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British Columbia History
British Columbia Historical Federation
Vol. 18, No. 1
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..K 1/ 0-M :it«Si 1*- -? -*fc -x fcx 44 \* The Old Cariboo Wagon Road The Provincial Archives, Part II Jonathan Miller, Vancouver Pioneer On the cover ... The Barnard Express Depot at Yale in 1868 ... story starts on page 5. MEMBER SOCIETIES ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦« Member societies and their secretaries are responsible for seeing that the correct addresses for their society and for its member subscribers are up-to-date. Please send changes to both the treasurer and the editor whose addresses are at the bottom of the next page. The Annual Report as at October 31 should show a telephone number for contact. Member dues for the year 1982-83 (Volume 16) were paid by the following member societies: Alberni District Historical Society, Box 284, Port Alberni, B.C. V9Y 7M7 Atlin Historical Society, P.O. Box 111, Atlin, B.C. VOW 1A0 BCHA — Gulf Islands Branch, c/o P.O. Box 35, Saturna Island, B.C. VON 2Y0 BCHA — Victoria Branch, c/o Margaret Bell, 1187 Hampshire, Victoria. B.C. V8S 4T1 Burnaby Historical Society, c/o 5406 Manor St., Burnaby, B.C. V5G 1B7 Chemainus Valley Historical Society, P.O. Box 172, Chemainus, B.C. VOR 1K0 Cowichan Historical Society, P.O. Box 1014, Duncan, B.C. V9L 3Y2 Creston & District Historical & Museum Society, P.O. Box 1123, Creston, B.C. VOB 1G0 District 69 Historical Society, P.O. Box 213, Parksville, B.C. VOR 2SC East Kootenay Historical Association, c/o H. Mayberry, 216 6th Avenue S., Cranbrook, B.C. V1C 2H6 Golden & District Historical Society, Box 992, Golden, B.C. VOA 1H0 Hedley Heritage, Arts & Crafts Society (1983), P.O. Box 218, Hedley, B.C. VOX 1K0 Ladysmith New Horizons Historical Society, c/o Mrs. V. Cull, R.R. #2, Ladysmith, B.C. VOR 2E0 Lantzville Historical Society, c/o Susan Crayston, Box 76, Lantzville, B.C. VOR 2H0 Nanaimo Historical Society, P.O. Box 933, Station "A", Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 5N2 Nanooa Historical & Museum Society, R.R. #1, Box 5, Kinghorn Rd., Nanoose Bay, B.C. VOR 2R0 ' Nootka Sound Historical Society, Box 748, Gold River, B.C. VOP 1G0 North Shore Historical Society, c/o Robert W. Brown, 2327 Kilmarnock Crescent, North Vancouver, B.C. V7J 2Z3 Princeton & District Pioneer Museum and Archives, Box 21, Princeton, B.C. VOX 1W0 Qualicum Beach Historical & Museum Society, c/o A.C. Killip, R.R. #1, Site 142, C-19, Qualicum Beach, B.C. VOR 2T0 Saltspring Island Historical Society, c/o Mrs. Olive Clayton, R.R. #3, Comp. 4, Scott Pt. #1, Ganges, B.C. VOS 1E0 Sidney & North Saanich Historical Society, c/o Mrs. Ray Joy, 10719 Bayfield Road, R.R. #3, Sidney, B.C. V8L 3P6 Silvery Slocan Historical Society, P.O. Box 301, New Denver, B.C. VOG ISO Trail Historical Society, P.O. Box 405, Trail, B.C. V1R 4L7 Vancouver Historical Society, P.O. Box 3071, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 3X6 West Vancouver Historical Society, P.O. Box 91785, West Vancouver, B.C. V7V 4S1 Windermere District Historical Society, Box 784, Invermere, B.C. VOA 1K0 Affiliated Groups City of White Rock Museum Archives Society, 1030 Martin St., White Rock, B.C. V4B 5E3 The Hallmark Society, 207 Government Street, Victoria, B.C. V8V 2K8 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL NEWS Volume1„No1 Features The Old Cariboo Wagon Road 5 by T.D. Sale The Provincial Archives of British Columbia, Part Two 11 by John A. Bovey Jonathan Miller, One of Vancouver's Earliest Pioneers 14 by Douglas E. Harker News and Notes The Canadian National Historical Association Regional History Prizes 21 Introducing 22 Writing Competition 22 Bookshelf Ninstints: Haida World Heritage Site by UBC Press and UBC Museum of Anthropology; review by Douglas Cole 23 Footprints: Pioneer Families of the Metchosin District by Marion I. Helgeson, ed.; review by Barry Gough 24 Floodland and Forest: Memories of the Chilliwack Valley by Imbert Orchard; review by Jacqueline Gresko 25 Voices: A Guide to Oral History, by Derek Reimer, ed.; review by Lynne Bowen ... 26 Second-class mail registration number 4447. Published fall, winter, spring, and summer by the British Columbia Historical Federation, P.O. Box 35326, Station E, Vancouver, B.C. V6M 4G5. Our Charitable Donations number is 0404681-52-27. Printed by Prestige Printers, Victoria, B.C. Manuscripts and correspondence for the editor are to be addressed to 1745 Taylor St., Victoria, B.C. V8R3E8. Send all other correspondence, including changes of address, to the Vancouver address given above. Subscriptions: Institutional $16.00 per year; Individual (non-members) $8.00 per year. The B.C. Historical Federation gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the British Columbia Heritage Trust. Letters to the Editor The Kelowna Volunteer Fire Department kindly requests your assistance in locating and possibly acquiring one of our old Fire Trucks. We, as a Volunteer subsidy of the Kelowna Fire Department, are celebrating our 75th Diamond Jubilee this year. As a part of our department's celebration, we would like to return to Kelowna its longest serving Fire Truck for restoration and display in our Main Fire Hall. The truck we are searching for is a 1928 GRAHAM-DODGE LADDER TRUCK. This unit was tendered on a Graham chassis with La France equipment, including, 400 gal. pump, spotlight, loading lights electric siren and wooden ladders. This truck last served the community of Ucluelet, B.C., approximately 15 years ago. We would appreciate it if you could inform your members of our request and should you, or any of your members know of this truck's whereabouts, please contact: Mr. Donald K. Wilson, Secretary, Kelowna Volunteer Fire Department, 2255 Enterprise Way, Kelowna, B.C. V1Y 8B8 The City of Vancouver Voters' List 1886 —Biographies of Individuals and Their Descendants The City of Vancouver celebrates its centennial in 1986. The British Columbia Genealogical Society has chosen as our centennial project the City of Vancouver 1886 Voters' List. We propose to collect all available information on the individuals listed therein, their families and descendants. The information gathered will form an important archival resource. Our aim is to ultimately publish this gathered material as a series of volumes of concise family biographies. We urge everyone with any information regarding any of the 527 individuals, families and descendants shown on the 1886 Voters' List for Vancouver please contact the British Columbia Genealogical Society Centennial Committee, c/o P.O. Box 94371, Richmond, B.C. V6Y 2A8. Subscribe! ►♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦< I wish to subscribe to B.C. Historical News. I enclose a cheque or money order payable to the B.C. Historical Federation, P.O. Box 35326, Station E, Vancouver, B.C. V6M 4G5. Individual .. Institutional Four issues for $8.00 (. Four issues for $16.00 (. NAME: ADDRESS City Postal Code Page 4 British Columbia Historical News T.D. SALE The Old Cariboo Wagon Road Early Travel On The Cariboo Highway To 1943 Prior to recording the historical development of the Old Cariboo Wagon Road it is first necessary to examine the geographical structure of the northern part located in the area once known as "New Caledonia". The fur trading companies needed no road but made use of the numerous rivers and lakes to gather the furs to the forts which were strategically located. The local Indian population did most of the trapping and brought the furs to the forts in order to trade for goods. The fur brigades delivered these furs to Montreal by following the rivers and lakes across what is now known as Canada. Gold, discovered on the bars of the lower Fraser River, brought in the first sizeable wave of white settlers. Rich strikes in Lightning Creek and Williams Creek caused the wave of gold-seekers to ascend the Fraser. After the readily available gold began to decline, so too did the population. By 1901 the census recorded a population of only 4500 in the whole Cariboo area. The population began to increase, slowly at first, when the railways began to supply the area. The Canadian Pacific was located to the south, the Canadian National to the north, while the Pacific Great Eastern (now known as the British Columbia Railway) followed the old Cariboo Trail and for many years ended at Quesnel. Ranching was making a good start. This was soon followed by the forest industry. As transportation improved so did the industries in the Cariboo. By 1951 the census showed there was a population of 50,000 people. The climate of this Central Interior Plateau is continental in nature and thus cold in winter (averaging 10 degrees below zero F., or -10 degrees C) Due to the altitude the summers are reasonably cool. Precipitation is about twenty inches at the southern end and increases towards the north. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Simon Fraser was the first explorer to travel the length of the Cariboo country, naming it New Caledonia. One definition of 'Cariboo' is 'Cariboeuf which means the favourite haunt of the reindeer. Early in 1856 an Indian found a large pebble of gold in the Nicomen River as he stooped to obtain a drink. He sold the gold to the Hudson's Bay Company, who didn't want a stampede of gold-seekers to interfere with their lucrative fur trade in the area. On April 16th, 1856, Governor James Douglas publicly announced that gold had been discovered. As the nearest mint was located at San Francisco, the Hudson's Bay Company in February 1858 shipped 800 ounces of gold on the steamer Otter, thus further spreading the word and speeding up the gold rush to the lower Fraser. Quite accidentally gold had been discovered on Hill's Bar. On April 25th, 1858, four hundred fifty miners arrived at Fort Victoria on the Commodore. At the time, the population of the Fort was only four hundred people. In quick succession an estimated 30,000 gold-seekers travelled from San Francisco on any ship that would float. This ever- increasing stampede of miners made their way up the Fraser River in search of the precious metal. Governor Douglas was faced with a large number of idle miners driven from their claims by the flooding of the Fraser River in the late spring of 1858. He put them to work constructing the Harrison Trail to Lillooet. He hired twenty teams of twenty-five men and gave them free transport, free room and board, but no pay. Each man hired had to pay a twenty-five dollar peace bond and work guarantee. The equivalent sum was returned to him in goods when the trail was completed, which was at the end of September 1858. British Columbia Historical News Page5 In reply to Governor Douglas' appeal to the Colonial Office in England, a detachment of Royal Engineers, consisting of 165 officers and men, arrived in the fall of 1858 under the command of Colonel Richard Moody. On November 19th, 1858, at Fort Langley, James Douglas became Governor of the mainland colony of British Columbia. His Deputy was Colonel Moody, who also became Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for the Colony. Amongst the Royal Engineers were such tradesmen as architects, blacksmiths, carpenters, miners, painters, and surveyors. New Westminster, Lytton, Lillooet, and Quesnel were all surveyed by the Royal Engineers. Their presence served to have a steadying influence on the fledgling Colony. New Westminster became the capital of the Colony on May 5,1859. In 1861, Lillooet (meaning wild onion), formerly known as Cayoosh Flats, became Mile 0 and the start of the first Cariboo Wagon Road. By 1863, Lillooet had a population of 15,000 and was the second largest town north of San Francisco. Cayoosh Creek produced a total of three million dollars of gold. The Harrison-Lillooet route was a mixed land and water route which meant freight had to be handled too many times. Walter Moberly, an engineer, persuaded Governor Douglas that the superior route through the Fraser Canyon and along the Thompson River should be utilized. The decision made as to the route, the Royal Engineers, in October 1861, began to survey and to blast out from almost solid rock a road from Yale to Cooks Ferry. The width of this road was eighteen feet. It was described as stony, dusty, muddy, pitted with holes, and subject to slides and washouts at various times of the year. The Wagon Road was contracted out in sections in 1862 and 1863. These contractors included Joseph Trutch and his partner Thomas Spence. Contractor G.B. Wright had successfully completed the Lillooet to Clinton section. He was promptly awarded the 130 mile section from Clinton to Soda Creek. Yale had been chosen as the starting point for the Wagon Road since it was the head of navigation on the lower Fraser River. Soda Creek to Quesnel was served by a steamer. In 1864 G.B. Wright contracted to build a wagon road from Quesnel to Cottonwood. The following year the road was extended to the heart of the gold-fields located at Barkerville, Camerontown, and Richfield. Gold production in the Cariboo reached its peak in 1863 when an estimated six million dollars was produced in the vicinity of Barkerville alone. For every six miners that sought to get rich quickly, after a year or less, five gave up the quest and looked for other occupations or retraced their steps and left the country. With the completion of the Cariboo Wagon Road, it was possible to travel the 180 miles by sternwheel steamer from Victoria to Yale, and 400 miles from Yale to Barkerville, a total distance of 580 miles (928 km). Governor Douglas was empowered to borrow a quarter of a million dollars to build the Cariboo Road. The total cost of constructing the road was just over a million dollars ($2500 per mile). To pay for the road, tolls were levied totalling fifty-three dollars a ton or over two and a half cents a pound. To this figure must be added the freight rate of fifteen cents a pound. The cost of transporting was often two or three times the original price of the freight being carried. The traders and packers kept in touch with the miners, supplying their wants according to their ability to pay. The first express service was by canoe or horseback, or packman. William Ballou was one such pioneer expressman. In the days of the stagecoaches, Mile Houses made their appearance along the Wagon Road, where horses could be changed and passengers could be fed or boarded overnight. These Mile Houses were numbered from Lillooet, the first being 15 Mile House. The second was 22 Mile House, where extra horses were needed for the hard three-mile pull up Pavilion Mountain. After a further change or two of horses the stagecoach reached 47 Mile House (named Clinton after the Colonial Secretary). At Clinton the stagecoach from Yale would follow the same Wagon Road as the one from Lillooet. Two miles north of the Chasm there is an alternate route of 125 miles through the edge of the Chilcotin country to Williams Lake via Dog Creek, Alkali Lake and Springhouse. Back on the Cariboo Road, 59 Mile house was destroyed by fire in 1946 and 70 Mile House was destroyed by fire in 1956. The next main stage stop was 74 Mile House then the 83 Mile House, where fresh horses were needed to pull the coach up the steep hill. Another change was needed at 93 Mile House. Then it was downhill to 100 Mile House, where the original buildings were destroyed by fire in 1937. In the days of the stagecoaches, stopping places were built at 105 Mile House, 108 Page 6 British Columbia Historical News Mile House, 111 Mile House, 112 Mile House, 114 Mile House, and 115 Mile House. Here the Cariboo Wagon Road follows close to the shores of Lac La Hache (Lake of the Hatchet). Travelling north, frequent stopping places were available at 117 Mile House, 122 Mile House, 127 Mile House, 132 Mile House, 134 Mile House, and 141 Mile House. At 145 Mile a road leads into the San Jose Valley where St. Joseph's Mission, the Onward Ranch, and the Sugar Cane Indian Reserve are located. At 150 Mile House the Cariboo Road bypassed Williams Lake and headed across country via 153 Mile House, 158 Mile House, and 164 Mile House to the Gold Fields Trail. In 1860 this had been the walking route for thousands of miners. On April 14,1861, near Hope, the boiler of the sternwheel steamer Fort Yale exploded, killing five of her crew. One of the survivors was the purser, Francis Jones Barnard. Following the explosion, he left steamboating and began delivering letters and papers throughout the Cariboo. From this humble beginning evolved the famous B.C. Express Company. On March 12,1864, the first BX stagecoach run was made from Yale to Soda Creek, taking 72 hours to cover the distance. The red and yellow, California built, Concord-type coach was used. The fare was $130. Meals at the Mile Houses were fifty cents or seventy-five cents. A night's lodging was fifty cents. With less traffic on the road at night and by travelling non-stop except for meals and changes of horses, the travel time was reduced to 48 hours a short time later. In 1865 the fare from Yale to Barkerville was $125. Express parcels were a dollar a pound. An express letter was also one dollar. A newspaper was fifty cents. By 1868 the fare had been reduced to $85. Sleighs were used to make the trip in winter. In the latter decades of the nineteenth century the- Cariboo owed its development mainly to "horsepower". The big tandem freight wagons were often drawn by five teams of sturdy draft horses. A common sight were freight wagons being pulled over the rough terrain by as many as six yoke of oxen. The most colourful and the best packer of this era was John Jacques Caux, better known as Cataline. With the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1886, the distance for hauling some of the freight was shortened since deliveries could be made by rail to Ashcroft. Following the completion of the CPR, the BX Company transferred its office from Yale to Ashcroft. Six-horse stagecoaches were the main method of travel at this time. The best horses possible were obtained for stage stock. Ostlers BARNARD'S Express Line Stages CARRYING II. M. MAILS, Will raako Regular "Weekly Trips from Barkerville, Arriving in Yale on Thursdays, in limp to connect witli tbo nteamei- '• Onward'' for New Westminster. i\mt with the II. 13. Co.'d steamer " Enterprise," ARRIVING IN VICTORIA ON SATURDAYS. Tlie California steamers leave Victoria on the 7lb and 22d ol each month. ap27 3in F. J. BARNARD. and blacksmiths were stationed at the Mile Houses where changes of horses took place. Each horse had its own handmade harness which was cleaned every time it was used. The baggage, express parcels, and the mail were all loaded first, then the passengers took their seats and finally the driver, with his money bag, climbed into his seat. The ostler would then lead the two sturdy 1700 pound "wheelers" or "luggers" to their positions on each side of the staging pole, fasten them properly into position, and hand the reins to the driver. The second pair were the "spanners" or "swing" team. Having placed them just ahead of the "wheelers" the ostler fastened them in the proper place and handed their reins to the driver. Finally the two 1300 pound spirited leaders were brought out prancing and eager to go. Usually with some difficulty, the ostler fastened them into position and handed their reins to the driver who rapidly released the stagecoach's brake. The horses lunged forward, but within a few yards settled down to a brisk trot, drawing the coach forward at a steady pace. The ostlers and the blacksmiths took pride in their work and gave these stagecoach horses the best possible care and attention. The drivers seldom if ever abused these horses. They became very skillful with the use of the "jerkline" reins and the whip which could urge an indolent horse to pull his share of the load without the other five horses even knowing the driver had used the whip. British Columbia Historical News Page 7 On the Cariboo Road, 1884 The regular mail stage took tour days to travel the 280 miles from Ashcroft to Barkerville at an average speed of six miles an hour. The Cariboo Road was not paved, nor had it been topped with gravel, so in the spring and at certain other times of the year it was so muddy (gumbo) that stagecoaches would sink to the axle. In spite of the inconvenience of travel, passengers paid $42.50 in winter and $37.50 in summer to make the trip to Barkerville, and were allowed a maximum of forty pounds of baggage. Between 1863 and 1865 the Cariboo Road ended at Soda Creek. The sternwheelers, beginning with the SS Enterprise in 1863, used to travel up the Fraser River to Quesnel and as far as the present city of Prince George. This river route was discontinued in 1921. For eighty years, until 1947, a flour mill was located at Soda Creek, which obtained its name from the nearby creek which runs over a deposit of carbonate of lime and bubbles like soda water. By 1865 the stagecoaches were running into Barkerville which was by this time a 'hodge podge' of workings, tailings, waterwheels, props, windlasses, shafts, mines, stores, houses, restaurants, and saloons. Francis Jones Barnard retired in 1879, and Steve Tingley took over the running of the BX Company. In 1886 Steve Tingley bought out Frank Barnard. Over the remaining years of the stagecoach era Steve Tingley was assisted by many well-known drivers such as J.B. Leighton and Al Young. The last mail run was made in October 1915. (Steve Tingley died in 1919.) The last passenger run was made in 1921. The horse drawn stagecoaches had ruled supreme in the Cariboo for fifty years, but they were now about to be displaced by the railways and the automobiles. A well preserved BX Stagecoach is presently on display in front of the Exeter Arms Hotel at 100 Mile House. Following World War I freight was hauled by solid rubber-tired, chain-driven trucks. The driver was usually accompanied by a swamper whose duty it was "to give every possible assistance" to get the truck up the steep hills and PageS British Columbia Historical News through the gumbo that was very common following a rain or melting snow. The wheels would have to be blocked if the truck stalled. In winter several cowhides were carried on top of the freight. If the truck was in danger of stalling or skidding, the swamper was expected to jump out and quickly place a frozen cowhide in front of the rear wheel to give it some traction. As the wheel passed over the frozen hide the swamper had to remember to duck as the hide shot out from behind the wheel like a kite. He then quickly retrieved the hide and repeated the procedure until the driver had nursed the truck up to the snowy, slippery summit of the hill. Horsedrawn stagecoach travel was coming to an end in 1919 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway was being built to provide another means of entering the Cariboo. Williams Lake thus far had been by-passed as far as the Cariboo Road was concerned, due to an unfortunate quarrel between the contractor and an early settler. In the early days the Indians called the Lake 'Columneetza' (meeting place of princely people). The early settlement was called Borland, which became Williams Lake in 1920. In July of the next year fire destroyed much of Williams Lake. Although the PGE Railway was incorporated February 27,1912, it did not reach Quesnel until 1921. It was October 31, 1952 before the service was extended to Prince George. The southern terminal was extended from Squamish to North Vancouver in 1956. Two years later, in 1958, the northern terminal became Dawson Creek. This provincially owned railway had rejuvenated the town of Williams Lake, which was incorporated as a village in 1929. The PGE enabled the Cariboo to become an area of huge beef cattle ranches. At last, in 1932, the main highway was built through Williams Lake, thus ending its somewhat partial isolation. In 1923 Clarence Stevenson and Norman Glover formed the I.T. (Interior Transportation) Stage Company, covering an area from Ashcroft to the northern Cariboo. Clarence Stevenson, as a youth, had driven a four-horse stage for the BX Company from Ashcroft to Clinton on to Lillooet, and later to northern Cariboo points. The advent of balloon tires had made motor stage riding much more comfortable. Half a century ago commuters travelling to the Cariboo would arrive at Ashcroft by CPR train, from Vancouver and other communities, in the wee small hours of the morning, and spend an uncomfortable three or four hours in a small, Quesnel • British Columbia Barkerville • Soda Creek v Cariboo Lillooet m* ;New Westminster Harrison LakeVk • Yale >Z>>. Hope • ^ New Wpstmin » Victoria I rather chilly station waiting room. About 7:30 a.m. the waiting passengers were met by the genial Clarence Stevenson or one of his expert drivers—Hugh Higby comes to mind. They would then be loaded into a large, comfortable car (circa 1930 Studebaker) that would carry eight passengers making use of the 'jump seats' installed between the normal front and rear seats. The baggage was carefully stowed on the cartop racks for the trip up the Cariboo Road. Frequent stops were made en route to drop off parcels and deliver passengers to their destinations. Often, parcels and letters, and sometimes passengers, were accommodated between the Mile Houses. Noticeable along the Cariboo Road were the different types of split rail fences. The two most common were the Russell fences and the snakerail fences. The latter type worked out at British Columbia Historical News Page 9 approximately 2500 rails per mile and would last for at least forty years. It was easy for the ranchers to remove a panel and drive through their stock rather than build gates. What a wealth of knowledge Clarence Stevenson had gathered about Cariboo history and how interesting he made the trip for the young teachers travelling to and from their respective one room schools in the thirties! At times during the year travel was limited to night time because the then unpaved Cariboo Road would freeze over as the temperature dropped to well below freezing. During the warm sunny days the ground would soften and the layer of soft sticky gumbo made travelling difficult, and at times almost impossible. Up and down the Cariboo Road, and along the feeder roads, old-fashioned phones, worked by a crank and the Morse Code (dots and dashes), complete with 'howlers', had been installed in a numberof homes. Since 'listening in' at the megaphone shaped 'howlers' was a common and accepted practice, the departure time and place of the I.T. Stage would be phoned out to the farthest point on the phone line. The passengers would miraculously make their way to the Stage's rendezvous point in time for the departure. Regardless of the hour of the day or night the trip down the Cariboo Road to Ashcroft was accompanied by many interesting stories and much singing. A welcome stop was always made at Clinton where a delicious home cooked meal was enjoyed at the Bob Inn Cafe. Descending the hill to Ashcroft, the parting song was usually "The End of a Perfect Day". The final leg of the journey was the CPR train trip to Vancouver. The I.T. Stage carried mail and parcels to Williams Lake and way points every Monday and Wednesday, and out to Ashcroft every Tuesday and Friday. Parcels earned the Stage Company a modest nominal charge. Errands were cheerfully done at Ashcroft, Williams Lake or Quesnel. In the twenty year history of the I.T. Stage Company there was never a serious mishap. On July 1,1943, the Greyhound Buses took over the routes served by the I.T. Stages, and Clarence Stevenson retired. The Cariboo Road has now become the Cariboo Highway and is part of Highway 97. Today Cache Creek might be considered to be Mile 0. The Cariboo Highway has now been surfaced, paved, widened and straightened. Frequent markers show where the old Cariboo Wagon Road was once located. In a matter of hours, in modern cars or buses, the traveller can cover distances that a century ago took days. At the end of the old Wagon Road (Quesnel to Barkerville is now Highway 26) the restoration and reconstruction of Barkerville began in 1958 and continues little by little each year. What an important part the old Cariboo Road has played in the development of B.C.'s history! It richly deserves the nomenclature of the Eighth Wonder of the World. T.D. Sale is Secretary of the BCHF, and a member of the Nanaimo Historical Society. He was a school teacher at 100 Mile House from 1935-1936, and at Springhouse from 1937- 1939. Don't Forget! Subscribe now if you're not receiving the News regularly. Page 10 British Columbia Historical News John A. Bovey Provincial Archivist The Provincial Archives of British Columbia Part Two: The Manuscripts and Government Records Division When people think of "archives" what they usually see in their mind's eye is something very close to the collections to be found in the Manuscripts and Government Records Division. Its holdings are the traditional, central, foundation stones of most archival institutions. But even in repositories which have holdings dating from the era of vellum, if not papyrus, the impact of twentieth century technology is being felt with rapidly increasing impact. It used to be possible to describe the holdings of the Manuscripts and Government Records Division as written records which, unlike books or articles in periodicals, had not been published. Readers who have home computers will realize that that definition is no longer quite adequate. Floppy discs and magnetic tapes, like the pen or the typewriter, can be used to document human actions, decisions and impressions, and will very shortly become part of our archives. But for the moment, our holdings consist of paper records—or copies of them— and it is those records which will be described here. As its title suggests, the division collects two kinds of records: manuscripts—the private papers produced by individuals, businesses and organizations—and government records. Our aim in acquiring these records is to document all aspects of the political, economic, social and cultural history of the province. So far we have approximately 970 linear metres and 2000 microfilm reels of manuscripts, and 3200 linear metres and 2600 microfilm reels of government records. Collections range in date from the mid eighteenth century to 1984 and in size from a single page to over sixty linear metres. Since we are the Provincial Archives, the bulk of our government records naturally are those of Fort Kamloops Journal 1860-1862 the Provincial Government. However, we do have some municipal records and copies of relevant Canadian, British and United States records, including records of the Department of Indian Affairs and the Immigration Branch, Colonial Office despatches, and American Consular records. Records of the Government of the Province of British Columbia are selected for permanent preservation in the archives through procedures administered by the recently formed Records Management Branch, and approximately five per cent of all records generated finally end up in the archives. They are selected to document major policy, legal, and administrative changes and are as necessary to the government as they are to the historical researcher. The use of archival records by the Provincial Government in arguing the ownership of the bed of the Strait of Georgia and related areas is a case in point. Amongst the earliest government records collected by the Provincial Archives were the British Columbia Historical News Page 11 Before ... Government records at the Herald Street warehouse, ca. 1974. correspondence files and letter-books of the Colonial governments of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and the correspondence files of government departments—of the Department of the Provincial Secretary and the Superintendent of Education, for example. "The Colonial Correspondence", consisting of letters inward to departments of the Colonial governments from both individuals and government officials, is an enormously rich collection. The letters from Gold Commissioners describing their various districts form a particularly valuable source for local historians. Correspondence files of ministries continue to be a strong part of our collection; the earlier ones often contain specific information—about particular schools, for example—and all document policy and administrative decisions. Other types of records—tax rolls, company files, pre-emption records, and probates—document particular transactions between individuals or organizations and the government. As research interests have broadened to include such areas as labour history, the experiences of minority groups, women's history, and the changing environment, the archives has tended to retain records it might have rejected in the past. Trap line records for Northern British Columbia, a recent acquisition, are an example of records which might seem rather routine but which in fact are a very useful source, not only on trapping, but on the Northern British Columbian and Native Indian economies and on changing patterns in the wildlife populations. At the same time as we have collected new kinds of records, changing research interests have led to some of our older collections being used in new ways. Court Records form a good example. Statements given by witnesses at preliminary hearings or inquests can provide insights into the lives of people who did not themselves create written records. Unlike government records, manuscripts do not come to the archives through an established procedure. In some cases, we contact potential donors; in other, very welcome instances, people, businesses, or organizations get in touch with us to ask if we would be interested in their records. Occasionally we borrow records, copy them, and depending on the agreement worked out, return either the originals or the copy to the donor. Page 12 British Columbia Historical News After ... Records sorted and safely encased in acid- neutral boxes in the PABC stacks. Our manuscript collections include ship's logs, Hudson's Bay Company post account books and journals, the letters and diaries of gold seekers, pioneers, missionaries, surveyors and school teachers, medical case books, literary manuscripts, the papers of natural historians and of researchers into the origins of geographical place names. Amongst the most noteworthy are our large family collections: the McKenzie papers, which document the development of Craigflower Farm; the Crease collection, containing the correspondence and diaries of Sir Henry Crease, his wife, sons and daughters and covering a period from 1839 to 1943; the O'Reilly Collection, like the Crease Collection, a rich source for colonial period; and the Newcombe Family Papers, an enormously valuable source for those interested in the ethnology, archaeology or natural history of British Columbia. We are always interested in acquiring the records of clubs and organizations: collections we have received from Women's and Farmers' Institutes and from the British Columbia Cattlemen's Association and the British Columbia Fruit Grower's Association have added a great deal to the information we have on the agricultural industry in British Columbia and on rural life in general. Recently, we have been particularly interested in papers relating to the history of education and have acquired the records of a number of independent schools. Business history is another field in which we would like to increase the strength of our holdings. In the past two years we have received some valuable lumbering and pulp and paper company records which complement the records we acquired from the Ministry of Forests in conjunction with their preparations for the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the British Columbia Forest Service. We have an interesting collection of mining papers, both in government records and manuscripts, but would like to acquire the records of more mining companies. W. Kaye Lamb, Provincial Librarian and Archivist from 1934 to 1941, noted in a speech delivered in 1935 that one effect of the Great Depression and the reawakened interest in gold mining was the increased use old gold mining records were receiving. It is interesting to see, on the fiftieth anniversary of his appointment, the same thing happening again. However much research interests change, or come full circle, and the kinds of documents we collect change, the records we collect will remain of fundamental importance to all of the people of the province. None of us can exist without a past. Government, like any organization, needs records which document its legal, administrative and financial affairs; professional historians need records to reconstruct and interpret our past; we are all likely at some point to want to find out about our own family or town, or to pursue a particular interest. Researchers are always welcome at the archives. We hope in time to publish guides to the use of our collections; in the meantime Manuscript Inventories 1 to 3, published by the Provincial Archives and available in public and university libraries, describe at least part of our manuscript holdings. Those who have not visited archives before will receive information on specific collections and their use in Local History in British Columbia: a guide to researching, writing and publishing for the non-professional by Maureen Cassidy (Technical Paper Series, British Columbia Heritage Trust) published in 1983, and available from libraries or from the B.C. Heritage Trust, Parliament Buildings, Victoria V8V 1X4 Editor's Note: In our last issue we incorrectly stated that John Bovey succeeded Willard Ireland. Allan R. Turner assumed the position of Provincial Archivist in 1974, when Willard Ireland retired. John Bovey succeeded Allan R. Turner in 1979. British Columbia Historical News Page 13 Douglas E. Harker Jonathan Miller, One of Vancouver's Earliest Pioneers In the 1860s the district of Cariboo, a remote area of British Columbia, produced enough gold to draw a surge of emigrants from all over the world. On June 4, 1862, one of the adventurers, Jonathan Miller, from the deck of the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer Enterprise, surveyed the small houses lining the bank of the Fraser River. They comprised the village of New Westminster, capital of British Columbia. Jonathan was twenty-eight, short, stocky, bearded, compact, with an air of quiet self- assurance and reliability that attracted trust. He had come from Delaware, Ontario, where his family had lived for three generations as prosperous farmers and leading citizens, and where he had been justice of the peace since the age of twenty-two. His father had expected he would follow the family pattern.1 But Jonathan had heard the call of gold and felt the promptings of adventure strongly enough to lure him away from his much loved wife Margaret and their two infant daughters to distant, largely unexplored British Columbia. For a month he had been travelling, by train to New York, by steamer to Panama, by rail across the Isthmus, by other steamers to San Francisco, Victoria, and New Westminster. He was entranced by the scenic wonder of this new country ... the immense trees, some two hundred feet high, the backdrop of massive mountains, the meadows and the sparkling sea joined by the wide river. The capital city itself was not attractive. It was shut in by dense forest timber of the largest size. New Westminster had grown rapidly from a cluster of shanties to a settlement of three hundred. It had a hospital, the Royal Columbian, a newspaper, the British Columbian, and three rough unfinished roads to Burrard Inlet.2 Nearby, the winds of change were blowing that eventful year 1862. Fort Victoria had become Jonathan Miller 1834-1914 an incorporated city. John Morton, Sam Brighouse and William Hailstone had ventured five hundred and fifty-five of their hard-earned dollars to buy five hundred acres of land close to Burrard Inlet. Later, their claim would include all of Vancouver's West End, from Burrard Street to Stanley Park, and from the Inlet to English Bay. Page 14 British Columbia Historical News During his long journey Jonathan had heard stories of the gold rush, of its pitifully few beneficiaries, and of its many victims who had 'hurled their youth into the grave.' Moreover, the winter of 1862 was the severest within living memory. Ships could not get up the Fraser River because of the ice. The capital city was isolated, the river frozen. Cattle and heavy carts could travel on solid ice from New Westminster to Yale. The sufferings of the gold miners that winter were indescribable. Jonathan decided he would not hurry to join the four thousand miners who that year alone had invaded the Cariboo.3 It was not difficult to find employment. He worked in a store, and he went with surveyor Alfred Waddington's crew to look tor a route from the north end of Bute Inlet to the Cariboo gold fields. It would have been 175 miles shorter, but the terrain defeated them. The Coast Range of mountains, higher than the Rockies, the deep canyons, towering glaciers, dense forests and rushing rivers were insuperable. It was only by chance that Jonathan avoided a massacre in which fourteen of Waddington's crew were murdered by Indians in their construction camp in the Homathco Valley. In 1865 Jonathan became a lumberman. He had come to the conclusion that British Columbia's future was founded on timber rather than gold. Before long, he had two lumber camps on the shores of Burrard Inlet and employed twenty men. He felt ready to send for his wife and children.4 As Margaret stepped off the Enterprise, with four-year-old Ada holding one hand and three- year-old Carrie the other, she must have found a disturbing contrast between the settled East and the emerging West. New Westminster had begun the year with a serious financial deficit. Governor Seymour who had arrived a few weeks earlier reported to the Colonial Office: "... New Westminster presents a melancholy picture. Many of the best houses are untenanted. The largest hotel is to let. Decay appears on all sides and logs of the fallen trees block most of the streets..."5 Fortunately for British Columbia and posterity, there were in the capital city and on the Inlet some men of rare vision and ability such as editor John Robson, mill operators Sewell Moody and Edward Stamp, logger Jeremiah Rogers and others whose courage and endurance built the province. Jonathan was of their number. His teams hauled logs for the mill owned by Sew. Moody, and it was while he was so employed that an event occurred that changed the course of his life and led to his becoming one of Vancouver's leading pioneers. The event was a lawsuit brought against him by Captain Stamp. Jonathan was logging the 1000-acre peninsula which later became Stanley Park, but which was then a Military Reserve. Stamp had been given exclusive timber rights over it, so he sued. The suit was widely discussed in the little community of New Westminster. The area which Colonial Secretary Birch had handed over to Captain Stamp was far larger than he could possibly need or use. Moreover, he was an irascible man whose domineering ways had made him many enemies. Most people favoured the unassuming young man from Ontario. They included John Robson, editor of the British Columbian and Governor Seymour. Stores and businesses closed early that afternoon in 1868 to enable as many of the townspeople as possible to attend the trial and witness Stamp'sdiscomf iture.6 Though the judgment went in Jonathan's favour, he left the logging business soon after the trial and bought a farm in the Fraser Valley, but not before he had come to public notice as a strong, steady man and a leader. On Burrard Inlet a little shacktown had grown up nicknamed 'Gastown'. Its first sale of lots had occurred in 1869. The following year it was surveyed into streets and blocks of land, and called Granville after the British Secretary of State for the Colonies. A townsite of twenty acres cut from the forest, it was bounded by three streets later named Carrall, Hastings and Cambie. The fourth side was the shore, a crescent beach littered with boulders and seaweed where a few white-washed buildings faced the mountains. The town was dominated by the Hastings Mill which provided employment for mill crews and hangers-on, and was the focus for liquor and gambling activities. Granville was a wild place, not safe, some thought, for a respectable family to live. In 1871 a meeting took place between Captain J. Raymur, Stamp's successor at the Mill, Sew. Moody and 'Gassy' Jack Deighton, proprietor of Granville's largest saloon and regarded as Vancouver's founding father. The meeting concerned the lawless conditions on Burrard Inlet. ...At present the Inlet is a scene of drunkenness and savage violence on the part of the Indians. They continually threaten the lives of white men and recently have committed one murder and have attempted another on whites, beside British Columbia Historical News Page 15 innumerable acts of violence on each other..." So wrote Tompkins Brew, Deputy Collector of Customs to the Colonial Secretary in London. Without doubt whites were equally culpable.7 Raymur, Moody and Gassy Jack considered the appointment of a constable to be of paramount importance. All knew Jonathan Miller and believed him to have the necessary qualities to bring law and order to Granville. They took their recommendation to higher authority. It was F.C. Claudet, a young Englishman sent out by the Colonial Office, and at that time filling in as stipendiary magistrate in New Westminster, who took action. There had been a savage fight on one of the ships. Acting without official sanction, Claudet appointed Miller constable and government agent for Granville, at a salary of $50 a month.8 The British Government confirmed the appointment and built a Court House with a jail about as big as a large cupboard. It stood on Water Street flanked by two saloons, Gassy Jack's and Ebenezer Brown's. A few yards away was the famous maple tree where notices were posted and impromptu meetings held. Jonathan and Margaret were pleased to leave the isolation of the farm. Their five children would now have others to play with. Though the Inlet was still regarded as a wild, inhospitable place with a climate as savage as its terrain and occupants, Jonathan had strong faith in its potential. Jonathan's duties far exceeded those of a constable in today's sense of the term because he was the only officially appointed Government agent for the community. For the next twelve years there were about twenty-five houses and seventy residents.9 During those years he saw a school opened a hundred yards from Hastings Mill. His children attended it and he became a school trustee. He also found a job for his brother-in-law, Ben Springer, Margaret's brother, who had come from Ontario to join them, as an accountant at Sew. Moody's mill. But life was primitive in spite of the efforts of the hardy pioneers to maintain civilized standards. There was no electric light. Groceries had to come from Victoria, and their arrival was haphazard. There was little public transportation. The corduroy roads were uncomfortable and dangerous. Not until 1876 did Granville have direct communication with New Westminster or the neighbouring community of Brighton, four and half miles away.10 Then suddenly came an electrifying change in the circumstances and prospects of the people of Burrard Inlet. Ever since the coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway had been first mooted, its western terminus had been the subject of hot debate and keen rivalry among several competing localities. Would it be at New Westminster, Esquimalt or Port Moody? The last named was the most favoured. When the rumour spread that the CPR would have its terminus at none of these places but at Granville, the impact was immediate and immense. CPR President William Van Horne changed its name to Vancouver. A committee was appointed to draw up an act of incorporation for the new city and met at the home of Hastings Mill manager Richard Alexander in January 1886. A petition was sent to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia requesting a charter and first election of a mayor and ten aldermen. Jonathan Miller was named returning officer by acclamation. One hundred and twenty-five persons signed the petition. May 3, 1886, was the day of Vancouver's first election. Two men competed for the office of mayor. One was Richard Alexander, whose wife was the first white woman to live in Granville, and son Henry the first white child to be born there. Alexander, a stalwart Scot, had travelled as a youth across Canada with the Overlanders, and had survived great perils, including the feat of swimming one mile in icy waters when his canoe capsized. An exceptional scholar and a natural leader, he had been educated at Edinburgh Academy and Upper Canada College. As mill manager, he had been involved in all the developments on the Inlet for the past fifteen years, and the instigator of most of them. He was expected to win the mayoralty contest with ease.11 Surprisingly, the result was otherwise. The other candidate was Malcolm MacLean, a comparative newcomer who had come from Winnipeg to join his brother-in-law, A.W. Ross. As a CPR land adviser, Ross had foreseen the coming boom at Granville and started a real estate business there. MacLean had not even been invited to join the committee which had won incorporation for Granville five months earlier.12 Four hundred and sixty-seven electors, all men, placed their ballots. Few could claim a year's residence but all had been householders or leaseholders for at least six months. No Chinese or Indians were entitled to vote. MacLean won the election by 242 votes to Page 16 British Columbia Historical News First Meeting of the First City Council Alexander's 227. The newcomers had triumphed over the old-timers. Alexander's supporters protested. MacLean, they said, had been nominated by one Angus C. Fraser, but the said Fraser was not at the time of the nomination a resident of the city of Vancouver. Nothing came of the protest which was strongly opposed by Richard Alexander and MacLean became Vancouver's first mayor.13 MacLean was a fluent, forceful man, much travelled, of the utmost integrity and dedication. He worked without a dollar of salary for the first year, furnished his own desk and his own postage.14 On May 10th, 1886, he held his first Council meeting. Jonathan's tiny courthouse was stretched to the limit as aldermen and officials trooped in. John Innes' well-known picture "The Builders" portrays the scene: thirty men with high collars, dark suits and serious expressions are crowded around a table. A kerosene lamp swings from the ceiling. MacLean is in the centre exuding confidence and Jonathan at his left, white-bearded and looking older than his fifty- two years.15 The mayor appointed a treasurer, though there was no cash to deposit, a coroner, city engineer, fire chief and other civic officers, including a lamplighter and two scavengers. Jonathan's various duties as Government Agent and constable were divided among several officials of the new city. He received a different appointment, that of Vancouver's first postmaster. Since the Vancouver Post Office would now become a distributing point for Chinese, Japanese and Australian mail, the position was clearly important and required a first-rate administrator. In recognition of the hard work involved and the post office's undoubted future growth, Jonathan was given one boy assistant. (By 1904 the job required an assistant postmaster and thirty-four clerks!) On May 14th the mayor called another meeting, this time to arrange for the celebration of Dominion Day. Jonathan, who was of Empire Loyalist stock, headed the committee. Vancouver's population had soared to nine hundred. Lavish plans were made to celebrate the day as never before.16 But a momentous and tragic event held those plans in abeyance for British Columbia Historical News Page 17 over a year. During the morning and early afternoon of Sunday, June 13, 1886, Vancouver was consumed by fire. Though no one can state with certainty, the Great Fire is generally believed to have started in the CPR townsite, a six-thousand acre clearing, stretching from the high ground west of Water Street (above today's Victory Square) to the forest edge (Burrard Street). Blasting and burning of slash went on there every day of the week and the townsite was perpetually carpeted with a dense mass of dry, fallen trees. Suddenly, on that fateful morning, an extremely hot day, a southwest gale of almost freakish intensity sprang up. At once the sky was obscured and the air became one mass of fiery flames, driven on by the gale. The black bitter smoke of burning gum and pitch brought instant suffocation to many. Others had no chance to escape the great tongues of fire that swept down on them. Most of the Miller children were at home getting ready for Sunday School. Nine-year-old Walter had gone ahead to help Father Fiennes- Clinton ring the bell at St. James' Church, this service being Walter's particular privilege. Almost immediately, the Miller's house was on fire. As Margaret saw her domain being totally destroyed before her eyes, she was transfixed— unable to move or utter a word. Somehow the children propelled her into the street. Their father, conscientious as ever, had been working at the Post Office, which that week had been moved to a small building on Carrall Street. They saw him running towards them, carrying in front of him a big black cashbox. His spectacles lay on top of it. Solemnly he said to Margaret: "I've saved my glasses". "I've saved my prayer book," replied Margaret. It was her first utterance, spoken very faintly.17 Several steamers were already engaged in taking refugees across to Moodyville (today's North Vancouver), and Jonathan got his family embarked on one of them, the Senator. By early afternoon they were all safely with their relatives, the Springers, who lived in a big house on the heights above Sew. Moody's mill. The house had electric lights, a luxury not yet enjoyed on the mainland. Eight young Millers and six young Springers bedded down together that sad night. Two young men who were engaged to be married to two of Jonathan's daughters performed bravely that day. One of them, teamster Harry Berry, rushed off to a shed right in the path of the fire where he knew explosives were stored. With the help of a friend, he wrapped the twenty barrels of blasting powder in wet blankets, set them on his dray and drove his team at breakneck speed into the waters of False Creek.18 The other hero, acting City Clerk Joseph Huntly, set himself the gruesome task of looking for persons reported to be missing. A makeshift morgue was set up at the north end of Cambie Street Bridge. Huntly bivouacked with the other refugees at the south end.19 According to the 1887 Vancouver Directory, the pioneers re-built "with many points of superiority". One million dollars was spent on "buildings of every description including twenty- five boarding houses and hotels, one of them a palatial hotel for the Canadian Pacific Railway, four churches and several schools." Jonathan Miller was one of five trustees who helped form the Vancouver Electric Illuminating Company, and less than two months after the Fire, electric lights were turned on in Vancouver for the first time. The City's business was conducted in a tent until Alderman David Oppenheimer persuaded the city fathers they could debate more comfortably at the back of his warehouse.20 The great day came, May 23, 1887, when the first train from Montreal, with baggage car, colonist sleeper, first-class pullman, and dining car steamed into Vancouver. Public enthusiasm knew no bounds. Hundreds gathered at the station. There were cheers for New Westminster, cheers for Victoria, cheers for the Queen. Streamers floated across the track inscribed, "Confederation Accomplished", "Occident greets Orient", and "Our National Highway". Mayor MacLean, elected for a second term, read an address to Harry Abbott, General Superintendent of the Pacific Division of the CPR, recording the "high appreciation of the citizens of Vancouver".21 One year to the day after the Great Fire, SS Abyssinia, chartered by the CPR, arrived from the Orient with a cargo bound for London, marking the commencement of trans-Pacific trade using the new railway. Vancouver was made a customs port of entry. Before long the Empresses would be steaming majestically into its harbour. Their arrival was almost as important as the railway's. The Post Office where Jonathan had been busily working when Vancouver caught fire, had burned to the ground. Postal work was now carried on in more spacious quarters in the Lady Mount Stephen Block at 309 West Hastings Street. Jonathan built a house for his family next Page 18 British Columbia Historical News door, and after a brief stay there, moved to Burrard Street, a shady tree-lined boulevard running from English Bay to the Inlet. He was now a rich man. In its 1891 souvenir edition, the Vancouver Daily World stated: ...At the time the city was laid out Mr. Miller invested largely in property, a great amount of which he still holds. He is one of the largest property-holders here, most of his real estate being of the choicest kind. The article went on to name Miller and Oppenheimer as patriarchs of the business community. Vancouver was indeed on the world's commercial map. Its population in 1891 was estimated at 15,522. Settlers came in a steady stream from Britain, the United States, the Orient, and every part of Canada. Jonathan's fortunes advanced with the city's. In partnership with Thomas Dunn, hardware merchant and one of Vancouver's first aldermen, Jonathan built the Dunn-Miller Block on the south side of Cordova Street, the site of today's Army and Navy Store. It stood three storeys high, the largest and most attractive building in the city. It housed retail stores, apartments, Vancouver's first library, first synagogue, and the Electric Railway and Light Company. Most men of Jonathan's financial stature lived in the West End which had become Vancouver's fashionable district. However, he preferred to live farther out. In 1895 he moved to the district of Fairview, so named by surveyor L.A. Hamilton when he first mapped the south shore of False Creek. Jonathan's new house on the corner of Birch and Alder Streets occupied an entire city block and provided a superb view of forest, sea and mountains. Here he could run his three horses and have a residence large enough for his family. Jonathan and Margaret were loving parents and seven of their children, though in their twenties and thirties, still lived with them in their four-storey mansion. In the grounds were cottages for grooms and gardeners and even for assistant postmaster John Harrison. It was a happy life full of sports, games and music, but access to town was not easy. Jonathan spurned the automobile which had arrived in Vancouver at the turn of the century. When the Millers wanted to go to town they had to walk or ride in the phaeton. No tramcarcameto Fairview for many years, though when Jonathan opened his new Post Office at Pender and Granville Streets in 1895, by his express wish the electric street car passed its door and enabled him to establish Vancouver's first letter-carrier service. Jonathan lived in Fairview for many years. He saw Vancouver suffer a temporary recession during the 1890s and be revived by the Klondike Gold Rush. He put up money to salvage the World newspaper, and established his widowed daughter, Alice Berry, as its assistant manager and organizer of the World Printing and Publishing Company, the owning company. Later Alice married Louis D. Taylor, publisher of the World and one of Vancouver's most enterprising mayors. Jonathan's third son, Ernest, was the most prominent of his children. Ernest had been sent away to school at New Westminster Lome Collegiate, adjoining Bishop Sillitoe's residence at Sapperton. Fees were $4 per week for room and board, a further $1 for tuition and an annual $2 for fuel. For this sum, meagre even by the standards of the day, 'careful instruction' was given in Reading, Writing, Spelling, English Grammar, Analysis and Composition, Bookkeeping, Literature, Ancient and Modern Geography, Use of the Globe, Drawing, Chemistry, Philosophy, Commercial and Advanced Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Mensuration, Latin, Greek, Bible History, Liturgy and Ecclesiastical History. French, German and Music were Extras.22 At this remarkable school, Ernest made a lifelong friend of Richard McBride, premier of British Columbia during some of its most prosperous years. When they met in later years, McBride steered Ernest Miller away from the practice of law into politics. He became MLA for Grand Forks, the best debater in the House, adviser to the premier and Member of the Council. Death at fifty-four cut short a career of great promise. In 1906 Margaret, Jonathan's loyal and loving wife of more than fifty years, died. Their ten children were scattered all over the province. His brother-in-law and best friend Ben Springer, who had shared most of his enterprises, had been dead since 1898. Although Jonathan felt very much alone, at seventy-two he was healthy and still working. During twenty years as postmaster Jonathan had seen the Post Office moved five times, each time to a larger and more elaborate establish- British Columbia Historical News Page 19 ment. Vancouver was growing by two thousand people each month. The Hundred Thousand Club had predicted (correctly) that by 1910 the city's population would exceed 100,000. Jonathan decided a new and more fitting Post Office must be built before he retired. The building was constructed at 701 West Hastings Street, within a stone's throw of the shack he had hastily erected after the ravages of the Great Fire. Three storeys high, built in the Edwardian baroque style, with majestic columns and an elegant clock tower, it remained a landmark for fifty years. Jonathan did not wait for the opening which was twice postponed, but retired in 1909 aged seventy-five. Next year he came to Vancouver from California for the ceremony, and was observed standing quietly in the background while other civic dignitaries did the honours and accepted the plaudits. He was never interested in public acclaim. In 1914, the First World War heralded the end of an era, the end of Vancouver's golden years. One of the more than 60,000 Canadians slaughtered was Jonathan's oldest son Fred, who was fifty when he enlisted. Towards the close of the year Jonathan, living in retirement in California, suffered a massive stroke. He was brought back to Vancouver and died with eight of his children at his bedside, well pleased to be able to spend his last hours in the city on whose shores he had resided for fifty-two years, and for which he had done so much—a man who deserves to be remembered. 10. Ibid. (The first road between New Westminster and Granville was completed in 1876.) 11. "Petition for the Incorporation of the City of Vancouver," Vancouver City Archives. (McLean's name is not included among the 125 signatories.) 12. Ibid. 13. Vancouver Herald, May 28, 1886. 14. The Shoulder Strap, Vol. 2, Tenth Edition, p. 87, as quoted in article by R.J. Templeton and J.S. Matthews, "Jonathan Miller, First Constable of Vancouver". (The title should be First Constable of Granville!) 15. "The Builders", John Innes' famed picture. Names are listed in article by R.J. Templeton quoted above, and on p. 66 of Morley, Vancouver. 16. J.S. Matthews, Early Vancouver, Vol. I. 17. Morley, Vancouver, p. 80. 18. Ibid., p. 81. 19. Ibid., p. 83. 20. Eric Nicol, Vancouver, p. 83. 21. Da/7y News Advertiser, May 24, 1887. 22. The Churchman's Gazette, November 1,1883. Douglas Harker, North Pender Island, B.C., was formerly Headmaster of St. George's School, Vancouver. He has been a member of the Vancouver and Gulf Islands sections of the BCHF, and is currently Treasurer of the Gulf Islands Branch. FOOTNOTES 1. Pamphlet: "Township of Ekfrid" (Middlesex County, Ontario Archives.) 2. F.W. Howay, "Early Settlement on Burrard Inlet," B.C. Historical Quarterly, 1937. 3. Margaret Ormsby, British Columbia, A History (1958), p. 186. 4. Reminiscences of Kathleen Kennedy, Jonathan Miller's granddaughter, now living in Vancouver, B.C. 5. Ormsby, British Columbia, p. 202. 6. A. Morley, Vancouver: from Milltown to Metropolis, p. 33. 7. Tompkins Brew, Deputy Collector of Customs, to Colonial Secretary, London, 1869. Colonial Correspondence, Provincial Archives of British Columbia (hereafter cited as PABC). 8. F.C. Claudet to Colonial Secretary, October 27, 1871, Colonial Correspondence, PABC. 9. Vancouver Herald, January 15, 1886 (first issue of first newspaper published in Vancouver). Back Issues of the News Back issues of the News can be ordered at $3.50 each plus postage from the Editor. Page 20 British Columbia Historical News News and Notes The Canadian National Historical Association REGIONAL HISTORY PRIZES The Canadian Historical Association is pleased to announce that among the winners of its 1984 Certificate of Merit Awards are Lynne Bowen and the Coal Tyee Society of Nanaimo, B.C., and Mrs. Elsie Turnbull of Victoria, B.C. Mrs. Bowen and the Coal Tyee Society were honoured for Boss Whistle: The Coal Miners of Vancouver Island Remember in which Lynne Bowen skillfully wove over one hundred taped interviews, mainly collected by the Coal Tyee Society, into a lively and well-researched narrative of the working days of early twentieth century miners. Boss Whistle is a splendid example of how dedicated and informed local residents and a professionally trained historian can co-operate to produce a volume that is of interest to both the local community and students of working class life everywhere. Mrs. Turnbull was honoured for her many historical activities over the years. Her citation reads as follows: Mrs. Turnbull's name is closely tied to historical studies of the West Kootenay. She was instrumental in founding the West Kootenay branch of the B.C. Historical Association and later served as secretary and president of the provincial association. As an historian in her own right she has published numerous popular articles, two booklets, and two books, Topping's Trail (1964) and Trail Between the Wars (1980), which carefully recount periods of the history of Trail, B.C. and its close relationship with the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company. Her books are invaluable local references but have wider interest. As the Trail City Archivist noted, her second book is "a must for anyone interested in Kootenay history and, on a broader scale, the unique evolution of the industrial company town in B.C." Douglas and Elsie Turnbull NOMINATIONS? The Regional History Committee of the Canadian Historical Association invites nominations for its "Certificate of Merit" awards. These annual awards are given for meritorious publications or for exceptional contributions by individuals or organizations to regional history. Nominations, including a brief statement of why the individual or organization is being nominated, should be sent to Professor Patricia Roy, Department of History, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., V8W2Y2. To insure inclusion in the 1985 competitions, nominations should be submitted by 15 November 1984. British Columbia Historical News Page 21 INTRODUCING Writing Competition Member-at-Large, Mary Orr The British Columbia Historical Federation invites submissions of books or articles for the second annual competition for writers of British Columbia history. Any book "with historical content published in 1984 is eligible. Whether the work was prepared as a thesis, or a community project, for an industry, or an organization, or just for the pleasure of sharing a pioneer's reminiscences, it is considered history as long as names, locations, and dates are included. Stories told in the vernacular are acceptable when indicated as quotations of a story teller. Please include the selling price of the book, and an address from where it may be purchased. Submit your book with your name, address, and telephone number to: British Columbia Historical Federation c/o Mrs. Naomi Miller Box 105, Wasa, B.C. VOB 2K0 Book contest deadline is January 31,1985. Mary Gartrell Orr (Mrs. Donald Orr) was born at Trout Creek Point, Summerland, a third generation pioneer, and has been actively involved with the preservation of Okanagan's heritage for over twenty years. She is an Honorary Life Member of the Summerland Museum Society, Life Member of the British Columbia Museums Association and Past Chairman of the Summerland Heritage Advisory Committee (presently secretary). Moreover, she has been one of the directors of the Penticton Branch, Okanagan Historical Society, since 1966, and on the Executive Council of the parent body of O.H.S. since 1977. She has served as President of the O.H.S. since May 1983. There will also be a prize for the writer submitting the best historical article published in the British Columbia Historical News quarterly magazine. Articles are to be submitted directly to: The Editor, British Columbia Historical News, 1745 Taylor Street, Victoria, B.C. V8R 3E8 Written length should be no more than 2,000 to 3,000 words, substantiated with footnotes if possible, and accompanied by photographs if available. Deadlines for the quarterly issues are September 1, December 1, March 1, and June 1. Page 22 British Columbia Historical News Bookshelf Ninstints: Haida World Heritage Site. George F. MacDonald. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press in association with the U.B.C. Museum of Anthropology, 1983. pp. vi, 60, illus. $8.95 paper. George F. MacDonald, before he was called back to Ottawa to assist in the planning for the new Museum of Man building and then elevated to the directorship of the museum, spent a year in teaching at both Simon Fraser and the University of B.C. During the same time, he completed the impressive inventory and description of Queen Charlotte Islands Haida poles and posts, Haida Monumental Art: Villages of the Queen Charlotte Islands (University of British Columbia Press, 1983}, itself a monument to Haida art and engineering. This booklet, published as a Museum Note of the Museum of Anthropology, is a generous expansion of the Ninstints section of the book suitably altered for its purpose of singling out the Anthony Island village that UNESCO has designated as a World Heritage Site. The booklet describes the Haida and their Kunghit branch who occupied the site, the village itself as it stood in its nineteenth-century prime, and continues with a solid section on contact with Europeans, mostly dedicated to the violence of the maritime fur trade period. MacDonald then devotes a section to Tom Price, the last Ninstints head chief, who, with the rest of his villagers, abandoned the remote Ninstints to gather with other Islanders at Skidegate or Masset. Price was an important artist, especially in argillite. Finally, MacDonald gives us a brief, moving history of the effort to salvage the monumental art of Ninstints, first by removing the best poles to museums in Vancouver and Victoria, and more recently by attempting to prolong the life of the decayed poles and houseframes in Ninstints itself. The booklet contains over sixty photographs, some in color, and several drawings, excellent for their purpose of reconstructing the village as it stood in mid-century. MacDonald's knowledge of Queen Charlottes archaeology, anthropology and ethnohistory is not to be faulted. We are indebted to him and to the Museum and UBC Press for this handsome and informative publication. Douglas Cole, who teaches History at Simon Fraser University, has written extensively on West Coast art and anthropology. Footprints: Pioneer Families of the Metchosin District. Marion I. Helgeson, ed. Victoria, Metchosin School Museum Society, 1983. Pp. 316, illus., $17.50. (Available through Metchosin School Museum Book Committee, 505 Witty Beach Rd., R.R. #1, Victoria, B.C. V8X 3W9) This book is a great smorgasbord: a rich array of offerings—some major, others trivial; some international, others parochial; some ordinary and other peculiar. Metchosin, lying athwart the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the Lagoon, Royal Roads, and Becher Bay never could boast the secure harbours or richer soils of Esquimalt and Victoria. Somehow nature had been less kind, and its separation from the two hub-ports kept it as a refuge for cottagers and beachcombers. William Head, quarantine station-turned prison, stood sufficiently far away from naval base and colonial capital. Even Chief Trader James Douglas of the Hudson's Bay Company had thought it lesser. In 1842, he wrote of Metchosin (and spelled it that way) that it was "an open Roadstead, One and a Half Mile East of the former Port [Sooke]. It is a very pretty Place, and has a small fresh water Run near it. There is however, no Harbor, and the Anchorage is much exposed, and must be insecure in Rough Weather. In addition to that Disadvantage the Extent of clear Ground is much too small for the Demands of the large Establishment, and a great Part of what is clear is poor, Stony Lands with a rolling Surface, so that on the whole it would not do for us." (p. 16) But it did do for many others. Take Mary Ellen Tufts (Argyle) for instance. Of pilgrim stock, her family's name was given to a great Massachusetts university. Ellen forsook all that, went to Sapperton, B.C. via the Horn and married the Royal Engineer Thomas Argyle. They spent most of their hazardous lives tending the light at Race Rocks with their nine children, their only neighbours being the barking sea lions and noisy seagulls. The rain supplied their fresh water. Or take Yorkshire-born John Ash, M.D. Educated at Guy's Hospital, London, he came to the Cariboo rush but found real estate speculation and colonial politics more profitable. Let Doctor John Helmcken's manuscript Reminiscences tell their own lively tale. Anyone could have had a dispute with Amor De Cosmos and Ash was no exception. They had quarreled in the Bird Cages and the affair continued outside. British Columbia Historical News Page 23 The House being over, Ash met De Cosmos outside, and near the bridge an altercation took place and blows were struck. De Cosmos always carried a stick and Ash asserted this had been used on his head. I came up at that time and with the aid of others induced them to go their way, for Ash had his 'monkey up' and was able fo throw De Cosmos over the bridge. I induced Ash to walk with me up Bird Cage walk—and there he found his face bleeding and his glasses broken. Oh. I said, here is a nice clean pool of water, let me wash the blood off At this he flared up; did I want fo make him a spectacle in the public street, and I thought he was about to pitch into poor weakly me. He dm not, would not come into my house and walked growling to his own home on Fort Street. In the evening Governor Douglas met me, and said Mr. Speaker are you aware that your authority ceases when out of the House. You have no authority to interfere when gentlemen out of your own jurisdiction wished to settle their little difficulties. You had better have let them have it out—as it is neither is satisfied. I laughed at the Governor's grim humour—he had no love for De Cosmos and vice versa—and probably would have been inwardly pleased had Ash pitched De Cosmos into the Bay! An oculist of note, the province's first minister of mines, Ash expired of apoplexy in Victoria in 1886. There were, too, the respectful Cogans of Dewdney Flats and the genteel, United Empire Loyalist Arthur Clarks of Happy Valley Road. There were men like George Brown, a good enough hunter in his time but careless enough (and he never did it again) to hang a deer he had shot on his porch overnight, a fine feast for a cougar. And there were the women like the fearless Mary Ann Vine who branded a whisky-seeking Indian with her sizzling- hot flat iron. There were the enlightened Wallaces, whose four children—Bob, Mary, jack ana Laurie made such Stirling contributions to British Columbia's educational and civic spheres. This is a book about places: "How Kangaroo Road Got its Name" and of William Head—quarantine station, leper colony, and federal medium-security prison "probably the most shimmering bejewelled 106 acres that anyone could be locked into." (p. 217) We have snippets on the post office and school, St. Mary's Church and Taylor Beach, Taylor Road; unhappily, however, nothing on that fine institution Lester Pearson College of the Pacific. This is not a systematically told story. Only the geography ties it together. Yet editor Marion Isabel Helgeson, nee Minns, and her army of writers deserve great credit for this handsome and fascinating offering. Barry Gough, a professor of History at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, is the author of Gunboat Frontier, the last volume in a trilogy on British Columbia maritime history. Floodland and Forest: Memories of the Chilliwack Valley. Imbert Orchard. Victoria, Provincial Archives, 1983, Pp. iv, 92, illus., $4.50 and Growing Up in the Valley: Pioneer Childhood in the Lower Fraser Valley. Imbert Orchard. Victoria, Provincial Archives, 1983, Pp. iv, 79, illus., $4.50. Any review of these Sound Heritage volumes must regretfully note that 1983 provincial budget cuts ended this series, produced by the Sound and Moving Image Division of the Provincial Archives. These volumes and their accompanying cassettes have been important in attracting the public, especially modern youngsters to History and invaluable in complementing historians' research in more traditional sources. Imbert Orchards compilation of his 1960's CBC radio interviews with Fraser Valley old timers on Chilliwack settlement, and on pioneer childhood, illustrate the merits of the Sound Heritage publications. In Floodland and Forest: Memories of the Chilliwack Valley, he mixes documentary excerpts and interviews. Their range and his style help make History human as well as academically useful. Floodland and Forest includes charming versions of summer battles with mosquitoes and Sunday-long struggles to get to church. Orchard points out the importance of Indians to the economy and society of Valley pioneers. He quotes Jack Henderson on Chilliwack's four brass bands, including the Coqualeetza [Methodist mission school] band at Sardis and "a cracking good Indian band at the Landing reservation ... the result of the training received at the mission school for young Indian boys at [St. Mary's Roman Catholic] Mission." Orchard's Growing Up in the Valley, another volume based on his CBC radio interviews of two decades ago, helps make them available to a new generation of the public and to print-oriented historians. Orchard begins with three autobiographical accounts of boyhood in the southern part of New Westminster District. His subjects include boys of British, Indian and French-Canadian descent who were involved with their families in logging and homesteading. The second half of the volume gives a charming mosaic of girls' accounts of pioneer life. Page 24 British Columbia Historical News THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL FEDERATION Honorary Patron: His Honour, the Honourable Robert G. Rogers, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia Honorary President: Col. G.S. Andrews, 116 Wellington, Victoria V8V 4H7 382-7202 (res.) Officers President: Leonard G. McCann, #2-1430 Maple St., Vancouver V6J 3R9 736-4431 (bus.) 1st Vice President: Naomi Miller, Box 105, Wasa VOB 2K0 422-3594 (res.) 2nd Vice President: John D. Spittle, 1241 Mount Crown Rd., North Vancouver V7R 1R9 988-4565 (res.) Secretary: T. Don Sale, 262 Juniper St., Nanaimo V9S 1X4 753-2067 (res.) Recording Secretary: Margaret Stoneberg, P.O. Box 687, Princeton VOX 1W0 295-3362 (res.) Treasurer: J. Rhys Richardson, 2875 W. 29th, Vancouver V6L 1Y2 733-1897 (res.) Members-at-Large: Myrtle Haslam, 1875 Wessex Road, Cowichan Bay VOR 1N0 748-8397 (res.) Mary G. Orr, R.R. #1, Butler St., Summerland V0H 1Z0 Past-President: Barbara Stannard, #211-450 Stewart Ave., Nanaimo V9S 5E9 754-6195 (res.) Marie Elliott, Editor, B.C. Historical News, 1745 Taylor St., Victoria V8R 3E8 Chairmen of Committees: Seminars: Leonard G. McCann Historic Trails: John D. Spittle B.C. Historical News Policy Committee: Ruth Barnett, 680 Pinecrest Rd., Campbell River V9W 3P3 287-8097 (res.) Lieutenant-Governor' Award Committee: Naomi Miller Publications Assistance Helen Akrigg, 4633 W. 8th Ave., Vancouver V6R 2A6 Committee (not involved 228-8606 (res.) with B.C. Historical News): Loans are available for publication. Please submit manuscripts to Helen Akrigg. JOIN Why not join the British Columbia Historical Federation and receive the British Columbia Historical News regularly? The BCHF is composed of member societies in all parts of the province. By joining your local society you receive not only a subscription to British Columbia Historical News, but the opportunity to participate in a program of talks and field trips, and to meet others interested in British Columbia's history and the BCHF's annual convention. For information, contact your local society (address on the inside front cover).... No local society in your area? Perhaps you might think of forming one. For information contact the secretary of the BCHF (address inside back cover).
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 News
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