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Captain James Cook of the British Navy reached British Columbia in 1778, followed by Captain James Barkley in 1878 who came in search of sea otter pelts. On April 30, 1792, Captain George Vancouver's exploring expedition on the ship HMS Discovery enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Shortly thereafter, he met Spanish explorer Captain Dionisio Galiano in what is now named English Bay.
Captain George Vancouver
Captain Vancouver sailed to the Pacific Northwest region to search Northwest Passage. He mapped and surveyed the area that is now downtown Vancouver, giving various parts British names. He returned to his native England little imagining that is less than one hundred years his name would be immortalized in that rugged wilderness.
In 1808, following the course of the river that today bears his name, Simon Fraser arrived. He was searching for the Columbia River; once he determined that this was not Columbia and was then confronted by hostile Indians, he turned back in disappointment the same day.
Fort Vancouver
However, the area was opened by these overland explorations. In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company opened Fort Vancouver on a bluff above the north bank of the Columbia River. At the time, it was thought that the north bank, which is now Vancouver, Washington, would be the border between Canada and the U.S.
In 1836, the Beaver—the first steamship to reach the Pacific Ocean—arrives from England.
The growth by white settlers was spurred by the discovery of gold at Fraser Canyon in British Columbia in 1856. Approximately 25,000 prospectors arrived from world ports. Then in 1870, Billy Barker found gold at Williams Creek, and by 1870, more than 100,000 traveled to Barkerville, which, for a time, was the largest town in western Canada.
During this time, native groups began producing dogfish oil, dried halibut and salmon for the growing immigrant population.
With the completion of the railroad in 1887, shipping increased to meet the railroad and Vancouver soon became Canada's main West coast seaport. Coast forest and fishing resources were exploited by white settlers and a prosperous export lumber trade developed. At the turn of the century, salmon, halibut, cod and herring triggered a growing fishing industry. Canneries, fish buyers and processing plants were established throughout coastal areas.
The west coast of Vancouver Island also developed a history of shipwrecks . . . since 1803, more than 240 ships wrecked along that coastline.
Mayne Island
Mayne Island is located in the southern Gulf Islands, between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia. Captain George Richards of the Royal Navy surveyed the area aboard his vessel HMS Plumper in 1857, naming the island after his lieutenant, Richard Charles Mayne.
During the Cariboo and Fraser River Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, Vancouver Island miners gathered on Mayne Island before rowing across Georgia Strait to the mainland of BC in search of their fortunes. The earliest homesteaders registered land claims in the Miners Bay area in 1859.
Morning Oregonian
September 29, 1873
Portland, Oregon
LETTER FROM CARIBOO
. . . The suspension bridge crossing the Fraser river, thirteen miles above Yale, is one of great beauty and strength. The span is 200 feet, the elevation is a hundred feet above the bed of the river, and the water of the river is more than a hundred feet deep. The bridge was built as a private enterprise by the present Lieutenant-Governor, at a cost of $50,000, for which he got from the Government, the exclusive right to levy tolls for seven years, by which he realized a large amount.
The Fraser and Thompson rivers have their rise in the Rocky Mountains, the former is 900 miles long, and the latter about 500 miles, and have forced their way through the Cascade range. This range of mountains is distinguished for its valuable bunch grass and raising fine stock. The cattle raised on the upper part of the Cascade range are remarkable for their size, the tenderness and delicious flavor of the meat, the same is applicable to sheep and mutton. In no part of the United States can finer meat be had than that raised in the upper part of the Cascade range. This business has been very profitable, at present it is depressed; the supply exceeds the demand, and prices are reduced from a third to a half of last year's notes.
From the mouth of the Fraser river to the head of the valley of Thompson river, Lilloet Clinton, and the 150 Mile House, are bottomlands and prairies of fine agricultural land, and as productive soil as the average of the best part of the Willamette Valley, and more parts equal to its choicest farms. On the lower Fraser, such fruits as applies, pear and plums are raised in large quantities and great perfection. Notwithstanding the large quantity and fine quality of fruit raised there, the people of Victoria prefer importing their fruit from San Francisco. "Far off birds have fine feathers."
MINING
The banks of the Fraser river afford striking evidence of the extensive mining carried on there when the great rush took place in 1858-9. From 1858 to 1862, there were not less than $10,000,000 gold taken out of the Fraser, its banks and tributaries. There is still some mining carried on there but it is primarily by Chinamen who are satisfied with small earnings. The discovery of gold in the Cariboo district in 1861-2, caused another great "rush" to Williams Creek, which proved one of the richest diggings, for the extent of it in modern times. From 1862 to 1864, there were 7,000 of a population on a portion of that creek, not exceeding four miles in length. From 1862 to this date, a period of eleven years, more than $15,000,000 of gold have been taken out of that famous creek and its tributary creeks and gulches. The surface diggings on that creek are comparatively exhausted and deep sinking has been resorted to since 1868. There are five or six of such claims still paying; and several hydraulic claims on the upper end of the creek, in successful operation. There is little doubt, in the minds of many intelligent miners, that there will be a large amount of gold taken out of Williams Creek, as soon as strong companies are organized that can put up machinery sufficiently powerful to control the water.
Active Pass Light Station was lit for the first time in 1885 by the light's first keeper, Henry "Scotty" Georgeson. Within two months he wrote to his superior requesting a fog horn. A bell was later installed, followed by a fog horn. Scotty's son, George, later became his assistant.
Brokering Belonging, Lisa Rose Mar
Brokering Belonging traces several generations of Chinese "brokers," ethnic leaders who acted as intermediaries between the Chinese and Anglo worlds of Canada. Before World War II, most Chinese could not vote and many were illegal immigrants, so brokers played informal but necessary roles as representatives to the larger society. Lisa Rose Mar's study of Chinatown leaders shows how politics helped establish North America's first major group of illegal immigrants. Drawing on new Chinese language evidence, her dramatic account of political power struggles over representing Chinese Canadians offers a transnational immigrant view of history, centered in a Pacific World that joins Canada, the United States, China, and the British Empire.
