas on her record run across the Pacific, when powered by her old engines, she had burned no less than 284 tons per day to maintain an average of 20.6 knots.46 Johnson had thus increased her normal service speed until it equalled her old maximum service speed, and at the same time had reduced her fuel consumption by more than 100 tons per day—surely a remarkable achievement. In the re-engined Empress of Canada, as in the Empress of Australia, Johnson installed Diesel engines to run the ship's auxiliaries. Financially the change was doubtless a success, but the Canada's steam-minded engineers disliked the Diesels cordially. Visitors to her engine-room were sure to hear remarks about the unending clatter of the Diesels, and the tinkering sort of attention they seemed always to be requiring. The Empress's refit extended to her passenger accommodation, where many minor improvements were carried out. Amongst other things her first-class lounge was made much more spacious and attractive, and many of her cabins were provided with shower-baths. She returned to the Pacific a better ship in almost every respect than she had left it, though time was to show that even re-engining had not solved all her mechanical difficulties. To the end of her days she was plagued with minor troubles, including leaks in her steam-pipes, the layout of which seems to have been needlessly complicated. Few of these difficulties were serious, and they very rarely delayed the (46) The Engineer, CXLVIII, p. 394 (October 11, 1929). ship, but they added an annoying touch of uncertainty and discomfort to the lives of the men who were responsible for her. As if to prove that the jinx had not been broken, the Empress suffered misfortune even before she returned to her regular run. In September, 1929, she made a voyage from Southampton to New York, and then proceeded to Vancouver by way of the Panama Canal. It was foggy when she entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Atlantic captain in command was unfamiliar with local conditions and, it seems, none too willing to accept advice. The result was that he ran the Empress hard ashore near the William Head quarantine station. The date was Sunday, October 13. The ship lay in an exposed position, and a change in the weather might have spelled disaster. Fortunately it remained calm, and the tugs and salvage craft that rushed to the Canada's assistance succeeded in refloating her after 52 hours of anxious effort. She was taken at once to the big graving-dock at the Esquimalt naval base, which had been completed two years before, and there repaired by Yarrows, Limited. The damage to her hull was found to extend over a length of 145 feet, and of twenty plates that had to be taken off, fifteen had to be renewed.47 The Empress of France was in Vancouver when the Canada ran aground, the intention being that the ships should exchange crews there, and so permit the Empress of France to return promptly to the Atlantic by way of Panama. When the Canada was disabled, the Empress of France sailed for the Orient in her stead. Fast work on the part of Yarrows' workmen enabled the Canada to get to sea on November 3, and by sailing directly to Hong Kong, she was able to catch up with the Empress of France there, and so keep the disruption of schedules to a minimum. The marked improvement in the performance of the Empress of Canada brought about by her new engines soon became apparent. On her second homeward voyage from Yokahama she averaged 20.44 knots, or only a fraction of a knot less than she had achieved on her record run in 1923. Some machinery (47) For details of the damage, etc see Harbor and Shipping, XII, 494, 512 (November, 1929). An aver age of 275 me n were employed by rrows on the repair work. 34 W. Kaye Lamb. January adjustments became necessary in 1930, but by the following spring she was at last able to show her paces. In March, 1931, she averaged 21 knots on the voyage from Yokohama to William Head, and in May, travelling by way of Honolulu, she did better still. Between Yokohama and Honolulu she attained the highest average of her career—21.78 knots—and between Honolulu and Victoria her speed was 21.47 knots. In August, sailing from Yokohama direct to Victoria, she averaged 21.57 knots— her fastest run on the northern route. Her new engines gave . her an ample reserve of power, and she could be depended upon to maintain a steady average of over 20 knots. The last two years she was on the Pacific she made a dozen voyages to the Orient and back by way of Honolulu, and the remarkable consistency of her performance is shown by the average speeds that she maintained between Honolulu and Victoria. Eight of the twelve passages were made at speeds of from 20.76 to 20.87 knots, and three others at 20.66, 20.51, and 20.25 knots respectively. Only on one of the twelve voyages did she fall below 20 knots; her average was 19.73 knots upon this occasion. These speeds were maintained with her engines developing slightly less than the 26,000 horse-power that John Johnson had intended them to maintain in normal service.48 When the Empress of Canada made her record run in May, 1931, she was no longer Queen of the Pacific. A larger and faster Empress had by then joined the fleet. This was the second Empress of Japan, which, like her three running-mates, was built in the Fairfield yard at Govan. The official announcement that a new Pacific Empress would be ordered soon was made in February, 1928, and the contract was duly awarded in June. Though she bore a family resemblance to the earlier ships, the design of the Empress of Japan represented a great step forward in almost every respect. Indeed, she had much more in common with the Empress of Britain, the sumptuous 42,000-ton express liner for the Atlantic service that the Canadian Pacific was building at this same time, than she had with the Empress of Canada. Her length over all is 666 feet, her beam 83 feet 6 inches, and her gross tonnage 26,032. Her great ire cited are taken from the voyage 1948 Empress Odyssey. 35 width makes her interior remarkably spacious, and full advantage was taken of this both in the fine suite of public rooms on the promenade deck and in her staterooms. A great palm court and ballroom extending right across the ship at the forward end of the promenade deck, an entrance-hall of reception-room proportions, and wide expanses of deck for sports are amongst the ship's features. Her extra deck, sweeping promenades, and huge funnels seem somehow to increase her bulk disproportionately, and both to the passer-by and to the visitor on board the Empress of Japan seems to be very much larger, in comparison to the Empress of Canada, than she actually is. The new Empress was the first trans-Pacific liner in which John Johnson designed the whole of the propelling-machinery. She reflects the experience he gained in the five fast freighters of the Beaver class that the Canadian Pacific built for the Montreal-London service, and the four Duchess-type passenger liners for the Atlantic that followed. Johnson believed that water-tube boilers (replacing the old Scotch cylindrical type), high-pressure steam, superheaters, and single-reduction geared turbines were the best combination, and in the Empress of Japan the results achieved were striking. The working-pressure of her boilers is 425 lb. (as compared with 210 lb. in the old-style boilers in the Canada), and her turbines were designed to develop up to 30,000 horse-power in normal service, and somewhat more, if need be, for short periods. It is interesting to note that the estimated cost of the new ship was no more than £1,270,000, or less than two-thirds the cost of the Empress of Canada in 1921-22.49 The Empress of Japan was launched on December 17, 1929, by Mrs. Peacock, wife of Mr. E. R. (now Sir Edward) Peacock, a director of the Canadian Pacific Railway. By June, 1930, she was ready for service. On her trials she attained a speed of 23 knots, and like the re-engined Empress of Canada she made a voyage to Quebec to make sure that all was shipshape before she sailed for her distant station on the Pacific. She was in no way forced, but the results indicated that her designers and builders had produced a remarkably efficient vessel. Homeward (49) The figure is given in the Annual Report of the Canadian Pacific 36 W. Kaye Lamb. January bound she averaged 21.09 knots, and she maintained this speed with her engines developing no more than 26,100 horse-power and with a fuel consumption of only 168.8 tons of oil per day.50 The Empress went to the Pacific by way of the Mediterranean, and took her place in the regular sailing schedule at the beginning of August. Captain Robinson was in command, and James Lamb was chief engineer. She showed her capabilities immediately, for she broke the trans-Pacific record on her maiden voyage, which ended at Vancouver on August 22. Her time from Yokohama to William Head was 8 days 6 hours and 27 minutes, and her average speed 21.04 knots. Her arrival was a gala occasion, and Captain E. Aikman, general superintendent in Vancouver, seized the opportunity to recall the career of the original Empress of Japan that had 'served the company so well for more than thirty years. The figurehead of the old Empress has been preserved and erected in Stanley Park, inside the First Narrows, and her bell is a cherished possession of the Vancouver Merchants Exchange. The new Empress of Japan dipped her colours to the figurehead as she entered Vancouver Harbour for the first time, and the old liner's bell, borrowed for the purpose, was used by the toastmaster at the banquet held on board to celebrate her arrival. When she was opened for public inspection, some 13,000 persons visited the new ship, and various seamen's charities received the thousands of dollars collected in admission fees. By the beginning of 1931 the Empress was ready to make an attempt to lower the record she had established the previous summer. Her engines had been carefully broken in, and it was cjear that she could easily improve upon her past performance. This she did in February, on her fourth east-bound passage, when she averaged 21.47 knots.61 But it was on her fifth voyage that she put possession of her laurels definitely beyond the reach of her friendly rival, the Empress of Canada. The King of Siam was to travel in her, and Captain Robinson doubtless received (50) Shipping World, September 3, 1930, p. 312. A good description of the Empress of Japan, complete with midship section, profile, deck plans, etc., will be found in Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, September 25, 1930, pp. 349-354. (51) Her time from Yokohama to Race Rocks was 8 days 3 hours and 1948 Empress Odyssey. 37 permission to make the best time he could. The Empress left Yokohama at 3.32 p.m. on April 9 and was off Race Rocks by 6.48 p.m. on April 16. The Pacific had thus been crossed in less than eight days, for her steaming-time was only 7 days 20 hours and 16 minutes. The average speed was 22.27 knots. ' Her engines were opened up fully on this voyage for the first time since her trials, and the horse-power developed was 29,000. Her speed varied only slightly throughout the passage, for the day runs were all between a low of 504 miles and a high of 520 miles.62 This record, which still stands unchallenged, was a fitting climax to the career of both Captain Robinson and Chief Engineer Lamb, both of whom reached retirement age soon after. Captain L. D. Douglas took command in 1932, and R. H. Shaw presently replaced Mr. Lamb as chief engineer. In their charge the Empress settled down to the regular round of schedule-keeping. No further attempt on the Yokohama-Race Rocks record was possible, for the ship was now calling at Honolulu on both east- and west-bound voyages. It was not long, however, before she established a new record between Yokohama and Honolulu. Late in May, 1935, she covered the distance in 6 days 8 hours and 39 minutes at an average speed of 22.16 knots, and on the second leg of the crossing, from Honolulu to Victoria, she attained the fastest average speed of her career so' far—22.37 knots. Three years later, in April, 1938, she improved upon her Yokohama-Honolulu run by one of the narrowest margins by which a -big ship ever took a record. Her average speed was 22.17 knots, and her steaming-time for the whole distance of 3,383 miles was only six minutes less than in 1935.68 The. completion of the Empress of Japan gave the Canadian Pacific the four liners, all specially designed for the trade, that the company had been endeavouring to place on the run to the (52) All details from the official voyage report of Chief Engineer James Lamb. The day runs were 462, 518, 511, 504, 505, 516, 520, 509, and 155. On this voyage the Empress carried a total of 1,158 passengers, of whom 481 were in first class, 218 in second class, 135 in third class, and 324 in the Oriental steerage. (63) All details from the voyage reports of Chief Engineer R. H. Shaw. 38 W. Kaye Lamb. January Orient ever since the end of the Great War. Unfortunately the depression commenced just before the fleet was brought up to' full strength. Its effect on trans-Pacific shipping was relatively slight in 1930, and cargo movements were still fairly heavy in 1931. The crisis came in 1932, and freight pickings continued to be extremely slim for several years thereafter. Statistics will best show how serious the situation became. In 1929 the average cargo carried by the Empress of Russia, homeward bound from the Orient, was just under 4,000 tons. By 1931 the average had fallen to 2,500 tons, and in 1932 it was no more than 700 tons. In June, 1932, the Empress of Asia actually arrived with less than 200 tons of cargo rattling about in her echoing holds.64 To make matters worse, it was at this same time that the highly lucrative silk trade entered a rapid decline. For this two factors were responsible. The first was a fall in the value of silk, due both to the depression and to the development of rayon and other substitutes. In 1924 the average price of silk had been $6.50 per pound, and it was still $5.11 in 1929. Within a year, however, it had fallen to $3.70, and in 1934 it was no more than $1.27. As the value of silk shipments fell, they naturally became less expensive to. insure, and this in turn made the fast transit offered by the Empresses less important. It was at this point that the second factor entered the scene—the desire of the Japanese to divert the trade to their own vessels. Nor were they content merely to have the silk, most of which was bound for New York and the Eastern United States, cross the Pacific in Japanese ships instead of foreign ones; they wished to avoid using Canadian and American railroads as well. With this in mind the Nippon Yusen Kaisha built a fleet of specially designed fast freighters to sail from Japan direct to New York by way of the Panama Canal. The first of the new ships entered service in 1929, and by 1939 they had captured 90 per cent, of the silk trade.65 1948 Empress Odyssey. 39 Whether or not this new line paid its way was beside the point; it accomplished the nationalistic purpose the Japanese had in mind. The ties between Japanese industry and Japanese shipping were extremely close, and the task of securing a share of Japan's export trade became more and more difficult for the outsider. The bargaining position of the Empresses was strengthened by their close link with a transcontinental railway and the various industrial enterprises in which the Canadian Pacific was interested, and they retained a certain foothold within Japan, thanks to certain still-powerful export houses that had long served the company. The bulk of their cargoes, however, were carried to and from Chinese rather than Japanese ports, and the outbreak of hostilities in China in 1937 was therefore a heavy blow to their prospects. Surprisingly enough, general trade seemed actually to increase at first, but times were becoming difficult by 1939. Yet at certain seasons cargo holds were still well filled. Late in 1938, for example, the Empress of Canada docked with a 4,500-ton cargo, and the Empress of Russia carried about 4,100 tons when she arrived a fortnight later. But these were altogether exceptional figures. Taking the year as a whole, the Empress of Russia loaded an average of about 1,900 tons outward, and on her homeward passages arrived with an average of about 1,600 tons.66 With freight revenues falling, the Canadian Pacific turned to the passenger trade and sought means both of increasing it and of offering stiffer competition to rival lines. It is noteworthy that the possibility of curtailing the Empress service never seems to have been considered. In depression and in prosperity alike an Empress sailed for the Orient every fortnight. Nor was the scheduled speed of the liners lowered. They had been designed to cross the Pacific in a specified number of days, and this they continued to do, whether their cabins and holds were full or relatively empty. Indeed, it was upon the speed of its ships that the company depended in great part to see it through the difficult trading days of the thirties. The most important change made was the extension of the service to include regular sailings to Honolulu. Empresses had (56) Estimates based on cargo returns as published each month in Harbor and Shipping, Vancouver. 40 W. Kaye Lamb. January called there occasionally in the past on their way home from the Orient, but the visit lengthened the trans-Pacific voyage by more than 1,500 miles, and ships with a somewhat higher operating speed seemed necessary to maintain a regular schedule. This was kept in mind when the Empress of Japan was designed and the Empress of Canada re-engined, and the service was inaugurated as soon as the Canada returned to the Pacific. To begin with, the call was made west-bound only, but the two faster Empresses began sailing in both directions by way of Honolulu in 1931. The new service was successful from the start, and at the peak of the season the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia made a special sailing or two by way of the Hawaiian Islands to help handle the rush of traffic. Even in the depression days of 1932 it was not uncommon for an Empress to clear from Victoria for Honolulu with a capacity list. Another change made at this time was the introduction of "tourist" class, which took the place of the old second-class accommodation in the Empresses. The traveller of modest means, who wished to secure reasonably comfortable accommodation at moderate rates, had all at once become a person of financial importance to trans-Pacific shipping companies. In catering to his needs, the Empresses were at a disadvantage, for they had been designed in the spacious-days when the first-class passenger was all-important, and the luxuries provided for him were permitted to absorb a vast amount of space. Except in the Empress of Japan, second class was, by comparison, very cramped and unattractive. But much could be and was done to improve matters. Public rooms were enlarged and refurnished, new ones were added, promenade space was reallocated as between classes, and even in the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia the tourist-class passenger presently found an open-air swimming- pool provided for him at the after end of " A " deck. The Honolulu call had a further interesting result—it brought the Empresses into direct competition with the American and Japanese liners sailing between San Francisco and the Orient. By 1931 these opponents made up a formidable fleet. The Nippon Yusen Kaisha, which had absorbed the old Toyo Kisen Kaisha, had built and placed in service the three 17,000-ton 1948 Empress Odyssey. 41 motorships of the Asama Maru type, and the Dollar Line had recently completed the President Hoover and President Coolidge, sister ships of 21,936 tons gross. But none of these fine vessels proved to be a match for the Empresses in speed. The Japanese motorships could not maintain more than 19 knots, and the top service speed of the Presidents was between 20 and 20i/2 knots. In a pinch the Empress of Japan, by comparison, could always work up to 22 knots, and the Empress of Canada to 21 knots or more. As a result, it was possible to operate the Japan and Canada on a seven-day schedule from Yokohama to Honolulu— a full day faster than their rivals could attempt. Moreover, they could travel from Honolulu to Vancouver in the same time (five days) taken by the American and Japanese ships to cover the much shorter distance from Honolulu to San Francisco. In sum, the Empresses could go 1,500 miles out of their way, reap their share of the lucrative passenger trade to and from the holiday isles and still reach Vancouver before their competitors docked in San Francisco. For travellers in a hurry, the Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia, sailing on the direct northern route, offered a ten-day service from Yokohama to Vancouver— a mark none of the San Francisco lines could distantly approach. The Honolulu call brought new fame to the "White Empresses," as they were usually called. As this implies, the black hulls introduced after World War I never became popular; the original colour scheme, dating back to 1891, was restored within a few years. The first of the fleet to appear in her white coat was the Empress of Asia, which arrived in Vancouver, fresh from overhaul, in January, 1927. Later the same year Pier B-C, a vast new terminal built specially to cater to the needs of-the Empresses, was completed in Vancouver. The formal opening took place on July 4, but the pier had then actually been in use for some months. In 1932 the Canadian Pacific decided to make use of the 1,150-foot dry-dock at Esquimalt for the summer overhauls of the Empresses, and on July 8 the Empress of Russia was docked, and her hull cleaned and painted. The other ships of the fleet followed in turn, and all four visited Esquimalt regularly each summer thereafter. The service was carried on, year after year, with remarkable regularity and freedom from accident. The adventures of the J 42 W. Kaye Lamb. January Empress of Australia in the Yokohama earthquake of 1923 and the stranding of the Empress of Canada near William Head in 1929 were the only occasions upon which a ship of the fleet was in really serious danger. Some mishaps did, of course, occur. In January, 1926, the Empress of Asia struck and sank the small freighter Tung Shing, which blundered into her path in the crooked river channel below Shanghai, and in March, 1927, the Empress of Canada sank the Japanese collier JinshoMaru in the same vicinity under very similar circumstances. In November, 1932, the Canada suffered slight damage in collision with the Yeitai Maru between Kobe and Shanghai; and in June, 1937, a sudden gust of wind caught her as she approached the dock at Vancouver, swung her about, and caused her to ram her bow into the reinforced-concrete side of Pier B-C. Fortunately the damage suffered was mostly to paint and tempers. Plans for the replacement of the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia were afoot not long after the Empress of Japan joined the fleet. In 1931, when they had been in service for eighteen years, the Russia and Asia were subjected to a careful scrutiny by company officials. Although, generally speaking, they were found to be in good condition, the report was critical of their electrical and ventilating systems, neither of which was satisfactory by later-day standards. The maximum useful life of the ships was estimated to be another seven years, and the view was expressed that it would probably be wiser to replace them within three years. The depression made this impracticable, and the now aging sisters were reprieved, refurbished from time to time, and retained in service. By 1938, however, the Canadian Pacific was ready to embark upon another great ship-building program, and this was to include two new steamers for the run to the Orient. Orders for these were to have been placed in 1939, but by that time the whole program had been postponed, for costs had risen to such a degree that it was impossible to secure any of the ships for the prices the Company had in mind.67 w building prog ram was to h ve included two 25,000-ton for the Canadi n Line, two new Pacific ed to secure the r for the Emp five ships fo ress of Britain. The Cana- £11,000,000. Sir Edward n Great Britain n July, 1938, xpecting to place the order 1948 Empress Odyssey. 43 The Empresses wore amazingly well in their old age. They lacked private bathrooms and burned coal instead of oil, but they were thoroughly comfortable ships, and popular with passengers. Mechanically the most serious mishaps they suffered were cracked spokes in the spiders of their turbine rotors. One crack developed in the Empress of Russia in 1930, and another appeared in the Empress of Asia three years later. For the only time in her long career the Russia missed a voyage, while, repairs were made at Bremerton, but the Asm was able to carry on until overhaul time, and maintained her schedule as usual. It is interesting to note that the older Empresses all wore their after-bottom plating thin, owing to the fact that they ploughed and scraped through the mud and sand in the lower reaches of the Woosung River every time they called at Shanghai; indeed, the Empress of Canada once wore a plate completely through, and sprang a leak as a consequence. Extra plates were eventually fitted to the ships' bottoms to protect them from further damage.58 Entries in log-books and voyage reports show that the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia maintained as high average speeds in 1938—their last-complete year of peace-time service— as they had done when brand new in 1913. On the six voyages she made in 1938 from Yokohama to Race Rocks, the average speed of the Empress of Asia only varied from 18.34 to 18.96 knots, and the performance of the Empress of Russia was on a par. Five of her crossings were made at from 18.79 to 18.92 knots, while her average on the sixth passage was 17.83 knots. More remarkable still, their fuel consumption per round voyage was substantially less than it had been in. 1913. The old ships were in the hands of unusually competent chief engineers, and there seems to have been a friendliness and co-operation between them and the Empress captains that is far from being characteristic of all merchant fleets. Everyone worked together to accomplish the end in view, and the result was astonishing. In 1939, in spite of the fact that she was then twenty-five years old, the Empress of Russia actually consumed nearly 10,000 tons less coal for the Canadian-Australasian liners, but prices proved to be too high, and it was decided to postpone the program. (58) This paragraph based on voyage reports, etc. 44 W. Kaye Lamb. January in the course of the six round trips she made to the Orient than she had burned on six corresponding voyages in 1925. Results such as these helped to reconcile the company's accountants to the necessity of keeping the old ships in service far beyond the expected replacement date!69 8. The only captain of the later Empresses who had served in the fleet from its beginning was Captain Edward Beetham, first skipper of the Empress of Russia. He came to the Pacific as fourth officer in the Empress of Japan in 1891, and had been captain of the Empress of India for seven years when he was- appointed to the Russia. As things turned out, he remained in his new command only a few months, for in January, 1914, he turned her over to Captain A. W. Davison, and came ashore to take the post of marine superintendent in Vancouver. Captain Davison was a contemporary of Captain Samuel Robinson, first commander of the Empress of Asia; both had joined the Company in 1895. Captain Robinson and Captain Davison exchanged ships in 1916, when the Empresses returned to their regular run after their first spell of war-time service, and then carried on until 1919, when Captain Davison accepted a shore appointment in Hong Kong. Captain A. J. Hailey, who had been serving in various ships of the line since 1900, thereupon took over the Empress of Asia. He and Captain Robinson were the senior skippers of the fleet for many years, sailing first in the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia, then in the Empress of Australia and Empress of Canada, and finally in the Empress of Canada and the new Empress of Japan. Few Empress captains have been as well known, or have rivalled them in popularity. Only Captain 0. P. Marshall and Captain Henry Pybus, of the old guard, and Captain L. D. Douglas and Captain A. J. Hosken, of later days, have approached them in these respects. Empress captains seem often to emerge in pairs. Captain Hosken and Captain Douglas, for example, were opposite numbers for years: ' Captain Hosken joined the old Empress of (59) All speeds, fuel statistics, etc., here refe red to were extracted m voyage reports and other docun lents in the files of the general superin- dent, Canadian Pacific Steamship s, Vancouver. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 45 Japan as fourth officer in 1904. By 1913 he was chief officer of the Empress of Russia, in which he was to spend most of the next twenty years. He left her briefly in 1914 and again in 1919 to take over his first command, the Monteagle, and then became captain of the Russia herself in 1922. He was her skipper for more than twelve years—the second longest period that any Empress captain has ever been in command of the same ship. At the end of 1934 he succeeded Captain Hailey in the Empress of Canada, but failing health compelled him to retire in 1936. Captain Douglas, a Conway boy who had first visited Vancouver in the sailing ship Silverhorn, was appointed third officer of the Empress of India in 1905. He became chief officer of the Empress of Asia in 1913, thus keeping step with Captain Hosken. In 1919, when Hosken was captain of the Monteagle, he was in command of the Methven. In 1921 he moved to the Empress of Asia. Some years later, when only three Pacific Empresses were on the run, he gave up his command to serve in the capacity of staff captain; as soon as the fleet was brought up to full strength, he again became captain of the Asia. In 1932 he succeeded Captain Robinson in the pride of the fleet, the new Empress of Japan. He reached retirement age in 1940 and handed over the Japan to Captain Thomas; but within a year he was recalled to active duty and appointed general superintendent in Vancouver. From this post he retired for a second time in 1946. Captain Douglas's propensity for happening to be in command of a ship when she made a record run reminds one of the late Captain Pybus. He was in command of the Empress of Asia when she averaged 20.2 knots, a mark neither she nor the Empress of Russia ever improved upon; he was in the Empress of Canada when she averaged 21.57 knots between Yokohama and Victoria in 1931, and the Empress of Japan when she averaged 22.37 knots between Honolulu and Victoria in 1935. Another well-known Empress skipper was Captain A. J. Holland. (The initials " A. J. H.," it may be noted in passing, were well represented in the Empress fleet. Captain A. J. Hailey, Captain A. J. Hosken, and Captain A. J. Holland were all afloat at one and the same time!) Captain Holland did not climb the ladder of seniority with the same regularity as some of his colleagues; spells of service as a relief captain and a variety of 46 W. Kaye Lamb. January shore appointments made his career a varied one. He joined one of the original Empresses as fourth officer in 1906, and he took over his first command—the old Empress of Japan—-in 1919. He came ashore for good in 1931, when he was appointed marine superintendent in Vancouver, a post he held until 1942. . Captain W. T. Kinley and Captain George Goold both joined the fleet in 1913, the former as a junior officer in the Empress of Russia, and the latter as fourth officer of the old Empress of Japan. Fittingly enough the Empress of Russia, in which he first served, happened to be Captain Kinley's first command. He took her over in 1935, but moved the following year to the Empress of Canada, in which he succeeded Captain Hosken. It was from the Canada that he himself retired at the end of 1940. Captain Goold's first command was also the Empress of Russia; he was appointed to her in 1936, in succession to Captain Kinley. Within a few months, however, he was transferred to the Empress of Asia, and he remained in her until he once again succeeded Captain Kinley, this time in the Empress of Canada. When the Canada was torpedoed and sunk in 1943, he returned, after an interval of a few months, to his first ship, the Empress of Russia. Other well-remembered skippers include Captain Herbert James, always a stately figure in his immaculate uniform, who commanded the Empress of Russia for a few months in 1934-35 ; Captain E. P. Green, who, after his retirement from the Empress of Asia, crossed the Pacific he knew so well in the 50-foot ketch- rigged yacht Romance; and Captain J. F. Patrick, who commanded the Empress of Russia during her last years on the regular run to the Orient. Like Captain Beetham, James Adamson, first chief engineer of the Empress of Russia, had served in the fleet ever since the inauguration of the service in 1891. To begin with, his opposite number in the Empress of Asia was William Auld, but he was soon succeeded by W. J. P. Davies. When Captain Robinson and Captain Davison exchanged ships in 1916, so did their chief engineers, and it was in the Empress of Asia that James Adam- son concluded his long career in 1919. Adamson is the great figure amongst the old chief engineers, and James Lamb looms correspondingly large in more recent 1948 Empress Odyssey. 47 days. He joined the fleet in 1899, became the chief of the Empress of Russia in 1916 and of the Empress of Canada in 1923. In 1928-29 he stood by the Canada when she was re- engined at Fairfield, and, when she was ready for sea, remained behind to devote his attention to the new Empress of Japan, which was then approaching the launching stage. He was chief of the great new Empress until his retirement in 1933, and was thus in charge of her engine-room when she made her record voyages in 1931. Few men knew more about turbines and their ways, and fewer still could operate them more efficiently. Other chief engineers of the fleet who made a name for themselves included W. H. Froude, who took over the Empress of, Canada after she was re-engined, and continued in charge of her for a good many years, and David G. R. Smith, who had been in one ship or another of the fleet since 1903, and succeeded Froude in the Canada. He in turn gave place in 1940 to J. B. Deans,- who served in the Empress until within a few months of her loss.. Two further names must be added to the list, those of David Cowper and John Bald. Mr. Cowper came to the Empresses from the Princesses of the British Columbia Coast Service in 1914, going first to the Empress of Asia. His longest term of service as chief in a single ship was in the Empress of Russia, in the later thirties. From her he went to the Empress of Canada, just before she sailed on her last voyage. John Bald joined the Empress of Russia in 1913, and he became her chief engineer in 1924. About 1929 he was transferred to the Empress of Asia, where he remained until his retirement over twelve years later. Cowper and Bald deserve much credit for the remarkable fuel economy attained in the coal-burning Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia during their last years in service. It is not often that ships twenty-five years old, and still propelled by their original engines and boilers, operate on less fuel, at comparable speeds, than they did when new. But another factor in this result must not be overlooked—the watchful eye of R. R. Liddell, superintendent engineer at Vancouver from 1930 to 1941. Mr. Liddell had worked closely with John Johnson, the Canadian Pacific's chief superintendent engineer, both when the Empress of Australia and Empress of Canada were re-engined, and when. 48 W. Kaye Lamb. January the new Empress of Japan was designed and built. He thus knew the larger ships of the Pacific fleet well before he arrived in Vancouver, and he soon made himself well acquainted with the older liners. Many of the small changes and adjustments that resulted in so great a saving of fuel were made at his suggestion, but the over-all improvement obtained was due to a common effort by all concerned, and, as already noted, this effort extended to captains as well as to chief engineers. The war-time adventures of the Empresses would fill a book if recorded in detail. They sailed all the seven seas, visited innumerable strange harbours, performed an immense variety of duties, and between them made a very substantial contribution to the Allied cause.60 On September 3,1939, the Empress of Japan was at Shanghai, bound for Vancouver, and the safety of this most valuable unit of the fleet became the first concern of the authorities. Even at that date the British Admiralty distrusted the Japanese, and the Empress was therefore ordered to omit her usual calls at Kobe and Yokohama and sail for Honolulu direct. To protect her further, rumours were artfully scattered to the effect that she was returning to Hong Kong, and she duly vanished over the horizon in that direction. Once out of sight, however, she swung round to the east and headed for the open Pacific. The cruiser Kent joined her as escort, and her aeroplane went up to reconnoitre and make sure that all was clear ahead. The other Empresses kept more or less to schedule, but efforts were made to give them a coat of grey paint as quickly as possible. The Empress of. Canada, which had sailed for Honolulu from Vancouver on September 2, had some paint on board which was applied to her upperworks where and when possible, as the (60) Captain R. W. McMurray, general manager of Canadian Pacific Steamships, Limited, and his staff very kindly furnished the writer with as complete a tabulation of the movements of the Empresses during the war years as could be compiled from the records available in Montreal, together with copies of any voyage reports, special reports, etc., that were of special interest. This account is based on these documents and on discussions with Captain L. D. Douglas, Captain L. C. Barry (who served as chief officer of the Empress of Canada during the first two years of the war), Captain George Goold, and Chief Officer Donald Smith of the Empress of Asia. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 49 voyage proceeded. The two forward funnels could only be painted in part, as the tops were too hot, but the after funnel, being a dummy, could be painted all over. The whole effect was distinctly spotty, and gave rise to reports that the ship was camouflaged when she reached Hawaii. Late in September the Empress of Japan went to Esquimalt, where a 6-inch gun and a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun were installed. The Empress of Canada was armed the following month, and in November both Empresses were requisitioned—the Canada on the 29th, at Hong Kong, and the Japan about the same time, in Vancouver. By an odd chance the Empress of Canada had crossed the Pacific exactly two hundred times when she was taken over. The first war-time task of the Empresses was to carry Australian and New Zealand troops to the Near East. The Japan went first to Sydney, and the Canada to Wellington; but the convoy as a whole assembled off Melbourne on January 12,1940. It consisted of eleven ships, including such well-known steamers as the P. & 0. liners Strathnaver and Strathaird, the Orion and Otranto of the Orient Line, and the New Zealand Shipping Company's Rangitata. For a time the escort included the battleship Ramilles and the aircraft carrier Eagle.61 From Suez and Port Said, which proved to be the destinations respectively of the Empress of Canada and Empress of Japan, the liners returned independently to the Antipodes. The second convoy in which the Empresses sailed was one of the most remarkable of the whole war. It consisted of the Cunard liners Queen Mary, Aquitania, and Mauretania, the Canadian Pacific's Empress of Britain, Empress of Japan, arid Empress of Canada, and the new Andes, the largest ship of the Royal Mail Lines. Between them these seven great vessels totalled 276,918 gross tons, or an average of almost 40,000 tons each. Escorted by the cruisers Canberra and Leander, they assembled off Melbourne on May 6 and set sail for Colombo by way of Freemantle. Presently, however, fear that Italy might enter the war at any moment caused the convoy to be diverted to Capetown, where it arrived safely on May 26. Here the (61) Two or three naval ships were always in company; six cruisers (H.M.A.S. Canberra, Australia, and Hobart, H.M.S. Sussex and Kent, and the French Suffren) and a destroyer were present at one time or another. j 50 W. Kaye Lamb. January Empress of Japan and Empress of Canada encountered unexpected difficulties. Both ships still had many Chinese in their crews, and when the Empresses were ordered to sail for the United Kingdom, the Chinese refused to accompany them and enter the war zone. In the end it was decided that Captain Douglas should take the Chinese from both liners to Hong Kong in the Empress of Japan, while Captain Kinley undertook to muster a scratch crew and, somehow or other, get the Empress of Canada to the Clyde, as intended. He had his troubles, and so did his chief engineer, David Smith, who rose from a sick bed to settle difficulties below decks; but on June 16 the Canada reached Gourock, the seaside resort on the Clyde near Greenock, which the Empresses were to come to know so well. This voyage marked the conclusion of two notable careers, for ill-health forced the retirement of both Captain Kinley and Chief Engineer Smith when the Canada arrived. Captain Goold of the Empress of Asia was appointed to succeed Captain Kinley, but as he was unable to join the Canada immediately, Captain Moore, of the Atlantic fleet, took command for a single voyage. J. B. Deans succeeded David Smith. The following month, on the other ,side of the world, Captain Douglas, commodore of the Pacific fleet, reached retirement age and handed over the Empress of Japan to his able staff captain, Captain J. W. Thomas. When Captain Douglas left the Japan, she was busy evacuating women and children from Hong Kong to the supposedly greater security of Manila, and she completed this task under Captain Thomas. She was then overhauled, and her next assignment proved to be another voyage from Australia and New Zealand to Suez. Late in September, when she was nearing her destination, a familiar silhouette appeared on the horizon, that of the Empress of Canada, which had just completed a voyage from Glasgow to Suez. The Canada had sailed early in August in a fast seven-liner convoy that included three old travelling companions, the Empress of Britain, Strathaird, and Andes, and three new acquaintances, the P. & 0. Stratheden, the Polish Batory, and the Furness liner Monarch of Bermuda. On this trip the Empress of Canada was carrying 1,918 troops and a crew of 323, or a total of 2,241 persons in all. Later her troop- 1948 Empress Odyssey. 51 carrying capacity was substantially increased, and she could accommodate 3,000 or more service personnel. Homeward bound, the Canada and her consorts did not travel together. The shortage of escort ships was desperate, and the faster liners were instructed to sail singly from Capetown, spaced a day or two apart. From the point of view of the Canadian Pacific the decision was an unfortunate one, for the pride of its fleet, the 42,000-ton Empress of Britain, was bombed, burned, and sunk off Northern Ireland on October 26. The Empress of Canada, next in line, slipped through safely and reached the Clyde on the 29th. Early in November, however, the Empress of Japan, which had been ordered to the United Kingdom, narrowly escaped the Britain's fate. Off Northern Ireland she was heavily bombed, and although she suffered no direct hits, much havoc to her machinery was caused by near misses. Shaft bearings were damaged, a main condenser was disabled, and her lighting system knocked out. Working in total darkness, Chief Engineer Shaw and his men managed to keep the vessel moving, and on November 10 she crept into the Clyde, safe at last. There she was anchored in shallow water over a soft bottom, for it was feared that she might sink owing to the damage done to her main intakes. Repairs, which were carried out at Glasgow and Belfast, took about six weeks, at the end of which the company's superintendent was able to report that the Empress was once again in excellent condition.62 The Empress of Canada was lying at Gourock when the Japan entered the Clyde, and this was to be the last time that the two ships were actually in sight of one another. Before the Japan was moved to Belfast, the Canada, now commanded by Captain Goold, had sailed once more for Suez, this time in a ten-liner convoy that included the Andes and sundry old friends from the P. & 0. and Orient Line fleets. From Suez the Empress of Canada herself went through into the Mediterranean, and she spent New Year's Day, 1941, at Alexandria. The return voyage was uneventful until the last few days, when a German raider (62) Most of the details given are from reports received by Captain E. Aikman from Captain R. N. Stuart, European manager for Canadian Pacific Steamships, in November and December of 1940. See also the interview with Captain Thomas printed in the Vancouver Province, February 1, 1947. 52 W. Kaye Lamb. - January found a convoy some distance ahead and sank six ships. Fortunately the Canada's luck held, and she arrived safely at Gourock on February 25. She was there a month, and before it ended, both the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia arrived from the Pacific and moved on to Liverpool, where they were to be refitted as transports. We must, therefore, return to earlier days for a moment and bring the story of the old ships up to date. Both of them had been left on their regular trans-Pacific run until late in 1940. The fact that they were coal-burners was doubtless partly responsible for this reprieve, for the transport authorities were well aware that it would make them difficult to man and probably hard to handle. The only adventures they encountered in 1940 came the way of the Empress of Asia. In February she made a sailing from Vancouver to Kobe direct, and it proved to be one of the roughest passages of her whole career. In the course of it a ventilator vanished bodily from the forecastle head, and the ship was so unsteady that the firemen had great difficulty in keeping up steam. In September a much more portentious event occurred. On the 14th, as the Empress was approaching Yokohama, a Japanese plane roared overhead and dropped a practice bomb that struck the ship, pierced two decks, penetrated to the galley, and wounded several Chinese crew members. Structural damage to the ship amounted to only $2,600, and the Japanese consul at Vancouver duly signed the repair bills; but the opinion persists that the bombing was meant to be insulting and was not in the least degree accidental.68 The Empress of Russia was requisitioned at Hong Kong on November 28, 1940. She had just completed her 310th trans- Pacific passage in the regular passenger service, and it is interesting to note that she thus failed, by a narrow margin, to equal the record of the original Empress of Japan, which crossed 315 times. In actual mileage, however, the Russia far surpassed the old Empress. Most of her voyages were on a longer route that included Manila, and she steamed much farther on war service (63) See report, Chief Engineer J. Bald to R. R. Liddell, superintendent engineer, Vancouver, September 23, 1940; also Mr. Liddell's report to Montreal dated October 7, 1940. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 53 in 1914-18. Moreover, nearly five years' service in World War II still lay ahead of her at this time. Her first voyage took her around the Pacific. Leaving Hong Kong on November 30, she visited Wellington, Sydney, Auckland, Suva, and Honolulu, and arrived in Vancouver on January 23, 1941. The purpose of the trip was to bring Australian and New Zealand air recruits to Canada, en route to training stations, and the Empress was in effect replacing the well-known Canadian- Australasian liner Niagara, which had been mined and sunk the previous July. In Vancouver the Russia found the Empress of Asia, which had just completed her final voyage from the Orient. This passage, which ended on January 11, was her 307th crossing, and, incidentally, the last scheduled sailing of a Pacific Empress to date. Both the sisters had been ordered to Great Britain for conversion into troop-ships, and they sailed in February, within a week of one another. The Empress of Russia got away on the 6th, under the command of Captain Mayall, who had succeeded Captain Patrick, and the Empress of Asia followed on the 13th, commanded by Captain J. Bissett Smith, who had taken over from Captain Goold. Both liners travelled by way of the Panama Canal, Jamaica, and Bermuda, and arrived in the Clyde in March, where, as already noted, they found the Empress of Canada. They soon shifted to Liverpool, where a couple of months was spent overhauling them, installing extra ventilating fans and cooking facilities, clearing certain areas of cabins, and otherwise adapting them for the transport service. When the work was completed, they were placed on the United Kingdom-Capetown-Near East route that the Empress of Canada knew so well. The Canada herself had sailed for Suez late in March in a convoy that included no less than twenty-three transports. Two of the Canadian Pacific's Duchesses, the six finest ships in the P. & 0. fleet, three Orient liners, two big Union Castle liners, the Andes, and the new French steamer Pasteur were all included. The importance attached to the convoy was shown by the escort provided, which consisted of the battleships Nelson and Rodney, two cruisers, and eight destroyers. The Empress of Asia and Empress of Russia both got away on their first voyages in May, and early in June the Empress of 54 W. Kaye Lamb. January Canada, returning from Suez, passed the Empress of Asia near Durban. On this trip the Canada carried a ship-load of Greek refugees from Suez to Durban, and then proceeded to Halifax by way of Capetown and Trinidad. By so doing she was able to make a crossing from Halifax to the Clyde with Canadian troops in July. The last day out submarines were found in the vicinity, and one was definitely sunk by British destroyers. This round-the-Atlantic route was adopted for other ships as well, and the Empress of Russia sailed from Halifax on August 25. The Empress of Asia, the next in line, called at New York before going to Halifax and a photograph taken of her at the time was widely published in the press. She was not used as a troop transport on this occasion; she sailed from Halifax on September 16,1941, in a slow fifty-ship convoy. The Asia was the largest of this very mixed lot, while a 1,500-ton freighter was the smallest. The occasion is historic, because this happened to be the first Allied convoy escorted by ships of the United States Navy. From a point off Newfoundland to a rendezvous south of Iceland the escort consisted entirely of American warships. No submarine attacks occurred, but there was the usual trouble with stragglers, and one ship, which caught fire accidentally, had to be abandoned at sea.64 The Empress reached Liverpool on the 28th and spent the next six weeks there receiving — amongst other things—a thorough cleaning, inside and out. By the beginning of 1941 a Japanese attack seemed to be definitely in prospect, and the pressing need for troops switched for the time being from the Near East to Singapore. The Empress of Japan had sailed for Singapore as early as January 12, and she returned to the Clyde on May 15. The voyage, made in both directions by way of Capetown, totalled almost 32,000 • miles. Homeward-bound, the Empress evacuated 1,400 civilians from Singapore to Colombo.65 On June 3 she sailed on another trip to the Far East, and this time she was to circle the globe. Instead of turning back at Singapore she sailed on to Vancouver, (64) See Samuel Eliot Morison, The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939-May 1948 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. I), Boston, 1947, pp. 86-90. (65) A summary of the war service of the Empress of Japan giving this and other details appeared in the Canadian Pacific Staff Bulletin for October, 1945, pp. 10, 11. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 55 where she arrived on August 29. After being dry-docked and refitted at Esquimalt, she set out once more on September 30, and by the end of October she was back in Glasgow. Meanwhile the Empress of Canada had had an adventure all her own. Fears had arisen that the Germans might seize Spitsbergen. As a precautionary measure it was decided that an attempt should be made to raid the island, destroy the coal mines and installations there, and so render it useless to the enemy for a long time to come. Members of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, a detachment of the Saskatoon Light Infantry, a company of the Royal Canadian Engineers, personnel of the R.A.S.C, and a Norwegian platoon participated, and the Empress of Canada was selected to act as transport for the expedition. She embarked her troops on August 7, and spent the next few days at Inverary, where practice landings were made. On the 19th she finally sailed from Gourock and headed for Iceland, escorted by the cruisers Aurora and Nigeria, and three destroyers. At Hvalf- jordur, the base established by the Royal Navy near Reykjavik, the destroyers fueled, and the little squadron then headed for Spitzbergen, where it arrived early on the morning of August 25. No resistance was met with, and the demolition parties were soon busy. The Empress was concerned chiefly with the 1,969 Russians that she was taking on board, and who complicated matters considerably by insisting upon handling all their worldly goods personally. The embarkation was completed at last, and the Empress left for Archangel, off which she anchored on the 29th. Here she landed her Russian evacuees and picked up a British military mission that had been'visiting Moscow and 192 officers and men of the Free French forces. Returning to Spitzbergen, she spent two anxious nights there, embarking Canadian troops and taking on board 767 Norwegians. Late on September 3— the second anniversary of the outbreak of war—she finally set sail, and on the 7th arrived safely at Gourock.66 This special mission completed, the Empress of Canada switched to the run to Singapore, for which she sailed on September 30. For a time the Empress of Russia was in the same convoy, but as she was bound for the Near East, she and the Canada presently parted company. The Russia was the only one of the four Empresses that did not visit Singapore. The Empress J 56 W. Kaye Lamb. January of Canada had the good fortune to land her troops there and sail just three days before the Pearl Harbour attack of December 7. The original intention was that she, like the Empress of Japan, should travel on to Vancouver, but she was diverted to Australia and New Zealand instead. From there she passed through the Panama Canal to Newport News, where she spent six or seven weeks being overhauled and refitted. Ready once more for service she shifted to Halifax, and carried Canadian troops thence to the Clyde in March, 1942. Just as the Canada and the Russia had sailed in company in September, so the Empress of Japan and Empress of Asia set out together in November. This time, however, both ships had the same destination—Singapore. They kept more or less in company as far as Bombay, but thereafter the Japan—fortunately for her—moved on with a faster group and arrived in Singapore on January 29. Two days later she cleared for Batavia and Colombo, undamaged in spite of heavy Japanese air raids. Singapore was by that time beleaguered, and the causeway linking the island with the mainland had already been blown up. The Empress of Asia was not to be as fortunate as the Japan. This voyage was to be the gallant old liner's last, and a rendezvous with fate awaited her in the crooked channels near the great fortress. The story is best told in the words of Chief Officer Donald Smith's official report to the Company:— The convoy passed through Sunda Straits [between Sumatra and Java] early on the morning of 3rd February. We received orders to proceed to Singapore with four other transports, the escort leader being H.M.S. Exeter. At about 11.00 a.m. on the 4th February, while in the narrow waters of Banka Straits, off Sumatra, the convoy was attacked by a formation of 27 enemy bombers. The Empress of Asia being the last in line came in for a severe attack but escaped any direct hits. Pieces of exploded bombs caused damage to lifeboats and deck plating outside the Officers Deck. The parts of the bombs and the places of contact were smeared with oil indicating same to be of an incendiary nature. At approximately 11.00 a.m. 5th February, while the ship was in a mined channel approaching Sultan Shoal, 16 miles from Keppel Harbour, and slowed down to take pilot on board, the convoy was attacked by large formations of Japanese bombers. The first formation numbered 27 planes. The two ships immediately ahead of us received direct hits and then the Empress of Asia, being the largest vessel and the last in line, came in for the concentration of the attack. Successive waves of low dive bombers flew over at an estimated height of 600 feet. There were many near misses from bombs causing violent concussions. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 57 Finally the ship was hit, as far as can be ascertained in three places simultaneously, the locations of hits being—forward of No. 1 Funnel, after end of Lounge dome, and through cabin No. 126 on the starboard side [amidships]. These bombs penetrated through all decks down to the Fan Flats causing casualties from the blasts and starting fires particularly in the Lounge and the main Dining Saloon. Fire parties were immediately on the scene, the hoses having previously been connected up throughout the ship, but no water was available throughout the fire service presumably due to damaged mains. The fire spread rapidly amidships and was soon out of control, isolating the forward and after parts of the ship. The removal and attention to casualty cases, and safety of life in general was very effective and well in hand, so the loss of life was comparatively small. Meanwhile attacks by low dive bombers had to be contended with and our ship's guns, together with machine guns from the units on board, kept up a steady barrage and it is reckoned that two enemy planes were brought down. The ship was anchored close to Sultan Shoal with both anchors down. The bridge meantime was in flames and had to be abandoned. Captain Smith burned and skinned his hands badly. Mr. Crofts, 2nd Officer, fractured his ankle while jumping to the forward end of the Promenade Deck. Stretcher cases were lowered to the boats and later despatched to hospital. At 12.30 the ship was finally abandoned, the Commander, Chief Officer and Officer Commanding Troops being the last to leave and were taken on board H.M.S. Danae and comfortably cared for. At 14.30 the Commander and Chief Officer again circled the ship on board H.M.S. Sedlitz, then returned and organized fire parties from Naval ships and two fire floats with powerful pumps. These proceeded to the ship in the hope of saving the forward and after ends where much valuable military equipment, machine guns and small ammunition was stored. In the meantime a breeze had sprung up causing the fire to burn fiercely and the ship could not be approached. . . .67 Considering the nature of the attack and the fact that the Empress had a total of 2,651 persons on board—2,235 troops and a crew of 416—the loss of life was astonishingly small. One crew member died in hospital, and the Officer Commanding troops reported that fifteen men were unaccounted for.68 Rescue efforts were led by the Australian sloop Yarra, whose guns kept blazing away at the Japanese planes as long as any remained in the vicinity. Her commander placed her alongside the burning (68) Figures from the report of Captain J. B. Smith to the company's rents in Colombo (copy in Montreal files of Canadian Pacific Steamships). 58 W. Kaye Lamb. January Empress, and held her there, regardless of the hazards involved, until she had taken aboard literally every man she could carry. A graphic description of the rescue work is given by Captain J. D. Whyte, of the Singapore Pilot Association, in a letter to the writer:— ... I was able to see, at a distance of some miles, the attack on the ship. As she came into sight from behind the islands she was already burning furiously, and it was evident that she would have to be abandoned. In a remarkably short space of time, all kinds of small craft began to stream out from Singapore harbour towards the Empress, reminding one of the fleet that rescued the British Army at Dunkirk, although this was on a very much smaller scale, naturally. These small craft did excellent service in transferring troops from the ship to corvettes and the like that were standing by. As soon as we were able to procure a launch, another pilot (Captain Gibson) and I went out to the Empress too. Having ascertained that there was apparently no one left on board the ship, we then commenced to transfer troops and crew-members from a small lighthouse, where they were absolutely crammed like sardines, to the corvettes. My launch was more or less commandeered to take two naval officers back to the Empress to put her depth charges overboard before the fire could reach them. As I was alongside the Empress for this last time, her mainmast came down, but fortunately went the other side of the ship. Paint was peeling off the ship's side in square yards because of the tremendous heat inside, and small arm ammunition could be heard exploding on board. The naval officers completed their task and returned to the launch as we pushed off. However, we had got only a little distance from the ship, when the launch's engine broke down, and at about the same time the fire seemed to reach some bigger ammunition, as explosions that sounded like six-inch shells were heard from the ship. It was not long before the launch engine was put right, and the engineer needed no urging, and we left the ship altogether. By this time the other craft had completed the task of rescuing troops and crew, and all were proceeding back to Singapore.69 On February 9 Captain Smith, Chief Officer Smith, and others went out to the Empress, " but due to the intense heat of the hull boarding could not be accomplished and was postponed to a later date."70 At that time she was still lying on an even keel, and Captain Whyte tells us that from a distance " she looked as if she had practically nothing wrong with her except that she had then only one mast."71 Later, however, she " rolled over in the (69) Captain J. D. Whyte to W. Kaye Lamb, Singapore, July 29, 1947. (70) Report of Chief Officer Smith. (71) Captain Whyte to the writer, July 29, 1947. On February 7, 1942, Lloyd's surveyor in Singapore cabled to London: " Vessel remained afloat, no evidence of settling in water, and still lying on even keel. ... All 1948 Empress Odyssey. 59 roadstead, hissing and smoking, and lay there like the carcass of a great narwhal."72 There she remains to this day. At low tide some of her side becomes visible, and on this a small light has now been erected to warn shipping away from the sunken wreck.73 Varied fortunes awaited the members of the Asia's- crew. Her firemen, 128 strong, were so fortunate as to get away to the United Kingdom in the transports Devonshire and Felix Roussel. Her doctor and 132 members of the catering staff volunteered for duty in Singapore hospital, and after rendering great service there became prisoners of the Japanese. A few injured crewmen, patients in the hospital, suffered a like fate. On February 10 the naval authorities suggested that the ship's officers and the rest of the crew should attempt a get-away in three 200-ton coasting steamers that were lying in the harbour. In spite of a thousand difficulties the little flotilla got to sea on the 11th, " very short of food, fuel and charts," bound for Batavia, over 500 miles away. Surviving repeated bomber attacks, Captain Smith in the Sin Kheng Seng and Fourth Officer Oliver in the Hong Kwong reached Batavia safely on the 14th, but shortage of fuel compelled Chief Officer Smith to take the Ampang to Palem- bang, in Sumatra. Within a few minutes of his arrival there, a thousand enemy parachute troops landed on the river-bank near by, but, thanks to assistance given by the Dutch authorities, he and his forty companions finally got to Batavia on the 16th. From there the survivors of the Empress eventually reached Australia.74 structure above ' B' deck completely gutted, and main mast collapsed on (72) George Weller, Singapore Is Silent, New York, 1943, p. 264. The date when the Empress finally sank is not given. (73) Captain Whyte remarks that this light " gave me the impression of being in the nature of a tombstone, though the authorities, of course, had no such idea when the light was installed." (74) Details from the reports of Captain Smith and Chief Officer Smith. The Sin Kheng Seng, 110 feet long and of 200 tons gross, and the Hong Kwong, 115 feet long and of 207 tons gross, both reached Batavia on the 15th. Captain Smith reported that only the good weather that prevailed made their survival possible. " Both ships arrived with fuel, water and food finished." The Ampang, 118.1 feet long and of 213 tons gross, was without a chart until she borrowed one from the Sin Kheng Seng, just before the two ships parted company. J 60 W. Kaye Lamb. January With the fall of Singapore, troop movements to Durban, Suez, and Bombay once again became all-important, and the Empress of Russia was engaged in this service throughout 1942. In June, when she returned to the Mersey after a trip to the Near East, Captain R. N. Stuart, European general manager . for Canadian Pacific Steamships, reported on her condition in a letter to the company. In spite of the difficulties of securing good firemen she had maintained a speed of 17 knots, and he found the 29-year-old veteran " as clean throughout as she was kept in her normal run between Vancouver and Hong Kong."76 On June 20 she was off again, and on the last day of September sailed for India on a voyage that kept her away from the Mersey until March 1, 1943. The Empress of Canada visited Bombay in June, 1942,, and on July 13, when making the usual call at Freetown on her way back to Great Britain, she had the misfortune to strip a turbine. This necessitated a two-month lay-up for reblading and repairs at Liverpool,76 and by the time the Empress was again ready for service the North African invasion was imminent. The Canada's allotted part in this operation was to rush in reinforcements as soon as the landing forces had secured a foothold at Oran. All preparations were completed by the middle of October, and the Empress and other transports spent a fortnight hidden away in Loch na Keal, in the Isle of Mull. On November 1 she finally put to sea, and on the night of the 11th led a line of reinforcing troop-ships into Mers el Kebir, the naval harbour adjacent to Oran. Resistance had only ceased the day before, and Captain Goold had to take his ship into a strange harbour in pitch darkness and without any assistance from tugs. But, as noted previously, the Canada handled exceptionally well, and Captain Goold laid her along the quayside with perfect precision. ' Dawn caused a chill to run down his spine, however, for it revealed that the chart of the harbour he had been given was badly out of date. The breakwater had been greatly extended since it was printed, and the Empress had missed crashing into the end of it by the narrowest of margins.77 (75) Captain Stuart to Captain Aikman, June 19, 1942. (76) Details from Captain Goold. (77) Ibid. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 61 Virtually all the troops carried to Oran were American, and this was true also in December, when the Canada made a second trip from Liverpool to Mers el Kebir. We now come to the last voyage of another Pacific Empress. So far the Empress of Canada had enjoyed exceptional good luck—indeed her ability to slip through war-time dangers, and in particular to survive enemy claims that she had been sunk, earned for her the nickname " the phantom ship." Because of this, an Italian communique, issued in mid-March of 1943, announcing that she had been torpedoed in the Atlantic, caused no special anxiety. Unfortunately the report was correct, and although her loss was not reported officially for almost a year, returning crew members brought the story to Vancouver within a few weeks. The last voyage of the Empress was to Durban, from which she sailed on March 1, bound for the United Kingdom, carrying a great variety of military personnel. These included detachments from the French, Greek, and Norwegian Navies and the Polish Army, 500 Italian prisoners of war, and representatives of most branches of the three British services. The passenger list totalled 1,530, and including the crew of 362 there were 1,892 persons on board. Late on the night of March 13 the Empress, travelling alone and bound for Takoradi, on the Gold Coast, was about 390 miles south of Cape Palmas. There was a small moon, but the sky was heavily overcast; and through the darkness the blacked-out liner steamed at a steady 18^ knots, on a zig-zag course. Suddenly, at 11.54 p.m., a torpedo struck the ship on the starboard side, abreast the bulkhead that separated' the after boiler-room and the engine-room. It was a singularly unlucky hit, for it fractured a main steam-pipe, flooded the engine-room, and put the ship's electrical system out of commission, all in a few brief minutes. Soon after she was struck the Empress took a list of about 15 degrees, and although this did not increase appreciably, the speed with which she was settling in the water made it clear that she was doomed. As soon as way was off her, Captain Goold therefore gave the " abandon ship " order, and all hands turned to the task of getting the life-boats, rafts, and floats overboard. The moon having set, the darkness was intense, 62 W. Kaye Lamb. January and the lack of electric power to work the winches hampered the crew greatly. It seems probable, however, that relatively few lives were lost while the ship was being abandoned, although those in one boat suffered heavily when a second torpedo struck the liner under the bridge about 12.50 a.m. After this second blow she sank very rapidly, listing farther and farther,to starboard. By about 1.05 a.m. the boat deck on the starboard side was level with the water, and Captain Goold left his ship by stepping off into the sea. When he was about a hundred feet away, her stern sank from sight, and her whole forward section, from the bridge to the stem, reared slowly up into the air. Then, causing much less suction than the survivors feared, the bow sank from view, disappearing finally about 1.10 a.m.79 An engineer's love for machinery in his charge shows clearly in the report of Chief Engineer Cowper. The first time he attempted to reach the engine-room, he was driven back by steam from the burst steam-pipe; later, when he tried again, it was only to discover that water, which had by then engulfed the steam-line, was already covering the turbine casings. In the after stokehold he found the boilers submerged in a mixture of oil and water. No. 2 boiler-room, however, " was perfectly dry & bulkhead holding quite tight." By the time he returned on deck, practically everyone seemed to have left the ship, but he nevertheless " went down for a last look around." A very few moments later the second torpedo struck, and even Mr. Cowper then felt that the time had come to leave.80 Second Engineer James Thomson, who was on watch when the ship was struck, had a most remarkable escape. Badly scalded and temporarily blinded, he does not know to this day who helped him on deck and found him a place in a life-boat. Soon after the Empress sank, the Italian submarine that had launched the torpedoes rose to the surface and approached the ship's boats. Her commander asked for and presently found and took on board a doctor, one of the prisoners of war the vessel was carrying. It is said that he also searched for a (79) Details from Captain Goold's Aikman, dated May 5, 1943, and from the ci submitted by Chief Engineer Cowper. (80) All details from Mr. Cowper's report. I -£&&'' A glimpse of the Empress of Russia after the fire had burn Her foremast and funnels were hastily removed because it was feared th she would capsize. Both photographs of the Empress at Barrow-in-Furne were secured through the kindness of Captain L. D. Douglas and Capta George Goold. • 1948 Empress Odyssey. 63 Greek submarine commander who had been causing havoc amongst Italian shipping, but no one betrayed his identity.81 The Empress went down scarcely more than a degree from the Equator, and the water was therefore mercifully warm. This was just as well, for many of the survivors were to spend! long hours in it. Chief Engineer Cowper, for example, " was in the water hanging onto a float from the Sunday morning 1.00 a.m. until . . . Tuesday afternoon about 5 p.m. It was," as he remarks in his report, which throughout is a triumph of understatement, " a long time with nothing to drink."82 Captain Goold was somewhat more fortunate. He found a water-logged boat, contrived with others to clear it of water, and then picked up ninety-six persons from rafts and wreckage. Two motor life-boats helped greatly in the task of rounding up survivors and keeping the boats and rafts reasonably close together. Barracuda and sharks attacked many of those in the water. Dr. Miller, the ship's own surgeon, and Surgeon Lieut. Jacklin, R.N.V.R., did all they could to assist the injured. Lieut. Jacklin was last seen going from raft to raft to assist the injured; unfortunately he did not himself survive the ordeal.83 The Empress had called for help before she sank, but rescue ships were some time in appearing. Just before sunset on the 14th a Catalina flying-boat came over and signalled that help was on the way, and the following evening (Monday) the destroyer Boreas and two corvettes reached the scene. A fourth ship followed, and the search for survivors continued all the next day. When the roll was finally called at Freetown, it revealed that 392 lives had been lost; forty-four of the victims were members of the crew.84 (81) See the interview with Third Officer M. D. Atkins published in the Victoria Times, February 19, 1944. News of the loss of the Empress was not released officially until February 18, 1944. (82) Report to the company, as cited above. (83) Report of Captain Goold, May 5, 1943; also report from Captain Stuart to Captain Aikman, April 22, 1943. (84) A complete tabulation of those on board and those missing was appended to Captain Stuart's report to Captain Aikman, April 22, 1943. Captain Goold's report describes the work of rescue in some detail. The corvettes that arrived on the scene were the Crocus and the Petunia; H.M.S. Corinthian arrived later. Both Captain Goold and Chief Engineer Cowper were picked up by the Petunia, and both stress the kindness they received. 64 W. Kaye Lamb. January Only two of the Pacific Empresses were now left sailing the seas. One of them, the pride of the fleet, was fast and modern and had proven herself to be an ideal transport. The other, aging rapidly now, was finding the going more and more difficult. Few liners equalled the record for continuous and reliable service established by the Empress of Japan, which, after the Pearl Harbour attack, was renamed Empress of Scotland. The mileage she covered, year after year, was truly extraordinary. She arrived back in the United Kingdom from Singapore in the middle of March, 1942, and between the middle of April and the end of December she travelled from Glasgow to Durban, traversed once again the vast 11,000-mile circle represented by a return voyage via Capetown and Halifax, made a voyage to Suez and back by way of the Cape, and ended by making still another voyage to Durban, and proceeding thence to New York. The whole of 1943 was spent in the trans-Atlantic service. On seven of her twelve voyages she carried American troops to Casablanca; the other five were from Halifax or New York to the United Kingdom. The year 1944 commenced with a voyage to Bombay, after which she returned to the Atlantic and made another six voyages from Halifax. The last months of the war found the Empress of Scotland once more ranging far and wide over the world's seaways. In the fall of 1944 she made a voyage to Capetown and return. Then followed two voyages that took her completely round the world. The route in each instance was from Liverpool to Australia by way of Panama, and thence back to Liverpool by way of Suez and the Mediterranean. Between them the two voyages totalled no less than 58,448 miles. But this was only a small fraction of the distance covered by the fast-moving Empress. In the course of her war service— which concluded with a voyage to Bombay and back in the summer of 1945—she sailed no less than 484,914 miles, and transported a total of 210,068 service personnel. So far peace has brought no respite to the Scotland, for she is still under the control of the transport authorities; the " ideal on board. Sharks seem to have been responsible for many of the casualties. Mr. Cowper writes: "The sea was pretty well infested with sharks and barracuda. A large number lost their lives from shark bites, and it was so bad that they had to use rifles to shoot at them as we were being taken on ioard H.M. ships." Odyssey. 65 transport" lives up to her name so well that they are loath to return her to her owners. She has been employed mostly on the Liverpool-India-Far East route, but has twice touched Canadian shores. In September, 1945, she brought 4,100 Canadians to Quebec, and in November she made a crossing to Halifax.85 We must turn, in conclusion, to the story of the last years of the Empress of Russia.™ When she returned from India in 1943 she was taken out of service for several months and overhauled. She was by this time the only large coal-burning transport left in service, and was beset with the dual problem of securing good coal and firemen who could keep steam up in her boilers. When she was commissioned once more in July, she made a voyage to Oran and then crossed the Atlantic to New York. On the outward voyage things went moderately well, and the distance was' covered in eight days. But on September 5, when she sailed for the Clyde, she found it quite impossible to maintain convoy speed, and had to put back to port. On the 9th she put to sea once more—ignominiously, as an incongruous member of an 8- to 9-knot freighter convoy. The blow to her pride was eased somewhat by the fact that she was accompanied by a well-known trans-Atlantic liner which had fallen into similar disgrace. An interested spectator of all this was Captain Goold, who crossed as a passenger in the Empress, and took command when she got to Gourock. This was a decided step for the better, for someone who knew the ship well was back on the bridge, but not a single engineer who had served in her on the Pacific was left in the crew. The rest of the Empress of Russia's career was devoted to special assignments. The first of these was a voyage to Gothenburg, in connection with an exchange of prisoners that had been arranged between Great Britain and Germany. In preparation for this trip the ship was stripped of her armament, large Union Jacks were painted on her sides, and floodlights were arranged to illuminate them at night. Captain Stuart was so sure that the Germans would not respect the Empress's mission that he (85) Based on the tabulation of the movements of the Empress and the account of her in the Staff Bulletin, October, 1945, pp. 10, 11. (86) This account is based largely on the record of the ship's movements furnished by the company and discussions with Captain Goold. 66 W. Kaye Lamb. January protested the assignment. Captain Goold, on the other hand, accepted the voyage as just another war-time job. The Russia, loaded with German prisoners, sailed from Gourock at dusk on October 14, and was joined presently by the hospital ship Atlantis. Together the two vessels sailed around Scotland and across the North Sea to the approaches to the Skager Rak, where, on the morning of the 18th, a German minesweeper met them and guided them through the first minefields. At noon another sweeper took over and the ships continued on until evening, when they were asked to anchor for the night. At daylight they proceeded once more, and presently entered Swedish waters, where a Swedish naval officer boarded the Empress to help navigate her into Gothenburg, where she arrived in the afternoon. There she was host to many visitors, including the Crown Prince of Sweden and the British Minister, but what those on board will never forget is the welcome she received from the British prisoners of war she was to carry back to Great Britain. The Swedish liner Drottningholm was to assist in transporting the British prisoners, and on the morning of October 21 the Drottningholm, Atlantis, and Empress of Russia set sail. Having been escorted through the minefields as before, the Empress and the Drottningholm anchored off Leith on October 25, where their passengers were ferried ashore. The Atlantis, with her bedridden patients, sailed on to Liverpool.87 The Empress of Russia was assigned next to the Iceland service, and between November, 1943, and April, 1944, she made six voyages to Hvalf jordur, and a seventh to the Faroe Islands. She was in effect a Royal Air Force ship, and her passengers were mostly R.A.F. details. By this time Captain Goold had come to consider a speed of 15 knots a good performance, which meant that the engines were developing only about half their nor- (87) Sources indicated in note 86, supra; also report, Captain Stuart to Captain Aikman, November 25, 1943. An account of the trip by John Watson, a crew member, was printed in the Vancouver Province, November 26, 1943; and a feature story entitled " Unarmed, in Enemy Waters— October, 1943," by H. R. Kendrick, was published in the magazine supplement of the Province, October 11, 1947. Some of the dates given in the latter are incorrect, although the author was evidently in the Empress when she made the voyage to Gothenburg. 1948 Empress Odyssey. 67 mal service power. This made things awkward, for the Empress frequently travelled light, and when heavy weather was encountered she was most difficult to handle. Once Captain Goold found himself virtually helpless, drifting in a savage gale off a lee shore, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he worked the ship clear. Yet, in spite of everything, the old liner continued to be a comfortable sea-boat. Service people always liked her, once they got to sea in her. After her last trip to Iceland the Empress was sent to an anchorage in the Gareloch, which joins the Clyde estuary opposite Greenock. She was kept coaled and ready for duty at short notice, and a call was not long in coming. The battleship Royal Sovereign and a number of other warships were being transferred to Russia, and in May the Empress was sent around to Rosyth naval base, in the Firth of Forth, to act as an accommodation ship for the Russian sailors who were arriving to man them. This required one small structural alteration—the wooden tops of her steel masts had to be removed to enable her to pass under the Forth Bridge. The Russia lay at Rosyth from early May until the first of June. Then, after another short period of inactivity in the Clyde, she was brought to Lee-on-Solent, a few miles from Portsmouth, early in July. There she took the place of her old friend the Canadian-Australasian liner Aorangi, which had been acting as a depot ship. The Empress served first as a tug control ship for the great Normandy invasion, which was then in progress, and thereafter as a depot ship and advanced repair base for the destroyer flotillas. Her interior was, of course, much altered to fit her for these new duties, upon which she was employed until the first, week of October. Out of a job once more, the Empress was first dry-docked at Southampton and then taken back to the familiar anchorage in the Gareloch. There she lay in idleness for seven months, and it seemed as if her career might have come to a close. But one more adventure awaited her. When the war in Europe ended, thousands of dependents of Canadian servicemen clamoured for transportation to Canada, and early in June, 1945, the Empress of Russia was sent to the vast Vickers-Armstrong ship-building 68 W. Kaye Lamb. January yard at Barrow-in-Furness, there to be overhauled and refitted to carry soldiers' wives and children across the Atlantic. By September the work was nearing completion. The old liner's turbines, in service thirty-two years, were found to be in passably good condition. Her boilers were her weak spot, but these were under repair. The rebuilt passenger accommodation required only the finishing touches. In another three weeks the Empress would have been ready for sea. But a refit is always a particularly hazardous time in the life of a big steamer, and this was no exception. About 2.30 on the morning of September 8, fire broke out on board. Quickly out of control, it swept through the centre part of the ship, consuming it completely, and before it was extinguished it was creeping down the staircases to deck " B," where the old first-class dining saloon had been cut up into a series of family rooms. By the end of the day the liner, in Captain Stuart's phrase, presented " a scene of complete destruction," and to make matters worse two lives had been lost—those of an electrician and an engineer. Nor did anxiety end when the flames were brought under control. So much water had been pumped into the Empress at upper deck levels that she was in danger of capsizing. As she was lying under the big crane at the Vickers-Armstrong fitting-out berth, this would have been a very inconvenient mishap indeed, and to reduce her top hamper, her funnels and foremast were hastily removed, reducing her to the sorry plight illustrated in one of the accompanying photographs.88 As repairs would have cost over £500,000, or much more than the veteran Empress was worth, she was declared a structural total loss and sold to the ship-breakers.89 Her last brief journey was from the Ramsden Dock, where the fire occurred, to the Channel Wall, where she was to be demolished. So ends, for the moment, the odyssey of the Empress Line to the Orient. In due course the Empress of Scotland will be reconditioned and take her proud place once more on the sailing (88) Captain Stuart to Captain Aikman, September 10, 1945. (89) In December, 1945, she was handed over to the British Iron & Steel Corporation (Salvage), Limited, for scrapping. The Liverpool Journal of Commerce, June 19, 1946, announced that she would be broken up by Messrs. T. W. Ward & Sons, Ltd. 1948 Empress Odyssey. list. But new companions for her must come from the shipyards before the service can be fully re-established. When thinking of them, one recalls Captain Douglas's comment when he received the news of the burning of the Empress of Russia: " She was a good servant of the company and will be remembered in this port (Vancouver) as a frequent and welcome visitor. It is our sincere wish that her successor on the Pacific service, whoever it is, may establish as good a record as this fine ship did."90 W. Kaye Lamb. (90) Captain L. D. Douglas to Captain R. W. McMurray, October 24, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Many persons assisted me in the work of gathering material for a history of the later Empresses. A special word of thanks is due Captain R. W. McMurray, general manager, Canadian Pacific Steamships, Limited, for his kindness in authorizing various members of his staff to make available some of the records in their keeping. In Montreal Mr. S. V. King and his assistant, Mr. H. B. Cummins, took infinite trouble to trace the wartime movements of the Empresses, and to furnish certain details of their construction, trials, etc. In Vancouver Captain L. D. Douglas, general superintendent until 1946, and his successor, Captain L. C. Barry, placed old log-books, voyage reports, etc., as well as their own well-stored memories, freely at my disposal. Captain George Goold, Chief Officer Donald Smith, Captain R. J. Hickey, marine superintendent, Vancouver, all contributed reminiscences and checked various points for me. Mr. H. G. Donald, superintendent engineer in Vancouver, discussed technical points with me in the course of several fascinating conversations, and his predecessor, Mr. R. R. Liddell, helped solve a number of small mysteries. From Singapore Captain J. D. Whyte, of the Pilot Association, kindly contributed a graphic account of the loss of the Empress of Asia, while in Vancouver Mr. W. D. McLaren discussed the negotiations that brought the Empress of Asia and 70 W. Kaye Lamb. January Empress of Russia into being, and accounted for the various features of their design. Finally, I must once more acknowledge the kindness of Captain Samuel Robinson, Captain A. J. Hailey, and Captain A. W. Davison, who some years ago talked with me about Empresses, old and new, and I remember especially the friendliness with which the late Captain Edmund F. Aikman, then general superintendent in Vancouver, received my inquiries when I first seriously set about gathering data for the earlier chapter of Empress history published in 1940. I hasten to add that no one but myself should be held in the least degree Tesponsible for the contents of this article, and in particular for the errors of fact and opinion that may well have crept in, despite my best efforts to keep them out. The history of ships and shipping hereabouts has long been a hobby of mine, and it seemed to me that the story of the Empresses was particularly worth telling. I am grateful to the many people whose help has made the narrative more accurate and complete, and to the editor of this Quarterly for his kindness in printing an article of this length. W. K. L. 1. Specifications of the Later " Empresses." The principal dimensions of the Empresses are given in the accompanying table. For purposes of comparison it may be interesting to recall the over-all length of the three original Empress liners, which entered vice in 1891, was 485 feet, their length between perpendiculars 456.6 feet, gross tonnage 5,940, and displacement 11,760 tons. Their triple-expansion reciprocating engines were rated at 10,000 horse-power, but in actual service, with the vessels operating at 14 to 15 knots, they developed about hah this total. Empress 72 W. Kaye Lamb. January 2. Service Performance of the " Empresses." Few liners have served their owners as well as the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia. They met with remarkably few serious mishaps, and, so far as the writer is aware, the only occasion upon which either of the sisters failed to make a peace-time sailing was in 1930, when a fractured turbine spider compelled the Empress of Russia to skip a voyage. It is true that, on paper, their schedule appeared to be a leisurely one compared with that of many Atlantic liners. A round trip to the Orient usually lasted fifty-six days, which would include a week or ten days spent in Vancouver. Actual steaming time was usually about thirty-two days out of the fifty-six. But these figures are deceptive. A Pacific Empress made as many as fifteen calls on a voyage, and once she left Vancouver she had only fits and snatches of time in port until she was back again. The voyage from Vancouver to Manila totalled 6,946 miles (or 8,458 if the route was via Honolulu), whereas an Atlantic Empress only covered 2,759 miles in a voyage from Quebec to Southampton. The Russia and Asia travelled about 83,500 miles in an average year; during their last years in service this was increased to about 86,500 miles by the two calls they usually made each season at Honolulu. The larger Empresses, sailing regularly via the Hawaiian Islands, would pass the 100,000-mile mark in a year. Like most ships, the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia developed tricks that became well known to the men who ran them. For one thing, they could splash water onto the officers on the bridge with an artfulness reminiscent of the famous old Mauretania. This was probably because they were, if anything, a little too fine-lined forward; their sharp bows would cut deeply into a big wave, then the water would rise suddenly with a mighty surge under the flare of the forecastle and throw the bow into the air— with uncomfortable consequences for all on board. Most of the men who sailed in them also feel that they were a few feet too narrow. At the time they were built, the Fairfield designers seem to have favoured a relatively narrow ship, for the Fairfield-built Calgarian was 2 feet narrower than her sister ship, the Alsatian (later the Empress of France), which hailed from the Beardmore yard, and the feeling seems to be that the Alsatian was the better ship of the two. This is not to imply that the Empress of Russia and Empress of Asia were not successful and popular ships, for they were unusually comfortable from the passenger's point of view. The point is that later experience has shown that an increase in beam that would at one time have been considered quite disproportionate can be all to the good, and if the Empresses had been 3 or 4 feet wider, they would probably have been more comfortable still. It is a pity, too, that they were never converted to burn oil fuel. The change was considered seriously on a number of occasions, but the estimated cost was deemed to be excessive. The disruption of sailing schedules the refit would have occasioned was doubtless another factor that weighed heavily in the decision. As the turbines in the Russia and Asia were coupled directly to the propellor shafts, the propellors revolved at relatively high speed. The propellors themselves were therefore small in diameter—no more than 9 Empress Odyssey. 73 feet—and, as there had to be four of them, the wing propellors were well out to the line of the ship's side. The result was that when the Empresses rolled heavily, a wing propellor would come to the surface, and, as a consequence, lose its propulsive efficiency for a moment or two. This gave rise to another " trick "—a tendency to swing off course suddenly in a heavy sea, when the wing propellor ceased to function properly. Some further data regarding the trials of the Russia and Asia may be of interest. On the measured mile the results of the progressive trials of the Empress of Russia were as follows:— :ement of 19,500 tons. The E- :rial, possibly because she wa :ing 18,650 tons. Her fastest speed of 18 knots at 18,500 S.H.P., it will be ements were comfortably exceeded. On her la averaged 305 R.P.M., and it was calculated speed of 20.14 knots. Her mean draught on feet 8 inches, which corresponded with a dis- s Empress of Asia proved to be a little faster ing only 25 feet 8 inches and dis- jh-speed propellors necessitated b rrify an engineer nowada y direct-coupled turbines isting to compare these figures with the results secured in It so happens that complete statistics are available covert's last passages from Yokohama to Race Rocks, and these to place the final service performance of the 26-year-old ide her trial runs. 74 W. Kaye Lamb. January In his report the chief engineer explained that poor coal was responsible for the high fuel consumption on the final voyage, but the fact of the matter was that the Empress was burning much less fuel than when she was brand new. In 1917, for example, the Empress of Asia burned an average of 311.2 tons of coal per day to average 18.46 knots, or precisely the same speed that the Russia maintained in 1940 on a consumption of only 263.9 tons. For years the Empresses burned well over 10,000 tons of coal per round voyage as a matter of course, but in the thirties this was lowered substantially. Consumption on six voyages of the Empress of Russia in 1939 totalled only 53,194 tons (an average of 8,866 tons), as compared with 62,807 tons (an average of 10,468 tons) for six voyages in 1925. It will be noted that the two older Empresses were operated at a mean displacement of about 20,000 tons on an average voyage. Their regular coaling ports were Vancouver and Nagasaki. The Empress of Canada usually displaced about 25,500 tons in ordinary service. The oil-burning ships took on fuel in Vancouver, Honolulu, and Yokohama. So many rumours got afloat about the builders' trials of the Empress of Canada in 1921 that the following notes on her official trials on the measured mile, which took place on April 30 and May 1, 1922, will be of interest. All figures are from the Canadian Pacific's own records:— 19.51 20,770 20.10 21,670 10.35 These trials were run at a draught of 27 feet, and a displacement of 24,650 tons. According to Engineering the Canada made another run at 20.3 knots and developed 24,000 S.H.P. at 111 R.P.M. The Empress of Canada handled particularly well, and in spite of her greater length the Empress captains found her easier to dock and manoeuvre than the smaller Asia and Russia. She was a good sea boat, though the opinion seems to be general that she was not quite as comfortable from the passenger's point of view as the older liners. Her one bad habit was taking water forward, and bulwarks and deck fittings were apt to take a beating unless she was watched carefully in bad weather. The Canada's ■ troubles were mostly mechanical, and in later years she was plagued with small boiler cracks, leaking pipes, and so on. Few of these were of much consequence in themselves, but they were a worry and nuisance to her engineers. Her new turbines proved very satisfactory, although the first pinions in the single-reduction gearing gave trouble and had to be replaced in 1930. Her performance in actual service may be judged from the records of her last four passages from Victoria to Honolulu in 1939. The figures follow:— Empress Odyssey. With her original engines the fuel consumption of the Canada had been about 1.13 pounds of oil per horse-power per hour, and the great saving in fuel the re-engining brought about will be apparent, especially when it is remembered that the fuel bill of an Empress in a year is measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars. The engines and boilers of the Empress of Japan (now the Empress of Scotland) were designed by John Johnson, and represent standards of performance towards which he had been working for some years. The first task Johnson undertook after he became chief superintendent engineer of the Canadian Pacific fleet was the development of better condenser tubes. He experimented with various alloys, and eventually found one that virtually eliminated the likelihood of tube failure, unless caused by manufacturing defects. With this preliminary problem solved, he turned, his attention to superheated steam and the use of water-tube boilers, for he was convinced that the way to greater economy lay in the direction of higher steam- pressures and steam-temperatures. The first passenger liners in which his ideas were applied fully were the Duchess class steamers, completed in 1928 and later years for the trans-Atlantic service. In succeeding vessels Johnson increased both the steam-pressure and the size of individual boilers, and he also raised the temperature to Which steam was superheated. In the Empress of Japan only six boilers were installed to generate steam for turbines of 30,000 horse-power, and steam was superheated to 750 degrees. The small number of boilers made possible a very simple and efficient steam-pipe layout. In the Empress of Canada the twelve old-style boilers were linked up by an intricate maze of piping that weighed 9 tons, whereas the six larger water-tube boilers in the Japan were linked up by a simple, straightforward system that weighed only 6 tons. The over-all economy that Johnson achieved was remarkable. On her trial voyage from Quebec to Southampton in 1930 the Empress of Japan averaged 21.09 knots on a fuel consumption of only 0.603 pound of oil per horse-power per hour, or less than half the fuel consumed by the smaller Empress of Canada when propelled by her original engines. The following figures relating to the Japan's record runs between Yokohama and Honolulu are interesting:— W. Kaye Lamb. It may be added that Mr. Johnson has carried his principles still farther in recent ships, and the new Beaver-class freighters, completed in 1946-47, have a single boiler which generates sufficient steam at 850 pounds pi superheated to 850 degrees, to drive turbines developing 9,000 horse-p( 3. Design Australia." ginally the Tirpitz, was one of three In o South intained jointly with the Hamburg-South voyage was originally scheduled for October 29, 1914. Her sister ships received the unattractive names of William O'Swald and Johan Heinrich Burchard. Of the three, only the Tirpitz was id with the new-fangled Fottinger transformers. After the Great War the O'Swald and Burchard ran to South America briefly for the Royal Holland Lloyd under the names Brabantia and Limburgia, but they were soon transferred to the American flag and the trans-Atlantic Resolute and Reliance. After another year or two they were purchased by their original owners, the Hamburg-Amerika Line, which employed them for a dozen years on the Atlantic and as cruising steamers. In 1937 the Resolute was sold to the Italians and became the Lombardia. Both ships met a fiery end—the Reliance at Hamburg in September, 1939, just as the Second World War was starting, and the Lombardia at Naples in September, 1943. The Empress of Australia served as a transport throughout the war, and is still operating under the control of the British Ministry of Transport. Like the Empress of Canada, she was reported sunk several times by the j, but happily the claims were unfounded. The Canadian Pacific need in 1947 that they did not propose to recondition tl nably she will be disposed of as soon as she completes her work impanying photograph of the Australia is one of the n flattering ever taken, for she is anything but graceful in appearance. Her d bulky, deck being piled on deck in true German style. The tops of her funnels are no less than 140 feet 1 inch above her keel, whereas the corresponding height of the Empress of Canada was only 119 feet and that of the Empress of Russia 114 fe 1948 Empress Odyssey. 77 was launched on June 15, 1912, and completed the following month. Her dimensions were 401 by 52.1 by 27.3 feet, and her gross tonnage 4,874 tons. Her dead-weight carrying capacity was 8,120 tons, and her loaded displacement 11,165 tons. Her maximum speed .was 10.3 knots, and her average speed 9.5 knots. Her name had been changed to Franktor before the Canadian Pacific purchased her in 1916, and they in turn renamed her Mattawa. When the company decided to give all its freighters names commencing with the letter " B," she became the Berwyn. She was sold to the Kintyre Steamship Company on January 17, 1928. The Methven had had a varied and interesting career before she was acquired by the Canadian Pacific in 1917. Built in 1905 as the Heliopolis, her first owners were Harris & Dixon. Her dimensions were 390 by 52.7 by 27.1 feet, and her gross tonnage 4,852 tons. Her dead-weight carrying capacity was 7,895 tons, and her loaded displacement 12,050 tons. Her maximum speed was 10.9 knots, and her average speed 10 knots. Her builders were D. & W. Henderson & Co., Ltd., of Glasgow. Shortly before the first Great War she was purchased by the British Admiralty and fitted out as the auxiliary hospital ship Mediator. Not long after this the famous old hospital ship Maine was wrecked, and the Admiralty thereupon changed the name of the Mediator to Maine, and used her as a replacement. She seems to have continued in service as a hospital ship until sold to the Canadian Pacific in 1917. Methven was her next name, and she sailed under it until renamed Borden in 1923. She was sold on October 26, 1926, and was broken up soon after by Dutch scrappers. 5. Trans-Pacific Record Passages, 1913 to 1938. For purposes of comparison it may be noted that the fastest passage made by"any of the old Empresses was the voyage of the Empress of Japan from Victoria to Yokohama that commenced on June 26, 1897. Her average speed was 17.144 knots, and her steaming time 10 days 3 hours and 39 minutes. It will be noted that this was a west-bound passage, whereas the fastest trans-Pacific voyages have almost invariably been made east-bound, from Yokohama to Race Rocks. The old Empress of Japan's best time east-bound was 10 days 10 hours. More recent records are as follows :— June, 1913—Empress of Russia (maiden voyage), Yokohama to Race Rocks, 9 days 5 hours 29 minutes; average speed slightly under 19 knots; Captain Edward Beetham and Chief Engineer James Adamson. May, 1914—Empress of Asia, Yokohama to Race Rocks, 9 days 2 hours 44 minutes; average speed 19.19 knots; fastest day 20.4 knots; Captain Samuel Robinson and Chief Engineer W. J. P. Davies. May, 1914—Empress of Russia, _ Yokohama to Race Rocks, 8 days 18 hours 31 minutes; average speed 19.86 knots; Captain A. W. Davison and Chief Engineer James Adamson. 78 W. Kaye Lamb. June, 1923—Empress of Canada, Yokohama to Race Rocks, 8 days 10 hours 53 minutes; average speed 20.6 knots; fastest day 21.2 knots; Captain A. J. Hailey and Chief Engineer James Lamb. July, 1924—Empress of Asia, Yokohama to Race Rocks, 8 days 14 hours 48 minutes; average speed 20.2 knots; fastest day 20.63 knots; Captain L. D. Douglas and Chief Engineer R. H. Shaw. (This was not a record run, but it was the fastest voyage ever made by either the Empress of Asia or the Empress of Russia.) August, 1930—Empress of Japan (maiden voyage), Yokohama to Race Rocks, 8 days 6 hours 27 minutes; average speed 21.04 knots; Captain Samuel Robinson and Chief Engineer James Lamb. February, 1931—Empress of Japan, Yokohama to Race Rocks, 8 days 3 hours 18 minutes; average speed 21.47 knots; Captain Samuel Robinson and Chief Engineer James Lamb. April, 1931—Empress of Japan, Yokohama to Race Rocks, 7 days 20 hours 16 minutes; average speed 22.27 knots; Captain Samuel Robinson and Chief Engineer James Lamb. (The fastest passage yet made on this route.) May, 1931—Empress of Canada, Yokohama to Honolulu, 6 days 11 hours 31 minutes; average speed 21.78 knots (a record run between these ports, and the highest average speed ever maintained by the Canada); Honolulu to Race Rocks, 4 days 12 hours 21 minutes; average speed 21.47 knots; Captain A. J. Hailey and Chief Engineer W. H. Froude. August, 1931—Empress of Canada, Yokohama to Race Rocks, 8 days 2 hours 34 minutes; average speed 21.57 knots; Captain L. D. Douglas and Chief Engineer J. B. Deans. (Fastest passage made by the Canada on this route.) May, 1935—Empress of Japan, Yokohama to Honolulu, 6 days 8 hours 39 minutes, average speed 22.16 knots; Honolulu to Race Rocks, average speed 22.37 knots (the latter being the highest average the Japan has yet attained); Captain L. D. Douglas and Chief Engineer R. H. Shaw. April, 1938—Empress of Japan, Yokohama to Honolulu, 6 days 8 hours 33 minutes; average speed 22.17 knots; Captain L. D. Douglas and Chief Engineer R. H. Shaw. The date given in each case is the arrival date at Vancouver. JOHN FOSTER McCREIGHT.* Fifty years ago John Poster McCreight retired from the Supreme Court Bench, ending a long career of service in the Province of British Columbia. Since that time his memory has slipped into obscurity and his actions have found little recognition. Even his name is unfamiliar to many students of British Columbia history. Yet this man held two of the most important positions in the Province—that of Premier and Supreme Court Judge. He came to Vancouver Island and practised as one of the first lawyers; he left thirty-seven years later when the legal systems were well established and members of the Bar were numerous. He acted as Premier during the doubtful days following the entry of British Columbia into Confederation. He finished his work in the Province when responsible government had been firmly established and-already eight Premiers had headed the Government. His work covered a period of great importance—the formative, growing years, when the Province was emerging from the status of two disunited colonies to that of a well-established unit linked to Canada by law and by rail. Not only did McCreight work in British Columbia during an important era, but he also associated himself with a great many different aspects of the life of the time. His political career, as Attorney-General, as Premier, and as a private member of the Legislative Assembly, meant that for a time he had a great influence in the Government.1 His legal activities as a barrister-at- law and later Queen's Counsel brought him into touch with many incidents and personalities in the life of the growing Province. His judicial tasks performed in the County and Supreme Courts * This is the first in a series of four articles dealing with aspects of the career of John Foster McCreight. (1) No attempt is made in this series of articles to deal with the political career of McCreight, as this subject has been adequately dealt with in W. N. Sage, "John Foster McCreight, the First Premier of British Columbia," Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, XXXIV (1940), Section II, pp. 173-185. Brttuk Columbia Historical Quarterly. Vol. XII, No. 1. 80 Patricia M. Johnson. January gave him an authoritative position in the affairs of men. His church connections, first with the Anglican and then with the Roman Catholic faith, brought him into touch with yet another group of people. His Masonic activities took him far afield in that particular sphere of activity. Above all, his learning, his legal erudition, his supreme regard for the law and its interpretation gave him an unchallenged position as an exponent of jurisprudence and as an acknowledged master of its practice and procedure. During his thirty-seven years in Western Canada McCreight was not only a part of many different activities, but he was also an inhabitant of a variety of places. He came first to the little city of Victoria, the English outpost of the " Honourable Company," designed to be the capital of the new, somewhat turbulent colony. He probably fitted fairly well into its activities, and from his residence at James Bay could view with interest and approval the attempts to create an ordered society based on law, the Anglican Church, and the observance of tradition. Yet, as the times changed, even Victoria began to take on a veneer of Canadianism, and McCreight moved to the Cariboo. Here, amid the remains of the gold-rush, in the little town of Richfield, he must have felt the strong sense of adventure, of recklessness, and of individual struggle that had brought people to that area. He was close to a life different from that of Victoria. He was more truly near to the heart of his adopted country, no longer in an English colony, but absorbed into the real life of the West. Prom Cariboo to New Westminster came the next move. Here again was a different situation. A city more truly Canadian had grown up. It boasted the name of "Royal City" from its British association, but it was first and foremost "the mainland," and then an integral part of Canada. The people of the Fraser Valley quickly evolved a way of life of their own, and New Westminster, with its eyes on the sea and its finger on the pulse of the " upper country," provided yet another phase of British Columbia's life. Of this again McCreight must have been a part, and his influence must have been felt in the city which in turn claimed him. The Court-house at New Westminster, housing his library, his picture, and a hundred associations of him, is still a monument and a reminder of Judge McCreight. 1948 John Foster McCreight. Thus John Foster McCreight associated himself with many phases of public life in varied parts of the Province during a critical period of British Columbia's development. Yet his name is not well remembered, except by those closely associated with him in the law. An obvious explanation is the scarcity of records. Beyond official speeches and papers there is little to be found relating to his life and character. The Provincial Archives of British Columbia contain his case-books concerning judicial affairs, but they are strictly legal. There is also his official correspondence as Attorney-General, but these letters give no glimpse of the author's personality. There are also the annotations in the law books of his former law library, but again these bear mainly on the legal principles involved. Six of his letters to Mr. Justice (later Sir Henry P. P.) Crease have recently come to light, and to date they are the only personal letters that are available. The reserve of McCreight's nature is possibly the clue to his unfamiliarity. Even his contemporaries seem to have felt that they never really got to know him. Some regarded him as almost unfriendly, secluded, unapproachable. Others, recognizing his great absorption in his legal studies and his preoccupation with such things, spoke of his "quiet but cheerful manner among friends."2 It seems evident that he was possessed of a retiring disposition and that this could develop into and be interpreted as an austere aloofness. Such a nature does not endear a man to his fellows; he is respected but not loved. McCreight lacked popular appeal in an age of outstanding personalities. Neither his nature nor his actions had anything of the attractive splendour of an Amor de Cosmos or a Matthew Baillie Begbie. As a law-maker he was steadier and much more learned than the unruly De Cosmos, but he lacked the other's push and initiative. He was too reticent to forge ahead and so was overshadowed by the memory of the man who succeeded him as Premier. As a Judge, he gained little of the prominence of Begbie. He had not that superb actor's scope nor his tremendous driving power, nor had he the capacity for adapting himself to the situations of the • time and place as Begbie had. McCreight might be far more " learned in the law " than Begbie was, but that is not a way of winning public acclaim or lasting praise. (2) Mr. A. D. Crease, Victoria, B.C., in a letter to the author. 82 Patricia M. Johnson. January Only on one occasion did McCreight become something of a public hero, and that was upon the one occasion in which he was involved in somewhat extreme and drastic action. This was in the famous case of Cranford versus Wright, when the solicitors for the plaintiff, D. Babbington Ring and John Foster McCreight, protested against Judge Begbie's summary dismissal of the jury.8 By way of protest they had their names removed from the roll of lawyers practising on the Mainland and the famous words, " Dash your pen across my name," became a sort of symbol of resistance to the arbitrary methods of Begbie.4 The complimentary address tendered to the lawyers by the citizens of New Westminster on this occasion is a most heart-warming document. But this was not the usual behaviour of McCreight. His protest had been made on legal grounds. He felt that Begbie was tampering with the law, and to him the law was something more important than his own popularity. It was predictable; it was reliable; it was, in spite of its flexibilities and adaptabilities, rational and absolute. A man of this temperament could not hope to be a popular figure. He stood for integrity in a place and age where success was often judged more important. He stood for discipline in an era of self-expression, and. for principle rather than personality. He could never be a " man of his times " as other well- known leaders were. Yet his times needed him most desperately. His own age may not have understood him, the succeeding years may have forgotten him, but he had a very great gift to contribute. His legal knowledge was needed, his sense of values was necessary. Above all, his great integrity and his overwhelming exactness was something which must come to balance the easy expediency of the newly formed Province. McCreight himself must have thought that he had a place in the society of his time. Though not a vain man, he knew his worth. He laboured to bring a full knowledge and appreciation of the principles of government, of the law and of justice to the Province in which he had made his home. He was not a "great (3) For details of this famous case see Sydney Pettit, " The Tyrant Judge: Judge Begbie in Court," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, XI (1947), pp. 273-294. (4) New Westminster British Columbian, December 20,1862. 1948 John Foster McCreight. 83 man " in the accepted sense of the word, but he was undoubtedly a "necessary man." The Statute books and the Law Courts testify to that. The tribute of other lawyers and Judges bears it out. British Columbia cannot afford to forget John Foster McCreight. Part of her structure depends on the foundation that he laid. One cannot leave McCreight as a public figure only, even as a man who did a great work for his Province. Behind the curtain of misunderstanding, of obscure record and of apparent contradiction, one finds a man of most interesting character and undoubted charm. The record of his life is an absorbing one from a personal point of view. In some respects his character is a difficult one to analyse. There are some unexplained gaps in his life, some motivations which can only be guessed at. There are frequent breaks with the past: the physical breaks occurring when he left Ireland to go to Australia, when he left Australia to come to Vancouver Island, and when he left British Columbia to retire to England; and spiritual breaks, best typified by his secession from the Anglican Church and his strong adherence to the Roman Catholic faith. There are many contradictions, shown in his apparent lack of appeal to the people of his time, yet the rapid growth of a series of legends associated with his name. There is his impatience with the ignorance of some of his legal associates, and yet his painstaking, friendly help for those who really sought the truth. He was marked as a sober, unemotional man, yet he must have had a certain spirit of recklessness to make him leave his home in Ireland to journey first to the goldfields of Australia and then to the little known colony of Vancouver Island in 1860. Underlying all his actions is something almost undefinable but strangely fascinating. Was it loneliness, was it conviction, was it some inner philosophy that dictated his actions? Something must have moved him deeply to make him follow the course of action that he did. It has been suggested that McCreight was a man who had broken with his past—his past in Ireland, his past in Australia—and that something from that past stirred and haunted him. There is no real evidence for this. It seems nearer to the truth to suggest that McCreight was a man seeking for the absolute in truth, in religion, in life 84 Patricia M. Johnson. January itself. He came as close to finding it as he could in his legal studies and his religious convictions. As one follows the life of McCreight, that motive seems to stand out clearly as the key to his personality, his set of standards, to the man that made a real contribution to his times. In the New Westminster Court-house hangs a picture of John Foster McCreight in his judicial robes. It shows a quiet- faced aristocratic man, shrewd, but never harsh, reserved but very kindly. The white wig of a Judge cannot obscure the broad, scholarly forehead, and the white beard and moustache do not hide a firm, but calm, mouth. Bushy white eyebrows only accentuate a pair of most discerning, honest eyes. The portrait is that of a man of great character, of a man with " a. good face." Only the deeply etched lines around the mouth seem to indicate someone given to much thought, to painful mental struggles, and to stern inner resolution.6 He was apparently a tall man, " Fine looking and athletic and of a high, determined character," as the Colonist described him at the time of his retirement in November, 1897. Those who had known him recognized his outstanding qualities, and he was further described as "a learned, bold, conscientious successful lawyer and a thoroughly honest man."6 His great learning has always been the subject of comment. He was the " acknowledged local authority on matters of law,"7 and his phenomenal memory, as well as his great industry, placed him head and shoulders above the other lawyers of his day. Magistrate H. L. Edmonds, of New Westminster, remembered that McCreight could quote whole cases in Court, as he had a remarkable photographic memory. Mr. W. C. Moresby, who worked for Judge McCreight between 1892 and 1897, stated: " there was no question that Mr. Justice McCreight had a profound knowledge of the law and was recognized as one of the ablest jurists that we had in Canada."8 His great industry (5) A photograph of this portrait was reproduced in this Quarterly, VIII (1944), facing p. 189. (6) Victoria Colonist, November 19, 1897. (7) Ibid. (8) W. C. Moresby, K.C., in a letter to the author dated October 22, 1946. 1948 John Foster McCreight. 85 is well illustrated by an anecdote contributed by Mr. A. D. Crease:— As an illustration of his industry I may refer to an occasion of a trial before Sir Matthew Begbie I believe, when he was counsel for the defendant, and George Hunter Cary, credited with some brilliance but less.industry, had to reply to an argument by McCreight fortified by every case available. Cary said, " My learned friend has adduced to your Lordship every known authority bearing on this case, whether in favour of his case or mine, so I will now devote myself to the f acts."" His great industry was not confined to his own efforts, for he believed that all those connected with the law must work for what they got. The late Mr. Justice Denis Murphy told an interesting story of McCreight's rules for the successful preparation of a brief:— Judge McCreight once instructed a young lawyer how preparation for a chamber application should be made. I had the story from the victim himself, who at the time of his telling was probably the most widely known and most popular person in British Columbia. He had made an application in Probate to Judge McCreight. The matter was somewhat involved and my friend admitted he had floundered rather badly. The judge, an old-time friend of the applicant's family, finally adjourned the hearing and requested him to come to his room after Chambers. On his doing so, the learned judge addressed him thus: " Tom " (I call him so because that was not his name) " I have known you since you were a lad. You want to be a lawyer. Well, here's how you do it. Take this book home with you this evening," and he handed him a copy of the then standard work on probate practice. The judge went on: "About an hour after your dinner ask your mother to make you a large pot of strong coffee and to leave it on the kitchen stove over a good fire. Then go to your room taking this book with you. Dampen a towel in cold water and wrap it around your head. Then sit down and read the book through carefully, starting at the opening page. To do so will take you most of the night. When you get sleepy go to the kitchen and drink one or more cups of coffee. Keep a good fire on so that the coffee will always be hot. If your head gets warm remove the towel, dampen it again in cold water—the colder the better—then replace it around your head. Repeat these performances as often as necessary to keep you wide awake and your head perfectly cool. Then come back tomorrow morning and (9) A. D. Crease, K.C., in a letter to the author dated September, 1946. (10) Mr. Justice Denis Murphy, " Judges of Ye Olden Time," Vancouver Bar Association, The Advocate, IV (1946), p. 87. The suggestion has been made that the young lawyer mentioned in this anecdote was Richard McBride. 86 Patricia M. Johnson. January This passage reveals the kindness of a great lawyer wanting another to succeed in the work that he loved so well. It shows, too, an exact clear brain in the detail of the instruction. Its tone is rather patronising, but that was McCreight's nature. It gives an almost fussy, homely touch to a somewhat aloof figure—the man who knew how to keep the coffee hot and yet keep his head cool. There is the feeling that McCreight himself had spent many nights in such study. But to him the study was a joy as well as a task. As he grew older and withdrew more and more from his associates, he spent long hours poring over his law volumes. His collection of books was extensive and they all showed marks of constant use. As Judge Murphy explained :— Whosoever now owns Judge McCreight's library has little need to resort" to these modern aids to research, so far as cases decided up to the time of his retirement are concerned. The lucky owner will find noted in the judge's handwriting in the report of each case every comment or reference made to it subsequent to its decisional A study of these books is most illuminating. Each one contains the name " J. F. McCreight" and the date received on the first page. Each one contains numerous annotations, in ink or pencil, sometimes limited to a case reference, sometimes giving a brief comment, sometimes a lengthy comparison or explanation. A stressed paragraph is marked with a special sign. Most of the books had obviously been sent out direct from their London publishers, while a few had belonged to D. Babbington Ring, and one is marked as " Given by A. E. B. Davie." Sometimes newspaper clippings bearing on famous cases are glued into the front of the books. The comments are not easy to read, for, as Mr. Moresby has put it:— id, and it was difficult to decipher i doing so himself.12 A few of the books are somewhat ink-stained, possibly mute witnesses of the incident related by R. E. Gosnell of " a peppery young lawyer from the East" who was intolerant of McCreight's knowledge and somewhat impatient criticism, and in a fit of (11) Ibid., p. 86. Judge McCreight's library now forms part of the New Westminster Court-house library. (12) W. C. Moresby, K.C., in a letter to the author dated October 1948 John Foster McCreight. 87 temper hurled an open ink-bottle in the direction of the Judge, only to have it splash over the law books on the shelf behind.18 That a man of such superb knowledge should be at times impatient with the ineptitude of his juniors is only natural. McCreight might appear to be cold and reserved, but he had a certain hotness of temper—this was obvious in his clashes with Begbie. He did not suffer fools gladly, a point which the late Dr. Robie Reid illustrated from his own early experience in the New Westminster Courts:— It was difficult for us youngsters to practise law before him, he knew so much more than we did, and he had little patience with our ignorance. He would hardly give us time, in our fumbling way, to get our case properly before him. As soon as he saw a point to be decided, he would jump from his chair, reach for a volume of the Reports [English Law Reports], open it at a case, and slap it on the desk, saying, " You will find the law on that point in that case, Mr. ." We found it embarrassing at times.1* From such incidents the picture is made clearer. It is that of a man who was deeply immersed in his chosen profession and who considered it to be of paramount importance to the exclusion of other interests. His great love for his studies perhaps obscured the kindlier and more human qualities that he possessed. He is regarded as being aloof and unapproachable. " He was very austere; he would pass by on the street without a' good day,'" reported Mrs. Haynes, a resident of Victoria who came out as the wife of one of the Royal Engineers.16 Magistrate Edmonds explained that although he practised before McCreight, the Judge never spoke to him, or anyone else, on the street. Mr. Justice Murphy took the view that McCreight was not so much austere as lonely, while Mr. Crease mentioned " his quiet but cheerful manner among friends, but in Court, whether at the Bar or on the Bench, he displayed a certain amount of diffidence."16 emiers of British Columbia," Vancouver Daily It has been suggested that the young lawyer en G. A. Walkem. Bro. John Foster McCreight," Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge A.F. and A.M. of British Columbia, 70th. Annual Communication, Vancouver, 1941, p. 173. (15) This anecdote is related by Mr. G. H. Slater, Victoria, B.C. (16) A. D. Crease in a letter to the author dated September, 1946. ) R. E. Gosnell, ' e, February 22, 1! anecdote may hav (14) R. L. I 88 Patricia M. Johnson. January It seems from this that McCreight was a very reserved man. His outward attitude was that of calm superiority—withdrawn dignity. Inwardly he was a friendly, cheerful person, but far too absorbed in his own thoughts to take much notice of other people. He was possessed of a speculative type of mind, and the law gave it much scope. In later years the life of his mind was, to him, the most true one, so he presented a somewhat detached appearance that could be mistaken for snobbishness. Without a doubt he did feel more at home among people of his own type—those who were learned and slightly aristocratic. He was not a democrat in the modern sense of the word, and for that reason he did not fit into the life of his times. Authority was worth more to him than personality, exactness more than individual variation. It has often been said that McCreight never forgave Begbie for the insults heaped upon him in the Law Courts during the Chief Justice's early hectic days. Mr. Sydney Pettit recounts an anecdote received from the late A. E. Beck that does put this matter in a better light for both the men concerned:— As old men, McCreight and Begbie met on Birdcage Walk. One spoke to the other, so they stopped and made up a quarrel that had probably begun during the Cranford and Wright case." Commenting on this, Mr. Pettit made the point that :— Begbie had been fearless and honest as his old enemy McCreight admitted. McCreight indeed held him to be impartial. This was more than thirty years after the Cranford case and the honest Irishman had come to realize that what he had once considered partiality was more a defect of judgment than of character.18 Mention of Birdcage Walk brings to mind the home of John Foster McCreight. Although he lived for a short time in the Cariboo and for many years in New Westminster, he occupied for over twenty years a house on Michigan Street in Victoria, not far from Birdcage Walk, but quite a long trip across the James Bay bridge to the Law Courts. The matter of his residence leads on to the natural one of his immediate family. Did McCreight marry ? No marriage record can be found in Ireland, Australia, or British Columbia, and no one that knew McCreight remembers a wife or anything more than rumours regarding (17) Sydney G. Pettit in a letter to the author dated October 10, 1946. 1948 John Foster McCreight. 89 her. Yet a story persists that he had a wife separated from him and living in " the Old Country "—to quote the phrase used by Gosnell. Definite evidence that Mrs. McCreight lived in Victoria is provided from an account of a ball given by Governor Frederick Seymour at New Westminster in November, 1864. Many guests were present from Victoria, as a special steamer had been chartered and a board-walk was laid down from the dock to the Governor's residence, so that all might arrive dry shod. Among the list of guests appeared the names " Mr. and Mrs. McCreight," but with no initials given. Furthermore, after descriptions of the dresses worn by the most important ladies, including the wife of the Governor of Vancouver Island, there appeared this item:— Mrs. McCreight wore an elegant dress of white, trimmed with black lace, Further evidence is provided in two letters written by E. G. Alston to H. P. P. Crease. The first, dated August 3, 1863, contained the following information:— Mrs. Archdeacon [H. P. Wright] babby [sic], etc. have come down upon us for a visit—a regular flight from Egypt & the plagues thereof—no small addition to our small establishment. Mary & Fred are distributed at Mrs. McCreight's & Nina at Mrs. Reeces. I never saw such a whopping big baby & a terrific roarer.20 The second, dated December 5,1867, is even more illuminating:— Mrs. McCreight has returned to the astonishment of everyone, as her only reason for departing was the urgency of private affairs at home.21 No record of her death has been found, nor is she mentioned in McCreight's will. It seems that she must have separated from her husband sometime before 1870 and gone her own way. No mention of her occurs in the newspapers at any other time. The effect of this upon McCreight is hard to judge. He must have possessed a difficult temperament, and it is possible that his wife (19) New Westminster North Pacific Times, November 12, 1864. Mrs. Arthur Kennedy's dress " was composed of rich maize silk, trimmed with black lace. Her head-dress was formed of a wreath of pansies, and black lace lappets, pearls and diamonds." (20) E. G. Alston to H. P. P. Crease, August 3, 1863, Alston Letters, MS., Archives of B.C. (21) E. G. Alston to H. P. P. Crease, December 5,1867, Alston Letters, M.S., Archives of B.C. 90 PAtricia M. Johnson. January found life with him exceedingly difficult, despite his respected position in the colony. The fact that no mention ever seems to have been made of her makes one think that McCreight regarded the affair as something better left in the past. It could only make a man of his lonely, aloof spirit retire more within himself. One other incident in McCreight's life concerns the period just after his removal from the Cariboo. In 1884 he suffered an unusual and serious illness. The first mention of this came in a dispatch to the Victoria Colonist from San Francisco :— Judge McCreight of Victoria, B.C., was bitten today by some insect on the arm. The member swelled and became so painful that it was necessary to remove the unfortunate gentleman to St. Mary's Hospital, where he is lying to-night in a dangerous-condition.22 Apparently this report was not entirely correct, for a few days later Captain G. C. Walker of the ship Queen of the Pacific returned from San Francisco and gave another version. He reported that he had seen Mr. Justice McCreight at Lick House after his arrival from Victoria, and that McCreight was suffering from a swelling in his hand that had to be opened by a surgeon. He then felt the wound to be better and had taken off the bandages, and as a result the wound got cold, the swelling extended, and he "was reduced to a pitiable state of bodily and mental suffering."28 It happened that Alexander Dunsmuir was in San Francisco, and when he heard of the Judge's distress he called a doctor and had the sufferer removed to the hospital. Mr. McCreight's statement, made somewhat incoherently, is to the effect that while examining a plant in the garden of Lady Douglas some weeks ago he was stung on the hand by an insect, the virus from which entered his system and now threatens his life. • Mr. McCreight's mental condition is also said to give his friends great anxiety and it is feared that he will hardly Whether the gravity of the illness was exaggerated or whether McCreight made a swift recovery is not known, but the report of the following day is almost an anti-climax:— Judge McCreight of Victoria, B.C., is better and left for Victoria this morning on the Portland steamer.2^ (22) Victoria Colonist, May 8, 1884. (23) Ibid., May 10, 1884. (24) Ibid. (25) Ibid., May 11,1884. ■ 1948 John Foster McCreight. 91 Thus he did live to return to Victoria, and it was not until twenty- nine years later, at the age of 86, that he died. The City of Victoria, with its stately Parliament Buildings, whose Archives house his case-books, is a reminder of McCreight and his work in the government of the Province. As a political figure he was not a success. It is true that his position as the first Premier under the domination of Trutch was a difficult one, and that his setting-up of necessary legislation was done with efficiency and dignity. That he could not have continued to head the Government was obvious. He cared little for the people he represented; he was no part of the movement for responsible government. He was an individualist doing a necessary piece of skilled work. He never could have been and never wished to be a representative and leader of the people. In his connections with the church the same trait was evident.26 He stood for a personal conviction of order and authority against a mass movement of the people. There is a feeling thatthe same thing may have been true in his Masonic connections.27 He was a man of authority and position who gave orders well. He was not a member of a group on equal terms with others. His background was too aristocratic for that. On the Bench he found himself in a much more desirable position. He could instruct others, and this he proceeded to do, but with dignity and perfect courtesy of the traditional aristocrat. When opposition became too great or too vocal, he reacted unfavourably towards it. A certain querulousness was evident, apparent at the beginning of his judicial career, when he thought he was being pushed into the background in the Cariboo.28 He was a man striving for perfection, and sure that he could come closest to it by his own means. In one sense he was an egoist, concentrating upon himself and his powers. But he was quite sincere in his belief that his ability and knowledge were a great asset to the development of the law. As a student of the law he (26) This s abject will be dealt with in £ subsequent article in this (27) For de " R.W. Bro. Johi and AM. . . . (28) Furthe article in this se tails on McCreight's Masonic Foster McCreight," Proceedin Vancouver, 1941, p. 173 ff. r details on this subject will b 7s . . . Gr dealt with ee R. L. Reid, md Lodge A.F. n a subsequent 92 Patricia M. Johnson. was at his best. His store of legal knowledge was his greatest contribution to the life of his times. The City of New Westminster, with its rambling Court-House and sunny law library containing his well-loved law books, is a monument to what he so much wished to be—a great jurist. . . . whenever the history of these times shall be written there will be no greater honour or inducement that can be presented for the training and encouragement of thorough lawyers in this province, of the best style and class, than the honored and exalted name of John Foster McCreight.2' Add to this the memory of a man of principle, with the courage of his own hard-won conviction, a man who sought for perfection in an imperfect world and who found the nearest approach to it in the absolutism of the law and the picture will be complete of that little-known but fascinating personality — John Foster McCreight. Patricia M. Johnson. Ladner, B.C. (29) Victoria Colonist, November 19, 1897.' NOTES AND COMMENTS. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. The annual meeting of the Association was held in the Provincial Library, Victoria, on Friday, January 16, with over eighty members in attendance. The annual reports presented indicated a successful year of activity. Paid-up members at the end of the year showed a slight decline— 497 as compared with 505 in 1946; of these, 172 were affiliated with the Victoria Section, 169 with the Vancouver Section, and there were 156 members-at-large. The financial status of the Association was satisfactory, for, after making a special grant of £20 to the restoration fund of Petersham Church, a bank balance of $180.52 was carried forward into the new year. Mr. Willard E. Ireland presented his first report as editor of the Quarterly. Despite a decline in the membership of the sections the over-all paid-up circulation decreased only 4—from 536 in 1946 to 532. The Quarterly is now being regularly forwarded to all parts of Canada and the United States, and, in addition, there are members in England, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Peru. Special tribute was paid to Miss M. Wolfenden for her considerable assistance in checking articles and proof, to Miss Inez Mitchell for the painstaking work involved in the annual index, and to other members of the staff of the Provincial Archives for assistance in preparing the Quarterly for mailing. The twenty-fifth report of Major F. V. Longstaff, convener of the Marine Committee, was submitted, in which the main maritime events of the past year were outlined. Mr. George White then delivered his presidential address, entitled The Development of the Lower Fraser Valley. Restricting himself principally to the area west of Hope and east of New Westminster, Mr. White gave a detailed synopsis of the history of the valley from the advent of the white man to the completion of the Sumas reclamation project. The text of the address will be printed in a forthcoming issue of this Quarterly. The report of the scrutineers was then presented. A total of 181 ballots had been returned to the Honorary Secretary. The new Council met immediately after the adjournment of the annual meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Ireland, when the following officers were elected for 1948 :— Honorary President - - - Hon. W. T. Straith, K.C. President Mr. Willard E. Ireland. 1st Vice-President - - - - Dr. Margaret Ormsby. . 2nd Vice-President - - - Mr. G. H. Stevens. Honorary Secretary - - - Miss Madge Wolfenden. Honorary Treasurer - Mr. J. K. Nesbitt. 1 94 Notes and Comments. January Members of the Council— Miss Helen R. Boutilier. Mr. Burt R. Campbell. Mrs. M. R. Cree. Rev. John Goodfellow. Dr..W. Kaye Lamb. Mr. B. A. McKelvie. Dr. W. N. Sage. Councillors ex officio— Mr. G. H. Stevens, Chairman, Victoria Section. Mr. L. S. Grant, Chairman,. Vancouver Section. Mr. George White, Past President. Mr. Willard E. Ireland, Editor, Quarterly, and Provincial Archivist. The Council discussed the possibility of joint meetings with the Canadian Historical Association which will be holding its sessions in British Columbia this coming June. In addition, the Council approved the preparation of tentative plans for the celebration of the establishment of British rule in the Pacific Northwest as symbolized by the creation of the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island. Victoria Section. A general meeting of this Section was held in the Provincial Library on Tuesday, November 25, with the Vice-Chairman, Mr. J. A. Heritage, presiding, owing to the illness of the Chairman. A considerable discussion ensued on the question of the preservation of Indian petroglyphs at Seton Lake and Pavilion discovered by Major H. F. Tasker-Taylor. The congratulations of the Section were tendered Major Taylor for his efforts in persuading the Provincial Government to set aside the Seton Lake site as a Provincial park. Through the courtesy of Mr. Clarence Ferris, of the Motion Picture Branch of the Government Travel Bureau, two very interesting films were shown, on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and the Okanagan Valley. The annual meeting of the Section was held in the Provincial Library on Monday, December 15, with over sixty members present. Reports were submitted which gave evidence of an interesting and satisfactory year's endeavour. The Honorary Secretary reported that eight regular meetings had been held, with an average attendance of sixty, as well as the Blanshard Day reception and the Summer Field-day. The Honorary Treasurer reported a balance of $38.23 on hand. The Chairman, Mrs. M. R. Cree, then read her address, entitled Behind the Palisades, dealing with events in the early career of George Simpson McTavish at Fort Churchill. Mr. McTavish came out to the fort as a young lad and served the Hudson's Bay Company faithfully for many years, eventually rising to the rank of chief factor. Many interesting sidelights on life in the Company's service were provided in extracts read from the reminiscences written by Mr. McTavish, and it is to be hoped that some day this interesting account may be given wider publicity. The report of the scrutineers was received and a meeting of the new Council was held on December 16 at the home of Mrs. W. Curtis Sampson, when the following officers were elected:— Notes and Comments. Chairman - Vice-Chairman Honorary Secretary - Honorary Treasurer Members of Council- Miss Kathleen Agnew. Mr. R. H. Hiscocks. Major H. T. Nation. Mr. G. H. Stevens. Dr. F. W. Gray. ' Mr. Willard E. Ireland. Miss Madge Wolfenden. Mr. J. A. Heritage. Dr. Wm. Hackney. Miss Alma Russell. Mrs. W. Curtis Sampson. Mr. H. C. Gilliland Mrs. J. G. Parmelee {co-opt). (co-opt). Mrs. George Stelly (co-opt). Mrs. M. R. Cree Mr. Willard E. Ireland (ex (ex Vancouver Section. Captain C. W. Cates, of North Vancouver, was the speaker at the meeting of the Section held in the Hotel Grosvenor on the evening of Tuesday, November 18. His subject was The Growth of Marine Commerce in the Seaports of British Columbia. Captain Cates referred first to some of the earliest steamers to ply the Pacific, including the little-known Spanish Telica. She was not a success, and her harassed owner ended both her career and his own by blowing her up when he himself was on board. The famous Beaver, the first steamer to operate in North Pacific waters, arrived in 1836; and Captain Cates recalled that after she was wrecked at the entrance to Vancouver Harbour in 1888, his father offered to salvage her and place her in Stanley Park for $600. Knowing that the Cates family has a habit of accomplishing what it sets out to do, it is indeed a thousand pities that the offer was not accepted. Captain Cates dealt next with the navigational difficulties met with by sailing-ships approaching the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and explained why-the west coast of Vancouver Island had for years the reputation of being a vast marine graveyard. Steamships as well as sailing-ships came to grief in the days when navigational aids were few, as the tragic loss of the Valencia and other vessels demonstrated. For many years sailing-ships were an important factor in the trade of Vancouver and Victoria, but by 1912, or thereabouts, they had become few and far between. That same year the arrival of the motor-vessel Siam— the first ocean-going example of her type to visit Vancouver—marked the beginning of a new era in the evolution of the ocean freighter. Speaking of such, Captain Cates referred particularly to " the Blues "—the giant freight steamers sent to the Pacific by the Blue Funnel Line. So sturdily were they built that a ship described as being their equal in strength was regarded as having gained a rating superior to the well-known 100 Al at Lloyd's. In conclusion Captain Cates mentioned some of the outstanding captains who had spent a lifetime guiding ships through the crooked waters 96 Notes and Comments. January of the British Columbia coast. Captain Moody, for example, had spent twenty-seven years in the service of the Union Steamship Company and another twenty-five years in the Pilot Service, yet throughout the whole period of fifty-two years had never had an accident. The election of officers resulted in the following slate for 1948:— Honorary Chairman ... - Mr. E. G. Baynes. Chairman Mr. L. S. Grant. Vice-Chairman - - - - - Mr. J. W. Eastham. Secretary Miss Kate McQueen. Treasurer ------ Mr. Cyril S. Chave. Members of the Council— Miss Helen R. Boutilier. Mr. Noel Robinson. Miss Lillian Cope. Dr. W. N. Sage. Mr. A. G. Harvey. Rev. F. G. St. Denis. Mr. George Green. Dr. G. F. G. Stanley. Mr. D. A. McGregor. George B. White. Rev. William Stott (ex officio). On Tuesday, December 9, the Section met again to hear an address by Mr. Norman Hacking, the well-known authority on marine history, entitled The Romance of Two Rivers: the Columbia and the Kootenay. Mr. Hacking first outlined the curious geographical formation of Eastern British Columbia, and the fashion in which the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers between them almost surround a vast inland " island " of land. In the region now known as Canal Flats the rivers approach within 3 miles of one ' another, and, as the name implies, a canal was once' constructed that connected the two. The scheme—which was only one part of a vaster land reclamation and land speculation plan that involved 70,000 acres—sprang to life in the brain of W. A. Baillie-Groham, who arrived in British Columbia in 1882. A land grant from the Province and money secured from credulous investors in England enabled the plan to go ahead, but opposition to it quickly developed, notably from the Canadian Pacific Railway, which feared that the canal would divert so much water from the Kootenay into the Columbia that the latter would wash away tracks and bridges near Revel- stoke and elsewhere. For this reason a lock was introduced into the canal, and for the same reason the Provincial Government decided to fill it in as soon as it was completed and handed over to them. In spite of this the canal remained more or less in existence for a good many years, and two steamers are known to have passed through it. The first was the 85-foot Gwendolen, built at Golden in 1893. By that time the canal had been filled in, as already noted, but when the Gwendolen desired to pass through it the Provincial Government obligingly had it excavated again. Then came the flood of 1894, which swept all before it at Canal Flats as elsewhere, including dykes that had been erected along the sides of the famous canal. The second steamer to pass through was the much larger North Star, which appeared on the scene in 1902. As she had a length of 120 feet and 1948 Notes and Comments. 97 the lock of the canal measured only 100 feet, the passage would have seemed impracticable to most people; but Captain Armstrong, the enterprising skipper of the North Star, was not in the least dismayed. He first enlarged and lengthened the lock by building up the sides with sand-bags, placed his steamer in it, and then blew out the end next to the Columbia with dynamite, thereby producing a tidal wave that swept the North Star some way towards her destination. After the steamer had run on the Columbia for a season or two, the Canadian Customs officers finally woke up to the fact that she had been brought from the United States and that no duty had been paid on her. She was therefore seized and laid up, but this did not embarrass her owner for long. Clandestinely and by degrees he proceeded to remove her machinery and equipment, all of which he installed in a new hull. It is said that when the process was finally completed, he actually purchased the stripped hull of the old steamer for $25 and converted it into a barge which the new steamer towed! AH this was merely the starting-point from which Mr. Hacking proceeded to tell the fascinating story of sternwheel steamboating in East Kootenay. The details are too numerous to recount here, but fortunately they are being incorporated in an article that will appear at a later date in this Quarterly. UNVEILING OF THE OREGON BOUNDARY TREATY CENTENNIAL PLAQUES. Representatives from the Washington State Historical Society, the British Columbia Historical Association, the International Peace Arch Association, and other interested organizations assembled at the Peace Arch Park, near Douglas, B.C., and Blaine, Wash., on Saturday afternoon, November 8, 1947, to witness the unveiling of the bronze plaques attached to the marker which had been dedicated at the time of the centennial celebration on June 15, 1946. The ceremony was presided over by Mr. Rogan Jones, of Bellingham, Wash., Chairman of the International Peace Arch Association, and opened with the singing of the national anthems of Canada and the United States. Colonel Howard A. Hanson, representing the Washington State Historical Society, donor of the American plaque, was then called upon and delivered the following address:— " I am deeply sensible of the honour of representing the Americans on this important occasion. The simple ceremony to-day is the fitting and closing act in the dedication of this centennial cairn, or marker, which was unveiled June 15, 1946, on the International Boundary. " Here, in this scenic park, partly Canadian and partly American, we meet on common ground and, without let or hindrance, pass and repass the Border Line on which this historic, commemorative granite is erected. Yonder in the park stands the renowned Peace Arch, its portal walls bearing the inscription voiced by the people of our two countries—' May these gates never be closed.' " The British Columbia Historical Association and the Washington State Historical Society proposed a joint celebration to be held here in 1946 to Notes and Comments. commemorate the centennial of the establishment of the International Boundary between Canada and the United States from the Rockies to the Pacific. The plan met with prompt and cordial approval, private and official, resulting in the largest and most spectacular celebration of an ;ernational character ever held west of the Rockies.; " That celebration has passed and become a cherished memory. This imple, well-proportioned cairn, now adorned with commemorative inscrip- m bronze plaques—one on the Canadian, the other on the American side—remains as a permanent reminder. One other tangible and important reminder remains in the historical booklet The Boundary Treaty Centennial, sponsored by the two societies and published by the Department of Conser- and Development of the State of Washington and the Department of Trade and Industry of the Province of British Columbia, which has been distributed to the schools and libraries of the State and Province. "As the visitor pauses at this cairn and reads its inscriptions, he is forcibly reminded that, while the land beyond is part of an independent nation, its people are not foreign to his own, but kindred, in blood, in language, customs, laws, and institutions—a people whose aims and aspira- is parallel those of his own land. This cairn is commemorative of the treaty establishing the International Boundary—a treaty based on reason, not on might and power, and framed with due regard to the interests of the involved. The Boundary has always remained undefended and unfortified, an object lesson to the nations of the world. " We rejoice in the settlement of the treaty question, in the peace and tranquility which has characterized the relations of our two Governments and of their citizens. We face the involved and pressing problems of the future with the will and courage of free men, determined that reason, law, and order shall prevail over might and power, and in full confidence that we shall always enjoy the most cordial relations with the splendid people of Dr. W. N. Sage, the official representative of British Columbia and Yukon on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, donors of the Canadian plaque, then made the following remarks:— " On June 15, 1946, we held a joint celebration here at Blaine and unveiled the stone memorial on which the two bronze plaques have now been placed. Captain A. M. Sobieralski, U.S.N., removed the Stars and Stripes from the Canadian side of the stone and to me fell the task of simultaneously ing the Union Jack from the American side. The action typified the is of feeling of the two nations. " To-day we unveil the plaques. That on the Canadian side has been provided by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, and I have d by the Chairman and my fellow members to represent the Board on this occasion. The Board is a consultative body of historians which advises the Canadian Government on the subject of national historic sites. The Board wishes me to convey their best wishes and felicitations on this happy o< 1948 Notes and Comments. 99 " In August, 1946, on Campo Bello Island, N.B., Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled a tablet erected by the Board to the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On that occasion the Chairman of our Board, Dr. J. Clarence Webster, Ph.D., LL.D., C.M.G., alluded to our ceremony of June 15. Canada was proud to do honour at Campo Bello to a great American President, who had for many years owned a summer residence on that island, situated almost on the International Boundary. That unveiling also typified the strong bond of attachment between our two nations. " It is not my intention on this occasion to recount the long series of negotiations which led to the settlement of 1846. That was well and truly done at this spot on June 15 a year ago. All I wish to do is very briefly to indicate the historical significance of the Oregon Treaty. Its importance is that it provided a peaceful solution for a most difficult problem in diplomacy, the claims of Great Britain and the United States to ' Old Oregon'—the territory between the northern boundary of California and the southern limit of Alaska, from 42° to 54°40' north latitude. The actual territory under dispute, in spite of President Polk's war cry 'Fifty-four forty or fight,' was only that portion lying south of the 49th parallel and west and north of the main stream of the Columbia River. " Many factors were involved, chief among them the fur trade and the American immigration into the southern portion of Old Oregon. The Hudson's Bay Company had a strong hold on the fur trade, and the American pioneers who came over the Oregon Trail and settled in the Willamette strengthened the claim of the United States. But the diplomatic negotiations were not finally determined by the British fur-traders , or the American settlers. As in the case of the disputed northeastern boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, settled in 1842 by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the actual settlement was a compromise. That it was sound has been proven by the century of peace which we have enjoyed since then on the Pacific Coast. " In the shadow of the Peace Portal we have met once more to celebrate the mutual understanding between our nations. To be sure, in 1846, what is now Canada was then British North America, but Canadians are proud that at a time when the Eastern Provinces were separate British colonies and what is now British Columbia a fur preserve, such a settlement was possible. Those of us who have gathered to-day on both sides of the International Boundary are proud indeed to celebrate once more our hundred years of peace. The gates have been open one hundred years! May they The actual unveiling was performed by Donald Holmes, Life Scout, representing the youth of the United States, and Robert Allen, Boy Scout, of New Westminster, representing the youth of Canada. Mr. Chapin D. Foster, Secretary of the Washington State Historical Society, was then called upon to read the inscription on the American plaque:— 100 Notes and Comments. Jai 1846 1946 Washington State Historical Society Oregon Treaty Centennial In commemoration of the signing of the Oregon Boundary Treaty of 1846 this monument was erected jointly by Canadians and Americans on the International Boundary line which has always remained unfortified and undefended, the symbol of peace and amity between two great peoples. July 15, 1946 Mr. Willard E. Ireland, Provincial Librarian and Archivist of I Columbia, then read the inscription on the Canadian plaque:— The Oregon Treaty of 1846 Prior to the establishment of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, Great Britain and the United States by providing a peaceful settlement to a difficult boundary problem strengthened the ties existing between the two peoples. Canada has been proud to do her part in perpetuating this relationship and in forging new links of friendship with our Neighbour to the South. A.D. 1947. Official recognition of Amor De Cosmos as an " eminent Canadian " was made by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in an interesting ceremony held in the main lobby of the Legislative Chamber of the Parliament Buildings, Victoria, on Friday, January 16. Dr. W. N. Sage, British Columbia and Yukon representative on the Board, presided, and, in the absence of the Premier, the Hon. W. T. Straith, K.C., Minister of Education, received the plaque on behalf of the Provincial Government. The inscription reads as follows:— Amor De Cosmos A leader in the struggle for Confederation and Responsible Government. Premier of British Columbia, 1872-74. Born in Windsor, N.S., 20th August, 1825. Died in Victoria, B.C., 4th July, 1897. In making the presentation, Dr. Sage spoke as follows:— " This evening we are unveiling a tablet in memory of a great British Columbian who was also a great Canadian. He was a most interesting person, rather eccentric in his way, but a doughty fighter for responsible government and a leader in the movement for the federation of British 1948 Notes and Comments. 101 Columbia with Canada. He established the British Colonist in 1858 and made it the mouthpiece for reform. He attacked Governor James Douglas and denounced the rule of what he termed the ' Family-Company-Compact.' From 1872 to 1874 he was Premier of the Province of British Columbia. " Most of us are not granted the opportunity of choosing our own names. Amor De Cosmos did so. He was born at Windsor, Nova Scotia, on August 20, 1825, as William Alexander Smith, third son of Jesse and Charlotte (Weems) Smith. In 1851 the California Legislature changed his name to Amor De Cosmos. None of his brothers or sisters relinquished the family name of Smith, and as Amor De Cosmos never married, his new name died with him. The story is current that it was post-office difficulties in California which caused the change of name. Be that as it may, it is as Amor De Cosmos that we remember and honour him. "During De Cosmos's boyhood and early manhood Joseph Howe was carrying on his well-known campaign for responsible government in Nova Scotia. De Cosmos seems to have been greatly influenced by Howe, but it is difficult to trace a direct political connection between them. None the less, when he arrived in Vancouver Island from California in 1858 and studied the political situation in the island colony, De Cosmos must have been struck by the parallel between Governor Douglas' rule and that of the j Old Colonial Governors ' of Nova Scotia whom Howe attacked. De Cosmos plunged at once into a struggle for reform. But Vancouver Island was not Nova Scotia, and political conditions were really not at all similar. Nova Scotia was maturing rapidly, both economically and politically. Vancouver Island was still in its infancy, and its political and economic life was controlled by the Honourable the Hudson's Bay Company. During Douglas' regime De Cosmos made little progress. Then followed the stormy period of the governorship of Arthur Edward Kennedy. The union of the two colonies in 1866 initiated what has been termed 'the critical period of British Columbia history.' It was then that De Cosmos came to the fore as the champion of responsible government and Confederation. In 1867 De Cosmos in the Legislative Council of British Columbia moved a resolution favouring the admission of the Pacific colony into Canadian federation, but the opposition of Governor Seymour and his officials was too. strong. The next year De Cosmos was one of the founders of the Confederation League which held the Yale Convention and drew up tentative terms of union with Canada. " Governor Seymour's death in 1869 paved the way for federation. The new governor, Anthony Musgrave, had fought and lost the battle for confederation in Newfoundland. He was anxious, as was Sir John A. Macdon- ald, that British Columbia should join Canada. In the Confederation debate of 1870 De Cosmos took an active part in support of the movement. After federation he sat in the first Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia and was also elected to the House of Commons as member of parliament for Victoria. Although he had taken a prominent part in bringing about confederation, Lieutenant-Governor Joseph William Trutch 102 Notes and Comments. did not include him in the first Provincial Cabinet. De Cosmos denounced John Foster McCreight's ministry as ' the nominees of Governor Trutch' and called upon the ' Liberals of the Province' to rally round their old leaders to oppose the new administration. "After the defeat of the McCreight Government De Cosmos became premier in December, 1872. But it at once became evident that he could not attend to his duties in Victoria and Ottawa at one and the same time. ' Double representation,' as it was termed, was abolished, and De Cosmos elected to retain his seat in the Parliament of Canada. Attorney-General George Anthony Walkem reconstructed the Cabinet and became the third premier of British Columbia in 1874. De Cosmos remained a member of the House of Commons until 1882, when he lost his seat. He retired to Victoria and lived quietly in this city until his death on July 4, 1897. " It is the policy of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, which I have this evening the honour to represent, to commemorate the work of eminent Canadians by suitable memorial tablets. There is always the question as to where these plaques should be erected. There is a strong case for placing the tablet to De Cosmos in Windsor, Nova Scotia, but the Board has decided that he should be honoured in Victoria, British Columbia." The actual unveiling was performed by Mr. H. T. Matson,, publisher of the Victoria Colonist, which newspaper De Cosmos had established in Victoria in December, 1858. Added interest to the ceremony was the presence of two nieces of De Cosmos, Mrs. Maud Harvey and Miss Jessie Simpson, and the reading of a congratulatory telegram from Mrs. Richard S. Giese, Sewickley, Penn., a granddaughter of Arthur Bunster, friend and fellow parliamentarian of De Cosmos. CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. W. Kaye Lamb, Ph.D., Librarian of the University of British Columbia and formerly Provincial Librarian and Archivist and founder of this Quarterly, is a well-known authority on the history of British Columbia. For years he has made a hobby of the history of the marine activities of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and has written several articles thereon that have appeared in this Quarterly and elsewhere. Patricia M. Johnson, M.A., is a teacher at the Ladner Junior-Senior High School, Ladner, B.C., as well as a reader in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. Her study of the life of John Foster McCreight, for which she received her M.A. degree at the University of British Columbia, was partially made possible by a scholarship presented by the Native Daughters of British Columbia. We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Organized October 31st, 1922. PATRON. His Honour Charles A. Banks, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. OFFICERS, 1948. Hon. W. T. Straith - Honorary President. Willard E. Ireland .... President. George B. White Past President. Margaret Ormsby - 1st Vice-President. G. H. Stevens 2nd Vice-President. Madge Wolfenden - Honorary Secretary. 3. K. Nesbitt Honorary Treasurer. MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. Helen R. Boutilier. Burt R. Campbell. Muriel R. Cree. John Goodfellow. W. Kaye Lamb. B. A. McKelvie. W. N. Sage. Willard E. Ireland G. H. Stevens L. S. Grant (Editor, Quarterly). (Victoria Section). (Vancouver Section). 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 ie addressed to the Provincial Archives, y THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY JUN 1 0 1948 £ LIBRARY BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in cooperation with the British Columbia Historical Association. EDITOR. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor. 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. The Quarterly is indexed in Faxon's Annual Magazine Subject-Index and the Canadian Index. We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY CONTENTS. Page. The Early History of Hedley Camp. By Harry D. Barnes 103 McCreight and the Law. By Patricia M. Johnson 12T Federal Parties and Provincial Groups in British Columbia, 1871-1903. By Walter N. Sage 151 Notes and Comments: British Columbia Historical Association 171 Kamloops Museum Association 174 Okanagan Historical Society 174 Sesquicentennial of the Death of Captain George Vancouver 175 Contributors to this Issue 175 The Northwest Bookshelf: Robinson: Esquimalt—"Place of Shoaling Waters." By W. Kaye Lamb 177 Abraham: Romantic Vancouver Island; Victoria, Yesterday and Today. By Madge Wolfenden 178 McKelvie: FortLangley: Outpost of Empire. By Willard E. Ireland 178 The Letters of Letitia Hargrave. By Walter N. Sage 180 Ballads of B.C. By Dorothy Crighton 182 Prize Winning Essays. Armitage Competition in Oregon Pioneer History. Reed College. By Willard E. Ireland 183 EARLY HISTORY OF HEDLEY CAMP. The little gold-mining town of Hedley, in the Similkameen Valley of British Columbia, lies at an elevation of about 1,700 feet above sea-level and is situated at a point where Twenty Mile Creek, after swinging around the western base of Nickel Plate Mountain, emerges from its canyon and has cut a boulder-strewn channel through the river-benches to flow into the Similkameen River a short distance below the town. Nickel Plate Mountain rises out of the Twenty Mile Creek in a series of bluffs with nearly vertical faces, but its southern slope is less rugged and is covered more or less with a scattered growth of Douglas fir. Prospectors and others travelling over the Dewdney Trail would notice the beds of limestone, quartzite, and other rocks outcropping on the slope above the river-valley. Looking up the Twenty Mile Creek the iron-stained rocks of Red Mountain would attract attention, as would also the folding of the stratified rock of Stemwinder Mountain on the west side of the creek. All of these together would indicate an area where conditions might be favourable for ore deposition and would, at least, warrant careful prospecting. The first record of mineral claims having been staked on what is now known as Nickel Plate Mountain was in 1894, when James Riordan and C. Allison located three claims for the Hon. Edgar Dewdney, and J. 0. Coulthard, of Keremeos, had a claim on what is now the Kingston Mineral Claim. These four claims were recorded at Granite Creek, but were not considered worth doing the annual assessment-work and were allowed to lapse. In 1897 Peter Scott located the Rollo and about the same time C. Johnson and Albert Jacobson, grub-staked by W. Y. Williams, then manager of the Granby mines at Phoenix, staked the Mound and Copper Cleft claims. In 1898 Peter Scott returned to do the assessment-work on the Rollo and afterwards staked the Princeton, Warhorse, Kingston, and other claims. In August of that year C. H. Arundel and F. Wollaston staked the Horsefly, Sunny- side, Nickel Plate, Bulldog, and Copper-field, and still later located other claims on the mountain. It was the Nickel Plate 104 Harry D. Barnes. April which was to prove the bonanza claim and to become the first producing lode mine of the Similkameen, as well as one of the major gold mines of British Columbia. It was about this time that Peter Scott and others agreed on " Camp Hedley " as a fitting name for the new camp, in honour of Robert R. Hedley, then manager of the Hall mines smelter at Nelson, B.C., who, it was understood, had grub-staked Peter Scott the summer before when the Rollo had been staked.1 The prospectors of the new camp had to travel to Fairview to record their claims and assessment-work, where C. A. R. Lamby was the Mining Recorder and Gold Commissioner for the Osoyoos Mining Division. As news of the then recent strikes began to circulate around the Fairview camp, quite a number of the prospectors came over to the new camp in the early fall of 1898. Amongst the new arrivals to Camp Hedley were Harry Yates, Fraser Campbell, and George Cahill. Duncan Woods, for whom George Cahill staked the Mascot Fraction, did not come in until the spring of 1899. Later in the camp's history it was the Mascot Fraction which was to become famous, for although it contains only 8 or 9 acres at depth it was to prove one of the camp's richest spots. Seldom in the history of lode mining in British Columbia has so small an area produced so much wealth in gold. During the spring of 1899 many more prospectors came into Camp Hedley, and by the end of the year the surface of Nickel Plate Mountain was almost entirely covered with mineral claims. Now to go back to the Nickel Plate and a brief description of the discovery showing as it was when found by Wollaston and Arundel. The red, rusty ore outcrop occupied a small clearing on a fairly steep hillside, and in all probability the ore outcrop exposed to sight was about 15 feet in width by 20 feet in length. The ground both to the right and left, as well as below, the outcrop was covered by an overburden and thickly strewn with jack-pine windfalls, amongst which a second growth of young pines had already made a good start. On the upper side of the (1) An excellent resume of the discovery and early history of Hedley Camp appeared in the first issue of the Hedley Gazette, January 19, 1905. Peter Scott is referred to as " the father of Camp Hedley " in the Princeton Similkameen Star, April 14,1900. 1948 The Early History op Hedley Camp. 105 ore outcrop a light-coloured hard igneous rock stood out boldly several feet higher than the ore, with the contact between the ore and igneous rock being sharply defined. As the development proceeded, the igneous rock was found to be a sill which formed the hanging wall of the ore-body. The igneous rock was later classified by Dr. Charles Camsell as gabbro. The red dirt from the outcrop panned gold very freely, and a gold-pan of the material would often give twenty to thirty coarse colours about the size of a pin-head and also a long thick stream of fine gold. The results of their first panning must have given a thrill of excitement to the two lucky prospectors who had made the find, for few indeed are the prospectors of British Columbia who have been fortunate enough to find a prospect of equal size and so rich in gold from the grass-roots down, as was the discovery showing of the Nickel Plate. In the fall of 1898 Wollaston and Arundel took out some samples of the surface ore of the Nickel Plate to the New Westminster Fair and exhibited them there. M. K. Rodgers, who was more directly connected with the early history and development of the camp than any other person, first saw the ore there. At that time he was travelling through the country in the interests of Marcus Daly, of Butte, Montana, and he was so impressed by the appearance of the ore samples that he immedi- ately started on a trip to the Nickel Plate to make a close examination and obtain samples. The examination proved so satisfactory that in November Rodgers took a bond on the Nickel Plate, Bulldog, Sunnyside, and Copperfield Mineral Claims, all of which were owned by Wollaston and Arundel. The construction of a camp and the packing-in of supplies was at once commenced. The first supplies for the new camp at Nickel Plate were obtained from Fairview. In November, 1898, a pack-train of thirty-five horses laden with supplies left Fair- view in the charge of George Cahill. Later, as things became better organized, supplies were shipped from the Coast cities to Penticton, then hauled by wagon to Keremeos, and from thence packed by horses to the Nickel Plate by the Camp Rest Trail.2 (2) Even as late as March, 1900, the shortest route was reported by way of Keremeos "thence by saddle horse over a first class trail, which will shortly be converted into a wagon road. ..." Ibid., March 31, 1900. 106 Harry D. Barnes. April Permanent work on the claim was commenced on January 12, 1899, and within a year the bond was taken up. The consideration paid to Wollaston and Arundel was reported to have been $60,000,3 and a few years later the two partners sold other claims to Rodgers, and it was said to have been for a similar consideration. In the early years of the Nickel Plate mine M. K. Rodgers obtained a British Columbia charter for the Yale Mining Company, and business was done through this company. Later on, when it was decided to build a mill, it was found that the original company's charter was not sufficiently broad to provide for the building of tramways, power flumes, and the like, or for the expropriation of land for rights-of-way. Consequently, a second company, the Daly Reduction Company, Ltd., was formed, and a charter obtained for it early in 1903, and from then on it became the operating company for both the mine and the mill. Gomer P. Jones., who was to be connected with the Nickel Plate for so many years, was engaged by Rodgers as mine superintendent, and he arrived at the camp in August, 1900. Mrs. Jones and their daughter Avonia came in a month or so later and took up residence at the Nickel Plate. In the summer and early fall of 1900 a road about 15 miles in length was built over the mountains to the east of the mine to connect up with the Penticton-Keremeos Road,4 and from then on supplies were hauled direct from Penticton to the Nickel Plate.6 In the fall of 1900 work was also commenced on the building of a road between Keremeos and Princeton,6 and it was completed by midsummer of 1901.7 Before the building of this road only the old Dewdney Trail had connected these two points.8 The following month J. P. McMahon took a four-horse team and a heavy freight-wagon over this trail. Ibid., April 7, 1900. (3) Ibid., November 24, 1900, see also Hedley Gazette, January 19, 1905. (4) Plans for this road were announced in the Princeton Similkameen Star, August 11, 1900, and the survey was completed several months later. Ibid., October 6, 1900. (5) Ibid., December 8, 1900. (6) Ibid., October 27 and November 3, 1900. (7) Ibid., June 15, 1901. (8) For an account of the co " The Dewdney Trail," Fourth Report and Proceedini lumbia Historical Association, 1929, pp. 30-33. The Early History op Hedley Camp. 107 In the fall of 1899 Thomas Bradshaw came over from Greenwood and bought the newly built log hotel located near the mouth of Fifteen Mile Creek from a man by the name of Johnson. Shortly afterwards Mrs. Bradshaw and family came over to make their home on Fifteen Mile Creek. Bradshaw's stopping- place soon became well known to prospectors and others of Camp Hedley as a place where they could always be assured of a warm welcome, a good meal, and a comfortable bed. In course of time the establishment was expanded9 and, in addition, the Brad- shaws had a thriving young orchard and alfalfa growing on their place and had also acquired a small herd of dairy and range cattle. All of the family has since passed on, with the exception of their only daughter, Edith, and the old log hotel, so long a landmark on the Keremeos-Hedley Road, has been torn down. The land where the town of Hedley now stands was acquired by the Hedley City Townsite Company, and in the summer and fall of 1900 R. H. Parkinson, P.L.S., surveyed the townsite, and almost immediately building was commenced, judging by the Similkameen Star, which reported:— This important townsite is situated half way between Princeton and Keremeos on the banks of the now famous Twenty-mile creek. The new wagon road to be built this fall runs through the centre of the town. Hedley City will be the supply point for the rich district which surrounds 20 Mile creek and the Nickel Plate mine. The company owning the townsite is composed of well-known mining men who are fully alive to the importance of the mining district they will cater to and will loose [sic] no opportunity of pushing the place ahead. Dave Hackney has a force of men busy constructing a large hotel. An assay office is also being built and will be occupied when completed by Messrs. Oliver and Petherstonhaugh. Several other buildings will be started in the course of a few days, and as soon as the work on the road begins, application will be made for a post office and mail service. Mr. R. H. Parkinson, P.L.S., will be manager for the townsite company and will be glad to furnish information regarding prices of lots, etc." That winter D. G. Hackney built the Hedley Hotel on Haynes Street, a neat two-story hewed-log building which was opened (9) " Lumber is arriving for Bradshaw's hotel, which is being remodelled and several bed-rooms added. A veranda is to be erected and the roof reshingled. New outbuildings and stables are also being built, so that by the time the ' boom' strikes the Similkameen Mr. Bradshaw will be prepared to accommodate all comers." Princeton Similkameen Star, June 22, 1901. (10) Ibid., October 6, 1900. 108 Harry D. Barnes. April early in March, 1901.11 Messrs. Kirby and Hine also erected a two-story log store building near the spot where later the Daly Reduction Company's office building was erected, and opened for business early the following spring under the management of F. M. Gillespie.12 Two small log cabins were also built on the townsite that same winter.18 During the summer of 19011. A. Deardorf, of Fairview, built a livery-barn14 on the site now occupied by the Hedley Garage, and C. E. Oliver put up a two- story frame building for an assay office and residence.16 The lumber for both of these buildings was hauled in from Penticton, but later that summer Messrs. Tillman, McDonald, and McRae hauled over their sawmill and planer from Phoenix and set it up on the river-bank across from the mouth of Sterling Creek and commenced cutting lumber.16 This mill was later to cut all the lumber required in the construction of the Daly Reduction Company's mill, the Twenty Mile flume, and other buildings, as well as the lumber needed in the town. In 1901 F. M. Wells took a bond on the Kingston and Warhorse claims owned by Peter Scott,17 and development of the Kingston was commenced in the fall of the year. Later the Metropolitan claim was also acquired by Wells. Development-work on the group continued more or less intermittently for a number of years until about 1936, when the Kelowna Exploration Company acquired the Kingston group. The winter of 1901-1902 was a very quiet one for the new town, but in the summer of 1902 it was decided to build a mill for the Nickel Plate, and Hedley was selected as its site.18 Pre- (11) Ibid., March 2,1901. (12) Ibid. (13) The first issue of the Hedley Gazette, January 19,1905, stated that Hackney's hotel, the first in the town, was licensed as of January 1, 1901, and that together with W. B. Hine's store, the first in the town, "with Sproule's blacksmith shop and a few prospectors cabins, made the nucleus of the town." (14) Princeton Similkameen Star, June 15, 1901. (15) Ibid., August 3, 1901. (16) For a good account of this mill, gee Hedley Gazette, October 26, 1905, and February 22,1906. (17) Princeton Similkameen Star, February 23, 1901. (18) 76a., July 19, 1902. " When installed this will be the first stamp mill erected in the Similkameen district, the others nearest being at Camp 1948 The Early History op Hedley Camp. 109 liminary surveys were then made for the tramways, the power flume up Twenty Mile Creek, and for the mill-site by Wesley Rodgers, brother of M. K. Rodgers, and construction started that fall.19 Surveys were also sufficiently advanced so that contracts were let for the grading of the mill-site and for the building of the stone walls for the foundations of the mill,20 and this work was about completed by the spring of 1903. In the late summer and fall of 1902 Messrs. McDermott and Marks built the Grand Union Hotel, but sold it a few months later to Robert Herron and Anton Winkler.21 A few years later Herron sold out his interest to his partner, and under the management of Anton Winkler it was in continuous operation until it was destroyed by fire on December 31, 1918. C. E. Oliver and his associates in the fall of 1902 built the Commercial Hotel,22 and it was opened up in the late spring of the following year under the management of Neil Huston and W. A. McLean.23 Within a few months McLean became the sole proprietor,24 and the Commercial Hotel still stands.26 In August, 1902, James A. Schubert, well known in the Okanagan, bought out the Kirby and Hine store26 and moved it down into the town near the bridge, and the log building thus vacated was later used by the Dalj Reduction Company for temporary offices in the early construction days at the mill. Later that year Charles Richter, of Keremeos, built a two-story building as a butcher's shop and residence,27 and he supplied the town with its meat until he sold oui McKinney and at the Stemwinder mine in Camp Fairview." Ibid., October 25, 1902. (19) The contract for building tl flume from the dam to the mill-site Forks. Ibid., November 1, 1902. (20) Ibid., January 24,1903. At that time it was announced: "Electric power will be used in operating the stamp mill, and the tram will be partly run by electricity and partly by gravity." (21) Ibid., April 25 and August 29, 1903. (22) Ibid., April 25, 1903. The newspaper announced that Neil Huston was then changing his block into the hotel. (23) Ibid., June 6, 1903. (24) Ibid., August 16, 1903. (25) It was closed down for a number of years, but was reopened about 1934. J 110 Harry D. Barnes. April the business to Cawston and Edmond.28 Shortly after this, John Mairhofer became associated with the business, first as store manager and later as owner. His connection with the business continued until 1931, when he sold out to Eugene Quaedvlieg. In the fall of 1902 W. E. Welby commenced running a stage line between Penticton and Hedley, and at first the stage left and arrived on alternate days, but the following year a daily service each way went into effect, Sunday excepted. The trip usually took about twelve hours, which included a stop at the old town of Keremeos for dinner and a change of horses. Open stages were used, which carried six to eight passengers, and the mail and travellers had to take the weather as it came, be it sunshine, rain, or snow. Later Welby acquired a Concord covered-in ' stage-coach, but this was reserved for special trips and occasions. Fred Revely, who had bought out Deardorf's livery-barn, ran a daily stage to Princeton in conjunction with the Welby stages, but travellers from or to upper valley points had to stop over the night in Hedley. Up to this time one of the principal complaints of the residents was the absence of mail service.29 However, in June, 1903, this was remedied when F. M. Gillespie was appointed the town's first postmaster. He combined these duties with those of manager of Schubert's general store, and at first the post-office was in that store.80 A little, later an annex was built on the east side of the store building for the exclusive use of the post-office business, and boxes were installed for rental to the public. This continued to be the town's post-office until 1908, when Gillespie bought out Love's drug-store, and there it remained for the next twenty-seven years. In the early part of 1903 L. W. Shatford put up a one-story building on Scott Avenue and opened a general store with F. H. French as manager.81 Two or three years later the store building was greatly enlarged and the firm's name changed to Shatf ords Limited. The old building still stands, and is now occupied by Collen's Department Store. In 1903 Dr. F. Rolls opened a drug-store and office.82 (28) Ibid., August 8, 1903. (29) Ibid., February 14, 1903. (30) Ibid., June 6, 1903. (31) Ibid., February 14, 1903. (32) Ibid., February 14 and 28, 1903. 1948 The Early History op Hedley Camp. Ill In the early spring of 1903 work was commenced simultaneously on the construction of the mill and the grading and building of the flume which was to furnish the power for the mill,33 and as soon as the snow had gone from the hills, the work of clearing the right-of-way and grading for the tramways was started. Four-horse freight teams loaded with machinery, steel rails, and general supplies of all kinds now became a familiar sight on the roads. About this time S. L. Smith resigned as agent for the Canadian Pacific Railway at Penticton and accepted the position of accountant for the Daly Reduction Company, a position he held with this and the two succeeding companies until about 1937. Hedley became his home for forty-one years. In August, 1903, Dr. H. A. Whillans accepted the position of company doctor,84 and he and his family moved down from Princeton to take up residence in Hedley. Later that year A. H. Brown, of London, Ontario, was engaged as mill superintendent, and shortly afterwards took charge of the mill. Mr. Brown was well liked by the men serving under him and also was held in high regard by the people of the town. In September, 1903, Hedley held its first Labour Day celebration, which was rather a modest affair even although " some two or three coach loads of merrymakers came from Loomis, Wash., to join in the festivities and fraternize with the good people of Hedley."86 The main event was a baseball game between the Hedley team and one from Nighthawk and, although the visiting team was the better, due mainly to Wesley Rodger's pitching Hedley won the game, on which a good deal of money had been bet by the backers of the respective teams. In addition, there was two days of horse-racing, and a grand ball marked the climax to the event, with the music furnished by "that famous knight of the bow " Joseph Brent, of Okanagan Falls. Later Labour Day celebrations were on a much larger scale. From a thousand to twelve hundred dollars would be given in prize- money, and rock-drilling contests, baseball, and horse-racing were featured. Rock-drilling teams would quite often come (33) Ibid., February 28,1903. For a time work at the mine was stopped in order to permit the men to concentrate on building the mill. Ibid., March 7, 1903. (34) Ibid., August 29, 1903. (35) Ibid., September 12, 1903. 112 Harry D. Barnes. April from places as far away as Rossland to compete in these contests. Many visitors would come to the celebrations from both upper and lower valley points. The visitors would begin to arrive on Sunday evening, and by Monday morning the town would be full —and travel in those days was by democrat, buggy, or horseback. The big Labour Day dance was the outstanding social event of the year for Hedley, and the best orchestra available was secured for the occasion. Sports would be resumed on the following Tuesday, but by early evening the visitors would have all departed to their various homes, and by nightfall the town had a tired, deserted look about it, with scarcely a soul to be seen on the streets as Hedley retired early to bed. By the late fall of 1903 the mill building was about completed, and a good start had been made on the installation of the machinery.36 The tramways were all graded and most of the track laid, and also good progress had been made in the building of the Twenty Mile flume.87 It might be interesting to note that the ore-crushers and stamp-batteries were made in Eastern Canada, as was also the large air-compressor for the new power-house. But the ore-conveyers, Frue vanners, water-wheels, pumps for the cyanide plant, electric locomotives for the tramway, and most of the electrical equipment came from the United States, as did also the twenty large tanks for the cyanide plant. Twelve of these tanks were 34 feet in diameter by 6 feet in depth, and the remaining eight were 30 feet in diameter by 10 feet in depth. All were made from California redwood, knocked down and shipped from San Francisco by boat to Vancouver, thence by Canadian Pacific Railway to Okanagan Landing. From there they were transferred to the lake steamer and delivered at Penticton and hauled by freight teams the 50 miles to Hedley. The first stamps of the new mill were dropped on May 4, 1904,38 and after a short period for making necessary adjust- (36) For a good general description of the building of the mill, see Hedley Gazette, January 19,1905. (37) Princeton Similkameen Star, October 24, 1903. The flume, 2 miles in length, was " by far the largest work of the kind in the Similkameen." (38) "The stamp mill made a trial run last week—a battery of ten stamps working nearly an hour. Some of the shoes came off and a stop was necessary. The fully forty stamps will soon be dropping continuously and then the gold bricks will be rolling out." Ibid., May 14,1904. 1948 The Early History of Hedley Camp. 113 ments all forty stamps commenced to drop,89 and the muffled roar of the stamps became a familiar sound in the town. For the first few years of the mill's operation a considerable proportion of the values recovered was in the form of free gold caught on the plates. Each month two gold bricks, one. from the free gold off the plates and the other from the gold recovered in the cyanide plant, were taken out under special escort to Penticton, and from there shipped by Dominion Express to the United States assay office in Seattle. The concentrates from the twenty-four Frue vanners, rich in gold, were pulled daily and dumped into the bin below, and after a period allowed for drying, the concentrates were then put into double sacks—a heavy cotton sack on the inside and a strong jute one on the outside—and the sacks well sewn. The sacked concentrates, weighing around a hundred pounds or better a sack, were hauled to Penticton, and from there were shipped to the Tacoma smelter. The four-horse teams which hauled in supplies also hauled out the sacked concentrates on their return trip to Penticton. Dougal Gillespie, of Okanagan Falls, who then held the contract for hauling the company's freight, was paid $20 per ton on incoming freight and $9 per ton for the back-haul of concentrates. The round trip usually took about a week to complete. During the years 1903-1905 the town grew rapidly and many new buildings were erected. Hedley City is the livelie: always full, and, as in the cs hardly adequate for the dem excellent gi of its size in the interior. Its hotels are le Commercial, an annex has been found on this popular hostelry. There are two which, Mr. Schubert's, is the post office. class butcher shop conducted by Messrs. Edmonds & Cawston, and a livery and feed stable run by Fred Revely; a drug store and all the other businesses usually found in a bustling mining camp. Good sidewalks have been laid and a lot of street improvements made by the townsite company of which C. Oliver is the energetic resident manager. A fine hotel is now under construction at a cost of $15,000 and a large residence for M. K. Rodgers has been completed.40 (39) "The full complement of 4 3 stamps are now in use." Ibid., July 9, 1904. Another trial run had been made in June, and it was reported that M. K. Rodgers was encountering i number of obstacles. Ibid., June 11, (40) Ibid., October 24, 1903. J 114 Harry D. Barnes. April In the summer of 1903 Grace Methodist Church was built. This was the first, and for many years the only, permanent church building in the town. It was built mostly by volunteer labour under the enthusiastic direction of Rev. J. W. Hedley.41 For many years it played a prominent role in the life of the community, serving as headquarters for the school, the Twentieth Century Club, and the library. Other early ministers were the Revs. J. E. Fleming,42 C. E. Docksteader,43 L. Thomas,44 R. W. Hibbert,46 J. J. Jones,46 and George Kinney.47 As was to be expected, Hedley was but one of the many churches served by these ministers in connection with their work elsewhere in the district. The Presbyterian church soon began to conduct services, at first with Rev. G. L. Mason48 in charge and later under Revs. J. C. Stewart,49 A. J. Fowlie,60 E. Hardwick,61 D. F. Smith,62 J. T. Conn,68 and A. H. Cameron.64 The latter, a pioneer of Western Canada at the time of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was probably one of the best remembered of the early ministers. Presbyterian services were usually held in Fraser's Hall (or Fraternity Hall, as it came to be called), which after 1905 was shared on alternate Sundays with the Anglican church.66 In May, 1905, the Archdeacon of Columbia, Ven. Edwyn S. W. Pentreath, visited Hedley, and as a result the congregation of St. Mary's was organized, complete with Ladies' Guild.66 Rev. E. P. Flewelling became the first resident Anglican clergyman,67 and the following year he was succeeded by Rev. (41) Ibid., July 18, 1903. (42) Ibid., October 31, 1903. (43) Hedley Gazette, February 23 and June 1,1906. (44) Ibid., May 18, 1905. (45) Ibid., June 14, 1906, and June 6, 1907. (46) Ibid., July 18, 1907. (47) Ibid., September 23,1909. (48) Princeton Similkameen Star, May 30, 1903. (49) Ibid., October 3, 1903. (50) Hedley Gazette, February 11 and August 3, 1906. (61) Ibid., January 19, 1905. (52) Ibid., May 17 and September 20, 1906. (53) Ibid., October 10, 1907. (54) Ibid., September 23, 1909. (55) Ibid., September 21, 1905. (56) Ibid., May 11, 1905. (57) Ibid., September 21, 1906. 1948 The Early History of Hedley Camp. 115 E. R. Bartlett.68 Rev. Henry Irwin—Father Pat—so well known in Rossland in the early days of the camp and remembered for his many kindly acts, was an occasional visitor to Hedley in the early days of the town, and when here would conduct services in one or other of the hotels' dining-rooms. An Anglican church, however, was not built until the early years of World War I, and to C. P. Dalton, then manager of the Bank of British North America in Hedley, must go the greater amount of the credit for the building of the church, although he was loyally assisted by Arthur Clare and other members of the church. From the early days of Hedley, Roman Catholic services had been conducted at frequent intervals by visiting priests. The first school for the children of the town was opened in September, 1903, in a room at the rear of the Methodist church.59 Miss M. L. Whillans, a sister of Dr. H. A. Whillans, was Hedley's first school-teacher.60 Under the terms of the " Public Schools Act" this was known as an " assisted school," and it was administered by a board consisting of S. L. Smith (secretary), W. A. McLean, and J. Brass.61 When inspected on May 5,1904, it was reported that nineteen pupils had attended irregularly throughout the year but that good work had been done. Miss Whillans resigned in June, 1904,62 and was replaced by Mrs. A. J. Col- beck,63 and in September of that year the Hedley School District was created.64 (58) Ibid., May 3,1906, and February 7, 1907. (59) " It is expected the public school will begin about the 1st of September. The church building is kindly loaned for school purposes by M. K. Rodgers until a building is erected." Princeton Similkameen Star, August 22, 1903. (60) Miss Whillans had been the teacher at Princeton. "The resignation of Miss Whillans, teacher, was also accepted and regret expressed at the loss of one whose relations with the board were most cordial and whose services are very satisfactory to all concerned. Miss Whillans has accepted a similar position at Hedley. ..." Ibid., September 5, 1903. (61) Thirty-third Annual Report of the Public Schools of the Province of British Columbia, 1908-04, Victoria, 1904, pp. 17 and li. (62) Princeton Similkameen Star, June 11, 1904. (63) Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the Public Schools . . . 1904-05, Victoria, 1905, p. liii. J. A. Schubert had by this time replaced J. Brass on (64) Princeton Similkameen Star, October 1,1904. 116 Harry D. Barnes. April From the outset the major problem facing the Board was that of finding suitable accommodation for its school. For a time a site on Ellis Street was occupied, then the Gazette Hall was used for a few months in 1905, after which the Ellis Street property again came into use.66 It is not to be wondered that the Inspector's report contained this comment: " The teacher is working under difficulties — room too small and poorly equipped."66 When school reopened on August 21, 1905, Mrs. Colbeck had been replaced by her daughter, Alice, and the house of W. A. McLean had been leased as a school.67 Plans had, however, been drawn for a new school-house, but the tenders received were too high.68 The School Board, having secured a promise that the Provincial Government would pay the rent until a proper building was built, soon embarked on a novel plan. Several businessmen in the town, S. L. Smith and G. B. Lyon amongst others, were consulted and they " secured a lot, built a house on it and moved the school into it before the last day of January, 1906," at a cost of $756.38.69 In the meantime Miss Marion D. Lamont had become the teacher.70 In February, 1906, the plan to build a two-room school was announced, but further delays ensued and the school was not completed until July, 1907.71 Miss H. J. Blake was the first teacher in this new school.72 In passing, it should also be noted that a school was started at the Nickel Plate mine early in 1905 under Miss K. Johnson.78 Elected to the provisional School Board were G. P. Jones, Charles Joyner, and E. Mills.74 Miss M. R. Ford taught at this school (65) Hedley Gazette, April 27, 1905. (66) Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the Public Schools . . . 1904-05, Victoria, 1905, p. 47. (67) Hedley Gazette, August 24, 1905. (68) Ibid., August 31, 1905. (69) Ibid., July 19, 1906. (70) Ibid., December 28, 1905. (71) Ibid., February 22 and September 13, 1906. (72) Ibid., July 18, 1907. It was located at the foot of the mountain in the north-west corner of the townsite. (73) Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the Public Schools . . . 1904-05, Victoria, 1905, pp. 48 and lvi. (74) Hedley Gazette, January 28, 1905. 1948 The Early History op Hedley Camp. 117 during the 1905-06 term, and thereafter the school was discontinued.76 In the summer of 1904 C A. R. Lamby, Government Agent at Fairview, held an auction sale of the lots held at Hedley by the Government, and many of the lots were sold at good prices.76 About that time, too, M. K. Rodgers was successful in his negotiations with the Department of Indian Affairs at Ottawa for the purchase of the flat on Indian Reserve No. 2, which adjoined the company's mill-site. With the acquisition of this land the company had ample room for buildings for its staff, and also for sites for tailings-dam, lime-kiln, and lumber and wood yards.77 In the spring of 1904 the company announced its intention of laying pipe-lines to supply water from their Twenty Mile flume to the houses in the town,78 but evidently difficulties were encountered, for in August it was announced:— . . . the town now depends almost entirely upon two wells and a water wagon for its supply of water. All the water in the creek is now diverted for mill purposes. In the meantime until a permanent system is completed, preparations are being made to give a temporary service through pipes laid on the surface of the ground.79 This system was none too satisfactory and gave rise to the peculiar statement in the Princeton paper: " Hedley can boast of having the most unique water supply in B.C. It furnishes warm water during the day and cold at night."80 In due course pipes were laid underground and a normal service was instituted.81 During this year, too, electric power became available. As early as December, 1903, it was reported that " Electric light was used at Hedley on Saturday night [December 5] last, the dynamo being driven by steam power."82 Its use became more (75) Ibid., June 23,' 1906; Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the Schools . . . 1905-06, Victoria, 1906, p. lviii. (76) Princeton Similkameen Star, July 2, 1904. The sale was 1 June 27; the terms were 20 per cent, cash, balance in thirty days. June 11, 1904. (77) This acquisition had been mooted as early as January, 1903. January 10, 1903. (78) Ibid., April 9, 1904. (79) Ibid., August 6,1904. (80) Ibid., August 20, 1904. (81) Ibid., September 3, 1904. (82) Ibid., December 12,1903. ublic 118 Harry D. Barnes. April general the following spring, for in April the poles were in place, ready to receive the wire, and that month electric lights were used for the first time in the Methodist church.83 By the fall the houses were being wired for electric light.84 In the summer of 1904 the Similkameen Hotel was built86 and opened for business in the fall. It was a modern, well-built, and comfortable hotel and soon became a popular stopping-place for travellers. Unfortunately for the town, it was burned down in February, 1916. For some time, too, it had been rumoured that a newspaper was to be published in the town.86 This became a reality on January 19, 1905, with the appearance of the first issue of the Hedley Gazette, with Ainsley Megraw, formerly of the Vernon News and Midway Advance, as editor and manager.87 The Gazette was, under his management, a clean, well-printed, weekly paper. This newspaper suspended publication on August 16, 1917, at which time James W. Grier, a veteran newspaper-man of the Kootenay and Boundary country, was owner and editor. Hedley had the distinction of having the first bank in the Similkameen Valley, and for a short time the only bank in the valley. On April 20, 1905, the Bank of British Columbia opened a branch, with G. H. Winters as manager and L. G. MacHaffie as teller.88 Mr. Winters was shortly afterwards transferred elsewhere, and L. G. MacHaffie was promoted to manager and J. J. Irwin became the new teller.89 It was also in the summer of 1905 that John Jackson built the New Zealand Hotel90 on the site now occupied by the Shell Oil Company's station, but this hotel was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours of November 6, 1911. That fall G. H. Sproule leased a building he owned to John Lind and the Peterson brothers which, when reconstructed by them, was opened in 1906 as the Great Northern Hotel.91 The old building, though (83) Ibid., April 9 and April 16,1904. (84) Ibid., September 8, 1904. (85) Ibid., July 23, 1904. (86) Ibid., January 2 and April 2, 1904. (87) Ibid., January 28,1905; Hedley Gazette, January 19,1905. (88) Ibid., April 20,1905. (89) Ibid., June 8, 1905. (90) Ibid., August 3,1905. (91) The first advertisement for this hotel appeared in ibid., April 12, 1948 The Early History of Hedley Camp. 119 with several additions, still stands and has been in continuous operation. Hedley now had six hotels and for a few years there was business for them all, and, as was common in mining towns of the day, the hotel bars were kept open twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. In the summer of 1905 Finlay Fraser built Fraternity Hall,92 thus giving to the town its first hall for meetings, dances, and other social events. It was also used as a lodge-room by the Masonic Lodge and other fraternal organizations. When the hall was under construction, a freak wind-squall struck with such force that the building was toppled over and badly wrecked, but fortunately the men at work on it escaped with only minor injuries. Business houses were also increasing. John Love was now well established as the town's druggist, and James Clarke cleaned and repaired the watches and clocks for the camp. In September, 1905, Campbell and Shier opened their " gents furnishing and clothing store."93 Hedley was very definitely growing up, as is indicated by the number of community projects and organizations undertaken. No sketch of the early days of the town would be complete without some mention of the Twentieth Century Club, which had its birth on New Year's Eve, 1903, at a social evening held in the Methodist church.94 It had as its aims: " (a) literary and social improvement, (6) establishment and care of a circulating library and reading room, (c) securing newspapers, magazines and writing material for its members."96 During 1904 it held weekly meetings in the Methodist church and reached a membership of over 100. Its first officers, were: President, J. A. Mclntyre; vice-president, Mrs. Charles Joyner; secretary, Harvey Tingley; treasurer, Mrs. James Brass.96 Its career was, unfortunately, a short one, for it disbanded on September 7,1906, at which time the Gazette reported: The Twentieth Century Club was organized on New Years Day, 1904, that being the particular species of good resolution which moved the members thereof. Its motto, from Emerson, was " Culture, how indispensable." Thus all that winter they imbibed culture in allapathic doses, the Fridays (92) Ibid., July 13,1905. (93) Ibid., September 28, 1905. (94) Princeton Similkameen Star, January 9, 1904. (95) Hedley Gazette, January 19,1905. (96) Ibid. 120 Harry D. Barnes. April upon which meetings were held being the one bright bonbon meted out to members and visitors. The town that winter was chock full of talent, musical and histronic, some really good entertainment being given. The next summer it began to languish. Whether the lassitude was due to hay fever or some other kind of sleeping sickness, is not known, but the end came, and it is now in order to plant daisies.9' The library which the club purchased was " small but showed a good selection of books," and later arrangements were made to secure one of the travelling libraries made available by the Provincial Government.98 Even when the club was waning, at least the reading-room in the rear of the Methodist church was kept open, largely through the energy of Rev. R. W. Hibbert.99 By 1905, too, the Hedley Athletic Association was flourishing under the presidency of Dr. H. A. Whillans, and plans were afoot to establish a gymnasium.100 In August of that year the Hedley Orchestra came into being, with H. A. Wright as conductor,101 and the following month the first concert was performed for the public.102 Fraternal organizations were also not neglected. Early in March, 1905, the first steps were taken towards the organization of a Masonic Lodge. The moving spirits in this effort were A. Megraw, Arthur Clare, Finlay Fraser, and A. H. Brown.103 The probationary stage of the lodge's existence came to an end in July, 1906, when full standing was granted to Hedley Lodge, No. 43.104 A few years later an Orange Lodge was also organized.106 One of the first campaigns undertaken by the editor of the newly established Gazette was the organization of a Board of Trade. Early in January, 1905, a preliminary meeting was held, with A. Megraw as chairman and John Love as secretary,106 and formal organization was soon completed.107 While (97) Ibid., September 13,1906. (98) Ibid., January 19, 1905. (99) Ibid., August 16, 1906. . (100) Ibid., January 19, 1905. (101) Ibid., August 17, 1905. (102) Ibid., September 28, 1905. (103) Ibid., January 11, 1906. (104) Ibid., July 26,1906. (105) Ibid., December 23, 1909. Its officers included John Jamieson, A. J. King, F. Dallemore, and Norman Weir. (106) Ibid., January 19, 1905. (107) Ibid., February 2, 1905. The officers were W. A. McLean, president; J. D. Brass, vice-president; A. Megraw, secretary. The Early History of Hedley Camp. 121 there was temporarily much enthusiasm, the interest began to wane, but later, in 1907, the organization was reorganized108 and continued to function with greater success. In September, 1905, a change was made in the management of the Daly Reduction Company. M. K. Rodgers was succeeded as manager by R. B. Lamb, A. H. Brown was succeeded as mill superintendent by W. H. Brule, and Arthur Clare ceased to be mill foreman. However, Gomer P. Jones continued on as mine superintendent. Employees and residents of the camp alike were sorry to have to say " good-bye " to Mr. Rodgers and the members of his staff who were leaving with him. For the year that R. B. Lamb was manager, the Nickel Plate was a steady producer, and it might be noted that it was under his management that the present machine and carpentry shops were built and equipped with all the necessary machines and tools for making any needed repairs to the plant. In the fall of 1906 R. B. Lamb was replaced by F. A. Ross as manager and E. A. Holbrook replaced W. H. Brule as mill superintendent, and a few- months later Arthur Clare returned to take up his former position as mill foreman. During the three years that Mr. Ross was manager, the mine continued to make steady shipments of ore to the mill at Hedley, which was also supplemented by ore from Sunnyside Nos. 2, 3, and 4, where important ore-bodies had been developed while Rodgers was still manager. During the early years of the mill's operation many were the visitors who came from far and near to see the plant and to have explained to them the various processes used to extract the gold and also, if possible, to ride up the tramways to the mine. In the spring of 1907 the Geological Survey of Canada sent in Charles Camsell to make a survey of Hedley Camp, and the field-work was completed the following summer. Camsell's very comprehensive report on the geology of the camp was printed by the Department of Mines at Ottawa in 1910.109 These changes in company management naturally affected the town, which was almost entirely dependent upon the mine (108) Ibid., June 6,1907. The new officers were R. G. Shier, president; . John Love, vice-president; L. G. MacHaffie, secretary. (109) Charles Camsell, The Geology and Ore Deposits of Hedley Mining District, British Columbia, Canada, Department of Mines, Geological Survey Branch, Memoir No. 2, Ottawa, 1910, passim. 122 Harry D. Barnes. April and the mill. An indication of this dependence is reflected in the history of the Hedley hospital. In February, 1905, employees of the Daly Reduction Company discussed the possibility of establishing a hospital.110 Many meetings were held, and a public subscription raised which, together with a grant of $1,000 from the Provincial Government, assured the funds for the construction of the building. In September the General Hospital Society was organized, with a provisional board comprising G. P. Jones and John McKinnon from the mill, and Finlay Fraser, F. H. French, and L. G. MacHaffie from the town. In addition, deeds of two town lots were transferred to the society by Messrs. Hedlund and Thomas.111 The following month a temporary hospital of two beds was opened in the building on Ellis Street vacated by the school.112 The following year the hospital was incorporated,113 and in the spring of 1907 the new building was erected by Messrs. Boeing and Brass. The building is a three storey structure 24 x 40 feet with a wing 16 x 26. The lowest floor or basement contains kitchen and laundry and the main floor, entrance to which from the outside is made from the hillside, comprises the hallway, one large five-bed ward, two private wards, operating room and bath-room. The third-storey is yet unfinished but could supply two comfortable bedrooms for nurses.114 However, the hospital was not opened until the early spring of 1910, at which time the Gazette made the following explanation of the delay. Although young in years it has experienced the rigors of adversity, and that at a very early period of its existence, for the scheme was scarcely launched until a staggering blow was administered to it by accession to power of .unsympathetic management of the leading industry of the place, and without the active sympathetic interest and co-operation of that industry the institution could not drag out an existence. That blow was administered when Lamb became manager and the weight of it was not lifted until his successor, F. A. Ross had taken his departure. But it is pleasing to note that as it was the attitude of indifferent aloofness on the part of the management of the D. R. Co. which left the institution practically stranded and unable to open its doors when the building was completed, it was from the same institution that succor came under the new ownership, for it was (110) Hedley Gazette, February 23,1905. (111) Ibid., September 21, 1905. (112) Ibid., October 5 and 26,1905. (113) Ibid., August 23, 1906. • (114) Ibid., March 17,1910. 1948 The Early History of Hedley Camp. 123 the generous vote of $500.00 by the directors of the present company in New York which put fresh life in the people here and encouraged others to help until the $500 has grown to $1300 and a sufficient sum was in hand to enable the institution to be opened for the reception of patients, while a contribution of 50 cents per month from each employee is an important lift for the board in providing funds for running expenses.!!6 The first operation was performed in the hospital on February 23, 1910.116 Dr. M. D. McEwen was the surgeon-in-chief, and Miss Bond and Miss Fraser, both of Vancouver, were the first two nurses. The hospital was closed down in the fall of 1930 and never reopened, and finally in 1945 the affairs of the society were wound up and it passed out of existence. During the twenty years the hospital was in operation, it gave good service to the community and district, but, like many other small hospitals, receipts seldom, if ever, kept up with expenses, and at the end of the year there was usually a deficit which had to be met in order to keep the hospital in operation. In the years 1906-08 building operations had slackened off somewhat, although T. H. Rotheram built and opened his poolroom and store on Scott Avenue in the summer of 1907. Shortly after his arrival, Rotheram organized a volunteer fire brigade, which later gave valuable service to the community in fighting the fires which occurred from time to time. As early as 1903 the possibility of telephone connection with other parts of the Province had been discussed.117 However, two years were to pass before the Dominion Government built a line from Kam- loops to Penticton by way of Merritt, Princeton, Hedley, and Keremeos. By February, 1905, the valley had direct wire connection with the outside world, for a telephone had been installed in John Love's drug-store.118 Later an exchange was installed at the rear of this store, and Love received the appointment as agent.119 Originally the wires had been strung on trees, but by July, 1907, it was announced that they had been put on poles from Hedley to Vernon.120 Still further evidence of the town's (115) Ibid. (116) Ibid., March 3,1910. (117) Princeton Similkameen Star, November 21, 1903. (118) Hedley Gazette, February 2 and 16,1905. (119) Ibid., September 7 and October 12,1905. (120) Ibid., July 4, 1907. 124 Harry D. Barnes. April growth was the organization of the Hedley Golf Club in April, 1909, with the links laid out on Pinto Flat.121 The Daly Estate in 1909 gave an option on all its holdings in the Hedley Camp to a New York syndicate headed by I. L. Merrill. That spring the syndicate sent in a party of five or six people to sample and make an examination of the mine. The examination took a good part of the summer to make, and, when completed, the decision was reached to take up the option. A new company, the Hedley Gold Mining Company, Limited, now came into being and took over the former company.122 In the reorganization which followed, Gomer P. Jones became general superintendent and Roscoe Wheeler, of Oakland, California, was engaged as mill superintendent. B. W. Knowles, one of the original examining party, became the mine engineer and William Sampson, who had been a shiftboss, was promoted to mine foreman. F. A. Ross and E. A. Holbrook, after a residence of three years at Hedley, left the camp, taking with them the good wishes of employees and residents of the town. For years one of the great needs of the valley had been proper railroad connection with the outside. The agitation for such a line was prolonged123 and, with the advent of rival proposals, at times, heated. Principal contenders were the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway and the Great Northern Railway. In 1908 the latter company, having acquired the charter of its rival, commenced the grading of their line from Keremeos to Brookmere, and steel was laid during the following summer and fall. Regular train service was commenced on December 23, 1909, and the first train from Oroville to Princeton arrived at Hedley Station at 11 a.m.124 The station at Hedley has not yet been built, but a box car has been provided on a siding with steps leading up to it, a stove placed therein and shelves around the sides for parcels and luggage.125 (121) Ibid., April 22, 1909. (122) Ibid., September 16 and October 14, 1909. (123) Princeton Simifaneen Star, January 10, 1903; February 23 and 30, 1904. (124) Hedley Gazette, December 23, 1909. Actually the first car to reach Hedley over the line had come in on September 14 [ibid., September 16, 1909], and the first car to come through direct from Spokane to Hedley was the superintendent's private car, bringing in I. L. Merrill, the president of the new mine company. Ibid., October 14,1909. (125) Ibid., December 23, 1909. 1948 The Early History of Hedley Camp. With the coming of the railroad the four-horse freight teams and stages disappeared from the roads, and a new era was entered upon. Of all the many prospectors who once had climbed the steep slopes of Nickel Plate Mountain and of near-by Apex, Northey, and Riordon Mountains, and had there trenched, dug open-cuts, sunk shafts, and driven tunnels in their search for gold, how very few now remain. Some had left early for distant, green fields; others, with more faith, stayed on until no longer able to do the assessment-work on their claims; many are . now dead. A few attained wealth, others made a smaller stake, but the majority gained experience only as the recompense for their labour. With their passing went much of the romance and glamour of those early days of Camp Hedley, the memories of which still linger on in the hearts of the few. Harry D. Barnes.* Hedley, B.C. * The author wishes to express his thanks to Rev. John Goodfellow, Princeton, B.C., for his interest in the writing of the history of Hedley, and also to Mr. W. E. Ireland, Provincial Librarian and Archivist, for his n verifying many of the details mentioned in this account and is suggested additions to the text. McCREIGHT AND THE LAW.* John Foster McCreight was born in Caledon, County Tyrone, in Ulster, in 1827 and was baptized in the Caledon church.1 His father, Rev. James McCreight, was curate of the church from 1825 to 1835, and a monument to him is to be found there. His mother, Elizabeth Foster, was the daughter of the Rev. William Foster, at one time Bishop of Clogher. Rev. William Foster's brother was John Foster, famous as the last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. McCreight's father came from County Armagh and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1813 and his Master of Arts degree much later, in 1832. He spent most of his short life as a curate, at Seapatrick in County Down, at Killeavy in County Armagh, and then at Caledon in County Tyrone, where he passed ten years and was apparently much loved and respected. In 1835 he became rector and vicar at Keady, in County Armagh, only to die in the same year at the age of 43. Of his relatives, little is known, although Mr. J. D. McCreight, a resident of Metchosin, Vancouver Island, writing to Dr. R. L. Reid in 1941 explained that his grandfather was a cousin of John Foster McCreight and that his grandfather had lived in County Down.2 Elizabeth Foster McCreight was one of a family of seven. Her grandfather, Anthony Foster, was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland from 1766 to 1777 and was a Member of Parliament for County Louth. Her uncle distinguished himself in parliament as the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, while her father became a prominent churchman. Even here the parliamentary connection was not broken, as for some time the Rev. William Foster served as chaplain to the Irish House of "The second in a series of four articles dealing with aspects of the career of John Foster McCreight. (1) Information on the family and early life of McCreight was obtained by P. Crossle, Esq., Librarian, Grand Lodge of A.F. and A.M. of Ireland, Dublin, at the request of the late Dr. Robie L. Reid. (2) J. D. McCreight to Robie L. Reid, July 5, 1940, and February 8, 1941. 128 Patricia M. Johnson. April Commons. He was consecrated a bishop in 1789, serving as Bishop of Cork and Ross for a year, Bishop of Kilmore for six years, and finally as Bishop of Clogher, in which office he died in 1797. Elizabeth Foster's brothers and sisters all seemed to marry well, and they and their children occupied prominent positions. Her eldest brother, the Right Hon. John Leslie Foster, carried on the parliamentary tradition of the family as Member of Parliament for County Louth and Baron of the Exchequer of Ireland. Her second brother, the Right Rev. William Henry Foster, entered the church and was subsequently consecrated bishop. Her four sisters, Catherine, Anna, Henrietta, and Letitia, each married; Henrietta became the Countess de Salis and was famous in court circles in England; Letitia became the wife of John North, noted as being Member of Parliament for Trinity College, Dublin. It is important to note that John Foster McCreight had these connections with the Foster family. They set his background and his tradition. It is also important to find that four of his cousins emigrated to Australia and achieved most of their fame there. John Foster McCreight's own family has been the subject of some investigation. He was the oldest of the children, born eight years before his father died. He had a sister, Letitia, who married Edward Jeffreys, and who survived him, as she was a beneficiary to the extent of £50 under his will. There was a younger brother, William, born in 1832, recorded as having matriculated in 1851 at the age of 19 in the Trinity College, Dublin, lists. No previous record mentions another sister whose name appears in McCreight's will. She was Anna Dorothea McCreight " who at present [1909] resides at Nice, France," and she, too, was left £50. In addition to this, probably because she was unmarried, she was left an annuity of £72 a year. However, she did not receive these benefits, for she predeceased her brother and her legacies were removed from his will by a codicil dated May 2 1912.3 (3) Last will and testament of John Foster McCreight, dated August I, 1909; probated at Lewes, England, December 5, 1913. 1948 McCreight and the Law. 129 Little is known of McCreight's early years. There is every possibility that after his father's death his mother would receive some assistance from her wealthier relations and that they assisted in the education of the children. There has been some difficulty in discovering where McCreight got his legal training. It was taken for granted that he was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and had been called to the Irish Bar. However, Trinity College reported no record of him as a student and the Honorable Society of King's Inns, Dublin, had no evidence of his call to the Bar. Here the matter seemed to end in apparent contradiction, especially as the records of the Roll of Barristers of the Supreme Court of the Colony of Victoria, Australia, stated: " Date of Call, King's Inns, Dublin, November 9,1852."4 Then there was McCreight's own application for admission to the Bar of Vancouver Island, which read:— I John Foster McCreight do solemnly and sincerely declare that I am a Barrister at Law duly authorized to practise in the Superior Courts of Ireland and that I was called to the Bar by the Honorable Society of Kings Inns in the Michaelmas Term in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty two 1852 and that I am the person named in the Certificate now produced.6 With this evidence further inquiries were made in Ireland. The following letter seems to substantiate the original idea regarding his training and legal standing: The Honorable Society of King's Inns, Dublin, 15/10/46. Dear Madam, . On receipt this mo rning of yours of Oct. 10, I have looked up our and find that on No v. 9, 1852, John Foster McCreight was called to the I ■ish Bar. He entered King's nns s s a student in Michaelmas Term, 1848, being at that time a student of Tr nity College, Dublin. The re is no doubt that h s claim to be a member of the Irish Bar was entirely justified. Yours faithfully, Theodore C. Tobias (signed) es, A Under-Treasurer.6 W P. Mander Jon ting Mitchell Librarian, Sydney, Australia, in the author, dated September 3, 1946. isigned and undated application, MS., Archives of B.C. leodore C. Tobias in a letter to the author, dated October 15, 130 Patricia M. Johnson. April There is every reason to believe that McCreight never practised as a barrister in Ireland. After his call to the Bar in November, 1852, he must have left almost immediately for Australia, as he was admitted to the Bar in Melbourne, Victoria, on September 29, 1853. His office was located in Temple Court, Melbourne.7 It will be noticed that McCreight was 26 years of age when he completed his training and set out to make a living. His choice of Australia was almost certainly determined by the fact that he had relations there connected with legal affairs. Both John Vesey Fitzgerald Foster and William Stawell, his cousins, had been in' Victoria, Australia, since 18428 and both were becoming influential there. In addition, William John Foster was engaged in legal work in New South Wales, and yet another cousin, William Fane de Salis, was a member of the Legislative Council of the same colony. A theory has been advanced that some matrimonial entanglement or scandal caused the journey to Australia, but this is difficult to prove or refute. It seems quite obvious that McCreight had to make a living as a lawyer, that good opportunities awaited him in Australia, and that his relatives would urge him to join them. In 1853 John Foster McCreight began the second stage of his life as a barrister in Australia. It seems obvious that he went there sure of a welcome and sure, too, of finding a place for himself in the legal profession. Very soon after his arrival in Melbourne he was admitted to the Bar of the Colony of Victoria. He practised as a barrister for six years and at one time served as Crown Prosecutor in the General Sessions. This is evidence enough that he was not only an able lawyer, but was among friends, otherwise no young lawyer, newly arrived in the colony, would have held so important an official position. There are few details available of his personal dealings with his relatives in Australia, but as they obviously influenced his career, it is important to know something of these men. The most colourful of the group was John Vesey Fitzgerald Foster, who arrived in Australia in 1841. He was the- son of Elizabeth (7) Information supplied by P. Mander Jones. (8) P. S. Cleary, Australia's Debt to Irish Nation-builders, Sydney, Australia, 1933, passim. 1948 McCreight and the Law. 131 Foster McCreight's oldest brother, and he is somewhat difficult to trace as he later changed his name and became known as Vesey Fitzgerald in order that he might inherit his mother's property. He first engaged in farming in the Port Phillip region, as Melbourne was then known. Victoria became a separate colony in 1851, and two years later he was appointed Colonial Secretary. He was apparently somewhat arbitrary in his political views and ran counter to the prevailing sentiments of the colony. In 1854 the famous " Eureka riots " occurred. Large gold discoveries had been made at Golden Point, near Melbourne, and miners flocked to the scene. The Governor of the colony, Sir Charles Hotham, attempted to control the activities by putting in claims for the Government and charging a licence fee. The miners resented this and made protests, but the Governor reinforced his demands with troops, and violent outbreaks occurred. In the end, order was restored and the leading rebels were brought to trial. They were defended so ably by a liberal- minded lawyer, R. D. Ireland, that they were acquitted, and the whole episode turned the political field over to the " rebels." In fact, their leader, Peter Lalor, became the Member of Parliament for Ballarat, a position he held for forty years. Foster resigned from the position of Colonial Secretary, taking the blame for the affair. He remained in Melbourne for six years, but never again achieved prominence, and later returned to Ireland. It was claimed that actually he had become the scapegoat also for his cousin, William Foster Stawell, the son of Elizabeth Foster McCreight's sister, Anna. Although called to the Irish Bar, he did not practise in Ireland. There seems to be a similarity here with McCreight's own career, though this happened ten years earlier. Stawell arrived in Melbourne in 1842, at the age of 27, and soon built up a large legal practice, as well as taking up farm land. He acted as Attorney-General for a short time in the first Victorian ministry, and as such was partly responsible for the " Eureka riots." In this regard Cleary, perhaps unfairly, states:— . . . [the governor's] . . . chief advisors were two ' ascendancy' Irishmen, William Stawell and his cousin Vesey Fitzgerald Foster. Foster took the obloquy which William Stawell earned.9 (9) Ibid., p. 107. 132 Patricia M. Johnson. April Whatever the truth, Stawell did not suffer from the affair, for in 1857 he was appointed Chief Justice of Victoria, and as " a masterful and sound lawyer " he drafted the Victoria Constitution Act and several Judicature Acts.10 Once again there is a similarity to McCreight and his later work in British Columbia.11 These two men, it may be safely assumed, were the ones with whom McCreight would be associated in Melbourne. It is easy to see that their relationship might prove a difficulty as well as an advantage. Both had the reputation for autocracy in a free, independent society. Both were regarded as somewhat prone to use their influential connections to further their own ends. Stawell especially was anti-Catholic, indeed, it was remarked that anyone wishing a position in Victoria " while Mr. Stawell holds office should add Orange theology to the indispensable brogue."12 Under these circumstances it is quite possible that McCreight would feel a little uneasy. He was undoubtedly an able lawyer, but there were many splendid Irish barristers practising in the colony. He was at a disadvantage while pleading before the Chief Justice, his own cousin, whether their views coincided or not. There is a feeling that McCreight would not be entirely in sympathy with Stawell, although he had a somewhat autocratic nature himself, but any hint of "family compact" would be obnoxious to him. There had been enough of that in the Eureka dealings with Vesey Foster—an incident which McCreight had witnessed and in which he was almost certainly forced to side with his cousins, an unpopular position for a young lawyer. It seems probable that with the slackening of the gold fever and its subsequent litigation, McCreight felt that a change would be for the best. Emigrant Irishmen were too plentiful in Victoria, he would go farther afield. His destination was obvious; many of the people attracted to Australia by the mines were (10) Ibid., p. 116. (11) Stawell was knighted in 1858. He served as Chief Justice for twenty-nine years, at times acting as temporary Governor. On his retirement he was created a K.CM.G. and the following year became Lieutenant- Governor of Victoria. He died in Naples in March, 1889, while on a trip to Europe. The fact that he was the first Chancellor of Melbourne University is an interesting side-light on his career. (12) Cleary, op. cit, p. 130. 1948 McCreight and the Law. following this trail to the West Coast of America. Here a small settlement existed, possessing a solid British connection and in need of lawyers. Thus McCreight came to Vancouver Island, probably by way of San Francisco. He arrived in Victoria in 1860 and started his law practice.13 As most of McCreight's work was done in British Columbia, it is only necessary at this point to give a brief outline of his life there. From 1860 to 1880 he lived in Victoria, residing on Michigan Street and having his law office on Government Street.14 He acted as junior for a well-known barrister, D. Bab- ington Ring, but did not seem to be in partnership as Ring's office was located fir.st at Fort and Douglas Streets and later on Langley Street. An 1862 subscription list to the Royal Hospital, Victoria, included: " McCreight, M. $5.00."16 From 1871 until 1875 McCreight was connected with political affairs, then returned to his extensive law practice. In 1880 he was made a Judge, and after that time he did not reside in Victoria for more than brief periods of time. That he entered into the life of the city during these years is shown not only in his legal and political activities, but in his work for Christ Church Cathedral and for the Masonic order. His period of political activity as Attorney- General, as the first Premier of British Columbia, and as a private member for Victoria has been detailed elsewhere,16 and his Masonic affiliation has been thoroughly discussed,17 it remains for his work as a barrister to be examined in detail. John Foster McCreight was admitted to the Bar of Vancouver Island on June 26, 1860. He was admitted to the Bar of British (13) The first mention of McCreight in print occurred in the Victoria Colonist, August 11, 1860. His name did not appear in Edward Mallan- daine (ed.), First Victoria Directory, First Issue . . . I860, Victoria, 1860, nor in F. P. Howard and George Barnett, The British Columbia and Victoria Guide and Directory for 1863, Victoria, 1863. (14) Edward Mallandaine (ed.), First Victoria Directory, Second Issue . . . 1868, Victoria, 1868, p. 39. (15) Victoria Colonist, January 18, 1862. (16) W. N. Sage, " John Foster McCreight, the First Premier of British Columbia," Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, XXXIV (1940), Section II, pp. 173-185. (17) R. L. Reid, " R.W. Bro. John Foster McCreight," Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge A.F. and AM. of British Columbia, 70th Annual Communication, Vancouver, 1941, pp. 173 ff. 134 Patricia M. Johnson. April Columbia on November 30, 1862, but the next month his name was removed from the roll of barristers at his own request. In 1867, after the union of the colonies, an Ordinance was passed allowing barristers who had been practising in either colony the right to practise in the united colony,18 thus McCreight's work could again extend beyond Vancouver Island. On April 2,1873, ■ McCreight was appointed a Queen's Counsel,19 and he continued his law practice until November 26,1880, when he was elevated to the Bench.20 As a lawyer, McCreight showed himself at his best. Not only had he the training for the profession, but he had the temperament also. The law and its intricacies appealed to his analytical mind and stimulated all his powers. His knowledge of the subject was extensive; and frequent remarks showed that his legal skill was recognized and admired by his contemporaries. The cases in which he acted were many and varied, but all point to his ability, his erudition, and his profound interest in the technicalities of the subject. The cases are important, too, in that they show something of the life of the times and the problems that confronted the early settlers. The first case in which McCreight gained any notice from the press was tried in the Court of Assize at Victoria on August 10, 1860. This was Regina v. R. Lewis, involving the shooting of a Hydah Indian named Johnson. The Attorney-General, G. H. Cary, prosecuted, while the counsels for the defendant were D. Babington Ring and his junior, John Foster McCreight.21 Of the two, McCreight made the better showing. By his handling of the Indian witnesses he was able to show that the evidence was insufficient to convict Lewis, and the defendant consequently was found " not guilty."22 The next case to be reported took place before Chief Justice David Cameron in the Supreme Court on November 13, 1860. Here McCreight appeared on behalf of E. Hammond King on the (18) "An Ordinance making provision for Barristers-at-Law, Attorneys, Notaries Public, and Articled Clerks, of the late Colony of Vancouver Island," March 7, 1867. (19) First reported in the Victoria Colonist, April 25, 1873. (20) Ibid., December 1, 1880. (21) Ibid., August 11, 1860. (22) Ibid., August 14, 1860. 1948 McCreight and the Law. return of a writ of habeas corpus. The prisoner, it was claimed, had been held without warrant from November 6 until November 12, supposedly on a charge of contempt of Court, arising from a charge of assault. In a lengthy speech McCreight supported his claim quoting " Burns Justices v. V. pp 1202 . . . Dicken's Quarter Sessions, pp 99 . . . Bailey on Convictions, pp 81." The learned counsel concluded by again citing his authorities, and said that in the whole of the law books his lordship would not find a single instance to warrant the Court of Petty Sessions imprisoning for a contempt of Court; and he believed his lordship, if he remanded the prisoner to jail, would have to decide as no English judge had ever before decided.28 Chief Justice Cameron had had little, if any, legal training and doubtless it came as a surprise when his decision went against McCreight's client:— ... I cannot hold that the commitment is so defective as to warrant this court to discharge the prisoner. It is, no doubt, slovenly drawn, but its defects are aided by the conviction, and I must, therefore, order the prisoner to be remanded, whence he came. It is not for this court to say to the one below what is an adequate punishment for a contempt, and of the nature described in the conviction.24 McCreight's cases in 1861 showed great variety. On January 29 Ring and McCreight successfully defended William Mill- ington, charged with the murder of Robert Coombs, with Attorney-General Cary and H. P. P. Crease acting for the Crown.26 The next week found Ring and McCreight appearing before a Coroner's inquest on behalf of Dr. William Rumsey, the medical attendant of Edward Portnam who had died under suspicious circumstances in the American Saloon.26 The inquest dragged on until February 9, when a verdict of " death from apoplexy" was returned.27. An interesting sidelight on McCreight's temperament, as well as his relationship with this particular client, is provided by the following extract from the Victoria Colonist:— Rencounter.—Yesterday, about noon, a lawyer and a M.D., both well known in this community, met at the corner of Fort and Government streets, (23) Ibid., November 14, 1861. (24) Ibid., November 15, 1860. (25) Ibid., January 30, 1861. (26) Ibid., February 5, 1861. (27) Ibid., February 11, 1861. 1 136 Patricia M. Johnson. April where some words of an unknown import passed between them, and the doctor was felled to the ground by a blow from the lawyer. A friend of the M.D. interfered, when he too was knocked down by the lawyer. A fight ensued, and several severe blows were given by the legal gentleman to his antagonists, who finally retired, leaving him master of the field. A large crowd were drawn together by the affray. A warrant, we learn, will be issued for the arrest of the victor.28 One can only surmise the motives impelling McCreight, and in the subsequent Police Court action he pleaded guilty to the assault charge and was fined £5 by the Magistrate.29 Later in February, Ring and McCreight temporarily parted company. In the case of Cusson v. Little, before the Supreme Court for the recovery of a sum of money, the plaintiff, represented by Ring, won the case while the defendant, represented by McCreight, had to pay. This is one of the very few cases, and a trivial one at that, in which McCreight lost.30 In April the two were colleagues once more in two cases, Wasserman v. Davis and Nicol v. Bell. The former involved a judgment sent from California for collection, and the point argued by McCreight was whether a judgment could be collected in Vancouver Island without due notice having been given.31 In the end the Court pronounced judgment for McCreight's client. Mute testimony to the efficacy of his argument is to be found in the newspaper account: "After a lengthy argument, it appeared that the law on both sides was fully exhausted."32 Then the next month "instructed by Mr. [George Edgar] Dennes" Ring and McCreight represented the plaintiff in the famous Church Reserve suit brought by Bishop Modeste Demers of the Roman Catholic Church against Bishop George Hills of the Anglican Church.38 The case was an involved one34 and (28) Ibid., March 2, 1861. (29) Ibid., March 4, 1861. (30) Ibid., February 21, 1861. (31) Ibid., April 20, 1861. (32) Ibid., April 27, 1861. (33) Ibid., May 4, 1861. (34) " Piles and piles of law books were on the table before them. To give our readers a faint idea of what an infliction is in store for the Chief Justice, the jury, and others, we counted in front of the counsel for the defendants 47 volumes, and in front of the counsel for the plaintiff, 26 volumes, making a total of 73 packages of legal knowledge bound in calf." Ibid., May 7, 1861. 1948 McCreight and the Law. 137 occupied the Court for six days, and eventually ended in a decision in favour of Bishop Demers, with damages of £5 assessed against Bishop Hills.36 The trial was marked by many quarrels between the counsel, as is made clear by the newspaper account:— The quarrels of the counsel on either side occupied the time of the Court and exhausted the patience of the judge, jury, and spectators. . . . The special jury of eight, at the close of the day, seemed about as near used-up as any body of men we have met for a long while, and if they survive the fearful ordeal through which they have yet to pass, should be excused from jury duty for all time to come.86 Shortly thereafter, McCreight, acting with H. P. P. Crease, took part in an equally interesting case in the Police Court—the Victoria Water Case—in which Leopold Loewenberg was charged with trespassing on a Government reserve. McCreight " quoted authorities to show that the case could be settled in the Police Court," and Loewenberg was dismissed.87 Of even greater importance was McCreight's defence of the Hudson's Bay Company against an application by the Attorney- General of Vancouver Island for an injunction restraining the Company from selling land in Victoria. The anomalous situation then existing had arisen from the fact that the Hudson's Bay Company had been given proprietary rights at the time of the establishment of the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island in 1849. Following the parliamentary inquiry in 1857, the Colonial Office announced its intention of repurchasing Vancouver Island when the Company's Exclusive Licence of Trade expired on May 30, 1859. Great difficulty was encountered in drawing up the indenture of reconveyance, and, indeed, the surrender was not completed until April 3,1867; consequently, in the interim, confusion existed as to the validity of titles granted by the Company subsequent to the notice by the Crown of its intention to resume Vancouver Island. As was to be expected, McCreight " brought forward many authorities to prove that the injunction could not issue "38 and the decision was rendered in his favour.39 (35) Ibid., May 11, 1861. (36) Ibid., May 4, 1861. (37) Ibid., May 15, 1861. (38) Ibid., June 8, 1861. (39) Ibid,, June 19, 1861. Patricia M. Johnson. April A case in Equity in the Supreme Court brought in some well- known local figures. In the suit of James Wilcox v. J. D. and A. F. Pemberton, the plaintiff, represented by McCreight, charged that the Pembertons had hurt his business by keeping a bar across the Victoria bridge and asked for an injunction restraining them from so doing. The defendants, represented by H. P. P. Crease, for whom G. H. Cary appeared, declared that the bridge was old and unsafe and urged that the authori- ities should destroy it. At first the case was reserved, but it was later reviewed and a settlement effected.40 In October, 1861, there occurred a Police Court case which attracted wide attention because of its bearing on the colour question in the colony. On September 25 a " Grand Concert" was arranged for the benefit of the Royal Hospital under the patronage of the Governor and Capt. D. M. McKenzie of H.M.S. Bacchante. During the performance flour was poured on two negroes and they retaliated. " The fire-bell was rang [sic], the engines rolled, and quite an excitement ensued."41 The two negroes, Nathan Painter and Miften W. Gibbs, laid a charge of assault against William L. Ryckman, who, as it turned out, was an innocent bystander.42 But a more serious development followed, when, on the complaint of the Chief of Police, it was charged that James A. McCrea and Edward Boyce had " conspired to create a riot at the theatre."42 In this action the prosecution was undertaken by Ring and Dennes and the defence by McCreight and George Pearkes. " The Theatre Rumpus," as it became known, grew out of the alleged attempt of the defendants to bribe two of the performers at the " Grand Concert"—Madame Ballagny and Felix Lesbonis or Ledeirer—not to sing before negroes, a considerable number of whom were in the audience—the first recorded attempt to create a colour distinction in the colony. It was alleged that when this failed and the performance began, the defendants disrupted matters by throwing onions at the artists and eventually had had to be removed by force. McCreight sought to prove that the affair had been much exaggerated. In so far as McCrea was (40) Ibid., August 15 and 23, 1861. (41) Ibid., September 26, 1861. (42) Ibid., October 11, 1861. 1948 McCreight and the Law. 139 concerned, he declared " there is no proof of conspiracy, and I am sure he would be the last person to throw a missile at a lady."48 It was his contention that McCrea had merely hissed and told Ledeirer not to sing, certainly not a matter of conspiracy or riot. The case, however, was referred to the Assize Court. On November 13 McCreight made application in the Supreme Court for a jury de metietate linguse,u the first such application in the history of the colony. In this the Attorney-General concurred and, in consequence, when the case came to trial on November 20, a jury comprising six British subjects and six foreign subjects was empanelled.45 The plaintiff asked for a postponement, as the star witness, George Little, had been "carried away accidentally" on the mail steamer. It was suggested that McCrea had arranged this, but no postponement was granted. Felix Ledeirer, when asked whether McCrea had offered him $50 if he would not sing before negroes, replied, "Non." When asked further by McCreight: "Did you not intend to take the $50 and not sing, but Mme Ballagny pushed you up in a corner, and told you she would box your ears if you did not go on the stage with her?" the singer, amid the laughter of the Court, replied: " Non; I say to Mme Ballagny,' I better not sing'; and she say,' Felix, you will sing,' and then I sing." In this way McCreight reduced the whole affair to an absurdity. In conclusion, the learned gentleman claimed that no riot had been proven, and said that the only thing he regretted was that the Court and Jury had been brought together to waste time in trying such a case, and that the majesty of the law was very nearly made a farce of by the trial of such With this the jury agreed, for the defendants were found " not guilty." At the end of the year an entirely different case attracted considerable attention. McCreight, along with Ring and (43) Ibid., October 15,1861. (44) Ibid., November 14, 1861. (46) The jury empanelled comprised the following: British subjects— Benjamin P. Griffin (Foreman), Albert Hicks, Richard A. Crowther, Archibald Matthieson, George H. Sanders, and Thomas Smith; foreign subjects- William Zelner, Kady Gambitz, Charles Vereydhen, E. Grancini, Moses Sporborg, and William H. Oliver. Ibid., November 21, 1861. (46) Ibid. 140 Patricia M. Johnson. April Pearkes, acted as counsel for Capt. George T. Gordon, late Treasurer of the Colony of Vancouver Island, charged in the Police Court with Treasury defalcation.47 At that time the sum of money involved was £140, and it was generally recognized that the difficulty arose from a probable error on the Captain's part, for after the evidence had been heard McCreight remarked:— In short, the amount of Captain Gordon's offence, so far as these two sums are concerned, is in entering them on the 14th of Dec, and in setting down a figure 1 instead of 4.48 Later he suggested: " I suppose any of the gentlemen at the head of departments here, not being conversant with business, make occasional errors in their accounts." Gordon, however, was remanded for trial before the Assize Court, and in the interim other defalcations were discovered. When the trial opened on January 22, 1862, the charge covered three counts, amounting in all to £465, and the Captain was found guilty on two counts, with a strong recommendation for mercy. As some of the evidence had been conflicting, Ring asked the presiding Judge, Chief Justice David Cameron, for an arrest of judgment, and on January 28 McCreight addressed the Court in support of the motion, claiming " that according to law the indictment should have stated that the prisoner had committed a larceny."49 On this technicality he tried his best to gain a release for his client and drew great applause for a " perspicuous and able argument." As a result of this plea, the prisoner was discharged, but was rearrested on the street soon after leaving the Court.60 The new trial, this time for embezzlement of public funds, came up in April. The jury, however, reached no conclusion, as they continued to argue the motives of the prisoner rather than the facts of the case, for the general public believed that the money had not been taken with felonious intent, but by an error.61 As no agreement was reached, Captain Gordon was (47) Ibid., December 27, 1861. (48) Ibid. (49) Ibid., January 29, 1862. (50) Ibid., February 1, 1862. (61) Ibid., April 11, 1862. 1948 McCreight and the Law. 141 kept in prison under the terms of the Bankruptcy Act,62 and it was some time before arrangements were made for his release. Public excitement over the Gordon case had hardly subsided when yet another defalcation was uncovered. Three gold bars had been left with Aime Marchand, a Belgian assayer, by Messrs. Sporborg & Goldstone for assay. Marchand in turn sold them to Wells, Fargo Company for $1,326.45 and absconded with the proceeds.53 He was subsequently recaptured and brought to trial in the Police Court, with Ring acting for the defence and McCreight holding a watching brief for Wells, Fargo Company. The latter made application for the custody of the bars, but this was opposed by the Attorney-General on the grounds that they were the rightful property of Messrs. Sporborg & Goldstone.64 The case was remanded to the Assize Court, but the grand jury, ignoring a bill for larceny, returned an indictment for " selling goods deposited for a special purpose,"66 and Marchand was found guilty and sentenced to one year in jail. At the conclusion of the trial the Attorney-General moved for the return of the gold bars to Messrs. Sporborg & Goldstone and was opposed by McCreight, again acting for Wells, Fargo Company.66 The most spectacular trial in which McCreight participated took place at the end of 1862. This was the famous case of Cranford v. Wright at the assizes in New Westminster. The case created widespread interest, as it dealt with the transportation of supplies from the Coast to the Cariboo and affected men of all sorts from Victoria to Williams Creek. This case brought out clearly another phase of McCreight as a lawyer. On Vancouver Island he had been practising before the Chief Justice, David Cameron, who had never been a barrister and who would easily recognize that McCreight knew a great deal more about the law than he did. Now that he had come to a case on the Mainland, McCreight found himself before Matthew Baillie Begbie, who not only had a competent legal education, but also an overruling will and dictatorial manner. It has been pointed (52) Ibid., April 23, 1862. (53) Ibid., April 9, 1862. (54) Ibid., April 10, 1862. (55) Ibid., April 17 and May 1, 1862. (56) Ibid., April 18, 1862. 142 Patricia M. Johnson. April out that although Begbie received his legal training in London, he had had little experience and consequently no great knowledge of the law.67 This, coupled with a tendency to use bullying methods, was almost certain to lead to difficulties. McCreight knew the law, Begbie was a law unto himself, and neither would be willing to compromise—McCreight on principle, Begbie on the grounds of authority and vanity. The clash came in December, 1862, and throughout the lengthy trial Begbie and McCreight were much in the limelight. The fact that the fullest reports available appeared in the New Westminster British Columbian, a paper whose editor, John Robson, had his own private grudge against Begbie, probably exaggerated the proceedings. But if this bias is taken into consideration, the proceedings well illustrate Begbie's summary methods and McCreight's insistence on legal correctness and his stress on the dignity of the Bar and all that pertained to it. The case opened at the assizes on December 6, with Ring and McCreight acting for the plaintiff, Cranford, and Cary and Walker acting for the defendant, Wright. The newspapers in announcing the approaching assizes had prophesied " a brilliant display of legal talent on both sides."68 The details of the case have been fully dealt with69 and, consequently, it is only necessary here to give the briefest background for the trial. Robert C. Cranford had arrived in Victoria from San Francisco in April, 1862, with a consignment of goods which he hoped to sell in the gold-mining centre of Williams Creek. His brother, John F. Cranford, followed him, but claimed that he was not associated with him as a partner. Robert Cranford then negotiated with G. B. (Gus) Wright, a well-known packer, to transport his goods from Victoria to Lillooet, from whence another company, the W. Haskell Company, would take them on to Williams Creek. A satisfactory agreement as to rates of transport and terms of credit seemed to have been reached. Robert Cranford then proceeded to Lillooet to await the goods, but they did not arrive on (57) For a study of Begbie see a series of four articles by Sydney Pettit in the British Columbia Historical Quarterly, XI (1947), pp. 1-14, 113-148, 187-205, 273-294. (58) New Westminster British Columbian, November 26, 1862. (59) Sydney Pettit, "The Tyrant Judge: Judge Begbie in Court," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, XI (1947), pp. 273-288. 1948 McCreight and the Law. 143 time, and after waiting two weeks the Haskell Company took another load and left for Williams Creek. When Cranford's goods finally did arrive, they were incomplete, besides being too late to forward to Williams Creek in time for the season. On this account Cranford refused to pay the charges, claiming that Wright had been sending his own goods through in plenty of time while delaying Cranford's. He argued that his bill for damages and delayed goods would more than cover the costs of the freight. In September Wright pressed for payment and asked the Magistrate at Lillooet, A. C. Elliott, if he could proceed against the Cranford brothers for debt. This request was granted, and Wright then asked for the arrest of the Cranfords on the grounds that they owed him £1719:15:3 for goods sold and delivered to them. Robert Cranford was arrested at Lillooet and John Cranford at Williams Creek, and the two were tried in the Supreme Court at Lillooet before Begbie in October.60 In this trial, Wright v. Cranford, the Cranfords based their defence on the plea that John Cranford was not a partner and consequently not liable for his brother's debt and that the memorandum of the contract had been altered by Wright. They also claimed that they now owed nothing to Wright, rather that he owed them $2,000. The trial ended with a verdict for Wright and the Cranford brothers were imprisoned for a debt of $9,500 owing to Wright. Many technicalities arose in connection with this trial, but . Begbie overrode them all. Several months later the Cranfords began proceedings against Wright for breach of contract, and this was the case that came before the New Westminster assizes. McCreight opened the case by claiming that Wright was guilty of a breach of contract and grave misconduct. Begbie interrupted to tell McCreight that it was disgraceful for him to cast imputations on the defendant. McCreight unused to such a tone, declared " that he did not require to be taught his duty,"61 and repeated that it was not a charge of larceny but imputed considerable and grave misconduct to Wright. Begbie again inter- (60) Cranford's account of the Lillooet trial appeared in the New Westminister British Columbian, December 27 and 31, 1862; January 7, 1863. (61) Ibid., December 13, 1862. 144 Patricia M. Johnson. April rupted and asked that Ring withdraw the case from McCreight, an action that Ring declined to take. Mr. McCreight then proceeded by stating to the jury that whatever his opinion of the learned Judge might be, he felt it his duty to state the facts, and, moreover, to draw the attention of the jury to the inferences which he considered any reasonable man would deduce from these facts.62 The case proceeded for eleven days, during which time Begbie frequently lost his temper and showed himself impatient of the constant quoting of authorities by the plaintiff's counsels. At the end of the plaintiff's argument he indicated that he would give a decision of nonsuit, which would be tantamount to awarding the case to Wright, but this was hotly contested by both Ring and McCreight. At one time in the proceedings Begbie became so aroused as to consider having Ring removed from the Court. However, he thought better of it and began an apology to Ring, who would not accept it unless it was tendered to McCreight as well. Whereupon McCreight arose and, seemingly with all the tradition of law and order behind him, declared:— est grossly insulted, that it was inexpressably do in his Court, and that His Honor would not dare to use the language outside the Court room that he had used in it.63 The case was resumed and all the evidence heard, but when the time came for the charging of the jury, Begbie refused to read over his notes on the case and gave only a brief charge instead of a detailed summing-up. The jury was out for twenty- eight hours and could not reach a unanimous decision. On their return McCreight suggested that a majority verdict could be adopted, citing the precedent of Linaker v. Ballou. This Begbie refused to permit. Ring then suggested that with further assistance and advice from the Judge on any necessary point of law a decision might be reached, but Begbie, agitated and angry, proceeded to discharge the jury. Then came the famous dramatic scene. Ring, addressing the Registrar of the Court, said: " Mr. Matthew, have you the book in Court which contains the names of the barristers who practise in this Court?" To which Mr. Matthew replied in the affirmative. " Then please dash your pen (62) Ibid. (63) Ibid., January 21, 1863. 1948 McCreight And the Law. 145 across my name," was Ring's rejoinder. McCreight made a similar request, and together the two counsels left the Court.64 McCreight and Ring became public heroes, and on the evening of their withdrawal from the Court were waited upon by a deputation requesting them to attend a public meeting in their honour in the Columbia Theatre. Here, with W. D. Ferris in the chair, a " Complimentary Address " was delivered to them " in view of the firm and manly ability " with which they had repelled " the insults heaped upon them by the Court during the Cranford suit and in order to mark public disapprobation of the extraordinary course by the Judge throughout that trial." The address read as follows:— Gentlemen, the citizens of New Westminster having called a public meeting for the purpose of discussing recent events vitally affecting the administration of justice in this Colony, beg leave to offer their sincere expressions of regret at the course which you have felt yourself bound in honor to adopt upon the discharge of the jury in Cranford vs. Wright. They would further state, that though they feel deeply pained by your withdrawal frcm the Bar, and consequent loss of your professional services, yet they cannot but express their gratitude for the bold and courageous, yet, under the circumstances, respectful demeanor which throughout you observed to the Bench. They further sincerely trust that they may at no distant day be honored by your presence, when a recurrence of such extraordinary scenes as were lately witnessed will be impossible. New Westminster, December 18, 1862.65 The whole affair did mark a stage in Judge Begbie's regime, and he must have realized that he had gone too far. As time passed he became much less autocratic in Court and paid more careful attention to the technicalities of the law. The occasion brought out very clearly certain of McCreight's characteristics. He also was autocratic by nature, and this was shown not on personal grounds, but on behalf of his position. He was a barrister, a learned counsel; he, too, represented the law. To him (64) Ibid., December 20,1862. The Cranfords were sent back to prison and prepared yet another suit, this time before the Supreme Court of Vancouver Island, apparently hoping for better treatment before Chief Justice Cameron. However, the matter never reached the Court as an announcement in the newspaper stated that " the dispute had been amicably settled to the satisfaction of friends of both parties." Victoria Colonist, April 15, 1863. (65) New Westminster British Columbian, December 20, 1862. 146 Patricia M. Johnson. April such a representation was almost sacred, certainly deserving of respect and immune from rough language and unconventional treatment. Order and dignity, tradition and precedent, were part of his world. Personal animosity, undignified behaviour, departure from legality of proceedings must not find their way into the Court. He opposed Begbie, not because of his personal behaviour, but because he had departed from correct Court procedure and because he tried to manipulate the law. It has been said that Begbie was a law unto himself and this, to McCreight's eyes, was a sacrilege. The law was the law, and as such it must remain, McCreight would resist with all the forces at his disposal any attempt to disenthrone it. He would use his own autocratic bearing, his command of withering language, his knowledge of legal precedent, and finally his great personal integrity in the battle to preserve the law. When McCreight showed anger, it was " righteous anger," directed less against Begbie as an individual, as against a person who dared to tamper with age-old law and custom. There is a feeling that McCreight despised Begbie for his ignorance of the law and its methods. He despised too a Judge who would permit so many irregularities. The Cranfords had pleaded that their earlier arrest and trial in Lillooet had been most unconventional. Robert Cranford was lodged in a jail that would not lock and was himself forced to pay for a constable to guard him. The Sheriff, looking for him, had lost his horse, and Cranford had had to pay for one to replace it.66 Such incidents, swept aside by the Judge as commonplace in a pioneer region, must have irked McCreight with their unfairness and their lack of legal authority. Legal technicality meant so much to McCreight, to Begbie it was a waste of time. Perhaps McCreight was unadaptable, but with him these things were a matter of principle. Law to him was a search for absolute truth, and in all dignity and sincerity its ritual must be maintained. Some time after the union of the colonies in November, 1866, McCreight resumed the right to practise on the Mainland,67 but (66) Ibid., January 7 ,1863. (67) " J. F. McCreight, Esq., barrister, of Victoria, gives notice in the Gazette that he will apply, at the next term of the Supreme Court, to be enrolled as a barrister of the said court." Victoria Colonist, February 18, 1948 McCreight and the Law. 147 his cases there were not numerous. New Westminster was losing its position in favour of Victoria—eventually even the British Columbian came to be published in Victoria. Chief Justice David Cameron had been replaced on Vancouver Island by Chief Justice Joseph Needham,68 while Begbie continued on the Mainland. A case which occurred in Victoria in 1869 before Chief Justice Needham showed the type of work in which McCreight delighted. The matter of legal technicalities was his great interest, and the case of Regina v. Anderson gave full scope for this. The Attorney-General prosecuted, while McCreight defended the prisoner, William Anderson, charged with inciting seamen to desert. McCreight's case rested upon a legal point that the offence, if it had been committed, was punishable not by indictment in the Assize Court, but by summary proceedings before a Magistrate and, moreover, that it was not a common- law offence, but one created by Statute which defined the penalty. According to the newspaper "a great many authorities were quoted pro and con by the learned counsel on both sides,"69 but in the end the prisoner was discharged. In the Attorney-General, H. P. P. Crease, it was felt that McCreight had a worthy opponent, as of all the other barristers in the colony he was probably second only to McCreight in ability and legal knowledge. In 1870 Crease became a Judge — the first Puisne Judge appointed in the colony. Ten years later he presided at another famous trial with which McCreight was associated—Regina v. McLeans and Hare. By this time McCreight, having served as Attorney-General and Premier, was the top-ranking lawyer of the Province, and he acted as Queen's Counsel conducting the prosecution. The trial was held at a special assize in New Westminster. The three McLean brothers, Allen, Archibald, and Charles, and Alexander Hare were indicted for the murder of John Ussher, of Kamloops. McCreight, whose speeches were often subject to praise, apparently surpassed himself on this u and the prisoners were found guilty.70 (68) Ibid., October 12, 1865. (69) Victoria British Columbian, May 29, 1869. (70) New Westminster Mainland Guardian, March 1 148 Patricia M. Johnson. April The appeal did not come up for eight months, but in the interim and arising directly from the trial a famous hearing was held before the Supreme Court in Victoria in June, 1880, as to whether commissions for Courts of Oyer and Terminer were necessary in the Province of British Columbia. McCreight argued that the Lieutenant-Governor had no power to issue such commissions and, indeed, had no prerogative powers. During these hearings there were several sharp exchanges between McCreight and Chief Justice Sir Matthew Begbie, reminiscent of older days. They arose from a statement by McCreight that ninety-six assizes had been held in the Province without commissions. Begbie interrupted angrily that this was untrue and was known to be untrue by the counsel. Angry words followed, Begbie attempted to prevent McCreight from continuing his argument and in the end, greatly agitated, demanded an apology from McCreight and adjourned the Court. When sittings were resumed the following day, tempers were still on edge. Begbie again attempted to prevent McCreight from continuing until an apology was given, and McCreight's reply is a masterly exposition of his concept of the position of a barrister in a Court of law:— I was told by your Lordship that I was making a statement that I knew to be untrue, and under the circumstances I think I have a right to ask you to apologize to me instead of my offering an apology to you. The remarks you made would lead me to believe that I am in the habit of making false statements. I am a practitioner of some 20 years' standing here, and if I am to be told these things whilst I am engaged in argument it is impossible for me to conduct a case properly or do justice to my client. I submit I have a right to ask your Lordship as a gentleman to apologize. The privileges of a counsel are as important as those of a judge and should be observed. Barristers are supposed to be gentlemen and they do not like such accusations as your Lordship made yesterday. I stand here now to vindicate the rights of counsel and I must state that I cannot possibly apologize for the language I made use of. I went as far as I could yesterday when I said your statement was incorrect instead of being untrue. I can go no further now and I say that an apology is due to me.7i His fellow barristers supported McCreight in his stand. The Attorney-General, George A. Walkem, spoke feelingly:— I have frequently had occasion to protest against the manner in which I have been treated by the Chief Justice, and I will state now, openly and (71) Victoria Colonist, June 10, 1880. 1948 McCreight and the LAW. 149 without fear, that I would not be in politics to-day if I thought I could be decently treated by the Chief Justice. His treatment of Mr. McCreight yesterday was overbearing and tyrannical. No man of spirit can stand such treatment without resentment. I have resented it before and I resent it now.72 In the end, after Begbie's associates, Mr. Justice H. P. P. Crease and Mr. Justice J. H. Gray, had intervened and pointed out that McCreight had really meant there had been no legal commissions, the Chief Justice permitted McCreight to continue his argument. In November, 1880, the appeal of the McLean brothers and Hare was heard in New Westminster. This was the same Court in which McCreight eighteen years earlier had been so roundly insulted by Begbie. Then McCreight was a junior counsel, but he had made a striking plea on behalf of his clients. Now he was the Crown's counsel, assisted by his own junior, Eli Harrison. But he was still the McCreight who knew the law, who loved precedent, and who quoted " Russell, on Crime, pp 55," and from " Grimsby on Confessions."78 The prisoners were again found guilty and sentenced to be hung. The proceedings were conventional and dignified—the law had come into its own in the New Westminster Court-house. And to the New Westminster Court-house within three years' time McCreight was to return as resident Judge, for he was appointed Puisne Judge on November 26,1880. The law was his to administer. Patricia M. Johnson. Ladner, B.C. (72) Ibid. (73) New Westminster Mainland Guardian, November 17, 1880. FEDERAL PARTIES AND PROVINCIAL POLITICAL GROUPS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1871-1903.* In British Columbia political party allegiance sits rather more lightly on the voters than is the case in the Eastern Provinces. This is partly due to the large floating population on the Pacific Coast, but even more to the peculiar political conditions existing in British Columbia between the years 1871 and 1903. Although Federal elections usually produced a division into Conservatives and Liberals, it was not always, the case. British Columbian M.P.'s tended to support the party in power in Ottawa. From 1871 to 1873, whatever political labels they might adopt, the members from the Pacific Coast supported Sir John A. Macdonald. In the general election of 1872 Sir Francis Hincks obtained a British Columbia seat and represented the riding of Vancouver that included all of Vancouver Island, exclusive of the City of Victoria. But from 1874 to 1878 the British Columbians in the Commons gave support to the Mackenzie administration, usually with the proviso that they would withdraw this support if the Terms of Union were not strictly carried out. In 1878 the return of the Conservatives under Sir John A. Macdonald produced a change of heart in most of the British Columbian M.P.'s. The Pacific Province was especially proud because in 1878 Sir John A. himself won a seat in Victoria, B.C., and for four years the Prime Minister represented the Far West Coast. British Columbians in the Commons continued to support the Conservatives until the election of 1896, when four Liberals and two Conservatives, both from Victoria, were returned. Of that epoch-making election, R. E. Gosnell wrote in 1897 :— At this election general political dividing lines were for the first time introduced into the contest throughout the Province. Heretofore, although the representatives from British Columbia as a rule supported the Administration at Ottawa, local issues and personal considerations usually decided 152 Walter N. Sage. April the results. Victoria was the only constituency in which strictly liberal candidates stood, but the sentiment was, prior to the last election, strongly Conservative.! In the Provincial arena, party lines were not drawn until 1903, when Richard McBride, afterwards Sir Richard, on assuming the premiership, announced that he would form a Conservative administration. From that date until 1941 Conservatives and Liberals succeeded each other, usually at rather lengthy intervals. In 1941, however, the growing strength of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, coupled with the determination of the Liberals to rid themselves of their former leader, Hon. Thomas Duff Pattullo, led to the formation of a coalition government under the premiership of Hon. John Hart, a Liberal. This administration was triumphantly returned in the general election of 1945. Before 1903 Provincial politics in British Columbia was largely a game of the In's and the Out's and a struggle between the Mainland and the Island. The late Judge F. W. Howay has dealt at length with the period, and Dr. Edith Dobie in her article " Some Aspects of Party History in British Columbia, 1871- 1903," has blazed the political trail.2 Mention should also be made of the work of R. E. Gosnell, especially in certain chapters of the second part of British Columbia: Sixty Years of Progress,3 but the inter-relations of the Federal parties and the political groups in the Province have never been fully and satisfactorily studied.4 Fortunately, considerable light may be thrown on this rather obscure subject by a close study of the information contained in the Canadian Parliamentary Companion and its successor, the Canadian Parliamentary Guide. The political history of the Province of British Columbia from 1871 to 1903 falls into certain definitely marked divisions. (1) R. E. Gosnell (ed.), The Year Book of British Columbia, 1897, Victoria, 1897, p. 133. (2) Edith Dobie, " Some Aspects of Party History in British Columbia, 1871-1903," Pacific Historical Review, I (1932), pp. 235-251. (3) E. O. S. Scholefield and R. E. Gosnell, British Columbia: Sixty Years of Progress, Vancouver and Victoria, 1913, passim. (4) Eleanor B. Mercer in her thesis Political Groups in British Columbia, 1888-1898 (submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an M.A. degree at the University of British Columbia, 1937), has made a close analysis of a portion of the period under consideration. 1948 Parties and Provincial Groups. 153 For the sake of clarity it will be well to tabulate them, as follows:— (1) 1871-1874: The period of beginnings; the administra tions of McCreight and De Cosmos. (2) 1874-1883: "Fight Ottawa"; British Columbia and secession; the Walkem, Elliott, and Beaven administrations. (3) 1883-1898: Political calm; Smithe makes terms with Ottawa; group government firmly established. (4) 1898-1903: An era of confusion culminating in the in troduction of party government by Richard McBride. Previous to Confederation, British Columbia possessed representative but not responsible government.6 Lieutenant-Governor Joseph William Trutch selected John Foster McCreight to head the first responsible ministry in British Columbia. McCreight was a leading barrister in the new Province, but he had taken no previous part in local politics. His selection by Trutch as first Premier of British Columbia caused considerable heart- searching among the local politicians. Amor de Cosmos, editor of the Victoria Daily Standard, and John Robson, editor of the Victoria British Colonist, both doughty champions of responsible government, felt themselves aggrieved at being passed over by Trutch. Nor were matters much improved when George Anthony Walkem, of Cariboo, was added to the McCreight administration as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works.6 (5) On the introduction of responsible government into British Columbia, see W. N. Sage, "From Colony to Province, the Introduction of Responsible Government in British Columbia," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, III (1939), pp. 1-14. (6) See W. N. Sage, " The position of the Lieutenant-Governor in British Columbia in the years following Confederation," in R. Flenley (ed.), Essays in Canadian History, Toronto, 1939, pp. 178-203. Reference might also be made to the following papers by the same author: "John Foster McCreight, The First Premier of British Columbia," Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Third Series, XXXIV (1940), Section II, pp. 173-185, and "Amor de Cosmos, Journalist and Politician," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, VIII (1944), pp. 189-212. The thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an M.A. degree at the Uni- 154 Walter N. Sage. April McCreight survived his first session and passed much useful legislation. But the rival editors managed to head an effective opposition, and in December, 1872, turned out McCreight by a close vote of 11 to 10. Thomas Basil Humphreys, well known in British Columbian political history as a destroyer of ministries, introduced the vote of want of confidence on December 19,1872. McCreight promptly resigned the next day, and the Lieutenant- Governor at once called on Amor de Cosmos to form a new administration. De Cosmos was easily the most picturesque political figure in the early history of British Columbia. Born as William Alexander Smith, in Windsor, Nova Scotia, on August 20, 1825, he changed his name in 1854 by an Act of the Legislature of California. He came to Vancouver Island during the 1858 gold excitement, and on December 11, 1858, issued the first number of the British Colonist. It was, apparently, his first attempt at journalism. In the editorial columns of his newspaper De Cosmos bitterly attacked Governor James Douglas and the Family- Company-Compact, which, he claimed, was misgoverning Vancouver Island. There seems to be little or no doubt that in Nova Scotia De Cosmos had been influenced by Joseph Howe and that he found a political situation on the West Coast in British territory that was in many ways similar to that which had raised the ire and genius of the great Tribune of Nova Scotia. In November, 1871, De Cosmos, now editing the Daily Standard, appealed " to the Liberal Party of British Columbia " to support him in his opposition to McCreight. ... it is the duty of the Liberal members to rally round their old leaders—the men who have year after year fought their battles and have in no instance deserted the popular cause. To take any other course is to convict themselves of treason to manhood, treason to the Liberal party, that year by year for fourteen years have urged Responsible Government, Union of the Provinces, and Confederation with the Dominion. It is no treason, no public wrong to ignore the nominees of Gov. Trutch.7 At first sight the above quotation appears as proof positive that there was a Liberal party in British Columbia even before Confederation. Unfortunately, that party seems to have existed versity of British Columbia, 1947, by Patricia Johnson on John Foster McCreight, is also of great value on this point. (7) Victoria Daily Standard, November 21, 1871. 1948 Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. 155 chiefly in De Cosmos' vivid imagination. There was a group that favoured responsible government, union of the two colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and federation with Canada, but it was composed of diverse elements and certainly cannot be claimed to have been a Liberal or reform party in the same sense that the term is applied to the political groups headed by Joseph Howe, Lemuel Allan Wilmot, or by Robert Baldwin and Louis Lafontaine. If proof is needed, it may be found in the following facts: George A. Walkem at once took office under Amor de Cosmos as Attorney-General; John Robson and Thomas Basil Humphreys not only did not take office under De Cosmos, but led the opposition to him and were equally opposed to his administration as they had been to that headed by McCreight. De Cosmos was not only Premier of British Columbia, but he was also a Member of Parliament for Victoria City. In 1872, before he was Premier, and in 1873 as Premier, he left Victoria for Ottawa before the sittings of the Legislative Assembly had terminated. In 1873 George A. Walkem acted as head of the administration during De Cosmos' absence. After the Federal elections of January, 1874, De Cosmos and Arthur Bunster, who had been returned to the House of Commons, resigned their seats in the local Legislature.8 Walkem then became Premier and asked the other members of the administration to continue in office. . The resignation of Amor de Cosmos as Premier brought to an end the first phase of the political history of the Province. Federal party lines had not been drawn in local politics. Two governments had held office. Both had been faced by active Opposition. Local antagonisms, especially that between De Cosmos and John Robson, had dominated the Provincial political arena. McCreight, after he had ceased to be Premier, had played a minor role. ' He was chiefly interested in constructive legislation and was prepared to place his extensive legal knowledge at the disposal of his successor. When Walkem was criticized for taking office under De Cosmos, McCreight generously stated that he approved of Walkem's course of action. '.mbly of British I 156 Walter N. Sage. April The second period, 1874-83, was one of storm and stress. The downfall of Sir John A. Macdonald's administration in 1873 as a result of the Pacific Scandal had great repercussions in British Columbia. In opposition Alexander Mackenzie had denounced the Terms of Union with the Province. Edward Blake was known to be utterly opposed to the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway on the conditions proposed by the Macdonald government. In 1874 Mackenzie sent out J. D. Edgar on a special mission to British Columbia to discuss with Premier Walkem and other prominent British Columbians certain proposed changes in the Terms of Union. The Edgar mission was a fiasco, much of the blame for which must be placed squarely on the shoulders of George A. Walkem.9 Lord Carnavon's attempt to offer satisfactory terms was also unsuccessful. The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Bill, carrying out a portion of the Carnarvon Terms, passed the House of Commons on March 29,1875, but was defeated in the Senate two weeks later. Walkem was furious because the island railway was essential to his plans. Mackenzie later made a new offer to British Columbia, but made it clear that the proposed cash payment of $750,000 was to be given " for any delays which may take place in the construction of the Pacific Railway" and also that the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway was not to be considered a portion of the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. On January 4, 1876, the Executive Council of British Columbia went on record as of opinion that this offer meant that further delays in railway construction were being planned and that the money was intended "as a (9) It is quite impossible to discuss these and subsequent negotiations in detail. The following references will be found useful: E. 0. S. Schole- field and F. W. Howay, British Columbia, from the earliest times to the present, Vancouver, 1914, vol. II, pp. 327-415; E. O. S. Scholefield and R. E. Gosnell, op. cit, pp. 43-93, 125-129; J. A. Maxwell, "Lord Dufferin and the Difficulties with British Columbia, 1874-7," Canadian Historical Review, XII (1931), pp. 364-89; Margaret A. Ormsby, "Prime Minister Mackenzie, The Liberal Party, and the Bargain with British Columbia," Canadian Historical Review, XXVI (1945), pp. 148-173; W. R. Graham, "Liberal Nationalism in the Eighteen-seventies," Annual Report of the Canadian Historical Association, 1946, pp. 101-119. Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. 157 proposed indemnity for a contemplated indefinite postponement of the construction of the work."10 The Walkem administration in the meantime was in financial difficulties and was attempting to borrow from Ottawa by pledging the annual subsidies due to British Columbia from the Federal Government. T. B. Humphreys, now in opposition, moved a vote of want of confidence in the local administration on January 25, 1876. The Walkem government was defeated and promptly resigned, and Lieutenant-Governor Trutch called on A. C. Elliott to form a new administration. Elliott's policy toward Ottawa was much more conciliatory than Walkem's had been, but he was, none the less, unable to find a solution for the vexed problem. Lord Dufferin's visit in the summer of 1876 to a large extent soothed the ruffled feelings of the British Columbians, who were, however, taking their stand upon the Carnarvon Terms. Elliott, as a politician, was no match for Walkem. In order to strengthen his position, Elliott in 1877 appointed A. E. B. Davie, one of the members from Cariboo, as Provincial Secretary. But Walkem was strong in Cariboo, and rallying his cohorts he secured Davie's defeat in the by-election. Early in 1878 Walkem moved a vote of want of confidence in the Elliott administration and, although unable to secure a majority for it in the House, he succeeded in producing a deadlock which was only broken by the utter defeat of the Elliott government at the polls in May, 1878. Walkem returned triumphantly to power. One of his first actions was to introduce a secession resolution, which was carried by a vote of 14 to 9. The resolution was forwarded to Ottawa, but did not reach London until January 24,1879. In the meantime Sir John A. Macdonald had won the federal elections of 1878 and had taken his seat as member for Victoria, B.C. Walkem, consequently, became more conciliatory. There was no mention of secession in the Lieutenant-Governor's speech at the opening of the House in 1879. Railway construction contracts on the Mainland were let in 1880. The formal contract between the Federal Government and the newly formed Canadian (10) " Papers relating to certain proposed alterations by the Dominion Government in existing Railway agreements, 10 January, 1876," in British Columbia Sessional Papers, 1876, Victoria, 1876, p. 570. J 158 Walter N. Sage. April Pacific Railway Company was signed in Ottawa on October 21 of that year. But Walkem had not yet given up his struggle for the island railway. De Cosmos was appointed as special agent to confer with the Federal Government, but Sir John A. Macdonald was adamant, and even an appeal to London was of no avail. In May, 1882, Walkem was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Robert Beaven succeeded him as Premier. In the elections of July, 1882, the Beaven government was defeated, but the new Premier determined to carry on until the meeting'of the Legislature in January, 1883. It has been suggested that the visit of Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lome in the autumn of 1882 may have influenced Beaven's decision. In January, 1883, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia promptly voted want of confidence in Beaven's administration, and Lieutenant-Governor Clement F. Cornwall called upon William Smithe to form a government. The long and hectic period of " Fight Ottawa " was now drawing to a close. From 1883 to 1898 British Columbia politics were comparatively calm. Smithe came to terms with Ottawa in the so-called Settlement Act of 1883-84. The Walkem faction was now discredited. Smithe, although not brilliant, was competent and " brought to his position the essential qualities of prudence and sound experience which were needed to guide the legislature back onto the right road."11 The strongest man in the Government was John Robson, Provincial Secretary and Minister of Finance and Agriculture. A. E. B. Davie, the Attorney-General, was an able lawyer; and Robert Dunsmuir, the "coal king of Vancouver Island" and later promoter of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, was a strong supporter of the Government. Robert Beaven, as Leader of the Opposition, was more effective than he had been as Premier, but Smithe had a secure majority. After Smithe's death in 1887, A. E. B. Davie carried on for two years until his untimely death in 1889. John Robson succeeded him, but he too died in office in 1892. Theodore Davie, brother of A. E. B. Davie, became Premier and remained at the helm until 1895, when he resigned. J. H. Turner then took over (11) Mercer, op. cit, pp. 10-11. Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. 159 until August, 1898. His ministry was summarily dismissed by Lieutenant-Governor T. R. Mclnnes. During this period, 1883 to 1898, local political issues were well to the fore. The great increase of population on the Mainland and especially the rapid development of the Kootenays put an end to the squabble between Mainland and Island. Theodore Davie was responsible for the construction of the new Parliament Buildings at Victoria, but that rising seaport on the Mainland, Vancouver, was already challenging the Island city's supremacy. The Klondike gold-rush took place in the year of the downfall of the Turner administration. The final period, from 1898 to 1903, was one of confusion. There were five administrations in as many years. C. A. Semlin held office as Premier from August 12, 1898, to February 27, 1900, when his ministry was dismissed by the Lieutenant-Governor. " Fighting Joe" Martin, of Manitoba fame, tried to carry on an administration from March to June, but was utterly defeated in the Provincial election of 1900. One result of Martin's debacle was the dismissal by the Laurier government of Lieutenant-Governor Mclnnes. James Dunsmuir became Premier on June 15,1900, and remained in office until November, 1902, when he was followed by W. G. Prior, whose ministry was dismissed on June 1,1903. Party lines were now being drawn, and Richard McBride formed a Conservative administration. Group government in British Columbia had come to an end. From the above summary it is quite obvious that the Provincial politics of British Columbia in no way conformed to the Federal party pattern. None the less, they were not chaotic. The political group possessed a considerable amount of cohesion. It was, it is true, comparatively easy to " cross the floor," but in the main two political groups dominated the situation. They may be termed the De Cosmos-Walkem-Beaven group and the Smithe-Robson-Davie-Turner group. Neither of them was confined to the Mainland nor to Vancouver Island. Walkem's stronghold was Cariboo, and Robson had a large following on the Lower Mainland. Smithe was strongest on Vancouver Island, as were the Davies, but the Walkem-Beaven combination also 160 Walter N. Sage. April held seats on the Island. Kootenay's one member in 1882, R. L. T. Galbraith, supported Beaven.12 R. E. Gosnell, a thoughtful historian of British Columbia politics, writing just before the First World War, came to the conclusion that the differences between the groups were largely personal. There were no party lines then drawn. It is difficult at this distance of time to understand just what issues did divide the government and opposition forces. Sectional interests had some influence; also pro-English versus pro-Canadian sentiment; also conservatism as opposed to radicalism; but neither of these nor both combined sufficed to bring out the difference of the parties. It was more a matter of personal inclination and allegiance, a fact that has to explain the somewhat shifting politics of the next few In his discussion of the extremely complicated political situation of 1874, Gosnell pointed out that newspaper rivalries played a great part in producing a state of confusion. In a sense it was a Newspaper War—a battle of the Standard and of the Colonist waving on the forces of the Government and the Opposition respectively, while on the mainland the Herald and the Guardian supported and opposed the Government at Ottawa, with regard to the proposed modifications in the Terms of Union. Later on . . . the position was practically reversed, although it is very difficult to define accurately a situation of extreme complexity. The Colonist, after being a thorough-going Conservative paper, became virtually the mouthpiece of the Mackenzie Government—a fact emphasized by the appointment of its editor, John Robson, to the important position of Comptroller in connection with the CP.R. surveys in the Province. The local Government on the other hand, which at first was regarded as being in sympathy with the administration at Ottawa, went into violent opposition.14 During the " Fight Ottawa " period De Cosmos and Walkem were usually able to command a majority in the local House. (12) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1883, Ottawa, 1883, p. 318. Galbraith is listed as "A Liberal Conservative and opposed to the present Government." (13) Scholefield and Gosnell, op. cit, part ii, p. 19. In the above passage, Gosnell seems either to have lumped together two of the three factors mentioned in opposition to the other, or else his diction is at fault and " neither " should read " none " and " both " read " all." (14) Ibid., p. 43. The Victoria Standard consistently supported De Cosmos and Walkem. The Victoria Colonist, although founded by De Cosmos, was bitterly opposed to him and to Walkem. The New Westminster newspapers, the Herald and the Guardian, also were bitterly partisan; Robson was usually severely criticized by the latter. 1948 Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. 161 The exception was, of course, the period of the Elliott administration, 1876-78. They were faced usually by a strong opposition headed by Robson, Humphreys, J. A. Mara, W. F. Tolmie, and Smithe. Gosnell noted that " De Cosmos, Walkem, Beaven, Armstrong, Booth and others on their side, were Canadians, and the dividing line between Canadians and the English at that time was marked."16 Robson, although Canadian born, was allied to the so-called " English group." A close perusal of the Canadian Parliamentary Companion shows that Gosnell's statement, although true on the whole, tends perhaps to be an oversimplification. J. A. Mara, for example, was a Canadian;16 C. A. Semlin, also prominent on the Opposition, was also born in Ontario and came of United Empire Loyalist stock.17 Smithe, Humphreys, A. E. B. and Theodore Davie, on the other hand, were all born in the British Isles. The simplest explanation is probably the best. If we omit the McCreight administration entirely as a period of beginnings, it is clear that from 1872 to 1882 the De Cosmos-Walkem group was dominant. When Walkem retired from active politics, Beaven was left at the head of a discredited administration. Defeated in the elections of 1882, Beaven refused to resign and ensured the political collapse of his group. In 1883 William Smithe took over, and his group retained office until 1898, when an era of confusion began. It is tempting to conclude, and there is evidence to prove it, that the' personal animosities of De Cosmos and Robson played quite a large part in the group alignment. But it is only a partial explanation. Robson consistently opposed both De Cosmos and Walkem, but it should be remembered that he was not a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1875 to 1882. So far no attempt had been made to connect these local groups with the Federal parties. Is it possible to claim that there ever was any connection? In the sense that neither one of these groups ever made a definite alliance with the Conservatives or the Liberals, the answer must be negative. None the less, Fed- US) Scholefield and Gosnell, op. cit, part ii, p. 46. (16) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1873, p. 481. The entry in the Companion, 1876, p. 607, states that he was born and educated in Toronto. (17) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1888, p. 321. 162 Walter N. Sage. April eral politics did influence the British Columbian groups. During the " Fight Ottawa" period, 1874 to 1883, Walkem and his associates were definitely opposed to the Federal Government and especially to the Mackenzie administration. The Opposition, although less hostile and more ready to compromise, was also critical of Ottawa. But, as we have seen, the turning-point came in 1878, and the elimination of Walkem in 1882 prepared the way for the settlement of 1883-84. After that Federal politics played a very small part in the Provincial field. It is significant that the Canadian Parliamentary Companions from 1873 to 1879 contain little information regarding the Federal party affiliations of the members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. In 1874 William Archibald Robertson, elected in a by-election to replace Arthur Bunster, who had resigned along with De Cosmos when dual representation ceased, is listed as a Liberal.18 Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, who replaced De Cosmos, is also listed as a Liberal.19 In 1877 Robert Dickinson, of New Westminster City—there was also a New Westminster District—put himself down as a Liberal. James W. Douglas, of the City of Victoria, son of Sir James Douglas, and a supporter of the Elliott administration, was classed as an Independent. John Evans, of Cariboo, added the following enlightening explanation: " While in England identified with advanced Liberals, but in Canada is thoroughly independent."20 Edwin Pim- bury, of Cowichan, also appeared as a Liberal. In the Canadian Parliamentary Companion for 1879 James Atkinson Abrams, of Nanaimo, was listed as a Conservative and James Thomas Mcllmoyl, of Victoria District, as a Liberal Conservative.21 Both of these gentlemen were returned for the first time to the Legislative Assembly in the Provincial elections of 1878. Dr. Tolmie had not been re-elected in Victoria District, but Pimbury retained the Cowichan seat and continued his designation as a Liberal.22 (18) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1874, p. 504. (19) Ibid., p. 505. A later statement by Dr. Tolmie reads: " Will support any Government in an honest endeavor to have the Carnarvon modifications of the Railway terms faithfully carried out." Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1876, p. 608. (20) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1877, p. 377. (21) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1879, pp. 375, 378. (22) Ibid., p. 378. 1948 Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. 163 The full effects of the 1878 elections, Provincial and Federal, are evident in the statistics recorded in the Canadian Parliamentary Companion for 1880. The following members were listed as Conservative or Liberal Conservative: J. H. Abrams (Nanaimo), William M. Brown (Lillooet), James Drummond (Victoria City), George Ferguson (Cariboo), R. L. T. Galbraith (Kootenay), Hans Helgeson (Esquimalt), T. B. Humphreys (Victoria District), J. T. Mcllmoyl (Victoria District), William Saul (Lillooet), F. W. Williams (Esquimalt), and William Wilson (Victoria City). Edwin Pimbury (Cowichan) alone upheld the Liberal standard in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.23 Most of these Conservatives had been elected for the first time to the Provincial House in 1878, only William Brown, T. B. Humphreys, William Saul, and F. W. Williams having had previous experience in the Legislature. It is noteworthy that the old war-horses—Dr. John Ash, Robert Beaven, J. A. Mara, William Smithe, F. G. Vernon, and G. A. Walkem—did not see fit to list their Federal party affiliations. The Canadian Parliamentary Companion for 1883, issued after the advent of the Smithe administration, listed the members of the Legislature as supporters or opponents of the new Government. It also, in nearly every case, gave the Federal party to which the members belonged. Thus we are able to obtain, for the first time, a fairly clear picture of the political situation, both Provincial and Federal, as it was affected by the British Columbia elections of 1882. Of the twenty-five members of the Legislative Assembly, no less than twenty-three were listed as Conservatives or Liberal Conservatives. There was one Independent —James Orr, of New Westminster District—and only Simeon Duck, of Victoria City, a native of St. Catherines, Ontario, failed to list a Federal political affiliation. Even that doughty old Liberal, John Robson, of New Westminster District, appeared as a Conservative. The Liberal Party in British Columbia had apparently reached its nadir. But when the local political field is examined, the picture changes. Of the twenty-five members, sixteen were supporters of the Smithe administration, eight were opposed, and James Orr (23) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1880, pp. 393-398. 164 Walter N. Sage. April voted as an Independent. Smithe's supporters included A. E. B. Davie, John Robson, Theodore Davie, and C. A. Semlin, all of whom were subsequently to become Premiers of the Province. Beaven's supporters were as follows: George Cowan (Cariboo), Simeon Duck (Victoria), John Grant (Cassiar), Robert McLeese (Cariboo), R. L. T. Galbraith (Kootenay), Hans Helgesen (Esquimalt), and W. J. Armstrong (New Westminster District). Although Beaven himself sat for Victoria City, it will be seen that the Walkem-Beaven group still drew its strength from the Mainland constituencies. The Smithe group, on the other hand, was composed of members from both Island and Mainland and, in fact, represented practically all portions of the Province.24 So far attention has been focused on the Provincial stage, to the almost entire neglect of the problem of the political party affiliations of the British Columbians in the Federal Parliament. As has been noted above, during the long regime of Sir John A. Macdonald and his successors British Columbia on the whole supported the Conservative Party. The one exception was, of course, the Liberal interlude under Alexander Mackenzie. But a close examination of the Canadian Parliamentary Companion shows that this support for the Conservatives varied somewhat from time to time. In 1873 all of the six members of the House of Commons were listed as "Liberals," including Sir Francis Hincks, but it is evident that they were supporters of Sir John A. Macdonald.26 In 1874, after the victory of the Mackenzie government at the polls, the British Columbians in Ottawa continued to be listed as Liberals, but they were working in harmony with Alexander Mackenzie. Their position is well summed up in the following phrase, quoted from the statement regarding Joshua Spencer Thompson, M.P. for Cariboo:— A Liberal; and " considers that in any case the first duty of every British Columbia member should be to ignore parties and prejudices, and give a fair trial to the new Administration, with a cordial support, so long as they carry out the terms of Union in their integrity."26 (24) These statistics are compiled from information in the Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1883, pp. 316-321. (25) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1873, pp. 161, 162, 183-186, 223-224, 253. (26) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1874, p. 263. This phrase is repeated in subsequent issues of the Companion, 1875-78; but in that for 1879 Thompson was listed as a Liberal Conservative. 1948 Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. 165 By 1877 the allegiance of the British Columbians to Mackenzie was evidently wavering. Arthur Bunster, after stating that he was a Liberal, added this saving clause " and will support the party that builds the railway and carries out strictly the terms of Union with B.C."27 Edgar Dewdney, M.P. for Yale, and later a Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories and of British Columbia, put forward a lengthy statement of his position. Claiming to be a Liberal "perfectly untrammelled, having neither received nor solicited any personal favor from either party," he announced that he would " support that Government that will complete the pledges made to B.C. in the terms of Union; but should the electors direct him to assent to a modification of those terms he will do so."28 E. S. Roscoe, M.P. for Victoria, announced himself as a Liberal who " at the present time considers it the more expedient course for members from B.C. to keep from party entanglements, and to render a fair and independent support to the existing government on the condition of its promptly and fairly carrying out the terms of Union, particularly the early commencement and vigorous prosecution of the Pacific Railway, and generally giving attention to the interests of the Province."29 The elections of 1878 brought the British Columbians back into the Conservative or Liberal Conservative fold. In 1879 two of the Senators, Hon. R. W. W. Carrall and Hon. Clement F. Cornwall, were listed as Conservatives, but Hon. William J. Macdonald was still a Liberal.30 Of the six Members of Parliament, Arthur Bunster was a Liberal, but with the proviso that he would " support the party that builds railway and carries out strictly the terms of Union with B.C." Amor de Cosmos omitted all reference to party affiliation, and Dr. T. R. Mclnnes claimed to be " thoroughly independent in politics" but favoured " compulsory voting, equitable reciprocity with the U.S. and consolidation of the Dominion by the immediate construction of the 166 Walter N. Sage. April Canadian Pacific Railway."31 Edgar Dewdney and J. S. Thompson were listed as Liberal Conservatives. Sir John A. Macdonald was careful not to make any reference to his party connections— none was necessary! During the 1880's British Columbia continued to be loyal to Sir John. Probably it was between 1883 and 1885 that this loyalty was strongest, since by 1887 a Liberal Association was organized in Victoria " for the purpose of advancing the Liberal cause in this electoral district."82 But the Pacific Province was still faithful to Sir John, for in the Feder'al elections of 1891 six Conservatives were returned, and it was not until 1896 that the Conservative hold on British Columbia was broken in the Federal field. Included in the Liberal landslide of that year were four supporters of Laurier from British Columbia; two Conservatives were returned, both from Victoria. From 1896 to 1903 the Liberals possessed a majority among the Federal representatives from the Province. In 1903 there were four Liberals, one Conservative, and one Independent Labour, Ralph Smith, of Nanaimo, who gave his support to the Laurier government.88 To return once more to the Provincial political arena, during the 1880's and early 1890's there was little change in the political allegiance of the members of the Legislative Assembly. John Robson was listed as a Liberal in 1885, 1887, and 1889, but in 1891 he acknowledged no Federal party connection. He was at that time Premier of the Province. An analysis of the party affiliation in 1891 gives the following figures:— Conservatives , 17 Liberals 6 Independents 2 No political affiliation listed 8 Total 3384 Unfortunately it is not possible to divide the members at all accurately into " ministerialists " and " opposition," since few of the M.L.A.'s in 1891 recorded their Provincial political loyalties. (31) Ibid., pp. 148, 161-162, 199. (32) Victoria Daily Standard, February 14, 1887. (33) Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1903, p. 127, listed Smith as a " Liberal, but elected as Independent Labor." (34) Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1891, pp. 368-376. 1948 Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. 167 The downfall of the Turner administration in 1898 brought to an end the long period of comparative calm and ushered in a time of trouble which was to last until 1903. The Parliamentary Guide for 1898-99 fortunately provides sufficient information to permit an evaluation of the interrelation of the Federal parties and Provincial political groups in that rather hectic year. In the Eighth Legislative Assembly elected on July 9, 1898, there were thirty-seven members. Their Federal party affiliations were as follows: Liberals, 13; Conservatives, 12; Independents, 2; no party connection stated, 10. In the Provincial field the results showed: Turnerites, 13; Semlinites, 13; no information given, 11. An interesting cross-check combining Federal party affiliation and local group connection reveals the following information:— Liberals supporting Semlin 5 Liberals supporting Turner 2 Conservatives supporting Semlin 3 Conservatives supporting Turner 6 Non-partisans supporting Semlin 5 Non-partisans supporting Turner 5 Conservatives listing no provincial group connection 3 Liberals listing no provincial group connection 6 Independents listing no provincial group connection 2 From 1901 to 1903 it was evident that group government was breaking down in British Columbia. An analysis of the statistics given in the Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1901, clearly shows this to be the case. Of the thirty-seven members in the Ninth Legislature of the Province elected in July, 1900, the party distribution was as follows: Conservatives, 16; Liberals, 12; no party affiliation given, 7; Liberal-Labour, 1; and Independent, l.36 By 1903 there had been little change in party alignments. Hon. John Patton Booth, Speaker of the House, a Conservative, died in 1902, and his seat was taken by a Liberal, Thomas W. Paterson. The number of members had been increased to thirty- eight, and the Hon. Edward G. Prior, who had been appointed (35) The above statistics have been compiled from information in the Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1898-99, pp. 242-246. (36) Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1901, pp. 400-407. 168 Walter N. Sage. April Minister of Mines in the Dunsmuir administration, was elected for Victoria City as a Conservative in March, 1902. Prior succeeded Dunsmuir as Premier in November, 1902, but was unable to form a strong administration. The turning-point had come in September, 1901, when Richard McBride resigned from the Dunsmuir Cabinet in protest against the appointment of J. C. Brown as Provincial Secretary. Brown was defeated in a by-election, and on February 26, 1902, Dunsmuir appointed E. G. Prior to the portfolio relinquished by McBride. In 1902 McBride was elected president of the Liberal-Conservative Union of British Columbia and took his seat with the Opposition. Prior struggled on for some months but was faced by a strong and determined Opposition. On May 27, 1903, the Hon. W. W. B. Mclnnes, Provincial Secretary, resigned in " order," as he explained, " to facilitate an appeal to the country on party lines."87 Prior was accused in the House of having been involved in the granting of certain contracts to a firm with which he was associated. On May 28 he asked the House to vote supplies necessary until a new Legislature could be elected. This request was refused by a vote of 19 to 16, and on June 1, 1903, the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere, dismissed the Prior ministry and called upon Richard McBride to form a new administration. A new day had dawned in British Columbia. From this long and intricate story of Federal parties and group government in British Columbia certain facts would seem to emerge. The first is obvious. There is no clear relationship between the Federal parties and the political groups between 1871 and 1903, but the Federal parties were not without their influence in the local politics of the Pacific Province. The tendency was for the British Columbian M.P.'s in Ottawa to support the party in power, and since the Conservatives were in power from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1896, British Columbia usually returned Conservatives to Ottawa. From 1874 to 1876 the British Columbian M.P.'s gave a more or less grudging support to the Liberals, but from 1876 to 1878 were adversely influenced by the policy of the Mackenzie administration regarding the carrying-out of the Terms of Union. After 1896 there (37) Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1903, p. 369. 1948 Federal Parties and Provincial Groups. was a Liberal majority from British Columbia supporting Laurier. Neither of the important political groups in British Columbia—the De Cosmos-Walkem-Beaven group or the Smithe- Robson-Davie-Turner group—ever made a definite alliance with any Federal party, although in the 1880's and early 1890's the large majority of the members of the local Legislature was Conservative. Dr. Edith Dobie has noted "an aristocratic conservative tendency " in the political life of British Columbia. She connects this with the strength of Anglicanism, which increased from 1881 to 1901 from about one-sixth to one-fourth of the population. But the number of Presbyterians had grown, during that period from one-twelfth to one-fifth of the population.88 No study has yet been made of the connection between politics and religion in British Columbia. Unfortunately the Canadian Parliamentary Companion did not usually list the religious affiliations of the members of the Legislatures of British Columbia. Religion was no doubt a factor, but as yet we do not know how great a factor. Probably the reason why Federal parties affected local politics in British Columbia so little between 1871 and 1903 was the isolation of the Province from the rest of Canada. It was a little world of its own beyond the Rockies. Ottawa was far away and, as has been pointed out before, British Columbia only slowly became Canadian. Victoria was the political centre, and the local legislators who met there were much more interested in their small political arena than they were in Federal politics. . The balance of political power in Canada remained in Ontario and Quebec. British Columbians had much to do in their own Province and, with certain notable exceptions, they preferred the local to the Federal field. Walter N. Sage. University op British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. (38) Edith Dobie, ., p. 236. NOTES AND COMMENTS. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Victoria Section. Mr. G. H. Blanchet was the speaker at the February meeting of the Section, held in the Provincial Library on Thursday, February 26, with over fifty members' present. For many years Mr. Blanchet served with the Dominion Topographical Surveys, particularly in the Northwest Territories and latterly was engaged in the location of the route for the Canol project. He was consequently eminently suited for the task of speaking on Exploration and Pioneering in Canada's Northland. ' At the outset Mr. Blanchet pointed out that the historic approach to the North has been from the east and by water, and the consequence has been a tendency to ignore the possibility of a western outlet. The earlier explorers, such as Peter Pond, were mentioned in passing, but the speaker's attention was centred on events since the Klondike rush, for the discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1897 was the first occasion on which other resources of the Far North than fur came into prominence. The decade 1898-1908 witnessed the era of prairie settlement and railroad construction, and as a result the old Churchill brigade gave way to the Athabasca brigade. It also marked the end of man-powered transportation—thereafter the voyageur played an insignificant role. The decade of 1908-18 found prairie settlement reaching a peak, and gradually settlers sought out the prairie patches in the forest belt of the North, as, for example, the Peace River District. Plans for development were impeded by the outbreak of World War I. The boom decade, 1918-28, witnessed great mining activity. Two legacies of the war — the aeroplane and the tractor—:gave promise of improved transport, but fell short of expectations. Particular attention was paid to the McAlpine rescue expeditions, which proved that aeroplanes could go almost anywhere in the North, In the decade of depression, 1928-38, the North made material contributions to the Canadian economy, for many important discoveries were made, including gold and copper, as well as Gilbert Labine's discovery of pitchblende on Great Bear Lake. The last decade saw still further progress. The legacies of World War II—improved aeroplanes and the bulldozer—proved to be of undoubted worth. The North became a vital part of Canadian and American defence plans, and future development was greatly enhanced by the establishment of regular air- flight routes. In addition to the lecture, Mr. Blanchet showed a series of slides depicting conditions in the North. The appreciation of the meeting was tendered the speaker by Mr. H. C. Gilliland. n of Blanshard Day, March 11, took the form 172 Notes and Comments. April interest and variety was presented to over 100 members and guests. The chairman, Mr. G. H. Stevens, called upon the Provincial Librarian and Archivist, Mr. Willard E. Ireland, who read a short paper on the career of Richard Blanshard, the first governor of a British colony in the Pacific Northwest, stressing the significance of the short and somewhat turbulent governorship, as well as giving an insight into the character of the Governor. This was followed by a series of slides depicting scenes on Vancouver Island at the time of Governor Blanshard's arrival and subsequent developments down to the 1880's. Miss Madge Wolfenden, Assistant Archivist, provided the running commentary, and Mr. David Holden operated the projector. At the conclusion of the slides, there followed a display of period gowns of the 1870's and 1880's from the collection in the Provincial Archives. These presented a most effective scene as the models, members of the staff of the Provincial Library and Archives, swept across the main rotunda of the Provincial Library to curtsey before the assembled audience. The opportunity was then afforded to visit the Provincial Archives, where special exhibits had been arranged. Not only were recent acquisitions featured, but an effort was made to demonstrate the uses to which the material in the Provincial Archives is put. Even a cursory examination of the display made it obvious that the Provincial Archives is not merely a repository of historical relics and documents, but rather that it is the source from which many valuable and interesting studies have been produced. Vancouver Section. The first meeting of the 1948 season was held on Tuesday, January 20, in the Hotel Grosvenor, when Mr. George B. White, immediate Past President, read a paper on The Development of the Eastern Fraser Valley. As few members of the Section had had the opportunity of hearing this paper as presented to the annual meeting of the association in Victoria, its repetition was most welcome. Mr. White has an intimate knowledge of the development of this part of British Columbia, as was evidenced by the address which will appear in a forthcoming issue of this Quarterly. The Development of the Okanagan was the subject of an address before this Section by Dr. Margaret A. Ormsby, of the Department of History, University of British Columbia, on Tuesday, February 24, in the Hotel Grosvenor. Although David Thompson, in 1811, referred to the wooded hills of the Okanagan, it was not until 1859, with the coming of the Oblates under Father Pandosy, that white settlers began to filter into the valley. Until then it had served merely as a route for the fur-traders, and as there were no fur-bearing animals, no posts or forts had been built. With Father Pandosy came French settlers, some from Quebec and others from France. The Oblates, to whom goes the credit of discovering the potentialities of the valley, established on Mission Creek the first church and the first school in the Okanagan. In 1860 minor gold-rushes on Rock Creek and later on Mission and Cherry Creeks attracted adventurers, who, disappointed in mining, turned to farming. Thus mining was only important as a magnet that attracted Notes and Comments. 173 some hundreds of persons who in many cases became permanent settlers. The failure.of the Americans to supply adequately the Cariboo beef market during the gold-rush led to the development of the great stock-raising industry which flourished in the Okanagan until 1890. These were the thirty most colourful years in the history of the valley. The large stock- raisers—such as Thomas Ellis, an Irishman who came to the valley in 1863; George Simpson, who settled near the present site of Kelowna in 1869; Judge J. C. Haynes; and Cornelius O'Keefe, to mention only four—possessed vast ranches with thousands of head of cattle. These they drove as far as the Kootenay mines and later down to New Westminster. Flourishing contemporaneously with the cattle-ranches were the wheat- farm lands. Alexander Fortune, who had journeyed overland in 1862, was the first to grow wheat on his land, 3 miles north of Enderby. His namesake had the first grist-mill in Kamloops, and later the mill established at Enderby did a big business and was an early experiment in co-operation. After 1892, prairie competition made wheat-growing unprofitable—the heyday for stock-raising and wheat-growing was over and a new era opened for the Okanagan. More settlers were coming in, and the large ranches were rather reluctantly subdivided by their owners into orchard-plots of 20 to 40 acres. Land companies flourished; prominent among them was the Okanagan Land and Development Co., Ltd. Towns were incorporated— Vernon in 1892, Kelowna in the same year. Lord Aberdeen bought the famous Coldstream Ranch, persuaded into this venture by the enthusiasm of a fellow Scot, G. G. Mackay, the founder of the Vernon News. The turn of the century witnessed the arrival of a unique type of settler from the Old Country that opened a new phase in community life that was to last until the First World War. This new settler had come to the Okanagan, not to make a living, but to enjoy life. He brought comfortable wealth and social standing; frequently he was a retired military officer. He desired to lead the life of an English country gentleman, and he imported workers and material from the homeland to build his well-appointed home. He had his country club, the elaborate parties, his class distinctions. This era ended in 1914, and after 1918 came soldier settlers. About 1925 the picture changed again with the coming of the Ukrainians. Their cheap frame houses, the Greek architecture of their churches, their Russian dances, indeed, all phases of their community life are in striking contrast with all that the British settlers had introduced. Other racial groups came on the scene, conspicuously the Japanese. Religious bodies such as the Seventh-day Adventists formed their communities. The hitherto almost completely homogeneous Okanagan became' a medley of races and In closing, Dr. Ormsby paid tribute to Dr. F. W. Andrew, the author of The History of Summerland, and to the late Leonard Norris, founder of the Okanagan Historical Society. The latter came to the valley in 1882, and in 1926 began to collect the historical data of the valley. Future historians of the Okanagan will always be indebted to the industry with which he pursued his natural, albeit untutored, flair for historical research. 174 Notes and Comments. April KAMLOOPS MUSEUM ASSOCIATION. The annual meeting of the Kamloops Museum Association was held on Friday, January 16, with the President, Mr. Burt R. Campbell, in the chair. Reports on the year's activity were received and indicated continued interest in the work of the Association. The museum is now open two evenings a week—Wednesday and Saturday—and during 1947 more than 1,200 visitors signed the register. Further progress has been made in cataloguing the picture collection, and the first volume of the index has now been typed. Much credit for this undertaking is due to the untiring efforts of Mr. Campbell. The reprinting of the photographic collection by the Provincial Archives is continuing; to date nearly 860 photographs have been reproduced. During the year a collection of 500 negatives was presented to the museum by Mr. J. A. S. Carment, of Vancouver. Civic interest in the work of the association was again recognized in tangible form by a grant of $350 from the City Council. At the moment the most pressing need is additional accommodation for the growing collection. Larger and more permanent quarters are required, but in the meantime reallocation of exhibits is to be undertaken and new displays in the natural history branch are to be opened in the spring. The following officers were elected for the year:— President Burt R. Campbell. Vice-President J. J. Morse. Secretary-Treasurer Miss Melva Dwyer. Executive Committee— T. S. Keyes. M. L. Wade. R. B. A. Cragg. J. E. Fitzwater. Alderman W. J. Moff att. OKANAGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Plans are well advanced for the reorganization of the Okanagan Historical Society on a regional basis. Heretofore it has acted as a single body, holding annual meetings in the spring. Now, in an effort to secure the more effective co-operation from the various sections of the valley, branches have been organized. The Penticton Branch was organized at a meeting held on February 19 at the home of Capt. J. B. Weeks. The following executive was elected:— President Mrs. R. B. White. Secretary R. J. McDougall. Members— H. Cochrane. R. G. Duncan. W. T. Leslie. The Kelowna Branch was organized at a meeting held in the Royal Anne Hotel on February 26, when the following executive was elected:— President F. M. Buckland. Vice-President J. B. Knowles. Secretary-Treasurer L. L. Kerry. 1948 Notes and Comments. 175 Members— W. R. Powley. E. M. Carruthers. H. C. S. Collett. Mrs. D. Gellatly. It is hoped that branches will shortly be organized elsewhere in the valley. The parent organization will co-ordinate the work of the branches and will hold its annual meeting in May. It is hoped that a system of yearly membership fees will permit the establishment of a printing fund. The Twelfth Report is in preparation, with Dr. Margaret A. Ormsby, of the Department of History of the University of British Columbia, as editor-in- The following extract from the letter of R. S. Mills, vicar of Petersham Church, as published in Petersham Leaflet, January, 1948, will be of interest to members of the British Columbia Historical Association:— " To begin the first issue of the Leaflet for 1948 I have a pleasant piece of news to record. Some of our good friends in British Columbia have heard of our efforts to restore our Parish Church and as a mark of their sympathy the Historical Association of British Columbia has sent me a donation of £20 towards the Restoration Fund. I thought that an appropriate recognition of this kindly act would be to dispatch in return a copy of the late Mr. C. D. Warren's History of our Church, and this I have done— as I reminded you lately on May 18th of this year falls the 150th anniversary of Captain Vancouver's burial in our churchyard. I have recently been in correspondence with the Hon. W. A. McAdam, the Agent-General of British Columbia, about the celebrations which are to mark this anniversary." CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. Harry D. Barnes is a pioneer resident of Hedley, B.C. He came to this Province in 1890, and after a number of years spent in prospecting in the Boundary country, he settled in the Similkameen in 1900. For over twenty- five years he was engaged in various capacities with the Daly Reduction Company and later the Hedley Gold Mining Company. Patricia M. Johnson, M.A., is a teacher at the Ladner Junior-Senior High School, Ladner, B.C. Walter N. Sage, Ph.D., is head of the Department of History, University of British Columbia, and a frequent contributor to this and other historical publications. W. Kaye Lamb, Ph.D., formerly Provincial Librarian and Archivist, is now librarian of the University of British Columbia. Madge Wolfenden is a Past President of the British Columbia Historical Association and the Assistant Provincial Archivist. Dorothy Crighton is a member of the staff of the Public Library Commission, Victoria, B.C. THE NORTHWEST BOOKSHELF. Esquimalt^-" Place of Shoaling Waters." By Leigh Burpee Robinson, with sketches by B. Digby Robinson. Victoria: Quality Press, 1947. Pp. 128. 111. $1.50. This attractive and readable little book devotes a few introductory pages to the Spaniards who discovered Esquimalt Harbour but did nothing beyond paying it a few visits in 1790-92, and then leaps on half a century to the more eventful days of the fur-traders and the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island. Most of it is devoted to the years between 1842 and 1870—a period of twenty-eight years that witnessed a transformation that, even in retrospect, still seems well nigh incredible. For in 1842 Esquimalt was still in the midst of a complete wilderness, and James Douglas spent the summer exploring the vicinity in search of a site for the trading-post that he decided finally should be built on the shores of what is now Victoria Harbour. In 1870, by contrast, Victoria was a substantial city, British Columbia was within a year of becoming a full-fledged Province of the new Dominion of Canada, and the Royal Navy's celebrated Flying Squadron found a firmly established naval base awaiting it at Esquimalt when it dropped anchor there. Mrs. Robinson has contrived to make her narrative reasonably complete without loading it down with overly familiar material, and it reads with a freshness that is most welcome. Particular interest attaches to her account of the farms established in Esquimalt by the Puget Sound Agricultural Company in the early fifties. Of these, only Craigflower is now at all well remembered, and the present description is much the best available in print. The chapters on naval history include notes on such little-known subjects as the history of St. Paul's Church and the adventures of the midget-sized gunboats that were stationed at Esquimalt from time to time. Esquimalt has enjoyed such a brisk sale that a second edition is already in prospect, and a number of small errors should be corrected before the book is reissued. Fort Nisqually was situated some distance from Tacoma, and not on the site of that city, as a reference on page 26 implies; the word gift should be substituted for potlach on page 33; the name of the barque Norman Morison is wrongly spelled on pages 67 and 68; the Puget Sound Agricultural Company did not cease to exist in the fifties, as stated on page 73; the steamer Eliza Anderson was never owned by the Hudson's Bay Company (p. 93); and strikes had occurred in British Columbia long before 1877 (p. 114). The miners at Fort Rupert gave trouble in the fall of 1849, and actually downed tools more than once in the spring of 1850. One further -suggestion. A map would be a most valuable addition to the book. Indeed, two maps could be added to advantage, placed on opposite pages for purposes of comparison. One of these should indicate the boundaries of the farms of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, and perhaps The Northwest Bookshelf. April operties; the qther should show the Esquimalt of to-day W. Kaye Lamb. Vancouver, 1 Romantic Vancouver Island; Victoria, Yesterday and Today. By Dorothy Abraham. Victoria: Acme Press, 1947. Pp. 118. 111. $1. Mrs. Abraham's attractive booklet will be read with interest by lovers of Vancouver Island and visitors who wish to learn something of the historical background and development of British Columbia's largest island. In reading the booklet, it is evident that the author, who is comparatively a newcomer to the locality, loves Vancouver Island as her adopted home. She has fallen under the spell of the late David W. Higgins, some of whose romantic stories she reproduces, and she has also drawn largely on Edgar Fawcett's Reminiscences of Old Victoria for much of her information relating to the pioneer period. Her outline sketches of the history of Victoria and the Island will serve as an invitation to a further pursuit of historic fact and episode, and should encourage her readers to delve deeper into British Columbia history and to interest themselves in the history of their own particular district. Mrs. Abraham's descriptions of Victoria and the countryside are all vivid enough to make the tourist wish to investigate the scenic points of interest up and down Vancouver Island, and she has succeeded in telling just enough of the history and local attractions to make each place stand out from its neighbour. Romantic Vancouver Island is well provided with good illustrations, and the arresting red cover of the booklet with its totem design, drawn by Bettie Dunnell, is a very pleasing feature. To the tourist, for whom it is primarily written, it should have a strong appeal and at the same time serve as a lasting reminder of a sojourn in these parts. From a purely critical point of view it is regrettable that Mrs. Abraham has confused old Fort Rupert with modern Prince Rupert; misspelled a number of proper names such as Mackenzie, Thomson, Hey wood, Lugrin, Galiano, to mention but a few; and allowed a number of typographical errors to pass, which, however, can be rectified when a new issue is being prepared. The fact of being able to find regional histories such as Romantic Vancouver Island available in our book-stores is an indication that an intelligent interest is being taken in British Columbia history, and the wish of this reviewer is that Mrs. Abraham's effort may serve as an inspiration to others to write about their own particular localities. Madge Woi Victoria, B.C. 1948 The Northwest Bookshelf. 179 Columbia. It is, however, regrettable that the distribution of Fort Langley will necessarily be restricted, for a book of this calibre should be more widely available. Indeed, it should be in the library of every school in the Province. Mr. McKelvie has been for years an enthusiastic exponent of local history and, in many ways, this is his finest contribution. It is obvious that he has enjoyed telling the story of Fort Langley—the first Hudson's Bay Company's post to be established on the lower mainland of what eventually became British Columbia. It is a story well worth telling, for the origins of much of the subsequent economic and political development of this Province can be traced to the old post established on the Fraser River in 1827. The events leading to the establishment of Fort Langley are well chronicled. Mr. McKelvie has drawn together much of the Indian lore relating to the delta of the Fraser River and has done a great service in the identification of old Indian place-names. To some readers, perhaps, it will be odd that the story of Fort Langley has its beginning on the Columbia River, but such is the case, and in a lucid manner the rivalry between the Nor'Westers and the Astorians is clearly set forth. The disaster to the Tonquin and the eventful visit of Capt. William Black in H.M.S. Racoon have their place in the narrative, as does the statesmanship of George Simpson in his prolonged search for a new headquarters for the Hudson's Bay Company in the Pacific Northwest. Whenever possible the author has let the participants in events speak for themselves through their diaries and letters. This is particularly well done in the account of the exploratory expedition undertaken by Chief Factor James McMillan in 1824, as well as in the actual building of the post in 1827 and the subsequent administration of James Murray Yale. The visit of the Cadboro in 1827 was of unusual significance, for it marked the completion of the work of discovery commenced in 1808 by Simon Fraser. Company men lived dangerously in those days, for inter-tribal quarrels were numerous and a constant threat. Stern measures, like those meted out to the Clallams and Yucultas, were unfortunately necessary. Ample factual information is given regarding the increasing activity at Fort Langley. The beginnings of agricul to a new site in 1839 and the disastrou the life of the Company's ser years James Murray Yale wa administration adds greatly t( posts were developed, one can post should occupy. The advent of the gold-seekers, and with them the replacement of Company by Colonial rule, gave Fort Langley its last brief moment of glory, for it was here on November 19, 1858, that the mainland colony of British Columbia was born amidst all the pomp that the limited facilities could afford. The town of Derby, on the site of the original fort, envisaged for itself a bright future, but events decreed otherwise and before long New sr had put an end to its hopes. ring are recorded The removal sfire the f ollowi r complicated this " outpost of empire." In later the account of his tion of this er. As other growing jealousy of t le position his \ 180 The Northwest Bookshelf. April A beautiful coloured frontispiece, the work of George H. Southwell, and two excellent maps add greatly to the appeal of this book, which is, throughout, an admirable production. Typographical errors are few; it is unfortunate that the date on the caption of the frontispiece reads 1885 instead of 1858 and that on page 55 1849 is given as the date of Yale's letter instead of 1840. A series of notes and an excellent bibliography increase the usefulness of this volume. Fort Langley contains a great mass of factual information, but it is, at all times, a thoroughly readable publication. Willard E. Ireland. Victoria, B.C. The Letters of Letitia Hargrave. Edited, with introduction and notes, by Margaret Arnett MacLeod. Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1947. Pp. cliv, 310. 111. Mrs. MacLeod, of Winnipeg, a member of the Council of the Champlain Society, has edited with great care The Letters of Letitia Hargrave. Her long introduction to the volume throws a flood of light on life in the fur trade, and especially on life at York Factory, during the greatest days of the Hudson's Bay Company. James Hargrave, a Scot from Hawick, Roxburghshire, at the age of 22, entered the service of the North West Company in 1820. The next year, with the other Nor'Westers, he found himself a Hudson's Bay man. In 1833 he became a chief trader and was placed in charge of York Factory, the depot on Hudson Bay. By this time Hargrave had made one firm resolve: he would marry a white woman. He had seen too much of the so-called "country marriages." One of his friends was William Mactavish, from Kilchrist House, near Campbeltown, Argyllshire. When Hargrave returned to Scotland, he visited Kilchrist House and promptly fell in love with Letitia Mactavish, the eldest daughter of Sheriff Dugald Mactavish and his wife, nee Letitia Lockhart. An unforseen change of plans due to an unexpected order to return to York Factory earlier than he had anticipated prevented a formal engagement. Letters were, however, exchanged between Hargrave and the Mactavishes, and arrangements were made for the young people to be married when Hargrave got his next furlough. This came in 1839 and the marriage took place at Kilchrist House on January 8,1840. In June the bride and groom sailed on the Prince Rupert, the Hudson's Bay Company's ship, and arrived at York Factory in August. York Factory was to be Letitia's home from 1840 to 1861. There her children were born, and she enjoyed the comforts and endured the inconveniences of fur-trading life. York Factory has never been a beautiful place, nor is its climate particularly salubrious, not even to a Scot from Argyllshire. But it was one of the great centres of the fur trade, and in the busy summer, especially when the boat was there, all sorts of notables came and went. Sir George and Lady Simpson and the Duncan Finlaysons were close friends of the Hargraves. But Letitia was not quite so certain at first of Mrs. Gladman, who was " country born," although her husband was a commissioned officer of the Company. Young Robert Ballantyne arrived The Northwest Bookshelf. in 1841. He soon proved himself to be a greater success as an author than as a fur-trader. Dr. W. F. Tolmie, " a young man from the Columbia," was also at York Factory in 1841 en route to England. Letitia Hargrave praised him for his fine character and his devotion to duty. Dr. J. S. Helmcken was surgeon on the Prince Rupert in 1847 when the Hargraves were returning from a furlough in Scotland. Helmcken was not impressed with York Factory: " It was and is a miserable place, apparently worthless." There are also references in Letitia Hargrave's letters to Dr. John McLoughlin and to James Douglas, the " Dombey" of the fur-trade. From certain references to Douglas in the letters it seems very possible that he was, after all, born in the British West Indies, perhaps in British Guiana. Letitia's letters are what the Romans would have termed "familiar," addressed to members of the family. Most of them are to her parents and her sisters. Since they are family letters, not intended for publication, they are extremely frank. From them one learns much of the actual day- by-day life in the fur trade. There are many enlightening passages and not a little gossip. Lady Simpson was a close friend of Letitia's, but Letitia stood rather in awe of Sir George. The curious will find in the letters some interesting details regarding Sir George's life. Lady Simpson's lot does not seem to have been particularly happy. From the letters we glean considerable fur-trading information. At first Letitia failed to understand the difference between the regular income of a chief trader and the dividends which he received as the furs were sold. These dividends amounted to £20 or £25, but the average annual income was from £400 to £450. Letitia suspected that the lower figure was more accurate (p. 115). She also contrasts the rations at Norway House, which were " all fish," with those at York Factory, where each man had " a pound of i, salt g r plov week." partridges in winter or 9 months a year besides Vz a pint of i There is also much interesting information regarding the missionaries, and especially Rev. James and Mrs. Evans. The Hargraves were staunch Presbyterians, and although they at times disapproved of the Evanses, who were Methodists, they liked the Anglicans still less. The Roman Catholic priests were more successful, because, apparently, they did not attempt to ■ take part in the politics of the fur trade. An interesting sidelight on the religious life of the period was the outbreak of emotionalism among the rt of religious frenzy occurred. A certain l 1843 caused trouble at York Factory, but d preserved order. In 1851 Chief Factor Hargrave was transferred to Sault Ste. Marie. is health was bad, and Letitia and the family greatly needed a change, idy Simpson died in 1853, and Letitia felt the loss very deeply. In 1854 stricken with cholera and died on September 18, after a few days' illness. Her husband, who remarried in 1856, retired from the fur trade in 1859 and settled in Brockville, Ontario. His death, at the age of 67, occurred on May 16, 1865. Letitia's brother, William Mactavish, of Red River, was also in very poor health, a fact which was to assume a Indians. In 1842 and 1843 a so Indian, named Abbis Shabbish, i Hargrave took a strong stand ai 0 182 The Northwest Bookshelf. April certain historical importance in the stirring times of 1869-70 when the Hudson's Bay Company's territories were being transferred to Canada. It is well that it was a woman who has edited these letters of a fur- trader's wife. Mrs. MacLeod has done her work well. There is a feminine touch throughout the whole volume. The concluding paragraph of the introduction illustrates this so clearly that it deserves to be quoted:— The house in which Letitia had lived at York, with her sitting-room, the mess, and the nursery, the place she had made an oasis in that crude country, remained much as she left it, and was used as the chief officer's residence until 1934, when it was demolished. One of the pines that Letitia e children had treasured in the garden grew until it towered high the big depot, when, after a long life, it died. Letitia's descendant" still cherish a few mementos of her; the little New Testament that lay o: above the big depot, when, after a long life, it died. Letitia's still cherish a few mementos of her; the little New m--■■-- her table, and the rocking-chair in which she died. Walter N. Sage. Vancouver, B.C. Ballads of B.C. Words by Dr. John Murray Gibbon, music arrangements by Sir Ernest MacMillan. Toronto: Gordon V. Thompson, Limited, 1947. 75 cents. Carrying out the modern trend of educational leaders for the integration of music and poetry with such subjects as history and geography, Dr. Gibbon, an authority on the folk-songs of Canada, has written nine ballads to well-known tunes. The piano accompaniments are arranged by Sir Ernest MacMillan. Dr. Gibbon is happiest in his ballads set to the Irish air "The Lame Yellow Beggar," which he has entitled " Song of the Columbia River," and the " Song of the Okanagan " set to the Scottish "Afton Water." " Down Vancouver Way" to the tune " Kennst du das Land? " is already fairly well known, as it appeared in an earlier collection by these collaborators, Northland Songs, No. %. As a resident of Vancouver Island, may this reviewer point out that skylarks do not " sing down Vancouver way " but only on Vancouver Island, or does poetic licence entitle a bird to fly wherever the ballad-writer sees fit? At a lecture-recital of his work with folk-ballads some time ago, Dr. Gibbon expressed his opinion that the German language would be for many years in disrepute owing to the behaviour of that country. Music, on the other hand, is a universal language and it is only fitting that the lieder of Schubert, for instance, should have English words in order that the English- speaking world might better understand and take greater pleasure in the music. " Song of Victoria " to Schubert's " Des Miillers Blumen " is an illustration of this point of view. All nine ballads deal with simple things and range geographically from Vancouver Island to the Columbia River and from the Cariboo goldfields to the Yoho Valley. This collection is of considerable interest and the folio is illustrated with good reproductions of line drawing depicting the scenery of the ballad's locale. ,r _ _ Dorothy Crighton. Victoria, B.C. The Northwest Bookshelf. 183 Prize Winning Essays. Armitage Competition in Oregon Pioneer History. Reed College. [Reprinted from Reed College Bulletin, Portland, Oregon, 1942-47.] ' In 1941 a competition for " essays based on the study of pioneer history in the Oregon country " was inaugurated at Reed College, Portland, Oregon, through the kindness of Mr. S. C. Armitage. Subsequently provision was made for the publication of the prize-winning essays in both undergraduate and graduate divisions. Now the essays for the period 1942-46 have been gathered together in a single volume. In general it can be said that the essays are a credit to Reed College and give ample evidence of the high scholastic standards maintained at that institution. The great variety of the subjects dealt with gives some idea of the complex conditions existing in Oregon even in pioneer days. Three essays of the competition for 1941-42 were printed. Miss Helen Bowers, drawing largely from the John McLoughlin Vancouver Letterbook, 1829-32, owned by Reed College, has an excellent study on the " Trade and Administrative Policies and Practices of McLoughlin." The subsequent publication of the series of McLoughlin Fort Vancouver Letters, 1825-46, by the Hudson's Bay Records Society does not invalidate many of the assumptions made in this essay. Two Oregon pioneers are the subject of the remaining two essays: "Jesse Applegate, His Attitude Toward the Oregon Indians," and " Philip Foster, Pioneer Oregon Entrepreneur." The latter is particularly interesting for the light it sheds on early business practices. An evaluation of the political contribution of Jesse Applegate is attempted in the first of the two essays printed for the competition of 1942-43, and much interesting new material on one of the first " boosters " of the Pacific Northwest is to be found in "Asa Shinn Mercer, Northwest Publicity Agent." " Nativism in Oregon " is a detailed examination of the extension into Oregon of the " No-Popery Crusade" which swept the Eastern United States in the late 1830's. Protestant missionaries in Oregon looked askance at the influence their Roman Catholic confreres exercised over the Indian population, and the Whitman massacre marked the crisis in the growing conflict. The effect of John McLoughlin's conversion to Catholicism upon the Oregon City land controversy is also examined. The second essay in the 1943-44 series, entitled "The Myth of Pioneer Hardships on the Oregon Trail," is a re-examination of the immigrant diaries of 1836-53 to discover " whether or not the rigors of this journey across the plains " were as severe as later orators were wont to maintain. As early as 1881, Harvey Scott, editor of the Portland Morning Oregonian, had warned that the tendency towards " mythological narration " was such that the pioneer stories and traditions should " be brought under the sober judgment of history." The conclusion reached by Miss Jean Webster is that Scott's warning was well founded, Miss Marie Lazenby's essay " Down-Easters Out West" is one of the most ambitious of the series, for it is an attempt to show "that much of 184 The Northwest Bookshelf. the pioneer history of Oregon was shaped by the militancy of New England's ministers and the acquisitiveness of her merchants "—that, in effect, Turner's frontier thesis breaks down in Oregon. That the New Englanders were numerically strong is readily demonstrable, and by using W. S. Ladd, S. H. Marsh, and Rev. Thomas L. Eliot as prototypes, Miss Lazenby builds a convincing case. Of almost equal importance is "A Study of the Underlying Causes of the Depression of 1854 " which undertakes to evaluate the implications of the discoveries of gold in Southern Oregon in 1861 upon the economy of the territory. The resulting overimportation of staple commodities in anticipation of large-scale immigration to the newly discovered goldfields and the general dependence of the economy of Oregon on conditions in neighbouring California are put forward as the principal causes of the depression. This is an excellent study in economic history, and it is to be hoped that similar studies for other parts of the Northwest will be undertaken. The last essay in the series is a suggested revision of the part played by William Gilpin in the political history of Oregon. Further publications in this series will be looked forward to with considerable interest by students of Pacific Northwest history. Willard E. Ireland. Victoria, B.C. We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Organized October 31st, 1922. PATRON. His Honour Charles A. Banks, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia Hon. W. T. Straith - Willard E. Ireland - George B. White - Margaret Ormsby - G. H. Stevens Madge Wolfenden - J. K. Nesbitt - Honorary President. Past President. 1st Vice-President. 2nd Vice-President. Honorary Secretary. Honorary Treasurer. Willard E. Ireland MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. ilier. Burt R. Campbell. )w. W. Kaye Lamb. W. N. Sage. G. H. Stevens (Victoria Section). Muriel R. Cree. B. A. McKelvie. ;e 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 January. All members in good standing receive the British Columbia Historical Quarterly without further charge. Correspondence and fees may be addressed to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY JULY, 1948 iH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in cooperation with the British Columbia Historical Association. EDITOR. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. Goodpellow, Princeton. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor. 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. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Victoria, B.C., July, 1948. Staging and Stage Hold-ups in the Cariboo. By Willis J. West McCreight and the Bench. By Patricia M. Johnson Gold-rush Days in Victoria, 1858-1859. A letter from James Bell, edited with an introduction by Willard E, Ireland i Notes and Comments: A Note ob Archibald Menxies and David Douglas, Botanists. By J. W. Eastham '. 5 British Columbia Historical Canadian Historical Associi Contributors to this Issue_ STAGING AND STAGE HOLD-UPS IN THE CARIBOO. When reports reached the outside world of the discovery in the early 'sixties of fabulously rich deposits of placer gold in the Cariboo country of British Columbia there was a rush not only of experienced placer-miners from California but of all classes of humanity from Eastern Canada and the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other points throughout the world. This rush of gold-seekers was into a primitive, mountainous country that was known at that time only to a few explorers, fur-traders, and to the Indians. The pioneer gold- seekers prospected their way up the Fraser River and its tributaries until they discovered the rich gold-bearing creeks. There were no roads or trails and very little was known about the topography of the country since the early explorers had made their journeys largely by following the waterways which were swift mountain streams navigable only for isolated stretches at certain seasons of the year. The Cariboo country is, roughly, that part of the Interior of British Columbia which is at present bounded by the Canadian Pacific Railway on the south and the Canadian National Railway on the north and extends about 100 miles on either side of the Fraser River. As the horde of adventurers started to arrive there was a great need for transportation from the outside world to the remote creeks, for food-supplies as well as for the necessary miner's equipment. The establishment of a regular service for the carrying of passengers, express, and Her Majesty's mails was also greatly in demand to ensure the development of the new goldfields and the safe transport out of the country of the treasure in gold-dust which every eager gold-seeker expected to secure. When the gold was discovered in northern Cariboo there were several ways of entering the gold-bearing areas. Eventually traffic was routed by river-steamer from the Pacific Coast up the Fraser to the head of navigation at Yale from whence it went first by trail and later by wagon-road some 380 miles north 186 Willis J. West. July to Williams Creek. It was on this creek that the town of Barker- ville was later established and became the supply centre for the miners. It was not until over twenty years later, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in the middle 'eighties that the town of Ashcroft, the most feasible point on the railway to connect with the Cariboo Road, came into prominence and soon developed into a centre of considerable importance and the gateway to the whole of the Northern Interior of British Columbia. The historical old Cariboo Road will soon be converted into a modern highway along which tourists will ride in comfortable automobiles and be accommodated in luxurious hotels. It seems appropriate that early conditions along the road should be recalled and recorded. This article will deal with some of the lesser known details in the history of the first organized transportation company in Western Canada, renowned throughout British Columbia as the " B.X.," and will seek to describe how it operated its unique service and discuss some of the difficulties that it encountered in safely delivering the mails and in serving the public in the pioneer days of the Cariboo. Before turning to the activities of Francis Jones Barnard, founder of the " B.X.," passing mention should be made of other pioneer express companies. The pioneer expressman in British Columbia was William J. Ballou, who, in June, 1858, organized the Pioneer Fraser River Express, the first advertisement1 of which appeared in the Victoria Gazette, July 3, 1858. Ballou had had considerable experience in this field of activity in California and shortly after coming to British Columbia he entered into a partnership with H. F. Smith. This partnership was short-lived, being dissolved by mutual consent in February, 1859,2 and Ballou continued alone until his retirement in October, 1862,8 when his business was absorbed by Messrs. Dietz & Nelson.4 Originally Ballou worked in conjunction with Freeman and Company's Atlantic and European Express south to California and after 1859 with Wells, Fargo & Company, which had taken over Freeman and Company's interests in British Columbia. (1) Victoria Gazette, July 3,1858. (2) Ibid., February 8,1859. (3) New Westminster British Columbian, October 18,1862. (4) Victoria Colonist, November 6,1862. 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 187 The Fraser and Thompson River Express was another pioneer company organized by J. Horace Kent and H. F. Smith in July, 1858. The first advertisement for Kent & Smith's express6 ap^ peared in the August 6, 1858, issue of the Victoria Gazette, and continued until September 30, at which time the partnership was dissolved, although the business was carried on by H. F. Smith.* It is presumed that this was the organization with which Ballou entered into partnership. From its origin Kent & Smith's express worked in conjunction with Wells, Fargo & Company. Still another express company organized in 1858 was Lindhart & Bernard's Express, operating over the Douglas-Lillooet route.' The leading spirit in this venture was J. W. Lindhart, a merchant of Douglas, and evidently he soon became the sole proprietor.8 In December, 1858, he sold out his express business to Messrs. Thompson & Fike,9 about whom no further information is presently available. William Jeffray was for some time in 1858 on the staff of the British Columbia Customs House department. Having severed his connection with this government office in August, 1859,10 he became a " Travelling Agent for the merchants shipping goods ... to Fraser river . . . paying duties on merchandise . . . and to see it forwarded to its proper destination."11 Subsequently he entered into partnership with W. H. Thain to form Jeffray & Co.'s Fraser River Express12 and operations commenced on April E™ In December, 1861, this business was acquired by F. J. Barnard.14 All of these companies were, in effect, courier services, using canoes and pack-horses, and indeed often the proprietor himself carried the express on his back. Such was the experience of (6) Victoria Gazette, August 6,1858. (6) Ibid., October 1,1858. (7) Ibid., September 11,1858. (8) Ibid., November 13,1858. (9) Ibid., December 21, 1858. (10) Ibid., August 18, 1859. (11) Ibid., August 16,1859. (12) Victoria Colonist, March 20, 1860. The co-partnership notice is printed in full. (13) Ibid., April 3,1860. (14) Ibid., December 7,1861. J 188 Willis J. West. July Francis Jones Barnard, a native of Quebec, who early in the excitement over the discovery of gold, started " packing " letters and parcels to the miners.16 In June, 1862, having some months previously acquired Jeffray's express, Barnard merged his company into the British Columbia and Victoria Express Company16 and offered a weekly service. About the same time he entered into an arrangement with Messrs. Dietz & Nelson, operating between Victoria and Lillooet and Yale, beyond which points Barnard's Cariboo Express took over. He was successful in arranging a contract, dated July 19,1862, with Governor Douglas to carry the mails into the Interior of British Columbia. This contract included arrangements for a service to northern Cariboo at monthly intervals during the winter period of December 1 to March 31 and at bi-monthly intervals during the rest of the year. The authorities also stipulated a postal rate of four shillings to convey a letter from Yale to Antler Creek, with an additional charge of two shillings from that point to Williams Creek." This service really marks the beginning of the famous "B.X." In the summer of 1863 Barnard put two-horse wagons on the run from Lillooet to Alexandria. These wagons carried two or three passengers every ten days and beginning May 1, 1864, four-horse coaches began to run regularly from Yale to Soda Creek,18 from whence boats ran to Quesnelmouth. Still later coaches were also used out of Quesnel. Some idea of the scope of this venture is to be judged from the following extract from the British Columbian:— ... it only remains to give a few figures, in order to afford the reader an idea of the present magnitude of the institution, and the success with which it has met under the able management of Mr. Barnard and Messrs. Dietz & Nelson. The number of miles traveled [sic] during the present year is 110,600. Number of men employed, exclusive of agents whose time is not (15) I Biographi pp. 91-94. (16) Victoria Colonist, June 24,1862. (17) A. S. Deaville, The Colonial Postal Systems and Postage Stamps of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, 1849-1871 (Archives of B.C. Memoir No. VIII), Victoria, 1928, pp. 84-85. For other details regarding Barnard, see ibid., pp. 52-53. (18) New Westminster British Columbian, May 4, 1864. 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 189 entirely devoted to the Express, 38. Number of horses employed in the Express service, 160. Number of Expresses despatched from the head office in New Westminster during the present year, 450. Total amount of treasure and valuables, exclusive of merchandise, passing through the Express during the present year, $4,619,000.19 In 1867 Barnard acquired the interests of Messrs. Dietz & Nelson.20 Later on, in 1878, Barnard and his associates21 were incorporated as the British Columbia Express Company by special Act of the British Columbia Legislature and were empowered, among other privileges:— To construct, hire, purchase and acquire horses, coaches, waggons, boats, steam vessels, and other conveyances, for the conveyance and transport of any passengers, goods, chattels, merchandise, money, gold dust, bullion, packages, letters, mail matter, or parcels that may be entrusted to them for conveyance from one place to another within the Province of British Columbia. . . .22 On December 2,1878, the first meeting of the directors was held in the City of Victoria and a resolution was passed authorizing the taking-over of the assets of F. J. Barnard & Company. In the first days of the gold-rush the Company, as has been pointed out, conducted its service with pack-horses, but as wagon- roads were built and extended the Company introduced Concord thorobrace stages from California and inaugurated a regular horse-stage service which continued to be performed by the "B.X." (under different owners) for fifty-odd years until at last the construction of railways and the arrival of the automobile brought to an inevitable end this primitive method of transportation.28 (19) Ibid., December 14, 1864. (20) Victoria Colonist, December 6, 1867. (21) George A. Sargison, Frank S. Barnard (son of F. J. Barnard), Stephen Tingley, and James Hamilton. (22) Statutes of the Province of British Columbia . . . 1878, Victoria, 1878, p. 4, c. 2, "An Act to Incorporate the British Columbia Express Company." (23) The story of the earlier development of this pioneer transportation company has been well told in E. 0. S. Scholefield and F. W. Howay, British Columbia from the earliest times to the present, Vancouver, 1914, vol. II, pp. 127-131. See also H. C. Hitt and G. E. Wellburn, " Barnard's Cariboo Express in the Colony of British Columbia, IS6O-7I87I and later Expresses of F. J. Barnard," The Stamp Specialist [New York, 1945], pp. 3-32. 190 Willis J. West. July The years with which this article primarily deals are those following the transfer of the head office of the Express Company from Yale to Ashcroft after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was during these later years that the present writer was employed by the " B.X." and can therefore write from personal acquaintance of the days when mining and other developments had been extensively stimulated by the construction of the railway, of which one of the first effects was a notable increase in the availability of necessary supplies at a greatly reduced cost. The " B.X." now reached its period of greatest activity. The day of the individual miner was passing and companies were being organized with the amount of capital necessary to bottom the deep diggings where gold was still to be found. The first 100 miles of the Cariboo Road, built from Yale to Cache Creek, was a wonder of those pioneer days. Constructed under the supervision of the Royal Engineers, it followed along the canyon of the Fraser River, over Jackass Mountain and up the Thompson River to Cache Creek. In places where the road skirted along the high walls of the Fraser River canyon it was built on timbers. Thus, if a passenger looked down he could see that the stage was travelling directly over the swirling waters of the river some 200 or 300 feet below. World travelled passengers remarked that no other road on the continent appeared to be as hazardous or presented picturesque scenery to equal that of the first 100 miles of the Cariboo Road. Many portions of this first section were destroyed during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway along the route. As a result British Columbia was for over forty years without a highway leading from the Interior to the sea until the present motor- road was constructed. Leaving the Thompson River near Cache Creek the road headed north across country until it met the Fraser River again at Soda Creek, which is 167 miles from Ashcroft. From Soda Creek it followed the river to Quesnel and then ran directly east 60 miles to Barkerville. The country the road traversed was rolling and uneven and at times the road reached an altitude of approximately 5,000 feet in crossing from valley to valley, so that it can be truthfully stated that there was hardly a mile of straight or level road in the whole distance between Ashcroft 1948 Staging in the Cariboo, 191 and Barkerville. Since it was built by contractors24 in haste and with a shortage of money there was a tendency in its construction to make progress at the expense of good grades and drainage. There was no paving of roads in those pioneer days and very little of the road was even gravelled; therefore in the spring after the winter break-up, or in a year of heavy rainfall, the whole length of the road would consist only of two deep ruts where the stage-wheels would sink to the hubs. On the northern end of the road, the last 30 or 40 miles before reaching Barkerville, the snowfall was particularly heavy and towards the end of winter the mail-stage sleighs would be travelling 5 or 6 feet above the level of the summer road owing to the accumulation of snow. When the stage sleigh met another, neither could turn off to pass. If the horses had stepped off the narrow beaten track they would have sunk up to their ears in the loose snow and would then have had to be unhitched and a space shovelled before they could be brought back on to the road. When two sleighs met the lighter one would be unloaded and tilted on its side so that the other could pass. Everyone had to pitch in when these incidents occurred and assist in the snow- shovelling and unloading and loading of mail and express matter or freight. At Devil's Canyon, a fearsome place between Stanley and Barkerville, and subject to serious snowslides, the snow road might be 20 feet above the summer road. The Government maintained a road gang to keep this canyon open in order that the mail might go through, and on some occasions the driver and the passengers on a stage proceeding down the canyon would shovel snow some hours before meeting the road-gang working from the lower end. Specially trained horses accustomed to these snow conditions were used. If these intelligent animals became buried by the snow they would not struggle but would wait confidently until the driver shovelled a clear space and untangled their harness. In some years when the snowfall was particularly heavy, and, despite all efforts, the canyon could not be kept open for horses, a team of dogs would be used to carry the mails. Express and supplies had to wait until road conditions improved. (24) Scholefield and Howay, op. cit, Vol. II, pp. 98-108, has the history of the construction of the Cariboo Road. 192 Willis J. West. July On the first day of January, 1910, the Provincial Government brought into operation a "Broad Tire Act"26 which greatly improved road conditions in Cariboo and made practicable the operation in later years of automobiles. The average load for a stage was about 750 lb. per horse; under the new regulations the width of tires had to be proportionate to the load carried. Strenuous objections were made by stage-drivers, freighters, and ranchers against the enforcement of the new regulations, but after the Act had been in effect for some time the benefits were so obvious that all objections ceased. The main stage-line at this time extended from Ashcroft to Barkerville, the end of the road, a distance of 280 miles. Branch lines radiated from main-line points to various mining camps and settlements, from Ashcroft to Lillooet, Clinton to Alkali Lake, 150-Mile House to Alexis Creek in the Chilcotin country, 150-Mile House to Harper's Camp, and from 150-Mile House to Keithley Creek. Later after the projection of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway through Northern British Columbia, the stage service was extended to Fort George at the junction of the Nechako and Fraser rivers. It was the longest stage-line in America, a fact which the Company was proud to advertise. The mail stages were operated under a strict schedule set up by the Postmaster-General at Ottawa. A definite time was stipulated for the arrival and departure of mail from each post- office throughout the whole country north of the railway. The Company's stages travelled in excess of 2,000 miles a week in performing the regular mail schedule but this mileage did not take into account the numerous stages carrying extra mail, passengers, express matter, and fast freight. This was the age when the horse was still regarded as king and the "B.X." made every effort, regardless of expense, to obtain the finest possible horses for its Cariboo service. The first horses were introduced from Oregon in the early 'sixties. In 1868 about 400 head of breeding stock was purchased in California and Mexico and driven north to Vernon, British Columbia. The importation of these horses was the start of the 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 193 famous " B.X." horse-ranch which for many years provided the Company with a large part of their best stock. Still later the Company acquired many fine horses that had been bred in the Nicola and Kamloops districts of British Columbia. After the advent of the railway, horse-ranches of Alberta and Saskatchewan provided additional large numbers of splendid animals. These half-bred range horses made very excellent stage stock, weighing on the average 1,150 lb. The " B.X." had a strict rule never to buy a " broke " horse, since such horses were regarded as spoiled. These range horses when acquired by the Company, at the approximate age of 5 years, had never " had a rope on them " except when they were caught and branded on the range when young. When finally purchased in the spring months they were quite wild, with long hair and tangled tails trailing along the ground. In about three months, given the proper handling and feeding, they would gain about 150 lb. (15 lb. of oats and 25 lb. of hay was the average daily allowance for each horse) and would develop into beautiful animals which the hostlers were more than proud to lead out for the admiration of the stage passengers. In the training of these horses, exclusively for staging, it was remarkable how rapidly they learned what was expected of them. One could almost say that the horses seemed as concerned as the driver in ensuring that the stage arrived safely at the end of its run. It was interesting to watch some of the wheelers, the heavier and older horses, on a dangerous hill, and to observe how they would hold back, determined to get the stage to the foot of the hill without mishap. The driver carried a whip which he could use very expertly and could touch up a leader in a six-horse team without the other five" horses being aware of the act. The whip was never used except for training a horse, or for disciplining him, or in an emergency. The use of the whip was completely unnecessary for compelling them to make good time to the next station, where a good feed and a comfortable stable awaited them. These stage-horses were never really broken. They were trained for staging alone and had to be handled in a way they would understand. To illustrate this the custom observed in preparing a stage and its horses for leaving a station had to be carefully and expertly carried out to ensure a safe departure. 194 Willis J. West. July When the mail, express matter, and baggage had been loaded and securely lashed onto the stage, the passengers were requested to take their places. Then the driver with his treasure-bag took his seat and all was in readiness for the horses to be brought from their stable. First the wheel team was led out by the hostler who backed it into position on either side of the stage- pole and passed the lines to the driver. After this team was ready, with harness and rigging adjusted to the satisfaction of the driver, the swing team appeared and the same procedure was followed. Finally the two leaders, the freest and most spirited horses in the six-horse team, were brought out and after the horses had indulged in much restless prancing, the hostler would eventually succeed in completing the " hooking-up " of the team and would then quickly back out of the way. At this moment the driver released the brakes and the horses lunged forward starting the stage on its way to the next station. Some teams when leaving a station at the beginning of their drive would behave in a most alarming manner and fill timid passengers with fear. The horses would stand on their hind legs and would seem to be so wildly entangled that a serious accident appeared inevitable. They would continue these antics until they had travelled about 100 yards and then they would settle down to a brisk trot. In their natural health and vigour they could not refrain from these exuberant demonstrations. These horses had a naturally strong " homing instinct." In the event of a horse escaping from his corral he would head across country for his home range; for instance, if he had originally come from the Nicola country the Company would only have to send a full description of him and his brands and would very seldom fail to recover him. Horses being the motive power of the Company it was essential that they receive very special care and attention. Each regular mail-driver had a certain number on his drive and was held responsible for their condition. No one else was permitted to drive them. At times when some fine animal caught the fancy of a passenger a very satisfactory sum would be offered for its purchase; but because a good horse was so highly valued and necessary in the stage service, no matter how tempting the price, the horse was seldom parted with. In any event the driver's 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 195 consent was always required before any of his horses would be sold. No horse would be of any value without good feet and therefore expert horse-shoers travelled along the routes and regularly visited each station. Their equipment included a forge so the shoes could be put on " hot." The stations were of an average 18 miles apart along the main line with fresh horses waiting at each. The regular mail stage took four days to make the 280-mile journey from Ashcroft to Barkerville. The stage travelled on the level at a brisk trot and the average speed, including walking the long hills and steep pitches, was 6 miles an hour. The hostlers in charge at the stage stations were usually old horsemen who loved horses and the care and feeding of them. They would vie with each other in seeing who could turn out his teams in the finest condition. One hostler even made it a practice to blacken and polish the hoofs of his horses in order to win the admiration of the passengers. Each horse had his own harness and it was a strict rule that this harness had to be cleaned every time it was removed from a horse. It is possible that the impression which some readers have of a stage-driver is, to some extent, taken from Hollywood movies, in which the driver is represented as an elderly longhaired bewhiskered "gent" who usually drives his six-horse team constantly at a full gallop. The Hollywood driver is not a stage-driver at all, he does not even know how properly to hold the lines. He is generally depicted as a hard-drinking man who steps up to the bar at every opportunity. How different is this romantic picture from the real driver of the early stages. In reality he was a conscientious young man who only after extensive training and by virtue of outstanding ability as a horseman and driver was entrusted with the responsible task of being a regular mail-driver for the "B.X." The Cariboo climate is rigorous and these men had to contend with the extremes of road and weather conditions, such as the break-up of the roads in the spring when the frost was coming out of the ground, the blinding alkali dust of the hot season, and the extreme cold of the northern Cariboo where the thermometer has been known to sink as low as 50° below zero each day for a month at a time. If you had been a passenger on top of a heavily loaded six-horse 196 Willis J. West. July stage in the spring and had watched the driver take the stage down a sideling icy mountain hill you would almost certainly have a more concrete appreciation of the skill and courage required by a driver of one of Her Majesty's mail stages in the early days of Cariboo. For its operations the "B.X." required a large and varied assortment of conveyances, ranging from a two-horse thorobrace "jerky" to a six-horse regular mail coach. There were also numerous four-horse covered and open thorobrace stages and four-horse covered thorobrace freight cages for transporting straight loads of mail or express matter. For winter travel the wheeled vehicles were duplicated with sleighs of all sizes up to fifteen-passenger sleighs to which a back-action sleigh was attached for carrying mail and express. A Concord stage was built with thorobraces or what may be called " leather springs." These were many layers of leather, of a width and number to suit the type of stage, which extended on each side of the stage gear from front to rear. The body of the stage was built with rockers on each side which fitted on these leather springs, causing the stage to rock and sway over the rough road. This made riding very comfortable especially when the stage carried a good load. In 1876 the " B.X." had a light four-horse thorobrace coach especially built in California in preparation for the coming visit in that year of the Governor-General and his wife, Lord and Lady Dufferin, who were driven in this coach from Yale to Kamloops and back.26 This famous coach presented a very gay appearance with its bright red body and yellow gear. It was upholstered in green plush and had the Canadian coat of arms on the front panels. -It was always known as the " Dufferin coach " and was reserved for special trips. When a German prince or an English lord went moose-hunting in the Blackwater or Fort George country he took the " Dufferin." The charge was $50 a day. This was not exhorbitant as it covered the cost of a change of horses at every station, which enabled them to make regular stage time. (26) Victoria Colonist, September 10, 1876. "Barnard's coaches and horses were in excellent condition and whirled the party over the road in good style." Ibid., September 15,1876. 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 197 BR fI v!yS ^ ?rSt C°nC0rd thorobrace sta^ were purchased m Cahforma. Later the " B.X." established its own shops where it built the needed conveyances of all kinds and earned out all necessary repair jobs. The California type of Concord stage was strengthened and improved to meet the difficult road conditions and heavy loads with which the Company had to cope. All the stages and other conveyances were painted m the Company s colours-the bodies of a bright red and the gears yeUow-and presented a very fine appearance. The harness of the Company, which was all hand-made in the shops was- manufactured out of the finest oak-tanned leather originally imported from California and later obtained in Eastern Canada The harness was of such excellent quality and was so well cared for that after the "B.X." finally ceased operations some back pads and hame tugs still in service were found with stamps indicating that they had been made at Yale fully forty years before. The stage fare from Ashcroft to Barkerville was $42 50 in winter and $37.50 in summer, with an allowance of 40 lb of baggage; the charge for excess baggage was 8 cents a pound and for express matter 12/2 cents a pound. The regular mail stages carrying passengers left the railway at Ashcroft at 4 a.m. and under good road conditions would arrive at the 83-Mile House, the end of the first day's run, at 6 p.m. They departed at 4 a.m. the next morning, so that if a passenger went to bed ■ immediately after dinner he could enjoy about eight hours' sleep. It was a different story, however, when heavy rains had made the road a sea of mud and the stage was perhaps five or more hours late. The mail invariably left on time every morning and passengers travelling when the road was in bad condition would get very little sleep on a journey through to Barkerville. It was a tradition in the country and the terms of the mail contract stipulated that the mail had to arrive on time notwithstanding vicissitudes of the weather or the state of the roads and therefore passengers who travelled on Her Majesty's mail stages, although they arrived on time with the mail, were often weary from lack of rest when they reached their destination. However, the management and the drivers gave all possible attention to the comfort, as well as the safety, of the passengers. 198 Willis J. West. July Stopping-houses along the route were provided where meals and beds could be procured. The stopping-houses were not operated by the " B.X." but were to some extent under its control as it could stop its passenger stages at whichever house it found most desirable. The food in such establishments was generally excellent and the beds were clean, except in a few settlements where the saloon business was viewed as of supreme importance and the comfort of the travelling public was left to the Chinese cook. Every ranch-house in Cariboo represented a stopping-house where a traveller was welcome any time, day or night. These ranches were as a rule 15 or 20 miles apart even along the main road, and the lonely settlers were curious about any traveller from the outside. They were delighted to welcome him, and although they appreciated the payments received by them in return for food and sleeping accommodation, they showed by their hospitality and kindness the pleasure which it gave them to have him in their homes. At some of these ranch-houses where women were in charge of the cooking the quality of the food was so outstanding that travellers in special conveyances would arrange their schedules so as to take advantage of this good food on their journey up and down the road. The ranches might be 50 miles from a store, but these Cariboo women did not need a " store around the corner " in order to provide appetizing cuisine. Nearly every dish which they served was produced on the ranch and that accounted for the low cost of meals. A meal or bed for one person was 50 cents each throughout the whole country until you got beyond Quesnel when the charge was increased to 75 cents. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner did not vary to any extent except that breakfast included a large dish of oatmeal porridge and a huge jug of thick yellow cream just as it had been skimmed from the pans in the milk-house. This was before the dairymen had developed the scientific marketing of milk. To-day, under Milk Board regulations, it would undoubtedly be illegal to serve cream of that nature, especially as the poor traveller had no knowledge of the butter- fat content of what he was consuming. The cream did not seem harmful, however, and was followed by a juicy steak, fried potatoes, two or three fried eggs or more if you could eat them. 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 199 This would be topped off with coffee and hot cakes swimming in syrup. Quite a number of cooks served pie at breakfast, which you could always have if you asked for it. There was one particular road-house which always provided three kinds of hot meat for the mid-day meal; these were put on the table with vegetables, at least three kinds of pie, pudding, two kinds of cake, and other varieties of food such as relishes, cookies, and stewed fruit. When everything was ready and on the table the traveller was summoned and was expected to carve and help himself. The food was excellent and the charge only 50 cents. It was at this same road-house that the proprietor had five bouncing daughters who, when an extra stage arrived late on a winter's night with a load of half-frozen passengers, were aroused from sleep by their father to give their warmed beds to the travellers. This was not the only occasion when families in Cariboo suffered inconvenience in order to accommodate the travelling public. Looking back, one marvels at what Cariboo women could accomplish under the pioneer conditions that prevailed for them. Their lives were made up of few pleasures and plenty of hard work. A Cariboo bachelor in selecting a mate would choose the girl with the best reputation as a worker and cook. One could hardly visualize one of these young pioneer women standing in a queue a city block long on a rainy day waiting for an opportunity to purchase at an extravagant price a pair of nylon hose that would likely start to disintegrate the first time they were worn. Nor could you imagine a Cariboo belle appearing before her friends or in public in a gown or even a bathing suit with a bare mid-riff. Theirs were the homely virtues. These kindly competent women of Cariboo did a great deal towards adding to the comfort of the stage traveller in the early days. Women who were obliged to travel on the stages in Cariboo were shown every consideration. The fact that the traveller was a woman entitled her to the choice seat on the stage, to the best room in the stopping-house, the seat at the right of the driver at the table, and the courtesy of being served first. The driver always sat at the head of the table to carve and serve his passengers. That a woman might be " Irene," a prostitute from one of the settlements, made no difference; she was a woman 200 Willis J. West. July and when travelling on the Cariboo stage was treated with every respect. Her Majesty's mail stages in Cariboo were responsible for carrying not only mail and express matter but also all the gold that was shipped out of the region. From the beginning the miners had great confidence in the " B.X." and never suffered a financial loss during all the years the Company performed this service. For as long as the old Company operated the Government would not permit gold-dust and bullion to be carried through the mails in Cariboo, although this was permitted in the Yukon as in the rest of Canada, since it was considered that such gold shipments placed too much responsibility on the postmasters handling them. Therefore when a miner wished to make a shipment of gold-dust he would take his poke or sack to the Company's agent who, in the miner's presence, would carefully seal it with wax and stamp it with.his agency seal along all its seams so that none of the gold could possibly be extracted without detection. Every shipment was insured against loss by the Company through Lloyd's of London for the declared value so that the Company would suffer no financial loss in the event of a stage hold-up and robbery. For many years the British Columbia Police provided a special guard to travel on the stage during the active gold- shipping season and to take charge of the stage safe. This guard was heavily armed and it is interesting to note that the stage was never held up during the years that the police provided this armed escort. When the Attorney-General, for reasons of economy, discontinued the service of an armed guard, the Company notified its drivers that since the gold and treasure were always insured it did not wish them to carry arms or to offer any resistance in the event of an armed hold-up. Was it not wiser to hand over the mails and treasure rather than to have one of their favourite horses or, worse still, a passenger shot? It was the responsibility of the police to protect the mails and the gold and in withdrawing the guard they gave the impression that they did not feel there was much danger of hold-ups at this late date. Some extremely large shipments of gold-dust were made in the early days when the richest creeks were first mined. It is on record that on one trip down from the creeks the driver had in 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 201 his charge three stage safes full of gold. A stage safe would hold gold-dust to the value of about $200,000. The largest shipment of bullion was made in the early fall of 1901 from the Cariboo Hydraulic Mining Company's placer-mine at Bullion. This mine was owned at that time by Canadian Pacific Railway directors and was reputed to be the largest placer operation in existence. In order to create publicity for the mine the gold-dust from one big clean-up was melted into the form of a large naval gun shell. Before the bullion was shipped from the mine a cradle with handles was made so that four men could carry it and lift it on and off the stage. It was shipped east from Ashcroft and was on display for a short time at Toronto, in the lobby of the Bank of Montreal at the corner of Yonge and Front streets. Customers could feel and examine it closely and it did not appear to be guarded. The bank officials did not seem to think a customer might walk away with it for, valued at $178,000, it weighed a mere 650 lb. It is remarkable, considering the value of the gold carried each season, how seldom the Cariboo stage was held up and robbed during the half century it operated, and for this there are two main reasons: first, the manner in which law and order were administered in Cariboo, and, second, the difficulty of escaping capture and making a safe get-away after the hold-up. In those pioneer days there was no delay and no red tape to speak of in punishing a criminal. When a man committed murder he was given a fair trial and hanged with dispatch. Other crimes were dealt with in the same forthright manner. The British Columbia Police in Cariboo were the real heroes of the country. They had a large district in which to uphold the law and the only equipment a gun, a saddle-horse, and plenty of courage. They were supposed to out-fight and out-shoot every drunken Indian or miner that might start raising a disturbance. Lots of " bad men " came to Cariboo but they behaved themselves for the most part. They seemed to hold in great respect the alacrity with which Canadians administered justice and punished wrong-doers. It is only in comparatively recent years that some parts of the Cariboo have been thoroughly explored. At the time of which this article concerns itself the country was so sparsely settled and the pioneer settlers so lonely and inquisitive that a stranger J 202 Willis J. West. July could not hope to escape attention. The only known route out of the country was by way of Ashcroft to the railway, making it virtually impossible for a stranger to rob the stage and hope to get away safely. The story has been told many times of Bill Miner,2' the notorious Western American outlaw, who, with accomplices, over forty years ago escaped after successfully holding up the transcontinental passenger train near Mission, British Columbia. A short time later he, with companions, again held up a Canadian Pacific Railway train near Monte Creek, east of Kamloops, British Columbia. It is also well-known that he was captured and convicted at the Assize Court at Kamloops of the second robbery and sentenced to a long term in the New Westminster penitentiary. However, it is not generally known that this notorious outlaw primarily came to rob the Cariboo stage. He proceeded directly to Ashcroft seeking information regarding the operation of the stages and the nature of the country in which he was planning his robbery. A stranger visited the " B.X." office in Ashcroft one late August afternoon in 1894. He stated that he was a placer-miner specializing in a small way in mining dry ground and inquired about stage transport to Barkerville. He was given a folder showing the times of departure and arrival of all stages. This stranger was Bill Miner, but the " B.X." agent did not discover his identity until some time later. Miner had a long chat with the agent and in the course of deceiving him regarding his intentions, went to considerable detail in explaining his peculiar method of mining, involving the use of a pump and fire-hose for saving gold in workings where very little water was available. At the time the bandit was chatting and slyly extracting information there was an illustrated reward notice from Pinkerton's Detective Agency, Chicago, in prominent view on the wall of the office. It offered a reward of $2,500 for the capture of Bill Miner dead or alive. The poster displayed a picture of a tough-looking bearded Westerner with long hair and dressed in a rough shirt, overalls, and high boots. No one would have (27) " Bill Miner—Outlaw and Stage .Coach Bandit," British Columbia Provincial Police The Shoulder Strap, 10th edition [1943], pp. 41-45; " The ' Bill Miner' Case," Scarlet and Gold, December, 1919, pp. 65-67. 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 203 associated this picture of the wanted criminal with the neat- ooking dry-ground miner who was so industriously acquiring knowledge of travelling conditions in the Cariboo. At that time Ashcroft was a lively town, even for the West and had three saloons which never closed, even on Sunday when one simply entered by the side door. There was always a poker or black-jack game running and after Miner left the " B X " office he got into a poker game and lost a couple of hundred dollars before quitting. It was through one of the poker players later being m Kamloops when Miner was up for preliminary hearing that his presence in Ashcroft before the hold-up was verified. On Tuesday evening, September 7, 1904, the Cariboo stage arrived at Ashcroft from the north on time and carried a full load of passengers, largely miners from Bullion. Some of these men mentioned they were being laid off as the hydraulic mining season was over and they casually remarked that the big gold shipment would be down on the next stage. Bill Miner must have had one of his gang waiting around Ashcroft for rumours of this sort. The main line stage from Barkerville arrived as usual Thursday night, September 9, and Miner and his gang held up the transcontinental train early the next morning near Mission. The train was in charge of conductor William Abbott, who reported that the robbers got $6,000 of Cariboo gold which had been transferred from Thursday night's stage and was picked up by the train when it passed through Ashcroft during the night. If Miner had studied the " B.X." time-table more carefully he would have learned that when the miners from Bullion stated the big shipment would be down from the mine on the next stage they meant it would arrive not on Thursday but the following Tuesday, since there was only one trip a week on the branch line from Bullion. If the bandits had waited and had held up the train on Wednesday they would have secured over $60,000 of gold from Bullion alone. At all events this experienced bandit who specialized in stage robberies all his life had come to the conclusion that there was less risk in holding up the train than in robbing the Cariboo mail-stage. As it happened, Tuesday night's stage carrying the Bullion gold was overloaded with J 204 Willis J. West. July passengers, nearly all of them miners from Bullion. Every man was heavily armed as the management of the mine had learned of the train robbery and were taking precautions. As they came off the stage they deposited their rifles, sawed-off shotguns, and ivory-handled pistols with holsters, and cartridge belts around the office. It looked as though they had brought everything they had at Bullion in the way of offensive weapons. The agent spent some time unloading all the weapons to make them safe to send next stage O.C.S. (On Company Service) back to the mine. It would be interesting to know what would have happened if Miner and his gang had held up that stage. In the original Minute-book of the Company which I have before me as I write there appears the following entry in the minutes of a shareholders' meeting held at Ashcroft on September 16,1890: " Regarding the robbery of the stage on the 14th July last near the 99 Mile Post the shareholders present regret to be unable to report any substantial clue to the identity of the perpetrator." At the next annual meeting of the shareholders held September 14, 1891, the following entry appears in the minutes: " Satisfaction was expressed at the result of the trial of M. V. B. Rowland, for the robbery of the stage near Bridge Creek in July 1890, who was convicted and sentenced by Judge Walkem at the June Assize at Clinton to a term in the Provincial penitentiary at New Westminster." Martin Van Buren Rowland had been working in the mines around Barkerville and was on a trip " outside " travelling by saddle-horse and leading a pack-horse when he conceived the idea of robbing the stage. After his conviction he wrote a confession describing how he left his camp and circled back in the timber, coming out to the road at the foot of Bridge Creek hill while it was still dark. Stages are without exception held up on hills or on steep pitches so that the driver cannot suddenly whip up his horses in the hope of getting away. Rowland waited for the stage near the 99-mile post where it usually stopped on this 4-mile-long hill to breathe the horses. In his confession he went on to describe how he covered the driver, William Parker, with his rifle and demanded he turn over the stage safe and treasure- bag. As it happened there were no passengers on this trip and as Parker was unarmed he was obliged to throw out the treasure- 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 205 bag and get the gold-safe from its compartment under the back seat Parker was able to talk Rowland into letting him retain the treasure-bag by telling him that it contained only waybills and other documents which might get the bandit into trouble if they were found in his possession. Parker had difficulty in getting the bag back on the stage without the bandit noticing its weight. It contained $2,500 worth of gold-dust. Rowland also related that after he had ordered the stage to drive on he loaded the gold-safe on his pack-horse and rode some distance up Bridge Creek before dismounting to chop open the back of the safe with his axe and thus extract the gold which was valued at $4,500. Hiding the safe in the heavy brush under a fallen tree he departed with the $4,500 in gold which it had contained. The " B.X." obtained the confession from Rowland in an effort to locate the safe and recover the valuable papers which had been locked m it, but their search was in vain. Rowland was successful in returning undetected up the road to his camp. He then proceeded at a leisurely rate back down the road past the scene of the robbery and on to the railway at Ashcroft. If he had been wise, he would have then taken the train out of the country and enjoyed his spoils without even being suspected of the stage robbery. As it was he was too clever for his own good, for, after going on a good spree, he bought a stock of grub and let it be known that he was journeying back up the road about 20 miles to Scottie Creek to do some prospecting. There had been several stampedes or excitements over Scottie Creek when a little coarse gold had been found there at different times. Some good prospectors, however, had thoroughly tried out the ground and located nothing worth while, so it was then abandoned. Some time later Rowland went back to Ashcroft and went on another spree, stating he had found some rich ground. He bought more supplies and returned to his camp. The " B.X." became a little suspicious and when they later found he had spent some gold-dust in the saloons they asked the bar-tenders to save any gold Rowland might tender in payment for whisky in the event of his coming into town again. It may not be generally known that .the gold mined in the many creeks of the Cariboo varies greatly in colour, feel, size, value, and so forth, and that any experienced miner or banker 206 Willis J. West. July could, upon examining any pan of gold-dust, tell immediately from which creek it had been mined. As Rowland did not again visit Ashcroft a sample of the gold he was spending could not be checked to see if it was the stolen gold. He remained at Scottie Creek some weeks and then one day startled the driver of the regular mail stage by tendering a shipment of gold, a little over $4,000 in value, which he claimed he had mined at Scottie Creek and wished to have delivered to the Gold Commissioner at Barkerville with the request it be melted down to bullion. Upon delivery it was identified by the Gold Commissioner as the gold stolen in the Bridge Creek hill robbery and Rowland was immediately arrested, convicted and sentenced. He was not convicted of the robbery—since it took place in the dark and he could not be positively identified—but for having in his possession stolen gold for which he could not account.28 Many years later, during the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway along the route of the Cariboo Road, the police turned over to the " B.X." a stage safe that had a hole chopped in the back. This was the safe stolen by Rowland and had been found by railway-workers clearing the right-of-way along the bottom of Bridge Creek hill. As the Tingley family owned the " B.X." at the time of the robbery the safe is now in the possession of Mr. F. C. Tingley, Vancouver, who is keeping it as a souvenir of his boyhood days in the Cariboo. On June 25, 1894, the stage leaving 150-Mile House early in the morning was held up, but on this occasion the robbery was a minor one. The bandit was picked up on the Dog Creek road the next day and when searched was found to have only $45 worth of gold-dust on him, which was the amount of treasure in the gold-safe on that particular trip. He was tried before Judge Clement F. Cornwall at 150-Mile House on July 4, convicted and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary.23 The only points of particular interest that are brought to mind by this robbery (28) News of this hold-up first appeared in the Kamloops Inland Sentinel, July 19, 1890. Rowland was not arrested until November 15, ibid., November 22,1890; and was tried at the Clinton Assize, June 8, 1891, ibid., June 13, 1891. (29) This robbery was reported in the Kamloops Inland Sentinel, June 29, 1894, and the trial is recorded in ibid., July 6, 1894. The robber was identified only as Blankly. 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 207 concern the driver, Ed. Owens, who was rather out of the ordinary as driven went. He had arrived at Ashcroft without anything being known of his previous whereabouts and had eventually obtained a job driving the stage. He was a quiet reserved young man, of athletic build, weighing over 200 lb' who never talked about himself. His fellow employees noticed that he had some peculiarities and after becoming fairly well acquainted with him asked him why he always carried a heavy calibre gun in the waistband of his trousers and never let the gun be far away when he was sleeping. They were also curious as to why he never would sit with his back to a door or window and why he seemed so diffident about meeting strangers until he had an opportunity of observing them closely. The only answer he made was, " There's a fellow after me and I want to see him first.'] Owens was reputed to be a wizard in drawing and shooting his big gun and would sometimes demonstrate to passengers by knocking over grouse as the stage travelled along. At the time he was held up with his stage containing only two passengers, he calmly waited until the bandit's attention could be diverted and he could safely draw and shoot. The bandit ordered him to get the gold-safe out of its compartment. In compliance with this order Owens got in the stage and started to draw his gun but the only inside passenger put a restraining hand on him as he was afraid of being hurt if any shooting started. Owens stated afterwards he could easily have killed the bandit but, when restrained, hesitated and decided to let him live as he knew he would get very little out of the hold-up. In addition to being an expert with firearms, Owens was the slowest stage-driver known in Cariboo. Passengers used to say he starved his horses, it took so long to reach the next station. He was also the fastest foot-runner in the country—he could run away from anyone else in a 100-yard dash. The last time the Cariboo stage was held up was on November 1, 1909, at a point between 141-Mile House and 144-Mile House. This robbery was perpetrated by a man and his female accomplice. The regular mail stage with a full load of passengers left the 150-Mile House early that morning on time. It was still dark when the stage approached a point on the road where there is a big tree on one side and a big boulder directly opposite. The J 208 Willis J. West. July woman, dressed like a man, waited behind the tree and the man behind the boulder; when the stage reached them, they both stepped out and covered the driver with their rifles. The man then demanded all the registered mail sacks from 150-Mile House and points north. Apparently they knew it was too late in the season for gold shipments. Charles Westoby, the driver, who was known to be quite deaf, pretended he could not understand their instructions and in the confusion managed to keep back some of the registered sacks and substitute " empties " that were being returned to the railway. No attempt was made to rob or molest the passengers. Westoby was ordered to drive on and the stage made good time to the 134-Mile House, the nearest telegraph office, where word was sent to all telegraph stations up and down the road notifying the police. A posse was formed of " B.X." employees and ranchers and proceeded to the scene of the hold-up. The police had already arrived to discover that the bandits had taken the mail-sacks a short distance into the brush, coolly cut them open, and abstracted any currency from the letters, but left bank cheques and money-orders. The posse and the police tracked the bandits' barefooted horses for some miles until they encountered the tracks of a band of wild horses, obliging them to turn back and abandon the pursuit. When the stage that had been robbed arrived with its passengers at Ashcroft the next night they seemed to regard the hold-up as something of a joke, since they had not been robbed or injured in any way. There was one exception, however, a newspaper writer from the Coast, who came storming into the office and demanded to know what efforts were being made to capture the "dastardly scoundrels who had robbed His Majesty's mail." He was still pale and nervous from the shock of being in a stage hold-up. We of the " B.X." were somewhat taken aback. Secretly we had felt rather pleased, since the Company was not responsible for loss of the mails in the event of an armed hold-up, no one had been hurt, and we had made the front pages of the newspapers across Canada. The police, however, were making every effort to discover and arrest the bandits. The country around 150-Mile House was at that time very sparsely settled and by careful checking and a process of elimination the authorities finally decided that the 1948 Staging in the Cariboo. 209 a certain woman and a man whom she called her brother-in-law that had been in the district only a few weeks. The pair were arrested and their cabin searched but the only evidence found was two freshly shod saddle-horses. After consultations with police headquarters in Victoria, the prisoners were brought down to Ashcroft, put on the train and told to get out and stay out of Canada. They were undoubtedly guilty and were obviously relieved to get off so lightly. It was estimated SaAor.y y g0t ab°Ut $2'°00- They missed one P^kage of $5,000 in currency from the bank in Quesnel owing to driver Westoby s initiative in withholding some of the registered sacks.30 Passengers who later'travelled on stages past the scene of the hold-up were very interested and the driver would have to stop and explain to them in detail just what had occurred. On one particular trip a passenger, with a camera, remarked how unusual it would be to have a picture of a stage hold-up. The driver on the trip, Al. Young, was an accommodating chap and offered to arrange for a photograph. He stopped his stage and with the co-operation of the passengers took the picture of a hold-up. Although it was posed it shows the actual stage and the horses that were in the last hold-up of the Cariboo stage. Al. Young was born along the route of the overland stage to California. His father kept a stage station, so early in life Al. learned about horses, guns, and bad men. He was not only a great stage-driver but an expert in handling a big Luger gun that he always carried when driving stage. He would have been a dangerous man for any bandit to have accosted. Wonderful are the tales of bad men and their gun-fighting he could relate- not restricted as is this writer to a strictly factual account of " Staging and Stage Hold-ups in the Cariboo." Willis Jas. West. f the robbery see Quesnel Cariboo Ob est of Clark and Mrs. Reider is given ii mccreight and the bench.* The Act of Union of 1866 did not provide for the amalgamation of the Supreme Court of Vancouver Island and the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Confusion arose as to the jurisdiction of the two Chief Justices, Joseph Needham and Matthew Baillie Begbie.1 In 1868 provision was made for the continuance of both Courts2 and the following year a final decision was reached which provided that on the death or resignation of either of the two Chief Justices there was to come into being a Supreme Court of British Columbia presided over by the remaining Chief Justice and assisted by a new Puisne Judge to be appointed.8 In 1870 Chief Justice Needham resigned to become the Chief Justice of Trinidad and at that same time H. P. P. Crease was appointed the first Puisne Judge. On July 3,1872, John Hamilton Gray was named second Puisne Judge under an enabling Act passed by the British Columbia Legislature that year. For some years these three Judges formed the Supreme Court. In 1878 legislation was passed providing for the appointment of two additional Judges. It was also laid down that " not less than three of the Judges of the Supreme Court shall reside on the Mainland of British Columbia." Provision was also made that Judges of the Supreme Court should preside over the County Courts.4 The following year a Judicial District Act set up four judicial districts with the further provision "that one of the three Judges assigned to the Mainland shall reside in the City of New Westminster; one in the town of Clinton; and one in the town of Barkerville; or in the neighbourhood of these respective places.5 Accordingly on November 26, 1880, two new Puisne * The third in a series of four articles dealing with aspects of the career of John Poster McCreight. (1) See W. K. Lamb (ed!.), " Documents relating to the effect of the Act of Union of 1866 upon judge Begbie's Status and Jurisdiction," British Columbia Historical Quarterly V (1941), pp. 134-147. (2) Courts Declaratory Ordinance, May 1,1868. (3) Supreme Courts Ordinance, March 1,1869. (4) British Columbia, Statutes, 1878, c. 20, "An Act to make provision for the better administration of Justice in British Columbia." (5) British Columbia, Statutes, 1879, c. 13, "Judicial District Act, 1879." Britiah Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. XII, No. 8. 211 212 Patricia M. Johnson. July Judges were appointed—Alexander Rocke Robertson and John Foster McCreight. It was decided that Begbie and Crease should reside in Victoria, Gray at New Westminster,6 Robertson at Clinton, and McCreight at Richfield. It is important to note that the Judges of the Supreme Court, although referred to as Puisne Judges, all possessed full powers. The term " puisne " is simply a survival of an English statutory term meaning " newly created." In the Supreme Court there were (and are) no grades of Judges. The Chief Justice had precedence and the direction as to which Judge should preside at a certain place at a certain time, but he had no superiority. When the Supreme Court sat in " Full Court" all the Supreme Court Judges were usually present. As the Province was divided up into judicial districts, County Courts were set up, but at the same time no County Court Judges were created.7 This meant that the Supreme Court Judges had to sit in the County Courts and usually they travelled from one Court to another on circuit when the Assizes were held. The policy of having a resident Judge in each of the four districts did lead to some confusion. McCreight protested bitterly about being expected to reside in the Cariboo, while as a Supreme Court Judge he was to visit Victoria for Full Court occasions, so naturally he kept his Chambers there.8 As time went on, more Judges were appointed and County Court Judges were added to those already attached to the Supreme Court. In this way the two groups could be kept (6) This he refused to do, so there was no resident Judge in New Westminster until McCreight went there in 1883. (7) Authorization had been given to the Governor in 1867 to appoint existing Stipendiary Magistrates to County Court judgeships and by the time of Confederation six appointments had been made. All of these appointees were, in effect, lay judges, for none had professional training. The " County Court Judges Appointment Act," c. 22, British Columbia, Statutes, 1872, was permissive in nature but no appointments were made. On January 14, 1881, all remaining lay County Court Judges were retired on pension and their duties were performed by Supreme Court Judges. The appointment of Eli Harrison in April, 1884, as County Court Judge for Cariboo marked the beginning of a professional County Court Bench. (8) J. P. McCreight to H. P. P. Crease, December 2, 1881, written at Richfield, MS., Archives of B.C. 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 213 separate and Supreme Court Judges could give most of their time to Supreme Court cases.9 The first mention of McCreight's elevation to the Bench came on November 30, 1880, when the Victoria Colonist reported:— We understand that Messrs. J. F. McCreight and A. R. Robertson, Q. C's have been appointed judges of the Supreme Court of this province, the headquarters of one to be at Clinton, and of the other at Kamloops. It is further stated that both the positions have been accepted. The salaries are $4000 On December 17, McCreight resigned from the position of Treasurer of the Law Society,11 which Society, in turn, gave a dinner in honour of the new Judges at the Driard House where an evening of " song and sentiment" was enjoyed.12 On January 4,1881, the two new judges were sworn in18 and received the congratulations of the Law Society. Each wrote a letter of thanks to the Society and these letters were published in the newspapers. They are an interesting contrast. That of Robertson is an elaborate document, flowery in phrasing and cordial in tone. That of McCreight is a simple, reserved expression, probably very sincere, but certainly not expansive. Robertson wrote:— Victoria, Feb. 17, 1881. Dear Sir, I had the pleasure last week of receiving your letter conveying to me the congratulations of the Law Society of British Columbia on my recent appointment to the Bench of the Supreme Court. I beg to express through you to the members of the Society my grateful appreciation of their kindness and the compliments conveyed by your letter. It is a source of great satisfaction to me to feel that my relations -with the members of our profession have always been so cordial and I feel assured that the same good feeling will always exist. If I should be so happy as to succeed in discharging my duties efficiently I feel assured my success will be largely due to the as from the Bar. With renewed expression of thanks I am, dear sii (11) Ibid., December 17, 1 (12) Ibid., December 30, 1 (13) Ibid., January 5, 188 (14) Ibid., February 19, : 214 Patricia M. Johnson. ' July With this, contrast McCreight's letter:— Victoria, Feb. 10,1881. Dear Sir, I have had sincere pleasure in receiving the very kind communication of the Law Society of British Columbia. My anxious wish is that relations with its members may continue to be of the same pleasant character as heretofore; and that I may have their cordial assistance in the discharge of my duties; and that under the guidance of Providence I may be enabled to perform them as I ought. Believe me, yours faithfully, J. F. McCreight." On February 23, 1881, McCreight appeared at a Supreme Court sitting for the first time.16 This was the occasion of a Full Court, with Begbie, Crease, and Robertson also present. In May he was still in Victoria at the Assizes. By June, 1881, he had moved to the Cariboo and although his cases17 were not numerous, they were varied and reflected the life of the region. A case on August 12,1881, dealt with the estate of Peter Brown who died intestate. A naturalization case followed. Then the case of Houseman v. Peebles regarding a contract for supplies,18 followed by Regina v. Moses for sale of liquor to an Indian. A further case concerned a horse " working for its keep," then a contract for mules owned by a Chinese who required an interpreter. In October, McCreight presided over the County Court at Kamloops (Judge Robertson was at the time ill in Victoria), at Soda Creek, and at Quesnel, and then returned to Richfield for the winter.19 No more cases are recorded until the following May. (15) Ibid., February 19, 1881. (16) The first trial recorded by McCreight in his Case-books took place in Victoria, on February 12,1881, that of Meyer v. Grant. The notes on the case are extensive but strictly technical and in such appalling handwriting that little can be deciphered. (17) The Case-books of Judge McCreight are preserved in the Archives of B.C. (18) " Houseman sold Boyd 24th May, 1880, 580 lbs. of hams at 35 cents half hams, half shoulders, hams worth more in May than September, 2% cents higher in May than Sept." is a note on the side of the page on which this case is recorded in Case-book of Judge McCreight, 1881-82, MS., if B.C. !, November 26, 1881, written 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 215 During the summer of 1881 Bishop A. W. Sillitoe, the Anglican Bishop from New Westminster, made a visit to the Cariboo. Mrs. Sillitoe described the places which she visited with her husband in August. After remarking that they had reached the residence of Judge McCreight at Richfield, she continued:— We had just one week to stay in Cariboo, and we began our visit very lazily, for our first evening was spent sitting over a fire and talking with our host Although it was August, there were sharp frosts every night, and there seemed little prospect for the strawberry crop in the garden outside, for the plants were only just coming into blossom, while the first radishes of the season had that day been pulled for us.29 Of McCreight's friends in the Cariboo, the directory is the only guide. The District Registrar for the Supreme Court was S. F. Wootton; the Sheriff, George Byrnes; and the Government Agent and Gold Commissioner at nearby Barkerville was John Bowron. Richfield had a Roman Catholic Church whose priest was the Rev. Father J. McGuckin, of St. Joseph's Mission, 150- Mile House. The Anglican Church, under Rev. Charles Blan- chard, and the Wesleyan Church were at Barkerville.21 During the winters time must have passed slowly. McCreight wrote several letters to Crease regarding the lack of cases. Five letters have been preserved in the Crease collection of the Provincial Archives and prove most revealing, both of McCreight's difficulties and of his character. He had apparently been anxious to go to Victoria, but could not do so without an assignment from the Chief Justice. He wrote:— It would not be precedent for me to leave this place now! There is a general election in the Spring!! I know you feel at the same time that the useless nature of my life is very disagreeable to me. However I read law all day & I never was in a better climate, or as good for study, and I can wait till the time comes, if ever, when the Assembly may think it proper that I should sometimes act as a S[upreme] C[ourt] Judge.22 He went on to suggest that the Government was trying to cause his resignation. (20) H. H. Gowen (comp.), Church Work in British Columbia, being o memoir of the episcopate of Acton Windemeyer Sillitoe, D.D., D.C.L., first Bishop of New Westminster, London, 1899, p. 66. (21) R. T. Williams (comp.), The British Columbia Directory for the years 1882-83, Victoria, 1882, pp. 321-335. 216 Patricia M. Johnson. July removed on address of both Houses, the Govr. G[eneral] & Legislative] Assembly can leave to the S. C. Judge the choice of death or resignation. They may freeze him out in more senses than one.22 He felt, too, that the problem was not entirely personal. He was a Supreme Court Judge, yet he had to reside in his specified district—there was an anomaly here. " I can't but think that that [sic] law is in its infancy in Canada,"28 and he suggested that the Law Society should examine American constitutional law for parallel situations. He made the point that the three senior Judges—Begbie, Crease, and Gray—were doing too much County Court work, while Judges like himself and Robertson, in isolated areas, had far too little to occupy their time. Writing a few days later, he said:— Robertson and myself are of course materially interested. If you are districted for Victoria, I become nearly an intruder when I go to my chambers there, if on the other hand it is held that a Supreme Court Judge of the Province is to discharge the duties that fall to the Supreme Court of the Province, our local residence I think, will come to an end.2* Judge Robertson's death occurred at this point and after expressing regret for his passing26 McCreight went on to urge that the matter of " districting " a Judge might be taken up at Ottawa. The complaint of too little work had apparently not been overlooked by the authorities. It was suggested that McCreight could issue mining licences and see to revenue and debt collections. This he apparently refused to do, wondering whether " the Government could tax my salary, they might do it in view of my refractory disposition."26 Although McCreight blamed the (22) J. F. McCreight to H. P. P. Crease, November 26, 1881, written from Richfield, MS., Archives of B.C. (23) Ibid. The whole matter of control of the Judges of the Supreme Court by the Provincial or Dominion authorities was being argued at this time in connection with the celebrated Thrasher Case. P. W. Howay claims that McCreight took no part in this (see E. 0. S. Scholefield and F. W. Howay, British Columbia, Vancouver, 1914, vol. II, p. 680), but these letters show that he provided Crease with many suggestions. The authority of the Provincial Government was confirmed in 1883. (24) J. F. McCreight to H. P. P. Crease, December 2,1881, MS., Archives of B.C. (25) Robertson died December 1, 1881, see New Westminster Mainland Guardian, December 3, 1881. (26) J. P. McCreight to H. P. P. Crease, December 10, 1881, MS., Archives of B.C. 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 217 Government, it is possible that he meant partly his old enemy, Begbie. This personal bitterness, a feeling that he had been slighted and pushed out of the way, continued. In referring to Robertson's death, he wrote:— I suppose they will be thinking of filling up poor A. R. R.'s place. It was offered to me, and indeed accepted before, by arrangement with me, he took it, and I this place. I knew or guessed they would send some person to this place, who might be as well away, if I did not take it, and I thought in letting A. R. R. have the other, I was acting for the best.27 In the same letter, he continued:— There is no debt collecting even to be done here now in the C[ounty] Court. I shall if I live have a pretty strong case in the shape of statistics for going down next winter—after all I am a Judge of the S[upreme] C[ourt] of B[ritish] C[olumbia] not a C[ounty] C[ourt] Judge for Cariboo District.^ The same feeling is clear in the next letter:— I should be glad to be somewhere where I can be of use. There has been no C[ounty] Court here for 2 months and nobody seems to want one. One thing I don't think even a politician could suggest my staying here another winter. The other day an attempt was made to show there were less than 50 people here! I somehow think they will be slow to fill up the vacant judgeship. They must see they are in a fix. Gray refusing to go to N[ew] W[estminste]r, & they can't tell what I may do, nor more can I.29 Apparently many other people realized McCreight's impatience. Crease must have encouraged his views and a Colonist article of January, 1882, seemed to suggest that the time had come for a change. McCreight wrote :— I see Higgins [editor of the Victoria Colonist] suggests that some people say " I seriously think of retiring from the Bench & returning to Politics." Well as Blanchard says the weather is frosty & pumps won't draw here. I think I am pretty well retired from the Bench up here, but still I never wish myself in politics.89 After the winter was over things probably improved. In May and June, 1882, McCreight was on circuit again, visiting Quesnel on June 7. A murder trial involving a Chinaman on a gold claim occupied the late summer and the Case-book records (27) J. P. McCreight to H. P. P. Crease, December 23, 1881, MS., Archives of B.C. (28) Ibid. (29) J. F. McCreight to H. P. P. Crease, January 21,1882, MS., Archives 218 Patricia M. Johnson. July numerous remarks such as " Greer—going at a Chinaman or vice versa " and " a man going to fight wouldn't keep both pick and shovel on left shoulder."81 In September, 1882, occurred a mining claim trial—the Cascade Mining Case—which along with the Dulton v. Ah Hing case at Kamloops, and the Aurora v. Gulch Mining Company cases at Cariboo form a series of famous mining cases. The Case-books contain detailed copies of these trials, apparently in the handwriting of Paulus M. Irving (who succeeded McCreight as Puisne Judge). The fact that some small child has used the book to draw and scribble in makes it all the more interesting. In November, 1882, McCreight apparently got his wish and went to Victoria. In the County Court there he presided at a naturalization case and other cases as well on November 2.82 Then he presided over the Supreme Court for a few sessions, then at a lengthy session of the Assizes and then back to the Supreme Court again.88 If he were to be in Victoria he would have to work hard there. He apparently returned to the Cariboo for a short time during the winter, as a case concerning theft by a Chinaman from a hotel there is listed. By February, 1883, he was back in Victoria again for a case between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Enterprise Company.84 In April he was at Clinton, then back to Victoria by May.85 In June he conducted the Nanaimo Assizes,86 and in August the Victoria Assizes,87 as well as serving in the Supreme Court. His life was strenuous with its constant journeyings and the route from Victoria to the Cariboo by way of the Fraser River and the Cariboo Highway long and tiring. But at least he could not feel that he was useless. By the next (31) J. F. McCreight, Case-books, 1881-32, MS., Archives of B.C. (32) Victoria Colonist, November 3,1882. (33) For County Court cases see ibid., November 7,1882; for Supreme Court cases, ibid., November 17, December 20, 24,1882; and for the Assize Court ibid., December 5 to 20, 1882. (34) Ibid., February 21, 24, and March 7, 1883. (35) Ibid., May 22, 30, 1883. (36) Ibid., June 10, 1883. (37) Ibid., August 21, 1883. See also entries for June 12, July 7, 11, August 9,10, September 25, 28, and November 3,1883. McCreight and the Bench. 219 Tter To tw w " ?P°mted reSid6nt Judge in New Westminster so there was no longer any fear of isolation or lack of work From a study of these cases it seems evident that McCrdgM ' 882 amTenfly I ^ «*> il0m June'1881' to oS£ 1882, a matter of about sixteen months. After that time his visits would be short, interspersed with returns to his permanen home m Victoria. This may account for the fact that heTSe tTSE H6 Crh°l Wh6n he dW liTC there Rented Me t that v' C°Uld g6t aTOy' he did so as much as Possible. In that way he was never really part of the place and left no permanent mark upon it. The people of New Westminster desired to have a resident Judge and m 1881, had petitioned for one.88 This request wa /^^ Iarious J^ees continued to visit the city to hold Court from fame to time. However, by November, 1883, McCreight had received his appointment to New Westminster,8» to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned, judging by the fol- . lowing item in the British Columbian:— Complimentary Dinner.-On Saturday evening the members of the local bar ThfoC! 6 HT fl JUStiCe McCrelght at dim- at the Colonil Hotel The dinner was mtended as a sort of welcome to his lordship on taking up his residence permanently in this city. We understand that his lordship expressed satisfaction at the arrangement by which he has been assigned to this district, and that a very pleasant evening was spent.« He presided at the County Court on November 7, hearing several cases. In Knox v. Woodward, where a carter had been sued for payment due on a load of potatoes, " His honor, in rendering judgment, said he looked upon the def [endan]t, as a common earner simply, and that he could not be held responsible for the debts due to the pl[ain]t[i]ff for goods carried and delivered by him."" At the Assizes the following week, in charging the Grand Jury, McCreight stated "... the cases, although. involving serious charges, must be left in a great measure to the (38) New Westminster Mainland Guardian, January 15, 1881. (39) " Hon. Mr. Justice McCreight came up from Victoria yesterday and we understand he will now become a permanent resident of this city." New Westminster British Columbian, November 7, 1883. _ (40) Ibid., November 14, 1883. The issue of November 10, 1883, contained a letter to the editor expressing satisfaction at the arrival'of a resident Judge. (41) New Westminster Mainland Guardian, November 10, 1883. J 220 Patricia M. Johnson. July juries, who would be judges of the facts,"42—a very different attitude from that of Begbie to his juries. At the close of the Assizes the Grand Jury Presentment concluded with this statement:— The Grand Jury cannot meet Your Lordship for the first time, as resident Judge for their Judicial District, without expressing to Your Lordship their gratification at the settlement of a long-vexed question that has been a source of much trouble and loss to us; and our pleasure that a gentleman of your high standing and legal ability has been selected for the position of Supreme Court Judge in this District. We trust that your residence amongst us will be pleasant to your lordship and advantageous to the community.48 Throughout the winter McCreight was busy in the New Westminster Court. There were County Court sittings in December,44 Supreme Court sessions in February,46 and then County Court again in March.46 In May, the Judge paid a visit to San Francisco and experienced a serious illness while away.47 Possibly this was the reason for a curious news item which appeared in the Victoria Colonist during the summer:— It is understood that this gentleman [Mr. Justice McCreight] has been retired on a pension of $3000, that Mr. Justice Walkem will be transferred to New Westminster, that two county court judges will be appointed, and that the fifth seat on the Supreme Court bench will not be filled.48 • The rumour apparently was unfounded, for on August 22 McCreight was back in the Supreme Court in Victoria.49 His residence in New Westminster continued, as he was reported arriving in Victoria from that city in September.60 During the winter he was again active in the New Westminster Court, presiding at the Assizes in the murder trial of Charles Rodgers. The case was controversial:— His Lordship read copious extracts from the law, to show why or why not an adjournment should be granted. He then said the articles read from the newspapers and the affidavits made by the prisoner himself, and by others, (42) Ibid., November 17, 1883. (43) Ibid., November 24,1883. (44) Ibid., December 8, 1883. (45) Ibid., February 6, 1884. (46) Ibid., March 8, 1884. (47) Victoria Colonist, May 8, 10, 11, 1884. (48) Ibid., August 30, 1884. (49) Ibid., August 23,1884. (50) Ibid., September 21,1884. 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 221 appeared to be good evidence to show tw I „„> j- 1 ., should be tried elsewhere." I ™* eXpe<hent that the case » tterf™ T WaS r^°Ved t0 the next Assize in H9 McCreTlhl r° To ^ PreJUdice-62 The next ™n.°Unty.C°Urt at Chill™ack68 and then returned to New Westminster where the usual sessions started in 1885 The Outlook record a variety of trials for 1885 and 1886 some m New Westminster, some for the Supreme Court n V£ tor a. They note as a special event, the first County Court held wTrTw °? Aprfl ?' 1887-M Vanc™ was regarded as part of the Westminster District until 1891 when a new judU district was created.- During this period there were1 el ol standing cases. The Case-books for the years 1887-93 are missing and the newspaper reports contain only routine matters in the Supreme Court and the Assizes. County Court cases at New Westminster were now being handled by Judge W. N. Bole McCreight maintained his ability to make clear speeches and masterly summaries, while his exactness of expression is well illustrated in the following remarks made when passing sentence on a man accused of perjury:— The jury have considered your case carefully, and found a verdict of guilty The offence of perjury is a very serious one, and I think you must be sent to the penitentiary for three years, though I could have sent you for four- ' teen. There are some points, however, reserved in your case which may The use of the expression " I think" was apparently typical of McCreight's judgments and his extreme regard for the truth Mr. W. C. Moresby mentioned that a favourite expression of the Judge's, especially when presiding at criminal trials, was " my conscience is troubling me,"8' while Mr. A. D. Crease stressed the point that g on the Bench he displayed a certain amount of diffidence. It was characteristic of him and his reverence for the saying ' stare decisis' that he hesitated to express himself (51) New Westminster Mainland Guardian, November 15, 1884 (52) Ibid., November 19, 1884. (53) Ibid., December 13, 1884. (64) J. P. McCreight, Case-books, 1886-87, M.S., Archives of B.C. (55) New Westminster British Columbian, January 24, 1891 (56) Ibid., November 23,1891. (57) W. C. Moresby in a letter to the author, dated October 22, 1946. 222 Patricia M. Johnson. July ill with any certainty until he had studied all legal decisions."68 Yet another example of this comes from Mr. J. H. Bowes, a former member of the British Columbia Bar:— His knowledge of case law was deep, his desire to do justice was almost excessive, but for the law of the chief justice [Sir Matthew Begbie], he had profound distrust, a distrust which led him to fear for the fate of the chief in a future state. A wrong decision was an actual sin he told me. . . . His eccentricities increased with age, and at last he retired leaving behind him the memory of a learned and kindly man, whose wish to be absolutely correct led sometimes to strange and irritating vacillations, but those were really due to his anxiety to do right. . . . The manager of the old Bank of British Columbia told me amusing stories of the doings of Judge McCreight before he went on the bench, and was counsel for the bank. The learned counsel would—after much consideration, give an opinion; then he would ring up the manager telling him not to act on it until he, as counsel, had considered it further. Then he would get another opinion more or less confirming the first—then further notice to delay action, and so on, until at last a final opinion in nearly all cases confirmed the first.6' The point is often made that McCreight had a remarkable memory for cases, and "could cite off-hand, with the report reference, any one or more of them, applicable to the issues before the court."60 This aptitude for reference quotations and exactness of opinion is well illustrated in a case that came up in . New Westminster in 1892. A smallpox epidemic was raging in Victoria, and a certain George Bowack, held in quarantine by the Vancouver Health Authorities had applied for release on the ground of a writ of habeas corpus. In refusing the writ, McCreight wrote the following explanation:— Maxwell on Statutes, 1st Ed. Page 157, a general late law, does not abridge an earlier special one. And 3 App. Ca., 952, 963, 966, and 969, containing the observations of the Law Lords. I was told that the decision of Crease, J., [Judge H. P. P. Crease] in Victoria, covered the question as to the Provincial Regulations governing the present case. I am by no means sure that the case before him is the same as the present, which is Bowack's alone, and relating to his detention on land. No report of his decision was produced, and I must repeat what the late Master of the Rolls said, that " he could not act on a case unless a report of it was produced." Crease, J., may (58) A. D. Crease in a letter to the author, dated September, 1946. (59) J. H. Bowes, " Notables of 'Just and Noble' Judges of whom B.C. Lawyers Tell Tales," Vancouver Province, January 8, 1938 (magazine section). (60) Denis Murphy, "Judges of Ye Olden Time," The Advocate, Vancouver Bar Association, vol. IV, part 3 (June, 1946), p. 86. 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 223 have thought that, on the evidence, he could not dissolve the injunction he had granted and I may observe that, in habeas corpus applications, each judge or court is free to act, subject, of course, to the decision of a Court of Appeal. As an illustration of this in the Canadian prisoner's case in the Court of Exchequer, 4, Meesor Wills vs. Wilsby, p. 32 and in Q. B., 9 Add. & Ell., when the same case is reported as Leonard Watson's case. The writ is, therefore, refused.6! During 1893 McCreight was absent from duties for seven months, with much of his work in New Westminster being taken by Judge Bole. On his return, it is interesting to find him engaged in cases involving neighbouring municipalities. The technicalities of such constitutional questions must have delighted him, and a case concerning tax collection and surcharge between the Municipality of Surrey and the Provincial Auditor gained particular prominence.62 A great deal of McCreight's work consisted of Chamber cases68 and there are mention of those dealing with orders for costs, probate, and payments out of Court. Liens, liquidations, and wills are also frequently alluded to in the Case-books. Towards the end of 1893 a famous murder trial was held at the New Westminster Assizes. Albert Stroebel and Frank Eyerly were accused of murdering John Marshall, of Huntingdon, in the Fraser Valley, with the Attorney-General, Theodore Davie, prosecuting. Also concerned in the case were Elizabeth Bartlett, engaged to marry Stroebel, and her mother, both of whom turned out to be hostile and adverse witnesses. A great deal of conflicting evidence was presented by the various members of the families concerned and McCreight laid it down " that it was an old point in law that any statement made by the prisoner against himself was admissible as evidence, but any statement made by him or any relative in his favor could not be admitted."64 Some confusion existed as to the location of the crime and " His Lordship read the section of the act upon the point of juries going to view the locality. He remarked the spot (61) New Westminster British Columbian, July 23, 1892. (62) Ibid., July 4,1893. (63) Non-jury cases, where only a Judge's decision is required, held in the Judge's Chambers and not in the Court. (64) New Westminster British Columbian, November 17,1893. 224 Patricia M. Johnson. July would very likely be very wet at this time of the year."66 Arrangements were made for the jury to visit the scene of the crime the following day, travelling by train. When the prosecuting attorney asked if the Judge would accompany them he replied: " I have no objection. I shall be as well there as here, I suppose."66 The Sheriff was then directed to provide the necessary accommodation for the party—including gum boots for all. At this point, McCreight's well-known propensity for fresh air67 asserted itself:— The heat in the room during the afternoon was frequently very great, and His Lordship several times ordered the windows to be opened. This caused a current of cold air to descend on the jury, who wrapped themselves up in The last-mentioned garments were probably very much in evidence the following day when the party assembled for the trip to Huntingdon. An amusing description is given of the procession to the station, with special mention of the gum boots: " His Lordship and the Attorney-General wore those useful articles."69 The trial lasted for seven days but the jury reached no agreement, so was discharged. The case went to Victoria and after a twelve-day trial Stroebel was found guilty and sentenced to hang by Judge Walkem. It was most unusual for Judge McCreight to allow any lighter note to creep into the solemnity of his Court, but on the discharge of the New Westminster jury, an amusing incident occurred. The foreman asked that the jurymen be granted double time for the Sunday on which they had been sitting and the following conversation ensued:— His Lordship.—" Well, gentlemen, I will do all I can, but really I have nothing to say in the matter. I am only a machine to carry out the law, you know." Foreman Ross.—" Then we will have to depend on the liberality of the Attorney-General." His Lordship.—" I am afraid he, also, is only a machine." (Great laughter.) (65) Ibid. (66) Ibid. (67) According to Mr. W. C. Moresby in a letter to the author: " He always insisted on plenty of fresh air and in the winter months insisted upon the windows in the Court House being raised." (68) New Westminster British Columbian, November 17, 1893. (69) Ibid., November 18, 1893. 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 225 Sheriff's Officer.—" Order in the Court!" Mr. Davie.—" I have been looking into the matter and find the jury is not entitled to pay on Sunday, but I have arranged you will get one day's pay." Foreman Ross.—" If that is the case the jury will be satisfied with the gum boots." (Renewed laughter.) Sheriff's Officer.—" Order in the Court." His Lordship (smilingly).—" Well, you ought to get them." Mr. Davie.—" The Government has no use for gum boots, so you had better keep them."™ With that they had to be content. The year 1894 was a busy one for McCreight with two notable cases. The first of these took place in October in County Court in the appeal of Kitchen v. Paisley. The defendant who was Returning Officer for Chilliwack riding was charged with " wilfully and wrongfully " inserting in the voters list the names of unqualified persons—the term " wilfully " being interpreted by McCreight to signify " corruptly."71 The indiscretion could not be proved, but His Lordship commented upon the somewhat unorthodox behaviour of the Returning Officer, as follows:— ... he could not understand Mr. Paisley committing so many irregularities, such as letting his clerk sit for him at the court of revision as he (Mr. Justice McCreight) might as well ask Mr. Falding or Mr. Cambridge [clerks of the court] to sit on the bench as his substitute.72 The conviction was quashed but Paisley had to pay costs because of the irregular factors mentioned. The other case was of quite a different character, but interesting because of the light it throws upon the varied troubles of the times. At the Fall Assizes there came up the case of Johnny the Boss, Francis William Fish, Andrew, Jim Colson, Willie, Charlie, Big William, Mary, John, Johnson, Charlie Hyack, Ahoyset, Jack, Togche, Frank, Ten Quart Jim, Ten Quart Don, Jack, Mouhtie, Joseph, Polly, and Susan—all Indians, charged with piracy. Most of them were from the West Coast of Vancouver Island and had apparently been hired as crew of a sealing schooner, C. D. Rand, bound for the Kodiak Islands, but when the trip had been somewhat prolonged they had insisted on returning home, and when this was not done had revolted and tried piratically to (70) Ibid., November 21, 1893. (71) Ibid., October 31, 1894. (72) Ibid. 226 Patricia M. Johnson. July run away with the schooner.73 Throughout the case, McCreight strove to guarantee a fair trial to the Indians and to understand their mentality. The defence counsel pointed out that technically a number of the Indians were passengers rather than crew, and, as such, could not be charged with piracy. With this McCreight agreed, remarking that " Susan could certainly not be regarded as a seaman,"74 and, as a result, charges against fifteen of the Indians were dropped. McCreight seemed to think that much of the blame lay with the drunken master of the schooner, and finally remarked—" Witnesses may lie, circumstances cannot."76 As a result of his summary only six light sentences were given. The cases recorded for 1895, 1896, and 1897 followed the usual pattern. More and more of McCreight's work concerned Chamber cases dealing with such problems as land titles, bank matters, and rent recovery. Times were changing; Begbie was dead (June 11,1894) and Crease had retired (January 20,1896). McCreight was the " grand old man" of the Bench, exact, eccentric, hard of hearing, and approaching his seventieth year. He still journeyed to Victoria for sittings of the Full Court,76 accompanied often by Mr. Justice Angus John McColl,77 the new Supreme Court Judge. By November, 1897, it became generally I known that McCreight was planning to retire. It is understood that the last time Mr. Justice McCreight will occupy the bench will be at the next sitting of the Full Court, which is to be held on November 17. For some time past the venerable judge has been closing up the business which has been before him, and it is now a number of months since he has heard any cases. Now everything being in good order, he will retire to the well earned rest to which his long and honorable career has entitled him.78 The last case that McCreight recorded in his Case-book was on November 17, 1897, when " self, Drake, and McColl "79 sat as Full Court in the case of the Canadian Pacific Railway v. Parkes (73) Ibid., November 19, 1894. (74) Ibid., November 21, 1894. (75) Ibid., November 23,1894. (76) Ibid., February 1, 1897. (77) McColl had been appointed Puisne Judge, October 13, 1896, and became Chief Justice on August 23, 1898. (78) Victoria Colonist, November 11, 1897. (79) J. F. McCreight, Case-book, August-November, 1897, MS., Archives of B.C. 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 227 and Painchaud, in which the plaintiffs were granted the rteht of appeal to the Privy Council.86 g °* His retirement came into effect that day8' and he was succeeded by Paulus iEmilius Irving as Puisne Judge resTdTng at 2» lZ 1mSter- , A lett6r t0 the 6ditor of the British el* ■ burn, half humorously commented on the change — )Z£*£*X 'T^u ^ P' M-IrTh* of Hi has been the case.'BS P re WlU be ln those boots. if such is Many tributes were paid to the retiring Judge. The Victoria Colonist published a lengthy summary of his career and in connection with his judicial duties commented:— «JnTh^V*46 ^ W0"*"** to the Supreme Court] to the present " r fTJsto'*d the duties of the County court, the Supreme court and the Court of Appeal. His judgments have ever won respect and attention, and he has rendered to every judge who applied for his assistance the valuable aid of that marvellous knowledge of leading cases in all divisions of aw and equity and all cases under old and recenflaws, as hi maTe im muniatn f T kn legal brethren' while his disinterested I — , — .~&«. un.wutu, wuimj ma msiiueres "'77™ U1 rae ^owledge he possessed to all his legal brethren, young and old, has secured him the lasting love and respect of all the judges barristers and students with whom he has been brought into close contact.84 Apart from his judicial activities and his preoccupation with his law books, much of McCreight's time in New Westminster was taken up with his beloved horse, Tally. For many years he rode every day, sometimes alone, sometimes in company with his friends. Among the latter was Mrs. William Moresby, whose husband was connected with the New Westminster Court and whose son was articled to a law firm in New Westminster at this (80) Victoria Colonist, November 18,1897. (81) " Mr. Justice McCreight retires to private life with the kindest regards of the people of British Columbia, who will join with us in the hope that he may long be spared to enjoy his well-earned rest." Ibid November 18, 1897. (82) Irving's appointment was dated December 18,1897. Owing to the illness of two of the Judges of the Supreme Court it had been necessary to adjourn the Full Court after the meeting of November 17, and as a result the Law Society had pressed for the immediate replacement of Judge McCreight. Ibid., November 18,1897. (83) New Westminster British Columbian, November 29, 1897. (84) Victoria Colonist, November 19, 1897. 228 Patricia M. Johnson. July time.86 Later, when the horse became somewhat decrepit, McCreight led it out each day for exercise. Some people claimed that he had no real friend except the horse, and there is a well- known legend that he grazed it illegally on the Penitentiary grounds, and paid a man to keep him from turning it in. It is well known that McCreight was getting deaf before his retirement but he was apparently very active when he reached his seventieth year. Upon retirement he received a pension from the Federal Government and this continued until his death. Some confusion exists about his activities immediately after retirement. R. E. Gosnell stated that McCreight "went to Ireland whither his wife had preceded him; "86 but this has never been authenticated. It is known definitely that he visited Rome and spent some time there. By 1909 he was residing at Hastings, in England, closely associated with the Society of Pious Missions, who directed a hostel run by priests of the Roman Catholic church for elderly men, many of them priests. It is believed that McCreight was not in the hostel itself but in the house of a Mrs. Mary Jane Fisher who lived nearby. That Mrs. Fisher and her daughters must have been very kind to an elderly man is evident from the bequests they received in McCreight's will. Mrs. Fisher herself received £5087 and a similar amount went to each of her daughters, Elizabeth " otherwise Lizzie," Harriett " otherwise Hattie," Ellen " otherwise Nellie Wilson," and Jane " otherwise Jannie."88 Elizabeth must have been the favourite, or possibly looked after McCreight personally. She was appointed one of the executors of the will and later was left an additional £50,89 then a further £250 that would have gone to McCreight's sister, Anna, had she not died.90 Another record of (85) W. C. Moresby in a letter to the author, dated October 22, 1946. (86) R. E. Gosnell, "Prime Ministers of British Columbia: 1. Hon. J. P. McCreight," Vancouver Daily Province, February 5, 1921. (87) Codicil to the Last Will and Testament of John Poster McCreight, April 20, 1911. (88) Last Will and Testament of John Foster McCreight,. dated August 20, 1909. (89) Codicil to the Last Will and Testament of John Foster McCreight, dated June 19,1911. (90) Codicil to the Last Will and Testament of John Poster McCreight, dated May 2,1912. 1948 McCreight and the Bench. 229 Elizabeth Fisher was in a communication received from the law and we have not heard of the other Executor for many years 91 ' A letter received from the Rector of the Catholic Church at Sreitr/(i947) that Miss pisher was ™» McCreight had apparently become somewhat eccentric in his in? £fide S W;n;h°WS ^ ^ °f a ^ eonstaX i^! wfshes felt Tt tdeSlmg ^ hiS °Wn Sma11 ™* t(> ^ke hfs wishes felt The terms are set out in great detail, new names and revocations of former bequests constantly occur and ttee are. four codicils. It is reported that McCreight b^ame weS known for extravagant gifts to the children of the neighbour hood again considered a sign of eccentricity rather than of good-heartedness. Mr. A. deB. McPhillips makes this poTnt:- wW^r^!"**'0? glVm Me by the R^erend Father O'Connor, P.S.M ht lateT vear he hf ^ £ T^' England' * ™M -em thatta intrttl Z he.became something of a philanthropist, taking great sums of Inf "r Td,tildren °f the toTO and »P«^ considerable sums of money on their behalf. Father O'Connor informed me that it was chLren ,1 ° ,? ^ ^ ?° Judge to round *P a goodly number of heSLl cosTof l,r« "^ hT th6Se °Utfitted with cl°thil* and shoes, tne total cost of which often ran to a somewhat staggering amount 93 McCreight died on November 18,1913, at the age of eighty-six and was buried under the auspices of the Pious Society of Missions. His estate amounted to approximately £3,619. Patricia m. Johnson. Ladner, B.C. foil l°mi C°kS and Langd0n' t0 the auftor, dated January 4, 1944. 20, 1947. ^ P>S-M-' ^ a l6tter t0 the aUth°r' "ated February (93) A. deB. McPhillips in a letter to the author, dated September 27, GOLD-RUSH DAYS IN VICTORIA, 1858-1859. BBS vC0UntS °f the ^ gold-rush ^ 1 British foftm!Vr TfiT* Isknd are few and far between> and ll1 Z e ff Wntten by James Bel1 at San Francisco late m February, 1859, upon his return from a seven months' sojourn m Victoria, is of considerable interest. The letter itself was presented to the Provincial Archives some years ago through the courtesy of Mr. E. 0. Cornish, of Vancouver, B.C, who had eceived it from Mr. David Thomson, a business aviate of TnnZ ' ?f nd' ?d n6pheW °f the ori*inal recipient, John Thomson, of Annan Scotland. It came complete with its linen- lined envelope and bore no postage stamps. It was post-marked a Sf1AFra™SC0 on March 8' 1859- a«d again at Liverpool on April 10, indicating that it had been thirty-three days in transit a comparatively speedy delivery considering transportation facilities in those days. Only fragmentary information is available concerning James Hell. Since he addressed John Thomson, who was a draper in Annan, as "brother," the assumption is that Bell's mother had married again and that there had been some disagreement within the family which explains to a degree the rather odd commencement of the letter. His reference to " life in California during her early golden days " suggests that he may have been a California forty-niner," and the claim has been made that he came by way of Panama, walking across the Isthmus. By 1858 he was well established in business in San Francisco, and he is listed in The San Francisco Directory as "wholesale and retail hardware, with his store at 26 California Street and his dwelling on Howard betfween] Third and Fourth.'" From his letter it is apparent that he arrived in Victoria early in July, 1858, with the intention of establishing himself in the hardware business. This was the month of the great influx of population, and it has been impossible to establish the exact date of his arrival or the name Of the ship in which he came. (1) H. G. Langley (comp.), The San Francisco Directory for the year 1858 . . . , San Francisco, 1858, p. 64. 232 Willard E. Ireland. July That he found conditions satisfactory to his purposes is evidenced by the fact that he soon acquired property and opened a store on Johnson Street near Wharf Street. His first advertisement appeared in the Victoria Gazette of September 16, 1858, and continued for a month. Hardware. The Undersigned keeps constantly on hand a full assortment of Hardware, consisting of BUILDERS' HARDWARE—Door, sash and window locks of every description, with fancy and plain trimmings, iron and brass bolts, blind and shutter mountings, wrought, cast and finishing nails, wrought and cut spikes, cast steel, car and sheet iron, carpenters' tools, &c, cross cut, pit and mill saws. SHIPS' HARDWARE—Composition hinges, hasps and staples, brass locks, bolts and cabin hooks, brass screws, copper nails and tacks, copper and brass wire. DOMESTIC HARDWARE—Table cutlery, table and tea spoons, butcher and sheath knives, scissors, &c, cordage, and a full assortment of general Hardware. James Bell Johnson st., near Wharf, Victoria. N.B.—Special orders to San Francisco will be prosecuted with the utmost dispatch. No reference is to be found in either the Victoria Gazette or Colonist of his return to San Francisco in February, 1859. In all probability this was only a business visit to oversee his California establishment, for Victoria continued to be his home for several years. The First Victoria Directory, issued in March, 1860, listed his store and carried an advertisement for " Builders' Agricultural and General Hardware."8 In April, 1861, he served as foreman of the Grand Jury of the Assizes. No doubt as foreman he had a great deal to do with the preparation of their report, which was characterized by the same forthrightness to be found in this letter. Chief Justice David Cameron, in charging the Grand Jury, had specifically requested them to confine their activity to the matters laid before them. Heretofore Grand Juries, he believed, had " entered into matters foreign to their (2) Victoria Gazette, September 16, 1858. (3) Edward Mallandaine (comp.), First Victoria Directory . . . , Victoria, 1860, p. 26; the a< 1948 Gold-rush Days in Victoria. 233 duty. They had taken on themselves to visit jails, schools, and hospitals, and in doing so they exceeded their duty."4 Not the least deterred by these instructions, the Grand Jury reported on conditions generally in Victoria and in particular on "the disgraceful state of the Esquimalt road " which they branded as a nuisance and declared that " the person or persons, whoever they may be, that are answerable for its existing condition as deserving of public prosecution."6 The Victoria Colonist in thanking the jury editorially for their report rather gleefully pointed out that although the Legislative Assembly had appro, priated $1,800 for this project, Governor Douglas had never taken action. James Bell died of tuberculosis in San Francisco on June 24, 1862. It is not known when he withdrew permanently from Victoria, but some idea of the esteem in which he was held is to be gathered from the announcement of his death. Death of a Pioneer,—We are pained to record the demise, at San Francisco, of our late esteemed fellow-townsman, James Bell, who expired of consumption on the 24th inst. Mr. Bell was a Scotchman by birth, and was widely known and esteemed throughout California and these Colonies. He came hither in 1858 and established himself in the hardware business which he continued until failing health caused him to dispose of his stock and return to San Francisco, where his family reside.6 As the letter is a straightforward narrative, it has required little editing. It is interesting to note in passing the obvious satisfaction with which Bell compared the administration of government in the colonies with that of California during its gold-rush days, and in this connection the pride of a Scot in finding a fellow Scot at the head of the colonial administration is understandable. His analysis of business prospects is equally interesting, and his foresight in urging the completion of a transcontinental railroad is a commentary on his competence as an observer. The spelling and punctuation of the original letter has been retained throughout. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. (4) Victoria Colonist, April 9, (5) Ibid., April 12,1861. (6). Ibid,, June 3Q, 1862. 234 Willard E. Ireland. July Sanfrancisco February 27,1859 Mr John Thomson Annan Scotland Dear Brother To call up despondency, with all its gloomy associations, I have only to sit down with the intention of writing my relations; Why I should experience such feelings on calling to memory, those, above all others, excep my two dear children, I most love and esteem, may appear unaccountable; But with whys, and wherefores, my dear Brother I will not this time tax your patience; I sit down determined to write a long Letter, declaring war against all impediments; and it must be done. I feel however, that to do the heart justice, there must be a little said in the way of apology for the above remarks. Though we cannot hope forgiveness, still would we plead sympathy. " When shadowes of things that have long since fled, Flit over the brain like ghosts of the dead; Day dreams that departed ere manhood's noon, Bright visions of happiness, vanished too soon; Attachments, by fate, by falsehood, reft; Companions of early days, lost, or left; All—all now forsaken, forgotten, forgone; And I a lone exile remembered of none; My high aims abandoned, my good acts undone; A weary of all that is under the sun; With that sadness of heart, which no stranger can scan, Would I fly to the desert, afar from man." As you are already aware, I have again been "out on the path of Empire " I returned a few weeks ago, after an absence of seven months. I left Sanfrancisco in the beginning of July last, with the intention of establishing a permanent business in the New Colony, that was to be; Being the pioneer in my peculiar line, I found many difficulties to contend with, still so far, I have had no reason to regret the step. I joined the exodus to her Majestie's domenions at a time of unprecedented excitement, even in the exciting history of Gold digging, when it threatened to depopulate California;7 There was nothing in the (7) " There is no disguising the fact that the excitement throughout the State in regard to the newly discovered gold region on Fraser's river and its tributaries, has increased to such an extent within the past few weeks, as to almost give room for the belief that the state is about to become heavily lessened of its working population during the next few months. ... At the present time, the boats from the interior come down every night, loaded down with miners and others, all bound for Frazer's river. 1948 GoujrRusH Days in Victoria. 235 ZSTJS^ °f 1 ^ ?°id Fields t0 warrant such mult«udes kaving their occupations, and Families, at one time, consequently, as was to be expected, the rush north, was immediately succeeded by as unwarranted a rush south. sucuseuea, Dy as thBL°°^ng' mSf,' e,Wrely 0V6r the transitory Gold excitement, to the certain rapid development of what must prove to be one of the most successful, and important, of British Colonies; I could not resist the temptation the new field offered; besides, I longed for a change; To one who had enjoyed a mountain life in California during her early golden days, a prospect of fresh adventure has irresistable charms; I round my constitution being undermined by a sedentary life existence was becoming " stale flat and unprofitable; " If in nothing else, I have at least profited in health, not having felt so well in that respect for many years. Whether or not, such a distant part of the world is attracting much attention in your neighborhood, I have had no means of ascertaining. I assure you it was with no little gratification of national pride, I learned that the progress of the country heretofore has been almost entirely indebted to Scotch enterprise, and as I consider the future development of its many great natural resources, as holding out inducements peculiarly to the hardy, industrious, scientific Scotchman, even a limited description of the county, and a few reflections on its future destiny, from one who has resolved to share its fortunes, may not only be interesting to yourself but may serve to induce some of your many worthy acquaintances to secure for themselves, and Families, an independent and prosperous future; The certain reward of all who may bring with them, to the new colony, habits of industry and frugality. I will begin with a few words on Vancouver Island. In regard to climate, it has been very much misrepresented, as has also British Columbia, the two, so far as yet explored, differing very little in this respect. The present winter, which is already over, has been considered by the old residents quite a severe one, Though upon the whole much milder then you experience in the south of Scotland; Up to the beginning of December, except heavy rains occasionally, we had nothing to call winter, then for about ten days, we had a succession of sharp frosts, and snow storms, the snow however never reaching ten inches in depth, which disappeared in a few hours after a change of wind to the south. The hotels in this city are fairly crammed with people, waiting for an opportunity to leave; while reports reach us from various points of the interior, that parties are setting out overland for the same locality. Throughout the entire length and breadth of the State the ' Frazer river fever' seems to have seized hold of the people, and threatens to break up, or at least, seriously disarrange for the time being the entire mining business of the State." San Francisco Alta California, June 5, 1858. 23'6 Willard E. Ireland. July Frazer River was frozen over, so as to impede navigation, about eight days;8 I am in receipt of Letters from Victoria dated February 11th, which represent the weather as being mild and beautiful, so much so, that numbers of Boats, and Canoes, were again starting on their long and perilous journey to the upper Gold Mines;9 The winter preceding, was much more mild, there not being any Frost till the beginning of Februrary; Old Farmers tell me that they rarely find it necessary to house their cattle in Winter; or is all this to be wondered at, when we take into consideration that the whole Island, is in a more southerly latitude then that of England. Then the summer nothing can be imagined more beautiful, in the way of weather, a constant even temperature without any unpleasant heat; for this equality no doubt we are indebted to the magnificent, ever snow clad, range of Cascade Mountains, to the north and east of us; our summer air is refined while passing their frozen tops, as it generally does during that season, not only is every particle of moisture extracted, preventing rain, but what would otherwise be a hot land breeze, is cooled and made pleasant. The Island is 300 miles long, with an average width of 60 miles; Its outline is very irregular; almost the entire coast being broken into bays and Inlets, in many places thickly studded with small Islands; affording numerous sheltered harbours; The shores being rocky, and precipitous with little rise and fall of water, vessels of the heaviest draught may approach with safety on every side. These bays and Inlets, apart from their harbour facilities, conr tribute principally to the support of the Indian population, and in fact, so far, produce the Island's greatest available staple, being swarming with Fish in endless variety. This apperantly inexhaustable product alone, is suffecient to warrant commercial prosperity; Indeed the same may be said of the whole of Puget's Sound, withe Island or Main Land; At certain seasons salmon literally swarm along the coasts, especially near the mouths of fresh water streams, Indians have no difficulty in taking them simply with a hand net.10 (8) " The steamer Beaver arrived from Langley on Tuesday evening [December 7], with eighty passengers. She reported the river frozen over to the depth of an inch and a half from Langley down to its mouth, and the weather as exceedingly severe." Victoria Gazette, December 9, 1858. " There is little or no doubt that the river is open again to navigation." Ibid., December 16,1858. (9) " Latest from Fraser— . . . Some sixty boats left Fort Yale in ' one day bound upward." Victoria Colonist, March 5,1859. (10) "Beecher Bay is situated about 14 miles in a westerly direction from Victoria. ... It is one of the best salmon stations on Vancouver Island, as from four to six hundred barrels of that fish are taken here every year, wholly by the Indians." Ibid., August 12,1858. 1948 Gold-rush Days in Victoria. 237 With the exception of the H. B. Co. salmon curing has been carried on to a very limited extent, even the Co. since the Gold excitement seem to have abandoned it, their time and capital being employed so extremely profitabley otherwise.11 The Indians, subsisting almost entirely on Fish, are rarely to be found any distance inland; Their villages are always located close to the coast, or else, on the banks of a River, apparantly caring little about the products of the soil, they seem to feel most at home on the water; With the whole family in the light though graceful canoe; they are to be met paddeling among the Islands, in all weathers; Devided into small tribes, they are numerous on all sides of the Island, in every respect they are much superior to the Indians of California, though little has yet been done to ameliorate their miserable, savage, condition; In appearance many of them differ little from Europeans, being equally white in the skin, with fair, and frequently even red, hair; At Victoria, two months ago, hundreds of them were to be seen wading through the snow with their bare feet; Among the Females there is a painful and provoking scarcity of petticoats, whilst amongst the males there is a disgusting lack of continuations; They depend on the Blanket almost entirely for covering; The Blanket is also their circulating medium, every thing is valued by the numbers of Blankets. In its agricultural resources, I must say, the Island presents nothing very attractive, especially to one who has, like the writer, witnessed the wonderful productiveness of a California; Probably nine tenths of the whole Island is covered by dense Forrest; The interior, so far, has been very imperfectly explored; The few open patches as yet discovered are of inconsiderable extent, and To clear Timber Land for the purpose of Agriculture, at the present price of labour, is out of the question, may it long continue so. The small portion under cultivation, is confined to a few Farms on the southern end, near Victoria; These are principally occupied by old servants of H. B. Co. who, according to agreement, have been granted small portions of Land on being dismissed from the service; These people being originally from the north and west end of Scotland, of the poorest class, As might be expected, their ideas of Farming are very primitive; Much of their Land, owing to the proximity to Town became suddenly very valuable during the Gold excitement; Many "Awoke one morning to find themselves rich." The most extensive agriculturists on the Island as well as other points in Puget's Sound, are a joint stock co. known as the Pugets Sound Agricultural Co. composed principally of Members and Officers (11) "No sign of preparation is made to develop our Salmon fishing. Why is this? Is everybody so intent on gold digging, trading, and land speculation, that the existence of this gigantic source of wealth is entirely ignored. ... No country ever had better or more valuable Salmon fisheries, no more easily developed, than our own." Victoria Colonist, February 5,1869. 238 Willard E. Ireland. July of the H. B. Co. They own extensive tracts of Land and have some well conducted Farms, also in the neighborhood of Victoria,12 which are worked by Tenants on shares; I have seen nothing for many years that reminded me so much of home as those substantial, comfortable Farm Houses, with their thrifty looking appendages in the way of— neatly thatched Ricks, Barns, Thrashing Mills &c. some of them having even Flour, and Saw Mills attached;13 Cattle and sheep are generally of fine quality but getting scarce, and high in price, owing to the increased population; Horses are also scarce, and a miserable poor bread. I took one up with me and sold him at about three times Sanfrancisco price. For years every thing seems to have gone on with these People in the same easy old country style, till the sudden rush of Gold-seekers awoke them from their lethargy; Land stock and produce of every description went up at once to prices they never before dreamt of. Altogether Farming is conducted pretty much the same as in Scotland, Oats, Wheat, Barley, Peas, Beans &c came to great perfection; Also every description of vegetables, especially potatoes which I never saw equalled. Seed time and Harvest also conform very nearly to those in Scotland. Government price of Land is £1. per acre, five shillings paid at time of purchase, and the balance, in three, two year's installments; ninety per cent of the purchase money has to be expended, by the Government, in improvements;14 so that virtually, I may say, Land costs nothing. The open Lands in the interior, are rapidly being located skirted by dense Forrest on one side, and penetrated by a Tongue of the sea, on another, some of these fertile Plains, under such a mild climate, are (12) In all the Puget Sound Agricultural Company operated four farms in the vicinity of Victoria: Viewfield Farm, established in 1850, under Donald Macaulay, a Scot from the Hebrides; Colwood or Esquimalt Farm, established in 1851, under Captain E. E. Langford from Sussex, England; Constance Cove Farm, established in 1853, under Thomas J. Skinner, an Englishman; and Craigflower Farm, established in 1853 by Kenneth Mackenzie, a native of Rosshire, Scotland. For a detailed history of each of these farms, see Leigh Burpee Robinson, Esquimalt " Place of Shoaling Waters," Victoria, 1948, pp. 49-83. (13) Probably Craigflower, the most extensively developed of the four (14) Under the terms of the Royal Grant of Vancouver Island to the Hudson's Bay Company, dated January 13,1849, a maximum of 10 per cent, profit from the sale of land was allowed the company, and the balance was to be " applied towards the colonization and improvement of the island." The Grant is reprinted in E. 0. S. Scholefield and F. W. Howay, British Columbia, from the earliest times to the present, Vancouver, 1914, Vol. I, pp. 676-680. 1948 Gold-rush Days in Victoria. 239 extremely lovely but their quiet acadian beauty is doomed, The indolent, contented, savage, must give place to the busteling sons of civilization and Toil, The class privilaged to fulfil the devine fiat, who " eat their bread, with the sweat on their brow," Near the coasts, there may be found passable Indian Trails and from Victoria a few wagon roads have been constructed by the H.B. Co. the longest of which extending to the Saanach district a distance of twenty five miles. Woe to the way farer, who strays beyond these roads, or openings, he may, it is true, for a time be rewarded by the grandest, and most varied of scenery, from the pleasant fertile vale, to the sterile snow clad mountain, but he must inevitably be brought to a stand amongst the impenetrable undergrowth of the Forrest; where the crowded tops of the giant Pines almost exclude the light of day, causing a deep silent gloom, through which the dank, tangled, jungle, is rarely gladdened by a stray sun-beam, or even shaken by the slightest' breath from the passing Hurricane. Some of the Timber, especially for Spar purposes, is unsurpassed by any in the world; vessels from foreign ports, find in this always a profitable return cargo.16 There are also several valuable coal mines on the Island, one of which, is producing more than any other on the western coast of America.16 In Victoria we are indebted to the Indians for a supply of every thing in season of native production at very reasonable rates; They collect great quantities of Berries, most of which are new to me; For a back load of Potatoes they charge one shilling; these they cultivate by simply burring the seed under the green turf; A fine salmon can also be purchased for one shilling; Other Fish such as Cod, Herrings, Flounders &c are always to be had equally cheap; A large Basket of Oysters one shilling; The market is also supplied with plenty of venison, Deer are quite plentiful, until the arrival of the American Hunters, the old residents seemed unaware of this fact There are abundance of Water Fowel, Ducks, Geese, and even Swans, but with ike exception of Grouse, there is little feathered game inland; Occa- sionly a Hunter brings in a black Bear but they are not plentiful. (15) For retails in connection with the early lumber industry, see W. Kaye Lamb, " Early Lumbering on Vancouver Island, 1844-1866," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, II (1938), pp. 31-53, 95-121. (16) The existence of coal at Beaver Harbour, near the north end of Vancouver Island, had been known since 1835, but no attempt at exploitation was made until 1849, when Fort Rupert was established. See J. H. Kemble, "Coal from the Northwest Coast, 1848-1850," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, II (1938), pp. 123-130. This deposit did not prove commercially satisfactory, and then interest shifted to Nanaimo, where development began in 1852. See B. A. McKelvie, "The Founding of Nanaimo," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, VIII (1944), pp. 164-188. Willard E. Ireland. July I Of the settlements on the Island except Victoria there is little worth mentioning; The H.B. Co. have an establishment on the extreme north, Fort rupart,17 where within a palisaded fort, a few cautious Traders offer their wares to the treacherous savage in exchange for Furs. It is no doubt a center from which must soon radiate the light of civilization, a light that so far seems to have remained under the bushel, there being no evidence of one single ray having ever fallen on the darkness of heathenism with which it is surrounded. Ten years ago the Fort at Victoria was in the same condition, even one year ago, the place scarce deserved the name of village; only since April last has it atall been looked upon as a commercial Town; When I landed in the middle of July, it presented something the appearance of Sanfrancisco in 1849, though of course not so extensive the suburbs, white with Tents, while the few streets were alive with a crowd of adventurers, in which every country of the world se represented. The site for a large Town, is an excellent one, it may expand to any extent, having always a convenient natural grade, with just sufficient elevation. The Harbour is small, and scarcely suitable for large ships, though with care they run little risk, by blasting a few submerged rocks, it may be vastly improved;18 I noticed one strange peculiarity in this Harbour, in regard to Tides, which completely upsets my philosophy, There is a rise of about eight feet perpendicular, and only once in twenty four hours, besides it is high water always near the same time, eleven-oclock fore-noon. Within four miles of Victoria is the harbour of Esqumault, where heavy vessels discharge, being chosen as the naval depot for the Pacific, it is probably near enough Town. A finer, or more convenient Harbour then this, it is impossible to imagine ships of the largest class may enter it at any time of the tide, in a gale of wind, and drop anchor in a smooth pond, though a pond miles in width, it is sheltered from all winds by the high lands with which it is surrounded; It is aproach- able from Victoria both by Land and Water; When I left it presented quite a busy scene, the Government had a great many men at work erecting Barracks, Hospitals &c.19 Besides numerous small craft and (17) This post, Fort Rupert, was established in the spring of 1848, the Hudson's Bay Company hoping to be able to supply coal to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company from the adjacent deposits. (18) The Vancouver Island House of Assembly on January 25, 1859, set up a Select Committee to report on conditions of Victoria harbour [Victoria Gazette, January 27,1859]; and early in April they recommended extensive dredging [ibid., April 5, 1859]. For years thereafter the dredging of the harbour was the subject of continuous agitation. (19) See Madge Wolfenden, "Esquimalt Dockyard's First Buildings," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, X (1946), pp. 235-240. 1948 Gold-rush Days in Victoria. 241 fS&^JV* ^-°r' the line of battle shiP Ganges,*6 eighty coast. There is not another harbour on the whole inof c^stto SSH5tt£5? °f,nearly °ne th0USand railes that1 hTcan S^T. y.m Stomy weather; The "teamar" on which I T hn/rd T86!^ hre-t0°' off Columbia River- three days, having on board, two hundred and fifty tons of freight, and a 4^01 £ffi/tt imnoTb, *? Wh0l^ad t0 be bought on to sTnfran- cisco, finding it impossible to cross the bar at the mouth of the River To return to Victoria, It continues to Florish beyond expectation- themselves at once surrounded with the most clamerous, andSS Z^the/tUn,rTnable People in the ™M'' Stil"evPery Sg was managed with a dexterity, cheapness, and satisfaction, pleasing to witness Many of my American acquaintances were astonished at the wSar,LPdr.°mPtfSS Td hTSty With which government business ri!lta cbfSe..li:0fil What they had be<* accustomed to wit^na ; ,rl\ei! el6Vatl0n t0 0ffice-in P'a(!e °f ^ing associated with honor, was looked upon as a license, whereby the idle politician, was authorized, during his short term, to rob his more industrious Bretheren About the time the cold weather was setting in Govern! ZLw '1 ?T f™hu,ndred men in street * so that i£«H tthe P^'Wstreets are substantially macadamized, without cost to the property holder; i m Wa\thougbt: S Ju'y ,ast> Mal estate was held at a figure that could not be sustained, yet there has been little depreciation; I paid for the lot on which I built my store, twenty feet Front by seventy feet deep—two thousand dollars, which is still an average price in the best (20) H.M.S. Ganges, Captain John Pulford, was the flagship of Rear- AOmiral Robert L. Baynes when on the Pacific Station, 1857-1860 She was the last sailing line-of-battle ship in active commission on foreign (21) H.M. steam corvette Satellite, Captain J. C. Prevost, twenty-one guns, was also on the Pacific Station, 1857-1860. See P. V. Longstaff, Esquimalt Naval Base, Victoria, 1941, pp. 175,176. (22) H.M.S. Plumper, Captain G. H. Richards, was an auxiliary steam sloop. She was used as a survey ship on this coast from November, 1857 until relieved by H.M.S. Hecate in January, 1861. (23) Presumably the steamer Pacific, which cleared for San Francisco on February 10,1859, see Victoria Gazette, February 12,1859. 242 '.-Willard E. Ireland. July business localities; Farther back Town lots, sixty feet front, by one hundred and twenty deep, may be bought all the way from one hundred, to one thousand dollars, according to location. Victoria is a free port to goods of every description, from every part of the world; No where is business so little trammeled; I have a business going on there successfully, which has been established now over seven months, yet I have never been asked for one penny, either towards town improvements, or Government expenses. There were two fine steamers built in Victoria last fall and another on the stocks at present.24 But I am dwelling on the Island too long;26 I will now ask you to accompany me on a short trip to Frazer River; On leaving the Harbour, we turn abruptly arround the south east point of the Island, when in a north west course we immediately find ourselves in the midst of a group of Islands; On a fine summer day, this is a perfect fairy- scene. You can imagine some fifty Islands, many of them quite small, rising boldly from the smooth sea, all of them covered with green trees to the water's edge; sweeping past them on a magnificent steam Boat, often within stone throw; They are mostly uninhabited; Except occassionly " The Indians light Canoe " shooting from some shadowey retreat, there is nothing to disturb the quietude of the Silvan panorama. Leaving the Islands and steering in a north east course in a few hours we have crossed the Gulf of Georgia and find ourselves on the bar at the mouth of the Frazer; This bar is going to be a great impediment to navigation, should the port of Entry, for the Colony, be established on the Frazer as no doubt it will be; The bar extends four miles into the gulf, the channel through it is narrow and intricate; To enter the River vessels of four hundred tons and upwards will always have to engage a steam tug; The difficulty is over so soon as the River is reached, there being then plenty of water. The Land on each side of the River, till we reach Langley26—a distance of thirty five miles, is low and in many places swampy, with very (24) The sidewheeler Caledonia or Caledonian, launched September 8, 1858, was the first steamboat to be built in the colonies [Victoria Gazette, September 8, 1858]. She was followed by the sternwheeler Governor Douglas on October 30, 1858 [ibid., November 2, 1858], and her sister ship the Colonel Moody was launched May 14, 1859 [ibid., May 17, 1859]. For further details see Norman Hacking, " Steamboating on the Fraser in the 'Sixties," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, X (1946), pp. 1-8. (25) Oddly enough Bell makes no mention of Nanaimo, then a flourishing coal-mining town on Vancouver Island. (26) Fort Langley, as originally established in 1827, was situated on the Fraser River, but in 1839 this site was abandoned in favour of one adjacent to good farming lands some 2 miles distant. See R. L. Reid, " Early Days at Old Fort Langley," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, I (1937), pp. 71-78. 1948 GoLDrRUSH Days in Victoria. 243 little open country; In appearance it differs materially from the everlasting Pines on the Island; Along the River is to be found many kinds of Timber, which gives a pleasing variety to the foliage; It is a fine broad River, and has altogether, a magnificent appearance. In November last the Government laid off a new Town at Langley, the head of Ocean Navigation ;27 It is certainly the best spot on the River for a Commercial Town, although Col. Moody,28 who arrived lately, looking at it in a military point of view, is not pleased with the site; This is very much retarding its progress; His principal objections are, its being on the wrong side of the River, and only fifteen miles from the American frontier.29 Town Lots measuring sixty five feet front, by one hundred and twenty feet deep, were put up at auction, they brought from one hundred to seven hundred dollars each; I bought two choice front Lots for which I paid four hundred dollars each; Some eighty thousand dollars was realized in three days all payable in one month.30 This we expect to be the seat of Government (27) On November 19, 1858, the colony of British Columbia was formally inaugurated at a ceremony held at Old Fort Langley, or Derby as it was called. Prior to this time plans were laid for the sale of town lots, see Victoria Gazette, October 1 and 23, 1858. (28) Richard Clement Moody, who was in charge of the detachment of the Royal Engineers sent to British Columbia, arrived in Victoria in the steamer Panama on December 25,1858 [ibid., December 28, 1858]. He held a dormant commission as Lieutenant-Governor and became the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. (29) Moody favoured a site 10 miles down-stream on the north bank of the river. See R. C. Moody to Governor Douglas, January 28, 1859, MS., Archives of B.C. The confused state of affairs drew the following comment from the editor of the Victoria Colonist: "Is there to be a new town laid out at Pitt river, called Queensboro, which will place Langley in a secondary position? Or, is the site of Langley to be changed for another? These are questions which have been agitating the public mind for some time,—and since the late arrival of Lieut. Gov. Moody, have taken a more substantial shape than before, and produced a high state of excitement am,ong lot owners at Langley, in fact completely unsettling the purposes of those who were prepared to make improvements in that locality. On apparently good authority it is said that Lieut. Gov. Moody—whom everybody agrees should be a good judge of location—is favorable to change, while His Excellency Gov. Douglas is not disposed to do so. . . . That a town must be built some where near the mouth of Fraser's river, is a matter beyond doubt, but two towns would injure both. As business is unsettled by the uncertain policy of the government of British Columbia, the only way it can be re-established on a secure basis, is to announce a Port of Entry at Langley, or somewhere else in British Columbia." Victoria Colonist, February 5, 1859. (30) The sale of town lots at Langley was held on November 25, 26, and 29, 1858. According to a published list of purchases, Bell acquired lots 244 Willard E. Ireland. July for British Columbia,31 being a seperate Government from Vancouver Island, there is here a Tariff on imports; The next settlement on the River is some fifty miles higher up, Fort Hope, a short distance above which commences the Gold Mines; Fort Yale, above fort Hope, fifteen miles, is the highest point that- has been reached by steam Boats, and the place around which most Gold digging has been done; This was a very busy camp during last summer, and is now considerable of a Town, and at last accounts both Miners and Traders were doing a very profitable business. Close above Yale, the river cuts its way through the Cascade Mountains, causing deep foaming chasms, inaccessible either by water, or Land, thus have the body of miners been shut off from the Upper Country; Many found their way over the mountains, but the road was too ruggad to pack provisions, Last summer, there accumulated around Yale, an immense crowd of people; This was the focus to which rushed the Gold-fever afflicted multitude; The River at the time was swelled to its greatest hight, caused by the melting of snow on the mountains; The best diggings were all under water, provisions were scarce, consequently high in price; The snow covered, Cascade Mountains frowned above, forbidding farther approach. For the fevered crowd these difficulties proved ready and effectual medecine; It soon turned out, however, that the curing of one disease, only gave place to another of equally malignant type; All at once the home fever broke out, causing as unreasonable a rush from the country, as only two months previous there had been to it; It has been discovered since, that the very ground on which many of them were incamped, will pay in Gold dust from three, to six dollars per day to the hand; This stampede home, did the country great injury; People, to save their own credit, spread all kinds of false reports, which were taken up by the news-papers, and cerculated over the world; for a time completely checking emigration, though a check that will not last long, as will soon be proven.32 6 and 13 of Block 4 at $410 and $375 respectively [Victoria Gazette, November 30,1858]. The sales reported for the three days totalled $66,089.50. (31) Actually Douglas acceded to Moody's advice and Queensborough became the capital. Its name was changed to New Westminster at the request of the Queen, and this decision was proclaimed in the colony. Ibid., July 21, 1859. (32) It was partially to refute this state of affairs that the first book to be published in Victoria made its appearance. This was Alfred Wad- dington's The Fraser Mines Vindicated, or the history of four months, Victoria, 1858. A detailed history, complete with supporting documents, is to be found in F. W. Howay, The Early History of the Fraser River Mines (B.C. Archives Memoir No. VI), Victoria, 1926. 1948 Gold-rush Days in Victoria. 245 It was during the summer discovered, that by ascending the Harrison River, which joins the Frazer below Fort Hope, and taking advantage of several Lakes that lay in the way, a Road might be cut through the woods, by which the upper country could be reached, without having to cross the mountains; The Government with that admirable promptness, and liberality, that have characterized all their movement for the public benefit, went into this undertaking at once; With five hundred men the road was completed in about four months, but too late to be made use of last season, this spring it will no doubt be a great thoroughfare, as it opens up an immense country, in which Gold has been found in all directions.83 The two extremes, at which Gold has been discovered on the Frazer alone, are four hundred miles apart. All the intervening Branches have also been found to contain Gold. The Upper Country has, as yet, been very imperfectly explored; during next summer there will no doubt be great developments; I have seen numbers who have been a great distance up. All have the same tale to tell, they were making plenty of money but had to leave on account of the cold weather, and scarcity of provisions. Ten dollars they considered a moderate days work often doubeling that amount. I will here make an assertion, based, not only on reliable information I have had such a good opportunity of obtaining; but also from my own personal experience; I was on Frazer River in December, since then I have made a tour of the Southern Mines in California, a distance of two hundred miles ' from Sanfrancisco; These mysterious Frazer River mines, are by far the most profitable for individual enterprise, of any at the present time known; I include in this the latest accounts from Australia; It is represented as a much superior country in every respect, above, to what it is near the coast, having plenty of cleared Farming Land. I am happy to notice, that the home Goverment is alive to the importance of the new Colony; As yet it is only the commencement, of the development, of a country the magnitude, and destiny, of which baffles the imagination. Take for instance, the eastern Hemisphere, north of the forty ninth parallel of latitude, and you will find almost the whole of Europe; These British possessions occupying a relative position, in the Western Hemisphere, are about equal [in] extent of territory, and it may be, equal, if not superior, in natural advantages. There is one work ought to be undertaken quickly, not only to consolidate such an extensive country, bringing it all at once under the (33) This reference to the building of the Douglas-Lillooet trail is essentially correct. See Victoria Gazette, July 29, August 6 and 11, September 7, 1858. The route chosen passed from Douglas at the head of Harrison Lake to Lillooet by way of Seton, Anderson, and Lillooet lakes. For a brief account of this and other routes to the mines, see Scholefield and Howay, op. cit, II, pp. 87-92. 246 v Willard E. Ireland. July liberal colonial laws; but also to secure the trade of the Pacific, making the country not only the highway for travel, but also for Asiatic commerse. The British goverment ought now to take the precedence, since the American senate have abandoned their rail road scheme, and at once commense the projected Road, between Puget's Sound and Canada. In regard to the healthiness of the country, it is certainly far a-head of California; There is no degeneracy of European constitutions in British Columbia, like to what is witnessed in all parts of the United States; The extremes of climate in California, tells very quickly amongst the working population; It was curious to witness how those old worn-out Californians gained flesh, and strength, while north, even those in the mountains who had scarely the means of sustaining life, came down ruddy and healthy. Should the Goverment still adhere to their liberal, and wise policy, in keeping Victoria a free port, its many peculiar advantages, as a depot for British manufactures must quickly secure an extensive Trade; California, Oregon, Washington Territory &c now contain a large and rapidly increasing population; Not producing any domestic manufactures worth mentioning, they have all to be supplied by importation ; Here-to-fore, except what little was done by the H.B. Co British Manufactures before reaching those countries have been burthened with enormous expenses, which to a great extent has made it impossible to compete with the American; Being in the first place shipped to New York, paying a duty of some thirty per cent and a liberal profit to the merchant then shipped to Sanfrancisco, subject to all the expenses of this extravagent Town, before being carried to the consumer, by the country merchant; In Victoria goods from England can be laid down at a small expense, there being always ready for the ship, a return cargo of Timber, for this cargo British ships, discharging in Sanfrancisco often have to go up to the sound in Ballast, Should the Sanfrancisco merchant have a connection in Victoria and have his Goods shipped there, they can at once be exposed for sale without expense, thus having the whole in market, and only paying duties on such as are in demand in California, Oregon &c besides where there is such an extensive frontier there will no doubt be an extensive illegitimate trade carried on. But I must now close, I had no idea when I set out on writing such a long Letter. I fear I have dwelt too long on a subject in which you may be little interested, It is my home however, and in what ever country that is, I trust my relations will still feel an interest, if only for my sake; Excuse this long hurried Epistle and believe me Yours truly James Bell. NOTES AND COMMENTS. A NOTE ON ARCHIBALD MENZIES AND DAVID DOUGLAS, BOTANISTS. The recent publication of A. G. Harvey's Douglas of the Fir has suggested the following note on certain matters which adversely affected the permanent record of the work of both Archibald Menzies and David Douglas. The Rules of Botanical Nomenclature are a dry and thorny jungle even to many botanists, but without unduly entangling the non-botanical reader it may be possible to explain how the state of botanical affairs in Great Britain at that period robbed both of these botanists, to some extent, if not of their discoveries, at least of priority of publication. In the long run, indeed, these amount to much the same thing. The more comprehensive Floras usually give the name of the collector of the " type " specimen from which the species was first described and named; other collectors are forgotten. The period was one of very active exploration, and Great Britain sent out many expeditions. Most of these were accompanied by naturalists, who brought home large collections of plants. In addition, the administrations of the recently acquired Empire countries, including the vast and varied territories of India, were taking stock of their plant assets, especially from an economic standpoint, and most of this material was also referred to Great Britain, which was at that time the leading centre of botanical research. The number of first- rate systematists was, as always, few, and they were overwhelmed with work. It is estimated that the number of known species of plants increased from 20,000 in 1789 to 92,000 in 1830.1 Robert Brown, in 1805, brought back 3,900 species, three-fourths of them new to science; David Douglas sent home 7,000 species, a large proportion new. Archibald Menzies returned to England with Captain Vancouver in 1795, but it was not until sixty years later that the last of his plants had been worked over and the results published. In the meantime many species had been named elsewhere from other collections, some from the Lewis and Clark expedition, others from the Russian voyage of the Rarick and elsewhere. Menzies was a naval surgeon and, by the terms of his commission, turned over his collection to the Government on his return to be worked over appointed, while he resumed his duties a (1) J. Reynolds Green, from the ear" 1914, p. 340. 248 Notes and Comments. July given the opportunity, he would have been able to undertake the description and naming of the collection himself, we do not know. Although he maintained his herbarium until his death, he published very few species. Douglas, a more fully developed botanist, with no learned profession to attract him and maintained, however inadequately, in the employment of the Horticultural Society, was able to describe and name a large number of his plants. By so doing he obtained earlier publication and also established his reputation as a botanist and not merely as a collector. How much of his collections had been worked over when Douglas sailed on his last voyage is not known, but the work was certainly not completed. Acer Douglasii was collected in 1826, but the species was published by Hooker only in 1847. One instance of how the congestion in botanical work affected both Menzies and Douglas is perhaps of sufficient general interest to mention, since it concerns our well-known and justly admired dogwood tree, the glory of the woods and gardens of the Pacific Coast in spring. In bloom it could hardly escape the notice of the most casual observer, much less of a botanist. Menzies collected it on his voyage with Vancouver and probably on his earlier one with Colnett. It was one of the first plants collected by Douglas (April, 1825), and he added a note in his Journal "... the wood is hard and very tough, and much used by the Canadian voyageurs for masts and spars for their canoes . . . very abundant in the pine- forests; its great profusion of large white flowers makes it one of the most ornamental trees of the forest. . . ."2 Yet it was not named from either of these collections. In 1840 Audubon, the naturalist, described, named, and published the species in honour of his friend Thomas Nuttall, and since the validity of a species name is determined by the date of its publication and not by the date of the discovery of the plant that bears it, Cornus Nuttallii it remains to this day. Such were the uncertain rewards of the botanical collector. J. W. Eastham. It is only right that homage should be paid to the pioneering spirit of our forefathers, as exemplified ninety years ago when William Thomson brought his young wife, Margaret, and their infant son, David, over the old Indian trail from Victoria to settle at " Bannock- burn," on the slope of Mount Newton in Saanich. True enough, William Thomson had been preceded by Angus MacPhail in selecting the rolling hills of Saanich as his home-site, but it is fitting that the residents of Saanich should commemorate April 8, for that day in is travels in North America, 1948 Notes and Comments. 249 1858 witnessed the establishment of the first home in the district. It is difficult to imagine that young wife's thoughts as she toiled over the summit of Little Saanich Mountain and perhaps caught a distant glimpse of the clearing in the forest with its tiny cabin which was to be her new home. But were William and Margaret Thomson to-day to stand upon that same mountain, it is easy to imagine how thrilled and proud they would be, for before them would be the proof that they had pioneered well and laid the foundations of a prosperous farming community. The story behind the founding of " Bannockburn " is a thrilling one—for this pioneer adventure of 1858 was no haphazard arrangement. It was the result of much careful planning, for the Thomsons were, in effect, even at that early date, old-time residents of Vancouver Island—Margaret having arrived over five years previously and her husband over four. Margaret Dyer, a native of Haddingtonshire, Scotland, was born in 1841. Following the death of her father, for some time she lived with her grandparents but rejoined her mother after her remarriage to Duncan Lidgate. Margaret was only a young girl of 12 when, in August, 1852, the family joined the barque Norman Morison and set out on the long journey to Vancouver Island. Her stepfather was one of the group of labourers forming the party of Kenneth Mackenzie. The voyage lasted for over five months.1 The Norman Morison was only a small ship—not quite as long as two Pullman cars—and she carried a large complement of settlers. No doubt Margaret was kept busy, for she had two younger stepsisters, and there were in all thirty- six children on board. From the diary of Robert Melrose we can read the highlights of the voyage2—joy and sorrow often walked hand in hand. To the weary travellers the sight of Vancouver Island on January 10, 1853, must have been welcome, but for seven days they were buffeted about by storms at the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca and several times narrowly escaped disaster. Finally, on January 16, they came to anchor in Royal Roads and five days later entered Victoria harbour. Shortly thereafter the Mackenzie party disembarked and immediately began the establishment of Craigflower farm.3 These were busy days for everyone—children included. We know that Margaret frequently acted as nursemaid in the homes of the Skinners and Captain Cooper and that she attended Craigflower school when it was opened in March, 1855. But other plans were soon afoot, for on November 30,1856, Melrose noted in his diary: " William Thomson and Margret Lidgate proclaimed for marriage fi[rst]. time."4 (1) See A. N. Mouat, "Notes on the 'Norman Morison,'" British Columbia Historical Quarterly, III (1939), pp. 203-214. (2) W. K. Lamb (ed.), " The Diary of Robert Melrose," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, VII (1943), pp. 119-134, 199-218, 283-295. (3) Ibid., pp. 124, 125. (4) Ibid., p. 291. 250 Notes and Comments. July Margaret Dyer was then not 16, and her fiance1 was then ten years her senior. William Thomson was also a Scot, born in Tannadice, on the River Esk, in Forfarshire, in 1830. With his brother, Alexander, he was apprenticed in ship-building and learned the trade of carpentry, which was later to stand him in good stead in his new home. Eventually, however, he decided to settle on Vancouver Island, and late in 1853 he arrived in San Francisco. There he boarded the British brig William under the command of Captain John Mcintosh, and on December 5 cleared for Vancouver Island.6 The ship's captain was a drunkard, and as they approached the island on January 1 the ship drove ashore about 1 mile north of Nitinat.6 All the crew and passengers, except the captain, got safely ashore, but all their possessions were lost and they were thrown on the mercy of the Indians. Actually Thomson did manage to salvage one small plane from his carpenter's outfit. Writing of this incident, Governor Douglas noted:— . . . the fact but too evidently appeared that the Master was a person of intemperate habits and that the ship had been lost entirely through his misconduct. The evidence proves that he was often unconscious from intoxication—that he was in that state when the vessel ran ashore, on Vancouvers Island, and his death in attempting to land from the wreck, appears to have been the effect of the same cause. ... On the wreck of the Brig "William" the crew travelled under the direction of the natives towards this place and after much privation and hardship arrived here in a state of great distress.7 The Governor relieved their immediate wants and attempted unsuccessfully to obtain for the crew a settlement from the ship's agent, Robert Swanston. In the end a full-scale inquiry in the Court of Vice- Admiralty was held, with Chief Justice David Cameron and Captains W. H. McNeill and Charles Dodd presiding. Thus, at the outset, young Thomson found himself in debt to the Hudson's Bay Company. For a time he worked at Craigflower building the grist-mill to pay off his debt, for he was determined to become an independent settler and already had been attracted to the Saanich District. At that time no surveys had been made, but prospective settlers were allowed to stake out their claims and hold them until the surveys could be completed.8 The original grant involved 200 acres at the going price of £1 per acre. Probably it was while working, at Craigflower that William Thomson first met Margaret Dyer. They were married on December 19, (5) San Francisco Daily Alta California, December 6, 1853. " British Brig William, Mcintosh, Vancouver's Island; McKenzie, Thompson & Co. Dec. 5." (6) Ibid., February 15, 1854. " We learn from Capt. Knowles, of the brig Consort, that he was informed by Cape Mafeet Indians that an English brig had been lost on Vancouver's Island, and that the Captain was drowned and the crew saved." (7) James Douglas to the Duke of Newcastle, March 13, 1854, MS., Archives of B.C. (8) Victoria Gazette, March 5, 1859. 1948 Notes and Comments. 251 1856,9 by Rev. Edward Cridge at' Christ Church—the third wedding to be performed in the new church. Their first home was just outside the old fort, and it was there that their first child, David, was born. In the meantime work on the farm was progressing. The first stock- ten pigs—had been safely transported by canoe in a trip taking four days. By the spring of 1858 a small cabin was ready to welcome the first white woman to settle in Saanich. Within a few months " Bannockburn " had established its reputation for hospitality. In August, 1858, a wandering reporter for the Victoria Gazette visited Saanich:— Having crossed to the south side of the Mountain [Mt. Newton] we arrived at the place of a settler named Thompson [sic], and a little further on at that of another named Macphal [sic]. At both these places, I saw several fine fields of grain, the wheat crop being especially good. We found these people, though poor and surrounded with but few of the comforts of life, exceedingly hospitable and obliging, and quite ready to impart such information as they were possessed of in regard to the country. . . . They have each secured, by purchase, or some understanding with the Government, a portion of these desirable lands, which when they come to be improved, will secure them valuable farms and comfortable homesteads.16 Admittedly conditions in the small cabin were primitive, but of courage and determination there was plenty, and before long a four- room timber house replaced the cabin, and there it was on March 14, 1859, that Alexander was born—the first white child born in Saanich. Life was difficult, for " Bannockburn" was only a clearing in the forest and roads were non-existent. The first voters list for the District of Saanich, published on December 3,1859, included twenty-one voters, but of these only eight or nine could be considered bona-fide settlers.11 However, the Fraser River gold-rush was on, and it provided an ample market for farm produce, even though it did have to go by sea to Victoria.12 More settlers came in and gradually the roads were j improved. By September, 1861, a visitor reported:— About six miles from Victoria is the only house of refreshment on the road, kept by Mr. Stevens. About eight miles further on we came to Mr. Thompson's [sic] farm, where, as the settlers are hospitable, refreshments might also be obtained. This farm forms part of the Saanich valley, and I should say; judging from the appearance of it, and from the very heavy crop of oats he has recently cut, that he has a capital piece of land.13 One of the factors contributing to the success of the Thomsons was the friendly relations they established with the neighbouring Indians. Family tradition has it that this was partially due, at least, to the' (9) W. K. Lamb (ed.), op. cit, loc. cit, p. 291. (10) Victoria Gazette, August 18, 1858. (11) Victoria Colonist, December 3,1859. William Thomson of " Bonne Bon " is listed as owner of 200 acres freehold. Duncan Lidgate is also listed as residing in Saanich. • " ' -V* : (12) " The roads through this district [Saanich], in many places, are mere sloughs, and a disgrace to the government. . . . Some talk is heard in the District of cutting roads to the water side and freighting goods to Victoria by means of small craft." Ibid., June 7, 1861. (13) Ibid., September 27, 1861. _J 252 Notes and Comments. July fact that Seultenut, daughter of the Chief of the near-by Tsartlap village, once visited Esquimalt and there was greatly impressed at seeing a young white girl her own age at Constance Cove. This was Margaret with the Skinner children. Some years later, Seultenut visited the new settlers near her home village and, to her delight, recognized in Mrs. Thomson the little girl of her previous experience. Thus a friendship was formed that endured even the tragedy when Seultenut's husband was burned to death clearing land for William Thomson. In due course, to this couple fifteen children were born—ten sons and five daughters. The growing family made necessary a new house, and in 1869 the present home was occupied. Most of the lumber was brought by canoe from Sayward's mill at Mill Bay, and William himself made the window and door frames. Into this house were built two cobblestones which he had brought as luggage from the River Esk after a trip to his old home the year previous. It should also be noted that he returned this time complete with kilt. Tragedy, too, struck the family, for one son was killed when a farm cart overturned and another was drowned in a well. The management of a large farm, to say nothing of the demands of a growing family, must have kept William Thomson busy, but still he found time for other duties. In 1862 he accepted a contract for bridging and corduroy work on the old road to Cowichan by Goldstream and Sooke Lake.14 In 1864 he did $200 worth of work on Mount Newton Cross-road. In addition, he was always active in any agitation for local improvements. When, in 1865, efforts were made to get $10,000 for road-work in Saanich, it was William Thomson who chaired the public meeting and headed the delegation to the Governor.16 It was fortunate for Saanich that she had pioneers of the ilk of William and Margaret Thomson. Their hopes and aspirations were not confined only to the development of their own homesteads, but were paralleled by a willingness to assist the advance of the community in which they lived. Of their community spirit, there are many evidences to-day, three of which only will be detailed. St. Stephen's Church, the pioneer church in Saanich, was built on land given by William Thomson. A goodly number of citizens from Victoria drove out to witness the consecration of this church on June 3, 1862, by the Bishop of Columbia. The first incumbent was Rev. Richard L. Lowe.16 An interesting incident in connection with this (14) See J. D. Pemberton to William Thomson, September 8, 1862, MS., Archives of B.C. (15) Victoria Colonist, August 8, 1865. (16) "New Church for Saanich District—This building, which has been erected near the residence of Mr. Thompson [sic], about 12 miles from town, will be consecrated this morning by the Bishop of Columbia. The Rev. Mr. Lowe is to be the resident minister. A large number of the members of the Church of England will leave this morning in vans and on horseback to witness the ceremony. Mr. Lowe has issued cards for a tea 1948 Notes and Comments. 253 consecration reported in the Victoria Press throws into pleasant contrast the ease with which " Bannockburn " is now reached. On Monday, the Rev. Mr. Lowe, his lady and others, started for Saanich, in a light wagon, conveying considerable freight in the way of provisions, for the next day's celebrations. When about six miles from their destination, the vehicle broke down, and no help being at hand, the travelers concluded to encamp for the night. Fortunately, they had two tents with them, which were erected for their accomodation. After cooking their supper, they received a visit from some black bears and panthers, who were doubtless attracted by the savory smell of the good things preparing. These unexpected visitors remained around the camp all night, affording their listeners vast entertainment by their vocal performances, but made no attempt to molest the travelers. . . . The provisions were subsequently transported to the end of the journey by some of the visitors' conveyances, the bears having taken no advantage of their opportunity to come in for " pot-luck."1' It was only natural, too, that William Thomson should be active in the establishment of a school. Prior to 1864, when the first school was built, evidently the church was also used as a school-room. Alfred Waddington, the first Superintendent of Education on Vancouver Island, writing on July 1,1865, has left an interesting account of South Saanich School, as it was called:— The school room and dwelling house were built not quite a year ago and cost the government $750. There are 4 acres of ground which were bought or rather taken back from Mr. Thomson; they are fenced in by the neighbours, and about 2 acres cultivated by the teacher. The School room is 20 ft. by 30. The school is situated on rising ground on the north side of the road half way between the Eastern and Western roads. The teacher, Mr. C[harles]. Nfewton]. Young, was professor of English for 18 months in Holland, at a school in connection with the university. He began to teach 6 months ago. Salary $500 with $5 a year fee from each child and the use of the glebe.18 The first school must have been a rude affair, for the estimates for 1866 included the sum of $120 for adding " a boarded ceiling to school room (there is none) boarding in basement and digging a well" to the South Saanich School.19 Of this pioneer teacher, Charles Newton Young, it is recorded that he considered "grammar as useless for farmer's children " but had the Bible " read before leaving every afternoon."20 He was succeeded by Captain George Steven Butler and his wife, Fanny Catherine, who jointly drew the salary of $500 and taught party, to come off during the afternoon." Ibid., June 3, 1862. See also ibid., June 4, 1862. Later, in 1868, the churchyard was consecrated on land given by Thomson. Ibid., October 20, 1868. (17) Victoria Press, June 4, 1862. (18) Alfred Waddington, Board of Education Notebook, MS., Archives of B.C. See also A. Waddington to W. A. G. Young, July 12, 1865, MS., Archives of B.C., which lists school property as follows: " Four acres at South Saanich with buildings and fences. The ground belonged to a Mr. Thompson [sic] under the pre-emption Act, but I believe was not paid for." (19) Ibid. (20) Board of Education Notebook, MS., Archives of B.C., under date October 3, 1865. L 254 Notes and Comments. July school after July, 1869. By this time William Thomson was serving on the School Board.21 Still another community venture was the organization in August, 1869, of the Saanich Agricultural Association and its sponsorship of a fall fair.22 The first fair was held on September 25 on Mr. Brown's farm, and it is to be noted that Thomson won no less than eight first prizes.23 Some weeks later, on November 2, the association sponsored the first ploughing match, holding it at " Bannockburn." About this event the Victoria Colonist reported:— For the youthful prize the only entrant was Alexander Thompson [sic], whose energy in the performance of his task elicited universal praise. . . . After the conclusion the judges, with the committee, the competitors and others were properly entertained by Mr. Thompson.2* In 1871 Thomson succeeded A. C. Anderson as president of the Saanich Agricultural Association,26 and for several years thereafter the fair was also held at " Bannockburn."26 Thus the Thomsons made their contribution to the growing community life of Saanich. Through it all William Thomson found time to undertake public works farther afield. For example, he contracted for and constructed the dike road across Cowichan flats. Still later he contracted to build a similar dike road in Surrey, south of New Westminster. This was a large undertaking and, when almost complete, was totally destroyed by a freshet. The financial loss entailed, for Thomson received no compensation, was a severe blow, and thereafter he devoted himself to farming to recoup his fortune. The farm prospered, as the following extract from the Victoria Colonist in June, 1887, witnesses:— On Saturday and Monday last many of the farmers on North and South Saanich with their sons, assembled on the farm of Mr. William Thompson [sic], one of the oldest and most respected pioneers of Saanich, to assist in raising a barn, which, when completed will, it is believed, be the largest structure of the kind on the island, the dimensions being 100 feet long, 40 feet wide and 45 feet high. The timber was all cut on the extensive wood forest forming part of the ranch, and was cut and prepared mainly by Mr. Thompson and his son, Mr. Alex. Thompson, who is one of the most able amateur carpenters in the neighborhood. The hay crop on this farm is looking splendidly and bids fair to be very heavy.27 Courage, fortitude, and industry William and Margaret Thomson had in abundance, and full well they knew the meaning of hard physical labour. But withal they were kindly and hospitable; their sense of neighbourliness and of community spirit set the tone for the district that has endured to this day. It is right that their memory should (21) William Thomson et al. to the Officer Administering the Government, July 10, 1869, MS., Archives of B.C. (22) Victoria Colonist, August 4, 1869. (23) Ibid., September 21, 1869. (24) Ibid., November 3, 1869. (25) Ibid., April 7, 1871. (26) Ibid., September 26, 1871; October 4,1871. (27) Ibid., June 17, 1887. 1948 Notes and Comments. 255 be honoured, for down through the years "Bannockburn" has witnessed many gatherings together of old friends. The highest tribute that can and must be paid to the pioneers—to men and women like William and Margaret Thomson—is the assurance that what we build on the foundations they have laid be worthy of their pioneering. Willard E. Ireland. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Victoria Section. The April general meeting of this Section took the form of a joint session with Post No. 1 of the Native Sons of British Columbia and was held in their club-rooms in the Sweeney-McConnell Building on Tuesday evening, April 27. The speaker of the evening was Mr. S. C. Ells, for many years associated with the Canadian Geological Surveys in the Northwest Territories. He chose as his subject Pioneer Days in the Canadian North and delivered a lecture of unusual interest, dealing with the activities of the pioneers in the opening of the North. This included, amongst other items, the reading of excerpts from poems that he had written and published. From his long association with the North, Mr. Ells was able to give a great deal of first-hand information, and the opportunity for ques- • tions was appreciated by the audience. Through the kindness of the Native Sons a social time was enjoyed by the members at the conclusion of the meeting, and the appreciation of all was tendered to the speaker and to the Native Sons by the Chairman, Mr. G. H. Stevens. The ninetieth anniversary of the arrival of the first white woman in Saanich, Margaret Dyer Thomson, was commemorated on Sunday, April 11, jointly by members of the Saanich Pioneer Society and the Victoria Section at a ceremony and reception held at " Bannockburn," the original home-site of 1858, on the slopes of Mount Newton. Mrs. H. S. Hughes, a daughter of William and Margaret Thomson, acted as hostess and welcomed over 150 guests. During the course of the afternoon, Mr. Willard E. Ireland, Provincial Librarian and Archivist, read a paper in tribute to the Thomsons, which is reproduced in this issue. This Section was particularly fortunate to have Mr. Norman Hacking of the staff of the Vancouver Daily Province as its guest speaker at a meeting held in the Provincial Library on Monday, May 17, when he spoke on The Romance of Two Rivers: the Columbia and the Kootenay, an address given previously before the Vancouver Section. In a delightfully informal manner, Mr. Hacking sketched out the terrain of the East Kootenay Valley from Golden to the International Boundary and spoke of its early history, with particular attention to the developments of the later 1880's. The reclamation and land scheme of W. A. Baillie-Grohman, of which the building of a canal between the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers was a most spectacular part, was retold with rare good humour, and the association of Captain Frank Armstrong and his two steamers, the Gwendolen and the J 256 Notes and Comments. July North Star, was the amusing highlight of the address. The vote of appreciation tendered by Dr. E. H. W. Elkington was enthusiastically endorsed by all members present. The June meeting of the Section, held in the Provincial Library, on Wednesday evening, June 16, took the form of a joint session with the Canadian Historical Association and is reported elsewhere in this issue. Vancouver Section. A regular meeting of this Section was held in the Hotel Grosvenor on Tuesday evening, April 13, when Mr. C. W. McBain delivered an interesting address on Vancouver's Early Days. Mr. McBain, the land agent for the Canadian Pacific Railway, had access to many of the company's earlier records, including many letters, maps, and other documents kept by L. A. Hamilton, the first land commissioner. In consequence, many interesting details regarding the railroad company's early activity in Vancouver, as well as the general development of the new city, were recounted for the edification of the audience. CANADIAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. For years it has been the dream of British Columbia historians and others that the various Canadian learned societies should visit this Province. During the late Judge P. W. Howay's presidency of the Royal Society of Canada arrangements were well in hand for sessions of that society, the Canadian Historical and Canadian Political Science Associations, and allied bodies to meet in Vancouver, but the outbreak of the war in September, 1939, made it impracticable to carry through the arrangements. In June of this year, despite the complications resulting from the Fraser River flood, the plan was carried through to a successful conclusion. Sessions of the Royal Society of Canada were held in'Vancouver at the University of British Columbia, June 14 to 16, and in Victoria on June 17. The first general session of the Canadian Historical Association was held in Victoria on Wednesday evening, June 16, in the Provincial Library. Professor F. W. Soward presided over the gathering, which was a joint session with the Victoria Section of the British Columbia Historical Association, and over 125 persons were in attendance. A trilogy of short papers dealing with aspects of British Columbia's historical heritage was presented, which in due course will appear in the Annual Report of the Canadian Historical Association. Dr. Margaret Ormsby, of the Department of History of the University of British Columbia, chose as her subject Canada and the New British Columbia and dealt with the influence of Canadian settlers on the economic, political, and social developments c Province Mr. Willard E . Ireland, Provincial Librarian and Arch ivist, in his paper British Columb ta's American Heritage dealt specifically with the problem of American sentiment, particularly a s it sought expre ssion in nist sentiment. Dr. W. Kaye Lamb, ibrarian of the U iversity of British Columbia, was unfortunately unable ;o attend the sess ons, but his paper , A Bent Twig i n British Columbia, w is read by Professor A. C. 1948 Notes and Comments. 257 Cooke. This dealt with the influence of the older settlers that had come direct from the Mother Country and the continuation of Crown Colony sentiment into the post-Confederation period. At the conclusion of this meeting, members present were given the opportunity to visit the Provincial Archives, where special exhibits displaying many of its priceless treasures had been prepared. A similar opportunity was afforded on Thursday. A meeting of the council of the Canadian Historical Association was held in the Provincial Archives on Thursday, June 17, and also a conference on local history under the chairmanship of Dr. George W. Spragge, of the Department' of Education of Ontario. This latter was a well-attended meeting, with wide geographical representation, and a splendid opportunity was afforded for the mutual exchange of ideas relating to the writing and publication of local historical material. Local hospitality was arranged by a committee headed by Mr. W. C. Mainwaring and included a scenic drive through Victoria and a complimentary banquet on Thursday evening, June 17, in the Empress Hotel, honouring all three learned societies. For British Columbia it was a privilege thus to be able to act as host for these gatherings, and it is the earnest hope that before too many years pass, the stimulus derived from such meetings may once again be enjoyed. CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. any years been engaged in 1 for a considerable period know intimately its opera- Willis J. West, of Vancouver, B.C., has for m business in British Columbia. He was associate of time with B.C. Express Company and came to Patricia M. Johnson, M.A., is a teacher at the Ladner Jun High School, Ladner, B.C. J. W. Eastham, recently retired botanist and plant pathologist of the British Columbia Department of Agriculture, is an authority on the history of botany and botanists in British Columbia. Recently the Provincial Museum published a supplement he had prepared to J. K. Henry's Flora of Southern British Columbia and Vancouver Island. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Organized October 31st, 1922. PATRON., lis Honour Charles A. Banks, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. OFFICERS, 1948. Hon. W. T. Straith .... Honorary President. Willard E. Ireland .... President. George B. White Past President. Margaret Ormsby .... ut Vice-President. G. H. Stevens 2nd Vice-President. Madge Wolfenden - Honorary Secretary. J. K. Nesbitt Honorary Treasurer. MEMBERS OP THE COUNCIL. Helen R. Boutilier. Burt R. Campbell. Muriel R. Cree. John Goodpellow. W. Kaye Lamb. B. A. McKelvie. W. N. Sage. Willard E. Ireland G. H. Stevens L. S. Grant (Editol (Victo (Vam 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. Ordinary members pay a fee of $2 annually in advance. The fiscal year commences on the first day of January. All members in good standing receive the British Columbia Historical Quarterly without further charge. Correspondence and fees may be addressed to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY OCTOBER, 1948 ' We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. EDITOR. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor. 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. The Quarterly is indexed in Faxon's Annual Magazine Subject-Index and the Canadian Index. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Victoria, B.C., October, 1948. CONTENTS. Pa The Development of the Eastern Fraser Valley. By George B. White J Judge Begbie's Shorthand: A Mystery Solved. By Sydney G. Pettit i McCreight and the Church. By Patricia M. Johnson __ i Notes and Comments: George M. Wrong: 1860-1948. By W. N. Sage I British Columbia Historical Association i New Dominion Archivist i Contributors to this Issue _____ i The Northwest Bookshelf: Harvey: Douglas of the Fir, a Biography of David Douglas, Botanist. By J. W. Eastham '< Minutes of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1679-1684- Second Part, 1682-1684- By George F. G. Stanley Papers read before the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba. Series III, No. 3. By Willard E. Ireland > Mclnnis: Canada, A Political and Social History. By F. W. Soward ■ ; Winther: The Great North West, A History. By W. N. Sage k THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EASTERN FRASER VALLEY.* There are few regions more bountifully endowed by nature than that known as the Lower Fraser Valley. In general terms, it stretches from the mouth of the river eastward to a natural constriction, where lies the town of Hope. This valley is approximately 90 miles in length and varies in width from 10 miles to 25 miles. On the north side of the river the mountains hem in the valley closely; on the south they extend only as far west as Sumas Prairie. Here is an area of about 750,000 acres, most of which is richly fertile and suitable for mixed farming. The terrain consists of two different types—the highlands and the lowlands. The former, which comprise lands up to 500 feet in elevation, are glacial in origin, somewhat irregular in topography, and were originally clothed with a magnificent forest of conifers and deciduous softwoods. The lowlands are alluvial in origin, the rich product of countless ages in the history of the mighty Fraser River. The climate of the valley is as equitable as can be found in the temperate zones, seldom going above 90° in the summer or below zero in the winter. The rainfall averages about 40 inches a year at the mouth of the river, Steveston, and increases to about 60 inches at Hope. Despite these physical advantages, it is not to be supposed that nature was so beneficent as not to test thoroughly the mettle of those rugged pioneers who laid the foundations of new settlements about eighty-five years ago. The most valuable agricultural land, nowhere much above high-water level, was subject to annual flooding during the freshet season. During the years of greatest floodings, in 1894 and 1936, farmers suffered serious losses. Continuous and costly efforts have had to be made to confine the river by dykes. Even at the present time it is not possible tc say ths t all danger of flooding has b een entirelj over- * The pr esidentia address delivered at the annual meeting of t e Brit- ish Columbi a Histori cal Association, held in Victoria, n January 1 5, 1948. 259 i 1 260 George B. White. October come.1 The higher lands, less richly fertile, required herculean and costly efforts to clear of forest-growth. And all settlers faced, during the summer-time, a common enemy—the pestiferous mosquitoes. They were the result of the annual flooding of the lowlands, and, to say the very least, a nuisance which tried the souls even of the stoutest. However, with the elimination of the problem of flooding came the gradual mitigation of the minor problem of the mosquito. That portion of the valley lying east of New Westminster is the area to be considered in this article.2 Here, as in the whole valley, there has been a noteworthy and steady development. This has mainly taken place since the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. For this reason, and because the earlier history of the valley is better known, the progress that has taken place in the last sixty years will be emphasized. A brief glance at the early history is necessary, however, in order to give continuity to the story of progress. Prior to the coming of the white man in 1808 the Fraser Valley was inhabited by numerous tribes of Indians belonging to the Cowichan group of the Salish linguistic stock. The most powerful of these tribes was the Kwantlen, whose chief village was situated where the city of New Westminster now stands. Their territory lay between the North Arm of the river and Nicomen Island, their neighbours being the Musqueams of the delta area and the Hatzics to the east. The life of these early inhabitants must have been rudely simple, but comparatively care-free. Salmon and wild berries provided them with food, and animals and the bark of the cedar provided them with articles of clothing. In the main, too, these people were peaceably disposed, but they suffered from frequent raids by the more savage and war-like Yucultas of Seymour Narrows.8 (1) This account was prepared many months before the disastrous floods of late May and early June, 1948. For a well-illustrated account of this event, see Nature's Fury, the inside story of the disastrous British Columbia floods of 1948, Vancouver, 1948. (2) A detailed history of a portion of the valley lying on the north bank of the Fraser River is to be found in J. J. Woods' History and Development of the Agassiz-Harrison Valley [Agassiz, 1941]. (3) For a recent account of Indian activity in the valley, see B. A. McKelvie, Fort Langley, Outpost of Empire [Montreal], 1947, passim. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 261 Such was the condition of the Indians when the first-known party of white men, led by the intrepid Simon Fraser, came into contact with them in July, 1808. Fraser had successfully overcome the dangers and hardships of the descent of the river which now bears his name. He had reached the mouth of the North Arm of the river, and having taken his bearings had proved, to his disappointment, that this river was not the legendary Columbia.4 The hostility of the natives was such that Fraser deemed it wise to retrace his steps with all possible speed. He had little opportunity to explore the possibilities of the valley, even from the view-point of a fur-trader. It was to be nearly two decades before a permanent settlement was made in the valley. In 1821 the rivalry between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Nor'-Westers was brought to an end by amalgamation of the two companies. Pursuing a vigorous policy of expansion in an effort to control the fur trade of the Pacific slope, the new company sent a party under James MacMillan to establish a post about 35 miles from the mouth of the river. Thus Fort Langley in 1827 became the first permanent white settlement in the valley. During the first few years the fur trade was profitable, but the officers of the company utilized other available resources to increase returns to the company. Salmon was salted and cured, not only to be used as an additional article of food by the employees of the company, but also for export trade. The agricultural possibilities of the soil did not fail to attract attention, and it was not long before several patches of land near the fort were producing enough foodstuffs to supply the needs of the small community.6 (4) "This river is therefore not the Columbia! If I had been convinced of this when I left my canoes, I would certainly have returned." Simon Fraser, "Journal of a voyage from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, 1808," in L. R. Masson, Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest (premiere serie), Quebec, 1889, p. 203. Fraser's sojourn in the valley, from June 30 to July 6, 1808, as recorded in his Journal appears in ibid., pp. 196-207. (5) R. L. Reid, " Early Days at Old Fort Langley: Economic Begin- • nings in British Columbia," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, I (1937), pp. 71-85; and R. L. Reid (ed.), "Fort Langley Correspondence," ibid., I (1937), pp. 187-194. 262 George B. White. October After 1839 there was a considerable increase in agricultural products at Fort Langley, owing to. the fact that the company was paying rental for the lease of the Alaskan "pan-handle" by means of farm produce. The company's farm on Langley Prairie, comprising at one time some 2,200 acres,6 was famous throughout the valley. After the termination of the lease in 1877, with trade decreasing and settlement increasing, the policy of the company was, perforce, changed to meet the new conditions. In 1878 this farm was subdivided into parcels of land of varying acreage and sold at auction. For political reasons the Hudson's Bay Company in 1843 had transferred its headquarters from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia to Fort Victoria. As a result of the settlement of the Oregon Boundary dispute, the company was forced to find a new trade route between the Interior forts and Victoria. An overland route to Kamloops was found; Fort Yale was built in 1848 and Fort Hope a year later.7 Fort Langley then became merely a point for transhipment of supplies. From this time on the importance of the historic fort began to wane, although the first few months of 1858 saw a feverish, albeit a brief, renewal of activity. But the period which seems, in retrospect, to be the most romantic—the day when the fur-trader was king—was indeed passing. In 1856 gold was discovered in the gravelly bars of the Fraser River and its tributaries. The news spread like wild-fire, and early in 1858 thousands of eager miners, many of whom had earlier flocked to California, were making their way up the Fraser River.8 Fort Langley at first was the head of navigation for steamers, but in June, 1858, the American steamer Surprise succeeded, with the aid of an Indian pilot, in reaching Fort (6) P. W. Laing, " Hudson's Bay Company Lands on the Mainland of British Columbia, 1858-1861," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, III (1939), p. 91. (7) F. W. Howay, " The raison d'etre of Ports Yale and Hope," Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, third series, XVI (1922), section ii, pp. 49-64. (8) See F. W. Howay, The Early History of the Fraser River Mines (B.C. Archives Memoir No. VI), Victoria, 1926, passim. 1948 DEVELOPMENT OP EASTERN FRASER VALLEY. 263 Hope.9 It meant the beginning of the end for Fort Langley. For many years the fort was reduced to the status of a small general store, but even that was ended before the close of the last century. During the gold-rush James Douglas, a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company as well as Governor of Vancouver Island, took immediate steps to cope with the situation created by the arrival of the throng of gold-mad miners. He wished to establish law and order, as well as to safeguard the interests of his company. The Imperial Government, made aware of events, moved with unwonted promptness. Some of Douglas' actions were declared ultra vires, and on August 2, 1858, an Act was passed creating the Crown Colony of British Columbia. On November 19 of the same year, in an historic ceremony at old Fort Langley, James Douglas was installed as Governor of the newly created colony. At the same time the trading privileges of the Hudson's Bay Company were formally revoked. Upon the request of Governor Douglas for a military force to maintain order in the mining camps, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, British Colonial Secretary, wisely sent out a special detachment of Royal Engineers. The advance guard of this force reached the coast in time to take part in the installation of Governor Douglas. The commander, Colonel R. C. Moody, arrived at Victoria on December 25,1858, bearing credentials as Commissioner of Lands and Works in the new colony. The Governor had intimated that in all probability old Fort Langley, or Derby, as it was called, would be the capital of the new colony; Colonel Moody promptly overruled that choice and selected the present site of New Westminster as more suitable. The disbanding of the Royal Engineers took place in 1863 after they had assisted in the building of the famous Cariboo Road and in other important public works.10 Most of the rank and file of the Engineers had already felt the lure of the new colony; many took up land near New Westminster and became honoured pioneers in the country of their adoption. (9) Norman Hacking, " Steamboat 'Round the Bend," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, VIII (1944), pp. 259-262, (10) F. W. Howay, The Work of the Royal Engineers in British Columbia, 1858 to 1863, Victoria, 1910, passim. 264 George B. White. October Among the thousands of adventurers, eagerly searching for fortune on the bars of the Fraser, were many sturdy sons of the farms and towns of Eastern Canada and the United States. As they made their way up the valley they could not have failed to notice the agricultural possibilities of the lush meadows and sloping hillsides that stretched on either side of the river. When the gold fever had abated somewhat, many of these men, disappointed in their quest for immediate wealth, chose a less spectacular method by cultivating the soil or by supplying merchandise to those who still sought for gold. The Chilliwack and Sumas Valleys attracted several in 1862 and 1863, and it was there, with the exception of the Hudson's Bay Company's farm ' at Fort Langley, that the first attempts at systematic farming in the Fraser Valley were made.11 Fruit, vegetables, grain, and hay were grown in abundance, and with the introduction of cattle the dairy products of the valley began to establish their present-day reputation. During the decade following the inception of the Crown Colony of British Columbia, other settlements in the valley were begun at Mud Bay in Surrey, at Mission, at Maple Ridge, at Pitt Meadows, and on Nicomen Island. At the time of British Columbia's entry into Confederation the population of the valley was estimated at 4,000.12 In April, 1872, the newly elected Legislature of the Province passed the Municipality Act and one year later, on April 26,1873, Chilliwack and Langley Municipalities were incorporated,13 the first rural municipalities in British Columbia. These were followed by Maple Ridge on September 12, 1874,14 and Surrey, Delta, and Richmond on November 10, 1879.15 Only these six municipalities were incorporated previous to the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Thus, by the year 1885, there were several small but vigorous settlements, most of which Were naturally near the river.' (11) E. 0. S. Scholefield and F. W. Howay, British Columbia from the Earliest Times to the Present, Vancouver, 1914, Vol. II, p. 592. (12) John E. Gibbard, The Early History of the Fraser Valley, 1808- 1885 (M.A. thesis at the University of British Columbia), p. 218. (13) British Columbia Gazette, April 26, 1873, pp. 2-6. Chilliwack Municipality is spelled " Chilliwhack." (14) Ibid., September 12, 1874, pp. 199-201. (15) Ibid., November 10, 1879, pp. 385-398. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 265 Gradually also had been established the concomitants of Anglo- Saxon civilization. Boards of local government were instituted, churches and schools were built, and roads and bridges were constructed. Pioneer merchants had established small general stores, and usually undertook as well the duties of postmaster. Some industrial development had also taken place to exploit the marvellous natural resources. Salmon-canneries at several points on the river gathered in the rich annual harvest of the sea. Small sawmills and grist-mills catered to local needs. But the completion of the long-awaited transcontinental railway in- • augurated a new era of growth in population and in industrial activity. Since 1885 the progress of the Fraser Valley has been remarkably steady and consistent. TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. There is no- doubt that the comparatively rapid settlement of the Fraser Valley has been due to the fact that modern means of transportation have been available during the last sixty years. Few regions have been better served. The river-steamer, the railway, ferries, bridges, the electric tram, the automobile, and paved highway have all played their parts in this settlement. To-day no section of the valley is more than two and one-half hours away from the coast cities, and residents think nothing of taking in a special musical or sporting event in Vancouver during the evening. Waterways, of course, offer the easiest means of travel in a new country, and here was a river navigable throughout the length of the valley by the modern river-steamer. Although sea-going ships had come up the river to Fort Langley when it was a Hudson's Bay post, the real era of the river-steamer dates from the time of the gold-rush. During that time, as well as during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, many a steamer churned her way up the muddy Fraser.16 The completion of the railway, though an advantage to the settlements on the north side, did not by any means displace the steamer. (16) See Norman Hacking," Steamboating on the Fraser in the 'Sixties," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, X (1946), pp. 1-41; and by the same author, " British Columbia Steamboat Days, 1870-1883," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, XI (1947), pp. 69-111. 266 George B. White. October For many years there was enough business for two or three steamers, and this continued until the completion of the Fraser Valley line of the British Columbia Electric Railway in 1910. Passenger traffic on the steamers practically ceased from that date, but for several years after there was enough freight for one boat. The typical river-steamer was a sternwheeler, 100 or more feet in length, 20 to 35 feet in beam, of shallow draught and capable of a speed of about 12 knots. When conditions were stabilized, the regular run was from New Westminster to Chilliwack, going up one day and returning the next. The up-river run took about nine hours, but the return trip was usually at least two hours less. There were some thirty regular ports of call on the route, many of them with wharf accommodation. Such accommodation, however, was not a necessity. Wherever a white flag was flying, the boat would make a call. Service was a prime consideration, and nothing in the way of freight was too large or too small. A call would be made for a can of milk or a crate of eggs as readily as for a ton of hay or shipment of live stock. The crew of a dozen or more husky deck-hands would soon get freight or passengers from shore to boat. For the passengers the tedium of the journey was always relieved by watching this transfer of freight, particularly if it happened to be a refractory animal. Although Indians and half-breeds were mainly used as deck-hands in those days, any husky young fellow could get work on the river-steamers if he so wished.17 The first decade of the present century was the hey-day of the sternwheeler. The Canadian Pacific Railway, having in January, 1901, bought out the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, was then operating the Beaver, namesake of the Hudson's Bay Company's famous steamer. This boat was undoubtedly the finest of a long line of river-boats. Built in 1898 at Victoria by the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, she was 140 feet in length, 28 feet in beam, and 5.1 feet in depth, and of 545 gross tonnage,18 and could make 14 knots. In contrast to the usual (17) Information supplied to the author in an interview with W. H. Nesbitt, a former purser on the river-boats. (18) Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1900, London, 1900, p. 35. She was powered by 13-horse-power engines. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 267 river-steamer, she had a steel hull and was, in fact, the first steel ship to be built in British Columbia. She was originally intended for the Stikine River, but instead was placed on the Fraser for • the run to Chilliwack under the command of Captain George Odin. In 1903 she was commanded by Captain F. W. Reid, with W. H. Nesbitt, purser, and Fred. Mcintosh, steward.19 Her most serious competitor was the Ramona, which had been built in 1896 at Portland and brought to the Fraser by Captain Richard Baker for the Lower Fraser River Navigation Company to replace one of the three vessels lost in the disastrous New Westminster fire of 1898.20 She was the largest sternwheeler to operate on the Fraser, being 178 feet in length, 25 feet beam, and 4.4 feet in depth.21 On April 17,1901, she was destroyed by fire at Fort Langley when her boiler exploded, killing four people.22 Subsequently her hull was purchased by a group of New Westminster merchants who had organized the Western Steamboat Company23 and she was rebuilt and put under the command of Captain Hollis Young.24 On April 21,1909, she foundered oppo- (19) New Westminster Supplement to the Daily and Weekly British Columbian, December, 1903, p. 5. She was described as " one of the best of the kind on the Coast." Subsequently, in 1919, she was sold to the Provincial Government and extensively refitted to operate as a ferry between Ladner and Woodward's Landing. The Transfer, owned by the same company, operated on the run from New Westminster to Ladner and Steveston. She had been built in 1893 by Alexander Watson at Victoria and was 122 feet in length, 24.5 feet in beam, and 5.6 feet in depth, powered with 18- horse-power engines and of 264 gross tonnage. [Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1900, p. 352.] In 1909 she w (20) New Westminster Supplement Columbian, December, 1903, p. 5. (21) Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1900, p. 292. Her gross tonnage was 251 and she was powered with 9-horse-power engines. (22) New Westminster British Columbian, April 17 and 18, 1901. (23) The promoters were T. J. Trapp, president; R. Whitmore, manager and secretary; F. J. Hart, T. S. Annandale, L. A. Lewis, and J. A. Cunningham, directors. Ibid., April 22, 1909. (24) At that time Charles Tait was purser and Frank Latta, steward. See New Westminster Supplement to the Daily and Weekly British Columbian, December, 1903. If this newspaper account is correct, evidently she had been reconstructed on a smaller scale, for her dimensions were given as length, 130 feet; breadth, 23 feet. 268 George B. White. October site Port Haney.25 Her place was taken by the Paystreak, built at New Westminster in 1909 for the Royal City Navigation Company.26 Other vessels on the river at this time included the Royal City?1 Favorite,2' Hamlin,M Mona,z<> and Defender.'1 In 1904 river service was described as follows:— The steamer Transfer runs from New Westminster to Ladner and Steveston, and connects the other places of call along the river. Daily service is kept up each way, winter and summer. On the upper river there are four steamers. The Beaver, which, like the Transfer, is owned and operated by the C.P.R., is run to Chilliwack, alternating with the steamer Ramona, owned by a local company. These steamers, too, give the river valley settlers a regular service all the year round, being seldom interrupted, and that only for a few days in midwinter occasionally by ice, which sometimes jams in the river. The steamers Favorite and Defender are run from New Westminster up the river to Mt. Lehman, Mission and other points. Once a year the (25) New Westminster British Columbian, April 22, 1909. (26) According to the Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1911, p. 399, she was 126.5 feet in length, 26.4 feet in breadth, and 4.6 feet in depth; of 382 gross tonnage and powered with 10-horse-power engii In 1917 she was dismantled. (27) This vessel was built at Langley in 1898 for William West. 1 dimensions were: Length, 99.1 feet; breadth, 17.7 feet; and depth, 4.6 feet. Her gross tonnage was 200 and her engines were rated at 10 horse-power. [Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1900, p. 306.] She was burned at the wharf at Mission on April 10, 1901. [New Westminster British Columbian, April 10, 1901.] (28) The Favorite was screw-propelled, with engines of 9 horse-power. She was 100 feet in length, 20 feet in breadth, and 3.8 feet in depth, and was built in 1901 at New Westminster for George C. Harvey, who acted as her mate and purser. [Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1903, p. 140.] For a time she was commanded by Captain Charles E. Seymour. (29) This vessel was built in Vancouver in 1898 for the Canadian Pacific Railway. She was of 515 gross tonnage and powered with 17-horse-power engines, being 146.2 feet in length, 30.8 feet in breadth, and 4.6 feet in depth. [Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1900, p. 166.] For a time she was commanded by Captain John H. Bowser. (30) No details are available on this vessel; evidently she was brought from the Stikine by Captain John H. Bowser and operated on the Fraser in 1903. (31) Built in 1901 at Langley for- Henry West, she was of the following dimensions: Length, 85 feet; breadth, 16.5 feet; depth, 4 feet; gross tonnage, 216; engines, 13 horse-power. [Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1902, p. 99.] 1948 Development of Eastern Fraser Valley. 269 steamer Beaver makes a trip up Harrison river and lake with supplies to Fort Douglas, the Hudsons Bay post at the head of Harrison lake.32 The last of a long line of sternwheelers was the Skeena. Built in 1908 at a cost of over $40,000 for use on the Skeena River during the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway,33 she was brought down from the North in 1912 and for some years ran up the North Arm of Burrard Inlet. In 1914 she was transferred to the Fraser and operated for many years by Captain Charles E. Seymour, with W. H. Nesbitt as purser, both well-known figures on the river. Her regular schedule was to Ladner and return on Monday, to Chilliwack on Tuesday, returning Thursday, and to Mission and return on Friday. On Captain Seymour's death the Skeena was tied up at a New Westminster wharf for some months, despite the futile efforts of the Board of Trade of that city to put her again into operation. Eventually she was bought for a song by Ewen's Cannery, dismantled, tied up to the wharf, and used as a bunkhouse for the cannery employees.34 Later still, without superstructure, her hull was used as a barge by one of the oil companies. Thus passed from the scene, in rather ignoble fashion, the last of the river-steamers, making way for a speedier means of transportation. Nevertheless, the pioneer residents of the valley viewed the passing with a measure of regret. For them the daily arrival and departure of the steamer was a social event of some importance, a brief contact with the outside world, which satisfied in some measure the gregarious instincts of those who live in lonely places. For over half a century these boats, their officers and crew, had provided a reasonably efficient means of transportation. In times of special stress, as in the floods of 1894, they had done a magnificent work in rescuing settlers and their live stock. It is not too much to say that the ubiquitous sternwheeler rendered exceptional service to the Fraser Valley. (32) New Westminster Supplement to the Daily and Weekly Columbian, December, 1904, p. 13. (33) According to the Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1910, p. 469, her owner was John W. Stewart and her dimensions: Length, 121.2 feet; breadth, 26.8 feet; depth, 5.6 feet; gross tonnage, 515; and engines, 8 horse-power. Captain Seymour was her owner from 1914 onward. (34) Vancouver Morning Star, December 17, 1928. 270 George B. White. October Bisected as it is by a great river, the valley needed some means of communication between its north and south shores. In the early days a bridge was out of the question because of the cost; therefore, ferries were operated as the most useful substitute. The first of these, which bore the cryptic name K de K, was operated between New Westminster and Brownsville, just west of the present bridge. It afforded connection with the Yale Road, built in 1875, but the service was most unsatisfactory.35 A new ferry, the Surrey, was built by the City of New Westminster at a cost of $25,000. She was launched on December 11, 1890,36 and made her first run on February 19, 1891.87 This ferry gave reasonably satisfactory service until the new bridge was completed in 1904.38 Another ferry was maintained at Mission for many years. Still another link, between Chilliwack Landing and Harrison Mills, was originally operated in fulfilment of a contract to carry mail across the river to the Canadian Pacific Railroad. This service was instituted by J. T. Harrison in 1887 and from 1900 to 1910 was well patronized, as many preferred the train to the slower river-steamer. The completion of the British Columbia Electric Railway to Chilliwack, however, (35) " Formerly the ferry—a mere apology for such—ran at a diagonal, lengthy route across and up river, and had such poor accommodation in the way of landings that it was too much of a risk to attempt to put horses and vehicles on the boat and it was seldom attempted." New Westminster British Columbian, March 14, 1891. The K de K, named after J. S. Knevett de Knevett, a Belgian gentleman with large interests in New Westminster, began operation about 1883, although according to a pioneer, James Johnson, as early as 1873 Thomas Penney had operated a small steamboat with a scow. Fares charged were heavy: 25 cents single fare for an individual; 50 cents single for an individual with horse and saddle; wagon and team single, $1.75; return, $2. Ordinarily the trip took only ten minutes. Memorandum from James Johnson to. R. E. Gosnell, MS., Archives of B.C. See also Vancouver Daily Province, March 25, 1948. (36) Victoria Colonist, December 12,1890. (37) New Westminster British Columbian, February 19, 1891. (38) In 1903 the Surrey was commanded by Captain R. Purdy, with John Power as purser and James Grier as engineer. " The Surrey is unique also as being the only fire boat in British Columbia, and her crew are firemen as soon as an alarm is turned in." New Westminster Supplement to the Daily and Weekly British Columbian, December, 1903, p. 6. 1948 DEVELOPMENT OP EASTERN FRASER VALLEY. 271 practically put an end to the run.39 Further up-river the Rose- dale-Agassiz ferry has been in continuous operation since 1901.40 The popularity of Harrison Hot Springs as a health resort will ensure the retention of this service, unless the Government accedes to the present-day agitation for a bridge at that point. For some localities ferries may continue to serve as a link between the north and south shores in the future, just as they have in the past. The need for a bridge at New Westminster was recognized for nearly a generation before the plan was brought to completion. The local press of that period reflected the demands for the bridge, many cogent reasons being given for its erection.41 Nearly every year some new scheme was put forward or an old one revived, but invariably the negotiations were wrecked on the rock of financial responsibility. About the beginning of the century the Provincial Government recognized the project as a necessary public utility, but hoped to get some assistance from Ottawa. The most the Federal Government would do, however, was to promise to subsidize any private company that would undertake the work.42 Popular sentiment was strongly in favour of construction as a public work, and as such it was finally undertaken by the Dunsmuir government, the necessary financing being taken care of by a loan. It is true that a highly popular Royal City native son, the Honourable Richard McBride, (39) Operators of this ferry were: 1887 to April, 1891, J. T. Harrison; 1891-1899, William MacDonald; 1899 to March, 1901, J. P. Harrison; 1901- 1908, J. F. Harrison and Captain R. C. Menten; 1908 onward, Chilliwack Ferry Service (J. T. Henley and associates). Captain Menten used the Minto on this run; later the J. P. Douglas was used until she was burned in January, 1909, and then the Vedder was in operation until September, 1911; thereafter a gasboat was used until 1917. See J. J. Woods, op. cit, p. 60. (40) This service was started by Messrs. J. and M. Vallance and W. McGrath. In 1907 it was taken over by Noble Ryder and Charles Gill, and they obtained a Provincial Government subsidy for two trips daily. Prom 1922-1932 the Government took over complete operation, and since then have given five-year contracts with subsidy, and Captain J. T. Henley has been in charge. Ibid., pp. 59-60. (41) New Westminster British Columbian, December 24,1895. (42) E. O. S. Scholefield and R. E. Gosnell, British Columbia: Sixty Years of Progress, Vancouver and Victoria, 1913, part ii, p. 168. 272 George B. White. October was a valuable friend at court, and it was very fitting that he was the head of the Government that completed the project. Nevertheless, the undertaking had the unanimous endorsement of the members of the Legislature.48 The same could hardly be said of the present Pattullo Bridge. The Dunsmuir government wisely decided to spare no expense in the construction of the bridge, which was to be a combined railway and vehicular traffic structure of masonry and steel. One of the most eminent bridge engineers of the continent, J. A. L. Waddell, a Canadian by birth, but a resident of Kansas City, Missouri, was engaged to design and supervise its construction. The contract for the substructure was awarded to the firm of Armstrong, Morrison & Balfour, of Vancouver, while that for the superstructure went to the Dominion Bridge Company. Construction was commenced in August, 1902, but the substructure was not completed for more than a year, for the depth of the water on the north side presented an unexpectedly difficult engineering problem in the building of the piers. This was solved by the use of caissons of timber which were filled with cement and sunk for nearly 40 feet into the river silt. Masonry was then built on top of the cement. The five piers in the shallower water of the south side rest on cedar piles driven 100 feet into the river-bed. With the completion of this work, the superstructure was rapidly erected. The steel was fabricated in Lachine, Quebec, and brought to the south bank of the river on the tracks of the Great Northern Railway, the first shipment arriving in June, 1903. In March, 1904, the Y-span at the north end of the bridge was placed in position and the work was virtually complete. The total cost was over $1,000,000, but at the time it was considered one of the finest bridges on the continent. The central swing span of 361 feet, speedily operated by electricity, allowed passage for large boats. The roadway, including the approaches, was 2,850 feet long and 16 feet wide, a width which was considered " ample to accommodate general traffic."44 On July 23, 1904, with appropriate ceremonies, the bridge was formally opened by the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir (43) New Westminster Supplement to the Daily and Weekly British Columbian, December, 1903. (44) Ibid. 1948 DEVELOPMENT OP EASTERN FRASER VALLEY. 273 Henri Joly de Lotbiniere. One of the features of that opening was a long procession of river-steamers and tugs through the open span. Each vessel, loaded with passengers, saluted the bridge, as it passed through, with a long blast of the whistle.46 Benefits of the long-awaited structure were immediately apparent. The Great Northern Railway, which had maintained a terminus at South Westminster, now had access to the cities of New Westminster and Vancouver. For this privilege the company pays an annual rental of $20,000.46 By 1910 the British Columbia Electric Railway also made use of the bridge for its Fraser Valley line, and within a few years the Canadian Northern trains were using the bridge and the Great Northern's right- of-way into Vancouver. The railways continue to use the old bridge. The growth of population and traffic have fully justified the erection of the bridge, but few would have been so rash as to foretell the need for another bridge within thirty years. The increase in automobile traffic was a totally unexpected development. A 16-foot roadway was barely wide enough to permit the passage of two big trucks or buses. On holidays the traffic-jam proved that the old bridge was no longer adequate. The Pattullo government accordingly proposed a new bridge for vehicular traffic only. Although a great deal of acrimonious discussion arose among laymen and professional engineers as to the wisdom or necessity of building a new bridge, the Government proceeded with its plan and tenders were opened on June 10, 1935. In a little more than two years, on November 15, 1937, the present magnificent four-lane bridge was open for traffic.47 This structure, immediately west of the original one, cost $3,500,000 and makes it predecessor look antiquated and ugly. There are few to-day who still maintain that the new bridge was not necessary. Tolls were removed from the first bridge within six years48 and, needless to say, Premier McBride had popular approval for this act. What plans the Government has in that respect as far as the Pattullo Bridge is concerned remains yet (45) New Westminster British Columbian, July 23, 1904. (46) Scholefield and Howay, op. cit, Vol. II, p. 529. (47) Vancouver Daily Province, November 15, 1937. (48) New Westminster British Columbian, April 1, 1910. 274 George B. White. October to be disclosed, although it is only fair to say that the present tolls are not excessive. There has been a bridge across the Fraser at Mission since 1891.49 It was erected by the Canadian Pacific Railway primarily as a railway bridge to connect a branch line with the Great Northern at Abbotsford. Two wooden bridges preceded the present steel one. In 1927, after many demands by residents of the district, this bridge was planked and opened for vehicular traffic. In recent years railroad needs in that area have decreased considerably, and consequently the bridge has increasingly been used as an alternative route across the river for automobile traffic. A railway or an electric-tram line on the south side of the river first began to materialize with the proposal of the British Columbia Electric Railway. After preliminary surveys to determine the best route, this project was commenced on August 26, 1907,60 and was in operation as far as Cloverdale within a few months. The last section from Abbotsford to Chilliwack was delayed for many months because the route hinged on the much-mooted Sumas reclamation scheme. However, this section of the line was completed in due course, and on October 3,1910, the inaugural train of three gaily decorated coaches left New Westminster at 10 a.m. A large party of notables, headed by the Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas W. Paterson, and Premier McBride, was welcomed all along the line. The gaiety of the occasion was not even marred by the fact that for the last part of the journey one of the company's steam locomotives which had been used in construction-work had to be requisitioned as motive power. An electrical storm the previous evening had caused a large tree to fall across the power-lines at Sumas Mountain. Chilliwack residents, led by a brass band, turned out en masse to greet with wild acclaim the somewhat delayed arrival. The Premier of the Province performed truly and well (49) " Quite a large number of Vancouverites were down at the Canadian Pacific depot this morning to witness the departure of the first regular through train to Whatcom by way of the Mission-Sumas branch and the Bellingham Bay road. . . . Assistant Supt. Downie of the C.P.R. also went over and there were 40 passengers beside. The train consisted of three coaches and a baggage car." Vancouver World, June 22, 1891. (50) New Westminster British Columbian, August 26, 1907. 1948 Development of Eastern Fraser Valley. 275 I the customary ceremony of driving the last spike.61 For the I little city at the eastern terminus of one of the longest electrical interurban lines in the world, it was hailed as " the greatest day in the history of Chilliwack."62 Within a year a daily schedule of three passenger-trains each way, in addition to the " milk train," was put into effect. One thousand passengers daily were frequently transported.63 For nearly two decades this interurban line was probably the most important factor in the transportation facilities of the valley. But with the improvement in automotive transportation and in the construction of highways came the greatest competition to railways. Just as the river-steamer was superseded by the electric railway, the latter in turn suffered eclipse because of the automobile. The " march of time " has relegated the railway to the background in the present system of transportation. The valley's transportation facilities profited to some extent also as a result of the orgy of railway-building induced by the general spirit of optimism during the first decade of this century. Even before the long-deferred hopes of the valley residents had been consummated in the completion of the British Columbia Electric Railway, Mr. Donald Mann, later Sir Donald, had announced that the Canadian Northern Railway would be in operation within a year.64 The site for the new terminus was to be Port Mann, on the south bank of the river about 2 miles east of New Westminster. A contract for clearing a 2,000-acre townsite was let, and lots were soon selling at boom prices. Extravagant claims were made as to the ultimate importance of this " Liverpool of the Pacific.'' Strangely enough, even a Vancouver newspaper prophesied that it was " soon to become a serious rival to the growth of Vancouver."66 Those dreams were never even remotely realized. The logical decision to extend the railway to tide-water at Vancouver would have caused the collapse of the original plans, even if the pre-war depression had not. However, the consolidation of the line as part of the Cana- (51) Ibid., October 3, 1910. (52) Chilliwack Progress, October 5, 1910. (53) New Westminster British Columbian, June 1,1911. (64) Ibid., June 13, 1910. (55) Vancouver World, Industrial Supplement, September 21, 1910. 276 George B. White. October dian National Railways has given a regular service to some of the older settlements on the river. Being a transcontinental railway, it has not had to depend on local traffic as had the British Columbia Electric Railway, but both suffered from the competition of motor buses and trucks. It would not be an extravagant claim to say that the automobile has revolutionized the economic, the educational, and even the social life of the residents of the valley. In the early days it was probably an all-day task for the farmer to take a load of grain, hay, or fruit to a river-landing for the steamer. The railways improved conditions greatly, but to-day huge trucks ensure that quick delivery of farm products which is so advantageous to consumer and producer alike. The increase in the number of automobiles in British Columbia since 1907, the first year of registration, has been incredible. It has jumped from 175 in that year to well over 100,000 to-day.66 A conservative estimate would give about 60 per cent, of this number to the towns and cities of the Lower Mainland. The number of trucks and buses has shown a similar increase. There does not appear to be any serious rival to the dominant position such vehicles now hold in the field of transportation. Keeping pace, perforce, with the improvement of the automobile has been the improvement of highways. To-day the valley is served by splendid primary highways—the Lougheed Highway on the north side and the Trans-Provincial and Pacific Highways on the south side. There are also several important "feeders" or secondary highways, as well as hundreds of miles of gravelled roads. - It was not always thus. The pioneers did little systematic road building or planning. Roads were often evolved by the dumping of gravel on old foot or pack trails and consequently seldom followed the best or shortest routes. Financial arrangements, too, were very haphazard. In each electoral district funds were allocated to a superintendent of road-building, who depended on resident settlers for necessary work.67 During the 1890's the valley newspapers complained with a great deal of (56) Canada Year Book, 1946, p. 663. (57) Province of British Columbia, Manual of Provincial Information; Victoria, 1930, p. 204. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 277 asperity about the condition even of the Yale Road during the winter months. The British Columbian characterized certain stretches of it across Langley Prairie as " an impassable ditch ... an example of sheer neglect."68 Only real pioneers could adequately describe the condition in winter months of the " feeder " roads. About 1908, however, owing to the use of automobiles, the Department of Public Works began a systematic construction of trunk roads suitable for motor traffic. The Province was then in a prosperous state—the McBride Government had actually produced a surplus for several years in succession. It was during this period of prosperity that more work was done than ever before. During the First World War a policy of retrenchment prevented any extension of the programme, despite the rapid increase in motor traffic. Most of the improvements noted to-day have been effected since 1924. The Trans-Provincial Highway, following mainly the old Yale Road of pioneer days, the Lougheed Highway, and the King George VI Highway to Blaine have been relocated in places, widened, and resurfaced, so that to-day they conform to standards required for modern traffic. A commentary on the conditions of yesteryear is contained in an item from the Chilliwack Progress of November 2,1910, under the caption " Fast Motor Driving." H. Hooper, of Vancouver, who has been in the valley the past week'or ten days demonstrating to prospective buyers the splendid qualities of the Hupmobile, made a record trip from this city to Abbotsford yesterday. With S. Pugh they made the trip in 2 hours and 10 minutes. The time is authentic, it being telephoned back to Chilliwack upon their arrival at Abbotsford. The trip is a most remarkable one considering the state of the roads and it is a practical tribute to the qualities of the Hupmobile as a utility car. Across the Sumas prairie, in places, the axle of the car dragged through the mud and water. Dr. Swift, of Abbotsford, came back with Mr. Hooper today and the same good time that was made yesterday was repeated today.69 Such a trip could easily be made to-day in less than half an hour! AGRICULTURE. The agricultural possibilities of the Fraser Valley first attracted permanent settlers there. It has been the increasing 278 George B. White. October development of those possibilities which has laid the foundation for the prosperity of the valley. An equable climate and fertile soil provided the initial advantages, of which the pioneers were not slow to take advantage. The growth of two cities at the front door of the valley ensured a good market for the sale of their produce, but wider markets have been by no means neglected. The major problem that many valley farmers have had to face was the annual freshet season. Both the date and the maximum height of the freshet have always been uncertain, being dependent on weather conditions in the upper reaches of the river during the spring months. There were several low- lying sections of the valley that were always subject to flooding. The first of these from the eastern end of the valley was the Agassiz flats, an area of nearly 5,500 acres. The next point of danger was at Chilliwack, where nearly 22,000 acres were subject to floods, but most of it only during the highest freshets. The third area was that of Sumas Prairie, nearly 30,000 acres, all subject to annual flooding. Next was Nicomen Island, a comparatively small area. A little farther west, at Dewdney, there was an area of over 5,000 acres that suffered, while across the river, on the south side, were the Matsqui flats, comprising 10,000 acres. The most westerly danger-point was the Pitt River flats, an area of over 8,500 acres, lying in the angle formed by the confluence of the Pitt and Fraser Rivers.60 In 1876, after more than a decade of settlement, the highest freshet then on record occurred toward the end of June.61 In 1882, about the middle of June, this height was surpassed by 13 inches on the gauge at Mission City; which has always been considered the standard for measuring the height of flood-waters. The accounts as to the relative height of water as compared with that of 1876 are conflicting, but there is no doubt that it is now considerably higher and it is equally certain that it is proving much more destructive. In the Chilliwack, Sumas, and other settlements there is utter ruin everywhere on the lower lands. Crops are destroyed, live stock in some instances is perishing, and even buildings are wrecked, and some of the settlers have been driven for refuge to their less unfortunate neighbors or to the moun- (60) R. E. Gosnell, The Year Book of British Columbia . . . 1897, Victoria, 1897, pp. 276-280. (61) New Westminster Mainland Guardian, June 28, 1876. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 279 tains. Everywhere ruin and consternation reigns. And the water is still rising! . . . And when shall the end be? God only knows!62 But in 1894 occurred the greatest flood that has ever been recorded in the valley. A very hot spell in the Interior caused a tremendous run-off of water. The river began to rise on May 19 and thereafter rose at an average rate of 2 feet per day until June 6. At that date the Mission gauge registered 25.75 feet, an all-time high. Several lives were lost, and crops, live stock, dykes, bridges, and roads suffered tremendous devastation.68 The right-of-way and telegraph-lines of the Canadian Pacific Railway were damaged to such an extent that communication with the East by these means was interrupted for several days. Sumas Prairie was flooded to a depth of 15 feet. River-steamers, which did valiant rescue-work, steamed without difficulty from Chilliwack to Huntingdon on the International Boundary. Assistance, both private and governmental, was rushed to the residents of the stricken valley, but it took considerable time to repair the ravages created by the " Big Flood." Lulled into false security by the hope and belief that high water came only once in a decade or so, the settlers were caught unprepared by the freshet of 1896. The maximum height did not quite equal that of 1882, but since it was later than usual— July 8—the damage was serious. While the damage by flood, in the Lower Fraser Valley, this year, is nothing like so widespread and serious, on the whole, as resulted from the unprecedented freshet of two years ago, evidences are coming to hand which leave no room for doubt that, in some sections, the effect of this year's high water, though at the highest from three to four feet lower than the 1894 high water mark, will prove practically almost equally disastrous to the farmers whose lands are overflowed.64 It did demonstrate very convincingly the necessity of a comprehensive system of dykes and drainage if crops on the low-lying lands were to be secure from annual devastation. During the succeeding years many miles of dykes have been constructed, and these have given reasonably good protection.66 Not until the (62) New Westminster British Columbian, June 14, 1882. (63) Ibid., May 19 to June 15, 1894; also Chilliwack Progress, June 6 and 13, 1894. (64) New Westminster British Columbian, July 10, 1896. (65) Report of a Special Investigation Commission, Fraser Valley Dyking Affairs, 1984. i 280 George B. White. October summer of 1936 did these dykes undergo a very severe testing. In that year the height of the flood—22.61 feet,—was exceeded only by that of 1894.66 Fortunately the residents were forewarned by the Dominion Hydrometric Bureau at Vancouver, and most of the main dykes were maintained intact. Several small private dykes gave way under the strain, and, in addition, breaks in the main system at Agassiz and Dewdney resulted in the flooding of about 7,000 acres. In all, about 120 miles of dykes have been constructed, only about 15 miles of which have been financed without Government assistance. Naturally the original cost and that of maintenance has been a serious financial drain on the valley farmers and on the Government. There has been much special legislation, several Commissions have been appointed, and frequent revisions of assessments in an attempt to deal equitably with this major problem. Fruit-growing, dairying, and hop-growing are the most important phases of agricultural industry in the Fraser Valley. In pioneer days the growing of fruit received most attention, but the lack of suitable shipping facilities and good markets resulted in much fruit being left to rot on the ground. The first regular shipments to the Prairies by express began in the 1890's67 and since that time have increased steadily. With the development of the Okanagan Valley as a superior apple-producing region, the fruit-growers of the valley ceased to be particularly interested in that phase of horticulture. The modern trend has been toward specialization, as certain districts were proved to be especially adapted for the growing of the smaller fruits. Thus the Chilliwack district has specialized in cherries, while the bench lands of Mission and Maple Ridge are well adapted to the production of strawberries, raspberries, and loganberries. With the discovery of a special process of preserving the berries, the growers have been able to extend their markets even to the British Isles. For the dairy-farmer, the valley offers a mild climate, good water, and nutritious grasses, all prime factors in successful dairying. As early as 1868 the Chadsey brothers, pioneer settlers (66) Vancouver Daily Province, June 6,1936. (67) R. E. Gosnell, The Year Book of British Columbia . . . 1911-1914, Victoria, 1914, p. 233. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 281 in. the Sumas district, had put the industry on a commercial basis.68 They put their butter in hermetically sealed tins, transported it to the Cariboo, and did a thriving business with the luxury-hungry miners still in that district. From that time on the value of the dairy products has increased amazingly. In 1896 the first creamery in the valley began operating at Sardis, near Chilliwack. It was the well-known Eden Bank Creamery, a co-operative concern, the outgrowth of a private venture by A. C. Wells, an honoured pioneer of the Chilliwack Valley, who had made butter and cheese at his own farm for several years previously.69 A few years later the Chilliwack Creamery was built to serve the producers of the eastern end of the valley. In 1906 these two creameries alone produced nearly 500,000 lb. of butter.70 A creamery at New Westminster drew supplies from the neighbouring districts. From 1910 onward, two important factors changed the whole outlook of the dairying industry. One was the tremendous growth in population of the coast cities. The other was the completion of the Fraser Valley line of the British Columbia Electric Railway. From the beginning a " milk special" left Chilliwack daily at 6.15 p.m. The two creameries immediately turned their attention to the selling of whole milk and cream in the coast cities rather than to the making of butter and cheese. The reason was quite simple—it gave better returns to the producer. The dairymen soon realized that some form of co-operative marketing was highly desirable, and the first of several organizations was incorporated in 1910. The present organization, under the name of Associated Dairies, Ltd., operates plants at Vancouver, at Delair near Abbotsford, and a utility plant at Sardis.71 The dairy-farmers have shown a progressive spirit that is commendable. They early recognized the importance of purebred stock of the best milking strains, and to-day some of the valley herds of Holsteins and Ayrshires, Jerseys and Guernseys (68) Scholefield and Howay, op. cit, Vol. II, p. 593. (69) Chilliwack Progress, June 17, 1896. (70) New Westminster British Columbian, October 28, 1907. (71) For a detailed study of the dairy industry in the Fraser Valley, see R. E. English, " Problems of a Specialized Area—the Fraser Valley," in H. A. Innis (ed.), The Dairy Industry in Canada, Toronto, 1937, pp. 213- 282 George B. White. October are internationally known. In 1925 the Federal Government enacted legislation in an attempt to eradicate bovine tuberculosis through testing by veterinary inspectors. Several such tests have been given, each showing a marked decrease in the number of reactors.72 The area is now up to Government standards in freedom from disease, and the purity of Vancouver's milk-supply is well safe-guarded. Hops of splendid quality are grown in the eastern end of the valley, the soil and climate there being particularly favourable. Early records indicate that John Broe, of Aldergrove, was the first to experiment with this crop about the year 1884.78 It was from this pioneer plantation that the early growers in Chilliwack and Agassiz got their supply of root stocks. These hops soon established an excellent reputation among the brewers of Great Britain,74 and this reputation has been maintained since the beginning. Hop-growing is a profitable venture, though it requires a heavy initial outlay, and for that reason is to-day in the hands of well-established companies. One of the features of this industry has always been the influx of hop-pickers in the fall. In early days these were mainly families of Indians who came from far and near, attracted by the social as much as by the financial opportunities. Not an evening went by without their engaging in long drawn-out games of chance, to the accompaniment of rhythmic chanting and the beating of tom-toms. For about three weeks there reigned a carnival spirit in the district, and the merchants profited greatly. The depression years broke the ancient monopoly in hop-picking established by the Indians, and for some time white people and Chinese have come in considerable numbers to assist in the annual harvest of the fragrant crop. Among the minor activities and crops connected with the agricultural industry may be mentioned stock-raising (other than cattle), poultry-raising, the production of honey, and the growing of all kinds of root crops. Tobacco is a comparatively (72) Canada, Department of Agriculture, Health of Animals Branch, Bovine Tuberculosis, Ottawa, 1929, p. 6, gives the following percentages of infection: 1926, 7.9 per cent.; 1927, 1.1 per cent.; 1928, 0.76 per cent. (73) Vancouver Daily Province, October 28, 1933. (74) New Westminster British Columbian, May 19, 1894. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 283 new-comer among the crops, as it was first grown on the reclaimed land of Sumas Prairie. After initial set-backs that were most discouraging, the industry is now more firmly established and making headway.76 The growers face strong competition from the other tobacco-growing regions in Canada, and experience has proved that the best plan in marketing the crop is to sell it entirely to the powerful interests in Eastern Canada. It is fitting that tribute should be paid to the invaluable services of the Provincial Department of Agriculture and to the Dominion Experimental Farm at Agassiz and its various superintendents—T. A. Sharp, P. H. Moore, and, since 1916, W. H. Hicks. They pioneered in all phases of agricultural and horticultural experimentation, and the farmers of the valley are fully aware of their great debt to the work which has been carried on for their benefit. Nor would it be just to discount the part played by fall fairs in this chronicle of development of agriculture. Nearly every centre of population has a long record in this matter, although Chilliwack has the honour of having organized, in 1874, the first fall fair in the valley. There was a definite educational value for the farmer in these exhibitions, but for many years they were purely preliminaries to the annual exhibition at New Westminster, sponsored by the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Society. It was there that a healthy rivalry among the valley municipalities always brought forth a magnificent display of live stock and produce. That the standard of excellence was high has been demonstrated in recent years, when several exhibitors have gone to the neighbouring States or as far east as Toronto and come back with more than their share of prizes and awards. OTHER INDUSTRIES. Although primarily an agricultural region, the Fraser Valley is richly endowed with at least two other sources of wealth- timber and salmon. The legitimate exploitation of these resources has assisted in no small measure in promoting the prosperity of the whole valley. Apparently there is only one of British Columbia's primary industries—mining—that has little (76) Froi District Hort: information supplied the author by Mr. G. E. W. Clarke, llturist, Department of Agriculture, Abbotsford, B.C. If 284 George B. White. October or no future in the valley. Undoubtedly there are some heavily mineralized areas throughout the region, but up to the present these have proved to be of low-grade ore content or the cost of developing them is prohibitive. Little need be said of the salmon-fishing industry. Its importance ever since the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Langley has been known to the whole world. It was not until 1871, after some experiments in canning salmon undertaken by James Symes as early as 1867, that the first cannery for that purpose was built at Annieville,76 just across the river from New Westminster.77 By 1901 the number of canneries on the river had increased to forty-eight,78 and the output that year was over a million cases (48 lb. to the case).79 Although there are six species of salmon useful commercially, the sockeye, because of its unsurpassed colour and flavour, is the most important. The sockeye's life-cycle is only four years, and, in consequence, the big runs have usually come every fourth year. In 1913, during the construction of the Canadian Northern Railway, a huge slide of rock blocked the river at Hell's Gate. It was a major disaster for the industry, for 1913 was a " big run " year and millions of salmon died without being able to reach their usual spawning- grounds. The resulting serious depletion became a matter of international concern. In addition, American fishermen were using huge fish-traps and purse-seines in the Gulf of Georgia, while river fishermen were allowed only a gill-net. Many years of negotiation finally led to the appointment of an International Commission with control of all operations of the industry. One major project has recently been completed by the Commission (76) Although officially called "Annieville," it was known locally as "Anniesville." (77) " Canned Salmon.—A new company has commenced operation in the above business in the premises formerly occupied by Mr. J. Syme with every prospect of success." [New Westminster Mainland Guardian, June 7,1871.] "A company has started the business of putting salmon up in tins in the fishery premises opposite the town of New Westminster." [Victoria Colonist, June 8, 1871.] Later that same year still another cannery was started in buildings formerly part of the Royal Engineers' camp at Sapper- ton. [New Westminster Mainland Guardian, June 20,1871.] (78) Manual of Provincial Information, 1930, p. 128. (79) Report of the Fisheries Commissioner for British Columbia, 1901, p. 823. The value of the pack that year was $5,000,000, more than double that of the previous year. 1948 Development of Eastern I r Valley. whicji promises to restore the industry to its former importance. Fish-ladders have been constructed at Hell's Gate, enabling greater numbers of fish to reach the spawning-grounds. The sockeye run was a godsend, especially to the early settlers in the valley. Some of the record catches on the river have been made in the section between Mission and the New Westminster bridge.80 The settlers depended on the fishing to provide them with ready cash, and it was a poor year when they did not make $500 or $600 for their summer's work. Women and children carried on with the farm-work while the bread-winner was fishing, but the main run was over before the harvest-time began— a wise dispensation of Providence. Evidently the lot of the pioneer farmer in the Fraser Valley would have been a more difficult one had he not been able to depend on the harvest from the river to supplement the harvest from his field. It is now almost impossible to estimate accurately what the quantity of marketable timber in the valley was previous to settlement. A conservative estimate would be twenty billion feet, board measure. Douglas fir, red cedar, and hemlock predominated, but the most valuable stands have long since disappeared. One of the last of these was the famous " Green Timbers " in Surrey, through which the Pacific Highway ran. Despite strenuous efforts to save this as a scenic attraction, it was logged off by 1930.81 Forest fires and land-clearing operations have also taken toll of a great deal of valuable timber. As a matter of fact, to the settler who wanted the land for crops, the timber was a detriment rather than an asset. Until 1910 there was little sale for timber, and only those fortunate enough to be near a sawmill were able to profit, either by the sale of timber or by getting the lumber for house or barn. Millions of feet of the finest timber were destroyed simply to get it out of the way. The idea of conservation of forest wealth certainly did not originate with the early settlers. Few people, perhaps, realize that the lumbering industry in the valley was under the control of the Federal Government. When British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871, the Province agreed to give a strip of land 20 miles in (80) New Westminster British Columbian, September 17,1910. (81) Vancouver Daily Sun, August 28, 1930. 286 George B. White. October width on each side of the right-of-way in consideration for the building of a railroad. Known as the " railway belt," this strip of land extended from the Alberta boundary to a line just east of New Westminster. It was administered by the Federal Government from 1883 to 1930, when it was returned to the Province. Timber licences being much cheaper under the Federal system than under the Provincial, and being easily accessible to the railway, it is not difficult to understand why timber berths in the railway belt were eagerly sought after. The few marketable stands of timber remaining to-day are around Harrison Lake and in the Chilliwack River district. Almost from the beginning of settlement down to the present day, there have been a few mills in various parts of the valley, but they were cutting lumber mainly for local requirements. After the building of the British Columbia Electric Railway Fraser Valley line there was increased activity for some years. Most of the mills were small; on the other hand, 2 miles east of New Westminster there is one of the largest mills in the British Empire, the Fraser Mills. Logs from the Fraser Valley were used extensively a few years ago, but in recent years the main supply has come from Vancouver Island or the coast districts. The lumber industry, though not benefiting the settlers as directly as that of the fishing, has contributed greatly to the economic life of the valley. If the Government pushes its policy of reforestation vigorously, much could be done to maintain this industry as a permanent one in the valley. Other factors in the economic development may be briefly mentioned. Fruit-canneries have been operated at different times and with varying success. At first the idea was mainly to use fruit that would otherwise be wasted. These early efforts were mainly in the Chilliwack section of the valley,82 but the improvement of transportation facilities, particularly the use of refrigerated cars, has provided the fruit-growers with a chance to market fresh fruit even on the Prairie market, and naturally as such it demands a better price than canned fruit. As the centre of the small-fruits district, Mission has probably been most active in the fruit-canning industry. There are several plants still in operation at the present time. (82) Chilliwack Progress, April 16, 1891. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 287 Clajfburn and Haney brick and tile products established a sound reputation among British Columbia contractors a good many years ago and have maintained it to the present day. The Clayburn company has extended its field of operations to Kilgard and intends to concentrate its efforts there. A comparative new-comer among industries is fur-farming. The shades of the old Hudson's Bay Company traders, McMillan et al, have thus seen the economic wheel turn full circle, but with what feelings they might regard the modern methods of obtaining furs we can only conjecture. What the future holds for this industry is uncertain. There were several fur-farms in the valley, and a number of farmers that were trying fur-farming as a side-line up to the time of the outbreak of World War II. It requires a great deal of patience and skill in the handling of animals, but prices of good pelts make it profitable. During the war, difficulties in getting food for the animals and help to care for them have caused a decrease in the number of fur-farmers. The supply of pelts has never caught up with the demand, and there may be a promising future for the newest and the oldest industry in the valley. SUMAS RECLAMATION PROJECT.83 The project of reclaiming and draining the lands of the Sumas Prairie area was one which had challenged the attention of the farmers, civil engineers, and financiers since the 1870's. Scarcely a year went by without the expenditure of time, money, and energy on the project. The record of the early years is strewn with failures and abortive attempts to get the work started. It was not until 1919, when the Provincial Government, through the Land Settlement Board, undertook the project, that success seemed assured. With its completion in 1926 the long-deferred hopes of the farmers of the valley were realized and some 30,000 fertile acres were added to the agricultural resources of the valley and of the Province. The earliest record of this scheme goes back to. 1875 or 1876, when Edgar Dewdney, later to be Lieutenant-Governor of the (83) The author has drawn much of his information from a special report prepared by W. S. Latta, Director of the Land Settlement Board, and dated December 31, 1926, entitled " Record of Events—Sumas." 288 George B. White. October Province, made a survey of the whole district. In 1878 the Government authorized Ellis Luther Derby, through the " Sumas Dyking Act," to proceed with the work of dyking and draining certain lands in the Chilliwack, Sumas, and Matsqui districts.84 Amendments to the Act in 1879, 1883, 1885, and 1888 indicate a continued interest in the scheme, but there is no record of any actual construction having been undertaken during that decade. About 1890 the problem of draining the area became greatly complicated as a result of one of nature's pranks. The Vedder River, which up to that time had followed the Luck-a-Kuck channel through Sardis direct into the Fraser River, changed its course at Vedder Crossing and, flowing thereafter north-westerly, emptied into Sumas Lake. This materially increased the difficulty of draining the area, although the silting action of the river increased the fertility of the lake-bed soils. In 1892 a Sumas Reclamation Company was incorporated86 and the first actual construction was done, but subsequently abandoned. The following year a Dyking Commission was appointed, and for a time it appeared that action would be taken. Messrs. Keefer and Smith, engineers, were called in to make surveys and prepare plans which were duly presented early in 1894,86 but financial difficulties prevented the work from getting beyond the preliminary stage. In 1905 a Seattle company, Messrs. Lewis and Hill, prepared plans which the property-owners approved by a J;wo to one majority on September 17,1906, but the proposal was definitely vetoed by the Department of the Interior at Ottawa when it was learned that the proposal involved making all Crown lands subject to assessment. In 1908 the British Columbia Electric Railway Company, proceeding with the building of its Fraser Valley line and desirous of encouraging the development of the (84) Statutes of the Province of British Columbia . . . 1878, Victoria, 1878, pp. 33-45 (chap. 6). (85) Statutes of the Province of British Columbia . . . 1892, Victoria, 1892, pp. 369-381 (chap. 59). The promoters of this scheme were C. A. Holland, H. S. Mason, J. A. Lumsden, and F. A. Lumsden. The previous year D. McGillivray, C. T. Dunbar, and C. G. Major had incorporated the British Columbia Dyking and Improvement Company to undertake much the same project. Statutes of the Province of British Columbia . . . 1891, Victoria, 1891, pp. 403-421 (chap. 48). (86) Victoria Colonist, January 14, 1894. 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 289 area, prepared plans for the project. These were dropped when the London board of the company failed to approve of the undertaking. Still later, two other companies—the Dominion Stock and Bond Corporation, Ltd., of Vancouver, and L. M. Rice and Company, of Seattle—put forward proposals, but financial difficulties were again too great. The declaration of war in 1914 caused the postponement of any further plans. By 1917 the property-owners of the district were petitioning the Government to undertake the work through the Land Settlement Board. The Government acceded to this request, assumed responsibility for unpaid liabilities of the old Dyking Commission to the extent of some $14,000, and became the heirs of a voluminous pile of plans, agreements, and maps pertaining to the project. Then arose a controversy between the two engineers that were preparing plans and specifications, which was settled only by calling in a third engineer as consultant.87 On November 24.1919, a meeting of the property-owners was held at Huntingdon to hear the report and to vote on the project. Those owning 86 per cent, of the assessed value of the land were in favour of proceeding,88 and tenders were accordingly called.89 Four companies submitted bids, each of which was considerably higher than the engineer's estimates, and the bid of the Marsh Bourne Construction Company was finally accepted. Work began on August 30,1920. Delays and difficulties too numerous to mention continued to dog the successful completion of the project. Necessary dredging equipment was hard to get, the contracting company became insolvent, new and unforeseen work had to be done, and to cap it all the winter of 1921-22 was unusually severe. However, by April 7, 1922, the first phase of the work, that of diverting the Vedder River into a canal dug for it, was completed.90 During the summer and following winter; work on the main pumping- (87) The Brice-Smith plan put forward by H. C. Brice and after his death in March, 1919, by W. C. Smith; and the Sinclair plan, put forward by P. N. Sinclair, were the two rival proposals. C. E. Cartwright was the third engineer, and he recommended in favour of the Sinclair plan. (88) Chilliwack Progress, November 27, 1919. (89) Tenders were called on January 22, 1920, to be opened February 25.1920. (90) Chilliwack Progress, April 20,1922. 290 George B. White. October station and dam proceeded apace. Pumping actually began on July 4, 1923, and on June 26, 1924, the last of the water in the Sumas basin had been pumped out.91 By this time some 6,000 acres of lake-bottom land had been seeded to timothy. In July, 1925, the Federal Government, having accepted $1 as a nominal payment for the area, forwarded the title to Victoria. The total indebtedness of the Sumas Dyking District was shown in March, 1926, as $3,716,277.85—nearly $2,000,000 over the original estimates.92 There is no doubt that the engineers had based the original estimates on insufficient data. However, it was necessary to build a plant that would take care of maximum floods without difficulty. That this course was wise was proved in 1936 and in 1948. Severe criticism was levelled at the Government as a result of the excessive cost of the whole project, but the Premier, John Oliver, during whose regime the work was carried out, persistently maintained his stand that the relationship between the Government and the Sumas Dyking District was simply that of mortgagor and mortgagee. Looking over the whole reclamation project after a period of twenty years, one cannot but feel that it was well worth while and that it will repay all the time and money spent on it. For countless years there lay an 8,000-acre area of mud and water that was too shallow for navigation and probably too deep for the comfort of duck-hunters, who were the only ones to get even a few days' use of it. In addition, it was probably the finest breeding-ground in the whole Dominion of Canada for mosquitoes. To-day there exists as fine a stretch of farming country as one could wish to see, with excellent soil, ample water-supply, a splendid system of drainage, and only 50 miles from an urban community that already contains nearly 400,000 people. It is difficult to conceive of any farm lands in North America more favourably situated. To conclude this somewhat incomplete chronicle of the development of the Fraser Valley, one must remember that it has mainly occurred during the life-time of many of its present-day (91) Ibid., July 9,1924. (92) In all fairness it should be pointed out, however, that some $850,000 of this increase arose from items not included in the engineer's 1948 Development op Eastern Fraser Valley. 291 residents. All modern conveniences—electricity, telephones, hospitals, educational and library facilities—are available to them. They enjoy all the advantages of urban life combined with the freedom of rural life. To enjoy a pleasant vacation, whether it be at the sea-side or at a picturesque mountain lake, one does not need to leave the confines of the valley. To the sportsman, whether he be a Nimrod or a disciple of Isaac Walton, it is a veritable paradise. At the north-eastern end of the valley, beautifully situated, is Harrison Hot Springs, an internationally known health resort: The mineral waters of potash and sulphur there have undoubted therapeutic value, a fact of which the aborigines were fully aware. Truly Mother Nature, with prodigal hand, has heaped upon the valley a profusion of all things necessary for pleasant living. What does the future hold for this area? It would not be too bold a prediction to say that the future development will surpass that of the past. Even a casual trip through the valley will reveal evidences of substantial prosperity. The trend in agriculture will probably be toward more intensive cultivation, with the larger farms being subdivided into smaller holdings. One of the most interesting of recent suggestions is that of the Town Planning Commission of Vancouver, which released details of a scheme for a control of decentralization and regional planning for the whole area from Vancouver to Hope.98 To foresee that region as one great metropolitan area is not too difficult a feat of imagination. The pioneers laid truly and well the foundations for such a structure. George B. White. Vancouver, B.C. (93) Vancouver Daily Province, August 7,1947. JUDGE BEGBIE'S SHORTHAND: A MYSTERY SOLVED. Students of the colonial period of the history of British Columbia almost invariably encounter Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie in their reading and research. As first Judge of the Crown Colony he established the judiciary and made that system supreme. At the same time he was a member of the Executive Council and so played a part in the formulation of policy and the promulgation of law. In addition, he performed many services beyond the strict line of official duty. On one occasion he conducted a scientific reconnaissance into the Interior.1 He drew maps and helped with surveys, much to the chagrin of the Royal Engineers.2 His dispatches show him making arrangements for ferry services and the sale of town lots.8 In one report to Governor Douglas he gave a long account of the condition of the roads.4 In short, he was not only head of the judiciary but also a member of the Government who, in the early days of the colony, rode about the Interior as a representative of the legislative and executive branches of the administration. Yet, in spite of these multifarious duties and the wide range of personal contacts that they entailed, there is little known about the Judge. His correspondence, which is guarded and generally impersonal, contains hints that it was his habit to discuss problems in private conversation with the Governor and his officials. As no minutes of the Executive Council are extant —perhaps none were taken—scholars are left very much in the dark as to the background of Douglas' administration. It is known that Judge Begbie disagreed with the Governor in mat- (1) Begbie to Douglas, April 25, 1859, Begbie Letters, MS., Archives of B.C. (2) Sydney G. Pettit, "Judge Begbie in Action: The Establishment of Law and Preservation of Order in British Columbia," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, XI (1947), p. 123. (3) Ibid. (4) Begbie to Young, no date but received January 19, 1863, Begbie Letters, MS., Archives of B.C. 294 Sydney G. Pettit. October ters of policy, but there is no inkling as to the nature of the objections taken.6 On the personal side, the few fragments of correspondence at present available cast little light upon the man himself. They do nothing to account for his attitudes or explain his behaviour which, on some occasions, was quite extraordinary. Was Judge Begbie the author of the squib that set poor Mr. Langford by the ears?6 What actually took place at Cottonwood in the summer of 1862 ?7 We should like to know whether he played a part in the final settlement of the Cranford-Wright dispute.8 And his secret giving—who. were the recipients?9 It is possible that a key exists to some of these vexing problems. In the Provincial Archives are a number of the Judge's Court note-books and two large pocket-books which he carried with him on his journeys. Scattered throughout these records are entries in an antique shorthand which, up to recently, has defied identification. How much would a transcription of these mysterious passages reveal? The discovery of the system that Judge Begbie used thus became an attractive but baffling approach to a number of unsolved problems. The first and obvious step to be taken was to 11 • submit the script to shorthand experts. When none of these authorities was able to identify the system, the present writer ransacked second-hand bookshops for old texts. This, too, proved fruitless. At this stage of the investigation it seemed possible that the Judge, like Samuel Pepys, might have invented his own system. If such were the case, the task would be one for a cryptographer and not a historian. While reflecting on the difficulty and expense of obtaining professional assistance of this kind, (5) Victoria Colonist, March 11,1864. (6) During the election of 1860 a squib written at the expense of a candidate, Mr. Langford, was plastered all over the walls of Victoria. Langford accused Judge Begbie of being the author. (7) Sydney G. Pettit, "His Honour's Honour: Judge Begbie and the Cottonwood Scandal," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, XI (1947), pp. 187-210. (8) Sydney G. Pettit, "The Tyrant Judge: Judge Begbie in Court," 7K~./-"du-s* <j\ % Jmo , r.tt *, , \ *<! / < u V 71. ik Jp_< c^- *£ *_ . - «-"• n % i. /—p. t, _ . ■ ' V. 1 ^ ,< V &x m> -7 -*v, r I • f/ ^ f b ** — c^—j*~. / a j'. 1j *• ' ^ vLtJt cV . . . 8.15 came to a very nasty bend in the river and had to lighten the ship and get a rope. I stood by and took observation—pretty good one—but to my great disgust my watch stopped last night shortly after I got into bed., I took Pooley's watch which he says is a good one, keeping good time at 1948 Judge Begbie's Shorthand. 295 the writer suddenly conceived of another avenue of inquiry. It appeared to be a reasonable hypothesis that a contemporary of Begbie's would use the same shorthand. Almost instantaneously Charles Dickens sprang into the writer's mind. Dickens, born in 1812, was only seven years older than Begbie and, like him, had been a Court reporter. If these men used the same system, identification would not be too difficult, for the vast quantity of Dickensiana would be almost sure to contain the name of the shorthand that the great novelist employed. A fragment of biography written by Sir Henry Dickens, entitled Memories of My Father, contained the final clues.10 First, Sir Henry stated that his father used the Gurney system.11 Secondly, a reproduction of a few of Dickens' symbols tallied closely with those used by Judge Begbie.12 As it was still possible, however, that the two scripts might be similar but not identical, the final test consisted in obtaining one of Gurney's texts. At length, through the kindness of the Provincial Library, two volumes were secured, one from the Library of Congress and the other from the Philadelphia Public Library. A careful comparison of these texts with the Begbie note-books established beyond shadow of doubt that the Judge used the Gurney shorthand. The Gurney system, it appears, had been invented by Thomas Gurney (1705-1770) and developed by members of his family, presumably his sons. One volume, printed in 1778, bore the following title:— Brachygraphy: or an easy and compendious system of shorthand, adapted to the various arts, sciences and professions; improved after more than forty years practice & experience by Thomas Gurney; and brought still nearer to perfection upon the present method by Joseph Gurney. The 9th ed. London. Printed for J and M Gurney; sold by M. Gurney, 1778. The other volume, published in London in 1803, bore the same title, save for the number of the edition, which was omitted. The present writer's wife, Constance Pettit, who learned the shorthand, transcribed a number of samplings from the pocket- books. While-these yielded no startling information, they were (10) Sir Henry F. Dickens, Memories of My Father, London, 1929. (11) _M_.,p.27. 296 Sydney G. Pettit. not devoid of interest and value. The Judge recorded, for instance, times of arrival and departure, topographical details, weather conditions, and the state of the roads. There are personal trivia, such as " I took Pooley's watch," which he says is "a good one keeping good time at least." He describes a house as one " with walls like a gridiron, roof little better than a colander." As one of Begbie's closest friends, Canon Beanlands, describes him as being reticent and " no diarist," it is possible that all his entries are of the kind given above.18 On the other hand, there may well be, tucked away among the Judge's observations, a passage of rare importance that might illuminate what is now obscure and clear the way for further inquiry. Such a discovery would be a rich reward for the exacting task of transcription. Sydney G. Pettit. Victoria, B.C. (13) W. Kaye Lamb, op. cit, p. 128. McCREIGHT AND THE CHURCH.* Ulster Protestantism formed the religious background of John Foster McCreight, with both his father and his grandfather ordained as clergymen in the Anglican Episcopal Church in Ireland. He was himself baptized into the same faith and later became a steady supporter of the Anglican Church. Of his religious affiliations in Ireland and Australia there is little record, but on Vancouver Island he became a member of the congregation of Christ Church Cathedral. This Anglican church originated in Victoria in 1853 when its building was begun by the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1855 the Rev. Edward Cridge arrived from England to become the third Hudson's Bay Company chaplain1 and the first rector of the colonial church. In 1856 the new church was dedicated and in 1859, on the arrival from England of Bishop George Hills, it was named Christ Church Cathedral. The diocese over which the new bishop was to preside included both Vancouver Island and the Mainland of British Columbia and was to be known as the Bishopric of British Columbia with the bishop taking the title of " Lord Bishop of British Columbia."2 The usual powers were granted to the bishop, with an oath of obedience to be made to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Under the new bishop, Cridge was appointed dean and rector. In 1869 Christ Church Cathedral was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt almost at once and the new building was consecrated in 1872. As soon as Bishop Hills arrived and the diocese was organized, a Church Committee was formed for the cathedral. McCreight was one of the original members, and then became people's warden from 1869 to 1873 and again in 1875 and 1876. When a synod was organized for the diocese, McCreight was a lay dele- * This is the fourth and concluding article in a series of four dealing with various aspects of the career of John Foster McCreight. (1) He was preceded by Rev. Herbert Beaver at Fort Vancouver in 1836 and Rev. R. J. Staines at Fort Victoria in 1849. (2) Letters Patent of the Diocese of British Columbia, Transcript in Archives of B.C. 298 Patricia M. Johnson. October gate, representing his church there from 1874 to 1883. At first the diocese represented the whole Province, but in 1879 a division was made. Vancouver Island and adjacent islands became the Diocese of Columbia; the Lower Mainland, the Diocese of New Westminster; and the Northern Mainland, the Diocese of Caledonia. This brief sketch shows that McCreight was an active participant in church work. Even when he must have been most occupied holding the position of Premier of the Province, he still maintained the appointment as a church warden. It is known, too, that he was a great personal friend of Bishop Hills and fully concurred in his somewhat " high church " views. In 1874 occurred a most significant event. Dean Cridge, the rector of the cathedral, felt that he could neither serve under Bishop Hills nor agree with his doctrines. The causes of his disaffection were many. Fundamentally it seems to have been the diverging trends of a "low church" man from a "high church " man. Cridge objected to the ritualistic practices and doctrine of the bishop and to the organization of a synod for the diocese. To him, ritual was wicked " Popery," a synod was an authoritarian substitute for the local self-government of each congregation.8 In June, 1874, at a meeting of the Church Committee, Dean Cridge listed his reasons for dissent as:— (1) An attempt to introduce disputable doctrines and practices into the congregation. (2) An endeavour to force the Christ Church congregation into a synod without their consent and contrary to their wishes.4 Bound up with these objections was the feeling that Cridge had certain rights in connection with the church, its administration, and its property. At the height of the controversy he sent a request to the Governor-General and to the Archbishop of (3) In a letter to Bishop Hills, dated January 6, 1874, and published in the Victoria Colonist, January 10,1874, Cridge stated: " I believe that every congregation with its accepted Pastor, is a complete church (the word and sacraments being duly administered therein); that a Diocese is no necessary part of a Church. ..." (4) Christ Church Cathedral Minute Book, p. 141, under date June 17, 1874, and initialled by " E.C." (Hereafter this source will be cited as C.C.C.M.B.) 1948 MCCREIGHT AND THE CHURCH. 299 Canterbury regarding the deeds of trust of the cathedral. This document is a significant one. Drawn up in 1864 as an indenture between the governor and committee of the Hudson's Bay Company and Governor Kennedy of Vancouver Island on the one hand and the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Hills on the other, it bears the signatures of " G. Columbia, A. E. Kennedy, Governor, C. T. Cantuar, Thomas Fraser for Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay."6 It granted to the bishop and his successors the land on which the church was built—land which had been the property of the Hudson's Bay Company—also the site and buildings of the parsonage and the bishop's residence. It stipulated that part of the rents should go to pay the £600 stipend of the Rev. Edward Cridge, provided that :— the said Edward Cridge and each of his successors of the said incumbency shall be deemed for the purposes of this deed to continue incumbent thereof until he shall die or resign or be removed from the said Rectory and incumbency; Provided also that no such removal shall take place except for failure to conform to the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline and Government of the said United Church of England and Ireland, and that every such removal shall be subject to such appeal and review as are provided.6 The document was possibly the ordinary one for such cases, but the mention of Rev. Edward Cridge by name, the special provisions for him, and the right of appeal do point to the fact that he was a Hudson's Bay Company chaplain before he was a church rector. He had " the company " solidly behind him. If he left the church, many of the old stalwarts would leave with him. This is an interesting side-light on the "family-company-compaet" influence in Victoria. Even in 1874 the company's power was still felt. Cridge belonged to them; they would take care of him. Bishop Hills had no association with the company; he was regarded as an outsider. It was easy to see where McCreight's sympathies would lie. He apparently admired the ritualistic doctrines of the bishop, a not uncommon thing among students of religion of his day. The Oxford Movement had a great appeal for scholarly minds, and (5) Ti Archives of; (6) Ibid. 300 Patricia M. Johnson. October McCreight, once he had formed a belief, would adhere to it unwaveringly. Then again, McCreight had no connection with the church before Hills' time and certainly no claim to belong to that select group of "company men"—the Douglas-Helmcken aristocracy. Finally, McCreight had a strong regard for law and authority. The bishop was the representative of the authority of the church and he was to be obeyed. It would be partly a matter of personal loyalty, certainly a matter of personal conviction, McCreight would take the bishop's part and would condemn Cridge for his "revolt"—meanwhile deploring its very necessity. McCreight's part in the controversy is, as Mr. G. H. Slater expressed it, that of " the power behind the throne."7 He was never vociferous, never unfair. He tried to be conciliatory and to keep the dignity of things at a time when tempers were hot and men expressed themselves bitterly. The first mention of the affair came on January 16,1874, when a meeting of the Church Committee passed a resolution:— that the Committee of Christ Church Cathedral having read the letter from the Very Revd. Dean Cridge to the Right Revd. the Bishop of Columbia published on the 10th of January 1874 in the Standard and Colonist on Synod, do not acquiesce in such a letter and regret its publication.8 The meeting was presided over by the Honourable J. W. Trutch and was attended by Robert Williams and W. C. Siffken who voted against the resolution and R. C. Jackson, Henry Wootton, H. P. P. Crease, B. W. Pearse, J. W. Mackay, W. C. Ward, and McCreight who voted for it. As a consequence of this resolution, a letter was sent to Dean Cridge as follows:— Govt. St. 20th Jany. 1874. Dear Sir, In pursuance of my promise I send you a transcript of the Proceedings of the Church Committee meeting of the 16th Jany Instant. As I earnestly wish that the whole matter may now drop I should have been glad if you had not asked for them, & trust they may not create any feeling between you & any of the members of the Congregation. I should look upon this as one of the greatest misfortunes arising from. this unhappy controversy. 1948 McCreight and the Church. With sincere In spite of McCreight's wish that the matter might be ended, there was only a temporary peace. In March, 1874, the Church Committee drew up a voting list for a convention to be elected from the members of the congregation—this convention to appoint the synod delegates. On April 4 a congregational meeting passed the following resolution: " That in the opinion of this meeting it is expedient that delegates from the congregation of Christ Church should be elected for the proposed convention for a Synod."10 This action, was taken despite the reading of a letter from the dean in which he stated his reasons for opposing the establishment of a synod and hinted that much of the congregation was not in favour of it. However, the synod elections went on as planned and the Lieutenant-Governor (J. W. Trutch), R. E. Jackson, B. W. Pearse, C. T. Dupont, W. C. Ward, and J. F. McCreight were elected.11 But the dean had rallied his forces. The Church Committee might oppose him, but a large part of the congregation did not. Here lay his strength, in his group of personal friends, ex-company officials, and those who favoured his doctrine. At the annual vestry meeting of the cathedral held on April 15, 1874, W. C. Ward, who had served as rector's warden, received no nomination, and his position was taken over by A. F. Pemberton, a supporter of the dean. McCreight, who had served as people's warden, was opposed by Robert Williams who defeated him 41 to 32.12 At the next meeting McCreight resigned from the Church Committee and was followed by Pearse and Crease. The friends of the dean were now in control, and a declaration signed by 147 members of the congregation stated :— We the undersigned Members of the Congregation of Christ Church, beg to say that, taking all the circumstances into consideration, we do not wish (9) /6id.,p.l07. (10) Ibid., p. 117, dated April 4, 1874. (11) Victoria Colonist, April 14,1874. (12) C.C.C.M.B., p. 128, dated April 15,1874. 302 Patricia M. Johnson. October that the congregation of Christ Church should in any way be connected with the Synod as proposed to be constituted, or be represented therein.w Apparently to justify his position, Bishop Hills wrote a letter explaining his stand on the whole matter. The Church Committee objected to this and wrote to the bishop stating their displeasure.14 From the registrar of the diocese, M. W. T. Drake, came the reply: " I am not aware that it falls within the province of the Church Wardens to interrogate the Bishop of the Diocese as to the authority of addresses which he may issue."16 This did nothing to help. The matter was getting beyond the point where conciliation could be effected. The Church Committee ranged itself solidly behind the dean and proceeded to defy the bishop. It declared itself " altogether Protestant and opposed to Ritualism " and criticized a sermon on ritualism preached by a visiting archdeacon.16 It went a step further in open defiance of the bishop when it refused to receive his annual visitation until replies had come to the protests that had been sent to the Governor-General and the Archbishop of Canterbury. In fact the next stage was open rebellion when, on July 2, the rector's warden stated that the bishop by his behaviour appeared to have seceded from the Church of England and ceased to be the Bishop of Christ Church17—an open, insult and contradiction of the legal fact of the case. In thus writing to the bishop, A. F. Pemberton well illustrates the attitude of the "company group" to the bishop. " I had been Church warden of Christ Church several years before your arrival in Vancouver Island, and after nearly ten years service in that capacity resigned my office. . . ." He then goes on to mention many of the reasons for this resignation —the bishop's ritualism, land disputes, and the like, but the main point remained summed up in the words " several years before your arrival."18 (13) Ibid, pp. 131-133. (14) A. P. Pemberton and R. Williams to Bishop Hills, May 22, 1874, ibid., p. 137. (15) Ibid., p. 138. (16) Ibid., p. 139. The visiting archdeacon was Rev. William S. Reece. (17) A. P. Pemberton to Bishop Hills, July 2, 1874, ibid., p. 143. (18) Ibid. 1948 McCreight and the Church. 303 Faced with this uncompromising attitude, the bishop was forced to take decisive action. On July 14, 1874, the following letter was sent to Cridge:— My dear Sir, Ten days having elapsed without any intimation of regret or apology for your conduct in reference to and on the occasion of my visitation at the Cathedral on the 3rd inst. I am forced to the painful necessity of instituting proceedings for your defiance of the Episcopal authority and of the laws of the Church contrary to your Ordination Vows and your oath of Canonical obedience. Deeply pained to be compelled to take this course, I now offer you, before formal steps are begun the opportunity of acknowledging your fault, expressing your regret and submitting yourself in future to lawful authority. I am &c. G. Columbia.19 The bishop then proceeded to revoke Cridge's licence to preach and announced that he would take the services himself in the cathedral. To this the wardens replied with cold politeness that they had already arranged for the dean to take the services. Cridge himself remained at his post, quoting to the bishop the decision of the Privy Council on the deprivation of the Bishop of Natal that "suspension or deprivation is a matter of coercive legal jurisdiction, and not of mere spiritual authority."20 The bishop took the matter up at once, declared that the lawful authority was the Supreme Court, and instituted proceedings against Cridge to remove him from his position. In this McCreight was of great assistance, as he could conduct the legal proceedings of the matter. The Church Committee, sure of their position, began to raise funds for the dean's legal expenses.21 The case came up before the Chief Justice, Matthew B. Begbie, on September 10,1874. It was charged that Cridge had violated the doctrines and discipline of the church on eighteen separate charges, all but two of which were proved. The fact that he had defied the authority of the bishop was stressed, and an injunction was granted forbidding him to preach as a minister of the (19) Bishop Hills to Very Rev. Dean Cridge, July 14, 1874, ibid., p. 147. (20) E. Cridge to Bishop Hills, September 26, 1874, ibid., p. 148. (21) Ibid., p. 151, dated September 18,1874. 304 Patricia M. Johnson. October Church of England.22 In consequence, Cridge announced that "not being able conscientiously to refrain from ministering he contemplated attaching himself to the Reformed Episcopal Church lately organized in Canada and the United States."28 A memorandum by A. F. Pemberton tells the end of the con- . troversy:— The Minister and Church Wardens; the whole of the Church Committee; the greater part of the congregation, and of the Sunday School, with the Superintendent and most of the Teachers; nearly all the choir, with the Organist; and the Sexton left Christ Church in consequence of the proceedings against their minister and worshipped in Pandora Street Church.2* The memorandum does not add that Cridge remained in the Christ Church rectory claiming his right to that property under the trust deeds. This caused a second Court case, tried before Judge J. H. Gray, after which Cridge was evicted and the property restored. By November, 1874, the storm was over. A sadly depleted little congregation met at Christ Church to elect a new committee and wardens. W. C. Ward was again chosen rector's warden and C. T. Dupont, people's warden. McCreight once again became a member of the Church Committee. Apparently funds had suffered as a result of the break, for the Honourable J. W. Trutch, H. P. P. Crease, and McCreight are each on record as contributing $50 to expenses.26 The following year McCreight returned to his old position of people's warden and during 1879 contributed " $25.00 towards the deficiency."26 The synod continued its work and at the vestry meeting of April 19, 1883, McCreight, now a Judge, was present and was again elected lay representative to the synod. The last mention of McCreight came a year later. At the annual vestry meeting, April 17,1884, it was moved by R. H. G. (22) The case was heard September 10-12,14, and 17, and the judgment was given on October 24, 1874. For a detailed account with supporting documents, see Trial of the Very Reverend Edward Cridge, Rector and Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, Documents, Evidence, Correspondence and Judgment, as used and given in the Bishop's Court and in the Supreme Court of the Province before the Hon. Chief Justice Begbie, Victoria, 1875. (23) C.C.C.M.B., p. 153, dated October 27, 1874. (24) Ibid., p. 154. (25) Ibid., p. 157, dated November 4,1874. (26) 76id., p. 161. 1948 McCreight and the Church. 305 Jackson, seconded by W. C. Ward, "that Mr. Justice Crease be appointed as Lay Delegate to the Synod from the Cathedral in the place of Mr. Justice McCreight who has seceded from the Church."27 This statement fixed the date of McCreight's withdrawal from the Anglican Church as somewhere between April, 1883, and April, 1884. Recent material has come to light fixing the event in the period between September and November, 1883. An entry in McCreight's diary for October 28, 1883, reads: " Baptized about this time by Father ,"28 and a note on the back cover of the same diary reads: " Thank God heartily for all His great mercies during a.d. 1883 and most of all for bringing me to the true Church." The circumstances connected with McCreight's change of religion are somewhat obscure. According to Bishop Hills the change came as a great surprise and shock. On August 31,1883, the bishop received a letter from McCreight "showing great interest in the Church of England and offering $50 subscription."29 On September 9 the bishop noted that McCreight was absent from church. On September 21 came the warning that something was wrong, for the bishop noted that McCreight— Was at Church this Friday evening and came into vestry after service. Said he wished to speak to me upon a very important subject. He seemed much excited. Said he had doubts whether the Church of England was a Church at all. Got doctrines from Parliament. Anything could be taught. Baptismal regeneration not a necessary doctrine. Decision on Gorham case shewed this. Could not suppose when Our Lord said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, that he meant his Church to be a creation of the State. Said he had been reading the Roman Catholic answer to Littledale's reasons, but had not seen Littledale's book. Could I lend it to him. Said he had been reading " Ellery" (I think) he must read both sides. He had arrived at a negative (I suppose that the Church of England was not a Church) but had not yet reached the affirmative (I suppose as to I used a few obvious arguments. He showed ignorance of the controversy and I promised to send him books.30 (27) Ibid., under date April 17,1884. (28) J. F. McCreight Diary, 1883, MS., Archives of B.C. Unfortunately the name of the priest is undecipherable. (29) The following details are i Bishop Hills and now preserved ii Columbia, Victoria, B.C. (30) Ibid. 306 Patricia M. Johnson. October Further correspondence followed, the bishop trying to help McCreight to study the whole matter, McCreight merely acknowledging the letters. By November it was known that McCreight had been received into the Roman Catholic Church and the bishop upbraided him: " Either you were a hypocrite for some time past which I cannot believe or you were rashly precipitant. The least to be expected, considering our relations, was that you wd. have communicated your doubts and sought quiet discussion. . . ."31 The whole subject of McCreight's conversion to Roman Catholicism is an interesting one, for it shows most clearly many sides of his character. It was obvious that the Cridge episode and his own part in it would be an important phase in McCreight's spiritual life. It has been mentioned that McCreight favoured ritualism and so-called "high church practices"— perhaps not a very far step from the Roman Catholic Church. Again it can be seen that McCreight stood for authority, for discipline, for absolutism in belief. The Cridge revolt would seriously challenge the authority of the Anglican Church—it could certainly make a man doubt whether that authority could be maintained. The Roman Catholic Church would permit of no such defection. In its confines, authority would be absolute, faith unwavering. To a man of McCreight's temperament, the answer seems obvious. Shaken in his respect for the authority of his church, leaning toward practices not popular with it, and, above all, driven by a clear, lucid mind and a relentless conscience, he could not fail to doubt, then to question. The doubts and questions must have tormented him exceedingly, and he could not put them by. Slowly, strongly, uncompromisingly he would work out a formula, then he would take a definite stand. He was a man who must choose one way or the other—a doubtful position was of no use to him. Finally he decided to leave a church which could no longer satisfy him—it would have been strange had he not done so. Great stress has been put on the personal factors that encouraged him to enter the Roman Catholic Church. This takes the story of McCreight to the Cariboo country, where he lived between 1880 and 1883. In the little town of Richfield there was only a Roman Catholic church administered by the priests of St. (31) Ibid. 1948 McCreight and the Church. 307 Joseph's Mission at 150-Mile House. Of these priests, the most outstanding was Rev. Father J. McGuckin, O.M.I. He had been sent to establish a mission near Williams Lake in 1869,82 and he had been most successful in his work amongst the Indians. During the period that McCreight was in the Cariboo, Father McGuckin was actively at work in the vicinity. He was, apparently, a scholarly man, but with great energy and executive ability. It is known that he later became president of Ottawa College—so he must have been a man of learning and character. It is probable that McCreight felt lonely during his stay in the Cariboo. In a letter to Judge H. P. P. Crease, written in November, 1881, he deplored " the useless nature" of his life, but at the same time went on to say: " Meanwhile I can be of use in getting a clergyman for the people."88 In January, 1882, he mentioned Charles Blanchard, the Anglican clergyman from Barkerville. Apparently his interest in Roman Catholicism became stronger after that time. There is every reason to believe that the isolated life and McGuckin's personality would be factors in leading McCreight to study the new faith and finally to adopt it. The fact that Father McGuckin's home church was St. Peter's in New Westminster34 is perhaps significant. The contacts would be maintained when McCreight came to live in New Westminster in November, 1883. The only other mention of Father McGuckin comes in 1897, a month after McCreight's retirement, when the British Columbian announced that Father McGuckin " for many years a resident of this city but now president of Ottawa College "had broken down in health and was reported to be dying.86 The point is often made that McCreight was a very ardent Roman Catholic, almost to the point of bigotry. This is natural, considering his type of mind. Once he had made a change, once he had accepted the new faith, he would cleave to it with all the (32) A. G. Morice, History of the Catholic Church in Western Canada, Toronto, 1910, Vol. II, passim. (33) J. F. McCreight to H. P. P. Crease, November 26, 1881, MS., Archives of B.C. (34) This church was located at the corner of Columbia and Blackwood Streets. It was later burnt down, and the present church is of more recent (35) New Westminster British Columbian, December 11,1897. J 308 Patricia M. Johnson. October strength of a concentrated personality. McCreight did nothing by halves, he desired to be exactly right. It is claimed that his conscience troubled him owing to his strong religious convictions, a fact which is certainly in keeping with his character. In spite of his religious views, he continued to be extremely impartial in his work. There never was an occasion where it could be suspected that his judgment was swayed by his religious views. Dr. R. L. Reid quotes one case to which the Roman Catholic convent at New Westminster was a party and McCreight's decision, as Judge, was against the convent. "He regretted the necessity, but as he told the registrar of the Court, also a member of the same church,' I know the Mother Superior will be very angry at me, but the law is the law and must be obeyed, no matter whose feelings are hurt.' "86 After McCreight retired in 1897, he spent some time in Rome. By 1909 he was established in Hastings, England, near the Pious Society of Mission's hostel for aged men—many of them elderly priests. That he was still closely associated with the Roman Catholic Church is shown by his will, originally drawn up on August 20, 1909. The executors who were appointed included two priests, Rev. Father Dominic Crescitelli, rector of the Roman Catholic Church, High Street, Hastings, and Rev. Father John Davis, High Street, Hastings (probably the address of the hostel). The third executor was a solicitor, Frederick George Manley Wetherfield, Gresham Building, London. In a codicil of June 20,1911, the latter was replaced by Miss Elizabeth Fisher, 85 High Street, Hastings—the address at which McCreight himself resided.87 The bequests of the original will, apart from those to his two sisters and to the four daughters of Mrs. Fisher, included £50 to Rev. Father Crescitelli and a similar amount to Rev. Father Davis. Then there were bequests of £100 each to the Superior of the Convent of Notre Dame des Missions (The Hermitage, The Croft, Hastings) and to the Superior of the Convent of Marie (36) R. L. Reid, " R.W. Bro. John Foster McCreight," Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge A.F. and A.M. of British Columbia, 70th Annual Communication, Vancouver, 1941, p. 174. (37) By the same codicil, Wetherfield's legacy was reduced from £150 to £50. 1948 McCreight and the Church. 309 Reparatrice (Hastings Lodge, Old London Road, Hastings), with a stipulation that the money " be applied in each instance as in the past."88 In memory of his religious connections in British Columbia, he left £100 to the Roman Catholic Bishop of New Westminster " to be applied for the benefit of the Roman Catholic Church as the Bishop shall think fit." A codicil of June 19,1911, willed £50 to the Rev. Father Bernard McCoul of the Roman Catholic Church, High Street, Hastings. All remaining property, "real and personal, estate and effects," was left to Rev. Fathers Crescitelli and Davis for the reduction of the debt existing on the Roman Catholic Church, High Street, Hastings, or otherwise exclusively for its benefit. McCreight's estate amounted to £3,619 when all other legacies had been paid, so, taking death duties into account, the church at Hastings probably received over £2,000. Patricia M. Johnson. Ladner, B.C. (38) The present rector of the Roman Catholic Church in Hastings, Rev. H. Treacy, P.S.M., in a letter to the author, dated February 20,1947, states: " He [McCreight] paid for the heating of the church in winter. At the Convent of the Reparatrice Nuns he converted part of it, which was formerly a Hydro Baths, into a Club room for Catholic Women's organizations. He was most generous to the poor." NOTES AND COMMENTS. GEORGE M. WRONG: 1860-1948. The death occurred in Toronto during the summer of Professor George MacKinnon Wrong. He was the last survivor of a notable group of Canadian historians who flourished during the early years of this century. Prom 1895 to 1927 he was professor of history in the University of Toronto. His predecessor, Sir Daniel Wilson, president of the university, had been appointed to the combined chair of history and English literature in 1853. During his early years Professor Wrong worked alone, but gradually he built up a well-staffed and efficient department, manned, in the main, by his former students, most of whom had continued their studies at Oxford. George M. Wrong was a Canadian, born in Gravesend, Ontario, in 1860. His father's family was United Empire Loyalist, his mother was Highland Scottish. After his early schooling in Aylmer and a brief business training in Toronto, George Wrong decided to enter the Anglican ministry; he enrolled in arts in University College, Toronto, and in theology at Wycliffe College. Although he was admitted to Holy orders he does not seem to have ever been placed in charge of a parish. He often, however, conducted services at his summer home at Murray Bay, Quebec. His chief interest was in historical study. Prom 1883 to 1892 he lectured on church history at Wycliffe College. His marriage to Sophie Blake, daughter of the Honourable Edward Blake, sometime leader of the Liberal party, brought him into closer touch with public affairs. He was a staunch Liberal, but he never paraded his political opinions. In 1892 he was appointed lecturer in history at Toronto. The same year witnessed the publication of his first book, The Crusade of 1383, material for which he had gathered in England, especially in Oxford where he worked under the direction of Reginald Lane Poole. Oxford enthralled him, and he modelled much of his instruction in Toronto after the Oxford Honours School of Modern History. Although well known as an author, it was probably as a teacher that Professor Wrong accomplished his greatest and most enduring work. He was notable as a lecturer and he was also a keen critic of style. He introduced into Toronto the Oxford system of tutorial instruction, and no one who.has read essays to him will ever forget his searching, though kindly, criticisms. His students are to be found in many Canadian and American universities. In 1939 his former colleagues and students presented him with a volume of Essays in Canadian History; of the sixteen contributors, ten were former students, eight of them members of the Department of History in the University of Toronto, and the other two heads of departments in their respective universities. For three years, from 1922 to 1925, all the members of the Department of History of the University of British Columbia were former pupils of Professor Wrong. 312 Notes and Comments. October If he had been asked what he considered his greatest achievement, Professor Wrong would probably have referred to the Review of Historical Publications relating to Canada which he started in 1896. In 1920 it was merged into the newly established Canadian Historical Review. It is interesting to note that all the editors of this publication have, to date, been his For over thirty years Professor Wrong published books, articles, and reviews in the field of Canadian history. He was much interested in French Canada and was scrupulously fair to the French-Canadians. His Rise and Fall of New France is one of his best-known books. He was widely known and respected in the United States, so much so that when the Chronicles of America series was being planned he was asked to write on " Washington and His Comrades in Arms." His work was also favourably known in Great Britain, and for many years he was one of the honorary vice-presidents of the Royal Historical Society. His literary style was good and his books are most readable. His critics have claimed that he cared more for style than for research, but this is not altogether just. He did make use of source material, a good example is his volume The Fall of Canada, but he did not haunt the Public Archives in Ottawa with the steady assiduity of some of his contemporaries and successors. Nonetheless, he did inspire in his students a love of history. His death, at the advanced age of 88, is in a very real sense the end of an era. He built up a large department at the University of Toronto and he wrote many books, including some valuable high-school text-books. But he is chiefly remembered by his old students as a great teacher. He is gone, but his work lives after him. Walter N. Sage. Vancouver, B.C. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Victoria Section. The fall sessions of the Victoria Section opened with a meeting in the Provincial Library on Tuesday evening, October 19. The speaker on this occasion was Mr. George A. Hardy, botanist on the staff of the Provincial Museum, who chose as his subject The History and Botany of the Jordan Meadows. Mr. Hardy traced the early history of this area from the time of the naming of the Jordan River by the Spaniards down to the opening of the British Columbia Electric Company's power-site on the river in 1912. There had been some interest in the region at the time of the Leech River gold excitement in the 1860's and again in 1883 when surveys were being undertaken for the island railway, but the first permanent settler, George Weeks, did not arrive until 1887,' and incidentally his title deeds were not delivered until 1910. Conditions for settlement were not good, and as a result the area to-day remains comparatively untouched and is of great interest to natural historians. Mr. Hardy showed a splendid series of slides to illustrate the district under consideration. 1948 Notes and Comments. 313 Vancouver Section. The final meeting of the spring season of the Vancouver Section was held in the Hotel Grosvenor on Tuesday evening, June 1, when Mr. Henry Cas- tillou spoke on Prehistoric Man in North and South America. By vocation a lawyer, but by avocation an enthusiastic anthropologist and archaeologist, Mr. Castillou brought a refreshing enthusiasm into his lecture, which dealt with the location in time and place of many of the famed anthropological discoveries, including Heidelberg man, Pekin man, Java man, Sandia man, and Folsom man. While many of his listeners may not long remember the technical details of a very excellent address, they will not forget his advice: " If you would free yourself from the worries, frustrations, and trivialities of this disturbed age and see things in their right perspective, get the anthropological and archaeological bug and experience the rare satisfaction that comes with the discovery of an untouched midden or an unentered cave." The Section also noted, with regret, the passing of Rev. James Henry White, D.D., in his ninety-fourth year. Dr. White had lived for nearly ninety years in British Columbia, having come as a young boy to the then colony when his father, Rev. Edward White, established the first Methodist church in New Westminster in 1860. So interested was the Section in Mr. Castillou's address in June that he made a return appearance before the Section on Tuesday evening, October 26, at a meeting held in the Grosvenor Hotel. This time dealing more specifically with Traces of Prehistoric Man in British Columbia, Mr. Castillou was able to draw upon his own wide experience as an amateur anthropologist. So successfully did he interest the Section that a resolution was adopted urging the Council of the Provincial body of the British Columbia Historical Association to undertake by means of a questionnaire an archaeological census of the Province. NEW DOMINION ARCHIVIST. The announcement, early in September, of the appointment of Dr. W. Kaye Lamb, Librarian of the University of British Columbia and formerly Provincial Librarian and Archivist, to succeed Dr. Gustave Lanctot as Dominion Archivist was received with mixed feelings in British Columbia. Naturally we are proud that a native son of this Province and one who has made so considerable a contribution to historiography in the Pacific Northwest should be so chosen, but at the same time we are saddened by the realization of the loss we are sustaining in losing the close contact with so staunch a friend of the British Columbia Historical Association and this Quarterly. 'Dr. Lamb goes to Ottawa with the backing of an enviable reputation in the historical field. Largely through his zeal the British Columbia Historical Association was reorganized shortly after his appointment in 1936 as Provincial Librarian and Archivist, and the British Columbia Historical Quarterly came into being. For its first ten years Dr. Lamb was its editor and set a standard of achievement and publication that is largely responsible for the high position this journal holds in the field of historical serials. 314 Notes and Comments. A frequent contributor to many historical publications, he will long be remembered for his scholarly introduction to the three volumes of McLough- lin's Fort Vancouver Letters published jointly by the Hudson's Bay Record Society and the Champlain Society. Great things may be expected from Dr. Lamb in his new and broader field of action. The good wishes of this association are tendered to him, and we are philosophical enough to believe that our loss is a national gain. CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. George B. White, M.A., immediate past president of the main body of the British Columbia Historical Association, is a native son of this Province and on the teaching staff of the Vancouver Technical School. Sydney G. Pettit, M.A., is assistant professor of history and sociology of Victoria College in affiliation with the University of British Columbia. Patricia M. Johnson, M.A., is on the teaching staff of the Ladner Junior- Senior High School, Ladner, B.C. Walter N. Sage, Ph.D., is head of the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. George F. G. Stanley, Ph.D., is the author of The Birth of Western Canada and a professor in the Department of History, University of British Columbia, and winner this year of a Guggenheim Fellowship. F. H. Soward, B.Litt., is past president of the Canadian Historical Association and director of International Studies and professor of history at the University of British Columbia. J. W. Eastham, formerly botanist and plant pathologist of the British Columbia Department of Agriculture, is an authority on the history of botany and botanists in this Province. THE NORTHWEST BOOKSHELF. Douglas of the Fir, a Biography of David Douglas, Botanist. By A. G. Harvey. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1947. Pp. x, 290. Maps, ill. $5. A. D. Rodgers, writing recently on the history of botany in America, observes that "the number of really great North American botanical explorers is not many: David Douglas, Thomas Drummond, Thomas Nut- tall, John Charles Fremont and [C. C] Parry." The abilities and achievements which entitle a man who died at the early age of 35 to be numbered among this select few may be expected to excite the inquiring admiration of workers in the same field, but do not necessarily make him a figure of wide or popular interest. Douglas, however, was a many-sided character, who neglected nothing that-came within his field of view, and both the circumstances of his life and the geographical region in which he pioneered should make a wide appeal to citizens of the Pacific Northwest. He was the first white man, other than a fur-trader, to explore the hinterland of the Pacific slope, while his association with the chief timber tree of the region has made his name almost a household word. The literature on Douglas is widely scattered in publications originating in Great Britain, North America, and Hawaii. Many of these are scientific and other journals of limited circulation, long out of print, and only to be found in the larger libraries. Probably the best-known and most accessible is the Journal kept by David Douglas during his travels in North America, published in 1914 by the Royal Horticultural Society. Presumably the edition was a small one, for it was soon out of print. In addition to the published material, the author has had access to much unpublished matter in the archives of learned societies, the Hudson's Bay Company, and other institutions, and has supplemented this by wide correspondence. As the fruit of these researches, we have now the first full-length biography of Douglas—a well-written narrative, not too technical for the general reader, with an exceedingly full documentation for the historical and botanical student. The traits which shaped Douglas' career revealed themselves at an early age in an exceptionally strong love of natural history and an outdoor life. The son of a working stone-mason, his educational opportunities were limited, and he left school at 10 or 11 years of age. His father, an intelligent man of strong character, having observed his son's love of plants, secured employment for him in the neighbouring famous gardens of Scone Palace. Here he served an apprenticeship of seven years, winning the approbation of the head gardener. Two years later he joined the garden staff of the Glasgow Botanical Gardens. This was one of the landmarks of his life, as his abilities and zeal, as both gardener and botanist, attracted the notice of Dr. (later Sir) W. J. Hooker, regius professor of botany in the University. In 1823, at the age of 24, he was appointed, on the recom- J 316 The Northwest Bookshelf. October mendation of Hooker, to a position as botanical collector for the Horticultural Society of London. Almost at once he was sent on a mission to the Eastern United States and Upper Canada to obtain such varieties of fruit- trees as were new to Britain, as well as vegetables and any other plants of interest. The voyage from Liverpool to New York took fifty-nine days, and four months were spent collecting material. This mission was " a success beyond expectation." Douglas' qualifications having been established, arrangements were now made with the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company for the botanical explorations of the Pacific slope, on which his fame rests. On April 12,1825, he landed at Port George (Astoria), accompanied by Dr. John Scouler, a fellow passenger, after a voyage of over eight months. The story of his wanderings in the next two years is given in detail, and the author has been at pains to help the reader to follow them by giving the modern names of rivers and the settlements which have sprung up in what was then an aboriginal wilderness. These pages contain many names well known to students of the fur trade, for Douglas met many of the chief men of the Hudson's Bay Company, the posts being his only source of supplies and his only contact with civilization. He seems to have got on well with them, even with the redoubtable Peter Skene Ogden, whose later views on scientific collectors are given in an amusing and revealing note: "it would not be good policy not to treat them politely, they are a perfect nuisance." Douglas' relations with the Indians, sometimes his only companions and who dubbed him the " Grass Man," were also good, although there were occasions when hostilities were narrowly averted. The collections he had sent home had delighted his patrons and justified the expedition. After two years of fatigue, hardships, often near-starvation, and incessant anxiety over his collections, and having covered over 7,000 miles in his wanderings, Douglas left Fort Vancouver, March 20, 1827, with the fur brigade on the long arduous journey overland to Hudson Bay, arriving in England on October 11. The total cost of the expedition to the society, including Douglas' salary, was under £400. A chapter is devoted to the Mount Brown and Mount Hooker controversy, and the author's conclusion is that Douglas' error was almost entirely due to his having accepted an excessive height for the pass itself—11,000 feet as opposed to the true height of 5,571 feet—from information given him by those better equipped for making observations than himself. The author finds no evidence of Douglas having reached Kootenay Lake on any of his expeditions, and that oft-repeated story of his being the original discoverer of the lode of the Bluebell mine has no foundation in fact. The story of the next two years in London is based to a considerable extent on letters and unpublished material and contains much that is new to this reviewer. Douglas was received with acclaim and honours in the scientific world, but London life soon irked him. Here, for the first time, he appears in a somewhat unfavourable aspect, showing irascibility and petulance and a tendency to depreciatory comment on his contemporaries. As the author points out, however, there were extenuating circumstances. To be lionized by society hostesses and to associate with peers and notables 1948 The Northwest Bookshelf. 317 while £ not as well paid as the Society's porter " must have been embarrassing. Also there seemed to be no permanent position in sight. However, being retained on the society's pay-roll, albeit grudgingly, enabled him to work at his collections and to publish papers which enhanced his reputation as a man of science and not merely as a collector. These mental stresses were resolved when the society decided to send him once more to the Pacific Coast. This time the Colonial Office and the Hudson's Bay Company were also co-sponsors. Edward Sabine, secretary of the Royal Society, instructed him in the methods of determining latitude and longitude and magnetic data. He appears to have been so impressed with the possibilities of his pupil that he exceeded the authorization of the Colonial Office in the cost of instruments furnished Douglas, a matter which will be referred to again. On June 3, 1830, Douglas arrived once more on the Columbia, but before the end of the year moved on to California, where plant collecting had only been done at a few points along the coast. His collections during nineteen months here were very rich. Hooker said, " I think I scarcely ever in a collection of such an extent saw so much that is new and rare." It is to be noted, however, that the society was much less enthusiastic. George Bentham, who had succeeded Sabine as secretary, wrote to Hooker "... for the interest of the Society, that last expedition has been generally so much less productive than the former, that it may be a matter of doubt whether it is worth the Society's while in the present state of its finances, to urge his continuing in their service at the same rate of expenditure as hitherto." Be it noted that Douglas' salary at that time was only £120 a year and the Colonial Office had agreed to pay most of his other expenses. In this matter, Bentham was no doubt writing as a horticulturist and not as a botanist. Although central and southern California may have been a virgin paradise for the botanist, it is unlikely that a large proportion of its plants -ritish gardens. With Douglas' resignation from the that Sabine had resigned, the botanist irist and thereafter all his plants went would thrive in B ritish g society's service, following t finally triumphed o\ er the h The story of the expedit wreck in the Frase River, plies, has been told by the pp. 221-241), and nly its ion to Port St. James and the disastrous ship- with the loss of journals, collections, and sup- author previously in this Quarterly (Vol. IV, results need be considered here. Previous to t, hardship had affected Douglas' health, and he had lost the sight of his right eye from repeated attacks of ophthalmia. Frayed nerves resulted in the quarrel with Samuel Black. After the disaster he wrote that it had " much broken my health and spirits." The prearranged journey home by Sitka, where Baron Wrangel was eagerly awaiting him, and Siberia was abandoned, and, in consequence, he sailed for the Sandwich Islands, from whence he expected to take a ship home. For a man in broken health and in a tropical climate, his activities during his stay of six months in the Islands are astonishing, and include not only extensive collections but the ascent of the three volcanoes of Hawaii, two over 13,000 feet high, and writing a paper on them, which was published posthumously. His tragic death in a bull-pit containing a trapped wild bull, July 12, 1833, caused not 318 The Northwest Bookshelf. October only profound regret but much discussion. The fact that the last person to see him alive and who gave him his final directions was an escaped convict from Botany Bay strengthened suspicions of foul play. In Appendix A the author reviews the evidence and inclines cautiously to the accident theory. In the final chapter, " In Tribute," the author assesses the character and achievements of Douglas. While his fame rests primarily on his botanical explorations, the stimulus which he gave to horticulture, with over 200 ornamental plants introduced to cultivation, was very great. His accounts of the primeval wilderness, now covered with populous and thriving communities, will always be of interest. But for sheer ill luck his discoveries in ornithology might have been second only to those in botany, but the long sea voyage, with two crossings of the Equator, together with the carelessness or indifference of consignees, ruined much of his collections. He published scientific papers on birds, mammals, and volcanoes. He made a long series of determinations of latitude and longitude and barometric and magnetic variations for the British Government, entailing a vast amount of tedious work. Where Douglas had done so much for so little material gain, it is a melancholy commentary on the ways of governments that for years after his death officials were still disputing over who should pay for the instruments supplied him by Sabine, and it is even hinted that these bills were never paid. The book is attractively produced and typographical errors are remarkably few—a missing second bracket to a scientific name on page 177 and Asplevium for Asplenium on page 218 being all noticed. In the event of a future edition, which it is hoped will be needed, the following might also be noted: On page 157 "the 200th centenary" of Dr. John Rae should surely be "the second centenary" or "the 200th anniversary"; on page 242 the name given by Lambert was Pinus taxifolia, based on Menzies' collection (given correctly on page 164). The fact that taxifolia is the oldest name is the reason why it was revived and Douglasii dropped by modern botanists in accordance with the rule of priority. On the plate which bears simply the caption " Mt. Hood," attention might be drawn to the fact that the striking plants in the foreground are the bear-grass (Xerophyllum tenax), mentioned on page 58 and in Appendix B, although the botanical name there given and also in the 1914 edition of the Journal is now restricted to the Atlantic species. This is an important work and fills a gap in both the historical and botanical literature of the Pacific slope. From the extent of the author's researches in all quarters which might possibly throw a ray of light on his subject, it will probably remain the definitive biography for many years to come and the indispensable starting-point for any future investigation. It is gratifying to know that it has been done by a citizen of this Province. In a Province of which lumbering is still the most important industry, and of which industry the Douglas fir has been, and will probably continue to be, the mainstay, it deserves to be widely read. One still meets occasionally persons intelligent and otherwise well informed who associate the Douglas fir with Sir James Douglas. This work should hasten their disappearance. J. W. Eastham. 1948 The Northwest Bookshelf. 319 Minutes of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1679-1684- Second Part, 1682- 1684. Edited by E. E. Rich, with an introduction by G. N. Clark. Toronto: The Champlain Society; and London: The Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1946. Pp. xlvii, 368, xv. This volume contains the second part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Minute Book for 1679-1684. The reader will find the minutes of 3 General Courts, 169 meetings of the Committee, and 23 sub-committee meetings. The appendices include copies of selected documents relating to the suit in the High Court of Admiralty brought by Charles Boone, John Davall & Company against the Hudson's Bay Company as a result of the detention of the "interloper" Expectation in Hudson Straits; copies of invoices of outward shipments to the company posts during 1684; and a number of biographical notes. The value of this documentary material is enhanced by a useful introduction by G. N. Clark, who has recently returned to Oxford as head of Oriel College from the Regius Chair of History at Cambridge. The editorial work has been 'competently done by E. E. Rich. The style and format of the volume are those which we have come to expect from all Champlain and Hudson's Bay Record Societies' publications. The years covered by this, the third of the published volumes of Hudson's Bay Company minutes, were years of challenge to the position and the monopolistic privileges of the company. Prom England, America, and France came interlopers seeking to share in the anticipated profits of trading into Hudson Bay. In 1682 Thomas Phipps, a former stockholder, and others fitted out the ketch Expectation (Richard Lucas, Master) for a trip to the Bay. On June 13 the minutes of the Committee read:— Ordered that Mr. Cradock and Mr. Hayward be desired immediately to hire a Coach for Windsor and repaire to his Highness Prince Rupert and acquainte him that this Committee is eertainely informed that there is a certaine Interloper now intended for Hudsons Bay and what charges they are at to place to the Compa. Acco. Apparently Prince Rupert and the Committee acted quickly, too quickly. The vessel which they fitted out to pursue the interloper was lost at sea owing to the lateness of the season, while the offending ship put back to England. In the following year, however, the Expectation was caught by Captain Nehemiah Walker and the company's vessel Diligence. The interlopers brought legal action against Walker and the company, but without success. Two of the interlopers went over to the company's side and exposed the designs of their employers. For these services they were both taken into the company's employ. The documents in Appendix A deal with the action brought against Walker and the company. They reveal something of the court procedure of the day and outline the arguments for and against the charter of 1670. One of the arguments advanced on behalf of the interlopers, that the company's monopoly was in conflict with certain undertakings given the Muscovy Company by " K. Phillip and Q. Mary in the first and second yeare of their Reigne of all the Lands territoryes dominions Isles Signoryes and other places now pretended unto by the said Hudsons Bay Companye," seems J 320 The Northwest Bookshelf. October not to have weighed very heavily with their lordships of the High Court of Admiralty. Interlopers from America were dealt with with equal vigour. On June 27,1683, Sir James Hayes, deputy governor of the company, was instructed by the Committee " to prepare a Letter of Attorney to impower some person att Boston in New England to Seize on Young Gillam Commander of the Batchelors Delight whome the Committee is informed went last yeare as an Interloper for Hudsons Bay and Capt. Zachariah Gillam and Capt. Ezbon Sandford if they Arrive there as allso to procure a letter from the Committee of Plantations to the Governr. in New England to be Assisting to such person as the Compa. shall imploy as their Attorney." The power of attorney referred to in this minute was given to Edward Randolph, Collector of His Majesty's Customs at Boston. Just what Randolph did is not revealed in later minutes, but on April 25, 1684, the Committee noted:— Mr. Randolph haveing done good Service for the Company in New England in Carring the Kings Letter to the Government there & Delivering the Same for which good Service it is ordered that Mr. Willm. Walker buy a peice of Plate to the vallue of £10 with the Companys armes upon it, and Sr. James Hayes be Desired to present the Same in Behalf e of the Compa. The French interlopers presented a more serious problem to the company, particularly as they were led by the two renegades Radisson and Groseilliers. The company protested to King Charles II against the French action, and the matter was taken up on a diplomatic level. There are few references to the actions of the Canadian fur-traders, but one of these is to be found in the minute for January 14, 1684, which stated:— Sr. James Hayes haveing Delivered into this Committee a coppy of the petition upon the notice of the French Invasion of Porte Nellson as allso a coppy of the memoriall that was sent from his Majesty thereupon to the French King as allso coppys of Affidavitts to prove the fact Ordered they be all entred in the Compa. bookes of Forreigne letters. The formal protest sent to Louis XIV from London, together with the instability of character of Radisson, produced the not so astonishing but still unexpected minute which appeared in the company's records for May 12, 1684:— Sr. James Hayes and Mr. Yoong made report to this Committe that Mr. Espirett Radison is Lately arrived from france and haveing tendered his Service to the Company that they had Caryed him to Windsor and presented him to our Governor His Royall Highness who the Said Mr. Radissons Protestation of fidellity to the Company for the future was pleased to advise he Should be received againe into faviour the Service of the Company as thereby they had made an agreement with him to receive him accordingly under the wages of £50 p. annum and the Beriefitt of haveing two Hundred pounds in the Capatall Stock of the Compa. dureing his Life' and good behaviour in the Service, and that he Should have £25 to Sett him out for the present expedition for Pt. Nelson And that his Brother Grossilier who is now in france if he comes over Shall have 20 s. a weeke for his Support dureing his abode here he Ingageing also to be faithfull to the Interest of the Company for the future. This was too much for one member of the Committee. The minute This Committee Judging it to be for the Interest and Service of the Company have approved thereof all Except Mr. Weymans. 1948 The Northwest Bookshelf. 321 During the period covered by this volume the company continued to hold its privileged position close to the Crown. On November 29, 1682, Prince Rupert died, and at a General Court held on January 3, 1683, H.R.H. the Duke of York was elected governor. Prince Rupert had always displayed a real interest in the affairs of the company. Of the thirteen General Courts held during his period as governor, no less than eleven were held at his lodgings in Spring Gardens. He was, moreover, the only governor for many years who personally signed the commissions and letters of instruction issued by the company. The Duke of York, for instance, refused to bother himself with such responsibilities, and arrangements had to be made for the secretary of the company to sign on the Duke's behalf. Let it not be imagined by the reader that he will be able to piece together a narrative of the general history of the Hudson's Bay Company from these minutes. They are, as one might expect, concerned chiefly with the details of the trade as seen by the members of the Committee in London, and it was fortunate that Professor Clark was able to supplement them by drawing upon the Wynne Papers at All Souls College, Oxford, and upon other materials in the Public Records Office and Somerset House in London. After all the names of the members of the Committee show them for what they were, not " adventurous, ruthless and far-sighted imperialists," but simply " hard working London business men, efficient enough in what they had been brought up to understand, but dependent on expert advice for everything outside it, and only learning by painful experience how to make their distant enterprise into a profitable investment" (p. xlvii). We must still await the publication of the inward and outward letters and the post journals to obtain a clear picture of the company's activities on the Bay. To the student of economic history these minutes must, however, be of the A point of special interest in these days of 2 and 3 per cent, returns on investments is the announcement of the first dividend paid by the Hudson's Bay Company. The minute for March 24,1684, reads:— The Committee haveing Sould all their Beaver doe resolve to make a dividend of £50 p. Ct. Ordered the Secretary bring in to the next Committee a Coppy of all the adventurers with their Stock and make out warrants for each adventurer upon one as allso Goldsmiths Payable the 23d of Aprill next, Except his Royal Highness the Duke of York which the Commite have resolved to Present him his Dividend in Gold. This large dividend has been taken by some writers as indicating tremendous profits on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company. It should be remembered, however, that the company had paid no dividend since its incorporation in 1670 and four more years were to pass before another was declared. Certain it is that the 50-per-cent. dividend bore little relation to the company's financial position in 1684. The company was, in fact, obliged to raise an overdraft of £600 and a loan of £1,000 at 6 per cent, in order to finance the outward voyage the year the dividend was paid. Whatever the reason, the effect of the inflated dividend seems to have been exhilarating—perhaps this in itself furnishes the necessary justification. Financial lean becomes an unappetizing diet to even the plumpest of investors when extended over too long a period. George P. G. Stanley. The Northwest Bookshelf. hi. ?i. With this year's Papers the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba has changed slightly its publication policy. Heretofore the papers published had been read at meetings during the previous season; now, however, the publication of papers read at earlier meetings when no annual publication existed has been undertaken, and the first two papers of the present series fall into this category. The late Most Rev. S. P. Matheson was a native son of Manitoba, having been born at Kildonan in 1852. " Floods at Red River" deals with the inundations of 1826, 1852, and 1861. The first flood is described by means of extracts from the letters of John Pritchard and the second from the published account of Bishop Anderson's Notes of the Flood. The description of the flood of 1861 is an eye-witness account, and, in addition, some reasons for the comparatively rare recurrence of floods in later years are set forth. The second paper, " Early Winnipeg Newspapers," is a sketch of the first seventy years of journalism in Manitoba by the late John Dafoe, for years editor of the Winnipeg Free Press. Mr. Dafoe's association with journalism in Winnipeg dated from 1886, and consequently he was able to draw upon personal knowledge for much of his narrative. The pioneer paper was the Nor'Wester, begun by William Coldwell and William Buckingham on December 28, 1859. Much interesting information regarding other early newspapers is provided, and numerous related and amusing anecdotes have been combined to make a most readable and informative article. J. W. Harris was long associated with the city of Winnipeg as assessment commissioner and city surveyor, and his diaries contain a wealth of information on the early development of the city. Mr. Percy Eaton in "An Early Manitoba Diary" has extracted many of the most significant portions and pieced them together for the years 1873-1922. At best, however, such treatment is rarely very satisfactory and serves only to arouse the reader's curiosity as to what other information the diaries might contain. Mrs. Irene Craig has contributed the most useful of the four papers. " Green Paint on the Prairies " is an account of the theatre in Winnipeg from 1866 to 1921. This deals primarily with amateur dramatics, although passing reference is made to the visit of early stock companies. A tremendous amount of research has gone into this paper, and those interested in early theatre movements will find it not only a valuable source, but also pleasant reading. As with the previous Papers, the brochure is very well -published, although in the opinion of this reviewer it does not quite measure up to the standard of the first two of the series. Willard E. Ireland. Victoria, B.C. 1948 The Northwest Bookshelf. 323 Canada, A Political and Social History. By Edgar Mclnnis. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Co., 1947. Pp. viii, 574. $6.60. For years contemporary Canadian historians were quite justly reproached with being so engrossed in their own researches that they failed to present to the general reader a perspective of the country as a whole. The result was that for some time the only one-volume text-book on Canadian history— and a good one—was the work of an American scholar, Carl Wittke. But times have changed, and in the past five years we have had a series of volumes by A. L. Burt (A Short History of Canada for Americans), D. G. Creighton (Dominion of the North), A. R. M. Lower (Colony to Nation), and most recently by Edgar Mclnnis. Each of them has profited from the really impressive amount of monographic material that has been produced in what may be called the Mackenzie King era of Canadian history. Still fresh after the seven years of toil upon his excellent history of the Second World War, Professor Mclnnis of the University of Toronto has produced a solid and careful survey of Canada's development, which he describes as "a study in political survival." Patience, compromise, and the deliberate choice of the unspectacular middle course, he suggests, have enabled Canadians to continue their efforts to build a distinctive society "in the face of numerous stresses, both internal and conflicting." Like Professor Lower, the author is no wide-eyed optimist expatiating on our great natural resources and wonderful future. In the very last sentence of the book, with reference to our role in world affairs, the author warns his readers that " The direct connection between internal structure and external policies had become clearer and more inescapable than ever; and Canada, which had reached mature stature among the nations of the world, must first prove her capacity to solve the internal difficulties that confronted her if she was to fulfill the destiny that now lay before her." In this reviewer's opinion, except in its splendid collection of prints and pictures, the volume scarcely lives up to its promise of being a social as well as a political history. It is not as provocative in its generalizations as Lower's, nor as attractively written as Creighton's. But for thoroughness, proportion, and analysis, it deserves high marks. The volume has an excellent select bibliography, good maps and index, and is notably free from errors of fact or careless proof-reading. F. H. Soward. Vancouver, B.C. The Great North West, A History. By Oscar Osburn Winther. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947. Pp. viii, 383, xxv. Maps, ill. $4.50. This is one of the best, if not the best, one-volume history of the Pacific Northwest The author, Professor Oscar 0. Winther of Indiana University, although born in Nebraska, grew up in Oregon and obtained his early education there. A graduate of the University of Oregon, he took his master's degree at Harvard and received his doctorate from Leland Stanford. He has been a member of the History Department of Indiana Univer- 324 The Northwest Bookshelf. sity since 1936. During 1945-46 he was a research fellow of the Huntington Library in California, and there he wrote most of the present volume. Professor Winther knows not only American sources, but British and especially Canadian as well. His long bibliography (pp. 346-383) is noteworthy for the large number of citations from recent Canadian books and periodicals. He tells the story of the Pacific Northwest clearly, simply, and with perspicacity. It is quite frankly a regional study, and its defects are those inherent in regional histories. It does not attempt to place the Great Northwest in its North American and world settings. Diplomatic history is rather slighted, and there is but little attempt to assess the formative influences of the Eastern and Middle Western States on the institutions of the Pacific Northwest. Nonetheless, this is a very sound piece of work. A British Columbian is at once struck by the author's fairness in treating both the North West and Hudson's Bay Companies. The first nine chapters, comprising nearly half the volume, tell the story of Old Oregon. Of these, three and a portion of three others deal with the British fur trade and British claims to Old Oregon. As might be expected, the American side of the case is, on the whole, stressed, but the British is by no means neglected. The Indians, too, receive sympathetic attention. The story of Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce followers is termed "lamentable." Professor Winther is just and generous in his treatment of controversial topics. More than half of the volume deals with the development of the Northwest Pacific States. The treatment is topical and lacks the cohesion of the earlier chapters. This is not really the author's fault. It illustrates a defect in historical scholarship observable in Canadian as well as American writings which deal with events of the last half to three-quarters of a century. Most of the solid research has been done in the earlier periods. All that an author has to do is to summarize fairly well-known sources. But in the later period, although much good spade-work has been done, research has not yet emerged from the monograph stage. In fact, even monographs are lacking, and the author has to fall back on periodicals and a mass of, as yet, undigested source material. On the whole, Professor Winther's economic chapters are more successful than those which deal with the political and cultural history of the area. This is perhaps to be expected. There are a few minor details on which the reviewer finds himself at variance with the author, but they are relatively unimportant For example, one might suppose that the old legend of David Thompson's so-called " race to the sea " had been sufficiently discredited that it would not appear again. But legends die hard. Professor Winther is to be congratulated upon adding this valuable volume to the ever-increasing historical literature of the Northwest Coast W. N. Sage. Vancouver, B.C. 326 IND EX. We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Organized October 31st, 1922. PATRON. His Honour Charles A. Banks, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. Hon. W. T. Straith Willard E. Ireland - George B. White - Margaret Ormsby - G. H. Stevens Madge Wolfenden - J. K. Nesbitt Honorary President. President. Past President. 1st Vice-President. 2nd Vice-President. Honorary Secretary. Honorary Treasurer. MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. Helen R. Boutilier. Burt R. Campbell. Muriel R. Cree. John Goodfellow. W. Kaye Lamb. B. A. McKelvie. W. N. Sage. L. S. Grant 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 January. All members in good standing receive the British Columbia Historical Quarterly without further charge. Correspondence and fees may be addressed to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. 223941 tit mm mm mm This book is for use in Library Building ONLY
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