facing opposite from the oceanor
people living with their backs to the land and mountains,in the Nuučaańuł language, aptly reflecting the Ahousaht’s strong maritime traditions.4
Indian outrages upon white men.One of these
outragesis what historians call the “Ahousaht Incident,” an event in which a group of Nuu-chah-nulth captured the Kingfisher and killed its crew in Clayoquot Sound.5 According to Barry M. Gough, the incident incited one of the worst punishment actions carried out by the Royal Navy, on behalf of the Crown, against Indigenous Peoples on the northwest coast.6 In total, at least nine villages and 64 canoes were destroyed and 15 Indigenous individuals killed.7
created for the purpose of separating Aboriginal children from their families, in order to minimize and weaken family ties and cultural linkages, and to indoctrinate children into a new culture—the culture of the legally dominant Euro-Christian Canadian society.10 You can read more about Canada’s Indian Residential School System in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report, published 2015.11 The Nuu-chach-nulth Tribal Council also completed their own report into residential schools and published their findings in a book titled: Indian Residential Schools: The Nuu-chah-nulth Experience in 1996.12
an English corruption of the original name,has a complicated etymology.2 It originates from the Aleut (Unangan) word
aláxsxaq,which refers to an object to which the sea is directed--in this case an island or peninsula; it also translates as to Alyeksa, which means
great land.3 From Alyeksa, the Russians derived names for the Alaskan peninsula, “Aliaska,” and the territory as a whole, “Alashka.”4 The current variation of the name “Alaska” follows from the same etymology, rooted in the Eskaleut language family.5
artificial lines.11 The “Northwest Coast Indians” comprised of the Haida, Tlingit, and Tshimshian Peoples, as well as the Inupiaq, Yupik, and Athabaskan Peoples, continue to exist within a complex geopolitical sphere of influence amongst the United States, Russia and Canada.12 Indigenous Peoples comprise approximately 16% of the Alaska's total population of 736,239.13
regrettably,taken up the English flag in opposition to their new American administrators.
the accounts from the upper districts of Fraser River are most encouraging, rich alluvial diggings having been found in the neighbourhood of Ft Alexandria.The present-day town of Alexandria is on the right bank of the Fraser, just up from the site of the fort.5
American Bar is paying well. King & Co., took out 118 ounces with four rockers, in one week, and it pays well as the water falls.2
several carats finer than that of Williams Creek, and had a very distinctive appearance.1
Assiniboin Portageas
a distance of ninety miles from Edmonton.Douglas notes that the portage originates at Fort Assinniboin.
the Gold Fields at Ballarat,as well as the so-called “Ballarat riots”.
property valued at from one to two hundred thousand pounds has been destroyed.No one was killed in the fire, although Barkerville’s infrastructure was devastated and this allowed the town to be rebuilt in an orderly fashion with wider roads and more permanent buildings.7 With the harsh winter weather approaching, the building had to be accomplished quite quickly.8 Over 90 per cent of the rebuilding was completed by the beginning of November.9
Mee-a-can, means
bellyand refers to the hill’s resemblance to a fat man laying on his back.3 There is also anthropological evidence that the meadow below Beacon Hill was known as
Meeqanor
warmed by the sun.4 Together these terms suggest this is where
people sat to have their bellies warmed in summer.5
packers brought supplies as far as Beaver Lake on mules, then transferred to horses for the last 20 miles to the Forks,a gold-camp near Quesnel.2
call the attention of agriculturists to the price of grain atWilliamsandBeaver Lake—i.e. 10d a lb for Oats and 1s/3d & 1s/6d a lb for Barley.
Bilston Farm & Thetis Cottage,a matter most pressing in light of Cooper's intentions to
leave this country forEngland.
Buonaparte River,and notes that he intends to follow it to get to
Cayoosh,where he expects
to meet with many settlers.
gravelly river.2
71 ozs of gold dust had been taken out of a claim at Boston Bar near Fort Yale, by three men, in 24 hours.2
a number of minersprospected the
head-waters of Bear River, and there developed rich ground—a bounty mentioned this 1861 report by Douglas, which recounts
reports of some wonderfully rich discoveries on Bear River, a stream which discharges into the south branch of Fraser's River above Fort George.2
there will be employment on this bar for more than a hundred men, and that it will not be exhausted in less than two or three years.
proclaim the Act of Parliament providing for the Government of British Columbia,a ceremony that was
performed at Fort Langley with becoming solemnity on the 19th inst.
near certaintythat Japanese or Chinese sailors plied the northwest coast long before Europeans; to support this, he cites, among other things, a traditional Chinese tale that, in 219 BC, a junk sent for Japan was forced by incessant storms to a land the lost sailors would call Fu-sang, or Fousang—a Northwest Coast location noted on several European maps as late as the mid-eighteenth century.8 The earliest European presence could go back to the legend of Juan de Fuca’s purported visit to the presently named Juan de Fuca Strait, in the early 1590s.9 However, throughout the mid-to-late 1700s, European exploration of the Pacific Northwest increased steadily, largely due to growing political competition between Russia and Spain—for example, the latter nation ordered Juan Pérez to the northwest Pacific, in 1773, in answer to a perceived Russian threat.10
be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca’s Straits, to the Pacific Ocean.12 Unfortunately,
the middle of the channelwould prove to be an equivocal clause.
and not theRosario Straitis the true channel through which the line of Water Boundary was intended to be carried,
Canal de Haro,one of the alternative interpretations of the clause.13 This dispute would catalyze already combustive border tensions to a flash-point on San Juan Island, during the so-called Pig War, which began in 1859 when Lyman A. Cutler shot dead a hog, owned by the HBC, that had raided his garden.14 The matter escalated rapidly into very dire military posturing on both sides, until the boundary was at last arbitrated in Berlin by Emperor Wilhelm I, and on October 21, 1872, the Haro Straight was chosen as the
middle of the channel.15
the more complete definition and demarcation of the international boundary between the United States and the Dominion of Canada.18
oily materialon the surface of its water, which is called “Bute wax”.2
to see if it was possible to transport goods from Victoria by way of Bute Inlet across the Chilcotin Plains to the rich gold fields of Cariboo, by a shorter route than that of the Fraser River; this project became known as the Bute Inlet Road.1
to build a road from [Bute Inlet] up the valley of the Homathko River and thence eastward to the Fraser River in the vicinity of Alexandria; the distance would be about 160 miles.2 In March 1862, James Douglas authorized the route to proceed, and workers completed 53 km of road before November.3
2 km long canyon with precipitous wallsthat required blasting.4 Waddington also found difficulty in funding the road, going as far as selling
his property in Victoria to finance the next season’s operations.5 In 1864, the road construction halted when the work crew was killed by a group of Tsilhqot'in peoples; this event is known as the Chilcotin War.6
unsuccessfully tried to obtain compensation from the governmentfor the Bute Inlet Road, which was never completed.7 In this despatch, Waddington petitions Seymour for compensation for his losses.
snow patches,and it is a significant early village site, primarily used in the winter for fishing.1 The bay is traditional Songhees territory and is a part of the Douglas Treaties of the mid 1800’s.2 The name
Cadboro,also spelled as
Cadborough,comes from the first regular HBC trading ship on the coast of British Columbia.3 Both the Chekonein and the Chilcowith are families within the Songhees Nation and occupied the area, but Douglas did not see this territory sharing as practical, and declared the Chekonein as the sole
ownersof Cadboro Bay.4 This site was used by settlers even before Fort Victoria was established.5
one of the most isolated of Alaskan lighthouses.1
an almost exhaustless gold field, extending through the quartz and slate formations, in a northerly direction from Cariboo Lake.
more convenient orthographyof
Cariboo,instead of the previous incarnations, though he adds that
it should be writtenCariboeufor Rein Deer, the country having been so named from its being a favorite haunt of that species of the deer kind.
runs along the face of frightful precipices,it
is nevertheless perfectly safe for horse and mule travel.Completed in 1865, the road cost the British government $3 million,10 $33 million today.11 As Douglas had hoped, the road decreased the cost of transporting goods throughout BC, from $1.25 per pound to between 11 and 18 cents per pound.12 Unfortunately, by the time the road was completed, the gold rush had diminished and few miners remained in the area.13
most northerly light on the coast.5
people of the red river.1 The Chilcotin Plateau lies between the Fraser River and the Coast Mountains in west-central British Columbia, and includes the majority of the drainage of the Chilcotin River and the headwaters of the Homathko, Klinklini, and Dean Rivers.2 The plateau was created by a volcanic eruption in the late Miocene.3
landscape of resistance, violence, and tragedy.4 One of the most notable events to take place on this territory was the Chilcotin War. In 1864, a group of Tŝilhqot'in individuals led by Lhatŝ’aŝʔin attacked and killed 14 men who were working on the Bute Inlet Road construction.5 The trials of the accused took place in Quesnel in September 1864.6 Judge Begbie sentenced Lhatŝ’aŝʔin and four other Tŝilhqot'in men to death in October 1864, and a sixth man in 1865.7
were treated and tried as criminals in an era where both the colonial government and the legal process did not respect the inherent rights of the Tŝilhqot'in people.8
long been a site of land-use conflicts,which continue, today, as the Tŝilhqot'in people battle against resource extraction on their lands.11
Chilwayhook District,which indicates one of the many variant spellings for the area, which include, among others, “Chilliwak”, “Chilliwhack”, “Chilukweyuk” and “Chiloweyuck”.1
quieter water on the head,or
travel by way of backwater or slough.2
valley of many streams,as well as several other possibilities.3 Chilliwack was likely an Anglicization that referred to First Nations peoples in the region, which comprise the Stó:lō Nation today,4 whose traditional territories blanket the Lower Mainland, and beyond.5
valley of many streams:Tcil'Qe'uk.1
used as a stopping place for vessels wind-bound.
Clayoquot,which is now the predominant contemporary spelling. The name is derived from Nuučaańuł, spoken by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.5 The word translates to
people of other tribes,an accurate description of the area, which is a place of confluence for various Indigenous peoples.6
indian aggression toward white men: the alleged murder of the Colonial Indian Agent for Barkley sound, William Banfield (Bamfield); and the plundering of the merchant sloop Kingfisher and murder of its crew. Vancouver Island's west coast has been a consistent site of Indiegnous-settler interaction which outdates the establishment of the colony. As such, Clayoquot appears often throughout the despatches, noting the area’s natural resources.This despatch, for example, relates an attempt to locate gold fields in the region.
growing most luxuriouslywhen he disembarked from the HMS Beaver;2 however, Scott disputes this claim, and proposes that Douglas named Clover Point during a visit to shore from the Cadboro in 1842.3
a rolling prairie interspersed with belts of timber,which is
denominated at present Thompsons River and Colville districts.It is difficult to verify if Cooper refers to what is known today as the Thompson-Nicola Regional District,1 or the lands surrounding Fort Colvile, which appears a more likely referent, given the nature of Cooper’s report.
Line of Screw Steamers from England to Vancouvers Island (via the Isthmus of Panama)will be forthcoming, adding that the
first Screw Steamer will be despatched from England for Aspinwall with Passengers on or about the first week in August.
to pull grass or hay up by the roots,or
[Aboriginals] by the sea,1 while Akrigg and Akrigg speculate that it means
bare, or void of vegetation.2
red fish up the river.2
cannot find thebut he presumesCouteau Riveron the maps,
from the description to be between Fraser & Thom[p]son's rivers.The Couteau region, also known as the Thompson Region, draws its name from the First Nations bands in the area. However, there is currently no known river in British Columbia called “Couteau”. Ostensibly, there never was a river named Couteau in BC, and Merivale appears to be mistaken.
warming the back.2
the powerful Coast Salish First Nationthat has resided in the region.1
Derby was at this time to be the capital of the Mainland, and play the Sacramento to Victoria's San Francisco.3
gloomyand
forlornsurroundings of both land and sea, and so he named it according to his mood, which was presumably one of desolation by the time he weighed anchor.2
low sandy point of land,or a spit, which, as he continued, resembled
Dungeness in the British channel.1 And, although Vancouver named it “New Dungeness”, the shortened form of Dungeness came to name the bay and spit, a nearby river, and, eventually, a town.2
The People of the Inside,in reference to living inside and around the waterways of Elliott Bay, the Duwamish River, and other lakes and waterways considered DḵẖʷʼDuwʼAbsh ancestral land.1
drifts from place to place,in reference to an island of floating weeds that the Saanich believed was a monster who brought bad luck to all who looked upon it.2 On this 1852 map, Pemberton labels the body of water “Saanich Lake”.
on the opposite side of Broughton strait and westward of Port McNeill.2
surging mass of jostling humanity of all sorts of conditions,conditions which gave rise to the
common occurrencesof
Night assaults and robberies, varied by an occasional cold-blooded murder or daylight theft.3 Douglas details his travels into this legal and social quagmire in this report to Lytton.
silver leadsas well.
at least as early as 1883,after an
otherwise forgotten Englishman who drownedin the river after an attempt to cross it.1
This may or may not be the2Rio de Grullasidentified on early Spanish charts.
one of the best harbours of the Coastduring his survey of the area for the HBC, though he referred to it “Is-whoy-malth” at the time. Esquimalt is an anglicization of a Coast Salish term for
a place gradually shoaling.1 Douglas would later negotiate treaties with several First Nation groups in the area, largely for the development of HBC supply farms.2
70 miles distant from Hope,roughly the location of present-day Keremeos.
so named by the French Canadians on account of some natural features in the vicinity;he goes on to report that Fountain was
the ultimate camp of the mining emigration of 1858.2
sluicesin and around the Fountain area
yield at the rate of 20 dollars a day to the hand.And this despatch, again from 1858, details
the average daily return of each of Five Rockersextracted at the
dry diggingsof Fountain.
various Districts of Fraser's River,and this draft of a warrant, enclosed with this correspondence, and which appoints Douglas as Governor of
Her majesty’s Territories and Possessions in North America,includes the
Fraser’s River Territoryin its list of possessions.
Mining Districtsdenoted the lands, sites, and bars worked for gold along the Fraser, chiefly, between Hope and Yale, and through the Fraser Canyon. In 1858, it is thought that at least 30,000 gold seekers of various backgrounds, national and otherwise, swarmed the Fraser region in search of auriferous reward.3
seducedCaptain Vancouver
with charm and polite perseverance,2 which ultimately deferred the territorial stalemate between Spain and Britain back to their respective governments, likely abating the area from, and for some time the region, the effects of European entrenchment.3
a third Station formed atto intercept trade traffic, wouldFrog Portage,
hermetically seal the Country, and enable the Government to regulate and control the trade with perfect ease and without much expense.
the Gold Mountains of Carribou.Today, the range to which Douglas refers is likely the Monashee Mountains.1
25 square miles on the south east corner of Vancouver's Island.This land commences at Victoria harbour, then runs in a large loop to
near Knocken Hill,then to
Lake Hill, and Mount Douglas to Cordova Bay, on the Canal de Arro, from whence it follows the coast by Gordon Head and Point Gonzales, to the point of commencement at Victoria Harbour.
detailed for special service on the coastfrom 1845-46.1
would not give one of the barren hills of Scotland for all he saw around him.2 How far up the political chain this unfavorable opinion reached is difficult to say; perhaps Gordon's slight was significant for the Oregon Territory dispute, which would be settled, at least on paper, a year later with the signing of the Oregon Treaty.
Lower Fort Garry to Grand Rapidsand, in 1877, a
light tramway was completed at Grand Rapidsin order to carry goods
over the portage.2
six miles above the great falls,which places the “great falls” at the northern end of Lillooet.1
as far as the Great Falls, forty miles beyond the confluence of Thompson's River,that is, 64 km North of Lytton, which corresponds roughly with Bancroft’s location. To muddy things further, Douglas, in the same despatch, refers to
the fallsseveral times, but this reads as distinct from the Great Falls; see The Falls entry for more.
land of water.1 Politically, Guyana shed its colonial designation of British Guiana when it became independent in 1966—for three centuries prior, Guyana was a colonial wrestling mat for the Spanish, Portugese, French, British, and Dutch.2
Captain Baillie Hamilton Secretary of the Admiralty,after whom Commander Gordon names a coal-rich bay,
about eight miles further down the coastfrom present-day Port McNiell, and the archaically named Ellenborough Peninsula.
committed to renaming the Queen Charlotte Islands as Haida Gwaii, in recognition of the long history and habitation of the Haida Nation.3
the gates of hellin his descent of the Fraser in 1808.2 By the time of the Fraser River Gold Rush, 1857-58, miners ensured that the name stuck, and this feature, which boasts and astonishing peak flow of over 900 million litres per minute, was likely an intimidating sentinel to the Fraser’s various northward bars and other gold-mining sites.3
George Cade, who owns a sluice on Hill's Bar,had
four hired men at wages of five dollars a day,under him, and together they averaged earnings of
400 dollars a day.
Fort Hopeas a outpost along the brigade-route.5 In this enclosure from 1858, Douglas reports that Fort Hope is an outpost, put up in the cheapest and most simple form, for the accommodation of the brigades passing to and from the interior, and is in charge of a labouring servant. The townsite was laid out by James Douglas in 1858 during the Fraser River Gold Rush, and the Royal Engineers started construction of Caribou Road through the Fraser Canyon.6 Stó:lō oral histories state that
Governor Douglas had come and stood on that point, right there on the corner of Park St. and the Highway of downtown Hope, and he faced over to Quemqemo—or Mt. Ogalvie—and said…7 That same year,all the land on the north side of that line, right up to where its bounded by the Fraser River and the Coquihalla and that straight line, would be made into Indian Reserve. And all of the land south of that line would become the town of Hope.
trees were cleared and Stó:lō settlements and land use patterns marginalized.8
What happens if we go over the edge?To which he replied:
Lady, that all depends on what sort of life you've been leading.3 Eventually, the road was widened and travel was made safer, of which Douglas refers to in this despatch
feeling more dead than alive.7 He then sat before
a blazing fireand ate
five or six pounds of mountain sheep,which he found delicious.8
the Shuswap name for the area was1Kahm-o-loops,meaning themeeting of the waters.
the mountain had exploded and...one braver than the rest of his tribe entered it, and discovered the extinct crater seamed with yellow metal.Miles mentions an unnamed Shuswap chief who called for secrecy of the mountain, claiming that
the evils that had beset the natives of those [other] regions...proved that their wars and gradual extinction, were caused by the white man's thirst for gold.
the meeting of the waters.1
widely used in the nineteenth century in the Pacific to refer to Pacific Islanders in general.1
constituted between thirty and sixty percentof the HBC’s workforce.2 The Akrigg’s add that in circa 1850,
Continual desertions by men heading for the California gold-fields left the Company almost entirely dependent upon Kanakasand local First Nations to sail ships and cultivate farmland.3 During the same period, 16 of the 62 men (25%) that comprised Fort Victoria’s defense and serving force were Kanakas.4
streamopposite the site of Derby as “Whytus”, which is presumed to be present-day Kanaka Creek.
people of the snow.2 Kitimat falls in the vaguely defined Stikine territory between the Stikine and Finlay Rivers.3
The Wives of the Stars.2
nature pack-road...of great beauty, and replete with objects of interest to the tourist and the sportsman.
the most important outpost of the British Empire on the N[orth] Pacific coast.4
have produced 900 ounces of Gold in one day,as seen in this despatch.
the passage of Lake Lillooett 13 miles in length, and with depth of water sufficient for large vessels is effected by means of large sized boats constructed for the purpose.
nobodyat least in the mid-to-late-19th century.4 Further to this, Hendrickson adds thatranthe Empire,
both politicians and the Colonial Office tended to be reactive instead of proactive to events in its many dependencies.Indeed, evidence for this notion is apparent throughout the colonial correspondences between the Colonial Office, Vancouver Island, and later British Columbia.5
place at the navigable or unfordable river.6 This etymology seems a snug fit for this port city's life of prolific trade and seaborne dominance.
a tributary of Swift River.
Gulf of Georgiaand the start of the Vancouver Strait, which Douglas argues is the natural boundary mentioned in the Treaty of 1846.
crossing overor
the great fork.4
the Town site of Lytton was laid out, and now contains 50 houses and a population of 900 persons.
Whoyring,present-day Becher Bay, although historians Akrigg and Akrigg appear to misspell it as “Belcher”, perhaps in confusion with the West Coast's Belcher Point.2
a passage between two bodies of saltwater.2 Other spellings of the name include Metlah Catlah, Metla-kathla, Methlakahtla and Metla Catla.3
savage spiritsof the Tsimshian.6 Concerned with enlightening the Indigenous peoples surrounding the fort, Duncan began to learn their language and translate the Bible from which he also preached.7 It soon became apparent to Duncan that if this enlightenment project was to be successful, the Tsimshian would have to leave
the evil influences of the heathen homes and surroundingsof Fort Simpson behind.8 In 1862 Duncan and his band of Indigenous followers set out to create a
model Christian villageat Metlakatla.9 The community grew rapidly, eventually supporting the largest church in the north west, as well as a school—which went on to become a part of the Canadian Indian Residential School system—a sawmill, cannery, and many other services.10
Indian policy.11 According to Sean Carlton, they were fleeing from what they viewed to be increasing
state interventionwithin the community.12 The community’s population continued to decline following Duncan’s departure. In 1901 a great fire destroyed most of the original buildings.13 Today, the Tsimshian First Nation own the land, but few of its members live in the village.14
bounded by a line drawn nearly due North from the head of Victoria harbour to a hill marked on the charts as Cedar Hill, or Mount Douglas.Cedar Hill provided settlers with lumber to build the palisades surrounding Fort Victoria in the early 1840s.2
where glaciers last receded from Southern Vancouver Island.4
a small bit of decolonizationon Vancouver Island.7
theNassor Simpson's River.
food basket,which refers to the abundance of salmon and eulachon in the river; the Nisga’a know the river as Lisims, which means
murky.3
Nelson Dutoux, a native of Lower Canada,as
the discoverer ofNelson's Creek.
not a militarily defensible city.3 Moody decided that the new capital should be at present-day New Westminster, which Moody called Queenborough.4 However, Douglas found this name distasteful and he wrote to the Colonial Secretary expressing a desire that Queen Victoria should name the capital, mentioning that in the meantime it would be called Queensborough.5
By Proclamation Her Majesty's decision and that the Town heretofore known as Queensborough shall, in pursuance of Her Majesty's pleasure, be henceforth called the City of New Westminster.
where many people died.10 The residents rebuilt the city, and today New Westminster has a population of over 58,000, and is a part of the Greater Vancouver Regional District.11
The land of the long white cloud.It is a country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that consists of two islands of approximately 268,680 sq km, with a population of 4.9 million.1
the establishment of industrial Boarding Schools upon the model of similar institutions in New Zealandon Vancouver Island, and, in this document, Governor James Douglas sought to procure information regarding New Zealand
in order that we may have the benefit of their experience in legislating for British Columbia.Also, in the context of British naval superiority, James L. Sinclair, a self-proclaimed
monarchistof New Zealand, states, in this letter to the Duke of Buckingham,
Now, what New Zealand will be in the South Pacific, British Columbia, in my humble opinion, may, by judicious management, be made in the North—A great Naval Power.
interconnected and mobile set of imperial networksforged during British global expansion.5 New Zealand and British Columbia’s connection is most evident when representatives of British Columbia use precedents from New Zealand to introduce new legislation to the colonies. Some examples of the colonial project in New Zealand include the coercion of Māori chiefs, use of military force against Māori peoples, and the extinguishment of native title to land.6 Despite the negative impacts of colonization upon the Māori people, they remain the traditional owners and custodians of Aotearoa.
a very great chieftain and a bold man.3
a distance of 60 miles.How and why Douglas assigned the name of “Ballomme” is not clear.
people all along the mountains and sea,2 whose language Captain Cook mistook and anglicized upon his famous visit to the area in 1778.2
In the early colonial days . . . a trail led from from the head of the arm and into the Cariboo country.2
block house,and
two small pieces of ordnance.
seeing the top of the head,which likely refers to Okanagan Lake as the “head” of the river.2
discovered [gold] on the banks of the great Okanagan Lake.Shortly after, a large prospecting population was drawn to the area, which led to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858-1859, and the later Cariboo Gold Rush.3 During the gold rushes, miners often came into conflict with the Indigenous people of the Okanagan River region.4
some speculators taking advantage of my absence had squatted on a valuable tract of public land commonly known as the site of Old Fort Langey...hoping by that means to interest a sufficient number of persons in the scheme as would overawe the Government, and induce a confirmation of their title...I [issued] a Proclamation...that any persons making fraudulent sales of land...would be punished as the law directs...and persons holding such lands would be summarily ejected.
westward of the Stony Mountainswere made
free and open, for the term of ten yearsto
the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two Powers.3
meaning1 Osoyoos, a town of roughly 5,000 people, is located in the Okanagan region of British Columbia.2 The Indigenous Okanagan peoples have been in what would become known as Osoyoos for thousands of years.3the narrows of the lakeorthe place where the two lakes come together.
traders working for the Pacific Fur Company.4 The Hudson’s Bay Company arrived in 1846 and set up a trading post in 1867, making Osoyoos a stopping place for traders working along the Fur Brigade Trail.5 In 1877, the Osoyoos Indian Band formed, currently home to
370 on-reserve band members.6
into a lush agricultural beltthat continues today, with the town’s plentiful orchards and vineyards.7 On June 30th, 1983, Osoyoos incorporated to become a town.8
to move from dependency to a sustainable economy like [it] existed before contact.9 In addition, the Band has
a focus on supportive education and trainingand
operates its own business, health, social, educational and municipal services.10
we crossed the the Pembinaw River of forty yards in width.1 This pronunciation is a European distortion of the Cree word “neepinmenan”, or
summer berry.2
narrative of the overland Journey from Canada,which relates that
a valuable seam of Coal crops out on the Pembina.
the auspicious natal day of our most Gracious Queen, amidst the wild romantic scenery of that mountain Lake.
great object of opening roads from the sea-coast into the interior of the country.
his placeas located both in Miner's Bay and along Plumper Pass.1 Therefore, Plumper Pass seems to indicate the passage between Galiano Island, to the northeast, and Mayne Island, to the southwest.
H.B.C Tree,beside what appears to be a sketched pine tree to indicate the same.1
Pointwhich is presumed to be a phonetic spelling of the point known as “H.B.C. Tree” mentioned in this despatch, which notes that the feature draws its name fromAitch Bee Cee,
the first explorers of the River having marked a tree with those letters.
reasonable to infer that the intention of the [boundary commission] negociators must have been to carry on the line of Boundary along the 49th Parallel to the middle of the channel which separates the land of Point Roberts from the land shewn in the charts of that day as the East Coast of Vancouver's Island.
is seven miles long.
the construction of good roadsto access gold farther up the Fraser
would be of prodigious advantage to the country.
autumn camping place.3
Kiss me, Hardy,during the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805.1
McNeil's Harbouran
object of importance;their coordinates for this apparently coal-rich area [≈ 50.65 -127.16] appear just northwest of present-day Port McNeill, on the western shores of Malcolm Island.
a spacious bay with a very convenient depth of water well sheltered from all but SW winds, which would send a swell into it,and adds that
ships with good ground tackle would ride out in safety almost any gale, and vessels of moderate size might even find shelter from these winds.
Shanghaiedsailors stumbled through the streets and cavorted with prostitutes. Generally, sin abounded.8
uselessly engaged in chasing wild Indians and porpoises.9
the Colony of British Columbiaand the
Russian Possessions.
highly auriferousdigging site that could give employment to thousands of miners, allowing each
twenty-five feet frontage and five hundred feet depth.2 In this despatch, Douglas offers a more moderate estimate of the flat’s gold yield, writing that
Prince Albert’s Flats will afford profitable employment to hundreds of Miners for years to come.
the confluence.1
dreary Hudson Bay Company’s trading post, infested with dogs.4
the cold being then intense, often 20 degrees below Zero (Fahrenheit), the Rivers frozen, and the ground invariably covered with snow...the miner has no inducement to remain, and possibly has not means enough to purchase a supply of food to keep him until the return of the mining season.
British Columbia’s Northern Capital.6
Prince of Wales' Archipelago,which is presumed to refer to what would be considered commonly today as the Alexander Archipelago. Among these islands is Prince of Wales, which is rather large at roughly 200 by 70 km.
humped back,because the shape of the hill behind the village reminded the people of a hunchbacked old man.2
Quamichan was an ogre who feasted on children.1
where the river narrows.1
extravagant visions of wealth and fortune.
Alluvial diggings of extraordinary value have been discovered on Quesnel River...Some adventurous Miners have ascended this Stream as far as the lake of the same name from which it rises, and have been rewarded with rich strikes; as much, it is reported, as £40 a day having been made to the hand.
tide makes a perfect race around it.3
pay-streak,and more exhaustive methods of extracting the gold were necessary.
the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island.3 Further to this, in this despatch, Douglas argues in his third point to Lytton that it is the Rosario and not the Haro Strait to which the treaty must refer:
of all those Seas, Streights [sic], Bays, Rivers, Lakes, Creeks, and Sounds, in whatsoever Latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the Streights commonly called Hudson's Streights, together with all the Lands, Countries and Territories, upon the Coasts and Confines of the Seas, Streights, Bays, Lakes, Rivers, Creeks and Sounds, aforesaid, which are not now actually possessed by any of our Subjects, or by the Subjects of any other Christian Prince or State.14 At the time of the land transfer to the Crown in 1870, Indigenous Nations made up the larger portion of the population and had considerable influence over the activity in the region.15 The HBC claimed to hold no political or physical control over the local Indigenous Peoples, who governed themselves and the territory, as seen in testimony given by Simpson at the House of Commons, in which he states the following in conversation with Mr. Grogan and Lord Stanley:
They are at perfect liberty to do what they please; we never restrain Indians,to which Lord Stanley asks what authority is exercised over Indigenous Peoples, and Simpson replies,
None at all.16 However, as Canada’s colonization scheme progressed through the end of the nineteenth into the twentieth century, prairie Indigenous groups found themselves marginalized from centres of power and influence and dispossessed from their traditional lands through the treaty process.
There is uncertainty as to the origins of the word Saanich,which is associated with local First Nations, who, according to Scott, self-identify as Wsanec First Nations, made up of the Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, and Tseycum groups.1
raised upin Wsanec.2
the greatest instance of mining success which I heard of in course of our journey fell to the lot of a party of three men, who made one hundred and ninety ounces of gold dust in seven working days onSailor's Bar.
each end,and the Quw’ utsun’ called the island “Klaathem”, which means
salt.1 The Quw’ utsun’ also named a mountain on the south of the island “Chuan”, or
facing the sea,which is the name Douglas applied to the entire island on a map from 1854.2
loyal subjectsto follow.5 “The Czar”, however, met an unfortunate end, as he was murdered by a small group of people from the Quw’ utsun’ First Nation in October of 1861 while away from his
empire,on the Saanich Peninisula.6
the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island.3 Unfortunately, San Juan Island touched two channels: the Haro Strait to the left and the Rosario Strait to the right. After much posturing, both political and naval, the whole matter was settled by Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1872, when an arbitration commission ruled the Haro Strait to be the boundary strait, thus awarding the Island to the United States.4
a nightmare for mariners.2 In 1859, gold prospectors demanded a light at the river mouth, but it was not until 1865 that the government purchased a vessel and anchored it offshore to mark the safe route upstream.3 Later, in 1879, a unique lighthouse was built, one of twisted iron poles driven deep into the silt and topped with a wooden lighthouse tower.4 As the entrance to the Fraser River shifted over the years, more lighthouses and anchored boats were used to mark the safest entrance.5
men are almost out of their senses, and are determined to infringe on the privilege granted to others. I was compelled to issue Injunction notices to Messrs Williams, Burns, and six others, to restrain them from carrying a ditch from Santa Clara Creek on to the bar and flat, and very much interfering with other operations in progress.
long nose.2
half moon,referring to the shape of the shoreline, but historians note that this translation is dubious at best.1
great natural advantages for trade being accessible by land from Semiamhoo, having deep water, a bold shore and good anchorage. The land is also clear of trees, and was surveyed at a very small expense, and therefore perfectly suiting our pecuniary means.
near relative and playmate of my early days, Colonel Alexander Seton of the 74th, whose heroic fate I also commemorate by naming the connecting link, the Birkenhead Strait, after the ship in which he so nobly perished.1
one of the vilest stretches of water in the world,perhaps, because the infamous Ripple Rock lurked just below the surface.1
extensive placers...which will afford employment, at highly remunerative rates, to a large population.1 The Shuswap River was considered to be among
the most valuable and agreeable parts of the colony.2
Samilkameighpeople, who early explorers thought to be a member of the 12 tribes making up the Okanagan Nation.2 Similkameen is roughly translated to mean
treacherous waters.3
rich gold diggingsfound by the Americans in the Similkameen River. In the same letter, Douglas reports the he will begin focusing on the river because
the greater part of the Shimilcomeen Valley lies north of the 49th parallel of latitude, and within the limits of this Colony.
the Russian Settlements in Norfolk Sound,which is likely Sitka Sound.
on the outside of Shee [Baranof Island],served as territorial capital for nine years, after the 1867 transfer of Alaska to the United States.4
water of the clouds.2
the Skeena was overlooked [by early explorers] much in the way as the Fraser, from ignorance as to what the entrance of a large river would be like when deploying the sea.5
made several important discoveries in course of his adventurous journey. He found gold in small quantities on the Skeena River; he also saw very valuable and extensive beds of coal.
The valley of the Skeena is thus shewn to be an available avenue into the interior of British Columbia, and will, I have no doubt, soon become a most important outlet for the upper Districts of Fraser River; which, from the course of the River and the direction of the Coast, are brought in close proximity with the sea.
specimens of Coal at Skiddegate's harbour,while another letter, in the same year, pushes for the
Port of Skidigateto be
declared a Free Port,and to encourage
British Subjectsto settle there by offering land for
Six pence an Acre.
met by a number Indians of the Spokan and other Tribes who objected to the soldiers passing through their country...two [American] officers and five men killed, together with some ten more wounded, and being moreover short of ammunition, [the Americans] quietly withdrew leaving behind all baggage and stores and two mountain howitzers.
Snow Shoe River, Carribou District,and to confuse matters of its exact location, BCGNIS lists four “Snowshoe Creeks”, two of which are in the Cariboo region in south-central British Columbia.1
Snow Shoe Mountain,which is likely on or near present-day Snowshoe Plateau, or a lump term for all the summits of that massif.3
rich specimens of Auriferous Quartz.
Snowy Mountain in Rae's Passappears on this 1857 map by McKay. Based on this map, it appears they may have been considering naming one of the peaks in the region “Mount Rae” or “Snowy Mountain”. No mountains in the region currently bear the name; however, there are still sixteen unnamed peaks above 9,800 feet in the nearby Premier range.1 McKay and company may have been referring to one of these. It is also possible that, viewed from below, a section of the range appeared as a single massif, and that “Mount Rae” and “Snowy Mountain” refer to several summits.
on the cliff where the bubbling water comes out.3 Large runs of Sockey and Chinook salmon travel through Soda Creek in the Autumn, and were a staple for the Xat’sull.4 The first native reserve in the area was created in 1865 by Sir James Douglas, consisting of an area 35 km long and 12.5 km wide, but was reduced to 1.5 square km over the course of several years.5 European land claims extorted the Xat’sull and settlers in the area; Xat’sull staged protests, but were largely ignored until 1895 when European settlers began to protest as well.6
a resting place.1 According to the Akriggs, the name originally referred to an area on the Cowichan River that was calm enough for canoers to rest before they continued their journey upstream.2
25 miles distant from Fort Victoria,and
has the important advantage of a good mill stream and a great abundance of fine timber.
little flat lands.3
Chinese Minershave settled near Spuzzum and that
their own small means are insufficient to bring in an artificial supply [of water] from the neighbouring mountains, [so] they convey the soil for washing wheel barrows to the rivers edge, a fact which goes far to prove the extensive richness of the deposit.
people of the sacred water.2 The river was first recorded on an 1863 admiralty chart, and many obsolete spellings have been recorded, including Chomes, Whoomis, Skqo’moc and Squohamish.3
principal military stationat Steilacoom.
the river.2
good shelter for a fleet.
big flat opening.2
night and day the hum of these blood-thirsty tyrants was incessant . . . it was utterly impossible to work or write, one’s entire time being occupied in slapping, stamping, grumbling, and savagely slaughtering mosquitos.3 The large, shallow lake was drained in the 1920s to expand agricultural land and to reduce mosquito infestations.4
southern route to Sutlethappears on this map. A “Sutleth Lake” often appeared on contemporary maps, adjacent to Nimpo, or Nimpoh, Lake. However, on modern maps Nimpo Lake does not appear to have any nearby lakes of a similar size and shape, as Sutleth Lake was shown in colonial sources. It is unclear if this is due to errors in colonial sources, or if the topography of the region has changed.
According to the Directory for the Pacific Ocean this Island [would] seem of little value to this Country as a Colony, & is likely to cause more trouble than it is worth.And, in a subsequent minute, Elliot asks rhetorically,
What possible object there can have been in the folly of declaring this Island British I am unable to imagine.
thunder birdor
nourishing beast,which, according to Makah legend, was the creature that inhabited the island.2 The Cape Flattery Lighthouse was built on the main island in 1857 to guide ships into the Strait of Juan De Fuca.3 Other names that have been used to describe Tatoosh Island are “Tu-tutsh”, I“sla de Tutusi”, and “Tatouche”.4
The Cleftas one of the
passes of ominous fame, so notorious in the history of the Colony,along with Jackass Mountain, The Great Slides, and The Rocking Bridges. These features' general location is in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. As of this writing, however, the exact location of this pass remains unknown.
mere-goat track with inclines of thirty to thirty-six degrees, and with yawning precipices;Mayne allegedly described the area as
the roughest trail he ever encountered.1
The Great Slidesas one of the
passes of ominous fame, so notorious in the history of the Colony,along with Jackass Mountain, The Cleft, and The Rocking Bridges. These features' general location is in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. As of this writing, however, the exact location of this pass remains unknown.
The Rocking Bridgesas one of the
passes of ominous fame, so notorious in the history of the Colony,along with Jackass Mountain, The Cleft, and The Great Slides. These features' general location is in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. As of this writing, however, the exact location of this pass remains unknown.
Lot 53,which was
sold in 5 acre lots with the exception of Thetis Island itself, which consists of only one acre, and which was sold separately to a person of the name of Jeremiah Nagle.
North Riveras a
North Branch of the Thompson.
red earth.The river was valued by the Thompson Salish for its rich deposits of red ochre.1
yellow head,and the Yellowhead Pass is also named after Bostonois.1
remarkable [for] being the western terminus of one of the least elevated and most accessible passes in the Rocky Mountains.The community boomed at the beginning of the twentieth century with the establishment of a supply depot for the Grand Trunk Railway.2 At one point, Tête Jaune Cache was considered the largest tent city in British Columbia, with all the trappings associated with living rough in close quarters: gambling, fighting, and seized whisky smuggled into the fray in the bellies of pig carcasses.3 Today, however, Tête Jaune Cache is a ghost town.4
bluff of Green Stone formationis
now called Una Point.
water that boils,a reference to the rapids in the creek.1
convey Goods and 212 Passengers, coal miners and other Servants of the Hudson's Bay Company,but when he stopped in at
the Port of Valdiviathere was, apparently, a
mutiny of the Passengers.
Melodry and three other natives of Ireland who came to this Colony in the year 1858mined the Flat for a
very handsome income.
growing and prosperous.1 Further, Walbran notes that the area was known as Granville, prior to Canadian Pacific Railway adopting Vancouver as its terminus; and thanks, in part, to the rail line, the city grew. It incorporated in 1886 as Vancouver—a handle proposed by William van Horne, general manager of the CPR.2
disregarded at first, owing to the fineness of [its] gold,along with dozens of other similarly rated bars.2
water ditcheswere completed at
Victoria Bar and Prince Albert Flat,in order to supply the miners there with water.3
keen contest[s] in nearly every District represented.
rush of water.According to Scott, the name refers to the Gorge tidal rapids.2 Victoria Harbour is divided into five parts, which include the Inner Harbour, the Upper Harbour, Selkirk Water, Gorge Waters, and Portage Inlet.3
two good anchorages.
the route to Snake Country,3 particularly as the US government muscled its politics into the region.4
trading place.1 In 1790, US Congress drew a 260 square km boundary to mark the capital of the federal government, called the District of Columbia, even today, DC is a territory, not a state.2
without a notice of Whidbey;Walbran goes on to pen a remarkably thorough and eloquent obituary for the man.2
the tragic events detailed in the Puget Sound Newspaperson the apparent attacks on
American Settlements on the White Riverby local Indigenous groups.
Thomas Brown, an American citizen, claims the honour of having discovered and taken up the first mining claim on William's Creek.
a Cornish settler,as another source for the name.2 Finally, the name could have originated from the nearby lake, Williams Lake, named after Chief William,
a local Secwepemc (Shuswap) leader who is credited with keeping peace between First Nations and miners during the gold rush.3