Some Notable Facts

This is the Water Street Side of the Jones Block. I only took a photo of the address listed - the brighter  orange building - but maybe both buildings are part of the block. And here I can see some differences that were mentioned in an earlier entry.

In 1903 a Canadian Pacific Railway engineer -Henry John Cambie- moved to Vancouver.From 1876 to 1880 he was in charge of CPR surveys and his survey from the Yellowhead Pass to Port Moody set the route to the lower Fraser. Cambie Street is named after him. 

1903 was the year that Vancouver got its first Crown prosecutor. At the age of 24, John Wallace deBeque Farris arrived in Vancouver to fill the position.

The Capilano Golf and Country Club got its start in 1903. A philanthropist, Harvey Hadden, bought 160 acres in the Capilano Canyon from architect Sydney Morgan Eveleigh. Even though Hadden had never seen the property. He went on to build a 'sort of Garden of Eden in the forest' that he named Hadden Hall.

John Lawson a conductor with the CPR came west from Ontario in 1903. He later became known as the 'Father of West Vancouver'.

Jumping ahead to 1904.

On January 20 the Canadian government disallows a BC Act restricting Chinese immigration.

On May 11 W. Kaye Lamb was born. This is noted because Lamb went on to have distinguished career as an archivist and librarian. Provincial Archivist and Librarian of British Columbia from 1934 to 1940, University Librarian of the University of British Columbia from 1940 to 1948, Dominion Archivist of Canada from 1948 to 1968 and, overlapping with the previous, National Librarian of Canada from 1953 to 1967.

A May 20 a school opened in Lynn Valley with 18 pupils.

In June of 1904 Prussian count and financier Konstantin “Alvo” von Alvensleben arrives in Vancouver. Although he went on to become a stock promoter, make a fortune and be a prominent social figure he got his start painting barns, repairing fish nets as well as shooting geese and ducks that he then sold to the Vancouver Club for 35 cents each.

July 23, 1904 was the day that the first bridge to span the Fraser River opened. It was quite the marvel. On the lower level it carried trains while the upper level was for pedestrians and vehicles. It was just wide enough for two hay wagons to pass each other. It cost 1 million dollars to build.

Two days after that the first branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia opened at 418 West Hastings Street.

September 10, the Grey Fox - Bill Miner - jumped into outlaw history by holding up a train at Silverdale, near Mission. He then escaped over the border to Whatcom County in Washington State. Miner received his nickname due to his white hair and sly ways and was a favourite among the people.

Other notable happenings in 1904 include:

The first auto dealership in Vancouver was started by Frank and Fred Begg. Industrialist John Hendry bought the first gasoline powered car.

The first movie house was opened in New Westminster by Frank Kerr. When the film broke Kerr had to glue it together.

The Steveston Land and Oil Company was formed in order to drill for oil on Lulu Island.

A wharf was built in North Vancouver by Charles Cates to handle cargo travelling from California to the Klondike.

Miss Harriet Woodward opened her private school on the northeast shore of Deer Lake in 1904. She also opened a post office in her home which she ran for 45 years.

BC sealing captain, Alexander McLean sometimes lived in Vancouver and in 1904 Jack London`s novel the Sea Wolf was published. London based the main character - Wolf Larsen - on McLean.

The Vernon and Nelson Telephone Company bought out a series of telephone companies around the province and changed its name to the British Columbia Telephone Company.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

TAGS:Vancouver, Karen Magill, 1903, Sea Wolf,1904,Frank Kerr,history,