Tidbits

This is the Alma Court Apartments on Alberta Street. It was built in 1915.

Today I want to do something a little different. I am consulting the book, The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver by Chuck Davis and I am just going to relate little bits on information.

If we go back to July of 1808, we see that Simon Fraser and his men descended the river, which would later be named for Fraser. They explored the native village at Musqueam before the men of the village chased them off. Wisely, Fraser and his men retreated up the river.

James McMillan with the Hudson's Bay Company struck out into the interior from the mouth of the Nicmekl River in Surrey. McMillan and a party of men went up the Nicomekl until their boats could go no farther. They then took the boat overland to the Salmon River. McMillan marked a tree at that location - he called it the Hudson's Bay Tree - and when he returned two-and-a-half years later, he found the tree and built the first Fort Langley beside it.

July 30,1827 was the day that a group of men with HBC began constructing the first Fort Langley. Two Hawaiians or Kanakas were among them. (Kanaka is the Polynesian term for "human being"). Como stayed in the area for about 13 or 14 years before returning to Fort Vancouver in Washington State. He was there until his death in 1850. The other man, Peeohpeeoh raised a large family and stayed in the vicinity of Fort Langley for the rest of his life.

It was on February 20, 1833, that James Murray Yale took command of Fort Langley. A Hudson's Bay Company farm was established at Langley Prairie and the farm was very successful, shipping salted salmon to Hawaii.

In October of 1835, The Hudson's Bay Company steamship Beaver left England. It took six months but in April of 1836, it became the first steamship to reach the eastern Pacific Ocean.

July of 1843, the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Camosun at the southern end of Vancouver Island. By December, the name had been changed to Fort Victoria. Eventually, the fort grew into our capital city Victoria, BC.

This house, at 119 West 6th, was built in 1911. In 1912, the first listing shows a John McMillan as a resident. His occupation was listed as 'City Market Clerk'.

The first dairy farm in Metropolitan Vancouver was in Ladner and operated by Alexander McLean. In 1853, he was flooded out and McLean and his family - along with their 50 cows- moved to the west bank of the Pitt River. That area is no known as Port Coquitlam.

On December 28, 1857, the governor of the colony of Vancouver Island (established in 1849), James Douglas, proclaimed the British Crown's control of mineral rights on the mainland.

A.C. Anderson, and a crew of men, began constructing the first road on the British Columbia mainland on August 10, 1858. The road ran from Tswwassen Beach, south of Ladner, overland to Fort Langley.

On February 14, 1859, Queensborough was proclaimed the site of the new capital of British Columbia. In July, the town was renamed New Westminster although there is a neighbourhood in New Westminster called  ueensborough.

The St. John the Divine Anglican Church was consecrated at Derby near Fort Langley. The church was built of imported California redwood because there were not any local sawmills.

My next book, Missing Flowers, is getting close to publication. I've got the cover now!

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, HBC, history, Queensborough, British Columbia