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On the cover

E. 0. S. Scholefield (1875-1919) was both the Provincial Librarian and Provincial Archivist of BritishColumbia. Born on the Isle of Wight, he came to British Columbia in 1887. A noted expert in andcollector of Northwest history, Scholefield succeeded R. E. Gosnell as provincial librarian in 1898 andheld the job until his death on Christmas Day, 1919. In 1910, he was also appointed provincialarchivist.

story starts on page twenty-four.

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Alberni District Museum & Historical Society, Box 284, Port Alberni, B.C. V9Y 7M7Atlin Historical Society, P. 0. Box 111, Atlin, B.C. VOW lAOBCHA — Gulf Islands Branch, c/o P.O. Box 35, Saturna Island, B.C. VON 2YOBCHA — Victoria Branch, c/o Mrs. S. Manson, R.R #7, Echo Drive, Victoria, B.C. VBX 3X3Burnaby Historical Society, do Kathleen A. Moore, 3755 Triumph St., Burnaby, B.C. V5C 1Y5Campbell River & District Museums & Archives Society, 1235 Island Highway, Campbell River, B.C. V9W 2C7Chemainus Valley Historical Association, P.O. Box 172, Chemainus, B.C. VOR 1KOCowichan Historical Society, P.O. Box 1014, Duncan, B.C. V9L 3Y2Creston & District Historical & Museum Society, c/o Margaret Moore, Box 253, Creston, B.C. VOB 1GODistrict 69 Historical Society, do Mildred Kurtz, P.O. Box 74, Parksville, B.C. VOR 2S0East Kootenay Historical Association, c/o H. Mayberry, 216 6th Avenue S., Cranbrook, B.C. V1C 2H6Golden & District Historical Society, Box 992, Golden B.C. VOA 1HOLadysmith New Horizons Historical Society, c/o Mrs. V. Cull, R.R. #2, Ladysmith, B.C. VOR 2EONanaimo Historical Society, RO. Box 933, Station “A”, Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 5N2Nanooa Historical & Museum Society, R.R. #2, Texaco, Box 5, Nanoose Bay, B.C. VOR 2R0New Denver Historical Society, do Janet Amsden, Box 51, New Denver, B.C. VOG 150Nootka Sound Historical Society, Box 748, Gold River, B.C. VOP 1GONorth Shore Historical Society, c/o Doris Blott, 1671 Mountain Highway, North Vancouver, B.C. V7J 1M6Princeton & District Pioneer Museum, Box 687, Princeton, B.C. VOX iWOSidney & North Saanich Historical Society, do Mrs. Ray Joy, 10719 Bayfield Road, R.R. #3, Sidney, B.C.

V8L 3P9Silverton Historical Society, c/o P.O. Box 137, Silverton, B.C. VOG 2B0Société Historique Franco-Colombienne, 9 avenue Broadway E., Vancouver, C.-B. V5T 1V4Trail Historical Society, P.O. Box 405, Trail, B.C. V1R 4L7Vancouver Historical Society, RO. Box 3071, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 3X6Windermere District Historical Society, Box 1075, Invermere, B.C. VOA 1KO

BRITISH COLUMBIA

HISTORICAL NEWS Spring 1982Vol. 15, No. 3

CONTENTSLetters to the Editor 4

News of the Association 5

Features

The Liquor Question and the 1916 Election in Chilliwackby Bob Smith 6

Land and a New Life: British Columbia’s Land Settlement Board, 1918—1925by Reuben Ware 13

The Steamboat Trail: Hope to Skagit Valley, 1910—1911by R. C. Harris 17

Who Invented the Egg Carton?by Lynn Shervill 22

Discovery: 1913 24

News and Notes 26Reports from the Branches 27Archival Notes by Michael Halleran 30Organizations and Institutions with Archival Collections 30

Bookshelf

The Cariboo Mission: A History of the Oblates by Margaret Whiteheadreview by Jacqueline Gresko 34

Russia in Pacific Waters, 1 715—1825 by Glynn R. V. Barrattreview by Barry Gough 36

The Water Link: A History of Puget Sound as a Resource by Daniel Jack Chasonreview by William Ross 37

Building With Words by William Bernstein and Ruth Cawkerreview by Martin Segger 37

Second-class mail registration number 4447.

Published fall, winter, spring, and summer by the British Columbia Historical Association, P.O. Box 1738, Victoria, V8W2Y3. Our Charitable Donations number is 0404681-52-27. Printed by Fotoprint, Victoria, B.C.

Correspondence with editor is to be addressed to Box 1738, Victoria, V8W 2Y3.

Subscriptions: Institutional $15.00 per year, Individual (non-members) $7.00 per year.

The B.C. Historical Association gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the British Columbia Heritage Trust.

To the EditorThe Editor:

Congratulations on your last issue of B.C. His-torical News. It is most interesting with your use ofpictures. I love the showshoes on the horse.

Just a suggestion. From nineteen years ofediting a small town newspaper, I know peoplelike odds and ends of news though they aresometimes reluctant to tackle long articles.

How about a short “Did You Know?” box eachissue? A different area each time. I am sure eachsociety could suggest three short items. I’ll encloseone from here which you could use if you areinterested.

Winnifred WeirInvermere, B.C.

Editor’s Note: The three items from the Winder-mere District Historical Society are with theReports from the Branches.

NEXT ISSUE

Deadline for submissions for the Spring issue ofthe NEWS is June 1, 1982. Please type doublespaced if possible. Mail to the Editor, B.C.Historical News, P.O. Box 1738, Victoria, B.C. V8W2 Y3.

The Editor:

I am appealing to everyone working on anylevel in the field of women’s history to checkthrough their written and oral sources to find thenames of women who died between 1891-1900,who might be included in this volume of theDiclionary of Canadian Biography.

We feel certain that the editors will be pleasedto receive such names, but it is up to us to sendthem in. They can be sent to the Editor,

Jean Hamelindirecteur general adjointDictionary of Canadian BiographyLes Presses de L’Universit LavalQuebec, P.Q. G1K 7P4Please let us not assume as I did in the past that

someone else will do this. Someone else did.Unless we are content to leave the DCB for thisdecade virtually all-male, we must provideinformation and suggestions for material onwomen.

Barbara RobertsDepartment of HistoryUniversity of WinnipegWinnipeg, MB R3B 2E9

Editor’s Note: Barbara Latham at CamosunCollege (1950 tarisdowne Road, Victoria, V8P 512)says she would be happy to offer whateverassistance she can in directing interested womento potential sources of information.

Subscribe!Yes, I wish to subscribe to B.C. Historical News. I enclose a cheque or money order payable to theB.C. Historical Association, P.O. Box 1738, Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Y3.

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Individual Four issues for $7.00

Instutional Four issues for $15.00

NAME: —

ADDRESS

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IStreet

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British Columbia Historical News

(Editor’s note: It seems only fair to subject myselfto the publicity that I ask of others.)

I had just moved to Victoria when I wascornered into being the editor of the News. Ihappily accepted since it was my first opportunityto do graphic design since I learned newspaperwork as a sideline while I was in graduate school.

We have a place in the Kispiox Valley, justnorth of Hazelton, B.C. I have taught local historyof the Smithers and upper Skeena areas in thecommunity college and have spent some years atlocal history research for Indian bands there.

I’m the proud mother of two girls, Amy (agefive) and Megan (age eighteen months) who keepme hopping along with my present job workingfor the Kispiox Indian band writing their history ina book suitable for use in the schools, withfunding from the Ministry of Education.

A Message from

the President

Greetings,

It is that time of the year again. It doesn’t seempossible to be looking to another annual meeting.

I hope you will all come to the meetingprepared to offer ways and means of improvingthe service of British Columbia Historical Association to be of assistance to you.

The convention committee is working veryhard to prepare an interesting convention for you.The Cowichan district has a very fascinatinghistory to offer you.

Hope to see you there in April.

JOIN!

Why not join the British Columbia HistoricalAssociation and receive British Columbia Historical News regularly?

The BCHA is composed of member societies inall parts of the province. By joining your localsociety, you receive not only a subscription toBritish Columbia Historical News but the opportunity to participate in a programme of talks andfield trips and to meet others interested in BritishColumbia’s history at the BCHA’s annual convention.

For information, contact your local society(addresses on inside of front cover). ... No localsociety in your area? Perhaps you might think offorming one. For information contact the secretary of the BCHA (address inside back cover).

Maureen Cassidy

Barbara Stannard

Convention registrationform is betweenpages 28 and 29

Spring 1982

The Liquor Questionand the 1916 Election inChilliwackBy Bob Smith

The election of 1916 was a major turning pointin the province’s history. British Columbians wereaskedrto give yet another mandate to the Conservatives who,under Premiers Sir Richard McBrideand William Bowser, had ruled the province forthirteen years, a period of unprecedented growthand prosperity. Ranged against the Tories was theinexperienced Liberal Party which promised toend the Conservatives’ glaringly reckless andcorrupt practices and inaugurate an era of reformso long demanded by progressive clergy, labour,farmers, feminists, and last but not least, prohibitionists.

The importance of the election was heightened by the inclusion of two referenda: shouldwomen be permitted to vote and should thesaloon and domestic liquor traffic be abolished.Throughout the summer of 1916, during the “warto end all wars”, amid Allied disasters and theflurry of patriotic activities on the home front,British Columbians’ new-found sense of idealismled to a debate about the type of society theywanted to live in, the kind of society which 30,000had volunteered to defend, indeed, for whichtheir sons were dying in the mud, shrapnel, andgas of the Western Front.

This sense of commitment was not lost on thepeople of Chilliwack. Their patriotism wasoverwhelmingly demonstrated by enlistments,the unceasing “war work” by women, thegenerous contributions to soldiers’ dependents,

and the numerous subscriptions to the Dominion’s War Bonds. The proposed referendum onthe liquor question, in particular, intensified thepatriotism and moral fervour of the “dry” forces inthe Upper Fraser Valley. It presented to them anideal opportunity to reconstruct a society worthyof wartime sacrifices then being made in Europeand at home.

Chilliwack residents had long since decidedthat the liquor traffic not only undermined publicdecency and individual morality and health, butalso undid the necessary and good work of theirinstitutions — the home, family, church, andschooU The saloon, then, was no club; it was awhiskey den, a scene of gambling and prostitution. The saloon led its patrons away from familyresponsibilities and conjugal fidelity, robbedmoney from wives and children, ruined marriages, caused crime, filled hospitals and insaneasylums, and eroded the work ethic.

Through the evangelical churches and numerous clubs the prohibitionist message wasinculcated in the young. The Chilliwack authorities repeatedly denied liquor licences to hoteloperators, prosecuted drunks and bootleggers,sniffed out stills, and kept an eye out at thelandings for shipments of booze. Area voterssupported the dry cause in the Dominion plebiscite of 1898 by a margin of three to one.

After the turn of the century, however,provincial law governing the granng of liquor


licences wrested from the community the powerto prevent the intrusion of the saloon. In aplebiscite in 1909, provincial prohibitionists wageda hard-fought and apparently successful campaign to permit local communities the right todecide the local status of the liquor traffic, the so-called “local option”, but Premier McBride’sgovernment disregarded the results, citingnumerous irregularities. (The local option passedin Chilliwack, 748 to 309?)

Referendum

chapter was easily formed in Chilliwack. In 1915,Premier McBride promised a referendum onprohibition, and in the spring of 1916 his successor, William Bowser, reaffirmed the decision.Then, in the early summer of 1916, Bowserannounced that this referendum, and the one onwomen’s suffrage, would coincide with a provincial election to be held on 14 September 1916?

The wet and dry forces throughout theprovince, and in Chilliwack, prepared for thecampaign. The “wets” were represented by the

Merchant’s Protective Association, a group ofhotel operators, distillery and brewery owners,and liquor wholesalers which included Messrs.Sutro and McGillvray, owners of the Empress andRoyal Hotels, respectively. Sutro and McGillvray,who had complained of being taxed to no end forthe privilege of selling liquor, now faced theprospect of greatly reduced income, withoutcompensation. Sutro, also faced a crushing debtincurred in the purchase and expensive renovation of the Empress. Support for Sutro andMcGillvray came almost entirely, it would appear,from outside the community.

Their dry opponents in Chilliwack, on theother hand, enjoyed strong grassroots support

and the endorsement of numerous churches andtemperance, youth, service, fraternal, and women’s clubs, all represented by respected community leaders.

Accounts of the debate were prominentlydisplayed in the pages of the Chilliwack Progressfrom March until September, 1916. The historicarguments against the liquor traffic were presented in these articles, letters to the editor, ads (“TheHome vs. the Bar” or “Blot Out the Bar”), publicdebates, guest lectures, club socials, and revival-

Prohibitionists, however, did not give up. Theycombined into the People’s Prohibition Association to pressure the government. An active

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Spring 1982

like rallies. Drink was an affront to humanity. Itcaused crime, broken homes, poverty, disease,and addiction. For example, one advertisement inthe Progress asserted that drink sent 1770 peopleto prison in British Columbia in 1914, over 80% oftotal convictions

Even moderate drinkers imperiled their livesand the good of society because, it was argued,drunkards were once moderate drinkers. Statisticsproved, prohibitionists submitted, that whereverprohibition laws were enacted and enforced,crime rates dropped and public and privatemorality and material prosperity increased.

The “drys” also argued that a bad food, booze,was made from wholesome grains much neededin the war, which was heading into its third yearand, by all accounts, would be won by the sidethat most effectively disciplined itself and employed its resources. The production of boozedetracted from Canada’s maximum effort. Another argument, or rathr propaganda tactic, of

wartime origin was the identification of the liquorinterests, “the B.C. whiskey huns”, with theenemy. The abolition of the saloon and liquortraffic, local prohibitionists asserted, was essentialin order to build a better society, which alonecould justify the slaughter in Flanders’ fields

There were, arguably, unspoken motivesamong prohibitionists. The continued leadershipof the dry advocates in the community might be atstake. Merchants could make additional profitsfrom people who would buy their wares insteadof drink.

“Wets”The saloon keepers and their allied interests

tried to make the best of their position, which wasnow deteriorating amid the fervour generated bythe war. They pointed to some good arguments,although their narrow economic interest wasapparent to all. The Merchants’ Protective

A Chilliwack hop yard.


Association stated in articles in the Progress thatdrink had been around for millenia. Better torecognize the saloon for the social institution itwas and control abuses, such as serving minors, byenforcing liquor licence regulations. The liquortraffic provided employment and liquor licenceswere an important part of municipal income.

The measures the government proposed theelectors endorse or reject, the “wets” argued,violated civil liberties. Law enforcement officerswould be permitted to enter and search privatehomes without warrant. Those accused of offenses would have to prove their innocence ratherthan placing the burden of proof on the Crown.

Additionally, the proposed prohibition lawwould allow individuals to import liquor forprivate consumption or obtain liquor on thestrength of a doctor’s prescription, two measureswhich favoured drinkers with money for thepurpose and penalized the working classes whowere traditionally drinkers “by the glass”. Thus,prohibition would apply only to the less affluent,not to the well-to-do. The MPA also asserted thatit was unfair to abolish the property rights of hotel-keepers or bartenders without compensation,their investment and loans being in part securedby the sale of liquor. One wag even argued thatprohibition would encourage intemperancebecause when the bars were open a man couldbuy one drink, whereas when they were outlawedhe would have to import booze by the gallon.Finally, anti-prohibitionists contended that prohibition was unworkable?

The debate also had its religious dimensionwhich took on great local significance. In anengaging series of letters to the Progress, HenryHulbert, owner of the hop farms in Sardis, andlocal clergy went at it in June and July of 1916.Hulbert wrote that there was no Christian basis forprohibition. While Christ had cautioned moderation and denounced drunkenness, He Himselfdrank wine and had turned water into wine forothers to drink. He also promised His disciples thatthey would all drink wine together in Heaven.Why should the churches prohibit something thatwas not in itself evil? Hulbert concluded that, inview of these facts, the strong religious representation in the prohibition movement was not onlymistaken but led others to make the samemistakes.

The ministers, A. W. McLeod and H. C. Fraser,criticized Hulbert for his interpretation of theword “wine”, a point which was still beingdebated by scholars. Additionally, Hulbert, theywrote, was no scholar of the Greek language, butwas a hop grower with an obvious economic selfinterest in the continued sale of beer. The

scholarly interpretation of the word “wine”,however, generally supported Hulbert’s position,hence the thrust of ministerial opinion camedown to two major points: modern circumstancesmay require Christians to refrain from actions thateven Christ took, and Christians, as voters, shouldnot be insensitive to the “broken hearts, ruinedhomes, hungry children, and wrecked manhood”that the saloon and liquor traffic so clearly caused

Candidates Square OffProhibitionist sentiment seemed to be running

so high that both political parties endorsed the dryposition, although it was well known the Liberalshad the more consistent and sincere anti-liquorrecord, while the Conservatives had only recentlyreversed their position for fear of losing votes. Thelocal Conservative candidate, W. L. Macken, was,however, as strong a prohibitionist candidate ashis party could expect to find. Macken, an activeand prominent member of the local chapter ofthe People’s Prohibition Association, always sawto it that when he spoke to his constituents he wasattended by a man of the cloth — usually Rev.McLeod — who preached in favour of prohibition .

The Liberal candidate, E. D. Barrow, supportedhis party’s position, but he readily admitted tovoters that he was not a tee-totaller and that hewas not prepared to misrepresent his personalhabits in order to get votes. This is not to say thatBarrow didn’t have a chance of winning. Barrowhad come to Chilliwack in 1892, eight years beforeMacken, and was a farmer in what was anoverwhelmingly agricultural riding. He was thepresident and manager of the Chilliwack Creamery and would be founding president of the FraserValley Milk Producers’ Association. His mosteffective criticisms of the Conservative Party wereagricultural in nature, from the farmer’s point ofview.10

Macken, on the other hand, was a real estatebroker and president of the Chilliwack TelephoneCompany. While he had served the ChilliwackCreamery as secretary, he simply wasn’t a farmer.His speeches, indeed the Tory Party’s platform,contained a great deal of special pleading toexpress the farmer’s concerns, which he knewonly from secondhandY1

Macken’s problem was that he was on theConservative ticket. Although he was in no waypersonally responsible for the previous Conservative policies, he was handicapped by his party’salliance with big business. The party did notrepresent the farmer or the worker. The Conservative Party and Premier Bowser himself, had long

Spring 1982

since acquired the reputation of corruption,which the Lower Mainland Ministerial Associationhad so amply documented in its pamphlet, TheCrisis in British Columbia.

This pamphlet and the men who took itsmessage directly to the people, the Rev. Dr.McKay of the University of British Columbia andRev. A. E. Cooke, asserted in unequivocal termsthat the Tories were a bunch of grafters whopersonally profited from the wholesale sell-out ofthe province’s resources to even more unprincipled robber barons, alias “railroad builders” and“developers”. McKay and Cooke implored thevoters in many ridings, including Chilliwack, thatmorality dictated these Tories be thrown out ofofficeJ2The famous Vancouver Sun cartoon of theperiod depicted these Tories in a rowboatdumping the unaudited public accounts over theside.13 Bowser was commonly known as the“Czar,” the “string puller,” “party machine boss,”and “palm greaser” par excellence.

In their speeches to the Chilliwack voters,Bowser and Macken glorified what their party haddone for farmers, i.e., the loan of $65,000 atreduced rates to farmers2 Still, it was well known,from The Crisis in British Columbia, that the Torieshad been given land and millions to railroadbuilders, some of whom fled the province withpublic funds, not bothering to build the railway(the PGE) for which they were paid.

Despite his prohibitionist credentials, hissmall-town business experience, and supportfrom numerous pioneer families, Macken laboured under an enormous handicap. Barrow hadonly to sit back, put in an occasional appearance,and let the Tory Party’s sleazy record do its workon the electors.

After the returns of the 14 September 1916election were in, a colossal reversal of fortunebefell the Tories, who lost 30 seats. The Liberals,who had no seats until recent by-elections, won 37seats. E. D. Barrow received 871 votes to Macken’s654. Women’s suffrage, apparently a foregoneconclusion, was approved by local voters 1129 to344, and by over a two-to-one margin provincially.Prohibition was also approved locally by a vote of1090 to 440, and in the province by almost 8000 ofthe 63,000 ballots5 The referendum on prohibition, however, would not be settled for manymonths.

The Soldier VoteIn the 1916 election, British Columbia’s soldiers

were permitted to vote. The soldiers were,however, scattered throughout Canada, BritishColumbia, France and Belgium. It took some time

before their ballots could be cast and counted.Few expected to learn, when the vote wasannounced at the end of 1916, that the largecivilian majority in favour of prohibition had beenoverturned by the soldier vote by the narrowmargin of 822 votes.

Despite their position on prohibition, theLiberals, now in power, were prepared to stand bythe verdict and would have done so had not thePeople’s Prohibition Association pressured themto establish a commission to investigate theoverseas voting procedures. The commissionsubsequently uncovered many gross irregularities.Some soldiers, it seemed, voted more than onceand some of them were treated to beer beforevoting. The commission decided to throw outover 4500 ballts and reverse the verdict. Prohibitionists breathed a sigh of relief. The LiberalGovernment then decided to enact prohibition,effective 1 October 1917. (Although a Chilliwackprohibitionist and part-time bard erred on thedate, his wish in August 1916 finally came true:“King Alcohol has had his fling / Since first we canremember / But ‘round his grave we all shall sing /On fourteenth of September.”) The People’sProhibition Association’s suspicion that the soldiervote had not been administered fairly was doublyconfirmed when it was later learned that PremierBowser in the last days of his government hadcabled Sir Richard McBride, British Columbia’sAgent General in London, to fix the vote, not onlyto defeat the prohibition verdict, but also to insurehis (Bowser’s) re-election in Vancouver6

Chilliwack residents were pleased with theoverall results of the election of 1916. E. D. Barrowturned out to be an inspired choice. As theprovince’s Minister of Agriculture from 1918 to1928, he initiated and brought to fruition the“mega-project” of the period — the Sumas LakeReclamation scheme, which provided goodagricultural land for family farmers. Barrow alsoled the long battle to establish fair prices foragricultural products. The Liberal governmentenacted a number of important and lastingreforms: reduction of party patronage by thecreation of a Civil Service Commission, grant ofland to returning soldiers, professional audit ofthe government’s books, a minimum wage act,creation of a Ministry of Labour and extension ofthe eight-hour day, and the return of land andmoney to the public domain from the railroadrobber barons.

Prohibition, however, turned out to be animpractical and short-lived measure. True, publicdrunkenness decreased and some jails were shutdown for lack of offenders. Many saloons wereforced out of business, although some continued


ED. Barrow in Telkwa, B.C. in 1918.He is holding whatwas termed “a good sample of peavine”.

to operate by selling “near-beer”. The taste fordrink, however, could not be eliminated, andthere were those who saw to it that that taste wassustained.

Bootlegging became a new and thrivingprofession. Unscrupulous doctors issued prescriptions by the thousands so that their “patients”could obtain booze legally. The medical profession was fast acquiring the image of a bartender’sunion. “Speakeasies” and “blind pigs” popped upby the hundreds. Enforcement of the law at areasonable cost proved impossible. For example,in one month, Vancouver police were called outto raid 108 bootlegger joints.

There were well-founded charges that policemen were becoming implicated in the liquortraffic, receiving “pay-offs” to turn a blind eye andthe like. The prohibition commissioner, W. C.Findlay, was himself a bootlegger and was sent toprison for two years. Municipal councils, nowdeprived of the revenue derived from liquorlicences, were forced to levy new and administra

lively cumbersome taxation systems. The qualityof liquor was no longer ensured by governmentagencies and, as a direct result, liquor akin to antifreeze had its predictable effects.

Matters had become ridiculous, to say theleast. Society was being turned upside down.British Columbians had to face the need tobecome a police state to enforce prohibition andcombat the growth of the underworld. B.C. wouldrequire a fleet of world-class proportions toprevent smuggling along its extensive shorelines.Public support of schools, hospitals, and otherservices would suffer for lack of funds needed tosupport a growing army of detectives, stoolpigeons, prevention officers, and coastguardmen. The court system would be clogged withliquor-related cases.

Not surprisingly, British Columbians increasingly acquired a different view of prohibition inthe years 1917 to 1920. The wartime idealism thatled people to consider prohibition a reform had

Spring 1982

waned. Indeed, prohibition was now perceived asa reactionary, as well as impractical, measure.Returning soldiers demanded an end to it.Municipal councils wanted their old liquorrevenues back. Hotelkeepers wanted their oldtrade back. In 1920, they also saw the prospect ofenormous profits to be made by selling booze toAmerican tourists, the United States having justenacted prohibition. In 1920, the provincialgovernment publicly admitted what most BritishColumbians already knew: prohibition could notbe enforced. Premier John Oliver, himself ateetotaller, announced that another referendumwould be heId7

In October 1920, British Columbia voters wereasked to vote for the continuation of prohibitionor for the legalization of the trade and consumption of liquor, based on government control andsale. Provincial voters rejected prohibition by avote of 92,095 to 55,448.

Electors in Chilliwack, predictably, along withonly Richmond among the province’s communities, voted in the minority by a margin of 1159 to664.18 Again, the anti-prohibitionist side did nothave local sources of appeal. The prohibitionistclubs were still strong and the Methodist Church,for example, on the local as well as provinciallevel, still advocated prohibition. The results of the1920 referendum indicate that Chilliwack was adistinctly different kind of community than thosethat generally prevailed elsewhere in the province.

Although the government liquor controlsystem was here to stay, Chilliwack wouldcontinue to resist it, although it and its schools andhospitals would enjoy spending their share of theprofits made from the government sale of liquor.1Sale of beer “by-the-glass” in hotels was notlegalized until about 1950, having been rejected in1924 and 1931?0 Even after, many would continuethe fight and oppose, for example, the intrusion,or at least limit the proliferation of, neighbourhood pubs. The saloon and the liquor traffic stillhad much of its old, local reputation: a threat tobasic institutions and society in general, and theresidents who hold these views receive daily freshevidence to reconfirm them.

1 See R. L. Smith, “Bibles and Booze: Prohibition inChilliwack in the late 1800s”, British ColumbiaHistorical News, Vol. XII (April, 1979), pp. 2-9.

2 Chilliwack Progress, 1 December 1909, p. 2.

Ibid., 2 March 1916, P. 1, and 8 June 1916, P. 1.

Ibid., 11 May 1916, p. 7, and 29 June 1916, p. 1.

6 Robert Craig Brown and Ramsay Cook, Canada,1896-1921: A Nation Transformed (Toronto, 1974),pp. 299-302.

Progress, 20 July 1916, p. 6; 3 August 1916, p. 6; 10August 1916, p. 6; 17 August 1916, pp. 6-7; 24 August1916, P. 6; 31 August 1916, p. 6.

8 Ibid., 1 June 1916, p.7; 8 June 1916, p. 7; 15June 1916,p. 6; 22 June 1916, pp.2-3; 6July 1916, p.7; and 27Ju1y1916, P. 3.

Ibid., 8 June 1916, p. 1.

10 Morag MacLachlan, “The Success of the FraserValley Milk Producers’ Association,” BCStudies, No.24 (Winter, 1974-75), p. 54

11 Progress, 20 July 1916, p. 1, and 8 Sept. 1916, p. 1.

12 Progress, 14 Sept. 1916, and Margaret Ormsby, BritishColumbia: A History (Toronto, 1971), p. 387

13 Reproduced by Martin Robin, The Rush for Spoils:The Company Province, 1871-1933 (Toronto, 1972),opposite p. 164.

14 Progress, 8 Sept. 1916, p. 1

15 Ibid., 21 Sept. 1916, p. 1. The substantial minority —

440 — that voted against prohibition doesn’tnecessarily invalidate the previous statement that“support for Sutro and McGillvray ... came almostentirely from outside the community.” Apart fromHulbert and just a very few souls, the local wetcontingent was virtually anonymous and simply didnot have the “big name” institutional support orpublic prominence. There is evidence cited in thepresent writer’s previous article “Bibles and Booze

that some local residents were publicly “dry”but privately “wet”. (See B.C. Historical News, Vol.12, No. 3)

16 Albert Hiebert, “Prohibition in British Columbia”(unpublished M.A. thesis, Simon Fraser University,1969), pp. 88-91; Robin, p. 167; Progress, 14 August1916, P. 3 — the poem goes on but it doesn’t get anybetter.

17 1-liebert, Chapter 3, passim.

10 Ibid., p. 130, and Progress, 28 Oct. 1920, p. 1.

19 Progress, 29 Dec. 1921, p. 1, and 21 June 1923, p. 1.

20 Ibid. 16 July 1924, p. 6, and 3 Dec. 1931 (cited inProgress, 16 Dec. 1981, p. 4C).

Bob Smith teaches history at Fraser Valley College


Reuben Ware

Land and a New Life. . . ,British Columbia s Land Settlement

Board, 1918-1925

In the wake of the Great War they wrote fromAlberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba andthe Maritimes; from Michigan, Texas, Montana,Alaska, Washington, Iowa, California, Colorado,and from other states as well; from Wales, Ireland,Scotland, and England; Australia and New Zealand; from Norway, Germany and Romania. Theysought land and a new life in British Columbia.

They were tenant farmers and sharecropperswanting their own homestead; they were pensioners, ex-teachers and policemen looking for aretirement farm; they were miners down on theirluck or bunkhouse men hoping for a place tosettle down; they were recent immigrants fromEngland and Scotland seeking to relocate awayfrom prairie winters or eastern factory towns; theywere war widows and returned soldiers needing away to rebuild shattered, disrupted lives.

They had all heard of land settlement schemes,sponsored by the government, which sought toestablish new farming communities in British

Columbia. They had heard of British Columbia’sLand Settlement Board and wrote to get information about its settlement programs. Operated bythe provincial government, the Land SettlementBoard was the largest and most diverse publicsettlement scheme ever attempted in BritishColumbia. A brief introduction to its history mightillustrate some of the problems of agriculturaldevelopment in the province and the limitedsocio-political perspectives of early 20th centuryreformers

The newly-elected Liberal government established the Land Settlement Board (LSB) in 1917 bypassing the Land Settlement and DevelopmentAct The Board, staffed by noted Liberals andagriculturalists, was given wide powers overprivately-owned lands it acquired for its settlement schemes. It could resurvey and subdividelands and clear, fence, dyke, dam and irrigatethem. It could lay out townsites and communitycentres, erect buildings and homes, build and

Newly constructed settler residence at the Merville Development Area in 1920.

Spring 1982

maintain roads and bridges, and buy and sellequipment. If no settlers were immediatelyavailable for a site, the Board could cultivate theland itself with hired labour or could lease land toother farmers. These powers, along with itsfinancial authorities and the penalty taxes it couldlevy, gave the LSB the potential for social engineering on a vast scale.

The LSB’s purpose was to stimulate the rapiddevelopment of British Columbia’s agriculturalareas by establishing settlement communities inareas near transportation and market facilities andon lands suitable for mixed farming, fruit growing,and intensive garden cultivation. The Boardhoped to co-operate with the University of BritishColumbia faculty to plan scientifically each of theagricultural communities and to co-ordinatepublic expenditures with the Department ofLands and the Department of Public Works.

With these ideas the LSB promised to go farbeyond its predecessor agency, the AgriculturalCredit Commission (ACC) which had beenestablished in 1916 by the desperate Conservativegovernment of Premier William John Bowser bothas a means to shore up farmer support for thedeclining system of Bowserian patronage and as ashort-term agricultural credit scheme to stimulatewar-time production.

The LSB heralded these changes by reducingthe money-lending and short-term credit policiesof the ACC and promoting “land settlement anddevelopment to the fullest extent.” Loans tofarmers were continued by the LSB and at firsttotal amounts were even increased, but emphasiswas to be on “productive credit”. Loans were tobe used for expansion of the productive base ofB.C. agriculture, not to serve the continuing needsof established farmers for short-term agriculturalcredit. Loans were to go primarily to new settlersfor land clearing, the erection of farm buildings,and the purchase of equipment.

Ironically, this one-dimensional agriculturalloans policy undercut many of the new settlers onLSB’s settlement projects, for as a settler drew nearto establishing a viable agricultural operation, hegenerally became ineligible for credit. The resultwas often a failed farm and emigration to an urbancentre or out of the province. But in the early yearshopes were high that settlement and agriculturaldevelopment could expand rapidly. To achievethese ends the LSB had two types of settlementprogram: Settlement Areas and DevelopmentAreas?

The first Settlement Areas were established in1919 at Fernie, Telkwa and Vanderhoof. The nextyear the program was expanded and new areasstarted at Prince George, Smithers, Alexandria,

Rose Lake, Francois Lake and Colleymount. Todetermine the location of these projects, attentionwas given to areas combining unoccupied Crownlands and unimproved pre-emptions that werenear transportation lines. The LSB would reserveor acquire these lands and offer them for sale tosettlers. Under Section 42 of the Land Settlementand Development Act, owners of unimprovedlands were subject to a penalty tax and given aperiod of time in which to begin improvements. Ifthey failed to do so, they either had to continuepaying the penalties or sell their land to the LSB atprices set by the Board. These lands were thenincorporated into Settlement Areas and offeredup to prospective settlers and returned soldiers oneasy terms. New settlers got low interest loans andrepayment deferments and veterans got additionally a $500 deduction from the purchase price. Asthe average price of land in Settlement Areas was$5 per acre, an ex-soldier could obtain about 100free acres.

Funds were also available for land clearing,fencing, and other improvements. The LSB alsomaintained a livestock purchasing program topromote local dairy industries and built silos andcreameries. Cattle clubs were established in mostSettlement Areas to further enhance livestockproduction and to provide agricultural education.

The penalty tax was seen by the LSB as a keyelement in the Settlement Area program. It washoped that it would encourage improvements bypre-emptors to avoid the penalty tax and therebyencourage agricultural expansion. The penalty taxalso caused land companies, holding lands forspeculation, to sell lands at prices attractive tosettlers. Because the LSB value appraisals were solow, it was better for a land company to sell on themarket, albeit a depressed one, rather than sell tothe LSB and lose its lands to a Settlement Area. Theresult was to stimulate settlement generally andreduce the wide spread practice of acquiringlands and waiting for settlement and the subsequent rise in land values.

The Settlement Areas were moderately successful in the numbers of settlers who were able toestablish viable farm operations. Compared tosome of B.C.’s private land development andcolonization schemes, more people were settledon the land at a lower per capita investment.However, the Settlement areas were not withouttheir problems as by 1922 the LSB was faced withthe prospect of slashing loan funds permanently,increasing loan fees, and raising interest chargesto meet political criticism of its deficits. It wasrealized that this would have an adverse effect onthe already “overburdened settler” and strangleagricultural expansion, but the government was


not ready to subsidize adequately the high costs ofagricultural development.

The Liberal government wanted prosperousfarmer communities and hoped for the politicalsupport of settlers, but it was unwilling to engagefully in public-supported settlement. For example,the costs of land-clearing could be astronomical(as high as $250 per acre in the interior and $400per acre on the coast). Land preparation costs andthe settlers’ requirements for other developmentcapital necessitated a large-scale and long-termcommitment. Such a commitment was notforthcoming from agricultural reformers committed to “sound business practices” and balancedbudgets.

While the Settlement Areas were hindered byLiberal fiscal and political ideology, the Development Areas largely failed as a direct result. The keyLSB Development Areas were at Merville onVancouver Island and Camp Lister near Crestonwhere work on land preparation began in 1919.

Later the Sumas reclamation project wasestablished as a Development Area, but Sumasnever had the community or social planningdimensions of Merville and Creston. The dykeconstruction and lake drainage was so costly thatlittle was left for subsidization of new settlers. Inaddition, the farmsteads at Sumas were notavailable for settlement projects and had revertedto the “strictest accounting principles”. Most ofthe Sumas lands, which were far more fertile thanother Development or Settlement Areas, weresold to those who could pay the price. The Boardargued that it was inadvisable to establish “penniless men on raw undeveloped land” unless largesums of money were spent.

As Sumas never went through the communitydevelopment stage, the Merville DevelopmentArea best illustrates the problems of co-operativesettlement and agricultural development withinthe confines of a restrictive ideology and antagonistic economic structure:’

In 1918 over 40,000 acres of logged-off landsnorth of Courtenay were purchased from theCanadian Western Lumber Company. Althoughlogged, it was still costly to clear the land of slashand stumps and prepare it for cultivation, so theLSB at Merville employed returned soldiers inland development work — land clearing, roadconstruction, erection of community buildings,and residences. The land was then subdivided into50 to 60 acre farm lots and offered to sale to thosewho had proved their fitness for agrarian life whilelabou ring on the development projects. The priceof each farm was determined by the amount ofdevelopment work that had gone into it. By 1920,126 units had been allotted and loans provided for

additional land development, for the purchase ofequipment, and building construction.

There was a definite community orientation inMerville’s development plan. Temporary andpermanent homes were built with labour provided by LSB funds. A community centre, school,garage and a blacksmith shop were also constructed. A co-operative store was established to servecommunity needs, with the profits divided amongthe settlers. In the first two years, there wascontinued employment on development work inaddition to income from farm produce.

The goal was a self-supporting communityand by 1921 the future looked promising: cropsof clover, potatoes and oats were in; truckgardens had been planted; dairy stock andhorses had been purchased and shipments tothe Courtenay Creamery Association began. Achapter of the United Farmers of B.C. wasorganized and a settlers’ committee was activein presenting the community’s views to LSBofficials.5

0

0

0)

>

0

fl

Land clearing work at Merville, 1919.

Spring 1982

Yet the Merville settlement as a selfsustaining agricultural community of smallfarms was largely unsuccessful. By 1926, some ofthe settlers had left permanently. Most of thosewho remained worked at the Powell River Millor industrial sites on Vancouver Island and wereonly part-time residents at Merville. The mostnotable successes were several farmers whohad started strawberry farms or had purchasedthe allotments of others and expanded theiroperations

Merville’s problems stemmed from the LSB’storpid bureaucracy and arbitrary powers oversettlers, from an inadequate land base for eachfarm, and from insufficient developmentcapital and a lack of on-going agriculturalcredits. The Board often inhibited effectiveaction itself by a general immersion in red tape.The situation got so bad that it drew the ire ofPremier Oliver. The Premier complained, “I ambecoming very weary of the time and money ofthe Board being wasted in considering so-called regulations,” and urged the LSB to get onwith its settlement work?

The LSB’s extensive supervisory powersresulted in “sharp differences” between thesettlers’ committees and the administration. TheBoard could, without appeal, “deprive settlers of

employment within the community.” Thisusually resulted in forfeiture of land rights, lossof income necessary to make loan payments,and explusion from the farmstead. The Boarddetermined the amounts of annual improvement that were necessary to keep an allotment.

To get the capital to make these improvements, a settler had to borrow, yet after 1921funds available for development were insufficient. Private loans were also hard to raisebecause the allotment agreement between theLSB and the settler gave the settler a tax break,but stipulated resale to the LSB at LSB appraisedvalues if the farm failed. This made it practicallyimpossible to use the land for collateral.

There were conflicts between the Board’srepresentatives and inspectors and the committees of development workers and settlers onother issues. Hiring, employment conditions,and wages for the development work wereconstant strains on relations. The irony was thatas the community was ready to assume responsibility for much of its management, the Boardexpanded its control over such things asresidences, water supply, land levelling, anddrainage while withdrawing much of thefinancial support. Another sign of retreat fromthe community ideals of early LSB rhetoric wasthe 1921 sale of the Merville co-operative store

to a private party against the opposition of thesettlers’ committee.

The sharp decline in agricultural prices in1921 exacerbated Merville’s economic difficulties, but causes of the scheme’s failure aresharply revealed in the LSB’s reaction to thecrisis. The amounts available for new loans weresharply reduced and in July loans were suspended altogether. By 1922 the attitude of the [SBhad hardened into a definite policy of retrenchment as loan qualifications were tightened, LSBappraised values were raised, new mortgageagreements imposed, and closer inspection offarms was instituted.

The LSB sent at the task of “eliminatingsettlers ... obviously incapable.” Board Director R.D. Davies bitterly complained about theactivities of the settlers’ committees andregretted the unwise and “promiscuous settlement” of the Board’s early days, while Boardreports consisted of sanctimonious soul-searching about the pitfalls of governmentinterference in the settlement process and thedemoralizing effects of government assistanceon the recipient.

The B.C. Land Settlement Board wouldcontinue on for many years afterwards, but forthe establishment of publicly supported cooperative farm communities, its heyday wasover.

1 Many of the records of the Land Settlement Boardhave recently become available at the ProvincialArchives of British Columbia, see CR 929. Thisincludes reports, minutes of Board meetings, loanapplication registers and loan files, and subjectcorrespondence and covers the years 1916 to 1967.Most of this article is based on these extensiverecords.

2 S.B.C., 1917, C. 34. The LSB, which reported to theB.C. Minister of Lands, should not be confused withthe Dominion’s Soldier Settlement Board whichcould reserve only Dominion lands in BritishColumbia’s Railway Belt and Peace River Block. Norshould it be confused with B.C. Returned Soldiers AidCommission which co-operated with veteransassociations to find employment for ex-soldiers, norwith B.C.’s Soldier Settlement Act which gave theDepartment of Lands authority to reserve lands forveterans, but provided no funds for settlementprojects.

GR 929, Box 8, Files 1-3.

CR 929, Box 41-47.

CR 929, Box 43, file 1.6 Vancouver Province, 24 October 1926.

CR 929, Box 8, file 3.

Reuben Ware is a government records and manuscripts archivist at the Provincial Archives of BritishColumbia.


R. C. Harris

The Steamboat TrailHope to Skagit Valley, 1910-1911

The bare facts of the Steamboat boom aregiven in two official mining reports. The BritishColumbia Minister of Mines wrote in 1910:

During the past summer, Greenwal[t] andStevens, two American miners from Nevadaproceeded to prospect, and, tracing these coloursto their source, were rewarded by finding theclaims now known as the “Steamboat group” [July1910].

As a consequence, an influx of prospectors hastaken place, and some 500 [claim] locations havebeen made throughout the Skagit district. ... thelateness of the season ... and the scarcity of pack-horses available, which were all engaged by theSteamboat Mining Co. for the remainder of theopen months, has prevented the forwarding ofsupplies for owners who would have otherwisehave erected winter camps.1

The Summary Report of the Geological Surveyof Canada, written in 1911, gives the obituary ofthe Steamboat rush:

After the winter had come on and that [Steamboat] district was deeply buried in show, a boomwas gradually worked up with the aid of the pressand purely on the word of the original locators.

By the spring [1911], at least 1200 minerallocations had been made in the surroundingocuntry, three townsites staked out, and hotels,stores and other buildings erected for the carryingon of business

The results of the [G.S.C.] examination of thedistrict show that the deposits on and aroundSteamboat mountain do not carry gold

[Tjhere was no legitimate reason for the boomthat took place in this district.2

Although Greenwalt and Stevens had left thecountry by Christmas of 1910, when the boom hadhardly begun, other capable hands reached outand kept it going for a further six months.

Blow by blow accounts of the rise of the boom

were published in the Hope News, established forthe purpose on November 17, 1910. The firstheadline “Steamboat Mountain: The GreatestGold Producing Mining Camp the World has everKnown” might nowadays incur reproof from theSuperintendent of Brokers.

In May 1911, as the excitement grew, thenewspaper became the Hope News and The GoldTrail and the Steamboat trail was headlined as“Like a Path in Stanley Park”. By June of 1911, thetrail had been further embellished to “The Trail ofthe Gods to Eldorado” in a fulsome article by J. H.Gerrie, “For Fifteen Years on the Editorial Staff of

The Steamboat district was named during anearlier rush to the Skagit. There was a strike in 1879at the mouth of Ruby Creek in Washington State,where the Ross Dam now stands. The best accesswas through Hope, and down the upper Skagit.Most prospectors used the 1860 Boundary Commission trail down the left bank, but W. L. Floodand James Corrigan, who in 1911 still lived inHope, built a raft on the Skagit near the mouth ofthe Klesilkwa River.

They named their craft “Steamboat”, and itsbuilding place “Steamboat Landing”. The raft waswrecked on the first logjam, a short way downstream, but the locality became known as “Steamboat”. It is close to the Bailey Bridge which nowcarries the Silver Skagit road to the left bank of theSkagit River.

Before the Steamboat rush, Steamboat Mountain had been named “Shawatum” by the Boundary Commision (1860). It reverted to this nameafter the Steamboat bubble collapsed. Similarly,Muddy Creek was originally “Ne-po-peh-eh-kumCreek”. This name was reinstated as NepopekumCreek.

Spring 1982 - N0 I 3 Vi. 1 -

_

RASER NICOLA THE STEAMBOAT TRAIL1910—1911

RIVER LAKE

COMPRISING PARTS OF THE:

/ TRAIL i18761(

1860 Similkameen Trail 23 miles• Fy

HBC TRAIL TOJKAMLOOPS 1858 Whatcom Trail 7 miles

canyon’— 1859 Skagit Trail

HOPE MILE I (Boundary Commission) 4 miles

ENGINEERS‘4Hou 1910 Steamboat Townsite 34 miles

WAGON ROADkc_._ 0 1 2 3 4 5 MILESL-J0 2 4 6 8KM

SILVERLAKE

future

BEAVER LAKE( HOPE SLIDE DEWDNEY OR ,CANYON ,—.

SILVER or HOPE 14 MILE HOUSE TRIAL ‘f J(Silverhope)\Pass 2380’

1860CREEK

INTERPROVINCIALHJGHWAY CONSTRUCTED —--\\SOUTH TO THIS POINT 4

•%% 4;tS (/

IN 1913

•1

i•

o /

if different, are,, ••

/ lAIN HOPE

Modern names,

in lower case 0 % TRAIL- S 4%

lettering. ,tlc \423 MILE HOUSESome namesR

Dwere restoredafter the Steam —boat rush.

SILVERTIPdivide MTNL8530’

\1870’

N LOGJAM*—— ,30MILE

KLESILKWACRIVFR

WHATCOM TRAIL- g STEAMBOAT s 0(5atUmR)

1858 ) MOUNTAIN, 33 MILE %MILE

STEAMBOAT MT

/ STEAMBOATA

/

LITTLTOWNSITE

E JARVIS

WHATCOM1 STEAMBOATRAIL 1858 I MOUNTAIN ..

CHILLIWACKLAKE

I < SKAGIT ‘, i,

- RIVER rBOUNDARY OLD

LIGHTNINGCREEK‘\OMMISSION TRAIL ,2

\1859COURSE I TRAIL

M60

_______

—

___________

CANADA M7o(Skyline Trail)

---s ,

USARoss Lake! / CAMP SKAGIT 1859,

/ HOZAMEENAl9051944

• MTN


the New York Herald”.The March 1911 issue of the business magazine

Opportunities carried a full page advertisementfor Steamboat Central Mines Limited (not theoriginal company): “And There’s Gold at Steamboat, Plenty of it, Baskets Full of It ... the bestchance to make money you will ever have”. Thefiscal agents in Vancouver offered 50,000 shares at25 cents each.

Well ChosenThe place chosen for the gold strike was the

convenient distance of thirty five miles fromHope, a full day’s backpack over existing trails; nottoo far, and yet not too close. The elevation of 5500feet ensured the prospect was snowbound for halfthe year. As trade built up in the Spring of 1911, thethree major packers in Hope, controlling 56 of the86 horses on the trail, combined to give dailyservice at the following rates:

9½ Mile (Camp Comfort)14 Mile (Lake House)23 Mile House “where theSteamboat trail turns sharp rightofI the Princeton trail”33 Mile (Steamboat — eithertownsite)Steamboat Mines

The 50% rate increase for the last two miles toSteamboat Mountain Gold Mines reflects thearduous climb up the new trail from SteamboatTownsite.

Citizens at Steamboat Townsite formed aBoard of Trade in June, 1911, blissfully unawarethat the game was over. In addition to theresthouses along the Steamboat trail, substantialinvestments were made at the two Steamboattownsites.

The Original (southern) Steamboat Townsitewas staked by “Alaska Jack” Ginivan. This townsitewas more complete when abandoned, withMcintyre and Raymond’s hotel, manager J. J.Doyle; a two storey assay office; a real estateoffice; and several smaller buildings.

The second townsite, Steamboat Mountain (33Mile) had been staked, presumably, to intercepttraffic en route to the other settlement. Here was athree storey hotel, a grocery, a real estate office,and a post office.

The town of Hope also benefitted from theSteamboat rush. It had declined almost to a ghosttown after the heady days of the 1850’s and 60’s.Th.e C.P.R. across the Fraser River was onlyaccessible via Luke Gibson’s ferry.

Dominion Land Surveyor A. W. johnson

resurveyed the townsite in 1906, and observed:“The Hudsons Bay Company once clearedpractically the whole townsite to grow feed fortheir packtrains, but it had been allowed to growup again, and is now covered with dense brush,except where a few houses are”.

Suddenly, in 1910, not only did Hope have toservice the rush to Steamboat, but it had to makeway for three major railways either being surveyedor under construction: the Canadian NorthernPacific; the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern; andthe Kettle Valley. New hotels and warehouseswere built, and riverboat service from NewWestminster was reinstated after a gap of twentyyears.

As the Steamboat bubble grew, other townswished to share the benefits with Hope. Princetonnoted how favourably situated it was for reachingthe Skagit by the old Hope trail. On Muddy Creek,twelve men worked on the government trail fromSimilkameen. R. W. Jarvis started a third townsite,on Muddy Creek near Little Steamboat Mountain,and extended the government trial to SteamboatTownsite.

The burghers of Chilliwack proposed a sixtymile trail up the Chilliwack River to the Skagit, animpractical dream held fifty years before by theHudson’s Bay Company. If the trail did not gothrough, the British Columbia Electric RailwayCompany was prepared to build a sixty milerailway up the Chilliwack River.

The Snow Meltsin the Spring of 1911, as the snow went, owners

began developing their properties. A feeling grewthat all was not well. A mining engineer, one Mr.Webster, came up from Mexico and spent twoweeks examining the area. On leaving, June 15, hediplomatically observed that “the camp will beone of low grade ore”.

Hope News for June 22, 1911, hinted that theremight be “a taste of salt” in the SteamboatDiscovery claim. Others were more forceful.Mining Engineer W. A. (Bill) Lewis spent nearlytwo months examining mining properties forinvestors, then declared in the Hope SteamboatNugget, July 29, 1911: “There’s nothing there,never was, and never will be. It was all a fake. Allthe gold samples that were brought out fromthere were from Tonapah and Cripple Creek[Nevada] . .

What may have been the last SteamboatMountain mining transaction was the sale of a fifthinterest in a claim immediately below the Discovery claim, by John Vinson to Henry Mcintyre for$1200 on July 20, 1911. By the end of July, with J. J.

4 cents/lb6 cents/lb

8 cents/lb

10 cents/lb15 cents/lb

Spring 1982

1911 OPPORTUNITIES Page43

G-QI]D!You kiiow all about the fortunes that have been dug out of the ground. All the great

fortunes (If 11w ages have been made out of the utilization of the natural resources of thecarth—oii, coal, gas, silver, iron, lead, gold and all tile Oilier minerals that contribute solargely to the profits of industrialism. Everybody knows that this is true and nobody knowsit better than men like Rockefeller and Carnegie and Morgan. The only serious problem is1(1 find the RIGhT 1LACE. AN!) THERE’S GOLI) AT STEAMBOAT, PLENTY OFIT, BASKETS FULL OF IT!

G-OID IIt’s what you all want. And there is NO PLACE IN THE WORLI) TO-I)AY

THAT IIOLI)S THE PROMISE OF SUCH BIG RETURNS AS THE STEAMBOATMOUNTAIN DISTRICT. Every mining expert who has visited SEAM BOAT predictsthat the next two months will witness a rush to STEJ\ ?1 IR)AT which will equal the rushto California in ‘49 and the subsequent rushes into Cripple Creek, Nevada, Alaska and theYukon. Those who are on the ground first are the men who are going to win. Last yearC. S. \Valgamott and his associates went into the STEAMBOAT region. They discoveredseveral rich claims. THE ORE TAKEN FROM THESE CLAIMS SPARKLES WITHGOLI); iT IS IMPREGNATEI) WITH IT. THE STEAMBOAT CENTRAL MINES,LTD., has purchased SAI)DLE ROCK, SADDLE ROCK No. 3 and KILO No. 5, fromMr. Walgamott and these properties are full of—

G-011]JI1)0 von want to share in the vast wealth of the STEAMBOAT MOUNTAI N region,

where $s20 a ton is the AVERAGE value shown in NINE ASSAYS taken from TWoI)! IFIRENi’ TUNNELS? Assays taken from the surface show an average of $w.5o illgold AFTER ELIMINATING ALL VALUES OVER $30. And experts estimate that itwill cost only $2.50 PER TON TO MINE AND MiLL THE STEAMBOAT MOUNTAIN ORE. These figures ought to interest you. They tell a story of OPPORTUNITYUNEQUALLED since the discovery of Goldfield, Nevada. DO YOU WANT TO SHAREIN THIS OPPORTUNITY? If you do, let us know. We are disposing of $5o,00o worthof stock that has a par value of $i.oo a share at 25 cents a share. IT IS THE BESTCHANCE TO MAKE MoNEY YOU WILL EVER HAVE. Let us talk with you. Ouraddress is Suite 8o6 Bower lluilcling, 543 Granville Street.

WALGAMOTT & EAMES, Fiscal Agents

STEAMBOAT CENTRAL MINES LTD.

Remember the Steamboat ore we’ll show you Is speckledwIth

G-QI]D!PLEASE MENTION OPPORTUNITIES WHEN WRITING TO ADVERTISERS. THANK YOU.


Doyle the sole resident of the two Steamboattownsites, the post office was “temporarily”abandoned. Doyle had just come south fromfourteen years in the Yukon, and was probablyconsidering his next move.

Several travellers left descriptions of theSteamboat trail, including the imaginative J. H.Gerrie. There was a consensus that the trail ranthrough some fine country, but there was noagreement on its condition below 23 Mile.Opinions varied from “Like a path in Stanley Park”to “Impassable”.

Part of the disagreement would stem from thetime of year, and the remainder to inexperience.Several backpackers travelled the thirty five milesin a summer’s day, and regular packtrains ranbetween Hope and Steamboat. Existing trails werereused as far as possible.

Leaving Hope, the trail cut southeast overCoquihalla Flats to the slopes of Hope Mountain,climbing above the Coquihalla River. At 4½ Milethe trail (formerly the 1860 Engineers’ wagon road)passed below Bridal Falls, then a local beauty spot,shown on maps and surveys from 1860, onwards.As far as the Nicolum River, this section of the trailwill be found largely intact, below the modernhighway to Princeton.

At the Nicolum (6 Mile) the trail crossedimmediately to the north bank. The first roadhouse, a canvas cabin, at 6½ Mile, would havebeen just inside the present Nicolum ProvincialPark. Similar accommodations were offered byFred Simpson at “Camp Comfort”, 9½ miles fromHope.

“Lake House” at 14 Mile was an old campsitewhen the Similkameen trail was built in 1860/61. Itwas just over the Sumallo divide beyond BeaverLake, just clear of the 1961 Hope Slide.

Near the west entrance to Manning Park,several fine sections of the 120 year old trail remainon the left, one being the well-known “EngineersRoad” Stop of Interest. Next, the great cedarsalong the Sumallow River were noted by mosttravellers. At 23 Mile, the Steamboat trail turnedsharp right from the Similkameen trail, exactly

opposite the “km 35” sign on the presenthighway.

It was just as hard to maintain a bridge hereover the Skagit River seventy years ago as it istoday. Travellers in 1911 had to “deep-ford” toreach the left bank, until the freshet subsided andthe bridge was replaced, in June by the provincialroad superintendent.

Beyond 23 Mile House, by most accounts, thetrail deteriorated. Captain W. W. de Lacy had cutthe privately funded Whatcom trail up the Skagitvery lightly indeed, with a few men, whereas theRoyal Engineers, working for the Colonial Govvernment, used over a hundred men to constructthe solid wagon road which endures, in part,today.

At 33 Mile, ten miles below the Similkameenturnoff was 10 Mile Creek and Steamboat Mountain townsite, located to intercept traffic to theearlier, and more complete Steamboat Townsite,half a mile to the south. The tunnels of theSteamboat Gold Mining Company’s Discoveryclaim were located southwest of Steamboat peakat about elevation 5500 feet, about two miles bynew trail above Steamboat Townsite. The Discovery claim was reckoned to be thirty five milesby trail from Hope.

The Steamboat excitement undoubtedlyinfluenced the first line located for the SouthernTransprovincial Highway, which ran to the Skagitover the present Silver Skagit route, then throughthe two Steamboat townsites, up Muddy (Nepopekum) Creek and through Gibson Pass to theSimilkameen. Construction began in 1912, andreached five miles south of Silver Lake beforebeing abandoned in 1913.

The Skagit or Whatcom trail from 23 mile stillruns south through giant cedars on the left bankof the Skagit to where the Silver Skagit roadcrosses by Bailey bridge, ten miles below, wherethe original “Steamboat” raft was launched ahundred years ago.I British Columbia Sessional Papers, 1911, Report of

Minister of Mines.2 Dominion of Canada Sessional Papers, 1912,

Geological Survey of Canada, Summary Report.

Spring 1982

Have You Ever Wondered

Who Invented the Egg Carton?

By Lynn Shervill

The next time you take your dozen eggs fromthe supermarket cooler, their safe arrival at homewill be thanks in no small part to B.C. inventor JoeCoyle. The Coyle Safety Egg Carton, distributedthe world over after a humble initiation inVancouver in 1919, was the highlight of a careerwhich included the founding of three NorthernB.C. newspapers.

Born in 1871 in Ontario, Joseph Leopold Coyleworked as a printer, surveyor and newspaperreporter in Eastern Canada and the United Statesbefore finding his way, via The Juneau DailyDispatch in Alaska, to Hazelton, B.C. in 1907. Hisintention was to start his own newspaper there butJohn Dorsey, a principal in the Vancouver-basedNorth Coast Land Company, convinced him thenew community of Aldermere in the BulkleyValley was the place for an eager and experiencednewspaperman. It appears Dorsey’s prime interestwas in establishing a local vehicle for his real estatepromotion. Only one issue of The Bulkley Pioneer

was published in Aldermere before Dorsey andhis North Coast partners withdrew their financialsupport from the Bulkely Valley operation and reestablished The Pioneer in Port Simpson.

Coyle, on the other hand, pursued his initialplan, founding The Omineca Herald in Hazeltonin 1908. The paper survived for many years butonly briefly under Coyle’s guidance. His shortassociation with the Bulkley Valley had left himwith a compelling desire to return. This he did in1909 and immediately founded The Interior News,publishing the paper on his ranch near Aldermerebefore moving the operation into the communitysix months later. In 1913 Coyle moved the paperagain, this time to Smithers, an emerging divisional point for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway,where it is still published today.

It was during his time in Aldermere, however,that Coyle invented the predecessor to themodern day egg carton. According to Coyle’sdaughter, Mrs. Ellen Myton of Bellingham, Wash.,

(ITOHThe Coyle Egg-Safety Carton


one Gabriel Lecroix, a local rancher, was in thebusiness of shipping eggs to the Aldermere Hotel.Few of Lecroix’s eggs ever arrived intact, leading to‘loud criticisms and recriminations between thepacker and the hotel”. As Coyle’s newspaperoffice was in the immediate vicinity, he was privyto the disagreements and decided to do something about them.

“Dad’s cushioned container solved the problem,” said Mrs. Myton. “It was even demonstratedthat you could drop the carton (in a certain way!)and the eggs survived intact.”

By 1919 Joe Coyle had decided to startmanufacture of his egg carton ... and therebyrevolutionize that aspect of the packagingindustry. He moved to Vancouver where, for ashort while, his carton was made by United PaperProducts but only after Coyle had designed themachines required for its production. In 1920, dueto financial problems with United Paper Products,Coyle took his venture to Los Angeles andproduced the carton himself, setting up a familybusiness What happened next is related by MrsMyton.

“Dad wanted to retain his independence butneeded capital so a deal was made with a LeonBenoit in Chicago. The Coyle Safety Egg Cartonwas produced at a factory on Halstead Street inChicago and then in New York. It was alsomanufactured in Indiana and in Pittsburgh at theGrant Paper Box Company. Later productionstarted in Toronto at the Colette Sproule Co., andin London, Ontario by Somerville Industries. Itenjoyed extensive sales abroad — South Africa,Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, England, the Continent.From the New York factory 200 million cartonswere sold annually.”

A Chicago newspaper described Coyle’sinvention as “pleasing in design with manystructural advantages. It has a cushioned bottomand is air conditioned, offers a large egg space, agood printing surface and has no glued parts tobecome detached or metal parts to rust.”

Unfortunately, according to Mrs. Myton, themagnitude of the business grew beyond theability of her father to control it. “As is so often thecase with inventors,” she said, “he was no matchfor the sharp practices of big business and theirsharper lawyers. The Coyle carton made severalmillionaires but Dad was not one of them. Welived comfortably but not affluently.”

During the heyday of the carton’s production,the Coyle family lived in London, Ontario,returning to New Westminster in 1941 whereCoyle designed another carton and began itsproduction. By this time Joe Coyle was 70 yearsold. With his son Patrick, he continued the

business until the advent of the molded andplastic egg cartons.

“Conversion of the plant to new machineryand methods would have involved a hugeexpenditure,” Mrs. Myton said. “And Dad wasthen in his early nineties, still working the pressesand planning for the future.”

Joe Coyle died in New Westminster on April18, 1972, just shy of his 101st birthday. According tohis daughter the last egg carton deliveries from hisVancouver plant were made at about the sametime.

“His invention of 1911 survived until his deathin 1972 and then died quietly with him.”

Lynn Shervell has reported for the Interior News and isauthor of the recently published Smithers: FromSwamp to ‘••

Joseph Coyle with his wife and daughter Ellen, August24, 1912.

Spring 1982

r

Reached Fort Fraser yesterday after hard, fine day trip in fromQuesnel. First night slept under the sky. Second night, as we had notent, had to make the best covering possible with a piece of canvasopen at the sides and end pitched in thunder, lightning, rain and hail.Slept in rough log cabins the other two nights. Rain and hail every daybut one. Do not feel quite well. Hope to go on to Hudson’s Bay postthis afternoon. Very bad journey and no road houses — brought myown blankets and grub box.

Discovery: 1913 Editor’s note: The life of the provincial librarian/archivist in British Columbia in the early years wasnot a job for those who liked sitting down at a deskas these quotes from a manuscript in the ProvincialArchives attest. F. 0. S. Scholefield wrote thefollowing about a collecting expedition he wenton in the Fort Fraser-Stuart Lake area in 1913. Thephotographs are from the Cariboo leg of the sametrip.

Ethelbert O’af Stuart Schojefield, “Diary of a Trip Throughthe Cariboo to Stuart Lake, 1913”, Provincial Archives of B.C.,Add Mss 491.


-c

C,’>-.-

o . .....c) - -

Made Sucher Creek in time for dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Powerswho keep a “road-house”, consisting of a one-roomed log-cabin. Mr.and Mrs. P. live in a tent, while guests lay their blankets in a bedsteadin a corner of the cabin or on the floor — I took the floor. Terribledinner of boiled potatoes, boiled turnips, stewed raisins and hotbread. After sleeping in the open found the cabin insufferably hotand stuffy but it was too wet to sleep outside ... got up betimes;dressed while Mrs. Powers prepared a breakfast of fried turnip andpotatoes, tea, bread, butter and marmalade ... Left Sucher Creekabout eight-thirty o’clock. Felt quite ill after that breakfast dinner —

must have got a chill also, for which our wet camp at Mud River maybe responsible.

Spring 1982

News and NotesSeniors’ Summer Study:UVic in the KootenaysJune 13—19 or June 20—26

The Senior’s Summer Study operated by theUniversity of Victoria on the campus of DavidThompson University Centre (DTUC) in Nelson isan opportunity for people sixty years or better (orwhose spouse or travelling companion qualifies)to study aspects of the rich natural and humanhistory of the Kootenay Region.

Life experience makes you an interestingstudent. There are no formal educational requirements, just a positive attitude toward living andlearning and an interest in being a participant in avibrant learning community.

Three courses will be given from Monday toFriday, with each class allotted 1½ hours. Thegeneral course outline is one on natural history, asecond on the early settlers of the areas and onecourse on creative expression. There will be twofield trips each week to areas of interest led by theprofessors.

The cost includes all meals, your room, coursefees and field trips — from Sunday evening toSaturday morning. It does not include yourtransportation to Nelson, but you should be ableto come and forget about your wallet while youare enjoying Seniors’ Summer Study. The projected cost for one person in a double occupancyroom is $199.00; for a single room it is slightlymore. (The tuition portion of the fee is deductiblefrom your income tax.)

For further information call Cynthia Williamsor Anne Fraser at the University of Victoria (112-721-8463) or write University Extension, Universityof Victoria, P.O. Box. 1700, Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Y2.

Manitoba Archives

The Provincial Archives of Manitoba, whichalso includes the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives,will be closed to the public September 13-17, 1982,for the purpose of taking inventory.

The third B.C. Studies Conference will be heldat the University of British Columbia in February1984. Proposals for conference papers are nowinvited.

PURPOSEThe B.C. Studies Conference is interdisciplin

ary with an historical focus. The organizers inviteproposals for papers that will enhance ourunderstanding of any aspect of British Columbia’sdevelopment.FORMAT

Approximately ten sessions will be held at theconference, each session made up of two paperson a related subject followed by a commentator’scritical assessment. One special evening sessionwill also be held.DEADLINE

Suggestions for conference papers will beconsidered as they are received; the final deadlinefor proposal submissions is December 1, 1982.ENQUIRIES

Enquiries should be directed to R. McDonald,Department of History, University of BritishColumbia; Alan Artibise, Department of History,University of Victoria; and Hugh Johnston orRobin Fisher, Department of History, Simon FraserUniversity.

ANNOUNCEMENTTHIRD B.C. Studies Conference

February 1984


News and Notes

Reports from the BranchesVancouver

In October the Vancouver Historical Societyheld a seminar on oral history, which wasconducted by Allen Specht of the ProvincialArchives. As a result of this seminar, attended byabout twenty people, the Society has formed acommittee to initiate an oral history project torecord the reminiscences of long-time residentsof Vancouver.

The major social event of the fall season was adinner and historic fashion show held at St. James’Church. One hundred members and guestsattended and enjoyed Ivan Sayers’ models whodisplayed a series of costumes illustrating womenat work and at play in British Columbia from the1890’s to the present.

The Society ran a successful local hstory booksale at the B.C. Studies Conference held inVancouver on October 30th. Orders are stillcoming in as a result of the booklist that wasdistributed to members afterwards. The Societyhopes to run another book sale at the B.C.H.A.Convention in Duncan.

Speakers of the past months have includedMelva Dwyer (Art in Vancouver architecture);Ralph Maud (Charles Hill-Tout); and HughJohnston (Komagata Maru).

— Report submitted by Anne Yandle

Windermere District1981 was a busy year. We were fortunate in

having two students working in the Museumthrough the summer — Pam Tranfield and LisaRohrick. Our thanks to Mrs. Eileen Fuller whodidthe accounting connected with the employmentof these young ladies, and to Win nif red Weir whoundertook their supervision.

The members held open house on threeoccasions. The first was in February when Mrs.Laird showed her collection of slides of buildingsof historical interest built before 1923, showinghow they appear today. The second was June 20,

the date of the museum opening for the summer.This occasion was named “Madeline Tumor Day”to honour her many years of pioneering andservice in the valley. Many friends came to talkover old times with her and an interestingcollection of memorabilia connected with herfamily was shown. The third open house was heldduring the summer in honour of Konrad Kaneand featuring Arnor Larson’s photographs ofappropriate mountain scenes. Mr. Larson hasdonated these imaginative pictures to the museum.

A committee was formed to see what can bedone to improve the condition of the Winder-mere Cemetery. This undertaking will be donewith the backing of the Village of Invermere andthe committee will work along with the LionsClub, who have made this a project also.

Through the tireless efforts of Arnor Larson thephotographic lab is completed and has been putto good use.

The major undertaking of the year was themoving and restoration of the Brisco SchoolHouse. Our thanks go to all those who gave sogenerously of their time to make this possible. Theschool house was ready on schedule for the June20 opening.

Lack of finances was an ongoing problemthroughout the year. We are grateful to those whodid so much to keep our heads above water; inparticular, Mr. Roger Smith. The Village oflnvermere kept the Museum Park grounds ingood order and aided us with funds to pay for thismaintenance and assistance in paying utilities.Also, the Canadian Arts Council gave us asubstantial grant.

Many new acquisitions have been donated bymembers of the community. Through the capablework of Mrs. Mary Laird these have been markedand listed in a well-organized file.

Attendance during the year was over 1,600,including many visitors from Great Britain,Germany, Australia and other countries.

Special thanks from our members go to Mr.Charles Osterloh, our retiring treasurer, whoworked tirelessly and cheerfully in this department, and to the directors and committee

Spring 1982

members who worked hard on the displays andgeneral organization, creating a good image tothe public and making the museum a pleasant,attractive place.

— Report submitted by E. Stevens.

Did You Know?Lake Windermere is named because of a real

or fancied resemblance to Lake Windermere inEngland’s lake district.

Lake Windermere and its sister Columbia Lakeare really just widenings of the Columbia Riverwhich flows through them on its way to Goldenand hence to the Pacific.

David Thompson named a 10,772 foot peak inthe Purcell Mountains west of lnvermere “Mt.Nelson” because, when at Lake Windermere in1807, he heard of the death of Admiral HoratioNelson at the Battle of Trafalgar two years before.

Chemainus ValleyDue to changing holiday trends, the Che

mainus Valley Historical Society changed the timeof the annual meeting from March to November.

At the November 1981 meeting, the followingofficers were elected: past president, ElmerAlbee; president, Tony Motherwell; vice president, Grace Dickie; secretary, Audrey Ginn; andtreasurer, Edith Stephenson. The followingdirectors were appointed by the new president:George Pedersen, Betty Pedersen, Mary AnneHiehaus, Lillian Gustafson and Karen Flakstad.

The main project of the society during 1981

41CM/EL H41E /‘OO

NAA/0a4 //.M.

was having the Pioneer Cemetary at Lamalchi Bayon Kuper Island brush-cut and generally tidiedup. There are twenty-two graves in this cemeterybut only four have markers, so the Society wantsto arrange for a suitable memorial cairn with allthe names.

In the spring, the society mourned the passingof Harry Olson who had been a valued membersince the start of the Historical Society in Chemain us.

At the May meeting the members heard anaddress by Ning Chang of Chemainus who spokeabout the first Chinese community in Chemainus.It was so interesting that the Society requested acopy of his notes to keep on file.

During the year, Elmer Albee gave a talk on oldtimes in Chemainus and named the occupants ofevery home and business around 1919. Later in theyear, Mr. Albee gave an account of the bus lineson Vancouver Island from 1924 to the present day.

Adam Hunter of Thetis Island wasaguestattheSeptember meeting and he talked about thepioneers on Thetis Island. Adam has a handwritten letter from the Government Agent inNanaimo dated September 1896 authorizing l-ikfather, Peter Hunter and Peter’s brothers to surveyand build a 12 foot wide road from his home to apoint near the site of the present ferry landingwhich was approximately four miles. This entailedusing teams of horses, cutting trees and clearingthe right-of-way and grading the road. For all thiswork, the Government agreed to pay the Hunterbrothers the total sum of $150.00

Members of the Society are looking forward toan equally interesting year in 1982.

— Report submitted by Grace Dickie


Golden & DistrictGolden and District Historical Society has

accelerated its efforts in both museum andhistorical research. The group has attracted newmembers and revitalized its original members.Minor successes and the acquisition of grantselated all the lagging workers. Enterprises arebeing pursued with excitement and enthusiasm.

“Golden Memories — Revised” is going to theprinter in March. The book tells of the earliestpioneers, then unfolds the industry and activitieswhich kept the town and district viable andexpanding. Mrs. Ethel King and her committeehave written many letters, researched all availablesources, written, revised, and proofread manypages.

There is always a nostalgic pause when lookingthrough piles of old photographs to find suitableillustrations. Why, oh, why didn’t the photographer write information on these delightfulsnapshots? “This is the Johnson family — the girlswere Emily and ... can anyone remember thename of the younger one?” We have availedourselves of collective expertise by taking theseunidentified photographs down to the extendedcare wing of the local hospital. The senior citizensrelish the opportunity to look at these picturesand to reminisce.

The Brisco log schoolhouse, transported fortymiles up the valley by volunteers has been rebuiltand restored by Norman King. The building boastsa roof freshly covered with shakes split anddonated by the Old Timers Hockey club. Theinside was scrubbed and whitewashed by delinquents contributing hours of “community service”. The tongue and groove flooring, cut as aspecial favour by the Donald Sawmill, was installed

by Mr. King and Wilf Habart. The restoration of thisschoolhouse has been a labour of love, becauseNorman’s wife Ethel taught in it prior to theirmarriage.

The museum building and its displays hadundergone very little alteration since opening dayin 1974. Early in December three eager youngworkers started changing all that. Working on aCanada Community Development Grant theyrenovated the back room and the book room,created a large loft for storage space, made hiddentreasures more accessible, and they will create newdisplays in remodelled settings.

— submitted by Naomi Miller

I had hoped to include details of the HistoricRoutes Symposium scheduled for this May,sponsored by the Heritage Conservation Branchwith the support of the British Columbia HistoricalAssociation and other groups. I have been advisedthat the provincial government policy of fiscalrestraint has forced postponement of this projectuntil at least 1983.

My last report in this department broughtseveral replies giving information on the status ofand problems in preserving historic trails invarious parts of the province. I hope to commenton these at a later date.

Meanwhile, those of you who may have feltthat historic lines of communication have beensomewhat neglected in the study and appreciation of British Columbia’s past should have notrouble in enjoying the Winter 1982 issue of theNews!

— John Spittle

Historic Trails Update

While the War of 1812 was being fought in the eastern part ofNorth America, a Vermont Yankee represented the NorthWest Company in New Caledonia. Who was he?(Warning: The answer is not Simon Fraser!)

For the correct answer we offer a prize of a copy of PierreBerton, Flames Across the Border, 1813-1814. Toronto:McClelIand and Stewart, 1981.

Entries should be addressed to “Contest”, P.O. Box 1738,Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Y3 and should arrive before June 1,1982.If there is more than one correct answer, we will draw forthe prize winner.

Spring 1982

Need to do Some Research?

Archival Notes

By Michael Halleran

There are over one hundred institutionsmaintaining archival collections, both large andsmall, across British Columbia. A list of theiraddresses has been prepared on the basis of theDirectory of Museums, Art Galleries and Archivespublished by the Provincial Secretary and themembership list of the Association of BritishColumbia Archivists.

A circular letter has been sent to all theinstitutions on that list asking that they perodicallyprovide information about new acquisitions ofmanuscripts, photographs and aural history tapes.This information will be printed in subsequentissues of the News as a service to researchers.

Some of the collections are well known andothers are less so. Researchers, especially begin-

ners, tend to look to obvious sources, indeed theymay not know other sources exist. Perhaps bydrawing attention to new acquisitions throughoutthe province, researchers will be directed tosources of information previously unknown aswell as to new areas of investigation. You can findgold by fossicking ground that has already beenworked, but the biggest nuggets are often increeks that have been overlooked by earlierprospectors.

Michael Haileran was treasurer of the B.C.H.A. forseveral years. He asks that information about collections missed be sent to him in care of the News.

(c,’j, Organisations and Institutionswith Archival Collections

Arranged in alphabetical order by city

Matsqui-Sumas AbbotsfordMuseum33660 South Fraser WayABBOTSFORD, B.C. V2S 2B9Curator: Diane KellyAlert Bay MuseumBox 208ALERT BAY, B.C. VON lAOManager: Joyce Wilby

Ashcroft Museum.Box 129ASHCROFT, B.C. VOK lAOCurator: Robert Graham

Atlin MuseumBox 111ATLIN, B.C. VOW lAO

Barkerville Historic ParkBARKERVILLE, B.C. VOR 1BOCurator: B. Dale Perry

British Columbia AmbulanceArchives4730 Imperial AvenueBURNABY, B.C. V5J 1C2Director: Cor Zanabergen

Heritage Village Museum4900 Deer Lake AvenueBURNABY, B.C. V5G 3T6Curator: Rick Duckles


British Columbia TelephoneArchives3777 KingswayBURNABY, B.C. V5F-I 3Z7Historian: Tony Farr

Simon Fraser University ArchivesSimon Fraser UniversityBURNABY, B.C. V5A 156Archivist: Don Baird

Geneological Branch LibraryChurch of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints5280 Kincaid StreetBURNABY, B.C. V5G 1V9

Campbell River and DistrictMuseum1235 Island HighwayCAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. V9W 2C7Curator: Jay S. Stewart

Doukhobor Village MuseumBox 3081CASTLEGAR, B.C. V1N 3H4Curator: Anna Gattinger

Registered Nurses Association ofBritish Columbia West KootenayDistrict Nursing Archives302 Centre AvenueBLUEBERRY CREEK, B.C.V1N 3C1Archivist: Helen McLeod

Selkirk College ArchivesBox 1200CASTLEGAR, B.C. V1N 3j1Chief Librarian:John Mansbridge

Canadian Military EngineersMuseumMPO 612 CFB ChilliwackCHILLIWACK, B.C. VOX 2E0Contact: Tom Higgins

Wells Centennial Museum209 Corbould StreetCHILLIWACK, B.C. V2P 4A6Curator: Nora Layard

Mennonite Historical Society ofBritish Columbia Museum andArchives2825 Clearbrook RoadCLEARBROOK, B.C. V2T 2Z3Vice-Chairman: A.A. Olfert

South Cariboo HistoricalMuseumBox 46CLINTON, B.C. VOK 1KOPresident: Bert Dibben

Coquitlam Historical SocietyMuseum1011 King Albert AvenueCOQUITLAM, B.C. V3J 1X6Curator: Louise Richards

Courtenay and District MuseumBox 3128COURTENAY, B.C. V9N 5N4Acting Curator: Trevor Davies

The Railway MuseumBox 400CRANBROOK, B.C. V1C 4H9Executive-Director:Gary Anderson

Creston and District Historicaland Museum SocietyBox 1123CRESTON, B.C. VOB 1GOContact: H.L. Dodd

Cumberland MuseumBox 74CUMBERLAND, B.C. VOR iSOCurator: Norman Alexander

American Foundrymen’s SocietyArchives and Museum, B.C.Chapter8499-110 A StreetDELTA, B.C. V4C 2K5Curator: Donna Police

Delta Museum and Archives4858 Delta StreetDELTA, B.C. V4K 2T8Curator: Mary A. Brown

Cowichan Valley Museum2737 James StreetDUNCAN, B.C. V9L 2Y1Curator: Myrtle Haslam

Fernie and District HistoricalSocietyBox 1527FERNIE, B.C. VOB 1MOCurator: William D. Quail

Elphinstone Pioneer MuseumBox 766GIBSONS, B.C. VON 1VOPresident: David Helm

Golden and District MuseumBox 992GOLDEN, B.C. VOA 1HOCurator: Naomi Miller

Kilby Provincial Historic ParkBox 48HARRISON MILLS, B.C. VOM 1LOCurator: C.T. Wood

Hornby Island ArchivesHORNBY ISLAND, B.C. VOR 1ZOChairman: Betty Smith

Jack Lynn Memorial MuseumBox 288HORSEFLY, B.C. VOL 1LOCurator: Harriette Erickson

Windermere District HistoricalMuseumBox 1075INVERMERE, B.C. VOA 1KOCurator: Winnifred Weir

Kamloops Indian Band Museum315 Yellowhead HighwayKAMLOOPS, B.C. V2H 1H1Contact: Manny Jules

Kamloops Museum and Archives207 Seymour StreetKAMLOOPS, B.C. V2C 2E7Curator: Ken Faverholdt

S.S. Moyie MuseumBox 537KASLO, B.C. VOG 1MOPresident: Harold Carss

Diocese of Kootenay ArchivesBox 549KELOWNA, B.C. V1Y 7P2Archivist: Gail Greenhalgh

Kelowna Centennial Museum470 QueenswayKELOWNA, B.C. V1Y 6S7Curator: Ursula Surtees

Keremeos MuseumBox 27KEREMEOS, B.C. VOX 1NOCurator: Alberta Parsons

Kitimat Centennial Museum293 City CentreKITIMAT, B.C. V8C 1T6Curator: James Tirrul-jones

Kaatza Historical ScoietyBox 135LAKE COWICHAN, B.C. VOR 2GO

Lillooet MuseumBox 441LILLOOET, B.C. VOK 1VOCurator: Renee Chipman

Mackenzie Public LibraryArchivesBox 1095MACKENZIE, B.C. VOJ 2C0Contact: Helen Knorr

Spring 1982

Maple Ridge MuseumBox 223MAPLE RIDGE, B.C V2X 7G1Curator: Daphne Sleigh

Ed Jones Haida MuseumBox 186MASSET, B.C. VOT 1MO

Nicola Valley ArchivesAssociationBox 1262MERRITT, B.C. VOK 2B0Curator: Katherine A. Howes

Mission Museum33201 Second AvenueMISSION, B.C. V2V 1J9Curator: Dorothy Crosby

Nakusp MuseumBox 280NAKUSP, B.C. VOG 1ROCurator: Bert Gardner

The BastionNatives Sons of British Columbia211-450 Stewart AvenueNANAIMO, B.C. V9S 4C6Contact: W.R. Stannard

Nanaimo Centennial Museum100 Cameron StreetNANAIMO, B.C. V9R 2X1

David Thompson UniversityCentre ArchivesNELSON, B.C. V1L 3C7Director: Ron j. Welwood

Nelson Centennial Museum402 Anderson StreetNELSON, B.C. V1L 3Y3Curator: W. A. Fetterley

Silvery Slocan Historical MuseumBox 281NEW DENVER, B.C. VOG iSOContact: Judith Maltz

Douglas College ArchivesBox 2503NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.V3L 5B2Director: David Williams

Irving House Historic Centre andNew Westminster Museum302 Royal AvenueNEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.V3L 1H7Curator: Archie W. Miller

1’II

Museum of the RoyalWestminster Regiment andRoyal Westminster Association530 Queens AvenueNEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.V3L 1K3Curator: Doreen Cull, CD.

New Westminster Public Libraryand Archives716 Sixth AvenueNEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.V3M 233Chief Librarian: Alan Woodland

North Shore Museum andArchives209 West Fourth StreetNORTH VANCOUVER, B.C.V7M 1H8Curator: W.J. Baker

Oliver Heritage Society Museumand ArchivesBox 847OLIVER, B.C. VOH iTOCurator: Mrs. Marilyn Simmons

Osoyoos Museum and ArchivesBox 791OSOYOOS, B.C. VOH 1VOCurator: Claire E. Burns

District 69 Historical SocietyBox 74PARKSVILLE, B.C. VOR 2S0

R.N. (Reg) Atkinson Museum785 Main StreetPENTICTON, B.C. V2A 5E3Curator: Joe Harris

Pitt Meadows Heritage andMuseum SocietyBox 381PIU MEADOWS, B.C. VOM 1PO

Alberni Valley Museum4255 Wallace StreetPORT ALBERNI, B.C. V9Y 3Y6

Port Moody Historical SocietyMuseum126 Kyle StreetPORT MOODY, B.C. V3H 3N7Curator: A.C. Espeseth

Pouce Coupe MuseumBox 293POUCE COUPE, B.C. VOC 2C0Curator: Wilma Harms

Powell River Historical MuseumBox 42POWELL RIVER, B.C. V8A 4Z5Archivist: Gordon Stanely

Northcoast Marine Museum309 Second Avenue WestPRINCE RUPERT, B.C. V8J 3T1Curator: Gladys Blyth

Quesnel and District Museum707 Carson AvenueQUESNEL, B.C. V2J 236Curator: Shiela Hill

Revelstoke MuseumBox 1908REVELSTOKE, B.C. VOE 2S0President: Jack Leslie

Richmond Museum andArchives6911 Number 3 RoadRICHMOND, B.C. V6Y 2C1Curator: W.P. Anderson

Steveston Museum and PostOffice3811 Moncton StreetSTEVESTON, B.C. V7E 3A5Curator: Harold Steves


Salmon Arm MuseumBox 1642SALMON ARM, B.C. VOE 2T0President: Helenita Harvey

Shawnigan Lake HistoricalSocietyBox 152Shawnigan Lake Road SouthSHAWNIGAN LAKE, B.C.VOR 2W0Curator: Jim Griffin

Sointula MuseumBox 172SOINTULA, B.C. VON 3E0Curator: Wilma Olney

Sooke Region MuseumBox 774SOOKE, B.C. VOS 1NOCurator: Elida Peters

Squamish MuseumBox 166GARIBALDI HIGHLANDS, B.C.VON iTOSecretary: Ruth McAbee

Stewart Historical MuseumBox 690STEWART, B.C. VOT iWOCurator: Mary Schindel

Summerland MuseumBox 1491SUMMERLAND, B.C. VOH 1ZOCurator: Gertie I. Butler

Societa Cristoforo ColomboLodge Archives584 Rossland AvenueTRAIL, B.C. V1R 3N1Curator: Allan Tognotti

Trail City Archives1394 Pine StreetTRAIL, B.C. V1R 4E6Curator: Jamie Forbes

Archives of the Anglican Synodof British Columbia6050 Chancellor BoulevardVANCOUVER, B.C. v6T 1W3Director: Garth Walker

Archives of the United ChurchBritish Columbia Conference6000 lona DriveVANCOUVER, B.C. V6T 1L4Archivist: Marilyn Harrison

British Columbia Museum ofMedicine1807 Tenth Avenue WestVANCOUVER, B.C. V6J 2A9Curator: C. William Fraser

Vancouver ArchdiocesanArchives150 Robson StreetVANCOUVER, B.C. V6B 2A7Archivist: Sister Harsch

Vancouver City Archives1150 Chestnut StreetVANCOUVER, B.C. V6j 3J9Archivist: Sue Baptie

Vancouver Public Library:Historical Photographs Section750 Burrard StreetVANCOUVER, B.C. V6Z 1X5Acting Curator: Daniel O’Neill

Canadian Forest Products Ltd.Corporate CommunicationsDepartment505 Burrard StreetVANCOUVER, B.C. V7X 1B5

Cominco Ltd.200 Granville SquareVANCOUVER, B.C. V6C 2R2Thelma jones

MacMillan Bloedel Ltd.1075 Georgia Street WestVANCOUVER, B.C. V6E 3R9The Archivist

Vancouver Elementary Teachers’Association209-1836 Fifth Avenue WestVANCOUVER, B.C. V6J 1P3

B.C. Sports Hall of FameBox 69020 Station KVANCOUVER, B.C. V5K 4W3

University of British ColumbiaLibrarySpecial Collections Division2075 Westbrook PlaceVANCOUVER, B.C V6S 116Librarian: Anne Yandle

Gay Archives CollectiveBox 3130VANCOUVER, B.C. V6B 3X6

Vernon Board of Museum,Archives and Art Gallery3009 Thirty-second AvenueVERNON, B.C. V1T 218Curator: John Shepherd

Base Historical SocietyCFB Esquimalt FMOVICTORIA, B.C. VOS 1BOChairman: LCDR Guy Copley,RCN, Retired

Provincial Archives of BritishColumbiaParliament BuildingsVICTORIA, B.C. V8V 1X4Archivist: John A. Bovey

Metchosin School Museum1027 Haslam AvenueVICTORIA, B.C. V9B 2N3Curator: Julian Rapps

Metropolitan United ChurchHeritage Room1411 Quadra StreetVICTORIA, B.C. V8W 2L2

Victoria City ArchivesNo. 1, Centennial SquareVICTORIA, B.C. V8W 1P6Archivist: Ainslie J. Helmcken

5th B.C. Regiment, RoyalCanadian Artillery Museum andArchives715 Bay StreetVICTORIA, B.C. V8T 1R1Registrar: Robert 1. Clapp

District of Saanich Archives770 Vernon AvenueVICTORIA, B.C. V8X 2W7

Sisters of St. Anne1550 Begbie StreetVICTORIA, B.C. V8R 1K8Archivist: Sister H. Thelma Boutin

Geneological Branch LibraryChurch of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints701 Mann StreetVictoria, B.C. V8Z 6E7

Wells Historical SocietyBox 244WELLS, B.C. VOK 2R0President: Tom Wilson

Corporation of the District ofWest Vancouver750 Seventeenth StreetWEST VANCOUVER, B.C.V7V 3T3

City of White Rock Museum andArchives1030 Martin StreetWHITE ROCK, B.C. V4B 5E3Curator: Margaret Lang-Hastings

Cariboo-Chilcotin Archives2002 South LakesideR.R. 1WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. V2J 3A6Contact: Dr. John Roberts

Spring 1982

Bookshelf

THE CARIBOO MISSION: A HISTORY OF THEOBLATES. Margaret Whitehead. Victoria: SonoNis, 1981. Pp. 142, illus., $8.95 (paper)

Those interested in the history of Christianmissions and the native peoples of British Columbia welcome the publication of Margaret White-head’s University of Victoria M.A. thesis on theRoman Catholic Cariboo Mission.

Because few books on the Catholic Indianmissions of this province have ever appeared, theAnglican William Duncan who served the Tsimshian has become the historian’s typical Indianmissionary. Yet, Wilson Duff’s Indian History ofBritish Columbia (1964) notes that of the 95% ofBritish Columbia Indians who were nominallyChristian in 1939, 57% were listed as RomanCatholic. Why?

Margaret Whitehead’s The Cariboo Mission:A History of the Oblates begins to answer thatquestion. French Oblates began missionary workon the Pacific Coast in the 1840s in response to therequests of French-Canadian bishops who wereresponsible for the territory beyond the RockyMountains. In the mid-1850s differences withtheir French-Canadian colleagues and theirAmerican neighbours in Oregon territory led theOblates to move north, first to Vancouver Island,and, after further disagreements with French-Canadian clerics, to the new gold colony of BritishColumbia.

There, the Oblate order rapidly acquiredautonomy as a Roman Catholic missionary force.From their base in New Westmister, Oblatesunder Bishop D’Herbomez and his missionaryvicar and later assistant Bishop Durieu, openedmissions to serve various parts of British Columbia.

In 1866 the Oblates sent Father James McGuckin to establish St. Joseph’s Mission (west of presentday Williams Lake) to serve the Cariboo district,primarily its Indian bands. Why? The Oblatesknew the Carrier, Babine and Shuswap Indianshad their own religious beliefs but also had someprevious experience with Christianity and hadfavourably received earlier missionary visitors.Also, the scarcity of white settlements and theabsence of Protestant Indian missions in the areawould mean that Roman Catholic missionarywork would not be inhibited as it had been in

Oregon and in the Fraser Valley.According to Whitehead, Father McGuckin, a

“serious ... conscientious, practical [and] demanding” man was the main figure in the earlyyears of St. Joseph’s Mission. By background andtemperament he was a desk man, not a fieldmissionary. Nevertheless, he worked with whitesettlers and he started both a mission school andthe ranch that was necessary to supply it and tosupport the Cariboo mission. Yet, Whiteheadcriticizes McGuckin and praises his superior PaulDurieu who “was not always a good businessman.”

McGuckin and the other Oblates in theCariboo were supposed to follow the Durieusystem: “the creation of a Catholic Indian State inevery willing Indian village. An administration wascreated under the direct authority of the Bishop,with local [itinerant] missionaries acting assupervisors.” Indian officials — Chiefs, catechistsand watchmen — kept bootleggers and paganrites out of the village and maintained theobservance of Roman Catholic morals and ritualswithin. However, the Oblates were short of fundsand men to get this system going. Whiteheadremarks that the Soda Creek, Kluskus Lake, andFort Alexandra Indians were “returning to theirold patterns” in the late 1870’s. The “crux of theproblem,” was “a lack of missionary manpower.”

Even the most notable field missionary of theCariboo Oblates, Father Francois Thomas, found“the conversion of the Chilcotin ... was slowpainstaking work.” His years at St. Joseph’s, 1898-1918, “the Golden Age” of the mission, weremarked by his implementation of the Durieusystem as the Indian Total Abstinence Society ofBritish Columbia. Like Durieu, “his mentor,Francois Thomas was well aware that the Indians,while claiming to believe in the Church’s teaching, still participated in ‘pagan feasts’ anddrinking parties.” The time of the missionary’squarterly visit was also “the occasion for horseraces, ... said to have been ‘permitted’ by Paul

Patricia Roy is the Book Review Editor. Copies ofbooks for review should be sent to her c/o B.C.Historical News, RO. Box 1738, Victoria, B.C. V8W2Y3.


BookshelfDurieu, but which could have been the majordrawing card for some Indians.”

“To several generations of the Cariboo’sIndians the mission ... meant simply the MissionSchool.” Begun by Father McGuckin, it wasenlarged in the 1890’s by Durieu and the federalgovernment as an Indian Industrial School. It laterbecame part of the residential school systemsponsored by the government but run by missionaries. Both kinds of Indian boarding schools wereoperated, as Whitehead notes, under an importedEuropean style of education, “without anyconsideration being given to cultural clash.”

Indian children and parents resisted this styleof schooling by the Oblates and the threedifferent orders of Roman Catholic nuns whocame to assist them. However, the poor economicsituation of Indian parents in the Depression andtheir need to search for work overcame some oftheir resistance to leaving their children at theresidential school.

In the 1940’s the Cariboo Mission began toexperience the shift from the Durieu-style Indianvillages to integrated parishes and from residentialto day schools.

Margaret Whitehead’s Cariboo Mission goes along way toward explaining why the majority ofnominally Christian Indians in British Columbiawere Roman Catholic in 1939, but her explanationof that phenomenon and the role the Oblatesplayed could be improved. The Cariboo Missionneeds context. Whitehead might profitably havecompared the Oblate’s Cariboo mission with theirefforts elsewhere in British Columbia and on theprairies. Oblate priests were leaders and innovators in the latter area in establishing IndustrialSchools, such as the one at Qu’Appelle ([ebret).The records Whitehead consulted on the Cariboomission and school — the Missions of the OblateCongregation, Indian Affairs Reports and papers— provide a wealth of comparative material. So doAnglican sources on Duncan and Methodistssources on Crosby’s missions on the coast ofBritish Columbia. Some of this has been publishedsuch as Jean Usher’s biography of William Duncanand my article on Qu’Appelle Industrial School (inA.W. Rasporich, ed., Western Canada Past andPresent. [Calgary, 1975]).

Whitehead’s analysis of the Cariboo Missionwould also have been strengthened by moreattention to Indian history. The use of comparative material on prairie Oblate missions andschools would enhance her study of the Indian

peoples of Cariboo and underscore the value ofusing the anthropological framework of anacculturation study for the history of Catholicmissionary effort with the Indians. Such a modelmakes the Indians more than peripheral to thestudy of White-Indian contact.

Without such a framework, The CaribooMission views the Indians almost exclusively fromthe viewpoint of the missionaries. There is onlyslight mention of changes in native peoples’ livesafter the 1870’s. Yet, wherever Whitehead notesshifts in Indian response to Oblate missionaryeffort she turns up patterns paralleling developments in the Fraser Valley, on the Coast, or inSaskatchewan. When various Cariboo villages‘revolted’ against the Durieu system’s stricturesand went back to ‘pagan feasts’ in the 1870’s, thecoastal Tsawwassen and Semiahmoo had goneback to potlatching. And the Cree, Sioux andAssiniboine took off for the sun dance.

Whitehead should also be more critical in hertreatment of Oblate records. She seems to acceptthe twin biases, folklore and hagiography, of theseoriginal records; she relies on a manuscript historyby a modern Oblate priest for her discussion ofthe missionaries’ background and practice; shefails to probe a major anomaly in this work and inthe Oblate records — their treatment of theDurieu mission system; she does not question the“successful” image of it in these sources; and shedoes not go beyond the rhetoric of Fathers Bunoz,Morice, and Thomas, the devoted pupils ofDurieu. Their writings shaped the history and thehistoriography of the Oblate missions of B.C.

Even Father Thomas, the greatest of theCariboo missionaries, had doubts about how wellthe Durieu system actually worked. My ownresearch on Oblate missions in the Fraser Valleyand in Saskatchewan makes me wonder about theresults of the system and its origins. Durieu’s TotalAbstinence Society and industrial schools forIndians followed patterns laid down by D’Herbomez, his superior and predecessor. Durieu’squick and generous attachment to the Dominiongovernment’s Industrial School system of the1890s followed the 1887 visit of prairie BishopTach and Father Lacombe to Squamish.

Despite these criticisms, The Cariboo Missiondeserves high praise as a history of RomanCatholic Indian missionary work. Those interestedin the history of Christian misisons and the nativepeoples of British Columbia will be pleased toknow that Whitehead has recently edited a

Spring 1982

Bookshelfvolume, Now You Are My Brother: Missionariesin British Columbia, in the Sound Heritage series.

Jacqueline Gresko, a frequent contributor to theNews, teaches history at Douglas College.

RUSSIA IN PACIFIC WATERS, 1715-1825: ASURVEY OF THE ORIGIN OF RUSSIA’S NAVALPRESENCE IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH PACIFIC.Glynn R. V. Barratt. Vancouver: University ofBritish Columbia Press, 1981. 300 pp. illus. maps,index.

Russia in Pacific Waters is the first in a series,“Pacific Maritime Studies”, published by theUniveristy of British Columbia Press, a notablepublisher of works on maritime and Pacifichistory. To date,students of Pacific history (in theEnglish language) have invariably relied on FrankGolder’s classic, Russian Expansion on the Pacific,1641-1850, an account of expeditions along Asianand American coasts and related Arctic voyages.Now well out of date and insufficiently based inRussian sources, Golder has been ably succeededby Barratt.

Russia in Pacific Waters is the first substantialsurvey of Russian naval activity in the Pacific fromPeter the Great to Nicholas I. Barratt traces thestory of how Russia sent armed ships in search oficefree northern routes, in support of fur traders,and, not least, in pursuit of scientific endeavours.The effectiveness of such ships was not great: theywere few in number; they were not always wellbuilt. Nor were they always well-manned. Nor,too, were the captains and masters of these vesselsseasoned and good mariners.

Yet, these ships made their influence felt atKamchatka and Sitka, the anchors of Russianinfluence on either side of the Pacific. They madevisits to the Hawaiian Islands and to northernCalifornia in support of Russian traders andagents. They called at Polynesia and various Pacificislands, showing the flag in support of Czaristinfluence and trade. But their presence hardlydeterred any rivals, especially the British, whosenaval supremacy was unmatched.

The motives of the Russians in the Pacific weremixed and confused, and for that reason Barratt is

unclear on the ‘why’s’ of Rusian activity. He doesnot pursue the sort of useful investigationheralded by Raymond H. Fisher in his splendidBering Voyages: Whither and Why (Seattle:University of Washington Press, 1977). For instance, Barratt does not adequately explainCatherine Ii’s newly-acquired interest in Pacificnaval ventures. Though Barratt gives adequateattention to Bering, Kruzernshtern, Lisianskii andGoivnin — and seeks to make sense of anawkward pattern of voyages — we are leftwondering at how naval operations influencedthe formation of strategy and policy in St.Petersburg.

The whole seems a little rushed, and morebalance between the interplay of metropolis andfrontier would bring us more appropriately, and alittle less breathlessly, to Barratt’s excellent last, butregrettably, short chapter “Conclusions andReflections”.

Barratt rightly concludes that Russia wasincapable at that time of a great power role in thePacific because she lacked an independent, self-sufficient fleet there. In fact, the roots of thisinadequacy lie elsewhere: overextended, domestically corrupt, feudally dominated, CzaristRussia’s reach far exceeded her grasp.

Admiral S. G. Gorshkov’s The Sea Power of theState (first published in Russian in 1976 and inEnglish in 1979) ought to be a poignant lesson andsalutary reminder to students of world affairs thatRussian eastward expansion onto Pacific shoresand beyond did not end in failure. These earlyvoyages were as important in North Americanhistory as Columbus’s probes from Europe. TheRussian voyagers came over two hundred yearslater, but they formed part of that great imperialprocess of the extension of power and dominancefrom “the world island” (Sir Halford Mackinder’sterm) to its outlying peripheries, including theAmericas.

Barry Gough, the author of several books on Britishnaval activities on the North Pacific Coast, teacheshistory at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo,Ontario.


Bookshelf

THE WATER LINK:A HISTORYOFPUGETSOUNDAS A RESOURCE. Daniel Jack Chason. Seattle:Puget Sound Books (University of Washington),1981. Pp. 192, illus. $8.95 (U.S.) Paper.

Chason’s volume, published under the auspices of the Washington Sea Grant program, is apopular, well illustrated, anecdotal view of PugetSound as a resource. It is not, nor was it intendedto be, a highly academic interpretation of the roleof the Sound in the economic development of thelocal region and the State. Herein lies the problemwith the book. It is well-written and interesting,but lacks a well-documented theme and a chaptersummarizing the historical role of the Sound thatbrings the disparate parts of the volume together.

This weakness is most apparent in the earlypart of the volume. The first four chaptersconcentrate on the economic development of thePuget Sound region — not necessarily on theSound itself. Woven into these chapters is afamiliar story of the early timber trade and the tiesto San Francisco which characterized the earlycities on both sides of the border and thesubsequent diversification of trade to the midwest after completion of the Northern PacificRailroad in 1882. Seattle emerged as the dominantcentre on the Sound, the salmon industry grewrapidly, and coal, lumber and wheat were themain exports from this region.

In all this Chason asserts that the Sound was thecritical water link, but does not develop this ideawell. He does not discuss fully the trading patternsthat emerged on the Sound, the important livingresources, the aesthetic value attached to waterlocations in the early period, and degree to whichthe Sound facilitated interaction between communities both inside and outside the region.

The latter chapters are much more interesting.Chapters on water pollution, the public nature ofthe Sound, the salmon industry, aboriginal treatyrights, and environmental management document the importance of the Sound to life in theregion.

In the early period Puget Sound had been thelink for all communities to outside markets, but,after completion of the railroad, towns on theOlympic Peninsula were at a competitive disadvantage. Products such as lumber and fish had to

be shipped to railhead in Seattle. “Instead of beingcloser to the ocean, the Olympic Peninsula wasfurther from the railroad ... [The] Sound wascoming to seem less a highway than a barrier.”

As industrialization developed in the region sodid pollution levels. Effluent from pulp mills wasdischarged directly into the Sound and in manycases species such as oysters which were onceplentiful, disappeared. Oystermen protested, but“they were not in the same league as the pulp andpaper industry.” Other industries such as BoeingAircraft and aluminum plants did not reallydepend on the Sound as a water link, but they didattract people to the region who began toappreciate the aesthetic quality of the Sound.

The Sound which had been a critical link in allfacets of life in the early period, is no longer thecritical water link for commerce. Small communities that depended on water transportation arenow more isolated. The Sound, more particularlythe eastern shore, is still concerned with externaltrade, and shore locations remain important forship building industries and oil refineries, but theenvironmental values attached to the Sound arenow much greater than in the last century.

Chason’s volume is well worth reading. It isrelatively free of errors. Two minor points couldbe noted — salmon canning began on theSacramento River in 1864 (p. 10) not 1866, and“Esquimault” (p. 27) is spelled “Esquimalt”. Forthose unfamiliar with the economic developmentof the Puget Sound region, this volume provides aquick popular summary.

William Ross teaches Geography at the University ofVictoria.

BUILDING WITH WORDS. William Bernstein andRuth Cawker. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1981.Pp. 102, illus., $14.50 (paper).

From two 1980 graduates of the School ofArchitecture, University of Toronto, comes a freshand stimulating book which breaks new groundfor both the history and future of Canadianarchitecture. Twenty-one of Canada’s best knownarchitects and architectural critics have beencajoled into saying something about their work,the state of the art, and the future of Canada’s built

Spring 1982

Bookshelfenvironment. Bernstein and Cawker’s introduction is a genuinely scholarly contribution to therecent history of modern architecture.

Backed up by the still raw resources of RobertHill’s yet-to-be-published biographical dictionaryof Canadian architects, the two editors conciselybut brilliantly trace the use of the modernmovement out of its Arts-and-Crafts beginnings inthe 1920s to the megalomonuments of Parkin andErickson in the 1980s.

So how do their twenty-one professionalinterlocutors find the future for Canada’s architectural evolution? “Enough of Vitruvius, PhilipJohnson and the Bauhaus. This is illusionary andvapid ... our present methods lead to oblivion”declares Edmonton architect, Peter Hemingway.Melvin Charney, a Montreal architect, finds the“disarray of Modernism” the result of “aningrained confusion between means and ends,between metaphor and reality”.

Jean Claud Marsan, professor of architectureat the University of Montreal, is more to the point:“This architecture (‘International Style’), based onnorms universally applicable to any function orlocation, neglects the principal asset of thissociety: its culture”. Dr. McMordie of theUniversity of Calgary decries the ravages of so-called modern functionalism in his boominghome town: “Calgary... is building a dinosaur —

a city of towers after an obsolete model. Thetowers that Calgary builds, and that Toronto has —

at least selectively — rejected, are buildings of the1950s, when climate was ignored, and when bigwas beautiful and new was best.”

So whither goest we? Here there is lessconcord among the contributors. Toward a state,says Yale-trained Montrealer Peter Rose, Canada’shigh priest for the referentialists of ‘post modernism’, where we “have too many influences to havea real mainstream”. Toward a “pluralistic style”which “will save this multiplicity of interests withan architectural language that can accommodatea variety of tastes and a spectrum of meanings”echoes Anthony Jackson of the Nova Scotia Tech.

At the other extreme Barry Downs, Vancouverarchitect and celebrated apologist for the modernWest Coast school, pleads for a return to basicArts-and-Crafts environmentalism. Buildings“must be consciously shaped to the challenge oftheir location ... The psychological need in theWest for sunlight and reflected light causesinterior spaces to be shaped to harness andcontain light.”

Jack Diamond in Toronto translates thisaesthetic into an eastern urban context: “Eccentric or bizarre design makes easy novelty. Context,on the other hand, makes its own very differentdemands. Most circumstances call for incrementsof a simpler kind, buildings as fragments, whichcan contribute to the harmony of the largerneighbourhood.”

It might be expected that some architects findthemselves totally divorced from this litany ofdiscontent. Not surprisingly they are Canada’s twomost successful internationalist corporate architects.”... revivals now last only a few months, andlike dress fashions fill the narcissicm or ennui ofthe moment”, states Arthur Erickson who strivesfor simplicity of pattern and form as “a reaction toour trash oriented society”. Similarly John C.Parkin, recent winner of the National Gallerycompetition, states categorically “Post-Modernism — or as I prefer to call it, neoconservatism, is not going anywhere”.

If debate still rages at the verbal level, does thephotographic content of Building with Wordspoint to a way out of this dilemma? I am afraid not.Unfortunately the buildings illustrated are notdated, but for the most part we are served asomewhat stale feast from such periodicals asArchitecture Canada and The Canadian Architectof the last decade. High points are the wittyhistorical quotation pieces of Peter Rose, the high-tech gesturalism of Burton Myers and Gaudiesqueearth-womb of Douglas Cardinal. Andundeniably the sculpturalism of Erickson andstudied minimal forms of Parkin still photographwell.

Interesting perhaps more by way of sidecomment are the omissions. Where is the playfuland exuberant architectural enthusiasm of Raymond Moriyama of Ontario Science Centre fame?Or the cerebral observations of jet-set conservationist guru, Jacques Dalibard — architect andexecutive director o the Heritage CanadaFoundation?

Still Bernstein and Cawker must becongratulated for at ;ast bringing to the surface thegreat ongoing debate which will dominatewestern world architecture during the eighties.They have given it a specific — and sparkling —

Canadian context.

Martin Segger is Director/Curator of the MaltwoodArt Museum and Gallery at the University ofVictoria.


THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONHonorary Patron: His Honour, The Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, Henry P. Bell-IrvingHonorary President: Anne Stevenson, Box 4570, Williams Lake, V2G 2V6

392-4365 (res.)

OfficersPresident: Barbara Stannard, #211-450 Stewart Ave., Nanaimo, V9S 5E9

754-6195 (res.)

1st Vice President: Winnifred Weir, Box 774, Invermere, VOA 1KO342-9562 (res.)

2nd Vice President: Leonard G. McCann, #2, 1430 Maple St., Vancouver, V6J 3R9736-4431 (bus.)

Secretary: Frances Gundry, 255 Niagara St., Victoria, V8V 1G4385-6353 (res.)387-3623 (bus.)

Treasurer: J. Rhys Richardson, 2875 W. 29th, Vancouver, V6L 1Y2733-1897 (res.)

Recording Secretary: Margaret Stoneberg, Box 687, Princeton, VOX iWO295-3362 (res.)

Members-at-Large: Naomi Miller, Box 1338, Golden, VOA 1HO344-6447

Catou Levesque, 10420 Cambie Road, Richmond, V6X 1K5273-0254 (res.)

Past-President: Ruth Barnett, 680 Pinecrest Rd., Campbell River, V9W 3P3287-8097 (res.)

Ex Officio: John Bovey, Provincial Archivist, Victoria, V8V 1X4387-3621 (bus.)

Maureen Cassidy, Editor, B.C. Historical News, 316 Montreal St., Victoria, V8V1 Z5383-8062 (res.)

Chaimen of Committees:Historic Trails: John D. Spittle, 1241 Mount Crown Rd., North Vancouver, V7R 1R9Finance: H.R. Brammall, 4649 W. 12th, Vancouver, V6R 2R7

228-8958 (res.)

Seminars: Leonard G. McCann, #2, 1430 Maple St., Vancouver, V6J 3R9736-4431 (bus.)

B.C. Historical News Ruth Barnett, 680 Pinecrest Rd., Campbell River, V9W 3P3Policy Committee: 287-8097 (res.)

Publications Assistance Committee (not involved with B.C. Historical News):Helen Akrigg, 4633 W. 8th Ave., Vancouver, V6R 2A6288-8606 (res.)

B.C. Historical Association1982 Convention

The Inn at Cowichan Bay, Cowichan Bay,Vancouver Island

Thursday, April 29 registration, wine and cheese party, Councilmeeting (7:30 p.m.)

Friday, April 30 morning — walking tour of Cowichan Bayafternoon — a visit to the B.C. Forest Museumevening — entertainment

Saturday, May 1 Annual General Meeting (9 a.m.—12 a.m.)afternoon — bus tour of historic sites ofCowichan districtevening — banquet (7:30 p.m.)

Sunday, May 2 new Executive Council meetingForms with prices and reservation requirements will be mailed to eachmember society early in the new year.

The Cowichan Historical Society will bethe host.

Cowichan Bay is 36 miles north of Victoria, 5 miles southof Duncan, Vancouver Island.

Pacific Coach Lines buses leave the Vancouver depot, atCambie and Dunsmuir, at 5:45 a.m. and 12:35 p.m., andtravel via Nanaimo to Cowichan Bay.

Air B.C. has flights from Vancouver harbour to Quamichan Lake, 2 miles from Duncan.

As well as the convention site, there are hotels andmotels nearby.

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