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Title: Pageant of B.C.: Glimpses into the romantic
   development of Canada's far western province.
Author: McKelvie, Bruce Alistair (1889-1960)
Date of first publication: 1955
Edition used as base for this ebook:
   [Toronto]: Thomas Nelson, undated
Date first posted: 30 January 2017
Date last updated: 30 January 2017
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #1396

This ebook was produced by Al Haines


PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Because of copyright considerations, the illustrations by
Frank Newfeld have been omitted from this ebook.

Italics in the original printed edition are indicated _thus_.

As part of the conversion of the book to its new digital
format, we have made certain minor adjustments in its layout.






  PAGEANT OF
  B.C.

  GLIMPSES INTO THE ROMANTIC DEVELOPMENT
  OF CANADA'S FAR WESTERN PROVINCE



  B. A. McKELVIE



  THOMAS NELSON & SONS (CANADA) LIMITED




  _Printed in Canada
  in 11 point Baskerville type
  by The Hunter Rose Co. Limited
  Toronto, Ontario_




  TO KATE, MY WIFE,
  WITHOUT WHOSE HELP, TOLERANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT,
  THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.




  By B. A. McKelvie

  Tales of Conflict
  Fort Langley, Outpost of Empire
  Black Canyon
  Maquinna the Magnificent
  Pelts and Powder
  Huldowget




_PREFACE_

_The history of the Pacific Slope of Canada is not parochial.  Its
contacts have been with many lands and peoples._

_The present work is composed of more than one hundred incidents and
phases of that history, arranged chronologically.  There has been no
attempt to write a formal history, but rather to select a few of the
thousands of colourful happenings which have contributed to the
romantic story of British Columbia.  It has been said that "the
inspirational records of the past form the background of citizenship."
It is in keeping with this truism that the "Pageant of B.C." is offered
to the public._

_These stories first appeared in serial form in The Vancouver Daily
Province, between February 1953 and March 1955, and it is with the kind
permission of the Publisher of that great newspaper that they now
appear in book form._

_Preparation of the different narratives has extended over a long
period of time, and required careful research.  In this work the
assistance of many is gratefully acknowledged, and more especially Dr.
W. Kaye Lamb, Dominion Archivist; Willard E. Ireland, B.C. Archivist
and his capable staff; Mrs. J. H. Hamilton, nee Madge Wolfenden, former
Assistant B.C. Archivist; Miss Margery Holmes, former Assistant
Librarian, Provincial Library, Victoria, B.C.; deep appreciation is
expressed of the unfailing courtesy of the Governor and Committee of
the Hudson's Bay Company for many favours, and especially for
information relative to happenings at forts St. John, St. James, Fraser
and George._

_Similarly, thanks are tendered to the Massachusetts Historical Society
which so kindly assisted me in respect to the voyages of the 'Columbia'
to the West Coast in 1789-1792.  The Society also put me in touch with
Dr. Gray Twombley of New York, owner of the picture of Fort Defiance
made on the scene by artist George Davidson.  To Dr. Twombley I am
indebted for permission to reproduce the sketch.  To such fine pioneers
as Matt Crawford, who personally assisted in the making of Canada's
Pacific Province, and who made their experiences available for the
record, I also want to pay tribute.  Mr. Crawford, the last survivor of
the little group present when the last spike on the C.P.R.  was driven
at Craigellachie, dictated his recollections of that day shortly before
his passing._

_There is one other acknowledgement that I wish to make, and with a
grateful heart.  It is to H. G. Grieve, M.D., eye specialist, whose
God-given skill gave me the sight with which to write this book._

  _B. A. McKelvie,
  Cobble Hill, B.C._




CONTENTS

PREFACE

  page

     1   Chapter   1  In the Beginning
     5   Chapter   2  Lure of the Orient
     7   Chapter   3  The Mythical Strait
    10   Chapter   4  Bering the Daring
    12   Chapter   5  Brave Men in Small Ships
    14   Chapter   6  Mystery in the Mist
    16   Chapter   7  Cook at Nootka
    19   Chapter   8  Music and Medicine
    21   Chapter   9  Strange Raises Flag
    23   Chapter  10  Fur Trading Honeymoon
    26   Chapter  11  Glory, Glitter and Saucepans
    29   Chapter  12  Meares Builds Schooner
    31   Chapter  13  Dons Seize Nootka
    34   Chapter  14  Song of Friendship
    36   Chapter  15  Spain Was Haughty
    39   Chapter  16  The Inland Sea
    41   Chapter  17  Supernatural Visitors
    43   Chapter  18  Merry Christmas
    45   Chapter  19  Kendrick Speculates
    48   Chapter  20  Vancouver Arrives
    50   Chapter  21  The Lions' Gateway
    52   Chapter  22  Vancouver Meets Dons
    55   Chapter  23  Dinners and Diplomacy
    57   Chapter  24  By Land from Canada
    60   Chapter  25  Britain & Spain Agree
    63   Chapter  26  Survivor Becomes Slave
    65   Chapter  27  Maquinna's Revenge
    68   Chapter  28  Freed from Slavery
    70   Chapter  29  Fraser Forms Posts
    73   Chapter  30  The Great River
    75   Chapter  31  Fort Beyond the Mountains
    78   Chapter  32  Race for an Empire
    80   Chapter  33  Death Laden Tonquin
    82   Chapter  34  Kamloops is Started
    85   Chapter  35  Sovereignty Fixed
    87   Chapter  36  Nations Claim New Lands
    90   Chapter  37  Find Mouth of Fraser
    93   Chapter  38  Treacherous Attacks
    96   Chapter  39  Fort Langley Rises
    98   Chapter  40  Quaw Spares Douglas
   101   Chapter  41  Joy & Tragedy
   103   Chapter  42  Moved Amid Danger
   106   Chapter  43  Fort McLoughlin
   108   Chapter  44  Steamer Splashes to Coast
   111   Chapter  45  Cold War at Dease Lake
   113   Chapter  46  Fort Victoria Built
   115   Chapter  47  Victim of Superstition
   118   Chapter  48  New Fur Brigade Route
   120   Chapter  49  U.S. Abandons Claim
   123   Chapter  50  Tzouhalem Attacks Victoria
   125   Chapter  51  Island Becomes Colony
   128   Chapter  52  Planned Gaelic Community
   130   Chapter  53  Douglas Brings Gold
   132   Chapter  54  Preaches, Farms & Teaches
   135   Chapter  55  Blanshard Proclaims Government
   137   Chapter  56  Colliers Go on Strike
   140   Chapter  57  Navy Attacks Natives
   142   Chapter  58  The Saving Vaccine
   145   Chapter  59  Gold Ore Sinks
   147   Chapter  60  Organized Farming Starts
   150   Chapter  61  Songhees Given Lesson
   152   Chapter  62  Indian Tells of Coal
   155   Chapter  63  Trial by Jury
   157   Chapter  64  Voltigeurs Protect Colony
   159   Chapter  65  Failure Put to Teaching
   162   Chapter  66  Court Started in Turmoil
   164   Chapter  67  Coal Centre Develops
   167   Chapter  68  Heroism of Douglas
   169   Chapter  69  Douglas Saved U.S. Towns
   172   Chapter  70  House Starts with Crisis
   174   Chapter  71  Wild Rush to Fraser
   177   Chapter  72  Miners Build Road
   179   Chapter  73  Engineers & Marines Help
   182   Chapter  74  New Colony Is Born
   184   Chapter  75  Rush Changes Island
   187   Chapter  76  Two Justices--No Peace
   189   Chapter  77  Moody Selects Site
   192   Chapter  78  San Juan Invasion
   194   Chapter  79  First Legislative Buildings
   197   Chapter  80  Helped to Start Alberni
   199   Chapter  81  Rock Creek Proved Rich
   202   Chapter  82  Law Comes to Cariboo
   204   Chapter  83  Gave Gold by Pound
   207   Chapter  84  Single Vote Election
   209   Chapter  85  Oratory Changes Road Route
   212   Chapter  86  Bride Ships Arrive
   214   Chapter  87  Douglas Retires as Governor
   217   Chapter  88  Klatsassin Starts War
   219   Chapter  89  Burrard Inlet Settled
   222   Chapter  90  Island Colony Ends
   224   Chapter  91  Kootenay Miners Were Tough
   227   Chapter  92  Fixing the Capital
   229   Chapter  93  Colony Joins Dominion
   232   Chapter  94  New Creeks Mined
   234   Chapter  95  Lord Carnarvon Changes Terms
   237   Chapter  96  Fenians Threaten Victoria
   239   Chapter  97  C.P.R. Completed
   242   Chapter  98  Granville Changes Name
   244   Chapter  99  Vancouver Destroyed
   247   Chapter 100  Vancouver Charter Suspended
   249   Chapter 101  Kootenay Trouble Spot
   252   Chapter 102  Fortune For Fees
   254   Chapter 103  Victoria Anchors Capital
   257   Chapter 104  Rush to Klondyke
   259   Chapter 105  Fire Damages Royal City
   261   Chapter 106  Development & Sacrifice


  _PHOTOGRAPHS_
  _facing pages_ 88; 120; 184.




I

IN THE BEGINNING

When and by whom British Columbia was first inhabited is unknown.  It
is believed that there were successive races in occupation of the
Pacific Slope in prehistoric days, but their identity and the order of
their coming and going have not been determined.  Evidences that have
come to light in ancient burial mounds, in the speech of native tribes,
in customs and ceremonies, and in occasional discoveries of primitive
artifacts have led scientific investigators to agree that Mongolian
influences have been a strong factor in populating the country west of
the Rocky Mountains.  Some research students advance arguments in an
effort to establish that these Asiatic migrations included definite
groups of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Northern Mongolians, while
other anthropologists contend that traces of the impact of Polynesian
culture may also be discerned.

There are some definite facts that give support to several of these
contentions.  In 1882, miners in Cassiar uncovered a number of Chinese
bronze coins while running a tunnel into a hill.  The coins were
threaded on to an iron rod that disintegrated when exposed to the air.
The money was brought to Victoria where it was identified as coinage of
China such as was circulated about 2,000 B.C.  Several years later, the
Chinese interpreter of the Supreme Court at Victoria encountered
Indians near Telegraph Creek who had possession of several solid-silver
Buddhist ceremonial dishes.  They asserted that they had found them
beneath the roots of a large tree.  The natives would not part with the
vessels, but did give the interpreter a large brass disc--some two and
a half inches in diameter--one of several found in one of the dishes.
The interpreter could not decipher the ideographic characters on the
disc.  Upon his return to Victoria he gave it to His Honour Judge Eli
Harrison, who submitted it to experts in New York, Philadelphia, and
Washington for study.  They identified it as a Buddhist charm, of a
type that had not been manufactured for more than 1,500 years.  This
disc is now in the possession of a collector in Oregon.

When the streets of Nanaimo were being laid out, the road foreman
discovered, eleven feet underground, a Japanese sword.  It was sheathed
in a wooden scabbard that was protected by closely wound silvered
copper wire.  The handle was of shark skin.  The blade had not
deteriorated by rusting.  A Japanese archaeologist who inspected it
declared the weapon to be of great antiquity.  It is still in
possession of the family of the road foreman.

In different localities, and especially on the littoral of the Gulf of
Georgia and up the Fraser River as far as Lytton, quaintly carved stone
figures have been found.  They range from one of about two inches in
height to a recent discovery fourteen inches high.  They evidence the
workmanship of a highly artistic and skilled people.  The majority of
these figurines depict a man holding a bowl.  The features are well
modelled and portray people of determined character, with prominent
noses and protruding large round eyes, and with ears--and some
noses--pierced for ornaments.  Distinctive head-dresses are also
featured.  That these receptacles were for some special purpose may be
inferred from the evident care and patience expended in their
manufacture.

According to Li yan tcheou, a Chinese historian of the early seventh
century, a band of Buddhist priests crossed the Pacific and coasted
south from Alaska, finally settling in the Kingdom of Fusang (believed
by some to have been Mexico).  They left China in the year 458
A.D.--about the time that the Romans were leaving Great Britain--and in
499 A.D. the last of the priests, Hoei shin by name, returned to China
and his story was recorded.  This written account would be roughly
1,000 years before Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

None of the puzzles of the past is more interesting than the
possibility that Jews from China were at one time located on the Coast,
and remained there long enough to leave the imprint of their culture
upon that of the tribes whom they encountered.

It is an historical fact that Jews were once powerful in China.[*]  The
theory has been advanced that when Kublai Khan made his ill-starred
expedition against Japan--towards the end of the thirteenth
century--his fleet was dispersed by storm and was blown out into the
Pacific Ocean, and junks bearing the Jewish contingent of his troops
made the great drift and landed on the American coast--possibly in the
vicinity of the Queen Charlotte Islands, or the Nass River.


[*] _The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia_, III, 156--"During the early
years the Jews of China scrupulously avoided inter-marriage, kept the
laws of Israel, enjoyed complete equality, reached high office,
acquired considerable competence and were known to their neighbours as
'Tiao Ching Chiao', 'the sect that plucks out the sinew'.  While there
is evidence that they once had a flourishing religious and communal
life and maintained numerous synagogues, little or nothing is known of
the community but the one in Kai-fung-foo."

Some of the treasures of Torah scrolls, manuscripts and records of the
Kai-fung-foo colony are now in the Hebrew Union College at Cincinnati,
Ohio, U.S.A.


The late Father Jean Marie Le Jeune, probably the greatest linguist who
worked among the British Columbia Indians, recorded that he had found
Hebraic words in every native language west of the Rockies.

Coast Indian customs that are suggestive of Hebraic ceremonies and
usages include: first fruit offerings, the ceremonials observed in
taking the first salmon and oolichan (candle fish) of the season.

Purification Rites: the fastings, social constraint, and frequent
bathing of hunters and warriors preparatory to an expedition.

Wearing of the fringes: the ceremonial dress of the Medicine Man or
Chief of some Coast tribes is reminiscent of that of the Jewish Priest,
with a mitred head-dress, a blanket with its totemistic design giving
the effect of a breast-plate, and with its fringes.

Fasting from Sunset to Sunset: this was meticulously followed by
hunters and warriors in spiritual and physical preparation for their
undertakings.

Measurement of Time: the Indian system of division of seasons, months
and days, was similar to that of the Jewish calendar.

Father Morice, the great historian of the Dene peoples, has noted in
his examination of their habits that certain customs enforced upon
female adolescents were similar to those of the Jews.

So it is, that numerous distinctive habits and ways of Coast Indians
suggest that long ago Jews from China--the most likely place--visited
the littoral of the North Pacific.  There is no evidence for assuming
that there is a biological relationship between the Jews and
Indians--but rather the contrary, for a race that had preserved its
insularity in China during centuries when that nation was far advanced
in learning and culture, would not be expected to intermarry with the
untutored barbarians of the Coast; but any customs observed and the
speech used by the strangers would be copied by the savages.  Thus, it
is possible that a lasting imprint of a stay amidst the tribes would be
made.




2

LURE OF THE ORIENT

When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain to announce the discovery
of new continents, Pope Alexander VI issued a Bull dividing the New
World between Spain and Portugal.  This generous act of the Holy See in
1493 almost plunged the civilized nations into a general war three
centuries later for possession of what is now Canada's western
seaboard.  Spain, relying upon the validity of the Pope's gift of 1493,
tried to close Pacific waters to Britain.

Spain, following the conquest of Mexico and the crossing of the Darien
Isthmus by Balboa, entered upon the navigation of the Pacific.
Gradually exploration was pushed northward from Mexican ports until
examination had been made of the shores as far as Lower California.
Then enterprise lapsed, there being little incentive at the time for
extending exploration; ships were small and the seas, climate and the
peoples of the more distant areas were unknown.  There was sufficient
scope for Spanish energy in repressing the natives of conquered lands
and in superintending them in production of wealth for Spain.

It was an era of geographic discovery and the extension of trade and
commerce.  Queen Elizabeth was on the throne of England, and that
nation was expanding in culture, industry and sea power.  The navy,
remodelled and revived by Henry VIII, was already proving its
superiority over the armed forces of powerful Spain, and the might of
British arms was winning new respect for the Queen and her subjects.
Reports, first brought to Europe by Marco Polo, the Italian adventurer
of the thirteenth century, of the fabulous land of China, and the
explorations of the Portuguese and the Dutch created new interest in
the possibilities of the Far East.  In keeping with this spirit,
Elizabeth sent two trade envoys to China to seek extension of English
trade, and in doing so established a national policy that was to
persist for centuries and was to have a powerful influence upon the
history of Canada, and of British Columbia in particular.

Bold men in oaken ships, bearing the flag of Elizabeth's England,
roamed the high seas plundering the heavily laden treasure ships of the
King of Spain.  It was suspected that they shared their loot with the
Queen's treasury.  Amongst the foremost of these daring freebooters was
Sir Francis Drake.

In the late spring of 1579, Drake, in the 'Golden Hynde'--a stout
little vessel crammed with riches--appeared in the North Pacific.  He
had come through the Strait of Magellan and had plundered his way up
the western seaboard of the Americas.  Piracy was not his only
objective, for his plans included an examination of the trade
potentialities of the Moluccas and of China, and the finding of a
waterway from the Pacific to the North Atlantic that would give to
England control of the rich trade of the Orient.

The tiny 'Golden Hynde' beat through storms and the chilly mists of
unknown seas, and finally sighted land.  Captain R. Bishop, British
Columbia Land Surveyor, of Victoria, after long research, claimed that
Drake reached the vicinity of Long Beach, Vancouver Island.  According
to records made on the voyage, the English sailors were chilled by the
wet and cold of the northern latitudes.  Drake, himself, was
discouraged by the prevalence of sea mists that made it difficult, if
not impossible, to find a passage to the Atlantic, if such existed.  So
the ship's bow was turned to the south, where a land of sunshine was
encountered.  Here, at or near Drake's Bay on the Californian coast, he
took possession of the country for his sovereign and named it "New
Albion."

In 1936 a brass plate was picked up near San Francisco Bay.  It had
been left by Drake.  It was inscribed:

  BEE IT KNOWNE VNTO ALL MEN
  BY THESE PRESENTS
  INE 17 1579

  BY THE GRACE OF GOD AND IN THE NAME OF HERR
  MAIESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND AND HERR
  SVCCESSORS FOREVER I TAKE POSSESSION OF THIS
  KINGDOMS WHOSE KING AND PEOPLE FREELY RESIGNE
  THEIR RIGHT AND TITLE IN THE WHOLE LAND VNTO
  HERR MAIESTIES KEEPING NOW NAMED BY ME AN
  TO BEE KNOWNE VNTO ALLMEN AS NOVA ALBION.
  FRANCIS DRAKE




3

THE MYTHICAL STRAIT

The waterway that Drake sought in expectation that it would permit him
to sail from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean had long existed in the
imagination of men.  It was known as the Strait of Anian and was
reputed to have been located by a Portuguese pilot named Gasper
Cortereal, about 1500 A.D.  It was named, according to tradition, for
Cortereal's brother.  The search for this short-cut between China and
Europe was to continue for nearly three centuries, as a great lodestone
to exploration.

Many fantastic claims were advanced from time to time by
notoriety-seekers of discovery of this mythical channel.  The result
was that modern historians regarded with suspicion nearly all
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century attempts--except that of Drake--to
find a navigable channel between the two oceans.

There is one story, however, that should not be too lightly discarded.
It was the narrative of a Greek pilot named Apostolos Valerianos, who
allegedly related a strange story to Michael Lok, a British merchant
whom he met in Italy.  Lok was convinced of the truth of the tale and
reported it to the English Government.  It was in 1596 when Lok met the
Greek, who said that for many years he had been in the service of
Spain, sailing under the name of Juan de Fuca.  It was in 1592, he
asserted, that he had charge of an expedition to explore the unknown
seas north of Mexico.  He told how between latitudes 47 and 48 he had
found a great strait leading to an island-studded sea that branched in
different directions.  He described in detail the appearance of the
entrance to this sea, saying that there was a peculiarly formed
pinnacle-rock standing apart from the main shore; and he told of
meeting natives dressed in the skins of beasts.  He had sailed for some
twenty days in this inland sea, he declared, and had then emerged into
the northern ocean again through a strait that had a very wide exit.

The fact that there was no available documentary proof from Spanish or
English official sources, in later years, to substantiate the pilot's
story caused historians to discredit it.  It was known, however, that
there was a pilot in Pacific waters at the time of Drake's voyage who
was known as "John the Greek."  But when, nearly two hundred years
after de Fuca told of having found the strait, a similar channel was
located in the approximate latitude, with a pinnacle-rock at its
entrance and inhabited by natives wearing skins of animals, the
waterway was named in honour of the Greek pilot "The Strait of Juan de
Fuca."

Another colourful tale that differed little from that recorded by
Michael Lok, in that it had neither documentary nor physical fact to
support it, was the romance of Admiral Bartolemo de Fonte (or de
Funtes) of having found a labyrinth of lakes and rivers that he and
Captain Bernardo, commander of another vessel, explored in 1640.  They
were said to have sailed for great distances towards the east and north
and were convinced that the passage led through to Baffin's Bay.
Eminent geographers and cartographers of the period accepted de Fonte's
story.  They even believed his assertion that he encountered a ship
from Boston in this waterway, where it was trading for furs with the
natives.  This was 150 years before the "Boston traders" became a
factor in the pelt traffic along the Northwest Coast of America.

These early stories--fabulous or otherwise--served a purpose: they kept
interest alive in geographical adventure and eventually led to the
meticulous examination of the Pacific Coast by such celebrated
navigators as Captains Cook and Vancouver.




4

BERING THE DARING

The year 1724 and Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, were both dying: it
was December, and only five weeks before the emperor's demise, when he
instructed Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in his service, to
undertake a voyage of exploration.  Earlier voyagers--and particularly
Deschneff--had made reports that were suggestive of the existence of a
channel between Asia and America.  The great question of the day among
learned men was as to the existence of such a strait.  The subject
interested the Czar, and so he ordered Bering to find the answer.

It was July, 1728, before Bering could complete construction of a
vessel, named the 'Gabriel', and set sail from Kamchatka.  It had been
a terrific task to transport much of the material required across the
desolate distances from Europe, and to find suitable timber and prepare
it for boat construction.  Frozen fish and fish oil constituted the
main food supply of the expedition.  The daring Dane followed the
shoreline, going as high as 67 18' north latitude, a sufficient
distance to prove to him that the continents were separated.  He
returned to Kamchatka in September.  The next year he made another
trip, confirming his conclusions of the previous voyage.  But arm-chair
critics at the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg (now Leningrad)
would not believe him, and Bering went there to support his findings.

Empress Anna Ivanovna was now on the throne.  She was sympathetic and
was anxious to advance Russian discoveries.  As a result, orders were
given for a grand expedition to be accompanied by men of science.  This
took a long time to assemble and transport to the Pacific shores; so it
was not until 1740 that Bering and his lieutenant of the 'Gabriel',
Alexei Chirikoff, founded Petropavlosk as a base.  As soon as the two
vessels, which were built at Okhotsk, were completed they were brought
to the new settlement and were made ready for sea.  They were named the
'St. Peter'--commanded by Bering--and the 'St. Paul', captained by
Chirikoff.  It was on June 4, 1741, that they set sail.  Bering was
suffering from ague, but insisted on carrying out his task.  Sixteen
days later the vessels were separated in a storm.  They never again
made contact.

The story of the subsequent travels of the two little ships--each but
eighty feet in length by twenty beam--is a tale of intense human
suffering, of misery and death.  Bering sailed eastward and
north-eastward, and finally saw the towering snow-topped peak of Mount
St. Elias.  He inspected the coast as best he could while his tiny
craft was buffeted by contrary winds.  Scurvy--the scourge of the
sea--weakened his crew.  It was decided to return home.  A stop was
made at an island; sick men were landed, but they were not benefited.
The condition of Bering, who was among the stricken, and his ill
companions became worse.  There were not sufficient men unafflicted to
man the ship.  Finally the vessel came into a bay of an unrecognized
island; some thought it was Kamchatka.  Here they landed and built
dug-out shelters to which the sick were removed--and there sixteen men,
including Vitus Bering, died.  The 'St. Peter' was driven ashore and
through a terrible winter the survivors existed and suffered.  In the
spring a small craft was constructed, and in this way they managed to
reach civilization.

The experience of Chirikoff and his crew on the St. Paul was similarly
terrible.  They had explored to the eastward and made the continental
coast of America.  Here sixteen men were lost in a sudden attack by the
natives on a watering party.  Chirikoff managed to bring the vessel
back.

Stories told by the survivors of the wealth of furs to be found on the
islands and mainland visited led to further expeditions, and to
establishment of Russian authority over Alaska.  This continued for
over a century until the United States bought the territory.




5

BRAVE MEN IN SMALL SHIPS

Russian activities in the North Pacific, and the capture of Canada by
the British caused such concern in Madrid that the Government of Spain
ordered active measures to be taken to explore and occupy the northern
coasts of Western America and thus preserve the title of sovereignty
bestowed by Pope Alexander VI in 1493 upon Spain.  So in 1774, a
special organization known as the "Marine Department of San Blas" was
created.  Its purpose was to further exploration.  In January, 1774,
the little ship 'Santiago', commanded by Don Juan Perez, with Don
Estevan Martinez as his pilot, set sail with instructions to penetrate
the unknown waters as far north as latitude 65.  Bad weather buffeted
the vessel and delayed her progress.  It was not until July 18 that
landfall was made.  It was between latitudes 53 and 54, and was the
west coast of the Queen Charlotte group.  Perez found that adverse
winds and tides thwarted his efforts to round Cape North--its present
name--which he called Santa Margarita.  He determined to return to
Mexico, although he was far short of his objective.  He was in need of
supplies, and the terrible scurvy was weakening his crew.

Perez was heading southward when, on August 5, he saw through the sea
mists a mountainous shore.  It was latitude 49 50' according to his
reckoning.  He stood off again when darkness fell, and it was two days
later before he could approach the land again.  He was now able to
discern a wide roadstead with two headlands, which he named "Estevan"
and "San Clara."  The former still bears that name.  Indians watching
from the shore were in great confusion.  Some fled to the protection of
the forest, while braver ones went out to the ship in their canoes, and
were given gifts by Perez.  Several of the amazed savages were induced
to board the vessel and while there managed to steal some silver
spoons.  These Captain Cook was shown four years later.  But Perez did
not go ashore, threatening weather forcing him to leave hurriedly, and
robbing him of the distinction of being the first white man to land on
what became Vancouver Island.

The following year the 'Santiago' was again commissioned for a voyage
of discovery; this time Don Bruno Heceta was in command, with Perez as
pilot.  The thirty-six foot schooner 'Sonora', under Don Juan Francisco
de Bodega y Quadra, with Antonio Maurelle as second in command, was
ordered to accompany the 'Santiago'.

Heceta was anxious to locate de Fuca's strait but failed to find it.
He made a landing about latitude 47 20', and with proper ceremony
raised the flag of Spain and the Cross and took possession of the
country.  The few Indians encountered were friendly.  This was near
present-day Point Grenville.  The 'Sonora' anchored a few miles to the
northward, and there, after the Indians at first professed friendship,
a watering party was attacked by several hundred armed natives who
killed the Spaniards.  Then hostile savages in canoes threatened to
rush the 'Sonora', but when one canoe was blasted by a shot from the
schooner, killing six braves, they withdrew and the vessel was able to
make off to rendezvous with the 'Santiago'.

Towards the end of July the vessels were separated by storm.  Heceta,
unable to contact his consort, and being short of supplies, and many of
his men being sick, decided to return to Monterey, the nearest port of
New Spain.  He arrived there on August 29.

Meanwhile, Quadra and his gallant crew, making land about latitude 57
2', examined the coast to latitude 58.  They landed twice and took
possession of the country for Spain.  On September 8 he turned
homeward, and reached Monterey on November 20.




6

MYSTERY IN THE MIST

It was March 29, 1778: two of His Britannic Majesty's ships,
'Resolution' and 'Discovery', emerged momentarily from the swirling
mist to sight a rugged shore backed by high, snow-capped mountains.
For some weeks the two vessels had been battered by heavy seas.
Captain James Cook, the foremost navigator of his day, whose previous
voyages to the South Seas had brought great honour to himself and
advantage to his country, was in command of H.M.S. 'Resolution' and of
the expedition of exploration to the Northwest Coast of America.
Captain Charles Clerke had charge of H.M.S. 'Discovery'.  They had come
to prove, if possible, whether a feasible waterway existed for the
development of sea commerce between Europe and the Far East.

Again the wet curtain lifted and Cook spied two headlands at the
entrance to a great bay.  Several weeks previously he had seen a
prominent point, which he expected would provide shelter to refit his
ships, but had been disappointed.  He named the bluff "Cape Flattery."
Now as the sweep between the capes gave assurance of safety, he called
the indentation "Hope Bay."

As Cook and Clerke, from their ships, inspected the unknown coast,
Chief Maquinna stood on rising ground above his village of Yuquot with
his friend Nanaimis and scanned the heaving gray seas.  They were
looking for the blowing of whales.  Suddenly they saw two apparitions
appear from out of the mist.  They gazed in astonishment as the things
became more clearly defined.  "It must be Qua-utz [a native deity],"
Maquinna whispered; but his friend, after further inspection, doubted
that it was the return of the mythical god.  "No," he said, "it is
Hai-et-lik the lightning snake, carrying islands on its back."  Now
others joined the watchers to express their wonder and fears.  Then old
Ha-hat-saik the witch cackled that she recognized the objects as
enchanted salmon transformed by magic into stupendous canoes.

So it was that Ha-hat-saik offered to break the spell that held the
fish: she donned her mystic robes and armed with her potent medicine
rattle boldly embarked in a canoe and was paddled towards the
approaching monsters.  Bravely she stood in the bobbing little dug-out
and called her charm-dispelling formula and shook her rattle; the
gigantic things swept past her, past Yuquot and deep into the recesses
of the sound beyond.  Captain Cook had found shelter.

Maquinna and Nanaimis--now that Ha-hat-saik had failed--boldly paddled
to where the ships had stopped.  As the vessels had passed the village,
creatures having human forms were seen on the decks.  Now, as the
chiefs approached, one of these supernatural beings appeared on a
ladder down the side of the larger of the two canoes.  He was dressed
in blue, with shining discs on his coat.  His face was pale, as one
from the spirit world.  But the chiefs--being watched by their
tribesmen--went closer and closer.  They sang songs of welcome, shook
rattles and scattered bird-down and red earth on the waters as signs of
amity.

The stranger in blue waved for them to come nearer.  They did so.
Maquinna held out a glossy sea-otter pelt.  It was accepted.  Nanaimis
proffered a beaver skin.  Then the pale-faced stranger loaded them with
marvellous treasures: there were sheets of burnished copper, blankets
of amazing softness and compelling colours, and trinkets such as had
never been seen before by the astonished and happy recipients.

Maquinna, in a burst of grateful emotion, whipped the royal robe of
otter skins from his shoulders and pressed it upon this beneficent
being; and Captain Cook, understanding the great significance of such a
gift, lifted his gold-laced hat from his head and placed it upon the
brow of the chief.  Complete friendship was established, as these
mighty men among their respective races met.




7

COOK AT NOOTKA

Captain Cook had found a secure haven where he could refit the two
vessels under his command, and named it "Resolution Cove."  It was on
an island he named for the master of his ship, 'Bligh', who later won
notoriety as the embodiment of a maritime bully.  It was a commodious
waterway that he had found, and Cook at first christened it "St.
George's Sound," but later, under the impression that it was known to
the Indians as "Nootka," he so designated it.

This was Captain Cook's third voyage of discovery into the Pacific, and
Captain Clerke, his second in command, had accompanied him on the two
previous expeditions.  James Cook was the son of a farm worker.  He
went to sea in the merchant service as a boy and later joined the navy.
He had worked his way to an acknowledged position as foremost
hydrographer of his day.  He had contributed much to General Wolfe's
capture of Quebec when he surveyed the St. Lawrence River below the
Plains of Abraham in preparation for the landing of troops there.  He
had also surveyed the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

It had been an exhausting voyage through wintry seas after leaving the
enervating clime of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), which he had
discovered.  The ships had been mauled and beaten by heavy waves and
terrific winds.  It was to repair the damage inflicted by the elements
that Cook was so anxious to find a secure haven.  Now the 'Resolution'
and 'Discovery' were moored close to shore in a sheltered bay; men were
busily engaged in felling tall, straight-trunked trees and trimming
them for spars, in replacing tackle and refilling water casks, and in
other manifold tasks of refitting.  As they worked Indians swarmed
about the cove, watching in wonderment the strangers who had come in
the mighty winged canoes.

Born traders, the natives brought many things to barter, ranging from
barbaric relics of cannibalistic ceremonies to rich black sea-otter
furs.  In exchange they received metals and fabrics and trinkets.
Once, owing to their thievish ways, a clash seemed likely, but when the
crews responded to an alarm and took action stations, the Indians
adopted a conciliatory attitude and the danger was dispelled.

"We remained here until April 26th," the log-book of the 'Discovery'
recorded, "during which time the bulk of our employment was wooding,
watering and brewing spruce beer, of which we made a very considerable
quantity--and we also restowed our holds, overhauled our rigging and
such other duties.  We also sent our carpenters to assist at the
'Resolution''s fore-mast which was taken out and sent on shore to be
repaired; also assisted in getting out a new miz [mizzen] mast--and the
opportunity being fair got ourselves some spare spars.  We also
repaired our sails and recruited our stock of brooms."

Another journalist on the 'Discovery' added this pertinent comment:
"When we left the harbour, we had more than 300 beaver [otter?] skins
on board, besides less valuable skins of foxes, racoons, wolves, bears,
deer and several wild animals, for dogs excepted, we saw no other
domestic creatures about them."

Maquinna, the ruler of Nootka, who had entertained Cook at his village
of Yuquot, parted from his new friend reluctantly, as, with his crews
refreshed and ships refitted, the captain left to pursue his hunt for
the mythical channel for commerce from Europe to China.  He pushed on
to the north until stopped by a wall of ice in Bering Sea.  He turned
back to winter at the Sandwich Islands.  There he was murdered by the
natives.  Captain Clerke assumed direction of the expedition and
bravely endeavoured to complete the work of his friend, but Clerke was
suffering from tuberculosis and died off the Siberian coast.

When the ships, homeward bound, stopped at China, it was found that
there was a great demand, at high prices, for the sea-otter skins that
had cost so little at Nootka.




8

MUSIC AND MEDICINE

When the story of Cook's last voyage was published, it caused
excitement in mercantile countries.  It revealed that on the American
side of the Pacific was an abundance of glossy sea-otter fur to be
traded from the Indians, and on the opposite rim of the ocean, in
China, existed a ready market for these furs.  Soon adventurers from
many nations were hurrying to share in such prospective profits.

Captain James Hanna was first to arrive, in a tiny brig of some sixty
tons--the 'Sea Otter'--carrying thirty officers and men.  He reached
Nootka in August.  The Indians tried to capture the vessel and in the
ensuing fight a large number of the natives were killed by the
destructive weapons of the whites.  Barter was resumed and Hanna
purchased a cargo of skins that brought him $20,600 on the Chinese
market.  Next to come were two snow-rigged vessels[*], the 'Captain
Cook', commanded by Captain Laurie, and the 'Experiment', under Captain
Guise.  Direction of the expedition was given by James Strange, a
partner in the enterprise.  They had sailed from India, under licence
of trade from the East India Company, which claimed a monopoly of
British trade on the Northwest Coast.  This monopolistic assertion was
evaded by some British captains by placing their craft under foreign
flags.


[*] Snow: a small sailing vessel resembling a brig formerly employed as
a warship.


Scurvy was weakening the crews of the ships as they approached the
rocky shores of the Coast.  It was June 24, 1786, when land was sighted
and Indian canoes put off to greet the arrivals.  The Indians brought
fish, and Strange recorded that nothing had given him greater pleasure
than being able to feed this fresh food to his ailing crews.  On
entering Nootka Sound three days later, Strange took immediate steps to
find a place on shore where the sick might be nursed back to health.
He finally selected a big cedar-board house at Maquinna's village of
Yuquot--or Friendly Cove, as Cook knew it--which he purchased, "for
about the value of a shilling."  He set men to work and make it tidy.
They managed to clean it of everything but the odour of decayed fish.
Three days later he had to move the invalids into tents away "from the
influence of the corrupted air of the village."  Here, on a diet that
included berries, roots and greens, they quickly recovered.  As the men
gained strength, Strange had them dig up the ground and plant garden
seeds, and so he won fame as the first agriculturist on the Pacific
slope.

Strange threw himself into bartering for furs with vigour and
enthusiasm.  As he displayed his wares he picked up a pair of cymbals
and struck them together.  He started to sing, improvising a ditty as
he hammered the brass.  The Indians were entranced.  They insisted that
he repeat the song, but he had forgotten it.  They gave him the air,
and he had to repeat the concert.  "I seldom after this period bought a
skin without first being called upon to sing," he wrote in his journal.

Before quitting Nootka, Strange decided to leave an agent with the
Indians who could learn the language and assist in keeping the furs of
the Sound from other traders.  Dr. John Mackay, a young Irish surgeon
on the 'Experiment', volunteered to stay with the natives.

Mackay had cured Maquinna's son of a skin infection and the chief
promised to protect him.  He declared that "he should eat the choicest
fish the Sound produced and that on my return I should find him as fat
as a whale," said Strange.  "I left with him a large quantity of garden
seeds, and grain of various sorts, and before I sailed a considerable
spot of ground was allotted to him for the culture of them, for which
purpose he had every necessary implement given him."

At first Mackay enjoyed the savage life, but later the Indians robbed
him and when, the next year, he was rescued by Captain C. W. Barkley,
of the 'Imperial Eagle', he was in a filthy state, naked and
half-starved.  He was most happy to be once more in the company of
Europeans.




9

STRANGE RAISES FLAG

Although Captain Cook stayed at Nootka for nearly a month, refreshing
his crews and refitting his ships, there is no record of his having
taken possession of the country for the British Crown.  It remained for
James Strange, the fur trader from India, to do so.

Strange was an interesting individual.  He was quick to see an
opportunity and act upon it.  He was ready to reward a service and was
loyal to his friends and his King.  He was the first publicity agent
for the resources of the Northwest.  He took away with him from Nootka
specimens of iron pyrites which he had fashioned into buttons for his
black velvet court dress, drawing attention to the mineral wealth of
the land.

It was after leaving Nootka that he took possession of the country for
King George III.  This he did on two occasions, first at a place he
named "Oxenford Bay"--identified as the present Sea Otter Cove--near
the northwestern end of Vancouver Island.  Under date of August 2,
1786, he made entry: "I this morning ordered out the Long Boat, and
went in her with an intention to explore an Inlet, which from Our
station at Sea, then bore a favourable appearance, and which I
conceived to be a Sound.  I had not, however, proceeded above three
miles up the Bay, before I determined the extent of it, which was
little more than four miles from the entrance.  On making however the
Extreme end of it, I perceived a small inlet into another Bay, which I
was anxious also to explore, and I accordingly entered it; its
termination was very circumscribed indeed, being little more than three
miles in circumference.  Having landed on a very fine Sandy Beach, the
first Object of my attention was to take possession of the Country and
Bay in the Name of His Britannic Majesty, which I accordingly did with
the usual Ceremonies of hoisting the Colours and turning a turf."

Continuing on his way, Strange anchored off Cape Scott, which he
honoured with the name of David Scott of Bombay, his associate in the
trading venture.  He then decided to explore the vicinity for Indian
villages where he might find furs.  Embarking in a longboat on August
4, he headed down a long waterway--now known as Goletas Channel--and
this he followed for some forty miles.  It was the next day when,
having started to return to the ships, he saw at a distance of a mile
and a half what appeared to be a deserted village.  It was the first
sign he had seen of human inhabitants in the vicinity.  Landing at the
place he found the remains of several ancient habitations.

He climbed a mountain and from its top saw away below him a vast sound,
which he named "Queen Charlotte Sound," and extending off to the
eastward a considerable waterway which, he said, "strikes me that the
inlet in question is very probably the Strait said to have been
Discovered many years ago by Admiral De Fonte."  Descending from the
mountain, Strange took possession of the locality.  He duly recorded it
in his journal: "Before, however, leaving our present situation, I had
the pleasure to Display the Flag, and to take Possession of the Inlet
and Sound in the name of His Britannic Majesty, honouring it at the
same time with the name of Queen Charlotte's Sound.  From the transient
View I had of this place, it surpasses far in appearance, both in
Beauty and extent any other Sound as yet Discovered on this Coast...
Before we quitted our present Station, I left many testimonies behind
me of Our having Visited and taken possession of this part of the
Coast.  In the body of a large Tree, opposite to one of the Huts, I cut
a deep hole, in which I deposited both copper, Iron and Beads; besides
leaving the Names of our Ships and the Date of Discovery."

The original of Strange's journal came to light in India in 1928, and a
small edition was published.  In 1936, just 150 years after the event,
the piece of copper that he left as a memento of British sovereignty
was found where he left it.  It was on Nigei Island, formerly known as
Galiano Island.  It is now in the B.C. Archives.




10

FUR TRADING HONEYMOON

Because Dutch merchants doubled the price of pepper in 1599, a gallant
English sea captain married a sweet young girl of seventeen at Ostend
in 1786, and sailed away to honeymoon on the wild and unknown coast of
the North Pacific.  The Dutch had a monopoly of the pepper trade from
the East Indies.  Their increase in the price made British dealers
angry.  They held a meeting, organized a company, and secured a charter
from Queen Elizabeth giving them a monopoly of British trade in the
East Indies.  Later this was extended as other chartered companies were
absorbed, until now, following Cook's discovery of the sea-otter wealth
of the North American littoral, the East India Company asserted its
exclusive privileges of British trade in the Pacific Ocean.

Even servants of the big company were not averse to poaching in this
new field.  A number of them, including one or two directors, formed a
syndicate, purchased the fine 400-ton vessel 'Loudoun', and placed her
under command of youthful Captain Charles Barkley--not yet twenty-six.
A splendid craft, well armed and with a uniformed and disciplined crew,
she was a proud ship.  She slipped down the Thames and across the
channel to Ostend to load supplies and provisions, and to change both
her flag and her home.  Here the handsome young captain met romance in
the person of Frances Hornby Trevor--not yet seventeen--daughter of the
Rev. John Trevor.  During the two months' delay, while the legal
formalities of changing to Austrian colours and altering the name of
the ship to the 'Imperial Eagle' were being completed, Barkley wooed
the fair maid.  They were married, October 27, 1786, her father
conducting the service.  A few days later the brave ship, with her
newly painted name glistening from her bows and her white sails spread
to the breeze, moved off on her honeymoon trip into uncharted seas.

It was June, 1787, when the 'Imperial Eagle' dropped anchor in Friendly
Cove, off Chief Maquinna's village of Yuquot, and for the first time
the natives of Nootka beheld a white woman.  A small canoe approached
the ship.  In it was a dirty individual wearing a greasy sea-otter
cloak.  He came alongside and shouted greetings--not in the guttural
tones of an Indian, but in the cultivated voice of an educated
Irishman.  He was John Mackay, the surgeon whom Strange had induced to
go ashore and live with the natives as a commercial agent for Strange's
vessels.  He was filthy in his appearance.  He had been robbed of his
European garments and had been forced to conform to the habits and
customs of the natives.  But he had learned the language of the natives
and had explored the adjacent territory, which had convinced him that
Nootka Sound was not located on the mainland, but on an island.

Mrs. Barkley was disgusted at the sight of the doctor; in fact she was
horrified when he came aboard.  But once he was cleaned and was
re-clothed in white men's fashion he was tolerable.  The Captain had no
qualms about accepting Mackay on board.  He saw the value of a man
acquainted with the natives, and immediately appointed him Indian
trader.  It was a happy arrangement, for the doctor's knowledge of the
language and ways of the Indians was soon bringing the largest and best
of Nootka's sea-otter pelts to the hold of the ship.  Other traders,
notably Captain James Colnett, in the 'Prince of Wales', and Captain
Charles Duncan in the 'Princess Royal', found soon after that Barkley
with Mackay's aid had cornered the market.

When trade lapsed at Nootka, the 'Imperial Eagle' cruised along the
Coast, stopping at Clayoquot Sound, which Barkley named "Wicannanish"
in honour of the chief who ruled there.  Then the "honeymoon craft"
continued her easy voyaging until, as the young bride set down in her
diary, "we came to another large sound, to which Captain Barkley gave
his own name."  He affectionately bestowed her names, "Frances,"
"Hornby," and "Trevor," on other geographic features.

Leaving Barkley Sound, the ship was headed east by south, where it
finally opened a wide waterway, some "four leagues in width."  From the
tallest mast no diminution of the size of this channel could be noted,
nor could the termination of it be observed.  It must be, the Captain
exclaimed, the seaway that the old Greek pilot had reported to Michael
Lok, nearly 200 years before: so young Captain Barkley, aboard the
largest vessel that had yet adventured into the North Pacific, recalled
the tale of long ago, and marked the channel "The Strait of Juan de
Fuca" upon his chart.  As such it has remained.




11

GLORY, GLITTER AND SAUCEPANS

The snow 'Felice Adventurer', 230 tons, rounded the point of Hog Island
and dropped anchor in Friendly Cove in front of Maquinna's village of
Yuquot.  It was May 13, 1788.  From the deck of the ship which, in
company with the 'Iphigenia Nubiana', had left China in January to
trade on the Northwest Coast, an odd figure gazed at the assembled
natives on the beach.  He was Comekela, the younger brother of the
mighty Maquinna.  He was coming home.  He had been given up for dead
since that day when he had gone away on a trading ship.  He had defied
tradition and ignored the warnings of the wise men; he had adventured
into the mists beyond the setting sun.  He had been found in China--the
land of the Yellow-faced People--by John Meares, captain of the
'Felice' and master mind of a new commercial merger of trading
companies that aimed at controlling the trade in furs.

Meares had led a previous expedition to northern waters where he had
wintered miserably, a large number of his crew dying from the ravages
of scurvy, while the 'Sea Otter', Captain Tipping, his consort at the
time, had vanished completely.  The trip had been under British colours
and with East India Company licence.  Now, however, the new enterprise
with which he was connected placed the 'Felice' and 'Iphigenia' under
Portuguese registry, while other of its ships would fly the British
ensign.

Comekela, the wretched and forlorn Nootkan, was taken on board the
'Felice' in the belief that his gratitude at being restored to his
people would pay dividends in fur to the astute trader.  The closer the
snow came to Nootka, the more attentive was Meares to the comfort of
his passenger.  Now Comekela was anxiously scanning the throng on
shore.  He was looking for Maquinna and Callicum and other mighty
men--for he was bursting with pride and pomposity and was eager to
astonish them.  There was ample reason to believe that he could amaze
his friends with the spectacular manner of his home-coming, and Meares
in telling of the matter explained why:

"Comekela was bedecked in a brilliant red military coat that was ablaze
with flashing brass buttons and scintillating trinkets.  He wore a big
sheet of burnished copper about his neck, while his powdered hair was
surmounted with a gorgeous hat with a gay cockade.  From his ears
copper ornaments were suspended, and he had contrived to hang from his
hair,--which was dressed en queue,--so many handles of copper saucepans
that his head was kept back by the weight of them, in such a stiff and
upright position as very much to heighten the singularity of his
appearance.  For various articles of his present pride Comekela had
been in a state of continuous hostility with the cook, from whom he had
contrived to purloin them; but their last and principal struggle was
for an enormous spit, which the American had seized as a spear to swell
the circumstance of that magnificence with which he was on the moment
dazzling the eyes of his countrymen."

Nor was Comekela disappointed: his return from the Land of the
Yellow-faced People was as spectacular and sensational as could be
desired.  As the boat from the ship into which he had to be lowered by
reason of the weight and grandeur of his apparel--touched the shore and
he was assisted to land, there was a gasp of startled wonder and
incredulity.  His friends stared at him in open-mouthed disbelief.  At
last an aged aunt staggered forward and threw her arms about him;
others drew timorously nearer to inspect him, and even cautiously put
forward fingers to touch his splendour and satisfy themselves that he
was alive and real.

Despite the absence of his brother the great Maquinna and of Callicum
and several other mighty men, who were visiting at Clayoquot with the
lordly Wicannanish, immediate arrangements were made for a feast at
which to welcome the prodigal home.  Meares attended and noted in his
journal that Comekela had evidently lost his relish for the rancid
whale-oil and blubber delicacies of his people--and John Meares was
pleased.  He thought that Comekela's educated palate would require
greater dependence upon him and the white man's cookery.

When Maquinna did return to give welcome to Meares and to Comekela, the
crafty Captain used his influence to secure honours and position for
his protg.  He induced the Lord of Nootka to place Comekela high up
on the ladder of native nobility, to bestow upon him the hand of a rich
and beautiful maiden, and lastly to appoint him treasurer of the royal
riches.  And this, the most cherished of all the benefits conferred,
proved to be the most disappointing to John Meares.  Comekela proved to
be faithful to his trust and protected Maquinna's treasure from
all--and particularly from Captain John Meares.




12

MEARES BUILDS SCHOONER

Captain John Meares was a man of large ideas.  Whence effected a merger
with other interests operating from China to the Northwest Coast with
his own he planned to achieve a monopoly in the fur trade.  He placed a
part of his shipping under Portuguese colours, while several ships were
continued under the British flag with licences from the East India
Company, which claimed exclusive commercial rights under ancient
charters.

While Meares himself was willing to masquerade under Portuguese
registry, he was determined that a schooner that he planned to build at
Nootka should have the protection of the British flag.  He lost no time
in starting work on this craft following his arrival in May, 1788.  He
intended the schooner to operate from a "fur factory" or base at Nootka
where the pelts would be processed for marketing.  In this way larger
vessels would save much time in plying to and from Chinese ports with
the cargoes offered and received in barter.

Meares took an early opportunity of purchasing land from Chief
Maquinna.  A "spot of ground" for the location of his shipyard and
workshops he bought for a pair of pistols that the Chief coveted.  A
larger tract, including the whole of Friendly Cove, according to Robert
Duffin, one of his officers aboard the 'Felice Adventurer', was secured
for "eight pieces of copper and several other trifling articles."  Upon
this occasion, Duffin declared under oath, "The British Flag was
displayed on shore at the same time and those formalities were used as
is customary on such occasions."

Having won the esteem of Maquinna and some sort of indefinite title to
the "spot of ground" required for shipbuilding, Meares set his men to
work to build a combined dwelling and workshop.  The friendship of the
Nootkan chief extended to the appointment of Chief Callicum as the
protector of the party ashore.  He had "peremptory injunctions to
prevent the natives from making any depredations."

"In the very expeditious accomplishment of this important work," Meares
explained, "the natives afforded us all the assistance in their power,
not only by bringing the timber from the woods, but by readily engaging
in any and every service that was required of them."

In describing the undertaking Meares said: "On the ground floor was
ample room for the coopers, sail-makers and other artisans to work in
bad weather.  A large room was also set apart for the stores and
provisions, and the armourer's shop was attached to one end of the
building and communicated with it.  The upper story was divided into an
eating room and chambers for the party."  Around the house was thrown
up a breastwork, while one small cannon was "placed in such a manner as
to command the cove and village of Nootka."  Outside of this defensive
work the keel was laid "of a vessel of forty to fifty tons, which was
now to be built agreeable to our former determination."  Robert Funter,
an officer on the 'Felice', was put in charge of the establishment.  It
was the first European-style house built in what is now British
Columbia.

After seeing the work well started, Meares cruised along the Coast in
search of furs.  It was during this voyage that he called on
Wicannanish, the Lord of Clayoquot, and made further land purchases,
"in consequence of considerable presents"; and with the land went "a
promise of a free and exclusive trade..."  Similar transactions were
claimed to have been made with Chief Tatootche, at the entrance to the
Strait of Juan de Fuca.

On September 29 the schooner was completed.  Robert Haswell, mate on
the Boston ship 'Columbia', reported seeing it launched, and noted that
it was named the 'North West America', and that the occasion was one of
considerable festivity.




13

DONS SEIZE NOOTKA

Captain Meares was in China perfecting plans for a great fur factory to
be constructed at Nootka.  It was intended to employ a large number of
Chinese in processing the furs for the Oriental markets.  Captain James
Colnett was to be put in charge of the operations on the Coast for the
associated merchants who had merged their interests in the pelt trade.
The 'Iphigenia', one of Meares' ships--Wm. Douglas, master--was riding
uneasily under Portuguese colours, but the 'North West America', the
schooner that had been launched at Nootka the preceding year, was
nosing along the coast gathering sea-otter skins against the coming of
Colnett and the establishment of the factory and settlement under the
flag of Great Britain.  It was the spring of 1789: Nootka was an active
place.

In addition to Douglas, who was in charge until Colnett's arrival, and
Captain Robert Funter, with the schooner, there were two vessels flying
the flag of the new American republic.  They were the 'Columbia' and
the 'Lady Washington'.  The former was ship-rigged, and was commanded
by peppery Captain John Kendrick; the other was a sloop, with
squint-eyed Captain Robert Gray in charge.  They had come from Boston
and were the first of a long line of "Boston traders," who were to ply
up and down the Pacific seaboard.  They had wintered at Nootka, and
Kendrick had bought a site and built a house at Nawhinna, a cove deep
in the recesses of the Sound.

While the great Maquinna was basking in the favours of the traders at
Nootka, a Spanish naval squadron was visiting Alaskan waters.  There
the commodore, Don Estevan Martinez, heard incredible stories from the
Russians of how British ships were trading out of Nootka, and how it
was intended to form a British establishment there.  The Spaniard was
alarmed.  He turned, at once, to carry this disquieting news to Mexico.

His Excellency Don Manuel Antonio Florez, Viceroy for His Most Catholic
Majesty, was indignant.  He ordered Martinez to refit his vessels, the
'Princessa' and the 'San Carlos', as rapidly as possible and go to
Nootka to learn what was actually under way there.

It was on May 6, 1789, that Martinez, in the 'Princessa', dropped
anchor in Friendly Cove.  A week later the 'San Carlos', under Don
Gonzalo Lopez de Haro, arrived.  Martinez simulated friendship for
Captain Douglas while awaiting the arrival of his consort.  Suddenly he
changed his attitude.  He demanded the papers of the 'Iphigenia'.  In
vain Douglas argued that he was entitled to safety beneath the flag of
Portugal, and pretended that Viana, the supercargo of the ship, was the
real captain.  Martinez arrested Douglas and seized the vessel.  The
act of aggression was followed by elaborate ceremonies of taking
possession of the country for the King of Spain.  Later Douglas was
restored to his command, but only by his giving a pledge that if the
'Iphigenia' were condemned as a prize by the Spanish courts, it would
be surrendered.  As quickly as he could, Douglas headed for China to
report to his owners how he had been treated by the Spanish navy.

Martinez was now prepared to go to any length.  He seized the 'North
West America', the 'Princess Royal'--recently from China--and the
'Argonaut', when that vessel bearing Colnett arrived.  Colnett, his
officers and British crew members were imprisoned, but the seventy
Chinese he brought for the fur factory were detained to work for the
Spaniards.  They were put to mining.

While these harsh measures were taken against the British traders,
Martinez was on friendliest terms with the Boston men.  In fact, on
July 4, he joined in commemorating the "Glorious Fourth" with several
thirteen-gun salutes, and general participation in the American
festivities of the day.  Captain Kendrick spread a banquet on board the
'Columbia', to which Martinez went as a distinguished guest.  Colnett
was invited to attend this--the first Fourth-of-July celebration on the
West Coast--but he declined to join in the celebration of "Liberty,"
while he was a prisoner!

But Martinez was not always in a gay mood.  As he was leaving Nootka he
deliberately killed Chief Callicum, an outstanding native prince and a
friend and confidant of Maquinna.  It was a brutal thing to do--but he
was a brutal man.




14

SONG OF FRIENDSHIP

Don Pedro Alberni, Captain of the Catalina Volunteers, was in disgrace.
He had objected, with more vehemence than tact, to unwarranted delays
in the payment of his men.  His conduct was reported to the Viceroy at
Mexico City and he was placed under arrest.  Don Pedro was a persistent
man.  He did not humble himself and apologize for his conduct; instead,
he sought to justify himself.  The result was that he was ordered to
proceed to Nootka to build an establishment and fortifications for
Spain.  In compliance with this virtual banishment he accompanied Don
Francisco Eliza, the naval commander charged with exploring the coasts
of the North, when he sailed from San Blas.

Friendly Cove was a cheerless place that spring of 1790.  It was cold
and misty.  Only wet ashes and charcoal showed where Yuquot, the great
village of Maquinna, had stood.  The Lord of Nootka had set it on fire
to blacken the earth following the murder of Chief Callicum by
Martinez.  He determined that the crime should not profit Spain.

Alberni was discouraged.  Not a member of Maquinna's tribe would
approach the Spanish camp.  This meant that Alberni had to keep half of
his force under arms at all times.  He wanted Maquinna's friendship.  A
more violent man, such as Martinez, would have carried fire and sword
to the Indian villages, but Alberni was a man of a different type.  He
wrote a song.  From sailors who had been there the previous year, he
learned a few words of the Nootkan tongue, and penned:

  "Great is Maquinna;
  Maquinna is a great chief.
  Spain loves Maquinna..."

and so on, extolling the might and majesty of the native prince.  He
taught the verse to his company and paraded the men each day in front
of the forest.  Standing at attention, the bearded soldiers bellowed
the praises of Maquinna.  Next morning at the same hour and place, the
concert was repeated; and again and again on each successive day.

When Maquinna learned of the song he hid himself in the underbrush to
listen.  "Yes, it was true!"  His greatness was recognized.  And each
morning the chief was within the shades of the forest to hear.  This
was too good to be lost!  He sent out Hesquit for a rival chief to
attend and hear how these strangers esteemed him.  Each day the song
was repeated, and farther afield Maquinna sent for important persons to
come and listen.  Alberni was watching and waiting.  At last, by the
great ceremony of welcome at the Indian camp he knew that the mighty
Wicannanish--the King of the Coast--had come from Clayoquot.  This was
to be Maquinna's supreme hour--when he was to be glorified in the
presence of the one man he had to admit was his superior.  The soldiers
paraded as usual.  They stood at attention, threw back their heads and
roared, "Great..."  Not another word: they stood like graven totems;
five, ten, fifteen minutes passed in torturing silence.  Wicannanish
was beginning to sneer.  Maquinna could stand it no longer.  He broke
from cover and rushed up to Alberni: "Sing it again," he begged.

The Captain had been waiting for just such a moment.  He had rich gifts
of copper and iron and blankets and trinkets--wonderful treasures--to
heap upon the chief, but none was as precious to Maquinna as was the
song.  Then Alberni made a signal.  The song was resumed and over and
over again it was repeated, until even Maquinna was satisfied as the
woods echoed and re-echoed with his praises.

Maquinna became the staunch friend of Alberni and Indians swarmed from
their hiding-places to give friendly assistance in clearing land,
chopping timber and the hundred-and-one tasks of building a settlement
for Spain.  And Don Francisco Eliza was able to leave Nootka and
adventure into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  He knew all would be well,
for the Kingdom of Maquinna had been subdued--not by fire and
sword--but by a song!




15

SPAIN WAS HAUGHTY

On January 4, 1790, Marquis del Campo, the pompous Spanish ambassador
to the Court of St. James, made an official call upon the Duke of
Leeds, Great Britain's Foreign Secretary.  After the customary
courteous greetings, the emissary of His Most Catholic Majesty King
Carlos IV confirmed hitherto indefinite rumours that had reached
London.  These reported that Spanish ships of war had seized British
shipping at a place named Nootka on the North Pacific seaboard.

Not only did the Marquis substantiate the rumours, but he presented a
formal note from Madrid claiming that these seas were the property of
Spain, which had sovereignty over all bordering lands.  He went even
further in his demands, for King George III and his government were not
only told that they must keep British traders away from that
place--which had been first visited by Captain Cook--but that those who
had been arrested by Spain must be punished by the British Government.

The surprise of the noble Duke was only equalled by that of del Campo
when he received the British reply.  It was as blunt and as much to the
point as could be imagined in the language of diplomacy.  In effect, it
told Spain that Great Britain did not recognize the Spanish
pretensions; that by seizing the vessels, at a time when the two
nations were at peace, an insult had been offered to the British flag
and Crown; that Spain must apologize, release the ships and imprisoned
crews, and pay indemnity.  Spain haughtily refused and commenced secret
preparations for war.  Madrid was confident that despite the seething
unrest in France that Louis XVI would be able to lead his country to
the defence of her ally as provided by the terms of the Family Compact
of 1761, which bound the Bourbon kings to give assistance to each other
in time of war.  Spain also had, as allies, Turkey and Genoa, and hoped
to win over Russia.  Relying upon these alliances, the Spanish
Government was arrogant.

Great Britain informed her allies of the situation and asked what their
attitudes would be if war should result.  The Netherlands and Prussia
were bound to Britain by treaties.  They gave characteristic replies:
Holland sent ten ships of the line to Portsmouth, with a promise of as
many more as might be required; Prussia would help, if Britain would
pledge future aid in an unprovoked attack on Russia.  The promise was
not made.

Prime Minister William Pitt negotiated with a South American patriot,
Colonel Miranda, to start revolutions in Spain's colonies on that
continent.  Lord Dorchester, Governor in Canada, sent Major Beckwith to
New York to feel out the United States' leaders as to how they would
regard an armed force from Canada descending the Mississippi to attack
Spanish possessions on the Gulf of Mexico.  President Washington and
Alexander Hamilton appeared to be sympathetic, but other members of the
cabinet, headed by Jefferson, wished to temporize.  The United States
might gain greater advantage, Jefferson argued, and an agent for the
Republic was instructed to intimate to Spain that if Florida and New
Orleans were ceded to the United States, America would guarantee to
protect Spanish colonies to the west of the Mississippi.  With almost
unbelievable dispatch, the British admiralty set about raising the most
powerful fleet in its history.  It appeared as if nothing could prevent
a war that would involve the greater part of the civilized world.

Just in time Spain hesitated.  The French Revolution was under way.
The French King was a virtual prisoner and the National Assembly,
instead of preparing actively to support Spain, became engaged in long
academic arguments over the right of kings to declare war and make
peace.  Madrid realized that no longer was Paris dependable, and she
changed her attitude completely.  The terms demanded by London were
accepted.  The imprisoned sailors had already been freed; John Meares
and his associates would be indemnified, and the "territories" from
which they had been expelled would be returned to British sovereignty.
The final act was to take place at Nootka, where the British flag was
to be raised and saluted.

To carry out this ceremonial on the Northwest Coast of America, where
Spain was to be officially humbled, Captain George Vancouver was to
represent Great Britain.




16

THE INLAND SEA

Publication of the apocryphal voyage of Lorenzo Ferrer de Maldonado,
reputed to have been made in 1588, and which, it was claimed, had
revealed a Northwest passage between the oceans, excited the Spanish
Government in 1790 when it was endorsed by a French scientist.  It
resulted in Madrid ordering further explorations in the North Pacific
ocean.  Don Francisco Eliza, commandant of the establishment at Nootka
that was taking shape under the energetic Captain Pedro Alberni, sent
Don Manuel Quimper, in the 'Princess Real'--one of the captured British
vessels--to examine the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Quimper nosed along the northern shore of the Strait, discovering and
naming Port San Juan, and Sooke Inlet, which he christened Revilla
Gigedo, in honour of the Viceroy of Mexico.  In the vicinity he took
possession of the country for Spain, the ceremony being carried out on
June 23, 1790.  Seven days later he found a magnificent harbour which
he called "Valdes"--now known as "Esquimalt."  Not far distant he came
into "a port of good shelter, water and wild seeds for which the
Indians came in canoes from the other side of the strait."  He named it
"Cordova": it is the Victoria harbour of today.

The explorer pushed his way eastward until he entered Haro Strait, and
turned to follow the southern shore of the Strait of de Fuca on his way
back to Nootka.  After landing at Neah Bay, where he once more claimed
the country for his King, Quimper found it impossible to sail to
Nootka, so he turned south and went to Mexico.

The following year Eliza headed another expedition to further the
discoveries made by Quimper.  He captained the snow 'Don Carlos', while
[*]Piloto Jose Maria Narvaez was put in charge of the schooner 'Santa
Saturnina', also known as the 'Horcasitas'.  It had been planned to
commence the season's work in the far North and examine the coast from
Mount St. Elias southward, but tempestuous weather persuaded them to
start in the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.


[*] Pilot


Eliza anchored in the port of Cordova, from where he sent a boat under
command of Second Pilot Jose Verdia to examine the Haro channel that
Quimper had located the previous year.  He was unable to carry out his
instructions, returning after having had a clash with the Indians in
which several natives were killed.  They had surrounded his boat in
their canoes and made such a demonstration that Verdia was forced to
fire upon them.

Shortly after the departure of Verdia, Narvaez arrived at Cordova,
having been detained by examination of Clayoquot Sound.  Refitting the
launch to accompany the 'Saturnina' and adding eight soldiers from
Alberni's Catalina Volunteers to the complement of the expedition,
Eliza ordered Narvaez to carry out the duty in which Verdia had failed.

During the course of this exploratory work Narvaez entered a small
sheltered water which he named San Antonio, but which is modern Bedwell
Harbour, Pender Island.  From here he worked his way out into an inland
sea, across which he could see snow-capped mountains rising high above
the blue waters.  It was a magnificent sight.  In his delight he named
the marine vista "Gran Canal de Nuestra Senora del Rosario" (The Grand
Canal of Our Lady of the Rosary).

Eliza and Narvaez now commenced an examination of this wonderfully
beautiful sea into which they had entered.  Narvaez examined the
eastern shore, locating many important bays and harbours: one he named
"Boca Florida Blanca" has since been identified as Burrard Inlet.  On
the western side of the Grand Canal, the name of "Wenthuysen Inlet" was
given to a sheltered waterway--now known as "Nanaimo Harbour."




17

SUPERNATURAL VISITORS

It was the summer of 1791.  Spaniards under Don Francisco Eliza and Don
Jose Maria Narvaez had discovered the great Inland Sea--now the Gulf of
Georgia--and were exploring it with wonder and delight.

Where the Squamish River poured its muddy waters into the head of Howe
Sound, Indians had gathered at the principal village of the people who
had given their name to the river.  Suddenly from around a distant
point came a small canoe propelled by a single, excited man.  As he
neared the village he called a warning.  The people ran to the water's
edge to hear him gasp an incredible tale.  He said that (near
present-day Britannia Beach) he had seen two floating islands from
which grew trees devoid of foliage, but festooned with cobwebs.

Headed by the chiefs, the warriors pushed their canoes off, while the
women and children were sent off to the woods.  The fleet quickly
travelled down the Inlet and rounded the point.  It came to a dead
stop, for the report was true!  Slowly now the dugout armada
approached: no, these were not islands; they were monstrous canoes!

The astonished Indians gazed at the vessels (probably the 'Santa
Saturnina' and launch) and it was noticed that there was a "dead man"
moving about on the larger canoe.  They must be from the spirit world,
the natives thought, as they saw several other spirits, for they wore
clothing, and at such a warm period of the year only the dead wore
garments.  As they crept forward the Indians could make out the colour
of the skins of the "dead men."  They were pallid above dark beards.

Now the chief apparition descended a ladder on the side of the big
canoe and motioned to the natives to approach.  He held out his hand.
This they interpreted as a challenge to play the game of pulling
fingers, and the champion of that sport approached, but the stranger
would not play.  He made it apparent that he was inviting them to visit
his craft.  For a long time the natives sat motionless in their
dug-outs pondering the matter; then the bravest of the warriors
volunteered to go on board, if he were protected.  So he followed the
stranger up the ladder, while the other braves strung their bows and
then, one after another, went up the boat's side.

On reaching deck they found other "dead men" sitting about, unseen from
the canoes.  Now the chief of the supernatural beings offered them
biscuits, and he ate one, but the timorous aborigines believed them to
be pieces of wood and refused.  As if to show the purity of the flour
from which the cakes were made, a bag filled with "snow" was produced.
This, indeed, the gaping red men thought, proved that the strangers
were from beyond the grave trees, for the hot sun did not melt the
"snow," as it had to the tops of the highest mountains.  The ghostly
chief now showed them a small bag filled with shining objects, similar
in appearance to the shining discs on his strange coat.  He pointed to
them and then extended his arms towards the shore and patted his chest.
These "buttons" fascinated the Indians.  They could understand their
purpose, and accepted them.  Having done so, they quitted the vessel
and hurried off home as fast as they could paddle.

The head chief donned his finest cedar-bark and dog-wool blanket.  He
took two of the "buttons," extended his arms as had the "sky chief,"
patted his chest--and the buttons fell to the ground.  Again and again
he unsuccessfully tried to attach the bright metal to his costume.
Then with reluctance he concluded that his medicine would not work: he
would return the trinkets.

The following morning the canoes again went down the Sound, but when
the point was turned there were no "floating islands" or big vessels
there.  They had vanished.  Until quite recent times old Spanish coins
could be found amongst the Squamish people, who had not realized that
the ghosts were attempting to buy the country from them!




18

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas Day, 1791, was celebrated in grand style at Adventure Cove,
Clayoquot Sound, by Captain Robert Gray and the personnel of the United
States Ship 'Columbia'.

Gray had been home to Boston since that July day when the Americans
held high revel at Nootka to mark the "Glorious Fourth" two years
before, when Martinez, the Spaniard who had arrested Captain Colnett,
was the guest of honour.  Gray's vessel was the first to carry the
Stars and Stripes around the world.  He was later to gain additional
renown by his discovery of the Great River of the West, which he named
"Columbia" for his vessel.

Despite the consideration with which Martinez had treated him and
Captain John Kendrick, the commander of their expedition, Gray did not
care--on this second trip--to trust the Spaniards too far; so he
decided to winter at Clayoquot.  From that place he could learn of the
manner in which the Spaniards were ruling at Nootka.

Selecting a small, sheltered cove inside of Meares' Island at
Clayoquot, Gray prepared to spend the winter pleasantly and profitably.
He had brought the frame of a sloop from Boston.  This he was going to
construct and enlarge.  So, on September 22, his men--sailors and
artisans--commenced the building of a stout log house of eighteen by
thirty-six feet.  "The lower storey is formed with logs piled
horizontally with their ends let into each other and trunnelled
together," one officer noted in his journal.  "The seams were filled
with mortar we made of clay and burnt shells.  The upper storey is
framed and covered with boards, which we procured from the natives for
a trifling consideration in iron.  In front of the house were two ports
for cannon and loopholes on all sides for musketry.  In the house was
built a brick fire-place for the convenience of cooking."

With the completion of the fortified house, which was christened "Fort
Defiance," Gray and his men--beneath the waving flag of the Stars and
Stripes--started work on the schooner which was to be named
'Adventure'.  In honour of their handiwork they named the site of the
fort "Adventure Cove."  By October 4 work had progressed to such an
extent that it was recorded on that day: "Sent four cannon, forty
muskets, several blunderbusses and pistols and a quantity of ammunition
to the house ... to which Haswell was appointed to command with a party
consisting of twenty men."

The weather was exceptionally mild and work proceeded rapidly.  Gray
was so pleased that he decided to give the men a real celebration on
Christmas Day.  To this event he invited Chief Wicannanish, the King of
Clayoquot, and many of his royal court.

"The natives took a walk around the workshops on shore," an officer
recounted in describing the occasion.  "They were surprised at seeing
three tier of wild fowl roasting at one of the houses--indeed we were a
little surprised at the novelty of the sight ourselves, for at least
there were twenty geese roasting at one immense fire."  Nor could the
Indians understand why the ship and "fort" were decorated with forest
greenery and flags.

The central dish of the banquet was a huge "mulberry" (huckleberry)
pudding.  The fruit had been gathered the previous day, so open was the
winter.  So with great merriment the sailors feasted, and sang and
laughed; and Wicannanish and retinue joined in the fun, stopping every
now and then to send helpings from their plates to the squaws who had
remained seated in the canoes.  It was indeed a huge success, and it
was officially reported everyone "spent the day with the greatest
propriety, not in noisy mirth or drunken frolic."




19

KENDRICK SPECULATES

Meares claimed to have purchased lands from the Indians about Nootka
and Clayoquot, but he produced no deeds to substantiate his assertions.
In any event it would appear that his investments were for the purpose
of furthering the business of himself and associates as fur traders.
It remained for John Kendrick, the New England Yankee, to envision the
speculative potentialities of the real-estate business on a large scale
on the Northwest Coast.

Kendrick had been instructed by his owners, when they provided him with
two vessels, the 'Columbia' and 'Lady Washington', to conduct the first
Boston trading venture to the Pacific, that he should be careful to
extinguish the Indian title to any lands that he required for a fort or
settlement.  This, it was specifically ordered, was to be done in the
name of the shipowners.  Kendrick, however, had the unique instruments
of conveyance made out to himself.  In this he was at least consistent,
for he made neither return nor accounting to the Boston merchants.

Later the shipowners sought to recoup themselves by marketing a
gigantic realty subdivision, claiming the lands that John had bought as
rightfully theirs.  Just how much his purchases aggregated it would be
difficult to estimate.  The Boston merchants claimed 240 miles
square--which would be 57,600 square miles!  Attested copies of the
"deeds" sent by Kendrick to Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Secretary of State,
total 5,184 square miles.  The first real estate "deal" was at Nootka
Sound.  In part the conveyance read:


    "To all persons to whom these presents shall come: I, Macquinnah
    [sic] the chief, and with my other chiefs, do send greeting: Know
    ye, that I, Macquinnah, of Nootka Sound, on the north-west coast of
    America, for and in consideration of ten muskets, do grant and sell
    unto John Kendrick, of Boston, commonwealth of Massachusetts, in
    North America, a certain harbour in said Nootka Sound, called
    Chastacktoos, in which the brigantine 'Lady Washington' lay at
    anchor on the twentieth day of July, 1791, with all the land,
    rivers, creeks, harbours, islands, etc., within nine miles north,
    east, west and south of the said harbour, with all the produce of
    both sea and land appertaining thereto; only the said John Kendrick
    does grant and allow the said Macquinnah to live and fish on the
    said territory as usual.  And by these presents does grant and sell
    to the said John Kendrick, his heirs, executors and administrators,
    all the above mentioned territory, known by the Indian name of
    Chastacktoos, but now by the name of Retreat Harbour ..."


To the lengthy and formidable document Maquinna and five other chiefs
appended their marks and seals, while nine members of Kendrick's
company signed as witnesses.  Another sailor attested the copy to be a
true one.

On August 5 Kendrick made two more bites into the mountainous terrain
of the country.  He purchased another block of eighteen miles square
near the entrance to Esperanza Inlet, for which he paid "two muskets, a
boat's sail and a quantity of powder."  A second tract of similar
size--324 square miles--cost him more, for he paid: "six muskets, a
boat's sail, a quantity of powder and an American flag."

The following day the land-hungry Captain John added to his growing
empire by purchasing a circular area having a diameter of eighteen
miles, at the head of Tashis Inlet, Nootka Sound--the site of
Maquinna's summer village--but this time drove a hard bargain: he paid
only "two muskets and a quantity of powder!"  The market had weakened,
being down a boat sail and a Star-Spangled banner.

Some time later the Boston merchants issued a circular offering, in
grandiloquent language, the sale of Kendrick's lands.  Several attempts
were made subsequently to have the United States set up a claim to
sovereignty based upon the copies of the "deeds" given by the Indians.
These also failed--and his early real-estate subdivision project on the
Coast was a complete failure.




20

VANCOUVER ARRIVES

For eight months Captain George Vancouver in H.M.S. 'Discovery',
commander of a two ship expedition to examine the coast of the North
Pacific, had not seen a sail other than that of his consort, H.M.S.
'Chatham', captained by Lieutenant W. R. Broughton.  Now, as the two
British naval vessels approached the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a ship was
sighted.

"This was a great novelty," Vancouver noted in his journal on April 29,
1792.  "She proved to be the ship 'Columbia', commanded by Mr. Robert
Gray, belonging to Boston, whence she had been absent nineteen months."

Vancouver was delighted, for prior to his leaving England the statement
had been made by Captain Meares that Gray, in the 'Lady Washington', in
1789, had sailed into the Strait and had emerged far to the north.

"It is not possible to conceive any one to be more astonished than was
Mr. Gray, on his being made acquainted, that his authority had been
quoted, and the track pointed out that he had been said to have made in
the sloop 'Washington'," Vancouver commented.

Captain George Vancouver was charged with a double duty: that of
representing the British Crown at Nootka, where he was to meet Don Juan
Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, commandant of San Blas, and to receive
the "territories" that Spain was to restore to Britain, which had been
seized from British traders.  This was in accordance with the terms of
the Nootkan Convention of 1790.  His second responsibility was to
explore meticulously the shores of Northwestern America to determine
finally if there was any basis whatever for hoping that a practical
passage might exist between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Vancouver was no stranger to the rugged and little known coast, for he
had been a midshipman with the great Captain Cook on his last voyage of
discovery into the Pacific.  Merit alone had won the appointment for
him, when Captain Roberts, who was first selected, was unable to
proceed with the commission.  Vancouver had no high-placed friends, and
those who might have assisted him--such as Sir Joseph Banks, a great
patron of geographic explorations--were not encouraged by his manner.
Despite this, however, Vancouver was a most capable navigator and
careful explorer, was punctilious in matters of duty, and a strict
disciplinarian.

Now he had arrived off the strait that the old Greek pilot claimed to
have found to be the start of a passage-way to the other side of the
continent, Vancouver was pleased indeed to obtain the information that
Gray could provide.  The Boston captain had sailed some little distance
into the channel, but had returned to the open sea by the way he had
entered.  Gray was himself within a few days of making a discovery that
was to be of utmost importance to his country, and was to assure him an
imperishable place in history.  This was the discovery of the Columbia
River.  Now, as Gray sailed to the southward and his magnificent
achievement, the 'Discovery' and 'Chatham' entered the strait to prove
that the vast area that now bears Captain Vancouver's name was indeed
an island.

Vancouver and Broughton conducted their work with infinite care: the
ships were sailed to some safe mooring ground, and then every bay, cove
and inlet was examined by small boat parties under capable officers,
and their notes were carefully checked and progressively extended.
Each important geographic feature was assigned a name.  These, for the
most part, were in honour of men who had distinguished themselves in
the naval service of Great Britain, such as Howe and Jervis and Nelson,
or who were friends or shipmates of his own, such as Roberts and Gray
and Atkinson.  To the extensive and beautiful sound that stretched to
the southward of the termination of the strait, the name of Lieutenant
Peter Puget, who played such a part in the exploratory work, was given,
while the inland sea to the north of the strait was called the Gulf of
Georgia, in honour of His Majesty King George III.




21

THE LIONS' GATEWAY

The twin mountain peaks, so suggestive of couchant lions and of British
sovereignty, looked down on a glorious scene of verdant forests,
glimmering water and snow-white cumulus clouds lazily drifting against
a background of summer skies.  It was June 13, 1792, and two small
boats, the pinnace and launch of H.M.S. 'Discovery', were crossing from
Point Grey.  Captain George Vancouver himself was in command of one
craft, while Lieutenant Peter Puget was in charge of the second.

Nine days before, Captain Vancouver had landed at a place he called
"Tulalip Bay," in Puget Sound, and had taken possession of the entire
Coast from Latitude 39 20' north, including both shores of the Strait
of Juan de Fuca and the great Inland Sea to which they opened.  The
country he christened "New Georgia," and the enclosed sea "The Gulf of
Georgia," it being the birthday of King George III.  And now the
explorer was approaching the gateway to a sheltered port, guarded by
lions that Time had sculptured from the mountain tops.

Vancouver, Puget and their boats' companies had stopped at a "low bluff
point," to which he had given the name: "Captain George Grey of the
navy."  Continuing his recital he says: "From Point Grey we proceeded
first up the eastern branch of the sound to the northward of an island
(Stanley Park) which nearly terminated its extent, forming a passage
from ten to seven fathoms deep, not more than a cable's length in
width," and, having passed the Narrows: "Here we were met by some fifty
Indians in their canoes, who conducted themselves with great decorum
and civility, presenting us with several fish cooked, and undressed, of
the sort already mentioned as resembling smelt...  For the sake of the
company of our new friends, we stood on under easy sail, which
encouraged them to attend us some little distance up the arm."
Gradually the natives dropped away, leaving only three or four canoes
to accompany the boats.

"We landed for the night about half a league from the head of the Inlet
and about three leagues from its entrance.  Our visitors remained with
us until by signs we gave them to understand we were going to rest, and
after receiving some acceptable articles, they retired."  These
Indians, Vancouver related, were so curious of everything they saw,
that he concluded that they had never before seen white men.

The night was spent uncomfortably!  "The shores of this situation were
formed by steep rocky cliffs, that afforded no convenient space for
pitching our tent, which compelled us to sleep in the boats.  Some of
the young gentlemen, however, preferring the stony beach for their
couch, without duly considering the line of high water mark, found
themselves incommoded by the flood tide, of which they were not
apprized until they were nearly afloat; and one of them slept so sound
that I believe he might have been conveyed to some distance, had he not
been awakened by his companions."

Early the following morning the explorers started to return down the
inlet.  There were few Indians about, but they noted the canoes on the
beach where the Capilano enters.  Two dug-outs did take off from the
Stanley Park shore, but could not overtake the fast sailing boats.
Vancouver wrote that he had named the "channel" after "Sir Harry
Burrard of the navy."

The Captain described the site of the magnificent city that honours him
and remembers June 13, 1792, as being "on a moderate height, and though
rocky, well covered with trees of a large growth, principally of the
pine tribe."  That description no longer serves, for the forests have
given way to structures of wood and of brick, of concrete and
steel--but high on the mountain tops the twin lions look down
impassively upon the changing scene.




22

VANCOUVER MEETS DONS

Captain George Vancouver was disappointed.  He had imagined that he was
the first to explore the shores of the great inland sea since the time
of the reputed voyage of Juan de Fuca.  Confident that such was the
case, the British navigator had taken possession of the country in the
name of King George III.  Then, leaving his ships at Birch Bay, he
started off on a small-boat expedition that was to last for eleven
days.  He was in the pinnace of H.M.S. 'Discovery', while Second
Lieutenant Peter Puget was in charge of the launch.  They entered and
named Burrard Inlet and then spent several days following the shoreline
of Howe Sound, and so on up the Coast to Jervis Inlet, naming both
these deep waterways.

The very day that he had discovered Burrard Inlet, his second in
command of the expedition, Lieutenant Broughton, H.M.S. 'Chatham', had
encountered two small ships of Spain, commanded by Captain Dionisio
Galiano, aboard a small brig named 'Sutil', and Captain Cayetano Valdes
in the schooner 'Mexicana'.  They were completing the work started by
Quimper, Eliza and Narvaez during the previous two years.

Captain Vancouver and Puget were now in one boat, as the other had
become separated at a time when the Lieutenant was conferring with the
Captain aboard the pinnace.  It was the morning of June 22.  They were
crossing towards Point Grey where they planned to breakfast, when two
vessels were seen riding at anchor in the shelter of the headland.
(This spot has since been known as "Spanish Banks.")  At first they
thought that it might be their own ships, the H.M.S. 'Discovery' and
H.M.S. 'Chatham', but quickly found that they were the little brig and
the schooner that Broughton had met.

"I cannot avoid acknowledging that, on this occasion, I experienced no
small degree of mortification in finding the external shores of the
gulf had been visited, and already examined a few miles beyond where my
researches during the excursion had extended," Vancouver wrote.

Galiano and Valdes were most courteous towards their distinguished
guest.  "Their conduct was replete with that politeness and friendship
which Characterizes the Spanish nation," he gratefully recorded in his
journal.

The Spanish Captains suggested "that circumstances might so concur as
to admit our respective labours being carried on together."  At first,
Vancouver declined this proposal, as he did the offer to either convey
him and his tired crews to their ships, or send for the 'Discovery' and
'Chatham' to move to the situation at Point Grey.  But the Captain did
partake of a bountiful breakfast.  He was probably very hungry, for the
boat expedition had been only supplied with food for six days when it
had left the ship and had now been absent for eleven.

Describing the 'Sutil' and 'Mexicana', Vancouver said: "They were about
each forty-five tons burthen, mounted two brass guns, and were
navigated by twenty-four men, bearing one lieutenant, without a single
inferior officer.  Their apartments just allowed room for sleeping
places on each side, with a table in the intermediate space, at which
four persons, with some difficulty, could sit, and were, in all other
respects, the most ill calculated and unfit vessels that could possibly
be imagined for such an expedition."

Galiano, who spoke some English, showed his visitor Eliza's chart, and
explained how the previous year he and Narvaez had explored Vancouver's
Gulf of Georgia.  Reciprocating this generous gesture, Vancouver
explained, "I showed them the sketch I had made of our excursion, and
pointed out the only spot which I conceived we had left unexamined,
nearly at the head of Burrard's Channel: they seemed much surprised
that we had not found a river said to exist in the region we had been
exploring, and named by one of their officers Rio Blanche, in
compliment to the then prime minister of Spain; which river these
gentlemen had sought for thus far to no purpose.  They took such notes
as they chose from my sketch, and promised to examine the small opening
in Burrard's channel, which, with every other information they could
procure, would be at my service on our next meeting."

Later the Spaniards did join him and they explored in company.




23

DINNERS AND DIPLOMACY

Having circumnavigated the great island that he was later to name
Quadra's and Vancouver's Island, in memory of a happy friendship, the
navigator made for Nootka, which he had first seen when a midshipman
with Captain Cook in 1778.  Here Captain Juan Francisco de la Bodega y
Quadra was awaiting his arrival to complete the formalities of the
Nootkan Convention of two years before.

It was August 28 when H.M.S. 'Discovery' and H.M.S. 'Chatham' nosed in
from the sea to drop anchor off the Spanish settlement at Friendly
Cove.  A salute was fired to the flag that flew from the Castillo de
San Miguel--as the fortified summit of the island at the cove's
entrance was named.  With due regard to protocol, the compliment was
returned.

Quadra was a gracious and kindly man.  He was considerate of all, even
of the lowly natives.  On his arrival at Nootka in April he was high in
his praise of the work of Eliza and Alberni in establishing the
settlement, "without ill-treating the crews and garrison or
inconveniencing the natives, who look healthy and contented."

While he awaited the coming of Vancouver he prepared for that event.
He ordered construction of a separate bakery for the use of the
visitors; his blacksmith- and carpenter-shops were placed in condition
to assist in any demands made on them by the British; and vegetable
gardens and some of the black cows of Spain that were one of the
glories of the place were set aside to supplement the stores of
Vancouver's ships.

After entertaining Commandant Quadra at breakfast the next morning,
Vancouver and some of his officers went ashore to lunch with the
Spanish officer, "and," says Vancouver, "we were gratified with a
repast we had lately been little accustomed to, or had the most distant
idea of meeting with at this place.  A dinner of five courses,
consisting of a superfluity of the best provisions, was served with
great elegance."  This tasty spread was served on solid silver plate, a
fact that astonished all the seafarers who participated in this bounty.

In their official discussions as commissioners of their respective
Crowns the two could not agree.  The wording of the convention was not
precise in delineating the areas involved; Quadra proposed to transfer
the small bit of land where John Meares had his house, but this
Vancouver would not accept.  Finally they decided to refer the whole
matter back to their governments.  Their public differences, however,
did not interfere with their personal regard for each other.  Quadra
generously offered to turn over the settlement at Nootka to the
English, pending a final settlement.

Now the thoughtful Quadra gave another proof of his generosity: it was
an endeavour to cement the friendship of Maquinna, the Chief, with
Vancouver.  He suggested that they make a state visit to the native
prince at his village of Tashis, deep in the labyrinth of the Sound.
Vancouver was delighted.  No such an embassy had ever taken place: two
representatives of Britain and Spain making a formal visit to the
cedar-plank hall of an Indian potentate.

It was a wonderful success.  In gold braid and lace, the Captains and
their attendants paid court to Maquinna, surrounded by his family and
his warriors.  There was entertainment when masked figures whirled and
jumped and padded about in imitation of animals; and sailors danced
jigs and hornpipes.  Spanish cooks vied with Nootkan squaws in
preparing such a feast as would be remembered for years by all who were
privileged to attend, and where fine linen and silverware were utilized
along with wooden troughs and ceremonial spoons of horn and shell.  It
was a wonderful success, and Maquinna accepted Vancouver into his
confidence and friendship.

The next night, at Friendly Cove, the British captain celebrated with
an exhibition of fireworks that made the very heavens testify to his
regard for the mighty Maquinna.




24

BY LAND FROM CANADA

Darkness had fallen on July 17, 1793, when a tired and ragged little
party of sun-bronzed men stumbled down from the mountains in the Bella
Coola valley, near present-day Burnt Bridge Creek, and staggered into
the hospitable home of an Indian chief to receive a generous welcome.

The leader of the strangers was Alexander Mackenzie, partner in the
mighty North West Company, who had crossed the Rocky Mountains from
Fort Fork on the Peace River, to explore trade possibilities from the
continental backbone to the Pacific Ocean.  The Hudson's Bay Company's
charter lands did not extend to the west of the mountain chain.

Mackenzie, with Alexander Mackay as his second in command, and eight
men, left Fort Fork on May 9.  It had been a difficult and most
dangerous venture, which at times had frightened and discouraged the
men, who would often have abandoned the trip had it not been for the
encouragement of the two leaders.  Reluctantly, day by day, the
voyageurs were induced to continue.  Turbulent river currents were
encountered, while shallows tore the bottom of the deep-laden frail
birch-bark canoe, and dark canyons filled with foaming waters compelled
tiresome portages.  But at last they had come to one of the upper
reaches of the great river that was to bear the name of Fraser.

The broad stream was embarked upon, and swiftly it carried the
adventurers to the west and south.  Then the Fort George canyon had to
be negotiated, and on and on went the party until near present day Fort
Alexandria.  It was learned from the Indians that there were greater
dangers and obstacles ahead, so Mackenzie turned back to the mouth of a
stream entering from the west--which he called West Road River--and
after following it for a short way abandoned the canoe and continued on
foot.

Now, two months later, after enduring fatigue and hunger and danger as
their constant companions, the party had reached the banks of the river
that flowed into "the stinking lake," as the Indians called the sea.
"Friendly Village," Mackenzie named the abode of his kindly hosts.  The
natives provided two canoes with crews to take the explorers down the
river.  "I had imagined that the Canadians who accompanied me were the
most expert canoe-men in the World, but they are very inferior to these
people, and they themselves acknowledged, in conducting these vessels."

Another village--described as "The Great Village"--was reached.  Here
the Indians were threatening but soon assumed a more gracious attitude,
though fearful when Mackenzie produced his astronomical instruments to
take an observation.  They thought the salmon in the river might become
frightened.

Continuing the descent of the stream, Mackenzie came to still another
village, close to the sea, where the propensities of the inhabitants
were such that it has ever since been remembered by this name "Rascals'
Village."

Mackenzie had achieved his great objective.  He had at last reached the
sea.  But it was in a most matter-of-fact way that he noted the
occurrence in his journal: "From these houses, I could perceive the
termination of the river, and its discharge into a narrow arm of the
sea."  No flowery language, no boastings, not even a notation that he,
Mackay, and their men were the first known men of the white race to
cross the continent by land, north of Mexico.

The explorer was not content; he wanted to know just where he had come
out to the ocean, so he decided to adventure down the arm to take
better observations in a locality less enclosed by mountains.  He went
down North Bentinck Arm, past the entrance to Burke Channel, up
Labouchere Channel and into Dean Channel, and turning to the other
shore he passed the opening to Elcho Harbour.  In the course of this
trip Indians were encountered, who did not appear to be too friendly.
This attitude was especially shown by one old man, whom Mackenzie
described as "troublesome."  He insisted that he had been fired upon by
"Macubah."  It was the first intimation that Mackenzie had that Captain
Vancouver had been lately in the vicinity.  Actually, they had missed
each other by only a few weeks.

Anticipating hostile action, the party encamped on a great rock that
was capable of being defended, and here was recorded in paint made of
vermilion and grease: "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the
twenty-second of July, One thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-three."

The inscription has disappeared, but it was seen some forty years later
when visited by a Hudson's Bay Company's vessel.  Definitely located by
Captain R. P. Bishop British Columbia Land Surveyor, the rock now bears
a commemorative tablet.




25

BRITAIN & SPAIN AGREE

The sun broke fitfully through the clouds on the morning of March 28,
1795, sprinkling with golden light the pebbled beach of the little cove
where Captain John Meares had built the 'North West America', the
vessel he had launched at Nootka to the wonderment of the natives.
There was a ceremony in progress.  The flags of Great Britain and of
Spain were in evidence, the latter flapping from the top of an
improvised staff.  Several officers wearing the uniform of His Catholic
Majesty the King of Spain approached the ceremonial base, where a few
soldiers and sailors from the 'Active' and the 'San Carlos' formed a
guard of honour.  Then a solitary figure in the scarlet tunic of His
Britannic Majesty's Marine Forces walked briskly forward.

He was Lieutenant Thomas Pearce.  He represented His Majesty King
George III.  He saluted a man in the dress of a Brigadier-General of
Spain.  He was Jose Manuel Alava, appointed to represent the Crown of
Spain.  They were meeting by arrangement to settle finally the dispute
that originated over that bit of Nootkan beach, when in 1789 British
seamen had been arrested and their ships had been seized.  War had
threatened to divide the world because of that incident.  This had been
prevented when Spain acceded to the demand of Great Britain that the
lands from which British subjects had been dispossessed should be
restored, and the shipowners should be reimbursed.  Captain Vancouver
had come to Nootka to meet Quadra and accept return of the
"territories," but they could not agree upon the size and precise
location of the lands involved.  The matter had been referred back to
their respective Courts.

Several years passed before settlement was reached.  The world was in a
ferment as a result of the French Revolution.  Old friendships and
national alignments had altered, and now Great Britain and Spain were
allied against the rising power of France.  In this spirit of
cordiality they at last got down to fashioning a new Nootkan agreement.
Compensation was made to the shipowners whose vessels had been seized:
two hundred and ten thousand hard silver dollars they received.  This
was followed by an understanding that no definite division should be
made of the Island of Quadra and Vancouver.  Both nations were to share
alike.

After setting out that representatives of the two kings were to meet at
Nootka and go through a formal ceremony, the new convention--the
agreement framed in friendship provided that after declaration and
counter-declaration had been exchanged at Nootka, the forces of both
nations should withdraw, "but the subjects of the two Crowns shall be
in future at liberty to resort to and construct there temporary
buildings for their own use during their residence," but without its
being allowable for either nation to make any permanent establishment
or "claim any territorial sovereignty to the exclusion of the other."
And finally, that in order mutually to secure to the respective
subjects the liberty of frequenting the aforesaid Port, of carrying on
their trade, and of residing there as occasion may require, "the two
Powers shall unite against every other Nation which should in future
attempt to establish there any pretention to dominion or Sovereignty."

This meant that the two countries were to have equal rights--though
territories were undefined--on the big island.

The flag of Spain flew at the top of the flagstaff while the formal
declaration and counter-declaration were read.  The few Spanish
soldiers and sailors, Chief Maquinna, the Lord of Nootka, with several
other chiefs, and John Kendrick, the Yankee skipper, who had first
carried the star-spangled emblem of the American republic to the
western seas, looked and listened.  Then, slowly, the gold and red
banner of old Spain fluttered down, and the red, white and blue flag of
Great Britain rose to replace it.  Everyone saluted both.  Then
Brigadier Alava gave an order.  The Spanish troops turned and marched
down to the water's edge, where boats waited to carry them aboard the
Spanish ships of war that were to take them away.

Lieutenant Pearce lingered for a few moments, to see the British ensign
hauled down.  He carefully folded it, and addressing Chief Maquinna,
using Captain Kendrick as interpreter, he told the Chief that King
George had heard much good about him, and because of that fact was
going to entrust him with the keeping of his flag.  He must display it,
said Pearce, every time that a ship appeared in the offing.  And
Maquinna, who first saw the flag when Captain James Cook brought it,
promised to be true to that trust.  Pearce bade him good-bye and,
turning, followed the Spaniards into the boats.




26

SURVIVOR BECOMES SLAVE

Daring sea captains continued to scour the coasts of the North Pacific
for prime sea otter furs.  The vicinity of Nootka, following the
withdrawal of the Spanish garrison, was less attractive to traders, not
because of the absence of the Dons but because the waters did not
produce as abundantly as in former years.  The Queen Charlotte Islands
offered better markets for the white traders' wares.

The natives of the Queen Charlotte group were a bold, warlike, insolent
lot.  They made no attempt to conceal their contempt for the white men,
and when opportunity offered would not hesitate to attack a vessel.

Captain Hugh Moore, of the 'Phoenix', found this to be the case when he
went into Cumshewa Inlet in search of trade.  He stopped in front of
Skedans, the principal village of Chief Cumshewa, and one of his boats
was attacked and a man killed.  Moore warped his vessel close to shore
and opened fire.  To his surprise his cannonading was answered in kind
and with such effect that he was glad to sail away.

The manner in which the natives of Cumshewa's tribe secured small arms
and artillery came to light in the summer of 1795, when the fate of the
Boston schooner 'Resolution', tender to the brig 'Jefferson', was
learned.

This little vessel, under the command of a Captain Burling, and with
Solomon Kendrick, son of the notable Captain John Kendrick, as mate,
went to Skedans in July, 1794.  The natives, led by Scatseye,
Cumshewa's brother, rushed the schooner and butchered all they
encountered.  In rifling the cargo later, they found a sailor named
Bears hiding in a cask.  At first they were going to kill him, but one
Indian, whose brother had been killed in the attack, claimed him as a
slave.

The unfortunate sailor was stripped of his clothing, was beaten and
abused, and was made to serve as a servant to the other slaves of his
master.  Whenever a trading ship appeared, he was dragged into the
forest where he was chained to a tree.

It was months later that Kow, a chief at Kaigani (on modern Ball
Island, Alaska), told Captain Charles Bishop, of the English brig
'Ruby', of the imprisonment of the white sailor.  Bishop told other
traders and the story soon became general knowledge.

Captain Thomas Burnett of the snow 'Mercury', with the aid of the brig
'Despatch', headed an expedition to Skedans to rescue the prisoner.  A
battle ensued, in which Burnett said the women fought with great
ferocity.  At last the whites captured Cumshewa's brother and his son,
as well as other members of the chief's household.  These were held as
hostages until Bears was liberated and brought on board the 'Mercury'.
The man was so numbed by abuse and suffering that it was several days
before he was able to give a clear account to Captain Burnett of the
torment of his enslavement.

"The winter, the only he had the unhappiness to spend amongst them,"
Captain Bishop set down in the log of the 'Ruby', "was remarkably
favourable (but most severely cold); during this time he was forced to
cut wood, make their fires, then was driven from the sight of it
outside the hut, and not even allowed to approach the slaves' fire but
to bring them what they wanted."

Four years later, the American brig 'Eliza', flying the British flag to
deceive Cumshewa, arrived at Skedans.  Scatseye was induced to come on
board, and immediately sail was hoisted and the vessel was headed for
Kaigani and the home of Scatseye's most deadly enemy.  The brother of
Cumshewa was turned over to the tender mercies of Kow by Captain
Burling--for he was the brother of the young skipper of the
'Resolution', who had been killed by Scatseye's hand.




27

MAQUINNA'S REVENGE

When both Great Britain and Spain withdrew all controls from Nootka
they left the village at Yuquot, or Friendly Cove, to Chief Maquinna.
He was at first highly pleased that the whites had withdrawn.  But he
soon found that things had changed.  He had become accustomed to the
white strangers and had enjoyed their compliments and their gifts.

Ever since he had seen Captain James Cook's ships emerge from the sea
mists, he had been pampered and petted by traders for the most part,
although in those earlier times there had been men like Captain Hanna
and the Spaniard Martinez, whose memories he hated.  But there were
such wonderful friends as Quadra and Vancouver, and Pedro Alberni who
had glorified him in song.  These old friends were gone; even Captain
John Kendrick, the Yankee skipper, had disappeared.  Now but few
vessels came to Nootka and they were captained by strangers who did not
seem to appreciate the greatness of Maquinna.  These instances of lack
of deference and respect seared the soul and soured the disposition of
the old potentate of Nootka Sound.

It was on March 12, 1803, that the ship 'Boston', a fine vessel from
the port of the same name, dropped anchor in the Sound, about four
miles from Friendly Cove.  Maquinna went on board.  He was received
pleasantly, and for a time watched young John Rodger Jewitt, the
armourer or blacksmith, at work at his forge.  Maquinna always admired
the arts of a smith, who could fashion daggers and knives and spear
heads from iron.

The captain presented Maquinna with a double-barrelled gun.  He was
delighted and hastened ashore to try it.  He brought it back next
morning.  He was angry and charged that the gun was "bad."  Captain
Salter was also ill-tempered.  He flew into a rage, seized the weapon
and threw it down the hatch to Jewitt to repair, calling Maquinna a
liar.  He probably forgot that the old Indian knew a good deal of
English.

Maquinna clutched at his throat to keep his anger from choking him, he
later explained.  He went on shore, called his people together and told
them what had happened.  The warriors declared that such an insult to
their chief could not be tolerated.

The next morning Maquinna returned to the 'Boston'.  He was gay.  He
wore a mask and carried a whistle.  He capered about the deck.  He
asked the Captain if he would not like some salmon before he left port.
These he said could be obtained at Friendly Cove.  Salter immediately
sent off his first officer B. Delouisa and a strong party.

When they had departed, Maquinna blew his whistle.  The Indians on
board the 'Boston' drew their daggers and attacked the crew, while
others boarded the ship to take part in the massacre.  Captain Salter
was stabbed and thrown over the side where the squaws beat him to death
with their canoe paddles.

Maquinna had given orders that Jewitt, the armourer, should be spared.
He was wounded slightly, and was taken and dragged before Maquinna, who
made him identify his dead comrades.  He noted that John Thompson, the
sailmaker, was not among the victims of the massacre.  Delouisa and his
party were all killed at Friendly Cove.  Maquinna told Jewitt that he
would spare him if he would ply his trade for him.  It was that or
death.

The first thing that Jewitt had to do was to direct the making of sail
and taking the 'Boston' to Friendly Cove, where she was beached.  Here
the Indians commenced to pillage the vessel, and discovered Thompson,
hiding in the hold.  He was dragged before Maquinna who would have
ordered his death, had not Jewitt claimed him as his father.  So the
old sailmaker was also made a slave.

Other vessels were on the Coast, and the word was soon carried to them
of what had happened to the 'Boston'.  A few days later the brigs
'Juno' and 'Mary' boldly sailed into Friendly Harbour, squared away,
and fired three broadsides in the direction of the village, without
doing any harm.  They then sailed away, leaving the two white men as
slaves.




28

FREED FROM SLAVERY

It was the summer of 1805: the American brig 'Lydia' was trading on the
West Coast.  One day Machee Ulatilla, an Indian chief, arrived in a
canoe.  He had come a long distance with a letter.  Captain Samuel Hill
was more than surprised to find it was signed by John R. Jewitt and
John Thompson, members of the crew of the ship 'Boston', telling of
their captivity, as sole survivors of the vessel, at Nootka.  Hill had
heard that the ship had been destroyed but this was the first news that
there were any of her personnel alive.

Jewitt, the young armourer, and John Thompson, the sailmaker of the
'Boston', had sent off, by friendly visiting Indians, sixteen letters
penned with a quill by Jewitt with a mixture of charcoal and berry
juice.

It was the middle of July before Captain Hill was able to get to
Nootka.  Here he found that Friendly Cove was defended with a battery
of six cannon taken from the 'Boston'.

There was no hostile gesture, however, when he entered the cove.  The
Indians were feeling the boycott that traders imposed following the
taking of the 'Boston'.  There were many things that they wanted.
While much of the heavier material, such as cannon, powder, ball,
running gears and anchors had been removed, the greater part of the
cargo of the captured ship had been accidentally burned.

The Nootkans blamed Maquinna for their isolation, and even for the fact
that there were few whales off shore.  There were murmurings and
plottings.  Then the chief appointed the two white men as his bodyguard
and they protected him as he had protected them.  They were given
considerable freedom and used to go regularly to a small lake where
they held prayers for their freedom.  Jewitt kept a journal, having
found a blank book before the vessel was burned.  He noted down the
daily events of their captivity and the doings of the Indians.

Maquinna did not care much for Thompson, although he admired him as a
warrior, having used him in battle with the Barkley Sound Indians,
where he did great execution.  But the old chief was really attached to
Jewitt, who made him daggers and knives and spears.  He had given
Jewitt a wife, as an evidence of his favour, but the young white man
had put her aside, for fear she might interfere with his plans for
escape.

Maquinna was in two minds about going aboard the 'Lydia'.  He asked
Jewitt for his advice, for he was very fond of the young white man and
treated him well.  Jewitt assured him it would be quite safe for him to
do so and offered to give him a letter saying he was a good chief.
This Maquinna welcomed, but the letter asked that the bearer be held as
a hostage for the deliverance of the captives.  This was done.

Captain Sam Hill recorded that having secured Maquinna he demanded the
production of the slaves.  "When they were about to embark in a canoe
to come aboard," he related, "a council was held on the beach, wherein
several of the chiefs advised to kill them both and hazard the worst
rather than suffer the particulars of their conduct, relative to the
capture of the ship, to be known; but they were given to understand
that if they did not immediately bring the two men on board, alive and
unhurt, I would assuredly punish their chiefs and destroy the village.
This had the desired effect and I was happy in recovering the men
together with the guns and ammunition without entering into a quarrel."
Maquinna was set free and left the vessel with many expressions of
gratitude, but with real sorrow at the departure of Jewitt.  He did not
seem to mourn Thompson.  John Jewitt wrote a book about his adventures.
It was translated into several languages.  He revised it, several years
after his first story was printed, but the plain unvarnished story as
he penned it in berry juices and charcoal is a most dramatic and
enlightening tale.

And as for Maquinna: his act of treachery in attacking the 'Boston'
wrote "Finis" to his relations with the whites.  He was never again
trusted.




29

FRASER FORMS POSTS

It was in the spring of 1806 that the Indians at Lake Na'kal first
encountered a white man.  He was James McDougall, one of Simon Fraser's
force from Rocky Mountain Portage establishment on the Peace River, not
very far from the present-day Hudson's Hope.  This place had been
constructed by Fraser as a base from which he could carry out the
instructions of his associates of the North West Company that the fur
trade be carried to the Pacific side of the continental divide.

The North West Company had but recently been reinvigorated by fusion
with the XY Company, another Canadian trading concern, and, having
heard that President Thomas Jefferson, of the United States, had sent
Captains Lewis and Clark on an exploratory trip to the western
seaboard, felt some alarm.  It was therefore decided, at the great
council of the Company at Fort William, that Simon Fraser should make
all haste across the Rockies to occupy potential fur fields, and extend
the geographical knowledge of the country into which Sir Alexander
Mackenzie had penetrated.

McDougall, with several men, was sent ahead.  He camped on a lake,
which he called Trout Lake.  Here, following the arrival of Fraser
later in the year, it was determined to establish a permanent post.  It
and the lake were honoured by Fraser with the name of his friend
Archibald Norman McLeod.  As Fort McLeod, the trading-post has
continued, being the first white community established in British
Columbia west of the Rockies.

The next spring (1806), McDougall discovered Lake Na'kal.  During his
brief stay among the Carrier Indians at that place he presented one,
named Toeyen, with a piece of red cloth.  The Indian valued it highly
and regarded it with almost superstitious awe.

Now it was July 26 of the same year.  The surface of the lake was
ruffled by a brisk wind, and the canoes at Quaw's village were drawn up
on the beach.  Suddenly there was a cry of alarm: two very large
canoes, filled with queerly dressed strangers, appeared around a point
from the juncture of the lake and river.  Surely this must be a warlike
attack.  The men were called to arms and the women and children were
hurried to the protection of the forest.  But Toeyen was not afraid.
These strangers appeared to be similar to his friends who had given him
the precious cloth.  He hastened to where his treasures were stored,
and appeared again with the red rag about his waist.  Now he entered a
canoe and went boldly to meet the newcomers.  He was recognized and was
taken into Fraser's canoe.  At first his kinsmen thought he had been
killed, but presently they heard him calling loudly that he was among
friends.

So Fraser and his companions landed to receive a warm welcome by Quaw
and his people.  It was a wonderful scene, and recalled to Fraser
stories his mother had told him of the lochs of old Scotland, with
their rugged shores.  John Stuart, his friend and lieutenant,
corroborated the resemblance.  So it was that the country was named New
Caledonia, and in gallant compliment to his assistant Fraser called the
lake "Stuart."  Here, during the remaining summer months, a fort was
constructed.  At first it was known as "Nakazleh," but later it was
rechristened "Fort St. James" and became the active centre of New
Caledonia.

The Indians were friendly.  They told of another fine lake, about forty
miles to the southward.  The salmon had not yet arrived in the annual
tens of thousands at Stuart Lake.  Food supplies were meagre; so Stuart
with several men was sent to take a look at this other body of water.
It was agreed that they would later meet at a designated spot on the
Nechako River.  Soon after Stuart took his departure the salmon arrived
in abundance.  There was a surfeit of fish.

When the friends met according to appointment, Stuart had such an
enthusiastic story to tell of the wonders of the place he had visited
that they decided to visit it in company.  Here John Stuart returned
the compliment of his chief.  He named the beautiful sheet of water
"Fraser Lake."  Here also a trading-post was built.  It was first known
as "Natleh," but later as "Fort Fraser."

Thus it was that Fraser and Stuart and McDougall with a few
half-starved men and a scarcity of trade goods founded establishments
that were later to figure prominently in the development of the country.




30

THE GREAT RIVER

Jules Maurice Quesnel and Hugh Faries brought a message to Simon Fraser
in the fall of 1807 from the council of the North West Company
instructing him to explore the "Great River" to the sea.

In preparation for this duty, Fraser established another post, at the
junction of the Nechako and the big stream.  This he named Fort George,
and Faries was named its first commander.  From this place, late in
May, 1808, the exploring party consisting of Fraser, his tried and
trusted lieutenant John Stuart, Quesnel, nineteen voyageurs, and two
Indians, took its departure.

Fifteen miles below Fort George disaster threatened members of the
party who undertook to run the dangerous canyon.  Having escaped
destruction here the party found it advisable to portage the supplies
at the junction of the Cottonwood, and camped where another river
entered.  This was honoured with the name of Quesnel.

From that time on Fraser and his men encountered new difficulties each
day.  Not only were there physical obstacles to overcome, but the
different Indian tribes had to be approached with caution, and be
placated and left as friends.  Finally it was found impossible to
continue by canoe, and the party's craft were cached near Pavilion
Creek, earlier near Kelly Creek.  Fraser wrote in his journal: "the
channel contracts to about forty yards, and is enclosed by two
precipices of immense height, which, bending towards each other, make
it narrower above than below.  The water which rolls down this
extraordinary passage in tumultuous waves and with great velocity, had
a frightful appearance." This danger was negotiated, but it was decided
not to try fortune again under similar circumstances.

Where present Lillooet is located, an Indian fort of one hundred feet
by twenty-four was discovered.  The palisades of this defensive work
were eighteen feet in height.  Continuing along the river, Fraser found
the village of "Camchin."  The principal town of the Hacamough tribe,
it was situated at the forks where the clear waters of a large river
entered the muddy stream of the one Fraser was following.  Thinking
that this must be the river that another noted North-West partner had
reported having found, Fraser named it the "Thompson."

The dangers and difficulties already encountered were exceeded by those
that followed after leaving Camchin.  "Here we were obliged to carry on
among the loose stones in the face of a steep hill between two
precipices.  Near the top, where the ascent was perfectly
perpendicular, one of the Indians climbed to the summit and by means of
a long rope drew us up one after another.  This work took three hours,
and then we continued our course up and down hills and along steep
declivities of mountains where hanging rocks and projecting cliffs, at
the edge of the bank of the river, made the passage so small as to
render it, at times difficult even for one person to pass sideways."
Such was Fraser's description of one place.

At Spuzzum, where they were well received, the explorers noted the
influence of the coastal tribes.  Soon they had emerged from the
canyons, and in dug-out canoes, obtained from the Indians, were being
carried on the gentle flow through the lush lowlands.

It was July 2 when, following the north arm of the river, Fraser
stopped at the great village of Musqueam.  This was fortified.  "The
fort," he said, "is fifteen hundred feet in length and ninety in
breadth."  The natives had evacuated the place when they saw the
approach of the party, but one Indian who had come with them urged them
to flee as the warriors would soon return.  This was proved to be sound
counsel, for soon Indians appeared and made such a warlike
demonstration that Fraser and his men soon retreated up the river.
According to Indian legend they were mistaken for enemies from
Chawassin.

As a result, Fraser never actually debouched into the Gulf of Georgia
but he saw the glint of the sea, and he knew that he had reached--not
the mouth of the Columbia--but that of his own river, The Fraser.




31

FORT BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS

When the mighty men of the North West Company told Simon Fraser to
explore the river that Sir Alexander Mackenzie had discovered, they
also issued instructions to David Thompson to occupy the country to the
south of Fraser's forts, and west of the Rockies.  They wished to
forestall the Americans.

Thompson was admirably suited for the work.  He was a trained surveyor
and an experienced Indian trader, having served his apprenticeship in
the barter for furs with the Hudson's Bay Company before he joined the
Canadian organization.  In 1806, when he received his orders to cross
the Rocky Mountains, he was at Rocky Mountain House on the North
Saskatchewan, near its junction with the Clearwater.

He had some previous acquaintance with the Kootenae Indians, a party of
whom he had met.  They had ventured through to the eastern foothills in
hopes of establishing trade with the white men.  Thompson had made them
presents and advised them to return home, as the Piegans, their mortal
enemies, were in the vicinity of the trading-post.  The Piegans were a
warlike tribe in the Blackfoot Confederacy, who often raided through
the mountain passes to drive off the Kootenaes' horses.  Ever since the
establishment of trade depots, they had guarded those passes to keep
the Kootenaes from contact with the whites.

Thompson had to make his preparations without arousing the suspicion of
the Piegans.  He sent Jacco Finlay ahead to explore the way through the
Rockies.  He succeeded in crossing to the Columbia River, where he
built two canoes, and returned to report to his superior.

With Finan McDonald as his second in command, Thompson, accompanied by
his wife and family and a party of company servants, followed the route
of Finlay.  They utilized the break now known as Howse Pass.  They came
upon a small stream, the waters of which flowed to the west, indicating
that they had crossed the divide.

The explorer was delighted.  He devoutly wrote in his journal: "May God
in His mercy give me to see where its waters flow into the ocean and
return in safety."  This earnest prayer was eventually answered, but
not until four years had passed.

The tiny stream was the source of the Blaeberry River.  They followed
it to its place of entry into the Columbia.  It was here that Finlay
had cached his two canoes.  Unfortunately the larger craft was so
damaged by weather that it was useless, but Thompson and his men set to
work and built a boat out of the materials at hand.  In this they
started up the big river.  It was a rough and dangerous trip, but
eventually they could see a lake and near it a stream entering the
river.  It is now known as Toby Creek.  Close to this Thompson
commenced the construction of a fort, which he named "Kootenae House."

The party reached the place in a famished and weakened condition.  They
had depended upon game to sustain them, but there appeared to be little
animal life, and their success at fishing had been poor.  They had
found coyotes eating a dead horse, and had driven the animals off and
had consumed some of the flesh.  It was tainted, and they were sick.

"At length, thank Heaven," the grateful Thompson wrote, "two Kootenae
men arrived: they saw our famished looks and asking no questions gave
every one of us a sufficiency to eat which was most gratefully accepted
and then traded with me dried provisions enough for two days."

Now, to add to their misery, a band of Piegans arrived, in an effort to
terrorize the Kootenaes and frighten the whites.  They stayed about for
several months, but all the time the strength of the fort was growing,
and when the palisades were up and loop-holed, the visitors realized
that it was beyond their ability to capture.  They departed.

The first fort in the Southern Interior of British Columbia had been
established.




32

RACE FOR AN EMPIRE

John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant to the United States, had visions
of establishing a great fur empire based upon a permanent depot at the
mouth of the Columbia River.  He suggested to the North West Company
that it join him in the enterprise.  The idea was scorned by that
veteran organization of the wilds; the concern that had successfully
challenged the power and authority of the Hudson's Bay Company was not
interested in the dreams of an unknown German furrier.

Astor was not dismayed by the refusal.  It was really the experience of
the Nor'westers that he coveted: so he made overtures to some of the
most experienced of the company's Indian traders.  One of the first to
join Astor's fur company was Alexander McKay, who had accompanied Sir
Alexander Mackenzie on his great overland trip to the Pacific in 1793.

When in 1810 Astor had completed his plans and started two expeditions,
one overland and the other on board the ship 'Tonquin', for the mouth
of the Columbia, the proud and disdainful Nor'west traders took notice.
David Thompson, who had already crossed the Rocky Mountains and had
established several outposts there, was at Rainy River with furs.  He
was ordered to hasten back to Rocky Mountain House, where he was to
organize a strong party for a dash across the continental backbone and
down to the sea.  He was to arrive at the mouth of the Columbia before
the Americans, and to claim the country for King George III and the
Company.

It was to be a race, a contest of speed and endurance, with an Empire
as the prize.

Thompson hurried to Rocky Mountain House and prepared to speed through
Howse Pass to Kootenae House, to follow the McGillivray's--now
Kootenay--River to Salish House, and to go thence to the lower
Columbia.  He hoped to make the trip before the end of the year.  But
the Piegan Indians, with their confederates amongst the prairie tribes,
decided otherwise.  They determined to prevent Thompson again taking
trading goods to their enemies, the Kootenaes.  They blocked him in the
use of the pass he had previously used, and much time was lost in going
by way of Athabasca Pass.  But of greater injury to him was the fear
that their demonstration had caused amongst Thompson's party of more
than twenty.

Reaching the Columbia, he proposed to go up the stream to its
headquarters and Kootenae House, but his men refused to proceed and
four of them deserted.  He finally determined to winter where he was,
and built a house for that purpose near the junction of the Wood River.

After a miserable winter, marked by the dissatisfaction of his men, and
the desertion of more of them, he proposed to abandon his plan and to
go down the Columbia.  His men again objected; they feared the rapids
and unknown dangers of the route.  So Thompson had to go up to his Lake
Windermere post, with the eight men who remained with him.  From
Kootenae House he crossed over to the McGillivray and down that stream
to find Salish House abandoned.  Finan McDonald and Jacco Finlay, whom
he had left there, had moved to a new location, called Spokane House.

Hastening from this establishment to Kettle Falls and down the Columbia
with five French Canadians, two Iroquois and two local Indians, he
posted notices where he stopped to camp, claiming the country for the
British Crown and his Company.  It was at the Dalles that he first
learned that white strangers were building at the mouth of the river.

When the 'Tonquin' reached the river in March, its men lost no time in
building a fort.  On July 15, 1811, Thompson reached this new
establishment, over which flew the star-bespangled flag of the United
States.  The timidity and lack of courage of his men had lost Thompson
the race ... and Great Britain the sovereignty over a great and rich
territory.




33

DEATH LADEN TONQUIN

It was the summer of 1811 and Astor's ship 'Tonquin' had come to the
west coast of Vancouver's Island from the Pacific Fur Company's new
establishment at the mouth of the Columbia to barter with the Indians
for sea-otter furs.  The vessel was commanded by Captain Jonathan
Thorne, a former naval officer and a man of hasty temper.  With him, in
charge of Indian sales, was Alexander McKay, a partner in Astor's
organization and former trader and explorer for the North West Company.

'Tonquin' nosed into Clayoquot Sound and encountered tragedy.  Just who
was to blame for arousing the enmity of the Indians has long been in
doubt.  Some allege that Captain Thorne was at fault.  It was asserted
that the Captain was doing the trading, and became exasperated by the
insistence of an old Indian named Nookamis that he be given a bonus
over the price agreed upon for an otter pelt.  Thorne is said to have
seized the fur and rubbed the face of the native with it.  But the
story as related in the lodges of the Clayoquots and about the fires of
a winter night blames McKay, whose business it was to carry on barter.

He was dealing with Nookamis, who was pestering him for an addition to
the payment, when McKay pushed the old man.  A powerful war-chief named
Maniwa saw the insult given.  He threw his arms about the white man and
uttered a war-whoop.  Instantly knives flashed and the captain and
other officers were attacked and killed.  The crew members in the fore
part of the vessel seemed to be paralysed by the sudden attack and were
unable to offer assistance to their superiors or resistance to the
natives.

All but two white men were killed in that first onslaught, the Indian
story says.  One of these was a man named James Lewis, and he was
wounded.  He hid himself below decks, and the Indians hesitated to
follow him into the dark recesses of the ship.  In the meantime more
and more canoes were arriving from shore with natives eager to join in
the work of plunder.

Suddenly, and without warning, there was a terrific explosion; the
wooden ship burst asunder, the deck laden with exultant victors was
blasted into the air in a sheet of flame.  Scores were killed, while
even more died in the canoes alongside from the shock of the explosion
and from falling debris from the torn craft.

This ending of the 'Tonquin' is in agreement with the news brought back
to Astoria by the Indian interpreter, who alone of the vessel's
personnel survived.  According to him Lewis had exploded the powder
magazine.  Four others, he said, had escaped the knives of the Indians
on board the ship; they fled in the night in a small boat and were
captured some miles away and were killed.  Lewis had refused to go with
them, being determined to exact revenge for the slaying of his
shipmates.

Tent-a-coose, a Cowichan Indian who was a slave amongst the Clayoquots,
witnessed the whole affair from the shore.  Later he was liberated by
the Hudson's Bay Company, and as an old man delighted in telling of the
blowing up of the 'Tonquin'.  He timed it as being the morning
following the massacre.  Lewis, he said, appeared on deck and waved to
the Indians to come on board.  They did so, and when the vessel was
crowded, the magazine was exploded.  Tent-a-coose estimated that more
than two hundred Clayoquots lost their lives and many more were
crippled by Lewis's awful revenge.

The loss of the 'Tonquin' was a serious blow to the little settlement
at the mouth of the Columbia, which did not learn of the fate of the
ship and her crew until months later when the interpreter made his way
back to Astoria with the horrible story.




34

KAMLOOPS IS STARTED

David Thompson lost his race for possession of the mouth of the
Columbia, while his efforts to claim the territories through which he
hurried on his way to the sea also resulted in failure.

In the summer of 1811 David Stuart and Alexander Ross headed a trading
expedition from Astoria to the great interior country.  It was at the
junction of the Snake and Columbia rivers that they found a British
flag flying above an Indian encampment.  It was one of Thompson's bits
of bunting, and with it he had confided to the custody of a chief a
paper.  Written on it was this, "Know hereby that this country is
claimed by Great Britain as part of its Territories, and that the N.W.
Company of Merchants from Canada, finding the Factory for this People
inconvenient for them, do intend to erect a Factory in this place for
the Country around."

The natives, who were proud of their flag and the trust reposed in them
by Thompson, tried to dissuade Stuart and Ross from their purpose.
This, however, made them only more determined to explore the unknown
land to the north.  They turned up a stream that flowed from that
direction.  It was the Okanogan[*] River, and they built a post upon
its banks, a cabin of sixteen by twenty feet.


[*] The beautiful lake and river have different spellings.  The lake,
being in what is now British Columbia, is written "Okanagan," as is the
river north of the boundary.  In the United States the river and other
place names such as the old fort site are spelled "Okanogan."


From this place that fall Stuart decided to continue his explorations
for profitable fur fields.  Taking a Canadian, Montigny, and two others
with him, he left Ross and a small dog the only occupants of Okanogan.
He travelled up the river to the great Lake Okanagan, and along the
shores of that beautiful body of water.  Crossing to the westward over
a fine plateau he came to the "country of the She-waps [Shuswaps]" and
made camp at the junction of two fine rivers--where Kamloops is located
today.

It was mid-September when he started away from Okanogan, and according
to his reckoning it was between 200 and 250 miles to the land of the
"She-Waps."  It was no wonder, therefore, that he was overtaken by
winter.  "The snow fell while we were here in the mountains, and
precluded our immediate return," he wrote, "and after waiting for fine
weather the snows got so deep that we considered it hopeless to attempt
getting back, and therefore, passed our time with the She-Waps and
other tribes of that quarter."  He returned to his friend Ross, who had
almost despaired of seeing him again, in the middle of March, 1812,
after having been absent 188 days.  But it had been a profitable trip,
and he was able to take 2,500 beaver pelts, the result of his and
Ross's trading, to Astoria in April.

It was now Ross's turn to visit the She-Waps.  He left Okanogan on May
6 with several men and sixteen horses and reached the forks of the
Thompson ten days later and "there encamped at a place called by the
Indians 'Cumcloups', near the entrance of the north branch."  He stayed
for ten days and was overwhelmed with trade by the 2,000 natives
forgathered there.  "Not expecting to see so many," he said, "I had
taken but a small quantity of goods with me, nevertheless, we loaded
all our horses, so anxious they were to trade, and so fond of leaf
tobacco at the rate of five leaves per skin, and at last, when I had
but one yard of white cotton remaining, one of the chiefs gave me
twenty prime beaver skins for it."

That same summer, Joseph Laroque arrived and built a North West Company
post close by.  Kamloops had been founded as a trading centre, having
been first located by the United States fur interests.  Stuart later
replaced Ross, and at Christmas, 1812, Ross made the journey from
Okanogan to spend Christmas with him.  He returned to his own post by
way of the Similkameen, thus pioneering in the white man's exploration
of that country.




35

SOVEREIGNTY FIXED

For ten days H.M.S. 'Raccoon', Captain William Black, lay in Baker's
Bay, within the mouth of the Columbia River, while a storm raged
outside.  The warship had come around Cape Horn to capture the American
trading-post of Astoria, war having broken out between Great Britain
and the United States.  The sloop-of-war, of twenty-six guns and with a
complement of 120 officers and men, had arrived on November 30, 1813,
expecting to make easy conquest of a rich prize.  On the long voyage
from the South Atlantic, Black and his men had speculated upon the
riches that would result from the baled furs that they would seize with
the taking of Astor's fort.

Now that the 'Raccoon' had arrived, Black was chagrined to learn that
the star-spangled banner of the young Republic no longer fluttered from
the masthead in front of the main gate, but that the flag of Great
Britain waved there.  The Astorians, anticipating the capture of the
place when they learned that a war vessel had been ordered to the
Columbia, had sold out to the North West Company, which was in
possession when the 'Raccoon' crossed the bar.

Captain Black was not the man to be thwarted by such a circumstance.
After thinking the matter over while his ship tossed about Baker's Bay,
he landed on December 12, bringing a small force of seamen and marines
with him.  Then he armed members of the North West Company's personnel,
and after having dined at the fort, he paraded the auxiliaries under
the direction of the enlisted men in front of the flagpole, while
Indians and Astorians looked on.  He ordered that the United States
flag be hoisted and then lowered; then the Union Jack replaced it and
was hoisted to wave in the breeze.  This having been done, Black and
his armed men saluted the emblem of Empire, and the gallant Captain
picked up a long-necked bottle of Madeira wine and, smashing it against
the wooden pole, exclaimed that he took possession of the establishment
and of the country, and that he rechristened Astoria, "Fort George."

It was an absurd and futile ceremony, and while it may have assuaged
the injured vanity of the Captain, it resulted in placing the country
definitely under the flag of the Republic that he sought to belittle.

When the Treaty of Ghent was signed, putting an end to the war between
Great Britain and the United States, it was stipulated by the first
article of that agreement that any place taken by one power from the
other during hostilities should be returned.  The United States
immediately demanded the return of Astoria.

"But," countered British plenipotentiaries, "Fort George [Astoria] was
not a prize of war, but changed hands as the result of a commercial
transaction between two fur-trading companies."

"No," was the answer, "your Captain Black, of H.M.S. 'Raccoon', on
April 12, 1813, lowered the flag of the United States, made formal
declaration that he was taking possession in the name of His Britannic
Majesty, and rechristened the post 'Fort George' in honour of his king."

Britain had to acknowledge that such had been the events on December 12
of that year on the banks of the Columbia.

The result was that there was another formal gathering held on October
6, 1818, in front of the fort gate and beneath the flag that fluttered
on high.  Captain F. Hickey, H.M.S. 'Blossom', and J. Keith of the
North West Company officially represented Great Britain, and J. B.
Prevost was accredited by the President of the United States.

Captain Hickey read from a document: "In obedience to the commands of
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, signified in a dispatch from the
Right Honourable the Earl of Bathurst, addressed to the partners or
agents of the North West Co., bearing date, the 27th January, 1818, and
in obedience to a subsequent order dated the 26th of July, from W. H.
Sheriff, Esq., Captain of His Majesty's Ship 'Andromache', we the
undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article of the Treaty of
Ghent, restore to the Government of the United States, through its
agent, J. P. Prevost, the settlement of Fort George on the Columbia
River."

Then the Union Jack was lowered and the star-spangled banner was
raised.  The stupid action of Captain Black had definitely confirmed
the sovereignty of the United States over the country.




36

NATIONS CLAIM NEW LANDS

The year 1821 was a vital one to the American West.  The Hudson's Bay
Company and its great rival, the North West Company, following a long
period of bitter competition that resulted in bloodshed, amalgamated
under the charter of the ancient organization that had been formed in
the days of King Charles II.

The Hudson's Bay Company, in its operations, had not extended west of
the Rocky Mountains, but now that the two concerns had merged, new
attention was focused upon the potentialities of the great wild land
that stretched from the crest of the continental divide to the Pacific
Ocean.

Nor was Great Britain alone in viewing the great territory with
increased interest.  The United States and Russia were ready to lay
claim to the western seaboard.  Russia suddenly asserted sovereignty to
all the territory washed by the Pacific down from its Alaskan littoral
to a line of latitude 51 degrees north.  The Czar issued a formal ukase
declaring Russian territories to go to that point.

This claim was later abandoned and the United States was not quite so
positive of its pretensions.  It had a definite acknowledgement of
sovereignty about Fort George or Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia,
and this it desired to extend.  The ownership of the Pacific Coast was
frequently mentioned in Congress and a bill was introduced laying claim
to the land and instructing the President to have a survey made of all
harbours that the Republic might consider to be the property of the
Republic.  It also authorized the conveyance of 150 tons of cannon to
the mouth of the Columbia in order to establish fortifications there.

In 1819 the United States had purchased Florida from Spain and with it
obtained all Spanish territories, rights, claims and pretensions west
of the Mississippi and north of latitude 42.  By this, the United
States became owner with Great Britain of equal rights in Vancouver's
Island, and thereby confirmed in a second locality bordering the
Pacific--but Washington did not realize the significance of what had
been secured, a fact that was not recognized for years.

Having established peace in the fur fields of British America, and
having one responsible organization with which it could work, the
British Government consulted with Governor J. H. Pelly of the Hudson's
Bay Company concerning the future state of the western world.  It was
suggested to the British ministry at Washington that nothing be done to
provoke the United States in respect to the territory, unless
Washington ordered some definite action.  Then the Hudson's Bay Company
was asked to consider moving its Pacific Headquarters from the mouth of
the Columbia farther into the interior and to the north side of the
great river.

When the North West and Hudson's Bay Companies united in 1821 George
Simpson, a diminutive and dynamic individual, who had spent a short
time in the frozen winter wastes of Athabasca, was chosen as governor
of the Northern Department of the Hudson's Bay Company.  Simpson was
appointed because he had proved his ability and because he had created
fewer personal animosities than had other fur-traders.  In 1824 he was
instructed to hasten across the continent to pay a visit of inspection
to the Columbia department and to study on the spot the suggestions
that the Company had discussed with the Government.

That trip across the continent, by the waterways and trails of the
little known country, will long live in men's memories.  He made the
dash from Hudson Bay to Fort George in something like eighty days,
clipping twenty days off the fastest trip ever recorded prior to that
time.

With Simpson came Dr. John McLoughlin, who was to become a dominant
figure in the West in the next thirty years--a giant of a man--and
James McMillan, an experienced fur-trader.

Simpson, in his consideration of the problem of future sovereignty,
determined that the lower reaches of the Fraser River should be
explored and occupied.  It was a matter of such moment that, although
it would be winter by the time he reached the Coast, no time should be
lost in sending an expedition north for that purpose.  He decided that
McMillan was a man qualified to head such an exploratory expedition,
and he suggested it so adroitly that he led the old trader to volunteer
for the service.


=======================================================================

[Illustration: Artifact 1]

[Illustration: Artifacts 2, 3, 4]

[Illustration: Artifact 5]

[Illustration: Artifact 6]

_These artifacts, all showing Eastern influences, were found in British
Columbia.  They serve to illustrate the theories outlined in Chapter 1._

_1 A graven image found near Victoria_

_2 Two views of a censer discovered near Yale.  It probably was used in
the worship of the Serpent God_

_3 The 'Hepburn Stone' was found near Nanaimo.  Its size may be judged
by the match-box_

_4 The Japanese sword and scabbard, reputed to be of great age, were
also found at Nanaimo_

_5 This sculptured head was found in the sea off Nanaimo.  It is known
as the 'Mitchell Carving', after the name of a former owner_

_6 Rain-making powers have been attributed to the bearded Water God of
Chinese origin.  It was unearthed at Parksville, and is said to
pre-date the coastal Indians_

=======================================================================




37

FIND MOUTH OF FRASER

Governor Simpson of the Hudson's Bay Company, wintering at Fort George
on the Columbia, was pleased.  Chief Trader James McMillan, a tried and
capable leader, had started, November 18, 1824, with a large party to
find the mouth of the Fraser River and examine its shores for a site
for a trading post.

"We knew from Indian report," Simpson wrote in his diary, "that it [the
Fraser] falls into the Strait that divides Vancouver's Island from the
Mainland near about Burrard's Canal or 49 to 50 North Latitude.  In
order, however, to remove all doubts I despatched Chief Trader McMillan
with a party of about forty (who would otherwise have been laying idle
here all winter) a few days after my arrival at this place, although
the Season was extremely unfavourable for such an enterprise and I
entertain sanguine hopes that he will accomplish the object of his
mission with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned
by bringing a favourable report on the various points on which we
require information and which is essential to carrying the present plan
into effect.  Taking such for granted, I would establish the principal
Depot at the mouth of Fraser's River from whence a Vessel for China
would sail annually with the returns, where the coasting craft would
receive their outfits and deliver their returns and from whence all the
posts of New Caledonia, Spokane, Nez Perces, Flat Head and Coutonais
also Fort George if we are allowed to occupy a Post on the Columbia."
Simpson was preparing for the future.

It was wet and cold, and December 11, 1824, was a boisterous day.
McMillan, with John Work, Franois Noel Annance, Tom McKay and their
men--including Jean B'tiste Proveau, who had accompanied Simon Fraser
on his descent of the great river that was to honour him--were
struggling across a shallow bay.  There they had to await better
weather before attempting to round the bluff headland named by Captain
Vancouver "Point Roberts."  On December 13 they decided to delay no
longer.  "The course," said John Work, the journalist of the
expedition, "was therefore changed and the boats crossed the entrance
of a little bay in which we were encamped, and continued along the main
shore to another bay [Mud Bay] down which they proceeded to the
entrance of a small river [Nicomekl] up which they continued about
seven or eight miles, in a very winding course which was in general N.
Easterly."

The next day they found "that the boats could proceed no farther up the
river."  They had to portage a distance of 7,910 yards.  This was from
the vicinity of present-day Langley Prairie.  Then they came to a
"crooked little river"--the Salmon.  "This portage," John Work said,
"lies through a little plain which with the mighty rain has become so
soft and miry that in several places it resembles a swamp ... Elk have
been very numerous here some time ago, but the hunters suppose that
since the rainy season they have gone to the high grounds."

It was difficult and exhausting work, dragging the heavy boats, but at
1 o'clock, December 16, the boats, floating down the turning, twisting,
shallow Salmon, emerged into the broad brown flood of the mighty river
known to the whites as "the Fraser," but to the Indians as "Stahlo
Prole."  McMillan and his men were delighted, but none more than Jean
B'tiste Proveau, who was making his second visit to Fraser's own river.

They proceeded up-stream, camped for the night, and the following
morning proceeded to Hatzic Lake, where they encountered Indians with
whom they conversed.  Then, having continued still higher, where they
met Indians who understood McMillan's speech in the Okanagan language,
it was decided on the morning of December 19 to return to the Columbia.
That night camp was pitched on a wooded point, on the south side of the
river, opposite Annacis Island.  Here the initials "H.B.Co." were
carved into the trunk of a big tree, as an act of taking possession of
the country.  The spot became known as "H.B.Co. Tree Point" as a result
of this mark.

On December 20, the mouth of the Fraser River was reached.  It was the
first known occasion upon which it had been visited by white men.
Vancouver had missed it; Fraser had not reached it, but now, on a chill
and miserable December day, some forty cold and weary men, under
direction of James McMillan, drifted down to the open waters of the
Gulf of Georgia.  "The channel through which we came," Work wrote, "was
sounded in several places towards its discharge and found to be from
seven to three and a half fathoms about high water ... We saw a canoe
with six Indians near the entrance to the River.  On being called to by
our Indians they approached to within a short distance of the boats,
but could not be prevailed upon to come closer..."

The development of the Fraser River was about to start.




38

TREACHEROUS ATTACKS

Union of the two great fur trading organizations was followed by a
measure of uncertainty and disruption; new men, tightening of methods
of trade, and rearrangement of establishments were reflected in some
quarters by lessened respect on the part of the natives.  Two incidents
of the summer and fall of 1823 were eloquent of the dangers of such a
changed attitude.  One was the murder of two men at Fort George--now
Prince George--and the other was a massacre at Fort St. John, on the
Peace River.

It was in August, 1823, that J. Murray Yale, the officer in charge of
the establishment of Fort George, decided to visit Fort St. James at
Stuart Lake to borrow some building tools.  Fort George had been
enlarged and rebuilt since it was first thrown up by Simon Fraser.  He
took the interpreter, Joseph, with him on the long journey up the
Nechako and Stuart Rivers, and left a French Canadian named Du Plante,
with another French Canadian and two Carrier Indians, to continue the
work during his absence.  The Indians were named Tzill-na-o-lay and
Un-la-yhin.

When Yale had departed the Indians became defiant of the authority of
Du Plante, who threatened to report their conduct to Yale on his
return.  The Indians were permitted to sleep in the fort with the white
men.  During the night, after having been reprimanded, they stealthily
entered the apartment occupied by the two white men and stabbed them to
death.  Then, taking some property from the fort, they fled.  The
Takulies, local Indians, were horrified, but they made no effort to
follow the killers.  They did not enter the fort, but guarded it
against further rifling, while a messenger was sent to Fort Fraser with
the news of the killings.

Upon his return, Yale stopped further work and abandoned the place for
the time being, while from Fort St. James word was sent over the
mountains and to other establishments to watch for the appearance of
the murderers.  Un-la-yhin escaped over the Rockies, but was later
killed by the Cree Indians of the plains.  The apprehension of
Tzill-na-o-lay did not occur until four years later, and had a bearing
upon the future history of British Columbia.

It was only about two months after the slaughter at Fort George that
tragedy struck again, this time at Fort St. John, at the junction of
the Peace and North Pine Rivers.  Here Guy Hughes, officer in charge,
was shot down, and a canoe crew was wiped out.

Reorganization plans called for the closing of Fort St. John, and the
Indians were told they must do their trading at Fort Dunvegan.  They
objected to this.  All the regular servants had withdrawn and Hughes
remained to make arrangements for the establishment of food caches.
The surly natives would not agree to assist him.  At last one man said
he would act as guide to the new food-stores.  Hughes pleasantly patted
him on the shoulder.  That night the man died, and evil superstition
ascribed his death to the white man's fatal touch.

It was November 1 when Hughes went down to the river bank to talk to a
Beaver Indian and a Sekani youth.  As he turned to re-enter the fort,
the Sekani drew a pistol from beneath his blanket and shot the white
trader.  The Beaver followed by killing the wounded man.  Indians at
once commenced to loot the remaining stores in the place.

While this assassination was taking place, two heavily laden canoes
from Rocky Mountain Portage were nearing Fort St. John on their way to
Fort Dunvegan.  Old Antoine, a grizzled veteran of the service, was in
charge of the larger craft, while three younger French Canadians,
Morin, Montoin and Toin, were with him.  The smaller canoe was in
charge of another experienced riverman, Marando, with Miette and
Gregori as his crew.

Antoine Rivet and his men approached St. John singing an old
boating-song.  They ran in to the landing-place and stepped out to be
met by a volley of bullets.  Old Rivet, as he fell, shouted in
defiance: "Fire, you dogs, but you will never make me afraid."

Having killed the crew the Indians pillaged the cargo.  As they were
engaged in this, lighting their thievish work with flaming torches,
Marando and his men approached.  They had been forced to delay to
repair their canoe.  Horrified by what they saw, as the figures of the
killers moved about in the dancing light, the whites paddled up the
river to the cover of darkness.

Marando landed and made his way to the home of a trustworthy Indian and
together they reconnoitred the fort and ascertained what had been done.
Then he and his companions started overland.  It was a terrible
journey, but they eventually reached Fort Dunvegan to report the
massacre.

The murderers fled to the mountains.  All intercourse with the Indians
of the vicinity was stopped, and every effort was made without avail to
hunt down the murderers.




39

FORT LANGLEY RISES

After vainly trying to enter the Fraser for several days, the Hudson's
Bay Company's schooner 'Cadboro' managed to get under way up-stream on
July 23, 1827.  She had come with a strong party under command of Chief
Factor James McMillan to construct a Hudson's Bay Company fort and
occupy the verdant valley of the mighty river for that organization and
Great Britain.  McMillan had explored the lower reaches of the river in
the mud and cold of December, 1824, and found it good.  For that
service he had been elevated to a chief factorship.  Now, with Franois
Noel Annance, a daring half-breed clerk, who delighted in studying the
classics and who had been with him on the previous voyage, and Donald
Manson and George Barnston, young clerks who had proven themselves to
be wise in the wiles of Indian trade and the ways of the natives, he
was coming to exploit his discoveries.

It was three days later before the 'Cadboro' succeeded in getting
abreast of the little river by which McMillan had entered the
Fraser--or "Stahlo," as the Indians called it.  Further on, a more
desirable site for a fort was found, but it was unavailable, for the
'Cadboro' was unable to come within 300 yards of it.  So the schooner
dropped back to her former position, and on Monday, July 30, 1827, it
was noted in the journal:

"The schooner was brought close to the shore and the horses landed by
slinging them off to the bank.  The poor animals appeared to rejoice
heartily in their liberation.  Our men at noon were all busily employed
clearing the ground for the establishment.  In the evening all came on
board to sleep, a precaution considered necessary until we are better
assured of the friendly disposition of the natives."

The Indians were not all friendly.  Shoshia, a powerful chief of the
great Cowichan confederacy, warned McMillan that he might expect
trouble.  The Indians seemed fearful of an open attack, but they set
the woods on fire, and it was with great difficulty that the white men
kept at their tasks of clearing land, felling and squaring timber.

By August 13 one of the bastions was finished, except for a roof of
bark.  It gave the men some assurance of protection.  A week later
enough timber had been cut to permit erecting palisades.  Men were
working tremendously; they exhausted themselves, and so, when wet
weather came early in September, they became ill.  McMillan blamed it
on the continual diet of fish that had been theirs since they landed.
Sick and weak though they might be, however, they worked if at all
able.  They needed no spur; the evidences of savagery on all sides were
sufficient.

At last, on September 8, they could breathe more easily, for on that
day it was recorded: "Picketting of the fort was completed and the
gates hung.  The rectangle inside is forty yards by forty-five; the two
bastions twelve feet square each, built of eight-inch logs and having a
lower and upper flooring, the latter of which is to be occupied by our
artillery.  The tout ensemble must have a formidable appearance to the
eyes of the Indians, especially those here who have seen nothing of the
kind before."

The 'Cadboro' now left the little garrison at Fort Langley as an
outpost of civilization, surrounded by untamed savages.  The vessel
circled the Gulf of Georgia to notify the Indians that they could find
trade on the Fraser.  A watering-party was attacked near Comox, one
sailor being killed and another wounded.

It was on November 26 that the fort was formally christened in honour
of Thomas Langley, a Company director.  Mr. Annance, the learned,
officiated.  The event was duly set down in the journal: "This morning
a Flag Staff was cut and prepared, and in the afternoon erected in the
South East corner of the Fort.  The usual forms were gone through.  Mr.
Annance officiated in baptising the Establishment, and the men were
regaled in celebration of the event.  Our two hunters came at night
having been alarmed at the firing which took place."  Settlement on the
Coast had commenced.




40

QUAW SPARES DOUGLAS

In the autumn of 1825 a youthful clerk crossed the mountains to serve
in New Caledonia.  His name was James Douglas.  A serious-minded young
man of gigantic proportions, he gave implicit obedience to the precepts
of the Bible and the orders of his superiors.  This grave, punctilious
lad of twenty-two was destined to play a stellar role in the unfolding
drama of Empire on the Pacific Coast during the next forty years.

He was by nature shy and retiring but, by the circumstances of
environment, was forced to adopt a mask of cold personal isolation and
austerity.  This was entirely foreign to his deeply religious and
sympathetic nature, but he carried the pose so long that it became
accepted as his character.  Devoted to learning, he stored a receptive
and discriminating mind with useful information.  His courage matched
his towering stature; his weakness was in his aroused anger, but this
he made conscious efforts to control.

William Connolly, chief factor in charge of New Caledonia, with
headquarters at Fort St. James, appreciated the worth of his assistant,
and gradually placed more and more responsibility upon him.  He was a
happy man when Douglas, early in 1828, married his beautiful daughter,
Amelia.  It was a marriage that was to endure for nearly half a century.

It was shortly after his wedding that Douglas was temporarily in charge
of Fort St. James.  He learned that the fugitive Tzill-na-o-lay, one of
those guilty of the murders at Fort George in 1823, was hiding in the
nearby Indian village.  With several men Douglas started a search of
the natives' dwellings and at last the wanted man was uncovered.  He
tried to stab Douglas with an arrow and a desperate struggle followed.
It was ended when one of the fort retainers felled the Indian.

On returning to his village, Quaw, the Carrier chief, was indignant,
for Tzill-na-o-lay had been his guest, and as such, he contended,
should not have been molested.  He felt that because of the death of
the murderer in his village he had lost face.  He determined to recover
it.  He laid careful plans, and by a sudden movement gained possession
of the fort.  Douglas was overpowered by Indians and was forced back on
a table-top where he was held by several powerful braves, while another
poised the great dagger of Quaw above his heart, awaiting the word of
the chief to strike.  Quaw hesitated.  Then Mrs. Douglas and other
women of the fort started to throw goods to the warriors.  This was
considered as reparation, and was accepted as such.  Quaw's honour was
satisfied and the clerk was released.

It was believed that the Indians held no further animosity, until in
December when Douglas and two companions were on their way to Fort
Fraser.  As they left the village of Natleh, 120 armed Indians rushed
into the place calling that they had come to kill Douglas.  He had
reached the other shore, and could easily have covered the intervening
distance to the fort.  If he ran, he reasoned, the Indians would have
followed and been drawn up against the fort pickets; it was probable
that a major clash would ensue.  So James Douglas stood still.  He
waited until the 120 braves had crossed.  They, too, stood still.  They
could not comprehend why he did not run.  Not a word was spoken by
Douglas.  He just gazed steadily at the warriors.  They did not like
it.  One by one they turned and recrossed the river.  Finally none
remained, and Douglas proceeded in a leisurely fashion to the fort.  In
the meantime some friendly Indians had arrived; they too were
astonished at the iron nerve of the young white man.

The incident of a bloodless victory exerted a very great influence upon
the future of the Pacific Slope, for it demonstrated that the Indians
were still vengeful and the life of Douglas could not be considered
safe.  Connolly suggested to Governor Simpson that the clerk be moved
to the Columbia.  This suggestion was adopted and James Douglas was
moved to Fort Vancouver to serve under his old boss of the North West
Company, Chief Factor John McLoughlin, as accountant.




41

JOY & TRAGEDY

As Christmas of 1827 neared, the Fraser River froze over and the
country was blanketed by snow.  The garrison at Fort Langley felt a
sense of utter isolation in a chill world of white.  It was a desolate
picture that shivering guards viewed over the palisades, and to them
there was no beauty in the winter scene.  Thoughts of the holidays
brought them no comfort.  There would be sufficient to eat: dried
salmon and--thanks to Pierre Charles, the hunter--a bit of venison, and
of course the usual dram of rum permitted upon gala occasions.  But the
real joy of the Yuletide and New Year seasons was not so much in the
feasts as in the friendships and the welcoming of visitors.  Hundreds
of white, frozen miles separated Fort Langley from its nearest
neighbouring fur-post.

Sunday, December 23, the keeper of the fort journal made dejected
entry: "Weather still the same.  Nothing stirring."

But there was a Christmas present on the way to Fort Langley, in the
person of Chief Trader Alexander McKenzie, who was hurrying to reach
the fort with mail and greetings before the holiday.  He and his little
party of four met with difficulties on the way.  The journal of
Christmas Eve explains:

"In the morning two Indians from the Misquim Camp near the Quoitle
River, arrived with a note from Mr. A. McKenzie, the purport of which
was that he was disagreeably situated with only four men amongst a
formidable band of Indians, and requested our assistance in case he
might not be able to extricate himself.  Messrs. Manson and Annance
with nine men went off immediately to his relief, but they had not
proceeded far before they met him and his party all uninjured ... Mr.
Mc. is a welcome visitor; he is the bearer of letters, and home news
from Fort Vancouver."

McKenzie brought more: he brought good cheer and dispelled the sense of
dreary isolation that had gripped the fort personnel.  It was a
wonderful Christmas!

McKenzie stayed until after the New Year was celebrated.  Then he left
with his party on the long trip to the Columbia.  Some weeks later
disquieting news came to the fort, through native channels, to the
effect that McKenzie and his entire party had been killed as they
camped on the shores of Puget Sound.  At first the story was doubted,
but further reports confirmed it.  The Clallam Indians were the
murderers.

The terrible happening emboldened other tribesmen to display contempt
for the white men.  Fort Langley again felt its lone position and
increased its vigilance.  At Fort Vancouver stern Dr. John McLoughlin,
Chief Factor in charge of Hudson's Bay Company operations west of the
Rockies, determined that the Indians must be taught a lesson, or there
would be more murders.  In June, when the fur brigades assembled at
Fort Vancouver, he organized a punitive expedition.  Sixty men were
placed under command of Chief Trader A. R. McLeod, assisted by Clerks
Thomas Dears, Frank Ermatinger and J. M. Yale, to proceed overland to
Puget Sound where they were to be picked up by the schooner 'Cadboro'.

Securing canoes upon arrival at the Sound, McLeod's party made for the
point of rendezvous with the 'Cadboro'.  En route they came upon a
party of Clallams; there was a fight and eight of the natives were
killed.  Then the expedition joined the schooner and headed for Port
Townsend, but it had been vacated.  They proceeded to New Dungeness, to
which place the Port Townsend Indians had gone.  Negotiations were
started for the surrender of the murderers, but these failed.  The
schooner was warped broadside to the large village and a terrific
bombardment was commenced.  The big cedar community-houses were smashed
and splintered by the hail of shot.  Then a shore party was landed, and
set fire to the debris and smaller huts, while forty canoes on the
beach were smashed.  Seventeen Indians had been killed.  It was an
awful lesson, but was thought necessary to prevent further murders and
to make travel safe in the West.




42

MOVED AMID DANGER

Governor George Simpson--"the little Emperor" of the fur trade--had
made a difficult descent of the Fraser River in the fall of 1828.  He
was greatly disappointed to find that it was impractical as a brigade
route from New Caledonia.  Consequently he became interested in the
possibility of the northern coast offering a better way into the
Interior, in the event of the Hudson's Bay Company "being excluded from
the Columbia."

"Boston traders" and Russians from Alaska divided the traffic with the
natives on this part of the Coast.  The Company determined to drive the
Americans away by erection of additional establishments north of Fort
Langley, and by utilizing shipping between Fort Vancouver and these
isolated posts.  Captain Aemilius Simpson, a former naval lieutenant,
was appointed as Marine Superintendent, to further this plan.

Simpson built a fort at the mouth of the Nass River in the summer of
1831.  Hardly had it become habitable when he was stricken by illness
and died.  He was buried at the establishment, which was then
christened "Fort Simpson" in his honour.  Several years later it was
decided to move the post, and a new location, a few miles to the south,
was selected.  Here the Indian trade of both the Nass and the Skeena
Rivers could be served.  It was a transfer that was not made without
danger and difficulty, for the Nass Indians objected to it.

Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, who was present, left a vivid description of
the scene.  He said, in part, relative to Saturday, August 30, 1834:

"The Indians became drunken and from noon till sunset, when we
embarked, all were under arms and in momentary expectation of having to
fight our way aboard [the brig 'Dryad'] or being butchered on the spot.
They attempted frequently to beat down the slight barricade raised on
the site of the bastions, but were deterred on seeing us ready with
firearms to send a volley among the intruders.  About a dozen or twenty
Indians with muskets were posted on a hill immediately behind, from
whence they could fire into the Fort at any part.

"Outside the pickets they were numerous and armed with guns, boarding
pikes and knives and endeavouring by their savage whoops and yells to
intimidate us.  Remained quiet in this state for some time, but owing
to a temporary lull in the clamour outside, ventured to send a few
articles to the boats....  One or two had passed down with wooden
utensils unmolested, no Indians appearing in sight.  Another man was
proceeding with a barrel full of miscellaneous articles and unheeded,
when at once several armed villains rushed out from amongst the bushes,
and one, more inebriated and therefore more daring than the rest,
seized the barrel and with drawn dagger drove the man from his charge
... I went out, but meeting the savage advancing with his knife aloft
in a menacing manner, I stepped slowly to the gate and procured a
cutlass from the doorkeeper.  Thus armed I walked towards the Indian,
who was surrounded by his friends persuading him to desist ... The
barrel was rolled to the beach in the meantime without molestation."

At last the personnel of the fort were transferred to the brig without
suffering any casualties, and the Indians rushed into the deserted post
to see what remained for looting.  "All night," said Tolmie, "constant
hammering was kept up in the deserted fort and dawn revealed several
gaps in the pickets, made by those who were so intent on procuring the
iron spikes which attached the pickets to the bars."

With the coming of daylight, the 'Dryad' sailed, leaving the sorry
skeleton of the first Fort Simpson, arriving later in the day at the
new location which was to become of immense importance as the lone
outpost of white civilization on the northern coast for many years.

Despite the difficulties of abandonment of the original establishment,
the remains of Governor Simpson were lifted reverently and were removed
to be re-interred at the new one.




43

FORT McLOUGHLIN

While the Hudson's Bay Company's new establishments at Fort Langley, on
the Fraser River, and Fort Simpson, on the Nass, were effective in
checking American competition in the coastal fur-trade, these posts
were separated by six hundred miles.  There must be another trading
centre situated between the others to command the traffic of numerous
tribes, if the "Boston men" were to be driven from the North Pacific.

In consequence of this determination, in the spring of 1833, materials
and supplies for a new post arrived at Millbank Sound.  A site was
selected on Campbell Island and work was at once commenced.  All summer
the men toiled at clearing ground and constructing defensive works,
houses, and stores.  Donald Manson, determined and experienced, who had
served at Fort Langley, was in command.  His chief assistant was an
intelligent and courageous young clerk named Alexander Caulfield
Anderson, who recorded some of the incidents of the first year of the
establishment, named "Fort McLoughlin."

"Our operation progressed rapidly," he recounted, "and by the month of
October, the area of the fort was well picketed in, bastions
constructed at the corners and several substantial houses within."

Up until this time the Indians had been peaceable.  There was no hint
of trouble.  Then a French Canadian, named Richard, disappeared.  It
was thought that he was held prisoner--actually, it was learned years
later, he had been stoned to death by some native children.  In an
effort to recover the man Chief Tyest was held as a hostage.  He
appeared to be satisfied, and there was no appearance of excitement
amongst the tribesmen.  Then, one Sunday evening, some of the men--six
in number--obtained permission to go outside the fort.  Anderson
followed them.

"I advanced to the edge of the bank," he said, "and was looking around,
when suddenly, within a few yards of me, I saw, darting through the
bushes, a host of armed Indians.  I turned at once and gave the alarm,
and retreating to the fort was speedily prepared to defend the
entrance.  After having seized my arms, and on my way back to the gate,
I perceived our hostage highly excited, and evidently bent on
endeavouring to make his escape.  As I ran I called to the guards to
tie him, which they did."

"The Indians were checked," Anderson stated.  "One by one our men made
their way towards the gate, and through the narrow wicket.  And as they
came in, repaired to the bastion and gallery and commenced to fire, Mr.
Manson having meanwhile appeared on the gallery and directed their
actions.  Thus repelled, our assailants retreated speedily, and the
gates were closed.

"On mustering our men, we found that one only had been wounded, by a
severe axe blow on the shoulder, but one was missing and we supposed
him dead.  Of course, watch was kept during the whole night, all hands
remaining on watch, and about nine o'clock, from amid the dense
darkness, we heard a voice--the voice of our missing man--calling out
to Mr. Manson; in return we asked, 'Who are you'?  He responded with
his name and said he was a prisoner with the Indians, tied in a canoe,
and unless they were assured that their chief, our hostage, was safe,
his life would be sacrificed.  We summoned the chief to the bastion and
made him speak to his children, deferring the interview until the
following morning.  The result of the whole was that, at that time, our
man was restored to us, we surrendering the chief in exchange, but
exacting two hostages of inferior standing--slaves probably.  Our man
was produced clad by the Indians in an entirely new suit of broadcloth
and we clothed our hostage with a blanket and some other articles of
clothing."

Just how many casualties were suffered by the Indians in the attack was
never definitely known, but at least one native was killed and several
were wounded.




44

STEAMER SPLASHES TO COAST

Transportation methods on the seven seas were undergoing change.  Steam
was threatening sail.  At first James Watt's tea-kettle experiments
resulted in stationary engines being built, and then harnessed
steam-power was applied to small vessels.  By the mid-thirties of the
nineteenth century, naval architects were envisioning the eventual
abandonment of sails as commercial carriers.  But there were those who
were reluctant to accept such a theory, contending that the lack of
fuelling bases bordering the remote seaways of the world would limit
the use of steamers to short voyages from established points of supply.

On the Pacific Northwest Coast the Hudson's Bay Company had many
problems connected with its trading operations to the north of the
Strait of Juan de Fuca: the foremost one was the difficulty of
maintaining regular contact with the newly established trading-posts on
the Fraser River, Millbank Sound and near the Nass River, owing to the
delays and dangers confronting sailing craft.  Several vessels had been
wrecked, and others were often delayed for days and weeks by stress of
weather.  Wise men in the Company service suggested that here was a
chance to utilize a steamer to good advantage.  The shores were well
wooded and Indians could be induced to collect and cut wood for the use
of a power-driven craft.  Besides, a vessel that was not dependent upon
the constantly changing winds could maintain an approximate schedule,
and could penetrate into the deep sounds and inlets of the serried
coastline in search of new sources of trade.

The result of the recommendations to try steam was that on May 2, 1835,
a stout vessel was launched from the yards of Green, Wigram and Green,
into the Thames.  She was christened 'Beaver', and was specially
designed for service on rocky coasts remote from repair yards.  She was
solidly ribbed with heavy timbers of English oak and green-heart, and
copper-sheathed below the waterline.  Teakwood was also generously used
in her construction.  Her power-plant, provided by Boulton & Watt
(James Watt's old firm) rated seventy horsepower, and drove her, on her
trials, at nine and a half knots.  The 'Beaver' had an over-all length
of 101 feet with a breadth across the paddle boxes of thirty-three
feet.  She had a hold depth of eleven and a half feet and was of 109
tons.

The 'Beaver' left England in August, 1835, and dropped anchor off Fort
Vancouver, on the Columbia, in April.  She was under command of Captain
David Home, and made the passage under sail, fitted as a brig.  Home
retired and Captain W. H. McNeill of the Company's service, who was
well acquainted with the Coast, replaced him.  In June she left the
Columbia to take up her more than half a century of useful work on the
Coast now known as British Columbia.  She was wrecked on the rocks of
Prospect Point at the entrance to the new and greater Vancouver, in
1888.

Fort McLoughlin was a port of call, and there Dr. W. F. Tolmie, with
other officers of the establishment, boarded her for a run across Queen
Charlotte Sound to look for a seam of coal in the summer of 1836.  An
Indian visiting the fort the previous year had told the doctor that
near his home, towards the northern end of Vancouver's Island, "black
stone that burned" could be found in abundance.  This was very
important, not only as a potential steam-fuel for the 'Beaver', but for
Imperial use.  The navies of the world were already designing
steam-driven warships.  If these were to be used in such remote
quarters of the world as the Pacific Ocean, the obtaining of coal was a
vital necessity.  Already coal was being carried in sailing vessels to
build up stock-piles in foreign lands.

It was found that the Indian had told the truth; an outcropping of coal
was found and samples were taken to be examined and tested in the
boilers of the 'Beaver', and to be sent to Fort Vancouver and London.
In England, the Admiralty was advised, but no public announcement was
made of the discovery.  The boundary line between the United States and
British territory had not been settled.




45

COLD WAR 1854 AT DEASE LAKE

Despite the fact that Russia had recognized the rights of British
traders in the interior of the country behind what is now known as the
"Panhandle of Alaska," an attempt of the Hudson's Bay Company to locate
a trading post on the Stikine River was prevented by Russia, which had
built a fort at the entrance of the stream.  A ship of war, carrying
the Czar's flag, also patrolled the locality, while Russians had also
incited the Indians to kill any British traders who attempted to go up
the Stikine.

Coincidently with an attempt of Peter Skene Ogden in the 'Dryad' to
overcome the blockade in 1834, J. McLeod pushed westward from Fort
Simpson, on the Mackenzie River, and discovered Dease Lake.  He also
found a river which he named the Pelly, but which proved to be the
upper reaches of the Stikine.  In 1836 a party was sent to locate a
post on the lake, but, fearful of the "Russian Indians," the men were
seized with panic and fled.

Robert Campbell, a youthful postmaster, volunteered to carry out the
dangerous work.  He was promoted to a clerkship and was given command
of a party for that duty.  It was 1838 before Campbell reached Dease
Lake.

Leaving the major part of his force there to build a house, Campbell
and three of his followers journeyed to the Stikine River.  There, at a
place called by him "Terror Bridge," because of a structure of Indian
manufacture that spanned a deep chasm, he encountered a small party of
Nahanny Indians.  From them he learned that there was a great concourse
of tribes some thirteen miles distant.  At that point thousands of
natives gathered each year to trade with Chief Shakes and the "Russian
Indians" from the coast.  This powerful chief was much favoured by the
Russians, who supplied him with goods for these annual trading
expeditions.

Campbell determined to visit the Indians, but was warned by his new
friends that Shakes would kill him, having orders to murder any whites
that might appear from the East.  Despite this, however, the young
clerk went to the place.  There were thousands of Indians encamped
beside the river.  He was invited to Shakes's tent.  Suddenly the tent
was lifted from the ground by the Nahannies, calling out that if the
white man was killed "plenty blood will be spilled."

Eventually Campbell got away from the place.  The Nahannies were ruled
by a remarkable woman, whom he described as being more like a white
woman than any Indian he had ever seen.  She it was who had saved his
life; and she befriended him later, when starvation faced the party at
Dease Lake, by bringing a small stock of food for the traders.  Game
seemed to desert the country, Campbell recorded.  Hunters could find no
animals, and the fish in the lakes and streams were difficult to take.
Then too, encouraged by Shakes and the Russians, the Indians in roaming
bands appeared from time to time to rob and alarm the little garrison.
There was no palisade about the place, and in order to keep alive the
party had to be split up in an effort to obtain more food.  The cold
was intense.

On one occasion, Campbell reported, a band of Indians approached across
the frozen lake, shooting at the house.  They declared that the white
men, by their presence, "made the country stink" so that game had
deserted it.  "The truth of the matter," he said, "was that they had
been taught by Shakes ... to regard us as enemies."

At last the winter was over, and the weak and emaciated men prepared to
retrace their way.  "As we were now ready to start and our snowshoes
were of no further use to us, we removed all the netting off them, and
that, along with our parchment windows, was boiled down to the
consistency of glue: the savoury dish thus prepared," Campbell said,
"formed the 'menu' of our last meal before leaving Dease Lake, on 8,
May 1839."




46

FORT VICTORIA BUILT

Fort Vancouver, the main depot of the Hudson's Bay Company in the West,
was inconveniently situated for maritime trade.  Several vessels were
lost on the dangerous bar at the mouth of the Columbia River, but of
even greater concern was the fact that immigration from the United
States was moving into Oregon and the settlers were agitating for the
Republic to take over the country.  It was apparent that joint
occupancy of the vast territory west of the Rocky Mountains must soon
be terminated by the establishment of a boundary line.

There was doubt in official circles in London if the line of the
Columbia River could be held.  It was determined, however, if at all
possible, to hold the whole of Vancouver's Island, thus providing an
open corridor, via the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the second great
river of the West, the Fraser.

As early as 1836 the idea of settling Vancouver's Island was
considered.  In 1837 Captain W. H. McNeill, of the Hudson's Bay
Company's steamer 'Beaver', inspected the southern tip of the Island
and spent some time in the harbour of Camosack--also called
Camosun--and found it to have many attractions.  The locality was known
to the Indians as "Ku-sing-a-las," meaning "the place of strong
fibres."  Much of the land composing a part of present-day Victoria's
business section was covered with willow bushes.  It was the inner bark
of this willow tree that produced the tough fibres for the natives'
nets.

Dr. John McLoughlin, who had superintended the affairs for the Company
in the West from 1824, was opposed to moving the headquarters from Fort
Vancouver, but Governor George Simpson favoured this.  Chief Factor
James Douglas, in 1842, was sent to make a more detailed inspection of
the southern end of the Island for the purpose of selecting a site for
a large fort.  He was enthusiastic, and in writing to a friend told of
his delight in finding such a pleasant land: "The place itself appears
a perfect 'Eden', in the midst of the dreary wilderness of the
Northwest Coast, and so different is its general aspect from the
wooded, rugged regions around, that one might be pardoned for supposing
it had dropped from the clouds into its present position."

In earlier plans for the construction of a new establishment, it was
tentatively named "Fort Adelaide" in compliment to the consort of King
William IV, but, when he was succeeded on the throne by his niece,
before it was constructed the new headquarters was named "Fort
Victoria" for the young sovereign.  Located on the harbour of Camosack,
or Camosun, it was erroneously referred to as "Fort Camosun," and by
some as "Fort Albert"--but it was never officially anything but Fort
Victoria.

It was on March 13, 1843, that the 'Beaver' arrived, bearing Chief
Factor Douglas and a small crew of men to make a start at laying out
the post.  He landed next day.  After a stay of a few days Douglas
sailed north, to dismantle Forts Taku and McLoughlin and remove men and
materials to the site of Fort Victoria.

Indians brought pickets from the woods, and these were erected to
enclose a space of 350 by 300 feet.  The establishment was designed to
include eight commodious buildings, while the defences consisted of the
palisades, eighteen feet in height, and strong bastions at the
southwest and northeast corners.  These mounted several cannon, all
nine pounders.

Having seen the work well under way, Mr. Douglas placed Chief Trader
Charles Ross in charge, with Roderick Finlayson, a sturdy and capable
young man, as his second in command.  By the middle of September, Ross
reported, the place was enclosed and several of the buildings were
finished.

By Christmas the major part of the fort was completed, and Fort
Victoria celebrated its first Yuletide.  The occasion was graced by the
presence of the Company's vessels 'Beaver' and 'Cadboro', and Captain
Scarborough of the 'Cadboro' gave a display of fireworks.




47

VICTIM OF SUPERSTITION

It was a bitterly cold day in early February, 1841.  There was a
cutting wind that added to the bitterness of the low temperature.  An
Indian shivered as he huddled close to the pickets of Fort Kamloops.
Chief Factor Samuel Black noticed him and motioned him to enter the big
hall of the establishment where a bright fire crackled and blazed on
the hearth.  Samuel Black had been in charge of the post at the forks
of the Thompson Rivers for several years.  He was rounding out a career
as a fur trader and explorer.  He had begun with the North West
Company, but when the great trading organizations merged he became
outstandingly loyal to the Hudson's Bay Company.  He was said to have
challenged David Douglas, the distinguished botanist who gave his name
to the fir-tree, to a duel when that scientist, on a visit to Kamloops,
made a slighting remark about the Company.

The kindly big man had recognized, in the shivering native, the
youthful nephew of his friend Chief Tranquille, who had recently died.
Black liked the old chief, and it was with regret that he recollected
that they had disagreed not long before, but he remembered with
gladness that Tranquille had sent him a message of affection with
almost his last breath.

He did not suspect, of course, that Tranquille's widow attributed the
passing of the chief to Black's agency.  Nor was he aware that she had
been inciting the young man, who was now warming himself beside the
fort's hearth, to exact vengeance for the evil imaginings of her
distorted mind.

Black had passed the Indian, crouched in the shadow of the fireplace,
and had stopped to speak a word or two to him.  Now, towards evening,
he crossed the big room to enter his own apartment.  He was just about
to turn the door handle, when the Indian rose in the darkening shadow,
levelled the musket that he had kept hidden beneath his blanket, and
fired.  Samuel Black pitched forward to die at the feet of his wife and
family.

The assassin rushed from the building and out of the fort gate before
he could be stopped.  He disappeared into the gathering night.

Laprade, a servant, sent off word to John Tod, officer at Fort
Alexandria, 300 miles distant, and to Fort Okanagan, also a long way
removed; then Laprade and his men withdrew, leaving Lolo St. Paul, an
Indian adherent of the Hudson's Bay Company, to keep watch.

John Tod found Lolo guarding the place and the unburied remains of the
Chief Factor when he reached Fort Kamloops.

Some little time later Tod took charge of Kamloops.  He was determined
to bring the murderer to an accounting.  Parties were sent out to track
and arrest him.  They kept constantly upon the trail of the wanted man,
who fled from place to place.  At last he was captured.  In crossing
the Thompson on his way to the fort, the fugitive upset the canoe.  He
was fired upon and drowned.  The Indians agreed that he deserved to
lose his life because of his treacherous deed.

Tod decided to reconstruct Fort Kamloops, and chose as a site a
location across the North Thompson, near its junction with the main
stream.  Here corrals for stock and gardens were arranged.  The centre
was already of importance on the fur trail from New Caledonia, and was
to become even more so.  Here hundreds of horses were kept for use by
the brigades laden with trade goods on their way in to the northern
establishments and on their return with the argosies of the fur-fields.




48

NEW FUR BRIGADE ROUTE

Fort Victoria could not supplant Fort Vancouver as headquarters of the
Hudson's Bay Company's organization on the Pacific Slope if a feasible
fur-brigade trail could not be located leading into the Interior.  This
fact became more distressingly apparent as negotiations between Great
Britain and the United States indicated that the boundary line would,
in all probability, follow the 49th parallel.

Alexander C. Anderson, the enterprising young clerk who had aided in
the establishment of Fort McLoughlin, and who was now in charge of Fort
Alexandria, early in 1845 volunteered to seek such a route.  His offer
was accepted, and the following spring he started explorations for a
means of travel between Forts Kamloops and Langley.

Leaving Fort Kamloops on May 15, with a party of five men, Anderson
went by way of Kamloops Lake, Thompson and Bonaparte Rivers to Hat
Creek, by way of Pavilion Creek to the Indian village of Pavilion, and
then via the Fraser to Cayoosh Creek, and by Seton Creek to the big
lake, now called by that name.  Portaging via the Birkenhead and
traversing another lake, now named Anderson in his honour, he
eventually reached Harrison Lake by Lillooet River.  From Harrison he
passed into the Fraser and on to Fort Langley, which he reached on May
24.  He estimated the distance as 229.5 miles.

Anderson and his party rested only four days at Fort Langley, during
which time he slept in his tent rather than within doors.  On May 28 he
started on his return journey.  This time he planned to find the trail
by which Okanogon Indians were reputed to come to the Fraser.

He went up the Fraser, and by way of the Coquihalla to Nicolum River,
by that stream to Sumallo Creek, then he went by the Skagit and Snass
Rivers to the East Fork of the Snass, which was followed to the divide;
then over to the Tulameen and to Otter Creek.  Here he encountered
"Blackeye," a friendly Indian, who showed him a comparatively easy way
to Kamloops via Nicola Lake.  He reached the fort on June 9.

Anderson's next effort was to find a way, if possible, by the banks of
the Fraser.  No practical route offered from the Fraser Forks; so he
made Nicola Lake a starting-point, following the Nicola and Colwater
Rivers and branches of Spius and Uztlius Creeks to a branch of the
Anderson River, reaching the Fraser at the Indian village of
Kequeloose.  It was a trying trip, but even greater ordeals faced the
party in the swirling waters of the gorges of the Fraser.

Chief Factor James Douglas came to take a look at this route.  He said
that the waters were too dangerous for boats to essay transportation
from Spuzzum down, and personally laid out a route from the site of
Yale, a post that was ordered to be constructed.  It was essential that
a new road be opened, for Indian warfare had broken out between the
Cayuse and the Americans.

An effort was made to utilize this route, but one man committed suicide
rather than face a return journey over the trail, while some
twenty-seven horses with their packs were lost.  In the meantime Henry
N. Peers was following the route pioneered by Anderson by way of the
Coquihalla.  He laid out a passable road by way of the Coquihalla to
Peers Creek, up that stream and over Manson Mountain to Sowaqua Creek,
over the height of land to Podunk Creek, passing Campement de
Chevreiul, and continuing to the Tulameen River, and on to follow
Black-eye's route.

By 1850 this new brigade trail was in full operation, and for the next
dozen years served to supply the Company's posts.  It was later
superseded by the Cariboo Road.

Anderson Lake and Anderson River recall the contribution that A. C.
Anderson made to highway exploring in this country, while Seton Lake
was later named for his cousin, Colonel Seton, who was in command of
the soldiers on the troopship 'Birkenhead', which was lost off the
African coast, the troops giving a wonderful display of heroism and
self-sacrifice.

=======================================================================

[Illustration: James Bay, Victoria; teams of oxen]

_This photograph of about 1864, shows James Bay, Victoria, from the
Legislative Buildings.  The bay beyond the bridge was later filled in
as the site for the Empress Hotel_

_During the middle of the nineteenth century, great teams of oxen
hauled logs cut on the site of what is now the city of Vancouver to the
booming grounds_

=======================================================================

[Illustration: _Fort Defiance, Clayoquot Sound, was built by Captain
Robert Gray of the 'Columbia' in 1791.  George Davidson, an artist on
the ship, drew this sketch_]

=======================================================================

[Illustration: Camels, Coal-Tyee]

_In 1862, camels were used as freight carriers on the Cariboo Road.
However, they frightened the horses, and this novel form of
transportation was discarded_

_The Coal-Tyee, the Indian who, in 1849 told a Hudson's Bay blacksmith
of the "blackstone" at Nanaimo_

=======================================================================




49

U. S. ABANDONS CLAIM

During the whole period of Joint-Occupancy, following the signing of
the Treaty of Ghent, United States politicians were more or less
agitated about the Sovereignty of the Republic over what was generally
and indefinitely known as the "Oregon Country."  On the other hand
Great Britain did not make any specific claims.

Spain had recognized rights of the British Crown over areas purchased
from the natives by traders by a convention implemented at Nootka in
1795.  But this instrument did not define the medes and bounds of such
lands.  Instead British and Spanish Commissioners met at Nootka on
March 28, 1795, and formally restored the building sites of British
subjects, taken from them in 1789, and then proclaimed that His
Britannic Majesty and His Most Catholic Majesty of Spain "have farther
agreed that it shall be free for the Subjects of both Nations to
frequent occasionally the aforesaid Port and to construct there
temporary Buildings for their Accommodation ...: But that Neither the
One nor the Other of the Two Parties shall make any permanent
Establishment in the said Port, or claim there any Right of Sovereignty
or territorial Dominion to the Exclusion of the other."

The foregoing meant that Vancouver's Island had been equally divided,
as to sovereign interests between Spain and Great Britain.

In 1819, the United States purchased all Spanish rights, titles, claims
and pretensions north of latitude 42.  By this purchase she shared
equally with Great Britain in the possession of Vancouver's Island.

Conclusion of the Ashburton-Webster treaty in 1842, defining the
boundaries of Eastern Canada and west to the Rocky Mountains, was
followed by demands that a settlement be effected west of the Rockies
to the sea.  Little progress was made during the Tyler administration,
but the presidential election of 1844 saw the matter become a major
issue, with James K. Polk being carried to office on a cry of "54-40,
or Fight."  This meant a definite claim to all the territory north to
the southern boundary of the Russian Alaskan possessions.

Protracted negotiations, at times somewhat acrimonious, were conducted,
with James Buchanan, the Secretary of State, acting for the Republic,
and Sir Richard Pakenham being designated as plenipotentiary for Great
Britain.

The British case was largely predicated upon the first Nootkan
Convention of 1790, which was never carried into effect.  Nothing was
said about the replacing convention that Thomas Pearce and General
Alava had proclaimed at Nootka five years later.  The United States
evidently did not know of the existence of this treaty and was ignorant
that the Republic had inherited the Spanish rights, titles and interest
in Vancouver's Island.

Washington Irving, author of "Rip Van Winkle," had been told to search
the Spanish archives for matters of interest pertaining to the question
of sovereignty.  He was the American Minister at Madrid, but the author
of the classic on sleep did not find the document.

Eventually Lord Aberdeen, British Foreign Minister, wrote a treaty
which Pakenham was authorized to submit.  At the same time it was made
known to the United States that this offer was more or less in the
nature of an ultimatum.  Aberdeen, according to a report made by Louis
McLane, U.S. Minister in London, said he would "feel it his duty to
withdraw the opposition he had hitherto uniformly made to the adoption
of measures, founded upon the contingency of war with United States, if
the final proposal was rejected."

President Polk laid the draft treaty before the Senate, and that body
immediately authorized its acceptance.  The possibility of war was
averted, and the vexed question of sovereignty was settled.  The
boundary, offered and accepted, was a continuation of the 49th parallel
to the coast and then by way of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the open
ocean.

Nineteen years later the United States discovered that Washington
Irving had failed to find the document that might have meant much to
his country during the period of negotiations.




50

TZOUHALEM ATTACKS VICTORIA

Tzouhalem was a Cowichan chief of evil reputation and great daring.  He
heard of the whites having built a fort near Ku-sing-a-las, and decided
to visit the place and inspect it.  He was interested in
fortifications, for he had his own stronghold perched on a rock at
Cowichan Bay.

Tsil-al-thach, whom the traders had named "King Freezy," was chief of
the Songhees who had built a new village a few yards north of Fort
Victoria, where a gully dipped to the sea (where Johnson Street abuts
upon the Esquimalt and Nanaimo terminal).  He had no quarrel with his
white neighbours and had been sorry when, a few weeks before, on June
27, 1844, Charles Ross, chief trader in command of the post, had
suddenly died.  He also liked Roderick Finlayson, the
twenty-six-year-old clerk who succeeded Ross, and whom he called "the
young fair-haired chief."

Tsil-al-thach was away for a day or so when Tzouhalem and his braves
arrived.  This did not disappoint the Cowichan, who made himself at
home and issued orders to suit his own purposes.  He went to look at
the fort at close range and was not greatly impressed.  He was
interested, however, by the sight of horned cattle and horses, and felt
that these large animals would make good food.  He ordered several to
be killed.

Finlayson left a written account of what followed: "I then suspended
trade or any dealings with them until this matter had been settled;
where upon they sent word to some of the neighbouring tribes to come to
their assistance as they intended to attack the fort.  I kept all hands
at their arms and set watches night and day to prevent surprise."

Tsil-al-thach returned to find tribesmen from many villages converging
on his camp for the purpose of following Tzouhalem in his attack on
Fort Victoria.

"They fired upon the fort, riddling the stockades and the roofs of the
houses with their musket balls," Finlayson explained.  "It was with the
greatest difficulty that I could prevail upon our men not to return the
fire but to wait my orders.

"After close firing for half an hour I spoke to the principal chief,
informing him that I was fully prepared to carry on the battle, but did
not like to kill any of them without explaining to them that they were
wrong and giving them another chance to make restitution.  A parley
ensued among them, during which I sent our Indian interpreter out to
speak to them, telling him to make it appear that he escaped without
orders and to point out to them the lodge that I was determined to fire
on, and for the inmates to clear out.  This they did.

"Seeing that there was no sign of them coming to terms, I pointed one
of nine-pounder carronades, loaded with grapeshot, at the lodge, which
was a large one built of cedar boards, and fired!  The effect was that
it was completely demolished, the splinters of the cedar boards flying
in fragments in the air.  After this there was an immense howling among
them, from which I supposed that a number were killed, but my plan, I
was happy to find, had the desired effect.  I was aware that those
Indians had never seen the effect of grapeshot fired from a cannon.  No
person was killed.  They had all left the building."

Following this demonstration of destruction, Tsil-al-thach sued for
peace.  Terms were arranged, which required payment in furs for the
slaughtered beasts and indemnity for the attack on the fort.

Tzouhalem was not satisfied.  He was not certain that some trickery had
not been practised; so Finlayson was asked to give another exhibition
of the power of the big guns.  He agreed, and an old canoe was set
adrift in the harbour as a target.  This time the gun was loaded with
ball.  The shot hit the frail cedar dug-out, blasting it out of the
water in an explosion of splinters.  This was sufficient proof for even
the suspicious Tzouhalem, who departed with his warriors, leaving
Tsil-al-thach to try to regain the confidence and respect of the
fair-haired young chief of Fort Victoria.




51

ISLAND BECOMES COLONY

On September 7, 1846, Sir John Felly, Governor of the Hudson's Bay
Company in London, wrote Colonial Secretary Earl Grey, and started
discussions that resulted in the establishment of the Crown Colony of
Vancouver's Island.

Sir John reminded His Lordship that the Company held an exclusive
(British) trading licence in the territory recently held jointly by
Great Britain and the United States.  This licence would not expire
until 1859.  Now that the boundary line had been settled, however, the
Company was anxious to be secured in the lands it had been using for
forts and farms.  "I now address your Lordship," he said, "with the
view of ascertaining the intention of Her Majesty's Government as to
the acquisition of lands for the formation of settlements, to the north
of latitude 49."

In subsequent talks between Sir John and Earl Grey it became evident
that the Imperial Government was very interested in hastening the
establishment of coal-mines on Vancouver's Island, where Dr. W. F.
Tolmie had located seams in 1836.  Operation of collieries would
require the setting up of some form of governmental control,
particularly for foreign trade.

On February 28, 1848, the Colonial Office crystallized the situation by
suggesting that the Company submit a scheme of government for the
Island, which, while limited in scope, would "embrace a plan for the
colonization and government of Vancouver's Island."  The letter further
pointed out: "Assuming that in any negotiation that may take place on
the subject, the value of coal at Vancouver's Island will necessarily
form a material consideration on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company."

The Colonial Office had in mind the collection of royalty on the coal
mined, but Sir John Pelly was opposed to this.  He would have no part
in any such proposal to exact contributions from the new colony for the
Home Treasury.  The Company, said Sir John, was willing to give every
assistance possible in setting up a colony, adding, "I have only to
observe that the Company expect no pecuniary advantage from colonizing
the territory in question."  Continuing, after pointing out that the
Company was not seeking profit, he emphasized: "All monies received
from land or minerals would be applied to purposes connected with the
improvement of the country, and, therefore, if the grant is to be
clogged with any payment to the Mother country, the company would be
under the necessity of declining it."

This bold step effectively blocked the start of a system that might
have been difficult to discard in later years.

The outcome of the discussions was the adoption of an experiment in
colonial government.  Although the plan was bitterly opposed in
Parliament, a colonial government for Vancouver's Island was
authorized.  The Crown was to be represented by a Governor and Council,
but the actual administrative work of the Island was placed in the
hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, which provided finances, carried out
the different public services, and provided protection, on a cost-plus
basis, subject to the right of the Crown to repossess all functions at
a later date.

The Company was asked to recommend an individual for Governor and
suggested Chief Factor James Douglas.  Approval was at first expressed
but later it was thought that appointment of a man so closely connected
with the Company on the Pacific Coast might cause political criticism,
and another nominee was requested.  This time, as evidenced by a minute
of the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, June 13,
1849:

"Resolved that Richard Blanshard, Esq., be recommended to Earl Grey,
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, to be
appointed Govr. of Vancouver's Island."

So to Richard Blanshard went the distinction of being the first Chief
Executive of a British colony on the Pacific Coast.  But he accepted
the office without any stipulated pay, or allowances.




52

PLANNED GAELIC COMMUNITY

Under terms of the agreement by which the management of the Colony of
Vancouver's Island was vested in the Hudson's Bay Company, that concern
was to encourage settlement.  It was also to operate coal-mines.

Settlement became difficult, one reason being that the lands were to be
sold to raise revenue for the Colony.  An upset price of one pound
sterling per acre was set, while across the Strait of Juan de Fuca
American settlers could obtain public lands without payment.  It was
also stipulated that purchasers of lands must be prepared to bring one
farm labourer to the Colony for each twenty acres acquired.

The first settler to arrive was Captain W. Colquhoun Grant, late of the
Scots' Greys.  He was a man of delightful personality, but entirely
impractical.  He brought out eight labourers on board the brig
'Harpooner', which landed in the early summer of 1849.  Grant,
descendant of a long line of Highland chieftains, was a most patriotic
Scot, and had dreams of establishing a Gaelic-speaking community in the
new colony.  To that end he brought out a Highland dominie, who
sickened and died on the voyage.  But the Captain left as evidence of
his Celtic ambitions the golden gorse and broom that adorn the sides of
Beacon Hill and other slopes on southern Vancouver Island, for he is
credited with bringing the seed and throwing it broadcast, so that the
terrain about his new home should blossom like that of his native land.

Among the supplies that were unloaded from the 'Harpooner' that June
for the Captain were carts and carriages with driving harness.  There
were no roads in the Colony.  He also brought sets of cricket
equipment, which later he donated to the first boarding-school, and for
which the gallant Scot has become known as the father of that English
sport in British Columbia.

Captain Grant could not find a desirable site for his settlement closer
to Victoria than Sooke.  This offered him a suitable location not only
for developing a farm, but also for a sawmill.  He had brought
machinery for a water powered mill with him.  He did not get this into
operation, and it soon became evident that the Captain could not make a
success of farming.

At the outset the Indians were bothersome, but when it came to warfare
the soldier was in his element.  He had a small cannon mounted near his
house.  On one occasion, it is recounted, the natives approached his
home threateningly.  Grant mounted his horse and flourishing his big
army sword rode up to them and asked if they wished to fight.  They
were not sure.  "That will be excellent," he exclaimed gleefully.  "I
have not had a fight for some time, and of course I will kill you all,
for I will make the big gun go 'Boom'!"  Turning, he galloped towards
the little redoubt where the tiny garrison had grouped about the
cannon.  The Indians went in the other direction.  There was no fight.

Chief Factor James Douglas tried to help Grant, and engaged him as a
surveyor to map the coastline immediately about the southern end of the
Island, and to lay out lands.  Although he started the work with great
enthusiasm, the Captain did not complete a single survey, Douglas
reluctantly reported to London.

He went off to earn money to carry out his original intentions and
rented his farm to one of his men.  Later it was acquired by the Muir
family which had also come on the 'Harpooner' to work in the
coal-mines.  The Captain went to the gold-diggings of California, where
he had some interesting experiences, including organizing a defence
force for the miners.

He suddenly determined to go back to England, and on his return there
he enlisted for service in the Crimean War, and for a time he was in
command of a Turkish cavalry unit.  He went to India when the Mutiny
broke out, and was about to go to Vancouver's Island when he sickened
and died.  But as long as the bloom of the gorse and broom gilds the
forelands of the Island each spring, he will not be forgotten.




53

DOUGLAS BRINGS GOLD

May 23, 1849, was wet, and the little party travelling through the
dripping woods over the Cowlitz Portage towards Fort Nisqually near the
head of Puget Sound was chilled and miserable.  All morning the five
rough carts, heavily laden with humanity and goods, had groaned and
creaked forward.  Now, in early afternoon, the foremost rider of the
caravan, a veritable giant of a man, followed by three girls on
horseback, spurred ahead to be welcomed by Dr. William Tolmie, the
officer in charge of Nisqually.

But let that big man, Chief Factor James Douglas, tell of the trip,
largely through the wilds, from Fort Vancouver.  Here is the way he
related it to a friend shortly after, writing from Fort Victoria:

"I removed my household-goods and penates to Fort Victoria in May last.
Travelling by the Cowlitz Portage, my staff was composed of one
Sandwich Islander and an invalid sailor who, instead of helping me,
required to be waited on; and with that immense and respectable train I
had to guard our collected treasures of the previous Winter and Spring,
say 636 lbs. of Gold Dust and twenty pack Otters, worth all together
about 30,000 pounds, a noble prize for a gang of thieves."

The gold-dust was mostly collected at Fort Vancouver by the Hudson's
Bay Company for supplies to the newly started gold-stampede to
California.  Fort Nisqually meant safety, for the worst part of
transporting such treasure was on the overland journey; the balance of
the trip was by boat to Vancouver Island.  This transfer was of great
importance, for it meant that the headquarters of the Company of the
Pacific Slope was being moved to the establishment prepared in advance
for just such a contingency if the boundary line were shifted from the
Columbia River.

Fort Victoria had been recently enlarged.  It was now a busy place as
Californian trade was also coming there.  Roderick Finlayson, the
fair-haired Scot who was in command of the place, has left a record of
his surprise when the goldminers came to purchase supplies.  He was
suspicious when a low, black, untidy-looking schooner hove to off the
fort.  He thought that the bearded men who manned it might be pirates,
and collected his men to repel an attack.

The visitors, however, informed him of the gold-strike and of their
need for provisions and other supplies, which they offered to buy for
gold.  Finlayson had never seen raw gold and he was still suspicious,
but he had read that gold was malleable; so he took a nugget that was
offered and had the blacksmith test it by pounding it on his anvil.
Then he supplied the miners with all they could pay for at the rate of
ten dollars an ounce.

Finlayson was a very careful man.  He had manufactured ploughs and
harrows from wood, had constructed buildings without using iron--in
fact it has been said that no iron was used in erecting Fort Victoria,
timber being dowelled together with pegs--and milled flour with a
handmill.  He had enlarged clearings and planted more crops.  Sir John
H. Pelly, the Governor of the Company, in a letter to the Colonial
Office in August, 1848, had boasted of the ability and industry of
Finlayson.  He pointed out that the latest harvest at Victoria had
yielded 800 bushels of wheat, 400 bushels pease, 300 bushels of oats
and 2,100 bushels of potatoes.

There was further important industrial progress.  It was the
establishment of a sawmill.  It was located on a creek, since known as
"Millstream," that flows into the head of Esquimalt Harbour.  Powered
by the flow of the stream, it went into production in the fall of 1848,
the first lumber cut being used to make a threshing-floor at North
Dairy Farm.  In April, 1849, a shipment of 8,238 feet was made to Fort
Langley.  It was in October, 1849, that the first cargo of export
lumber left these shores.  It was a cargo of 42,270 feet, consigned to
San Francisco, aboard the American brig 'Coloney'.




54

PREACHES, FARMS & TEACHES

Hudson's Bay Company officers serving west of the Rockies had long been
interested in establishing schools to which their children could be
sent.  Teachers had been employed at Fort Vancouver, and now that the
boundary line was established, the Governor and Committee in London
took steps to assist in providing a boarding-school at Fort Victoria.

Robert J. Staines, a capable teacher, was employed.  The company
informed him that if he were ordained he could have an additional
stipend by acting as chaplain at the fort.  He consequently took Holy
Orders.  Mrs. Staines was a highly educated and resourceful woman.

It was in May, 1849, that the Staineses arrived.  They disliked the
fort at first sight.  It was contrary to expectations.  Staines was not
averse to pomp and ceremony, and this was lacking, as were the comforts
of a more cultured society.  Staines, it is said, brought a liveried
manservant from England.  En route, the vessel on which they travelled
put in at Honolulu, where the King of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)
invited them to his palace.  As they approached, the King spied them,
and rushing to meet them embraced the footman, thinking that the man in
the gaudy dress must be the master.

Mr. Staines started his new school in one of the two large fort
buildings that flanked the main gateway.  The site is on the corner of
Fort and Government Streets of today, and is occupied by the Canadian
Bank of Commerce.  Church services were held in the mess-hall on the
opposite side of the gateway, where the offices of the C.P.R. are now
located.  This site was consecrated by special commission from the
Bishop of London.

Mr. Staines was a man of uncertain temper.  He did not hide his
disappointment at the crudeness of the fur-trade fort.  He seemed to
blame Douglas, as representative of the Company, for all his ills.  He
and the big Chief Factor later quarrelled bitterly, when Staines
published the banns of a man and an immigrant woman, whom Douglas
believed to be married to another man.

In addition to operating the boarding-school and attending to his
clerical duties, Staines went in for farming.  He purchased acreage
near Mount Tolmie, where he specialized in raising pigs.  He also
cultivated a garden just outside of the fort pickets, near the corner
of present-day Government and Broughton Streets.  In this work he had
the assistance of the boy pupils of the school, who did most of the
weeding.  Here he raised succulent vegetables, and with them he gave
salad suppers, such as many of his guests had not tasted for years.  To
these he invited those with grievances against the Company, and as a
result he became a leader in "a political party," which crystallized
opposition to the rule of the Company.

One of the first pupils at the Staines establishment, the late James R.
Anderson, in after life recalled his sojourn at the school.  "And what
beds!" he exclaimed in his memoirs.  "The hard boards, an Indian mat, a
Hudson's Bay blanket and over ourselves another blanket.  We were hardy
young beggars and did not mind it.  The garret we occupied was not
lined, simply the bare logs; the interstices where the roof joined the
wall, was a veritable runway for numerous rats which infested the
building and through which the fresh air had unimpeded access even in
the coldest weather."  Despite many unpleasant memories of Staines's
disciplinary rule, Mr. Anderson gave praise to the worth of both the
reverend gentleman and Mrs. Staines as capable teachers.

Poor Staines came to an untimely end.  He undertook to carry a memorial
containing complaints of the settlers to the foot of the Throne.  He
was on his way to board the boat sailing from the fort when his pigs
broke bounds, and he stopped to secure them.  He missed the boat,
hastened to Sooke, from where an American schooner was sailing to San
Francisco, and unfortunately boarded it.  The vessel went down off Cape
Flattery, and Mr. Staines and all others on board were lost.




55

BLANSHARD PROCLAIMS GOVERNMENT

It was a chill, grey day, with a foot of snow covering the ground and
roof-tops of Fort Victoria.  It was March 11, 1850.  Outside of the
water-gate of the post a crowd had collected, while officers, sailors
and marines from H.M.S. 'Driver', Captain Charles Johnson, R.N.,
anchored in James Bay, stood stiffly at attention.  In front of the
honour guard, facing a motley gathering of fur traders, settlers and
Indians--and more particularly the giant form of Chief Factor James
Douglas--a thin, tall, young man read from a parchment that bore the
enormous waxen seal of Her Majesty the Queen.

The formally attired young stranger was Richard Blanshard, named to be
Governor of Vancouver's Island in place of Douglas who had first been
suggested for the office.  He was reading the commission inaugurating
the government of the Colony, and his own authority to preside over it.

Blanshard had but little understanding of the situation in which he
would find himself.  He had not even asked if he would receive a
salary--and found that there was none for him; nor was he given an
expense account--he had been appointed to govern a British colony at
his own expense!  Something had been mentioned before he left England
about a 1,000-acre estate, but he did not understand this properly.  He
was to find that this tract of land, which he doubtless envisioned as
being subdivided into comfortable little farms all yielding him
revenues, was not for him personally, and if he wanted it cleared he
would have to pay for that as well.

There were no quarters for him, and he had to remain on board H.M.S.
'Driver' while she remained in these waters.  In the meantime a small
house was being built for him.  Nothing seemed to be as he had
pictured, and he even found Victoria was hard pressed for food.  Such
was the necessity that Captain Johnson was induced to take H.M.S.
'Driver' to Fort Nisqually for a load of cattle and sheep.  Here R.
Blanshard met Dr. W. F. Tolmie, who set down in the post journal:

"He is a tall, thin person, with a pale intellectual countenance--is a
great smoker, a great sportsman, a protectionist in politics and a
latitudinarian in religious matters.  His manner is quiet, and rather
abstracted and tho' free from hauteur, or pomposity, he does not
converse much."

Blanshard was coldly polite in his dealings with Douglas, who in turn
was correctly formal to the lonely young governor.  This attitude of
aloofness was not improved when Blanshard summonsed the Chief Factor
for having usurped his authority by signing the register of a
boat--something that Douglas had been doing for years.  But, despite
his wounded dignity, there was nothing the Governor could do.  Douglas
had all the power: Blanshard had the honour of office.

Disliking Douglas and believing that he had been tricked by the
Hudson's Bay Company, Blanshard gave a ready ear to all those who had
complaints to voice against either, perhaps if his health had been
better his views would not have been so discoloured.  He even went the
length of reporting malicious and unfounded rumours to London.
Possibly the realization that he had been unfair was one of the reasons
why, on November 18, 1850, he penned his resignation.  It was nine
months before he received word from London of its acceptance.

Before leaving the Colony, where he had endured great misery, Richard
Blanshard, under authority of his commission, set up a Legislative
Council, of three, to carry on government until the appointment of a
new governor.  The council was composed of Douglas, as senior member,
and John Tod, a retired fur-trader, and James Cooper, mariner and
settler.  Douglas was later appointed to succeed Blanshard.

Although there was but little scope for officialdom, and Blanshard's
incumbency had been an unhappy one, it was of vast importance, for it
was the first step in Government and public administration taken in
this western half of Canada.




56

COLLIERS GO ON STRIKE

Fort Rupert was built facing a snug harbour close to the coal outcrop
Dr. W. M. Tolmie had located from the information given by Indians.  It
was to serve a dual purpose: as a fur-trading post for Queen Charlotte
Sound and vicinity, and as a means of protection for the mines that
were to be established.

In order to exploit the coal measures the Hudson's Bay Company enlisted
a small group of expert miners.  They were old John Muir and his husky
and capable sons, Andrew, Robert, John Jr., and a boy Michael; his
nephew, Archie; and John McGregor and John Smith.  Proud, sensitive men
were these Scots, with very definite ideas about their rights, and with
the courage and determination to maintain them.  They landed at
Victoria on June 1, 1849, aboard the brig 'Harpooner'.

Andrew Muir, appreciating the value of a written record in the event of
"a case at law," kept a careful diary.  From the neatly penned pages of
this old book, now in the B.C. Archives, some idea of the troubled
attempt to mine coal at Fort Rupert may be gained.

The party was detained at Fort Victoria until the end of August, when
they left on board the brig 'Mary Dare'.  It was a long, tedious voyage
that lasted until September 24.

It was not until October 26 that work was commenced at sinking a pit at
a spot where it was expected to find a good seam of coal.  Andrew Muir
regarded this as the work of labourers.  Skilled miners should be
engaged only in mining operations after a bed of coal had been located.

"Now we are in Vancouver," he complained, "and we are put to the
sinking of a pit to look for coal, a thing we never agreed to, and to
do all manner of work, and I consider the Company has broken our
agreement, as we were only to work as labourers in the event of the
Coal not succeeding."  Officials at the fort, however, felt that the
miners would like to be freed from their contract and go off to the
California gold-rush.

Every little inconvenience now became an unbearable irritation.  Andrew
noted that the Company would not build palisades about the mine, that
the men were not given the armed protection that they desired when
working below the surface, and which the skulking presence of natives
from time to time seemed to justify.  He and his companions had no
illusions as to the peaceable inclinations of the armed warriors.  He
told of having seen Indian braves go out and "in five minutes return
with two of their neighbours' heads in their hands."  He reasoned that
if the Indians would do this to their own kind they would not hesitate
to decapitate whites.

The annoyances from the Indians, the lack of supplies of clay, and the
fancied indignities of having to do the tasks that they regarded as
being beneath them resulted in the miners going on strike and refusing
to continue sinking the shaft.  The fort officials told them that they
would have to work inside the fort at sinking a well and digging
drains.  This was met by Andrew Muir and McGregor demanding that such
orders should be put in writing and should be accompanied by an
acknowledgement that if they were to do labouring work they would not
be called upon to do further mining.  According to Andy Muir, they were
then threatened by George Blinkinsop, clerk in charge during the
absence of Captain W. McNeill, commander of the establishment, who
flourished a sword and pistol.  The clerk, said Muir who was always
looking for justification for litigious action, blamed him and McGregor
for agitating a sit-down strike.  Andrew thought the accusation might
warrant a suit for defamation of character.

On May 8, 1850, Andrew Muir and John McGregor were jailed by order of
Captain McNeill.  "The last word he said to us two going out was we
would remain in irons and on bread and water for two years," said
Andrew, adding that McNeill had declared that the others were to finish
digging the well and then share a similar fate.  The irons were removed
after six days, and later they were allowed to return to their homes.

A barque named 'England' was loading coal for California.  The male
Muirs, except old John and Michael, boarded it secretly and went off to
the gold-fields.  They did not like the life there, and soon returned
to Fort Victoria, and demanded payment of their wages for all the time
they had been away.

In the meantime more miners were engaged in Great Britain for Fort
Rupert mines.




57

NAVY ATTACKS NATIVES

The lure of California gold-fields caused three sailors to desert from
the ship 'Norman Morison' upon arrival at Fort Victoria, early in 1850.
They secreted themselves in the barque 'England', en route to Fort
Rupert.  Soon after the arrival of the England at the coal-port, the
Hudson's Bay steamer 'Beaver' appeared.  The deserters feared she had
come in search of them.  They fled ashore and hid in the woods.

When the steamer continued her voyage to the north, Dr. J. S. Helmcken,
fort surgeon and Justice of the Peace, sent word to the men to return
to the barque; it was unsafe for them to stay in the forest.  The
suspicious men thought this good advice was but a trap to catch them.
They refused.

Three Nahwitti braves and a boy, paddling near Shushartie, saw the
three whites on shore, and in a friendly spirit paddled towards them to
warn them that the fierce Haidas were lurking in the vicinity.  Not
understanding the purpose of the natives, one of the sailors menaced
them with an axe, while another threw a stone at the oncoming canoe,
These actions incensed the warriors, who pursued the men into the woods
and killed them.

When word of this reached the fort, the coal-miners refused to join in
the defence of the place, if attacked.  They demanded that it be
abandoned, and then withdrew in a body to Shushartie, from where they
were taken aboard the 'England' en route for California.  This
weakening of the garrison emboldened the natives, who became impudent,
and were about to attack, when the Hudson's Bay Company's brig, 'Mary
Dare', providentially arrived with reinforcements.  Several days later
the H.M.S. 'Daedalus', Captain Wellesley, carrying Governor Richard
Blanshard dropped anchor.

Dr. Helmcken, accompanied by a brave Canadien, Basil Battineau, and an
interpreter, went by canoe to the home of the Nahwitti tribe and
demanded the surrender of the three wanted men.  It was a daring thing
to do, and they were threatened, but stayed all night.  Old Chief Nancy
admitted the guilt of his men, and offered reparation in the ancient
manner of the Coast.  This was refused.

Captain Wellesley decided to take action.  He ordered Lieutenant Burton
to take boats to attack the village.  The party arrived near the
Nahwitti headquarters after dark--and lighted fires!  The result was
that when the flotilla dashed for the beach at the village at daybreak,
the men found the place deserted.  Burton set fire to the big
cedar-houses and broke the canoes drawn up on the shingle.

Wellesley could waste no more time; he was getting short of supplies;
so he dropped Blanshard at Fort Rupert and sailed around the north end
of Vancouver's Island, for the south.  In doing so he stopped to
question a canoe filled with Bella Bella natives.  A clash ensued, and
an officer and two sailors were wounded.  The natives escaped.

It was July of 1851 before another warship, H.M.S. 'Daphnae', arrived
to continue the endeavour to bring the murderers to justice.  Captain
Fanshawe ordered a lieutenant to lead a boat expedition against the new
and strongly fortified home of the Nahwitti tribe on an island in Bull
Harbour.

Chief Factor James Douglas, in reporting to the Company office in
London, remarked, "They [the Nahwitti] have been rather severely
handled by a boat party of sixty men and officers from the 'Daphnae'."
He said that the surprise had been complete and had been carried by
assault, despite a severe fire from the natives.  Two sailors had been
slightly wounded.  "The native position was very strong, and protected
with stockades, which they thought impregnable, and were consequently
rather surprised when they saw it carried by a body of white faces."
Five or six Indians were killed or wounded, he said, adding that old
Nancy, the chief, was slain.

The Indians sued for peace.  They delivered three bodies at the fort
gates, declaring them to be those of the fugitives, whom they had to
kill in order to hand them over.  It was never fully established
whether they were the real culprits, or the remains of slaves.  In any
event both whites and natives were happy to be able to re-establish
friendly relations.




58

THE SAVING VACCINE

While government was being established on the Coast and settlement was
commencing, life at the fur-posts of the Interior went on in much the
same manner as it had for years: there was a perpetual sense of
unexpected and undefined danger to be met.  Incidents testing the
courage and resource of officers in charge of the different
establishments were not unusual.  One such happening may be used to
illustrate the need for constant vigilance.

It was in 1846.  John Tod was in charge at Fort Kamloops.  The
productive resources of the locality had not yet been fully utilized.
The main source of food supplies, for both men and dogs, was the silver
salmon.  Each year when the fish were running, men would be sent
overland with horses to the Fraser River where some 10,000, or more,
dried salmon would be traded from the natives.  These would be packed
away at the fort for winter use.

The brigade from the Columbia River to New Caledonia had but recently
passed on its way, and amongst the supplies left with Tod was a part of
the first consignment of vaccine brought to the country.  Tod was
examining this little package, as he sat alone in the fort, for all his
men had gone with the salmon train.  Suddenly the door opened and an
Indian retainer named Jean Baptiste Lolo St. Paul--commonly known as
Lolo--entered.  Tod was surprised, for he believed Lolo to be with the
others, but he waited for him to speak.  At last the Indian did.  He
told of how he had learned from a friendly native that Indian warriors
were lying in wait in a narrow defile to murder the men from the fort.

Tod jumped up, and, telling Lolo to mind the fort, he shoved the parcel
of vaccine that he held in his hand into his coat-pocket, and picking
up his short sword and pistol he hastened outside to saddle his big
snow-white horse.  On this he sped away in pursuit of his men.  He
overtook them as they were about to enter the ravine where the ambush
had been placed.

He ordered the men to halt until they saw what befell him.  If he was
killed, they were then to ride back to the fort and hold it until help
could be obtained from Forts Okanogon or Alexandria; but if they saw
that he had control of the Indians, they were to pass on to the river
and get the salmon.  He then spurred his horse forward, and made it
rear and dance from side to side, as he pulled off his hat and threw it
into the air, followed by his sword and pistol.  Soon the amazed and
curious Indians bobbed up from behind rocks and logs to watch the
strange gyrations of the white chief.  With a touch of his spur he made
the animal bound forward, and then brought it to a stop in the midst of
the natives.  He called out in feigned delight how happy he was to find
them; he said he had come to save them.  This was indeed a surprise to
the men who had plotted his death.

"What did he mean?" they questioned.  "It's the smallpox," he almost
hissed, chilling the very vitals of the Indians who feared the dread
disease.  "An Okanogon has brought it from Walla Walla."  The natives
were terrified.  All thought of killing the trader and his men vanished
and they called loudly upon him to protect them.

In order to satisfy himself that he had them in hand, and to give his
men a chance to pass, he pointed to sturdy jack pine and ordered that
it be cut down.  The Indians attacked it with their axes and soon
hacked it down.  "Now," said Tod, "cut it in lengths and pile it."
When this was done, Tod sat on the heap, and drawing out the packet of
vaccine and a tobacco-stained pocket-knife, he started to vaccine the
warriors--all on the right arm.  He then made them go around for an
hour holding the treated member in the air.  The serum was effective,
and when the men returned in a few days with the salmon, there was not
a warrior in the vicinity who could lift his arm to shoulder a musket
or string a bow.

The ingenuity and resource of Tod had saved the fort, and won him
renewed friendship from those who had plotted his destruction.




59

GOLD ORE SINKS

Hudson's Bay officers at Fort Simpson had learned from Indians of the
existence of deposits of gold-laden quartz on the west side of the
Queen Charlotte group.  A visit to the place justified the report.

In October, 1851, Captain McNeill had gone north on the little
brigantine 'Una', Captain "Wullie" Mitchell, to open mines for the
Company.  The vessel anchored in a harbour named for Mitchell, and the
men commenced work.  A vein--described by Governor James Douglas as
being twenty-five per cent pure gold--was found.  Drilling and blasting
were started on this glittering outcrop.

For a day or two everything went well.  The miners, under John
McGregor, an expert collier who had agreed to work on shares, were
pleased.  Then came the Indians--and trouble.  The natives would rush
forward as soon as a blast was set off, and would jostle and scramble
with the whites for the gold-specked bits of rock.  As time went on the
Indians became more impudent and daring, and after a few days Captain
McNeill concluded that it would be dangerous to continue trying to
mine.  All the gold that the miners had been able to secure had been
put on board the 'Una'.  With this precious ore the boat sailed for
Fort Simpson, where McNeill lined the miners up and offered to weigh
the quartz, estimate its value and divide it according to agreement.
The miners refused, preferring to have the division made by Governor
Douglas.

The little vessel with her golden cargo was headed south, the genial
"Wullie" agreeing to try to reach Fort Victoria by Christmas.  It was
the day before the great Feast Day that the sturdy little craft,
bucking a gale, tried to nudge into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but the
set of the tide and a strong current, combining with the wind, drove
her towards the American shore.  Presently Neah Bay opened up, offering
some shelter in which to wait for a few hours for better weather.  The
'Una' was scudding towards this haven when, with a grinding crash and a
terrific thud, she struck on an uncharted reef.  She heeled over
dangerously, but remained fast.

Indians gathered on the beach, and before long were bobbing about the
wreck in their canoes.  With daylight they boarded her, and then
started to plunder.  There were fights between them and the sailors as
the thieves broke open sea-chests and tore clothing from the men.  The
situation was becoming critical, when the U.S. schooner, 'Susan
Sturgis', under Matthew Rooney, en route to the Queen Charlotte
gold-field, arrived.  He rescued the sailors and miners from the 'Una'
and took them to Fort Victoria.  As they left Neah Bay, flames broke
out from the wreck.  An Indian had set it on fire.  The boat burned to
the water's edge and then slipped off the reef, carrying her gold to
the bottom of the bay.

James Douglas, recently appointed Governor of the Colony, felt that it
was necessary to punish the perpetrators of this outrage, despite the
fact that Neah was in the United States.  He ordered Captain Charles
Dodd to take on more hands on board the schooner 'Cadboro' and hasten
to the scene.

It was the 'Cadboro' that had blasted the Indian villages at Port
Townsend and New Dungeness some years before, in retaliation for the
murder of Alex. McKenzie and his men.  The Indians remembered that
fact, and the Neah Bay chief did not care to have another demonstration
of the guns of the vessel.  He lined up his tribesmen and ten of them
were identified as having taken prominent parts in the looting of the
vessel.  The chief ordered them to be shot.  Further investigation led
to discovery of the man who had set fire to the wreck.  But the chief
thought that shooting was too merciful a death for him.  He was buried
alive.

"Those barbarous acts," Douglas reported to the Colonial Office, "were
however, neither demanded nor approved by us, and were the result of
their own uninfluenced deliberations.  This affair which might have
proved troublesome and expensive had been therefore quietly settled by
a simple demonstration without any direct act of hostility on the part
of this government."




60

ORGANIZED FARMING STARTS

Settlement of the 49th parallel as the international boundary was
followed by persistent agitation in the United States to have both the
Hudson's Bay Company and the Puget Sound Agricultural Company--a
companion organization--surrender their possessory rights.  These
included farms operated by the Puget Sound Company at Nisqually and
Cowlitz, as well as trading-posts and tilled fields and pasture lands
held by the fur company.

This situation resulted in the determination to start farms for the
Puget Sound Company on Vancouver's Island and enlarge the agricultural
operations of the Hudson's Bay Company as well.  The latter concern
broadened its operations at the North Dairy Farm and on other farms
closer to Fort Victoria, and commenced the Uplands Farm facing Cadboro
Bay.  The Puget Sound Company's plans contemplated three large farms:
the Constance Cove farm, at Esquimalt; the Craigflower Farm, opposite
Maple Point on Victoria's upper harbour and extending to Esquimalt
Harbour and the Constance Cove holding; and the Colwood Farm, which lay
between the head of Esquimalt Harbour and the little lake later named
Langford Lake.

This acreage--for which the Company paid at the rate of one pound an
acre--involved more than 2,500 as the purchase price, and was to be
worked by trained labourers from the United Kingdom, who were to
receive seventeen to twenty-five pounds per annum according to their
respective skills.  If they gave no cause for complaint during five
years' service they would receive twenty-five acres for labourers and
fifty acres for artisans.

Kenneth McKenzie, a well-educated and energetic, though somewhat
visionary man, the son of a doctor who lived at Renton Hall,
Haddingtonshire, Scotland, was the senior of the three bailiffs
appointed to manage the farms.  He was to act as a general supervisor.
The other bailiffs were T. J. Skinner, who had control of Constance
Cove, a quiet man, who was not able to achieve as much as he desired
with the disgruntled help at his command, and E. E. Langford, a Kentish
gentleman-farmer and erstwhile military officer.  Langford, with his
wife and five charming daughters, was the first to arrive.  He came in
1851 aboard the Company's ship 'Tory', bringing a number of farm hands
with him.  Poor Langford was disappointed from the moment of his
arrival, when he discovered that no preparations had been made for his
coming.  He and his family, and the piano--the first instrument of its
kind in the Colony--had to crowd into a single-roomed log-house, while
his retainers had to jam into another one.  Here they had to stay until
some sort of shelter could be erected at Colwood.  The comfortable and
commodious cottage that was constructed there in time became a social
centre, with young officers from the men o' war and eligible company
clerks and settlers being invited to the dances, picnics, routs and
other entertainments possible in a home with five charming daughters.

Kenneth McKenzie had an even more difficult task, for to him the
Company headquarters in England looked for success by all of the farms.
He too found no preparations had been made before his arrival on the
barque 'Norman Morison', in January, 1853.  Until temporary shelters
were erected, he and his workmen had to travel between the fort and
their work by boat, occasionally having trouble negotiating the angry
waters of the Gorge.

McKenzie's men became discouraged and disgruntled.  They complained of
the lack of proper accommodation, of poor food, and of the fact that
across the Strait on the American side men were being paid two dollars
or two dollars and fifty cents a day, while they were receiving,
roughly, a little less than a shilling a day.  Occasionally one or more
would stop work, or desert to try to cross to the other side.  Then
severe discipline would be meted out, the usual punishment being a
month's confinement in the Bastion jail at the fort.  Ill feeling
developed.

Despite his vexations and difficulties, McKenzie did his best.  He had
brought out a small portable mill-engine.  With this he cut lumber for
his buildings, and then converted it to grind grain.  With the flour
thus procured, he entered into a contract with the Navy to supply the
ships at Esquimalt with hardtack and bread.  He found lime rock and
burned lime, and made bricks from clay on the place.  Despite his
efforts, though, the Puget Sound Company's affairs did not prosper.




61

SONGHEES GIVEN LESSON

Governor James Douglas knew that it was imperative that any
interference on the part of the natives with the settlers be dealt with
promptly.  Failure to do so might imperil the lives of all whites and
prevent settlement.  In 1844 the natives, encouraged by Chief Tzouhalem
the Wicked, from Cowichan, had killed cattle and then attacked Fort
Victoria.  Now, in 1852, two Songhees had killed a settler's cow.  One
Indian was apprehended and lodged in the Bastion, but the other had
fled to the village across the harbour, and his people would not give
him up.

Dr. J. S. Helmcken has left a record of what happened from the
standpoint of a participator in the affair.  He said that ten men--new
arrivals--were armed and were ordered to support the constable.  J. W.
Mackay, a clerk, was given charge of one boat, while the doctor
commanded the other.

"The shores were lined with Indians," said the doctor, "some blackened,
all yelling, having muskets, axes, knives and what not.  But the
nastiest things were long poles [herring fishing-poles] with sharp
spears at the end, pointed towards our stomachs, which the men could
not stand."  The natives waded into the water and seized the boats,
scuffling with the men for possession of their muskets.  They captured
two guns, a boat and the doctor's hat.

Describing his return to the Fort, Helmcken went on: "Douglas was not
pleased and looked grim, but said nothing to me anyhow.  He had given
orders to take care and not kill any one, but only to seize the
culprit...  After this I walked along Wharf street alongside of Mr.
Douglas--and the bullets were whistling from across the water.  We
walked along there with slow deliberate step, as much as to say, 'we
are not afraid' ...  No one had covered himself with glory; no killed,
no wounded; the trophies remained with the natives."

Governor Douglas, in reporting the incident to the Colonial Office,
explained that he had demanded the return of the property taken by the
Indians; they refused to restore it, unless the man arrested earlier
was released.

"I could not allow Her Majesty's authority to be thus treated with
contempt," he said, "and the law set at open defiance, without a
neglect of duty and incurring greater evils than those which it was
sought to avert.

"Before resorting to coercive measures I however resolved to try the
effect of a demonstration, and with that view, ordered out a few guns
and directed the Hudson's Bay Company's Steam Vessel 'Beaver' to be
anchored abreast the village, in a position from whence it could be
attacked to advantage and in the course of two hours our preparations
were completed.

"In the meantime, there was much excitement and alarm among the
Indians, the women and children were flying in all directions while the
men appeared to look unmoved upon the scene of danger, but they had
also had time for reflection on the consequences of pushing the matter
further, and to my great relief sent a messenger to beg that
proceedings might be stayed, as they had resolved to end the dispute by
restoring the boat and muskets, which were immediately given up.

"It being then late in the evening, nothing further could be done; and
the following morning the Songhees chief, a well disposed Indian, made
proffers of compensation for the cattle that had been slaughtered by
his people, which were accepted and quiet was restored."

Helmcken adds that he recovered his hat.  He said that when the natives
brought back the guns, which were discarded American army muskets, they
contemptuously asked, "Of what use are these guns; the locks are rusted
and they won't go off."  This was true, the doctor admitted---"and the
greenhorns had loaded them improperly, too; powder last, ball first,"
he chuckled.

It was a fortunate outcome; it might have been serious, but probably
King Freezy and his people remembered that day, eight years before,
when the big guns of the fort spoke answer to Chief Tzouhalem and his
cattle-killing Cowichans.




62

INDIAN TELLS OF COAL

An Indian brought his broken gun to the blacksmith shop at Fort
Victoria to be repaired one December day in 1849.  As he watched the
smith at work he noticed him put some coal on the forge fire.  He asked
where the "blackstone" had been obtained.  He was told that it had come
from far away over the ocean.  The old native laughed, and when asked
the cause of his amusement, he replied that he had always been told
that the whites were clever, but they could not be so, or instead of
bringing coal from far away they would get it where he lived, for there
was an abundance there.

The blacksmith called J. W. Mackay, a clerk, who questioned the Indian,
and told him that if he would go home and get a canoe-load of
"blackstones" and return to the fort with it, his gun would be repaired
at no charge and he would be otherwise rewarded.  The old man
disappeared.

Months passed before the Indian re-appeared, his canoe laden with fine
specimens of coal.  The old man had been delayed by sickness.  He said
he was a "Snenymo" and lived at Wentuhuysen Inlet.  He received his
reward and a new name, that of "Coal-tyee."  Chief Factor and Governor
James Douglas was informed.  He ordered Mackay to investigate.  He went
to the place and found that the Indian had told the truth.  There was a
good outcrop of coal just above high water on the beach.

During the summer of 1850, however, mines were being opened close to
Fort Rupert, a new post to the north of Vancouver's Island.  Great
hopes were held out for them; so not much attention was given to
Mackay's discovery.  But by 1852 prospects were not bright.  No
deep-seated deposit had been found; trouble had developed with the
first batch of miners brought from England, and now another party,
under the direction of Boyd Gilmour, was drilling at Suquash, without
much encouragement.  Douglas was disappointed and worried.  Then he
remembered Mackay's coal.  Once more the clerk was sent to the
locality, and reported further evidence of a substantial field.

Douglas decided to take a look at the outcrops.  He made a leisurely
canoe trip to Wentuhuysen Inlet, stopping to take a look at Cowichan
and examine the coastline.  What he saw electrified him and he hastened
back to Fort Victoria, to hurry a despatch off to the Company's head
office in London.  Rarely had the staid, dignified Douglas ever penned
such a jubilant letter.  "In the course of the excursion we discovered
three Beds of Coal," he exulted, "the first and upper bed measuring
three inches; a second immediately under it measuring twenty inches,
and at a distance about three-quarters of a mile nearly due west, a
third bed measuring fifty seven and a quarter inches in depth of clean
coal, from which, with the assistance of the natives, we procured about
fifty tons in a single day at a total cost of 11 paid in goods.  The
discovery has afforded me more satisfaction than I can express," he
glowed.

Now the Chief Factor and Governor, who had known of the coal-deposit
since Mackay visited the place in 1850, was alarmed lest some other
interests--especially American--should stake it.  He hurried Mackay off
in a canoe, bearing formal notices of occupation, to take possession of
the deposits, and to warn off any marauders.  John Muir, several of his
sons, John McGregor, and Hudson's Bay workmen were to be sent by
schooner.

So it was that Mackay took possession of the coal-field--which the
Company purchased from the Crown when it was surveyed--and started the
construction of an establishment.  Douglas, remembering the clash
between the fur trade officials and miners at Fort Rupert, gave Mackay
definite instructions that old John Muir was to have full control of
the mining.  With such a recognized division of responsibilities, the
enterprising clerk began the construction of log-houses roofed with
bark, loading facilities for vessels, a store for trading and other
necessary works, including a bastion.  This was completed in the summer
of 1853, and has stood ever since as a memento to the faith, courage
and determination of Mackay and his associates in the founding of
Nanaimo.




63

TRIAL BY JURY

Peter Brown was foully murdered.  He was a shepherd, employed by the
Hudson's Bay Company at their Christmas Hill sheep-station in Saanich.
It was November 5, 1852.  Brown and his fellow Orkneyman, James Skea,
had breakfast and Skea drove the sheep to pasture that morning.  When
he returned at noon, it was to find Brown sprawled in front of the
cabin--dead.  He had been shot.  Search revealed evidence that the
killers were Indians.

Governor James Douglas started an investigation, and found that
Sque-is, a Cowichan, and Siam-a-sit, son of Tche-whe-tum, a powerful
Nanaimo chief, were suspected of the killing.  Demands were made upon
their tribes to surrender them, but were refused.

H.M.S. 'Thetis' reached Esquimalt about this time and Douglas asked
Captain A. L. Kuper to support the civil power by providing an armed
party.  This was done, and Lieutenants Arthur Sansum and John Moresby,
with 130 sailors and marines, were placed at his disposal as
commander-in-chief of the Colony.  He also had a small party of
Victorian Voltigeurs as scouts.

It was January 6, 1853, when the steamer 'Beaver', with the brigantine
'Recovery' in tow, dropped anchor in Cowichan Bay, and messages were
sent to the tribal chiefs to meet the Governor.  They replied they
would attend him at an appointed place the next day.  The following
morning the troops were landed.  Douglas took a camp-stool some
distance in advance of the forces, and seating himself on it calmly
proceeded to light a pipe.  Presently the sound of drums was heard and
a flotilla of war-canoes, carrying several hundred armed and painted
natives, swept around a river bend.  The warriors, waving their spears
and guns, jumped ashore and dashed up the incline, directly at Douglas.
It was with difficulty the officers could restrain their men, but the
iron-nerved Governor did not deign to notice the excited braves.  The
result was that when they were almost upon him they came to a dead
stop.  Then Douglas started to talk to them, and after two hours of
negotiations Sque-is was surrendered.  He was placed on board the
'Beaver', and the expedition continued to Nanaimo.

Several days were spent in useless endeavour to have Siam-a-sit given
up by his tribe; then a force was landed at the mouth of the Nanaimo
River, and marched rapidly through the woods to attack a stockaded
native village.  When they reached the place, muskets bristled from
every loop-hole.  The naval officers were for immediate assault, but
this Douglas would not permit.  He ordered up the pinnace and launch
that had been left at the river-mouth.  These each carried a small
brass cannon.  When the guns were loaded and trained on the fort, the
big door slid up in token of capitulation.  The night was spent there,
and the following morning another village was taken.  Here it was
learned that Siam-a-sit had fled to the banks of a small stream to the
west.

Basil Battineau, sergeant of the Voltigeurs, with six of his scouts and
some sailors went in pursuit.  That evening the fugitive, hidden under
a pile of driftwood, attempted to shoot Battineau, but his gun only
flashed.  He was captured and taken on board the 'Beaver'.  The creek
was given the name of "Chase River," which it still bears.

The final act of this tragedy, as described by Governor Douglas in his
despatch to the Colonial Office, was as follows: "The two Indians now
being in custody, they were brought to trial, and found guilty of
wilful murder, by a Jury composed of the officers present.  They were
sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead, and the execution took
place in the presence of the whole Nanaimo tribe, the same appearing to
make a deep impression on their minds."

This was a most historic trial, for it marked the abandonment of the
old retaliatory system of haphazard administration of justice, and
introduced the jury system, a foundation-stone of democracy.  It was a
most significant result of the establishment of Crown Colony government.




64

VOLTIGEURS PROTECT COLONY

Vancouver Island had an active armed militia, which under the name
"Victoria Voltigeurs" played an important part in the protection of the
Colony from Indian attack.  It was organized about 1850 when Governor
Richard Blanshard was enduring his unhappy tenure as first chief
executive.  In the absence of other authority he wanted an army to
command.

Chief Factor James Douglas, in answering some complaints made by
Blanshard to London, writing on March 21, 1851, said: "The Governor,
for instance, was ... in favour of having a military force in the
Colony for the protection of the inhabitants ... It was with the object
of meeting Governor Blanshard's views ... that I took the liberty of
recommending the formation of a rural police, to be effected by
granting a certain number of twenty-acre lots on the Fur Trade reserve
to the company's retiring servants."

In 1859 when Douglas was retiring from the Hudson's Bay Company, he
recalled that there were three members of the Voltigeurs who had not
been given their twenty-acre allotments, and ordered Colonial Surveyor
J. Pemberton to issue deeds to them.  In writing Pemberton, he said
that "before '51 a Canadian village for defence against Indians was
established on the Portage Inlet."  The fortunate three were Nicholas
Auger, J. B. Jollibois, and John Lemon.

The Voltigeurs won high praise for their service in the field, and
especially in two expeditions to Cowichan.  The first was on the hunt
for the Indians, Sque-is and Siam-a-sit, slayers of Peter Brown.  From
old records, some idea may be obtained of the dress of the Voltigeurs.
On the occasion of the first Cowichan campaign they were issued with
new uniforms.  Each man was given a pair of stout boots as well as a
pair of moccasins for scouting wear, long worsted stockings, buckskin
trousers, a shirt, blue capot, blue cap, gaily decorated with tinsel
braid and ribbons, and a broad red belt and bullet-pouch.  They
received a dollar a day.  Sergeant Battineau and Interpreter Tomo
Omtany were paid a dollar and a half.

The Voltigeurs were well fed, as were all ranks on the first Cowichan
expedition.  The officers particularly did not suffer, for a list of
their rations shows that they had bread and cakes and flour; prunes,
raisins and currants; brown and white sugar, two kinds of tea and
coffee; salt beef, home-cured hams, butter, potatoes, mutton and live
sheep.

Douglas was lavish in his praise of the naval forces in his despatches,
and proudly added: "I am happy to say that our little corps of Colonial
Voltigeurs imitated their noble example."  So also he had praise for
the unit when it next accompanied him to Cowichan in 1856.

The Voltigeurs had to be ready to answer an alarm at any time.  An
illustration of the constant dangers of the times was an incident of
1853, when trouble took place at Uplands Farm.

Several hundred angry northern Indians--from Alaska--were on their way
home.  They were angry as the result of a clash with Americans in Puget
Sound.  They swarmed ashore at Cadboro Bay and started to steal and
pillage.  Two labourers, almost exhausted from their long run, burst
into Fort Victoria at noon on May 26 crying that the farm had been
taken by the Indians.  Instantly the alarm sounded, and while a larger
force was being armed, Douglas with six mounted men galloped over the
trail to Uplands.  Here it was found that "they [the Indians] had not
entered the premises, but had attacked Mr. Baillie [Bayley] near the
Coast, while he was looking for some stray cattle, in company with
Grenham and Hilliard, two of his labourers, who ran away on the
appearance of the Indians," as Douglas wrote in his report to London.
Bayley fought stoutly and knocked two of them down, before they seized
his gun and felled him with a blow on the head.




65

FAILURE PUT TO TEACHING

Because Charles Bayley was fairly well educated, and had neither
ability nor wish to become a labourer, a school for boys, children of
the Hudson's Bay Company's servants, was started at Fort Victoria.
Young Bayley had arrived with his father who came out on the 'Tory' in
1851 to manage the Company's new Uplands Farm at Cadboro Bay.  Soon
after their arrival, Governor Douglas notified London:

"Mr. Charles Bailey [Bayley] the young man who acted as schoolmaster
for the Emigrants during the outward voyage of the 'Tory' having
conducted himself with great propriety since his arrival here and not
being particularly useful as a mere labourer, I have opened a day
school for boys, the children of the Company's labouring servants at
this place, who are now growing up in ignorance of their duties as men
and Christians."  Young Bayley conducted the school with credit to
himself.

In January, 1853, when the 'Norman Morison' reached Fort Victoria, with
Kenneth McKenzie and the personnel for Craigflower Farm, Robert Barr
and his wife came with him, to start a school.  They had been at Leeds
Industrial School, but when the school managers objected to the
headmaster and matron marrying, they resigned and took the Vancouver
Island appointment.  Here was a type of teacher that Douglas desired;
so he sent young Bayley to open a school at Nanaimo for the children of
the coal-miners, and installed Barr in the Fort School.

McKenzie was indignant: he wrote to Sir Andrew Colvile, the Governor of
the Hudson's Bay Company and of the Puget Sound Company, complaining
bitterly of the detention of his school teacher at Victoria.  "I do not
think that it is expedient to instruct Mr. Douglas to change the
arrangement which he had made, tho' I have expressed to him my regret,"
Colvile replied.  "However," he added, "some other good schoolmaster
will be sent by the first opportunity."  Sir Andrew started a search
for such a man.  It was more difficult than he had expected, but at
last he found a man named "Mr. Silver," whom he thought highly
qualified for the post.  The new teacher would be out on the next boat.
But when the vessel arrived, there was no Mr. Silver on board.  Instead
there was a letter from Sir Andrew, who said that fortunately he had
found, before it was too late, that Mr. Silver was a member of the
"Free Kirk."  Sir Andrew was doubtless a staunch supporter of the old
form of Presbyterian faith.

So the children at Craigflower had to wait until Mr. Charles Clark was
sent out.  A fine school and dwelling were erected at Maple Point, and
a bridge was constructed across Victoria Arm at that point.  The school
was highly regarded, as may be judged from John Work's letter of July
30, 1855, to Dr. William Tolmie:

"On Saturday last, McKenzie's Schoolmaster Clark had an examination of
his pupils, to which Circulars inviting attendance had been sent out to
every one about.  I did not go ... but Mr. Douglas was there with Mr.
and Mrs. Cameron and some of the Officers and many others.  Craigflower
had triumphal arches erected at both ends of the bridge leading to the
School and an elegant device put up with VR in the middle of it, and to
finish, at the hour of meeting, a Salute of twenty-one Guns fired.
(Whoever before heard of a salute being fired at the examination of a
school?)  But it seems to suit Craigflower's views.  He also finished
off with a repast to the Company of wine, cakes and other dainties.
The examination is said to have gone off well and the children to have
acquitted themselves creditably."

Old John Work was fearful that the proceedings at Craigflower would
establish a precedent and complained that already Robert Barr had
announced that he would hold an examination, and he noted that the
school was being whitewashed, and the window-frames and doors painted,
"which was never thought of before."




66

COURT STARTED IN TURMOIL

Governor James Douglas found upon taking office that in his capacity as
chief executive he was expected to be a dispenser of law.  Governor
Blanshard, who was a lawyer, had attended to all matters judicial.  He
had appointed Dr. J. S. Helmcken as a justice of the peace with
jurisdiction in the vicinity of Fort Rupert, but the doctor soon
resigned.  Douglas was a very busy man and did not have the time to
attend to all the petty squabbles and misdemeanours of the Colony.  He
therefore appointed four justices of the peace.  They formed a
"Justices' Court," where once a week they boldly adjudicated on matters
far beyond their powers.

The Justices soon gave the Governor cause for worry, and he wrote to
the Colonial Office explaining: "In consequence of a suit which was
decided in the Justices' Court, wherein damages to the amount of 2,213
dollars with costs, were awarded the Plaintiff, a crafty adventurer
named Webster, the defendants being the sons of John Muir, a poor and
industrious Freeholder belonging to the colony.  The defendants were
refused the right of appeal, and the damages were immediately levied by
order of the court."

The records of the court were so poorly kept that it was most difficult
to gain anything resembling a clear understanding of the case from them.

The high-handed manner in which the Justices of the Peace had acted, in
refusing the unfortunate Muir brothers a right to appeal, was in the
opinion of Douglas bad enough, but his indignation was increased when
one of the magistrates issued an order detaining two vessels at Sooke,
in connection with the same case.  These boats were loading cargoes of
lumber cut by the Muirs.  The Governor had to apologize to the captains
and assure them that a justice of the peace in Vancouver's Island did
not have the power and responsibility of an Admiralty Court.

While Governor Douglas was still vexed over the Webster-vs.-Muir case,
the case of Parson R. J. Staines's pigs exploded.  The fort chaplain
and schoolmaster was also a farmer and swine-fancier.  One day he
suspected that one or two of his pet pigs had been rounded up by
Emanuel Douliet, a French-Canadian settler who was also raising pigs.
Without saying anything to Douliet, Staines visited one of the justices
of the peace, who gave him an imposing court-order, authorizing him to
swear in special constables and raid the premises of Douliet.

Douliet came running to the Governor, shouting that the preacher had
stolen his pigs.  Douglas asked him why he had come to him, instead of
going to the proper authority and having Mr. Staines arrested.

"But no one she mak' arrest of the preach!" Douliet exclaimed.

The Governor replied that there was one justice of the peace who would
take any information.  He was David Cameron, who had been appointed
that day.  To him the indignant French Canadian hurried; and Staines
was duly arrested for stealing Douliet's pigs.  It was the signal for a
great outburst of indignation on the part of the settlers, especially
those who were opposed to Hudson's Bay Company rule.

Realizing that if the matter had been handled differently there would
have been no trouble, Governor Douglas declared that something must be
done to curb the assumed jurisdiction of the magistrates.  He drafted a
measure, which was approved by the Council and proclaimed.  It
established a Supreme Court for the Colony.

David Cameron, the junior Justice of the Peace, his brother-in-law, was
named by Douglas as the Chief Justice _pro tem_.  Cameron had no legal
training, but the Governor had great reliance on his common sense and
impartiality.

The Home Government approved the appointment, and the first case called
before him was that of the Rev. R. J. Staines, accused of pig-stealing.
The Grand Jury threw it out.

There was great public criticism of the appointment, and the settlers
formulated a petition, which Mr. Staines was to take to London,
protesting Cameron's appointment.  Unfortunately poor Mr. Staines lost
his life en route to England.




67

COAL CENTRE DEVELOPS

Under the active leadership of Joseph W. Mackay, the Hudson's Bay
Company's clerk in charge, the establishment at Nanaimo made rapid
progress.  Log shelters for the miners and labourers were constructed
as quickly as possible.  The structures were rude, roofed with
cedar-bark purchased from the natives, and were later replaced by
better--though still rough--houses.  Old John Muir and his band of
miners worked hard and soon proved that the field was an extensive one
of high-grade coal.

It was September 6, 1853, when Muir and his men started work, but
already Indians were raising surface coal, and with this the first
commercial cargo was made up.  Joseph Mackay, on September 9, 1853,
said: "The greater part of the 'Cadboro's' cargo was purchased with
small trade.  A few of the chiefs have retained their tickets until
they can afford to purchase blankets....  An able man can earn at the
rate of one shirt per diem."

Subsequent reports told of discovery of new coal-seams, of drilling and
sinking of test pits, and, in the summer of 1853, of the completion of
the Bastion--the octagonal blockhouse that was to protect the
community--and of the building of a water-powered sawmill on Millstone
River, close at hand.  Salt was also found in brine springs on the
banks of the same creek.  During the next ten years it was produced
there for salting fish.

The men at Nanaimo worked under constant difficulties and dangers.  The
Indians found employment about the mines, including winding the
windlasses.  The miners did not like this, not because they were
fearful of hostile action but because the natives had the habit of
dropping whatever they might be doing at the moment when they saw a
strange canoe passing.  Mackay, in asking for two more men to do the
hoisting, said, "Indians are not to be trusted as they might endanger
the lives of the men below."

There were frequent intertribal fights and killings, often within close
proximity to the white men's houses.  In May, 1853, Mackay commented:
"I was under the necessity of chasing the belligerent parties away from
the place and warned the Nanaimoes to refrain for the future from
carrying on their murderous practices near the dwellings of the
whitemen."

Securing sufficient food supplies was always a vexing problem.  In
October, 1853, Mackay reported that he had managed to get twenty
barrels of salmon, but was short of potatoes, and he added: "The
Nanaimoes do not appear to have a large stock of that vegetable.  We
have had little or no venison since the last fracas with the
Cowichans."  He asked for help from Fort Victoria, but was refused.

In the early summer of 1853 the miners, under Boyd Gilmour, were moved
from Fort Rupert.  He replaced Muir as overseer.  It was in the
following year that the 'Princess Royal' arrived at Fort Victoria with
a large party of expert coal-miners with their wives and children,
destined for Nanaimo.  They reached the coal-camp in November, and the
event has been celebrated for many years, for these fine people and
their descendants helped to build a happy and prosperous community.
They had to endure much, but they did so cheerfully and courageously.
The late Mark Bate, Sr., who arrived in 1857, in speaking of these
pioneers of '54 said:

"They told me how roughly the houses were constructed; of the dreary
look outside, and cramped space inside; how the chinks between the logs
and poles, through which the wind would blow with a shriek of triumph,
were plastered up with clay or stuffed with moss; of the interior
equipage, benches, boards and bunk-like bedsteads; of the Dutch ovens
for baking and cooking; of the drugget rush mats and rugs made in part
of dogs' hair by Indians, used as floor coverings."

The previous summer, when Gilmour and his men arrived, there were, as
the make-up of Coviletown (the original name, but hardly ever used),
four dwellings twenty-six by fifteen feet, and three thirty by twenty,
habitable, and filling pieces raised for three more thirty by twenty.
The armament of the Bastion consisted of two six-pound carronades,
which were sufficiently powerful to overawe the natives, and were
useful for firing salutes.




68

HEROISM OF DOUGLAS

Chief Tath-la-sut of the Somenos branch of the Cowichans was a proud
young warrior, who lived by the ancient code of his people.  When an
Indian was wronged by a white man, custom demanded that he revenge
himself on a man of that colour; it mattered not that he might be
innocent of that injury.  That is what happened: the chief decided that
Thomas Williams, a settler living near Quamichan, must die.

Williams, who by all accounts was a decent sort of chap, was shot
without warning.  The musket-ball tore through the upper part of his
right arm and lodged in his body.  It was a grievous wound.

Word of the shooting was sent to Governor James Douglas at Fort
Victoria.  It was a time when the whole of Washington Territory was
being torn by warfare between whites and Indians.  To show any
weakness, Douglas knew, would be to invite the horrors of similar
hostilities on Vancouver's Island.  H.M.S. 'Monarch', bearing the flag
of Admiral W. H. Bruce, and H.M.S. 'Trincomalee', Captain Wallace
Houston, were anchored at Esquimalt.  Douglas asked the Admiral to
support the civil authority, with the result that four hundred men from
the two ships were placed at his disposal.  In addition, the Victoria
Voltigeurs supplied eighteen scouts, and Douglas, as
commander-in-chief, had a personal staff of two.

The force was landed at Cowichan Bay and marched several miles up the
valley before making contact with the Indians, who had fielded about
four hundred warriors.  At first it looked as if a major battle would
be fought, for the surrender of Tath-la-sut was refused.  This was
avoided by the personal courage of the Governor, who seemed to possess
a strange power over hostile natives.  He could hold them almost
motionless while he talked to them.  He had demonstrated this years
before at Fort Fraser.  Now he walked directly towards the wanted man.
Tath-la-sut had intended to shoot the Governor at the start of general
hostilities, but the chief appeared to be transfixed by the voice of
the towering man approaching.  Then, when Douglas was only five or six
paces away, Tath-la-sut seemed to shake off the spell, and threw up his
gun to shoot.  Now two Indians, who did not wish to see their white
friend die, seized the musket.  A struggle ensued, in which Captain
Houston was knocked down, another officer was cut with a knife, and one
or two men bowled over.  But his own people handed over Tath-la-sut,
who had tried to kill Douglas.

It was characteristic of Douglas that he did not boast of his part in
the affair in reporting to the Colonial Office, September 6, 1856: "We
were successful after much trouble in securing the person of the Indian
who lately attempted to take the life of Thomas Williams, the natives
themselves having been prevailed upon to seize and deliver him into our
hands.  He was tried before a special court convened on the spot and
was found guilty of maiming with intent to murder.  He was accordingly
sentenced to be hanged and the sentence was carried into effect near
the spot where the crime was committed, in the presence of his Tribe."

In further description of the affair, Douglas remarked: "In marching
through the thickets of the Cowegin [sic] valley the Victoria
Voltigeurs were with my own personal staff, thrown well in advance of
the Seamen and marines formed in single file to scour the woods and
guard against surprise as I could not fail to bear in mind the repeated
disasters which last winter befell the American Army while marching
through the jungle against an enemy inferior in point of numbers and
spirit to the Tribes we had to encounter."

So it was that young Chief Tath-la-sut paid the penalty by the white
man's code, for having followed the ancient custom of the Coast.  He
was hanged to an oak tree still standing at the junction of the Old
Trunk Road and the Old Road to Maple Bay.




69

DOUGLAS SAVED U. S. TOWNS

Besides his titles of Governor of Vancouver's Island,
Lieutenant-Governor of Queen Charlotte Islands, and directing head of
the Hudson's Bay Company on the Coast, James Douglas might also be
called "Protector of Puget Sound."  He stood on continual guard to
prevent northern tribes, especially the fierce Vikings from Alaskan
waters, attacking the American settlements.  He also dipped deeply into
his personal funds to provide arms, munitions and supplies for the
defence of such places as Seattle, Bellingham and Port Townsend.

Indian warfare had blazed in Washington Territory almost since the
withdrawal of Hudson's Bay Company authority after the settlement of
the boundary line.  Authorities there feared that if northern tribes
made cause with those of the Territory, it would be impossible to
resist them without awful sacrifices.  So Douglas was asked to keep
watch for any movement of the Northerners.  He replied to Governor
Isaac Stevens of Washington, in January, 1855: "I will consider it a
sacred duty to inform you of any hostile movement against your
settlement among the Northern Indians."

It was in November of the same year that Acting Governor James Tilton
wrote an appeal for arms and munitions with which to defend the
country.  Replying, Governor Douglas said: "It is a cause of sincere
regret, on my part, that our means of rendering you assistance come
infinitely short of our wishes.  We are, I confess, with sorrow, badly
prepared for the exigencies of a state of warfare; there being at this
moment, only One Hundred stand of arms in this Colony; and those are in
the stores of the Hudson's Bay Company.  I have made a purchase of
fifty of these, all that can be spared, for your service, and now
forward them by Capt. Hunt, under consignment to Dr. Tolmie, who will
arrange about their delivery.  I have also secured ten barrels of
gunpowder and a supply of ball, a part of which will also now be
forwarded by the steamer 'Traveller'."  In addition to this substantial
aid, he sent the steamer 'Otter' to patrol in front of the settlements
to demonstrate to "the Native Tribes that our warmest sympathies are
enlisted in your favour."

In 1856 he sent several warning messages to Olympia; one suggested that
a wrong done a Northern Indian by a settler near Bellingham be righted,
or it might be a cause of trouble.  The following year there was a
murderous attack on Colonel Isaac N. Ebey, a prominent figure in the
territory.  It was in revenge for the killing of an Indian chief near
Port Gamble, of which Ebey was innocent.  He was killed and
decapitated.  Douglas sent Captain Charles Dodd in search of the head,
and for two years he prosecuted the quest until he was successful.

The long attack made by the Indians on Seattle in 1856, which was
repelled only with the aid of a U.S. ship-of-war, after a fight of some
nine hours, emboldened the natives.  They planned a massed attack on
Seattle, Bellingham and Port Townsend to drive the whites into the sea.
Governor Stevens had an empty treasury.  He had to arm new units to
protect these places.  Failing to buy his requirements with territorial
script, he sent an officer to see James Douglas.  It was not in vain,
for again the Governor of Vancouver's Island dug deeply into his
pocket, and provided blankets, and coffee, and gun-powder and shot, and
other things that Stevens's Commissary Officer wanted.

Previously he had provided aid to American settlers along the Strait of
Juan de Fuca.  The strain was becoming heavy.  He was now more than
$7,000 out of pocket.  Months went by and there was no suggestion of
repayment.  He wrote to London about it, telling Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton: "This is not, however, the first instance in which I have
suffered in consequence of relieving the distress of United States
citizens."

It was not until the British Government, through the ministry at
Washington, took the matter up with President Buchanan, that Douglas
was repaid.  Even then he said that settlement had not been made in
full.




70

HOUSE STARTS WITH CRISIS

The Right Honourable Henry Labouchere, Colonial Secretary, on February
28, 1856, instructed Governor James Douglas, of Vancouver's Island, to
set up an elective House of Assembly.  He emphasized that settlers must
have a voice in government.  "It has been doubted," he said, "by
authorities conversant in the principles of colonial law, whether the
Crown can legally convey authority to make laws in a settlement founded
by Englishmen, even for a temporary and special purpose, to any
legislature not elected wholly, or in part, by the settlers themselves."

Governor Douglas was startled.  He was not sufficiently informed upon
the fundamental principles required in setting in operation the
evolutionary processes of democratic institutions, he believed.  He
expressed his temerity in a letter to Labouchere, May 22: "It is, I
confess, not without a feeling of dismay that I contemplate the nature
and amount of labour and responsibility which will be imposed upon me,
in the process of carrying out the instructions conveyed in your
despatch."

Douglas and the Legislative Council after careful study finally
announced, by proclamation, a form of government that was considered to
be suitable to the Colony.  Despite the fact that there were only about
forty electors--qualifying by ownership of land worth twenty pounds
sterling--it was decided to retain the appointed Council as an Upper
Chamber and create an Assembly composed of seven members, who must each
possess property qualifications valued at 300.  Distribution of seats
was: Sooke District, one; Victoria District, three; Esquimalt District,
two; and Nanaimo District, one.  Writs were to be returned on August 4.

The first election, which was hotly contested in Victoria and
Esquimalt, resulted in the selection of: Sooke, John Muir; Esquimalt,
Dr. J. S. Helmcken and Thomas Skinner; Victoria District, J. D.
Pemberton, James Yates and E. E. Langford; Nanaimo, Dr. J. F. Kennedy.
The House commenced its active life with a political crisis.  Douglas
wrote to London, telling about it:

"The House immediately proceeded to business, and elected J. S.
Helmcken as speaker but their further proceedings were arrested at that
stage, in consequence of petitions which were sent in, against the
validity of the election of one member, and the property qualification
of two other members, so that the Speaker with three members, were
alone at liberty to act, and that number was insufficient to form a
Committee of enquiry, the House was therefore adjourned until measures
could be taken to remove the difficulty."

Governor Douglas would not interfere, leaving it to the House to work
itself out of the constitutional tangle in which it found itself.

"After repeated adjournments, and much loss of time, the Speaker
ultimately succeeded, without my aid, in adjusting party differences,
and forming a committee which immediately proceeded to enquire into the
qualifications, and declared the return of E. E. Langford, null and
void, in consequence of his not having sufficient property to
constitute a legal qualification.  An adjournment then took place to
the 24th day of October.

"A fresh writ was in consequence issued and Joseph William McKay was
returned as member, for the district of Victoria, in place of Edward E.
Langford."

Douglas was not displeased at the political mixup: he thought it would
be beneficial to the members.  He explained why, in the letter
(December 16, to the Company).  He said: "These delays were not without
their use as the members had time to prepare for the proper discharge
of the responsible duties they have to perform, and their minds were
disabused of many false notions which were commonly entertained here
concerning the acts of the Hudson's Bay Company, as well as the powers
and jurisdiction of the House of Assembly."

The House of Assembly passed a budget of 130, and during the first
session discussed topics that are still on the agenda--liquor and roads.




71

WILD RUSH TO FRASER RIVER

Discovery of gold near the mouth of the Pend d'Oreille River, on the
British side of the border, in March of 1856 started a search for the
precious metal elsewhere on the mainland of what is now British
Columbia.  Prospectors, facing the dangers of an unknown country, and
the uncertainty of native hostility, managed to get to Fort Kamloops,
and working from that place found pay dirt on Tranquille Creek, and on
other streams entering Thompson River.  Governor James Douglas, of
Vancouver's Island, always fearful of exciting a general Indian war,
reported the situation to Henry Labouchere, Colonial Secretary, under
date of July 15, 1857:

"It is however certain that gold has been found in many places by
washing the soil of the river beds and also of the mountain sides....
A new element of difficulty in exploring the gold country has been
interposed through the opposition of the native Indian tribes of
Thompson's River, who have lately taken the high-handed, though
probably not unwise course, of expelling all the parties of gold
diggers, composed chiefly of persons from the American territories, who
have forced an entrance into their country."  Douglas added that the
Indians were not only actuated by a desire to work the gold-bearing
bars themselves, but by a fear that the whites would alarm the salmon,
the staple food of the Indians.

Douglas forbade Hudson's Bay Company employees to engage in
gold-digging without the "full approbation and consent" of the natives.
But he could not prevent the American adventurers from spreading the
word of profitable fields in the interior of the British domain amongst
their friends.  Washington and Oregon communities responded to these
rumours, and when gold was located on the lower Fraser a wild stampede
took form.

On December 29, 1857, Douglas reported to the Imperial Government: "The
reputed wealth of the Couteau mines is causing much excitement among
the population of the United States territories of Washington and
Oregon, and I have no doubt that a great number of people from those
territories will be attracted thither with the return of fine weather
in spring."  About the same time he sent several hundred ounces of
gold, which the Hudson's Bay Company had traded with the natives and
miners, to San Francisco.

Douglas--without authority, for the gold-strikes were outside his
jurisdiction as Governor of Vancouver's Island issued a proclamation
declaring the gold to be the property of the Crown, to be worked only
by permission.  He also published regulations, and the manner of
licensing miners.

The resulting stampede was greater than Douglas feared.  The news,
supplemented by his formal proclamation, took California by storm.  Old
steamers and ships, rotting at their mooring since the heyday of the
rush to the Golden State nearly ten years before, were patched and
repaired and outfitted to carry gold-mad adventurers to the new
Eldorado.  Along Puget Sound men were quitting their farms and their
mills to make their way across the border as best they could.  Whatcom
and Sehome, on Bellingham Bay, and Port Townsend became outfitting
centres; everyone was excited.  But in Victoria, life went on
prosaically until April 25, 1858, when the steamer 'Commodore' arrived
with four hundred and fifty passengers bound for the placer-workings.
Victorians rubbed their eyes, as ship after ship followed.  The fields
about the fort were dotted with tents and bark shelters.  In four
months it was estimated that more than 20,000 individuals landed at
Victoria, which had but three or four hundred inhabitants when the rush
started.  An additional 13,000 entered British territory from Puget
Sound and by other routes.

They were a motley lot.  Men of all creeds and classes and conditions
of society crowded together, among them parasitical types who came to
prey on the honest miners and merchants and the decent, hard-working
men, who formed the bulk of the invaders, who had plunged headlong into
an unknown wilderness at the sound of the magic word--"Gold!"




72

MINERS BUILD ROAD

The flood of miners rolled up the Fraser Valley.  They travelled in all
manner of craft, canoes, rafts, row-boats--anything that would
float--or struggled overland from Washington Territory.  Many lost
their lives through hardships or storm or fell victim to the cupidity
of merciless savages in the early weeks of the Gold Rush Year of 1858.

Governor James Douglas, of Vancouver's Island, was alarmed.  He
remembered that Americans had flocked to old Oregon and had then set up
an independent form of government to be turned over to Washington; he
recalled how he had frustrated a plot, of a similar character, to take
the Queen Charlotte Islands, and how he had made every miner there
acknowledge British sovereignty by buying a licence in the name of the
Queen.  He wished to make everyone who went up the Fraser River pay
tribute to the British Crown in a similar manner; so he demanded that a
licence to mine be purchased by every person.  But it might be argued
that he had no authority on the Mainland to act for the Crown.  If this
was true, he could achieve the same end by making the immigrants pay a
head-tax to the Hudson's Bay Company, as proprietors of the trade of
the country by Royal licence.  So Douglas proceeded to have the two
imposts collected, and placed guard vessels at the Sandheads to enforce
payment.

The bearded, red-shirted miners, having passed the taxation barrier at
the river mouth, stopped at Fort Langley to seek information and get
what supplies they could obtain from the store; then they went on,
hurrying, toiling at oars or canoes to get higher and higher up the
stream.  They stopped where river-bars had been formed, to pan for
gold, and having tested the sands pursued their way, confident that
tiny specks of yellow metal there would indicate coarser grains higher
up the river.  In this they were right.  Treasure in workable quantity
was encountered below Fort Hope, and on bars up to Fort
Yale--dangerous, eddying, swirling waters.  At Hill's Bar, opposite and
below Fort Yale, "rich pay" was discovered.  They milled about Fort
Yale, waiting for the river to go down, and then pushed up through the
canyons, where the river tossed and foamed between rock walls, working
every bar and flat.  The Indians objected; there was a short, sharp,
vicious war fought between white and red men along that turbulent
stretch of the river between Fort Yale and the Forks, where the Fraser
and Thompson met.  Many died--how many will never be known.  But the
trouble was soon settled, and on and on the adventurous men pushed.

Douglas was worried.  He knew that if these daring men who had
penetrated so far inland were caught by winter, they would starve to
death.  They must be saved!  He had no authority to act for the Crown,
nor had he funds with which to build roads.  But he took charge and
adopted a bold stratagem.  He enlisted 500 men to work without pay in
building a freight road from the head of Harrison Lake to Lillooet.  He
induced them each to deposit twenty-five dollars to ensure good conduct
while working without remuneration.  This money was to be returned when
the work was completed--in supplies.  In the meantime the deposits
provided the funds for the work.

The road-builders started in July, and by November 14 freight was being
unloaded at Lillooet on the Fraser.  In that time 108 miles of road had
been built, more than one hundred bridges and culverts had been
constructed, and three water-portages had been established on Lillooet,
Anderson, and Seaton Lakes.  Incidently, by means of a toll on freight,
the entire cost was liquidated by the following spring.

Steamboats now began to operate on the Fraser, some to Fort Hope, and
then to Fort Yale, while other trips were made into the Harrison and to
Port Douglas, at the head of Harrison Lake, from which the road
started.  With the opening of navigation to Yale, a mule trail was
projected through the canyons.  By fall, however, many decided to go
south, rather than face the winter; others were disappointed at ill
success, and gradually the mining population declined.  But in six
months the bars of the Fraser produced $750,000 in gold, which was more
than California yielded in the first half-year of that field.




73

ENGINEERS & MARINES HELP

The unrestrained influx of thousands of gold-seekers to the Fraser
River in the spring of 1858 so alarmed Governor Douglas that he wrote
to Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, then Colonial Secretary: "If the country
be thrown open to indiscriminate immigration the interests of the
Empire may suffer from the introduction of a foreign population, whose
sympathies may be decidedly anti-British."  Continuing, he said he
"would recommend that a small naval or military force should be placed
at the disposal of this Government, to enable us to maintain peace, and
to enforce obedience to the laws."

In asking such a force for Vancouver's Island, Douglas was
contemplating administration of the Mainland from there.  He did not
know that plans were formulating in London for a new colony.

But his request for a peace-enforcing body was responded to by Lytton's
message of July 1 that the Admiralty had instructed that "the officers
commanding Her Majesty's Vessels at Vancouver's Island will be directed
to give you all the support in their power, and to render their crews,
and more especially the Marines, serviceable, as far as circumstances
will allow, if the Civil Government should require a force to maintain
order among the adventurers resorting to the Gold Fields."

A month later (July 30) Sir Edward supplemented this promise of aid
with a letter saying, "Her Majesty's Government propose sending to
British Columbia, by earliest opportunity, an officer of Royal
Engineers (probably a Field Officer), with two or three subalterns, and
a company of Sappers and Miners, made up of 150 men, non-commissioned
officers and men."  But this was not the only force ordered to the
Pacific Coast, for the Admiralty commanded H.M.S. 'Tribune' to pick up
160 supernumerary marines at Hong Kong and take them to Esquimalt.
They arrived on February 13, 1859.

The Imperial Government, recognizing the urgency of the situation,
decided that a separate colonial government was necessary for the
Mainland and introduced legislation authorizing a new Crown Colony.
Queen Victoria, personally, named it "British Columbia."

In launching government, under the circumstances incidental to a wild
gold-stampede in a country inhabited by untamed and warlike natives, it
was necessary to have an outstanding and fearless man.  Such was at
hand, in the person of James Douglas, and no other was considered.
Lytton wrote offering him the post, and allowing him to retain the
governorship of the Island, but insisting that he must sever all
connection with the Hudson's Bay Company.  So it was that the boy of
fifteen who had come out to the Canadian wilds forty years before rose
to a place of double confidence under the Crown.

Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton busied himself in setting up the framework for
the new government.  He announced that Colonel R. C. Moody would be
Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, in addition to commanding the
Royal Engineers; Matthew Baillie Begbie, a lawyer, was appointed
Supreme Court Justice; Wymond O. Hamley was to be in charge of customs;
and a police force was to be formed under Chartres Brew, as Inspector.

In addition to Colonel Moody, the Engineers were officered by Captain
J. M. Grant, noted for his constructive ability; Captain R. M. Parsons,
recognized for his mastery over scientific phases of engineering;
Captain H. R. Luard, to handle strictly military functions, and
Lieutenants A. R. Lemprire and H. S. Palmer, with J. V. Seddall as
surgeon.

The Royal Engineers came in three sections; the first, under Captain
Parsons, with twenty men, arrived via Panama on October 29; the second,
commanded by Captain Grant, of twelve men arrived November 8; the main
party, via the clipper ship 'Thames City', under Captain Luard, reached
Esquimalt on April 12, 1859.  Colonel Moody arrived at Victoria in time
for Christmas dinner, on December 25, 1858.  He also had come via
Panama.




74

NEW COLONY IS BORN

James Douglas, while waiting for the arrival of his commission as
Governor of British Columbia, was active.  He planned to advance the
organization of public affairs as far as possible: to have everything
in readiness for the great inaugural ceremony.  He appointed several
minor officials and instructed that townsites be laid out at Forts
Yale, Hope and Langley.  He gave particular thought to the last-named:
a site was there where civilization on the Coast had started and where
he hoped to see a great commercial city arise.

Some enterprising speculators in Victoria held a similar view.  They
squatted on the land and had it surveyed, announcing that the "city"
would be called "Derby."  Douglas was wrathful: he vented his anger in
a very practical way.  He seized the property and the survey for the
Crown.  Here work was started, building barracks for the Engineers, a
court house, jail, and other public buildings.  Captain Grant, of the
Royal Engineers, did not like the location, and so declared in a report
prior to the arrival of his superior, Colonel Moody, who confirmed
Grant's view later and selected the site of New Westminster as a
colonial capital.  Douglas's idea was that Derby would make a good
business community.

The towering, black-bearded young lawyer, Begbie, arrived at Victoria
on November 15, to be told that he must leave the next day with
Douglas, Admiral Baynes, Vancouver's Island's Chief Justice Cameron,
and others, to participate in the inauguration of the Colony at Fort
Langley four days later.

November 19 was a cold, wet, miserable day.  Rain dripped from leaden
skies; the "HBCo"-marked Red Ensign hung soddenly from the flagpole;
puddles formed in the fort square, and footsteps were marked in deep
mud.  It had been intended a gala affair would be held in front of the
log buildings of Fort Langley, with fluttering flags, and fanfares, and
uniformed Royal Engineers acting as a guard of honour.  But the chill
and wet of the day drove all within doors.  There, in the great room of
"the Big House"--as the officers' quarters were called--as many as
possible crowded together to witness the birth of British Columbia.

Governor Douglas, in his capacity as Queen's representative on
Vancouver's Island, administered the oath of office to Begbie.  The
commission appointing Douglas as Governor of the Crown Colony of
British Columbia, created in conformity with Act of Parliament, was
read, and then, as the first official act of "Mr. Justice Begbie," the
head of British Columbia's courts swore in James Douglas as Governor.
There were one or two other officials installed in office.  Then three
proclamations were read: one of them indemnified those who had been
conducting affairs prior to that day on the Mainland; British Law was
proclaimed as the law of the Colony; and the other ended all special
privileges of the Hudson's Bay Company.

It was a most important day.  That ceremony in the close, steaming
room, in the old log-building behind the pickets of Fort Langley, saw
the rule of the old fur-company give way to that of the Crown, and all
the time-tested laws of Great Britain to that very moment become the
right and heritage of those who then resided or who would in future
come to the Colony.  It was fitting, too, that these rights and
liberties should be announced at Fort Langley, for it was in the first
post of that name in 1827 that civilization had gained permanent
foothold in the savage wilderness of the Pacific Coast.

On the river, in front of the fort, the old pioneer steamer 'Beaver'
greeted the birth of the Colony with her guns.  It was in her
engine-room that day that a mace was cut from thin metal, when it was
found that no emblem of authority for Government had been provided.
With a pair of tin shears an engineer clipped out an arrow-shaped
"mace" about a foot in length, and it served as effectively as an
ornate and costly symbol.




75

RUSH CHANGES ISLAND

While British Columbia was emerging as a Crown Colony, as a result of
the gold rush to the Fraser River, Vancouver's Island--and especially
Victoria and vicinity--was being transformed.  The sleepy little
community that clustered about the fort pickets had become a bustling,
noisy town of several thousands.

The spring and summer of 1858 had witnessed muddy trails take shape as
equally muddy streets, lined with shacks, and wooden stores, and wood
and brick hotels with their saloons.  Towne & Company brought a press
and type from San Francisco and started a well-edited paper, the
Victoria _Gazette_.  A French-language paper, _Le Courier_, appeared
briefly.  It was later in the year that the _British Colonist_ was
started by an eccentric Nova Scotian named Smith, who had had his name
changed by legislative action in the United States to Amor de Cosmos.
He was a demagogue, who was to write a large part of the country's
history in the next thirty-five years.

Traders of all kinds bartered their wares; speculators talked and urged
investment and purchase in all sorts of schemes and commodities; and
builders found plenty to do in pushing up the boom-town, despite the
jump in lumber prices from fifteen dollars to one hundred and fifty
dollars per thousand feet.

"Land speculation is going on at a great rate at Victoria," R. C. Mayne
of H.M.S. 'Plumper' wrote in his journal.  "The number of diggers,
emigrants and land speculators that have arrived since we left in March
is wonderful and indeed the change which has come over the face of the
Island is quite surprising."  He wrote on June 19, "The five acre lots
here [Esquimalt] which were bought for 5 are now worth nearly as many
hundreds.  Crittle, a labourer here, got 63 for one acre of his the
other day, and yesterday McDonald sold sixteen acres for which he had
paid 16 for $2,000 or about 416.13."

Mayne, who later wrote a book about the colonies, described the arrival
of the British party that was to engage in a joint survey of the
demarcation of the international boundary.  They reached Esquimalt on
July 12, the party including "Major Hawkins, R.E.; Capt. Haig, R.A.
(astronomer); Lieut. Darrah, R.E. (Assist. Astronomer); Lieut. Wilson,
R.E. (Secretary and in charge of troops); Mr. Lord (naturalist) and Mr.
Bannerman (geologist), and fifty-five sappers and miners."  The sailor
was astounded at the amount of baggage carried by these military men.
He noted that they had, in their medical stores, eight pounds of
quinine, and he exclaimed, "this ship's allowance for five years being
two ounces!"

A police force was formed under A. F. Pemberton, as commissioner, and
had to handle a hard set of men, some of whom were wanted by the
Vigilantes of California.  Robberies, fights and even murders occurred.
On one occasion it was necessary to call for naval aid to support the
police.  Mayne tells of it in his journal:

"July 29, 1858--We had a false alarm this evening which ended
gloriously in a bottle and supper barring the bottle.  About half past
seven, Bedwell came riding down from the Fort to say there was a row
and that the Governor wanted an armed force: we immediately got steam
up, took the sappers on board and went round.  When we got there and
landed we found all quiet and the Governor just going to bed.  He was
however 'unearthed' and we took one unfortunate wretch prisoner and
then had supper in the Fort, Mr. Douglas presiding.  The next morning
the ship was brought inside the harbour and moored to the HBC wharf to
show the rowdies that we were ready for them."

Rowdyism was encouraged by the Honourable John Nugent, special
representative of President Buchanan, who came to report on the two
Colonies.  He demanded full ambassadorial privileges, and when Douglas,
courteously, but firmly, refused to enter into personal correspondence
with him, Nugent became extremely insulting.  He issued a proclamation
to Americans residing in the Colonies promising them the protection of
the United States against the "injustices" that Douglas was heaping
upon them.  One such injustice was a refusal to permit American lawyers
to practise in colonial courts.

=======================================================================

[Illustration: _Sir James Douglas_]

"_He was the servant of the Crown, holding office to administer the
Colony in its best interest and to establish law and order and Queen's
justice in an unruly realm.  He lived the part, and retired respected
and honoured by the community.  It is not given to many to achieve as
much._"

  _A. S. Morton,
  History of the Canadian West._

=======================================================================

[Illustration: Yates Street, 1860; The Parliament Buildings, 1898]

_1 Yates Street, Victoria, about 1860.  On this block was the famous
tobacco store of G. Sutro and Macdonald's Bank.  The Bank's failure
following a robbery in 1864, contributed to a depression which led to
the union of the two colonies_

_2 The Parliament Buildings at Victoria, about 1898.  The original
Buildings built by James Douglas in 1859, appear in the foreground of
this picture.  They were later torn down_

=======================================================================

[Illustration: _Amor de Cosmos, John Muir_]

_Amor de Cosmos was the editor of the 'British Colonist' and an ardent
supporter of union with Canada.  He became Premier of the Province in
1872_

_John Muir became in 1849, the first superintendent of the coal-mines
at Nanaimo.  He later settled on the estate of the unfortunate Captain
Grant_

=======================================================================




76

TWO JUSTICES, NO PEACE

"Captain" P. B. Whannell, magistrate at Yale, assumed his rank and an
exaggerated idea of his importance; George Perrier, corresponding
official at Hill's Bar, was just as conscious of his dignity and power
as was "his brother of the bench" at Yale.  When these two judicial
popinjays disputed their respective jurisdictions, the army was called
out, and the Colony of British Columbia was almost bankrupted.

Following a Christmas Day fight, Whannell issued a general warrant for
two men who had beaten a negro named Dixon, and locked up Dixon as a
material witness.  The two men, Burns and Farrell, were arrested a day
or two later at Hill's Bar and were brought before Magistrate Perrier.
It was just before the New Year of 1859 and cold, but Perrier was
anxious to keep the wheels of justice moving.  He sent his constable,
Hickson, to ask "Judge" Whannell to release Dixon so that he could
proceed with the case.

Instead of agreeing to Perrier's request, Whannell put Hickson the
constable in jail on a charge of contempt of the Yale court, and of its
Magnificent Magistrate.  When proud Perrier heard of this he was angry.
He swore in a dozen special police, headed by Ned McGowan--a notorious
character from California who had at one time been the object of search
by the Vigilante Committee of that State--and sent them to Yale with
instructions to release Hickson and arrest Whannell for insulting the
Hill's Bar temple of justice.  The objectives were effected by Ned and
his men, and Whannell was fined twenty-five dollars to teach him
manners.

Considerable excitement followed and letters were sent off telling of
the events that had happened.  The most lurid letter, naturally, went
from Magistrate Whannell to Captain Grant of the Royal Engineers, at
Derby, calling for military protection.

It was early January, several days after Grant had received the call,
when the steamer 'Beaver' arrived with Colonel R. C. Moody, R.E., and
Mr. Justice Begbie.  The Supreme Court judge later wrote:

"The reputation of Edward McGowan, a citizen of United States named in
such letter as a leader of the alleged outrages, being very notorious I
agreed with the Lieut. Gov. [Moody] that as a military commander thus
summoned by a magistrate ... there could be but one course to follow,
viz., to proceed to the scene of action."

Having obtained the best legal advice available, Colonel Moody, with
twenty-four Royal Engineers, a force of special police under Inspector
Chartres Brew, and the Judge, boarded the steamer 'Enterprise' and
started up the river.  In the meantime, Governor Douglas, at Victoria,
had heard of the "war" started by McGowan (who got all the blame in
public reports) and requisitioned aid from the navy.  One hundred
bluejackets and marines from H.M.S. 'Satellite' were placed on H.M.S.
'Plumper' under Lieutenant Gooch.  The 'Plumper' hurried as fast she
could across the Gulf and up the river, but was unable to travel
up-stream rapidly.  Gooch sent Lieutenant Mayne ahead by canoe.  In the
meantime the 'Enterprise' had been stuck for some time in the ice,
above Harrison River, but at last managed to get as far as Fort Hope.
Here, upon learning that all seemed to be quiet at Yale, the soldiers
were left; Colonel Moody and Judge Begbie went on ahead.

It was Sunday when they were at Yale, having arrived the previous
night, and Moody held divine service there, which some forty miners
attended.  The next day, an investigation was made.  Judge Begbie
concluded that neither magistrate was fitted for his office, and he
suspended Perrier.  McGowan--who in his variegated past had once been
on the bench--defended himself with ability.  He had but carried out
the orders of the court.

Meanwhile Lieutenant Gooch and his naval reinforcements had reached
Hope.  When Ned McGowan again caused a disturbance by assaulting a man,
the Engineers and Marine were ordered to Yale.  Their presence
demonstrated that the authorities meant to maintain law and order.
McGowan was fined for the assault.

The cost of the affair, Douglas complained, had almost ruined the
Colony's finances.




77

MOODY SELECTS SITE

Colonel R. C. Moody, supporting the opinion previously given to
Governor Douglas by Captain J. M. Grant of the unsuitability of Derby
as the place for the principal town of British Columbia, declared that
from a military standpoint it was indefensible against attack,
especially from the United States.  Moody selected the high ground on
the opposite side of the river, where the Fraser divided into the main
river and North Arm.  With this choice, though not without reluctance,
Douglas agreed.

It was a most difficult terrain to clear for a town, being covered with
a tangle of small growth over heavy windfalls, vines and big trees.
Here, however, work was started, and a camp for the sappers and miners
was constructed, giving to the location the name of "Sapperton."  When
the streets had been surveyed and mapped a sale of town lots was
advertised.  This was held by auction and realized 18,877.  Persons
who had bought Derby lots were permitted to transfer their investment.
This resulted in the utter collapse of Douglas's dream city.

Selim Franklin, the auctioneer, announced at the sale that the proceeds
would be used to clear and grade the streets, and he added, on
information from Colonel Moody, that this would be done without loss of
time.  It was not possible to fulfil this promise, perhaps because of
the American seizure of San Juan Island, which reduced his effective
working force by about half, as the Royal Marines attached to his Royal
Engineers were withdrawn to be ready if a clash ensued.

Not much credit has been given to the 139 Royal Marines who worked at
New Westminster for about five months.  Admiral R. L. Baynes, however,
in a letter to the Admiralty, championing them, said:

"To make the subject clear ... I beg to state that on the detachment
arriving on the 13th February at Esquimalt, Vancouver's Island, in the
'Tribune', 139 officers and men were sent to British Columbia and
placed under Colonel Moody, Royal Engineers, and twenty-five officers
and men remained at Esquimalt and Victoria.

"The former party were in British Columbia until the beginning of
August of that year, when the Governor previously to my arrival,
ordered them down to San Juan.  During that time the men were employed
under Colonel Moody in clearing the site for New Westminster, making
roads and in heavy and laborious work."

At first Moody intended to name the Colonial Capital "Queen's Borough,"
but Victorians thought that this would detract from the pride that was
theirs as being the only place named for the Queen.  It was suggested
that "Queensborough"--honouring all queens--would be preferable.  The
argument was finally settled by Queen Victoria herself, who named it
"New Westminster": hence it is often designated as "The Royal City" in
remembrance of her gracious attention.

There were more lots to be sold.  Selim Franklin arranged for a new
auction in the spring of 1860, but he could not proceed.  An indignant
crowd blamed him for the streets not having been cleared.  On May 2,
however, they permitted Edgar Dewdney to hold a successful sale, when
he disposed of land to the value of 5,350.

Shortly after this, Governor Douglas, who lived on the Island, visited
New Westminster.  The residents approached him with the request that
the community be incorporated.  This suited the Governor, for it meant
that they would plan and pay for their own improvements.  So, on July
16, 1860, New Westminster was granted self-government, becoming the
senior municipality of the Colony, although there was a temporary town
council at Yale a month before the New Westminster council.

Strange as it may seem, Colonel Moody wanted to run for the council,
but was reproved by Douglas who pointed out that it would not be
compatible with his office of Commissioner of Lands and Works, or with
his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor, to seek election.




78

SAN JUAN INVASION

Various reasons have been advanced from time to time for the invasion
in 1859 of the Island of San Juan by a force commanded by Captain
George Pickett, Ninth Infantry, U.S. Army, on orders from
Brigadier-General W. S. Harney, of the Oregon Military District.  A
popular story is that the incident of the shooting of Charlie Griffin's
pig, by Lyman Cutler, an American settler, led to a difference over
judicial jurisdiction, terminating in the seizure of the Island.
Another story is that both Harney and Pickett were Southerners, and
sought to embroil the Republic in a war with Canada to head off the
impending Civil War.  Pickett later achieved fame as a general for the
South in that internecine conflict.  Whatever the cause at that time,
there is no doubt that it came perilously close to war.

The boundary treaty of 1846 had stated that the boundary should consist
of the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to tidewater.  It was
then to follow the main channel to the middle of the Strait of Juan de
Fuca, from where it was to continue to the sea.  The treaty did not
stipulate which of three channels was intended.  By one interpretation
San Juan and other desirable islands were in British territory, and by
another, in the United States.  As early as 1853 United States
authorities sought to claim them, and in 1855 Sheriff Elias Barnes of
Whatcom County seized thirty-four sheep belonging to the Hudson's Bay
Company, in lieu of Washington territorial taxes.  There had been
groundwork of suspicion and distrust laid for the subsequent flare-up.

General Harney paid a visit to Victoria early in July, 1859.  It so
happened that fourteen U.S. nationals on the Island celebrated the
"Glorious Fourth," and left the Stars and Stripes flying at the top of
a tall staff they had erected for the occasion.  General Harney,
returning to Olympia, saw the flag and landed.  The patriotic settlers
told him that they were afraid of raids by northern Indians, and also
that they wished protection from British impositions.  The story of the
pig was told with all possible ornamentation.

General Harney mulled over this information for some time.  He ordered
Captain Pickett with Company D to land and give protection to United
States citizens.  The landing was made on July 27.  When word of it
reached Victoria, Governor Douglas prepared to repel the Americans; he
ordered H.M.S. 'Tribune', Captain G. P. Hornby, to make a landing, and
ordered H.M.S. 'Satellite' to bring up the Royal Marines quartered at
New Westminster.  Hornby was a cool-headed and cautious man, who did
not wish to start a major war.  He anchored off San Juan, but made no
landing.

Victoria was in a fever of excitement; the House of Assembly rattled
the sabre and demanded action, but Douglas was cooling down as a result
of Captain Hornby's quiet attitude.  Then, luckily for peace, Admiral
R. L. Baynes, a wise and careful Scot, arrived on his flagship.  He
ridiculed the idea of two great powers fighting over a small island.

Washington was much aghast at the news of Harney's conquest.  The
Secretary of State hastened to assure Lord Lyons, British Minister,
that the General's despatch had been read by the President, both with
surprise and regret.  General Winfield Scott, commander-in-chief,
hastened to Puget Sound He opened talks with Governor Douglas and
suggested joint occupancy.  Douglas replied that he had no instructions
from England.

After a period of friendly discussions, it was at last arranged that
both nations would keep token forces on San Juan until the matter of
the sovereignty of the Island was decided by the Governments concerned.
Pickett was withdrawn, and a more temperate officer, Captain Hunt,
replaced him.  A force of eighty marines and officers, under Captain
George Bazalgette, landed to establish the British camp on March 20,
1860.  The marines remained there until November 25, 1872, when the
German Emperor, as arbiter of the dispute over the boundary, gave the
island to the United States.




79

FIRST LEGISLATIVE BUILDINGS

When the Imperial Government reviewed the first ten years of the
management of Vancouver's Island by the Hudson's Bay Company, it was
decided that the Crown should repossess the Colony, as provided in the
experimental arrangement between the Government and Company in 1849.
The rule of the Company ended in 1859, but it took some years to settle
financial matters between them and to determine land holdings.

There had been popular outcry, since the beginning of the colony--and
usually without cause--against the dominant position of the Company.
Now it was expected that a Utopian state would result from the
administrative change.  As months passed without the land-title
situation being amended, Amor de Cosmos penned vitriolic editorials in
the British Colonist laying the blame for the delay at the doorstep of
Governor Douglas.  He charged that Douglas was the head of a "Family
Compact" that was running the Colony for its own purposes.

Douglas, despite the abuse heaped upon him, never deigned to answer the
accusations.  Later de Cosmos was to find that all the time he had been
blasting the Governor for allegedly favouring the Company, Douglas had
been battling to obtain as much as possible for the public.

When Douglas retired as Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, he
was succeeded in control of the Company's affairs on the Pacific Coast
by A. G. Dallas, a young and capable Scot, sent out from London.  He
had not been long in the country when he married one of Douglas's
charming daughters but this relationship did not give an advantage to
either man in business dealings.  Douglas sought to obtain all he could
for the Colony; Dallas, to protect the interests of the Hudson's Bay
Company.

When Victoria jumped overnight from a humdrum fur-trading post to a
hustling, bustling, gold-rush centre, government offices were largely
housed within the fort.  The Governor realized that administrative
requirements demanded proper accommodation.  The first Governor,
Blanshard, had occupied land now covered by the modern post office at
Yates and Government Streets.  This had been reserved for governmental
use.  Douglas had plans prepared for legislative buildings on the site,
but further study convinced him that the area was too restricted to
permit expansion in the future.

The Government owned ten acres on the south shore of James Bay.  This
Douglas thought would be an ideal site, for which he had new plans
prepared for the legislative and administrative offices required.  The
buildings were of brick and wood design, with pagoda-like roofs, and
became vulgarly known in after years as "The Birdcages."  With these
plans completed, he decided to raise finances for construction by
selling the Government Street lands.  They were surveyed into lots and
were advertised for sale by auction.

At this juncture Dallas informed the Governor that he could not sell
the property, for he could not deliver title.  While it was true, he
admitted, that the Government itself could continue to occupy them, no
conveyance had been made by the Hudson's Bay Company.  Douglas answered
that the sale must go on: it had been advertised and the honour of the
Crown was pledged to carry it out.  He argued that the Company could
not dispose of the land as it was reserved for use by the Government.
He finally offered to quitclaim the Government right if the Company
would issue proper conveyance to the purchasers.  Dallas thought he had
cornered the older man.

The auction went off as advertised.  It brought in roughly $27,500.
With this money Douglas started to build.  First he constructed a
bridge joining Government Street and Birdcage Walk, then the public
buildings.  They were nearly completed, when one day Dallas asked the
Governor when the Company might expect payment of the money for the
up-town lots.  "Never," was the reply, and Douglas went on to explain
that by giving the quitclaim to the area, the Government considered it
had liquidated all liability.  So it was that the first, ornate
legislative buildings cost the Colony nothing in cash.




80

HELPED TO START ALBERNI

William E. Banfield was a very early settler on the coast.  He first
came to Vancouver's Island as a member of the crew of H.M.S.
'Constance' in 1846, and took his discharge there three years later to
start trading with the natives on the West Coast.  He learned their
languages and came to know their customs.  He was subsequently named
Indian Agent by Governor Douglas.  Today he is so far forgotten that
his name has been corrupted to "Bamfield" where it was originally
applied out of respect for him.

Always willing to aid in the development of the Coast, he was of great
assistance in establishing the first industrial settlement at Alberni.
Captain Edward Stamp, who had engaged in shipping spars from Puget
Sound to England for British interests, in 1860 procured a large grant
at the head of Alberni Canal for lumbering.  He and his English backers
planned a large sawmill.

Banfield, in reporting the arrival of the first group of nine men,
wrote the Colonial Secretary from his home at Ohiat, July 3, 1860: "I
accompanied the party up the Canal to make everything go as smooth as
possible between them and the natives."  For their guidance he wrote
out a set of rules in their dealings with the Indians.  "The natives
have also promised not to annoy them, but Sir, I shall visit them at
short intervals and use my influence with either party should any
dispute take place."

His code of conduct included: interdiction on the sale of intoxicants;
avoidance of "any foolish sky-larking"; strict respect for native
customs, and "no indiscreet use of firearms."  Any real or fancied
annoyances, he insisted, should be reported to him.

Less than a week elapsed before there was such a report.  The settlers
were alarmed at the presence of Indians, and asked him to come to
protect them.  He found that the Indians were in good humour, but
inquisitive.  The whites, not understanding the native curiosity, were
preparing to leave.

"I entreated them to stop," he told the Government: "that there was no
danger, and that I would leave my place at Ohiat and remain with them,
consequently I have judged it best to remove to Somass....  I feel that
it is of vital importance that the first settlement in these localities
shall be rendered as little objectionable as possible until the people
get accustomed to such wild modes of life."

On September 6 he was able to report that Stamp and Gilbert Malcolm
Sproat had landed five days before with "twelve mechanics, oxen and
merchandise ... and on the following day proceeded to make a treaty
with the natives--Sheshat Tribe....  The land selected for a mill site
and buildings was quietly ceded to him after some slight hesitation....
Captain Stamp made them a present of some fifty blankets, muskets,
molasses and food, trinkets, etc.  I explained to the chiefs the nature
of Capt. Stamp's settling among them, which they thoroughly
comprehended, and all present profess entire satisfaction."

Such was the manner in which the natives sold the site for the first
sawmill on the West Coast.  There a fine mill went into operation, and
farms were cultivated.  Alberni flourished for the next three or four
years.  But Banfield, who had contributed so much to its success, saw
only a portion of its period of brief prosperity, for he was foully
murdered in October of 1862 by Indians, who escaped punishment--and
Banfield was forgotten.

Sproat succeeded Stamp in the year of Banfield's death, and on November
1, 1864, he wrote the Colonial Secretary announcing that the mill must
close, "for there is no wood in the district sufficient to supply the
wants of a large mill."

To those who know modern Alberni and its companion city, Port Alberni,
and the great output of lumber, plywood and pulp for the mighty mills
there, such a reason seems absurd.  But in those pioneer days, logs had
to be felled almost directly into the water where they could be towed
to the mill.




81

ROCK CREEK PROVED RICH

Gold was found in the Similkameen River in the fall of 1859 by men
attached to the North West Boundary Commission surveying the line of
latitude 49 and establishing the international border.  Early the next
spring there was a rush of men from the United States to the area.
This worried Governor Douglas, who feared that all the trade from the
diggings would go out of the country.

Douglas advised the miners at Hope to send men into the Interior border
country, and in order to assist in opening the country ordered a trail
to be made.  In the summer of 1860 he learned of even greater
excitement at Rock Creek.  He went there himself.  He had heard that
the miners were a wild unruly lot.  Reporting to the British Government
on his trip, he said: "We arrived at the town known as Rock Creek
situated at the junction of that stream and Colvile River.  The town
contains fifteen houses, and several more in progress, chiefly shops
and buildings intended for the supply and entertainment of miners.
Nearly 500 miners are congregated about Rock Creek and another
tributary of the Colvile, about ten miles below that point.

"The Rock Creek diggings were discovered last October by Mr. Adam Beam,
a native of Canada, as he was travelling from Colvile to Shilkomeen
[sic]; he again visited the spot in December, but did not begin to work
till the 7th of May."  Continuing, the Governor said that Beam
recovered $271 in the first seven days of his mining, and $977 in the
first six weeks.  He quoted other successes as indicating the wealth of
the locality.

Douglas addressed the miners.  At first they were reluctant to hear
him, but eventually they assembled, and gave him a courteous hearing.
He told them that he had come there because of the stories he had heard
of their lawlessness.  "And I assured them I was agreeably surprised to
find that those reports were unfounded."  He then explained the mining
and pre-emption laws, assured them of the protection of British laws,
and at the same time insisted upon full respect for the laws.  He told
them that they must pay duties on all imported goods, and appointed
Captain William Cox Assistant Gold Commissioner and Stipendiary
Magistrate.

Cox was a sport-loving Irishman, a former officer in the army.  He was
somewhat of a nonconformist in matters judicial: on one occasion he
settled a dispute over claim staking by having the disputants run a
foot-race.  A typical excerpt from one of his letters shows the casual
character of the man:

"A young Englishman was lately convicted of robbing sluices on Rock
Creek....  He candidly confessed his guilt and was permitted five
minutes to prepare and ten minutes to quit the town.  We all assisted
in the ceremony of drumming out, the miners in the first place
compelling him to liquidate his debt."

The report is eloquent in what it does not say: how did the thief quit
the camp?  It would also be interesting to know whether he was tried by
legal process, or by mob law.  That there was a mob is certain and the
magistrate frankly admits he helped in the "drumming out."

Then on another occasion Cox wrote the Colonial Secretary reporting
that a French miner had been murdered by an Indian.  The killer he said
had escaped across the border and gone to the Okanogon Valley in
American territory.  Fifty miners, Cox explained, had mounted horses
and followed him.  American Indians handed him over, and the avengers
had hanged him to a pine-tree.  The magistrate said he had not
witnessed the lynching of the Indian--but he did not deny that he was
there.

Rock Creek settled down to the ordinary life of a mining-camp,
producing moderately, but every mining rumour of a new strike drew
miners from it.  Then when the fabulous discoveries of Cariboo became
known, Rock Creek declined, and eventually Magistrate Cox was moved to
Cariboo.




82

LAW COMES TO CARIBOO

In the summer of 1859 rumours drifted down the Fraser that coarse gold
had been found above distant Fort Alexandria.  Assistant Gold
Commissioner T. Elwyn, at Cayoosh (Lillooet), did not know whether to
believe the stories: he decided to make a hasty trip there to establish
the veracity or falsity of the tales.  On his return, he wrote to the
Colonial Secretary that there was undoubtedly gold along the Fraser
between Fort Alexandria and the Quesnel River, where men were making
from eight dollars to ten dollars per day.  What was of greater
interest was that "some of the gold taken out of Quesnel River has not
the appearance of having washed any distance."  It was coarse--and gave
credence to the predictions that the wealth of the lower river had been
washed down, being the lighter metal flakes.

Governor Douglas was both grateful and angry.  He was glad to get
official confirmation of the richness of Quesnel River, but indignant
that Elwyn should have quitted his post without permission.

Miners working the bars between Yale and Bridge River also heard the
tempting stories, which oft repeated grew more attractive: they
deserted their diggings and started north tramping with what supplies
they could carry on their backs, to intersect the old fur brigade trail
and follow it to Fort Alexandria.  Soon every bar north of that to the
Quesnel was occupied; all yielded something, and Ferguson Bar gave
abundantly at shallow depth.  It was soon populated by hundreds of men
and among them an element of wild toughs who sought to dominate the
camp and prey on the more peaceful miners.

The lawlessness of Ferguson Bar was reported to Philip H. Nind, newly
made Assistant Gold Commissioner and Magistrate with headquarters at
Williams Lake.  Accompanied by his sole constable, Pinchbeck by name,
he hurried up the River.  When he reached the Bar, it was to learn of
the murder of an Indian for the amusement of two gunmen, of robberies
and knifings that had brought a reign of terror to the place.
Pinchbeck did not lose a minute; he arrested one of the worst of the
offenders, and started after others, but they fled: two men clothed
with the authority of the Queen's Justice had frightened the bullies
away.  Ferguson Bar became one of the quietest communities in the
country, after Nind had brought Law to Cariboo.

Prospectors fanned out from Quesnel River and found Cariboo Lake.
"Doc" Keithley and companions examined a creek flowing into the lake.
It panned well, and responded handsomely to rocker tests.  Keithley
Creek, the first of the famous "big pay streams" of Cariboo, had been
located.

It was in the fall of 1860 that John Rose and a party, including
Keithley, found a new creek, some twenty-five miles away.  It was so
rich that the four men in the party could not believe their senses.  It
was reported that the first pan of gravel gave twenty-five dollars in
gold, and another went as high as seventy-five dollars.  Discovery was
followed by a spectacular, mad stampede in dead winter to the place.
Men staked claims in six feet of snow, and burrowed holes in the thick
white covering in which to sleep.

It was from Antler Creek that Snowshoe and Cunningham and other creeks
came to notice, but of them all--and they all paid--none could compare
with the stream that Bill Deitz and his party came across.  They
started to pan at different places on the stream and met to compare the
results in the evening.  Deitz had found gravels that yielded as high
as a dollar twenty-five to the pan.  He had found the rich spot above
the canyon on the Creek; below, though there were attractive values,
not one could compare with Bill's find.  Chatting about their camp-fire
they speculated on a name.  Deitz laughingly suggested that it be named
for him.  The others agreed, provided that he purchased the first
bottle of champagne that came into the locality, with which to christen
it--and so "William's Creek"--now spelled without the apostrophe--was
named.  Later, when it appeared to be disappointing, it was
sarcastically called "Hum-bug Creek."  But when it was found that
beneath the hard blue clay there was a glittering layer of gold,
"William's Creek" became world famous.




83

GAVE GOLD BY POUND

Victoria had settled down to easy-going prosaic ways after the first
wild stampede to the Fraser River: now it was thrown once more into
feverish activity by the news from Cariboo.  Men quit their jobs to
join the rush; stores ordered new stocks; express and forwarding
companies were organized, and experienced men scoured the country for
horses and mules for pack-trains.  Later an attempt was made to cover
the long trail to the mines with camel carriers, but the exotic beasts
so frightened other brutes of burden they met on the road that they had
to be withdrawn from service.

As steamers arrived at Victoria from the Mainland, men crowded to the
waterfront to welcome them and pester the passengers for the latest
word from Cariboo.  Every scrap of information was seized upon, and
when miners staggered ashore weighted with gold, they were followed to
Wells, Fargo & Co. or the bank of their choice, where the treasure was
placed for safe keeping.  Then when the lucky owner emerged he would be
surrounded for questioning.

No person was more anxious for details about the mines than was
Governor Douglas, whose dignity would not permit him to join in a
vulgar scramble for data.  Each titbit of information he forwarded to
London.  His despatch to the Duke of Newcastle, June 4, 1861, was
characteristic: "We are daily receiving the most extraordinary accounts
of the almost fabulous wealth of the Antler Creek and Cariboo diggings.
Mr. Palmer, a respectable merchant, who arrived the other day from that
part of the country with nearly fifty pounds weight of gold, which he
kindly allowed me to examine, assured me that these accounts are by no
means exaggerated....  Mr. Barnston, another respectable traveller from
Cariboo, corroborated Mr. Palmer's testimony."

In September he wrote: "Some idea may be formed of the large sums
realized from the fact that 195 ounces of gold were taken in one day
out of a single mining claim, while ordinary claims yield as much as
forty and fifty dollars a day to the man."

Douglas could hardly keep up with the good news: Laurent Bijou, a
Frenchman, had made $4,500 in a month; the Patterson brothers from
Maine collected $6,000 and verified the story of the 195 ounces as gold
found on the Abbott and Jordan claim; Richard Willoughby discovered
Lowhee Creek, named after a secret society, and returned to Yale with
$12,000.  Brown, one of the original discoverers of Williams Creek,
told the Governor that Ned Campbell had started mining on a new creek
called "Lightning" which went two ounces to the pan in prospecting, and
as high as 1,100 ounces in a day!

Though Douglas might question this story, he could not doubt the
amazing evidence given by Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie, writing from
Cariboo on September 25, 1861: "I have no doubt that there is little
short of a ton lying at the different creeks.  I hear that Abbott's and
Steele's claims are working better than ever--thirty to forty pounds a
day each; they reckon rich claims as often by pounds as ounces now; it
must be a poor claim that is measured in dollars."  The Judge added,
"On many claims the gold is a perfect nuisance, as they have to carry
it from their cabins to their claims every morning, and watch it while
they work, and carry it back again (sometimes as much as two men can
lift) to their cabins at night, and watch it while they sleep."

Any doubts that Douglas may have had about the remarkable production of
Ned Campbell's claim on Lightning were dissipated by official returns
that gave "1st day, 900 ounces, 2nd day, 500 ounces; 3rd day, 300
ounces, and other days proportionally rich."

Old California miners told him that they had never seen such
concentrated wealth on any creek--and the Governor was satisfied.




84

SINGLE VOTE ELECTION

Vancouver Island had plenty of political excitement, as it was bound to
have with an Assembly full of its own importance, and a demagogue of
the type of Amor de Cosmos to keep the pot of public opinion agitated.
Members of the House were not paid, but there were always candidates in
plenty except at Nanaimo.  There the trouble was to get anyone to
accept office.

Dr. John Kennedy, "elected" in 1856 for Nanaimo, did not sit in the
Assembly.  He died in 1859, and an election was authorized for his
successor.  Dr. Alfred Benson, the returning officer, called upon the
citizens to assemble in front of the Bastion on May 20 to nominate and
elect a member.  But he forgot to say at what hour the gathering was to
be held.  The result was that Captain C. E. Stuart, representative at
Nanaimo for the HBC, was the only man to attend.  He nominated George
Barnston and voted for him.  There was no other vote cast.  Barnston
was declared elected.  The citizens made protest at the
"hole-in-a-corner" poll.  So Benson declared it all off, and held
another meeting, which was largely attended, but once more only Captain
Stuart voted and Barnston was again elected.

"Independent" members of the Assembly, though not objecting to Barnston
personally, announced they would not sit in the Chamber with the
product of such proceedings.  So Barnston refused to take the seat.
Nanaimo once more was not represented.  So the third "election" was
held on June 23.  This time Stuart nominated Captain John Swanson, of
the HBC steamer 'Labouchere', and the single vote was once more given
to the man of his choice.  No other person had the necessary twenty
pounds' worth of property as a voter.  But when the gallant Swanson
heard of his elevation to the Chamber he was not complimented, and
indignantly resigned.  Nanaimo was still unrepresented.  This time
there was a little canvassing in preparation.  A. R. Green of Victoria
was willing to accept office; so Benson and Stuart repeated their well
rehearsed ceremony and Green was seated.

The following year there was another election, which probably brought
joy to the dignified Douglas, for it discomfited his arch-enemy, Amor
de Cosmos.  There was a chance, Amor thought of beating George Tomline
Gordon in Esquimalt, and de Cosmos was very anxious to become a member.
The editor of the _British Colonist_, having changed his name in
California, was not sure that British law would recognize the right of
the state legislature to make the alteration.  So the crafty "lover of
the world" proposed to take no chances; he had himself nominated as
"William Alexander Smith, commonly known as Amor De Cosmos."

It was before the day of secret balloting.  The contest was a keen one,
and with only a few minutes before the polls closed the vote stood:
George Tomline Gordon, 10; William Alexander Smith, commonly known as
Amor De Cosmos, 10.  Tension ran high; minutes passed, and then, while
Sheriff Naylor, the returning officer, eyed his watch, two men half
dragged an elderly and almost exhausted man to the voting-table.  He
gasped out his name; it was checked, and he was questioned: "For whom
do you vote?" "For ... for ... for Amor de Cosmos," he panted, as the
poll closed and de Cosmos threw out his chest, and prepared to make a
speech.

Sheriff Naylor called for silence, and then: "I find that ten votes
have been cast for George Tomline Gordon, and ten votes have been cast
for William Alexander Smith, commonly known as Amor De Cosmos; and one
vote has been cast for Amor De Cosmos, but as he is not a candidate,
there is a tie between Mr. Gordon and Mr. William Alexander Smith,
commonly known as Amor De Cosmos.  It is my duty as returning officer
to break the tie, so I cast my vote for George Tomline Gordon, whom I
declare to be elected as member for this district."

So it was that the fire-eating editor was sunk by the weight and
grandeur of his own name.  And Governor Douglas wrote happily to London
that the new House had been purged of members of "the Cosmos clique."




85

ORATORY CHANGES ROAD ROUTE

Governor Douglas was greatly concerned about improving transportation
facilities to the interior gold-fields: he had already bettered trails
through the Fraser Canyon and over the mountains to the Similkameen.
Now he envisioned a great highway, extending from the sea to Cariboo
and eventually going across the continent to distant Canada.  There
were two routes that might be taken to build the road up the Fraser:
one by way of a trail that had been located through valleys removed
somewhat from the river on the east side, as far as Boston Bar; the
other starting from Yale up the west bank, and crossing the Fraser at
some narrow point.

The Governor rather favoured the direct route.  He had come to Hope to
discuss the idea with its citizens.  Having been advised of his coming,
the residents appointed a committee of three to speak for them.  They
did.  When Douglas suggested a toll of one-half cent a pound on freight
over the proposed road, the committee protested vehemently: they told
him that as roads were for the general good, payment should be made for
their building from general revenue.  They distinguished themselves.
They did not notice the arrival of a delegation of three from Yale.
These men, having heard the discussion, hurried away home.  When
Douglas the next day spoke to a meeting at Yale, and tentatively
suggested a half-cent toll, there were cries, "Not enough; make it a
cent."

The Cariboo Road, when built, started from Yale; the Hope-Boston Bar
road was not constructed.

Colonel Moody's Royal Engineers set to work to survey a route through
the rugged canyons.  When the plans were completed, contracts were let.
The Royal Engineers--a most capable force--constructed a road around
the bluffs above Yale, where they blasted their way through solid rock
for most of the way.  The Royal Engineers also found a crossing for a
bridge near Chapman's Bar, above Spuzzum.

It was a tremendous task that the infant Colony had undertaken, but a
necessary one; for if mines were to develop, then supplies must be made
available, and it was by the sale of supplies that New Westminster and
Victoria were maintained.  No time was lost, and 1862 saw all available
men at work.

Thomas Spence was given the contract from Spuzzum to Chapman Bar; from
there to Boston Bar, twelve miles, went to Joseph W. Trutch; and from
that place to Lytton, Spence was again favoured.  Oppenheimer, Moberly
and Lewis took the contract from Lytton to Cook's Ferry on the
Thompson, but ran into difficulty in keeping men from stampeding off to
Cariboo.  The result was that the Government took this work over, with
Walter Moberly in charge.  Spence was chartered to build a bridge to
replace the ferry, and Trutch established the toll-bridge across the
Fraser at the site selected by the Royal Engineers.

While this road was being rapidly pushed ahead, the pioneer route,
which had been greatly improved in 1861 from Port Douglas on Harrison
Lake to Lillooet, was extended.  A contract was given to Gustavus Blin
Wright to construct 224 miles of road from Lillooet to Fort Alexandria.
He set to work with vigour and by July, 1863, had it completed as far
as Soda Creek, and later in the year completed it to Fort Alexandria.

The road from Cook's Ferry was pushed through to intersect Wright's
road at Clinton, and soon Cariboo had a double-headed exit.  As soon as
wheeled vehicles were put into service, freighting charges fell
substantially.  Express wagons, carrying passengers as well as parcels
and mail, were put into service and drove at a fast rate, from
mile-house to mile-house, as the wayside inns were designated by their
distance from Lillooet.  Camels failed when tested as carriers; and in
the "seventies" steam-tractors were tried, but the puffing, smoking
monsters, trailing loaded wagons, also frightened horses off the road.
They, too, were abandoned.

The Cariboo Road was eventually built in to Barkerville.  It has served
British Columbia ever since it was constructed, and is still regarded
as a great engineering achievement.




86

BRIDE SHIPS ARRIVE

The year 1862 was a notable one for Victoria.  The city was
incorporated; there was a real-estate boom, business was good--and
above all it was the year of femininity, when ships brought cargoes of
marriageable females to gladden the homes and hearts of lonely
bachelors.

It was no wonder, with such gracious importations, that the Legislative
Assembly should become slightly mixed, and incorporate the terrain and
not the residents of Victoria, the staid seniors of the Upper House
discovered the absurdity and returned the bill to the red-faced Lower
Chamber, which had to enact another and more suitable measure.

Thomas Harris, a weighty butcher, was elected mayor, and John Copland,
James M. Reid, Richard Lewis, W. M. Searby, Michael Stronach and N. M.
Hicks were chosen councillors.  The first meeting was on August 25, and
one of the first acts of the council was to seek to discover what help,
financially and otherwise, might be expected from the Legislature.  The
same question has been propounded by successive councils ever since.
In order to raise revenue for the city a licence bylaw was framed: it
put imposts ranging from one pound to sixteen upon 536 businesses and
callings divided into 124 categories.  It was proposed to levy land
taxes, but assessment rolls could not be made ready by the end of the
first year; so the calling of an election was deferred.  The
Legislature extended the term of the first council until November 6.
Doubts arose, however, as to the legality of acts performed and
business transacted by the mayor and council between August, when the
year ended, and November 6, and another bill was passed in the
Assembly, indemnifying the Council.

Victoria was busy and prosperous during 1862 as a result of the
discoveries in golden Cariboo.  There was a real estate boom that sent
prices sky-rocketing with each new bit of spectacular news from the
mines.  Lots that were sold for fifty dollars in 1858 now changed hands
for thousands, while lots on business streets were leased at from two
dollars to six dollars a front foot per month.

This happy, prosperous condition in both colonies was lacking in one
thing: there were few unmarried females, and many lonely bachelors.
Miss Angela Burdett Coutts, a most philanthropic heiress, and others in
England took pity upon the men of Vancouver's Island and British
Columbia.  They provided funds, and a church committee was organized to
send out desirable females as domestics.  It was felt that, if this was
done, Romance would complete Destiny.  A committee, under the Rev.
Edward Cridge, was set up in Victoria, to find suitable homes for the
girls until they could locate husbands or permanent employment.

While these committees were at work, 'The Seaman's Bride', a sailing
ship, set sail from Australia with a dozen adventurous young females.
But the vessel put in to San Francisco, and the young gallants of the
Golden Gate rushed down and married off the entire passenger list!  Not
so with the steamer 'Tynemouth', from England.  There were some sixty
girls on board, and a matron to watch over them.  They were all young
women of good reputation.  The 'Tynemouth put into Esquimalt, and the
fair ones were transferred to Victoria aboard H.M.S. 'Forward'.  They
were landed at James Bay and were marched to the accommodation provided
for their temporary stay until they could be transferred to the homes
that had arranged to take them in.

The 'Tynemouth' was followed by the 'Robert Lowe', which brought
another consignment of "brides."

The first marriage is reported to have resulted from the boldness of a
Romeo from Sooke, who, watching the parade from the landing-place of
the 'Tynemouth''s cargo, stepped forward and gently took hold of the
arm of one girl and asked her to become his wife.  She consented--and
the marriage turned out to be a very happy one.  So it was with the
majority of the girls who came on the "Bride Ships": they found worthy
husbands and happiness in this new land, and founded fine families.




87

DOUGLAS RETIRES AS GOVERNOR

It was March 14, 1864--just twenty-one years from the day that he
landed at Clover Point to begin the construction of Fort Victoria--and
Sir James Douglas was laying down his duties as Governor of Vancouver's
Island and was leaving for a brief sojourn in New Westminster.  Crowds
accompanied him through flag-decked streets to the dock, and cheered
him as the steamer pulled away.  Band music followed him out of the
harbour.  A month later he ended his term as Governor of British
Columbia, and, as a private citizen, returned to Victoria to prepare
for the first trip to Europe that he had taken since he left his
Scottish homeland as a boy of fifteen to enter the fur trade in the
wilds of North America.

Now that the "grand old governor," as he came to be known, was leaving,
citizens of both colonies recollected how much they were indebted to
him in the formative periods of their development.  But throughout the
years that had passed since he took office on the Island (in 1851) and
on the Mainland (in 1858) he had been subjected to criticism, to false
accusations and to slanderous attacks.  Conscious of his own integrity,
he made no public answer--and in this he was not fair, either to
himself, or to the public at large.

Petitions had been circulated asking that he be recalled.  On the
Mainland he was accused of favouring the Island, where he resided, and
where senior officials of British Columbia were also resident.  At
Victoria, led by the vociferous Amor de Cosmos, he was accused, charged
with "playing favourites" to the advantage of the Hudson's Bay Company;
but in London, that great trading concern was making bitter complaint
to the Imperial Government that Douglas was unfair to the Company when
its interests conflicted with those of the Colony.

It was no wonder that, when the time came to review the status of the
Colonies, he expressed a wish to be relieved of his duties and to be
permitted to retire.  This request was granted, and in recognition of
his great services Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, conferred upon him the
honour of knighthood as Knight Commander of the Bath--a highly coveted
order.  Later she added a pension of 500 annually for life.

The citizens had given him a great banquet; he had been showered with
compliments, and was now on his way to the Royal City, to complete the
last of his official acts, before the arrival of his successors--for
there were to be separate governors for the two Colonies.  Arthur E.
Kennedy, a former military man, who had considerable experience as a
colonial administrator, was to be governor of Vancouver's Island, while
Frederick Seymour, who had occupied various public offices in the West
Indies and Honduras, was to be the chief executive of British Columbia.

Douglas had ruled the Mainland Colony, since its inception, as a
benevolent dictator, but now, on instructions from England, he had
instituted a Legislative Council of fifteen members, five of whom held
their seats as elected representatives of the people.

His old associate in Government on the Mainland, Colonel R. C. Moody,
and his Royal Engineers were no longer at New Westminster.  The corps
had been disbanded.  Coolness had developed between the two men,
largely as a result of the Governor's criticism of the manner in which
Moody, as Commissioner of Lands and Works, had handled pre-emption
lands.  The Royal Engineers had performed notable services for British
Columbia since their coming and the majority of the non-commissioned
officers and men, with their families, chose to take their discharge
and remain in the Colony rather than return to England.

In the few days that remained of his tenure as governor, Douglas was
again banqueted, and was presented with a testimonial bearing 900
signatures.  This really touched him, as evidencing the fact that his
efforts on behalf of the Colony had been honest and impartial.

Before he left, he gave a grand midday rout in honour of the birth of a
son to the Prince of Wales.

Three days later Sir James Douglas, K.C.B., sailed down the Fraser,
amid the good wishes of the residents of the Royal City, into
retirement.




88

KLATSASSIN STARTS WAR

It was April 30, 1864, and the men employed by Alfred Waddington to
construct a road from Bute Inlet to Cariboo were asleep in their
work-camps.  They had no sentries on guard, nor had they any firearms
with which to defend themselves.  They trusted the Indians implicitly.
The previous year Chilcotins had come from the interior and had
professed great friendship.  These protestations were believed.  Now
the Chilcotins, led by Chief Klatsassin, had come again, secretly and
silently.

There were twenty-one braves in the war-party that crept undetected
into the tents of the sleeping workers.  Then, at a signal, the guy
ropes were cut down.  The Indians shot and stabbed through sagging
canvas.  It was butchery.  Three men escaped alive, and two of them
were badly wounded.  Fourteen died in that unprovoked attack.

British Columbia and Vancouver Island were horrified.  Governor Seymour
sent a strong police force under command of Police Superintendent
Chartres Brew to the scene.  There they found the bodies and the looted
camps.  Brew found the trail by which the murderers had come from the
Chilcotin Plains was too difficult for travel with a large force.  He
returned to New Westminster and suggested that an expeditionary force
reach the homeland of Klatsassin and his people via Bella Coola and the
Palmer trail.  This plan was adopted, and at the same time Governor
Frederick Seymour instructed William G. Cox, Gold Commissioner for
Cariboo, to recruit a force there and hasten to effect a junction with
Brew's men.  Cox headed sixty-eight volunteers, while the coastal
column consisted of thirty-eight volunteers, largely former Royal
Engineers, to which were later added friendly Bella Coola Indians.
Governor Seymour, accompanied by Lieutenant Cooper, Royal Marines,
joined the party.

Meanwhile Klatsassin and his mounted braves were carrying death and
destruction over the Chilcotin plains.  A lone settler at Puntzi Lake,
W. Manning, was shot down in cold blood.  An attack was made on a
pack-train.  McDonald, the operator, and his seven helpers were well
armed and put up a desperate defence.  McDonald and two of the men were
killed and three others wounded.  Then the band raced down into the
Bella Coola Valley in an effort to kill a settler named Hamilton.  He
managed to escape.

Cox's band missed an opportunity of wiping out the Indian killers near
Puntzi Lake, when they carelessly gave warning of their presence, and
permitted Klatsassin to escape.  After this Cox built a log fort on a
hillock, and here Brew's men found his company "besieged by an
invisible foe."

Donald McLean, a former Hudson's Bay Company officer, and second in
command to Cox, was killed when Seymour ordered the Cariboo men to
pursue Klatsassin into the hills about Chilco Lake.  They dropped the
pursuit and fell back to Puntzi.  Brew took up the chase, and using
Indian tactics beat the Indians at their own style of fighting, until
the Indian band with Klatsassin, now reduced to eight all told,
surrendered.

The Governor sent for the powerful Chief Alexis to come to meet him.
This the Chilcotin leader did with a mounted guard.  They dashed up to
the Governor, "and," said Seymour in a despatch, "at once approached
me.  He was dressed in a French uniform, such as one sees in pictures
of Montcalm."  It had taken a century for that uniform to cross the
continent.

Though he had referred to the "successive acts of violence as isolated
massacres," the Governor wrote, "there is no objection to our now
avowing that an Indian insurrection existed."

Klatsassin and four of his followers were hanged, following their
conviction.




89

BURRARD INLET SETTLED

While engaged in making a survey of Burrard Inlet in 1859, Captain G.
H. Richards, H.M.S. 'Plumper', learned of the existence of a seam of
coal on the southern shore.  He had Chief Engineer Francis Brockton and
Dr. C. B. Wood, the ship's surgeon, examine it.  They reported
favourably, but the sudden outbreak of the San Juan trouble took the
warship away before further investigation could be done.  Captain
Richards named the place "Coal Harbour."

Walter Moberly, a young engineer, and Robert Burnaby, sometime
secretary to Richard C. Moody, R.E., being told of the deposit spent
some time prospecting the outcrop and vicinity, but abandoned the idea
of developing the coal measures.  It was this coal, however, that
brought about the first settlement in what later became Vancouver.
John Morton, a young Englishman, and his friend and distant relative,
Sam Brighouse, failing to make good in Cariboo returned to New
Westminster.  There Morton heard of the coal measures.  He was a potter
by trade, and knew that clay was usually associated with coal.  With an
Indian guide he went to Burrard Inlet.  He found the coal and the clay.
He was delighted, as well, with the great harbour, the timbered terrain
and the land itself.

Morton returned with Brighouse and a friend named W. Hailstone.  They
decided to take up land, and settled upon what is now District Lot 185,
west of Burrard Street.  They built a log hut on the eastern side of a
deep ravine, in 1863.  There they cleared and planted, and also
utilized the clay for the manufacture of bricks.

It was also in 1862 that T. W. Graham, of New Westminster, conceived
the idea of building a sawmill on the north shore of the Inlet.  He
secured 480 acres of splendidly timbered land, and formed a
company--The Pioneer Mills--to utilize it.  Graham's Mill, a
water-powered plant capable of cutting 40,000 board feet of lumber
daily, and the first industrial building on Burrard's Inlet, went into
operation in June, 1863.  He cut for the New Westminster market but
faced many unexpected difficulties.  In December he offered the plant,
with 1,000,000 board feet of felled logs, for sale by auction.  John
Oscar Smith, a grocer, bought the assets of the company for $8,000, and
changed the name to the "Burrard Inlet Mills."

Smith was an enterprising man.  He started shipping lumber to Victoria
and Nanaimo, and also sought off-shore trade.  He made the first export
shipment from the World Port of Vancouver, when he sent a cargo of
lumber to Australia on board the barque 'Ellen Lewis', under Hellon.
He might have made a success of his venture, had he had working
capital, but after one year the mortgagees foreclosed and the mill was
again put up at auction.

Sewell P. Moody, an enterprising and experienced business man, who knew
sawmilling, purchased the plant.  By wise management he developed and
expanded it into a great industry that shipped lumber to all parts of
the world.  The town of Moodyville--now absorbed by North
Vancouver--grew up about the mill.

In 1865, Captain Ed Stamp, who had established a big mill at the head
of Alberni Canal for British associates, raised more money in Great
Britain for another mill.  He selected Burrard Inlet as the best site
for the enterprise.  He sought permission to locate his mill in what is
now Stanley Park, extending across the peninsula from booming grounds
near Deadman's Island, to the Narrows, where he planned wharves.
Clearing was commenced--where the Athletic Grounds were later
developed--but it was found impossible to berth ships at docks in the
tidal race of the Narrows.  So Stamp gained permission from Governor
Frederick Seymour to change the location of his mill to the
south-eastern extremity of Coal Harbour.

Here, on a point, the British Columbia and Vancouver Island Spar,
Lumber and Sawmill Company--for such was the unwieldy name of Stamp's
concern--erected a mill.  It went into operation in 1867, and became
known as "Hastings Mill."  Stamp retired, and the concern was
reorganized, but for upwards of half a century it continued operations.
About it grew up a mill camp, which was later named Granville--and then
Vancouver.




90

ISLAND COLONY ENDS

Citizens of Victoria gave a warm welcome to A. E. Kennedy, who
succeeded Sir James Douglas as Governor of Vancouver's Island, but
within six months they were lamenting the change in administration.
They had made little or no contribution towards the maintenance of
Douglas, and were shocked when the Legislative Assembly members were
told by the British Government that they must provide a civil list that
included 3,000 salary for the Governor and 600 salary for the
Colonial Secretary, as well as lesser amounts for other high-ranking
officials.  Such a list was refused by the House.  The handing over of
control of Crown Lands was conditional upon passing such a list.

The House declared that it could not afford such salaries, that
conditions would not justify such expenditures.  Governor Kennedy was
instructed from England to issue warrants for legitimate requirements
and amongst these was a place of residence for himself.  He and his
family were housed in a hotel for the first year of his stay.  Finally
he bought a pretentious dwelling, known locally as "Gary Castle," which
with repairs cost roughly $40,000.

There had been a slackening in trade in 1864 and a depression had set
in at Victoria, due to the falling-off of realty values and to
over-speculation, to reduction of the output from "poor man's diggings"
at the gold-fields, and to the failure of Macdonald's Bank, which had
about $100,000 of its own currency in circulation.

To meet the situation--and possibly to embarrass the Governor--Amor de
Cosmos introduced a series of resolutions in the Assembly aimed at
bringing about a union of the Colonies, upon any conditions that the
Imperial Government might favour.  The debate was keen and acrimonious.
Opposition was based upon the possibility of such action depriving
Victoria of her free port.  It was significant that during the course
of the argument Dr. William Tolmie spoke in favour of the motions, not
only as a logical union for the two colonies, but as a step towards
eventual federation with the Canadian provinces, then taking shape.

Governor Kennedy endorsed the idea fully.  He may have envisioned the
self-destruction of the Assembly by union.  Governor Frederick Seymour
of the Mainland colony was bitterly opposed to it, and he also sent
long despatches to Downing Street giving his views.  British Columbia,
generally, was against linking up with the Island, which it accused of
living by the industry of British Columbia miners.

In Victoria there were hot arguments.  The business interests feared
losing the free port.  If its retention were assured them, they would
not object to the economies that might be expected to follow a
reduction of the civil service.  De Cosmos and C. B. Young, another
member, after a heated argument, challenged each other to submit the
question to the electors.  Both represented Victoria City.  They
resigned, and in the subsequent election Young was defeated, the voters
favouring union.

When it was learned that a bill was being prepared for submission to
Parliament, authorizing union, the Assembly became alarmed, and would
have temporized on the "unconditional terms" as suggested in the
previous resolution.  But it was now too late.

The British Government was also having political troubles.  As a
result, the measure was hastily drafted and was forced through as the
final measure of a collapsing administration.  All advantages went to
British Columbia, and the free port was abolished--but whether this was
legally done has been a matter of argument ever since.  The House of
Assembly and Executive Council of Vancouver's Island[*] were
abolished--and representative government was greatly reduced.


{*} The name of the Island was changed to "Vancouver Island" after the
union of the colonies.


It was on November 19, 1866, that the Act of Union was proclaimed, and
old former governor Sir James Douglas, in retirement, penned: "The
Union of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia was proclaimed today;
the ships of war in the harbour fired a salute.  It would have been
more fitting if they had fired minute guns and held funeral services on
the occasion of this sad, melancholy event."

Governor Kennedy gladly retired from Victoria, and Governor Seymour
ruled from his capital of New Westminster.




91

KOOTENAY MINERS WERE TOUGH

Early in 1863 the Findlay brothers, sons of Jacco Findlay, a noted
pioneer in the Western fur trade, found gold in a small stream that now
carries the family name.  Later in the year, one of the brothers paid a
visit to a small settlement of French Canadians near present-day
Missoula, Idaho.  "Frenchtown" was crowded with a motley collection of
men--many of dubious character--who were wintering there.

Learning from Findlay of the discovery of gold, a large number of them
engaged him to guide them to the scene.  They started off--some sixty
of them--early in March, 1864, following the Kootenay River towards its
headwaters.  It was a hard trip, and the horses became jaded.  When a
flat was found with feed for the animals, near the present Fort Steele,
it was decided to leave most of the horses there to recruit.  Four or
five men were left to guard the horses, while the others went on the
forty miles to Findlay's creek.

While the tired horses grazed, the men prospected.  One of them--said
to be Bob Dore, after whom the pioneer mining company was named--struck
rich pay above the canyon.  It was coarse, heavy gold, and the Dore
Company ultimately took out $500,000 from the ground that they staked.

The gravels at Findlay Creek, though yielding some values, proved
disappointing, and so most of the men who had gone there came back, and
took up ground along the stream that was ultimately named "Wild Horse."
The miners framed their own regulations and permitted the staking of
one hundred feet across the creek to a claim.  Ultimately there were
stakings for four and a half miles.  Startling stories of the wealth of
the new strike were circulated across the line, and from Walla Walla,
Colville and other places, miners and merchants poured into the
locality.

Government officials at New Westminster realized that unless an
adequate artery for transportation was provided, none of the benefits
of the Kootenay mines would come to the Coast.  Extension of the
Dewdney trail, of 1860-61, to the Similkameen was decided upon, and
Edgar Dewdney was instructed to push it through rapidly.  He did so.
Gold Commissioner and Magistrate John Carmichael Haynes was instructed
to hurry in to the camp at Wild Horse to establish governmental
authority.

Accompanied by W. Young, his constable, "Judge" Haynes made a fast trip
to Kootenay, and arrived at a dramatic moment.  Wild Horse Creek was an
armed and potentially explosive camp.  In a fight that followed a
Fourth-of-July celebration, one man was shot dead, and three were
wounded by bullet, knife and club in drinking brawls.  Friends of the
dead man were preparing to lynch "Yeast Powder Bill" and another tough
named "Overland Bob."  A "law and order" organization was formed, and
those two worthies were put in a temporary lockup.  It needed only a
careless word to start real trouble.

Into this seething cauldron, where every man carried a gun, rode Haynes
and Young.  The law and order boys were planning to administer the law,
and had appointed a "judge" to try the two men.  "But," said D. M.
Drumheller, who was present, in his memoirs, "one little English
constable with knee breeches, red cap, cane in hand, riding a jockey
saddle and mounted on a bob-tailed horse, quelled that mob in fifteen
minutes."  The organized guardians of law and order--numbering some
hundreds--disbanded in favour of a quiet, determined Magistrate and one
courageous policeman.  The two men in jail were tried and liberated,
but were advised to leave the Creek.  They did so, hurriedly, as did
others who felt that they would not be comfortable where the Queen's
law had to be respected.

Wild Horse Creek diggings were shallow and amazingly rich.  Much of the
gold was in the form of nuggets.  One piece went to thirty-seven
ounces, worth $666.  Later, deeper depths were explored profitably with
machinery.  It has been conservatively estimated that $6,000,000 was
produced on the Creek.

From Wild Horse prospectors fanned out over the country, eventually
finding values along the Big Bend of the Columbia, and starting another
but short-lived rush to that section.




92

FIXING THE CAPITAL

There were only nine elected members in the Legislative Council of
twenty-three that convened at New Westminster early in 1867.  The other
fourteen were appointed by Governor Frederick Seymour, who ruled over
the united colonies.  Island members were, with a single exception (the
Nanaimo Magistrate, Captain William Hales Franklyn), anxious to have
Victoria declared the Capital.

Dr. J. S. Helmcken, who with Amor de Cosmos had been elected to
represent Victoria, prepared a resolution authorizing the change.  The
preference of the Governor for New Westminster was well known, and the
change was regarded by the Island members as a forlorn hope.  They
planned a careful campaign, and succeeded in winning over some of the
magistrates from the Upper Country who had _ex-officio_ seats on the
Council.  On March 29, Helmcken submitted his resolution, and in the
debate that followed made much of the alleged dangers and difficulties
of navigating the Fraser River to the Royal City.

Supporters of New Westminster knew that this was a serious point, and
must be met.  Captain Franklyn--nicknamed "The British Lion," a bluff
old sea-dog--was selected to meet the charge.  He prepared a long
speech, writing it out carefully.  Helmcken and his friends decided to
prepare the Captain for the occasion.  They entertained him all
morning, and when he rose to speak he was, as Helmcken later explained,
"a bit shaky."

The jovial, fun-loving Captain W. G. Cox, Magistrate at Barkerville,
threw his lot in with the Islanders, another magisterial sympathizer at
his left.

The British Lion intended to explain that the Hoogley River in India
had formerly been worse than the Fraser, but had been improved and made
into a safe waterway.  He picked up the first page of his notes that he
had placed beside him.  "Mr. President," he commenced, "when I first
went up the Hoogley River...," and so on.

Finishing the page, he looked about the chamber to note the effect that
he was making, and put the sheet face downward beside the pile of other
notes.  Quick as a flash, Cox picked it up and placed it on top of the
other pages.  The British Lion reached down, picked it up again, and
once more "Mr. President, when I first went up the Hoogley River..."
Again he placed the story of that initial voyage down on the table;
once more Cox placed the notes about it on the top of the heap.

When for the third time the bold British Lion sailed up that great
Indian river, the Chamber rocked with merriment.  The gallant Captain
could not understand it--there was no humour in his speech.  He stopped
and glared about him.  Then he took off his spectacles and placed them
beside his notes, having better long-range vision without them.

No sooner had he straightened up and looked about him again, than
Captain Cox picked them up, and with a quick pressure of his thumbs
forced the lens from the frame.

Having satisfied himself, the British Lion picked up the frame,
adjusted it on his nose, lifted up the story of the Hoogley again--but
this time, according to the account of the incident left by Dr.
Helmcken in his memoirs, Franklyn could not even see the muddy waters
of the Hoogley.

The other members were almost having hysterics.  Dr. Helmcken jumped up
and moved a recess for half an hour.  The motion was carried and the
members rushed out to the "annex of Noah's Ark," as the old barracks of
the Royal Engineers, where the Council met, was called.  There, after
several had treated the British Lion, complimented him on his speech
and assured him that the laughter was caused by something else, the
House reconvened.

The British Lion got up to resume his defence of the Fraser: up jumped
Helmcken to call attention to the fact that the Captain had already
spoken.  The objection was upheld, and the House was never told about
what advantages a capital on a river could develop.

The resolution carried, and after it was approved by the Colonial
Office in London, the Capital was formally proclaimed, on May 25, 1868,
to be Victoria.




93

COLONY JOINS DOMINION

Canadian confederation, achieved in 1867, was the realization of many
years of planning in London and colonial capitals.  Its extension to
the Pacific was essential to Imperial policies of world trade.  The
union of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia in 1866 was regarded
by many as an advanced step towards that objective.

As early as 1865, Dr. William Tolmie, speaking in the Legislative
Assembly at Victoria, had envisioned the enlargement of
Confederation--then taking shape in the older colonies on the eastern
side of British America--to include the coastal possessions of the
Crown.

Union of British Columbia and Vancouver's Island satisfied no
one--except possibly Governor Frederick Seymour.  It was not
surprising, therefore, that out of that dissatisfaction grew an active
demand for inclusion of the Colony in the grand scheme of
Confederation.  On May 18, 1867, a motion by Amor de Cosmos in the
Legislative Council was carried, asking the Governor to take steps to
include British Columbia in the new Dominion.  Characteristically,
Seymour did nothing.  This led to formation of the Confederation League
which met in convention at Yale in the following year.  This gathering,
attended by many prominent men, pledged unceasing work for the
accomplishment of its objective.

The United States viewed with dismay the prospect of British Columbia
joining a consolidation of British communities from the Atlantic to the
Pacific.  It had long sought to keep Great Britain from forming a trade
corridor across America.  Earlier, Russia and the United States had
toyed with the idea of forming an _entente cordiale_ that would give
those two nations control of the Pacific Ocean.  To aid such a purpose
the Czar had once offered Alaska to the Republic if it would seize the
coastline north of latitude 49.  Now that Confederation was an active
reality, the United States purchased Alaska from the Russians, in order
to show British Columbia it was hemmed in by American territory, and it
would be to the advantage of the Colony to join the United States.  The
annexation movement was largely confined to Victoria, but it lacked
strength.

The argument for entry into the Dominion was waged in the legislative
halls, in public meetings, on street corners, and wherever men
gathered.  Correspondence was maintained with high officials in the
East.  Sir John A. Macdonald finally suggested to the Imperial
Government that it would be beneficial if Seymour were recalled, and
Anthony Musgrave, a former governor of Newfoundland, and a staunch
confederationist, were appointed to succeed him.

Seymour was not recalled: he died suddenly.  He had gone to the North
Coast to intervene personally to stop an Indian war.  He succeeded.  He
left a sick-bed to make the trip.  On the way back home, he died.
London was immediately notified by cable.  The next day a new governor
was appointed--Anthony Musgrave.

The diplomatic Musgrave came charged with the task of bringing the
Colony into Confederation.  He drafted terms of union, suggesting a
wagon-road to Canada as an essential condition and otherwise following
the pattern of de Cosmos's terms.  Three delegates, J. W. Trutch, Dr.
J. S. Helmcken and Dr. W. W. Carroll, were sent East to negotiate with
the Canadian Government.  When the talks opened, the Committee of the
Federal Cabinet made it known that, instead of a road, a railway would
be built.

On July 7, 1870, the correspondent of _The Victoria Colonist_ wired to
his paper: "Terms agreed upon.  The delegates are satisfied.  Canada is
favourable to immediate union and guarantees the railway."

On July 21, 1871, the Crown Colony ceased to exist, and British
Columbia started to function as a province of the Dominion of Canada.

In the meantime an election had been held, and responsible government
was introduced under the premiership of the Honourable J. F. McCreight.




94

NEW CREEKS MINED

Fire destroyed Barkerville, the gold capital of Cariboo, in 1868.  The
days of shallow diggings and spectacular values had passed.  In hopes
of finding new ground of equal richness, men spread over the country.
Michael Burns and Vital La Force went some 250 miles northwest of
Quesnel and struck good pay.  They wintered there and in 1869 returned
to Barkerville.  They were accompanied back by some twenty men, from
whom they could not hide their secret.  The rush to Omineca resulted.

News of the new field--exaggerated as all such stories are--reached
Victoria and New Westminster, and sent excited men up the Coast to the
Skeena in all manner of craft.  They followed that turbulent river to
the Forks--where Hazleton now stands--and then over to Babine Lake, and
on to the Omineca.

Many creeks were worked, and values were realized to some extent from
Vital Creek, Black Jack Gulch, and Arctic, Slate, Skeleton, Quartz,
Lost, Burns, Germansen and Manson Creeks, the latter being best.
Germansen Creek in a single week of August, 1871, produced $10,000.
Packers were busy pushing supplies into the country.  Gus B. Wright
brought the steamer 'Enterprise' from Quesnel up the Fraser, Nechako
and Stuart Rivers to Fort St. James.  He proposed to operate from the
Fort to Tatla Landing, but made a single trip, for Edgar Dewdney--the
famous trail-builder--constructed a trail from Fort St. James to the
diggings.

In 1871 there were 1,200 men operating claims in the district.  In a
short season they took out $400,000--which meant slim wages for the
majority.  With the distance from established communities so great,
transportation difficult, and continuance of supplies dubious, there
was a general exodus from Omineca that winter.  But some returned and
others accompanied them, and once again the creeks were active,
particularly Germansen and Manson Creeks.  Even today optimistic miners
continue to work the old ground over again and seek new deposits.

Disappointments and moderate successes seem to have the same effect on
gold-hunters: they seem to spur them on to new endeavours.  This is
what happened in Omineca, for the hunters went into even less known
wilds, and soon were on the banks of the Stikine, and about Dease Lake.
Here an American named Thibert, who had come from the East by way of
the Liard, made a rich strike on a stream entering the Dease River near
the lake.  Among the earliest on the scene was Vital La Force, the
co-discoverer of Omineca.

Soon about twenty miners had joined Thibert on the stream that was
honoured with his name.  Some high values in heavy gold came from that
stream and from Dease and McDame Creeks, subsequent locations.  In 1874
it was estimated that there were 1,600 men working in Cassiar--as the
district was known.  They mined about one million dollars.  The mines
on Thibert and Dease particularly gave good returns in shallow ground
to the early locators, some realizing as high as eight ounces per day
to the man.

With the approach of winter the district was practically abandoned,
only a few caring to stay through the sub-zero cold of the white
months.  They returned with the opening of navigation in the late
spring--but heavy freshets prolonged the period of mining inactivity.
McDame Creek was being worked by wing-damming, but it was difficult to
control the water, which often swept away the obstructions that had
been built to divert the flow of the stream.  Production for 1875 was
$800,000.  There were about 1,300 men.  The rush reached its peak in
1876 when more than 2,000 men were reported to have entered the
country, and the gold output fell to $556,474.

From that time the interest in the Cassiar waned, but there and in
Omineca there have always been cheerful hopeful men who have continued
to go over the old ground and prospect new terrain.




95

LORD CARNARVON CHANGES TERMS

The terms of union by which British Columbia entered Confederation were
in the nature of a treaty, between the Colony, the Dominion and the
Imperial Government.  This instrument, by Article 11, stipulated that
the Federal Government would undertake to "secure the commencement
simultaneously, within two years from the date of Union" of a
transcontinental railroad.  It was to be completed in ten years.

There had been bitter opposition voiced in the House of Commons to the
acceptance of the terms that pledged the building of a railway "through
a sea of mountains."  When, therefore, actual construction had not
started within the stated time, British Columbia's government became
fearful that Canada was not anxious to implement her pledge.  Angry
protest was made to Ottawa.

Seeking to mollify Victoria, where the criticism centred, announcement
was made in June, 1873, that Esquimalt would be the terminus.  This was
supported by an Order-in-Council reiterating the choice of Esquimalt
and promising the construction of a railroad from that place to Seymour
Narrows.  This would indicate that the main line would reach the sea at
Bute Inlet.  At the same time Ottawa asked for the transfer of a
twenty-mile strip of land on the east coast of Vancouver Island between
the designated points.  The Province hesitated, saying that surveys had
not been made nor had construction started.  To this Ottawa answered by
ordering its engineers to "commence a survey at Esquimalt and break
ground."  "This disreputable farce," as Amor de Cosmos called it,
lasted only a day or two and was then abandoned.

The Government of Sir John A. Macdonald was defeated as a result of the
"Pacific Scandal."  Alexander Mackenzie, who succeeded him, had been a
bitter opponent of the railway terms.  When he did not immediately
prosecute the work, British Columbia became suspicious that he did not
intend to build the line.

Great wrangling between the two governments followed, leading, in the
summer of 1874, to a complaint to the third signatory of the treaty.
Colonial Secretary Lord Carnarvon offered to arbitrate the dispute if
both governments would pledge in advance the acceptance of his award.
They did this.  G. A. Walkem, Premier and Attorney General, went to
London to argue the matter.

Carnarvon's decision became, in fact, a substitution for the Eleventh
Article of the Terms of Union.  He decided that the Island railway
should be constructed from Esquimalt to Nanaimo by the Dominion; that
surveys for the main line were to be vigorously prosecuted; that a
wagon-road was to be built by Canada paralleling the rail route from
the eastern B.C. border to the sea; that a minimum annual expenditure
of two million dollars on construction of the railway should follow
completion of surveys, and that the time for the finishing of the
transcontinental should be advanced to December 30, 1890.

Mackenzie's government had a bill authorizing the building of the
Esquimalt-Nanaimo line passed the Commons, but the defeat of the bill
in the Senate caused suspicion in British Columbia that it had been a
political manoeuvre to save face.  There was much bad feeling
engendered.  In order to pacify the angry British Columbians, who were
now intent on withdrawal from Confederation, the Governor General, Lord
Dufferin, visited the Coast.  An arch bearing in bold letters
"Carnarvon Terms or Separation" straddled a street at Victoria, but His
Excellency refused to ride beneath it.  By his ready good humour, tact
and diplomacy he succeeded in dissipating the suspicion that Prime
Minister Mackenzie deliberately had the bill killed in the Senate.

The return of Sir John A. Macdonald to power and his election as a
member for Victoria City brought action.  He arranged for private
interests to build the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, and for the
Canadian Pacific Railway syndicate to build the main line.  The work
was so rapidly pushed that it was completed five years ahead of the
date stipulated by Lord Carnarvon.




96

FENIANS THREATEN VICTORIA

The first few months of British Columbia as a Province saw considerable
excitement, both without and within the Legislature: a threat of an
invasion by Fenians, and a "strike" of members in the Assembly.

It was New Year's Day, 1872.  Lieutenant-Governor J. W. Trutch was
reading his mail, when he came across a warning that the Irish
revolutionary society, the Fenians, intended to raid British Columbia.
"General" O'Neill, who had lately caused some excitement along the
Manitoba border, had been seen in San Francisco, embarking his "army"
on several ships.  Vancouver Island must, it was thought, be his
warlike objective.

Trutch was not a timid man, but, remembering how the Fenians had
invaded the Niagara peninsula and captured Fort Erie, he decided to
take no chances.  There had already been trouble with the "wild Irish"
in the Kootenays.  So word was sent to Captain Ralph P. Cator, senior
officer in command at Esquimalt, asking the help of the navy in
protecting the country against attack.

Captain Cator immediately ordered H.M.S. 'Boxer' around to Victoria
Harbour, where marines could be landed to occupy the Government
buildings, if necessary.  H.M.S. 'Sparrowhawk' was instructed to take
up a station off the entrance to the city's main harbour, and to
examine every vessel entering or leaving the port.  Only vessels
recognized as being innocent carriers of commerce could escape
scrutiny.  It was a tight naval blockade of British Columbia's capital.

Guards on top of the Legislative Buildings, by day and night, kept in
touch with Race Rocks where other sentries watched the Strait of Juan
de Fuca for the approach of suspicious shipping.  All kinds of wild
rumours were spread, resulting in the maintenance of the blockade.
Three weeks after it was sent to guard the port entrance, the
'Sparrowhawk' was still on duty.  Not long after, however, it was moved
and the blockade was over.

Whether or not it was "danger bonus" pay that the Members of the
Legislature wanted to justify by the "Fenian threat" has not been
recorded: but they wanted more money--and that before they had finished
a single session of "Responsible Government."  The demand, for years,
had been for responsible government, and now the House was starting off
in direct opposition to the basic principles of democratic government.

It was on March 8--less than a month after the session started--that W.
J. Armstrong moved that a committee be set up to study increasing the
sessional payment to ten dollars a day, with twenty-five cents per mile
for travelling.  The question had not been endorsed by the Ministry
that must approve of all expenditures.  The members, however, despite
being informed of the unconstitutionality of such a move, passed the
resolution.  Premier J. F. McCreight tried to reason with them.  He
could get the backing of only four in the House.

The committee approved of an increase to eight dollars per diem, with
$500 for the session, and the increased mileage.  This was reported to
the House, but McCreight would have nothing to do with it; so the
revolting members went over his head and petitioned the
Lieutenant-Governor.

The Honourable J. Trutch snubbed the unruly members by telling them
that he could not consider anything that his advisers had not
recommended.

When this was reported in the Assembly, McCreight chastised the
members, telling them that it was "a very delicate matter for the House
to use its powers of legislation for the purpose of voting increased
indemnity."  The voters throughout the country had not asked for their
representatives to be paid higher indemnities and travelling expenses,
he reminded the red-faced and grumbling men, adding that if there was a
public demand for it, the government would give the matter proper
consideration.

This reminder that the taxpayers might not approve of their attitude,
and the protests of the press, brought "the strike" to an end.  But the
members had their revenge.  They waited until the next session--that
same fall--and voted McCreight out of office on a want-of-confidence
motion.




97

C.P.R. COMPLETED

The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway was a stupendous work
that won the admiration of the world.  The Government of the Dominion
had defied those who had said that it was an impossible task for a
young country, and the courageous financiers and builders who formed
the syndicate that later became the Canadian Pacific Railway Company
accepted the challenge of distance and geography and won.  Victory had
not come easily; there had been unforeseen difficulties, both physical
and financial, to overcome.  There had also been rebellion on the
Prairies to face; but there had been no slackening of enterprise or
industry, particularly after the final decision had been made as to the
route of the line through the Rockies.

Originally the easy Yellowhead Pass had been determined upon, the line
coming down to the vicinity of Kamloops, where it was to meet the
western sections, from Port Moody on Burrard Inlet, to Savona, which
the Dominion Government undertook to construct and turn over to the
Company.  This included some of the most difficult railroad
construction on the continent, particularly through the canyons between
Yale and Lytton.

It was in September, 1882, that President George Stephen of the C.P.R.
telegraphed to Prime Minister John A. Macdonald: "The route through the
Rocky Mountains is by the Kicking Horse Pass.  This has been adopted,
and Major Rogers reports having found the looked for pass through the
Selkirk Range, thus making the connection with Kamloops by the shortest
possible line.  The grades for twenty miles on either side of the
summit, though heavy, are easier than any of the American lines.  No
tunnel necessary.  Hope to be within 250 miles of Kamloops by this time
next year.  Expect to have the whole line from Montreal to the Pacific
Ocean open by January 1, 1887."

Major A. B. Rogers, C.E., was over-optimistic.  The last four miles of
the pass that now bears his name proved to have such heavy gradients
that it became necessary some years later to construct one of the
longest mountain-tunnels in the world.

It was November 7, 1885, when the rails from the East met those from
the West, at a point between Sicamous and Revelstoke--known as
Craigellachie.  A special train bearing Vice-President W. C. Van Horne
and other officials of the Company had come from Montreal to witness
the completion of the "iron road across the continent."  It was a raw
day, with just a powdering of snow.  As the last rails were laid on the
ties, the official party crowded close.  A hammer was given to Donald
Alexander Smith (later Lord Strathcona), and he hammered home a spike.
There were no flags flying, no bands blaring; there were no oratorical
outpourings, just a cheer from the crowd of grade workers, and a remark
by Van Horne that the work was well done.  But this rather
matter-of-fact proceeding was the culmination of the dreams of British
statesmen for centuries: it was the realization of the all-red route,
and it had bound Canada together with bands of steel.

As soon as the visitors had clambered back on the train and it had
continued to the Coast, a track-layer picked up a spike, exclaiming,
"I'm going to drive the last spike," and drove it into the same tie.
"No, I will," shouted another man as he pounded a third spike into the
wood.  Another and another followed suit and, as Harry Hardy, who
witnessed the happening, said, "Before that competition ended there was
no room for another 'last spike' in that tie."

The next day the train steamed into Port Moody, to the cheers and
welcoming speeches of the populace.  The little town that had sprung up
at the head of the Inlet was "the official terminus" of the line.  A
townsite had been surveyed and there was a scramble for lots, at boom
prices; investors had swarmed into the tide-water town; professional
men and artisans had settled there, and business men had opened stores
and shops.  Now that the first train had made a transcontinental
crossing, there was real rejoicing--but the town was doomed to
disappointment.  The road was to move on to a new terminus.




98

GRANVILLE CHANGES NAME

In 1882 Engineer J. Ross came to the Coast to make a study of Burrard
Inlet for the C.P.R.  The great harbour impressed him, as did Coal
Harbour where he found plenty of water for docks and land for railway
yards.  He reported that the terminal of the line should be pushed down
the Inlet from Port Moody, where there were poor facilities for
developing a volume of deep-sea shipping, to Coal Harbour and English
Bay.

Premier W. Smithe of British Columbia was in Montreal in the spring of
1884 and discussed with Vice-President W. C. Van Horne of the railway
company the abandonment of Port Moody as a terminal.  Van Horne asked
for large subsidies in land for making the change.  Under the terms of
union the Province had to convey to the Dominion, in trust, a strip
twenty miles on each side of the main-line right-of-way.  When,
however, Port Moody was announced as the terminal, the Federal
Government released the lands west of that place from the reserve.
Smithe, at the interview, told Van Horne he would withhold the lands
from being put on the market until the railway executive could reach
the Coast.

Van Horne did not come when expected; so, on May 23, the Premier wrote
to him emphasizing the necessity for an early visit and settlement of
the land question.  To this the Vice-President replied: "The Company
will undertake to make the Pacific terminus at Coal Harbour and English
Bay, if the reserved lands referred to in your letter of May 23 as
having been relinquished by the Dominion Government may be secured to
the Company, and if we are able to make reasonable arrangements with
private holders of lands in that vicinity."

The lands involved included Crown holdings in what is now Burnaby,
Vancouver South, and Point Grey, at Granville, and in what is now the
West End of Vancouver.  The private holdings to which Van Horne made
reference indicated a demand that owners surrender one-third of their
property to the Company, particularly in respect to townsite lots.

Mr. Van Horne came to the Coast later in the year.  He was delighted
with Coal Harbour, but said that there was another condition that was
imperative.  It was that the name of the terminus must be "Vancouver."
This suggestion raised a storm of protest from Victoria, but that did
not bother the railway executive, who bluntly said that no person knew
where "Granville" was, but that "Vancouver" was a name indelibly
associated with British Columbia--and he insisted on making the change.

After completing arrangements with the Government about the public
lands to be given for the extension of the few miles from Port Moody,
lots were drawn for the Company's share in the private holdings.

When Van Horne was satisfied and it became a certainty that the
terminus would be moved to Coal Harbour, there was a tremendous boom in
the old sawmill camp about the Hastings Mill that was to become a great
city.  Wooden business blocks, houses, shacks and other structures went
up on all sides; businesses and small industries opened, and workmen
poured in looking for the work that was waiting for them.  But Port
Moody was in torment.  Hundreds had purchased lots there speculating in
realty on the strength of the announcement that the town would be the
end of steel.  Citizens delayed extension temporarily by going to the
courts for an injunction to stop the change.  This did not succeed.

It was early in 1886 that a petition was circulated asking the
Legislature to incorporate the City of Vancouver--not under the
provisions of the Municipal Act, but by special charter.  This was
granted and the special legislation requested was passed, and Vancouver
came into corporate existence on April 6, 1886.  It had between sixty
and seventy business establishments two months later, including a dozen
hotels, three restaurants, five groceries, four boots- and shoes-shops,
and--of course--ten real-estate offices.

Malcolm MacLean was chosen mayor.  Aldermen were: Robt. Balfour, C. A.
Caldwell, Peter Cordiner, Thos. Dunn, Joseph Griffith, J. Humphries,
Henry Hemlow, E. P. Hamilton, L. A. Hamilton and Joseph Northcott.  The
election was held on May 3.




99

VANCOUVER DESTROYED

Sunday, June 13, 1886, was another warm day, but the fresh breeze from
the West carried clouds of acrid smoke from C.P.R. land-clearing
operations towards the wooden city of Vancouver.  As the morning wore
on the wind strengthened and people returning from church services
coughed and spluttered, but they made no complaint: it was an annoyance
that was inseparable from pioneering progress, something that must be
endured to assist in the building of a great seaport and railway
terminal.

In the inlet that summer Sunday the old barque 'Robert Kerr' swung at
anchor in the harbour, while several small sail-boats carried pleasure
parties over the waters of the Inlet; some had gone to picnic on the
North Shore, and some to a funeral at New Westminster.  No person was
fearful of that wind and the fire, which the smoke indicated was
pointed at the little city.

About two o'clock the wind increased to gale proportions.  A small
girl, holding the hand of her little brother, was on her way to Sunday
School.  A man ran past her, then stopped to tell her to go home, that
fire was coming--and resumed his flight.  The children continued to
church, where the minister dismissed them and told them to hurry home.
Before they could reach home the bell of St. James's Church was
clanging out a warning.  The little ones and their parents were saved,
finding shelter on the Hastings Mill Company's wharf, and later in the
old 'Robert Kerr'.

Within an hour, Vancouver--the busiest, most energetic, fastest growing
community in the Province--was a smoking waste.  How many died in that
holocaust will never be known, but searchers amid the smouldering ruins
found seven dead.

"Never was there such a fire before," declared the Vancouver
_Advertiser_ when publication was resumed in the city, June 29.  "No
one ever saw anything more frantically rapid or terribly complete.  The
startled populace barely heard the cry of 'fire' when they were
compelled to flee for their lives with what small traps they could
conveniently carry.  Hastily packed trunks were barely moved away from
the burning buildings a hundred feet, and those who lingered to save a
few valuables barely escaped with their lives.  Two thirds of the
people of Vancouver the day after the fire, could not boast of more
than the clothes they stood in....  There was not time for
consideration of ways and means.  Crazed by excitement and terror, our
people fled hither and thither, seeking any avenue of escape from the
relentless flames that rapidly choked up every outlet from the furious
fire that raged on every hand.  People became bewildered and fled in
all directions and to control in the smallest degree the raging element
was beyond human genius and human power."

Vancouver was physically obliterated except for the Hastings Mill, the
vacant oil-plant, and a few small buildings, mostly near False Creek,
the ruin was complete.  But the courage of the people, their faith, and
their industry would not admit defeat.  Speaking proudly, the
_Advertiser_ in the same issue boasted:

"At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, the 13th of June, the city was completely
destroyed by fire; at 3 o'clock on Monday morning teams were delivering
lumber upon the site of the smouldering city; before the sun had gone
down on that day several buildings had been erected and were being
occupied.  In less than three days a dozen firms were doing business in
hastily finished frame structures, and at this date [June 29] we have a
stirring, active community, the nucleus of a considerable city in as
many hours as it usually takes days."

The tragedy of June 13 proved how quickly and generously people respond
to human need: from communities near and far there came contributions
and offers of help.  Such kindness inspired the citizens of Vancouver
to restore and rebuild their city on a larger and grander scale.




100

VANCOUVER CHARTER SUSPENDED

Less than a year after Vancouver was so proudly incorporated, the
city's charter was suspended and Provincial Police under Superintendent
H. B. Roycroft took Vancouver into "protective custody."

It was February 24, 1887: the C.P.R. grade was being constructed from
Port Moody, and contractors proposed to use Chinese labour.  Already
citizens had demonstrated their hostility to the employment of
Orientals, who worked for lower wages than whites would accept.  A
number of Chinese had come from Victoria, only to be met at the dock by
determined men who forced them to return to the Capital City.  Now an
excited man hurried through the streets of the business section,
bearing a large placard.  It read: "The Chinese have come: Mass Meeting
in the City Hall, tonight."

That evening a crowd estimated at 300 persons jammed into the City
Hall.  They listened to inflammatory speeches and shouted approval of
several resolutions.  Then the chairman quitted his chair.  He had no
sooner done so than an unidentified voice called, "Those in favour of
turning out the Chinese tonight say 'aye'."  There was a thunderous
assent, and the meeting broke up, with men shouting, "Tonight!
Tonight!", as they would a battle-cry, while they stumbled out into the
winter night.

Chinese had reached the city and were placed in temporary quarters in
some shacks about a mile west of the town.  By the flickering light of
one or two lanterns, the angry men hurried over the trail that wound
through a maze of stumps, and over rough and uneven ground.

"On arriving at the Chinese camp," the _Daily News_ reported the next
day, "the mob immediately surrounded the shanties and amidst howls and
yells commenced the work of seizing the Chinamen.  A number got away in
spite of their efforts to surround them.  Those who were caught in some
instances were badly kicked by some of the crowd, then ordered to pack
and leave, in which they were assisted in no gentle manner."

It was at this juncture that a whistle was heard, and the gigantic form
of City Police Chief J. Stewart, followed by Superintendent Roycroft of
the Provincial Force, emerged from the blackness of the night into the
dim circle of light cast by the lanterns.  Shouting to the mob, which
had been stilled by the piercing note of the whistle, to stop molesting
the Chinese, the two brave officers stepped between the frightened
Orientals and the whites.  The Chinese were herded into one of the
tumbledown shacks, and Stewart and Roycroft took a position in front of
the door.  No one attempted to get past that pair.

Gradually the crowd dispersed.  Then from Chinatown, in the heart of
the city, flames fingered up into the night air.  A white man had set
fire to a Chinese shack.  The flames spread, and soon there were two or
three structures burning.  The sight of the wall of fire chilled the
hearts of those who had so recently witnessed the destruction of the
town.  Animosity was forgotten and some who had just returned from the
raid on the Orientals now rushed to help the fire department battle the
flames.  For a time it looked as if Vancouver might easily be destroyed
a second time.

Official Victoria was shocked when the happenings of that wild February
night were reported.  The Cabinet met and authorized the raising of a
force of some thirty-five special police.  These were despatched to
Vancouver to be under the orders of Superintendent Roycroft, who was to
suspend the City's charter and take charge until all prospects of a
repetition of unruliness had disappeared.  So Roycroft duly presented
himself at the City Hall and assumed control.

The C.P.R. extension from Port Moody was completed in the late spring.
It was on May 23--on the eve of the birthday of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria, who was celebrating the Golden Jubilee of her reign--that
gaily decorated Engine No. 374 steamed in to the terminal at Coal
Harbour, to be tumultuously greeted by the citizens, once more in
possession of their charter.




101

KOOTENAY TROUBLE SPOT

When Chief Isadore and a score of his armed Kootenay braves raided the
lockup at Wild Horse Creek and liberated a tribesman named Kapla, a
murder suspect, both the Provincial and Federal Governments were
alarmed.  It was in the spring of 1887, only two years after Louis Riel
had lighted the flames of rebellion on the plains, and it was feared
that another Indian insurrection might be in the making.  Kapla had
been arrested by Harry Anderson, the lone agent of government south of
the C.P.R. line, and F. W. Aylmer, a surveyor, who acted as a special
constable.  Isadore demanded that Anderson and Aylmer quit the country.
The frightened white settlers--there was but a handful--recommended to
the two representatives of the law that they leave the vicinity for the
time being, for fear of inciting the Indians to further violence.

Word of the high-handed action of Isadore was carried to Donald, on the
C.P.R., by R. T. Galbraith, of Galbraith's Ferry.  The news was
telegraphed to Victoria, where the Government immediately wired Ottawa
asking for a division of the famous North West Mounted Police to be
sent to Kootenay.

Before the arrival of the Mounties, a commission composed of Dr. I. W.
Powell (Superintendent of Indian Affairs), Assistant Commissioner L. W.
Herchmer of the N.W.M.P., and Magistrate A. W. Vowell went to Wild
Horse and held an inquiry.  Isadore was impressed and agreed to the
return of the two white men, and the surrender of Kapla.  He said that
his young men were getting hard to handle; they were fearful that the
advance of the white man was going to rob them of their hereditary
lands.

It was June when Division B--seventy-five men--under the redoubtable
Major Sam Steele arrived at Golden.  With considerable difficulty they
made their way up to the headwaters of the Columbia, and from there to
Bummers' Flat near Wild Horse.  Ten acres of land were purchased from
Galbraith and there a post named "Fort Steele" was constructed.

In reporting on the circumstances of the trouble, Major Steele was
critical of the delay in trying to solve the murder of two prospectors,
Kemp and Hylton, three years before between Wild Horse and Kicking
Horse Pass.  Steele thought that the crime might have been committed by
some of the "bad characters either making for the railway," then under
construction, "or escaping from justice in Canada."

"The action of Isadore showed the whites," Steele commented, "that
although the Indians had up to that time abstained from any hostility
they did not do so through any fear of consequences.  It was evident to
all that the whites had been there on sufferance.  A meeting of the
white settlers was held, the situation discussed and the decision
arrived at that Commissioner Anderson and the Hon. F. W. Aylmer were to
leave the country temporarily."

The Kootenays were suspicious and un-cooperative when the police
arrived.  Major Steele sent for Isadore, who hesitatingly agreed to the
meeting, but he complied with the demand of the Inspector that Kapla be
brought in as well as another suspect.  This was done and they were
brought before Steele for a hearing.  He could find no evidence to
sustain a charge of murder, and liberated the two men.  This deeply
impressed the Indians with the fact that the police were fair.  Steele
felt that the killing had probably been done by white ruffians.

Experienced in the ways of natives, Major Steele learned to respect the
Kootenays, and commented that during the year he was amongst them he
had never had complaint of a single theft.  Isadore and his people also
came to admire the red-coated officers and constables.  When orders
came, the following year, recalling the division, Chief Isadore made a
speech at parting, in which he said that the conduct of the force had
changed the attitude of his people towards the whites, and that if
difficulties arose in the future he would cross the mountains and
discuss his troubles with his red-coated friends at Fort Macleod.

The quick action of the two Governments and the fine conduct, the
impartiality and the discipline of the North West Mounted Police had
prevented what might have been a serious conflict with a brave and
well-armed people.




102

FORTUNE FOR FEES

Joe Moris and Joe Bourgeois stood outside the assayer's office in
Nelson dejectedly studying the analyses of a number of samples that
they had brought to be tested.  They had been prospecting on Red
Mountain, near the head of Trail Creek, and had staked four claims and
put in protecting posts on a fifth, the "Le Wise," just to keep the
ground open.  They were permitted to have only four claims: these they
had marked out as the War Eagle, Centre Star, Idaho and Virginia.  They
had gathered samples and had taken them to the fast-growing town on
Kootenay Lake that came into existence after the Hall brothers had
found the Silver King on Toad Mountain.

The assay returns were disappointing: the best was three dollars and
twenty-five cents, while six of the samples showed no values.
Bourgeois was disgusted and said that he would not bother with the
claims any more, but Moris was more optimistic, arguing that better
values might be found in a more intensive examination.  His partner
agreed, but insisted that he could not see any sense in paying two
dollars and fifty cents a claim for recording fees.  After a moment of
silence, Bourgeois had an inspiration.  "I know that fellow Topping,
the deputy recorder," he said.  "He will take a chance: suppose we
offer him that Le Wise claim if he will pay the fees for the other
four?"  "Sure!" exclaimed Moris.  Topping was willing.  He was a
sportsman, and readily agreed to put up the money necessary for
recording fees.  But he insisted he would have to go to Red Mountain
and personally stake the ground they offered him.

It was July 20, 1890, when he left Nelson to follow the others to see
the property.  He examined it carefully, and then, addressing Bourgeois
and Moris, he said, "I'll keep it, and will call it 'Le Roi', instead
of 'Le Wise', and next month I'll go to Spokane and raise money to work
it."

And that is how Eugene Sayre Topping, sailor, writer, trapper, miner
and all-round adventurer, became possessed of one of the world's
spectacular gold-mines--for twelve dollars and fifty cents!  He did not
get to Spokane before he financed it.  Having met Colonel R. W.
Ridpath, a financier, and George Forester, a lawyer, on the train, he
showed them the samples he was carrying.  They too were ready to take a
chance.  The result was that they organized a syndicate to take over a
sixteen-thirtieth of the claim for $16,000 and guaranteed to spend
$3,000 in development work before June, 1891.

When it became known that American capital was interested in Red
Mountain, there was a regular stampede of prospectors to the area.  One
of the early men on the scene was Ross Thompson, a young fellow with
imagination.  He pre-empted 160 acres near the mines, and laid out a
townsite.  It was named "Rossland" in his honour.

As the Le Roi and the War Eagle and the Centre Star and other noted
mines went into production, Rossland became a busy, noisy,
rough-and-tumble mining-camp.  Men--and women--of all kinds hurried
there to share in the wealth that was being produced.  This production
was slow at first, but eventually it was almost fabulous.  Then when a
large body of ore was uncovered in 1893, according to Lance H.
Whittaker, editor of _The Golden City_, "merchants, hotel-keepers,
doctors, lawyers, gamblers, painted women and all the rag-tag and
bob-tail of civilization gravitated to this new strike.  'Boomers' of
every description were seen coming down the hills and up the valleys.
Tents mushroomed and the scent of whip-sawn tamarac and fir was
everywhere as the Trail Creek has become a seething locality."

Then came one of the most colourful figures of the North American
mining world, F. Augustus Heinze, a young speculator who had challenged
the great manipulators of the American West.  He negotiated contracts
for ore supplies from Rossland mines and constructed a smelter where
Trail Creek emptied into the Columbia, and laid the foundations of the
great Trail metallurgical works of today.

Heinze built a railroad from Trail to Rossland to handle the ore, and
on this narrow-gauge line he used equipment that he purchased in Utah;
and men and women trundled up and down the steep grade in a passenger
car that had once been the private coach of Brigham Young.  It was in
keeping with the times, as was the dinner given in Rossland's Allen
Hotel, where the napkins were one-hundred-dollar bank-notes.




103

VICTORIA ANCHORS CAPITAL

Vancouver was regarded with grave suspicion by Victoria; the ambitious
Terminal City was jealous and contemptuous of the leisurely Capital.
This mutual dislike had been growing ever since Granville had changed
its name to Vancouver, an action that Victoria regarded as a direct
injury.  In 1890-91 the bitterness had been increased over the
prospective site for a University.

The administration of Premier John Robson carried an act through the
Legislature creating the University of British Columbia.  A regular
convocation was held, attended by some 125 university graduates, and a
senate had been named.  Dr. I. W. Powell of Victoria was Chancellor,
and R. P. Cooke, of Vancouver, Vice-Chancellor.  The legislation set
the time and place for the Senate to meet.  It was Victoria; Mainland
Senators would not attend.  There was no provision in the Act for such
a contingency and without a Senate there could be no University.

The sacrifice of the University on the altar of intercity enmity is
credited with being one of the activating causes in "anchoring" the
Capital on the Island.  With the growing importance of Vancouver there
were suggestions that the seat of government should be moved to the
Mainland.  Victoria business interests suggested to Premier Theodore
Davie that he should take steps to fix the capital permanently at
Victoria by constructing new and costly legislative buildings there.

There is no doubt that there was need for more accommodation.  The five
pagoda-like buildings, off Birdcage Walk--as the present extension of
Government Street through the James Bay District was known--had been
constructed in 1859 for the official purposes of a small colony, but
were insufficient for an active and growing province of Canada.
Theodore Davie submitted a bill to the House in 1893 for the borrowing
of $600,000 for new legislative and business offices.  The bill
carried, despite bitter opposition from some sections of the Mainland.

The buildings were completed in 1897, and were opened for the early
session in the following year.  The occasion, February 10, 1898, was
one of great magnificence, the Lieutenant-Governor, the Honourable T.
R. McInnes, officiating.  F. M. Rattenbury was the architect.  His
design contemplated a massive building in general Renaissance style,
with a noble central dome, but taking much of its inspiration from the
palace of an Indian prince.  Supported by two smaller buildings
connected by colonnades on either side, its proportions gave harmony
and balance to the whole.  Construction was largely carried out with
native materials.  The grey stone from Haddington Island, with which
the main buildings are faced, has a peculiar property of reflecting the
shades of the sky; the Assembly committee-rooms are finished in woods
from B.C. forests.  The Legislative Hall was enriched by Italian
marble.  The entire cost of the main buildings was approximately
$981,000.

It was an immense sum for its time, but the Government had not been
extravagant in all things.  It was necessary to have a new mace for the
opening of the House in such ornate surroundings.  The old wooden one
that had served for years was to be replaced.  So a second-hand "symbol
of authority" was purchased--along with some ink-well tops--in a job
lot in Chicago, left-overs from the World's Fair in that city.  That
mace was used for every sitting of the Legislature from February 10,
1898, to February 16, 1954.

It was a commodious building.  One minister, on moving into his
spacious offices, complained that he could not get anyone to answer his
bell.  He would dash out into the corridor, and jump up and down,
exclaiming that "they'll never fill this great barn in five hundred
years."  Additional space for Government has required the construction
of many buildings in and about Victoria since that time.

Theodore Davie succeeded in "anchoring the capital" when he constructed
the Parliament Buildings, but the University, when it was again made
the subject of public consideration by Richard McBride, in 1910, went
to Vancouver--and both cities were satisfied.




104

RUSH TO KLONDYKE

In keeping with other parts of the North American continent British
Columbia was hard hit by the depression of the early "nineties."
Dependent as the Province was on capital from outside, the financial
stringency brought unemployment.  Building stopped; idle men walked the
streets; some churches opened soup-kitchens; vacant houses were to be
found in nearly every block in Vancouver.  The one bright spot was the
activity in mining, as the result of interest engendered by the
Rossland discoveries.  The slack period had one good effect, however:
it turned men's attention to land settlement.  But even land
development required money.

Then in 1897 there came whispers, quickly changing into joyous shouts,
"Gold! Gold! Gold!!!", as almost unbelievable stories of treasure-paved
creeks of the frozen Yukon circulated.  A new strike had been made in
the streams draining into the Klondyke.  Little had been heard of the
discovery until word of the clean-up of 1896-97 came down in the spring
of '97--$2,000,000!  Soon the world was on the move towards the unknown
land of such fabulous richness.

Vancouver and Victoria were slow to realize the trade opportunities of
the rush.  Seattle, much more alert, reached out for business.  Vessels
of all sorts, steamers that had been rotting in the backwaters of every
Pacific port, were hastily recommissioned, to sail north with every
inch of space crowded with passengers and supplies.  At last the
British Columbia towns became busy; vacant stores were rented to
traders specializing in mining outfits; shipyards started building
stern-wheeled river-boats for northern streams and lakes;
rooming-houses bulged with tenants, and cafs and lunch-counters
started in every convenient corner of the business sections.

Vancouver, particularly, became active.  Thousands tumbled in from
every train: youngsters who had no idea of what lay before them; robust
men totally inexperienced; old men who possessed courage and
understanding but were weakened in physique--and women too, the painted
brazens that participated in every rush; faithful wives and sturdy
mothers who would not let their sons go unaccompanied--all were there.
They came with piles of "supplies" that they could not transport beyond
Vancouver, or if they did, would find of little use; or they came
empty-handed hoping to pick up the bare necessities before boarding
ship--any ship.  And all wanted dogs.  Never had such ignorance of
canines been exhibited; never had such prices been paid for mongrels.
Dogs were reputed to be the best means of transporting freighted
sleighs over the frozen terrain--therefore dogs must be secured.  The
streets of Vancouver and Victoria witnessed ill-matched thoroughbreds
and curs harnessed to laden sleighs being trained in the mud of the
thoroughfares, with fur-coated, parka-clad, perspiring men shouting and
cracking whips, urging recent lap-dogs and hounds to "mush on."

Never had there been such an "army of innocents" on the march, and with
them, naturally, went many of the dregs of the underworld, thieves,
gamblers, bullies, not to work in the frozen ground, but to prey upon
those who did.  And amid that motley throng were scarlet-tunicked,
stetson-hatted men of the North West Mounted--a handful only, but
representing the majesty of the Queen's laws, and justice--to win a new
reputation for themselves and for Canada.

Hardly had the rush to the Klondyke creeks got under way before the
heavy gold from the Atlin country, in British Columbia's northwest
corner, drew thousands there in a second rush.

Gold, there was--for some; failure for the majority, but the gold from
the Yukon and from Atlin gave new impetus to Vancouver and also brought
a measure of prosperity to Victoria--and to lesser degrees the whole of
British Columbia shared in it.




105

FIRE DAMAGES ROYAL CITY

New Westminster was in a happy mood that Saturday night of September
10, 1898.  Arrangements were being completed for the "biggest and best"
exhibition ever held in the old city, on October 3.  Business had been
good that summer; crops had been abundant, and that very day 1,750
cases of canned salmon had been shipped to London, as an initial order.
People were on their way home, and stores were being locked up, when
about 11.45 p.m. there was an alarm of fire.

Horse-drawn equipment, under Acting Chief Watson, came thundering down
Columbia Street, towards the flames on the river front that shot high
against the dark background of the night.  A spark from a passing
steamer had ignited a great stock of hay piled on Brackman & Ker's
wharf.  Tinder dry, the hay whipped across Front Street to set the
Lytton Hotel, the Webster and the Lee Tung Buildings alight.

Firemen, aided by the willing citizens, fought desperately.  They might
have won, had not two river-boats, the 'Gladys' and the 'Edgar', moored
at the B & K dock, taken fire.  Soon each was a mass of roaring flames;
the cables burned through and these fire-boats were carried by the
stream along the wharves, bumping from one to another--and setting fire
wherever they touched.  The 'Bon Accord' was set on fire and soon
joined the other blazing vessels in their destructive course.

Valiantly the firemen fought, but were gradually forced back, and some
hose was lost.  Then Chief Watson ran to a telephone and asked Chief J.
H. Carlisle, in Vancouver, for the loan of additional fire-hose.  In a
matter of minutes one thousand feet were on their way, and the chief
was arranging for a second thousand to be sent.  He detailed nine men
to accompany the hose.  Then he started for the scene himself in his
light rig, and is reported to have reached the fire, twelve miles away,
in approximately one hour.

When Chief Carlisle arrived the whole of Columbia Street's fine
business section was a cauldron of flames; Chinatown was a furnace, and
sparks and whirling embers carried by the high wind were raining down
on the parched roofs of the residential areas.  Men, women and children
fought the spread of the fire and worked to salvage valuables.  There
was neither panic nor wailing, only desperate purpose.

Chief Carlisle, his men and the hose were welcomed by Chief Watson, who
asked Carlisle to take charge of the eastern section of the city, where
he rendered efficient service.

Nun Lee, a Chinese merchant, died in trying to save something from his
burning office.  Two firemen were severely injured, while many persons
suffered lesser cuts and burns.  All told, there were sixty blackened
blocks when daylight came and the conflagration was finally stayed.
The loss was estimated to be $2,500,000--or nearly twice that of
Vancouver, suffered twelve years before.  It was some hours later
before Victoria learned of the burning of her old rival, the old
capital city's telephone and telegraph lines having all been broken.

The Government took prompt action.  The Federal authorities and the
mayor were also informed, and by one o'clock a special train, laden
with army and civilian tents, blankets and other supplies, was on its
way to Nanaimo, seventy-five miles distant.  It made a record run of
ninety minutes, and by five o'clock the steamer 'Joan' was on her way
with the relief stores for the stricken city.  Vancouver and other
nearby communities poured aid into the smoking town, while more distant
centres wired funds and offers of additional help.

Within twenty-four hours New Westminster started rebuilding.  The
wonderful spirit of the people was exemplified when it was announced
that "the exhibition will be held as arranged."




106

DEVELOPMENT & SACRIFICE

The Twentieth Century arrived to find the Empire at war and in that
terrible conflict on the parched fields of South Africa Canada played a
notable part.  Among the finest of the Dominion troops in the Boer War
were those from British Columbia.  It was on February 27, 1900--the
anniversary of a British defeat, some years before, at Majuba
Hill--that Canadians helped to storm Cronje's position at Paardeburg
and forced the "old fox" of the Boer army to surrender.

As troop-trains carried the laughing, cheering recruits off to the
East, British Columbia flocked to the railway stations and crowded the
right-of-way to wave adieu and shout good wishes.  There were still
sturdy, silver-haired old men who had seen the mad rush of gold-seekers
to the Fraser and Cariboo in that throng; men who had stampeded to
Cariboo and who had faced the dangers of savage wilds when the colonies
were young.  They had come to encourage by their presence the brave men
who were off to protect the Empire.  It was the end of an era; and
here, too, the Pageant of B.C. should end.

It was indeed the end of one age, and the commencement of a new: the
expansion and activities of new ways and new industries.  And in the
second year of the century the Great Queen--Victoria the Good--closed
her eyes.  She had mothered an Empire for more than three score years.
She was on the throne ten years after Fort Langley was started, and six
years before Douglas had laid out the plan for the fort that was named
in her honour.  Elderly people could scarce realize a world without her
dominating personality.

Twice more in the next half-century were gallant young men from British
Columbia destined to follow the war-trail in defence of the freedoms
that the Empire represented; in their tens of thousands they went, and
in every corner of the vast Province cenotaphs and plaques bespeak the
reverence and gratitude of their fellow citizens for the great
sacrifices made for King and Country.

The new century saw tremendous and varied development.  Expansion of
world trade followed close upon the end of the Boer War.  Business
delegations from the Mother Country came to see the land that had sent
its fine fighting men to defend the Empire.  They were astounded at the
size, quality and quantity of the forest growth of British Columbia,
and new orders for lumber were received--the start of the great trade
that was to develop.

Mining, too, flourished, and on the Coast several smelters were
constructed, while, in addition to the small plants at interior points,
the furnaces that Heinze had built on the flat above Trail Creek grew
and continued to grow until they became recognized as the foremost
metallurgical works of its kind in the world.

Land settlement extended, and in the cities real-estate boomsters for a
time ran riot, but the era of speculation that they initiated brought
thousands of new citizens to the Province.  Along with the realty
madness of the cities, there developed a wild period of
railway-building.  The Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern (both
now merged in the Canadian National system), the Kettle Valley line,
consolidating various charters, and the Pacific Great Eastern gave
employment to thousands of workers.  Scores of villages, towns and
cities sprang up along these lines.

Manufacturing followed population, and in turn demanded electric power
beyond the possibility of production by steam-plants: this meant the
tumbling rivers of the country must be harnessed.  Today there are
great mills and pulp-plants and industries utilizing the hydro-electric
energy of mighty power-developments--and even larger ones are in
contemplation.  Burrard Inlet, the natural harbour, overlooked by the
twin lions that Nature herself sculptured from mountain tops, is one of
the great ports of the world.  Her environs spread across to the north
shore and up the steep slopes; and the city itself extends to the
Fraser.  And Victoria is still the Capital, and is even more admired by
reason of its beauty and gracious living.  There are scores of other
cities--each with its own charm and character--and all playing their
several parts in the Pageant of British Columbia.






[End of Pageant of B.C., by B. A. McKelvie]
