CONTENTdm
British Columbia History
Vol. 41 No. 2
40 pages
application/pdf
3%d1_ ©'4 2_ -Hmm xRvdx/ ^(Au^rJUo/ H ISlrOR ■ Journal of the British Columbia Historical Federation | Vol.41 No. 2 | $5.00 This Issue: Booze | No Booze | Maps | Books | and more British Columbia History Journal of the British Columbia Historical Federation Published four times a year. ISSN: print 1710-7881 online 1710-792X British Columbia History welcomes stories, studies, and news items dealing with any aspect of the history of British Columbia, and British Columbians. Please submit manuscripts for publication to the Editor, British Columbia History, John Atkin, 921 Princess Avenue, Vancouver BC V6A 3E8 e-mail: bcheditor@bchistory.ca Book reviews for British Columbia History, Frances Gundry, Book Review Editor, BC Historical News, P.O. Box 5254, Station B., Victoria, BC V8R 6N4 e-mail: reviews@bchistory.ca Subscription 8t subscription information: Alice Marwood 211 - 14981 - 101A Avenue Surrey BCV3R0T1 Phone 604-582-1548 email: subscriptions@bchistory.ca Subscriptions: $18.00 per year For addresses outside Canada add $10.00 Single copies of recent issues are for sale at: - Arrow Lakes Historical Society, Nakusp BC - Book Warehouse, 4th Ave & Broadway, Vancouver - Books and Company, Prince George BC - Gibson Coast Books, Gibsons BC - Galiano Museum - Gray Creek Store, Gray Creek BC - Royal British Columbia Museum Shop, Victoria BC - Otter Books in Nelson - Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art & History - Caryall Books in Quesnel This publication is indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index, published by Micromedia. ISSN: 1710-7881 Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in HISTORICAL ABSTRACTS and AMERICA: HISTORY AND LIFE Production Mail Registration Number 1245716 Publications Mail Registration No. 09835 Member of the British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers While copyright in the journal as a whole is vested in the British Columbia Historical Federation, copyright in the individual articles belongs to their respective authors, and articles may be reproduced for personal use only. For reproduction for other purposes permission in writing of both author and publisher is required. British Columbia Historical Federation A charitable society under the Income Tax Act Organized 31 October 1922 PO Box 5254, Station B., Victoria BC V8R 6N4 Under the Distinguished Patronage of His Honour The Honourable Steven L. Point, OBC Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Honorary President Ron Hyde Officers President: Ron Greene PO Box 1351, Victoria V8W 2W7 Phone 250.598.1835 Fax 250.598.5539 president@bchistory.ca First Vice President: Gordon Miller Pilot Bay 1126 Morrell Circle, Nanaimo V9R 6K6 vp1 ©bchistory.ca Second Vice President: Tom Lymbery 1979 ChainsawAve., Gray Creek VOB 1S0 Phone 250.227.9448 Fax 250.227.9449 vp2@bchistory.ca Secretary: Janet M. Nicol 611 - 1035 Pacific Street, Vancouver V6E 4G7 secretary@bchistory.ca Recording Secretary: Jill Rowland % BC Historical Federation, P.O. Box 5254, Station B, Victoria V8R 6N4 recordingsec@bchistory.ca Treasurer: Ken Welwood 1383 Mallard Road, Parksville V9P 2A3 Phone 250.752.1888 treasurer@bchistory.ca Member at Large: Anne Edwards Box 148, MoyieV0B2A0 Phone 250.829.0666 Fax 250.829.0676 memberl ©bchistory.ca Member at Large: Lorraine Irving 1131 East 23 Avenue, Vancouver V5V 1Y8 Phone 604.874.8748 member2@bchistory.ca Past President (ex-officio): Patricia Roy 602-139 Clarence St., Victoria V8V 2J1 pastpres@bchistory. ca A complete list of the Federation's membership is available at www.bchistory.ca/membership/present/index.html www.bchistory.ca is the Federation's web site BCHF Prizes | Awards | Scholarships "Any country worthy of a future should be interested in its past" W. KayeLamb, 1937 W. KAYE LAMB Essay Scholarships Deadline 15 May 2009 The British Columbia Historical Federation awards two scholarships annually for essays written by students at BC colleges or universities, on a topic relating to British Columbia history. One scholarship ($750) is for an essay written by a student in a first or second year course; the other ($1000) is for an essay written by a student in a third or fourth year course. To apply for the scholarship all candidates must submit (1) a letter of application and (2) a letter of recommendation from the professor for whom the essay was written. First and second year course essays should be1,500-3,000 words; third and fourth year, 1,500 to 5,000 words. All essays must be on a topic relating to the history of British Columbia. By entering the scholarship competition the student gives the editor of BC History the right to edit and publish the essay if it is deemed appropriate for the magazine. Applications should be submitted to: Marie Elliott, Chair BC Historical Federation Scholarship Committee, PO Box 5254, Station B, Victoria, BC V8R 6N4 BC History Web Site Prize The British Columbia Historical Federation and David Mattison are jointly sponsoring a yearly cash award of $250 to recognize Web sites that contribute to the understanding and appreciation of British Columbia's past. The award honours individual initiative in writing and presentation. Nominations for the BC History Web Site Prize must be made to the British Columbia Historical Federation, Web Site Prize Committee, prior to 31 December 2008. Web site creators and authors may nominate their own sites. Prize rules and the on-line nomination form can be found on The British Columbia History Web site: http: I /www. victoria, tc. ca/resources/ bchistorylannouncements.html Anne ft Philip Yandle Best Article Award A Certificate of Merit and fifty dollars will be awarded annually to the author of the article, published in BC History, that best enhances knowledge ot British Columbia's history and provides reading enjoyment. Judging will be based on subject development, writing skill, freshness of material, and appeal to a general readership interested in all aspects of BC history. HISTORY The Journal of.the BritishColumbia Historical Federation-1 Volume 4t^8tonber 2 2008 Keeper of Lost Records Andy Korsos 2 Are You on the Indian List? Barry Mayhew 9 Bibles and Booze Robert Smith 13 Reginald El win Davey KelseyMcLeod 19 CBC's 150 Moments Margaret Gallegher 21 Garrick's Head Saloon of Victoria BC: Token history Ron Greene 26 Archives and Archivists 28 Book Reviews 30 Miscellany 36 If you are reading this in a public library in British Columbia, that is due to the generosity of the Hudson's Bay Company Foundation, which has subsidized your library's subscription as part of its contribution to the commemoration of British Columbia's Sesquicentennial in 2008. We hope you will enjoy reading the magazine. Information about subscriptions may be found on the inside front cover. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY • Vol. 41 No. 2 Keeper of Lost Records David Thompson's Preservation of John Stuart's Record of the Fraser River By Andy Korsos Andy Korsos is a professional cartographer and the founder and participant in the 2008 David Thompson brigade www. 2008thompsonbrigade.com This year of 2008 marks the bicentennial of Simon Fraser's successful descent of the river that fellow explorer David Thompson in 1818 aptly named the Fraser. Few exploits of exploration in Canadian history surpass Simon Fraser's journey to the sea and back. Yet, the links between David Thompson and Simon Fraser have not been fully recognized or studied. It is well known that Thompson explored, surveyed and mapped more of this continent thanany other surveyor or mapmaker of his time. He has been depicted as a versatile individual: a writer, surveyor, scientific explorer, cartographer, naturalist and a fur trader. Through an indirect link to Fraser's 1808 expedition, Thompson can be heralded for yet another accomplishment unknown even to him. Descendants of a noble Scottish Highland clan, Simon Fraser's family fled Vermont in 1784 with thousands of other Loyalists after the American Revolution in which his father had died. His mother, with her younger children, including Simon (born in 1776), settled near Montreal. At age fourteen, Simon moved to Montreal for schooling but two years later, in 1792, was apprenticed to the North West Company. By 1799, he was serving as a clerk at Fort Chipewyan in the Athabasca Department; in 1801, he became a partner of the Company; no small feat for a 25 year old. Following Mackenzie's exploration to the Arctic Ocean in 1789 and his successful breakthrough to the Pacific Ocean at Bella Coola in 1793, the North West Company took a serious interest in the prospects of trading furs in Asia. An overland route to the Pacific and a fort there would enable the company to ship their furs and trade more economically for precious commodities in Asia. Mackenzie's route had taken him over the upper portion of what is today's Fraser River. Maps of the time that included Mackenzie's route referred to the upper portion of that river as, among other names, the Columbia River (Figure 1). It was clearly thought that the upper portion of the The map used to illustrate the author's points comes from David Thompson's Narrative of his Explorations in Western America, 1784-1812; published by the Champlain Society, edited by Joseph Burr Tyrrell. Simon Fraser 1776-1862 BC Archives A01926 David Thompson Taking an Observation C.W. Jefferys, C.W. Jeffery fonds, Library and Archives Canada BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Fraser River was the headwaters of the Columbia River. Eighteenth century explorers had observed the mouth of a large river near the 46th latitude, but did not enter it until May 1792 when the American Captain Robert Gray named it the Columbia River. While many were deliberating whether what became the Fraser and the Columbia rivers were connected, David Thompson, the great surveyor and patMnder, together with his North West Company partner Duncan McGillivray, in 1800 and 1801 followed Mackenzie's overland explorations with expeditions along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Ultimately, the company instructed Simon Fraser to determine if the upper portion of the river that now bears his name was in fact the headwaters of the Columbia. The attempts he began in the autumn of 1805 culminated with the 1808 expedition. In order to create a thematic map of Fraser's movements from 1805 to 1808,1 used a number of different sources including a transcript of Fraser's original journal and a version edited by WK. Lamb in 1960. Lamb made it clear that for both the descent and ascent of the river, Fraser relied heavily on his invaluable lieutenant, John Stuart. According to Lamb, Fraser assigned Stuart two significant responsibilities: keeping the official logs of the journey and surveying the river as they descended it. The survey required Stuart to keep a running survey of their course and to take sextant observations of position. Unfortunately, Stuarfs original log and survey notes have long since disappeared. But, secrets of the past can sometimes appear in unexpected ways, and so, during research on Thompson, a partial written record and a full visual record of John Stuart's work emerged. In 1812, David Thompson retired to Terrebonne, Quebec. There, he created a series of maps that was paid for by the North West Company. From this series, came the map that would chart western North America and become known as the "Great Map of 1814." The Great Map is more than a compilation of Thompson's own surveys; it includes the surveys and travels of others. In the legend of the map respecting the Fraser River, Thompson1 identifies two of these individuals: Alexander Mackenzie and John Stewart [sic],2 (Figure 2), Fraser's lieutenant. Born in 1780, John Stuart joined the North West Figure 1: Aaron Arrowsmith's 1812 map of British possessions in North America clearly connects the known lower portion of the Columbia River with the upper Tacoutche-Tesse River (today's Fraser River) as named and explored by Alexander Mackenzie. The dotted line connecting the two rivers is labeled by two names; an indication of the question as to whether the two rivers were connected. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection: www.davidrumsey.com BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 3 Figure 2: the legend from David Thompson's map of western North America An older John Stuart 1780-1847 (below) BC Archives A01876 Company in 1796. Soon after jSti* M? m*** Ji*-&* he was sent to Fort Chipewyan j^ jfonor-a&ie W& and subsequently served at I various posts in the Athabasca I department. In 1805 he was an 8 assistant to Simon Fraser. That ™* fall the two men established | Rocky Mountain Portage House J?^-** and the following year, Fort St. I James on Stuart Lake. Stuart I 'haetAa spent the winter of 1806 on j & McLeod Lake at Fort McLeod | (established, 1805). With the arrival of extra men and supplies 1 in the fall of 1807, preparations | began for the descent of the river thought to be the Columbia. On 28 May 1808, Stuart left Fort George (present day Prince George) with Simon Fraser, Jules Quesnel 3, and twenty- one men on the epic journey down the river. Although Stuart was charged with charting their course, he likely only had a very basic knowledge of using a sextant or surveying. A proper examination of the river as charted by David Thompson from John Stuart's notes, requires comparing Thompson's 1814 map with the course of the river today. Given the terrain, it is certain that, aside from minor man-made adjustments, the river has changed very little in the past two hundred years. Modern computer-aided mapping software through geo-referencing within a geographic information system means a comparison is easily done. The process uses real coordinates to correct digital images, making them position-correct spatially. The ability to perform this task depends on whether or not the digital image one is trying to reference contains enough known points so it can be compared directly to its equivalent on the ground. Thompson, a talented cartographer, provided the best possible points from which to draw equivalents, the intersections of latitude and longitude that he placed in the 1814 map. Once a digital image of the 1814 map was geo-referenced onto a contemporary 1:2,000,000 scale (Figure 3), a visual record began to appear of John Stuart's notes as mapped by David Thompson. Thompson, of course, never saw the Fraser River. Between 1808 and 1814, there were no further excursions down the great river so the data could only have come from Stuart's notes and journals. Moreover, Thompson's depiction of the river's course is far too accurate to dismiss this as anything but John Stuarf s survey. In terms of a running survey, Stuart did an exceptional job despite not capturing the proper longitudes. His skill in judging distances and taking compass bearings proved excellent. His records of the river's course as depicted by Thompson allow the map reader to associate large bends and changes in direction to the present day course and location with relative ease. Further evidence of Thompson's use of Stuart's notes is the level of accuracy concerning the river's tributaries and the reference to them by name. During his descent of the Fraser, Simon Fraser named two rivers and noted both in his journals. The first was the Quesnel River;4 the second was the Thompson.5 Modern examination of the confluence of these two rivers reveals that Stuart's notes are extremely accurate with respect to actual position on the ground, and as they relate to the shape of the river. In fact, the majority of the tributaries plotted by Thompson from Stuart's notes are extremely accurate. Their position in relation to the shape of the Fraser River makes them easily recognizable when referencing them on a contemporary map. Stuart, however, did not record all of the rivers and creeks between Fort George and the Pacific Ocean. With the river in freshet BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 and moving very fast during their descent, likely only those of significance were noted. Either the creek or river was large and noticeable enough to warrant inclusion or they were places where the party stopped to rest, eat or camp for the evening.6 Such stops would certainly allow for such accuracy. Fraser's journal makes no mention of Stuart taking latitude readings until they reached the Strait River as fMppeh'tif; Thompsoiffrom Stuart's Example of course similarities Fort George at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser Rivers National Archives of Canada, W.H. Coverdale Collection of Canadiana / C-040856 Figure 3: Thompson's 1814 map geo-registered displaying river course similarities, (below) Notes 11ronically, David Thompson's surveys and work were neither used nor acknowledged during his lifetime 2 David Thompson clearly misspells John Stuart's name 3 Jules Maurice Quesnel was at Rocky Mountain House in the fall of 1806, and likely assisted Thompson in preparing for the crossing of Howse Pass the following spring. That success would have been passed onto Fraser and Stuart upon Quesnel's arrival to Fort George 4 The Quesnel River is named after Jules Maurice Quesnel, the second lieutenant of Simon Fraser's expedition 5 David Thompson did not label the river named after himself on the 1814 map 6 Unfortunately there is no indication of whether the tributaries were captured on the descent or ascent of the river. Such indications would provide excellent clues to where Fraser camped on the lower portidn of his journeys 7 What is puzzling is why Fraser did not mention latitude readings in his journals? He surely knew that the farther south they traveled the closer he would be to 46 degrees latitude and therefore the mouth of the Columbia. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Figure 4: Thompson's 1814 map geo-registered displaying reflected anomalies in the 1814 Map Notes continued... 8 Simon Fraser, "Second Journal of Simon Fraser From May 30th to June 10th 1808", transcript: British Columbia Archives, copy from Bancroft Collection, Academy of Pacific Coast History, (hereafter "Second Journal,") p.25. 9 Although it is possible to determine declination as a surveyor on the ground, Stuart could not do this because bad weather obscured the stars used to make his sextant observations and determine the points of the compass 10 "Second Journal," p. 26. 11 Simon Fraser. Journal of a Voyage from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean performed in the year 1808, transcript: British Columbia Archives, copy from Toronto Public Library, (hereafter "Journal of a Voyage") p. 30. 12 In British Columbia, the small population of Western Rattlesnakes is restricted to the dry valleys of the southern interior, including the stretch of the Fraser Canyon through which Fraser and Stuart were traveling. 13 Fraser, "Journal of a Voyage," p.38 14 With respect to the location of the notation, there is evidence that before 1808, Europeans made an expedition 170 kilometres (105 miles) up the River from the sea. This would not be the first such journey. In 1792, Captain George Vancouver sent his lieutenant up the Columbia River for 100 miles. This resulted in the first accurate survey of the lower portion of the Columbia River. The answer to this mystery of who were the "white people" lies in another paper. fM The two reflection * \ anomalies present '"1p3^t> the 1814 Map of Georgia on 2/3 July 1808 when Fraser noted that the latitude of the mouth of the river was too far north to be the Columbia River.7 Recording a latitude observation was less complicated than that of a longitude so it is not unreasonable to believe that, at the very least, John Stuart took an observation for latitude at every camp during their descent, weather permitting. This would have been important to Thompson in charting the river on the 1814 map as it would help confirm the course recorded by Stuart on a day to day basis. As for longitude observations, we know little of the ones that Stuart observed other than the six recorded in Fraser's notes. Of those that were recorded, the closest in accuracy was the second observation taken on 9 June 1808 near Leon Creek. It was approximately 0.9 degrees east, 63 kilometres or 39 miles, from its true position. The other five longitudes were considerably inferior. This is not surprising given that Stuart was not a surveyor by trade. Thompson appears mindful of this, since he ignored Stuart's longitude observations when charting the river. Even with Thompson's skill as a cartographer and his intimate knowledge of surveying, two types of anomalies emerge in his charting of the river. The first, best described as a "reflected" anomaly, appears on two occasions. It results from a left-to-right reversal that creates a likeness in which the left and right are reversed in a geographic feature (Figure 4). The reflections that Thompson plots from Stuart's notes are uncharacteristic of Thompson's skill as a cartographer and probably result from the manner in which Stuart kept his running survey, something of which Thompson could not have been aware. It is unknown if Thompson had an opportunity to speak with Stuart while he was creating the map. Because of these anomalies, it is unlikely. The second anomaly is the error in longitude in the course of the river after approximately 8 June 1808. Generally speaking, the longitude of the river as charted by Thompson is relatively close given that he relied solely on the notes of someone not formally trained as a surveyor. The error in the river's course, however, consistently moves the river further to the east (Figure 3) than it really is with respect to actual position on the ground. This error remains until the expedition reached the river mouth on 2/3 July 1808. The sudden appearance of this error and its consistency are strange to say the least; however Stuart's running survey as it relates to the actual shape of the river appears accurate. There are four interesting arguments for the error, including one that is factually viable given the era of the survey. The first is the lack of longitude readings. Fraser recorded "bad weather" and rain between 16 and 23 June. That would have made it impossible to take any sextant observations because clouds obscured BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 N @ RJH. van Gtwtt (1999) Figure 4 the stars used to perform that task. But considering that Stuarf s earlier inaccuracy with longitude did not affect Thompson's mapping, it is unreasonable to base the error on this. Furthermore, Fraser records that the weather was acceptable from 8 June, when the error first appears, to 16 June. The second argument is that the manner in which Stuart kept his running survey with the compass created the error. Judging from Thompson's depiction of the River based on Stuarf s notes, Stuarf s ability to estimate distance and direction proved extremely accurate early in the expedition. Therefore, a third argument, faulty equipment, is possible. In fact, the first hint of a problem with the compass appears in Fraser's journal when on 8 June he wrote, "I myself with Messrs. Stuart, Quesnel and Baptiste went down a foot upon the left shore by a well beaten path; here Mr. Stuarf s compass being deranged lent him mine."8 It is from 8 June that the consistent error began placing the river farther and farther to the east. If the compass is at fault, it could be that Fraser's compass was not accurate. It is possible that both compasses were accurate and that another factor was at play. The fourth and strongest argument is that the extreme variation in declination in southern British Columbia ^•-^A#^^i m ^ earlY 1800's was tne true \y \ culprit. (Figure 4). To understand A^^r~^~i_^ declination one must first realize ir £'.. X>; that there are two north poles: the ^stjffi:■'■' true geographic north at the top vif-fiB °f *he world and the north pole A M >-;OJ?; represented by the magnetic pole. "- :-#fc' . >3 JI Declination is the deviation of the llllllj compass from magnetic north to true north. It is a quantity that ' \ V has been a nuisance to navigators fgf£ and surveyors for centuries. Because the magnetic pole is IPlkll constantly moving, adjustments %||§si must be made to the compass for the continual differences in the deviation from magnetic north and true north. What further complicates the deviation is that the magnetic field is not perfectly symmetrical, therefore the amount of deviation is not consistent and varies depending on one's geographic location. In the early 1800's, the declination at 49° latitude was 20° and at 60° latitude was a declination of 30°. More importantly, the expedition would frequently pass these variations in declination. Such extreme variations in declination did not exist in the prairies, where these men were accustomed to traveling. Having limited knowledge of such variations in declination, Fraser and Stuart were perplexed. This fact was probably not expected, and would have made for an interesting conversation between him and Fraser.9 In the final analysis, regardless of the extent of the declination, even the slightest compass inaccuracy due to this deviation would lead to a consistent error in plotting the running survey. Without longitude readings to verify an east / west position, Thompson could not have discovered such an error as he charted the river. Along with the mapping of the river's course from Stuart's notes, Thompson added a series of related observations beginning with the point of commencement of Fraser's journey at Fort George to the mouth of the Fraser River; many of which can be directly correlated to entries made by Fraser in his journals. For example, is his description of the awe- mspiring French Bar Canyon. Forewarned by First Nations guides, the party reached it on 9 June. Fraser BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Figure 5: Thompson's recording of 'To this Place the white men have come from the Sea'. wrote of the rapids approaching the canyon: "here is an amazing strong rapid which is the one called La Rapid Couvert so long talked of."10 This reference to the La Rapid Couvert matches the date and location of the French Bar Canyon and the notation "La Rapid Couvert" on the 1814 map. The last line of Fraser's journal entry for 21 June was "Mr. Stuart in the course of the day saw a snake as thick as his wrisf'u but Fraser did not identify its species. Stuart called it a rattlesnake.12 Thus, Thompson noted on the 1814 map the comment "Rattle Snake" at the location and date of the occurrence. Another correlation between a journal entry and Thompson's map was Fraser's comment on 30 June as he entered a widening of the river slightly upstream of Sumas Peak: "Continued our course with a strong current for nine miles, where the river expands into a lake. Here we saw seals."13 Thompson, at the matching location records the words "Seals Seen". Also included on the 1814 map is an intriguing note not directly related to Fraser's journals. It says: "To this Place the white men have come from the Sea." (Figure 5) At numerous times during the descent of the lower portion of the river, Fraser mentioned the appearance of European trade articles. He also related specific occurrences of First Nations peoples informing him of "white people" visiting the coast. At no time, however, does the phrase "To this Place the white men have come from the Sea" appear in Fraser's journals. This phrase could have only come from Stuart's notes on what he had learned from the First Nations people.14 David Thompson's ability to translate Stuart's notes and surveys to a recognizable cartographic product is to be commended. Thompson's 1814 map is not just a visual record of his own exploration and travels but also of others. Within the map, Thompson denotes the great river that Simon Fraser descended as "Fraser's River" and more importantly clearly indicates in the legend, that the river was plotted based on Stuart's notes and surveys, notes that were said to have been lost forever. Thompson's extraordinary map-making has, over time, become an informal archive for the explorations of others whose notes and surveys have long since vanished. Thompson's map gives further insight into the complexities of Fraser's explorations of British Columbia and more specifically the intricacies in the 1808 descent of the Fraser River; intricacies that had not yet been realized. Among David Thompson's many remarkable accomplishments we can add yet another, the "Keeper of Lost Records". • BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 ARE YOU ON THE "INDIAN LIST"? The Evolution of Liquor Laws in British Columbia By Barry Mayhew Recently as I wandered through the B. C. government liquor store at Fort St. and Foul Bay Road, in Victoria I couldn't help but be impressed with the wide variety of products available and the pleasant and inviting atmosphere in which they were displayed. I was amazed to discover there was even a wine consultant ready to answer any oenophilic queries one might have. This prompted me to draw an analogy between the evolution of liquor distribution in B.C. and the evolution of human history during the past millennium. During the First World War, British Columbia, along with most other Canadian provinces adopted Prohibition. Under the B.C. law that came into effect in 1917, alcohol was available only for mechanical and medicinal purposes. Despite the overall attempt to discourage alcohol consumption, the Canadian government allowed certain exceptions. Qualified physicians, for example, could prescribe alcohol medications for their patients available from a licensed pharmacy. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a remarkable increase in demand for alcohol for medicinal purposes. During one three year period in Ontario, prior to repeal, alcohol related prescriptions increased from 315,000 to 810,000. When abolitionists demanded an explanation for this dramatic increase in volume, they were told it was the result of the recent influenza epidemic. Thus, in a plebiscite at the time of the 1920 provincial election, British Columbians voted by a substantial majority to allow the sale of spirituous and malt liquors in sealed packages at government stores. The first government liquor store opened in 1921. Within the year, there were fifty-one such stores throughout the province. Patrons had to be at least 21 years of age and had to purchase an annual permit at a cost of five dollars. I can't verify that all government liquor stores were similar to the one located in the interior B. C. town in which I was raised. I do, however, have some vivid images based on those rare occasions when I accompanied my mother on a shopping trip that included a stop at the one and only liquor store. The store was very small by today's standards and quite drab. Windows were covered to prevent the curious from sneaking a peek inside. The surroundings made one feel that purchasing a bottle of booze was almost a clandestine act or, at the very least, an unsavoury undertaking. There were no elaborate displays of the merchandise available and purchasers were obliged to fill out a form stating their name, address and Barry Mayhew, was born in Vancouver. His family moved to Kamloops where he completed elementary school and high school. He is a graduate of UBC and completed his post-graduate training in Oregon, Ohio and California. He holds a Masters degree in Geography and a Doctorate in Strategic Planning. His varied career includes management positions in the Airline and Forest Product industries and he was Greater Victoria's first Economic Development Commissioner. For the past several years he has provided marketing consulting services for companies in a wide variety of industries. Barry and his wife Pamela have lived in Victoria since 1978. Interior of the Cloverdale Government Liquor Store 1925 BC Archives photo C-02736 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY • Vol. 41 No. 2 Steveston Hotel in 1951 BC Archives photo 1-32961 Notes 1 Campbell, Sit Down... p21 2 British Columbia Statutes, 1968, c. 53, s.7) 3 British Columbia Statutes, 1953 (2nd Sess), c14, s 99 4 British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch, Annual the name of the product they wished to purchase. Presumably the clerk would then determine if the customer's name was on the restricted list. Once eligibility was confirmed, the clerk would disappear to the back of the store and bring the purchase concealed in a brown paper bag. From 1921 to 1924 British Columbians could not buy any liquor by the glass. In 1924, in another plebiscite they narrowly rejected a proposal that would allow them to buy beer by the glass "in licensed premises without a bar under government control and regulation." However, the provincial government in 1925 amended the Government Liquor Act to allow for the establishment of beer parlours. These parlours were only located in hotels thanks to lobbying by the BC Hotels Association which argued that they had "both the facilities and experience with licensed public drinking" and would welcome "the most stringent regulations."1 In the more seedy establishments, the rental of rooms was incidental, almost an inconvenience. The real money was made through the sale of beer. The parlours had an exclusive area for men and another for Women and Escorts. Single men, hoping to meet an unescorted lady, often devised ingenious and devious methods to gain entry into this forbidden sanctuary. The Dark Ages Not every adult person could patronize the government liquor stores or the beer parlours and some of these laws and policies - to be charitable, rather archaic and in the extreme, draconian ~ were leftovers from the era before Prohibition. In 1887 the B.C. government passed the infamous Habitual Drunkards Act that even restricted the ability of such people so interdicted to transact any business since any sale or contract to them was null and void. Under this legislation, a spouse or a blood relative could BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 petition the courts to prohibit the sale of liquor to "any person resident or sojourning within the Province, [who] by excessive drinking of liquor, misspends, wastes, or lessens his estate, or injures his health, or endangers or interrupts the peace and happiness of his family." This legislation, which was not repealed until 1968,2 of course also meant that these "habitual drunkards" could not purchase liquor legally. I remember an incident when I was perhaps eight or nine years old. I was with my mother in the downtown section of the interior B.C. town where I was raised. A middle aged lady approached us and began to relate a tale of woe. I don't recall the reason she gave my mother for her inability to make the purchase herself but my mother, always willing to assist anyone in distress, agreed to make a liquor purchase on the lady's behalf. This incident, which occurred more than half a century ago, is so clearly imbedded in my mind that I still remember the type of liquor involved (Lemon Hart rum). A short time later my mother related the incident to a close friend who, with a look of horror remarked, "my goodness, didn't you know Mrs. A is on the Indian List?" If you are under the age of 60 you probably have never heard of the Indian List. It stems from federal legislation enacted in 1876 which was based on the dubious assumption that natives were unable to act rationally and responsibly after consunung any of the white man's "fire water." Native Indians were automatically placed on a list restricting them from purchasing, and by extension, consuming any alcoholic beverages. Later, when it was determined that some white folks also behaved badly after excessive drinking, the names of these individuals were added to the so-called Indian List. The available statistics do not differentiate between First Nations and white persons and precise data relating to the number of persons on the Indian List at any particular time are difficult to uncover. However, in November 1963, Liquor Control Board Chairman, Colonel Donald McGugan told Vancouver Sun reporter Ian MacAlpine that between 4500 and 5000 British Columbians were on the list and although the membership was continually changing, it remained at a fairly constant level. People could be removed from the list if they applied and satisfied the Liquor Control Board "that the justice of the case" required.3 Another way to get off the list was to apply to a County Court judge and demonstrate either "that the circumstances of the case did not warrant the making of the order of interdiction" or prove "that the interdicted person has refrained from drunkenness for at least twelve months immediately preceding the application." In both cases, the Liquor Control Board would notify all vendors and licensees that the person had been removed from the list. It seems incredulous by today's standards that such arbitrary and discretionary powers could be granted to individuals who in many cases were political appointees. One can also appreciate how the arbitrary nature of this legislation could easily lead to abuses, including opportunities to retaliate against one's real or imagined adversaries. The Renaissance Continuing with the analogy, it seems logical to suggest that the Renaissance period of liquor distribution began with the repeal of several regulations contained in the Liquor Act. Although he was a confirmed tee-totaller, Premier W.A.C. Bennett was well in tune with the mood of the electorate. In 1952 his new Social Credit administration launched the Liquor Control Inquiry Coinmission, one result of which was a revised Liquor Act. Licensed dining rooms could now serve alcoholic beverages if food was also purchased. The Act also permitted the consumption of wine, beer and spirits in cocktail lounges, most of which were located in hotels. Whereas in previous times a distinct stigma was attached to patrons of beer parlors, this stigma largely disappeared with the introduction of the cocktail lounge which tended to attract a more genteel clientele. By 1963, male and female imbibers were no longer separated in public drinking establishments. Other changes followed including the introduction of what were called U-Brew establishments where adults, with some minor assistance from the owner, could produce their own beer and wine at a cost substantially below the cost at government operated liquor stores. Another factor, which some would argue was not necessarily a positive change, was lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 19 in 1970. With the defeat of the Social Credit government in 1972, the newly elected New Democratic party, previously opposed to private liquor sales, initiated a number of more progressive policies. One such policy in 1974 was adoption of a centuries old British tradition, the neighbourhood pub, which now competed with hotel cocktail lounges. No longer were public drinking establishments restricted to hotels and therefore primarily in the commercial sections of cities, but soon were found scattered throughout For Further Reading Campbell, Robert A. Demon Rum or Easy Money: Government Control of Liquor in British Columbia from Prohibition to Privatization. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1991. Campbell, Robert. Sit Down and Drink Your Beer: Regulating Vancouver's Beer Parlours, 1925-1954. Toronto: University Of Toronto Press, 2001. Corbett, David C. "Liquor Control Administration in British Columbia'' Canadian Public Administration 2, (March1959). Hamilton, Douglas L Sobering Dilemma: A History of Prohibition in British Columbia. Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2004. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY ■ Vol. 41 No. 2 11 residential areas. The Age of Enlightenment Relaxed liquor laws also lead to the appearance of new sources of alcoholic beverages. Micro breweries allow small business entrepreneurs to compete with national and multinational corporations on a "level playing field." Vineyards are now scattered throughout southern British Columbia and reach as far north as Hornby Island. Not only are there many more growers but visitors are invited to both sample and purchase a vineyard's bounty. Liquor outlets now stock an impressive array of spirits, wines, beers and related alcoholic beverages and many do so in a very upscale and user friendly environment. Perhaps the most significant event occurred when the provincial government gave up its monopoly on the sale of liquor. In 2002 the governing Liberal party announced it would close all government owned liquor stores and warehouses, replacing them with privately owned retail stores, a decision similar to that made in Alberta in 1993. The fundamental difference, however, was that in Alberta the conversion was completed over a period of six months whereas in B.C. the process was scheduled to occur over several years. After a strong protest from the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union in 2003, the government "caved in" to the union's demand to abandon the privatization program. Privately owned and operated liquor outlets now compete directly with government controlled stores. Of course, the government of British Columbia, like that of other provinces, enjoys the profits from the liberalization of liquor distribution. Sales of alcohol products are a "cash cow." In the 2007-08 fiscal year, the Liquor Distribution Branch had a net income of $857 million.4 The more extreme positions once advanced by many "drys" and "wets" in the late 19th and early 20th centuries have all but disappeared and been replaced by a more "live and let live" mentality. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which first appeared in B.C. in 1882, has long since ceased to exist. Extreme abolitionists gave up the fight decades ago and the only organized groups actively attempting to influence drinking habits today focus their attention on moderation and responsible behaviour. Perhaps the best example is Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). What the future may bring is unknown although it is likely that private entrepreneurs will continue to open more outlets as long as consumer demand increases. Perhaps we will see drive-in liquor stores, the sale of liquor in supermarkets as in some American states or in convenience stores as in Quebec; or in mega-liquor stores as in some American states such as a store in Florida that has 20,000 sq. ft. of retail space and carries over 8,000 different wines, 2,000 brands of "hard" liquor and 1,000 types of beer and ale. One thing, however, is indisputable. We live in a society that is obsessed with convenience so future entrepreneurs will no doubt come up with new, more convenient ways to have us well prepared for the daily "happy hour." • BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Bibles and Booze: Prohibition in Chilliwack in the Late 1800's By Robert smith Originally published in British Columbia Historical News Volume 12 No.3 During and after the gold rush in British Columbia no institution of social life was more common or important than the saloon, which sprang up wherever miners, loggers, navvies, and their camp followers congregated. The saloon was not only a drinking and eating establishment, but frequently a court, inn, church, and post office, a sort of integrated community services center. There, one drank, ate, slept, heard the news, renewed acquaintances, played cards or billiards, saw magic shows and boxing matches, and patronized the ladies of the evening. In the absence of other institutions, the saloon served as a club, ameliorating the harsh conditions to which the majority of the population, young, single, transient men, were subject: the isolation, the seasonal nature of work, back-breaking labor, rigors of the weather, lack of family and home, and in general an exceedingly bleak cultural milieu. The services and pleasures of the saloon often had their price: pauperism, drunkenness, physical injury, demoralization, and imprisonment. The saloons contributed to British Columbia having the highest per capita rate of liquor consumption in the Dominion. Men often "drank to get drunk, and the quicker the better." During the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, at Yale, one observer noted 'the activities of the navvies on payday, a scene all to common in British Columbia: Tattered, dirt-bespattered drunkards rolled about the streets, wallowing in the mud, cursing and fighting, and driving all respectable people into the recesses of their home, while saloon after saloon were added to the number already terribly in excess of the needs of the community.1 Workers often did not return to their jobs for days. The wide-open traffic in liquor attracted criminals who cheated or "rolled" drunken workers. Saloon keepers and prostitutes encouraged and were encouraged by corrupt police officers who provided the "sinning licenses." As the province matured, as the rhythms of conventional life and morality intruded into this primitive social environment, the saloon and liquor traffic were singled out as the cause of many social ills and well-nigh abolished albeit temporarily, in 1917.2 In contrast to the unstable and crude social conditions which nourished the saloon in the rest of the province, Chilliwack had a "respectable" society from its inception. Most of the gold rush and railway construction activities by-passed it. The newcomers to the Chilliwack Valley were, as a rule, not transient, single men intent on acquiring a quick stake and then clearing out. White pioneers came in family groups and brought their churches. They quickly perceived the area's agricultural potential and transformed the virgin land into productive farms, dairies, and orchards. The settlers strove to create a permanent, prosperous, and stable community in which a variety of social controls would foster "right" thinking and conduct, particularly for the benefit of their children. The newcomers were not isolated from each other, the area settled being only about 100 square miles.3 The principal social events - the house and barn raisings, picnics, bees, dances, the annual agricultural exhibition and camp revival, as well as the day-to-day activities of church and school - were entrenched early to serve community and family. Here there were no saloons, no red light district, no miners roaring into town for a "Bender." The townspeople were on the look-out to see that inebriates were prosecuted, that the "dizzy-headed" were excluded from community picnics, that stills were uncovered, and that the sale of booze from hotels, restaurants, and steamboats was prevented.4 In 1885, for example, a special session of municipal council received a petition, bearing over 180 names, demanding that Mrs. Bartlett's restaurant license be revoked because she sold booze to her patrons. Council acted promptly by refusing to renew her license and by prosecuting her for the sale of liquor.5 Fifty inches of rain each year, and sometimes the Fraser flooded, but the town was dry. Most of the people had taken the pledge. The evangelical churches - Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist - provided a strong institutional base for prohibition. They had all passed prohibition resolutions in national conferences. These evangelicals, particularly the Methodists who established the first church in the area, dominated the leadership and rank-and-file of a formidable anti-saloon coalition, consisting of the Sons of Temperance, the Templars (both the Independent Order of Grand Templars and the Royal Templars of Temperance), the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Dominion Alliance, and the Local Option League. The activities of these societies included songs, debates, pantomimes, charades, lectures, and the pledge, not only to re-enforce the "bone-dry" conviction but also to provide a congenial social matrix. The local chapter of the Royal Templars offered their members reduced rates for sickness and life insurance.6 These churches and societies jointly When this article first appeared in 1988 Bob Smith was teaching history at Fraser Valley College in Chilliwack. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY ■ Vol. 41 No. 2 13 Notes 1 H. Gowan, Church Work in British Columbia (London, 1899), cited in Albert John Hiebert, "Prohibition in Early British Columbia" (unpublished M.A thesis, Simon Fraser University, 1969), p. 12; S.D. Clark, "The Gold Rush Society of British Columbia and the Yukon," from The Social Development of Canada (Toronto, 1942), pp. 308-26; and Isabel M.L. Bescoby, "Society in Cariboo During the Gold Rush," Washington Historical Quarterly, XXIV (1933), pp. 195-207. 2 Hiebert, Chapter 1, passim. 3 Terrence Charles Amett, 'The Chilliwack Valley Continuum" (unpublished M.A. thesis, University of British Columbia, 1976), pp. 300-325 and "Horatio Webb Records District's Earliest Days," Chilliwack Progress, 25 June 1958. See also Oliver Wells, "Edenbank -- The Story of a Farm," unpublished manuscript, Fraser Valley College Archives, Chilliwack. 4 Process, 18 May 1891, 6 August 1891,14 April 1892, 20 February 1895 and Minutes of Municipal Council,S November 1888,1 December 1890, and 3 August 1891, originals letterbooks, Chilliwack Municipal Hall Chilliwack. 5 Minutes of Municipal Council, 26 June 1885. See also minutes of 24 April 1880,1 October 1888, 7 July 1885 and 5 August 1889. In a letter to Municipal Council requesting patronage for his newly opened Palace Hotel, Thomas Bartlett promised that strict temperance principles would be observed. Council minutes, 3 May 1887. 6 Progress, 11 April 1900. 7 Progress, 29 April 1894. 8 Progress, 10 October 1894. The Chilliwack Chapter of the W.C.T.U. was founded on 7 June 1884 at the annual camp revival meeting. The prominent Methodist, Mrs. A.C. Wells was elected president. See "Historical Sketch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of British Columbia," n.d., p. 3. organized Queen's birthday temperance parades and hosted prominent temperance speakers at public meetings.7 At the agricultural exhibition, the WCTU, active in Chilliwack since 1884, maintained a tent where people could rest, eat, and peruse temperance literature. The virtues of total abstinence from liquor were inculcated in the youth through the agencies of the Band of Hope and Willard Y's, WCTU affiliates for children, and the Epworth League, the Young Methodist club, and among the Indians at Coqualeetza, the residential school at Sardis operated by the Methodists. By 1886 five Bands of Hope were active in the Chilliwack area, with 100 members, 30 of whom were native. Their fight song was "Tremble, King Alcohol, Love Will Grow Up." During the spring examinations at Coqualeetza8 in 1891, Rev. Tate asked a native student "What is the use of alcohol?" The reply: "To preserve dead bodies and kill living ones."9 These activities received prominent and favorable coverage in the local newspaper, The Chilliwack Progress. The editor, WT. Jackman, himself a Royal Templar of Temperance, donated space for a regular WCTU column and often reprinted articles appearing in temperance journals.10 This prohibition coalition did not confine its efforts to the "sunny" methods of persuasion. It was all too willing to invoke the arm of the law to enforce what had become the 11th commandment: "Thou shalt not drink." To prohibitionists in Chilliwack, the sale and consumption of liquor had profound social implications and thus did not lie within the realm of an individual's liberty. The consumption of liquor was economically, physically, morally/ and spiritually destructive to the family and community as well as the individual.11 To the prohibitionist, the saloon was no club; it was a whiskey den, closely associated with gambling and prostitution, which led people astray from family responsibility and conjugal fidelity. People must not be permitted to drink, even moderately, for drunkards, prohibitionists reasoned, were once moderate drinkers. The stock situation in the local temperance gatherings was the lecture, recitation, or melodrama about the drunkard's neglected home, the marriage ruined by drink, or "the home vs. the saloon."12 R.H. Cairns, Chilliwack's school principal and prominent Methodist lay official, asserted in a public address that drink annually caused the death of 4,000 Canadians.13 Cairns declared it was the government's duty to make it as difficult as possible for the individual to err; if Parliament could legislate to protect animals, he concluded, it could legislate to protect women and children who were vulnerable as long as the liquor traffic was legal.14 The social results of drink were underscored by the Rev. Dr. Lucas, a temperance circuit rider, who spoke to the Methodist and Baptist congregations in Chilliwack in 1896. Lucas stated that nothing so wronged humanity, stole people's food and clothes, and filled up the asylums and poor houses, as the liquor traffic.15 Chilliwack's prohibitionists cited statistics to demonstrate a causal relationship between drink and crime and to show that fees from liquor licenses could never pay for the crime and disorder resulting from the liquor traffic.16 The good of society required prohibition. Another important, though less current, rationale for the opposition to the saloon and liquor traffic was the belief that they interfered with efficiency in the work place. During the 1890s Chilliwack's agricultural and horticultural societies, the farmers' institute, and the cheese, creamery, and fruit cooperatives were concerned with efficient production and keen competition. The Australian WCTU lecturer, Miss Mercer, speaking in Chilliwack in 1898, asserted that the liquor traffic was incompatible with industrial prosperity.17 How could producers compete if they wiled away their time and health in saloons? It was a hackneyed but nevertheless common belief that sobriety and punctuality were integral parts of the work ethic, and possibly of salvation itself.18 In a public debate with Cairns, the Rev. W. Bough Allen of Chilliwack's Anglican Church described prohibition as fanatical. The Anglican Church advocated true temperance, not prohibition, moderation in the consumption of liquor, not total abstinence. After all, Allen argued, the use of liquor (wine) was required in the church service. Allen observed that because the saloon was often the poor man's home, the church ought to work with it.19 Allen had unwittingly touched upon something that modern scholarship has articulated, that the evangelical churches' zealous advocacy of prohibition was hindering their mission to gain new members, particularly among the growing class of working and other poor people who frequented saloons. The census of 1901 revealed, for example, that the population of British Columbia had increased faster than new memberships in the Methodist Church. The quickening tempo of economic activity in the 1890's caused more rigid social stratifications. This was nowhere more apparent than in Chilliwack's Methodist churches, whose members were among BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 the most prosperous and powerful in the area. Their approval of certain types of clubs, which they attended, and their condemnation of others, such as the lower-class club, the saloon, constituted a punitive and discriminatory action by one class of people against another.20 The process of granting liquor licenses has been regulated by colonial and provincial legislation since 1853. Although the laws have changed constantly, they generally have required that public support accompany liquor license applications.21 During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the licensing authority resided in a local board which was composed of municipal officers and justices of the peace. Given the prevailing popular opinion of the liquor traffic and the predominance of known prohibitionists on the licensing board,22 it is understandable that hotel keepers in the Chilliwack Valley encountered resistance to their applications for liquor licences. The applications of Messrs. Garner, McKeever, and McNeill, in 1876,1880, and 1884 respectively, were all denied by the board on procedural grounds. The application of the proprietor of the Main Hotel, A. Ennis, was denied because "of procedural irregularities, because the area's residents were proHbitionist-minded, and because liquor had been illegally sold at that hotel."23 Directly following the liberalization of provincial liquor laws in 1892, the owner of the Queen's Hotel, G.T. Lundy, applied for a license. The editor of the Progress, somewhat uneasy about the changes in the law, summarized the pros and cons: those who supported the application asserted that legal sales of liquor would replace illegal sales, that an assured and legal supply would discourage drinkers from illegally stocking up, and that to keep his license the saloon keeper would police his establishment and refuse to sell to minors; those who opposed the application claimed that wherever there were licensed houses drunkenness, crime, and disorder increased and that young men in the community, now teetotalers, would become so enamoured of cards, billiards, and drink that they would become "habitual drunkards."24 In his representation to the board, Lundy's counsel introduced a new argument in favor of granting the license: that a legal saloon would pre-empt the establishment of private drinking clubs, which were legal but not subject to policing. Despite the fact Lundy produced a petition signed by 215 lot and householders (the number of signatures to the counter-petition, presented by the Methodist minister, J.P. Bowell, was not disclosed), the license commissioners ruled against the application on the ground of procedural irregularities and that it was not in the public interest.25 Lundy was not beaten. Within a week he organized a private drinking club at his hotel.26 These clubs proved to be a convenient device to circumvent the dry board. Although the law required members to pay high initiation fees and annual dues, the Rev. J.H. White claimed in 1896 that two local clubs were dodging these regulations by accepting payment in promissory notes on the understanding that the notes would not be called due.27 In years afterward, these clubs including the Chilliwack Club and the Canadian Legion, enjoyed a flourishing trade and, contrary to the law, were not especially particular about whom they served.28 The prohibition controversy, always a prominent public issue, heated up in 1897. C.T. Higginson, a candidate for the reeveship, committed the ultimate faux pas by advocating the control of liquor through licensing.29 In one of his letters to the Progress, the tireless prohibitionist, Rev. White, concluded his critique of Higginson's message to the electorate with a quote from John Ruskin: The encouragement of drunkenness for the sake of profit on the sale of drink is certainly one of the most criminal methods of assassination for money ever adopted. Higginson lost in spite of the fact that the incumbent, T.E. Kitchen, was so ill he could barely address the electors - he died ten weeks later - and that during Kitchen's most recent regime the municipality had been plunged into serious debt.30 The editor of the Progress explained that Higginson was "handicapped by the fact ... that though himself a lifelong total abstainer, Mr. Higginson was not prepared to take any strong measures for suppressing the illegal sale of liquor."31 Four months later when he stood for the provincial legislature, Higginson corrected his message to the electors to read that he was prepared to support any measure to restrict the illegal sale of liquor. While additional currency to the drink question was provided by the prospect of a Dominion plebiscite on prohibition, the most important development in this controversy was another attempt by a local hotel owner to secure a liquor license, this time by William Henry Cawley, an established and respected member of the community. Cawley, born in Ontario in 1854, came to Chilliwack in 1878, and prospered from his butcher's trade, road contracting, and farming. He 9 F.L. Barnes, "Beams from a Lighthouse, Woman's Christian Temperance Union of B.C., Brief History of W.C.T.U. of B.C., 1883- 1968," n.d., p. 5; R.C. Brown and Ramsay Cook, Canada, 1896-1921 (Toronto, 1976), p. 24; Progress, 21 May 1891. The Progress records that in 1894, 84 children had taken the pledge to abstain from the use of tobacco and alcohol. 26 September 1894. 10 Progress, 29 November 1899. 11 Progress, 3 July 1895. 12 Progress, 25 March 1896 and 21 September 1898. 13 Progress, 29 April 1896. Robert Henry Cairns was bom and educated in Hamilton, Ontario. After teaching school there, he moved to Nanaimo in 1892. In 1895 Cairns settled in Chilliwack where he served as principal of Chilliwack's public school until 1902. He later served as vice-principal of Strathcona School in Vancouver, 1903-1912, principal of Coqualeetza, 1912- 1914, and Inspector of Indian Schools in B.C., 1914 until his death in May, 1929. Cairns was not only deeply involved in Chilliwack's educational life but also in almost every aspect of religious and temperance activity. He was frequently called upon to give sermons to Protestant congregations when their regular ministers were absent or ill. Progress, 16 May 1929. 14 Progress, 3 August, 1898. 15 Progress, 23 December 1896. 16 Progress, 28 July 1894. F.S. Spence wrote in the Campaign Manual 1912 that the acquisition of liquor, the resultant loss of labor and lives and other costs, annually totalled $181,722,683 which was offset by dominion, provincial, and municipal liquor revenue of $19,342,924. Spence, "The Economics of the Drink Question," republished in Canadian History Since Confederation: Essays and Interpretations, Bruce Hodgins and Robert Page, eds. (Georgetown, Ontario, 1972), p. 395. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 15 The interior of Chilliwack Methodist church June 1909 BC Archives photo B-01439 17 Progress, 21 September 1898. 18 S.D. Clark, Church and Sect in Canada (Toronto, 1948), pp. 255, 266-7. 19 Progress, 18 December 1895. 20 Clark, Church and Sect in Canada, pp. 266 and 390-395 and RE. Runnalls, It's God's Country (Richmond, 1974), p. 132. 21 Royal Commission on Liquor Traffic, "Appendix No. 72," (Ottawa, 1894). 22 The Board of License Commissioners for 1884 consisted of Messrs. D. McGillivray, G.R. Ashwell, and A.C. Wells, all prominent lay officials in the Methodist Church. 23 Minutes of Municipal Council, 17 January 1876, 28 March 1880, 21 January 1884 and 15 June 24 Progress, 26 May 1892 and 9 June 1892. 25 Progress, 9 June 1892. 26 Progress, 16 June 1892. 27 Progress, 9 December 1896. 28 H.J. Barber to Premier McBride, 16 May 1909 and 26 May 1909 and McBride to Barber, 19 May 1909, McBride Collection, private papers, Provincial Archives of British Columbia. 29 Progress, 13 January 1897. 30 Progress, 20 January 1897 and 27 January 1897. 31 Progress, 20 January 1897. 32 Progress,S April. 1897. 33 Progress, 4 August 1892; "William Henry Cawley", biographical sketch, Wells Collection, Wells Centennial Museum, Chilliwack; Minutes of Municipal Council, 26 May 1884 and 3 July 1888. m acquired considerable town and country property, including the Queen's Hotel on Yale Road.33 Cawley was an Anglican and therefore not obliged to adhere to the prohibition standards which the evangelical churches expected of their members. Cawley proposed to take advantage of apparent changes in the law governing the grant of liquor licenses which reduced the number of residents who might support or oppose his application to the area within a five-mile circle of the Queen's Hotel. Also, the support of only a bare majority of resident householders within that area was required. This situation posed a particular threat to the anti-saloon league in view of the fact that prohibitionist sentiment was strongest in the area beyond the five-mile circle.34 Cawley may also have been encouraged to seek a liquor license at this time in order to bolster his sagging finances. He was unable to pay taxes on six lots which were slated for public auction.35 From July 1897, when Cawley made his plans known, until December when the Board of License Commissioners ruled, the controversy raged in public meetings, in the churches, in the press, and in the courts. Petitions for and against circulated constantly. Feelings ran so high that the issue was beyond debate. The temperance societies and evangelical churches formed the Union Temperance Committee to direct the anti-license campaign and the WCTU was specially charged with getting up the anti-license petition.36 So zealous were the prohibitionists that they resorted to extreme tactics. In October, Cawley found himself charged with selling liquor. The court heard that W.J. Abbott, claiming to be a traveller from Washington state and feigning a toothache, came to the Queen's Hotel and asked Cawley to sell him liquor. Cawley gave him some liquor but rejected Abbott's persistent offers to pay for it. The court dismissed the charge against Cawley, but in a separate though related case, fined Abbott for violating the liquor laws.37 Cawley charged in a letter to the editor that Rev. White, fearing that a sufficient number of residents had supported the liquor license petition, sent a member of his church, Abbott, to spy on Cawley's premises and to entrap Cawley into selling liquor for the fancied toothache. Cawley also charged Reeve A.C. Wells with complicity in the frame-up for authorizing the use of public funds for the prosecution.38 White, attacking Cawley for having sold liquor in the past, said that Cawley had only recently cleaned up his operation in order to avoid prejudicing his application for a license. However, White admitted that he had engineered BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Steam threshing machine in front of Cawley's hardware store BC Archives photo D-01077 —:t. •".-:;■ the spying caper; he neither denied complicity in the attempted entrapment nor launched a libel action against Cawley.39 There is no evidence that the community was at all shocked by the zealous and devious manouevre of one of the chief proponents of the prohibition cause. The anti-license alliance felt no misgivings and staged rally after rally in the weeks before the license board met on December 8.40 The WCTU members, wearing their white temperance ribbons (which one might think runs counter to the impartiality and decorum expected of board meetings), attended en masse. The local Member of Parliament, Aulay Morrison, represented the temperance coalition and Rev. White presented the counter-petition which bore 285 signatures. Cawley's application was supported by 181 persons. It soon became obvious that both petitions contained signatures of people ineligible to sign, either because they lived outside the five-mile circle or because they could not satisfy the residence requirements. How the board could determine the precise location of the homes of each of the signatoris and the distances between their residences and the Queen's Hotel, except by the use of a compass and an accurately scaled map denoting those property sites, is not known. The license commissioners - Messrs. Armstrong, Lickman, Wells, Gillanders and Ashwell (the latter three were known prohibitionists) - worked throughout the day. They ruled that only 43 could legally support the grant of a license but that 47 could oppose it. Thus, by a very narrow margin, Cawley failed to bring the first saloon to Chilliwack. Hearty cheers greeted the announcement of the Board's decision.41 The recent changes in the licensing regulations may well have accounted for Cawley's strong showing. The overwhelming support (331 for, 107 against) Chilliwack area voters gave prohibition in the Dominion plebiscite in 1898 indicates the true strength of the antisaloon forces.42 Although Chilliwack's' prohibitionists were powerful enough to prevent saloons from corrupting what they felt was a model community, they were powerless to eradicate drinking. Their many petitions to municipal council calling for the prosecution of bootleggers, the frequent reports of rowdy and drunken behaviour, the demands for increased surveillance at the steamboat landings, and charges that private clubs, e.g., the Chilliwack Club, were in reality "blind pigs," consistently indicate that an illicit liquor traffic was based on widespread demand. This general state of affairs occasioned many frantic protests; one such letter to the editor of the Progress- 34 Progress, 28 July 1897; "An Act to Amend 'the Municipal Clauses Act, 1898'," 8 May 1897, B.C. Statutes. It is hightly questionable whether Clause 29 of this act, which the council acted upon when considering the Cawley application was in fact the appropriate one. For the town-country split see the results Of the Dominion plebescite, 05 October 1898. 35 Progress, 24 November 1897 and 01 December 1897. 36 Progress, 28 July 1897. At a public meeting in Henderson Hall on 26 July 1897 not one person spoke in support of the proposed license., A motion opposing the grant of a license was passed unanimously. 37 Progress, 27 October 1897. 38 Progress, 03 November 1897. 39 Progress, 10 November 1897. 40 Progress, 1 December 1897. 41 Progress, 15 December 1897. 42 Progress, 5 October 1898. 43 Progress, 13 December 1899. 44 Progress, 13 November 1901. 45 Brown and Cook, p. 45. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 17 is worth quoting at some length: Dame Rumour says our select little unlicensed town of Chilliwack has had an over abundant supply of Hudson's Bay whiskey stored in a cellar somewhere ... Now, Mr. Editor, these violations are going on, and is there no one to say "thou shalt not-' Our worthy Reeve and councillors and all the law abiding Citizens ... are sitting quietly by; and some of them, by the way, are said to be good judges of the Hudson's Bay mountain dew ...Is this wholesale manufacture of drunkards to go on while this community folds its hands and says "No License"? Can we see husbands, fathers, and brothers dragged down to perdition by this cursed illegal traffic; our homes, which should be happy homes, made miserable, children and wives disgraced? A thousand times no. If the men of this valley and town have any love and respect for their loved ones, if there is no other way, they should band together (and show the devil's emissaries that they are not the only people who can take the law in their own hands) and expose their vile traffic and rout them out.43 All too few were the advocates of moderation, those who observed that drinking could not be eradicated, that enforcement of the law consumed money and time required elsewhere, and that reputable saloon keepers could pre-empt the illegal traffic and observe Sunday closings and other standards.44 This position Chilliwack's majority rejected in the belief that a licensed liquor traffic would only compound the existing problems. The prohibitionists escalated the struggle: renewed vigilance, new temperance societies, more anti-liquor education, new rounds of temperance rallies, and, most importantly, increased pressure on politicians in Victoria. Prohibition was a major note in Canadian social, political, and religious life during the 1890's. It was the subject of a royal commission and controversial litigation. When plebiscites on prohibition were conducted in Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba, the drys won by substantial majorities.45 In the Dominion plebiscite of 1898, the voters of the Northwest Territories and every province except Quebec supported prohibition, although, the vote was extremely close in British Columbia. Common among the public today is the opinion that prohibition was a reactionary, narrow-minded, even fanatical plot cooked up, by the puritans to prevent other people from enjoying themselves. Such was the view of Canada's foremost humorist, Stephen Leacock. Scholars, however, have demonstrated that Leacock's musings were highly misleading, that prohibition was an integral part of a national reform movement which also championed the cause of women's rights. These reformers, among educated and articulate citizens in the land, were sensitive to the spread of social injustice and suffering caused by the urban and industrial revolution which in the 1890' s had shifted into high gear. To the prohibitionist, "alcohol became part of a wider social problem to be excised in a more general reform of society. Drinking came to be judged not only as a threat to individual health and the stability of family life, but also as a cause of poverty, prostitution, industrial indiscipline, disease and accidents."45 Prohibitionists were persuaded that some of the adverse by-products of rapid social and economic change could be ameliorated by abolishing the liquor traffic, which reform was finally attained, along with female suffrage, during World War I. While it may well be true that the white, Anglo- Saxon, middle-class Protestants who dominated the national prohibitionist movement looked forward to a major restructuring of society., the objectives of their counterparts in Chilliwack were considerably more modest. Here, the drink question was less about uprooting saloons than about preventing their intrusion. Here, there was no large resident working class or ghetto to which saloons might cater. Here, economic growth did not overwhelm moral concerns. The social, economic, and institutional origins of Chilliwack, quite different from the general pattern of early settlements in B.C., fostered a tradition in which the liquor traffic had no legal or moral place. The majority of residents were prohibitonist from an early date and they were powerful enough to prevail over the Lundys and Cawleys. Although an account of prohibition in the Chilliwack Valley during the twentieth century has yet to be researched, the, evidence pertaining to this issue in the preceding decades indicates that local prohibitionists were no flaming reformers. They liked their society the way it was, and they wished to keep it that way. • BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Reginald Elwin Davey: British Columbia's Up-coast Dentist By Kelsey McLeod Kelsey McLeod is a Vancouver writer and volunteers at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. The information for the article was provided by E. G. Davey, the nephew of Reginald Davey. Dr. Reginald Davey, date unknown. Photo courtesy of E. G. Davey A Provincial policeman once recalled that one of his most vivid memories occurred when he was anchored in an upcoast cove and was wakened by the sound of loud moaning. He got out of his bunk and went on deck, the moans were coming from a gasboat anchored nearby. He maneuvered his skiff to the gasboat and climbed aboard where he found a fisherman lying face down on his bunk, occasionally pounding his hands against the bed. The policeman soon found out the cause: the man was in agony with an abscessed tooth, and with no dentist in the area, he would have to make the long trip to Vancouver for care. Today we take for granted medical and dental care. Helicopters, the Coast Guard, instant communication, all contribute to availability of help if needed. But it was not always the case. In the province's early days, when settlers rowed in put- puts to remote homesteads set into hundreds of miles of mountainous coastline, it is doubtful if they ever gave a thought to the lack of dentists until overtaken by agony. Residents in the Minstrel Island, Simoon Sound area were more fortunate than most. In the 1920s and early 1930s Reginald Elwin Davey regularly boarded a Union Steamship boat in Vancouver, disembarked at either Minstrel Island or Simoon Sound, rented or borrowed a gasboat, and began lengthy tours of the float camps, logging camps, canneries, and the small settlements in the area to minister to those needing dental care. This work was not a hobby-it was his living. When he went on one of his forays he took a complete dental setup, including a treadle drill. (This equipment is now in the Royal BC Museum.) What a relief it must have been to a hand logger, a fisherman or someone living in a float camp to see Davey arrive. It meant they did not have to take an expensive trip to Vancouver, something many could not afford. Reginald Davey was born October 1,1880 in Oshawa, Ontario to George and Sarah Davey. The family moved to British Columbia in the 1890s. Reginald married Beatrice Lawson in Victoria and had three sons, George Reginald, Harold Hollins, and Thomas. From 1923 and on he was shown as a dentist, or a dental mechanic in the Vancouver Directories. He undertook all types of work though apparently he specialized in gold fillings and dentures, and hoped for nothing more serious. However, one man presented Davey with one of his most challenging and dramatic cases. A trapper named Jim had been suffering from abscessed teeth for thirty days when he heard that Davey was in the vicinity. After three fruitless trips, each of twenty to thirty miles in his gasboat, he finally tracked Davey down at a floating logging camp. After taking a look in Jim's mouth Davey did not want to try and treat him with his limited equipment. To say the mouth was a mess was a vast understatement, and it was in a far too dangerous a state for him to tackle under the circumstances. Of the seven teeth that needed to come out, two were wisdom teeth with roots curled under the jawbone and Jim's face was swollen after thirty days of agony. Davey spent many fruitless minutes using every argument he could muster trying to talk Jim into going to Vancouver. But Jim was adamant. His wife was alone without a boat, and there were no neighbours for thirty miles, he was not leaving. Reluctantly, Davey set about making the necessary preparations to treat Jim. A logger's wife, Mrs. Mann, living in a nearby float house offered her home as an office and the spare bedroom for Jim to recuperate in after his ordeal. She also volunteered BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 19 IPh up. After each tooth came out Mrs. Mann brought a slug of home brew for both Jim and the dentist. At last, the seven teeth were out. Jim was carried to the guest room and put to bed to recover. And recover he did! Thanks to Davey's skill. All treatments were not as dramatic, but Melvin Henry Belveal of Sointula who lived in Simoon Sound when Dr. Davey was working at the area often recalled Davey staying at his father's float home, and working on his father's teeth with the treadle drill while smoke and dust, and chips flew around the room. A far cry from ideal surroundings. Dr. Reginald Davey died at age fifty-three, near O'Brian Bay. It is thought that he suffered a heart attack on March 13,1934, fell overboard, and drowned. How he must have been missed by the many he had treated over the years. He left his wife and three sons to mourn his passing. People of Dr. Davey's ilk are in short supply and it is unlikely there will ever be another dentist quite like him. • PPiP5S8Si Dr. Reginald Davey's dental equipment Photo courtesy of E. G. Davey The area Dr. Davey worked in is shown on an early map. W#li§ to help Davey if she could. It must have been a relief to Davey to know he would have an assistant, even untrained as she surely was. Davey shoved the kitchen table aside, and set up his equipment; the treadle drill, a chair for the patient's use, a small table from the living room on which he placed pliers, and so on, all close to a window, so there would be as much light as possible. Outside it was a dull day, the sky overcast, the tops of the steep mountains that rimmed the inlet hidden by mist. The float home rocked gently with an incoming tide; the swish of the waves on the rocky shores of the cove could be heard intermittently between the sounds of logs hitting the ocean from the flume and the shouts of the boom men, leaping from log to log with their pike poles. But it is doubtful if any of the three people in the float house paid much attention to such distractions. With the patient seated, the operation began. Dr. Davey, and Mrs. Mann braced themselves, as did the patient. Davey's fears of the difficulties presented were not an exaggeration. Teeth had to be split, then picked out. The ordeal went on, with Mrs. Mann at one time making a hasty run for the door to throw BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 CBC Radio's BC 150 History Moments Gold Rush The Province of British Columbia began as the "Crown Colony" of British Columbia. The promise of gold spurred Queen Victoria to claim ownership of a region once known as "New Caledonia." February, 1858. The California Gold Rush is waning. A Hudson's Bay Company steambot had arrived with news that 800 ounces of gold had been discovered on the Fraser and Thompson rivers. Within days, Mfc*£ij "Fraser River Fever" takes hold of the masses. By fall, over 30,000 fortune seekers have made their way towards the Fraser. About two thirds pass through Fort Victoria. It comes alive with the smell of cigars and whiskey. And the hearty prospectors are a headache for Vancouver Island Governor, James Douglas. But many never make it to their final destination. Their boats disappear into the Straight of Georgia~or are dashed to pieces on the Fraser~bef ore they reach the promised golden shores. Those who do survive set up rowdy camps along the banks of the Fraser. Fort Yale in particular has a reputation for gambling, drinking and violence. But New Caledonia is outside Governor Douglas's jurisdiction. The British House of Commons decides to change that. November 19, 1858, James Douglas is officially sworn in as the governor of the newly- created Crown Colony-British Columbia. The Gold Rush spreads north to the Cariboo. When it came finally comes to an end, few have truly struck it. But many decide to stay...in British Columbia. Ripple Rock The world's largest non-nuclear peacetime explosion happened right here in British Columbia. In 1958, an undersea mountain known as Ripple Rock was blasted into submission. The twin peaks of "Old Rip" lay in the Seymour Channel, between Vancouver Island and Quadra Island. At low tide, the south peak almost tickled the water's surface, creating dangerous waves and whirlpools. Captain George Vancouver called it: "One of the vilest stretches of water in the world." Between 1875 and 1958, Ripple Rock damaged or sank 119 vessels, taking almost as many lives. For over half a century, people lobbied to get rid of the rock. They tried drilling it away—twice. The first time, the current snapped the cable on the drill barge. The second time, nine workers drowned when their boat capsized. The only solution was to blow it up. After 27 months of underground tunnelling from nearby Maude Island, the National Research Council had packed enough explosives inside the mountain to blow the top off. On April 5, 1958, at 9:31 am—in one of CBC Television first national live broadcasts—Ripple Rock became Ripple Rubble. Not completely. Ripple Rock still rests beneath the sea. The highest peak now reaches 14 metres below low tide, instead of three. And the Ripple Rock explosion is still considered a magnificent feat of engineering. CBC Radio host Margaret Gallegher contacted some members of the Historical Federation in 2007 for suggestions on significant events from the past 150 years of BC history. From those and others she selected a number of pieces to be turned into radio vignettes broadcast throughout the year as part of the 150th birthday celebrations. These are just a few of the items produced. The Canadian government Hydrographic Survey Ship William J. Stewart after striking Ripple Rock BC Archives photo B0628 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 21 Railway British Columbia officially joined Confederation on July 20, 1871. In exchange, Canada promised to build the province a railroad within ten years. The train was a long time coming. By 1878, construction hadn't even begun. That August, BC's legislature passed a resolution to be presented to Queen Victoria. If work didn't start by May 1879, the province would withdraw from Confederation. Railway construction finally started with a bang in May, 1880. A blast of dynamite echoed through the Fraser Canyon, just outside of Yale. Building the railway was dangerous work. An estimated 10,000 men laboured on the line. 6,000 came from China. Chinese workers were paid less than others, and often did the most risky jobs. No one will ever know how exactly many men died. But if s said that six Chinese workers perished for every mile of railway through the Fraser Canyon. November 7,1885—more than five years after that first crack of dynamite—the transcontinental line is complete. Canadian Pacific Railway director Donald Smith drove in the last spike at Craigellachie. Actually, he did it twice. Smith bent the first spike so badly, it had to be replaced immediately. After a brief ceremony, the conductor cried "All Aboard for the Pacific" and the train made its way west. The country was finally connected with a shining band of steel. Speaking of shiny things, legend has it Smith kept his first "last spike." He made it into jewelry for CPR directors' wires. Elections British Columbia is behind the rest of Canada when it comes to time zones. Most of the province falls in the Pacific Time Zone, making us the last place in the country to ring in the New Year. But we've been ahead of the times when it comes to provincial and federal elections. 1921. Mary Ellen Smith becomes Canada's first female provincial cabinet minister. 1949. Frank Calder is the first Aboriginal Canadian elected to a Canadian parliament when he joins the BC Legislature. 1957. Douglas Jung becomes the first Chinese Canadian MP. 1968. Leonard Marchand is the first Aboriginal Canadian elected to the House of Commons. 1972. Rosemary Brown is elected MLA, making her the first Black women elected to a legislature in Canada. 1986. Moe Sihota becomes the first Indo-Canadian MLA. 1988. Svend Robinson comes out as the first openly gay MP. He was elected in 1979. 1994. Emery Barnes becomes first Black Speaker in a Canadian legislature. 1996. MLAs Jenny Kwan and Ida Chong become the first Chinese Canadian women elected to provincial office in Canada. 2000. Ujjal Dosanjh is named first South Asian premier. As for the "big chair," Canada's first and only female Prime Minister came from British Columbia. Kim Campbell took office in June 1993. She was gone by October, when her Conservative party was soundly defeated. In December, she retired from electoral politics... and rang in the New Year as a private citizen. Ginger Goodwin One of BC's most famous folk heroes was born in Treeton England. And he met his maker in the woods outside of Cumberland. Albert "Ginger" Goodwin was a 19-year-old coalminer when he came to Canada. Goodwin was known for his fiery red hair...and his fiery passion for workers' rights. His part in the 1909 Cape Breton miners' got him blacklisted and left him broke. So he headed for British Columbia. He quickly rose in the ranks of the Socialist Party of Canada and the BC Federation of Labour. In 1914, World War One broke out. Compulsory conscription soon followed. This didn't sit well with Ginger Goodwin. He was a pacifist who believed that workers shouldn't kill each other in economic wars. He registered for conscription, as was the law, but was deemed unsuitable for battle. His lungs were in rough shape 22 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 from years in the mines. That didn't stop him from leading a strike in Trail. It championed an 8-hour day for smelter workers. Around the province, the strike was interpreted as protest against conscription, and Goodwin was seen as a dangerous agitator. Eleven days into the strike, he was called for medical re-examination. The doctors declared Goodwin fit for combat overseas. He appealed, but was ordered to report to the barracks. Instead of shipping out, Goodwin headed for the hills just west of the mining town of Cumberland. Half a dozen other draft resisters joined him. For weeks the fugitives lived off deer meat and a helping hand from the sympathetic folks of Cumberland. It all came to an end on July 27,1918. Goodwin was shot to death by a single bullet from Constable Daniel Campbell of the Dominion police. Campbell said it was self-defense.. .the labour movement called it murder. Goodwin was 27 years old when he died. His funeral was attended by thousands. On the same day, August 2, Vancouver declared its first General Strike. Today, Ginger Goodwin lies buried just outside of Cumberland. His grave reads "A Worker's Friend." Hundreds of people gather there each June on Miners' Memorial Day. From his grave, you can see a stretch of highway that once bore his name. The provincial government changed the name in 2001. But to some people, it will always be "Ginger Goodwin Way." Stanley Cup British Columbians have been waiting since 1970 for the Vancouver Canucks to bring home the Stanley Cup. But if and when they do, the Canucks won't be the first BC team to win Lord Stanley's Mug. In 1915, the Vancouver Millionaires claimed the cup by defeating the Ottawa Senators on home ice. Home ice was Denman Arena—the first artificial ice surface in Canada...and at the time, the largest indoor rink in the world. It sat the corner of Denman and Georgia. In 1936, an explosion in nearby Coal Harbour burned the rink to the ground. Firefighters were worried the whole West End would go up in flames. By then the Vancouver Millionaires had long since folded. The Vancouver Canucks have had two unsuccessful runs for the cup. The 1982 series ended in a four game losing streak. The 1994 bid ended in a riot in Vancouver's West End. But the Stanley Cup has been to British Columbia at least a few times, thanks to folks like Burnaby Joe Sakic and Cranbrook's John Klemm and Brad Lukawich. In fact, the cup was paraded through downtown Cranbrook as recently as August 2007. Current NHL Champs, the Anaheim Ducks, were helped to victory by two BC-born brothers... Scott and Rob Neidermeyer. Now.. .if we could just get them to all play for the Canucks... Japanese Internment December 7, 1941. "A date which will live in infamy. The United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked." Japan attacks an American naval base.And the fate of 22,000 British Columbians of Japanese descent is changed forever. Federal cabinet minister Ian McKenzie pushes the Canadian government to take action. "It is the government's plan to get these people out of B.C. as BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 23 fast as possible. It is my personal intention, as long as I remain in public life, to see they never come back here. Let our slogan be for British Columbia: 'No Japs from the Rockies to the seas." In 1942, a 100 mile wide strip along the coast is designated a protected area. All Japanese-Canadians are told to pack a single suitcase and leave. They're sent to shantytowns, and work camps in British Columbia and Alberta. Most of their worldly possessions are left behind. The government sells every thing in public auctions... fishing boats, cars, homes...even the childrens' toys. After the war, Japanese-Canadians are given a choice...Settle east of the Rockies, or be deported to war-ravaged Japan. Most had never even been to the country. Public protest put an end to the deportations... but not before 4000 Japanese-Canadians fled the country. In 1949, Japanese-Canadians regain their freedom to live anywhere in Canada. Many return to the coast...but almost nothing is left of the lives they once had. The Government of Canada officially apologizes in 1988; "I speak for members on all sides of the house today in offering to Japanese Canadians the formal Japanese Language School, Alexander Street Vancouver. and sincere apology of this Parliament for those past injustices against them, against their families and against their heritage." BHanMulwney All surviving internees receive cheques $21,000. CBC News reported; "Amy Yamasaki is one of them. She and her husband and four boys were forced to live in a camp in British Columbia from 1942 -1946. She couldn't help crying as she watch the ceremony today. "This is the day.. .a great day for me.. .everything cleared up. Now I can put my face up and walk on the street or facing anyone. I am proud to be Canadian." Every year on BC Day weekend, the Japanese- Canadian community and their many friends return to what was once Japantown for the Powell Street Festival. It's a multi-generation celebration in Oppenheimer Park- just around the corner from the Japanese Language School...the only property that was returned to the community after the war. Riots British Columbia's history is laced with passion. We've been home to more than a few riots. For example: In April 1935, in the height of the depression, Vancouver mayor Gerry McGeer read the Riot Act in Victory Square when over 1500 disgruntled demonstrators marched up Granville Street. They were protesting conditions in Government Relief Camps around the province. A few months later, striking longshoremen and their supporters clashed with police in the "Battle of Ballyntyne Pier." Mounted police and tear gas chased protestors through the streets of East Vancouver. Later years brought the Rolling Stones Riot at Pacific Coliseum; the Regatta Riots on the streets of Kelowna; the Stanley Cup Riot in downtown Vancouver; the Gun n' Roses Riot at GM Place; and the so-called "Riot at Hyatt." That melee broke out when protestors converged at the Hyatt Hotel to heckle Prime Minister Chretien over 1997's APEC riot at UBC. One BC riot found a peaceful resolution... decades later. In 1907, the Asiatic Exclusion League led thousands of angry Vancouverites through Chinatown and Little Tokyo. They smashed windows while demanding a "White Canada." The labour-led mob was inspired by a similar riot, just days before in BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 nearby Bellingham. Their objective-drive Punjabi Sikhs out the lumber industry. The Vancouver riots were part of a long period of unofficial and official racism...from virtually banning Asian immigration in 1923 to interning Japanese-Canadians in World War Two. On September 7,2007-exactly 100 years later- -several hundred people from the Chinese, Japanese, South Asian, First Nations and the labour community gathered together for a Reconciliation Dinner in Chinatown. They were just footsteps away from the site of the riot. Broken glass has been replaced by newly built bridges. Expo 86 BC welcomed the world to Vancouver with Expo 86. And plenty of people accepted the invitation. Among them, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Vice-President George Bush Sr, and Jacques Cousteau. Over 22 million visitors came to the transportation-themed fair. They took in thousands of sights, including John Lennon's Rolls Royce, the monorail and the newly built Skytrain. But Expo wasn't without controversy. There were protests over the poor being evicted to make way for tourists. The first Expo boss was fired. And a festival of local independent music was cancelled when a "riot" broke out on opening night. It featured the band Slow, who at one point pulled their pants down. And we haven't been the same since. Many say Expo 86 put the province on the map and turned Vancouver into a world-class city. Perhaps if s coincidence, but Asian immigration rose in the years after Expo, and changed the city forever. The old Expo grounds have sprouted shiny new condos, kicking off a real estate boom. And we still have a Skytrain. Cougar Annie British Columbia has been home to many strong women...artist Emily Carr, suffragette Nelly McClung, and raging granny Betty Krawczyk. But Cougar Annie was one of the fiercest. She was born was Ada Annie Jordan. In 1915 she arrived at Boat Basin, a remote outpost in Northern Qayoquot sound. She had three small children and her opium-addict husband Willie Rae-Arthur in tow. She dragged him there to get away from the opium dens of Vancouver.. .and fell in love with the place. Annie single-handedly cleared 2 hectares of rainforest to create a mail order nursery, filled with hundreds of kinds of plants. Pity the cougars and bears who dared trespass on her beloved property. She killed dozens of them with her trusty rifle. Her husband wasn't quite as tough. He died in 1936—the year Cougar Annie opened the tiny Basin Boat post office. By the time she retired in the 1980s, she was the only customer left. In between, Annie outlived three more husbands. The first died of an accidental shotgun wound (not from Annie), the second one got pneumonia. The last one tried to run Annie off a cliff. But she chased him off the grounds with a shotgun. Ever the eagle eye, legend has it she was the first person to spot the Japanese sub that attacked the Estevan Point Lighthouse in World War Two. For nearly 70 years, Cougar Annie stood her ground on her remote homestead. Finally, ailing and nearly blind, she was moved to Port Alberni, where she died in 1985. She was almost 97 years old. These days, you can still visit Cougar Annie's garden. Ifs been restored to its former glory...and beyond. You need a boat or plane to get there...but you can leave the shotgun behind. • BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY • Vol. 41 No. 2 The Garrick's Head Saloon of Victoria, B.C. Token History By Ronald Greene The Garrick's Head Salon was another early Victoria pub that survived for quite a long time. Thomas Chadwick, formerly of the International Hotel, opened the Garrick's Head on Bastion Street on New Year's evening of 1868. The newspapers of the day advised that Chadwick had spared no expense in ornamenting his new premises, and that the saloon was one of the prettiest in the Colony.1 Three years later, Chadwick returned to the International Hotel and John Wilson took over the saloon on January 19,1871. Almost immediately Wilson started serving a lunch in the saloon. He was still listed as the proprietor in the 1882-83 B.C. Directory, but byl885 E. W. Spencer was operating the Garrick's Head Saloon. In 1894 a street number, i.e. 23 Bastion, was reported for the first time. RJ. Johnson took over the saloon on January 30, 1896 and remained the proprietor until June 14,1899 when the Garrick's Head was sold to Mike Powers, the former publican of the Brown Jug Saloon. In our article which appeared in British Columbia History Number 41-01, we noted that Mike Powers was murdered in October 1899. Harry Morton purchased the Garrick's Head Saloon from the estate and operated the saloon until selling it to J.B. Simpson on March 14, 1906. Simpson kept the saloon for two years when William Henry Bell took over. On March 10,1909 Arthur K. Vaughan took over the Garrick's Head and operated it until the beginning of 1914 when it ceased to exist due to the provincial legislation prohibiting saloons from operating except as part of an hotel. Vaughan had operated the Manhattan Saloon in Nelson until 1901, and then the Nelson House - a hotel also in Nelson ~ until May 1903, after which he moved to Victoria. For several years he had been a bartender at the Brown Jug Saloon. One old-timer in Victoria, H.S. Beckton, recalled that the Garrick's Head was one of the last pubs in Victoria to offer a free lunch.2 Returning to Harry ElHs Morton who ran the saloon from 1899 until 1906, we find that he was born in Sheffield, England, c. 1878. He was noted as the former lacrosse player when he purchased the Garrick's Head. He first was mentioned in the Victoria newspapers in July 1893 when he was arrested on a charge of attempted murder, arising out of an attack on the lacrosse field against L.A. Lewis, one of the Ron Greene is currently the president of the BC Historical Federation Garrick's Head Saloon, 1889. identified as, from left to right, W.Niffe, C. [E.W.?] Spencer and S. Green. McNiffe was the well-known proprietor of the nearby Grotto Saloon. BC Archives photo HP-12234 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Notes 1 Colonist, January 6,1868 p. 1 2 Interview with the author, 3 Colonist, July 19,1893 p. 8 4 Colonist, November 29,1894 p. 5 5 This was a distance of about 2 kilometres, a little over one mile. 6 Colonist, December 27,1897 p. 1 This was an incredible feat considering that the normal temperature of the water would be about 9°C and the winds were blowing against him as he swam out to the overturned sloop. 7 Colonist, June 17,1899, pages 1 and 3 8 British Columbia GR2951, Death Registration 1927-09-380516, microfilm B13130 players on the opposing side. One has to keep in mind that inter-city lacrosse was taken extremely seriously at the time and that the newspapers and citizens were extremely jingoistic, particularly where intercity rivalries were concerned. It seems that Morton struck Lewis twice on the head with his stick during a match in New Westminster and he was charged with attempted murder, which was later reduced to, 'assault with intent to do grievous harm,'3 and later committed for trial. The charges must have been dropped for there is no mention in the newspapers about an actual trial. In November 1894 he married Lydia Carter and the announcement mentioned that he was, "well known in lacrosse circles, both in British Columbia and in the East."4 At this time he was a clerk working for the Hudson's Bay Company. In April 1898 a son, Harry Sidney, was born. However, back-tracking just a little bit to Christmas Day of 1897, Harry Morton risked his life to save two local men from certain death in the local waters. Morton was living in Oak Bay at the time. Two men from the Chatham Island reserve, known as Old Man Waum and Tom, set off that morning in a fishing sloop from Oak Bay for Chatham Island. A wild southeaster was blowing and the sloop was carrying too much sail. The boom chanced to swing at the moment that a sudden squall hit and the two men were thrown into the water when the sloop capsized. Morton was one of the first to realize the problem from shore and on three separate occasions he tried to launch a boat without success. The overturned boat drifted towards Cadboro Bay Point and was about 100 yards offshore when Morton, who had run from his home to the point,5 arrived. He waded into the water and by hard swimming made to the sloop. He managed to get Old Waum to shore despite a great struggle in which he was badly cut and bruised by the rocks. Morton then turned around and similarly rescued the younger man. Needless to say the newspapers were high in Harry Morton's praise and recommended that his name be sent to the Royal Humane Society.6 Six months after the Oak Bay incident, in June 1898, Harry Morton headed north for the Klondike, and when he returned in June 1899 it was reported that, "A Victorian Happy. Harry Morton returns with Gold and Great Faith in the Klondike .. ."7 He brought back a bag of gold dust and nuggets which he stated were only samples from the several claims in which he was interested. It was also reported that he was the manager of the Boyle mill in addition to being a claim owner. His reason for coming out was the illness of his wife. A few months later he was the successful bidder for Mike Powers' Garrick Head Saloon and ran it until 1906. For several years the Morton family were missing from the local directories but reappeared in the 1912 living on Washington Avenue. After a short stint in the real estate business in 1913 - poor timing for the real estate bubble collapsed that year - Harry took over the Royal Oak Hotel. It failed with prohibition in 1917 and Harry Morton appears to have retired. His obituary reported that he had also been associated with the Oak Bay Hotel and the Anglo-American Club. He died July 31,1927 at the age of 59.8 Lydia Morton survived her husband by 28 years. • BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 27 Archives and Archivists Submitted by Lynne Waller, City of Richmond Archives Fishing Industry Records at the City of Richmond Archives Edited by SyMa Stopforth, Librarian and Archivist, Norma Marian Alloway Library, Trinity Western University As a municipal Archives our mandate, as stated in Corporate Records Bylaw 7400, is to acquire and provide access to government records and community records that reflect the social, political and economic life of the City of Richmond. The commercial fishing industry has been central to Richmond's development. The first Fraser River canneries were being established around the time of Richmond's incorporation in 1879. B.C. Packers' corporate head office was moved from Vancouver to Steveston in 1968, a reflection of the role this Richmond neighbourhood played as home to the largest fishing fleet in the province and a centre for the processing of salmon. So, while the mandate of the City of Richmond Archives is local, the fishing industry has provided us with archival holdings that have provincial significance. Last fall the City of Richmond Archives announced in this Journal the online publication of Volume 1 of the Henry Barker Letter Books. A few months later Volume 2 was published as well. Compiled between 1905 and 1926, the books consist of the outgoing correspondence of W.H. Barker, an early general manager of the British Columbia Packers' Association. Find both volumes of the Barker Letter Books at http:// www.richmond.ca / cityhall / archives / exhibits/barkerletterbooks.htrn. We have also just published a new virtual exhibit which introduces the photographs and maps from British Columbia Packers Limited insurance records. As the British Columbia Packing Association, and later as B.C. Packers Limited, the company joined other major salmon packers, such as Canadian Fishing Company and Nelson Brothers Fisheries, in establishing major canneries, storage facilities, and fishing boat shipyards in Richmond and up and down the B.C. coast. This exhibit, available at http: / /www.richmond.ca/ cityhall/archives/exhibits/ bcpackersinsurancephotosandmaps. htm was made possible by grant funds from the Irving K. Barber British Columbia History Digitization : *««*%.* Project, and the Friends of the Richmond *t Archives. In addition to the records of B.C. Packers Limited, a large number of fishing boat J| photographs have been acquired from other sources by the City of Richmond Archives. An online search using the term "fishing boats" brings a result set of 2,631 photos. And there are more in the stacks, as yet unscanned. The major contributor was Graham Elliston, a former UBC librarian whose hobby was taking photographs of wooden fishing boats. We are fortunate that his family donated his more than 2,400 slides to the City. These have been digitized and published online as a complete set. They can be accessed by boat name, or by looking in the All Records Search, Community Records, for the Graham Elliston Photograph Collection. Photo Search - http:/ /www. richmond.ca / cityhall / archives / search/photos.htm All Records Search - http://www, richmond.ca / cityhall / archives / search / media.htm BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 The table seiner Gospak at Namu, 1948. [opposite page] City of Richmond Archives Photograph 2001 34 9-383 Graham Elliston photo - Drum Seiner C.E Todd in Steveston Harbour. [above] City of Richmond Archives, Graham Elliston photograph 1999 6 311 (6W311.jpg) Map of Claxton Cannery, Skeena River, British Columbia Packers Limited, 1945. [opposite page] City of Richmond Archives map number 2001 34 3-263 All images courtesy of the City of Richmond Archives: In our last issue the Archives and Archivist column about Library and Archives Canada written by Jana Buhlmann, Archivist, Pacific Regional Service Centre, Library and Archives Canada was wrongly attributed to Arilea Sill, of the City of Burnaby Archives (sharp readers will recognize she had contributed to the previous issue) and not to the correct author. Our apologies to Jana Buhlmann for the error which was caused by a minor computer crash just before the issue went to press. The column was one of the last items completed before it went to our proofreaders and it's an error they couldn't be expected to catch. A corrected version will appear in the online pdf file available on our website. And an apology to Ken McLeod, his excellent article on Mart Kenny had another author listed in the contents page. That's the editor being distracted during layout and forgetting to double check his work. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Book Reviews Salt Chuck Stories from Vancouver Island's West Coast. Eleanor Witton Hancock. Kamloops, B.C., Partners in Publishing, 2006.128p., illus. $17.95 paperback. Nootka Island fits snugly into an indent off the central west coast of Vancouver Island. The island was the focus of European activity in Nootka Sound after initial contact between the Mowachaht people and Captain James Cook in 1778 at Yuquot, or Friendly Cove. It soon became an important port in the international fur trade. But by the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s that was long over, and other industries had begun to develop. Settlers started spreading to Vancouver Island, building communities at the heads of nearby Zeballos, Tahsis and Muchalat inlets, attracted by a gold boom and logging. It is the lives of these people that are the focus of Eleanor Hancock's book Salt Chuck Stories from Vancouver Island's West Coast. Hancock writes in the introduction that an interest in the 1938 Zeballos gold rush sparked the research that led to the book, but she rolls back to the decade before that to begin her account. She starts in 1922 with the arrival of John Perry, a Latvian still feeling the effects of years of war in Europe. John joined his brother, Peter, to work a homestead on Nootka Island and later Tahsis, embarking on a new and sometimes lonely life. Hancock also gives a welcome view into life in the late 1930s from a female perspective. Eva Benjamin worked various jobs in Zeballos during the gold boom and was independent-minded enough to live with a man before marrying him, enduring snubs from neighbors for it. Books for review and book reviews should be sent to: Frances Gundry, Book Review Editor, BC Historical News, P.O. Box 5254, Station B., Victoria, BC V8R 6N4 Rebecca McPhee, a well-educated nurse who had worked in hospitals in New York and Vancouver, arrived in Kyuquot in 1937 to open a Red Cross outpost hospital there. The nearest doctor was several hours away by boat and within days she had proved her worth, saving a man's life. Men were also attracted to the area in the late 1930s. Alder Bloom, a carpenter from the prairies, managed to get work constructing parts of an export sawmill on Nootka, even though locals resented him, viewing him as a farmer who had come to take jobs from coastal people. Nevertheless, he stayed on through World War EL The last chapter belongs to Andy Morod, who Hancock describes as Nootka Sound's "best-known trapper/prospector/ environmentalist." Morod arrived in the area in 1932 after being offered a job with a trapper. His introduction to the area was dramatic though, and within a few days he was on his own. He would stay that way for the rest of his life, working his trap-lines and gold claims with extreme self-sufficiency. Throughout, Hancock carefully documents her sources, providing a reference list at the end of each chapter. Within each chapter, she packs in extra details through side-bars about events and people of the time. The additional information is welcome, though in the first chapter the many sidebars can be a bit distracting. The book also contains more than 60 black-and- white photographs. Hancock grew up in Zeballos and her respect and fondness for the people she profiles come through clearly. Salt Chuck Stories is both a solid account of those who made the northwest coast of Vancouver Island their home in the first half of the 20th century, and a sincere tribute. Connie Kretz is a freelance writer based in Campbell River. UtJtflation Ooun^ Desolation Sound: a history Heather Harbord. Madeira Park, B.C., Harbour Publishing Co., 2007. 256 p., illus. $24.95paperback. Desolation Sound for most people conjures up dreams of sailing boats drifting idyUically along with snow capped mountains in the distance. For the summer months this is indeed the vision of quiet beauty that is experienced by many over the years. Heather Harbord brings us this vision but also something else, namely, a local history outlining the hard scrabble life of those pioneers on the coast who settled in small pockets in many bays and inlets now deserted with only the remains of farms with perhaps old apple trees and vestiges of fencing. She outlines the general geographic and natural history of the area as well as a very full chapter on the First Nations people of the Sound especially Chief Joe Mitchell of the Sliammon who provided the author with a sense of belonging to the land. Tribute is paid to Captain Vancouver who for his part was unimpressed with the landscape in spite of extensive exploration of the region. EvenM. WylieBlanchefs classic journey The Curve of Time is documented to give the reader an appreciation of the lure of the region. Every Island in the Sound is noted with the settlements and stories of the pioneer families that spanned the years from the 1890's, fishing and farming in the 1920's, to the hippy colonies of the 1960's to the present. Many of the early folk had neither money nor skills and hence eked out a living with part time logging and small farms. For some, the result was murder and madness; others displayed amazing resilience. Later 30 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 visitors included an influx of the famous and wealthy plus those trying to make a living from oyster farming who are now at odds with neighbours and visitors. These stories have come from the people themselves gathered by Harbord over the years. This all inclusive approach often leads to an uneven read as it is hard to place all the people and events in any sequence and spontaneity is lost in the need to record everything. This book grew out of articles that Harbord wrote for the magazine Pacific Yachting and were not hindered by such restrictions and were a lively accounts. The book will appeal to those new to BC Coast history and especially summer travelers to Desolation Sound whether they come by sailboat, kayak, or mini cruise ship. There is an excellent list of all the pioneers and where they lived in the region, a thorough bibliography, extensive index, and even a pronunciation guide at the end of the book. Heather Harbord is to be commended for taking the time, energy, and effort to document a segment of vanishing British Columbia history. Sue Baptie, retired Archivist for the City of Vancouver, spends her summers sailing on the B.C. coast. Following the Curve of Time: the Legendary M. Wyiie Blanchet Cathy Converse. Surrey, B.C., TouchWood Editions, 2008. 208p, illus. $24.95 hardbound. It is probably safe to say that M. Wylie Blanchefs 1961 classic The Curve of Time is unanimously acclaimed as the finest of British Columbia coastal cruising stories. In addition to Mrs. Blanchefs superb writing, her book has been of unusual interest for two other reasons. The first is that, in the 1920s and 1930s, a woman skippering her own boat alone (with her young children) in the remoter stretches of our coast was a phenomenon without precedent. The second is a point of enormous historic importance: 'Capi' Blanchet visited and photographed dozens of First Nations villages at their final moment of existence in original form, before their absorption into "whiteman" culture. Yet the book left subsequent generations of readers unsatisfied in a way that Cathy Converse has identified - and remedied - in her present work, Following the Curve of Time. Of the adventurous Capi Blanchet and her children Converse notes that "they have been pressed between the pages of The Curve of Time for the last forty- six years and have remained in a state of permanent stasis for readers." What was the broader framework of their lives, and what became of them all? From a variety of archival sources and from interviews with Capi Blanchefs surviving friends and relatives, Converse has drawn a very complete picture of Blanchefs life and times. At last we get to know the historic small-boat explorer from her nineteenth century childhood in Quebec, through the troubled years following her young husband's drowning in British Columbia and into her post-cruising years in Sidney, B.C. Cathy Converse, a sailing person herself, has revisited most of the coastal territory that Blanchet described, and has identified many of the headlands, islands, coves and anchorages whose locations were left somewhat ambiguous in the original narrative. Her eyewitness descriptions form the basis for a dramatic contrast between these places in the 1920s and their twenty-first century appearance. Perhaps the most exciting feature of Following the Curve of Time is its album of 87 historic photos, most of them by Capi Blanchet herself. Here are candid pictures of Capi at every stage of her life and, even more importantly, photographs of everything that she saw on her voyages. The First Nations villages that Blanchet found, still occupied for a final few years in their original cultural style, are here displayed in a gallery of clear, vivid sepia-toned snapshots from the past. What Capi Blanchet encountered was a coastal landscape of traditional longhouses, totems, treetop burial boxes and dancers in ritual masks, Among the sources of these historic photos one relative especially, Blanchefs daughter-in-law Janet, proved to be a treasure-trove of images left behind by the voyaging photographer. To anyone with an interest in the British Columbia coast as it was in the 1920s and to all of us whose reading and rereading of that original adventure classic left a lingering desire for more details Following the Curve of Time is a revelatory book. All the questions have been answered and all our curiosity satisfied. Cathy Converse has done a marvelous piece of research. Philip Teece, a retired librarian, sails among and writes about his own favorite coastal islands Emily Carr Lewis DeSoto, Toronto, Ontario, Penguin Canada, 2008. 185 p.. (Extraordinary Canadians series). $26.00 hardback. Many detailed portraits of Emily Carr have been published, predominantly by female British Columbians. In addition, Carr wrote three books about her own life before she died in 1945 and publications of her journals and letters have come out since. And so male writer and artist Lewis BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 DeSoto, born in South Africa and now living in Toronto, has the daunting task of offering readers a fresh perspective. Fortunately, DeSoto's story of BC's best known artist is not only suitable as a primer for those unfamiliar with Carr, but will also engage her most avid followers. DeSoto is among 18 authors selected and paired with an 'Extraordinary Canadian' as part of a series edited by John Ralston Saul. "Each one of these people has changed you," Saul asserts in the book's brief forward where he also praises Carr's fiercely won originality. Carr would approve of DeSoto's direct language and short, concise chapters. Jody Hewgill's cover portrait of a mature Emily, drawn with bold forms and bright green and blue colors, also captures Carr's spirit. The book starts out as a linear story of Carr's early years growing up in Victoria in the 1870s and 1880s but eventually moves to more thematic stories as DeSoto explores the various facets and controversies of Carr's life and work. The chapter entitled "The loves of Emily" is one such 'theme' chapter in which DeSoto addresses Carr's status as a single woman with empathy and insight. When Carr turned down her final suitor at age 28, DeSoto observes, "Love for Emily would never again be erotic." And in one of many crucial turning points for Carr: "By choosing art over marriage, she made a momentous decision." Carr wasn't a feminist, though suffragettes were within Carr's social sphere. This was partly because she wasn't inclined toward politics and ideas, DeSoto suggests. Nor did she shun male company. In fact, she had influential and caring male friends. There are other crucial turning points in Carr's life, duly underscored by DeSoto, including Carr's emotional break from her father, her nervous breakdown and her eventual recognition as 'a distinctive Canadian artisf when, at age 68, four of her paintings were exhibited in London, England, in 1939. DeSoto also weighs in on the "cultural appropriation" question in regard to Carr's relations and portrayals among First Nations people. In some respects, with hindsight, Carr is 'guilty as charged' DeSoto believes, but ultimately her artistic interpretations of Native images are a homage, not exploitation. He also weighs in on the popular view of Carr as 'rejected and isolated.' He lists her many 'oddities', among them, smoking cigarettes, using strong language, playing cards, riding a horse astride and keeping a pet monkey. But he is unconvinced and seeks to prove she led anything but a lonely, socially unconnected life. DeSoto concludes with a description of his walk to Carr's humble gravesite in Victoria and muses over her mythic-like journey, with its obstacles and triumphs. He leaves the reader with a deeper appreciation and understanding of Carr and the landscape she depicted with such devotion. Janet Nicol is a Vancouver teacher and writer Kamloops History: Fictions, Facts and Fragments Wayne Norton. Vancouver, B.C., Plateau Press, 2007, 112 p., illus. $16.95paperback. In the Forward to his latest book, Wayne Norton admits that it is really no more than a reflection of his own interests in Kamloops history - "popular culture, politics and Tranquille". It is indeed a curious mixture of local history, collectables and political biography and, other than its focus on Kamloops history, the seven individual sections have little in common. Nevertheless, even without an overall theme or subject "Kamloops History: Fictions, Facts and Fragments" has some very enjoyable parts. Norton starts with "First Impressions" a survey of written impression by visitors, journalists and writers to Kamloops from the 1880s to today. The views of many travelers are summarized but, unfortunately, he starts after the arrival of the railway in 1885 and omits earlier writers such as Dr. Cheadle and Lieutenant Mayne who left vivid accounts. In addition, Norton concludes that there was relatively little photography of Kamloops done by visitors, but the Kamloops Archives has many views of the growing town and the confluence of the two rivers with Mounts Paul and Peter. The magnificent photograph by Benjamin Baltzly in 1871, that graces the first volume of Mary Balf's Kamloops: A History of the District up to 1914, is only the first of many. In his section "Postcards from the Past", Norton includes a sampling of postcards, including a coloured rendering of the Stockman's Hotel from the 1960s which he calls surreal but which is a fine example of an architectural drawing of its day. This section and the one on Kamloops Collectables are somewhat arbitrary selections of ephemera and memorabilia relating to Kamloops, however, Norton includes a page of buttons which represent the various, sometimes desperate, attempts by the local Chamber of Commerce to market the city. Kami, the gun-toting trout, and Spoolmak Days are the stuff of further study! In "Spencer and Miner" Norton turns his pen to discussing the legend of Bill Miner and the myth of his relationship with Mary Spencer, the photographer. While he's wrong to write that Spencer was the first woman photographer in the British Empire to take official photographs of individuals accused of crime ~ Hannah Maynard was the official photographer for the Victoria Police Department from 1887-1902 - Norton is right that she is the author of an iconic image. When I opened my hydro bill this month there was Spencer's portrait of Bill BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Miner, along with Emily Carr and Ross Rebagliati, helping to promote B.C.'sl50 anniversary. Other sections deal with the May Queens of Kamloops, Tranquille Sanatorium and brief biographies of Phil Gaglardi and Nelson Riis. For anyone wanting a taste of the fascinating history of Kamloops, this book is a good introduction. Leslie Mobbs, City Archivist, City of Vancouver Archives, began his archival career at the Kamloops Museum and Archives. The Man Who Saved Vancouver: Major James Skitt Matthews. Daphne Sleigh. Surrey, BC: Heritage House, 2008. 224 p., illus. $19.95softcover. Author Daphne Sleigh became intrigued with Major Matthews while researching another book project and, as quoted in the City of Vancouver Archives Newsletter, she discerned a "genuine depth of character in the Major that was different from the usual portrayals of him as gruff and surly, and that warranted being brought to light." She was convinced he "was both a true visionary, and....long undervalued for his achievements." In this book, she firmly establishes Matthews in place with a biography of his life - his family, moves, and occupations. For the many historians who knew Matthews, and those who have only heard of him, the first part of this book provides the background required to explain how he became the character that is most often recalled. The second part of the book sheds light on the establishment of the City of Vancouver Archives, its relationship with the Provincial Archives, and the eventual realization of Matthews' vision. Sir Hilary Jenkinson, the British archival authority, has explained that archives are not brought together or kept for historical reasons. They are the natural product of the activities of an administration and are used, after the fact, by historians often for purposes quite different from the original intent. As an archivist, I wonder why the acquisition and preservation of the documents created in the course of business in government, societies, companies, or even individual lives, takes such low priority while museums are established and funded quite readily. Granted, records management and archival science as independent subjects were really only recognized in the 20th century. But, thanks to people such as Major Matthews who took on collecting and protecting material that had not yet been identified as historical by its authors, huge accumulations of public and private records of great antiquity have survived. After many years of lobbying and, generally making a nuisance of himself, he managed to convince the City of Vancouver to establish an archives. He also collected and donated artefacts and relevant material to the Vancouver Museum which was established in 1894. The career of James Skitt Matthews was not consistently productive and, although he established himself in 1929 as the unofficial archivist for the City of Vancouver, the administration did not appoint him to that position until 1933. Much of the archival material in the first City Archives was what he had collected in the basement of his home, including thousands of photographs of local sights and buildings, which he would use to write over 40 publications on the early history of Vancouver. Matthews did not have any professional qualifications, academic or practical, for being an archivist. He was a natural historian with a passion for collecting. He was also fortunate in having a patient wife who put up with the chaos he must have created in their home, and assistants who ably kept order once the archival material was transferred to its first location in the attic of the Public Library. Matthews not only saw the value in the history of his adopted place of residence, but went about making his own records of that history. An example is Matthews' reaction to the announcement of the armistice on November 11, 1918, which "electrified Vancouver and brought forth an incredible mass rejoicing." He observed some of the festivities from his bedroom window, then "got up, and recorded for the benefit of those who follow me, the first impressions of one mind at the receipt of the news that the greatest of all wars had ended," the text of which was later published in his two- volume Early Vancouver. Major Matthews remained the city archivist until his death in 1970, just two years before the City erected an Archives building to commemorate the 1971 centennial of British Columbia's entry into Confederation. The current holdings of the City of Vancouver Archives, including the J. S. Matthews Collection, comprise over two linear kilometres of textual records, 1.5 million photographic images, and hundreds of audio recordings and moving images that date back to Vancouver's incorporation in 1886. The staff includes nine professional archivists and conservators. Deidre Simmons, a Victoria archivist, recently published Keepers of the Record: the history of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY ■ Vol. 41 No. 2 33 Chewassen, Tsawwassen or Chiltinm: the land facing the sea. Gwen Szychter, paperback, illus, 181 p. Self published by Gwen Szychter, Delta, B.C., 2007. $40.00 (available from G. Szychter, 5122 - 44th Avenue, Delta, BC V4K1C3) When I saw the title of this book, I thought it was about the Tsawwassen First Nation. It isn't. Author Gwen Szychter documents the nonaboriginal settlers of Tsawwassen between the 1870's and the completion of the George Massey Tunnel in 1959. She doesn't write about the Tsawwassen First Nation because she lacks anthropological training and believes that band members should write their own history. She omits content about neighboring Point Roberts, Washington, to manage the size of the book. The 1959 cutoff presumably excludes residents who use Tsawwassen as a bedroom community, but pursue livelihoods elsewhere. I'm not convinced that these decisions further the author's goal of documenting "what it took to create a community here, the UTiderpinnings of the Tsawwassen of today" (p. 6). Proximity to a large and vibrant aboriginal cornmunity, being a border town, and dilution of the agricultural culture were significant factors in building the town of today. Thebookis organized like a guidebook, describing points of interest along your tour. Beginning at the intersection of 56th Street and 12th Avenue, Szychter takes readers south to the border, back to the intersection of 56th and 12th, then west on 56th. Subsequent sections ask the reader to "Continue South", "Turn Right and Travel Westward along 8A Avenue", and so on. This makes sense if you are in Tsawwassen and walking, biking, or driving along the route she has mapped out, or have spent enough time there to understand where you are. Otherwise, it is confusing. The lack of a map is frustrating. The book assumes familiarity with the community. Once I realized that this is a book for "insiders", however, I began to appreciate it more. Szychter created a document that feels like a very big scrapbook, full of photos, renviniscences, and historical background about a small farming community/border town. If s more descriptive than narrative, as though the town archives have been annotated with personal details and made available to readers in the comfort of their own favorite reading place. One feature that I like and hope to see more frequently in local histories is an extensive index that consists primarily of names. I'm convinced that many people pick up a local history seeking information about someone they know and will probably purchase the book if they find a reference to a family member or friend. This book makes it easy to find exactly that information. While I think the book has limited appeal for anyone who does not have a connection with Tsawwassen, it functions well as a reference book for that community. I hope that Szychter expands her efforts and publishes more details of Tsawwassen's past. Susan Stacey writes and reviews from Richmond, B.C. Books of interest which may be reviewed at a later date Beyond the Chilcotin: on the home ranch with Pan Phillips. Diana Phiullips. Madeira Park, B.C., Harbour Publishing, 2008. 304p. $34.95 hardcover. Citizen Docker: Making a New Deal on the Vancouver waterfront, 1919-1939. Andrew Parnaby. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2008,304p., illus. $27.95 paperback; $65.00 hardcover. Captain Alex MacLean: Jack London's Sea Wolf. Don MacGillivray. Vancouver, U.B.C. Press, 2008. 376 p. $85.00 hardcover. Corresponding influence: selected letters of Emily Carr and Ira Dilworth. Linda Morra, ed. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2006. New in paperback, 2008, $34.95. Culinary landmarks: a bibliography of Canadian cookbooks, 1825-1949. Elizabeth Driver. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2008. 1008p., illus. $185.00 hardcover. (Bibliography includes section on British Columbia). Early in the season: a British Columbia journal. Edward Hoagland. Vancouver, Douglas ft Mclntyre, 2008. 176p., map. $24.99hardcover. Landing Native fisheries: Indian reserves and fishing rights in British Columbia, 1849-1925. Douglas C. Harris. Vancouver, U.B.C. Press, 2008. 256 p. $85.00 hardcover S'abadeb - the gifts: Pacific Coast Salish art and artists. Barbara Brotherton. Vancouver, Douglas & Mclntyre, 2008. 240 p. illus. Spirit of the Nikkei fleet: BC's Japanese Canadian fishermen. Masako Fukawa & Stanley Fukawa. Madeira Park, B.C., Harbour Publishing, 2008. 208 p. $39.95 hardback. Tidal passages: a history of the Discovery Islands Jeanette Taylor. Madeira Park, B.C., Harbour Publishing, 2008. 400p. $36.95 hardback. Tragedy at Second Narrows: the story of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. Eric Jamieson. Madeira Park, B.C., Harbour Publishing, 2008. 272 p. $32.95 hardback. 34 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Miscellany UBC digitization program provides instant global access to B.C. heritage Electronic collections featuring community newspapers, B.C. history, fossil specimens, medical artifacts and works by renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman will all be a mouse click away, thanks to a community initiative from the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia. Such projects are among the 21 finalists selected by the Learning Centre's British Columbia History Digitization Program. Launched in 2006, the digitization program provides funds to make B.C. heritage accessible to the public. Original and historical documents - including images, sound or print materials such as books and documents - are scanned and converted into digital files that can be viewed or heard on a computer. Already available online are links to the 2007 digitization projects, which include newspapers, Indo-Canadian oral history, Salt Spring Island photos and audiotapes, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs history and Vancouver city directories from 1860-1901. Find these links and other project descriptions at: www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/ ps/2007Projects.html "By doing this we're giving British Columbians and people around the world instant access to the historical and other treasures of this province," says Chris Hives, University Archivist. "We've been getting excellent feedback from various heritage communities about the leadership role the Learning Centre is providing through digitization." The 2008 projects should be completed and ready for free online viewing within a year. Similar to 2007, a large number of this year's projects also involve digitizing community newspapers, among them publications from Surrey, Prince George, the Cariboo, the Vanderhoof area and Vernon. Photographic collections also figure prominently. For example, one project involves the digitization of 3,200 slides illustrating the artistic, environmental and family aspects of Canadian wildlife painter Robert Bateman. Other collections to be digitized include early photographs of Bowen Island and Prince George, along with images of expeditions to northern B.C. in the early 20th century. Additional efforts include the digitization of medical artifacts, three- dimensional fossil specimens, multimedia theatre archives, provincial flora and more. The British Columbia History Digitization Program supports the goals of the Learning Centre - named in honour of Irving K. Barber, who donated more than $20 million to develop the facility - to provide lifelong learning opportunities for the people of British Columbia. The digitization program provides up to $200,000 in overall annual matching funds. The program provides three funding categories for organizations involved with the preservation of historical provincial W. Kaye Lamb Essay Scholarships The winners of the 2008 W. Kaye Lamb Essay Scholarships are: 1st and 2nd year - Jeremy Buddenhagen, "The Evolution of Security Intelligence in British Columbia, 1820-1900," $750.00. 3rd and 4th year - Jennifer Cador, "Spiritual Designer: Emily Carr, Religious Innovation and the Boundaries of Society," $1,000.00. Jeremy Buddenhagen attended Camosun College and Jennifer Cador attended the University of Victoria. Marie Elliott Scholarship Committee material, such as libraries, archives, museums, post-secondary institutions and community groups. The next round of program applications will begin in mid-December. For more information, see www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/ps/ BCDigitInfo.html. Glenn Drexhage Communications Officer UBC Library/Irving K. Barber Learning Centre Parks Canada offers training Parks Canada will offer a training course on the Conservation of Log Structures near Edmonton, Alberta on October 21 - 23, 2008. Historic log structures constitute some of the most significant heritage resources in Canada, the United States and throughout the world. History has shown that they are also among the most vulnerable to deterioration and to treatment by inappropriate conservation materials and methods. This workshop will provide solid training in the accepted standards and guidelines for the conservation of log buildings and the application of Cultural Resource Management to ensure the commemorative integrity of these resources. Classroom sessions, field exercises and hands-on demonstrations will be used to teach craft-based remedial treatments. Instructors for the course are Kym Terry, Supervisor, Restoration Workshop, Parks Canada, Winnipeg and Larry Pearson and Tom Ward, Alberta Culture and Community Spirit. The fee of $150 fee includes course fee, refreshment breaks and lunches and a reference workbook. There is no charge for representatives of National Historic Sites not owned by the federal government or for employees of Parks Canada. For further information, please contact: heritage.workshops@pc.gc.ca or (204) 984 5821. BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 35 New Publication from the British Columbia Historical Federation Celebrates BC's 150th BritishC0^ft0riCal Federation Spe da» edition celebrating BC'siSOth birthday j ' ,56^978^5^119; 692113-1-4 Windows to our past A pictorial history of British Columbia i To celebrate British Columb Historical Federation*!^ postcards^andjffilges-fro^ pktor iSt^0b\y of Britisl tage booklet with 117 30 Windows to our Past - A This excit«§i«^ialion has many historic pictures ^^^P^^ ^if^fette^sfcdtmusju^yi^^^^^^^^ The Federat^^^, ||ps%lea^y^^^^^Ry^^^^^wW^^^^seen the Ijj^pfcs'and inforrria"fion,;featarea^^ l^niajc^s^^ptiori to a library, resource for researchers and an. -interesting glimpse of British Columbia's colorful lw$|i||i Priced at $5.50, which includes mailing to any address inXanada ($6.50 to U.S.A. and $8.50 to other countries) you might like to have a copy for your collection, donate a copy to your local or high school library. Residents of your local seniors' homes would love to reminisce about some of the events featured in this publication. If you wish to include a ,^note to the recipient, include it with your order and we will enclose it wiin Windows/to our Past when mailing. Send your onler and cheque to BC Historical Federation, PO Box #3006, Richfnond, B.C. V7E 6K4. For additional information contact RorfHyde at newsletter@bchistory.ca BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORY - Vol. 41 No. 2 Lakeview Hotel, Williams Lake, 1934 a i i life .•is For more great Images of BC don't forget to order a copy of Windows to Our past. See page two of this issue for more information. The British Columbia Historical Federation has been working since 1922 with historical sites, societies, groups, museums, archives, etc. throughout British Columbia preserving and promoting British Columbia's history. The British Columbia Historical Federation is an umbrella organization embracing a variety of membership classes. • Member Societies: Local and regional historical societies with objectives consistent with those of the Federation. All dues paying members of the local or regional society shall be ipso facto members of the Federation. • Affiliated Members: Groups, organizations and institutions without dues paying members with specialized interests or objectives of a historical nature. • Associate Members: Individuals may become members of the Federation. • Corporate Members: Companies are entitled to become members of the Federation. Annual Membership Dues • Member Societies: one dollar per member with a minimum membership fee of $25 and a maximum of $75, including a subscription to the Federation's journal and newsletter; • Affiliated Members: $35, receive the Federation's journal and newsletter • Associate Members: $35, receive the Federation's journal and newsletter • Corporate Members: $100, receive the Federation's journal and newsletter For further information about memberships, contact Ron Hyde - Membership Chair BC Historical Federation, PO Box 63006, Richmond, B.C. V7E 6K4. Phone 604-277-2627 email membership@bchistorv.ca Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to Circulation Department. British Columbia Historical News Alice Marwood, 211 -14981 -101A Avenue Surrey, B C V3R 0T1 Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40025793 Publications Mail registration No. 09835 602 6/2xxP1(N) UBC LIBRARY, CENTRAL SERIALS PO BOX 2119 STN TERMINAL VANCOUVER BC V6B 3T5 v^cLFlclClcl We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance program (PAP), toward our mailing cost Contact Us: British Columbia History welcomes stories, studies, and news items dealing with any aspect of the history of British Columbia, and British Columbians. Please submit manuscripts for publication to the Editor, British Columbia History, John Atkin, 921 Princess Avenue, Vancouver BC V6A 3E8 e-mail: bcheditor@bchistorv.ca Book reviews for British Columbia History, Frances Gundry, Book Review Editor, BC Historical News, P.O. Box 5254, Station B., Victoria, BC V8R 6N4 e-mail: reviews@bchistorv.ca Subscription & subscription information: Alice Marwood 211 -14981 -101A Avenue Surrey, B C V3R 0T1 Phone 604-582-1548 email subscriptions@bchistorv.ca Subscriptions: $18.00 per year For addresses outside Canada add $10.00 f""**i The Annual Competition for Writers of BC History Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing Deadline: 31 December 2008 The British Columbia Historical Federation invites book submissions for their annual Competition for Writers of BC History. Books representing any facet of BC history, published in 2008 will be considered by the judges who are looking for quality presentations and fresh material. Community histories, biographies, records of a project or organization as well as personal reflections, etc. are eligible for consideration. Reprints or revisions of books are not eligible. t Lieutenant-Governor's Medal The Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing will be awarded to an individual writer whose book contributes significantly to the history of British Columbia. Additional prizes may be awarded to other books at the discretion of the judges. Publicity All entries receive considerable publicity. Winners will receive a Certificate of Merit, a monetary award and an invitation to the Awards Banquet of the Federation's annual conference. Submissions For mailing instructions please contact: Barb Hynek, Chair/Judge of the BCHF Book Competition 2477 140th Street, Surrey, B.C. V4P 2C5 Email: bhynek@telus.net Phone:604.535.9090 Books entered become property of the BC Historical Federation. By submitting books for this competition, authors agree that the British Columbia Historical Federation may use their names in press releases and Federation publications regarding the book competition.
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.
Periodicals
English
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Victoria : British Columbia Historical Federation
Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the British Columbia Historical Association (info@bchistory.ca).
British Columbia--History
Text