Colonial Despatches

James D. Churchill served as Alfred Waddington's attorney during the disputes surrounding the construction of a road between mining facilities near the mouth of the Quesnel River and the Bute Inlet that resulted in the “Chilcotin War” of 1864. 1

Waddington began construction of a road from Bute Inlet with the intention of transporting gold to Vancouver Island by boat. 2 Operations came to a halt when a group of Tsilhqot'in attacked Waddington's work party killing 19 of his men. 3 Frederick Seymour, the governor of British Columbia at the time, set out to have those responsible apprehended, with five men ultimately being executed. 4

After the incident, Waddington quickly ran out of funds to complete the project and ultimately abandoned it. 5 The despatches outline the communications between Churchill and Seymour's representatives as Waddington tried in vain to raise the funds necessary to save the project.

• 1. Churchill to Cardwell, 20 September 1865, National Archives of the UK, 9137, CO 60/23, 253.
• 2. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 3. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 4. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 5. W. Kaye Lamb, Waddington, Alfred Penderell, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.