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British Columbia History
British Columbia Historical Association
British Columbia Historical Quarterly: Vol. 08 (VIII), No. 4
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THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY OCTOBER, 1944 We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association. EDITOR. W. Kaye Lamb. The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. ASSOCIATE EDITOR. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. (On active service, R.C.A.F.) ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. Robie L. Reid, Vancouver. 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. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY " Any country worthy of a future should be interested in its past." Vol. VIII. Victoria, B.C., October, 1944. No. 4 CONTENTS. Page. "Steamboat 'Round the Bend ": American Steamers on the Fraser River in 1858. By Norman R. Hacking 255 Boom Days in Prince George: 1906-1913. By F. E. Runnalls 281 The Journal of John Work, 1885. Being an account of his voyage northward from the Columbia River to Fort Simpson and return in the brig " Lama," January- October, 1835. Part III. Edited by Henry Drummond Dee 307 Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry in British Columbia. A Checklist. Part II.: 1900-1910. By Marjorie C Holmes 319 Notes and Comments : British Columbia Historical Association 333 Local Historical Societies 335 Contributors to this Issue 336 The Northwest Bookshelf: The Letters of John McLoughlin, Second Series. By Burt Brown Barker 337 Van Alstyne: American Diplomacy in Action. By W. N. Sage 340 Index 343 The Commodore, that arrived at Esquimalt with the first large party of gold-seekers on April 25,1858. The Wilson G. Hunt, built for the Coney Island excursion trade in 1849, sent to California in 1850, and brought north to the Fraser in August, 1858. P^KS*^ J ^r tFdbufid, A. The Enterprise, brought from the Willamette River to the Fraser in August, 1858. " STEAMBOAT 'ROUND THE BEND." AMERICAN STEAMERS ON THE FRASER RIVER IN 1858. Westward expansion on the North American continent has been closely linked with river navigation. The early explorers, fur-traders, and gold-seekers all made use of the mighty network of navigable rivers and lakes that stretches from the Hudson to the Yukon and from the Mississippi to the Mackenzie. The success of Robert Fulton's pioneer steamboat Clermont on the Hudson in 1807 was the signal for the opening of a colourful era of river navigation, which Mark Twain immortalized in his Life on the Mississippi. Within a few years all the great rivers of America resounded to the churn of the paddle-wheel and the high-pitched screech of the steam-whistle. The heyday of the river steamer was the 1850's and '60's, when fabulous fortunes were being amassed, based on America's " manifest destiny " of westward expansion. Some of these fortunes, notably that of the Vanderbilts, were founded on the huge profits accruing from operation of river steamboats. It was a day of cut-throat competition and piratical business methods, in which the rewards often went to the most unscrupulous; nevertheless, the successful steamboat captain, no matter what his ethics, was usually acclaimed in pioneer communities with the hero-worship that is now reserved for great aviators and mass killers. River steamboats came relatively late to the Fraser. They were attracted thither by the gold fever that swept down the Pacific coast from the sand-bars of the river in the spring of 1858. Vessels had entered the river prior to this date, but none had ventured much beyond Fort Langley, about 30 miles from the mouth. The first vessel to enter the river was the schooner Cadboro, owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. In July, 1827, she crept slowly up-stream, carrying the men and equipment to build Fort Langley. The pioneer steamer on the river was another Hudson's Bay craft, the historic Beaver. She paid the first of her British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII., No. 4. 255 256 Norman R. Hacking. October many visits to the fort in the autumn of 1836. Twenty-two years passed before any vessel ventured much beyond that point; and when the time came, the steamers that churned the swift currents and shallows up to Fort Hope and Fort Yale flew the American flag. Fort Langley thus marked the dividing line between British and American pioneering on the river. Citizens of San Francisco, ever lured by the magic word " gold," first heard confirmation of rumours of gold on the Fraser River with the arrival of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's steamer Columbia from Puget Sound on April 3, 1858. The Washington Territory correspondent of the Daily Alta California, of San Francisco, writing from Olympia under date of March 26, said: " We have had great times since last I wrote you. We are crazy with the gold fever. Everybody that can get away is off to Frazer's river after gold. Mills and mines, ships and shops, roads and ranches, all contribute to swell the number of the sturdy miners. We have two steamers running on the sound . . . the Sea Bird and the Constitution. Two weeks ago, and the mails were carried round in a canoe. Now we have two steamers running opposition; both demanding the mails, entering protests, etc. Verily it is a feast or a famine."1 The only British steamers anywhere near at the time were the Beaver and her newer running-mate, the Otter, both owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. Of the two, the Beaver was absent on a trading cruise from which she did not return until the end of October. The Otter alone was therefore available for immediate service. She was at once placed on the run between Victoria and Fort Langley, but the traffic offering was far greater than she could possibly handle. Nor could she carry her passengers and freight to a point conveniently near to the gold diggings. The Otter was screw-driven, and had been designed for deep-sea service between coastal fur-trading posts. As a result she drew so much water that she could not ascend the Fraser above Fort Langley. What the trade demanded was a steamer that could go up at least another 70 miles, to the vicinity of Fort Hope. (1) Daily Alta California, San Francisco, April 4, 1858. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 257 Navigation of the Fraser was in law confined to British vessels, but with only the Otter available it was obvious that American steamers would have to be employed. Closest at hand were the Constitution and Sea Bird, on Puget Sound. The former was a wooden screw-steamer unsuitable for river navigation.2 She landed a 'few Puget Sound gold-seekers at Point Roberts, about 6 miles from the mouth of the Fraser, but before the excitement became intense her owner took her to San Francisco for repairs, where she arrived on April 14. The Sea Bird was controlled by Captain John T. Wright and his sons, who had been operating river and deep-sea craft out of San Francisco since 1849. Captain Wright was the first man to recognize the steamboat potentialities of the new gold-rush. As early as April 14, 1858, he was advertising in the San Francisco papers:— In consequence of the favorable news received from Frazer's River, the undersigned has been induced to put on the well known steamship Commodore, which will sail from Pacific Wharf on Tuesday Apr. 20, 1858, touching at Mendocino, Trinidad, Crescent City, Port Orford and Victoria, Vancouver's Island. Connecting with Steamship Sea Bird, at Port Townsend, for all ports on Puget Sound. J. T. Wright, Agent. 3 Prices of passage were $50 and $25. The steamer Commodore merits some mention, for she carried the first large party of gold-seekers from San Francisco to the Fraser River mines. She was a wooden sidewheel steamer, launched in 1850 at Williamsburgh, N.Y., as the Brother Jonathan, the name by which she was best known. Purchased in 1852 by Cornelius Vanderbilt, she operated on the Panama-San Francisco route until 1856. Captain Wright renamed her in 1858, but her career under his management was short.4 She nearly foundered in July of that year, and so unsavoury was (2) The Constitution, 167 feet long, was built in Philadelphia in 1850, and purchased by the Pacific Mail Company in 1851. She carried the Puget Sound mails for a short time in 1858 for Hunt and Scranton, but was sold by the U.S. Marshal at Olympia in March for $10,050 to Capt. A. B. Gove. See Puget Sound Herald, Steilacoom, March 19, 1858. (3) Daily Alta California, April 14, 1858. (4) As her new name would imply, Commodore Vanderbilt probably still had a financial interest in her. Captain Wright became the Vanderbilt agent in San Francisco in 1859. See Wheaton J. Lane, Commodore Vanderbilt. An Epic of the Steam Age, New York, 1942, p. 167. 258 Norman R. Hacking. October her reputation that she was sold to the California Steam Navigation Company and reverted to her original name. She continued to run on the Pacific coast as the Brother Jonathan until July 30, 1865, when she was wrecked near Crescent City with heavy loss of life.5 A contemporary account by a passenger in the Commodore describes graphically her momentous arrival. The good people of Victoria were at church when we arrived, and were perfectly astounded when they came out, and beheld between 400 and 500 Yankees, armed with revolvers and bowie knives. . . . The owner of the Commodore, Captain Wright, I have been told, has made arrangements with the Governor of Vancouver's Island, to take the passengers from his steamers at Victoria, and run up the Frazer river, landing them at Fort Langley, at the rate of five dollars per head, they finding themselves.6 But the plans of Wright were temporarily frustrated. James Douglas, Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island and Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, had concluded that British interests and the trading privileges of the Company could best be safeguarded by entering into a contract with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The latter, Douglas felt, " having steamers of every class . . . and a staff of experienced officers at their disposal" were " perhaps better qualified than any other parties " to give the necessary service on the Fraser.7 His proposal to the Pacific Mail Company was as follows:— 1st. That they should place steamers on the navigable route between this place [Victoria] and the Falls [i.e., the Canyon] of Fraser's River, 130 miles distant from its discharge into the Gulf of Georgia, for the transport of goods and passengers to that point. 2d. That they should carry the Hudson's Bay Company's goods into Fraser's River, and no other. 3d. That they carry no passengers except such as have taken out and paid for a gold mining license and permit from the Government of Vancouver's Island. 4th. That they pay to the Hudson's Bay Company, as compensation to them, at the rate of two dollars head money for each passenger carried into Fraser's River. (5) John H. Kemble, The Panama Route, Berkeley, 1943, p. 217. (6) Letter in Daily Alta California, May 6, 1858, dated Victoria, May 1, 1858. (7) Papers Relative to the Affairs of British Columbia, Part I., London, 1859, p. 12. (Douglas to the Colonial Secretary, May 19, 1858.) 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 259 5th. That they should otherwise be allowed to enjoy the whole of the profits on the river transport. 6th. That arrangement to continue in force for one year from this date, and no longer.s These terms the Pacific Mail Company undertook to accept or reject by May 24, 1858. Meanwhile the impatient passengers who arrived in the Commodore were forced to proceed from Victoria to the Fraser River by canoe and barge, although some chose to accept Wright's offer to proceed to Bellingham Bay or Point Roberts via the waiting Sea Bird. No one can accuse Douglas of neglecting the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company in drafting the proposed contract. Indeed, it may well have been because he safeguarded them too well that the Pacific Mail decided not to sign. If so, they were in good company, for the terms were eventually disallowed by the Colonial Office, on the grounds that they sought to enforce on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company rights and monopolies that the Company did not in actual fact possess.9 Meanwhile other enterprising steamboat owners were planning to take advantage of the new bonanza. Chief of these was the powerful California Steam Navigation Company, of San Francisco, which since 1854 had managed to maintain a virtual monopoly on San Francisco Bay and on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Conveniently at hand was the sidewheel steamer Surprise, which had been employed the previous winter running between San Francisco and San Diego. On May 27, 1858, she sailed from San Francisco for Victoria, under command of Captain Thomas Huntington, one of the best-known and most capable steamboat captains on the Pacific coast. " It was rumored on the streets yesterday that the steamer Surprise, advertised to sail for Puget Sound today," said the Alta California, " will make her first stop at Victoria, and if permission can be had that she will proceed direct to Frazer river, and as far as navigation will permit."10 The Surprise, which was to gain a measure of fame as the first vessel to ascend the Fraser River to Fort Hope, was a low- (8) Ibid. (9) Ibid., pp. 42-3. (The Colonial Secretary to Douglas, July 16, 1858. This dispatch did not reach Douglas until September.) (10) Daily Alta California, May 27, 1858. 260 Norman R. Hacking. October pressure sidewheel steamer, built in 1854 at Williamsburgh, N.Y., by Lawrence & Foulkes for a ship-owner named A. N. Brown. A vessel of 456 tons, she was 181.1 feet long, 27.9 feet wide, and had a depth of 9.6 feet.11 In 1856 she was sent via the Straits of Magellan to San Francisco, and there purchased by the watchful California Steam Navigation Company for $105,000, to frustrate competition.12 She arrived at Victoria on May 31, a strategic moment, for on June 3 Douglas decided to issue sufferances to American steamers, authorizing them to enter the Fraser River trade. Nominally these sufferances were for a single trip only, and were issued upon terms very similar to those in the proposed Pacific Mail contract.13 Actually sufferances issued to American steamers were renewed regularly— one might almost say automatically—and the original conditions proved so cumbersome and impracticable that even Douglas himself must have been glad to let them lapse. Two American steamers were available to take advantage of the first sufferances, the Surprise and Sea Bird. The former proved a lucky ship; the latter met with nothing but grief. The passengers in the Surprise from San Francisco included R. J. Vandewater, the agent of her owners. He was a prominent citizen who had previously been San Francisco agent for the Pacific Mail Company. Vandewater subsequently penned a lengthy account of the steamboat's first trip to Fort Hope, which appeared in the Daily Alta California.1* The little steamboat must have had good seagoing qualities, for Vandewater boasted that on her trip from San Francisco to Victoria she " behaved charmingly, and is easier in a seaway, than any ship I have ever been on board of." The fact that she (11) I am indebted to Mr. Elwin M. Eldredge, of New York, for these details. (12) See Data concerning the History of Steam Transportation on the Pacific Coast, prepared for the use of H. H. Bancroft. MS. in Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, Cal. (13) For the terms in detail see Papers Relative to the Affairs of British Columbia, Part I, pp. 18-19, and Daily Alta California, June 6, 1858. (14) " Narrative of a Trip up the Fraser River on the First Trip of the Steamer Surprise." Daily Alta California, June 27, 1858. Another correspondent described the same trip in the issue of June 20, 1858. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 261 had already made the sea voyage from New York, and subsequently made a voyage to China, is proof of this statement. She sailed from Esquimalt to Bellingham Bay on June 1, where she coaled. This was a mistake, for she should have first called at Port Townsend, which was the United States customs port for entry to Puget Sound. She was thus liable to seizure, and Captain Hyde of the U.S. revenue cutter Lane was ordered to seize her; but before she could be captured she returned to Port Townsend, and Vandewater settled the difficulty by paying a fine imposed by the collector of the port.15 After another brief call at Victoria for passengers she proceeded again to Whatcom, on Bellingham Bay, where she found the Sea Bird, also prepared to make the ascent of the river. The Surprise left Bellingham Bay at 7.15 a.m. on June 5, and got into the Fraser River at 1.30 p.m. She ran the 30 miles to Fort Langley in exactly four hours, finding at no place less than three fathoms of water. Near the mouth she passed the Otter, which was waiting for the wind and waves to abate so she could proceed to Victoria. After reporting to the British customs, the Surprise proceeded 16 miles above Fort Langley and anchored for the night. At the fort she took aboard an Indian pilot, named Speel-est. He joined the ship barefooted and in a blanket, but returned after his successful mission in a pilot-cloth suit, white hat, and calfskin boots, the proudest Indian in the valley. He was paid $160 for his services, in eight $20 gold pieces. Henceforth he was known as Captain John. The steamboat got under way at 3.30 a.m. on the 6th, reaching Fort Hope at 2 p.m., nearly out of fuel. The crew immediately set to work to cut wood for the return trip, but their exertions were complicated by the exuberance of the populace. " We cut and sawd large trees of pitch pine, but could only split them by blasting with powder," wrote Vandewater. " This kept up a succession of reports like sounding cannon, and set the populace all agog. The ' fire boat' was an event on the strength of which most of them got drunk." By the night of June 7, ten cords were aboard. The steamboat was ready to sail down the river at 4.30 a.m. on the 9th. " Beautifully did our craft take the helm, like a (15) Daily Alta California, June 26, 1858. 262 Norman R. Hacking. October mettled horse taking his bit, and in less than five minutes we were around the point, and below the first rapid," wrote Vandewater. " We were three hours and 45 minutes to Fort Langley, and we ran to the mouth of the river in 2V& hours." She reached Bellingham Bay at 7 p.m., and sailed at 3 p.m. on the 10th for Victoria, where she arrived at 8 p.m. Thus was concluded the first steamboat ascent of the Fraser River to Fort Hope. Her rival in the trade, the Sea Bird, was less suitable for the river. One reason was that she had less powerful engines, although she was a relatively large vessel of 450 tons burden, with a length of 225 feet.16 She had been brought from New York to San Francisco around the Horn in 1850-51. The voyage took no less than 240 days, and in the course of it she struck on the Island of San Martin, and had to be beached for repairs.17 She was intended for service on the Sacramento River, but was soon bought by the Wrights and employed mostly on the run between San Francisco and San Diego. In 1857 and again in 1858 she appeared on Puget Sound, and it was from there that she came to the Fraser, under the command of Captain Francis Connor. She started her initial trip up the river from Bellingham Bay on June 8.18 On arriving at Fort Langley she took aboard passengers and canoes for Fort Hope, and anchored for the night about 25 miles above Langley. Next day she found it hard going to stem the current, and was forced to anchor again 18 miles below Fort Hope and about 45 miles above Fort Langley. Here her impatient passengers were landed. After great puffing and straining the Sea Bird herself at last managed to get within a mile of Fort Hope, but was then forced to turn back. She made only one more trip, and succeeded in reaching Hope by the merest chance. " Her progress up," the Victoria Gazette states, " is reported to have been of the most curious character, sometimes the current would get the better of the battle and the steamer would drift astern despite herself."19 On June 24, on (16) Evening Picayune, San Francisco, July 31, 1851. (17) Ibid. (18) Daily Alta California, June 22, 1858. Letter from Victoria dated June 12. (19) Victoria Gazette, June 25, 1858. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 263 her downward trip, she grounded on Sea Bird Bar, a few miles below Hope, where she lay helpless until September 2, thereby losing the cream of the traffic to the mines. Before she could be refloated it was found necessary to hoist her up with jack- screws, build ways under her, and move her nearly 200 feet. Salvaging her was a notable achievement, and her owners considered themselves fortunate that she finally slid into deep water. Unhappily only five days later, on September 7, when bound from Victoria to Langley, she caught fire and had to be beached on Discovery Island, where she burned to the water's edge. Her engineer was unable to shut down the engines when he fled from the flames, and her wheels threshed the mud and water for half an hour before the fire cut the hull down close enough to fill and avert the imminent explosion. Two of those on board perished. The survivors included Dr. Carl Friesach, a Vienna-born professor, whose vivid account of the disaster was printed in this Quarterly three years ago.20 The wreck of the Sea Bird was sold at auction for $1,200. The purchaser succeeded in getting it afloat and it was towed into Victoria Harbour, where it was found that much of the machinery could be salvaged.21 The engines were eventually installed in the John T. Wright, built at Port Ludlow in 1859- 60.22 Thus like innumerable other early river-steamers, the Sea Bird herself vanished, but her engines went marching on. The Surprise continued to run successfully throughout the summer. The fare from Victoria to Fort Hope was $25 for passage, plus $5 for a mining licence. Freight was $4 to $7 a ton. Meals were a dollar each and berths a dollar a night.23 These rates, however, varied with the advent of competition. Much of her success must have been due to her captain. " Captain Huntington of the Surprise is the only steamboat man I ever knew who gave satisfaction to all his passengers," wrote one enthusiastic traveller to the Alta California. " His responsibili- (20) See Robie L. Reid (ed), "Two Narratives of the Fraser River Gold-rush," in British Columbia Historical Quarterly, V. (1941), pp. 223-4. (21) Victoria Gazette, October 15, 1858. (22) E. W. Wright (ed.), Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Portland, Oregon, 1895, p. 85. Hereafter cited as Lewis & Dryden. (23) Daily Alta California, July 16, 1858. 264 Norman R. Hacking. October ties and cares in this river, whose channel is not only unsounded, but is constantly changing, are great and arduous, but he performs all his duties and hospitalities, and the trust in his judgment and discretion is unbounded."24 In spite of her deficiencies the Surprise made a good-sized fortune for her owners. She made about fifteen return trips between Victoria and the Fraser, carrying hundreds of passengers on most of them. Her capacity, if crowded, was said to be about 400,25 but she was reported more than once to have sailed with 500 on board.26 She did not remain long on the river, for her owners decided to replace her by another California Steam Navigation Company steamer, the Wilson G. Hunt, which cleared from San Francisco for Victoria on July 23, 1858. The Surprise arrived back in the Bay on August 24, eighty hours from Victoria. She was employed thereabouts for a time and was afterwards sent to China by her speculative owners, and sold there in I860.27 What the Fraser River really required was a sternwheeler. As early as April 28 the Port Townsend correspondent of the Daily Alta California had written: " Some enterprising Californian ought to send a sternwheel boat up here, this is the place for her, you can carry 3V& feet 20 miles above Fort Langley, the year around."28 But the first sternwheeler on the Fraser came from the Columbia River, not the Sacramento. She was the Umatilla, which arrived at Victoria on July 13.29 Her appearance was an event of the first importance, for on the Fraser, as almost everywhere on the inland waters of western America, the sternwheeler proved to be the most practical type of vessel, admirably adapted to the dangers and vagaries encountered in shallow streams and treacherous currents. During the many years that river navigation was in its heyday the type changed'very little, whether on the Columbia, Fraser, Skeena, Stikine, or Yukon rivers. The (24) Ibid. (25) Victoria Gazette, July 3, 1858. (26) As for example in the Gazette for June 30, 1858. (27) Data Concerning the History of Steam Transportation on the Pacific Coast. MS. (28) Daily Alta California, May 4, 1858. (29) Victoria Gazette, July 14, 1858. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 265 Umatilla was the first of many sternwheelers on the Fraser, large and small, and it was only in comparatively recent years that they were displaced by more economical and modern means of transportation. The hulls of the sternwheelers were flat-bottomed, drawing, as a rule, no more than 2 feet of water. Their length and beam were proportionately very great. The bows were " shovel-nosed," and the hull ran aft quite straight to the huge wheel at the stern. At many of the river and lake landings there were no wharves, so the steamer simply ran her bow on to the bank, from which a plank could be laid ashore. It required only a reverse churn of her paddles to pull her back into midstream. In this free and easy fashion the sternwheelers went their way, taking things as they found them. It is no exaggeration to say that resourceful skippers could in times of necessity actually walk a steamer over a sand-bar on its paddle-wheel. The vessels were particularly adapted to pass between snags, and close to bluffs, where a side-wheel would be knocked away. The stern-wheel was generally from 18 to 24 feet in diameter, extending across the entire width of the boat. The individual paddles attached to it had a depth of about 18 inches; at no time was the wheel immersed any deeper. The boilers were well forward and the furnaces on a level with the main deck. They were generally quite open, in order to enable them to secure all the draught possible. Steam was conducted from the boilers to the engines, which were far astern, by long steam-pipes that made the main deck fearfully hot. Consequently the open spaces on this level were employed only for imperishable freight, and for Indians, Chinamen, and " niggers," who were not allowed to travel in the saloon. Above the main deck was the saloon deck, which was fitted up for passengers, generally with a few staterooms and a dining- room. The style of these furnishings varied with the type of passenger carried, the amount of competition on the river, and the age of the vessel. Sometimes yet another smaller deck was added, while surmounting everything was the pilot-house, placed at the forward extremity of the upper deck. The huge steering- wheel was connected with the rudders by means of chains running in grooves along the hurricane deck. 266 Norman R. Hacking. October The engines were of the high-pressure type, with consequent severe strain on the boilers. Steamboat laws were lax in the early days, and explosions took many lives, generally because of faulty boilers or excessive steam-pressures.80 Commander R. C. Mayne gives an excellent description of the joys and perils of navigation on the Fraser at this time in his well-known volume, Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island. He says:— There is something very exciting about it, certainly; struggling up the river against the stream, the greatest risk comes from the overcharged boilers giving way; but tearing down the current at some twelve or fourteen knots an hour,8i bumping over shoals, striking against snags, and shooting rapids, is far more animated work. Snags, which form the most dangerous impediment to the navigation of rivers like the Fraser, are, as may be known to most of my readers, large trees which, having been carried down the stream to a shallow spot, become firmly embedded there. As a rule, they float down the river heavy end first, so that when they stick the upper part of the trunk opposes the stream and is worn by it to a sharp point, in many cases sufficiently below the surface to be hidden from the steersman's eye. Going up against the current, therefore, at a comparatively slow pace, the steamer can afford to disregard the snags; for if she strikes on one, it is easy to shut off the steam and drift back from it. But spinning down the current, it is a very serious matter for one of these large unwieldy boats to become transfixed upon a well-rooted, obstinate snag. In some spots of the Fraser an awkward snag may equally impede the navigation of a steamer up or down the stream. One, known as the Umatilla Snag, from, a steamer of that name having first struck upon it, lies in a very narrow and rapid bend of the river, at which, from the swiftness of the current, the steamer is very liable to be caught and drifted back upon it, after, as she imagined, having safely passed it. Upon one occasion, when I was going up the river in the " Enterprise," no less than three times after we had struggled past the snag the strong current caught and swung us broadside across the stream; and it was only by running the vessel's bow into the muddy bank without a moment's hesitation, and holding her there by the nose, as it were, until she recovered breath to make another effort, that we escaped impalement. There was something very exciting in this struggle between the forces of steam and water. Each time, as we hung by the bank, the engineer might be heard below freshening his fires, and getting up as much steam as the boilers could, or might not, bear for the next effort. The wheel-house in these vessels is situated forward, so that there (30) This description is based in part on the account in R. Byron Johnson, Very Far West Indeed: A Few Rough Experiences on the North-west Pacific Coast, London, 1872, pp. 55-7, 63-6. (31) This is a curiously unnautical expression for a naval officer to use. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 267 is almost direct communication between it and the engine-room.82 By the helm stands the captain. " Ho! Frank," he hails down the tube, " how much steam have you? " " So many pounds," is Frank's reply. " Guess you must give her ten pounds more, or we shan't get past that infernal snag." And then more stoking is heard below, and the unpleasant feeling comes over the listener that the boilers lie just beneath his feet, and that, if anything should happen to them, there can be no doubt about his fate. But, presently, Frank's voice sounds again. " All ready, Cap'en: can't give her any more! " The skipper loses no time; " Stand by, then! " is his response. Then, to the men forward, who have made a rope fast to some stump on the bank to keep the boat from dropping off, " Let go! " and she falls off for a second or two; her bow cants out a little: " ting! ting! ting! " goes the engine-room bell, the signal for full speed ahead; every timber of the lightly built vessel trembles. We watch the trees on the bank eagerly to see if she moves ahead. Presently she drops a little, but her head is still kept up; then the stream catches her on one bow. " Stand by with the trip-pole! " is heard, and, as she swings round, " Trip! " is shouted from the wheel-house. Into the swift shallow water the heavy pole plunges, and perhaps she is brought up by it and run into the bank again; or, as probably, if the bottom should be hard and rocky, or the water deeper than was thought, away she flies down the river until she is brought up against the bank or across the snag. The perseverance of the Yankee skipper in overcoming these difficulties is certainly remarkable. Upon one occasion, after making four unsuccessful efforts to steam past this " Umatilla Snag," all the men had to be landed and track her past the dangerous spot. So further up it was found necessary to resort to the same tedious process, and the united strength of crew and passengers with difficulty got her over a few hundred yards in the space of two hours, " Frank " below in his engine-room cramming on all the steam he could to help us. Nor is the composure with which the captain meets and remedies an accident less remarkable. A supply of tarred blankets is always kept handy for service, and if a hole is stove in the steamer's bottom, the captain coolly runs her ashore on the nearest convenient shoal, jams as many blankets into the crevice as seem necessary, nails down a few boards over them, and continues his journey composedly. He is often reduced to very serious straits, no doubt, and is not at all particular in the use of means to master a difficulty. I was assured by a passenger in the " Enterprise " to Hope in 1859, that he saw the contents of a cask of bacon turned on to the fires when additional steam to pass a troublesome rapid was necessary.38 The Umatilla was not an imposing specimen of the sternwheeler, but she had the shallow draught and powerful engines that made the type so well adapted for the Fraser. She had (32) This should be boiler-room. The engines were aft. (33) R. C. Mayne, Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island, London, 1862, pp. 90-93. 268 Norman R. Hacking. October been built by Thompson & Coe on the Upper Columbia, near the Cascades, as the Venture, but set out on her trial trip with insufficient steam up, was caught in the swift currents, carried down through the rapids, and badly damaged.34 She was then purchased by the firm of Ainsworth, Leonard & Green, who repaired the hull, renamed her Umatilla, and dispatched her to Victoria in tow of the mail steamer Columbia, in order to partake of the lucrative Fraser River trade. Her length was 110 feet, and beam 22 feet.35 When light she drew 14 inches forward and 19 inches aft; loaded, her draught was 28 inches.36 Her only defect seems to have been her passenger accommodation, which at least one passenger found distinctly rough and ready: " It did not contain any cabins and even mattresses and blankets were lacking; the floor of the saloon was so covered with coal dust that it was impossible to lie down [for the night] without getting very dirty."37 On her first trip the Umatilla was commanded by one of her owners, Captain J. C. Ainsworth, who later made millions on the Columbia.38 The pilot was Captain Thomas Gladwell, who succeeded Ainsworth in command. On this trip the little vessel demonstrated her ability to cope with the Fraser's currents by reaching n,ot only Fort Hope but Fort Yale, the highest point on the river a steamer can go. An eye-witness account of her arrival at Yale on July 21 has survived, and deserves quotation :— On our return, about half-past noon, the town was thrown into a high state of excitement, upon hearing the report of a cannon and the screech- ings of a steam-whistle, and a rumor gaining circulation that a little stern- wheel steamer was on her way up the river. Everybody was soon on the lookout, and canoes were sent beyond the bend of the river, to ascertain the (34) She went over the falls on May 11, 1858. See Daily Alta California, May 23, 1858. (35) Lewis & Dryden, pp. 72-3, n. 48, for an account of the accident. Other dimensions were: depth of hold 4 feet 6 inches; engines, 14 by 48 inches. (36) Victoria Gazette, July 24,1858.' (37) The complaint was made by Dr. Freisach. See British Columbia Historical Quarterly, V. (1941), p. 224. (38) For a short biography of Captain Ainsworth (1822-93), who was later the moving spirit in the Oregon Steam .Navigation Company, see Lewis & Dryden, p. 90, n. 17. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 269 cause of the strange noises and the truth of the report. Soon we learned by the shoutings along the banks of the river and the continuous discharge of guns and pistols, that the report was true; whereupon, there was the greatest rejoicing and pleasure manifested by everyone, and powder was burnt amidst the wildest excitement. In a few minutes, the Umatilla—the pioneer steamboat on Fraser River above Fort Hope—made her first appearance to the people of Yale, and was warmly welcomed. Before her plank was shoved ashore, a number of men were clambering up her sides, eager to get aboard. The Indians, too, partook of the enthusiasm, and seemed delighted at—to them—the novel spectacle. She made the passage from Fort Hope to Fort Yale in five hours, one hour of which time she was aground, but without any accident. Immediately after arrival a dinner was prepared on board, and a number of the principal inhabitants invited to partake of it. After dinner, exactly at thirteen minutes past three o'clock, she started on her first down trip. Desiring to be one of the passengers of the first steamboat that ever penetrated above Fort Hope on her pioneer trip, I put my blankets aboard. We came down like " a streak of chain lightning," with a very light head of steam, being precisely fifty-one minutes on the way. On her upward passage, she was welcomed by the miners on the banks of the river with shouts of joy, and the firing of guns and pistols all along the route.39 Contemporary accounts state that the Umatilla reached Yale with her boiler pressure no higher than 70 lb., whereas she was designed for pressures as high as 120 lb. The return trip from Yale to Victoria was accomplished in sixteen hours, running time.40 On her second trip, instead of proceeding to Hope and Yale from Fort Langley, the Umatilla turned up the Harrison River, which joins the Fraser some distance below Hope, and explored Harrison Lake. Much attention was being given at this time to the development of a travel route to LiDooet, on the upper Fraser, by way of the chain of waterways beyond Harrison Lake, and the Umatilla's pioneer run attracted much interest. A special correspondent accompanied her, and a detailed description of her progress appeared in the Victoria Gazette. Eighty passengers were on board when she left Langley on Sunday, July 25.41 Some ten minutes inside the entrance from Fraser River, the word was passed to " wood up! " and the Umatilla was headed into a quiet little cove, (39) Alexander Begg, History of British Columbia, Toronto, 1894, p. 282. (40) Victoria Gazette, July 24, 1858. (41) The date is incorrectly given as July 26 in the Victoria Gazette, July 28, 1858. 270 Norman R. Hacking. October which was named after the boat, where all hands, passengers and all, sprang ashore with the alacrity of school boys, to cut and collect the required fuel. This cove is . . . backed by a dense fir and cedar forest whose defunct members furnished material for wood choppers and carriers for about an hour.42 Her fuel supply replenished, the Umatilla continued up the Harrison River into Harrison Lake. At nightfall she tied up to a snag, and the next morning completed the run to the head of the lake. We know that she made at least one more trip up the Harrison. The Gazette records that in August the Otter left Victoria carrying 260 men who had contracted to work on the Lillooet trail. Off Point Roberts she met the Umatilla, which took her passengers aboard, and carried them on to Harrison Lake.43 The Umatilla only spent about ten weeks on the Fraser, for not long after she arrived she was exchanged by her owners for the sternwheeler Maria. The reason for this exchange gives an insight into steamboat practices of the day. The Maria had been purchased by Lubbock Brothers from the California Steam Navigation Company, which had secured a monopoly on the Sacramento River by the process of buying up all the vessels that attempted to oppose them. These they sold occasionally for use on other rivers, with the stipulation that they should never be brought back to the Sacramento. By trading the Maria for the Umatilla, the owners of the former were able to return to the Sacramento and once more force the monopoly to buy them out. This practice was very common in the Pacific Northwest. Wherever there was a lucrative trade, some competitor would squeeze in with a worthless hulk, cut the rates, and force the original company to buy off the competition at an exorbitant price.44 The Maria was practically new, as she had been in service for only a little more than a year. She was 127 feet long, 24 (42) Victoria Gazette, July 28, 1858. See also Daily Alta California, August 2, 1858. (43) Ibid., August 11, 1858. (44) The Maria, for example, is said to have been bought off the Sacramento for $22,500, and sold for service elsewhere for $10,000. Victoria Gazette, July 21, 1858. 1944 . " STEAMBOAT 'ROUND THE BEND." 271 feet wide, and drew only 2 feet of water when carrying 75 tons of freight.45 Most of the river-steamers that had to brave the open sea in order to reach the Fraser were badly knocked about, but the Maria arrived in excellent condition, thanks to the ingenuity of Captain William M. Lubbock:— ... To carry out his plans he chartered the barge Sacramento, which he loaded to five feet draft with brick and coal. He then hauled the barge into position in the dock, sunk it and floated the Maria aboard, afterward lightening the barge and securing the tug Hercules to pump it out. Two masts were then stepped through the bottom of the steamer to the keelson of the barge, and the combination craft was schooner-rigged as a safeguard against accident to the tug which was to accompany her. The start from the Bay City [San Francisco] was made in tow of the Sacramento Transportation Company's tug Martin White, and in due course they reached Esquimalt, the only delay having been a week's lay-over at Port Orford during a spell of bad weather. On arrival at Esquimalt the masts were removed, the boat jacked up and repaired, and when all was in readiness the barge was sunk and the steamer floated.4^ The Maria left San Francisco on July 29. Before the end of August she was running on the Fraser. Governor Douglas and other Government and Hudson's Bay Company officials travelled in her to Fort Langley and Hope on one of her first trips.47 As sternwheelers frequently found the Strait of Georgia too rough for comfort and safety, she spent most of her time on the river itself, usually connecting with the Otter, which brought passengers and freight from Victoria to the mouth of the Fraser or to Fort Langley. The Umatilla's last round trip to the river ended at Victoria on October 2. Captain Gladwell was in command.48 In Esquimalt Harbour the barge Sacramento was waiting, and she was floated aboard and taken to California in the same fashion as the Maria had been brought north. Few steamers in the Northwest have had more " firsts " to their credit than the Umatilla. She was the first sternwheel steamer on the middle Columbia, the first steamer (even though unintentionally so) to go over the Cascades, the first steamer to (45) Details given when she was advertised for sale in the Victoria Gazette, October 21, 1858. (46) Lewis & Dryden, p. 74. (47) Victoria Gazette, August 31, 1858. (48) Ibid., October 5, 1858. 272 Norman R. Hacking. October reach Fort Yale, on the Fraser, and the first to explore Harrison River and Harrison Lake.49 The Wrights, who had brought the sidewheeler Sea Bird to the Fraser, knew as well as their rivals that a sternwheel steamer was much the best type of craft for the river. In July, about the time the Umatilla arrived, one of Captain Wright's sons, Captain Thomas Wright, went to Oregon and there purchased the sternwheeler Enterprise. To distinguish her from other vessels of the same name, several of which found their way to the Fraser, she was known ever after as " Tom Wright's Enterprise," after her famous owner and skipper. The Enterprise had been built in the fall of 1855 for the Willamette River trade, and ran between Oregon City and Cor- vallis until 1858. She was 115 feet long, 22 feet wide, and could carry 80 tons of freight on 26 inches of water.60 Captain Wright lined her over the falls of the Willamette, took her down the Columbia to Astoria, and started her for Victoria in tow of the mail steamer. The mouth of the Columbia was a dreaded spot in those days, and the Enterprise . . . was so terribly racked in crossing out that she began leaking, and it was only by the merest chance that they got her back into shallow water at Astoria before she sank.61 Having been raised and repaired, she tried again, and this time reached Victoria safely on August 19, in tow of the Pacific.52 The Enterprise was perhaps the best-known of all the early steamers on the Fraser, and she carried a substantial portion (49) Compare Lewis & Dryden, p. 72-3, n. 48. (50) Details given when she was advertised for sale in the Victoria Gazette, October 21, 1858. She had engines 12 by 48 inches. Lewis & Dryden, p. 56. (51) Lewis & Dryden, p. 57. (52) Victoria Gazette, August 21, 1858, p. 3. The Enterprise seems actually to have arrived on the night of August 19 (see ibid., news item on p. 2), but her formal entry in the port records was evidently dated August 20. According to Lewis & Dryden, p. 57, she was towed from Astoria by the mail steamer Pacific, which arrived at Esquimalt on the afternoon of the 19th (see ibid., August 20, 1858). If the Pacific cast off the Enterprise and left her to proceed under her own power as soon as she was safely within the Straits, this would account for the difference in their times of arrival. The point is of some interest, for if the Pacific (a Vanderbilt steamer) did tow the Enterprise, it would strengthen the suggestion that Vanderbilt and the Wrights were working together. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 273 of the traffic offering. Relatively comfortable accommodation and the popularity and resourcefulness of Captain Tom Wright contributed to that end. Like most of the sternwheelers, she was unsuitable for the more or less open water between Victoria and the river's mouth, and to serve that part of the route, and connect with her, the Wrights co-operated with the sidewheeler Wilson G. Hunt. The Hunt's long and colourful career began in New York, where she was built in 1849 for the Coney Island excursion trade. Only a few months after her completion it was decided to send her to California, where the gold-rush was in full swing. Carl D. Lane thus describes her voyage thither:— The Wilson G. Hunt left New York on March 3, 1850, in command of Captain G. W. Spall, and arrived at St. Georges, Bermuda, on Sunday, the 10th, in a wrecked condition—leaking, foremast gone, upper works torn to pieces,—having narrowly escaped foundering during a violent gale on the 8th and 9th. An immense sea struck her, sweeping away bulwarks, extinguished the fire, and killed a fireman. . . . After repairs had been made, she proceeded, but was obliged to put into other ports for minor repairs, finally arriving at Montevideo, where she laid for nearly three months waiting for a crew. The entire trip took 322 days.53 The Wilson G. Hunt was a good-sized steamer, 185 feet 6 inches long, 25 feet 6 inches wide, and of 468 tons gross. She had a " steeple " engine, with a 36-inch cylinder and a stroke of 108 inches. She reaped a fantastic harvest for her owners in California, where she was reputed to have cleared over a million dollars in one year in the Sacramento River trade.54 She came to British Columbia in August, 1858, under the command of Captain A. M. Burns. Her first venture in these waters was discouraging and she remained only two months. Trade had fallen off sharply, for by the late summer the first shallow claims had been pretty well worked out and the rich gold-deposits on the upper Fraser had not yet been uncovered. Hundreds of men were leaving the mines and a general exodus seemed imminent. On October 2—the same day the Umatilla arrived from her last trip to the Fraser—the Wilson G. Hunt ended what proved to be her final voyage of the year. On the 7th she sailed for San (53) Carl D. Lane, American Paddle Steamboats, New York, 1943, p. 86. Quoted by kind permission of the publishers, Coward-McCann, Inc. (54) Lewis & Dryden, p. 73. 274 Norman R. Hacking. October Francisco,55 Unlike the Umatilla, however, the Hunt was soon to return to British Columbia, and it will be of interest to summarize her later career here. She arrived back from the south in May, 1859, and was placed on the Puget Sound and Victoria run. In 1860 she was back on the route to the Fraser, under Captain H. H. Welch, and for a time paid well. Later in the year, because of declining trade, she was laid up at Victoria. After a year of idleness she was sent to the Columbia and sold to the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, for whom she coined money. She was rebuilt in Portland in 1865, and in 1869 returned to Puget Sound, at which time the Wrights had an interest in her. Later still she was sent back to San Francisco, where she was purchased very cheaply in 1877 by Captain John Irving, who brought her back to Victoria for the fourth time, registered her under the British flag, and placed her on the Victoria-New Westminster run. In 1881 she was sold to Joseph Spratt, of Victoria, who operated her in his East Coast Mail Line. In 1883 she was repurchased by Captain Irving's Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, in order to dispose of Spratt's competition. She soon sank at her dock, and the hulk was sold finally in 1890 to Cohn & Company, of San Francisco, who broke her up and burned her for scrap in Victoria. In September and early October of 1858 the outlook on the Fraser was dark. Although the Surprise, Umatilla, and Wilson G. Hunt had all been withdrawn, there was little enough trade left for the Otter, Maria, and Enterprise. In October both the Maria and Enterprise were advertised for sale, the price in each instance being $25,000.56 By the end of the month, however, things were looking up; the steamers were off the market and once more paying their way. Late in the season the river fell rapidly, hazards of navigation increased, and both the Maria and Enterprise suffered minor misfortunes. Upon one occasion the Maria grounded on a bar 3 miles below the Harrison River and remained stuck fast for ten days.57 Soon after this the Enterprise had a still more un- (55) Victoria Gazette, October 5 and 8, 1858. (56) Ibid., October 21, 1858. (57) Ibid., December 9 and 30, 1858. 1944 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend." 275 pleasant experience. She left Hope with 125 passengers, but after a few miles ice in the river made it impossible for her to proceed and she was frozen in. The plight of those on board was serious, as there were few provisions available. About a hundred persons decided to leave the steamer and continue the journey by land, and many of them suffered greatly from exposure. Meanwhile Captain Wright made every effort to work the vessel free, and after three days finally succeeded. The Enterprise thereupon came down the river blowing her whistle and firing guns to attract attention, and picked up all of her company that she could find.68 Several other vessels deserve mention in any chronicle of American steamers on the Fraser, however brief. One of these is the Julia Barclay, or Julia, as she was known for most of her career. She was " a very handsome craft," with a length of 145 feet and a beam of 25 feet,69 and was built at Port Gamble by a syndicate headed by Captain George Barclay. As she was the first steamer constructed on Puget Sound her launching on September 11, 1858, was a gala occasion.60 The Julia was also the first vessel expressly designed for service on the Fraser, but owing to the trade slump her owners decided to send her to the Columbia. She spent a few days at Victoria at the end of September, but cleared for Astoria on October l.61 She returned the next spring and ran for a few months from Victoria to Puget Sound ports and to New Westminster, which had by that time come into being on the Fraser. In April, 1860, she ran an exciting race across the Gulf of Georgia with the Hudson's Bay steamer Beaver. The old veteran arrived at New Westminster thirty-five minutes ahead of her new American rival, a considerable amount of money changing hands over the affair.62 Her owners must have felt the stigma of this defeat, for the same month she again cleared for the Columbia. She ran on that stream until 1872, when she was dismantled. Rumour has it (58) Ibid., December 18, 1858. (59) Ibid., September 28, 1858; also Lewis & Dryden, p. 74, n. 52. The Julia's depth of hold was 5 feet 7 inches, her engines were 16 by 72 inches, and her boiler was 33 feet long. (60) Victoria Gazette, September 15,1858; Lewis & Dryden, p. 72, n. 52. (61) Victoria Gazette, September 28, October 2, 1858. (62) Victoria Colonist, April 3, 1860. 276 Norman R. Hacking. October that she ended her days somewhat ingloriously as a pigsty in the boneyard at Portland.63 How many steamers started for the Fraser and failed to arrive we do not know, but the number included the Latona, another sternwheeler, that left San Francisco on August 3, 1858, in tow of the Santa Cruz. She suffered so much damage that she got no farther north than the mouth of the Columbia.64 The smallest vessel to complete the journey was the Ranger No. 2, Captain Hill, a steam launch some 40 feet long, that ran between Victoria and the river, weather permitting, in September and October.66 Diminutive in everything but name was the better- known Leviathan, built at Benicia, California, early in 1858. She was named Leviathan in honour of the original name of the famous Great Eastern, the greatest steamer in the world at that time, whose launching caused a world-wide sensation in 1858. The first arrival of the little Leviathan under steam power at San Francisco from nearby Benicia was described at length in the Daily Alta California:— Our harbor was honored yesterday [April 17, 1858], by the presence of the steamship Leviathan, (not of England, but of Benicia,) which vessel arrived at this place in a passage of 2 hours and 50 minutes, exceeding the average passage of our river boats, with a consumption of only 120 pounds of coal. Her dimensions are as follows: Length 51' 9"; beam, 10' 1"; depth 4' 2". She is schooner rigged, and presents quite a tasteful appearance, and is fitted with a vertical engine, connected by direct action with the shaft that turns a two-bladed propellor of 3' 4" in diameter. . . . The engines and boiler were built by the Pacific Mail S.S. Company's works at Benicia. . . . The hull is a fine specimen of the " clipper steamer " with hollow water lines, and a beautiful clearance, constructed by her owner, Mr. C. Allison of Benicia, who has devoted much time and attention to the (63) Lewis & Dryden, p. 74, n. 52. (64) Ibid., pp. 73-4; Victoria Gazette, August 11, 1858. The Latona was built at San Francisco for trade between San Francisco, Sacramento, and Red Bluff. Her principal owner was Captain E. J. Weeks. She made her first departure from San Francisco on April 15, 1857, arriving at Sacramento the next day. Sacramento Union, April 17, 1857. (65) Victoria Gazette, September 8, October 5, 1858; Lewis & Dryden, p. 73. The Ranger had been bought off the Sacramento River in April, 1858, by the ubiquitous California Steam Navigation Company. Sacramento Union, April 23, 1858. After her trips to the Fraser she ran to Puget Sound. She cleared from Victoria for Port Townsend on June 13, 1859. Victoria Colonist, June 15, 1859. 1944 " STEAMBOAT 'ROUND THE BEND." 277 screw propulsion of vessels as an auxiliary power, with a view to demonstrate the superiority of the screw over the paddle-wheel. With a consumption of coal not exceeding 40 pounds per hour, she attains a speed of 8 knots, and with the aid of sail has run 11% knots—a result in proportion to her size engine and draft, never before accomplished. Altogether she may be regarded as a success, of which her constructor and Mr. James Pollock, the builder of her engines, may well be proud.66 With the news of the Fraser River gold-rush the Leviathan was sent north on the deck of the steamer Panama in July, 1858. At that time she was owned by Messrs. Dall, French & Company. She was put afloat in Esquimalt Harbour on July 22, though not without a small misadventure. " From some oversight in adjusting the ropes by which her launch was regulated, the little boat slipped out of her fastenings while poised in the air and entered the water with a furious plunge. . . ."67 None the worse for this experience, she steamed around to Victoria on Sunday, July 25, firing her guns as a salute, which caused some sensation.68 She was ready for service a few days later, and was advertised as available " for towing Vessels, Lighters, or Barges."69 She was employed for a short time on the Langley and Puget Sound routes, under Captain Bulger. In the spring of 1859 she was sent to the Columbia, where she remained until 1864, when she returned to Victoria. There she was transferred to British registry and purchased as a yacht for His Excellency, Governor Seymour, and in this capacity met with the derision of the good democrats of British Columbia. On more than one occasion she was referred to in the local press as a . . . useless and expensive relic of an effete and luxurious administration. And again when news came that she was to be sold: The expensive toy will be improved off the face of these waters ... it has cost more dollar for dollar to " run " the animal than to capture a school of leviathans.70 In November, 1869, the Colonial government received the sum of $1,320 by selling her at auction. She was placed on the run to San Juan Island in 1871, and eventually wore herself out jobbing around Victoria. She was listed in the official registers for the last time in 1877, when she was owned by Captain C. (66) Daily Alta California, April 18, 1858. (67) Victoria Gazette, July 24, 1858. (68) Daily Alta California, August 2, 1858. (69) Victoria Gazette, July 29, 1858. (70) Victoria Colonist, August 25, August 31, 1869. 278 Norman R. Hacking. October Mayers, of Burrard Inlet, and operated as a tug in the Inlet and nearby waters. She was broken up the next year. By the end of 1858 it was apparent that sufficient British vessels would be available shortly to handle the Fraser River trade. The days of American pioneering were drawing to a close. On September 8 the sidewheeler Caledonia, the first steamer launched on Vancouver Island, took the water at Victoria. She was built by J. W. Trahey for Faulkner, Bell & Company, of San Francisco. Her dimensions were: length 100 feet, width 18 feet 6 inches, depth 5 feet 3 inches.71 She made her trial trip around the harbour on September 16,72 and after an excursion to San Juan Island ran for a time from Victoria to Esquimalt. She subsequently ran to the Fraser River for many years.73 On October 30 the old Beaver returned to Victoria from her trading cruise in northern waters. The same day the fine new stern- wheel steamer Governor Douglas was launched from a shipyard beside the Songhees Indian village, on Victoria Harbour.74 She was expected to be ready for service in about three weeks, but owing to a delay in the delivery of her machinery she did not make her trial trip until late in January, 1859.76 The Governor Douglas was 145 feet long and 26 feet wide. A second steamer, the slightly larger Colonel Moody, was put in hand at once, and was completed in July, 1859. Both vessels were operated by the British Columbia and Victoria Navigation Company, in which the celebrated Captain William Irving was senior partner. The company came quickly to the front in the Fraser River trade, and in 1859 purchased the Maria from her American owners and transferred her to British registry. She was operated chiefly on the Harrison River route, under the command of Thomas Gladwell, William Irving, and other well-known river (71) Victoria Gazette, September 9, 1858. (72) Ibid., September 17, 1858. (73) The original engine of the Caledonia was of only twenty-five horsepower, but new and much more powerful machinery was installed in July, 1859. Victoria Gazette, July 16, 1859. She blew up on November 2, 1859, killing a fireman and wounding five others. She drifted in the Gulf for twenty-eight hours, but was repaired and returned to service. Victoria Gazette, November 10, 1859. She was also known variously as the New Caledonia and Caledonian. (74) Victoria Gazette, November 2, 1858. (75) Ibid., January 25, 1859. 1944 " STEAMBOAT 'ROUND THE BEND." 279 captains. The Maria remained on the Fraser for four years, much longer than any of the other American pioneers. She left the river finally in July, 1862, when she was sold and taken by her new owners to the Columbia, where freights were high and steamers scarce at the time. Her somewhat perilous ocean journey was made under the command of Captain Robert Haley. She soon got herself into difficulties, as she had entered Astoria on the old certificate of registry given at San Francisco, thereby ignoring the intervening transfer to British ownership.76 She was seized by the United States Marshal and tied up at a wharf in Portland, where she sank early in 1864 due to disrepair. She was sold for $5,500, and raised for the sake of the machinery, which was removed from the hull.77 Captain Tom Wright's Enterprise, the other American steamer still running on the Fraser at the end of 1858, left the river in the fall of 1859. Trade had declined again, and Captain Wright, looking about for fresh fields to conquer, took the Enterprise to Grays Harbor and then up the Chehalis River. She was nearly lost in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and when she got to the Chehalis sank three times before she reached its headwaters. The venture did not prove profitable, so the steamer was laid up. Later she was dismantled and her machinery transported overland to the Sound.78 Her owner always considered it the great blunder of his career that he took his vessel off the Fraser while she was yet a paying proposition. The Enterprise is said to have received more money for a single run than any other steamer ever operated on the Fraser, Wright having been paid $25,000 for a special run from Victoria to Murderer's Bar. In conclusion, some notice must be taken of the American sidewheeler Eliza Anderson. It is true that she was not completed until 1859 and that she came to the Fraser only occasionally ; but she plied the waters of British Columbia for so many years that she deserves mention. She was launched at Portland in November, 1858, and ran her trials early in January, 1859. She was 140 feet long, 24 (76) Under the U.S. steamship laws of that time no vessel once of foreign register could be readmitted to American registry. (77) Victoria Colonist, March 30, 1864; Lewis & Dryden, p. 73, n. 49. (78) For additional details see Lewis & Dryden, p. 57. 280 Norm an R. Hacking. feet 6 inches wide, and of 279 tons register.79 She was named in honour of the daughter of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, the veteran Hudson's Bay official and first Collector of Customs at Victoria. The Eliza was soon acquired by Captain John T. Wright and associates, who took her to Puget Sound. There she " began a career of money-making which has never been equaled by so slow a boat."80 From 1859 until 1870 she maintained a monopoly of the Victoria-Puget Sound run, and made many side-trips to New Westminster, on the Fraser, as well. Every attempt at competition was thwarted by her vigorous owners. She made several voyages to the north during the Cassiar gold excitement, and then from 1877 to 1882 experienced her first spell of idleness, at a Seattle wharf. In the latter year she sank at the dock. In 1883 she was raised by Captain Tom Wright, who ran her to New Westminster, and then engaged in one of the most spectacular of the many Puget Sound steamboat wars. In 1886 she passed out of the hands of the Wrights, and after jobbing about the Sound for another three years she was laid up in Snohomish slough, forgotten, and allowed to rot.81 In 1897 the first news of the Klondyke rush brought an immediate demand for steam tonnage. American steamboat laws were lax, and the owners of the Eliza Anderson had the audacity to resurrect her from the boneyard and fit her up for the Alaska trade. On August 10, 1897, she sailed from Seattle for St. Michael with 100 passengers and 400 tons of freight.82 It was her last voyage; and, as was to be expected, the venerable coffin never reached her destination. After a perilous trip up the coast she foundered off Unalaska, fortunately without loss of life. One distinction came tjo her as the result of this voyage; she was the sole vessel that lived to participate in both the Fraser River rush of 1859 and the Yukon rush of 1897. Norman R. Hacking. Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. (79) Ibid., pp. 76-7. (80) Ibid., for a general account of her career up to 1889. (81) By this time the combination of affection and derision with which she was regarded had given rise to the sobriquet Lousy Anderson! (82) Vancouver News-Advertiser, August 11, 1897. BOOM DAYS IN PRINCE GEORGE.* 1906-1913. During the years from 1906 until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 the great game of Western Canada was speculation in real estate. Two new transcontinental railways—the Canadian Northern and the Grand Trunk Pacific—were under construction, and the buying and selling of lots for profit was rife in every town and city springing up in anticipation or as a result of their coming. Along the line of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in British Columbia the townsites of Hazelton, Smithers, Houston, Fort Fraser, and Willow River were among those exploited in this way. But the development of South and Central Fort George overshadowed all the others in this area. The first sod of the Grand Trunk Pacific was turned in 1906, in Manitoba,1 and the advance guard of fortune-seekers began to trickle into Fort George, then a Hudson's Bay Company trading- post and little else, the same year. A. G. Hamilton, who had been operating a store as a free-trader at Giscome Portage, arrived and took up a pre-emption immediately south of the Hudson's Bay property, where he opened a store in opposition to the post. A pre-emption west of the post was occupied by James Bird, and one south of Hamilton's belonged to Joseph Thapage, while the next farther south on the banks of the Fraser was taken up by Pierre Rois. In the same year, 1906, George Wil- * The writer has been a resident of Prince George for three years only, and so had no part in the stirring events described in this article. Information has been gathered from numerous printed sources and from a considerable number of people. Among those to whom he is indebted are: Miss Madge Wolfenden, Acting Provincial Archivist; the archives department of the Vancouver Daily Province; Neil McKelvie, editor of the Prince George Citizen; Miss Jeanette Sargent, librarian, North Central District, Public Library Commission; the late Bishop of Cariboo, Samuel Pollinger; Charles H. Wisenden; Fred J. Shearer; George B. Williams; J. Simonson; William L. Hughes; Mrs. J. Munro; Ernest H. Burden; M. C. Wiggins; R. A. Harlow, and others.—F. E. R. (1) See J. A. Lower, "The Construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in British Columbia," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, IV. (1940), pp. 163-81. British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII., No. 4. 281 282 F. E. RUNNALLS. October Hams arrived to prepare for the transportation of the railway survey parties which were to follow. In February, 1907, George Ovasko, one of the first farmers in the district, arrived to spy out the land. After looking about he took up a pre-emption some distance west, on the banks of the Nechako River, near the present Otway station. In April, Charles W. Moore came in from Quesnel by dog-team with the two Indian mail-carriers, who were bringing in the monthly mail to the Fort. He was accompanied by L. C. Gunn, a Grand Trunk Pacific surveyor, who was coming in to work on the survey throughout the district. Moore tells us that when he came in, the only white man was A. G. Hamilton, and the only means of getting food and supplies was by canoe or scow from Quesnel. The Indians still depended largely on salmon for their food, and they were frequently seen taking eight or nine hundred salmon in one night with a dip-net, while the Indian girls sang all night as a kind of charm to make good fishing. Moore settled on land west of what was later the Central Fort George townsite, and the following winter (1907-08) guarded a surveyor's cache some distance east.2 During 1907 and 1908 a few pre-emptions in the direction of Giscome Portage were also taken up. The railway survey proceeded apace, and in 1908, when it was well advanced, three of the officials made a trip of inspection along the survey line right through to Prince Rupert. These were B. B. Kelliher, the chief engineer; C. C. Vanarsdol, the chief engineer of the district from Edmonton to Prince Rupert, who is credited with actually locating the grade through the mountains; and Bob Lett, the publicity and colonization agent.3 Among those who worked with the survey parties who have remained as permanent residents of the district are George Williams, L. C. Gunn, and A. K. Bourchier. A few pioneer trappers came in about the same time, among whom were Joe McNamee, Jack Evans, and Hank Munro. Of the first of these George Williams says:— (2) See Fort George Weekly Tribune, January 24, 1914; Prince George Citizen, January 3, 1919. (3) These details related to the writer by Charles H. Wisenden, of Prince George, who in 1908 was in Winnipeg, in the employ of the Grand Trunk Development Company. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 283 Joe was getting on in years then (1907), but there was no better trapper, or hunter in central B. C Old " crooknecked " Joe used to bring a boat up from Revelstoke every spring and take it clear up to the McGregor River headwaters. He'd pole the river and when need be use block and tackle to drag the heavy boat overland.* Fort George had changed but little during the hundred years since its founding in 1807. It was still a small Hudson's Bay post and Indian village. But promise of the coming of a transcontinental railway, together with the assurance that there would be a divisional point at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser Rivers, focused the attention of real-estate promoters and land speculators upon the strategic situation of this area. One of the best known of these was George J. Hammond, who had had some experience in financial ventures, including the selling of " tips " on the wheat market at Chicago and of real estate in different western towns, including Nelson, B.C. He had discovered the possibilities of advertising and high-pressure salesmanship, and he was able to exploit both of these at Fort George. He became interested in the area in 1908, and in the fall of that year staked a considerable tract of land about 2 miles west of the Hudson's Bay property, and half a mile south of the Nechako River, as a townsite. He organized the Natural Resources Security Company, which, during 1909, subdivided 100 acres, and in October put on sale in Vancouver town lots in this, the original " Central Fort George," at $100, $150, and $200 each. In December, the Natural Resources Security Company sent in Mr. F. C. Green (now Surveyor-General of British Columbia) with three assistants to survey and subdivide an additional 400 acres; and early in 1910 the sale of lots in Fort George (Central) town- site was in full swing.6 Those who came in early realized the need for better transportation facilities. Nick S. Clark, who came north from Vancouver in June, 1908, saw this opportunity and proceeded to organize the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company for (4) Prince George Citizen, June 24, 1943. (5) See Fort George Tribune, November 6, December 18, 1909; also the article entitled " Early History of the Three Georges " in Prince George Citizen, May 26, 1938. For biographical material on George J. Hammond see this article and Howay and Scholefield, British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., 1914, III., pp. 22-3. Hammond was born in Port Dover, Ontario, in 1866, and came to British Columbia in 1906. 284 F. E. RUNNALLS. October the purpose of providing transportation and building material. At Quesnel on March 7, 1909, the keel of a sternwheel river steamer was laid, and on May 12 the Nechacco was launched.6 Under Captain Bonser she came up the Fraser, lining through the Fort George Canyon and reaching the embryo townsite early in the season. During the summer she pioneered her way up the Nechako River to the foot of Fraser Lake Canyon, at Fort Fraser, and up the Stuart River almost to Stuart Lake and Fort St. James. On the return journey she went to Soda Creek, 165 miles south of Fort George. Towards the end of the summer she made her first trip to the upper Fraser, through Giscome Rapids and the dreaded Grand Canyon to Goat River Rapids, 205 miles above Fort George, with a cargo of 6 tons of supplies on their way to Tete Jaune Cache for the Canadian Northern Railway. Captain Bonser reported that at places along the river moose were as thick as cattle in a ranching country.7 The Nechacco, soon renamed the Chilco, was riot destined to serve very long, for she met disaster and was lost in Cottonwood Canyon in May, 1911.8 In September, 1909, competition for the Chilco appeared when two other sternwheelers, the Charlotte and the Quesnel,9 (6) See Fort George Weekly Tribune, July 25, 1914, in which appears a history of the Fort George Lumber Company. Although the newspapers invariably spelled the steamer's name Nechaco, a photograph of the vessel shows that the spelling on the hull was Nechacco. Oddly enough, she seems never to have been registered under that name, and appears from the first in the official lists as the Chilco. Later she was known locally by the latter name. Her dimensions were: 80 by 16.4 by 3.2 feet; gross tonnage, 129. She was licensed to carry thirty-nine passengers. (7) See Fort George Tribune, November 6, 1909, and Fort George Weekly Tribune, July 25, 1914. (8) The writer has not been able to secure exact details of the loss of the Chilco. The story would appear to be somewhat as follows: In October, 1910, while north-bound with a full cargo from Quesnel to Fort George, the Chilco sank, probably in China Rapids. There she was frozen in and lay at the bottom all winter. In the spring breakup she was carried down and lost in Cottonwood Canyon. (9) The Charlotte had been built at Quesnel as long ago as 1896, for the run between Quesnel and Soda Creek. Her dimensions were 111.4 by 20.6 by 4.6 feet; gross tonnage, 217. She was owned by the Northern British Columbia Navigation Company, Ltd. The smaller Quesnel was a new sternwheeler measuring 70 by 16.2 by 3.7 feet, and of 130 tons, licensed to carry nineteen passengers. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 285 made their way up to Fort George. In 1910, Clark himself launched two new steamers, the Fort Fraser and the Chilcotin, the former of which in July, 1910, made the first successful trip ever made to Tete Jaune Cache.10 In June, 1910, the British Columbia Express Company launched the 513-ton B.X., the " queen of the upper Fraser." She was 127.5 feet long, with a beam of 28 feet, and when loaded with 100 tons of freight drew only 30 inches of water. She was powered with compound engines of 320 horse-power and an auxiliary turbine, and was the first steamer to navigate up through the Fort George Canyon under her own power, without lining through. She was licensed to carry 125 passengers and had sleeping accommodation for 70. She was commodiously furnished throughout; the bed linen and silver were monogrammed"; there were real baths, with hot and cold running water, and there was a staff of Japanese servants to serve the passengers. She was lighted by electricity and steam-heated, and provided every comfort for travel. By the time the " rush " to Fort George was in full swing in 1910 there were thus six sternwheelers to provide transportation on the Fraser. In September of 1909, the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company brought in the first sawmill, which was in full operation by November. It worked all winter and had a yard full of lumber to supply the building boom of 1910.11 This first mill was situated on the Fraser River, in South Fort George. The Fort George Tribune noted that " the first logs sawed at Clark's mill were hauled to the mill by Hamilton's big red bull," and added the amusing comment: " That bull should be pensioned and not slaughtered."12 Two other sawmills appeared in 1910. One, owned by Russell Peden, with whom was associated William F. Cooke, was (10) See Vancouver Daily Province, July 28, 1910. Both these steamers were built at Soda Creek and registered in the name of John K. McLennan and Alan J. Adamson, of Winnipeg. The Chilcotin was a relatively big craft, 134.5 by 23.5 by 4.5 feet and of 435 tons gross. The little Fort Fraser measured only 56 by 11.8 by 2.9 feet and was of 33 tons gross. (11) See the history of the Fort George Lumber Company in the Fort George Weekly Tribune, July 25, 1914; also Fort George Tribune, November 6, 1909. (12) Fort George Tribune, November 6, 1909 (first issue). 286 F. E. Runnalls. October some distance south of the town, by the hill known to-day as Peden's Hill; the other, owned by the Natural Resources Security Company, was on the Nechako River. The latter was known as Bogue and Brown's mill. There was sufficient business for all three mills, and on occasions customers were waiting to pick up the boards and carry them away as they came from the saw. It was probably in 1909 that William Blair & Company, who had well-established general stores in Quesnel and Barkerville, decided to extend their business northward and opened a branch in Fort George. William Kennedy was made manager. They also had branch stores at Stella, on Fraser Lake, and at Stoney Creek, in the Nechako Valley. We have also to record the arrival, in 1909, of John Houston, pioneer newspaperman, who had been Mayor of Nelson in early days. Later he founded the first newspaper in Prince Rupert, which he sold for a considerable sum. After a trip to Mexico he returned to the north and decided to start a newspaper in Fort George. With a few fonts of type and a Gordon job-press set up in a tent-covered shack, he published the first issue of the Fort George Tribune on Saturday, November 6, 1909. Thereafter, throughout the winter, and despite the bitter cold, the Tribune appeared regularly each Saturday. There were still very few local residents to read the paper. Its circulation was largely " outside," and it became a medium of information to prospective investors everywhere. The law required publication of notice of all land-staking and, as staking was widespread, the publishing of land notices provided ample revenue to support the venture. Unfortunately Houston became ill during the winter, and while being taken out to the nearest doctor at Quesnel for treatment, he died on the trail on March 8, 1910.13 The Tribune was carried on for a time by W. J. Mackay, formerly of Atlin, Port Essington, and other points. During the summer of 1910, George J. Hammond, realizing the publicity value of such a medium as the Tribune, backed Albert Dollen- meyer in buying the paper and moving it from South Fort George to his townsite at (Central)' Fort George. Jack Quinn, (13) See the "Newspaper History of Prince George" in Prince George Citizen, May 26, 1938. r(/>ST ADDIPON TV FORT G£Of>GE HODGSOM'S /)'OO/Tt'CW eoyeeNMENr Map showing South Fort George, Fort George (Central), and the several additions surveyed in 1910 and later years. The Fort George Weekly Tribune for November 6, 1909, mentions two tracts not shown on this map. " Leask's " was a block of 100 acres immediately north of Central Fort George, owned by George Leask. It was purchased by George J. Hammond and became part of Fort George (Central). " Bronger's " was owned by Jack Bronger, and later became part of the Bird Addition. Fort George, on the Nechako Kiver, soon became known as Central Fort George (see p. 294, note 31). The present city of Prince George occupies the site of the Fort George Indian Reserve. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 287 who had been in charge of the Cariboo Observer in Quesnel, was brought in to take charge of the Tribune.u For a description of Fort George as it was late in 1909, we quote from the first issue of the Tribune:— The Fort George of today is an Indian village of 100 men, women and children, who live in log houses on an Indian reserve of approximately 1500 acres, with a frontage of half a mile on the Fraser and about two miles on the Nechako. Adjoining it on the south is the Hudson's Bay reserve of 97 acres, on which are the Company's store, manager's residence, and a few small warehouses. This land also fronts on the Fraser River. Next south is a piece of land, (60 acres) owned by A. G. Hamilton, who has subdivided a portion of it into town lots. It is known as South Fort George. Here are located William Blair and Company's general store, Clark's sawmill, and the Tribune printing office. Adjoining Hamilton's 60 acres is Joseph Lapage's [Thapage's?] pre-emption, on which Hamilton has a general store and several smaller buildings, and Frank Hoferkamp a barber shop. West of the Indian reserve are two tracts of over 100 acres each. One is called Central Fort George, and lots in it are being sold at Vancouver for $100 each. The other tract is called " Leask's," and it is said to be subdivided. West of the Hudson's Bay Company tract and adjoining the Indian Reserve on the south are James Bird's pre-emption, a tract known as " Bronger's," which is said to have been subdivided, and Hiram A. Carney's pre-emption. South Fort George is half a mile south of the Hudson's Bay Company's store and a mile from where the G. T. P. crosses the Fraser River. Central Fort George is two miles west of the Fraser and half a mile south of the Nechako. Opposite Fort George and for a mile or so to the south, the water from the Nechako runs clear on the west side, while the muddy waters of the Fraser keep on the east side of the channel. The three general merchandise stores at Fort George keep very complete stocks and few articles needed by settlers are wanting. The sawmill supplies rough lumber at $25 a thousand, and will have a planer and shingle mill added in a short time. Meals can be procured at the Hudson's Bay Company's and at Hamilton's; but sleeping accommodations are limited and travellers should have their own blankets.16 The second issue of the Tribune informs prospective newcomers that between May 1 and November 1 they can reach Fort George by steamer from Soda Creek, and that in the winter they may come in over a wagon-road from Quesnel as far as Blackwater Crossing, where the road continues on to Stoney Creek and Fort Fraser. From Blackwater Crossing to Fort George, a distance of 60 miles, there is a trail, where a wagon- road is " under way." It is a four-day trip from Quesnel to (14) Ibid. (15) Fort George Tribune, November 6, 1909. 288 F. E. Runnalls. October Fort George, and since there is no road-house or stopping-place between the Crossing and Fort George one must camp out over night.16 The paper further informs us that " there are no bakeries, laundries, milliners, tailors, blacksmiths, tinners, carpenters, stenographers, lawyers, doctors, preachers, constables or school teachers at Fort George. There are no white children or women to raise white children. The white men who are here have their wives and white children back East or down at Vancouver. There are about 50 white people in the whole district."17 The fourth issue gives the Fort George poll in the Provincial election of November 25, 1909, when the McBride Government appealed to the electorate on its railway policy and was returned to power with an increased majority. In this poll—the first ever held in Fort George—twenty-six votes were cast, and the results were as follows:— John A. Fraser, Conservative 21 Michael Callanan, Conservative 20 Harry Jones, Liberal 5 John Yorston, Liberal 5 Local Option: For 8; against 15 Great interest was taken in the vote; some of the electors came in from Giscome Portage, over 40 miles away, spending three days on the road, in order to cast their ballots. Only two of those counted on to vote at Fort George failed to appear.18 The winter of 1909-10 was a quiet one, and the editor of the Tribune must frequently have been hard-pressed for copy. This may account for the appearance of the following item in the social column:— Born to Hamilton's cow, a bull calf. The Indian Reserve, through which the railway survey passed, was not available for a townsite. Consequently there was much speculation as to where the town would eventually be established. The initial activities of the Natural Resources Security Company at (Central) Fort George have already been noted. Soon the Northern Development Company, headed by Nick S. Clark, with (16) Ibid., November 13, 1909. (17) Ibid. (18) Ibid., November 27, 1909. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 289 whom were associated William F. Cooke and other local people, bought the land originally owned by A. G. Hamilton, together with Joseph Thapage's pre-emption, and put them on the market as South Fort George. This townsite had the advantage of being on the Fraser River, which is a navigable stream at all stages of the water, while it was close enough to the railway survey to make it a good speculation. South Fort George was put on the market in the spring of 1910, and by the summer of that year the big rush was on. The starting-point for Fort George was 300 miles south, at Ashcroft, on the Canadian Pacific Railway. From there one travelled by stage to Soda Creek, and thence by river steamer to Fort George. The regular stages made the journey to Soda Creek in two and a half days.19 The heavily increased travel of 1910 led the British Columbia Express Company to increase the number of its horses to 200. During the same year the Company also made the first trial of automobiles.20 However, it was some three or four years before the automobile displaced horses entirely. Both the stage service and river steamers were operated by the B. C. Express Company, better known as the " B.X." This Company, originally organized as Barnard's Express and Stage Line by Frank J. Barnard in 1864, had for many years maintained a regular semi-weekly service from Ashcroft to Barkerville. In 1897 it was acquired by Eastern interests, headed by Charles Millar, of Toronto, and James Carruthers, of Montreal. Millar won notoriety after his death by his curious will, which initiated the famous " stork derby " in Toronto. His interest in Fort George is perpetuated in the name of the " Millar Addition " in Prince George, a subdivision which he acquired and put on the market when Prince George was established. Under the new management the first superintendent of the " B.X." was J. B. Leighton, who in 1904 was succeeded by Willis J. West. In 1909 the " B.X." decided to extend its services to Fort George, (19) Overnight stops were made at the 83- (Stoddart's) and 150-mile houses. Drivers were also changed at these points. Horses were changed at relay points, every 13 miles or so. Special stages could be engaged to go right through from Ashcroft to Soda Creek or Quesnel. (20) See Vancouver Daily Province, July 28, July 30, 1910. 290 F. E. RUNNALLS. October and the big steamer B.X., already described, was built. She plied regularly between Soda Creek and Fort George, making her first trip north through the Fort George Canyon on June 24, 1910. As this canyon was considered too dangerous to carry passengers through, they had to disembark and walk around the canyon by. land. When darkness overtook the steamer en route, she was tied up to a tree on the bank for the night.21 The B. C. Express Company acquired property at the foot of Fourth Street, in South Fort George, where their steamer- landing was built: Since this became the embarkation point for passengers to and from all points in and around Fort George, it gave a decided advantage to the new town of South Fort George. In the spring of 1912 the Company built a second steamer, the B. C. Express,22 which was placed on the river above Fort George, and in the summer of 1913 made twelve round trips to Tete Jaune Cache. The arrival of the railway in 1914 reduced the river traffic, but the Provincial Government subsidized the steamers, and they continued to run until the fall of 1920. The completion of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway into Soda Creek that year, and the expectation of its completion to Prince George in 1921, brought the colourful days of steam- boating on the upper Fraser to an end. The B.X. and B. C. Express were dismantled and their fittings and equipment taken north to be built into new boats for use on the Mackenzie River. The old hulls were beached at South Fort George, and remained for nearly 20 years an attraction to visitors. But at last they disappeared, thus removing the last visible evidence of the stirring days of the river boat. Before the Fraser was open in the spring of 1910, men seeking an early start in the new town of South Fort George were trickling in. One party included L. G. MacHaffie, J. Munro, and J. Anderson, who were coming in to open the first bank. They brought in their equipment and supplies, including cash with (21) See the interesting account by J. D. Moore, who was a passenger, in " Steamboating colorful operation before Railway," Prince George Citizen, May 26, 1938. (22) Dimensions: 121.3 by 27.9 by 4.8 feet; gross tonnage, 449. She was thus somewhat smaller than the B.X. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 291 which to commence business. In order to hide their identity they travelled as prospectors, and carried the money in sacks thrown over their shoulders. They travelled by special stage to Quesnel, and thence by pack-horses. Some distance north of Blackwater Crossing they saw two men approaching on foot, and fully expected to be held up. However, these men proved to be Albert Johnson and a companion, who had located in the new town for a hotel and were walking out to secure supplies. The bank opened for business in a lean-to off William Blair & Company's store on April 15, 1910, and two days later moved into its own premises, a tent-covered shack, which was distinguished by a large sign: " Bank of British North America." Later in the year a small but substantial building was erected.23 During the summer the Traders' Bank of Canada also opened a branch in South Fort George, with H. C. Seaman as manager. With the opening of the river every boat brought in newcomers. Tents were thrown up everywhere, and soon buildings began to appear, including several real-estate offices, and the first hotel'with a licence, built by Albert Johnson, just a short distance from the steamer landing. On May 1 the Quesnel arrived with the first white women on board.24 Others followed, and in the autumn of the same year occurred the birth of the first white child, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mclnnis.26 She was named Georgina, in honour of her birthplace, and is now Mrs. Percy L. Williams, A.T.C.M. Among the passengers to arrive on the B.X. on her maiden voyage to South Fort George on June 24, 1910, was a representative of the Methodist Church, Rev. Alfred T. Bell. He brought with him a large tent, 40 feet long, which he pitched near the corner of Fourth Street and Hamilton Avenue. There on Sun- (23) Based upon notes made by J. Munro, of the Bank party, kindly loaned to the writer by Mrs. Munro; see also Vancouver Daily Province, January 25, 1931 (article by Mrs. Albert Johnson). (24) A photograph of this event, taken by J. Simonson, pioneer photographer of South Fort George, is inscribed: " Arrival of first white women, May 1, 1910." (Copy in the writer's possession.) (25) Mr. John Mclnnis states—and no old-timer has been found who disputes the fact—that his daughter was the first white child born in South Fort George, but he believes an earlier birth took place in Central Fort George. 292 F. E. RUNNALLS. October day, June 26, the first religious service in the new town was conducted. In July, Mr. Bell conducted the first service in the neighbouring town of (Central) Fort George, around a camp- fire.26 In September the first school was opened, and after a week under one teacher and a month under another, both unqualified teachers, Mrs. A. B. Campbell, now of Finmoore, B.C., took charge. She had twenty-four pupils, nine of whom were white and the rest half-breeds. She thus describes her experience:— The breed children were a trial at first. I had to find a system of teaching them that they could understand. These children were raised like the Indians and very rarely saw any white people, with the exception of the Hudson's Bay factors until [the town of] Fort George started. School to them was a funny place, the teacher something to laugh at, and books and pencils play toys. They could speak very little English, and they had very unsanitary habits, such as spitting on the floor, dirty hands and faces, etc. When I finally got them to understand that they could not spit on the floor, they would spit in their hands and carry it out of doors. Then there was a lot of waste time making them wash their hands. When studying, I would have to have them study very near out loud, otherwise, they would not know whether they could pronounce the word right. Noisy! Yes, and I never came out of the school room at the end of the day without a headache. They learned very fast, and after one month we had a real school.27 An event that stirred the new community in August, 1910, was the visit of Premier McBride. Travelling with a party composed of his private secretary, Lawrence Macrae, the Hon. F. L. Carter-Cotton, M.L.A., C. H. Lugrin, of Victoria, the Earl of Dunmore, and Harry Brittain, a well-known English journalist, he came north on the B.X., and after going up the Fraser as far as Willow River, returned to visit the two new towns. On the evening of Friday, August 26, the citizens tendered a banquet to the Premier and his party on the B.X. It was just a cold lunch with liquid refreshments, but it cost $5 a plate.28 A special comradeship sprang up among those who arrived in 1910, and their friendliness and hospitality were noteworthy. One lady who arrived as a stranger tells us that before she left (26) Letters, Rev. Alfred T. Bell to Dr. J. H. White, January 3, 1937, and from Mr. Bell to the writer, January 15, 1943. (27) Letter, Mrs. Campbell to the writer, July 7, 1943. (28) Vancouver Daily Province, August 29, 1910; letter, Rev. A. T. Bell to the writer, January 15, 1943. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 293 the steamer-landing she had five invitations to lunch. " Come to Red and Black's for lunch," was a common form of invitation. " Red and Black's " was a restaurant operated by two English girls, one of whom had red hair and the other black. By the end of 1910 there was a considerable population, and the problem of securing adequate supplies was a serious one. Late in the season the Nechacco, now the Chilco, northward bound with winter provisions for the little town, sank with all her cargo. Albert Johnson and Russell Peden thereupon hurried out to Quesnel, where they bought up all the hogs, sheep, cattle, etc., they could secure. Then they persuaded the captain of the B.X. to make another trip north. Though the season was well advanced, the steamer got through, arriving at South Fort George on November 4. Even so, by March the meat-supply was exhausted. Some more came in, and the people fought over it at 50 cents a pound. One lady paid $5 for an old red rooster, and Jack Daniell, editor of the Herald, paid a dollar each for eggs for a banquet. Bread was sold at 25 cents a loaf.29 During the winter the mail came in but once a month, so the little community had to make its own recreation. The winter was cold, so there was plenty of ice and snow. As there were few horses, there was not much sleigh-riding. The chief amusements were skating on the river, snow-shoeing, and dancing. Music for the dancing was provided by a one-man orchestra of harp, mouth-organ, and drum. Since there were only about a dozen women in South Fort George, and the same number in Central Fort George, they were never short of partners at a dance. One social event of more than passing interest took place on December 30, 1910, when William F. (Billy) Cooke and P. A. Landry entertained their friends at a New Year's dance and supper. The supper was held in the Northern Hotel and the party and dance in the McGaghren-Thorne Hall. Billy Cooke was a veteran of the South African War, and Landry, a surveyor, was an old militiaman, so they entertained the party with tales of old battles. In order to illustrate their stories properly, they ordered two hundred bottles of beer brought up, for which they (29) Details from article by Mrs. Albert Johnson in Vancouver Daily Province, January 25, 1931. 294 F. E. RUNNALLS. October paid cash down ait $1 per bottle, and lined up the bottles on the floor like soldiers. As their stories were told, these were moved about to illustrate the changing tide of battle. Before the party ended, most of the soldiers were " dead men."30 We have already referred to the first town lots of Central Fort George, put on the market by George J. Hammond in 1909. Early in 1910, the Natural Resources Security Company, Limited, commonly called the " Hammond Company," had their new townsite ready for the market. It was located about 3 miles from South Fort George, on the extensive bench-land overlooking the lovely Nechako River. It was an ideal townsite, covered only with a very light growth of jackpine, and it was evident from the beginning that this town would be a formidable rival of South Fort George. Hammond stole a march on his neighbours by having his townsite registered with the name " Fort George."31 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had selected this same area for a townsite, and made contest for their claim in the Provincial Department of Lands, but Hammond's ownership was upheld. Thus began a contest between the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Hammond interests which overshadowed the new community for a decade and more. Hammond knew the possibilities of attractive advertising, and since his townsite was distinctly a real-estate proposition, the " legal registered townsite of Fort George " was advertised far and wide, and lots were sold to investors and speculators all over the continent, and even in the Old Country. Within a period of four years, something like half a million dollars was spent in a world-wide publicity campaign. Early in 1910 a crew of men was sent to clear the new town- site, and by midsummer it was a small city of tents. Soon per- (30) Details from E. H. Burden, now postmaster at Prince George, who was present on the occasion. (31) Hammond's use of the name " Fort George " was not appreciated by the promoters of South Fort George, and they transferred the term " Central" from the original Hammond project to his new and larger townsite. This name has somehow stuck ever since, and despite the fact that the post-office is called Fort George, and the town itself registered as Fort George, common usage has always referred to it as Central Fort George. Hence for the convenience of the reader, we shall continue to refer to the Hammond townsite as Central Fort George. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 295 manent buildings began to appear. Since Hammond desired to advertise the town as a place where facilities of all kinds were available, the Company undertook the building of a hotel, a log school, and—since the Hammonds were Presbyterians—a log manse for the Presbyterian minister, who was expected to arrive soon. On September 30, Rev. C. Melville Wright and his wife arrived to occupy the manse, and the first Presbyterian service was held in the dining-tent of the hotel on Sunday, October 2.32 Rev. A. T. Bell, the Methodist minister, who had been holding services in both towns since midsummer, had moved over to Central Fort George with his bride, and they were engaged by Hammond to teach the school. Between them the Bells saw that instruction was provided for the five children of school age until the spring of 1911. Then Mrs. Jennie B. Baker was engaged as teacher, and gave distinguished service for nearly two years. She is remembered affectionately by the old-timers of the old Central Fort George school. Reference has been made to the fact that in the summer of 1910 the first newspaper in the district, the Fort George Tribune, was bought and moved from South Fort George to the new town- site. At about the same time J. B. Daniell, who had previously published a paper in Quesnel, moved to " South " and established the South Fort George Herald. From then on each of the rival towns had a mouth-piece, and there was a continual wordy war between the two papers as to the merits of their respective towns. As an example of the splenetic vituperation which sometimes graced or disgraced their pages, we quote the following from the Fort George Tribune of November 11, 1911, written as a reply to an editorial in the South Fort George Herald of November 4, referring to the writings of Hay Stead, correspondent of the Winnipeg Saturday Post, who had visited both South and Central Fort George:— A few weeks ago notice was given on this page of some remarks published in the Winnipeg Saturday Post about Fort George. That paper got in wrong by taking as gospel the ravings of a mangy idiot who runs an alleged newspaper in South Fort George. The Post followed the policy adopted by this paper in August, 1910, and sent a representative to the (32) Details from a brief history of the early work of the Presbyterian Church in the district, prepared by Mrs. Hugh Ellis from the records of Rev. C. M. Wright. 296 F. E. Runnalls. October spot to ascertain for himself the real conditions. The Post being absolutely independent and honest has repudiated the assertions of the squirt who edits the South Fort George paper, and has arrived at precisely the same conclusions I did in 1910 after looking over the situation at Fort George. The fact of the matter is that the red-light agent who edits the South Fort George sheet has an obsession which takes the form of lying villifica- tion of George J. Hammond, president of the Natural Resources Security Company, and of the editor of this paper. The editor of the Saturday Post, now that he, too, has expressed an unbiassed opinion of the situation at Fort George, may expect to receive the same sort of treatment. But neither he, Mr. Hammond, nor myself need concern ourselves about the frothings of the subtracted nothing who edits the South Fort George publication. He has been repudiated by everyone in his own district, save and except Bootlegger Hamilton, and that old reprobate could not repudiate a flea- bitten cur. The first postmaster at Central Fort George was Warren DeBeck, who late in 1910 was stricken down with tuberculosis. In the dead of winter he was taken over the road to Kamloops, but died before he got there.33 J. A. Shearer built the Fort George Hotel, which was opened for business in 1910, and the same summer the Bank of Vancouver opened a branch there, with F. N. Dewar as manager. Lots were selling fast all over Canada and the United States at $600 for corner lots and $400 for inside lots. Yet when people came in from the outside, sometimes on foot, and saw what they had been sold, they demanded readjustments from the Company, and got them. Unlike South Fort George, which from the beginning was a " wide-open " town, the promoters and citizens of Central Fort George sought to create a decent and healthful community. No liquor licence was granted until 1912, and consequently none of the allied promoters of iniquity opened for business. A number of pre-emptions north of the Nechako, toward Chief Lake, were taken up in 1910, and the following year the Provincial Government installed a ferry across the Nechako River a short distance above Central Fort George. Later on pre- emptors were attracted to the Mud River district, and by 1913 these two areas were pretty well exploited. Due to the excessive freight rates from the nearest point of supply the cost of living was very high. A small bag of salt cost (33) Vancouver Daily Province, July 28, 1910; letter, Rev. A. T. Bell to the writer, January 15, 1943. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 297 $1.25; flour, $12 to $16 per hundredweight; sugar, 15 cents per pound; butter, 75 cents per pound; new laid eggs were 25 cents each. Oats were 12 cents per pound, and hay was $100 per ton. Live chickens sold on the streets at $6 each. Local farmers who had garden produce to spare brought it in by dog-train or horses, and were paid $10 for a sack of potatoes and $12 for a bag of carrots.34 However, the new community continued to grow, and by the close of the summer of 1911 there were reported to be 600 white people in the two towns, while the census returns showed nearly 2,000 persons within the Land Recording District. Following the opening boom of 1910 Fort George experienced a period of reaction, due partly to the delay in the coming of the railway and partly to the uncertainty about the railway town- site. It was reported that the Grand Trunk Pacific had secured the Indian Reserve and planned to subdivide it. No one knew for certain, but the rumour, which was generally believed, was certainly a disturbing factor in the development of the two towns. The facts, as they are now known to us, are these. When the Railway Company found themselves too late to secure possession of the land at Central Fort George, where it was their original intention to build the town, they turned to the possibility of getting possession of the Indian Reserve. This was not a simple transaction, as it involved both the Department of Indian Affairs and the local Indians. Negotiations took some considerable time. At this point Charles Millar, of the B. C. Express Company, entered the picture, and sent an agent to negotiate with the Indians on his own behalf. The Indians depended largely on Father Coccola to be their spokesman. Believing that the man sent by Millar had the sanction of the Indian Department, since he had a telegram from the Department authorizing him to buy, Father Coccola came to an arrangement to sell the Reserve to him. Then he wrote to the Department and reported the deal; but when the Grand Trunk Pacific heard (34) Prices from Vancouver Daily Province, January 25, 1931; notes on the early work of the Presbyterian Church in the district, by Mrs. Hugh Ellis; letters from Rev. A. T. Bell, as cited in footnote 26, supra. 298 F. E. RUNNALLS. October of it they influenced the Department to cancel the agreement, by saying that the buyer had no authority to make the purchase. Thereupon the Railway Company set their own agent to work, and he finally succeeded in purchasing the Reserve from the Indians, through Father Coccola, at a price reported to be $125,000. But Millar was not so easily bested, and he went to the Courts to defend his prior claim. The Railway finally agreed to a settlement which gave Millar 200 acres of their townsite.36 This was subdivided and put on the market at the end of January, 1914, just before the arrival of steel. It was called the Millar Addition. In the meantime G. J. Hammond was seeking an agreement with the Railway to secure a station on or near his townsite, and in this he had the ear of Charles M. Hays, President of the Grand Trunk Pacific, as well as that of Hugo Ross, capitalist and financier, of Winnipeg. These two shared Hammond's optimistic vision of building a great city which would be the junction point of the G.T.P. and the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, then projected from Vancouver to the Peace River country, as well as a number of other projected railway-lines. In March, 1911, an agreement was made that the station should be built just east of the new townsite, about where the Prince George City power plant is to-day.36 On the application of the Natural Resources Security Company the Board of Railway Commissioners approved this site in March, 1912. But when President Hays and Hugo Ross went down in the ill-fated Titanic, on April 15, 1912, Hammond lost two of his best backers and associates. The new President of the Railway Company, Edson J. Chamber- lin, refused to put the station at the agreed place, and the fight over the station-site developed into one of the most bitter and drawn-out cases ever fought before the Board of Railway Commissioners. It was not finally settled until March, 1921. Hammond is credited with having spent more than, half a million (35) On the negotiations with the Indians see Denys Nelson, Memoirs of Father Coccola, MS. in Vancouver Public Library. For the details of Millar's activities the writer is indebted to M. C. Wiggins, of Prince George, a pioneer real-estate agent. (36) See Fort George Weekly Tribune, February 7, 1914. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 299 dollars in trying to force the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway to put the station nearer to Central Fort George.37 Throughout 1911 and 1912 Hammond carried on his worldwide advertising campaign. It was financed out of the sale of lots, which was in turn stimulated by his publicity. His advertising folders were attractive, and his salesmanship most persuasive. From one of his folders we quote:— Fort George occupies the same strategic commercial location in relation to its own territory as Chicago and Winnipeg. From the Rocky Mountains east to Lake Michigan—a territory comprising eight of the largest states in the Union—Chicago sits at the gate, and takes toll of all that goes in and comes out. It is the bung of the barrel—the place where the currents of trade must pass. North of the international boundary, Winnipeg occupies a similar strategic commercial position. It is the door through which every bushel of grain, every hoof of stock, every pound of merchandise raised or required for a territory one-third the area of the whole of Europe must go or come, and all are helping to build it up into one of the great cities of the continent. Similar causes will produce similar results at Fort George. If, as I have already shown—the products of the rich Peace River district must come westward to the Pacific, they must flow through Fort George in one ever- increasing stream, the currents there splitting, one going straight west to Prince Rupert, the other straight south down the Fraser Valley to Vancouver. Think what it will mean when there passes through Fort George the imports for a rich and prosperous country as large as New York and Pennsylvania combined. Think of the enormous return traffic—the varied natural products of this rich region going down towards the sea. And they must pass through Fort George. It is the natural, the easy, the cheap, the inevitable route.38 Another folder included a map showing Fort George as the hub, from which radiated, like the spokes of a wheel, no less than eleven railways which were said to be either chartered or building into Fort George. It gave the following interesting quotation from the Vancouver Province of November 26, 1910:— A survey for a proposed electric railway between Barkerville and Fort George was completed this week. The route is via the valley of the Willow River, a distance of about 150 miles. The party was in charge of Mr. Murphy of Vancouver. It is said construction operations will be started (37) See " Early History of the Three Georges," Prince George Citizen, May 26, 1938. (38) From an illustrated booklet entitled Fort George, B.C., issued in 1912 by the Publicity Department of the Natural Resources Security Company. Copy in the possession of Fred J. Shearer, Prince George. 300 F. E. Runnalls. October next spring. A water power will be developed to supply the electrical energy for operating the line. Such advertising naturally produced results, not only for Central Fort George but also for South Fort George and a number of other subdivisions and additions which were being developed in the vicinity. However, citizens of South Fort George could not be expected to appreciate the following description, which accompanied a picture of South Fort George in one of Hammond's folders:— South Fort George, on the Fraser, is a busy little river town, whose growth has been due to its proximity to Fort George proper, and to the fact that all communication with the outer world has been from the south, by the Fraser River and the Cariboo Road, the original steamer landing being at the Hudson's Bay Post. Eventually, of course, South Fort George will be part of the Fort George of the future, but at the present time, and for years to come, it is and will be some miles from the immediate business development that will result from the coming of the railways, for while all of these are building into Fort George proper, or the Indian Reserve, not a single line has been surveyed into South Fort George.39 Less than 3 miles away, at the top of the hill east of the steel bridge (which, of course, was not yet built), a subdivision known as Birmingham was being developed, and lots sold. Across the Nechako River, subdivisions known as Bella Vista and Nechako Heights were developed. Investors who were unlucky enough to buy lots in these subdivisions usually said good-bye to their money. The story is told that one day a citizen of Central Fort George found a young man sitting on the bank of the Nechako River, looking across to the cut-banks on the other side with a despondent look. When asked what was the matter he replied:— " Do you see that sand-bank over there? " " I do," said the Central Fort Georgite. " Well," said the young man, " I spent all I had on four lots in Bella Vista subdivision, right on the edge of that bank. Every time one of those slides comes down, I figure it costs me fifty dollars. I've lost two hundred dollars since nine o'clock this morning, and I don't know whether to jump in the river or go back East and sell the lots to my brother-in-law before they are all washed away." (39) Ibid. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 301 After the close of navigation in 1911 the B. C. Express Company, who had the contract for carrying the mail, decided to extend their stage service from Quesnel to Fort George. The trail via Blackwater Crossing had now been made passable for wagons, and the first stage arrived at South Fort George on October 18, 1911,40 driven by Al Young, the veteran stage-driver, who in summer operated between Ashcroft and Soda Creek. The stage service was weekly during the first year, but in 1912 it was made twice weekly and extended to Central Fort George. Thus winter transportation was provided for the new communities until the railway arrived. In the summer of 1911 the Provincial Government granted some recognition to the importance of the new towns by the appointment of Thomas W. Heme as Government Agent at Fort George. Government buildings, including a Court-house and police barracks, were erected immediately adjoining the Hudson's Bay Post, overlooking the Fraser River. At the same time the Government installed two ferries: one crossing the Fraser River opposite the Hudson's Bay Post, to serve the district to the east, and one crossing the Nechako a short distance above Central Fort George, to serve the settlers north of the river. It was also in 1911 that the first Anglican missionary arrived in the area. The Anglican Church had maintained a missionary in the Cariboo more or less continuously since gold-rush days, and the first Protestant church built in the Cariboo was the Anglican Church in Barkerville, erected in 1869. But no Anglican missionary had ever visited Fort George. In the spring of 1911, a mission of five clergymen and three lay readers from London, sent out under the auspices of the Church of St. John the Divine, arrived in the Cariboo to carry on missionary work and to provide a boarding school for the children of the district. They established their headquarters in Quesnel, but the Rev. R. H. Isaac Williams—a cousin of the Rt. Rev. L. W. Williams, formerly Bishop of Quebec—came on to Fort George. He began services in both towns, and the same year church buildings were erected—St. Stephen's in South Fort George and St. George's in (40) Prince George Citizen, May 26, 1938, containing an article on " Prince George's first mail by Stage Coach." Some accounts give the date of the first arrival as October 11, 1911. 302 F. E. Runnalls. October Central Fort George. The following year saw Rev. R. T. Sadler, with Samuel Pollinger as lay reader, at South Fort George. Mr. Pollinger later entered college and trained for the ministry. ■From his ordination nearly all his ministry was spent in the Cariboo, and a major part of it in Prince George. Eventually he was elected Bishop of Cariboo, a diocese established in February, 1914. Unfortunately he lived but a few months after his consecration, and passed away in Kamloops on March 22, 1943.41 The year 1912 brought disillusionment to many hopeful speculators. The land boom of 1910 had begun to break, and the large sums invested in the Fort George area were beginning to sprout wings and fly away. The railway was still a long way off, and the Grand Trunk Pacific was not disposed to encourage investment in either of the existing townsites. However, Hammond's advertising was still bringing returns, and new people came in. Among those arriving in 1912 were Mr. and Mrs. H. G. T. Perry. From the beginning Mr. Perry took an interest in community affairs, and he has become one of the district's most prominent citizens. He served as Member of the Provincial Legislature for Fort George from 1920 to 1928, and has again served in that capacity from 1933 to the present time. He was Speaker of the House from 1933 to 1937, and is at present Minister of Education in the Government of British Columbia. By the end of 1912, steel had reached Mile 53, at Tete Jaune Cache. It was evident that 1913 would be a big year, and might bring the railway to Fort George. It was now possible to bring supplies by rail to Tete Jaune Cache, and thence by scow and steamboat down the Fraser River. Tete Jaune Cache itself was a hive of activity throughout the winter, and by April it was reported that a thousand scows had been built, as well as a fleet of gasoline launches and steamers, all waiting to go as soon as the river opened.42 Firms like William Blair & Company, and D. A. Hood's, who were bringing in large quantities of supplies, operated their own fleets of scows. But the larger portion of (41) Details secured verbally from the late Bishop Pollinger, who was a member of the original missionary party of five. For a biographical sketch of the Bishop see the article in the Canadian Churchman, December 31, 1942; reprinted in the Prince George Citizen, January 21, 1943. (42) Fort George Weekly Tribune, May 3, May 31, 1913. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 303 the scows were carrying supplies for Foley, Welch & Stewart, the firm that had the general contract for the construction of the railway. In the spring of 1913 they established their headquarters for the district just above the mouth of the Nechako River, where they built large warehouses and docks. A miniature town sprang up there, and became known as Foley's Cache. This section, north of the present railway yards, is still known as the Cache. For their freighting on the river, Foley, Welch & Stewart operated, in addition to their scows, two large stern- wheel steamers, the Conveyor and Operator.™ Scowing goods down the Fraser River was a colourful and exciting experience. The scows were about 40 feet long and 12 to 16 feet wide, and carried a load of 20 to 30 tons. They had long sweeps at both ends, manned by two men on each sweep. The crews were kept particularly busy in the numerous rapids, and in the Grand Canyon. Many of the scows were wrecked along the way, and nearly fifty men lost their lives in the one season in the swirling waters of the Grand Canyon. During 1913 about fifteen hundred men were employed as scowmen. They were known as " river hogs." Their work was highly dangerous, and although they made money fast, they spent it faster. By the end of May, 1913, scows were arriving at Fort George at the rate of from twelve to twenty a day, and throughout the summer the excitement never lagged.44 In May the Grand Trunk Pacific Development Company, a subsidiary of the Railway, began clearing a new townsite, and published plans of the survey of Prince George in the local papers. At first their application for registration of the name " Prince George " was refused by the Provincial Government, because of strenuous opposition from the Hammond interests. Later in the season, however, the application was granted, and (43) The hulls of these steamers were built at Tete Jaune Cache in 1912; the machinery came from earlier vessels of the same name that had run on the Skeena River. Their dimensions were: Conveyor, 141.7 by 34.8 by 5.2 feet, gross tonnage, 725; Operator, similar hull dimensions, but of only 698 tons gross. (44) Some details of this colourful episode will be found in the following articles: J. D. Moore, " Steamboating colorful operation before railway," Prince George Citizen, May 26, 1938; and George B. Williams, " Freighting by Scow on Fraser River in Pioneer Days," ibid. 304 F. E. Runnalls. October " Prince George " lots were on the market in September, 1913. On March 30 the Grand Trunk Pacific had secured the consent of the Board of Railway Commissioners to build their station at the foot of George Street, and prepared to sell lots on that understanding. However, the Natural Resources Security Company appealed against this, and secured a new order, dated May 14, that placed the station-site at the foot of Maple Street. Thereupon the Grand Trunk Pacific appealed, but their application was eventually dismissed on February 7, 1914. The construction boom naturally brought new life to the " Georges." By this time the hotel in Central Fort George was licensed and doing a flourishing business. In South Fort George, Albert Johnson, who had lost his first hotel by fire, had erected the large and up-to-date Northern Hotel, advertised as "the newest and most modern hotel in the Northern Interior." It had a 100-foot bar and a staff of twenty-four bartenders, who worked twelve on a shift. Hundreds of men crowded in to be served, and frequently stood five or six deep behind the bar. As much as $7,000 was taken in in one day, and it is said that the average throughout the season was $2,000 a day. The softwood floor was soon worn out by the hob-nailed boots of the men, and had to be renewed frequently. Behind the bar was the " snake-room," for victims of the " D.T.'s." " The barroom was packed out to the curb with fine young chaps from the right-of-way," one witness recalls, " many with hopes of visiting the old folk in the east, waking up to find their stake spent."46 There was a flourishing " red light" district, from which women travelled on the boats to carry on their trade, and serve the numerous camps along the river. This was the frontier, and men lived recklessly. Life on the river might be brief, but while it lasted it could be exciting. In June, 1913, Rev. C. Melville Wright attended a large missionary congress held by the Presbyterian Church in Toronto. He was asked to address this meeting, and in the course of telling about his work, naturally referred to prevailing conditions. The next day the Toronto Globe headlined the account of his address: (45) This paragraph based on details supplied by old-timers; the quotation is from a letter, Rev. A. C. Justice (who was in South Fort George at the time) to Rev. N. J. Crees, October 29, 1935. 1944 Boom Days in Prince George. 305 " Walked 300 miles from the Gates of Hell." When news of this reached Fort George, a wave of resentment against Mr. Wright swept through the community. Plans were made to give him a hot reception when he returned; but by the time he arrived wiser counsels had prevailed, and he was spared. He brought with him Rev. A. C. Justice and his wife, who took over the work of Knox Presbyterian Church in South Fort George, while Mr. Wright remained in Central Fort George. Railway construction proceeded apace. As it came nearer to Prince George more people crowded in, and the " Georges " became a mecca for the construction-workers. By the end of the year steel had arrived on the east bank of the Fraser, where a small city of tents had sprung up. The bridge across the river was not yet ready and this occasioned a delay of some weeks. The first or temporary bridge was built on piling, alongside the foundations of the permanent steel structure. At last the track was laid over this temporary bridge, and on January 27, 1914, the track-layer Pioneer, with her train of cars, moved over the bridge and proceeded to swing the rails into position ahead of her, where they were connected and spiked, so that she could move forward. Steel had arrived at last, and this day would long be remembered in the history of Prince George. In spite of the bitter cold—eight below zero at 2 o'clock—more than fifteen hundred people turned out to witness the event. The school children from South Fort George and Central Fort George were brought in sleighs. Speeches were made by C. W. Moore, pioneer resident; H. G. T. Perry, President of the Board of Trade in Central Fort George; and William F. Cooke, of South Fort George. A brass band of ten pieces was on hand, and with the help of a bonfire the players managed to keep their instruments from freezing. In addition, there was a parade, illustrating the various stages in the history of the town, including representatives of the Indians, the Hudson's Bay Company, the pioneer settlers, and the surveyors. Prince George was quickly linked by rail with the outside world, as a passenger service from McBride west was inaugu- 306 F. E. Runnalls. rated at once by the construction company. The first westbound train arrived on January 30. The first train left Prince George for the East on February 3. F. E. Runnalls. Prince George, B.C. THE JOURNAL OF JOHN WORK, 1835: BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS VOYAGE NORTHWARD FROM THE COLUMBIA RIVER TO FORT SIMPSON AND RETURN IN THE BRIG LAMA, JANUARY- OCTOBER, 1835. Edited by Henry Drummond Dee. Part III. [At Fort Simpson.] Sunday, May 24- Fine weather. Very little wind & that variable. Rain towards evening. A few canoes of Indians arrived from Nass and encamped along side of the fort. They have nothing to trade. Monday, May 25. Rained the most of the day. Wind Southerly. Jack, a Tongass Indian, arrived with two canoes, he has a few beaver but has not yet traded them. This man has come last from Cape Fox and Clemencitty. He can give us no information regarding the strange vessel which was seen a few days ago. It is conjectured she has stood into Tongass. The Men employed clearing ground for potatoes and a most tedious & laborious job it is. When the trees are cleared off with their branches, the stumps that remain are mostly of a large size and so close together that there is no means of making the ground of any use but by entirely removing them, which from their great weight is very difficult. Indeed the ground is mixed with a complete mass of roots intertwined, and in order to get rid of them the ground has to be all turned over from 1 to 2% or 3 feet in depth; moreover it is so wet that a considerable part of it is a complete quagmire. Drains have to be made to draw off the water. The soil which is composed of peat on a bed of sand mixed with shells, after being reclaimed, will doubtless yield fine crops of potatoes. About 11 or 12 bushels on about % Acres are already sowed and about % Acres are now being cleared which is probably as much as we will be able to manage this season. Since I was last here [blank in MS.] Skins have been traded. It is to be apprehended that the returns this year will be very poor. Beaver appear to be falling off rapidly. Some Queen Charlotte Island Indians have been here some time ago and traded 177 bush, potatoes, which is a great acquisition, as they serve to enable the people to be fed with salt fish. Tuesday, May 26. Wind Southerly, rained the most of the day. This will be an unfavorable wind for the Lama proceeding to the Southward. The Men employed as yesterday. Wednesday, May 27. Overcast showry weather. Wind variable. The men employed rooting up the stumps out of the garden. This rainy weather is unfavourable. Thursday, May 28. Weather as yesterday. Wind from the Northward in the morning, but Southerly afterwards with rain. The men finished rooting up the stumps and commenced rolling them off the ground. A party British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII., No. 4. 307 308 H. D. Dee. October of about a dozen canoes of Cunshewa [sic] Q. Charlotte Island Indians stopped here today on their way going home from Nass. The Indians of this place who arrived from Nass on Sunday are off to Pearl Harbour.123 An Indian brought us a deer which is very acceptable as we were out of fresh provisions. Friday, May 29. Wind Southerly. Drizzling rain with occasionally heavy showers the most of the day. The Men employed rolling the stumps off the garden and from their great weight, it is a very laborious tedious job, the unfavorable wet weather is also much against them. One of the Men [blank in MS.], an Islander,i2* who was cutting firewood,' laid down his Axe for a moment to light his pipe and it was stolen by one of the Q. Charlotte Island Indians that arrived yesterday. The thief was pursued but the Axe could not be found. The fellow immediately drew his knife on the Islander, who being unarmed, had to desist. Shortly after their Chief, who is called Mr Charlie, arrived with a few Canoes from Nass, when the theft was mentioned to him and he was made to understand that we would put up with their thefts no longer (when they were last here they stole an axe and some other articles) and that if any thing of the kind should occur again we would fire upon them. He felt hurt at what was said to him and went to recover the Axe late in the evening, when an altercation took place between him and the thief, who seized his musket, and without further ceremony shot the Chief, who died in a few minutes afterward. A great cry and lamentation were immediately set up by the Wife and near relatives of the deceased, the women dashing themselves down in the mires and dirt. These paroxysms of grief still continue. We have not yet learned any particulars relative to the circumstances of the murder. As these are a most savage set of Indians and may be disposed to attribute the man's death to us and attempt to revenge it upon us, the guard has been strengthened and every thing prepared to receive them should they attempt any thing. The Chief applied to Dr. Kennedy to accompany him to seek the Axe, and the Dr. was on the point of going, when I fortunately saw him & stopped him. Had he gone it is not improbable he might have been killed. Saturday, May SO. Heavy [rain] in the night and during the day. Wind Southerly. Owing to the disturbance among the Indians it was deemed not safe to send out the men to work outside. Indeed the ground is so miry with the rain that they could have done little at rolling off the stumps. The howling and lamentation among the Indians still continue, some *of the women are become completely hoarse with crying. They brought across the corpse this morning and have it set up in a sitting posture wrapped up in a new blanket, but the face left bare & painted, a handkerchief tied round the head, quantities of calico thrown over it with shells and other ornaments fastened over the breast. These Indians are all of the same tribe, but they appear to be divided into two parties. There are about 100 men of them here altogether, only about the % of which seem to be the adherents of the late Chief, so that the others are too numerous for them, but some of them appear to wish to remain neutral in the affair. Numerous messengers were passing and repassing between the two parties (123) A few miles south of Fort Simpson, on the same peninsula. (124) Hawaiian Islander, many of whom were employed by the Company, especially aboard their ships. 1944 John Work's Journal. 309 during the day, and a great deal of yelling and threatening made use off [sic], till late in the evening, when about a dozen of the Chief's friends armed with muskets, pistols, and knives repaired to the rocks on the little island125 near the other partie's [sic] encampment and opened a brisk fire upon them, which they kept up a short time but apparently without effect. The others returned the fire but very feebly. The Chief's party are encamped along side of the fort, the others are on the little island a few hundred yards distant. Sunday, May 31. Wind still Southerly. Squally during the night, heavy rain all day. The Indian women occasionally joined by the men still continue their lamentations. The men commenced firing upon those of [on?] the islands early in the morning which they continued at intervals during the forepart of the day; but afterwards they had a parley and towards [word omitted in MS.] made up matters with all except the murder [er] and a very few of his friends who made their escape in two canoes. They report that one woman was killed. Indeed the party who adhered to the murder [er], from the feeble manner in which they opposed the others, dont appear to have wished to carry things to extremities, but acted principally on the defensive. It appears a transfer of property126 is to take place to cement the peace, and that the Murderer and the few friends that adhere to him will be deprived of every thing they have. It is also threatened that war will be renewed against them when they get home. A canoe of 4 Indians belonging to this place came into this bay yesterday evening, but learning what was going on they would not venture to land, but went off again. Monday, June 1. Very heavy rain during the night and all day till towards evening, when it faired up and the wind shifted from S. to S.W. The ground is in a perfect mire with the heavy rain. On the ground where the potatoes are sowed the water lies in pools, which it is apprehended, will injure the potatoes if the weather does not soon change. The bad weather and the Indians being still unsettled deterred the men from being sent to work outside the fort. When the weather faired up in the afternoon the Indians all went off, the deceased Chief was removed into the Canoe and placed in a sitting posture in his usual place. We are pleased to see them off for they are infamous blood thirsty villains. They recovered the Axe which was stolen and promised to return it but when going off denied they had it and would not give it up, denying that they had it. By firing upon them we might have easily killed a good many of them or made them give it up but as this most likely could not have been effected without bloodshed, and as the Chief has already been killed on account of the Axe, it was thought better to let them go off without any more mischief. They were all armed as indeed they are always. There is no doubt but that our own safety will eventually compell [sic] us to come to extremities with these people, and let them feel (125) This " little island " is apparently the half-peninsula, half-island, to-day called Village Island, lying about a quarter of a mile west of Fort Simpson. Finlayson and Birnie islands are too large and too far away to fit the description. See Admiralty plan No. 2426, Fort Simpson and Adjacent Anchorages. (126) A common method of atoning for a crime among the Indians. " Property " here does not apply to land, which was held in common, but to personal possessions. 310 H. D. Dee. October our force by destroying a number of them. Their daring is insufferable, and our forbearance probably not viewed in the proper light or assigned to the proper cause. Tuesday, June 2. Some rain in the morning, fine weather afterwards. Wind Northerly, a fine breeze. The men employed rolling the stumps out of the gardin [sic], which is rendered more difficult by the late rain as every hollow is a pool of water. They are also much annoyed by sandflies which are very numerous and exceedingly troublesome, indeed, they have been so whenever it was fine weather for some time past. Wednesday, June 8. Fine weather. What little wind was, was Northerly but it was nearly calm. The men employed as yesterday. Only two of them are sick today which is extraordinary, as hitherto seldom or ever fewer than from the % to the % of them were always laid up. Notwithstanding the great quantity of rain which has fallen lately, it is astonishing how much the ground has dried up these two days. Various places where large streams were runing [sic] two days ago are now nearly dry. Three Canoes of Pearl Harbour Indians arrived from the entrance of the Straits and traded a few halibut, which is a seasonable supply, as we have been for some time all hands living on salt fish & salt Venison. It is fortunate for us that we have some potatoes to use with it. Thursday, June 4. Overcast mild weather, very little wind, variable. Some rain in the evening. The men finished clearing clearing [sic] the stumps off the garden, and were afterwards employed, livelling [sic] & hoeing the ground, cutting drains and putting up the fence, till the afternoon; when they were called into the fort on the Arrival of a band of Masset Indians127 from Queen Charlotte's Island. In the forenoon 13 Canoes of Indians belonging to this place arrived from Nass and encamped a little distance from the fort. In the afternoon 19 Canoes some of them very large, of Masset Indians arrived from Q. Charlotte's Island, and encamped on the little island. On their approaching the shore, the men belonging to the party which had previously arrived, flew to their arms and ran to meet and oppose them if they appeared hostile, while the women were all in confusion running with their property to near the fort gates to be in security. After the interview the New comers were allowed to land peaceably. Such is the distrust there people entertain towards each other, which is much required to guard against the savage treachery common among them all. These Massets are the people or part of them that pillaged the Vancouver when she was cast away last year. A most daring cutthroat looking set of scoundrels they are. There may be about 150 men in the party besides some women. Only a few of them came to the fort gates and proposed selling some potatoes. They have very few if any furs. One of the women offered one of the teacups belonging to the Vancouver for sale. We could not be sure whether any of the other articles about them had belonged to her or not. Arms &c are so much alike. The old Chief did not present himself but kept at a distance. Did a favourable opportunity offer, these scoundrels ought undoubtedly to be punished, their being allowed to escape with impunity, renders them more daring and gives both them and the other Indians a very despicable opinion of us. Where they are (127) A branch of the Haida Indians from the northern part of Graham Island, in the Queen Charlotte group. 1944 John Work's Journal. 311 now encamped we could do them little injury from the fort, and durst not attempt to go out to do any thing. Friday, June 5. Wind Northerly but nearly calm. Rained the most of the day, light rain. The men employed at the garden. It is now ready for the seed except a few small drains to draw off the water. The piece they have now finished is only about 5 half Roods, yet 20 men have been employed about 3 weeks rooting up the stumps and rolling them off the ground, besides all the labour previously bestowed upon it, felling the trees and clearing off the trunks and branches.128 91 Canoes of the Indians belonging to this place arrived from Nass during the day. The Indians who arrived yesterday traded about 50 bush, potatoes and a beaver or two. Saturday, June 6. Cloudy fine weather. The potatoes were all planted except a small piece where the ground was too wet, which had to be left till Monday to dry. There is now altogether 1 Acre & 1 Rood nearly planted and fenced in. The first sowed ones are coming up, and appear well. 94 Canoes more of the people of this place arrived from Nass during the day. Sunday, June 7. Heavy rain in the night and forepart of the day cloudy. Fine weather afterwards. The Indians still coming from Nass. Upwards of 100 Canoes arrived during the day. Some stopped and others besides some of those that were here before, proceeded on to Pearl Harbour, a few miles to the Southward. Monday, June 8. Cloudy fair weather, but cold for this season of the year. The Blacksmith & assistant employed making Nails, 2 men sawing, 2 preparing wood for a beaver press,129 and the others cutting wood for Coals.iso But as we were likely to have some disturbance with the Masset Indians the men were kept in the fort from breakfast time to noon. As many canoes arrived from Nass today as yesterday, part of which stopped and the rest proceeded on to Pearl Harbour. The Masset Indians went off about noon. Their Old Chief, (the Old scoundrel Kinsly, who was the head and active hand at pillaging the Vancouver) presented himself with a party of his men at the gates in the morning, but knowing he merited punishment he would not trust himself in the fort. When Dr. Kennedy went out to speak to him, he said we are friends now and that when a vessel went to Necoon he would give some beaver skins. His offer of friendship was not accepted or refused, and indeed very little conversation took place, as he did not feel himself safe and shortly went off. It was our object to have got him into the fort & secured, but (128) Any one who knows the dense forests of the coast of British Columbia can appreciate the monumental task of clearing land. (129) For compressing beaver-skins into bales for shipment. (130) Charcoal made from wood was used by the blacksmith in place of mineral coal. It was not Work's first experience of making charcoal, since he had, among other duties, directed the firing of charcoal-pits at Fort Spokane in 1825. However, its manufacture at Fort Simpson was not entirely successful. Actually the use of charcoal was unusual. Coal was brought from England to Fort Vancouver, and the Hudson's Bay people did not become very efficient at charcoal-making for some years. See E. E. Rich (ed.), The Letters of John McLoughlin, Second Series, 1889-44, Toronto and London, 1943, p. 22 and n., and p. 94 n. 312 H. D. Dee. October as his men were armed we could not effect this without bloodshed. We had every wish to punish them and we might have shot several of them without much risk to ourselves, but as several of the Pearl Harbour Indians were mixed among them, some of them would have been unavoidably killed also and that would have embroiled us in a quarrel with them also, and been attended with a heavy expense to make up the matter. We were therefore compelled reluctantly, to let them go off unhurt, but it is to be hoped that some favourable opportunity may offer when they can be chastised effectually. After they were gone we learned that the Chiefs here were anxious that we would get the old scoundrel into the fort and that a row would be' the consequence, when they would avail themselves of the opportunity to join the fracas and pillage them of every thing they had. Even had we been aware of these sentiments, no matter how desirable it would have been to punish the villains, it would not have been advisable to have acceded to this plan, because the want of principle and love of pillage in these Indians would urge them to pillage any other tribes that would come here, and strangers from a distance would thereby be deterred from visiting the fort. We also learned after they were gone, that they had some of the Vancouver's blunderbusses with them which they intended to make us a present of had matters been made up. They also had been trying to draw over the Pearl Harbour Chiefs to their side, but the others say they declined. What little they traded here was done only by slaves1^1 or men of little note so that seizing any of them would have been of no avail. Tuesday, June 9. Rained the most of .the day, wind variable. The men employed as yesterday. The ground being dried a little, the remainder of the potatoes were sowed, and about 700 Cabbage plants transplanted. About 50 more canoes arrived from Nass. A number of those which were here went off to Pearl Harbour. Wednesday, June 10. Rained in the morning, showry during the day. Wind light and variable till towards afternoon, when there was a fine breeze from the Northward. The men employed still cutting wood for Coals. About 60 more Canoes of Pearl Harbour Indians arrived from Nass, some of whom stopped here and some proceeded on to Pearl Harbour. Several of those who were here also went off to the same place. These Indians have still a few beaver as far as we can learn, probably 60 to 80, which they wish to trade but insist upon getting a blanket with rum and tobacco for each beaver. As there was so much trouble getting the Tariff reduced to a blanket, and their having so few skins, and not likely to have any more till after the Salmon season, when our opponents will most probably be gone, it is not deemed advisable to alter our present tariff. Our own vessel has as good a chance to get these skins as our opponents. Rum also is an article for which beaver are obtained cheaper than any other and if the Natives get it along with a blanket they will purchase none. It is therefore considered most advantageous, even at the risk of losing the few skins they now have, not to alter the present prices. Thursday, June 11. Fine clear weather. Wind Northerly. This is the first clear day we have had for I don't know how long. The men still employed cutting wood and building up the coal kiln. The wood is mostly of a large size, and takes a great deal of labour to cut & split it and still more (131) Slavery was common among the Coast Indians even at this late date. 1944 John Work's Journal. 313 to carry it to the kiln, as some of it has to be carried far and only on the men's shoulders. The road is very bad through fallen trees stumps and branches. It was also a work of labour and difficulty to clear a spot sufficiently large to build the kiln on. The Indians continue still arriving from Nass, about 60 more canoes came today. Several also moved off to Pearl Harbour. It is difficult to ascertain how many come or go as they keep going in the night as well as the day. Friday, June 12. Fine clear & very warm weather, what little wind was from the Northward. The Men employed as before. A Kygarny Indian of some note, Cogill, arrived with a party of his people in a large Canoe. On his approaching, the Indians here went out in several canoes, all armed, shouting and yelling, to meet them and on landing fairly hauled the canoe up to the lodges, and carried all the baggage into one of the Chief's houses. Whether it will all come out again is a question of doubt. At all events let the strangers like this proceeding or not, they had to submit, indeed they could not well do otherwise as they were fairly in the hands of the Philistines, and perhaps felt it necessary to take all in good part. It appears that some ancient feud exists between these people and the Kygarny men which is not yet compromised, but perhaps Cogill's party are not implicated in it. Cogill shortly came to the fort and deposited some of his trunks. We learn that he is a fugitive here himself, having to fly from among his own people in consequence of a battle he was engaged in lately, in which 8 men were killed. He informs us that about 10 or 14 days ago, no less than four vessels were in Kygarny, viz., our own vessel Capt. McNeill, Capt. Allen, Capt. Dominis, and Capt. Bancroft.132 The latter came with Indians whom he had had away hunting sea otters, the others were trading furs. I cannot conceive what occurred to induce Capt. McNeill to go there,!33 for when he left this it was to proceed to the Southward, particularly to Nawety, to secure the Cawelth1^ furs. Several more of the Pearl Harbour Indians, at least 60 Canoes arrived from Nass, part of them passed on to Pearl Harbour and part of them stopped here. Several of those who were here, also went off to Pearl Harbour. Indeed they are coming and going in great numbers daily. Saturday, June 18. Still fine clear and very warm weather, a light air of Northerly wind. The men still employed at the coalkiln. Two canoes of Nass Indians arrived in the evening and were taken ashore by the people here the same as the one that arrived yesterday. Sunday, June 14. The weather still continues fine, indeed the heat today was unpleasant. The two Nass canoes which arrived yesterday went off this evening. They had a few beaver with them, which they have probably (132) All of these men have been identified, with the exception of the last. John Bancroft was the captain of the 135-ton American brig Convoy. In 1837, when the Lama was sold by the Hudson's Bay Company, her new owners placed Bancroft in command. He was murdered in a mutiny off the coast of California in 1838 by his Kaigani hunters, when hunting for sea otters. See Ogden, The California Sea Otter Trade, pp. 128-130. (133) Captain McNeill had gone to Kaigani because of contrary winds. See entry for Friday, July 3, 1835, infra. Work had had a similar experience himself; see entry for Thursday, April 2, 1835, supra, pp. 231-2. (134) Work means the Colcauths (Kwakiutl) at Beaver Harbour, not Cow-welths, which were natives of the Queen Charlotte Islands. 314 H. D. Dee. October disposed off [sic] to the other Indians. They brought them here but would not accept of our prices; they demanded a blanket & a gallon of mixed liquor per beaver. A Stikine Indian who has been at Pearl Harbour some days paid us a visit, and was kindly received. He has some beaver but will not accept of our prices but insists upon having rum with the blanket. Yet we learn that the Russians give only a blanket. There are a few skins among the Natives here, but they will not part with them at our prices, in expectation that the American vessels will cast up, when they will get more from them, and hearing that another vessel was come on the coast inclines them still more to hold up their skins. Seeing that there was no hopes of getting the beaver at our present price and that should the American vessels cast up, which there is no doubt they will, we would either have to raise the price or allow all the skins to go to our opponents, and even when we did raise the price then we would get only a part of the beaver, we have deemed it advisable to apprise the Indians that we will give them the gallon of liquor with a blanket for each large beaver skin, & also instead of 2 that we will give 3 gallons of liquor per beaver. By this means it is hoped we will get the most of what furs they have among them before our opponents make their appearance, and that it may also be the means of inducing the Stikines to bring a good many of their beaver here, which it is probable they would not do if they got no more from them here than from the Russians. The Stikine Chiefs with a large party are expected here in a short time, at least the man who is here informs us that they are coming. It is also expected that raising the price will induce the Tongass people to come here also as well as some other strangers. It is intended to reduce the price immediately when our opponents leave the coast. It is with much reluctance we raise the price after having had so much trouble reducing it, but we must either do so, or allow the furs to go to our opponents, which will be the means of encouraging them to persevere in opposing us, which will incur an annual heavy expence without any adequate returns.135 Monday, June 15. Overcast thick lowering weather. Wind Southerly. The men finished covering up the Coal kiln; it is now ready to set fire to. One of the Chiefs, Cacax, came here from Pearl Harbour this morning with a party of his people to perform the funeral obsequies of an infant daughter which has been dead several weeks. The body was in a box. They raised a mound of stones [blank in MS.] feet high and piled a quantity of wood upon it on which they placed the box and then set fire to it and consumed the whole, besides the man's coat and other articles that were thrown upon it. After the whole was burnt, such of the bones as could be collected, were placed in a small round box and that put in another, which was wrapped in a piece of Calico and deposited on a stage some height from the ground apart from the mound. All the rest of the ashes were collected and put into another large hollow vessel, which was cut in the form of some rude animal, but it would be difficult to say from its uncouth figure what creature it was meant to represent. This figure was then placed on the mound which the fire had occupied.136 During all this ceremony, all present kept (135) This summarizes Work's policy very concisely, which was to overbid his competitors until they found it no longer profitable to remain in competition. How greatly the practice violated his thrifty nature is obvious. (136) This method of disposing of the dead was common among the Haida and Tsimpsean Indians of the time. See infra, entry for Saturday, June 27, 1835. The carving referred to was undoubtedly the totem of the tribe. 1944 John Work's Journal. 315 up continual lamentation or rather howling, accompanied by savage gestures. They had provided themselves with some liquor previously, which made their appearance doubly ferocious. This ceremony, deterred the Indians from trading so that only 9 skins were obtained from them. Tuesday, June 16. Wind Westerly. Thick weather in the morning but clear afterwards. The coal kiln was kindled this morning, and three men sent to attend it, the others employed, making a beaver press, sawing, preparing boards for roofing the houses, and clearing up and burning wood about the fort. The Indians traded 24 beaver. Wednesday, June 17. Rained all day. Wind Southerly. The people employed as yesterday. 7 beaver traded today. It is rumoured among the Indians that four of the Natives, who were off on a hunting excursion towards Skeena some time ago, killed 8 Indians from that place who were on their way here to trade. These ruffians returned with a good many beaver, though they had not been long absent, and it could not be conjectured where they had obtained them. The Chiefs are very much displeased as it will probably cause a war, so that they dare not go up that river to trade as usual, where they used to find a good many beaver. One of the Chiefs, Neshoot, arrived from Tongass where he had been trading. The strange vessel which was seen off here some time ago was a Russian but she had not been into any of the harbours about Tongass. Thursday, June 18. Cloudy weather. Wind Southerly, Heavy rain in the morning. The people employed as yesterday. Several of the Indians moved off today to Pearl Harbour. This is the first day that no canoes have been arriving from Nass for a length of time back. There have arrived altogether from that place since the 4th Inst, at least 850 Canoes. Only six beaver were traded today. Friday, June 19. Overcast showry weather. The people employed as these days past. Late last night a Canoe arrived from Pearl Harbour and reported that the Masset Indians and Pearl Harbour Indians were fighting. Both parties had sent off their women into the woods & had commenced firing, but from accounts received today the Masset people drew off and the affair terminated without bloodshed. Several more of the Indians went off during the day. Saturday, June 20. Cloudy fair weather. The Chiefs went off accompanied, by the most of their people to Pearl Harbour, and are to proceed shortly to Millbank.137 Only four or five lodges now remain about the place. We are glad to see them off, for they were an annoyance, eternally begging, and no satisfying them. I sent a letter by one of the Chiefs to Mr. Manson,138 Millbank. Sunday, June 21. Overcast raw cold weather, some light rain. The weather continues very cold for this season of the year. Vegetation is making very slow progress. Potatoes which have been sowed more than a month are not yet coming up. Monday, June 22. Wind Southerly, drizzling rain the most of the day and raw cold weather. The men employed clearing up about the fort & preparing to roof the dwelling house. (137) Fort McLoughlin. (138) In charge at Fort McLoughlin, see supra, p. 134, n. 8. 316 H. D. Dee. October Tuesday, June 23. Showry in the morning, fine weather afterwards. Wind shifted round to the Westward. The Men employed puting [sic] the roof on the dwelling house, sawing and attending the coal kiln. Some more of the Indians went off today. Wednesday, June 24- Fine weather, light Westerly wind. The men employed as yesterday. Some more of the Indians went off, and a canoe arrived from Pearl Harbour. 15 beaver were traded, making 76 which have been traded since we raised the price on the 14th Inst. Very few of which we would have got had we not raised the price. Though but few it is still so many out of the way of our opponents. The Indians have still a few more skins in their hands but hold them up expecting to get a higher price from our Opponents or from us when they arrive. Thursday, June 25. Fine clear warm weather. Part of the people employed as yesterday, the others at sundry jobs. Part of the furs were aired and beat, and the store arranged and the goods restowed. Friday, June 26. Clear fine warm weather, Wind Westerly, but nearly calm. The men employed, 2 sawing, 2 at the coal kiln, and the others at the dwelling house, part of them at the chimney which is a tedious laborious job; the foundation has to be sunk 8 feet below the flooring, and requires a great quantity of stones to fill it up. The chimney will altogether be from the foundation [blank in MS.] feet high. The clay for the mortar has to be brought a considerable distance by water. The greater part of the stones have also to be brought with boats and both require a great deal of both time and labour. One of the Indians was drowned in the afternoon, a young man, he had gone into the water to bathe it seems without being perceived, and it is conjectured had fallen into a fit or something of that kind. They are all excellent swimmers, and he was close to the shore and scarcely out of his depth. He had been but a short time in the water yet he was quite dead. His Mother, an old woman, and other relatives are overwhelmed with grief, and still continue their lamentations. Saturday, June 27. Fine warm weather forepart of the day. Wind Westerly till the afternoon, when it shifted to the Southward, when the weather became overcast with some light rain in the evening. The men employed as yesterday. An Indian brought us a deer today, which was a seasonable supply as we have been living on salt provisions for some days. The men have constantly salt fish & potatoes, as we are getting very little fresh provisions since the Indians went off. The Natives burnt the young man who was drowned yesterday, but as he was a man of little note there was much less ceremony than with the Chief's child which was burnt some time ago. Sunday, June 28. Wind Southerly. Overcast weather some light rain. The weather is really very cold for this season of the year, and vegetation is getting on very slowly. The potatoes, which were sowed more than a month ago, are only some of them beginning to come up yet, and some of those which were sowed in the beginning of May are only coming up. Monday, June 29. Wind Southerly. Squally weather with very heavy rain the most of the day. The men employed still about the dwelling house. Those that are boating the stones and clay for the chimney have an unpleas- 1944 John Work's Journal. 317 ant job as they are continually wet and the weather so cold. A deer* was traded. Some Indians from Pearl Harbour brought a few halibut and some eggs. Tuesday, June SO. Wind still Southerly. Stormy squally weather with heavy rain. The Men employed as yesterday. Wednesday, July 1.1S* Wind Westerly, more moderate than these days past, very heavy showers of rain during the day. The men still employed, as before. A Canoe arrived from Pearl Harbour and brought a deer. Thursday, July 2. Showry weather, wind Westerly. The weather still continues cold, and vegetation making very slow progress. The potatoes are coming coming [sic] on slowly. Some cresses, raddishes [sic] and lettuces are ready for use; but they have been sowed more than two months, yet they are still small. The men still employed at the dwelling house, the coal kill [sic],14(> sawing, &c. Building the Chimney is a tedious job. A foundation had to be laid for it 18 feet by 12 feet and 8 feet deep. Burning shells into lime is also a tedious job, as the people are not acquainted with the proper mode. Two Canoes arrived from Pearl Harbour but brought nothing but a few eggs. Friday, July 3. Fine warm weather, wind Westerly but very little of it. The people employed still the same. In the afternoon an American hrig the Bolivar, Capt. Dominis, arrived and anchored abreast of the fort last from Clemencitty. She left Capt. McNeill at Naweetie on Monday last.141 It was this vessel which was seen off here some time ago and was taken for a Russian.1*2 Shortly after that she met the Europa in Tongass where they traded about [blank in MS.] beaver from a party of Stikeen Indians143 after which they both proceeded to Kygarny, where they found Capt. McNeill, who it appears had been induced to go there by foul winds. All the three vessels then proceeded to Sabasses, thence to Millbank, where they separated from the Europa and the other two went to Naweetie where they procured 500 to 600 beaver. It is not known where Capt. Allan went to from Millbank.14* The Bolivar left Woahoo145 10th April, last, whence she went to Sitka,146 and made pretty good sales of a considerable part of her cargo and then came on here to the coast. Shortly previous to leaving the islands147 another (139) This entry marks the beginning of Work's fifteenth journal. The original is to be found in the Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. (140) Charcoal kiln. (141) It will be recalled that Captain McNeill had left Fort Simpson in the Lama on a trading expedition as far south as Nahwitte, on Vancouver Island. (142) See supra, p. 232, n. 76. (143) It is interesting to note how often the Stikine Indians were lured away from the Russian traders in the hope of securing higher prices from the competition between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Americans to the south. (144) Fort McLoughlin. (145) Common spelling for Oahu, the most important of the Hawaiian Islands, on which Honolulu is situated. (146) Headquarters of the Russian American Company, on Baranof Island, Alaska. (147) Hawaiian Islands. 318 H. D. DEE. vessel arrived in 120 days from the States, from the same owners with a cargo of supplies, and also to come on to the Coast; but as Capt. Dominis supposed justly that little was to be done here, he took out her cargo and returned her again. We conjectured that his object now is to remain on the coast till towards the fall, and then proceed with Indians to hunt Sea Otters and smuggle goods at California, and probably return to the Coast here the ensuing summer. Now as there is every likelihood that Snow148 who was here last summer, and made pretty well out, will also be back next summer, we will have two vessels at least opposing us next summer also, which will render it utterly impossible for us to make any thing but a heavy losing business of it, particularly as affairs stand now, when beavers are diminishing so rapidly in numbers. The Americans149 never calculate on making more than a part of their voyage on the coast. They dispose of part of their cargo at the islands, and make further sales to the Russians, and then come on here with the residue here [sic], which is disposed of at almost any price rather than take it home. Their Captains act in the double capacity of Master and supercargo for which they are allowed a very moderate monthly wages [sic], and a percentage upon their sales, so that it is their interest (as they express themselves) to " get rid of it" even should the owners be no gainers by the bargain. From these causes, their mode of dealing with the natives is calculated to be highly detrimental to us who are permanently trading with them, because they estimate the greater part of their commodities by the rate they stand themselves in, and not by the value they are to the Indians. For instance they never give less than 12%—and mostly 25 lbs. of powder for a beaver skin, and most other articles in proportion. Hence the Natives obtain these things, which should be so essential to them, in such abundance that they lay little or no value upon them. Saturday, July 4. Cloudy fine weather, wind Westerly. The men employed as before. The Indians brought a few salmon from Pearl Harbour. In the evening the Europa, Capt. Allan, arrived last from Tongass. [To be continued.] (148) Captain Snow from Boston, in the American barque Lagrange. See W. F. Tolmie, Diary, entry for June 3, 1834. It is interesting to note that both Captain Snow and Captain Allan had been as active in competition with the Russians as they were with the Hudson's Bay Company. The Russian-American Treaty of April, 1824, had permitted free recourse of American ships to harbours between Lynn Canal and 54° 40'. On the very day that this treaty expired both skippers were served notice to keep out of Russian waters. For more details see Donald C. Davidson, " Relations of the Hudson's Bay Company with the Russian American Company on the Northwest Coast, 1829-1867," in British Columbia Historical Quarterly, V. (1941), p. 38. (149) See supra, p. 128, for a word of explanation on the part which the Russians played in this struggle between the American trading vessels and the Hudson's Bay Company. See also Ogden, The California Sea Otter Trade. ROYAL COMMISSIONS AND COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY UNDER THE "PUBLIC IN- QUIRIES ACT" IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. A CHECKLIST. By Marjorie C. Holmes. Part II., 1900-1910. 1900 29. Porcupine-Chilkat Districts. Report under the Porcupine District Commission, 1900, by the Honourable Archer Martin, Special Commissioner, with observations on the P & C Districts. Victoria, B.C.: Printed by Richard Wolfenden, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1901. Cover-title, 13 pp. Also in Sessional Papers . . . Session 1901. pp. 1055-1065. The file book, maps, and photographs are on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Mr. Justice Archer Martin of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Appointed August 23, 1900; report dated December 31, 1900. The commissioner was appointed under the " Public Inquiries Act " and the " Porcupine District Commission Act, 1900," to settle disputes and difficulties in regard to matters arising under the " Mineral Act" and the " Placer Mining Act" and amending acts, in the Porcupine District of the Lake Bennett Mining Division. He was given the necessary powers to settle these difficulties. The Appendix to the commissioner's report gives an interesting account of the Porcupine District, including its history, fauna, native races, the story of the Dalton trail, and a short list of books relating to that part of the country. 1901 30. Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the grievances of the Settlers within the tract of lands granted to the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company. 32 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1901. pp. 337-368. Original evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Eli Harrison, Junior, Judge of the County Court of Nanaimo. Appointed October 12, 1900; report dated January 4, 1901. British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII., No. 4. 319 320 Marjorie C. Holmes. October This commission inquired into the grievances of certain settlers in the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway belt regarding the titles and grants of their lands and the mineral rights in those lands. The question was a very involved one. The commissioner ruled that the settlers held surface rights only. Reference should also be made to the Petition [of settlers in the E. & N. Railway Belt] in Journals of the Legislative Assembly 1900, pp. lix.-lxii. 31. Report of C. K. Clarke, M.D., Superintendent of the Rockwood Asylum for the Insane, Kingston, Ontario, appointed a Commissioner to inquire into and concerning all matters connected with the general administration of the Hospital for the Insane at New Westminster. 7 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1901. pp. 229-235. Original typewritten report on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: C. K. Clarke, M.D., of the Rockwood Asylum for the Insane, Kingston, Ontario. Appointed January 16, 1901; report dated January 23, 1901. The commissioner in his report called attention to certain administrative defects as to cost of maintenance, which he considered was too heavy, and offered recommendations to remedy this condition. He paid tribute to the advances which had been made since the previous inquiry of 1894, but advocated changes in the treatment of patients. 32. Commission to enquire into the conduct of affairs at the Provincial Gaol at New Westminster. 29 pp. Original typewritten report, evidence, and exhibits on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Eli Harrison, Junior, Judge of the County Court of Nanaimo. Appointed July 24, 1901; report dated September 4, 1901. Charges had been made against the warden of the gaol of immorality, neglect of duty, violation of the rules and regulations of the prison, and of ill-treatment of prisoners. One gaoler and three trusties were also charged with the same offences. The commissioner found that the warden was lax in his duties, that he made no effort to remedy abuses, and that he disregarded the rules and regulations, but that the evidence did not show that the charge of immorality was sustained. 33. [Commission . . . to hold an enquiry into the conduct of the offices of the Gold Commissioner and Mining Recorder of the Bennett Lake and Atlin Lake Mining Divisions . . .] No report found. 1944 Commissions of Inquiry. 321 Commissioner: Hon. Angus John McColl, Chief Justice of British Columbia. Appointed July 10,1901. Chief Justice McColl died in January, 1902, and therefore it is possible that he did not complete his report, as no trace of it has been found. 1902 34. [Report of the Royal Commission under the "Public Inquiries Act" to inquire into certain charges against the Hon. James Dunsmuir and certain members of his cabinet in connection with matters set forth in the Resolution in the Legislative Assembly on March 19th, 1902.1 No report found. Original typewritten evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Mr. Justice George Anthony Walkem, of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Appointed March 25, 1902. Smith Curtis, M.L.A. for Rossland, charged the Hon. James Dunsmuir and his cabinet with negotiating to give an excessive subsidy of Provincial money and lands to the Canadian Northern Railway without " proper safeguards." The railway was planning to build a line from Bute Inlet to the Yellowhead Pass " with a view ... to the sale at a greater price than could otherwise be got, of the E. & N. Railway and Comox and Cape Scott Railway Companies' railways and rights " whereby James Dunsmuir, as a heavy shareholder in the companies, would reap the benefit. The evidence was dramatic. Curtis attempted to obtain a copy of a secret code which had been used, and also at one time walked out of the trial chamber. The evidence on file shows that the commission was adjourned " until after the sitting of the Full Court at Vancouver," but there the record ceases. 35. Return under Sub-section (2) of Section 10 of the "Public In quiries Act" [re administration of the " Liquor Licence Act," Fort Steele Licence District]. lp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1908. p. J 27. Original typewritten report and evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: William H. Bullock-Webster, barrister, of Nelson. Appointed April 8, 1902; report dated August 6, 1902. The commissioner investigated the methods employed by the Chief Licence Inspector in issuing liquor licences. While considering that the methods employed by the Inspector were careless, the commissioner did not think that his actions were in any way irregular, nor that the charges made against him were justified. 322 Marjorie C. Holmes. October 1903 36. Report of the Special Commission appointed to inquire into the Causes of Explosions in Coal Mines. 8 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1903. pp. J 9-J 16. Original typewritten report, evidence, and exhibits on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioners: John Bryden, of Victoria; Tully Boyce, of Nanaimo; Peter S. Lampman, of Victoria. Appointed August 7, 1902; report dated February 18, 1903. This was a fact-finding commission which made full inquiries into the known causes of explosions in coal mines. The commissioners visited the various mines in Fernie, Nanaimo, Cumberland, and Ladysmith, took evidence of mining engineers, miners, and others, and made recommendations for safety measures in mines, with a view to subsequent legislation. 1904 37. Return under Sub-section (2) of Section 10 of the "Public In quiries Act." [Provincial Home, Kamloops, inquiry.] 3 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1903-4. pp. G 35-G 37. Original MS. report and evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: S. A. Fletcher, of New Westminster. Appointed December 2, 1903; report dated January 22, 1904. Certain inmates and others at the Provincial Home, Kamloops, made charges of cruelty, and neglect of duty generally, against the Superintendent. The commissioner, after hearing evidence, found that the complaints were not proven and that " the institution might well be considered a credit to the Province." 38. In the matter of the " Public Inquiries Act" and in the matter of the conduct of Archibald Dick as Inspector of Mines. lp. Original typewritten report and evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: William Ward Spinks, Judge of the County Court, Yale. Appointed October 24, 1904; report dated December 31, 1904. Archibald Dick was accused of receiving money, either directly or indirectly, from the Crows Nest Pass Coal Company. The commissioner found that the accusations were unfounded. 39. [Commission issued to Hugh Archibald Maclean . . . as Special Commissioner under the " Public Inquiries Act" to inquire into the administration of justice in the City of Phoenix, the discharge of duties devolving on the Police Magistrate, and the Police and Licence Commissioners of that City.] 13 pp. 1944 COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY. 323 The original typewritten report and evidence are on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Hugh Archibald Maclean, Deputy Attorney-General, of Victoria. Appointed May 26, 1904; report dated June 10, 1904. The inquiry " largely resolved itself into a consideration of the conduct of the Chief of Police, Police Magistrate, Police Commissioners, Mayor and Municipal Council of Phoenix relative to a charge of assault laid by a woman of the town, called Alice Chase, against Charles H. Flood, Chief of Police." The case developed into an important factor in municipal politics, gave rise to disagreements between the municipal officers, and caused several resignations and new appointments. This outcome rendered unnecessary any comment on the performance of the duties of Police and Licence Commissioners by the Special Commissioner. With respect to the Police Magistrate, no valid reason for his dismissal was uncovered. Flood, the Chief of Police, was held not entirely blameless in the assault case, but the commissioner took the view that in spite of this, Flood was a good officer. It is interesting to note that, despite the furore, his services as Chief of Police were retained. 1905 40. Report of Commission on Assessment Act. 4 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1905. pp. F 27-F 30. The original typewritten report, evidence, and exhibits are on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioners: Hon. F. Carter-Cotton, President of the Executive Council; Hon. R. G. Tatlow, Minister of Finance; David R. Ker, of Victoria, and J. Buntzen, of Victoria. Appointed December 29, 1904; report dated February 16, 1905. The commission was appointed to investigate the " Assessment Act, 1903," "with respect to its practical bearings on the financial requirements of the province." After investigation, the commissioners made certain recommendations, many of which were implemented in the amendment to the " Assessment Act," passed in 1906.. 41. Report of R. F. Tolmie, Commissioner on the inquiry into the con duct of Hugh Hunter in his capacity as an officer of the Provincial Government. 2 pp. Original typewritten report on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Roderick F. Tolmie, Deputy Minister of Mines. Appointed April 18, 1905; report dated June 29, 1905. Hugh Hunter, of Princeton, was charged with being neglectful of his official duties, but the commissioner did not find that the charges were sustained by the evidence brought out at the inquiry. 324 Marjorie C. Holmes. October 42. [In the matter of a Commission under the " Public Inquiries Act" dated August 13, 1905 . . . in the matter of the Union Club, the Elks Club, Eureka Club, Chess Club, Playgoers Club and the Railway Porters Club.J 11 PP. Original typewritten report and evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Hugh Archibald Maclean, Deputy Attorney-General, of Victoria. Appointed August 31, 1905; report dated September 29, 1905. The clubs above mentioned, incorporated under the " Benevolent Societies Act," were accused of carrying on in " a manner adverse to intention of the said statutes." They were charged with gambling, etc., and police court convictions were produced in support of the charge. The conduct of the clubs was an open scandal, which was freely ventilated in the newspapers at the time. The commissioner found that the charges were well-founded, except in the case of the Union Club. He recommended that the charters of all clubs, except that of the Union Club, be cancelled, and that the societies or associations be dissolved. 1906 43. Re South Park School drawing books. Report of P. S. Lampman, Commissioner. 33 pp.. Original typewritten report on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Peter S. Lampman, Judge of the County Court of Victoria. Appointed November 29,1905; report dated February 23,1906. The commissioner investigated matters pertaining to the action of the Board of Examiners, the Department of Education, and Miss Agnes Deans Cameron, principal of South Park School, Victoria, in connection with drawing books submitted by pupils of the school at the high school entrance examinations held in June, 1905. Exercises in the drawing books completed during the term had been submitted for examination. David Blair, examiner in drawing, called the attention of the Education Department to the fact, that, in the examination of December, 1903, lines which should have been " freehand " had been ruled, and that measurements contrary to the regulations had been made. Teachers had been circularized, and their attention had been drawn to the rules of the examination. The commissioner carefully scrutinized drawing books submitted for examination in June, 1905, and questioned each pupil. Evidence of " ruling " was found in twenty-nine books, each of which had been certified by Miss Cameron. The commissioner found that the action of the Department of Education was fully justified, and as a result of the findings Miss Cameron's teaching certificate was suspended for a period of three years. 1944 COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY. 325 44. In the matter of the " Public Inquiries Act" ... to inquire into and report . . . concerning the action of the Department of Lands and Works in connection with the notice dated September 22nd, 1905, inviting tenders for the purchase of government property, situated at Laurel Point, Victoria Harbour, known as Lot 570b, Victoria City. 11 pp. Original typewritten report and evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Frederick Peters, K.C., of Victoria. Appointed July 14, 1906; report dated July 30, 1906. This is commonly known as the " Pendray commission." W. J. Pendray was anxious to purchase the lot next to that on which his business was situated. As was usual, the lot was submitted by the Department of Lands and Works for public tender. Pendray's tender was for $2,000. It was charged that the amount of Pendray's tender had been permitted to "leak out," and that as a result a higher one for $2,100 was submitted by a Mrs. Logie, which the Department intended to accept. However, the Board of Trade sent a deputation to interview the Government, submitting that the lot in question should not be allowed to fall into private hands. Further, it was charged that some one in the Department talked about the amount of the Pendray tender, and that the official in charge of the Department, R. F. Green, had agreed to lease the lot to Pendray at a nominal rent on Pendray's threat to expose the transaction. The commissioner found that the charges were not substantiated. 45. [Commission issued to Alexander Middleton of Coleridge, Alta., James William Sedition of Virden, Man., Gordon Wright Quick of Maple Creek, Sask., and Frederick Miles Logan of Victoria to enquire into all matters relating to the purchase and sale of cattle, sheep and meat in the province of British Columbia . . . and into the facts tending to the ascertainment of whether there exists . . . any combination in restraint of or affecting trade in cattle, sheep or meat . . . such as would infringe upon the provisions of the Criminal Code . . .] No report found. Commissioners: Alexander Middleton, of Coleridge, Alta.; James William Scallion, of Virden, Man.; Gordon Wright Quick, of Maple Creek, Sask.; Frederick Miles Logan, of Victoria. Appointed October 11, 1906. 1907 46. Commission to make enquiry into the standing of the Liquor License granted to [James] Hill, one of the proprietors of the Cecil Hotel in the City of Ladysmith, and into the conduct of the License Commissioners for the City of Ladysmith . . . in connection with said License. 5 pp. 326 Marjorie C. Holmes. October The original typewritten report and exhibits are on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: William Charles Moresby, barrister, of Victoria. Appointed October 17, 1907; report dated November 1, 1907. The commission was appointed following a letter of complaint from Parker Williams, M.L.A. for the district, contending that Hill's licence had been wrongly revoked. The licence in question had been issued to James Hill, of Messrs. Hill & Haslett, Cecil Hotel, Ladysmith, by the Licensing Commissioners. Later it was revoked by that body, following an informal meeting with the chief of police of Ladysmith. On investigating, Commissioner Moresby found that no misconduct on the part of the Licensing Board or of any member thereof had taken place, but he recommended that the resolution of September 30, 1907, revoking the licence be rescinded by a special meeting called for that purpose. 1908 47. Report submitted to His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor by Pro fessor Louis G. Carpenter, of Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Honourable Frederick J. Fulton, who were appointed Commissioners to inquire into the Irrigation of Land in the Province of British Columbia. 13 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1908. pp. D 1-D 13. Commissioners: Professor Louis G. Carpenter, of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Hon. Frederick James Fulton, Commissioner of Lands and Works. Appointed August 19, 1907; report dated February 10, 1908. The commissioners inspected the districts near Ashcroft, Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, Osoyoos, and Keremeos, with a view to sizing up irrigation problems. Later, the commissioners visited Colorado and consulted with authorities on irrigation there. Separate reports were submitted by each commissioner; that of Professor Carpenter making recommendations regarding the tightening-up of the water laws of the Province and recommending the formation of a body to administer water affairs. He compared the situation and legal aspects of the Province in this respect with Colorado somewhat fully, as the situation seemed to him to be similar. Fulton's report consists merely of a " diary " of the places visited and things seen. He states, however, that he fully concurs in the report of his co-commissioner. 48. [Commission . . . to investigate the charges brought by Miss [Agnes] Gertrude Donovan of Victoria against the Department of Education.] No report found. Original evidence on file in the Department of Education, Victoria. Commissioner: Harold Bruce Robertson, barrister, of Victoria. Appointed January 8, 1908; report dated February 11, 1908.* * See Correspondence on file in the Department of Education. 1944 COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY. 327 The inquiry was the culmination of a long dispute between a school teacher, Gertrude Donovan, the school boards of Kaslo and Vancouver, and the Department of Education. In 1906 Miss Donovan had been summarily dismissed by the Kaslo school board, with consequent loss of salary. On appeal to the Council of Public Instruction, and investigation by the Inspector of Schools, David Wilson, the salary decision was reversed, with the Kaslo board protesting. Subsequently Miss Donovan taught in the Vancouver schools. This engagement also terminated suddenly after charges which she made against the city superintendent were found, by a trustees' investigation, to be unfounded. The commissioner under the " Public Inquiries Act" was appointed on the request of the Lieutenant-Governor, personally, in order to investigate the state of affairs which had been steadily growing since 1906 between Miss Donovan and the Superintendent of Education, Dr. Alexander Robinson. 49. Report of Commissioner appointed to make an inquiry into the claims of certain persons who had entered upon the Crown Lands in the District of Kootenay under reserve for reclamation purposes, with a view to effecting an adjustment of such claim. 4 pp. Original typewritten report and evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: William Franklin Teetzel, of Victoria. ' Appointed March 31, 1908; report dated June 4, 1908. The commissioner divided the claimants into two classes, those who " for any lengthy period had been in actual occupation of Crown lands and who during such occupancy had made substantial improvements on the lands so occupied," and those " who within a recent period had gone upon the lands in the belief . . . that your government would shortly open these lands for settlement." He expressed the opinion that only the first class of person should be entitled to avail himself of the privilege of purchasing 40 acres of land, and suggested a price to be paid. The second class of settler should be allowed to purchase only 10 acres of land at the suggested price. The commissioner also investigated certain claims to Crown lands in the Creston area, consisting of meadow lands, inundated for several months in the year, which had* been used for hay. He recommended that claimants be allowed to purchase 40 acres of these lands, and suggested the price to be paid. 50. [Commission under the " Public Inquiries Act" to ascertain the truth as to matters in re Gaoler W. J. Norfolk's suspension from the Provincial Gaol at Kamloops.] No report found. Commissioner: Albert Edward Beck, barrister, of Vancouver. Appointed September 10, 1908. 328 Marjorie C. Holmes. October 1909 51. [Commission . . . to investigate the affairs of the Fruit and Produce Exchange of British Columbia Ltd., the mode in which the said Company has transacted its business, the application that the Company has made of the money advanced to it by the Government, and generally, the present financial condition of the Company.] No report found. Typewritten supplementary report (2 pp.), evidence, and exhibits on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Albert Francis Griffiths, of Victoria. Appointed April 7, 1909; report dated June 29, 1909; supplementary report dated October 16, 1909. The affairs of the company in question had gone from bad to worse, and in order to bolster up its finances certain money had been advanced to it by the Government. The head office of the company was situated in Revelstoke; shareholders were the various fruit and vegetable growers' associations throughout the Province, who were interested in marketing their crops in the various provinces in Canada by a co-operative method. The commissioner held that the group who undertook to carry on the business in liquidation were not authorized by the company to do so in a proper legal manner, and had therefore rendered themselves liable to legal proceedings. 52. Royal Commission of Inquiry on Timber and Forestry. Interim report. 2 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1910. pp. H 12-H 14. Also in Appendix to the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Timber and Forestry 1909-1910. Original report and partial evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioners: Frederick John Fulton, K.C, Commissioner of Lands; Arthur Samuel Goodeve, M.L.A. for Rossland; Alfred Cornelius Flumerfelt, J.P., of Victoria. Appointed July 9, 1909; report not dated.* In this report the commissioners made certain suggestions as to the tenure of special timber licences. * Covering letter to the Provincial Secretary is dated December 28, 1909. 1944 Commissions of Inquiry. 329 1910 53. Report of the Fire Insurance Commission, 1910; appointed on the 4th day of February, 1910, under Chapter 99, of the Revised Statutes of British Columbia, 1897, intituled " An Act Respecting Inquiries into Public Matters." Printed by authority of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Victoria, B.C.: Printed by Richard Wolfenden, I.S.O., V.D., Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1910. Cover-title, 52 pp. Also in Sessional Papers . . . Session 1911. pp. B 1-B 52. Original typewritten report and evidence on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioners: R. S. Lennie, barrister, of Nelson; Day Hort Mac- Dowell, of Victoria; A. B. Erskine, of Vancouver. Appointed February 4, 1910; report not dated. The commission was appointed to investigate matters connected with fire insurance, including the placing of insurance by residents of British Columbia with " outside companies, and the best methods of Government supervision of fire insurance." A digest of the evidence which was taken is included in the report. The commissioners made certain recommendations stressing the need for the Government to create an insurance department and to issue proper regulations. 54. Commission . . . under the " Public Inquiries Act" ... to enquire into all actions of the Commissioners of Police for the City of Victoria for the year 1910, in connection with their public duties . . . 13 pp. Original typewritten report on file in the Provincial Secretary's Office, Victoria. Commissioner: Peter Secord Lampman, Judge of the County Court of Victoria. Appointed March 24, 1910; report dated April 20, 1910. The commissioners whose actions were questioned were the Mayor of Victoria (A. J. Morley), Alderman H. F. Bishop, and Leonard Tait. No definite complaint had been laid, but constant assertions had been made on the streets that money was being collected from professional gamblers, both white and Chinese, and from keepers of houses of prostitution, in return for " protection," and inferences had been drawn that the police commissioners were getting all or part of the money. References to the rumours had been made in the two Victoria newspapers, the Times of March 12, 1910, and the Week of March 19. The commissioner investigated the rumours and found that while the police commissioners and the police force had knowingly allowed bawdy-houses to operate freely in the " restricted " district of Victoria, yet there was no evidence to show that any of the commissioners had ever received bribes from gamblers, either Chinese or white, or from the keepers of those houses. 330 Marjorie C. Holmes. October 55. Papers relating to the Selection of a Site for a University in British Columbia. University Site commission report.* 4 pp. In Sessional Papers . . . Session 1911. pp. M 13-M 16. Commissioners: Dean R. C. Weldon, of Dalhousie University; Canon G. Dauth, Vice-Rector of Laval University, Montreal; C. C. Jones, Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick; Professor 0. D.Skel- ton, of Queen's University; Walter C. Murray, President of the University of Saskatchewan. Appointed May 30, 1910; report dated June 28, 1910. The commissioners, in accordance with the " University Site Commission Act, 1910," visited and made a careful examination of certain cities and rural districts of the Province, which had been suggested as suitable sites for a university. They recommended as the most suitable location " the vicinity of the City of Vancouver." The report is composed of three parts: the report, a supplementary report, and the minutes of the commission. 56. Final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Timber and Forestry 1909-1910 appointed on the 9th day of July, 1909, under Chapter 99, of the Revised Statutes of British Columbia, 1897, intituled " An Act Respecting Inquiries Concerning Public Matters." Printed by authority of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Victoria, B.C.: Printed by Richard Wolfenden, I.S.O., V.D., Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1910. Cover-title, 116 pp., 8 plates, 1 map. Also in Sessional Papers . . . Session 1911. pp. D 1-D 116. Commissioners: Frederick John Fulton, K.C.; Arthur Samuel Good- eve, M.L.A. for Rossland; Alfred Cornelius Flumerfelt, of Victoria. Appointed July 9, 1909; report dated November 15, 1910. The commissioners were appointed to " cause inquiry to be made into and concerning the timber resources of the province, the preservation of the forests, the prevention of forest fires, the utilization of timber areas, afforestation, and the diversification of tree-growing, and generally all matters connected with timber resources of the province." The report of this commission is a valuable one, inasmuch as it contains information concerning the early history of forestry and timber legislation in the Province, as well as some early statistics of forest revenue and production. The recommendations made were the foundation of forestry legislation as we now know it in British Columbia, and formed the basis of the organization of the British Columbia Forest Branch of the Department of Lands in 1912. The Interim report of the commission is included in the Appendix of the Final report. * Although appointed by Statute, this commission is included here on account of its importance. 1944 Commissions of Inquiry. 331 57. [Commission . . . appointed to hear the claims of all persons who consider they are entitled to compensation in respect to the re-survey and plan of District Lot 264a in the City of Vancouver; . . .] No report found. Commissioner: John Louis Graham Abbott, barrister, of Vancouver. Appointed August 19, 1910. NOTES AND COMMENTS. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Victoria Section. An outstanding address by Mr. Sydney G. Pettit, Assistant Professor of History in Victoria College, on The Life of Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, was the main item on the programme at the first meeting of the new season, held in the Provincial Library on Monday, September 11. The Chairman of the Section, Mr. Justice H. B. Robertson, presided. Sir Matthew, Mr. Pettit said, was born in England in 1819, the son of a colonel in the British Army whose wife was the daughter of a general. He was brought up in a barracks, and his first school teacher—" a fine type and a type more needed to-day," Mr. Pettit remarked—was a regimental sergeant-major. His father inherited money, and moved his family to the Channel Islands, where young Begbie was tutored by a Cambridge man, a brilliant failure much given to the bottle. Begbie's marked aversion to strong drink was doubtless the result of this association. At 14 young Begbie won a scholarship, and later another which took him to Peterhouse, at Cambridge. At 25 he was called to the Bar, and from then until 1858 lived the life of an impecunious lawyer in London, " a man about town." He went to Italy, studied music, learned French and Italian, " and tasted nearly everything life had to offer." Begbie came to British Columbia, drawn no doubt by adventure, but probably also, Mr. Pettit said, because he was the unfortunate candidate for a lady's hand. After describing Begbie's outstanding part in the task of maintaining law and order in gold-rush days, Mr. Pettit gave many interesting details of his later years, when he lived in Victoria in a rambling grey house, recently pulled down, on the south side of Collinson, between Cook and Vancouver streets. He gave Tuesday tennis parties, at which he played the first set, clad in a velvet jacket, " and everyone in town worth knowing came to tennis." He took the gentlemen aside, and asked them what they liked to drink. On Saturday evening he invited the clergy to dinner, and later other friends came in for whist. He sang in the choir of St. John's Church; he wore a sweeping black cape, and spaniels usually followed at his heels. In stature he was six feet five inches. He could look back on a life as oarsman at Cambridge, Bohemian, student of music, linguist, expert horseman, fine shot. He died at 75, after an agonizing illness, refusing both morphine and operation. That was 50 years ago last June, and his memory, Mr. Pettit remarked, is almost as obscured as his Collinson Street garden, for he left no diaries, few private letters, only some note-books in an old-fashioned shorthand that no one now can read. " His was a life full of intelligence, service, and love for the country of his adoption." As a fitting preface to the lecture, Mr. Justice Robertson displayed the judicial wigs and gowns given to the Provincial Archives by the late Chief British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII., No. 4. 6 333 334 Notes and Comments. October Justice of British Columbia, the Hon. Archer Martin. He explained the history of these historic articles, now no longer worn in Canada, but still in use in England. The gavel he used as Chairman was also presented by the late Chief Justice, and was made from wood of the old steamer Beaver. Vancouver Section. The first meeting this autumn was held in the Grosvenor Hotel on Thursday, October 5. The many members present were sorry to hear of the serious illness of Mr. A. G. Harvey, President of the Section, and to learn that it may be some little time before he is again able to attend meetings. In his absence the Vice-President, Miss Helen Boutilier, presided. The speaker for the evening was Rev. John C. Goodfellow, of Princeton, whose topic was Survival Values in Human Life. Turning first to the realm of biology and zoology, Mr. Goodfellow touched upon Darwin's observations and upon the rules of existence that had been summed up in a rough and ready fashion in the phrase, "the survival of the fittest." The enormous dinosaur had vanished, while the flea had survived the ages; thus illustrating in a striking way the fact that mere physical size or strength did not ensure survival. Something more, and something extremely difficult to discover, let alone define, was required—an adaptability, a universality, that, for want of a better term, might be termed " survival value." Mr. Goodfellow next applied this same principle to art and music. When speaking of the latter he hazarded an interesting opinion as to which songs of our own time would survive, and included in his list Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, not because it was great music or its lyric great literature, but because it had captured something that was all but universal in the experience of mankind. This song, he pointed out, offered an interesting contrast to several others that, during the present war, had enjoyed sudden and immense popularity, only to vanish almost as quickly as they appeared because they caught only the mood of a moment, or of a specific crisis. In conclusion, Mr. Goodfellow applied the principle to politics, and offered interesting observations, and a suggestion or two by way of prophecy, as to what political institutions promised to have the elusive quality of " survival value." In closing the meeting, Miss Boutilier announced that the annual meeting of the Section would be held in November, and appointed a nominating committee to whom those wishing to nominate persons for the new executive should submit names. In this connection it should be noted that the officers and councillors for 1944 were incorrectly listed in the Quarterly last January. The corrected list is as follows:— Honorary President - Dr. Robie L. Reid. President ------ Mr. A. G. Harvey. Vice-President ----- Miss Helen Boutilier. Honorary Secretary - - - ' - Miss Audrey Reid. Honorary Treasurer - Mr. G. B. White. 1944 Notes and Comments. 335 Members of the Council— Mr. E. G. Baynes. Mr. J. R. V. Dunlop. Dr. W. Kaye Lamb. Dr. W. N. Sage. Mr. A. DeB. McPhillips. Mr. K. A. Waites. Mr. E. M. Cotton. Mr. D. A. McGregor. Miss Eleanor Mercer. Dr. Sylvia Thrupp. Miss Lillian Cope. Mr. George Green. The Editor regrets exceedingly that the Councillors were not correctly reported when the list first appeared. LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. Okanagan Historical Society.—The financial statement for the year ended June 7, 1944, was mailed to members some weeks ago by the Society's indefatigable Secretary, Mr. Leonard Norris. Revenue from the Tenth Report, published a year ago, is reported as being no less than $515, which indicates that the membership has passed the 500 mark. The cash balance on hand was $351.13. Mr. Norris hopes to have the Eleventh Report ready for mailing to members sometime in December. The Society continues to take a special interest in " that remarkable phenomenon known as the Okanagan Arc which appears from time to time in the sky over British Columbia,". and which was first reported upon in detail in 1843 by Sir James Douglas, who observed it from Victoria at the time the original fort buildings were under construction. In an effort to systematize observation, and secure, if possible, a number of simultaneous observations made at different latitudes, Mr. Norris has issued a circular letter of instructions which it is hoped will enable anyone observing the arc to record some information of value. Further details may be secured from Mr. Norris, whose permanent address is Box 897, Vernon, B.C. Kamloops Museum Association.—Mr. J. J. Morse, the very active President of the Association, joined the war-service staff of the Y.M.C.A. in the winter of 1941-42, but the organization has managed to carry on in a modest way, due largely to the efforts of the Vice-President, Mr. Burt Campbell. The number of outside visitors to the museum is much lower than formerly, owing to the virtual disappearance of the motor tourist, but local interest is surviving the war years. The museum was closed during the winter months, from October to March, but has been open on Saturday evenings since the spring. Attendance has been encouraging, and as many as fifty people have visited the exhibits in a single day. Two years and more ago the Association lost a valued member in the death of Mr. J. H. Wilson, who had given most generously of his time. This September the death occurred of Mr. David Power, a member of the executive, who had contributed largely to the work of the Association. It was Mr. Power who identified and preserved the old Hudson's Bay Company fort building which was re-erected in Riverside Park in 1937, and it will be recalled that it was also due to Mr. Power's efforts that several original journals of old Fort Kamloops, dating back to the 1850's, were rescued from a bonfire many years ago. 336 Notes and Comments. The museum continues to occupy part of the house presented to the City of Kamloops early in 1939 by Mrs. J. S. Burris for library and museum purposes. These quarters were opened officially on April 29, 1939. CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. Lieutenant Norman R. Hacking, R.C.N.V.R., graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1934. The subject of his graduating essay was The Early Marine History of British Columbia, and the article printed in this issue is a revised and much enlarged version of one chapter of the essay. As this indicates, Lieutenant Hacking's interest in the maritime history of this region has grown through the years, and he ranks as an authority in the field. Before joining the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve he was a member of the staff of the Vancouver Daily Province. A brief shore leave, following a long spell of convoy duty, enabled Lieutenant Hacking to complete the revision of the present article, and it is hoped that, as his naval duties permit, publication of other chapters of the History may follow. Rev. Frank E. Runnalls, B.A., B.D., is Minister of Knox United Church, Prince George. Some time ago he became seriously interested in the history of the city, and he recently completed a manuscript History of Prince George. The article printed in this issue is a slightly revised version of several chapters of the History. Burt Brown Barker, A.B., LL.B., LL.D., was born in Waitsburg, Washington, but grew up in' the Willamette Valley, in Oregon. After a distinguished legal career in Chicago and New York, he was appointed Vice- President of the University of Oregon in 1928. He has been for many years one of Portland's most active and public-spirited citizens. Dr. Barker is a Director of the Oregon Historical Society, and took an active part in the preservation and restoration of Dr. John McLoughlin's home in Oregon City, which was recently classified as a national historic monument by the United States Government. THE NORTHWEST BOOKSHELF. The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee. Second Series, 1839-44- Edited by E. E. Rich, with an introduction by W. Kaye Lamb. Toronto: The Champlain Society, and London: The Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1943. Pp. xlix., 427. This is the second volume of McLoughlin's letters, and the introduction is thus the second instalment of Dr. Lamb's biography of Dr. MeLoughlin. A third volume to follow will contain his final chapters. When completed, this will be the standard and authentic work on the life of McLoughlin. It has been long waited for. Eager biographers of Dr. McLoughlin have too long fed our generation on fancies hybridized by hearsay, resulting in a traditional image of the man which is a cross between a god and a devil. For the first time we are seeing Dr. McLoughlin as a human being, with the normal mixture of virtues and faults. For the first time, also, we have a comprehensive and well co-ordinated account of the activities of the Hudson's Bay Company west of the Rocky Mountains, under the supervision and direction of Dr. McLoughlin. In this second part of his introduction, Dr. Lamb discusses two topics, both of which have long since become so barnacled with tradition that the true character of Dr. McLoughlin has been materially slowed down in its course towards its rightful historic harbour. It is a relief to see Dr. Lamb sail his biographical vessel into fresh archival waters, where the encrusting barnacles loosen and fall of their own weight. The first of these subjects is the much discussed controversy between Dr. McLoughlin and Governor Simpson. There are those who contend that it began in 1824, at the time they supposedly differed on the location of Fort Vancouver. Others contend that there was a series of differences which culminated in 1838, when Dr. McLoughlin is alleged to have rushed to London to preserve his empire in the Northwest because he had reason to fear that Governor Simpson was using his influence in London to have him removed from his post at Fort Vancouver. Dr. Lamb says, per contra, that so far from there being any difference between these men in 1838, " his [McLoughlin's] relations both with Simpson and with the Governor and Committee were particularly cordial, and he returned to his post with extended authority, wider responsibility, and increased remuneration." (p. xi.) He goes on to point out that the difference between them did not spring up till 1841, and then it was over the conduct of the trade on the Northwest Coast, subsequently aggravated and finally embittered by the death of John McLoughlin, Jr., at Stikine, in April, 1842. Many letters on the subject passed between them, including a series exchanged while both men were in Honolulu, and Dr. Lamb indicates that when Simpson worsted McLoughlin in the argument, the old Doctor lost his temper. British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII., No. 4. 337 7 338 The Northwest Bookshelf. October But the victory was not always with Simpson. It was a parry and thrust affair. Sometimes Simpson drew blood, and then again McLoughlin would transfix Simpson. By way of illustration, Simpson ordered the California business closed, and the lot in San Francisco which McLoughlin had bought, sold. He was especially emphatic about the sale of the lot " at the wretched place of Yerba Buena [San Francisco], which of all others is the least adapted in point of situation & climate for an Establishment." (P- 277.) Those could be found who would think McLoughlin had a better long- range view in this instance than Simpson. McLoughlin wanted to give the business there another trial, and also urged that another trapping expedition be sent, reminding Simpson that the trappers had left their traps en cache, and if lost the Company would be liable. Simpson brushed this all aside with the apparently simple solution that a half dozen men on horseback could be sent from the Willamette and " recover them in a very few days." (p. 279.) McLoughlin replied that this was out of the question as " every man hides his traps by himself ... & therefore none but himself can find them." (p. 284.) Naturally Simpson had no comeback. Another instance was where Simpson insisted that McLoughlin should discourage the retired servants of the Company from settling in the Willamette, on the south side of the Columbia River, and induce them to go to the Cowlitz or Nisqually. McLoughlin replied that such a procedure " will be keeping the Country to be settled by the Americans who will certainly be very differently disposed towards the Company." (p. 275.) To this Simpson made no reply. It is well he did not, for in less than eighteen months thereafter the Governor and Committee spoke as follows on that subject:— ". ... We think, the settlement of the Company's retired servants on the Walamet may ultimately prove beneficial, as they will naturally incline to British connexion, and serve to counteract the hostile proceedings of the Americans." (p. 313.) Simpson not only ignored McLoughlin's suggestion regarding this matter, but cut the discussion short with a bit of irritation on his own part when he closed his letter with the statement:— " I do not consider it necessary to occupy your time or my own on the other points noticed in your much valued communication, further than to say that no fresh light has been thrown upon them, to induce any alteration in the remarks and instructions I have deemed it my duty to give upon those subjects." (p. 282.) Cut to the quick, McLoughlin was not a man to take such a remark lying down, and he replied with a barbed shaft which Simpson had quite obviously invited:— "... You observe [that you are] ' unwilling to enter into discussion upon subjects which have been so fully discussed already,' I am not aware that these subjects have been discussed, as it is perfectly out of the question, to talk of discussion, when there are only two persons at the discussion, and one has the power to decide as he pleases and does." (p. 285; italics added.) 1944 The Northwest Bookshelf. 339 It is obvious that one must read the letters if one would get the full import of this quarrel. No summary can show the spark which set the tinder of hostility aflame when the steel of McLoughlin struck the flint of Simpson. In his second point, Dr. Lamb brings out for the first time the real story of the death of John McLoughlin, Jr., and shows how the construction Simpson put on it so incensed McLoughlin that he left no stones unturned to prove Simpson was wrong. Naturally it put the Governor and Committee in an awkward position having to decide who was right. In the end, Dr. Lamb thinks the decision " came perilously near to being a complete acceptance of McLoughlin's point of view, with the exception of his contention that Simpson was personally responsible for what had occurred." (p. xlii.) This certainly is not an overstatement. Dr. Lamb says on the same page: " But little or nothing of all this appeared in the public dispatches." That again is not an overstatement in view of the fact that the Governor and Committee on June 1, 1843, wrote quite frankly to Simpson sustaining most of McLoughlin's contention, and on September 27, 1843, verified this to McLoughlin. Considering that the Governor and Committee, as Dr. Lamb says, were in a position where they could not openly repudiate Simpson, it seems evident that they went about as far as they could without such an open repudiation. The final conclusion seems sound that both men were unyielding in their positions; Simpson unjustifiably harsh in defending a conclusion he reached without sufficient supporting evidence; McLoughlin unwilling to accept what was tantamount to a favourable decision, so harangued the Governor and Committee in succeeding letters that he disgusted both them and his friends in the Company, and brought his own downfall upon himself. Yet as between them, Simpson was the greater sinner. He let his irritation cause him to write a letter to McLoughlin announcing the death of his son which should never have been written, even if every charge he made against the boy had been true; and when one considers that scarcely any charge he made was true, one sees the length to which Simpson went to wound a grief-stricken father. McLoughlin, on the other hand, was merely defending the reputation of his dead son, a thing which any red-blooded father would do, and for this he cannot be blamed. He sinned in not knowing when to stop. But age was creeping on him, and Simpson's unjustifiable act so enraged him that he knew no bounds in his defence of the name of his murdered son. This also explains the length to which he went in his effort to bring the guilty parties to justice. So untiring was he in this respect that his failure even to bring them to trial, to say nothing of having them convicted, must have been a blow second only to the death of his son. This volume is well edited, and the letters of major importance appear in the body of the book and in Appendix A, while a few additional biographies appear in Appendix B. It is evident from references to letters not appearing in this volume, that the editor had to use his judgment as to what to leave out. It is noted in this respect that the Kanaquasse deposi- 340 The Northwest Bookshelf. October tion and narrative were crowded out. Their insertion probably would have shown more clearly the basis for McLoughlin's contention. Such cases are always difficult for editors. Burt Brown Barker. University of Oregon. American Diplomacy in Action. A Series of Case Studies. By Richard W. Van Alstyne. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1944. Pp. xvi., 760. $5. In his preface the author sets forth his reasons for writing this volume: " Some five years ago I conceived the possibility of vitalizing the study of diplomatic history by presenting it as a series of related instances or cases. The project suggested the modification of the chronological approach to history; but the more I reflected on the notion the less I was impressed with the importance of mere chronology." With this object in view Dr. Van Alstyne, who is Professor of History in Chico State College, California, set to work to rearrange the basic facts of American diplomatic history. He groups his case studies under three main headings: " Security and the Monroe Doctrine," " Expansion and the Concept of Manifest Destiny," and " Neutrality and Isolation." Each part or section is subdivided, and the chapters are grouped under the subdivisions. A general introduction, which provides the approach to the whole field, begins with the clear-cut sentence: " The course of American diplomacy is a course of action." Each part has its introductory chapter which surveys the problem which is to be discussed and then each subsection deals with its appropriate topics, or " cases." A word of warning should be uttered at this point. A diplomatic " case " is not as cut and dried as a legal case, and cannot be discussed in a purely legalistic way. It is impossible to review this lengthy volume in detail, but British Columbian readers will be chiefly interested in two chapters in Part II. which deal respectively with " The Partition of Oregon, 1818-1846," and " Alaska and the Quest for Canada." In these chapters Professor Van Alstyne has carefully attempted to place Oregon and Alaska in their proper perspective in American diplomatic history, and to show how in the crucial years 1867-1871 the American expansionists still hoped to obtain Canada as a settlement in full for the Alabama claims. His account is, on the whole, fair and unbiased, although marred by one or two unnecessary factual errors. " The Oregon country," he states, " was in the first half of the nineteenth century an extraordinary international frontier." To the American mind Oregon was " a vital link between the United States and the Far East," " a distant marine base." It was not until the arrival of American missionaries and settlers in the 1830's and 1840's that Manifest Destiny demanded the inclusion of the Oregon country in the United States. Until 1818 " Oregon was still a virgin territory without boundaries," but " within the next seven years a set of four unilateral treaties partitioned all the territories except Oregon and left that country open only to British and American enterprise." The four treaties were, of course, the Anglo- 1944 The Northwest Bookshelf. 341 American Convention of 1818, which settled the boundary between the United States and British North America to the heights of the Rocky Mountains; the Florida Treaty of 1819, whereby the United States obtained Florida from Spain, abandoned any pretentions she might have to California, but took over the Spanish claims to Oregon; the Russo-American Treaty of 1824, whereby the Russians agreed not to go south of fifty-four forty and the Americans promised to limit their activities to the territory south of that line; and finally the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1825, which settled the land boundary between Russian Alaska and British North America. In his treatment of the Oregon question Professor Van Alstyne is very fair to the Hudson's Bay Company. He shows how Senator Linn, of Missouri, sought to drive the British not only out of Oregon but, if possible, from the whole of the North American continent. To him " fifty-four forty or fight" was a " famous war whoop," " a slogan nothing short of a stroke of genius," originated by Senator Allen of Ohio; but he states that the movement "was chiefly a Western agitation," and that the moderates, led by J. C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and T. H. Benton, had no intention of going to extremes. The course of negotiation between the British and Americans is faithfully portrayed, but the author is of opinion that " Oregon was partitioned along practical lines and greatly to the advantage of the United States, whose claims to the land north of the Columbia were very slender from every standpoint." The purchase of Alaska Dr. Van Alstyne considers to have been " the lucky chance." There was, he tells us, " no popular quest for Russian America, no deep-seated historical tradition in connection with it." Russia was willing to sell and William H. Seward, Secretary of State in President Andrew Johnson's cabinet, was prepared to buy. Alaska was to be a lever by which the United States could " pry loose the hold of the British lion on North America and make good the dream of a great continental American empire." The Hudson's Bay Territory and British Columbia could easily pass under the control of the United States, and the newly formed Dominion of Canada might be the price of the settlement of the Alabama claims! But Canada spread west and reached the Pacific in 1871. One feature of the volume should be mentioned in conclusion. The author has carefully carried his treatment down to the present day, and his chapters on collective security, dealing with the period since 1914, are among the most interesting in the book. Dr. Van Alstyne is a firm believer in the United Nations and " a competent system of collective security in time of peace." The bibliography of thirty-three pages indicates wide reading and extensive research. A pleasing feature is the listing of sources relating to Canada. On the whole, Professor Van Alstyne has produced a new and radical treatment of American diplomatic history. Walter N. Sage. The University op British Columbia. THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY VOLUME vra. 1944 VICTORIA, B.C. Published by the Archives of British Columbia in co-operation with the British Columbia Historical Association EDITOR. W. Kaye Lamb. Library, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. ASSOCIATE EDITOR. Willard E. Ireland. Provincial Archives, Victoria, B.C. (On active service, R.C.A.F.) ADVISORY BOARD. J. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. Robie L. Reid, Vancouver. T. A. Rickard, Victoria. W. N. Sage, Vancouver. All communications should be addressed to the Provincial Archives, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIII. Articles: Frederic William Howay (1867-1948): Scholar and Friend. By Henry R. Wagner An Appreciation. By W. Stewart Wallace Page. Historian of British Columbia. By W. N. Sage An Intimate Portrait. By Noel Robinson A Bibliography of the Printed Writings of Frederic William Howay. Compiled, with a biographical introduction, by W. Kaye Lamb_ 27 John Nugent: The Impertinent Envoy. By Robie L. Reid 53 William Wallace Gibson: A Canadian Pioneer of the Air. By Frank H. Ellis 93 The Eight " Rainbows." By F. V. Longstaff.. My Father: Joseph Despard Pemberton. By Harriet Susan Sampson The Founding of Nanaimo. By B. A. McKelvie Amor De Cosmos, Journalist and Politician. By W. N. Sage The Appointment of Governor Blanshard. By Willard E. Ireland 107 111 169 189 213 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend": American Steamers on the Fraser River in 1858. By Norman R. Hacking 255. Boom Days in Prince George: 1906-1918. By F. E. Runnalls 281 Documents: William Sturgis: The Northwest Fur Trade. Edited, with an introduction and notes, by F. W. Howay 11 Documents—Continued. Page. The Journal of John Work, 1885. Being an account of his voyage northward from the Columbia River to Fort Simpson and return in the brig " Lama," January-October, 1835. Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Henry Drummond Dee. Part I 127 Part II 227 Part III 307 Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry in British Columbia. A Checklist. By Marjorie C. Holmes. Part I.: 1872-1900 147 Part II.: 1900-1910 319 Notes and Comments 53, 163, 245, 333 Some Archives Accessions in 1943. By Madge Wolfenden 77 The Northwest Bookshelf: Tenth Report of the Okanagan Historical Society. By W. Kaye Lamb 87 VanMale: Resources of Pacific Northwest Libraries. By Eleanor B. Mercer 88 Kemble: The Panama Route, 1848-1869. By W. Kaye Lamb 89 Stefansson: Here is Alaska. By T. A. Rickard 248 Kizer: The U.S.-Canadian Northwest. By W. Kaye Lamb 252 Tansill: Canadian-American Relations, 1875-1911. By G. F. Drummond 250 The Letters of John McLoughlin, Second Series. By Burt Brown Barker 337 Van Alstyne: American Diplomacy in Action. By W. N. Sage 340 Index 343 INDEX. Actives Cove, 134 Adamson, Alan J., 285 Aeronautics, Pioneer Flying in Canada, 98- 105 Aeroplanes, built by W. W. Gibson, 94, 96, 97-102 Ainsworth, Capt. J. C, 268 Allan, Capt., 140, 280, 281, 238, 286, 237, 241-243, 318 Allison, C, 276 American Diplomacy in Action, review of, 840, 841 Amor De Cosmos, Journalist and Politician, 189-212 Anderson, A. C, 280 Anderson, J., 290 Angela College, Victoria, 121, 122 Appointment of Governor Blanshard, The, 218-226 Archives Accessions, 1948, 77-82 Armstrong, W. J., 207 Arrowsmith, John, 117 Ash, John, 207 Aspinwall, W. H., 170 Baker, Mrs. Jennie B., 295 Bancroft, H. H., 60 Bancroft, Capt. John, 818 Banks, Prince George, 290, 291, 296 Banks Island, 186, 233, 235 Barclay, Capt. George, 275 Barker, Burt Brown, The Letters of John McLoughlin . . . Second Series, 1888-H, review by, 887-840 Barnard, F. J., 289 Barnston, J. G., 206 Bate, Mark, 179-184, 187 Bean Island, 139 Beanlands, Mrs., 128 Beaven, Mrs. H. R., 128 Beaven, Robert, 207 Beaver, 137, 189, 140, 142-145, 228-289, 241- 248, 807, 811, 812, 814-318 Begbie, Sir Matthew Baillie, 62, 63, 883, 834 BeU, Rev. Alfred T., 291, 292, 295 Bella Bella Island, 136 Benson, Dr., 226 Bering, Vitus, 16, 18 Bibliography of the Printed Writings of Frederic William Howay, A, 27-51 Bird, James, 281, 287 Birnie, James, 137-189, 146, 281 Blair, William, and Company, 286. 287, 802 Blanshard, Richard, 213, 218-226 Blanshard, The Appointment of Governor, 218-226 Boggs, Beaumont, 190, 191 Bonilla Island, 186 Bonser, Capt., 284 Boom Days in Prince George, 1908-1818, 281- 806 Bourchier, A. K., 282 Bowser, W. J., 28 British Colonist, see Colonist British Columbia and Confederation, 195-199, 212 ; Colony Proclamation, 65 British Columbia and Victoria Navigation Company, 278 British Columbia Express, 285, 289, 290, 297, 801 British Columbia Historical Association, 82- 84, 163-167, 246, 247, 833-836 Brown, Peter, 186 Brown's Passage, 248 Bulger, Capt., 277 Bunster, Arthur, 206, 208-210 Bums, Capt. A. M., 273 Cacax, Indian Chief, 814 California Steam Navigation Company, 269- 260, 264, 270, 276 Callanan, Michael, 288 Calvert Island, 235 Cameron, David, 67, 68 Campbell, Mrs. A. B., 292 Campbell, Archibald, 74 Canadian-American Relations, 1875-1811, review of, 252, 253 Canadian Northern Railway Company, 281, 284 Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, 274 Capots, 142 Carney, Hiram A., 287 Carrall, Dr. R. W. W., 196 Carruthers, James, 289 Cass, Lewis, 66; Letter from, 72-74 Catsack Harbour, 283 Cawwllth Indians, 240 Chaatl Village, 240 Chamberlin, Edson J., 298 Charcoal, 311, 817 Chase River, 185 Churches, Prince George, 291, 292, 296, 301, 802, 305 Clarence Straits, 148 Clark, Nick S., 283-286, 287, 288 Clemencitty, 146, 280 Clerke, Charles, 16, 18 Coal, Fort Rupert, 170-174, 179; Nanaimo, 170-181 Coccola, Father, 297, 298 Cogill, Indian, 813 Colcauth Indians, 287, 238, 818 Colonist, 67, 189, 193-195, 197, 198, 200, 201 Columbia River, 19, 20 Colvile, Andrew, 188 Colvile Town, 169, 188 Colville, Eden, 219 Commissions of Inquiry, 147-162, 819-881 Connor, Capt. Francis, 262 Cook, Cape, 288 Cook, George, 179 Cook, James, 14, 16-18, 21 Cooke, William F., 285, 289, 293, 805 Cootanah, Indian Chief, 281 Cornwall, Clement, 111 343 344 Index. Cossack Harbour, 233, 236 Cost of Living, Prince George, 296, 297 Courts, Vancouver Island, 62, 63, 65-68, 75, 76 Cowden, Elliot C, 11, 14, 25 Crease, Lindley, 123 Cumshewa Inlet, 242 Daniell, J. B., 298, 295 Davie, Dr. J. C, 197 Day Point, 136 DeBeck, Warren, 296 De Cosmos, Amor, 67, 189-212 De Cosmos, Amor, Journalist and Politician, 189-212 Dee, H. D., ed.. The Journal of John Work, 1885, 127-146, 227-244, 307-318 Derby, Capt. Charles, 11 Derby, 118, 119 Despard Avenue, Victoria, 125 Despard Cove, 125 Dewar, F. N., 296 Disappointment Cove, 131, 133 Dollenmeyer, Albert, 286 Dominis, Capt. John, 230, 232, 818, 317, 318 Douglas, James, and Amor De Cosmos, 189, 193, 212; Coal, 171-177; Fraser River Steamboats, 258-260 ; Gold-rush '58, 55-59 ; Governor of Vancouver Island, 216-221; John Nugent, 62-65, 69-71, 73, 74; Letter from, 69, 70 Drummond, G. F., The U.S.-Canadian Northwest, review by, 250, 251 Duck, Simeon, 206 Duncan, Capt. Alexander, 141 Dunsmuir, Robert, 187 Edgar, Magnus, 179 Eight " Rainbows," The, 107-110 Ellis, F. H., William Wallace Gibson: A Canadian Pioneer of the Air, 93-105 Ellis, Mrs. Hugh, 295, 297 Ermine, 12, 21, 22 Esquimalt, Survey of, 115, 116 'Evans, Jack Finlayson, Duncan, 130 Fishery Bay, 187 Fitzgerald, J. E., 214, 215 Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company, 288-286 Fort George Tribune, 286, 287, 295 Fortier, J. B., 184 Forts and Trading Posts, Astoria, 130 ; Fraser, 284; George, 130, 131, 281-306; Hope, 256, 259-268, 267-269, 271, 275; Langley, 119, 184, 256, 266, 258, 261-264, 271; McLeod, 24; McLoughlin, 180, 184-136, 170, 238, 240, 316, 317; Nanaimo, 184; Redoubt St. Dionysius, 148; Rupert, 170-174, 179, 226, 284 ; St. James, 284; Simpson, 131,137-189, 146, 184, 227, 228, 240, 243, 244, 311, 317; Stikine, 232 ; Vancouver, 181; Victoria, 114, 115, 181; Yale, 256, 268, 269, 272 Founding of Nanaimo, The, 169-188 Fox, Cape, 146 Fraser, John A., 288 Fraser River, Steamboats on, 255-280 Friesach, Dr. Carl, 263 Fur Trade, Maritime, 11-26, 128, 187, 139- 146, 227-244, 307-318 Gabriola Point, 172 Gallows Point, 185 Gibson, W. W., 93-105 Gibson, William Wallace: A Canadian Pioneer of the Air, 98-106 Gilmour, Boyd, 171, 173, 174, 179, 186, 187 Gladwell, Capt. Thomas, 268, 271, 278 Gold-mining, Fraser River, 54-62, 69, 71-74, 256, 257; Vancouver Island, 96 Golledge, Richard, 173 Gonzales Estate,. Victoria, 120, 121, 124, 125 Gooch, Lieut. T. S., 118 Gordon, Dr. G. T., 194 Gosnell, R. E., 206 Grand Trunk Development Company, 282 Grand Trunk Pacific Development Company, 303 Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, 281, 287, 294, 297-299, 302-804 Grant, Locky, 96 Grant, Capt. W. C, 114 Gray, Mrs. Martha, 19 Gray, Robert, 17, 19, 20 Green, F. C, 283 Gunn, L. C, 282 Hacking, Norman R., "Steamboat 'Round the Bend," 256-280 Haida Indians, 240, 310 Haigua, 236 Haley, Capt. Robert, 279 Halibut, 229, 235, 237, 310, 317 Hamilton, A. G., 281, 282, 287, 289 Hammond, George J., 283, 286, 294-296, 298, 299, 302, 808 Hanna, James, 16 Harrison Lake, 269, 270, 272 Harvey, Dr. D. C, 191, 192 Hays, Charles M., 298 Helmcken, Dr. J. S., 213, 225, 226 Herald, San Francisco, 59, 60, 71 Here is Alaska, review of, 248-250 Heme, Thomas W., 301 Higgins, D. W., 193, 194, 197, 199 Hill, Capt., 276 Hoferkamp, Frank, 287 Holmes, M. C, Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry under the " Public In- ' guiries Act " in British Columbia, 147-162, 319-331 Hood, D. A., 302 Horne, Adam, 118 Horne Lake, 118 Hoskins, John, 21 Hotels, Prince George, 291, 296, 304 Houston, John, 286 Howay, F. W., 1-10 ; Biography, 27-32, 245; Bibliography, 83-61; ed., William Sturgis, 11-26 Howay, Frederic William, Scholar and Friend, 1, 2; An Appreciation, 8; Historian of British Columbia, 4, 5; An Intimate Portrait, 6-10 Howe, Joseph, 189, 192, 202 Index. 345 Hudson's Bay Company, 24, 63-68, 62, 65, 68, 78, 75, 128; and J. D. Pemberton, 113-119; Vancouver Island, 113-117, 214-222 Humphreys, T. B., 207 Huntington, Capt. Thomas, 269, 263, 264 Hutchinson, Dan, 98 Inchelo Indians, 238 Indians, Crime, 184-186, 308, 309 ; Fur Trade, 12, 14-16, 20-23, 128, 137, 139-145, 227-244, 307-318; Mortuary Customs, 308, 314-316 Ireland, W. E., The Appointment of Governor Blanshard, 213-226 Irving, Capt. John, 274 Irving, William, 278 Isle de Stephen, 289 Japp, Alex., 103 John, Capt., Indian, 261 John Nugent, the Impertinent Envoy, 53-76 Johnson, Albert, 291, 293, 304 Johnson, Capt. C. R., 223, 226 Jones, Indian, 231 Jones, Harry, 288 Journal of John Work, 1835, The, 127-146, 227-244, 307-318 Judge Howay, Mount, 245, 246 Justice, Rev. A. C, 306 Kaigani Harbour, 140, 227, 232 Kaigani Indians, 139, 313 Kamloops Museum Association, 335, 336 Kelliher, B. B., 282 Kemble, J. H., The Panama Route, 18W-1869, review of, 89-91 Kendrick, John, 17-19, 21 Kendrick, Solomon, 18 Kennedy, A. E., 124, 195 Kennedy, Dr. J. F., 137, 227, 243, 308, 811 Kennedy, William, 286 Kinsly, Indian Chief, 311 Kipling, Capt., 130 Kizer, B. H., The U.S.-Canadian Northwest, review of, 250, 261 Kwakiutl Indians, 236 Kynumpt Harbour, 184 Labine, Leon, 184 Landry, P. A., 293 Lamb, W. Kaye, A Bibliography of the Printed Writings of Frederic William Howay, 27-61; Canadian-American Relations, 1875-1911, review by, 252, 253; The Panama Route, 181,8-1869, review by, 89-91; The Tenth Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, review by, 87, 88 Lane, Carl D., 273 Laperouse, J. F. de G„ 18 Laredo Sound, 288 Ledyard, John, 17, 18 Leighton, J. B„ 289 LeNoir, Mrs. P. H., 191, 192 Lett, Bob, 282 Letters of John McLoughlin . . . Second Series, 1889-ii, The, review of, 337-340 Licences, Miners', 55-58, 61 Lighthouses, 119 Liquor Traffic and Fur Trade, 12, 21, 312, 314 Long, T. H., 194 Longstaff, F. V., The Eight " Rainbows," 107-110 Lubbock, Capt. William, 270, 271 McBride, Sir Richard, 28, 292 McCreight, J. F., 190, 199, 200, 205-208 McGowan, Ned, 59 McGregor, D. A., A Mountain Memorial, 245, 246 McGregor, John, 176, 183 MacHaffle, L. G„ 290 Mclnnis, Georgina, 291 Mclnnis, John, 291 McKay, J. W., 171-186 Mackay, W. J., 286 McKelvie, B. A., The Founding of Nanaimo, 169-188 McLennan, John K., 285 McLoughlin, John, 129, 130, 140 McLoughlin, John, The Letters of . . . Second Series, 1839-ii, review of, 337-340 McLoughlin Bay, 134 McMillan, James, 134 McNamee, Joe, 282, 283 McNeill, Capt. W. H., 131, 134, 136, 141, 233, 239, 243, 818, 317 Manson, Donald, 134-136, 315 Mara, J. A., 206 Masset Indians, 143, 310, 811, 315 Mayers, Capt. C, 277, 278 Mayne, R. C, 266, 267 Mercer, E. B., Resources of Pacific Northwest Libraries, review by, 88, 89 Metcalfe, Robert, 18 Metcalfe, Simon, 18 Metcalfe, Thomas H., 18 Milbanke Sound, 134, 136 Millar, Charles, 289, 297, 298 ' Millstone Creek, 176, 181 Millstream Creek, 176, 181 Moore, Charles W., 282, 306 Morris, Robert, 18 Mouat, Capt. W. A., 119 Mountain Memorial, A, 245, 246 Mountjoy Avenue, Victoria, 126 Mr. Charlie, Indian Chief, 308, 309 Muir, Archibald, 176 Muir, John, 178, 174, 176-179, 183 Muir, Robert, 176 Munro, Hank, 282 Munro, J., 290 Murray, Cape, 139 Musgrave, Anthony, 190, 197-199 My Father, Joseph Despard Pemberton, 111- 126 Nahwitte, 284, 236, 317 Nanaimo, Founding of, 169-188; Survey of, 116 Nanaimo Bay, 171 Nanaimo River, 169 Nanaimo, The Founding of, 169-188 Narvaez, J. M., 169 Nasparti Inlet, 287 Nass Straits, 139, 242 Natural Resources Security Company, 288, 286, 288, 294, 296, 298, 804 346 Index. Necoots, Indian Chief, 231 Neahoot, Indian Chief, 315 Newspapers, Prince George, 286, 287, 295; Vancouver, 165; Victoria, 189, 193, 194 Norfolk House School, Victoria, 124 North West Company, 24, 26 Northern British Columbia Navigation Company, 284 Northern Development Company, 288 Nugent, John, 53, 59-76; Letter from, 64, 65; Report, 74-76 Nugent, John, The Impertinent Envoy, 63-76 Nunez Point, 189 Ogden, Peter Skene, 129, ISO, 137, 216-218, 224 Okanagan Historical Society, 335 Okanagan Historical Society, The Tenth Report of the, review of, 87, 88 Oolachan, 137, 144, 228, 229, 242 Oregon Steam Navigation Company, 274 Otter Passage, 235 Ovasko, George, 282 Pacific Great Eastern Railway, 290, 298 Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 170, 257- 260 Panama Route, 181,8-1889, The, review of, 89-91 Paterson, Thomas, 102 Pearkes, George, 62, 63 Pearl Harbour, 137, 308, 811-317 Pearse, B. W., 115, 125, 175, 176 Peden, Russell, 285, 293 Peden's Hill, 286 Pemberton, A. F., Ill Pemberton, Ada G., 123 Pemberton, Rev. Arthur, 111 Pemberton, C. C, 82, 83' Pemberton, F. B., 123-125 Pemberton, George, 111 Pemberton, Harriet S., 123 Pemberton, J. D., 111-125, 169, 173-176, 178, 183 Pemberton, Mrs. J. D., 123 Pemberton, J. D. (jr.), 123, 124 Pemberton, Sophia T., 123 . Pemberton, Susan F., Ill, 121, 122 Pemberton, W. P. D., 123 Pemberton, 125 Pemberton Meadows, 126 Pemberton Point, 126 Pemberton Portage, 125 Pemberton Road, Victoria, 125 Pemberton, 1881-93, My Father, Joseph Despard, 111-125 Pemberton's Encampment, 176, 178 Pender, Capt., 125 Percy Point, 146 Perry, H. G. T., 302, 306 Pickens, Capt. Benjamin, 141 Pollinger, Bishop, 302 Port Canaveral, 233 Port Stephens, 233 Potatoes, 240, 307, 310, 811, 315-317 Powell, Dr. I. W., 196 Price Island, 136 Prince George, 281-306 Prince George, Boom Days in, 1908-1918, 281- 306 Principe Channel, 238 Protection Island, 171, 186 Quamquamqua, 169 Queen Charlotte's Island, 239 Queen Charlotte's Sound, 235 Quinn, Jack, 286, 287 Rae, Dr. John, 122, 123 " Rainbows," The Eight, 107-110 Raymond, 176i 177 Reid, R. L., 27, 29, 245, 246; John Nugent, the Impertinent Envoy, 53-76 Resources of Pacific Northwest Libraries, review of, 88, 89 Rich, E. E., ed.. The Letters of John McLoughlin . . . Second Series, 1839-ii, review of, 337-340 Richards, Admiral Sir G. H., 117, 119 Rickard, T. A., Here is Alaska, review by, 248-250 Roads, Prince George, 287, 288 Robie Reid, Mount! 246, 246 Robinson, George, 187 Robinson, Noel, Frederic William Howay, An Intimate Portrait, 6-10 Robson, John, 196, 198, 199, 201, 205, 207 Rois, Pierre, 281 Rose Point, 240 Ross, Hugo, 298 Rowlandson, Thomas, 60, 61 Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry under the " Public Inquiries Act " in British Columbia, 147-162, 319-331 Runnalls, F. E., Boom Days in Prince George, 1906-1913, 281-306 Russian American Company, 23, 128 Sabassa Indians, 229, 233 Sadler, Rev. R. T., 302 Sage, W. N., American Diplomacy in Action, review by, 340, 341; Amor De Cosmos, Journalist and Politician, 189-212; Frederic William Howay, Historian of British Columbia, 4, 5 St. James, Cape, 239 Salt, Nanaimo, 180-182 Sampson, Mrs. H. S., My Father, Joseph Despard Pemberton, 111-125 Sawmill, Nanaimo, 180, 182, 183; Prince George, 285-287 Scarborough, J. A., 133, 234 Scholefield, E. O. S., 5, 29 Schools, Prince George, 292, 295 Scott Island, 133 Seal Harbour, 233, 236 Seaman, H. C, 291 Sea-otter, 12, 15, 16, 20-22, 140-145, 230-238, 240, 242, 243, 313 Semlin, C. A., 206, 208 Seymour, Frederick, 195-197, 277 Shearer, J. A., 296 Shell Money, 236 Index. 347 Ships, Adventure, 20; Alexander, 25; Ann, 14; Atahualpa, 12-14, 20; Avon, 228; B.C. Express, 290; B.X., 285, 290, 292, 298; Beaver, 183, 142, 148, 185, 265, 256, 275, 278 ; Becket, 14 ; Betsy, 20 ; Bolivar Liberator, 280, 282, 248, 817; Boston, 21; Brother Jonathan, 64, 257-269; Cadboro, 133, 141, 178, 176-178, 265; Caledonia, 278; Caledonian, 278; Caroline, 11, 12, 14, 20, 21; Catherine, 20 ; Charlotte, 20 ; Charlotte, 284; Chilco, 284, 298; Chilcotin, 286; Colonel Moody, 278; Columbia, 17, 19, 20; Columbia, 256, 268; Commodore, see Brother Jonathan; Constitution, 256, 257; Conveyer, 303; Convoy, 141, 313; Cordelia, 14; Crusader, 141; Despatch, 20; H.M.S. Driver, 223-225; Dryad. 129, 130, 186, 280; Elea- nora, 18, 20 ; Eliza, 11, 14; Eliza Anderson, 279, 280; Enterprise, 20; Enterprise, 266, 267, 272, 274, 276, 279; Europa, 140, 280- 234, 286, 238, 241, 243, 244, 817, 318; Fair American, 18 ; Fort Fraser, 286 ; Globe, 20 ; Governor Douglas, 278; Grace, 20 ; Griffon, 14 ; Guatimozin, 20 ; Hancock, 20 ; Hazard, 20 ; Hercules, 271; Hope, 20 ; Houqua, 26 ; Jefferson, 18; Jofcn T. Wright, 268; Julia Barclay, 275, 276; LaBoussole, 18; La- grange, 318; Lama, 129, 180, 181, 138-146, 227-244, 307-318; Lascar, 14; UAstrolabe, 18 ; Latona, 276 ; Lavinia, 20 ; Levant, 26 ; Leviathan, 276-278; Litteler, 20; Llama, 14 ; Lucy, 20; Manchester, 20; Maria, 270, 271, 274, 278, 279; Martin White, 271; Mary, 20; Mary Care, 138; Mentor, 14; Nautilus, 26; Nechacco, 284, 293; New Caledonia, 278; Norman Morison, 115, 225 ; Northerner, 60 ; Operator, 803 ; Otter, 256, 257, 261, 270, 271, 274; Pacific, 272; Panama, 277; Pearl, 21, 28; Polly, 20; Princess Royal, 187, 188; Quesnel, 284, 291; H.M.S. Rainbow, 107-110; Ranker No. S, 276 ; Recovery, 177, 179 ; H.M.S. Resolution, 17, 18; Rob Roy, 14; Sacramento, 271; Santa Cruz, 276; 5anta Saturnina, 169; H.M.S. Satellite, 118; Sea Bird. 256, 267, 269-263, 272; Surprise, 259-264, 274; Tees, 96; Three Sisters, 20; Ulysses, 11; Umatilla, 264-274; Vancouver, 130, 141, 143, 240, 242, 310-312; Venture, 268; Volunteer, 14; Washington, 17, 19, 20; Wilson G. Hunt, 264, 273, 274 Simpson, Capt. Aemilius, 137 Simpson, Sir George, 131, 215-219 Sitka, 817 Skedans, 239 Skidegate Inlet, 239 Skidoon Harbour, 233, 234, 241 Slavery, Indians, 144, 812 Smith, C. McKeivers, 190-192, 194, 211 Smith, William Alexander, see Amor De Cosmos Snow, Capt., 318 Some Archives Accessions in 19±8. 77-82 Soutfc Fort George Herald, 295, 296 Spall, Capt. G. W., 273 Spratt, Joseph, 274 Sproat, G. M., 211, 212 Stamp, Capt. Edward, 196 Stead, Hay, 296, 296 " Steamboat 'Round the Bend," 2557-280 Stefansson, Evelyn, Here is Alaska, review of, 248-250 Stevens, Isaac, 58 Strouds, 142 Stuart, Capt. C. E., 182 Sturgis, William, 11-26 Sturgis, William, The Northwest Fur Trade, 11-25 Suter, John, 21 Swaine, Cape, 134, 286 Tai-tooktan, Mount, 170 Tansill, C. C, Canadian-American Relations, 1875-1911, review of, 252, 253 Taxation, B.C., 55-69 Thapage, Joseph, 281, 287, 289 Thomas, George, 179 Thompson, J. S., 196, 203 Tlehonsiti, 146 Tod, Emmeline, 121 Tolmie, Dr. W. F., 120, 134, 135, 146, 224, 228. 281, 282 Tongass Harbour, 145 Tongass Indians, 280 Tongass Island, 145 Trahey, J. W., 278 Trutch, J. W., 199, 200, 206, 208 Tsimpsean Indians, 137 United American Company, 23 U.S.-Canadian Northwest, The, review of, 250, 261 Van Alstyne, R. W., American Diplomacy in Action, review of, 340, 341 Vanarsdol, C. C, 282 Vancouver, George, 19 Vancouver Island, 53, 64; Exploration of, 118, 119 ; Governorship, 213-226 ; -Hudson's Bay Company, 113-117, 214-222; Survey of, 118-119 Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 267 Vanderwater, R. J., 260-262 Van Male, John, Resources of Pacific Norths west Libraries, review of, 88, 89 Versailles, Pierre, 179 Victoria, Survey of, 115 Victoria Cavalcade, 84, 85 Victoria Daily Chronicle, 194 Victoria Daily Standard, 194, 198, 201, 211 Victoria Gazette, 66, 67, 193 Village Island, 309 Virgin Rocks, 286 Waddington, Alfred, 61, 62, 212 Wagner, H. R., Frederic William Howay, Scholar and Friend, 1, 2 Wakesiah, Mount, 170 Walkem, G. A, 207-210 Wallace, W. S., Frederic William Howay, An Appreciation, 8 Weeks, Capt. E. J., 276 Welch, Capt. H. H., 274 Wentuhuysen Inlet, 169, 171, 173-175 West, Willis J., 289 Whitemore, George, 141 348 Index. Whiteside, W. J., 29 Wiggins, M. C, 298 William Wallace Gibson: A Canadian Pioneer of the Air, 93-105 Williams, George, 281, 282 Williams, Mrs. Percy L., 291 Williams, Rev. R. H. Isaac, 301 Wisenden, Charles H., 282 Wolfenden, Madge, Some Archives Accessions in 191,3, 77-82 Woody Point, 238 Work, Jane, 134 Work, John, 127-146, 216; Journal, 1835, 133-146, 227-244, 307-318 Work, John, The Journal of, 1835, 127-146, 227-244, 307-318 Wrignt, Rev. C. Melville, 295, 304, 306 Wright, Capt. John T., 267, 268, 272, 280 Wright, Capt. Thomas, 272, 273, 276, 279, 280 Yorston, John, 288 Young, Al, 301 Zayas Island, 137, 146, 241 VICTORIA, B.C.: Printed by Charles F. Banfield, Printer to tbe King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1944. 560-944-3065 We BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Organized October 31st, 1922. PATRON. His Honour W. C. Woodward, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. . OFFICERS, 1944. Hon. H. G. T. Perry - Honorary President. B. A. McKelvte President. J. C. Goodfellow Past President. A. G. Harvey 1st Vice-President. Mrs. Curtis Sampson - 2nd Vice-President. Madge Wolfenden - Honorary Treasurer. H. T. Nation ------ Honorary Secretary. MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. Mrs. M. R. Cree. Helen R. Boutilier. F. C. Green. Robie L. Redd. T. A. Rickard. E. G. Baynes. W. N. Sage. Willard E. Ireland W. Kaye Lamb (Provincial Archivist.) (Editor, Quarterly). A. G. Harvey H. B. Robertson (Vancouver Section). (Victoria Section.) OBJECTS. To encourage historical research and stimulate public interest in history; to promote the preservation and marking of historic sites, buildings, relics, natural features, and other objects and places of historical interest, and to publish historical sketches, studies, and documents. MEMBERSHIP. Ordinary members pay a fee of $2 annually in advance. The fiscal year commences on the first day of 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.
Titled "British Columbia Historical Association Report and Proceedings" from 1923-1929; "British Columbia Historical Quarterly" from 1937-1957; "BC Historical News" from 1968-2004; and "British Columbia History" from 2005 onward.
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FC3801.B72 H44
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British Columbia--History
British Columbia Historical Quarterly
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